Side-Story – Tosh – Prologue – A Tosh A Day

"Are you really going to cry? In front of her?" Flarish asked, sounding as offended as he looked as he turned the boy's arm a bit.

The young lad had scales all over him, covered head to toe by them. They were so thick only a little bit of hair was on his head, peaking out between little sections in little tufts of red. Though he looked… a little outlandish, the pain and fear on his face was unmistakable. He glanced to our left, at the young girl peering at him from behind a door frame, then he hurriedly looked back at Flarish and shook his head.

"Then be a man already! Also it's done. You can go now," Flarish said, letting the boy's arm go.

The boy startled, expecting a jolt of pain to come from his arm falling to his lap… but obviously none came. He hurriedly glanced up and down, lifting his arm and shaking his hand in awe as he stared at it.

"See? Makes you feel really stupid now, doesn't it? Whining like a baby all that time," Flarish said, mocking the lad as he stood from his little rolling chair and stepped away from the bed.

"I… um…!" the boy wasn't sure what to say, or do, as he grabbed his elbow. He looked mystified on how he no longer hurt anymore.

"Next time catch your fall more gracefully," I said gently to the boy, who sniffed and nodded as I patted his back, as to get him off the table. Now that he was fine, his elbow set back into its socket, it was time he left. We had other tasks to address that were a tad more important than a young boy's roughhousing mishap.

Or at least, that was what I knew Flarish would say. Even though we didn't have anything else to really do. Maybe some paperwork, or to clean the office and check the stocks of inventory… but it wasn't as if we had anything pressing to attend to.

"Thanks doctors…!" the boy said happily as he hurried out of the room.

"Is it fixed!? Let me see!" the young girl's voice sounded a little too teasing as the two kids ran out of the office, laughing and talking as they did.

"Owch! Don't!" the boy shouted, his voice almost so shrill I had mistaken him for the girl at first. I frowned at the shriek, since it told me the girl had likely grabbed his arm. Probably roughly.

"Idiots," Flarish mumbled as he picked up a clipboard, likely to write down the information of our most recent patient. Others would have been shocked that he was doing it, and not making me his apprentice do such a troublesome task… but that was because they didn't really know the man. He was foul mouthed, and rude, but he was actually a very good doctor. A hard worker, who was by the book and would rather die than make even the smallest mistake. Even his setting of that boy's dislocated elbow had been so smooth it was humbling. The lad had been in a lot of pain, on the brink of weeping, yet he had set it without the lad even flinching. I could set a bone rather well, but could I do it so smoothly that even a young child on edge wouldn't notice the act as I did? I wasn't sure.

"Would you have done anything differently, Tosh?" Flarish asked as he kept writing on the little pad he was focused on.

I shifted a little, since I had been expecting such a question. Unlike Vim who taught by showing and doing, Flarish taught by making one compare their own thoughts and actions to those they'd seen and done. It felt more reactive than Vim's passive teaching, but honestly I liked it more. Vim kind of just… taught and taught, and sometimes you had difficulty keeping up and retaining what he was teaching because of how smoothly he did so. It felt like you didn't actually learn the knowledge, but was handed it on a golden platter. It was hard to explain, but that was how it felt.

Vim gave you the perfect answer.

Flarish made you find it yourself. And it was his method that made me actually feel confident I was learning correctly… though I'd always want to learn from Vim, if given a chance. Especially when you considered it was Vim who taught Flarish too.

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"A part of me wants to say that I would have done the annual check-up here and now, thanks to having the opportunity. But if we did that for every patient who visited us, we'd be overrun and lose track of it quickly," I said.

"And get incorrect data thanks to their conditions. His temperature, his reactions and bodily functions would have been altered thanks to his pain and stress. Giving you false information," Flarish noted.

Frowning at that, I nodded. He wasn't wrong… but wouldn't that be the case for any patient we saw? Even the ones who visited only for their annual check-up had issues, even if they didn't realize it. Everyone had something wrong with them, no matter how small or insignificant. It was why we were always busy, even though we really only had actual patients once every so often. Most of the time we dealt with little things, like that lad's broken… or rather dislocated, joint. The rest of the time we dealt with the elderly who were having weird feelings and pains, and mostly just wanted assurance they weren't about to pass out when standing up from their bed and keel over.

Although this was not the biggest location, it wasn't the smallest either. This village had almost five hundred members, each a different species and bloodline with their own unique traits and needs. So we spent more time just… examining people, than we did actually tending them. In a way that was a good thing, but in others it made me feel like I was spinning my wheels.

Thus why I had said what I had. It hadn't just been a way to take an opportunity presented, but to also simply have something to do. Something that wasn't making bandages, cleaning the building of dust and such trifling things.

I didn't voice such a thing though, since I figured he was speaking from experience. I wonder what Vim would have said here and now? Something told me Vim would have smirked, but said nothing.

Flarish sighed as he finished writing and put the clipboard down onto the desk. He turned to look at me, and I felt his knowing eyes study me in a way that made me feel a little self-conscious. Just what was he looking for when he looked at me like that, I wonder? Uncertainty? Confusion? Confidence, maybe?

"How long have you been here now, Tosh?" Flarish asked.

My eyes narrowed as I nodded. "This will be my seventh month, sir," I said. I knew he knew. So why was he asking such a thing?

Flarish nodded slowly as he crossed his arms. The taller and thin man suddenly looked a little imposing. As if he had suddenly gained fifty pounds of muscle, though he obviously hadn't.

Wonder what he was. His wife was some kind of bird. She was a pretty, lovely, thing… him though? He was a grouch, and always seemed angry at something. He had a permanent scowl on his face, even when he was flirting with his pretty wife. Maybe he was just old. Though maybe that was a bad reason to use. Since that didn't explain Vim. Vim was always easy going, almost too much so. And if the protector's old age wasn't enough to make one grouchy, how could any of our normal members have right to such a claim?

"Is uh… am I not learning well enough?" I dared to ask, since he didn't seem to be willing to continue the conversation himself.

"I did not say that, did I…? I'm just debating if it's time I allow you to start performing first aid without supervision. Vim had me doing it about a month in, and my wife in two. Seven should be enough for even a slow learner like you, but… well…" Flarish hummed as he pondered it, and I wanted to groan.

Either compliment me or insult me, but don't do it like that! If anything wasn't that a tell more of his teaching methods than it was my learning ability?

"Flari, honey, if you keep being so mean to the boy Vim won't ever bring you an apprentice again."

We both turned to greet his wife. The shorter woman smirked at me as she nodded, confident in what she'd just said, and then turned and walked away… heading deeper into the building.

Flarish huffed. "Such softness is what's poisoning our society. Soft boys who weep from a fall. Soft women not knowing calluses are what make strong men! Soft men who take too long to learn…! Hmph. Now soft husbands who can't argue with their wives! What is the world coming to, you think?" Flarish asked me.

I blinked and bit back a smile. "Vim once said the world was going to hell in a picnic basket. I don't know where hell is, or what a picnic is, but odds are it's as you say," I said.

"You've never had a picnic…?" Flarish asked, a little shocked.

It was my turn to be shocked too. Uh-oh. What was it? He was looking at me as if I was something weird. Not just stupid, slow learning or annoying… but actually weird! "Um… no?" I answered honestly. Just great. I just gave him something else to complain about! Not like he didn't already have a long list…!

The doctor sighed at me, shook his head, and then left the room… heading down the hall towards his wife. I hesitated at first, but decided to follow him… even if it meant a lecture. "Chloe! Pack a picnic basket!" he shouted.

Oh gods. Either I was about to be cast out and sent to this hell place or I was about to endure a ten hour learning session that would be full of choice words and disappointed huffs…

Honestly wasn't sure which was worse.

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