@urbxnlegxnd | plotted starter
Erin glanced up from her notebook and visibly winced when she saw the time. She'd sat down to work after the rest of the house had settled for the night around nine-thirty and now it was almost midnight. The time had past unnoticed as she tried to figure out the neural connectivity problem her five-year-old patient was having with her leg.
Erin knew first hand just how hard it was to get used to a new limb at a young age but this was different. The cybernetic piece itself was proving to be faulty and she feared that it would lead to putting the child through another marathon surgery to replace it, if she couldn't figure out how to fix it a less invasive way.
There were supposed to be safe guards in place to avoid this sort of thing. The cybernetic compensates were put through a multitude of tests and inspections before they were deemed ready to be used. However, lately it seemed like those inspections were being looked over in favor of making a faster buck. The same old story repeating itself, the rich got richer and the poor paid the price.
With sigh and growing headache, she put the notebook aside and pushed away from her desk. She shut off the light as she left her office and followed her feet down the hall. She bypassed her own bedroom and instead gently pushed open the already ajar door. The room was lit with the soft glow of a nightlight and Erin smiled when she saw the gently illumined scene.
Molly, the senior Pit Bull she was currently fostering, was sleeping curled up with her two other house guests, Theo, a German Shepard/Husky mix, who was just a puppy and Clementine, his owner.
Clem was the ten year-old daughter of her best friend, Lee. She stayed with her whenever her father had to be away for work. She'd been with her for the better part of two weeks this time around and though Erin was beginning to worry about her father, she was more then happy to have the child stay. She loved Clem just as much as if she was her own.
Erin bent and picked up the stuffed bear that had fallen out of the cuddle pile and carefully lay it back in Clem's embrace, before she placed a gentle kiss upon the sleeping child's forehead. Growing up, her grandmother had told her that forehead kisses were a way to insure the receiver had nothing but sweet dreams and though it may have seemed like a silly notion to most, Erin had always believed it.
Molly stirred and Erin shh'd the old girl, with a soft brushing of her hand over the top of her graying head. The Pit Bull had come to her a month ago, after the sudden passing of her owner and the unwillingness of family members to take her in. Being older, she had some medical issues that while not terrible, made it less likely that she'd be taken in.
People tended to want new and less complicated, when looking for a pet. Molly, however, was the sweetest, gentlest, dog, Erin had ever fostered and she'd grown so attached her, that she wouldn't mind having her stick around, even it it meant she had less space for other fosters.
Satisfied that all was well, Erin left the peacefully sleeping trio and was about to head to her own bed when she heard something that drew her towards the front of the house. A large shadow shifted in the living room and Erin quickly hit the switch on the wall to flood the room with light. The heart beating in her throat instantly began to settle back into her chest, when the shadow became Lee.
“Gosh darn it, Lee!” She exclaimed, Erin always tried her hardest not to curse around her friend, even when she was caught off guard. “Turn on the light next time, you almost gave me a heart attack.” The annoyance in her tone wasn't quite strong enough to win out over the clearly showing relief she felt that he was back, safe.
