Room 322, Sunday Night

[not_every_mage]

It had been barely more than 48 hours since Anders was last in this room, this safe space that was bright with Rapunzel's paints and littered with his own clothes and books. It felt like it might as well have been years. When he'd left, he could be flip about killing because he hadn't needed to do much of it, not enough to make it real. Now he'd done more than he had expected outside a war. (He didn't feel all that bad about it. Deep down, he wondered if that were a problem.)

In Rapture, he'd been fueled by potions and adrenaline -- too tightly wound by the situation to sleep, to rest, to eat more than a mouthful or so when they'd had the chance. It had gotten him through the horror of it all, and Nathan's pizza had helped dull the gnawing in his stomach. But now ... now he felt, all at once, as if he'd die on his feet if he didn't lie down immediately.

He took off his boots and sprawled on his bed. Drifting with his eyes closed, he imagined what would happen if he took the same crew back to Thedas.

The templars would never see them coming.

[OOC:Closed door, open post!]

Comments

[spin_kick_snap]

"We can if you want, but we don't have to," Kathy assured him. "I mean, I'm totally happy to change the subject if you'd rather? But we don't need to talk about me."

Because heaven forbid he should think that she was only in the room to talk about herself or something.

"And...well, have I told you about what I do in Baltimore? Or shown you everything I can do?"

[omg, hit send, self!]

[not_every_mage]

"But I like you and I want to hear about you," Anders said -- almost whined, really. He needed to think about something besides Rapture. "And you told me a bit about it, the flexibility and speed and bouncing, but I didn't know what you were doing in Baltimore. Should I have?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Not really," Kathy said, curling up a little closer to him. So long as he was sure he wanted to talk about her, she was more than happy to comply. "I'm not hiding it, exactly? But I'm not going around and telling the radio squirrels, too. I just spend a lot of my nights patrolling in Baltimore. It's getting to the point where people are starting to recognize me. I mean, more than just to laugh at. People are telling me about things." She glowed with quiet pride. "Where to go to stop something from going down or warnings about people looking for me. You know, either for help, or..."

Actually, he'd probably be happier not knowing about the or. Moving on!

"So, Friday night, I got a tip from one of the working girls I've helped in the past. She'd caught wind of something big going on. She didn't want to go to the cops, but she knew I wasn't going to say anything, so..."

[not_every_mage]

Anders nodded as he listened, proud of what Kathy was telling him. Proud she was using her powers to help people; proud it made her happy.

But -- and he admitted this was strange and hypocritical, given how he'd spent his weekend -- it also scared him to know she was going out and finding trouble.

"So you went to check it out," he said, a tiny bit of tightness in his voice. "And you found something?

[spin_kick_snap]

Oblivious to the tightness, Kathy nodded, barreling on with her story. "Most of Friday night was just me skulking about the docks. I mean, I saw a little action, but mostly just some fights and a couple of drunk guys. I stopped a pair of assholes from messing with this homeless guy and gave him money for a hotel for the night, but it was pretty slow going, even after the bars let out." She turned a sunny smile towards him, for all that they were talking about danger and crimefighting. "That's usually when my Fridays take off, but it was pretty quiet. I guess there aren't a lot of bars around the docks. It's zoned for all industrial stuff, you know?"

[not_every_mage]

"Docks tend to be that way," Anders nodded, eyes skittering to her face. "Wait -- you do this every Friday? By yourself?"

That was either brave or suicidal. Possibly both.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, I do it most nights," Kathy said, missing his point entirely. "There are a couple other hero-types around and sometimes we team up, but I've got my beat pretty much to myself, yeah."

[not_every_mage]

Anders nudged her with his elbow. "Take me with you sometime, silly. Walking into a fight alone can go bad fast."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fortunately, I'm faster," Kathy teased with the optimism of someone who had never seen how bad things could get. "But if you wanna come out with me some night, sure! Though I normally take the rooftops and stuff."

There had to be a polite way to ask if he could keep up. Wasn't there?

"Do you know how to parkour?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders' blank look was probably enough answer for her. But after a long moment, he ventured, "Is that the thing with the jumping and ... things?"

So, no.

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy nodded. "It's how I mostly get around. No one ever really looks up and I can tail people without them knowing anyone's watching. Running down a sidewalk is a little conspicuous and running in the street is just asking to be hit by a car."

The cars that she sometimes had to keep pace with. On foot. Which she could do...

"I could show you some tips and things sometime?" she offered. "I used to practice on the warehouses and things on the island before I went into Baltimore. And it's a lot of fun!"

[not_every_mage]

"Sure!" Anders said, startled but agreeable. "Mages are trained to fight from a distance, but it never hurts to know more."

Who needed to chase a car when you could stand still and rain fire down on it?

[spin_kick_snap]

...Anyone looking to limit property damage and casualties?

"What can you do?" Kathy asked. "I mean, in stories, most mages are practically genies. You just wish for something and they can do it. But in real life--" and ha, it felt weird to say that "--it sounds like it's not quite that easy."

"But," she added, giving him a small smile, "if you are in the habit of granting wishes, I think I'd really like to be a princess."

[not_every_mage]

"A princess who climbs around on rooftops by herself protecting prostitutes?" Anders asked, raising one eyebrow. "Lovely thought, but that's not what I do. Too bad, really. It would save us mages a lot of trouble if we were that powerful.

"Mainly I make things like fire, ice and electricity come out of my staff, and there's this spell I'm still perfecting that throws a massive stone fist at someone. And I heal -- but you knew that."

It didn't sound like much, listed out that way. Not when compared to Kathy's powers. He added, as if in his own defense, "I should get a bit stronger after my harrowing. Most mages do."

[spin_kick_snap]

Funnily enough, if asked, Kathy would just say she was fast and bouncy. It was Anders who had the impressive array of powers!

"A harrowing?" She shivered. "What's that? It sounds--" harrowing. Go figure. "--scary."

[not_every_mage]

"It's the test apprentices go through before they're admitted to the Circle of Magi," Anders explained. "We aren't supposed to know much about it, but the rumor is you pit yourself against a demon somehow. Some people don't come back."

Anders didn't think that would be him. He was good at what he did, or so he'd always thought. But the possibility he was wrong was what made the harrowing, well, harrowing.

"It's terrifying. But it's what you have to do."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I thought you didn't want to be part of the Circle anyway!" Kathy protested, liking the idea of Anders going up against a demon no more than he liked the thought of her fighting off criminals alone in Baltimore. "I mean--demon. Who thinks throwing kids at demons is a good idea?!"

[not_every_mage]

"Templars, probably," Anders sighed. "And I don't like the Circle. But if I don't go through with it, none of the other mages will take me seriously. I won't know the secret handshake. It'll be a tragedy."

[spin_kick_snap]

Not as much as getting eaten alive by a demon would be. Not that it was Kathy's place to judge.

But still--demons?!

Guess who had officially lost all right to fuss about her heading into Baltimore alone. She just had to face car jackers and drug dealers, not demons.

"I am willing to put money towards bribing an older mage to teach you all the secret handshakes in the world, if it means you don't have to tangle with a demon," she offered. "Seriously. Barry's paying me some ridiculous sum to tell him not to be a jerk. I'll look up the exchange rates or something."

Maybe buy a bunch of gold or something? She could work something out!

[not_every_mage]

"Wait, Barry pays people to tell him not to be a jerk?" Anders asked. (He wasn't trying to change the subject; this was honestly what he thought the most interesting part was.) "Why hasn't he asked me? My rates are probably cheaper than yours."

[spin_kick_snap]

"I would have done it for free!" Kathy argued. "I think it was because I ruined his date with Elsa to tell him not to turn teachers into dinosaurs without their consent."

And this was how you knew you were on Fandom Island. You said sentences like this. And meant them.

"But he insisted that I join his company and be on his Ethics Committee and now I'm supposed to be drawing some huge salary and how am I supposed to explain to my dad that I make more than he does? He won't talk to me for like a week if he finds out!"

Which was normal parental behavior, yes.

[not_every_mage]

"If you're earning more than he does, why do you care what he thinks?" Anders asked. "I'm just upset Barry hasn't hired me yet. I could use the money. And I'm very ethical."

Kind of.

"He's dating Elsa?" Yeah, the dinosaur part was so Fandom-normal it slid right by him.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Because he's my father," Kathy said, like that explained everything. "I don't want him to be mad at me over something so stupid as money. Not that money's stupid, but...oh, you know what I mean. I think I'm going to ask Barry to just put it all into a trust for me until I'm older so it's not even an issue."

Because peace at home was worth not having access to most of whatever money she made, it really was.

"Ooooh, you didn't know? Yeah, they started going out soon after that birthday party he threw for her. He's got it bad." In fact, he loooooooooved her, but Kathy wasn't going to breathe a word of that to anyone. She'd promised. "So...not very long after our...movie?" Date? Movie-date? Thing?

She'd never been quite sure how to quantify it.

[not_every_mage]

"He's across the country," Anders said. "How would he know how much money you have or don't have? Just don't go home dripping in diamonds and you'd be fine."

That practical advice aside, he considered what she'd said about Barry and Elsa, and the implied question about what there was between him and Kathy. (He'd never been sure how to categorize their movie night either. It had felt like a date at the time -- he wouldn't have kissed her if it hadn't -- but then nothing else had happened, and he'd never been sure what, if anything, Kathy wanted him to do about it. And then there was the way he felt when Nathan smiled at him, and the fact mages made horrible partners to begin with, and -- it was complicated.)

All of this was far too difficult to spell out. "Oh. No, I didn't know."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was vaguely relieved that Anders wasn't sure about what it had been, either. At least, she was assuming that was why he hadn't answered her half-question.

"I'm pretty sure it would still count as income that my parents have to include on their taxes, since I'm still a dependent," Kathy said. "Which means my dad would open up my W4s and end up freaking out anyway. He can be really touchy sometimes."

Fathers, right?

"Oh. Yeah, they are. They're really adorable together. It's fun watching them awkwardly flirt. Err, not that I can really talk about awkward flirting? But it's hilarious when Barry does it."