video

[zen_en_vert]

Hello- everyone. Whatever we are.

My name is Doctor Bruce Banner. I'm- [not that kind of doctor, actually, but not going to overcomplicate this with semantics when the reality is he's perfectly capable.] -collecting medical supplies, and a record of who here knows what amount of first aid.

If any of you have any untreated injuries that you'd like to be seen, please let me know.

And a message, for going forward. One of the serious issues that we're going to have with this place will be dealing with the possibility of infection. Individually tailored cocktails of antibiotics are just not a reality right now. The supply of ointment is low.

That means that when you get cut, you need to take it seriously and you need to treat it immediately. Use soap, and warm water, and scrub your cuts. I know it's painful, if it isn't painful you're doing it wrong, but you need to take a soft clean cloth or a soft-bristled medical brush or sponge, and you need to scrub, with soap, under as steady a stream of hot clean water as you can get your hands on. Especially if there was dirt in the cut, or if you were bitten by some kind of animal. Obviously wash your hands as well before dressing a wound. So, that's the bad news, I guess?

If you need help, you can always get in contact with me. If you've got any first aid training, please get in touch here so we can pool our resources. Same thing if you'd like to get training.

If you're interested in helping, or learning to help at all, I have a building with electricity that I'm trying to clean and disinfect to the point where it will serve as a makeshift clinic until we can all get out of here.

Comments

[zen_en_vert]

Some, but keeping them supplied is going to be a challenge, especially if this place actually begins to see people.

[He glances around.]

I don't know what kind of demand there'll be.

[unknowable]

None of us do yet, though I'd guess quite a bit. Those things we've been seeing - the fears - they can hurt people. And the bears, before.

[Adam learned that firsthand. Not the bears, luckily, but the rest.]

Are you actually a doctor, or just someone with some training?

[He doesn't mean the question to be rude, but - well, you never know what sort of places people come from.]

[zen_en_vert]

I have a PhD in physics, but I study the effect of radiation on the human body, and I've spent the last few years working as a field medic.

[So like, yes and no.]

Brain surgery, I will stay away from. Stitches, on the other hand-

[unknowable]

[At least he has a doctorate. That relieves some of Adam's uncertainty, at least.]

I had to do some stitches on someone not so long ago. I'd like to learn, so I can do a better job next time.

[A faint, almost-smile.]

We'll just have to hope no one needs brain surgery.

[zen_en_vert]

[He nods, and moves to begin showing him around.]

So here's the first aid supplies- this is what I expect to see the most of; cuts and scrapes bigger than people want to see to themselves. Stab wound here and there.

I'm considering the feasibility of a blood clinic, but right now-

[unknowable]

It would be a big project, and there's no way to know how useful it would be. Some of the people here might not even be human.

[Having met a few nonhumans before, Adam is open to the possibility of more.]

Supposedly one of those gods said they'd bring people back if they die, but - I don't know. We'll see.

[zen_en_vert]

Really? My goodness.

It's quite a gamble to take, obviously, we should all be careful, but it'd also be- pardon me for saying so, but a hell of a safety net.

[unknowable]

I don't know how much I believe anything they say, but I was - somewhere, before this, and they brought people back to life as well.

[Well, they cloned them and inserted their consciousnesses, which is different, but still.]

But there are plenty of awful things that can happen to people short of dying.

[zen_en_vert]

What do you mean, they brought people back to life as well?

[He says, pausing them there.]

Where were you?

[unknowable]

A place called Harborview. It's a long story, and I don't know most of the details. But when people died, the - technicians there brought them back to life.

[He doesn't particularly enjoy remembering it.]

It happened to people I know.

[zen_en_vert]

That isn't the first time I've heard it.

This is epidemic, then; worlds beyond worlds, drawing people in as needed.

[unknowable]

Maybe.

[He's cautious when he says it.]

We were thrown here, though. I'm not sure anything pulled us in. We messed with something powerful in the other place, and we woke up here.

[zen_en_vert]

I'm alarmed to hear it.

[He says, all the same.]

I don't want to know where we might be shuffled to next.

[unknowable]

I think you're probably safe. There's nothing here to mess with. Just the cave and the monsters and - whatever else.

[No ley lines, no magic everywhere. So that's all right.]

[zen_en_vert]

But just, just in case 'whatever else' is a problem, let's get to that stitching.

[Proposing, with a nod.]

[unknowable]

Yeah, I'd like that. The more I can learn, the better. If nothing else, I don't know how long either of us will be here.

[And Adam is a very determined, focused student. He'll learn whatever he can, while he can.]

[zen_en_vert]

[In that case, he moves to get the materials down, to deliver a thorough, calm lesson, involving one of the fruits from the latest basket of strange supplies he'd picked up; as good a place as any to start.]