You’re being selfish.
I’m being practical.
People are going to die because you are sitting here twiddling your thumbs instead of helping.
People are always dying. It’s what we do best.
Do you really want to have nightmares of these screams and think. “What if I hadn’t been a cynical ass and had actually tried to help them?”
Stop exaggerating.
During these internal arguments, Adrian was more interested in self-preservation, and Adrianna knew that she had been given these powers to help people. She had learned to heal people, with and without magic, and withholding it felt like stealing bread from a peasant. The potential for guilt overrode the potential for being discovered, and Adrianna climbed to her feet, throwing her bag over her shoulder.
While she had been arguing with herself, her eyes had been following the doctor, and the few who were trying to help. Adrianna approached him quickly, after the doctor left some skinny white-haired dude watching over a lady with a leg injury. She didn’t pay much attention to the Muran, even though the fact that he was rather young and white-haired should have set off alarms. She was focused on helping people. And probably avoiding that lady she had cursed at.
“I can help.” Adrianna said, sitting on the opposite side as the Doctor for their next patient. She didn’t pull out her own supplies, because the selfish part of her still understood that she might not be able to get more right away. The doctor had plenty, she told herself.
The man looked skeptical for a moment, but nodded, eager to accept whatever help he could get at that point. Adrianna quickly proved her worth. The older man had dislocated his shoulder, and Adrianna held him down so the doctor could set it. The next person was another with a large laceration, and some bits of wood coming out of her stomach. Adrianna mostly cleared the area and helped hold her down as the doctor removed the pieces of wood. She threaded his needle and held the skin so he could stitch, but stopped him when she noticed a 3cm shard still beneath the skin. Grabbing his tools, Adrianna quickly dug it out, and then resumed supporting his stitching. Whatever the doctor thought about his new assistant, he didn’t complain. Adrianna wasn’t squeamish around blood, and seemed to know exactly what he would need before he called for it. She certainly had seen her share of injuries. Another person screamed out, and the doctor looked for the source before looking back at Adrianna. “Can you stitch?” He asked.
“Yea, I’ll wrap this up. You go.” She said, cutting another length of the thread to use on the last two wounds in need of stitching. Adrianna didn’t make much small talk with the woman she was stitching. She mostly asked her to keep talking about herself to keep her conscious, and soon the man whose arm was dislocated came over and asked follow-up questions so she could just concentrate on the work. Once she was finished, Adrianna excused herself to clean up, check in with the doc, and see what else she could do.
As she walked, she passed by the captain and a few others who looked in charge, along with that white-haired guy again. She honestly might not have noticed him if not for the insanely stupid question he asked as she was passing. “Seriously?” She asked, glaring at him. She probably didn’t look like the most…sane individual, walking by holding a needle with her hands covered in blood. Fortunately, she had put her gloves away before starting to work with the doctor, saving those from being covered as well.
“It’s that way.” She pointed off along the beach.
Adrianna didn’t stick around for his response. She went to rinse her hands in the ocean, and then went to help out the doctor. It looked like most of the more grievous injuries had been tended to, though a few were so near-dead that Adrianna knew it would be a waste of supplies for them to try to bandage the wounds…unless she used her magic. It was too late for some, but there were others who could be saved if—
“Excuse me, are you using your assistant?” One of the crew members interrupted her thoughts, addressing the doctor. Adrianna was holding someone’s foot as the doctor bound the ankle with some spare cloth rather than wasting a bandage. The ankle was merely twisted, and there was no real risk of infection with using some scrap fabric.
Adrianna raised her brow but kept her mouth shut. While she didn’t mind being thought of as the doctor’s assistant, (hell, the gig actually sounded like it might be not-awful as a potential career prospect, albeit a little on-the-nose) she did not like the man asking him rather than addressing her about whether she was busy. The doctor asked what he needed, and the crew member explained that they were gathering a few people to go to the nearest town to get more help. He said that Adrianna, whom he called, the lad, looked pretty agile and uninjured, and seemed to have a better sense of direction than their other recruit. He gestured at the white-haired man and Adrianna chuckled.
“Well, it’s your choice, kid. Thanks for you help, in any case.” The doctor said, turning the decision (rightly) over to Adrianna.
She looked back and forth, affirming that most of the injuries had been tended to, and then agreed. “Who else is going?” She asked the crew member as the doctor finished with the binding and she excused herself.
“Just you two, so far. See anyone else who might be more use than burden?”
The pickings were slim, but there was one person, err, pair, rather, who stuck out to Adrianna. “Yea, I’ve got an idea.”
Adrianna walked over towards the sparsely dressed Ydra and her very large black…cougar? It looked formidable, which would hopefully keep them safe from some potential predators during the journey to the nearest town. Anticipating that the creature would get a bit defensive when she neared, Adrianna walked towards the edge of the woods slowly. “Excuse me?”
“Hey, Um… The crew wants to send a small group of people to the nearest town, a bit south of here, to try to get help for the injured. I was wondering if you wanted to come. It beats sitting around and waiting for…whatever hungry critters might be in the woods.” She chuckled, though it was a poor attempt at humor. “And I was hoping that your companion would be a good judge of potential threats while we travel.” She added. The Ydra was probably capable of defending herself and hunting, but Adrianna would have also assumed that most adults knew which way South was, so she had already been proven wrong once today.
“I’m Adrian, by the way.” She added.