Ulysses Goode

Somewhere deep down he knew that there was some truth in the words said; so he just nodded thoughtfully, accepting them as a fact - after all he had no counter-arguments against them, even if he didn’t agree with them completely. It wasn’t his place to question it either; it would’ve also been impossible without digging in deep into his own past, searching through all the bad shit that happened, wondering if those made him any better. Just thinking about the results of those almost made him disagree - as he still felt fucking terrible about that, was still haunted by the thought that he showed no compassion for the suffering of his own family, instead using it to his own, selfish needs. He shook his head a little; no, that thought definitely needed to go away, right now.

“The croissants are absolutely worth it.” He nodded with a smile; probably that was what he missed the most from France - everything else turned out to be a huge disappointment after all, but that part he decided to keep to himself. Maybe Uly would have a pleasant experience there if they decided to visit, so why would he ruin that by saying all those not so pleasant things he had to say about France? 

“Well, as cliché as it sounds, I’d love to see the Grand Canyon and the Niagara Falls, nothing much planned out except those.” Not like those were really planned out - but at least those were realistically in his reach, just a road trip away, that he could’ve done at any point if there was anyone to take all his shifts at the coffee shop for the time he’d be away. “From the more extravagant ideas… I’d like to go back to Vietnam at some point, but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.” 

“Any travel plans for you?”

Uly made no mention of Silver refraining from saying anything more. Clearly he had not convinced the other, or if he had, Silver choose not to say anything about it. He offered a smile and moved on. 

“Those are the regulars, the ones everyone wants to go to. But honestly, Grand Canyon is worth it, it’s immense. Niagara Falls is okay, I’ve been to both for school trips, wasn’t a huge fan of the latter. It was mostly a lot of water.” He grinned. “But since nature is your thing, there are so many National Parks out there, and they’re all worth the look.” Those places however, Uly hadn’t visited much. He might’ve been going to a rich school, but he rarely got the benefits. His parents tried to get him on as many school trips as possible, only it wasn’t always possible. “Vietnam sounds cool, you can still keep it as a possibility.” 

✦

“It’s a fascinating city. But I know there’s at least one street food tour, if that’s what you’re interested in.” His first year in Louisiana he had of course, taken one of the cemetery tours, mostly out of curiosity what common legend was. An idle fascination that fit firmly in the same realm as cryptids and swamp monsters, but it wasn’t anything he made a habit of volunteering, somehow ill fitting with the version of himself he was trying to maintain.

His smile widened slightly when the joke was returned. “Coffee,” he offered in return. Hesitating briefly afterwards, because he wanted to add more to his own list, but nothing else he could vocalize ever came. So he just gave a small laugh at himself instead as he pressed the down arrow on the elevator doors. “No, that’s mostly it. A cliche, I know.” 

Still, there was little shame in his own answer, and contained enough honesty. It was half the draw of Lou’s. Waiting patiently until the elevator dinged, and he stepped through the doors to hit the button for the ground floor. A quick glance at the other doctor. “So, have you been settling in alright? You clearly survived the worst of the Solstice.”

Uly grinned. “Oh yes, food is my thing. I need to pay a lot of attention to what I ate, and the doctor did say that “variation” is incredibly important,” they offered, “so a street food tour is exactly up my lane.” He tried to imagine Doctor Lacroix standing at the taco truck ordering himself one on a paper plate, and he couldn’t. The image didn’t fit. “Did you take the tour? Or just heard about it?” he asked, hoping to make cement the idea. 

Shaking his head he let out a small chuckle. “Honestly, cliche, but also perfect answer. Who even needs sleep when you have coffee. And also it has water. Though I would personally go mad if the wifi sucks. Especially when on coffee,” he said. 

✦

“Take a trip to New Orleans sometime then. I was… aware that crayfish were considered a food down here, but it’s still incredibly strange to see it.” Some lingering remnant of having spent the first twenty-some years of his life on the east coast, and if he should’ve been fully ingratiated into Louisiana and it’s culture by now, there still existed a disconnect. One that might have solely been an inherent flaw in him, never really belonging anywhere, but quietly he thought he still felt more of a kinship with the sharper edges of both east coast cities and people. Though he didn’t miss the colder winters.

“Fair. But at least you have windows,” he answered with dry humor. Though there was a certain amount of truth to that. If it wasn’t nearly as stressful, time ceased to have quite as much meaning when he had to spend too much of his day down in the morgue, no sunlight to indicate the time. A thought he was distracted from at the slight hesitance, replaced by a quick, reassuring smile. “That’s perfectly alright. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t have time. Besides, I’ve been told that, on occasion, I still need to eat.” 

“You know what, I might. Next time I have some days off,” they suggested. Which as a resident was highly unlikely and probably too few and far in between, but at least it gave them something to look forward too when the day finally came around. And also gave them a good reason not to spend those extra days on learning more about Asphodel. It wasn’t that they were actually reluctant, but they were still coping with the strangeness of the Solstice, learning about so many powers - Gifts - and wrecking his head around the consequences and dangers. 

“I’ll let you know once I find it.” He said with a little smile, glad that he didn’t have to explain that all on his own; he wasn’t a great person to explain anything anyway, frequently getting lost in his thoughts - so even if the things he said were consistent, his train of thoughts probably was really hard to understand for people who weren’t sitting in his head. He made that assumption based on how he got lost in his own head sometimes too; but when that happened, he usually just waited through instead of explaining it, hoping that the problem would go away on its’ own if he ignored it long enough. “But drop by the Witches’ Brew around Friday, I should find it until then.” It would also make for an excellent reason to finally pack out the boxes that still remained from his move; it was a lot easier to pack those up than to pack them out - and he simply just lacked the motivation to do so, always finding something better to do.

“I’m really sorry that happened to you.” He said with a small, sad sigh; he knew all too well how it felt to be alone as a child - and while his reasons were completely different, the loneliness probably felt all the same. In his opinion, no one deserved that happening to them - but at the same time, he couldn’t change the whole world alone, so he decided to not elaborate on the matter. “I have no idea what people love so much in bingo, it’s the most boring thing ever.” He shook his head with a laugh, trying to shoo away his earlier, grim thoughts. “Well, I spent a few years travelling around Europe before ending up here, in Asphodel. Nothing majorly adventurous though… Just some sightseeing here and there.” Well, that was a really simplified and cut short version, but it was just as good as any, right? “Sometimes I still think about getting back on the road, but… now I have a life here, so I guess that’s it for the adventuring part.”

Uly nodded, glad for the fact that Silver took the time to follow up on the suggestion by saying when they could pick it up. It actually impressed them because most people were less likely to be offering information and then following up on having that information delivered. They often came upon those people in the hospital. The kind of people who had ‘books lying around’ and would promise to give you that book, only to have to remind themselves about a thousand times. If they did have the book that they promised, it would be clear that they did care about you as a person. So while this was only their first conversation not as costumer and employee, Uly found it a very nice thought that Silver might actually pull through. 

“It’s all good,” Uly said. “I personally believe that the struggles we go through make us better people. The best people have had the most struggles,” they said. Certainly for them it was something they held in high regard. They were supposed to be a better person because they had seen the worst. The best. 

 “Animals and… other things too.” He tried shrugging it off, just as if he was talking about some regular thing like fuel prices or yesterday’s news, but he knew that it probably didn’t work well; the thought of other creatures that were not human nor animal must’ve been unsettling enough even without an actual proof of their existence - but maybe it was for the better, because if they really looked the way that they were pictured in that one book that he had, then damn it was good that no one really saw them around. “If you’re interested, I should have a book on those somewhere, I can find it for you.”

“Was she right though?” He asked with a smile, head tilted curiously; he made a mental note to himself to check out the stories about Odysseus later, just out of curiosity. He was curious about that world traveling part, since he did his fair share of traveling too; sometimes he still felt the call of the road, thought about leaving for a certain period of time, but then always shook that thought away, His place was here, not out there somewhere on the roads; he couldn’t just leave without a word either, as it wouldn’t have been fair towards his friends either. Decisions, decisions… “Well, you can always become a world traveler later…? A bunch of people hear the call of adventure after retirement or something, so you still have plenty of time.” As if he had that much experience with retirement; he must’ve heard it somewhere in the tv, but he still presented it as an obvious fact, putting on the most serious face he could come up with. “Though they mostly go on those fancy all-around-the-world all inclusive ship tours and then play bingo all day, or whatever it is that rich people do to pass the time…. A shitty ‘adventure’, if you ask me.”

“That sounds good, I would love to read that,” Uly said quickly, noticing that despite the information that was provided to them by Silver, there was a reluctancy towards sharing more. Which, given the subject matter, they could very well understand. They certainly wouldn’t even invite Silver over to the Hospital, not that they were certain if ghosts stayed in a place or travelled or anything. But if they stayed, the hospital was bound to have a bunch of ghosts. Maybe spirits as well. 

“She was absolutely wrong, but it wasn’t because of my name that people... stayed very far away from me,” Uly explained. “I grew up in a very white neighbourhood,” they added, figuring it would be forward enough to make sense. “I think the pretentious Latin name only made me more of a target.” It was mostly a sudden revelation to them. They had gotten over their past already though, because despite everything that had ended up on their path, Ulysses Goode had still become a surgeon. As much as they wanted to, Uly said nothing about retirement and life-expectancy as a Lupus patient, they simply shrugged and smiled. “Oef, that sounds like a terrible travel plan, bingo and boats? At least I want to get to defeat some cyclopses and steal from scary witches,” they noted. “How about you, ever heard the call of adventure?” 

“Well, I’ve been taught that ghosts are souls of humans who died but remain on earth because they have some kind of unfinished business here… While spirits belong to everything else that’s not human.” He actually had to think some time about this; it’s been ages since he first learned about those things, and since then it became just intuitive for him to tell the differences; it was hard to explain something that was just as natural for him as breathing was for everyone. The fact that he also had to translate it from his native language to English, probably butchering a few things here and there… But roughly it worked. “Well, I… had some unpleasant experiences so I try not to use it that frequently. On one hand, I’d like to help them all out, but on the other, once I’d start they might never leave me alone. Also, hearing all those voices in your head are capable of giving you a pretty major headache.” He added with a laugh, as a weak attempt of trying to lighten the mood; talking about death and the postmortem usually soured the mood, and while he knew that Uly probably dealt with deaths in the hospital, he still didn’t wanna bring the mood down.

“That’s pretty cool of her that she gave you such an epic name.” He didn’t know much about Greek mythology, but just the fact that the name was taken from there was pretty badass; maybe he should’ve considered something like that too when he was choosing himself a name to take up, instead of taking the shortcut? “I’ll keep that in mind for later, once I come up with a coffee legendary enough to match the name.”

Uly never thought they would actually be interested in learning about someone’s Gift. At least not much further than feeling like they should be afraid of the consequences. But there was more to seeing and talking to the dead than just the basics. Their judgement would’ve been close to the truth, but the details were much more impressive. “The headache does not surprise me,” Uly noted. They had headaches a lot, far more than they led on. Their joints would hurt some days, and it would result in simple headaches or migraines that would almost render them useless. Uly had to call in sick on those days. “Everything else that is not human? Like, animals? Or...” they couldn’t imagine a plant having a spirit, animals, sure, but it seemed foreign to them. To think that there was something else to a human being once their body died. 

“She thought it would get me more friends,” Uly explained with a grin. “Or she was just trying to be edgy in front of her friends. My dad called me Odi till I was fourteen, or would tell me to become a world traveler. I grew up on stories about Odysseus, but I was never as interested in it,” they shared. Uly felt that with Silver - and a few others - they fell back into a familiar pattern. One they had left behind after Tessa left. They enjoyed it, glad for the smallest nudge in the direction of something they thought they had lost. Though they did notice how there was an edge to things now, which was probably because they knew they were different from the younger person they had been back then. 

-

“No, I’m sneaking out for some snacks.” Levi joked, smiling winningly at Uly as they queued up right behind them. He did not forget their standing agreement to have lunch together one of these days, and it seemed fate had decided to intervene on their behalf - lucky. “Better fare than other hospitals, am I right?” He spoke, as always enthused by the prospect of good food, greeting the servers by name as they doled out his order in generous portions. 

“Here you go, doctor.” Rosie, one of the long-time lunch ladies who worked at the Hospital cafeteria came out from the back, handing Uly a wrapped sandwich on a plate. She rolled her eyes fondly when Levi in turn winked at her, clicking her tongue in a show of disapproval at his antics. “Excellent service as usual, Rosie m’dear.” Levi lifted his fingers to salute her, before nudging Uly gently with edge of his full tray.  

“Eat with me?” He proposed, grinning. “You did promise.” 

Uly snickered. Somehow, as funny as it was, they did know what it was like to sneak out for snacks, or coffee, or anything really. A quick ten minute nap was the most likely thing they snuck out for. “Much better fare, I mean, last hospital I was in wasn’t that terrible either, but the food here is wonderful,” they said, just as Rosie returned with the sandwich packed especially for them. They smiled at her and thanked her wordlessly. 

✦

Monty smiled, reading the reaction as pride, though he thought it was entirely warranted. Something enviable in that too, because he couldn’t say for sure if he would still be here or even a doctor if he hadn’t been pushed as hard as he was early on. Which was a pointless hypothetical exercise, those choices made long ago, so now he took what satisfaction he could from his own work, and hearing about the success of others. Hefting his back slightly higher before he started to walk down the familiar hallways of Sacred Heart towards the exit.

“To be fair, there isn’t a lot that’s better than street tacos.” He flashed a quick grin, though he fully meant the words. And he wouldn’t argue the ease of it either, because it was easier to grab something quick and passing before he went from the hospital to Endine. A slight shift of routine that he wasn’t happy about, but he didn’t mind playing something closer to a tour guide for a new surgeon either. “There’s Lou’s, which is a town staple. Classic diner food mostly, but more importantly breakfast all day and bottomless coffee.” And while he pointedly avoided it certain days of the week, this wasn’t one of them. “Interested?”    

“Well, that’s disappointing,” Uly said in response, smiling and shaking his head. “I really hoped I would be able to... broaden my palette,” he added. But then again, if he had the energy to make lunch or dinner every day, he would probably still feel the craving for those street tacos. Junk food just... was incredibly addictive. One only had to look at the biggest part of the American population to know that. Most people who needed cardiac surgery could’ve been saved by cutting fast food from their diets. But alas, he couldn’t fault them either, he knew however that eating it every day could end up to be more fatal to him. 

“Lou’s dinner, I’m very certain I haven’t been there before, but I do like breakfast all day. Besides, if it wasn’t for the occasional window, I wouldn’t be sure if it’s seven am or seven pm now,” he added as a joke. He once pulled an all-nighter and added twelve hours to his shift because he had made that mistake. Then slept five hours in an unoccupied bed and went straight back to work. “But yes, I’m interested. If it’s all alright with you, I know from personal experience how valuable a doctor’s free time is,” he said with a worried smile. 

Uly had washed up before making their way to the Hospital’s cafeteria - they weren’t sure if that was the correct word people used for the place where they hate, but given the the quality of the food, they almost wanted to call it a restaurant - a little fresher than they had arrived the day before to their shift. They checked their phone to note down that they had almost twenty-four hours on the clock, meaning another twelve before they were done. Perhaps some food and a quick nap before the next surgery would help with the final lap. 

“Any sandwiches without meat left?” Uly asked, though from the way the lunch lady looked at them, Uly knew they didn’t have to ask. They knew about their condition by now. She told them she would look in the back for something, Uly waited. They were far too late for lunch. 

They checked their phone again when they noticed someone queue’ing up behind them. They recognised Levi instantly now, for reasons. Reasons they were yet to actually touch on. “Hey, you also on lunch break?” they asked. Though they knew the two of them had suggested lunching earlier, Uly had completely forgotten due to their schedule. 

Noticing the look that Uly gave him, he couldn’t help but let out a little laugh again - hence the better worded explanation he offered. Honestly, he could imagine how confusing a gift could’ve been if one didn’t experience it - he, personally, was scared of some of the elemental gifts, as those could quickly do some damage if one lost their control over them. At least his own ones were fairly harmless… “Technically it’s talking to spirits, but I mostly encountered ghosts, rarely ever anything else. Pretty chill folk once you get used to them just… being there.” He still remembered the first time of encountering a ghost - it was just there one day, hanging out in the corner of his room and scared the hell out of him; thankfully he came a long way since then. “From what I know, I can’t make them appear for others… But I never tried, so I’m not entirely sure. I think I still have a lot to learn about my own gift.” 

“Who knows? It might just happen.” He said with a grin, taking a sip of his coffee - the last one at that, before setting his cup back on the table; seasonals were a good idea, one that he could actually suggest to get in the menu… But that was a thought for after the Solstice. “We might end up naming it after you even.”

“What’s the difference between ghosts and spirits?” Uly asked, the sudden curiosity a reaction to the fact that he dealt with death on a daily basis, and he was wondering how it was used, or how Silver used it. He imagined the possibilities, before telling himself that his idea of this gift was not what how it worked in real life. While he had never been one to consume mainstream media, rather spending what free time he had in conversation, his opinion on each gift he would run into was based on what media had told him. He needed to limit his own flow of knowledge and keep judgement at bay. Though he knew judgement was something he did easily. “You don’t use it very often?” he asked. 

“The Goode coffee,” Uly suggested with a grin, nodding. “Though I would say my first name is epic enough to get the coins rolling. If you want to add a nice wink to it, change it to Odysseus, that’s the character I was named after. My mother is a huge fan of Greek Mythology, but she loved the Latin variant,” they explained. 

✦ 

“That would do it.” He offered a smile along with the words, though the addition to it made it a little bit brighter. “Glad to hear that. Makes it all worth it, right?” There was something nice in having those reminders for himself too, that the whole point of most doctors was to save lives. Including the one in front of him, sticking by the idea that there was something a lot more noble in their motivations than his own, even if it wasn’t something he felt the need to continue remarking on. Only that he didn’t save any lives. He dealt with the aftermath, the failed transplants, the ten hour surgeries that ultimately didn’t make a difference. If it still suited him, it was hard not to feel that particular division from the rest of the hospital. 

If he made any impact, he thought it was where they asked about next. His House, that chosen family, and he hated that there was that need to distance himself at the moment. One that had that polite smile feeling a little bit tighter than it had been a second ago. “Not at the moment, no. Something to eat business this time.” Amusement coloring the words, though it was all too true that he had a tendency to forget that basic need while he was at work. “You’re welcome to join, if you like.”

“That it does,” Uly said, smiling, taking a deep breath after the words were said. They would be worse for wear if it hadn’t. He was after all just a person, when someone died on the table, Uly would feel responsible for their death. He was trying to save lives, but no matter the extend of the pain that followed those he couldn’t safe, he remained certain that this was the occupation he wanted for himself. And as he had once expressed to Doctor Lacroix, and still believed himself, even those who died could be of service to the living. He would cry in his own time, but recognise that life was delicate. 

There was some gladness that garnered from their face when the Doctor said that house business would not be keeping him busy now, though they noted something in the tone and the words that caught their attention only for a few beats, before it was lost. 

“That sounds like the type of business I stand for too,” he said, grinning. “I would like that, I really should eat.” He nodded at the other. “Know any good restaurants in town? I’ve only been at the food trucks outside so far.” And mostly he cooked at home, whenever vegetables were in order, which was most days.

OPEN  Location: The Pit 

He wasn’t usually the type to visit the Pit. He preferred more traditional training, training done within the confines of their headquarters. Training done under the tutelage of their mentors, and among his fellow Sentinels. The Pit, he felt, was just home for baseless fighting and showboating… But it was also where some of the best fighters from every house tended to congregate, and where there was congregation, there was always talk. 

… And Baz was also not above showboating. 

He grinned as he pushed himself off of another Sentinel, blood dripping from the corner of his lip as he helped the Valerian up after the bell rang, hands wrapped and chest bare. “You nearly scorched my eyebrows off.” He commented with a raised brow as other Valerians helped their housemate out of the ring. 

“Did anyone else see that? I could have lost my eyebrows!” 

There was a whole lot Uly didn’t know about Asphodel, and while reluctant to figure things out, someone had dragged them away from their bed after a fourteen hour shift, and pushed them into a place called ‘the pit’, where people with Gifts trained together. Uly had expressed that putting a doctor at the side lines of people getting hurt perhaps wasn’t such a smart idea, and their colleague just waved their concerns away. Then went to fetch the both of them something to drink. Uly could see from where they were standing that instead the other had started a conversation with a random individual and left them to their own devices. 

A familiar face had been fighting someone with powers that reminded them of Raphael, and claimed victory. Uly suppressed the need they felt to check either of the fighters for wounds, and instead crossed their arms. 

“You don’t do fighting without a shirt here?” they asked, trying not to say anything about the scorched eyebrows - nor take out a napkin to check why he had blood at the side of his mouth. Maybe he broke a tooth or something? Or created an impact wound somewhere on the inside of his cheek? 

Raphael considered it half of a success that his pretty weak joke didn’t earn a facepalm in the end; even if Ulysses’ laugh was just an act of being polite, he appreciated it nonetheless, considering, that he really tried his best to not come off as stuck-up as he usually was. The fact that the Peak caught him here was another factor of stress for him; ridiculous as it was, considering that he lived three decades of his life with his gift, he feared an eventual disaster, an accident potentially caused in a split second of distraction, loss of control - but the last thing he wanted was to hurt anyone ( maybe except himself, who was already used to it ). “At your service, in this case.” Although it was doubtful if any of them really wanted a proper introduction to the gift business, especially done by Raphael, who frequently had issues with wording his thoughts. 

“Anyway, I think I shouldn’t keep you up any further…? Already took up enough of your time.” To be fair, he didn’t notice all that time passing; if it wasn’t for that hour of the peak happening, he’d probably assume it was just a few minutes he spent sitting there, completely forgetting that he should still go home and at least get a clean shirt so he wouldn’t walk around with a blood stain on his collar. “Thanks again for patching me up and… see you around?”

Uly extended a chuckle, glad for how Raphael tried to joke with them in return, made the situation a little less alternating than it actually was. They took a deep breath and nodded at the other who was more often their patient than anything else. They fought the need to ask whether the flames were still bothering the others, while able to see it as the gift it was, they were strangely unable to distinguish between ‘flames created by one self’ and ‘possible future wounds’. There was something scary about the Gifts, unnatural and scary.

“You’re always welcome to pass by without getting wounded,” they suggested with a smile. But nodded still, because while talking with people while working was normally not something they would be doing, they had enjoyed the company. “See you around, Raphael.” 

“No, I actually talk to dead people.” He said with a laugh; the ability to create poisons, whether by mixing them or just producing them like a snake sounded like a useful skill too, but ironically enough he only had those that would’ve been useful after someone already got over to the other side. Could be useful once he really poisoned someone and had to say sorry for that… “I mean, ghosts and stuff. Not actual…. dead bodies, that would be weird.” He added quickly, feeling the need to explain himself over it; although it was a ridiculous and highly unrealistic thought that he’d ever have the chance to actually come in contact with dead bodies, because what reason would there be for him to be around those? He didn’t really want that either, considering how terribly that worked out the last time.

“So no worries, my gift is entirely safe to be around. No risk of an accidental poisoning.” Additionally confirmed by Ulysses too, that an accidental poisoning would be quite hard to pull off, he could say that with almost complete confidence; the worst that he could do is mix up regular milk with lactose free, but it wasn’t the end of the world yet, was it? “But a med kit could always come in handy, just in case.”

Whatever Uly was going to say, it was snuffed out by Silver’s words and the laugh that followed. They took a moment, watched the other with new interest and additional concern. Talking to the dead... that was... He didn’t even know what his thoughts on the subject were. But Silver continued, trying to make his Gift as clear as possible to Uly, who felt he might’ve been happier if it was poison. “Oh,” he said eventually. “Honestly, I know far too little of Gifts and didn’t know talking to the dead was one of them. That’s kind of terrifying,” he expressed. “Is it only you who can talk to ghosts? Or can you make them appear for others as well.” 

Uly chuckled. “Yeah, probably,” they expressed, shaking their head. “I don’t have any allergies, so we should be good there too. Perhaps I’ll be privy to the formation of the newest seasonal coffee at the Witches’ Brew.” 

✦

If Monty could usually claim overworked as his perpetual state, it was entirely by design, and even more so lately. More time spent in the hospital than it had been before the Solstice, an easy excuse to avoid a man from New York, and more specifically, the very real possibility that he might be nothing but an open book to him. If it was an uneasy thought, it was one easier to put aside when there was, almost unfortunately, plenty to do within the walls of Sacred Heart. Death didn’t wait for anyone.

Though he’d had his fill of it for one day, headed down the hallway when he caught sight of a familiar face. “Dr. Goode,” he said, returning the greeting. Offering a smile when he saw them, just as incapable of recalling how long ago it had been since the Solstice. If he’d seen them occasionally since, it had only been in passing, aware that the demands of surgery were much higher than his own department, time a much more important factor. 

“Just heading out,” he said. Taking in their appearance, a familiar expression here and one he’d seen on occasion in the mirror.  “I hope you are too? No offense, but you look exhausted.” 

When it came to working in the hospital, Uly had long since learned that expressing one department’s importance over the other could only result in being told to be either arrogant or avoided in the hallways. Surgeons already had an air about them in any hospital. Uly simply didn’t exclaim any favour, neither did they or would they ever express that they had more reason to be tired than others. Though they would think it, they would think a whole lot of things. They offered Doctor Lacroix a warm smile. “I’m heading out too,” they said in response. 

The sentiment wasn’t lost on them, and while aware of how badly they wanted to sleep - and to never exert their own limits, they hadn’t reached those just yet. “Liver transplant, ten-hour surgery,” they said. Though the exhaustion wasn’t anything new, and certainly wouldn’t have been different if they had done shorter surgeries. However, as they mentioned the surgery they had just preformed, though not the field they wished to continue in, they couldn’t help but find a little strength returning to them. “Successful liver transplant,” they added. It was good to remember the successes. “Are you off to do house business again?” they asked. 

“Maybe.” He agreed with a nod, small smile appearing on his lips; Uly was right on that part that there was always at least a smile chance of finding an affordable solution for this issue - something he didn’t even think about before, instead just giving up on the whole thing. Maybe it was easier to just let it go, just as he did with any other thing that reminded him of the past; the realization, that he was throwing away chunks of himself like this, dawned on him way too late - and now he was just trying to hold on to what remained, hoping that maybe one day he could make sense of all those bits and pieces. “Thank you though.”

“Okay then, I believe in you.” He said with a laugh; low key he hoped though that whatever he’d serve up will be a lot more bearable than a kid’s drink combination would have been - or at least he assumed that, considering that he never did anything like that in his childhood, fearing what his mother’s reaction would’ve been. Yet he washed this thought away with the last sip of his coffee, grimacing a bit at the all-too-sweet ending of it, consisting mainly of the sugary flavoring syrups. “But let’s just assume I won’t accidentally poison you, okay? Please, just to salvage some of my ego.”

Nodding, smiling, and recognising that Uly truly could not control the minds of others, but merely offer their sympathies and kindness, they dropped the subject. Whether or not Silver would get his hands on another harp would have to be seen, but at least they hoped he wouldn’t give up on it. Or find something else that gave him fulfilment. They had found it after all, and so should others. 

“I will assume, and bring my med kit just to be save. You know, if something else happens in the general vicinity that needs my immediate attention. Like... some kind of poisoning...”