sixthiterationlogs | [MINGLE] Worried/Sick 2: Snake Expedition & Recovery!

Prologue: Always Be Prepared

Alex has made a quasi-decent replica of a snake- or at least, the best one can do when you're making it out of braided vines. He's in full Zookeeper-slash-Crocodile-Hunter mode, acting as if the pretend thing is going to lash out and bite him.

"Okay, so first off- try not to grab it with your hands at all. I've put together a few tools here-" he's no blacksmith, but poles with hooks on the end are easy enough to piece together.

He goes through the process of showing people the safest way to approach, catch and contain a venomous snake- though he encourages people to locate the snakes and bring him to them if they're uncertain about whether or not they can safely handle them.

After that, he goes on to What To Do If You're Bitten. No tourniquets, just a light bandage- lie down with the wound above the heart, and everything else Web MD will tell you to do if you're bitten.

After the lesson that really feels more like a very rehearsed lecture (because it prettymuch is) he goes on to the obvious conclusion of such a speech: "Any questions?"

Expedition

"Just stay very, very still," says Alex. "Don't shift your weight, or move your feet," Alex is saying very, very calmly to the poor individual that's found itself in a staredown with a fever snake.

Ever so slowly, he inches the hooked pole in, uses it to quickly catch and grab the snake, and tosses it into a waiting bag.

"You did great!" he tells the would-be bite victim, trying to sound encouraging while holding a bag of venomous potential death.

Recovery-Process

Alex has been milking snakes for quite some time now. Make whatever puns about that you desire, he's probably heard all of them.

He holds each snake's upper jaw over a jar with a membrane he's made out of dried livestock entrails, since there's no source of readily available rubber, sinks the fangs into it, and lets the poison drip until the snake has no more venom to give. Then he puts it into an enclosure, writing down the time on a slip of paper next to it.

"Use it fast, we have no way to freeze it yet," he says as he starts to hand it off to someone, then stops, realizing he's getting far too robotic. So he stops and makes eye contact, and puts something of a polite, if extremely tired smile on his face. "Unless you're here to help with the milking. I've got a few

Edited 2018-11-24 10:22 (UTC)

"Teach me," Altaïr says, approaching without fear. He'd listened to the man's talk on how to gather the snakes and had gotten quite a few on the expedition. He'd seen the damage this illness could do firsthand, with Tony, with 7, with the others. And while he'd used his time as best he could, first aiding with the ill, then trying to clean their houses so the stale sweat of sickness wasn't lingering when they returned, there was always more that could be done.

This was a way to actively help.

Alex nods. "Come on in, then. The trick is to be as gentle as possible while holding it-" he starts to explain, patiently and easily, narrating what he's doing as he gently lifts another slightly chilled and dozing snake from its enclosure.

He begins the process of milking the snake again, emptying the venom into another prepared jar. "I still haven't figured out how fast they regenerate their venom. But there will still be traces of it on the fangs at this point," he says, punctuating the process with soothing words to the snake he's holding.

-"Yep, there you go buddy. You've got food waiting for you when you're done. It's almost over, I know, I know, humans are scary."-

"So, be just as gentle putting them back. They're not as aggressive as some of the species I'm used to, but don't take your eyes off the business end of the-" he makes a slightly annoyed face as a pungent smell fills the air. "And he just musked me. Not dangerous, but... not fun, either. Don't worry, it... eventually washes off?"

He blinked, eyes slightly watering, but--

"I have leapt into worse," he muttered. "I am glad I wore these horrible clothes."

His scrubs, vibrant as they were. He had known better than to wear his robes, sure they would be ruined if he attempted it. And he only had the one set now - good reason to keep them in good condition.

But then he was moving with as much care as Alex had shown, moving with a smoothness and certainty that came with years of training. Not for this, but now, it showed its benefits. "This is not something I was ever taught. We were more apt to kill the creatures as they threatened our livestock and our children."

"That's understandable. In my time, we've been able to produce medical treatments for snakebites- antivenom does exactly what it sounds like. But you need the venom itself to produce the medicine," he says, as he selects a particularly chilled (literally, he's keeping them in a fairly cool (but not cold) environment to make them more sluggish) snake for Altaïr, showing him where and how to hold it in order to support its weight.

The scales are smooth, and even in a non-heated enclosure, it's retained enough heat to still be warm as any other living thing to the touch. Alex talks him through prying the jaws open to encourage its needle-like fangs into the membrane atop the jar.

"This is part of what we do where I work back home. We keep the snakes on display to educate the public, but we're a research facility as well. We extract venom for people to manufacture antivenom, and a few experimental drugs. It's not unheard of for snake venom to have medicinal uses." This is how Alex keeps himself calm when faced with danger. Science is reliable and safe and full of things he knows to be either provable fact, or at least very educated guesses.

"This is actually the part of the job I like better. Dealing with the animals, I mean. Giving tours to schoolchildren is... less in my area of expertise."

"I do have some experience in some matters similar to this," he said thoughtfully as he followed Alex's instructions and, after a bit of trying, managed to begin the process of milking this first snake. "We knew of herbs that were medicinal in small doses but dangerous in larger ones. We knew that if we exposed ourselves to them gradually, we would eventually become immune. Much like one of our horses who enjoyed hunting snakes. The beast was dealt many a glancing blow by the creatures until he no longer feared their bite; they had no effect upon him." Immunity granted by exposure.

And the thought narrowed his eyes. Made him consider. "I believe I may know of something else similar. The practice of exposing people to small amounts of disease..."

A snippet of what the Apple had shown him but he hadn't quite been able to grasp until now. His mind had just been too old to make the connection.

Alex nods. "Vaccination. If the body is exposed to a trace amount-" Alex begins to explain the process of antibody production until the snake's fangs stop dripping poison. He stops, and talks him through putting the snake back in its box without getting in to its strike zone.

"Antivenom is similar- though in this case a minute dose of preserved venom is administered to an animal- a horse, or sheep usually. The antibodies the animal's body produces can be filtered from its blood and used to treat a bite victim."

It's a smooth, even ramble as he continues to move on to the next nigh-deadly snake, and it's very possible that this repetition of nice, familiar Facts That He Knows is his version of idly humming to himself. It seems to be keeping his hands steady, anyway, which seems like a rather important skill when playing with snakes.

The answering question to that comes swiftly. "How? How can it be filtered from blood? Sheep carry illnesses that can pass to humans - that would be a danger. It seems a horse would be safer, but again, the method of filtering the blood..."

Undoubtedly Those Who Came Before had an answer, but he no longer had the Apple to ask questions of. (And that alone was enough to keep him awake some nights, his hand missing the cool curve of metal against his palm, the golden gleam and the voice that would echo in his mind. He had known since the first time he touched it what a danger it was, but he had never been able to put it down in a way that lasted. Now, here, he had no choice as it wasn't here to use. And he missed it like an ache. Almost as much as he missed--)

Enough of that. There were questions to ask.

"Is there such a fine cloth that it can be done? Is it something that could be recreated here?"

"Centrifugal force. The antibodies are in one part of what makes up the blood- hemoglobin- which separates from the rest of the blood when it's put through a machine that spins it fast enough," he explains, and then, as he moves on to the next snake- this time demonstrating how to gently massage the top of the snake's head to encourage the venom glands to empty as much as possible.

As he spoke, the images swam into the forefront of Altaïr's mind, a glimpse that the Apple had given him as he had looked for ways to formulate medicines and poisons alike, a hint of what Juno could give him if he gave her more. And that moment's thought was enough to have him stepping slightly back, allowing more of a demonstration as he rubbed at one temple. Damnation, why was this coming back now. He pushed it firmly out of his mind and, instead, began working alongside Alex to do as he was shown, care taken with every motion. These were dangerous creatures, after all, and he would give them the respect they were due.

Alex is about to go into some babbling about the difference between inoculation and vaccination, and how those discoveries led to antivenoms when he notices Altaïr growing distant. After a quick check to make sure the snake he just put back in its enclosure is, in fact, entirely enclosed, he puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you could use a break. Maybe a glass of water?" Alex suggests.

He lifted a hand, shaking his head - the snake he'd been handling was safely back in its enclosure and he'd yet to begin to retrieve another, leaving the gesture thankfully safe. "I am well, only... remembering. I was old before I came here, my memory failing. Now, it seems much is coming back that had faded away." And while some was welcome, when it came in flashes that made him nearly hunger for the Apple in his hand again, it was - at the least - difficult.

Technically speaking, Phryne has been in worse scrapes than this. Or at the very least, has been in ones that at least present more immediate danger. But even during the worst of those she'd had at least the comfort of a good set of lockpicks, which is very distinctly not the case here. Not to mention the fact that while they may be all well and good when one has just been locked into a glass case full of water, it tends to be significantly less useful when one happens to be facing down a venomous snake.

She does, however, still as soon as Alex says to, barely even so much as breathing until the snake is safely corralled and tucked away into a bag. And it's only then that she actually dares to speak up.

"I would have preferred to not have to worry about being potentially bitten, to be honest." There's a brief pause and then she continues on. "Although there was something I'd been meaning to ask you about."

"Oh?" he asks, hoping that she doesn't mind that he's not looking up at her while he speaks, given that he's still securing the snake, a thing that he looks remarkably comfortable doing- kind of in the way that he looks remarkably uncomfortable when he's dealing with anything but animals.

"Ask away."

She doesn't, fortunately. In fact, given that the snake is rather more deadly - or at least, rather more harmful - than she could be even at her worst, she's perfectly willing to ignore the fact that he isn't looking directly at her. Especially when the alternative is likely to involve one or the other of them being bitten by a less-than-pleased snake.

"I found this little fellow hitching a ride a while back." She holds out a spare (clean) sock at that, opening it a little so he can see the candy frog sitting at the bottom. "Unfortunately I didn't see where he got on, not that I would have expected to be a terribly comfortable ride in the first place, which means that I'm not entirely certain where I should put him back down."

Not past somewhere on the path they've taken to get to where they are. But that isn't exactly the most helpful, in the long run.

"Oh! Wow!" Alex just kind of grins at the sight of the little brightly-coloured frog. "Look at the patterning on this one, he's gorgeous," he can't help but admire the creature, holding his hand out for the sock- careful not to let the frog touch his skin.

"Anywhere near a good food source should be fine- he's not going to be bothered by any predators- at least not any that haven't evolved specifically to hunt him. As long as he's not underfoot, he should be okay- there's a grove of trees up ahead that should be perfect."

Oh, is he ever tempted to try and find a box for it, though. But he's already got a bag full of snakes and a box full of bird-cats. He can't come back from one camping trip with an entire zoo.

Give it three or four more trips. At least.

"I could see how he could be considered so, at least," Phryne answers with a shrug. She's not entirely sure she agrees, mind, but to be fair, she isn't quite as enthusiastic about reptiles as Alex seems to be. Still, she hands over the sock without so much a second thought, nodding at Alex's comment as she does so.

"That does make sense. Although I have to wonder what sort of things might be inclined to eat something like this."

She isn't, entirely, certain if the coloration means the same sort of thing it would back home. But even if it doesn't, she can't imagine that it sees too much predation, given how willing it was to hitch a ride. Assuming that hadn't been a fluke, anyway, but she's certainly not the person to ask about that.

[MINGLE] Worried/Sick 2: Snake Expedition & Recovery!

Expedition & Recovery - OTA

Recovery-Process

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Expedition

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