Tweak

InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "don't go chasing waterfalls"

Charles 'Doc' Payne (ex_medice502) wrote in nomadspast,
@ 2013-02-26 18:42:00

Entry tags:

Who Orion & Doc/Charles.
What Doc meets one of his fellow
When June 2015
Where Clinic/Medical Post - Trading post
Rating TBD

Oregon was lovely in the early summer though rumor stated mid Summer was something else entirely. But there was a fresh spring breeze that danced past the front door of the Post and out the back windows giving a refreshing breeze. He could listen to the chattering of the Trade Post, arguments and the reacquainting of bartering. Not that Charles - Doc - was one to barter. He was new, a stranger who hadn't picked and somewhat suspicious.

Still, he was accessible and Amy helped with his approachability. She had made a fast friendship with children of one one of the sellers and when necessary he could send her over to their place to play. Most days, however, he could play just right outside the post. He could hear her well enough and he could stick his head out of one of the windows to make sure she was okay during the paper work lull. The mid afternoons were becoming his favorite time of day because of that lull to tell the truth.

Of course, he was worried about establishing himself. He had some food and he felt he'd get enough for winter. He just... wanted reasonable shelter beyond the Church in the winter months. But fate would come to pass soon enough. Now? It was summer.

(Read comments) - (Post a new comment)

ex_medice502
2013-02-28 01:19 am UTC (link)

"Texas. No... my caravan didn't dare go to Texas. We stayed mostly in Idaho and Nebraska until we decided to travel along the coast. More people and perhaps less chaos if we stayed North." A rough sigh escaped him, knowing a lot of good men passed away a few months ago. "I had an office in the suburbs of Dover, we were approaching the 8th year and Amy just turned one." He studied her for a moment, "The Oma could use another hand in the future, I'll bet. But - " He holds up a finger, head pokes out the window and he reminds the children to stay near.

And then he turns back to Orion, smile sheepish. "They need a babysitter."

He then sat on the desk, hands resting on the edge. "At first to get the scope of the land. I've could have wandered to the Lawu with the assumption they're all fishermen. Eventually I heard stories about the Chet and how they have a thumb in just about everything. I figure they wouldn't mind a man staying with the Enks to serve the community as a whole. At the least until he figures out where he wants to settle." Doc studies her then, "And you?" A pause, and then offers his hand, "Charles or Doc. Your name?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-02-28 01:46 am UTC (link)

"It's easier if you call me Orion," she answered, taking the hand after a slight pause. "I guess it's part of shedding the old life to take a tribal name, and Lord knows we've all lost a lot in getting to where we are now,. Might as well give up our old selves too, right?"

She looked out the window where the summer sun was warming the day and making it pleasant, then looked back at the makeshift office Doc had set up. "I thought I was going to catch pneumonia my first winter here," she offered after she felt the silence had stretched out too long. "I wasn't ready for northern weather, I guess, even though it can get cold enough in Texas. Wasn't ready for so much snow either."

The hunter looked down at the floor for a second, then directed her gaze back to his face. "The Chets do have a finger in everything, and not always in a good way. I've heard rumors about what happens to you if you get on their bad side. You'll probably hear them too. It should serve as fair warning."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-02-28 03:20 am UTC (link)

"Orion," His hand shake was sure and warm though his hands rough. The cold had done a number in the winter and spring before and he had few resources to heal the rough skin. "I suppose that's why I'm having a hard time adjusting to my name. Can well give up my training and I can't give up Amy."

"Ah, England was something else. My accent's fading, and my God, it took me nearly... sixteen years, but I've dropped nearly all my slang from my childhood." He studied the sky before them, the green grass, the simple fact the air smelled so much sweeter than it did three years ago in general. Green, blue, white, and the flashes of color of the trading posts. "Though the first winter was rough, I was terrified for poor Amy. She's a tough girl. I worry of course, she hasn't had all her shots." He hung his head for a moment. Amy wasn't the only one. Everything they had battled off in the last few decades might return with a vengeance.

His posture and air was warm yet civil, if he was uncomfortable about the silence it didn't show. All manner of sorts had come to his offices before the world ended. "Well, mighty cruel of them to even consider charging a doctor even more than it costs. I doubt that's the case now but it's... good to have a second option for others. The Cano, the Enk, possibly the Oma and Lawu too. Chet as well, but I'm not sure how loyalty works around here."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-02 05:08 pm UTC (link)

"Individually the Chets might be fine," Orion said slowly, looking down at her hands where she'd laced them together in her lap. "But I dunno. As a group they seem kind of...bossy." She had no better word to describe it, and her aggravation at that fact showed on her face.

"They already have a doctor, by the way. The Chets. I've never been to him, since you're not supposed to go on their turf without an invite, but he's supposed to be approachable."

She was also worried about communicable diseases, even if she'd been vaccinated before. They lived like this for self-defense, but something serious could wipe out half of them before they could prepare themselves for it. "How old is your daughter?" she asked after another beat. "It must have been hell having to look after a little one like her in the midst of all this."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-02 06:04 pm UTC (link)

"People as individuals are wonderful. I had a neighbor who couldn't stand groups of people but when it came to one on one interactions? You couldn't have met a lovier or more generous man." The smile is gentle as he followed her gaze to her hands and understands the worry. Doc very well knows he shouldn't be so open to people or so open to strangers when he has so much at stake. A gun can only do so much. "They're incredibly bossy to say the least, that's why I set up shop here."

Doc nodded, hands crossing his chest, sleeves riding up to show faint white scars from the last few years of traveling and tending the sick, "Topher is an amazing man and he does manage to slip out of the Chet territory. If you run into him, don't be afraid. Good people are everywhere and need to be everywhere. But he can only do so much and there are so many people outside the Chets."

From what Doc heard, a number of the original population of Cascade Locks had the flu right after the pulse. He worried about that, too. Soap could only do so much and antibiotics and silver nitrate could do only so much. "She's three years old and her birthday is coming up in December. I don't think she quite realizes what that means for lack of parties and sweets." Doc nodded slowly, "I raided more stores for babyfood and formula than I did for anything else those first few months. We were lucky, we stumbled upon a caravan of doctors, nurses, survivalists -- it was the brain child of a doctor and CEO who adapted to the barter system very quickly. It was relatively stable and good 'income'."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-02 08:33 pm UTC (link)

It might have been bad manners to ask, but something about the way Doc talked about the girl made Orion summon the courage. "Did you lose her mother in the Pulse?" It was a familiar story; loved ones missing and presumed lost in the chaos that followed those first days, and it was one she could tell herself if anyone hung around her long enough to ask.

"I know some basic first aid," she said. "Bandages, what to do for a head injury, that kind of stuff, but everything I know I learned from my dad. I could maybe save a life in an emergency, but long term care would have to be left to someone with real experience. How are you in a crisis?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-03 12:51 am UTC (link)

Victor quietly stared up a spot above Orion's head and his pale eyes fixated. He still missed Isabelle and the pain had grown more profound in recent months. Perhaps because it happened not but twice. "... I did. She disappeared the day after the Pulse."

He rubs his mouth for a moment, eyes half closed as he gathered himself. The pain had be surprising with that question. "Good in crisis. Good in a not crisis. But very little can be done now in crisis truth be told."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-03 04:35 pm UTC (link)

Orion recognized emotional pain when she saw it, and she dropped her gaze to the floor while the doctor collected himself. Hardly anyone ever asked about who she might have lost because she never got close enough for them to do so, but she was sorry if she'd re-opened any old wounds for the man.

"I guess trauma units are pretty much a thing of the past," she commented in response to his statement. "Before, you'd be able to go to an emergency room if you had a real crisis and they would help you. But I heard a lot of horror stories about what happened to the hospitals when the electricity first went out. It must have been like a war zone."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-03 05:22 pm UTC (link)

Doc had learned on the road it was something not to ask about beyond a simple, "Anyone else?" when it came to family for most people. Seven billion people were alive before the Pulse struck. How many were left, he couldn't say, but there were very few people who had their whole family together. Though the ways of losing family could be different, everyone knew the why and when.

"Mmm. They are... if someone is that far gone, the only thing I can do now is to make their passing easier. The most fancy instrument that could still work is an old style autoclave. And my damned Kingdom for an autoclave." He found himself washing more than treating the sick in the last three years. "God, it was a nightmare. I was -- and I suppose still am -- a general practitioner, and I closed my office on the 22nd to help in the Hospital. It wasn't too far from our house and I knew they needed more hands for the influx of people. They had to... write off quite a few of the patients on life support or needed oxygen."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-03 06:16 pm UTC (link)

Orion twitched a little just at the notion of it, and she said, "I'm glad I wasn't in the middle of all that. I had a hard enough time getting out of Dallas on my own, and I was armed and ready to protect myself. It got worse when the army patrols turned to looting themselves. I can't imagine what it would have been like to have to deal with a lot of helpless patients."

The hunter could still hear the children playing outside, and she said, "I'm pretty good with kids, so if you ever need help I can usually be found. I know you could get help elsewhere, but you might want somone closer to home, so to speak."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-03 06:35 pm UTC (link)

The smile became sad as he looked away for a moment to study the beautiful secenery of the mountians rising behind the Colombia river. When nervous, when ashamed, Doc never tended to look at someone straight in the eye. At times he could be seen as 'twitchingly'. "Only for a day. It simply became too chaotic out there and I had to worry about my own. I did some looting for medical goods in my office and the pharmacy the second day, packed up, looted gas and... that was it."

"Thank you." The smile is true now, the expression less nervous and perhaps less helpless, 'That's kind of you. I'm surprised about the amount of kindness I've found here. I'm sure it has all to do with the service I provide."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-03 07:04 pm UTC (link)

"We need all the doctors we can get, especially the Enks," Orion said matter-of-factly. "You'll probably get an offer from one of the tribes to join them, but you should think about that before you do anything. Sometimes they don't like you to provide care to drifters, at least from what I've heard."

Too hard to say she was sorry about his wife when she had losses of her own she was still mourning, but she was made easier on the inside by the offer of assistance she'd made. She was no doctor, but she could help out where and when she was able to if she felt like it. Apparently she felt like it.

"At least you're more used to cold weather," she half-joked. "I've heard England can get pretty damned chilly in the winter months."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-03 07:52 pm UTC (link)

"I hold a theory that most of the doctors were caught up during some of the Hospital riots," His tone is somber, but not quite as down as it was a moment ago. "Oh, I've been getting hints these last few weeks, I think the locals believe I'm the genuine deal now. No quarkery involved. I'm new to the area but wise enough to watch and wait. I've already ruled out Oma. Pity, I like the Oma and I know they're open but I'm not quite sure if I want to ruin a delicate balance they have with the Chet. I'm afraid it would spill over."

It wasn't the fact he wouldn't accept sympathy or sorrow, it was simply the fact it was still so raw. The empathy hurt more than it soothed. It was simply better to push on.

"Ah, I only lived in England until I was 21. Hopped on a plane to some place ever colder, Boston, for graduate school and my residency. Then I moved to Delware and that's comparatively cold to London." He quirked a smile at the young woman, almost fatherly. "Never been to Texas, but I imagine a waste land when I hear the word. Surely I'm wrong."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-03 08:37 pm UTC (link)

Orion smiled back at him, exposing a few teeth. "Texas wasn't so much a waste land as it was something God forgot to finish half of," she told Doc with a one-shouldered shrug. "The country was prettier than the cities, but I guess that's universal."

Outside, Amy went running past the open door of the clinic, giggling madly about something. The hunter could remember being that young, and in a way she envied the girl her innocence. She hoped the kid could adjust better than some adults had to the fact that things were different now.

"I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?" she asked, probably way too late for the sake of politeness. Her mother would have been appalled. "Were you doing something when I got here?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-03 11:48 pm UTC (link)

"Mmm. I think cities were perfectly marvelous growing up. Busy, exciting, bustling with people and made it easier to find someone you were interested in." He is glad for a smile and to see the teeth. She's a remarkably mature young woman, he can already tell, but he's become more protective of young women in the last three years. "And then you get older and can't stand any of that and it happened to me at the ripe age of 33. Though Suburbia isn't nearly as pretty as the country."

A moment later a young girl and boy came running behind her, the laughter warm to Charles' ears. He never thought of a day when she'd play with someone her own age or adapt so remarkably well to children her own age. The first memories of her life was travel, of roughness and fire, and her father being by her side. Here was freedom to be a child.

"No. No. No one's bleeding or knocking on my door step." He chuckled, assuring, "As much as I hate it, paperwork remains in the ruins of the new world. What aliments people have and what is been owned. Less numbers to worry about at the least. You're preventing me from tedium."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-05 03:53 pm UTC (link)

"What kind of paperwork do you have to do?" Orion as, puzzled that red tape could still be a part of this new world. She would have thought that people would have been willing to go without filling out forms and whatnot, but maybe it was just part of clinging to the way things had been. It still seemed kind of weird to her, though.

"Do you ever get out in the woods to hunt?" she asked, gesturing towards the outside. "I can show you some of the better spots to look for game if you're inclined to take up hunting for food. This is summer, so it's pretty easy to find deer, but if you can't get that there's always rabbit. Turtle is for winter when there's not much else to be found, plus by then it's too cold to fish."

She paused for a moment, looking at what the doctor had set up so far as his office went. "What do you miss most about the way things used to be? Besides the ease of taking care of patients, that is?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-06 12:08 am UTC (link)

"Well, not asking for appeals from someone's insurance, thank god. It's simply medical history and 'payment rendered' or 'owed', really not too terribly diffcult. Bookwork might be the better term," He explained, his gesture was in the generalized room rather than the location of said medical files. Records still needed to exist for future reference and he wanted favors if he planned to dig his roots within the Community this spring.

"Not since summer, no. I'm an all right of a shot with a gun, though not as clean as I'd like and bows and I aren't getting along well. I suspect with your name, you're a little more than just fair." Doc nodded at this, "We've seen a lot of deer heading West and rabbit. I've developed a taste for it." The man paused at the mention of turtle, the expression of confused distaste quite easy to read. "Does turtle taste like chicken?"

Charles laughed and not missing a beat and said, "Air conditioning and finding shoes with relative ease. How about you, Orion? What do you miss?" Besides the obvious, besides ones lost. That never needs to be answered.

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-06 12:29 am UTC (link)

"Air conditioning, definitely," Orion said immediately, waving towards the outside and the summer day. "You wouldn't think it, but Oregon gets pretty warm during summer. Not boiling hot like Texas, but the summers are muggy and can be pretty uncomfortable if you aren't used to it. I miss being able to just flip a switch to cool off."

The children outside were still scampering around, and the hunter said, "If you ever want lessons in using a bow I can usually be found. We need more Enks who know what they're doing when it comes to providing food. Winters here can be harsh, and everyone ends up a little hungry by the time the game goes to ground. So don't be shy if you want to really learn how to hunt, okay?"

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

ex_medice502
2013-03-06 04:37 pm UTC (link)

"The East coast isn't too terribly different in that regard. It's warm and sweltering and the humidity clings to your skin - I despised it." If he had the choice, he would have moved to California looking back. But his wife's family had lived in the New England area. Delaware had been pushing it. "Either way, this isn't my favorite part of the year. Spring and Autumn often is on this side of the waters."

And in a few moments he probably would pull Amy in to cool off with some water. That was another reason he missed AC terribly, he lost just as many people in heatwaves as he did in winter weather. "I'll try to seek you then. We live within the Church itself, a little strange considering my opinion of the whole thing, but it's cool in the basement for now."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

primitive_soul
2013-03-06 06:30 pm UTC (link)

"It's no more strange than living out in the trees," Orion said with a slight shrug. She slid off of the stool she'd been occupying, having decided it was probably time to get out of the doctor's hair. "I'll see you when the weather starts to warm up a little, and we'll go out into the field for some archery practice. I'm sure you'll do fine."

It was going to be a trek back to her place, but it was a walk she was used to. "Tell Amy I said I hope she has a good day."

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Read comments) -