Opa nods to Caladin as he comes down from the upper level and takes his 
  seat at the masters' table nearby. He merely grunts in return.
Tuvia steps in from the kitchen and storage area.
Haldi giggles as a nearby apprentice leans over and whispers something 
  in her ear. She turns and passes the joke on to Fiona.
Fiona looks as though she doesn't get it, but laughs anyway.
Tuvia comes in from the kitchen. She brushes her hair back from her 
  cheeks before nodding to all the people present.
The kitchenfolk enter from the kitchen, carrying trays of hot, 
  delicious-smelling pasta which they begin to serve to the various tables.
Tuvia takes a seat with the apprentices.
Haldi sits down at one of the Apprentice Tables.
Opa looks out across the chamber as the food begins to be served, and 
  smiles around to everyone. "Good meal, everyone."

Weavers> Haldi laughs at Varina on her broomstick!

Tuvia sits down at one of the Apprentice Tables.

Weavers> Varina bows.

Varina steps in from the inner courtyard.
Fiona bounces in her seat as she waits for the bowl to get to her.
Opa looks up just as she's serving herself some of the pasta, and smiles 
  as she sees her craftsecond. "Varina! Come in, come in...you must be 
  chilled."
Tuvia smiles as she waits her turn as well.
Varina sheds her Riding cloak and smiles foolishly, "Just in time for 
  your meal. It smells wonderful."
Haldi heaps some pasta onto her plate and then passes it to Fiona. 
  Without a second thought she begins diggin in.
Fiona takes the bowl and scoops some onto her plate. She passes it to 
  Tuvia, nudging Haldi as she does.
Opa looks very pleased as she passes the tray on. "I'm so glad you could 
  make it...I hear the snow is real bad this Turn. Here, take this seat, 
  it's closest to the hearth." She pats the empty chair next to her.
Tuvia has a faintly wry smile on her face since she knows who'll be 
  helping in the kitchen after this dinner!
Varina sits down at the Craftmaster's Table.
Varina joins you.
Tuvia thanks Fiona and serves herself some pasta.
Tuvia passes the bowl along down the table.
Fiona whispers to Haldi, "Wait..." She glances up at the head table.
Varina nods, shaking her head. "The snow is terrible..." She frowns as 
  she takes the tray, shruggin, "But then when is it not?"
Haldi blinks and looks at Fiona and then up at the head table. She 
  blushes and wipes a bit of sauce from her chin.
Fiona looks at Tuvia and covers a giggle with her hand.
Opa starts twirling her pasta around on her fork, grinning at Varina as 
  she takes her seat. "One very good reason you won't find me up around 
  the Reaches very often."
Varina chuckles as she starts to eat. "The first snow fall is always 
  beautiful. But then the second snow fall... that's when I tell myself 
  I'm going to request a transfer."
Opa's eyes glance idly around at the other tables, and she tsks as she 
  spies Haldi, Fiona and Tuvia at one of the apprentice tables. With a 
  wave of her hand, she says, "Eat, eat. No need to waste good, hot food."
Tuvia starts in on her pasta. She was hungry the whole time in the 
  kitchen, and now she gets to taste it! Yum!
Haldi pokes Fiona and goes back to devouring her meal.
Fiona pokes Haldi back and starts twirling.
Duvetyne heads in from the kitchen and storage area.

Weavers> Jorai is here, but she's got 103 fever, so she's just gonna spy 
         on all a ya :}

Duvetyne waves!
Jorai strides in from the kitchen and storage area.
Jorai waves and takes a seat.
Opa chuckles. "Well, from what I've heard, there are very few places I 
  could transfer you to right now that don't have snow falling *and* 
  falling...good evening, Duvetyne, Jorai."
Duvetyne finds a seat quickly.
One other of the late apprentices rushes over to a table and beats out 
  Duvetyne to one of the better seats, closest to the kitchen.
Fiona smiles at Duvetyne and waves her over to join them.
Duvetyne thbts the other apprentice, as *she* is clearly already sitting. ;p
Tuvia nods to Duvetyne.
Varina sighs. "Oh dear." She looks up to nod at Ty and Jorai. "I've 
  survived winter before, I should survive this year."
Duvetyne smiles and waves to her fellow apprentices.
Opa leans over the table for the juice pitcher and pours herself a 
  glass. She nods as she takes her first sip. "I've gotten word of some 
  traders up at Benden stuck out in drifts and whathaveyou."
Tuvia gives Jorai a wave.
Fiona smiles over her pile of spaghetti at Duvetyne. "Hi! I'm Fiona. I 
  don't think we've met, yet."
The apprentice thbts right on back, wrinkling his nose. He grabs the 
  tray as it passes by and serves himself a huge portion.
Haldi focuses her attention on her meal only occasionally looking around 
  to give a sauce covered grin to a fellow apprentice.
Duvetyne smiles at Fiona, "Hiya, call me Ty..."
Fiona nods, "Thanks, Ty. The other is a mouthful." She grins as she 
  takes a bite.
Opa takes another bite of her dinner and looks out over the chamber 
  again, checking to see that everyone is served.
Tuvia licks some sauce from the corner of her mouth. Delicious!

Weavers> Varina apologizes. forgive me if i idle. i really really don't 
         want to miss this beatles anthology. :)
Weavers> Fiona says, "The Beatles? What channel?"
Weavers> Haldi says, "ABC"
Weavers> Opa can't believe they had the nerve to show the anthology 
         during *our* dinner. ;)

Varina nods quietly as she takes a drink. "We basically don't expect any 
  traders for up to five months..."

Weavers> Varina says, "No, fiona! Opa will kill me if you leave to watch 
         it too. :)"
Weavers> Fiona says, "Consider it background music. ;) I'm here, I can 
         sing and type at the same time! :)"

Opa nods. "I can't imagine myself why anyone would want to risk that 
  kind of weather. I know how they need to turn a mark, but really."
Fiona nudges Haldi again, "Pass the bread, will ya?"

Weavers> Opa wows at the talent. :) Seriously, I could never do that. :)

Haldi passes teh bread to Fiona but not before grabbing a slice for herself.
Tuvia wipes her mouth with her napkin before she turns to Duvetyne and 
  Jorai and says, "Hello, I'm Tuvia, a new student here."

Weavers> Fiona says, "It's a gift. ;) Of course, I have no idea what I'm 
         typing when I do. :)"

Opa looks satisfied that everyone's settled, and clears her throat.
Duvetyne smiles, "Hello Tuvia, I'm Ty, one of the apprentices..."
Fiona passes the bread along and looks up to the head table at Opa.
Haldi munches on her bread, swiping it through the sauce on the plate, 
  as she looks up and listens to Opa.
Opa smiles warmly, and speaks. "It's been quite a while since we've hard 
  a large dinner like this. Admittedly, the hard weather in the north 
  seems to have kept a few away, unfortunately, but it's good to see you 
  all."
Tuvia nods as she takes a slice and passes the bread basket along.
Duvetyne says "Lucky I got home before the Benden snowstorms..."
Varina looks around the room at all the faces and nods quietly to 
  herself and she serves herself some extra vegetables.
Opa takes another bite from her plate, and swallows, nodding 
  expressively to Duvetyne. "Quite true." She slides the bread basket over 
  to Varina. "Rather a lot has happened since we met like this...as I'm 
  sure you all know by now, Master Lenore has retired as Craftmaster and 
  passed that duty onto me."
Opa nods as there doesn't seem to be any major shock among the assembled 
  diners at this news, and continues. "In turn, I appointed Master Varina 
  here as my Second - who has been doing a wonderful job so far." She 
  grins at the woman beside her.
Blue Lightning stares at the food everyone is eating, luckily he's eaten 
  a whole bowl of scrap meats earlier.
Haldi giggles and bounces in her seat as she listens, earning her 
  disgusted looks from the apprentice on her left.

Weavers> Fiona says, "Oooops, Whispers of amazement and shock belatedly 
         fill the air. ;)"
Weavers> Opa laughs. :)

Fiona smiles toward Master Varina.
Duvetyne chuckles.
Tuvia listens attentively.
Tuvia's eyes wander from person to person, trying to recall the people 
  she's met, and the new faces she's unfamiliar with.
Opa turns back to face the various tables, still smiling. "We've also 
  had a number of additions to our crafthall, some of whom are here 
  tonight. Fiona, Haldi, Tuvia, could you stand for a moment?"
Fiona looks up with a piece of noodle hanging from her mouth.
Tuvia is startled by her name being called. She looks up at the Master's 
  table.
Haldi grins and hops up causing the apprentice next to her to get 
  knocked off the bench. Haldi doesn't even notice as she waves brightly 
  at the room.
Fiona wipes her mouth quickly, then stands and bows.
Tuvia stands hurriedly and gives a nod of her head.
Opa's eyes dance with amusement at the reaction of the three young 
  women, and announces, "Fiona and Haldi are two of our newest 
  apprentices, and Tuvia is one of our new students, hailing from Tillek."
Duvetyne giggles, "No pressure, y'all..."
Haldi calls out, "I'm from Bitra." And then she grins sheepishly.
Fiona smiles at the room, then sits, keeping a wide clear area around Haldi.
Opa looks even more amused, and she nods to Haldi. "Ah yes, but you're 
  of the Weavercraft now."
Haldi giggles and nods.
Varina chuckles out loud then quickly quiets herself, just grinning 
  widely instead.
Tuvia smiles at people around her and shifts her feet slightly when she 
  feels eyes turning her way.
Opa grins and continues. "Abigail, Judil, Kahori, Koranna, Morayne, 
  Ninali and Nylie are our other newest apprentices. I'm sure some of you 
  have run into them here at some time or another."
Tuvia gets slightly pink under her tan and sits down after nodding to 
  some more people.
Duvetyne wows and hadn't realized there were so many.
Ninali moves in through the archway from the teaching wing.
Varina nods at the list, conjuring up the faces in her head.
Ninali smiles sheepishly as she walks in late.
Fiona hums softly under her breath.
Duvetyne mutters something about latecomers darning socks... :)
Opa says "Linzi and Patria are our two other new students, and we also 
  have some new crafters posted here. Raven's our new assistant 
  baker...she's still busy in the kitchen, though, isn't she Johann?" She 
  nods as Johann bobs his head in the affirmative, then grins. "Oh, and 
  here's Ninali now."
Ninali grins apologetically, "sorry I'm late... I took a nap... I 
  thought someone would wake me up..." she glances at Fiona.
Haldi giggles and pokes Fiona again as she takes her seat.
Fiona blushes with a *who me?* look.
Opa raises an eyebrow at Ninali's explanation, obviously making a mental 
  note to deal with that after the dinner.

Weavers> Fiona still has plenty of socks left over. ;)
Weavers> Opa hee. :)

Opa says "Also, since our last big dinner, we've had, I'm very happy to 
  say, a number of promotions."
Opa's glance rests on those present when she names them, smiling with 
  warm approval. "Chesric, Deresh, Fiona, Haldi, Jorai, Madelaine, Ninali 
  and Nylie have all moved up from junior apprentice to full apprentice - 
  although, as I'm sure rumour has made known, Deresh was recently taken 
  on Search at Ista Weyr and is on a leave of absence."
Haldi bounces again and yells, "Yea Deresh!" She blinks at teh glare she 
  gets from several apprentices.
Duvetyne giggles at Haldi's outburst.
Opa pauses, chuckling, as a cheer goes up from the various apprentices 
  who are closest friends to Deresh. "Yes, it's quite an honour for the 
  Hall. I should note that I expect to be in attendance at the Hatching to 
  watch our Candidate, and I might even be willing to bring a few 
  well-behaved apprentices along with me." She smiles slyly.
Fiona straigtens her halo.
Ninali makes her posture straighter and oohs.
Tuvia smiles at the newly promoted.
Opa exchanges amused looks with Varina as the murmur among the 
  apprentice tables swells.
Tuvia takes up her slice of bread and takes a bite.
Opa takes another breath. "And lastly, Julaina has walked the tables to 
  the position of junior journeyranker. As soon as she comes back from an 
  errand in the Igen area, she'll be going off to the east to journey in 
  the Benden sweep area."
Haldi grins brightly and applauds again fro her friedn Julaina.
Fiona grins at Haldi's enthusiasm and applauds, too.
Varina lays her fork aside as she listens to the summary, nodding after 
  each update.
Opa grins again at Varina and then back to the rest of the tables. "And 
  speaking of promotions..." Her eye roams across the various tables, 
  particularly one of the apprentice ones.
Haldi grins and peers around at her fellow apprentices, wondering who's 
  getting promoted.
Varina glances at the apprentice table, a twinkle in her eye.
Ninali looks at her fellow apprentices in hopeful anticipation.
Blue Lightning falls asleep on the high window ledge. Only twitching 
  occasionally when someone's voice raises in excited expression.
Opa's eyes twinkle with amusement, as she calmly waits for Haldi to stop 
  casting glances at the apprentices around her and to look forward.
Fiona nudges at Haldi...again.
Haldi notices all the other apprentices watching Master Opa so she turns 
  her eyes forward. She mock frowns at Fiona and nudges back and then, 
  finally, looks forward.

Weavers> Tuvia grins. "Lightning means your voice Haldi!" :)

Opa rises from her seat and crooks a finger, beckoning to Haldi.
Haldi blinks and rises with a confused look. She crosses the room quickly.
Ninali ohs! excitedly and smiles to her friend Haldi!!
Fiona claps and grins at Haldi's back!
Opa's expression is now solemn but pleased as she reaches forward to 
  unpin Haldi's apprentice knot and replace it with a senior apprentice 
  knot which she pulls from one of her pockets.
Duvetyne smiles for Haldi.
Ninali breaks out in applause.
Tuvia grins and claps her hands as well.
Fiona claps louder and cheers.
Jorai applauds, smiling gently.
Haldi blinks and looks amazingly speachless.

Weavers> Fiona says, "We'll wake that lizard, yet!"

Blue Lightning :twitches and raises all but a single eyelid. His 
  multifaceted eyes whirl slowly as he looks at the commotion in the hall.
Haldi finally finds her voice (as if it would be gone for long), "Wow. 
  Thank you Master Opa." A silly grin crosses her face.
Ninali claps faster and cheers for Haldi.
Opa is about to say something out loud, but then blinks, looking quite 
  amused and leaning forward. She mutters to Haldi, "Now that... a... 
  apprentice,... that... sauce off..." 
Ninali leans over to Fiona, "what's she saying?"
Blue Lightning stretches out his wings and gives a cheep.
Haldi's eyes go wide and she quickly wipes at her mouth, removing the 
  sauce that was there from the beginning.
Fiona whispers to Ninali "I think Haldi should have remembered her napkin."
Ninali giggles.
Opa leans back, taking her seat again and grinning at her craftsecond. 
  After taking another bite of her dinner, she says "Is there anything 
  else you would like to bring up, Master Varina?"
Haldi grins sheepishly and then straigtens up as she grins at her new 
  knot and walks back to her table.
Duvetyne smiles and pats Haldi on the back as she passes.
Varina says " uklhjny nhbjklhdfhg"
Opa waits patiently for Varina to swallow.
Duvetyne jumps up, "MAster Varina's choking! Call the healer!"

Weavers> Varina blushes! thanks bhss Bambino.
Weavers> Opa thought that might've been the work of a toddler. ;)
Weavers> Fiona laughs and laughs!

Opa gives Varina a few sharp thumps on the back between her 
  shoulderblades. "You're alright?"
Varina grabs her glass of water quickly. *cough* "No, I'm fine... I'm 
  fine... *cough*" she wipes a few tears out of the corner of her eye.
Tuvia watches from her end of the apprentice table. Her eyes are round 
  with concern.
Opa reaches over for the juice pitcher and pours Varina another glass at 
  the ready, just in case.
Haldi stifles a laugh and shoves her shoulder in Fiona's face showing 
  off her knot.
Duvetyne stands, looking about to lunge at Varina and pound her on the back.
Fiona resists the urge to elbow her again and just grins.
Tuvia hopes it wasn't something she did in the kitchens!
Opa holds up her hand calmingly. "No need for panic, I think Master 
  Varina will be fine. She's breathing, anyway."
Duvetyne sits back down slowly, still tensed.
Varina has reconnected.

Weavers> Ninali sings, "lag lag lag lag, lag lag lag lag" :)
Weavers> Haldi says, "Da Doo Ron Lag!"
Weavers> Fiona says, "I love lag, Lag loves me...we're a happy family!"
Weavers> Ninali shoots Fiona.

Opa mentions one last item as she continues to give Varina gentle 
  back-pats, watching to see that she's alright. "Oh, I've also received 
  word from Harper Hall that we'll have a harper journeying to our 
  crafthall periodically. Journeyranker Uma, I believe it was. However, 
  the snows at Fort Weyr are making it rather difficult for her to travel 
  at the moment, but we should be seeing her in a number of sevendays."

Weavers> Haldi pulls out a gun and shoots Fiona, "Never! Never sing that 
         song!" ;)

Varina coughs again, downs her glass of juice quickly, then comments 
  dryly, "Sorry. Just learned to eat last week."

Weavers> Opa . o O ( And the ironic thing about that one is that all my 
         weaver chat channel lines are hilited in purple... )
Weavers> Fiona ducks. "Sorry. I just /had/ to." She grins.

Varina has partially disconnected.
Opa OOC - And the first person to make an 'Uma, Opa' crack *dies*.

Weavers> Duvetyne BOL!

Fiona giggles.
Opa pours Varina another glass of juice while she's downing the first one.

Weavers> Tuvia LOL, "You weavers are a riot!"
Weavers> Haldi laughs! and then laughs again!
Weavers> Opa :)
Weavers> Varina claps a hand over her mouth. nothing. just nothing. :)

Opa okays...is everyone okay if we slip into the OOC portion of the meeting?

Weavers> Ninali hadn't even thought of it... but since you mentioned 
         it... ;) she ducks, "HEY!" <sniff>
Weavers> Jorai knows she must be sick, took her forever to place that :)
Weavers> Fiona thinks we are already at the ooc part. :)
Weavers> Opa thinks so too, Fiona, what a nice transition. :)
Weavers> Fiona says, "We try...We're not all mush-for-brains. OK I'll 
         shut up now. *duck*"

Opa okay, well, as you can see from the agenda, there are a ton of OOC 
  topics for us to go through, so I'm going to try to breeze through them 
  reallyawfulquick. Brace for spam. :) Stop me if you have a question. :)

Weavers> Opa groannns.

Opa says "First topic: Increasing RP at the Hall. When I first became 
  craftmaster, my primary goal was to try to make the Weavercraft a place 
  for fun, active RP. In the last month and a half RL I think that's 
  really started to happen. We've had an influx of energetic people 
  <beam at everyone in the room> which has really helped, I think, and I 
  just want to say that I really like this trend and I hope to see it 
  continue. :)"
Opa says "Second topic: Regular WC meetings. As part of getting people 
  enthusiastic about being part of the Hall, we've started up these 
  regular meetings. They're going to be once a month, and are currently 
  scheduled for the third Sunday of every month at 9:30pmET. I know that 
  there are a number of people, unfortunately, without weekend access. I 
  will always be making logs and emailing them to those who ask for them. 
  If it turns out that there's a day which is better for everyone than 
  Sunday, we'll reschedule."
Blue Lightning has left.
Tuvia calls Lightning, who flies over and lands on Tuvia's arm.
Haldi oocly eews, "That's bad Tuvia :) 'calls Lightening' :)"
Varina says "and next month there won't be any beatles. :)"
Tuvia OOC> Oops, could be the rollback. I thought I checked his coding.
You say "The meetings are a time for everybody to get updated on what's 
  happening around here, as well as for some great RP, and for those who 
  live at the Hall to get a chance to meet up with those who are posted 
  away from the Hall. They're also your chance to bring up any issues 
  you want to talk about. :) You can +mail me in advance if you want your 
  topic to be put on the agenda, or you can just bring up your issue 
  during the 'open forum' section."
Opa grins. Yes. Next month, no Beatles. :)
Varina says "will next month ppl who are students be absent for 
  christmas break?"
Tuvia smiles, "You're the first one to tell me that too, Haldi."
Duvetyne says "They're cots get short-sheeted..."
Duvetyne says "Their even.."
Haldi maybes...
Opa mmms...yes, good point, Varina. I know that I've got access from my 
  parents' apartment when I go home, but others may not.
Ninali nods, "I'll be at home, but I may be able to use my brother's or 
  fathers accounts to connect..."
Opa will still be making logs in any case.
Opa says "Third topic: The WC bulletin board. Just to let everybody know 
  about how important it is to check it regularly - I know I sent out a 
  general +mail awhile back but I just want to mention it 'officially'. :) 
  If anyone would like to know how to set it up so that you automatically 
  read all new bulletin board messages when you log on, let me know. :)"
Opa says "Fourth topic: Postings. Varina and I have been discussing 
  things, and we've started to implement a new kind of posting for 
  journeyrankers. It used to be that journeyrankers got sent to one 
  specific place, like Nabol Hold, or High Reaches Weyr. But since there 
  are so many places on the game, and we're a small craft, it makes more 
  sense to have our journeyrankers actually 'journey'."
Jorai has disconnected.
Haldi nods, "Yah, good idea :)"
Duvetyne hms, and thinks about frequent flyer miles.
You say "They're being assigned to 'areas' - for instance, Julaina is 
  about to be posted to the Benden area, which consists of Benden Weyr, 
  Benden Hold, Bitra Hold (and the Vintners) and the Woodcrafthall. She'll 
  be RPing at each one, giving them all a 'taste of weaver'. :)"
Fiona says "I claim Tillek area!"
Opa grins at Ty. Well, let's say that we'd probably provide you with 
  your own runnerbeast. :)
Haldi asks, "How will the knot thing work?"
Tuvia grins. "Tiss on your mind, Fiona?"
Fiona grins and winks. "Shhh."
Opa nods at Haldi. "Well, originally, it was going to be that a 
  journeyranker would be 'based' at one of the places (presumably the Weyr 
  in the area) and they'd have 'knotness' with just that one area. But 
  after a number of discussions, I've found that the journeyrankers seem 
  to be quite willing to be members of all the knots in their areas. They 
  just +quiet themselves on the various chat channels when they don't need 
  to hear 'em.
Opa grins at Fiona. "Sorry, but Kalera's already got the High Reaches. ;)
Fiona pouts. Uh oh.
Haldi grins, "Cool, multi knots :)"
Fiona imagines what the +finger will look like. :)
Opa says "Right now Pern is split into four main areas, and only two of 
  them are covered since we only have two postable journeyrankers. But as 
  we get more journeyrankers, the areas will be redivided so that 
  journeyrankers can divide their time between less areas."
Varina nods, just to let ya'll know she's still alive. :)
Opa says "If a journeyranker doesn't want tons 'o knots, of course, they 
  don't have to have 'em. :)"
Opa waits for the lag to stop or the game to finish dumping (whichever 
  it may be) before spamming y'all with the next bit. :)
Opa grins at Fiona. Pretty durn long.
Fiona laughs, "Newbies will think we are gods or something."
Varina laughs!
Haldi grins, "We are."
Tuvia asks, "Do you have to be journey ranked before you marry? That 
  seems to be the case in other crafthalls."
Opa says "The other thing regarding postings is that we won't be posting 
  apprentices out anymore. That seemed to take action away from the Hall, 
  leaving those still in the Hall bored because there wasn't hardly anyone 
  around."
Opa says "Unless there are good IC reasons for apprentices to be training 
  elsewhere, of course. :)"
Opa grins at Fiona. And what is wrong with that? ;)
Ninali nods, "I can attest to that!"
Fiona acks, There went the lag. Mass confusion!
Duvetyne says "Benden was fun...All kinds of dreamy riders..."
Haldi snorts, "Don't talk about riders ;)"
Duvetyne whistles innocently.
Opa nods to Tuvia. "Yes, that's IC. Senior apprentices may have a bit 
  more freedom in the relationship department, but as for marriage, yep, 
  I'd say that'd be for journeyrankers.
Fiona offers Haldi a sock to dry her tears. "There, there."
Opa grinz at Haldi.
Opa says "Any more questions relating to postings and such?"
Varina had to wait to be a journey rank to get married so everyone else 
  has to too. *grump* :)
Haldi blinks, "Varina is married!?"
Fiona blinks. Varina is married?
Opa nodnods. That's right. If the rules applied to us old fogies, they 
  apply to you young fogies. :)
Ninali laughs at the simultaneous reactions of her friends.
Opa laughs. Er, yep, she is.
Tuvia asks, "What if you're married already? Is it possible to join the 
  craft then?"
Fiona laughs. "Great minds and all that..."
Opa says "Well, my philosophy is that anyone who's married is either or 
  both of a) too old to apprentice or b) too busy to apprentice."
Ninali giggles, "plus there's not enough room in an apprentice cot for 
  two..."
Tuvia nods thoughtfully and grins, "I'd better make up my mind in a 
  hurry then."
Opa says "After all, an apprentice's life is non-stop schedule - it's like 
  boarding school. Plus you're in sex-segregated dorms. Hard to do the 
  married life thing like that." 
Opa :)
Duvetyne bursts out into giggles.
Varina belated explains. "Varina's widowed." *sob* "So sad... so 
  young..." :)
Opa goes on to topic number five, just to keep moving along, but if you 
  have more questions, Tuvia, just say them and I'll answer in between my 
  long typings.
Tuvia laughs. "This is going to be one heck of a decision!"
Opa keeps a moment of silence for Varina's departed husbands. :)
Fiona smiles sypathetically. "You aren't kidding."
Opa er, hus*band*, sorry, major typo.
Haldi blinks, 'Husbands?! Oh.. okay :)
Varina laughs! yes, just one husband.
Ninali ws wondering about that...
Opa nodnods. Yes. Just the one. Sorry. :)
Fiona almost blinks, but doesn't now. :)
Varina cackles. "I killed them all. muahahahahahaha!"
Varina blinks. "who said that?" :)
Fiona thinks we all need to see an eye doctor about this twitching. :)
Opa says "Topic five: Crafters at the Hall. Well, as I said before, we now 
  have an assistant baker, Raven, and, when her real life calms down in 
  a number of weeks, a journeyrank harper Uma (who, btw, is also doing the 
  'journeying' thing among the Fort area, so we don't get her all the 
  time :). I'm also going to be seeing about getting us a healer, too."
Duvetyne says "Good luck with the healer..."
Opa ose? at Duvetyne...is Pern short of healers these days?
Duvetyne nods, "Just some news I got when I was at Benden, seems many of 
  the Holds are short-handed, healer-wise, most of them preferring to go 
  to weyrs...
Opa grins evilly. "Shardit, we're the Weavercraft. We're fun and perky."
Opa will see what the situation is, anyway.
Duvetyne nods, "Like I said, good luck."
Opa noodles.
Jorai has connected.
Opa says "Topic 6: New local help. In the past little while, the +lhelp 
  around here has changed rather a lot. We've been trying to make it as 
  informative and thorough as possible, with as many pointers for 
  newcomers as possible. Any suggestions that you guys (especially those 
  who remember better than I what it's like to be new) can make are quite 
  welcomed."
Haldi has a suggestion about a thing she'd like to see that might fit 
  here :)
Opa yep?
Haldi says "I know we're in the south and we probably have florida like 
  weather, but I'd like to see something that gives a rundown on what the 
  weather is like here. If it's rainy, the temp what not :) I had someone 
  walk into the hall shaking snow off themselves theother day :)."
Jorai has disconnected.
Fiona laughs.
Opa oohs. Mm. :) Actually, that's something that would more likely go on 
  the infobot rather than the local help. Although, knowing the general 
  climate areas around Pern is pretty basic knowledge.
Haldi says "I've seen it in other areas and since time goes by so fast 
  ICly, it's nice to know how we could respond to the weather :) Worse 
  come to worse we can grip when it's raingin or whatnot :)"
Opa says "What, you mean weather blurbs in outside rooms?"
Opa says "Or just general information about the area's weather? (which I've 
  also just noticed is mentioned in the news article for South Boll)."
Tuvia giggles. "That's a good idea. I wasn't sure what the weather was 
  like myself when I arrived."
Haldi says "No, I've seen some places that have a rundown you get on the 
  weather if you type 'weather' in a public room. Just a little blurb to 
  say it's Winter, cold and snowing or whatnot."
Fiona likes that idea. :)
Tuvia says "I must have been sweating under all my layers of clothes."
Opa hms, yes, okay, there's an idea. We can do that, and then have, say, 
  an +lhelp topics on 'commands' or something.
Haldi grins, "And since we're weavers, we of all people whould be 
  dressed for the weather ;)
Opa hees. Yes. :)
Opa puts that on her to-do list, then. Any other thoughts?
Ninali thinks, "how about listing all the various subcrafts? or is that 
  listed and I was just lazy about reading it?"
Opa nods. It's listed, but it's a new addition to the lhelp. :) All 
  changes I make, btw, will be announced on the bboard.
Haldi says "Oh, I have a question. If we go into a subcraft, we can 
  still take all types of commissions can't we?"
Opa nods. Oh, yes, definitely.
Haldi grins, "'Kay"
Ninali ohs! "really? I didn't know that... and all this time I thought I 
  was stuck with only tapestries... not that I don't like tapestries... 
  but..." :)
Opa says "Piemur still had to work on instrument crafting, though his 
  subcraft was voice, and Menolly on voice though her subcraft was 
  composition, etc. etc. It just means your specialty, not that you're 
  restricted."
Duvetyne says "Or off the hook either... ;)"
Opa hees at Ty. Yes, exactly.
Opa blinks at Ninali. Did you ask to join the weaving subcraft?
Haldi giggles, "I think I definately do want to go into Dye then :)"
Tuvia been wondering about the few things she's created and given away. 
  "Is that alright? They are weaver items."
Fiona says "I seem to be leaning toward tailoring. I keep getting 
  commissions." She groans at Haldi's comment. :)
Ninali shakes her head, "no,... it's just tapestries are all I've done 
  so far..."
Opa says "Well, Tuvia, as a student, you'd be learning new skills, yes, 
  sure, but they couldn't actually be passed off as Weavercraftmade items, 
  no. But pfft, traders make dresses and tapestries and such all the time 
  and give them or sell them - they're just not Weavercrafted."
Opa grins at Ninali. Ahhh.
Opa grins at Haldi. Noooooo....
Ninali looks at Haldi, "dye sounds like fun... then again, so does 
  tailoring..."
Fiona squinches up her eyes at the thought of Haldi at the dye pot. ;)
Opa points out that no one has to specialise. :) It's an optional thing, 
  especially for apprentices.
Haldi grins, "I'm gonna have fun rping working with Master Caladin too :)"
Tuvia nods.
Opa thinks Master Caladin might just have a premature heart attack if 
  that happens. ;) 
Haldi giggles!
Fiona looses track. "Is he real, or an NPC?"
You say "Total NPC. :)"
Fiona says "Speaking of NPC's where is it written that Penelope is one? 
  I kinda got confused with her. :)"
You say "Penelope isn't exactly an NPC. She's the Craft's robot, owned 
  by the builder character. She's useful if, for example, Varina's at HRH 
  but there's someone at the Weavercrafthall who wants to be an apprentice 
  - she could log on as Penelope and do the interview. Or, if I'm tied up 
  somewhere but someone needs to staff the craft tent, I'll log on as 
  Penelope and do that."
You say "She's sort of the 'emergency journeyranker'. :)"
Fiona nods.
Opa says "Are there any more questions regarding local help, or shall I go 
  on? Just a few more topics left."
Opa grins. "Okay then...topic 7: Infobot material - Updated material is 
  immediately forthcoming. It's got lots of stuff on things like the 
  postings areas, more about how to join, and several other things. Right 
  now I'm just waiting for Tiercel to get back to me on how exactly he 
  wants it emailed to him, and once that happens, it'll be done. I'll put 
  an announcement on the bboard when the new infobot stuff comes up.
Ninali sits down at one of the Apprentice Tables.
Opa says "Also in the works is a Weavercraft Encyclopedia - sort of a 
  reference guide of weaver-related information, such as what fabrics 
  exist on Pern, how looms work, different embroidery stitches, which 
  herbs are used for what dyes, and on and on ad nauseum. Right now it's 
  about half done (what is done is in web format on our WWW page, btw) and 
  is continuing to expand. Anyone who feels like doing some research for 
  this is eagerly welcomed."
Opa says "The idea is to give you guys an easy reference on stuff that ICly 
  weavers would know, but OOCly you're obviously not going to memorize 
  unless you want to be a professional tailor or something. :)"
Fiona tentatively raises her hand. She has no life. :)
Opa gives Fiona a hug. Terrific. I'll send you +mail with more specifics.
Tuvia looks at Fiona with a puzzled expression, "Huh?"
Fiona offers to help with the Encyclopedia...
Ninali has to leave... sorry guys!
Opa goes on. :) "Topic 8: TP with Allory the Smith (you know, Attila the 
  Hun, Conan the Barbarian, Allory the Smith...;). She'd like to get into 
  some RP with us regarding a new chemical discovery that her character 
  has made (which she read up on in RL). If certain metals are left in 
  acid, even mild acid like vinegar, they produce a goop which gives a 
  really nice and stable grey colour.
Opa waves. Thanks for coming, Ninali! :)
Haldi waves, "Bye Ninali :)"
Fiona says "Bye Ninali!"
Ninali wanders through the doorway towards the teaching rooms and the 
  rest of the west wing.
Fiona jumps up at the mention of the goop. "I could use that stuff in a 
  commission I'm working on for a miner!"
Opa grins. Hurrah for goop. Okay, well, when she first mentioned it to 
  me at the beginning of October, she'd been hanging around here but never 
  meeting up with anyone. Right now I think she could show up and 
  definitely find someone around, so I'll let her know that people are 
  interested. :)
Opa says "She may be interested in setting up a specific time for her to 
  come and RP with us. Stay tuned. :)"
Opa says "And lastly (*finally!* :) Not all meetings will have this much to 
  cover, I don't think), open forum time. Anyone with any other questions 
  or issues they want to raise, go for it. :) First posed, first served. :)"
Haldi can't think of anything.... :}
Varina just apologizes again for being comatose tonight. Opa put on a 
  great one-woman show. :)
Opa tapdances off the stage. You've been a wonderful crowd...
Opa;)
Varina whistles. "look at her go!"
Tuvia nothing on my mind now.
Haldi applauds, "Yea Master Opa! :)"
Opa does the can-can for an encore. :)
Fiona cheers and throws roses....Thorns removed, of course.
Tuvia whistles and claps her hands.
Varina says "the things a CM's gotta do!"
Opa says "Don't worry folks, next time Varina's going to drive a motorcycle 
  through a flaming hoop while balancing a chicken on her nose and playing 
  Beethoven's third on the kazoo."
Varina blinks. "I am? I thought it was beethoven's 5th?"
Fiona makes a note to be here for the next meeting, with a fire 
  extinguisher. :)
Opa looks appalled and rifles through her notes. Erm...could you learn 
  Beethoven's 3rd in time?
Varina polishes her kazoo. "Just watch me."
Opa looks relieved. Oh, good, cuz I already had the programmes printed, you see.
Varina will slip in a few bars of the 5th just for extra fun.
Tuvia smiles. "Well, I guess I'd better be going."
Opa noddles. Yes. This meeting is officially adjourned. I'm turning off 
  the log. :)