dr. rupert fitzgerald carlisle shield ⛰ [kili] (nadad) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2018-07-22 15:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, r * laura, r: rupert shield |
WHO: Rupert Shield
WHEN: 7/22
WHERE: a doctor's lounge at the hospital
SUMMARY: Rupert remembers some mountain trolls, and thinks about his parents.
Ever since his sister told him that their mother was planning a visit, Rupert had been on edge with anticipation. He hadn’t seen his parents since he left for Kenya. It was even longer for Margaret, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to feel about any of it. A year into his residency, Rupert didn’t feel any closer to the finish line, even though he was. One more year and he’d be able to get a medical license for Virginia. He sighed. It was endlessly frustrating that, despite all of his prior training, he was forced to attend an accredited school in the United States. Oxford should have been enough. He was older than some of the other students -- not all, but some, and he ached to be on his own again. He could hear his parents’ voices in his head whenever he had these doubts: “well, you should have stayed in London.” “You could have become a consultant, and then left.” Rupert didn’t know if that would have mattered much, ultimately. He would have ended up in Virginia sooner or later, and without board licensing, there would have been limits to what he could do with his skills. The thought of not actually being able to see patients was worse than having to wait. He could wait just a little bit longer, he told himself. He wasn’t a naturally patient person, but he could handle this. Not for the first time, thinking about his parents made him think about Kili as well, and the struggles he faced in his attempt to prove himself to his mother, his uncle and the rest of their clan. He shook his head and tried to push the thoughts from his head, trying to focus on his reading instead. His eyes scanned over a word - parasites - and his mind took him somewhere else: Bound and tossed into bags, the dwarves squirmed as the trolls argued over what to do with them. Bilbo tried to talk sense into them -- suggesting that the dwarves smelled so bad that the trolls would need seasoning first. Insulted, Kili started to protest, but Bilbo continued: “the secret is… to skin them first!” That drew a genuine shout from him. He didn’t want to die. He especially didn’t want to die at the hand of trolls. If he had to go, he wanted it to be in battle, he wanted it to be for something heroic. This just felt embarrassing and helpless, and Kili hated feeling that way. The trolls didn’t bite, however. They were content with eating raw dwarf, until Bilbo shouted again: “he’s infected! He’s got worms in his tubes!” That did the trick, and the troll dropped Bombur on top of him. “In fact, they all have. They’re infested with parasites!” “Did he say parasites?” “We don’t have parasites!” Kili shouted, affronted. “You have parasites!” Behind him, Thorin kicked him in the head. When he glanced back in anger at his uncle, his uncle was staring at Bilbo, pointedly. It took Kili and Oin a few more seconds to catch on, and then it dawned on him: Bilbo was trying to save their lives. Oin looked up at the trolls. “I’ve got parasites as big as my arm!” “I’ve got the biggest parasites!” Kili chimed in. “I’ve got huge parasites!” Soon, the rest of the company were all shouting about it. Gandalf appeared on the boulder behind the trolls and cracked it, revealing the morning sun. In seconds, the trolls were stone, and they were save. Parasites and all. Rupert blinked and he was back in the lounge at the hospital, a book opened on the table in front of him. Quickly, he glanced around to see if anyone had noticed him dozing off, but no one seemed the wiser. He breathed a sigh of relief. He had no idea how many people here might be impacted by the same things that he and the other Dunhaven residents were going through, but he didn’t want anyone to start to question his sanity. He was already worried enough about his ability to keep his mind in check when it was really important, and he was desperately glad that he wasn’t a surgeon. Now if he could just keep it together while his parents were in town, he’d be golden. He inhaled deeply. That might be asking too much, but he had to try. Their parents couldn’t know the truth about what was going on. They already doubted their children so much. Rupert wanted this to be a good start, not another opportunity to hear about how they’d be better off in England. He and Margaret would just have to prove them wrong. In the meantime, he'd read about parasites. This time, there was a smile on his face, and the echoes of his kin in his head. |