[dr-robking]

His Lips Are Sealed || SGH Interns

[dr-spinelli]

It was weird that identifying the person who cursed them wasn't a thought on the list. Admittedly it did seem highly unlikely that the person who did it would choose to undo it, but it could still help them figure out more specifics on the curse potentially.

It was true it all majorly depended on how fused it all was and how deep it went. There were entirely different procedures to be done depending on that information.

She was a bit surprised that Dr. Avery turned his attention on her again, but at least Ashley already had an answer in mind for this. She figured it was the best solution for giving them the visualization that they needed.

"Well... I would say we would need to get an MRI. The MRI we can use to assess the soft tissue and nerves in the mouth and surrounding that area. It can also show us if there's any further damage with the muscles or cartilage. From there we could then figure out where to proceed."

@dr-robking @dr-grundler

[dr-grundler]

Gretchen felt a slap to the face as Dr. Avery turned away from her. Something angry and vicious rose in her chest. Wasn't this a Magick-friendly hospital? Shouldn't all avenues be explored before putting someone under the knife?

If they found the sorcerer, the curse could be lifted.

Or maybe they could consult another sorcerer to see if they couldn't do something about it. There were other options. Magic was as wonderful as it was mysterious, as healing as it was harmful.

"But what if it just happens again?" Gretchen blurted, cutting over the last part of Ashley's assessment.

She felt, only a little, guilty about that. It was a good assessment. And exactly what Gretchen would've said: if magic hadn't been involved.

"Dr. Grundler, this is a hospital. If our patient wanted to resolve this issue with magic, he would have."

"Well, it's not necessarily up to him is it, if--"

"Dr. Grundler," Dr. Avery rose his voice again slightly. "That's enough."

@dr-robking, @dr-spinelli

[dr-robking]

Rob felt second hand embarrassment when Grundler couldn't let it go. He didn't really care for magic one way or the other, good or evil. It was a force that he found uninteresting as it had nothing to do with him. With the childish urgency in her 'what if's', he would believe the other intern was wishing she was a sorcerer rather than a surgeon.

The tension settled somewhere between Grundler and the rest of the interns, but Dr. Avery moved on with a dazzling smile and a sigh. "Mr. Whitmer, we're gonna have Dr. Spinelli here take you up to get an MRI so we can assess how much of the soft tissue is fused together. Then she and I will formulate a game plan for your surgery. You're in good hands."

He was so charming. Rob wanted to be that likable. So likable that the entire room could watch him pick favorites and disregard differing opinions and still end up swooning over him. His peers were unbelievable. He looked at Gretchen with a sour expression.

"The rest of you, make sure the A&E is covered." He took his hand from the patient's beside and dismissed them, not giving the outside-the-box Dr. Grundler a second look.

Rob remarked on the way out, "That oughta show us for not being born into medical royalty..."

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[dr-robking]

His Lips Are Sealed || SGH Interns

[dr-spinelli]

It was an exciting rounds this time. Not that most weren't exciting in that there was something new to study or review. But this time there was a unique case for them all: cursed with lips sealed together. Who got to have a case like this other places?

It would be a complicated procedure. Because if it was a curse, then simply trying to reopen his lips wouldn't work. The curse would surely work around that. But they could also find a way to beat the curse. For example if they did a lip transplant, it would be a loophole with the curse. Because the lips weren't actually Laurence's lips originally. They wouldn't then seal off again. In theory.

"Sir, wouldn't we want to get a mold of his lips so we would be able to match a new set of lips as well as we can?"

@dr-robking @dr-grundler

[dr-grundler]

This was what Gretchen was here for.

To learn everything, of course. To become the best doctor, of course. To work under the tutelage of Dr. Mohanty, TBD. But, more than all of that: she was here for the magic.

To understand how magic functioned with medicine and medicine with magic. To learn where the gaps were and close them. To be the one to close those gaps. She was hungry for it. Eager for it. But, well, magical maladies didn't come in as much as she wanted them to. She knew to expect this. Even at SGH, magical cases were a small percentage of the work load (both Magicks and magical maladies.)

Many Magicks didn't trust modern medicine. And for good reason.

Gretchen wanted to fix that too.

So, she was trying to think out of the box. Her eyes flicked over the patient as Ashley gave her input and Dr. Avery nodded.

"That will certainly be one of our first steps."

"Identify who cursed him?" Gretchen said, finally looking at the doctor.

Dr. Avery tilted his head. "No, that--isn't one of the steps."

"Why not? Whoever cursed him could undo it."

There was a pause.

"It is not usually that simple," Dr. Avery said and turned to the rest of the students. "Any other ideas?"

@dr-robking, @dr-spinelli

[dr-robking]

"Besides, whoever did it probably won't be the kind to undo it anyway." Rob pointed out with smarm. "First, we need to assess how much of the mouth was fused together. If it's just the lips, we can go with Dr. Spinelli's first steps and proceed to separate them surgically. But if it's a larger fusion, say the tongue or esophagus is involved, then there's a lot more to do than making him look pretty."

For a man so set on plastics, Robert felt the hack and slash urge of trauma surgeons. He hoped it was deeper. Getting a scalpel between layers of flesh is the purest power fantasy. Make him pretty, sure, make him talk again? Break a curse with his own gloved hands? That's real magic.

"Right, we always need to get a full assessment of the situation before beginning with any treatments. Dr. Spinelli, how would we go about determining the level of fusion?" Dr. Avery asked the other nepotism hire with a gleam in his green eyes.

Of course she'd shine under his microscope. Avery and Spinelli. Two names held in high esteem in the medical world. Disgusting. Rob lost a little respect for the man and looked to Grundler, rolling his eyes.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[dr-robking]

His Lips Are Sealed || SGH Interns

[dr-robking]

Rounds. This time Rob wasn't late and he wasn't unprepared. He held the chart while he gave the rundown on the newest patient to enter Swynlake General.

"Laurence Whitmer, twenty-seven, presenting with..." He looked to Dr. Avery for confirmation, "a curse that has literally sealed his lips together."

He looked at the poor sap, sat up in bed with the wolves circling him. A marvel to have a chance to operate on a completely magical ailment. Rob took a step back into the line of eager interns as he was done with his part of the briefing, his head still tall above the rest. He mumbled, "desperately want to know who he pissed off."

A few eye rolls and glares, but attention mainly went back to Dr. Avery, who didn't seem to catch (or care) Robert's comment.

"Yes, curses can be nasty things. But not all will affect a person's life permanently. We're gonna have you talking out of a perfect pair of lips in no time, Laurence." He pat the patient's shoulder who he looked up at him with a smile that was only in his eyes. "Now, who can tell me what our first step towards that would be?"

He waited for a thoughtful answer.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[dr-robking]

His Lips Are Sealed || SGH Interns

[dr-grundler]

A Hard Day's Night || [Spinner]

[dr-spinelli]

"Right, of course." Ashley still wasn't especially impressed by him. But she'd known him when they were little... before he went off the rails and decided that he was above other people and sports maybe. Or just above Ashley or something. Prick.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as Rob hit on their fellow intern. "Oh quit being sleezy and get ready Rob," Ashley snapped. How many minutes had they already missed from Dr. Mitchell's rounds with this?

Ashley sighed, turning away as the other finally got changed into his scrubs. It really didn't feel fair to either her or Dr. Grundler to have to wait on him. "So you missed an explanation on the set up of A&E and the three types of rooms," Ashley added, because she didn't want to get knocked somehow for not helping if Dr. Mitchell heard otherwise.

"Are you ready to hear that or would you rather waste time hitting on a coworker some more?"

@dr-grundler @dr-robking

[dr-robking]

In their matching blues, Rob tucked his gym shorts and pullover into the spare locker which was now his. "I'm ready, I'm ready."

He was exasperated. Under all the bravado, he worked hard to get here and could hold his own against the daughter of a legend and a keen eyed transplant. The old bird breaking her hip wasn't his fault. He only thought it would earn him some memorability. At least they knew who he was if not who he was.

"What are the different rooms, then?" He met them where they were, just out of eye shot of him, and gave Dr. Grundler a silent apology.

@dr-grundler @dr-spinelli

[roasty-toasty-morake]

Gathering Information | Open

[roasty-toasty-morake]

Nuka didn't really like the way this dude was trying to alarm him more. This place was weird. That was something he had known when his mother had briefed him on the place in general.

His eyebrows shot up. "Every few months? I did read about the girl that died last year, but the statistic of that doesn't seem to be that high." He supposed there was also some article about some guy's father, but he had died outside of Swynlake.

"What happens if you step outside of town then?"

@dr-robking

[dr-robking]

"Well, the Enchantra residents get pissy and some creatures in there won't stop to talk to you about their feelings."

To Rob, he was just stating facts. The fairies had a history of 'taking it up with the board' but have been quite relaxed lately. "Some demonology student just found one out there. So I guess take your pick between that or an owlbear."

@roasty-toasty-morake

[roasty-toasty-morake]

Gathering Information | Open

[roasty-toasty-morake]

Now that he'd made himself known with Kovu and settled temporarily it was time to get to work. The sooner he cased the whole town the better. Then he could try to get things done for mother.

He pulled his car up in front of the town hall. Might as well get information from the center of it all. He parked his car and locked it, stepping away to study the place before he went inside. There were a ton of different pamphlets. But the one that stood out to him was one on a lesson that explained the town's mysterious phenomena.

He raised an eyebrow at he read some of the contents of the pamphlet itself before he twisted around, spotting a stranger passing by. "Hey. You know about this class or group or something? It actually useful or just some nonsense to fearmonger?"

[dr-robking]

Rob hated the bureaucratic nonsense of having to file shit with town hall. He sold the house. He had power of attorney. They wanted his forwarding address...

It was all bullshit to make a difficult situation harder. He was frustrated and nearly bulled over the tourist eyeing up all the pamphlets. Rob scoffed.

"Probably a bit of both. But you should be scared, every few months someone nearly dies because of some weird shit. Only thing you need to know is to keep inside town. Or just leave it..."

@roasty-toasty-morake

[dr-robking]

NAME: Rokingr

SPECIES: Dragon

PARTNER: Jhunvoszhâda

STATS: Dexterity: 9 Constitution: 3 Strength: 12

BIOGRAPHY: 

A red mountain among hills and houses. That’s what Rokingr became with the strength of his bond with Jhunsvoszhâda. Before her, he laid dormant for decades, waiting. The egg was larger than most, a rippling red ember glowing from beneath onyx scales. Those with weaker hearts avoided placing their trembling hands on his shell. Good. He didn’t want them anyway. He would have waited eons, for the next generation hardened by the next war after this tepid time of peace in Swyngaesia.

He waited for a headstrong, budding powerhouse to approach before he chose. Jhunsvoszhâda believes she chose him, but Rokingr wouldn’t have bonded to anyone else. A twin flame they had found in the other, kindled and kept by their own burning desires to be the best. To make history. Rigorous training and growth brought them to this competition. It was a small step in their trek up the mountain of power, but a step nonetheless. If his rider was going to be the Commander of the Order, they would need a great show of strength and force of will in this tournament. Rokingr would bring his best claw forward and let no distractions slip between them and their rightful place at the top.

[dr-grundler]

A Hard Day's Night || [Spinner]

[dr-robking]

Boy Scout. Ego toppled with his smile, Rob looked back to his peers and didn't let his disappointment show. In fact, he couldn't be too upset when his future competition were all so easy to look at.

He knew Spinelli, Ashley... but they hadn't spoken in years. Rob didn't want to break that streak now, especially not to skulk in the shadow of her nepotism. Still, he answered her snark with some of his own, "Yeah, actually. I'm quite familiar with this hospital. As I'm sure you have every nurses' station memorized."

It was a cheap shot, targeting her for who her mother was. It was sad, sad how she probably had these halls as her playground once upon a time. Robert only knew them as a quiet place amidst a chaotic home. When he was here, he didn't feel so scared. So he lashed out. The only defenses Rob kept were bad ones.

"Thanks, Dr. Mitchell." He turned to the dream duo both scowling at him. (At least he made an impression.) "You ladies gonna show me to the locker rooms or?"

He pointed with his thumb and a feigned innocence.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[dr-spinelli]

Ashley couldn't help but wrinkle her nose. Were they really required to catch Robert up on everything? It was his own fault that he'd turned up late. And now Ashley and Dr. Grundler were potentially going to miss something else interesting because Robert King decided he had to show off.

"If I didn't it'd be more unusual, don't you think?" Ashley had practically been raised here at the general hospital. Her mother had almost always brought her in when she was young before school and had her watched by different staff, instructed her on various medical terms and things of the sort. If Rob King was trying to make her feel bad about that, well he would have to work a lot harder.

Once Dr. Mitchell had seemingly turned away and it was just the three of them, Ashley couldn't help but comment, "So you in theory know where the OR is but not the lockers?" She snorted. "Down the hall to the left. Get changed fast. I'm pretty sure Dr. Grundler and I will both be pissed if you force us to miss something interesting."

@dr-grundler @dr-robking

[dr-grundler]

Gretchen was also not thrilled at being singled out to catch up this asshole, though she was trying to convince herself it was already because Dr. Mitchell had singled her out at uniquely qualified. On the same level as Florence Spinelli's daughter.

So, her shoulders were back, head high (not that it really mattered, because this man was ridiculously tall) as the three of them headed down the halls.

At first, she stayed quiet, let Dr. Spinelli take the lead. Robert was familiar with the hospital...which meant he had probably grown up in town. And Florence Spinelli was famous for working at Swynlake General...so it was feasible that Ashley had grown up in Swynlake too.

Which meant that she and the newcomer probably knew each other. Curious. Charleston was small enough that if she had gone back to MUSC for her internship and residency, she probably would've known other people in the program...but she realized now it might cause a disadvantage for her here.

"You have already interrupted our education and we're not even an hour in," she tacked on to Ashley's statement, checking her watch pointedly.

@dr-robking, @dr-spinelli

[dr-robking]

Physically looking down on them gave Rob the high ground. He knew from the keen eyes, sharp and studying, that he couldn’t hold a candle to Dr. Grundler’s perception. And his down home messy upbringing held no weight like the daughter of a legend.

His height and his attitude were all he had to hold over them. “Been to the OR, not the locker room.” He was a patient here once upon a time.

Instead of shrinking, he pulled his shirt over his head and winked at a nurse before turning back to acknowledge his peers. “Well, I could make it worth your while…”

He leaned on the locker room door with his athletic sweats hanging low on his hips. “Or I can make it up to you. We can practice some anatomy after the shift’s over, if you want.” Rob directed these remarks at Grundler. Hitting on Ashley felt like trying to kiss your primary school friend under the slide, sticky and repulsive.

“I’ll be quick.”

Ducking into the locker room and letting whatever rage induced and indignant comments the girls had slide off his back like rain off a duck’s. Rob quickly changed into his standard issue extra long scrubs as quickly as he could. No one would be the wiser that baring every scar, stretch mark, and set of eyes on his body nearly made him shake.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[dr-grundler]

A Hard Day's Night || [Spinner]

[dr-spinelli]

Okay, so the one girl was just going to spit out her answer with no thought to the others. Good to know. Ashley was getting the feeling that she might probably be the strongest competition among the interns so far. Though there was no way to know that for sure. Not when none of them had officially practiced anything yet.

Ashley didn't even dwell on Dr. Mitchell having said not to worry about looking stupid asking questions. That was easy for him to say, considering he was already further into it. Ashley preferred to come up with something actually good. Not to mention... well suddenly another intern strolling in like he already owned the place.

As she got a better look she couldn't help but snort. Of course it would be Rob King. She didn't know exactly what the hell happened between that hazy time when they were friends and now... but he was definitely pushing it on the first day. She glanced him up and down. "Do you even know where the OR in this building is yet?" She couldn't help but blurt, not quite able to hide the judgement in her tone. But well... it was insanely arrogant for him to walk in and act like he was better than the rest of them to just skip rounds right away. She glanced over at the smart girl and raised her eyebrows in a sort of 'can you believe this guy?' kind of way.

@dr-grundler @dr-robking

[dr-grundler]

A ridiculously tall man strode into the A&E.

Immediately, Gretchen's eyes narrowed, hackles going up. At first, considering his exercise outfit, she thought he might be the patient's grandson (or sugar baby, he looked the type). The look on his face looked too smug for that theory, though, unless he was a particularly shitty grandson. (If he was a sugar baby, he would definitely not be quite so thrilled--probably hoping for worse than a broken hip when he pushed her off the sidewalk...)

Her hypothesis that he was another intern was proved correct when he opened his ridiculously big mouth.

The wink made her nostrils flare. Unimpressed. She crossed her arms and cocked her hip out, fixing him with a stare that had crumbled plenty of men as tall and broader than him.

She glanced quickly at the only other intern that seemed to have any sense when she spoke. Her lips twitched in a small smirk, that only widened when Dr. Mitchell answered the interloper:

"No," he said. "I won't discount you for being a good Boy Scout, but no intern scrubs in on the first day." Dr. Mitchell turned to quickly talk with the EMT that had brought the woman in and then her bed rolled away to get her CT. "Please go put on your scrubs and meet the rest of us. Grundler."

Gretchen straightened her spine when Dr. Mitchell suddenly called on her.

"Spinelli. I trust you will fill King in on what he's missed so far?"

Spinelli? Gretchen blinked and her head whipped towards the brunette who had also straightened up. That was Florence Spinelli's daughter?!

"Yes, sir," Gretchen told Dr. Mitchell, somewhat begrudgingly.

@dr-robking, @dr-spinelli

[dr-robking]

Boy Scout. Ego toppled with his smile, Rob looked back to his peers and didn't let his disappointment show. In fact, he couldn't be too upset when his future competition were all so easy to look at.

He knew Spinelli, Ashley... but they hadn't spoken in years. Rob didn't want to break that streak now, especially not to skulk in the shadow of her nepotism. Still, he answered her snark with some of his own, "Yeah, actually. I'm quite familiar with this hospital. As I'm sure you have every nurses' station memorized."

It was a cheap shot, targeting her for who her mother was. It was sad, sad how she probably had these halls as her playground once upon a time. Robert only knew them as a quiet place amidst a chaotic home. When he was here, he didn't feel so scared. So he lashed out. The only defenses Rob kept were bad ones.

"Thanks, Dr. Mitchell." He turned to the dream duo both scowling at him. (At least he made an impression.) "You ladies gonna show me to the locker rooms or?"

He pointed with his thumb and a feigned innocence.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler

[joenateuser]

JACOB ELORDI 98th Oscars Nominees Luncheon Los Angeles, CA - February 10, 2026

[dr-grundler]

A Hard Day's Night || [Spinner]

[dr-spinelli]

Ashley glanced between Dr. Mitchell and the nurse, just managing to hold back a snort. It was probably smart not to jinx it by saying it was all pretty calm. Those could often be famous last words. She had a vague memory of her mother bringing her to the hospital as a child on a more relaxed seeming day. She had said something along the lines of it being quiet... and then not long after there was some sort of magical disaster and suddenly people were rushing in screaming.

Nurse Chakraborty did seem pretty close with Dr. Mitchell, but Ashley wasn't especially interested in that or worried about it. She just wanted to get started. The sooner they got their attending assigned the sooner they could do rounds and really start to learn.

"I see. That makes sense," Ashley said after a minute. "Thank you sir." And maybe she would be overly polite. If it would gain favor with the attending all the better. She wanted to ask about the mass casualty protocol. Had it changed since her mother had worked here? But then... she didn't want to draw attention to her heritage if she could avoid it.

@dr-grundler

[dr-grundler]

Tod nodded.

"Of course. We are here to answer your questions, which brings me to my next point: ask questions. I know all of you are smart, all the attendings do. You got accepted into this program. No easy feat. We are well aware of your textbook capabilities, but now, we want to see how you interact with patients, on a team, deal with the kinds of things that don't get taught to you in textbooks.

So, don't worry about looking stupid. Ask the question. It is better than doing something wrong and pissing me off."

A few of the interns snickered at that, but Gretchen just stood with her brow in a hard line across her eyes. She wasn't going to be the one asking questions.

That was for people who didn't live and breathe medicine the way that Gretchen did. Asking questions was a way to weed out the weak. The ones who wouldn't last in the program. She wasn't going to fall for it.

"Now, there are three types of rooms in the A&E. Can anyone tell me what they are?"

Several hands shot up, but Gretchen didn't even notice.

"Trauma bays, for priority level one cases. Resus for immediate ABC issues and examination rooms for acute symptoms that are non-life threatening. Some A&Es also have treatment rooms for minor procedures, though I am assuming SGH doesn't, considering you only asked for three."

Dr. Mitchell nodded.

"You're correct in that assumption. We don't. We use examination rooms to do treatments. Tends to get patients moving through the system faster. Some of the exam rooms have multiple beds for overflow as well, but those extras should only be used in extreme cases--with a curtain between, always."

@dr-spinelli

[dr-robking]

What an eventful morning! From the Tipton to Swynlake General, Rob didn’t bother busting out the two wheels to go across town. He knew he could simply run and then shower there.

Crossing Main Street and jogging past the park he kept his eyes to the front until a flash of movement and a wail sent a wave of excited adrenaline rushing through him.

It took an extra twenty minutes to get to rounds, points deducted from whatever game he was going to be winning later. But he rolled in with style. Enough to earn some angry or jealous glances his way.

“Dr. Mitchell! I picked up Agnes, here, after a pretty bad fall at the park. Potential fracture of the hip and blunt TBI. Confusion and fatigue are present.” He gave his first ever preliminary evaluation as he walked alongside the gurney up to his resident. “Though, the symptoms could just be her age. I recommend a head CT and some X rays. Just to make sure the injuries aren’t more severe.”

Rob stood at the front of his peers as the EMTs that intercepted him on arrival took his patient for imaging, presumably. He stood tall and proud, winking at the rest of the interns.

“If there’s any chance at a neuro or ortho surgery, I’d love to scrub in. If it’s alright with you, I’d need to skip rounds for the day.” Rob said it so casually, as if he was talking to his equal. There was still some amount of charm to his arrogance.

@dr-spinelli @dr-grundler