Prick
Location: Weyrling Clearing
Time: Late Morning on Day 26, Month 11, Turn 2
Players: J'lor, D'rian, K'tric, Lili
Scene: J'lor pairs off the weyrlings and has them work on their sewing. D'rian is placed in an uncomfortable situation, K'tric and Lili are adorable, and J'lor is a little bit evil.
It is, of course, warm and sunny and also of that time in which weyrlings get lessons and hatchlings get naps. J'lor is seated on one of the tree stumps that forms a circle near the entrance, and the island healer is heading back up the path after imparting her lecture on some of the medicinal plants on the island. The bluerider leans back, causing his spine to pop faintly, as he looks around at the folks gathered there. "Well, before we steal a bit of free time until lunch, does anyone have any questions?" He always asks this. The opportunity to throw pretty much anything (figuratively) at him, on or off the lecture topic.
D'rian is among those seated near J'lor and Taikath is at his feet. Literally. The growing bronze is asleep with his head resting on top of D'rian's left foot. With a hand absently resting atop his dragon's shoulders, D'rian shakes his head in reply to J'lor's question. The others around him are then looked to, to see if they have any questions themselves.
K'tric attends this lecture because he has to, not because of any other reason. Throughout most of the lecture, he's looked bored, sometimes like he wants to say something himself, and on one occasion outright disagreeing with what's being said. He's silent at the call for questions, fidgeting with impatience.
Lili's probably first to chime in after that, her smile glimmering brightly as ever. Emieth's back at her... pile-of-leaves... fast asleep, leaving the little greenrider free to tap her feet on the ground in front of her as she leans forward on her makeshift seat. "Hum. Is it true that we're moving onto straps soon, mister J'lor?" As usual, she's got that pesky title slapped in front of her superior's name, though she delivers it innocently enough.
Klah-brown eyes travel over the gathered faces though most just peer back up at J'lor, blinking. It is Lili who gets a bit of attention for her query and the bluerider dips his head into a nod, letting the 'mister' come and go without comment. "It is. Well, we're going to begin discussing it and practicing. It will be a few months yet before you actually -make- your straps. But..." J'lor leans down and picks up from behind his tree stump a sizable collection of rabbit skins, setting them on his lap as he again looks around at the cluster of weyrlings, "I have some hides to practice on. Who here already knows how to stitch?" The skins begin to get passed around. Perhaps 'free time' was all relative.
D'rian half raises his hand, indicating he does know how to stitch. The skins being passed around eventually make their way to him, and with one hand he separates a skin for himself before passing the stack on to his neighbor. While Taikath rolls onto his side, heaving a sigh and refolding his wings against himself.
At once, K'tric holds up a hand. "People," is his clarifier, as he takes a rabbit skin for himself as well.
Next to K'tric, Lili takes a skin too, looking mighty pleased with herself. Not so is the lad behind her, muttering something under his breath about his free time being hijacked. "Not super good, but I think I can manage," she adds, eyes down, to the murmur of answers whilst not bothering to put her hand up. Both of them are busy handling the rabbit skin, anyway - such an interesting texture!
There are other replies, a few other weyrlings saying they can, some shaking their heads and saying they can't. "All right. We're going to pair off and have everyone check one another's work over the coming months. It will also be a good exercise in working together with somebody. K'tric, the stitches used in people and the stitches used in material are somewhat different but I'm glad you have a point of comparison. Now, let's see...E'ber, I'm going to have you pair with..." and weyrlings are listed off. Mostly, it's one person who knows how to stitch with one person who does not. "K'tric, I want you to work with Shanti. Riseli, you're with M'cay. D'rian, you're going to be helping Lili. L'mon and P'dian, you'll work together. S'drei, you and L'vok. Gananye, you'll partner with J'o..." and so on. A'der, ends up being the odd man out (thirty three, after all) and J'lor frowns faintly. "A'der can join up with D'rian and Lili for now." There.
"You want lines?" D'rian asks of J'lor after glancing to both his partners. If he's displeased about one half of his group, it doesn't look or sound it. Yet. The scrap is still held, Taikath still dozes at his feet and D'rian looks at only J'lor.
"Shanti likes me," K'tric says, sounding happy about that fact. He offers J'lor one of his cheerful, disingenuous grins in return.
Surely Lili is not the half of his group that D'rian is secretly displeased about? The girl leans forward some more to glitter her bright smile at the bronzerider, before twisting her head about to find A'der and grin at him, too. The glint her eyes says it all; she's special! /Two/ partners!
"Yes. Lines of stitches. We'll start with just stitches in the full skin. Then, once everyone's a bit better, we can cut them in half and sew them together and so on. I have thread and that is not too challenging to reproduce, but I do beseech you not to misplace the needles. We have a limited supply of metal ones and the thorns used otherwise take a seven of soaking in that solution Elsia devised before they hold up." collections of thread and a carved box of needles are now passed around.
D'rian cuts another look to Lili and, after only a moment of hesitation, drops to the ground beside Taikath. The bronze unlids one eye, fixes it on D'rian, then promptly shuts it as his other half settles the skin in his lap to accept the box of needles and some thread. Collecting his own share, D'rian passes the box on then gives Lili one of those 'get over here' jerks of his head.
Lili must wait for her turn to pick a needle and some thread before she can obey that jerky summons from D'rian. Once she's determined the best-looking needle (it's slightly crooked, but that just adds character!) and a length of thread, though, she's up off her seat and over to her partner's side. Softly spoken, since he looks asleep, "Hi, Taikath." And lo, since she's standing up she gets to look /down/ at D'rian for once, and doesn't her grin seem bigger from this angle? "So you're pretty good at stitchin', then?"
As Shanti has wandered off to see to an itchy Toth and may be busy oiling for some time, J'lor glances over at the other gathering pairs and notes to K'tric, "Go ahead and join D'rian and Lili for now." And then the extra needles are returned to him and he sits back, quiet, letting the weyrlings settle.
In what can only be a very uncharacteristic thing for D'rian, J'lor is outright ignored after drafting K'tric into the Happy Go Lucky group. Focusing instead on Lili, D'rian greets her with a blunt, "Needle is crooked. Pick another one." Just like that she's dismissed. Whether Lili actually listens is another question entirely, one D'rian doesn't pay a mind to as he threads his own needle. The more genial of the pair, Taikath regards Lili with half-lidded eyes. The soft huff of warm air might also pass as a greeting or just another sigh as the bronze settles further against D'rian's side.
With hide and needle and thread in hand, K'tric hops over to join the other pair of weyrlings, settling down right up next to them, as ignorant of personal space as ever. "Hi," is his easy greeting as he settles in, laying the hide across his lap and setting about threading the needle with one eye squinted.
Lili chuckles, though whether it's at D'rian's assessment of her needle or his sighing bond huffing at her feet is indeterminable. "Oh, no. This one'll do, honest - the rest weren't much better. Gotta make do, right?" She turns blue eyes on K'tric as he settles, brows rising slightly. "Hey, wanna make some room so's I can sit, too?" An afterthought, she adds, "Um, please?"
The bluerider's interest drifts over the various groups working, but keep returning to D'rian and the pair of greenriders. For now, he says nothing.
D'rian's level of discomfort becomes all too apparent as K'tric settles down. He shifts away, trying to put some distance between them, but Taikath is unhelpful and prevents D'rian from going /too/ far away. In the end, he settles back down with a disgruntled mutter and takes up his rabbit skin.
K'tric blinks over at Lili, brows knitting as he studies her and finally scoots over. Of course, this only makes him encroach more on D'rian's space at the same time the bronzerider's trying to edge way, but K'tric doesn't seem to notice. Instead, he takes up the task of stitching with methodical precision, making a couple of neat, tiny stitches first.
Maybe it's a greenrider thing, then, because Lili settles herself fairly close to K'tric without second thought. She lays her rabbit skin across her lap, and one step behind the rest, starts to attempt threading her needle. And attempt it some more. Her tongue peeks out the corner of her mouth as she concentrates, squinting and adjusting her angle of sight to try and loop the darn thread through - to no avail. "Hum..."
That K'tric still ends up /near/ him is not something D'rian can easily overlook. That it also causes him to stab his finger with the needle elicits an annoyed look to the male greenrider. Lili's failed attempts not yet caught, D'rian says in as much an undertone as he can manage, "You mind?" Here he shifts, nudging Taikath with his knee until the bronze relents and shifts himself. No more then a couple of inches space is gained, but D'rian seems to find relief in that minor separation.
"D'rian," J'lor begins idly, "why don't you show K'tric how to make a tailor's stitch. Those are very nice, K'tric, for mending wounds, but they won't serve for sewing cloth." He pushes up from his stump to move over and crouch besides Lili, hands held out for her needle and thread. "May I? I've a little trick to threading needles."
"Mind what?" K'tric says aloud, blinking as he looks up to D'rian again. Then down at his neat little healer's stitches. "But they look better," K'tric the aesthete defends himself. But for only a moment, as he leans over to watch D'rian's stitching efforts with interest.
Lili's eyes dart sideways at D'rian and K'tric's exchange, which seems less-than-friendly. More, "Hum." As J'lor approaches and crouches at her side, she blushes. "Oh, um. I told you I wasn't super, hah. Maybe I'm not even average, but." She's interested though, and readily hands over her needle and thread. "What's the trick?"
"Sure." Unenthusiastic at best, it's D'rian's reply to J'lor as he looks at the bluerider, then the greenrider beside him. "Space." He explains in an undertone before tipping his skin to K'tric to demonstrate the tailor stitch. "See?" A second demonstration follows, as slow as the first, then D'rian straightens and - discretely - places a half inch between himself and K'tric. Taikath grunts as D'rian's knee plants in his side, but otherwise, the bronze remains where he lies.
The two boys get a quick glance before J'lor turns his attention back to Lili. "There's no shame in learning something new," he notes easily. "Watch." The bluerider takes the thread and loops it around the top of the needle. The loop of thread is pinched shut so it's a slightly stiffer line, and then it's carefully guided through the needle's eye. "Doubling up means it's less likely to bend the wrong way." The thread is pulled free and needle and thread are offered back. "You try."
D'rian should probably consider himself lucky K'tric just doesn't scoot any closer. The greenrider remains where he is, leaned forward to watch what D'rian demonstrates for him before he leans back again, eyeing the rabbit skin. His initial stitches are picked out again, before he moves to copy the bronze weyrling's movement. He is, at least, a quick learner, and the first attempt is at least decent as he holds it out for D'rian's inspection. "Like this?"
Lili's hands come up and her jaw jerks open in a gasp as J'lor unthreads the needle, her disappointment registering as she realises she'll have to try again herself. "Oh." Diligently, she takes the needle and thread, and /slowly/ attempts to mimic the action. Loop, pinch, squint, poke out the tongue... and voilà! Second attempt is successful. Her grin returns, dimpling thin cheeks. "Wow, it works! Hey, thanks, mister J'lor!"
"Tighten it up." D'rian says with only a sidelong look at the stitch, "Don't be afraid to dig in with the needle...get a good chunk of cloth." He demonstrates again, half-speed no longer employed so much as a more natural pace. Lili's success doesn't escape his notice, however, and he leans forward to study the greenrider and bluerider in action.
"It does indeed," J'lor agrees with a faint smile. He shifts from crouch to sit. "Show me what you know so far about stitching, and," his chin lifts and tips towards D'rian in a gentler version of that 'c'mere' head jerk the bronzerider employed, "watch D'rian's work. He's had some experience mending damaged leathers already, I believe."
"Better?" asks K'tric again, holding the skin out once more after he completes another stitch following this new instruction. It's indeed better, and K'tric wastes no time in starting to produce more of these sorts of stitches, tongue tip peeking between his lips in concentration.
Lili shuffles her rabbit skin in close to her waist, her needle held tightly between two fingers at the eye to save it from unthreading as she points. To one of the very badly-sewn, yet functional! patches on her trousers. The stitches are uneven, crooked, and loose in places; too tight in others and there's a big knotted nest of thread poking out at one point. It's any wonder this girl is known for her skill with fish on the fire, rather than her mending handiwork! Dark blues flicker to D'rian, blinking rapidly at his deft stitching motion. So. Fast! "Um, woah. Ok. You start underneath, right?" She guesses, with a shrug.
D'rian's gaze switches from Lili to J'lor, and, after a brief pause in which he says something under his breath to K'tric, the weyrling stands and picks his way toward blue and greenrider. He settles down in a crouch, resting forearms atop his knees and putting the skin out before him. Instead of a direct answer there's a crisp, "Watch." As with K'tric the stitch is demonstrated, but with greater exaggeration on the whole slow pace.
J'lor falls quiet, leaning back on his hands. The teaching is left to D'rian just now.
"What?" K'tric replies D'rian in reply to those words, blinking as he breaks his concentration from his stitching to study the bronzerider as he moves over to help the other greenrider. K'tric's expression is a little proud, a little confused, a little leery, all mixed together.
Lili watches. Ever so carefully do her eyes follow every single slow movement of D'rian's hands, from the beginning to the end of his stitch. She cocks her head and scratches puzzledly, messing up her hair; "Please, one more time?"
D'rian, with a more pointed look now at J'lor, redemonstrates the stitch in a painfully slow, painfully elaborate manner. To make it all the more easy (and patronizing?) verbal instructions follow his every move.
K'tric watches D'rian's back a few more moments before, finally, he turns back to his own stitch-making, as precise as ever in making those tailor's stitches in the skin.
J'lor returns D'rian's look with one of his own. It might hold a bit of accusation in that dark gaze if it was so overshadowed with bemusement. Then his focus moves around to the other groups and finally over to K'tric and his work.
Lili just watches again, making sure she takes in each movement and instruction as D'rian gives it. There's no shame in learning a new skill, as J'lor previously assured her! If he wasn't frustrated with her the first time over, it's forgiven if he is now - the young greenrider flashes a smile as she poses another question. "Ok, now together, please? You stitch, and I'll stitch, and let me say the instructions?"
D'rian ignores that amused look and focuses on stabbing the needle through the rabbit skin. Lili's request gains a sharp nod of his head. "Go." Go meaning start, which he does in the next instant - step by step, as requested, no matter how annoyed he seems to be getting.
"K'tric," J'lor calls, "if you're getting the hang of it, come over here and watch. I'd like you to know how to teach it to others as well as doing it yourself." Because encouraging folks to look up to K'tric. That's a brilliant move on the bluerider's part.
It takes a moment for the sound of his name to register, and K'tric looks up again to blink at J'lor now. "Oh. Okay," he says after a moment, rising again and stepping over to reseat himself, finding a place amongst the trio again. He finishes a stitch in his skin, then glances over at the other two's work to see how it's coming along.
Lili rattles off the instructions D'rian gave her verbatim as they stitch in unison. For all the repetition, her work isn't as neat as one might expect - not everyone's as good as K'tric, picking it up perfectly first go. It is, however, just passable. Enough that she gives a triumphant cry once complete, crediting the bronze weyrling with her success just as much as herself. "Huzzah, we did it! Look at that!" She proudly shows off her stitched skin to the group at large (not that any of the other pairs care to look) with a grin.
D'rian cringes at the proud declaration and the end result of Lili's work. He's quick to judge, pointing at the stitch with a finger and getting off all of two words before a look to J'lor has him correcting himself. "That's not - a half bad job." Gaze dropping, D'rian returns to his own work, disturbing it only to shoot K'tric that ever present 'mind my space' warning look.
The bronzeling's attempts at civility are met with a quiet smile from the bluerider whereas Lili's triumph is greeting with something easier and more open. Finally, he looks over at K'tric and says, "Point out for me, please, a couple of the things Lili did correctly in her stitching. D'rian," dark gaze flicks to the other boy, "point out what she might strive to improve." Well, at least he knows the lad's strong point.
"It could use some practice," K'tric notes, eyeing the stitch; he's not nearly so tactful as D'rian in truncating his words. But he is, at least, encouraging, telling Lili, "It will look better when you've done it a few hundred more times." The look from D'rian goes unnoticed for the moment, the greenrider's attention focused on his clutchmate's work. "The process is right, overall; she got all the instructions down precisely," is his input, before he looks expectantly back to D'rian.
Woman's work, surprisingly enough. Sewing. Though D'rian, minus another one of those mutters under his breath, sets his work aside to look at Lili's work. At K'tric's closing, D'rian says, helpfully so, "She can focus. Not talk so much. Pay attention. Calm down." D'rian looks to J'lor next, awaiting the bluerider's reaction.
She might be simple, but even Lili's sharp enough to pick up on the uncharacteristic compliment D'rian pays her work. She narrows her eyes, squinting at her 'teacher' as he returns to his own skin. "Whaa?" Luckily J'lor cuts in, and the girl's attention switches quickly over to K'tric. She nods, her smile pressing thin as she accepts the other greenrider's comments on her work. Then the heat's back on the bronzerider, though, and that smile fades altogether. Her lips quirk. "You could lighten up, y'know."
"Then we've all shared some critique of the other," J'lor swoops in before, perhaps, things truly go south. "You're doing nicely, Lili," the bluerider offers gently, "it will mostly be, as K'tric says, practice. D'rian, what's one thing Lili might improve about her *stitches* to make them better?" K'tric is offered a little nod, Lili a wink.
K'tric continues watching D'rian, expectant for the bronzerider's answer, though he does favor J'lor with a quick, bright smile.
"Straps are serious business," D'rian informs Lili, "If you want to do a bad job-" J'lor cutting in has D'rian reassessing the greenrider's work and, after a moment, the second stitch is pointed out, "Plot the spaces better. They're too far apart and crooked. Use the line to measure if it helps," The last is tagged onto Lili specifically, for all that D'rian looks to her when he says it.
Such a diplomat, that J'lor. She nods again, indicating she's happy to practice, practice, practice. And well, that wink - her smile is back, not that it's ever gone much more than a moment anyway. "Thank-you," she returns simply to D'rian, lashes fluttering indignantly in contrast to her tone of voice.
"Good. There will be plenty of time for everyone to practice. Keep it up, all of you. Work on your skins until lunch and if you find yourself with some extra time..." one arched brow suggests precisely what J'lor expects that time to be used for. "Once everyone has solid stitching," this is said louder and to the group in general, "I'll be assigning you various tasks in helping riders mend their leathers and straps." He shifts from a sit to a crouch to a stand, and begins moving among the little groups. Checking in, here and there.
If D'rian offers a return gratitude to Lili, it's said quietly. Retrieving his work, D'rian stands and moves to reclaim his spot by Taikath. That he looks relieved to be free of the greenrider's presence is obvious; that he blames J'lor for that discomfort more so for all that the bluerider is watched with that ever present frown.
As instructed, Lili goes back to her stitching. Her tongue peeks out again as she works on all those things the boys pointed out to her - plotting spaces better, straightening them up. Calming down and not talking so much, too. Not until she pricks herself, which prompts a yelp. "Yowsers!"
Fade Out
Time: Late Morning on Day 26, Month 11, Turn 2
Players: J'lor, D'rian, K'tric, Lili
Scene: J'lor pairs off the weyrlings and has them work on their sewing. D'rian is placed in an uncomfortable situation, K'tric and Lili are adorable, and J'lor is a little bit evil.
It is, of course, warm and sunny and also of that time in which weyrlings get lessons and hatchlings get naps. J'lor is seated on one of the tree stumps that forms a circle near the entrance, and the island healer is heading back up the path after imparting her lecture on some of the medicinal plants on the island. The bluerider leans back, causing his spine to pop faintly, as he looks around at the folks gathered there. "Well, before we steal a bit of free time until lunch, does anyone have any questions?" He always asks this. The opportunity to throw pretty much anything (figuratively) at him, on or off the lecture topic.
D'rian is among those seated near J'lor and Taikath is at his feet. Literally. The growing bronze is asleep with his head resting on top of D'rian's left foot. With a hand absently resting atop his dragon's shoulders, D'rian shakes his head in reply to J'lor's question. The others around him are then looked to, to see if they have any questions themselves.
K'tric attends this lecture because he has to, not because of any other reason. Throughout most of the lecture, he's looked bored, sometimes like he wants to say something himself, and on one occasion outright disagreeing with what's being said. He's silent at the call for questions, fidgeting with impatience.
Lili's probably first to chime in after that, her smile glimmering brightly as ever. Emieth's back at her... pile-of-leaves... fast asleep, leaving the little greenrider free to tap her feet on the ground in front of her as she leans forward on her makeshift seat. "Hum. Is it true that we're moving onto straps soon, mister J'lor?" As usual, she's got that pesky title slapped in front of her superior's name, though she delivers it innocently enough.
Klah-brown eyes travel over the gathered faces though most just peer back up at J'lor, blinking. It is Lili who gets a bit of attention for her query and the bluerider dips his head into a nod, letting the 'mister' come and go without comment. "It is. Well, we're going to begin discussing it and practicing. It will be a few months yet before you actually -make- your straps. But..." J'lor leans down and picks up from behind his tree stump a sizable collection of rabbit skins, setting them on his lap as he again looks around at the cluster of weyrlings, "I have some hides to practice on. Who here already knows how to stitch?" The skins begin to get passed around. Perhaps 'free time' was all relative.
D'rian half raises his hand, indicating he does know how to stitch. The skins being passed around eventually make their way to him, and with one hand he separates a skin for himself before passing the stack on to his neighbor. While Taikath rolls onto his side, heaving a sigh and refolding his wings against himself.
At once, K'tric holds up a hand. "People," is his clarifier, as he takes a rabbit skin for himself as well.
Next to K'tric, Lili takes a skin too, looking mighty pleased with herself. Not so is the lad behind her, muttering something under his breath about his free time being hijacked. "Not super good, but I think I can manage," she adds, eyes down, to the murmur of answers whilst not bothering to put her hand up. Both of them are busy handling the rabbit skin, anyway - such an interesting texture!
There are other replies, a few other weyrlings saying they can, some shaking their heads and saying they can't. "All right. We're going to pair off and have everyone check one another's work over the coming months. It will also be a good exercise in working together with somebody. K'tric, the stitches used in people and the stitches used in material are somewhat different but I'm glad you have a point of comparison. Now, let's see...E'ber, I'm going to have you pair with..." and weyrlings are listed off. Mostly, it's one person who knows how to stitch with one person who does not. "K'tric, I want you to work with Shanti. Riseli, you're with M'cay. D'rian, you're going to be helping Lili. L'mon and P'dian, you'll work together. S'drei, you and L'vok. Gananye, you'll partner with J'o..." and so on. A'der, ends up being the odd man out (thirty three, after all) and J'lor frowns faintly. "A'der can join up with D'rian and Lili for now." There.
"You want lines?" D'rian asks of J'lor after glancing to both his partners. If he's displeased about one half of his group, it doesn't look or sound it. Yet. The scrap is still held, Taikath still dozes at his feet and D'rian looks at only J'lor.
"Shanti likes me," K'tric says, sounding happy about that fact. He offers J'lor one of his cheerful, disingenuous grins in return.
Surely Lili is not the half of his group that D'rian is secretly displeased about? The girl leans forward some more to glitter her bright smile at the bronzerider, before twisting her head about to find A'der and grin at him, too. The glint her eyes says it all; she's special! /Two/ partners!
"Yes. Lines of stitches. We'll start with just stitches in the full skin. Then, once everyone's a bit better, we can cut them in half and sew them together and so on. I have thread and that is not too challenging to reproduce, but I do beseech you not to misplace the needles. We have a limited supply of metal ones and the thorns used otherwise take a seven of soaking in that solution Elsia devised before they hold up." collections of thread and a carved box of needles are now passed around.
D'rian cuts another look to Lili and, after only a moment of hesitation, drops to the ground beside Taikath. The bronze unlids one eye, fixes it on D'rian, then promptly shuts it as his other half settles the skin in his lap to accept the box of needles and some thread. Collecting his own share, D'rian passes the box on then gives Lili one of those 'get over here' jerks of his head.
Lili must wait for her turn to pick a needle and some thread before she can obey that jerky summons from D'rian. Once she's determined the best-looking needle (it's slightly crooked, but that just adds character!) and a length of thread, though, she's up off her seat and over to her partner's side. Softly spoken, since he looks asleep, "Hi, Taikath." And lo, since she's standing up she gets to look /down/ at D'rian for once, and doesn't her grin seem bigger from this angle? "So you're pretty good at stitchin', then?"
As Shanti has wandered off to see to an itchy Toth and may be busy oiling for some time, J'lor glances over at the other gathering pairs and notes to K'tric, "Go ahead and join D'rian and Lili for now." And then the extra needles are returned to him and he sits back, quiet, letting the weyrlings settle.
In what can only be a very uncharacteristic thing for D'rian, J'lor is outright ignored after drafting K'tric into the Happy Go Lucky group. Focusing instead on Lili, D'rian greets her with a blunt, "Needle is crooked. Pick another one." Just like that she's dismissed. Whether Lili actually listens is another question entirely, one D'rian doesn't pay a mind to as he threads his own needle. The more genial of the pair, Taikath regards Lili with half-lidded eyes. The soft huff of warm air might also pass as a greeting or just another sigh as the bronze settles further against D'rian's side.
With hide and needle and thread in hand, K'tric hops over to join the other pair of weyrlings, settling down right up next to them, as ignorant of personal space as ever. "Hi," is his easy greeting as he settles in, laying the hide across his lap and setting about threading the needle with one eye squinted.
Lili chuckles, though whether it's at D'rian's assessment of her needle or his sighing bond huffing at her feet is indeterminable. "Oh, no. This one'll do, honest - the rest weren't much better. Gotta make do, right?" She turns blue eyes on K'tric as he settles, brows rising slightly. "Hey, wanna make some room so's I can sit, too?" An afterthought, she adds, "Um, please?"
The bluerider's interest drifts over the various groups working, but keep returning to D'rian and the pair of greenriders. For now, he says nothing.
D'rian's level of discomfort becomes all too apparent as K'tric settles down. He shifts away, trying to put some distance between them, but Taikath is unhelpful and prevents D'rian from going /too/ far away. In the end, he settles back down with a disgruntled mutter and takes up his rabbit skin.
K'tric blinks over at Lili, brows knitting as he studies her and finally scoots over. Of course, this only makes him encroach more on D'rian's space at the same time the bronzerider's trying to edge way, but K'tric doesn't seem to notice. Instead, he takes up the task of stitching with methodical precision, making a couple of neat, tiny stitches first.
Maybe it's a greenrider thing, then, because Lili settles herself fairly close to K'tric without second thought. She lays her rabbit skin across her lap, and one step behind the rest, starts to attempt threading her needle. And attempt it some more. Her tongue peeks out the corner of her mouth as she concentrates, squinting and adjusting her angle of sight to try and loop the darn thread through - to no avail. "Hum..."
That K'tric still ends up /near/ him is not something D'rian can easily overlook. That it also causes him to stab his finger with the needle elicits an annoyed look to the male greenrider. Lili's failed attempts not yet caught, D'rian says in as much an undertone as he can manage, "You mind?" Here he shifts, nudging Taikath with his knee until the bronze relents and shifts himself. No more then a couple of inches space is gained, but D'rian seems to find relief in that minor separation.
"D'rian," J'lor begins idly, "why don't you show K'tric how to make a tailor's stitch. Those are very nice, K'tric, for mending wounds, but they won't serve for sewing cloth." He pushes up from his stump to move over and crouch besides Lili, hands held out for her needle and thread. "May I? I've a little trick to threading needles."
"Mind what?" K'tric says aloud, blinking as he looks up to D'rian again. Then down at his neat little healer's stitches. "But they look better," K'tric the aesthete defends himself. But for only a moment, as he leans over to watch D'rian's stitching efforts with interest.
Lili's eyes dart sideways at D'rian and K'tric's exchange, which seems less-than-friendly. More, "Hum." As J'lor approaches and crouches at her side, she blushes. "Oh, um. I told you I wasn't super, hah. Maybe I'm not even average, but." She's interested though, and readily hands over her needle and thread. "What's the trick?"
"Sure." Unenthusiastic at best, it's D'rian's reply to J'lor as he looks at the bluerider, then the greenrider beside him. "Space." He explains in an undertone before tipping his skin to K'tric to demonstrate the tailor stitch. "See?" A second demonstration follows, as slow as the first, then D'rian straightens and - discretely - places a half inch between himself and K'tric. Taikath grunts as D'rian's knee plants in his side, but otherwise, the bronze remains where he lies.
The two boys get a quick glance before J'lor turns his attention back to Lili. "There's no shame in learning something new," he notes easily. "Watch." The bluerider takes the thread and loops it around the top of the needle. The loop of thread is pinched shut so it's a slightly stiffer line, and then it's carefully guided through the needle's eye. "Doubling up means it's less likely to bend the wrong way." The thread is pulled free and needle and thread are offered back. "You try."
D'rian should probably consider himself lucky K'tric just doesn't scoot any closer. The greenrider remains where he is, leaned forward to watch what D'rian demonstrates for him before he leans back again, eyeing the rabbit skin. His initial stitches are picked out again, before he moves to copy the bronze weyrling's movement. He is, at least, a quick learner, and the first attempt is at least decent as he holds it out for D'rian's inspection. "Like this?"
Lili's hands come up and her jaw jerks open in a gasp as J'lor unthreads the needle, her disappointment registering as she realises she'll have to try again herself. "Oh." Diligently, she takes the needle and thread, and /slowly/ attempts to mimic the action. Loop, pinch, squint, poke out the tongue... and voilà! Second attempt is successful. Her grin returns, dimpling thin cheeks. "Wow, it works! Hey, thanks, mister J'lor!"
"Tighten it up." D'rian says with only a sidelong look at the stitch, "Don't be afraid to dig in with the needle...get a good chunk of cloth." He demonstrates again, half-speed no longer employed so much as a more natural pace. Lili's success doesn't escape his notice, however, and he leans forward to study the greenrider and bluerider in action.
"It does indeed," J'lor agrees with a faint smile. He shifts from crouch to sit. "Show me what you know so far about stitching, and," his chin lifts and tips towards D'rian in a gentler version of that 'c'mere' head jerk the bronzerider employed, "watch D'rian's work. He's had some experience mending damaged leathers already, I believe."
"Better?" asks K'tric again, holding the skin out once more after he completes another stitch following this new instruction. It's indeed better, and K'tric wastes no time in starting to produce more of these sorts of stitches, tongue tip peeking between his lips in concentration.
Lili shuffles her rabbit skin in close to her waist, her needle held tightly between two fingers at the eye to save it from unthreading as she points. To one of the very badly-sewn, yet functional! patches on her trousers. The stitches are uneven, crooked, and loose in places; too tight in others and there's a big knotted nest of thread poking out at one point. It's any wonder this girl is known for her skill with fish on the fire, rather than her mending handiwork! Dark blues flicker to D'rian, blinking rapidly at his deft stitching motion. So. Fast! "Um, woah. Ok. You start underneath, right?" She guesses, with a shrug.
D'rian's gaze switches from Lili to J'lor, and, after a brief pause in which he says something under his breath to K'tric, the weyrling stands and picks his way toward blue and greenrider. He settles down in a crouch, resting forearms atop his knees and putting the skin out before him. Instead of a direct answer there's a crisp, "Watch." As with K'tric the stitch is demonstrated, but with greater exaggeration on the whole slow pace.
J'lor falls quiet, leaning back on his hands. The teaching is left to D'rian just now.
"What?" K'tric replies D'rian in reply to those words, blinking as he breaks his concentration from his stitching to study the bronzerider as he moves over to help the other greenrider. K'tric's expression is a little proud, a little confused, a little leery, all mixed together.
Lili watches. Ever so carefully do her eyes follow every single slow movement of D'rian's hands, from the beginning to the end of his stitch. She cocks her head and scratches puzzledly, messing up her hair; "Please, one more time?"
D'rian, with a more pointed look now at J'lor, redemonstrates the stitch in a painfully slow, painfully elaborate manner. To make it all the more easy (and patronizing?) verbal instructions follow his every move.
K'tric watches D'rian's back a few more moments before, finally, he turns back to his own stitch-making, as precise as ever in making those tailor's stitches in the skin.
J'lor returns D'rian's look with one of his own. It might hold a bit of accusation in that dark gaze if it was so overshadowed with bemusement. Then his focus moves around to the other groups and finally over to K'tric and his work.
Lili just watches again, making sure she takes in each movement and instruction as D'rian gives it. There's no shame in learning a new skill, as J'lor previously assured her! If he wasn't frustrated with her the first time over, it's forgiven if he is now - the young greenrider flashes a smile as she poses another question. "Ok, now together, please? You stitch, and I'll stitch, and let me say the instructions?"
D'rian ignores that amused look and focuses on stabbing the needle through the rabbit skin. Lili's request gains a sharp nod of his head. "Go." Go meaning start, which he does in the next instant - step by step, as requested, no matter how annoyed he seems to be getting.
"K'tric," J'lor calls, "if you're getting the hang of it, come over here and watch. I'd like you to know how to teach it to others as well as doing it yourself." Because encouraging folks to look up to K'tric. That's a brilliant move on the bluerider's part.
It takes a moment for the sound of his name to register, and K'tric looks up again to blink at J'lor now. "Oh. Okay," he says after a moment, rising again and stepping over to reseat himself, finding a place amongst the trio again. He finishes a stitch in his skin, then glances over at the other two's work to see how it's coming along.
Lili rattles off the instructions D'rian gave her verbatim as they stitch in unison. For all the repetition, her work isn't as neat as one might expect - not everyone's as good as K'tric, picking it up perfectly first go. It is, however, just passable. Enough that she gives a triumphant cry once complete, crediting the bronze weyrling with her success just as much as herself. "Huzzah, we did it! Look at that!" She proudly shows off her stitched skin to the group at large (not that any of the other pairs care to look) with a grin.
D'rian cringes at the proud declaration and the end result of Lili's work. He's quick to judge, pointing at the stitch with a finger and getting off all of two words before a look to J'lor has him correcting himself. "That's not - a half bad job." Gaze dropping, D'rian returns to his own work, disturbing it only to shoot K'tric that ever present 'mind my space' warning look.
The bronzeling's attempts at civility are met with a quiet smile from the bluerider whereas Lili's triumph is greeting with something easier and more open. Finally, he looks over at K'tric and says, "Point out for me, please, a couple of the things Lili did correctly in her stitching. D'rian," dark gaze flicks to the other boy, "point out what she might strive to improve." Well, at least he knows the lad's strong point.
"It could use some practice," K'tric notes, eyeing the stitch; he's not nearly so tactful as D'rian in truncating his words. But he is, at least, encouraging, telling Lili, "It will look better when you've done it a few hundred more times." The look from D'rian goes unnoticed for the moment, the greenrider's attention focused on his clutchmate's work. "The process is right, overall; she got all the instructions down precisely," is his input, before he looks expectantly back to D'rian.
Woman's work, surprisingly enough. Sewing. Though D'rian, minus another one of those mutters under his breath, sets his work aside to look at Lili's work. At K'tric's closing, D'rian says, helpfully so, "She can focus. Not talk so much. Pay attention. Calm down." D'rian looks to J'lor next, awaiting the bluerider's reaction.
She might be simple, but even Lili's sharp enough to pick up on the uncharacteristic compliment D'rian pays her work. She narrows her eyes, squinting at her 'teacher' as he returns to his own skin. "Whaa?" Luckily J'lor cuts in, and the girl's attention switches quickly over to K'tric. She nods, her smile pressing thin as she accepts the other greenrider's comments on her work. Then the heat's back on the bronzerider, though, and that smile fades altogether. Her lips quirk. "You could lighten up, y'know."
"Then we've all shared some critique of the other," J'lor swoops in before, perhaps, things truly go south. "You're doing nicely, Lili," the bluerider offers gently, "it will mostly be, as K'tric says, practice. D'rian, what's one thing Lili might improve about her *stitches* to make them better?" K'tric is offered a little nod, Lili a wink.
K'tric continues watching D'rian, expectant for the bronzerider's answer, though he does favor J'lor with a quick, bright smile.
"Straps are serious business," D'rian informs Lili, "If you want to do a bad job-" J'lor cutting in has D'rian reassessing the greenrider's work and, after a moment, the second stitch is pointed out, "Plot the spaces better. They're too far apart and crooked. Use the line to measure if it helps," The last is tagged onto Lili specifically, for all that D'rian looks to her when he says it.
Such a diplomat, that J'lor. She nods again, indicating she's happy to practice, practice, practice. And well, that wink - her smile is back, not that it's ever gone much more than a moment anyway. "Thank-you," she returns simply to D'rian, lashes fluttering indignantly in contrast to her tone of voice.
"Good. There will be plenty of time for everyone to practice. Keep it up, all of you. Work on your skins until lunch and if you find yourself with some extra time..." one arched brow suggests precisely what J'lor expects that time to be used for. "Once everyone has solid stitching," this is said louder and to the group in general, "I'll be assigning you various tasks in helping riders mend their leathers and straps." He shifts from a sit to a crouch to a stand, and begins moving among the little groups. Checking in, here and there.
If D'rian offers a return gratitude to Lili, it's said quietly. Retrieving his work, D'rian stands and moves to reclaim his spot by Taikath. That he looks relieved to be free of the greenrider's presence is obvious; that he blames J'lor for that discomfort more so for all that the bluerider is watched with that ever present frown.
As instructed, Lili goes back to her stitching. Her tongue peeks out again as she works on all those things the boys pointed out to her - plotting spaces better, straightening them up. Calming down and not talking so much, too. Not until she pricks herself, which prompts a yelp. "Yowsers!"
Fade Out