ways_infirmary | Whistle while you work! Or sing.

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Whistle while you work! Or sing.

Zhaan actually slept well last night. And things are quieter today, in her mind. She can't hear any thought above the level of a murmur now. Maybe she can if she strains, but she doesn't feel like eavesdropping just for the sake of experiment.

Right now, anyway, she has other things to be busy with. There's the call button to install in the infirmary, and she has to stock up on medicines and tools. Fortunately she can get all she needs from Bar - she'll have a lot more to work with than she did on Moya - although it does mean that she'll have to lug all these things from the bar to the infirmary.

She doesn't mind, though. In fact, she's feeling quite happy to be busy. So as she carries a box full of clinking, brightly colored bottles and strange tools from Bar to infirmary, and an empty box back - which she gets filled up once more - she sings softly to herself, a Delvian children's song naming and describing different kinds of flowers. And she's got a nice set of pipes, too.

Very much botherable.

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At some point when Zhann has been in and out, Guppy escaped from his quarantine and came back.

He's had six hours sleep in the last five days. But he's also a professional. And it wouldn't do for Fran to need treatment in the next couple of hours and her notes not to be in the computer.

He gets most of it done - it's just copying from his notebook and doesn't therefore require brain effort - before the exhaustion overpowers him.

Zhann may hear a loud crash from the office as he falls off the wheely chair.

Zhaan hears the noise, all right. She drops her box (well, puts it down quickly) and runs into the office. She hadn't been inside the infirmary when Guppy had entered, and though she'd heard typing, she'd decided to finish bringing in her things before she disturbed whoever was working there.

A young man is sprawled on the floor in front of the desk - practically under it. As she kneels to check him, she looks for blood, but thankfully doesn't see any. Zhaan gently but efficiently turns Guppy face-up and checks his pulse, which seems fine.

There are circles under his eyes. It's pretty obvious what happened here. Zhaan pats Guppy's cheek in an attempt to wake him.

Guppy jumps and opens his eyes, sitting up abruptly and wincing slightly. He'll have a bruise on his shoulder tomorrow. Falling off your chair does that.

And blinks slightly. Not a familiar face.

"Hello."

Beat.

"What am I doing down here?"

"At best guess, you have not slept properly for a while, and it just caught up with you," Zhaan says with a smile. "Can you stand? If you need to sleep, there are better places for it than the floor."

"Six hours in five days." Guppy confirms. "I've been in quarantine with a patient."

He tries to get up, but his legs feel like jelly and he sits down heavily on the chair again.

"Sorry, have we met? I'm Dr Guppy Sandhu, I work here."

"Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan. I also work here, as of yesterday evening," she says with a smile. "I can help you get to one of the beds if you need it. Or the couch."

"Nice to meet you and welcome to the team." Guppy says, extending a hand. "How do you prefer to be addressed?"

Running his other hand through his hair. "I'll be okay in a minute, thanks. I've got a room upstairs I can crash in."

"Simply as Zhaan," she says, shaking Guppy's hand. She's not used to it so she does it somewhat awkwardly. "I doubt you'll make it all the way upstairs, though." She'd noticed Guppy's legs doing their jelly impression when he tried to stand up. "I can at least help you get somewhere more comfortable. The chair won't do either." Zhaan offers him a hand, this to aid him in standing up.

He accepts it, standing more steadily now.

"Thanks. I'll probably flop on a couch in the bar for a bit, until I have enough energy to attempt getting upstairs."

A small smile. "Sorry if I made you jump."

Zhaan chuckles. "It's all right. I've faced worse than sudden starts in my time." She helps him out of the office and into the infirmary proper. "If you still had other duties to perform, I can take care of them for you. You mentioned something about being with a quarantined patient?"

He grabs the notebook and saves the computer before they go.

"I was, she's gone back to her room. I was just typing up her notes, but I'd pretty much finished. She may come back later if she's feeling worse, but for the moment she's stable and non-contagious. Thank you all the same, she may yet come back down but I don't think she got any more sleep than I did."

"Then I shall stay here and keep a watch for her in case she returns. What is her name?" That'll be all the information she needs - she doesn't want to grill Guppy because it would get in the way of him sleeping.

"Fran Goldsmith. She's on the computer."

He smiles. "Thanks. I'll catch you later and try to get to know you better."

"All right. I shall take care of her, if she comes here. We'll get to know each other better once you've caught up on sleep." She hopes that working to the point of exhaustion isn't a regular thing for Guppy, although she suspects that such is indeed the case.

Not quite to this extent, but yes, he does tend to overdo it. He lets go of the hand and settles on a sofa.

"Thanks. I'll catch you later."

He grabs a cushion, puts his head on it and is asleep almost immediately.

Zhaan smiles. "Rest well," she says softly, before returning to the infirmary to put her bottles away.

After his day of visitors, Will wakes up in the infirmary and wonders who to ask if he can leave.

He's kind of limping around the infirmary when he heards Zhaan singing and follows the sound and just kind of stares a bit.

He'll apologize for being rude once he gets over the whole you're blue thing then the bruise on his leg acts up from standing too long,

"Bloody 'ell," Will says as he tries not to fall over, he had time to grab his shirt but no boots, so very scruffy and worn out looking medieval man, holding a table and looking lost.

Zhaan puts her box down and goes over to him, moving quickly because she's afraid he's going to topple. She puts out a hand to steady him and make sure that he doesn't have an unpleasant meeting with the floor. "I see you're awake," she says, "although I might need to check that leg before you start walking on it."

Although she's stopped hearing things from other minds the way she did yesterday, for some reason the strain Will put on his injury comes through clearly, and she finds that she is limping a little herself, as if the hurt were her own.

Will's got a decent balance when he's not injured and his manners are coming back,

"Tis fine, just took the flat o'a sword blade 'gainst it twas all, forgive me for cursin', milady,"

As he tries to stand more on his own since Will always feels embarassed when someone has to help him, he never wants to be a burden on anyone, its his job to protect them.

She backs off a little. "It's all right. I've heard much worse." Zhaan smiles. "My name is Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan. I know you have been here for a time, but I just started here, so I'm afraid I know nothing about you."

"Tisn't much to tell, milady, my name is Will Scarlett and came back 'ere from Sherwood after not 'avin' slept for two days o'fightin'. I'm doin' better, me arm where the arrow twas tisn't feel as bad, rest tis just feelin' sore from fightin' tis all, milady,"

Will's naturally restless and he'd like to be able to move around more, but at this point his body hurts too much for him to be as comfortable as he'd like. And its disconcerting having people worry after him like this when he he left a place where men were hunting an outlaw for a reward.

Will's soreness is starting to seep into Zhaan, somehow. She puts up the buffer she's been practicing, which helps somewhat. Though she's still aware of the pain, it doesn't feel like it belongs to her. She can move around freely.

"All right. In that case, I suppose, you will just have to stay still. I can give you something to reduce the pain. Just a moment." She goes over to the box she was carrying and searches through it before pulling out a small, pink bottle. She then goes to the counter under the cupboard she's using to keep her things in and opens up a large vat of what looks like cream.

Getting a bowl and spoon out of another cabinet, she scoops some lotion into the bowl, then mixes in a small amount of liquid from the pink bottle. "This ointment is a mild analgesic - it eases pain. Just rub it on the affected areas every eight arns...hours. I am not used to human measures of time yet."

She finishes mixing the lotion and puts it in a small jar, which she brings over to Will. "A hot bath will probably help you feel better, too," she suggests.

"Thank ye, milady, twouldn't know where to 'ave a bath 'ere,"

Will says with a try at a grin as he moves slowly back to his bed and takes off his shirt showing all his scars from fights and the long scars of the lash on his back, overlapping and crisscrossing, leaving little smooth skin.

The feel of the oinment reminds him of ones from his own time as it soothes the pain and memories of Tuck worrying over him after he was rescued flit through his thoughts,

"Tis enough to 'elp it fade and tis all I need, milady."

[OOC: Thanks for being understanding.]

When Zhaan sees Will's scars - not all battle scars, but old wounds from abuse dealt to a prisoner - she is reminded of her friend D'argo, the warrior who spent so long chained by the Peacekeepers. She looks away and concentrates on washing out the bowl in which she mixed her ointment.

"The rooms upstairs have bathrooms. You could ask the Bar for the use of one of those, if you so wish. But the ointment should work as well."

"Aye, thank ye, milady, shall think on it, but this tis lovely, Tuck's made things such as this before,"

Will says with a complicated smile, the last time Tuck made it, he was putting it on Will's still healing back and the echoes of that rescue still exist in Nottingham, where the bounty is raised as revenge for Will's escape.

(OOC Not a worry and mun squees at Will being compared to D'argo)

"Tuck? Is he your healer, back where you come from?" She's glad that her help reminds him of something that a friend would do.

"At times 'e is, 'e's Friar Tuck and 'nother of Robin's men, 'e knows more 'bout cookin' and healin' than the rest of us, also 'e thinks 'imself a brewer yet 'e's not. Tis always better when 'e cooks since 'e can do strange things to alcohol,"

Will's grinning and looking more like the teenager he is at thoughts of Tuck and his experiments in Sherwood in the spring.

Zhaan smiles. "Perhaps someday your friend will come up with a palatable drink, if he keeps trying. It is good to pursue new knowledge, although sometimes doing so may tempt disaster."

"Aye, 'e knows what tastes good and where to find it for us, just doesna know 'ow to make it 'imself, milady,"

Will's grin is larger, there are many good memories of Sherwood though the most recent ones are too full of blood and smoke as the outlaws fought.

She gets a glimpse of the battle, from his mind - chaotic, bloody, fearful even for some of those accustomed to war. But she somewhat expected this, so it doesn't shock her too much. Why does she keep seeing things like that now?

"You said you were Robin's men. Who is this Robin?" Maybe, knowing that, she can discover what it is that the fight so much on Will's mind is about.

"Robin o'Locksley or Robin 'ood as 'e's sometimes called, 'e's a noble who's tryin' to make things right in Nottingham, 'e's a great man and the only 'ope we 'ave, milady,"

Will says rubbing the manacle scars on his wrist and not looking at Zhaan, Robin sees the great man in Will where he sees only the thief. Robin lifts men up and gives Nottingham hope for the future, but they are all outlaws and live on the edges of the world in Sherwood forest. To Will the fight was his fault, the Sheriff raised the bounty and so all the hunters came to slate the Sheriff's anger against Will's rescue.

"You are rebels, then?" Zhaan obviously approves. She knows about being a rebel, too - although it did not go well for her.

"Sheriff calls us outlaws and says we commit treason yet Prince John tis not the true king and Richard tis far away, we 'ave to make sure England doesna fall due to 'is creatures,"

At the moment, its not going that well for Will, but the hope of Nottingham rests in Robin and Will's hope too, for Robin helps men who some would call peasants become warriors and great men that are still sung of in England's future.

"Ah. I understand that," Zhaan says. "Before I came here, my friends and I were in a similar situation - we had been imprisoned, and we escaped, but danger was never far away." Neither was death, and now she was past that.

"Aye, twas caught by the Sheriff, Robin risked too much to save me though, ne'er broke yet twas 'ard 'avin' the Sheriff use me as a trap for 'im. But tis the life there is, for if we dinna protect those who canna stand then England twill fall for she tis only as good as 'er men,"

Will says quietly looking much older than his seventeen years as memories of a dungeon and pain and Nottingham and Sherwood, a life lived on the edge so merchants and farmers can live go through his thoughts and he rubs at the scar on his wrist again.

"My people, too, were oppressed by their leaders," she says gravely. "At least when I left home. I do not know how things stand now. I hope others have taken up the fight, like you and your comrades." Of course, it's more complicated than that at home, because Delvians are not violent by nature - and if they do violence, they can suffer as a result. "One thing I have learned about humans is that they never give up, when the things they care about are in danger. Including their friends and their freedom."

"Aye, I may rest 'ere a bit, but I'm a man o'Nottingham and twill ne'er stop bein' one. For though I twas born as just a peasant tisn't mean I twill not fight for England 'ow e'er I can. I 'ope that yer 'ome is safe and there are many ways to fight and protect those we care for,"

Will first protected his family by being a thief and now is an outlaw to protect others since that is what he can do.

"Then I wish you well," Zhaan says. Of course, not knowing the story, she doesn't know it's going to turn out that way. "If all of Robin's men have your courage, I am sure you will achieve your goal." She changes the subject, becoming the physician again. "Is the ointment helping? It should be taking effect about now."

"Aye, ta, tis lovely, thank ye, milady,"

Will says with a yawn as his body says that it still hasn't slept enough today and now that its not sore, it'd like some more please.

"It seems that you need to rest a bit more. You should sleep better, now that you don't hurt as much," Zhaan says. She puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You'll be back up to fighting strength soon enough."

"Aye, thank ye, milady,"

Will gets out before his body decides its going to sleep as he curls up in the blanket, falling asleep with the ease of a teenager and warrior who knows the value of being able to just rest.

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Whistle while you work! Or sing.

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