Xanadu Weyr - Weyrsecond and Jr Weyrwomans' Office
Office or study? Perhaps this room is a little of both. It is spacious and airy with the big windows opposite the door looking northwards, a perfect aspect when one is this far south. Those windows are framed by dark forest green drapes, soft ribbons and braid in dark, rich gold sewn along the edges to give them a sumptuous look. The back wall is covered by shelves that hold a variety of things - mostly records and reference material as well as writing tools and sheets of hide and paper. Tapestries, including several lovely scenes of the terrain around Xanadu Weyr, cover the rest of the wall-space while a soft, plain off-white rug hides the stone floor. A small, low table sits by the door and usually has some refreshment set out on it.
Several broad desks are arranged around the room, each one set so someone sitting at it doesn't look directly at any of the others. Small screens can be set up on each desk to give a little more privacy and each has one comfortable chair that goes with it. So far, it looks like one desk has a permanent claimant. There are also several other chairs, which can be used by visitors.
Midmorning at Xanadu finds the office in full swing for the day with juniors in and out - mostly out on hold/craft visits, but for one. Thea sits at her desk, writing in something, but her attention is really not on it. Her eyes wander from paper to the clock to that unplugged computer sitting on her desk in her attempt to concentrate on her work and fails miserably. Mutters to herself are, for the most part, unintelligible. "…craftsman was coming…" Mutter, mumble, "an hour late…" She shifts in her seat uneasily, turning her head so she doesn't have to look at that contraption. Maybe this will help…
There is a quiet, polite knock on the office door as Eledri arrives; he is in fact on time - at least, this was the time he was /told/ to arrive. It isn't his fault if the senior journeyman on duty gave him the wrong hour. Eled has his a laptop bag slung over one shoulder, the strap across his chest, and a few gadgets, including a radio and cellphone, clipped to his belt. Both of those are currently off, so as not to interrupt whatever he's been called in for today. He inclines his head to the goldrider as he enters, offering a polite, "Weyrwoman," to Thea, accompanied by an automatic, "Landing's duties to Xanadu." The young computercrafter has only recently returned to Xanadu after an extended absence, and he's been keeping his head down and staying out of sight ever since. Indeed, this is probably the first time he's been called in for something in several sevendays, though just what he's been hiding from is anyone’s guess. A pair of spectacles are pushed high on the bridge of his nose, and he brings ah and up to adjust them as he glances around the office a moment.
D'had is found at his desk, similar to Thea. A glance every now and then sent towards the woman given her muttering and mumbling. "Maybe he forgot?" he finally suggests. One can only listen to that for so long after all. But it's only a few seconds later that the crafter makes his way in with that knock.
He's probably not late at all. Dread slowing the clock's hands more likely to blame for those muttered words of Thea's. She jumps just a little when D'had speaks, replying in an 'I hope he did' sort of tone, "Ah, maybe?" Poor Weyrsecond. Stuck with all these women. The stuff he has to listen to. Her eyes widen at the knock and there's a quietly muttered, "Shards," before she calls "Come in." The two words are uttered pleasantly enough as the junior schools the apprehension from her face. As the computer craftsman enters, she rises, "Oh, it's you, Eledri! Long time no see." She offers a half-smile to the young man hastily tacking on an absent, "And Xanadu's to Landing." Then she's backing away from her desk with a wave to that dark screen, "I'm supposed to learn how to use that… that… thing."
Eledri dips his head again, the young man offering another polite greeting, "Sir," to D'had when he spots the weyrsecond. The computer is eyed for half a moment, before Eledri moves over toward it with a simple, "The computer?" Lovely. He doesn't return the half-smile, though at least he's not frowning. He looks over the machine, kneeling down to plug it in, as he says to Thea with a nod, "I can show you how to use it." And proceeds to turn it on. He'll check the monitor too, to make sure it's all set up correctly. And then wait for it to boot up.
D'had gives a nod of return greeting to the crafter. He's trying to focus more on his work than the amusement that's sure to follow anyone trying to teach Thea. "Good luck with that," he comments idly.
And while Eledri does that stuff, Thea will stand over here near the Weyrsecond's desk where it is safe should the thing decide to explode. "Yeah, computer." She affirms but the tone those words are said is more like, 'That Monster'. She cranes her neck as Eledri pushes the button, sidling around the back of D'had's desk just a bit more. "Does… it always make that sound when you, ah… turn it on?" Because the thing is humming and clunking. The Weyrsecond's comment draws a sharp stare and a bit of a pout. "You should learn too. D'son says so."
Eledri does glance at the goldrider a moment, though if he's amused by her behavior, he manages not to show it. Instead, he'll straighten up and log on to the machine, saying absently, "It's normal." There's some typing a moment before he adjusts his glasses again and tells Thea, "You will need to set a username and password." And he moves aside indicating the keyboard for her, "You will probably want something that's easy to remember. I've enabled admistrator access, but if you forget your password, you may have to ask another computercrafter to reset it for you."
Uh-huh. Because that'd be safe. "How about you learn, and teach me. Hmm?" D'had replies to the weyrwoman. Its really nothing more than an attempt to put off learning the machine that much longer. "Now go learn," he adds, waving a hand at Thea in a shooing motion. He'll just sit here and watch like he's been thus far.
"Oh normal." There's relief in Thea's words and an under-her-breath, "No wonder my da refused to use machines." Oh, and there's a drawback already. She has to sit by that contraption while it's humming that unmusical song. She frowns just a tiny bit at D'had beside her - him with his simple pen and paper, there. "Me teach you." Because -that- makes a lot of sense, yeah. "He could teach us both? Two for the price of three?" Or four by the time they'd actually learn. She heads back to her desk, slowly mind you. "Uh, Thea and Seryth? I guess?" She eases into her chair and eyes the screen, then the keyboard. "That box there, yeah?" She types with one finger T-h-e-a. "Uh, how do I get to that next spot, Eledri?"
The relief in the goldrider's voice is not missed, although Eledri is too polite to be rolling his eyes. He might look as if he wants to, though. Just a bit. He does catch that under-the-breath mutter, and frowns faintly. Terrific, he has to teach one of -those- sorts of people. Well, there could be worse fates. He could still be stuck in Ista, having to deal with Ysa. He could indeed teach them both, however, and after a pause Eledri does offer slowly, "I could," and then watches Thea type, resisting the urge to do it for her. He points out one of the keys saying, "This one or," and indicating the pointer, "You can move it to where you want, and click to select." He demonstrates, and then waits for her to finish typing.
"Or," D'had replies, "I could just not break the machine and call it even." He chuckles given Eledri's reaction, withheld as it might be, to Thea's hesitance to use it, not to mention her use of. "You'll do fine," That's suppose to be reassuring. "Sure they sent the best teacher for ya."
Thea watches Eledri, "The… pointer-thingie. Looks easier." Whatever it's called. That chuckle over there from D'had has the Junior shooting a suspicious look the Weyrsecond's way. "Break?" Gulp. She could…break it? She places her hand on it like the computercrafter did, and tries moving it, biting her lip as she squints at the computer. "Ack! Why's it shooting around the screen like that?!" Then there's a gasp and a quiet, "Oops!" as her fingers tighten on the thing and a soft click is heard. The screen flickers to something else and a series of thunks follow. She winces and peeks up at Eledri. "I uhh, didn't get to put Seryth's name in there." She slides a surreptitious glance D'had's way in hopes he's back to focusing on his own work.
Eledri glances over to D'had, the computercrafter looking as if he might say something about breaking the machine, but a glance back at Thea has the man holding his tongue. If anyone is going to break the computer.. sigh. The darting pointer gets a look, yes. At least there's a twitch of his lips in a general upward direction at that 'best teacher' bit, though it could just as easily have been a supressed grimace. After all, teaching the non-tech-savvy might be a considered a punishment of sorts. Especially when the screen flickers to something else. "You have to move it slowly," Eledri explains, reaching for the pointer to demonstrate again, "Like this," although he's watching the monitor now, to get back to the login screen. "I can reset the password again," and he does so.
D'had was back to paying attention to his own work. That is before that panicked 'ack!' from Thea, that has him looking back in the direction of the dreaded machine. "How's it goin' over there?"
Now might D'had worry just a teeny bit more about his place being burned down by accident? And consider adding a fireplace? And hiding all the electric stuff in his kitchenette? Eledri is fortunate. He goes home from his punishments at night. Others are not so blessed. "Oh! I can do slow." Thea re-types her name in the username slot, then uses the pointer to move on to the next box, adding Seryth's to the password slot. She uses two fingers this time! Doesn't really make it any faster though. With her tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, she grabs that pointer and clicks in the spot Eledri had indicated. She looks up at him with a bright 'now what' look. How's it going? The junior blinks at D'had, unsure. "Well, there's no smoke coming from it yet?" She's not joking as she checks the computer once more, apparently looking for some. Because if it starts doing that? She's so out of here.
Eledri might be very tempted to say it's going poorly, but again, he holds his tongue. After all, nothing's crashed yet. There's a suppressed sigh about the smoke, Eledri saying, "You don't have to worry about it catching on fire," with much patience. Oh yes, he has patience. It's kind of a prerequisite for this sort of thing. Now that he's shown her how to log on, he leans over for the pointer, saying, "You can use this to open whichever programs you need," and again he demonstrates, saying, "Just double-click to open, and click this to close." He'll go through menus too, although it's debatable how much teaching he's done.
D'had has very little in the way of electric stuff, and what he does have he doesn't use anyway. "Good," he nods, glancing back to his papers and then back towards the pair at the computer. … There's silence on his end for a long while. "Complicated."
Thea's eyes have faint disbelief as she stares at the computer. Her hand touches the console. "But it's warm?" And warm things can get hot? She shrugs, unconvinced as she stares at the screen, "Which ones to make paperwork go faster?" The whole point of this insanity. "And to send reports to D'son? Cos that's what he said would help…" Teaching… at least he isn't trying to explain how it actually works and how to build the thing. Silence from the Weyrsecond, not really a new thing there. His comment coming after a long silence though… Glass-green eyes lift to him, "What's complicated?"
"It shouldn't overheat," Eledri replies, unconcerned, "There are cooling mechanisms inside.." he trails off, glancing at the woman. He's not going to explain how it works, no. In his experience, most people he tries that on just get glazed-over eyes and start nodding blankly. That, or that ask a million irritating questions. "If it does overheat, it will simply switch off," Eledri adds, likely meant to be.. reassuring or something. He opens the programs for word processing and spreadsheets, saying, "You can type reports in here," demonstrating, "and use table to organize data," again demonstrating. Slowly. He’s not going to comment on complicated. To him, people are complicated. Machines? They're /simple/.
"All that," D'had clarifies with a nod towards the machine given Thea's question. That's what's complicated. In his mind anyway. "Don't mind me though." He's just watching and being nosey from time to time while pretending to keep to himself.
"Shouldn't. Doesn't mean it won't." Thea eyes the machine dubiously, muttering to herself, "Cooling mechanisms can fail." Yes, her da's distrust has rubbed off on her. But she's watching Eledri open the programs, quick eyes noting which ones and where. "Those tables look like the stuff I do on paper…" The junior's voice sounding more buoyant. She snags the paper she was working on, "So if I put this stuff in here…" She types a line or two, again slowly with two fingers then asks Eledri, "How do I, uh get it to Niva and D'son?" That one word coming from D'had could mean… anything. In her experience it's usually women he's referring to. "It's not… too bad. And if this makes things faster, I can be off doing other things!" There's a note of satisfaction in the words, although she keeps her face carefully expressionless as she says it. Uh oh. Not so safely in the office all the time.
"It won't," Eledri assures, frowning lightly. Some people and their paranoia, honestly. It was bad enough he'd had that brownrider trying to convince him to buy a knife. Eledri glances at the paper, commenting, "It's essentially the same thing, only on a computer." He demonstrates again sending the matierial, saying, "There are printers that can be used to create hard copies, if you wish, or you can send a digital copy," and he clicks the buttons for that, opening a window to send data to all the machines hooked up on the network. "You can choose which one you wish to send to, and when you are ready to log off, you click this and then press the button on the monitor." And then Eledri nods, "It should make the work faster. If there's anything else you need to know, anyone from Nebula wing should be able to assist you."
Thea is more concentrated as Eledri answers her questions, trying not to look too overwhelmed. She jots a few hasty notes while the computer crafter demonstrates, her eyes sharp now on the things he's clicking on as they flick from paper to screen. She stays his hand from turning the machine off, nodding to him absently as he finishes and takes his leave. "This'll go a lot faster if I can learn to type…" Her concentration on the computer is intent as she slides that report where she can see it easier. Practice, practice and soon… freedom. Of a sort.