A Strapping Mess

Writers: Avery, Miriah
Date Posted: 1st February 2020

Characters: Ninaine, T'leri
Description: Ninaine helps T'leri fix his straps.
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 12, day 20 of Turn 9
Notes: Belated and backdated due to Avery LOA

Ninaine

Ninaine rubbed her belly, feeling the nudges against her palm as she
half-reclined in her chair. Her feet elevated, she was able to see her
toes for once and she wiggled them in her slippers, taking a faint
amusement in the movement.

**Girath, could you?** T'leri asked his dragon.

}:Luneth, is your rider free right now? Mine is supposed to see her,:{
the weyrling brown said to the green.

Once confirmation was given, T'leri picked up the bag he'd assembled,
of some strap leather and the sewing and punching tools, as well as
the diagrams he'd drawn, and headed to where Ninaine was waiting for
their tutoring session.

At the knock, Ninaine looked up. "Come in T'leri." She sighed and
struggled to sit up a little straighter. She was sure that she looked
like a floundering cargo ship; Faranth knew that she felt like one.
Quietly resolving never to undergo another pregnancy, she sighed.

"Hi, Ninaine. I brought pastries," he said, as he came in.

He gave her a broad beaming smile and held up a second, smaller bag.
"I sweet-talked them out of Elarine in the kitchen in exchange for
playing at her and her friends' party the next night. I thought you
might like to have some as thanks, and if you don't want them, I guess
I'll just be fated to eating them all alone."

"Oh, thank you. That was very nice of you, T'leri. Have a seat. " She
eyed the smaller sack. "What kind of pastries?"

"The risen bread ones with jams in the middle," he said, possibly
unhelpfully. He put the sack out so she could see.

Ninaine immediately looked interested. "Oh. Did I ever tell you that
you were my favorite weyrling?" She struggled to sit up and keep her
feet elevated. "May I have one please?"

"Of course, of course." He handed her the sack. "I do appreciate you
being willing to help me out with straps. I zoned out during the
lecture because I was _so sure_ I know all about it. I've strapped
Riveth up dozens of times. I know which parts of the straps go where.
How hard can it be, I thought?"

She plucked out a pastry and began nibbling on it. Shards, it was
almost too good. "Making them is something else, though, isn't it?
You have to use special stitching so they'll hold right. " She held
out her hand. "Let me see what you've done so far."

While she ate that, he reached into his bag and pulled out two straps.
His stitching to keep the strap together was competent. The stitching
to secure the pieces together - in this case it was the chest plate
and one of the straps that would come from it to reach around the body
- was a disaster.

Ninaine stared at the utter mess he'd made, looked up at him, then
back down to the straps. "Well, uh, you tried. What you did was try
the same stitches and that won't work. It's a different sewing
stitch." Her brow knit. "And it looks like you used the same needle.
Here, I'll show you. Can you get the wooden box over there on the
cabinet?"

He winced. "I knew it was bad, but that bad?"

He got up and went over, bringing her the box.

"Thank you." She pulled out a long needle, then another more curved
one. "You need inner of each of these. They're big and can punch
through the hide better without tangling the cord you use. The
stitches here, " she pointed, "and here need to allow for some stretch
so they don't snap. "

"Oh, it's different stitching on the attachments and just along the
strap? Huh." He studied the needles she held up.

"Do you mind showing me?" he asked after a moment, in a quieter voice.
He really had screwed up on his attention paying, and he'd totally
missed anything about needles.

"Of course. You should have seen my weyrling class, almost all of them
had to redo their straps. Twice." She gave him an understanding smile.
"It happens. If you don't mind, can you go out to Luneth's ledge and
get her straps? I can show you hope they're supposed to look. Most
people don't pay attention to the stitching, really."

"Shards, I know I didn't pay enough attention to the stitching in
lecture." he shook his head. "I'll go get them, hold on."

He bowed politely to Luneth on her couch as he went out there. "Hello
Luneth, I hope you feel well," he said.

He came back in a minute later with them and handed them to Ninaine.
"Can you show me what did you mean?"

"Well, I paid attention because I know how to sew and I've been sewing
since I was little." Ninaine pointed out. "A lot of people don't know
how to." She took the straps, then pointed to a juncture. "Look here.
If I tug," She pulled against the straps," See how they give just a
little? They're supposed to because of the dragon's muscles and you
don't want them to chafe the hide, but still want them secure. They
move just enough but not too much." She pointed at the stitching, then
showed him a more sturdy area of the straps. "Look at the difference,
This one stretches, this one doesn't. And since this here is thicker
and kind of awkward, it's better to used the curved needle. Luneth's
straps have never snapped and I've only had to repair them once."

"Wow, they should have you teach this class instead of J'kel," T'leri
said, referring to the brownriding weyrlingmaster assistant who had
been showing his nine and who had been speaking in such long droning
unbroken sentences that T'leri had unavoidably checked out. "So this
kind of stitching keeps it tied on but allows the give for the
muscles. Mine weren't only bad stitching that looks messy, it wouldn't
have flexed right?"

"They didn't ask me." She replied with a shrug. "J'kel has been
teaching it for turns." She watched was he was pointing to, then
nodded. "Right. They could have snapped during Fall and that wouldn't
have been good at all. It doesn't seem like it gives much, but it
gives just enough to not strain the straps. The only thing is that you
have to keep an eye on them to make sure that they're not stretched
too much, so you'll have to replace the stitches regularly."

"Well, I'm going to tell them to ask you," he said, huffing out a
sigh. "So...okay, these couple I've started are already ruined, right?
I can't really fix them as is? Can I do some practicing under your eye
to make sure I'm getting it?"

"They're not ruined, T'leri. You just need to rip the stitching out."
She picked up another tool from her kit and held it up. The little
pronged tool looked delicate, but when she took the straps from him
and slipped it between the stitched areas, it sliced through his
stitches easily. "See? Just do this and you can pull them out and try
again. Use the same holes, but do the different stitches. Just make
sure that there's not tears around the holes that can get bigger."
Ninaine handed them back to him. "I'll do the first few. You watch how
I do it and then you can try."

"Oh, I assumed they'd only work for practicing stitching now and
wouldn't work for the main straps. Yes, thank you," he said, settling
in to watch her work.

Ninaine made the effort to slow the stitching movement and she kept
the stitches neat. "See? After you do the first few, it gets easier.
Don't speed through it and take your time at first." Her belly visibly
moved and she grimaced slightly, laying her hand against the side.

T'leri wasn't sure if he should ignore it or say something. Wasn't
carrying a child kind of private? And Ninaine wasn't saying anything.
But, on the other hand, she looked uncomfortable. So he decided to
speak up anyway. "Can I help you?"

She waved him away and gave a humorless smile. "No, thank you.
They're kicking and sometimes is uncomfortable. "

He winced. "Seems like it. Wish you could lay eggs like the queens and
deal with it that way?"

"Faranth yes." She sighed. "It would make things so much easier. Be
thankful you'll never have to go through this." Ninaine gave a weary
half-smile.

"Trust me, I so am," he said, eyes wide. "And this is why you're
grounded in your weyr - " he used the term because he couldn't
remember the phrase bed rest - " and bored and have time to teach me?"

"Yes. Pretty much. I've got nothing to do otherwise. " Ninaine
shifted, sitting up a little further. "But I don't mind helping you
learn how to get theses straps done right. It's really important and
maybe they don't concentrate enough on them. "

"Well, you're a good tutor," he said. "I'll try to get these a little
bit better-looking and show them off. Mind if I do them under your
watchful eye, or do you need a bit of time on your own?"

"Thank you." It was the first time she'd been complimented as a member
of the weyrling staff, and it felt rather nice. "No, go right ahead.
That way if you need more help, I'm right here. And no, I don't
need time by myself. I've got far too much time on my hands as it
is."

"All right," he said, settling down to keep working.

Last updated on the February 15th 2020

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

A Strapping Mess