shatterverse | (no subject)

There's a man making his way through the house toward the kitchen and out the back door. Of course he has to pass through the living room to do this. It's a nice spring day outside so only the tabbard of the Crusader is worn (the cloak left somewhere else) and two Near Eastern swords strapped to his sides. Carter is, for the most part, all grins at having been exploring the farm the last few days and seeing all the magical devides about- running water for the win!

He passes House nearly tripping over his cane with a muttered curse before catching himself. There were reasons for not running in doors..

"Hey, watch where you're going," says House.

Mostly he's being antagonistic out of habit. He seems more amused than anything else.

"Oh..sorry," the British man laughed with a hint of embarassment. "Just a little taken aback by everything here and all. To much to see at once if you understand what I mean?"

Probably not. House would have been used to everything that was common and generally overlooked in the modern world. Joseph? Was aw-ed by it all.

Because dissertations fail in the face of new canon, here's some kid in a silk tunic and pantaloons passing through. He nods to House almost formally when he sees him, apparently out of habit.

Zuko is totally polite with new people, yo.

House nods back, and tries to remember if he saw this kid at the meeting. Failing of sitting at the back: you only get the backs of people's heads, and can't give them interesting nicknames like Facial Scarring Kid.

Probably not - he was actually a bit late, so he stood, and probably was even further back. But the nickname, whenever given, is totally accurate.

And probably fair, since Zuko's recalling House from the introducions based entirely on the cane.

"I think I saw you at the meeting," he says. "Although I'm not sure I remember your name, I apologise."

Whereas a normal person would just have asked, 'who are you?'

"Greg House."

A normal person might mention something along the lines of 'don't worry about it'.

Clearly neither of these two is a normal person, then.

"Zuko."

No last name. They're kind of thin on the ground in the Four Nations, unless you're Toph.

He twirls his cane idly.

Yeah, still going to call him Facial Scarring Kid.

Just perhaps not to his face.

Until he's proven how damn brilliant he is, it would be nice to have something resembling goodwill from the people who live here. A cripple in a post-apocalyptic world has to make some concessions.

Meh, Zuko's zen these days. He'll just call him Limping Guy in return and call it quits.

"You said you were a doctor," he says instead. "How does that work where you're from?"

Fire Nation medicine is... Well, naturally high ambient body temperature in Benders seems to fend off bacteria fairly well, other diseases are mainly dealt with via punitively enforced isolation, herbs, splinting and rigorous exercise.

After seeing Katara's healing in action, Zuko'd started to wonder about that.

"With medicine."

And copious quantities of snark.

"Why do you want to know? No doctors in... wherever the hell you come from?"

Medicine? That's new!

"Not so much," Zuko says. "We had herbalists in the city - and there was a court physician, but we were kind of an unusual case. Other Nations did it differently, though, and I'm guessing your way entirely different."

House isn't striking him as the magic water type.

Snort.

"So no, you didn't have doctors."

"Evidently," says Zuko, oddly at ease talking to someone as prickly as... okay, half his family. "What kind of medicine did you use? I'm guessing no on the herbs."

"Lots of things. And if you want to know about them, I'm sure somebody around here can find you a medical textbook."

"I don't read most of the languages people use here," Zuko responds. "Asking works faster."

"No; they work a lot faster than asking me. If you can't read and the only person who can answer your question without a book is a prickly bastard who has no intention of summing up four years of medical school in half an hour because you happen to be curious? Learn to read."

Yes, he can deliver all that in one breath without apparent discomfort. House is just good that way.

Zuko rolls his eyes.

"Yeah. I'm sure somebody who doesn't practise healing in any way will be able to tell me if they need anything that might grow around here to heal people."

Zuko likes to ask things in really roundabout ways!

"Okay, say that again, and this time pretend you're talking to someone who's not telepathic."

"...Do you have any use for herbs that might grow around here?" He shrugs. "Or know anyone else who might know what to look for. That works too."

Psh! Zuko's meaning is TOTALLY CLEAR.

"No, I do not have any use for herbs."

He'd make a weed joke, but it would probably go over Facial Scarring Kid's head.

The perils of living in a Nickelodeon universe.

Cactus juice now, that's the stuff.

"Fine. Anyone else might, point 'em my way."

And then he's wandering off. He has a MISSION now!

"Will do."

He'll tell them to look for the kid with the extensive burn scarring.

It's his best feature.

Scully was around, checking for any makeshift medical supplies in the meantime. It was going to be harder in upcoming months. She also had some juice and crackers to hold off the nausea from her morning sickness. And sat down in one of the chairs near House. She did find a notebook, and was making some observations with a short pencil with a blunt tip.

"This isn't high school," he informs her. "Nobody's going to quiz you on the talking tigers."

"...Excuse me?" She stared back at him. What talking tigers?

"Talking tiger. His name is Tiger. He talks. Haven't seen him around lately."

"I find that rather hard to believe. Tigers don't have vocal cords, they're not capable of duplicating human speech patterns."

Can you tell she's a bit new?

"Go track him down and tell him that. Have you got any valuables I can inherit when he eats you?"

She was wearing a gold cross necklace, but that looked like the only thing of value at the moment.

"Sir? Are you well?"

"Peachy. You, on the other hand, are new around here."

"A few days yes, how long have you been here?"

"A few days, but clearly I've been paying more attention than you have."

"I've been sick, and trying to keep hydrated with fluids and keep my digestion calmed down," she remarked. "And the lack of medical supplies isn't helping the situation here at all. Barely even the basics for first aid."

"Great. A patient. Well, we'll be getting a hospital in later today, I think. I'll be sure to pat you on the head and prescribe you some useless cold medication."

"Actually I'm also a medical doctor, and it's not an illness. It's simply morning sickness."

"Great. Anybody ever tell you it's a bad idea to get knocked up during an apocalypse? Good for the survival of the human race, bad for you."

"This happened before I came here. I'm only about 7 weeks into my first trimester. Hence recovering, and adapting to the sparser variety of food here."

"Whatever."

"Who the hell are you anyway?" She was getting tired of his attitude.

"Greg House."

"Special Agent Dana Scully." Granted, she's not used to the fact that government went bye-bye so any authority was gone.

"If I wanted your title I would've given mine."

And this is House trying not to be an asshole.

"Habit," she simply replied. "Already surmised you were a doctor. If your mannerisms are a tad questionable." Granted her bedside manners, or lack thereof was partly why she stuck with forensics and joined the FBI instead. So she wasn't going to judge his too much.

"Bedside manner doesn't cure patients, it just makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Would you rather be warm, fuzzy, and dying, or offended and alive? Don't answer that."

"A valid point," she allowed. Rather have someone who's competent. Have to be in such line of work when too often lives are at stake.

House nods. He doesn't look surprised. That doesn't mean he's not surprised, just that he's good at hiding it.