Vote for what you would like to see as the first site wide event!HERE
12/28
TOTL Is looking for staff! Please look at the announcements board for more info!
9/27
Grand Opening! Welcome to the Site!
Harry Potter:"Do you really think there's going to be a war, Sirius?"
Sirius Black: "It… feels like it did before."
TURN ON THE LIGHT is a Post- Potter roleplay that takes place twenty-five years after the Second Wizarding War.
We welcome canon and original characters in this (currently) sandbox style roleplay.
Long. That was the only way Lynden could describe today as he sat back in his desk chair, finally off his feet for once. There was never an occasion that the hospital wasn't busy but there was always a green intern who liked to tempt fate. One 'wow it sure is quiet tonight' is all it ever took. He had perfected looks for such occasions, ones that had them scurrying like little ants to pick up the slack that their negligent words had inflicted upon everyone. Lyn had given his orders and retreated back to his own position at the time, and had resigned himself to a long night that would drag into a long morning.
But there was something else on his mind, past minor incompetence and superstition. Past the night that he had just had. Those irritations could wait, now that things had settled some.
Ms. Byrne. Saorise.
In his hospital again, and certainly not a patient. He had known she was here since the first day. That was his job. His duty, his responsibility, to know those who worked for them from the newest janitor to, well, himself.
But for all their history there had been nary a word to him about any of these recent developments. He hadn't seen hide or hair of her in his office, or across the hospital.
He hadn't been looking.
But now he was irritated at the end of a long night, Lyn didn't feel like minding himself and playing the patient game. So, hauling himself to his feet again he made for the door, opening it with a snap.
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 10, 2023 3:05:02 GMT
Some might have thought it would have felt weird being back. Truthfully, those she was close with 'on the outside' had said it with such frequency to her that even Saoirse began to toy with the notion herself. Maybe she should feel uneasy. Uncomfortable. On edge. Stressed for a myriad of reasons. Being somewhere she had been regulated to as a child when she was very ill and they didn't know why. Afraid that Battens could strike her down in the very halls it had once claimed her years ago in her youth. Fretting over the added worry that if she made a false move she could kill someone. If she even stuttered she would be failing the doctors who had practically raised her once upon a time because her well-off parents were off on a safari, or seeing dragons in Romania, or wine tasting with other purebloods - anything to avoid the harsh reality that their only child was sick. A ticking time bomb. She still was. But this was an idea she tried to push aside and yet it followed her everywhere. In these halls even as she read from a chart... Oh... That's what they meant when they asked if I was nervous going back. Right. Duh.
She would be working under the Head of Diagnostics, ironically one of the doctors who had helped raise her (and perhaps more ironically one of Lynden's good friends *perhaps best?* and biggest annoyances). She hadn't done it to spite Lynden however. She wanted to work with kids and Pediatric Diagnostics was something that hit close to home for her (which was, ironically here). But though she knew she was justified in her choices she still avoided Lynden's office like the plague. Maybe if she was careful she could avoid him all three years and her whole tenure if she was hired on... but that was unlikely wasn't it? He saw most of the paperwork. Still, for as long as possible was probably good.
No. That was wrong. The outwardly prickly but never the less endearing (to her) man's walls had crumbled years ago when she was little and all alone. They both had been (they still were) and they clung to each other. Emotionally and occasionally in a hug (more often than they should have). She cried in his arms on more than one occasion and she had been there for him. On one occasion at age twelve she had completely ruined one of his relationships when she acted out toward his then girlfriend resulting in a break up (which the woman didn't take at all well). It was when he created a potion that mitigated the symptoms of her illness that she was finally able to leave the hospital, go back to a nearly empty mansion with her butler Niles, go to school, learn, socialize... lots of things she had missed out. But now she was grown wasn't she?
Blinking she realized that the hand in her lab coat pocket was wrapped around a vial of the swirling purple liquid. Slowly she forced herself to release it. She had been so caught up in reading and lost in her thoughts that she found herself now before the opening office door of one Lynden Davis. Seriously, Saoirse? You set goals and you're supposed to stick to them.
"Hi..." Well, that was practically poetry. Keep going. "Pleasure? Are you sure, Doctor Davis?" It felt weird to add the title onto it considering she had been so used to once calling him Davis or Lynden as the situation called for. But now he was her boss wasn't he? Not her savior... Or perhaps both? "I..." She looked around the hall trying to figure out what had brought her here but came up with nothing. For a bright young woman, she certainly felt stupid right about now. A short huff of frustration at herself she rolled her eyes before turning back to face him holding the clipboard to her chest. "I don't want this to be weird." She announced decidedly, the words accompanied by a short nod. "So please don't make it weird."
Post by LYNDEN DAVIS on Sept 11, 2023 22:42:16 GMT
Bitter.
Surely he was simply a bitter old man for holding onto the touch of resentment that had sprouted when he realized that she was actually avoiding him. A sprout of resentment that had grown larger the longer that this farce had gone on and he hadn't been able to get his answers. Even her bloody mentor had denied him his questions with a shrug over lunch, leaving Lynden bitter and unsatisfied but with a new victim for prickliness. A feeling which had dwelled and grown as the weeks without answer or reason had passed. All based on the whims of one person, perhaps he should have considered that a bit deeper.
Lyn was just a crotchety, bitter old man.
He knew that he was probably overreacting, that any reason for the avoidance was an acceptable enough reason. That he should just give it up and focus on his paperwork. But he hadn't done that, had he? And now here he was.
Lynden blinked, was it a pleasure? "It's always a pleasure." He sighed deeply, letting the tension ease from his shoulders, no matter that some of the irritation and bitterness remained. He was no longer that young man that had first treated her, and she was now a woman grown.
Things were not the same.
She was no longer the young girl who had tantrumed so long and so hard when he had attempted to leave for a date one night, thinking that she had fallen asleep. One of his few attempts at romance, failed attempt. It was safe to say that she hadn't understood why he had had to work so late, why he cared so much - something he couldn't quite put into words. Not that it would have changed anything. She had been pissed and he just hadn't cared enough. His job had come first, did come first. It was the only wife he needed, certainly he had proven that by now.
"Come in. Tea?" Lynden was already moving to the teapot under stasis charm and setting out the cups. If anything he could use the tea, though he'd prefer something stronger. "I won't make it weird." He could manage that much, couldn't he? At least try not to pretend? He pulled the packets of tea from their drawer, not ignoring that he'd stocked her favorite the last he knew it as he finished preparing the tea. Lynden set the cups on his desk, taking a seat in one of the guest chairs.
"I hope the internship has been going well." But that was being weird, wasn't it? Beating around the bush and ignoring the elephant in the room. "Titus said you were doing well." Her mentor. His … friend. The man hadn't said so on so many words, rarely did he, but Lyn wouldn't expect anything less from her.
Last Edit: Sept 11, 2023 22:42:44 GMT by LYNDEN DAVIS
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 11, 2023 23:29:17 GMT
It was always a pleasure? Her head started to tilt in question but she thought better of it and straightened her neck along with the rest of her body as she tucked her clipboard under her other arm, her own version of nervous fidgeting. Put her in a room diagnosing a patient or applying pressure to someone's wound who was bleeding to death and she was absolutely 'fine' but put a grown up her in front of Lynden who was the same as he always was and she was jittery. She'd have to fix that right quick if she wanted things to work out and they *needed to*. Where else would she go? Where else would have her due to her condition? No. This had to work. It just had to. She would 'buck up' as they said.
"Oh. Silly me I guess. Clearly, the happiness is written all over your face." No. That was wrong to say, even unaggressively. Even as a child she could return his banter, she had picked it up from him and her family's butler, but this probably wasn't the time to do it, was it? Then again, one could argue that Lynden wasn't exactly the king of timing when social niceties were concerned. The remark, which she momentarily worried might insight him, did the opposite and she found her own shoulders relaxing slightly mirroring his. Good. This was good. Or, at the very least, it was better. Better was the best that she could hope for. Maybe they could be ok.
Come in? She blinked at the question as if momentarily hit by a stunning spell. Was it that easy? No. It never was. But she did miss his office and it looked just the same as she had remembered it. There was comfort in that and there was an odd equal amount in Lynden's prickliness. "Yes. Please." Others might have declined his offer saying they didn't want to be an inconvenience, but not Saoirse. Even though time had passed that childhood switch in her brain clicked almost immediately selfishly accepting whatever Lynden had to offer. His time was hers, his office was her home, and tea. Yes, the tea. It was a substitute for an unspoken "Hello, how are you dear" and so she stepped inside.
"You don't do it on purpose you know... You just ultimately do." She spoke toward him as he moved seemingly unafraid of how he would react. There were other medical interns who would have been trembling in their boots the moment the door had snapped open. "Do you have any-" She stopped spotting one of the packets: peach. Her favorite. At this, her mouth opened in surprise a small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "That one. Thank you." Had he? No. Impossible. He wouldn't. But he didn't touch that brand, that flavor, and yet there it was. Her excitement was then fighting against envy as she briefly wondered if there was someone else he had purveyed it for. A thought that she soon squashed to the best of her ability as she actually stomped her right foot to the ground quite literally. Startled by the suddenness of her own action she cleared her throat trying to look unbothered. "A glowworm." She then stepped over the spot that foot had met wood and stepped toward him, maybe if she moved on physically they could move on from whatever that was.
"It has." She now stood beside the other guest chair, not taking a seat. "Doctor Nordham already has me doing hours in the clinic, supervised of course. The other interns were furious." She shrugged about those two. Not her problem. Another characteristic she seemed to get from Lynden. Work mattered. People's jealousies on the matter? Rarely - if ever. "I'm eager for the challenge." She paused at his comment. Was that a compliment? "Titus?" No. Of course not. He was just reciting what her mentor and his best friend had said. Don't put too much stake in it. That's when you got egg on your face.
"Well..." She swallowed, glancing down at the floor for a moment before looking back up with a small smile. "That's very nice of him to say." Don't say it. Don't open this can of worms. "How do you feel that I'm doing?" Welp. It was then that she spotted some papers poking out of a file on the table between the two chairs. Her eyes wandered over the label and scribble. "Is... that my file?" It was. She wasn't sure why she had asked. She was certain of it. "It is." She pointed out, not even waiting for an answer if one came and reaching out for it.
She had come in. That was something better than expected given how things had been. At least she hadn't escaped away and down the hall as soon as he had opened the door and locked eyes. Granted, Lynden still wasn't pleased but it proved to him that maybe there was some coincidence in this, or at least she didn't find this old man's company abhorrent now that she was older.
"Well. I can't do anything about that, can I?" Lynden asked, a bit grumbly. It was probably because he still hadn't addressed the problem, still let it stew in his chest barely checked.
"Yes, yes." He had the right tea, had always had the right tea here waiting for her. Had never particularly thought to get rid of it except when it expired and that was only to replace it yet again. If anyone had ever noticed they hadn't commented. But why would they? He was a grown man. He could keep a particular tea for mysterious reasons he refuses to admit to or even acknowledge. Better that they didn't ask, actually, lest his temper and irritation over the last weeks become their problem instead.
"A glowworm?" He hummed, glancing towards her and squinting slightly at her foot before turning back. "I'll have to remind the potions department to keep a better eye on their supplies, if their creatures are making it this far." Lynden would not suffer pests making his hospital a home, no matter their usefulness for potions. Nevermind that it was probably against several health codes to allow such creatures to roam openly.
"Well, it's good that you're getting the hours. The other interns should work harder." He certainly had, back when such opportunities were up for grabs for him. Back when he needed them. "Good. The challenge will do you good." Lynden glanced up at Saorise's question and nodded, a bit reluctantly, "Yes, Dr. Nordham." Perhaps he shouldn't have said such a thing, implied that he was checking up on her. But, it wasn't as if the woman herself had been about to supply him with any of the information. Nor had her mentor, really. "Yes. I suppose he can be nice." When he wasn't being a pain in Lynden's ass and obfuscating the information that he needed. Wanted. No, Titus was great. Lynden blinked, "How do I think you're doing?" For her to ask that question after so pointedly avoiding him for so long was rather sharp, hurt a bit, didn't it? Maybe he deserves it for some unknown slight, he wouldn't know. She hadn't said. "I hadn't thought that you wanted to know." He should have probably been more professional than that but he felt prickly.
"Ah, that." Lynden would have put that away if he had known that she would be right outside his door. He watched as she reached for it without a word, grateful that he hadn't thought to notate it yet. As it stood the only notes were Titus's and the other doctors who had had anything significant to add. Lynden coughed, "Yes, I was just reviewing that." And tried not to act like he's been caught in some nefarious act, as if it were not literally his job to look over such things.
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 13, 2023 3:16:57 GMT
"You can." The words left her mouth before she could stop them. Even though they were uttered in a low murmur Lynden would pick up on them - but that was the point wasn't it? "If I didn't know any better I'm beginning to think that you're so grumpy because you choose to be that way..." She probably shouldn't have said that either, but out it came. And even though she was in her twenties suddenly she was transported to over a decade ago where he would say some quote or give him some grumbly lecture and she would be precocious and without any fear correct him. Because there was always hope, wasn't there? At least back then. Now she wasn't so sure, though she tried desperately hard to fake it but more and more she found herself less positive, less hopeful, more of a realist, and more sad... like Lynden. But she was assuming wasn't she? He had certainly never told her as much. So maybe he was actually very pleased with everything and all was peaches and cream but he just had resting grump face... But in her case, with a disease eating her from the inside out since she as four... it was becoming more and more difficult to wish for peaches nor cream.
"I can take it up with potions. From what I've heard you've visited them quite enough." At least that was the not so quiet rumblings. The potions department was chock full of lanky geeks with large glasses who seemed to shudder at the mention of the man seated before her. No. Someone with a bit more tact was probably the way to go. She would be that buffer. Her eyes wandered to the tea cup as it levitated to a small table between the two chairs a small smile creeping upon her lips. "My favorite." Him? Definitely. Verbally? "The tea." Yes, that. Of course. "Do you... remember?" She shouldn't have asked. Now she was the one making things weird wasn't she?
"Well, to be fair I have almost two decades of hospital experience on them." At his comment about the interns she rolled her eyes playfully stifling a laugh. "Besides..." She shrugged a bit picking up her cup carefully and giving it a delicate small blow. "I like being here. It's practically home, you know?" Taking a sip she relished the sweet taste hitting her tongue and slide down her throat. Her smile grew in fondness and she closed her eyes for a moment savoring it. Home. This place and Lynden Davis, along with the other doctors, were more home than her parents' mansion would ever be. It actually felt... right.
"Can be?" On the topic of Titus she looked up. She had been relatively close with Titus as well to the point some of the staff had joked Lynden and Titus were an item and both her hospital dads. "I think you know that he is very nice... and you hate it." She smiled a bit, enjoying prodding him for a moment. "Everyone seems to like him. The nurses in particular. Oh, and Jan. She came in with me. She's quite fond of him. Thinks he looks like a Disney prince. I don't see it myself. He has to be, what, fif-" Saoirse stopped herself. Fifty. So was Lynden. But she didn't find him 'old'. She found him, well, Lynden...
"For the record..." She wet her bottom lip, carefully weighing if she should finish this thought. "I wouldn't want you to choose to be any other way than how you are because then you wouldn't be you." And she found she rather liked that man. Sure he rubbed others the wrong way, got under his fair share of skins, but he was still her Lynden Davis after all. The man who argued with her even when she was a child, the man who spent some holidays with her when he didn't have to under the guise that he had to work late, the man who she played chess against, the man who challenged her with puzzles and literature far beyond her years to keep her busy, the one who would let her hug him once in a while and even fall asleep when he read or told her a long-winded story in her youth, and the one who pressed her buttons even now. She liked that man very much, no matter what the others said.
At his honest remark, her frown deepened, her eyes met with his sincerely. "I always care what you think." His former patient admitted in all sincerity. And she always would. Well, that was rather intense, clearing her throat she looked away, setting the tea cup down and picking up her file opening it. Her eyes scanned it as she took it in, reading, then suddenly a smile and a laugh. "Ha!" Looking up at him brightly she held it up for him to see. "Though impressive Miss Byrne showcases occasional bouts of behavior that are reminiscent of one Doctor Davis..." Holding the file out for him to take her smile remained. "Looks like you're my unofficial mentor." She hoped that little tease would cheer him up. A smile would do them (her) some good. It had been too long since they had shared one.
Catching herself hoping a little too much she looked away, choosing instead to set the file back on the table and turn her back to him looking around his office. "Did you, um, find anything of interest in there? Since you were reviewing it and all..."
Post by LYNDEN DAVIS on Sept 13, 2023 22:08:20 GMT
"Can I?" For someone who didn't even know how he was making things weird she had an awful lot of faith that he could just stop. Lynden crossed his arms over his chest and huffed, disgruntled, "Grumpy because I chose to be, am I?" If anything that has him feeling even grumpier, and not acknowledging whatever point that she may or may not have. She always had been good at shoving a mirror in his face and making him confront truths that he would much prefer to avoid or just ignore. Lynden frowned and sighed, staring down into his teacup contemplatively and finally said, in a murmur, "Maybe."
"Yes, that's probably best." Lynden replied with a nod, he'd had to take many things up with Potions in the past month, well, longer than that. Sometimes he just ended up getting louder than might be necessary, but it got results. Except when the nerds decided to let their glowworms roam the building again.
"Ah, yes."Her favorite. Of course it was, as if he had ever forgotten. As if he could have forgotten even in the past few years that they had seen each other less than ever before. Of course, the tea was only one small piece of the puzzle of all of the things that he remembered. He wasn't old enough to have forgotten that much, not of those sorts of cherished memories no matter how irritated he was. Not that he would be saying those words out loud anytime soon. Or ever. Not when she was a young woman growing forward and onward, far past this hospital and her care team. She had so many things she could do, would do despite the prognosis. But no matter how much the future was in question, that didn't change the present.
"I remember."
Everything. He remembered nigh on everything.
"Still, it's their place to learn. Or to catch up." Lynden replied with a quirk of a smile on his lips, he made her laugh. Just like old times. Like things had never changed. Home, and it had been for her, hadn't it? It had been his entire life too, almost. All through his thirties and forties there had been this little girl he was meant to find answers for, to heal. Sure, eventually they had found their answers and eventually they had done some healing but not enough. Not when the specter of her disease still looked, but she didn't need to know that he was still looking - searching for more. A cure that could do even more than the potion she took now. So she could make her own home.
"Well, welcome home then."
"Yes, can be." Lynden grumbled, fake frown marring his face. No matter how he was to anyone else, Titus wasn't just a friendly face, he was also a pain in the ass. "I think he is very nice … sometimes. He is also very rude and irritating." Speaking the truth, or at least the truth of what the man was to himself, but Saorise probably knew that. Had even seen that for herself. Lynden arches an eyebrow at her next comment and fully laughed, "A Disney prince? Oh that is rich and absolutely wonderful." Lynden paused, "Has he heard about that?" Because Lynden was certainly going to be teasing him about it, even if the other man had. Though the old comment, that stung just a bit, "Oh, fifty's too old to be a Disney prince, is it?"
"Ah, well." Lynden wasn't sure what to say, but his irritation was leaving his sails. "Thank you." He murmured finally, that wasn't enough but that was all he had, all that he knew to say.
She always cared what he thought.
Hearing something like that, it was different than back when her eyes had always been on him. Always intent, always studying and observing. Even her file reflected it, what little that he had managed to read before he had planned on storming out of his office.
"Oh, reminiscent of Dr. Davis?" Lynden couldn't help the sharp bark of a laugh that left him. Of course, of course. Her unofficial mentor though? He hummed, lips ticking upwards in a smile, "Maybe I am."
"Ah, anything of interest?" Lynden accepted her file, scanning the first page as he tried to recall what he had been reading before his irritation had gotten the better of him. "Well, I didn't get too far but I think you're well on your way, the patients seem to like you." And her bedside manner seemed like it was going to develop far past his own, a good thing really since he could still be far too gruff for all that he was effective.
Last Edit: Sept 14, 2023 0:51:42 GMT by LYNDEN DAVIS
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 14, 2023 0:30:44 GMT
"You can." She didn't mince words. Not about that. Even from a young age she was practically on top of him with the correction. Lynden, though essentially a porcupine in human form, was a human after all. People needed companionship, touch, comfort, and love. So if anything he was probably more like a hedgehog. Prickly to most, but once you won his trust you could touch him. Perhaps that was a bad metaphor but at the moment it was all that she could come up with. "You just like people to think that you can't but I know better." Was that a warning? Was it simply a joke? Or was it a promise? All of the above?
His huff and posture made her crack a smile as she stifled a quiet little giggle. There were occasions when she liked how difficult and defiant he was, it made the moments that he opened up to her even more of a treasure. "You have everybody else fooled, but you can't fool me Lynden Davis." Her smile grew ever so slightly thinking back on the times he had given her a hug when no one else was looking, when he had promised her over and over that things would be okay because he would take care of her, when he would laugh at her precociousness and ideals many years ago. Perhaps not so many but... enough.
Maybe. There it was. And didn't you know it a maybe was better than a hard no. A maybe meant there was hope and while all hope may have been lost for her, when it came to him her hope knew no bounds. And though maybe he didn't know it he had signed a verbal contract with Saoirse. To do better, to be human, to try. Lynden trying. He may not have said it outright but him making an attempt at it was as close to an 'I love you' that he had gotten and the intern was well aware of it.
He gave in to her speaking to the potions department which she would certainly do but not about any glowworms (as she had made it up). She would talk to them about work, listen to them ramble about all of their nerdy interests, and then report back that all was fixed because she would make sure she didn't make any sudden stomps out of frustration. What Lynden didn't know, and this was one of the few things that he didn't, wouldn't hurt him. "Even glowworms need exercise." She noted thoughtfully showcasing some sort of childlike wonder that she hadn't sported around him in ages. "It's not much fun to be trapped in one container all of your life even if that's all that you know." Maybe she related to the glowworms. There was a time where all she knew were these hospital walls, before that only the walls of her parents' mansion while they galivanted at different events and trips without her not caring enough to bring her but not caring enough to find her any playmates.
"I remember."
"Me too." Her smile had a twinge of sadness that carried itself all the way up to her eyes. Of course she remembered. Those times were what she clung to. They were her childhood, her life however menial... it was hers... and his. She didn't know any better and though she had been envious of other children watching them leave with parents through plexiglass, she wouldn't trade the time with Lynden or the other doctors for anything. They had practically raised her. Without them, she would have been lost.
Welcome home... Home. "Thank you." It left her lips before she could stop the quiet acknowledgment. How it did her good to hear it. He was smiling, albeit a small one, and it was contagious. To say she was thrilled by it was an understatement. To make Lynden smile, even a tiny one, was like scoring the winning touchdown in a muggle football game with millions watching. It was thrilling. Which was why she fought tooth and nail to fix her mess up. "Not too old. Not at all." Not good enough. Keep trying. "Most are kings by then." Better. "I'm not much of one for royalty myself. I far prefer the scholar who is behind the scenes telling the king what to do or Merlin maybe." Or Lynden. Whichever. Catching his eye again she smiled once more. It was good to be back. It was especially good to be seeing him again.
"Course." Her smile faded and she shifted here she stood holding her clipboard. "Jan is a bit of a dreamer to be honest. Too much of one really. Us interns aren't princesses anyways." This comment showed the difference of young Saoirse now. More of a realist. No hope. Low self-esteem when it came to appearances but the bottom line was thick girls with stringy dark brown hair, tired bags under their eyes, and illnesses didn't get the princes. They were the comedic relief if anything and she didn't find herself to be remarkably funny.
Her arms wrapped around her clipboard hugging it to her chest as she waited to hear his opinion. She knew that it shouldn't but it meant more than Titus'. If Lynden said she was doing a good job she must have been. He wouldn't lie. Not to her. At least she hoped not... Hey now... Maybe she didn't stop hoping altogether. "Thank you..." That's probably the biggest compliment he had ever given an intern and she was elated to receive it though she tried to not let it show.
"Lynden..." Thinking better of it she stopped herself and adjusted. "May I have one of those tea packets? The cafeteria doesn't carry them and I don't want to pester you for another, I know how busy you can get. If I have one emergency one I can just... not.. bother you..." Ugh. Even that came out awkward mostly because you do want to bother him. More of this. This felt good. Comfortable. Safe. "I can give you money." She fished her hand into her pocket and the soft jingle of galleons could be heard. Way too much for one lousy tea bag but she had her family's stupid money which meant she never really learned what everything was worth because they had cash to burn.
"Oh, do I?" Maybe he did, maybe it was easier to get things done and do his work if people simply kept their distance. He hadn't much needed anyone else's help in his rise to the top, what did he need them now? The few times he had taken a chance on companionship the results had been less than ideal. The relationship ended and he was buried once again buried by his work. Surely he had made enough attempts in his old age that it wasn't worth it for him to keep trying, to make some sort of mission of it? Best to let it lie as a part of his past. He had had his chance.
"Have I ever wanted to fool you?" More of a question meant for himself, but Lynden couldn't recall, perhaps as a child when they were playing some game or another but no time recently. As if they had spoken anytime recently. But then, the only time he hadn't really been himself around her while she was growing up was when they were speaking about her illness. That had been the time to smile, comfort, and maybe lie just a bit.
"Ah, yes - I'll have to fill out an acquisition form so we can order a hamster wheel for the glowworms." Lynden replied dryly, a smile coming upon his lips at the thought. "Perhaps they most be taken on walks as well." All the better, even, as long as it kept them out of his office and away from the patients. Truly, the creatures were a scourge.
"Me too."
She remembered, of course she remembered. How many times had he made this very same tea for her as a child? Same brand, same flavor. Perhaps even the same teacups a time or two. Here she was a young woman who had yet to even reach her prime, not some old man past his own. Of course she remembered the flavor of tea she preferred, the flavor that he always served. Just for her. Truly, some things stayed the same but oh how some things changed. She had grown into a beautiful, bright young woman, and he had grown gray hairs.
"Thank you."
Such simple words had his smile broadening and his head bobbing in half a nod of acknowledgement. It reminded him, almost, of every time that she had returned to the hospital when she was young. How she had thrown her arms around them to give hugs. As if this had been her home. Maybe it had been, more than he had ever known her own true home had ever been anyway.
"Ah, that's good to hear." Not too old? He certainly didn't feel it some days, but perhaps it was true. A king though? Lynden let out a cackle of a laugh at that, "Oh, I am no king or prince." Despite whatever role he might hold being just under that of the board of directors. "Ah, well I'm sure the scholar or Merlin appreciate your appreciation." He considered himself more of a scholar, as she had listed - ever since he had gone on his adventures in his twenties. Better to be a scholar and see the world than any king, though he didn't see much of the world these days.
Lynden arched an eyebrow, "Well, you could be princesses." It wasn't his cup of tea per se but if a little imagination helped to pass the time and keep spirits up then so be it. In fact, he could still recall her little tiara to some extent.
He blinked, "You're welcome, of course." Lynden hesitated, feeling as if he were extending something of an olive branch, "If you'd like to come back, tomorrow or the day after, I might've had more time to review it." And he let the offer stand, he would tell her whatever she wished to know about her performance, whatever he could divine from her file anyway, if she wished to hear it.
Lynden sighed softly, shaking his head slowly and holding a hand out to stop her, "You don't have to pay, Saoirse. Just take them if you want them." He shrugged before continuing, "I wouldn't mind if you came in for one either, as long as I'm not in a meeting." The only situation that he might truly be a bit peeved with her was if she interrupted a serious meeting and even then he doubted he would ever be able to remain irritated.
Blinking up at her he added, "You can have a seat, if you'd like."
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 14, 2023 2:43:18 GMT
"No." She responded quietly and yet readily. As if pulled on by an invisible string she leaned forward toward him out of habit only to force herself back on the flats of her feet cementing them in place. What was that? No more of that. Just answer the question like any other intern... but how could she when there was so much history? Nothing was simple between them other than that things felt... right. Even when they were bickering, even when she was scared of letting him down and staying away to prevent it, even when she cried to him, shared her greatest fears (once upon a time), it still felt as it should. Like there was no way to live other than this. If not at his side, close enough. An arm's reach. Hell, a mile looking out the window as he lived and experienced things she knew she would be too young and yet too close to death to share with him... anyone... but mainly him.
"No." She swallowed silencing herself and yet responding to him again, peering up behind some brown hair that had fallen from tucked behind her ear. "You have never lied to me." He was one of very few. Even as a kid in the hospital where everyone tip-toed and lied constantly to make you feel better, Lynden had always delivered the truth to her (or so she still thought - did little lies count as full lies? Certainly not. Or at least that's the argument she fed herself so to keep holding him high above all others). He had never even let her win a board game! He beat her every dang time - though she came close. Someday. But for now she could trust him. Even after not seeing him she fell instantly back into it.
She smiled a little bit tucking her brown hair neatly behind her ears and straightening her posture. "You can take them on walks since it was your idea of course. I do know how much you enjoy pro bono work. I'll mind the hospital. Don't you worry. It'll be exactly as you left it if not better." She teased only to realize that she may have went too far given her technical underling position. Her smile quickly evaporated and she looked inhaled sharply in a quick gasp looking down at her chart. "Anyways..." Yes. Great going, Byrne.
"Well, you could be princesses."
At this she looked up, perhaps a bit too suddenly. "No." Oh gosh, instantly she knew it was aggressive and out of nowhere. Certainly not a way to speak to your boss. Clearing her throat she shook her head before looking up with a long inhale and exhale. "If we ignore the fact that princesses are royal and I'm an adult which I do not think we can ignore because look." She gestured to herself then continued carrying on. "My hair doesn't curl, I'm not a size zero, I am disgustingly pale and I have been informed multiple times by mother 'not in an appealing way' which I don't know what shade of pale I ought to be as she has *never* clarified. Beyond that I am outspoken sometimes offensively so, this my father tells me. I think that you know as well as I this is not how princesses look, Lynden." She gestured to herself again a bit more frustrated before looking back up and realizing she had once again stuck her foot in her mouth. Swallowing a squeak came out. "Doctor Davis." That correction fixed everything. Except of course, it didn't.
"Please don't kick me out." She uttered the words filled with dread as she stared down hard at the tile. Instantly a flashback. She was a little girl again and Lynden had informed her she would be leaving the hospital and returning home with her parents. A happy occasion for many to be sure but Saoirse didn't want to go home. She would be alone there. No Lynden. No Titus. It was her family and home but in name only. The hospital had been home. Please don't kick me out she had pleaded to Lynden giving him a big hug, hiding her tear fest in whatever part of him she could reach. How she gripped him. The only girl upset that he had found a bandaid for their condition. And now she was here. Feeling the need to correct herself she peered up toward him. "Of the hospital I mean. I don't mean to make things complicated for you, I realize that it's complicated enough with me being back. I'll do better. I swear." It was then that she pocketed the coins back in her coat pocket.
"Do you still want me to sit?..." There she was. Saoirse Byrne. Queen of bodily destruction and self-destruction. And soon, she would probably be gone. And so it goes...
Post by LYNDEN DAVIS on Sept 14, 2023 16:06:23 GMT
No.
Of course he hadn't. For a child basically living in a hospital there had always been very few lies to be told. With her parents absent and inattentive, all of the facts of her illness, as they discovered it, as they worked on potions to combat it, had fallen all on her head. Better to be truthful. Of course, some might say not letting a child win in games was rather cruel. Lynden would argue that it taught her to think faster, do better than she had before in order to finally beat him. She had even managed it a few times. His only lies were, perhaps, that things were going to get better and other platitudes. He hadn't known those things but that didn't mean that he didn't strive for them. That he still strove for.
"I suppose I haven't."
"Ah yes, I'll get right on it. Just don't let the hospital burn down." Lynden added with a deep chuckle, as much of a joke as it was there was no way that Lynden was going anywhere near those glowworms. He could use them in potions properly ground up, sure, but there was no way he was going to allow anything of that sort to crawl all over him. Gross, it was gross.
No.
The abruptness of the response had Lynden blinking, rather shocked, but he still listened intently to Saorise's reasoning. "I suppose it isn't realistic for an adult." He hummed, though that sort of thing could certainly be enjoyable for pediatrics. The rest of her rant? He wasn't sure about that, hadn't dealt with this sort of thing before and wasn't certain how to offer any reassurance. At least, not without being too harsh or making a case for HR. Still, with how this was going he had to say *something.*
"Just because you don't look like all the other princesses doesn't make you any less beautiful like one." Was that overstepping? He wasn't sure, but certainly she would say if it was. "You're just as pale as I am from the bedamned lights, and you might be a bit outspoken but that can be just as much of a benefit." It certainly was for him, but he was also in a position of authority, he could be.
Lynden sighed, "I'm not going to kick you out, you did nothing wrong. I shouldn't have said anything myself." Better to keep his own mouth shut lest he accidentally step on another landmine he wasn't aware of. "Your position, it isn't going anywhere." He added, just to be clear.
"Of course you can still sit."
Last Edit: Sept 21, 2023 23:29:47 GMT by LYNDEN DAVIS
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 14, 2023 20:39:41 GMT
She had messed up. She knew it because one could feel it in the air. Air that all of a sudden got thick like an old oatmeal and she had been guilty of the pouring. Her body felt like it couldn't move. The back of her mind railing against her about how much of a screw up she was, how she was self sabotaging once again. Typical her really. All because she couldn't keep her mouth closed and her opinions to herself. Lynden listened to her once upon a time sure but that had been a while ago and now their positions were different. *They* were different (but were they?). Older and definitely not wiser (on her end). She needed to be more careful. People were always cautioning her to be more careful. In voice, in body (a sick one at that), she probably should take heed. But for now there was only embarrassment and dread. What next?
Beautiful? Her dark eyes looked up to quickly run over his face. He wasn't teasing or poking fun. He seemed to be serious. He had called her beautiful. Against all forms of judgement her heart did a little leap of excitement that it threatened to launch in her throat before she forcibly swallowed it back down. The word itself so very foreign on his tongue and yet it didn't emerge awkwardly. It launched forward (in her opinion) perfectly hugging her body, face, and soul. Warmth. Instant warmth followed by an inward tremble she tried to hide as it suddenly got cold again. He had called her beautiful. She definitely hadn't misheard. Had Lynden Davis ever uttered the word? She couldn't recall in the years that she knew him. His critiques for others often came far more harshly and less flowery. Beautiful. He said she was beautiful (even if only to make her feel better).
"A benefit to whom?" She couldn't help herself. Retorts and questions were like breathing. Blame Lynden for that. Sighing, she finally relented the notion and was now at his mercy. He either cut her a break or chose to ignore it or wasn't offended in the slightest - all three better outcomes than what she had been anticipating.
"You didn't say anything wrong either." She dared to speak up quietly. It would have been wrong in one of his moments of being outwardly kind for her to squash it. That ruined it for everyone else. It especially ruined it for him. "You were being kind... Kind for you anyways." A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. She hoped he wouldn't take offense to this little bit of prodding. "It's nice... actually." Very. It was only then that she sat down across from him a moment of quiet settling between them before she made up her mind to bite the bullet.
"I think that I should apologize... for a lot of things really." Setting the clipboard in her lap her hands ran over it. "First of which being that I should have told you I was working here... under Titus." Something told her that hadn't gone over well when he found out. "The other being that I shouldn't have gone off on you just now like that. I came in here on the defensive. I guess I was just expecting you to hate me..."
Post by LYNDEN DAVIS on Sept 16, 2023 23:08:49 GMT
"To everyone. A benefit to everyone." Lynden paused briefly, carefully considering his words, "Your patients, your mentors. Everyone." Being outspoken meant she was getting her voice *heard* when she had something important to say, and that was invaluable. In fact, that was part of why he was the way he was - because you couldn't save people by quietly murmuring your solutions or diagnosis, you had to make sure that you were heard. That they actually considered your opinion. He had only made his way to the position that he held now by being loud enough, smart enough, and just sharp enough.
Saoirse had that, which meant she was one step closer to greatness. To becoming a great doctor in the future, something he was certain would come to pass.
"I suppose." Lynden hummed, it certainly didn't feel like he hadn't done anything wrong. "Well I'm happy you think so." There weren't many people who would consider him and the word kind in the same sentence. To hear it from her was nice, one of the few people who wouldn't shy away from saying such a thing to him.
Lynden's hands tensed, then loosened around his teacup at Saoirse's pronouncement that she had to apologize, nodding for her to carry on and listening intently. Even if he wasn't sure what she had to apologize for.
Except- "Yes you should have." He said rather sternly, it having not come from her had hurt, had snowballed. Titus telling him was quite possibly the worst way he could have learned, what with how the other man prodded at Lynden every chance he got.
Also, "You don't have to apologize for that. I understand." And he wasn't going to hold one little outburst against her, not after … everything. Especially not when he had had his own hand in pushing her over the edge, had even started it by opening his door.
Last Edit: Sept 21, 2023 23:28:45 GMT by LYNDEN DAVIS
Post by SAOIRSE BYRNE on Sept 16, 2023 23:43:43 GMT
Everyone? He had said everyone. Several times. Patients. Mentors. But that wasn't actually everyone was it? He was leaving some names out, one in particular even now she so desperately craved approval and attention from. It was unhealthy sure but she was already sick. What was wrong with a hint of harmless pathetic unexplainable obsession?
"I do." She responded a bit too quickly leaving him no room for any self-doubt. Not while she was here. He was perfect in her eyes, even his tiny annoyances that drove her nuts she wouldn't have any other way because that's what made Lynden him. "I do think so." She repeated trying to take some of the edge off of her voice. You can't sound too eager, even if you're a first-year intern in the program and certainly not around Lynden.
"Yes you should have."
Oh. She straightened a bit, eyes glancing up a bit wide. She knew she shouldn't be surprised by his sternness but a part of her was - the part that liked to fantasize that made this man larger than life. That made their story, whatever it was, so easy instead of the mess it was. Well, at least they were talking. Fumbling through the conversation more like it, but an effort was made.
"Yes, well..." Even though she had opened the door and admitted her wrong doing she still felt a bit defensive. Maybe because of what she was still holding onto. What she had been holding onto since she was a young teen. "I guess, no I know, I was still a little upset with you about throwing me out." No. He provided her with medication to stabilize and live even with her rare condition. Go figure Saoirse was the one patient who took it as an insult. She lost her home and the most important people in her life. "Correction: I am still very upset with you." She stated bravely and pointedly, lifting her chin a bit and straightening her posture as they broached this subject. She had gone over how this would go in her head over and over for years and now here it was, happening, and it wasn't at all how she pictured.
Sighing she looked away. "But I guess that's neither here nor there is it?" As quickly as she had boldly broached the topic she slammed the conversational door in his face. Like a cat going in and out which was something she only tended to do with him out of subconscious worry of offending him somehow that he would cut her off and kick her out all over again. "Titus said you wouldn't want to talk about that anyways. You're more of an in-the-moment person and prefer to brood over such things at night in your bed... alone." The alone she paused at, mostly because she selfishly hoped that he didn't have someone. Awful but she couldn't help it. And sure, should Titus a doctor be speaking this way with an intern about a head? No. Definitely not. But his relationship, much like Lynden's with the young intern, was complicated.
"Those are his words, not mine." She added as an afterthought. One last line of defense and passing of the blame (but also it was true). She lifted the tea cup to her lips then stopped. "I'm not foolish enough to think that you would do that because of me. I'm not one of your cases... anymore." The words felt sour on her tongue and she took a sip of tea to wash the taste away.
Post by LYNDEN DAVIS on Sept 18, 2023 17:51:20 GMT
At her insurance he couldn't help the way his lips quirked up in a smile. Kind for him, hm? Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he liked hearing that, and what a change that was. Titus would have a fright if Lynden ever deigned to tell him about it. Which he wouldn't. "Thank you."
Lynden sighed, running a hand over his face and feeling rather old at the argument he knew well, had been witness to when she had finally stabilized and been able to be discharged to just outpatient care. That had been a sight, but one he could do nothing about. It wasn't like they could just keep her here forever. "You know we had no other options, no matter my position at the time." There had been nothing he could have done without losing his position and practically kidnapping her to keep her there. He was sure no matter how absent her parents were they wouldn't have been a fan of that. "You can be upset for as long as you'd like, there's nothing that I could ever have done to change it." No matter how long she would be upset with him.
"Oh Titus said that did he?" Lynden grumbled under his breath, ever irritated at his friend and colleague. "He may have some points, but he's reaching." Plus the man had no bloody reason to be discussing what happened in Lynden's bed, or rather what didn't. No matter how much (too much) the other man knew about Lynden's non-existent love life.
"And I'll be having a talk with him about his words." Probably a long winded one that changed absolutely nothing, but if nothing else ranting at Titus would help him get his head on straight. From what? He didn't know.
"No matter if I'm not officially on your case anymore I still have an … interest." He still had work to do there, and he was working his hardest on it still.
Last Edit: Sept 21, 2023 23:28:07 GMT by LYNDEN DAVIS