Experiments Unleashed

Galen frowned as he neared the building again, his satchel over one shoulder. Why were so many people running about? Anxiety revealing itself in sharp movements, his stride lengthened and his breath began to deepen as he entered the building, and his good eye narrowed to see Francesca standing near a cot with an injured man lying on it. Damn. The hunters, warriors, and gatherers should have just entered the forest! He should have been back with plenty of time. Hurriedly, he set the sack down on a nearby table before rushing forwards, his breath hissing out at the severity of the wound. "How long has he been injured?" he asked, already moving to the back of the room. The bleeding in the man's side was sluggish now, and he was pale, showing signs of shock.To stop bleeding, a tincture of horsetail or witch hazel. He nearly knocked the pot over in haste, and quickly dropped a bandage in to soak before moving back to the wounded man, gently easing an uncomfortably hard cushion under his feet to pull blood back to the body's center. It couldn't be helped for the moment; if the bleeding wasn't stopped soon, he'd die. He pulled the cloth bandage back out of the solution, and after a moment's hesitation grabbed an old bottle of iodine as well. Though the material was in precious short supply, such a bad wound needed it.He poured a small amount of iodine on the bandage, rinsing the wound quickly with the horsetail solution before wrapping it with the long bandage, ignoring the man's sounds of discomfort as much as possible. "What the hell happened?" he snapped, unwisely transducting his surprise and agitation into anger. "The early morning is the only time that I can gather herbs; how did he get hurt almost as soon as he left the village?"
 
Francesca' s eyes narrowed at Galen's uncalled for lash out at her. "Pardon me, Galen, but this man's injury was hardly due to MY actions. In fact, you aren't even supposed to be leaving the village! We have GATHERERS for that!" Francesca was red in the face and her stomach was squeamish. She hated arguing and yelling but she was too tired and stressed to stay calm. "I... I'm sorry." She apologized in a soft voice. "Cailyn brought him here wounded and she left me with him to investigate a possibly devastating situation and I just..." Francesca's shaky voice progressively became more quiet as her eyes became moist with tears. She was on the verge of breaking down, for today marked the day that her father was killed. Francesca was slowly releasing the stress through the past few weeks but today she couldn't keep it bottled any longer. She just slumped down to the floor, tears gradually making their way down her flush cheeks. A few sobs escaped her lips in which she tried to keep pursed. "I'm sorry..." She muttered, eyes clenched tightly shut. She directed her sorrows not to Galen but to her father whom she promised she would never let herself break, not in this position, at least.
 
Ted jumped down from his perch in the tree.

"Sorry, Cail, it just sorta snuck up on me.... Quiet little bugger. They usually can't get me like that." He said, all his cockiness showing in his voice. "I would of tried to kill it myself, but I didn't set up any traps for it today. But, hey! Let's not dwell on that, I've got tons of spoils from the forest! And when we get back to the village I want to have a meeting... I have an idea..."

He had been examining the dead Creature the whole time he was talking to Cailyn. He pulled out his sharpened butterfly knife and flipped it around a few times, snapping it open and burying it into the things skull. He moved his backpack around and pulled out a jar, getting ready to extract the eyes and teeth, as well as the tongue. Those were some important parts of these blasted things... True, he didn't know if they could be helpful with too much, but he had a feeling they could be used in mixtures to help... After he finished his bloody work he turned to the others.

"Well.... Are we heading back or what?" He asks, walking back toward the village.
 
Cailyn stared at the stranger for a bit, then looked at Ted once again before speaking, "Yes, we're going back." She turned away, glancing slightly back to let the man know it was time to go. "You, stranger, you did come with a couple of items and we were quite surprised by it." She started walking away from him, letting him decide if he wanted to follow or not. She kept talking despite if he was in hearing distance, "I don't have them. I gave them to one of our leaders. She's keeping it in her possession until we decide if you are a threat or not to us. Where I'm heading is where she's located at right now, so I suggest you follow if you'd like them back." This was one hell of a morning, Cailyn thought. First her warrior was attacked, and then Ted, and now this strange man she has to deal with too. She was getting a bit worried and a tad irritated as well. Creatures usually aren't so active early in the day. Nighttime was their prime time to do any actions, and yet here they were. Something is out there making them act stranger than usual. Gritting her teeth, she decided it was time to gather a team as soon as things were settled here. She needed to investigate this at once. Taking in a deep breath, she started heading back to the building, not before making sure the man and Ted were coming along as well.
 
Robin, having continued his morning routine of exercises, had lost track of time. He didn't realize he'd gone on too long until his body was burning under the sun. Sweaty, and breathing heavily, he gave himself two minutes to pour water on himself, leaving his hair dripping and flat, and change his shirt before running off to the place where his mother worked- the hut of the sickly. When he entered he was so consumed with how much he disliked the job that it took him a minute to catch on to the fact that something out of the usual was going on. He looked to the freshly injured, to everyone else. "What happened?" He asked, trying his best to not sound incompetent.
 
Kolyat sighed, seeing that this whole issue was going to take longer than he would like. Sure he could use some rest, but he also wanted to get back into his path as soon as possible. Keeping it rather quiet, he simply shrugged and followed them back to the village. That place still felt strange; how could some people gathered together and mounted a whole fortress around a random town, in a quite safe part of the woods, to be honest. Well, not for long, thought him to himself, but that wasn't his issue, besides, this people seemed capable enough to... Be eaten, I guess.
 
Galen had opened his mouth to fire a snide comment back at Francesca when she apologized. Surprised, he closed his mouth again, uncertain as to how to proceed. <b>"Ah, um."</b> He swallowed. <b>"Sorry. I shouldn't have yelled, and I should have been here."</b> Tentatively, he reached out to clap her on the shoulder. <b>"You've been doing fine under a lot of pressure."</b> Anyway, from what he'd heard, she was pretty good as a hunter, and shouldn't have to be coping with so much. It was just another sign of how everything was going to the dogs, he guessed.

His gaze sharpened again upon seeing Robin. <b>"Ah, excellent."</b> He gestured to the man on the cot. <b>"This warrior just came back with a severe wound to the side of the torso. I've staunched the bleeding, but it will need more attention; even though I used some iodine in addition to the usual, there is a significant danger of infection. Can I recruit you to put moderate pressure on the man's side- careful of the angle- and keep an eye on him? I don't have an extra one right now."</b> He winked; as horribly inappropriate as the pun might have seemed, gallows humor was one of the only ways he'd found to deal with the heavy pressure and demands of being a healer.

Of course, Robin had always seemed reluctant to deal with patients. He was more restless than satisfied with his current job; maybe he shouldn't have asked him to help for an extended time.
 
Robin nodded, making droplets of water descend to the floors. With his lips scrunch to the right corner of his mouth, he approached the injured warrior and did what he was told to the best of his capabilities. Galen never gave him very hard things to do though, which made Robin assume Galen thought he was stupid or something of the sort. Sure he didn't like the job, and sure he wasn't amazing at it, but he considered himself proficient.
His effort was always doubled with injured warriors. He respected them, and admired them, even when they got themselves messed up real bad. Getting wounded protecting your people was the most honorable way to get wounded. As he sat, holding pressure on the man, whom he didn't really know, he thought about the village kids. He often imagined what they might be when they got older, just as he imagined what they'd look like. Some it was obvious they would be strong warriors, or skilled healers, or desirable and beautiful. Robin's thoughts shifted to his mother. "Galen? Where's my mother? Did she show up this morning?"
 
Galen had walked several feet away to check on his brewing tinctures. He'd started them only yesterday, but there was no way he'd let them steep for too long. Not strong enough, and they wouldn't have an effect; too strong, and they could become poisonous. At Robin's question, he straightened again, brow furrowed slightly.

<b>"I don't think I've seen her today. Maybe she came in while I was out; we were low on arnica and a few other herbs, so I ventured out for a few minutes."</b> And that had caused a crisis. What a damn stint of bad luck. But hopefully it was just about up now. <b>"No, I don't remember seeing her. Maybe your mother was just feeling a little unwell. She worked late yesterday, and might have needed rest."</b> He rubbed his forehead, thinking. There wasn't exactly anywhere else she could have wandered.
 
Francesca accepted Galen's response and simply stopped the tears from dripping down and stood, pushing messy clumps of hair that were falling from her braid behind her ears. Wiping her eyes a final time, she sniffled and rubbed her blood stained hands together. She mustered a smile when Robin wawalked in, trying to appear as composed as possible. It was embarrassing enough having a melt down in front of Galen and the others, she'd be damned to do it in front of one more. Francesca managed a giggle at the inappropriate joke simply to push herself back into her emotionally unreadable state.

"So much for hunting today.." she muttered. "I'm going to head home and get changed. I'll be back in a jiffy." she announced before heading out the door. She caged Cedric up again and started towards her home that was very close to his enclosure as Well as the healer building.
 
Cailyn finally arrived back at the healers building, and disappointment spread across her face when she realized Francesca was gone. "Galen, Robin, where did Francesca go? I have our false thief here asking for his things.." She paused, realized how rude it was to be asking for Francesca when there was a man still seriously wounded and it looked like the healers had other things to worry about. She looked down and then back up, "I apologize," she finally started to say, "I know we're low on supplies and I should have watched him more carefully. He slipped out of my view, and like I told Francesca I'll take full responsibility. But please, take good care of him. We need all the warriors we can." Cailyn gritted her teeth after she finished her statement, she didn't like humiliating herself like this but it was necessary. She knew Galen would have been displeased, he usually was whenever someone hurt came in at the wrong moment. She wished she could make him understand, that when they go out there, sometimes it is inevitable to come back without someone injured. She walked over and took a seat on one of the metal chairs, far enough where she wasn't in the way of Galen and Robin. Rubbing her shoulders, trying to keep her muscles loose, Cailyn took in a deep relaxing breath. She was happy to at least get a moment of rest even if it was just for a couple of seconds. The early morning was finally passing by and that meant more villagers would be awake and hunters returning with successful captures. That is, what she hoped anyhow. She thought a moment to herself, hoping the hunters had safely returned home without any interference from the creatures. Stifling a whine of aggravation, she leaned down and started tightening the laces of her military boots in a very aggressive way, trying her best to hide her uneasiness.
 
When Cailyn walked, Robin sat up a bit straighter. There was no denying the way she pulled of being a woman but still had girlish charms made his hands get clammy. Though in retrospect, he had some sort of crush on every young lady around. Robin justified this as him appreciating people and their qualities.He attempted to make himself seem more professional and serious, but ended up applying a little too much pressure to the man's wound which made him moan.
Robin barely ever really got a chance to really talk to Cailyn. They'd exchange polite hello's when they saw each other but that's about it. And most of the time he only saw her for more than a moment at village gatherings. He coughed, clearing his throat while she took a deep breathe. "Cailyn, why don't you take a seat over here?" He said in a friendly tone, "Keep us some company," He added, looking down at the injured with a sorry smile, tinged with concern.
 
Ted enters the medical hut as well, moving back to the cabinet-storage area. He pulls out the baggies and jars of herbs and such he had collected on his short, but successful gathering. He placed the Creature eyes, tongue, and teeth jars off to the side. He was sure they could be used somehow... He moves to the front, where Galen and Robin were attending to the injured warrior. He stood there for a little while, not saying anything, just watching.
 
Kolyat looked around that medical place. By the looks of it, it seemed that the injured guy had been lucky to get in here. At least he would die in peace, and not used as some creature's dessert. Since he wasn't sure who he was supposed to talk to or where were his things, he just leaned against a wall and observed the awkwardness of the whole situation from a safe distance. He didn't wanted to be splattered with the tension of the drama or by the blood of that... Well, whatever the piece of meat over the litter was now.
 
Francesca made her way into her room, removing her blood stained clothes piece by piece. "Shoot." she murmured. Water was a resource meant to be saved and the washing of clothes was not a ritual practiced every week. This meant she'd need to construct another outfit for hunting until she could remove the stains from these. Attempting to dress quickly to get back to the healer's hut, Francesca just pulled on her khaki cargo shorts along with a clean white tank top, covering it with her cropped green over coat. Before heading back out the door, she tightened her shorts around her waist with a green belt making that the only thing keeping the baggy bottoms up. She slipped on some old running shoes she'd found out in a broken down shack that was previously a house in the old world. She always made interesting discoveries like this and she most definitely always collected the artifacts.

Francesca quickly ran back to where the others were crowded yet again. Her eyes became more stern upon seeing that unknown man from before. He looked... different. In fact everything about him was different. His voice, his features; he was an oddball, a threat to society in her eyes. She saw that everyone had gathered (as suspected) and she noticed an arrogant, almost bored look on the foreign man's face. Cailyn looked agitated and jumpy, just as Francesca felt. "Hey guys. We need to have a talk, seriously." she began to speak. "Something is out there, something... something more powerful than we had imagined. A puppet master of sorts."
 
Galen felt himself beginning to tense as more and more people entered the area, though he made sure to reply civilly to Cailyn with a quick <b>"Of course"</b> and give a polite nod to those he knew. At least Ted had brought some helpful ingredients, it seemed. While many Creature parts were extremely poisonous, with the proper dilutions some of them became powerful analgesics, sanitizing agents, or even mildly effective antibiotics. Though, naturally, he was still experimenting with them, and they were quite hazardous to get. One didn't simply hunt Creatures, as evidenced by the wounded man. His odds for living were decent, though his odds for a complete or quick recovery weren't good at all.

Galen gave a slight shrug, hands moving semi-autonomously to start more water boiling. He wished sometimes that he'd gotten an Old World medical education, but some of the older healers with experience in that arena had told him that it simply wasn't all it was chalked up to be; too reliant upon technology, old doctors had failed to heal even the simplest wounds.

His eyes eventually rested on a bored-looking man that he didn't recognize. Odd- he could have sworn he'd seen everyone around at some point. Frowning slightly, he dried his hands on a rag and had opened his mouth to ask a question when Francesca spoke. His eye narrowed at this news, too-- a puppet master? <b>"What does that mean?"</b> he queried. Well, more danger and more injuries for sure, but a child could have told him that. What he was concerned with was the action that would likely be required.
 
"Someone controlling the Creatures?" Ted asks, doubt filling his voice. "I don't know if you've noticed... But these things don't really seem like they can be trained... Let alone controlled."

He rummages through his backpack, looking over his haul. He looked back up at Francesca, "I have something I want to talk about later.... About supply gathering." He tells her. "We're running low, and I'm sure there are some items still in the Old World. But, we can talk about it when things aren't... So hectic."

He looks back over at Galen, watching him work his magic. He was always fascinated by the Healer's Art, although he didn't feel like he could ever succeed at it.
 
Kolyat didn't reacted at all at the shocking news. Of course, for him it wasn't news at all. What it was bothering him a little bit was being the focus of attention, all those looks towards him wasn't something he was used. At least now he had an idea of who was calling the shoots, and most assured, who could have his stuff. And the letter. "Yeah.... пленительный..." Said him with sarcasm. "Anyway, if you could give me my things back, I would leave you with your issues and be on my way. I wouldn't want to take advantage of your kindness." Said him crossing his arms and looking at the girl called Francesca, as always, uncertain if he was being honest or just jesting.
 
Francesca became instantly offended by Ted's response. "Have you not noticed the giant lizard cat thing right over there!?" Francesca gestured her arm in the direction of Cedric's enclosure. "Sure I've had him since he was young but even he's been acting strange." Francesca spoke in a loud yet calm voice, trying to make then understand, make then realize that they need to find what or who is making these creatures more violent. It was either that or death, and Francesca would NOT be dying over something that could be stopped. She turned to Kolyat and narrowed her eyes at him. She examined his dark clothes and studied his personality that was shrouded with some sort of barrier, as though he intended that the village people would be a threat. Clearing her throat and facing him, she answered his question. "Sir, I truly wish that I could do that for you, however, we have much bigger problems than you getting back your belongings. I'm sorry to sound condescending or rude, we just will not be retrieving you your things until you leave. Our top healers have decided you need a few days to recuperate. Hell, anyone could tell you that!" Francesca attempted to sound professional, but it was difficult when all this man seemed to care about were his silly belongings. A whole village worth of people could be at the hands and gnarly paws of destruction!
 
Ted scratched his head, and unzipped his hoody, revealing the Luna shirt beneath. "Well... I would say that they are just acting up... Maybe hormones, or something... But if even Cedric is acting up..." He trailed off. He made an apologetic face towards Francesca. "Then maybe something really is going on..." Ted became quiet again and went back to watching Galen work on the injured warrior.
 
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