Open | not very prim and proper

[okayimin]

WHO: Sawbones and Whoever.
WHAT: Sawbones has been confined to the Gallows for the duration of a month, so she immediately involves herself in everyone else's business and then catches a cold.
WHEN: Time is fake, post-Snow Mission
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES:

1. Winter Preparedness

While it was probably not the intention for her to monitor the comings and goings of Riftwatch agent, the barracks that had been re-purposed to house a number of her regular Lowtown patients cut a path right near the docks. So it was more happenstance than an intentional exercise that Sawbones started casting a glance at the comings and goings as she herself came and went. Which means she notices certain things.

"Hey!" she calls out, path diverting suddenly when she spots someone heading for the ferry, "Where the fuck is your scarf?!"

2. Wardrobe Adjustments

Of course, there are far more worrying things than some Duster heading in to a freezing city in the grips of an outbreak without a scarf. Like the Riftwatch members who refuse to wear shoes. It's unacceptable. She's not able to address the problem as quickly as she would like, but she still does. She walks up with an unmistakable air of triumph, armed with a pair of Rivanni sandals and thick knitted socks.

"Here, try these on."

3. Tea Service

The practical thing to do would be to keep a low profile around Riftwatch's authorities. She was, after all, being punished and one ought to give those in power the impression of respectful penance for one's own safety if nothing else. The problem was that they had their second official case of grippe. And now that her presence in the Gallows was being enforced, she was fully aware of the hours and habits of its residents.

Like any Duster, Sawbones had a perfectly reasonable disregard for authority, subservience enacted purely in the interest of one's survival rather than any sense of loyalty. And the very real potential of any of these powerful individuals in charge of the daily running of the fortress catching ill was a pressing concern. And so, Sawbones added another routine to her modified rounds. She finished attending her patients in the barracks and checking in with their two grippe cases by noon. The perfect time to slip down to the kitchens and round up a tea service with a strong herbal brew.

She is entierly too short to loom, but she does all the same, slipping into offices and marching up to occupied desks with a brisk step and a determined scowl, wielding a cup of hot tea.

4. Sick Day

a. The Well Runs Dry (one thread)
The grippe takes her right at the end of her confinement. Because of course it does. She lasts about three days, just enough time to make the necessary arrangements for her Kirkwall patients still present in the Barracks and make up a cot for herself in the Chapel's sick room. And then it hits with a vengeance, taking her out at the knees.

She'll be found propped up against a wall, feverish and eating a bowl of porridge with the grim face of one facing the hangman's noose.

b. Book Return

Being ill is tedious. Relying on others is likewise tedious. Sawbones is perfectly aware of all of these things, it's what drives her to be as efficient and effective as possible when tending to her own patients. It's what makes being ill herself all the more insufferable. Because there is a point where the only thing anyone can do is rest.

It's intolerable.

So it ought not be a surprise that the fever hasn't even properly broken before Sawbones can be found shuffling down the halls, dressed in a plain dress rather than her habit, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and head where her wimple ought to be. Her main objective is ferrying books back and froth from the library to the Chapel sickroom. She is very determined to complete the objective, entierly undaunted by the number of walls and shins she bumps into.

Comments

2

[sulahnan]

Athessa stops and looks down at the socks, sandals, and Sister, blinking.

"...In what order?" Cheeky. She knows that shoes go on after socks. But she's still just sort of looking at them as if Sawbones has just handed her horn-balm or something. Clearly not for me, but thanks.

Particularly after the incident on the river, however, being forced to wear socks is more than fair.

[okayimin]

"Socks first," she answers briskly, picking up one sock in each hand and holding them out to Athessa, "They should fit well enough."

The implication clearly being Do it now.

[sulahnan]

She heaves a put-upon sigh, though it's hard to do so while combatting a sheepish smile.

"I don't like not being able to feel the ground," Athessa mutters, but she takes the socks and, sitting down, pulls the socks on.

[okayimin]

"If you get frostbite, you won't be able to feel the ground either," she says, supervising the sock putting on, "This is the lesser of two evils, believe me."

The sandals are held out next.

[sulahnan]

Grumbling, the sandals are put on next, and what's worse: they're actually comfortable. And the socks are warm. And she hates them both.

"There. Better?"

4b.

[sulahnan]

Pretty soon Sawbones doesn't have to worry about bumping into walls or shins, because she gets hefted into the air, blanket, books, and all.

"And what do you think you're doing, Sister? You should be in bed," Athessa says, having been the one to scoop the dwarf up. Not many in Riftwatch would get this treatment, mostly because Athessa can only lift about two of her colleagues.

[okayimin]

Well. That's rather disorienting. It takes her a moment to process that she's no longer on her feet and that she's being carried and that Athessa is the culprit.

Sawbones twists enough so that she can shoot Athessa a look that speaks of deep betrayal and personal offense. "What are you doing."

[sulahnan]

"Giving you a taste of your own medicine," She grins, pivoting and starting to walk back towards the room that Sawbones is supposed to be in. The one with steam and a bed and all that stuff. "What were you doing? Other than not resting."

[okayimin]

"I was returning my book to the library," she says, with an impressive amount of dignity for someone wrapped in a blanket and being carried like a child, "I want another one."

4a

[doneisdone]

Staying home from the mountain excursion means Teren has had an excess of work to do, and an excess of annoyance about the fact that she's still walking with a cane and not quite herself while she has to do it. She's coming down the hall from the kitchen, squinting irritably at a ledger, when she sees a small shape against the wall in her periphery.

Lowering the parchment, she recognizes the form of Sister Sawbones, huddled like a little orphan child.

"What's the matter with you," Teren asks, instantly suspicious.

[okayimin]

Teren gets a glare for her question.

"I'm eating porridge," Sawbones says primly.

[doneisdone]

"You look like shite."

She's helping.

[okayimin]

"I feel like shite, as it happens." She frowns at Teren, "How's your lungs."

time to deadlift a chantry sister.

[heorte]

In the space of time Ellis has spent keeping himself busy with the quarantine, he's gotten slightly used to the sight of Sawbones, draped in a blanket and somehow still projecting stubborn irritation at everything. He doesn't approve, but so far she's managed to get around under her own power. Ellis has decided to leave her be, for the moment.

However, Isaac's blessing and the current sight of Sawbones pained shuffling is enough motivation to prompt some attempt at reasoning with her.

"Let me have those," he says, holding out a hand. "I'll exchange them for whatever else you need at the library, and you can stay in bed."

Surely a reasonable proposition.

she weighs like 10 lbs

[okayimin]

Any help they can get is valuable, even if having more not sick people in the quarantine makes Sawbones a little twitchy. Not that it matters much, the grippe spreading so fast and to a wild degree, it would be easier to quarantine the whole blasted island at this point.

In any case. She glares up at Ellis, who has chosen to inflict the most unreasonable demands on her. "No. I can do it myself."

wow barely enough to count as a workout, so much for arm day

[heorte]

At some point, just after he'd survived the Joining, he'd had a meandering disagreement with Warden Joppa. It had become a long-standing debate between them, picked up and put down at intervals, whenever they were bored or when they had to decide what to do about particularly stubborn problems. Pick your battles, Joppa had always told him.

Maybe Joppa would have advised letting a small Chantry sister, hell bent on shuffling her way to the library, to her own devices. Or maybe he'd have skipped straight to the idea Ellis has brewing in the back of his head; he's politely putting it off, but still, he's considering taking a more expedient way of dealing with this problem.

"You know that you're setting yourself back," he reasons. "Would you let me wander around out of bed if I were ill?"

Surely Sawbones is going to warm to that most logical point. Ellis recalls her own stern warnings to him after she'd sewed him back up in Nevarra, and maybe he hadn't followed that instruction to the letter, but still. He remembers hearing Sawbones' instructions.

listen

[okayimin]

Unfortunately, that particular thread of logic had already been used against her. Which didn't make him wrong, but it did irritate her.

"Would you let that stop you if you were?" It's a little bit rhetorical since Sawbones at least is fairly confident in her ability to hinder any patients from wandering off when they ought not. The fact that perhaps the same ought to apply to herself is irrelevant. "I'm not planning on fighting any Darkspawn hordes."

Which feels like a reasonable defense.

double tapping specifically for this conversation.

[tender]

"You should be in bed," Derrica says, as stern as she can manage with her throat as sore as it is. It's more rasp than snap, but it'll have to do. "You're not going to get any better if you don't get some sleep."

It's just a little bit of a pot and kettle situation. Derrica's been alternating between shivering and sweating, draped in a blanket, but she's steady on her feet for the moment. That feels like a big advantage, even if it's unlikely to last.

[okayimin]

It is absolutely a pot and kettle situation and Sawbones doesn't feel the least bit like a hypocrite when she levels a frown at Derrica.

"Why aren't you in bed?"

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/mobile/000/023/397/C-658VsXoAo3ovC.jpg

[tender]

This is the kind of discussion that Derrica recognizes as futile before she's even started. But she's come too far to turn back now.

"We needed clean linens," Derrica replies evenly. "And I'm feeling better."

Which may or may not be true. Once a spell of chills pass, she does feel better. The trouble is, the chills have tended to come back and she ends up in the same exact place she was before. Walk it off certainly wouldn't be advice she'd give anyone else, but being on her feet makes her feel marginally less miserable, so.

So trying to get Sawbones back into her bed is the next order of business, for the moment.

basically yes

[okayimin]

Sawbones' frown deepens as she studies Derrica with a through, professional (if fever bright) eye.

"You've been shivering more recently and your color is up," she says. It's more polite than calling her a liar to her face and Sawbones is willing to extend that much professional courtesy at least. The truth is she'd hoped the grippe would pass Derrica over. If nothing else, she was much better equipped in bed side manner than Sawbones would ever be.

continuation of 4b

[sulahnan]

[ It's not long after she left the Sister in her sickroom that Athessa comes back, arms full of folios and books that she carefully unloads on various horizontal surfaces. ]

Right. I got your list of books from the library, returned the one you were done with, and paid a visit to the Seneschal. His recommendations are this stack here.

[ She pats the pile of eleven pamphlets, folios, and books for emphasis. ]

He seemed really pleased with that manuscript you sent for him, by the way.

[okayimin]

[ She is sulking in exactly the same position as Athessa left her, but she brightens reluctantly at the sight of the pile. ]

Well! That's quite the stack. Oh! I haven't read this! [ She's already grabbing and flipping through Butterflies of the Free Marches. She pauses and completely fails to hide how pleased she is at the news. ]

Good, I thought he might. It's a very good one.

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa grins, a partial reflection of the Sister's delight and her own pride at having convinced Salvio to include that folio, even if it wasn't her explicit intention. ]

I also have something else for you, not from the Seneschal, though... [ She'll keep her gloating to herself. All Sawbones needs to know is that Salvio had a stack of recommended reading, and that he was glad of the trade.

Rummaging in her bag, she produces a little glass jar of citrus marmalade. By the sounds of it, she's got more than one of these in her possession. ]

[okayimin]

[ She blinks at the appearance of the marmalade, wondering briefly for a moment if she's hallucinating. ]

Where did you get that? [ She's make a grab for it before Athessa can squirrel it away. ]