Magic & Support Reserves, the Preserve, Wednesday Afternoon

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Hi," Dolf started, waving at everyone before any of his fellow leaders had a chance to really get a word in. (It wasn't that he was trying to be first, but he'd gotten the hang of it a little, last week, and-- well, it was just easy by now, to take point when he could.) "So today we want to talk about being sick. Other people being sick, and being sick ourselves. It can happen that sometimes someone just gets sick and passes it on to everyone else, and then people start dying. Sometimes at the worst possible moments. We have to be prepared, if it happens, to do the necessary things."

He looked pretty serious about the whole thing, too. He still remembered the outbreak at the children's camp, over two months ago. "If a sickness is contagious, then we need to seperate the sick," he continued, "Find a comfortable camping place. Don't deal with them without putting something over your mouth. Burn their things if they die or go away so the sickness doesn't jump to anyone else. Wash a lot." He took a deep breath. "Of course every sickness is its own thing. Sometimes people are very warm, burning. They need to be cooled, until it stops. With water. Good food and water for everybody anyway. Sometimes people cough, then you really have to make sure you have something for your mouth. They can have problems walking, or their tongues can turn strange colours, or they'll get spots-- different sicknesses, some dangerous, some not."

"It used to be different, and maybe it's different for some of you, still. This time is very clean, so sickness that used to kill doesn't, anymore. We learned to separate people and look after them. That's what we are trying to teach you now. To recognise sickness, and to take care of it." Which was about where he'd realised he'd just set in and started talking, so he fell silent and looked to the other leaders.

Karla was happy to pick up where Dolf had left off. "Keeping everything as sterile as we can is key," she added. "Anything that has come in touch with infected fluids or tissues needs to be burned, bleached, or boiled before it is used again. If we're not yet sure what is causing the illness, boiling water for a goodly amount of time before drinking it is important: there are many diseases that travel in water. Fevers can kill if they get high enough, so watching someone's temperature might mean the difference between life and death. You don't need to be a doctor or a Healer to help combat sickness. You just need to be careful and smart."


"You should also," Tara added, "make sure sick people are eating and drinking, if they can keep anything down at all. Toast is good, and tea or ginger ale. Orange juice. Chicken soup. Bananas. There's a reason they call it comfort food, right? If you have access to any drugs, you could give them some penicillin if it's the right kind of infection, or Tylenol to bring a fever down. Just be careful 'cause it won't work on everything, and some people will be allergic to it. "

Which reminded her of another point. "Remember not everyone in Fandom has a totally human biology, so don't do anything if you aren't sure it's safe."


"And keeping the spirits up of someone who is ill is very important as well," Raven said. "They may be upset or frightened, and they will need someone to talk to or just a hand to hold. Tending to their emotional needs can be as critical as their physical ones."

Dolf had been nodding along with all of that. Once silence fell, he started to speak again. "Today we'll work on recognising signs and dealing with them," he said, earnestly. "We have a list of possible symptoms. Find a friend, and one of you will pretend to have symptoms, and the other should deal with it. And you can add new symptoms, if you can think of others."

Comments

Arrive & Mingle

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

As you do! Today's special is chicken soup, but there's the habitual cookies (not baked by anyone currently on the leadership) as well.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[wwiii]

Warren felt maybe a little awkward upon hearing the topic of the meeting today. Having a healing factor made this sort of thing into a bit of a moot point for him personally, but it was all good to know for everyone else's sake, wasn't it?

Most of this, mind, he already knew, being the son of the owner of one of America's foremost pharmaceutical companies, and all.

He'd stick around for the soup.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[daventryprince.livejournal.com]

Alexander was about to ponder on how the usual fare might not pair well with the topic at hand so the soup came as a pleasant and thoughtful surprise.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[angelo_wings]

The chicken soup was a nice touch. Rinoa got a bowl and hung back, mulling over the topic.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Soup was great. It was mochas, but Scully could deal with something healthy today.

All of this was more than familiar, but the Reserves leaders were going a good job of presenting the material, she thought.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[robinthefrog.livejournal.com]

Robin was around for the big epidemic a few years back. Remembering those days made him shiver.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[brat_inslayage]

Oooh, soup-- don't think this was going to spoil Kennedy's appetite for dinner.

Plus, it was something to frown into as if she was waiting for it to cool down; having been the recipient of some magical healing a couple of times (one less than she actually realized), and at the same time still a bit dubious of such things, was cause for slight frownyface. So this was going to be... a little awkward. And weird.

So-- soup. Awesome.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle perked up considerably upon sight of the food, but even more so when she heard the subject of the discussion today. She wasn't nearly the expert Xena was, but she still considered healing (the mundane, hands-on, don't-tell-the-modern-people-what-you-use-for-cotton-packing kind) an area in which she was knowledgeable.

And there were cookies; no wonder she was smiling.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[whateverknight.livejournal.com]

Squall got himself a cup of soup and sipped at it thoughtfully. Illness. Squall didn't like anything that couldn't be cured by either a Remedy or a Hi-Potion.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[onlymistaken]

Chicken soup: yet another new thing Cally hadn't tried. Of course, so was 'getting sick' (on this planet) so as she sipped at a cup of it, she rather hoped no one here really was ill.

Re: Arrive & Mingle

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

A good soup was almost as good as a healer, some days.

...he might be trying to think of a way to smuggle it back to Leda and her sickbed.

Symptoms of Illness

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

The four musketeers leaders have put up a list of possible symptoms of sickness, but you're welcome to add your own!

Sore throat
Fever (warm forehead)
Bright red tongue
Rash (red and rough-textured)
Coughing
Sneezing
Nausea
Swelling
Barking
Shakes
Rattles
Rolls
Sniffling
Aching
Stuffy head
Fever
Persistent headaches
Excessive clumsiness
Hiccups that won't stop
Purple and green rash
Sudden development of a second head

... okay, so one or two of them might have lost it near the end of the list-making process.

Re: Symptoms of Illness

[life_inshadow]

Tara was having that thing where just reacing about a symptom made you vaguely wonder if you had it, too.

She'd be rubbing her shoulder just in case a freckle turned into a second head all afternoon.

Team Up and Play Doctor!

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Form teams! One of you is a sick person with one or several of the symptoms on the list. The other person is the doctor. Assess what's wrong with the other person and treat them accordingly! Then switch roles.

Re: Team Up and Play Doctor!

[showmetheproof.livejournal.com]

Scully looked around for someone to diagnose. It'd make a change from injuries, or dead people, to be looking for illness.

Re: Team Up and Play Doctor!

[onlymistaken]

"...a second head? Really?" Cally eyed the list, half amused at contemplating how she could possibly roleplay that symptom, and half wondering how serious a suggestion it might be.

Re: Team Up and Play Doctor!

[squire-hand.livejournal.com]

"I do not think it happens that often," James said, catching her words.

Talk to the Leaders

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

They're here, they're there, they're... at least 25% more Undecided than Queer as of this semester.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Dolf was there (and also the 25% who was undecided, in case anyone wondered) and looking decidedly more relaxed than last week. Smiling, even, if a little sternly. He still remembered a lot about how bad the Scarlet Fever had been.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[onlymistaken]

Cally wandered over during a lull in the activity. "Something else to consider about disease in a place like this," she said, because it was a thought that a fellow time-traveler might appreciate. "Is that people from other times and places may get sick more easily than the natives, because they have no immunity to local diseases."

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[glacial_queen]

Really, they did need to get their numbers up.

Karla was here and thinking about having a kiss-in with Raven glad that there hadn't been any outbreaks of illnesses while she was here.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[life_inshadow]

Tara was there. And ... well, she'd kissed two of her co-leaders, and neither of them was Dolf. (Not, she'd hasten to add, that she didn't think Dolf was perfectly nice, and even kinda cute in a boy way, just ... yeah.)

So. Score one for queer.

Re: Talk to the Leaders

[trigons_child]

Raven was there, and not thinking about how the Reserves were an incestuous lot, from a certain point of view.

OOC

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

Tomorrow is going to be Hell. I demand tribute.

Re: OOC

[life_inshadow]

Is pie a tribute?