Brunch
Location: Living Cavern
Time: Late morning on Day 11, Month 2, Turn 2
Player: Roa, Tavaly, Penny, Perilan
Scene: Many people converge together, some of whom probably shouldn't.
Living Cavern
Large enough to hold the majority of the Weyr's human population, this cavern can become loud enough to deafen thanks to the acoustics caused by its size. The ceiling is so far overhead that it's cast into shadow, a darkness that is broken only by the spark and glitter of a lucky beam of light striking the minerals found in the rock walls. Below, most of the floor is covered with an assortment of long tables and benches. There are some smaller tables, surrounded by chairs, but privacy appears to be a rare thing in this bustling cavern. Large hearths line the west wall, with fires burning day and night to warm the food and drink that keep the Weyr's inhabitants fueled. The serving tables are near the hearth, opposite the dais that holds the single table reserved for the Weyr leadership and honored guests.
It is 11:11 on day 11, month 2, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
Early lunch or late breakfast? hard to tell from the fare settled on Roa's plate: a single meatroll, some fruit, and a glass of some sort of cool fruit juice. Seated at a smaller table, the little Telgari is absently lifting bits of fruit and munching them with one hand, the other hand resting on a page of a think tome of reading which she's studying intently. A heavy coat hangs from the back of her chair, ever-present satchel of books and hides by her feet.
Not the first, probably not the last. Threadscored, to a minor degree, Tav meanders into the living cavern long after the breakfast rush has happened. A blanket, previously wrapped about her shoulders for warmth, gets shrugged off and dropped in a chair, revealing a comfortable sleeveless tunic. Poking through it, of course, are bandages. One large one encompassing her right shoulder, and a smaller circling around her left forearm. Dressed as such, the weyrling manages to find a plate and fill it rather spectacularly. "Mind if I sit with you?" A small voice asks. Very subdued.
Roa 's eyes lift and blink slowly at the weyrling before her, taking half a second to shift her thoughts from the book to the other girl. Tome is shut and slid off the table and the Telgari lifts a hand and gestures to a chair nearby. "Is Immath all right?" she asks, noting the bandages. Then, after a moment, "Are you?"
"Immath is fine. Not a mark on her. K'dume and his brown smacked into us and knocked us out of the way by accident before he went between for the last time. I was reaching to prepare a bag-toss and my arm got knocked up. Nothing major. Jacket took most of it." No smiles. She sinks into a chair opposite the Telgari and sighs. "I'm all right. Flying next fall, too, so I hear. That makes four Weyrlings that'll never graduate." Very depressing. "Oh, I'm sorry.. I didn't know you were studying. Y'want some alone time?"
Roa clasps her hands lightly on the table, lowering her hand so she can rest her chin on the little 'lump' those hands create. "Studying can wait," she says simply. "I like the company. Are you...Tavaly...are you sure you're all right?" Because quietly apologizing does not seem the Tavaly Way.
Staring at her plate, the girl takes several long, deep breaths. Picking up a slice of some fruit or the next she munches on it, teeth crunching through it. She speaks over the bit of fruit. That's, at least, true to Tav's form. "Shaken a bit, I guess. How fast everything changes. In an instant.. You're on the ground, whooping and hollering, packing firestone bags onto your dragon and getting ready to aide the main wings, the next moment you're on the ground cryin', less than you were before ya rose up to it. Two more, gone. Darnit, K'dume would've been a great wingleader later in life. And not a one person really cares. No one weeps for the ones they don't know. Not fair."
A slow nod from the Telgari which is a bit funny to see with the way her chin rests on her hands like that. "Things do change in an instant, all the time. Good things too, though, yeh?" Her brows tip upwards. "People do care, though, Tavaly. The other weyrlings, R'vain, all the riders. It's only that many have learned to internalize such things."
And from Tav, also, a slow nod. Her eyes have moved from the plate to stare at a blank stone on the floor. "Those that feel it most keenly. R'vain is so sour." Quiet. As if R'vain's ears are stuck in the wall. "Those that should care, do. Those that have no idea what happens out there.. they're just confused. Completely shut down." Eyes close and her head leans back to rest against the chair. A momentary flinch of discomfort, then relaxation. "What were you readin'?"
Roa hmms? and then she glances down at the large book on the floor by her chair as if she may have forgotten. "Medical tome. General maladies and such. I've been spending so much time in the infirmary I started to wonder if I shouldn't do a bit more reading about those in the smaller beds." A slight smile.
Tavaly allows the twitch of a smile to show briefly. "Might make a good dragonhealer, you know. That would be good." She says softly. "With Tialith's help to sooth, I think you could do it nicely. You're gentle, kind, and no idjit when it comes to pain, yourself." A smirk, eyes open, still drained and pale. Even she looks a little gray, today. Another bite of fruit. Chomp. Om nom nom. Then a furrow of her brows. "When do you graduate from Caucus?"
Rather gently, Roa says, "I am, actually, Tavaly. I mean, well, Tialith and I have been studying dragonhealing since before we came to Caucus, and we've continued to do so here. But, thank you, it's good to know you think I'm up for the job." Her head is lifted, one hand untangled from the other to snag a small square of melon which she chews thoughtfully and swallows. "I'll graduate in a little over three turns now."
"..oh. That's good, then." A small smile, there. "If ever there comes a day that Immath needs anything, you're the only healer I'd trust, anyway. Good to know that.. you being a healer already, I mean. Very good." Blank staring on a wall with no pictures. Furrowed brows, then a nod. "Three Turns. That's good. Ways off, still." A pause. "Will you go back to Telgar when you graduate?" Now Tav looks to the goldrider, curious. Almost dreading.
"I..." but then, it seems, Roa finally becomes aware of how exceedingly grey and pale Tavaly actually looks, and her brows dip down. "Are you in pain?" she asks, softly enough that those stragglers in the caverns won't hear her. "Weren't you given numbweed to keep with you?"
Tavaly shakes her head slowly. "Tired. Tired of.. lots of things. Sort of miss my brother. He went to be a guard, you know." Blank staring, though there's something lit in the eyes this time, a tightening of the jaw. "Learned how to fight. Learned how to kill. Learned how to stop caring, and if that's what being a guard really is, then I guess he did a good job. Worked out all right in the end." Slowly, as she speaks, her brows dip down into an unpleasant V. "We can't talk anymore, he and I. Gets mad, gets all messed up. Didn't really seem to care that I'd been injured in fall, or that two of my comrades died. And yet this time, it was me protecting him, in my own small way. Was I ever ungrateful?" Eyes close. "Don't much like numbweed. Makes it that much harder to keep sharp. I let 'em clean it, bandage. Nothin' else. Told the poor guy I'd punch him in the head if he did anything else. I need to be nicer to the people that try to make things better. Maybe Jen was right. I am a bad kid."
"Tav..." the goldrider quiets, her head shaking slowly. "You don't really mean all those things about Jensen, do you? What happened? Of *course* he cares that you were hurt. As for numbweed, well, it only deadens pain. I'd think you'd be sharper overall if you weren't focused on how badly your injuries ache."
Tavaly shakes her head slowly. "Had worse. These feel considerably nicer than getting kicked in the shoulder by a runner, that's for certain." There is an instant switch in which the slow movement and dead look become her usual wont, focused eyes, awake, alive. They peer at the goldrider intently. "Well, he did say it's time he stopped worrying over me. I'm a big girl, after all. Time to stop being a little sister. Time to let him worry about his aches and pains and whathave you." A snort. "Told me to leave you alone too, you know."
"Me?" Oh those poor eyebrows, from down to up and back again, they must be weary with exertion. "Why wouldn't he want you talking with *me*?" The puzzlement on Roa's face shifts into a bit of dry humor. "It sounds like the two of you had a fine fight over something. And just because you've had worse..." she only shakes her head again. "well, it doesn't mean you need to be uncomfortable now." Gooooo numbweed!
"Thinks I'll make your life miserable. Since I've apparently done nothing but harass Penny when he's not around. I don't know. You'd have to ask him. If he gives you a reason for his mood lately, I'd appreciate, perhaps, you letting me know what the cause of it is, this time." A pause, a glance at the table. Eyes close. "I'm sorry. That probably came out wrong. Can't really say anything right, these days. Don't blame you at all, want you to know that. Just.. Well, I miss having family nearby."
Roa cants her head to the side. "Harass Penny? Oh. Did, ah, did you speak with her then?" Voice oh so light and easy. "I...well...I'll see what I can do," she murmurs. It's utterly noncommital and the somewhat apologetic expression on her features implies that she knows it, too.
Tavaly shakes her head. "I was going to the baths to clean this out." She indicates her right shoulder. "Wanted to get the bits of shirt and charred stuff off of it 'fore I closed it up in a bandage and took it to the healers.. Happened during firestone practice day before 'Fall. Wanted it bound up so it didn't get rubbed raw during the fall. She just happened to be in the baths already. Kinda hard to avoid talkin' to her while we're both nekkid in the same cavern. She started up. I didn' even say anythin' mean to 'er. Jen prolly thinks I searched 'er out to mess with her or somethin'. Really love how little faith he has in me. Least I tell him the truth of things, when he's of a mind to hear it." As the goldrider speaks in broken words, Tav shakes her head. "Don't bother. I don' care what he does or says about me anymore. If ma asks in her letters, I'll just say he's always busy. Far as I'm concerned, I don't have a brother anymore." Her head hangs, plate stared at. It's always worse when it's said out loud. A hand comes up to her forehead. "What else do you study in Caucus?"
Penny enters from the bowl outside.
Penny has arrived.
Perilan arrives through the long tunnel that comes from the lower caverns.
Perilan has arrived.
Penny's bundled up as she enters from the bowl, but she's immediately stripping off coat and scarf, unwrapping the latter from neck and hair and heading towards the hearths for the water that's usually kept warm there, grabbing up a mug for tea. Once she's found one of her tea bags in her satchel, she plunks it into the water and only then straightens to look around the room. Spying a familiar, dark-haired diminuitive form, she begins to turn her steps towards Roa -- that is, until she sees who the goldrider is with. There's a moment's cool hesitation then, obviously debating whether another public debacle from Tavaly is worth companionship over tea.
Roa sits at a smaller table over several plates of fruit and other nibbly foods. She's leaning forward a little, and the greenrider's head is hung. "That's a bit drastic, don't you think? One good fight and you're ready to write him off as a non-relation? Come on," her voice tips into being slightly cajoling, "it can't be as bad as all that." Her focus all on the greenrider, Roa has yet to notice who else has just entered the cavern.
Perilan busily scrubs down a sticky topped table, using a great deal of physical exertion. As usual, he's positioned himself so he can easily see the comings and goings of most of the cavern and the young lad makes sure to look up regularly. Silent but observant, he makes note of Penny's actions, darting a glance between her teabag, the beverages already set out for the general populace, then back to Penny. With a shrug and a shake of his head, he's back to work.
"You didn't hear the things he said to me. Besides. It'll be easier for him if we have a general dislike of eachother. He's arredy started to not worry about me. Seems to be doin' him just fine, so why not make a good thing all the better? Remove myself entirely from his perfect little existence. He wants it diff'rent, he can come talk to me if he likes. I ain' makin' any more special trips to visit him." She leans back. "Seems drastic, ye. But that's the impression I got of what he wants. So be it. Footsteps. Pale eyes turn to the doorway, brown hair filtering over half of her face. Penny. "Iffin' you want to sit down, you're welcome." She says. The statement completely lacks hostility.
One of Penny's dark brows lifts at Tavaly's statement, no doubt also catching what the girls have been talking about. She says nothing on their conversation, though, saying merely, "Well. Since I have your permission, I may as well." As if she expects it to come as a surprise to Tavaly, she moves to sit next to Roa. Placing her mug on the table, she lifts the teabag by its string a couple times and glances around. Perhaps she had some consciousness of the fact that she was being watched, uneasy gaze sweeping the cavern for a few moments -- but as Perilan is focused once more on his work, Penny merely turns her attention back to the two riders.
Roa looks over as Tavaly speaks. Oh. Penny. The smile offered is almost shy as the third woman sits. "Good morning, Penny," she begins. It seems that her arrival has, perhaps, put on hold the previous topic of conversation because she says, instead, "How are you?" And then, over to Tavaly, "Caucus?" Thank goodness for nice, safe, neutral topics. "Well, a little bit of everything. History of weyrs and holds and halls. Some basic tenants of the craft. Politics. Writing...it's sort of a big bundle of everything."
Perilan rinses off his table and wipes it down with a clean rag before moving on to another table. No surprise, it's closer to the cozy trio and the process begins again as he grunts to himself about sloppy eaters and bibs for adult children. The uneasy glance of Penny's keeps his own glance downward. Scrub scrub scrub. Eavesdrop, eavesdrop eavesdrop. Perhaps too much eavesdropping, as he drops his brush on the floor with a clatter.
Tavaly nods her head, either to Roa or Penny, it's not certain. There is a moment in which it looks like Tav might lash out, after Penny speaks, but her arms fall to her lap from the top of the table, hands clasping genially. Eyes close. "Smells like healer tea, that does. Neiran talk you into drinking it, too?" She asks, one eye opening and skirting to Penny briefly. Hurray, tense situations. Roa's response has her attention, though. "Sounds like they round you out pretty well. Who knows. Might look into furthering my learning, someday. You know. When they allow greenriders into Caucus. Hah." She shakes her head, then catches the clattering. Turning only her head, as to not upset the bandages coating her shoulder, she smiles at the fellow. "Ease up on the klah, mate. Makes you shaky." She offers as solid advice to Perilan.
"Good morning, Roa," Penny replies, her politeness a tad more than necessary. "I'm well, I--" But she stops speaking, starts at the sound of the brush clattering to the floor, eyes shifting toward the worker and then back again. She's awfully jumpy -- and, indeed, hasn't been seen about the living caverns lately much at all. Nervous? She flashes Tavaly a wry look, no otherwise outward sign of a ruffled composure. "I was drinking tea before Neiran even knew what a Healer was. It's citrus tea. From home." She lifts the cup, though doesn't drink, inhaling its aroma almost dreamily with her eyes focused somewhat vacantly on the bits of food on the tabletop. "It's quite soothing. You should try it, perhaps."
Perilan chuckles good-naturedly at the advice as he picks up the soapy brush, redipping it in his bucket. "I'll give that some thought but between the snoring and the whisperin' going on in the male quarters, I'd be walking into walls without it today." Not pressing close enough to disturb the three, he merely nods pleasantly and continues with his work. "My apologies, all." Eyeing Penny's mug, after listening to her carefully, he pauses, then merely replies. "Aye. A nice mug of tea can be soothing. Hot bath helps too."
The goldrider also turns to look at the falling brush and the one who drops it, but then something Tavaly says has her attention and there's a moment where Roa simply studies Tavaly's features quietly. "Indeed," she murmurs, though about what? That's not quite specified. Green riding Caucus students, maybe. Then she quiets to observe the careful banter between smith and sister.
"To be quite honest, I'm all tea'd out. Got enough supply from healer and from home to quench the thirst of.. probably the entire weyr." Perilan's statement is met with a grin. However, as his later statements are left to Penny, she doesn't speak. In fact, during the exchange, she doesn't say much. A moment of complete stillness passes. "I'd best be going. Immath will want a bath and an oiling after yesterday morning, now that I'm able." She rises, taking her plate with her. "Good day to both of you. And you, fella." Tav meanders off.
Penny turns her head back around to regard Perilan as he speaks, even smiling a little at him as if to show that the misstep, the dropping of his brush, has left no annoyance with her. "Aye," she echoes. "I've made use of the baths to that effect." Her eyes flicker across Tavaly rather significantly as she turns back around. Soothing baths, indeed. Lowering her eyes to her cup, she lifts it again in order to take a cautious sip from the furiously steaming liquid before she gives a little sigh of relief, like an alcoholic sipping at a glass of whiskey. Tavaly's announcement that she's leaving earns her a mere second's glance, the smith nodding and saying lightly, "Enjoy the rest of your day, greenrider."
Perilan nods pleasantly as the rider passes, speaking with careful deference. "My regards to your lifemate.." His nod includes her former tablemates as well before he dries off the work surface. Another table done and he's done, carrying the dirty water into the kitchens and after a moment, returning, rolling down his sleeves and heading toward the klah pot.
Roa's hand lifts in a wave. "Take care, all right?" she calls after Tavaly, and then siad hand lowers to the table to pice up a berry and eat it as she turns her attention back to Penny. Perilon is, along the way, offered a little nod now that he and other folks at her table are chatting. "Feels a bit like the homework is piling up faster than it was the last quarter," she says to the smith.
What?" Penny had, apparently, been watching the guard's sister leave through lowered lashes. She starts when Roa addresses her, turning her head to regard her blankly for a few moments. "Oh. Yeah. Doesn't it always?" She's a brilliant conversationalist this morning. The mug is shifted to rest between both of her hands, at chin height for a few moments before she takes another, somewhat longer sip.
Perilan carries his mug over near the women but doesn't assume he's invited to sit. "Work has a way of doing that ... piling up." He glances over at the stack of dishes growing on the side. Penny's nervousness and distraction is definitely noticed but he carefully only looks her way when he figures she's looking in another direction.
Roa mms with a small nod. Yep. Uh huh. Yuppers. As Perilon arrives, this time with a mug instead of a brush, a surriptous glance is slid in Penny's direction before she offers, "I'm Roa, from Telgar Weyr here for Caucus. Would you care to join us?"
Penny glances up with one of those blank looks for Perilan. Oh, yes. The table-washer. The smile returns, and she nods her head towards the chair Tavaly had vacated not so long ago. "Oh, indeed -- how rude of us. Please sit. I'm Penny. Smithcraft." As if her knot didn't give her rather unique status away.
Perilan smiles to both and offers as casual introduction. "Perilan." Settling into a chair and crossing his long legs under the table, he continues. "Well met. 'Reaches born and raised. Roa ..." He committs the name to memory. "Penny. I'm a Reaches lad, bred and raised." Straightening slightly, he can't disguise his pride in the fact.
Roa settles, once again, her chin in her hand as Perilan sits. "Well met, Perilan," she says softly. "Bred and raised here? Well then, what are your thoughts on the latest surprises in the Reaches leadership? It seems, at least since Thread began, that this weyr refuses to keep precisely to the standard." The easy, playful way words are delivered might suggest that she's not trying to be insulting. More, well, bemused. She's Telgari, after all. Not *her* problem.
There's a flicker of amusement in Penny's eyes, her attention more securely focused on the conversation. She glances at Roa, the corner of her mouth that's facing away from Perilan twitching lightly. She looks back at the lad and nods, solemnly. "Good for you. It seems this region tends to breed interesting folk."
Perilan carefully sips from his mug, that first sip always a gamble. Pleasant surprise, not scorched and his next sip is more hardy beore he answers Roa after a moment's thought. "Surprises?" He says with deceptive mildness. "Are there any true surprises since Thread fell? I'm sure that /they/ will get what needs done, done. They always do." His smile is natural and amused as he actually dares a wink at Penny. "Interesting is only the half of it."
A well-settled, relaxed worker is one that is not busy and that won't do. Perilan winces as a high pitched voice calls his name from just inside the kitchens. Still carrying his mug, he barely has time to mouth out a sketchy apology to the girls before his name is shrieked again.
The goldrider seems about to say more but then there goes Perilan and her own eyes, sort of go glassy and vacant for a moment. "I'm sorry Penny. Tialith says...well...I need to go." She's pushing bck from her chair and scooping up her satchel, tome, and coat. "I'll see you later, I hope?" One of those small smiles before Roa turns and heads out into the bowl.
There's another clatter, this time as an overzealous student attempts to walk through a hapless rider on his way to a table of his friends -- the shattering of the plate as it falls causes Penny to tense in alarm, immediately twisting and eyes finding the source. After a moment she turns back around, taking a long, slow breath. "Just as well," she says in reply to Roa as she, too, gets to her feet, "I think I must go to the crafthall -- much quieter there." And more soothing to nerves that have apparently not settled even with Tavaly's departure. "It's been nice meeting you, Perilan," she murmurs as he dashes off, grimacing at the sound of the voice shrieking from the kitchens. And then dark eyes shift toward the Telgari. "Goodbye, Roa." And then she too is gone.
Time: Late morning on Day 11, Month 2, Turn 2
Player: Roa, Tavaly, Penny, Perilan
Scene: Many people converge together, some of whom probably shouldn't.
Living Cavern
Large enough to hold the majority of the Weyr's human population, this cavern can become loud enough to deafen thanks to the acoustics caused by its size. The ceiling is so far overhead that it's cast into shadow, a darkness that is broken only by the spark and glitter of a lucky beam of light striking the minerals found in the rock walls. Below, most of the floor is covered with an assortment of long tables and benches. There are some smaller tables, surrounded by chairs, but privacy appears to be a rare thing in this bustling cavern. Large hearths line the west wall, with fires burning day and night to warm the food and drink that keep the Weyr's inhabitants fueled. The serving tables are near the hearth, opposite the dais that holds the single table reserved for the Weyr leadership and honored guests.
It is 11:11 on day 11, month 2, turn 2 of the 7th Pass.
Early lunch or late breakfast? hard to tell from the fare settled on Roa's plate: a single meatroll, some fruit, and a glass of some sort of cool fruit juice. Seated at a smaller table, the little Telgari is absently lifting bits of fruit and munching them with one hand, the other hand resting on a page of a think tome of reading which she's studying intently. A heavy coat hangs from the back of her chair, ever-present satchel of books and hides by her feet.
Not the first, probably not the last. Threadscored, to a minor degree, Tav meanders into the living cavern long after the breakfast rush has happened. A blanket, previously wrapped about her shoulders for warmth, gets shrugged off and dropped in a chair, revealing a comfortable sleeveless tunic. Poking through it, of course, are bandages. One large one encompassing her right shoulder, and a smaller circling around her left forearm. Dressed as such, the weyrling manages to find a plate and fill it rather spectacularly. "Mind if I sit with you?" A small voice asks. Very subdued.
Roa 's eyes lift and blink slowly at the weyrling before her, taking half a second to shift her thoughts from the book to the other girl. Tome is shut and slid off the table and the Telgari lifts a hand and gestures to a chair nearby. "Is Immath all right?" she asks, noting the bandages. Then, after a moment, "Are you?"
"Immath is fine. Not a mark on her. K'dume and his brown smacked into us and knocked us out of the way by accident before he went between for the last time. I was reaching to prepare a bag-toss and my arm got knocked up. Nothing major. Jacket took most of it." No smiles. She sinks into a chair opposite the Telgari and sighs. "I'm all right. Flying next fall, too, so I hear. That makes four Weyrlings that'll never graduate." Very depressing. "Oh, I'm sorry.. I didn't know you were studying. Y'want some alone time?"
Roa clasps her hands lightly on the table, lowering her hand so she can rest her chin on the little 'lump' those hands create. "Studying can wait," she says simply. "I like the company. Are you...Tavaly...are you sure you're all right?" Because quietly apologizing does not seem the Tavaly Way.
Staring at her plate, the girl takes several long, deep breaths. Picking up a slice of some fruit or the next she munches on it, teeth crunching through it. She speaks over the bit of fruit. That's, at least, true to Tav's form. "Shaken a bit, I guess. How fast everything changes. In an instant.. You're on the ground, whooping and hollering, packing firestone bags onto your dragon and getting ready to aide the main wings, the next moment you're on the ground cryin', less than you were before ya rose up to it. Two more, gone. Darnit, K'dume would've been a great wingleader later in life. And not a one person really cares. No one weeps for the ones they don't know. Not fair."
A slow nod from the Telgari which is a bit funny to see with the way her chin rests on her hands like that. "Things do change in an instant, all the time. Good things too, though, yeh?" Her brows tip upwards. "People do care, though, Tavaly. The other weyrlings, R'vain, all the riders. It's only that many have learned to internalize such things."
And from Tav, also, a slow nod. Her eyes have moved from the plate to stare at a blank stone on the floor. "Those that feel it most keenly. R'vain is so sour." Quiet. As if R'vain's ears are stuck in the wall. "Those that should care, do. Those that have no idea what happens out there.. they're just confused. Completely shut down." Eyes close and her head leans back to rest against the chair. A momentary flinch of discomfort, then relaxation. "What were you readin'?"
Roa hmms? and then she glances down at the large book on the floor by her chair as if she may have forgotten. "Medical tome. General maladies and such. I've been spending so much time in the infirmary I started to wonder if I shouldn't do a bit more reading about those in the smaller beds." A slight smile.
Tavaly allows the twitch of a smile to show briefly. "Might make a good dragonhealer, you know. That would be good." She says softly. "With Tialith's help to sooth, I think you could do it nicely. You're gentle, kind, and no idjit when it comes to pain, yourself." A smirk, eyes open, still drained and pale. Even she looks a little gray, today. Another bite of fruit. Chomp. Om nom nom. Then a furrow of her brows. "When do you graduate from Caucus?"
Rather gently, Roa says, "I am, actually, Tavaly. I mean, well, Tialith and I have been studying dragonhealing since before we came to Caucus, and we've continued to do so here. But, thank you, it's good to know you think I'm up for the job." Her head is lifted, one hand untangled from the other to snag a small square of melon which she chews thoughtfully and swallows. "I'll graduate in a little over three turns now."
"..oh. That's good, then." A small smile, there. "If ever there comes a day that Immath needs anything, you're the only healer I'd trust, anyway. Good to know that.. you being a healer already, I mean. Very good." Blank staring on a wall with no pictures. Furrowed brows, then a nod. "Three Turns. That's good. Ways off, still." A pause. "Will you go back to Telgar when you graduate?" Now Tav looks to the goldrider, curious. Almost dreading.
"I..." but then, it seems, Roa finally becomes aware of how exceedingly grey and pale Tavaly actually looks, and her brows dip down. "Are you in pain?" she asks, softly enough that those stragglers in the caverns won't hear her. "Weren't you given numbweed to keep with you?"
Tavaly shakes her head slowly. "Tired. Tired of.. lots of things. Sort of miss my brother. He went to be a guard, you know." Blank staring, though there's something lit in the eyes this time, a tightening of the jaw. "Learned how to fight. Learned how to kill. Learned how to stop caring, and if that's what being a guard really is, then I guess he did a good job. Worked out all right in the end." Slowly, as she speaks, her brows dip down into an unpleasant V. "We can't talk anymore, he and I. Gets mad, gets all messed up. Didn't really seem to care that I'd been injured in fall, or that two of my comrades died. And yet this time, it was me protecting him, in my own small way. Was I ever ungrateful?" Eyes close. "Don't much like numbweed. Makes it that much harder to keep sharp. I let 'em clean it, bandage. Nothin' else. Told the poor guy I'd punch him in the head if he did anything else. I need to be nicer to the people that try to make things better. Maybe Jen was right. I am a bad kid."
"Tav..." the goldrider quiets, her head shaking slowly. "You don't really mean all those things about Jensen, do you? What happened? Of *course* he cares that you were hurt. As for numbweed, well, it only deadens pain. I'd think you'd be sharper overall if you weren't focused on how badly your injuries ache."
Tavaly shakes her head slowly. "Had worse. These feel considerably nicer than getting kicked in the shoulder by a runner, that's for certain." There is an instant switch in which the slow movement and dead look become her usual wont, focused eyes, awake, alive. They peer at the goldrider intently. "Well, he did say it's time he stopped worrying over me. I'm a big girl, after all. Time to stop being a little sister. Time to let him worry about his aches and pains and whathave you." A snort. "Told me to leave you alone too, you know."
"Me?" Oh those poor eyebrows, from down to up and back again, they must be weary with exertion. "Why wouldn't he want you talking with *me*?" The puzzlement on Roa's face shifts into a bit of dry humor. "It sounds like the two of you had a fine fight over something. And just because you've had worse..." she only shakes her head again. "well, it doesn't mean you need to be uncomfortable now." Gooooo numbweed!
"Thinks I'll make your life miserable. Since I've apparently done nothing but harass Penny when he's not around. I don't know. You'd have to ask him. If he gives you a reason for his mood lately, I'd appreciate, perhaps, you letting me know what the cause of it is, this time." A pause, a glance at the table. Eyes close. "I'm sorry. That probably came out wrong. Can't really say anything right, these days. Don't blame you at all, want you to know that. Just.. Well, I miss having family nearby."
Roa cants her head to the side. "Harass Penny? Oh. Did, ah, did you speak with her then?" Voice oh so light and easy. "I...well...I'll see what I can do," she murmurs. It's utterly noncommital and the somewhat apologetic expression on her features implies that she knows it, too.
Tavaly shakes her head. "I was going to the baths to clean this out." She indicates her right shoulder. "Wanted to get the bits of shirt and charred stuff off of it 'fore I closed it up in a bandage and took it to the healers.. Happened during firestone practice day before 'Fall. Wanted it bound up so it didn't get rubbed raw during the fall. She just happened to be in the baths already. Kinda hard to avoid talkin' to her while we're both nekkid in the same cavern. She started up. I didn' even say anythin' mean to 'er. Jen prolly thinks I searched 'er out to mess with her or somethin'. Really love how little faith he has in me. Least I tell him the truth of things, when he's of a mind to hear it." As the goldrider speaks in broken words, Tav shakes her head. "Don't bother. I don' care what he does or says about me anymore. If ma asks in her letters, I'll just say he's always busy. Far as I'm concerned, I don't have a brother anymore." Her head hangs, plate stared at. It's always worse when it's said out loud. A hand comes up to her forehead. "What else do you study in Caucus?"
Penny enters from the bowl outside.
Penny has arrived.
Perilan arrives through the long tunnel that comes from the lower caverns.
Perilan has arrived.
Penny's bundled up as she enters from the bowl, but she's immediately stripping off coat and scarf, unwrapping the latter from neck and hair and heading towards the hearths for the water that's usually kept warm there, grabbing up a mug for tea. Once she's found one of her tea bags in her satchel, she plunks it into the water and only then straightens to look around the room. Spying a familiar, dark-haired diminuitive form, she begins to turn her steps towards Roa -- that is, until she sees who the goldrider is with. There's a moment's cool hesitation then, obviously debating whether another public debacle from Tavaly is worth companionship over tea.
Roa sits at a smaller table over several plates of fruit and other nibbly foods. She's leaning forward a little, and the greenrider's head is hung. "That's a bit drastic, don't you think? One good fight and you're ready to write him off as a non-relation? Come on," her voice tips into being slightly cajoling, "it can't be as bad as all that." Her focus all on the greenrider, Roa has yet to notice who else has just entered the cavern.
Perilan busily scrubs down a sticky topped table, using a great deal of physical exertion. As usual, he's positioned himself so he can easily see the comings and goings of most of the cavern and the young lad makes sure to look up regularly. Silent but observant, he makes note of Penny's actions, darting a glance between her teabag, the beverages already set out for the general populace, then back to Penny. With a shrug and a shake of his head, he's back to work.
"You didn't hear the things he said to me. Besides. It'll be easier for him if we have a general dislike of eachother. He's arredy started to not worry about me. Seems to be doin' him just fine, so why not make a good thing all the better? Remove myself entirely from his perfect little existence. He wants it diff'rent, he can come talk to me if he likes. I ain' makin' any more special trips to visit him." She leans back. "Seems drastic, ye. But that's the impression I got of what he wants. So be it. Footsteps. Pale eyes turn to the doorway, brown hair filtering over half of her face. Penny. "Iffin' you want to sit down, you're welcome." She says. The statement completely lacks hostility.
One of Penny's dark brows lifts at Tavaly's statement, no doubt also catching what the girls have been talking about. She says nothing on their conversation, though, saying merely, "Well. Since I have your permission, I may as well." As if she expects it to come as a surprise to Tavaly, she moves to sit next to Roa. Placing her mug on the table, she lifts the teabag by its string a couple times and glances around. Perhaps she had some consciousness of the fact that she was being watched, uneasy gaze sweeping the cavern for a few moments -- but as Perilan is focused once more on his work, Penny merely turns her attention back to the two riders.
Roa looks over as Tavaly speaks. Oh. Penny. The smile offered is almost shy as the third woman sits. "Good morning, Penny," she begins. It seems that her arrival has, perhaps, put on hold the previous topic of conversation because she says, instead, "How are you?" And then, over to Tavaly, "Caucus?" Thank goodness for nice, safe, neutral topics. "Well, a little bit of everything. History of weyrs and holds and halls. Some basic tenants of the craft. Politics. Writing...it's sort of a big bundle of everything."
Perilan rinses off his table and wipes it down with a clean rag before moving on to another table. No surprise, it's closer to the cozy trio and the process begins again as he grunts to himself about sloppy eaters and bibs for adult children. The uneasy glance of Penny's keeps his own glance downward. Scrub scrub scrub. Eavesdrop, eavesdrop eavesdrop. Perhaps too much eavesdropping, as he drops his brush on the floor with a clatter.
Tavaly nods her head, either to Roa or Penny, it's not certain. There is a moment in which it looks like Tav might lash out, after Penny speaks, but her arms fall to her lap from the top of the table, hands clasping genially. Eyes close. "Smells like healer tea, that does. Neiran talk you into drinking it, too?" She asks, one eye opening and skirting to Penny briefly. Hurray, tense situations. Roa's response has her attention, though. "Sounds like they round you out pretty well. Who knows. Might look into furthering my learning, someday. You know. When they allow greenriders into Caucus. Hah." She shakes her head, then catches the clattering. Turning only her head, as to not upset the bandages coating her shoulder, she smiles at the fellow. "Ease up on the klah, mate. Makes you shaky." She offers as solid advice to Perilan.
"Good morning, Roa," Penny replies, her politeness a tad more than necessary. "I'm well, I--" But she stops speaking, starts at the sound of the brush clattering to the floor, eyes shifting toward the worker and then back again. She's awfully jumpy -- and, indeed, hasn't been seen about the living caverns lately much at all. Nervous? She flashes Tavaly a wry look, no otherwise outward sign of a ruffled composure. "I was drinking tea before Neiran even knew what a Healer was. It's citrus tea. From home." She lifts the cup, though doesn't drink, inhaling its aroma almost dreamily with her eyes focused somewhat vacantly on the bits of food on the tabletop. "It's quite soothing. You should try it, perhaps."
Perilan chuckles good-naturedly at the advice as he picks up the soapy brush, redipping it in his bucket. "I'll give that some thought but between the snoring and the whisperin' going on in the male quarters, I'd be walking into walls without it today." Not pressing close enough to disturb the three, he merely nods pleasantly and continues with his work. "My apologies, all." Eyeing Penny's mug, after listening to her carefully, he pauses, then merely replies. "Aye. A nice mug of tea can be soothing. Hot bath helps too."
The goldrider also turns to look at the falling brush and the one who drops it, but then something Tavaly says has her attention and there's a moment where Roa simply studies Tavaly's features quietly. "Indeed," she murmurs, though about what? That's not quite specified. Green riding Caucus students, maybe. Then she quiets to observe the careful banter between smith and sister.
"To be quite honest, I'm all tea'd out. Got enough supply from healer and from home to quench the thirst of.. probably the entire weyr." Perilan's statement is met with a grin. However, as his later statements are left to Penny, she doesn't speak. In fact, during the exchange, she doesn't say much. A moment of complete stillness passes. "I'd best be going. Immath will want a bath and an oiling after yesterday morning, now that I'm able." She rises, taking her plate with her. "Good day to both of you. And you, fella." Tav meanders off.
Penny turns her head back around to regard Perilan as he speaks, even smiling a little at him as if to show that the misstep, the dropping of his brush, has left no annoyance with her. "Aye," she echoes. "I've made use of the baths to that effect." Her eyes flicker across Tavaly rather significantly as she turns back around. Soothing baths, indeed. Lowering her eyes to her cup, she lifts it again in order to take a cautious sip from the furiously steaming liquid before she gives a little sigh of relief, like an alcoholic sipping at a glass of whiskey. Tavaly's announcement that she's leaving earns her a mere second's glance, the smith nodding and saying lightly, "Enjoy the rest of your day, greenrider."
Perilan nods pleasantly as the rider passes, speaking with careful deference. "My regards to your lifemate.." His nod includes her former tablemates as well before he dries off the work surface. Another table done and he's done, carrying the dirty water into the kitchens and after a moment, returning, rolling down his sleeves and heading toward the klah pot.
Roa's hand lifts in a wave. "Take care, all right?" she calls after Tavaly, and then siad hand lowers to the table to pice up a berry and eat it as she turns her attention back to Penny. Perilon is, along the way, offered a little nod now that he and other folks at her table are chatting. "Feels a bit like the homework is piling up faster than it was the last quarter," she says to the smith.
What?" Penny had, apparently, been watching the guard's sister leave through lowered lashes. She starts when Roa addresses her, turning her head to regard her blankly for a few moments. "Oh. Yeah. Doesn't it always?" She's a brilliant conversationalist this morning. The mug is shifted to rest between both of her hands, at chin height for a few moments before she takes another, somewhat longer sip.
Perilan carries his mug over near the women but doesn't assume he's invited to sit. "Work has a way of doing that ... piling up." He glances over at the stack of dishes growing on the side. Penny's nervousness and distraction is definitely noticed but he carefully only looks her way when he figures she's looking in another direction.
Roa mms with a small nod. Yep. Uh huh. Yuppers. As Perilon arrives, this time with a mug instead of a brush, a surriptous glance is slid in Penny's direction before she offers, "I'm Roa, from Telgar Weyr here for Caucus. Would you care to join us?"
Penny glances up with one of those blank looks for Perilan. Oh, yes. The table-washer. The smile returns, and she nods her head towards the chair Tavaly had vacated not so long ago. "Oh, indeed -- how rude of us. Please sit. I'm Penny. Smithcraft." As if her knot didn't give her rather unique status away.
Perilan smiles to both and offers as casual introduction. "Perilan." Settling into a chair and crossing his long legs under the table, he continues. "Well met. 'Reaches born and raised. Roa ..." He committs the name to memory. "Penny. I'm a Reaches lad, bred and raised." Straightening slightly, he can't disguise his pride in the fact.
Roa settles, once again, her chin in her hand as Perilan sits. "Well met, Perilan," she says softly. "Bred and raised here? Well then, what are your thoughts on the latest surprises in the Reaches leadership? It seems, at least since Thread began, that this weyr refuses to keep precisely to the standard." The easy, playful way words are delivered might suggest that she's not trying to be insulting. More, well, bemused. She's Telgari, after all. Not *her* problem.
There's a flicker of amusement in Penny's eyes, her attention more securely focused on the conversation. She glances at Roa, the corner of her mouth that's facing away from Perilan twitching lightly. She looks back at the lad and nods, solemnly. "Good for you. It seems this region tends to breed interesting folk."
Perilan carefully sips from his mug, that first sip always a gamble. Pleasant surprise, not scorched and his next sip is more hardy beore he answers Roa after a moment's thought. "Surprises?" He says with deceptive mildness. "Are there any true surprises since Thread fell? I'm sure that /they/ will get what needs done, done. They always do." His smile is natural and amused as he actually dares a wink at Penny. "Interesting is only the half of it."
A well-settled, relaxed worker is one that is not busy and that won't do. Perilan winces as a high pitched voice calls his name from just inside the kitchens. Still carrying his mug, he barely has time to mouth out a sketchy apology to the girls before his name is shrieked again.
The goldrider seems about to say more but then there goes Perilan and her own eyes, sort of go glassy and vacant for a moment. "I'm sorry Penny. Tialith says...well...I need to go." She's pushing bck from her chair and scooping up her satchel, tome, and coat. "I'll see you later, I hope?" One of those small smiles before Roa turns and heads out into the bowl.
There's another clatter, this time as an overzealous student attempts to walk through a hapless rider on his way to a table of his friends -- the shattering of the plate as it falls causes Penny to tense in alarm, immediately twisting and eyes finding the source. After a moment she turns back around, taking a long, slow breath. "Just as well," she says in reply to Roa as she, too, gets to her feet, "I think I must go to the crafthall -- much quieter there." And more soothing to nerves that have apparently not settled even with Tavaly's departure. "It's been nice meeting you, Perilan," she murmurs as he dashes off, grimacing at the sound of the voice shrieking from the kitchens. And then dark eyes shift toward the Telgari. "Goodbye, Roa." And then she too is gone.