Fiscal Response [Nathaniel and Open]

[Lola Marks]

Lola stood in line at the busy ATM that was just inside Gotham national. The weather was getting colder by the day, but that didn’t stop her from wearing a dress. The only thing that it changed was the size and length of her coat. She wore a darker brown dress that was tight to her form and cut off just above her knees but you couldn’t tell. Her coat traveled much further than that. It was a warm fox fur coat that she had bought some time ago...When she actually had the money to do so.

That was precisely why she was here in front of the ATM at the busy time of day where the bank was about to close. She needed more money, the last of her money in fact. With much reluctance she stepped up to the machine and swiped her black card to withdrawal the rest of what she had. It took her several times to do this, but she wasn’t going to go inside the building and embarrassingly wait for someone to help her with her funds. She wasn’t going to resort to that, instead she stood here and swiped as many times as it took to get the rest of what she needed out.

There was still a flow of income that she was receiving; two villas that she now owned after her father’s passing that were rented out. The money that came out of those homes was not nearly enough to pay for her lavish style of living, and she wouldn’t change that for the world, she just couldn’t. There was another way to get what she needed. She just had to be smart about it and get further into this city. She slipped her card one last time and folded the wad of cash. With one click of her purse it was open and she was tightening a rubber band around the wad to slip into her purse and head out.

She strolled down the street, headed to a little place on the corner that she had seen before. The Rose Café seemed like a perfect place to sit and people watch through the large glass windows. Before she clasped her purse completely she walked and dug her hand into it, pulling her attention away from the sidewalk. Since she had her first encounter with Mr. Cobblepot she had been waiting for him to call her for another visit. She hoped that she had caught his interest enough to see her again. As her mind wandered her fingers pull out her touch phone and began sliding through her text messages and missed calls.

Lola turned the corner, her attention still on her phone and collided into something. She dropped her phone and her clutch purse, rather annoyed that someone wasn’t looking where they were going, it couldn’t have been her of course, and she was a perfect multitasker.

[Deleted]

“Now, now there’s no need to get upset Mr. Dodgson,” Nathaniel spoke into his cell phone. He walked down the sidewalks of the upscale Gotham City. After his run-in with Black Mask not that long ago, he wasn’t feeling the darker corners of the city, even if his purpose for being out was more than benign. He’d been looking for a place to begin his cooldown from work when his cell had ringed. It was one of his, patients wasn’t the right word because he wasn’t a doctor of psychology. And he wouldn’t be an actual doctor for at least another four years if he decided to go to medical school. So client. One of his clients had called.

He stuffed a hand in his pocket and shook his head. “Mr- Mr. Dodgson, the most important thing you can do for me…Yes, can you do something for me. I need you to take a deep breath and slowly exhale. Good. Do it again. Excellent, now I want you to do it one more time and as you’re letting it out, count to ten. In through your nose…out of your mouth in…yes. Feeling better?” His voice had softened into the tone he used with his clients. It was soft, caring, soothing. He smiled. “Yes, I understand. You still feel quite anxious, but your thoughts aren’t racing? No sense of impending doom?” He sighed. “No, no…I didn’t give my number not believing I wouldn’t be contacted. You and my other clients are very important to me. Getting equipped to face life without this fear which is holding you back is my main concern. Now tell me have you been taking the medicine Dr. Kellerman prescribed you?”

Nathaniel turned the next corner, listening with one part of his brain to the expected denial of the man on the phone and his excuses. The other half was thinking that the Rose Café would be a good place to sit down and grab a quick meal, maybe a quick drink. He just wanted to unwind, but he hadn’t been lying; he wanted Mr. Dodgson and his other patients to be healthy.

“Anthony, you need to take your medication. It’s meant to help sooth your body, let it calm down so you can rest and finally get some sleep. It may not kick in for twenty-four to forty-eight hours, but try it first and if it has no effect you let me know. Until then practice relaxation breathing and some of those exercises we discussed.” He passed by an antique shop. “So why don’t you tell me what triggered your bout of anxiety?”

He spent the next ten minutes listening to Anthony Dodgson describe all the things that were piling onto his plate between his family’s insistence that he return home for Christmas, how his finals for school were impeding, and how his work wanted to set him up for extended hours. Nathaniel pulled out a notepad from his pocket and casually wrote that he probably needed to also look into some exercises exploring assertion techniques for the young man. College and a job was hard work; he knew that, but it was important to not only recognize your limits, but to make those limits known.

“Anthony, I have an idea, when is the earliest you can come in, say…Tuesday? That’s your early day from school, right? Well, you are your patient.” He nodded and marked down a time. “I think speaking to you again before your usual time on Friday would be beneficial. Can you make it? Good, I’ll see you on Tuesday, Anthony. You take care if you start having another episode you call me again or you call 911, understand? Area hospitals are equipped to deal with anxiety. There’s no need for you to suffer. You too. Goodbye.”

He shut his phone and slipped it and his notepad back into his pockets. He knew he wasn’t paying attention, but he’d only averted his gaze a moment when he ran into someone. He stumbled back and stared at the woman, who he was thankful was still standing, if not annoyed. He bent down.

“I’m so sorry,” he spoke sincerely as he picked up her purse and phone, checking it for damage before returning them. “I looked away for just a minute and—you’re alright aren’t you? I didn’t make you drop anything else? Again, I'm really sorry.”

[Lola Marks]

Lola was very annoyed. She had dropped everything, her phone was probably scratched. Now she was going to have to get a new one! There was no way she would be caught walking around with a scratched phone. Yet the annoying person handed it to her along with her purse. She couldn’t say she was too happy with them touching that either, it was more of a personal thing. She would have been happier with a begging apology, but she couldn’t expect everyone to act appropriately.

She adjusted herself and kept her poise through the entire ordeal, taking her purse and phone back from him as they were handed to her. She checked for damage before she even gave the person the time of day. Once her phone was safely back in her purse she finally turned to look at him.

Now this she was strikingly surprised by. It wasn’t some common bug off the street that decided to bump into her. He was dressed far too sharply to not be someone with at least a solid job. Of course he could have always been just ‘looking the part’. There were many different types of jobs that tried to pull that off. Tacky car sales men for example, always dressing sharp to fool the public when in fact they barely lived above the poverty line, and that was far too low below Lola’s line of living. Anything below it would just be death to her.

Sure, every girl thought about love at first sight and loving someone for who they were instead of what they did. But where did we all learn that? Our parents? No, that kind of thinking was learned off of Disney movies and early morning television shows that constantly told you told follow your heart. Then and even now she somehow wished that it was still true, that someone should fall for someone because they make their heart fluttered and jump, without looking at anything else. But the reality was that it wasn’t a realistic thought. In the animal kingdom the female bird looks for the male with the best nest to lay her eggs in, with the brightest feathers, or the best dance. It’s all about what you have to offer.

He was handsome, and young, probably close to her age. Her posture changed slightly, blushing a bit just from his presence. She flipped her hair back and checked her purse once more. There was really no damage done. “I’m just fine.” She replied and looked down to check and see if anything else dropped. “ It’s alright” She assured him in his panic. He really could have knocked her over if she wasn’t as graceful as she was. But years of ballet had made her very light on her feet. Lola extended out her hand to cover for the awkward moment that had happened between them. “Lola Marks.”