Snippet #1425734

Pandora squeaked, a horribly silly sound which only served to compound the embarrassment that was already flushing her a bright scarlet from scalp to collarbones. A glass jar shattered on the nearest shelf, and she flinched, hoping it hadn't been busy containing anything. Clamping a lid on what was truthfully probably a bit of an overreaction, she coughed uncomfortably. Sitting up again, she clasped tightly at the blanket and tried to force something off her tongue that sounded at least mildly intelligible. Unfortunately, she really, really couldn't. Technically, he'd done what she would have (well, barring a few of the rather lewd things he'd said, mind), and medically, she could not fault him for any of it.

She couldn't really decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing that she wasn't quite able to bring herself to appreciate the logic at the moment. Probably bad, as being able to do so would have made this considerably less awkward. He gestured toward a pile of clothes though, and already childishly-large eyes went wide. Where had he managed to find the funds for such things? Besides that, why on the ruined earth below would he ever bother to go through all that trouble? She bit down on her lip to stifle the chuckle at his obvious discomfort. Really, there was so much strange about this situation that she really was starting to find it funny more than anything else. Better than the skin-flaming shame that was probably the only alternative at present. She was pretty sure this was the kind of situation in which a joke might be a good idea, for both their sakes, but the only possible thing she could think of involved his apparently lesser-than-suggested familiarity with women's underclothes, and she was quite certain she did not want to know.

She was spared from actually having to say anything by the stirring of the patient she and Mr. Vernazza had come across in the strangest of ways. Deciding that right now, being a healer was unquestionably more important than any of it, she stood, completely missing whatever Eos said next and shuffling with blanket-impeded steps over to the pile of clothes, randomly grabbing a few things and crossing the floor to the screen which she usually used to conceal her medical supplies from general view. Luckily for her, it worked quite well.

The sanitation spell was not in her field of expertise, but it was so basic that it didn't need to be. She had the feeling she'd been out for quite some time, multiple days for sure, and she always felt much better when clean. Baths were better, in her opinion, but then she hardly had that much water to spare. With the fumbling speed only available to complete nervous wrecks, Pan donned the garments, which turned out to be a rather pretty short-sleeved white dress which fell to her knees. Well, pretty to her, anyway. She might even fit in someplace like Gamma in it, which truthfully was a little strange. Not that there was time to worry about that, though. She had a patient to tend. Emerging from behind the screen, she tilted her head to one side and fixed Eos with a strange look. "Would you mind telling me what has happened in the last... few days? I need to know so I can treat him."

Sitting beside the boy, she offered a smile. "I was worried about you there for a while. It is not every day one sees a person fall from the sky, after all. Could you explain how that happened?" Hopefully, whatever explanation she got would also account for the numerous infections and other strange maladies she'd found as well, the things that would not have been caused by his rather emphatic contact with the ground.

-=-
District Beta

Zade had seen stranger things than this doctor's mask, but never on a physician. It was... odd, to say the least, and she was beginning to wonder if she'd chosen the right course of action in coming here. The blood seeping onto her hand from holding the cloth so tightly to her wound informed her that she had, regardless of the man's eccentricities.

She followed him to the... well, she supposed it was an examination room, but there were an awful lot of rodents in it. Zade had always disliked rodents. She was not afraid, exactly, more like... repulsed. They reminded her of the early years of her life, spent sleeping amongst them and worse, things that she rarely deigned to waste time recalling. She was glad of the sterilization wand, even if it did sting like little pinpricks.

Well, this place is just a feast for the senses, isn't it? she thought dryly, catching a whiff of some kind of paste-like slave or some such. She didn't know all the names for the finished products, though oddly enough she'd probably be able to name most of the components by scent, though she would only really be able to say what color they burned if they were at all flammable, and whether or not the result was noxious. The result of a very... practical education, one based largely on an experimental process for which she was both scientist and test subject. Or perhaps both doctor and caged rat.

He asked how she'd sustained such a wound, and Zade fixed him with a measured looks for a moment before speaking. "They don't call my home the district of charlatans for nothing, doctor. Some people take offense when I think they owe more than they are willing to pay. If you've ever seen a doctor's office in Gamma, you would understand why I came here." She knew he would most likely recognize this as a lie (something about his demeanor told her so), but that was not important. He would not likely demand the truth, and the deception was just convincing- or perhaps probable was the right word- that he could not be faulted for believing it by any third party- like, say, the city guard.

She hissed when he stitched the wound, but otherwise made no sound. It was not entirely unbearable, and it certainly beat the continued agony of an open wound becoming infected if it didn't exsanguinate her first. The bandages came after, and she relaxed slightly, though the implications of his next words were far from lost on the savvy thief. So he did know, then. There was something strange about this man, though she could not place it beyond the obvious. He looked and acted like a doctor (albeit a strange one), but there was something more subtle than that at play, a certain reservation of gesture... she could not put her finger on it, and that bothered her perhaps more than anything else about it.

"Of course," she replied, extracting the fee (which was about what she had expected) from her purse and placing it on the table. "Good day to you, doctor." If there had been something implied in what he said, she left her words completely free of any such thing, unwilling to play the game when she knew not the opponent. That was the thing about that sort of match- Zade was not one to enter into a contest she felt she could not win. Lost causes were for a different sort of person than she.

With no further words, she nodded to the man and opened the front door, stepping out into daylight and disappearing around a corner.