Poison Ivy is a Pain PV Kelsey Brumby Finished

Kels was always in the hospital wing during regular non-curfew hours, though he wasn't always busy. In fact, the more used to the job he got, the more often he could be found with his nose in a book. Currently, he was blazing through a small pile of scientific articles from the British Journal of Ophthalmology, but it didn't take much effort to pry his attention away. He had already absorbed the answers he had been looking for, and it was frankly a bit disappointing. He was hoping another one of the articles would snag his interest, but they were all pretty boring.

Looking over his book at the scratchy, accented voice calling out for aid, he was excited to see it was an adult! He tossed the booklet aside, a smile growing on his face. It took a moment for his brain to catch up, because hydrocortisone was an extremely dangerous steroid in most circumstances, used for things like leukemia and blood cell disorders like anemia. But then he processed the rest-- anti-itch... right, the 1% topical cream. That made a lot more sense.

"What the heck? You just come barging in here asking for steroids? What gives?!" Kels sarcasm was palpable while he held a smile so wide it had to hurt. He barely ever got to talk to people his own age these days.

Walking up to the tall foreigner, a quick look-over was in order. Red, itchy rash with small blisters. If it was poison ivy, it was too late for tecnu (not that he had any), but that was extremely strange. He wasn't a botanist, but he was pretty sure it was not a plant that grew in Europe naturally. He could say with full confidence that he had never treated it before, though it had been introduced to him in advanced healing classes. Once the oil soaked into the skin, there was no stopping it, it just had to heal on its own, and all one could do was make the side effects more tolerable.

"Am I crazy, or issat poison ivy?" Now that the strange condition had been revealed to him, he held his chin thoughtfully, staring at the painful-looking rash. "How on Earf did'ya manage to get that all over ya?"

"Steroids?" Kit repeated faintly, seeming somewhat flummoxed in his semi-absent state of mind. Then he realized that the name he had mentioned - hydrocortisone - probably referred to more than just the topical anti-itch cream he was used to. "Oh, sorry...that's not what I meant."

The friendly nurse's blindingly brilliant grin assured the caretaker that his intention was understood regardless, however. Kit offered a meek smile and a nod of gratitude in response. What the other man was so happy about, he wasn't sure, but Kit guessed that perhaps he was bored and this was an opportunity to relieve himself of that boredom. Not that he had ever imagined the Hogwarts school nurse getting bored, but there didn't seem a whole lot to do in the early hours of the morning before the first meal.

"Um...pretty sure you're not crazy," he answered in reply to the guess about poison ivy. "But the kid behind this might be. I don't know how, but a prefect by the name of Thomas Lestrange seemed to have contaminated a pail of water with the plant's oil and exploding bon-bons before giving it to his fellow students to clean my office with. I happened to fall in a puddle of the stuff when one of the buckets got overturned."

The American sighed. "You or the other nurses might be treating or have already treated a few other kids for the same incident. Howard White, Erin Ryan, and Ami Procoppio were also present for that detention."

Miserable and cold, Kit drew his robes tighter around himself and his arms while he could. He guessed he'd have to at least lift his sleeves soon to properly tend to the rash or reveal the extent of it, but he wanted to relish the warmth he had until then.

"Oh, pardon...name's Kit. Kit Paine, but please call me Kit," he added, offering a more genuine if still-weak smile as he introduced himself. "Would you happen to be the famous head nurse I've been hearing so much about?"

@Kelsy Brumby

His new friend Kit confirmed his theory, explaining that a prefect had added it to cleaning water along with exploding bonbons. As he described it, Kels' eyebrows would clinch as he tried to contain the following bellow of laughter at Kit's expense. He barely heard his explanation of the other students that must have come through-- he hadn't heard of poison ivy cases besides this one, so they must have braved it on their own. Because... come on, that is hilarious.

"Wow!" Kels' voice would be high-pitched, out of breath from the laughter. "That's so sucky for you, but wooooow!"

Props to this Lestrange kid, he must have been a devious one if he went out of his way to buy poison ivy oil, maybe there was a joke shop nearby that sold it? Either way, Kels dotted the edge of his eye with his wrist to get rid of the tears that were forming from that great prank. His patient however was clinging to his robes and introducing himself. Kels had to do the part of every interaction where he had to slow down and go through niceties. It never occurred to him until inevitably the person he was talking to would get confused or angry.

"You've been hearing about me? I haven't even showed off any'a my sweet skate tricks yet!" Kels had finally come back around to a manageable level of energy, but his smile would not leave for a second. "Just kidding, I can't skate. But yes, you can call me Kels! Or... literally anything you want to call me."

Kit was just standing there, probably needing direction, so Kels pointed to the nearest bed.

"Aight, let's have a look. That stuff can get infected." Kels shrugged. "Why didn'ya come right away?"

He could have reeled into him-- said that he could have stopped the rash from forming in the first place, or theorized out loud that he was the kind of person who hated asking for help, but that wasn't important. It wouldn't have made Kels any happier to shame Kit, so he didn't. If anything, he just wished he could have prevented the suffering, but he wouldn't regret things he couldn't change. It was growth going forward that mattered.

The caretaker snorted at the nurse's poor attempt to hold back his amusement and wondered why he'd even bothered trying at all. "Go ahead and laugh," he said, waving a hand in a carefree gesture. "It was pretty ridiculous. That wasn't even the half of it, either." Not that he felt like telling the rest just then.

Sneering at his peer's antics regarding skate tricks he didn't even know how to do, Kit shook his head. The permission to call Kels whatever he wanted to call him, however, perked his ears and he looked up once more. "'Literally anything'?" he repeated, his lazy smirk a touch incredulous. "Is that right, sweetheart? Well, if that's the case, then same goes for what you can call me."

Once he was directed to a bed, he stumbled and swayed over to it before flopping down onto a sitting position and wishing he could just sleep there. Alas, the itchy rash and blisters made that impossible. Kels was already talking about it getting infected which he was not at all aware it could do. Mentally, he made a note to make Thomas Lestrange aware of that fact for the future as well. Maybe it would make him think twice about using the stuff next time.

"Infected if you scratch it, or even if you leave it alone?" Kit asked, slowly pulling up his sleeves. The question about why he hadn't come right away elicited a sheepish expression as he stared down at his arms. "The first sign of the stuff was when an exploding bon-bon hit a boy's face and caused his eyes to swell up; or at least his eyelids and the skin around them. I thought it was just because of the bon-bon things; not anything else. Only later did I find out that the bon-bons must have just sped up the symptoms showing themselves or something because my own symptoms took hours before they appeared."

Heaving another deep breath, his body was taut with tension as he gripped the edge of the bed in order to keep himself from scratching. His silver-painted nails bit into the cloth and he grit his teeth as he closed his eyes, exhaling slowly through his nose.

"I thought if I went to bed, I could just sleep through it, but it only got worse. Just because I couldn't sleep, though, I didn't want to ruin anyone else's by waking them in the middle of the night to look at it. Didn't want to mess with it myself, either, in case I made it worse on accident. So I just resolved to wait 'til morning." When he opened his eyes again, he met Kels' blue ones. "Sorry. Didn't think about the fact that it could have made your job easier if I'd come sooner."

@Kelsy Brumby

Kels let the 'not even half of it' go, as much as he was sure the detention he was talking about was full of antics. After all, he was there for treatment, not to shoot the breeze. If Kels was lucky, he might get to hear that and many other stories in time, he did generally prefer hearing stories from people rather than reading them in books. Faces and voices made everything better.

He rarely had anyone take him up on his offer to call him anything, as even when he offered his first name most adults just reverted to something more formal anyway. To 'sweetheart', though, he hissed another laugh through his gap teeth, holding his stomach from having just laughed too much.

"That works. My heart is very sweet." Though the offer to do the same for him sparked what felt more like a challenge. "Maybe I'll call you... Zasalamel! Hmm... Kit is so much shorter though... and easier to say..."

As Kit uncomfortably situated themselves onto the bed, Kels repeated the words under his breath over and over 'Zasalamel.... Zasalamel...' but it was such a mouth full. It would never work. When Kit started asking questions about infection, Kels was quick to reply.

"I jus' know how to spot it. Pus formation. I guesssit'd be worse if ya scratched it, I dunno. Can't say I've seen a lot of poison ivy rashes. Might go pus crazy anyway!" As he showed his arms and continued to talk, Kels would look at the rash more closely, picking up the arm to examine it. The pus formation would have been pretty obvious, but it looked fine. Just painful. "Eeyup. The oil takesa moment to absorb into yer skin. Shows up around thinner skin first. At that point you can accidentally spread it around or wash it off completely."

Feeling satisfied that the rash wasn't going to get any worse, Kels pulled away and listened to the sad tale of his restless night. He briefly showed a sad puppy dog face with a quick "Awww", before nodding affirmatively, like he was resolved with new fervor.

"Well ya know now! Healin' iddnt just my job, it's my whole life! Askin' fer my help won't ever ruin my day." Kels wagged his finger, but his smile was already back. "You'll sleep loads better tonight, I promise ya. We'll getcha some antihistamines an' calamine lotion, aight? Oh! An' do ya want any breakfast tea?"

After Kit's answer, Kels would leave the bedside to fetch some things from the nurses' station at the back of the wing. As he was walking, he had the brilliant notion to mix the calamine lotion with some of his homemade Butterflyweed Balm, which would both soothe the itch, dry any oozing, and provide a considerable amount of pain relief. He'd have to sit down and mix it though, but he had the time, so why not?

@Kit Paine

The hissing tooth gap laughter seemed to be infectious as it evoked Kit's own soft chuckles. "Heheh...I can tell." He was also not used to people taking his pet and nicknames well, so it was refreshing to find someone who did for a change. The return name, however, threw him for a loop.

"'Zasalamel'?" he repeated with an incredulous grin. "What's that? Another language?" Hearing the nurse repeat the name under his breath, he shook his head in wonder, still grinning from ear to ear with a tightness that made his cheek muscles hurt.

"Ah, pus. Lovely," Kit remarked upon Kels bringing it up. He watched the nurse out the corner of his eye while the man examined his arm, studying him as best he could without outright staring. The puppy dog face and response of 'awww' earned a playfully indignant face of Kit's own. "Are you mocking me?"

He shook his head again. "Heh...it might not ruin your day, but I wouldn't have wanted to ruin your night. What if I ran in asking you to heal a pus-oozing arm in the middle of a dinner you were having with a hot date? Tell me that wouldn't ruin it," he challenged with amusement.

Straightening back up, he drew his warm robes back around him and smiled gratefully at the promise. "I'll be holding you to that promise," he answered, meeting his gaze.

"And all those things would be wonderful, thank you. Can I help you get any of them?" Kit glanced down at his own hands. "Or, uh...would I just be contaminating everything I touched?""

@Kelsy Brumby

"No... he's from Soul Caliber." Kels said distantly, still trying to figure whether he could be bothered to say 'Zasalamel' tons of times just for the meme. "He has one glowing eye, and face tattoos."

It didn't really occur to him to ask whether his friend knew what Soul Caliber was, or if he even knew what video games were, but it was indeed the answer to the question. It seemed like ever since he began treating him, his body language got a lot less tense. It was nice when patients were calm, stress always made everything worse. It wasn't necessarily the response he most often elicited. His bedside manner was not exactly why he was a good candidate for the job.

"Come on!" Kels swiped away at Kit's insinuation that he was mocking him. He could believe whatever he wanted to, but that seemed like a crappy way to view concern. Must not be used to being cared for.

While he explained a situation in which he insisted that his malady would be an intrusion on his life, though it was funny to imagine someone running in on a hot date as disgusting as humanly possible, getting it all over the food and putting out the romantic candlelight. The children are there, they're screaming! Anyway, besides slightly drifting off there for a moment, Kels bemusedly shook his head, looking nonplussed.

"They can't be that hot if they can't even roll with the punches." Kels mouth was a line, but there was something about what he said that brought the briefest flicker of sadness in his eyes. After the moment of reflection left, he was back to beaming. "It'd be pretty funny, I'm sure it'd be as nice a night as any."

Kels nodded enthusiastically when he offered to come along. He had seemed so tired before, but he was glad he was awake enough for the ride-along. He'd keep walking, assuming Kit was following behind. "Naww, it's not contagious."

Maneuvering around his desk to get to his chair so he could wheel around to his ingredients like usual. Quickly after he got in his chair, he inched it over to the cabinet that had most of the muggle medicine and started rummaging through it. The sound of pills clacking around in their bubbles was not a common one in the wing before he showed up. This had been completely made up from his own collection, as well as some things his mum relied on. Inevitably, some of her contribution were starting to smell a bit musty from disuse. They just didn't compare to the potions Kels could make.

"Over there with that flask, jus' turn the knob there to getta fire goin', it already has water."

The one he pointed to was a 500mL pyrex heavy duty flask, distinct from others in that it was the only one with clear liquid. It sat on a simple metal mesh stand over a bunsen burner, a cold half-cup of tea already beside it. It was the simplest tool in the world-- a single knob in front that made fire appear. While he left that to Kit, he pulled out one thing after the other, gathering a few stuff up and setting them on some of the rare clear space left on the desk.

"Ohhh, Soul Caliber," he repeated slowly. "That's that one fighting game with the sword that has the eyeball, isn't it?" Well, there were quite a few games he knew with swords that had eyeballs now that he thought of it, such as pokemon, but this one had been intregal to the story. "Used to watch my brother play it a little. Don't recall a guy named Zasalamel, but with the eye and face tattoos, seems like as apt a name as any."

When Kels exclaimed at the notion he might have been mocking Kit, the caretaker smiled sheepishly once more and shrugged. He hadn't expected to be shown concern, much less in such a sympathetic manner. It was...well, nice.

What the nurse said about a date 'not being that hot if they couldn't even roll with the punches', however, caught Kit entirely off-guard. He blinked a couple of times, as if unsure for a moment if he'd heard right with his sleep-deprived brain. Kit tried to re-process the words so he could allow them and their meaning as they were meant to have to sink in properly. As he did so, though, something in Kelsey's features caught his attention and his own smile faded slightly. Had he been thinking of something that had actually happened?

Deciding to stow that bit of curiosity away for later, he hopped off the bed and tried to concentrate on the task at hand. He always felt better when he was doing something rather than having to think. Perhaps it was the Wampus in him, having been his Ilvermorny house and the house of the 'body'. Also, if he kept his hands busy, he wouldn't have had to work so hard to keep them from scratching at his rashes and blisters.

He followed Kelsey to his desk which the dirty blonde seemed to go to in order to get to his chair. From there, Kit watched him roll over to a cabinet in order to fish around in it for something. While he did so, he directed the caretaker to a flask and the knob that needed to be turned in order to start a fire under it. Gratefully, Kit obeyed and turned on the flame.

The set-up had him examining each of the nearby containers and their contents while he waited for the liquid to heat up. His gaze flickered to Kelsey every so often over the top of the various materials and supplies.

"Angel-face," he said, speaking as lightly as though he'd referred to the nurse by the name a hundred times before. "What made you apply for this job if you don't mind me asking?" His smile now was wan. "I hope it wasn't something that happened during your career as a Hogwarts nurse that caused that gap in those pretty teeth of yours."

@Kelsy Brumby

The brief moment after Kit acknowledged the game series but before conversation continued, Kels would give him an affirmative nod and somehow stretch his smile even bigger. Some of his fondest memories were tournaments with neighborhood kids playing all kinds of fighting games. It had been difficult to keep in contact with all of his muggle friends while he was in a boarding school for most of the year. After he turned eleven, the days of popping by his friends houses uninvited and bugging them to let him play their video games was over. He would have killed for a big brother to play with. Why did he have a multi-player game, but only just watched his brother play it?

"Ya never played it with him? Why not?"

Over at the desk, before being questioned again, Kels held up two separate packets on pills.

"Drowsy or non-drowsy?" He'd drop down whichever one Kit chose, if it didn't spur further conversation, and slide it over under his hand like it was contraband. He assumed if he knew about video games, he would know about this infamous difference in antihistamine strength. Either he was going to be able to keep working, or he was going to go back to bed right away. "There's more where that came from..." He whispered with feigned sneakiness. No matter which Kit chose, he would be getting some heavy-duty stuff for the evening as well, but he was going to need something right away to diminish the current turmoil.

While Kit continued his questions, Kels finished his collecting, shoving aside a stack of folders to put down a clay mixing bowl and some glass tinctures, as well as some plants that still clung to some dirt in their hair-like roots. His focus was pulled by the continued conversation, though he would not need concentration to make the mixture correctly. It was second nature at this point.

"I don't mind!" The continuance of what sounded more like terms of endearment than actual nicknames did make him feel a bit confused. Was he flirting, or was that just his way of proving a point about letting people call him whatever they want? He wouldn't have time to let the thought grow before thinking of his next answer. "I used'a go to school here, had'a lotta good memories, soz I thought it would be a good time. It was'a promotion too, never been in charge before this."

His insinuation about his teeth being caused by an accident made him switch to a look of overzealous scrutiny, not sure if he was joking or not.

"Naw, I was born with diastema, my jaw bone is jus' too HUGE." He laughed, now imagining someone with a gigantic mouth and all their teeth spaced out. "It'd be easy to fix but there 'iddnt no reason to. Would'ya cure yer heterochromia if ya could?"

It would take barely any time for the burner to get the water boiling, depending on how much gas Kit gave it. While his hands were busy combining ingredients, he pointed his elbow in the direction of a drawer on his side of the desk, pointing with his foot and kicking it if it hadn't been clear enough. "Tea's in'er."