Catch-All Log (Open and Closed TLs)

[nadine_he_loves]

WHO: Nadine Cross, Others
WHAT: Various, including care package assembly, search and rescue quest, open prompts
WHERE: Cadens and Libertas
WHEN: September
WARNINGS: Potential gore/other aftermath stuff in quest thread, drug use, will add as needed



[General catch-all for September, specific starters in top-levels below!]

Comments

Care Packages - Salves & Stitches Clinic

[nadine_he_loves]

In the wake of the attack on Libertas, so many wanted to do something but couldn't. At least not what was truly wanted, to go to where the crisis was happening. Until then...well, Nadine can at least offer something to do. A way to channel all that energy and offer help and aide at the same time. She'd already been planning on mixing up as many batches of burn salves and pain relieving tonics as she can, but why not extend that? Between her own funds and the generous spirit of post-attack in Cadens, it won't be that difficult to offer other necessary supplies as well.

The door of Salves & Stitches Clinic is wide open, and the entry room has been rearranged to make space for boxes and bags of various items - clothing, toiletries, shoes, preserved foods, blankets, and toys - and empty crates to be filled with a variety of said items. Nadine herself, dressed in one of her practical black 'doctoring' outfits is busy mixing medicines, the smell of them pungent in the air.

Anyone in Cadens is welcome to volunteer to work on the care packages, either putting them together or soliciting donations from shopkeepers and merchants. There's no limit to how many hands can help, and Nadine would rather anyone's restless energy and outrage be put to good use.

Even Pianko the moth hare, harnessed with his lead clipped to Nadine's dress, is on hand to try and keep spirits up. Though mostly he stays on his mistress's shoulder and watches with curious eyes.

[godshattering]

"I was told a couple of other merchants will be bringing some deliveries by when they get a chance. Did they happen to stop by yet?"

This is Claude's greeting as he makes it back from his latest round of acting as a courier for the clinic, now returning with a crate in his arms full of dried goods from a nearby general stores. The shopkeeper there, a quiet man who's never said much and normally lets Claude carry on the bulk of their conversations whenever he's there assisting with inventories, had pressed it into his arms even as he'd dropped off a flyer serving as a list of what they're been hoping to bring when the portals open. Extras to help, he'd said, and then taken that list to encourage his other friends to send on what they can.

"I'll make some space in the food stocks to add this to it, then I'm free to help with whatever you need." More useful than insisting on conversation as he's bustled back in with activity, so he sets the crate down. Pianko eyes him as if he still can't decide how he feels about his presence, but Claude offers the moth hare a friendly wave before he kneels and retrieves the log of what's been collected to add their latest donations as an entry.

Nadine seems to be in the middle of a batch of a medicine he doesn't recognize at first sight, and though his curiosity is apparent by how every now and then there's a (not subtle) glance at what she's working on while he continues to organize what's on hand, he's not going to interrupt too much in case she's at a crucial point. But thanks to that new botany knowledge he's been slowly working on all thanks to her assistance, Claude's silently pleased to find he knows some of the ingredients laid out. All the better to help in Libertas, as far as he's concerned.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Maybe?" Nadine pauses in her work to respond, offering a shrug. "We've had quite a few merchants drop off crates. I am really glad as many volunteers showed up as did, this...turned out a little bigger than I'd anticipated."

Not that she's complaining. But she'd only been trying to give people - and herself - something to do. Apparently a lot of citizens, Summoned and natives alike, needed something to do.

"And thank you. Food's still down on that table over there, and we've spilled over into the recovery room if you need extra space." Hopefully the exam and surgical room won't be needed, she's not sure how to make that happen.

She returns to her work, but notices Claude's quiet interest. After a few moments she gestures to the small jar she's filling with an ointment of some kind.

"It's for burns," she explains without being asked. "The main ingredient comes from the local desert. I figure burn ointment will be badly needed."

[godshattering]

He certainly wasn't hiding his interest, so when it's noticed he temporarily abandons his inventory logging by setting down his pen and watching as Nadine explains. Burn ointment will be needed, likely in amounts neither one of them want to dwell on too long outside of seeing to it that as much is prepared as possible.

"We had a version at home that I've often wished I knew how to replicate here. Or - more accurately, it was an all purpose everything that treated burns, injuries, all kinds of general maladies I could ever think of. It was meant to tide someone over until they could get proper treatment, but it saved me more times than I care to think about."

Unless Sylvain or Petra happened to appear with the recipe for vulneraries memorized: nothing he can do about that now. Claude makes quick work of the rest of his notes to help with sorting the rest in accordance with Nadine's system a bit later. For now, he sets the logbook back and walks to where she's working. As a short quiz for himself (and so as to not be too in the way), Claude studies the ingredients on the table and runs through names of each one now that he's closer, save for something new.

"Is this what's from the desert?" he asks, hand hovering over the one in question to make that less open-ended. "I don't think I've come across this one before. Before Libertas was attacked, I was thinking of making a trip out into the nearer parts of the desert to gather things, but that's... on hold for now since I'm not interested in giving the military more reasons to be suspicious."

[nadine_he_loves]

"There's a tonic that's similar to what you're describing. It's a 'restorative draught', and it serves the same purpose. Tides a patient over until they can get the specific care they need." And luckily she already has large quantities of that. It's not particularly potent, but it works. She'll have to show Claude the recipe.

"And yes, this is called shell-leaf, I'm guessing because it's got a thick glossy exterior like a shell. It grows under scrub in low points. But inside is a goop that's a main ingredient in burn ointment. The leaves need to be pulped and squeezed to crack the casing and let out the goop."

She takes up one of the broad, thick leaves and begins pressing and squeezing it with her thumbs in demonstration. The leaf starts to show signs of stress, eventually cracking. A translucent gel sort of substance oozes out. Nadine briskly holds it over a bowl and squeezes the drippings out into it.

"Smells weird, but works like a charm."

[aquilus]

It's a strange thing to come looking for someone he has corresponded with but never met. Everything to do with the method of written-yet-mental communication is strange, truly. But Altaïr is a man of his word, and he knows where the clinic is from his careful reconaissance, so here he is.

When he steps inside, he looks calm but clearly unfamiliar with the inside of the building. He hasn't yet experienced an injury so great he hasn't been able to take care of it himself. "I am looking for the healer in need of preparation assistance."

[nadine_he_loves]

Nadine glances up when the bell above the doorway rings once more. Today has been very busy, between volunteers and locals dropping off donations. Word has spread of the efforts here, thanks to her fellow Summoned. She doesn't recognize the man who steps in, but when he makes his query she stands and lifts her hand - still smudged with grease from the thick leaves she's pulping - to draw attention.

"That would be me. I'm Nadine. If you're here to help with medicine making, come on over."

The 'table' at which she's sat - which usually serves as the office's front desk - is covered with pots and jars and bags of various ingredients, all of them neatly labeled. Among them are a few mortars and pestles, small floral scissors, chopping knives. And many more empty jars and small bottles, waiting to be filled. The aroma of it all is quite pungent.

"I apologize in advance for what you'll smell like when you leave."

[aquilus]

"Good. I am Altaïr."

He nods and briskly moves to her side, not bothering with further pleasantries or small talk. He's not great at either, and clearly she's got much to do. Since he's here, he needs to either help out or get out of her way.

"I'm not bothered by strong scent," he says. Blood and the loosened bowels of the recently dead smell worse, and he should know. "I have some experience with salves and poultices, but more often as the one using them. You will need to demonstrate what to do."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Thanks for coming in to lend a hand. This...got a lot bigger than I'd expected."

Which is not a complaint. Nadine is thrilled at how many other Summoned have jumped at the chance to help out in any way. They're going to be able to deliver a significant amount of supplies.

Offering as friendly a smile as she can muster under the circumstances, she sits back down at the desk.

"And that's not a problem, I was a teacher in my former life. Right now the main focus is ointment to treat burns and general pain tonics. These are the two main ingredients in the burn ointment - this is torpal flower and these weird thick big leaves I'm massaging are shell-leaf. The flowers get mashed into a pulp, the leaves are basically milked for the goop inside but they're a little tough to crack open. They're both mixed with this ointment base." She puts her hand on an earthenware jug with a corked top. "And poured into those little round jars stacked by the window. These are the measurements."

She hands over a slip of parchment with the right measurements listed on it. Realizing that a number of volunteers would be showing up without an apothecary background, she'd prepared for exactly this.

"And you can just watch me, if you're more of a visual learner."

[tobeclosetohim]

After their group went out, Jo kept going out. All of her restless energy (once reserved for restlessly kicking walls and waiting for Dean's "two months" moratorium on training before hunting to pass) galvanized into a direction, a need, a mission, people to save. It took many forms, and even if she was burning the candle at both ends, Jo would keep doing it until they didn't need hands out there in Libertas. To find people. To bring out the dead for identification. Guarding other groups against looters (especially after what happened to Dean and Ciri). Even helping with clearing rubble for hours to get to parts of Libertas still blocked off.

There's little she isn't doing, except the jobs she can't.

Which is why she finds herself at Salves & Stitches each time before she heads out again. Sure, other doctors and triage stations are set up near Libertas now, but there's something to Nadine's work. It seems to work faster so far as Jo's seen, and even if that's a placebo, it's been a helpful one half the time. And she likes Nadine, trusts her as far as this much goes. Which most of those others don't have, even if she knows a handful of their names and who to take which new wounded with what to.

"Knock-knock," Jo calls out, striding in the door. The bag of holding was already half off her shoulder for refilling, even as she looked around to spot Nadine. "I have muffins from Mag's, just fresh from the oven."

[nadine_he_loves]

"Hey!"

Nadine is already hard at work, appearing from the back dressed in her black leather vest and cotton shirt but currently paired with one of her black 'doctoral' skirts. She does sometimes get locals coming in, and being a medical student from a different dimension, she likes to project a professional image. Her hair is already braided for later, courtesy of Jaskier - who does a far neater job than she ever does. Jo isn't the only one going back out regularly, but Nadine spends mornings preparing medicinals and restocking her bags before taking afternoon shifts in Libertas.

The scent of something brewing fills the office, and she's wiping her hands on a cloth as she joins Jo.

"Thanks, you can set them on the reception desk there. Just getting everything prepped and ready to go for later. Headed out?"

[tobeclosetohim]

The dress is still a little more than Jo really knows what to think about, but Nadine's own tired but friendly morning greeting brushes that thought away. There's something about Nadine that Jo's gotten more comfortable with. She more than proved her worth out there; not someone to stay safely tucked behind these clinic doors, Nadine's got hidden facets.

Jo follows the instructions, depositing the muffins basket on Nadine's reception desk. She dug one out of the tightly tied down cloth—some nut and berry mix, neither of which looks familiar—and tossed it a little from hand to hand, transferring the burning heat between fingertips waiting for the air to help with that, too. She wasn't at all sure Mag's did have some magic that kept them this pipping hot.

"Yeah. Next ride or next portal." Jo was picky at the moment. Whatever the shortest route was, she'd be on it and back out there, back in late tonight, catch a bath, a few hours of sleep, rinse-repeat. "Wanted to stop in and see if you had any orders you needed delivered to the doctors or families or anyone else up there. Plus, restock some of my supplies. I'm out of bandages again and getting toward the end on most of the rest. They won't be today, but maybe a few days off."

[nadine_he_loves]

"I'll probably see you out there this afternoon."

Nadine is already moving to one of the ceiling-high cabinets that line the room, throwing it open and pulling down packets and small bags that have already been prepared. When she can't sleep, it's easy enough to put together go-bags for the rescue teams.

"And nothing I need delivered right now, thank you, but I can get you all stocked up. Here. I made these up last night, I figured plenty of the teams would need restocking. It's got all the essentials, and an invigoration elixir for you. If you start to feel a little run down about midday, pop that, you'll feel refreshed. It's the blue one in the tall bottle."

It's like caffeine, only more potent and tastes vaguely of pineapple as opposed to Pepsi. Sometimes that's needed, to get through the day. Search and rescue, as she knows first hand, is exhausting. Sometimes you need a magic energy drink.

"Just don't take another one within 24 hours, you'll have terrible sleeping problems."

Search and Rescue Quest

[nadine_he_loves]

Finally, they're allowed to really dig in and aid in the rescue and relief efforts. Nadine is quick to volunteer, and knows full well most of her friends and family will also be stepping up to lend a hand. Escorting supplies would take her too far from Cadens for too long, and she feels she'd be better suited to search and rescue. She doesn't have to wait for a medic, she is a medic. Even if today, for this particular excursion, she's wearing her black leather pants and plain white cotton shirt under a black leather bodice.

After being given her command list and the leash of a very wolfish black hound named Bozey, she hangs about for her companions to join her. She'd already spoken to Jayce about it, and she's sure he's not going to be the only familiar face setting out to search the rubble of Libertas for survivors. It's going to be tough, she knows. Not everyone they find is going to be alive. But the ones that are...

It's no wonder shifts are being limited, with the work ahead of the dogs and their handlers. The destruction is humbling, unlike anything she's seen in real life. It brings to mind WWII movies set in London during the bombs. And the smell...dust and smoke and burnt things. It looks more like the end of the world than the apocalypse she'd lived through.

To keep her mind from wandering, she focuses her attention on the animal that's going to be helping her. Or that she's going to be helping, is more accurate. She doesn't know much about dogs, but they look like a hardy and sturdy breed.

"You know," she says to the hound as she waits, "you actually look a lot like my husband."

[hextechhead]

Jayce and Nadine are very much on the same page about the situation, having been study buddies for months now in medicine classes, so it seems like their time has come. Leaving Libertas was a no-go, there is far too much that needs to be done here. He has been spending a lot of his time at the hospital itself offering his healing magic, but it is not an infinite source. Their medical know-how comes in handy.

He is wearing clothes he doesn't mind getting dirty which is most of what he owns considering the work in the forge. He does have a special bag with him, slung over his shoulder, a unique satchel that looks very small and yet on the inside carries a full-sized pack. A bag of holding. Jayce has put a collection of the poultices Nadine had them help create and some other supplies for this very situation. He showed her the strange bag and how it worked earlier, it's going to come in handy.

Jayce has never seen destruction truly like this. Piltover was on the verge of a war with the Undercity, and there had been destruction, but nothing to this level. He has no comparison he can make. He grimly takes it in but it's all the more reason they need to be out there.

"Literally or figuratively?" he says as if he's joining a conversation already in progress. He smiles wearily at her.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo had shown up with a similar bag thrown over one shoulder, and a sword at her hip (because Ciri had said, at one of her last lessons, she had to start wearing it, whether used or not, to get used to it being there). It hadn't taken long to fill another bag given they had the room, without it putting a cost on how fast they might be able to move while giving them more resources to help more people.

There had been a serious nod for Nadine and Jayce, and she liked that she knew both of the people they'd been matched up with. That she'd already done some sort of work with at least one of the two, too. It didn't hurt to have a healer or someone who definitely knew their way around weapons. Even if everything thought is a shadow before the seriousness of the devastation. Still-cracking, still-falling apart structure. Smoke and fire. The air had blood, and burnt flesh, and worse mixed into the heavy ash that blotted the sky.

Jo was squeezing in more gauze and bandages to the very top of the almost full bag, as she listened. To them.
To the sounds of distress. The parties who're inside. The soldiers carrying back bodies out.
Everything a whirl of chaos all around them.

[righteously]

He's the last of them to roll up, and he does so with a rifle strapped to his back and a sword holstered at his side — not the only weapons he's carrying by a long shot, but they're the most visible. He's dressed like he would for a hunt, and he's got a similar countenance — more grim than maybe any of them are used to, more serious, a hard shift in tone from his usual.

Partly because of where they are, what they're doing. Partly because of the mark on his arm, hidden under his sleeve just at the inside of his elbow. He hasn't told anyone but Geralt yet, and he doesn't plan to — but the subtle change is practically in his atoms.

Judging by the way his eyes sweep over the chaos and rubble, this isn't exactly a new sight for him. There's a familiarity there; he's seen worse more than once. He knows how bad this is about to get.

It's experience more than any alpha male impulse that has him stepping up to gently offer directives — just automatic, calm enough that it's open to be challenged but firm enough to be confident.

"Alright, let's do this. Jo, I'm gonna need you to keep an eye out for looters, assholes, anyone who looks like they're gonna jump in and take advantage of the chaos. Jayce, I'm probably gonna need you to help with the heavy lifting. Rubble or bodies," with a significant look at that last word — it's likely. "Nadine, you got your healer hat on?"

Hopefully they need that more than they need to haul victims out. Hard to say yet.

For Jaskier

[nadine_he_loves]

[It's been another long day of searching the rubble of Libertas with a ferocious looking rescue hound. Nadine's last shift of the day is at an end, and she's back to the kennel to return the dog for its well earned rest. They're both tired. She's in her black leathers and boots, smudged with soot and dust and a bit of blood. Her hair's starting to come loose from the long braid she'd tied it back in.

Like each day, there were successes and there were sorrows. She tries to focus on the former rather than dwell on the latter, but it's hard sometimes. Images stay with her. Sounds. Little things that won't be shaken from her memory.

But she does her best to push them away as she enters the kennel. It's everyone's last shift, the light is starting to go, and it's time to head home. Right home, no stopping at the clinic to put together more supplies. She's fully stocked and her hands need a rest. All of her needs a rest, but it doesn't come easy to her. She prefers to keep busy.

After turning in her hound, she waits at the doors. Jaskier's been helping to take care of the animals and she isn't intending to hang about helping tonight, they can portal back and walk home together. Even in the aftermath of all of this, his company's a balm.]

[cointosser]

[Perhaps there are those who would argue that Jaskier letting Nadine leave to go into the depths of Libertas was rather unmanly of him. Perhaps they would argue he is a coward. In some ways, they are right; but to Nadine, Jaskier was upfront about the fact he could not find it in himself a strength that would have him go into Libertas, though he wanted to help the people there. It wasn't about the attempt at his life at all.

Well. Not the one in Nocwich. But another attempt at the hands of a fire mage; one who Jaskier is sure would have ended his life once his usefulness had expired. How many steps, after all, is murder beyond torture? It can't be that much of a leap.

So he helps her as he can, taking care of the hounds, learning their personalities, and sometimes offering her advice on which one may best suit her personality, or which ones are the most well-rested. Even if Jaskier's specialty has become the hounds destined to fall into civilian hands, who could not take to their orders specifically, or ones with deformities or disability, or injuries that prevent them from searching through rubble and debris again.

It feels a bit strange to him to see her, not only exhausted but dirtied up, her hair braided up away from her face (even if he volunteered to do it for her a few times.) A part of him feels he should be doing more than watering and bandaging hounds, but each time he steps out of the kennels, it feels like his heart may stop, his hands shaking.

At least, when she returns at night, he smiles to see her. He offers a hand, a kiss, both as usual.] Hello, my dear. Today felt especially long without you. [His smile turns a bit teasing at the edges, but he is exhausted in his own way.] Have you any idea how much longer this may go on?

[nadine_he_loves]

[Nadine sees nothing wrong with how Jaskier's chosen to help. There are plenty of people out doing search and rescue, and the animals are an important part of that. They need care and attention and tending in order to do their jobs. There's no cowardice in it, only knowing where one can do the most good.

The fact that Jaskier is even out and doing what he can is admirable, as far as she's concerned. But it's like she'd told Julie - she doesn't think there's much at all that could truly keep Jaskier down and out for good. He's much stronger than a surface glance would imply.

And she's glad to see him, at the end of the day. Twining her fingers through his she meets his greeting kiss.]

Well I'm all finished with my shifts, so I'm yours for the night. After a hot bath anyway, unless you want to join me.

[Nadine certainly wouldn't say no to that idea. But she needs a quick soak at least, she's relatively certain her nails will never be free of dust again.]

And I think it'll just be a few more days. There isn't much left of the impact areas to search.

[And at this point, the odds of finding survivors is greatly diminished. But there's no reason to say it. One way or another, the searching will come to a stop and then...rebuilding, she supposes. There are brighter things to focus on.]

We've been doing good, though. Brought a lot of people out who are getting taken care of and are going to be just fine now.

[cointosser]

Ooh. A hot bath. A very tempting offer, actually. [Now that he's sure he smells less of his very complex colognes (made by yours truly, of course) and more like wet dog. Which is not an attractive scent on any man, unfortunately.]

Good. I'm glad. Glad it sounds as if it's... making a difference.

[He does not ask how it went, whether she found more to save or more to bury. At this point, he can't stand to think about it. It is enough she is helping, along with Geralt and others. He can be content in helping in his own way.

(It's what he must tell himself, when the inclination is to believe, to fool himself into thinking that he could have changed Libertas' fate, if only he had done things differently.)]

I'm sure the city will find its way again. I've met plenty of those in Libertas, and they are a sturdy, determined people. [It falls a little flat when he recognizes it as sounding like a prerehearsed speech. But they are. And he believes Quilleth must be there to help them.] I know we haven't much room in either of our homes, but I intend to inquire into procuring some inn rooms in Cadens for them. I mean, once the people are healed... I imagine they will need some place to stay. I thought I might ask you, if you have time, for a few batches of something to aid their sleep. It might make the relocation easier.

Horizon Open

[nadine_he_loves]

Following the attack on Libertas, Nadine has found herself spending more evenings in the Horizon than usual. The skies over her little slice of New England small town are grey and cloudy once more, and she doesn't have it in her to push them away. They aren't black and they aren't storming, they're just thick and gray. She knows it's her own mood that's doing it, but it fits for the coming of autumn in New Hampshire.

The carnival in the square, however, does not. It had been enjoyed in the late summer, but now its time has passed. With a few thoughts, it dissolves away. The carousel with its skeletal horses resumes the stark black and white color scheme it had boasted before. The church and gazebo return, but it all looks and feels uncomfortably empty now.

May as well start getting it set for fall. Settling herself on the steps of the gazebo, she adds a few hay bales and trees with scarlet and gold leaves. That helps add some cheer to the gray skies. But the square still seems much too empty.

"I wish I was in a more creative mood..."

But war and relief efforts don't exactly breed creativity. Maybe she should just fire up her bike and take a ride around the Horizon. Or get high and give filling out the square another go.

[doubledead]

What better to welcome in the season than a man made entirely out of bones. And with his clothes on this time! Jack had been wandering across the shifting landscape with his eyesockets wide and a smile that was even wider. The Horizon was like something from a dream--or perhaps it was a dream, one they all shared.

He had to see every inch of it. And in such a big place he didn't expect to find a familiar face so soon--and one that seemed a bit long. Nadine was sat on the wooden steps and didn't look like she was having a great time. Jack wasn't sure how that was possible because it was a wonderfully gloomy day out and the leaves were changing!

"Nadine, I've found you again, looks like." Jack lifted a long arm to wave to her from across the way.

[nadine_he_loves]

It's impossible to mistake Jack for anyone else. There is only one skeleton man in the world. Somehow, it looks even weirder to see him in clothes. But Nadine lifts her own hand to wave in greeting, and stands up from the steps. Sure, he's weird and also literally a skeleton, but Nadine likes Jack. There's something very sweet and earnest about him.

"Hey. Welcome to my little piece of New Hampshire. Or my idea of New Hampshire, anyway, this isn't a real place. Just little bits of a bunch of real places." And her own idealization. But it's familiar and comfortable and helps to recharge her.

She sorely needs the recharge right now.

[doubledead]

"You made all this? That's incredible!" Jack grinned widely at her. He turned in a small circle to gesture at the New Hampshire that Nadine had made and it was then that he caught sight of the carousel. "Oh!"

And he left her there to stride over to it. The skeletal horses called to him.