Welcome to Gaia! ::

Huh. So far, so good.

Leslie glanced around, taking in the sights. Everyone sure was in a s**t state-- his own desires for revenge had manifested in him curled up into the fetal position, biting at his hands to keep from screaming. He'd wanted to go off island, to go to his family and hurt the ones that had hurt him, and instead he'd gotten lost in the visions, furious and seething.

In retrospect, maybe that had been for the best.

"Uh," Leslie said, intelligently, pointing at a random sucker with glass all over and clutching their right hand. "That one?"

It was so much better being the a*****e nurse with no bedside manner, instead of being on the receiving end of that kind of care.

--

Christ, Leslie was tired. His hand hurt-- it was mostly healed up, but it was that or write even worse chicken scratch with his left hand.

"Oh give it a ******** rest," he snapped, elbowing Jack hard in the ribs. Which is to say, probably around his hips instead, given the height difference. Listen. It wasn't his fault. "It's, sort of, kind of neater when my hand's not ********. I also know it's alphabetical order, you twatwaffle. Christ. Do you sort your books alphabetical order, too?"

He scooped up the files, and went about disseminating them to the appropriate cabinets. Ugh. His back hurt, too, from leaning over to write on a hard surface, since he had to use extra pressure with his right hand while it was injured. Mostly so the letters would be even remotely legible.

"Thank ********," Leslie muttered. "I'm ********' free."

"Yeah yeah yeah. Whatever. For the first three months I skipped literally every ******** duty and still have a hard time remembering my division." Leslie shrugged, taking a different sink, doing a thorough but not-as-thorough-as-Jack kinda ******** yeah better than bedpans. I hope Sunny doesn't forbade me from helping you out or some s**t, she's an evil b***h. Evil."

(An evil b***h he trusted. An evil b***h he'd seen in a world where he'd been more than the sum of his broken parts. A world where he was capable of good.)

He took a moment to pause. "Why the ******** are you in Life division, anyway? You like surgery and s**t?"

Leslie flipped Jack the finger with both hands, even if one was limited by most of a brace.

He sure as ******** wasn't telling Jack the real reason. Well, one of them. But telling him why he was singled out would be fine: it was something he'd come to terms with a long time ago.

"There wasn't anyone to miss me," he said, blunt. "I'd already dropped out and s**t. This place is a step up, even if I did have to endure the ******** basement."

Rolling his eyes, Leslie tugged off the scrubs, revealing shabby, too-baggy clothing underneath. He then promptly ruined the effect of hand-washing by shoving his hands promptly into his jean pockets.

"You could learn to be more specific then, jesus christ." Leslie just shrugged. "I came in and asked, how the ******** do you think?"

Okay, that wasn't entirely accurate. The first nurses had thought the same thing Jack did, and Sunny had thought he was a junkie, and the fact that he had to get subdued by an orderly didn't help his case much. But, for some reason, somehow, she'd said okay. And been a b***h. And he'd been a b***h back. It was fine.

"For the rest, well, for one it's none of your ******** business, but." It was only fair. Jack had explained, basic as it had been. It wasn't Jack's fault that the answer laid in Wonderland. "Two, Sunny's a right c**t but this gig helps keep the island running. LIke I said, I kinda like this place in comparison."

"Leslie, Mist. You gonna give me yours or is this some shitty attempt at trying to keep an upper ******** hand?"

If the giraffe had been close enough to elbow again, he would have. Instead, he gathered up his scrubs and kept his distance.

"No ******** way," he said, blunt. "Like ******** I want to be devoted to any one thing."

That sounded like work.

Leslie resisted the urge to draw his weapon. God. He should have just made s**t up, or used his middle name-- but Sunny and the other nurses knew him by the first name, so the ruse would be up. It usually went better when he didn't try to hide it: the humiliation now and up front, rather than later.

"Even your name sounds douchey," he said, almost in awe. "I'm out of here. My next shift is in a few days, so I'm sure I'll be unfortunate enough to see your ******** face again."