Year/Job
Apprentice Wandmaker
rouch
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Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Jan 21, 2024 10:22:54 GMT -8
Sunday, Late Morning | Saint Mungo's Shiloh balanced the clipboard on her knee as she tried to use her wand with her left hand to fill in the intake form. Her right hand was hastily wrapped with a towel. It was her worst nightmare coming true. Her wand hand was her livelihood. All the spells she had perfected and trained for were all done with her right hand. If something happened to it, it could be like started all over. The precision, the accuracy of her work wasn't simply talent. It was practice and discipline. Muscle memory. What had she been thinking not asking for the day off? At the time, the morning after her drunken night of drowning her sorrows had felt like a consequence to be accepted. Her dad had Sundays off during the school year. That was deal they agreed to. Her choices the day before did not override their agreement. Still, she could have done inventory instead of working with hazel wood. She knew that wood would absorb her internal pains and disappointments and could potentially discharge them unpredictably. She could feel her heartbeat at the edges of her wound under the towel. She could still feel the residual heat. Stupid, she told herself and read the next question. Primary Complaint. She wanted to write the word regret but knew that wasn't going to speed along her appointment and settled on -- unknown spell produced during core fusion with a hazel wood wand rod burned/lacerated wand hand. She knew the last detail, about it being her wand hand, wasn't important to the assessment, but she needed the healer to know the seriousness of the injury. She had no doubt that her last name, coupled with the injury description would convey the concerns Shiloh had without being demanding. She checked the boxes to indicated there were no other complications and let the parchment zip to the shelves housing the other triage charts. Shiloh brought her hand up to her chest. Raising it up higher than her heart helped lessen the throbbing. That could have been her imagination but it felt a little better. She should have told her dad what happened. She wanted to wait to find out the prognosis first. Sunday mornings were notoriously slow. Even slower in the middle of January. With some luck she'd be back in time to reopen for the after lunch shoppers. Good as new. She hoped.
Tag: Cara Duffy
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Year/Job
Healer | Spell Damage
I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me |
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Post by Cara Duffy on Jan 21, 2024 17:40:56 GMT -8
The weekends were always slower than the weekdays and, for that, Cara was grateful. Since she started her training, she's been picking up the same days as her preceptor, trying to get as much time in as she possibly could. It was tiring, Cara could feel herself getting spent come Friday, but she was happy with her work. Lainey let her do more and more each week, adding on more patients to her workload as she got the hang of things and Cara was growing more and more confident. She still had a couple more years in training, but with the rate things have been going she felt she'd be more than ready by then.
Her mind had been a bit preoccupied as of late. She couldn't stop thinking about a pair of deep blue eyes and the way they looked at her like they were actually seeing her. It was driving her crazy; she had never given a patient this much thought before. It was like he was branded onto her brain. No matter what she did, he wouldn't go away.
A heavy sigh escaped her as she leaned against Healer's station, her fingers drumming against the counter. Lainey was busy filling out charts and the only patient they had just left. "I'm going to check the lobby," she told her. Lainey looked up at Cara and nodded. "Good idea. I'm almost finished here." With a smile and a wave, Cara left the fourth floor and headed down to the lobby. The receptionist was sitting at her desk, keeping a watchful eye on the one, two, three patients. One man had cabbages for feet, another honked like a horn whenever he coughed, and a young woman was holding up a hand wrapped in a towel. Cara grabbed a chart off the shelf. Her hazel eyes scanned the intake form, a small frown touching her lips. She looked back up at the others waiting. "Ollivander?" she called out, watching as the young blonde stood and started toward her. "Follow me."
She led her to the fourth floor where she promptly took her to an empty room. Cara waved her wand, the curtain pulling and the bedsheets folding down. She smiled warmly at the witch and gestured for her to sit. "My name is Cara and I'll be taking care of you today." Her tone was soft, a gentle look in her eye. "Do you remember what happened?" Gingerly, Cara began to unwrap her hand.
Shiloh Ollivander
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Year/Job
Apprentice Wandmaker
rouch
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Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Jan 21, 2024 19:32:55 GMT -8
Shiloh didn't appreciate the universe's sense of humor, bringing a man with a honking cough to the lobby the day after she was sure she drank her body weight in firewhiskey. It was the only explanation for how terrible she felt. Of course she felt sympathy for the wizard. If he was at the hospital he had been dealing with the condition long enough to seek help. She didn't think he had a hangover though. Each honk caused stars to explode behind her eyes. When her name was called, she nearly ran to the healer. She would have if she didn't think it would lead to her puking in a rubbish bin. Keeping her hand close to her chest so she wouldn't bang it she walked, she offered the man a sympathetic smile and followed the young witch to the fourth floor.
Awkwardly sitting on the side of the bed, she carefully lowered her towel-wrapped hand for the healer. Shiloh was terrified to see what it looked like now. She looked at the clock. She had taken the Knight Bus there. She hadn't trusted her apparition accuracy with her left hand. It had been more than thirty minutes since the injury happened.
Taking a small breath, she thought back on the moments just before her hand felt like it was hit with a grenade. "I was merging a phoenix feather with carved hazel wood. It's a very sensitive wood that can absorb certain emotional states and as a consequence, it can erupt with wild magic in response," Shiloh explained, hoping the healer could appreciate certain magical qualities of wand components. "I probably shouldn't have been working with it today. I've... I've had a rough couple days and the wood took that in." Shiloh hoped her vague information would be enough to help the healer diagnose her. She didn't want to explain to the stranger that her boyfriend left her for his mistress the ministry and she got drunk in response. "The next thing I knew, there was a flash of red light. The spell hit the palm of my hand. I think. Or the spell hit my wand and traveled down my wand and through my hand." It was a sequence of events she hadn't considered until that moment. She worried her wand was damaged now too.
Finally getting a look at the wound again, Shiloh grimaced, "Oh Merlin, that looks bad," she said. There was a deep gash with angry burns around the edges. Blood was pooling in the wound but not actively bleeding. She hoped that was a good sign. She looed up at the healer in anticipation. This probably wasn't a common injury and might not have an easy treatment.
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Year/Job
Healer | Spell Damage
I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me |
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Post by Cara Duffy on Jan 22, 2024 11:40:31 GMT -8
Cara listened intently while she slowly worked to unwrap the towel, humming and nodding along as she did. She didn’t know much about wandlore aside from what she read of her own wand, but it was rather interesting. With a name like Ollivander, it’s no wonder she was a wandmaker. Before long, she had removed the towel completely and exposed the wound, smiling up at the blonde. “It does look like it hurts,” she sympathized. “But it’s an easy fix. Don’t worry, we’ll get this healed up in no time.” She stood back up and walked to the bedside table, opening a drawer and pulling out a small vial. Cara then handed it to the witch with a small smile. “For the pain,” she told her, moving back to the other side of the bed. Cara knelt back down and reached into her robes to pull out her wand, slowly waving it over her hand while melodically repeating, “Vulnera Sanentur.” Slowly, the wound started to close itself. Cara continued to work until the gash had completely closed up, leaving only the seared burns on her hand. With another wave of her wand, the burn started to disappear until all that was left was bright pink flesh. Satisfied, Cara stood up with a bright smile on her face.
“There. All better,” she said. “I wouldn’t work with hazel until you’ve had some time to work through things. Though I am happy to help in any way I can. We heal more than physical ailments here.”
Shiloh Ollivander
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Year/Job
Apprentice Wandmaker
rouch
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Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Jan 22, 2024 18:13:48 GMT -8
Shiloh looked up from her hand to study the healer's face. She wanted to know the second the healer knew if her hand would be alright. She held her breath. An easy fix. Shiloh felt lightheaded. It was either the relief or the blood loss, she wasn't sure which. Taking the potion from the healer with her left hand, she drank it. The relief was instant, though her headache and feelings of dehydration stubbornly held on along with pressure and tightness in her hand. "Thank you," she said while the healer worked. "It's my wand hand. I was afraid it might affect my ability to do my job," Shiloh admitted. The heat dissipated, the throbbing at the wound's edges lessened. An easy fix. At least something in her life was easy.
Looking up at the ceiling while the sing-song incantation filled the room, she remembered the look of hurt on Sammy's face when she had been stupidly advocating for Danny's character. The firewhiskey wasn't completely to blame for her misguided words. Sammy had been right. For the first time, Shiloh had been letting her heart lead, not her head. She had thought that was some kind of enlightenment. Like it was a good thing to follow her hear. Look where it got her. Attacked by an incomplete wand. Once the healer declared the therapy complete, Shiloh looked back down at her hand. It didn't even look like it would leave a scar. Testing the new skin, she flexed and extended her fingers. "I can't thank you enough. Honestly. My whole life depends on that hand." It sounded dramatic. She had a lot of drama swirling around her. Considering the healer's offer to help, Shiloh started to turn her down before realizing that talking to someone completely objective might bring clarity.
"You don't happen to have a cure for a hangover? Or breaking up with your best friend's brother?" she asked with a nervous laugh.
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Year/Job
Healer | Spell Damage
I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me |
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Post by Cara Duffy on Jan 23, 2024 10:34:32 GMT -8
Cara smiled sweetly at Shiloh when she expressed her concern for her hand. “It’ll be quite alright,” she reassured her. Of course, had the spell injured a tendon it might have been a different story. It was a deep gash, but fortunately it missed any major vessels or tendons. She would be back to making wands in no time, so long as she stayed away from the more temperamental items for the time being. Cara was a little nervous to heal this wound, however, a fact that she was very carefully hiding. It would be her first time using the spell, but her skill in healing magic was advanced. Or so said Lainey. Cara was often self-critical, a result of her ever persistent perfectionism.
As she sang her healing song, her confidence rose as the wound began to heal. It was a small victory for her, but an even bigger one for her patient. Cara recognized Shiloh from school, but the blonde was four years older than her so they never interacted. And before long, she had graduated and went off into the world while Cara was still a young student. Perhaps they could have been friends, though she was sure a budding teen would not want to hang out with an eleven year old. Especially an eleven year old who was discovering magic for the first time in her life. Being a muggleborn never bothered Cara, the stigma against them long gone by the time she started at Hogwarts. It always made her feel special, except when her sister didn’t get a letter. At that point in time she had felt disconnected from her family, though only briefly. When she was done, Shiloh expressed her gratitude and Cara let out a small laugh. “You’re welcome, though it’s my job to heal you,” she said with a teasing wink.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Shiloh was feeling particularly upset about something, the hazel wood wouldn’t have backfired had she not. After her encounter with JJ, she realized that she needed to be better about checking for emotional wounds as well as physical. Part of her was saddened when Juniper told her he had struggled with it. Shiloh seemed to consider the offer for a moment before deciding to share. Cara smiled kindly. “Hangover, yes,” she replied, waving her wand for another potion. “Many don’t realize that the Pepperup potion has a wonderful healing effect on hangovers.” The brunette handed the vial over and moved to sit beside her on the side of the bed. “As for the breakup, that’s something that time will cure. But I can do my best to help speed it along.” She smiled again, her eyes crinkling. “Tell me about it?”
Shiloh Ollivander
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Year/Job
Apprentice Wandmaker
rouch
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Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Jan 24, 2024 16:29:02 GMT -8
Focusing on her hand, Shiloh still couldn't believe how quickly she went from going about her life, to thinking it could be over as she knew it, and back to being told there was nothing to worry about. What was happening to her? She'd always prided herself on being logical and level headed. Then along came Danny Astor. It wasn't like she didn't have emotions before him. They never controlled her before. Her dad told her the most infuriating times dealing with her mum was when she was dealing with serious emotions. You can’t reason with a logical person who is overwhelmed by emotions. Just… be there when they’re ready to talk and understand they’re just as confused as you are. She thought he was telling her something about her mum, but maybe he was telling her something about herself. Even though she followed in her father's footsteps, she was more like her mother. He had decades to learn how to manage Hermione... she was only now realizing he had in turn learned how to manage her. Not sure if she wanted to be managed yet or not, she appreciated she might be able to sort some of it out right there with the healer. A lovely and kind person whom Shiloh was certain didn't know what she was getting herself into.
Nevertheless, the offered pepperup potion was welcomed. The morning she woke up to the splitting head ache, she considered going to the apothecary to get a potion that could have lessened her hangover symptoms. Actively seeking a solution out seemed like cheating the universe of the consequences of her poor choices. "You were at Hogwarts?" Shiloh asked, trying to size up the healer's age. She looked vaguely familiar. After her outpour of personal information at The Leaky Cauldron the day before, Shiloh was a bit more cautious about opening up to someone who might know the people involved. "You didn't know Danny Astor by chance? Slytherin house. He's 25 now. Slytherin." Complete arse, she added to herself. Her disappointment of it all was turning into anger. She didn't want that either. She didn't want Danny to have so much control over her. Waiting for the answer, Shiloh wasn't sure if she wanted Cara to know him and save her time on explaining the complicated mess she was in or be completely naïve to it all.
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Year/Job
Healer | Spell Damage
I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me |
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Post by Cara Duffy on Feb 4, 2024 11:05:48 GMT -8
"I just graduated last year," she told her. Cara was young and she had mostly stuck to herself during her school years. It wasn't like her to stick out from the rest. She melded into the background and focused on her studies, but she had made a few friends along the way. Stella and Caty were invaluable to her and she was happy to see them so successful in their chosen field. It did make her a little sad they weren't as close as they had been, their schedules with Quidditch and Cara's with her training were never aligned and they were all always so busy. But Cara took the time to write to them frequently, to make sure the girls stayed in touch. Romance was never a thing that Cara had really considered. She had been kissed before during her school years, but she hadn't felt a connection with the boy so it never went anywhere. Shiloh asked if she knew Danny Astor and Cara shook her head no. "I have a friend that was in his class and house, but she's never mentioned him before." Cara looked at the witch with a soft look in her eye. "What happened with him?"
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Year/Job
Apprentice Wandmaker
rouch
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Post by Shiloh Ollivander on Feb 5, 2024 16:21:16 GMT -8
Shiloh was surprised to learn how young Cara was. She seemed so poised and confident in her skills. And it was well placed. Flexing her fingers again, Shiloh only felt some tightness in the healing wound. The healer had handled simultaneously handled Shiloh's panic, managed the pain, healed the wound, and offered a listening ear. Tensing a bit thinking about Danny in Hogwarts, Shiloh shook her head. "If your friend managed to get through seven years at Hogwarts without being bothered by Danny, I'd like to meet them and find out how they did it," she started with a dry laugh. "I was best friends with his younger sister. Am. I think still," she stumbled trying to remember how it was all left with Sammy. Shiloh needed to get with Sammy sooner rather than later. Letting any weirdness linger between them for any time would be a terrible mistake.
"Danny. Well, Danny was just plain mean to her in school. He was very confident in his position in life and needed to remind Sammy often that she was adopted for convenience. A prop. Sammy, she always wanted to fit in her family, feel loved and a sense of belonging." Shiloh paused. Already she had a clear picture of Danny again. Whatever spell he had on her was fading. "My mum and dad took Sammy in for holidays. Made sure she had a safe place. We were like sisters. Then one day, two summers ago, Danny and I had a coffee... an chance meeting. Then we had dinner. He'd changed. That's what I thought. He was thoughtful. Still opinionated to be sure. Still confident, but I saw another side of him. Someone who challenged me. In a good way." Rubbing her face, wishing it was all a dream.
"I thought he was different," she whispered. Then again, she should have seen the warning signs early on. When he realized he had developed feelings for her, he tried to hurt her to keep her away.
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Year/Job
Healer | Spell Damage
I feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me |
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Post by Cara Duffy on Feb 6, 2024 17:03:17 GMT -8
Cara offered a small smile as Shiloh started speaking, the brunette listening intently. Juniper didn't talk much about her school days whenever Cara and her were together. The last time they met, the older witch was determined to let Cara know how JJ felt about her. Her cheeks burned a little at the thought, but Cara pushed it in the back of her mind. She was focusing on Shiloh's romance drama, not her own. The witch's brows pulled together slightly in concern as the blonde seemed confused on her standing with her best friend, but they smoothed back out after a brief second. Shiloh went on to talk about Danny and how he treated his younger sister, her brows furrowing once more. That didn't sound like the kind of guy that Cara would like to be around and she wondered how Shiloh could have fallen for such a wizard. Soon, however, it was explained to her and her expression softened, Cara reaching out to fold a comforting hand over Shiloh's, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as she rubbed her face.
"I thought he was different."
Cara's heart broke for the witch and she leaned in to catch her eye. "You can't blame yourself for that. It sounds like Danny manipulated you into thinking he was changed. His motive, I would assume, would be to distance you from his sister. It was most unfair how the two of you were treated by him, but it's not your fault for being fooled by him. Wizards like that are crafty and arrogant and think themselves better than the rest. I'm sorry that you've been through all of this. He doesn't deserve your tears just as he doesn't deserve your affection. I can't tell you what you should or shouldn't do, but I hope you don't let him cloud your thoughts any longer. You deserve better than that." She smiled softly and patted her hand.
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