★ 𝙰𝚕𝚕𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜 ★

✩ 𝓑𝓸𝓷𝓾𝓼 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 1 ✩

𝓐\𝓝: 𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓫𝓪𝓫𝓵𝔂 𝓫𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓫𝓸𝓷𝓾𝓼 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓹𝓾𝓫𝓵𝓲𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓷 𝓸𝓾𝓽, 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝔀𝓸𝓷'𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓷𝓽, 𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓘 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 2-3 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓮𝓭.

Astor's PoV:

Astor violently slammed the door to the treehouse and descended the steps, very aware of the stinging pain in his hand. This was literally why he hated Codey- how could one person manage to be that irresponsible and annoying?

He walked down the path, intending to head to the village, given he was already meant to be going there that day to help out at the Nurses' office.

The Nurses were helpful NPCs who lived in the village near the treehouse where they had all spawned. They were not unlike the Shopkeeper or the Librarian, who provided a service- that being healing- rather than just doing the usual, bland NPC activities of walking around mindlessly and greeting players.

He was rather lucky in the fact they had agreed to let him help out and learn some things from them, due in part to his knowledge of plants.  He got along well with those sorts of NPCs, he often found they had more common sense and good advice than most of the players.

Maybe that was due to the fact he sometimes didn't tell them the full story of what happened, but that couldn't truly do any harm.

After what felt like forever, he finally arrived at the pinkish-red door of the Nurses' office. The actual building itself was quite cute, actually, mainly pinkish-red with some white. He took a moment to appreciate the Nurses' taste before he entered, opening the door more calmly.

"Oh, hello, Astor." A voice greeted him from the other room, it sounded calm, if a little strained.
"Hello,  Nurse Clara." He replied, catching sight of himself in the mirror and trying to look less pissed off.
"What's wrong? You aren't in your uniform."
"Uh, yeah, because I'm injured."

Nurse Clara made her way across the tiled floor rather swiftly for a woman of her height
and build. She had a TV head with a display which would usually show vital signs, and she wore the usual uniform- a pink and white shirt with puff sleeves, and a white apron (used to store tools) over a long, pink skirt. Her skin was a dark shade of grey and she was more round in build compared to her wife, Nurse Molly.

Molly had a heart-shaped head and wore the same uniform- she was slightly taller and thinner, and her skirt was a little shorter, however. She had a syringe tail and she wore gloves. Her skin was a darker shade of grey than her wife's, and she was a lot more quiet and relaxed than her wife.

Clara spoke, "Is it your powers playing up again? Did you get into an accident?"

"Both." Astor replied sharply, not in the mood for questions. "I accidentally summoned a toaster while I was attempting to fend off a hell ferret. And it landed on my hand."

He showed Clara his hand, which was rather well bandaged, if he did say so himself.

"What actually happened, then?" Molly asked; her voice was more quiet and with a slightly deeper tone than her wife's.

"So, as I mentioned earlier, a certain someone put a hell ferret into my room, and it not only wrecked my room, but it also bit and scratched me. Thankfully, Walter managed to help me get it out, because he has the keys to my room."
"Was the certain someone your friend, Codey? He does like bringing in Void creatures." Clara asked.

"Clara - I mean Nurse Clara, Codey is not my friend. And do you mean to imply he has brought in more of those disgusting things?" Astor's tone rose at the end of his sentence as he stood facing the Nurses.

Astor's tone turned from sounding rather aggressive to appreciative as he spoke more about Walter. "But Walter, at least, is a great friend, I'm lucky to have him."

"So you are. If he hadn't helped you remove the creature, you could have come off far worse." Clara commented, Molly nodding in agreement. "The cuts and bites don't seem infected, you did a good job at cleaning and bandaging them."

"Thank you for teaching me. And for letting me help you out." Astor looked down as he mentioned this.

"It's no problem, we're quite happy to have you. You've been a great help. Well, if you're ready then you should be good to go. You don't need to work today, given your injuries. Although you've done well, I recommend staying away from anything too physical."

Astor tried not to look too pleased as he left, thanking the Nurses on the way. This was exactly what he had wanted. This way he didn't have to do so much around the house- although it wasn't like anyone but Walter would do a competent job without him.

He considered going on one of his daily walks, but they had said not to do anything too physical. He did deserve a break, and after all, who knows what Codey would be doing in the house.

He continued walking, not even looking back at the path he usually took. Astor was actually in a decent mood for once; the Nurses were great to be around, and they actually knew what they were doing, unlike certain players. He had no clue whether they were truly NPCs, because they seemed so sentient, but they clearly weren't players.

That mood disappeared as soon as he had to climb up the steps with one hand. Seriously, why did all the bad stuff have to happen to him? He opened the door of the treehouse (which honestly looked quite bland to him- it could have done with some bows) and tried to mentally prepare himself.

"Oh, my God, are you kidding me?"