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 Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:51 am
Great, just wonderful. Let's let the Healer apprentice get her hands hurt while working, after the Candidate master had just warned everyone to be careful with the knives.
Yulu looked down at the blood that trickled slightly from the base of her index and middle fingers, a fine gash sprouting against the lowest knuckle. Most of the blood was being quickly absorbed by the wraps she wore on the digits anyway, but it wasn't nearly enough. While the cut was nothing small the Candidatemaster had insisted she go and see a Healer to get it taken care of, which to Yulu basically meant she had a free pass. Something like this was way too tiny for attention, but obviously large enough for no more work.
Nice.
Instead of going to the Healer's like she should have, Yulu opted to go out towards the feeding pens. It was a safe place to be, she could mill around like she actually had tasks there and not be questioned by people about what she was doing. So it was with a happy hum that she got herself outdoors and away from the peeling of food for dinner, clearly glad to be free. She didn't expect to see anyone around so she wiped the blood on her pants after letting it pool a bit, showing off that indeed her cut was rather tiny. It would heal without any oils or salves, but if she kept it irritated then perhaps . . .
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:42 am
Tofir had more free time than most people. He hadn't realized until he actually came to Telgar that people would be less inclined to seek him out for mindhealing purposes while his designation was senior apprentice. So he didn't really do too much mindhealing, though he was always willing to lend a sympathetic ear and help as he could. He had to work in the infirmary, of course, but barring emergencies that work was scheduled. The rest of his time was more or less his own. Lately he'd been spending it around the feeding pens in hopes of "accidentally" running into any of the three newest weyrlings. He wanted to talk to them about their Impression, and their dragons, too, if they would permit. So far he had met with disappointment on that front.
As he perched on the fence that formed part of the herdbeast corral, Tofir noticed a young man walking out of the Weyr in his general direction. His initial hope that it would prove to be A'li or Y'kar was dashed when no dragonet followed immediately, but that was all right. For his research, he needed to speak to people who hadn't Impressed, too. In his satchel he had a slate that he could mark down the candidate's responses to his questions, if he would agree to answer them. Later he would transfer them to a more lasting medium and assign this candidate a case number. But he was getting ahead of himself.
"Hello!" he called, raising one hand in salutation.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:26 am
Yulu was busy chewing on the blood around her cut to notice someone waving at her, but it was his voice that drove her attention away from the annoying little slice. Perhaps she would need to see the Master Healer that resided at the Weyr, for an anti-septic at least. Her face moved from one of concentration to a more neutral expression as her feet finally carried her over to this figure who called to her, and doing her best to be polite, she responded when close enough to be heard properly.
"Greetings. How are you doing?"
Yulu wasn't the type to refuse a greeting, it was common courtesy and manners after all, not to mention this person seemed like he wanted something from her. He also appeared quite familiar to her eyes, but where had she seen him before? Certainly not from being around Telgar for so long. But where else could he have been from?
Maybe she was just confusing things, as she sometimes was wont to do, but it was a nagging feeling.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:43 pm
Tofir's brow furrowed as the person he'd greeted drew closer. Two things occurred to him at once. First, he hadn't greeted a young man, but a young woman who comported herself like a male. Second, he knew the girl. Or, he recognized her, at any rate. It was times like this when his perfect memory failed him. If he had seen her name in print beside her portrait or a description of her, he would have no difficult recalling her. Unfortunately, simply meeting her, or even interacting briefly with her would have no such effect on his mind. It was why he liked to write down everything.
"I'm well," he answered, remaining on his perch. It was comfortable. "And please forgive me, but I cannot remember where I've seen you for the life of me, though I'm sure we've met."
He laughed at himself. When he wasn't functioning in a professional capacity, he was a genial fellow. At least until he encountered examples of idiocy. And then he became sharp-tongued. But so far he'd encountered no examples of idiocy, though his eyes did come briefly to rest on the bandage and blood on the young woman's hand, which actually reminded him once more that he knew her. Perhaps she'd come to him for mending of some sort earlier? For whatever reason he was coming to associate her with healercraft.
"Any road, I'm Tofir. Senior apprentice mindhealer." He didn't offer his hand to shake. He simply didn't do that. Hands were incredibly dirty things, and hers were bloody. Well, one of them was at any rate, and he would hate for her to pick up some sort of dirt from him that would cause an infection. His concern for contamination worked both ways.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:33 pm
"It's funny, but I've been thinking about that as well . . . .though now that you say Mindhealer, perhaps we've met at Healer Hall? I am a Senior Apprentice for Dragonhealing, though until I find a better Master my focus has been on Trauma. The name's Yulu."
Yulu didn't extend her hand outwards, instead she simply balled her fists. For the most part the bleeding had stopped thanks to her spitting on it, but she wasn't taking any chances. This other person would know just as much about keeping clean as she did in any case.
"So a Mindhealer, hmm? What brings you outside today, other than perhaps shirking on chores?"
Yulu actually hadn't met many of those before, not a lot of people took interest in healing anything other than the bodies of people. Yulu herself didn't care about the emotions attached to the sacks of skin she would treat, though her reasons were a bit complicated. It was hard to feel empathy for others when she didn't even feel it for herself, though her concern towards dragons seemed real enough to get her by.
Asking him what he was doing also could prove to be a double-edged sword, as he may very well ask the same of her. there was no doubt in Yulu's mind if he got a hold of her hand he'd find the wound too shallow for her to be dismissed from work over, but would a Mindhealer do that? No, they didn't focus on the bodies. She had to keep reminding herself of that.
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Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 1:57 pm
Yulu. He couldn't quite place the name, though Healer Hall wasn't a small place, so that was hardly a surprise. Though she seemed to be close to his age, which meant they ought to have had some of their basic classes together before their paths diverged. Maybe. He could usually place a person's age within two turns or so, but that was still a four-turn window. He would be willing to wager that she was younger than he, so it was possible they wouldn't have been in any lectures together after all. Mentally he shrugged. Like a wound, poking and prodding at the dim memories would only make things more difficult.
"Maybe that's where we met," Tofir agreed. Then in a flash of intuition and a dramatically out-flung hand he guessed, "You helped in the infirmary after the last hatching. The one with four eggs."
Tofir looked around him and gestured with palms upturned, as if that should be answer enough to Yulu's question. The day was pleasant and he didn't have any work to do. Why would any sane person be inside? He'd already lost most of the deep tan he'd acquired at Healer Hall in the turn and a half he'd been at Telgar because it was simply too cold to go outside for recreation in winter.
"I've done my work for the time being. Now I am free to indulge myself for a few hours. In a while, I'll retreat to my closet of an office and see if anyone has any need of my training as a mindhealer."
He glanced once more at her fisted hands, the wounded one in particular. It wasn't any of his business, and if she was healer trained, she knew what he did about caring for cuts. He did wonder, though, that she didn't have anything else to do. If he recalled correctly, she was a candidate. Which made her remark about shirking chores far easier to put in context. She'd probably seen him on the sands at the last hatching and thought he was another candidate, though he had actually been serving as a healer-on-hand. Good thing, too.
"I assume you've been dismissed from your chores because of your grievous injury?" he joked.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:01 am
"Ah, yes I did. It'd a shame how torn up some of those kids were, not to mention we lost two of them on the sands."
It had been her first standing, now something she probably wouldn't forget. There had been so much blood, so much rage, and then afterward all the people wagging their tongues in disapproval over how one egg hadn't even hatched, the other three turning out to be 'useless' Greens. Yulu had met one of them already, these so called Failures, but she was still rather on the fence about how she felt over them. A dragon was a dragon, end of story, unless of course the Dragon was hers. But never mind all of this now, she needed to focus on the person speaking to her instead of her own backpedaling thoughts.
"You make it sound like Mindhealers aren't a rare breed. I've got to confess this is the first time I've really bumped into one, or at least one that actually carried himself seriously. I'm pretty sure along the course of my studies at the hall I've met a few less than desirable people."
They always wanted to get into her head and ask her questions about her Father and her childhood. Yes, like that was really going to help her let go of her bitterness and rage that bubbled up now and then. Pfft.
"As for my hand, I guess so. The Candidatemaster wouldn't listen to me about the actual size of the wound, which is small and would require a little bit of salve at best. I was fortunate to make it fairly small, but in its own defense its rather deep. It's not like its a raking from a claw or anything, just a rouge cut from a knife in the kitchens."
Yulu lifted her palm up and opened her hand, showing off a tiny wound that would have been unnoticeable if not for the blood that clotted about its opening. She'd done a good job of getting what she good off with her makeshift cleaning, leaving behind a wound that was turning pink from attempted healing. The wraps on her fingers would have to be thrown away after all of this, their fabric stained the crimson shade of red that wouldn't come out with any amount of washing.
"Part of me wanted to tell him that I would be fine, I know my own limits...but who could pass up getting a free let go from work? I don't suppose I'll have anything else to do for the rest of the day, which suits a guy like me just fine."
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:57 am
Tofir remembered just in time that shrugging would be an inappropriate response to someone discussing people injured and killed on the hatching sands. But it wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence. At least, that's how Tofir looked at it. The two dead candidates had been sad, of course, but he'd not been well-acquainted with either of them, and he couldn't help thinking that standing in front of an angry young dragon was rather asking to be damaged. All dragons are equipped to be dangerous, and newly-hatched dragonets simply don't know any better.
"Yes," he agreed, deciding just to keep his reply short. "Your help afterward was invaluable. Triage is much easier when there're more competent people to share the work."
He smiled easily. "Well, we're not a rare breed, really. But we're still an under-utilized branch of healercraft, and so no one thinks about us much. After the last hatching I had more to do than I'd had in nearly the entire turn before it."
Tofir wasn't sure what to make of her remark about meeting less than desirable people at the hall. Was she implying that he was one such person, or that mindhealers as a whole were undesirable, or was it something else completely? And what was that about carrying himself seriously? He decided to ignore all of that, since he couldn't make any sense out of it or figure out how he was expected to reply to it.
"I'm glad to hear you're not mortally wounded and that you may someday regain the use of your hand," Tofir said as he cast his gaze on Yulu's injury, having been given the chance to examine it somewhat. "They don't let cripples stand, after all, and it would be a real shame if you lost your chance at a dragon over something like that."
"I completely understand your decision, and if you want you're welcome to say that I told you to take the rest of the day off." His place in the Weyr hierarchy was a confusing one to most people, and so very few people argued with any pronouncements he made in his capacity as a healer.
It was a little odd to hear a girl refer to herself as a guy, but he wasn't going to make an issue of it. He didn't know where she was from before healer hall, and it could be the remnants of whatever dialect she'd grown up speaking. The only indicator he gave that it took him aback at all was that one eyebrow twitched slightly upward.
"What did you plan to do with the rest of your day?" he asked.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:00 am
"I don't know if I was that helpful, but I was glad that my study of trauma could be put to use. Not exactly a feeling I should relish though, since no one ever wants to be put into a situation like that. The smell of blood is something I'm used to thankfully."
When she was growing up Yulu had hated blood so much, the smell so acrid and how often her food would taste like the bitter iron for days afterward. She'd gotten over it rather quickly, Father not allowing any sort of weakness, causing her now to look at the red substance as nothing more than something that could washed away.
"I seriously doubt I'd become cripple from this. Cuts can be treated and broken flesh can be ripped away, even when its diseased and people think its too late. I'd like to think dragons also aren't as picky about the wounded as we'd like to believe, seeing as people who have been mauled are still allowed to Stand until the Turn they get too old."
Oh yes, she'd taken slight offense at the word cripple. Just slight. and only because he seemed a little too sure of himself. Whatever, she'd move on.
"As for my day? First I'm going to go clean my hand, and then I'll probably spend it in my room. I'd rather not get caught and be put back to work, but knowing my own personality I'd feel too idle after a while and venture out to see if anyone needs a hand with anything. I'm the type of guy who can't sit around for too long and do nothing, my hands always have to be full - injured or not."
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:32 am
Tofir, for one, didn't much enjoy being in situations like that. On one hand, he definitely enjoyed the feeling of being able to help people, but he disliked the way most everyone else simply got in the way of those who were trained to deal with situations like the one at the hatching. He'd come very close to slugging a brownrider who was shouting at him to do something. Obviously he was going to do something, but it wouldn't get done any more efficiently with people shouting at him. It was only later that he'd learned the brownrider was friends with one of the wounded candidates, and Tofir mentally excused him somewhat.
"I imagine by now most candidates are used to the smell of blood, though your background probably had more to do with it than any work you've been assigned in the kitchens," Tofir remarked. He doubted Telgar, with its long view of self-reliant females, would put a girl to work slaughtering beasts, even if she didn't present herself as particularly feminine. He wondered if she was given much grief over her mannerisms.
"And I was joking."
He tried and failed to stop himself going into people-analyzing mode. His mind began to postulate why she would take such quick offense at his joke. Had a family member been crippled somehow? Had she, herself, been badly injured and out of commission for a while? Maybe it wasn't her past at all, but a glimpse of how unpleasant the future could be as a cripple, but then she wouldn't really have too vivid an idea of what that was without some sort of past experience. With an effort he pulled himself away from his analysis and managed not to ask about her reaction.
"I didn't mean to upset you. Obviously I don't go around as a mindhealer all the time." Okay, so his humor had fallen flat last time. Didn't mean he was necessarily at fault. "If I haven't managed to put my foot in it too deeply, would you be interested in helping me organize my files? You'd be surprised how many people around here can't alphabetize."
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:32 am
"Upset me? No, you didn't."
Yulu raised an eyebrow. Interesting.
"Why? Did it seem like you had? I thought we were merely making conversation."
She often thought herself the type of person who couldn't be offended by the words and actions of others, because gaining offense at something meant you would be giving in or taking it too personally. Both actions were rather girlish and need not ever occur in her habits.
"But anyway, moving along. If you don't mind my help then sure, you've got it. Like I said I don't like being idle and would rather not get caught by someone and sent back to work in the Kitchens. A place like that isn't for a guy like me, it's for women and children."
Yulu nodded to herself, as if trying to reassure her mind and soul that skipping out really was okay and that if she helped out this Tofir then when asked she wouldn't have to lie about her actions. Filing sounded easy enough that she wouldn't need to stress over it, but Yulu still did need to get her hand cleaned. Most of the bleeding had stopped and was quickly drying in the open air, leaving behind little black flakes.
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Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:08 am
Sure he hadn't upset her. Tofir was trained to notice things like when people reacted negatively to unusual stimuli. Yulu's reaction had not been within the parameters of the norm. He didn't mention any of this because it was one of the assumptions people made when he said he was a mindhealer. That, and they assumed he was able to read their minds like a dragon. If only. There were limits to what he could do to help a person if they wouldn't be truthful with him, or if they didn't give him the right clues, no matter how hard he might try. The ability to read minds, would be useful in that though it wouldn't present him with ready-made answers. The thought pleased him.
"Of course," Tofir said.
As far as he was concerned, there wasn't much more that needed said on the topic. He had clearly ruffled some feathers, and until she was willing to admit that, there was nothing he could do about it except to offer an apology for her to accept or not as she chose. He had no intention of trying to fix whatever was wrong with her (because everyone has something wrong with them) out here with the beasts. He wasn't in the habit of tracking down ordinary patients. Just those who were helpful to his own pet project. Yulu could be, but he figured he could just interview her offhandedly while they worked, rather than conduct a full-scale interrogation.
"Let's go, then," Tofir said, hopping down from his perch at last. "I don't much care for work in the kitchens, either. I prefer the preparation of my food to remain a mystery."
Which translated loosely to, I don't want to know how careless people are about hygiene while making my meals or cleaning the dishes I have to eat from. Tofir preferred to pretend that his meals were made in a pristine environment and that his tableware was all scrubbed assiduously in scalding water. If he had been unable to keep up that charade, he would have been forced to prepare all his own meals and wash his own dishes. It was preferable to pretend.
As he walked, Tofir turned to Yulu and asked, "So how'd you end up here? Healer Hall doesn't fall under Telgar's protection."
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 10:08 am
She easily took stride and kept up at Tofir's pace, her legs long despite her being so short in stature, and Yulu only shrugged her shoulders as a question came up.
"Search came, and it came far for some reason. I'm not really sure why I was even brought here, but that search rider insisted I come with him because I was 'just right' for a dragon. If I'd have stayed back at the hall I could be a Journeywoman now, or something even closer to it."
There wasn't a sound of regret in Yulu's voice as she spoke about giving up her craft for the time being, as she knew if she failed here on the sands there was always the chance of going back and picking up her craft. Forgetting what she knew wouldn't be a problem at all seeing as it was almost ingrained into her mind, and Yulu knew that people were never to old to take in their crafts. She would grow too old to Stand at Impression long before she aged over her usefulness at the Healer Hall.
"But you know, becoming a Dragonrider sounded more interesting than just sitting around healing people all day, no offense to you. I mean, I was born to be a Healer as far as I can tell, always having to help my Father out with different people and dragons. He was a Journeyman in his own right and insisted I follow in his footsteps, even going so far as to drag me place to place just to assist him. I learned well and prospered, but even then it's in the nature of everyone to want to try something cool. There are just some things little boys never grow out of, you know what I mean?"
Yulu grinned, wondering if Tofir really did understand. A lot of others she had talked to seemed to very well, everyone always getting rowdy at the mention of dragons. Stories about their flight over ( if they were from Hold or Craft ) were always shared, and the Weyrbrats would tell their adventures too. Yulu had found her flight over uneventful, the rider who brought her not that chatty and his dragon not that interesting.
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Posted: Wed Dec 09, 2009 9:49 am
Tofir was about to remark that she didn't seem too torn up to have been taken away from her apprenticeship when she was apparently so close to achieving journeyman status when she continued, explaining her reasoning. He could understand her decision. After all, she wouldn't lose much of her training by spending a few turns on the sands. She might forget some details, but those could be refreshed.
"I'm hardly offended. I'm on the sands at hatchings, too, after all, though not really in anticipation of Impressing. I would be highly surprised if I did Impress, actually. It would be...disruptive to my work." That was putting it mildly. And somewhat blasphemously. Dragons weren't supposed to be considered a disruption to one's work. They were supposed to be a calling to a new life and all that.
"It'd be a really cool disruption, though, I have to agree." Tofir wasn't so old that he didn't still get a smile out of the thought of sitting astride his own dragon. Logically, he knew he'd probably be more useful to everyone on the ground, serving as a healer for any dragons or riders that got injured or mentally traumatized. "What color would you hope to get?"
Without meaning to, he was asking his questions that he asked candidates pre-Impression. His mind would probably hold on to her answers long enough for him to transcribe them at least generally. It wasn't ideal, but casual conversation was easier for most people than official interviews. They tended to be uncomfortable in the latter atmosphere, no matter what Tofir did to put them at ease. Further proof that mindhealers really needed to work to make themselves more accessible.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Dec 10, 2009 8:02 am
"Color? I'm not really into the colors. The only thing that makes each dragon different is their size and the tint of their hide, so if we were to strip them all down to muscle no one could really tell the difference. A Dragon is a Dragon, and people need to remember that."
Yulu had said something like this before, to a certain candidate she'd found rather whiny and in need of someone clocking him in the mouth or something. At the time she'd done her best to be somewhat friend, but now as she thought back she was pretty sure her opinion on the lad and his dragon wavered to 'uninterested'. Assholes just didn't make Yulu want to try at anything with them past initial greetings.
"But that's not to say I can't and don't dream of hitting it big. A Brown seems nice, not to big and not too little. Blues and Greens are fine as well, but a Metallic is beyond me. I'd be sharded if I ever got close to a Gold, wouldn't know what to do, and I can't get a Bronze even if I were to pray for it."
It was funny. Yulu had often thought about having a dragon, everyone did, but she had never pictured the color. It was always so vague in her mind, nothing specific at all to make the fantasy solid, and she found that in all honesty she didn't know what color she wanted. She figured her answer was good enough for now, so. . .
"What would you do though, if you did Impress?"
Now it was Yulu's turn to ask questions.
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