Frontier Town Drungfield's Remedies

[HelloYellow17]

The second Wes pushed through the creaking door, he had to refrain from making a face as all kinds of scents assaulted him at once. Gods. This sensitive Rockruff nose was going to take some getting used to, that much was certain.

He glanced about the place with narrowed eyes, pausing to squint at the more dubious looking objects. This place was…not the typical doctor’s office, at least from what little experience he had with the ones in Phenac. It was…simpler, in its own way. More cluttered and full of strange smells and objects, yes, but it also felt more…rugged. Earthy, even. Wes didn’t mind this, though—if anything, it felt far more welcoming that the usual cold, sterile doctor’s offices that he so despised.

He spotted a Pokémon up ahead behind the desk, and hobbled up to it. She paid him no mind, too engrossed in her book to notice him. After several seconds of uncomfortable silence, Wes cleared his throat and spoke hesitantly. “…Hello?”

 

[MintyMimix]

Ghaspius grumbled as he rubbed away the sleepiness out of his eyes. Now he knew how Roya felt in the mornings. It wasn't his fault that he had been up late trying to stay in the Square in case anyone else he knew needed to be caught up. And also to process the extreme reactions the others at the Square had the night before. Stress demanded thought, and thought demanded time.

The Misdreavus let out a long yawn as he tried to shake off those thoughts. Thoughts also weighed a person down, and all he wanted to do was float freely that day. Thankfully, the mindlessly mindful task before him of taking inventory was just the right repetitiveness to get lost in.

The ghost perhaps got a bit too into his work as he didn't seem to notice anyone coming in. A bit of a problem since Drungfield had been out on an errand and he had been left to write down any requests for when she returned.

 

[Inkedust]

It was well past any reasonable 'mon's waking hours. Then again, being jostled awake to be attacked by a frenzied shadow was anything but reasonable. The battle had left everyone exhausted and if anyone hadn't passed out by then, then being gently carried away by the maus to the sound of the pitter-patter of their paws and their tiny squeaks would almost certainly do the trick.

Those who managed to jostle themselves awake found themselves in Drungfield's Remedies, as promised, though it was impossible to tell how much time had passed between the battle and now. The maus were long gone at this point, likely doing their best to tidy up the mess left behind.

From another room, they could hear Bellatrix's quiet, muffled voice. While it was impossible to tell what she was saying, it was quite obvious that she was speaking to someone, most likely Drungfield. It also sounded like a rather long conversation, meaning that there was a bit of time to discuss among themselves in order to understand what happened. Or just for the sake of entertaining themselves if they so desired, of course.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Doing jobs for the rangers meant getting into scrapes more often, and while most of it could get handled with the uncanny berries they were regularly given, sometimes the berries ran out mid-mission, or couldn't quite heal off the last bit of damage, and that meant a trip to the apothecary for some kind of potion or other. This time it was something to take the edge of the last lingering bit of numbness from a run-in with a wild Cacnea out by the ravine.

It was almost becoming mundane, and yet it was hard to quiet that lingering, human instinct that getting hit was something to avoid at all costs.

A few days ago, a bunch of the beds in the back had been filled--the chilling aftermath of the attack that'd happened in the dead of night at the Haus. But by now, everyone had thankfully recovered, and things had mostly gone back to normal... aside from the lingering reminder that nowhere was truly safe from the witching beasts.

So Jade hadn't been expecting to see Wes still in a recovery bed, days after she'd confirmed with Koa that everyone had recovered. Had he... ended up here again for something else? And so soon...?

She'd always gotten the impression that he was one of those 'don't talk to me' members of the team (there were a lot of those...). And she'd already located the salve that she was looking for anyway. But still, it'd feel weird to just grab it and leave, almost like she was ignoring him on purpose. Maybe he wouldn't care, maybe he'd be annoyed about it all day, Jade really had no idea. But then, when she'd been stuck in a hospital bed for days on end back home, it was always better when anyone stopped by.

So, only feeling slightly dumb, Jade waved a paw lightly to grab the Rockruff's attention and said, "Hey, um... need me to grab you anything while I'm here?"

 

[Jackie Cat]

The body lay under a white covering. Not too clean, but not filthy. Practical, affordable, but respectful to the dead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kxf2HXsiqU
Even if the dead had it coming.

Lucien adjusted his sash, looking a little pale.

"How, uh—?"

"A few days," replied Drungfield, stiffly. "I couldn't say precisely how many. I suppose we'll bury him in the old boneyard, shortly."

"And the... infection?"

"The aura's extinguished. No trace Shadow in the corpse, I'm afraid. Furthermore, physical alterations from Shadow-type energy are not strongly evident in the body, nor are the wounds particularly distinct from ordinary lacerations. I wouldn't know this from a mundane murder had I not been paying particular attention to such things of late. Still, one may observe, if keen-eyed and well-informed, certain details that indicate the killing blows were ill-resisted, and of an exotic type."

Lucien nodded. He was more keen to speak with the Wayfarers, not to examine a corpse, but it was his duty as town marshal to look in on it. And something about the soberness of the matter felt like it merited... acknowledging, somehow. One did not pretend to have done away with a person's remains as if it were a discarded rag.

The doorbell chimed. The offworlders were here.

"Good day," the Prinplup called. "We're just through here."

 

[MintyMimix]

In the dimly lit room, shelves filled with dusty tomes and vials of mysterious substances cast long shadows against the wooden walls. Several bottles lightly clinked against one another as a certain scatterbrained Misdreavus trying and failing not to disrupt the inventory while performing counts of it. He winced, expecting the shelves to fall again, but let out a sigh of relief as they remained in place.

"Right, that's medications noted, now onto equipment..." Ghaspius muttered to himself with a hint of light resentment. His ghostly form swayed from side-to-side in place as he gathered up every loose scalpel, pair of tweezers, and various metallic tools he could and to sort them in their proper trays.

The faint aroma of freshly brewed coffee intermingled with the scent of fresh herbs and aged tonics as he continued, though it was more than apparent from his wandering gaze that he had long since reached the point of boredom. Trying not to lose too much of himself, he began to lightly hum a tune from his world as he worked.

 

[Butterfree]

Just making it to Drungfield's office was a heroic ordeal, but make it he did. By the time he was up on the examination table he was ready to sleep for a fucking week, body and aura aching for time to recover. At the same time, his half-delirious mind was abuzz with scientific theories that might or might not pan out (Giovanni didn't seem to think it was related, but then again he was a fucking lunatic), but for the moment, when he started trying to explain it to Dr. Drungfield, it was coming out of him incoherent. He gave up with a sigh and just let the doctor examine him.

Which would be something. His entire body had been burnt, slashed, electrocuted, corroded with Shadow, even after he'd been knocked unconscious. He was still fucking astonished the Reviver Seed had even managed to get him back on his feet at all, much less back on his feet and running anywhere. The lingering, throbbing ache in every muscle in his body still made him kind of wish it hadn't.