Roscoe
Briar Ridge had welcomed him home, in its own, odd way. Nathaniel had taken up residence in a small cottage near the hospital. It would take him some time to get truly settled in, but the promise of work awaiting him was a welcome one. He knew how to do his job, it had been a constant that he could always fall back on. As it turned out, he had his work cut out for him. Mostly in the sense that the majority of the things he'd grown accustomed to; running water, electricity, a small army of nurses and fellow doctors to use as a sounding board, were all missing in Briar Ridge. Nevertheless, he was hellbent on making it work, for the town's sake, it had seen enough blood spilled, and he hoped to play his part in staunching it wherever possible.

He arrived at the hospital bright and early, wanting to look over the status of supplies and the way files were organized, taking note of frequent patients or people he'd like to pay extra attention to. The name James Jennings stood out to him. He was noted to have a permanent disability that required regular check-ups, one of which was scheduled to take place soon. Someone named Hirano Akira was noted to have suffered an amputation of her arm recently. Unwillingly it seemed, it was marked as the result of a werewolf attack. He'd have to see what he could do for her, losing a limb was no small change.

He looked up from his reading, alerted to the sound of a door swinging open. A woman walked in, dressed in clothes that indicated she may be one of the nurses, she matched the description of Lorelai Roswell to a t. Just who he was hoping to meet.

"Good mornin', you must be Miss Roswell, a pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand for her to shake. "I'm Nathaniel Ashworth, you may have heard my name in passin'." Better his name than that of his shine making siblings. "I'll be servin' as Briar Ridge's doctor. I look forward to workin' with you."
Robert
Lorelai was all out of sorts at the loss of their resident doctor. Dr. Elias Olander had been her employer, a confidante, and a friend. He'd not always been the warmest but he'd been a constant through this mess... Their makeshift clinic had felt a bit more empty. She'd taken it upon herself to keep this ship afloat during this period; her hair was a little bit of a mess in it's haphazard bun and her clothes were a bit wrinkled. She had assumed she would be the one getting things started today - much to her shock, she was not the first one arriving today. 

Nathaniel gave her a start as she entered, and she even gave a mouse-like squeak of surprise at his presence. *He must be the new doctor,* She thought. 

"Miss Roswell..." She repeated the words back with a smile. "You ain't gotta call me all that. Just Lorelai is fine by me," She promised, a wave of her hand after she'd shaken his. "It is mighty fine to see your face, Doctor Ashworth," She said to him, taking off her coat and setting off to put on her nurse's apron. Her attire wasn't nearly as formal as that of the nurses in a traditional hospital, but she kept herself neat and tidy with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. 

"I'm sure you been filled in on what's been goin' on here?" She asked him curiously. "Lord knows, it ain't pretty. Brave, comin' on back here." She looked over her shoulder and huffed a little laugh. "I try t' keep a light heart 'bout it all. Otherwise... Y'just end up cryin'." Lorelai was honest about it all. She'd hate to see somebody else go into this whole mess with little understanding of exactly what they were dealing with. 

"You got a family?" She asked. "Wife? Kids?" He looked young, but that didn't mean hardly nothin'. "We're 'bout to see a whole lot of each other, Doctor Ashworth, so we best get along like friends. You agree?" She winked as she turned to begin her work, organizing their supplies.
Roscoe
Startling Lorelai had not been his intention, not the best first impression he'd ever made, that much was sure. "My apologies! Didn't mean to scare you." He smiled apologetically and then nodded, just Lorelai it would be.

"Ah, yes." _The goings-on._ "My siblings informed me of what plagues the townsfolk. Some type of sickness that makes a number of them lose control and turn to beasts under the full moon. It seemed quite far-fetched initially," He admitted, "But with the number of people and medical files that corroborate their stories," He gestured at the files he'd been reading. "I fear I have no choice but to believe them." He had yet to hear about the part where a cure supposedly relied not on science but in witchcraft. "Have there been any efforts to research a cure, or preventative measures, vaccines and the like?" 

"I have found it is often in the darkest places that people are the quickest to crack jokes, better to focus on victories than on losses, no matter how hard those may hit. You are certainly right there, Lorelai." He said, as if he didn't carry all those losses with him wherever he went. He remembered the names of those he failed, he saw it as his duty to keep them alive even if it was just in his mind. When he failed to restore someone's physical body, the least he could do was to allow their names, part of their stories and identities, to continue to exist through him by committing them to memory.

He had not expected the wink, this had to be the small town charm his parents had told him about.
Nevertheless, skipping right to behaving like friends seemed like a good plan. "I wholly agree, here's to new friendships and gettin' along well." He raised his cup of coffee in an approximation of a toast. 
_ _

"The only family I have here are my younger siblings; Mabel and Lewis. A pair of twins, four years younger than me." The two ran shine operations, as far as he knew they worked together. He tried not to mingle in their less-than-legal activities, both in action and in knowledge of the aforementioned crimes. "Given their penchant for trouble I am certain one, or both of them, have required your services at some point in the past." He shook his head, some things never changed. "Our parents reside in Richmond but our family lived here for generations before they left. My siblings and I found our way back here, seperate from one another. It was them who informed me that I might be of use here, actually." In a way, he owed them the position. 

Some had said that Nathaniel was married to his work, and they were right, to a certain extent. He'd had some brief romances in the past, but never anything long lasting. He wanted children of his own, but the thought of carrying a child himself made him uncomfortable in a way he couldn't quite articulate.

"How about you, is there a mister Roswell out there? What brought you to Briar Ridge?"
Robert
"Well, unless somebody else done said it to ya— I'd like to be the first to welcome you back to Briar Ridge," She said kindly, fiddling with some of the instruments idly. She liked to keep her hands busy, otherwise she could get lost in her own thoughts for a little too long. 

"Ashworth does sound familiar... I've treated half'a this town since I became a nurse, so I wouldn't be shocked if I've patched one of 'em up!" She chuckled to herself as she shifted to look over the inventory. She liked to do it before she left and when she came back... Just to make sure. 

"I don't have a fella, no," She said, biting the inside of her cheek a bit. "Never had one, not sure I ever will. I had my cousin stayin' in my apartment for a while and that was about enough of that," She admitted. "He sure did like to pester me." 

Lorelai rolled her eyes a bit and smiled anyhow. Ah, family... What could you do with them? "Anywho, no matter. Sure you'll find somebody nice here, if that's in what you're wantin' in life." Lorelai knew of all people that sometimes, things didn't pan out that way. She'd resolved herself to being lonely for the rest of her life, at this rate. 

"But I done lived in this town my whole life. Born and raised," She said. "Only time I ever left was to be a nurse in the war. That was it." She whistled a little. "How old are you, doctor?"
Roscoe
"Thank you kindly. I don't remember much, I left when I was barely two years of age. Richmond was my home for far longer." He was sure he'd settle in well enough, with some time. "I am all too familiar with that pesterin', trust me." He loved his siblings, he did, but they could be real pains in his ass from time to time. As for Nathaniel, he wanted to find his _someone_, he did. It was a dream he was afraid would never come to fruition, finding love, starting a family, growing old alongside someone, sharing their lives, and watching their children grow up and figure out who they were, and what their place in the world was, he wanted it all so badly, but he knew it might not be destined to be so for him. He had chosen to live as his authentic self, knowing that it might be at the cost of that domestic dream he held in his heart, knowing that even if it was, he'd choose himself each and every time. Despite that, maybe he would find love in Briar Ridge, the town was a supposed haven after all. "Maybe I will find someone, for now I am focusin' on gettin' in the rhythm of life here."

"I'm thirty." Which put him solidly in the cohort of men who should have been drafted in 1918. He wasn't, of course, on account of him not being a man in the eyes of the law. He couldn't very well use his old excuse of having a mystery medical condition, he was going to be around Lorelai a lot and outright lying to her felt unjust. He disagreed with violence and hated wars, but he could respect those who went to them not to kill but to heal. He was unaware how much war lingered in Briar Ridge, and not only of the Great kind. 
_ _

"I uh, didn't get drafted myself," He said, unsure why he was telling her. He wasn't going to explain the reason for it at this point in time. Not if he wasn't pushed for it anyways. "Nor did I _want_ to get drafted," He admitted. "I didn't dodge it, not actively, no treason was involved I assure you. But I, _well_ I did not try to get that particular clerical error fixed. I'd just gotten accepted into medical school you see, I wasn't about to let a war take that away from me. I knew I could do more good as a doctor than I ever could as a soldier." If he'd been able to go as a medical professional maybe he'd have considered it, but as a soldier? No chance. "It is not somethin' I openly advertise about myself, so I would appreciate it if this could stay between us." Undoubtedly there would be those who saw his actions as cowardly, and maybe they were right. "Regardless of that, you have my respect for goin'. I am sure you were of immeasurable value to the people you helped save. Glad you made it back here, from what I hear this place gets mighty crowded after the full moon. Do we get volunteers to help out at all or is it goin' to be you, me and the other nurses against whatever comes through those doors?"
Robert
She was intrigued by the doctor; the way he held himself, the way he spoke and the cadence in his voice. He had a familiar twang without the slow drawl that seemed to inflict the voice of Briar Ridge natives; the shortening and lazy tongue that the people seemed to possess. It was signature; Lorelai herself possessed it too. She supposed his voice sounded odd to her, and likewise, hers probably sounded strange. 

"No matter, I won't tell a single soul," She assured Nathaniel. "Nobody's business but yours, anyhow." She didn't know how he'd avoided the draft, but she could reckon it was something medical. That was almost always it, if he wasn't dodging the draft. 

"I always wanted to be a nurse, yknow? Thought joinin' would help. It did, a whole lot." She was organizing the bandages dutifully as she spoke. "I learned a helluva lot there. Patched up people with their legs blown off. Held a man as he died in my arms." Lorelai had frozen up a moment, voice soft and serious before she snapped back out of it. 

"I learned a whole lot!" She said, trying to remain chipper though the conversation had taken a turn for the worst. "But I don't think the war prepared me for these damned full moons." 

Lorelai exhaled in a rush, looking up now at the doctor. "It'll just be us and the nurses, sir. It always is. It's... Going to be very hard," She told him. "It always is, on the full moon. Them things go crazy. I ain't been attacked, but I'm waiting on it" 

She shook her head solemnly. "We lost a few. It's sad, even if they aren't blood, they're family."
Roscoe
He still held on to some of the accent found in Briar Ridge, given to him by his parents and theirs before them. However, it was less pronounced than in Lorelai, noticeably so. Nathaniel had been made to adapt to the sound of academics and scholars, and somehow those had decided that his natural sound did not belong in their circles. It was an accent he never managed to fully cover, though he had come close. Now that he found himself surrounded by people who sounded like his ancestors did, he stood out once more, he still sounded different, and always would. It was a fact he'd grown accustomed to. Technically he was native to Briar Ridge, but his voice would always reveal that he didn't grow up in town. 

He smiled at her. "Thank you, Lorelai." Maybe one day he'd tell her the real reason for his never having served. As for her involvement in the war, it told him that they had something else in common. Both had always felt a calling for healing. She'd likely seen more blood than he ever had. Nathaniel had witnessed gruesome injuries, but the horrors of wartime medicine far outranked anything that had come into the hospital halls he frequented. The Great War apparently paled in comparison to the full moons, it made a shiver run across the Doctor's spine. "We share that then, I have always wanted to be a doctor. I used to take in wounded animals to try and nurse them back to health, much to the dislike of my parents." He smiled, though the topic had shifted to a subject the horrors of which he would soon see for himself, with very little to smile about. Nothing gives one knowledge in medicine like hands-on experience... "I am sorry you saw what you did there, no one deserves to witness war and its effects." 
_ _

Lorelai was waiting to be attacked. It hadn't even crossed his mind that the hospital was not a sanctuary in the eyes of the lycanthropes. "Let us both hope that won't happen." Whatever drove the poor infected people, he hoped it wouldn't aim their paws towards the clinic. "My deepest condolences for those you've lost, I can't imagine what it's been like," His voice had softened. "I know this should go without sayin' but I promise to do whatever I can to stop more people from dyin'." People who, in his eyes, included the infected part of the population. "I do hope we get to see more than just the grim aftermath of full moons here. And please, like you said, we're goin' to be seein' a lot of each other, no need to call me sir." Even if he couldn't deny that every time he was called sir a part of him quietly sang with joy, at the knowledge that he was seen as a man.
Robert
Nathaniel Ashworth... He was an interesting man. He wasn't as serious as Doctor Olander had been, and for that, she might've been a bit grateful. There had been times where she'd worried about disappointing the doctor, like he was a strict father. He really hadn't been so much older than her, but she still felt like he was watching over her with a pointed look. Doctor Ashworth seemed a lot more gentle, a lot... More patient, if she was being honest. Of course, she would never speak ill of her previous employer - but their differences were vast, she was noticing. 

"I'm sorry, my mama done ingrained in me all types of manners," She apologized. "Dr. Ashworth, I assure ya, there is still a lot of life left in Briar Ridge," She said. "People still be gettin' married and havin' babies... World still turns, even when tragedy happens. Ain't that just somethin'?" Lorelai smiled a little to herself, turning her body fully around to look at her new boss. 

"You got a lot of heart, sir." She bit her tongue and smiled apologetically. "Lot of people in this town ain't feel that way about the werewolves like you do. I think... I think they ain't know better. I didn't know much what to think, 'fore April Abrams done turned herself in. She was a midwife, and the best one too. Sad to see her in that jailhouse, all big and pregnant. Makes ya realize how human they really are." Lorelai exhaled in a rush. "We done lost a lot of folks on both sides. The mayor... The sheriff. The general store owner, and the fella that runs the apple orchard." She looked Nathaniel over a moment. "It ain't easy work, but I s'pose ya figured that when ya came."
Roscoe
Nathaniel smiled, he'd been raised to be polite as well, though not to be kind or gentle. His good nature was all his own, it was something he had fought to keep, something he wished was more visible in his younger siblings, though he understood why it wasn't. His parents had believed that nothing could get someone as far as force could, Nathaniel held the opinion that forging bonds and taking care of others would yield much better outcomes than stabbing them in the back. Growing up, his father had often labeled him as weak for those views, but Nathaniel had clung onto them like a lifeline. In a way, his patience was a means with which to defy his parents. He was too afraid to stand up to them directly, too ingrained with a sense of forced respect for his elders, but being the caring black sheep in a family of wolves, that suited him just fine.

Lorelai seemed to share that caring nature, you saw it in most who had a calling for medicine. Of course, some were called to it for prestige, he'd had classmates who believed themselves better than others for their white coats. Fellow graduates who enjoyed the title more than the work. Nathaniel had never been much of a leader and saw nurses as just as vital and important as anyone else. Lorelai had much more experience in Briar Ridge and its specifics, if anything it should be him looking up to her. All he could hope for was for them to operate on an equal level, or for him to grow in confidence as someone who was looked up to, maybe they'd get to either one day.

The strength of the human spirit shone through in Briar Ridge. Lorelai was right, life didn't pause just because tragedy occurred along the way. There would always be light. "You're a resilient bunch, you are," He said. "I like that in people." 
_ _

"I don't expect to be able to sway anyone's opinion, nor is it my place to do that. All I can hope to do is heal those who come through our doors, be they werewolf or not." He could understand why people would turn to violence and hatred, they were the easiest choice when one was afraid. Painting a target on the thing that scares you is much simpler than looking beyond and seeing similarities and humanity in them. But imprisoning a pregnant woman? "Has anyone gone to visit her? I can't imagine the jailhouse is a proper place for a pregnant woman to stay, werewolf or not," He said, clearly worried for her health. 

"Rural medicine requires creativity, that it does, though I did not expect it to be _this_ complicated," He admitted. "My siblings, they tried to explain the situation in their letters to me. I initially thought it to be less _violent_ of an affliction, but from what you're tellin' me-" His words trailed off. It wasn't going to be pretty, that much he knew. Losing people was an aspect of life that nobody enjoyed, but for hospital staff, whose whole lives were dedicated to preserving life, death felt that much heavier. "I don't suppose you know anything about how it spreads, or how to slow it down?"
Robert
"I think that's a real swell idea, Doctor." Lorelai's chest puffed up a little. She could get behind this new doctor's ideas - she felt similarly about the wolves; that they were people too, that she still had a duty to serve and protect them, just like the rest. Maybe she had been afraid to say it before, but now... Well, she was just grateful that the doctor himself had spoken up about it first. 

Lorelai grimaced, her lips set thin and eyebrows furrowed as she thought about April Abrams in that cold, dank place. She knew the woman had turned herself in, but still... Couldn't they hold her somewhere more humane? She was sure April would even be alright to staying in the doctors ward, under the supervised eye of the doctor and nurses. It wasn't like she could do much harm outside of the moon. 

"I've been to visit. They keep a good on her, I'll say that. Don't rightly let nobody in with much more than a few pills. She don't even got a blanket, I'm afraid." Lorelai was not fond of that, and she thought to the way the woman had looked up at her with those big, blue eyes. How sad and *Human* It all was. Lorelai couldn't help but to feel a little choked up after she'd left. 

"Unfortunately, there ain't much *We* Can do. All we can do is... Well, treat the people who make it through the night," She explained. "We figure, it's gotta be through a bite 'er... A scratch, some kinda thing transferred through contact. Can't begin t' tell ya if it can be transferred through blood or saliva but I figure we'd be crawlin' with wolves if that were the case." She grimaced. "Not sure there's much to do to slow it, neither. I know there's been some talk in the coalition 'bout cures and... Somethin' bout wolfsbane. Can't pay me enough to even think about usin' the stuff." Lorelai shook her head.
Roscoe
His heart felt lighter when Lorelai expressed her shared beliefs, he'd been afraid that his views might not be shared by those he worked with. Nathaniel was a man who was very willing to compromise on most things, but he would not shift his boundaries when it came to patient care.

"I am assumin' whoever is holdin' her won't agree to a blanket through means of doctor's orders, then?" He sighed, maybe he could advocate for her, somehow. He was still so new to town, his position would likely not mean much yet, even if it came with a title that was often respected. The title of Sheriff still far outranked that of Doctor when it came to the circumstances of April's imprisonment.

He nodded, listening attentively as Lorelai explained what little was known on the condition. An illness that spread through contact but not through blood or saliva, how curious. That did make it significantly harder to study. On top of that, Nathaniel didn't think anyone infected would be likely to donate blood for research, outing themselves came at much too high a cost, he was beginning to see. What could even cause such means of transfer? Perhaps whatever pathogen caused it had an extremely short-lived survival rate outside of a host, it needed to be introduced to the bloodstream near-instantaneously. That would mean that mere skin contact with the bodily fluids of those affected wasn't enough but a bite or a scratch that penetrated to the dermis would allow the pathogen to spread and infect the injured person. Maybe lycanthropes had specific areas that produced the pathogens like venomous animals did their toxins, Nathaniel thought the theory to be somewhat absurd. Then again, the existence of werewolves was absurd in and of its own.
_ _

"Wolfsbane," He echoed Lorelai's words, disbelief colored his words. "Are people wilfully poisoning one another? Do they not know how dangerous that plant is?" As far as Nathaniel knew, there was no antidote for aconitine poisoning. He thought that at least the people here, who lived in an area where it was evidently available, would know to execute extreme caution when interacting with it. He shook his head. "They're more than welcome to look for a cure, I might go offer my help for that if it looks like they're onto somethin', but I agree, poison is out of the question." He'd even go so far as to think weapons in general had no place in a hospital, but he knew they provided a sense of safety for those who wielded them. So long as the barrels remained firmly pointed away from the people inside, he could consider condoning them. People wouldn't shoot others while looking them in the eyes, right?

He looked at the wall where a chalkboard displaying the planned appointments for the coming days was hung. "At least we still get to see broken arms and mysterious rashes," He said. "Some things never change." He smiled briefly. Focus on the things you can fix, not on what you cannot, not on failures. Easier said than done.
Robert
It was frustrating to work in medicine when the thing you were trying to cure just simply did not seem to have an answer. Then again, she was just a battlefield nurse, and she wasn't sure even the top doctors in them big fancy universities would have an answer for this kinda thing. The real issue lie in that the diagnosis was outrageous; werewolves! The cure, she was sure, could be just about anything. Hell, if someone told her the cure was t' dance with a teapot on her head, she would say it was about as worth a shot as any. Nothin' made real sense in Briar Ridge anymore. Why even try and apply real medicine to anything? 

The most they could do was manage the symptoms and help the people who got hurt. That was what she was there for. She'd laid in bed a thousand nights trying to think of how to help these people, and she came to the conclusion that she couldn't find the answer in the cracks of her bedroom ceiling. 

"They know exactly how dangerous that plant is, I assure ya," She exhaled in a rush. "I don't know if they rightly care at this point." Lorelai bit the inside of her cheek. "People start forgettin' that there's people behind them wolves, I think." It made her sad, and April Abrams was a prime example. She was a midwife, a mother, and people wanted to put a bullet between her eyes. It terrified Lorelai, if she was honest. 

But Doctor Ashworth was right - there was always the everyday maladies to tend to. Sprained ankles, rashes, bee stings, and hammered thumbs... She would take a hundred patients with splinters and fevers over what had been going on here. She couldn't help but chuckle and sigh as she looked out the window, out into the wider expanse of Briar Ridge. "If you'd like, I can pull all the patient records for wolf attacks," She suggested. "Might help ya see exactly what yer dealin' with."
Roscoe
"If you could, I would like that, yes," He replied to her question regarding the files. He didn't think he could hope to learn much about the infection mechanism, but at least he could get a better idea of the damage he could expect come the full moon. Be somewhat more prepared for all of it. If anyone could truly be prepared for the destructive force that Briar Ridge became each full moon. Not just its werewolves, but its non-werewolf inhabitants too, as he'd come to find out.

"I do truly hope they'll see the error of their ways _before_ we start gettin' patients with wolfsbane poisonin', be they human or otherwise." There wasn't much one could even do against wolfsbane outside symptom management. People had to be more than desperate to turn to weaponizing it. "I have full faith that people here are more prone to healin' than they are harmin'." He could hardly imagine a nurse to be willing to kill in cold blood.

"How long has this been happenin' for?" If people had lost sight of the humanity in their neighbors, he feared it had been a long time already. Fear could make people do awful things indeed.
Robert
"I'll collect 'em right away," She told her new boss, already set to opening a drawer full of papers. Lorelai was diligent and meticulous with keeping notes and files, and she was easy to thumb through the multiple names and pull them out one by one. *Abrams, April. Abrams, Eli. Barca, Florian.* She pulled each one, setting them in two distinct piles - the ones she knew to be werewolves, and the ones she knew were only *Attacked* By werewolves. She was good at multitasking, flipping between this and the conversation at hand. 

Lorelai grimaced. "There are a whole lotta people in this town who are hellbent on killin' than savin'. I ain't one of em by no means. I don't want nobody, man or wolf, dead on one'a these tables." She did pause as she shuffled some papers. *Estep, Francis.* 

"The attacks? Since last... What was it, May? June? No later'n July." She thought a moment. "But if yer talkin' about the wolfsbane, that there's a newer development. They been producin' silver bullets, but the wolfsbane oil's a new one. Can't say I like the idea of it flyin' 'round in the hands'a folks who don't know what they're doin' with it. Don't realize how deadly the stuff can be." It had occurred to her that it could be far more dangerous than anyone realized. "Already lost a few people in town to them wolves and bullets alike." The look of agony on Carina Templeton's face with the passing of Charlene Bigby. The screams of agony from April Abrams at the loss of her husband. The devastation of Marianne Wilburn as Francis Estep faded into darkness.
Roscoe
He thanked Lorelai as the files kept piling up: _Barca, Valerian. Bigby, Eddie. Cooper, Alma._ Dozens of people had been attacked so far, with a few people having been brought back from the brink of death, much to Nathaniel's shock. If this had been going on for that many months, with no known cure or specific cause, that pile marked with _deceased_ would only continue growing. Only one of those known to be infected was still alive: _Abrams, April. Abrams, Eli. Cooper, William. Rowe, Noah._ He could hardly blame people for wanting to remain in hiding: _Cause of death: bullet wound._

There had to be something in common between those infected, a cause, some sort of pattern, but there were so many attacks and only a few of those were noted to have led to a recorded infection. Maybe his search was one that was doomed to fail, but that wouldn't stop him from trying. It had to have started somewhere, perhaps the incubation period varied per person, or some had the capacity to generate more efficient antibodies than others, he truly had no clue.

Nathaniel knew himself well enough to know that these cases would be ones he'd be taking home with him in his mind, mulling them over, trying to see connections in shapes he might not be able to even recognize. He didn't even know what he was looking for, after all.

"Maybe these people will come to their senses before their poison gets to be used?" A senseless hope, perhaps. Silver bullets, wolfsbane, he feared what the next step would be. "I cannot imagine what that has been like," He said, suddenly worried about the safety of his own siblings. They'd been fine so far, which brought him some level of comfort. "Judgin' from these files, you have managed to save a lot of people as well, Lorelai, let that count for somethin' too." There was always hope.
Robert
"Wouldn't hold yer breath," She said softly. "They's already startin' up on usin' the wolfsbane. I know that much - already started on coatin' bullets." She shook her head, a twist in her mouth at the thought of it all. "And I fear it's set to only get worse. Mayor William Cooper, you know, he was shot in cold blood 'fore he could even stand trial for his crimes?" She glanced to the window, peeking up at the jailhouse again. "Ain't that just awful?" 

She felt bad for them Cooper kids, and Miriam Cooper, too. Sure, their loved one was a werewolf, keepin' it secret and all, but he didn't deserve to be murdered neither. "Silver bullet. Big, round hole... Oozin' black blood that stinks to high hell. Like *Rot.*" Lorelai shivered at the thought of it. She looked between the pile of files and papers, and though she knew Dr. Ashworth was right, she couldn't help but still feel so *Lost*. She had tried her best but people were still dying. "It all feels like it's for nothin' when werewolves are droppin' like flies." She said quietly. 

"I'm glad yer on board here, Dr. Ashworth. We could really use a real fresh perspective on it." She took a seat slowly, like her bones were far older than they were. There were days where she didn't leave the clinic at all. She slept in blinks, poured over files, tried to wrack her brain around to think of something. Anything. Dr. Olander's departure had taken a toll, but this was hopefully a new beginning to maybe even figuring out a cure. "I don't think I can handle any more people dyin'," She said quietly. "But I know ain't nothin' I can do to stop it."