Most people disliked Mondays. Arcturus did not - this would make him a blasphemy to many, he was sure! - but he understood why he was an outlier all too well. Not so long ago he was trying to sleep constantly because of the stress and anxiety of having to deal with the world, and after that not-too-great period of his life he wasn't about to make light of people's dislike of having life disruptions.

With that said, he was definitely not a fan of night shift Mondays and this was one of them. Arcturus had been hoping for a quiet night, but an emergency had come in shortly after his shift had started and now he was buzzing with energy. He'd sorted everything out as efficiently as possible, had his patient notes under one arm, dealt with tasks and made sure that the staff in the teams around knew where he was and what they needed to do. If there was an emergency later, he was ready.

The last patient on his list was noted to be comatose but still needed a light check-in to ensure the day team had had everything sorted. Hallways deserted and empty, he headed noiselessly towards the long-term ward, flask at his hip as always. A quick glance at the notes affirmed he was at the right room; he opened the door with a soft click, careful to not wake the patient in case the woman had recovered and was asleep instead, and let his eyes adjust to the dimmer light in the room.

Light?

He narrowed his eyes at the silhouette in the room. Distinctly familiar build and height-- oh, it was the healer from Creature Injuries Elixa had mentioned to him. Arcturus had seen him around but hadn't had the time to make his acquaintance, having had not much reason to go anywhere near that floor in a while or socialise while not being adequately equipped to deal with such situations. All he could remember was that the man's name was Robin; he couldn't for the life of him remember his last name. Blast.

"Excuse me." He'd nearly made it into a question before realising at the last moment how snippy it came off and decided that really wasn't appropriate for a colleague he didn't know. "Do you have permission to be here? I don't recall seeing Creature Injuries associated with any recent patients on this floor."

He told himself that he was satisfying a curiousity.

Coming into work earlier this evening, Robin had caught a glimpse of a familiar face[1] - one he had interrupted by accident over a week ago[2] now. At the time he'd thought nothing of it; but then he had found out, chatting to some colleagues, that Fudge wasn't the patient's Healer.

What had she been doing that night? It nagged at his thoughts uselessly. There could be a million reasons. Maybe she was checking on him for someone, maybe she was interested in the case. He'd forgotten all about it until now.

So he had drawn up next to her in a breakroom, on the pretext of looking for another colleague while she was talking to a Mediwitch about recent admissions. Robin plucked a name from their conversation - a name that led him here, to yet another comatose patient. That seemed too much like coincidence. Why was she so interested in these cases?

He studied the patient's clipboard and continued to do so as he heard the door open behind him.

         "Excuse me."

That wasn't Fudge's voice. Great, now he was coming off as suspicious. Robin turned, recognising a wizard he sometimes saw round St.Mungo's. A third floor Healer then.

"Then you've a good memory," he returned the clipboard to the end of the bed and smiled in greeting. "Healer Louvelle, call me Robin."

A hand extended, as friendly and forward as the smile. "I'm just..." he laughed, uncertain. "This is going to sound random. I was just wondering if there's anything strange about this patient's condition? Anything unusual?"

1.	Healer Elliot Fudge
2.	5th Oct - Good Deeds Sow Seeds

Arcturus took his hand in a firm, friendly handshake. "Healer Hollingbury. Heard and seen you around but didn't quite catch your name until now. Good to finally get the name right." He chuckled, though the smile on his face dissipated at the question to give way to a serious countenance. He looked over at the sleeping patient before glancing at his notes.

"Everything," he said, eventually. A quick glance at Robin's expression made him add, "Yes, that's the strange part. She was admitted to the floor for ingesting an excessive dose of somnus nettle for insomnia. Choice of barbiturate aside, our remedy should have had her back on her feet over three days or so but instead she slipped further into deeper slumber instead. I've done a couple of blood tests to confirm that the overdose has been dealt with."

He looked back at her contemplatively. "She's clean as far as we can tell with enough extensive testing, yet she still sleeps. We've not dared wake her in case it might be something else, but as of the past week we've yet to be able to find the cause. Or at least that's what we know for now - I'm not her healer. Last I heard they were planning to rouse her soon enough after one final check-up and blood pass."

Arcturus angled his head to one side in curiosity, looking at him - it was a little easier to look up that way. "Is there something you're concerned with or intending to ask after? I can try to help; with any luck I won't get called away abruptly."

He was pleased not to hear a reprisal of the initial tone, and reassured by Hollingbury's willingness to answer his questions.

Robin had read the patient notes and been confused by exactly what the other Healer now described - the witch should very well be conscious. He wondered if the patient he'd read to the other night was also in a similiar situation. Unexplained stasis. Waking up a comatose patient was not lightly done, he didn't envy the patient's actual Healer.

       "I can try to help; with any luck I won't get called away abruptly."

The offer was unexpected and Robin couldn't help laughing a little. "You must be in quite some demand," he remarked, "if it takes luck on my side."

Of course there were probably more plant and poisoning cases than Creatures. It was a lot easier to accidentally ingest something than to wander into a Hippogriff ranch with the wrong attitude.

"It's not serious or anything..." Robin trailed off, scratching his scruff thoughtfully. "Just that I saw one of our, um, colleagues with a patient that wasn't hers. Acting kinda funny. And she was asking about this lady here, earlier. Both comatose."

Saying that out loud dispelled his suspicions. The whole line of thought came off as asinine when he heard himself explain it. "I guess I was wondering what got her so curious."

Maybe Fudge was studying unexplained comas. They all had their medical interests, though his own were more gory; all blood and bone and sinew.

"Which colleague would that be, do you know?" Even as he checked his notes once more he already knew who was on the roster for this patient specifically. Robin might have been joking about Arcturus' ability to remember, but when it came to patients Arcturus committed to memory what was necessary right down to the tiniest detail, even if it wasn't his patients.

His notes were not that comprehensive; Arcturus strode further in and retrieved the clipboard, examining it. "No healer from off this floor signed off and the list appears to be in order. We don't normally make case studies of patients under intensive care either, especially not without their consent and Miss Farnesworth here is certainly in no position to give consent."

Arcturus slid the clipboard back. "Not to mention this is a very recent case indeed. Only healers on this floor would know of her situation." Oh, he did know about the underlying discussions about a cross-disciplinary consultation - he had been a part of them - but the rest of that information was not privy to any healer off Poisoning.

"'Acting kinda funny', huh..." His eyes narrowed, brow lowered and furrowed. "I haven't been in the vicinity of late to notice anything out of place. Hmm."

Arcturus glanced at the door. Something felt somewhat off. "Excuse me a moment." He turned on his heel without waiting for Robin to answer and stepped to the doorway, leaning out to glance down the corridor.

The long hallway spared no mercy to any errant soul who decided to walk along it. The figure walking down it was no exception. Any healer who was supposed to be there would have continued walking, but before Arc could get a good look it hastily took a hard left into a hallway branching off, robes whipping around the corner. Arc continued to lean out of the doorway for a moment to see if the figure would peek back, but nothing. It had definitely been feminine in nature, but that was all he had managed to see.

He pulled himself back into the room. "It's one thing to have a hunch," he said to Robin, looking back at him, "but it's another to see a healer acting suspicious and I've had quite enough of hospital-related incidents[1] to want to investigate this pre-emptively, or I'll never rest. What exactly do you know?"

1.	Alluding to a certain incident of contaminated supplies at the hospital...

"Uh," he watched the other man focus on the matter at hand with startling speed. "Elliot. Said her name was Elliot Fudge. Older lady, greyish blond, almost kinda butch?"

The description came off the top of his head but Robin thought it was pretty accurate. It was beginning to sound like his suspicions weren't leading anywhere, save for maybe a fellow Healer who wasn't abiding by typical hospital boundaries. He was still learning those himself. When you spend most of your career moving from clinic to clinic, the rules and policies blurred together.

Where he'd come from, Healers with statement hair colors like Hollingbury's were pretty normal. Nobody really cared if you looked too punk or unprofessional in those places.

He wanted to ask about it, out of the blue, but then Hollingbury was suddenly stepping out. Robin heard the retreating steps belatedly. Shit.

"I've told you prett much all I know," he replied when the other Healer returned full of renewed interest and concern. "Caught her with a comatose patient on this floor, a wizard. I'll get you his name later."

Robin glanced at the woman in the bed, sighing. "Heard Fudge asking about this one. That's all I got for you. I'm not really..." he shrugged. "Detective material, sorry. And I'm new here. But I'd feel a lot better if I know someone's looking into this."

Someone who would take it seriously. And Hollingbury definitely seemed to be doing that.

Arcturus frowned at the name. It was one thing for a new Healer to give an accusation of a senior Healer. But it was entirely another if there was evidence of said senior Healer interfering with other patients. He turned his gaze away for the moment to think, brow furrowed as he mulled over this, keeping his eyes aimed elsewhere in case Robin could see he had his doubts.

"...Normally this could be cleared up with a quick consultation with the person in question, but I don't need to read the room to know that you'd prefer not to," he replied eventually, "and you have a valid reason that I'll heed. But I also can't ignore that this is more than just a serious matter to look into. You're new, yes, but if I disregarded anyone's statements without any reason then I wouldn't be in this profession nor would I deserve to be."

He lifted his head. "I can look into it for you. Can't promise anything quick and if it's just empty air I advise dropping it faster than a hot potato, but if what you say is true then... well." Arc paused for a moment. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. Please do let me know about the other patient you mentioned - the wizard, was it? I can look into that."

Arc hesitated for a moment.

"Would you want to be kept up to date on it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hollingbury was a serious wizard, he thought, partly impressed and partly disconcerted by the 1-100 energy. Robin often stumbled into things - without the intention of giving a subject gravity. And it would be a huge misstep for a new Healer if Elliot Fudge was simply an eccentric, and he had cast undue suspicion on her reputation.

       "I can look into it for you..."

He nearly sighed in relief, opting to smile in gratitude instead. That was a load off his mind. Everything was still new to him here and he wasn't yet as sociable with as many colleagues as he initially hoped.

"Yeah, sure," Robin agreed to being kept updated. "Just shoot me a memo on thre--"

His badge was being flagged; a patient. "Speaking of which. Looks like I'd better see to my actual duties," he muttered with a dry laugh as he touched the badge to indicate acknowledgement.

Not wanting to be abrupt, he offered a parting handshake. "Thanks again. Really glad we met."

Robin didn't need to finish his words; Arcturus was already nodding before he got cut off. He knew Louvelle was new; he'd heard about it down the grapevine but work had demanded most of his time. What little of it that was not dominated by the hospital was spent either at his lessons or literally just lying on the couch at home napping to the distant strains of the radio.

"I'll see to it. Go on and get to your patients now." He tilted his head in the direction of the door. "My floor, my responsibility. Good to have met you too, Robin."