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Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

Steven kept checking his mobile and any available calendars to confirm that yes, he was taking next Thursday off due to the holiday. He had the day correct and everything. Not today, not two Thursdays from now, next week. Absolutely, positively next week.

(No harm in checking again, right? Right.)

Regardless, there were things he wanted to do to make sure he wasn't leaving any work behind for Blathers or Connor to worry about. For instance, making sure the tallies of supplies like fish food were up to date and no orders needed to be placed for more.

So Steven was double and triple checking a lot of things today, really. Luckily he didn't mind it. It was easy enough to pause if any visitors should stop by.

[open!]

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And speaking of the coworker, here he was now.

"Hey Steven," Connor said with a grin as he walked up to the desk. "How's it going?"

"Connor, hello!" Steven said. "How are you? You weren't caught in that fire on Saturday, were you?"

"Ah yeah, I um.... was there. Cutter and I were packing up after the market when the fire broke out" Connor said, rubbing the back of his head cuz it was still kind of embarrassing what had happened. "I got pinned down, had to be rescued by Cutter and one of the firefighters."

"Bloody hell!" Steven said. He looked Connor over to see how he appeared. "Are you all right? Should you be standing?"

Yes, Stark had said everyone who went to the clinic had left by Monday, but that didn't necessarily mean people hadn't gone home before they should have.

"Aye I'm good, better than the few days after. Nothing too serious, some smoke inhalation and a sprained ankle," he said, pulling up the leg of his trousers a little to show the small brace still in place. "But mostly mended now. Cutter's been making sure I stayed off it as much as I could."

Steven gave Connor a mildly scolding look. "Sounds to me like you shouldn't be standing, if you've a sprained ankle. Aren't you meant to keep your weight off it?"

Sorry, Connor, but Steven was a fusser and a hoverer.

"Oiy I've been off it for four days pretty much" Connor said with a small laugh because he really was a terrible patient at times. "I couldn't take much more of the couch... as comfortable as Cutter's is."

He gave Steven an appreciative smile. "But I do appreciate the concern. I'm mostly mended. Really. Just a little tender still is all. Missed my shift Monday, for obvious reasons, so just wanted check in."

Steven gave Connor an assessing look to see how much he believed Connor was mended. He decided not to push for now. But at the slightest sign that Connor was showing discomfort he might just go ahead and push Connor into a chair.

You know, gently, but still.

"Things are all right here," Steven said. "I'll actually be off next Thursday. First day of Passover so no work for me. Doing what I can to get on top of things so there's not much of my bits you need to worry about. Nothing urgent anyway."

Not that anything in the Museum was ever really urgent. Luckily there hadn't been any display related emergencies since Steven started working there, at least.

And in all fairness, that was sometimes what it took cuz- terrible patient and all that.

"Oh right, knew there was a big one coming up," Connor said, not that he observed Passover or knew much about it "Glad you got off for it and all. And I'm sure the place will be just fine. Most of the insanity seems to stay out of the museum for the most part," Connor said, instantly wincing a little cuz he might have just jinxed it all.

Steven noticed the wince and tried to find a ray of hope for them both. "At least right now the issue seems to be all sorts of people turning into animals? So maybe that's all we need to ride out for right now."

Of course that would've been a perfect cue for either Connor or Steven to turn into an animal, if one or both of them was going to.

Surprisingly enough, that was one island craziness Connor had not yet experienced.

"Aye, I did hear quite a bit of the going on when I listened to radio the last few days. Well, at least it seems we have missed this rash of transformations," Connor said with a grin. "Though I always do find myself wondering what animal I'd be..." he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

As much as he would have wished for something cool like a dinosaur or something, it would probably be something very normal but very appropriate.

"Something to keep Rex company?" Steven guessed. Then, after thinking about it, "Though I suppose that could be any animal, really. He's a friendly sort."

"Oh now that could a load of fun" Connor said with a grin. And also a lot of trouble for Cutter who would inevitably be pet-sitting during that time.

"If you were a bird or something the two of you could go flying together," Steven pointed out. "Bet he'd love that."

Nell was still moving a bit slower than usual, but she was worlds better than she'd been even Tuesday. "Good morning, Steven, how are you today?"

Steven absolutely clocked how slowly Nell was moving. "Nell! How are you? Should you be standing?"

Him asking that question was turning into a leitmotif of the day.

Nell smiled. "Yes. I won't be going out running or anything, but yes, I'm doing well enough to be out and about for a bit."

She did find a nearby place to sit, which was a little unusual for her, but showed that she was taking care. "I wanted to thank you for texting and Marc for stopping by. I wanted to make something for you, but I think will need to wait for when I'm a little less tired and when you're back to being able to eat your usual things."

"That sounds very wise all around," Steven said. He noticed that she didn't make a fuss about sitting so in turn he wasn't going to make a fuss about how she'd done it. He didn't want to make her feel self conscious about taking care of herself. "Can I get you anything? Water? Cup of tea? Won't be as nice as one of yours but it's all right."

"Tea would be lovely," Nell said. "If you have some easily to hand."

"Won't be but a moment," Steven said. He disappeared into Blathers' office to put together a cup of tea for Nell using the hot water from the water cooler. As a Brit of course this was a tiny bit of sacrilege but needs must in a pinch. He then put the water together with a bag of black tea which at the very least met with his approval even if it wasn't loose leaves.

Steven poked his head out the door. "Sugar? Cream?"

"Both please," Nell said. She wasn't normally much of a sit-around-er, but this week she'd come to appreciate it.

Steven put all that together and then came out with the tea. He sat down near her so that she didn't have to crane her neck to talk to him. "Here you are. I'm sorry we weren't about when it happened. It must have been terrifying."

Nell took the tea with a smile and held it between both hands. "It... Yes...'

Her gaze drifted off to the distance. "For a minute there I didn't think I'd get out. When my clothes caught fire and I couldn't -" she stopped, shuddering a little. "But then Travis was there, and his dog, and they got me out."

"Your clothes? That's horrible!" Steven said. "Lucky Travis was there. But you should have told us you were that badly off. I thought you were resting after the excitement or something."

"I wasn't in much shape to call that night, and the next morning - " She sighed. "I just wanted to get home to my plants. I knew if I could get to Soulwood soil I could make myself at least a little better. So I left the clinic when no one was paying attention because they wouldn't have let me."

"We could have brought your soil to you," Steven said. "You could've hurt yourself worse, trying something like that. You're not alone, Nell. You have people who care about you."

"I knew you were busy doing cleaning for your religious things," Nell said. And to her, that was a very important thing to respect. "And I truthfully thought that I could make the very short walk to my store without a problem. It's just a little around the corner from the clinic a ways."

Steven decided to leave off, since she was at least taking care of herself now and that was the important part. "Well at least you got home safely. Your plants helped, I take it?"

She nodded. "Gladio came by while I was resting on a bench in the park and he brought my plants."

Nell shook her head a little and sighed. "I never thought it would exhaust me so much, doing that. But then I've never done more than some little cuts and all. I slept most of the next two days. I planned to text you and let you know about it all, but I... I just slept. And then Marc stopped by the first day I was up, so..."

"If anyone could haul some plants about I imagine it'd be him," Steven said. Assuming the muscles weren't purely decorative, at least. "That's good he stopped by. And good you had some rest. I'm glad to hear you took care of yourself. Marc - he's not the best with details, sometimes."

Nell could not read the narrative, but if she could she would definitely assure Steven that they were, indeed, not just decorative.

"I did," she assured him. "I overestimated my strength, but after that I was good. I slept myself out and ate well and just sat at my store on Tuesday."

The comment about Marc made her smile. "True, but he cares, even when he doesn't want to admit it. But that's why I made sure to stop by today. I'll go home and rest after, but I wanted you to see I'm okay - or at least getting there."

"I appreciate that," Steven said. "Long as you're not pushing yourself too hard on our behalf. Will you be resting up this weekend then?"

He hoped she would be, but again he didn't want to push too hard and annoy her.

She nodded. "Given how tired I still am, I plan to have a quiet weekend. And when I saw Marc Tuesday I thought maybe I'd be good by Sunday, but I'm not bouncing back as quickly as I'd hoped."

She'd had a handful of nightmares that hadn't let her get the best sleep at night either.

"I'll send him a ~~handwavey~~ text later."

"I'm glad you're taking your time with it," Steven said. He gave her a wry look. "Sorry the healing of the suit only works on us. Can't offer it out, much though it'd be handy."

Steven would've done that in a second when Llewellyn got shot, for instance."

Edited 2023-03-31 01:15 (UTC)

"Lana did a little more when she stopped by Tuesday," Nell said, "but I appreciate the thought. And I don't know if I could heal anyone else using the earth. I only found out it could help me a year or so ago and that was by accident."

"That's good, Lana being able to help," Steven said. He smiled at Nell. "See? People who care and worry about you. Don't know if I knew Lana could heal but that's dead handy, isn't it. Does it tire her out?"

~~That's a very good question.~~

"Not as much as my plants did me in," Nell said with a grin, "But I'm sure it takes something out of her. She uses the Force."

"It's nice that's useful for things other than fighting," Steven said. "And are the kittens taking good care of you? I know when I've not been myself it's helpful for Raphael to be by, all curled up and purring."

That got a laugh. "They love that I'm being so sedentary. Usually I'm up and moving all the time. But now, when I sit, they're up on my lap cuddling in. It's very nice."

"Do they do that pose where they tuck their feet in?" Steven mimed putting his hands against his chest in an approximation of when cats went into loaf mode. "That's always sweet."

"They do," Nell said. "And sometimes they tuck their tails in under their paws and that's just adorable."

"Or when they cover their nose with a paw," Steven said. "That's cute as well."

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Fandom Island Museum, Thursday Daytime

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