Matteo left home with more than enough time to arrive at the designated meeting place before one o'clock. He gave himself so much time that he's arriving a good fifteen minutes before one - he doesn't like to be late. He figures, the sooner he gets there, the sooner this can be over.

He doesn't want to go to the hospital, see.
But he is anyway, which puzzles him a bit.

His hooves click softly and irregularly on the sidewalk as he limps to the corner. Anyone who didn't know that he was a faun would just think he was your average guy, twentyish, little to no fashion sense, curly dark hair stuffed under a hat, and probably concealing a pair of tap shoes beneath that disaster of a coat.

She's nervous and fluttery and wearing a bright sky blue coat with the hood up and she can't stop looking around, because even though it's daytime, Elm is still... well....

Uncomfortable.

She's also five minutes late.

He's found an unoccupied bench by a nice little cafe, and after dusting the snow off the seat, sits to wait. Altogether, Matteo has been waiting for about twenty minutes. He doesn't mind... much. He's just starting to get nervous, wondering whether she's going to show up or not. He doesn't wear a watch, otherwise he'd be slightly less worried about her not turning up.

And here's Sam.
Slowly, Matteo stands, and gives a hesitant sort of smile.

"Hi."

"Hey."

She is, if possible, even more subdued than usual.

"So. Hospital?"

Not feeling like one for words, apparently.

Maybe she'll relax a bit after they're off Elm.

"...Yeah," Matteo nods, his smile fading.

He takes a step, just one.

"Um. I was only there once... I don't know where it is," he admits sheepishly, "Do you?"

That gets a smile out of her.

"Phone book."

She wrote the address down.

She also has a map.

This is because otherwise, she would always be hopelessly lost in this city.

"Shall we?"

And off she, they, go.

They end up at the hospital. This shouldn't come as a surprise.

As they enter, Matteo has to stop himself from latching onto the Sam's sleeve. He's uncomfortable here, but he can't very well show the way to the doctor's office if he's lagging behind, now can he?

"Um,... this way," he mumbles, before wandering off down the hall. He takes one or two wrong turns, but eventually, they turn up at the right door. Matteo lifts a hand, hesitates,... knocks.

"Come in."

Alan is not entirely surprised to have someone knock at his door. (Somehow or other, it's been getting around that he's someone to turn to when one has an unspecified or difficult to handle affliction. He doesn't mind, of course.)

Besides, it's usually a welcome respite from the paperwork, unless the person at his door is his boss.

Er.

But Alan likes everybody, so we won't get into that.

She opens the door.

She edges in.

Matteo, who has somehow managed to slip behind Sam since knocking on the door, follows after her. He still looks anxious, despite that peculiar calming feeling he's getting. He remembers it from last time, wonders what it is.

"Hi. Me again."
Matteo smiles apologetically and gives a small finger-wave to the doctor.
"Sorry to bother you."

Alan winces and resists the urge to put a hand to his ribcage. Ow.

"What in heaven's name happened?"

He can't remember Matteo's name, if he ever knew it. That's a shame; he does like 'Teo...

"He got hit by a car and waited a week before seeing anyone about it."

She's unnish. She understands that 'Teo doesn't like doctors, which is completely reasonable.

Doctors wanted to 'fix' her ears, you know. Cosmetic surgery.

She didn't really go for that.

But she doesn't know why he'd avoid them after being hit. By a car.

"Uh... yeah. Heh. That's... about it," he says weakly, rubbing his arm in that akwward way he has when he knows he's being scolded.

He falls back a bit, slinking towards the wall.

"...So. Um,... just wondering if, if you could make sure n-nothing's really wrong with me..."

"... you were hit by a car."

Alan looks at him with an expression of shocked incredulity. It's not quite hurt, but there's a hint of that.

"Yes, of course, I'll do whatever I can to help."

And Alan beckons.

(Skip.)

Matteo steps forwards, a guilty look on his face.

"Sorry to bother you," he repeats.

"It isn't any bother," insists Alan as he touches Matteo's side gently, letting whatever happened happen--he didn't seem to have to do that kind of thing consciously, which may or may not have been a plus. "But you must be the unluckiest faun I've ever met."

Except he's only met one.

Silence from Sam.

She has no idea what's going on.

She doesn't particularly want to.

Doesn't she already have enough to deal with? Really? Must there be more... things... to have to handle?

Matteo grabs Alan's wrist and urgently forces it away. This is not normal medical procedure, he's pretty sure, and for Sam's sake he wants this visit to be as normal as possible.

And then Alan says the f-word.

Matteo makes a little choking sound, his gaze flickering meaningfully between Sam and Alan, trying to drive his point home to the doctor that Sam is not aware that he's anything but human, and he'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much.

Alan blinked. Then said mildly, "Let's head to x-rays, hm? I can't tell if your ribs are cracked or not."

Ah, the girl's unnish.

Odd, that. Alan doesn't really think about people not knowing magic exists, but that's because he's known it all his life.

Right. Right. X-rays. Those she can deal with.

"I'll wait here."

Faintly.

She doesn't....

Alan has pale hair.

Freaking her out. Freaking out in general, the girl is.

Doesn't want to dealllllll.

"Uh... right."

He casts Sam a mournful, apologetic look.

"I'll be right back."

Alan leads 'Teo out of the room and glances over his shoulder at the now-closed office door with a frown.

"I'm sorry, I didn't realize she didn't know..."

Pause.

"Anyway, conventional methods are probably better."

He gets tired after using the unconventional ones.

And... treatment, I suppose.

"Oh. Um,.. yeah. That's okay. She's... probably going to find out sooner or later, but I'd rather later."

He trails along after Alan, with a regretful glance back at the office. He hopes Sam won't get creeped out and leave,... which is something he would do if he were in that situation.

"I'll, um, I'll take your word for it," he says meekly - what does he know about doctoring, after all, "...What is it you have to do? You said x-rays..."

"Yes, x-rays. So I can actually see if your ribs are cracked, or if you're just bruised terribly. Few other things, and then we'll bandage you up and send you home."

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Sam, meanwhile, has taken a seat on something.

And is very methodically checking contacts and makeup and hair, checking rechecking checking.

This makes the arms (which are ow), hurt.

She ignores this.

Cue return.

Matteo, who is feeling considerably better now that he knows he's not going to slowly die from some sneaky internal injury, carefully opens the door to the office. Before he steps inside, he looks around to make sure Sam isn't, say, hiding behind the door ready to hit him with something large and heavy.

(You never know).

"...Hey."

Alan comes in after 'Teo, and reminds him to 'come back in a couple weeks so I can see how you're doing.'

A glance at the girl.

"By the way, I don't think we were ever introduced. I'm Alan Gardinier."

She stands gracefully, extends hand to shake.

"Sam Tucker."

The faun, meanwhile, hovers away from the pair of them, just looking awkward. He's very good at it, too.

And he's kind of hoping Sam's forgotten about the 'faun' thing by now.

And if she hasn't, he really hopes she doesn't mind.

"Good to meet you."

His hand in hers should feel cool, pleasantly so.

The bruises on her arms should also feel cool. They'll be gone by tonight.

"Thanks for bringing Matteo in" He's finally remembered the faun's name. "I'd have hated for him to go making things worse."

And she nods, jerkily, and heads for the door.

Pause. Because she should probably leave with Matteo as well.

"'Teo? You ready?"

"Uh- yeah," he says meekly, and follows after her.

As he's exiting, he half-turns to give Alan a grateful sort of smile and a wave, ("Bye, thanks again") and then he's out.

She shivers, I think, once safely out.

"Nice guy, for a doctor," she volunteers finally.

"Mm-hm," Matteo agrees, with just a hint of cheerfulness.

Then there's a nice looong pause.

Which is broken by an, "Um,.. about what he said..."

"Which bit?" She sounds distracted, because she is.

She's not thinking about any of it.

"The, uh... the part about the, um, my being unlucky..." he mumbles.

Click, click, click... That's the sound of his hooves on the tiles as the exit draws nearer.

"He, um,... he didn't mean,.. he didn't mean it, you know, literally."
That. Is such. A lie.

She thinks about this.

"You remember me mentioning that guy? The creepy one?"

"...Yes."

Blink.

"...Why?"

"He had weird eyes. Like a cats, only blue. Freakish, huh?"

She has slit-pupiled eyes too.

She isn't going to bring that up, except via example of creepy guy.