desertbloom (desertbloom) wrote in aftertheendic, @ 2018-07-10 02:11:00 |
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For Rosalind, the radio was something she usually monitored, but tried to avoid using if possible. This mostly consisted of the fact that she felt it was unsafe. If someone caught onto their frequencies, they might be able to listen in and get to know the movement of the community which would mean they would all be more likely to face an attack when key players were away. What if Bear went on a walkabout and announced it on the radio? That would be something someone would love to know if they were going to raid Carter. It made her antsy knowing that she could think of these things but others ignored it. JJ had ensured her that she made the radio raider-proof, but she still had a bit of a love-hate relationship with it. After her short (and somewhat awkward) conversation with JJ, she picked up the large tote filled with things they had scavenged from the hotel. Bleach, alcohol, bandages. It was all the things you needed to get started on a clinic. Of course, they would need more and better things, but she would have to find those things at a real hospital or clinic, not a casino. It would take a lot of scouting to find these things, but she figured she could probably find other resources to replace what they couldn’t get out of the old hospitals. Sutures, hemostats, syringes, and the like might be found in hobby and craft stores. She’d start scouting for what she could to try to keep the clinic stocked. Roz hefted the heavy tote onto her small motorcycle and strapped it down so that she could haul everything in one go. The modifications that JJ had made to the bike made it stable with a heavy load so that Roz could get in and out of places quickly. It was actually a marvelous little thing and she was touched that it had been given to her. Well, she’d earned it over time, but she was still touched. She kicked hard to start the bike’s engine and revved a few times before taking off toward the clinic on the north side of town. She pulled up to what she thought was probably the front door of the clinic and shut off her engine, kicking down her kickstand so that she could retrieve the tote from her bike. She figured the good doctors would be living close by so she hoped that the sound of her engine would be enough to announce her presence. “Hello,” Rosalind called out into the clinic as she carried the tote through the doorway, “We got your supplies.” She was thinking that there’d be no charge this time. Mostly because the trade value of their services to the town was much more than this tote by far. Sanda had been in control for a few days, she’d had a bit more fun with Bear, and spent a lot of time cleaning out the house and making it into something that resembled a clinic. There was still some furniture piled up near the front of the house, but the back wall ‘dining area’ had been cleared out, the bookshelves now held what supplies she’d had and everything had been cleaned- well as clean as she could get it. One of the two bedrooms had been cleared out too (the furniture not remaining accompanied the couch and dining table in the front). It was where she was when the motorcycle pulled up. She’d just finished pulling off the bedding with the intent to clean it. Entering the front of the house from the hallway, her arms full of blankets, which seemed to engulf her small stature. “Supplies?” She asked, furrowing her brow a moment before she remembered the notes Tris has told her he’d written. “Oh! Thank you.” She hefted the blankets and deposited them in a corner and looked to the woman. “I really appreciate this. Um… Let’s put them in the kitchen, on the table.” The kitchen had a small breakfast nook with a table. As San walked into the kitchen she quickly moved the small pile of books they were keeping to make room for whatever the woman had. “Rosalind, but everyone calls me Roz,” the alabaster woman interjected during the small walk from the front of the house to the kitchen table. She hefted the tote up onto the table and opened it up to reveal the goodies inside. “We got very lucky and found a closet full of cleaning supplies so you can actually sterilize your patient areas.” She pulled out several bottles of Clorox before digging around a bit more. “We may have to improvise on some of the supplies though. I’m pretty sure every hospital in the area has been raided, but I think I can find some stuff that will work.” Scavenging was her thing and she was very good at it. “Roz.” She nodded. “I’m Dr. Turner, or one of them… Sanda, but you can call me San.” San smiled. When the other woman started to pull out the supplies she grinned. “No, this is wonderful. I’m used to working on the road so I’ve had to make a lot of makeshift supplies in the past. Having something that even remotely resembles real supplies is good. I’ll admit though it’s more the medicine that we struggle with.” She said, the medicine she did have was hidden in the apartment over the garage until she got a proper lockbox for them. “Honestly,” Roz sighed a bit when she thought about medications, “I don’t think we’ll find a lot of that around here.” Well, nothing that was still good anyway. They’d have to go to Vegas and beyond to find a hospital that may still hold anything. The only way they would be able to get medicine, for now, was if they had someone who could actually manufacture it. “If you’d be willing to look at herbal remedies, you might speak to Lily. She can grow literally anything.” Considering humans survived thousands of years without big pharma they might still be okay. San nodded. “She’s on my list. Also going to research using snake venom as a pain reducer. One of my old textbooks has an article.” Looking through some of the items on the bag she nodded. “There was a delivery of some… EMT stuff a few days ago, or what looked like EMT, I’m guessing that was you too?” It had sort of been sitting outside as if someone unloaded quickly. San featured to what looked like a gurney and some other equipment, she was working on getting it sterilized. “Yeah,” Roz gave the doctor whist could’ve been called a shy smile with a slight nod. “We ran across an abandoned EMT station and could fit that into the back of the truck.” While the station had been pilfered of most of the drugs, there were still enough things there to make a workable EMT bag for emergence. IV starter kits, bags of sterile saline, and even a few other nifty toys that could be useful in a bind. “Thankfully, most of the prepackaged items have long expiration dates. I mean, I’d still pick up a needle that said ‘expired’ on it considering the circumstances.” The circumstances being dire. She wondered if there was anyone in the world who could duplicate what items they found. That would be a boon if they could find them. “I would’ve brought these sooner, but JJ had to empty her bags first. There were a lot of things just stuffed into random bags and it took a while.” Pocket dimensions. They had been stuffed into small voids that were worlds between worlds. Useful when you needed to keep shit from being stolen. “It’s no worry.” She replied with a smile. “Haven’t has any patients yet, so that’s nice.” Which had meant she had time to get things organized without rushing. She couldn’t remember working in a real hospital or clinic situation, but there were certain things she just knew how they should be. What needed to be within arms reach, how best to store certain items, etc. So, she’d sort of been setting things up by ‘feel’. “What do I owe you? I mean like we said in our note, we don’t have a lot yet… but I’m up for negotiation, or some sort of an IOU.” The scavenger raised a hand to wave off the comment and shook her head, “Nothing. If it’s for the community, it’s free.” Roz always donated things that were for the benefit of the city. Being here offered her refuge from the world. She was happy to make sure it continued. “We can talk trade when you need something personal.” Personal items were usually much harder to find because they were more specific. Colors, sizes, preferences. You had to take those things into account. Sanda nodded. “Thank you. If you like to read, I still have a few boxes of books that were here… was going to donate them or something.” At that moment they were in the way. “I hope you don’t mind me being forward, but your mutation. I’m assuming that’s what causes your pigment loss… do you find a sensitivity to the sun along with that?” She knew natural born albinos tended too, and couldn’t help her curiosity. At least this time the person asking the question was looking at her with the eye of a physician rather than fear and abhorration. “Actually, no,” Roz took a moment to roll up her sleeve so the woman could see the scope of her color loss. Every inch of her had become white over the last seven years. “My skin is tough, like leather. I’m no Bear, but my skin can make anyone with normal skin look like soft cheese.” The doctor nodded. “Very cool. It’s interesting how different mutations adapt and vary from person to person. Sometimes almost as a joke.” Sam chuckled giving a small nod to let Roz know she could cover back up. “Like I may not look it, but I’m very strong. And Liam- the other Doctor Turner, looks much stronger but all his powers are mental based.” She shrugged. “It’s almost like there’s a purpose to it, but at the same time completely random.” “I tend to think it’s more like some sort of cosmic joke.” Rosalind’s face most likely showed what little bit of anger she had left at the world gone crazy. It was one thing to not remember your past, another to have been mutated far beyond your original scope, but to have both go on at once was pretty fucking infuriating. Of course, the years had allowed her to stamp down much of her anger and distaste. She readjusted her sleeve and buttoned the wrist again. “I just hope whoever started it is enjoying their joke.” “Yea.” She said with a bit of a laugh. “Definitely one way of putting it. Though I guess there is something to be said about everyone being changed… I don’t think I’ve met one single ‘normal’ person in my travels. It’s really strange.” San shrugged, glancing around slightly. “Did you want a drink? It’s hot outside and all don’t want you getting dehydrated by doing me this solid.” She offered, moving to the fridge- which was thankfully still working since JJ got the power on. Roz tried to allow the tiny flame of fury to die off and nodded, a more pleasant smile eventually crossing her lips. “That I would gladly accept.” A free drink of any kind was a welcome reward. Her body may function less like a normal human now, but that didn’t mean she didn’t need water. Sanda reached into the fridge and pulled out a small pitcher she’d purified some water earlier and put it in the fridge to cool. Many of the water coming out of the pipes were unsanitary as there was no one to maintain the city/town/county plumbing anymore. But that didn’t mean there weren’t ways to make the water safe. She grabbed a glass and poured two glasses of water and replaced the pitcher before handing one to Roz. “I’ve started to find that getting shot and found by the sheriff was close to the best thing to happen to me. Everyone I’ve met so far has been very kind.” The chill of the glass was wonderful against her skin and Roz gave a small chuckle as she took a moment to really enjoy the water. She had a very small fridge that she kept a few things inside, but most things were dry goods because they kept longer. “Most of the people who live here were either found or stumbled into town, sheriff included.” She took another sip of the water before asking what had been in her mind. “JJ said there were two physicians. I didn’t realize doctors roamed in packs now.” The light sprinkling of testosterone could’ve been remnants of others who crossed through here, but it was too fresh. “Your husband?” “Oh no.” San said quickly with a laugh. “Definitely not. Liam… he’s, sort of... “ She still wasn’t used to explaining this, thus far only Liam had had to explain it. “Me… We share bodies. Not minds- at least not really.” She said. “He’ll probably know who you are when he sees you the first time, but won’t actually remember this,” She gestured between the two of them, “conversation. It’s sort of a secondary mutation.” Sanda shrugged. Roz’s eyebrows seemed to raise a bit as she listened to San’s story. “Like I said,” she shook her head as she set her glass onto the table, “Some sort of sick joke that I’ve yet to see a punchline for.” San was sharing a body with someone. Roz was slowly turning into a lizard. Sick fucking joke. “Did you always know… Liam? Or did you somehow get rammed together in this mess?” If she had ever wanted to really talk to someone about this, she was lucky to have Roz around. Rosalind didn’t share much with anyone unless it was important to safety and security. She kept to her own road. A shrug was the response to her question. “I wouldn’t know. I don’t remember a time before him.” She chuckled slightly. “I mean if I’m being honest, I’ve never actually known him. More of had blackouts and someone else writing in my journal… with random knowledge at times I don’t remember learning. It was a bit of an awkward discovery the first few times.” If anyone read their journal from the beginning, they might be very entertained as the two attempted to figure things out. “As far as I know we’ve always been the same person- so to speak.” “It’s rather… creepy.” The thought of blacking out and finding out someone else had been running your daily life was so unsettling. “Kind of like something out of a horror movie.” Roz made a bit of a grimace as she thought about how frightening it must have been for San to realize she was “sharing” a body with someone else. “Then again, the first time I shed my skin, I thought I was in one of those movies myself.” Her yearly skin shedding was like a horrifying dream sequence from A Nightmare on Elm Street. “I guess it’s something you get used to? I mean we have to trust each other right? And for all our differences we’re also pretty similar. Or so I think.” Based on their ‘conversations’. Sure, the way they went about stuff tended to be different, but their motives were normally the same. “Of course, this is really the first time we’ve had to explain things. Normally we’re not around the same people long enough for it to make a difference… not that we had much choice this time either.” What with her being in jail and Liam taking over. Not that either of them couldn’t have escaped if they’d really been inclined. “Well,” Roz sighed a bit, “I’m sure your explanation won’t upset anyone. Carter tends to be a very accepting community as long as you’re here to help rather than harm.” But woe be to anyone that threatened their little safe haven. “And being doctors will probably make you both popular enough that no one will question it anyway.” They had a way of looking past the negative if you could offer something positive. Otherwise, their sheriff might not be sheriff at all. “At least until someone better comes along.” She laughed slightly. “But, yea. Most people have been nice, though only really met Bear myself. Liam met Morticia and JJ though.” San couldn’t really help the ever slightly smile when she mentioned Bear. “And safe is always a good thing, especially in today’s world… although I guess ever before people could appreciate ‘safe’, but it carried a different weight than it does today.” San shrugged and finished her water. “At least it’s good to know there are good people still around.” “Good” seemed to be relative to the situation really. They considered themselves good people, but they could very well be awful in someone else’s eyes. Roz knew she probably was because she had actually participated in raiding before, but it was, for her, dire need. “Everyone here has come together just to survive. I suppose we’re lucky that there haven’t been more issues.” There were very few conflicts in Carter. She assumed it was simply because of Bear, but most everyone had a “live and let live” attitude here. “Is there anything special that you’re looking for? For the clinic, I mean.” Roz turned her thoughts toward what she was best at doing for the community. “I’m usually the one who scouts and organizes the scavengers. Everyone brings their needs to me and I keep track of things. For the most part, everyone is on board.” She couldn’t say that every scavenger played their part, but she had a way of bargaining with most of them. Sometimes she would sacrifice her own rewards for community items if it meant security and safety. The Doc looked around and shrugged. “Really anything that might seem medical. I could use better surgery tools. Medicine of course- which is considerably hard to come by. Right now I could do with a lockable cooler and cabinet for the medicine I do have.” She chuckled slightly. “Syringes… honestly I think some of this may be a ‘don’t know I’m missing it until I need it’ situation. I mean, if I sit and think about a procedure and what I would need I can come up with a list, but there’s just so many possibilities… oh, suture kits are always good, I saw at least one in the EMT stuff, but you can never have enough.” She laughed slightly. “Especially in a world now where so many people get cut or shot. Oh,!” San recalled. “And disinfectant. I’ve got it on the books to reach out to the bar owner to secure some alcohol, but… bleach is good for some of the equipment it’s bad for people… and infections are so bad when people don’t always have regular running water and stuff.” Roz ticked her mental list. Most of the items were things she had already considered, but alcohol was a new thought. “What about a still?” If the doc could distill her own alcohol then she wouldn’t need anything but the materials. “Lily could probably provide plant material. I’m sure I’ve found yeast packets. Those could survive nuclear fallout.” Sanda considered that a moment and nodded. “That’s an idea. Haven’t ever done anything like that before of course, but definitely looking into- if someone knows how to build one.” She laughed a little. “I’m really open to anything right now.” San tucked some hair behind her ear. “Honestly, things are very different when you’re not always on the go. It’s all still a little strange.” The idea really got Roz’s mind working as she started trying to determine if anyone had the parts they would need for a still. “If you don’t mind,” she finished the water quickly, “I think I’ll go get started on finding the pieces for you. Might take a few weeks.” Trading kept her sane so she took it very seriously. “All you’ll need is some space out back to prep and store everything.” They could even use the leftovers for trade, if they wanted. “Honestly I haven’t even touched the yard yet… so I’m sure there’ll be space once it’s cleared of weeds.” Seven years of no one taking care of the house had left the backyard extremely overgrown. “I guess I know my next project.” She smirked. “Maybe I’ll find someone to help- just so I don’t get bored.” San didn’t worry about not having the strength, or tiring out, her body would take care of that. It was more the monotony of weeding that she’d need a break from. Roz gave the good doctor a smile as she got ready to leave. “I know a few people I can ask to help you set it up and show you how to keep it going.” Doctors were probably good with instructions and procedures so she was sure they could get it figured out. A reliable source of ethanol would be a million times easier to maintain than trying to find a few bottles here and there. “Besides, it gives me something to do while I’m out.” San moved to walk Roz to the door. “Appreciate it, really. This whole thing is going to take some getting used to- people helping each other regularly- but it’s worth it.” She slipped her hands into her pocket. “Thanks for all the stuff, really. I promise to put it to good use.” Tucking some hair behind her ear, the small woman mentally debating inviting the good sherriff over to help keep her entertained while she did some physical labor. |