closed.

[tonsofpun]

Who: Ellie (tonsofpun) & Dr. John Watson (hadbadays)
What: While killing time, Ellie decides to run a delivery of food and antiseptic to John's clinic, and finds something they'll both wish they hadn't.
When: D438
Where: Yakuzen Clinic
Rating: PG-13 for language and eventual body horror. And some major spoilers from Ellie's canon. CW for body horror.

Things are starting to become more dire around the city. Thankfully, by the time Ellie comes, the clinic is mostly empty. John must be between patients.

Normally, she doesn't drop in on people while they're working -- but Ellie can't deny being curious. It's so much cleaner than the med bay in the school, where they had haphazardly taught Ellie how to clean and stitch horrific wounds. It even smells clean.

Clutching a bottle of iodine and a wrapped sandwich, she makes her way to the back and knocks on the doorway. She puts both hands into the room first, wiggling sandwich and iodine, before popping her head in with a smile.

"Loooook, I brought presents. Need a break?"

Comments

[hadbadays]

Not a bad day, nobody died, indeed. That is what you can call a good day, in war.

"Well," he says and gestures vaguely around the room. "This is it."

[tonsofpun]

Grinning at him, Ellie gives him a gentle nudge with her elbow, which is sort of her "hello" type contact, and she immediately starts to tour the area. It looks like a normal office, with a chair and odd instruments, a few things she's familiar with, but the thing that stops her immediately is the light box on the wall, where an x-ray of somebody's skull and shoulders is still up.

Immediately her mouth drops open, and she goes to study it.

"What's this? It looks awesome-"

[hadbadays]

He chuckles quietly and follows her, folding his arms as he stops by her side.

"An x-ray. That's what's inside your head," he says, and moves a hand to tap her temple.

[tonsofpun]

"Whoa, nelly."

Ellie breaks off with an amazed laugh, leaning in close to peer at all the details. "Oh man, I can see all up in their brains. Sort of. Hey, could you do one of these on me? I wanna prove to Riley I've definitely got something in there."

[hadbadays]

"Well, to really prove that an MRI scan would probably be better. Then you actually see the brain properly. But ..." He huffs. "Professionally, I shouldn't scan you like that just because."

[tonsofpun]

Ellie considers, but then touches her arm through the fabric of her sleeve, over the bite.

"... well, it's not just because, right? Maybe we should check out the bite. Might help Sherlock."

[hadbadays]

Ah.

Well ... It's not like he hasn't thought about it. There's just always been so many other things that he hasn't ever remembered to bring out the possibility of scanning and testing different procedures to try and get some result that way. It is, after all, what he knows.

"Yeah. It could. So if you want ..."

He shrugs, and smiles. It's all up to her, really.

[tonsofpun]

Immediately, she smiles, nodding quickly. It's a little weird, the concept of seeing beneath her own skin, but the chance is too interesting to pass up. In her youth, she gives no thought to what she might find. Her nightmares haven't yet grown out of control, not yet, at least not in this direction.

She heads over to his side, pulling her hair back from her face. "So how do we do this?"

[hadbadays]

"Well, first," John says as he goes to grab a clip board, "any chance you might have metals or implants of any kind stuck in your body somewhere?"

[tonsofpun]

"Nope, I-" and then she pauses, hand in the air while she thinks about it. Did they get all the bullets out for sure? Yes? Oh yeah, they did. Joel still might have one or two floating around somewhere, but not her.

"Nope. No metal here."

[hadbadays]

"Sure?" The pause isn't very comforting, and he frowns. "Maybe I should x-ray you first to be completely certain."

[tonsofpun]

"If it'd make you feel better, go for it," Ellie shrugs, grinning up at him. All x-rays sound good in her book. Worries about radiation? Not here. No sir.

"I'm pretty sure we got all the shrapnel and shit out, though."

[hadbadays]

"Yeah, well, 'pretty sure' won't do it in this case. So you'll get to see your body under x-ray too. You don't have any jewelry on you, do you?"

His lips twitch. He finds that hard to imagine.

[tonsofpun]

"Just this."

She holds up the bracelet, grinning at him. They both know jewelry isn't her style. Too many things it could get caught on, too easy to lose or break.

"But if it makes you feel better, I'll do the x-ray too."

[hadbadays]

"I'm asking about jewelries because of the x-ray." He takes the bracelet, puts it in his pocket, and tucks the clipboard against his chest as he heads for the door. "Come on, then."

[tonsofpun]

Nodding, Ellie follows, for the first time feeling just a touch nervous. She's never really had the whole 'doctor' thing go down other than yearly physicals and that sort of crap. Turn your head and cough. I'm going to shine this light in your eyes. Just a little tap to the knee. Good reflexes!

She shakes her head, taking an extra-fast step to catch up to John's elbow. "What do you need me to do?"

[hadbadays]

A shrug. "Nothing, really. Just change into a hospital gown and lie down on a bed and I'll x-ray you. It's completely painless. You won't feel a thing."

[tonsofpun]

"... really? Well... shit, okay. If it's you, I'll actually trust you on that one."

Usually people lie a fucking lot about whether it hurts. Ellie pulls a face, shakes the nervousness out of her arms. This is going to be cool. Just remember that, Ellie.

[hadbadays]

"It's just week waves of radiation. You'd have to spend days in there for it to start doing harm."

He gives her shoulder a light, reassuring pat. It's understandable to be nervous if she's never done this before, so he can tell she is. It's practically oozing from her.

[tonsofpun]

"Isn't that how they used to treat cancer?" Cancer. Shit. The thing nobody ever really worries about anymore, because natural death is so fucking rare as it is. They don't even bother treating it anymore, not that she knows of.

"All right, let's give it a shot."

[hadbadays]

"Sort of, only when treating cancer it's actually meant to do harm."

But since she's completely on board, he won't harp anymore about it. It is, after all, no big deal.

He opens the door to the x-ray room, and holds it for her.

[tonsofpun]

The machine is huge, and Ellie is momentarily taken aback by it, eyes raking it over as she cautiously approaches. She hasn't felt so small and breakable in a while. Still, she heads on in, gets close.

"... okay. Let's do this."

[hadbadays]

John wanders over to a drawer and grabs a hospital gown that he tosses Ellie's way.

"I'll go out and let you change into that. Give me a shout when you're done and lie down on the bed."

And with that, he makes for the door again.

[tonsofpun]

Ellie catches it with a nod, holding it in her hands as the door slides shut. The flimsy gown isn't enough, and as she begins to shuck her clothes off, she has to remind herself not to take her switchblade with her. No metal. It feels strange to bare her arms and legs, to go barefoot, makes her all too aware of how vulnerable she can be without her weapons and gear.

She hops up into the bed-type platform, laying down and smoothing the gown around her thighs, wishing it were pants.

"Okay! Ready!"

Laying her head back down with a thump, she blows out a nervous breath, reminding herself that it's just John. And really, she should get used to this stuff. There's probably going to be a lot of it in her future.

[hadbadays]

Once outside, he purses his lips and crosses his arms, tapping his foot into the floor as he waits. Hums a little tune to himself. When she finally calls, he actually jumps a little before he swiftly turns around and steps back inside, closing the door behind him.

"You feeling okay?" he asks and steps over to get the machine ready.