Sengoku Ryouma

Ryouma was not great at the greater concepts of the passage of time, day to day shifts, that sort of thing. He generally relied on his computer to keep track of dates of importance for him- when his most recent thesis was due for review, when he had the defense hearing, when to send in whatever articles he might be working on publishing, when to fill out his reports to keep his grants... And that was all just the work stuff.

He did ignore these alerts, sometimes. When he was really fixated on a project, when he had something else on his mind. Sometimes he just couldn't be bothered to leave the lab.

Often he just couldn't be bothered to leave the lab. That was kind of a defining characteristic of his... relationship, as it was, with Takatora and, now, Kouta.

Thing was, he wasn't utterly hopeless, though he was quite sure they might well think he was.

Today, this morning, and then again two hours later, Ryouma's computer had reminded him that it was Kouta's birthday. Kouta's work schedule had been programmed in alongside Takatora's- mostly so Ryouma would have an idea of when they might both be off work simultaneously, in which they might be awful influences on one another and decide they should make an attempt to remove Ryouma from the lab. On those days, he never got involved in anything that couldn't be quickly saved and resumed at a later point in time, though he did still always put up such a fuss- for appearances, obviously.

But for Kouta's birthday, that would be special. Ryouma absolutely believed Takatora would be wanting to take Kouta out somewhere nice for dinner, and Ryouma... Well, he had his own idea of how to surprise Kouta. So, about an hour after Kouta got off work- when he should have arrived at the Tower and, as usual, stopped at Takatora's office first, Ryouma stood outside the lab, waiting for them both.

Not wearing his lab coat. Wearing a nice suit, actually- the only one he owned, and the coat didn't button and he didn't know how to tie a tie, but it was the thought that counts, right? The thought, and the waistcoat.

One of the general rules about being acquaintances with Kureshima Takatora is that you don't interrupt him when he's spending quality time with his younger brother.

Tonight, Takatora has actually left the office in the early afternoon, and isn't scheduled to return until early the next morning. That means time with Mitsuzane, and that means no interruptions, for anything.

Which I normally have no problem with, I'm perfectly capable of working through the night with or without Takatora's looming presence foisting coffee and assorted vending food upon me.

But tonight has already proven to be abnormal as these nights go, and the anomalous readings that are coming from some of the sensors deeper in Helheim are not the kind of stuff I can ignore, or desire to leave waiting for hours until morning and Takatora's return to 'on call'.

Besides, I'm not hardly so helpless as he sometimes seems to think I am, though I suppose that is entirely my own fault, seeing the amount of secrets I keep from him.

I arm myself. I've kept this bow and quiver of arrows at hand for going on eight years now, and I still practice occasionally, though not nearly with the frequency I used to as a child.

Then I escort myself down into the secondary, central lab, where the Crack is held open through various ways and means. At this time of night, there's only one guard on duty, and he's not bold enough to try and stand in my way as I step through the Crack and into Helheim.

And it's all going remarkably well! I find the sensors that are returning the anomalous readings, and find that the data is not unusual, but simply corrupted. The sensors were malfunctioning, that is all. I have them all fixed before anything goes particularly amiss, and am returning to the Crack when the unthinkable happens.

It's not a totally overwhelming number of Inves by any means. My aim is impeccable, it always was, and my reflexes are still good but my speed is significantly marred from where it once was, and my pull strength is vastly diminished due to lack of practice and training. Still, I'm holding my own quite well, each arrow finds it's mark, even if some of them are only slowing the monsters down...

I'm actually within sight of the Crack when I hear a snapping over me, and don't manage to look up in time to see the wide falling branch that strikes me in the head.

Now things are starting to look down.