& nothing is as it seems in the black air under the trees Who: Darcie & Eden Where: U of M hospital; out-patients clinic When: Early afternoon
Whoever thought it was a good idea to bring a space bopper into the ward was a genius. Because there was very little that could entertain Eden at work more than terminal children taking turns to bounce around the room at a ridiculous speed. A ridiculous speed that they had actually learned from example. That example being her. Apparently she was the only person in the vicinity who was willing to teach the kids how to use the thing, though she thought its name was kind of self-explanatory. You bopped on it. Obviously. And to that one doctor who thought it was a euphemism? His wife needed to have a serious talk with him. Sat on the floor of the ward, she promised that kid called Maisy or Daisy that she really would draw a heart on her cheek to match the one painted on hers, she just had to watch to make sure Andy or Randy or whatever his name was didn’t bounce too hard and fly off and potentially kill himself. Only not in so many words because she’d already been warned about reminding the patients they were dying (she would never understand how they even counted as patients when the outcome was already established) and was supposed to at least give the impression she knew who the children were. And she clearly was watching to make sure that one kid didn’t injure himself on the space bopper. Except when she wasn’t, because she was talking to the little girl. A few moments later there was a crash, followed by that silence that seemed to make everyone but Eden cringe while the kid decided whether or not he was going to start wailing at the top of his lungs. That was something else she didn’t understand - why people seemed to wait for the crying to start before doing something about it when the expression on the child’s face said they were definitely going to cry. This was why she needed to be able to bring Mojo to work. He explained things. Or he agreed with her and they spent time speculating over - “Eden!”
Untangling her limbs, she slowly turned to face whoever the hell was shouting at her. Sounded like the ward sister. “That’s my name.” Yeah, yeah, she knew the ‘Don’t wear it out or I’ll make you buy me a new one.’ would get her evils. Which was why she hadn’t said it. She was still getting evils. Daggers, even. Eden just stared.
“Where’s Staci?”
Ohh, that was the girl’s na-- Damn. Turning back from where the child had been sitting but clearly wasn’t any more, the were-snake rose. With a strangely easy smile, she gave the ward sister one fairly hefty pat on the shoulder. “Don’t getcha panties in a twist, I got it, I got it. She’ll be lookin’ for magic markers’r somethin’.”
“Say, you seen a little girl hangin’ round? ‘Bout this big, brown eyes, blonde hair,” she prodded at the out-patients. Sure, this was a totally different clinic, but Staci was a known escape artist. Or that was what Eden was telling herself. “From the terminal ward.” As if that really helped. “Hopefully still draggin’ her IV ‘round the place?” Tucking her hands into the back pockets of her shorts, she slumped back against the vending machine. Come on, someone somewhere must have seen her. And it was completely not her fault the kid was a runner.