Xanadu Weyr - Garden
An arch woven from the tendrils of a willow tree stretches overhead lightly creeping with ivy as one steps in from the meadow into this sanctuary of green. Cool gray flagstone carefully spaced enables a soft velvety moss to thrive within the cracks, and creates a single wide pathway that fluidly breaks off into two paths of stone once free of the natural arbor. It is a wonder this place, and meticulously tended from the way it seems not a single leaf is out of place.
On either side of the main path expansive grassy patches are trimmed short and edged behind with natural tan colored stone selectively chosen to stack just right. Beyond these are a line of fine puffed shrubberies in vibrant green intermingled with flowering bushes of brilliant pinks varying in hue from the very light to the very dark, which causes the occasional snowy white blossoms of other scattered here and there without worry to simply pop out of the scenery.
Directly in the center of the garden is another wall of intricately stacked stone, this of muted grays, creating what from the air would prove to be a perfect circle. It's been set high for safety, but not so much as one would not be able to lean over it to admire what lies beyond, either standing or sitting at the smattering of benches whose backs are set every four feet along it. Flush to the ground inside it's protective stone outcropping, is an enormous twenty foot wide fish pond. Within one can glean the metallic glint of playful goldfish, the unhurried cruise of fat koi, and even a frog or three among pale yellow and white flowering water lilies and their thick green pads.
The trees surrounding the entire garden were planted to give the impression that they had always been here, not only lending to a rustic look, but also alluding to the beauty that can be found among the wilds if only one might just look for it. Species vary from the ordinary Birch and Pine, but the flaming red capsules of the Indian Shot to the robust orange spokes of the Firewheel tree suggest the spice of the exotic.
Unsurprising, Rukbat has set, but tonight Valerian wasn't to be found at the observatory, not with the moons above casting plenty enough light to allow him to be out and about. He'd bundled himself up against the chill in the air, and sits not upon the wall but rather the bench beside the pond, attempting (horribly) to sew up the sides of his candidate robe. Needle through fabric, needle straight into his thumb and he hisses, yanking it back and sighing. Considering the small dots of red along the crookedness of that seam, some larger than others and in varying shades, this was something that had been going on for a while. It was only a few hours past sunset, so perhaps this had been going on since Sephany and Kelani had visited him last the night of Master Corin's triumphant success.
What luck, then, that Sephany should be coming into the garden at this very hour! Perhaps the weaver has a sixth sense for thumb-stabbing, and knows when she is needed. Though the more likely scenario is simply that she is done for the day and since her favorite place in Xanadu is the garden… either way. Here she is. Black scarf wound around to protect from the chill, a royal blue cloak pulled tight. A sedate pace through the gardens in the dark of night, though clearly there is enough light to see by (and sew by, one would hope). The figure on the bench brings a brief halt to her steps before she moves more confidently in that direction. "Why am I not surprised?" murmured in cheerful amusement.
Don't mind Vale, still completely engrossed in the repeated murder of his poor thumb. It was fortunate that he didn't particularly need that digit for anything, because after this fiasco it was undoubtedly going to be sore as all get out. Another attempt to pull thread (far too much to be perfectly honest) through fabric and he jabs himself yet again. Sure enough, he yanks his offended hand away and shakes it repeatedly back and forth, mumbling something under his breath with a knitted brow, even as he leans forward and looks at the area more closely. It was as if he was trying to uncover the reason for his poor sewing skills, when all I really needed was a mirror. Yes, there was more than enough light from those two moons in full above, casting a cooling glow instead of a warming one. Plenty enough to see the approaching Sephany, even if she wasn't exactly being stealthy, but he doesn't look up or seem to realize he now had a witness for all that digit homicide. The expression on his face was a mix of confusion and mild irritation. So mild in fact, that he might even just appear to be concerned with the way things had progressed thus far.
Hmm, yes. The slaughtering of unfortunate digits is a right of passage in the weaver world. To be sure, Sephany's fingers saw more than their fair share of needle-jabs. (There is a reason her firelizard is named Thimble). So it is sympathy and understanding beneath all that amusement. "Do you want some help?" offered as she closes the distance and drops into the spot beside Vale on the bench. "I could give some pointers…" And oh, but her fingers are just twitching to take over! She knows how to do the thing (could probably do it in her sleep) and it would just be so easy… but no. She'll just fold her hands into her lap and sit, expectantly, for Valerian to give in and say 'yes' or be prideful and say 'no'.
A night for restless wandering it seems and Kelani seems to have joined the club as well. The healer is walking along with a note book in hand, she too relying upon the double full moon. As she walks she is humming a tune at least melodically enough to not be a harm to ears. By time she has entered into the garden proper she is softly singing words to the song, again with a passable voice of one at least trained how to use it. Then she hears voices in the garden and the singing abruptly stops as she looks up, closing the book in the same motion. A look as if she was caught out doing something. "Oh hello…"
Right at the last possible second before Sephany would have started the ever loving wherry dung right out of him, Valerian suddenly looks up and catches sight of her. Grey eyes round out and if he was the type to do that sort of thing, he might have either cried or kissed the poor woman right on the mouth when she offers her help. "You're the best Sephany!" he breathes out and immediately following the starcrafter is all too quick to offer (shove) the robe her direction and retracts his hands as if touching the slightly blood speckled fabric was enough to burn him. A pause, a very toothy grin and Vale oh so discreetly slides away from robe and weaver both as if he was worried that she'd try to give it back to him, "If you could…" Y'know, do it for him, that would be greeeeeat. The soft sound of a tune on the night air draws his attention away, gaze falling upon Kelani as soon as she appears around the bend. His unoffended hand is lifted and he waves a greeting to the healer journeyman. If she was caught doing something she ought not to have been doing, there is no indication that Valerian has noticed it or her expression suggesting it.
Sephany totally would shove it right back at him, too. Instead, he just gets a narrow-eyed look of disapproval, a longsuffering sigh and then a roll of grey eyes. "Whatever," and she peers down at the robe to try and untangle the mess that is, "Way too much thread. Do you have any scissors?" yes? No? Should the answer be no, she'll just dig around for the small pouch at her waist and produce a pair of her own (because yes, she totally carries a small sewing kit with her. She's a weaver). "I am not doing this for you," she says as she goes about untangling things, "but I will demonstrate the proper way to do it, so you don't slaughter your poor hand." And then he gets to finish, is the implication. She's just snipped away the too-long string when Kelani's voice catches her ear, drawing her gaze a second later. "Hello Kelani," offered as her gaze drops back to her hands. She's not about to call her out for breaking rules, that's for sure. "Join us?"
Kelani approaches the pair , returning the wave offered. "Sure…I fear I could not settle and needed to go for a walk." She explains of her evening outing. Indeed she is usually the 'rule follower extraodinaire' but some restless nights do see her walking off her nervous energy such as tonight. She tucks the book in the crook of one arm and looks down at the mess of the robe and wrinkles her nose, "Oh dear…" She says and steps over to Velerian and holds out a hand, "I best have a look at your fingers." Attack of the crafters!
Yeah, bits of one side were sewn to the other, every seam was uneven and crooked with too wide gaps, and over all it was a clear display of Valerian's inability to do something as simple as a to-and-fro stitch. Sad really, but then again, he wasn't a weaver and probably gave what simple clothing he owned to someone of Sephany's craft to mend what needed mending. "Uh, no." he says on the subject of scissors, as is quite evident considering the LENGTH of thread and why is seems to weave from one side to the other. Thankfully, Sephany had her pouch of magic and the ability to use it, though when she states that she isn't going to do it for him she gets all those big eyes directed at her. "I've been at this for three NIGHTS!" Which would explain the holes everywhere on either side of the robe, from where he'd repeated attempted to sew it as he had been instructed up and down. A long suffering sigh of his own and he extends his arm towards Kelani, placing his hurt hand into hers palm up. Several of his fingers had been poked with that there needle but his thumb had suffered the brunt of his assault. It was rather swollen and some of the pinpricks were bruised from the force with which it had been stuck.
Kelani takes the hand in hers and examines each finger in turn. When she gets to the bruised and battered thumb she frowns. "I think you might have got an infection in this one. I will get you a poultice dressing for you to wear when you finally sleep. Until then you need to clean it with some redwort so it doesn't get worse. Hate for you to get kicked out because you lost a thumb." She says with a bit of a shake of her head and glances at the robe and back and a faint smile touches her lips, "Because…as amusing as the irony of that would be, I am sure you would like to not suffer the pain of infection longer than you have to." Unlike Seph, Kelani is not carrying such supplies on her just now, so holds up a finger of 'wait here' before she heads off in a trot.
It is with great restraint that Sephany does not give another of those long-suffering sighs as she gets a good look at the damage that has been wrought. Snip-snip go the scissors and, in a matter of seconds, all of that 'hard work' that had been done is reduced to bits of thread that go floating down to the garden floor. She is, literally, undoing each and every stitch put into that garment by a hand other than her own, reducing three-nights of work into… nothing. "Valerian…" in that exasperated tone that mothers tend to use with errant children that are pushing all the wrong (or right) buttons, "I told you I'd show you how to do it! Why didn't you ask me? I would have met you at dawn or something," because he stays up, and she wakes up at that ungodly hour. Her little pouch of wonders is unsnapped from her belt and put somewhere accessible but, while there is a little spool of white thread within, it's clearly not enough to get this job done. "I will show you. And then you can finish it," reiterated. "It's not that hard, if you go slow and are patient," as Kelani is being, as she begins tutting over Vale's poor abused hand. A glance for the departing Healer, and then back to her task. "Alright, look," and she demonstrates. "This is a proper length of thread," and she shows it clearly before threading the needle. "Knot it," which she does, "And pull it through for your first stitch. Then move slowly so you don't stab yourself. You can either go around the seam in a loop, or you can do the back-and-forth method," and at least she's using laymen's terms, right? "Small stitches," and she moves exceedingly slowly (for her) to demonstrate because presumably he is watching and taking mental notes.
If Valerian was the overly dramatic type, he might have startled at being told he could possibly lose his thumb, but the most reaction that Kelani gets from him upon hearing this news is a single blink and then the retraction of his hand. Why? So he can look at it closer, but he does give the healer a long look once he's finished with that, "Why would it be ironically amusing for me to lose a thumb and get kicked out of candidacy?" he asks, simply out of curiosity, because he didn't understand the joke. It sounded, horrible, to him. Worst case scenario. It's entirely possible he doesn't think that his thumb was nearly in as much danger as all that, especially not with a healer at the ready, but he doesn't get an answer before Kelani was hurrying off presumedly to get the items that she had spoken of. Grey eyes follow her until she disappears around the same bend she had arrived from and he doesn't look any less confused. "What just happened?" But Sephany was busy you see, busy undoing what he had struggled so hard with to accomplish and the starcrafter appears at first glance, crushed. "I haven't seen you…and I have no idea where Nova has been the last couple of days…and…" Valerian was watching though, even if he was still as far from weaver and robe as he possibly could get without fleeing out into the night.
Sephany is extremely focused on her task, but not so focused that she isn't aware of the impending loss of a thumb! Perhaps she doesn't take the threat seriously either. "I think she just threatened to cut off your thumb, should you let it get infected." Maybe. Maybe not at all. "But really. Don't give her a reason to even think of it, alright? I don't need to hear about how awesome it was to remove a phalange." Grimace. "Bad enough she gets all excited about flesh-eating bugs and what-not. I'm almost scared to leave my room." Dryly delivered, that one. But there's a certain fondness for the healer and the passion for her craft; not unlike Sephany's own passion that has her quick enough stitching down the side of Valerian's robe despite earlier words (repeated words) that she would not be doing it for him. "There are other was to communicate beside firelizard," she huffs in faint amusement. "You know where my room is. You could have slipped an SOS under my door." A pause in what she's doing and she offers up the three-or-so inches of seam she's managed to do. "Look. See? Nice tight stitches. And if you do it like this," and she demonstrates how to 'weave' the fabric around the needle, "You don't have to worry about stabbing yourself." And then she just… keeps on going. As if afraid to give it back to him. "Hopefully the weyrlingmaster's don't nix this one for the blood marks…"
"She did not!" Valerian protests, giving Sephany all of the eyeballing, but it sounded distracted because all of his attention was now focused on watching how quickly and easily the weaver made that arduous task of his look. A blink and a lift his head up, momentarily divided in his focus, "Hey now, I wasn't planning on stabbing myself about a billion times…just turned out that way…" Mumbled towards its end, because Sephany's skills with thread and needle had once more enraptured him. Head tilted slightly, making no comment himself on what seemed or didn't seem to excite Kelani. He understood her passion, as he did Sephany's, but he didn't need to explain it or begrudge the weaver her distaste in hearing about the sorts of things that nibbled on human flesh. "We've been analyzing the data from Master Corin's supernova. All of us, from like three different regions, across all ranks," Valerian explains, but it sounds as if his mind was somewhere else, grey eyes locked to the task that Sephany had so strenuously stressed she would not do for him. Not that he minds, because even with the blood spots, it would still be one of the better sewn robes. Though, at mention of nixing the robe entirely, the starcrafter's bobbing affirmative head stops bobbling and he looks up, "Do you think they would?"
"Of course not," Sephany scoffs for the stabbings. "Only a masochist would stab themselves repeatedly on purpose." And she might be flying through all that stitching, but the girl's got several turns experience on the lad; at least three years of concentrated study on the subject of weaving and tailoring. This? Easy. She could probably do it in her sleep. "I'm sorry I missed it," because she was basically dry-heaving outside in the grass. THANK YOU KELANI. "What sort of things are they trying to learn? Or just… well… what do you know about them?" if anything. She knows nothing. Stars are pretty, that's about it. "And it's got to be so far away, right? I just… I don't see the practical application?" It's definitely curiosity and not derision in her tone; she wants to know why the night sky is so important that there's a telescope pointed at it. She's reached the end of her first length of thread, shifting her posture to allow her to show him just how to tie off the end and start a new bit. It comes with the question of tossing out the robe, and she shrugs uncomfortably. "I don't know… I've never asked and I've never been a candidate so… maybe? Though given the state of some of the older robes, I doubt it. This is all along the seam and unless someone is getting very up close and personal to you… they probably won't even notice."
Sephany gets an odd sort of look, one that clearly said Valerian did not know what a masochist was and that it was quickly followed by the open of his mouth and then the pursing of his lips, says he didn't want to know. That would be a no, don't tell him, then he goes back to watching her sew away as if it had been the thing she had been born to do. It was one thing to drop your mending off and then pick it up when it was complete, it was another entirely to watch the process revealed before your very eyes. There is silence until Sephany speaks again, drawing Vale's attention upwards as her interest shift back to a topic that he knew far more about than severed limbs and necrosis, "It's important to know how a star dies," he explains, easing himself against the back of the bench by hooking his elbow over and resting the length of his arm along it. "When it does, it releases an astronomical amount of energy which can have an adverse effect on the other stars and planetary bodies around it. As Rukbat is our star and there are other stars nearby…" The starcrafter looks up at the seemingly endless pinpicks of light painting the sky around those big bright moons, "…radiation and magnetic forces…a delicate atmosphere…" It does not paint a bright and beautiful future, but Vale drops his gaze back upon the weaver, instead of finishing that bleak picture. "But yes, that one was quite a ways away…and because light takes a certain amount of time to reach our eyes, they're estimating that star died about one hundred and sixty thousand turns ago." A chuckle and a show of all those teeth of his, "We're quite safe…" Then dramatically, because it was the sort of drama expected of him, he leans forward and murmurs, "…for now…" It was all in good fun, though his humor fades and he blinks a few times. "Didn't you say your brother was a dragonrider? It runs in families Sephany, and you're young…it could still happen for you." The robe and the stitching there of, was suddenly no longer holding his absolute interest as he reaches over and very gently touches the tips of his fingers to her shoulder briefly. There and gone, retracted and returned to its position on the back of the bench. "Ugh, pass…" About someone getting up close and personal with him, and now it was his turn to look uncomfortable.
Born for this, perhaps not. But practiced? Absolutely. Fingers work at a sedate pace, for her, moving with ease as she threads her needle anew, ties a little not, and gets right back to stitching. As if Sephany's forgotten that she's supposed to be demonstrating, and not DOING. And then there's a bit of a stutter in her stitches. "How… what?!" because that whole 'one hundred and sixty thousand' has her head spinning just a bit. "How could they possibly know that?" Huff-huff. "No wait, don't tell me. It probably involves math." Shudder. "And some creative formula or something." Nope. Thanks. Leave her out of that whole light-speed thing. There would be an eye roll for all of that flashing teeth, if she wasn't glancing back at what she was doing with her fingers. "Is there anything they could do with all of that energy? Though if it happened that long ago, not sure what good it would be." Stitch-stitch-pause. A bit of a frown as she shakes her head against the idea that 'it' could happen for her. "No, it can't," and she's fairly adamant on that point, though not upset. Just firm, and somewhat tired of repeating herself, though that's no fault of his. The fleeting touch of fingers in reassurance has the side of her mouth twitching in a resigned sort of smile. "I can't hear dragons, Valerian," offered as her fingers begin moving once more down the side of HIS candidate robe. "I suspected for a while, but being in Xanadu sort of confirms it… I see the looks on everyone's face, when Leirith starts booming in their head. The sort of shock that runs through people when she starts doing… whatever she does. People pause; they wince; they get this look about them. But I just… I don't hear her at all; not even a little." A snort and a half-grin for the robe. "Then I suppose you're safe enough. It'll probably just look a bit like rust or dirt, once it's gone brown." The blood, she means. That discomfort gets a bit of a side-eye and a squint in the dark, put Seph keeps questions to herself for now. No need to make things worse.
"It involves math," Valerian chuckles, now folding both of his arms along the back of the bench and resting his chin atop them. Honestly, that reaction from the weaver over how long it took like to travel and the distance between them and it was priceless. He would have liked to elicit another, but he couldn't stop laughing softly over there on his side of the bench long enough to formulate one. Vale's amusement fades back into just a grin, pausing to think about her question and blatantly ignoring the eyeroll his many teeth bring him, "Well, no. Not energy expended a hundred and sixty thousand turns ago…maybe if it was closer…but that's more of a question for Nikolan than for me. I'd be more concerned about the effects of that energy on Pern than how to use it beneficially…" Sephany's next response wipes the smile right off the starcrafter's face though, replaced with a look of momentary confusion, "Uh…there is no way that…that is possible…" A few blinks and perhaps even some calculations all up in his head, "If you're the only one in your family who can't hear them…that suggests that you aren't…" Cough and he looks decidedly elsewhere, grey eyes off where they can do no harm and not betray his further contemplation. "But uh…if you're brother is the only one who can…" A wince and an apologetic glance before it's right back up towards the stars his gaze goes. Yep, something tells him there was a lot more family dynamics in there than he wanted to get anywhere near and so he just drops it like its hot and leaves it alone where he can't get burned. "Even with two dragonriding parents and being able to feel a dragon's thoughts, it doesn't improve my chances y'know…I have plenty of half-siblings that haven't even been searched…and Risali suggested to me that Leirith only chose me because I'm 'bad ass'. Whatever that means…" A slide of those grey eyes towards the robe at mention of the blood, "Rust or dirt?" Lips are pressed together to stifle a laugh, but there comes a snort instead. Ah well.
"OK, forget about using that energy… what would it do if it was closer? And not a few bajillion turns in the past," asked with curiosity, Sephany moving right on down the line of his robe. Apparently, she -is- going to be doing Vale's robe for him. At least this one side of it. Too bad she hasn't enough thread to do the whole thing, or she'd likely end up finishing it completely if just because she's moved into 'auto pilot' with this sewing thing. Another pause, if just so she doesn't stab her own fingers when she fixes Valerian with a firm side-eye. One of those looks perfected by women over the centuries. "Are you calling me a liar?" said in a tone that was more fake-mad than actual mad. Not at all offended, really. "Of course it's possible. Because I can't hear them. So… unless you're saying it's all in my head," ha-ha, "then I can't hear dragons. I touched the eggs, you know," dropped oh, so casually. As if she was somehow ALLOWED to do such a thing (she was, and she wasn't. It's complicated), "and I didn't feel anything. None of that fear or panic or questions or anything that you candidates seem to feel. Felt no different than touching this wall," and her hand reaches out to the rocks behind them, "only they were warm." Argument made, she turns back to sewing as Vale connects dots and starts making insinuations about her parentage that have her snorting. "Got that math wrong…" only a second later he's getting it oh, so right. "Yeah…" for the dragonrider brother. But she'll leave that untouched as well, even if she's not at all defensive. She knows. She's known for a while. But it's just one of those things that isn't spoken of. "I'm pretty sure being able to hear dragons gives you a bit of an advantage over me," she teases; an attempt to lighten the suddenly somber mood. "What? Do you want it to look like you tried to sever your own appendage over a candidate robe?"
Valerian keeps his attention on the sky, "Nothing good…" And he was going to leave it at that, because going into great detail about what would happen if a supernova went off close enough to the planet to affect it was not the sort of thing one told someone right before they shuffled off to bed. However, the starcrafter waves a hand dismissively and grins all toothily at Sephany a second later, "But don't you worry, we're keeping an eye on Rukbat and all the other stars close enough to even slightly affect us down here…" All that don't worry be happy vanishes in the light of inadvertent accusation, to the point that Vale shakes his head and holds up his hands palms up in his own defense, "No, of course not. I believe you…just…" It didn't make sense to the logic part of his brain and he wasn't liking what the information given to him was telling him. Not because it affected him any, but what it meant for Sephany or quite possibly her brother. So, he drops it again and definitely leaves it alone. He wants to tell her that she was better off not hearing what was going on inside of those eggs baking on the Xanadu hatching grounds, but he keeps that to himself. He'd reconciled himself with them, but it wasn't something he would throw anyone's way without quite a lot of mental preparation. Another twitch later, nothing is said for what Impressing meant for Sephany's brother's lineage. He respected her enough to understand that it just wasn't the sort of thing that should or would be discussed. Again, the burning question remains unasked, not even letting it form before it's similarly tossed aside. As well as any other comments related to or even close to being related to candidacy and dragon eggs. "I wouldn't be too sure about that…" is all Valerian says, before he stretches his arms up over his head and leans all the way back to change his angle of view, "Well, yeah…kinda…" A smirk sent her way that didn't quite reach his eyes, "…I'm supposed to be badass…"
Probably a good idea to stop with that 'nothing good', because sleep is definitely something Sephany would like to do in her life. Preferably without nightmares. So there is no push for additional information; just a shake of her head for the fascination with stars that (apparently) blew up millions-and-trillions of miles away and bajillions of years prior to her being born. Nevermind the one that lights their planet each morning; that one she can understand being interested in, seeing as how it's absence would impact her directly. So no more discussion of supernovas and their destructive powers; or dragonrider brothers and what it means for the none-dragonrider-hearing-girl and her family. Just sewing, and the twist of the conversation towards standing on the Sands, and the baddassery of severing body parts. Which gets a look from Seph. She's kinda full of them tonight. But hey, at least it comes with her sewing his robe for him. "And… what? Cutting off your finger is a sign of your bravado? Really? Ugh. You men," but it's kinda-sorta said in fondness. "Thinking that being a badass has something to do with pain and blood and gore. You want to be badass? I dare you to wear a dress and a pair of heels for a day. No. A night," because otherwise he'd just be passed out. "Or… I don't know. Do something that scares you," offered with a huff. "That's more badass than bleeding all over your robe."
Was there something about there not being enough thread? Well wouldn't you know that a whole spool of the stuff had magically appeared beside Sephany in all of Valerian's stretching and stargazing. Funny that. Perhaps while she was distracted over thinking about what would happen if Rukbat suddenly exploded, but the boy across the bench was certainly not going to help her visualize just how unfortunate that would be for every living thing on Pern right down to the last microbe. A soft chuckle for the look he gets though, for claims of badassery, but he cringes at the thought of wearing a dress and heels, "Bad enough I have to wear that…and little more…" Vale liked to be covered entirely and would do so all the time if it wasn't necessary to change his attire and bathe regularly. He might be weyrbred, but he was holdraised, so it made for an interesting dynamic. "I already did…and it didn't work out…" He was uncomfortable again or so says the tightness of his shoulders, "I met someone at Half Moon Bay while staying with Ila'den and R'hyn for a time…transferred myself over there for him." A soft exhale, "He waited until I was…old enough…and then I never saw him again afterwards…" Grey eyes drag across the stars, lingering here or there, but he wasn't bothering to look Sephany's way. "Admitedly he was a candidate and didn't Impress, in fact he walked right off the sands once the last dragonet bonded…"
Magical spools of thread! If Sephany noticed (and she definitely did, says the side-eye) she doesn't say anything. She was just as passionate about her craft as most are, and putting herself to a task that she was good at, and enjoyed? She's not going to complain. Was it technically cheating, for Vale to get a somewhat-trained weaver to make his robe for him? Probably. Was anyone going to be tattling about it? Nope. "Again, with the dress comments," and there's an eyeroll that is less about the starcrafter and more about the barrage of comments she's already received for the shapeless sacks of clothe required to be worn for a Hatching. "I could make it a v-neck. Show off a bit of those pectorals?" teased. But no, she's not about to go cutting into her hard-work just for the sake of a joke. Diligently sewing along, there's still a glance his direction at mention of doing something scary. And then an altogether halt in sewing as Sephany settles her hands into her lap and just… listens. "Bastard," is her first remark, and there's enough bitterness in her tone for it to be less a casual observation. Vehement. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Valerian," offered with honesty. She's more mad than anything. Definitely no pity there. Just righteous anger (it's a family trait, probably). But there's a stretch of her hand towards him, a squeeze of his arm or shoulder perhaps, if he doesn't seem adverse to it. And then back to the robe in her lap. "I don't understand people. I really don't. How they can be your friend one minute, and then totally going off on you the next." Stab-stab goes the needle into the fabric, though at least she's still putting legitimate stitches into the thing. "Everyone is so… selfish. That's what I've come to understand of people. Selfish ass-holes." Bitter much? Hm.
Oh so magical! Valerian ignores the side-eying that he gets for that, drumming fingers against the wood backing and continuing with his stargazing. Everyone had their strength and their weaknesses. He himself had met his match when it came to sewing and Sephany had trouble grasping the concepts that were probably best she let go. To each their own and all of that. It wasn't that Vale was eager for the things that would someday long after he was dust would come to pass, but the wonder and fascination that he had with those sorts of events surely was not one that was shared by all. "It's basically a dress though…" he points out pointlessly, "Very little difference between a dress and a robe other than the label slapped onto it for comfort's sake…" Under it all, Valerian was a creature of logic, even if half the time he liked to play that he was only interested in fun and thrill seeking. He knew the likelihood of him dying or being seriously and irreversibly hurt someday was high considering all of that climbing he was into, but he did it anyway. Not because he didn't value his life, but because he did. "Ugh…" Now it was his turn to side-eye the weaver at mention of changing the neckline to a v-neck to show off more skin. Then as secrets are revealed, he simply returns his eyes to the sky above and the stars that they held, even as he lifts his shoulders and drops them again. "I was never really interested in that sort of thing, not sure why, but he made me want to be interested. I tried, and it hurt…physically and otherwise…that's about all I can say for the experience." Admittedly the starcrafter's shoulders were already tight before Sephany leans over to squeeze one, but he doesn't much react to the gesture borne of comfort, "Not worth it, any of it, so…it'll be me and the stars…and that's perfectly fine by me." A silent and long inhale and then a heavy sigh, and then silence as the weaver violently stitches away over there. Should she look up, she'll find a brow-lifted expression of half-concern and half-curiosity waiting for her with leveled gaze, "You, want to talk about it Sephany?" Cause damn girl.