The Injured Will Be Fixed and the Sick, Cured (Zander)

[Alexandra Thompson]

It had only been a few days since she had left, and she was already missing the friends she had made. Being the resident healer had made her latch onto people very quickly. After all, how could could person heal the wounds of another without forming some kind of connection? She supposed she also felt sympathy toward the teens that had come to visit her, especially the young ones. They had been all but ripped away from their family and friends and forced to fight day in and day out, mainly for the amusement of scientists, who cared nothing for their well being. In fact, she was almost like the mother of the facility. She was also the nurse, the doctor, the therapist, and the teacher. Hell, one would say that she was a basically everything to the teens there, despite the fact that she was their peer. She never thought much about that fact, though; it was not her nature to do so. She did not want to be repayed for something that she had done to help another. The only thing she wanted was to make sure that people stayed alive and well, so that they could one day be discovered and freed from their prison.

Unfortunately, the young woman’s dream could not be realized; mainly because they had decided to transfer her to Ashford. She was not given any assignments this time around, but she found herself drawn to the nurse’s office. Well, after she could find it, that is. Navigation problems aside, the blonde young woman enjoyed spending time in the nurse’s office, especially since she could lend a hand in organization. She was sure that, with students filing in and out several times during the day, things were bound to get crazy. So, in her spare time during the school day, she was in the office, organizing supplies and putting them into the right cabinets. She kept a running list of supplies that they needed, which seemed to perpetually consist of antibiotic cream, band-aids, four by four gauze pads, and medical tape. Since she was rather new to the school, she was not permitted to use her powers to heal anyone. She expected this, though; they did not know her here. What confused her, though, was the fact that they asked for her assistance while patching students up. The nicest nurse on the staff even taught her a few things, but she was often pushed aside and sent back to “stocking duty”. This irritated her, but she supposed it was better to be making a difference in any way, even if it was a small one.

Her first Friday in the office had been a busy one. They had a whole swarm of kids come in the morning, after lunch. Apparently, one kid had been antagonizing another, prefects had gotten involved, and someone ended up with a deviated septum. After the rush of kids had left, the nurse who was on for the day sent Alex to clean up the counter, which was covered in empty band-aid and gauze wrappers. She also tested the antibiotic cream tubes to see if there was any left, and much to her annoyance, there was not. She sighed, heading back to the main supply cabinet to get more. She noted the low stock and scribbled on the notepad on the front of the door, reminding whoever walked by to get more cream. She added gauze as an afterthought, just to be safe. She decided to cheer herself up and started to sing a song as she organized and cleaned the counters and cabinets. She noticed the nurse exit out of the corner of her eye and thought nothing of it. That is, until she heard the door swing open again and smelled the familiar stench of blood. On instinct, she snatched up the antibiotic cream, gauze and medical tape and darted out to meet the person coming in.

“Are you okay? Can I help you? My name is Alexandra; what’s yours?”

[Zander Shale]

        Simple... they gotta be kidding themselves if they're saying this is a simple job.

       Zander had once again found himself on the business end of a few students fighting. It wasn't that big a deal, normally, but this time, the students didn't just disband at the sight of a Prefect. No, instead, they decided that this was more of a reason to fight and all hell broke loose for the few minutes it took to calm them down. And by calm down, he meant punch their faces until they quieted down. Even if he had other options available to him, he was gonna punch them. There was no reason to use lethal force; not for this.

       Still, as far as he was concerned, they got off easy. At the end of all of this, he has 3 major cuts across his left arm and, he could almost swear, a broken rib or two. Sure, the ribs might be an exaggeration, but they didn't feel like an exaggeration. And, to top it off, he had to file a report for the whole mess. That was the painful part, and he always finished the painful parts first, so he had gone to turn in his report. That part was relatively easy. What wasn't so easy was when another Prefect came in and badgered him about leaking blood everywhere, almost screamed at the top of their lungs, and kicked him out of the lounge until he went to the nurses office. God, this whole Prefect business is a pain he thought.

       And so, here he was, trudging to the Nurses' Office, blood stained all over his arm. This was an oddly familiar scene around here, but as he neared the office, something different came into perspective. There was a voice, a very gentle one at that, singing an all-too-familiar song to Zander. He was sure that he'd never heard this person before; no one he'd seen around here had that kind of voice, that's for sure. He actually waited for a while to listen to the song until a nurse stepped out and spotted him. They immediately told him to enter so he could be treated and he sighed before walking in.

       Almost immediately, he was set upon by a rather beautiful blonde-haired girl. He was 100% sure she was new to the island, and it turns out that she was the voice he had heard from outside. And she had a lovely name to go with that voice of hers. Before long, though, reality came back to his mind as a small sting of pain from his arm jolted through him, causing him to wince a bit. The wincing died down into a scrunched up grin, one eye closed from the earlier jolt before he waved with his uninjured arm.

       "Hey there. Alexandra was it? I'm Zander... and yes, as it stands, by order of the lady who yelled at me earlier, I could use some help. You don't mind giving a guy a hand... or in this case, a few feet of bandages, do ya?"

[Alexandra Thompson]

The young woman tried to avoid fighting at all costs. She knew that she was not very strong and that she would not be able to hold her own. That did not stop her from offering help to the injured, though. The day she arrived, in fact, there had been a fight not too far from where she had been standing and she had run over to see who she could assist. She had been pushed aside, like a pesky little bug. Since she could not help them, she followed behind them to find out who the healer around the campus was. It was then that she had found the Nurse’s Office, which became her haven in her free time. She was able to borrow books from shelves in the back to read while her teachers droned on about subjects that she had already learned about or that bored her to tears. The only class the teacher could actually get her to pay attention in was Biology, and even then, she looked like the biggest know-it-all in the class because she was constantly raising her hand in the class. After some arguing with the administration, she was permitted to take an Anatomy and Physiology class, which she was told was only for junior and senior students. She liked learning, but she was not as interested in everything else as she was in the biological sciences and medicine.

The scent of blood was very familiar to the young woman. She had smelled it many times in her life, and she knew this was not going to be the last. It was the familiar metallic tang that always indicated a plea for help, which was usually silent. She thought she had heard the nurse who had left talking, but the voice was muffled by the tall, brown cabinets around her. With her healing tools in hand, the young woman scurried out from the back of the room, her blonde bangs hanging right over her blue eyes. She skidded to a stop from her running, causing her to let out a soft squeak before composing and introducing herself. Immediately, her eyes were drawn to the young man’s arm, where she had noticed a high abundance of platelets and fibrin. Probably got into a scrape of some sort… I gotta bandage that. What’s that on his rib? she thought, her eyes and mind trying to work at the exact same speed. She realized that she had been looking at him for too long while she was trying to diagnose and think of treatments for every ailment she could find on the young man. She shook her head a little and blushed slightly; she had to admit, he was kind of cute… What was she thinking? He was her patient, and a patient that was trying to address her, nonetheless! She nodded and gestured to a nearby cot, which already had fresh paper over it, thanks to the injuries from lunch. Once she managed to get the young man, apparently named Zander, over to the table, she simply looked at him before saying.

“Alright, you need to take your shirt off so I can get a better look at those cuts on your arm, and I want to see how bad those potential bruises on your ribs are.”

The young woman looked down to give the young man some time to get off the top half of the uniform. After he finished she approached him warily, with gauze, antibiotic cream, and medical tape in hand. She placed them all on the table next to him before lifting his arm to examine it. The cuts were only part way through the clotting process, so her powers would certainly speed things along. Before attempting to use her powers, though, she gently palpated the area, warning him that her fingers might be cold and it might hurt. Sure enough, some blood leaked out of one particular slice. Thankfully, no other tissue other than skin was damaged. If they had been an inch or so over, it would have been much worse. She looked up at him from under blonde eyelashes, kneeling in front of him to get better perspective. He was much taller than she was, so it was easier for her to just bend down to follow the pull of gravity on the young man’s arm. She looked at him as she spoke, hoping that he would not mind what was about to happen.

“A-alright, I’m going to heal these cuts up for you, then take a look at those ribs, okay?”

Her blue eyes fluttered closed as she gently pressed her lips to the cuts on his arm, each for about a minute. They were a little bit deeper than superficial wounds, so she figured a minute would give enough time for the ethereal aura to work its “magic”. As she removed her lips from his skin, the glow died away and her eyes opened. She stabilized herself with the hand not holding his arm. Her power sometimes caused her to get a little dizzy, but she was used to catching herself, thanks to her constant clumsiness. She stood up slowly, trying to keep her balance as she did so. After a moment, she gently pressed on his shoulders to get him to lay down so she could lightly press on his ribcage. She attempted to do this without a stool, which was a bad choice on her part, since the cot was set a little higher than normal. She grumbled to herself as she shuffled over to get a stool, washing her hands immediately after. She kicked it beside the cot and looked down at the young man, only then noticing his striking eye color. She was not sure she had ever met anyone with that color of eyes before. Maybe she had not noticed before, because the wince on his face caused his eyelids to cover his irises.

“I’m just going to lightly press on your ribs. Just let me know in some way if it hurts, okay?”

She nodded and gently started to press on his ribs, pausing occasionally to examine his facial expression She figured she could ask what kind of pain, how bad it was, and other such information when she was done to determine what needed to be done next. She noticed someone by the door out of the corner of her eye and swung the tattered curtain nearby closed. She apologized to him before continuing. After the last rib, she moved away from him, standing a little bit away from him and indicating that he could sit up, if he so desired. She glanced at the unused supplies and shrugged; she had merely grabbed them out of instinct, so it was not too bad that she did not use them. She looked at the young man’s jacket, finally noticing the silver badge on it. She approached it and examined it closer, squinting to do so. Prefect, hm? she thought to herself, backing up again and looking at the young man before speaking once more.

“So, what happened to you that got you all roughed up like this, hm?”

[Zander Shale]

        This has been one hell of a day mused Zander. And could you blame him for feeling like that? He had just gotten into the habit of his Prefect duties and tried to tone down a brewing fight, but apparently, that just got them irritated more. Hence, the volume of students that went to the Nurses' Office earlier. Still doing his job, Zander had tried to file his report. What did he get for that? A screaming co-worker. No wonder the agents who brought him here wanted him to join the Prefects. Most of everyone here was either going insane or wanted to kill you for no reason. Then again, maybe they just wanted more people working to killing themselves. Wouldn't put it past them. It's an effective tactic. he idly thought to himself.

        Not two seconds after he walked in did the girl start eyeing him all over, and for a good while. Either she took her work very seriously or she liked what she saw. That's what Zander thought, at least. Then again, to him, he was pretty cool, so it would make sense that he'd find a few girls here who looked at him like he was eye candy. The very thought made him chuckle internally, but that quickly faded as Alexandra motioned him to the nearby cot, complete with fresh medical paper. The paper creaked and crackled as he lifted himself up on the cot, being careful and using his uninjured arm to push himself up. He knew better than to use an injured arm for something like this, even if the injury was nothing but a few scratches. Ever so abruptly, the girl then told him to pull his shirt off so she could examine him. While he didn't have any complaints with that, he gave her a quick look before speaking quickly as well.

        "Alright, but I better not find my duster missing cause someone took it. I've had people nab it from the Nurses' Office during my check-ups before, so it better not happen this time."

        Just as soon as he finished speaking, he yanked his arms through the sleeves of his duster and shirt, pulling the duster off to a desk nearby and then pulling off his shirt right afterwards. And would you look at that. He actually had a small bruise on his chest. The student must of landed a harder hit on him than he realized. But hey, he didn't break anything. As tough as Zander thought of himself, he knew that he'd pick up on a broken rib. Those kinds of injuries are hard to ignore. Once his shirt was away from them, she started to go over his body, specifically the arm, as she poked and prodded with her fingers around the cuts. They stung slightly, but that's to be expected when someone just starts jamming their fingers around an open wound. Of course, the one that stung the most caused a small amount of blood to leak out from a cut. Oh great... I'm gonna get yelled at for this, too, aren't I? As he wondered randomly, she leaned down next to his arm and glanced up to him through her eyelashes. You know, now that he thought about it she really was quite beautiful. Of course, he quickly scolded himself for getting distracted. She's a nurse or something. She probably only cares about patching people up and getting them on their merry way.

        Of course, right after that though, she pressed her lips against his arm, almost like giving a kiss to the booboo on a child's arm. What shocked him more was that a soft glow formed right at the same spot, a somewhat comforting chill surrounding the same area. And would you believe it if right afterwards, his wound was patched up. She did this for all of the cuts on his arm, and with each one, his arm was completely patched up. He gave his arm a once over before grinning rather widely. Before he could say anything, though, she began to push on his shoulders to get him to lay down. He obliged her, considering she wasn't really putting much effort into it, and laid back on the table so she could inspect him further. However, it seemed this wasn't able to happen, as she wasn't able to reach over correctly, given how small she was. That's when she darted off and kicked... yes, KICKED a stool over. Man, she must have been really irritated at being short, and that kinda made Zander snicker slightly. He had to deal with people calling him short for most of his life, so to see someone else go through issues dealing with being short was kinda funny to him. Of course, she finally got on the stool and let him know she was going to prod around some more, to which Zander simply waved her off a bit. It was only small prodding from her fingers. What harm could it do?

        But something surprised him. No, it wasn't a sharp pain from her poking harshly. It was the gentleness and smoothness of her fingers. Zander had plenty of people laying hands on him, and not always for bad reasons, but this is the first time he felt someone's hands and fingers feel... comforting. It was a really weird feeling to Zander, though that didn't last, as when she actually pushed near the bruise, a bit of pain started streaking through him. And she didn't do it once. It was like she was punishing him for thinking she was soft or something. He had half a mind to call her out on the poking, but decided to let it slide for now. Of course, not very long after, she started questioning him about how this had happened. Great, someone else who wants to know about what's happened. I'm curious if she'll yell or laugh at my description. he idly wondered. He made sure to pull himself up to a sitting position, not particularly liking the feeling of that stupid medical paper on his skin, before glancing at her with an unamused expression.

        "Simply put, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the not-so-simply put version, I had passed by the cafeteria and spotted an argument between... oh, about three guys. Anyways, I walked over to see if I could help them settle the problem they were having when one of them looked at me, glared, aaaaaaaaand then grew claws and struck at me. Sure, I managed to subdue them and have them carted off to here, but, as you can see, they didn't leave without leaving a mark. Oh, and before you ask, the claws were more like Sabertooth, coming from the fingernails and whatnot, rather than Wolverine. Though, don't get me wrong, I'm rather glad I didn't fight a dude with super regeneration. Anyways, am I good to go, or are you going to do 'Death by a Thousand Pokes' a bit more?"

        As always, his expression ended up with a small smirk, with one leg having pulled up onto the cot and an arm resting on his knee. Sure, he may have joked about her poking at him again, but he was curious if the girl got enough "touchy feely" time or if she wanted a little bit more of the wondrous body that belonged to Zander. Clearly, the fights from earlier had not hurt his ego in the slightest.

[Alexandra Thompson]

Alexandra noticed that Zander was quite introspective, or, at the very least, quiet. He did not really say much to her, which she sort of expected. The kids that came to the office at Ashford had one of two personalities: extroverted or introverted. They either talked her ear off or stared at her and said few words. She sometimes wished that there was someone in between. As a matter of fact, the school itself seemed to be a dichotomy; it was a struggle between the "good guys" and the "bad guys". Who composed each side was dependent upon who you talked to. If you asked Alexandra herself, she would simply say that she cared about people's lives, including her own. What side was good or bad was completely irrelevant. She shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand. She was almost sure he was thinking something cocky in that brain of his, because the smallest of smirks was stretched across his face and she scoffed a little. Seems like like a cocky one, she thought, waiting for him to sit down. She raised an eyebrow at him at the comment about his jacket and waved her hand.

"Don't worry. You're probably going to be in and out in a bit. If push comes to shove, I can catch people off guard. I may be small, but I know people's weak spots."

Alexandra always had a habit of palpating wounds, even if they were open. She could tell he looked uncomfortable when she did so, but it barely registered on his face. Must have a high pain tolerance, she mused while she worked. She wondered what caused him to be that way. Was it genetics? Environment? She was not entirely sure, but she could see that his chest and arms were littered with scars. She frowned a little; she knew that feeling. She shook her head and continued with her actions. There was no time to think about what had happened to her. She focused instead on healing the young man before her, feeling his eyes boring into her. She had to prevent herself from fidgeting uncomfortably; she felt weird when people stared at her for no apparent reason. She quickly brushed the awkwardness off by making her hands and mind busy again. After all, it would give her less time to focus on him and more time to focus on her work. Of course, her height getting in the way of her assessment bothered her immensely, hence why she treated the stool with such cruelty.

Alexandra always tried to be gentle when she had to poke and prod people. She knew that her hands were most likely cold and maybe a little calloused, but the young man did not give any kind of reaction to the way she pressed on his chest. Well, that was, until she got to the bruise. She could see the sparks of pain heading toward his brain and quickly moved her hands away from the area. Clearly, it was painful, but she did not feel any chips, and the bone of his rib was not trying to escape his skin, so it was probably just a regular or bone bruise, neither of which she could do anything for. She stepped away to let him sit up and explain. Honestly, it did not really matter how he got the injuries, but she was just curious. She had noticed the sheen of the badge on his coat, but she had not exactly wanted to pry soon after meeting him. She listened attentively to the story, noticing his facial expression. Clearly, he was not exactly happened with what happened, but she supposed it was part of his job at the school, or at least, that was what he made it sound like. It was a more X-Men version of a story a man would tell when his wife asked “how was work today?”. The random thought made her shake her head and refocus on his little speech, just barely catching his question directed at her at the end. She chuckled a little and moved off from the wall she had leaned against, grabbing his shirt and duster and handing them over to him.

“Hun, if my fingers were loaded with poison, they wouldn’t let me work here. And yes, you’re good to go. Just keep an eye on that bruise and take it easy for a couple days. Also, don’t take the use of my hands as me trying to “feel you up”; I was merely doing my job. Though, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind the former, but I digress.”

With a hum and a wink, Alexandra grabbed the supplies off the table and sauntered off to place them back in the cabinet. She knew she should not have said her last statement, but she could not help herself. She was never described as ‘flirty’ in the past, but something told her to try something new, so she did. It probably confused him, but it made her smirk to herself as she placed the cream, gauze, and tape back in their proper places. She then made her way over to a chair near the front of the office and sat in it, switching the radio on and turning it on low. The music coming out of it made her smile a little bit and she started to hum along with the song. She made a mental note to do that more often. Er, turn on the radio, that is, she thought, adjusting the volume so it was a little louder.

[Zander Shale]

        This had been quite an interesting turn of events. Zander's day started out normal for the average Prefect before the little spat in the dining hall got him beaten up a bit for almost no reason. Then, after handling that event, he quickly went to getting his ear chewed out to meeting this fetching young lady. He quietly mused to himself that, if this kept up, he might win the lottery or something, the thought of which made him laugh. Still, this Alexandra girl really was rather interesting. Her taste in music, if nothing else, set her apart from a lot of other people he's met here. A small part of him was getting the urge to try and chat with her, but he mostly dismissed the idea, figuring that she might respond with being too busy or not wanting to talk. He couldn't blame her if she did, though.

        Again, Zander wasn't one who particularly felt he needed to be here. Most of his injuries were probably too minor to even warrant treating, with the only major one being maybe the chest bruise, though that one he didn't even know he had until he got to the infirmary. Of course, Alexandra took her merry sweet time looking the wounds over, but Zander could tell it was less out of trying to annoy him and more out of thoroughness. She liked to make sure her job was done right, and there was nothing wrong with that. In fact, the one time she actually did manage to get him to flinch in pain, if ever so slightly, she finished her examination there. Caring, thorough, and with a pretty face. She was definitely a cut above the rest.

        As he was going through the daily events, Zander couldn't help but notice she seemed to slightly space out, probably thinking on something he said. Granted, it was a lot to take in, even for him, but at least she focused enough to catch his question. However, when she responded, it caught him off guard slightly. Not only did she give off quite the confident demeanor, but she was even... slightly flirty? Far from the reaction he had quite predicted, but he was sure it was flirty, especially as she winked to him. Screw the lottery, that sight was worth the beatings and shouts he got all day. That feisty attitude made his lips prick up into a very bemused smirk as she sauntered off. That's the kind of attitude he enjoyed from people, especially girls like her. On second thought, he actually really wanted to try and chat with her now, but obviously, the nurses' office wasn't the place to do that. As he put his clothes back on and secured his duster, he picked up on the song playing on the radio, an old favorite of his, to which she started to hum. Yup, it was settled: he was going to get a chance to talk to her later. That was final. Before doing anything, he fished out his notepad and pencil, scribbling lightly on it with an amused grin. With a soft, slow step, still grinning, he approached her from the side and tapped her shoulder with the paper, clearing his throat as he did to ensure he got her attention.

        "I must say, you did a really good job. I'd love to repay you, but I've got some duties to attend to. However, when we're both free, I'd love to actually make true on that offer... besides, I'd seriously enjoy chatting a bit more with you. Take care of yourself, beautiful."

        His last words were accented with a wink and his goofy grin before he spun around on his heel and started to wander out, whistling to the song on the radio as he did in perfect timing. This had been quite an adventurous day, Zander thought. It's not often you get thrown into a random fight, get yelled at by co-workers for menial things, and end up being flirting with by the nurse who treats you for the wounds from said fight earlier in the day. It was such a random chain of events, Zander couldn't help but laugh internally. Obviously, his stay at Ashford was going to get very interesting.