Character hobbies!

So in another thread we were discussing Mark Sarnow and his love of weaving. Honor loves the outdoors and physical activity in general. Alfred likes to cook, Allison is apparently aces at chess. Tom likes reading.

What other hobbies do our beloved characters have?

(Cannon and crack both accepted... so long as we know which is which! )

Not quite canon, but not quite crack - I've had a few of these ideas pop up in my head over the course of reading these books.

1. Eloise Pritchart loves playing chess, though she rarely has the time for it. Because it was one of the few things she never did with Javier - they always had far better things to be doing with their time - she used it as an escape after Lovat. Her favorite partner is Tom Theisman, but the one who actually gives her the best competition is, surprisingly, Leslie Montreau. When she wants a mindless game where she doesn't have to think, however, she always breaks out checkers. For some reason, Tom's absolutely terrible at it.

2. Estelle Matsuko was a world-class artistic gymnast during her university years, in fact captaining her school team. In her senior year, she won the all-around and three event titles, on the uneven parallel bars, balance beam, and floor exercise. Her floor music was Hammerwell's "Thunder of Heaven", and her score for that exercise still stands as the highest ever given on an event other than vault in the history of the Star Kingdom. To this day, when she has a particular problem to work out, she goes to the gym, pulls on a leotard, and sweats it out.

3. Augustus Khumalo has a gorgeous bass-baritone singing voice, and while at Saganami Island was in the naval academy's most advanced choir. There's no genre he can't sing, but though he'll never admit it to anyone, his favorite is musical theater.

4. Allen Higgins still rows crew sculls when he can. He loves the power of the oars in his hands, the steady rhythm of the pull and stroke as he rows and the quiet out on the water. It's the one time he can really get out of his own head and just be, entirely at peace with himself and the universe.

5. Tom Theisman loves to cook. He's hardly gourmet - and at his first Harrington barbecue knows he will never equal the Salamander's father - but he loves experimenting with different dishes, and his favorite thing to make is comfort food. He loves doing something where everything he does is under his own control and a result of his own efforts - it's a welcome break from Navy command, where so much can go wrong no matter how hard you work or how well you prepare. He's cooked for Eloise a few times, and for Denis and his family, and more than once for Leslie, Eloise, and Denis all together. It's where they do their best work, he thinks, over a hot meal tucked away from the rest of the government.

6. Sonja Hemphill rides horses. Low Delhi was in exactly the right climate to have a Thoroughbred racing stable; she's ridden everything from tiny pacer ponies to half-broken fillies and loved every minute. Her favorite thing to do is head out to one of the enormous far pastures, used for mares in foal during breeding season, and unbind her hair and gallop as far and fast as she can. She does her best thinking on the back of a horse.

7. Lester Tourville builds models - models of the old wet-navy pre-space ships. He loves the clippers and the carronades, ships of the line and tiny frigates and full-masted schooners. Back in Nouveau Paris, he has an entire display case of famous ships of the past, from the USS Constitution to the HMS Victory and a whole slew of others. Many people are surprised that he's into something so detailed and that requires such fine work; what they don't know is that it's only with his models that Lester is able to cultivate patience outside a battle situation.

Squee! I love those! Especially Estelle, Augustus and Sonja. I'm now picturing Augustus singing in the shower, by the way.

Funny, I always pictured Tom being absolutely unable to cook, mostly due to him never having been off-ship long enough to acquire the skill.

A couple of my theories:

Emily loves music. It's one of the only things that still feels like it did before and never reminds her of what she's lost.

Justin tried to get Elizabeth into meditation. It didn't work.

NortonIDaughter wrote:Squee! I love those! Especially Estelle, Augustus and Sonja. I'm now picturing Augustus singing in the shower, by the way.

Estelle actually caught him singing "All I Ask of You" once. He still doesn't know. She fell a little bit in love.

NortonIDaughter wrote:
Funny, I always pictured Tom being absolutely unable to cook, mostly due to him never having been off-ship long enough to acquire the skill.

In my head, it's something he learned after the Theisman Coup. It became his escape from the pressures of government. I think it was the one thing he most missed from not growing up in a proper family, and he wanted to learn, but never had the time until he finally left space.

NortonIDaughter wrote:
A couple of my theories:

Emily loves music. It's one of the only things that still feels like it did before and never reminds her of what she's lost.

NortonIDaughter wrote:
Justin tried to get Elizabeth into meditation. It didn't work.

By the way, where do we find out that Tom reads? You'd think I'd know this!!

Kevin Usher is a Film Buff. He likes watching and talking about classic films. In From the Highlands He mentions his liking for classic films to Victor Cachat. Later Victor also becomes a film buff. In the short story Fanatic we see that Victor has also become a film buff. He discusses a classic film with Diana Citizen .
Honor is another character who has an interest in classic films. She organizes a film festival in one of the books on Grayson.The films featured in the film festival are old Japanese Samuari films and old Holywood western films.

roseandheather wrote:
By the way, where do we find out that Tom reads? You'd think I'd know this!!

He's reading when they get to Haven after McQueen's coup attempt-- between that and Eloise's comments about Tom being an excellent historian, I assume he must like reading.



When it comes to canon hobbies, though, I never get over Jacques being in the SCA. Especially now we've "met" him.

Honor likes sailing, wind gliding, shooting, hiking and storytelling, frisbee throwing with furry animals, old planes and eating lots of calorie-laden food.

roseandheather wrote:Not quite canon, but not quite crack - I've had a few of these ideas pop up in my head over the course of reading these books.

5. Tom Theisman loves to cook. He's hardly gourmet - and at his first Harrington barbecue knows he will never equal the Salamander's father - but he loves experimenting with different dishes, and his favorite thing to make is comfort food. He loves doing something where everything he does is under his own control and a result of his own efforts - it's a welcome break from Navy command, where so much can go wrong no matter how hard you work or how well you prepare. He's cooked for Eloise a few times, and for Denis and his family, and more than once for Leslie, Eloise, and Denis all together. It's where they do their best work, he thinks, over a hot meal tucked away from the rest of the government.

Well, we've already got one gourmet-cooking Admiral by textev (Luis Rozsak over in Maya Sector), so maybe something different for Thomas?

This is a man who has been under crushing responsiblity and more than once threatened with losing his life, and he never seems to let it get to him (except twice, at Blackbird and then when Ransom takes Honor away for execution.

I think he is an avid cross-country skier, which lets him
get away from others, blow off excess stress in a burst of energy, and appreciate what life is about out alone in the mountains (mountains tend to have a good effect on people, IMHO).

Just my two dirhams worth.

People might want to mark which ones have textev, and which ones are daydreams.

Oh, one of my darlings plays the piano - but they haven't bothered to clarify who yet.