Dr. Ashley Spinelli

"Oh believe me, you don't sound spoiled." Nate snorted, his own family's mansion tucked back in the Woods. "Sounds like kind of a dope deal though, whole house to yourself." Although, he knew that a big house with no one in it could be pretty lonely. "Unless its not and there's like sad news going on as well, which would mean I've put my foot in my mouth." He joked.

"Nah, I'm good." He patted Andre on the head, "But thanks for the offer." He finally straightened up again, pulling away from the big dog to focus more on his owner again.

His eyes glanced over the very hot doctor that he wanted to have a thorough examination from. She seemed keen on the hook up so he felt like maybe they shouldn't waste a ton of time. Why would he waste time with whatever else when he could be getting laid? Andre was the exception though. "So, should I be aware of any jealousy from him?" He teased, "One time I had a dog jump up on a bed mid hook up, he was not pleased with the position I had his owner in."

"If I did a little that's okay. I recognize my own nepotism privilege most of the time," Ashley remarked with an amused smile. The whole house to herself thing was nice for the first week maybe. But the emptiness of it all was a bit unsettling. She had half a mind to sell it sometime. If she was more sure that her mother wasn't coming back. But there was no way of knowing.

Ashley glanced at Nate and then Andre and snorted. "He knows the routine by now...mostly." Which implied that Ashley hooked up a lot, but whatever. She was allowed to do that as she pleased. "And we'll lock the door," she added. "Andre stay," she instructed her dog, gesturing to where he was before she reached for Nate's hand and gently led him up the stairs toward her bedroom. Andre huffed out a sigh and laid down at the foot of the stairs to wait.

Once she got them both in, she twisted around and locked her door. "There. Now you can have no fear about a dog jumping on the bed while we're hooking up," Ashley added with amusement, before she stepped forward, pinning him against her door so she could get this show on the road and kiss him.

But, it was her night off. She'd leave the coordination for tomorrow.

She blinked and focused on the screen as Ashley spoke. Wow. It was kind of crazy, reading actual words that Dr. Spinelli wrote. That weren't published literature. Her brain started wandering, to see if maybe she could memorize the email...

But no. That'd be a total breech of trust. And, besides, Florence Spinelli clearly didn't want to be found. Gretchen didn't respect runaways.

"Fuck her, dude," Gretchen said eloquently. "Sorry. I mean--I know she's your mom but oncology is great! Super important...stuff." Gretchen only meant that a little, but it was because her heart was in neuro, 100%.

Fuck her was the right attitude really. She didn't really know that she could ever live up to her mother's expectations anyway. How could anyone? Dr. Florence Spinelli was in her own world when it came to medical research and being a doctor in the first place.

And Ashley wasn't sure yet which specialty she would prefer. There were a lot of amazing options. "Yeah I mean it's all important really," Ashley pointed out, reaching for a shot and tossing it back. She really needed to catch up and forget all the bad stuff anyway.

"'n I mean it's not like I'm against going into cardio or something but I just... haven't had enough time to figure it out yet! It's crazy," Ashley grumbled, ordering them another round of shots. "And then like... where the hell is she? Doesn't she still have a job here in town? How long's she gonna be off wherever? Ughhhh. So annoying to wonder all the time."

He thought about one of his living nightmares... the spiders that guarded his beautiful garden in the sand. He'd dreamed them up so their bite would be fatal to anyone who wasn't him. That had been important. He wondered if a doctor could find the cure anyway or invent an antivenom to a nightmare object.

Jack kept these questions to himself, obviously.

"Ahhhh. Well, what do they teach you in medical school, then-- when it comes to curses?"

Ashley shrugged. "A few different things. The main one is recognizing each one is different depending on whoever cursed the patient's intent. Generally we want to do an x-ray or an mri to scan the patient and see how deep a curse might reach or exactly how it's impacted the body. From there we can try to determine a treatment plan... but as I said before, it's complicated, because curses can be finicky and things could get exacerbated. Not to mention trying to get patients to be entirely honest about the details of the curse..."

Patients did lie. And that part was especially frustrating when it came to curses. "Depending on the wording or phrasing it could make it more difficult to use some of our methods. So trying to get that information as accurately as possible is also crucial."

"Hey, you know, I'm cool with less space." Nate grinned and stepped inside to be greeted by the big dog. "You both can invade my space whenever you like."

He turned more towards Andre, letting the dog barrel into him if that's what he needed to do, giving him some scritches, "You really are a giant huh, bud." He glanced up at Ashley with a grin that met his eyes, "Nice place."

But this guy, Nate, was giving Andre some attention and she watched as her big tough dog started to relax and lean into it. "Easily won over aren't we Andre?" Ashley remarked. Not necessarily the case, but at least it was a good test of character for the guy. He didn't pose as a threat to her then.

Ashley smiled, stepping back so he could be more in the entryway. "Thank you. Not to sound overly spoiled, but my mother gave me the house." And then had traipsed off to who knows where. But that part of the story didn't matter. Ashley didn't really care about extra niceties and small talk. She mostly just wanted to get laid.

"Can I offer you something to drink or anything?" She didn't, however, forget the social norm of offering something like that. Even if Ashley just needed to let go for a minute, hook up with a hottie and move on. It always made work a lot better for her the next day.

Was that what Jack had, eh? Not a curse, but a sickness, a dark supernatural bug swimming in his veins?

"Whereas if you've been injured by a vampire or something for example... it's not a curse, it's a bite. A bite can in fact be treated and taken care of without a possible reoccurence. It doesn't mean undoing a curse without magic is impossible... it's just a lot more complicated."

But, every now and then, when she needed to unwind from work: she liked to drink, hard.

"Tequila, for sure," Gretchen said with a giggle and then flagged the bartender down to get their two shots. She already had one cocktail in her stomach, sloshing as she picked up her lime and clicked her shot against Ashley's.

"To necrotizing fasciitis!" Gretchen declared and took the shot, following it with the lime.

She flagged the bartender down for another, but he was busy. "So, you heard from your mom lately?" Gretchen asked.

She blinked at Gretchen and snorted. "Yeah. I got one message back from her the other day." It was really hit or miss as far as getting any kind of response back from Dr. Florence Spinelli. But every time Ashley would start to really worry, she'd get something back that was... well still quintessentially her mother.

"You know what she said?" Ashley pulled up her phone so she could show Gretchen the exact message. "Told her about this new oncology attending and about Dr. Mitchell and Dr. Mohanty and she just said 'who cares about oncology? Why aren't you making any attempt at connecting with a cardiothoracic or general surgeon?'" Ashley scoffed. "Classic Dr. Florence Spinelli."

It was a beautiful synergy of her work with the RAS aligning with her Squire work. Really, being a journalist was one of the best covers. People expected her to be asking questions, investigating, and generally trying to get to the bottom of things.

“That was such a vital example of why local news matters! No one at the British Museum had even looked twice at the fairy crown in the collection. And I doubt anyone on staff would’ve. It took a lot of research and I consulted with different experts — it was a lot of work, but so worth it in the end.”

She smiled. There had been other big stories too, ones that were written in tandem with her RAS work. When the Order of the Prince had fallen, for instance.

“Every time I do a cute farm animal write up or a report on the Besydus Annual Folk Dancing Festival and I feel like it’s not important, I remember there is plenty of stuff that is. And well, the cute farm animals and the folk dancing are important to some people. I suppose the equivalent would be treating colds and sniffles versus big life-saving procedures,” she added. “Just because some work has more drastic impact doesn’t mean it’s not all important.” 

A smile spread across her face. "It definitely matters. And it's really incredible that was discovered. It's mental to me that the British Museum never thought twice about it." To spend that long with a fake crown on display was a bit embarrassing wasn't it?

Holley was amazing to talk to in this sense. Because it really was comparable in some ways. At least writing less important articles and dealing with the more mundane shots or colds or something versus major cases. She was right. "You're right. I'll admit since I'm still newer to the job I'm still itching for the bigger cases, but I do know it's important the more ordinary or more common cases are treated too."

She reached down to pat Andre's head. "The tough part as an intern is you are mostly doing the more mundane things to learn. But I know it'll get better with time."

Fucking weird. What would it be like to have someone else's pair of lips? Would they listen to you? Would you find your mouth reaching for words you never knew or words you might have never said?

"That's cool. And it worked?" Jack said, eyes shining with his curiosity and fascination. "The curse didn't -- pun intended-- bite back?"

So there it was. "Some people don't want to accept that they have to seek magic to handle magic so..." Ashley shrugged her shoulders.

Jack's eyes gleamed like casino tokens.

"Hold on, back up. Cursed to lose their lips? What did that look like? Did they come in with no lips? Stitched shut? How the fuck did you fix that with medicine and not magic?"

She also thought it was incredibly fascinating. "They came in with no lips. It was truly interesting to look at. They didn't want to figure out a magical solution to the problem so..." Ashley didn't think that was especially brilliant, but that wasn't really her choice.

"Can you believe that a transplant was part of the solution?" It was a pretty unique case to be given.

She also had just taken a bite of her chicken curry when the Attending approached. Her gaze flicked up and then towards Ashley.

Was this the new attending everyone had been talking about that would be starting soon?

Gretchen hadn't paid much attention, considering he wasn't a neurosurgeon. So, why would she bother?

But she knew better than to be rude to an attending, so she smiled. Her shoulder nudged Ashley's, pursing her lips a little. Having an attending sitting with them was gonna look like they were getting extra tutelage or something. People were already looking in their direction.

"Gretchen Grundler, intern," she introduced herself, reaching her hand across the table. "Glad to have another American on the staff. There aren't a lot of us."

But he perked up when the second intern spoke. She was American. Not just American, but — 

“And from the South too?” he asked, letting the faintest trace of his own accent slip out. He’d spent his days at Harvard training himself out of it and kept that even when he moved back to North Carolina. He lived in the city, after all. His mountain accent would stand out. “Small world, I guess.”

He scooped a spoonful of soup into his mouth.

“So anything I should know about the other attendings? I’ve only met a few outside the oncology department so far. Figured y’all must work with a whole spread of them.” 

And now she had to think about how she could also stick out for the attending to remember. "Ashley Spinelli... also an intern," she introduced herself. On the bright side, it was always possible that the American doctor might not have heard of her mother.

"Dr. Mitchell is good. Friendlier I think. If you had questions he'd probably be the one to go to," Ashley advised. "Dr. Mohanty can be a bit more strict? But that could be mostly with us interns." She hadn't spent as much time around Dr. Mohanty yet. Gretchen might know better than she did.

"And what is the craziest thing you've seen, exactly?"

"Oh well recently someone came in cursed to lose his lips. That was interesting," Ashley admitted. If not necessarily the craziest thing she'd heard about. Her mother had experienced a lot of unique cases and had tried to inform Ashley on them methodically so she would be prepared.

"I've only been there for a few months so the real craziest that I've seen so far was to do with that car accident. Where the driver crashed into the salon? It was all hands on deck for that." Not that she would go into detail about any of it. CLDC and GDPR & Data Protection Act existed for a reason after all.

"Man. And I thought Charleston was a small town. That's wild. He drives me crazy. He thinks he's soooo hot. Just because he's tall? Get over yourself." She took another sip of her drink. "Dr. Mitchell is so much hotter because he's, y'know, competent. Nothing is sexier than competency."

She finished her drink.

"You wanna'nother one? Wait--" she reached out and grabbed Ashley's forearm as an idea struck her. "We should do shots."

"You're so right. Competence is so so sexy," Ashley agreed. This was probably why she also found some of the other first responders really attractive too. Both because they were doing the jobs that really were meant to help people as best as they could, but also because they knew what they were supposed to do.

"Shots. Definitely shots," Ashley agreed with a grin. "What kind? Are you more a tequila shots person or vodka? I'm personally pro any if it gets me buzzed enough for the evening." She gestured toward the bartender so they could get those ordered.

Jack had a good feeling about him too... but his good feeling was different from this little girl's, a fact that made him smirk like he knew something that she didn't.

And he did. He doubted she'd seen the good doctor on his knees.

"Just wondering," he said lightly. "He said a few things, hm? But he was probably just a jokester." He grinned. "You doctor types do love your macabre humor."

Yet another descriptor she couldn't quite place with one of her bosses. But hey, maybe Dr. Mitchell was funnier outside of work. It was possible. Ashley just hadn't seen that side of him so far.

"Yeah I guess that's true," Ashley agreed after a moment. "It's one way we can deal with some of the crazy stuff we do end up seeing." It was a coping method. Some might think it was brutal, but Ashley got it. Her mother used to tell a few jokes like it in the past, even when Ashley might have been a bit young for it.

He could go on and on, and so instead of doing that, he saw the house address on his phone and pocketed it, turning the corner to walk himself down the road to the neighborhoods of Tortuga.

He wasn't surprised she lived in a house, being that his own parents were out in The Woods and technically he split his time between there and the dorms. She probably had roommates or something too. Plenty of people had that kind of situation.

Crossing into the yard, he adjusted his shirt a bit out of habit and brushed his blonde hair to the side and out of his face before he stepped up to the front door, giving it a loud knock.

[outfit]

@dr-spinelli

She'd opted for some comfortable shorts and a bra that was flattering enough on her along with an unzipped jacket. Ashley didn't really care to go for subtlety. They both knew why he was coming over anyway.

Ashley had just pulled out a bottle of wine (she figured a drink to share wouldn't hurt) when Andre alerted her to someone at the door before she could even catch the knock. Then there was the skidding of his paws as he rushed over to it. "Okay okay! Hold on there Andre!" Ashley yelled as she jogged over toward the door and gently nudged Andre back with her leg before she opened the door for him.

"Hey Nate. Come on in," she added, pushing the door aside and gently tugging Andre back. "Andre let's give him a little space huh?"

[outfit]

Poor Georgette needed to close up the salon. Holley knew she’d be fine in the long run and maybe even find success elsewhere — Georgette was tenacious like that. But her heart did go out to everyone else who’d actually been involved at the scene of the accident.

“Must’ve been quite something in your first few weeks. Luckily when I started at the Squire it was quiet. Well, I wouldn’t say quiet — it was busy, but it was the the trifecta of the play, prom, and Pride all starting up at the same time. So it was more excitement than anything.”

She let out a little laugh.

“And talk about work all you want — so long as you don’t mind if I do the same. Less direct life saving involved in my line, though.” Holley smiled. It was nice to not have to apologize for how much passion she put in her job. 

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. "I suppose it's been a bit intense. But I kind of love it," she admitted. "Not people getting hurt, but the intensity of the work is sort of exhilarating." She definitely didn't want anyone to suffer grievous hurts, but when it had already happened, getting into the thick of it to save a life... that was a wild rush.

"But the trifecta of all those things sounds like it would have kept you plenty busy too to start with." Something she felt Holley probably didn't mind either though. They were both passionate about their jobs after all. "Oh I don't mind at all. I feel like that's something we're very aligned with," Ashley added. "Which is great, because my work is kind of my entire life right now. It sort of has to be," considering how much time and energy had to go into it.

"What's your favorite story you've gotten to write for the Squire though? You've got to have one at least right?"

She was on her third...fourth? drink when Ashley said something that Gretchen did not expect.

Snorting, she shook her head. "I mean--yeah. They're all hot." Though, Gretchen thought so mostly because their brains. Which meant that Dr. Hunting still had some room to grow for her. Dr. Mohanty, of course, was brilliant, and Dr. Mitchell had impressed her so far.

"Way better than our fellow interns. Though, King definitely thinks he's hot shit."

@dr-spinelli

"Yeah that's for sure." Ashley wasn't especially impressed with any of their fellow interns. Gretchen was the only one who had really stood out to her. And Robert... man, she still didn't know what happened there.

She wrinkled her nose. "It's the weirdest thing. I knew Robert since we were in primary school. He used to be a lot of fun to hang out with." Ashley could still remember playing sports and being the fun kind of competitive and him being a pretty good friend. "Now he's just an arse I guess," she decided. Oh well.

@dr-grundler