33rd of Winter
It had been a busy day on the job. Ollic found himself blundering into a room with a patient and a doctor already mid-exam. It was an awkward moment for everyone. And then, not soon after, Ollic wound up trying to care for two patients at the same time, given the task by another nurse who had walked out because of some other emergency, and being Ollic, he had obligingly accepted taking over for him.
From a runny nose to a cough that sounded like boulders running off of a cliff, Ollic was neck deep in work, and as he walked in through his apartment door, all he wanted was to lie down and take a long nap, at least until his mind had shut off and all feeling had ceased to evade his mind and body.
His legs ached, mostly from running around the Catholicon the entire day. He had woken up bright and early and the first thing that meets him is those ghastly stairs to the front doors. He curses them every day, and nothing is done about them.
After hauling his arse up those stairs, he was bombarded with a patient who had a small fever and another with a sore knee. Soon after he had taken care of those, his superior called him over to ask him a few technical questions. After that he was sent to observe an older doctor whom would teach him how to care for a patient with an allergic reaction.
Allergic reactions were very touchy subjects given that anyone could be allergic to anything and to figure out what exactly it was they were allergic to- whatever it was that gave them the terrible reaction and all its symptoms was both mysterious and mind numbing.
After his time taking notes and asking questions as the older doctor led him through multiple steps and gave him various simple tasks, Ollic wound up down another hallway, caring for the patient with the cough that sounded worse than a hailstorm.
Things kept like this for a few more hours, Ollic bustling around and finding new things to do and soon he was walking down the street with his mind elsewhere, going over everything that had just happened. And now, as he stepped over the threshold into his personal apartment, he concluded that today was a very busy day.
But he had made it through alive.
Stopping to say hello to Spirit, he bent down to run his slender and mildly tanned fingers through her dark grey hair. She purred and her eyes ignited a brilliant purple shade.
Ollic smiled and threw himself on the bed, closing his eyes slightly until he felt himself drift off to sleep. However, as soon as he was all comfy and cozy, he realised something was missing. But what was it that was missing?
Quickly running his eyes around and around the room, Ollic finally figured out what was missing. He had said hello to Spirit, but Hokato wasn’t anywhere in sight. She wasn’t lying on the floor next to the other side of the bed, she wasn’t even on the bed like she usually was when Ollic had flopped down on it.
The question continued to pick at his brain cells, and it was beginning to crawl down from his head to his heart where it throbbed and started to pain him. Where was she and why wasn’t she in the apartment?
Trying to ease his thinking, Ollic began to spit out reasonable and rational reasons as to why she was nowhere in sight. Some of those ideas were how she might be out for a walk. Being an Ivaski, her intelligence granted her the unnecessary need for much supervision. However, doing so was very unlike her and without giving warning to Ollic about her leaving really set a nasty tone that sent aches down to his lower stomach.
But what else did he have to go off of? He had looked through the room twice now, his gaze stopping to glare at things that seemed out of place. She hadn’t seemed to leave a sign for him to follow. It was as if she had run away and didn’t want anyone to find her with sympathy feelings and apologies.
Suddenly Spirit jumped up onto the bed and nudged Ollic’s hand, jumping off again to walk over to the door. There, with Ollic’s gaze held sternly on what it was she was doing, he noticed her pawing up the door, a small trace of white hair lodged in between the hinge.
A clue!
Rushing off the bed to take a closer look at the remaining piece of evidence that proved Hokato had been here a little while ago.
He grabbed it and yanked it from the door hinge, rubbing it in between his fingers and then smelling it to make sure that it wasn’t fabric of some kind. It did indeed smell like Hokato, a scent of canine, rain and small whiffs of lavender, something she had given off since he had met her.
“Stay here,” he commanded Spirit as he turned to grab his winter blanket to keep him warm. He was going to be awhile outside searching for his best friend; it wasn’t like a short walk to and from work like he had hoped it was.
The sound of the door closing behind him was deafening as the echo wavered throughout the hallway and down the stairs, a place he had found himself walking down. Outside was chilly, the air swirling in uneven currents, but with a winter blanket wrapped around him he was comfortably warm. Besides, at a time like this he didn’t need warmth or comfort- he needed reassurance that his friend was safe.
The first thing he did, the patch of fur still in his clutch, was to talk to anyone who had seen a large white dog running around. Pent up worry and concern sent Ollic’s antisocial behaviour south as he walked up to an elderly man with frosty hair and dark brown eyes.
“Hello sir,” he started, trying to seem non-hostile and open, “Have you by chance seen a white dog go by here recently?”
The man looked up from what he was doing, and eyed the stranger whom had just spoken to him with conspicuous eyes.
“Yeah I did, about a bell ago,” he said, his chocolate coated irises scrutinizing Ollic’s apparel. “Where’s your coat son?”
Ignoring the last question, Ollic asked the man again if he had seen which direction she was heading.
“Yeah, she, uh,” he stuttered, trying to recall what events took place a bell ago, “she was heading south, down to the Misty Peaks.”
Ollic, realising that if the man was correct in his assumptions, had strong feelings towards Hokato and her sense of directions. She left to go to the Misty Peaks?
He then thanked the man with appropriate sincerity and sped off in the appropriate direction, all the while coming up with plans of punishment, yet sayings of apology for whatever it was he had done to deserve such torture. Losing a friend was the worst kind of torture there was, and at that exact moment, Ollic was being belted with feelings that caused knots in his stomach and pains in his heart.
Thoughts continued to well up in his mind like large bubbles far too expanded and near popping size. What if she had run away because he had mistreated her somehow? It was a fat chance given that the two were practically inseparable, but the thought still wavered out in front of him.
What if she had run away because she was bored of him? What if she wished to find another owner or another friend and had ditched him without so much as a simple goodbye? Was it too self-centered to think that she thought he was too good for her?
What if she felt unloved or that she was out trying to live a little for once- too fed up with Ollic's emotions to deal with him any longer?
And then the worst possible conclusion came to his mind, above the thought of being dropped from a friendship like a sack of potatoes.
What if she had run away because she was jealous of Spirit? Did she think she was being replaced? Ollic wanted nothing more than the two to get along, but what if his judgment was poor and he had misread all of the signs?
Sure the first day, Hokato was silent and reclusive to both Ollic and Spirit, but that seemed normal. He expected things would wear off and the two would get to know each other more as time went on. It was still on a few days after he had gotten her, and perhaps he hadn’t paid attention close enough to know that the two weren’t going to a match.
His heart was soon invaded with sorrow as Ollic began to feel terrible for putting Hokato through such things. He didn’t even talk to her or ask her how she felt about the situation. He kind of jiust threw her in and let the sharks feed off her flesh.
Tears were starting to well up in Ollic’s eyes and soon he was walking blind. He almost ran into a barrel of unknown contents when he spotted something interesting out of the corner of his watery eye.
Rubbing away the tears, he noticed that there was a paw print pointing to the left of where he was standing. From the looks of it, she was indeed heading toward the Misty Peaks. Perhaps she felt like she belonged there? Perhaps she felt like she was wanted or needed?
“Aw,” Ollic moaned, “I’m so sorry.”
It had been a busy day on the job. Ollic found himself blundering into a room with a patient and a doctor already mid-exam. It was an awkward moment for everyone. And then, not soon after, Ollic wound up trying to care for two patients at the same time, given the task by another nurse who had walked out because of some other emergency, and being Ollic, he had obligingly accepted taking over for him.
From a runny nose to a cough that sounded like boulders running off of a cliff, Ollic was neck deep in work, and as he walked in through his apartment door, all he wanted was to lie down and take a long nap, at least until his mind had shut off and all feeling had ceased to evade his mind and body.
His legs ached, mostly from running around the Catholicon the entire day. He had woken up bright and early and the first thing that meets him is those ghastly stairs to the front doors. He curses them every day, and nothing is done about them.
After hauling his arse up those stairs, he was bombarded with a patient who had a small fever and another with a sore knee. Soon after he had taken care of those, his superior called him over to ask him a few technical questions. After that he was sent to observe an older doctor whom would teach him how to care for a patient with an allergic reaction.
Allergic reactions were very touchy subjects given that anyone could be allergic to anything and to figure out what exactly it was they were allergic to- whatever it was that gave them the terrible reaction and all its symptoms was both mysterious and mind numbing.
After his time taking notes and asking questions as the older doctor led him through multiple steps and gave him various simple tasks, Ollic wound up down another hallway, caring for the patient with the cough that sounded worse than a hailstorm.
Things kept like this for a few more hours, Ollic bustling around and finding new things to do and soon he was walking down the street with his mind elsewhere, going over everything that had just happened. And now, as he stepped over the threshold into his personal apartment, he concluded that today was a very busy day.
But he had made it through alive.
Stopping to say hello to Spirit, he bent down to run his slender and mildly tanned fingers through her dark grey hair. She purred and her eyes ignited a brilliant purple shade.
Ollic smiled and threw himself on the bed, closing his eyes slightly until he felt himself drift off to sleep. However, as soon as he was all comfy and cozy, he realised something was missing. But what was it that was missing?
Quickly running his eyes around and around the room, Ollic finally figured out what was missing. He had said hello to Spirit, but Hokato wasn’t anywhere in sight. She wasn’t lying on the floor next to the other side of the bed, she wasn’t even on the bed like she usually was when Ollic had flopped down on it.
The question continued to pick at his brain cells, and it was beginning to crawl down from his head to his heart where it throbbed and started to pain him. Where was she and why wasn’t she in the apartment?
Trying to ease his thinking, Ollic began to spit out reasonable and rational reasons as to why she was nowhere in sight. Some of those ideas were how she might be out for a walk. Being an Ivaski, her intelligence granted her the unnecessary need for much supervision. However, doing so was very unlike her and without giving warning to Ollic about her leaving really set a nasty tone that sent aches down to his lower stomach.
But what else did he have to go off of? He had looked through the room twice now, his gaze stopping to glare at things that seemed out of place. She hadn’t seemed to leave a sign for him to follow. It was as if she had run away and didn’t want anyone to find her with sympathy feelings and apologies.
Suddenly Spirit jumped up onto the bed and nudged Ollic’s hand, jumping off again to walk over to the door. There, with Ollic’s gaze held sternly on what it was she was doing, he noticed her pawing up the door, a small trace of white hair lodged in between the hinge.
A clue!
Rushing off the bed to take a closer look at the remaining piece of evidence that proved Hokato had been here a little while ago.
He grabbed it and yanked it from the door hinge, rubbing it in between his fingers and then smelling it to make sure that it wasn’t fabric of some kind. It did indeed smell like Hokato, a scent of canine, rain and small whiffs of lavender, something she had given off since he had met her.
“Stay here,” he commanded Spirit as he turned to grab his winter blanket to keep him warm. He was going to be awhile outside searching for his best friend; it wasn’t like a short walk to and from work like he had hoped it was.
The sound of the door closing behind him was deafening as the echo wavered throughout the hallway and down the stairs, a place he had found himself walking down. Outside was chilly, the air swirling in uneven currents, but with a winter blanket wrapped around him he was comfortably warm. Besides, at a time like this he didn’t need warmth or comfort- he needed reassurance that his friend was safe.
The first thing he did, the patch of fur still in his clutch, was to talk to anyone who had seen a large white dog running around. Pent up worry and concern sent Ollic’s antisocial behaviour south as he walked up to an elderly man with frosty hair and dark brown eyes.
“Hello sir,” he started, trying to seem non-hostile and open, “Have you by chance seen a white dog go by here recently?”
The man looked up from what he was doing, and eyed the stranger whom had just spoken to him with conspicuous eyes.
“Yeah I did, about a bell ago,” he said, his chocolate coated irises scrutinizing Ollic’s apparel. “Where’s your coat son?”
Ignoring the last question, Ollic asked the man again if he had seen which direction she was heading.
“Yeah, she, uh,” he stuttered, trying to recall what events took place a bell ago, “she was heading south, down to the Misty Peaks.”
Ollic, realising that if the man was correct in his assumptions, had strong feelings towards Hokato and her sense of directions. She left to go to the Misty Peaks?
He then thanked the man with appropriate sincerity and sped off in the appropriate direction, all the while coming up with plans of punishment, yet sayings of apology for whatever it was he had done to deserve such torture. Losing a friend was the worst kind of torture there was, and at that exact moment, Ollic was being belted with feelings that caused knots in his stomach and pains in his heart.
Thoughts continued to well up in his mind like large bubbles far too expanded and near popping size. What if she had run away because he had mistreated her somehow? It was a fat chance given that the two were practically inseparable, but the thought still wavered out in front of him.
What if she had run away because she was bored of him? What if she wished to find another owner or another friend and had ditched him without so much as a simple goodbye? Was it too self-centered to think that she thought he was too good for her?
What if she felt unloved or that she was out trying to live a little for once- too fed up with Ollic's emotions to deal with him any longer?
And then the worst possible conclusion came to his mind, above the thought of being dropped from a friendship like a sack of potatoes.
What if she had run away because she was jealous of Spirit? Did she think she was being replaced? Ollic wanted nothing more than the two to get along, but what if his judgment was poor and he had misread all of the signs?
Sure the first day, Hokato was silent and reclusive to both Ollic and Spirit, but that seemed normal. He expected things would wear off and the two would get to know each other more as time went on. It was still on a few days after he had gotten her, and perhaps he hadn’t paid attention close enough to know that the two weren’t going to a match.
His heart was soon invaded with sorrow as Ollic began to feel terrible for putting Hokato through such things. He didn’t even talk to her or ask her how she felt about the situation. He kind of jiust threw her in and let the sharks feed off her flesh.
Tears were starting to well up in Ollic’s eyes and soon he was walking blind. He almost ran into a barrel of unknown contents when he spotted something interesting out of the corner of his watery eye.
Rubbing away the tears, he noticed that there was a paw print pointing to the left of where he was standing. From the looks of it, she was indeed heading toward the Misty Peaks. Perhaps she felt like she belonged there? Perhaps she felt like she was wanted or needed?
“Aw,” Ollic moaned, “I’m so sorry.”
X
