Regular checkup;; [OPEN]

[Yvon]

At the edge of the inner city and the back alley's it lies. Henry doesn't believe in advertising, so the only thing you can recognize it by is the iron nameplate at the door. [Dr. Henry George Armstrong, surgeon].

The building is crummy, but then again, all buildings here are. This area is not for the companies moving upmarket. Next door of the surgeon was a shade dentist. At the other side an even shadier lawyer. And don't even ask about the investor.

When passing the small waiting room, the stained glass door of the doctors office was neat - except for the single bullet hole in the middle. Henry had considered fixing it; but it made such nice conversation.

The small office looked like the regular doctors room. Equipment all around and a bed. Everything needed for a regular checkup. It was the operation table in the back most people came in for. Surgery was Armstrong specialty, with extra attention to re-constructive surgery. Burns, skin transplant, reattaching lost fingers (or worse..), he could do it all.

But even if you need a checkup, Armstrong will treat you. no questions asked, no appointment needed. No insurance cards here though, you pay in cold hard cash. Up front.

The doctor is currently in office.

[ivy]

Liddia cursed under her breath as she held one of her hands in the other. It was firmly wrapped in a bloody towel. Normally she would have stitched herself up but she couldn’t very well do that with one hand. She walked down the back alley towards the doctor’s office. She had been doing dishes and cut her hand open on a knife. That was the story she intended to give if asked anyway. The gash was quite deep, she could tell from looking at it that it would require stitches. In reality she has been tending to a wound on an animal at the clinic. Not just an animal, a shape shifter in animal form (a large cat to be exact). Some of the shifters who preferred to stay in animal form often came into the clinic. The shifter hadn’t meant to hurt her, it was a total accident. She had pulled a piece of glass out of his paw and he lashed out in pain.

She liked to keep the fact that she worked on shape shifters on the down low, not everyone was as fond of them as she was. It was also one of the only things keeping her clinic above water. Not many people kept pets anymore it seemed. Her clinic was becoming more of a home for strays than a medical facility. She didn’t mind, as long as there was enough to pay the bills and feed the animals she was happy.

Pushing the door of the clinic open she walked up to the desk, waiting for someone to greet her “hello?” she called.

[Yvon]

The door to the office opened, Henry appearing. If he hadn't seemed so utterly bland, he could have been considered handsome. Dressed in tweet, not even bothering with a white coat to show his status. This wasn't a hospital, after all.

"Hello. New face?" He asked, holding the door open for her. He sharply eyed the bloody towel. Without bothering to ask any questions, he moved across the office (in passing, gesturing her to sit on the bed) and pulled on a pair of latex gloves. He dragged a small chart along, the contents on it chattering as it bumped on the uneven concrete floor. The walls in the office were bare. No picture frames of flowers, no merry scenes to comfort children. Just the bare essentials. "Lets see t-then." He said, sitting himself down on a stool in front of her. In that sentence, the first hunts of his stutter came in view. Perhaps that was why he preferred a silent demeanor. That and ignorance was bliss in this town.

OOC: I'm using a 11inch laptop and I can't read font size 1 here, so I took the liberty of resizing your text back to normal. ^-^;

[ivy]

The doctor appeared and lead her in. She assumed he was the doctor anyway. There were verry few formalities in society anymore, the lack of indication that he was the doctor wasn't too surprising. "Liddia" she introduced herself with a smile.

He hadn't asked what happened yet 'perfect' she thought to herself. If this was how he conducted buisiness then perhaps she wouldn't need to continue patching herself up every time she was injured. He asked her to remove the towel and she nodded. She unwrapped it, revealing the gash that ran the entire length of her palm. She couldn't help but notice his stutter. She hoped a little cut wasn't enough to make him nervous, maybe that was how he talked all the time. The blood began to flow again imediatly, dripping onto the floor. "Sorry" she said although it wasn't as if she could help it. "I would have fixed it myself but i would have needed two hands for that" she stated flatly. She always felt as if she was bothering other people with her problems.

[Yvon]

Henry took a pair of reading glasses from his pocket and placed them on his nose, taking a closer look at her gash. "Nasty...K-kitchen knife, I assume?" He asked her sharply. The look he gave her was even sharper. It was clear he did not care about her answer, but an honest one would help.

"When have y-you had your last t-t-tetanus injection?" He asked while taking some alcohol, cleaning out the wound with it. It stung.

"D-do you want a local anesthetic? Costs extra." He said, though couldn't help but smirk a little at her while saying this. He was a tease, hurting her first with the alcohol to make her want the injection.

[ivy]

She nodded to his question “Yeah, I was doing dishes” she said, feeling a little defensive but doing her best to be casual in her answer. It would have had to have been an exceptionally sharp knife to have cut her so deeply and she would have had to have grabbed it quite hard but she hoped he wouldn’t read too much into it (he didn’t seem to care anyway). She noticed him stutter again, it was obviously a speech problem and not a nervous habit.

He asked when her next tetanus injection was “Ohh... a few years ago I guess” she shrugged. A tetanus shot wasn’t exactly what she needed, a rabies shout was probably more appropriate. She cringed as he poured the alcohol over the wound. It stung badly but she knew the actual process of getting the stitches would hurt more. She fought the urge to roll her eyes, everyone was out for money, times were hard. She would have loved a local anaesthetic but she wasn’t able to afford it. “No, just stitch it up” she said with a small frown. “I’ll survive without it” she told him. “While I’m here though could I get a rabies shot?” she asked. “I’m a vet, you can never be too careful. I think I’m overdue for my next one anyway” she tried to explain why she would want such a bizarre vaccine.

[Yvon]

He didn't reply to her dishes remark. He took a small bottle of white cream and rubbed some on the skin. That soothed the pain a bit. As he didn't mention it, it was most likely free. He was a big softy like that.

"Rabies?" He didn't look up from his work as he took a stitching needle and thread. "Wouldn't it b-be a better excuse t-to say t-this was c-caused by one of your animals? It sure looks like t-that." He asked, giving her a soft smile. He clearly had a gentle nature, though the cruel city forced him to push that side away.

His stitches were sharp and precise. His hands were amazingly steady (even for a surgeon). The procedure was painful, but at least, it was over quickly.

[ivy]

The cream eased the pain but it was still quite painful to feel the needle weeving in and out of her flesh. She clenched her teeth. She heard his remark about her excuse "I was doing dishes..." she repeated, giving him a serious look. It probably would have been a simpler excuse but there were few domestic animals that would have caused such a gash. She was never sure who she could trust with her knowledge of the local shifters. Many prefered to keep their identities to themselves. The doctor seemed quite nice but she would keep her guard up.

She looked down at her hand as he stitched her up. It was amazing how steady his hands were " Your quite good at that!" she told him. Then there was another sharp pain as the needle slipped through her skin once more. She clenched her jaw again. When he finnished she was able to relax "So how about that shot?" she asked.

[Yvon]

"R-Relax." Armstrong warned her as he started with a bandage around her arm. "You r-remind me of t-this shapeshifter who c-came around yesterday. Nervous f-fellow." Henry mused to himself as he carefully wrapped up her arm.

Then he stood up and rummaged around his cupboards. "Where is it..." He muttered as he checked labels on glass containers. "Ah." He cried out quietly. He took an injection needle and filled it up. Tapping the side to ready the needle, he gestured her to roll up the sleeve of her healthy arm so he could inject her in it.

[ivy]

She relaxed a little when he mentioned that he had treated the shapeshifter. She obviously had no reason to lie around him if he was like minded on the subject. "Sorry" she said quietly as he wrapped the bandage around her hand. Now that she knew he wasn't a threat she felt more inclined to be friendly. She had next to no friends in town. She rolled up her sleeve "I don't even know if shifters can carrie rabies but better safe than sorry" she said. She realised she had just admitted what really happened but it didn't matter anyway now that she knew he had no problem with them.


ooc: eek....bad post. Next one will be better

[Yvon]

Armstrong injected her with the vaccine.

"Well, the t-thing with rabies is, it affects humans and animals. So if a shapeshifter has r-r-rabies, the human side of t-them has it t-too." He explained.

"But then again, c-can't be to careful anyway, with your line of work." He said with a gentle smile, glad she was opening up a bit more. Four years of psychology payed off...eventually. Offering her up with a colorful plaster (just to tease her) he nodded. "T-That should do it." He decided, taking off his gloves and tossing them with practiced skill next to the bin. He frowned and stood up to put them in it.

"P-People in t-this city like their p-p-privacy. But don't be afraid to t-trust people too, r-right?" He asked her. Then with an equally sweet smile, presented her with a bill. Including what he wrote a 'friendly discount'. If he didn't look so effeminate and sweet, it might have looked as though he was hitting on her.

[ivy]

She was greatfull for his help and understanding, it wasn't often that she opened up about things. "Thankyou" she smiled as he finnished up with her shot. She nodded "Right" she said in response to his statement.

She grinned reading his note 'a friendly discount'. She took some money from her purse to pay him. "You were a lot of help" she told him. She couldn't help but wonder how many friends he had, he didn't seem like the overly social type. "If you have nothing better to do maybe we can hang out some time...when your not patching people up" she said. Liddia had never been shy in the least but it also wasn't often she decided someone was worth spending any amount of time with. The doctor seemed nice, maybe a little different but who wasnt?