Я вернулся в деревню

[balancedlight]

Who: Svetlana and Open + a prompt for Fraser
What: Venturing forth and also dealing with April shenanigans!
When: April catch-all!
Where: Milton, then the path up to and including Lakeside. See prompts in post!

Content Warnings: Nothing as of yet; will update!

Comments

I. Milton

[balancedlight]

Sveta knows that the trek is going to take a lot out of her, but at least the oppressive darkness isn’t so all-pervasive any longer. The clinic, Goodsir’s cabin, seems so quiet without the clink and clatter of instruments and bottles. She clears out the cabinets of everything except first aid and lays that out in plain sight for anyone who might need it. Hopefully they won’t need labels for what they find, and she traces his handwriting over the English writing, committing it to memory.

She already split most of the other supplies with Goodsir, but there’s no telling what’s in the other place that he might not recognize. She respects the hell out of the man, but it doesn’t mean that he knows what to look for.

She’d feel better doing it herself.

But there’s still much to do and it leaves her walking between her hut and Goodsir’s, half nervous and half purposeful.

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey's returning from a hunting session. He's got a dead rabbit slung over his shoulder as he looks over at Sveta, obviously pacing and obviously worrying. He frowns for a moment, looking her over. That blonde foreigner. She's a doctor, yeah? Better he at least get one of them on his side—Hickey is well aware that Goodsir's professional ethics as a doctor are likely to snap if he's concerned.

"Something's on your mind," he points out, with a little nod. "You're walking like you'll wear a hole in the ground."

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

She looks over, eyeing the rabbit and then the hunter. Unfamiliar, though she's seen his face around. Not in the clinic, though. No. Strangely, he's stayed away.

"I - I'm preparing to walk to the other place," she tells him. "But I don't want to forget anything."

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

"That other city, yeah? The one through the mines." Hickey frowns for a moment, thinking to himself before admitting,

"Haven't visited it yet myself. When everybody went off on their expedition, I figured I wasn't going to be one of the ones possibly dying in the mines. But now that the route's clear enough...I dunno. Might go down for a week or so."

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

"Oh, well, we could possibly journey together?" she suggests. "It might be better with another person."

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

"It probably will be," he muses, with a little chuckle, "but I'd have to check with my housemate first. Bit rude to just up and leave without so much as a warning."

His 'housemate' aka his husband. But though Hickey knows more people here are accepting of that sort of thing, old habits die hard.

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

Sveta shakes her head. "Oh, of course!" she says, hand on her heart, sincerely apologetic. "Of course. I didn't think - " She drops her hand. "Well, I will be leaving in the next hour to hopefully have enough daylight to see. But I plan on returning."

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

"Well, when you return, I'll have to pick your brain for what's there," he nods. "After all, I plan on visiting that city eventually. Might as well see what you've picked up and learn from that."

Hickey gives Sveta a cavalier little shrug. No problem! This is totally normal and a nice conversation and he is a totally normal man!

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

She sees absolutely nothing wrong with this perfectly polite man.

"Yes. But - well, it is hardly a city..."

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

And she's gonna keep seeing nothing wrong, dammit.

"It's more of a city than this place!" he laughs. "But you're right. I don't think we'll ever get a proper city around here."

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

"A proper city? What is a proper city for you?"

She starts to walk again, but pauses to wait for him if he follows.

Re: I. Milton

[friendsfordinner]

Having nothing better to do for the moment, Hickey follows.

"More than a hundred people, I'll tell you that." There's a moment before Hickey decides, "Pubs. A proper city has at least three or four different pubs. Odd metric, I know, but I was never one to measure in churches or the workforce."

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

"Oh, I would love a proper drink," she agrees. "It isn't so odd to think in those terms. In the places that make people happy and take their troubles away for a little while."

Re: I. Milton

[meadqueen]

Randvi lives on Bear’s Bend, and often finds herself passing the healer’s home on Blackrock Road on her way to the Community Hall.

She's a bit surprised to pass the same woman walking in the same direction both on her trip there and her trip back.

“Are you all right?”

Re: I. Milton

[balancedlight]

She has her head down, focused on her tasks, but when she's spoken to, she stops short, looking up.

"Oh!" She covers her surprise with a sheepish smile. "Ah, yes. I am. I'm - preparing for a trip through the mines."

[meadqueen]

“Through the mines!” Despite having taken the original trip herself, Randvi is a little shocked. “A courageous prospect in this weather. You wish to visit Lakeside?”

[balancedlight]

"Visit sounds like a holiday." She manages a soft laugh. "This is - I need to bring supplies over. I need to check on Doctor Goodsir. I am - also a doctor. We work together," she explains, trying to find the right words.

[meadqueen]

“Oh, a healer!” It's honestly a bit of a relief, that's a woman’s job at home and she's been a bit nervous about potentially having to consult Goodsir or the other man advertising medical services at the hall.

“Yes, I made the initial crossing with his group. There is a medical office at the dam that they were very excited about.”

[balancedlight]

She smiles. "Yes, a healer." That sounds enough like doctor for her. "I cannot wait to see it."

She shifts her pack.

"My name is Svetlana Nazarova."

[meadqueen]

“Svetlana. That’s a beautiful name.” It reminds Randvi a bit of Svala, the healer she had known in Fornburg. A fitting name, then. “My name is Randvi.”

Even Goodsir had been a bit like a child after a raid in that place. “I am sure that if you're from a comparable time to this place you will find much of interest there.”

[balancedlight]

"Randvi," she repeats, tasting the word as she says it. So many here with such strange and fantastic names. She can hardly keep up! It's like reading a story.

"I am," she agrees. "At least, I believe I am. Nothing here, none of the technology, is anything different than what I'm used to. Is this new to you?"

[meadqueen]

“Oh yes, it's all new.” It’s fascinating, but it's a lot to get used to. “I had never even… you know the glass that men like Goodsir and Heartman wear on their faces? Before this I had never seen anything like that.”

[balancedlight]

"Oh! Yes, the glasses to see. I have those, actually." She reaches in her coat pocket and shows her. They're round and large, almost too big for her face, but she only wears them to read.

[meadqueen]

“Oh!” she says, eyes wide. “The glass is so thin and clear! Are these for scholars, then?”

[balancedlight]

"Oh, no, they're for people who can't see well," she giggles. "I use them when I'm reading something, or at night when my eyes are tired and don't see as well."

She replaces them in her pocket.