Room 322, Tuesday Evening

[not_every_mage]

Anders was a man inspired tonight. Bob's class had put him in mind of the perfect words for his manifesto, the exact right way to explain the wrongs mages had suffered, and he needed to get them on paper before he lost track of them again. He sat on his bed with a dictionary and thesaurus close at hand, scribbling busily away.

[OOC: Cracked door,open post!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

Anders was about to be a man interrupted tonight. Sorry about that.

But after a long day of a nasty cough that didn't seem like it was getting any better and an ugly weal across her hip that had her nerve ending singing Ava Maria anytime something hit it, Kathy was pretty sure she needed to see someone about that.

See? Reason not to play with fire, kids. The pain lingered in ways most other injuries didn't.

"Anders?" Kathy croaked, tapping lightly on the door of room 322. "You th--" She stopped to cough. "--there?"

[not_every_mage]

"I'm here," Anders confirmed, and something about Kathy's voice convinced him to actually stand up and open the door to let her in. "Hi. What's going on?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hey," she said, giving him a wan smile. She didn't really look so good; her skin was pale, save for the occasional red patch that looked almost like a sunburn. Dark circles ringed her eyes from a lack of sleep and a headache that refused to quit. She was clearly favoring her right side and her voice was hoarse and scratchy. "I don't suppose the healer is in?"

[not_every_mage]

"For you,the healer's always in," Anders said generously, giving her a once-over. "What happened to you? You look like you went six rounds with a rage demon."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I knew I had good taste in friends," Kathy said, laughing weakly. "Had a date with Dante last night. It got hotter than expected."

See? She was punning, so she wasn't that badly off.

[not_every_mage]

"I suppose I did ask for all the details," Anders said, managing a level tone despite the worry in his eyes. "I didn't expect literal playing with fire, but that may be a lack of imagination on my part."

He reached past her to close the door, gesturing her to sit as he did.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy took a seat on his bed, leaning against the wall to keep herself propped up. "We were on a roof," she explained, mercifully not going into detail about what they'd been doing on the roof. "And then the building across the street kinda exploded into flames."

And so of course they'd had to run into it to make sure people were okay! Didn't that sound just like Dante?

[not_every_mage]

"And the debris fell on you?" Anders guessed. He wasn't the running-into-burning-buildings type himself. "Rough break. Where are the burns worst?"

[spin_kick_snap]

No, more like the blowing-them-up-himself type.

"Err, not exactly," Kathy said, pulling up her shirt a bit so he could see the weal on her side, a gift from some super-heating metal slamming into her. "You see, it wasn't just any kind of building. It was an apartment building. There were people in there."

And, just in case that wasn't clear enough, she added, "We had to get them out."

Yeah, Anders. Your best friend decided that flinging herself into a burning building was an acceptable date activity. Have pity on your roommate.

[not_every_mage]

Anders winced and raised his hands, sending healing energy into Kathy's side.

"That sounds like an excellent way to add two to the death toll," he said sharply. "You aren't much good to anyone burned to a crisp, Kathy."

[spin_kick_snap]

"And I wasn't!" Kathy protested, cleverly eliding over her really stupid choices of the evening. "But we couldn't just let people die if there was a chance we could help."

Dante might object to how freely she was throwing around that 'we', like he had been at all in favor of this plan.

"We saved four people last night, Anders. Four people that would have suffocated or burned if we hadn't done something."

[not_every_mage]

"And that's grand," Anders said grimly. "Look, I don't have the energy to argue with you about this and heal the results of your stupidity at the same time. Stay still."

He was glad he had healing to do; it kept him from yelling.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm a he--" Her protest might have held a little more weight if she hadn't started coughing right in the middle of it.

Stupid smoke inhalation. It ruined all her best points.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Anders asked. "I couldn't understand you, what with the way you're about to hock up a lung."

He looked at the area he'd been healing, frowned at his slow progress, and went back to trying to mend the skin. "Is this helping?" he asked. "I'm wondering if I should find a salve instead."

He could call Kathy an idiot, but that wasn't going to stop him from fixing her up.

[spin_kick_snap]

She appreciated that, she really did.

"I think it's helping," Kathy said. "My side isn't screaming right now, even when I coughed. Though if you had to choose, checking out my lungs is probably the better use of your efforts. Ummm, if you can do that?"

[not_every_mage]

"I think so?" Anders said, uncertain. "It's just -- I'm used to things I can see. But the lungs shouldn't be too different, should they?"

He moved her hands to rest lightly on her back, sending the spirit energy into her lungs as he envisioned them becoming healthy and pink.

[spin_kick_snap]

Instead of red and irritated, the way they were now. She wasn't suffering from a severe case of smoke inhalation, but she'd definitely breathed in more than was wise and her lungs were not appreciative of such.

But even after a minute or so of Anders working on her, she could feel the difference. Her breathing deepended as the tight band around her chest eased and her throat felt far less rough. "Oh, that's lovely," she said, her voice still a little huskier than normal, but much less scratchy than before.

His future patients at the clinic would be appreciative of all the extra training he was getting on-island!

[not_every_mage]

"I try," Anders said, more gently. Being praised did that to him. "Can you talk about what happened a little, or is breathing still enough of a challenge?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"It's a lot easier now than it was before," Kathy said gratefully. "I gave you the gist already, how much more detail did you want to know?" She gave him a sheepish glance. "Uhh, I feel like you might not be impressed with my choices."

Call it a hunch.

[not_every_mage]

"Probably not," Anders agreed levelly. "I'm not sure. I guess my first question is how you got Dante to go along with it. Was it an apartment building full of lonely lingerie models?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy laughed, which turned into another cough, but it was much shorter and shallower than her precious bouts had been. "I didn't even have to ask him, actually. He volunteered. Wasn't happy about it, but volunteered. Probably so I wouldn't have to go in alone."

See? She'd known that Dante was a decent guy!

[not_every_mage]

"He's a better man than I gave him credit for," Anders admitted, and gave a last push of healing energy. "Hmmm. That might be as much as I can do if I want anything left over to help the rest of your burns."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy took a deep breath and grinned when the anticipated pain never materialized. "No, no, this is fine. Better than fine," she told him. "T'm okay with letting the rest heal naturally."

Because now that her lungs were better, she was becoming acutely aware of the fire on her side.

"And I don't know what I would have done without him in there," she admitted. "Super strength isn't one of my gifts. I would have had trouble dragging the two adults out of the room. Jumping them to the roof would have been impossible."

[not_every_mage]

"You were lucky," Anders said as he shifted his hands closer to her side. "Brave, and I'm happy you helped the people, but -- you could have died. You both could have."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wasn't entirely sure Dante could have, but that didn't seem like an argument that would help her cause any.

"I risk my life out there pretty much every night I patrol," Kathy reminded him. "I've pissed off a major crime syndicate--" well, major for Baltimore anyway "--and they're offering money for anyone who can lead them to me. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that I knew the risks. But I can't just leave people to die, Anders. Could you?"

[not_every_mage]

"You don't want to know the answer to that."

Sorry, Kathy.

[spin_kick_snap]

Yeah, that wasn't the answer Kathy was expecting. "But you're a healer!" she sputtered. "Fighting for freedom against injustice!"

Didn't those just kind of go hand-in-hand with risking your life to save people?

DAMMIT WHERE WAS HAWKE WHEN YOU NEEDED HER?

[not_every_mage]

Hawke wasn't actually big on selfless heroism either, so she might be less help than Kathy would hope.

"And I'm much better at healing people and fighting for freedom if I'm not a pile of greasy ash on the floor of a burned-down warehouse," Anders told her, frowning. "I'm no coward, but I've never seen the point of looking for trouble when more than enough finds me on its own. And don't shout like that. You'll mess me up."

[spin_kick_snap]

Hey, one could at least make the argument, considering the number of times she fought off giant spiders for a pair of torn trousers and some pebbles in a bag...

Okay, yeah, no, point taken.

"Sorry," she said, at least about the yelling. "I was just--I always kind of figured you got why I did what I did."

[not_every_mage]

"I figured it was something you felt you needed to do," Anders said. "I admire it and I'm not criticizing -- that would make me sound like I'm some bastard who wants strangers to burn to death -- but no, it's not something I would do myself. Which you've probably figured out from all the not doing it myself I've done."

He raised his hands, looked at her skin critically. "Well, you're a little less crispy-fried now."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I know you're not some heartless bastard," Kathy assured him. "I just thought...I dunno. Maybe that after a few more trips out in Baltimore, you'd throw on tights or whatever? I dunno."

Which was, admittedly, more a selfish thought than anything else, but still.

"Thanks," she said, looking down at her side which was no longer red and ugly. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd had to wait for this to heal naturally. You've got a real gift for this, Anders."

[not_every_mage]

Anders flopped backward, arm over his eyes. He didn't want to admit it, but the healing had tapped him out fairly thoroughly; he'd probably go to sleep as soon as Kathy left.

He felt he'd been born to heal, just as Kathy had been born to rush into burning buildings -- but that didn't make it easy.

"Please. Tights do nothing for my ass," he said. ".. and thanks. Glad I could help."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Neither do those mage robes and yet you still wear those from time to time," Kathy pointed out. "...I'll try not to make a habit of coming to you for this."

[not_every_mage]

"Come to me whenever you need to," Anders said firmly, before he could get drawn into a discussion of the relative merits of robes vs. tights. "How will I know when to yell at you for being stupid if you don't?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"You could just assume that I'm not unless I show up to prove otherwise?" Kathy suggested. "You look exhausted. Can I get you anything before I go? Water, something to eat, aspirin...?"

Normally she wouldn't just bail after someone had done her a huge favor, but Anders looked more like he'd appreciate a chance to rest than he would her delightful conversation.

[not_every_mage]

Anders opened his eyes and smiled, if a bit wanly. He wouldn't mind if Kathy stayed.

"I'll be fine. It's my own fault, anyhow," he said. "I haven't been practicing, and that was a lot of healing to do cold. You managed to mess yourself up properly."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy couldn't even argue that. Burns were one of the harder injuries for the body to heal, it made sense if that was the same for magical healing.

"How do you practice?" she asked. "Is that something you can even do without having dumb friends come knocking at your door?" She shifted position slightly, hand coming up to rub lightly at his temples if he liked. She wasn't sure if he had a headache, but it certainly seemed like he should.

[not_every_mage]

"On myself, mostly," Anders clarified. "Shaving cuts. Blisters. All the stupid way people who aren't brilliant gymnasts hurt themselves --- it keeps me on the mark, even if it's not as much help as when my dumb friends come bother me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"You think I don't get shaving cuts and blisters?" Kathy asked with a small laugh. "It takes more than magic dexterity to make shaving less of a pain in the ass."

She playfully went to tap her fingers against his cheek. "Is that why you tend towards scruffy?"

[not_every_mage]

"No, that would be because I'm lazy," Anders laughed. "But maybe I should shave more and give myself more little cuts to work with."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Laaaaaazy," Kathy chided, as if he hadn't just exhausted himself healing her. "Why are all the guys I'm close to so laaaaazy?"

[not_every_mage]

"We make you feel better about yourself," Anders said,with a light smile. "You stand out more next to us."

[spin_kick_snap]

"That sounds legit," Kathy said, stretching out next to him. She'd get up and go in a minute, she promised. But she was comfy and it was Anders. She liked spending time with him. Went with best friend territory. "How kind of you to go to literally no trouble to make me look good."