[color=00a651][b]Dr. Arthur West - Salem Church[/b][/color]

Arthur had bent back down to continue helping the injured woman when the man who had assisted with Eliza, Steve he thought his name was, had entered the Clinic and gave him a small sack of pre-war medical drugs along with an offer to make more. Arthur nodded his appreciation,

[i]
“All I have on me right now, well the ones you need alteast but once you have dealt with princess and gotten some sleep come and see me and I’ll have Johnny brew up the meds you need.” [/i]

"Uhh, well..that's very kind of you..." Arthur replied with clear hesitation. The chance of a probable wasteland chem dealer 'brewing' up medicines in anything even coming remotely close to a healthy and sterile environment was low indeed. Arthur wasn't going to allow that sort of likely contamination. Not in [i]his[/i] clinic. 

"If you can get me the base chemicals and ingredients, I can fabricate them myself. It will save you some of the extra effort." He offered. 

[i]
“first batch will be free but after that. For cost price”[/i]

Arthur furrowed his brow at this, "Cost price?" He awkwardly paused for a moment. Steve was at least trying to be reasonable and suggest that he wasn't going to profit from the exchange, but that didn't exactly help Arthur, nor did he like the idea of haggling with him for this. He gave a frustrated sigh and continued, "Well what exactly do you want me to pay you with? I don't charge for my services, and I don't intend to start. The 'price' you're getting is that your town has a working clinic that you can go to when the next mutated beast or radiation addled psycho tries to take a bite out of you. If that's not enough then....well then I don't know what to tell you."

With a frustrated huff he turned back around and continued trying to make the wounded woman comfortable and gave an over-the-shoulder dismissive wave to Steve, who proceeded to walk upstairs and speak with Eliza. Arthur tried to busy himself with his work to keep his mind off both the increasing fatigue he was experiencing from having got little to no sleep the previous night and the frustration he was feeling from the townspeople's seeming indifference towards their own health and safety. 

Footsteps emanating from the creaking floorboards of the ancient church made him turn around once more to find one of the women he'd recognized from the Diner entering along with the man who'd he'd sent to the retirement home and, who he also realized, he didn't yet know the name of. The woman seemed..different somehow. Perhaps it was the way she carried herself or her general demeanor, but she didn't seem like the typical surface-dweller that he'd grown accustomed to. A Vault Dweller perhaps? Then again, maybe he was just imagining things.

"Hey there," she called in, holding up the linens, the first aid kit dangling by its handle in her right hand.  "Where do you want these?"

Arthur gave a soft clap of his hand in excitement as he saw the much needed supplies, "Thank you, I'll take them." He said gratefully, and walked over to the woman with arms outstretched. 

[i]
"No, please, let me carry them.  If you wouldn't mind showing me where to put them?" [/i]

Arthur withdrew his hands quickly as if they'd just been burned, a bit surprised by the woman's insistence, 

"Oh..well. I suppose we can put the linens for now in the back of the church. I'll get to changing the bedding for the patients soon. As for the first-aid kit, you can just set it over on the table there. I'll need to use that immediately for..uh..well..Ms...." He paused for a moment or two, hoping the injured woman would fill in her name. 

[i] "By the way, Celeste would like three hundred caps for the lot, if you've got it.  We can negotiate that privately, too."[/i]

Arthur blinked a few times. He wasn't..entirely...sure how much that was, given how often the surface-dwellers seemed to fluctuate the value of their currency, but he knew he didn't have that. He had [i]none[/i] of it in fact.

"Oh for the love of..." He started to say in a spout of anger, but caught himself, took a deep breath, and adjusted his glasses, "Yes, I suppose we can 'negotiate'. Perhaps we should continue this privately." Arthur led the woman around to the back of the church and to a small low-ceiling room that had probably previously served as a devotional area or perhaps a cry room for small children. Arthur had thought to use it for storage at some point.

"You can set the linens over there," he said simply. Determined that he was going to get what he needed one way or the other. Although he hadn't exactly figured out what the 'other' would be. Arthur rubbed his weary eyes before pinching the bridge of his nose in a look of both resignation and disappointment,

"Look..." he said, trying to sound as confident and sure footed as he could muster. He'd always preferred to avoid confrontations like this when he could, "...I can't pay Celeste for the supplies. I don't even have the uh..[i]caps[/i], " He emphasized the world strangely, as if he found it weirdly amusing, "But, I need them regardless. The young woman back there needs proper medical treatment to prevent further infection and Eliza..." he pointed upwards, to the second floor, "Is still on the path to recovery. I don't understand what is it with you wastelanders. Everything has a price. Everything has its cost. Every chance is an opportunity to get more money or chems...or..or whatever! And god-forbid we work together communally to actually [i]do[/i] something other than live in abject squalor and moral degradation our entire lives! For Pete's sake, there was a woman lying on the floor of the diner dying and people kept on eating their lunch like it was...oh..you know..just a merry ol' average day. Woman just got mugged and nearly shot to death, but hey...just another lovely day in The Commonwealth of Massachusetts right?"

The sudden realization that he was ranting struck him immediately when he saw the look on the woman's face. He took a deep breath and exhaled. 

"Sorry," He said, calmly, "Didn't uh...didn't mean to get heated there. I'm running off well..no sleep right now and I could just about [b]murder [/b]for a decent cup of coffee that isn't made with a 200 year old tin of Slocum Joe's....well not [i]literally [/i]of course. Figuratively. I wouldn't you know actually...nevermind. Anyway..."He gave a quick shake of his head and changed the subject, "....I don't exactly know what Celeste wants for the supplies, but it can't be caps. That much I'm certain of."