Arcanum, Rough 1-10

“It’s creatively named, isn’t it?” Miho remarked, ears and tail already twitching in irritation from the sheer amount of background noise she was having to deal with. Brockton General was a massive thing, a multi storey block of concrete rising as tall as some of the surrounding apartment and corporate buildings of Downtown. There were no unnecessary windows, no fancy architecture. It was, without a doubt, one of the most utilitarian buildings Shèn had ever seen. The only thing remotely distinguishing it from the surrounding buildings was the giant red cross above the general entrance to the hospital.

“It is a hospital, not an opera house, so I’m not about to bitch ‘em out.” The overgrown snake replied with a smooth roll of her shoulders, tail idly crumpling the paper bag her breakfast had come in before flicking it to a nearby bin. Earth Bet wasn’t degenerate enough to lack Sausage McMuffins, at least.

“You could have asked me to cook something for you, you know?” Miho snarked, rolling her eyes a little at the Lóng’s choice of breakfast with no small amount of judgment in her eyes, “Instead of eating that crap.” She paused, blinking, before shrugging off whatever had run through her mind, “In any case, I suppose we should head in, huh?”

“Shut. McDongles is good, even if it didn’t stand up to the European branch. I thought the broken ice cream machine thing was a meme.” Shèn grumbled as she headed right on in. She’d still gotten her itch for sloppy, shoddy food scratched so it was all good. Her more foxy companion followed in right after her, the automatic doors shutting behind them as they stepped into a quintessential hospital lobby. The smell of cleanliness, the sight of people impatiently waiting, the sounds of whining, complaining, and overworked nurses running around to try and put out the endless stream of metaphorical fires that seemed to be a daily occurrence for Brockton Bay.

“Well.” Miho hummed, tapping Shèn on the shoulder and pointing towards the receptionist, who, by some miracle, wasn’t busy, “It seems we lucked out. No line.”

“Hello, we’re here to sort out pay for parahuman healing.” The dragon explained with a polite smile the moment she was in talking distance of the receptionist, sliding her license card on the desk. The man blinked, looked at the card, then nodded, sliding the card back to Shèn before looking at Miho, only to blink as she flashed him the same card.

“I see. Miss Liáng, Miss Lee.” The receptionist nodded, “If you would give me a moment, I’ll call the person in charge of organizing those matters. If you two would take a seat in the lobby while you wait? He’ll call you up fairly soon.”

“Thank you for your time!” Shèn said brightly as she took both the card and her leave. Then she had to deal with the fact absolutely none of the chairs provided had a hole on the back, meaning she ended up sitting in what was meant to be a built-in coffee table on one of the chair rows. Miho, having an ‘inferior’ tail, was just fine sitting in one of the normal human chairs, the bundle of fluff just laying limp on her lap.

Thankfully, the pair didn’t have to wait long until the receptionist called them back up and handed the pair over to the nurse. Who, rather understandably, simply took them to the office in question without letting either of the parahumans get a word in edgewise. She then immediately rushed back to work with more than a few muttered curses about how damn busy it was.

Yep, that was a healthcare worker alright. In any case, the corridor they were in was bland, hospital-like in every way shape and form, and the only remotely interesting thing were a few bland paintings and the door leading to the office of the manager they were supposed to be meeting. Apparently Dr Mueller would be seeing them today, going by the placard. 

“Come in.” A masculine voice from within the room stated, inviting the pair of Arcanists inside. With a shrug from Miho, Shen opened the door, coming face to face with a rather stark contrast from the bland exterior hallway. The office was obviously lived in, with pictures, stuffed animals, drawings, even a couch and a fair of nice seats for any visitors to sit in. There was a bookshelf off to their immediate right, placed nicely against the wall of the hospital.

Wait. 

Shèn leant a bit to the side and just as she thought, there were hinges on the back of the sofa. It was a pullout bed. Goddamn, but how bad were things in the Bay?

“Welcome. I’ve heard from Mr Barrow that you wished to arrange for a method of working for the hospital on a day by day basis?” Dr. Mueller stated, looking towards Shèn and Miho as he adjusted a pair of glasses gently. He frowned, took them off and wiped them on a cloth, “Damn things never stay clean. In any case, I don’t particularly have an issue, but due to NEPEA-5, we are limited on what we can offer.”

“Do tell.” The dragon said with a bob of her head, taking a seat in front of the desk. Her tail went ahead and pulled out another for her friend. Truly, it escaped Shèn how Miho could claim hers was superior.

“We cannot pay you a salary or by the hour, nor can we pay you for being on call. We can, however, pay you on a per diem basis. This does mean that you will be paid at a flat rate for coming in per day. Much like Ms. Dallon, though her mother has requested that we not tell her she is being paid for her services.” Dr. Mueller stated, templing his hands together as he leaned forward on his desk, “Though, I’d imagine that’ll be most convenient for you as is, Ms. Liang, Ms. Lee.”

“That it is.” Shèn agreed easily. It was also good to hear that Amelia was getting paid, although she somehow doubted that money was actually going to the girl properly. You knew New Wave was a wholesome family by how all children of both households had triggered.

“What would our rate be, in that case?” Miho asked, leaning forwards herself and mirroring the posture of the man before her exactly, “Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be able to help for free, but it isn’t even remotely close to realistic.”

“Well-wishes don’t exactly keep me fed, dry and warm.” The dragon added with a wry chuckle. Besides, she was less idealistic than her friend. She damn well wanted to be paid for her work on principle, she was a laborer, not a slave.

“An understandable stance to take, Miss Liang,” Dr. Mueller acknowledged with a tilt of his head, holding up a hand in a universal gesture to give him a second as he ducked beneath the desk he was sitting behind and briefly rummaged through some drawers, “Aha. Here we go.” Pulling out two different forms, he slid them over to the pair of Arcanists, “Your paperwork. Miss Lee, as to your question, the daily rates are fourteen hundred dollars. I can offer no less and no more.”

“I can work with that. What’re the modifiers for extenuating circumstances? Y’know, like July 4th.” Shèn asked as she started reading through the forms. Man, she was not looking forward to regrowing all those thumbs and eyes. 

“Double for Holidays.” Miho idly stated as she read through the form, “It’s on the second page.”

“What Miss Lee said.” The good doctor smiled, leaning back into a neutral position as he went back to whatever he was doing beforehand, “Once you two finish that paperwork, please deposit it on my desk and head down to the receptionist that sent you up. He’ll provide you with a temporary pass while we get your IDs printed in the meantime.”

______________________________________________________________________________

“So,” Miho began, walking in lockstep with her friend as they returned home from their outing, “We’ve done everything we needed to today.” She continued, sighing as she flickered her ears in vague irritation. She still couldn’t filter out noise worth a damn.

“And could do, besides.” Shèn chuckled. Bureaucracy took time, so they couldn’t start healing right away. “Let’s go work more on the sound dampener spell, you aren’t being subtle about how much those ears are bothering you, Floozy.”

“It’s… getting better.” Miho admitted, her tail actually still for once despite her irritation, “I have the instincts to filter things out, it was more… figuring out the how behind it, if that makes sense? Like I kinda know how in theory, but in practice…” She trailed off, searching for the right words to explain what the fuck she meant.

“You are wording things awfully, but I’m guessing your instincts are wired more for Eorzea fare than urban sprawl?” The dragon woman asked with a tilt of her head.

“Exactly.” Miho nodded, snapping her fingers towards Shen with a content smile, “Wired for more rural environments, so it’s been a bit annoying learning how to tune things out. I’m also too curious for my own good. It’s difficult to fight those impulses as well.” With a hum, Miho turned her attention back to the path ahead of them, walking on silently for a while. She was… content, yet restless, quite honestly. She knew why, of course, but it wasn’t exactly an easy topic to bring up.

After all, how exactly did you ask someone you’d known for all of two days ‘Hey, wanna go beat up some Nazis?’

Then again… Eh, fuck it, she lost nothing by actually having this talk with Shen… Except maybe her only friend right now…

With that lovely thought in mind, Miho firmed her resolve and turned to face her friend.

“Hey, Shèn?” Miho began, her tone filled with her anxiety despite an audible effort to keep it out of her voice, “I was actually going to ask what our plans for the future were going to be, but I ended up chickening out. I’m asking now though, since I want to, at least to some extent, coordinate things with you.”

“Security is the name of the game here. Cultivate my connections with the PRT and healthcare services, maybe even get an in with Emergency Services in general since having the boys in blue and the firemen buddy buddy with me is a good idea. Heal whoever needs it and do a hell of a lot of work making career ending injuries and conditions move to the past tense.” Her tricolored friend listed out in fits and spurts, speaking as things came to her, “Then there’s fixing stuff like Grey Boy Bubbles and Master victims, which is real good but is going to have all sorts of bullshit head my way. Slaughterhouse, just for starters. So I gotta spar a bunch with the Protectorate to get a hang of how to fight with my powers, and hey throwing down is fun!”

Nodding, Miho considered her friend’s goals, and noted to herself that none of it had the everpresent desire on her mind, “No punching the E88 in the face repeatedly?” She asked, because, honestly, Nazis were acceptable targets. Even if they– ah.

Yeah. That would be why Shèn didn’t want to. Definitely an understandable reason. One that she wouldn’t have thought of without the Scholar gem briefly bringing up engagements with superior forces without good reason, which, of course, was.

Don’t.

“Can’t go on the offensive until we have enough power to crush them decisively. Acting when shit happens near us is fine, so’s jacking up unit retention and bringing retirees back to the field. Going patrolling in their territory, much less play search and destroy?” The dragon snorted bitterly, face pulled into a grimace, “There are ways to remove us from the board. Just go decimate some minor gangs if you get antsy.” 

Nodding slowly at her friend’s point, Miho hummed to herself, “I was going to say we should hit the Empire, but I realized that would be a horrendously bad idea at the moment.” She paused, clearly struggling with something, before she nodded to herself firmly, “I agree with your plan. Please, do your best to keep me honest about staying on it.”

“Should I be worried about you leaving in the dead of the night to use skinheads like footballs?” Shèn asked mildly, her tail catching someone about to hit a street light from staring at them while walking.

“Probably not.” Miho shook her head, giving an amused wave towards said person as she weaved past them, her own tail giving them a pat on the back, “I’m not entirely stupid or devoid of self preservation. I just feel the need to do something with my power. But I should also keep in mind that healing the wounds is valuable, even though I can’t personally consider it more valuable than excising the rot directly.”

“Hence, minor gangs.” The lanky dragon shrugged. “Now let's get home and start crunching those numbers.”