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]

Kathy had been in a rec room when they cavalry'd come in, looking like a herd of the walking wounded. A bit concerned, a bit curious, more than a bit worries. With the exception of Anders and Joker, she didn't really know anyone in the group well enough to call 'friend.' But they were friends-of-friends, and Anders was her friend and that was enough motivation to convince her that it probably wouldn't be too pushy to knock on Anders' door and make sure he was okay.

And so, there she stood, tap-tap-tapping on his dorm room door. "Anders? It's Kathy. Umm, if you'd rather be alone, just stay quiet and I'll assume you're sleeping and go away."

[not_every_mage]

"No, I'm still up," Anders said wearily. Joker and Eleanor's visit had put the kibosh on sleep, at least for the moment.

And then he thought about who it was, and most of the weariness dropped from his tone by the time he'd opened the door. "Hi," he said. "I'm not quite up for more DDR right now, but I am happy to see you."

[OOC: You caught me on my way to bed, I'm afraid! SP is awesome.]

[spin_kick_snap]

"Hi," Kathy replied, giving him a soft smile. "I'm glad to hear it. And doubly-glad I left all the video game equipment downstairs."

She gave him a quick once-over, making sure there were no obvious injuries or anything she should be worrying over.

"You sounded pretty beat before you opened the door," she said. "I don't have to stay long or anything if you want to go to bed. I just saw you come in and..." She shrugged. "I just thought I'd check in, see if you were okay or if you needed anything."

[not_every_mage]

He looked fine; dark circles under his eyes, and a small red mark on his cheek he hadn't quite healed away, but more or less the same as ever.

"Thanks," he said, and stepped back from the door to wave her in. She didn't have to stay long,but he didn't want to stand in the doorway informing the entire third floor about Rapture. "I think I'll be okay. Did you hear something about what we did?"

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shook her head. "Not a word," she said, following him inside. "I was in Baltimore for most of the weekend, taking down a drug smuggling ring."

She couldn't help the warm glow of pride when she said that. It wasn't the time to dwell on that, not with whatever Anders had gone through, but it still seemed almost absurd that she, quiet and shy Kathy Li, had taken down a covert smuggling operation in Baltimore harbor.

"So if there was anything on the radio or whatever about what you guys were up to, I missed it. Sorry." She paused for a second and then offered, "Would you like a hug? I don't want to make assumptions, but...I kinda think you look like you could use one."

[not_every_mage]

Drug smugglers? Anders suspected he had missed something, too.

"I would love a hug," he said, reaching for one. He wanted to talk to her about all of it -- about Rapture, and drug smugglers -- but the hug seemed like the place to start. "It sounds like you have a story to tell me, and I want to tell you mine. But the hug can be first."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, mine can wait if you'd rather..." she began, and then shook her head. Protestations could also wait. He needed a hug and Kathy was pretty sure that hugs were something she was good at. She had lots of practice as a big sister.

She pulled him close and wrapped her arms around him, tilting her head slightly so he could put his head down on her shoulder if he wanted.

"I've got nowhere to be," she murmured softly. "I'm happy to hug you for as long as you like."

[not_every_mage]

"It might be a long time," Anders murmured into her shoulder. Kathy was very good at hugs.

A long moment later, he lifted his head so he could speak again. "Thanks," he said. "We went home with Eleanor to save her foster aunt. It wasn't like anyplace I'd been before."

[spin_kick_snap]

Right now, Kathy had every reason to give this hug her all.

Even though it was his room, Kathy was the one to nudge them towards the bed to sit. She figured this might go better sitting down and they could keep hugging while he talked, if he liked. "Anything I can guess at?" she asked, assuming it was bad. People didn't seem as weary as Anders did if they'd gone to a land of fun and candy. "I've been to some really rough parts of L.A and Baltimore."

[not_every_mage]

"I don't think it's like anything they have on dry land," Anders said, shaking his head. He ended up explaining where he'd been in almost the same words he'd used with Nathan. "Rapture is a whole city underwater. It's a marvel - even now you can see bits of how beautiful it was once. But of course it didn't last. The leaders went crazy, and half the people got addicted to a terrible drug that ruined their minds and warped their bodies. Most of the rest have died or left by now. There's almost no one good left in the place."

He ran his hand down her spine. "Worst place I've been. I doubt Baltimore stacks up."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy wasn't sure about that--mostly because she was picturing a bunch of people addicted to heroine or meth or something and not the true horror that were splicers. But she also wasn't going to argue with Anders about it. It was the worst place he'd ever been and that was what was important here.

She had no idea how wrong she was, or how lucky she was that she could be wrong.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through somewhere like that," she said, cuddling close. "Please say you managed to rescue Eleanor's aunt?"

Even with her wrong idea of what Rapture was like, no one should be trapped in an underwater prison while drug addicts ruled the streets.

[not_every_mage]

Really, it was kinder to let Kathy be wrong. She wasn't that far off, and imagining angry heroin addicts was better than having Splicers in your head.

"We did," he confirmed, not letting her go. "Got an extra passenger, too. There was a little girl who -- she'd been given up by her parents and treated badly. We brought her back with us."

If Kathy pressed, he'd tell her more about Louise. But her story was almost too horrifying to think about, let alone discuss.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Umm...was that okay?" Kathy asked, her brain still in places where there were laws, no matter how ignored, and government regulations, and the like. "I mean, I don't doubt that you had reason to, but if she was just a little girl..."

She looked up at him, trying to get across that she didn't think they were wrong, exactly, but a little girl was a big responsibility. And kidnapping was an ugly word.

"No one tried to stop you from leaving with a child?"

[not_every_mage]

"It wasn't like that," Anders said, though it was going to take him a bit to explain what itwas like.

After a long pause, he came out with: "She -- Louise, the little girl -- they'd treated her with a special drug and sent her out to collect a chemical from corpses. Her parents had sold her into it. I don't know how she ate or where she slept. She had this huge protector in a metal suit, more a machine than a man. He attacked us and we had to take him down."

He drew a breath. "Once we'd gotten her back to normal -- we didn't exactly go searching for her proper guardian. But I can't imagine anyone left down there deserved her, anyhow."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy shuddered. That sounded far worse than anything she could have imagined. "Is she going to be okay? Who's going to care for her now? Did she have family outside of Rapture?"

Because as much as she cared for her friends, she wasn't sure if they were up for caring for a young, possibly traumatized child long-term.

[not_every_mage]

"She went with Eleanor's aunt to Saint ... something-or-other." Anders had been a bit foggy on the details. "Right now she's okay, but she's still adjusting. I don't know how she'll be when it all starts to click into place for her. And all she could tell us about her family was that her parents were gone. I don't know if she even knew her last name."

He grimaced and brushed hair out of his face. "I hope she writes. I'll have to ask Eleanor to make sure she does."

[spin_kick_snap]

Gently nudging his hand out of the way, Kathy smoothed Anders' hair back for him. An excuse to touch, really. "How are you doing?" she asked. "You look...hollowed out is the only thing I can think that even starts to fit."

[not_every_mage]

"I think I'll be okay," Anders said, muscles relaxing under her touch. "I feel hollowed out, though. It's funny. I fought shades and demons and such. But people -- people are different."

People, even splicers, weighed on him more than anything in Thedas ever had.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Did you have to..." She made a vague hand gesture. "I mean, like, permanently?"

He was getting another hug for that, nice and tight.

[not_every_mage]

Anders drew a deep breath and then exhaled hard. "Yes," he said, daring her to look at him differently, hoping she wouldn't. "I did. Freezing, mostly, and electricity in water."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy was going to have to do some serious soul-searching about that. But later. Much later. Right now, she was going to focus on Anders and how he was feeling.

"I'm sorry you had to do that." She was going to assume it was in justified self-defense, at least for now. "I wish I knew what to say to help make you feel better. All I have to offer are hugs. And a promise that I'm not going anywhere, at least until you're ready for me to go."

[not_every_mage]

"Knowing you aren't running out on me helps a lot," Anders said. It was more than he would have asked for.

He reached up a hand to play with the ends of her hair and let out a soft breath, as if moving on. "Let's talk about your weekend for a bit. How'd you get caught up in a drug ring?"

[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..."