overworked dudes | navarro&garner

For the last four years, it's like Benen has been stuck in a perpetual bad mood. You'd think with all the big changes coming his way, Benen would crack a smile and celebrate just a tad, but he's never been one to stop and smell the roses. "Cheer up, Dr. Garner!" His residents call out whenever they catch him in the halls, "is it really that bad?!" But he just keeps it moving, even the new med students - the few they get - have caught on already. 

It isn't all he thought it would be, working under Cham and taking over as head of his department. Sure, it keeps him busy, gives him every excuse to stay away from the house, but part of him only feels pacified - it seems the higher he gets, the less interesting the work gets. Surgery became pharmacy became a borderline office job, two of them. 

But, to look on the bright side, the new Hospital has been an exciting change of pace. A gift from the Capitol, yeah, surely this won't backfire. Benen knew better to scrutinize anything too loudly though, he suspected there were even more camera's than he was made aware of. The HAVEN AI was a piece of work to get used to, that much he's still working on - he shudders every time that damn hologram pops out with another reminder for him. It felt like his first week in the new building had been centered around teaching his staff how to interact with it, recapping modules and modules of information as deduced as he could make it. 

And still, he had to watch one of the med students try to make out with the 3D Haven form. 

"Knock it off, dumbass," he'd gruff out. Today he had locked himself in his office for an hour, researching NERVAlink privately on his mobile device. He kept seeing the brand name etched into new monitors, but hell, what does he know? This whole technology boom is new to him, but as long as they aren't making him install brain chips or something, surely it can't be that bad, right? Outsourcing from the Capitol made him nervous, but not nearly as much so as the invite they sent him did. 

It sits on his desk, untouched and neglected on top a pile of payroll slips. No way in hell, he'd thought to himself so many times, but it felt like the type of thing to keep in his back pocket. Just in case - it's hard not to theorize worst case scenarios, but if Flynn ever needed him up north he'd regret tossing the letter to the bin so quickly.  

Maybe Flynn'd be able to tell him about all this Haven stuff. Benen needed a smoke break but he had been starving himself since he woke up, indulging in work instead like he always does. Often he'd just snack on whatever he could get from the vending machines, grabbing something for himself and whatever med student was nearby, but those nasty freezer subs were calling his name and who was he to refuse? 

He made a point to ignore most of the kids that called his name, even students from other departments realized he always had a snack or two on him, so he busied himself on the Hospital scanner as he waited in the cafeteria. Somehow the more people they hire, the slower everything gets - he made a game out of checking and rechecking his surgical scheduling. Micromanagement became a hobby somewhere along the way, Benen got satisfaction every time he checked the screens, especially if there were no errors to fix. 

Without looking, he had shuffled along the line with his face in his device until eventually he made it to the fridges of disappointment. "What the hell happened here?" Benen questions with a scowl, something akin to his natural state at this point. He rolled his eyes from the fridge to the cafeteria worker back to his colleague in front of him, Doctor Navarro. "I thought Fenwick had pumped a whole lot of dollars into the hospital?" Navarro says, "even the fruit bowls look empty..."

"Yeah, you'd think," he responds, gruff as always, before slapping a bruised banana onto his colleague's tray. Benen grabs his own tray and a wrinkled orange, somebody's gotta eat it. Hot meals always made him tired, but better than a single orange, really. While Benen asks for potato mash his colleague asks about the internal medicine department, but he can't help but grimace hearing of the state of Navarro's own. "Yeesh, can't believe it's still that bad," this year's been a nightmare for that entire wing. 

For the entire district, really. The Rose Plague overwhelmed them entirely at the beginning, even internal medicine was feeling the heat for a minute there, but this Hospital was supposed to be the answer. Assistance from the Capitol, but he can't shake the fear that he's inside the Trojan Horse now. "If you need a hide out, it's smooth sailing on our side right now," he almost feels guilty for having less of a struggle. Count your blessings, Garner, "well, surgical keeps dumping their patients on us, wouldn't be a problem if I could convince my residents to keep their heads on straight." 

Damn knuckleheads.

Ooo, gravy. 

"Russo...?" He trails off, furrowing his brows trying to recall the name. Searching for it between thoughts of code calls and seminars - he was beginning to know too many people. Benen's never been one to memorize people, if you're important enough, he'll pick it up over time anyways. There was a Russel P. somewhere in pediatrics some odd years ago, he thought, stabbing his fork into two pieces of slimy hospital ham. People come and go, but bad ham, that's forever. 

They strike a quick deal before splitting off, Benen agreeing to sit with Navarro for some coffee. An easy bribe - he liked coffee, and he liked Navarro. Anyone crazy enough to stick with infectious diseases as long as he has had a good standing in Ben's book, that entire department was ran by chaos and chaos alone. He was convinced that's where they put med students to die, couldn't imagine what it's like to lead it. The entire hospital was built by the Capitol to fight off the plague, and they still struggled so.

What would we do without em. 

It pissed him off every time he considered the fact that this was the most help the Capitol would offer, yet he had still had to fight for a place to sit like a school student. Being stuck in this building so long makes him feel like Capitol property, but aren't they always. Benen's able to nab a spot as a group of residents in wine and graphite scrubs depart, waving to him as they do so. Not a single face is recognizable. He nods his head and minds his business, wiping crumbs off the tabletop and onto the floor. 

Navarro is only one bite of mashed potato's away before joining him, greeting him with a large coffee in his hand. He takes a labored, scalding sip hot enough to wake something inside of him up as the other doctor takes off his mask. "Surprised you don't eat with it on," can't blame him, really. He continues on to his mash as Navarro settles in, stirring in the gravy as he looks absently around the room. 

"How is your life doing anyway, Benen?" 

Don't make me lose my appetite. The first thing to come to mind was his failing marriage. What a terrible conversation piece, but hey, at least the hospital slop is better than Georgina's. He mutters a quick thanks as Dr. Navarro congratulates him, sneaking a spoonful of potato in before responding. "Not just applied, my friend," he says with a shit eating grin, "I've already got it." Maybe it was the coffee hitting his soul, but this was the first smile he cracked all day, getting to cheekily brag about his accomplishment. 

"Got a meeting with Cham and the rest of the members soon enough, it's something to get me out the house at least," Benen rambles, stopping himself before he says anything about his wife. 

He tries to take a bite off the chunk of ham, pulling at the meat before it tears off, chewy as all can be. "This sucks," he says into his plate, as if the critique will add any kind of flavor to it. Sitting back as he swallows it down, he tries to burn the taste off with his black coffee.