[IC] ”Why does my back ache?” (OoC)

[Major Ursa]

“There doesn’t seem to be anything more than just bruising, a minor scrape and concussion. You should be fine, feeling a little bit of vertigo here or there. If you lose consciousness suddenly, or feel any sort of splitting pain to your head, you can come back for another visit.” When Jay left the hospital with his aunt, though the doctor had given him specific instructions for how to conduct himself after a minor concussion, all he could think about was the pain to his back. It was supposedly only bruising, but it was a soreness that didn’t feel like it would be going away any time soon.

Returning to the apartment building, he entered into the small hallway…and glared at his newest enemy, who ran into the arms of the elderly lady standing in the furthest end of the hall. That little bitch of a corgi…he actually liked dogs, but this one was always biting his pant leg. It went too far, this time, standing and tackling him off a staircase’s middle step. Jay was sent tumbling down the steps, while his younger cousin watched in horror. Or course, the corgi landed on him, with no injury. His aunt, the landlady, gave the elderly woman a stern talking to before driving him to the hospital.

Hurrying up the stairs, while his aunt went back over to lecture the elderly woman again, and while making sure the foul (yet admittedly cute) little beast wasn’t following him in order to jump him for round two, he made his way to the apartment. The apartment was a small one joined to his aunt and uncle’s larger place. Nothing fancy, just a small studio apartment big enough for his stuff. Stretching out a bit, and reaching for the door knob, his younger cousins burst out and jumped him. Well, 10 year old Allie did, anyways. She was crying while simultaneously saying something about him possibly dying, and 14 year old Josh was playing on Jay’s Playstation 4.

After the girl got settled back into reading her vampire central romance novel, Jay plotted himself back into his wheelie chair…letting out a grunt of pain at his back and minor head pain, before pulling his headphones on. Putting on some Baroque music, he opened up a PDF version of his history text, and got to work memorising…well, that was what he’d do normally. Half way through a track labelled ‘Rondo from Abdelazer’, he decided to considered his health and condition, and instead slack off for a little while. Checking his email, watching funny cat videos (no dog videos today, for obvious reasons), eventually he ended up on a pretty random forum. The forum was supposedly made for people of his city to communicate with each other anonymously…a city of loners and anti-socials. Of course, nothing could stop people from just signing up, even if they were out of city…but there were a lot of funny posts and funny people, and the chat rooms attached to it were always a barrel of laughs. So…he’d stay for that till he got bored, and switched over to the next forum over.

Pausing to think for a moment, he decided to make a small thread on what happened today…

Dog out to kill me!!!1! HALP!

KeyserS0ze:

OMG!!!!

You wouldn’t believe what happened to me today! I was walking up the stairs to my apartment when doom-beast of death and destruction tackled me, sending me crashing down to the bottom of the steps.

Here is a picture of doom-beast…!

Don’t be fooled! This isn’t even the first time doom-beast tried to kill me! I barely got away with a concussion and a bruised, bruised back…

;-;

Damn, my back hurts more than my head right now…seriously.

Of course, the picture wasn't of the old woman's corgi, specifically...just a random one from the internet, to serve the purpose.

[Mach2]

Despite the fact that her friend Eric hated the gym, Anna was still sometimes able to convince him to come along with her. Today was one of those days. It wasn't as though he ever did much. Most of the time, she would wait for him as he spent too long changing into a t-shirt and shorts. Then she would complete a circuit, and he would walk around looking awkwardly at the equipment. But she stubbornly insisted he come along. Afterwards, they would usually go for some sort of unhealthy treat to effectively counteract the effort expended at the gym. At the moment, Eric was standing behind Anna, spotting her as she bench pressed. 'Spotting', really meant that he was standing there, attention shifting between a few of the other females in the gym. Anna's gaze very well may have been on the girls as well, if she wasn't focused on the bar above her head. She raised and lowered the weights with ease, relishing the burn in her shoulders that increased with every repetition. Her arms straightened, then bent again as she went to complete the tenth rep.

As the bar lowered, a sharp gasp suddenly sounded from Anna. Pain shot through her back, and her arms buckled. Her hands slipped from the metal, and the weighted bar hit her hard in the shoulder. Instantly, Eric's attention was back on his friend, and he rushed forwards to grab the bar. The weights slid off the right side, crashing onto the ground, as he lifted it off of her. "You okay?" he asked urgently.

Anna nodded, pushing herself up to a sitting position and rubbing her shoulder. "Yeah...yeah, I'm good," she answered, trying to pass it off. She saw several people around the gym staring, but their attention went to other things when they saw there wasn't a serious problem.

Eric smirked. "Lifting more than you can handle?" he asked, his tone teasing. "Trying to show off for the ladies?"

He was answered with a sharp elbow to the ribs as Anna stood up. She quickly picked up one of the fallen weights, returning it to the rack. "Shut up. You've seen me lift eighty pounds no problems before. That's a warm-up. I think I tore something in my back," she explained as she cleaned up the mess of weights she had made. She turned, facing Eric and smiling again as though the entire thing hadn't even happened. "C'mon, I've still got an hour and a half before I've got to be at work. Let's go grab an ice cream or something."

[cerozer0]

"Medium chamomile tea with lemon, please."

The whirl of a foam machine and chatter of an afternoon rush filled Alice's brain with calmness and emptiness, but her body worked like a robot at the request. Sweet smelling packs of dried flowers and leaves were steeped in a decently sized Styrofoam, lemon squeezed until it no longer produced juice. The cup was then covered and slid to another person. Return to post, listen, repeat. Over and over and over until only a few sitting patrons were left. A soft murmur of relief that the mad rush was over and done with came from behind her, and then a pat on the back.

Ow.

Alice flinched away from the pat, eyes turning around to face her co-working, a lanky boy covered in piercings named Peter. He gave a sheepish grin, holding his hand as if he had touched a flame,

"Sorry, did I hit you too hard?" he asked, eye brows turn up in worry. Alice straightened and gave a reassuring grin, one hand draped over her shoulder,

"Nah, I've just been really achey recently. Maybe it's bruised?" her voice held an air of calmness, and she soon released her back and stretched, keeping her face emotionless as a wave of pain rippled across her skin. Peter nodded slowly as if accepting her answer, then turned towards the counter, staring out at rather cozy cafe which they called their job. Alice's eyes drifted over eash detail, relishing in the cafe's cuteness and utter paint-a-bility. It was a corner shop, with the counter and kitchen being the center piece of the joint while chairs, tables, and booths covered the outer layer. An outdoor area with three small tables covered by rather ornate red and orange umbrellas sat just out of the way of the rushing streams of city-walkers. The whole place had a warm feel, perhaps the color-scheme was the reason. Reds, oranges, and browns were rather warm colors, after all.

"Anyway, doesn't your shift end soon?" Peter asked, rolling the piercing in his eyebrow around casually. Alice glanced down at her smart phone to check the time. Four-thirty.

"I get off at five, why're you asking?" she questioned, leaning against the counter's edge, green eyes gleaming. He shrugged, smirking,

"I just hate Megan is all, worst co-worker ever."

"That's so rude! I might tell her how you feel next time I see her~." Peter gasped, feigning fear before giggling and giving Alice a little shove. Pain sprung from where she had rested her back and she failed to hide her flinch again. Peter held up both hands in an 'I'm sorry' pose,

"Sorry, I fo-"

Chimes.

Alice turned, putting on her working smile,

"Hello, welcome to the Corner Cafe..."

---

Alice slipped out the back entrance, bracing herself against the chilling wind. The sky was overcast, the threat of rain growing with each distant rumble. She zipped up her loose hoodie and moved forward through the back alley, journeying passed the trash into the city air. Cars and people filled her vision, and dull pop music filled her ears as she moved in sync with the crowd around her, zoning out once again. Step, step, step. Chatter, white noise. Pain, faint but unchanging. Fresh air, honking,

"Miss!"

Alice lurched backwards, just as a car zoomed passed, nearly hitting her. The crowd of people had stopped, staring blankly as the nearly-hit girl blinked stupidly before slowly returning to the curb. Her face was a deep red, embarrassment evident in her posture. 'Stop zoning out, Alice!' she scolded herself. Alice always found herself zoning out, but recently it had been very bad. Perhaps her back was the reason for that too? Her eyes drifted towards the stop light, and when it turned red she began traveling with the crowd again.

Two blocks later, she was at her apartment building. It was tucked away between two other seemingly vacant buildings. Graffiti was common (and she may be the cause for some of it) and trash littered the curb. It wasn't exactly luxurious, but it was home. Alice slowly made her way to the fifth floor,keeping a cautious eye behind her until she was safely behind a locked door.

"Rubbbiiixx~!" her voice echoed through the small two room apartment, and a meow responded, coming from the main room. Alice allowed the bag slung over her shoulder to fall to the floor, and after kicking off her sneakers she tiptoed down the wooden-floored hall and into the living room/kitchen/computer room/dining room. A black cat perks up from behind one of the couch pillows and purrs loudly at the sight of the tall girl, who in return hops over and gives him a little peck on the head. Alice grins before rolling over the arm of the couch onto the cushions, wincing as her back hit the pillows. Sure, the place was small, but it was quaint, had wifi, and was kept relatively warm during the colder seasons. It was perfect, though a bit lonely, but Rubix was there for that. Alice slowly slipped her phone from her pocket, and instead of checking the fifty messages from her folks she lazily surfed the web until she ended up on a rather small forum.

Apparently it was full of people from this city, and Alice checked it out every now and then when she was bored. One post caught her eye, made by a certain KeyserS0ze. A smirk pierced her bored face at the sight of a corgi being called a "doom-beast", no idea on how to respond, though, so she decided to move on through the site until her eyelids began to droop and sleepiness took hold of her mind. She had plans to go out later with a few friends, but a nap wouldn't do any harm, after all... And soon, everything was black.

[Baklava]

Click, click, click-click, click-click-click-click-click, click, click-click-click….

“How’s it coming, Fiedler?” Adam leaned back in his office chair and glanced over his shoulder, smiling sheepishly.

“It’s all good, Mr. D,” he said, swiveling his chair more to face the massive man.

“That’s what I like to hear, kid,” Mr. Delaware boomed in his super macho-manly voice that emanated from beneath his super macho-manly mustache, “As soon as you’ve finished, why don’t you head on home, son?”

“Sure thing. Thanks, Mr. D,” he grinned as the man walked away from the entrance of his dingy little cubical.

“Mr. D," Adam said quietly to himself as he turned back to face his computer, “Mr. Douchebag. Mr. Dickweed. Mr. Dumbass. Mr. Do-all-my-work-you-shitty-little-intern-while-I-beat-off-to-Celine-Dion-and-continue-to-do-jackshit-around-here.... Ergh….”

Fuck. He had obviously been sitting in that damned office chair for far too long. Adam gripped his desk and leaned as far back as he could without tipping over, suppressing a yawn as he stretched his aching back. He only had roughly 20 minutes worth of work left to do, but he wasn’t in any rush to get home. Melissa had been on one lately… and it wasn’t just her PMSing either….

Adam stood up from his chair and started heading towards the water cooler. All but maybe one or two other cubicals still had their lights on and Adam was fairly sure they were only on because the people working there forgot to turn them off. The entire office building was otherwise dark and totally silent, save the distant whistling of the janitor in the bathroom, clanking about as he replaced toilet paper rolls and adjusted toilet seats. It was almost eerie.

Nearing the water cooler, Adam pulled a small paper cup from the stack, but paused just before filling it. He heard something rather… abnormal. This was far from Adam’s first and only late night at work before—what with Mr. Delware always dumping his work load on Adam and forcing him to stay late-- but this particular sound was something somewhat familiar, but far too out-of-place to possibly be real. Adam will swear that the intentions of his investigation were by no means perverted, but whether it was curiosity or moral corruption, the noise still led Adam all the way to the office of Mr. Dickweed himself.

The shutters around his glass encased office were closed, but the door was slightly cracked open—emitting a low blue light that was most likely coming from his computer screen.

“Oh, Greg!” a soft voice moaned seductively.

Oh… my… god. Adam wasn’t sure whether to feel sick or impressed. Did he actually have a woman in there? He snickered silently to himself. Most likely whoever was in there wasn’t Mrs. Delware, Adam would wager. Wow—what a total dick. Worst boss ever AND a total cheater. How low could you get?

He was just about to turn and high tail it to his desk before anyone noticed he was creeping, but before he could so much as move, the door creaked open and a woman appeared, clad in bright red lingerie and a long, heavy petticoat-- which she hadn’t quite buttoned up yet. Adam’s jaw dropped, but it wasn’t for her D-cups. The woman looked like she couldn’t possibly be older than 25 whereas Mr. D, despite his fairly good looks, had to be at least 50.

At first Adam figured the woman must simply be a very well-paid prostitute, but what she did next seemed to disprove that idea. The woman brushed a stray strand of blonde hair from her face and stared at Adam apprehensively—like she was scared shitless. She quickly rushed past him, tightly synching her petticoat with her hands as she made a beeline for the hallway. He turned and watched her leave, but she paused just before rounding the corner.

“Please d-don’t tell anybody,” she stammered shakily with a frown. And just like that she was gone.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing lurking around my office, Fiedler?” Mr. D’s voice sounded from behind him. Adam grit his teeth and turned slowly. The man’s hair looked barely tousled and he leaned up against the doorframe in his beige suit with his arms crossed like nothing had happened at all.

“I’m sorry, sir. Uhm—I was just going to ask you if you’d like me to send it to you or Ricky to review once I’ve finished.”

“Send it to me, son. Like always,” Mr. D grumped.
“Alright, sir. Thank you, sir. Just making sure…,” Adam quickly turned and began walking back to his cubical as quickly as he could without looking like he was running.

“Better watch yourself, Fiedler,” Mr. D added darkly just before Adam could clear the corner—caught in the same place that girl had stopped, “You really better watch yourself. Now hurry up and finish that report.”

He quickly scampered back to his cubical to finish his work. What the hell was that….?

[Dalyuk]

Art grumbled loudly, his displeasure echoing through the dim stairwell. He had recently moved to the city in order to go to the college located downtown. Renting out a small apartment, he hadn't hired movers, opting to rent a truck instead. However, moving all the boxes of stuff he had brought proved to be a challenge. A dull pain in his back had stayed with him for the past three days, and it didn't make moving all the boxes to the second floor any easier. Fortunately, he was nearing the end of them. Moments later, his gripped slipped, and a box full of rather heavy books slammed on his toe, and he swore loudly, his voice heard throughout the entire stairwell. He paused slightly, Reaching down to pick up the fallen box, he looked up and down the stairwell to see if anyone had noticed. The dull pain had intensified into something greater, more intense as he carried the box up another flight of stairs.

He wiped a drop of sweat off his brow as he set down the last of the boxes in the kitchen of his apartment.

"Should've asked someone to help," he muttered, stretching his arms and back.
A throbbing pain had unexpectedly found its way into Art's back about a day before his departure. He had had some help from his parents back in Chicago in loading the boxes into the U-Haul, so it wasn't from that. Nonetheless, the car ride to the city wasn't the most pleasant, but it wasn't as bad as it was now. Glancing at the boxes again, he sighed and shook his head.

"I'll unpack them later" he said to himself, sitting down on the couch and getting his phone out.

The dull ache in his back remained, but it had since abated. Making a mental note to have a doctor check it out, he wrested a pamphlet he was given by the clerk at town hall out of his rather covetous pocket. On one page, there was a link to a website that was supposedly the city forum. The same clerk that had given him the pamphlet had told him about the forum, saying it was "a good place to meet people or look at fun things" and proceeded to tell him about an unfortunate soul that had gotten a some minor injuries from a corgi and posted it on one of the boards. Arturo simply shrugged and thanked the woman, but now he was curious. He got his phone out of his pocket and started to look at the forums, spending the rest of the day on the same couch.