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“Newt's tongue... No, it's not yet ripe, eh... Ooh, I'm looking forward to that one! And I think I still have some gecko brain in the back...”
Doctor Snake was interrupted in his daily inventory by the soft sound of crying from the back of the cave. Doctor Snake straightened up in alarm as he recognized the voice. Though he was used to crying in his office, it was usually coming from the patients rather than his top (and only) employee.
“Nurse Phantom?” He slithered further into the cavern, searching for the lemur. “Nurse Phantom, are you all right?”
There was the sound of sniffing and hurried hiccuped breaths. Rob sheepishly stepped out of the shadows, avoiding the doctor's eyes. “Oh... I'm sorry, Doctor... I didn't mean to interrupt your w-work...”
“Nurse Phantom, whatever is the matter?” Doctor Snake did a quick scan for injuries. “Did you have another incident with the rusty scalpel?”
“No, it's p-put away with the rusty saw and the moldy cotton...” Rob hiccuped and tried to swallow down tears. “It's just a p-personal issue, that's all...”
Doctor Snake draped his tail over Rob's shoulder in an attempt at comfort. “Did a patient scream at the sight of you again?”
Rob immediately burst into sobs.
“Oh no, do not cry... Wait, hold on.” Doctor Snake grabbed a vial and quickly collected a sample of tears. He put it in the cabinet with the others and then went back to putting his tail around Rob's shoulder. “It is all right, they were only startled, you know how jumpy people are when they do not live in the safety of a cave!”
Rob thrashed out of the doctor's grip, shaking his head. “I'm ugly! I'm ugly!”
“Do not say that about yourself!” The doctor turned him back around. “Just because a few people do not understand the concept of an inside scream...”
“Don't try to make me feel b-better!” said Rob, struggling to hold up the right side of his face. “I'm... I'm hideous!”
“You are not hideous!” Doctor Snake leaned back into the natural light to show off his best angles. “If you are hideous... then I am also hideous!”
Rob sniffled.
“Do you think I am hideous?”
“N-no...” Rob hiccuped. He was quieting down but was clearly still upset. “I just w-wish... Sometimes... That I was still b-beautiful... I feel so... unloveable...”
“Oh... but, Nurse Phantom, ehe...” Doctor Snake leaned down and wiped a tear from the lemur's eye with the end of his tail. “I have never found you more attractive!”
Rob sniffed and slurped back his drooping lip. “...Really?”
“Anyone can inject their face with plastic... And perhaps some experimental neurotoxins...” Doctor Snake chuckled to himself for a moment before continuing. “But what you have now... It is personality!”
Rob smiled and wiped at his eyes. “You really think so?”
“Yes! It is quite charming, even!” Doctor Snake slipped around him and lifted him up in a gentle squeeze. The doctor looked into his eyes and leaned in until they were bumping noses. “And your eyes have always had... such a lovely yellow-green to them! No matter what you said to do, I never could bring myself to change them...”
“Oh Doctor... You're embarrassing me...” But when Rob looked down he looked happy, his smile brighter when lopsided than it had ever been while stiff and perfect.
Doctor Snake allowed himself a moment to take it in, smiling himself at being able to make Rob happy again. “I know what will really cheer you up,” he said, uncoiling himself from around the lemur. “How about we pick someone up and convince them they need some zaps from the brain machine, huh?”
Rob gasped. “Does this mean that I have my shock privileges back?”
“If you promise to be good,” said Doctor Snake teasingly.
“Thank you, Doctor!” Rob ran about collecting tools and preparing the gurney. “We should see if Willy is available! He's due for his... ehuhu... monthly checkup.”
“Oh Nurse Phantom, you do know what I like!”
The two slipped out of the cave into the sunset, ready to bring more horrors of modern medicine to the village with one gloved hand holding gently onto the end of a tail.