Prompt Word: Buffet
Minervie and Chip 41
Minervie was sitting in the lobby of The Orient hotel. She’d already eaten breakfast, but she’d eaten early, and wanted to make sure Gungan had time to get to her if he was going to take her up on her offer.
A boy in a newsie hat came in and headed to the side of the desk. The clerk behind the desk, same one as yesterday, was talking to the boy, and he said loudly, “Oh she checked out, but she’s sitting right there,” pointing to Minervie.
Minervie looked at the activity and mumbled mostly to herself, “Ah, so the frog will not stray from the riverside.” The boy came over and handed over a letter. She started reading the first sentence, then handed the boy five dollars. At that she was out the door.
The boy standing in the lobby next to her bag looked over at the clerk, “She left her bag!”
In broad daylight, trying to stay out of the line of sight of open sidewalks as best she could, she was on her broom, skimming rooftops, buffetted by her speed and heading mostly North toward the Royal Hospital.
When she arrived, she brought her broom with her straight through the side door marked “Casualty Department”, right past the desk, and through the doors. Walking with purpose, nobody thought to ask.
It didn’t take long for Minervie to spot Gungan, not by face anymore, but just by his dark skin and aura. She put her broom to work on the floor while she made her chants. The broom work just for distraction, part of the glamour that would help everyone not truly see her. She also grabbed his broken arm and did some manual intervention. He didn’t deserve this, nobody did.
When he opened his eyes and saw Minervie next to him, his eyes went wide.
“Shh”, she whispered, “They don’t expect you to be awake, maybe not for hours. I got here in time though, they weren’t going to bother to set your bones right. Your bones have been healed, but the bruises are going to hurt, especially your face. There’s no magic to put the blood back, just an acceleration of the natural healing processes, and natural healing is not kind about bruising.”
Minervie continued, “You need space to heal, and you certainly can’t work like this. I need to get back to my grandson, so you will be coming home with me.”
Gungan was absolutely not onboard with this plan. Among his people, this type of story never ends well. But he was also in no position to argue or even speak out.
Link to first post: https://wandering.shop/@vollink/115811346858108698