Looming in the Common Room

[Crimson]

Zarefan smiled. The young man was sitting on a chair in the candidate common room, with his legs dangling over the side of the arm and a loom in his lap. The needle-hook he was using was stuck between his teeth, and on the floor next to his chair was a skein of refined yarn made from his father's own herdbeasts. His father had refined the stuff and sent it to the Weyr with him so he'd have something to do on his days off. "Hum de dum de dum," he mumbled in tune, humming a little while he worked. He wasn't sure what he was making, but it was on a circle loom, so it would have to be something of that accord. It would be light blue, almost white. And it would be a girft. "But to whom?" he asked.

The young man was a rarity: sensitive, kind, sweet, and not afraid to practice an other-wise "womanly" art in the sight of others. Knitting, after all, was an activity usually held by women. But Zar found it to be a very calming pastime, and after the disaster that was Zharieth's clutch, he needed to be able to relax. He began to hum softly the old battle tune,

Loose the flame and
sear the grasses
'Til the dawning Red Star passes...

[brimstone81]

Panthea had heard some one humming and decided to go check it out. She had some free time and so Panthea had really nothing else to do. Well, she could go find work in the lower cavrens. The Headwoman would love to drown Panthea in extra chores. But honestly, who wanted to do that? So the young woman walked into the room, her eyes falling on the young weaver, or that was what he appeared to be to Panthea. She didn't exactly recognise him, boy there seemed to be a surge of candidates lately. The Searchriders must be doing their job!

Panthea had been in rather high spirits lately, since learning that there was a gold egg on the sands. Of course, she had more frequent nightmares. Sometimes she even thought of her formal rival, who had been mauled a turn ago. It was a risk that Panthea was determined to take. She couldn't imagine living anywhere else but a rider, and she wanted a dragon to keep here as well. She even dared to dream of gold.

The young woman stepped closer to Zarefan with his loom. She looked at his work, and wondered if he had been an apprentice at the Hall. "I bet it will be beautiful when you are finished. Are you making a pattern or a scene?"

[Crimson]

Zar was startled to hear the girl's voice so suddenly. He'd been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that his naturally perceptive ears didn't hear her enter from the other room. The young man sat up straight, being of the frame of mind the when someone spoke to you, you looked them in the eye. "Thanks. I'm not really sure yet. Most likely a pattern, since this is such a small loom and I don't feel like embroidering today, but I don't really know. It may end up as a scarf yet," he said, laughing. It was true that he often lacked focus when he started projects, but the projects always managed to gain some sort of shape and direction about halfway through the project. Zarefan pulled his legs into a criss-cross on the chair. "My father always said I never had direction. I prefer to think of it as intuitive creativity." He grinned and winked at the girl. She was pretty enough, dark of hair and eye, and slender of build. Well, there was no shortage of thin women at this Weyr. Everyone here tended to be beautiful, and he wondered why. He knew himself to be at least cute, and he'd briefly wondered if that was why he was here. Who knew? "I don't think I've met you before," he went on in his regular chatterbox fashion. Zar stood. "My name is Zarefan, but you can call me Zar, if you like," he said. "You must be a gold candidate."

[brimstone81]

She smiled winningly, beaming at him, and she bowed, "Yes, how'd ja know? I am a gold candidate, but you may call me Panthea, or as reserved for special friends, Panna." She looked at him, he did certainly have a boyish charm. Her smiled, faded just slight into a serene, closed mouthed smile. Panthea looked at his loom. She had a small one for embroidery, but she never had attempted any huge projects- usually just to add some thing extra to a dress or scarf. "I'm pleased to meet you, you must have just been searched, I'm sure I never met a Zar before. What do you hope to Impress?"

[Crimson]

He smiled. "Yes, I was just brought in from Tamah Hold a couple days ago. Life here is very different from in a Hold." Panthea. He liked it.

"What do you hope to Impress?" she asked him. He gestured for her to have a seat in the chair next to him. Standing couldn't be all that comfortable.

"Oh, I don't know. I suppose I'd be lucky to Impress anything." He grinned at her. "I'm sure I'm good enough, I just don't know for what. But when I Impress, I'll be grateful for him. Or her," he added. "I knew you were a Gold candidate from how you acted. So far, the girls brought here for...well, not the gold egg, have been...less than polite?" He chuckled. "They've been nice enough...a little too nice at times. And then, the other ones, who are overly friendly, are withdrawn. There seem to be a lot of girls here just because they're pretty." Zarefan laughed. "But you came over and were polite...and not flirty. I hate to say it, but I am sort of glad. Never knew the attentions of girls could get so tiring."

[brimstone81]

Panthea greatfully took the seat and sat down. He had said he hoped to Impress anything, he was lucky, he could hope for green, blue, brown or bronze. It was a little more limited to females. He seemed like a very good sort for a dragon, and no doubt he would Impress. "I bet you'll do well. I don't think you would have been picked if you wouldn't."

He explained of how he knew how she was a gold hopeful. She smiled, she liked to hear that she held herself up well and that she must be a touch more respectable than some other, very friendly girls. She new a few of them herelf. "I am sorry to hear that you were overwhelmed with their flirtations."

[Dragon Heart]

Toya came in half asleep. She had worked very hard indeed today. Now all she wanted to do was relax, maybe joke around with one of her two friends, or maybe just think. She sat down, and stared. She had decided to think. She had not noticed who else was in the room, or what they were doing. She did not even notice what her eyes were looking at. All she knew were her thoughts. Yes her eyes were looking at Zarefan, but what she saw was hatching day, and her imagination was running wild. She saw herself Impressing a green, then She saw herself not impressing. She even saw herself impressing a gold. Toya was in her own world, and was very much unaware of the new candidate. She was just thinking, preparing herself for that fateful day. She had to be ready for anything, and her mind was inventing many strange, and very unlikely situations.

Then her mind went to the past. She remembered fishing, and caressing both of her parents dragons. She remembered the pranks she had pulled, and she remembered the bad year, as she had called that year. She remembered not being able to fish anymore, and not being allowed to play with the dragons. She remembered the hard work that she was forced to do, and how tired she had been every day. She was that tired today.

As her mind went deeper into thought, she became less aware of her surroundings. Toya was glad to be here, and not at Ista Weyr. She had hated the way her home had treated the holders beholden to the weyr. Now she was happy. She had two friends, and a hope of impressing. Her parents might even show up to watch. That would be very good indeed.

[Crimson]

Zarefan chuckled. "Oh, I suppose it's flattering enough," he said. "But sometimes, you crave a meal more nourishing to chew, you know what I mean? Occasionally, real conversation would be nice." He wrapped more wool around the loom pegs. It was a good loom, made of dense, red, skybroom wood, and just thick enough for his hands to maneuver it. He thoroughly enjoyed his little projects. "So, where are you from, 'Panna?'" he asked, trying out the nickname. "Have you any special skills? How do you feel about the upcoming hatching?"

When allowed, Zarefan could be quite the chatterbox.

[brimstone81]

The gold candidate smiled at his metaphor. She enjoyed intellectual conversations as well. Besides, she never really flirted enough to be particularly good without going over the top with flattery. She supposed that with the right person, he wouldn't think her efforts cheesy or akward. He spoke again, this time with more questions that demanded input from herself. Panthea giggled slightly at his burst of questions. Panthea could be like that too at times.

She spoke, it was well rehearsed because they were the most common questioned asked when two people meet for the first time, "I was born at Fort Weyr, though my mother transferred here when I was pretty young. My father is a bronzerider at Fort currently, but I haven't heard from him in nearly 9 turns. I am pretty good at mending clothing, I am a decent cook, I can set a broken bone and make numbweed with the best of them, I have never entered a craft, however I would have loved to go into the beast craft. And I am excited fo the upcoming hatching. Of course I want a gold more than anything, but one never knows." She wasn't ready enough to tell him about her fears.

[Crimson]

"Of course." It was the dearest ambition of most girl to Impress a gold dragon. And why not? They were the Queens, the only dragons capable of controlling every other color of dragon on Pern. It was an enviable position...and yet, Zarefan would not have wanted that type of responsibility. He could be a leader, but he would not have wanted to be in charge of an entire of weyr. Zarefan smiled at her. She was a sweet girl, for sure. "Beastcrafting? Why?" The entire notion was foreign to him, the son of a weaver and a harper. It seemed like a lot of mess and dirt would be involved. "I've heard it's a rather messy craft."

He took up his needle and started pulling wool over the pegs of the loom. The loops fell over easily, since he had remembered to wind it up loosely. The whatever-it-was was coming together quite nicely. He still wasn't sure what he wanted to make of it, but he would probably give it to Panthea.

[brimstone81]

Panthea giggled, "Messy indeed. But I love animals and creatures and I find that you can bond with them a lot easier than you could a rock or a spoon." She had loved to ride runners when she could, and dreamed of riding dragons, however she liked all beasts. She loved felines, their lithe form and deadly grace, and she had seen a heardbeast birth once and couldn't help but fall in love with those big baby eyes. "I think it would be a rather rewarding job. I'm not the kind of girl who shirks from getting my hands a little dirty. It's good work, a respectable craft, and I would have gotten to meet many interesting people. Not that there aren't interesting people at the Weyr, some of the most interesting people are here. Though a beastcrafter could live anywhere. They are not necessarily held back by alligiences. However, I am very content at the Weyr, and I don't have the yearning for travel as I did growing up."