Inventory & Gossip :: Cousins

28 October 1922
Saturday
2:30pm

There was never a shortage of jobs in the Hospital Wing. Tilly typically tried to keep out of the main area where patients were treated, preferring the company of plants. They didn’t cry. They didn’t whine. And most importantly, they didn’t vomit.

Yep, plants were the superior choice in the wing.

Today, she was happy to be restocking with Alice, instead of dealing with patients. Being a Herbalist Specialist had its advantages. She dealt with mainly plant emergencies, which was exactly how she preferred it.

The list was long, a full two pages of supplies needed for every area of the wing: storage cabinets in the patient area, potion ingredients, and then a blank page to write the items that needed to be ordered. The large storage room held overstock of everything they may need, so once they inventoried everything, they would head to the storage room to collect what they needed.

While the job was on the easier side of the wing, it was important to make sure everything was stocked and filled to make patient care easier.

“I separated the list into sections to make it easier. I figured we can start with stocking the storage cabinets, those seem to be the biggest need. Then we can stock the potion storage cabinet. Once we're done, we can do a quick inventory to see what needs to be ordered. I know we’re running low on gauze and bandages.”

Walking with Alice into the main patient area, Tilly opened one of the storage cabinets to see what was running low, only to find it in a state of disarray. “Well shit, looks like we need to organize a bit before we can inventory. Why don’t you work on that one and I’ll do this one.”

Tilly got to work lining up the supplies in neat rows, organized in a specific way and labeled to keep it neat. “So Alice, how was your Applied Magic assignment with Drago? Robert was a pain to work with. Didn’t take anything seriously, made me do most of the work. It was annoying.”

Alice hadn’t had a chance to debrief her cousin on the project with Dragon. Luckily, however, they shared a Hospital Wing shift a couple days later so she planned on speaking to her about it at that point.

“Well shit, looks like we need to organize a bit before we can inventory. Why don’t you work on that one and I’ll do this one.”

Before Tilly even finished her sentence, Alice was already organizing because disorder made her slightly anxious and the cabinet was genuinely in a state of chaos.

Her sorting was methodical, meticulous even, rotating bottles and packing so the labels faced the same way. She pulled the already opened supplies to the front of their rows so they could be used up first. She’d found a few packages of the same tablets open. She consolidated them and dropped the extra packaging in the bin before returning to her work.

"So Alice, how was your Applied Magic assignment with Drago?"

Alice kept working, finally less taken aback by any leading questions.

“Fine,” she said. And then, because Tilly would see straight through her response and they both knew it, she added to her answer. “He was easy to work with. Still. Doesn’t fidget.”

Alice pulled a roll of bandage from the back and checked the seal before replacing it.

“He asked me what I like,” she said offhandedly. As if it was a minor detail. “Classes, things… I didn’t really have an answer.” She reached for the next item: a package with just one lone cotton swab. She shook her head, dropped the package in the bin and stuck the item into another open package.

“It was strange. The question, I mean. Not him.” Alice felt a slight blip with the distinction, though she moved on.

“Robert was always going to be useless,” she said. “I’m sorry you got stuck with him. Did he do anything at all?”

“Fine. He was easy to work with. Still. Doesn’t fidget.”

Tilly smiled, seeing it in her head. Yeah, Drago doesn’t fidget. Ever. He seemed so sure of himself, stoic, strong and intense. He was so different from anyone Matilda had ever dated. Not that they were dating.

Nope.

“He asked me what I like. Classes, things… I didn’t really have an answer.” She stopped her organizing, currently surrounded by potion bottles that needed to be put in order. Sitting on the floor, working on the bottom of the cabinet.

“It was strange. The question, I mean. Not him.” She thought about her answer to the question. Obviously Herbology would be her answer, to no one’s surprise. With Applied Magic close to the top as well. She liked the domestic side of the class. Something many didn’t agree with.

“Why do you think that is? Not having an answer. I don’t know, I guess it’s obvious for me. I guess I just thought everyone had favorites.”

When Professor Blackwood assigned teams, Matilda had groaned with Robert as her partner. He was useless. When Alice and Drago were announced, there was a small pang of jealousy. It was a feeling that needed to be dissected, but she wasn’t ready to dig into it yet.

“Robert was always going to be useless. I’m sorry you got stuck with him. Did he do anything at all?”

The potion bottles were organized, six off to the side that needed to be cleaned and filled. The rest, back in the spots on the shelves. “Do you have any Sleep Syrup? I know I saw some, but there aren't any here. And yeah, Robert was an idiot. I did fine on his shirt, when he would shut up long enough for me to work. He wouldn’t stop flirting.”

She shivered, remembering when he was working on the hem of her skirt and ran his finger across her ankle. Ugh, he was creepy. “My skirt hem was more high-low, and backwards. High in the front with low in the back. You could see the back of my knees in the back, but it was mid calf in the front. I’m guessing he fails this assignment.”

Finding a package of cotton swabs shoved in the back of the cabinet, Tilly grabbed them, brushed off the dust and handed them over to Alice. “Here, these don’t belong here.”

Thinking back to the project with Robert, she couldn’t help but wonder what else they talked about. Did she come up? Of course she wanted to know, but wouldn’t ask. “Well I’m glad you had a competent partner.”

Alice accepted the cotton swabs and found them a proper home without comment.

“Why do you think that is? Not having an answer. I don’t know, I guess it’s obvious for me. I guess I just thought everyone had favorites.”

She frowned. “Why don’t I have an answer…” she repeated, less a question than something she was carefully turning over. Tilly’s response kind of surprised her. Did everyone expect her to know what she liked? She was quiet for a moment, reorganizing a row of small amber bottles by size. “I really think I just never asked myself. Classes have always been classes. I take them because I’m supposed to, not because I like them.”

She moved the last bottle into place. “I’m working on it.” Or she’d have to. She didn’t know where to start.

Something had shifted in Tilly when she mentioned Robert’s skirt work. Alice couldn’t place the detail, but she felt the shudder of something unpleasant that her cousin had moved past too quickly. She noted it and let it sit. She’d tell her if she wanted to.

“He should fail,” she said simply. Restrained. Much like everything in her life.

She checked a label on a bottle then handed it down to Tilly. “Sleep Syrup,” she said and handed her a few more bottles.

Quietness for a moment, slightly uncomfortable. Why?

“He’s better at hemming than he thinks,” she said. Offhanded. A footnote. The kind of thing you mentioned because it was true and for no other reason.

Still, she wouldn’t look at Tilly when she said it.

“He’s better at hemming than he thinks.” As Alice stated this, Tilly realized she wasn’t surprised. Drago was good at most things it seemed, even the domestic. He was too stubborn to be bad at something. Although, she might ask him to hem something in the future, because it sounded like a hilarious idea.

“He is ridiculously good at most things I’ve found.” She said with a note of annoyance in her voice, but butterflies in her stomach. Those little beasts seemed to come alive a lot when talking about her future, maybe, husband to be.

Continuing with her task, Tilly added more things to the list, tossed a few empty packages and cursed the fellow wing volunteers who were doing a piss poor job at keeping things neat.

“He found me in the common room recently, made sure to tell me when the answers on my homework were wrong. Then questioned me on my choice of loungewear. Ended up showing him my scar, which surprised us both honestly. I don’t get it Alice. I don’t mean to tell him things, but they just come out!”She wouldn't be mentioning the casual touch to her leg when he say her scar, or the way he skimmed her shoulder when he adjusted her sweater, or the way he held onto her leg, long after he was done inspecting her scar. She also wouldn't mention how much she loved every second of it.

She was completely exasperated now. Annoyed at how easily Dragomire Zdravkova has weasled his way into her everyday life. To the point that she looked for him in the halls, looked forward to his greetings and bothered when she missed him for whatever reason. Nothing made sense anymore.

“When I found out about all of this, I honestly envisioned an evil villain. Always angry, yelling, demanding, controlling. He hasn’t shown those to be true at all. Is he lying? Or was I just really offbase?”

“He is ridiculously good at most things I’ve found.”

Alice nodded slightly, definitely agreeing that it was probably just like him. He seemed the type to excel at everything. Annoyingly so, probably. She continued organizing, taking things out that had been carelessly shoved into the shelves that had no space for them. And more empty packages of supplies. Empty potion bottles.

People were lazy.

“He found me in the common room recently, made sure to tell me when the answers on my homework were wrong. Then questioned me on my choice of loungewear. Ended up showing him my scar, which surprised us both honestly. I don’t get it Alice. I don’t mean to tell him things, but they just come out!”


She listened, her thought momentarily taking her back to the library and the close proximity she had to Dragon while there. She was surprised to hear Tilly had shown him her scar, that was something she didn’t show just anyone. She bit the inside of her cheek, slightly uncomfortable.

“When I found out about all of this, I honestly envisioned an evil villain. Always angry, yelling, demanding, controlling. He hasn’t shown those to be true at all. Is he lying? Or was I just really offbase?”

Shaking her head slightly, Alice considered very briefly keeping more information to herself as a way to give herself the upper hand when it came to the boy her cousin was to marry. But the frustration was coming off her in waves, and she couldn’t do that.

“He’s not lying,” Alice said simply. She knew this to be a fact. “I think it’s easy to project these things… in the situation.”