The Sun Will Rise

"I can’t believe I survived… again… It’s amazing to be alive, isn’t it, Doc?" //indie Claire Blunt from Trauma Team

[diagnostixian-blog]

          Reaching his arms to the sky, he yawned and kicked back, getting comfortable in that spinny chair of his. He thought for a bit, searching his memory banks for any possible references to… What was it again, Claire Blunt? He looked thoughtful for a second, thinking deeply before having that look of eureka in his eyes.

                    “Well. He never mentioned any names… But I remember the big guy telling me that there was this adorable little girl that he had made friends with. Yeah, he said he likes hanging out with her and going shopping with her. What, you don’t think it’s you, do you? Heheh…”

          He let out a cheeky chuckle, knowing that it was in fact Claire that Hank was speaking about.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

            “What?! There’s no way that was me.”

     Her face reddened with embarrassment as she crossed her arms and huffed. (Not to mention, ‘adorable little girl’? She had a suspicion that was this doctor’s little addition and not Hank’s words, though... Or at least, she sure hoped that was the case.)

            “A-Anyway, you’re totally misunderstanding. ‘Adorable’? There’s no way he’d say that.”

[diagnostixian-blog]

                   “Eh, I’d give it a week or something. Just to make sure. You never know with these things… be careful, got it? I don’t want to take off another cast of yours- besides that leg one. You know.”

         He shrugged slightly as he clamped onto a cigarette with his teeth, quietly lighting it with a pocket lighter before sitting back down on his comfortable spinny chair. He was getting really hungry now and was tempted to just reach into his desk and grab the grub and begin chowing down. The fact that he made his own lunch was probably what held him back. He wasn’t that great at making food. Heck, he used a flask, a bunson burner, and a stirring rod to make his morning coffee. He knew literally nothing about food.

                   “Welp, I’m just going to continue rotting away in this heap of slag until my next patient arrives. Oh, and Claire? Try not to die until our next appointment. I worked hard on putting that cast on and removing it, hey!”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

               “Trust me, I’ve had enough of being a patient here, Doc.”

      She said it with a light laugh, but she was telling the absolute truth. She hoped never to end up with a broken bone again... and certainly never wanted another bullet wound. Yikes. The fact that he kept joking about ‘try not to die’ and other such things was starting to make her uncomfortable, though. He’d said Hank hadn’t said anything in particular about her, but she was beginning to doubt the truthfulness of that claim...

               “...You’re sure Dr. Freebird hasn’t told you anything about me...?”

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

                    “Hey, girl… Hank is on the third floor if you want to speak with him. I am not going to question why he is in the supply closet, but…”

          Her phone once again returned to her pocket. She paid no mind to Claire. There was one job she had to do, and in order to do it she had to stay alive. She had no desire to die, especially not when there were souls who had passed on who were relying on her- the one to have heard their pleas. Now all she had to do was wait for Little Guy to show up and do his part. When she was on the scene, she had gathered a few objects which she wanted analyzed by him– the supposed expert.

                    “I have more important things to do right now…”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

                     “Hey, wait. First of all, my name is Claire. But more importantly, we just ran out of there and you’re telling me to go back inside? I don’t care about your super ‘important things’; tell me what’s going on.”

           It went without saying that Claire wasn’t very happy with Naomi at the moment. She had absolutely no idea what was going on, and it was really unsettling her. In a sense, she felt that she had gotten a second... or even third chance at life. She didn’t want to screw that up by blindly running into a dangerous place. As much as she hated to admit it, if Hank was in danger, there wasn’t really anything at all she could do about it. All it would do was put them both in danger -- and possibly put him in even more danger because he’d try to protect her.

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

“N-no… You…! -but what are you..!! AAAAAGHH!!!

          The final words of this individual rang through her head, causing her to think how it was connected to the case as they ran far away from the scene. So Claire had heard the scream of the person out loud… They were dangerously close to where this happened. The continued running for what seemed like hours and eventually landed themselves at the front steps of Resurgam. She continued in with the girl then sat her at the front utterance. They were much more safe here. Once again, she flipped open her phone and proceeded to call an individual known as “Little Guy”.

                    “… … Little Guy, do you mind?… … Yes, he is… … Keep an eye out. Meet me at Resurgam… … Yes, I have gathered as much… … Don’t waste your breath. Just hurry.”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

              Claire kept looking around herself and over her shoulder when they had arrived outside and Naomi was promptly distracted by another phone call. Seriously, what was it with her and that phone? Whatever; Claire currently had two things on her mind: keeping away from some killer, and finding Hank. The possibility of calling him had crossed her mind, but was quickly dismissed. It was possible that drawing extra attention to him would be really bad, and she didn’t want to risk it.

                She also kept looking back at Naomi, who seemed to have a pretty good idea what was going on; sticking with her seemed to be the safest option, oddly enough. Doubly odd considering neither of them had even introduced themselves yet, but they hadn’t exactly had time... and they still probably didn’t.

[diagnostixian-blog]

                    “Well, since things look all hunky-dory, I’m going to give you a sling then you’re off! Of course, you’re not going to be doing things like participating in the Tennis World Championships behind my back with an arm like that, eh? Don’t go breaking it again.”

          He shrugged a little and scratched his heat, leaving the room for another minute, returning with a plain ol’ sling in hand. Carefully and slowly, he set her up with it and set the cast on her lap. Everything looked like it was coming to a nice closure and it was nearing his lunch break and boy he was starving.

                    “No signs of infection and looks like new. Just… Don’t do anything stupid. I’m sure Hank had a terrible time operating on you. Nothing personal. It’s just, you see, it’s hard to operate on someone you know, knowing the life of a love one is in your care, knowing that the smallest mistake could cost them a limb or their live. I wouldn’t know. I’m not into that mushy stuff. just… Ugh…”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

                  “How long does it have to be in the sling? And yeah, I hope I never have to end up back here as a patient again.”

        She was happy to come visit Hank sometimes, but seriously, she had had enough of hospitalizations for her entire young adult life. She didn’t even like going inside to meet him if she could avoid it. At least Gabe’s office smelled like smoke instead of medicine, although that wasn’t exactly her favorite smell in the world either.

                 “Actually, we didn’t meet until he came to check on me after the operation... That was probably where he had the worst time. But I guess he mustn’t have minded too much...”

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

                    “If you are uncomfortable with me taking you there, I could have someone- ?”

          She was stopped mid sentence as her phone suddenly began to vibrate in her pocket. It was sudden and out of the blue, though Naomi didn’t look surprised in the least for some strange reason. She knew that this meant that the serial killer was near, and that he was armed and ready to kill. Quickly she grabbed onto Claires wrist and begun to walk off with her as she flipped open her phone to answer it. It had a glow to it that only she was able to see, and the glow wasn’t ever a good sign. She quietly listened to what the voice had to say as she and the girl hurriedly walked down the path.

                  “Yes, I have her. We are on our way, Hank… And for her sake, act surprised… I think she’ll like it…”

          Her voice was very hushed, trying to pretend like this was some big secret. In a way, it was. Who had called wasn’t Hank at all, but the last words of an individual who had passed on. This was very concerning and they had to leave right away.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

             It was a shock when Naomi suddenly stopped mid-sentence, grabbed her, and took off. If she hadn’t been uncomfortable before -- which, she had -- she sure was now... but for some reason, her instincts told her to keep quiet, and thankfully, she chose to obey. 

                       What the heck? This is not the time to be answering your phone, lady!

              Naomi’s words confused her even more. Before she could start to get too paranoid about her, however, she heard an odd sound -- like a muffled scream -- from the area they had just left. Suddenly, staying with this stranger seemed like her safest option she decided, paling but forcing herself to match Naomi’s pace. Whatever had caused that scream, it was pretty clear that they ought to get as far from it as possible.

[diagnostixian-blog]

                    “Well, I guess we’ll just have to take it off and see how it’s holding up. I’ll be right back. Don’t do anything stupid like dying when I’m gone.”

          With that, he exited the room and wandered the halls for a bit before returning with a handful of simple tools. One of them was a saw, which he used to begin the excision of the cast. He was careful not to cut through to the skin, going deep enough so that he could peel and lift the cast off very carefully. The moment her skin was exposed, he closed his eyes and turned his head away.

                    “Alright, tell me how it looks. I’m not in the mood for looking at your arm. Maybe another time.”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

             Claire nodded and waited patiently -- not like she had anything better to do. And she definitely didn’t plan on dying. When Gabe started to remove the cast, she watched with mild interest and curiosity. There was no reason to be nervous, she figured; he was a doctor, and broken limbs were pretty common. She was a bit confused at his reaction to removing it, though. A squeamish doctor? That was her assumption, if nothing else.

                      “Uh... it looks fine, I think. Pretty much like it did before it was broken.”

             She had a slight scar, though she didn’t think she would have even noticed it if she weren’t looking for it. That was a relief. Other than that, it looked exactly the same.

[diagnostixian-blog]

             “Hm… That so? You mind telling me exactly where it hurts? You know, just to make sure of, well, you know. Of course, I don’t want my patients to be feeling all uncomfortable.”

          So it was hurting sometimes? That was alright, and her skin around the cast was looking healthy as well. If that was the case, and she wasn’t always in constant pain, than the pain was most likely from moving around during daily activities– the sutured area rubbing against the cast. Of course it could cause discomfort, from the looks of it the amount of movement done wasn’t causing any visible harm. To make sure, he’d have to take off the cast either way: If her arm was fine, they’d keep it off. It if needed further operation, they’d just have to put a new one on.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

               “...Yeah, sure. It was around here, I think...”

        Claire gestured with her other hand to the area in question. Sure enough, it was right around where the surgical incision had once been made. Not that she had actually ever seen the area post-op. She hoped she wouldn’t be left with some gross scar -- having never undergone surgery before, she had no idea what to expect. Something practically nonexistent? Some huge thing that would never disappear? All she could really do was hope for the best. And hope that Dr. Cunningham’s questioning wasn’t a sign of a problem...

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

                    “Unfortunately, you are going to have to come with me. We have a serial murderer on the loose and it is my job to see to it that another individual has their life cut short. Sigh… Come with me, and I will take you there myself.”

         She herself had seen many dead bodies today, and another one wouldn’t bother her in the slightest, but if what she said was true, and that she was an acquaintance of Hank, then this dead body would greatly trouble a friend… And she did owe him one. She would then be doing this for Hank, and not for the girl.

                 “Tell me where it is you need to be and I will guide you.”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

            Claire couldn’t help the shock and a bit of fear running down her spine as she glanced around them. She didn’t see anything unusual... other than this woman. Who she really wasn’t sure she should be going with. Like, how did she know this lady wasn’t the killer? ...Well... if she was the friend of someone Hank trusted, Claire decided, she probably wasn’t a serial killer.

                          “If this is some kind of curse, I can’t tell if the universe loves or hates me...”

             She mumbled this while looking away from Naomi. She had had two extremely close brushes with death already. On the one hand, she’d miraculously survived twice, but on the other... she’d very nearly died twice. She really didn’t want to test her luck here. The bullet wound had actually healed quite cleanly and with no further complications, but the casts on her arm and leg were unfortunate reminders of the first time...

                           “I’ve gotta see Dr. Freebird...! He’s probably... in his office or doing surgery.”

               Having heard from Maria how Hank had been shot twice and still kept going with seemingly no problem, it wasn’t quite as terrifying as it could have been... but still, she couldn’t stand the thought of him being killed.

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

                    “That name does reignite a flame somewhere within my heart, but flame was last lit many moons ago. Freebird… The last time I heard that name was… Yes. I remember him from a previous investigation and… If not for him, Alyssa would not have made it. Dr. Freebird… I have not seen him for a very long time.”

          Naomi folded her arms over her chest before closing her eyes and lowering her head slightly. The name fit the face perfectly. The kind gentle giant that saved the life of a child, knowing that it might cost his own. A true hero and role model that was worth looking up to despite what others might have thought.

                    “If it is any help, I will have Little Guy take you to where you need to go. It just might help me on my current investigation as well…”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

                     ...What a weirdo.

          Truthfully, that’s what Claire thought, accidentally giving Naomi a funny look to match. Flames, moons? Who was Alyssa? ‘Little Guy’? The woman had gone from ‘scary lady who talked about corpses’ to ‘complete weirdo’ quite quickly. ‘Investigation’ caught her attention though. Was the woman some sort of... police officer? Health inspector? Who knew.

                     “I can probably find him myself if you tell me the way...” It probably had directories and stuff, so as long as he was somewhere that wasn’t, say, off-limits to patients and visitors, she could probably find him.

[diagnostixian-blog]

                   “Huh? Oh yeah, I think I remember him bringing you up once or twice. I mean, I probably forgot since I don’t like sticking my nose into other people’s personal lives. But seriously, you need to answer me and just tell me how you’ve been feeling about your cast. You know, raw skin? Strange discharge of fluid? Weird smell? Pain that won’t go away? Tell me everything about it.”

          Gabriel reached over his desk, grabbing the mug that was sitting next to his keyboard, and dragged it over to where he was so he could chug down a few gulps. He had all day, and he could just keep her in his office until she was ready to speak up. It was his job, and he was payed to listen to people complain. He was payed to diagnose them and he was good at it too, not to mention he didn’t mind toooo much.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

             ...Now she was curious what he’d said about her. Tsundere that she was, however, she would never ask or give any indication of that. Way too embarrassing. Gabe’s other questions were sort of a relief, though: if she was lucky, that’s all he’d been referring to and they wouldn’t have to have what Claire would consider a really awkward conversation.

                         “No, I think it’s been normal. It hurt sometimes at first, but not lately.”

             Admittedly, she hadn’t exactly taken care of it in the beginning. She’d still resented it too much. She’d been icing it and whatnot for the past month or so, annoying though it was. The annoyance would be worth it when she could finally get the cast off.

[whisperingcorpse-blog]

                    “Can I help you…?”

          Naomi had turned around moments after the impact, now looking down at the individual calmly and coldly. She was currently on a case, and was more or less brainstorming at the given moment. Sometimes, a couple hours to ones self could do wonders. Ah yes, she had seen this child before. With that hulky man with Elvis-like hair, narrowed eyes, and an exotic skin tone. She must have been Claire. Naomi had overheard people talk about her– an interesting child to say the least. The phone that was in her hand returned to her pocket and her hands had retreated to her sides, staring down the child, wondering what she would say in return.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

                 “No, I’m fine... uh...”

        Claire faltered for a moment before finally deciding she was being ridiculous. This lady was kind of freaking her out, but... whatever, right? It’s not like she was talking about corpses because she’d murdered the people -- odd though her nonchalance had stricken Claire.

                 “Actually, I’m kind of looking for Dr. Freebird... Have you seen him?”

[diagnostixian-blog]

                     “An X-ray, eh? Fine, I think I could handle doing that… But first I’m going to ask you a few questions. You know, just to make sure you’re not dead and just haven’t stopped moving. Take a seat and we’ll get started.”

          His feet were once again resting on the floor as they once were before. With a slight grunt, he pushed himself up from his chair and ground his cigarette into the ashtray on the side of his desk. Yes, he wasn’t really supposed to smoke during work hours, but he was pretty bohemian in this respect, not really giving a damn, giving a half-assed effort to get through life.

                   “You’ve been icing and elevating your cast, right? And how’ve you been making out? Tell me your life story.”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

                  “Great.”

          It was impossible to miss the sarcasm in her reply. Talking about herself wasn’t really something she enjoyed, and she was particularly uninclined to rehash the details of how and why the injuries had occurred with someone who was pretty much a complete stranger. Hank told her Gabe was trustworthy, which helped a bit, but still. She still had some progress to make on her whole trust issues thing.

                 “Yeah, pretty much. Uh... has Dr. Freebird told you anything?”

         Maybe she shouldn’t assume he would have mentioned her, but it was wishful thinking; if he had told Gabe about her, maybe she wouldn’t have to tell him everything herself.

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

whisperingcorpse

“You’re...”

Claire looked up at the woman she had bumped into -- physically, having not been paying attention as she rounded a corner. (In her defense, being on a crutch didn’t exactly help her to be the most agile person in the world.) The woman was a bit intimidating to her, though. She had seen her once... talking to Hank’s puffy haired friend about a corpse. Yikes. It hadn’t occurred to her that the woman could be a medical examiner, of course, making it even more odd.

“Um. Never mind. Sorry.”

[diagnostixian-blog]

learning–itsamazing

                    “For the love of God, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

          The diagnostician had his head held in his hands as he leaned back far into his chair, feet resting on his desk and all. It was nearing his lunch break and people were flooding into the waiting room by the second. As consequence, he had to move his lunch break to a later block in the day, or just until the crowd died down. You know, some times he wondered why he even kept his occupation. There were better jobs than this, yet it was better than the army, but nonetheless he found it no less than boring and stressful, even, perhaps more so, with RONI.

                    “Let’s hurry things up. I don’t have all day you know.”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

"...Is this a bad time?"

Claire asked this as she opened the door, Hank having told her the way to the diagnostian's office. It would probably be a short visit; it had been a couple of months and it was possibly time for her casts to come off. They just had to see if her arm and leg had healed yet. She really hoped the answer was yes -- she was sick of the odd looks and questions from customers at her job, and the casts really weren't too comfortable. She'd be glad to stop having to use a crutch all the time, too.

"I just need an X-ray or something I think."

[gevoth-deactivated20151103]

A sweet smile filled her features, Inori gave a nod of her head as arms were swung behind her back. Pink locks seemed to flow with her movements beore settling.

「 It’s okay. I would of been worried greatly I lost something from a friend of mine. 」

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

It was a relief the girl didn’t think that was stupid. Well... Claire didn’t really think she looked like the type to judge things in that way, anyhow. At the moment, Claire had some free time; she was actually meeting said ‘friend’ here, but it wouldn’t be for a while yet. No harm in talking to a friendly person, yeah? ...If the girl needed to be on her way, Claire figured she’d just say so.

「...Yeah, I guess it’s sort of normal, maybe.

                  By the way, I’m Claire.」

[scalpelsuperstar]

"Giving up on people doesn't change anything. It doesn't make them better people."

FINDING CARTER SENTENCE STARTERS

learning–itsamazing

“And what makes you an expert on that?”

[learning--itsamazing-blog]

“Isn’t it common sense? No one’s going to learn if nobody’s willing to stick around and teach them.”