|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 11:53 am
Mornings. Some people loved them, most seemed to despise them. Sileny didn't much care one way or the other about them. They were just another time of day. One which happened to be illuminated, not that it was easy to tell, living in the Weyr. Most of the caverns didn't get a lot of natural illumination, relying instead on glows. Sil had been out late the evening before turning them, so she knew all about that.
She sighed as she brushed out her long hair. There was never really a true reprieve from candidate duties, but she had the morning free, and so she thought she might wear something nice and just enjoy herself. Perhaps she'd seek out the Weyr's harper if he was in the creche and eavesdrop on some of the teaching ballads. She did enjoy music, and lately there'd been very little of it in her life.
As Sil groomed, counting brushstrokes to make sure she got to at least one hundred before moving on to style her hair, her gaze fell on another of the female candidates. The unusually tall one whose name Sil couldn't remember at that very moment. That was a little unusual, given how she stood out like dragon among herdbeasts.
"Do you have this morning free, too?" Sil asked the other candidate, hissing so that she wouldn't wake those who were still asleep.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 1:34 pm
Tia looked over from her own pause for hair-care, still clutching the thick handfuls of hair she was working steadily into a braid, though her hands stilled briefly in this rote action (which she continued after a moment, without looking, managing the task from long practice.
"Only for part of it." She shrugged, keeping her voice low "Long enough to enjoy breakfast without burning my tongue on the Klah. " She joked, with a faint, wry smile at the extent of the chores.
This was not the glamorous life of leisure and near worship some of the others at home had debated, when they discussed the life of candidates at the Weyrs. "I'll probably regret not taking the extra sleep later." She added. The other girl was pretty, in a sort of crisp way, and she dressed up nicely. Her mother would have approved, she thought, with a faint twinge of jealousy.
Truth be told she would have been up anyway, but the nature of the Weyr itself seemed to wear her down and make her feel more exhausted than just physical labor could have. There was just so many new things to know, new things spinning around in her head until, by bed time, she knew she'd be wondering how she'd get the wild reel of thoughts to slow enough for her to sleep again. So far she had anyway, though the few days where her tasks were mostly lessons instead of a mix of lessons and chores had given her a few restless nights, fighting the urge to toss and turn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 09, 2010 6:09 pm
Sil nodded as she finished brushing her hair and conducted a quick internal debate over hairstyles. As if she ever did anything with her hair besides pull it back into a bun. She began to smooth her hair over the top of her head and along the sides of her face and back of her neck, gathering it just at the curve of her cranium. Then she began the process of tying it into a long tail.
Sil probably would regret not sleeping in, too, but she liked to eat breakfast while the food was hot. Besides which, she was conditioned to wake at this hour, whether she had chore duty in the morning or not, and sloth was not one of her sins. Nor was filth. She had already taken time to wash her face and hands, even though she had bathed thoroughly before going to sleep and had not engaged in any sort of activity since then.
She regarded the tall girl with the same critical eye to which everyone was subjected. Her gaze traveled up and down Tia's very long form and it was clear from her expression that she was not much impressed by what she saw. At last she asked with raised eyebrows, "So, you don't have to go to work immediately, and you're wearing that? You don't take much pride in your appearance, do you?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 4:48 am
Jealousy flashed into a hot blaze of annoyance, and Tia stiffened, straightening in her seat, looming fiercely, the movements of her fingers becoming visibly more aggressive.
"I. like this outfit." She growled. It wasn't as pretty or delicate as Sil's. It was a long tunic that had probably been designed for a man, though the length worked well on her torso, and a pair of sturdy pants tucked into long leather boots. The closest thing near her to jewelry was an leather bracelet with wooden beads. "It's comfortable. Besides I have to work in the stables later." She argued, feeling the need to defend her choice. "Should I wear silk instead?" She asked, jokingly. "Lace?"
Please let her not actually suggest a dress. Or a skirt. Really, what person on Pern actually could think she'd look good in a dress? Life would have been so much simpler if she'd just been a boy. Or smaller. One or the other would have been nice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 6:54 am
Sileny blinked. She had long since ceased to be surprised when people didn't react well to her critical remarks, even though she mostly made them with a mind to improve people, and not anger them. Some people just couldn't take criticism. It was too bad, really.
"Well, I suppose if you like it you'll wear it with confidence, and that always adds a certain something to an outfit. Unless the outfit actually looks horrible. Then it just adds a measure of humiliation for the person who thinks they look good."
She might have shrugged, but her hands were engaged over her head, twisting small portions of her hair around the base of the tail she'd just finished creating. There were faster ways to do it - if she'd just twisted all her hair at once, for instance - but she liked the way it looked when she did it this way. It just required more pins.
"Silk and lace aren't really stable clothes," Sil admitted. "But why dress like a drudge when you don't have to? I'm sure people would appreciate the general improvement in the Weyr's aesthetics."
She pinned another twist of hair into place and considered the challenge before her. Ordinarily, Sil wasn't the sort who was interested in doing charity work, which is what she considered offering tips on wardrobe and hair and the like. And yet she did have the morning free, and it could be interesting. But that would depend on the tall girl.
"It's probably a good thing you came to the Weyr, you know. I think there are more tall men here than I've ever seen anywhere in my life." Not that she'd been too many other places besides the vintnercraft hall and her original cothold, but she knew the vintners weren't typically so tall and well-built as riders tended to be.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:10 am
...She didn't think she looked horrible. Shards. Did she look horrible? Was it really that bad and she didn't know it?
"It's comfortable..." She muttered, still defensive, and now self conscious and embarrassed. "It doesn't look like Drudge clothing..." she added, though she sounded uncertain about that now, looking down at herself as she finished braiding and tied it off.
She was further uncertain how to take the comment about it being a good thing she'd come, like her height somehow made her superior breeding stock.
"Anyway I look like an idiot in a dress." She added. "You might as well stick one on a tree trunk. It's a waste of time." She gestured vaguely at herself before sliding the bracelet on her wrist. She supposed the offer to help was... sort of nice... in a backward prickly sort of obnoxious way. But Really it seemed like it was a waste of the other girls time. She'd surely only come to the same conclusion her mother had, only hopefully with fewer tears.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 8:48 am
"Oh. It's comfortable. That makes all the difference."
Sileny continued pinning twisted portions of hair in an ever-growing bun at the back of her skull. This was the kind of bun which lay much flatter to a person's head than the typical style, which Sil preferred. She'd probably have to switch to the other, less interesting style in the near future, however, unless she saw someone about cutting her hair. It was getting too long.
"As for drudge clothing, the quality is too good, but you aren't completely built like a tree. I have no doubt there are cuts and styles which would flatter your shape and make you look more feminine."
Sil wasn't a tailor or a weaver or anything like that, nor did she have any special eye for such things, but because she had never had much difficulty finding clothing to flatter her figure, she automatically assumed that it was simply a lack of effort on the tall girl's behalf.
"Besides, you can't be a candidate forever, and if you don't Impress in...however many turns you have until you're twenty one, well, you'll have to do something with yourself. Most women like to marry, and most men like to marry women who dress like women." Yes. Even when she wasn't trying to be mean, Sileny managed to say thoughtless, hurtful things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:17 am
"I know what my chances of impression are." Heat crept back into Tia's tone, like uncovering sparks among the ashes. "If I don't impress, I don't impress. I'm a good Woodcrafter, and I wouldn't have a problem going back to that. Skirts don't work well doing that, and I hate how I look in them. So if I'm going to marry, why shouldn't I see if there's a man who wants to Mary me because I'm me? Not because I know how to pretend I'm frail and lacy, because that will never work. Not for me."
She sounded convinced of this as she stood up and aggressively brushed at the wrinkles in her shirt. "Anyway I hate skirts and dresses. I feel foolish in them."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 10:34 am
"Is that what you do? Woodcrafting? Have you ever worked on wine casks?"
This actually interested Sil somewhat. Her apprenticeship as a vintner had exposed her to more wood in the form of casks than many Pernese got to deal with in the everyday course of things, and she had learned something of the differences between different types of wood and their effect on the wines stored and set to age in them.
"Stupid question, that. I'm sure you have, since you were Searched for Benden, and what else does a woodcrafter around Benden do but help with wine?" An oversimplification, certainly, and also a completely self-absorbed one, but Sil wasn't in the habit of thinking about things too much, or pausing to re-examine thoughts before converting them to words.
"I don't have a lot of experience with men," Sil began truthfully. "But whether they like you for who you are or not, they will always like you better if you look nice. Lace is probably an unnecessary expense in your case, since I don't think anything short of prolonged illness could make you look frail, but taking a bit more care with your appearance never hurts."
She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe one of the handsome, tall riders around might take a shine to you. Unless you prefer girls, in which case being tall is probably an advantage for you anyway. I don't know. I've never thought about what could make another woman attractive to me in that way."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Aug 11, 2010 8:44 am
"Some, but I like carving better." The curious nature of barrel making had been interesting, with so much riding on the way the staves and hoops fit together, but maybe it was because she was younger, she hadn't been as interested in an involvement with wine as she had with the idea of making incredible and memorable wood carvings. Granted wood was hard enough to come by that most pieces needed to be functional, else the carver needed to have reputation to have a piece commissioned from a Holder with a good deal of money. The potential to make things be practical and pretty though appealed to her, for more reasons than she liked to admit to herself.
This girl though, was going to make her chip a tooth for grinding her jaws.
"You know for all your telling me how I look like I belong in the lower caverns, you haven't actually told me what needs to change." She pointed out. "So either stop insulting me with every breath or tell me something that can actually be accomplished. I'm not exactly going to get shorter or like gowns any better."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Aug 16, 2010 11:07 am
"Is there a lot of call for that?" Sil asked, only half-interested in the response.
She had never really had any cravings for carvings, but she knew that some people regarded them as luxury items and put them on display. Working around wooden wine casks had made her a lot less given to being impressed by things made of wood. That, and she'd never seen anything particularly appealing carved from wood. Therefore, her opinion was that wooden carvings were largely useless and unimpressive.
The tall girl's reaction shouldn't have surprised Sileny, and it didn't. Not really. She knew at some point her blunt honesty would prove too much. She knew better than to expect that the woodcrafter was asking because she was actually interested in self-improvement. She was using entirely the wrong tone of voice to be genuinely asking for Sil's assistance.
"I have, actually. I've told you that you need to take more pride in your appearance. Take greater pains to make yourself appealing. If you insist on wearing the clothes you do, you might try wearing a little light makeup, for instance, and doing something feminine with your hair."
Sil probably wasn't one to talk about hairstyles, given the fact that she wore her hair in the same style every day, but she had other feminine assets to make her look appealing if she so chose, and hair was best kept away from the face when working.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Sep 02, 2010 9:20 am
"Oh sure." Tia grumped, her tone turning annoyed and sarcastic. "I'll just hang bells on my braid..." She was equally put off by the girls disinterest in her favorite part of wood working.
"Mostly the call is to make every day items a little prettier, unless someone's got a ridiculous amount of marks to spend." They then of course would be unlikely to be calling -her-. But maybe a wooden comb, or a decorative knife handle or the like... small things.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 5:46 am
"That wouldn't have been my recommendation," Sil said softly. "I have heard that there are places where prostitutes are obliged to wear bells in their hair, so that they can be more readily identified."
She couldn't remember where she'd heard that. Perhaps from another candidate, or maybe someone who had come to train with the vintners. It was funny the way all those turns seemed to blur together, even though they had all seemed so distinct and important at the time. Funny, odd, not funny ha-ha.
"Sounds like a skill which will always be in demand," she observed. "That's good. I tend to feel sorry for those candidates who age out and find that their only skills are those candidates learn."
In truth, she didn't feel too sorry for them. It was their choice, after all, not to take up some trade or learn some other skills. A candidate's work was more or less the same as the work done by drudges in other places. It wasn't difficult to guess why the Weyr didn't have to employ drudges. Not with a steady influx of candidates eager to earn their place at a dragon's side through hard work. Most of them, Sil thought, had no business rising above drudge work anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 6:09 am
Prostitutes??? Tia's face colored in an fine blend of rage and embarrassment, and she stared, jaw clenched, at the other girl, furious at the indirect implication, biting back the sharpest, meanest retorts she could think of. Most of which revolved around which of them would make a better prostitute.
"Well if the Weyr's gave their candidates more time to continue studying their trades between lessons instead of using them as work horses, maybe it wouldn't be as much of a problem, but it's their choice." Candidate life was a busy one, lessons and chores, then more lessons and more chores, and all for a very slim chance at a dragon. "Worst case I'll advance a little later than I was hoping to." She noted crisply. "Have fun getting pretty." She snapped, clearly not meaning a word of it.
Her expression actually said a lot as to what chores she was hoping to see Sil get. Something involving manure maybe... or the Latrines....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 08, 2010 4:46 pm
Sil watched Tia's face darken and thought to herself that the tall girl was really much too sensitive. It wasn't as if she was saying Tia was a prostitute. She was just saying that there were places - she had heard - where prostitutes had to wear the adornment Tia had described. Tia really needed to learn to listen more carefully. And grow a thicker skin.
"I can't argue with that," Sil said. She had similar thoughts on how the Weyr put its candidates to work. In her opinion, she ought to be used exclusively in the kitchens helping plan menus and choose wines. She was trained as a vintner, and probably knew more about the craft and kitchen work than any of the people who were given authority over her. She frequently disagreed with their beverage-meal combinations, but whenever she voiced her disagreement she was either ignored or taken to task for criticising a superior.
Tia's snappy tone didn't pass unnoticed. Sil simply didn't feel the need to get into an argument. The morning was young, and she didn't want to spend the rest of the day in a bad mood. Thus, she contented herself with saying in a sing-song voice, "At least I can."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
