Logs:Face Value
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| RL Date: 27 March, 2015 |
| Who: Lilah, Tess, Yarovai |
| Involves: Fort Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Yarovai comes to fix things. Tess and Lilah meet him and value his face. Or take him at face value (or not). |
| Where: Infirmary, Fort Weyr |
| When: Day 15, Month 5, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Gussarel/Mentions, Milataeri/Mentions |
| Infirmary, Fort Weyr The walls of this oval cavern have been smoothed, and white-washed and get regular cleaning from the way they gleam subtly on any given day. Cots line the walls and stand in aisles towards the back of the cavern, ready to serve human patients. At the far end of the cavern, a short passageway is blocked off by a curtain and leads into the central hub for the dragon infirmary. Several ground weyrs that face out onto the Bowl all exit on the inner side, into this hub which is well stocked for the treatment of dragon injuries and spacious enough to accomodate the smaller dragons. Supplies are stored in various drawers and glass-fronted cabinets that display a myriad of the most commonly used items. A discreet door off to the side provides access to the still room where more sensitive items are also kept. A large sink with functional plumbing -- including hot and cold taps -- is located toward the southernmost corner.
Yarovai at said desk when Tess returns to it, and he greets her with a friendly grin. "I'm here to fix something?" Just in case the toolbox he's carrying or the time he's here isn't a good indication of who he is. Except that he says it with that questioning inflection. He's where he's supposed to be, right? Tess looks at him with a questioning look, like maybe he isn't where he's supposed to be, lips pressed together, head slightly tilted, as if she's trying to place his face. Then she snaps fingers of both hands at once and points at him. "Cabinets?" The looking starts to make the man look more uncertain. But as soon as she says that word, it all disappears. "Cabinets, yeah. I'm here to fix the cabinets." There's a possibility Yarovai would have said the same about anything she suggested, granted. Tess' hands clap together to punctuate her word, "Great!" She has a bright smile for him as she starts backing toward the particular cabinets, still facing he who was sent. "It's going to be so nice to not have these things practically jump off their hinges every time you open them," she tells the brunette with enthusiasm. "What's your name?" He moves around the desk so he can follow the woman toward the cabinets in question. "They won't be going anywhere once I'm done with 'em. I mean, they'll open and close." Like a cabinet should. But definitely no jumping. "Yarovai." That's him. He doesn't return the question, though, because he's already trying to get a better look so he can get to work. "It's just these three," Tess indicates with a touch of her hand to each defective door. "But it's where they keep the things we use all the time, so it's really very annoying." She tells the man. "Yarovai, I'm Tess. Tell me something about you? It will help me remember who you are later." Yarovai nods slowly as she tells him what's going on, looking at the doors still. He only glances up when she says her name and asks him to tell her something about himself. He hesitates, thinking. A little too long. "I'm from the hold." Fort, presumably. "And I fix things." Which, basically, sums up Yarovai completely. Tess' lips tug up at the corners into a small smile. "Fort Hold?" She asks as she moves to lean against one of the unaffected cabinets, arms folding loosely across her chest. Evidently, she doesn't have something more pressing to do than to watch him do his thing. "Fort Hold," he confirms with another one of those nods as he starts to get down to business. Yarovai doesn't seem to mind the company. No doubt he's used to people 'supervising' his work on a fairly regular basis, for one reason or another. He might even think it's normal! "Hopefully you won't have to see too much of me," is a sort of belated response, offered with a good-natured grin, to her having to remember his name. "Oh, I'm sure I will," Tess tells him without hesitation. "Thing are always breaking around here." She flashes a smile. "There's a couple loose cot joining you could fix while you're here too, or I can make sure we put in a work order for them." She lets her eye linger on his face as he works. "So did you come to the Weyr before or after Astivan ran off?" The woman asks it casually, but her eyes are keen on his expression. Yarovai looks up when Tess mentions Astivan, brows furrowed for a moment. "After. Not long ago. Thought it might be more stable here after all that, you know?" His attention returns to the cabinets, but he continues, "I can take a look at 'em when I'm done if it doesn't get too late." He's helpful like that. Like, actually helpful. There's nothing even a little bit suggestive in his voice. "It's a thought," Tess grants him, "Though the Weyr is used to full tithes from each of the Holds in its sweep, I'd imagine," but she's not certain and doesn't pretend, "so we may yet see lean times here." She quirks a smile at him, "I'm new, too. To the Weyr, I mean." His work pauses so Yarovai can look up at the woman again, brow furrowed even more. He stares at her like this for perhaps an uncomfortable amount of time, past her smiling and continuing on. He's confused, but apparently not sure how to alleviate the matter. Instead he finally says, "Uh. From where?" Tess looks evenly back at Yarovai through the awkwardly long silence, considering his furrowed brow. It's probably a test when she answers with, "Elsewhere, where else?" Still confused, Yarovai's brow stays furrowed, but he returns his attention to the cabinets so he can keep working. Focus might not be one of his best skills. "Oh," is all he says, but whether that means he realizes it's not a place or that he's just not going to press her to talk about it is not entirely clear. The healer considers him a moment with marked curiosity. Then, abruptly, she slides into a seat on the floor, leaning back against the edge of the cabinet and angling herself toward the brunette. "What do you like to talk about, Yarovai?" "Uh," is his initial answer while he considers her question and works at the same time. It's a split of concentration that seems to take concentration in and of itself. Poor Yarovai. "Do you have any sisters? Brothers? I have four. Sisters. Four sisters." "Sisters, yes." Tess says, but not immediately. She's taking him in as he works, as he thinks, as he tries to split his focus. "Two of them. And a brother." She shifts a little as though to rise, "Would you prefer it if I leave you to it, Yarovai?" "No," is the first thing Yarovai has said, green eyes shifting to her, without really having to think about it. "Not unless you want to, anyway. This probably isn't very interesting. Most folks don't talk to me much. But I like to listen." "So do I," Tess answers that much without hesitation. "I think it's interesting." She sounds sincere, if simply so. "Tell me about your sisters? Are they older or younger or both?" "Both," says Yarovai after a moment of simply looking at Tess. "Two older, two younger. Three of them are still in Fort Hold." Which he doesn't seem entirely happy about. "The oldest is married with a couple kids of her own." It is likely the seeming that has Tess asking, "You wish they weren't still at the Hold?" Followed by a thoughtful, "Do you like the Weyr so much already?" And then a hesitant, "Or is it Astivan?" Yarovai seems surprised that she knows he doesn't want them to still be in the Hold, but he nods before his gaze returns to his work. "Astivan. I just want what's best for them. Wherever that is. You know?" If she has sisters, and she said she did, she must know. Tess is a smart girl. It's not so hard when he's already confessed his own reason for leaving the Hold. "And you came here so you think that's here or anywhere that isn't Fort?" Of her own sisters, she makes no further mention just now. Tess is a psychic, obviously. "Somewhere stable. I don't know if it's here or somewhere else. But people were saying it wouldn't be good to stay in the Hold." And Yarovai pretty much believes whatever people say to him. "The Holds will be seeing some rough times." Tess frowns. "I'm from a minor Hold, beholden to Fort. My parents lost everything." Her expression is clouded with sadness for a moment. Then she shakes her head, "Sorry. I don't--" She sucks in a breath, holds it a moment and then lets it out before expressing in a more collected manner, "I don't normally talk about these things. Things that make me sad with people. But it seemed like you could understand. I'm worried about them. My family." Yarovai looks away from the cabinets to offer a frown of sympathetic concern to the woman. "Don't worry about it. Everyone needs someone to talk to. I'm happy to listen. But I'm sorry about your parents." He's probably not happy about her sadness, anyway. He certainly doesn't look like it. Tess looks at him thoughtfully. "How are you at keeping secrets?" It's a quiet question, but one that has her gaze intent on his face. "I'm sorry about them too. I feel helpless and I don't like that." The confession is like the question, soft but intense. "Don't think I've ever told anyone anyone else's secrets." Granted, Yarovai might not be entrusted with very many of them to begin with. "Don't always remember that I know, though." Or that. "You don't really look like the sort of person with secrets." It's meant to be a compliment. "I don't have a lot of my own, intentionally. Things end up becoming secrets the longer I don't tell anyone though," Tess observes. "Sort of the nature of things one does not end up saying for whatever reason. Like, it's a secret that I'm sorry I don't get along better with my parents, that I can't be the daughter they want and marry someone who doesn't love me just because they want me to. That's a secret. Mostly because I haven't told anyone." Except, evidently, Yarovai. The first of what she says might be a little more than Yarovai can easily follow, but he nods anyway. Either force of habit or he gets the general gist of it enough to feel comfortable acknowledging it. "I don't think you should feel sorry for not being the daughter they want you to be. If anything, they should feel sorry for making you feel like you aren't the daughter they want." "That would be preferable," Tess answers with a wistful sort of sigh and wry smile. "Though I doubt very much that my parents have ever felt the slightest tinge of regret. It probably doesn't even occur to them that they could behave in a different manner." She rolls her shoulders and then smiles at the young man. "What are your parents like?" Not knowing Tess' parents very well, Yarovai offers sympathy but not many more opinions on the matter. It helps that he has another question to focus on while his hands are busy. He's making decent progress on the cabinet doors. "They're nice." He might say that about everyone. "But I guess they'd like the rest of my sisters married off sooner than later. I'm not much good for marrying, myself." So he probably doesn't get bothered about it very often. Tess makes a nasal noise of understanding, if not approving, about the marrying off of the sisters. Her brows lift at the last and with some amusement playing around the curve of her lips she asks, "No? Why's that?" "I'd like to. Some day, you know? Be nice to have someone to love and take care of." That it's a nice thought is pretty plain on Yarovai's face. Like most of his thoughts, really. He smiles at Tess as he continues, "My da says I'd be a bad husband. Nothing to offer a nice lady and all. Can't take care of no one. Suppose he's right. Unless she breaks a lot of things." Where this all might sad and self deprecating coming from someone else, it's just the way things are as far as Yarovai is concerned. The evening is eerily quiet in the Infirmary, looking all but abandoned save for the unobtrusive infirmary aide here or there and, of course, Tess in her infirmary apron, sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning on the edge of the cabinet next to the one on which Yarovai is currently busy fixing the hinges. Their voices carry in the eerie silence. The current topic? Marriage. "Then we're a pair, only my father doesn't know that I have nothing to offer in a marriage. I can't imagine he thinks with as frustrated as I make him that it would be any different with someone I didn't love." Marrying for love isn't voiced as an option. "And Yarovai, for what it's worth, there are women who can take care of themselves and still need someone to love and to share their life with." It's an encouraging remark while not trying to (presently) undermine the foundations of his relationship with his father. Lilah isn't exactly expected in the Infirmary especially this late in the evening, but then she rarely is when the goldrider decides to come and spend her time here. Her own uniform is a faded grey thing that she's had since before she was a weyrling, her golden-red curls thrown up in a messy bun to get them off her neck, ready to do-- something. What she expects to do in the Infirmary this late, who knows, but that is arrested when she catches sight of the two young people, listening briefly to their words before a hint of a smile appears and she offers, "Sometimes, women who can take care of themselves need someone all the more. Women who can't usually find many men willing to step forward and rescue them." A flick of her gaze takes in Tess, curiously, before focusing on the young man she hasn't met before. The handyman nods his head while he works, having an easier time of splitting his attention between his conversation with Tess and what he's doing with his hands the more he does it. "Maybe I'll--" Yarovai's voice stops short and he glances over his shoulder toward the other voice that seemingly, to him, comes from nowhere. He's not startled so much as surprised; there's a difference. "Well, maybe I'll find one one of these days." There's no sense of urgency in the way he says it, though. Things happen when they happen. He turns back to the cabinet, testing the hinges by moving the door slowly opened and closed. "Weyrwoman Lilah," Tess' greeting is warm, and the smile that she offers the older woman is so also, "This is Yarovai. He fixes things," her smile twists briefly impish and directs her eyes pointedly toward the handyman. It's silent and subtle commentary on his looks. "I'm afraid it's a quiet night, aside from the hinges he's fixing," which really don't make much noise. "I'd like to think that you've come to the right place for that, Yarovai. Rider women have their dragons to look after them, after all." A flick of dark eyes between Tess and Yarovai picks up that subtle commentary on the man's looks, a breath escaping that might be a laugh if Lilah allowed it. "And you are trying to fix him up with a rider?" is the weyrwoman's dry question, before she suggests to Yarovai innocently, "You'd have better luck with a craftswoman, who has her own career. Getting involved with a rider and her dragon can be a place of frustration for non-riders. Especially when it comes to flights." She doesn't look at Tess as she says this, but given the way she's not looking at her, well--. Tess was the one to point out his looks. Yarovai remains completely oblivious to any looks exchanged between the two women, but he does glance back at Lilah when Tess says her name along with her title. "Weyrwoman," he says with a hint of embarrassment, back coming a little straighter as he tries to decide whether to get up to greet her properly or not. "It's not-- I'm not looking. It's not like that. Just... just something that would be nice, I think. Eventually." He glances between both of them. They know what he means, right? "Well, not one in specific," Tess affects innocence as she looks back at the goldrider. "Just that it might be a good option for him, when he starts looking," this last is probably added as kind deference to Yarovai's remark, for he gets an understanding smile from the blonde. "As for crafters, I hear sometimes love of a craft can be more demanding and more frustrating than love of a dragon. At least with loving one's dragon, the dragon is a tangible being with thoughts and feelings. A craft can only love a person back so much before they send you to see a mindhealer." Dimples make an appearance before she's saying to both, "And anyway, I just don't want Yarovai to be lonely. He's only just arrived, sometime, from Fort Hold." She cants her head away from the weyrwoman, "I don't suppose you'd have time in your very busy schedule to show him around so he doesn't get lost on his way to fixing different things?" She flashes an encouraging smile at the man in question. There is the hint of a curve to Lilah's brow at that request of her time, but then the goldrider catches herself, offers a smile, and replies, "I am sure I can spare some time. Or if I can't myself, I will find someone who will be able to." She moves towards the two, though, and the next smile is an attempt to assure Yarovai that he can relax in her presence, even as she settles into a chair that she drags closer. Yet, her gaze focuses all the more on the young man as Tess identifies his place of origin, a hint of suspicion there even as she questions lightly, "And why have you come to the Weyr, Yarovai?" "I'll be fine, Tess. Really." Yarovai is completely missing the point. "I've found my way around well enough so far." He made it here, after all. "And there are lots of people around. It's hard to get too lonely." He closes the cabinet door and glances at the next one before looking back at Lilah, "It seemed like the thing to do, what with everything that's happening these days. And everyone seems real nice around here." He looks at Tess and smiles. She's been nice in his most recent memory. "But you don't mind, do you?" Tess elects not to call Lilah 'weyrwoman' again because that might make the man more skittish of the opportunity. "Think of it as a chance to make another friend, Yarovai. I know I need more friends. I'm sure Lilah breaks things too and knowing someone who knows how to fix things..." Well, there aren't words (that Tess will say) to say how useful that is. "He was telling me he was concerned that there would be shortages in the Hold after what's happened with Astivan." She elaborates for the man, "You have three sisters still there that you're worried for, don't you?" Even though they just talked about it. "Of course not," is likely a lie, but it doesn't show in Lilah's expression as she settles thoughtful, dark eyes on Yarovai even more. "And do you think the Weyr is to blame, then, for the shortages at the Hold?" is slightly pointed, but just so as she leans back in her chair. "Are we supposed to do more for your sisters?" That seems like a genuine question, tone evenly encouraging for the young man to speak his mind. His attention returns to the remaining hinges, but he's pretty obviously distracted now. "You seem like someone that would have lots of friends," he tells Tess. "Three still there. And my parents. But--" But Lilah's questions make Yarovai turn to look at her again, brows furrowed with some mild form of uncomfortable distress. "No, ma'am." It's very earnest. "I came here because I figured the Weyr would be... better. They said I might not get paid if I stayed at the Hold. I can't help my folks and my sister if I might not get paid." Tess silently observes the exchange between man and goldrider. Then says gently, "Yarovai's just a good older brother, I think." Swiftly she seeks to distract the man by saying, "I do have a lot of friends, but nearly none here, since I'm new too," it's reminding, but not pointedly so. There is no softening on the goldrider's part to that distress, only those sharp, dark eyes meeting Yarovai's evenly as Lilah considers his answer. Good thing Tess is here, and it's only her gentle words that remind the older woman to nod in agreement. "You can be sure that the Weyr will pay its workers," she offers the young man. "And if you have extra time outside of your duties, there may be extra marks that I could offer. I am sure your salary is stretched thin, with three sisters and your parents; and Dice is quite hard on furniture." "Right. Sorry. But... you'll make new friends fast. I know it. And maybe you can visit the old ones, too?" Yarovai, a man with ideas. He seems hesitant to keep looking at Lilah, even after she's talking to him again. These cabinets are very interesting. But he glances back when he answers, anyway, "I'm happy to help fix anything, weyrwoman." He hasn't forgotten that fact. "Any time you need it." This could easily come off as suggestive or flirty out of another man's mouth, but Yarovai is only helpful. Maybe also intimidated. "Dice!" Tess' smile is beaming. She might say more, of the place, of the friends, of anything else, only someone else is coming into the cavern, coughing. It's a graceful glide up from the floor to move to the desk to receive the person in need of a healer. Her voice will be kept soft, though it might as she takes the person toward a cot and does a brief exam, have the fact that the man just has a cold that won't go away might be gathered as time goes on. There's only so much privacy she can give when the infirmary is this quiet. As that man answers, it seems as if Lilah will rise to see to him as well, a twitch that quickly dies as Tess stands. The goldrider settles back into her chair, watching Healer and patient for a long moment before transferring her attention back to Yarovai. "Good. I will show you the place then on our tour. You aren't afraid of dragons or heights, I hope?" she questions with mild interest, now her attention softening finally. When Tess rises to meet the patient, Yarovai tries to use the opportunity to refocus on his work. "Nope. I mean-- No, ma'am. Not afraid of much, I don't think." Except maybe important women? In a slightly quieter voice, maybe so the healer can't overhear, even if she's otherwise distracted, Yarovai says to Lilah, "You don't really have to show me no where. Or find someone. I'm pretty good at finding my way." "And then be subject to Tess' wrath when she finds that I have shirked the task that she has assigned to me?" is said wryly, amusement touching Lilah's expression as she curves a brow upwards at Yarovai. She doesn't attempt to modulate her words so that Tess cannot hear, especially where she follows it up with a shake of her head, adding, "No. I will see to it that you know where everything in the Weyr is." The fact that Lilah suggests that Tess has wrath makes the handyman look over in the other woman's direction again. Yarovai seems uncertain, but doesn't actually argue the possibility. "Okay. I guess that makes sense. So she doesn't get upset with you." He's basically doing Lilah a favor here, as far as he seems to be able to tell. That uncertainty in the face of Lilah's joke is enough to return dark eyes to Yarovai in a study, her expression smoothing out into something more neutral as she does so. But she finally offers, "I will arrange a time around my own schedule, naturally," even as she moves to stand. "Yes, ma'am. Thank you." His response is pretty quick, maybe even relieved. But Yarovai waits for Lilah to actually move along before doubling down to get the cabinets finished so he can get out of here. "You're welcome," is Lilah's farewell, her gaze flitting briefly, thoughtfully one last time over Yarovai before the goldrider does move away. And despite doing nothing here, she leaves the Infirmary entirely, her original plans abandoned. |
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