Art by https://owlpellet.tumblr.com/
"If the sun was always shining and our load always light
We'd be shaking like a leaf with every God given night
And we'd break under the weight
Of any pain that ever came in this life"
- Bilgewater, by Brown Bird
BASICS
NAME: Lisbet
GENDER: Cis Female
PRONOUNS: She/Her/Hers
ORIENTATION: Bisexual/Biromatic
BIRTHDATE: Winter of 2745
AGE: 27 as of 2772
LOCATION: Semaca Weyr
OCCUPATION: Journeyman Healer
WING: N/A
APPEARANCE
Art by https://www.raytrayart.com/
EYES: Deep brown
HAIR: Black and curly
HEIGHT AND BUILD: 5'5", average
FULL APPEARANCE
Lisbet has lovely coppery-brown skin, with freckles scattered across the bridge of her nose and extending out across her cheekbones. She can most often be seen with her hair up and braided, wrapped in a crown about her head to keep it off the nape of her neck, a testament to the Southern continent's humidity and heat; when loose, her hair forms a magnificent mane of thick black curls... when they're not frizzed, anyway, and Lisbet certainly doesn't have the time to do proper curl maintenance and care every morning.
The Healer moves with a sense of purpose and a seemingly untouchable serenity, seldom one to raise her voice and never seen pacing or fidgeting. There's an intentional air to everything she does, and she never seems to rush, though she's not sluggish either -- it's as though she's got everything planned out four steps ahead and knows exactly what she's doing, even when she absolutely does not. In Lisbet's experience, the appearance of calm and confidence helps to foster its reality, and so she's gotten into the habit of acting the part in all aspects of her life. It's just easier that way.
She dresses appropriately for a Healer, practical trousers and shirts with sleeves that fit tightly to her arms to avoid any possibility of spilling something because she chose a droopy cuff. On those few occasions where she is off-duty and obliged to socialize, Lisbet's sense of fashion is... questionable. She doesn't quite seem to understand color theory, and her tastes tend to be a few decades behind what's stylish, and not in a cool-retro way; put simply, when she wants to look pretty she ends up dressing like a half-blind grandmother. It's probably for the best that she more or less lives in her work clothes...
PERSONALITY
Lisbet is a sweet woman who oozes competence and a deep sense of calm. There is nothing about her that seems anything less than controlled, and it's hard to imagine her letting loose or even being an actual human beneath that thick veneer of bedside manner. She's a persistent advocate for her patients, and has strong convictions, though she sees nothing wrong with changing her mind if compelling new data is presented, offended if someone tries to suggest this makes her flighty.
Despite outward appearances, the woman is far less collected than she appears, using the control over how she expresses herself as a means of soothing any insecurities or anxieties that may arise. Besides, it's what her patients need from her: nobody wants their Healer to be panicking. People want her calm and quiet, and what she feels is ultimately less important than what her purpose demands of her. If there are those who believe she doesn't actually feel much... they're wrong, and if it hurts her feelings, well, she doesn't let that show either. See? It's fine. Everything's fine.
Even with as warm as she presents herself, Lisbet is hard to get to know, and if her bedside manner is a comforting thing, it's not necessarily the most authentic. People sensitive to that kind of thing can definitely pick up a sort of fakeness to her, and might find her off-putting. If she's aware, and it's not clear that she is, then she doesn't seem to take it personally, but... maybe she'd be more approachable if she did take things personally once in a while.
Of note, Lisbet struggles with certain... aspects of being a Healer. She loves what she does, and fiercely, but...
Vomit. Vomit gets to her, and if she sees someone vomit, she does it herself, and then she'll spend the whole day trying to fight back the nausea.
Pregnancy also terrifies her, and she cannot do childbirths due to helping her Auntie with a rather traumatic Herdbeast birthing incident when she was seven. What started out as a fear of animal birthing has now expanded to where seeing pregnant people makes her uncomfortable, and small infants are similarly discomfiting, especially with their proclivity towards vomiting. Her teachers tried valiantly to shove the woman past her fear of it, as childbirth is an integral part of a Healer's job, but she still can't bring herself to willingly attend one, let alone act in a Healer's capacity for it.
HISTORY
FAMILY:C'fyn; no others specified
BIRTHPLACE: A small beasthold up near Ruatha
HISTORY
Lisbet was raised in a small Beasthold with a whole passel of both younger and older siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, uncles and great uncles and grandmothers and --
It was a lot.
If her home life was loud and boisterous, the work was consistent and the larger politics of Pern seemed to scarcely impact them; the need for herdbeasts never diminished, and her family was good at breeding them. Family members frequently came and went, a prolific lot, and Lisbet grew into the role of Auntie's Helper, seeing to minor injuries among human and beast alike until the age of twelve, when her uncle's wife's sister (one Journeyman Keates) agreed to sponsor her for the Healer Hall near Fort.
By all accounts, the girl was an excellent student, diligent in her studies and capable with her responsibilities, but she possessed little ambition. It seemed as though once she found a comfortable position, she didn't strive to move further, and it took until her twenty seventh year before she walked the tables.
Lisbet's reluctance to leave the comfortable behind saw her in the shadows as an invaluable member of the Healer Hall staff, quietly helping things to run smoothly by using her power of observation to simply do what needed to be done and communicate that it was taken care of. Other than vomit. And babies. She wanted nothing to do with the babies...
However, her sponsor wasn't at all happy with her sponsee's complacence, advocating for Lisbet's career and persuading the Hall to assign her a more challenging post: why not Semaca? The place was riddled with troubles with the local wildlife and strange fauna, and perhaps she'd have more of a chance to treat wounds and illnesses and have to contend with fewer babies, given the Weyrfolk's Thread-Fighting and Semaca's spotty problem led to more of one and less of the other.
Semaca's oceanside location saw some hesitancy from the Healer, given her discomfort about the thought of deep, endless water and inability to swim, but after giving it some thought, Lisbet agreed to the posting. There was work to be done there, and anyway, she hadn't seen C'fyn since she'd left before Lisbet had gone to the Healercraft Hall. If anyone tried to make her swim, she would politely tell them 'no thank you' and it would be fine.