milliways_bar | (no subject)

[oom: Time flies when you're having fun.]

Alex breathes out something like a sigh of relief upon finding Milliways on this side of the door. He could have kept going until he found a phone and seen the whole thing through as is, but it would be better all around if he has a few hours to recover first. Less people wondering what the hell kind of a trouble a ball boy could have gotten into.

His first priority, he guesses, is to get some towels and ice packs from the bar. For something like half the route, he's okay, if limping a little, but somewhere around the mid-point, he feels a wave of dizziness and decides that, actually, what he'd really like to do is sit down.

Now.

The lack of chairs doesn't really bother him; instead, he lets himself ~~fall~~ sit on the floor somewhat heavily and lower his head in the hopes of making the room spin a little less. What doesn't occur to him is that now, to the average observer, there's a fourteen-year-old boy covered in dirt and dust and bleeding from the back of his head (not to mention the scattering of wooden splinters all along his neck and back, and that's only what's currently visible) curled up on the floor.

What was he thinking earlier? Something about less questions?

[ooc: And closed to new threads unless I've poked you, I think. ♥ Alex'll be around for visiting soon.]

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"All right. If you're fine with me pulling the splinters by hand."

She's actually thought of a way to magic them away but it mostly involves her going Accio splinters! That would probably hurt more than each individual one will.

She waves the waitrat over again and requests some tweezers.

"I'm probably thinking the way I think at work too much," she comments. "When your daily job involves solving others' problems with magic, it becomes your hammer and everything starts to look like a nail. Do you know what I mean?"

Like how if your job involves snooping into others' business, you find yourself doing it in your off-hours and getting into even more shite? Yes, Alex knows that feeling.

"I think some of them are in my back."

Which means he should probably, um. Take his shirt off. Can we say awkward?

"Would you rather go to the infirmary?"

Because there's stranger awkward and then there's doctor stranger awkward. One of them is a more bearable awkward but that usually depends on how the person in question feels about doctors.

"I can help you over there if you like. And maybe take care of some of these splinters on your neck so taking your shirt off is easier there."

"Um. That might be a good idea."

After all, Alex has had nothing but reasonable experiences with doctor, and he'd sort of rather take care of this not in the middle of a crowded bar.

Mia's so used to Milliways, and bars in general actually thanks to Master Mel and Kyle, being safe havens that this sort of thing doesn't bother her in the least. It's certainly not the first time she's given someone first aid in the middle of a bar.

"All right. Up we go, then."

She stands up and offers her hand to help him up.

"We do have good doctors here. Amazing equipment, too. I'll show you the way."

"Thanks."

He gets up on his own (not so much a snub of her offer as just an automatic instinct to do things for himself) and follows along, carefully.

She doesn't feel snubbed. She just smiles, rolls her eyes a little, and thinks, Boys... as she leads him to the infirmary.

She idly wonders if Cepheus will be like this when he's a teenager. She concludes that the answer is most likely yes.

If she were to ask him, he would tell her he sincerely hopes that her son turns out nothing like him.

But she doesn't, so he follows in silence.