Recognizable and Unrecognizable Son (Semper)

Red orbs slithered to the presence of the older man, glaring. They shot to the boy who seemed drained of energy and deprived of sleep, only making Hidgero readjust his hold on Devroux. The young man folded his arms, observant as a snake.

A younger boy was spat out by the forest, fixing his brown hair of leaves. Looking at the taller one first, he asked, "Zentaal, what is it?" He turned to Hidgero and a half-conscious Devroux, raising brows and frowning. "Good afternoon. Um... Is something the matter, Sir? Something with the person you have there?"

Hidgero had to mentally shake himself from the daze and the gushing emotion in his heart. "Uh, yeah. Kid's got a broken leg, and we're both beat. I can't get him over the fence."

The brown-headed boy smiled gently. "I can take him to my mother. She does a little bit of medicine work and knows the District doctor well." He turned to the scowling one. "Do you mind helping me here?"
Scowl. "You want to do it, you do it." He started to climb the fence, with agility.

The shorter boy only sighed. He walked over to a dazing Hidgero, still cheery. "I've lifted a heavy boar before, Sir, so I think I should be fine carrying him; just the footing and climb can be tricky."

With tenderness, the brown-haired boy replicated the same carrying position the green-eyed man had until getting to the fence. Brown orbs expressed apologies to Devroux. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to hold you one-armed. I hope you trust me on this."

The boy shifted the Avox as so and prepared to climb to District ground, seeing the black-haired young man already over and still cross. A sigh emitted, the young boy started the ordeal as Hidgero, with less energy, climbed up with the two.

The brown-eyed lad only smiled with knit brows as he climbed. "I'm very sorry. If only my brother helped me, this could be better performed. You don't have to trust me; I just hope to get you medical attention." The boy slowed down as he and his passenger neared the top. Carefully, he twisted himself around so as not to strike the injured leg often. With success, the younger brother began down, salty water stroking his cheeks. "Haha, this is rather hard, mind you. I'm glad you're sleepy enough not to see me right now. I don't like sweating like this."

Hidgero had made the trip over to District ground much easier than the boy but still with drained strength. Upon making it back to land, he almost toppled over, chuckling, trembling. "This ain't easy stuff."

The red-eyed one scowled and looked over behind him. "Hurry up." Fingers tapped against an arm, impatiently.

Brown eyes grew a bit frantic but tried to stay calm. He had just made contact to the earth with Devroux. "It is very hard to carry a person while climbing, I will not lie. Let us take off with haste." Devroux was carried Princess-style again, for comfort.

"Gladly."

The three (with Devroux) rushed to the destination, acting like any person would. Though people looked at them with pressed lips, the males sprinted fast as a blur.

Getting to a house, they slowed and caught their breath. The younger one opened on the door. "Mother, we are in need of your assistance! We have ourselves a boy in dire medical attention with a leg. We believe it to be broken."

A lady in the kitchen coated with wrinkles in the face walked over after stripping gloves off her hands. Taking only a few steps, she stopped after seeing Hidgero's face. Pause, then glare. "Hm... Wonder why you're back." She turned to the brown-haired boy, smiling. "Please bring him to the table. I'll inspect while Scowlface over there gets the doctor." The boy did as so then returned to the lot, frowning.

"Do it yourself, old hag. I want no part in this." The black-haired brother sat at the couch, folding his arms still.

"Useless brat. After I take him in." Her eyes shot to Hidgero. "You, get the doctor."

"Like I can, you old coot. You know my circumstances..." The older man sighed.

"Humph. Is everyone so useless around here? Fine, I'll do it after looking." With a pout, she left to see Devroux. Eyes stern and analytic, the 'old hag' made many noises to herself, gently stroking the injured leg.

The boy looked at Hidgero. "You know my mother, Sir?..." His eyes had peered at the older man for a while, confused, then widened. "You are...?"

Hidgero shrugged, smirking and chuckling. "Guess 10 years does funky things to your head, eh, Da?"

The old hag only blew out air. "Will you settle down before I really touch a bad spot?" She tried to be tender in tone and touch. "Judging from your inability to move, you might have fractured femur, or thighbone as it is commonly called. I can tell just by your screaming and yelping that it's extremely painful." Sigh. "Look, I don't want to get the doctor. I only want him just to look over my progress, anyways. You're not even supposed to be in here." The lady stared. "I've never seen your face before. I can tell you came from the outside."

Her laugh was mixed with a cackle. "Don't worry, dearie. I won't handle you badly, since I'm a lower doctor and all." The lady went to check her cabinets. Many bottles and flasks shined with the striking new light. Labels of various colors and text of many sizes were plastered on the vials. "I give you two options depending on the severity. First choice is traction with some surgery. Second choice, depending on severity, is plating or internal fixation. Do you know any of those terms, boy?"

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The brown-haired boy gripped the chair nearby, looking down. "Da...? I remember my father calling me that sometimes." He glanced at Hidgero. "You're my father? You're... Hidgero?"

The black-haired young man had his arms folded and was relaxing in the chair, but his attention turned to the older man.

Chuckle. "What'da slow? Can't see the resemblance?" Hidgero patted the boy's head, even rustling the hair. "You always were like that, Da. Such a slowpoke."

The person named 'Da' backed himself away after moments, flushing. "You left Mother and me to fend for ourselves. I'm not mad or upset with you; however, is there no way for you two to get together again? I missed you, Father. It was rather hard to sustain her and me and even him at times. I would wish for us... to be a whole family." Brown orbs shifted to the person on the couch, who only scowled.

Hidgero shrugged. "Don't think I can, Da... Dantis. Your mom is bats*** crazy; I got tired of it, see. Haven't ya seen her cackle and spout out crazy things? I have; I can't take that anymore. The older man turned to the red-eyed fellow. "Who are you anyways, Mr. Scowl-A-Lot?"

The young man only glared and kept silent.

"Jeez. Don't mean to pick a fight with ya. Just wantin' to know you is all."

Dantis answered, "He is my brother, Father." He almost stopped talking at the sight of blue eyes on him, wide. "Well, not like she already bore a child before you! His name is Zentaal. Mother and I adopted him into our family, Hidgero, and we have been taking care of him and his well-being ever since."

Hidgero huffed out a chuckle, walked over to Zentaal, and stretched out a hand. "Put it there, Zentaal. Nice to know you."

Zentaal only kept his posture and stance, now lowering his eyes into a deathly gaze.

"Man, you're one tough kid!"

"Eh. Let me go check on the boy. See if your mother didn't kill him, Da." Hidgero left Zentaal to his scowling self, leaving for the woman and Devroux.
Dantis followed his father to the table, brows knit and fingers interlaced.

The two went through the room, the woman still searching through bottles and flasks, brushing some out of her sight with forcefulness.

"How's he doing?" Hidgero looked at Devroux with a serious face.

"Thighbone fracture, I'm guessing. It looks like it could have internal damage. I'm suggesting to the boy traction and the other practical methods like internal fixation and plating, but he's not answering except growling at me."

The older man shook his head. "Lady, do you think he wants to answer if he's in pain? I don't even know if he knows those terms." He motioned to Dantis. "Hey, Da, why don't you explain to him what those terms mean in case he doesn't. I'll help your old mother."

"Who's old? You're older than me."

Dantis ignored the little spat and, after grabbing a nearby chair, sat next to Devroux, his eyes glittering with concern. Trying to smile, he said, "I'm sure you'll be fine with my mother. She's good at handling this sort of stuff." He brushed away strands of brown hair. "Traction, if I remember correctly, is when they place your leg in a cast and prop it into a recovery machine with weights and strings so that you can't move it and it can slowly heal. It takes a long time; it might be several weeks for you to get a good leg. The doctor here would need to give us a X-ray machine so we can monitor your leg and adjust if needed... if we even have a X-ray machine in this District.
"Plating is when they put a metal plate over the break. We screw it in and can allow it to recover. I would not suggest it, though. I hear that it can cause another bone break in the future because it prevents some stress, which is needed for leg recoveries. I wouldn't go with this one."
Dantis erected his drooping posture, with the forced smile. "Internal intermedullary fixation, or internal fixation as Mother called it, is when they place a rod in the bone across the fraction. It will allow early movement and good stability. Once your leg heals, we remove the rod."

The boy was frowning now. "Either of those procedures, however, will mean you can't move around for a while; at least, not a lot. It might be you can't visit the forest for a while." He tried smiling again. "But we'll try to make sure you're not noticed by any authorities. We've kind of done this before."

Dantis read the word then smiled gently. "Okay, I'll tell Mother that." He directed eye contact to the lady and Hidgero. "Mother, Father, he wants the internal fixation."

The lady nodded while looking at more liquids and tablets. "Hm... Dantis, please fetch the rods. He wouldn't know where they are now."

The boy motioned agreeableness and walked off to a door across the room, a smile of nervous lacing on. Lights automatically filled the room he was entering. The door shut behind, closing off white from spilling into their area.

"He's sure grown."
"No thanks to you."
Chuckle. "Heh. You taught him to be a soft one, and I told him to toughen up. You didn't know squat about hunting."
Only a grunt was returned.
"Ah, found some anesthetic. This general anesthetic?"

The lady's brown orbs turned to the bottle Hidgero was holding between the thumb and fingers. Grunt. "Yeah, that's general. I think it's potent enough for him." Her eyes slithered to Devroux. "Just to be careful: how much does he weigh?"

Shrug. "He wasn't too bad. Hm... Nearing 200? Because of his height?"
"Close enough. I think we can use it all. There's not much left."

Dantis came out with a rod, and the lady nodded. "Okay. I think that's long enough. Thank you, Son."

Hidgero handed the bottle to the woman, who had immediately grabbed a syringe after commenting the rod. Dantis gave her the rod, which she tested if still stable and ready for insertion. She got around doing her prepping duties before performing a surgical procedure.

The older man sat near Devroux, grinning. "I'll make sure she won't kill ya. Got any questions or anything before getting shot up? You'll be knocked out for a couple or so hours."

The mother drew the suitable amount of general anesthetic slowly, the black plunger of the syringe pressing the sleeping liquid to come out from pressure, slithering up the walls of the plastic. After all the liquid was transferred to the needle, a gloved finger tapped against the needle and the eyes were trained on the liquid, looking to see for air bubbles. Smirking, she got out a container of clear solution, spilled some onto a ball of cotton, and rubbed against the spot ready for injection.

"I hope you're paying me," she said to Hidgero.
After muttering a demeaning, playful comment to a fleeing Dantis, the older man replied, "Like I would. I was depending on the - little - goodness of your heart."

Fingers tapped against the spot, searching. After getting the one wanted, the needle pierced through the skin wall and went straight to the intended vein with accuracy. She laughed while doing so. "I hate free labor. I know what you could do to repay me: watch over the operation. I will need a helper."
Sigh. "Fine. Whatever. If that'll get the job done faster."

Blue eyes turned to Devroux, smiling. "Sweet dreams, kiddo."