Hello

@shyasachurchmouse

This check-up was a biweekly routine. Every other Wednesday, at noon, Barrett made his way to the clinic to see Natalie. The appointment never changed, and it had gotten to the point where neither end bothered to officially schedule it. It was as second nature to Barrett as walking, or sighing, and he figured the same for Natalie. Neither of them had missed a Wednesday since it started… Until today.

Barrett showed up a few minutes before noon. As usual, he let himself into the side room and sat to wait. And wait. And wait? Natalie didn’t usually take this long. In fact, she never took this long. After a few more minutes of confusion, he hopped off the medical bed and peeked his head out of the doorway.

Ray didn’t seem to be around, and Natalie was nowhere to be seen, but there was someone else in the building. Barrett’s last interaction with her wasn’t exactly.. Well, it didn’t go smoothly. With any luck, any at all, today’s conversation wouldn’t leave him wanting to hide in a cave for three years.

She managed to bite back most of a startled yelp at the sudden voice behind her, spinning quickly to face the source. She relaxed dramatically when she saw that it was just Barrett, glancing at the clock curiously. She hadn't even realised it was already halfway through the day, though she took it as a good sign. She had almost forgotten that Barrett had an 'appointment' too, since it wasn't actually written down anywhere. Natalie had simply warned her before she left.

Barrett followed Dorothy to the trash bin, poking at the edge of a shard with his thumb. It wasn’t too sharp, and it was something better to focus on than every impending thought on his mind. The embarrassed ones, the frustrated ones, all of them were far inferior to rubbing his thumb against glass. Who knew a boring piece of glass could suddenly be so fascinating… Until it had to go in the trash, and Barrett had to stop lying to himself about the merit of the shard.

He stood off to the side awkwardly, waiting for her to finish sweeping. He tried not to stare- it’d be uncomfortable for both of them, but… The rest of the shop was so still. There was nothing else even remotely eye-catching to feign interest in. Barrett had seen all of this before, no less than a million times. Still, he tried, and ended up zoning out on a speck on the wall.

His concentration broke as Dorothy approached, just in time for him to catch that small gesture. He glanced down at her arms, then around the room. It took until now for him to realise the doll was gone, but he knew it was important to her. Dorothy was hardly ever seen without it, so it must have been. “You can go get it, I’m not in a rush.” He nodded his head in the direction of Fern. “I just need a potion. I’ll have to wait either way.”

Dorothy flinched a little at the words, biting her lip slightly too hard in an attempt to hold back yet another apology. She knew they tended to bother people after the first few times and Barrett had never been especially easy to talk to. She would feel better with Fern to talk through, but she really didn’t need her just to sell a potion.

“N-No, I shouldn’t keep y-you w-waiting any longer,” she insisted softly, though without the doll she had simply ended up hugging herself. She wasn’t sure how to hold herself around most other people when her usual position didn’t actually work anymore. “O-One moment please!”

She pivoted on her heel and disappeared into the store room quickly, relieved for the moment to calm herself. She didn’t take any longer than she had to in retrieving the item though, determined not to make Barrett wait. She had already caused him enough trouble as it was.

Dorothy finally registered who she had run into when she heard him speak, cheeks only burning darker when she did. She had known him probably her whole life at this point, but she still had no idea how to talk to Barrett. He didn’t seem especially angry though, so that was a small relief. “N-No, I r-really should-should have been w-watching,” she insisted softly. It certainly wasn’t his fault for not catching the jars.

She gave a nervous glance to Fern - the doll put up on a shelf while she was cleaning - before taking a deep breath to calm down, knowing it was ridiculous to be so nervous. She wanted to be a good nurse, but she would never achieve that if she couldn’t even talk to her neighbour. “Y-You really d-don’t have to,” she murmured as he started picking at the glass, carefully kneeling to do the same. She hadn’t expected he would, considering he was usually so far from the ‘helpful’ type.

She gave Barrett curious looks through her fringe as she carefully picked up glass shards, though her attention stayed almost entirely on their hands. Dorothy didn’t need to cut herself and she certainly didn’t want Barrett to. He had been inconvenienced enough by her mistake. “Um, p-please be careful,” she spoke up after a moment, eyes on their hands still. Not that Barrett could see that, but it was still easier than looking at his face. “I d-don’t want you to g-get hurt.”

Sighing was second nature for Barrett at this point in his life. Most of the time, he didn’t realise he’d done it. This was one of those times. He left out a soft sigh as he stacked shards in the palm of his hand. “It’s both of our fault. I could have knocked, and I didn’t. Don’t be so hard on yourself.” Though the advice could stand to go both ways. He couldn’t stop thinking about how stupid he must’ve looked fumbling over the jars, and the out-of-body Embarrassment Cam was going to loop that moment through his head for the rest of the day. Talk about a bummer. 

But he wouldn’t let that show. He just looked at the glass pieces and the white tiles beneath them. “My hands are pretty calloused, I’ll be fine.” If he did get hurt, well, at least he was in the right place for treatment. It wasn’t exactly in the day’s agenda to spend much time here, but there were worse places to get stuck. It’s not like he was doing a whole lot today anyways. 

She looked up again once they had managed to collect all the larger pieces, her own hands cupped carefully around a pile of shards. "I-It's just over here. I'll sweep up," she answered as she stood, walking over to a bin she could drop the glass into. She was glad Barrett hadn't hurt himself picking up the glass, even if it would be a quick thing to fix. She quickly swept up the finer pieces, mating a mental note that they were now down two jars as she cleaned. It only took a moment, but it gave her the chance to push her embarrassment back at least a little. Barrett had to have been here for a reason after all.

It was always easy for Dorothy to get absorbed in her work once she had started. The clinic in Alvarna was rarely busy and there wasn’t always a lot to do, but she usually found something to do. Even if it was simply organising and keeping things tidy so that Natalie and Ray didn’t have to worry about it, it was something she could put her full attention into. It was something she was confident she could do well at least.

She was wrapped up enough in her sorting through things that she didn’t notice somebody enter the clinic, pivoting on her heel at exactly the right moment to run into them. She gave a startled yelp and dropped the jar in her hands, hearing it shatter loudly on the floor.

He looked at the list in his hand. It was sloppy and almost illegible, but that’s what happens when you scribble things down first thing in the morning… He squint at the words a little harder, trying to decipher.. What should have been a word, but definitely got lost in translation. With a sigh and a shrug, the list went back into his pocket. Maybe he’d decipher it later, just to exercise his brain a bit. 

For now, he’d go off memory. There was always a standard list of things he needed, so he’d start at the top: Recovery potions. Barrett used to have a collection of them, but, well, he figured out they do expire. At least the people at the doc’s weren’t completely insufferable. He walked up to the door and let himself in, only to be almost immediately plowed into. Reflexes kicked in and he fumbled to try and catch the falling jars, only to look like a fool when they hit the ground anyways.  Damn. Part of him wanted to be mad for someone slamming into him, but mostly… He was embarrassed by that terrible recovery. Even a little guilty over the shattered glass. “No, it’s okay, I’m sorry I couldn’t catch them.” 

She gave a nervous glance to Fern - the doll put up on a shelf while she was cleaning - before taking a deep breath to calm down, knowing it was ridiculous to be so nervous. She wanted to be a good nurse, but she would never achieve that if she couldn’t even talk to her neighbour. “Y-You really d-don’t have to,” she murmured as he started picking at the glass, carefully kneeling to do the same. She hadn’t expected he would, considering he was usually so far from the ‘helpful’ type.

cool beans :) i’ll let you know for sure. not sure when i’ll get started. i was thinking of planning a trip to norad before the summer is over. 

There's a lot of nice places to visit here. I um... I've never been to the capital, but the smaller towns are nice ^^ let me know if you do visit!

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[pm] that’s not too unusual. Put ice on it and bandage it if you can. A basic wrist splint will help restrict movements be stop you from making it any worse. Don’t use a compressions bandage for more than ten minutes or it will restrict blood flow. And if you can then try to elevate your wrist and limit movement with it.