&&.

He takes a look at the concotion that Meryem was making, grinding herbs and making tinctures; it almost made her look like a sorceress. Anthony never had a mind to fix up anything by himself—aspirin was a wonder drug and he was good to take two of them and head off in a direction of his choosing. “It’s nothing, Meryem. And please,” he replied, putting a hand on his chest, “Call me Anthony. I do loathe remembering I’m at the age where honorifics are supposed to matter. I’ve got half a mind to ask you if you can make me young and ruggedly handsome again, but I don’t suppose you can do that on a whim, can you?”

“  are you certain, anthony? ”   meryem asks, arching a brow. she finds that some patients will press through even the worst pain so that they are not an inconvenience, but her job is quite literally to make sure that he is healthy. she does do as he asks, however, and uses his first name as requested. it feels good, comfortable, to be on a first name basis with him. she hopes that the others are quite the same. a quiet laugh, amused but with part of her focus elsewhere, comes from her at the question.   “ i cannot make you young again, i have not perfected that potion. as for ruggedly handsome, i cannot give you back what you already currently possess. ”   she returns teasingly, looking up to him for a fleeting moment with a half smile that she should do better to hide.

“I’m Shawn, not Sean,” Shawn replies helpfully. There’s absolutely no difference in intonation.

The trick to telling them apart is, of course, their different fashion tastes, but Shawn’s not going to let anybody in on that particular trick. They seem smart, they can figure it out! He believes in them!

“So what do you do? I’m trying to get a sense of the group – you, uhhh, hang on. Hold Kitty.” With no warning whatsoever, the fluffy little Pomeranian that had been tucked under Shawn’s arm like a football gets placed delicately into Meryem’s arms. Shawn gets a notebook out of his waistcoat pocket, and flips through it. “You’re a… medic?”

the introduction is kind; however, it would be kinder if his intonation had changed even slightly to give her an inkling of who he was in comparison to his brother. she barely has the time to observe a difference she might carry with her when she meets his brother before a small animal is passed to her without warning. she fumbles the animal slightly, task — literally at hand — interrupted so that kitty might not fall onto meryem’s countertop.

it takes a moment for her mind to catch up to the fact that there is a dog and not a cat in her arms currently. a sweet animal, but still somewhat of a confusion given the name of the pet.   “ i am a medic. ”   she repeats back to him, confusion lingering in her tone and gaze still on the animal in her arms.   “ are you bringing ... kitty ... with us on our expedition? ”   meryem is adept at taking care of people, some would say she has a near expertise. what she does not have is the knowledge or the ability to take care of this animal should it get hurt or injured.

“ harold, ”   meryem greets pleasantly as he comes through the door.   “ i did not expect to see you until the expedition started; i expected that edith would be keeping you very busy prior to setting out. ”   she is not unhappy to see him, even if she is busy herself. she is procuring, currently, for a few different types of roots that she has lost amongst the various herbs, utensils, and other oddities amongst the countertops of her shop.   “ is there something that i can help you with? ”   she asks before a pause naturally settles itself for a moment, a thought flickering through her and a delicate arch of an eyebrow to accompany it.   “ you’ve not hurt yourself before we have even begun, have you? ”

@healingmagic

“Have you ever ventured so far out into the desert before?” she asked, “I suppose I should warn you of some of the dangers. I know you’ve already signed on, but I wouldn’t blame you if you changed your mind.” 

there is a gut instinct to tell the truth, to say that she hadn’t been beyond the walls of cairo in years — she has never been to the desert. that, however, is not the person that was signed on; that was not the person with claimed medical expertise and a fancy degree forged for new beginnings.   “ only once before as an apprentice, so not on my own. ”   that was close enough to the truth that she was comfortable. she had not done this alone before.   “ a reminder of the dangers would be welcome, it would better help me prepare for what i might need to bring in addition to what is implied. ” 

@healingmagic​

It had been the worst night of Ramses’ life. Every moment lived crystal clear in his brain but behind a veil, like photographs he’d taken of another person’s life.

His mother, clothes soaked through with sweat from a fever that just wouldn’t break. The seizures. The rush to the medic in the middle of the night. The minutes, the hours that felt like days.

Finally, dawn—and with it, an ebb in his mother’s delirium.

Ramses had done everything he could to put it past him but now, here he was, face to face with the person who had saved his mother’s life. What was there even to say? For a man whose words came easy, the loss was staggering. Nothing, then. He’d say nothing and hope she’d forgotten. His jaw was sharper now, his hair shorter. Maybe she’d forgotten him.

“Ramses Samir,” he smiled, by way of introduction. Had names even been exchanged that night? “Is there anything you’re missing from your med kit?”

the shop looked different now than it had all those years ago and that was before meryem practically turned it over as she gathered what she needed for the weeks ahead. potions and salves could be made anywhere, but oils and the base plants were a different tale entirely. her research is spread across the countertops, journals of cures buried beneath. this is what she was made to do, or so she likes to believe.

she glances up as the bell above the door jingles, an indication to pull her from the back of the shop where she normally dwelled and currently a useless tool. the young man she finds looking back at her is ... familiar to her. a sense of deja vu pulling at her mind, but she cannot figure out why. not until he mentions his name. they had not exchanged pleasantries that night, there was little time; but she had gotten his mother’s name, had heard the exhausted woman pleading for her son. she was wise enough to put those together. 

“ meryem alkin, ”   she offers in return, a nod of acknowledgement of his name. she glances down to the root and herbs placed in front of her.   “ if i am honest, i have not fully taken stock of what i have yet, but having extra of anything is never a poor decision. ”

meryem could not say that she was ungrateful for the opportunity that arose with this expedition. between alexandria and cairo, she had not seen much of the world even if her name had travelled farther than either of those two places. curiosity crawled under her skin and would likely be her demise one day, but she cannot resist the pull.   “ mister perez, ”   she greets politely even if she is unmoving from her position behind the counter while she grinds root in dust,   “ may i assist you with something? ” 

“ ah — you must be ... ”   the greeting dies on her tongue as she looks over the mountain of a man in front of her. she is not easily distractible, not usually, but there is something about him that causes her to hold her tongue. that and, in that moment of speaking, she realized that in the names she’d written to account for everyone there were two identical names. she couldn’t help but wonder what their parents were thinking, if they were thinking at all.   “ you must be sean, but i am uncertain of which shawn you are? ”

“ you would do well to stop getting under my feet. ”   meryem is not often harsh and is not so, even now, but the words are pointed.   back off.   “ i know what i need for this journey, i do not need you to hover. ”