Crochet Class: Second Stitch

The Commander paced among his students, gauging their progress, correcting and adjusting. Royce seemed to be picking it up fairly well, though it seemed to require all his concentration. He worked hunched over his hook of green yarn, tongue caught between his teeth as he gave each loop his full attention. Haylee-12 worked as though she had done this before, as she may have, given the nature of the EXO memory. He was already planning to give her more advanced stitches to work on in the next class session, should she choose to continue. Delan-5 crafted each stitch with mechanical precision, slow and deliberate. Though he had completed only half the rows of the others, each one was so precise and perfectly ordered that only those watching him work would know it was crafted by hand. Zavala paused by the Hunter, Alia. Her head was bent, giving him no view of her shadowed face as she looped the orange strands of the skein she had chosen around the crochet hook. The chains she had completed were lumpy and uneven but he could see that she was trying. He reached out and covered her fingers with his, controlling the tension she was pulling on each loop. “Consistency will yield a more even result.” He explained. She tensed, and for a moment he thought she might spring away. Touchy, even for a Hunter, he thought before she relaxed and her shadowed face turned towards him. “You have the form.” He noted, reaching out his other hand and showing her a better way to hold the threads, “But feel the tension as you wrap the strand around. Then you’ll know if you need to tighten or loosen before you yarn through.” Her fingers might have trembled for an instant as he guided them to lay lightly on the hook. “Do you feel it?” She nodded. He straightened and glanced at the time piece on the wall. “I believe we will call the session for the day.” He remarked. “There will be another in a week’s time, schedule permitting. Do not worry if you have to skip due to obligations in the field, we can pick up where you left off when next you return.” “Should we leave the hooks on the table, sir?” Royce asked. Zavala shook his head. “The tools are yours to keep. Practice with them, get to know them. I anticipate good results when next we meet.” He heard a rustle and glanced over to see Alia stowing her lumpy crochet, hook and yarn in a pocket sewn inside her cloak. ‘Convenient.’ He thought. “Dismissed.” He said, striding to the table and beginning the process of clean-up. --- “Alia, what are you up to?” The Hunter glanced up from her comfortable seat in a worn out old armchair to see Herro, her gunslinger squadmate, enter their dormitory, his helmet tilted in curiosity. “It’s called crochet.” She replied, measuring out a length of yarn and wrapping it around her hook. “Seriously?” The EXO pulled off his helmet and thumped down to watch, electric blue eyes narrowing. “Wait, so that announcement in the tower…that was for real?” Knight, who had been staring out the window of their small tower lodgings, glanced down. He had walked in earlier, but hadn‘t even seemed to notice she was there. Mind on other things, as usual. “I thought that was for Titans only.” The warlock commented. “Well, you know me.” She grinned. “Couldn’t stand being excluded from anything.” Knight agreed. “Got it in one.” She made another loop. “The frames wouldn’t talk to me, cause, you know, not a Titan, so I had to listen in for a while to get the pertinents.” She chuckled and flicked her hook in Herro’s direction. “Most of the Titans’ questions were along the same lines as yours, Herro.” Herro picked up the skein of yarn and started tossing it from hand to hand before she snatched it back. He stared at her. “You’re seriously taking this, uh, seriously?” “It’s something new.” She replied, frowning and tucking the skein against her leg, out of reach. “The pursuit of knowledge is its own reward.” Knight stated before frowning. “But I have to go with Herro on this one. Crochet?” She shrugged, starting a new stitch. “So what was it like, having Zavala as a teacher?” Herro asked, his voice laden with morbid curiosity. “Did he treat it like a military briefing?” The voidwalker snorted at Herro’s suggestion and Alia’s eyes narrowed. Herro stood and laced his hands behind his back, his bright blue eyes glinting in amusement. “The fate of the city rests on your knitting, Guardian.” He intoned in a bad imitation of Zavala’s ringing tones, his red and white plates shifting into a haughty expression. The fact that he had formed the class like a military exercise ran through the awoken Hunter’s head, but she wasn’t going to give Herro the satisfaction of knowing he was right. Trouble was she didn’t know how to frame the lesson in any way that wouldn’t make Zavala more of a source of amusement for the others. “Crochet.” She finally said, pushing back her chin length hair and not turning her attention from forming loops on her hook. “Not knitting.” Herro shook his head at her before flopping down on his bunk. “No fun.” he complained, wrapping his cloak around himself and settling in for the night. “Don’t forget we’re heading to Venus in the morning.” Knight reminded her needlessly. “I won’t be up too late.” She replied, keeping her attention on making sure the tension was even before pulling the hook through. --- Third Stitch: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/226252052/0/0 Master List: https://www.bungie.net/en/Clan/Post/1371758/226373948/0/0