Log: Ice Cream
Who: Milani, Persie
When: It is a winter night, 19:02 of day 23, month 3, turn 19 of Interval 10.
Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani and Persie share the tail end of dinner and ice cream. Milani may have a job for Persie.
It's just the tail end of the dinner hour and Milani lingers at the table she was sharing with her staff, perched on the bench and desultorily stirring a half-melted bowl of ice cream. The weather's been improving a lot lately, but there's still snow to bring down to make the stuff with and it was tonight's treat. The headwoman hums as she draws a smiley face in the puddingy mess that inhabits the bottom of her bowl. Her clipboard awaits nearby but she ignores it. All around people laugh and chat or rise and stow dishes and drift out of the cavern.
The dinner hour is nearly over and Persie is hurrying to snag some food before the last remnants are scooped up or carted away. With her plate of belated dinner, she turns toward the tables and comes to a stop by the empty seat across from Milani. She's still licking her fingers eagerly, but she gets out, "This seat taken?"
Milani looks up from putting dots around that smiley face and beams across at Persie. "Not at all! Please, sit! It's been a while, Persie. How's thing?" Millie asks promptly and smoothes over the surface of her ice cream/pudding again to draw squiggly lines instead.
A wide smile emerges around her finger and Persie tugs the chair out with a hook of her foot. "Thanks," she answers, plopping down with her usual haphazard ease. "I'm okay. You know. I'm going to be okay. How are you? Are things good? Was that ice cream?" Her fork pokes toward Milani's bowl. "Is there more? Did I miss it all?"
Long breath out and a nod as something clicks in Milani's head. "Yeah, yeah, of course," the headwoman says, another smile offered over. "And they are, mostly, we're managing to get some interesting trades going, Stores are still in good shape even after the winter." The bowl is tilted and Millie nods energetically. "Yes it was, only I didn't eat fast enough and there's probably still some in a big vat in the kitchen. Want me to go see for you?"
"What kind of interesting trades?" Persie asks between mouthfuls. "I'm imagining trading dancing runners for yarns that don't get wet or something." Her smile is big and sheepish, laughing at herself. Then she taps her fork to her lips thoughtfully. "Hm, better wait until I'm done with dinner, otherwise mine would just melt too."
"Well, Tiriana really did a nice job offloading a whole lot of pink fleece that would've cost a fair bit to re-dye. And the purple sheets, for some pots and pans the kitchens really needed." Millie sticks her spoon in her mouth regardless of meltiness, shakes her head. "Can bring it in a bigger bowl with ice around. In case they run out. It's pretty good. Even if I ... mangled mine." Laughing that.
"Purple sheets? That sounds fun. Well, for me, at least. I know not everyone like that sort of thing. But I'd like purple sheets. Of course, I don't have any pots and pans to trade so it's probably better the way it all went, you know?" But this ice cream dilemma does have her thinking. She chews her lip a bit. "Maybe it would be smart to get some sooner rather than later, instead of not getting any at all. Right?" Persie chews her lips a bit. Yes.
"We had like, way too many," Milani explains. "I mean, I know, a lot of the kids like them and I know /you/ like them and we /do/ still have some, but ... it's just the kind of thing that keeps happening. There's nothing /wrong/ with some of the stuff that gets sent, it's just /odd/, you know? We got cases and cases of ... purple sheets. Purple." And she ducks her head, laughs then. "Mm. You sit tight, work on your dinner and I'll be /right/ back."
"Who would even make that many purple sheets? Maybe it was an accident or something. Like, they were supposed to be plain white sheets but then someone's elbow knocked a whole jar of purple dye in and so... that's what you got. Though I suppose if you need the pots and pans more than the sheets, and you found someone who want the purple sheets, that's even better." A bit of that comes out around a mouthful, but Persie does a good job of not spitting her food or anything, and her hand comes up to cover her mouth a bit as she babbles on. For Milani's order, however, she gives an obedient nod, shuts up and gets to eating.
"Probably," Milani answers seriously. "And so they sent them up for the tithe, because you know, most of the tithe agreements just say like, 20 of this and 100 of that, but not specifically, 12 bolts of white sheeting, just ... 12 bolts of sheeting," the headwoman points out with a wry grin, rising to her feet, ubt not leaving yet. "And that is exactly what happened. They need fabric down south, we had some, we got pots and pans, it's all good." The headwoman retreats to the kitchen for a few minutes. She's not long. Coming back, she has a bowl set within a bowl, crushed ice all around and there is in fact some ice cream inside, though the serving might not be as generous as some of the ones earlier. "Getting a leeeeetle low," Millie says as she sets the bowl down.
Persie sees the bowl and positively wiggles in her seat. "Oh no, that's perfect. I just need a taste. A delicious little taste. But I'm going to be a good girl and finish my dinner first," she declares. "It's funny how that sticks with you, isn't it? Being told to finish supper first? That dessert comes after. And when you do it the other way, you just end up wanting dessert again when you're done with your meal. Does that happen to you?"
Down goes the bowl with a slight thunk on the table and Millie laughs, sits again. "Well, there's no problem with eating the whole bowl, seriously," the headwoman says. "Enjoy your dinner /and/ your dessert," she adds and pushes her own crockery aside, one elbow down to the table and her chin into her hand. "And yes, it does. I have a hopeless fondness for sweets and it's probably going to catch up with me someday when I'm not so young and energetic anymore."
"It doesn't have to, though. Some people stay thin forever and ever." Persie, judging by her pointy little shoulders, is probably one such person. "How old are you now anyway? And besides, your job has you running around a lot, doesn't it? I'd think you'd be all over the place. A zillion different things to do every day." She's started gesturing with the fork, a fork with food on it. And she doesn't notice when the food falls back on the plate - at least not until she takes a disappointing bite of metal.
"Mm, they do, but I could also wind up like my grandmother. Well-padded," Milani states with a laugh. "Not that that's a bad thing either. It'd just be a switch you know." Milani leans back, kicks off her shoes and gathers her feet up onto her chair, knees bending outward grasshopper style. "Twenty, just turned in the 12th month," the headwoman says. "And yes, I'm on my feet a lot. Still go run around the bowl or swim or skate too." Millie's teeth catch at her lip when that happens to the fork and food. "Eat first, then talk?" she suggests with a wink.
"Oh, you're a baby!" Persie says confidently, as if she's an old auntie instead of having less than a decade on the girl across from her. "And happy belated Turnday." She takes another stab at that bit of food and giggles. Which makes her seem oh-so-old. "I'm okay." With the food, at least. Moderately. "Did you get anything good for your Turnday? Do anything special?"
Milani rolls her eyes a little. "People have been telling me that since I was 15," the headwoman claims and laughs waves it off. "Thanks. It's easy to remember really, the weyrlings, the last batch. Kas and P'ax and company. Their dragons hatched on my birthday." She grins wryly then and bounces a little in her chair. "It's kind of nice, because it means Kas won't forget." A slow smile creeps across her face and she nods. "Mmmhm. Ran away to the beach with K'del and he gave me a really nice book and we had a picnic and a lot of --" she breaks off and mouths the three letter word.
Persie catches that smile and it makes her own turn sly and giddy. "You and K'del, huh? How long has that been going on? I do love a good picnic. It's been a while since I had one." She's about to take another forkful but, "Wait, isn't he a little young for you? Maybe it's just that I remember him being younger, you know, from when he impressed and all." She lets out another self-effacing laugh.
Milani lifts a finger to twirl in her hair. "Oh it's just casual you know," she says with a little shrug. "Um ... since not long after they got cleared for it. He's a very -- busy man," she says with a little twist of her mouth and a giggle, eyes dancing with good humor. "He's younger, but not that much. He's sixteen. I was still nineteen when we started. So it's not like you know, me and A'son. I'm not picky about age really. Talent and a good personality." She shoots Persie a gleaming smile.
"Casual, right right," Persie says, the crook of her smile amused and disbelieving. But 'busy man' makes her eyebrow crank up. "A busy, 'talented' man," she repeats, trying very hard to keep a straight face but instead starting to snicker girlishly with her hand over her mouth. "I might be afraid to ask what you mean by talent." She pushes her dinner plate to the side and eagerly pull the ice cream in closer. "Sounds fun, though," she adds, composing herself into just a little breathy giggle.
Milani wiggles her fingers at Persie meaningfully rather than answer directly, face an innocent mask. "He's got a lot of girls. Maybe less than before he Impressed, but you know. He's young, he's got stamina, can't blame him for wanting to you know, play the field. We're good friends, care about each other well enough. But I don't expect anything from him except you know, a good time. And sometimes, an ear when I need one or a shoulder to lean on." Millie leans back in her chair, nodding vigorously. "It /is/ fun," she eyes Persie sidelong for a moment. "You should try it sometime. A younger man. They're really you know, eager to please and very energetic."
Stamina. Persie has to cover her mouth again instead of eating, but behind that hand she is surely hiding more giggles. "Mmhm," she nods to the friendship, the caring, the shoulders. "That's so good. So good to have people you can count on, that you feel sure about." It all gets mumbled rather shyly into her knuckle, her hand still lingering at her lips. But then eyes go wide and her laugh breaks out bright and giddy all over again. "Milani!" But the astonishment seems only skin deep, part of the fun. "Maybe that's my problem. The guys haven't been young enough. I'm not sure I could ever pull off being the mature one, though."
"It /is/. There's a lot of good people here," Milani says slowly, thoughtfully, looks out across the cavern, then back at Persie, making wide, innocent eyes. "Whaat?" and she giggles again. "Oh yeah? Well, maybe you wouldn't have to you know. Maybe it could just be you know, lighthearted and fun and ... picnics."
"I think I'm probably too..." Persie waves a hand at her head, a sort of loose-fingered fanning. "Crazy." That's what the gesture meant, apparently. "It gets in the way. I don't think that young guys are okay with that sort of thing. Not really. Not for me."
"No more than I am and a lot less than some folks here," Milani says cheerily. "What's so crazy about you, anyway? You've always seemed really sweet and you know, funny to me."
"Well, that's what I'd say about you. That you're sweet and funny and that you care about people and you know everything that's going on and you get things done and..." Persie lifts one of those skinny shoulders to shrug. "But me, I'm... forgetful and silly and I always say the wrong things or feel the wrong things. Feel to much. I don't know what it is. I'm always... I don't know." She puts her spoon in the ice cream, but doesn't eat it just yet and instead gets quiet for a moment. "Like this." Her quiet is the perfect illustration, but realizing it breaks the spell. "Just like this. I do this sort of thing all the time." She sits up a bit, steadying herself, and starts to eat her ice cream like a sane person might.
"Is it possible to feel too much?" Milani asks with interest head cocked to the side. "I'm also .. impulsive and shoot my mouth off and piss of ... people," the headwoman finishes that lamely and clears her throat. "But I do work on it. I'm a lot better at not saying the wrong thing at the wrong time than when I was younger." Millie apparently doesn't find this odd. "What? Contemplate your ice cream? What's so funny about that?"
"I don't know. I guess I just... contemplate too much." With 'contemplate' being a word that Persie can use since she's just heard and remembered its existence. "I don't know how you'd piss people off. I mean, you always seem to me to be a genuinely nice person. But then, well, sometimes people react to be hurt or scared or worried by being angry. So maybe that it, more than really being mad at you."
"Sometimes I'm really blunt," Milani says with a little shrug. "It's something I had to get over, work on, you know. I used to just blurt out whatever I was thinking at people. I don't think I could've gotten this job if I was still doing that. But ... you know, for the most part, I still tell it like it is." She puffs out a breath and considers the blonde across the way. "Maybe, if you like, you mean dwelling and getting stuck on stuff. That's never all that healthy."
Persie goes to work in mashing up the ice cream, making sure it's all the same, smooth consistency. But she's still looking thoughtful as opposed to bubbly. "But, well, if you thought 'Oh, Billa has a big nose' and you said that to her, Billa would be hurt, yeah? So even if she got mad at you, it would be because she was hurt, not necessarily angry, right? Of course, maybe if you said it to Billa's weyrmate..." She considers her way through the scenerio, chewing her lip a bit. Then, "I always dwell on stuff. I try not to, but even when I do something else, if I make myself busy, it's there waiting as soon as I'm not busy. And you can't be busy every single moment. Or I'll be doing perfectly fine not thinking on things and some little thing will remind me anyway." Speaking of distractions, she finally puts a first spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and immediately looks like she's forgotten everything else entirely. "Oh. So good," she sighs out dreamily.
"I guess that's a difference. I'm always busy. Every moment. Something going click click click in my head," and Millie snaps her fingers along with too. "My brain hardly ever stops. No time to dwell. Though you know, I do contemplate sometimes. But not much dwell-time." She laughs a little then reaches across the table to rest light fingers atop the greenrider's wrist. "Yeah. That I do get," she says sincerely. "It's tough." She beams again though at Persie's expression. "/Isn't/ it? I wish they could make it every day."
"I have... a lot of time," Persie admits with embarrassment, coming back from her ice cream vacation and smiling sheepishly down at the comforting touch. "It's better when there are weyrlings and I have something to do, people to be around, to help. When I feel like I can be useful. There aren't many things I can... do. Not well enough to be worth doing, I don't think. Now I'm just going through the files, trying to put things in order for the next weyrlingmaster. Not that they weren't in order before but just... making sure there's nothing left to do." She takes a breath to try to clear that away before she medicated with nother spoonful of ice cream.
"I get that," Milani says, nodding briskly and considers Persie for a minute. "So ... would you say you're good at files?" she feels the greenrider out a little, eyes narrowing just a little, as she focuses on the blonde.
Well that just makes Persie laugh again, and she shakes her blonde head. "No, I'm not. I don't think I am at least. I don't... remember things and I get distracted and I'm slow. I can't imagine that I'm any good. I haven't done much of it either. Not really."
Milani nods a couple of times thoughtfully. "So what about helping out the weyrlingmaster do you feel like you're good at?" she asks curiously. "I mean, thing is, a lot of jobs, they're things you can do for one job and they also work for another, if that make sense."
The spoon goes back to swirling slowly in the bowl and Persie tries to smile. Her eyes stay on the ice cream, though. "I don't do this well," she answers apologetically. "I'd say you should ask him. He'd know better, since he's the one that kept me around." Obviously, asking such things isn't possible. "I think he said once that he picked me because I was a girl. And because I was nice and friendly. That he wanted some like me because I'm the way he wasn't." She snorts out a sentimental little laugh, "Because I owed him a favor," and she shakes her head again. "I like taking care of people?" she attempts as a useful answer. "And weyrlinghood... I actually know something about all that. So I'm not just silly and stupid, you know?"
Milani props both elbows up and her chin in her hands. "We're a lot alike you know," the headwoman says slowly, softly. "What you just said, about taking care of people? It's why I wanted this job it's why I /do/ this job. Anyway. I'll think about this some more. Because you're not silly or stupid and being able to be friendly and take care of people, that's important. Even if filing and a lot of writing isn't your thing."
"It's just not something that riders get to do a lot, I don't think. There aren't really... options. Not for someone like me. We're supposed to be flying with the wings. I guess that now... Maybe I'd like that again. There aren't any weyrlings and I don't know that another weyrlingmaster would want me, you know?" Persie doesn't finish the ice cream, but it looks like she's about ready to push the bowl away anyway. "It's been a long time since I flew with a fighting wing. Secath would like it." She looks across at Milani with a quirk of a smile. "But if you have a job that I could do... I'd like to be useful."
Milani's head bobs up and down a few times. "I'm thinking we might be able to work something out Persie. Hospitality's important in a Weyr," she says thoughtfully and pushes to her feet, reclaims her clipboard. "Let me think it through a little more, and I'll come find you, okay? Stop by too if you just want to chat or something." She pauses, clears her throat. "I -- have some of his stuff. In a basket from when we cleaned his place. If you want to have a look. I know it can't have been easy, when he went." Millie's voice is soft and she leans across to pat Persie's hand again. "I need to go roust up the assistants though to do final check for the evening, but we'll catch up, okay? You hang in there and have a good night."
Persie nods quickly; she will let Milani think and she'll wait to be found. Or stop by. Either way. But the basket? That makes her look up with wide, round eyes. "I'd like to have it. If you don't have anything to do with it," she gets out quietly. After that she pulls the ice cream toward her again. "Thank you so much for getting this for me. I'd have hated to have missed it," she says of dessert, putting the smile back on. "And thank you for... you know." The way her teeth catch her lip makes the whole expression far more genuine. "Have a good evening, Milani."
"The whole basket? Sure, if you really want it Persie," Milani says gently. "Stop by. It's on the side table, you can take it even if I'm not there," the headwoman says kindly. "Not a problem, Persie. See, we both take care of people," the younger woman says with a reassuring smile. "All right then, until soon." And with a little wave, the headwoman steps off briskly to see to the evening's business.
When: It is a winter night, 19:02 of day 23, month 3, turn 19 of Interval 10.
Where: Living Cavern, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani and Persie share the tail end of dinner and ice cream. Milani may have a job for Persie.
It's just the tail end of the dinner hour and Milani lingers at the table she was sharing with her staff, perched on the bench and desultorily stirring a half-melted bowl of ice cream. The weather's been improving a lot lately, but there's still snow to bring down to make the stuff with and it was tonight's treat. The headwoman hums as she draws a smiley face in the puddingy mess that inhabits the bottom of her bowl. Her clipboard awaits nearby but she ignores it. All around people laugh and chat or rise and stow dishes and drift out of the cavern.
The dinner hour is nearly over and Persie is hurrying to snag some food before the last remnants are scooped up or carted away. With her plate of belated dinner, she turns toward the tables and comes to a stop by the empty seat across from Milani. She's still licking her fingers eagerly, but she gets out, "This seat taken?"
Milani looks up from putting dots around that smiley face and beams across at Persie. "Not at all! Please, sit! It's been a while, Persie. How's thing?" Millie asks promptly and smoothes over the surface of her ice cream/pudding again to draw squiggly lines instead.
A wide smile emerges around her finger and Persie tugs the chair out with a hook of her foot. "Thanks," she answers, plopping down with her usual haphazard ease. "I'm okay. You know. I'm going to be okay. How are you? Are things good? Was that ice cream?" Her fork pokes toward Milani's bowl. "Is there more? Did I miss it all?"
Long breath out and a nod as something clicks in Milani's head. "Yeah, yeah, of course," the headwoman says, another smile offered over. "And they are, mostly, we're managing to get some interesting trades going, Stores are still in good shape even after the winter." The bowl is tilted and Millie nods energetically. "Yes it was, only I didn't eat fast enough and there's probably still some in a big vat in the kitchen. Want me to go see for you?"
"What kind of interesting trades?" Persie asks between mouthfuls. "I'm imagining trading dancing runners for yarns that don't get wet or something." Her smile is big and sheepish, laughing at herself. Then she taps her fork to her lips thoughtfully. "Hm, better wait until I'm done with dinner, otherwise mine would just melt too."
"Well, Tiriana really did a nice job offloading a whole lot of pink fleece that would've cost a fair bit to re-dye. And the purple sheets, for some pots and pans the kitchens really needed." Millie sticks her spoon in her mouth regardless of meltiness, shakes her head. "Can bring it in a bigger bowl with ice around. In case they run out. It's pretty good. Even if I ... mangled mine." Laughing that.
"Purple sheets? That sounds fun. Well, for me, at least. I know not everyone like that sort of thing. But I'd like purple sheets. Of course, I don't have any pots and pans to trade so it's probably better the way it all went, you know?" But this ice cream dilemma does have her thinking. She chews her lip a bit. "Maybe it would be smart to get some sooner rather than later, instead of not getting any at all. Right?" Persie chews her lips a bit. Yes.
"We had like, way too many," Milani explains. "I mean, I know, a lot of the kids like them and I know /you/ like them and we /do/ still have some, but ... it's just the kind of thing that keeps happening. There's nothing /wrong/ with some of the stuff that gets sent, it's just /odd/, you know? We got cases and cases of ... purple sheets. Purple." And she ducks her head, laughs then. "Mm. You sit tight, work on your dinner and I'll be /right/ back."
"Who would even make that many purple sheets? Maybe it was an accident or something. Like, they were supposed to be plain white sheets but then someone's elbow knocked a whole jar of purple dye in and so... that's what you got. Though I suppose if you need the pots and pans more than the sheets, and you found someone who want the purple sheets, that's even better." A bit of that comes out around a mouthful, but Persie does a good job of not spitting her food or anything, and her hand comes up to cover her mouth a bit as she babbles on. For Milani's order, however, she gives an obedient nod, shuts up and gets to eating.
"Probably," Milani answers seriously. "And so they sent them up for the tithe, because you know, most of the tithe agreements just say like, 20 of this and 100 of that, but not specifically, 12 bolts of white sheeting, just ... 12 bolts of sheeting," the headwoman points out with a wry grin, rising to her feet, ubt not leaving yet. "And that is exactly what happened. They need fabric down south, we had some, we got pots and pans, it's all good." The headwoman retreats to the kitchen for a few minutes. She's not long. Coming back, she has a bowl set within a bowl, crushed ice all around and there is in fact some ice cream inside, though the serving might not be as generous as some of the ones earlier. "Getting a leeeeetle low," Millie says as she sets the bowl down.
Persie sees the bowl and positively wiggles in her seat. "Oh no, that's perfect. I just need a taste. A delicious little taste. But I'm going to be a good girl and finish my dinner first," she declares. "It's funny how that sticks with you, isn't it? Being told to finish supper first? That dessert comes after. And when you do it the other way, you just end up wanting dessert again when you're done with your meal. Does that happen to you?"
Down goes the bowl with a slight thunk on the table and Millie laughs, sits again. "Well, there's no problem with eating the whole bowl, seriously," the headwoman says. "Enjoy your dinner /and/ your dessert," she adds and pushes her own crockery aside, one elbow down to the table and her chin into her hand. "And yes, it does. I have a hopeless fondness for sweets and it's probably going to catch up with me someday when I'm not so young and energetic anymore."
"It doesn't have to, though. Some people stay thin forever and ever." Persie, judging by her pointy little shoulders, is probably one such person. "How old are you now anyway? And besides, your job has you running around a lot, doesn't it? I'd think you'd be all over the place. A zillion different things to do every day." She's started gesturing with the fork, a fork with food on it. And she doesn't notice when the food falls back on the plate - at least not until she takes a disappointing bite of metal.
"Mm, they do, but I could also wind up like my grandmother. Well-padded," Milani states with a laugh. "Not that that's a bad thing either. It'd just be a switch you know." Milani leans back, kicks off her shoes and gathers her feet up onto her chair, knees bending outward grasshopper style. "Twenty, just turned in the 12th month," the headwoman says. "And yes, I'm on my feet a lot. Still go run around the bowl or swim or skate too." Millie's teeth catch at her lip when that happens to the fork and food. "Eat first, then talk?" she suggests with a wink.
"Oh, you're a baby!" Persie says confidently, as if she's an old auntie instead of having less than a decade on the girl across from her. "And happy belated Turnday." She takes another stab at that bit of food and giggles. Which makes her seem oh-so-old. "I'm okay." With the food, at least. Moderately. "Did you get anything good for your Turnday? Do anything special?"
Milani rolls her eyes a little. "People have been telling me that since I was 15," the headwoman claims and laughs waves it off. "Thanks. It's easy to remember really, the weyrlings, the last batch. Kas and P'ax and company. Their dragons hatched on my birthday." She grins wryly then and bounces a little in her chair. "It's kind of nice, because it means Kas won't forget." A slow smile creeps across her face and she nods. "Mmmhm. Ran away to the beach with K'del and he gave me a really nice book and we had a picnic and a lot of --" she breaks off and mouths the three letter word.
Persie catches that smile and it makes her own turn sly and giddy. "You and K'del, huh? How long has that been going on? I do love a good picnic. It's been a while since I had one." She's about to take another forkful but, "Wait, isn't he a little young for you? Maybe it's just that I remember him being younger, you know, from when he impressed and all." She lets out another self-effacing laugh.
Milani lifts a finger to twirl in her hair. "Oh it's just casual you know," she says with a little shrug. "Um ... since not long after they got cleared for it. He's a very -- busy man," she says with a little twist of her mouth and a giggle, eyes dancing with good humor. "He's younger, but not that much. He's sixteen. I was still nineteen when we started. So it's not like you know, me and A'son. I'm not picky about age really. Talent and a good personality." She shoots Persie a gleaming smile.
"Casual, right right," Persie says, the crook of her smile amused and disbelieving. But 'busy man' makes her eyebrow crank up. "A busy, 'talented' man," she repeats, trying very hard to keep a straight face but instead starting to snicker girlishly with her hand over her mouth. "I might be afraid to ask what you mean by talent." She pushes her dinner plate to the side and eagerly pull the ice cream in closer. "Sounds fun, though," she adds, composing herself into just a little breathy giggle.
Milani wiggles her fingers at Persie meaningfully rather than answer directly, face an innocent mask. "He's got a lot of girls. Maybe less than before he Impressed, but you know. He's young, he's got stamina, can't blame him for wanting to you know, play the field. We're good friends, care about each other well enough. But I don't expect anything from him except you know, a good time. And sometimes, an ear when I need one or a shoulder to lean on." Millie leans back in her chair, nodding vigorously. "It /is/ fun," she eyes Persie sidelong for a moment. "You should try it sometime. A younger man. They're really you know, eager to please and very energetic."
Stamina. Persie has to cover her mouth again instead of eating, but behind that hand she is surely hiding more giggles. "Mmhm," she nods to the friendship, the caring, the shoulders. "That's so good. So good to have people you can count on, that you feel sure about." It all gets mumbled rather shyly into her knuckle, her hand still lingering at her lips. But then eyes go wide and her laugh breaks out bright and giddy all over again. "Milani!" But the astonishment seems only skin deep, part of the fun. "Maybe that's my problem. The guys haven't been young enough. I'm not sure I could ever pull off being the mature one, though."
"It /is/. There's a lot of good people here," Milani says slowly, thoughtfully, looks out across the cavern, then back at Persie, making wide, innocent eyes. "Whaat?" and she giggles again. "Oh yeah? Well, maybe you wouldn't have to you know. Maybe it could just be you know, lighthearted and fun and ... picnics."
"I think I'm probably too..." Persie waves a hand at her head, a sort of loose-fingered fanning. "Crazy." That's what the gesture meant, apparently. "It gets in the way. I don't think that young guys are okay with that sort of thing. Not really. Not for me."
"No more than I am and a lot less than some folks here," Milani says cheerily. "What's so crazy about you, anyway? You've always seemed really sweet and you know, funny to me."
"Well, that's what I'd say about you. That you're sweet and funny and that you care about people and you know everything that's going on and you get things done and..." Persie lifts one of those skinny shoulders to shrug. "But me, I'm... forgetful and silly and I always say the wrong things or feel the wrong things. Feel to much. I don't know what it is. I'm always... I don't know." She puts her spoon in the ice cream, but doesn't eat it just yet and instead gets quiet for a moment. "Like this." Her quiet is the perfect illustration, but realizing it breaks the spell. "Just like this. I do this sort of thing all the time." She sits up a bit, steadying herself, and starts to eat her ice cream like a sane person might.
"Is it possible to feel too much?" Milani asks with interest head cocked to the side. "I'm also .. impulsive and shoot my mouth off and piss of ... people," the headwoman finishes that lamely and clears her throat. "But I do work on it. I'm a lot better at not saying the wrong thing at the wrong time than when I was younger." Millie apparently doesn't find this odd. "What? Contemplate your ice cream? What's so funny about that?"
"I don't know. I guess I just... contemplate too much." With 'contemplate' being a word that Persie can use since she's just heard and remembered its existence. "I don't know how you'd piss people off. I mean, you always seem to me to be a genuinely nice person. But then, well, sometimes people react to be hurt or scared or worried by being angry. So maybe that it, more than really being mad at you."
"Sometimes I'm really blunt," Milani says with a little shrug. "It's something I had to get over, work on, you know. I used to just blurt out whatever I was thinking at people. I don't think I could've gotten this job if I was still doing that. But ... you know, for the most part, I still tell it like it is." She puffs out a breath and considers the blonde across the way. "Maybe, if you like, you mean dwelling and getting stuck on stuff. That's never all that healthy."
Persie goes to work in mashing up the ice cream, making sure it's all the same, smooth consistency. But she's still looking thoughtful as opposed to bubbly. "But, well, if you thought 'Oh, Billa has a big nose' and you said that to her, Billa would be hurt, yeah? So even if she got mad at you, it would be because she was hurt, not necessarily angry, right? Of course, maybe if you said it to Billa's weyrmate..." She considers her way through the scenerio, chewing her lip a bit. Then, "I always dwell on stuff. I try not to, but even when I do something else, if I make myself busy, it's there waiting as soon as I'm not busy. And you can't be busy every single moment. Or I'll be doing perfectly fine not thinking on things and some little thing will remind me anyway." Speaking of distractions, she finally puts a first spoonful of ice cream in her mouth and immediately looks like she's forgotten everything else entirely. "Oh. So good," she sighs out dreamily.
"I guess that's a difference. I'm always busy. Every moment. Something going click click click in my head," and Millie snaps her fingers along with too. "My brain hardly ever stops. No time to dwell. Though you know, I do contemplate sometimes. But not much dwell-time." She laughs a little then reaches across the table to rest light fingers atop the greenrider's wrist. "Yeah. That I do get," she says sincerely. "It's tough." She beams again though at Persie's expression. "/Isn't/ it? I wish they could make it every day."
"I have... a lot of time," Persie admits with embarrassment, coming back from her ice cream vacation and smiling sheepishly down at the comforting touch. "It's better when there are weyrlings and I have something to do, people to be around, to help. When I feel like I can be useful. There aren't many things I can... do. Not well enough to be worth doing, I don't think. Now I'm just going through the files, trying to put things in order for the next weyrlingmaster. Not that they weren't in order before but just... making sure there's nothing left to do." She takes a breath to try to clear that away before she medicated with nother spoonful of ice cream.
"I get that," Milani says, nodding briskly and considers Persie for a minute. "So ... would you say you're good at files?" she feels the greenrider out a little, eyes narrowing just a little, as she focuses on the blonde.
Well that just makes Persie laugh again, and she shakes her blonde head. "No, I'm not. I don't think I am at least. I don't... remember things and I get distracted and I'm slow. I can't imagine that I'm any good. I haven't done much of it either. Not really."
Milani nods a couple of times thoughtfully. "So what about helping out the weyrlingmaster do you feel like you're good at?" she asks curiously. "I mean, thing is, a lot of jobs, they're things you can do for one job and they also work for another, if that make sense."
The spoon goes back to swirling slowly in the bowl and Persie tries to smile. Her eyes stay on the ice cream, though. "I don't do this well," she answers apologetically. "I'd say you should ask him. He'd know better, since he's the one that kept me around." Obviously, asking such things isn't possible. "I think he said once that he picked me because I was a girl. And because I was nice and friendly. That he wanted some like me because I'm the way he wasn't." She snorts out a sentimental little laugh, "Because I owed him a favor," and she shakes her head again. "I like taking care of people?" she attempts as a useful answer. "And weyrlinghood... I actually know something about all that. So I'm not just silly and stupid, you know?"
Milani props both elbows up and her chin in her hands. "We're a lot alike you know," the headwoman says slowly, softly. "What you just said, about taking care of people? It's why I wanted this job it's why I /do/ this job. Anyway. I'll think about this some more. Because you're not silly or stupid and being able to be friendly and take care of people, that's important. Even if filing and a lot of writing isn't your thing."
"It's just not something that riders get to do a lot, I don't think. There aren't really... options. Not for someone like me. We're supposed to be flying with the wings. I guess that now... Maybe I'd like that again. There aren't any weyrlings and I don't know that another weyrlingmaster would want me, you know?" Persie doesn't finish the ice cream, but it looks like she's about ready to push the bowl away anyway. "It's been a long time since I flew with a fighting wing. Secath would like it." She looks across at Milani with a quirk of a smile. "But if you have a job that I could do... I'd like to be useful."
Milani's head bobs up and down a few times. "I'm thinking we might be able to work something out Persie. Hospitality's important in a Weyr," she says thoughtfully and pushes to her feet, reclaims her clipboard. "Let me think it through a little more, and I'll come find you, okay? Stop by too if you just want to chat or something." She pauses, clears her throat. "I -- have some of his stuff. In a basket from when we cleaned his place. If you want to have a look. I know it can't have been easy, when he went." Millie's voice is soft and she leans across to pat Persie's hand again. "I need to go roust up the assistants though to do final check for the evening, but we'll catch up, okay? You hang in there and have a good night."
Persie nods quickly; she will let Milani think and she'll wait to be found. Or stop by. Either way. But the basket? That makes her look up with wide, round eyes. "I'd like to have it. If you don't have anything to do with it," she gets out quietly. After that she pulls the ice cream toward her again. "Thank you so much for getting this for me. I'd have hated to have missed it," she says of dessert, putting the smile back on. "And thank you for... you know." The way her teeth catch her lip makes the whole expression far more genuine. "Have a good evening, Milani."
"The whole basket? Sure, if you really want it Persie," Milani says gently. "Stop by. It's on the side table, you can take it even if I'm not there," the headwoman says kindly. "Not a problem, Persie. See, we both take care of people," the younger woman says with a reassuring smile. "All right then, until soon." And with a little wave, the headwoman steps off briskly to see to the evening's business.