Day 47: Sun Room [2nd shift]

[notthistrain]

Cloud knew he should be taking the opportunity to check out the rec field during the day. The fresh air would be a welcome change from the crowded stuffiness the Institute usually provided, and he would have a chance to scope out the area when it wasn't all under the cover of darkness. When offered a choice, however, he remained in the sun room

Comments

[see_my_back]

It was kind of surprising that no one took the healers here seriously. Not to mention frustrating. Here she was, not only battle-trained and ready to fight, but with plenty of medical studies and healing chakras to boot! Even if she wasn't at the top of her game, she could still make it work and whether it was a fight or a difficult mission, she wanted to be on the front lines, making a difference! Instead they were stuck fetching books and medicine or playing clean up on the off chance they actually found someone who'd been injured.

"You too? Pisses me off," she grumbled under her breath, "I mean, just look around. People obviously need treatment, but I guess they either don't know where to go to get it or they're too dumb to ask for help." It wasn't like it bothered her to have to help someone! It was something she took pride in for goodness sake!

Letting out a loud and probably slightly too theatrical sigh, she slouched a bit into her chair and shrugged her shoulders. At least it was good to be able to talk with someone who understood.

"I've been studying some of the medical texts," she replied, opening her journal enough that he could see the pages folded within. "You get me a list of what they're called and I can get you a translation for how to use them. Are they labeled at all?" As much as she wouldn't enjoy analyzing each one with her chakra, if she had to, she supposed she could. It would just be tedious.

"Anything is helpful," she assured him, "once we can compile a list of the medicines here and the plants that are available, we can pass that along to other healers."

[mitase]

"I...yes, I wish I could, um, do something more." Hanatarou lowered his eyes to his lap, remembering the conversation with Remy earlier -- his friend had needed a healer and nobody had been around. And there were so many others who ventured into dangerous places at night and never found help. "I mean, last night I didn't really do anything useful, and I've seen people who were hurt and could've used help."

Her comment about medical texts caught his attention again, though, and he glanced over with obvious curiosity. "Oh? Yes...they have labels on them but the names are strange. If your books can explain what they are, that would be really useful." Right now the stock of medicines he'd taken from the pharmacy was just taking up space in the bottom of his closet and not doing any good for anyone.

He fell silent again for a moment, then finally worked up the courage to hesitantly begin, "Er, you know, there used to be a, a clinic in one of the patient rooms, where people could go for help at night." There was another pause, as his grip tightened about the spine of his journal, as though that would help him. "It...the rooms are safer, but, but what if someone can't get back there? Nobody gets injured close by, it's always...elsewhere."

[see_my_back]

"I'll get you a copy then, when I finish studying," she assured him.

Though she hadn't actually run into anyone last night in need of help, she knew what it felt like to hear that her friends had been hurt and that she hadn't been there to do anything for them. He had a point though. While the idea of a centralized clinic was good, if someone was hurt badly enough, they wouldn't be able to get there anyway. They either had to choose somewhere easier to access or assign a healer to specific groups or locations. Which honestly was probably going to be complicated no matter what way you looked at it.

"I'm not sure how to fix any of it," she admitted, flipping through the pages of her journal. "But if things are gonna change, we can't just sit back and hope they'll get better. I'll have to talk to a few people, but I think I'll see what I can come up with. Do you know of any other healers? Or how many we have here to help out?"

[mitase]

"Okay. Thank you." Hanatarou's smile was losing a little bit of the shyness by now, though it was still very much present. "Where did you find, um, books like that? Are there more?" Maybe he could go find some books of his own and wouldn't have to bother her.

"But, um, well. I thought...well, maybe if there were healers who, who were near some of the most dangerous areas, in case someone needed help. Like, mobile paramedic squads." It was kind of like what he'd done back at home, except the members of his squad usually forgot he was there. And there wouldn't be nearly as many people. "I...there's another healer, I saw on the board, but...I don't know them."

[see_my_back]

"There was a whole library up on the second floor," she nodded, flipping through the notes she'd made thus far in her journal. While it hadn't been hard to obtain, the company was definitely lacking. "If you head up the stairs by the dorms, it'll be the hallway right in front of you. I can sketch you up a map if you want."

Not that she minded much either way doing the work. This kind of bookwormish stuff was what she thrived on. Not only was she good at it, she actually enjoyed it, much to some of her classmates' disbelief.

"Depends on the healer too," she supplied. While Hanatarou's idea was a good one, it would need some tweaking before it went into action. "Unless they're pretty good at running away or can hold their own in a fight, they'll be just as much at risk as the ones getting themselves hurt. And having a healer wounded is even worse."

So they'd have to assign a fighter with them or just send healers who could also fight to dangerous locations and maybe reserve the strict healers to a clinic set up in the patient's wing. That could work. Or at least get some of the patients to last long enough to get back to the clinic. Definitely something she could work with.

"But it's a good idea. I'd definitely be interested."

[mitase]

"Oh, I...have a map," Hanatarou replied, opening his own journal and flipping to the page where he'd copied a map off the board one day. The stairs by the dorms, hallway in front -- oh. There? Maybe he should go take a look some time. There could be other places down that hallway he'd never looked at, and they could have interesting or useful things too.

He glanced up again at her comment, a little hesitant and halfway surprised that she hadn't immediately said it was a terrible idea or laughed at him or something. "You...think so?" he asked, not bothering to try to hide his reaction. "I mean, it...I've heard about so many people getting hurt, and there aren't enough healers for every group to have one with them, but I, I don't want to spend more nights just sitting around waiting for people." Sometimes it was good to wait in the clinic, he supposed, but when nobody could get to the clinic....

"I saw a, a 'search and rescue' group on the board once, maybe they'd be willing to work with us? Or, or there might be fighters who would be willing to help. They could help us carry wounded people?"

[see_my_back]

Sakura leaned forward in her seat to better look at his map. He seemed to have found the right spot, so she didn't feel the need to point it out. It was too bad he was such a quiet guy, Hanatarou seemed to have a lot of good ideas and, Sakura assumed, medical knowledge and skill to go with it. He didn't look terribly sturdy, but one couldn't always judge on looks alone.

"Yeah. I know someone posted up on the bulletin about a club that does that kind of thing, but it sounds like whoever was running it isn't doing it anymore. Probably could use some reorganization. And if things are spread so thin like that, I don't think it would hurt for the groups to work together," she tapped her chin with the end of her pen before making a few more notes in her journal. Of course, gathering up the people and getting them to work was the hard part. Even if they were in a sinking ship, sometimes people were more likely to stay and go down with it than to trust someone new to help bail them out.

"With all your ideas, I'm surprised you're not running it. Is that how they did things where you're from?"

[mitase]

Hanatarou jotted a small note on the map in his journal, giving an absent nod as he did. A whole library of books that could maybe explain the equipment here would be invaluable -- he'd already found enough to assure him there was very little equipment that he was used to, and he needed to find equivalents that he could work with. The medicines he'd picked up could be very useful, if only he knew how to use them and in what dosage.

"No? Um. Mm, well, you're right. We don't have enough people to really spread out into a lot of different groups," he agreed, staring down at the journal without really seeing it. He hadn't seen a lot of healers speaking up on the bulletin, although there were a few who apparently knew a little of more ordinary first-aid methods, and they could definitely be useful. "It seems like people are arguing too much about which group they are and who's in charge, and...that makes it hard to get anything done."

He absently stuck the end of his pen in his mouth and nibbled on it as he considered, then froze in place briefly as she spoke again. "Er." Hanatarou glanced up again, wide-eyed and startled. "M-me? I don't, uh, n-no. I, I was...in charge of a, er, paramedic squad at home, but...I'm...." Not very visible? Useless? "I shouldn't run anything."