98/A Not So Disastrous Encounter

A Not So Disastrous Encounter
Date of Scene:	16 July 2023
Location:	Guidance Office
Synopsis:	Usagi may have hurt her leg after the school dance. School nurse Setsuna may have some remedies.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Usagi Tsukino

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Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The infirmary at the Radiant Heart Academy is, as perhaps expected, just as swank as the rest of the school. It's a large, well-supplied room separated with some of those rolling medical divider walls. Fairly nice beds can be seen here and there through gaps, and the main area is set up like a typical waiting room/nurse's station, complete with posters giving info about various adolescent diseases/conditions/problems.

Of slight note is one poster that's got a prominent line that's easily recognizable as the kind of thing one sees on a heartbeat monitor. On the left, it's jagged and has text over it that reads 'Keep Calm and...' then the line flatlines and text underneath reads, 'Okay, NOT THAT CALM!'

There's a flatscreen television up on the wall playing some random news feed, but aside from what is presumably the school Nurse, the room is devoid of other people.

Said Nurse is fairly easy to spot, as she's got strikingly green hair that extends well below her waist, as well as a skin tone some have described as 'dusky'. She's wearing what looks like a purple skirt and perhaps a matching blouse, though it's hard to tell since most of her torso is covered by a labcoat. Sharp (or fashion conscious enough) eyes will spot that she wears what appear to be 3in (10cm) heels.

At the moment, she's leaning up against one of the counters near the wall, reading a book with a picture of a scruffy, slightly beaten up, trenchcoated man on the cover who appears to be riding a somewhat zombie-looking T-Rex as if about to go into battle. A final bit of strangeness, as she does so, she's absently rolling a pen through the fingers of her left hand, passing between each set of fingers before she rolls it back to repeat the process.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not that Usagi is unfamiliar with the concept of going to the nurse's office. In fact, by sheer virtue of being herself, she's more aware of it than any teenager has the right to be - years of stumbles, trips, prat falls, not-so-prat falls, and general klutziness has resulted in Usagi being sent to the nurse time and time again, and never witth the kind of convenience that would lead someone to suspect she was doing it on purpose. No, she really is just that clumsy.

No, see, the thing is, this is the first time she's had to come to the nurse's office at Radiant Heart Academy, and Naru-chan isn't accompanying her, which means she most definitely got lost along the way. Which means, by the time she finally knocks on the door and walks through, she's unhappy, uncomfortable, and expecting the nurse to be a mean obaa-san who'll tell her off for being clumsy.

Oh, and she's limping. That's a little important.

Which is all to say, she's definitely not expecting the tall, pretty woman rolling a pen through her fingers and reading a book, and doubletakes a little at the cover of the book. Did she mention tall? When the nurse straightens, she'll find she towers over Usagi by a foot.

"Um," Usagi starts, and then stops. "You're the nurse, right?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The moment Usagi walks through the door, the woman's attention immediately turns to the blonde, giving her a very severe look for a few moments as she does a quick visual inspection of the person entering her domain. Said look lasts JUST long enough to perhaps lead the timid to questioning their life choices before abruptly softening. The pen disappears, a bookmark quickly replaces it and marks the page in the book that gets closed and put down. As she does, part of the title is visible (in English): 'DEAD BEAT'.

A few quick steps across the room, and the nurse is right there, looming before she leans down to offer a hand, "Let's get you off that leg, shall we?"

With that, she quickly and firmly leads you through a gap in one of the dividers and gestures over to one of the exam beds, "Please, Miss Tsukino. Have a seat. So, what happened to bring you here today?"

As she speaks she's quickly assembling a small rolling tray with some common wound care supplies and pulling on a pair of disposable gloves.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The severe look the nurse turns on Usagi is enough to have her soul fleeing her body - or at least, enough to make her wish it had. She's not especially timid, but she is a coward and a crybaby, and the thought of coming to be poked and prodded by someone upset with her is enough to leave her wishing she'd just stayed in bed and cried at Luna and Naru. But then that harsh gaze softens, at least enough that Usagi doesn't feel like crying, and a hand is reaching out to her.

"Okay," she agrees unnecessarily, being lead as she is to her doom (an examination bed). She sits, looking around - the nurse's office is bigger, at this school, and she had noticed, but now there's something to look at besides the intimidatingly tall and pretty nurse. "Well, I kind of - wait, how did you know my name? I haven't said it yet!"

The embarrassing story behind her reason for being here is forgotten as she gapes in open astonishment.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The nurse gives you an arched eyebrow (yes, she can do the Vulcan Eyebrow trick) for a moment before smiling, "Simple deduction, Miss Tsukino." As she rolls over, she makes a motion with her off hand and she's holding a rubber reflex mallet between her first and middle fingers, "One: You have a VERY distinctive hairstyle and therefore stick in the memory."

Another twist, and now there's a penlight between her middle and ring fingers, "Two: It's kind of my job to know these things."

Finally, a lollipop appears inbetween her ring and pinky fingers, "And Three: It's standard procedure to pull records from previous institutions for patients." Her expression turns a bit sardonic as she goes on, "...yours was...notable. Also, your previous nurse seems to have been a THOROUGHLY unpleasant woman, going by her notes." She shakes her head, "I hope she hasn't put you off my profession, young lady. Not all of us are jaded chainsmokers."

Another gesture, and her hand is empty once more, "Now, I believe you were telling me what happened to you?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
People can do that eyebrow thing in real life?! That's kind of... impressive, honest! It's enough to have Usagi notably less nervous, even as the nurse is pulling on latex gloves (totally normal, definitely not at all reminiscent of her greatest fear, the dentist), and well -

"I do," she has to agree, no one else seems to wear buns and twintails - "And I guess it is -" a teacher should know names, why not a nurse? But then, there are a lot of people here - "Oh." There it is. Of course, that makes a lot of sense. She's always gone to the nurse a lot, why wouldn't the old nurse warn the new one?

But it makes her smile a little, that the nurse clearly doesn't like her old school nurse, who hadn't been the worst, but well, most school nurses didn't see the same student multiple times a month.

"I sort of... tripped going down the last stair when I was leaving the dance and landed funny?" Her head hangs low. It's not a new low for her - no, Usagi has hurt herself in much more embarrassing ways - but she's been kind of better about it, since becoming Sailor Moon for the first time. She'd sort of hoped that maybe the one benefit of all this scary stuff was that her klutziness was a little tiny teeny bit *better*. This proves not so much. But, at least she hadn't done it at the dance.

"I don't think I sprained it, because I've done that before and it swelled up a lot, but it still hurts today even though I got an icepack!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The nurse gently takes ahold of your leg and gently prods around the area. She's got a fairly light touch, and she seems to be adept enough at her job that she doesn't just go blindly poking the affected area and causing jolts of pain like some might do. Instead, she seems to be paying attention to how you react as she quickly touches several places around the actual injury to get a good feel for it's precise size and shape. After one final prod dead center on the wound that's hard enough to hurt a bit but not enough for real pain, she nods to herself, then rolls back a bit and scribbles a few notes on a form.

Finally she looks at you and smiles, "Good news, it's nothing so serious. It's just what often gets called a 'bone bruise'. Bones are tissues, too...and they can get hurt and weakened without anything as severe as a break. I'll give you some special medicine to take for a few days for the pain, and beyond that, you should just avoid putting weight on that leg as much as you can for a day or two and try to spend time with your leg elevated when resting."

She puts down her clipboard and says, "Did you have any other questions, queries, posers?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's initial tension, Usagi waiting for pain to come as the nurses lifts up her leg; she's sure there will be prodding and poking and aching galore.

She's wrong though; yes, her leg is prodded and poked, but gently, tracing the edges of the injury rather than carelessly jabbing at her. There's only a jolt of pain once, when she's just about done, fingers pressed neatly into the spot that's the most sore, and even then it's only enough to draw a reflexive whine, rather than an actual cry of pain. The diagnosis earns an astonished."I can bruise my bones?"

No one had ever told her that! Which, honestly, is kind of surprising, with all the times she's hurt herself in the past.

"What if I have to put weight on it? Like - walking to class, or PE?" She's actually thinking about her Sailor Moon duties - she's pretty positive that meany Luna won't just let her have time off, even if her leg hurts - but PE is a worry too. It's usually a class she likes, but that definitely won't be the case if she has to run like this.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The nurse stands up and walks across the room, her 3in heels clacking audibly as she walks. She quickly rummages through a cabinet, then turns around with a little slip of paper that she scrawls on, "Oh, yes. It's not EASY, mind...and it's a VERY short trip from the amount of damage needed to bruise a bone to the damage needed to break one. They're rigid and inflexible for a reason, after all." She shrugs, "Still, it DOES happen. It's basically like any other bruise. Don't put heat on it right after getting it, use cold. Put heat on it AFTER it starts to heal a few times a day. Take painkillers. Keep it elevated if possible. Try to avoid putting further strain on the wound."

She walks back and sits down across from you again, "And don't worry about PE, I'm writing you a medical note excusing you from it for the next three days. Unless something happens, you should be fine by then."

A glance is given down at the place on your shin where the injury is, then the Nurse smiles again, "Fortunately for your other concern, we have just the thing."

She stands back up and walks across the room to a small walk in closet. She's gone for a minute or two before she comes back out carrying...a scooter? No, not quite. It's one of those small medical carriages that are effectively a long seat cushion mounted to an adjustable frame on a skateboard.

Yes, I know there's a real name for them and it's obviously a finished product that doesn't look that clunky, but you get the idea.

She takes a minute to eyeball some measurements, makes some adjustments, then sets it on the floor, "There you go. You can use this for the next three days. It will let you keep your weight off your leg and allow you to still move about without doing yourself further harm."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The nurse, unlike Usagi, is wearing a pair of tall heels, the click-clack-click of her steps audible as she walks away. How does she do that, maintain her balance as casual as anything in a pair of heels? Sailor Moon's boots have a bit of heel, barely an inch, and she's wobbled about on occasion in them. Those heels are much bigger.

"So you're saying I'm lucky? That I didn't break it when I tripped instead?" That sounds about right to her - of course she'd made it through the whole dance, only to nearly break her leg on the walk home. As she receives instructions, she ticks them off on her fingers. "Ice it, put heat on once it starts feeling better, raise it up, and don't walk around. Got it!"

PE is fun enough, but having an excuse to not do PE? To just sit around in class instead? Definitely a better option!

And then.

And then the nurse wheels over something that looks - almost like a scooter, or a skateboard, something that everyone would notice and no one could possibly miss. Usagi squints. "...are you sure I can't just walk on it?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
That eyebrow gets arched again, and a wry grin is turned on you, "I could paint it electric blue with spinning warning lights, if you prefer." She stares you down for a few more moments...then she hides a giggle behind her hand and shakes her head, "Given you were walking on your leg on the way in here, you'll probably be okay enough tomorrow to not need it. Just use it to get back to your room and there overnight."

She tilts her head and ponders for a few minutes, "...and I'll tell you what..."

She glances out into the main part of the room, then conspiratorially leans over to stage whisper behind her hand at you, "If you don't mind keeping a girl company for the last hour-ish of the school day, I'll write you a note so that nobody has to see you using it."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Horror, hot and obvious, spreads across Usagi's face at the thought of the scooter-carriage being even more obvious, her eyes huge and her lifting up in a gesture of no-no-no-not-that, but then the nurse is laughing. At her. And. Okay, it's a joke! Just a joke! Knowing that, it is pretty funny.. She giggles along too, as much embarrassed as genuinely amused.

"You're a life-saver," she gushes promptly, hands clasped as soon as that offer is made. "Yes! I will definitely stay with you and then go back to the dorms later!"

Miss PE and science, in favor of staying at the nurse's office? Yes! Yes, she is more than happy to do that. She needs to thank the nurse right now - "Ah, I forgot to ask you your name!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The nurse stands and starts tidying up, putting things back in their place and washing the latex softener off her hands from the removed gloves before coming back and helping you onto the scooter to wheel you into the main room, "It's no problem. Frankly, I could use the company...I've spent FAAAAAR too much time sitting a watch alone. I've resovled to avoid it when practicable. Now put your knee here and hold onto the handle there and just kind of walk with your other leg and we'll get you out to a chair to wait the day out."

As she helps you along, "It's Meiou. Setsuna Meiou. A pleasure to meet you, if not in the best circumstances."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Sitting a watch alone? I always thought nurses were really busy..."

The deeper meanings of the sentiment elude Usagi, but even still, she knows enough to be puzzled. As she's instructed on how to use the scooter-carriage, she rises carefully, obediently placing her knee on the padding and carefully setting her other foot on the ground beside it. It's awkward, but not as much as dragging her leg around had been, because it really had been aching.

"Thank you, Meiou-san! Is there anything I can help with while I'm here? Or we could talk, I'm really good at that -" oh yes, yes she is. And then a giggle. "I've met people in a lot worse ways, you know? I'm kind of a klutz, so you might see me here a lot..."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna shakes her head, "As with many jobs, nursing can be a bit 'feast or famine'." As she speaks, she absently begins rolling a pen through the fingers of her off hand again, "Or more accurately, some places require a nurse due to regulations despite very rarely using their services because in some places you never need a medical professional until you REALLY NEED a medical professional." She checks to see that you're following, then adds, "In other words, long periods of boring nothing punctuated by short periods of insane intensity."

She waves a hand to indicate the infirmary, "Technically speaking, this is way more facility than I really can expect to need...but when they built this school, it was obviously with the philosophy of 'better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it'." She shrugs, "Realistically, the most I expect I'll ever need to do here is is maybe set a broken bone once in a while and maybe stitch up a cut from time to time." A shrug follows, "As it is? I've seen maybe a dozen patients today and most of them just needed some scrapes cleaned up, a bandage and some asprin."

At your comment on your being a klutz, she waggles a finger, "Now, now...don't feel bad about that. You're a teenager. Your body isn't finished growing quite yet. Eventually everything will settle down and you'll be just fine."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
That summary is very helpful, because yeah, she really had not been following. But the short version? That she can understand very well. "So like, there's places where people usually see a nurse even less than they do at school? So... this is probably nicer than that, huh?"

Sure, she usually saw the nurse more often than the average student, but people still went pretty often - scraped knees, PE injuries, stomachaches, fevers - there were all kinds of reasons to go to the nurse in school! Plus... it kind of sounds like in other places, if they didn't see the nurse often for regular stuff, they saw them for scary stuff, which, no thanks!

Which - her thoughts are clearly in line with Setsuna's, because she confirms it! Nice. "So you're having a better time here than where you were before? That's good! I'm new to this school, but it seems pretty... busy, so far."

And, remembering what Inai-senp- Inai-sensei had implied about the school and other magical people... Usagi has a bad feeling about why the school has so much equipment. She swallows.

"Are you sure? I've been clumsy forever..." if this were just a matter of getting taller, maybe she'd believe Setsuna, but well...

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna nods, "I'd say this is probably the nicest place I've had to practice medicine in, yes." She looks towards the door as if to indicate the school, "And...yeah, it's kind of busy. From what I've heard, though, it's got the best teachers around, though...so take advantage of it while you can."

Guessing a bit what you're not saying about growing, she nods, "Remember, growing isn't just about getting taller. You're going through changes in lots of other little areas. At your age, there are a lot of other little changes going on, muscle development and other various shifting of weight around the body. And if you're not the kind to adapt to those changes easily, it's like trying to play a game where all the controls have a slight delay."

She sighs and leans back...and she stops spinning her pen around her knuckles in her left hand...but she switches to doing so with an identical pen in her right hand so quickly it almost looks like she teleports it from one place to another, "So, I'm new to the area, what's a girl to do for fun around here?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Bleh," Usagi makes a face, sticking her tongue out. "That's what Mama says, but I miss my old school. I had all my friends there! But... there are some nice things around here too, I guess. And I have made some new friends here so it's not too bad, I guess."

She's not unhappy here, but she misses her old school! Her old life! Pouuuuuut.

And then - ahahaha, whoops, called out. "I guess yeah... I wish I was getting taller though. I haven't grown a centimeter all year!"

Sooo unfair! Some of her friends had at least gotten a little height. She's been the exact same, and she's a little worried she won't grow at all, and to still be this klutzy, even without growing to excuse it - it really is not fair.

"Oh, fun? Um... do you like shopping, or amusement parks, or hanging out? Because you can do great shopping in Juuban! And that Penguin Park is really fun... oh, and Hikawa Shrine is really beautiful! I like to go shopping with my friends, even if I don't always have any allowance..."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles again, "Never let anyone make fun of you for being able to make friends easily. It's a special skill that's rarer than most people think. So take advantage of it while you can." She keeps absently fidget spinning her pen in her right hand as she goes on, "...and I hate to break it to you, but if you're fourteen, you're pretty close to being done growing up. Most of the rest of your growing will probably be filling out."

She gets a bit of a wistful look on her face, "Sadly, I have not really had much chance to go shopping for...let's just say a REALLY LONG time. I guess I may try that. And it would be nice to visit a Shrine sometime, so I may go there. Anyplace especially good to get something to eat?" She doesn't like admitting it, but she's found that 'heat and eat' are currently about the limits of her cooking skills.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Meiou-san, can't you let me have some hope?!" Usagi wails a little dramatically - there's no tears, just despair. How can she accept that she may never grow again? That's too scary! Wah! Even if the thought of filling out - getting womanly curves and being as beautiful as the girls in her manga, and some of the girls in her school - is a bit thrilling.

And yet, she definitely doesn't want to dwell on that - not when she can dwell on something more helpful. "Because of all the time you were in nursing school? Doctors are in school forever, I bet it's the same for nurses, right? Well! If you haven't been there yet, Osa-P Jewelers is the vey best place to go for jewelry! It's Naru-chan's family store! And Nounamu Sweets is really amazing. My friend Chiyo-chan and her grandpa run it, they sell traditional sweets like daifuku, and modern ones too! And there's Korma Chameleon in Pikarigaoka Ward, they do Japanese-Indian fusion..." she flushes at the memory of the last time she at that particular restaurant and soldiers on, "And Midori-ya Cafe! It's on the route between Juuban and Mitakihara, Naru-chan likes the coffee they have and I like their pastries..."

That's about all she can think of for food, at least, the special places that someone might not just find with a quick search online.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna seems to be paying quite careful attention to the places you list, nodding slightly with each one you mention. She nods, "School and residency DID take up quite a lot of time for me, and I always find that it's the locals who know where all the best places to eat are. Usually it's the little off-the path places run by some local family that has all the best food."

Absently, she checks the clock, then nods and stands up, checking over a few things picking up a few sheets of paper, and pointing a remote up to turn the TV off, "Well, it's closing time."

She walks over and hands you a few slips of paper, "Here are your excuse slip for tomorrow to let them know you were here during class and your slip excusing you from PE for the next three days." She twists her wrist and a small clear plastic bottle with eight sparkling silver pills in them appears there, with 'Usagi's Special Medicine' written on the label, "Take two of these when you get back to your room, two with breakfast, two with lunch, and two with dinner tomorrow and that should be enough."

In point of fact, they're just generic ibuprofin coated in silver food-grade...but they LOOK sparkly and perhaps even magical.

After a moment, she pauses and taps her finger as she takes a moment in obvious thought as if she'd forgotten something before she snaps her fingers...which sends her pen spinning into a high arc in the air only to get snapped out of it by her left hand as she turns and walks over to a jar marked 'MEDICAL SUPPLIES' from which she retrieves a long brown plastic package of some sort.

A few steps back, and with a flourish, she hands you a full-sized Snickers bar. And apparently not a local one, as all the writing on the package is in English, "Since you were a good patient."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is more than happy to spend the time she ought to be in her class period(s) chatting with Setsuna, recommending shops and restaurants and little things like that, pleased beyond belief to see Setsuna actually writing down her suggestions and seeming to pay them actual attention. "It's true! I like going to the places my friends recommend, because they know what's good near them!"

In fact, she chatters away so much that before long the school day is over, the bell ringing out, and Meiou-san telling her that she can go... and the silly scooter is very silly... but she feels better about the whole thing now.

"Thank you!" She holds the excuse slips like precious gold, which honestly, they might as well be.

"I'll keep them safe! And take the medicine, promise!"

She really doesn't want to be hurt longer than she has too, after all.

And then. The greatest thing of all. A candy. A candy she didn't have to buy herself! The imported kind too!

"Thank you Meiou-san! You're the best!" This has? Genuinely? Been the best trip to the nurse's office she's ever had.