Candidate First Aid

Writers: Heather, Miriah, Paula, Yvonne
Date Posted: 4th March 2014

Characters: Alina, Ciendra, J'ackt, Saidrene, Rubanya
Description: The Candidates are given an unusual first aid class
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 6, day 4 of Turn 7
Notes: Mentioned: Xandris

Alina

J'ackt

Saidrene

"Everyone gather round!" The stout fire-haired healer waved at the
class as they came in, pointing at the chairs that had been set up in
a semi-circle. Rubanya's open face was set in a smile "Come on now!
I've got a busy lesson planned for all of you." She glanced at her
list and ticked off the names as they came in; she knew most of them
from previous lessons and a couple from their duties in the infirmary.
She didn't even glance up as she continued. "Now...today we're doing
basic first aid. Today we'll be practicing some bandaging. I know a
few of you who've been working in the infirmary and have had some
experience, so you'll be my assistants to begin with. Jenackt,
Saidrene..." She looked up. "You'll start out by helping to
demonstrate to the class how to do back and thigh bandaging. These are
common injury areas during Threadfall. Then, you each will come up
here and practice on them and each other."

Jenackt's eyes bulged and for a moment, he felt like bolting. He did
not want to be the center of attention here. Not in the slightest. He
glanced at Xandris, mutely appealing for assistance as Rubanya grabbed
his hand and literally hauled him in front of the class. He stood
still and stared at her.

"You'll have the back injury dear." She reached up and patted his
cheek. "Go on. Off with the shirt. We've all seen bare chest before."
She glanced at Saidrene. "Oh, Saidrene dear, I had your mother send
down a bathing suit. You'll be the thigh injury. You can change
outside and come right back in."

Ciendra suppressed a giggle. She had classes like this before. That
happened when you Stood but didn't Impress.

Saidrene had grown up in the Weyr so nudity was by no means a stranger
to her, however, being scantily clad around _Jenackt_ was! Her thighs
tingled already at the mere thought of him touching her. **I am going
to kill my mother.** She grumped to herself as she went off and
changed into the bathing suit and then returned to where the class was
gathered.

Bathing costumes on the beach seemed indecent enough, but Saidrene
wearing one in class made her seem naked. Alina averted her eyes and
tried to look anywhere but at the front. Where Jenackt was taking off
his shirt. Which was also indecent. She snuck a peek despite herself,
but quickly looked away. Indecent, but also somewhat facinating. None
of the farm boys she'd seen shirtless in the fields at Nadol Cothold
looked quite like _that_.

Jenackt stripped off his shirt and exhaled, crossing his arms in mild
annoyance only to jerk slightly when Rubanya slithered three fingers
dipped in ink across his back. "There. You have three thread scores."
She patted his shoulder and turned him around so that the class could
see the squiggly marks that trailed along his shoulder blade to the
middle of his back. The healer then walked to Saidrene, dipped her
fingers in the red ink and bent to make two slithery squiggles along
the top of her thigh. "And you, my dear have two."

She looked up and spotted Ciendra. "OH! I forgot about you, dear. Come
up! You've done this before! Perfect! Now I have three!" She hustled
over to the girl and literally pulled her to the front of the class
and pulled up her sleeve to show her arm and promptly made three
squiggles over her upper arm. "There we go. Now..." She addressed the
newer Candidates."Now, which do you think would need to be treated
first?"

Saidrene felt so awkward standing in front of the class with her
bathing suit on that she didn't even try to answer the question. She
studied the ground beneath her feet, noticing the way the grass
sprouted up between her toes. **Sweet Faranth how long has it been
since I painted my toenails?** She thought in mortification.

Ciendra blushed a bit after being pulled up and become centre of
everyone's attention. She didn't say anything and stood perfectly
still. She knew the answer to her question but wasn't sure if she
should answer or not.

Nobody was saying anything, so Alina put up her hand. "The back
injury, then the thigh, then the arm," she said, still not looking at
the front.

"That's good, Alina. You're right, with one exception. If the
threadscore on the thigh is close to the inner thigh, treat that
first. There's a large vessel there that if opened can bleed a person
out very quickly." She pointed at Saidrene's thigh. "But this one is
on the outer thigh. So, the back is treated first." She gestured at
Saidrene and Ciendre, "Come here girls. " She pushed Jenackt to the
center of the class and he moved with a grumble as he was directed
into place. "Now, class we'll say the wound has been cleaned with
fresh water and disinfected with redwort." She glanced at the class
and sighed. "All of you watch. You're not going to learn anything by
looking down at the ground or at the walls. For goodness sake, it's
only a bare back." She glanced at Jenackt's back. "And it's a nice
one, so it shouldn't be a chore to watch this." Jenackt's face flamed
brightly.

Rubanya continued as if she hadn't noticed the embarrassment around
the room. She handed the gauze pad and wrap to Saidrene. "Alright,
show the class how to bandage the wound. Ciendra, you'll have to help
her wrap."

Saidrene fingered the bandage roll in her hand for a moment. She had
practice bandaging dragons and firelizards in her dragonhealer
training, but never a human... And never _Jenackt_. **Be still my
heart.** She licked her lips and then nudged one of Jenackt's arms,
"Arms up please." She told him before unraveling more of the roll,
"Ciendra, will you hold this in place right here please?" She put the
end of the bandage flat against the center of Jenackt's back and then
began rolling the bandage around his torso and back, her fingers
brushing against the smooth skin of his sides as she passed the roll
back and forth.

Ciendra hesitated to touch him. She was still bit afraid of Jenackt.
Then she took the bandage's end and slapped it against his skin,
keeping it where Saidrene had asked.

'All of you watch,' Rubanya had said. So Alina stared determinedly at
a point in the middle of the room. It put Jenackt, Saidrene and
Ciendra firmly in her peripheral vision, and she felt sorry for all of
them. Saidrene looked naked, poor Ciendra looked as if she wanted to
melt into the floor, and Jenackt looked... she blinked and stared
harder into space. Jenackt looked as if he wanted to hit something.
This whole lesson was just _awful_.

Jenackt grunted as Ciendra slapped his back and looked over his
shoulder at her. He sighed, but as they began wrapping him, his eyes
widened. Their fingers were very soft. And they smelled rather nice.
He closed his eyes. Shard it... **Two plus two equals four. Five times
two equals ten.** Their hands slid around his chest and he gritted his
teeth, keeping his eyes closed even tighter as he began to recite his
alphabet silently.

Rubanya nodded at the two girls. "Very good. That's enough girls. It
looks pleasant enough. You can take it off." She looked down at the
hide in her hand. "Alina...your turn to try. Just do what they did."

Jenackt's eyes popped open and he stifled a groan.

Saidrene unwound the bandage from his chest, rolling it back up as she
went. Handing the roll to Rubanya, Saidrene stepped out of the way but
remained at the front of the class since she knew that someone would
have to wrap the "wound" on her thigh.

Alina rose stiffly and walked to the front of the room with her chin
held high. Embarassment made her ears burn as she took the bandage
from Rubanya, then turned toward Jenackt. He was probably enjoying
this. Her eyes narrowed a little as she approached him and handed the
end of the bandage to Ciendra. The other candidate had helped
Saidrene, so it was obviously fair if she recruited Ciendra to help
her, too. She hesitated a moment, then steeled herself. **Don't look.
Don't breathe. Pretend he's dead. It would be better if he were dead.
Sweet Faranth, why did she have to pick on _me_?!** She could feel the
gaze of her classmates like daggers in her back as she began to wrap
Jenackt's middle, drawing the bandage tighter than Saidrene had.

Ciendra tried not to sigh. Looked like she was selected as the
official bandage holder for this class.

Saidrene watched Alina with an arched eyebrow. She didn't know why the
girl was wrapping the bandages so tightly, but if she wasn't careful
Jenackt was going to begin looking like an overstuffed sausage rather
than a bandaged patient.

"Ow...shaffit! I have skin there." Jenackt looked down at Alina and
shifted underneath the bandages. "If you're bandaging someone, you
don't try to cut their air off...shards.. loosen it up."

Rubanya tutted softly. "Be nice, lad. She's nervous. Bandaging isn't
easy for everyone." She patted Alina's shoulder. "Not so tight,
dearie. You'll cut off circulation and could cause damage. A little
looser and you're done with him."

Alina flushed crimson. Her lips tightened as she slowly slid her
fingers beneath the bandages and gave them a tug to loosen them,
although leaving them as they were seemed like a good idea--
humiliation made her want to cause some damage very badly.

Rubanya nodded in approval. "Much better, Alina." She unwrapped
Jenackt, who gave a sigh of relief, only to tense again as Rubanya's
next idea made him want to shove his head through a wall. "Now,
Jenackt why don't you and Ciendra show Alina how to properly do a
thigh wrapping. Go ahead and sit, Saidrene. Oh..And you too Ciendra.
Jenackt, you show how on Saidrene and then Alina, you can follow his
instructions and just wrap over Ciendra's leggings. I don't think I
have a swimming suit for her, so we'll just improvise."

Saidrene did as ordered, sitting on the ground with her knee bent so
that her thigh was easily accessible. What if her skin broke out into
goosebumps when he touched her? There was no hiding that. A part of
Saidrene eagerly admitted that she would have _no_ qualms about
Jenackt touching her in so intimate of a place.... if they were alone!
But right here in front of everyone?

Ciendra just stared Rubanya and then turned to stare Jenackt.

Jenackt decided that underneath Rubanya's giddy, pleasant face lurked
the presence of evil. He stared at her, took a breath and walked to
where Saidrene sat, wrappings clenched in his hand. He stared at her
thigh for a moment, shook himself and glanced over his shoulder at the
other girls. "Okay, come look and watch." **Three plus five equals
eight. Four times two equals nine.** He knelt beside Saidrene and
placed the pad over the marks on her thigh, holding it down with the
flat of his hand. **Five plus...soft skin. No, five plus four equals
firm muscle. NO. It equals nine. Just a little higher is..Saibra's
daughter. _Saibra's_ shaffing daughter. Do not think about what is
higher than your bleeding hand.** He cleared his throat quickly and
wrapped the gauze around her thigh, keeping his gaze firmly locked on
the pretend wound and not what his eyes really wanted to have a longer
look at. He finished with a quick tie and stepped back quickly.

Rubanya applauded. "Good job, Jenackt. Now, Alina, it's your turn.
Ciendra, sit."

Ciendra was more than happy to sit down.

Alina sighed and picked up the bandages again. At least Ciendra was
clothed-- and a girl. Watching Jenackt and Saidrene had been
profoundly uncomfortable on several levels. "Well, you've got me.
There's every chance you're going to die," she whispered to Ciendra as
she began.

"Don't worry, just wrap it around my arm," Ciendra murmured
instructions and held out her arm. "They won't let us any where near
real Thread Scores anyway, not without healer's knots."

"And thank the Egg for that," Alina whispered back, rolling her eyes.
This whole class was pointless, and designed entirely for Rubanya's
amusement.

Rubanya, her cherubic smile never wavering, watched with steady
anticipation while a glint of glee sparkled in her eyes.

Last updated on the March 13th 2014

Welcome to Triad Weyrs!

Candidate First Aid