Door 4 - The Forest Green Forest

[Miss Aeriya]

The doorway flew open, and a t-shaped mass of human flesh collapsed through it. Ro rolled off of Arthur's shoulders as he fell.

Arthur realized at this point just how tired he really was. Was he injured? How could he have gone into shock if he weren't injured? Exhaustion. He was exhausted. This wasn't shock, he was going unconscious. He was going to black out.

Darkness... or was it his eyelids? He couldn't tell. But it was approaching very, very fast, and...

Arthur lost consciousness, laying face down in the dirt, Ro in front of him.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter got to his feet, folding his arms behind his back. He nodded at Shepard before addressing the children. He shrugged, "Well, we didn't lose, kid, And you're all here, so that's a win."
He glanced around, a hint of worry in his calm eyes before his attention was brought to Dawn.

"I'm fine, Dawn, don't worry, I was just a little tired and cold, so Shepard offered me his coat and carried me up." he crouched down to her level and patted her head with his unmutilated hand, "I don't need any fixing, kid, thank you though, I'm sure you'd do great."

As Carpenter spoke, Shepard was doing a quick headcount, "Hey, missing two, Ro and Arthur."

Carpenter glanced over and stood, "Are they back in the Dance Hall? Check by the door, they may be on their way."

Shepard nodded and hopped down. He jogged down the path and returned a few minutes later carrying two bodies, Ro and Arthur. Both were unconscious as he carried them up to the treehouse, grunting as he reached the top.

Carpenter took Arthur in one arm and laid him down on the floor, propping up his head. Shepard did the same with Ro.

"They're both fine." Shepard said, "Just unconscious."  

[Elesariin]

Reassured, Dawn went over to her bed and started tugging off the comforter. "You should eat fruit if you're tired," she told Carpenter, "Mary says it's better than candy, but I don't remember why. Do you want to use my blanket? It's really warm."  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell rose from the couch to help the entering adults. "Why don't we get you to the couch?" She tried reaching for Carpenter's arm but failed to - he had no arm to grab. "D-Dawn, sweetie, do you have a first aid kit? Maybe we could use it to help the others get better." He's missing his arm! It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than a band aid to fix that! For Dawn's sake, she'd pretend to not know about the missing limb. What the hell happened out there?

"So...do we have to worry about them chasing us here, or do we have time to rest?" Carpenter seemed to be the most talkative. Honestly, she just wanted to know how much time they had before they had to move.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter winced inwardly when Ton'yell discovered his missing limb. But at least she seemed to be keeping it from Dawn and the others, he didn't want any of them to worry. After all, he would be fine. The sleeve was getting moist on the inside with blood, Carpenter kept his arm elevated to avoid dripping. He crossed his arms to disguise the action.

"No, they won't follow us, they have what they want for now, you should all get some rest."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Shepard grabbed Dawn under the armpits and hefted her quite easily; she literally weighed almost nothing to him. He carried her over to a nearby bed, laying her in it and saying, "You have to be good and get some sleep, OK? Carpenter and I are very tired, and we need you to be a good girl and let everyone go to sleep. We're all tired."

Indeed, Ro and Arthur were literally passed out, Carpenter was swaying on his feet, and the rest of the group save Shepard was probably a little shaky and unsettled from the events of the day. He gave them a look that Dawn couldn't see to tell them to just play along.

"So go to sleep, all right? I'll keep watch over you, just like old times, and I'll wake you up when Hunter gets here so you can go out and play with him. Until then, it's naptime." He placed his hand on her head and ruffled her hair lightly. Without his jacket, his face was fully exposed, and they could see the rare sight of him smiling slightly.

Once that was taken care of, he went back and gently directed Carpenter into another room. Shepard took the coat gingerly from around Carpenter and sat the Workman down, examining his lost arm closely. He gestured for Ton'yell and Alex to join him as he looked at the wound.

"If you didn't catch it, this is Carpenter and I'm Shepard," he said briskly. They realized that he was speaking noticeably faster than when he had been talking to Dawn. "We're the good guys; this is our home and we're defending it. Just a brief summary. We fought those MADmen. Carpenter here used a last-ditch move. Lost his arm. Gotta patch him up. Find me some supplies." He flicked his hand at Ton'yell. "He's going to bleed out soon unless we do this, so please help me here."

Alex and Ton'yell noticed how hard it was for him to nicely ask for assistance; both got the vibe that he was crisp, blunt, and efficient, but he needed them because he cared, though it might be deep down, about the wounded man in the room with them. He even discarded his soiled but prized coat in order to help him.

Shepard looked over his shoulder at them. "Please, guys."  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell stepped back at Shepard seemed to take control of the place. She certainly liked the man well enough. He kept control and efficiently came up with solutions.

When told to look for supplies, she nodded. "I'll look around." She walked off to the kitchen area and started searching the place for anything that could be useful. Unfortunately, there wasn't much around. "Dang," she muttered. There's a way to fix this quickly... She managed to find some bandages and band aids and brought them to Shepard. "This won't be enough to keep him from bleeding even more. But there's a fast way of healing him," she hesitatingly said. "We can burn it."

It was cruel, but it was a quick fix. "But if that doesn't work, we can always rip my jacket to use as a wrap."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"Burn it," Shepard said immediately. "Don't know why I didn't think of that. Carpenter's tough. He's my rival. He can handle it. Heat it up. I'll do the burning. You don't mind, right Carpenter?" he asked, leaning down to see into his face.

He gestured for Ton'yell to begin heating.  

[SiberDrac]

Jesse and Alex were afraid. They had nothing to work with, here.

"They didn't lose," Jesse repeated to himself. "They didn't lose, they didn't lose..."

Alex just stared as the combatants continued coming in, out of commission, bleeding, and exhausted. This was not his area of expertise, or Jesse's, but even though Chris would have been slightly better suited, even she was not a fan of the sight of blood.

But Jesse was not one to ignore an order of any intensity from one of the Workmen. With a rapid series of blinks, he surfaced. Shoulders hunched, face pallid, he listened to Shephard speak, and quickly looked around for something to patch the wounds. Once Ton'yell had gotten the bandages, he took them from her so she could focus on whatever she had find that might cauterize the wound, and went to patching up the lighter wounds in total silence, sweat standing out on his forehead.

"Jesse, what do you think happened? Carpenter lost his arm!"

"I know, Alex! I heard him, too. I don't... I don't want to think about it. Those fairy-a** PRICKS f***ed them up pretty bad. I'm gonna... Oh, f***ing God, I'm gonna curbstomp that motherf***ing ****-****er next time I see him."

Jesse shuddered briefly as he thought it, and Alex felt B rising up again.

"Jesse... Jesse, calm down. Please. You'll wake it up."

Luckily for the two of them, even though Alex was quieter, Jesse was submissive to him, when he wasn't wholly subservient. The boy closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and went back to what he was doing.  

[Isa-sama]

Ton'yell took out her purse and reached for her wallet. She took out a twenty dollar bill and asked Alex for his lighter. After receiving it, she burned one end of the bill. Surprisingly, the bill did not burn though it was on fire. "You tend to fireproof your things when one of your patients is a pyromaniac," she explained. "I presoaked my money in an alcohol-water mixture to keep my patient from burning the bills. He had a tendency to look through my wallet," she murmured. If I don't get back to Corona, what will happen to my patients? She worried for them, but there wasn't anything she could do. What I need to do is remain calm. First take care of yourself and Alex, then think about a way to get home.

She offered the burning bill to Shepard and gave him a few other bills. "I don't know how long it lasts; I never tried to find out. Here are other bills if you need them."

She saw how Alex had quietly bandaged Carpenter. There is no way this can be good for his psyche. And then there's that new personality... She put her hand on his shoulder. "I think we can leave these two gentlemen to do the rest." Ton'yell didn't want for Alex to see burning flesh. "Let's go back to the couch and rest a bit, okay?" Rest? We need more than rest. We need to talk this out. She led Alex to the couch and sat down. Maybe in a little bit. Right now, we ought to try and relax. "Alex, do you mind if I ask you a favor?" She turned to give him a weak smile. "I need a hug. I'd really appreciate it if you would give one to me." I'm sure you could use a hug as well.  

[Elesariin]

Dawn was just a lump under her comforter at this point, but the way that that lump was fidgeting suggested that she was not making much of an effort to go to sleep. Then again, will all the commotion, maybe that was only expected.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter shrugged, he didn't exactly enjoy the fact that everyone was worrying about him. "Go ahead and burn it." he permitted, "Just don't catch me on fire, that would be bad."

Knowing what Shepard was doing, Carpenter looked back into Shepard's eyes for a few seconds before Ton-yell lit the bill.

"What the hell is that, kid? Why is that paper green?" he asked Shepard, thinking that he may know.

While he waited for an answer, he glanced over towards his arm to watch him begin cauterizing what was left of his arm. He began to hum, he was slightly nervous around fire.

"I was overdue for a new one, anyway." he said to himself quietly.  

[Jokerman-EXE]

"We'll get you another one when we get back to base anyway," Shepard said as he focused intensely on burning Carpenter's arm shut. "We're just going to close up this wound so that you can move, then we're going to find some way to get back to base and have them put a new one on."

Cauterization completed, Shepard stepped back from Carpenter. He placed the bills on the floor and stomped them out; they were pretty badly singed, though recognizable. He scooped them up and handed them to Ton'yell before getting his jacket off the floor and putting it on Carpenter once more.

"What's our next move?" he asked.  

[NativeForeigner]

Carpenter waved his the nub just below his elbow experimentally and grunted, "I'll just have to see Taylor when we get back." he said more to himself than Shepard, "Unless we can set the bones, and many are crushed, I'll probably need a new arm entirely."

Carpenter, when asked what their next move was, glanced around.

"I think we should get some rest, it's barely past morning and they've been through a hell of a lot. After a bit of rest, we'll head into the city, speak with the Majesty of Colours, and get a replacement arm."  

[Jokerman-EXE]

Shepard nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I'll keep watch outside and make sure we're safe; I'm still good to go. Maria isn't too skilled at combat yet."

He patted Carpenter on the shoulder and walked over to Alex and Ton'yell. "Thank you," he grumbled, almost sounding grudging with it. "Get some rest. We move on tomorrow."

Shepard went to the door. "I'll send Hunter up when he arrives!" he called back to Carpenter before jumping out. He landed on the ground and made himself comfortable against the trunk of the tree, puffing on a lightly smoking cigarette.