[Log] Study Group
Who: Ashwin, Connor, Jandor, Roa
When: Day 10, Month 11, Turn 2, 7th Pass
Where: Roa and Tialith's Weyr, High Reaches Weyr
What: Connor, Jandor, and Roa get together to work on homework for a class.
It's not long after dinner before homework demands are due to be met. The junior weyrwoman Roa has offered her weyr as a place to work on a communal project with her two partners, and she's currently moving about, making sure the room is tidy. The clutter under the bed has, instead, been tucked into wardrobes and desk drawers. A couple extra chairs have been pilfered, as well as more blankets in case padded floor sitting is preferable. Her desk is stacked with hides and tomes to help in researching the assignment (as well as plenty of blank hides, quills, and inkwells), and Roa just keeps moving about the place, adjusting this or that, and waiting for her guests to arrive.
On her side of the weyr, the golden dragon Tialith is curled into a ball and dozing.
Connor is, apparently, one of those people who arrives ridiculously early for social engagements, and then spends half the extra time loitering outside the door working up the courage to go inside. After several peeks half-inside, she takes a couple of steps forward and mostly just stands there, looking awkward and very out-of-place.
Jandor is not quite late. He is very close to it, however -- despite having set out fairly early. Being somewhat new to the Weyr, some parts of it have gone unexplored and this is one of them. And so, despite his timely departure much time is spent in actually getting hold of the place. Eventually though he enters, one of his bearpaw hands scratching at his beard in an effort to relieve a bit of frustration at just how much time he wasted by blundering around. He has a backpack over one burly shoulder, loaded down with a few tomes here and there. His expression is unfortunately not so jovial, but that can be easily put off to his consternation at the wasted time. "'Lo." He says, without preamble to Connor -- making his way a little farther into the Weyr -- moving right on past her. Apparently, he's dealt with visitations in these sorts of dwellings before as he clears his throat and half bellows.. "'LO! ARE WE WELCOME?" down the length of the tunnel.
As Connor hovers, Roa putters, and it is the bellow that has the weyrwoman jerking upright, eyes wide. These tunnels that lead into the Weyrleader Complex's weyrs are significantly shorter than most and the bellow is...well, it's still pretty loud when it makes it to the main living area. There is a final cursory glance around before she moves to the door to pull it over and peer outside. "Connor. Jandor. Please, come on in." Then she steps back to allow them to do exactly that.
When Jandor comes up behind her, Connor turns to glance at him and stare, blinking, complete with a half-cringe at all that yelling. Even when Roa speaks, she studies the healer, glancing after a moment around to the Weyrwoman, offering a half-smile as she steps inside and then stops, giving Roa an expectant look. This is her weyr; Connor seems to be waiting for her to lead the way.
Jandor clears his throat again once his bellow has sounded, turning his head to half smile at Connor. "Never was much for fardlin' 'round, Lass. Sorry if I startled ye. Didn't mean to." And then the gracious host is regarded and the Healer inclines his head once again. "G'day. I rather appreciate the invitation. Far sooner work here in the quiet than in some of what I've had to deal with lately." And with that he moves on past her through the open door, turning slightly to an angle as he maneuvers through it.
There is not, really, a great deal to lead to. The space is fairly humble, if warm and tidy. Roa holds out an arm, gesturing a bit towards the space. "Please, make yourselves comfortable. It's my pleasure to have you. There's chairs and someone can seat themselves on the bed. Or I've some extra blankets and we could use the floor which, in the end, might make the most sense. It would allow us to spread out the reading fairly easily. Whatever you're both most comfortable doing."
"S'okay," Connor offers to Jandor, along with a half-smile and a "sir" tacked on after a miniscule pause. If he's going to take the lead, though, she'll fall in step behind him. "I like the floor?" is her suggestion as for seating arrangements. "It's... like you said. But the other's fine with me, too. Really."
Jandor glances over his shoulder at Connor at the statement of sir. "Jan." He corrects. "Please. Jan. So long as we're working together. I'm not the boss of ye." A beam of pearlescent teeth through his heavy facial hair is flashed at her in a smile, before he nods towards a chair. "I'm gonna pick the chair. You folk can sit on t'floor if you want to, but unfortunately, my ass end isn't so easy to maneuver up off the ground, 'n a bit of height makes me that much more comfortable." One of his hands lifts, scratching at his mane of hair. "So, where d'ya want to start with this, anyway?" And, that's Jan. Always straight to work.
The floor seems to be Roa's choice as well. Or, at any rate, it's where she sits after gathering up all those hides and tomes and biting back a smile at Jandor's comment on his posterior and its needed elevation. The reading is, indeed, set down on the ground nearby and Roa puffs out a soft sigh as she thinks. "Well, it's about holds and crafts, right? A group paper on the way holds and crafts interact, so I was thinking we might try to focus in the crafts and how they interact with the holds they're directly attached to. So, Boll and the Weavercraft. Fort and Harper and Healer. Tillek and the Fishcraft." This last causes a tiny smile for some reason before Roa looks up and around at Connor and Jandor. "What do you think?"
Jandor settles back into the chair that he picked, disconcertingly causing it to creak under his weight. Stretching out his legs, he places his backpack on the floor beside him and crosses his arms over his chest. "Mm, could work. Though, if we're studyin' interaction..... might be kinda interestin' too to study how the different groups integrate themselves, and yet still maintain their individual connections? Like, study exactly how the weavercraft functions in a Weyr for example. The knowledge of most people is basically...yea, they weave things. Study not just what they do, but how supplies work, interactions on a daily basis, an' that sort of thing. Don't limit ourselves to any one or two specific places, but kinda study how everyone interacts?"
"Sorry. Habit," is Connor's excuse, her cheeks pinkening at the correction. Quickly, she seats herself, folding long legs up under her as she tries to look demure. It fails within the first minute, and she fidgets around to something more comfortable. "Or like Crom and the minecraft," is her input, more animated. "I know that one. That sounds interesting, though. About the--and the--" This, to Jandor. Gestures serve to fill in the blanks when she can't come up with a word.
A small nod to Jandor. "I like the idea," Roa offers, "but remember that the Instructor only wanted Holds and Halls. Weyrs were to be left out of it for the time being. I think if we explore too many avenues, the whole paper will start wandering. And become rather a lot longer than the assigned number of pages. But," she nods to Connor at the mines idea, "Connor you bring up a good point with Crom. The dynamics are different. Fort has Harper and Healer, but they're all three virtually independent. Crom Hold and the mines are synonymous with one another. Completely interdependent. And then you have Tillek and the Fishcraft where it's fairly impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins. So, how come? Why are the relationships so different, you know? And what does it mean for those halls and those holds? More intermarrying? Different views on crafters versus holders?" There a nod to Jandor. "So we can explore various relationships, but in a more defined context."
The introduction of a fourth person into the room happens without ceremony. Ashwin eases the door open, enters, and lifts a boot to kick it shut behind him. He's several steps in and has his jacket halfway off, peeled down to his elbows, before he registers that he's in company. There's a pause then, as he lifts his head to look first towards Roa, then Tialith, and then towards Connor and Jandor, each of whom are studied in silence. Then with a polite nod he mobilises, resuming the pulling off of his jacket to free his arms.
Jandor is seen to raise one bushy eyebrow at Ashwin as he makes his way in, but his polite nod is given an cheerful enough wave before he turns his attention back to the project at hand. "Good point." He says to her. "And ye needn't worry about softenin' your tone with me, by the by. If'n ye think something is a dumb idea, just say so. I'll not cry." Again, the pearlescent smile before he leans forward. "So, are we to take in just social interactions, or economic interdependence? Study it on all levels, or the like? I suppose, in the case of Tillek and the Fishcraft for example -- they're like that because the Hold sprung up around where they decided t'teach the fishcraft. Or in Crom Hold, that's where minerals were discovered and the place grew up around it. Almost happened where I was raised. Small little hold though, on a good patch of land... and a vein of iron was discovered and the mining craft moved in. Though, that changed."
"The mines are all we have--all Crom has," Connor corrects herself. Knowledgeably, some of the initial shyness fading as she warms to the subject, she notes, "Like how fish are all Tillek has. Fort can farm and that sort of stuff, and healers and harpers can work anywhere--they /have/ to work everywhere. But miners are limited to places where they can mine, and that's Crom--and we can't do anything else but mine becau--because..." When Ashwin enters, Connor gets distracted and for a moment loses her train of thought, before she finishes, "Because the land isn't suited to farming, or herding, those sorts of things." She wraps up quickly, and, though nominally she keeps her attention on her study partners, she keeps shooting what she seems to consider surreptitious looks to Ashwin.
To Jandor's comment about softening her tone, Roa smiles. "You needn't think I'm softening my tone for you, Jandor. This is how I choose to speak and how I'm most comfortable speaking. And you managed to get the gist anyhow," her smile warms a bit more, "so I must not be too far off the mark." As the door opens, Roa's attention flicks over and for the brief moment of eye contact Ashwin offers her, Roa offers up, in return, a tiny and fleeting smile. She gather up some blank hides, a quill and an inkwell and begins writing quickhand notes as the others talk. When there is a lull, she straightens. "Please pardon my manners. Connor, Jandor, this is Ashwin. Ashwin, this is Connor," a nod to the girl, "and Jandor, " a nod to the red, hairy thing in the chair. "I think we're best off picking the three areas we know best. Connor, you seem to be familiar with Crom. Jandor, I presume you know Fort somewhat, as you come from Healer Hall. And Ashwin has spent much of his life at Tillek, so if he might be willing to honor us with a few words about that hold and the fishcraft?" Her head cants to the side, one brow arching, and if there is a bit of a devilish spark in her blue eyes...well...it is a very very small spark, at least.
"My pleasure," Ashwin murmurs politely, rearranging his features to something that would probably look more like a proper smile if it wasn't contrasted with the fleeting, but far more genuine effort briefly offered to Roa. That's until she volunteers him to join in. That earns her a long moment of silence, as the guard sucks in a long breath through his nose. Then, "I'm sure I'm no expert on the fishcraft," he replies, shaking out his jacket, and continuing as he walks across to snag it on a hook. "Get seasick, myself."
The red hairy thing in the chair scratches at its beard, causing the crimson locks to wiggle slightly. "Aye, I agree. I'm just throwin' it out there. I suppose I know Fort well enough. Kind of a boring place, but... " A smile. "That's not really a project worthy revelation. Also, happy t'meet you." This is said for Ashwin's benefit. He bends forward, stretching out a long arm with the intention of snagging one of those hides from Roa; pulling out a small case from his belt that presumably bears a quill.
"Hi," is all Connor manages, very quietly, to Ashwin, before she studiously turns back to Roa and Jandor. "I know Crom," is all she notes then, retreating again.
The weyrwoman holds up a hide for Jandor's snatching pleasure. "I don't presume we're any of us experts. We're not supposed to be. Just supposed to think about it, and record what we think. With some hides to help make sure those thoughts don't stray too far into fiction. So perhaps, if you might each note, in living where you did, how much you felt affected by the hold, if you were primarily a member of a craft and how much you were affected by the Hall if you were primarily a resident of the hold. I think personal accounts are going to be more informative and more telling, in the end." This all has been said to Connor and Jandor, but then Roa's head tips so her eyes drift over to Ashwin. "Are you sure you won't join us?" she queries lightly. There's a tiny half-smile before Roa adds, "I'm asking."
He was going to make it, he really was. Ashwin had his jacket away, and all that was left was to edge back towards the door, and out towards the safe, nonacademic world. But no. Not this evening. Two words from Roa are sufficient to haul him up short, and his head turns so that his pale eyes can settle on her for a long moment. Then, with a brief, wry smile for the concession, he alters his course and crosses over to where the two women are settled on the blankets, sinking down between them and taking care to keep his boots off the edge. "You want me to write this down?" Doubt registers in his quiet voice.
Good humor rises in the face of the healer once more, as he stretches forward -- leaning down towards Roa. "Speak for yourself, Lassie. I'm a veritable expert at anything that I put my mind to." He taps himself on the forehead to emphasize his words. Sitting back up though, a soft chuckle -- perhaps missed -- indicates that he is quite kidding. Either way, the case is opened -- quite a natty little thing, containing both quill and a small ink pot. "You're likely right." He says, thoughtfully. "Though, I think it's going to be hard to paint the Holds is in a very flattering light. I mean, in some cases -- no offense to anyone here -- they do play support for the crafthall that is in them. Or sometimes, the other way around, and the hall is just an accentuation of the hold -- but more the other way."
Accommodatingly, Connor edges a few more inches away from Ashwin when he seats himself between her and Roa. Then, with a smidgeon of righteous indignation, she gives Jandor a look for his comments on the nature of Holds, but says nothing at all in the end.
It's the comment about being an expert that has Roa chuckling, her smile broad and sincere. "One expert and two residents then. And a good notetaker. That would be me." This last is said with a small head tilt towards Ashwin. "So, Ashwin, what do you think about Jandor's statement? When you lived in Tillek, did you feel that the hall was leeching from the hold? Or the other way around? And why? What did you see? Jandor, your question returned to you. Who has the upper hand when it comes to Fort, Harper, and Healer? Connor, do you think Crom Hold could exist without the minecraft? Does the Hall gain anything from having the hold there as well?" Roa picks up a quill and tugs her hide closer, ready to record it all.
Ashwin is no willing scholar, and the weyrwoman earns herself another brief, silent glance for her questions - he'd rather be somewhere else, for all he's settled down on the rug at her request. Nevertheless, with a slow breath in he considers the healer's proposition, tipping his head to one side. "Do I think the hall leeched off the hold? I think you can't separate them, really. Only four things we do at Tillek. Build ships, sail ships, catch fish and cut down trees so we can build more ships." The words are delivered deadpan, without a ghost of the smile they perhaps deserve. "Everybody does one of those things, or their families do. You can't think of hold without hall."
Jandor raises a hand towards Connor and her visible bit of indignation. "Easy, Lassie." He says. "I'm hold born and bread. Just speakin' what I've seen." He dips his own quill in his inkpot, his heavy mitts of hands showing surprising dexterity as he begins to write in a very fine hand. "Fort is a little bit of both ways. I think that economically, Fort is important. It supports itself. But I also think that the crafthall brings a lot of importance to it. Much of Fort's structure is based around the Healer hall itself -- there are things there that are designed to support it, that you'd not find anywhere else. It is not perhaps as intertwined at Tillek, you could easily be a farming type... but the Crafthall does not support itself, it is supported by the Hold. You might call it leeching, but that would suggest parasitism. I think it is almost, but not quite symbiosis, with the hall drawing out many resources but giving back in reputation and a steady influx of new people. Otherwise, Fort would be just another family hold."
"Crom... is mostly just support for the minecraft," Connor notes after a moment, taking up her own quill and chewing lightly on its end before she continues that thread of thought. Jandor's apology makes her neck flush lightly again, but she doesn't answer. "It really does only exist as a place to support the miners while they dig. If the minecraft moved, I imagine the hold would wither away, too, because we've--they've--got no way to get supplies--the only item we have to trade is the things we mine out."
Scritch scritch, Roa's hand is not as neat as Jandor's but it does fly across the page quickly as each person speaks in turn. If Ashwin is deadpan when he speaks of trees to build more boats, Roa's own mouth tips upwards and a small, single chuckle slips past her lips as he speaks. Jandor is given a glance and a thoughtful nod as she writes, and then Connor awarded another for her insights on mining and the hold. "Three very different places, then. In Tillek they're the same thing. At Fort Hall and Hold utilize each other's differences and at Crom it's the Hall that's the most valuable. Connor, you said what you thought about the hall leaving, but what would become of the Smithcraft, do you think, if the hold left? Ashwin, would you say there is any distinction seen at all between those apprenticed or studying in the Fishcraft and those holders who, let's say, build the boats used in them? Who ranks where, would you say? Jandor, why does it matter that Fort doesn't become 'just another hold' if it's self sufficient?"
Jandor has a hand that is in direct contrast to the shaggy bulk of his frame -- very neat, precise letters that speak volume of the precision that he carries out his work with. "Because, I think that to a certain extent Fort has become dependent on the influx of new people. So many people come and go, with intermarriage and children being common that I honestly believe that Fort's population would suffer if the Hold simply disappeared. Furthermore, the economy has become dependent on the Healer hold -- even among other crafts. Smiths at Fort Hold produce scalpels, for example. Where else is that done? Fort could easily be a little family hold that doesn't really matter -- but that's just it. I don't think most of Fort would really want to be that."
"I expect the craft would suffer, but they could probably hold on," Connor notes thoughtfully, tapping her quill on the paper repeatedly. "They'd have to start doing their own trading for supplies--food and clothes and all that--instead of using the Hold as a middleman, but it could be done. They've their own support staff, so..." She trails off to begin writing, and is shortly absorbed enough in that that the rest of the conversations around her might as well not exist.