Logs:Snobbery
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| RL Date: 8 November, 2015 |
| Who: Hattie, Rhiannon |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: A discussion of the employment of talent. |
| Where: Commons Cavern, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 21, Month 3, Turn 39 (Interval 10) |
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| Rhiannon is sitting at the end of the large leather sofa, which is empty other than her. The two armchairs nearby are also empty for the moment, though there are some people talking quietly in other parts of the commons. She is bent forward a little, and seems to be looking intently at something in her lap. It's a strange angle for reading, and anybody who gets close will see that she has embroidery she's working on. It's too early a piece to know what the design is, but it looks like the embroidery is being added to a handkerchief. "I'd appreciate the inventory being completed by evening, but, if not, I still expect to see the accompanying hidework in progress." Those are Hattie's parting words to one of Erinta's assistants, just as she hands off to her a clipboard with a sheaf of mostly blank grids attached to it, all the basic data missing, for now. She immediately begins to rummage in her satchel for something else, only walking and rummaging doesn't turn out to be so easy, leaving her forced to stop at one of the armchairs opposite Rhiannon and prop the satchel on an armrest to get a better look at its contents. "Rhiannon," she acknowledges, under her breath. Rhiannon looks up from her work with a smile. "Hello Weyrwoman. How are you today?" She carefully sets her work down on her lap. "Did you need anything or did you come here to relax or work too?" She motions to the empty seats around me. "If so, please join me if you'd like. I find that I like the bustle of a busy place for quiet work. Especially when it's light and all around you, it's almost like it's not there, unlike the kitchens, where a bang of a pot is loud and sudden." "I was on my way through, but it looks like I've left what I meant to deliver to another of your colleagues back in the council room," Hattie replies in a half-distracted manner, sigh following on the heels of her words. "I'll have to wait until the Weyrleader is finished with his meeting before I retrieve it." And so she flips the satchel shut and moves to sit at the very edge of her chosen chair, as if it's only a temporary arrangement. "Erinta should have some documentation ready for you in a couple of hours, concerning the requisition procedure for higher value items," she tells her. A moment passes before she asks, "What are you stitching there?" Rhiannon nods when Hattie mentions the documents. "I'll look for them when I get back." She looks down at her lap with a smile. "I think it's going to be a flower." She points towards the little bit of red that she's done so far. "These will be the petals. I haven't decided yet if it'll just be the head of the flower or if there will be leaves coming off of it. When I was with the Traders, besides doing the books I also sold my embroidery. I stopped selling when I left the traders, but I also don't want to lose my skills. I suppose if I ever needed to I could suppliment my earnings, but for now I do it mostly because I enjoy it." Hattie inclines her head a little. "Good. Thank you. We need to make sure that we're all operating from the same book of rules, as it were." The embroidery in progress is given due study, the Weyrwoman's tilting her upper body forward slightly so that she might get a better look. "No, it's prudent not to let good skills go to waste or lapse from lack of practice," she agrees. More wryly, she admits, "I was expected to embroider as a matter of course, but I've rarely done anything but knit since I left my Hold. I'm not sure whether it was simply that it was expected that made me take against it." Rhiannon smiles. "I've been wondering if I left the Traders for that reason, at least at first. They put up such a fuss about it, that it made me want to do it more." She smiles mischievously. "And of course if there was a Hold boy they didn't want me to talk to while we were traveling, I wanted to talk to him more. But I like knowing that I have a room to call home instead of a wagon, so it was the right decision inspite of it feeling even better because of all their talk to get me not to." "Do you see them much?" Hattie enquiries, tilting her head a touch. "Or have you made... a clean break, so to speak?" She gives a quick twitch of her shoulders. "Either way, you're surely old enough to be your own woman now, regardless of where you wish to be that person." Slowly, she settles back a bit more in her chair, though she doesn't entirely relax. "That said, it can be difficult to go against the expectations of those around you, no matter what your age. Family, I assume?" Rhiannon nods. "They're all family, though because there are several families as part of the trading group we aren't all related I'm part of the Head family, but there's a lot of us so I didn't have any expectations of leadership" She grins. "I think they just didn't want to lose their bookkeeper. I haven't seen them since I left, but we ended on good enough terms that I'll see them next time they stop at Fort Hold in their circuit." "If you were to make and stockpile enough pieces, you could ask them to sell your work next time that you see them," Hattie supposes, suggestion made in an idle sort of way. "It wouldn't be as if you'd diverted any of the time you owed them if all the work has been done before you see them, and they wouldn't have seen you doing it either, whatever their reasons are for their distaste. You might get a better price further afield, too." Though then she sports a moment's grimace. "After whatever cut they might expect." Rhiannon nods, thinking. "True, it would save me the time if I should ever want to sell them, not to have to do it myself." She smiles. "I guess that's another excuse to keep up the skills. I'm not sure if Weyr made goods would fetch a better price than the same skilled crafters would anywhere else, or I'd say it wouldn't be a bad way to make money for the Weyr." She grins. "But that may be the trader in me, thinking about ways to earn." "Encouraging those who can to craft to fund themselves and the Weyr would be a more positive course of action than taxing earnings made independently of wing duties," Hattie easily agrees. "However, the unfortunate snobbery towards craft-stamped and produced goods would be one that people need to train themselves out of. A skill is a skill; training under a Master or Journeyman should not be relied upon to add further validity to gifted work." Her glance around the cavern lingers not on any one particular figure. "There are many here who I've heard insist that their talents are nothing more than a hobby or aren't worth bothering with, simply because no Hall has validated them." Rhiannon nods. "I've seen that too. It's part of human nature to be our worst critic, and sometimes I can be like that too, but there are talented people everywhere. I'm lucky that our Trading family is fairly respected, so we were able to sell well in the Holds in our circuit. Noncrafters have to sell for less than a crafter of the same skill, but what the buyer should consider is they are getting the same quality for less money. They can afford more of it, or save some money for other things." "Half of the time, it's less people being their own critics and more being told that they cannot expect to be as respected as someone with craft training, who may well be worse than they are and still fetching a higher price for their work." Hattie doesn't quite manage to keep her tone from being dry, nor more than a little derogatory of that school of thought. "At any rate, with the idea of being taxed still so fresh in people's minds, working towards such a goal and discussing percentages may well need to be set aside until it's less apt to cause hurt and suspicion." Rhiannon nods. "Nobody likes to let go of money they hadn't had to before. Sometimes it's just necessary. Though it seems we have been doing better, and I'm glad. I feel a little protective of the Weyr since it's my new home." She smiles. "I might not have been here that long so far, but I intend to be here a long time going forward." Hattie watches Rhiannon a little more closely than might be comfortable for a moment and more in the wake of her first comment, then gathers herself to get to her feet, collecting up her satchel as she goes. "And sometimes things are not so simple," she answers steadily. "Regardless, I hope you'll continue to do your best." For herself or for the Weyr isn't made clear. "Remember to pick up those documents from Erinta," are her parting words, as she excuses herself without further remark. Rhiannon nods with a smile, at least not overtly noticing the look. "Thank you, I will. Have a good day, Weyrwoman." She starts to pack up her embroidery, apparently ready to leave the commons herself. |
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