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.
It's another rainy afternoon at Xanadu Weyr, though today the rain has slackened to a misty drizzle, leaving the sky a lighter dull gray as the sun attempts to shine through the barrier of clouds yet fails. People seem to be going about a normal day's business, the occasional person walking into the infirmary to pick up a packet of tea for the sniffles some seem to have come down with, during the continuous wet.
Phylicia is not one of the people to have caught the sniffles, but she's still making herself useful, dressed in her normal clothing now as her burns have finally healed as much as they're going to. Her hair has even grown back out some, closer to the length it was before the fire singed it. But the apprentice, while not formally discharged yet, is making herself useful by the file cabnets, a simple mug of water perched atop the table she's working at, a few different piles scattered along the surface as well.
There's a quiet *whuff* of air before a gold flit suddenly appears, flapping over to the top of one of the supply cabinets and perching there. Curious eyes peer around the room for some few moments before Cila trills softly to Phylicia, apparantly pleased with herself. What, exactly, she's done becomes apparant a moment later when Tenebrous peeks in through the Infirmary door himself. No mind-healers in sight. "It may just be a good day after all," he mutters to himself, closing the door behind himself. A brief nod is given to the On Duty before he starts over to the back of the room, raising a hand to Phylicia in the process. He's managed to find himself a satchel somewhere, and it's slung around his shoulders in a comfortable position. Curiously, it looks less out of place on him than his current wardrobe. His right hand is filled with a cloth-stuffed ball, and he squeezes it slowly, coaxing life back into that arm.
The infirmary is quiet enough where Cila's trill nearly makes Phylicia jump out of her skin, definitely giving a start and a squeak as she turns to look at the little gold, her own pair curled up in a singular ball on the cot she still sometimes occupies. There's not enough patients for the pair to be scolded off of the bed. She doesn't have much time to absorb the implication of Cila calmly sitting there before Tenebrous enters, bringing a little bit of a grin to her face as he starts back towards her general direction. However, the ball-squeezing hand gets a small frown in turn, rustling that remaining bit of self-dislike. "Heyya, Ten." She calls out on the softer side, her voice even starting to sound better, a bit less gravelly.
Tenebrous smiles. "It sounds like time's been kind to you," he offers quietly. His own voice is on its way to mend, though he still speaks softly, his voice sounding muzzy, like he just woke up. "You look like…well, I'd say like new, but I'm not exactly sure what 'new' is for you. You look good, I'll just say. Healthy." Hiw own hair has grown significantly as well, and for whatever reason, it looks like it's lightened significantly, to a sandy blond. His face is no longer red on that right side, but the skin has healed in a slightly warped fashion. In indirect light, the scarring is almost invisible. A slight amount of stubble on the right side of his face betrays the fact that the left will probably never grow hair again. The right arm has clearly grown in strength, and there's a light in his eyes that was never there before the accident.
Phylicia seems far too used to the muzzy quality of Tenebrous' voice for that fact to bother her, and in general she makes very little attempt to cover the fact that she likes how he's healing. Minus the fact that his arm is still obviously in progress. But then again, so are her lungs and endurance. "Not quite like new." She responds lightly enough, finding it surprisingly easy to ignore the self-dislike which was trying to burble up. She tilts her head to the side, for the easiest to see patch of roughly-healed skin under an ear. "But close enough." She pauses to look at him a little closer. "You're looking better yourself, Ten." She offers with a smile that borders on tentative. "H-how's your arm doing?" There's only a slight stumble from her, over the part of him that's causing the most distress to her currently. The file in her hands is peeked at briefly, then set down on the table, not in any pile but instead between a few different ones.
Tenebrous ehs quietly, lifting his right arm slowly. "There isn't much in the way of strength left in it right now." He makes a face. "I can't…run with it. Every time I try, I end up moving in a curve, or some kind of crooked line. My pace is off. I almost tripped…I haven't tripped in Thread knows how long." He sighs. "Not like it's that big of a deal anyway…the forest is a deathtrap anyway right now, with all of the water. I don't think I'd be able to get to Stormhaven, and if i did, it's still mostly under water…" Then he waves a hand. "I went to Ista a few days ago, to try and get a bit of perspective on things. It was… a tense trip."
Him sighing almost triggers an echo in the young girl, though for the moment she just settles for looking minorly less happy than she was a moment ago. "I'm sorry." It's something that might get another lecture from him, but its an honest sentiment from her as she twists in her seat to look at him fully. "You went to Ista?" She asks, her tone turning slightly cautious, especially as inwardly she winces at the next words coming from her mouth. "Did … you want to talk about it at all?" Not that he had really let her know much of what was going on with his wanderings, but at such a choatic time, he might decide differently.
Tenebrous spreads his hands. "Whatever I was a year ago, apparantly, I met nice people. You, Janelle, Hasha, Thea." He wrinkles his nose. "Though that woman's got so much hidden cargo on her, I'm almost afraid to go anywhere near her, I won't lie. That aside, everyone's…nice. And everyone looks at me like I'm someone else for the first second that they see me." He gestures to the north. "Your partner, M'nol, said that there was a greenrider that I'd been spending time with up at Ista, and he thought I might have loved her. Turns out, that was Hasha, and while I don't know …how i felt about her, I can guess how she felt about me by the look in her eyes when she realized that I didn't know her…"
Phylicia's mouth opens a fraction for a moment, as if she's going to say something, and then shuts it, as she starts to think before she speaks. She has moved onto treating him like a normal human being, whether the memories return or no, but she could all too easily imagine someone hanging on. Or just the first meeting. Faranth knows Phylicia fled easily enough. There's a pain that flicker's across the apprentice's face as she realizes another person was hurt, even if it wasn't physically. "May I ask what happened?" She finally asks, in such a way where the man standing near by has a choice with as little pressure to it as possible.
Tenebrous ehs. "There's nothing much to say." He pads over to one of the beds near her, resting himself on it, and a moment later, Cila ghosts down from the cabinet to rest on his arm. A moment later, Truth appears in the air next to him, coming down to rest beside him on the bed. "I look like hell. Apparantly, the Master went up there to tell her that I'd been in an accident, and that I might not remember her. Call it a hunch…but I somehow doubt that she took the good Craftmaster at her word. She was…very upset when she realized that the person she was looking at didn't love her anymore."
"You looked worse…" Phylicia adds, mostly under her breath even if it wouldn't hurt him to hear it. Estevan - the more responsive of her two - lifts his head up finally from the massive blue-brown ball on the bed, chrr'ing softly as he extracts himself from the ball. "There's always the hope, that on-site, maybe you'd remember." She adds on, a little louder for his benefit this time, offering something of a smile. "Did you… stay and talk at all?" He's opened the door, and she's trying not to ask extremely personal questions, but she's just trying to be a friend at this point in time, offering an ear if he wanted.
Tenebrous laughs weakly. "Oh, not at first. She did exactly the same thing you did the first time I ran into her. She ran off, and cried." He's still for a few moments before offering, "I went back, a few days later." He grins then. "Master Fraille chose Kherissni and Malchisibeth as her personal transport. She hates flying on dragonback, but she's known Kherissni for longer than I've been alive. She let her cart me to Ista again, and yes. We had a talk." He absently begins rubbing Cila's nose. "She's…still holding out hope, I think, that I'll remember what we were. And…part of me does. Part of me remembers her face, and a hair clip that I gave to her…" Then his eyes stare over to the doorway to the Infirmary. "But I do not love her. She's…very nice. Very kind. But…" He sighs.
Phylicia doesn't protest the part where Ten claims she ran off and cried, because that's exactly what the girl did when she was by herself, minus her Attending. Feeling an itch in her throat, she picks up her mug of water, taking a pull to moisten both her lips and her throat, listening as only a friend can. "But you just don't." The distress is well hidden, but Estevan launches himself off the bed finally, wrapping himself around the girl's shoulders and neck, even in the process of landing. The brown's soft 'chrrr' has just about the same effect as a cat's purr: soothing and worth a little bit of a smile. Her lips press together for a moment. "Are you going to return to Ista again?" It's a partially fearful question, that.
Tenebrous shakes his head slowly. "No. Not right now, anyway. I've been recalled back to the Hall for a debrief and an evaluation." He purses his lips. "The masters…want to evaluate me before they release me back onto active duty. I'm not officially allowed to practice medicine again until they've declared me fit. After my evaluation…" He lifts a hand. "I honestly don't know where I'll go. At some point over the last turn, I found out that I surrendered my Weyrknot for some reason. Hasha seems to believe that she had something to do with it…that I was planning to come up there, to be with her." Another headshake. "I just…there was a time when I couldn't concieve of ever leaving Xanadu. Or at least leaving her woods. The forest is all I've ever known…it's been everything that I am for the last sixteen turns. I feel hollow when I think about leaving it…"
"Neither am I." Phylicia says, her tone lightening a little bit. "Allowed to practice, that is." But at the mention of the recall, she pauses in the motion of lifting a hand and blinks. "I wonder why she hasn't recalled me yet." The apprentice ponders aloud, before her hand finishes its motion, rising enough to rub at Estevan's head and neck, or generally what the 'lizard puts into the reach of her fingers. Her free hand is drifting back towards the mug though, and she takes another sip of water. "Not that they've stopped me from doing any of their paperwork for them." Is mused a moment later. But there's another serious topic going on as well, even if one comment brings a vague look of surpressed surprise to her face before she presses it back inside. "You'll do what you want to do, I'm sure." She says finally, not making any attempt to hold him either to going or staying.
Tenebrous chuckles. "There's always some kind of paperwork to be done. One of the reasons why I enjoyed being out in the woods so much. There was no paperwork there. I hate paperwork." Then his smile tempers itself a little. "I've little doubt that you'll be recalled to the Hall sooner or later. The Craftmaster has been lighting fires everywhere she goes. Rumor has it, she's on a tour of the planet, talking to Weyrwomen and the heads of other crafts. People are terrified that she's going to start reassigning posts without asking questions first." A pause. "If you're given your choise of post, I assume you'll stay here? Your family's here, after all, to say nothing of your friends, and that shorter fellow…" He snaps hsi fingers several times. "M'nol. Stones below, why can I never remember that poor boy's name."
Phylicia shakes her head, though maybe not in response to the question most would think it's about. "My family doesn't live here." She supplies with a bit of grin. "Daddy was pulled from Southern Boll Hold to help with you." As to how much help her father has actually been is another question. More than likely, the pair might have gotten into yelling arguements, which is her father's preferred way of airing things out. "But if I had the choice I would still return here." She smiles just slightly as he seems to have trouble remembering M'nol's name, though the mention of her friends and partner have her running a hand through her hair, futilly pushing her bangs back. "Mmm, to say nothing of my friends and M'nol… yes." That one sounds only a little distracted. "I'm sure Xanadu would take you back, if you wanted to be posted here again?"
"That depends, I suppose," Tenebrous murmurs, suddenly eyeing Phylicia. "Why did I turn my knot in?" His lips press together into a thinner line. "MOst of the poeple I've talked to are deliberately trying to hold things back from me, and it's not because they don't want to hinder my progress. It's because there are things they don't want me to know. I don't suppose you'd care to shed some light on that particular subject, would you? The knot, that is?"
Over the last several hours the rain has been lightening slowly, the steady drumming fading to a light patter, and now, finally, even that seems to have dropped down to unnoticable. It is then that Moria peeks around the doorway, checking to be sure the infirmary is not dealing with some disaster before edging into the room. She tugs her braid loose from its coil and plays with the end as she glances around.
And there'd be a reason why no one is telling him, due to the touchy nature of the situation. Phylicia stiffens as he goes from just talking to her, to eyeing her as well. Even though she just recently took a sip of water, she licks her suddenly dry lips. "It's a … messy situation that made you turn it in." She warns him, not giving him any more details than that for the moment. "And depending who you asked, they might not know." She's tried not to answer questions about his past unless the information was harmless enough, and this is screaming 'no! Don't answer!' even if part of her wants to, merely because he asked. But the door opening to the infirmary and footsteps distracts her. They're just conversing towards the back of the infirmary, Ten perched on an empty bed, and her sitting at a table strewn with files. "Heyya!" Oh, handy, handy distraction!
Something about the intensity of the situation has both of Tenebrous' flits alert now, and when Moria pokes her head into the Infirmary, both of their heads snake around as one, eyes swirling with nervous color. Their sights relayed, Tenebrous slowly removes his eyes from Phylicia's face and turns a little, absently picking the smaller of his flits up into his arms. "That much is sort of a given," he murmurs back to the other healer in a level voice. Someone isn't buying. After all, everyone's been only too happy to offer him his knot back, which means it wasn't political. And if it wasn't political, and it WAS messy… But he's a polite man, if nothing else, and he nods once to Moria as she moves closer to the two of them. "Glasscrafter," he offers calmly. "You look less than drenched. Can we all hope that Pern has finally finished with her weeping, and we can go outside again?"
Moria's face brightens at Phylicia's greeting and her gaze comes to rest on the pair. Her excitement dims somewhat when she recognizes Tenebrous, but she fixes her smile firmly in place and crosses toward them. "Hello, Phylicia, Tenebrous. Ah, if you are asking if the rain stopped, yes. The sun is even starting to peek out of the clouds." Sharing that news is enough to make her smile more relaxed again. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything? I just thought I'd stop by and see how Phy was feeling today…" She trails off, reacting to the tense feeling in the air as she looks between the two healers.
"Later." Finally comes the answer from Phylicia as she looks back to Tenebrous. Her expression is somewhere between serious and gently teasing. "And you should ask very, very nicely, too." And that appears to be it for the moment on that subject as she turns to Moria, letting a bit of a grin play with her lips as she hears the sun is finally back out. "Better, thanks." She supplies to the glasscrafter, willing that tension to take a hike for the time being.
Tenebrous slips down from the bed at that point, allowing Truth to crawl up to his shoulder before he does so, and letting Cila latch onto his good arm. "Not at all," he offers to Moria with a smile. "I was actually just stopping by here for a few resistance straps for my arm before I headed back to my room. Or what's left of it anyway." He smiles wryly. "I've been working for days trying to get the smell of burn ointment out of the sheets, and I still don't think I've got it. Now tht the sun's out, I'm hoping I can find some place to air my wash out. Maybe a bit of the mountain breeze will help."
Moria smiles at Phylicia's response, settling to lean against a cabinet. "Good to hear," she says softly, then glances to Tenebrous. "Ah, Phylicia makes perfumes, if I recall correctly. Have you asked her about mixing you a room scent?" She glances between the two again, leaning forward slightly. "Or you could have someone bring you some flowers from outside the burn zone to sweeten the air. I don't think there will be any sweet breezes here until things dry out a good bit."
Phylicia's cheeks redden in a small flush as she looks at Moria. "Those were experiments." She protests softly, but with a fairly good nature. "Though some of them did make pretty good airfresheners.." She tacks on with a small mumble. Moria is given a glance as she takes a sip of her water, a smile once again pulling at her lips. Tenebrous is given a look as he mentions airing out his room. "I have a feeling a lot of people are going to be airing out their weyrs and rooms…" She chuckles mostly to herself. "How have you been doing?" She asks, pointing the question towards Moria.
Tenebrous raises an eyebrow at the mention of perfume, turning slightly to eyeball Phylicia again. "One benefit of my condition," he posits, "life is just full of surprises. I had no idea you experimented with such things." He blinks. "I think, anyway. Maybe when this is all over, I can bring you a few new ingredients for your experiments?" The smile he offers Phylicia is genuine, if loaded, and without further ado, he paces back to the store room, leaving the two to talk for a time.
Moria seems taken aback by Tenebrous' quick departure, but tries to focus on Phy's question. "It was just a thought!" she says in defense of her mention of the perfumes. "You had been fairly willing to share them at Thea's slumber party," she reminds the healer. She tugs on her braid for a few moments, then says, "I've been doing fairly well. I'm relieved that the rain has finally stopped so I can get back to work soon."
Stick the man in a social situation, and some habits don't seem to fail. Phylicia's cheeks have tinged an even deeper pink as Ten mentions possibly bringing in new things for her to toy with. "Yes… well.." The girl seems to stumble a little bit, even as her former mentor slinks off to go find the resistance bands he was talking about. "That was to a room full of girls." It's a rather pitiful arguement, but there it is! "I didn't know if they'd actually be… any good." Or if the amount of scent to each vial was too much. And the mention again of the rain stop makes her grin. "Did they start cleaning up the Complex as soon as it stopped raining?" She asks, her tone laughing, though completely understanding the need to do /something/. Otherwise, why would she be filing?
Moria blushes faintly at Phy's rejoinder, murmuring, "I didn't know you hadn't told Tenebrous about it!" She sighs, then nods slowly. "One of the reasons I came by - the moment the sky started to clear, the masters were dragging every abled body person they could to help clean up. I have no intention of being part of that. The apprentices can take that project - it will do them good to know how to scour the place from top to bottom." She smiles, eyes sparkling with amusement at what is sure to be a rough day for the poor apprentices.
Phylicia has regained enough of her good humor since the last time they talked to be needling the other woman, almost straight-faced as her tone laughs, even about a vaguely sensative subject for her. "Even if I had, he wouldn't exactly remember right now, would he?" But that sentence also implies she never had told him she was experimenting with perfumes and scented oils. At the mention of people scrubbing the Complex from top to bottom, she makes a small face. "I'm glade I'd be more of a hinderance than help for that project." Otherwise they probably would have dragged her into it as well!
There's rather resounding snap that comes from the back room shortly before a yelp of pain and a loudly shouted, "Damn it!" A few moments later, Tenebrous passes back out of the store room, several bands around his shoulder, and his left hand over his right arm, rubbing. "When did we run out of junior apprentices to check these stupid things for nicks?" he says irritably. "It's not that hard. You look at the band, if it has a nick in it, you take it out of the box and have it reconstituted." he grumbles.
Moria's blush intensifies as Phylicia points out the obvious about Ten's memory, and she mumbles, "I suppose there is that, yes." She starts rewrapping her braid into its bun, raising a brow. "What, you think you'd be useless? They'd have you sorting out returning materials so everything gets put back where it belongs." Ten's return has her wincing in sympathy. "Hurts something special, doesn't it?"
"I'd prefer they didn't find out I could do that." Phylicia says with an impish grin, her own flush nearly gone as the snap resounding from the storage room has her head whipping around, startlement written across her features for a few moments, as Ten emerges from the back room. She can't help but giggle softly at first. "Faranth forbid you do it yourself before stretching it out to where it snaps." She covers her mouth with one of her hands as a smile takes over her face, and she tries oh so hard to keep from giggling at what has to be a smarting arm.
Tenebrous rolls his eyes. "I was pulling on the stupid thing with my right arm, Phylicia. I didn't think I was going to break the thing." Moria gets a nod. "Yeah, it hurts like something alright. I'm just glad it didn't land somewhere else more sensitive…" He strides back over to the bed he occupied, muttering, "Balls and branches, I miss my cave…"
Moria snorts softly, straightening from her slouch as she finishes repinning her braid. "I'll make sure I don't say anything. I do need to get back though. Some of those apprentices can't walk five feet without causing some disaster." She glances to Ten with a rueful smile, but it freezes as she recalls his lack of memory. "Ah, well, yes. I'll catch up with you again later."
Phylicia shakes her head. "But you didn't check it either, did you?" She asks as she stands up from her chair, snippets of the giggle making their way around her self control. She grins as Moria makes motions to go, lifting her hand in a farewell. "Hopefully next time you see me, it won't be in here." She says with a smile as she turns her attention partially back to Ten. "No actual damage, right?" She asks, just to make sure.
Tenebrous raises hsi left hand in salute to Moria as she begins making her way out. "Good luck with the complex!" The movement reveals an ugly pink mark on his arm from the impact of the rubber band, but otherwise, no serious damage. FUrthering this, Tenebrous simply shakes his head. "No, Phylicia, no real damage. Just a start is all." He grunts once, laying back on the bed and raising his good hand to cover his eyes. "Though, since we're being so honest, I'm about through feeling pain for the moment, if you know someone who can make arrangements of that nature…"
Phylicia walks over to the bed he just relaxed upon, and perches on its egde along his left-hand side, careful not to sit on anything that isn't bed. Mostly she does this so she can keep her voice at a quieter level, her face somber as she looks down at hand-covered face. "You don't want to feel more pain, and you ask me to tell you why you left your knot behind?" She asks of him gently. "Though sorry, I don't think they'd dose you with fellis for a rubberband snap."
Tenebrous's voice is muffled behind his hand. "We bleed to know we're alive, I suppose, though I'm just about tired of the bleeding, for what it's worth." That hand gets lowered back to his his side and he glances over at her. "Do you know what a 'diplomatic liability' is? I only ask, because that's one of the things that's been rattling around in my brain of late, and I don't know why." He blinks a few times, absently shielding his eyes against the light again. "It wasn't professional. The reason I turned my knot in, it wasn't proffeasional. If it had been, people wouldn't be falling all over themselves trying to offer me a post here, and a life. That leaves political and personal. The only person anyone's mentioned me being involved with is up at Ista, and there clearly wasn't any heartbreak there until I injected it so skillfully a few days ago…" He sits slowly.
Phylicia shakes her head in response. "No, I don't really know what that means." She says. The words say it all, but she's unsure of the context. She runs a hand through her bangs, the gesture quickly becoming something akin to a nervous habit. But instead of flopping back further from her face, her bangs hang further into it. "But I'll say it again. It was messy, and yes, personal." Her eyes only laugh slightly at the thought of him playing with politics. "You didn't seem to be a very political person." She murmurs, her eyes returning to the same serious emotion as her face. "If I tell you, it might spark something, and it might not be pleasant." Her hands, resting on her lap tighten slightly. "I can wait, if you don't want to hear it now." Though she also hasn't heard the 'pretty please' for the explaination either…
Tenebrous snorts quietly. "Well, that definetly leaves personal, which means there *was* someone else, and no one knew about it…" He sits up slowly then, not even bothering to look at Phylicia as his mind works forward. "Or, there was someone else, and despite all of the other aspects of my life, people are keeping that from me. Your response makes me think it was definetly the second. And it went sideways in a bad, bad way." He hops down off of the bed, steading himself with his good hand. "And that's where all of the questions are, isn't it." He absently readjusts his satchel before tucking the bands he's secured into it. "Your hesitance makes me think I'm better off answering them on my own."
Phylicia's hands tighten a little further in her lap, because she hasn't stopped watching his face. Only after he moves off the bed, does she turn, one hand moving as if to reach out towards him. "It went sideways." She confirms quietly, not moving off the bed after him. She doesn't have the energy in her to chase him down, though a thick sigh leaves her lips. "I would personally feel better if you didn't try and seek those memories. You don't need to relive that." She says after a prolonged silence. "But if you really want to know…" She looks to the door of the infirmary, pondering where quiet place to to would be.
Tenebrous laughs a little. "I turned in my *weyrknot*, Phylicia. I'mot sure about you, but right now, in this mind, there's not a lot that would make me do that." Still, when she speaks, he watches her face closely, and finally sighs. "It'll wait," he amends, raising a hand. "Just as long as I didn't like…accidentlly eat a baby or something."
Phylicia shakes her head which ruffles the hair she never bothered putting back into a runnerstail. "No. It was between you and Th-the other woman." Brown eyes flick to the bedspread, pondering just how much is good to say. "I only know about a little of it. Because I was there with you two for some of it." There's another party which might know even less than her, but she's pretty willing he wouldn't be willing to talk about it at all. But she looks up again, still not moving from the bed. She's seated, and its a good enough seat for her.
Tenebrous waves a hand suddenly. "Forget it, Phy." He turns to face her, his expression even. "Conflict of interest." Somethign ripples across his features. "Just…forget it. I'll …" He just shakes his head. "I'll take your word for it," he says at last, exhaling a little. "Maybe I turned it in for a reason." He starts towards the Infirmary door. "Maybe Hasha was right, and this wasn't a good place for me anymore."
That dismissal and the thought of Hasha being right however, seems to set Phylicia off. Her brown eyes smolder with a fair touch of anger, and it's just as well the only other person here at this moment is the On Duty, because she's raising her voice in that favored fashion of her father. "And this is why I didn't want you going into it! Because you would start thinking /that/ again! You'll disappear, since there's not even the excuse of lessons to bring you back now." That last she sounds almost certain of, fighting to keep herself from sounding dejected while her level has dropped back down to a more reasonable one.
Tenebrous rounds on Phylicia then, his eyes hard. "I've come to the conclusion twice now, Phylicia. Is it possible that there's some merit to it? That maybe I've ended up at this particular juncture twice now? This is my past we're talking about! True or false, if I would have never asked this question, neither you or whoever this mysterious woman is would probably have ever mentioned this. You'd play mind-healer with my history." He takes a hard breath. "And so what if I disappear. What's it to you?"
Phylicia stands remarkably firm and still, almost as if she's afraid to take a step, because her knees are likely locked in place. "Both." She answers honestly, heatedly still. "If you never asked it, I wouldn't've said anything. I've only ever told you things about your past that you've asked me." Finally, her sturdy wall starts to crack. "Is it so wrong that people try to protect your feelings?" She asks before the wall completely crumbles. "What's it to me? I'd lose my friend. /Again/. I could deal with you leaving before, because you came back twice a month to tutor me." She sucks in a breath, some of the rage slipping from her eyes. "I'd miss you."
Tenebrous's arms go slack by the sides of his body. "Ask Hasha," he says wearily. "I don't *have* any feelings right now." Then he sighs. "If people were trying to protect them, I don't imagine I would have left in the first place. I don't know…" He looks down at the ground for a moment before murmuring, "I'm going back to the Hall. Now that the rain's stopped, it's going to be days before I can go back to Stormhaven, and it's…going to be different there anyway."
"I will not ask Hasha." Phylicia says firmly, without the anger returning to her voice. "Because she's wrong. You may not have emotions for her, but you do have emotions." Phy has seen them, from wariness to laughter. She sits back down on the bed, not wanting to stand anymore. "I tried the first time, and you wouldn't let me then either." She had tried to help and had been pushed away. Shifting on the bed, she turns her back to him, so she won't have to watch him leave. "Go on." Is all that she says, her own voice tired. It was awhile ago, but she doesn't want to have the arguement/discussion again.
"People around here need to be more concerned with the truth, and less concerned with the minutia. If someone can't handle the truth of their own lifestyle, that's their problem. Not yours." Then something flickers across his face, and when he speaks, it's clearly from memory. "Friends are there to help us with the truth, and to keep us honest, and to help us when the truth is unpleasant. Someone told me that at some point. I just… wish I remembered the 'who'." Then he shakes his head. "I tell you what though, kiddo. I seriously doubt the reason why I kept coming back here twice a month, despite being on walkabout, was for lessons." Then he's reaching for the doorhandle, face set.
Phylicia's head dips down, much like she's looking to the brown around her neck for a touch of comfort, her eyes squeezing shut as he calls her 'kiddo'. That was something never done before, and strangely enough the nickname doesn't please her. "Then why don't you ever let me help?" She asks, her voice just barely loud enough to carry. "Why aren't you staying now?" That question isn't quite as loud as the first, and she's glancing over her shoulder to the man reaching for the doorknob, looking for just a second before she resumes staring at the sheets she's sitting on.
Tenebrous leans his head against that door with an audible 'Bonk'. "Keeping secrets and padding truths doesn't help people. Helping them through said truths does. And sometimes, honesty is all you can do, Phylicia. Just because a person doesn't react the way you thought they might doesn't mean you haven't helped." His hand slips from the doorknob and he turns again to look at her. "What have you been doing this whole time, if not helping? The walks in the rain, the talks, being comfortable around you, when everyone else keeps looking at me like I'm a monument to a dead man? That's…not good enough? What else do you want? What do you want from me?" And there it is.
Restless is what Phylicia is currently. She untwines the brown from around her neck, setting him on the bed and standing, making her way over to him by the door. "It's not my business to be rambling off what I know of your actions in the past year." She says softly. "I never seem to know what your thinking. And there'll be facts losts, bias added because I'm the one telling it." Her hand moves to rest where his just was, on the handle of the door. "I never said I wouldn't tell you, I was just giving a warning." But she listens again. Yes, they're a fine pair, the arguements they get into. She digesting his last two questions, her face thoughtful. He wants honesty? "Besides you needing to return to the Hall, I don't want you to go." That's what she wants. What she wants from him? "What I want from you, Tenebrous…" There's another pause. "Trust me, if you can." Out of her options, it was the easiest to say.
Tenebrous can't help it. He laughs. "Trust you? Phylicia, I've…known you for a month. All things considered, I think I've extended you a great deal of trust." He starts back across the room to her, stopping only a foot from her person. "What's…going on? Seriously, what else do you want?" He gestures to her head with his good hand. "You want trust? What's goin' on in there? Why do you get that…look on your face when I talk about leaving?"
Phylicia only manages to flush, trying to hide her face behind her hair as she dips her head again. "It's easy to forget it's only been a month for you." She says in a way of apology. "I already told you: I'd miss you." But she's never said to what degree and she's halfway hoping he won't ask, because the next words out of her mouth might cause a slight problem. "I… want you." And what she just said dawns on her and sticks.
Tenebrous says "Phylicia, I'm going back to the Healers' Hall, not the dark side of the moon. And I have no doubt that I'll come back here semi-frequently to check on Stormhaven anyway, and-" The world screeches to a halt at that point, and Tenebrous' mouth opens. Finally, after almost a minute of stunned silence, he stammers, "Wh-…what?""
Phylicia is hiding in her hair now. She only has the slight satisfaction of having finally surprised him, but the cost is a great amount of embarrassment and some promised heavy thinking. "I … want you." She repeats again. "Here. Not because you want to visit Stormhaven." He never asked if her wants were unselfish or not. Because they definitely aren't. Her hands, looking for something to do, wrap around her middle as she waits for him to react further to the given information.
Tenebrous holds up one finger slowly, murmuring, "Ok, I'm…" He takes a deep breath. "Ok. Ok, let's…" That hand finally comes to rest on his face for a moment, and he just looks at the younger healer. "Phylicia…" Then that hand just falls limply to his side. "I'll…come back more than twice a month?" He's clearly not all there now.
Phylicia finally looks up, assessing what she sees with as much caution as she can. But a corner of her lips quirks just slightly. "What's that saying you picked up from Craftmaster Fraille? 'Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to.'?" However slight his stumble, she shakes her head, and takes that limp hand for one moment to get his attention. "Frequent visits… would be nice if they're done for the right reason. But for the right reason I could also do with less." She says, giving that hand a squeeze before she lets it return to his side, slowly making her way to the door as now her hand rests on the handle. "If you figure out what that reason is, Tenebrous, come find me. It shouldn't be hard." Considering he also has Cila and Truth to help him.
Tenebrous just shakes his head. "Phylicia…I…" What can you say to that? He's been awake for a month, and it's already been one hell of a ride. In the end, all he can do is nod slowly, the expression on his face still clearly one of astonishment.
"Think, and mull it over in your own time." Phylicia says, her tone surprisingly even as a miniscule smile touches her lips. Since he's not making a move to stop her, she turns the handle and opens the door. "I have a few things to think about myself." She takes those last few steps out of the infirmary, shutting the door behind her. A short while later, if he doesn't leave directly after her, Estevan and Ciaran both disappear as well.