fandom_clinic | FTEC, Friday Evening

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FTEC, Friday Evening

By 6:30, Natalie has taken the watch from Alanna, and is settled in to her desk, scrolling through a few professional websites. She also has open her instant messenger window, personal webmail, and ~~LiveJournal~~ a blogging site. Her book is laying to the right, still covered in brown paper, and to the left is a spiral-bound notebook with an ink pen clipped to the wire binding. A dark blue coffee mug rests just past the portable wireless mouse. She occasionally sips from it as she reads.

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After work, Agatha comes by. She is flourescent pink. Having never been at the town clinic, she cautiously knocks on the doorframe to get Natalie's attention.

Natalie looks up from her computer screen. She blinks, wondering why she is seeing a flourescent pink person, capped with clashing blonde hair. After a few seconds, she smiles, switching into bedside manner mode. "You look like you could use a little help."

Agatha nodded vigorously.
"Every time i sneeze, i turn pink. I don' tknow why, but i am almost certain i am not supposed to..." She came a little bit more in, looking carefully around. This looked nothing like the doctor's offices she was used to.

Following her gaze, Natalie smiled. "It's a bit spartan, I know. I haven't really remembered to bring in my pictures and things." She gestures toward the corridor, where the exam rooms are located, as she rises from her seat. "Let's head this way, and I'll see what I can do to help."

Agatha followed her. "No, i was just thinking it is nothing like doctor's places back home. No bubbling test tubes or electrodes or anything."

Nat reached one of the empty exam rooms, and switched on the lights as they entered. "Well, that's somewhat describes my lab. Or will, when I get around to unpacking my things." She pulls a layer of paper down the bench from a roll at the top, then gestures for Agatha to have a seat. Turning, she grabs a patient form from the basket mounted on the wall, and produces a pen from the pocket of her lab coat.

"Yeah? Are you a Mad Scientist?" Agatha had fairly limited experience with people who had bubbling testtubes after all. She did hop onto the exam table though.

Laughing, Nat shook her head. "I've never been called that before, though I could see it. No, I'm actually researching an allergic skin condition, and I have all sorts of equipment." She clipped the patient form onto a clip board and turned her attention to business. "Okay... Name and any medications you're currently taking?"

"Ah." Agatha got comfy on teh exam table. "I have been called that. It is what i am. But you know, not of hte living beings variety, mroe mechanical things. Oh, um. Agatha. Agatha Clay." Seh was not about to tell the woman her real name.

"Any known allergies?" Nat scribbled down Agatha's name, and didn't push even when she heard the hesitation. She, of all people, understood when it was necessary to keep a good cover.

Agatha shook her head. "Not that i know of. Though my boyfriend just came back to town with a new cat, and i started sneezing then. But..." she hesitated. "I haven't stopped and the cat is nto around." As if to porove this she sneezed. And turned a normal color.

Natalie handed her a tissue, then made a note regarding the cat. "Eaten anything out of the ordinary in the last 24 hours?"

"Um..." She thought about it. She had skipped dinner yesterday. And not yet had dinner today. "I had a chocolate chip muffin form J,GoB this afternoon..."

Natalie scribbled a few more notes, then placed the clipboard aside. She moved toward Agatha, withdrawing a digital ear thermometer from her pocket. In one smooth movement, she clipped a new cover onto the sensor, then placed it in Agatha's ear for a brief second. A beep was heard, and she with drew it. "Well, your temperature is normal," she said. She wrote down the results.

"Now... blood pressure and pulse." Nat reached past Agatha and grabbed the cuff, slipping it on her now flesh-toned arm; she honed in on her patient's pulse using her own abilities.

"So are you an engineer?" Nat asked, making small talk as she did her thing.

Agatha followed her actions with highly curious eyes. "Of a sorts. I make these little sentient bots. And any other clockwork type thing. And weaponry. And cleaning bots. And cat toys rescently."

She sneezed. And turned pink.

Her face fell. "THere i go again. At least i can sort of deal with it now. I burst into tears the first time it happened." She sighed. "Am i goignto be pink forever?"

Removing the cuff, Natalie gave a rueful smile. "To be honest, Agatha, I don't know. I can run an allergy series, run a few other tests. I can also give you a prescription to help control the sneezing until we can get to the bottom of it, if you'd like."

Given the nature of the town, Nat was sure it was going to be something much wierder than a simple allergy. She wrote that observation down on the sheet below the pulse and blood pressure information.

Agatha nodded sadly. "Not sneezing would be good. Do you think it is an allergy? This town is... special. Were you here for the snowmen?" What if someoen had cursed her forever?

"Nope, wasn't here for the snowmen, though I've heard tales. Some scary ones, really," Natalie answered. "Along with stories about vampires, slayers, and I've even met the demon that runs Caritas."

She smiled. "Given all that, I don't think it's an allergy, no. But I think we should try and figure out what's causing it -- or at least what affect it's having on your body."

"Alright". *Aaachooo*

"Well, what do you need to do to run test?"

Desciding that really, seeing hte humour in the situation was hte way to go here, Agatha continued. "If nothign else, i can be a tourist attraction together with the demon from the bar. Did you know there used to be an angel here? Wings and everything. I didnt' see him myself though."

"I'm not terribly surprised at that -- the angel, I mean. After all, what's a demon without an angel?" She smiled. "I'll just need a tissue sample -- a few skin cells -- and take a blood sample. Is that all right with you?"

"Oh but Lorne isn't that sort of demon, is he? Not the black wings kind, with the falling, and the Genesis and all that..." Her voice trailed off, as she remembered Orlin telling her that this was not how it really was...

"Oh yes, um, take whatever you need, just tell me what to do. I think your equipment is a lot more new then i am used to. About a hundred years i'd think..." Agatha looked around the room again.

No, that type of demon is much more along my lines, Natalie thought bitterly. Aloud, she said, "No, he's probably not like that. Or at least, he didn't seem to be.

"As for the samples..." Turning, she opened a cabinet and pulled out all the tools necessary -- tubes and needles, a scalpel, and two small, rectangular glass plates. "I'll use the scalpel to scrape -- very gently -- some cells off the surface. I'll take a few exposed cells from the arm, and a few under-exposed cells from, say, the neck. I'll have to use the needle and tubes, of course, for the blood."

She picked up the scalpel and removed it from the plastic sleeve it had been placed into after sanitizing. She then picked up one of the glass plates. Her arched brows silently inquired if Agatha was ready.

"Alright. You are the boss." Agatha nodded slightly and braced herself for being prodded and poked.

Natalie quickly and professionally collected the samples she needed. Withdrawing the needle, she applied pressure to the entry point, then placed a cotton ball against it, held in place with a bandage. "You'll want to leave that on for a little while, at least until you're comfortable taking it off."

She lowered herself to a stool, wheeling back to the counter. There, she dropped the sharp into the biohazard disposal, turning her attention to the vial of Agatha's blood. Her brow furrowed as she looked at it. Something was certainly different about it -- she could sense that much, almost smell it. Yet another medical mystery for you, Dr. Nat, she thought with the shake of her head.

Making sure that all the samples were contained, she pulled off her latex gloves with a snap. "That should do it, Agatha. Would you like something to help with the sneezing, or are you comfortable with the neon sign affect?" A wry grin twitched at the corners of her lips.

Agatha held the cotton ball, even though she didn't need to.

She noted Natalie furrowing her brows. "Somethign wrong with the blood? How can you tell just by looking?"

She smiled. She really was aneon sign, and she used to think the blushign was bad...

"Please, i would LOVE to stop sneezing. Pink is just not my color, you know?"

Natalie fought an urge to freeze. "Bad angle," she said. "I was just checking thickness and coloration. I won't know anthing until I play with it in the lab."

"As for the sneezing..." She breezed out of the room and went to pick up two sample packets of antihistamines. "Take one every day, with or without food." A lopsided grin crossed her lips as she passed the packets to Agatha. "And you might want to make sure the cat has been bathed and brushed.

"Hopefully, that will reduce the 'Eat at Joe's' effect."

Agatha let it go.

"YEs, if i get a copmplete sneezing fit, i will be ablinking neon sigh, won't i?" She sighed an exagerated mock sigh. "Maybe it will be good for business."

She gathered up the sample packs of pills, whincing a little at the tightness in ehr arm where the blood was drawn.

She smiled at Natalie as she spoke. "Thank you so much for lookign into this for me. I have no idea what is going on, but all else aside, you made me feel better about it. Again, not what i am used to from doctors."

[ooc: omg so crashing now, is 2am...]

Nat smiled. "It's called bedside manner," she explained. "Sounds like you don't have much experience with it.

"And you're more than welcome. Come by in a day or two, and I'll try to have the lab workups done by then."

She escorted Agatha back out the way they had come. "And if you have any questions, call." She passed over a card. "My number is on the bottom."

[No worries! Sleep tight, and thanks for sticking it out. No pun intended, of course...]

Natalie might notice a note left for her on the table.

Dr. Lambert,

I'm sorry I keep missing out interview. How does Sunday evening or Monday sound for you? Thank you very much,

Alanna Trebond

Natalie left a note for Alanna, tacked to the cork message board hanging behind the front desk.

Alanna:

It's really not a problem. Sunday evening works best for me, and I'll meet you at a place convenient for you. You have my contact information, so feel free to call to finalize any plans.

~~Dr. Lambert~~ Nat

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FTEC, Friday Evening

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