firestarter | NobaMaki

2. catch and burn

𝖈𝖆𝖙𝖈𝖍 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖇𝖚𝖗𝖓

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Nobara Kugisaki has been visiting patients' houses for quite a while but there has never been anything quite like the Zenin estate. She almost got lost on the way here. All of the roads are narrow, and she's lucky she looked at how to get here yesterday on her phone since her location started to not work the closer she got to the house.

The scenery leading to the house was gorgeous and she couldn't help looking at all of the tall trees and native wildflowers all over the area. She drove slower just to appreciate it a bit more. She'd have more chances to look at it if she was going to continue coming here once a week for a few months. That was just a general suggestion made by the doctors though, it could be more or less.

Between this patient and another, she's going to find herself spending less time at the clinic than normal. Her best friend and coworker, Yuuji was kind of her emotional support human and would help when patients would get overly frustrated and resort to fits of anger. He always managed to de-escalate a situation without making things worse. She liked to call him the human personification of a golden retriever.

Nobara never could judge patients for that kind of behavior, since she was well aware of their circumstances. Every one of them had a story and frustrations that came with being unable to use their body quite like they used to. Although she wouldn't have Yuuji, maybe it was a nice thing that she'd be in a much more secluded setting with just a single person. It was easier to take things at a slower pace that way.

Nobara looked over the file she was given yesterday over again. Just to make sure she knew the restrictions for now and the needs of her patient. If there was one thing she didn't mess with, it was her job.

Maki Zenin was a year older than her. The realization makes her kind of sad when she continues reading the file. She definitely needs to sort that out of her system, patients never want pity from her when she's just trying to teach them how to move properly again.

When she first started working, it was a minor challenge to guard her expressions so as to not make people uncomfortable. It became easy with time because the more you see the less of it is a shock to you. Yuuji never had trouble with this to begin with. She ended up learning that he actually had to take care of his grandfather as a teenager which helped him decide what he wanted to do as a job. Meanwhile, she chose this field because it was less school than nursing and she went to college for free for a specific student aid program for Physical Therapists.

Finally arriving at the door, she tries not to gape at the perfectly trimmed hedges and the clean exterior of the home. These people cleaned the outside of their house?! Only a minute or so after knocking, someone opens the door for her.

"Are you...the physical therapist?"

The immediate observation Nobara makes upon looking at her is that this woman is taller than her, she's got just barely longer than shoulder-length black hair, and a septum piercing. Nobara doesn't know what Maki Zenin looks like, but seeing as this woman answered the door, has no visible burns or difficultly walking, she figures this isn't her.

"Yes, for Maki Zenin?" Her voice matches the woman's unsureness a little. Clearly she's at the right place if they were expecting a physical therapist already. But maybe this person doesn't expect that person to look like her. She looks a little younger than her actual age and sometimes it was annoying with people thinking she wasn't qualified for this job.