Um????? 

Marian isn't religious but, like, she's not going to be judgy about it? That's a really basic job requirement?

It's just that now they're being weird again and, uh, Dr. Lamb definitely seems to be implying that whatever the "less standard spiritual expressions" are is something she might be expected to be uncomfortable about? What the heck does he mean by "unusual forms of grief"? 

"I don't think I'm - that easily made uncomfortable - but I'll keep that in mind," she says. 

"He's trying to be diplomatic," Carla says, maybe picking up on her confusion. "But just to give an example, last year someone brought a very lifelike, full-sized doll, complete with chicken blood, into the waiting room as part of a 'protective ritual' while their family member underwent surgery." She shrugs a shoulder, arms crossed. "General hospital policy is that visitors are allowed to perform spiritual or religious rites so long as they're not too disruptive, and that staff members should feel free to remove themselves from any situation that makes them uncomfortable. It's in the orientation material, but it's worth going over more explicitly."

"It's not usually anything that dramatic," Amanda adds, glancing at Carla. "But we've found it helps to forwarn newcomers that they might see or hear unusual things, now and then."

Okay, that’s…weird enough that it kind of wraps around from being really fucked up to being cool. …Like, still disturbing and bizarre, but Marian is almost too fascinated to be uncomfortable.

“…Yeah, okay, I’m glad for the warning! I think I can be, uh, chill about that if it’s not a surprise.” Aaaand she’s going to have to read the orientation packet actually carefully and not zone out, if it might have other tidbits in it like THAT.

Dr. Lamb is smiling slightly as he watches her, now, and says, "I'm guessing you can be too." He checks his watch. "I'm done with my questions, if anyone else has one?"

"Just one. I know it's a cliche, but... where do you hope to be career-wise in five years, Marian? Or ten, or twenty. I know you're still new to the profession, but do you have any long term goals in mind?"

Marian did actually prepare an answer for that! It was on one of the standard lists of interview questions she found on Google. It was also a pretty good prompt to, like, think about it at all. 

"I think mostly I want to get really, really good at being a nurse - like, there are some senior nurses I looked up to on our unit at Montfort who just knew everything and were fast at everything and could multitask doing a really complicated procedure and being empathetic with a patient and - a whole lot of things like that. I might want to be an instructor for clinicals when I have more experience, teaching new nurses is important. ...If I ever did want to branch out into other areas of nursing, maybe ER? I don't think I'd be good at it now, but maybe someday." 

"It's definitely a job that can take a lifetime to master, particularly if you branch out. I'd be happy to give you some time now and to check out what working in the ER is like here, once you're settled into the ICU for a bit."

"Do you have any questions for any of us?"

Marian almost certainly has questions but, uh, not necessarily ones she's delighted about asking hospital management in a job interview. She can ask Lucy later about the ominous chicken-blood doll rituals. 

"Thank you, but I think I'm question'd out," she says wryly. "I definitely need to spend some more time with the orientation packet.”

"Understandable. Why don't you head over to the cafeteria to get some food? You can bring it up to the full staff lounge in the main building, or the ICU one if you'd like, and I'll have someone find you when it's time to meet Rachel, our Nurse Educator."

“Sure, that sounds great!”

It’s tempting to hide in the ICU lounge, but probably more informative and thus virtuous to eat in the big staff lounge, and Marian isn’t that socialed out. She’ll do that.

The cafeteria is split between a soup-sandwich-and-salad shop, a bakery with various pastries from cheesy to sweet, and a cafe with a wide variety of tea or coffee. It's at about a third of capacity, a sporadic scattering of what look like patient friends or families and a few staff members, but when she goes upstairs with her food to the general staff lounge she sees it's more than half full. A quick scan lets her find Lucy sitting at a table with a couple others, but no Mal.

Wow. Marian obtains coffee and a sandwich and will treat herself to a sweet pastry, and then - yeah, okay, if there's room at the table then she would rather sit with Lucy and hopefully get introduced to her tablemates rather than go forge forth and try to brazenly insert herself at a table and meet people on her own like she's the new kid at a high school. Also, anyone sitting with Lucy is probably at least slightly filtered for being normal about newcomers to the town.

She'll sidle over with her food and give Lucy a little questioning wave? 

She smiles back, and once the guy beside her finishes talking, says, "Here she is. Hey Marian, good to see you're still with us. This is Paul, one of our tech guys, and Sarah, from ER." Paul nods to her, and Sarah smiles. "Mal is covering for me, we're gonna swap soon. How was it?"

“Hi! Lovely to meet both of you.” She turns back to Lucy. “I think it went well? I kinda had fun, actually. They asked about my worst shift and - I don’t know if you find this too, but I feel like really bad shifts can make great stories after the fact?”

"Oh yeah, I think about putting up an anonymous blog sometimes, you know? Sharing the best bits that no one outside a hospital sees." She blows on a spoonful of cheesy soup, then swallows it. "I heard you say a memoir is what got you into all this, what parts made it sound good to you?"

“…It was a lot of pieces, I guess?” Marian pauses to take a gulp of her coffee. “If there’s one part that stood out the most, I think it was, like, the teamwork vibe? Everyone just really pulling together to do something ridiculously hard. But it’s also - it seemed like a job that uses all the parts of you more than most jobs? It’s got, like, intellectual puzzles, and having good judgement and intuitions, and social stuff and empathizing with people, and physical tasks and - toughness, being able to just stay on your feet and keep going - I don’t know, I read it and it seemed like it would make me feel really alive. And I was right.”

"Huh," Paul says between sandwich bites. "When you put it like that I feel like I should have given it a try. Could use a boost to my general 'aliveness,' I think."

"You should have said something sooner, I've got just what you need," Sarah says with a smile.

"Stimulants?"

"Defibrillators."

"Feeling alive sounds like a silver lining for how crazy the job can be," Lucy says with a grin. "I like the relaxed days more than the adrenaline pumpers. But I'd probably miss them if things got too easy-going."

Marian smiles slightly at the side conversation. "That seems more sensible of you, really. I don't - sometimes I feel weird about how I like the hectic shifts more, you know? Since obviously a relaxed shift means things are going better for the patients? ...I do also like when there's enough time to do a really good job of stuff like baths, I guess. But I'm definitely a bit in it for the adrenaline." 

"Oh please tell me you mentioned that during the interview, I bet it would have been a first!"

"I don't think I did! I didn't want to, like, sound weird." Though Marian is now struggling slightly to remember exactly what she said and what all the questions were. 

"Well, now we know who to blame if things start to get crazy around here," Paul says, and points a finger-gun at her with one hand. "A month of calm shifts and she might turn to a life of crime just to feel alive again."

"You can ignore him," Sarah says to Marian. "He likes to think he's a detective, he'd be thrilled with an actual mystery."

"Hey, there are plenty of actual mysteries around here."

"Fine, a mystery he can solve."

Marian resists the urge to protest that she absolutely would not, because it's clearly banter and she's not here to be a killjoy. She's aim for a faintly mysterious smile instead. 

...Okay are they sort of acknowledging the thing where this town has a surprising amount of weird going on? Marian should prooobably make some attempt to ask about that even though it feels awkward - what's the least awkward way to ask...

"Ooh, any cool unsolved local mysteries I should know about?"