Mmm, tasty treat
Who: Aida, Essdara
Where: Infirmary, Dorms
Comment: Best. Line. Ever.
So the infirmary? It's busy. And grim. Oh, so very grim. And did we mention busy? Aida is out of the way of the healers right at the moment, working at one of the tables and in the process of putting together various salves just as fast as she can. The young woman is leaning up against the table and fully concentrated on what she's doing, lost to the rest of the work that's going on around her, tuning it all out as best she can.
Essdara comes into the bustling infirmary carrying a heavily laden tray of easily eaten foods; meatrolls, bread rolls, and other small, few-bite items. She carries them to an all-too-familier out of the way place, setting the heavy tray down with a grunt. "If anyone is hungry and can't move, speak up and I will bring some to you!" She says, loudly.
That, she hears. Aida's head comes up, and she looks over. A shake of her head, and she's back to finishing what she's doing. It doesn't take her long before she's at a good stopping point though, and it's delivered to one of the healers, her hands washed, and then she's heading over to Essdara. "I know who needs to eat," she proclaims, once she's within range. "And who won't admit it. Give me some of the rolls?" For all that there's an almost sick look to her eyes, the rest of her expression is locked in a reassuring smile.
Essdara grins a bit, and grabs a small basket from the table and fills it up quickly. "Here, this'll do. Give 'em some bread, too, if they will take it. They work well together to keep strength up."
Aida grabs the basket, then snags some bread, giving a quick nod. "They will," she promises with a grin, lifting the basket in salute before she turns and moves away. She promptly advances on one of the healers, waiting for a moment before interposing herself between the man and his next target, lifting a roll from the basket and shoving it in his face. Though her words stay quiet, it's fairly clear she's demanding that the man eat with as much insistence as one of the healers insisting their patient drink the tea, and with much the same manner. Her fighting with him happens while those who *do* have the sense to eat are descending on Dara and her food, trickling to her table between bits of work gratefully.
Essdara is quick to hand out bites of food, drinks of fortified wine or klah, and otherwise offer what comfort and solace she can. A glance now and then is spared to see how Aida is going, but mostly she focuses on providing sustenance to the desperately overloaded healers.
There aren't too many of them; they are healers, after all, and most of them are pretty good about it. Still, Aida picks out a few of those that aren't heading for Dara, swooping in in spare moments to demand, cajole, or just provide. A few are left alone entirely, whether because she can't win the fight or because she'd know they'd eat were they in need, and eventually the young woman comes back to the table and sets the basket down. "Do you have some time to help here?" She asks of Dara, once she's back within range.
Essdara looks surprised; the flow has stopped for the moment, and she nots to Aida. "Sure, but what can I do? I'm clueless outside the kitchens, I wouldn't know a bandage from a discarded rag!"
Descending on the table to spread things out just so, Aida gets it to where she's satisfied, marks a few more people and their positions, and then turns to head for a wash basin again. "Roll your sleeves up past your elbows, and then wash your hands all the way up," she directs. "You don't have to know what you're doing, you just have to be an extra set of hands."
Essdara nods warily, rolling her sleeves up as ordered, and moving to thoroughly scrub and clean her arms. After that is done, she coes back to Aida, "I won't ask, but what do I do next?"
"Won't ask?" Aida finishes washing herself, then heads back for her table, grabbing an extra mortar and pestle and sliding them over. Deftly dropping a measure of leaves into it, she gestures with her head. "Grind it up, then pour it into the bowl there." Another gesture. Her own mixture is picked back up, and she goes right back to work.
"Oh, that's easy, I do that in the kitchens all the time." Dara says, relaxing as she takes up the heavy mortar and starts pounding the herbs down to powder with a practiced hand. "What is it that we are making, if I can ask? Those teas that Neiran loves?"
"Yep," Aida says cheerfully, nodding her head and flashing over a grin. "And yes, you do do it all the time. Working in other areas isn't just the province of the Caucus." Wink. "That particular tea will help with the pain of broken bones."
Essdara sticks her tongue out at Aida, and dumps out the resulting powder where indicated. "There are always overlaps between professions. But being able to, say, mix a tea or make a herbal soak doesn't mean I know how to, say, fold bandages!" She grins a bit, recalling their first meeting.
"You can fold clothes," Aida maintains, reaching over to dump a different bit of leaf into the bowl wordlessly, hardly missing a beat in her own work. "It would take you maybe twenty minutes worth of practice to have it down." She grins again as well, bopping her head from side to side. There's another glance cast towards one of the didn't-eat healers -- it's clear she's keeping an eye on the man for a moment to attack.
Essdara chuckles and pounds at the leaves. "What I love best about this is how much stress you can get out doing it. The worse I feel, the better the mashing. And I don't know about that, I made a mess of them last time you tried to get me to."
Aida rolls her eyes, laughing lightly. "You just need practice, and /not/ to be wounded," she points out. "I think you would have no problem with - just a second." Her work is promptly abandoned, and she darts back to the food table, grabbing a bit of food and then descending on the healer just as he's stepping back away from his stitching. See Aida. See Aida do her angry squirrel impression as the food is given over. It doesn't take her /too/ terribly long to convince the man to stuff his face (if only to shut her up and get her out of his way), and then she's going to wash her hands and coming back, looking smug.
Essdara laughs softly, "You've a way with people, Aida, I will give you that. Me, I prefer the calculated interactions between ingredients. Much more reliable! And I probably could, but it wouldn't really be useful for either me or the infirmary in the long run, so."
"Except for in moments like this, when we need every hand available to us," Aida counters, knocking yet a third substance into Dara's bowl before she picks her own back up. "Point for me." She mimes licking a finger and then marking her score in the air.
Essdara rolls her eyes, giggling. "Yes, I will concede that, Aida." Pound pound pound. "So... How bad is it, really, tonight? I haven't heard any numbers, just checked that noone I know was one of the casualties."
"It's bad," Aida says, shaking her head lightly and reaching for another jar, starting to strain out its contents into her bowl. "There's at least ten dead, double that in wounded." This is delivered matter of factly. "I haven't heard the final count yet."
Essdara nods softly, shuddering as she pounds a bit harder. "It's been so bad lately, Aida. We are starting to run out of riders. The more that go down... The less there are to keep it from being someone we love. It'll be almost two turns before Yevide's clutch are up to speed... They have to stem the losses before then."
"They will figure out a way," Aida states, voice absolutely certain. "We will pull riders in from other Weyrs if we have to, or *something*. The new Weyrleader and Weyrwoman will figure it out, and it will go on. It's just the start of the Pass; these things are to be expected."
Essdara nods. "They are, but it's still... Shards, Aida. We've lost at least thirty riders, just this month. Thirty! And no clutches but this one to make up for it! I'm scared, and i don't like that."
"It's frightening," Aida agrees, her own tone remaining steady and sure. Solid. "It's been a very bad month, and losses have been heavy." Beat. "And Yevide and J'cor are steady, intelligent, capable individuals, and they will keep it from continuing or getting worse. They are just now getting into the saddle, but once they do they will pull us out of this run."
Essdara glances at Aida, a bit annoyed. "I'm already a convert, Aida, I don't need to be preached to. I know they will be good for us, but that doesn't make all this easier on us now, you know? I know you want everyone to love them, but just.. Back off the rhetoric with me, at least, ok?"
"It's not rhetoric," Aida states quietly, setting her eyes on what she's working on. "It's the sun coming up on a winter's day. I'm not preaching; I'm pointing out that this will get better, because it *will*. It's something to find hope in, Essdara."
Essdara sighs and closes her eyes for a long moment; counting is a trick that she learned from Aida! "It's just, Aida, I hear it a lot around you lately. It would be nice to have a conversation that didn't somehow come back to them. Even at Tavaly's, you were more interested in talking abuot this stuff than anything else. It was supposed to be a relaxing night,not more of the same."
"You're just hearing what you want to hear," Aida comments dryly, shaking her head. "Looking to see what you want to see. Are you hunting for a reason to be unhappy with me, Dara? I asked two questions related to it at Tavaly's party, because the others were talking about it. I didn't even bring it up! You were worrying over the bad fall, I reassured with the *only thing I can reassure with*. It was one of how many topics of conversation the other night? When it's the biggest thing in the whole Weyr to talk about?"
Essdara sighs, softly. "I'm sorry, Aida. It's just... It's a hard day. It's not you, and I am sorry for taking it out on you. But can we not talk about them for now?" She focuses then on carefully pouring out the powder she has made in her mortar.
"I wasn-" Aida cuts off, closing her mouth and falling silent for a few moments, eventually clearing her throat. She doesn't fill the mortar up again, instead just focusing on what it is she's doing. "Thank you for your assistance."
She snaps again, a little. "I know you weren't, Aida, and I am trying /not/ to pick a fight here." A sigh. "What else can I do to help? It makes me feel better, being here and being able to help. I promise, I'll keep my mouth shut."
Leaning deeper over the table, Aida picks up a particular jar and sets it in front of Dara, then grabs a second jar. "Grind all of that," she points, "And put it in that. Down to a powder again. Thank you." With that said, she sets down what she's working on, collecting the bowl Dara had been pouring the mixture into and heading over for another table to mix it up and measure it out into separate doses.
Essdara silenty sets to work, pouring a careful amount into the mortar, then picking up the weighty pestle and attacking it with a vengeance. Cathartic, indeed, to judge by the renewed savagery she shows it.
Apparently she's got plenty of work to do over at that table over there, because that's where Aida stays for a good long while. Eventually she does come back long enough to grab what she had been working on, checking on Dara's powder before she moves over to the other table to finish up with her initial task. Occasionally she stops to discuss this or that with one of the healers, and...well, she just generally goes about her business, the perky cheer eventually returning and settling back into her mannerisms.
Ahh, concealing darkness to hide the blush. But Essdara smiles and nods in the dark. "I understand, Aida, and that's fine. I know I don't need to give you anything." Her hand drops back down, with a soft chuckle. "But thank you, Aida. I will look forward, quietly, to the day that changes, if ever." She closes her eyes again. "I hope you will still stay, as friends?"
Hooray for dim lighting. Aida shoves herself up to a sitting position, only to lean down and start untying her boots. "I will," she agrees. Boots are thudded to the floor, and then she's dropping back again and moving to nestle close once more. "If nothing else, I don't even know how to feel about any of that stuff. And. Yeah." Sigh. "I never thought living here would mess my head up as much as it has. I feel like a very small fish in a very large lake. Happily, too small for the dragons or even the people to notice, but still a potential meal for all the other fish. Mmm, tasty treat."
There is a moment of gaping. Then, given the way Aida turns and buries her face in against the cot, it's very likely that she's blushing furiously. "Ididn'tmeanitlikethat," she mumbles rapid fire. "Sorry." There's a long moment of quiet, but by the time Dara is settling down with her again she seems to have mostly recovered, snuggling up again. For all that she professes shyness about certain sorts of intimacy, she doesn't seem to have a problem with the snuggling. "It's not all about the romance and heart and stuff for me, though," she protests quietly. "Can't I just...you know. Avoid all of it? Entirely? I can learn. And stuff." Sigh. "I never cared about any of it /before/. I don't know when it got so...noteworthy. Or something I even think about at all." Pause. "And he's gunna show me /maps/. S'all. Isn't any liking me like that anyway. I think I'll go plenty unnoticed. I've proven really good at being unnoticed /so/ far."
Where: Infirmary, Dorms
Comment: Best. Line. Ever.
So the infirmary? It's busy. And grim. Oh, so very grim. And did we mention busy? Aida is out of the way of the healers right at the moment, working at one of the tables and in the process of putting together various salves just as fast as she can. The young woman is leaning up against the table and fully concentrated on what she's doing, lost to the rest of the work that's going on around her, tuning it all out as best she can.
Essdara comes into the bustling infirmary carrying a heavily laden tray of easily eaten foods; meatrolls, bread rolls, and other small, few-bite items. She carries them to an all-too-familier out of the way place, setting the heavy tray down with a grunt. "If anyone is hungry and can't move, speak up and I will bring some to you!" She says, loudly.
That, she hears. Aida's head comes up, and she looks over. A shake of her head, and she's back to finishing what she's doing. It doesn't take her long before she's at a good stopping point though, and it's delivered to one of the healers, her hands washed, and then she's heading over to Essdara. "I know who needs to eat," she proclaims, once she's within range. "And who won't admit it. Give me some of the rolls?" For all that there's an almost sick look to her eyes, the rest of her expression is locked in a reassuring smile.
Essdara grins a bit, and grabs a small basket from the table and fills it up quickly. "Here, this'll do. Give 'em some bread, too, if they will take it. They work well together to keep strength up."
Aida grabs the basket, then snags some bread, giving a quick nod. "They will," she promises with a grin, lifting the basket in salute before she turns and moves away. She promptly advances on one of the healers, waiting for a moment before interposing herself between the man and his next target, lifting a roll from the basket and shoving it in his face. Though her words stay quiet, it's fairly clear she's demanding that the man eat with as much insistence as one of the healers insisting their patient drink the tea, and with much the same manner. Her fighting with him happens while those who *do* have the sense to eat are descending on Dara and her food, trickling to her table between bits of work gratefully.
Essdara is quick to hand out bites of food, drinks of fortified wine or klah, and otherwise offer what comfort and solace she can. A glance now and then is spared to see how Aida is going, but mostly she focuses on providing sustenance to the desperately overloaded healers.
There aren't too many of them; they are healers, after all, and most of them are pretty good about it. Still, Aida picks out a few of those that aren't heading for Dara, swooping in in spare moments to demand, cajole, or just provide. A few are left alone entirely, whether because she can't win the fight or because she'd know they'd eat were they in need, and eventually the young woman comes back to the table and sets the basket down. "Do you have some time to help here?" She asks of Dara, once she's back within range.
Essdara looks surprised; the flow has stopped for the moment, and she nots to Aida. "Sure, but what can I do? I'm clueless outside the kitchens, I wouldn't know a bandage from a discarded rag!"
Descending on the table to spread things out just so, Aida gets it to where she's satisfied, marks a few more people and their positions, and then turns to head for a wash basin again. "Roll your sleeves up past your elbows, and then wash your hands all the way up," she directs. "You don't have to know what you're doing, you just have to be an extra set of hands."
Essdara nods warily, rolling her sleeves up as ordered, and moving to thoroughly scrub and clean her arms. After that is done, she coes back to Aida, "I won't ask, but what do I do next?"
"Won't ask?" Aida finishes washing herself, then heads back for her table, grabbing an extra mortar and pestle and sliding them over. Deftly dropping a measure of leaves into it, she gestures with her head. "Grind it up, then pour it into the bowl there." Another gesture. Her own mixture is picked back up, and she goes right back to work.
"Oh, that's easy, I do that in the kitchens all the time." Dara says, relaxing as she takes up the heavy mortar and starts pounding the herbs down to powder with a practiced hand. "What is it that we are making, if I can ask? Those teas that Neiran loves?"
"Yep," Aida says cheerfully, nodding her head and flashing over a grin. "And yes, you do do it all the time. Working in other areas isn't just the province of the Caucus." Wink. "That particular tea will help with the pain of broken bones."
Essdara sticks her tongue out at Aida, and dumps out the resulting powder where indicated. "There are always overlaps between professions. But being able to, say, mix a tea or make a herbal soak doesn't mean I know how to, say, fold bandages!" She grins a bit, recalling their first meeting.
"You can fold clothes," Aida maintains, reaching over to dump a different bit of leaf into the bowl wordlessly, hardly missing a beat in her own work. "It would take you maybe twenty minutes worth of practice to have it down." She grins again as well, bopping her head from side to side. There's another glance cast towards one of the didn't-eat healers -- it's clear she's keeping an eye on the man for a moment to attack.
Essdara chuckles and pounds at the leaves. "What I love best about this is how much stress you can get out doing it. The worse I feel, the better the mashing. And I don't know about that, I made a mess of them last time you tried to get me to."
Aida rolls her eyes, laughing lightly. "You just need practice, and /not/ to be wounded," she points out. "I think you would have no problem with - just a second." Her work is promptly abandoned, and she darts back to the food table, grabbing a bit of food and then descending on the healer just as he's stepping back away from his stitching. See Aida. See Aida do her angry squirrel impression as the food is given over. It doesn't take her /too/ terribly long to convince the man to stuff his face (if only to shut her up and get her out of his way), and then she's going to wash her hands and coming back, looking smug.
Essdara laughs softly, "You've a way with people, Aida, I will give you that. Me, I prefer the calculated interactions between ingredients. Much more reliable! And I probably could, but it wouldn't really be useful for either me or the infirmary in the long run, so."
"Except for in moments like this, when we need every hand available to us," Aida counters, knocking yet a third substance into Dara's bowl before she picks her own back up. "Point for me." She mimes licking a finger and then marking her score in the air.
Essdara rolls her eyes, giggling. "Yes, I will concede that, Aida." Pound pound pound. "So... How bad is it, really, tonight? I haven't heard any numbers, just checked that noone I know was one of the casualties."
"It's bad," Aida says, shaking her head lightly and reaching for another jar, starting to strain out its contents into her bowl. "There's at least ten dead, double that in wounded." This is delivered matter of factly. "I haven't heard the final count yet."
Essdara nods softly, shuddering as she pounds a bit harder. "It's been so bad lately, Aida. We are starting to run out of riders. The more that go down... The less there are to keep it from being someone we love. It'll be almost two turns before Yevide's clutch are up to speed... They have to stem the losses before then."
"They will figure out a way," Aida states, voice absolutely certain. "We will pull riders in from other Weyrs if we have to, or *something*. The new Weyrleader and Weyrwoman will figure it out, and it will go on. It's just the start of the Pass; these things are to be expected."
Essdara nods. "They are, but it's still... Shards, Aida. We've lost at least thirty riders, just this month. Thirty! And no clutches but this one to make up for it! I'm scared, and i don't like that."
"It's frightening," Aida agrees, her own tone remaining steady and sure. Solid. "It's been a very bad month, and losses have been heavy." Beat. "And Yevide and J'cor are steady, intelligent, capable individuals, and they will keep it from continuing or getting worse. They are just now getting into the saddle, but once they do they will pull us out of this run."
Essdara glances at Aida, a bit annoyed. "I'm already a convert, Aida, I don't need to be preached to. I know they will be good for us, but that doesn't make all this easier on us now, you know? I know you want everyone to love them, but just.. Back off the rhetoric with me, at least, ok?"
"It's not rhetoric," Aida states quietly, setting her eyes on what she's working on. "It's the sun coming up on a winter's day. I'm not preaching; I'm pointing out that this will get better, because it *will*. It's something to find hope in, Essdara."
Essdara sighs and closes her eyes for a long moment; counting is a trick that she learned from Aida! "It's just, Aida, I hear it a lot around you lately. It would be nice to have a conversation that didn't somehow come back to them. Even at Tavaly's, you were more interested in talking abuot this stuff than anything else. It was supposed to be a relaxing night,not more of the same."
"You're just hearing what you want to hear," Aida comments dryly, shaking her head. "Looking to see what you want to see. Are you hunting for a reason to be unhappy with me, Dara? I asked two questions related to it at Tavaly's party, because the others were talking about it. I didn't even bring it up! You were worrying over the bad fall, I reassured with the *only thing I can reassure with*. It was one of how many topics of conversation the other night? When it's the biggest thing in the whole Weyr to talk about?"
Essdara sighs, softly. "I'm sorry, Aida. It's just... It's a hard day. It's not you, and I am sorry for taking it out on you. But can we not talk about them for now?" She focuses then on carefully pouring out the powder she has made in her mortar.
"I wasn-" Aida cuts off, closing her mouth and falling silent for a few moments, eventually clearing her throat. She doesn't fill the mortar up again, instead just focusing on what it is she's doing. "Thank you for your assistance."
She snaps again, a little. "I know you weren't, Aida, and I am trying /not/ to pick a fight here." A sigh. "What else can I do to help? It makes me feel better, being here and being able to help. I promise, I'll keep my mouth shut."
Leaning deeper over the table, Aida picks up a particular jar and sets it in front of Dara, then grabs a second jar. "Grind all of that," she points, "And put it in that. Down to a powder again. Thank you." With that said, she sets down what she's working on, collecting the bowl Dara had been pouring the mixture into and heading over for another table to mix it up and measure it out into separate doses.
Essdara silenty sets to work, pouring a careful amount into the mortar, then picking up the weighty pestle and attacking it with a vengeance. Cathartic, indeed, to judge by the renewed savagery she shows it.
Apparently she's got plenty of work to do over at that table over there, because that's where Aida stays for a good long while. Eventually she does come back long enough to grab what she had been working on, checking on Dara's powder before she moves over to the other table to finish up with her initial task. Occasionally she stops to discuss this or that with one of the healers, and...well, she just generally goes about her business, the perky cheer eventually returning and settling back into her mannerisms.
Ahh, concealing darkness to hide the blush. But Essdara smiles and nods in the dark. "I understand, Aida, and that's fine. I know I don't need to give you anything." Her hand drops back down, with a soft chuckle. "But thank you, Aida. I will look forward, quietly, to the day that changes, if ever." She closes her eyes again. "I hope you will still stay, as friends?"
Hooray for dim lighting. Aida shoves herself up to a sitting position, only to lean down and start untying her boots. "I will," she agrees. Boots are thudded to the floor, and then she's dropping back again and moving to nestle close once more. "If nothing else, I don't even know how to feel about any of that stuff. And. Yeah." Sigh. "I never thought living here would mess my head up as much as it has. I feel like a very small fish in a very large lake. Happily, too small for the dragons or even the people to notice, but still a potential meal for all the other fish. Mmm, tasty treat."
There is a moment of gaping. Then, given the way Aida turns and buries her face in against the cot, it's very likely that she's blushing furiously. "Ididn'tmeanitlikethat," she mumbles rapid fire. "Sorry." There's a long moment of quiet, but by the time Dara is settling down with her again she seems to have mostly recovered, snuggling up again. For all that she professes shyness about certain sorts of intimacy, she doesn't seem to have a problem with the snuggling. "It's not all about the romance and heart and stuff for me, though," she protests quietly. "Can't I just...you know. Avoid all of it? Entirely? I can learn. And stuff." Sigh. "I never cared about any of it /before/. I don't know when it got so...noteworthy. Or something I even think about at all." Pause. "And he's gunna show me /maps/. S'all. Isn't any liking me like that anyway. I think I'll go plenty unnoticed. I've proven really good at being unnoticed /so/ far."