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He found his way there eventually. He'd lived in the Weyr all his life, but he'd never been here before. Just went to show how big the place was he supposed, or how little attention he paid to clothing. Before, his mother had always got his clothes for him; nothing he owned fitted him like a glove (not even his gloves) but everything remained functional, and taking in or letting out a seam here and there was something she was capable of when it was needed.

Now, at last, it was time to change his habits. At last, he was going to stand for an Impression. Well, so long as he didn't break his arm or something between now and when the eggs were ready to hatch, he thought wryly. Still, one way or another, he needed something smart to wear to the feast afterward. Conomor had never seen the point in fancy garb, but he couldn't deny that other people would think him a disgrace if she showed up in every day wear. Personally he didn't care too much about what anyone thought about him, but his mother cared and so here he was. Measured for something smart, he reminded himself, and a new every day shirt and britches. Seen as he was coming in any case, he supposed he might as well spend his marks on something at last.

As he stepped inside the shop, Conomor's dark eyes alighted on the very pale youth bent over his sewing. He knew the man by sight, but hadn't had occasion to speak with him before. Well, it always was good to meet new people. Not in a desperate hurry to be attended to, he didn't bother to clear his throat or anything; the pale young man had no doubt spotted him already and would look up when it was good and ready. In the meantime, for someone who had never entered a tailor's before in his life, there was plenty for Conomor to look at.

Conomor smiled and shook his head slightly. "Not at all; I could see you were busy and I'm not in any great rush today." An apprentice then; that made sense, Kita did look to be about his own age. "I'm sure you can help," Conomor went on after a moment with another soft smile and a nod. "I need to be measured for clothes to begin with, never been measured before in my life by anything except my mother's eye. Then I'll need a few things made; a simple shirt and pair of britches for every day, and something nice to wear to the feast after the hatching."

Hatching. Conomor was not naturally a nervous boy, but his heart began to pound at the thought of it. He could walk away a dragon rider. A future dragon rider anyway. If he failed... well if he failed, he would try again. With the Thread due to come so soon, clutches would be large and close together.

Pulling himself back to the matter at hand, Conomor smile at Kita again. "I'm afraid I've never had smart clothes in my life before, so I've really no idea what sort of thing I should be looking for in the feast outfit. I was hoping you could suggest something?" He had planned to leave that mostly down to the tailor, and so far as he was concerned an apprentice's eye and ideas were as good as anyone else's. Kita might not yet have the skill of a master, but that didn't mean he didn't have good ideas.

Conomor nodded to Kita's description of measuring and held out his arms obediently. What colours did he like? "Most of my clothes at the minute are black grey or whitish," he said after a moment, thinking aloud, "so the same for my everyday clothes would be good..." He was trying hard to think of what would suit him, but his imagination fell sadly short. Not his area of expertise.

"It is exiting," he went on while he pondered shades and hues carefully. "I should have stood for an Impression several times now being a sixteen turn old weyrbrat but," he smiled slightly and shook his head, "up until now my luck around hatching times has been terrible." He hoped that pattern was over and done with; falling sick or injuring himself significantly at exactly the wrong time was beginning to wear even his considerable patience.

"I... Well I like red," Conomor said after some silence. "I've seen people of my complexion in red and I thought they looked good. Mind you, I've seen blue look very nice as well." Was red really him? He liked it to look at, but it was a brash, loud colour and he was neither. A cool deep blue would math his personality better, but who said your clothes had to to that? "What do you think?" he asked of Kita with a thoughtful frown. "Red or blue?"

Cream or sand. He supposed he already had some things sort of like that; he was just bad with his colour descriptions and had placed them as white. He liked everything he already had, so more of the same colour sounded good to him. "Yes," Conomor agreed as he relaxed, "the ones you go to are the ones that matter. Of course, if you manage to Impress that one will always be the most special." Even the biggest deadglow on Pern knew that much, but it felt good to say it aloud. He was confident, and why not? Not certain, not with a colour of dragon in mind (though he knew a green wouldn't have him), but confident all the same.

Thinking of colour... "Blue then," Conomor said with a smile, "I don't often stand out in my clothes; wearing a colour most people don't sounds attractive." And of course, odds were, if he did Impress, it would be a blue dragon. Even if it wasn't, he was sure blue would look fine with brown or bronze. What a thing to think about; whether or not his clothes might look good in the light of the hatching he hoped to Impress...

If he had the choice, what colour would he take? Bronzes were majestic, and came with prestige and power but also with restrictions and responsibility. Blues were sleek and agile, but with little to no chance of any role save wingrider. Brown was somewhere in the middle; a decent chance at being a wingsecond. What would he want? He didn't know. He didn't know at all. He could take orders just fine, but equally he felt he could give them out if he had the chance. Well, the dragon would know; that was what everybody said at any rate, and the records he had read over the years seemed to agreed with word of mouth. His dragon would know what was best for him, and whatever it was he would accept it with joy.

Smiling to himself, Conomor turned back to Kita. "Will you be watching the hatching?" he asked. "I've not been to one since I was eleven turns; I hardly even remember what it was like other than thrilling." The candidates, the hatchlings, joy and disappointment beyond measure... And soon it would be him out on the sands. Apprehensive though he was, he could hardly wait.

Conomor inspected the different blues thoughtfully. They were... they were all blue. The one Kita had just pulled out was nice though, and he stepped closer to look more closely at it. "Fair enough," Conomor said with a nod, trying to visualize what a shirt in the fabric might look like; he didn't feel like he ought to probe any deeper on the pale youth's reasons for being ambivalent. Maybe if he had the marks he could get some fancy embroidery done; he had no idea how much things like this usually cost.

"This one is lovely," Conomor said eventually, indicating the fabric Kita had paused by. "Do you think it would make a good shirt? I'm afraid I'm no good at visualizing things." The apprentice wouldn't have shown it to him if he didn't think it would be any good, but asking gave Kita the chance to show off his expertise a little which was never a bad thing. People liked to feel competent, he knew he did, and he also knew that he liked to make people feel good. Well, so long as they weren't people he disliked anyway.

Connomor inspected the patterns, more than a little mystified. He wasn't sure how he'd thought clothes were made but he hadn't pictured anything like those things. "Not too fancy is good so far as I'm concerned," he chuckled as he ran his eyes over the strange things and tried to imagine how all the shapes would come together to make a shirt. It didn't quite work. "Which do you think would suit me better?" he asked of Kita after a moment's fruitless deliberation; he had no idea what a finished piece would come out looking like from them.

He needed to consider trousers as well. What went with a blue shirt? Black trousers? He had lots of those, but no smart ones, and none in nice fabric. He'd seen some truly horrible styles proudly shown off at gathers, and he only hoped Kita wasn't a fan of such things. Something simple but smart; that was what he needed. He needed new boots too; he'd have to go and look for some once he had his clothes decided on.

Frills. He was a bit skeptical about that, but then he was a little skeptical about smart clothes all together. He'd wait and see if Kita could find the near finished one before making a judgment. He'd look alright in whatever he ended up with, he was sure. Not stunning, never spectacularly handsome but certainly smart. A few frills might actually look good; just because he'd never worn anything of the kind before didn't mean he shouldn't start.

"I'm not sure," Conomor admitted with a shrug, "I came here with no ideas at all in mind I'm afraid... Maybe that dark blue?" Or would that be too much blue in one place? "Or maybe cream?... Cream? I always wear dark trousers, a change might be nice." Loose or close fitting? To go outside or inside a boot? He really should have got a few opinions before coming here, it would have made things a lot easier, but then it might also have made him less open minded he supposed.

"It looks a lot more complex in here than I was expecting," Conomor added after a moment, for he had begun to look around the shop again. "I don't really know what I did expect though," he added with a slight smile, "it's a whole new world for me." Quite an interesting one even. He didn't much care about looking smart, or owing smart things but the shop itself was fascinating. So many fabrics, colours, threads, half finished pieces... He felt as though you could spend a lifetime in a place like this and still have plenty of new things to see.