Nic Castell (bleedingheart) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-04-04 11:09:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | 03-23-2017, nic, nic and satori, satori |
Blind Kids and Sandwiches
Who: Satori and Nic
Where: The Orphanage
When: Afternoon
Warnings: None
Satori was freaked out. Like beyond anything ever. It was one thing that Zs had been out and about. Everyone had been subjected to that and had overcome. They'd survived if they were here. They got what that was like and could manage. This was so different.
The eclipse had graced them with all its beauty and strangeness. And some of the children had looked directly into it in spite of the fact that it was overwhelmingly odd. Now they couldn’t see and Satori had no idea what to do for them. She was terrified she had failed them and that permanent damage was their fate thanks to her carelessness. She’d called out to the medicals in hopes they could help her somehow.
And she waited, her toe tapping the sidewalk just off the porch to the orphanage. What had she been thinking accepting this job?
The number of calls that came in after the eclipse was ridiculous. Never had they received so many calls at once and they were ill equipped to deal with it. With only one ambulance and fire truck in the entire town, the chief had had to make a choice of who to send and where. The fire truck, equipped with first aid equipment, was sent to town square, where it could treat anyone in the near vicinity. The ambulance was sent to the orphanage. No one could argue that the children should come first.
Nic hopped out of the ambulance and raced up to the orphanage, not entirely sure what to expect. He knew it was dangerous to look into an eclipse, and knew that it could cause retinal damage. But blindness? That quickly? He’d say it was unheard of, but he didn’t really know. His gaze locked on to the woman with the dark hair, old enough to be a figure of authority, and headed her direction. “Hi, I’m Nic. What’s the situation?” he asked, medical bag in hand. His assistant followed, a kid who should be in high school, but they could use all the help they could get.
She'd had her helpers put the affected children to bed in a separate ward from the others. It was one thing to have blind kids suddenly. It was another to have the entire orphanage of children thinking they were next like blindness was catching. She didn't need a mass panic so she had segregated as best she could. Still, she knew that at least one of her nurses was going to have a panic attack. She was grateful when she saw the ambulance arrive because at least half of her anxiety dissipated with it. Someone with medical training was on-site.
Someone jumped from the ambulance and approached her. Satori squared her tiny shoulders as though she had some chance of intimidating into priority. "I'm the director and I have children who can't see. Can you do something for them?" she asked and raced toward the door to let the medics inside the building as quickly as possible.
There was no need for intimidation, as Nic was there to help however he could. He’d never dealt with anything like this before, but apparently it was happening all over town. His radio continued to buzz about other incidents as he approached the door, though he wasn’t leaving the orphanage until he at least attempted to help. “Can you tell me what happened?” he asked, following behind her. He suspected he knew the answer, but he needed to ask. He couldn’t just assume he knew what the problem was. “Please take me to them.”
Satori was in near panic mode and doing whatever she could even if it meant appearing a tad schizophrenic to both stay calm and get her kids the necessary treatment for whatever it was they were dealing with. She took a moment to breathe in slowly, hold it, then let it out with a soft whoosh before answering him because her heart was racing and she was starting to feel lightheaded.
“I’m not sure what happened except there was that eclipse and some of the children looked at it. They all went blind suddenly.” Part of her remembered eons ago when she had been small being told not to ever look directly at the sun. Was that what had happened to her kids. “Please, can you help them?”
The only reason Nic was calm was because he was in job mode, where the problem did not actually affect him, but it was his responsibility to take care of it. If he’d been blinded, or someone he was close to had been, he probably would have been panicking too. It seemed like a natural reaction to an event like this one.
“Looking into the sun during an eclipse can damage the eye, but I’ve never heard of anything quite like this,” he said, wanting to tell her the truth, even if he was hesitant to show his lack of knowledge on the situation. His EMT training seemed a long time ago at this point and he’d never dealt with anything like this. Had there not been an eclipse in those years? Or was this reaction more drastic? Maybe it had to do with the way that the light came through the dome. “How long have they been like this? Was it immediate?” he asked, then went quiet as he entered the room with the affected children. Good God, they couldn’t all be blind, could they? He was thinking two or three, but there were at maybe ten instead.
He was asking so many questions and she was so not sure of the answers. She wasn’t even sure what she was doing. In fact, didn’t he look familiar now that she was taking deep breaths? Hadn’t she seen him before? Interacted with him? “Nic, right?” she asked, looking slightly confused and unsure. “There was a class outside with two of my aides. I wasn’t there so I’m not 100% sure, but the aides said it was immediate. We kept them separate and ushered them in through the back stairs to keep the other children from freaking out.”
It hadn’t worked with complete accuracy as some of the children were siblings and went searching for their brother or sister. And at least one had found the segregated kids and had a near nervous breakdown. The trauma of having lost their parents and then thinking they were losing a sibling... Satori’s heart broke for them. But she had to fix this somehow. Keep the kids safe. “Do you know what to do?”
“Yeah, Nic,” he said with a little smile. Had she given him her name? Had they met before? He thought maybe he’d seen her down at the brewery. It was always hard to place people when he met them elsewhere, then later at their job, just like he was sure she was having the same issue. “I didn’t catch your name,” he finally said, feeling bad that he’d forgotten if they had met. Hopefully he hadn’t been drunk.
“That’s really strange,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to the first child, a girl that looked to be about twelve. She was crying, looking about blindly, and he spoke soothingly in an attempt to calm her down. Of course, he didn’t think he’d be calmed down by quiet words, but he had to try. “Hey there, can you turn your head this direction?” he asked, lightly turning her face towards him with one finger. Pulling a light out of his bag, he watched as the eyes dialated appropriately. Nothing looked wrong with them, but something obviously was. Nic sunk his teeth into his bottom lip and shook his head. “Thank you,” he said, then moved to the next child, a boy that was probably ten. Nic wondered how he’d survived to make it to the orphanage. Testing his eyes, he saw the same reaction. As far as he could tell, they should be able to see.
“Can you check the rest of the kids?” he asked his partner, who nodded. “I’m gonna talk to the director.” Which meant they needed to step away, because he didn’t want to frighten them.
He didn't seem to know her so she second guessed her thought that they'd interacted. Maybe she'd seen him in passing as someone said his name. Who knew in this small town? Still she could swear that she knew him somehow. But that was probably a passing fantasy brought on by the panic she was feeling. She needed something to cling to, some boon of hope right now. "Oh, right, I'm Satori." Of course, he didn't know. She wondered now what had made her think so.
One of her older residents, a girl of about 15, came to her as Nic sat on the first bed. She wrapped her arms around the girl sideways and held her as the girl cried. She was too old to be there really, but her little sister was here in this ward, blind. Satori held her as she trembled and watched Nic with great hope, all the while whispering, "He's going to help them. I just know it." When she heard him say that he was going to speak with her, she sent the girl to sit with her sister and stepped outside the ward with Nic.
"What's your diagnosis or whatever?" she asked, her hands moving as she spoke.
He’d have remembered a name like Satori, though he thought he might have seen her in passing. The dome was small enough that that happened regularly. Everyone knew everyone and he rode the only ambulance in town, so there was a fifty percent chance he’d be the one to come if you called the ambulance. He was honestly surprised he hadn’t been to the orphanage more often.
“Well... this is going to sound strange, but there doesn’t appear to be any damage to their eyes,” Nic said once they were out of earshot. “Not that I can tell, anyways. I’ve never heard of anything like this happening, but I know it’s all over town. Sudden blindness is-- is rare. I’m more inclined to this their vision will return over time.” How much time? He didn’t know, but he couldn’t believe the half the town would stay blind for good.
Satori nodded the entire time he was speaking but her arms were folded across her chest. She was sort of hearing through what he was saying to the truth and answered him likewise. “So you’re saying you have no idea what’s going on and no idea when it’s going to stop?” She nodded again. Her voice was not accusatory or rude or anything other than resigned. This was probably the strangest thing to happen since the Zs and she wasn’t going to expect him to have all the answers. But that she had had a medical professional check the kids out and he had sort of the same conclusion she had.... well she felt a bit better.
“Thank you for coming out here right now. We really needed to hear something. Is there anything I can do to make them more comfortable or help them heal or anything?” she asked, hugging herself now. She felt tears wanting to rise but she was going to hold herself together.
Nic deflated a little at her question, sincerely wishing he could give her a better answer. He wasn’t a doctor, but he could usually tell people a little more than ‘wait and hope’, but that’s just what she’d gotten. It truly sucked. “Unfortunately, yeah,” he sighed.
“The eyes have an incredible ability to heal themselves, so rest is probably what I’d recommend,” he said, glancing back towards the kids. “Rest, stay calm, try not to panic, and pray this is just temporary. I can take them down to the hospital, if you’d like.” The only problem with that was that their ER was full of people with the exact same problem. “Or I can listen in on what’s going on down at the hospital, see if they have any ideas what’s causing this.” It sounded lame, but it would save them the trip if all of them had the same diagnosis.
Satori felt like a bobble-head. She was still nodding. But she heard what he had to say. She got it. It wasn’t like medicine was an exact science these days. Not that she knew it ever had been, but when the professionals were whoever could fill the post better than the average population who had no medical training... well. “No, no,” she protested. “We don’t need to take them all down there to the emergency room. I think we can manage here if it’s likely to pass. And if it’s not, we can decide what to do then. But could you stay?”
Her pale blue eyes searched his face pleadingly. She was feeling so unqualified to be this person right now. And she could so use the help. The reassurance if possible. “I mean, at least until you get another call? I don’t want to keep you unnecessarily, but if you could stay a little, that would put so many minds at ease.”
If he thought he could help anyone who was having this problem, Nic would have said he needed to move on, but since every call that came in was for the exact same thing, it didn’t seem necessary to rush away. All he’d do was tell them the exact same thing he told her, and that felt like basically nothing. “Sure,” he said. “Let me send my partner on, and I’ll tell him I’ll catch up.” The chief would understand him staying at the orphanage a little longer, certainly.
Nic stepped aside to fill his partner in, who then waved before heading out the front door. Maybe his continued presence would make the kids feel a little better. Maybe they’d think it wasn’t a big deal if he wasn’t loading them up to go to the hospital. “If we can just keep them calm enough to wait for a diagnosis from the hospital, I think we’ll be in better shape,” he told her quietly. “I don’t want to scare them unnecessarily.”
Satori was so for not scaring the kids if it wasn’t necessary. She was thankful that he was willing to hang out and do whatever he could even if it wasn’t a lot. She could’ve hugged him and almost did, but she held herself back and simply repeated her bobble-head routine. “Do you want something to eat while you wait? I was about to leave to get something and bring it back for my staff. I can have someone run out instead.” It would pass the time, at least, she figured. And talking happened more readily when people were eating.
Another bout of deja vu rippled through her, but she simply smiled and inclined her head. “I think if we had a late lunch and told them all a story, they’d stay calm. What say you?”
“I-- I could stay for lunch,” Nic said with a small smile. It never would have flown before the dome, but now there was no reason not to. Nic was thinking that it would keep the kids calm, doing something so normal, and it would give the hospital time to provide a more accurate diagnosis. “Let’s go tell the kids not to worry, that we’re waiting on word from the hospital and we’re going to have lunch. Are you going to send someone out, or do you need help in the kitchen?” Because Nic was nothing if not helpful.
Now that she had taken a step back from things and had someone around who was a lot more level-headed, and they had hope coming from the hospital hopefully... well Satori was calming quite a bit herself. Enough so that she could clear her head, take a good look at him, and decide that there was nothing familiar about him whatsoever except that maybe she’d passed him somewhere. That could be the only reason she’d known his name.
She nodded at him, “Let’s definitely go tell them. And then let’s go do something in the kitchen. I’m a little leery of going out or sending anyone out considering what happened when the children were out last.” She knew it was a little over the top to be worried about that now but she wasn’t taking any chances. Being blind herself would freak her out even more so than seeing the children that way. Which made her feel terrible but it was the truth.
“I think we should definitely stay with them, at least until we know more,” Nic agreed. He didn’t want to be out of earshot, should anything change. It bothered him that he was able to do so little here, that nothing he said or did could improve the outcome. Either their vision would return or it wouldn’t.
“If everyone will just sit tight, we’re going to make lunch and wait for word from the hospital. We’ll let you know as soon as we know more, okay?” Nic said, nervous with all of their little faces looking back at him blindly. They didn’t know him, they couldn’t see him, but he was asking them to trust him. He just hoped he wouldn’t let them down.
Satori watched as Nic delivered the news to her kids and saw that some of them looked more relaxed to hear his strong, male voice relating so decisively to them. Many of them had been too young to know their parents and they were used to the women who mostly populated the orphanage staff, but she knew that a masculine presence definitely gave some of them a better sense of stability. It was supposed to be that way anyway.
She smiled wanly at him and held an arm out in the direction of the kitchen, leading the way as he began to walk with her. "I think you helped some of them feel a lot better. Thank you. Do you have any preferences by way of food? Because I … can't cook. I can get one of my staff to prepare edible food though."
Nic didn’t know how anyone could see him as an authority figure, but if he could keep them calm for the time being, then that was fine by him. He was hoping to receive word from the hospital that this would only last a couple of days, but until they had a diagnosis, he wasn’t going to give the kids bad news.
“You’re welcome,” he smiled, following her back towards the kitchen. Hearing that she couldn’t cook made him laugh softly. “Well, do you have the stuff to make sandwiches? Because that just takes stacking the ingredients next to each other. I’m pretty sure you can’t screw it up,” he teased lightly.
"Wowza, Mister. Stacking the ingredients next to each other? Who woulda thought that could work?" She laughed for the first time in what felt like eons since she's learned the children had gone blind. Well, at least he could take her mind off of it too. For a little while, at least. "Yes, I think we might have things for sandwiches. We had a delivery from the market earlier so there should be roast beef, fish, chicken, cheese, veggies. Bread was made in-house yesterday; nice and crusty. But I would absolutely kill for some mayo."
Eggs seemed to be too hard to come by these days so the egg-based emulsion was not high on anyone's list of priorities but she loved it on sandwiches. She sighed at the memory and entered the kitchen on that note. It was modest but it would provide what they needed.
“Only the mind of a brilliant chef knows these secrets,” he grinned. Nic enjoyed cooking, but he wasn’t familiar with their kitchen, so he didn’t think now would be the time to make something bigger. If for some reason the kids stayed blind, though, he’d have to return on a regular basis and make them dinner, even if that wouldn’t make their sight come back. “What’s mayo made out of?” he asked as they entered the kitchen.
Satori was somehow pleased he asked her about mayo. Both because she knew how to answer and because it was further distraction. She was so grateful he was the one to show up. The last time she'd called the hospital they'd sent someone cold and officious. He was likable and friendly.
"Mayo is a mixture of egg yolk, oil, and vinegar. You have to blend it just right in the correct proportions to get anything delicious but when you do…" she let her voice trail off and, to her utter embarrassment, her stomach rumbled. She clasped her arms around her middle and flushed slightly. "I haven't eaten in hours I guess. I hadn't realized since all this has been going on. Sorry about that. And oh, the meats and cheese are in the fridge over there. I'll get bread and plates."
Nic was good at the part of his job where he had to interact with people. It was part of why he enjoyed it. He got to help people, and sometimes that meant more than patching up broken bones. Sometimes it meant talking to them, helping them remain calm in a situation that they wanted to panic in. That was probably why the chief chose to send him to the orphanage.
“So now I’m gonna ask, where does vinegar come from,” he said with a smile as he dug around in the kitchen. It was fairly easy to find things. Most people seemed to store kitchen items in similar places. Putting out a cutting board, he began to start the sandwich process. “No problem,” he laughed. “I’m sure even when you don’t have blind kids, it’s hard to find time to eat. They keep you busy?”
Satori thought for a moment, wracking her brain because she knew she knew the answer to his question this time too. “It’s when wine ferments too long, right? It turns to vinegar which isn’t what a vintner would want, but someone like me would very much love a little vinegar in her life.” Which struck her as funny because she was fully aware that the flirtatious thing was supposed to be to say a girl wanted sugar in her life.
She glanced down at herself and knew she was barely there. She had a tiny frame, but she hadn’t fleshed it out much and he’d obviously noticed. “You’re right. I don’t eat as often as I should. Are you going to school me in nutrition?” she asked, her voice a playful dare. “They keep my every thought focused. I love them all dearly as if they were my own. I couldn’t live without any of them.” And she covered her mouth, unsure as to why she’d just said all of that to him.
“There’s a vineyard in town, so I’m sure they could spare a little wine to make vinegar,” Nic said thoughtfully. Vinegar could be used for all kinds of things. Even if they didn’t make a lot, he was sure they’d have a market for it. “See, I can cook, but I’d need someone like you around to tell me what goes into things. Then I could make homemade anything,” he grinned.
“I didn’t say that,” he pointed out with a smile as he sliced things up. “I just said I can understand how you’d forget to eat. Though if you feed them, then you just have to remember to eat when they eat.” It sounded simple enough, but that meant she would have to be still for a minute. Nic suspected that was hard with all the kids running around. Her outburst made him smile and he wasn’t sure why she seemed embarrassed about it. “Then they’re in the best hands they can be in, right?”
Satori was amused by his charisma. She had almost seen through the job part of it wherein he put people at ease to help them cope into what she felt was more than that. Where he actually made a point of saying someone like her could be useful in the kitchen. She knew she couldn't be, but it was nice to feel included. In fact, it tapped into past things and she suddenly found herself in a struggle.
After a moment she recovered and simply passed him the final piece of bread. She wasn't going to talk again about having a deeper connection with the kids than she was supposed to. Because she was sure that normal people would feel responsible, but only she was nutty enough to feel connected. A bit of her in a bit of them. And vice versa.
Nic took her silence to mean he’d mis-stepped somewhere and had to think back on what he’d said and what might offend. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d put his foot in his mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anything. I think what you do is great, and even better if you really care for the kids. I think it makes a difference in the long run.” Being loved versus being babysat were two different things, and hers was a job that could only be done right when she put her whole heart into it. He had an appreciation for how much work that must take, but knew the kind of person that wanted to do it was the kind where they had to. It was just part of who they were.
“What do you like to do when you’re not watching the kids?” he asked. “Do they give you some time to yourself?”
Satori’s brows shot up slightly and she immediately opened her mouth to put him back at ease. “No, no! It’s fine. I’m not uncomfortable. Only ... well, uncomfortable.” She made a face at herself, her eyes rolling slightly as her hands moved a little. “What I mean is that you didn’t make me feel uncomfortable. I just am uncomfortable with some of this job.” She smirked at herself because that probably didn’t explain it either but she didn’t want to unload her life story on him. He wasn’t her therapist after all. “I guess I sometimes don’t want anyone to think I can’t be professional. I already give them enough reason to question me with all this,” she finished with a flourish of her hand along her black hair and darkly clad figure.
She nibbled a crust of bread for a moment before answering his question. “I do get time to myself, sure. I even get days off because I have an assistant director and there are overnight workers too. Um, I guess I like wandering around and bumping into people. For real. I go into the pub sometimes with the only thought being to start up a conversation with someone I haven’t met yet or don’t know that well. What about you? Do you get time to yourself?”
“Are you uncomfortable because of the job itself? Or are you just worried about how people perceive you?” Nic asked, looking up for a moment as he made the sandwiches. In his mind, they were two different things, though they could both cause discomfort. “I don’t think we’re in a place where people can judge you based on your appearance. If the kids are happy and that’s not because you’re feeding them cake for every meal, then no one has room to talk.” He understood her worrying, though. He suspected a lot of people weren’t sure of their place anymore. He knew he was taking on more than he normally would have if things hadn’t changed. Sometimes he liked the challenge, but other times he wished he’d had all the proper training.
“I’m always on call in case of a fire, but we work in shifts for the ambulance, so everyone gets some downtime. It’s usually pretty quiet, but today’s been kind of crazy,” he said, flashing her a smile. Even when he was working, there wasn’t always anything to do. The fire station had their own little garden to tend to, so they could be useful in their downtime. “I hang out at the brewery a lot. Or pub. Whatever you want to call it. I think I’ve seen you there before. We’ll have to hang out next time.”
"It's, I guess, mostly that I don't want anyone to take them away from me because I choose to wear my personality on my sleeve with how I look. I've had comments…" she said but let her voice trail off because she was dancing dangerously close to dumping on him again.
Satori glanced sideways at Nic, studying his face as he spoke and worked on sandwiches. She wondered if he was being nice or if he really did mean they should hang out. She chose to react to the latter because he shouldn't put it out there if he didn't mean it. "I think that would be a good time when there's no crisis. I could regale you with homemade-eyeliner-making techniques and you can tell me all about the sports you played in high school."
She grinned, poking a little fun at them both. She because she was, and had been for years, the stereotypical goth chic chick. And he because he just looked like a jock. They were from two different worlds, she assumed, and yet their world was exactly the same now thanks to the Zs.
If he’d known who was commenting on her looks, Nic would have given them a piece of his mind. How the hell could people still make such snap judgements? In a world where Satori could literally do anything she wanted, she’d chosen to take care of orphans. That should have been enough for them to keep their mouths shut. “Ignore ‘em,” he said. “They’re all talk anyways. I know talk can hurt, but I don’t think you’re in any danger of losing the kids.”
“I didn’t know you could make your own eye-liner,” he grinned. “I guess it has to come from somewhere, though. I think I can entertain you with more than my baseball stats, so yeah, if you’re up for it, we should get a drink this weekend, when things calm down.” And he was sure they would. They had to. He refused to believe the kids would stay blind.
Satori smiled genuinely at him. Whatever his motivation for saying what he said, his bedside manner was a great one. She would have to tell him that one day when they knew each other better. If that happened. She kind of hoped it did. He had some layers there that she'd enjoy peeling back. She could tell. Someone with that much charisma didn't do paramedic duty unless they had a humble streak.
"I don't know if you've heard the rumors that some folks are starting a Neighborhood Beautification Committee, but it was made clear that I was part of the reason if it happened." She laughed with a little more confidence than she had first felt when she had overheard that whisper a few weeks back. "But I guess there will be bullies no matter how old or how zombified the world is, right?"
She nodded, "Mmhm, yes, coal and other things. But definitely, let's get a drink this weekend. It could be good to relax after this all."
“What is wrong with people?” Nic said with a half laugh and a shake of his head. He couldn’t believe they could still be so small minded after everything that had happened. Did they truly have no appreciation for the differences in people? “Tell ‘em to go f--” He caught himself, suddenly remembering there were children nearby, even if not in the room. “--take a walk,” he said, trying to finish his phrase with someone acceptable.
“Don’t let me forget to get your number before I leave,” he smiled. New friends were always good, even better if they’d drink with him.
That was it. Last peg in her panic flew out of the way and she giggled at him. She liked that he thought enough to care that there were possibly children around to overhear him and made sure to not cuss. Some days she didn't even think of that herself and she loved the kids dearly. Yes, she was definitely hoping to be friends with him.
"If you forget, you at least know where to find me during the day hours." And she left it at that. She never chased anyone into relationship of any sort. If he wanted to follow through, he would.
Satori was about to open her mouth to say something new when an excited little girl burst into the kitchen. "Miss S, Miss S! I can see! Tommy too! Come look!"
“That I do,” he grinned, stacking sandwiches onto a plate. If he didn’t see her at the brewery, he could always drop by the orphanage, even during his own working hours.
When the little girl ran into the kitchen, Nic was at first apprehensive, and then relieved. He’d been hoping something like this would happen, but he didn’t know how long it would take. “Thank God,” he said under his breath, then louder, to the girl and Satori. “That’s great. I’m sure everyone will get their vision back soon enough. Let’s go check on them and have lunch, shall we?”