Organization (Solo)

[Maya Frostfawn]

Timestamp: Winter 1, 523 AV Maya had stayed up all night. She always stayed up all night for she had no need of sleep anymore, not now that she was a nuit. Sometimes, she found it hard to occupy all of her waking hours, each moment that stretched endlessly before her. But last night was not one of those moments. Instead, she found herself so lost in her work, that she had lost track of time. Barely registered the sun's rays that trickled through her flat's grimy windows until it was too late. Until the sun was high enough in the sky that she had little time left before she had to report to work. After hastily throwing on a disguise and pulling her hood high over her head, she had departed from her flat with a bag of some slapped-together belongings and headed to work. She arrived not long after without incident to find the Clinic empty of everyone save the good doctor, who was tinkering away with some vials of multi-colored liquid and another few filled with ground herbs. Since she didn't wish to distract him from his work, less it bode ill for her, Maya headed into another portion of the Clinic and noticed that several of their supplies were strewn about the room where they normally saw to their patients. Since there was no one to see and she had nothing else to do, she decided she would put everything back and try to organize a little, before anyone had the chance to walk through the Clinic's doors. Maya decided to begin with the jars of herbs and liquids she noticed on the counter. She opened a cabinet and carefully placed each jar of fluid on the lowest open shelf. Those that were labeled she carefully placed in alphabetical order, and those that weren't, she simply placed on the left-hand side of the shelf for the good doctor to sort out later. Because she simply could not; she had no idea what any of them were just by looking at them. And she doubt giving them a good sniff would have been of any help, she simply wasn't good enough in the realm of herbs just yet. But she hoped to change that some day. When she had finished putting all of the jars of fluid away, clearing a good chunk of the counter off, roughly half an hour had passed, and still no one had come to seek aid from her and the good doctor. So, she decided to move on to the jars containing herbs. Each of them were carefully labeled, but only some of them had any indication of what they were used for on the jar. The first jar she picked up was one filled with the dried leaves of the peppermint plant. The label said it was used for headaches, nausea, and cramps. The nuit carefully placed the jar on the next empty shelf, before filing another of dried parsley nearby; she intended to place them all alphabetically on the shelf, so they would be easier to find in a pinch later. The next jar of dried ginger root. It was labeled as something to use in cases of nausea. Maya packed it away, before moving onto a jar of black pepper, which apparently helped with stuffy nose. And a bunch of other things Maya could not discern from the writing on the label. She carefully placed the jar of black pepper on the shelf before moving on to one filled with cayenne pepper powder. It was a pleasant red in shade, and said to help with various stomach problems. Maya wondered if that meant craps, nausea, indigestion, or any other number of ailments. She decided she would have to ask the doctor about it some time as she placed the jar filled with powder on the shelf. Next she came across rosemary, which was described as a mild analgesic, as well as something to help with sleeplessness and head pain. She was surprised it could help with so many different things, especially such different things. She had thought most herbs would only help with ailments that all had to do with one another, or were similar. But that clearly wasn't the case. She smiled delicately as she set the jar of rosemary onto the shelf. As she was reaching for the next jar so she could read the label, she heard someone come in, and the doctor instruct them to head right into the operating room; he would be right with them. It seemed her organization of the Clinic's supplies would have to stop for now. They had a customer in need of their assistance. Word Count: 780 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

As the Clinic's latest unfortunate customer stepped into the operating room, Maya turned to face them and gave their body a quick perusal. The man who had entered the Clinic looked to be in his early fifties. He had short, stick straight, salt and pepper hair. Skin that was the color of leather, worn and just as leathery in appearance as its shade, as though he spent a great deal of time outside, working hard. Something she found strange, given their current location. He had a wide, bulbous nose, whose nostrils flared angrily with each of his labored breaths. There was a tiny mole to the right of it, with an even tinier hair sticking out. His lips were pink, but tinted brown, and his eyes were large. Wide. Fearful. They bore the color of the earth, but a white film was beginning to creep over them. He was dressed in the garb of the poor, the peasant class. His tunic torn, his pants stained with dirt and grime, and what might have been a bit of shyte. She really hoped it was not shyte. As he stood before her, Maya forced a smile, and gestured to the operating table. "Make yourself comfortable," she said, as she watched him stride across the room and take a seat, she took note of the thin beads of sweat that were beginning to appear on his brow, just beneath his hairline, practically hidden in the salt. As soon as the man had settled onto the operating table, the good doctor strode in, looked unimpressed with their latest patient. "What has been ailing you?" Maya asked, simply to get the ball rolling. Instantly, the man set his hand on his chest. "My stomach," he began. "It has been in pain for days. It's like my wife used to describe her woman's cramps. Sometimes, it hurts so much, I can barely walk." Maya nodded. "Has your diet changed in the last few days? Have you been eating more or less than normal? Something you might not normally?" The patient shook their head. The doctor looked even less amused than before and instructed the patient to lie back on the table so they could inspect him. Another moment, and they were both at his side, each pressing their fingers onto one side of his belly, feeling around his belly, around each other, for any abnormalities. Maya couldn't feel anything, but whether that was because there was nothing to find or because she was working beside the good doctor, was difficult to say. The doctor seemed to sense something amiss, however, and soon backed away from their patient, prompting Maya to do the same. "Have you been drinking?" the doctor inquired, after a moment's time. The patient shook his head. "My wife can't abide it." The doctor grit his teeth, as though he were speaking to the stupidest man on the planet. "I meant water." The patient smiled sheepishly. "Oh... some." The doctor waved his hand, casually, betraying both a sense of annoyance and boredom. "You probably haven't been drinking enough, and it's causing some backup and upset inside your body. Maya, grab some mint leaves so he can make a soothing tea. Ground ginger would do too," he said. Maya nodded, "right away doctor," she said as she began rummaging through the shelves for some little green leaves. A jar with the appropriate label. She found what she was looking for a few moments later, and pulled it from the shelves. Handed the jar to the doctor. "Here you are, doctor." He took it hastily, poured some onto his palm, poured it into a little packet he pulled from his pocket, (Maya wondered how long it had been resting in there), and handed the packet of peppermint tea leaves to their patient. "Have your wife brew you a tea with these. This is enough to brew three cups. One cup a day. You should begin feeling better by then, as long as you drink a few cups of fresh water each day as well." The patient took the packet, nodded hurriedly, thanked the doctor and Maya, and then scampered off, forcing the doctor to put the jar of leaves down on the counter before heading off to do who knew what himself. Leaving Maya all alone in the operating room, which was still a mess she could organize, and thought she would now that there was no one else around to busy herself with, or to bother her. Word Count: 752 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

With a small sigh, Maya picked up the closest jar of dried medicinal herbs. She noticed that it was not a very full jar. In fact, it was mostly air, containing only a handful of long, slender pods, which ranged from five to six inches in length. Their outer surface was both smooth and glossy, and black as a raven's feathers, the darkest of nights. Their texture was somewhat leathery in nature. The nuit noticed that the pods were curved in slight; they were long, flattened out cylinders. They reminded her a bit of sweet peas, although they weren't quite as flat as sweet peas. A few grooves lined the length of each bean, lending them a textured appearance. At the end of each of the beans that jumped in the jar each time she shook it gently, she noticed a small, tapered tip. The label on the jar, scrawled hastily in the doctor's messy hand, marked them as vanilla beans. The label also indicated that they were used for fever. For a moment, the nuit wondered how they would apply to such a case of illness. Were they ground up and digested? Were they brewed into some sort of tea and then consumed while it was still hot and steaming in its mug? Or something else entirely? Something she was simply missing at the moment? She'd have to ask the good doctor sometime, when he was in a better mood. One of his rare, good moods, really. With a sigh, she set the jar back in the cabinet and reached for another. This jar, Maya soon realized, appeared to contain some sort of tree bark. They rested in the glass in slightly furled strips. They looked to be no longer than a few inches in length, with some being far shorter than that, although it was somewhat difficult to tell given their furled and curled up nature. The bark was tan in shade, and contained a rough and marginally fibrous texture. Maya thought that it looked so aged, like it had been sitting in that little glass jar for so long, that if she simply picked it up, it'd crumble to dust between her fingers. Fall onto the floor like dirt. When she carefully opened the glass and gave it a sniff, she realized it still carried a faint, earthen smell. It was hard to pick out, given the smell of the room she currently found herself in, but it was there. Another moment, and she screwed the lid back on the jar, turned it around, jostling the bark inside to study the label the doctor had carefully stuck onto its glass surface. The label said that the jar she was holding held the bark of the white willow tree. She studied the tan strips of bark for a moment, amazed that it could be used for medicinal purposes. Who knew bark could be helpful... it was bark. But according to the label, it was used for pain relief, for high fevers, and something else she could not quite read no matter how hard she squinted and for how long she studied the label. Another moment, and Maya had set the jar down in the cabinet, amongst its brethren. The other helpful herbs and dried plants the doctor had bought and gathered on his own over time. Maya reached for another jar, then another and another and another, quickly filing them away in the cabinet without giving them much thought, before taking note of one that caught her eye, one that wasn't quite as mundane as the others she had filed away earlier during the course of her work day. This jar contained dried flowers that had a sort of whimsical charm. The petals, although fragile in appearance, were also subtly crisp, for reasons the nuit couldn't quite discern. They had a spike-like appearance, which while rigid, appeared lightweight as well, as though it could easily be blown away in a slight breeze. The petals were all different colors, each stalk containing flowers and petals of a different color. There was pink, orange, yellow, and peach. When Maya turned the jar around to study the label the good doctor had placed upon it, she learned that they were dried snapdragons. It was used to treat inflammation, according to what the doctor had written. "Hmmm." Without giving the pretty flowers much more thought, she carefully placed the jar on the shelf before reaching for another and quickly putting it away. Word Count: 750 Words

[Maya Frostfawn]

Maya reached for yet another jar filled with dried herbs. These had leaves that had been both dried, and crushed, so they resembled the herbs you might find sprinkled on more upscale food you'd purchase in a tavern or other restaurant. She set it carefully in the cabinet before reaching for another, which she realized had a rather similar appearance to the one she had just put away, although the crushed leaves had toothed edges and were a few shades lighter than the previous one she had just put away. She put the new jar away, carefully, without reading the label, before reaching for another and another and setting those in the cabinet as well. There were only a handful of jars left, and the next. This jar was filled with a fine, dark brown powder. It reminded Maya vaguely of the texture of snow, although their colors were very different from one another. When she turned the jar around in her palms, she noticed that the jar was labeled "cinnamon," and that it was used as an anti-inflammatory. She smiled, knowing that could prove useful as the put the jar of cinnamon back on the shelf, before quickly filing the others into the cabinet near where she had placed the jar of brown powder. When she was done, she dry-washed her hands and looked around. The place was still a mess; she hadn't even put a dent in it. She sighed; there was still a lot of day left. A lot of day to work, clean, and organize the Clinic, assuming no one came in, asking for help, of course. Word Count: 271 Words