“Ok, I’m going to go fill up so prescription bottles in the back, it’ll take about forty five minutes. Can you hold the counter till then?” The… nurse asks as she adjusts her uniform.
Alia doesn't allow her discomfort to show on her face as she smiles and nods with perfect professionalism.
“Of course Nurse Ambrette. Leave it to .”
Her prompt answer has the nurse hesitate for a mont, looking into her eyes before nodding and walking into the back room, leaving Alia alone at the counter, the still wrapped blanket sitting beneath.
It’s only after the back room door closes that Alia allows her face to scrunch into a minor grimace at the mory of the cosplayer who she’s working under.
Apparently Aunt Lily had sothing co up that ant she needed to leave for a few days. She only gave instructions to Ambrette for three, so she has to assu she’ll be back by then.
Alia has… complicated feelings about the practice of Joy cosplay to say the least.
On one hand, and on the most basic level, it looks uncanny to see soone using props and prosthetics to pretend to be a mber of her family, even weirder that there are entire businesses that make it their jobs to sell wigs, colored contact lenses, and specifically formulated makeup to get the look to the standard the public deems indistinguishable.
She’s not sure how the disguise manages to fool people, but it does, quite regularly.
But on the other hand, so part of the Joy says it’s none of her business how people choose to dress up. If they want to look like a mber of the family while working at a pokecenter, then it’s not illegal unless she starts calling herself ‘Ambrette Joy.’
Alia scrunches her face.
No. All she has to do is say nothing and the people will just say that for her–
The nurse in training cuts herself off and forcibly takes a breath.
She’s thought about it a bit, and one of the most selfish reasons for disliking the practice is rather petty.
It’s that they can take the wig off.
She sighs and adjusts her blouse.
Alia Joy, is a Joy, literally since the mont she was born that’s an immutable fact, a Joy who chooses to be sothing else has to hide themselves, else everyone they et will assu that they’re a part of their family’s tradition.
Alia has personally dealt with these issues, despite barely moving outside how her family usually does things, and though she’s happy to be a part of her family it doesn't change the fact that she has no option other than to be who she is.
But whenever Ambrette leaves work, she can take off the wig just as easily as she can take off any other part of her uniform, and suddenly being a Joy is a choice done as easily as flipping a switch. Sothing that she chose to do at so point in her life and could just as easily decide to quit without needing to do anything more complicated than find a new job.
The front door opens and Alia straightens to attention, clasping her hands at her waist as an older trainer walks in with a six ball bandoller in hand already and an irritated expression on his face.
A few seconds later and he’s walking out again, unwrapping a complentary mint he’d grabbed from a bowl on the counter as he goes.
With that the Joy allows her professional smile to drop again and starts wiping down the countertop with a disinfecting wipe.
How Ambrette dresses is none of her business.
It’s not even her fault that she feels like sheneedsto wear the wig in the first place.
Alia sighs.
Great grandma Mimi told stories of when she was a little girl, just on the tail end of the volatility following a large population boom where the clan ended up hiring dozens of people from outside the family to work in pokecenters in almost every major town and city for the first real ti in living mory.
Non-Joy nurses have been around forever, but until that point it was an extrely rare occurrence.
And no one was happy, the family, the new hires, the public, the pokemon, no one. Because they didn't trust a non-Joy to do the job.
It’s better now, but she’s read magazine articles about non-cosplay nurses still being treated with confusion and suspicion when they stand behind the counter in so places. Which is just unfair for them.
At the end of the day they are qualified nurses, so… she’ll just have to get used to it.
Finishing her basic wipedown of the counter, she drops the dirty wipe into the trash and turns back to the front with a smile as the front door opens just a few seconds after the previous patient left.
She then feels herself struggle to keep her professional deanor as she sees who ca in.
Vibrant red hair in a high ponytail, crop top, worn bell bottom jeans, just a few years older than her.
Alia rembers watching her teoric rise through the gym circuit, one of the youngest trainers ever to challenge the Hoenn elite four, managing to fight through each team one by one only to barely be beaten by Drake in a near coin flip upset.
Gym leader Flannery gives a slightly ragged smile as she power walks over to the countertop.
“Heya Nurse Joy! Back again!” She shouts as she waves with a pair of short, aggressive movents and leans both elbows on the desk. “How’s it hangin?”
Alia struggles to figure out a response in ti, caught completely off guard by the Gym leader’s appearance and casual deanor in contrast to the sheer prestige of her accomplishnts.
This story originates from . Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Good morning Gym leader Flannery.” She says, noticing exactly how worn the trainer looks as she leans on the counter, hair drooping, clothes lightly stained in soot, small bags under her eyes. She looks like she’s been busy. “How can I help?”
Flannery laughs even as she flinches slightly, shaking her head.
“Aww! Nurse Joy, you've known since I was a little kid!Don't you start calling ‘Gym leader’ all the ti too!” She says with a smile, and Alia is forced to silently suppress how being confused with her forty year old aunt makes her feel as Flannery continues. “But uhhhh… while I’m here. You wouldn't happen to know how to pay… an electrical bill, would you?”
Alia is opening her mouth to resolve the confusion on her identity, but by the ti she processes the Gym leader’s words sheer shock has her mouth mirroring her mind directly.
“I– ph. You forgot to pay the gym’s electric bill?” She asks, eyes widening in disbelief.
“H–Hey I didn't forget!” The Gym leader defends, cheeks reddening as her talking speed increases. “I ant to pay it last week, but I couldn't figure it out, and Grandpa wasn't picking up the phone so I put it on my todo pile and then trainers just kept showing up and I know sothing is going on with so of them! These one badge kids keep showing up with ‘mon that are not one badge ‘mon! I almost lost to a grass type yesterday Miss Joy! A grass type!”
The girl, who looks increasingly less like a gym leader and more like one of Alia’s friends from school every ti exams co around, leans both elbows on the counter and buries her face in her hands as Alia tries to cut in again. Suddenly even more uncomfortable with this case of mistaken identity.
“Gym le–” She starts, but Flannery starts speaking again with a slight but dangerously emotional waver in her voice.
“I just don't see how Gramps could manage allthis…” She says quietly. “And now the police are asking all these questions about Team Magma activity like I’m supposed to know–”
“Gym leader Flannery.” Alia interrupts with so urgency, awkwardness at the situation being overridden by the fact that she should not be hearing about sothing like that. “I apologize, but I’m not who you believe I am.”
“Wh…” She trails off, eyes widening as they take in every detail of Alia’s face.
She tries her best to look apologetic as she continues.
“My na is Alia Joy.” The nurse says, holding out a hand. “It’s a pleasure to et y–”
“Oh shhhhhoot! I’m so sorry!” Flannery shouts as she takes a step back, her face quickly becoming almost as red as her hair. “I didn't an to– I was just so tiredand that’s– I an you don't look anything alike so I– I an–”
There’s a point where the red in the Gym leader’s face and the panic in her voice seems to peak, and at that point it’s almost like a switch flips inside her brain.
Her mouth closes, she straightens from a defensive hunch to a proper upright posture, and her eyes seem to start looking beyond the walls behind Alia into sothing no one else can see.
Then she places one foot behind her, spins around, and begins quickly marching toward the exit in total silence.
Then she’s out the doors and gone without another world.
…What?
Alia is… a lot of things right now. But confused is a good start.
A state this is not resolved after the Gym leader walks out the front door and disappears, nor in the following half hour of silence after that until the sliding double doors open again and her partner ducks slightly to get through.
“Ans, chanseyschansey cha… ans…” The ‘mon starts, trailing off as she sees the expression on Alia’s face. “...Chansey?”
The nurse blinks, then looks up at her partner’s eyes.
“This entire town is full of strange people.” She says after a mont.
—--
She’s still not completely over the… experience that was interacting with the Gym leader of Lavaridge by the ti the phone rings again. But work takes priority so she takes a quick breath and pulls the phone off the receiver.
“Lavaridge pokecenter, Trainee Joy speaking.” She says promptly, only to be answered by a long few monts of silence.
“...Hello?” Cos an elderly voice over the speaker. “Is this the pokemon center?”
“Yes sir. How can I help you?”
“Absol isn't drinking any water.” He says and clears his throat, followed by so muffled sounds of talking from sowhere else in the room. “He says he’s just not thirsty, but the last ti sothing like this happened it turns out he was a liar.”
Humming to confirm that she heard, Alia clicks a pen and flips open a pad of paper next to the phone to a clean page.
“Alright then sir. If you believe this is a serious dical issue I recomnd you co down to the pokecenter right away. Our address is–”
She’s interrupted by him coughing.
“Cant you just give a house call?” He asks, suddenly sounding much more feeble. “I wouldn't want to strain myself or Absol going all that way…”
Alia squints.
Protocol says house calls are for ergencies, or when soone is unable to co to a center, and the sudden ‘feeble voice’ is making her have her doubts on whether this man is more unable or unwilling.
But in the end she can only shrug.
“Understood sir, a Nurse will be sent. What is your location?”
The elderly man starts to respond, but before he can they’re both startled into silence as Alia feels the world shudder.
An earthquake?
The Joy places her hand on the counter, preparing to hide underneath it should it intensify. Thankfully it appears to just be a small one, a shudder barely strong enough to be felt through her legs, not even enough to knock a cup over.
She’s pretty used to earthquakes, on an actively volcanic island she’s used to at least onesmall earthquake every few months. She still rembers the big one that knocked out the transit links to her town for a solid three weeks when she was eight.
As she rises up and slowly releases the table as no intensification or aftershock occurs, Alia realizes that it’s actually been pretty quiet on the earthquake front for the past long while.
Guess it’s due.
The Joy is reminded of where she is by the voice chuckling over the telephone.
“OhhhHohoHo!” He laughs. “Well then, would you look at that? Old smokestack is telling us who’s boss!”
The old fashioned saying has Alia smile slightly as she nods at the phone.
“Yes sir.”
“Bah! No whimsy with you youngins.” He says with a huff. “Now what was I saying?”
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