Nathaniel Mordue
May 20, 2020 9:29 AM
Taking the initiative (tag: new medic) by Nathaniel Mordue
Healer Kapoor was gone.Under other circumstances, Nathaniel didn't think he would have been too disturbed by this. The woman had always done well enough by him, and he could not complain of her professionalism or as far as he knew her discretion, but he had no personal sense of attachment to her. Under the present circumstances, though, it was very much a problem, because the new medic was yet another human who would have to know about Dr. Greene.
Three can keep a secret - if two of them are dead. A good saying, but Nathaniel had passed that line long since. He knew about Dr. Greene, Dr. Greene knew about Dr. Greene, his aunt and uncle knew about Dr. Greene, Healer Kapoor and Headmaster Brockert and almost certainly Professors Xavier and Skies (if not also Carter-Xavier, though he hoped not) all knew about Dr. Greene. At some point, it seemed nearly inevitable that the secret was going to leak somehow, even without adding yet another new person to the mix. And yet, a new person was being added to the mix.
The adults would, he knew, have their own arrangements for acquainting the new woman with why Nathaniel and another woman showed up in her office on a regular basis, but Nathaniel had decided he ought to have his own as well. It didn't do to trust other people to handle things, after all. The more he heard from Evelyn and Alexander, the more convinced he became that most people were either stupid, evil, or both, and not to be relied on at all. He wondered if it was a generational thing - strong men and strong women had children and tried not to let them down, tried not to let their children suffer - so those children grew up to be irresponsible and selfish, which caused their children to suffer, which strengthened those children, who then grew up, and after they had grown up, those children then restarted the cycle...Yet another reason, he thought, never to marry.
That, however, was neither here nor there as he walked into the hospital wing, his hands clasped behind his back, anxiety and general displeasure with the situation having set his face into one of its most closed off and (though he didn't realize it) slightly haughty expressions.
"Miss Willow, I believe?" he said to the unfamiliar adult he found. "Or is it Healer? I am - Nathaniel." It was absurd to not use his last name - there were no other Nathaniels in the school, she could easily look up his file even if the teachers hadn't already filled her in about him - but he held back nonetheless. "If you could spare a moment, there's something I believe I should discuss with you - privately, if possible."
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Nathaniel Mordue
Taking the initiative (tag: new medic)
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Katey Willow
May 21, 2020 3:17 PM
Good, it's yours! by Katey Willow
When Katey was alone, she had a tendency to lose herself. It was a mostly positive way, letting herself get immersed in whatever she was doing. She would be alone a lot in the Hospital Wing, she was rapidly discovering, so she did a lot of busy work. Mostly, cleaning. Katey liked cleaning. She could’ve done it quicker with magic, or even quicker still by not doing it at all and letting the prairie elves run the show, but in her opinion, nothing beat some good ol’ fashion elbow grease, especially when it came to sanitization.She had finished scrubbing the counters and moved on to brooming, humming an idle little tune as she went, but she was interrupted by the presence of a student. “Ooh!” she exclaimed, jarring slightly when he spoke. He introduced himself as Nathaniel, and she quickly leaned her broom against the table and moved toward him, extending a friendly hand. He seemed healthy, so she was unhesitating. “Just Miss Katey, if that’s alright,” she smiled. “Nice to meet you, Nathaniel. How can I help?”
He wanted to discuss something, which seemed a bit serious, but Katey was totally ready for that grown up stuff. “Well, we’re alone in here,” she noted, “but we can step back into the medical storage if that makes you feel more private, just in case someone else pops up?”
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Katey Willow
Good, it's yours!
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Nathaniel Mordue
May 21, 2020 7:57 PM
Thank you. by Nathaniel Mordue
As he got a vague impression of the medic - inattentive-seeming, doing unnecessary physical labor instead of finding an elf or a student with a detention to do it, and willing to be addressed by a nominal inferior as Miss Katey - Nathaniel briefly considered simply leaving even more quickly than he had turned up. He ultimately decided to see the thing through to the conclusion, though he was still deeply concerned about the wisdom of doing so.They couldn't have hired a Squib as the medic he thought. They can't have. What's a Squib going to do if someone's injured, behave like one of those Muggle doctors who slice people up because they think it's helpful? Surely nobody's parents would stand for it unless they're also Muggles, which I know many are not....
"I think we're all right," he said when offered a closet as a meeting space. She was obviously older than he, but still reasonably young and pretty. It would look far worse if someone else wandered in and saw them wandering out of a closet. "We'll just keep our voices down and stop talking if someone else comes in - this shouldn't take long. I just wanted to become acquainted, and make sure you're - aware - of a...situation that means we'll possibly see a lot of each other, in passing, anyway" he explained.
His mouth twisted in distaste as he forced himself to continue. "I have a - minor - medical condition," he said stiffly. "Nothing to worry about of course, but my family has retained a private specialist to assist me in - managing it. The condition, you see. Usually my - assistant - visits the hospital wing once a week, and we meet here. It does not disrupt the wing as a whole," he assured her. "And you may have already heard about it from the deputy headmistress or someone - I just thought I had better make sure before you were possibly upset if a strange woman appeared and you didn't know why she was here," he said, recovering enough equilibrium to say that with a slight smile before adding, "and to ask you - personally, I suppose - to handle this situation as discreetly as possible."
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Nathaniel Mordue
Thank you.
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Katey Willow
May 22, 2020 5:28 AM
You're welcome! by Katey Willow
Katey couldn’t suppress a curious raised eyebrow as Nathaniel began. He seemed reluctant to talk to her, which was fair, since she was a strange new adult and medical matters tended to be rather personal.As he went on, the cause of his reluctance became immediately clear. The way he danced around saying any specific words, wanting her to know without having to know: it was clearly an issue of mental health. That department was one people tended to be extra reluctant to discuss. A lot of families still carried the stigma that it was something shameful, especially conservative families, which was something wealthier families tended to be. She understood that a lot of the students here were probably from those types of families, so really, nothing about this was especially surprising. But it was quite a shame.
“You’ve got my professional confidentiality,” Katey said reassuringly. “Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to help you and your Healer. I look forward to getting to know her - and you- a bit better.”
“Is it the same time and day every week?” she clarified with a small but kind smile. “Just trying to plan. I can make sure that’s my dinner break, for example, if you’d rather I wasn’t around.”
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Katey Willow
You're welcome!
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Nathaniel Mordue
May 28, 2020 12:25 PM
I really wish I wasn't.... by Nathaniel Mordue
Somehow, a kind tone rankled more than anything. Well. Maybe more than anything. He had never enjoyed Dr. Greene's tone, either - she was as coolly impassive as a statue most of the time, and that somehow made it even harder to keep his own composure, not to get angry and just take it all out on her.However, he couldn't imagine he would like it if someone was openly rude, either, which led him to only one logical conclusion: that there were no combinations of details which would suit him a bit in this situation. It was just a miserable situation, an awkward one and a humiliating one which he could do no more than endure, while trying his best not to be too much of a boor to anyone. Or at least not to people who were not really to blame and - perhaps more to the point - who did have a certain amount of power over him....
"Generally," he said in response to the question. He could not quite manage to sound gracious, but did try to sound less unpleasant. "I'm sure - she - will be in touch about arrangements - I merely come when I'm called." Like a dog, he thought, with a surge of revulsion as much toward himself as toward Dr. Greene and this woman and all the others. He wished he hadn't said it. It was bad enough to know what he was, really, without admitting it to people by accident. "So you see. Not a serious condition. Just takes watching. That's all," he said stiffly, and then, because he had been raised to have good manners if nothing else, he forced himself to add, "thank you."
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Nathaniel Mordue
I really wish I wasn't....
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