2025-02-20 - Tea, Cookies, Ears and Islands

[TXT to Verreux] Erika: Hello Ms. Verreux. This is Erika Yorgensen from the clinic. I was hoping that I could swing by your place and talk regarding a personal matter as one professional nurse to another. Could you tell me when would be a good time to come by if you are willing?

[TXT to Erika] Verreux: Of course, dear. You stop by any time you like tomorrow afternoon. Fred and I will be staying in and catching up on our stories.

The next afternoon, around 1pm after she completed a morning shift at the clinic, Erika takes the ferry from Spellbound Island to Fable Island enjoying the spray of the lake water and the - relatively for a Norwegian - warmth of the afternoon. She is wearing her scrubs - plain "clinical blue" bottoms and a top that is an interesting bilateral split with one half being "clinical green" and the other half being Spellbound Purple with the trademarked "wizardly stars" pattern (at least one of which terminates on the dividing line running down the center of the top without a seam in sight) - with white Converse All Stars on her feet.

After the ferry arrives, she strolls along the pathways to Dominique's place. She approaches Mrs. Verreux's door and knocks (or rings the doorbell if there is one) and waits for the kindly woman to come to the door.

Dominique Verreux is dressed in a pair of dark brown trousers with some matching orthopedic shoes. Her dark cherry hued sweater hangs a bit loosely from her frame. Her smile though is warm, and she steps back, opening the door wider as she does so when she sees Erika. "Come in, sweetheart. Have a seat over here on the couch. Would you like some tea? I also have some cookies."

Fred, the orange cat, lies draped across the back of Dominique's favorite reading chair, currently taking advantage of the sunbeam that falls across it, fur highlighted by the light against it.

Erika thanks Dominique as she enters and indicates that yes, she would love some tea and cookies. She glances around the woman's living space without even thinking about the quick evaluation she does of it for safety and any hot signs that would lead to a concern - expecting none and found none of course as Dominique Verraux is one of the healthiest seventy-six year-olds Erika has had the pleasure to have as a patient of course.

She takes the offered seat, not daring to suggest that Dominique needed help getting tea and cookies and says, "Fred looks extremely satisfied on the back of your chair there," before asking, "How have you been doing these past few months since the unusual light event that occurred at New Years?" and adds a follow up question of, "Did you stay up to see the new year in or were you asleep when it happened?"

Yes, she's getting to her business but in a slightly round-about way.

The room is a standard hotel room for the most part save that it has the added bonus of a little sitting area by the window with a two-seater couch on one side of the window and a writing desk on the other. Her favorite reading chair sits next to that, closest to the window and the sunbeam. The rest of the room is as one would expect from pretty much any standard hotel room. There's a bureau with a cabinet that holds a tiny fridge and a microwave. There's drawers for clothing, a flat screen television, a queen sized bed with a nightstand on either side, a closet for belongings.

Then nearer the entrance there is a coffee nook where she has her coffee and tea making supplies and a sealed container of cookies that were clearly not baked in this room as there are no facilities for doing so. She probably conned someone into letting her bake in one of the nearby kitchens in the resort. Very few people say no to Nana when she wants to bake for them.

Fred yawns, stretching dramatically, before going back to sleep. "Oh, well enough, I suppose. Save for the usual ache here or there. But aside from that, all is much as it's always been." She makes a cup of tea for Erika. Her own remains sitting on her desk, still steaming a little. Then she brings over the container of cookies -- lemon frosted on one side, chocolate chip on the other, and sets those down on the coffee table. "Take what you like," she says before shaking her head. "I went to sleep. I've seen in enough years to know it'll make it here without my help."

Erika responds with a polite chuckle as she has taken a bite of the cookie. She mmms in appreciation of it before swallowing and after a sip of tea she then says, "I'm glad you're doing well, Mrs. Verreux."

She then transitions the topic a bit closer to why she came. "I'm not sure if you've noticed that the unusual aspects of life in the park have increased since the start of the year but I sure have. I was hoping I could ask you to unofficially consult with me on a situation I've found myself in since then." She pauses and says, "I've considered discussing it with my active collogues but... having to see them every day I'm not sure how I'd feel knowing they've seen... well, I should probably just show you and I know you can generally take anything in stride so..."

She trails off and something happens. She doesn't even close her eyes or anything but there's an air of relaxation about her as her ears slowly extend outward into angular shapes ending in a clear tip about half a foot out from the sides of her head. She smiles wryly and says, "I woke up with these on the first of January and they come back every time I sleep. I can conceal them, as you've seen, but this is apparently what my body thinks is natural now. At least on the islands. I assume like the rest of the magic it goes away when you leave. I haven't experimented yet."

Dominique takes one of each of the cookies and takes them back to where she'd been sitting in her chair. Fred rolls over lazily and drapes his tail over her shoulder while she reaches for her still-warm cup of tea. She listens politely to Erika, not seeming in any hurry or about to rush her as she talks about the changes that have happened in the park.

When the ears are revealed she says, "Oh, sweetheart, you shouldn't have to worry about your colleagues seeing your ears. If they can't deal with that, they shouldn't be in medicine," with a little wave of her hand as though Erika had just showed her that her eyes were really a different color under contacts or something. "They're lovely. Though I can understanding wanting to conceal them if you're not ready for others to see them. We all cover things up from time to time." She's not judging.

"I've seen quite a lot of that since New Year's. Did you know there's a gentleman out there with a long lizard tail? And a young woman who leaves frost wherever she goes. Oh, and that very shiny young man who leaves golden pixie dust everywhere," she says as she remembers one after the other. "Oh, and that grey lad who looks like he's been pushed into an old black and white film." She lifts her cup and takes another small sip. "Thus far, from all I've heard, none of it seems to be doing any harm. No one has fallen ill or reported injuries, have they?"

"I've not been made aware of anyone coming down with anything specifically due to the... I'm just calling it magic. No, ma'am," Erika says after being asked. While the elderly woman was relaying the information she nodded along, and she did smile at the kindness of the observation of her ears - they also perked upwards slightly in reaction to it as well.

"My concerns about the ears were twofold actually," she then explains. "Firstly, they broadcast my feelings much more than I'm comfortable with when I'm in a professional environment but you're right I could ask Doctor Sullivan or another member of the staff to check them out. The other is just that, I was hoping that someone with discretion could examine them. I'm dreadfully curious about the anatomical changes and... well, I could do it myself but it's hard to get a true second opinion from yourself." She doesn't bother to say she could physically do it by duplicating herself, her twinning doesn't provide enough time to get variation in opinions between the two Erikas it produces. "I guess I should just ask one of the on duty medical staff to help me out rather than imposing on you and Fred," she says.

She takes another sip of the tea and mmms over it before asking, "Have you any concerns or opinions about the changes you've been observing that you'd like to talk about, Mrs. Verreux?"

"Well if you'd like me to examine them, I could certainly do so, though I don't have any of the tools to take a look here. Do you have any imaging? I could come into the clinic and do a proper examination if you can get me access to the imaging and let me take a look inside," she says, not seeming to think much of it. "If you're more comfortable with me doing it, I'm happy to do so."

Laughing a little, she looks over to Fred who seems to be asleep again, warm in his sunbeam. "I'm certain Fred doesn't mind. Not a lot seems to agitate him."

"I always thought these islands were a little odd," she says when Erika asks if she has any concerns or opinions. "There were stories of quite a few wrecks around them even though there's plenty of deep water. In the 60s, there was a whole commune of hippies who lived out on the islands and they talked about seeing strange things on the water." Dominique then continues. "Now, everyone just assumed it was the drugs, but I think these islands were always strange. Why were so many people interested in buying them up all of a sudden? There was a whole thing about it in the news when the land was finally put up for sale by the state."

"An imaging order would require one of my coworkers, so I'll have them do the examination in full," Erika says with a smile and then takes another, final sip of her tea. "Strange things in the water? And that predates the opening of the park?" she ponders this information a moment - during which her ears perk upwards and quiver slightly - before she says, "I may have to find those news sources as this has piqued my curiosity."

Having finished her tea and one of the offered cookies, Erika says, "I hope I haven't imposed too much time, Mrs. Verreux. I will definitely remember your offer to examine my ears yourself. If I feel the need to do so after the imaging has been captured, I will call on you again. If you need anything urgent, please do feel free to reach out to me. If I cannot help you myself, I'm sure that I can help find someone who can."

Dominique nods then and says, "Of course. Whatever makes you most comfortable."

"Oh, yes," Dominique says. "As kids we used to go out to the islands from time to time. Long before there was much there. A few farms, a couple of small fishing villages that were built and abandoned."

But then Erika seems ready to go, so she smiles pleasantly and says, "It was lovely to see you. Come visit me again any time."