Room 322, Thursday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

Anders was ... tired, mostly. Just tired. He halfway wanted to rewind time two months and make different choices so he wouldn't have to care so much about what Kathy was doing.

He couldn't rewind time, but he could pretend nothing was wrong. Which was why the afternoon found him at his desk, scrawling away at the latest revisions to what was rapidly becoming a book-length treatise on mage rights. That was more important than anything happening in Los Angeles, anyhow.

[OOC: Cracked door, open post!]

Comments

[that_oldsaying]

Alluka was tired.

She'd had her own conversation with Kathy yesterday and, while she was pretty confused about what the important thing that Kathy needed to stay home and do was, Kathy had agreed that Alluka's idea to help was very nice.

Which had necessitated a conference with all her toys, that had lasted all night until they'd come to a consensus.

And then there'd been crying, because Alluka hadn't liked their decision, but it was wrong to make them change their minds when everyone else agreed.

Alluka showed up at Anders' door clinging to not one, but two of her toys. She knocked on partly open door and looked down at her toys.

[not_every_mage]

Anders seemed startled as he looked up for his work, but his expression relaxed into a smile when he saw Alluka. (Allukas and their toys got smiles, even on bad days.)

"Hello," he said. "Did you three want to have a tea party?"

He almost hoped she did. It'd be a distraction.

[that_oldsaying]

She brightened a bit and smiled at him, wandering into his room. If he let her, she'd hug him.

"Yes, please!" she said, though she still seemed... muted. "But, but can you also help me figure out how to do something too?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders accepted the hug easily, with an extra squeeze because she'd known he wanted one.

"I can try," he said, once they'd stepped apart and he'd gone to the fridge to see what he could offer her to drink that wasn't alcoholic. "What is it?"

[that_oldsaying]

To be fair, Alluka assumed everyone wanted hugs as much as she did. But she appreciated the extra squeeze a lot!

She hugged her toys--her bunny and Mr. Bubbles--and, after a look to see if he'd notice or mind, took a seat on the edge of one of the beds. "I talked to Kathy yesterday," she said, watching Anders with big, solemn eyes.

"And, and she was really busy with something important and she can't come back yet," Kathy had not tried to explain zombies to Alluka, so Alluka was a bit confused about what was so important, "so I thought that I could send one of my toys to her. To keep her company. Because I love all my friends but my toys are my oldest ones, so they'd be good company for her and, and she'd have to come back, to give it back to me after."

Alluka looked down at her toys. "I just wanted to help, but all I could think of was to send a friend. But, but I don't know how to do that."

She was pretty sure that made her the worst ever at helping. She wasn't good at very many things. Everyone else always seemed to do better at everything.

But maybe sending a friend Kathy could hug would help, even just a little, with her big, important things.

"So... so I was hoping you could help me?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders had to blink hard at that to make sure he wouldn't cry. Kathy did need a friend, and he wasn't sure he was being a very good one to her since the zombies came.

"Oh, sweetheart," he said, looking right back into those huge blue eyes. "I don't know either. Usually you could drop it in the mail but the mail in her world might not be working very well right now. And I don't want your friend to get lost."