Patch Job (meeting the pack newbies)

[just2hands]

Cont: from this thread

Well, that made things simpler. Now Anika realized what those occasional faint 'silent spots' that resonated down the clairvoyant thread that attached her to Oni had been. Because as soon as Oni had gone to wherever she was, the thread simply ended. It didn't rip, there was no sudden tear, it just - stopped.

At least Ani wouldn't have to answer to the neighbors she thought as she got the massage table out again, spreading first the plastic sheet and then the linen cloth over it after she set it up in the middle of the small livingroom floor. A trip to the SUV to get her travel med-kit, and the doctor was back in her living room and snapping on a new pair of nitrile gloves even as Oni was dragging her battle-weary companion back in from wherever they had been. And as soon as she was back, the psychic thread between her and her longtime garou sister-friend was back as well, as strong and bright as ever.

Yes, he was tall. And dark haired. That was about all she could see, at least until she got the blanket off him that he'd wrapped around his shoulders.

"Yes, I'm a doctor. And no, you aren't in my debt" Ani caught sight of the wound and her eyes widened. "But you will be. So sit down on that table, and take - no wait. Just sit there. Oni, make him sit there, I'll get my scissors. I don't want him moving that arm." Turning her head away, Dr Nuttal mouthed the words 'Holy hell!" to Onida and blinking before her face resettled into that distant, professional doctor's mask that she wore as she continued to speak to her newest patient.

"Yes, scissors. You can buy a new suit shirt later, but I need to stitch that up and I'm not about to twist a broken arm to get it off you. Hmmm, I've seen a wound like this before... no matter. If you break that table, you buy it, got that? And hold still. This will probably hurt."

Comments

[just2hands]

floor after floor they traveled down the stairs, each engrossed in their own thoughts. For Anika, it was time of silent contemplation mixed with both awe and wonder as she mentally felt along the clairvoyant thread connecting her to the man who led the way down to the ground floor and out into the city night. They had spoken, actually talked to each other through the thread and through his special telepathic gift. It was like a whole new world had opened up for her, and he had unlocked that key.

Out on the street, the crowd had lessened. School children and young adults carrying book bags were no longer dotting sidewalks, an older and more mature group of people now strolled up and down the sidewalks and across the crowded streets.

Stuffing her gloved hands into her pockets, Ani took a few quick steps to be at Nasir's side, and contemplated the answer to his questions.

"Well" Anika began, pausing to raise a hand and pull some strands of hair out of her face "I like the access here. The libraries and the museums and the theaters. The hospitals and the colleges - I can hear a lecture from a world-renowned doctor or philosopher just about every week of the year. The music, the street markets and street fairs. The blending of so many cultures, so many lives and so many languages. And the food!" She gave a side glance and a grin.

"But" Ani continued. "I miss" Oh, how to put this?

"I miss my alone time. I miss my privacy, my ocean walks or my hikes in the woods. I miss riding my cycle, I miss walking in the sand. I" There was a hesitant, embarrassed pause. "I miss being able to walk without layers, to not worry about getting my gloves wet because I don't have to wear gloves. I miss..."

She stopped abruptly, shook her head and turned her face away. "I'm sorry. I do tend to run on sometimes." She pointed "It's just down the end of this block and across the street, then half a block to the left."

"Do you like being here Nasir?"

[naturaldisasster]

He watched, a little too intently, as she brushed that errant lock of hair back from her face; How he'd have liked to do that for her. Earlier, he'd felt something... The werewolf lacked the words to describe the sensation, but he knew that it had something to do with Anika and her connection-- What had she called it? A thread? It resonated within him, and he coughed to hide a shudder. That was something he was going to have to learn to brace himself against, especially since Nas doubted Anika even knew she'd done it.

"You like to stimulate your mind," he nodded approvingly. More than anything, the Philodox admired the woman's intellect. In that context, he could even appreciate her enjoyment of music, food, and culture; It broadened her understanding through experience and, when she grinned, he smiled back at her.

He listened to her, as she finished answering his question, and he understood because he keenly felt the absence of nature in the City. When she cut herself off and looked away, his brow furrowed, wondering if she'd been about to tell him that there was someone else she missed. That was fine, he reasoned. He could keep his feelings to himself and still admire her from afar.

"I don't mind," he murmured softly, in response to her sudden self-consciousness. At her question, he looked around them, taking in their surroundings. Before today, he would have said that he hated the City, absolutely. Now, well... Things were less straight-forward than they had been. "I prefer the wilderness, or the freedom of the open road. In nature, there's only you and the Great Mother. And I find that my thoughts are always clearer in solitude, without all this... Noise."

"However, as fate would have it, this is where the work is. Though I wouldn't say it's all bad," he added with a suggestive smirk, "Some things are worth sticking around."

"Is this it?" he asked, gesturing with his good arm at a posh neon sign, "Rodizio Grill?"

[just2hands]

"Stagnate and die, Nasir." She replied with a half-shrug. "That applies to minds and hearts as well as bodies." Ani had come a long, long way from the medical student who would barricade herself in her room for days with nothing but books as her only companions.

"Freedom, that's it exactly! That's why I miss the west coast, it was so much easier to ride my bike out there. I still skip the highways and hit the dunes and desert when I can, for exactly that feeling." She understood his concept of clear thinking as well, and thought that he'd actually have a lot in common with her new-to-be roommate as well; as long as the two of them could get along. Well, he didn't seem like he had too many negative pre-conceived notions about other fera - or if he did, he was polite enough to keep it to himself. Hopefully that trait extended to fae as well.

"They are." Ani readily agreed, with a wink in her eye. "And great food is only part of it. Can you smell that?" Oh, of course he could. Probably better than she herself. Ani nodded enthusiastically, lengthening her long stride. "Man, my mouth is watering already. Come on!"