FTEC, Tuesday Evening, 28 February

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie arrived to find the clinic still standing, though the new "rules" posted on the message board seems to indicate there was trouble. Well, that and the ruins of the television still sitting outside where the garbage men have refused to take it to the dump.

Flopping down into her chair, she stopped. Sitting on her desk is the blue mug she drank out of last time she was at the clinic. Had she really forgotten it? "Have to be more careful that that, Nat," she muttered, standing. She took the cup to one of the laboratory sinks and washed it thoroughly, making sure there was no residue of bovine left in the sink. Maybe she really was going to have to learn to drink coffee again; she couldn't afford to be caught "snacking." Upending the cup on a paper towel, she began unpacking her things. Within another few moments, she was busily tapping away at the keyboard.

Comments

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna, finally, wondered into the clinic. "Dr. Lambert? Alanna Trebond."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Looking up from her screen, Natalie smiled. "Hi, Alanna. Nice to finally meet you." She gestured to the empty seat opposite her. "Please, have a seat."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm sorry it took so long for me to finally get here." Alanna settled down and took out a notebook. She glanced over at the list of new rules on the bulleting and grinned. "Someone was having fun. Too bad about the tv, though. All right, ready?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"Well, maybe someone will donate a new one..."

Natalie nodded. "As ready as I'll ever be."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna smiled and began to take notes with her left hand. "Boring stuff. Name, occupation, where are you from?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"I can tell this is going to be hard." Nat grinned at Alanna. "Natalie Lambert. I'm a medical examiner and -- especially now -- a general practicioner. I, ah, just moved here from Toronto."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

"Toronto, is that here on Earth, or in a different world or something? And on that line, what brought you here to Fandom?" Alanna smiled. "I try to keep the questions relatively sane."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"As far as I know, Toronto is on Earth...though there have been some times I've wondered," Nat answered with a laugh. "The clinic is actually what brought me to Fandom. I was ready to move on -- to concentrate on some research. Coming here to the clinic lets me do that while still doing something for the community."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

"And what do you think of Fandom and it's snow monsters and talking cats?" Faithful poked his nose out of her back. "I'm sleeping, go away." "Faaaithful." Alanna tried to shove Faithful back into her bag. "Sorry, ma'am."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie arched her brow, eyeing the cat. "Considering I used to have a cat, too, I might get used to the wierdness sooner or later." She paused. "Maybe. But I'm discovering it's one strange thing right after another around here."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

"You haven't met the zombies yet." Alanna dead-panned. "Um, so aside from the weirdness, how do you like it here in Fandom? Working here in the clinic? And what do you think happened to the poor TV?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"So many questions at once!" Nat chuckled, sighing. "How about we take them in order...First, I am learning to like it here. Most of the people I've met have been very friendly, and fairly helpful; I've even managed to do a little shopping here and there.

"Working in the clinic is a little bit harder to explain," she continued. "I haven't really had many patients yet, so most of my evenings have been spent doing research and reading.

"As for the TV? I'm not sure... but given this town, I'm sure there's an interesting explanation for it."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna bit her lip. "Sorry, I uh, get carried away sometimes. Um, hm, anything else you can think of that students should know about you? Or might find interesting?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"Other than the fact most of my patients in the past, oh, fifteen years have been dead?" she asked with a short laugh. She shook her head. "The most exciting thing about me other than that, I guess, is that I'm an old movie fan -- I love the old mysteries, the old horror stories and some of the old romances.

"Back in Toronto, I had a friend who would stay up and watch all the movies with me. It's still my favorite way to unwind."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna smiled. "I can relate to that. Um, the movie thing, not the dead bodies. Most of my patients are still alive when I get to them. Hopefully. Um." She glanced down at her notebook as her bag snorted with laughter. "Shut up, Faithful. Um, I think that's all, thank you very much for your time."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"It's not a problem." Natalie returned the smile. "Thanks for stopping by. It kept me entertained for a little while, at least."

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna waved with her still in a cast arm and headed off. Somewhere.

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

After finishing the fun with Camulus' apartment, and having a bit to eat with Orlin, Agatha stopped by the clinic. hopefully the nice lady would be there again, and hopefully she would have some test results for Agatha.

She knocked on the door. "Anyone here?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Nat swung her feet down from the corner of her desk, and lowered the journal she was reading. Rising from her seat, she peered around the corner. She recognized Agatha from her previous visit. "Hi, Agatha," she said. The journal came to rest on the front counter as her hands went into the pockets of her labcoat. "How are you feeling? You look a little less...colorful."

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha smiled. Yay, the good doctor was here!

"I haven't been sneezing as much." She nodded enthusiastically to show just how much she appreciated the not sneezing.

"Um, i was wondering if you had any results form those tests you were going to do?" Her voice trailed off but hopefull-like.

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"I'm glad the anti-histamines are working," Natalie said. She gestured to two empty seats, then lowered herself into one. "The test results were a little more interesting than you'd think. What I suspected might be an allergy is actually a genetic mutation. Common for around here, but not usually contagious."

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha sat down, perching on the edge of the seat. "A genetic mutation?" She reflected back on the past several days. "But i did nto irradiate myself with anything..."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Nat nodded. "And I didn't suspect you had. I actually went to speak to Ms. Calendar, who is the magical theory professor at the school. She and I suspect that it's the result of...and I hate to admit this...a spell. We talked about it, and feel that the spell will eventually fade, but we're not sure how long it will take." She shook her head. "We're not even sure who cast it to begin with."

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha took the existance of spells in stride. Mostly. "MAgic is just science someone doesn't understand. But for the sake of argument, let's call it that." She pinched the bridge of her nose as she spoke. "Why wouold anyone want to do this to me?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

"Ms. Calendar has the theory that it might not have been to target you at all -- that whoever cast it actually isn't that experienced, so... they missed." She shrugged. "It's not my ideal explanation, but it does go a way in explaining the...strangeness...of it. I mean, turning pink and sneezing? It's a nuisance, definitely, but nothing earth-shattering."

Yet...but with this, who knows?!

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha nodded. THat would be just her luck. But wait, what wasit that Victor said...

"A student who was visiting my shop mentioned that a lot of people at the school wer eexibiting strange abilities, andi think the radio mentioned some stuff as well." She looked up at hte doctor. "Was someone targeting one of the students?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie raised her brows. "It's possible. And I should probably let Ms. Calendar know. She'd have better access to the students than I would."

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

"She doesn't know already? I gues syeah, she should probably know." She tried to piece together her rather minimal knowledge of genetics and mutation. "I wonder, if it is the same thing, is it a mutation in everyone? OH! And are my cells different when i am not pink?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie shook her head. "No. Your cells have mutated from the basic genetic structure -- and whatever has added itself to your programming has given you the ability to turn pink." She shrugged. "I'd guess that anyone else who has been targeted by this spell would be showing similar behavior, whether it be turning pink, or shocking people with continuous static cling." Pausing, she remembered the time of year, all the dry air and how many times she had shocked herself just walking across her apartment. "Probably a bad example, but does it make sense at all?"

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

"Somewhat. So the boy who can throw spaghetti form his fingers now has a gene to do that. I wonder what would happen if someone picked the time before this went away to repoduce." She grinned, ti was sort of a funny idea, well to her anyway.

"So there is nothign i can do other then try to not sneeze?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie frowned, the image of someone shooting spaghetti from her fingers not her, uhm, best mental picture. "Not at the moment, I'm afraid. I'll be continuing to work with Ms. Calendar, and I hope to have this resolved soon."

She paused a beat. "You wouldn't happen to know who the spaghetti boy was? Or any of the other students affected by this?"

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha wondered if any of htis was a secret... probably not. "Weeeeeelll..." She drawled out thinking as she spoke. "He didn't say it was a secret... Victor's friend Walter is hte one withthe spaghetti i think... Not sure about anyone else. I do not know any of the students much jsuthte ones who come into my store..."

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Natalie withdrew an ink pen and pad -- her script pad -- out of a labcoat pocket. "Wal..ter.." she said, scribbling down the name, and then, "spa..ghet..ti. Got it. If nothing else, it should give Ms. Calendar a starting point. I'm beginning to think I'll have to tackle this like a public health risk." She gave a wry grin.

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

"An epidemic of magic?" She could jsut picture havign to explain that to people. "'Excuse me sir, but we are having an epidemic of pinkness, woudl you mind a vaccine?' i can just see it... " She turned serious again. "Is ther eanythign i can do to help?"

[drlambert.livejournal.com]

Shaking her head in response, Nat replied, "I don't think so. Just keep taking your anti-histamine, and hopefully we'll find an answer soon. Is there a way I can contact you if I need any more information?"

[heterodine.livejournal.com]

Agatha nodded. "Take the pills, right. You can contact me at 555-SPRK (http://heterodine.livejournal.com/288.html) . Is there anything else i need to know?"