Learning Experiences (Kieron)

[Alexander McKenzie]

Sunday, January 26th, 2014

Even after switching into nursing after completing almost a year and a half of physics to get into the astrophysics program, Alex wasn’t regretting his decision. He had finished his first semester last fall, and had just begun his second semester in the program. It had been suggested in the first semester that if the students could find a way to shadow a nursing professional for a day, it would help to shape their dedication, and if they even wanted to stay in the program before they went further. For Alex, he had no doubts, but when one of his professors brought it up again early in the semester, he’d started to think about it.

It couldn’t hurt, right?

He could have easily contacted Maddock, or even the hospital he’d stayed at multiple times in Chicago when he’d been home at Christmas. Instead, he’d ended up asking at Hammel. He knew they had an on call doctor, who had been nothing short of polite and professional with the idea when he’d spoken to her. After looking at the scheduling, she’d helped arrange his shadow day with one of the nurses – Kieron Sharpe.

He had no idea what to expect, especially when it came to Hammel’s infirmary. After all, power mishaps weren’t uncommon. He also wasn’t sure of what to expect from Kieron himself. Part of him was a little nervous that he would dismiss him as some rebel, punk kid. He’d pulled out a few of his piercings, though his small lip ring was still there, as well as his nose stud, and a few subtle, assorted studs in his ears. Nothing grab-worthy. That, he’d learned in his first few classes.

He’d also dressed in what he hoped was semi-professional. Though he now owned a few pairs of scrubs for school, he hadn’t worn them to the institute. Hopefully, that was okay. At the very least, they kept his tattooed arms covered, for the most part. The very top of his phoenix was visible above his t-shirt, and a few small pieces poked out from his sleeves, but other than that he didn’t think he looked so bad.

After checking in at the main office and clipping his visitor badge to his pocket, he made his way to the infirmary. Despite not needing it often during his stay, he still knew where it was, and it didn’t take long to get there. Once he was inside, he checked in near the desk. “Um, hi. I’m here to see Kieron Sharpe? I’m... supposed to shadow him today.”

[Kieron Sharpe]

While many staff members went to great lengths to complain about their turn on the weekend rotas, it had never really bothered Kieron either way. He didn't have a great deal of a social life and never really went out with friends any more (besides when he saw Maebelle of course), so nine times out of ten to him the weekends felt little different to the weekdays. He would have preferred an evening shift of course, but apparently today he would have a nursing student shadowing him. Joy.

Kieron could of course completely understand why shadowing was important for a nursing student. Hell, he'd been there and done all of that during his own years of studying. He just found it a little ironic that the one nurse with the least desire for the job was the one selected to be followed around. Kieron hadn't voiced that, of course. As far as he was aware the only person who knew about his quiet resentment about the job was himself, and it had never once stopped him from being anything other than attentive, polite and professional. Just because it wasn't what he wanted would not stop him from still doing the job to the best of his abilities.

He just secretly wished he wouldn't have to do it in front of an audience.

As usual Kieron had arrived a little early for his shift, dropping off coffee and pastries for Nik and the other nurse on duty before getting changed into his tunic, making sure the buttons holding together the large slits in the back were fastened. He hadn't had an incident at work to date, but it was always better to be safe than sorry and a few scattered buttons would be far preferable to bursting out of a un-slitted shirt and the pain that came along with that.

Kieron had been glancing over the schedule for the day when the infirmary receptionist paged him, letting him know that the student – Alex – had just arrived. Heading out and over to where the boy was stood, Kieron offered him a soft smile and his hand. “Alex McKenzie? I'm Kieron, it's good to meet you. I hear you used to be a student here; it's a little strange to come back, isn't it?” Not the greatest of introductions perhaps but the small talk had to start somewhere. The kid wasn't anything like Kieron had pictured in his mind, but he really wasn't in a place to judge. Alex probably hadn't expected on meeting a nurse with slits in the back of his tunic and sunglasses on indoors in the middle of winter.

[Alexander McKenzie]

Unlike Kieron, Alex was nervous, but excited about the chance to shadow for the day. Making the switch from physics to nursing had been scary, but it had also felt right. In a way, it was almost giving back. As scary as the hospital had been when he was six years old, the pediatric nurses had been a godsend. They’d made the long nights without his parents bearable. Same with blood draws, injections, and everything else that had been so scary at the time. Even at ten, things, while familiar, were still not pleasant. Yeah, this felt right.

Better yet, his parents had not only approved of his desire to switch his education track after two years of work into physics (not that he’d really expected them not to), but they’d also encouraged him. He’d talked with them for a long time about it before switching, and had updated them at Christmas. Of course, they were of the opinion that as long as their son was happy, they would be behind him. Same with his girlfriend, who seemed unnaturally proud of him at times.

He planned on being on his best behaviour when it came to his shadow day. Not that he wouldn’t anyway, but he was going in as both a guest of the school, and as a student. He was also going to ensure he remembered to thank not only Kieron, but Dr. Nik as well.

Alex was patient as he waited, idly looking at the posters and pictures on the wall. When he heard his name, he spun and looked up at Kieron with a friendly smile and took the offered hand. “Yes, I graduated just over two years ago.” Still, he didn’t mind being back. “Thank you for taking the time to let me shadow you today.” No, it wasn’t quite the hospital setting that Alex figured he would end up upon graduating, but it was a start.

[Kieron Sharpe]

In an odd little way, Kieron would have been able to sympathise with Alex. He had certainly never planned on ending up back at Hammel after graduating either. Years of frustratingly difficult work, heartache and misery, and he had ended up right back where he had started. In his more sombre moments Kieron wondered just what he had done in a past life to end up stuck here like this. Then he remembered that there were some benefits to it, and as much as he sometimes hated it, they were worth carrying on for.

“You're very welcome. Thanks for showing an interest; the world is badly in need of more good nurses.” Kieron did honestly believe that and whilst he was antagonistic towards his job, he knew it was a vitally important one. Sure he didn't have any kind of healing ability or anything like that which would take him from being a good nurse to an epic one, but he knew that despite his many flaws he was good at what he did. Perhaps that was why he had been chosen for this little shadowing project today.

Leading the way into the little staff room, Kieron nudged his sunglasses higher up his nose as the bright light caused him to squint slightly. “Is there any particular field of nursing you're most interested in? Any specialisation?” If Kieron had wanted to specialise he would likely have gone into accident and emergency nursing, but that would have meant even more schooling and even more pressure from his parents, and quite frankly he could do without that.

Hazel eyes flicked over the day's rota from behind their dark shields, the nurse plotting out the plan for the next few hours. “Do you have any questions before we get started?”

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex had been back at Hammel enough since graduation to make it seem... well, a little less strange. Between visiting his best friend in the research lab, and seeing his old teachers, he had come back several times in the past few years. He’d just not expected to be in this position upon graduation. Granted, he had then been focused on studying physics and, eventually, the stars. A lot had changed since then.

“Yeah, amen to that.” Alex offered a little smile to Kieron. He knew firsthand just how important the job was, and how much good people were needed to fill it. It wasn’t going to be an easy road, but nothing worthwhile ever was. He wasn’t scared of a little hard work. ... Or a lot, in this case. At least the shadow day alongside Kieron would give him a taste of what it was like to work on this side of things.

The younger man followed Kieron into the staff area. The question was one he’d already had answered, probably for a good ten years or so. He just hadn’t always known it. “Pediatrics. Or oncology. I, uh...” He trailed off for a moment, rubbing his arm in a slightly awkward manner. “I have experience with both. Sort of.” In that he had been a pediatric oncology case, once upon a time. But that was all behind him now. “I love kids, and oncology’s kind of a close thing for me.” If he couldn’t do that, he didn’t know what field he’d want. While he could keep a calm head in emergency situations, he didn’t think he’d be able to make connections the way his nurses had when he was little, and that was important to him.

As for questions, he simply shrugged. “I don’t really have anything. I mean, I’m just observing today, right?” Thinking of that, he paused. “... And just tell me if I’m in the way, or anything. That’s the last thing I want.”

[Kieron Sharpe]

As much as Kieron silently complained about his job, he did take some measure of pride in the fact that he was good at it and was clearly trusted enough to babysit the shadow student despite the fact the Irishman had only started working at Hammel last summer. It already felt like a whole world ago, so much had changed since then. His parents still gave him grief and there was the ever-present quiet misery with his existence, but there was Maebelle now. Her mere presence made everything so much easier.

“Paediatrics is a very noble branch, if you don't mind working with very young children.” Kieron knew for a fact he would never be cut out for that particular field of nursing; the Hammel students were about as young as he felt capable of handling. He gave a small shrug. “And you'd be safe in the knowledge that you'd never be called to help with a student that had got their hand stuck in a wall while they tried to walk through it, or being made sick by their own radiation.”

Those patients were always the most difficult to face, simply because there was no real way to actually make them better. Only time and training could lessen the side effects of powers, and Kieron knew only too well that not everyone saw their ability as a gift like he did. To a large number, they were cursed. “It's good that you have some experience in the field, even if it is only very minor. You've seen the front line before stepping out on to it.”

As Alex mentioned about wanting to just be told if he's in the way, Kieron chuckled softly and nodded his head. “Oh, I will. Don't worry about that. But if you have any questions do ask away, that's part of what I'm here for.” Kieron picked up one of the notepads from the side, tucking it into the pocket of his tunic along with a pen. “First things first; time to check in on the resident patients.”

[Alexander McKenzie]

Alex was grateful that Kieron had even agreed to let him shadow in the first place. It was hard to think about having to interrupt your day for a student whose knowledge was likely rudimentary at best, but he was still grateful. Already he was planning on doing some sort of thank you card in his limited spare time. Hey, his parents had raised him to be polite. It might have been weird, especially for a such a punky looking guy, and at his age, but it didn’t matter. It was the nice thing to do.

“No, I love kids.” Though he wanted to have them one day, there was also his ever present fear that he could pass on the genetics and make them higher risk candidates for some kind of cancer themselves. It was an endless loop that tended to scare the hell out of him, so he tended to try not to think about it. “I know it’s hard getting them to trust you that something isn’t going to hurt as much as they think it will, or that something is going to be over soon. But being able to help them through that seems worth it.” At the very least, he’d appreciated it when he was young. As for Kieron’s point, he just smiled and shook his head. “No, that’s true. I saw a few training accidents when I was here. The worst I had to deal with was being convinced I’d wrecked my senses for good.” After a beat, he held up his fingers and spread them. “Forcefield generation. Dulls all my senses when I use it. It got better, but... there were a few sessions when I was convinced I’d never hear or feel things properly again.” Usually when he pushed himself too hard. But it could have always been worse. He knew that.

“Mn, yeah.” He wasn’t sure how much he wanted to share with Kieron, at least right away. Needless to say, his experience wasn’t exactly minor, even if it was a while ago. If and when they got into a section about chemotherapy, he was positive he could run circles around his classmates. “I saw enough to know it’s something I want to do.” Even more than he wanted to study the stars. Besides, it would be a steady career, and something he could use to support his family without worrying too much.

He made a mental note to ask questions if he had them, eager to get to work. Well. Shadowing. “Which students stay overnight?” He’d never really gotten sick enough to warrant much beyond a quick visit with either the nurse on duty or the on call doctor, and being sent back to his dorm with instructions for rest and fluids during his time at Hammel, so he really wasn’t sure what would warrant a stay.

[Kieron Sharpe]

Kieron's lips twitched into a more genuine smile as Alex spoke about his reasons for wanting to branch into paediatric nursing, and he gave a soft nod of his head. “Then it sounds like you're aiming for the right thing. You clearly have the passion for it, and that's such a huge part of the process.” Something that Kieron should have massively failed on, but he'd had a lifetime of faking it behind him. If people wanted to see passion he could deliver it by the bucket-load; whether it was genuine or not always depended on the situation. “If you keep your studies up and keep wanting it, I'm sure you'll get there. It is long hours and sometimes very difficult, physically and emotionally, but worth it.”

As Alex spoke about his ability and the side-effects associated with it, Kieron listened intently and smiled sympathetically. “It is really difficult at first, for everyone. That initial feeling of loss of control over your own being is terrifying... It sounds like you had a good trainer to help you through it, though. That is one thing Hammel does exceptionally well; I dread to think of what would have happened had I not been brought here.”

Kieron had no intention of probing into the kid's story unless Alex actually seemed like he wanted to discuss it, so he let the slightly cryptic note of Alex's past brush over him.“The fact that you know exactly what you want to do when you're still young is a very good sign; you'd be surprised how many people go right through their first few years of college without a single idea about their goals.”

Leading the way out towards the few little overnight rooms, Kieron nudged his sunglasses back up his nose as the brighter lights in the hallway caused him to squint. “Not very many. If a student is sick or injured beyond Dr. Nik's capabilities they are taken to hospital, and for very minor sickness their dorm is always the best bet for recovery. We only really have resident patients who have been dismissed from hospital but still need an eye keeping on them, or that are better cared for with Hammel's more... specialised knowledge.”

Knocking on the door of one of the rooms, Kieron let himself in after a moment and gave a polite smile to the girl sat in the bed reading a magazine. “Good morning Andrea, this is Alex. He's studying to become a nurse, and he's shadowing me today. Do you mind if he sits in and hears a little about you?” As the blonde haired girl shook her head, Kieron thanked her and checked her clipboard to see what notes had been placed on it from the last shift. “Andrea has super-enhanced strength, but it is depleting her body's protein and iron supplies.” A side-effect that Kieron could empathise with all too easily. “We have managed to get it under control, but she's staying in for a few days so we can monitor her properly while she gets used to her new diet.” He smiled softly at Andrea, replacing the clipboard. “How are you feeling this morning? Did you manage to sleep well?”

[Alexander McKenzie]

Passion was absolutely something that Alex could deliver in spades. The difference between him and Kieron was that he always meant it. He had passion for a lot of things, whether it was his fiancé, his studies, art, or looking at the stars. He’d learned a long time ago to live life to the fullest. Despite it being terribly cliché, he also knew it to be true. He didn’t want to leave here with regrets, whether that was five years from now, or seventy. “Really? Thank you.” Kieron was the first to have worded it like that, but Alex had heard it before. The few teachers he’d gotten to know better throughout the semesters seemed to have the same faith that he was going down the right path. “I know it isn’t going to be easy, but that’s what makes it worth it. Nothing good is ever easy.” He knew that to be absolute fact.

At least Kieron related about being a new meta. Alex remembered the rising panic that had come about the first time his power had manifested, not to mention the sessions he’d had of pushing himself to the point that he’d been afraid of his senses not coming back. “I did, actually. Though most of her students probably don’t see her like that. I had Miss Sayers. She’s terrifying when she wants to be, but she helped me through it all. I’m not supposed to say she went soft on me, though. That’s a secret.” He said it with a coy smile, because yes, he was supposed to be secret keeping, but he also had a sneaking feeling that almost all of the staff probably knew she had a somewhat soft side buried under all that tough exterior. It was just... deep, deep down.

“Actually... it took a while. I had two semesters of advanced physics behind me before I switched last semester. I’d love to study astrophysics, but this... just made more sense. Besides, I can look at the stars anytime. This’ll mean more, I think.” You couldn’t comfort stars, after all.

As he followed Kieron, he made mental notes as to what constituted a stay for a student. It made sense, and he kept up behind him to find out just what that entailed. Hopefully he wouldn’t freak out the resident students much. At least he’d tried to tone down his usual punk look.

He slipped into the room behind Kieron, careful to keep his distance at a respectful gap. At the introduction, he smiled and lifted a hand in greeting to the girl, echoing Kieron’s thanks at allowing him to stay. Much like he knew one day he’d be taking histories from doctors, he listened attentively to the nurse’s briefing on the girl. For now, he’d stay out of the way and watch, but it was nice to know what was going on.

[Samuel Rixon]

The infirmary was a place that Sam was highly familiar with. Granted, the last time he’d been there, he’d actually (gasp) been sick. Much to his surprise as everyone else’s. It had started as fakery, but the more Dr Nik had poked and prodded, the more worried she’d seemed. As it had turned out, he’d been in the extremely early stages of pneumonia, and had spent a miserable week feeling like hell. At least he’d earned lots of cuddles from Dr Nik, and even managed to weasel one out of his trainer when he’d come to visit.

That alone should have been enough to curb his faking habits, but... well... not today.

Today was a gym day. Gym day was the one day Sam loathed more than any other. More than Mondays, more than hangover days, more than final exam days. Being that his teacher was constantly watching him for signs of faking in class, he’d decided today that he’d do one better.

Though he was dressed in his gym gear, he had no intentions of actually going to class. Instead, he was strolling his way right back down to the infirmary. The pneumonia episode had been ages ago, and apart from a small burn he’d managed when he’d gotten a little exuberant in training, he hadn’t really been back.

It was high time to grace the medical staff with his presence.

He slid into the office, hoping that the fact he was actually ready for gym would help him along. Slinking forward, he whined at the person at the front desk that he was sick, then flopped dramatically into a chair to wait. Hopefully, Dr Nik wasn’t on duty just yet. She wasn’t easily faked out.

[Kieron Sharpe]

It wasn’t that Kieron was passionless entirely in life. He could enthuse merrily for days on end about his aquatics collection (or about aquatics in general, really), he could easily hold his own in a book debate and he was amongst the first to champion equal rights in any argument. Lately, too, his passion for a certain woman had been growing slowly with each passing day. It was simply his field of work that provided such a massive road-block for him. It was a shame really that the thing he was least passionate about took up such a huge part of his life. “Indeed. The struggle is what tends to make the payoff all the more worth it. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be much of an achievement, really.”

Kieron gave a soft smile as Alex spoke about the trainer he had been paired with at Hammel, giving a small nod of his head. “The ones that push that bit harder tend to be the ones that get the best results, I’ve found. I had Mr. Batista. He could be a right hard-ass, but it worked. Seeing a smile on his lips after a successful session always made it so worth it. I think I owe the fact that I graduated at all to him; God, I must have been an awful student.” Kieron chuckled under his breath, thinking back on the days when he had been a student here. Sure he had been all-too willing to train his powers, but he had been both clumsy and pretty dumb, which had led to some rather frightening moments at times, not to mention some fairly poor grades. Mike had helped him get his act together and find focus, and for that Kieron owed him a lot.

“You dropped out of astrophysics for nursing? Wow.” The look of quiet surprise was evident on Kieron’s face even with the shades covering his eyes. That was one hell of a career change, and in truth Kieron was slightly envious of it. Not a day passed when he didn’t regret not having the balls to forge his own path. “I’m glad you found something you love enough to be able to aim for that as a career; better to have changed now than to have graduated and possibly ended up regretting it.”

Andrea was a fairly straight-forward case; it took everyone a little while to adjust to a huge diet change and Kieron was able to fully sympathise with her. It had taken him months to get used to consuming the vast amount of protein that his body had suddenly started demanding from him. Thankfully all of Andrea’s stats were stable, and she seemed to be both looking and feeling much better than she had a few days ago. Hopefully she would be allowed back to her dorm tomorrow, if Dr. Nik was happy enough with her progress. After updating Andrea’s chart, showing Alex how to do it, Kieron thanked her and then led the way back out into the hall.

‘There is a patient in the waiting room wanting to see a nurse.’ Kieron thanked the infirmary receptionist and led the way around to the waiting room, and upon seeing which student it was it felt like a lead weight had been dropped into his stomach. Of all the students it could have been, why did it have to be Sam? Why today when Kieron was, for all intents and purposes, being observed? A rabid dog would generally be more pleasant to deal with than the young Mr. Rixon. “Good morning, Mr. Rixon. What seems to be the trouble today?” Kieron put on his politest nurse’s smile, gesturing with a hand to one of the empty assessment rooms.

[Samuel Rixon]

Alex had learned a long time ago that passion could be held for just about anything, big or small. He’d also learned to appreciate the small things in life. While he could honestly say he was passionate about things like art, the stars, and of course his fiancée, but he could also muster smaller amounts for other things. While he couldn’t in good conscience say that he was passionate about his schoolwork, he still managed to get through it because completing it would allow him to actually do the job, and he was fairly certain that despite the long hours and emotional investment, it was still something he could get excited about every day. “That’s true.” Really, he could apply that to being sick when he was little. He could have given up the fight, but instead he’d tried his best to come back from it. Despite living with the thought in the back of his mind that there was a chance it could come back, he wouldn’t give up the life he had now.

Honor was the reason he’d gotten as fine control of his power, not to mention the fact that his hearing no longer went incredibly wonky when he used it. “I always tried my best for her, even when I didn’t think I could do it. She was a lot tougher with some of the other kids, though. The ones that goofed around in class.” He’d been witness to several of her temper tantrums, and he’d usually stayed far enough away to feel relatively safe until it blew over. She really had gone soft with him, especially with their one on one sessions. At least he’d had the focus needed to succeed for her.

Kieron’s surprise honestly surprised Alex in turn. Why was it so weird? “Um, yes. I wanted to get into astronomy, but at the end of the day, nursing probably has a better chance of getting into the workforce. Besides, I can look at the stars anytime. I figured that nursing would actually make a difference.” After a moment, Alex tentatively rubbed at his arm. “It’s kind of giving back, in my case.” He’d met his fair share of very nice nurses when he’d been in the hospital, and the idea of being able to repeat that for someone else was a nice one.

Alex was happy to stand back and out of the way as Kieron worked with Andrea. Seeing the easy way the nurse interacted with the girl made him feel that although Hammel wasn’t a hospital, he’d made the right choice in choosing to first shadow in the school’s setting. For the next go round, perhaps he’d try to get into a hospital, or even a small clinic. For now, this was perfect.

At the news there was a student needing assistance, Alex followed after Kieron. What surprised him was the fact that he actually recognized the student in question. Sam had been a student when Alex had been there, and they had been fairly close in age... and yet Alex had graduated two years ago. Well then. This would be interesting. He couldn’t say that he’d known Sam well, and they’d definitely run in different crowds. Alex also looked different now, his hair grown out almost to his shoulders for a start, and he liked to think he’d matured a little bit since high school.

Sam snapped his head up, trying not to look too happy about the fact that it was Kieron and not Walter or Dr Nik. Walter had long since seemed to have lost his patience with the pyro, and Dr Nik had magic hands. At least Kieron was nice. “Hey Batman,” he greeted as he got up and strolled to the empty room. “So I was gettin’ ready for gym class and I started coughing up a lung and d’ you think my no-mone-ya came back?” Yes, he was ignoring the fact that Alex was there, because his favorite nurse was going to save him from certain death. Behind Kieron, Alex just blinked in dismay. Sam looked fine, though he couldn’t say for sure. Hopefully Kieron would be able to deal with it.

[Kieron Sharpe]

“I'm sure she would have been tougher if she thought you weren't doing well. It's great that you got on so well with her.” In truth, when thinking back over his days at Hammel as a student, Kieron was certain that his training sessions with Mike had been the best times he'd had here. Sure it had been massively physically demanding and he'd had a lot of mishaps and Christ it had hurt when he accidentally smacked one of his stupidly huge wings against something, but they had still been happy times. He had been able to make progress much quicker than in the classroom, and unlike being in the classroom, it wasn't a constant reminded of what his parents thought he should have been succeeding at. They didn't care if he could fly in a straight line or not. That freedom from their expectations had been the greatest gift given to him at that time.

Kieron's surprise had mainly come from the fact that it was such a dramatic career change. Changing from one subject focus to another was fairly common, but it wasn't usually a change to quite such a large extent. “Well, it's a very noble move to make; and you are right, it probably will have a much better chance of landing you a job at the end of it, which is what is important, really.” Sadly, that was the way of the world. Taking a course with the highest chance of a job at the end of it tended to trump doing a course that would make the person happy.

“Giving back is a good reason; it means you already respect the profession, which is important.” Kieron wasn't going to pry into Alex's backstory if the kid didn't want to provide it, but he would lend a willing ear if he showed the desire to actually talk about it. But between the mention of wanting to give back, the slightly quiet way Alex discussed the work and his earlier mention of wanting to go into either paediatric care or oncology, Kieron thought he could probably piece it together. It was a desperately sad thought.

It wasn't really that Kieron disliked Sam. The kid could be entertaining and had a quick wit and a fair amount of intelligence hidden behind the erratic and often unthinking exterior. In the few times that they had interacted outside of the infirmary, they had even gotten along fairly well. It was just that Kieron knew about Sam's frequent attempts to blag his way out of classes by feigning to be sick, and whilst normally such a patient wouldn't cause Kieron to bat an eyelid, he just wished it hadn't been today. It could be difficult to deal with a student like that at the best of times, but one so curt and crude and disrespectful would be a right royal pain in the balls while he was being shadowed by a student aiming to be in the same line of work as him.

“Yes, hello Sam.” Kieron kept his voice light and professional, that well practised polite smile curling the corner of his lips. He had noticed the subtle change in Sam's facial expression, that pull at the corner of his eyes that betrayed an unshown smile, and he inwardly facepalmed. Oh well, this shouldn't take too long, at least. “I'm sorry to hear that. If you come along to exam room two, I can check that out for you.” Kieron indicated to Alex. “Sam, this is Alex. He's a nursing student and shadowing me today. Do you mind if he sits in?”

[Alexander McKenzie]

“Yeah, you’re right.” Alex knew it to be true, too. Honor has been terribly hard on the students that goofed off. She wasn’t that hard to crack, though. He just did his work, followed instructions, and hadn’t had many problems. If you couldn’t figure that out, you probably deserved to be cracked down on. His training sessions hadn’t been his favorite thing at Hammel, but they hadn’t been terrible. His clear cut favorite was the time he spent in the dorms with his best friend, and the feeling of freedom upon moving out of the dorms and into the apartment he shared with Conrad.

Several students in his class had asked his something had happened to make him switch his studies, and Alex had never really had a good answer for them. There hadn’t been any lifechanging epiphany that had dictated that he needed to switch. It had just been logic, pure and simple. Besides, he could look at the stars any time he wanted from home. He didn’t need fancy programs or mega telescopes. “I don’t know about noble. It just felt like a good fit, I guess.” He shrugged, because he didn’t know how else to describe it.

Alex had more than respect for the profession, that was for sure. He had to, at this point in his life. He’d seen what they had to deal with many times, between screaming kids, uncooperative teenagers, to adults that behaved like kids when they were scared. It was daunting, yes, but also sort of exciting, seeing everything on the other side of the line. “As a profession it deserves a lot of respect. Nurses have to deal with a lot of, uh... unpleasant stuff.” He’d wanted to say crap, but even that seemed disrespectful, true as it might have been.

Especially now. Sam didn’t exactly make himself out to be a gigantic pain in the rear for the infirmary staff. It just... happened to be a side effect. It wasn’t his fault that Kieron was teaching today! He hadn’t exactly planned this to happen on exactly the right day or anything! (He wasn’t that smart.)

The pyrokinetic scurried along into the indicated room, happy he’d get to spend time with his favorite nurse of all time. Batman was never mean to him, though his attention did wander to the younger guy behind Kieron. Cue a clueless blink before slight recognition hit him. “Awwww dude! You’re the guy that LaRousse punched in the face at the dance a couple years ago an’ it was ALL OVER the rumor blog!” Color washed over Alex’s face. Why couldn’t things like that just... die? He sighed heavily and nodded.

“Yeah, that’s right. Hi, Sam.” He remembered the pyro a little, and now that connection was made he wished he didn’t. Sam just grinned like a cat with cream. It always pleased him to know dirt on people, even if they were older than him, and a good deal more successful. It came from being from a huge family. If you didn’t have dirt on your siblings for potential blackmail, you had nothing.

“Y’ lucky to learn from Batman. He’s the best nurse EVER. Needs a trophy or something. DUDE! I’m gonna make you a trophy before I graduate.” Apparently he’d forgotten about why he was there in the first place due to his excitement. Alex just watched him warily from behind Kieron. Sure, nurses had to deal with a lot of... crap, but he suspected that this would potentially take the cake.