#crazypaving

❝ sir. sir! i know doctors make the worst patients, trust me, medics do too, but it's your turn. ❞ everyone else is dealt with, georgie even had a moment to clean her own scrapes, but the doctor's been the one directing things and keeping people calm. now, he needs to get checked out; georgie all but forces him to take a seat, and she can be extremely bossy when she wants to be. she usually wants to.

❝ your wounds all look superficial, but i can clean them for you. still got antiseptic left. ❞ gathering all the medical supplies was the first thing she did. thank god for first aid kits, and the random stethoscope someone found. even if it's a shit one. ❝ okay if i have a listen? ❞ she puts the (disinfected) stethoscope in her ears, and presses it to his chest. ❝ wow, you've got some tachycardia going on there, it sounds like... ❞ she moves it to the other side and...no. no. surely not?

georgie swallows, adding slowly, ❝ bilateral heart rhythm... ❞ she takes a step back, frowning. ❝ what the fuck? sorry, that's unprofessional. i mean...no, what the fuck is what i mean. is that, um, normal? you look like it's normal. ❞

. ❝ Will it be a lot further? it's only-only, oh, you said it wasn't far. ❞ She didn't want to be rude, truly, she didn't, but it had been over a mile since they'd left the town behind, with no end in sight. Her feet ached from the walking on those tiny heels. She should have packed better, she'll remember that for next time. If there was a next time.

if any confusion showed in her eyes, it was quickly hidden by a pointed look and a raised brow. she slowed her horse to a stop as she eyed the stranger. truly, strange seemed the only word possible to describe the man. " you were not, i hope, intending to be inconspicuous, sir... if so, i'm afraid i must be the bearer of some ill-tidings indeed, " she said dryly. firefly stamped impatiently beneath her, clearly as irritated as his mistress at being distracted from the thrill of the hunt. tossing her hair over her shoulder, caroline added, " as i do not recollect any peddlers amongst my uncle's illustrious guests, perhaps you would be so good as to explain your business on his land. " lips curved into a smirk. " i know i certainly look forward to the answer... "

❝... NO wait! You! Other me! .... hang on I know you. ❞

has she, finally, lost her grip on reality? it was only a matter of time, right? natalie feels as though it's been an inevitability her entire life, that something might tip her over the edge. at first, things had been a little weird, but excusable; some visiting speaker or professor or whatever had barged into her practice room and disappeared into a storage closet that seemed, from the glimpse she got inside, far larger than it should have done. and now, halfway through fantasia in c minor, as he comes back out, she looks up and—

❝ hey, uh. ❞ her hands fall from the keys mid-phrase, eyebrows furrowed. she's just seeing things, isn't she? she has to be. she laughs, a little hysterical, as she adds, ❝ where'd the door go? ❞