I’m trying so hard not to just send every single one for each Arco character 🥴 so let me just do one more for now!!!
For any KHR character of your choice tell me about them in a Pharmacy AU!! I love stuff like this!!!
I wouldn’t mind even if you did!! I would rather have too many event asks to answer within a single month than to not have interaction with my readers! Plus, it helps me judge which prompts you guys like, how popular certain things are, how well received these monthly events/featured fandoms are, and helps the blog and creator overall!! So thank you so, SO much for sending in what you did because they were all such delightful requests! I was particularly in love with this one. Since I know how much you love the Arcobaleno, I decided to go with an Arcobaleno themed Pharmacy!AU here and I hope you’ll enjoy everything my mind came up with.
So, we’re going to set the scene here. This is a smaller pharmacy but it’s the oldest pharmacy in town. It’s been around forever, or so it seems. The pharmacy itself takes up most of the building, but there is a small section of shelves and spinning racks by the pharmacy to sell over the counter medications, incontinence items, menstrual pads and tampons, and there’s postcards and books on one spinning rack and non-prescription eyeglasses. On top of that, there’s a wing to the building that is the retail section of the pharmacy, selling vintage candy and drinks, products from only local sellers and businesses and, at the urging of the pharmacy’s current bookkeeper, branded sweaters, t-shirts, mugs, and stickers featuring the store’s logo.
The store is currently officially owned by Luce. It’s been in her family for as long as she can remember, way back beyond even her great-grandparents time. She grew up around the pharmacy, always going in and out of there and when there was a storm day at school or her parents couldn’t find a babysitter, she’d spend the whole day behind the pharmacy counter with her parents. She grew up learning the ins and outs of the pharmacy and she knows all of their customers by name. Is it any surprise that, when it came time for Luce to go off to university, she decided to become a registered pharmacist? However, Luce doesn’t currently work very many shifts at the pharmacy, maybe once, max twice a week because she wants to focus on her child and family. However, she’s the most popular of the pharmacists at the pharmacy because so many of the customers, especially the older ones, remember her and have bonds with her from childhood. There are several of their customers who plan their trips to the pharmacy just to be there on the day Luce works.
Luce does often have to pop by the pharmacy though, both to solve any issues that come up, but especially to check in with and meet with the pharmacy’s current accountant. That’s, of course, Mammon. Mammon is perpetually annoyed at something during the course of their job. Mammon is also absolutely hated by everyone else who works at the pharmacy. Though the pharmacy is successful and is never in the red, there’s always too many expenses for Mammon’s liking. They’re always calling Luce in for meetings to discuss the budget and what money is being spent on. Mammon gets angry about how expensive the drugs, even the generic ones are? There must be a cheaper alternative, even if it means the drugs will be lower quality. Do they really need to order in specialty drugs for patients? Can’t they outsource that to another pharmacy? Furthermore, can’t they outsource compliance packs and compounds to a different pharmacy? It would save money on supplies and employee hours. And speaking of supplies, Mammon has definitely tried to argue for keeping only one size of vial and one type of cap on hand at any given moment, along with one size of bag. Of course, they go with the cheapest, smallest size despite, as all the employees and Luce pointed out, when it comes to the large pills, like Metformin XR or Metformin/Sitagliptin, only like three pills will fit in the small bottle and when their patients get 360 at a time, it would take a lot of bottles. And speaking of employee hours, Mammon has definitely campaigned for signing the employees into salaried contracts at the lowest possible rate to avoid paying anyone overtime, as well as taking away paid sick time and paid vacation. Luce put her foot down on that one and said absolutely not. She’s a very good boss and pays all of her employees well above standard rate, putting her and Mammon at odds a lot of the times, and meaning that Mammon is constantly angry. Mammon’s especially angry at the newest implemented project at the pharmacy, which provides free pipes and syringes for addicts who come in asking for them. It boils Mammon’s blood, to be honest, especially since Mammon really looks down on all of their addict patients.
Reborn’s actually the one who came up with that particular initiative. Fon had been talking to him about the program being put into effect in other places and Reborn decided to go and look into it. He discovered that the program was available in their area, with funding available from the government as part of a ‘harm reduction’ model for addicts. He saw some proof that the program was working in other places and it sparked his curiosity, especially since Reborn is not so blind as not to realize that addiction is a problem in their area. He suggested the idea to Luce and the program was implemented. Does that mean that Mammon is technically getting mad about them providing a service the government is paying for? Yes. Mammon would rather pretend they are while pocketing that sweet, sweet government money.
Speaking of Reborn, I personally see Reborn, in this AU!, as being the main pharmacist on duty. He’s a fully registered pharmacist and he works the most shifts. While Luce has deep bonds with all their customers, Reborn’s is the face that the customers see the most and he’s pretty well-known to their customers. He is very gifted at remembering all the small details about their medications and medical histories. While he’s not as outwardly welcoming as Luce, and he takes far less crap from their customers, he’s seen by the customers as someone who can be trusted, who is very knowledgeable about pharmaceuticals, vitamins and supplements, and over the counter products, and who will tough but fair. He won’t let customers bully him or the other staff (excluding Skull and even then, there are limits to how the customers are allowed to treat even Skull) but as long as the customers are respectful, Reborn will be their biggest advocate and they know that. He’s also going to be straight-forward with the customers, which most greatly appreciate. When customers come in asking about vitamins and supplements that are being touted as ‘miracle drugs’ by posts they see on the internet, Reborn is going to honestly say ‘there’s been no proven scientific evidence that this works at all’ or will have the studies behind why certain vitamins do help. He’s just really passionate about pharmaceuticals and he’s constantly keeping up on new studies.
The only other fully registered pharmacist does work a fair number of shifts but they don’t get regular interaction with the customers. That’s because Verde is really, REALLY bad at dealing with the customer facing aspect of his job. He loves the nitty gritty details of his job and the actual work itself but he has no chill when it comes to customers. He’s very rarely ever put into a position where he does have to spend extended time with the customers. What customer interactions he does have are normally to give injections when Fon is unavailable, to complete medication reviews with customers (where Verde’s blunt nature and his combativeness with doctors actually comes in handy), or to conduct consultations of various types (travel consultations, UTI assessments, pink eye assessments, GERD assessments, birth control assessments, etc.). These sections of customer interaction don’t bother or set Verde off as much because they’re either super quick or he can focus on the science of the matter. He’s still not a huge favourite among the customers though – those who have had injections from both him and Fon say that Fon is far superior; Verde’s injections hurt more because he’s more forceful than needed and he will hold a squirming child or person in place.
No, what Verde is largely used for is non-customer facing work. He’s absolutely brilliant and very quick at compounding. At least one of his shifts a week is dedicated solely to whipping up the compound requests that have come in. If the compound the doctor wrote for doesn’t have a file built already in their computer system and there’s not a recipe for it readily available, Verde will call the hospital, talk to the doctor to see what they want and what it’s being used for, and either alter or build the compound from scratch by doing research. This means he figures out the right ratio of ingredients, the handling of each ingredient, the proper steps to mixing the compound, the proper packaging of the compound in question, and the compound’s stability. And this is work that Verde truly loves. The other part of his work that he loves? Verde is solely responsible for all the compliance packing at the pharmacy. He could list off from memory what each compliance pack patient is taking, the time of day they’re taking it, and how much of it they’re taking. He ensures that all patients are packed a week before they’ll actually need their next week, two weeks, or months’ worth of medication. While Verde is not the most pleasant man to work with, and he’s not liked by the customers, he’s an invaluable part of the team.
We’ve talked a lot about Fon here. That’s because Fon really rounds out the pharmacy team proper here. He’s a licensed pharmacy technician who is very well-liked by the customers. Because he’s a licensed technician, Fon can help out with a lot of things – he can do injections as well as data verify prescriptions. On top of that, he helps out Skull with a lot of the pharmacy assistant work or takes Skull’s place as pharmacy assistant on Skull’s days off. He’s really well-liked with the customers, especially for his skills in giving injections. There are customers who would rather pay the $20 fee to get their Depo-Provera shot, B12 shot, and vaccines from Fon rather than getting them for free from their doctor, just because Fon is so gentle about it all. It’s said that you can’t even feel his injections, they’re that quick and gentle. He’s particularly great at getting scared children to quiet down and sit still for him. Another talent of Fon’s that is pretty invaluable in the pharmacy? He’s got a knack with insurance companies. He has a great phone manner with their customer service teams, he can fill out special authorization forms in his sleep, and he won’t stop campaigning for his customers, often managing to get things covered for them, either fully or partially, through whatever means he can.
Colonello is the pharmacy’s receiving team all in one man. He’s responsible for all ordering of supplies and stock (except narcotics, which only Luce, Reborn, and Verde can order) and he’s responsible for receiving all incoming orders. Once received, Colonello is the one who restocks all the shelves and keeps the store looking clean and fresh. Because the work he does is hard to do with customers around, he often works overnights into the early morning – the latest truck he gets is at 6:30am, and he gets the items at least received and properly stored if they’re refrigerated before he clocks off at 7:00 am. While the customers don’t see him and thus don’t really get to know him, the local vendors and businesses know Colonello really well and he’s a popular man around town. Luce trusts Colonello to manage their business relationships and contracts with the local businesspeople that sell their merchandise in the pharmacy and he has yet to let her down.
Lal is the manager of the retail section of the store. She is no nonsense – she knows every piece of stock in ‘her’ store. She keeps a careful eye out for shoplifters. While none of the customers remember her ever smiling, she’s pleasant and professional with all of them and has impeccable professionalism. She’s also very well-informed about all of their stock, even the stuff she really didn’t need to learn about. She had the pharmacy team teach her all about the over-the-counter medications and the vitamins and supplements so that she could help field most of the customer’s frequently asked questions about it. Lal’s a hard worker, often taking more shifts than she needs to and she genuinely loves her job, her coworkers, and their customers, even if she doesn’t show it.
Last but certainly not least is Skull. Skull’s an odd one because he actually bounces throughout the pharmacy. He’s the grunt in the pharmacy, going wherever he’s needed most. He’s trained as a pharmacy assistant and often does shifts behind the pharmacy counter. He’s responsible, in that role, for entering all new prescriptions into the system and for filling the actual prescriptions. On top of that, he’s expected to man the phones and wait on the customers at cash. When he's not pulling those shifts, he’s bounced into working the counter in the retail section of the store. Sometimes, if they’re having staffing problems, Skull is expected to do all things at once. He gets easily frazzled and upset at bad customers and he can be a little combative with rude customers, and he’s been told he’s not quick enough so many times, but Skull at least always tries his best and, while Reborn in particular is fond of picking on him, there’s not a person in the pharmacy who would say that Skull is at all replaceable.
