Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr
The Snowasis is not too crowded this summer afternoon, with its inhabitants flitting in and out with drinks at leisure. Most are minding their own business as well, so it's probably missed that the Snowasis has just gotten itself a new mysterious patron. Jolie stops on the threshold with her run-down backpack on one shoulder, her gaze scanning the size of the crowd before she makes her debut and enters. The bar itself gets her scrutiny before she lifts two fingers to flag down the one in charge of drinks, and then typically orders something strong. Then, once the drink comes and she's tossing a mark on the counter, she turns and chooses one of the perimeter tables to drop herself at - her backpack dropping down on the ground next to her as she settles back against her seat, takes a long drink from her mug, and scans the faces of those there at her leisure. Yeah, she just could be creepy at this point.
Madilla's probably not a regular fixture in the bar, given outward appearances, but that doesn't seem to stop her from being quite at home with a group of people hovering near the bar whilst engaging in idle conversation. Jolie's arrival draws some attention from the group, but most of them resume their conversation without pause as she heads off for a table. 'Most' - but not all. It's after a few more rounds of conversation, marked by the occasional glances in Jolie's direction, that the healer peels herself off from the group and heads towards the stablehand. "Hello," she greets, cheerful - even outright friendly - as she gets to the table.
Drink is halfway downed before Jolie's dark gaze is going towards the entrance again - almost as if she's waiting for someone, but not quite. It's probably just as well that he back is to those sending glances her way from the bar, for when Madilla approaches, the stablehand almost looks taken aback as she straightens up from her slouch to look up at her. The mug pausing in its journey to her lips as she takes in Madilla's clothing, and her shoulderknot, "Aftern'," comes her low return greeting in the ensuing pause once she meets Madilla's eyes. She then turns to fix the group that she probably saw the woman talking with a look, brief, then it's back to her again. "Too early to drink?" she asks then, indicating Madilla's lack of one as she punctuates her own state with a taste from her mug.
A few in the group at the bar have followed Madilla's progression, and now, glance between the healer and her new companion. No one seems determined to pry, however, and the attention fades away. "I'm not much of a drinker," admits Madilla, with a smile that could easily be taken as rueful. "I mostly come in here for the company. When I have the chance." Which, her expression seems to suggest, isn't terribly often. "Did you want to join us? You just-- seem to be all on your own here, and the way you were glancing around... You seemed lonely. Or I could join you. I'm Madilla."
Jolie seems to notice the attention from the group Madilla comes from again, a brow lifting in the progress before she's leaning back in her seat again in a relaxed position. "Not /that/ friendly," she notes on joining them, the woman sending Madilla a crooked smile that doesn't warm the eyes before she gestures with a little wave towards one of the empty chairs at her table. "And not that lonely now, if ya care to join," she adds all the more smoothly with an incline of her head. "Madilla, eh? Call me Jo. Jolie," she gives in pleasantries, easy. She even holds out her rough-looking hand for Madilla to shake. Continuing on once she drains her mug down, "I like to watch folks," she explains her behavior, seeming like this is normal behavior for someone. "People are different here. Not use to it. Never been in a Weyr before now." And she's putting action to words, her eyes off the healer and checking out those that just came in through the entrance.
That answer seems to amuse Madilla, though there's no sense in her expression that she's intending to laugh /at/ Jolie. "A pleasure to meet you," she declares, shaking the woman's hand with her own, which is not quite as rough, but has certainly seen a lifetime of work all the same. As she releases the hand, she slides into the seat across from Jolie, resting her forearms upon the table. "It took me a long time to get used to the place, too," she says, conversationally, apparently not too bothered by her new companion's wandering attention. "People /are/ different, but not-- not /so/ different, once you get used to them. I've been here six turns, now. It doesn't seem quite so strange, anymore."
Hand taken and firmly shook, Jolie lets up on the gaze wandering to study Madilla instead - both critically and with interest. Setting the empty mug down, "Six turns /here/?" There's a whistle, and the woman's shaking her head. "Dunno if I've ever stuck around a place that long. What is it ya do exactly to be stuck here for that long?" Despite the uncouth manners, there is curiosity seen in her gaze. "Guess it depends on the definition of /different/," she goes on to say, musing on the subject. "Like /yer/ pretty different to me. But not strange."
The reaction her tenure at the weyr gets makes Madilla bite her lip in amusement, though she's silent until her companion has finished speaking. "I think 'strange' stops being so strange once you get used to where it comes from, and why. Weyrs are strange to begin with, but once you figure them out... they're just different, then. I think." Though she keeps her attention on Jolie, her gaze is less curious and more simply friendly: it seems like her default expression is a smile. "I'm a healer. I was posted here when I was an Apprentice, and I've been here ever since. I've only ever lived three places in my life... are you a trader, then?"
"Ahh, a healer," Jolie's head lifts at that, though her eyes never leave Madilla's face. "Ya fix broken people'n'stuff. Good to know in case I get a broken nose, or something." She nods a few times to that, seeming quite pleased to have found a healer for that very reason - even if it was more the other way around. "How long did it take for 'strange' to stop being so....strange? For you?" Arms come to fold across her chest now that her drink is done, settling now more for the conversation. As to her question, the stablehand shakes her head to that with short laughter and a scratch behind one ear. "Ahh, naw, no trader here," she answers her casually. "Been about, though. From Keogh, originally. Just here, helping in running the stables for now." Oh, she sounds /so/ humble. Even her expression seems the same, though, one observant enough would probably pick up on it seeming just a little rehearsed. "So. What three places ya lived at, then?" Question for question. The wiry woman seems content enough to exchange questions with the healer with little tension in her frame.
It may just be that Madilla isn't that observant, or perhaps simply that she's too polite-- or too trusting. Regardless, if she has picked up the rehearsed nature of her companion's explanations, it doesn't show on her expression. Cheerfully; "I rather hope you /don't/ end up in my care for a broken nose, or anything else, but, certainly, I'm always available if I'm needed. There are a few of us healers around. As for the strangeness... I don't rightly know. It happened so gradually. I imagine it varies quite a lot from person to person. If you're working in the stables, you've met Sho, then? He's a friend of mine." Her light chatter is matched with an easy posture; she healer leans back into the backrest with the air of one utterly relaxed-- or terribly tired. "I was born in the Peyton area, between Peyton and Boll. I was sent to the healer hall at Fort when I was thirteen, and then here, when I was fifteen."
Jolie's crooked grin shows her amusement at the initial statement. She lifts the empty mug and raises it briefly in a toast to the healer, "Well I can't promise that," she says with a long-suffering sigh. "I seem to have this little quirk where trouble likes to follow me wherever I go? I think ya better get me a cot ready, just in case." With the wry words, who really knows if she's joking? At the mention of Sho, low rumbly laughter erupts from deep within her at that. "Seems like he has a lot of friends," she notes on the young stablehand, shoulders rolling back into a stretch. "I met him recently. Threw a brush at him." How's that for being friendly? Madilla's explanation of where she's lived earns her an expression of being impressed. Nodding to that a few times, "Peyton...nope, don't think I've heard of it. Ya must be pretty good to be sent to the hall, though. How long ya got before y'can be a full master? Or are ya plannin' to stay here for good?"
Madilla's eyes gleam. "You and half of the weyr, it seems. The /amount/ of-- I hope you didn't hurt Sho. He's been beaten up a few times, in the past couple of months, and I keep hoping he's-- well. Learning? Getting along with people better." Madilla's tone is almost conspiratorial, as though she's attempting to recruit Jolie a cause. More laidback is her laughing, "Oh, it'll be turns before I'm a Master, if ever. Really, I'm not sure I'm that kind of healer... Masters tend to be the more academic ones, I suppose. I'll be here as long as they want me to be, I suspect. As for being good..." She flushes. "I hope I am. But I think it's mostly because I work hard." A half glance at the group at the bar seems to strike something in her; after a moment, she darts her gaze back, apologetic. "I really ought to be getting back to things. My daughter-- I have a little girl I need to pick up. I only meant to hang around for a little while. It was lovely to meet you, though, Jolie."
Fingers flick in non-chalance at the mention of Sho getting hurt, the stablehand seeming easy to it. "Brush got hurt more, I reckon," Jolie answers to that, brows lifting and falling at her. "Just teachin' him a little lesson is all." She looks as if she would take up on any offer to be recruited as well. She seems to accept all said on being master (or not in Madilla's case), and to being a good healer. Hands dropping on the table, "Well, when I get my first injury, I'll came straight to ya and see for myself," she says to that, sending the woman a lopsided grin. "But don't let me keep ya. I gotta head on out myself. Nice meetin' ya, Madilla. Perhaps another time." She's hauling herself up out of the seat and slinging that back pack over one shoulder before she's nodding firmly in the healer's direction and hightailing it to the entrance with no further people-watching looks.
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