Shiver shiver

[Lorcan Byrne]

It hadn't been the most fulfilling of mornings, by which Lorcan mostly meant that at least four of the wizards to whom he'd been called out were cantankerous old men. There had been three overreactions, one near-death experience, and one case of throbbing bodily boils had been, by all accounts, disgusting. He had been going to eat some fruit on his break, but he couldn't get the image of all the oozing pus out of his head just yet, so instead he supposed he ought to refill some of his work supplies. The store cupboard assigned to St. Mungo's mediwizards was looking rather bare, so he'd been instructed to go up and find some vials from one of the wards proper.

He hadn't yet encountered an intern to whom he could pitch the task, so instead he sauntered along up towards the other wards, deciding that, since it was supposed to be his break, he could be as slow and inefficient as he liked.

On the Magical Bugs floor - none of the patients he'd brought up on his shifts had been for Magical Bugs in recent days, so it had been a while since he'd had cause to be around here - he had gotten a little lost (from not paying any attention to where he was going) and no one, it seemed, could be bothered to give him the time of day.

But here was a better prospect, and someone he would rather talk to in the first place. Of course, she was a diligent, promising young healer and all that nonsense, blah blah blah, but she was also, more importantly, rather attractive.

"Ah, Miss Jennings!" He exclaimed, swanning over to waylay her, with very little regard for whatever she may or may not already be in the middle of. "What a sight for my sore eyes!"

@'Nathalie Jennings' @'Elsie Beauregard'

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   Elsie Beauregard

[Nathalie Jennings]

Winter was, in Nathalie's experience, the "busy" time of year for Magical Bugs. Of course, they treated not only magical bugs, but other serious illnesses like influenza and pneumonia too, which seemed far more prevalent in this time of year. Basically, it felt like she was constantly on the go in her otherwise, normally quiet ward. It was a nice change of pace, but it was tiresome too! Still, she wouldn't trade it for the world, this is what kept her going.

At the moment however, she was in desperate need of a break, just a few minutes, and as she set a chart on the counter at the front of the ward, she thought perhaps she would meander to the break room for a cup of tea and maybe a snack. If she could sneak away. Maybe if she was lucky she'd see James while she was down there. She hadn't seen much of him lately- after surprise discovering that he was back in the country and working at the same hospital no less! She was forever in hope of catching a few minutes with her old friend though. Sometimes she felt like he was avoiding her, but she was never quite sure.

Leaving the chart with the welcome witch at the front of the ward, Nathalie turned to take her break when she heard her name. Turning, she found Mr. Byrne, and chuckled lightly at his typical greeting. "You  may need to have them checked if they are feeling sore, Mr. Byrne." She countered easily, thinking he was always a bit much, but still perfectly pleasant to converse with. "What brings you to Magical Bugs, something I can help you with?"

  

[Lorcan Byrne]

Miss Jennings brushed off his greeting as though it was nothing, and shot back a cool response. She was a quick one; he just gave her an oh, you grin and ignored her second question for the time being - she was all business today! how terribly boring! - and let his smile widen as he returned to her first remark.

"If you wanted an excuse to gaze soulfully into my eyes, you need only have asked," Lorcan teased blithely, never mind that he'd said 'sore' to begin with. He shifted forwards, leaning towards her until he was a little too close to be comfortable, but still staring squarely, so that she would have a pointedly clear view of his eyes. "What do you think? I hear tell that they're the very definition of smouldering," he declared, as he waggled his eyebrows - although to be honest, Lorcan couldn't recall whether that had ever been said in so many words to him, or it was just one of those thoughts acquired from looking at himself in the mirror. They were a rather nice blue-grey, he thought, sort of... stormy? Anyway.

"And actually, yes," he answered, as per her question, though failed both to lean backwards yet from his direct gaze and to elaborate on what it was he could use her help with.

  

[Nathalie Jennings]

Alright, he was a little more than a bit much, Nathalie decided. Thankfully he seemed mostly harmless, though a bit full of himself, so Nat would at least humor him for a few minutes anyway.

While most girls would have been made some kind of uncomfortable (or those too easily flattered, flustered) Nat simply stood her ground, totally nonplussed by his proximity. Pulling a look of mock concern, she actually inched forward just a little bit. "Actually, they look a little cloudy. Have you been feeling unwell? Any irritation or leaking?" Smoldering, what a ham this one was. Nat had to wonder if his act worked on other girls. Maybe she was a little too jaded by this kind of attention by this point in her life, but she was fairly certain Mr. Byrne liked to lay it on thick with every lady he met.

"Was that what brought you in? Have you had any other symptoms?" He wasn't the only one who could put on an act.

  

[Lorcan Byrne]

Stormy, he’d thought, and there Miss Jennings was to tear him down in a word. Cloudy! She really was quite ruthless, going on. There was a split second in which he wondered - had he caught something? - but it was hardly enough to see him jerk backwards in worry.  

“Very funny, Blue Eyes,” Lorcan replied, largely unperturbed - and undeterred, as was his way - and deciding to be amused rather than insulted by her sardonic response.

“I think you must be working too much.” He theorised gravely, as though that explained her eagerness to jump to symptoms, irritation and leaking. She ought to get out of the hospital once in awhile.

“Because no, actually, I feel fine and dandy. I’m on a mission to pilfer from your store cupboards,” he explained with a grin, “but if you’d rather give me the full health examination, we can do that instead.” (Given her previous impassiveness, he wasn’t sure he would get any response at all to that. Maybe some rolled eyes. Maybe something else mean!)

He didn’t mention, yet, that so far on his mission, all he had done was wander around getting lost, and here he was, back at the front of the ward with nothing to show for it.

@'Elsie Beauregard' forever late, feel free to leave dead if you like!

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   Nathalie Jennings

[Nathalie Jennings]

oh no, I enjoy him far too much!

Nathalie have him a cheeky grin in response to his rebuttal, but she was not so easily swayed by such attention! "That I will not disagree with you on, however I am also not complaining." Her work was everything to her after all! She would most certainly not be who she was today if she hadn't finally gotten her way and gotten into healing.

"Oh, I see," Nathalie nodded, eyebrow curiously raised to see what it was he needed specifically from her ward, but he didn't seem inclined to share just yet. "I fear you may enjoy that a little too much." She pursed her lips, trying to hide the threatening smile. It was a forward comment to make, but not nearly as uncouth as his previous statement! "What is it I can get for you?" Undeterred, though amused, Nathalie would get him what he needed so she could get onto her tea!

"Though if you really do need an examination, I'm sure Mr. Gladstone would be more than happy to oblige." Her boss certainly would find that request quite unusual!

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   Lorcan Byrne

[Lorcan Byrne]

"Let's not bother Mr. Gladstone," Lorcan assured her rather swiftly, impressed and annoyed as usual that Miss Jennings had the perfect impediment to plant in his every path. Still, as evident from her earlier answer about enjoying himself (and the lurking amusement he was sure he could detect beneath her expression), she seemed to know what to expect of him quite well, and at least did not find him tiresome enough to send him packing.

"The mediwizard cupboards seem to be low on stock of a few vials and antidotes," Lorcan explained, ticking them off on his fingers, "what were they? The tonic for the laughing plague, the Dragon Pox treatment, and - oh, some Dittany if you lot have any up here." If not he'd have to stop at yet another ward, and not every ward had a resident Miss Jennings. "I'd have picked them up myself, only your storeroom must be invisible." (The only possible explanation for Lorcan not being able to find it, obviously.)

He grinned at her, at any rate, and waited for her to lead the way. "When did you last lay eyes on the outside world, then?" He inquired impishly, since she had already admitted herself to knowing just how much she worked. Lorcan supposed it was nice that she liked it so (he couldn't imagine what a taxing job it would be, working in a hospital, if one did not enjoy it at least a little!), but it was also a shame if it were all she did. "Please don't tell me your long-term patients get out of the hospital more than you do," he threatened, feigning shock. Even the permanent ward residents got accompanied trips outside once in a while. He half-expected that Nathalie was worse.

@'Nathalie Jennings'

  

[Nathalie Jennings]

Nathalie pursed her lips in a manner that said she clearly knew that she'd been right when Mr. Byrne dismissed the option to bring Mr. Gladstone into it. She listened as he rattled off a series of antidotes he apparently needed, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Most of those things fell under her ward, but she supposed that the mediwizards did need access to some, especially the dittany.

"It's right over here." She said as she made her way around the desk and knocked three times in a very specific place on an otherwise plain wall. It wasn't for everyone to be taking things out after all! "Let's see if we can find what you're looking for." She stepped in to check the stores, leaving the door open behind her, lest Mr. Byrne feel like she'd abandoned him.

Waving her hand dismissively at him, she simply mhmm'ed at him in response to his inquiry. Nat was not overly concerned with the social scene these days. She'd had her turn with that and now she was here and here was where she'd much rather be.

  

[Lorcan Byrne]

Oho, so he wasn't an idiot for not having found the storecupboard! (This was actually cause enough to see Lorcan quite self-congratulatory. He always liked confirmation he wasn't an idiot.)

He leaned in the doorway as she stepped in first, letting her select the things off the shelves lest she think him here to pocket anything extra to... sell on the black market, or something. Lorcan didn't know. He wasn't resourceful enough to go looking for money. If he needed any, he just badgered his drunkard of a father.

Lorcan feigned further shock at her unceremonious agreement that she really did never get out of the hospital. How sad! Not that she seemed to mind, for some reason. Perhaps she had just forgotten what she was missing. Society was hilarious. But...

"Did you always want to be a healer?" Lorcan asked, out of honest curiosity. And maybe a little desire to prove that not everything that came out of his mouth was automatically insufferable. He had always expected - and been expected - to be a healer, himself. Perhaps she had, too. (Clearly she had done better on her NEWTs than he had. Clearly.)

  

[Nathalie Jennings]

Nathalie glanced at Mr. Byrne out of corner of her eye, watching him lounge in the doorway as she plucked his requests from the shelves. She reached out to hand him a couple of vials before moving further into the closet to find the second remedy in question. Standing up on her tippy toes, Nat scanned the shelves, taking stock of what their stores might need in addition to finding things to share.

Admittedly, his question caught her off guard. Turning curious blue eyes on Mr. Byrne, she eyed him carefully. It was honestly the most genuine thing she'd ever heard come out of his mouth, so she thought it deserved a genuine answer. "I did, or well since about fourth year." It had been a natural course of events for her. "I didn't think it would happen, and truthfully I started late, but here I am." Nat smiled softly, albeit a little sadly, thinking on how she'd landed here.

"And you?" Truthfully she didn't know much about Mr. Byrne other than some of his more eccentric tendencies, but he had to have more substance to him, after all he was a healer!

  

[Lorcan Byrne]

He bundled the vials she passed into his arms, paying more attention to her staring after his question - a simple enough one, and hardly overstepping the line, he thought, considering most of what came out of his mouth.

"And no less impressive for it," he put in, quite sincerely: expectations and time-frame didn't dampen the achievement of it.

If he were honest, he hadn't expected the question to be returned. "Ah," he said lightly, "Third child, into healing. My mother was a healer, in fact. It's the Connolly way, you see." The outside world may not keep much track of Connolly tradition, but Lorcan reckoned they had all heard the name enough to guess they were an odd bunch. (Lorcan, due to his distance from the family at large, liked to think that he did have a little individuality about him. Really, he wondered what he would have done with himself without that blinkered path.)

"So I suppose you could say it was written in the stars," he issued dramatically, grinning. "'Course, I'm never as sharp as you," he tapped the side of his temple, teasing - it was true enough; his NEWTs had been... not wonderful - "so Magical Bugs was always out of the question."

  

[Nathalie Jennings]

Nathalie tilted her head as she grabbed the last of the things he needed and handed it over. Truthfully she knew very little about the rest of his family; she knew very little about him, though this brief conversation had changed her perception of him ever so slightly. She did find his family guideline a little odd however and of course he had to go and make it cheesy.

She was about to say as much when a flurry of activity in the ward caught her attention. Clearly somebody was coming in and it was a big to do. Gently she backed Mr. Byrne out of the supply closet and watched it close behind her. "Tell me more about that another time. If you need anything else, you know where to find me." She cast him a playful smile and gave his arm a quick squeeze before she stepped aside to go see what she was in for next.