((A continuation of Empathy: Branching Out. This SL will contain graphic and mature scenes and is not intended for readers under eighteen.))
"Here."
Sivanna exercised no amount of modesty when she took the fresh scrub top Nina-- the nursing assistant she had been shadowing for the day-- handed her. Regardless of the other two nurses chatting in the locker room, the cleric mindlessly removed and discarded the soiled garment she had been wearing into the clothes hamper. Before clothing herself once more, however, she wandered over to the sink to wet and soap up a wad of paper towels and sponge what had seeped through the uniform off her skin. Nina, obviously not uncomfortable with naked bodies caught Sivanna's gaze in the mirror.
"I would apologize, but that kind of thing happens here all the time. You get used to it." Her '20's-inspired crimped bob was ruffled nonchalantly before she finally averted her gaze to give the cleric some privacy.
Though she had gone through almost the entire supply of paper towels, Sivanna's lips quirked in amusement. "It's all right. I've smelled worse."
Once the cleric had donned her new uniform top, Nina crossed her slender arms and bent forward to give her a good sniff. "Well, you ain't exactly baptized in Chanel, but flies won't be circling your head anytime soon." Gold-flecked hazel eyes ticked up to meet Sivanna's playfully. "At least be thankful Mr. Hammack only had pudding in his system."
"I'll have a party tonight to celebrate it," Sivanna replied flatly, tying her hair back with an elastic she'd around her wrist. ?Bring whatever you want, so long as it isn?t pudding.?
"Well!" A giggle preceded the hard pat that hit the cleric square between her shoulder blades. "You ready for lunch?"
Sivanna captured Nina with a blunt look. "Not especially."
The HCA?s eyes slanted mockingly at her in the mirror. "I thought you said you were in the military. This kind of thing shouldn?t bother you.?
"I was. And it doesn?t. I'm not squeamish, just not particularly hungry."
"Uh huh,? Nina replied, unconvinced. When she received not another glance from Sivanna, she merely shrugged. ?Suit yourself." She bent over, retrieved several packets of documents and handed them to the cleric. "Take this down to reception, will you? Then you can break and? I don't know. Stare at the wall."
Even Sivanna didn't know if it was out of humor or scorn, but she turned and gave the HCA a razor-sharp, lethal smile?one worthy of being worn by a lioness before mealtime. "One of my favorite pastimes, I assure you."
After snorting femininely, Nina sashayed her way out of the locker room, leaving Sivanna with both a bundle of patient files and the distinct impression that the HCA was an out-of-work dancer.
Shambles was nothing like Riverview. The work was constant and so far relatively unrewarding, and the pay was utterly dismal. In the past that would not have bothered Sivanna, but after one got used to a certain lifestyle it took some time before reverting was feasible. She knew that the staff at Shambles meant well; gave her what they could afford and what she earned, but she had massive debts to repay. Yet, Siv had to keep reminding herself that Shambles was not a stopgap. She had in mind bigger things for herself and had to rely on this new clinic to get her there.
Still? Shambles was nothing like Riverview. And she hadn't made up her mind as to whether that was a good thing yet.
"Deep breaths, Sivanna," the cleric reminded herself quietly once she was alone. She opened the door that led back out to the nurse's station, and when it swung inward instead of outward her sneaker caught and wedged fast against the floor. Once it was free, she compensated for the extra momentum by bracing her palm against the frame, bringing her eye-to-eye with a pair of baby blues. And baby was exactly the right word for it.
"Ah?" Sivanna stammered.
A little girl no more than four years old stared back at her familiarly and expectantly, as if it were the cleric's sole duty to know her favorite bedtime stories by heart. Silence stretched on between them and was filled with nothing but the beeping of nearby machines and the subdued chatter of healers.
"I do beg your pardon," the cleric mumbled uselessly, shifting her weight from foot to foot there in the doorway. The only response such an exclamation merited was the slow tracking of Sivanna's movements by the child's head. When she took a step forward, the little girl only remained rooted in place, mop of raven curls twitching as she dipped them at the elfess meaningfully.
When she still refused to budge, the cleric made up her mind that this young one had serious socialization problems, and probably ought to be schooled in all manners of etiquette. But that was some other parent?s problem to deal with, and as it was she was hopeless when it came to associating with anyone at or under the age of adolescence.
?Excuse me,? Sivanna insisted, easily using the back of her hand to gently shove the waif of a thing aside and pass. Bundle of folders in hand, she continued toward the stairs. As she looked over her shoulder, however, she became unnerved by the sight of the tiny imp of a girl following her diligently.
Since when had Sivanna ever? ever attracted children?
Easing open the door to the stairs with no small amount of urgency or force, the cleric reached the steps quickly. Her expert Elvish ears, however, became quickly reminded of the little girl?s presence within less than the length of a human heartbeat, as the girl had followed her inside. Annoyed, Sivanna glanced over her shoulder and got a look at the innocently empty pair of eyes staring right back at her.
?Listen,? she addressed the girl sternly, using her armful of folders the same way a matador might brandish his cape. When the little one did not flee in terror?much to Siv?s disappointment?the cleric propped a hand on her hip and regarded her unsmilingly. ?You can?t follow me,? she explained, doing her best imitation of her friend Anya?s authoritative voice. It was the same one that often accompanied the use of all three names in their particular group of friends. ?Go back to your parents.?
W.W.A.D. What would Anya do? In this case, Sivanna could only see fit to point sharply back toward the door that led back out to the floor. Shoo!
The girl only gave her a quizzical look, then took several steps forward and balanced precariously on the top step.
?Wait a second,? Sivanna mumbled, amazed at the amount of protectivity she suddenly felt. Could it be she was making progress? Cautiously, the cleric reached out to draw the girl back from the ledge.
The girl turned her head and produced an angelic smile.
It was a beautiful, terrifying thing.
As she felt herself being pulled forward and that brief bout of weightlessness that one incurs before a fall, a strange, fleeting idea penetrated her thoughts. Though she had not heard one sound uttered by this child, Sivanna gathered the distinct impression that the girl?s voice would be completely and utterly bewitching. It would be a captivating, feminine thing that belonged somewhere else?perhaps to someone who could more appropriately match its dangerously elegant timbre.
But of course, that thought was only fleeting.
Before she could gain a firm hold of the girl and balance herself accordingly, her foot caught on the second step, pitching her toward all the others. Without thinking, Sivanna curled her arms around the girl and used her body to fall in her stead, introducing her sharp bones to each of the concrete steps mercilessly. They came harder and faster than she expected them to, and when they did it was in a white flash of cold, metallic ringing. There were three rings, then four, and when she saw the black and white taper off into only black, she felt sure there would be at least a dozen more of the same thing.
When she awoke again, Nina was giving her the most amused look.
?Been here less than six months, and already you?ve injured yourself on the job,? the nursing assistant complained, her elbow perched comfortably on Sivanna?s hospital bed. ?I didn?t realize taking down files was so difficult. Next time I?ll start you off with Post-Its.?
?It wasn?t,? Sivanna replied as she sat up slowly, groaning as she felt a rude, throbbing ache along her entire right arm.
?Easy there,? Nina warned, using a soft hand to ease Sivanna back to the bed slowly. ?You dislocated your shoulder and sustained a compound fracture of the wrist. I don?t think I?ve ever seen anyone take a tumble that hard on duty.?
Quicksilver eyes flicked from the roll of purple plaster around her wrist to the HCA. ?You going to tell Frondaya on me?? she asked with a twitch of her lips.
Nina shrugged. ?Protocol. You?re required to submit an accident report.? Her lips thinned into a smile. ?Believe it or not, he does care about his employees.?
A tiny sigh escaped the cleric as the back of her head roughly hit her pillow. As she thought of the director?s enchanting red eyes, she wondered if they would light up with anger or unwarranted sympathy with the news. Truthfully she would mind neither so long as he smiled. Sivanna may have been married, but that did not mean she could not appreciate handsome things.
?Now,? said Nina, interrupting the cleric?s musings. ?What I will do is give you this and tell you to go home for the day.?
Opening the orange pill bottle she received took less an effort than swallowing two white pills from inside it. Once they had worked their way dryly down her throat, she fixed Nina with a look.
?That girl that was with me? was she all right??
The HCA only blinked back at her, completely oblivious. ?What girl??
?That girl. She was about five. She was the reason I fell down the stairs in the first place.?
When Nina only gave her a completely blank stare in reply, Sivanna sighed and shook her head as she dropped another pill into her mouth.
?Never mind.?
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/039/2/4/my_addiction_by_meandarksmile-d394xvc.jpg
"Here."
Sivanna exercised no amount of modesty when she took the fresh scrub top Nina-- the nursing assistant she had been shadowing for the day-- handed her. Regardless of the other two nurses chatting in the locker room, the cleric mindlessly removed and discarded the soiled garment she had been wearing into the clothes hamper. Before clothing herself once more, however, she wandered over to the sink to wet and soap up a wad of paper towels and sponge what had seeped through the uniform off her skin. Nina, obviously not uncomfortable with naked bodies caught Sivanna's gaze in the mirror.
"I would apologize, but that kind of thing happens here all the time. You get used to it." Her '20's-inspired crimped bob was ruffled nonchalantly before she finally averted her gaze to give the cleric some privacy.
Though she had gone through almost the entire supply of paper towels, Sivanna's lips quirked in amusement. "It's all right. I've smelled worse."
Once the cleric had donned her new uniform top, Nina crossed her slender arms and bent forward to give her a good sniff. "Well, you ain't exactly baptized in Chanel, but flies won't be circling your head anytime soon." Gold-flecked hazel eyes ticked up to meet Sivanna's playfully. "At least be thankful Mr. Hammack only had pudding in his system."
"I'll have a party tonight to celebrate it," Sivanna replied flatly, tying her hair back with an elastic she'd around her wrist. ?Bring whatever you want, so long as it isn?t pudding.?
"Well!" A giggle preceded the hard pat that hit the cleric square between her shoulder blades. "You ready for lunch?"
Sivanna captured Nina with a blunt look. "Not especially."
The HCA?s eyes slanted mockingly at her in the mirror. "I thought you said you were in the military. This kind of thing shouldn?t bother you.?
"I was. And it doesn?t. I'm not squeamish, just not particularly hungry."
"Uh huh,? Nina replied, unconvinced. When she received not another glance from Sivanna, she merely shrugged. ?Suit yourself." She bent over, retrieved several packets of documents and handed them to the cleric. "Take this down to reception, will you? Then you can break and? I don't know. Stare at the wall."
Even Sivanna didn't know if it was out of humor or scorn, but she turned and gave the HCA a razor-sharp, lethal smile?one worthy of being worn by a lioness before mealtime. "One of my favorite pastimes, I assure you."
After snorting femininely, Nina sashayed her way out of the locker room, leaving Sivanna with both a bundle of patient files and the distinct impression that the HCA was an out-of-work dancer.
Shambles was nothing like Riverview. The work was constant and so far relatively unrewarding, and the pay was utterly dismal. In the past that would not have bothered Sivanna, but after one got used to a certain lifestyle it took some time before reverting was feasible. She knew that the staff at Shambles meant well; gave her what they could afford and what she earned, but she had massive debts to repay. Yet, Siv had to keep reminding herself that Shambles was not a stopgap. She had in mind bigger things for herself and had to rely on this new clinic to get her there.
Still? Shambles was nothing like Riverview. And she hadn't made up her mind as to whether that was a good thing yet.
"Deep breaths, Sivanna," the cleric reminded herself quietly once she was alone. She opened the door that led back out to the nurse's station, and when it swung inward instead of outward her sneaker caught and wedged fast against the floor. Once it was free, she compensated for the extra momentum by bracing her palm against the frame, bringing her eye-to-eye with a pair of baby blues. And baby was exactly the right word for it.
"Ah?" Sivanna stammered.
A little girl no more than four years old stared back at her familiarly and expectantly, as if it were the cleric's sole duty to know her favorite bedtime stories by heart. Silence stretched on between them and was filled with nothing but the beeping of nearby machines and the subdued chatter of healers.
"I do beg your pardon," the cleric mumbled uselessly, shifting her weight from foot to foot there in the doorway. The only response such an exclamation merited was the slow tracking of Sivanna's movements by the child's head. When she took a step forward, the little girl only remained rooted in place, mop of raven curls twitching as she dipped them at the elfess meaningfully.
When she still refused to budge, the cleric made up her mind that this young one had serious socialization problems, and probably ought to be schooled in all manners of etiquette. But that was some other parent?s problem to deal with, and as it was she was hopeless when it came to associating with anyone at or under the age of adolescence.
?Excuse me,? Sivanna insisted, easily using the back of her hand to gently shove the waif of a thing aside and pass. Bundle of folders in hand, she continued toward the stairs. As she looked over her shoulder, however, she became unnerved by the sight of the tiny imp of a girl following her diligently.
Since when had Sivanna ever? ever attracted children?
Easing open the door to the stairs with no small amount of urgency or force, the cleric reached the steps quickly. Her expert Elvish ears, however, became quickly reminded of the little girl?s presence within less than the length of a human heartbeat, as the girl had followed her inside. Annoyed, Sivanna glanced over her shoulder and got a look at the innocently empty pair of eyes staring right back at her.
?Listen,? she addressed the girl sternly, using her armful of folders the same way a matador might brandish his cape. When the little one did not flee in terror?much to Siv?s disappointment?the cleric propped a hand on her hip and regarded her unsmilingly. ?You can?t follow me,? she explained, doing her best imitation of her friend Anya?s authoritative voice. It was the same one that often accompanied the use of all three names in their particular group of friends. ?Go back to your parents.?
W.W.A.D. What would Anya do? In this case, Sivanna could only see fit to point sharply back toward the door that led back out to the floor. Shoo!
The girl only gave her a quizzical look, then took several steps forward and balanced precariously on the top step.
?Wait a second,? Sivanna mumbled, amazed at the amount of protectivity she suddenly felt. Could it be she was making progress? Cautiously, the cleric reached out to draw the girl back from the ledge.
The girl turned her head and produced an angelic smile.
It was a beautiful, terrifying thing.
As she felt herself being pulled forward and that brief bout of weightlessness that one incurs before a fall, a strange, fleeting idea penetrated her thoughts. Though she had not heard one sound uttered by this child, Sivanna gathered the distinct impression that the girl?s voice would be completely and utterly bewitching. It would be a captivating, feminine thing that belonged somewhere else?perhaps to someone who could more appropriately match its dangerously elegant timbre.
But of course, that thought was only fleeting.
Before she could gain a firm hold of the girl and balance herself accordingly, her foot caught on the second step, pitching her toward all the others. Without thinking, Sivanna curled her arms around the girl and used her body to fall in her stead, introducing her sharp bones to each of the concrete steps mercilessly. They came harder and faster than she expected them to, and when they did it was in a white flash of cold, metallic ringing. There were three rings, then four, and when she saw the black and white taper off into only black, she felt sure there would be at least a dozen more of the same thing.
When she awoke again, Nina was giving her the most amused look.
?Been here less than six months, and already you?ve injured yourself on the job,? the nursing assistant complained, her elbow perched comfortably on Sivanna?s hospital bed. ?I didn?t realize taking down files was so difficult. Next time I?ll start you off with Post-Its.?
?It wasn?t,? Sivanna replied as she sat up slowly, groaning as she felt a rude, throbbing ache along her entire right arm.
?Easy there,? Nina warned, using a soft hand to ease Sivanna back to the bed slowly. ?You dislocated your shoulder and sustained a compound fracture of the wrist. I don?t think I?ve ever seen anyone take a tumble that hard on duty.?
Quicksilver eyes flicked from the roll of purple plaster around her wrist to the HCA. ?You going to tell Frondaya on me?? she asked with a twitch of her lips.
Nina shrugged. ?Protocol. You?re required to submit an accident report.? Her lips thinned into a smile. ?Believe it or not, he does care about his employees.?
A tiny sigh escaped the cleric as the back of her head roughly hit her pillow. As she thought of the director?s enchanting red eyes, she wondered if they would light up with anger or unwarranted sympathy with the news. Truthfully she would mind neither so long as he smiled. Sivanna may have been married, but that did not mean she could not appreciate handsome things.
?Now,? said Nina, interrupting the cleric?s musings. ?What I will do is give you this and tell you to go home for the day.?
Opening the orange pill bottle she received took less an effort than swallowing two white pills from inside it. Once they had worked their way dryly down her throat, she fixed Nina with a look.
?That girl that was with me? was she all right??
The HCA only blinked back at her, completely oblivious. ?What girl??
?That girl. She was about five. She was the reason I fell down the stairs in the first place.?
When Nina only gave her a completely blank stare in reply, Sivanna sighed and shook her head as she dropped another pill into her mouth.
?Never mind.?
http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/039/2/4/my_addiction_by_meandarksmile-d394xvc.jpg