(Untitled)

[twoeyesonthesky]

The door from Milliways opens onto a stairwell in Alnwick Castle. "I never did manage to get the door to the Bar to open on purpose, except when we had a lot of people here who had to go back," he says apologetically. "Everyone all right? The infirmary's two levels down."

Comments

[dust_to_order]

"Insh'allah," Sooraya replies to his first remark, matter of factly, as she follows him through the door. "It'll happen as it needs to."

[twoeyesonthesky]

Quinn nods. "It hasn't usually kept anyone here for very long who doesn't belong in this world," he says. "But I'm grateful anyway. Let's get you introduced to Helen, our medic. She used to be head of Paediatric Infectious Disease at Alder Hey Hospital, before."

[dust_to_order]

"Gladly. Lead the way, sir," and no, she's not being facetious.

She's been studying/refreshing her knowledge of treatments for burn victims since she first made the offer, but Sooraya's not arrogant enough to ever think that makes her a substitute for an MD.

[twoeyesonthesky]

"Right this way," Quinn says. "Whatever you can do, any of you, it'll be a step up. Helen's got a few kids she's been teaching, but we've never had much in the way of medical texts to work from, and our only other medical type's a dentist. Gavin's not good with burns."

Helen, it happens, is currently going over the store of supplies and looking very much as if she wants to scream. She's an older woman, probably in her fifties but looking in her sixties thanks to circumstances unavoidable. As Quinn and the others approach, she looks up. "I really hope you've got some- who're these, then?"

[dust_to_order]

Sooraya inclines her head, gravely polite. "Hello. My name's Sooraya Qadir, out from Milliways. I and the others are here to help," she says simply. Then she waits to let the rest of the group introduce themselves. Quietly, she looks around, assessing.

((and here's where slow kicks in, I have to drop off for a few hours))

[twoeyesonthesky]

((I had originally thought one more person would be coming with us. I'm not sure if she is or not, so I'm going to do the handwavey thing here in case she wants to join up later, when she's got access. Fair?))

After the rest of the Milliways contingent makes their introductions, the older woman nods. "Dr. Helen Bascombe," she says, "and this is my assistant Junia. We're glad to have you here. Have you ever worked on a trauma ward before?"

[dust_to_order]

"Yes," Sooraya answers simply. "I lived in a combat zone for the past several years, at my home. I'm not an MD," not so far, certainly, "but I was given emergency paramedical training, focus on battlefield and trauma cases." She nods politely to Junia, too.

[twoeyesonthesky]

"That'll go a long way," says Helen. "I don't know if Quinn's told you yet, but dragon breath is about equivalent to napalm in terms of its persistence. It goes up to around twelve hundred degrees or so, but I don't believe it got quite that bad on this attack run."

[dust_to_order]

"Quite." Sooraya chuckles grimly. "He hadn't mentioned temperatures, but dragons, yes...I'm not surprised. So it'd be likely third to sixth-degree burns..." thinking aloud, but open to correction. "Have you had time to sort out who needs help first?" Not knowing how long it's been for them since Quinn left.

[twoeyesonthesky]

Helen nods. "Mr. Van Zant, their commander, is the worst of the lot," she says. "He's burned over something like seventy or eighty per cent of his body. We've sorted the rest of them out and put them in two adjoining rooms." She pauses, then says, "The ones we think have a chance of survival are all in the same room. The rest are with Van Zant."

[dust_to_order]

She doesn't wince. She'd more or less expected they'd need to take that approach. Better to save those they could, then waste time on those who couldn't and ruin
the chances of the rest.
"I believe Hajene Darley meant to assist with Van Zant's case. Shall we go see the ones in the other room, then?"

[twoeyesonthesky]

Helen looks to Quinn, who nods. "This way, miss," says Helen.

It's not far to the room where the five Americans with a chance of making it have been settled. Most of them were either in ground vehicles or off to the side when the dragon flamed, and only have burns on one side of their bodies as a consequence. The best-off, a broad-shouldered black man with a sergeant's stripes on what's left of his sleeve, stares a little at the new arrival.

[dust_to_order]

She doesn't return his stare,but smiles tiredly and nods. "we'll do our best for everyone, Sergeant," quietly. "Are you in much pain now?"

Right. She remembers what she's been taught, has done(check airway, breathing, assess level of burns/amount of body surface involved).
) Her expression's calm, as she scrutinizes him.

[twoeyesonthesky]

[OOC: My apologies for not responding to this sooner, and for not warning you I'd be going to Millicon, which is why I didn't respond sooner. That wasn't fair of me.]

"Didn't think..." The man grimaces. Most of his burns are confined to one side of his body; he was caught a glancing blow by the flames as he leapt for his life, but his arm and leg are in a hell of a state. "... anybody believed, any more."

[dust_to_order]

Sooraya smiles tightly, her eyes darkening for a second as she meets his gaze. "I do," she answers, her voice flat. "The alternative is giving up. Not my style, either." She crouches next to him. "Let me see your arm..." her voice gentler, reassuring.

[twoeyesonthesky]

The man nods, wincing, and holds out his arm very, very carefully. "Don't I know it," he says. "The places I've seen... where you from, miss?"

Helen's set her assistant to looking after some of the others, but she herself's gone off to deal with the room containing the worse cases.