The Head bone's Connected to the....

[Suede]

A barn fell on two people. A -barn-... fell on two people. How does that even happen? Why does that even happen? That never happened in Razasan. He really was in the middle of nowhere. Apparently it was part of the repairs finishing from the quake some time ago. Or maybe it had been simply an expansion onto someone's property.

That didn't really matter, what had mattered was someone had slipped, people had fallen, and a half-raised wall came barreling down onto two men too slow to get out of the way. Lucas had been in the middle of rummaging through the storage closet on a personal inventory mission when a gaggle of folks had stumbled through the doors carry the pair on improvised stretchers. It'd been more work to explain that he was the new doctor and to calm everyone down than it had actually been to take care of the patients.

One hadn't been too bad off. He'd needed a good number of stitches for a gash along his scalp, and that side of his head was now bald, but he'd be alright. He'd sent the man home with his family after instructing them not to let him sleep that night and bringing him back if he started acting oddly or getting headaches.

The other hadn't fared as well. He'd been completely disoriented, barely conscious, and showing signs of a significant head injury. After examining the man the young doctor had forced his entire family out of the room and proceeded to perform a bit of drastic surgery to alleviate an epidural bleed. He didn't really want to have to explain why he had to cut the man's skull open to reduce the pressure and close up the arteries.

It had been bloody, busy, fast work to manage with what he had on hand, but the gentleman was still alive, out cold, and carefully stitched up with everything back in its proper place save a space he'd left to continue relieving pressure till the swelling went down. Leaving the room with his blood smeared apron and shirt probably had not been the best choice, judging by the fainting mother he'd treated after that. Luckily she'd been caught.

He'd allowed a pair of family to stay on after that and spend the night in the room after they'd promised up and down to not touch anything, and he'd just finished seeing the others out the door moments ago. Now he stood peeling soiled clothes off his body in one of the back rooms where he leaned with his waist against a shelf.

This place had made him too lazy since he'd gotten here. That whole experience had worn him out.

[Dulcie]

Janessa had been ever present during the whole event. In fact it was difficult to believe that the woman didn't actually live within the walls of the Rememdium because it seemed to be that she was always there doing something or checking on something. When the doctor had ordered everyone out of the room the red haired assistant would have carefully helped urge the family to come with her and to wait in the lobby. Her warm, reassuring words had gone a long ways to calming a near hysteric mother and when the doctor came out in all of that stained clothing she was there to help catch the poor woman even as her own heart was sinking into her stomach with worry. If there was one thing that Janessa had it was a great deal of inner strength.

Now that everyone had been settled and she made sure that the family in the patient's room would be comfortable and fed she made her way down the hall with a little cup and saucer of tea balanced in her hands. She knocked on the door of that backroom where the doctor had removed himself too, waiting patiently as she listened to the sounds of an exhausted man on the other side.

"Dr. Brennan? I've brought you some tea." It didn't need any more explanation than that. She knew what a challenging day it had been for the new doctor after all, and as she thought about it she knew that if she had still been on her own that man would have died. It would do well to take care of the man who could actually save lives.

[Suede]

Janessa had been a lifesaver, figuratively speaking. She'd saved him having to manage all the people milling about alone among other things. He tossed his apron into a pile of linen and pushed off his perch with a grunt to open the door for her. There was still blood staining the ends of his rolled up sleeves, but he looked far less gruesome than he had before.

There was a wan smile on his face as he looked down at the tea cup. "If the tea has a head injury, please inform it that it's officially on its own." He picked up the cup as he spoke an sniffed at it tentatively before taking a sip. Well he couldn't argue that it wasn't a tasty boon, and he didn't try to hide the fact on his face.

A moment's pause before he sighed. "Thanks for the tea and the help. Today came a bit out of nowhere considering the worst thing I'd seen here so far was a broken finger. You weren't kidding about things coming out of nowhere. I got a complacent."

[Dulcie]

Indeed it was a very good cup of tea, perhaps even rivaling that which one could receive at the teahouse. Janessa hadn't been boasting when she said that she was something of a decent cook. The tea was simply evidence of that skill that she had.

"I guarantee you that this cup of tea has no injuries." She told him with a little smile and a hint of a laugh on that otherwise so peaceful face, though it was only there a moment before she took on a somewhat more serious tone.

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do really. If you hadn't come to take up your work here I'm afraid that man would have died. Barns fall, sometimes I think here more than other places and I know there's no way I could have done what you did for that man. It's a blessing really. We've had to bury far too many because we haven't had the benefit of a Doctor's hand." She let him drink his tea as she went about gathering the canvas bag around the linens. She wasn't going to let that blood set into that apron before she had a chance to clean it. Another skill the woman had, perhaps out of necessity from the wild ways of Myrken, but she could get a stain out of just about anything.

"I don't imagine you can get complacent for too long. It's only a matter of time really before the next disaster comes about. We've been lucky for the past couple of years but I'm sure that we won't continue to be. Even the earthquake is a sign of things to come I imagine." She turned then as she pulled the cords through the holes of the canvas bag to draw it up.

"Surely you must have seen your share of emergencies in Razasan? I've never travelled there myself, but I've been told the towns are much bigger aren't they?"

[Suede]

"Well then, it's about to." He took a bigger sip this time. That poor tea was going to completely swallowed up in no time. Lucas wasn't certain if it was the caffeine or the taste that was appealing to him so much at the moment, but he didn't rightly care.

His free arm pressed into his back as he arched it in a stretch, and when he came back down he frowned at Janessa. "Don't thank me yet, please. I may have just delayed things a bit. We have to see if he's strong enough to stick with us... and even then I can't guarantee what state his mind will be in after all the trauma. We just have to keep our fingers crossed."

He stepped out into the hallway, out of her way, as she gathered up the mess he'd just made and glanced down the hall towards the open door of their newest patient's room. "Oh, plenty of emergencies, but you get used to them when they happen regular. You desensitize. That and as you say the city is huge, and so was where I worked. Normally with what happened today I could have had another doctor help and a few nurses if we needed them. It's not all in your hands alone."

Not necessarily a bad thing, if you looked at it the right way, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of always having to deal with everything by himself. "I have a new appreciation for Dr. D'Rael after today.

[Dulcie]

"Even if he isn't strong enough today is one day more that he has and one more day that his family has to spend with him. It's something and I know that no matter what happens they'll all be grateful for it. All I could have done would have been to help comfort the family, and there's been enough of that around here."

She listened quietly when he described the way he had worked in Razasan, nodding a little in response. "It was similar where I lived.. though most of the healers were magically talented. We had a healing house and there were usually many people there to help. I helped mostly with making salves and preparing bandages and such. Not much different than what I do here, but I've learned how hard it is to do all those things on your own." She seemed to consider something then as she picked up the laundry bag. "Perhaps you could teach me to be more of a nurse? I have a strong stomach and I know a few things already. Not much about what you did today, but I imagine you could teach me how to help you."

She smiled a little at the comment about Dr. D'Rael. 1 "He was a good man, I was sad to see him go, but I'm ever so grateful that you're here. I should get these too the laundry though, before all the stains set too greatly."

[Suede]

"We'll see if the day is worth it. Everyone says people from Myrken are stubborn. Guess this is as good a test as any." He took a deep breath and considered her offer with a critical eye. "If you want to learn we could certainly spend some time every day in lessons. You already know how to stitch? I know you said people helped with that sometimes, but you never mentioned if you did." That or he forgot already.

"The rest shouldn't be too hard, I can teach you more about dealing with the more minor injuries, proper wraps and such. You probably know more than you give yourself credit for. Really the help when I'm doing something more serious is just holding your fingers in places I need and handing me things when I ask." Anything more would require her to start learning to be a doctor. There was a considering looking in his eye when the idea came to him, but he didn't speak it out loud just yet.

He downed the rest of the tea in one massive gulp before setting saucer and cup aside on a chair in the hallway so he could straighten and hold out his hands for the bag. "Let me get that and you can lead the way." No way would he let his mother hear that he'd not carried something for a lady, she'd kill him. He liked being alive.

"Well, we'll see how happy you are to have me here after I stain everything in the building."

[Dulcie]

"The people here are stubborn. It's one of the things I like about them." She said with a smile as she nodded in response to his question. "I can stitch and I can wrap. I can even set bones if the break isn't too bad. I can treat a fever and I've learned that you never wash a fire dragon in water. I think what I need to learn maybe is all the names of the tools that you use, so I know what to hand you when the time comes. I'd like to be able to be a better help when you have something big like this happen again. And it will happen again." That was pretty much a guarantee in Myrken.

When he offered to carry the bag of laundry she'd raise both of her eyebrows slightly and then she'd incline her head in agreement. "If you want. I'm able to manage on my own, I've been doing it for a few years now, but I won't turn down the help if you'd like to give it." She'd let him take the bag from her then and she'd make her way down the hall, leading the way. "I imagine I can forgive you staining the linens when it comes with saving a man's life." As she walked her movements held a certain sway to them, her steps almost rhythmic without trying to be, as if perhaps in another life she had been a dancer or an actress. It wouldn't take long to reach the laundry house which was connected to the main building from a small hallway. The large almost man sized pots of water were already boiling over the fire and she'd motion for him to bring the bag of laundry over.

"You can set it right here, I'll get it into the the wash bins." And then she'd set about collecting the soaps and supplies she'd need to get them clean.

[Suede]

"Well you know most of the basics, but we can practice some mock surgeries and then I can have you help out on the easier things at first." Lucas chewed his lip in thought, following absently behind her in a mildly distracted state that caused him to jostle against the door frame leading into the laundry room. He didn't seem to notice. "How's your anatomy? If I need your hands it'll help if you know it. I could teach you that, too." Then if he wanted to disappear for a couple days to relax she could handle more, too! Good thinking, Lucas.

There was no magical fluidity to his movements the way Janessa had, this was clear. Maybe with his hands and body when he worked on someone, but it day to day activity he was lacking. The door could testify, and he dropped the bundle of laundry unceremoniously on the floor to accentuate the point. The doctor brushed off his hands and leaned over the pot of boiling water. "If you're going to help me with the doctoring, I ought to help with the rest, right?"

[Dulcie]

"My anatomy? Not very good I'm afraid, at least when it comes to things internal. I never really studied anything beyond just the usual sorts of accidental injuries. I can read though, quite well actually. I learned when I was a girl."

She looked at him, her green eyes blinking a few times as he offered to help with the laundry, but as with most things she'd just incline her head gently then. "If you'd like. It's really not necessary... I can't think of any other Doctor who's offered to help with the laundry." It'd be rude to refuse the help however, and Janessa was never rude, even in the most stressful of moments. "Well if you'd really like to help then you can dump the clothes in there in the big pot." She had already climbed the steps up to it herself, taking a jar of something that would make their eyes burn when she opened it before dumping it into the big vat of boiling water. Resting beside it on a rack was something of a big paddle and as he dumped clothes into the vat she'd begin to stir them about in the mixture, giving each piece a good stir as it was added.

"Did you always want to be a doctor?" She asked curiously as they began to work together on the laundry.

[Suede]

Her confusion at his offer garnered a little smile in return before he began dumping the laundry into the pot in a properly man-ish fashion. Hopefully she wasn't planning to seperate the colors or anything, because that certainly hadn't happened. "Well you have me there, but most other places I've worked didn't have so few people to man the stations. And I've done my own laundry long enough I think I can manage dropping it into the water without getting confused."

He'd started to lean an elbow onto the rim before catching himself and just standing up straighter where he was now that the laundry was deposited. "Well, if you want I can find you a couple of good books to start learning and I can give you lessons with any patient who's willing. The more you know the more you'll have to do with the patients, too. If a few come in at once that means I can leave the easier evaluations in your hands."

Her last question caused him to snort and shake his head. "Not a chance. I was going to be a knight, slay a dragon, save the princess, become king. Just like every proper, little boy."

[Dulcie]

She smiled a little at the comment about the laundry. "I don't meet many men who are able to do their own laundry. Not that I mean that negatively of course, but it seems to me that most women around here take care of that for their men. Not that it's difficult I suppose. Just unusual." A tiny hint of amusement touched on her face as she watched him almost lean on the pot and burn himself. There was still some learning for him to do after all it seemed.

She'd step down from the steps and replace the paddle she used for stirring the laundry. The articles of clothing would be in there for sometime and it would do no good to stand around and just watch them.

"I'd like that, the books and the practice. I'm not afraid of having a little more responsibility. I really don't do anything else other than work." Which explained a great deal considering the fact that Janessa seemed to be do just about everything around the Rememdium.

When he talked about rescuing princesses and slaying dragons she laughed easily, shaking her head with a sway of her thick red hair. "It's funny where life leads us then isn't it? I never would have thought I would have ended up here either and now I can't really imagine anything else. "

[Suede]

He gave a shrug and turned it into adjusting his collar to cover up any embarrassment over his near slip. "Well, I lived by myself. And generally speaking no matter how much you sweet talk the staff at work, they won't do your laundry for you." Thus he'd been forced to learn at least enough to get by, if not to be particularly gifted at it.

"We can work on both during the downtime. I'll need to track down a butcher." When she was finished he'd head back out of the laundry room into the main hallway, peering into one of the rooms to check a patient much as she had his first night here. This one had just broken a leg and he was keeping overnight. They were also still awake, offering him a glance and a nod before he moved on. "All you do is work?"

Lucas paused and looked back at her, surprise written on his face. "Don't you do anything for fun? Like stamp collecting, or tormenting boys or something?"

As for the path life takes, he rolled his eyes. "Life just threw me right back where I started, I think this place just sucks up everything around it."

[Dulcie]

"I suppose living by yourself would do it. It must have been lonely on your own in a city like that though. I imagine you're happy to be with your family again." She offered him a genuine smile at that and move to walk down the hallway with him.

"Mr. Brown is an excellent butcher. He always has the best cuts of meat available. I wouldn't bother with any of the others." She had been living around Myrken long enough to know those sorts of little details. He asked her questions and she shrugged her shoulders lightly. "I read sometimes, and cook. It's a simple life, but it's enough for me. Keeping this place in working order keeps me busy and I get to know most of the townspeople here. It's almost a guarantee that everyone will walk through those doors at some point or another." He checked on the patient with the broken leg and she'd peer over her shoulder at him as well before they kept walking.

"Sometimes I think I believe in fate. Perhaps you were always meant to be a doctor."

[Suede]

"Oh, I wasn't alone. I met quite a few interesting people, made some friends. Family is nice, but that didn't mean I was hopeless without them." He offered a tired grin in return and continued towards his office.

He snorted at the comment on the butcher and gave her a look. "I want something cheap, you're going to practice some dead pigs for a few things... unless you want to eat them after we're done. I've never done that before, but we could probably get away with it." He pushed the door to his office open and walked over towards the shelves of books, running his finger along them as he searched. "Though I'm also tempted to try and order you to take a day off every now and then and do something more exciting than cooking and laundry. Relaxing is good for the head, doctors say so."

"Maybe I was meant to do this, but maybe it's just where I found myself and I fit. Doesn't really matter too much why I'm where I am, just what I'm doing while I'm here."