August 8th, 1890 — Spell Damage Ward, Hogsmeade Hospital

One week into his internship and Eldin was confident in his ability to recite the names of every healer in his ward—but more importantly, he knew where all the supply cabinets were, how the confusing room numbers were arranged, and where his mother hid her (and his) favorite coffee.

Nothing very eventful had happened. Most of his days were spent under the charge of a more experienced healer who taught him the basics of building a healing plan, showed him more advanced healing spells than Hogwarts taught, and sent him to grab coffee during their breaks. There were no surprise disasters to send their ward into overtime mode, nor had he faced a patient with an injury he had yet to understand. Yet being the key word.

The sky had gone down ten minutes prior to receiving his last file of the night. It was routine for him to make his own determination before the actual healer came in, and then afterwards they would compare notes. Usually it was something like "patient has turned himself blue and can't figure out went wrong" or "A bad memory spell left the patient struggling to remember how to use the floo network".

Tonight was different. Eldin stood outside the closed door of the hospital room on the far end of the wing and began flipping through the file. It was a young male—his age—who'd... managed to get his arms stuck together? Unsure of whether to be horrified or amused, Eldin simply knocked on the door and walked inside.

"Merlin, Pyrites," he cackled, unable to stop himself. The boy's arms were outstretched in front of him, fused together at the forearm. "What did you do?"

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— Royal Pyrites —

  

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Royal was still living that life of leisure and had yet to do anything else. He had been pondering becoming the sponsor of a team or something. He had enjoyed playing Quidditch in school and being the Captain but had no desire to do it professionally. Especially considering he had joined the school team on a whim in the first place.

All in all, Royal was doing as he had done in school, only in his family home. And out in the streets of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley which were the two places that he spent most of his leisure time as well as in Excaliburs. Which was where he had been gifted with a packet of flirtation cards, one of which he had given to the wrong person.

He grinned as if he was coming to Boneseys for a visit rather than waiting in a hospital room after sundown. "Absolutely nothing. Still so suspicious, Bonesey. Will it be such an easy fix that an intern can do it?"

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

"This may shock you, Pyrites, but I'm not naturally so suspicious. You've given me reason to be," he explained. If he wasn't careful, he might have lines on his forehead before twenty-five. Perhaps he needed to limit his time with the former Gryffindor—schedule it, even. Though trained to face all injuries with a straight face as to not upset the paitent, he could not help the creased-brow grimace he worse as he examined the fused arms. He held them up, eyeing Pyrites for any indication of pain. It was a simple enough fix, he supposed, but he couldn't help but be curious about who—or what—had caused it.

"It should be," he answered, "but I'll need to get you a pain potion before I separate it. Unless you'd prefer the healer to do it?"

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Royal gasped in faux offended shock when Bones said he wasn't naturally so suspicious. He watched as the other man examined his fused arms, wincing a little at the pain as they were held up. It didn't hurt so much as to damper his high spirits though.

"I don't mind if you do it if you really think you know what you're doing. I don't want to die yet."

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

Eldin did his best to suppress a smile at Pyrites' dramatics. You're not going to die, he should have said, but that would almost too reassuring; but he also couldn't go the whole I don't know, maybe you will route because that was unprofessional (and petty).

"I'll manage," he said, rolling his eyes as he turned towards the counter to start preparing the simple pain potion with the pre-prepared ingredients. "So what have you been up to since school? Trouble as usual, I presume?" It didn't take much to make such presumptions, not given his condition.

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Royal grinned impishly when Bonesey asked what he had been up to since school. All sorts of things was the summarized answer to that question. As evidenced by his currently fused together limbs. "Pretty much - and this time you can't do anything about it," he couldn't resist saying with a laugh. Probably not the thing to say to the man responsible for setting your limbs to their proper unattached state.

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

This time, he could hardly resist getting in a little jab.

"I could leave you like this," he pointed out. "Would keep you out of trouble for a while longer." Probably not much longer, because another healer would come in and heal him, and it wasn't like Eldin would risk his job by being stupid. (That's what Pyrites would want for him, anyways—not the job loss, but the acting on stupid whims.)

"Luckily for you, one of us is a competent adult," he explained, pointedly waving his wand.

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"You couldn't bare to do that to me, Bonesey," Royal said with a grin though he knew it had more to do with Bones actually wanting to keep his job rather than anything to do with Royal himself.  He would be very surprised if Bones ever did anything that went against his healer oath if they had such a thing.

"Being called an adult is an insult enough without being called competent," Royal said teasingly, uncaring that he was making fun of himself as well. "And thus, I am saved. I shall hail you as my hero and toast to you at the pub tonight. Or at Excaliburs." He moved his now-detached arms to get the kinks out.

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

He wouldn't do it, not even if he wanted to, Eldin thought with pursed lips. That didn't change that he often wished to knock Pyrites upside the head. At least he had this moment to use against him in the future, assuming they stumbled across each other again anytime soon.

He cured the former Gryffindor with a roll of his eyes. "I'm not sure what world you're living in it, but for everyone's sake I hope you find your way back to Earth soon. Might save everyone a bit of a headache, don't you think?"

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Royal was utterly ecstatic to have been freed from the hex. Not even Boneseys nagging could get him down. "It is a world of my own design," he said with a dramatic flourish of one of his arms, as if to show off that it had been freed from its bind. "You ought to join me in my world, Bonesey. Can't be good for your health to be so mature at our age. You'll have white hair by 25!"

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

There was something about Pyrites that stole his every ounce of patience; he felt almost frustrated that Pyrites did not seem to see that this was the real word, and getting into frequent trouble as an adult was not going to make his life anything like the fantasies he seemed to be living in. (There was also another, more infuriating option: that Pyrites had found a way to continue getting on his nerves, and Eldin could not find a way to not let it get to him.)

"In your world I wouldn't have a job," he quipped as he finished up the paperwork. "And this is when I would suggest that you get one, but I'm not sure that would be a good idea for anyone." He pushed the clipboard towards Pyrites for him to sign the release paper.

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"Hm, this is true. You would be more free to play," Royal agreed. Then again, he psuedo-relied on Eldin being the serious one. It had probably saved his hide at least once to have Eldin nope some plan of his. "Darling, men like me don't work, we run amok." He took the release paper and signed his name along with the words 10/10 recommend.

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!

Not sure if Pyrites was just teasing or outright taunting him, he passed him a narrow-eyed glance and fixed his eyes on the clipboard. "I suppose I'll see you again soon then?" he said, uncharacteristically sarcastic (but then again, Pyrites brought out the worst in him. Or he thought.)

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Royal grinned in response to the narrow-eyed glance. "Indubitably," he said with a mock salute in response to the sarcasm. Not that he would actively try to get spell damage, of course. But with him, things tended to happen. Feeling rather satisfied at both having been able to be set to right and poke fun at his friend, Royal was quite content as he left.

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beautiful set by the incomparable MJ!