(Untitled)

[goingtodorking]

Karen thinks that if she was made for this much rain, she'd have gills or something. Like a fish. The trouble is, Karen Brockman isn't a fish. She's a grumpy little girl with wet hair and wet leggings and a small wet horse is trailing after her, his little trainers slipping on the wet floor. Karen took off her wellies by the front dor, because

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[giftless]

Edmund for one was accustomed to seeing animals you might think belong in a barn walking around indoors. You would be too if you lived large parts of your life in a country where animals spoke and considered themselves equal (if not sometimes better) to men. He had become somewhat disused to seeing it, because on the island of course none of the creatures were Talking Beasts and people had ideas about how sanitary animals could be. This is probably why it took him two glances to realize that ShorHor was not only in the Compound, which meant Karen was around, but unattended, which was odd. Talking Horses roamed unattended all the time, but regular miniature ponies did not.

"What's this, ShorHor?" he asked, walking closer to the animal. When he came close enough to share the animal's view, and saw Karen crying, he immediately quickened his step and joined her on the stairs. "Karen, are you alright? What happened?"

[goingtodorking]

"I slipped," says Karen, miserably, keeping her head tilted back in a vague attempt not to bleed on everything. She draws in a stuttery breath and looks up at Edmund, eyes brimming with tears. What she really wants is a hug, but she doesn't want to get blood on him.

"I...I think I banged my chin."

[giftless]

"I think you did," Edmund confirmed. He gave her a faint smile as he dug his handkerchief out from his pocket, kept miraculously mostly dry thanks to a heavy raincoat he had found.

Carefully, he pressed the bit of fabric to her chin. "Just put some pressure on it," he murmured, perhaps mostly to himself. "And we'll get you to the clinic to have someone check on it. After you've caught your breath, maybe?"

[goingtodorking]

She presses the handkerchief with trembling fingers against Edmund's and sniffs miserably.

"It's my stupid socks," she says.

[blissimmunity]

Joshua has little experience with children especially the young ones. Most of the Live Aboards were teenagers, though there were a few young children selected, likely it was a way to entice the parents. He's had even less experience with horses and miniature ponies. But he is a doctor and helping humanity is what he does. So when he finds a little girl crying on the stairs on his way for dry clothes, what else is there to do except help?

"Hey," he says soothingly. "You're okay. Let me take a look at your cut. I'm Joshua. I work in the clinic." He's just talking in hopes that it'll soothe her or distract her.

[goingtodorking]

At home, you're not supposed to talk to strangers, but the island's different, especially if she's in the compound. And he says he works in the clinic, which means he's a Doctor like Rollie. Karen weeps miserably and looks up at him, tears rolling fat down her cheeks.

"I slipped."

[blissimmunity]

"I'm sorry you slipped," he replies, more emotion in his voice than usual. He inclines her chin slightly to have a look and then examines her hands. "It's just a small cut. We can patch you up. Are you hurt anywhere else?"

[goingtodorking]

Karen sniffs and rubs the end of her nose with one bloody hand as he tips her head. She's going to try and be brave because she's a big girl. Even though her chin hurts.

She holds her hand out, showing him the scuffs on her palm.

"They're okay. Is ShorHor still there?"

[aminorkey]

"Oh, dear," Peter remarks as he comes upon a scene that truly looks as though it belongs in quite the tragic opera. Perhaps one of Mozart's more common works, but it does belong there. "Is something the matter, dear?" Peter asks worriedly -- partially worried because he sounds like a worried aunt in that very moment.

[goingtodorking]

"I slipped," says Karen, thoroughly miserable and keeping her head tilted back so that she doesn't bleed on everything, even though both hands are kind of a lost cause. "I think I hit my chin."

She hiccups a little sob, fat tears running down both cheeks.

[aminorkey]

"Oh, well, that's just not any good," Peter remarks, increasing the sympathy and the worry in his tone tenfold as he crouches down and offers her a gentle smile. "I'm Peter. What's your name?" he coaxes slightly.

[goingtodorking]

"Hello, Peter," says Karen, sniffing and looking down at her bloody hands and then back up to his face. "My name's Karen. And that's ShorHor up there. He's not very good with stairs."

[dumbassbastards]

When you're a doctor, it can really go one of two ways when it comes to kids. Either you're hyperaware of every symptom they display, or you're pretty blase about everything that doesn't involve coughing up a lung. Rollie definitely falls into the second category most of the time.

"Hey," he says, stopping two steps above where Karen's fallen to give her some space. "You gonna live, kid?"

Despite being largely unconcerned, except for wanting to clean her up to prevent infection, his voice is gentle.

[goingtodorking]

"I think so," says Karen, used to Rollie when she hurts herself by now. Shadow's always more worried than Rollie, although Karen never doubts that Rollie loves her.

"I think I hit my chin."

Fat tears roll down both cheeks, even though she's trying to be brave.

[dumbassbastards]

"Yeah, looks like," says Rollie. He wants to get that cleaned up most of all. "You want a hand upstairs to the clinic? You're not too big for me to carry. Yet. I hope."

[goingtodorking]

Karen thinks about that for a long moment. She's a big girl and, most of the time, she tries to act like it, but, a moment later, she holds out her arms.

"You can carry me."