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Who: Simon Tam and Lara Croft
What: Simon realizes there’s an ayakashi behind the growing numbers of sick and dying elderly, so he calls for backup. (Prayer 6)
When: Night of May 31st
Where: A large general hospital in Tokyo
Warnings: None so far, will edit as needed.

With the help of Schuldig, or Skylar as Simon knew him, the god had been able to ease the worries of a lone woman dealing with an ailing mother...but something still bothered him. He could do more. It was very possible the old woman was at the end of her life and Simon could trust the doctors and nurses at the hospital to know what they were doing, but it wasn’t the same as knowing for himself.

It had been easy to get back inside, the mortals failing to notice him as he looked through rooms and peered over charts and...noticed there were a lot of elderly patients checked in at the moment. An unusually high number in Simon’s experience, and nothing that suggested a particular diagnosis. That spurred Simon’s curiosity further and he had continued the investigation, finding the rooms with these patients and checking over them personally. At first a diagnosis eluded Simon as well. The elderly all seemed to have symptoms of fatigue and weakness, but no cause that he could find. A lot of cobwebs in the rooms, he noticed...why hadn’t the janitors taken care of them?

Deep into the night shift, Simon finally got his answer and quickly realized he would not be able to handle this on his own. It was an ayakashi, big and fast and walking on the ceiling of all things, with too many legs, and Simon would absolutely need help with this. His shinki’s vessel form allowed him to disguise himself and to hide, which was useful for getting a better look at the monster, but it wouldn’t help him stop it.

Simon had returned to the far shore as quickly as he could, reaching out to the first person he could think of who would be able to help. A fellow god, one who actually had a weapon type shinki...it was a bit much to ask of a friend as new as Lara, but thankfully she’d agreed to help.

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Lara's heart leaped into her throat as she parried a strike, skipped back and drew the pistol. The thing had served her well. Roth's old 9mm, cocked and loaded. She slammed the ax down one handed against a spindly arm, forcing the ayakashi back and then took aim.

She had the same thoughts. That she could miss, that the drywall was cheaper than it looked, that any number of things could happen. But in the back of her head she heard the old man's voice. That rough, gruff old soldier's reassuring rumble. You got this, Lara. Take him down.

So...she squeezed the trigger.

The gun popped, jerking from the recoil, but her aim was true.

Her yelp of surprise as her arm bucked backwards was drowned out by the roar of the extinguisher exploding as it was punctured. Shards of metal and flame-retardant foam sprayed everywhere, but thankfully for both of them, the bulk of the shrapnel went upward...into the ayakashi. It shrieked in rage, flailing as it's exoskeleton was torn apart in a dozen places, flayed from below by flying metal.

Brushing flecks of foam from her face, Lara felt blood oozing down her cheek, a stray bit of metal having slice a shallow cut along it. But that didn't slow her down. She'd had worse. Dropping the gun and taking Ingrid's vessel form in both hands, she surged forward and leaped straight at the creature's face. The weapon came down in a vicious vertical slash, and if it wasn't quick then it probably wasn't going to have much face left.

"Die, you monster!"

The sudden thuds of shrapnel hitting walls and the very angry screams of a wounded ayakashi told Simon he'd made a good call getting out of the way...but had Lara? The shout suggested she was fine, or at least well enough to keep fighting, but the nervous knot in his stomach wouldn't leave until Simon knew for certain. Leaving cover showed him the blood on her face but nothing more. Maybe she really was all right...or maybe the blood was taking longer to show through the armor if it had been punctured.

The ayakashi, on the other hand, was scrambling. Killing these impudent gods was becoming more and more a terrible idea, running sounded much better, but it could barely keep itself on the ceiling. Ichor dripping down, flowing more and more with each shuddering movement. It could escape, it needed to escape. It could find another nest with new prey and recover--

It could get an axe to the face, splitting it's already too-wide maw even further.

The monster's grip on the ceiling failed, the legs going limp and the weight of the thing bringing it down in a messy splatter. Simon was quick to move in, his glasses being lifted off his face and folded over the collar of his shirt, letting him see more clearly.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, "any hits to the body?"

As the creature died, Lara jerked her ax free, splattering ichor and chunks of exoskeleton against the wall. A quick shake and Ingrid's vessel form faded, replaced by the woman, to proceeded to mop at her face with a cloth and make disgusted noises. Lara inspected her quickly, a cursory look to make sure her partner wasn't hurt, and only when she was sure that everything was alright did she answer.

"No, I'm alright. The armor took the dings from that thing's claws well enough, and most of the shrapnel missed me."

Lara faced Simon then and shook her head, smiling wryly and pawing through her belt for a bandage and some ointment. She was used to self-treatment, naturally, but barely occurred to her that he was a doctor. Shaking her head, she offered him a knowing smile.

"My cheek, maybe a scrape along my left leg," she said, nodding down to her thigh. A small dark splotch was welling up there. The pant leg was torn open a bit, a thin slice in a gap between her greaves. "Not deep, didn't hit anything vital. I'll be fine. You?"

Edited 2017-01-17 23:43 (UTC)

While Lara was making sure her shinki was unhurt Simon did the same to Lara. He gave her a quick look over, noting the dings in the armor but no punctures beyond the cut on her cheek and leg. Grazing blows that could have been much, much worse...but still are not good in Simon's professional opinion. Especially not with the ayakashi's own blood and the fire retardant foam splattered all over.

And then she tried to play it down and, though Simon didn't know Lara that well, it somehow didn't surprise him that she'd do that. He lifted an eyebrow at her, openly if silently questioning and folding his arms over his chest.

"You will be fine, particularly because we happen to be in a hospital and you're talking to a doctor," he said after a brief moment. "Now come on...there's a chance some of the staff heard some of that and this hallway will be getting crowded. We'll find an exam room and I'll get you patched up before we head back."

Most of the rooms were private units for the elderly to recover, hopefully fully now that the ayakashi had been dealt with, but there should be a place with the supplies Simon needed nearby. His expression softened as he gestured for Lara to follow him, reaching out an open hand. He'd asked her to come, both of them knew it would be dangerous, and she was alive but still hurt because Simon couldn't handle this alone. There was no choice for Simon, he needed to help with this, even if it was such a small thing in comparison.

Folding her arms across her chest, Lara huffed a sulky, dramatic sigh, but relented after only a heartbeat. He was a doctor, and she was being churlish. She knew better than to argue, though. There was a firmness to his expression that told her she was not going to get away without being checked up on, and she knew it was better to give in. Besides that, she wasn't in the field alone anymore. She was in Tokyo, with a medical professional. She didn't have to keep moving. She could relax for a day, after getting proper treatment, and that actually sounded pretty nice.

Stooping to pick up her fallen gun, she holstered it and took his hand. Her gloved grip squeezed gently and she nodded with no small amount of certainty.

"Right. Thanks. Lead the way, Simon. Ah...and Ingrid, would you mind grabbing the bullet and the casing?"

She paused, looking back at Ingrid, the blonde rolling her shoulders in an apathetic shrug. Yeah, sure, she's got it. The authorities don't need to think there's a shooter loose in the hospital, after all. With that, she turns back to him and offers am apologetic grin.

"Definitely don't want a panic. Shall we be off?"

"That's a good thought," Simon agreed, glancing past at Ingrid as well as Lara took his hand. He met her eyes again, the stern look he'd been wearing finally falling away completely, returning the grin with a smile of his own. Taking Lara's hand wasn't strictly necessary. Lara wasn't a child, though the protesting huff at the start had reminded him of one. It did, however, give Simon a chance to use his power.

The gloves didn't hinder anything, Simon had learned all that mattered was the touch, the close proximity, and he would be able to take or give freely. Taking the cuts wouldn't serve any useful purpose, he'd only have to ask for Lara's help again in patching him up. Instead Simon quietly took whatever pain Lara was feeling, using that for a more thorough diagnosis...and a tiny part of him doing so purely because he could. There was an ache in his lungs from exertion that wasn't his, and the expected sting on his cheek and leg, but nothing more.

Simon might have let out a huff of relieved breath as he found the door he was looking for, different from the others and what little Japanese he did know told him it was an exam room. He opened the door and held it for Lara, looking over the room at the cabinets and sink and table...this would do.

"Here we are."

Lara's eyes narrowed a little as they walked, noticing the pain receding and a sudden shift in Simon's bearing. She knew he'd done something, but she didn't know what. It wasn't that she wasn't grateful, and she knew he didn't mean it in a sexist way, so she didn't call him on it this time. But she did make a mental note, at least, that he's able to do something like that. It was good to know what your allies could do, and what to be on guard for, if he ever decided to do something ridiculous and self sacrificing.

"Right," she said, hopping up onto the examination table and turning so her cheek and leg were within easy reach. The sooner this finished, the better. But...she is going to say something at least.

Without hostility, she added "You did something, Simon. With your gift. My leg doesn't hurt anymore." And then, amended, "Thank you."

There was a noticeably guilty stillness when Lara brought up the pain, or rather the lack thereof. Of course she would have noticed...even if it wasn't flashy like some other powers he'd seen it still wasn't subtle. Simon had taken his glasses in hand, ready to release his shinki from the small vessel, when Lara's observation stopped him. She wasn't angry, she was thanking him in fact, but still...

"...I should have told you what I was doing," Simon said with a small grimace. "Using it is getting...almost instinctive, but going forward I'll remember to say something first.

"But you're welcome."

With that he gave the glasses a gentle flick, the object fading into an older woman with greying black hair and wearing a stern expression. She bowed to the gods in greeting before giving Simon a very thorough look and frown.

"Nuo, would you get some supplies from the cabinets for me while I scrub my hands? Thank you," he asked, trying to ignore the frowning and mostly succeeding. Nuo was quiet most of the time and her emotions never strong enough to be felt, Simon didn't like to think of her as actually 'soulless'...but she still managed to remind him of a strict grandmother the way she looked at him in near constant disapproval. Thankfully she never refused to do what he asked, and he tried not to ask for much.

The supplies were gathered as Simon cleaned his hands in the sink, dressing for the wound, antiseptic for any signs of infection, and saline to clean everything first and foremost. Simon took the saline first, turning back to Lara.

"Let's see the leg first."

The guilty look she got was a little strange, not totally understanding why he should feel anything of the sort. It should be instinctive, must definitely, and rightly so. It's not as though she wanted to feel that pain, and frankly he's saved her from quite a bit of embarrassment. Honestly, it was kind of cute.

"Think nothing of it, Simon," Lara replied, watching him get to work cleaning himself and mulling over what he'd said and why. "Truly, if you want to get rid of aches and pains in me, so long as you're not endangering yourself? Be my guest. I've more than had my fill of it."

Her hand reached down to her leg and started undoing the straps of her armor, peeling it back to show him the cut. It wasn't deep, just a slice along the meat, and it'd missed anything important. She was about to say something when a knock came at the door and Ingrid slipped inside, holding up a baggy with the debris from the gunshot.

"Thank you, Ingrid. We'll be done in a moment and then we can head home and dispose of that." Turning back to Simon, she added, "And I owe you a drink when we get there. For patching me up."

Ingrid's return interrupted Simon as well. What Lara had said about endangering himself made Simon realized she deserved to know how his gift worked. The pain hadn't just gone away...and vaguely he was aware of Nuo still frowning a hole into the back of his head.

"And here I was planning on finding a way of thanking you," Simon answered instead, glancing up briefly from Lara's leg. He worked as he talked, using the saline to wash the cut clean. He kept a hand on her thigh, both to keep it steady and to continue taking away any pain his ministrations might cause. The furrow in his brow as he felt the ache on his leg turn sharper was nearly indistinguishable from his normal look of concentration.

"After all," he went on, "if you hadn't agreed to come and help this would have been a great deal messier."

He might have been able to stop the ayakashi on his own, but it would have been a much bloodier affair.

Surprise flickered through Lara's eyes while he set to work, knowing that he was doing something to alleviate the pain but she had no idea he was taking it onto himself. So she simply relaxed and let him work, focusing her attention straight ahead so as not to distract him overmuch. Better that way, for both of them.

"Well, if I bring the drinks, you bring the food and we'll call it even then, eh?" she quipped, unable to keep a kind of happiness from her voice. It'd been a long time since she'd gone at a problem with a partner, not since those first expeditions with Roth, or the mountaineering on K2 with Jonah. This was different though, less driven by anything personal and more by simple duty to people.

It was nice, despite the cut. And...really she was just glad he'd come to her.

"And just so you know...you can always count on me for these kinds of things. I'm with you, a hundred per cent."

Of course Simon intended to tell her how his gift worked...but now he was beginning to wonder if he could get away with not. It was a foolish idea that would only make her angry with him when he did have to tell her, and it wasn't that he didn't trust Lara or anything like that. If he didn't trust her he wouldn't have asked for her help...really, out of everyone he'd met so far he had to say he thought most highly of Lara.

Simon just didn't want to make her or anyone worry over him. It wasn't that big a deal, right?

"That's fair, hopefully you don't mind take out." Because the gods help them if Simon tried to cook. He was much better in a clinic than a kitchen, as evidenced by the neat job of sealing the cut on Lara's leg and pressing down to stop it bleeding. He managed a smile, keeping the pain distant so it wouldn't show on his face as he looked back up at her.

"I'm glad to hear it," Simon answered. "And it should go without saying, but still: you can come to me if you need help, any time."

The thing is, Lara was curious. Simon wasn't going to make it through this conversation without her asking, and he was a fool if he thought he might. She meets his eyes with hers, chuckling at his joke and nodding. Both to the take out, and to the statement about coming to him.

"Don't worry, I will," she grinned, "Having someone around who can patch me up when I invariably do something thick and get myself hurt is a small miracle. How does it work? Do you just have to touch? Or think on it? I mean, it's genuine magic. Is there some sort of cost? Ah...equivalent exchange?"

Of course as she said this, something Simon would probably notice is the cut on her cheek was beginning to seal, and the blood on her leg was healing much, much faster than it possibly should. The product of ancient Byzantine self-healing techniques, and a little bit of magic all her own.

Well that made Simon's dilemma easy. Simon wasn't all that good a liar, at least for lies that weren't of omission, and he couldn't bring himself to try to do that to Lara. His smile turned rueful as he withdrew his hand, checking over his work.

"Touch is required from what I can tell, yes, and there's a price. What actually happens..."

Simon trailed off, blinking as there was a lot less blood seeping through the bandage he'd used to cover the cut on her leg. As in, there was barely any. He would have expected more than that especially as he was pressing down...Simon looked back up, wondering if it was something he was doing that he wasn't aware of and noticed the cut on her face. More a scratch by now, and Simon was more certain it wasn't him. All he'd done was take the pain.

"...ah, what happens is that I take it instead," he finished, clearly distracted now as he leaned in a little, looking closer at the scratch on her cheek.

"Do you always heal that quickly?"

Edited (tenses x-x) 2017-01-26 02:00 (UTC)

She was about to say something, give him a bit of a rebuke for taking her burden onto him, but clearly he was still functional. And that face. Oh, that face. When her physician had first looked her over after Siberia, he'd looked much the same. She wasn't sure she really understood it completely, but mind over matter and being in the kind of shape she was in made some pretty miraculous things possible. After all, the original people of Kitezh had overcome mortality so what was a scratch?

"I do. At least, minor injuries like that. A little something I read in a book," she answered with an upbeat smile. There was more than a little bit of pride in her voice, pride in herself for finding it and pride in her father's work for leading her there. "Meditative techniques passed down from the Lost City of Kitezh, perhaps with just a bit of magic to them."

Her brows furrowed just a bit, and she leaned closer. Her hand reached out, touching the cheek that wasn't mirroring her already healing cut, not wanting to hurt him.

"But you mean to say you took away the pain I was feeling, and your hurting now?"

"I don't suppose you know where I could get a copy of that book," Simon replied, only partially joking. He'd taken Lara for a mostly normal archeologist so far. Sure, she could fight far better than he'd have imagined, but from the sound of her last expedition she probably had to learn to defend herself so it made sense enough. Now there were actual lost cities and magic and the like involved and...and it wasn't as strange as Simon thought it ought to be. They were both gods now, after all. It was hard to imagine anything stranger than that.

So of course Simon's thoughts immediately turned to the practical thing, and wondered if he could learn techniques like that how well it would help with his own gift. A gift that Lara was now wanting the details of...

Simon went still at the touch, taken by surprise, but didn't pull away. The cheek feeling the phantom pain had been fading, becoming a dull throb now that Simon let his focus lax enough to pay attention to it. His leg was still the worse off, stinging from everything he'd done to patch Lara up but it was still worlds away from the worst pain he'd ever been in.

"It's...not so bad," Simon admitted. His jaw flexed under her hand as he swallowed lightly. "I could have taken more. The actual injuries, that is. But that wouldn't have helped anything."

"Actually, I could make a copy...?" Lara said, honestly. If he was going to take on her pain, then the least she could do would be to help him find a way to alleviate that. Whether or not it worked for him was something else entirely, though. Smiling, she let her fingers slip off his cheek and shared a confident nod. It's easy to let go of any possible annoyance with him about the cut, since he was seemingly fine. And he wasn't dumb enough to take the cuts, which helped. She'd have patched him up of course, but her medicinal knowledge wasn't exactly as advanced as his own.

"Least I could do if you're going to go 'round taking my pain for me. Though, do you know how to read Greek? It was written in Byzantine Greek, thirteenth century, and if you can it might be better to read it in the original language."

This was as much teasing as it was probing, because he was clearly highly educated.

"You're serious," Simon said, observing more than asking. She must not have a copy herself, or else why would she be offering to make one? Which would mean one highly impressive memory. Lara was continuing to surprise him, prompting a smile of admiration to grow on his face.

"Ah, though I'm afraid not. I studied Latin before going into MedAcad and I'm fluent in Mandarin, but it's my sister who's the genius of the family."

Immediately Simon's face softened in a telling sort of way as he went back to work and started cleaning up, deciding Lara wasn't going to need another bandage since she wasn't bleeding through the first. It was safe to talk about River, at least a little bit. The shinki in the room, well, they weren't the gossiping sort and as for Lara? He trusted her.

"Honestly I lose track of how many languages she decided to learn, but if Greek wasn't already among them she'd probably take it as a challenge and pick it up. And then tease me about, knowing her."

"Hah, of course I'm serious. I don't forget a word I've ever read," Lara answered with a quick and ready grin. She had been blessed with many, many things and that was one of them. She resolved to copy down the codex and give it a shot in that moment, but...

The shift in his face, the talk of his sister...

There was something in his tone that said that this was important. Maybe the softening of his eyes, maybe just the subtle shift in his stance. It wasn't ever easy to tell, not with people, but she was good enough at clues to know the Sister was a big deal.

"A genius sister and a doctor brother. What profession did she end up in, if not medicine like you?"

"That must be useful for an archeologist." Simon was making sure the supplies that hadn't been needed were put back and what needed to be thrown out was, taking care of any obvious evidence that the exam room had been used. He didn't want to be rude, looking back at Lara as he answered...and of course she'd want to know more.

"She could have done anything," Simon said, rolling his shoulders in a faint shrug, smile just a fraction smaller. "But I imagine she'd have wanted to dance."

The sudden shift to past tense would be obvious, the back of Simon's mind turning quickly to decide how much to say and how best to say it. There was no reason to hide anything from Lara...it just wasn't a very happy story.

Lara silently slid off the table and did up her legging again, reaching out and giving his shoulder a squeeze. She took the Past Tense there as an indication that the sister was deceased, and really, that wasn't something she wanted to step into. He'd clearly lost more than a few people, and it wasn't her place to pry too much.

"Well, we should be off, yeah? Back to the Far Shore. I imagine you need some rest, and I've a book to copy."

The initial silence gnawed at Simon's gut. Had he misspoke somehow? But Lara wasn't angry or even irritated, she was putting her hand on his shoulder in a comforting way and...

Oh.

Simon opened his mouth, paused, and then closed it. It wasn't often that he was able to catch his mouth before it ran off without him, but this time he managed it. If the subject of his sister ever came up again Simon would give Lara a proper explanation. Just not this time. Instead of a clumsy explanation Simon smiled, reaching across to put his hand over hers briefly.

"I still owe you dinner, don't forget," Simon said. "But for now, yes, let's head back."

All it would take was returning to a nearby shrine and then crossing over. The pain he took from Lara would likely fade within a day...and maybe when Lara got him the book he could see about dinner and drinks.

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