Work Text:
It had been a long week for Faye, there was a recent fire to a major forest in the Unova Region that injured a good amount of the pokemon inhabiting the forest, lot's of fellow coworkers had fallen ill due to the scared grass types emitting poison for protection so it was Faye alongside only a handful of other people to help over 100 individual pokemon. On top of an already faulty sleep schedule, it had made this week one of the worst in a long time.
Faye went into the rehabilitation center's storage room for some more pokemon feed. Of course it was on the top shelf. Grabbing a step stool for extra height, they attempted to grab the much needed food despite unsteady footing from lack of sleep. A fuzzy feeling began in their brain, one that was familiar. The stress was getting to them, but they had too many responsibilities to regress now. It would have to wait until things were less chaotic. As their fingers grazed the container holding the feed, Faye's feet finally slipped from under them, landing hard on the ground below.
"DR. FAYE, IS EVERYTHING ALRIGHT?" Faye sat up and leaned against the wall after a moment. "Fine....Just slipped 's all.." "Are you sure? It sounded pretty bad.." Faye finally stood with a small groan. "Positive, just needed a sec to get up."
After assuring their colleague and cleaning up the spilled food, Faye finally checked themselves out in the bathroom "...some minor bruising and soreness, luckily nothing too serious.." After splashing some water on their face to wake back up, Faye got right back to work.
Things didn't get much better from there, from getting hit by a seismitoad's mud shot, to getting kicked by a territorial timburr, and even a pidove attempting to nest in their hair. The work was worth it to help all these pokemon out until they were better but it didn't mean it didn't hurt. While patching themselves up from a venipede that attempted to use take down, one of the assistant nurses walked in. "Dr. Faye, i don't mean to come across as confrontational but you seem to be a bit out of it today. Do you need to go home and rest for a bit?" "No, i'll be fine;" Faye stood up to put up the first aid kit. "Besides, who else can help the temps around these pokemon?" The nurse simply nodded. "If you're sure Dr..."
After the nurse left, Faye dug into their bag to find their special item. It was a plush butterfree, one Faye had had since they were young. Faye sat on the floor, hidden behind a desk to just have a second, the fuzzy feeling attempting to return. Faye quickly shook the feeling away. "...gotta be grown up.." They mumbled, putting the butterfree back in their bag before getting back to work.
As night fell and shifts ended, Faye was left by themselves at the rehabilitation center. Work was nowhere near over though, there were nocturnal pokemon to care for, bedtimes to help with, and plenty of cleaning to be done. Faye was about to start working once again when a small buzz emitted from their c-gear. It was a text from Red. "Everything alright? Haven't heard from you all day." Faye shot a quick response to not let Red worry before getting the night feed set up.
After food and sleep being taken care of, Faye stepped into the building to start cleaning. It was either keep busy or risk falling asleep and not being able to help if anything happens. It had been a while since things have been deep cleaned anyways so it was the perfect time. "Before I start.." Faye entered a small empty room, it was a resting room for baby pokemon, perfect for their few pokemon to have some relaxing time after a long day. Faye let their pokemon out. "Alright, guys. Time for a well earned rest!" Before Faye had a chance to leave the room, Flurry, Faye's absol, stepped in front of them with a low but gentle growl. "I'm fine, flurry. just gotta go do a couple more things." Faye gave a reassuring smile to their pokemon and after a moment, the absol stepped back into the room without a fuss. "Thanks, Flurry. I'll be back with some food soon." As Faye was walking to the kitchen to make their pokemon some food, the fuzzy feeling attempted to creep up once again. Faye quickly shook their head and took a small stumble.
"...why am i so dizzy?" Faye took a moment to sit down, hoping the feeling would go away soon. The moment they sat down, the exhaustion truly hit as well as the pain from all hits Faye had taken. It hurt so bad. Faye's c-gear buzzed. "I cn com down if yoo ned me to." N? What would prompt him to say that? "No, i'm fine." The response may sound harsh, maybe too short, in this moment, Faye didn't care. The dizziness had turned into a headache and it was hard to keep their eyes on the tiny screen. Faye tried to force themselves up after a moment. It was hard, it hurt so much after resting for just a moment, but they were up. There was still things to do after all.
Faye had managed to get to the kitchen and make some food for their pokemon. Before leaving, they splashed some water on their face to wake up a bit. No need to make anyone worry after all. After returning with food, and convincing Flurry once again that they were okay, Faye got straight back to work. Cleaning, checking on the pokemon, getting things set up for when morning came, all things to keep Faye from thinking about the pain and exhaustion. Before they knew it, it was time for a second round of feeding for the nocturnal pokemon.
Faye checked on their pokemon before getting the food ready. Everyone was sound asleep and against better judgement, Faye let them sleep. They had done this for years after all, it was simply a routine feeding, no need to wake them up for something so small. Everything went smoothly until getting to the water area. The feeding itself went fine, just throw some food near the water, some in the water, and some into the hanging feeders for the night time fliers. As faye was walking towards the gate, they slipped on some mud and ended up falling down, landing on an...oh no. Faye got up as quickly as possible, attempting to get the pollen from the now awoken amoonguss. The attempt was futile, the dizziness started all over again. Sleep powder, a common defense mechanism from this kind of pokemon. With all their strength, Faye exited the gated area, but immediately collapsed as soon as the gate was closed.
When Faye awoke, they were in the infirmary. How did they get here? They were just feeding the pokemon when...When...Faye quickly shot up, before being knocked back down by their own pain. "Dr. Faye, you need to rest!" They groaned "...what happened?" "We found you just outside of the lake area, you were incapacitated and were cold to the touch. Who knows how long you were out there before we found you..." Faye looked out the window. Sunlight, it had just turned two when they had started feeding. They were out for quite a while. "I already informed your emergency contact about what had happened." "You wha-GAH!!" The assault of pain returned. "Dr. Faye, it's protocol to inform emergency contacts about any major injuries and you are plentiful past major! The only reason you're not in a hospital yet is because we have no means of transportation right now. Luckily you will be taken as soon Red gets here." "..." "Dr. Faye, I know you worry about the pokemon here, but we can handle things until you're back to your fully rested self." "..." "I'm going to leave you be to rest for a bit longer, please do not push yourself while i'm not watching." After the nurse left the room, tears started to form in Faye's eyes. They tried their best to hold the tears back, but with emotions mixing with the pain and exhaustion, it was nearly impossible to do so.
Why did i go out there by myself?
Why did i trip when i knew i was in an area with amoonguss?
Why did i let myself get hit so much?
Why am i so tired?
Why can't i stop crying?
crybaby crybaby CRYBABY
STUPID CRYBABY!!! YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!! YOU ALWAYS MESS UP SOMEWHERE! YOU CAN'T DO A THING RIGHT FOR MORE THAN A FEW WEEKS! WHY DO YOU EVEN BOTHER?
WHY DO YOU TRY? JUST STOP TRYING YOU-
A gentle hug interrupted the thoughts momentarily. It was Red, when did he get here? Why was he here? Why was he helping?
Red was humming...something. Faye couldn't tell what it was, but it was comforting. They latched to the noise, using the slow rhythm in combination with timed taps on their hand to help with steady breathing. They hadn't even realize they were hyperventilating until their breathing was calmed. Faye was so..so..tired, their body was shaking as Red gently lead them outside to a taxi. After getting in, Faye realized that N was here as well. "What..are you doin' here?" "I was worried, just as much as Red was, especially after learning what ended up happening. Why didn't you ask for help?" Faye fell silent. There wasn't a good reason, therefore there wasn't a reason at all. "Hey, we can't help unless you tell us what's going on..." Silence. N was about to say something else when Red interrupted. "Leave them be for now, nothing will be solved if it's forced" As much as N hated not being able to help, Red was right. "We're here for you when you're ready to talk, Seedot." That nickname, the nickname N rarely used outside of Faye's regression. it was the final thing that broke the dam.
Faye started to sob as they dropped in an instant. No longer the helper of wild, injured pokemon, this was now just a kid who held too much in for far to long. Red quickly shuffled through the bag he had brought while N simply held the tiny one to let them cry, giving them comforting words to let them know it was okay to cry. Red pulled out a sippy cup of water, a pacifier, and tissues to help with the tears. At first, Faye was inconsolable, but after a while of crying, they ended up exhausting themselves. First step, wipe the tears and snot away with the tissues, second step, water, all those tears mixed with falling behind on self care meant being dehydrated, last step, N had managed to find Faye's special butterfree, making it 'fly' slowly towards them. "Look who came to visit, Seedot. It's your friend, Fefe!" Faye looked up after a moment and immediately grabbed the plush butterfree. With Fefe, a paci, and their two brothers here, Faye managed to be quickly lulled to sleep.