Logs:Talked About
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| RL Date: 22 January, 2010 |
| Who: Gabrion, Madilla, Silarra, Veana |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Madilla meets Silarra, reassures Veana, and listens to Gabrion's dreams for the future. |
| Where: Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 1, Month 11, Turn 21 (Interval 10) |
| Nighthearth, High Reaches Weyr With its entrance located between the kitchen and the living cavern, this tiny bubble cavern is cozy, always kept warm and is filled with comfortable chairs and a small round table. At the far end, there's a hearth, outlined in ruddy, aging bricks, where a pot of stew simmers in the evening hours. Generally quiet, the nighthearth is the haunt of insomniacs and those seeking quiet from the bustle of daily Weyr life. Gabrion heads in from the inner cavern tunnel, carrying a sheaf of papers in his hands which he's squinting at as he walks. He tucks the papers under one arm and makes for the stew pot, muttering a series of words under his breath that sounds like herb names or disease names or some kind of healery thing that he's trying to memorize. Already curled up in a chair near the hearth, Madilla's had lifts from her patchwork to watch Gabrion as he enters, a faint trace of a smile expressing itself upon her face as she does so. "Do you want me to test you?" she asks, raising her voice just loud enough to be heard, though the hearth is quiet enough that this isn't all that loud, regardless. Silarra swings in on her crutches. The grin on her face turns into a smirk as she spots her cousin. She heads towards him, eyeing the stew pot as well. "That all sounds very healerish." She informs him. "Would you help me with a bowl?" Maybe? If she gives him overly exagerated puppy dog eyes? Bowl in one hand, ladle in the other, papers in - wait, he only has two hands; that's awkward - Gabe looks over at Madilla and smiles. "Hey," he says. "That would be great." He heads over to the table to set down at least part of his burden. "Sure," he says to Silarra. "Gimme a sec to put this stuff down. How's the leg?" Madilla looks pleased, her offer having been accepted, but stays quiet on that front for the time being, as her gaze slides towards Silarra and her crutches instead. /That/ particular sight turns her expression sympathetic, and she leans forward, evidently keen on hearing how the leg is, as well. Silarra gives Madilla a quick smile and then heads towards the table. "Take your time, Gabe. It's not like I'm starving to death or something." She says jokingly before she just shrugs. "The leg's okay, I guess. Annoying mostly at this point." "I bet," Gabe says as he heads back to the stew pot for another bowl, which he brings out to Silarra. Then he flops down on a bench and groans. "I've been studying ALL DAY," he says dramatically. "I think my head is totally going to explode." Returning Silarra's smile, Madilla ventures, "Better annoying than outright painful all the time, I suppose. And at least you've got some mobility." But even she doesn't seem to think this is /actively/ helpful and consoling, so her expression remains sympathetic. To Gabe, with a quiet little smile, "I remember how that felt. You know you are allowed to take breaks, if it gets too much? Sometimes that's important - so you don't overload yourself." Silarra takes the bowl with a quick thanks, settling into a seat. "Seriously, that would suck. For all of us. I do /not/ want your brains on my shirt." She says dryly before nodding to Madilla. "Been several weeks now. It was painful at first. Now it's just annoying. I'll take that. I'm Silarra by the way. His cousin." "I know, but Syef made me add an extra subject, and - I don't want to fail anything," Gabe says, flipping over the papers and then picking up his spoon so he can start eating his stew. "Oh, you guys haven't met? This is Madilla. /Journeyman/ Madilla," he adds, and grins at the so-named healer. "Ma--" begins Madilla, but Gabrion gets there first, so she leaves the introduction to him, still smiling. And flushing, but apparently any reference at all to her still-new rank is enough to bring the blood to her cheeks. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Silarra." She glances down at her needlework, the coloured patches of fabric spread out over her lap, then adds, to Gabrion, "And I'm sure he wouldn't have done so if he didn't think you could handle it. What are you working on at the moment?" Silarra looks over to Madilla more curiously. "You're Madilla! He talks about you /all/ the time." Silarra notes with a glance over towards Gabrion. "And you'll have trouble passing anything if you explode your head. Ick." Gabrion kicks at Silarra under the table - her good leg, fortunately. "Yeah, well, then they'd have to call in a specialist. Do you know who does exploded heads, Madilla? ...I was studying reproduction and sexual health, earlier. Right now I'm doing infectious diseases and epidemiology." And wolfing-down-of-stew. He makes it disappear at a great rate. Madilla flushes rather deeper as Silarra's gaze returns towards her, though she looks pleased all the same. "Does he?" The expression on her face as she turns her attention back to the apprentice is fond. Though; "Exploded heads... bit beyond anyone I know, I'm afraid." Beat. "Reproduction and sexual health." Is that a question mark at the end of it, a raise of the brows? But only barely because, easily, "Infectious diseases and epidemiology. Interesting topic." Silarra yelps and leans down to rub her leg dramatically. "Hey! You break the other one, you get to carry me everywhere." She informs Gabrion before she nods over to Madilla. "He does. Lots. But it's all good stuff about how nice and smart you are and stuff. And that you're good at talking to people about sex." The healery stuff? She'll just ignore it in favor of her stew. "Yeah. I am so glad I'm not a woman," Gabe says fervently. "Before I started studying this stuff, I had no idea that so many things could go wrong down there. Infectious diseases are pretty interesting - that one essay I had to write about epidermics sucked, but it got done, so whatever." Silarra's comment makes him laugh. "I guess I did say that. Hey, did we never get you in for that appointment, though?" Good at talking to people about sex. Madilla's brows raise, her blush darkens, and her gaze slides towards Gabrion in askance, though after a few moments, she seems to work out exactly what is intended by that. Healery sex talk. Right. Totally different to the... you know, other kind. "Appointment? To talk about-- all that." She manages a smile. "We can do that some kind. Now that you've met me." Beat. "It's true, there are an awful lot of things that /can/ go wrong, but most of them don't, too much." Silarra smiles over to Madilla and shrugs. "Apparently my mother's 'don't sleep with bronzeriders or you'll get pregnant' isn't all there is to it." She states, apparently not shy at all. "Yeah, now that I've met you, we can." "Right, we were talking with Milani and... yeah," Gabe says. "So she's got the basics, but not, you know, /all/ of it." He takes a few more bites of stew, and adds, "I guess it doesn't go wrong that often maybe, but I was reading about this one case with a woman who kept getting these constant yest infections." Apparently in Gabe-land 'yeast' is pronounced like 'breast.' "And it just got worse and worse and finally she died. But she died of something else. Sugar-shock, I think." Despite her embarrassment, Madilla manages to laugh outright at Silarra's remark, admitting, "My mother's 'you'll understand when you get married' was no better, I suppose. I /do/ think it's important to know what you're getting into." Gabrion's story neither seems to surprise the Journeyman, or gross her out, though she raises one eyebrow all the same. "You seem to take far too much pleasure in that," is her quiet tease, followed by, "But yes, of course, it can happen." She doesn't correct the mispronunciation; maybe that would be considered rude in her world? Who knows. Silarra wrinkles her nose over to Gabrion. "Thanks for the wonderful thoughts for my dinner." Her tone is teasing though, as she takes a big bite of stew. "Maybe mothers just mean to not be helpful about such things. Like, on purpose." "Any time," Gabe says cheerfully to Silarra. He does defend himself, briefly, to Madilla: "Not pleasure, but it is /interesting/. Anyway. I think mothers just get embarrassed. All they have to do is switch off - like, your mom can explain to someone else's kids, and their mom can explain to you. No problem, then." Madilla admits, after a moment, "I'm not sure I can imagine my mother explaining it to anyone, her child or not. We don't really... talk about that kind of thing, where I'm from." Which must explain why she's still biting her lip and looking awkward. "I'll grant you the interesting, I suppose. But not..." she pauses. "perhaps really dinner talk." Silarra grins over to Madilla. "My mother sat me down for a talk before I came to the weyr. But mostly it was a be good so you don't have kids you're not expecting. That was it." She states before she shrugs to Gabe. "She and your mom could switch. Then I'd probably just hear about all the ways it'll kill you from auntie." Gabrion snorts. "I already know how it all works, I don't want to hear about how I need to be good from /your/ mom," he retorts to Silarra with a grin. "So Madilla, do people just - not know? WHere you're from? I mean, someone's got to tell them where babies come from eventually, right?" "I don't know if maybe I would have been told before my wedding," says Madilla, frowning, "or if we were just supposed to figure it out. My husband-to-be, anyway. It was simply never spoken about." She folds her hands in her lap, carefully smoothing the fabric beneath it. "It's a good thing your mother said at least that much, Silarra, though... I do believe it's better for people to know." She, Gabrion and Silarra are chatting, not far from the hearth. Veana heads into the nighthearth with the expectation of finding quality solitude. Instead, she stumbles upon a group of people. Her blush is rich on her cheeks as she hesitates in the doorway -stay or go? At least Madilla is a familiar face, so the kitchen girl hesitates. Skirts grabbed akimbo against her thigh, she lingers against the doorway with an unsure smile at those gathered. Silarra shifts position a bit, knocking into one of her crutches. She grabs out, getting it before it falls and propping the set back against the table. "Well, I'm not really hold bred. Or weyr bred. Somewhere in between and yet not the same." She shrugs. Veana gets a quick look and a half smile before Silarra digs back into her stew. "Maybe they were just going to tell your future husband and let him take care of the rest." "That seems mean," Gabe says, making a face. "I mean... well." He breaks off whatever he was going to say when he spots Veana, and waves in a friendly way, then starts shoveling more stew into his mouth. "It is mean," agrees Madilla, firmly. "And not really good for people, I think. Which isn't to say that I necessarily believe in..." She hesitates, then pushes onwards, "sleeping around. But. Knowledge is important." She lifts her shoulders into a shrug, then breaks it off to smile brightly in Veana's direction: "Veana! Come join us?" Veana smiles hesitantly at Madilla. "Er, I'm sorry," the girl professes in a fit of blushing as she continues to hover in the doorway. "I really didn't mean to find anyone here." Her tray of food is resting on her hip as she continues to stand in the doorway. "I really was looking for a bit of quiet...," but she heads in despite what she's saying and takes a seat. Uncertainty clear, she smiles a greeting at the others gathered. "I'm Veana, sorry to intrude.." Silarra looks over to Veana for a moment, eyeing the other young woman. "Well, you certainly aren't going to find quiet with us around, but I'll try not to bite or throw a crutch at you if you try not to piss me off." There's a joking tone to that statement. "I'm Silarra. And I don't know about sleeping around yet. I think I'd have to try it with someone I trust first. But then? Who knows?" "Hi," Gabe says to Veana through a mouthful of stew. "'MGabe." He must be trying to introduce himself. "Someone you trust is good," he adds, to Silarra, after he's swallowed his food. "Definitely better than, you know, the alternative." Oh! Well Veana's blush only intensifies at the subject - sleeping around? The girl shuffles in, finds a seat, and busies herself with nibbling on the roll she's made. Her eyes shift to Madilla and then she offers a half-smile towards Silarra. "Er, nice to meet you.. I'm Veana." A bob of her head and she resumes her eating. A twitch of a smile is offered to Gabe at his introduction, her name already supplied so she continues to eat. The talk she's walked in on has clearly left her a little unsure. "Someone you trust," says Madilla, firmly, as though this is absolutely, vitally important-- and probably the first on a list of many things, as far as she's concerned, but then, she is rather prim. "How are you, Veana?" she asks instead, giving the other girl a smile. Silarra grins over to Gabe. "What? As opposed to the first random stranger you run into who is reasonably attractive?" She's in a good mood tonight, and it comes out in the brightly joking tone she uses. "Or someone you don't trust," Gabe says simply, and shrugs, eyes on his stew rather than on Silarra. "And... yeah. You from here, Veana?" Let's change the subject. "I don't think I've seen you around." "I'm well," Veana supplies to Madilla with a fuller smile. "Been getting used to the kitchens. You're riders are more of a challenge than I thought they'd be...," she trails off, not wanting to say so much amongst mixed company. She re-crosses her legs and smoothes her skirt over her thighs as she extends her smile to include Gabe and Silarra. She answers Gabe after she's finished her mouthful, "No. I'm from Boll. My uncle is a rider here." Madilla's silent on the topic of picking anyone up, now, turning her direction directly towards Veana, and her rather safer conversations. "It can be quite an adjustment," she agrees, "but it all comes good, eventually. I know it did for me, at least." She picks up her needle again, resuming her patchwork easily as the conversations continue around her. Silarra smirks over to Gabe. "Especially a dumbhead you can't trust." Silarra states before she moves on to other topics. "Yeah. I don't think it was that hard to settle in. For me. But then I'm used to moving around. Different, but well, that's not always bad. Do you like the kitchen?" "Exaaaactly," Gabe says to Silarra. His bowl is empty. He eyes it, eyes the stewpot, thoughtfully. "Welcome, and all, then," he says to Veana. "Madilla's right, I think. Well, unless it doesn't work out, but usually at a certain point you know it's time to cut your losses and go home." Veana doesn't take long to finish her meal, not having set much on her plate to begin with. She uses her apron to dab at the corners of her mouth before she lets it down. Her plate is set to the side of her, on a close table. "I hope it doesn't take too long," she professes to Madilla, "it's rather more difficult than I imagined." She shakes her head at Silarra, sharing, "Not at all. Riders complain about everything. I don't know how anyone does it forever." She covers her fingers over her lips, embarrassed. "I shouldn't have shared so much." To Gabe, she adds, "Could you really go home after coming here? I couldn't." "Which means you're doing a lot better than a lot of people," puts in Madilla, in the wake of Veana's disinterest in going home. "So that's good. I understand what you mean about the difficulty, though." She looks sad, as she says then, then shakes her head as if to blow the thought away. "Is there something you'd like better than the kitchen that you could do now?" she asks. Silarra grins over to Veana. "That's why I work with runners. Well, when I'm not broken. They are so much better than so many people. Even if we have at least one real b-, mean person in the stables." She changes the word with a quick look to Veana before she smirks. "Gabe is /from/ here. He missed out on the clan lifestyle." "Yep... born here," Gabe confirms. "So, I'm not going back where I came from." He flashes a grin. "But I spent some time at Healer Hall and..." there's a brief glance at Madilla. "It didn't much suit me. So. I came back here." Veana shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know what else I'd be good at," she admits to Madilla. "I have no real talent. I'm a cotholders daughter. What is there but kitchen work?" Silarra's admission, and the crutches, draw a shudder from the girl. "I can't /stand/ them, to be honest. I saw our one runner buck my brother off and I'd have nothing to do with it." She offers a tentative smile, "though I admire your bravery for working with them, don't get me wrong." She shakes her head, eying Gabe. "Once you left, why did you want to come back? It's so.. /cold/ here/." "There's..." Madilla considers. "Laundry. Mending." She pauses, then admits, "I suppose none of that's terribly exciting, though." She meets Gabrion's gaze with a half smile as he glances in her direction, but she makes no comment on it, instead noting, "Healer Hall gets just as cold. It's not quite so high up in the mountains, but still: plenty cold." Silarra looks over Veana. "The warmth of the people?" She states quite dryly. "Children? Did you have experience with them in the hold?" Silarra suggests before she shrugs. "I wouldn't say I'm brave to have a job I really like. Gotten kicked, but never been thrown. Well, not since I /really/ learned what I was doing. Not often. "Yeah," Gabe says, nodding to Madilla, "and I have friends here. It was just... better here." He's vague, but firm about it. Silarra's comment makes him laugh. "Yeah, it takes more than a runner to injure Silarra. Rocks falling from the sky, on the other hand, they bested her." He grins broadly. "'Sokay though, you'll get 'em next time, Larra." "I do miss Boll's weather," Veana admits with a rueful smile. "I had different aspirations in mind when I came here, the weather didn't seem that bad of a problem until I /was/ here." She shrugs, nodding her head at Madilla. "But I have no talent in either of those.. at least I /can/ cook." She grins lopsidedly at Silarra, "Children? No thanks. I'd rather try and help you with the runners.." A blink and grin. She picks up her dish and moves to rise. "Well, I really only had time for a bite before bed. It was nice to meet you all.." Madilla's expression, still sympathetic, allows for a smile as Veana excuses herself. "We'll keep thinking, see if we can't come up with something better," she suggests. "It was nice to see you again. Sleep well." Silarra sticks her toungue out at Gabe. "Next time, I'll just bat the rocks away. But let's never have a next time? Alright?" She states before Veana gets a smile. "It was good to meet you. I hope you don't freeze to death." "She could help us out in the infirmary, couldn't she, Madilla? We can always use extras, especially with everything that's been going on." Gabe fiddles idly with his spoon, and flashes a bright grin at Veana. "See you later then." His only response to Silarra is to stick his tongue out right back at her. Veana shakes her head. "Children and I... don't get along." She offers each a smile and a nod of her head, before she heads towards the door. "It was nice to interrupt you all. I hope to see you again." And so stated, she's out. "She /could/," begins Madilla, but it's obviously a thought for another time, Veana already being on her way. She watches after the other girl with a thoughtful expression, then turns her attention back to the other two. "I hope she does find her place. She was talking about coming here to Impress a dragon, when I first met her, but... perhaps she's been disabused of that particular notion, the poor thing." Silarra finishes off the last of her stew and grabs her crutches to stand. "I should get going. Gabe needs to let you quiz him after all. I shouldn't be the cause of his failure." She notes sticking her toungue out at her cousin one last time before she's off for the door. Gabrion laughs. "Really? She'll be waiting a while. Iovniath's probably not going to rise for a couple of years, at the least! I wonder when Ezalea's gold will go up. That could be sooner, I guess." He shakes his head. "Didn't she say her uncle is a rider? You'd think he would have explained to her, or something." He smiles happily at Silarra and waves. "Bye! Don't trip on anything with your crutches going back to your room," he advises her. So helpful. "It was nice to meet you, Silarra," says Madilla, warmly, after the departing stablehand. To Gabrion, she shrugs. "I think her uncle was less obliging than she suspected, but... I don't know. She seems like the kind of girl who has a lot of big dreams." It doesn't seem to bother the Journeyman much, either way, apparently. "Which must be difficult, when they don't happen the way you intend." "I dunno. Sometimes they can work out," Gabe says thoughtfully. "I mean, I've thought sometimes - look, if I tell you something, will you not pass it around? It's not bad or anything," he adds hastily. Not like last time. Madilla's brows raise, but she bobs her head, evidently encouraging Gabrion to continue. "I promise. I don't share things people tell me." A good, healery trait, after all. "If everything goes well - I mean, if I pass the exams, and everything, and things keep going well - I've been thinking, next time there's a clutch, I'm going to see if they'll let me stand," he says. "And then maybe - I mean, I want to be a healer. Definitely. But if you think about Seldon. He has a really fast runner, you know, but dragons are so much faster than /that/ if it's any real distance. That could be seriously useful, a healer who rides a dragon, you know? And since there's no Thread, it's not like it couldn't happen. I mean, riders have a few things they have to do like take care of their dragon, but all the rest of that stuff, they could just... not, if there was something more important. Like this." Of all the things Madilla might have considered to be likely admissions from Gabrion, that is obviously not one of them. She listens in silence, her eyebrows still raised, though the rest of her expression is hard to read. Finally; "I suppose that-- that makes some sense, logically." She takes a breath, pauses; there's something unreadable in her gaze which she obviously doesn't intend to expound on, as, instead, she says, "I'd never really thought of it as a possibility. I wonder what the Hall would think." "I bet they'd hate it," Gabe speculates, with wrinkled nose. "But the thing is. If I can get the Weyrwoman to, you know, like the idea, she could kind of push on them and maybe they'd do it. And if I impress, then I wouldn't have to ever, ever be posted back at the hall, or at some kind of hold that's... like that. You know?" Frowning; "And if they said no? Would you stand anyway, or hope to convince them later, or-- what?" Madilla seems genuinely curious by this, clasping her hands together, her sewing abandoned once more. "I understand," she adds, finally, softly. "You'd always have to be in a weyr." "I don't know," Gabe admits. "I kind of hope it won't come up for a while, so I have more of a chance to, you know... impress people. At the hall. And everything." Madilla's lips quirk into a laughing smile. "That's unusual. Someone who wants to Impress who isn't egging on one of the queens to oblige them." She draws her hands apart again, flexing them, then glances down at her sewing thoughtfully. "I'm sure you'll impress them, though. All the work you've been doing. Not so long before you're a proper apprentice, not just probationary." Gabrion laughs. "I know, right? But it would be kind of touchy if one of them was to go up tomorrow, or something. So. Yeah. I guess we'll see... in a year or two, anything could happen." He makes a face. "And yeah. I sure hope so. But who knows. Master Kinston really doesn't like me." "Anything could happen," repeats Madilla, sounding thoughtful, then in the end, she nods firmly. "You shouldn't worry too much about Master Kinston. He's not the only one who has a stake in this. In anything. If you just keep on proving how dedicated you are... well. His opinion shouldn't matter at all." "Yeah," Gabe says, and smirks. "I mean, a couple of years from now when you're Masterhealer, you can just tell 'em to let me stand, and promote me and everything, and it'll all be great." He's joking. Mostly. /That/ makes Madilla laugh, an honest, outright, amused kind of laugh. "In your dreams... and my nightmares," she teases, fondly. "No, you'll just have to settle for me being an advocate from the sidelines, I'm afraid." "Uh huh," Gabe says, laughing in return. "Well, I guess we'll see in a year or two when they show up with that new knot of yours." He picks up the papers that have been lying on the table and passes them over. "Still want to quiz me?" That makes Madilla laugh even more, but she doesn't let it linger, instead reaching out to take the papers and nodding. "Quiz-time, definitely. All right, what's the first thing you'd do if you suspected fast spread of an infectious disease..." And so, the great quizzing begins. "Run," Gabe quips, but then he sets in to answering in earnest, and does quite well overall, despite all his doubts. Madilla's free with her praise, and genuine with her gentle corrections. In all: a good evening. |
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