Second floor common room [evening]

[momslilassassin]

Ben was tired of staring at the four walls of his room, and had already spent a fairly unhealthy amount of time in the salle and in the gym working out some aggravation, so...common room.

He was flipping channels, looking for something that was exploding. He was currently cruising through the public access channels, so it could be a while.

Comments

[momslilassassin]

"It provides entertainment," Ben said. "Well, allegedly. It's a bit like watching plays, only very tiny and you can turn them off when they're bad."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Menolly wrinkled her nose as she came further in the room, more sure of her welcome. "So it's like a Harper? It'll teach and sing?"

[momslilassassin]

"If you end up on the public education channels," Ben said. "What's a Harper? Is it like the instrument?"

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Firmer ground than any she'd been on thus far, and Menolly seized it. "Well, yes, but not just. They - we also teach and sometimes arbitrate beyond just music."

It was funny to say 'just music.'

[momslilassassin]

"Like diplomats?" Ben asked, instantly interested. "That's sort of what I do. Without the music, though. I don't play."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

She looked a little amused, deciding to try the tease. "You could learn..."

[momslilassassin]

"What do you play?" Ben asked, smiling back.

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Menolly shrugged. "Everything," she said, totally confident in that assertion. But then she paused. "There are probably instruments here I don't - like a television?"

[momslilassassin]

Ben recognized that kind of confidence. "What sort of things does the instrument need in order to work with your gift?" he asked.

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"It's not a gift," she said quickly. "I've just learned how. You have to know all of them to be a Harper. Strings, drums, pipes, brass, the gitar."

[momslilassassin]

"This is more a technological thing, like with stereos, radios, and droids," Ben said.

Which were things he could pretty much make sing.

"It'll be really interesting to see what you can do with them," he added. He held up the remote control. "This is how you change the channels."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"With the tiny raised bits?" she asked skeptically.

[momslilassassin]

Ben nodded, then launched into a very geeky explanation of how it really worked.

It was better to never ask Ben to explain something technological.

"Does that make sense?" he asked.

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Menolly opened her mouth and then closed it again. "I think if I repeated that to someone else, they'd understand it," she said finally. Which was a big step for the girl whose world all lived in caves.

[momslilassassin]

Ben's cheeks went pink. "I went too fast," he said. "Sorry. What level of technology is your home at? I had a school-assigned sibling who wasn't used to electricity."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

The look on her face might've been enough to tell him that she had no idea what he was talking about. "We have -" she fumbled at the words. "Journeyman Bendarek is producing woodsheets to use instead of hides for important notations," she said finally, hoping that sort of answered the question.

[momslilassassin]

To his credit, Ben didn't look all that shocked. The diplomatic training had to kick in at some point, right?

"In that case, you're doing really well to even come out of your room," he said with a smile. "There must be a lot that's different here."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"I kept looking for the furs my first night here," she admitted a little sheepishly. "To sleep in? It's - I don't think there's anything the same. not even music."

[momslilassassin]

"Are you getting homesick?" he asked, looking sympathetic.

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

Menolly looked surprised. "No," she said after a moment of reflection. The Harper hall was home even after less than four sevendays. "I'm here for a reason. It's silly to miss it. Here's just different." And she was going to keep thinking of it that way, dammit.

She paused, smiling back at him. "Thank you for asking."

[momslilassassin]

"What are you here to learn, then?" Ben asked. "Other than the wonders of television, naturally."

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"I'm the first girl Harper," she admitted. "And Masterharper Robinton took me as his Journeyman, but not everyone is - comfortable with the idea. So he sent me here to learn about this culture and see how ours has changed." Menolly grinned at him. "And television. Of course."

[momslilassassin]

"Are women kept in different professions?" he asked, eyebrows furrowing. "Why would...harping? Is that even close? be only for men?"

[harper-journeys.livejournal.com]

"Women run holds and sometimes weyrs, manage kitchens and have babies," Menolly said with more than a trace of bitterness. "Singing and playing twiddles aren't fit occupation for a girl. Girls aren't supposed to be heard."

She rubbed the barely healed scar across her left palm unconsciously, too wrapped up in remembering the unfairness that had led to her own mother allowing to heal badly so she couldn't play.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, that's totally stupid," Ben said.

Ben's diplomacy could use some fine tuning.