City Rat and Country Mouse (Sophie!)

[Rylok]

The rumors of an abandoned treasure hall of an ancient dwarves lord had served as adventure bait for Simon. Despite his city upbringing and preferences, he'd found himself spending more and more time out of doors. This wasn't a bad thing. The lack of crowds...of people in general...meant he could act a bit more unnaturally, even if he didn't go unmasked. As an example, he was able to hike and climb the rugged terrain without needing to pause to catch a breath. The colder air gave him no pause, and he did not tire. His reward for this was being up at the carved doors of the hall when the sun crested the horizon. For all his heart was not beating anymore, the sight stirred something in him and brought a thrill of delight. Life, even his unlife, was good today.

There was only one wrinkle: someone had arrived at the ruins first. A small tent was pitched in the flat, windless lee of the cliff face.  Simon doubted he could open the stone doors of the ruins and slip by without waking the individual inside the tent, but he wasn't going to abandon the prospect, either. Diplomacy was his best bet, then. The lanky thief-turned adventurer took a sprawling seat on a rock and watched the sun rise, waiting for whomever was asleep to wake up. If they didn't want to work together,  Simon figured he could give them the slip and find his share of treasure before they could figure out how to stop him.

[Hyacinthus]

And what a wonderful sunrise it was! A certain pair of large, mousey ears could feel the warmth of the new day even as the first rays of light began to cast over the cliff-side. The tent, made of simple hemp at a close glance, soaked up as many rays of that glorious break of dawn as it possibly could, and over the course of a half-hour or so, began to warm up considerably. It's sole inhabitant, who'd fashioned a makeshift sleeping pad out of foliage and dried underbrush she'd collected prior to her hike up here, slowly began to stir as her own body temperature began to rise... and the light began to poke at her eyelids. Odd-- she used to be a much, much earlier riser back in Connlaoth... Seemed as distant a memory as the fading dreams from her mind.

Some shifting here and there could be heard from within the tent-- and a couple of pretty audible yawns. Who, or whatever it was inside seemed relatively human enough-- though a mousey tail plopped itself out from under a side of the tent for a moment, seemingly disproving that theory. Before long, however, the figure revealed itself-- poking two large, round ears out of the tent's entrance, and an apparently-still-groggy face to boot. One that was currently using a non-poisonous tree branch's sapwood as a makeshift toothbrush-- ingenuous, but still an amusing sight to behold.

As Sophie fully emerged from the tent, she tossed the branch aside and took the opportunity to get a nice, deep stretch going-- The perfect way to start the day! And truly, it was a really nice stretch too-- so nice that it was only halfway through bending over backwards that she happened to realize that she hadn't been alone the entire time. At all. "O-Oh geez!" The girl panicked, losing her balance and stumbling backwards onto the harsh ground of the cliff facing. "H-Hello! I... didn't see you there, sorry!" She attempted to explain, while picking herself back up and dusting off her tail. "Are you here regarding the quest posting? I didn't tell anyone I was actually headed here yet-- Although I s'pose I did leave a map..." Sophie carried on, completely misunderstanding the situation, though in her defense, the truth probably made less sense...

[Rylok]

Simon smiled under his mask at the quiet little morning routine his surprise host was going through. The Lady knew how much he missed it, but the goddess he served had yet to give him the right hand of card to play to win that particular pot. For now, he was dead, and contrary to the saying, he couldn't sleep.

At the appearance of the small woman, Simon quirked another grin. He had seen beastkin before; as a child, he'd snuck into a gladiator exhibition between a rhino-kin and a lion-kin. The thrashing had been amazing. To his knowledge, however, he had never seen a rodent-kin. She was slight, but energetic. Adorable, almost. Despite his own standoffish nature, he found himself liking her. Her little panic at seeing him nearly drove her off the cliff and Simon after her, for he had started to try and prevent her fall. When she caught herself and braced in the cliff, Simon ducked his head in a polite greeting.

"Sorry for startling you. I'm Simon, and no...I didn't find your notice. I heard of this place through rumors and bartender tales. But if you're interested in a partnership, two are better than one." he offered. His gravelly, rough voice still irritated him. He used to be so smooth and charming. Now? Like he had smoked for thirty years. There was nothing to be done about it, though. He wrapped his cloak a little more tightly around his thin frame, covering the leather armor and simple canvas clothing he wore. The facade was for her benefit; mountain mornings had a chill to them and he needed her to not think he was an undead monster.

[Hyacinthus]

"O-Oh! I... suppose that makes about as much sense, right, right."

Sophie's ears drooped a little, in spite of the offer before her, as she mentally chastised herself a bit. Of course he wasn't here for the quest, silly—  The guild would've sent notice by pigeon post if someone was going to meet her here. Gah, she probably seemed super pretentious just now, assuming this fellow was here just for her—  Silly, silly Sophie. She would've been a bit harder on herself, if she didn't owe her new friend here an explanation—  Her ears perking up again, she put her inadequacies aside for the time being and picked herself up.

"Sorry about that—  I just sorta started chatting at you without introducing myself! I'm Sophie—  I'm a historian, you see, and visiting places like this, learning as much as I can about the architecture, any vestiges of past cultures—  I document them for recordkeeping purposes. I haven't seen too many of these ancient ruins or hidden caves that weren't chock-full of troubles, though, and I'm not much of a fighter myself, so I tend to outsource for help—  Which, hopefully, explains me babbling on earlier. Sorry again about that!" It was a somewhat lengthy explanation for what was probably obvious to this fellow by now, but Sophie felt she owed it to him from her mouth all the same. One bow of apology later, she felt comfortable changing gears to the topic at hand.

"I'd be more than happy to accept your help, though—  Definitely saves me a lot of time, hoping for any other 'venturer to come falling from the sky! I'll even let let you to whatever of worth we find in there, as long as you let me document it first—  What do you say, partner?" A bright-eyed, hopeful smile on her face, Sophie extended a hand to her maybe-new-partner-to-be, wanting to seal the deal the ol' fashioned way. After all, a handshake's worth at least the price of admission, as her mentors would always tell her!

[Rylok]

She was as charming as she was chatty. Simon listened to all of this with a concealed smile. The grin grew as she went on, and he found himself nodding along with her as she explained her desire to document and record whatever it was that they found. At her conclusion, she stuck her hand out and Simon regarded it briefly before returning the gesture, gripping her wrist and shaking her hand once.

"Shaken and sealed," he responded by rote before releasing her hand. It was a common thieves' cant for a partnership, but Sophie probably didn't know that. Maybe she did? If she documented cultures and such then perhaps she'd studied more modern iterations of language and culture as it evolved.

He turned to the stone door and began examining it.

"Well, this is a big pickle, isn't it...but there's pickles, then there's pickles," he muttered to himself. The sealed stone appeared to be a counterbalanced stone mechanism, so there had to be a switch or a lever that set it off. He let his gaze roam over the stone face, looking for an incongruency, a button, or a decoration that could conceal the means to open the cave.

[Hyacinthus]

Sophie beamed; The rising sun at her back enunciating her happiness to strike a favorable agreement with the man before her. She'd almost resigned herself to going it alone, after all; Something she probably had the skills to do, but not if it meant there might be some real dangers in that cave. Having a companion who could look after themselves-- and hopefully, her-- made the chances of success realistic! "Perfect! S'pose I should start near to the beginning, then! Just, erm, give me a wink while I..."

Mid-sentence she was, already retreating backward into her little tent. With the sun casting a proper lens over the hemp fabric, it was a bit clearer from without that the shelter wasn't just home to dried grass and--formerly-- a mouse. A little clatter here, and a little clamor there, and the youthful beastkin girl re-emergered from the tent with a pack on her back, and a scroll in her hands. Seemed like someone had done her homework prior to the morning... which went a ways toward explaining why she slept in, maybe.

"I did a little poking about before you got here-- in the dark, mind, so my scrawls aren't my candlelight best-- but I managed a well-on-enough mapping of the cliffside here, and the doorway there! Take a look, if you like, might be something I overlooked in the dark last night that'd help pop the prop on the entryway, so to speak?" She moved around like a beastkin half her size, and her age-- Practically portaling next to her new companion with the rolled-up map in hand, offering it as she took another proper peep at the passage ahead as well. She did like a good puzzle, but dwarven architecture tended to be more mechanical than mythological, and that sort of ingenuity tended to scare the little mouse in her-- if only a little. Probably because she was always on the receiving end of it from an offensive perspective.

"You've really gotta hand it to the folk that built this place," She began again, crossing her arms as she stared up at the sealed entrance. "Dwarven architecture's always been ahead--and a couple shoulders, by the size of this door-- of it's time. Did you know there's actually documented records of Connlaothian Dwarves who fostered trade relations with the frost giants of the untamed North? Once 'pon a time, they actually built forges, barracks and the like into the mountain chains that separate Connlaoth and Serendiptiy-- and ran their trade routes through underground tunnels, that they excavated from the bases of those mountain ranges! You can still find some of them today-- most've caved in from a lack of maintenance, though. Isn't that interesting?"

Poor guy. Hopefully his dead body was in pristine condition-- else Sophie might literally lecture his ear off by the end of their venture.

[Rylok]

Simon listens to the cheerful chatter and patter as Sophie began sharing her factoids. The sounds of a normal person enjoying themselves and their work was...nice. He smiled under his mask as he kept listening to her go. The facts about the dwarven history were actually very intriguing.

"Thanks..." He took the offered map and sat down to look at it more closely. As he examined the drawings, he continued the conversation. "I know Connlaoth is super into their architecture and their industry...Do you think maybe there was dwarven influence in their culture with that like how there's Fae influence in Serendipity?"

He paused at some of the annotations. He couldn't read; if he took the time he was sure he could learn, but since nobody had made him go to school when he was younger, it was never a priority. He could recognize a few letters here and there, but the squiggles and letters were, by and large, meaningless.

"Ah....um, a bit embarrassing to admit, but uh. What does this say? I...never learned to read..." he trailed off, embarrassed. Sophie had clearly learned a lot. As an historian and scholar, she likely read several languages. Hopefully she wouldn't be too shocked or, worse, openly pitying, of his lack of education.

[Hyacinthus]

"Oh-- gosh, I didn't even consider-- apologies, there!"

As opposed to shock, pity, or even outward rejection, Sophie--following her apology of oversight-- Closed the gap between the two of them without too much thought. The twinned shadows cast over the cliff face became one as she nestled herself close enough into his side, slipping her right arm around his left and leaning in a bit and ignoring his rather earthy smell as she traced a path across the sheet of mapping paper he yet held open for her.

Quick, simple solution to a simple problem. If he couldn't read, she'd read for him!

"Cardinals here-- so North, South, East, West," She explained, before shifting in a bit more to move her finger further across the page, "And here-- 'Despite the entrance gate size, the lack of flourishing impression or scraping on the cliffside implies a counterweight pulley system'-- Which, see how the ground at the base of the entrance isn't all... ground-up? Aaaaaaand here..."

She proceeded just like that for a bit-- pointing out little details about the nearby landscape she'd scrawled while mapping, including the unusual presence of poison-thorned flora for the altitude they stood at to the slight east of the entrance, as well as some exposed fibers-- likely carbon, or some flexible, dwarven-made metal alloy-- some few meters above the gate itself. Now, how she had managed to get up there and note that? A story best left untold.

"So! What are your thoughts? By the time I had stopped to compile my notes last night, I didn't really have enough sunlight left to look around for switches, levers or such-- so who's to say what's here or there, y'know?"

[Rylok]

The initial shock of her approach was mitigated by his pleasure at not being mocked. This mousekin was incredibly kind, and he found himself growing more and more appreciative of her as she explained her notes. The more she explained, the more his observations were coming together in a big picture.

"I think...I think its a button." He gently traced the carvings on the door and thought.

"Most humans are right handed...I don't remember dwarves being that different. And, lets see, right side, about this high...There." The carvings at the height he indicated illustrated a tree wrapped in a flowering vine. Most of the flowers were in profile, but one was faced right towards the viewers. Simon pressed the flower and was rewarded with a small -CLICK- and grind. The large stone door split in the middle and opened into pocketed tracks, granting the adventuring pair entrance into the dark cavern beyond.

Simon considered the dangers ahead and paused before going ahead.

"Some ground rules...we don't split up, ever. We go slow and methodical, we call out things of interest for the other person to see, and until we both agree something is safe to touch, we don't touch anything. I'm worried about traps, so I'm going to be checking everything carefully. I see best in low light, so torches will be better than any magic lighting. And, this is going to sound weird, but if something happens to me, pause and camp out. Okay?"

He looked down at her, noticing that they were almost a foot different in height. She was tough to have done all the recon work before he arrived, so he wasn't too worried about her.

"Ready?"

[Hyacinthus]

"Don't have to tell me twice-- The last thing I want is an arrow to the tail, or to end up a mouse sandwich!" Sophie beamed, particularly pleased that she'd happened upon such a reliable-minded partner in crime. Her last few ventures hadn't exactly been particularly safe—- from getting deathly cursed to nearly being crushed by a giant, collapsing mushroom castle, to nearly being captured alive by goblins— she was more than happy to be as cautious as possible this time around.

That said...

"Oh, but before we head in-!" As if possessed, Sophie turned on her heels and swooped down on the peculiar flower— which turned out to not be a flower at all— and whipped open her a small, leather-bound notebook that she'd been carrying on her hip the whole while.

"Mechanical input... A press-button that probably releases the counterweight mechanism that holds the doors in place... from above. Hm..." A quill in her dominant hand scrawled across blank parchment, running rampant with notes and a quick drawing of the flower's specific design versus that of the normal ones surrounding it. "To think their artisanship also delved into more intricate, small-scale design like this... did they have specialists that worked on design processes for things like this, or was it a standard across all mountain dwarves...?"

She would've pondered on it a bit more, if she hadn't remembered in that same breath that she wasn't alone— not anymore, at least. Hopping back to her feet (almost literally), she darted back on over to her companion with a sheepish smile and a bow. "Sorry! That was just— I mean, normal architecture that we tend to see from dwarves descendants puts more of an emphasis on heavier metals, thicker, more robust designs— smaller pieces tend to have a more angular, or block-like shaping methodology due to the recorded tools most scholars have identified as being standard of their trade, so softer designs, with rounded edges and brighter colors, aren't standard in their typical works— we might be dealing with a specialized clan of workers, or— or maybe the women of the clan were more skilled at— Anyway! Lead on! I'll stay as close as possible and try not to get too distracted!"

Her word was, without question, good for exactly one of those two things at this point.

[Rylok]

Simon grinned under his mask at her agreement and her eagerness. He was beginning to genuinely enjoy her presence. Maybe, just maybe, after all of the exploration was over, he could join her adventurers guild and begin building himself into someone else. When she asked to pause so she could record her information, he agreed and watched her write over her shoulder.

"I know you promised me the material salvage from here, but if the relics are important and could be useful for your research, how about I trade them to you for reading and writing lessons?" He bartered, confident that she'd agree.

He watched a bit longer, then went to the mouth of the corridor and peered into the downward sloping hall. Large pillars flanked tall mosaics. The stone pictures depicted agricultural ventures and...

"Fae! Or-elves? But this wasn't just a dwarven settlement. That artwork shows a mixed work team in that one...one planting, one cultivating...maybe cotton? Or something similar. Wow, this artwork is stunning..." The last sentence was a whisper. The plant life in the murals carried over into the carvings that flanked them. Every few niches of artwork had a pedestal in front of the mosaic with what appeared to be an altar to a deity, or spirit, or something. Sophie would probably know more.

Simon took his attention back to watching for traps. This hall was unlikely to have anything, but he still watched for inconsistencies in the tile work of the floors, for arrow holes in the wall, or anything hinting at a more malicious purpose.

[Hyacinthus]

"Oh... MY GOD!"

Trade? Writing? Something like that. Sophie's spelunking partner would have to re-phrase (or at least re-ask) the question-- her attention was a bit preoccupied by the interior of the mountain delve. And why wouldn't it be? They had barely scratched the surface of this hidden underground landscape and already were Sophie's eyes overwhelmed. "These are mountain dwarf carvings! And-- and those ARE elves! Not just any elves either-- See the way the legs are drawn, almost too long? That's the traditional artstyle that mountain dwarves used to depict pure-blooded elves. You see it extremely often even in modern-day recollection pieces that folks who're descended from mountain dwarves will make-- The mountain dwarves notoriously conflicted with certain tribes of elves, centuries ago! Territorial disputes-- as well as disagreements in cultivation methods, colonization-- It's a whole thing! But these murals-- DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS?"

She didn't mean to. She didn't even realize it, in truth. But at some point, her tiny, sheepish tone had evolved into near-outright screaming as she did everything in her power not to hyperventilate at this discovery. The entire time, she'd been wandering about-- eyes glued to the passageway's walls as she attempted to make sense of the drawings carved into them. Her notebook and quill were like lightning-- tearing an ink-driven rampage across pages and pages as she jotted down notes, made sketches, and reviewed prior details she'd scribbled in. "The dwarves recorded this for a reason-- other clans would've no-doubt shunned them for allying with elves, especially given many Serendipity Elven clan's wishes to maintain favor with the fae-- The-- The reason you don't see very many fae these days, in fact, is due to the increased colonization of Serendipity as a whole, y'know? When the first Serenians-- who're actually somewhat descended from the fae themselves, or so scholars believe-- left the Niahi forest and began to create more modern, environment-adapted habitats for themselves, the fae began to go into hiding. They largely dislike change, you see, and while they were perfectly happy with keeping ties with the Serenians under nature, people could've never thrived or evolved in an environment like that."

She probably should've been more careful about where she was stepping. She probably also should've been sticking closer to her companion this entire time. The truth of the matter, however, was that despite her original more-than-willingness to be cautious and careful as they explored, Sophie had already become completely absorbed in her work, and was wandering aimlessly--mindlessly-- about the corridor. "I theorize that this place was likely meant to be a safe haven for outcasts-- elves who were shunned by the fae for aligning with the dwarves, and dwarves who were disassociated from the other clans due to their acceptance of the elves and their nature-preserving ways... Or perhaps this particular clan cut ties with the others due to their difference in beliefs? It certainly explains the entrance mechanism-- with elven craftsmen, they would've had access to far more intricate designs, and production materials from the surface-- all while having ample stone and metalworking material just from excavating this mountain. That elves would live under stone rooftops, even before the advent of Serenian society..."

Maybe a loud enough yell would catch her attention. Or a bomb. Or something.

[Rylok]

Simon almost let himself get distracted from his job by the mousekin's exuberance. Almost.

"Sophie..." She was getting near some tiles he didn't like.

It stuck up not even a quarter of an inch, but with the precision that everything exhibited, that wasn't an accident, which meant that it was dangerous.

"Sophie. Sophie, stop!" He was too late to keep her foot from falling on the plate. He most have imagined the click, because it would have been too far away for him to really hear it, but he wasn't so far that he couldn't dive and shield her body from the flechettes that fired from hidden positions.

He was thankful that he couldn't feel pain, otherwise the darts sticking from his back would have been agony. And they didn't stop, did they? He grunted when another round fired at them. The button was triggering a refire every few seconds, so he needed to get her to move, quickly!

"Mo-!"

 THUNK

One last dart from the last round hit Simon in the back of the head, dropping him limp and motionless atop of Sophie.

[Hyacinthus]

"It's curious, though, isn't it? Why would elves have chosen to break ties with their culture to move into caves and stone structures? There were never any documented records of entire elven clans being either banished from society or seperating from their kin... But there are several records of elven clans settling at the bases of mountains. They had a darker skin tone, traditionally, due to having to climb the mountainside more often than not when hunting, or setting up defenses around their communities. Do you think they--"

Oh, Sophie was far, far too absorbed into her work to notice a slightly off tile. Even if she wasn't, it was a passage of who knows how many years old-- Why would she question any of it? Yet when her partner suddenly leapt in front of her, she could feel her life flashing before her eyes-- Or his, as it were, as several volleys of darts nearly impaled her, had it not been for him.

"SIMON!" She cried, shocked as his limp body slumped down over her. Shakily, she slowly attempted to lower him to the ground-- pulling him backward and away from the tile that had caused the trap to activate, before laying him on the ground, his head turned to the side. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest, but she didn't panic-- not immediately, anyway. Instead, once she was sure that no other traps would be set off from where they stood, she reached down and touched his neck, seeking warmth, and a pulse.

She found neither.

Well... that was odd. From what she could tell, Simon wasn't exactly spouting blood from his dart wounds, either... "Um... what was the rule? Pause and camp out..." She muttered to herself, before, uncertainly, settling down next to the fallen Simon, pulling her knees up to her chest, and waiting-- her tail swatting back and forth on the ground, occasionally tapping Simon as it did so-- an unconscious reminder that he was still there, next to her.

She couldn't be sure... but she had met someone similar. Maybe he had a similar ability...

[Rylok]

(Ooc TRIGGER WARNING: Medical abuse, forced lobotomies, forced exploratory surgery, depersonalization)


Echoes of the arrows impact shuddered through Simon's soul as his vision went black.

Shit shit shit shit! I hope Sophie's okay! He knew what was coming next; he'd be next to useless until the torpor that was coming upon him subsided. Already he felt the foreign magic within the demonic tattoo start to burn. The twisted script of the tattoo was some kind of binding spell, he thought, since the tattoo always sought to preserve its own integrity. Since the burning (and the ruddy, black ember glow he knew from experience) was coming from his chest, that must have meant his back was shredded beyond what the large mark considered 'safe' for itself. The sensation sweetened, then turned acidic, then blue. Why? He didn't know. As the feeling changed from flavor to color to texture, he was sucked into a memory-a nightmare.

He was back in Monmouth's basement lab, chained to a table hand and foot, a band of metal around his chest. He'd had nothing to do since the previous night's experiments ended except stare at the featureless stone ceiling. The squeal of the lab's door opening announced that it was sunset, and his boredom was to be once more replaced with horrors.

"Good evening, number Eight. I read the most fascinating medical report from Cerenis. It seems a dock worker had a metal rod bisect his head in a carriage accident, and it didn't kill him. Instead, the healers reported in their notes that he became incredibly docile and subservient. It got me thinking about our recent issues following directions. So, I visited the blacksmith today."

Simon couldn't turn his head, but he heard metal rods being set down on the medical table next to him. Monmouth himself appeared in his vision. The odd angle made the necromancer appear distorted and disproportioned. Si thought it more appropriate than looking human.

Monmouth began writing notes, detailing the length and diameter of the first rod to be used in that night's experiment on lobotomies. The experimenter recreated the dock worker's injury exactly, noting that the trauma to the skull led to subsequent brain trauma. This interferes with the subject's ability to speak clearly and was not sustainable for future uses. With the metal rod withdrawn, the subject was barely more than a vacant idiot who needed to be instructed to breathe before answering questions so that he could form words. There were marked differences in the subjects behavior, notably the severe reduction in intellect, the inability to problem solve, and a marked increase in emotional responses, especially indicating distress.

Further explorations of the damage to the subject's brain revealed profound bleeding from the meninges, affecting other areas of the brain rather than simply the frontal lobe. The exploratory removal of the skullcap and resulting blood loss resulted in the subject entering a torpor state for healing and reanimation.

Recommendation: layer additional reanimating spells on the subject so as to support complete exsanguination. Thinner diameter rods for lobotomy could result in more precise behavioral modification.

Addendum: Opportunities for exploring the anatomy and physiology of the brain exist at this juncture. Researcher is considering a side project to systematically stimulate and destroy parts of this critical organ in order to understand its functions.

The memories twisted. Simon knew that he had gone through Monmouth's exploratory experiments, but the torpor dream instead put someone else on the table while he watched. A small figure. Large ears. Long tail...

"Observe, Eight. If I apply electrical stimulation here then the subject's tail twitches spasmodically, and yet here, a mere millimeter away, the movement becomes a steady rhythm. Fascinating."

Simon shuddered, both in the dream and in real life. Outside of the dream, the ember-like glow from his chest had enveloped the short arrow shafts protruding from his body. The wounds they produced were bloodlessly healing, the restored tissues forcing the weapons out of his body. One, imbedded in his spine, seemed stuck, but the rest were forced out of their wounds one by one. The process endured for hours, until finally Simon groaned and tried to push himself up.

"-ove..." his mouth finally finished the word it had started before it had been interrupted. Something wasn't working...he turned and looked at his back, noting the one arrow left. He reached for the wood shaft, but the angle was wrong...well, hell.

"Can...uh...can you get that? I can't reach." It was an awkward question, and he realized he'd need to heal that wound too, later. Hopefully later, anyway. He was pretty sure he'd be able to walk once the arrow was out of the bone.

[Hyacinthus]

Oh, to be a fly on the wall inside of Sophie's head right now. She'd done as requested-- sat and waited patiently on the ground near Simon's fallen corpse, 'camped out' as it were. Part of her didn't exactly expect anything to change or happen just from that, and who could blame her? His torso didn't rise or fall. His skin was cold, his heartbeat was nonexistent. For all intents and purposes, he was dead-- and likely was dead for some time before stepping into the cavern with her.

And yet... she waited all the same. It was only polite, after all!

His sudden stirring-- the glow of his body, and the rejection of the arrows plunged into it-- gave her a startle, but she sat and watched all the same, marking it up to being well within Simon's original expectations. She'd never seen a physiology like his-- Wounds that mended themselves at such a speed that foreign objects were forced out, and some strange, unfamiliar form of magic which didn't even require the consciousness of it's user to be activated... Out of habit, she pulled out her notebook and began doing what she did-- documenting everything she saw.

It kept her busy enough until a noise other than shifting sinew and falling arrows caught her attention-- Simon's voice. He was conscious... thank goodness. "Um... sure?" His request was, while fairly straightforward, a little off-putting to the little mouse-girl, but obediently she fulfilled it all the same; Hopping up to her feet, and stepping behind, and above, his body. An arrow was lodged squarely in his back-- Based on what she'd seen, it was likely lodged deep enough that even his unique regeneration wasn't able to force it out. No problem... hopefully. Notebook put away, with two hands on the arrow, Sophie gave a solid 'oomph'-- and a dash of elbow grease later, the intrusive arrowhead slid free of his spine, slipping from her hands on and flying a bit away on the tail-end of the pull.

Well, then. Everything was... almost back to normal! Small blessings... probably. Sophie, obviously, had many... many questions, but after taking a deep breath, and subsequently clearing her head, she only asked one. "Do... you think you can stand? If not, we're not too far from the entrance-- heading back shouldn't be too much of a hassle."

[Rylok]

When the arrow pulled out of his bone, his muscles spasmed in one last burst of healing, sealing the bone and flesh with a sullen orange flash. Simon grunted at the odd feeling, also having a sullen reaction. The only external feeling he had left was that weird, creeping, burning feeling when he was healing.

The ghoul rolled each ankle slowly, flexed his knees, then rolled up into a kneeling position. He took a deep breath and didn't notice any flexing that suggested a broken rib, didn't hear the hiss of escaping air, or the bubbling of a punctured lung.

"I think so. Nothing's amiss, so I'm game to keep going if you want." The casual tone was gone, replaced with something shrunken sounding. She no doubt was suspecting that something was wrong with him. Maybe she even knew...after all, nothing would have stopped her from removing and replacing the mask that hid his monstrosity. Or she'd ask soon and find out anyway.

Get a grip, Si. She's not going to scream and run. She's an historian, she's seen weird, and she's not going to attack you. Get ahold of yourself and stop being such a spineless little bitch.

Still, he couldn't look at her. What if she was fearful? Or repulsed? After that nightmare, he didn't want to add anything else to burden his emotions. The flicking of her tail in the nightmare haunted him still, adding an odd sense of guilt to his fears of rejection.

[Hyacinthus]

As she thought-- the arrow removed, Simon's body righted itself in little to no time, not unlike the other wounds he'd suffered earlier on. Truly one of the abilities of all time, she couldn't help but think to herself as he tested his arms, his legs, and so forth, before confirming that he was as right as rain-- or at the very least, as right as something similar to rain. Whatever non-living, yet animated creatures considered to be rain.

"Okay... okay, good. Yep, I'm good to keep going if you are-- Oh, but first and foremost..."

*Bop*

Certainly, the strange adventurer had likely experienced many a terrible blow from creatures far greater, far stronger, and much more terrifying than Sophie. Heck, he'd just suffered wounds that would've killed any normal person-- permanently, even. So what she intended to accomplish by, with a pout on her face, gently socking him on the arm? Who could say, really. Maybe she was just blowing off pent up steam; Maybe she didn't know how else to convey her emotions.

"Don't do that again! No self-sacrificing-- that wasn't part of the deal!" Oh, she could've yelled at him about any number of things. The fact that he, so far as she could tell, still hadn't restored any sense of wamrth to his skin. The fact that he was very likely a bigger threat than most anything they were likely to find in this cavern. But to Sophie-- at least, right this moment-- none of that mattered more than the fact that he risked his life for her. "You gave me quite a stir just now, you know? You shouldn't worry a lady like that! If you can't protect someone without dying, then just protect yourself! Gosh."

Here she was, meek, lowly little mouse that she was, on the verge of tears as she frustratedly admonished her partner. Quite the sight, by anyone's measure-- she probably looked like a spoiled child throwing the mildest of tantrums. But her emotions were real-- and spilling over a bit, she realized, as she took a deep breath and fanned herself with her little book to cool off a little. "Phew... okay. I'm okay. You're okay. Goodness. Alright-- where were we?"

[Rylok]

Of all the reactions he'd expected, getting hit was not on the list. Granted, he'd not sacrificed himself like that for anyone else before, so his list of comparable experiences was admittedly short, but...wasn't it his job to take the hits? The arrows hadn't hurt. They'd been an inconvenience. And they'd have KILLED Sophie...the balance of an inconvenience versus death seemed very skewed. But...she...was upset? Over the idea of him getting hurt?

"I-" was used to such attacks, and I didn't want "-you-" hurt because you're one of the "-first p-" eople to actually "-be..." nice to me. You matter to me more than I matter to me.

He stumbled over his words, hunched over in a flinch away from her anger. The idea that she was mad at him was suddenly overwhelming. He couldn't breathe in to speak, had run out of air to express himself, and gone completely still in the face of her justified, albeit tiny, rage.

[Hyacinthus]

Temperature decreasing, heartrate slowing, Sophie slowly but surely began to calm down, and her mood improved with time. It was good to get things off your chest every once in a while! A murk-covered wine bottle makes for poor wine, or so her mentors always used to say-- she never thought she'd find herself in a relatable situation. Goodness! How refreshing.

That said, she couldn't help but notice that in response, Simon seemingly wasn't exactly taking it 'well'. Which... honestly, she could relate, in hindsight. The slumped shoulders, the downcast gaze, the seeming fear of being attacked at any moment, despite how invulnerable he was-- That felt all too familiar. Uncomfortably so. How long had it been since Sophie'd been freed from her own fate? How long since her mentors had bought her freedom, and spared her the verbal, physical and emotional abuse of her former masters?

Pondering on this, Sophie sighed-- releasing what was left of her frustrations with that single breath. "...C'mere?" She 'requested'-- though she didn't exactly wait for him to reply. Closing the gap between them, Sophie wrapped her arms around the man and gave him as big a hug as she could-- which wasn't super big considering she couldn't lock her hands around the width of his body... but it was big enough. "Thanks for having my back." She whispered, before letting him go. He was cold-- she couldn't tell if he couldn't actual feel anything, but if he could, it would likely have been the difference in warmth of their bodies. "Let's just keep each other safe from now on, yeah?" She followed up with a smile, before extending a open, honest hand to shake on it. "Partner?"