i won't leave any doubt [May, catchall, open]

[ruinsprofessor]

Characters: Raine Sage and OPEN
Date: May, most of it
Location: Keeliai. Healers' Guild, Earth Sector, assorted other
Situation: many, lots.
Warnings/Rating: None currently, will update if that changes


A | Healers' Guild | OPEN

Raine can be found at the Healers' Guild perhaps even more often now, even though she was supposed to be delegating to free up more of her time. With the recent loss of some personnel, and a recent brush with friends from home as well, she's been working as hard as she can, and possibly forgetting to take as many breaks as she should. At any point during most days she can be found tending patients, or in her office working at any number of administrative tasks, or making a beeline from point A to point B, walking briskly and with purpose. She's rarely in the entrance hall, but any kedan volunteer can point out where the head of the Guild has gotten to at most times.

Fairly generally, if she leaves on time, it's because someone else has reminded her to, whether it's Solomon coming to pull her away from things or one of her coworkers reminding her about the fine art of delegation.

There is only one instance in which she falls asleep on her desk.

After the seventh of the month, there will be one or two instances in which she can be found at the empty pool in the courtyard, looking visibly and unusually troubled.

B | markets | OPEN

Raine, mid-errands, has a basket under one arm and appears to have been sidetracked (yet again) by her questionable cooking choices. This is currently manifesting in the shape of a conversation with a shopkeeper about sea prunes.

She herself is intent, brow furrowed and questioning earnestly. The kedan appears somewhat more concerned. "No," he's saying, "you can't put sea prunes in cake."

Raine does not appear to believe him.

C | a particular tavern | closed to Lin and Pepper)

Finally following up on the lead Solomon uncovered for her regarding last month's anonymous donation, Raine goes from kedan orderly to a specific tavern where she has been told they usually drink, around the hours that would make sense for such a thing. She really should have made time for this earlier, but the practicalities of running the Guild combined with the pressures of the Milyn problems only made her busyness mount, instead of easing.

In contrast, it's almost pleasantly simple just to go out to a tavern with a friend. Even if there is an ulterior motive. Raine invited Pepper half because she really could use a second point of view on this problem, and half because she wanted an excuse to spend time with a friend, in the middle of everything else that's happening.

She's looking for a scrawny kedan with colourful hair and a stutter, and she'll head his way when she spots him.

D | wildcard | open

[ooc; if you have questions about the Healers' Guild, or questions in general, or want to plot, drop me a pm here or at makaricrow c: Or just throw things at me, that's cool too!]

Comments

A->B-ish

[denyamenti]

The assistant kedan had pointed him to the inner courtyard, where he found Raine staring at the empty pool. He'd been here before, and she'd told him what the pool had originally been used for, but nothing looked different bout it now... so there should be no reason why she should be staring at it in such a way.

"Seba-rekhet?"

[ruinsprofessor]

At the sound of his voice Raine startled, drawing her breath in sharply as she turned. He shouldn't have been able to startle her -- normally she could feel him coming, and the nickname was a familiar thing. She relaxed in the moment after, shoulders dropping. "...I must have been more distracted than I thought," she said, wry. Her mind had been in thoughts of Milyn, now more of a troubling subject than before, and the empty pool was a stark reminder. "Hello, Bakura. What brings you here?"

She would guess she was the reason, one way or another, but couldn't extrapolate anything more specific from his appearance alone.

[denyamenti]

"I came to check out the growing thundercloud above the Healer's Guild," he said, with a perfectly straight face. "And behold, I find the source."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine glanced up, almost reflexively, at the clear gray skies above the courtyard, before back to Bakura with a flat sort of amusement. "You can hardly have detected I was lost in thought from where you started," she told him, the faint curve of her mouth giving the lie to her tone. It was a valid metaphor, though, given where she had been thinking. "What was on your mind when you set out, then?"

[denyamenti]

The fact that Raine looked up made him grin, and that smirk was waiting for Raine when she glanced back down at him. "Couldn't I have?" he returned. "Are you so confident of that you'd put a wager on it?"

He walked closer. "I haven't seen you around much," he said. "And there's been plenty of recent happenings that make it unwise for you to keep to yourself so much."

[ruinsprofessor]

The request for a wager caught her mid-agreement, and Raine frowned briefly as she considered. Bakura's confidence implied perhaps he could have, but he was also skilled at projecting confidence. Could he have? She touched the charm she still wore at her left wrist, rubbing the disc of it between her fingers in absent thought. No; that was only a trap, wasn't it?

"You might have predicted it through familiarity," Raine acknowledged finally. "But I don't think you could have specifically detected it, no." Those two did not qualify as the same thing, and she would indeed split that hair. "That, I'd be willing to wager on, yes."

Which itself said something. Once, she would have considered making anything like a bet with Bakura to be a terribly foolish thing.

She tilted her head at his phrasing, mutely curious. Most wouldn't have called it unwise. "There's been a lot to do," she said, faintly apologetic. "Especially now that we're somewhat shorthanded."

[denyamenti]

"I'm not talking about filling in for extra shifts at the Guild," he replied mildly, well aware that she already knew that. "You participated in quite the deception, seba-rekhet, and that goes against your nature."

[lasergrenades]

Barhopping held very little interest for Pepper. Going to a bar in order to seek out information, as part of an investigation - now that was interesting. And spending time with Raine is never a waste, regardless of the circumstance.

She had been very tempted to bring the armor along - oh so very tempted - but it's unlikely that she'll need it. Even so, Pepper has the dagger Solomon gave her hidden in her boot, and the Duelist Gauntlet in her bag. It's become something of a habit to bring them out with her.

"Is this the part where we bribe the bartender to give us intel?" she asks cheerfully, eyes shining as she takes in the details of the tavern.

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine has, despite the trials and tribulations of the world regeneration journey, not once been called upon to bribe a bartender for information. She gives Pepper an amused look, and shakes her head. "That shouldn't be necessary," she says. "I'm informed that this is a regular location for the person we're looking for, and he's apparently fairly distinctive."

She herself glances around once more, and finally orients on someone matching the description given. "Here," she says to Pepper. "This way, I think." And Raine leads her toward the kedan she's assuming is Lin, colorful hair and all. "Excuse me," she says, when they're near enough to be within earshot despite the ambient noise of the tavern.

[rawiron]

Lin is situated on the edges of a group, some Woodsmen and some not, but all laughing and drinking together. They aren't ignoring him--every now and then he contributes to the conversation--but when Raine and Pepper get close, he looks up, still smiling at a joke one of the others was telling.

"Hi," he says, and sidles over a seat, so there's a little more distance between him and the others. "You're th- the healer, right?" He pointed at Pepper, grinning. "And you t- t- told ol' groundcrawler what's what."

[lasergrenades]

"Someday, it'll be necessary," Pepper mutters quietly to herself as she follows Raine across towards their quarry.

The kedan with the colorful mane is, apparently, the one they're looking for. And also, apparently, he knows who they both are. Pepper is a little surprised she's recognized so readily, but she had told Yunxu off in a public space and she's spent the past few months talking with a lot of kedan. Maybe it shouldn't be that surprising.

"I- uh, yeah. That was me." At least it sounds like he's a compatriot in disliking the Snake. "I'm Pepper; you must be Lin."

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine herself isn't entirely surprised to be recognized. She offers a small, polite smile in return, and a nod. "That's correct; I'm Raine Sage. I have a question for you, if you have a moment to spare? Regarding the ingredients of a particular healing agent. I was led to believe you might be able to help me."

She's careful to phrase it in such a way that it should protect his privacy from anyone close enough to overhear -- after all, it's perfectly reasonable to inquire to a Woodsman about the growth of plants, isn't it?

[rawiron]

"Yeah," says Lin, but that was to Pepper; at Raine's words he looks ... not precisely surprised, but a bit uncomfortable. "I was hoping you'd forgot- t- ten ab- bout th- that," he mumbles, glancing back toward the rest of the group. They'd taken a while in tracking him down. Then he perks up. "Unless you're just looking for more?"

A Because she's a ninja... :P

[ninjainviolet]

Sheena should be looking for a place to stay, but after visiting the Welcome Center and picking up a map or two and a radio, the ninja made it her priority to find Raine.

She remembered her last visit here and could probably just head on over to Raine's place, but she knew the mage too well. Whether leading it or doing research, Sheena hedged her bets and headed straight to the Healers' Guild. If she was wrong, she could always head on over to her friend's. They really hadn't had much time together, and she wanted to pick up where they had left off.

Too bad Tomoya didn't come this time. The little Corrine-Clone had liked Raine.

Heading into the building, the ninja had her suspicions confirmed immediately, but asked the volunteer there to not announce her presence. She wanted to surprise Raine. Waiting until Raine wasn't busy with a patient and hurrying along the corridor, the ninja managed to quietly fall into step behind her and quietly ask a question.

"So, have I missed the wedding?"

[ruinsprofessor]

Raine blamed her distraction for not having noticed anything sooner. As it was she missed a step, drew her breath in sharply, and turned around, eyes wide. "Sheena," she said, with some delight. And it had to be the same Sheena that had been in Keeliai at the end of April; otherwise, she wouldn't have been aware of the impending wedding to ask about it. "You're back!"

She got over the surprise much more rapidly this time, and stepped forward to sweep Sheena into a hug.

When Raine pulled back to finally answer the question, she was smiling. "You haven't," she answered. "We were considering later this month, perhaps next, but nothing's formalized yet. The guest list is small, at any rate." A brief pause. "One larger, now." It wasn't quite a question, only request for confirmation.

[ninjainviolet]

What? You couldn't attribute it to Sheena's ninja skills? She still had those after four years, refusing to let them die. In fact, she even taught them to someone. But that was a story for another day.

In the mean time, however, Sheena merely smiled at her friend before breaking into friendly laughter. "Yes, it's me! The one and only!" And she pulled up her sleeve, revealing the cuff about her wrist--a purple stone set in metal bands of changing colors. "And I'm back for more than just a visit."

She didn't expect the hug, but she returned it immediately. Sheena didn't know how much time had passed here since she left, nor did she know how long she had been back on Atia before being kicked off the island, but... It felt like it had been both forever and yesterday that she had seen this Raine.

Keeping her hands on her friend's shoulders as she pulled away, the ninja smiled. "Good." At least Atia or whoever brought her here got that part right. "Hmmm," she said, an impish gleam forming in her eyes. "I guess I still have time to get a present then."

Most definitely a "yes".

[ruinsprofessor]

It had been a while, too, since they'd traveled together, and the recollection that Sheena moved softly was something different than turning around to find her at one's shoulder.

The soul gem was the first immediately distracting thing. With Sheena's hands on her shoulders Raine turned her head to peer at it, expression clearing as the implications set in with that and the other woman's words. Sheena was here to stay.

"A present really isn't necessary," she protested, half-heartedly. "It's not as though we're starting a household from scratch, like some newlyweds need to. It's enough that you're here."

Her smile, gone only briefly in consideration, was back, though a slightly more wistful thing now. "It's good to see you again," she said then. "I've... been missing everyone. Have you been here long?" And had time passed for Sheena, back in that other world?

[ninjainviolet]

Well...perhaps for this Raine it had been a while, but not for Sheena. Still, the Raine on Amat also seemed to forget about the ninja's abilities from time to time. Now, people weren't supposed to know she had them, but still, her friends...

Seeing Raine look at the cuff, the ninja waited until the mage looked back up before nodding. "That's right. I'm back and it's to stay." She hoped.

"I'm sorry, what?" And the ninja pretended to clean out her ears. "Did you say something? That a present's more than fine?" Of course, Raine hadn't said such a thing, but Sheena had learned a few new ways to get her stubbornness about things across. "And who said anything about something for the household?"

You could ask, Raine, but she wasn't saying anything.

Raine would feel a slight tightening of Sheena's hands before the ninja let go and stepped back. She had also been missing the others, but hadn't remembered this Raine until she woke up here. "I just got here a little bit ago. In the same alley, as a matter of fact. I made a stop before coming here." And yes, time had passed in that other world.

[ruinsprofessor]

Oh, honestly. Raine sighed, her shoulders dropping a little. There would be no arguing with Sheena about this, would there? "I said it wasn't necessary," she tried, for form's sake, and resigned herself to a gift. "It's simply that that's where the tradition of wedding-gifts likely originated..."

She could tell when protests were falling on deaf ears. "...In any case, I'm glad you're back. You'll need a place to stay. Knowing it may be somewhat more permanent, would you still like to stay with us?" It seemed that things hadn't lent themselves to Sheena properly meeting Solomon while she'd been there last, and now, with the influx of strange rootless Foreigners gone, the factors that had prevented it were mostly gone.

Raine was only a little worried.

"You didn't encounter any trouble?"

Healer's Guild

[no_light]

Following up on their console chat, a rather grim black-robed man walked into the Healer's Guild on Saturday, asking to be showed to Raine.

He watched the woman work for a few moments before he approached her. He cleared his throat, trying his best not to loom and appear... well, more healerly.

"Raine Sage? I'm Kylo Ren, we spoke earlier this week. We had been planning to meet in a tea shop, but..." He scowled. Yeah, still having these money problems.

[ruinsprofessor]

The console had not lent itself to Kylo Ren's full impression; he was at least a head taller than Raine, and once she'd straightened to look at him she spent a moment absently cataloguing the obvious scar and what had probably caused it. "Of course," she said, with a brisk nod. "One moment."

She bent again, clearly putting him on the back burner as she made one last check of the kedan woman she'd been healing. "Ease back into using it carefully," she instructed finally, when she was satisfied, and as her patient agreed and tested the shoulder carefully, Raine watched another moment or two more before turning back to Kylo Ren.

"I recall," she said then, and offered her free hand. The other held a staff, mahogany a little shorter than she and capped with concentric brass circles. "It's nice to see you in person. What changed?"

[no_light]

He looked down at her offered hand, momentarily at a loss. It was still decidedly disorienting that people in this place approached him so openly and casually as if he were just another person. It wasn't even the lack of a mask, it had been the same when he wore his. A moment too late for it to look natural, Kylo shook her hand. His own was gloved, his grip firm.

"There are certain... complications." He grimaced in distaste and ran his fingers through his hair. "Difficulties with settling in this town which I hadn't expected." He regarded Raine, old instincts telling him that if he were to see her as a teacher he ought to be honest, but honesty was overrated. And he really didn't want to look like a charity case, bad enough he was one to Shudder.

"Anyway, I still wished to see you." He nodded at her staff. "You are a healer, yet you carry a weapon. Do you expect to encounter many violent patients?"

[ruinsprofessor]

There was definitely something odd, Raine decided, and she added the hesitation to his evasiveness about his profession. Nothing that made sense yet, but eventually pieces would fit together.

"Complications?" she inquired. With tea? Ah. "Either you have a recently discovered allergy, or you're new enough that you're being careful with your juulan, correct? It's fine."

It wasn't all that dear for her, and she didn't mind, in any case. His question, though, netted him an interested look. "Very few people comment on that," she noted. "I don't encounter many violent patients, no. This serves primarily as a focus-- it's somewhat more efficient for me to cast with it, and as I often do a great deal of healing in one day, every bit helps. In any case," she added, with a bit of wryness, "it's also important to be able to defend my patients, if necessary."

[no_light]

He stiffened indignantly when she mentioned him being careful with his juulans, distinctly upset that he had so easily been seen through. At least she hadn't made a big deal out of it.

"A focus," he murmured, eyeing the staff more intently, "like you would use an object to focus on during meditation, or does it actually strengthen your powers?" He arched his brows. "But yes, I can see that it would be useful for protection, even if you claim most of your patients aren't violent."

[ruinsprofessor]

Pride, Raine marked, and thought better of offering to pay for them both.

"Something of both," she explained, lifting it absently. The circles spun within each other, slow. "The materials with which it's made conduct mana better than most, and it serves as a somewhat more narrow point to concentrate rather than my hands alone, which makes casting easier. The overall amplification in power is by this point mostly negligible, however."

At his last she raised one eyebrow, her tone wry when she spoke. "Do you expect differently?" she inquired.