Next up: SnowCat meets a doctor!

 
It's a relatively quiet night, crickets chirping nearby. Roars of laughter and cheer from the local tavern welcomely filled the silence of the night. A few flickering lights scattered among the dark buildings, some from fireplaces and some dim lights from candles. The sky was littered with clouds, some looking unappealing. There was a slight chill in the air that was colder when the wind blew. SnowCatCuties stepped out the tavern with the handsome doctor behind her. He lead the way, gently guiding her.

"Just this way it's not that far." He added with a wonky yet lovely smile that made Snow feel like she would melt.

"I just thought, I'm leaving the safety of my friends with a charming man claiming to be a doctor and I don't even know your name." Snow added with a mischievous smile.

Previously, Snow had arrived at the town, her shoulder just about in tack from a previous ambush her and her friends had luckily won. Snow was reluctant to see a doctor and shrugged her injury off as minor. With that, she headed to the pub, friends in tow. As they entered John said, "No, Snow. You have a bump on your head and need a doctor. No amount of liqueur is going to solve that." Snow just ordered a drink, insisting she was fine.

Without Snow's knowledge, there was in fact a doctor in the house who just happened to hear the conversation and decided to come assess the problem. His good looks and charming character caused Snow to agree to a check up which leads us to now.

"Oh, the name is Vince." He giggled. "People tend to call me Vin or Doctor Valour. Sometimes I get Vincent when people think that's what it's short for or just Vinnie. Sorry I'm rambling." Snow noticed his ears twitching and his tail waving happily about and thought it was adorable.

"It's OK that's a nice name. I'm SnowCatCuties but people call me Snow or SnowCat. I like your print as well, it's a rare one." She smiled slightly.

Vince caught a glimpse of her smile and couldn't help but smile as well. "Well thanks Snow." He looked at her, their eyes catching each other for what seemed like ages and their smile growing as well.

Just then, the clouds opened up and the rain poured down soaking Snow and Vin. Both of them started to run for shelter, screaming and gigging as they ran. Vin took off his jacket and held it over Snow's head trying to help keep her dry. The only bit of shelter nearby was small and narrow, resulting in them having to huddle in close to avoid the rain.

"Well I didn't think the rain was going to come down so hard." Snow looked at the sky and quickly got back under the shelter.

"Nor did I. It's not far from here though. Did you want to wait for a minute or run for it?" Vin asked.

Snow's eyes widened as she looked into his eye. "Oh we have to run. It'll be more fun. I'll let you lead."

"Ok this way." Vin, leaving his jacket on Snow, grabbed her hand and they ran to their destination, laughing with the occasional scream when the jumped through the puddles.

Quickly, they fell in through the door filled with laughter while soaked to the skin, Vin closing the door behind them then went to light the fire for warmth. Snow looked around as he did so. Once lit, the warmth was felt quickly and Snow moved closer. She took off Vin's Jacket and placed it near the fire to dry.

"I'll see if there's anything dry that you can put on and then I'll check out your shoulder." Vin started throwing things around the room.

"Aww thanks but why not come enjoy the fire for a moment first?" Snow rubbed her hands then held them out towards the fire to feel the warmth.

"Good idea actually." Vin stopped for a moment and went to join Snow.

"Wait," Snow added quickly. "Do you have a drink I could have?"

"Oh." Vin stopped to think. "The options are limited. I only have alcohol, whisky to be exact."

"That'll have to do then, I guess."

Vin picked up a bottle of whisky and a couple of glasses, sat down on the floor next to Snow and poured the glasses. Vin handed Snow her glass, their hands accidentally touching and their eyes caught again for a second time, this time more intense than the last. A smile creeping onto Snow's face as her cheeks started going red. She dropped her head slightly, the smile now full and beaming, she lifted her eyes again to meet Vin's.

"This might be out of code and everything," Vin started going all shy, "but you have memorising eyes." Snow blushed and looked away. Vin quickly stood up and started to walk away. "I'm sorry, I'll get those dry clothes for you." he started mumbling inaudible curses under his breath, mad at himself for being unprofessional. He returned and dressed up Snow's wound.

"You know, it would be handy to have a doctor around. Are you tied down to this town or do get to travel?" Snow asked over her shoulder a look of hope on her face as she bit the side of her bottom lip, not that it was in view of the doctor behind her.

Vin did notice her head move slightly though. "I go where I'm needed. If you need me around, I'll stick with you. There is nothing really here for me. Plus you'll need someone to keep an eye on your shoulder."

Snow smiled at the thought of the handsome doctor joining her. "How do you travel around?"

"I just appear where I'm needed." he laughed. "How does a normal Doctor travel with his tools?"

"With a cart of some sort I'd imagine."

"Yes," he replied and paused for a second. "Yes that's what I have."

"Ooook." Snow was baffled by his response and looked at him out the corner of her eye while he added the final touches to her wound. "Well I ride a bike and have a trailer for it, did you want to keep your things separate or pile on to mine?"

"Oh splendid that sounds good. I'm sure I could make some adjustments to combine things." He finished up closing Snow's shoulder and wrapping it. "There all done."

Snow found his tools to be a bit stranger than she was expecting.

Our voter Ichiro mentioned the opening "helps me picture where everyone is and the mood," in his words, which the voter cited as the main reason that this piece wins the award for Most descriptive writing! He said it "stood out" for him. It's also going to be interesting to see what becomes of this Doctor, as he's present in the next mission as well. That's going to take quite a while to get archived at this point, sadly.

Anyway, we've got one more piece- another solo- to come still, so enjoy it!