With a heavy sigh, Texas carefully placed the last heavy package onto the appropriate conveyor belt, just like she'd done with the other few hundred or so. To say that she was relieved to finally be finished would be a gross understatement.
She even smiled, having looked at her watch and realized that she made excellent time, in spite of the problems that seemed to plague her each and every time that she was assigned to the trading post here at Rhodes Island. The two particular problems that were named Lappland and Exusiai.
She glanced over now, frowning at the sight of Exusiai and Lappland caught up in another skirmish. This time it was thumb war — both girls had their hands interlocked, in competition. Thus began the battle of dexterity, and utter mind games.
"One, two, three, four," Exusiai chanted, "I declare a thumb war!"
"Five, six, seven, eight!" Lappland followed along. "I use this hand to masturbate!"
"Hey, what?! Yo, don't say stuff like that!" Exusiai cringed and almost pulled away, but it was too late. The hand game was afoot! Lappland jabs her thumb forward with the speed of a bullet, her digits wrapped tightly around the Sankta's very own. Exusiai tries to retaliate as best she can; she deftly curls her thumb this way and that, throwing out feints in an attempt to trick the wild Lupo she was presently engaging with.
"Too many fake-outs, little angel." Lappland smirked. "You're going to tire yourself out like that. I implore you to… reconsider… your strategy!" The white-haired wolf lay her thumb flat against the arena of their locked hands, and when Exusiai takes the bait, Lappland launches a counterattack: she slides her thumb across and tries to wrap it around Exusiai's own, causing the tomboy Sankta to squeal with tense amusement.
Texas narrowed her eyes at the sight of this tomfoolery. It was bad enough that the two were more or less slacking off, but now they were holding up the punch-out process that typically came with the end of a Rhodes Island assignment. "Hey, you two. Let's get a move-on already."
"Ohhh?" Exusiai called out to Texas as she continued her thumb game with Lappland. "You're all done, Texas?"
"No thanks to your help," Texas muttered, bitterly.
"Aww, hey, I only said I was taking a break! Right, Lappland?"
"I don't know," Lappland admitted. "Hey, keep your eyes on our thumbs!"
"I am! I'm gonna watch you lose!"
"Hey," Texas repeated, scowling, "the day is over. Let's go."
"Awww. Okay." Exusiai yanked her hand free of Lappland's, leaving the Lupo amused for a reason that Exusiai couldn't immediately place. "To be continued," she told Lappland, "this war isn't over yet!"
"I should think not!" Lappland rubbed her hands together, her tail swaying playfully behind her. "Another successful work day, eh, Texas?"
Texas kept her scowl, and she shook her head without a word. Lappland still found it within herself to continue.
"I have to wonder why they keep placing us three in the same trading post," Lappland mused aloud. "Perhaps they want us three to become best friends? What is your perspective on that, little angel?"
Exusiai shrugged. "I dunno, I think it's just that we three work really well together!" She looked at Texas expectantly, only to wince at her closest companion's expression. "Don't we?"
"No comment." Texas took Exusiai's hand in her own, urging her away from Lappland with a decisive pull. "We'll be going now, Lappland. Once again, thank you for your assistance." Texas did not at all sound like she meant what she said, and it was tragically obvious to both Exusiai and Lappland herself, who could only grin as if the statement hadn't bothered her in the slightest bit.
"You're awfully defensive," Lappland told Texas, "whenever I so much as look at your precious little angel. Are you afraid I'm going to steal her from you?"
Texas rolled her eyes. Exusiai, meanwhile, could only smile with embarrassment, and rub the back of her neck. "I think Texas doesn't like you very much at all," Exusiai mumbled.
"Oh really now?" Lappland feigned shock. "I can't imagine why! People really love me here. In fact, since coming to Rhodes Island, I've made quite a few friends and wonderful allies."
"Really? That's great!" Exusiai smiled sincerely. "Who do you usually hang with?"
"No one that you would know. Just the very best of companions," Lappland assured.
"Hmm." Texas looked at Lappland considerably.
"We do all sorts of things together. We bake treats and sing songs and have premarital sex," Lappland elaborated, holding her cheeks and shaking as if in reverie.
"You're always one with the jokes, aren't you?" Exusiai shook her head, although there was no negativity to be found on her face, or within the gesture. "Hey, we're about to hit up the cafeteria. Do you wanna come with?"
"No," was Texas's immediate response. "Absolutely not. I don't need any more of her needling today." Exusiai pouted, but then she chanced a smile.
"Introduce me to your friends sometime then, Lappland," Exusiai gave a thumbs-up. "Have a good day! And all that stuff."
"I'll be seeing you two around," Lappland winked. "Especially you, Texas~"
"Unfortunately, I know that's true." Texas heaved another heavy sigh before turning on her heel and leaving the trading post altogether, stepping through the exit door with her hand holding Exusiai's tightly. Exusiai managed to give Lappland a final wave before the two had disappeared beyond the closing electronic door, leaving the Lupo alone with her thoughts.
Once the two were gone, however, Lappland sighed to herself and leaned against the warm conveyor belt behind her, now powered off to prevent another dreadful hair-yank incident.
Those two are such a riot, she thought. Especially that sweet little angel…
She idly wondered whether or not Exusiai was well and truly single, and if so, how she could exploit that fact to really get under Texas's skin. As her mind wandered, so too did Lappland's feet. Without really thinking consciously about where she was going, she found herself moving — towards the exit, out the door, and down the hall. Lost in her thoughts, as she often seemed to be these days.
I've been on Rhodes Island for a long time now… how long has it been?
She thought of the Doctor, suddenly, and how simply being near them was enough to make the wolf's hair stand on end — at least at first. She hadn't felt anything like that in years, and now here was a shadowy stranger giving her cause for concern. There was something about the tactician that Lappland couldn't immediately place. A dreadful and worrying aura. Perhaps it was that scent that followed them wherever they walked. The scent of another Lone Wolf, the scent of strong medicines and solutions. Of blood, and grime, and unseen terrors. It was a combination of aromas that sent Lappland's head into a tailspin, even if she had grown used to it by now.
The Doctor must spend considerable time with other Lupos… a Lone Wolf among them. Perhaps that red-hooded one? Ha ha… I want to see just how close to the Doctor I can get.
She brushed the thought away as she fished her key card out of her pocket, and slid it against the reader. To Lappland's surprise, there was no telltale chime that her door had been unlocked. Instead, there was a faint buzz, and the card reader started blinking an ominous red color. The door before her remained locked.
You lot wish to cure Oripathy? You can hardly make a functioning electronic door, she internally joked, turning the key card around and sliding it against the reader a second time. And just like before, the card reader buzzed and began blinking. Lappland was denied access.
"What? Hey, I paid up this month! Closure, you horrid Sarkaz… how much more money do you need from a sick girl like me?"
She tried a third time. Then, a fourth. Then, naturally, a fifth time.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
It was no use. There was no getting in.
Lappland growled, already rifling through her word bank of curse words that she wanted to deliver to Closure once she got her hands on that woman. She tried to remember the Sarkaz-specific slurs before something happened that she didn't quite expect.
The door opened suddenly, and staring straight at her from beyond the threshold was a rather frazzled-looking Perro operator, looking at Lappland with wide eyes full of confusion and worry — but mostly worry.
"What are you doing? C-can I help you?" The woman's eyes blinked behind her frames, and she held her ground tensely as Lappland stared back with complete befuddlement.
"Can I help YOU?" Lappland grinned darkly, pointing at the Perro in front of her. "You must have a death wish, breaking into my dorm room and making yourself at home. I can't wait to hear the explanation behind this."
"Explanation?" The operator did a double take. "This is my room."
Lappland was about to say something, but then someone else came out to the door frame and joined the Perro's side. A sleepy-eyed Cautus, her voice drawling and immediately annoying Lappland.
"Huh? What's happening, Beagle? Are we going on a mission?"
"N-no, Kroos… no mission. Just a confused woman thinking this is her dorm room, when it's NOT." Beagle took a step back into the room, trying her best to look intimidating. "Listen, lady, don't come back here. Leave us alone."
"Come again?" Lappland was thrown for a loop, to say the least. "This is my…"
She paused, looking suddenly contemplative. Had she made a wrong turn somewhere? She turned away and looked around herself, spotting unfamiliar-looking signage. A bend she couldn't immediately recall.
"Just a liiiiittle mistake~!" The operator known as Kroos smiled a friendly enough smile, even if Lappland could recognize it as entirely artificial. "You probably got distracted, huh? Happens to me all the time… Rhodes Island is big enough where almost anyone can get lost!"
Lappland didn't know what to say. She felt embarrassed… and suddenly anxious. As if there was a growing unknowing deep in the pit of her stomach that was slowly getting bigger and bigger. A discomforting black hole. "I…" She tried to say something — anything — but what could possibly fix this widening unease? She didn't know, and that in itself seemed like a problem.
"If you don't mind? We have some resting to do before our assignment. If you'll excuse us…" The one called Beagle turned away from Lappland, and then the door closed, sealing the Lupo away from the two of them. Lappland just stood there, dumbfounded. Through the electronic door, she could hear both girls curiously remark about what had just happened, calling Lappland a weirdo among other things.
With nothing more to do, and nothing more to say, Lappland simply turned around and left. She reached up to touch her own face, as if trying to ground herself in the moment. She didn't want the dread to set in, even though, in her heart of hearts, she knew exactly what all of this might have been alluding to.
It can't be, Lappland told herself.
Is it happening… already? So soon?
It was just a fluke, she decided — if only to calm the storm of her thoughts.
Just a fluke. That was all.
It took Lappland much longer than usual to find her own dorm room. She had, in fact, made a wrong turn somewhere along the way, and ended up on the opposite end of the landship's floor of operators' rooms. Not only had she gotten lost in the labyrinth that was Rhodes Island, she was also lost in the labyrinth of her own thoughts. At least, that is the excuse that Lappland told herself.
She realized just how tired she was as soon as she took a long look at her bed. It would be so easy to just crawl inside, here and now, and then forget what had just transpired.
And then die, hopefully.
Skipping the shower, Lappland slipped off her jacket and then her shorts, falling onto the queen-sized bed that was reserved just for her. She pushed her face against the soft pillow, waiting for that transient oblivion to welcome her once more. A temporary bliss from this world, and its constant, gnawing worries. Gnawing away tiny pieces; gnawing more and more away from her each and every day she managed to wake up.
Lappland knew it was going to get worse.
But she never thought it would happen so soon.
"I couldn't remember where my room was yesterday," Lappland said. She just lays that fact out there, casually. Like it's just another piece of information for the world to digest — not her. Anyone but her. "That's never happened before," she mumbled, swirling her spoon like an oar around the lake of mashed potatoes on her tray.
Operator Greyy didn't know what to do. He was just sitting here by himself, minding his own business, when suddenly a Lupo that he had never met before just sat right across from him and started talking. It sounded like she was talking to herself, more than to him… and in truth, he felt far too nervous to simply get up and leave the table. And so Greyy nodded along with whatever the woman was saying, quietly eating while he allowed the silver-haired wolf in front of him to vent her worries.
"What do you think?" Lappland asked him, and Greyy snapped to attention. Oh no, she was asking him for his opinion now. The boy gulped.
"W-well, umm… I don't know. Maybe you should see a doctor? You're infected, so… don't they give you medicine for your head?" Greyy considered this aloud, before nodding to himself. "Who do you see on Rhodes Island?"
Lappland waved dismissively, with a wicked smile. "Ha, it feels as though every doctor on the ship has taken a look at me at least once. Some of them even thought about quitting. I can't imagine why. However, more often than not, it's that little pink rabbit who looks me over, and ensures I haven't bitten it just yet."
"Maybe you should go to him for some medicine… if you're starting to forget things," Greyy offered. "It could be useful. I see Hibiscus… for my medication."
Lappland rolled her eyes, picking at her food with a fork. She didn't feel very hungry at all. She just felt anxious, and alone. Same as it ever was…
"You don't forget things?" Lappland thought to ask him. Operator Greyy shook his head.
"I have nightmares," he admitted, meekly, "about… my life before Rhodes Island. About my parents. Sometimes the medicine makes my nightmares worse. That's what it feels like."
"Oh?" Lappland leaned in, suddenly interested. "Go on."
But Greyy wasn't very interested in going on. He found himself growing concerned at just what Lappland was implying. "H-hold on… do you not take your Oripathy medication? I'm sure Ansel has given you something, right?"
"I take it sometimes," Lappland shrugged. "When I get the headaches and the thigh pain, I take it. Otherwise, no. I don't want to grow dependent on some little rabbit boy's medicine to feel better. I should get stronger enough to push through it." Greyy winced.
"Oh no, lady… you have to be consistent with your medicine…" He felt such empathy for the woman sitting in front of him, despite how wild and out of sorts she looked. He inwardly worried that she was going to hurt him, or have some kind of episode. But just the same, he worried for everyone who suffered from Oripathy, just like him.
"But sometimes I forget where I put it, too. The medicine," Lappland clarified. "But I just chalk that up to not caring very much about it."
"You should care…" Greyy looked down, shyly. "It's your life…"
"It is indeed my life." Lappland smiled, if anything. "I'm here for a good time, pup, not a long time."
"...Can't it be both?"
"Not for people like us," Lappland told him, sternly. "You'd better learn that soon. I did. And it was a hard lesson," she went on to say. "Don't let it be a hard lesson for you, too. You're younger than I am. You shouldn't have to struggle against the way of things."
"But…"
"But nothing!" Lappland smacked the surface of the table in between them, making the young Perro in front of her flinch and shrink back. "I am telling you to learn it. Be like the Lupus and recognize where you belong in this world."
Greyy said nothing for a moment. He simply placed his own hands over his curled canine ears, if only to comfort himself. As he rubbed his own ear flaps softly, he spoke again. "You belong here, lady. With us. Rhodes Island. We can help… all of us do our part."
Lappland sneered, leaning in closely enough to greatly discomfort the Perro boy. As Lappland came closer, Greyy scooted back further from her. And then Lappland whispered to him, looking somewhere between scary, and scared for her life.
"The only place I belong," she told him, "is a cozy box, six feet under the ground."
"Hey! Lady!" Greyy called out to Lappland as she stood up and left, considerably more agitated than she was before. "Wait, come back! At least throw your food away…"
Ansel's face was tight. He was scowling — something he often did when he was treating operator Lappland — and the Lupo found that more amusing than anything else. "You look so cute when you're mad," she teased. And Ansel said nothing.
Presently, Lappland was in one of the medical examination rooms. It was evening, and Ansel had just one last patient to go for the day before he would wrap up here and assist Hibiscus in setting up for the next morning. Dealing with Lappland was never easy, and it wasn't so much that she was aggressive when it came to her humor and teasing. It was more so the fact that Lappland hardly did a thing about her own condition, in spite of his counsel.
"Are you doing anything after work today?" Lappland asked, swinging her legs and batting her eyelashes.
"Yes," said Ansel, his expression stony like granite, "sleeping."
"I was hoping we could grab a coffee or two," said Lappland, licking her lips. Anything to get the bunny boy's goat. "You look wound-up. Let me help you unwind?"
Ansel's response was immediate. "No, Lappland. And once again, please take this seriously."
"I am serious! When's the last time you've been on a date?" She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. "That collar of yours looks awfully tight…"
"You're not taking this seriously. That's the usual problem," Ansel mumbled, getting his stethoscope on and dreading this next part. "Lift your shirt a little bit, please."
"Anything for my favorite doctor," Lappland purred, hiking up her shirt and smiling smugly as Ansel pressed the stethoscope's diaphragm against the Lupo's chest. "I like it when you tell me what to do," she taunted.
"Really?" Ansel's eyes flicked up to hers. "Then take your medicine. Also, be quiet for a second." Lappland followed that order at least, hushing up while Ansel pressed the stethoscope's end against different parts of her torso, listening out for anything abnormal. After a minute of silence, Ansel removes the stethoscope from his own ears and pulls away slightly, jotting something down on a notepad on the desk beside him.
"I forget sometimes," Lappland admitted to him, resting her hands on her own thighs as she looked around the room, finding something else to settle her eyes on while she broached the subject.
"Set reminders then," Ansel told her, "don't you have a cell phone?"
"Mine's broken."
"Then buy a new one," he told her.
Lappland smiled with delight. "Heh. Awfully touchy today, are ya, doc?"
"Lappland, I'm a little frustrated with you."
"Aww. Am I gonna get it now," she asked, hopefully. "Punishment?"
"I really would prefer you take this seriously, Lappland. We always go through the motions. Every two weeks. It's not getting better. It's getting worse."
Lappland wrung her hands together, taking a chance with another easygoing smile. "I don't brighten your day at all? What a shame…" She watched as Ansel picked up the medical chart beside him, tapping the frontmost page of the six-page document.
"Cell-Originium Assimilation is now at 15%," Ansel reminded, and already Lappland found herself mentally checking out. "Blood Originium-Crystal Density is now at 0.31 Units per litre. You know what that means, don't you, Lappland?"
"Those numbers are a little higher than last time," the Lupo remarked, feigning excitement. "Did I reach a high score?" Ansel calmly placed the clipboard back down onto the table, and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"I think we're finished here," Ansel told her, as he started to remove his medical gloves.
"Already?"
"I'm referring you to Dr. Folinic for all your future visits. I think she's better suited to… this," Ansel told her, and Lappland placed a hand over her own heart.
"Oh, no, doc… are you breaking up with me?"
"Please report to Dr. Folinic's office on Friday and she'll have your medical information already on-hand for your subsequent visits," Ansel told her.
"Ouch. You wound me, doc…"
"And by the way," Ansel continued, "please do your best to show up on time with Dr. Folinic. She's very stern about attendance. I know I've let you off the hook more than enough times, and that's why we had to make you my last patient for the day. You were cutting into other patients' visits… it was a mess," he lamented. "But, that's that. I can only do as much as you'll allow me to, and I think that Dr. Folinic is your best bet, going forward."
"I'll miss you," Lappland told Ansel, grinning.
"I'm sure." Ansel rolled his eyes. "You know you can put your shirt back down now, right?"
Lappland smirked. "Why would I want to do that? It sounds like you're kicking me to the curb. If this is my last visit with you… why don't we make it special?"
"Oh, Lappland…" Ansel sighed. "Get out of my office."
"Alright, alright~"
With that, Lappland got up and off of the counter, making for the exit. Ansel sighed and threw out his medical gloves, making sure to sanitize and rub his hands clean. From there, it was only a matter of setting Lappland's chart and documents into their rightful place, and tomorrow evening he would prepare to organize them further for Folinic's sake; initiate the patient transfer. Guiltily, Ansel couldn't wait to be free of the Lupo and her harassment.
He turned back towards the door, finding Lappland standing there, stock still. "Yes," he asked her, "is there something else you need?"
"Ah… no," said Lappland, shuffling in place and looking contemplative.
"Are you lost?" Ansel asked her.
"No," she lied.
"Then… goodbye, Lappland. I have to close the office for the night."
"Yes, yes of course… I just…"
Lappland gulped. She was going to… her room? Her room. Hang a left at the T-junction, go past the pair of vending machines, then down the hall that was always undergoing maintenance. Did she even want to go to her room? What else could she do? Who could she spend time with? Who would want to see her?
Then go past the… the… security desk. Who is there? The Forte with the giant breasts. Take the elevator down, go past the café, and who is at the café? Who is standing behind the counter? What does he look like?
"Lappland…"
The confused Lupo turned around at the sound of her name. Ansel smiled sympathetically at her.
"Try to take care of yourself… okay?"
Lappland nodded, staggering out of the office.
…Ansel looked a little different today, she noticed.
