#anyway everyone go send your love to Oma it's her birthday! :D she deserves all the love <3

[skyloftian-nutcase]

@kikker-oma Happy birthday, my beloved frined! <3 Enjoy <3

Four hummed as he puzzled over the clues all around them. He, Hyrule, and Legend were trapped in a room with only their wits to get them out (or if they just asked the dungeon master, but there was no fun in that). It was a somewhat small space, but it was blessedly quiet, only with some gentle brain tickling music playing in the background. No beeping of monitors, no overthinking if something was going to be detrimental to someone's life. Just the thrill of puzzle solving with no repercussions if anything went wrong, and good company to boot.

The clues were obscure, to be sure. A clock with no pendulum and an upside down drawing of an elephant, a locked chest with three giant numbers, a table with a jewelry chest that had two drawings that could rotate, and three frames on the wall, one with a series of numbers, and the other two with symbols that resembled the Zora dialect, though Four wasn't entirely sure it was actually Zoran.

"There's an elephant on this chest, just like on the clock," Hyrule noted, immediately flipping the image of the elephant on the furniture to match the clock. That helped pop open the jewelry chest, which revealed the missing pendulum, but there was clearly more to be solved. Four eagerly added his own observations, how certain symbols had dots over them, which might indicate an order to a lock.

Legend, however, was silent.

"You notice anything, Ledge?" Four asked as he and Hyrule were stumped by the next step. "And, out of curiosity, is that actual Zoran on the wall? You understand their language, right?"

Legend glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, obviously distracted. "Hm?"

Four stared at him a moment. "The... the Zoran... are you okay?"

At the question, Hyrule immediately turned to face Legend fully, eyes analyzing him from head to toe, and then he relaxed a little, not finding any obvious sign of injury or illness. "Need another energy drink?"

"Another?" Four repeated. "You don't even work today!"

Legend huffed. "Still need them."

"Okay, but then what's wrong?" Four questioned again.

Legend shook his head. "Nothing. What part are we stuck on?"

Hyrule glanced between the nurses, a quiet resolve turning his face to stone, and then he looked back at the clock pendulum. "We need a code to get this out of the box. And Four was curious if the Zoran on the wall was legit."

Legend looked at the framed words and immediately shook his head. "Some of them are close, but it's just gibberish."

"How do you know Zoran anyway?" Four had been wondering about that, and maybe it would distract him.

"I've traveled a lot. Did an assignment in the Domain, picked up on some of it."

Well, at least Legend was talking now. Four wasn't quite sure what was up, but clearly something was. Maybe it was as simple as being tired; maybe Legend did need an energy drink. But still...

The trio got through yet another clue, managing to get the pendulum back on the clock, but were still puzzling over the the locked cabinet which held the key they would need to escape the room. Four found his stamina draining as he had been working all day, but Hyrule was poring over every item in the room, stubborn as ever to figure this out.

And Legend had zoned out again.

"Ledge... are you sure you're okay?" Four asked quietly, trying not to attract Hyrule's attention and put his friend on the spot. That was usually the quickest way to get Legend to deflect, after all.

"I'm tired, okay?" Legend fired back a little snippily. "Just tired."

"Let's get coffee afterward," Four offered.

Legend huffed good naturedly. "That isn't gonna cover it."

"Got it!" Hyrule shouted as he opened the cabinet. The key inside barely had an instant to glisten in the light before Hyrule snatched it and opened the door to the exit. He smirked at Legend. "Guess we'd better get that coffee, then."

The emergency nurse rolled his eyes.

The trio settled at a café nearby just as it started to rain, and between the water droplets sliding down the window and the dim, calm lighting of the room, Four nearly nodded off before he could drink his coffee. Hyrule sipped happily at his hot chocolate while Legend stared outside, his triple espresso sitting forgotten on the table.

"Does this have to do with the trauma patient?" Four finally asked, trying to confirm his suspicions. He himself hadn't taken care of the patient, but Legend clearly had since he'd asked about the outcome earlier in the evening.

Legend took a slow, weary breath, and turned his attention to his drink. "Shit happens. I'm just tired."

Yep. That was what this was about.

Four wasn't entirely sure how to address this issue. He'd been a nurse for a year now, and though he'd had a few patients die, he himself was still figuring out ways of handling it. He remembered when Sky had checked up on him after that one awful slew of shifts, how everyone had trickled through, stopping by his place, bringing him food, letting him rest and talk and cry and do whatever he needed. Four had felt well supported and loved, and he'd been eternally grateful for it.

But the weariness Legend showed, the shield of indifference he put up... it wasn't how Four coped. So Four wasn't sure what to do. He glanced uncertainly at Hyrule, who was watching Legend in silence. His paramedic friend could be equally distant, though not so cold. Four found himself wishing Dot or Sky or Malon or Twilight were here. They were much better at this.

"It sucks," Four acknowledged, feeling like that woefully underplayed it but not sure what else to say.

Legend looked at him a moment, and Four wanted to melt into the bench, but then the travel nurse smiled. He bit his lip, his gaze dropping back to his espresso, and he muttered, "Yeah. It does."

That was all the conversation Four could drag out of him, but when Hyrule started to talk about some funny stories from the ambulance, Legend followed along with calmer energy. Four gave in to the conversation, tossing jokes and inane topics back and forth, and Legend eventually started to chime in a little. By the time the three were preparing to leave, the atmosphere seemed less tense overall. Four offered to give Hyrule a ride home, but Hyrule said he could walk from there, and the three all parted ways.

Four hoped that somehow he had helped. The smile on Legend's face seemed to indicate as such, at least.