Logs:A Different Kind of Attitude
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| RL Date: 28 June, 2008 |
| Who: Iesia, Madilla |
| Involves: Healer Hall |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla is interrupted from her study by Iesia, who surprises and intrigues her. |
| Where: Lounge, Healer Hall |
| When: Day 28, Month 11, Turn 16 (Interval 10) |
| Lounge - Healer Hall A relaxing atmosphere permeates this room, where healers can come to relax and socialize. A long couch lines one wall. It looks comfortable, inviting you to sit. Every hour, a drudge comes in to replace the snacks and klah sitting on the table in the corner. Glows hang around the room, but are subdued and easy on the eyes. Aunty Bess, Healer Hall's source of information, sits in a large old wooden chair, which is often a favorite place for hall firelizards to perch on. A recent addition has been placed in the central part of the lounge, a large tapestry, which can be seen in greater detail if you look closer. Despite it being a beautiful, clear, mild autumn's afternoon, there are a number of apprentices in the lounge, today. End-of-turn exams begin in a seven, and most of those in here are actually here to study - including Madilla, who is perched on a half-collapsed couch near the doorway, pouring over some notes, and mumbling under her breath as she reads. An abandoned mug of klah sits on the floor beside her, just in reach. Whoever wants to spend beautiful days outside? Pfft. A foreign Healer wanders in, blinking around the lounge. There's a nostalgic look on her face, but Iesia quickly schools it back into something neutral, and proceeds. Around a few tables, througha few groups of studiers, and onwards she goes. What her business is, really, cannot be discerned, but she stops her walking by an unforunate apprentice, and peeks over her shoulder. "What are you studying?" she asks. Madilla goes squeak, her head shooting up in surprise and alarm as Iesia's question draws her out of her study, and back into the world. The strange healer is given a heavily-blinking glance, as the apprentice heaves a deep breath, and, finally, manages to respond. "Trauma basics," she reports, speaking quickly, her eyes seeking out Iesia's knot. "Journeywoman. How to respond to situations. I'm sorry, you startled me." "Apology accepted," as if it wasn't completely Iesia's fault. She purses her lips and, after a moment's thought, hooks her ankle around a nearby chair, pulls it over and sits. "Trauma, hm?" and her eyes sort of twinkle. "So tell me, apprentice, how *would* you respond to a situation?" Madilla looks relieved, setting the hide down upon her knees as the other healer pulls up her chair and continues to talk. She speaks quietly, apparently mindful of the other apprentices, all of whom are still studying away, but her tone is clear. "Depends on the situation," she explains, animatedly. "But you're supposed to make sure people are breathing, before anything else. And you have to be calm, and convince them you're not worried, even if you are. Er." She pauses. "That's right, isn't it?" Iesia lets a little laugh slip out, but she nods her head. "Yes. It would be important to ensure whomever you are about to help is, actually, alive before you start. Time is too valuable to waste on a dead patient." There's no real concern in her voice, either. "And sure. Convince them you aren't worried." Iesia's never worried. She shrugs. "Tell me. Have you studied how to deal with bleeding wounds? How to tell what you have hit, the depth and the severity?" Madilla's cheeks turn pink, as if suddenly aware that what she's said is, realistically, probably something that anyone could guess. She tackles the next question after a long pause, and a lengthy, draw-out breath. "Only the very basics," she reports. "I've only been here a turn. Most of that gets covered later. I do know how to suture. But," she pauses again, looking down. "I haven't been allowed to try it on a real patient, yet." "Oh." It's a bit disappointed sounding, and Iesia's neutral experession wavers as she frowns a bit more. "Well. Suturing has it's place indeed. And I am sorry that I am cut free, or I would offer myself for practice," is she serious? Hrm. "Have you covered splints? Or at least rudimentary wrapping and bone structure?" Nosey, this one. Madilla gives Iesia a dubious glance, as if not quite sure how to take that comment about being cut-free. Evidently, she decides that it is easier to just ignore it, and moves on, hands clasped together atop her hide, upon her lap. "We've done splints," she says, eagerly, obviously pleased to be able to answer this one. "And how to tell if something is broken, and slings, too." Iesia bobs her head, seeming satisfied with that answer. "Good. At least they taught you something useful. Hope they're not spending too much early time on Threadscore's, seeing as that's fading away." She shrugs, glancing briefly towards Madilla's hides. She finds them obscured, so settles back and just looks around the lounge. "Sketched bones at all?" she wants to know. "Hated when we did that." "No threadscore, yet," says Madilla, sounding relieved. "That's something I hope I never have to worry about. Normal burns are bad enough. Not that I've actually had to /do/ much for those, either. We mostly watch." She misses Iesia's interest in her hides, her attention focused upon the other woman's face. "Yes, we've done a little of that. It's-- hard. But important, I suppose. To know what they look like. Supposed to look like, that is." "Useful, yes. Though tedious. Muscles, ligaments. Veins and arteries are the worst. Especially when you draw those tiny little capalaries." Iesia quirks an eyebrow up at Madilla. "I hope you don't mind blood. You'll see a lot of it." A bit of a pause, Iesia looking distant and perhapes reminiscing. "It will go by fast," she assures the Apprentice, though she doesn't sound terribly sympathetic. "Threadscore is... easier and harder, at the same time. Interesting. Leaves great scars." Madilla pokes at the hide in her lap idly as she listens to Iesia, nodding. "I didn't know I was going to have to draw, when I came here. It's hard to remind yourself that it doesn't have to be perfect, as long as you can visualise it all." She shakes her head, then, noting, "I'm not worried about blood. I've seen blood. Oh, I know it'll go by fast. It's already been a turn, and that seems both a very long time, and no time at all. I haven't seen my family, since then." Biting her lip, she adds, "I don't know that I find threadscore 'interesting'. Concerning, maybe." "It is very different from the expressive drawings of the Harper's," agrees Iesia, nodding her head a little. "It is.. technical. Accuracy is important, though not in a... beautiful way. Labels. Locations. But no, it does not need to be pretty." Iesia smirks just a little. "Threadscore is interesting when you work with it, when you see it first hand. It cuts gashes like a knife, but it burns, cauterizing as it goes, usually. And the lucky ones go Between, which can make for complications, depending on how deep the Thread has gotten. It is.. fascinating." To her, at least. "I've been studying with the Harpers," explains Madilla. "Not drawing, and things like that, but-- some other things. I've been watching some of them practice, though. It /is/ very different." Again, she bites her lip as Iesia talks, listening intently to the description of threadscore, though her expression suggests she in no way understands the fascination. "Ugh," is all she says, when the Journeyman finishes talking. "I'm not sure if fascinating is the word, either." "Maybe you will change your mind, if you see one." Though that is unlikely. Iesia frowns. "Hm. They don't let you out of the Hall much, do they? Pity. There's a dragonrider at Ista who's got a nasty score, you could still look at. All down her back. Missed major organs, but it is quiet a sight." She shrugs idly. "You said this is your first Turn? Have you considered a speciality yet?" Definitely unlikely, by Madilla's expression. "Only sometimes - for study visits to other places. But there won't be any at this time of turn, because of exams. I don't--" She frowns. "I don't like the idea of going to Ista for the sole purpose of making an exhibit out of someone in pain." Beat. "Is that where you're posted, then - Ista? I think I want to go into youth and pediatrics, only some of my masters seem to think I'd be better off sticking to pharmacy." "Igen, actually," answers Iesia on posting, "Though I seem to spend a fair bit of time in Ista. And I am sure she would understand. It would have been a learning experience," or so Iesia will tell herself. Her mouth twitches, and she grins just a little, a sly thing with very little humor. "Pediatrics? You are daring. I wouldn't touch it with a ten food stick, personally. Oh, I can if I must, but specialize in children? No." "I visited Igen on one of my study visits," notes Madilla. "It was nice and warm, at least. I don't know," she continues. "I guess I'd feel really invasive. I do, even here, when most patients know that there are going to be apprentices running around, learning. It doesn't seem fair, when someone is in pain. I don't think working with children is daring. Is it? Should it be? We were all children, once. I like children." "I don't." Children. Iesia gives a bit of a shudder. "If you are shy, you won't learn properly," she tells Madilla. "I am certain that the patients you observe would be happy to have you observe them, if it means the knowledge you gain will save someone's life someday. Hm? It is not as if you are... ridiculing them. You are learning, turning their misforture to your advantage and to the advantage of those you will someday treat. They ought to be honored." Only Iesia. She smirks just a little. "As for children? They are more difficult than dealing with beasts. Stubborn, and whiney, and do not listen to reason." Madilla seems unbothered by Iesia's reaction to the subject of children, smiling placidly, and brushes a strand of hair that has fallen loose from her plait behind one ear. "I suppose," she allows, of the other subject, though she sounds uncertain by it. "Children are sweet, though. And it doesn't take much to get them to like and respect you, if you're patient, and then you can have really good relationships with them. I can't wait until I can get married, and have children of my own." Iesia looks fairly repulsed at that idea, scowling. "Married? Children? What in Faranth's name are you doing in the Hall if *that* is what you want to do, woman? There are plenty of men out there, just waiting. Why waste your time?" She scoffs a bit, inspecting her fingernails absently. "Children are a nuisance. They fuss at the silliest thing, are afraid of the irrational." There's a touch of bitterness in her voice, and she scowls darkly. "Pharmacy. That's a better option." Madilla looks, not hurt, exactly, but definitely taken aback by Iesia's vehemence. "My Uncle decided to send me to the Hall, and I'm glad, because I like it here. I'm only fourteen-- too young to get married for a couple of turns, at least. I can wait." Never mind what she just said a few moments ago about being unable to. "I want to do both: be a healer, /and/ have a family. You can, can't you? I shouldn't see why not. Pharmacy's boring. All herbs, no people. I like helping people." Iesia shakes her head in disbelief. "Being a Healer is a full time job. Being a wife and a mother is a full time job. You cannot have both." At least, that is Iesia's point of view, and from the set of her jaw, she's likely going to stick to it. "Helping people. Noble ideas. It will be interesting, indeed, to see if that motivation keeps you going, or if it changes." She shrugs. "Pharmacy is important, more so in some aspects, than Pediatrics. Without pharamcy, we would not have numbweed. Redwort. Fellis. Or the many salves, oils and topical treatments. Herb teas." She shrugs again. "But if you would rather work with brats, be my guest." Madilla's eyes narrow, as if she's debating whether to believe Iesia or not, though by the slump in her shoulders, perhaps she has decided in the affirmative. "Well," she says, after a pause. "I guess I'll see what happens. You don't want to help people? I thought that was what being a healer was all about? Helping people with their injuries and illnesses." Iesia is clearly confusing her. "I know pharmacy is important, but it's just... it's not very interesting. I didn't come here to work with herbs. I could do that at home." "No," is Iesia's quick answer, a little shrug of her shoulders to go with it. "I did not become a Healer to help people. I am sure that is the... majority of apprentices reasons for applying, but it was not mine. And it never has been." She looks bored, and sounds as if she's repeating a lecture when she says, "I like Healing because it is complicated. Because I am good at it. I am swift, and can think on my feet. I have only lost a few patients, and none of them was my fault. I am good. That does not mean I care." She flicks her fingers towards the hide idly. "You are the same. You just said it. Pharmacy is important but boring. So you won't do it. That is the rest of life to me. It is boring, so I Heal instead. Because Healing is not boring." Madilla tilts her head to the side as Iesia speaks, expression quizzical. "I--" she begins, finally, breaking off after that single statement. "That's, um, I suppose that makes some sense. I don't think Craftsecond Amaryllia came here to help people, either, so I guess that isn't completely silly. I just don't understand how you can go through life not caring about people. Isn't it very lonely?" Iesia mms. "I did not say I don't care about people," she clarifies. "I said that it was not my motivation for Healing. And no, I do not care about my patients. Not in the traditional, touchy-feeling sense of the word, care. But there are others, outside of Healing, that I care for." She shrugs. "Lonely is relative. You can be lonely in a crowded room, right? And I can be.. not lonely when I am by myself. It is all in perspective." She smirks again. "If you are here to help people, that is fine. If it is your motivation to see you through, wonderful." "Oh. That makes more sense, then." Madilla, evidently relieved that Iesia is not completely without feelings, bobs her head hurriedly to display her understanding. "I don't always want people around, either. But I'm used to it, mostly. I do go and study out in the fields, though, sometimes. Just to get away." Still bobbing her head, she adds, "So I guess it doesn't matter what your reasons are for being here, so long as you are going to work to be a good healer. Right?" "Yes," decides Iesia, contemplative. "I believe that is a blunt way of putting it. It does not matter what your motivation is, so long as it serves to keep you motivated, and excell. I assure you, they will never test you on your affection for another individual though," and Iesia pauses, to smirk and shake her head again, "They will attempt to gauge your... team spirit. Assure them you get along with others, and they will be fine." Madilla presses her hands down upon her lap more firmly, posture straightened, and nods. "Good," she concludes. "One of the other Junior Apprentices, Daegan? He's a healer because his Gran - she's Master Sila - expected him to be. Or, rather," she corrects herself, frowning, "He /was/. He's decided he does want to be one, now. Anyway, he didn't do very well, when he didn't want to be here. But now he does. So it works." She's a little more restrained, less prone to babbling, as she concludes, "I can get along with others. So - that's good." "Daegan. The name is familiar," decides Iesia, but she doesn't explain further. She shrugs. "Well," and she climbs to her feet. "It is good to know there is at least one motivated apprentice, even if..." but she just shakes her head and mumbles something suspiciously sounding like 'pediatrics'. "Good luck, ah... apprentice." With a forced smile, she gives Madilla a little nod of her head and continues on her journey. "My name's--" begins Madilla, but she breaks off, as the Journeywoman heads out. "Never mind," she murmurs, beneath her breath, as she picks up her hide again, and resumes her study. Exams to pass, and all. |
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