Private Volunteer Shift

[Amani Serys]

Though the number of healers had increased since Amani first joined the Order, there was always a sense that they could do with more. Whether patching up Jedi, or taking in transfers from Galactic City Medical, it never hurt to have a few extra hands on deck. Thankfully things had been relatively quiet since the last battle the NJO partook in, and a couple different padawans had either looked into the role of Healer as a path, or at least bothered to learn a thing or two about Force Healing for themselves. Anything to keep them out of the Halls as much as possible.

Amani was sitting behind the nurses station at the front of a lobby, reading (or more accurately, staring blankly) at a medical file on the datapad in front of her. The faint whirring of her medical droid usually had a pleasant white noise effect, but today it was becoming grating as she struggled to actually get any work done through a myriad of distractions. "Hey can you uh, go check on Room 3 for me?"

The droid spun to face her, and nodded, before walking off. Amani shook her head and made an effort to refocus, with minimal effect. The moment of peace and quiet was nonetheless appreciated.

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma had the night shift. While Amani sat staring at a screen, the little psy-pire was pushing a cart full of clean, folded sheets down the hallway. Earbuds playing an upbeat song were hidden underneath her hair. She silently mouthed the words as she went along, a spring in her step.

Looking around, it seemed that nobody else was there to watch her, and she wasn't exactly on a time limit. She got a little bit bolder with her dance moves, bouncing on the balls of her feet and waving her arms. Placing one foot on the edge of the cart, she pushed off with the other and went sailing down the hall.

Just in time to see that there was, in fact, some poor soul still sitting at the front desk.

Thelma quickly stepped down and smoothly transitioned back into calmly walking, pushing the cart along. She gave the Mirialan woman at the nurses' station a guileless smile as she passed, her face bright red with embarrassment.

Please don't get mad, please don't get mad, please don't get mad...

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani's continued unprogressive staring was distracted once more by the squeak of cart wheels down the main hall. Without budging her head, the healer lazily looked up to see a girl riding said cart, before noticing her right at around the same time. The embarrassment on the padawan's face was clear to see, and Amani could barely hide an amused grin curling at her lips. It certainly made the dull night a bit more entertaining.

Still, she probably had to say something, right? Amani let the girl continue to walk past while she mulled it over, before abruptly asking, "…How long have you been working here?" She'd never seen this girl before. Well, at least not in the Halls. But Amani also wasn't consistently here during the night shift, having allotted it to Master Raine some time ago. Anybody bothering to help out in the Halls was at least worth meeting.

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

"…How long have you been working here?"

Aw, man...

"Not long," Thelma replied. "About a week."

So far she had managed to escape notice, existing only as a pair of helping hands. Just another errand girl with a face that was pleasant to look at, but easy to forget.

"I'm just a volunteer. I don't actually work here." Maybe that would soften the punishment for dancing and riding a cart through the halls?

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani nodded, as if impressed, "A volunteer?" She smiled slightly, "Technically we're all volunteers right? Being Jedi and all," Still, the meaning of what Thelma said was obvious, "Still, I appreciate the help from anyone willing to offer it." The mirialan had completely forgotten about the faux pas with the cart. Then again she wasn't really intending to reprimand her all that much anyway.

"Sorry- I'm the Chief Healer. Amani," She smiled more widely now, realizing she hadn't actually introduced herself, "You are?"

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

"Uh..." Thelma didn't really know what to say. She certainly didn't value herself as highly as the Jedi Healers. "...you mean you don't get paid to do this?"

Thelma fidgeted with the cart, unused to being praised. "Thanks," she mumbled without looking at Amani. "I know who you are. You're the boss around here. Um. I'm Thelma."

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani grew a wry smirk, "Only the standard Jedi fare," Certainly not the salary of a board-certified physician. Maybe one of these days that would be something to look into. Then again between the accommodations of the Order, and her fiancé's royal status, destitution was likely never going to be a concern for her again.

For some reason, being recognized was still something that Amani was always mildly surprised by. At this point most members of the NJO should theoretically be aware of her station, even without spending their free time in the medical wing, "Right," She nodded. The girl introduced herself, "Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Thelma. If you don't mind my asking… Whatcha listening to that's got you moving?"

Amani grinned, allowing herself just a bit of teasing, before she raised a palm up, "More seriously- Why here? Just passing the time?" Her tone was curious. Most padawans would find more entertaining ways to enjoy their evenings.

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

"So... room and board, and that's it?" At least, that's what seemed to be the case for most Jedi. No matter how hard they worked, they were obligated to do it for free.

"Well, it's nice to officially meet you, Thelma. If you don't mind my asking… Whatcha listening to that's got you moving?"

"Just some oldies," she replied shyly. "You know, the wholesome fun stuff." Maybe that wasn't a very interesting answer, but then Thelma was far from the best conversationalist in the galaxy.

Her response to Amani's next question only proved it further. "They gave me a list of volunteer work to choose from as part of my Padawan training, and helping out in a medical center was one of them." This was a very literal answer that revealed nothing about why she had made her decision. She realized that belatedly, and quickly added, "Uh, it sounded better than the other choices. To me, at least."

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

"Preeetty much," Amani shrugged, having clearly made peace with the idea a long time ago. Such was the way of many Jedi. She grinned when Thelma admitted to the music she listened to. The mirialan was free of judgement, in part because she found it similarly agreeable, "Good taste, then."

More surprising, was that Thelma chose to help out in the halls, rather than anywhere else. Of her own free will? Amani's eyes sparkled, "Really?" Before she could inquire further, her datapad buzzed aggressively. "Damn. Got a transfer coming in from Coruscant General," She looked around, realizing that she didn't have much other assistance at the moment. She then looked at Thelma, "...Would you… like to help me?"

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

With Amani having business to attend to, Thelma figured the conversation was over. She started to push the cart away.

"...Would you… like to help me?"

"Uh... is that allowed?" Thelma asked tentatively. After all, she had been assigned duties already. Granted, Amani was high-ranking enough that she could probably overrule those orders, but... well, did she want to help? "I... I guess? Sure."

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Chief Healer Amani just gave her an amused look. It was as allowed as she wanted it to be. The mirialan gave Thelma some reassurance, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna have you performing invasive surgery or anything. Just need you to be… an assistant. Basically." She ushered for the padawan to follow, leading down to a small receiving bay at the far end of the Healing Halls. There, a medical droid was waiting, with a hovering stretcher that had just arrived. "What do we have?"

"Shrapnel damage. Left arm. Face."

"Shrapnel?"

"Factory explosion. Overloaded machinery. Isolated incident. The rest of the factory and staff remain unharmed."

"Well, get him into the ward and let's get started."

The droid pushed the stretcher into one of the surgical rooms, laying the unconscious patient on a bed and administered a gas that would keep him that way for the procedure's duration. Amani turned back to Thelma and nodded, "Still good?" She wouldn't judge if the girl was nervous, but it would be decent exposure if she was up to the task.

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

An assistant. Right.

Thelma followed Amani's lead. The new patient, a man who had been injured in a factory explosion, was being hovered in on a floating stretcher.

Focused on the man's injuries, Thelma took a few seconds to respond to Amani's question. "Huh?" she asked, not sure what the Chief Healer meant. Clearly Thelma wasn't squeamish about the sight of blood and gore.

"What do you need me to do?"

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani nodded, taking a mental note of Thelma's reaction (or lack thereof). It worked well for their purposes, anyway. She stepped up to the stretcher to check the patient's vitals, and without looking pointed towards the opposite wall of the room, "Well, you can start by wheeling over that surgical tray to me. It should have most of the tools already on it."

"Then-" The healer waited a moment for Thelma to bring over the trolley, before grabbing a clunky, handheld device of some kind, "You can hold this for me. It'll scan wherever you point and tell us where the shrapnel is," Freeing up Amani to work on the actual surgery. She grabbed a pair of tweezers and pliers, then looked to the padawan, "Ready?"

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma did as Amani ordered, pushing the surgical tray across the room and then holding the bulky scanner with ease. Though a small creature, she possessed great physical strength.

"Ready," she echoed. "Uh... where do I point this thing?"

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani blinked, and looked back at Thelma. It seemed rather obvious to the healer, but then again, it was her job, "...Oh. Well, we'll start with his face," She pointed at the man with her scalpel. Thankfully, his face seemed to receive less of the direct impact of the explosion, having notably less lacerations than his arm. Both had largely stopped bleeding, thankfully, due to the work of his previous caretakers.

In any case, it would be more important to check his face and head first, in the event of any undiagnosed damage in need of their attention, "Tell me what you find."

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma aimed the scanner at the patient's face. Amani's next instructions were a little less clear. "Uh... I see... squiggly lines?" she replied. The scanner display showed the outlines of embedded shrapnel as such.

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani leaned back to get a look at the screen, and nodded, "That's the shrapnel. That's what we're looking for," A second monitor by the bed streamed the same information back to her, keeping the surgeon from constantly looking back and forth.

She leaned in with the tweezers, prying the smaller cuts open with gloved fingers to better expose the foreign metal, extracting them one piece at a time, "Once we get to the arm, we'll likely be leaving in some of the smaller fragments. Every now and then you'll get some that'll cause more trouble trying to take out than just keeping them where they are. But the big ones obviously gotta go. And we can't really heal all the cuts until we've gotten the metal out of them first."

Some of it might have seemed obvious, but relying too much on assumptions and conjecture didn't make for an effective teacher. Better to state it all outright, as she had to keep reminding herself.

Each bit of shrapnel was dropped into a surgical tray with a soft clink, and before long his face was just about cleaned up. Amani wiped off a bit of blood from his cheek, then looked to Thelma again, "Do you have any experience with Force healing?"

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Right. She knew that. Totally.

"Er, sort of?" Thelma replied, thinking of the "little trick" with the Force her father had taught her to swiftly heal the bite marks their feedings left behind. "I've healed small wounds before..."

Amani Serys​

 

[Amani Serys]

Amani studied Thelma's response, before shrugging, "Would you like to try more?" She raised a palm towards the man's face, "I'll help you through it, of course."

In a more mundane setting, the idea of practicing medical skills on a live patient would probably be grounds for a revoked license and more. But here, they needn't worry much about Thelma's success. There wasn't really anything she could do in the process that would make things worse. And Force Healing could only be properly applied to biological tissue. This was about as simple as field training got for a Jedi Healer.

Thelma Goth​

 

[Thelma Goth]

Thelma felt a rush of excitement, but also reluctance. What if she screwed up? She wasn't sure how she felt about potentially having someone else's life in her hands. Granted, this patient's injuries weren't life-threatening, but she could sense that this was the door to more. Once she opened the door, she would be opening herself to healing others.

Well, what else was she going to do with her life? Sew clothes all day long? Heh, maybe if she started charging for it.

"Okay," she said at last. A little bit uncertain, but willing to try. "Let's do it."

Amani Serys​