There Will Come Soft Rains (Cade)

[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

August 4, 2027

Training and then working as a nurse in Creature-Induced Injuries at St. Mungo's meant that Max Greyback had seen her fair share of bites, burns, scratches, stings, and all manner of other injuries that could come from a run-in with a magical creature. Some of the patients she saw truly hadn't had any business doing what they had been doing before winding up with the injury that had sent them to the hospital. Others had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Usually, it was easy to tell which was which. While a lot of it could be disgusting or even sad, to be frank, it was all in a day's work.

Patients had a tendency to stay at St. Mungo's for some time, especially if their injuries were life-altering. It wasn't anywhere near as dismal as what the staff in Spell Damage had to deal with on the Janus Thickey Ward, but it was pretty draining in a way that Max hadn't expected it would be when she first started.

Grateful that the end of her shift that evening came before the time that the tea room closed for the day, a thoroughly exhausted Max made her way up to the fifth floor to grab a sandwich—or really anything that could pass as "dinner" before she headed home from work.

cade owen woodward

[cade owen woodward]

how many times must a man look up

before he can see the sky?

August 4, 2027
maxima ruqayyah greyback

Cade was irritated, which was quite a feat to accomplish. The Editor was usually calm, cool, and collected, as was required for his work. Though it was his natural demeanor, regardless. But he was about ready to fire, if not manually throw one of his journalists through a window. He’d been escorted by mediwitches who accompanied some of his Journalists to St. Mungo’s while the Ministry’s Beast Division handled the mess back at the Prophet. One of the newer journalists was covering a column or a story he couldn’t remember at the moment on magical beasts.

However, the genius had brought one of those magical beasts into the Daily Prophet Headquarters. Not that anybody actually liked Doxy’s, but he now hated them. Though he was happy Law Enforcement was not involved, he could already see the suppressed laughter on Bianca’s face at this current issue. It all felt rather silly, and quite frankly, it was. But they were his employees, so he ensured they were being treated, and he headed up to the tea room for a bite before heading back to the office.

As he walked up to the queue, his eyes paused on the young woman standing in front of him. She was much shorter than him, but he recognized her from the floors below. ”Excuse me. I’m sorry to bother you.” Cade approached. The last he could do was thank her for her work. ”I believe you were helping some of my Journalists—doxies.” Cade clarified. ”I just wanted to say thank you.” It wasn’t awkward for him to have random conversations, but making connections was important. And it would look good if the Prophet was grateful for St. Mungo’s assistance that day.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

August 4, 2027

Being thanked by patients' friends and family members was still an uncomfortable feeling for Max. She knew from experience with Elaine Dupree that saving people wasn't actually what everyone would have done, but she also wasn't sure that she deserved so much praise. She was simply doing what she had been trained to do. Not screwing up was part of the job—and the whole reason why most people with brains went to St. Mungo's instead of trying to heal themselves or their children at home.

As she was waiting in the queue, she was spoken to by someone behind her. She didn't know the man by name, but she vaguely recognized him as one of the higher-ups at the Daily Prophet. Some journalists from the newspaper had come in with Doxy bites after an apparent mishap at the office. The man behind her wasn't one of the ones who had been bitten; he just wanted to tell her thank you, he said.

"Oh. Er, you're welcome," Max replied, feeling incredibly short all of a sudden because of how much taller he was. She wasn't sure whether to make her voice sound a little bit higher in pitch than it really was but decided against it. The goal was to sound more energetic but not like a little girl, something that the height difference didn't help.

Max couldn't say that it was a "fortunate" thing, exactly, but it was fairly common to treat Doxy bites. She had already lost count of how many times she'd seen patients who had mistaken them for fairies. Fairies didn't bite, though, and their bite certainly wouldn't have been venomous if they were to manage to bite someone. They kept plenty of antidotes on hand at the hospital for a reason.

cade owen woodward

[cade owen woodward]

how many times must a man look up

before he can see the sky?

August 4, 2027
maxima ruqayyah greyback

The young woman seemed surprised. Surely more people thanked the staff here than just him, or so he hoped. People took certain careers for granted. It gave Cade an idea for content that could and should be placed in the paper, but he’d expand on that later. Bianca had described the aftermath of the Hogwarts fire and how the mediwitches and wizards arrived as soon as possible and helped as many as possible. The forgotten heroes that should be acknowledged. Though he supposed there were a lot of forgotten heroes, such as anyone in the Order, that did everything they could to prevent this. But they could never be public and keep their careers and reputations intact.

The queue moved forward, and the young woman took a step forward, and so did Cade. ”I don’t want to bother you on your break, but we’re working on a piece regarding St. Mungo’s. if you had a few minutes I’d like to ask you a few questions.” He figured if he could bring this idea to life, it would be wise to speak to staff from all departments with various experience levels. Cade would start with this young woman and then pick one of his staff writers that wasn’t dumb enough to bring doxies into a building to assist. While the Prophet was here to expose the truth and keep the public informed, he hoped it could also share stories of real people.

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[maxima ruqayyah greyback]

August 4, 2027

More focused on the people who were queuing in front of her than making conversation, Max stepped forward as it became slightly closer to being her turn to order. She turned her head, though, when she realized that Cade Woodward was speaking to her again.

"I don't want to bother you on your break, but we're working on a piece regarding St. Mungo's," he said, obviously having no way of knowing that she was finished with her shift and not just on a break from it. He added that he had a few questions for her if she had a few minutes.

Max had the time to spare, but she wasn't sure that she was the right person to be interviewed for a piece in the newspaper. Then again, she had finished her shift. It was better for him to take up her time because she was already off the clock, she figured, than if he were to bother someone else. Even though all she really wanted to do was to go home, she didn't think that answering some questions would take an unreasonable length of time.

"Erm, alright," she nodded, giving him her consent to interview her. "Could I buy something to eat first?" She knew that she probably didn't need to ask his permission; he was the one who wanted to interview her, after all. She didn't think that he would mind if she got something to eat, either. She didn't need to be prepared for live television, so she could be forgiven if she were to end up with something in her teeth.

cade owen woodward