(no subject)

[deadeye-daisy.insanejournal.com]

Who: Nitrous Oxide and Doc Holliday
When: Backlogged a week ago, Wednesday afternoon
Where: Nitrous' dental office
What: A job offer

Note: (Old log never before finished, first cut is the start, second cut is what was done and where we left off (Nitrous is in red, Doc in black for reading purposes! Tag away!)

Nitrous was at her computer, attention flickering between the e-mail she was writing, the game of Mahjong in one window, the paperwork she was typing up, and the game of Tetris in another window. Her attention span was twitchy thing, always bouncing from place to place, and she'd found that doing several things at once let her actually get them done. It just took a while. But it worked, and she was pleased with her system. She was so wrapped up in the computer, in fact, that she didn't notice her secretary, Jenny, until the girl was standing right behind her.

"Sorry if I scared you," Jenny laughed, seeing Nitrous' startled expression. Jenny was a good secretary; always showed up on time, helped keep Nitrous organized, and absolutely loved taking puffs off the laughing gas tank.

"It's fine," Nitrous said, smiling brightly. She usually didn't stay startled for long. It just wasn't her nature.

"The guy you told us might be coming about the job is here," Jennny said.

Nitrous blinked. "What?"

Jenny sighed, smiling fondly. "Check your Post-its."

Nitrous glanced around. A small forest of Post-it notes blanketed her office, covering the desk, the area around the screen of the computer, the bookshelves, and one of the chairs in the corner. They each had a note scribbled on them, reminding her of something she was supposed to do. Some were quick, just a date and a time, and others were practically novels that covered the entire surface of the paper. She'd tried getting a Blackberry and writing reminders onto that, put it was too easy to ignore or forget about the little machine. Post-its were better.

Sure enough, there was a lime green note next to the computer screen, reminding her of the man coming in about a job. She smiled at Jenny happily. "Oh yeah! Send him back!"

Nitrous poked her head out the door of her office to watch Jenny bring the man back.

The space was impressive as he walked in, not nearly the little hole in the wall that he used for his dental practice. He hadn't much thought about the job offer until his first complaint was given the day bay before by the same gentleman who's teeth he'd cracked during the tremors. He'd offered to fix the damaged tooth to the man's pleasure, but as with most men, time to think it over had only infuriated him.

Doc found himself at the mercy of his employer whom he laughed at when the man was seriously considering he give his pink slip. The last time he'd walked away from dentistry had not been because he'd wanted to, it had been to live a little longer without covering customers in his own blood. It was terribly ironic now to be a step away from termination.

Slicking his hair back with one hand he nodded at the secretary, delivering a southern drawl that was characteristic of the time he came from. "Thank you, mame." He flashed a smile, receiving one in return before he stepped into the open office where Jenny sat.

"Good afternoon," he spoke proudly, tipping his head, forgetting he didn't have a hat to pull off. There were times his little habits caught up with him, and now he was giving himself away that he did not come from this time.

"Hi!" Nitrous said cheerfully, holding her hand out. "I'm Nicole! Which you probably already guessed because my name is on the door and we talked earlier, but hi!"

She generally tried to get her babbling under control around people who weren't used to it, which didn't mean that she was always succesful. But she ushered him into her office anyway, grinning the whole time.

"It was John, right? Your name? If it wasn't, I'm really sorry, I'm soooo bad with names sometimes. Here, sit down."

Doc gave her a polite nod. This was quite the bright young lady, which was noted in the way she shook his hand with an enthusiasm.

"John, yes. John MacKey, among most. This is quite the dandy place," he noted letting go of her hand and looking around her office. "Not quite the little hole in the wall." In fact this would be closer to his side of town.

"Thanks!" Nitrous chirped, feeling a little glow of happiness at the compliment. "We just opened it, so we're still getting everything moved in and arranged and rearranged, but I really like how this office has turned out so far."

She sat down behind her desk, clearing off some of the papers in front of her. "So, you're looking for a job, right? We definitely need some more dentists."

Doc took a seat politely after she had, running his finger against his clean shaven lip. "Well, I suppose that is up for debate, depending on what you offer," he raised a brow, showing he had a few tricks of his own. He wasn't going to say yes to just any deal before knowing all the chips.

He threw her a sly grin.

"Well, the salary for dentists starting here is around $165,000," Nitrous said. "And it'll go higher the longer you're here. And if you do a good job, obviously. You'll get your own office and a couple of dental assistants working under you. Oh, how long have you been working as a dentist? That can effect salary too."

She knew he was another immortal, the familiar, almost bubbly sensation of another god unmistakeable. She just wasn't sure who he was.

Doc rubbed his chin, intrigued with her offer. "I've been in this business a while, darlin' I'm sure I can run circles 'round your crew." He'd always been a bit sure of himself.

He could feel that same familiarity with her. She was another one like himself, but with that curious grin on his face he was somewhat interested in seeing if she could figure it out first.

Nitrous laughed. "You're pretty confident, huh?"

She didn't think he was any kind of god of dentistry (mostly because she didn't think one actually existed. But ooooh, she wished one did!), and she wasn't sure any of the old mythological people would want to work as dentists. They were usually all about posturing and yelling. So John was probably a New God, like her.

Not that knowing that really narrowed it down. Well, she might as well introduce herself properly, anyway.

"I think you oughta know that I'm Nitrous Oxide," she said, smiling cheerfully. "Just in case that's a problem."

"Is it that obvious?" he said with a sly smirk followed by a charming laugh.

"I feel I've been running into quite a few new folk these days," the old doctor spoke holding out his hand to shake hers in a warm welcome as a southern gentleman did. "We're playin' for the real game. Georgian gentleman, also know as Doc Holliday," he threw her another smile, and rub to his upper lip with his fingers when he pulled his hand away, like he would occasionally do when he grew his mustache out.

"Doc Holliday?" Nitrous gave a happy laugh, jaw dropping a little. "As in 'gunfighter, O.K. Coral' Doc Holliday?" She giggled a little more. "Sorry, I'm a little starstruck!"

Once she'd regained some of her composure, Nitrous said, "I had no idea that you ended up immortal! That's really great; you were quite the legend. So, you've gone back to your roots, huh?"

Those shiny white teeth with a slight yellow tint from his tobacco chewing and smoking gleamed in her direction. "Why yes, darlin'" he straightened up, his hands flattening out his coat lapels, "Rumors are oftn' true at times."

"I wasn't aware myself, but a hand seems to play in my favor this time." He cleared his throat, that tickle running along his pipes which he swallowed down and then looked up to the excited blonde. "I always did like my job."

"You had every high society lady talking about you, back in the day," Nitrous giggled, leaning back in her chair with a pleased little sigh. "I guess it's no surprise you ended up immortal."

Stop flirting, honestly! Nitrous told herself. Her love for Western movies wasn't helping at all. "Well, I'd say you definitely have enough experience, then!"

Doc couldn't help but laugh, not only from how pleased she was with herself, but at her compliment. "Well, that's funny," he said in at the end of his outburst with a sigh. He sat back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other, running his fingers back against his lip.

Considering how high society left him once his disease debilitated him, Doc didn't mill around with high class people after a while. He was partial to the prostitutes and gamblers, drunks and gunfighters, even if he kept his very social appearance and class. So whatever was spoken of him in the days he was actually alive, he didn't suspect it to be in good favor even if despite all his bad reputation he was genuinely a nice southern gentleman. It was the latter times, that she spoke of that people started to keep him in good praise. That also had something to do with those that knew him, like Wyatt.

It was amusing her flirtations, and these days women didn't seem to find him a turn-off. "I woulda' have stayed in dentistry had I been able," but then it had reached a point where he just didn't care after knowing he had a short ticket. Now, it was different, "My cards are for a winnin' streak this time. There's not much call for gunslinger's these days."

"It's a little sad," Nitrous said, nodding in agreement. "I remember when I came over to America, and it was all about Manifest Destiny and how no one really knew what was out there. Now all the spots in the maps are filled in! No more 'Don't go here, there could be a huge monster!'" She sighed. "All the romance is gone."

"There are things I miss from the older days," Doc said, settling back into his chair, hands clasping together within his lap. "Though, in all respect there wasn't anything romantic from the old days. Just men that stood by their word and took matters into their own hands. These days you can't just lay out a pistol or whip a knife in someone's face for a bad hand at poker." He laughed again, clearing his throat after a moment as that tickle returned. It never surfaced as anything more than a cough, but his prolonged fight with consumption had always made him wary, as if it may just return again one day.

"Do you have some water, darlin'?" he asked sweetly.

"Oh, sure!" Nitrous chirped. She kept a very small mini-fridge in her office, since she was a little obsessive about the possibility of other people touching her food. She pulled out a water bottle and handed it to him, smiling.

"Well, I think it's really safe to say that you've got the job here, if you want it," she said, tapping her fingers along the edge of the desk. "You've obviously got plenty of experience!"


Doc gave her a nod of appreciation as he took hold of the water and let the wet liquid sooth his throat, even though he'd swear up and down whiskey did a finer job of it.

It took a moment before he could control that slight cough from the cold texture and compose himself again. He took a deep breath, placing the container on her desk, wiping away any excess water from the sides of his mouth.

"Forgive me," he said holding a hand over his chest.

"I think I'm sold mame," gleaming smile.


"Yay!" Nitrous clapped her hands happily. She'd been worried about finding a qualified dentist anyway, and to find a gunslinging urban legend applying was a wonderful bonus. "I'll get all the paperwork and things and you can give Jenny your information and it'll be so great and yay! This will be fun!"

All right, she was slightly over excited.

The girl seemed rather overjoyed and zealous about it, which made Doc keep that dashing smile. He still lacked many friends, and something about this girl was pleasant and reminded him he was still quite the guy to be around. He clapped after her, finding this quite the show.

"Why, your just beaming, little lady," he liked it.


"I love meeting new people!" Nitrous said, trying not to bounce. "It's always so fun. And I like making friends, and I hope that we'll be friends since we're working together!" She twirled in her chair a little, just because.

Doc smirked, a flit of sparkle running through those old eyes as he took a cigarette and sat it between his lips unlit. "I'm not one that has many friends, so consider this a new experience."