Just keep swimming

“ it’s okay to be confused . nobody has all the answers . ”

Dory whispered softly. "Like how I found out my name isn't really Dory but Dorothea. I know I was pretty confused as well. I'm also moving out of my apartment and into a mansion. My...mother made me pasta for the first time. I never had pasta before."

~

Alice waited for Dory’s apparent rudeness, and was pleasantly surprised when the idea wasn’t rude at all. “I think that sounds like a brilliant idea!” Alice replied enthusiastically. “I don’t think it would be rude at all. At least, not if you’re giving it to people who know you. And if you don’t know them, then it just seems like some sort of very interesting introduction.”

Alice shook their head, laughing in embarrassment. Alice wasn’t sick, but they were terribly careless. “No, no, I’m not sick,” they explained. “I just have the tendency to get myself into bother sometimes. Mia says I’m scatterbrained and not very observant, which… well, I suppose she’s right. The ER staff are never surprised to see me.”

“You do?” Dory said with a tilt of her head. It was better than to forget people completely but she didn’t like the idea of someone thinking it is an offensive thing. Dory wasn’t good at handling angry people, because she would simply forget they were mad at her. She guessed Alice made a point.

“I don’t really understand what you mean? Isn’t the hospital for people who are hurt or sick?” 

Alice listened with fascination as Dory rhymed off the names of all the seahorses in the aquarium. After the third name, Alice began to count them on their fingers, smile growing the more Dory named. “That’s fourteen more names you remember,” Alice said. “If it’s easier to remember things you’ve named yourself, why don’t you give everyone else new names? Nicknames. I like to make up the names of strangers when I’m sitting in the cafe, though I don’t usually tell them their new names because I don’t have to.” It was a suggestion that Alice wasn’t sure would work, but thought it was an interesting idea nonetheless.

“I wouldn’t mind going at all,” Alice replied with a shrug. “I’ve visited the hospital so many times that it doesn’t bother me at all. Plus, I like asking the doctors questions too. And, of course, it would help you.”

“I don’t want to come across as rude...” Cause that wasn’t who Dory was - after all not intentially, she might have been rude on accident. Like by forgetting people’s names but that was just due to health related issues. She didn’t want to upset people by giving them nicknames. “Maybe I can give people some name tag gifts?” At least she would be able to remember it then, but it would be expensive and it’ll mean less bread for her to eat. 

“Oh are you sick as well? Since you visited the hospital a lot. Oh...that might have been a bit out of line, it’s not my business after all.” She bowed her head apologetically.

Alice watched Dory’s fingers, counting along in their head as she did so. Seven seemed a lot of medicine to take, and Alice imagined it wasn’t very pleasant to do so either. “Seven Swimming Seahorses,” Alice sang, recalling that Dory worked at the aquarium. “I suppose three names is better than no names, isn’t it? And you remember your own. That makes four!”

Alice’s smile turned upside down at Dory’s explanation. “Wow… I see why you’re scared. That sounds very uncomfortable. It’s a shame they can’t just zap it with a laser, isn’t it?” Alice sighed a little, realising they might have been leading the subject into a worse territory. “Don’t you have friends to go with you? I could go, if you remember to ask. I think hospitals are fascinating.”

“We got a lot of seahorses in the aquarium. Coral, Ocean, Hali, Scales, Sippy and Sescon, stormy, Sheldon, herald and skipper, Gary, Ingrid, blinky, and Lenny. The owner lets me name the fish.” She said with a bright smile. “I wish I could remember the names of people as good as I do with fish, but I guess it’s because I named them themselves it’s easier to remember.” Like how she could remember the nicknames she gave people rather than the names people had.

She nodded. “Yeah, it would be a lot easier that way.” Her eyes fell on the ground. “Melvin has a lot of work, and he’s busy with his son. I don’t want to scare Nemo so there isn’t anyone else. Well, maybe Minnie... But I haven’t asked her yet.” She blinked. “You’d do that?”

“Oh but of course, do you need help with anything else at the moment?” Minnie wanted to make sure that Dory was okay before leaving her because there was no way that she could just say her goodbyes and continue on with her day or else the cute little blonde would be on her mind; “Yeah like a visit, I would feel much more comfortable if you came with me and then maybe I can drop you off later if you’d like, no pressure though, I don’t want to make you do something you weren’t comfortable doing” smiling in her direction. 

Dory wasn’t sure what she needed help with, her problems tended to be easily forgotten. But she was quite certain she did have some food at her place so it wasn’t groceries. “I don’t think so?” If she needed help it certainly would pop in her head later. As most things did. “A visit sounds fun, aside from Melvin no one has ever invited me into their house before. And Melvin only asked to keep Nemo busy when he was younger.” Never truly as a friend, which was a pity since they were friends for so long. “Sure that sounds fun to me.” She repeated, forgetting she already called the idea fun. 

“How much medicine do you have to take?” Alice asked without thinking, only realising after that it might be a rather invasive question. They were sometimes too curious for their own good. “And what names have you remembered so far? You should write them down, so you don’t forget again.”

Alice frowned a little as Dory mentioned the surgery, and couldn’t help but feel sorry for the woman. “Why isn’t it possible? Perhaps they need to go in a different way. Like through your nose, like the Egyptians.”

Dory zoned out for a minute before counting on her fingers before holding seven fingers up. “Seven.” from painkillers to medicine that was supposed to lighten the pressure on her brain. She frowned once again trying to think about some names she had been remembering: “Nemo, Melvin, and Alice.” She tried. She still confused Minnie with Bottle girl sometimes. 

“They think if they remove it there is a too high risk for brain damage, and bleeding. Which got me scared and against the procedure. It’s scary going to the hospital alone every time.”

Minnie wasn’t doing anything these days, she did have school but for right now she was in after hours and Dory came first at least for her, she didn’t feel right just leaving her on her own. Almost like if a puppy was injured on the side of the road, it just wasn’t right to leave it there when it needed help; “Of course, you know that even though we haven’t known each other very long doesn’t mean I won’t ever help you when you need it”

And she meant that, Minnie didn’t need to know someone for two years to want or feel the need to help the other person and right now she was quite protective over the other; “I will put this in my calendar for you so that I remember too and I will come with you, but right now do you need to go somewhere? If not did you want to come to mine?” it wasn’t too far from here.

Dory didn’t do anything special either, she went to work. Did groceries when she needed to, and her doctor was pushing her lately to have a nurse come over. But it simply was too expensive. It was no lie that Dory wasn’t well off, she struggled with a lot of things, but never in her mind did she think of asking for help. She wasn’t used to it, and no one taught her it was something she could do. So when Minnie proposed to help her, she felt happy. “Thank you.” She said softly, a light blush crawling on her face. 

She wasn’t used to people caring for her, Malvin cared but he wasn’t around often. The same thing with Nemo. She shook her head. “No, I finished work. Oh, like a visit?”

☾ Sleeping habits

she has a sticky note that tells her when she has to sleep, what time to set her alarm and which day it is. She sleeps with a giant shark plush, his name is Bruce. 

☼ Favorite time of day

Night, she likes watching the starts, if there are any that is.

☂ Favorite weather

Rain, lots and lots of rain.

¿ Term for the TV device, whether it be “clicker”, “remote”, or something else

now: 

ideal: 

Juggling!

📲- Talk about someone/something you dislike, but only pretend to like

Uhm..I don’t know I don’t really have many dislikes, and if I have dislikes I won’t pretend that I like them...

👁‍🗨- Talk about someone/something you like, but pretend to dislike

It’s a little bit the same as the answer above if I like something I won’t hide it.

🏹- For a talent they wish they had

Minnie nodded and listened intently, she did that because she felt somewhat protective over the other, she didn’t know if they were younger but it didn’t matter because she just wanted to take care of her; “That’s terrible I am so sorry to hear that, look I am going to write down my number for you and put it in your pocket when we get to the hospital so that you can call me whenever you need me okay?” she remembered some what from their last encounter that the other wasn’t all that great with remembering things so she had to try and come up with ways for the other to absorb the information she was given her; “Of course I would, do you know when your appointment is?”

It was quite unsettling how much help she needed, despite being 28 years old already. Yet, she also didn’t really have anyone that took care of her, ever since she had been small she had been alone. At least she couldn’t remember that not being the case. “That would help me a lot, these talks are super complicated and they really take forever cause I have to do a lot of tests as well.” Not that she remembered most of them at the end of the day, but they were unpleasant to undergo alone. She pondered for a moment before remembering she still had her notebook with her. She quickly flipped through it%. “I’ve written it down, it’s next week on Saturday.”

Minnie was so concerned for the other, not because of her thinking she was odd or even weird but just for her health issues that she said she had; “My my you have a lot going on, but would you like me to come to the hospital with you? I feel kind of sad and bad if you would have to go on your own” Minnie linking her arm through Dory’s feeling kind of protective of her in a way just wanting to make sure that she was okay and that she wasn’t alone or feeling alone. She never wanted anyone to feel that way.

Dory nodded. “Yeah, and a lot of headaches too, but they did give me medication for that.” There was a lot of pressure on her skull so they gave her some medication to help with that. “Would you? That would help me a lot because sometimes I forget these details if I haven’t written them down.” She had no parents to ask these things, and Melvin had his hands full with Nemo.