3. You may be a warning of things to come.

[bestsir]

Who: Harry Goodsir and divers hands
What: La'an's postmortem and after
Where: The Milton church
When: After the Darkwalker claims its victim
Warnings: There's an autopsy. Goodsir has some PTSD. Fun for the whole family.

The unheated church basement will do for a mortuary. Someone finds a long table and Goodsir has La'an's poor cold corpse laid out on it, covered with a sheet.

He hasn't performed an autopsy—

(Twenty. I have performed on—)

—here, not yet. The deaths that have occurred so far have presented no mystery, but La'an's is something new and terrifying, and Goodsir feels he must get to the bottom of it.

[ There are a couple of prompts for Goodsir specifically, but feel free to start your own threads. ]

Comments

[solitarysoul]

"I'm glad I could help. I know what it's like...when things are harder than they should be. I've seen it...and done it. You got through it. If I had any alcohol left I'd offer it."

[bestsir]

That gets a small, dry chuckle. "I appreciate the sentiment nevertheless."

[solitarysoul]

"Sometimes...sometimes things are a lot. It's a measure of a strong person is if they can get though it. But, um, d-don't feel bad for needing help. It takes more to accept help than refuse it. None of us, even here, are really alone. I-if, I don't know if there's anything I can do, but if I can help at all let me know."

[bestsir]

Goodsir smiles thinly. "Medice, cura te ipsum. I've dispensed that advice to many another, but I'm not so certain that I have followed it myself. You're a good lad, Levi. Thank you."

[solitarysoul]

"I'm, um, I'm not sure what that means. But, uh, I'm glad I could help. Back with the procedure and here."

[bestsir]

"'Physician, heal thyself'," Goodsir explains. "A Biblical proverb, and one I ought to keep more closely in mind."

[solitarysoul]

"Oh." No bible where he's from, but he wonders if Daan or any of the medics he'd dealt with had that kind of saying.

"Just...it doesn't have to be alone. I though it did for a long time, but there's nothing wrong with letting others help you."

Just not with his less sudden issues, apparently.

[bestsir]

"I know." He reaches out to pat Levi on the shoulder. "I'm grateful. Truly."

[solitarysoul]

He stiffens at the touch, but at least he doesn't flinch away. Goodsir was more likely to try and comfort him than touching for any other reason. "You're, um, you're welcome."

That's what he said here, right? It sounded weird for him to say.

[bestsir]

That is indeed what one is supposed to say. Goodsir smiles faintly.

"Go get some rest," he says. "It's been a difficult night."

[solitarysoul]

"...I'll try." Its the best he can offer. Levi doesn't sleep, or even relax at all, very well. "You should too."

[bestsir]

"I too shall try," he says, with a glimmer of humour. "Good night, Levi."

[solitarysoul]

He nods and stands up. "Goodnight doctor."

And he heads off to somewhere.