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Working at the Oasis was always non-stop, but Tallulah was taking a much-needed break from her rounds. Her last patient had puked on her while she was changing the dressing on his wounds, and that meant going through the trouble of finding and donning a clean set of scrubs. Fortunately, there had been some. Unfortunately, they'd been two sizes too big, and she was currently double-knotting the draw string on a pair of XL pants around her size M waist.

Finally satisfied that they might not fall down completely in the middle of a checkup, Tallulah chucked her soiled scrubs into the laundry bin and took a second to collect herself. God - how was it only ten AM? She'd been up for six hours already. It felt later than just mid-morning. Today was dragging.

There was a knock on the staffroom door, and she quickly moved to unlock it. "Sorry, try it now," she said, stifling a yawn. She tried to remember if she still had any cans of Ener-TEA squirreled away in the fridge, and stared it down, debating if she should open it up and check. If there were, she'd drink it, but if there weren't, she'd be sad - and if there was only one can and she drank it then she'd be out and s**t out of luck.

So: Schrodinger's energy drink.

"You can come in," she said to the door.

"What?" asked Tallulah, confused by his skin and bones comment. Yes, she'd lost some weight from living rough and working hard, but she wasn't - oh. She tugged on her baggy shirt and forced a laugh. "Oh. No, I got puked on by a patient and had to change," she explained. "These are the only scrubs that were clean." Did she really look so bad?

She took one of the coffees, sighing, "Thank you. You are my hero," as she wrapped her hands around the cup. Ladon was-- well, she was always glad to see him. As many friends as she'd lost to chaos's grasping hands, there'd been some she'd been glad to gain instead. Even if she could claim no part in Wolframite's defection from the Negaverse, well, it had happened all the same.

After savoring her first sip of coffee, she said, "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just another day." Pausing, she narrowed her eyes at him. "How did you get in here?" Tallulah asked. Security at the Oasis tended to be tight, and this wing was staff-only... She sincerely hoped that Ladon hadn't broken any rules for her sake.

Tallulah smiled wryly at him. "Yes, I suppose he can," she said, "Meanwhile I will be having a long chat with security with regards to my being an only child." Maybe. Probably not. She liked the company. Eying the pasty bag, she asked, "What's that?"

Really, any day that someone wanted to bring her coffee was a good day. But if that coffee was accompanied by a blueberry scone, then her day would be even better. "Anyway, I should have a few minutes to chill as thanks for being subject to upchuck, so what's up? How've you been?"

Tallulah snatched the bag out of the air, a wicked grin on her face. "You tease," she declared, ripping into it to discover a blueberry scone and sweet, sweet victory. "I'm glad you didn't break your leg," Tallulah continued, "Because we've only got one trained trauma surgeon and we can't afford to have anyone out of commission, especially someone as experienced as you." Although from a strategic point of view, she would have preferred he kept his powered memories upon purification, Ladon was far more fun to speak to than Wolframite.

"Whether or not they were laughing, ******** up in front of the newbies doesn't make for good morale. Makes them doubt the competence of the leadership." Kaatje might be long gone, but she'd rubbed off on Tallulah in a lot of ways - and god, did Tallulah miss her.

Puppies were certainly not something Tallulah had ever given a whole lot of consideration - she had never had a dog growing up, only cats. But she still loved animals of all shapes and sorts as much as ever, and right now that sounded like a really nice idea. "I'd have to ask Nick," she said. "What kind of dog will they be? Big? Small?" She wasn't sure whether she had a preference - but it seemed like an important thing to ask, if you were going to consider adopting a dog.

Tallulah laughed. "I don't envy a whole lot about the kids who are just coming up through the ranks now," she said. "But I am kind of jealous that they actually get formal training. Wolframite had a reputation as a relentless taskmaster of a mentor, but she wished she'd had someone like that as a sixteen-year-old newbie senshi. Maybe she wouldn't have spent so many years floundering.

"I'll talk to Nick," she told him, nibbling her scone. "They sound cute. Thanks again for stopping by."

Sparring? Tallulah grinned. She could definitely be persuaded. Working in the hospital did not exactly keep one's combat skills primed, and should the camp fall under attack, she needed to be ready to serve along with every other senshi and knight in their ranks. Luckily, she could always count on Ladon to keep her on her toes. "You bet," she said. "But I'm going to win this time."

Nick... "Well," Tallulah shrugged. She didn't want to get too deep into what was rightfully a personal matter, but Ladon was a friend and she trusted him. "He's stressed," she said. "He's under a lot of pressure." Her husband was, after all, very quick to remind anyone and everyone that he was the only trained trauma surgeon they had.

"We're good, though," she said, deciding she was absolutely not going to mention how tiring it was to basically be Nick's caretaker, on top of everything else she had to do. "I mean. The end of the world is not going to break us up. We are remarkably stable. How's Billy?"

Deflect, deflect, deflect.

Tallulah nodded in agreement - she definitely knew how little personal time they all had these days. There was very little opportunity for leisure in wartime, and especially not as a medical officer. And Ladon and Billy... they'd both taken a serious pay cut, so to speak, to come over and serve order. But she appreciated them for doing so. It was harder and harder to convince people to leave the winning side.

"Mmm-hmm," she nodded in agreement, adjusting her scrub top one last time with the intention to get back to work in a moment. "Sounds like you have some fun plans." Maybe she should plan a fun weekend away for her and Nick. Not that... not that there was anywhere to go.

Tallulah smiled a bit apologetically. "i'd better get back to work," she said. "But keep me updated about the dog? And thank you so much for stopping in."