sixthiterationlogs | long road home [backdated to March 6]

Entry tags:

long road home [backdated to March 6]

WHO: (Who is making the post)
WHERE: (Where the post takes place)
WHEN: March 6 - March 17
OPEN TO: all + message/spam for Bev
WARNINGS: nada

[network, open text]

[She'd message Bruce privately the day before to tell him about this very thing plus show him what she and Loki had brought back from their little surprise vacation, but it's taken a day before she'd felt up to anything else, and she's still not exactly feeling up to much.]

For those of you who didn't already know, Betty Ross is gone.

[network, voice, private to Beverly]

I think I might have done some damage while we were out in the woods. Mind stopping by to take a look? I don't want to tell Bruce until I know what's wrong, he'll make a bigger deal out of it than I want.

[video, open:]

[The map is a real find. She'd spent half the day before borrowing some of Bruce's precious paper to make her own copy before taking it out to the South Village Inn, but she's finally here, and the map is spread over one of the tables in the front room, one edge weighted down with the case and the other corners with empty glasses. The video opens on the carefully framed map itself, and Nat's voice narrates as she points out key locations.]

Think we're finally getting a birds-eye view of this place. We're here, and here's the ruins with the fever snakes; here's the shrine, and the southern beach I got to tour the last time this place decided to send me on an adventure. Loki and I were up here--there's ruins of an old settlement housed inside a bunch of scuttled ships on the rocks here, where we found this map.

But I think you'll all notice the biggest thing here: there's a second island to the northeast, here. [She taps the map, then turns the camera to face herself. She looks tired, but there's a glow to her green eyes that speaks to an inner purpose.]

Maybe we've been looking for our hosts in the wrong places. I'm leaving the map here in the South Village Inn front room, with the records. I've made a rough copy, but someone with a better hand should probably make a second.

[Spam, open:]

Nat remains in the front room of the Inn the rest of the day with the map, refining her smaller version and making some rough dimensional calculations. She's borrowed a spool of thread from the storeroom and roughly divided the map into a grid, trying to get a feel for the size of the space, and is available if anyone wants to come talk business.

Over the course of the next week and change, you can find her in the bunker, working away at the functioning consoles, trying to find answers with renewed purpose, or taking long soaks in the hot springs, where she'll be amenable to company of most kinds. Some nights might find her sitting out on the porch of #40 wrapped in a blanket, a tawny peacat draped over her lap and rumbling loud enough to be heard on the road. She won't be working out in the dojo for the next short while, doctor's orders, but she does stop by every few days to see if Nida needs a hand with anything, or if any of the regulars are there to chat.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Number 40, if you don't mind making a house call. Last house on the right on the road out towards the springs.

I'll be right there.

And she does make her way over with a small supply of medical equipment to help with whatever Natasha needs of her. Small mostly because they don't have anything decent to help here, not what Beverly is used to at any rate. Still, it's something and that is much better than nothing at all.

She knocks when she arrives at the right house. "Natasha? It's Beverly. Can I come in?"

"It's open," Natasha calls from inside. Honestly, there's very little reason to lock doors in a place like this; she does only when she sleeps and when she's gone--at least when she knows she's going somewhere.

When Beverly enters, Nat's in the living room, sitting carefully on the couch. Her movements are stiff, but she offers a warm smile as she starts to stand. "Thanks for coming. I figured I should probably get a professional opinion here. Giant spider knocked me around, I think it might be a little more than bruised."

Beverly pushes the door open at the invitation, stepping inside and over to where Natasha is. She instinctively gives the other woman a looking over for any injuries or illness, just to start with.

"That was a good idea," she says approvingly. "What hurts and how badly? You look a bit stiff. Is there any sharp pain?" Setting her bag down, she moves to start giving Natasha an exam.

There's plenty visible already, with her wearing that black tank top; a large bruise on her right shoulder that's a nasty shade of purple black, a cut across her face that doesn't need stitches but looks like it might have been close with some greenish bruising around that, numerous defensive wounds on her forearms and hands, plus the scraped and battered knuckles that are the clear sign of a fight. But as she lifts her hands to the hem of her shirt and carefully slips the tanktop off and over her head, the real damage is evident: the spreading reddish-purple over her right ribcage that clearly indicates some damage.

She doesn't gasp or wince as she lowers her arms again, but there's a tightness around her expression, a very careful set to her jaw and her voice as she answers Beverly that speaks to the pain she's in. "Pretty sure one or two of my ribs are cracked. Don't think they're broken, nothing's punctured, but breathing's kind of fun and exciting when it happens."

These injuries are enough to make Beverly's empathetic nature more than a little hurt at the sight of Natasha's injuries. She really must be hurting with all of those bruises. Beverly inspects the injuries as best she can, noting the color and shape of the bruises, especially around the ribcage. Warning Natasha that it might hurt, she gently runs a hand across the exposed ribs, to check to see if any are fractured or broken. Nothing is poking out of her skin, so that's good at least.

"I'd say your assessment is right," she says finally, straightening back up once her examination is done. "It looks to me like you've just fractured a couple of ribs. I can't do much about those while we let them heal. Just try to limit your activities, give yourself time to heal, and don't forget to keep breathing deeply. I know it hurts, and I'll give you something to manage the pain, but you'll need to keep breathing deeply. We don't want to risk pneumonia."

With all of that done, she grabs her bag and starts sorting out the herbs she has. "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable again. The more you're resting now, the easier and better your recovery will be. I'll give you a couple of anti-inflammatory herbs, along with painkillers and some anti-septics."

She's no stranger to pain, and Natasha doesn't flinch as Beverly runs her hand along her ribs, though she does go a little paler. When Beverly is finished, Natasha takes what passes for a deep breath these days, and there's a faint sheen on her forehead. Cracked ribs are always a pain.

Slowly, as Beverly gives her rundown, Nat pulls her shirt back on, and when she's done it does ache but she still shakes her head a little at the mention of painkillers. "I'll take the anti-inflammatories and whatever else you think will help, but no painkillers. I'd rather not compromise my reaction times, given everything lately." She'd shrug, but again: ow. "But I'll try to keep from any strenuous activity. How long do you think it'll be before I'm back up and running?" Please don't tell her she's on bed rest for the next month, Bev. Be a pal.

Beverly understands, to some degree. She's experienced the same sort of mindset in relation to pain with Klingons and even though she doesn't agree, she knows arguing about it in this moment won't do either of them any good.

"Pain can do that," she points out, but that's all she says on the subject. "I'll give you a dose anyway. It's this one." She holds up a small amount of that particular herb before placing it by itself off to the side. "Whether you take it or just hold onto it, I'll leave up to you. I can't exactly pull rank here."

Her lips twist wryly as she moves to pull out the rest of the herbs she needs to give Natasha, telling her the proper way to use them as she goes.

"That should be all. I'd say 4 to 6 weeks until you're up to speed, provided you don't push yourself. I won't restrict you to bed rest as long as you take care of yourself."

At least Bev doesn't push, and Natasha is grateful for that, her lips twisting in a faint wry smile at the mention of rank. No, she can't, but she is a proper medical professional, and Natasha isn't that terrible of a patient.

"I'll keep all that in mind. Don't worry. I'm not planning on pushing myself so hard it takes even longer to heal. I've dealt with cracked ribs before." She forces a slow, deep breath despite the pain, checking the herbs Beverly's given her and making mental notes. "What about the springs? Think that might accelerate the healing process? It seems to do a pretty good job with scrapes and bruises, from what I've seen."

"Let me at least clean some of these wounds while I'm here," Beverly offers next. At least none of them look infected from what she can see. That's a start in the right direction.

Like with the ribs, some of this will sting, but what she has to offer as a poultice will at least clean any open wounds and keep the swelling down. It might also get rid of some of the worst bruising.

"Good." The doctor offers a wry smile as she works. "The healing springs should. I haven't known them to have any adverse effects yet, either. As long as you can make the trip up without making any of these worse, by all means."

Sometimes she forgets about the springs and the peach trees because she'd lived on this planet for so long without anything. But if Natasha can get there, even if Beverly needs to help her, that's as good as anything.

"I at least rinsed them out, but honestly I'm never really sure what's going to work around here," she admits, and she'll let Bev do whatever she needs to without complaint. There aren't too many bad injuries, at least; she's always healed well and quickly. Kind of a necessary asset, in her line of work. "Some of the plants seem to line up with Earth, but I always feel like I'm rolling the dice, no matter what the books in the schoolhouse say."

Taking a deep breath, she lets it out slowly. "Honestly, right now I'm a little less sure about getting there on my own. But I've got a few people I can call if I need a hand, and I'm not so stubborn I'm going to try and do something myself that might end up hurting worse. We can't afford that right now." Knowing your limits is important, and Nat's intimately familiar with hers.

Beverly does what she can as far as cleaning the injuries and treating them with her herbs. They don't look as bad as they probably could, which is a positive sign in all of this. At least there aren't any foreign bodies lodged anywhere.

"Good to hear," she answers approvingly. Thank goodness she won't have to worry about Natasha as far as common sense and self-preservation go. "All of the herbs in my garden are Earth varieties and they work just the same. If you need another hand to get to the springs, just call me. I'd be happy to help. But I think that's about all that I can do right now. If they get worse, call me."

"You'll be the first to know," she says, but there's a faintly rueful look on her face as she follows up with a quick adjustment. "Maybe the second. Bruce is going to be hovering once I tell him. He'll try not to, but..." Well. Honestly, she'd done the same when he was sick, barely leaving his bedside, and that was before they'd even started...whatever this was. It's difficult to call it dating, exactly. They're not the kind of people in the kind of place who'd use that word, at least, she isn't. Probably.

Beverly chuckles lightly at that. "Jean-Luc would do the same with me." They've been dating for about a year now, but she still knows how they both would hover with concern and have in the past. "I think I can live with being second."

But that's about all she has right now and so, if Natasha doesn't protest or offer anything else, she'll head on out.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

long road home [backdated to March 6]

private

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject