the sky is not falling

Charlie Little. 28. Resident at Pride U Hospital

[enid-mohanty]

Start from A to Z * [Chared]

[enid-mohanty]

"Prophecies..." Enid's eyebrows twitched together, then up on her forehead. It clicked who this kid was.

"Ohhhhh, wait--Charlie Little, right? Didn't know you were back in town!"

Charlie Little had been several years younger than Enid. In Joy and Gem's classes? Maybe. If she remembered correctly...either way, he was a native, and one that liked to cause a stir. Specifically about doomsday-esque visions or...whatever. Enid didn't really remember.

She just remembered that Charlie Little was kind of a freak. (Complimentary. Enid liked freaks.)

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Oh, Enid did remember him.

Good! Or maybe bad? It could go either way with Charlie.

He cracked a small smile. "Er, yup, that's me. I'm finishing up my residency at the Pride U hospital now. It's a better program." He shifted from foot to foot.

@enid-mohanty

[dr-grundler]

In the Beat of a Wave }} [Gnarlie]

[dr-grundler]

@the-little-prophet

The A&E was the dreaded Q word.

Gretchen didn't believe in that silly superstition, but she'd been yelled at by the nurses plenty of times at this point that she tried to avoid the word out of respect. And to keep the peace.

She still thought it was silly.

But it was quiet.

She was finishing up her rounds before the end of her shift. One of her last patients was Desmond Butler, who had come in with an arrhythmia and shortness of breath.

"Hello, Mr. Butler," Gretchen smiled as she entered the curtain. "Just checking in on you before I head out for the morning."

"You leaving now? It's 6am!"

"Yeah, and I got here at 8pm," Gretchen said.

Desmond laughed, then coughed. "Damn. Alright. Well, hope my next doctor is as good as you."

"I'm sure you'll be in great hands," Gretchen told him as she flipped through his chart. "How are you feeling? Meds helping?"

"Oh, yeah! I feel much better. Really, could be--"

The curtain flew back and Gretchen jumped. "Dr. Little what are you--"

All of the sudden, the EKG flatlined...

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie hated his doom sense more than he hated the visions.

First of all-- crap name for it, eh? Charlie hadn't figured out a better way to describe the feeling that swooped through his body though, freezing him from head to toe like he had once again plunged into the icy depths of the Atlantic. Whenever it hit him, he lurched to a stop, his throat closing, breath temporarily snatched. When doing research, he found that mediums described somewhat similar phenomena when a ghost passed through a room. But Charlie was still no medium and that feeling wasn't a ghost.

If anything, it was an invisible Grim Reaper.

Today, it headed right toward Desmond Butler.

Charlie had mere seconds to act. He lurched toward the bed and threw the curtain open, barely even noticing Gretchen Grundler before the EKG started beeping like mad. He brushed past her, going directly to Desmond as the color drained from his face, and the consciousness along with it.

"Mr. Butler! Mr. Butler, aw bloody hell..." said Charlie, giving a small shake that was more perfunctory than anything else. He checked the pulse, but he already knew. He always knew.

"No pulse!" For the first time, Charlie's gaze darted up to Dr. Grundler. "Call the code!"

@dr-grundler

[the-little-prophet]

Give Me A Break || Sparlie

[the-little-prophet]

Ah, lovely, a good first impression.

Charlie pushed his self-consciousness away. Or, he tried to. This moment was sure to haunt him later, perhaps in another bad dream, but at least that one might not involve the dead body of his friend splayed across the streets of Swynlake.

For now, he shook Ashley Spinelli's hand. How did he know that name? He definitely recognized it, if only his fatigued brain might catch up with him...

"Oh yeah, I'm great. Been sleep-deprived for a decade, you know how it is." Charlie tried to smile cheerfully. "Coffee though-- sounds great."

Normally, he tried to have matcha. But desperate times call for cheap coffee in the break room.

@dr-spinelli

[dr-spinelli]

Ashley did know how it was, to a degree.

The intern schedule wasn't exactly designed for the perfect sleep schedule. It was designed for learning and working hard... definitely not for the sleep thing. But hey, Ashley was handling it okay. And she remembered the weird hours her mother had when she was still in town.

"Coffee it is," Ashley replied as she made her way over to the coffee machine, making sure that it would make enough for two cups of coffee in the pot. Really she should do more in case others came in, but there was no telling when more people would trickle in, and Ashley didn't want to waste any coffee either.

Once the pot had brewed enough she grabbed two mugs and poured it into them both, setting the coffee pot aside and reaching for a creamer and some sugar. "You want anything in your coffee? Or are you attuned to having it black?"

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

The room very quickly filled with the strong scent of coffee, luring Charlie's eyelids to flutter. He had always loved that scent; honestly, he missed it more than he missed the way coffee tasted. He desperately to curl up on that cot and go back to sleep-- real sleep, not time-travel-sleep. But in lieu of that-- he didn't have time anyway-- he stepped forward to fetch his mug.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, black's fine for me. I imagine we don't have milk substitutes in the fridge," he said. A beat, then: "I'm vegan, technically." Charlie took a sip of the coffee, feeling it scald against his lips. Hot. Bitter. A wake-up call. Perfect.

"Er, remind me- how long have you been an intern again?"

@dr-spinelli

[the-little-prophet]

Call To Action || Charlana

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie didn't need to travel in time to know Alana's future--

She was gonna do it. The expansion and everything. He smiled, thinking about several Queen Bee's popping up around England and, knowing Marie, probably France too. That was supposed to be Alana's destiny. Always had been. She was the sort of person you met and knew was going to be successful, no matter what it took, no matter what she decided to focus on.

Which... was why he felt guilty coming back here and taking her away from that destiny.

For the, oi, probably one-hundred-and-fifty-fifth (give or take) time, Charlie second-guessed what he was doing here-- not in Swynlake, but in Alana's flat, and walking beside her now, and gearing up to tell her about the end of the world again. He could probably do this by himself. Maybe he should.

That thought just made him wanna throw up a little. Lol.

His smile was a little less enthusiastic than he'd like. "Hey, that's great! Have you already scoped out other locations?"

@alana-the-brilliant

[alana-the-brilliant]

“Not officially,” Alana admitted.

A lot of the thoughts had been in her head. Marie had that one client in Paris who was so demanding that sometimes Alana thought they should open something in Paris just to keep her satisfied. But then again, Marie had flounced off to Los Angeles and had a great time and the idea of expanding to America sounded so enticing. 

But then again, maybe that was too much and they should just think about London. 

“I’m torn between staying in England or going to Europe or even going to America — you know Marie is dating Dipper now, right? Isn’t that hilarious? We used to see him all the time when he and Terence were together.” She giggled, bumping her shoulder against Charlie’s. “Anyway — how’s the residency going? Did they throw you into the deep end right away?” 

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Blimey, all the way to America? He'd not predicted that-- though he supposed it would eventually get there anyway. Sure, maybe not next year or in five years but... actually, maybe Queen Bee could expand in five years. Charlie wondered if Lana would follow with it or stay here in Swynlake.

It was a bit frightening, thinking of Swynlake without her. But he'd been the one to leave first so, who was he to ask her to stay?

He smiled again, still trying to find the right opening to mention, y'know, the end of the world and everything. Alana closed any door he could have opened though.

"Huh? Oh! Uh-- yup. That's pretty expected though, especially working in emergency medicine. You got to adapt quickly, y'know. Can't really spend much time learning the ropes," said Charlie. "But I like the speed. Less time to overthink everything, which--" he snorted "you know I can do."

Maybe now was the time to mention the end of the world...?

He cleared his throat. "Er, I did actually-- well, there's something I should probably mention."

@alana-the-brilliant

[enid-mohanty]

Start from A to Z * [Chared]

[enid-mohanty]

Enid was only half paying attention. She was itching to get back to her fan fiction and was annoyed that someone was here that she had to actually help. God forbid someone made her do her job. The summer was supposed to be the quiet season, with most of the uni out for the session. And tourists were, generally, not interested in the archives. They liked the flashier parts of town.

"I'm sorry," Enid said, somewhat drolly. "What was that? I didn't catch it."

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

The lump tickled Charlie's throat, and he self-consciously adjusted his glasses again before taking a breath and swallowing that lump down.

"Er-- I wondered...what kind of records you might have of... town...related...prophecies," said Charlie. "Just uh! You know, anything that might have been recorded throughout the years..."

@enid-mohanty

[the-little-prophet]

Give Me A Break || Sparlie

[dr-spinelli]

Right.

It seemed like he'd had a pretty intense bad dream. But Ashley supposed it wasn't really her business. Even if it did sound a little crazy. She hummed, debating over whether she should just make a coffee now since napping seemed unlikely.

At least until he got up and stuck out his hand. "Ahhh." She reached out and shook Charlie's hand firmly. "Nice to officially meet you Dr. Little," Ashley greeted him quickly. He was also one of her bosses, though considering what she just saw...she sort of found it difficult to imagine him making rounds as stressful as some of the others.

"You sure you're good? I was going to make coffee before rounds... do you want some too?"

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Ah, lovely, a good first impression.

Charlie pushed his self-consciousness away. Or, he tried to. This moment was sure to haunt him later, perhaps in another bad dream, but at least that one might not involve the dead body of his friend splayed across the streets of Swynlake.

For now, he shook Ashley Spinelli's hand. How did he know that name? He definitely recognized it, if only his fatigued brain might catch up with him...

"Oh yeah, I'm great. Been sleep-deprived for a decade, you know how it is." Charlie tried to smile cheerfully. "Coffee though-- sounds great."

Normally, he tried to have matcha. But desperate times call for cheap coffee in the break room.

@dr-spinelli

[the-little-prophet]

Remember Me? || Cheerie

[notmuchofatail]

If Gregory noticed - he didn't say anything, just pulling away as Charlie did with a soft smile and a shrug of his shoulders as he led the pair through the lobby and over towards the adoption room. Tucker was hot on their heels as he opened the door, a slight lazy stir of movement shuffling within the room as the animals realized they had a visitor.

"...Good." He started easily, though his gaze did return to Charlie's as if to follow through on that comment with a reassuring smile. "Actually good. If that's believable." Since there was a time that it very much wasn't.

Yet that time had seemingly fell to a much less frequent mindset for Gregory, thank god.

"...been holding down the fort here - I can't remember if you were uh--.. still here when I moved into this place or not, but. Did that, moved in upstairs. Business has been pretty steady... lots of pets in Swynlake and everything.. Otherwise,.. just celebrated three years with my boyfriend, he's about to graduate and we're trying to plan a little trip away... But.. I dunno, mostly just been working on myself, you know?.. I think it's been working."

At least it felt like it to him... "How was life across the pond?" He asked after a moment, waving off his own comment as he reached down to pet one of the dogs that was laying down atop a bed in the room (...quiet afternoons meant the dogs and cats and creatures all coexisted outside of their kennels if they wanted to).

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

So much had changed.

Charlie expected the change. He'd braced for it mentally-- after all, he'd actually been in Swynlake quite briefly for Alana's wedding and had already seen how Swynlake was not the same town he'd left years ago. But it had been easy to ignore then. Now, not so much. Now, most of the people he'd grown up with had moved on, or gotten married-- people even had kids, which boggled his mind.

Gregory followed this pattern. The Greg that Charlie knew hadn't had a boyfriend when he'd left, let alone a boyfriend of three years. Blimey, that was impressive. And great! He was glad that someone had nothing but good news to report.

Well, so did Alana, huh?

Really, it was only Charlie who was dragging bad news with him like a corpse. He was the harbinger of doom, come to ruin everyone's lives, lol.

Well, hopefully he could prevent the end of the world before anything actually happened.

"Greg, that's amazing! All of it, I mean," said Charlie. He smiled encouragingly. "I'll have to meet your boyfriend, eh? I bet he's nice."

And now, for Charlie's update...!

"As for me, er-- yeah, I mean, things were pretty good. I liked Toronto and I got to know my stepbrother better. Oh! I rock climb now!" he said. "If you uh-- ever wanna go to a gym or something some time. It's helped me sleep better. That and the vegan diet."

@notmuchofatail

[enid-mohanty]

Start from A to Z * [Chared]

[enid-mohanty]

@the-little-prophet

The door to the Archives pushed open.

In the same instant, Enid minimized the AO3 window that she had pulled up.

It wasn't that she didn't like her job in the archives. It was just that sometimes it could be so boring. If there weren't any major projects going on. Which, in the summer, there rarely ever was. Most of the actual archivists took the summer months off to varying degrees.

So, Enid was mostly left to her own devices.

Should she be working on her thesis? Yeah, sure, probably.

But Rhaenyra x Mysaria fanfic was soooo much more interesting.

"Hi, can I help you?" she droned, looking up at the patron. She squinted. He looked vaguely familiar but, then again, so did nearly everyone in Swynlake.

[outfit]

[the-little-prophet]

So Charlie had scoured the stacks at Pride University. Check.

And he'd also picked through the aisles at Chapter Three (and put in some special orders he was waiting on). Check.

Now the last place to look-- Town Hall.

He hadn't slept much last night (shocker, eh?), so he came in looking exhausted, his right eye twitching about twice every minute or so. Still, he offered a polite smile to Enid Mohanty. Technically, they'd been in school at the same time (Enid was older, though), but Charlie didn't know much about her at all. He hoped that she... didn't remember him! (or the several times he'd pulled the fire alarm out of panic...)

"Er, hi! I was uh...wondering what the Archives might have on any significant ummm-- townrelatedprophecies?" Charlie said, rushing his words a bit. As if that would make the request any less weird.

@enid-mohanty

[the-little-prophet]

Call To Action || Charlana

[alana-the-brilliant]

Charlie was back.

Charlie was back!

Alana was absolutely thrilled. He was back and they were living together, just like the old days —

Okay, it wasn’t really like the old days, because Alana was married now and because of that Jake was also living with them. But the good news was that they had a three bedroom (remember Lana and Charlie’s old roommate Terrence?), which meant that Charlie could move right back into his old room, which they’d using as a guest room anyway (well, guest room and room that held all the extra stuff that they (mostly Lana) accumulated)). 

It was the same, but it was different. Good different, mostly.

Because — oh right, Alana also had a thriving business. That wasn’t something she’d had when they’d been uni students.

“It’s doing so well,” Alana said with a massive grin. She flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “We’re getting a lot of out of town customers and orders. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about expanding, but that’s top secret information, so don’t tell anyone yet.” 

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie didn't need to travel in time to know Alana's future--

She was gonna do it. The expansion and everything. He smiled, thinking about several Queen Bee's popping up around England and, knowing Marie, probably France too. That was supposed to be Alana's destiny. Always had been. She was the sort of person you met and knew was going to be successful, no matter what it took, no matter what she decided to focus on.

Which... was why he felt guilty coming back here and taking her away from that destiny.

For the, oi, probably one-hundred-and-fifty-fifth (give or take) time, Charlie second-guessed what he was doing here-- not in Swynlake, but in Alana's flat, and walking beside her now, and gearing up to tell her about the end of the world again. He could probably do this by himself. Maybe he should.

That thought just made him wanna throw up a little. Lol.

His smile was a little less enthusiastic than he'd like. "Hey, that's great! Have you already scoped out other locations?"

@alana-the-brilliant

[the-little-prophet]

Give Me A Break || Sparlie

[dr-spinelli]

Ashley was just trying to mind her business and get a brief break. She had a small window before she'd be expected for rounds again and she had hoped to get a bit of a relaxing time in the break room.

Unfortunately for her, the quiet was suddenly disrupted by a loud yell to not hurt her, and she startled, twisting around to get a look at the person who'd yelled. "Uh... you good? Sounded half like the way people wake up after one of the worse town dreams," Ashley remarked.

She still had a very clear memory of the Titanic one when she was a teenager. That one had been incredibly fucked up. Even her own mother had come running to check on her, and she had never been the most affectionate of parents.

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie still felt the vision under his skin, like aftershocks rippling through his system. He had to close his fists, resting them on the tops of his legs so this girl wouldn't see his fingers tremble.

Not a good look for a doctor, especially one in emergency medicine.

He sucked in a breath, then finally found his glasses and shoved them onto his face, so the girl came into focus. Oi, it was one of the interns. Great. Awesome. Even better to see their resident screaming and whimpering for no reason!

"Er-- yeah! Yeah, just-- a bad dream," said Charlie breathlessly. "Just er, you know, came off a night shift." He desperately needed to change the subject here. "You're-- Ashley Spinelli, right? We haven't been on rounds together yet. I'm er-- hold on--"

He scrambled off the cot, then stuck out his hand. "I'm the new resident, Charlie Little."

@dr-spinelli

[the-little-prophet]

First Contact || Open

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie could do it.

If only because he did not want a stranger poking his eyeball. This person seemed very kind, but Charlie still had no idea where their hands had been, and the idea of someone's germ-infested fingers going anywhere near his eye made him wanna shudder and take a shower.

"No, no, I can do it!" Charlie squeaked. He stared up at the ceiling and carefully touched his eyeball, finding the dastardly escaping contact. Delicately, he removed it from his eye and blinked in relief.

"I should wash thi--"

Charlie froze a second time.

He had just reached to touch it with his other finger, and the contact had slipped off.

Onto.

The.

Floor.

"...That's unfortunate."

@lucathedreamer

[lucathedreamer]

As the other man said he could do this, Luca nodded and stayed that step back again. After all, he knew best! They had seen people use contacts before, but rarely from this close up. Part of them couldn't help being fascinated and wanting to touch.

To be safe, they kept their hands behind their back.

It meant when the contact feel, they watched it fall, too slow to do anything.

"Oh no! Um. Should we - do you still need that? I have a little bag if you want that and you can carry it. Or is it one of those disposable ones? There are disposable ones right? Oh, can you see okay? Sorry, that probably should have been the first question."

Nerves meant that Luca immediately began to ramble as they stared between the man and the small contact on the floor.

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie had already knelt down, scouring the white floor for his clear contact with growing desperation and a throbbing headache, instantly worsened by his skewed vision. He squeezed his contact-less eye shut but that didn't do much to help him locate the tiny contact.

Meanwhile--

"Oi, your holding up the queue!" sniped someone.

"Sorry!" Charlie said. He waved a hand. "You can go around us-- er-- me. You-- you can go ahead too," he stuttered at the helpful stranger. Bloody hell, this was so embarrassing.

@lucathedreamer

[the-little-prophet]

Give Me A Break || Sparlie

[the-little-prophet]

"DON'T HURT HER--"

Charlie choked and lurched back to life on the cot in the breakroom. For a second, he still felt like he was there, pinned to the ground, Alana getting dragged away by...

He couldn't remember. There'd been too much blood.

He blinked, panting, and fumbled for his glasses--then froze when he saw a blurry face in the room.

"Uh."

@dr-spinelli

[the-little-prophet]

Call To Action || Charlana

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie had been waiting for the right...timing.

But good timing was slippery and impossible to recognize. That perfect moment usually slipped by Charlie, leaving him to grind his teeth and wish he could jump back in time and grab it. He could, and he couldn't, of course. When it came to saving the entire world (!!!), Charlie knew that right timing probably meant 'the sooner, the better.'

Yeah... but Charlie had still toddled around for a week, reasoning with himself that he was getting settled and adjusting to his new routine and bla bla bla bla...

Today was the day, though. He'd time-jumped again last night-- and then woke in his bed gasping for air, choking on some kind of thick miasma that burned his eyes and made vomit rise in his throat. He'd stumbled to the bathroom to wash his face. It took another hour for his eyes to stop stinging.

At least he had the day off.

So, he was on a Hot Girl Walk with Alana (her words, not his). Now, all he had to do was bring it up...

"So-- how's the store doing?"

@alana-the-brilliant

[the-little-prophet]

Remember Me? || Cheerie

[notmuchofatail]

Gregory supposed all of that was true. Dogs were good for going on walks and meeting new people. In fact he was certain that Tucker had gotten him quite a few run ins over the years, right? "Right, right." He still huffed with a fond shake of his head. Still, he nodded towards the adoption center.

"I mean, I have quite a few dogs here. If you want to see. Just to get an idea. Plus I get new ones pretty regularly, and I already have a list of the next animals that are supposed to come in... Never know, the perfect one could be right here."

He usually had a dog for everyone when they were looking for one. For those who wanted protection, the people who wanted an active partner for running and walking, for those who just wanted company.

Gregory found there was someone out there for all of them - and any animals that had spent a lot of time with him simply... hadn't had their person come in yet! But that day would come for them, he was sure. "If nothing else, you can meet a bunch of cuties."

They were always looking for company.

Either way, Gregory moved forward, offering a hand down to Charlie to help him up. Though when he did, Greg tugged the smaller man into a hug. "I missed you, by the way. I'm glad you're back."

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Hey, Charlie was never gonna turn down the chance to look at some furry cuties.

Through med school, whenever he got extremely overwhelmed, the only thing that had really calmed him down was volunteering at one of the local animal shelters. Sometimes, he didn't even pet or play with any of the animals; his shifts consisted of cleaning out cages and organizing animal supplies. But that kind of work had emptied his brain, and he liked to look at the clean cages after and think about how nice that would be for the dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, etc who would return there.

Everyone deserved a clean, comfortable place to sleep. Humans and animals alike.

So yeah-- his third goal was to bring up volunteering here at Ruff to Fluff as well, at some point, so he could have that same safe, simple place to escape to when the hospital overwhelmed him or his dreams...

He lost that line of thought on purpose. It helped that as he got up, Greg pulled him in for a sweet, fierce hug.

Charlie blushed, felt heat rushing to his face, immediately embarrassed by how much he wanted to hug Gregory back and stay hugging him for...a while. Not because--! He just was a bit touch-deprived, was all!

He pulled away as quickly as was socially acceptable, too embarrassed to let himself. He hadn't seen Greg in years, anyway.

"Thanks. I-- I missed you too. How've you been?" he asked as he followed Gregory toward the animals.

@notmuchofatail

[the-little-prophet]

First Contact || Open

[lucathedreamer]

This should probably be an interaction that felt strange, but weirdly it did not. This person needed help, Luca was here, so they were going to do their best to help.

Stepping closer, they were able to peer at the new person's eye they furrowed their eyes intensely before -

"Oh, yes! It's just caught sort of a little up to the left under your eyelid. Do you think you can get it, or do you need help?" After a moment, they stepped back so he could look back down at them. "Left side like that side by the way - " Luca pointed to the correct direction to show what they meant. "My left and your left are weird, sorry."

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie could do it.

If only because he did not want a stranger poking his eyeball. This person seemed very kind, but Charlie still had no idea where their hands had been, and the idea of someone's germ-infested fingers going anywhere near his eye made him wanna shudder and take a shower.

"No, no, I can do it!" Charlie squeaked. He stared up at the ceiling and carefully touched his eyeball, finding the dastardly escaping contact. Delicately, he removed it from his eye and blinked in relief.

"I should wash thi--"

Charlie froze a second time.

He had just reached to touch it with his other finger, and the contact had slipped off.

Onto.

The.

Floor.

"...That's unfortunate."

@lucathedreamer

[the-little-prophet]

First Contact || Open

[destinyscharms]

Honestly, this reminded her a little bit of when a friend tried contacts for, like, a month before giving up and going back to regular glasses. This was a pretty common scene in school, so she had a pretty good idea of what she was looking for. Even if extremely tired by her arrival here.

With a nod, Kairi took as good of a look as she could. Where… oh! Here! That little thing over there seemed very contact-like. Contact-shaped, even.

“I think I see it! It’s, like—near the bottom of the right side of your eye.”

Without really thinking about it, she pointed to the area on her eye (could he even see that? Uhhh, she hoped so).

ֹ ₊ 𐙚 @the-little-prophet ᝰ.ᐟ⊹ ࣪ ˖

[the-little-prophet]

Charlie could not "see" by any medical standard. If Charlie lost his other contact, he would be considered legally blind. Technically, having lost one contact was enough to decree him as such. No one should let Charlie operate heavy machinery right now.

But he could tell something was coming directly at his eye. Instinctively, he leaned away, like the stranger was going to poke his eye out.

"Sorry," said Charlie automatically. He blinked, grimacing at the irritation. His eyes were welling with tears at this stage. "You said uh, the right side?"

He reached for his right side, but it was the opposite of what Kairi meant-- since she was referring to her right side.

@destinyscharms

[basil-of-benbow]

Oh Toby, or not To Be - Open

[basil-of-benbow]

"Toby!" Basil's voice came a little more sternly, and the dog sat obediently, with a glance up at his master slightly sheepishly, before he kept looking up at where the little cat friend was trapped inside the carrier.

"So sorry about that," Basil apologised effusively, knowing how easy it was to be worried for one's pet. "I hope he didn't spook you too badly, either of you," he emphasised.

"Are you on the way somewhere?" He asked, thinking it might be best to smooth the way with some polite conversation.

@the-little-prophet

[the-little-prophet]

"Oh, not me-- I love dogs!" said Charlie, also wanting to smooth this interaction over with polite conversation.

And he did. If Charlie lived a different life, he'd love to have a dog as well as a cat. But working in a hospital required too many long, unpredictable hours. He couldn't give a dog the proper care it really deserved.

That was why Charlie was a cat person. And, most recently, beetles! He had beetles now! Really cool ones too.

"Oh er-- yeah, I'm moving in to my new apartment," said Charlie. This was an inaccurate comment, he realized, and then added-- "Well, my friend's-- my friend's apartment. Until I can uh, get my own place or find a new roommate. Not that my roommate isn't-- she's great, she's my best friend, but she's married, so that's a little weird. She says it's not that weird, but I dunno, I think Jake probably thinks it's weird," Charlie said.

A beat.

"Sorry, I'm uh, jetlagged."

@basil-of-benbow