2. Well, I might call you Doctor.

[bestsir]

Who: Harry Goodsir and OPEN
What: Doctor's hours
Where: Harry's cabin, around town
When: Anytime during October, early November
Warnings: TBD

It's taken some weeks—including the awful voices and even, ironically, the words of Cornelius Hickey—for Goodsir to finally act on advice he'd given to Edward Little when they'd first arrived.

He starts by placing a notice on the board. Then he starts scavenging the town for all the medical supplies he can find, consolidating a store of them in his cabin. What he does manage to find, in combination with the contents of his surgeon's chest, isn't nearly as much as he would like, but it will do.

He has learned much, these last few weeks. That disease and infection is caused not by miasma, by tiny animalcules that may be spread by various forms of contact, and that wounds must be kept clean—disinfected—thus averting festering and gangrene. That there are compounds in food that keep the body healthy, and that not all foods contain those compounds. He tries not to dwell on the lives he might have saved with that knowledge on the expedition, and to focus on the here and now. As he said to Little: to live, and do what good he can.

And to try not to let his hatred of Cornelius Hickey consume him.

Comments

[bestsir]

At that, Goodsir actually lets out a very tired laugh.

"Lieutenant Little is ... we were not friends, but there is no enmity between us." Unlike at least one other Goodsir can name. "I didn't know him well, as we were on different ships. But he was liked well enough, across both crews."

Whether he was respected is a different matter entirely, and one Goodsir isn't going to get into right now.

[bigbaddy]

Liked well enough, huh? Bigby can kind of imagine that. He's not always the best judge of character when it comes to people's social abilities, considering how lacking he is in that department himself, but he figures that man has been kind enough to him so far. So..

"I can see that," he concludes with a nod after considering it for a moment.

A moment later the corners of Bigby's lips curl up into a near-smile. "You must be liked too. Y'know, if not just for being willing to put up with all this nonsense."

Look, he can't imagine he's the only non-human coming in today. Goodsir must have had a lot to think about..

"Not to mention doctor Swineheart could sure learn from your way of treating people."

[bestsir]

Swineheart. What a name.

"I can only try my best," he says, with a modesty that might ring false coming from anyone else. "Often I feel as if I've scarcely got a hold on anything happening here, but if I've been able to help anyone, I can be glad of that."

[bigbaddy]

"I don't think you have to worry about that. None of us have any clue what the hell is going on."

.. maybe not the most reassuring message in the end, huh. But it is the truth, and Bigby - if nothing else - likes sticking to practical reality in that sense.

"So you have just as big of a chance to figure out stuff about this place as any of us who come from stranger worlds do. You seem smart enough for it." Or.. well, you don't become a doctor without having to be smart, right?

Bigby's view on this might be a little simple, actually being a wolf and all.