inner_wolf (inner_wolf) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-24 14:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !partner thread, anders, nina pickering |
Who: Anders & Nina
What: Working
When: Mid-February
Where: Hospital
Rating: Low/None
Status: Complete
Nina had done a double shift and was just coming to the end of her rounds, her last patient had wanted company so she’d stayed over to listen to her story. She knew some of the end of life patients found it hard with nobody to listen to them so she did what she could.
Heading out of the room she yawned and rubbed her eyes, causing her to bump into someone as she turned the corner. “Oh god, I’m so sorry” she said, “I wasn’t paying attention” she gave an apologetic smile before recognising the man in front of her. “You’re new here right? Or I’ve only just noticed you around” she said, holding out her hand, “I’m Nina, one of the head nurses.”
Anders was in a fairly good mood. He had just finished a heart surgery, which had gone unbelievably smoothly. The patient was still sleeping soundly under the anesthesia, but it seemed as though he would be fine. Anders had some time before he had to prep for his next surgery, and was headed toward the cafeteria to grab a coffee and maybe a sandwich.
Anders had only just seen the woman walking out of the room when she walked into him, and hadn’t had time to stop. “No problem,” he said, giving her a smile. “It happens.”
At her question, he shook his head. “Not new, no,” he said. “I’ve been here for about a year. I’m only part time though.” And he hadn’t really gone out of his way to meet any of his coworkers. Until the last few weeks, he had only gone to the break room for coffee, and most of the staff had only really seen him when they were working with him in surgery. He decided he didn’t really need to get into that though. Besides, he couldn’t think of a way to say ‘I had no interest in socializing with anyone’ without sounding rude. “I’m Anders, surgeon. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nina.”
“Ah then we’ve probably just managed to miss each other all this time” Nina grinned, since she didn’t work surgery and mostly only in A&E or on the terminal ward there really hadn’t been a reason for them to meet. But Nina liked knowing people, in and out of work, it was part of her friendly open nature. “Pleased to meet you too Doctor” she replied, “I’m sorry for holding you up.”
“You’re not holding me up at all,” he said. “I was just going on break. Actually, if you had some free time, I wouldn’t say no to some company.”
“Sure, I have time. Coffee and company sounds good to me” Nina smiled, “It’ll be nice to get to know another face around here, even if we don’t run into each other very often”
“I agree,” Anders said, and began to head toward the cafeteria. He hadn’t really spoken to any of the nurses in the year he had been there, and he was beginning to worry that some of them might have found him a bit of an elitist because of it. One of those doctors who thought he was so much better than the nurses. Maybe chatting to a head nurse might help with some of their suspicions. “So, how long have you worked here?”
Nina however spoke to practically everybody she saw, growing up in a nice suburb outside London and then travelling around Europe for a few months meant she was used to striking up conversations. “About two years now. I originally came as a relief nurse just covering wherever I was needed. Mostly I work in A&E or on the terminal wards. As you can probably tell I’m not from America” her accent tended to give her away.
Anders chucked a little at that. “No,” he said, in agreement with her not being from the USA. “I’m guessing somewhere in England?”
“You must be made of sterner stuff than I am, to work in the terminal ward,” Anders admitted. He had worked very briefly in the terminal ward when he was still a student in Germany. Though he occasionally would lose his patients now - it was part of the price one paid to be a doctor - it wasn’t something he needed to deal with every day.
Nina nodded, “Not far from London” she told him, since that was usually the easiest way. People tended to know where London was.
“It’s hard but valuable and appreciated. If I can make someones last days or weeks easier then I will” she said, “I helped nurse my mother when she was dying, maybe that helps me relate more to them” She knew it was unusual but Nina felt a kind of calmness around those at the end of their life and helped bring that calmness to them in return.
Anders nodded. “It’s definitely an important job,” he said. They had reached the cafeteria and he stood in line to get a couple of coffees and a sandwich. He was more than happy to pay for Nina’s coffee.
He used to be a lot better at small talk, but a year of not talking to anyone had kind of changed that. Either way, he was determined to get back into practice. “How’s work been in ED lately?” he asked. “I’ve been getting a lot more injuries lately in my free clinic because of this crime wave. I don’t suppose it’s much different here?” Maybe it was. Most of the people he worked at were the working poor, who were under insured. They always seemed to be more at risk to be victims of crime.
“It’s a similar story here” Nina confirmed as they waited, she didn’t expect him to pay for her coffee though of course she wouldn’t argue with him about it. “There has been a marked increase in all kinds of crime related injuries from minor to severe, it’s rather worrying” Nobody was safe it seemed from this latest wave of activity.
Anders pursed his lips. The idea that there were a bunch of people out there who just decided to go around attacking people made him angry. But, well, it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about that just now, other than treat the people who came to see him. “It is worrying,” Anders said. “I hope that those people are brought to justice soon.”
He shook his head, and replaced the smile on his lips. The last thing he needed to do was get all justicey on someone the first time he met them.
“Weird things happen a lot but this is the most severe and prolonged I’ve ever seen it” Nina commented, it worried her too especially when some of those she’d recently treated had been law enforcement officers.
“I’m sure they will be. Someone will work something out I’m sure” she only hoped it was sooner rather than later.
Anders hadn’t treated any law enforcement officers - they had enough health insurance that they didn’t need to come to his free clinic, so he didn’t know exactly how bad everything was. That was probably for the better.
“Weird things?” Anders asked. He had kept to himself, so he hadn’t really known of any weird things. Well, except that people apparently had shared dream worlds and some of them got magical powers or wings or clothing from their dreams. He guessed all that was pretty weird. He wondered if Nina had had any dreams.
“Well there’s the strange things that happen like the crime wave, but also random snow storms and waking up next to random strangers who you can’t move more than a few metres away from for a few days. And then of course, there’s the dreams” Oh yes Nina had the dreams and thanks to them turned into a werewolf once a month, not that she was going to tell him that.
"You get them too!" Anders exclaimed when she mentioned the dreams. A couple of people sitting nearby glanced over their way and he cleared his throat in an embarrassed sort of way. "Sorry, I just started getting them this month. But... Wait, being stuck to a person? That sounds annoying."
Well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad if he was stuck with Tink.
"This place is far more... Interesting than I thought it would be, that's for sure."
Nina laughed very softly, “It’s okay and yes I do” she confirmed, “You’d think so and for a lot it was but well, it’s how I met my boyfriend so it worked for me” she smiled.
“Oh there’s hardly ever a dull moment and when there is you learn to appreciate it”
Anders couldn’t stop himself from laughing when she mentioned that that’s how she met her boyfriend. “That almost sounds like the plot for a rom-com,” he mentioned. “Please, please tell me you just couldn’t stand each other at the beginning of it, but the longer you spent together the more you realized just how much you liked the other?” It was too perfect.
“I’m afraid not but we did have a slight misunderstanding which we overcame to get along much better, does that count? Probably not a blockbuster rom-com right?” she laughed, kind of liking the way he thought.
“Hmm, well, we can possibly save it as a blockbuster,” Anders said, “if we make the misunderstanding that he perhaps placed some sort of bet with his douchey best friends, like he could totally get you to win homecoming queen or something. Or that it was his evil spell that got you stuck together. Some sort of well-intentioned mistake on his end, but by the time you discovered it in the third act, Something Terrible Had Happened and you thought that it was intentional.” Anders watched far more rom-coms than he would ever admit to.
“Sadly that didn’t happen either” Nina said after she’d stopped laughing, “But you know I think you may have found a second calling in story writing” she teased a little, good heartedly of course, “You totally have the rom-com structure down”
Anders grinned. “If I had more free time, I’m sure I could write some great screenplays.” He paused. “Well, mediocre screenplays that would generate a lot of money.”
“Which is pretty much the aim of most screenwriters when they write those movies” Nina smiled.
Anders had to laugh at that. “Isn’t that the truth?” he agreed. “I mean, they’re good for what they’re good for if you’re into that sort of thing, but if you’re looking for something thought provoking, probably not so much.”
“Oh no, they are definitely mindless films. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy them when I want to switch off but yeah, mind provoking they are not” she nodded.
"People definitely need to switch off sometimes," Anders agreed. "I think that's especially true in the line of work we do."
He finished off his sandwich, then looked at his watch. "I'm going to have to head back to work again pretty soon," he sighed. Normally, his breaks were more than enough time, but he also normally didn't talk to people during them. He had been enjoying Nina's company.
Nina nodded, “I should head off too” she said, since technically she hadn’t been on shift for a little while now. Not that she minded hanging around. “It was nice to meet you though, we’ll have to do this again sometime and thank you for the drink”
"It was no problem," he said in response to the coffee. "And yes, we'll definitely have to do it again. And hey, if you ever want your love life turned into a rom-com, I'll take tons of liberties and turn it into a hit." He gave her a wink. Then he headed back to work.