2022-03-09 - Doctor Doctor

Ava has been gone for a year to a year and a half or some additional schooling. She was after some new certification in her field that meant having to leave Gray Harbor in order to get it. But, news through the Hospital was that she was back. Has been for about two weeks. Last week, she finally started up work again. It's about time that the Coroner was back into the flow of things. So into the flow, that she's finally made her way up to one of the back offices to peek her head in to see which of her colleagues are still around. You never know with the flow of this town who may still be kicking and who isn't.

In one hand is her infamous coffee mug, two and a half times the normal size thanks to the weird hours that she works. She lives on stress and caffeine, it seems. In the other hand is a box of pastries. "I come bearing deliciousness," Ava calls as she steps into the back, eyes sweeping the room to see if anyone is even back there.

"The Prodigal Daughter returns" Zara smiles, looking up from her book. It's not often Zara gets a break - this tiny town has a very busy Emergency Department - so Ava is lucky to find her relaxing between stressful incidents. Knowing the other woman from the time before she left, Zara is quickly on her feet, reading material tossed away, before greeting her properly. "Doctor Brennon I presume" she winks before giving her a hug. Though making sure not to destroy pastries. Never destroy the pastries!

"So good to see you again. It's just me here at the moment so I guess we'll have to eat that deliciousness ourselves." Zara eyes off that giant cup of coffee and has to laugh. "I see you've cut down since I last saw you. C'mon, you have much to tell me about." Off to the break room small table.

"Zee!" A grin appears across Ava's face as she spots the woman. Her arms open to envelop the woman in a hug, also being careful of the pastries, while making sure it's still a proper hug. "Why Doctor Thule, I've been gone a year and some how you've aged in reverse. I need your secrets. Is it the whole not work overnight shifts thing? I hear that can work wonders. I never seem to manage it though." Her hand extends when the hug is done, offering the bag of goods.

"They are all ours. We'll leave no trace of their existence for the others to find," is agreed conspiratorially of the pastries. Eyes drift to her cup as she laughs. "You may not believe it, but I did find a bigger one while I was in New York. But the handle broke. And so too did my heart." To the small table in the break room they go, slipping not so comfortably into a chair.

Zara smirks at the ageing compliment. "I knew you went off to study but I didn't realise it was to Charm School. Though, obviously you're correct" she teases before taking the food. "As if I could get away with not doing overnight shifts. Have you forgotten what this town is like? War zones have less gruesome unusual deaths than this place." And she should know. "And please, you look as beautiful as ever. I wouldn't be surprised that your patients in the morgue find their hearts beating again after one look at you."

"So what if the handle broke on your giant mug. I've seen you drink coffee from bowls, handles are only a 'nice to have' in your world" Zara teases before settling down. "So, tell me what you got up to. You have, gosh, a year and a half to fill."

Ava laughs and laughs. "Oh! Now who is school who on charm my dear lady?" A delicate pastry is pulled from the bag. These aren't just any pastries, oh no, Ava went for the good stuff. These are from Vyv's shops. "I have not forgotten. I have only been back to work for a week and I've already dealt with three unexplained deaths that I had to explain." Of course 'explain' is airquoted. "For the paperwork." It's well know to the Glimmer-folks in the hospital that Ava is the one to go to for the appropriate cover up paperwork and bureaucratic runaround needed for officials that for some reason The Veil doesn't seem to work on. A coroner's job is never done.

At the accusation of drinking from a bowl, her eyes dart around the room. "You promised never to mention that out loud!" she gasps before laughing softly. "I wish there was more to tell. It was new York after all. But you know me and my all work, no play attitude when it comes to learning. Plus, everyone out in the world just thinks I'm weird. I'm only really comfortable when I'm here. The curse of the place, I guess? But you have to have some stories, right? This place always does!"

"Three in a week. Impressive is probably not the right word to use in the context of people dying, but it looks like they needed you back" Zara frowns while picking out a pastry. She breathes in the delicious aroma. "Oh, wow, that smells great." Everyone knows how good Vyv's cooking is. It's almost too good to eat. Almost.

"You do know that there is no one else here" Zara grins before looking seriously disappointed in the lack of stories. "Really? You have nothing to tell me about your time in New York? C'mon, New York is full of weird people, you'd have fit right in" she teases with a wink. "As for what I got up to..." Zara purses her lips and furrows her brow. "Damn, neither of us have much of a story to tell. You know me, I spent some of the time you were away travelling. Six months or so in Somalia working at a refugee hospital. Usual stuff. Before then I was even dating someone but that seems to have come to a crashing end. Not a word from them." She shrugs about it - she has pastry, nothing will get her down.

"No. I suppose impressive probably isn't the right word. But it is a good word to describe it. We can't really argue it too much, can we?" Ava wonders with a frown. "But, I may be a little desensitized to it all, so what do I know?" Peeling off a piece of pastry, it's popped right into her mouth to savor.

"I know, I know there's nobody else here. I wish I had some racy stories about going out dancing and locking eyes with some handsome stranger in a bar and letting him take me home, then falling madly in love. Having a whirlwind romance that lasted six months, but was never meant to be!" Ava presses the back of her hand dramatically against her forehead, gasping and throwing her head back like a sterling actress. "But even with these cheekbones I can barely get a man to look at me twice, sometimes. It's like they can sense the fuddy duddy coming off of me in waves," she laughs. The laugh stops, pastry hand drooping. "They ghosted you? Would you like me to find them and add them to the mysterious death collection?"

"You're a fuddy duddy now? Hmm, I obviously need to redefine fuddy duddy in my head" Zara smirks at her friend. "You don't tell them you're a coroner as part of your introduction, do you? Crazy as it seems, some men go funny when they've learned you've had your hands in bodies all day. Particularly when not in a fun way." A bite of pastry as she contemplates the revenge offer.

"Technically, you could say that I ghosted him too. It's not as if I called him when I got back." Zara sighs at herself. "I was worried that he'd moved on so I was afraid to. It may have been a cowardly attitude but, hey, it seems to have been the right one. Too much water under that bridge now. No need to kill him. Hey! Maybe we should just become lesbians?" she laughs before more lovely pastry is consumed. "We don't need men anyway, Ava. As long as they keep making batteries. Been catching up with old friends since you got back?"

"Full on Duddy," Ava laughs. "I try to save the coroner bit until they ask me what I do. But I don't lie when they ask. It's not something I'm ashamed of. Besides, if they can't handle what I do for a living, they definitely can't handle me. My job is probably one of the least exciting things about my life considering this is where I grew up," she points out.

"Alright alright, no murder. This time. He gets a free pass." The lesbian comment gets a snort. "Ah, if only it were that easy, right? That would be perfect!" She leans back, nibbling at her pastry. "I caught up with Jimmy at the Laundromat. But I've been making new friends more than I've been catching up with olds ones, really. Which isn't terribly surprising. You know I wasn't really great at keeping up with people before. But these folks are alright. I think you'd like them. Hell, you might already know them since they've been in town for a while and I haven't been.

"Between work and travelling around the world like I do, I don't really get to meet a lot of people, much less keep up with the ones I know" Zara sighs...but there is pastry to cheer her up. "There was a new star surgeon here at the start of the year. Promised to take him camping." A beat. "Haven't seen him since. Like, nowhere. He's probably run away rather than head out into the woods around here. Unless the woods ate him. That does happen."

"Laundromat? Is that a social hang out or are you living out of your car at the moment?" Zara smirks. "I've got an apartment I barely see but at least it has a washing machine. And one of those closets that look awfully like a duffel bag on the floor." Putting down roots is not one of Zara's major achievements. "You should come by for dinner sometime."

"Oooh, camping. That's a nice idea! I'm sorry that nothing ended up coming of that." Ava sighs, sad for Zara. "The woods do end up eating people, but I hope that didn't happen to him, that would have sucked. Especially to good surgeons. We need those around here, you know?"

"Har har," she scoffs, at the joke about living out of her car. "Hotel, actually. But I did just get a house to settle into on Oak. So I have my washer and dryer all set up now, thankfully. But I didn't at the time. You really do need to work on your organization, young lady. I'll come over for dinner if you let me help you get the apartment set up the rest of the way. Deal?"

There is a slightly nervous expression at talk of having a permanent residence but Zara has no choice but to agree. "Okay, it's a deal. Just don't make it expensive or full of non-sustainable objects." She is very much into environmentalism after all. "That first guy I was talking about was very much into camping and survival. But he was also younger than me. He's probably found someone a bit...fresher?" A laugh at the use of that word. "You know what I mean."

"When are you having your housewarming? I need to clear my social calendar." Zara takes out her phone and brings it up. "Oh, you're lucky, it's free all year."

"Sustainability and inexpensive. Got it. I can work with that. Thrift shop, it is. I bet there will be some cute stuff there that will work out nicely. I'll just have to take a look at your place first to get a good feel for the design. So I don't go in and clash with everything." A brow arches. "Fresher?" Ava gets what she means. "I get it. But, that's silly. "I don't know who'd want a younger, inexperienced girl over a beautiful doctor. Assuming that's what happened."

She snorts. "Housewarming? I hadn't planned on it. I don't really think I have enough friends. But I guess I could plan something small."

"I have no idea if he's found someone younger, just assuming" Zara laughs. "For all I know, I simply put him off women forever. Hey, you're a single beautiful doctor too. There must be something wrong with us." A wink to show she knows it is the men that have the problem. "And I'll give you a hint about the current style of my place. Ready. Nothing. I just have the barest furniture and some gym gear. All the camping gear piled up in one room. Oh, I do have some African artefacts from my trips on the walls. That might count."

"Damn right you're having a housewarming. We should do the invitations through Tinder." A beat. "And I am sooooo kidding."

"Such a pessimist. The Veil probably just ate him." Now who is the pessimist? Or is that the optimistic route in this case? "I don't know if there's something wrong with us, or it's just this town. Some folks in this town just aren't meant for that kind of like. Usually it's the Shiny ones, like us. The really really Shiny ones." There's a groan from Ava at the mention of how ill-decorated Zara's place is at the moment. "I'll fix it, don't worry," she promises.

"No Tinder. But I can think of a few folks worth inviting."

"Hmm, it's interesting that you could consider being eaten by the Veil as optimistic" Zara teases. "There's nothing wrong with us, Ava. People would be luckyt to have us. If only they realised that" she giggles. "Ooh, tell me who these worthwhile folks are? And we will definitely be dressing up for this. Right? We shall use this housewarming as advertising space." A roll of her eyes at herself. "God, I sound so desperate."

"I always dress up. That's my style. So I would say so." Ava chuckles. "I wouldn't say there's nothing wrong with us. Me anyway. Not that someone wouldn't be lucky. But there's also plenty wrong with me," she winks.

"Hmm, guest list. You, obviously. Jimmy, of course. My friends and closest neighbors Una and Ravn. Aidan. Kailey and her husband. Ariadne. Perdita. Oh, I can ask Ravn to invite his friend Itz. He's possibly bad news, but in that cute and powerful kind of way. Merrick has been kicking around lately, I can see if he wants to come."

All these names pass over Zara as she stares with non-recognition. "Wow, you know a lot of people" she laughs. "I guess I will too after all this. There is nothing wrong with you, so stop saying that. I worked at the Asylum, remember? I 've seen far worse than you. And that was just the staff." A glance up at the clock on the wall. "I better get back on my shift but you make sure you organise this housewarming. And help me style my house. And see me as much as possible. Not much to ask." A wink as she rises to give her friend a warm hug.

"So good to have you back, Ava. I have missed you."

"I've gotten around a little since I got back. You know how I am." Ava pauses. "Not like that! Though, it could be like that with one of them," she says with a waggle of her brows. "Far worse than me? Pish posh! No such thing." Ava scoots back her chair and scoots around to give Zara another big hug. "It's good to be back. I promise that I won't be a stranger."

"I missed you, too. Go save some lives."

How can Zara leave now? "What? Who are you banging? And you couldn't tell me this before?" There is a narrowing of eyes into a playful glare at this terrible breaking of the 'girl code'. "Though if I save too many lives, you may be out of a job."

"Hah! Nobody. I am most certainly NOT banging or anywhere close to banging anyone. I'm saying I would if I could. But that was a laundry list of people and it could be any of them, and that's all you get from me." Ava's hands press to Zara's back as she scoots her towards the door. "Shoo. You have work to do."

"You bitch" Zara laughs as she is pushed towards the door. "Okay, okay, I'm going. You do know that this means I will tell everyone at that party that they should bang you. And they probably all would too. Take care, Ava, talk to you soon." And then off she goes to save lives.

"I promise that they will not. Not a one of them is interested in that. I promise. Please do not embarrass me in front of my new friends or I will disown you and make your apartment look atrocious! It will be PINK! Neon!" With that threat, Ava laughs and waves Zara off.