Entertain The Patients ▲ Job, Private

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

She always managed to go for jobs that involved hospitals, it was with this job that she finally realized it. She didn't know why exactly. She was never a fan of hospitals to begin with, being in them quite often as a child due to her family having horrible health problems in the past. But if she had to choose between fighting some monster or a calm and peaceful job like this she would rather go with the latter.
But that wasn't the main problem, she had already done her fair share of jobs that involved fighting some monstrous creatures. Astrid didn't normally have too much of a problem with them. The idea of entertaining sad kids in a hospital just appealed to her more. It felt like her talent was going to be more use there than on any battle field. After all any mage can fight off a few bandits if they put in enough effort, but making people happy with their magic? Not many could do that.

Astrid stood at the closed door to the children's ward, pink violin case in her grasp. She hesitated, nodding to herself as if to confirm so sort of internal plan inside her head before she pushed open the metal twin doors into the room.

214 words ● @tag ● 1/10 posts

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

The room was narrow and long in shape, almost like how a hallway should look. Each bed spread out next to each other, a child sat upon each of them. Exactly like how you'd expect a hospital room to be, except it looked like the staff had tried to make it a little more comfortable for the children to be in. The sheets were various pastel colors, the walls painted with cartoon animals, and toys were spread out across the floor.
Some children were laid out on their beds, either laying back by themselves or talking to the others. The rest sat upon the floor, also talking or playing with toys.
No matter where they were placed in the long room each one of their eyes landed on Astrid almost immediately as she stepped through the doors, shining curiously as the room fell silent and all activity stopped.
The violinist blinked, looking over the room. It took a few moments of staring before Astrid remember exactly where she was and what she was suppose to be doing. Shaking her head to make herself concentrate she gave a bright smile, bringing her hands to the middle of her body.
"Hello everyone. I'm Astrid, nice to meet you all. Since your regular entertainment can no longer come i've taken up the task myself." She paused to let it all sink in, scanning their faces. A few looked at the others, though most of them were still silent and looking towards her.
"Now, you know my name... How about all of yours? I'd love to get to know each and every one of you before the fun begins."

Each one of the children called to her what their names were one at a time, some more enthusiastically than others. She needed at each one, taking the time to try and match faces and names.
After the introductions were done she gave a smaller smile, blinking softly.
"Now..." she bent down to their small height, clapping her hands together.
"What shall we do?"

343 words ● @tag ● 2/10 - 3/10 posts

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

"You've gotta pull the string here, like this." The young girl instructed as she twisted her fingers within the rope, small tongue sticking out as she concentrated. Astrid watched with wide eyes as the child's tiny handles wobbled, weaving her fingers together and hooking them with the smooth string. She had never heard of this thing called a Cat's Cradle, but it was apparently very popular with children these days. All you needed as a piece of string and hands, it was very simple. Well, it at least seemed very simple. But now that she was doing it herself it was harder than she thought.
The musician tried to keep up with her instructions, but her hands were moving so fast she barely had any time to make sure she was doing it right.
"And... done" the child smiled, holding up her finished product, the green string tucked in correctly in all the right places, the pattern net-like in shape and symmetrical. The child's bright brown gaze looked over to Astrid's fingers, the red string dangling across her fingers loosely, eyebrows furrowing. Astrid gave an apologetic expression, a laugh humming through her nose.

"Looks like i'm not as good at Cat Cradle's as you. That's pretty impressive, Shannon." She studied the finished product of the child's admiring the handy work.

"Maybe if they weren't so stupid they'd be easier to do." A boy next to them stood across from the bed, arms over his chest as he leaned backwards, offering the two girls a teasing smile.
Shannon looked over to him with a hard gaze, sticking her tongue out and puffing her cheeks out angrily.

"No one asked you, Cameron! Mom said if you didn't stop being mean to me she wouldn't buy you ice cream when she comes to visit!" The girl's words apparently had a lot of impact, as soon as she said them the boy's green eyes widened, pausing to open his mouth before closing shut, looking to the side and muttering to himself under his breath before wandering away.
Watching the reaction Astrid chuckled, looking as the boy left before her soft gaze settled back on Shannon.

"Your brother, i assume?" She asked, head tilting to the side. Shannon shrugged her shoulders back, fiddling with the string between her fingers. "Yeah, siblings can we a handful, can't they?" She had her fair share of trouble with Lucius. Though of course his troubles were more deadly than any other annoying brother could do, so it was a little bit different than Shannon and Cameron's situation. However his bloody past time had never torn the two apart. It was probably actually the reason they were so close to each other. She had to keep an eye on him, and having spent so much time with him she had gotten past his cold outside and got to see his softer side.
"But you know what?" Astrid paused, twirling the red thread between her thumb and index finger. "No matter how annoying they may be they're still family. And it takes more than annoying words to break a family's bond. A family bond is unbreakable. My own crazy brother can be quite hard to handle some times... But he always manages to pull through when i need him."
Though Shannon didn't look up, she still nodded, a small smile replacing her frown.

"Yeah... I guess..."

"Hmm..." Having spent the last five minutes trying to untangle herself from her string's clutches Astrid lifted her hands up, revealing her messy, trapped hands. Shannon widened her eyes before letting out a snort, reaching out her hands to try unraveling the mage's creation.
"Wanna try showing me how to do a Cat's Cradle again?..."
The brown haired child nodded.

"Of course... But only if you tell me some stories of your 'crazy' brother while i do it~"

643 words ● @tag ● 4/10 - 5/10 - 6/10 - 7/10 posts

And while you are sitting indoors
waiting for the storm to pass
I will be outside dancing in the rain

❧

It had been a long day of entertaining. From telling stories to the children about her adventures as a mage to playing their made up games there had barely been time to breath. Not that she minded much, the little ones had kept her so busy she couldn't even tell just how exhausted she was. She didn't even realize it was almost time to go until she had looked at the clock. But she could not leave yet. No. There was still one thing she wanted to do. The one thing she always did. Her special talent.

Two golden rabbits leapt across the room in the air, shining as they left shining trails of light in the wake. The children looked up in wonder at them, mouths gaped open as they let out amazed oo's and ah's. One boy reached up to try and touch it as he knelt on the bed, though the light-made creature just barely scraped the tips of his fingers, causing the rabbit to fade through them and continue it's steady stride. Astrid continued playing her violin, rubbing the bow vigorously across the strings as it hummed a quiet, cheerful tune.
It was a lovely way to end the job, each child tired out from a day of play, sitting on their beds with the lights turned off and curtains shut, letting them enjoy the full extent of her magic as they fell asleep to a calming tune.
Astrid's violin glowed with each stroke, allowing the melody to become sweeter and sweeter.
Finally, as the song started to fade the two bunnies collided into each other in the center of the room, exploding on contact into sprinkles of light across the room, falling delicately to the ground. The children clapped and laughed as they reached up to touch it, the light fizzling in their hands before it faded away.
Reaching her hands over to flip the switch of the light Astrid took a second to take in the children's happy faces, breathing in a content breath. She had done her job. They were happy.
Placing the violin and bow back into the sticker-filled case she clicked the locks back down to lock it.
Turning in place she met the children's gazes once again, bending forward to give a formal bow to them. They clapped once more as she popped back up, listening to their cheers.

"That was cute!"

"Where'd the light come from?"

"I wanna be a mage too!"

"You'll come see us again miss lady, wont you?"

"Why of course i will" Astrid nodded, a smile plastered onto her lips. She would love to come back some time and help again, even if it was just for a little bit. She enjoyed all of their company, and since they were such good listeners, they would also be a good crowd to practice her playing for.
Picking up the handle of her case Astrid offered them a wave and a chippy "goodbye", each child returning it and yelling a good bye before as pushed open the door.
Once the twin doors closed behind her the mage leaned against their smooth surface, slumping her back, letting out a deep breath and placing a hand upon her forehead. That had taken a lot out of her... Such a strange thing. She had done way more work than that before... Maybe she should start working on her stamina more. She'd ask Elyx about it when she got home.

Blinking upwards she pushed herself from the door, her hands intertwining themselves together behind her back as she she walked towards the entrance to collect her rewards.

602 words ● @tag ● 8/10 - 9/10 - 10/10 posts (finish)