[002] Doctor's Hours

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

This is a waiting room inside a large hospital, comfortably furnished and provided with a mixture of medical journals and fashion magazines. After a reasonable wait, a bustling nurse calls out the appointments, everyone who arrives. "Doctor Mizuno will see you now."

Inside the doctor's office, bookshelves line every wall, packed with heavy textbooks. Doctor Mizuno, remarkably young for her title (youngest in her world, it's rumored) sits behind the sturdy desk with a quiet, self-satisfied smile. She's wanted to be in this place for so long; the thrill of finally achieving it hasn't worn off even in dreams. It's enough to make her smile in the faces of the people who think she's only here because of her mother's famous name, and go about showing them how wrong they are by her results.

"How are you feeling today?" she asks her patient.

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[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"You're smarter than a lot of people," the rather cynical girl admits.

Temperature, pulse (slipping the stethoscope beneath the blood pressure cuff), all the basics come next while they speak, partly to distract Aerith on Ami's side.

"Have you been sleeping properly?"

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"Everyone has different experiences." She's not sure she'd call it smarter. She still wants to believe people, anyway. Even if her eyes are staying on Ami's hands as she works. So far only safe tools, good. She may not particularly like the feel of the blood pressure cuff, but it's not an actual restraint.

"Mostly. I keep a regular bed time, but ..."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

"But?" Ami prompts. She could be far from the truth, but she has a feeling she knows what may be coming next. But there have been dreams... It seems to be common lately. This, too, is probably a dream; Aerith hadn't belonged to Ami's world, and they had met in dreams first.

And even if she's completely on the wrong path, specifics will help her diagnosis. She removes the cuff, and sits back to listen.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

"I have nightmares sometimes." Not all dreams are of Passing; some are regular, ordinary dreams, easily influenced by fears and memories. She shrugs. "Everyone gets them. And other times my dreams are so busy, I feel like I'm still awake." Those are Passing dreams, and she's not used to the amount of lucid dreaming she does in them. Staying aware even asleep can be odd in itself.

She tilts her head, looking at Ami. "Why? Do I look like I'm not getting enough sleep?"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Ami went through the Dead Moon nightmares. The idea of shared dreaming is too similar to the Dead Moon tactics for Ami to be comfortable with it.

Right now, though, her concern is Aerith. She tilts her head slightly. Aerith is not the first person in this dream to complain of bad ones.

"Melatonin can offset your REM sleep cycle so that you'll be less likely to have them," she says. "Or I can prescribe sleep aids. But the truth is, if you feel rested despite the dreams, it's better not to." Aerith doesn't look sleepless, precisely, but - which few doctors admit - the patient knows her own body best.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

A shake of the head. "I think I'll be fine, Ami." Aerith is hardly fond of medication, making it unlikely for her to accept even if sleeplessness concerned her. She figures she'll be able to handle it herself.

In fact, she's already moving to slide off the exam table. "So we're clear?"

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

It's a decided irony that the girl so deathly afraid of being left, has chosen a profession where so many people want to get away from her as soon as possible.

She gives that polite, distant professional smile. "You seem to be in good health. Go ahead."

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

Aerith still does not like Ami's smile, but at this point it doesn't matter so much. She's being let go; this isn't so bad.

... So maybe Ami isn't so bad?

She pauses at the door. That little voice of reason. Although she still does not like Ami's actions --

"I grow flowers at my house, too," she mentions. "Inside and out."

[waterfell.livejournal.com]

Ami watches Aerith just a moment longer before replying. She was born to love and guard nature, and even that man who holds her under his thumb is the shitennou affiliated with the natural world. She has not forgotten it. Even Metalia's energy inside her is accompanied by black rose petals.

"That sounds like something I'd like to see," she finally says. Of course, as always, the reasons why it won't be possible come to her mind immediately: the distance, the separate worlds, innumerable obstacles.

[auncyenhalig.livejournal.com]

But Aerith still believes in this dream that she is in Midgar, so she just smiles, hoping to be conciliatory. "Come to the church again, and I'll show you it," she says. Her smile turns brighter, amused, recognizing one major flaw in the dream's logic. "How else are we going to pay you?" Her mother couldn't have afforded an appointment with a high-class doctor unless Shinra was involved.

It's a rhetorical question -- she's not so concerned about payment in the first place -- and she doesn't wait for an answer; she's not one to linger in doctor's offices. She leaves the office and the brief dream, remaining safe asleep.