Sea monster attack!

[kore_npc]

Who: The kidnappees, rescuers, and whoever wants to wait on the beach with towels. See here for an explanation.
When: Afternoon Day 102
Where: The beach
What: The device holding the sea monster at bay has been without power for two days, and now he's... lonely. Or angry. Angry and lonely. But now he's kidnapped some new friends!

The network has been spotty, cutting in and out for a couple days now, but luckily for everyone currently in the monster's grasp, Stane happens to be standing in the middle of a decent signal area.

"The sea monster is taking people! Hurry!"

Comments

[notrosesshadow]

"Not aspirin," Martha interrupts. "A blood thinner is going to be a hinderance. I'm sorry Miss..." Martha leaves the miss hanging as she doesn't know the other woman's name. "Right now, the best I can do is a very small dose of local anesthetic so we can stitch you up and then give you pain killers."

She realizes right away that Ned is clearly not helpful unless given specific instructions. Which she can do.

"Ned, hand me the brown bottle marked antiseptic and the gauze. We've to clean the wound first."

Martha turns her attention back to the woman on the ground.

"This will sting a bit."

[nedofpies]

It's a good thing Martha is here and not just Ned, because he'd forgotten aspirin was a blood thinner. He's more than happy to just be another pair of hands helping Martha out and letting her do the thinking. Clearly she keeps her head in a tight spot a hell of a lot better than Ned does, and she has the expertise to help Shiala properly.

He looks for the appropriate bottle, uncaps it and hands it to Martha, fishing around for gauze, next, trying his best not to think about how hard his hands are shaking.

[purplishgreen]

It was going to sting . Great. To Shiala, that seems so wrong; she's used to medigel, smeared on to ease pain, speed healing, seal a wound. Medigel is a relief; this isn't going to be.

But this is what there is, and she'd rather not die of infection like a careless quarian.

"Shiala," she says. "My name is Shiala." She lowers her arm from her stomach; the shirt she's wearing -- just a tight-fitting t-shirt she's scavenged from somewhere, and she has to wonder if her commando leathers would have held up better -- is pretty sliced up, soaked dark purple with blood and sticking to her, but the wound itself isn't terribly deep, though it is ragged. Maybe the bleeding's slowing, but it does need to be cleaned up.

[notrosesshadow]

"Shiala," Martha repeats. "I'm Dr. Martha Jones. Right. We're going to clean the wound first."

She lifted Shiala's shirt enough to get access to the wound while protecting the other woman's privacy. Once clean, she was able to see almost exactly what she was dealing with.

"OK Ned. Now I need you to get me a syringe and the anesthetic." She gave him the name, trying to keep him busy. But his hands were shaking so hard. She was worried he would go into shock, and then he'd be of use to no one. If she could just keep him focused on something.

"Shiala. Do you know if the creature is poisoned or not?" The fact that Martha didn't have the technology to run a proper blood scan or anything that would be useful, especially on a creature she didn't know, was frustrating.

[nedofpies]

Ned does as Martha asks, quietly impressed by the composure of both of them - Martha, handling the situation so deftly and calmly, reassuring himself and Shiala at the same time. Shiala, in who knows how much pain, managing to give answers that are concise but polite. If it were him, he knows there would be stuttering and swearing and any amount of panic.

He hears commotion coming from off the water but tries not to pay any attention to it, to keep his mind focused on Shiala. It's no less viscerally upsetting, seeing blood that is purple rather than red. He wonders incongruously what makes it that way, if it would be rude for him to ask her at a later time. With the syringe and anesthetic in hand, he waits for Martha to tell him what else to do.

[purplishgreen]

"I think it has... some sort of paralytic." She squeezes her eyes shut, grimacing against the pain. "I couldn't move, for a time. It's... it's wearing off."

Fortunately for her this is true. And fortunately for Dean, as well. She's so exhausted by this point she'd really just like to sleep, despite everything. She's just thankful her biotics were working for her today.

[notrosesshadow]

"Thank you Shiala. If you feel the need to sleep now, go ahead. We'll make sure you wake up as healthy as we can make you."

She reaches for the supplies she asked for from Ned and injected the anesthetic in the area around Shiala's wound.

"We'll wait for that to set in, should only take a few moments. OK Ned. Look for a curved suturing needle and thread in the side pocket. After that I'll need gauze and bandages."

At least he was aware enough to let her put him to work.

[nedofpies]

Ned does as Martha asks, wonders whether she wants him to thread the needle for her for a moment, but then realizes he wouldn't be able to even if he tried. He hands them over, searches instead for the gauze and bandages.

What Shiala said about the monster having some kind of paralytic... venom or slime or whatever it was, has him quietly terrified again. Being paralyzed and being in the water are not, he thinks, great combinations. He feels an onrush of gladness that he is not out there, and then, on its heels, a creeping guilt and self-loathing for ranking his own safety above that of others.

He pushes his bangs out of his face, accidentally leaves a tiny smear of purple blood across his forehead. He needs to pull himself together, because there are going to be others - not just Shiala. And Martha is going to keep needing his help if she is going to help them all. But that thought, of a task and a responsibility, finally begins to steady him.

"I'm going to go along the beach and see if anyone else needs help. If I find anyone, I'll bring them here."

With that, and with the supplies Martha will need in the near future laid out, Ned gets to his feet and starts rapidly pacing the length of the beach, looking for anyone else who might be so hurt they can't even make it over to Martha's makeshift first-aid area.