Xanadu Weyr - Infirmary
The infirmary here is intended for human care. It is spotless and smells of disinfectant, cots are lined up against one wall, a curtain can be pulled to give some privacy to the occupants of the cots if they so desire. A cabinet stands off against another wall, instruments and medications stored against when they will be needed. A couple of curtained off beds are used for examinations of patients and the treatment of minor injuries which won't require long term care. A desk with chair is just off of the doorway for the healer to sit and catch up on record keeping after a long days work.
A drowsy weekend evening has found Tenebrous and Phylicia ghosting their way through the boughs and branches of the deep woods, their running packs on their backs and their hoods low against the dappled, setting sunlight. The Infirmary is their destination, and Tenebrous marches in without hesitation, making for the On Duty's desk and simply laying a bit of paper down on it. It's a note from the Healers' Hall that a pair of their healers would probably be by, assuming it wasn't swamped with injured, to commandeer the place…
Phylicia is keeping an easy pace with Tenebrous as they make their way across the Weyr proper and towards the infirmary. Of which the place doesn't look like its seen major activity. A case or two of heat exhaustion and sun stroke might be laying in darkened corners, but there's no massive influx of people. But the relentless heat and drought is just that: relentless. Upon entering the infirmary Phylicia is shedding her coat and running satchel, leaving her in the lightest weight clothing she can get away with while running around with her mentor. "I don't think we're going to have too much a problem laying claim to the place for a bit…" She muses with a grin, nodding to the Healer at the On Duty desk.
Tenebrous grunts once, doing likewise with his own clothing. For the sake of utility, he's kept heavier cotton breeches on, their knees still reinforced with hide, but his normal overshirt has been replaced with something substantially lighter, and lacking of sleeves. Perspiration has begun to gather at the base of his neck and between his shoulderblades. "The planets must have aligned," he murmurs with dark humor. "ON a day like this, I half-expected this place to be full of vomit pans and nutrient drips." He bends down, rooting around in his own bag before coming up with a bladder of water and offering it to the smaller woman. "Cup of life?"
Phylicia walks over to one of the cabnets to pull out a pair of hand towels and hands Tenebrous one of them as he offers her the bladder of water. "Trade you." She says, wating until he takes the towel to take the bladder. There's a look given to the container which could read as her pondering dumping the contents down the back of her neck, but instead she merely takes a few longer pulls before handing it back and dabbing at her face and the back of her neck with the soft towel. "I think people've gotten smart enough by now to avoid getting heat exhaustion." Though people not eating due to lack of energy might start to be a concern. "Anyways, what did you want the infirmary for?" She's curious as ever, but considering to when Ten first met her, she's likely a lot more comfortable in her own skin than she was.
Tenebrous accepts the towel with a nod, mopping at his own face before accepting the bladder back with a nod. "Case files, actually," he murmurs. "Some of the charts are perfect examples of real world injuries. It's a great place to come up with quiz fodder without having to think too hard." He coughs. "And, as an aside, it's not that far from the beach. While I've never actually gone there, I've heard that the water's still remarkably cool, and Stormhaven's a bit too far of a run for my taste right now."
Phylicia's face almost falls, even though there's still a grin on her face. "Oh." But her tone has fallen for a moment before it picks back up. "And here I was, thinking you were going to let me treat some poor person besides yourself." There's a somewhat wicked gleam to her eyes as she teases her mentor. "Not that you haven't given me pleanty of practice." Her eyes widen slightly then as she looks at Ten. "You've never been to the beach? Tsk!" For a short moment she pauses, staring off into space before she re-focuses with a couple of rapid blinks. "You want something to munch on, Ten?" Because if he's listening, he might hear her stomach gurgle.
Tenebrous rolls his eyes. "I tell you what, since you've been oh so subtly hinting about your want to go and play with the sick people, we'll go up to Rubicon when I'm down here next." He holds his hand out like a little note pad. "Dear M'nol: I have absconded with your lithe and lust-ridden weyrmate so that she can fullfill her dreams of playing with other men in far off lands. Don't wait up, will be home late. Signed: Tenebrous." He chuckles. "No, Phy. I've never been to the beach in m ore than a passing capacity. There aren't many plants there, silly." he nods at her request for food though. "Sure. Rations are in my bag, but if you want solid food, I'm sure the Caverns are still awake."
Phylicia blinks for a moment, her cheeks reddening quite a bit as she looks to her mentor with a grin. "Lust-ridden, am I?" She asks, not really sounding or looking offended, but instead far more amused. She thinks about it for a few passing moments and lifts her shoulders in a shrug before she turns a rather angelic-seeming grin on him. "Oh, but /sir/! Haven't you learned that I learn better by doing? So how else will I learn to treat ailing men better than to set a few bones or dosing a few unsuspecting people?" Who let this girl into the Healer Hall? She chortles as she lifts a hand. "I'll be right back with /real/ food." And indeed, leaving her coat behind she sprints off only to return close to seven minutes later with both bread, cheese and some shredded meats on a plate, and a beading pitcher of water. She comandeers some of the open counter space somewhere, and takes a small chunk of cheese. "You really have to go swimming there sometime, Ten."
Tenebrous watches Phylicia leave, pursing his lips as she vanishes out the door. "Indeed," he murmurs to himself. When she returns, he's already leafing through various case files, setting a few aside with casual tosses. "I tell you what, Phy," he murmurs, "If you can give me one good reason why swimming on the beach in front of all of those idiots and why it's possibly better than my little hole at Stormhaven, I'll give it some thought." He points a finger. "And only if you go with me."
Phylicia smiles, drawing up a chair to sit on as she watches him leaf through the files. "I hope you remember where you got those from, or someone is really going to dislike you later." She says with a bit of a giggle. She's out of her chair in a moment though, grabbing two glasses that the infirmary always seems to keep on hand for dosing people with and pours water into the two, sliding one towards her mentor as she settles herself again. "Of course I'd go with you. But one, it's a whole lot closer than Stormhaven. Two, it's fun. Three, it's cool. Four, you ignore the other idiots." And with each point she erects another finger on her left hand with a little grin.
Tenebrous stops the slide of the glass with one outstretched hand, not even looking at it. "Half of the people here think I'm an idiot that somehow managed to get his journeyman's knot and at least another fourth think I'm some kind of psychotic who only comes out from the trees at night." He brings the glass up to his lips. "I've made a point of only choosing the cases from those two groups," he quips humorously, eyes scanning another chart before discarding it as unusable. After a drink, he continues, "Proximity, I'll give you. Fun? Why is the beach more fun than Stormhaven, exactly? Three, it's…cool?" Very slowly, he turns his head to face her, an eyebrow arching over the top of the chart he currently examines. "…Cool? Well gosh, Phylicia, you've convinced me."
Phylicia stops in the action of raising her glass to her lips, glaring over the rim at him as her cheeks redden again. "Okay, so proximity was the major point." She admits a bit sheepishly before continuing on. "And I'm talking about temperature-wise, wherry." She takes a sip of the water and carefully returns it to its resting point. "Anyways. Why should you care what people think about you, who don't want to take the effort to try and be your friend? Or at least know you?"
Tenebrous snorts into his cup. "I could give a flit's wayward droppings about those who choose not to ask before they simply levy accusations." He lowers the cup after his drink. "Just the other day, I tried ot go and speak to the glasscrafters about having a few new vials made for some of my more delicate work." He makes a face. "That journeywoman crafter that came with us to Coldstone was there. Right judgemental little thing, she is, for the help we gave her." He makes a rude noise and sets his cup down to claim another case file. "Still, just because I don't care about them doesn't mean I'd enjoy surrounding myself with them." Then he looks up. "I don't…skulk, do I?"
Phylicia is really just waiting for him to get the cases sorted out as she munches on a piece of one of the rolls, a little bit of meat wedged between the two halves. At his last question she pauses for a moment, a slightly apologetic smile crossing her face. "A little." She says. "You've gotten better since I met you though." Her shoulders lift in a shrug as she tears off a small chunk of the bread, a grin once again tugging at the corner of her lips. "I think its because you spend so much time with your hood down." He'd notice that when she's out with him, unless she needs it to even out the lighting or protect her face, her hood is usually down. "I still say you should go to the beach, at least once."
Tenebrous grumbles something about fishbelly white before picking the last of the cases that he wants to study. The others are trafficked back over onto the On Duty's desk with a nod before he starts back over to Phylicia. "I don't even have a bathing suit, you know. Do you?" Then he makes a face. "And that's a stupid term, while we're being honest. Bathing suit. I bathe naked. You bathe naked." He purses his lips. "That having been said, I usually swim naked too, but…"
Phylicia is merely grinning as she watches him return the files while grumbling to himself. "I do. It's usually in my pack." She says with a bit more of an impish grin, though a rosey tint comes to tinge her cheeks again. It seems someone has an active imagination. "How about 'swim suit' than? Because not everyone swims naked. Even if you might!" Especially if they're holder bred. They tend to appreciate a certain level of modesty there.
Tenebrous bahs, waving a hand before seating himself next to her, stack of files in hand. "Just a body. It only becomes more than a body when you make it that." Then he flips open the first case. "And if you keep your suit in your bag, why didn't you put it on before you jumped into the pond the other day? What's the point of having a swimming suit if you don't ever use it?" One side of his face twitches in humor at remembering.
"Well, let's see…" Phylicia drawls for a moment as she taps a finger against her chin, before leveling a look at him that is trying to look like irration, but is only laughing instead. "I remember being /pushed/ by someone." She then peers over, trying to gain a glimpse of the file he has open currently. "He didn't give me much chance to change." She continues with a chuckle, stopping her peering as she waits for him to continue onwards.
Tenebrous moves the folder up slightly to bap at her nose with a little flick. "No peeking," he admonishes lightly. And then, "Well, Phy, you're an easily excitable young woman. Perhaps you just…stumbled, and he was trying to stop your downfall." He wags a finger. "You should give him a little more credit for being thoughtful." Then he grins and looks back at the file. "So. Jane Doe number one wanders into the forest, hopeless, hapless, and apparantly…" he looks at the chart. "…wearing no pants." He flips a page up. "And…without a shred of coordination. Balls and branches, who was this?" He flips the main page down again, looking at the name.
Phylicia's head 'flinches' back like a retracting turtle, and a hand rises to rub her nose, even if the flick wasn't hard. She's moved from bread and meat back to cheese, which is a little easier - and cleaner - to pick appart. "'Easily excitable'." She murmurs, shaking her head. "I should show you 'easily excitable'." She listens as he reads off the case and blinks. "Wait. Seriously?" She's leaning over again, wanting to see if she recognizes this name at all, because it sure wasn't her.
Tenebrous grins when she mutters about exciteable, offering, "Any time you think you've got the short hairs to try, you go right ahead, my apprentice." That smile is wide. Then she's asking about the file and he's offering it to her. "Minor lacerations all over her legs, and they brought her in here without pants. Some silly git from Xanadu's last search cycle, from the looks of things." He makes a face. "They should know better than to let the candidates run off into the woods at a time like that. Idiots."
Phylicia grins as she takes the file, looking at the name and shrugging to herself. No one she knew. His offer though has her shaking her head again. "So, lacerations and no pants after taking a tromp into the woods, like an idiot." She was told no peeking, so she's lightly fingering at the bottom corner of the page. "Were there any other symptoms?" And she's holding the file back to her mentor, just so she doesn't peek.
Tenebrous accepts it with a nod. "Once she finally made her damn fool way back to the Weyr? A rash on her thighs and convulsions from prolonged contact with a certain kind of plantlife." He squints up at the lights in the room for a moment before setting the folder down.
Tenebrous and Phylicia are resting near the back of the Infimary, almost in the doorway that leads to the back room. Both look hot and recently travelled. There's a small stack of case files on one of the beds near them and Phylicia has a bit of food gathered about her as the two talk quietly.
Phylicia is picking at a chunk of cheese, the occasional piece being chewed and swallowed. Obviously one of the two was feeling hungry, but had gotten enough if someone else wanted to pick at it. "That's all you're going to give me isn't it?" She asks as she starts thinking. "What do you want? Just the plant, or treatment?" Comes her next question quick enough. The wheels are turning in her head, she just needs to know what information to try and produce.
Thea enters the infirmary, peering around for the on-duty, but not finding. "Hello?" She steps further into the room, rounding the corner to the waiting area and striding towards the back, a clean cloth held against her neck. She's looking into cubicles as she walks, so it isn't until she's nearly reached the two that she spots them and realizes who it is. She steps falter to a halt. Pale green eyes flicker from one to the other, a faint tension grows across her shoulders, but she manages to form a neutral expression, "I'm sorry to interrupt…"
"Sometimes, that's all we have to go on," Tenebrous murmurs, "Though admittedly, the convulsions were muscular in nature, as opposed to neurological, and—" He has his back slightly turned, so he doesn't exactly see Thea when she enters. But he'd know her voice anywhere, and for the briefest of moments, he looks up over the top of the file folder at Phylicia, his expression clearly saying, 'There's no way…' But then she calls out again and his eyes slide closed. "Proximity indeed," he sighs quietly. As Thea finally rounds the corner, he stands slowly, and turns to face her. "You're not," he offers simply.
Time has, in some ways, been kind to Tenebrous. He wears slim, but not form-fitting pants with wear-guards on their knees and a light, sleeveless cotton shirt, open to his chest and free of sleeves. His skin is tanned now, little criscrosses of scarring visible over most of what's exposed, and his musculature has thickened slightly. His hair is slightly lighter beneath what must have been the oft-present kiss of the sun, lending his whole face a warmer expression. All of that stops at his eyes however. They're not listless, cagey, not darting here and there. They're cool, ice-water with flecks of brittle stone floating within. He glances over Thea's form once, and then the area behind her, his head tilting to listen for additional bootfalls. Every bit the predator now, the hunter, rather than the hunted. "You're hurt," he rumbles, keeping his voice even. It's a statement, and nothing more.
Phylicia had recognized Thea's voice when the junior first called out, but she was more watching for Tenebrous' reaction. "What's up, Thea?" She asks with concern tinging her voice, because what other reason does the rider have to be here, really? She's on her feet a few moments after Ten is, trying to keep an eye on both of them at the same. For the moment being, her pop-quiz on file cases is forgotten, because such things can wait until the issue at hand is taken care of. "He's just drilling me." She double-assures Thea.
Thea glances at Phylicia, appeal in her eyes, a silent request for verification. Is she really not interrupting? Phylicia's answer takes some of the tension from her body and she smiles faint gratitude to her friend before she tilts her head, considering Tenebrous. some unspoken question answered as she takes in his appearance; it's a flash of relief of a sort, even when she meets to cool eyes with an expression of acceptance. Her face has the look that time without stress will bring. Relaxed, less pinched, the haunted, shadowed look gone from her glass-green eyes. She nods, a simple, "Yes," to Tenebrous, then lifts the cloth away from her neck, revealing a large reddened burn, blistered and oozing at the base of her neck, just above her collarbone. "Aerial flaming practice," she elaborates for both of them. "Seed pod exploded and landed inside my jacket. Couldn't get it out soon enough."
One of Tenebrous' eyebrows raises momentarily, and for the briefest of moments, he looks like he might…maybe just reach a hand up. Did a finger twitch at his side, a tensed muscle? But then he turns his head a little, gesturing for Phylicia to step closer. He gestures to Thea's wound. "Run it. Top to bottom. Feed me." Then he's moving for his beaten, worn satchel that's next to his chair, all pent up grace and hard movements.
Phylicia winces merely out of sympathy as the blister is revealed, the thing likely in an awkward spot especially as far as clothing goes. A look is almost shot to Tenebrous as he tells her to go with it, but she keeps it to herself as she motions for Thea to take a seat in the chair she had just vacated. "You're too tall; sit please." She says with a grin. As she waits for the rider to comply with the request, she puts down her little chunk of cheese and scurries off to clean her hands before returning and gently prying any clothing or hair away so she can get a good look. "/Thea/." And the voice that comes from the apprentice is not pleased with her friend. "I need to train you better." She continues to growl before her eyes dart to the side. "It is just a blister from a burn. But it's festered." She tells her mentor, going for a jar of aloe and some wipes. "It looks like it's oozing a little." Which would make sense for the towel. "Really Thea, you couldn't come in when you /got/ it?" She scolds over her shoulder as she stretches for that jar.
Thea's eyes drop to that finger briefly, the slight movement catching her attention, but her expression doesn't change, nor does she seem surprised that it is Phylicia that is the one to tend her. She sinks obediently into a chair, a guilty half-smile in the look up at her friend. "I know, I know. I… tried to treat it myself. He… made me come in when he saw it." She endures the chastening tone with good grace, her expression saying she knows she deserved it. "Uh, no. There was a certain someone I didn't want to run into." Her eyes wander towards the back where the offices are, silent indication that 'someone' isn't either of them. Quietly, "How've you been, Tenebrous?"
Tenebrous comes up with a jar of his own. "Skip the aloe, Apprentice. If the wound has festered, we're beyond comfort and into the territory of necessity." He holds up his own jar, hand-labeled. "Just like my leg. Foreign bodies, rinse, steralize, salve and bandage." He pads slowly over, circling around to Phylicia's side before he gestures. "See here…" His eyes meet Thea's for a moment and he murmurs, "Pardon the reach…" But then a surprisingly soft set of fingertips is gently lifting Thea's chin up to bring more of the wound into view. "See here," he murmurs. "In situations like this, observe the color of the seepage. Interstitial fluid is one thing, and it's not to be worried over. It tells you the body is doing its job. Puss, on the other hand, tells you that the body is losing. Because a wound like this is so close to SubQ, you want to assume the worst and treat for possible infection. This close to the brain, downhill is very steep, and very short." Those fingers slide away before he looks back to Thea for a moment. "Well enough. Time passes, and I stay out of its way."
Oh to be Thea, who has two Healers looking at her neck like vampires eyeing a tasty vein. Either way, Phylicia is nodding as she notes to what her mentor is pointing out, glad on the inside that things haven't turned completely weird between her two friends. Or at least if they have, it's not showing currently. "Do you want to drain it and remove the dead skin then, Ten?" She asks with a small chuckle before she addresses Thea. "Just a little bit of clean up then, Thea, and a bandage for you." Since it's all not very life-threatening at the moment she allows herself a bit more of a grin which shows in her tone. "Y'know, when I was talking about making people into examples, I wasn't serious when I said to get hurt somehow." But she's waiting for Ten's answer. She's pretty sure she knows what it is, but like a good apprentice, she'll deter to her mentor.
Thea remains very still, meeting Tenebrous' eyes without wavering, allowing her chin to be moved without flinching, listening to the clinical discussion. The healer's answer elicits a searching look that may or may not be successful in the attempt to know how well 'well enough' really is. "Probably wise," she murmurs. Brief, noncommittal, though the words are, there is a flash of understanding in her eyes before they swing back to Phylicia, crinkling with silent laughter at the reminder. "Yeah, I know. It's inevitable when messing with live ammunition, though Phy." She nods without any tension about the need to drain and remove dead skin; the pair long ago earned her trust. "Just…" She winces as she admits, "He can't be here - they're doing sweeps - but he wants a written report." She waves a hand, "You can omit that bit about close to the brain and downhill fast, if you will, hmm? Other wise he'll be in here wanting-" Well, details.
Tenebrous murmurs, "Drain it, yes. Remove the skin, no. If the outer shell of the blisters has become compromised, the skin can be cut away, but if all you're getting is clear fluid, prick it, drain it, salve it, wrap it. The skin will serve as another barrier between the wound and the open air." Thea's mentioning of live ammo has his chest rumbling with low laughter, and he nudges Phy's shoulder. "See?" Then he shakes his head, that smile vanishing from his face. "The Weyrsecond, if indeed that's who's asking for the report, will get a report fit for his station. He can 'want' more all he wants, but unless you give it to him, I find myself remarkably uncompelled to provide him with other avenues of discovery this time." Tenebrous sets the jar of salve down next to Phylicia and then straightens before starting towards the supply cabinets near the front of the room, his voice drifting back. "I'll bring you some bandages for her throat."
And this would be why Phylicia is still an apprentice. But given there's probably about ten different ways to treat a blister, she probably heard that one from one of the other masters. But she smiles as she shakes her head with a grin. Taking a pair of gloves and donning them. "Well here, if you wouldn't mind keeping your mane of hair out of the way…?" She asks, not wanting to get any of it caught up with what she's doing. Thankfully a sterile - and sharp - instrument is near by and she picks it up gingerly, poising one of the wipes she picked up a few scant moments ago underneath the blister. "But just bear with me for a few moments, Thea and don't move your head." Because sometimes draining a blister doesn't feel very pleasant, and the apprentice has a sharp object rather close to vital spots. "Thank you!" She calls out over her shoulder to Ten whose gone to get actual bandages instead of wipes. "Oh really, Thea." She chuckles, lancing the blister as quickly as possible without warning. "You don't have to explain the dangers of live ammo to me." And being done with the sharp object, it carefully gets set aside as she puts a little bit of pressure onto the blister, forcing the liquid out and onto the wipe, which merely absorbs it. A few dabs later, and the liquid is gone from the blister and she's gently spreading the salve around the blister, but not working it into the skin.
Laughter from Tenebrous brings an eye-twitch of veiled approval from Thea, though she doesn't join in. "I don't mind giving him the details, I just don't want him worrying needlessly." She replies firmly during the pause between treatment discussion and the vanishing of that smile. And apparently she's not worrying about her brain, so she doesn't want him to either. "I tried salt-water compresses." She shrugs ignorance as to why that didn't work, grabs her hair to gather it out of Phylicia's way. She doesn't move a muscle as her friend works, remains relaxed even when the blister is lanced. She does grin, though, "Yeah, I guess I don't, do I?"
Tenebrous returns a few moments later, holding out a clean roll of bandages and adhesive to Phylicia before fixing Thea with an eye again. "I believe you know the drill. Come back in 24 hours to have your dressing changed. Don't get it wet and don't get it dirty." He pauses for a moment. "You're a big girl, so I'll refrain from mentioning anything about you NOT flying about until your burns seal in the injury report. I assume neither of us will have regrets about that." It's a statement, rather than a question. Then he's moving to his satchel again and hoisting it up onto his shoulder. A moment later, his coat comes up onto his other arm and he starts away again. "I'll be up in front," he rumbles. "Bring the files when you're done, Phylicia." Then he's pacing away again, and out of earshot.
Phylicia lifts her shoulders in a shrug to echo Thea's. "Maybe what you used wasn't clean, or maybe the ember just left some residue behind, that got under your skin." She says gently, shaking her head as a lock of bang falls into her face as she finshes with the salve, taking the bandages and adhesive from Ten with a grin as she turns again to carefully place the bandage over the blister, securing it with a certain amount of ease where it shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon. "Sure." She takes, gently pressing on the edges to make sure the adhesive took before straightening up and moving about cleaning up her small mess, disposing of the wipe and the gloves. "You should be fine to go, Thea. I just have to finish cleaning some things up back here."
"Not fly-!" Thea cuts that off, flashing a look of pure consternation at Tenebrous. "Won't go *Between*," she concedes reluctantly, hastily adding, "We'll both be back for that 24 hour dressing change." Because she knows the Weyrsecond will make time for it and make sure she does too. She tries not to fidget as Phylicia bandages her neck, managing to keep mostly still. "Thanks Phy." She flickers a look towards the front of the room, murmuring to her friend, "Glad he can laugh about some things." It's a genuine observation before she rises and heads out, passing Tenebrous without pausing on her way towards the doors, sending him a brief, solemn look and a nod as she does so, "Thank you, too."