An Odd Visitor

Date: 21.06.2683 (12.07.09)
Location: Infirmary, Ista Weyr
People: Galina, Tenebrous
Firelizards: Blue Cyanosis, Gold Reconciliation, Green Truth
Synopsis: Yet another odd meeting with Tenebrous. An offer to teach swimming is made and accepted.


It's a little later in the evening, with a skeleton crew of Healers on-hand — it's been a slow evening thus far, so most of the Healers have been released to continue their studies or to take a lesson or two elsewhere. Galina's one of the few that remains, with her nose in a book and an eye occasionally glancing off in the direction of the Infirmary entrance. For the most part, however, she's plenty happy to continue taking copious notes and generally stay out of sight.

The doorway to Ista's infirmary opens quietly, and the first thing that comes through is a flit. The second thing that comes through is … a flit as well. First a green and then a gold before a man in a long, deeply mantled hide coat comes into the room, absently cradling his right forearm. The hood from that coat is pulled low against the lights of the room, hiding his face in shadow, and without even a nod to the On Duty, he quietly begins his walk over to one of the supply closets. The two flits that come before him have already lighted on the cabinets, trilling softly in the evening's stillness.

Perhaps called by his kin, a rather curiously-coloured blue firelizard blips out of *between* and flutters over Galina's head, chittering a bit before she shushes him rather curtly. She rises and the blue descends to rest on her head, earning himself a scowl (that he can't see, of course); her gaze fixes rather sharply on the man that enters and she moves a few steps toward him. "May I assist you?" she asks in that flat way of hers, neither caring nor uncaring; really, she's only interceding because the other On Duty Healers are too occupied to pay much attention.

Tenebrous absently legs one of the cabinets open while gingerly removing that right arm from his jacket. Free from the confines of the hide sleeve, a long, if shallow cut can be seen on that right forearm, running close to the radial side of the arm, and parallel. He fingers through several little jars of salve before snorting quietly and shifting his feet a little to adjust the lay of the satchel at his side. It's only when the gold flit trills that he looks over, much of his face obscured. "Hmm? I apologize, did you need in here?"

"No, I was just wondering if you needed any assistance," Galina replies, keeping her distance as she's wont to do. The blue chitters again in a 'lizardly greeting to the gold, which only earns him a low-hissed, "Cyanosis. Cease." Pale eyes eventually fix on the cut, the line of her mouth pressing flat for a moment. "Does that hurt?" wonders she of the injury, even if she can't quite get a /good/ look at it to determine whether it's fresh or healing.

Tenebrous mmmhmms. "Quite a bit," he murmurs. "But the pain is not unexpected." He places fingers on a jar of disinfectant for a moment, eyeing its date. He slips it out of the cabinet a moment later, absently removing the cap. A moment later, a rough, sterile sponge is removed as well, and he takes it to his arm, scrubbing with enough force to make him grunt a little in discomfort. "If…my little companions are bothering yours, I can send them away," he finally adds after a moment, his voice tight.

There's a slight nod when Tenebrous answers, though she leaves it well enough alone when he tends to his own injury. Instead, there's a slight shake of her head for his latter words and Galina responds, "No. They are not. He is not easily bothered by much, I have found." Her mouth pulls slightly to a side. "Usually, he is good about staying away while I am here, but he likes other firelizards too much to stay away if he thinks they are about. He is … very curious. My apologies if he is being too noisy."

Tenebrous shrugs once, dipping a few fingers into the jar of salve and slowly working it over his arm. A soft hiss escapes his lips before he manages, "Oh, they're not bothered. They don't get out much, so they're just as happy to see another winged friend around as anything, I suppose." Done with the salve, he caps it again, absently muttering, "They need to keep a closer eye on the efficacy dates of this stuff."

"I see." Silent for a beat or two, Galina latches onto the absent muttering — or what she can gather of it — and inclines her head. "Are they labeled correctly?" Something about the very idea of /lack/ of correct labeling seems to be enough to set her forehead furrowing. Irritated. "I will try to keep a closer eye on it; some of the younger Apprentices are still learning how to cycle the stock and the others are usually too busy to check," she surmises.

Tenebrous mms quietly. "I honestly do not know if it's labeled correctly or not. But this label puts this salve at the end of it's half-life, and if it's accurate, for a disinfectant of all things, it should have been cycled out long ago." He reaches for a roll of bandages. "There's a reason why I make my own most of the time." One end of the bandage is gently laid against his arm, sticking just enough to anchor the strip down. "That having been said, I've been told that my own standards are, perhaps…high."

There's a shallow nod for his assessment, some mental note being made, no doubt. "It should have been used," she echoes with a thin thread of distant annoyance. "I will find out what happened," she assures, with a quick glance about the Infirmary in pursuit of pinpointing where the head Healer is for future reference. Back to Tenebrous again, Galina extends a hand, offering to help hold the bandage strip down if he'll accept it; if not, that hand will just be folded with the other, per usual. "There is nothing wrong with having high standards. I would prefer to do the same."

Tenebrous shrugs once. With his wrapping job done, he rolls just a little bit of extra bandage out to hold the roll in his right hand, and his left fishes a small, woodsman's knife from somewhere on his person. The fabric is given a deft slice and he places the rest of the roll back into the cabinets. That done, the knife vanishes again and he tucks the loose end of the wrap under some of the rest of it, wiggling his fingers on his right hand to test for tightness. "There's nothing wrong with high standards as long as they're quasi- realistic, I suppose. It's easy enough for one man to make the occasional pot of salve." The arm is slipped back into his long coat then before Tenebrous turns more fully to reguard her. "I remember you," he murmurs after a moment.

"Of course." That seems to be for his remark about realistic high standards, though her narrow shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. She watches the whole process of self-bandaging with a slight tilt of her head, silent for a little while until he speaks again. "Your green was allergic to my feet," Galina recalls, a glance given to her feet as if that might yield some answers after the fact. Nope, nothing there; just feet. Pale eyes return to Tenebrous. "I do not think we introduced ourselves."

Tenebrous glances at the jar of salve for a moment before he shrugs and sets it on top of the cabinet. That done, the cabinet is closed, and he turns his head again to reguard the younger woman. "Truth is…fickle sometimes, with what she smells." He shifts his satchel back around to the rear before shaking his head. "You are quite correct. We didn't."

"Interesting." Galina reaches up absently to tug on the blue's tail when it sweeps low enough to touch her cheek — wordless warning to the beast, who proceeds to pull his tail right back up and out of the way. There's a bit of fidgeting with her tunic to tug out some nonexistent wrinkle or another, and then a slight nod given to the man. With the matter addressed, she finally opts to offer up, "Galina." There's a pause, perhaps the span of a heartbeat, and then: "He is Cyanosis." Maybe something else is supposed to be said here, but she seems to draw a blank and lapses into silence.

Tenebrous watches Galina's face for several more moments before his eyes flicker to the knot at her shoulder. "A senior apprentice with the Hall of Healers." He nods his head in acknowledgement before gesturing to the green and then the gold flits on the bookshelves. "Truth and Reconciliation. Sisters, if the little ones have such a concept." He glances up at the two in question and then murmurs a word in a fluid, musical-sounding language to them. The green chuffs, quiet and surly before hopping into the air and vanishing a moment later. The Gold has the good grace to waddle over to the edge of the cabinet before she hiccups with enough force to send herself over the edge, and then she, too, vanishes.

With facts stated thusly, she has no response to give aside from a singular up-down-center nod of unnecessary confirmation. "What brings you to Ista?" Curious; nothing more. Cyanosis lingers for just a moment or two longer, but when the subjects of his interest are gone, he's quick to vanish in kind. A slight bit of tension is finally released from her shoulders and Galina takes a partial step back and begins a half-turn away. "I doubt they do have that sense," she responds, though with a vague rise-fall of her shoulders. "Or, if they do, then they seem to disregard it easily enough."

"Plantlife, actually," Tenebrous murmurs. "There are a few plants that grow natively in Ista's forests that don't grow so easily in the region where I typically reside. My private growing area burned along with a substantial amount of forest in a fire at Xanadu Weyr some time ago. I've had to see about rebuilding my stock so that I can plant when winter is finally over. I've… a great deal of work to do."

"I see. That is a shame; you must have had a lot of interesting things growing there." The line of her mouth tilts slightly downward and there's a moment of thought given before Galina muses, "There is a gardener here that might be able to assist you, if you can find her in a reasonably sober state." For that, a faint wrinkling of her nose can be seen, fleeting distaste made manifest. "Cenlia is her name. I would offer what help I could, but-" her hands splay demonstratively with palms up "-I lack anything resembling a green thumb."

"Most of the people in your position wind up with red thumbs, apprentice. Not green ones," Tenebrous offers sagely. Cenlia's name strikes some kind of a chord with him and when she says it, he purses his lips. "Why is it that most of the crafters of skill tend to spend their time somehow chemically compromised," he mutters to himself. "Such a waste."

"I can appreciate having red thumbs far more." Sadly, it's not an effort at a joke; Galya just says it, bland and matter-of-factly. There's a subtle quirking of her eyebrows for his response, then a slight shake of her head; uncomprehending, to be sure. "I do not understand the appeal. It seems-" she falters, digging for a better word "-no. It is incomprehensible. A lot of things in the Weyr are like that and it is sometimes distressing."

Tenebrous waves a hand. "It's one of the reasons why I don't come here that often. And perhaps that makes me a prude, but…my life is filled with things slightly less mundane than casual public nudity and drunkenness." He smiles slightly. "I live in a cave, after all. I'm a man after a bit of quiet and solitude."

"I would say it means you are still within full control of your mental faculties." There's a contortion of her lips, an attempt at a smile that just turns them into a wry line. "On the other hand, we are rarely ever without work as a result. Full-body sunburns, injuries incurred due to drunken antics …" Galina trails off; the list is the kind of thing that could just go on and on. She heaves a long-suffering sigh, which might well be comical coming from the likes of her. "Why are people the way they are?"

Tenebrous shrugs quietly. "Man seeks pleasure and the comforts in life. Before he finds that, he frequently chooses to content himself with…fascimilies of such." He spreads his hands. "It's the nature of man. But, as you say…you are rarely without work."

Galina crinkles her nose a little bit. "I hardly see the point if the result of that pleasure includes headaches and vomiting." But, then, a lot of things are incomprehensible as far as she's concerned. Her arms fold absently about her midsection and she tilts her head toward him, acknowledging if not entirely understanding. "I can see why you might prefer your plants."

Tenebrous wavers a hand. "As I understand it, there's the potential for a great deal of pleasure to be had, if done properly. Recreational sex is no different, and it could be argued that it's substantially more impacting on the human body than a few drinks of peach pernod, as it were." He snorts once. "Still…I'll stick with my cave, my waterfall, and the company of my fire lizards."

Nope; she still doesn't 'get' it. Or, maybe, it's just a little horrifying and she's trying to mask that a bit. Either way, Galina murmurs, "Two things that Ista will never be devoid of: drunks and pregnant women. We have already seen quite a few and I diagnosed one today who was unaware she was pregnant for what must have been several months." There's a slight, but significantly baffled, shake of her head. "Someday, it would be nice to have that same luxury. Though, a library might be a bit more suiting."

Tenebrous gestures to the south. "Xanadu or Fort might be more to your liking then, when the opportunity for reposting comes up. Not only do they have a library there, but they're at a distinct lack for drunk and pregnant persons." A pause. "Knock on wood, and all that." He glances down at his arm again and then back up. "That aside…I have places to go." He taps the supply cabinet with a finger. "Incidentally…while I appreciate your distinct lack thereof interference…you should probably stop strange people like myself from randomly rooting around in them without identifying themselves first." He glances over at the busy On Duty. "Actually, that's their responsibility, but…just a thought."

"Perhaps, but I have been assigned to work here, for good or ill." And that's that, as far as she's concerned. Galina's shoulders lift in a shallow shrug of relative indifference, pale eyes flicking askance to the On Duty and then back to Tenebrous to settle unblinkingly on him. "If I had not seen you at the Healer Hall before," she murmurs, "then I would have asked a few more questions." There's a slight ducking of her head and an added, "But, I will keep that in mind." Pause. "Thank you."

Tenebrous eyes Galina for another long moment before murmuring, "You need to get out more, apprentice. When was the last time you either went swimming or camping?" It's a blunt question, but one honestly asked.

"I can't swim," answers the first easily enough, with a slight knitting of her brows for the latter. "I have not gone camping." Nor does it seem appealing, given the expression that briefly emerges on Galya's face. "I get out enough. If I do not, I am sure Cenlia and F'yr would force me to in some way or another." More unpleasantness, this time sufficient to twist her lips irritably.

Tenebrous blinks. "You live on an island. Learn to swim. I'll teach you if you want, in a quiet place that's less…inebriated. If you're interested, that is." Then he dips his head a little. "Good evening, apprentice." THen he's turning to go, unless she's something else to add.

She's already in the midst of preparing to retreat to her workspace when he speaks again. "You would be the only sober teacher available," is intoned rather wryly, with a shallow nod given. Still, it takes her a few seconds to add, "If it would not be an imposition, then it would be appreciated." Galina bows her head briefly, then turns to go, adding her own, "Farewell and be safe," as she goes.

Tenebrous looks over his shoulder at the woman for a time before shaking his head. "That's always the idea, anyway," he murmurs, glancing down at this arm. "Just never seems to stay that way…" Then he's nudging the door to the Infirmary open and slipping out again.

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