The Doctor Is In !

Fletcher’s nose twitched endlessly as they pulled open the curtains and looked outside. The clinic had a beautiful view of the rescue’s main pasture, the sun was hardly over the horizon, bathing the scenery in a warm reddish light. They had only been awake for maybe twenty minutes, but the jackrabbit’s mind was already running wild with their to-do list for the day, as well as the one glaring thought that had been plaguing them all night. The stallion from the night before.

Fletcher pulled on a shirt, ears swiveling as they let out a sigh. Today wouldn’t be easy, but they were certain that it would be productive. They made haste, trotting out of their room and pretty much stumbling down the stairs of their clinic. It was one of those combo buildings, the first floor being the clinic and the second floor being Fletcher’s home. Fitted with a bedroom, kitchenette, and a pretty nice bathroom (at least, in their opinion, they preferred smaller rooms which wasn’t very ideal with others apparently).

They hummed to themselves, half-mumbling in between verses of the song. The first task of the day was to check in on the hard-headed stallion that had burst through the fencing yesterday. Fletcher thought it was strange how many wild horses always showed up on the rescue. It was only a few weeks ago that Fletcher had heard about a runaway mare that had captured Charlie’s heart. That had turned out to be a messy ordeal. Fletcher learned quickly after that to be a little hesitant to get so attached to the random horses that would show up around this place.

They walked through the clinic, grabbing a stethoscope on the way through a doorframe. Luckily the clinic wasn’t too busy. The resident horses were pretty good about keeping themselves out of trouble. Well, most of them. They could name a few off the top of their head that were more accident-prone than the others. They shook their head. Focus, Fletcher, focus.

Approaching one of the few stalls in their small clinic, Fletcher peeked over the gate and saw the stallion, which they had nicknamed “Strawberry,” curled up in the hay. They grinned just faintly, happy that the new addition had settled in so nicely. The horse had been a little skinny, it was likely he had been out there in the woods for a few weeks before he had finally barreled into the rescue’s pastures. He had been cleaned up as much as possible, but it wasn’t easy to-

“Stop,” Fletcher sighed to themselves, rubbing their face with a paw. What was the opposite of brainfog? Clarity? Overactivity? Whatever it was, it was annoying.

When they opened their eyes again, they were startled to see Strawberry staring directly at them,

“Oh.” They blinked, “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Strawberry snorted in response and slowly stood up on his hooves, keeping most (if not, all) of his weight off his injured leg. His eyes never left the hare, not quite distrusting, but it wasn’t a warm and friendly gaze, that was for sure. Fletcher hesitantly unlatched the gate and stepped inside the expansive stall, shutting it behind themselves,

“You settling in okay? You looked warm in the straw…” Fletcher hummed, his tall ears perked and alert as they cautiously approached Strawberry, “Does your leg still hurt? You aren’t putting much weight on it. I’m guessing your meds wore off. I’ll get you some more soon, I just gotta make sure you’re doing alright first…”

Fletcher stood next to the pony, giving his shoulder a gentle stroke to soothe him. Strawberry didn’t move away, didn’t lean into it, just turned his head to look down at the hare next to him. For such a beautiful creature, Strawberry had a pretty unsettling stare. Fletcher, unsure how to deal with that, ultimately decided to just continue the exam without making eye contact.

Fletcher put the earpieces of their stethoscope in and carefully placed the diaphragm just behind the stallion’s elbow. They listened carefully to the strong, steady sound of his heartbeat. Good… Shifting just slightly, they then focused on Strawberry’s breathing. Also good… With a faint sigh of relief, Fletcher took out their earpieces and pat the horse on the side,

“Healthy as a…” They paused, “Horse. I guess.”

“You know, I’m not sure why that’s a saying because I feel like horses are some of the least-healthy animals ever. But I guess a lot of sayings get screwed up over time. Did you know the ‘happy as a clam’ saying isn’t because clams look happy. The full saying is ‘happy as a clam at hightide,’ because clams aren’t gonna be found during hightide, ‘cause they burrow in the sand and stuff… Oh, wait, the horse thing. I guess horses can be healthy, and when they are healthy it’s obvious because they have so much stamina and they’re strong, but-”

“Fletcher?” A voice called out from the front of the clinic. Both Strawberry and Fletcher jolted, focusing back on the task at hand and not a willy-nilly lesson about expressions.. 

“Ah- One second, I’m back here,” They called out to the voice and stumbled out of Strawberry’s stall. Through the doorway, Charlie appeared, a smile on her face when she saw the hare and the horse,

“Hiya,” She greeted, walking up to Fletcher, “How’s he doing?”

“He’s okay… Heart sounds good, breathing sounds good. I was just about to-to get his bandages switched out,” Fletcher reported, their ears swiveling as they spoke to the feline, whose tail swished happily at the news,

“That’s good, I was worried he’d give you some trouble, being wild and all.”

“No, he’s surprisingly good with people.” Charlie looked at them sidelong as they said that, as if saying ‘do not say that around me again,’ Fletcher sputtered, “I meant like - uhm, like, still wild, just… good-tempered?” They grinned sheepishly. She huffed in amusement,

“Relaaax, I’m just teasing. Don’t be so stiff,” Charlie grinned and nudged their shoulder, “I’m glad he’s being a good patient though. Dean’s been bitching all morning about how Strawberry destroyed the fencing, so I figured I’d come check our hit-and-runner.”

Fletcher rubbed their shoulder as Charlie nudged them, grinning back at her, “Dean complains about a lot of things…” They mumbled,

“That he does, but he does good work. For the most part.” Charlie shrugs, resting her paws on her hips as she looks over at the stallion that was still not making any effort to not stare at his two caretakers. Unsettling, but those pretty brown eyes weren’t the worst thing in the world. Not as bad as Ode’s stare. She shivered at the thought of those piercing blue eyes.

Charlie sighed and opened her mouth, though her phone rang just as a syllable left her mouth. She grumbled and pulled it out of her jacket pocket. She lit up a little,

“Oh, it’s Khal. I’ll check back in later,” She turned to leave, waving over her shoulder, “Cya, Fletcher.”

Fletcher smoothed a hand over their snout as Charlie shouted into the phone on her way out “What do you mean you broke your ankle?!”

Focus. Task two of the day: Rebandage Strawberry’s leg. Likely easier said than done, but they were willing to give it a try. Wiping their hands on their shirt, they tried to make their way to the cabinets along the wall for said bandages, only for the front door of the clinic to fling open once more. Fletcher peeked into the main room just as Dean, their hot-headed handyman, walked in. The boar’s eyes locked onto Fletcher,

“Crash in here?” He gruffed out, approaching the hare, who meekly took a step out of the way,

“Er, yeah… He’s, like, the only one in here,” Fletcher commented, nodding towards Strawberry. Dean clacked his tusks together thoughtfully and moseyed on over to the stall, leaning his forearms on the gate.

Fletcher watched from their spot by the doorway, fidgeting as Dean and Strawberry were locked in an intense stare-off. Neither looked away, neither reacted. Just… Staring. What was up with the staring today? Eventually, Strawberry’s ears finally pinned back and he snorted in Dean’s face. Dean scowled, but stepped back. He moved and walked past Fletcher, giving the hare a clap on the back before leaving.

Fletcher stood there, a confused grimace on their face. What the hell was up with this place… Or, the people actually.