kalamangani-blog

[kalamangani-blog]

namesdodger‌:

frozen peas // dodger & kala

Dodger recognized that look.

Behave, David.

His mother’s voice echoed back to him and Dodger couldn’t help but let out a slow, deep sigh as his brows furrowed for a moment, the expression a stark contrast to the nurse’s previous one.

Shaking off the feeling, the sudden release of any tension held in his face was only for a brief moment as he realized he’d need to shift on the bed to expose more of his midsection.

Thinking about it again, Dodger finally came up with an answer, his voice terse as he rolled onto his uninjured side, hiking up his shirt a bit further and rolling the band of his sweatpants down another inch to expose the rest of the dark purple mark.

“—uh, no. Not that I know of, at least.”

It was certainly an impressive bruise, dark purple around the middle, radiating out in a violet to blue to yellow-green around the edges. There wasn’t too much discolouring that would be cause for concern, but it definitely looked nasty enough to do some damage besides the usual.

Kala took her time prodding at the tender wound. “Sorry if it is a bit uncomfortable, please tell me if you’ve any sharp pains or something that feels out of the ordinary, okay?”

She gave him a sympathetic little smile as she rolled her open palm against his warm skin. The skin didn’t feel taut and wasn’t swollen, which meant that the chances of internal bleeding were low, especially after so long. 

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

Kerchak laughed as she threw the grape at him. It bounced off his chest before falling into his lap. It seemed as if she was having a good time and it was more than he could have hoped for. Actually, so far the entire evening was going better than he’d planned.

It allowed him to relax just a bit as he listened to her explain the reasons why she had agreed to him finally. She was  right. He’d asked an insane amount of times. Determination was both his strongest personality trait and his worst personality trait. But it had gotten him the date with Kala that he’d wanted since perhaps a week or so after the Unfortunate Mango Accident.

“I don’t think I could ever forget that moment. Not only did you destroy three hours worth of work but you managed to not incur the wrath of my father. An amazing feat, trust me.” He chuckled as he flicked the grape back at her. “In fact, I think he might have yelled at me for putting it in the place I did.” Not that it was a huge deal to him. He was used to his father changing his mind multiple times when it came to displays within the store.

“I’m glad you said yes,” he gave her a soft smile before huffing out a small laugh. “If only so I can show you I’m more than annoying and determined.”

Kala laughed at his ancedote. “Too right,” she said to his father yelling at him. “It was a stupid place to put it.” She didn’t really think that. In fact, she remembered exactly why she had run into it: because she had been watching him anyway. He’d been restocking some things and--

Well, she wasn’t immune to attractive men flexing their muscles to reach high shelves, okay? She must’ve blocked that tidbit from her mind because she had been so embarrassed!

Thinking about it now was going to make her more embarrassed--so she just took another bite of her sandwich and smiled a little. 

“Well, the jury is still out on that, but we will see,” she told him cryptically.

But--he was right.

He wasn’t just annoying and determined. He was those things, but he was also family-oriented (wouldn’t stop talking about his brothers and father and mother), handsome, smart, funny, godly, and kind. The movie was one of her favourites, but she barely paid attention to it. They spent too much time talking. And too much time laughing at the enchanted ice rink.

When they finally turned the car back towards Enchantra, and town, Kala felt reluctant to go, but they were half an hour to her curfew and the last thing she wanted to do was be late. Her father would never let her out with Kerchak Mangani again, even if he was a Mangani. 

They pulled up at her house and there was silence for a few moments. Kala’s heart was fluttering, very unlike her, in her chest.

“Well,” she bolstered herself after a moment, looking over at him and squinting--a challenge in her gaze. “Are you going to walk me up to the front door or not?”

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

[kalamangani-blog]

exsgttibbs‌:

Oh, the first name. The first name wasn’t good - Tibbs was a grown man, a doctor, he had been on the front lines of a battlefield in his early twenties but that– that intimidated him. He’d known drill sergeant who intimidated him less than Kala did when she turned the dial all the way up.

“I know that! I do, I know that, I promise.” Tibbs was well aware that the nurses worked hard and that they were very busy people, who weren’t exactly trained in child care. And he knew that he was asking a lot of her, handing her the responsibility of an eleven year old who got into a lot more trouble than you would expect an eleven year old to be capable of, but there was a good reason he was asking.

“I trust you with her. That’s all.” He continued after a moment. And it was true - when he thought of someone trustworthy, dependable, and also capable of not taking any crap from a hyperactive pre-teen. “I mean, there are other people I trust too, of course, but– you’re top of the list.”

Kala wanted to smirk. It was there in her eyes. She kept her face more or less impassive, verging on annoyed. It was all for show. Okay, that wasn’t quite true. It was mostly true. Part of her was annoyed. She liked Tibbs well enough, but she also knew that many of the doctors in this hospital, and everywhere else, didn’t value nurses the way they should.

They saw them just like this: a glorified babysitter, watching patients until it was time for them to swoop in, spend five minutes with them, give them a diagnosis, and swoop back out. 

It was the nurses who toiled, who made friends with the patients. It was the nurses who made sure that everyone was comfortable and not scared and taken proper care of.

The trust comment softened her up slightly, but the second part made it worse. Honestly, men and putting feet in their mouths.

“If you would’ve stopped at that first comment, you might’ve had me,” she informed him with a little sniff. “How do I know I’m not just top of the list because it’s convenient for you, hm?”

Child Minding || Tibbs & Kala

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

Of course Kerchak thought Kala pretty. In fact, he thought she was gorgeous. But he was not that shallow and he wanted her to know that it was about more than her looks. He cared about that thing, like any other teenage boy, but it was not the end all be all for him. He hadn’t been raised to be that kind of person.

So instead of answering right away he took a bite of his own burger and chewed slowly. Maybe he was attempting to be teasing in his own way, payback for the ribbing he’d endured when she pretended to be vegetarian. See? He could be playful, too.

After making a show of swallowing, he nodded at her. “You’re beautiful.” It was said matter of factly as he prepared to take another bite of his burger. “I’ve always thought you were really pretty. Even that time you knocked over an entire display of mangoes at my dad’s shoppe.” He gave a soft chuckle at that because it was one of the first times that he really paid attention to Kala. 

“Can I ask why you said yes this time?”

Kala narrowed her eyes slightly when he took another bite of his burger, instead of answering. It made her feel the smallest pinprick of anxiety--of course, she was nervous, because this was a first date and those always made her nervous (not that Kala had a lot of experience with first dates)--but she didn’t like how this felt sharper than the bubbling of the rest of her anxiety.

Okay, he was taking an unusually long time--

Wait.

He was doing that on purpose, wasn’t he? 

What a jerk. 

(She thought this much more affectionately than it sounds.)

She barked a laugh and ducked her head at the mention of the Unfortunate Mango Incident.

“I’d forgotten about that!” she gasped, still laughing. “Oh my gosh.”

The question sobered her up slightly and she shrugged her shoulders a bit.

“I was curious, I suppose. I don’t get asked out a whole lot and--you seemed nice and smart...” She paused, and then rolled her eyes a little, “alright, yes, and handsome.” She laughed again. “I just--wanted to know what it’d be like. Also, you wouldn’t stop asking.” She threw a grape at him.

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

[kalamangani-blog]

namesdodger‌:

frozen peas // dodger & kala

Dodger couldn’t help the involuntary flinch that occurred at the sudden presence of the other. Sure his ‘cognitive function’ may have seemed fine in that moment, but right now, his brain goblin was too busy running amok, leaving nothing but marshmallow grey matter in his wake. But back to the situation at hand-

–who was this?

Scrubs, clipboard in hand- oh, nurse– hospital- duh.

“Mhm– yeah, that’s me-”

Good, you’re getting there. Keep going.

“Symptoms?” A memory of the fall flashed behind Dodger’s eyelids for a brief moment and he paused, mentally attempting to sort the whole situation out, “–yeah I uh kinda ate shit right outside my apartment– might ‘a hit my head,” he continued, glossing over the worst of it, “Mostly it’s my hip, slept like garbage last night—” tugging up the hem of his shirt to reveal a portion of the massive discolored mark on his side, Dodger shrugged.

“–figured frozen peas probably weren’t gonna help in the long run.”

Kala raised her eyebrows slightly at the profanity, but she didn’t chide him. She was a grown woman and a nurse besides, she had heard plenty worse in her time. Though, she still didn’t think it was particularly appropriate thing to say. Who was she to tell him how to deal with his pain?

She shifted the clipboard a little and looked up as he moved his shirt to show her the bruise there. 

Her lips pursed and she nodded at him.

“I daresay you’re right about that,” she said before quickly scribbling a few notes down on her clipboard.

- hit head in fall - possible concussion? - discolouration to abdomen, left side

She clicked her pen and set her clipboard to the side and moved to snap on a pair of gloves. As she did so, she said: “Mr. Jones, if you could lay back, please. I need to take a better look at that bruise. Do you have any more marks?” 

[kalamangani-blog]

exsgttibbs‌:

Tibbs had never really considered the single parent thing, but he was starting to suppose that he was one - because when it came down to it, he had absolutely no one else to look after Tibby in case of an emergency - or work, as the case may be, which was more often than not the same thing.

Could you really be a single parent if you’d known about your daughter for about a year, and you only got to see her once every month or so? Again, he really hadn’t considered it up until this moment, looking at Kala, hoping to god that she was going to help him out here. But there were other people who did it, right? Other people in the hospital, not just in the world - they had enough staff that statistically, it probably worked out - so what were they all doing? What did they all do, when they got called into work on an emergency?

Tibbs hadn’t planned for this; he really should have.

“Yeah.” He sighed softly. “But Kepner called in sick, Lee’s already at his hours for the week and Welsh is back home in Scotland til Monday, so–” He was about to say here I am, but before he could there was a clatter from behind him.

“It was an accident!” Tibby announced, skittering away from a fallen-over magazine stand. “And I’m fixing it, it’s fine!”

Tibbs looked back at Kala, smiling a little sheepishly. “I had to bring my daughter.”

Kala pursed her lips a little. She’d heard the story plenty of times before--someone having to come in on their day off because the cards had fallen in such a way. It really was no good, but there was nothing for it. Which is exactly what she would’ve told Tibbs, if there had not been a commotion to the left of the nurses station. 

She recognized the girl, of course--it’d been quite the scandal in the hospital when Tibbs had revealed himself to have a ten year old daughter. Kala knew plenty of the nurses who were soured by the idea, having been sweet on Tibbs before they realized he had “baggage.” 

Kala herself tried not to judge. (Though, she felt bad for the poor girl, not knowing who her real father was for so long. Must’ve been awful.) 

“And you want me to watch her?” Kala asked, turning back to Tibbs and raising both of her eyebrows. “I’m not a babysitter, Willis.” 

Child Minding || Tibbs & Kala

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

There was a rush of relief as Kala said she was joking. Of course, Kerchak had been serious. If he had brought something she didn’t like, he would have gone to the store immediately. He was trying to show her that he could take her out to have a good time. Even if the date was just going to a drive-in and maybe going ice skating. At least this way they would be able to talk if they wanted, to get to know each other.

That was what he hoped at least.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack,” he gave a soft chuckle as he pulled the food back out and sat it down while Kala fixed her own plate. That smile stayed in place as he listened to her talk and fixed his own plate. It was nice to know that his wasn’t the only family that had traditions for certain days. Like how every Wednesday was a night out with the family. It was used mainly to boost moral since the middle of the week typically saw everyone beginning to flounder in some way. 

What he wasn’t counting or expecting was Kala’s question. Of course it was easy for him to think about. Kala was a challenge. She was smart, beautiful, tough. There was nothing easy about her. Kerchak knew that he was popular and that there were a lot of girls that looked at him and wanted to be with him. But those girls were vapid and only interested in one thing. Kerchak wanted depth. He wanted someone with ambition and someone he could have a conversation with.

“You weren’t interested. In me.” He gave a small chuckle with a shrug. “You’re incredibly smart. I think if we were in the same grade, we’d have a serious competition going. But I like that. You aren’t— you aren’t afraid to be smart, to not be like some of the other girls in school. And I think that we’d have something to talk about. Whether it’s family, school work, interests. I don’t want someone who’s just pretty. I want substance too.”

If Kerchak would’ve called her a challenge, she would’ve smacked him--just for the record. Kala was not a mountain to be climbed, nor some foreign entity to be conquered. It was not a compliment at all to her for him to say that she was a challenge and she would dispute it.

However, what he did say--

She was surprised by it, honestly. Kala had assumed it was looks--or maybe her family. Who were a Good Swynlake Family, just like the Manganis. Even a bit more well off, if rumor was to be believed. That was how these things worked. People who had families were familiar with each other were much more likely to marry than elsewise. It was expected--even for the baby of the family. Except, he only mentioned family as a topic of conversation (and one that Kala found very important, for the record.)

“But, you do think I’m pretty, don’t you?” she asked after having taken and swallowed a bite of her hamburger, licking a little bit of mustard from the corner of her lips with a smile.

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

Lift your spirit, set it free!

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

I’m a vegetarian. 

Shit. Kerchak had not planned for that. None of her friends had alluded to that. He’d– He’d never seen her eating anything vegetarian. But at the same time, how was he to know what exactly she was eating. They sat in two different worlds basically. Her with her friends and him with his own friends. He liked Kala, yes, but he was not a stalker.

“Oh. I–uh, I didn’t know that.” He looked towards the movie screen, those silly cartoons still playing. There might still be time for him to run to the shoppe and pick something up that was vegetarian. It wasn’t as if there were a lot of people that came out to this specific spot. They’d still have their seclusion from the rest of the movie-goers and they’d still have their date. It’d be more than fine.

Slowly he began to pack away the burgers and fruit salad as he shifted. “We have time, we can run to my parent’s shoppe. I can get you something vegetarian. I’m sorry. I should have asked instead of assuming.” 

Kala watched his face fall and--

Immediately, she felt kind of mean. He looked as if she’d kicked his puppy. And Kala would never kick a puppy. It made her purse her lips a bit and she reached out to touch his arm to stop him from putting away the food. 

“I’m kidding, Kerchak,” she said with a little laugh, shaking her head at him. “I love hamburgers. My dad makes them every Sunday after church. It’s a family tradition. Whiiich means I’m going to be eating one tomorrow but, eh.” She shrugged a shoulder and then gave him another funny look before reaching forwards to load up her plate.

“Can I ask you something, Kerchak?” she asked bluntly, because Kala was nothing if not a forward, no-nonsense kind of gal.

“Why do you like me so much? At the risk of sounding self-centered, you’ve asked me out, like, four times. And we haven’t even ever really spoken to each other. Don’t get me wrong. I think you’re very sweet and you seem smart and of course you’re handsome and popular but--I just am curious, I suppose.” She popped a grape into her mouth and chewed, watching him intently.

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

Kala’s mood seemed to almost brighten once she realized what he had planned. It made his own nerves calm a bit as he watched her stretch. She truly was a magnificent woman. He’d thought it for a while now as he gathered up the courage to ask her out on a date. But now that it was clear that this was something she’d enjoy he felt a thousand times better and less like he had fucked up before the date had even started.

“I thought so too,” he nodded as he moved to sit on the blanket. Pulling the basket closer, he pulled out all that he and his mother had prepared. There were burgers, a nice fruit salad since it was rather warm weather, and a drink his mother had made that looked suspiciously like water but she’d sworn was something her mother had made when she was a girl (she refused to share the secret with Kerchak though). He just hoped that Kala would enjoy the meal that had been prepared. It was better than movie theatre food. Fresher probably, too.

There was still a few minutes before the movie started, the large screen that could be seen was still showing those strange little dancing refreshment reels. “My mom was convinced that hamburgers would be good and light. Since it’s not the coolest weather and because we’d be outside.” He explained as he pulled everything out of the basket. 

Kala watched Kerchak pull out all of the different things from the picnic basket, like some sort of sorcerer. He looked rather pleased with himself too, didn’t he? Though there was this tilt to his brow that Kala had seen in the library before when he was studying, like he was concentrating very hard on this...more or less simple task. 

And once again, Kala found herself more or less baffled. It wasn’t that Kala didn’t have good self-esteem. Despite what some might define a less-than-desirable figure, Kala was perfectly happy with herself--and while she liked the idea of boyfriends and marriage and a family--

She also wanted to go to school and have a career. So, at the moment, she didn’t worry about it too much. 

Which meant she was just...confused, really. 

Also, feeling a bit rascally.

“Oh, well--this is very nice and all but...I’m a vegetarian,” she told him, making a little face and sucking her teeth for a moment, just to see the look on his face. Also, what he would do if that were the case. 

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

Christmas was one of those unpredictable times of year. The hospital was almost consistently short-staffed, which made it feel very busy, even when it wasn’t. Things were more or less quiet, but even still, the hustle and bustle of the hospital never stopped.

She did her best to have Christmas Eve/Christmas morning off--because she felt awfully guilty if she missed Christmas Eve Mass and she loved waking up on Christmas and opening presents. However, the holidays left a sense of melancholy about her that she tried very hard to banish--it rarely ever worked, unless she was, well--working.

So, here she was, perched at the nurses station, taking some downtime between Mrs. Johnson needing more ice chips and Mr. Oak needing his catheter changed. It was a much needed break. 

When a shadow fell over her she glanced up--ready to be annoyed that her downtime was being interrupted. But, it was Tibbs.

“Aren’t you supposed to be off today?” Kala may only be in charge of the A&E nurses scheduling, but she had everyone’s schedules more or less memorized.

Child Minding || Tibbs & Kala

@kalamangani

So Tibbs and Ambrosia had been talking - Christmas, of course, had been out of the question for a visit from Tabitha. The 25th of December, as well as the 24th and potentially the 26th, were off limits. And y'know what? Tibbs was fine with that. He worked Christmas every year, sort of because Christmas hadn’t held too much meaning for him since joining the army, but mostly because other people had families, and small children who would really miss their absence if they weren’t there. So Tibby could stay at home in London, and Tibbs would work, probably for the entire three days, even if he wasn’t rota’d in.

He did get to see his daughter not long after, however. On the 27th, Tibbs went to pick her up from the train station, listening to her recount all the details of the gifts she’d gotten whilst he carried her overnight bag to his apartment. They’d had their own little christmas, complete with gifts under the tree and a dinner that consisted of pizza and ice cream. They’d been having a great time, actually, despite only have a few days together.

And then Tibbs had gotten called into work.

He probably could’ve explained. Probably could have said actually, hey, I’m sort of busy right now. But he knew that the hospital knew that - if they were calling him, it was because they were desperate. And even though Tibby had once made her way to Swynlake all on her own, and was arguably more grown up than some 21 year old, let alone 11 year olds, he still wasn’t going to leave her alone in the apartment.

Hence why he was stood at the nurse’s station, looking at Kala, hoping that Tibby wasn’t already getting herself into trouble whilst he didn’t have eyes on her. “I need a favour.”

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

Kerchak had asked the same thing when he’d heard about the ice rink. But he had assumed that the rink was inside. It wasn’t until he’d done some digging that he’d found out it was an out-door rink. Yet even in the midst of summer it was still open, the ice still hard. 

Probably not enchanted to not make her fall but– Well, that’s what Kerchak was for.

The drive wasn’t a long one, thankfully. Kerchak was able to keep up some small talk, though part of him wondered if Kala was really interested in him or what they were doing. He tried not to think of that, though. Instead was focused on the rest of the surprise. It was easy to just take her to the movies. But it wasn’t just that. At least not to him.

He parked the car easily on the top of the hill that overlooked the drive in and gave Kala a small smile. “Wait here for a minute.” Quickly he got out of the car and moved to the trunk. It wasn’t a feast but it was a nice dinner. His mother had helped him prepare it while his two younger brothers had teased him mercilessly about the effort he was putting into his date with Kala; even if it was a rather simple idea.

With the basket of food in one arm and the large blanket draped over his other arm, Kerchak moved to open Kala’s door for her. “I thought it’d be nicer to enjoy the movie without a bunch of other people around. And with better food than movie popcorn and soda.” He gave her a smile before moving to lay the blanket out in front of the car.

The small talk wasn’t that bad. Actually, he even made her laugh once or twice. Which wasn’t that hard, but she appreciated it anyway. At least he was funny, that made all this much easier. 

The “all this” being a date in a first place. Meant her nerves. Kala tended to get snappy when she was nervous. She knew this about herself. Her sisters and her brothers knew this about her, her parents and friends knew this about her. Kerchak did not. And she didn’t want to rude, because he wasn’t being rude, he was being perfectly nice and gentlemanly.

So, she talked herself down all the way to the hilltop--though, she realized then that they were not where they were supposed to be and the nerves kicked up again. This was very far away from the rest of the crowd. Was he planning to murder her and chop her up in little pieces and--

She jumped a little when the door opened. Her eyes went immediately to the--really harmless blanket and basket in his arms. 

“Oh,” she blinked, “oh.” 

And then--she smiled brightly at him and hussled out of the car. She went over to grab a corner of the blanket and help spread it out on the ground. 

“This is--this is really great,” she said, an excited glint in her eye that hadn’t been there before. “Watching movies from cars is so stuffy. Now I can stretch out.” She did just that--stretching her arms up over her head, shaking her hair out.

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

It had taken some serious convincing to let his dad allow him to borrow the car. He’d had to practically promise his summer away. Nothing but working at the store, preparing to take over it (even though that was nowhere near what he wanted to do). But he was okay with that because it gave him some agency. The ability to go where he wanted at least for a few hours. And it gave him a way to try and impress Kala.

Her question made him smile, almost a smirk, as he started the car and pulled out of the driveway. He had quite the date planned, at least he thought so. It was only a short drive over to Next Town Over and then an even short drive to the hilltop that over looked the drive-thru that was playing Casablanca. And in the trunk of the car, he’d packed them a nice little picnic styled dinner.

“I can tell you that we’re going to see a movie in NTO,” he looked over to her briefly before returning his attention to the road. Safety always came first. The last thing he wanted to do was put Kala in any sort of danger. He’d hate himself for it and he was only slightly concerned of what her father would do to him if she got hurt while with him.

“And if there’s time, I heard they have an enchanted ice rink. I figured we could try our hand at that. It could be fun.”

Oh, just a movie? That was what all the fan fare was about? 

Kala found herself...surprisingly disappointed. A movie wasn’t much of a date. Kala went to the movies with her family. She went to the movies with her friends. It wasn’t what she really imagined.

Not that she...really knew anything about Kerchak to determine what would make her think he was a Date Planner Extraordinaire. All she knew was that he was a year below her in class. That he was supposed to be smart. And that his family owned the local grocery store. Still, he had made a big deal out of all this since he wouldn’t! tell! her! where they were going! or what they were doing! 

He was lucky he was cute.

She didn’t let the disappointment show. Instead, she just smiled a little and tilted her head at him. “Enchanted? How do you--enchant an ice rink? Unless it means I won’t fall over, in which case, could be fun.” 

She gave a little noncommittal shrug, because Anine had always told her that not being interested in boys was what made them interested in you. And, y’know, even if she decided she didn’t like Kerchak, it was still an ego boost that he’d apparently taken an interest in her.

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara

[kalamangani-blog]

The best part of making all the schedules meant that Kala more or less always got the shifts that she wanted. Which meant, generally, not-too-early-morning. Enough time to wake up properly and see Kerchak off to work before she went in herself. Monday mornings were generally rather quiet. 

Swynlake General was generally quiet, honestly. Unless there was a Disaster or had just been a Disaster.

Normally, it was drunk idiots and, yeah, ice incidents. Anything from falling icicles hitting people to shattered tailbones. 

When she was handed Mr. Jones’ chart by one of the intake nurses she let out a long-suffering sigh and gave them a Look.

“I know, but I’ve got to go help Minnie in the ICU, Sandra didn’t show up today.” 

“I haven’t had my coffee yet.”

“I know, but--that’s why you’re the boss.” Christina gave her finger guns before scurrying away. 

With a shake of her head, Kala moved over towards the bed, snapping the curtain back and raising her eyebrows expectantly. 

“A-hem,” she cleared her throat. “Mr. Jones? Good to see your cognitive function hasn’t suffered any. I’m Nurse Mangani. Nurse Segal tells me you fell on some ice yesterday and are still experiencing pain? Can you give me a little more detail about your symptoms, please?” She raised her eyebrows and gave him a little smile.

frozen peas // dodger & kala

Waking up this morning had been— interesting to say the least.

Apparently not one for smart or accurate medical self-care, Dodger’s rattled brain had done all it deemed acceptable after his encounter with the ice-coated concrete the day before — and that was?

Sleep it off.

Grab some frozen peas from the fridge ( why exactly did he have those? ), and sleep like a fuckin’ rock.

Of course it was a mistake, a monkey could’ve told him that. But Today Dodger was currently too busy cursing out Yesterday Dodger to realize that he’d somehow found his way to the hospital.

A few blinks later and he was inside, a concerned receptionist tapping him on the arm.

More blinks.

An exam room? Wow. The lack of awareness to his surroundings was only mildly concerning. But Dodger chalked it up to the abysmal night of sleep he’d achieved the previous evening.

A few more blinks and someone was entering the room suddenly, but Dodger remained unaware, all too absorbed in his new mission— counting the ceiling tiles.

“Nine, ten– eleven– uh-”

@kalamangani

[kalamangani-blog]

kerchakmangani‌:

His smile widened at her first words, quick and without thought. He had known that gardenias were her favorite because he’d asked. One of her friends, he couldn’t remember their name, had taken pity on him once Kala had said yes. This was almost immediately after the third degree he’d gotten to ensure that his intentions for Kala were pure (they were, of course. Kerchak couldn’t think of anything that would be worse than hurting Kala). 

When her father appeared, Kerchak’s attention snapped to the man. Respect had been drilled into him from a young age. It was given to elders, to teachers, to his friend’s parents. Mr. Burroughs had earned Kerchak’s respect just on principle and he gave a firm nod. “Yes sir.” His plan for the evening was not extremely elaborate, just enough so that he would be able to impress Kala and maybe get another date. 

As the man retreated from Kala’s back, Kerchak’s attention returned to her with that same smile still in place. “Are you ready?” He extended his arm to her, waiting for her to take it before he began the short trip to the car. There he made short work of opening the door for her. 

Contrary to Kala’s whole: Find True Love mission, she hadn’t actually been on that many dates. Sure, there was Robert, whom she had dated for about six months, but besides that? Nothing. Kala was more focused on her studies, truth be told. She needed top marks to get into PrideU’s nursing program. It was the only one in the country that specialized in Magicks!

Still: dates? Not something Kala went on often. It was summertime, which was the only reason she’d said yes, she told herself. There was no homework to do, just work and--

Go on dates, apparently.

She smiled, a little shyly at Kerchak as he offered his arm. She had to reach up to take it, because he was rather tall, but she didn’t mind that so much. Her mother had always told her she was a powerhouse in a little package. Also, Moude had pointed out, you’re at the perfect angle to punch him where it hurts if he tries anything. 

“Have a good time, kids,” her father said.

“Bye, Dad!” Kala waved to her father over her shoulder, giving him a smile as the door closed. They walked down the sidewalk and Kerchak held the car door open for her, which was to be expected--but still a nice touch.

“Thank you,” she said demurely as she got in. Kerchak got in too and started the car. It was very Grown Up, she thought. Robert hadn’t had a car. “Do--I get to know where we are going now oooor?” 

Trust Your Heart || Anam Cara