Looking around herself properly for the first time since she came to (who could look anybody in the eye after such a declaration?!) she noticed to her embarrassment that she wasn’t the only one in an infirmary bed. She really should have noticed it earlier, but people were moaning in pain, clutching lost arms, and generally just looking miserable.

“Right, so how can I help?” Christian eyed her but seemed to come to a decision. On her end, though, she wondered how he could even talk to her while so many other patients were around. People were missing limbs! He wasn’t doing a good job convincing her that he was all that sane. Or at least saner than she was.

Which really wasn’t the highest bar if she was thinking about it. Especially with all the added pressure of the Tutorial. She’d have to keep track of him, two crazy people in an infirmary? Probably why Arthur decided to add bodyguards, this way he could keep an unobtrusive eye on Christian too. He couldn’t really believe that she was able to predict the monster attacks.

“Alright, how about we treat this like medical school. I’ll do my rounds and you’ll follow me. Once you understand how we’re operating you can go off on your own, with Louis and Jean Paul,” he amended quickly when he saw her hopeful look at being without her bodyguards, making James scowl at him.

Just look at him, dashing her dreams like that. It’s not like she wanted a crowd when she made the inevitable mistakes. And why would she need guards inside the infirmary? It’s not like she would run away. Or that there would be any other dangers lurking about between the hospital beds. Quickly calling the two men over, Christian made brisk introductions. “This is Louis and here is Jean Paul.”

Louis almost looked like a gymnast with his build. Of average height, he was stocky and big boned, with strong eyebrows and the closest James had ever seen blond hair get to brown. Additionally, he was one of those people that if they entered the elevator, you checked what the maximum weight was and wondered if you should exit, he was just that muscular.

Or maybe some people would consider if they were the target of a mob hit, but James certainly wasn’t in that group. Nope. Not her. It was a surprise when he opened his mouth and didn’t have a rumbling base voice, instead a quiet and rather mid-range voice emerged.

“Louis.” He shook her hand. Strong and silent type then, certainly part of the mob. The one mob that lacked tattoos, but who was she to discriminate? She had even considered getting a small one herself, but such an act would constitute too much rebellion and she wouldn’t even be able to talk her parents if they ever called. If she ever managed to do that again. Well, that was a sobering thought, moving on.

Jean Paul was slightly taller and more lithely built, clearly spending some more time doing cardio than Louis did, maybe in his entire life. And while Louis had strong eyebrows, he had a strong nose, reminding James of Cyrano de Bergerac. It wasn’t as bad as the flowery language in that play made Cyrano’s nose out to be, but the resemblance was uncanny. All in all, he was a lot less cartoonish but still somehow managed to remind her of a character much more than Louis. He also had one of those headaches attached to him, but to a much smaller degree than Arthur. She almost scowled, thinking of how she compared everyone to him. She didn’t even like him!

“Hi, I’m Jean Paul.” He nodded at her with a slight smile, or maybe it was a smirk? She wasn’t familiar enough with that particular facial expression to spot the difference. And Jean Paul was the one that helped her come over here. Yikes, did she have something on her face? When was the last time a guy her age smiled at her? Abort! Abort mission!

“James.” She introduced herself and jumped off the bed, managing not to crumple and fall like the last time she had tried to stand on her own two feet. “Where’s my bag?” Louis quickly spotted it on the ground and brought it over.

Rummaging through it, she fished out her first aid kit so she could use tools she was familiar with as well as her tablet so she could take notes. And maybe give her a shot at being able to ignore people if they noticed her too much. Quickly putting her bag over her shoulders, James looked up to see the three men staring at her, making her fidget uncomfortably despite Christian’s Calming Aura.

“Where did you get that?” Christian was the one to break the silence. She stared at him; didn’t he just see her take it out of her bag?

“Wait, you didn’t consider asking everyone to bring their first aid kits from home?” She was incredulous, everyone was supposed to have at least some first aid supplies at home, it was basic common sense.

This group had been here a week, and this was the first time they really considered what their resources were? Or where they could get more? Didn’t they have anyone thinking about the logistics? Because it certainly wasn’t her specialty. Given, thinking through every possible outcome when it came to leaving her house was a side-effect of her social anxiety, but this was basic! Exchanging glances between the three of them, Christian muttered.

“I should talk to Arthur before everyone finishes off for the day. Could you look over everything while I’m gone?” Not waiting for an answer, Christian quickly left the cottage, taking along with him whatever James could do to help. She could feel the loss of his Calming Aura too as he went further and further away, passively noting that she could track him by the effect of the Skill alone.

“Hi?” She squeaked, back to her normal self. Well, normal was relative.