farsickness | I swear to god, I'm never gonna repent.

I swear to god, I'm never gonna repent.

WHO: Herbert West
WHEN: End of March into April
WHAT: Arribal and exploring
WHERE: Near and around Gazin
WARNINGS: Panic attack in the first starter, and eventual mention of cannabis in the second thread.

Arrival - CW Panic attack

'Oh god, oh god, no no no!!!' this couldn't be happening! They were coming through the wall and all he could do was stand in horror as his assistant fainted. 'please, I'll be better, just let me escape this!'

One moment those half rotted reject hands had been reaching for him the next a blood curdling scream ripped through the relatively silent crossroads as he hit his knees. He was having trouble breathing as he hit his knees, fast to small breaths from the panic of what had just been happening, not yet realizing that he wasn't in danger anymore, or that he had knocked his own glasses off his face as he hit his knees desperately trying to undo his fancy tie to breath easier.

They came back... they came back to kill him. What if they killed his partner? That was blood he didn't want on his hands. Why couldn't he catch his breath?

No, no, he had to calm down. This wasn't even his cellar anymore.

And yet he stayed there knelled hyperventilating, dressed in a fine deep blue suit with a long overcoat on. He had been heading out when shit hit the fan, and now he didn't even know what was happening.

Exploring
After checking in the inn, he had sat and took inventory of everything he had had on his person. Thankful that he had been about to head out least he be screwed over for something he truly needed. Tying his long hair back up in its blue ribbon and slipping his spectacles back on, he left his over coat behind on the bed, and only pulled on his suit jacket back over his suit. It had been winter still in Boston, it was spring here. Much to warm for all of that.

He came down to try and find someone in the inn who wasn't a native to speak to. To try and get some information. Even if his creatures had tried to kill him, this place was more back water than Dunwich and he'd rather just get back to Boston if he could.

As the day went one, he was finding the task a harder one. Seeking instead to inquire if the village was in need of a doctor. This place looked to backwoods, to far in the archaic past to eve humor needing a scientist even.

After a few hours of looking around he found a fence post to lean against, so he could light one of his remaining handrolled cigarettes with his old trench lighter. The lighter slipped back into his pocket blowing out the almost sweet smelling smoke as he tried to devise a plan. The smoke left a lingering smell of lavender, tobacco and something stronger in the air. The cigarettes were just a means to calm his nerves that got worse as he got older.

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He had finally convinced himself to go out and take a look around this...well, he couldn't call it a city. The colony was far larger than this place, this "Gazin". But then again, all of the space colonies were larger. They had to be to host so many people. Perhaps he was spoiled? Or his worldview was just far too different to truly comprehend what was going on here.

So, in order to get things figured out, Duo decided to take a gander at what Gazin had to offer. He spoke to some of the people, but it didn't seem as though he would be getting many of the answers he wanted. What was this place? Why was he here? Could he get back to his scrapyard and his home?

He huffed a sigh, causing his bangs to rise and fall back into place. Maybe no one actually knew what the hell was going on.

"Fan-fricken-tastic."

Lost in his thoughts, Duo wandered until he caught a strange smell in the air. Sweet. Pastry? No, it didn't smell like food. It was something else. He looked around and saw a man in a suit tuck away a lighter. He had a cigarette, or something similar. Something that did not smell like any sort of tobacco Duo recognized. Those weren't native here, especially the lighter. Those clothes. They stuck out much like his own leather coat and tight jeans.

Might as well say hello.

With a grin to try and give him a more friendly air, Duo made his way to the man. One hand he kept in his coat pocket, the other offered a wave.

"Hey! How's it goin'?"

The smell was a mixture of scents, but the sweetness of the lavender was the strongest, strong enough to overpower the tobacco and cannabis inside of it, a mixture for his nerves. The man in question didn't look much older than Duo, even if in truth he was much older. He looked 19 at best, a short thin man with long tied back blond hair framed the pale delicate face.

Seeing the wave, he lifted the hand with the cigarette to push his gold rimmed circular glasses back up some over his blue eyes. The eyes were both cold and detached.

"Good afternoon." He spoke with a posh new England accent, pushing off of the wall to step close. The man's outfit was interesting but he could clearly tell, much like himself this was an outsider. "I have no answer for how 'it' is going, but, I would gander it is much like yourself, my good sir." He spoke easily, then offered his free hand. "Dr. Herbert West." He introduced himself.

Oh, but that look could give Heero Yuy a run for it's money. It just lacked the feeling of "I will kill you" Duo had witnessed on more than one occasion. Maybe that was why he didn't feel at all uneasy with the man in the suit with the funny-smelling cigarette. He just smiled and took the offered hand in his, squeezing ever so slightly as he responded.

"Ah, no need to be formal with me. The name's Duo. Duo Maxwell." Slowly taking back his hand, he turned to look at the people walking up and down the street, his knee-length braid gently wrapping around his legs. "So, Doc. Have you figured out what's going on?" He lifted his arms up to clasp his hands behind his head before glancing back at the doctor with his eyes of near-violet.

Herbert was far to delicate to ever be able to stand part to par with Heero. He could glare to make a mans blood run cold if his mood went south, but this was simply his resting face. Herbert shook, a firm shake one would expect of a businessman of his time. A doctor he was, but every doctor had to be a business man as well.

"Duo it is then." It felt to intamate but, after working around the mills he was used to people wanting him to be less formal. His old practice near the mills had been a lifetime ago though. Herbert's long hair was about mid back, tied back with a blue ribbon that matched the color of his suit, It was clear his hair was rather wavey under it. He ashed off to the side away from Duo. Smoking was so common in his day he didn't think much of it. "Alas I can't say I have, this is my first offical day, and I haven't found anyone with answers yet. Though, might I inquire where you are from? Given your state of dress I feel we must not be from the same place." He spoke with a wave of his hand with the cigarette. the wheels of his mind turning already. "It is the year 1920, I was last in Boston Massachusetts." He had only been home from the war for about a year.

Smoking never really bothered Duo. He grew up around tobacco and worse. It was the "worse" category that would have gotten him to react more.

No, the cigarette didn't bother Duo. It was what the doctor said last that really got him to really stop. He dropped his arms, slowly, and took in a deep breath. 1920? Massachusetts? Why did it sound familiar? Oh. Right. That was the old way of telling years. They had changed once the colonies were built. And the "M" place. That was American, right?

This guy was from the Earth Sphere, just...very far back in Duo's past. Or at least that how he was interpreting it. He wouldn't have imagined this man being from a different universe completely.

Finally, Duo sighed and turned to fully face the good doctor. He ran his fingers through his bangs. "I'm--I honestly don't know what is going on." He chuckled, perhaps a bit darker than his previous demeanor, then pointed up into the sky. "I'm from a colony created in space and funded by America. It's...After Colony 197. I think? I'm pretty sure I've lost a year somewhere between when I fell asleep and ended up here."

Lowering his hand, he glanced up at the sky, then back to Herbert. He shrugged, not entirely sure what to say next. A shock, since Duo was for having something to say for every situation. For now, he'd judge the doctor's reaction before speaking more.

Luckily most of that worse, wasn't much of a worry around Herbert. He might drink a little, but who in the nineteen hundreds didn't?

Taking another draw from his cigarette he nodded as Duo spoke. "I do not think any of us have any true idea what is happening yet, I merely needed to ask just in case my theories on the matter are not correct."

Its a good thing the cigarette was between his hands because his shocked look was completely forgein on his face. For one who thought he understood everything there was to understand hearing this man was from a space colony he couldn't wrap that brilliant cold mind around it. His jaw slack a moment before he shook himself out of it.

"...Life in space?" Was all he could say, the man spoke letting it sink in, before placing the cigarette back between his lips, taking of a small pad of paper from inside his jacket and a worn down pencil and started to write. "Name." He spoke the word through the cigarette.

If there was a reaction Duo was expecting, it certainly wasn't that. He was sort of stunned for a second before he threw his hands up in a sort of "hold on" manner.

"Woah, wait. Name of what? Me? Where I'm from? Where I grew up? You kinda need to be a little more specific here." Smooth, Maxwell.

Still, he huffed, and lowered his hands, making to step closer to Herbert. His eyes looked up as he thought for a moment. How much could he get away comfortably giving up to satisfy this man's curiosity? With a shrug, more to himself than anything, Duo crossed his arms over his chest then focused on the notebook.

"Name's Duo Maxwell. Lived in the L2 colony cluster funded by America. There are five other clusters, all funded by different areas of the Earth Sphere. It's After Colony 1-9-7, the last I remember. The Mariemaia War ended not long ago and I got a scrapyard business." This guy didn't need to know he had fought in the Mariemaia War...or the Eve's War. Or that he was part of the reason that it all started.

"Yes, sir, your name. If I am to take proper dictation, I must have a name." He explained, in the way he would call bedside manner, but in truth it was just a step above his natural bitchy attitude, for such a soft and honestly, sweet sounding tone. Herbert had a habit of sounding as cold as ice when he spoke.

AS Duo spoke he quickly scratched it down in his shorthand, at least what could go in short hand. The notebook still held, as he spoke through the cigarette the way one with a lot of practice with it could.

"None of this makes a lick of sense to me, but It could prove useful later. All data comes in handy at one point or another." He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact space can hold life, that life got TO space.

Duo tried to mutter something about not being called 'sir', but he shook his head and moved on, not bothering to push the matter. At least for the time being. If it came up again, then he'd just gently remind the good doctor that he was...well, he wasn't old enough to be called 'Sir'.

He watched as Herbert scribbled on the notebook, and offered a shrug when he spoke.

"This place doesn't make a lick of sense to me, to be fair. And I'm currently living it. Talk about culture-shock." With that, Duo looked down at his state of dress and chuckled. "It's hard for me to imagine a life that doesn't involve the colonies. Would you believe I was...around fifteen before I even touched real grass for the first time?"

He would end up using his first name if he told him to, Herbert was of the old world though, and could make any word sound like an attack in the right mood. For now the information was more important than any battle of wits.

"Quite agreed." He replied quietly as he finally closed his book and sat it on the fence post to look at Duo. "I used to feel many things were culture shocks, but after the Great War, nothing seemed shocking. How wrong that was." He motioned around them before chuckling. "And the idea of not seeing real grass is mind blowing."

"Oh, they tried to replicate it the best they could, but it's just easier to have fake grass you don't have to really take care of instead of mowing and whatever other landscaping is needed." He offered a shrug in response before tilting his head back to look up at the sky. "I have to say, I like the feel of real grass much better. And the sight of the moon when you're not really next door neighbors."

Oh, that was a sight he missed. The first night he got to see the moon from Earth was...it was a different experience altogether. He flew among the stars, grew up in a world most people could only imagine, and yet it was something as simple as the moon from a different viewpoint that really left a mark on him.

At least a positive one.

Duo allowed a small smile, his eyes watching clouds move overhead. "I wonder if the sight is as good here as it is back on Earth."

"I do believe, I will not get used to hearing about space, but it is only a few minutes in." Herbert looked to the sky as he listened to Duo, idly wondering what the night sky would look like. What would it look like in Duo's time given how much his little slice of the world had change in his life alone.

"Find me one night when the moon is out, I will tell you if it mates up to what I remember. I have been in been in Boston for awhile now, but the moon shines just the same. The sky is always different in different places upon the earth. I learned that while the Great War raged, I used to step out at night when I needed away from the carnage just to look at the stars, they were very different from Arkham, on the Western Front." He didn't even have to deal with light pollution yet.

"I'll hold you to that. I sort of missed the first night. I uh...was a little overwhelmed and locked myself up in the inn. Needed a bit of time to wrap my head around everything, you know?"

One minute he was napping in space...the next he was tossed into a world that felt like millions of years in the past. Yeah, a small break was very much needed.

"I forgot where I was when I first dropped down to Earth. I've been to the Arabian desert. And there's an old place that apparently had been taken over and then brought back? That's the Sanc Kingdom. I think it was somewhere in Europe. But I know the sky was still beautiful wherever I was."

Working at the town's apothecary, Wen Qing had quickly heard gossip about someone new in town and outlandish-looking who inquired about work as a doctor. A stranger obviously not from around here would have been enough to catch the ancient Chinese physician's attention even without the medicine part but that sealed the deal. She needed to track this man down.

She took the long way to the tavern where most newcomers seemed to end up sooner or later, yet much to her surprise, she didn't even need to make it all the way there to catch sight of a man dressed in strange clothing leaning against a fence.

If it wasn't the man she was looking for, then he was still someone who didn't belong in Gazin, which did make him what she was looking for.

She moved towards him, curtly greeting him with, "you look like someone new to Gazin." Qing herself didn't look new anymore after two months in town, her robes long since replaced by a red woolen dress bought in Gazin.

At first, Herbert assumed the approaching woman was another native, at least until she spoke, he pushed off the fence to offer a nod of his head in greeting in return, a step towards her so he could move his hands behind his back like a right and proper gentlemen, standing all of five foot three and with a very delicate petite build more befitting a woman than a man who had been to war and back, yet here he was.

"I am indeed." He replied easily. "Just a simple few days here so far. I assume if you are asking, that you are too?" Everyone who seems to be from here looks at him like he has a second head. He pushed his glasses up with a hand before returning it behind his back. "I am doctor Herbert West, you?"

"Wen Qing, of the Qishan Wen sect," she introduced herself in turn, bowing politely though it was a rather shallow bow.

She sized him up again, scrutinizing the strange manner of dress again. No, she hadn't seen anyone looking like this yet. "How strange, a number of people have arrived in the past days. Before, there had been none for months." Her eyes sharpened with curiosity. "Where did you show up? And do you remember anything strange before you were brought here?"

"And what is it you would like me to call you, madame?" He asked as he stood across from her. He had a feeling with the Wen in her name and the sect name she was of blue blood as well. Not that he ever cared much about blue blood. All blood bleeds the same after all.

"I had heard that, I have been questioning a few people here and there." He motioned around, before the hand again returned behind his back. "I showed up outside of town, and to be honest, the last thing I recall before was accepting the fact I was about to be killed." He admitted both coldly and efficiently. "Heading out for the night and attacked by some vagrants." Those vagrants were the undead he had left living that came to get revenge on their maker. "and you?"

She did in fact belong to the ruling clan, though to a branch family of lesser standing. Still high enough for her to be well-educated in the medical arts her family practized, and to be trusted as her sect leader's personal doctor. Working as a saleswoman in another's apothecary had been a steep fall for the best doctor of Qishan Wen right after the steep fall of losing all her standing with her own people and being thrown into a dungeon as a traitor.

To be treated with such respect felt nice after all of this, and she found herself warming a little to the man already despite how unfamiliar his manner of dress was.

She didn't look overly surprised at hearing he had nearly been killed. "It's fortunate that you were brought here right at that moment. I don't think there are many people here who arrived from such acute danger. I was in a dungeon, but I had been there for weeks when I was taken. I showed up outside town, too, at that crossroads in Vasari Forest." She paused, thinking back to his first question. "You can call me Maiden Wen, or Physician Wen. What should I call you?"

Having been a very saught after surgeon, and paid well enough to afford the multistory house of his dreams connected to a very aesthetical graveyard to living in an inn looking for work, that was a kick in the teeth to a boy born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Of course, he had been disowned in college, but, he still always found a way to keep himself in money until now.

It was only right and proper to be respectful.

"Well, Boston wasn't fairing well with Prohibition and a lack of money after the Great War, I am not surprised I was attacked." He seemed to perk some then, as he pulled a small notebook from inside of his jacket and flipped back pages to a very rough sketch of the crossroads. "Would that be this crossroads, Physician Wen?" He asked as he held his sketch out. "I believe I arrived at the same one."

Gazin was like that, it had a humbling effect on all of them, having to downsize their ambitions and dreams.

But the sight of the notebook had her perk up as well, clear approval showing on her face as she sized him up. "I haven't yet met anyone who thought to take sketches of important places," she remarked, surprised. She wouldn't have thought of it, either, even if she had had paper and ink with her at the time. "That is some quick thinking under extenuating circumstances."

Wen Qing leaned in close, studying the sketch before nodding. "Yes, that is where I showed up, too." She frowned at him. "You say the place you came from was recently at war? Several people I have met come from wartimes."

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I swear to god, I'm never gonna repent.

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