Room 322, Friday Midday

[not_every_mage]

After Nathan got him home from town the day before, Anders had slept 12 hours, woken up for just long enough to devour three sandwiches and a sleeve of cookies, showered, filled Lachlan's food bowl and made some abject apologies to the cat who was now ignoring him in retribution, and then gone back to sleep for six more hours.

He was awake again now, though he almost wished he wasn't. When he was asleep, he wasn't thinking about how bloody stupid he'd been to fall prey to someone obviously evil just because he dangled the right kind of shiny. It wasn't as if he hadn't been warned it was all too good to be true; he'd just chosen to ignore it.

He didn't like to think about what that meant for him the next time he went up against a real demon at home. Possession was a fear for any mage.

Even knowing he'd forced Cassandra to spend a week on a fool's errand didn't give him much satisfaction. He supposed he owed her some kind of apology for his conduct, though not nearly as intense of one as what he owed Kathy. That might take cookies at a minimum. (Or some kind of present, anyhow. He wasn't sure what exactly said "sorry I almost froze you to death while I was in a demon's thrall.")

He laid on bed with his eyes open, thinking all of this over. He'd heard people were gathering at the clinic, and he'd go there to see what he could do. Later. Right now he was still weak and achy, and still needed most of his energy to finish healing himself.

[OOC: Mainly a linkdrop but open if you want!]

Comments

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel ducked back into the room after venturing out to the clinic herself, shrugging out of a cloak that she'd thought she wouldn't need anymore after the spring thaw but whatever, fog

"Hi," she greeted Anders, her voice a little soft and hesitant. She'd heard the radio, so while she was sure he didn't feel well, she was equally sure that it...probably wasn't all physical. At least, judging by the fact that 'guilt' was the primary symptom she'd been trying to treat down at the clinic. "How're you feeling?"

She wasn't going to bring up the long strand of hair she'd found in that box, just yet.

[not_every_mage]

"Like crap covered in crap sauce, with crap salad on the side," came the eloquent response, as Anders turned his head and squinted at Rapunzel. His gut twisted as he realized he'd need to tell her about the hair he'd 'borrowed.' "How about you?"

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm fine," Rapunzel assured him, waving a hand. "I never even went in Mr. Gaunt's store, so...guess I'm lucky. Mostly I've been trying to help at the clinic."

She wrinkled her nose. "People down there look even worse than you, some of them. Are you -- can you heal yourself when you're not feeling good, like this?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders shrugged. "A little," he said. "Enough that I feel better than if I couldn't heal at all. Not enough to be any good to anyone else just yet. I'm glad somebody like you is there."

Lachlan emerged from under Anders' bed to twine around Rapunzel's legs, mrowling gratefully. (At least one of his owners had remembered to feed him lately.) Anders watched him and winced.

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel knelt to scritch Lachlan behind the ears, glancing hesitantly at Anders. "Can I ask a question? You can say no, if you don't want to talk about all the -- this."

She'd completely understand, even if it was possible that she had more than just one question.

[not_every_mage]

That caused even more of a wince than Lachlan's snubbing. It wasn't so much that Anders didn't want to talk about it, as it was that he was ashamed of what he knew the likely answers would be.

"Yes," he said reluctantly. "Ask as many as you like, and I'll tell you if I can't answer."

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"What's a phylactery?" Rapunzel asked, with all her normal curiosity.

She'd get to the tougher questions, but that one had made things especially puzzling when listening to radio. (It certainly sounded important, at least.)

[not_every_mage]

Anders blinked, surprised and pleased she'd started with an easy one.

"It's an amulet," he said, gesturing to indicate the size -- a bit smaller than the palm of his hand. "When you come to the Tower, they take a bit of your blood and put it in a vial, then do a ritual so it's bound to you and mount it like a compass. Templars use them to track runaways. I always used to fantasize about stealing mine and smashing it."

He looked rueful at that; he'd gotten to smash one all right, but somehow he doubted it had done him any good.

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Was that yours, that you got ahold of?" Rapunzel asked, eyes wide. "'Cause...sounds like you got your wish."

She'd have to thank Nathan, since that sounded like it probably hadn't been pleasant.

[not_every_mage]

"I thought it was," Anders said, after a long pause. He'd sat up properly by now, and was leaning against his headboard. "But now -- I don't know. Probably not, though. I don't think a demon just happened to have the one thing I wanted most in the world on hand and waiting for me."

He managed half a smile. "Nathan kept trying to tell me it made no sense, and I didn't want to listen."

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"I kinda agree with Nathan," she offered, tucking her feet under her so she could sit on the floor and pet Lachlan. "I mean, sure, let's say he's a magic demon or whatever and managed to get it, but like, this is a lot of work to do that for everyone."

She had been able to suspend belief that Santa Claus could visit everyone's house with a personalized toy overnight, sure, but this just sounded silly and impractical.

"Um. Someone I talked to yesterday said he asked you guys to all...bring him stuff, in exchange," she added carefully. Really, her hair could've come from anyone, but Anders did have the easiest access, and Kenzi had said that Mr. Gaunt was making people steal from their friends....

[not_every_mage]

"No, I agree with both of you too," Anders nodded. "It's too much trouble for too little reward. But when he offers you something it gets hard to think."

He eyed her cautiously and added, "... And I took your hair off your pillow to get it, too. I shouldn't have. If it makes any difference, he said it was for a healing potion."

Which didn't explain why he'd stolen instead of asking, really.

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel nodded, dropping her gaze down to Lachlan. "Someone brought a box of the stolen stuff to the clinic, and...well, I was pretty sure that was my hair. Kind of too long to be anyone else's."

And knowing it had been for a healing potion -- you know, supposedly -- did help a little, but still. She glanced up, her mouth settling in a tiny frown. "I would've given you it if you'd asked, you know. It doesn't do anything without me attached, anyway."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy tapped on Anders' door. "Anders?" she called through the door. "It's me. Kathy. I, umm, don't have to come in or anything, I just heard on the radio...I just wanted to make sure you were all right. If you maybe could just, like, yell that you're fine or whatever, I can go..."

She didn't want to make him see anyone or deal with anyone if he didn't want to, she just really needed to know that he was okay. Hearing it on the radio wasn't the same as verifying it for herself.

[not_every_mage]

Maker's balls, she wasn't supposed to look for him until he had a chance to work out exactly how to grovel for her forgiveness. "No, it's fine," Anders called. "Just ... give me a a moment."

He grabbed for his hair tie and slicked the mess of strawberry blond back before opening the door.

"Hello," he said. He was still pale, with dark circles under his eyes, but wasn't too obviously ill anymore. "I -- er. Would you like me to keep my hands in my pockets? Or maybe kick me in the gut as hard as you can as payback?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Why would I--oh." Right. Yeah. The whole frostbite ice attack thing. Yeah, that had sucked, but that was hardly the worst part of the whole interaction. "That really wasn't on my agenda for today," she said, giving him something that might be called a smile if it had a chance to grow up a little. "Even if I was really inclined towards the kicking, I'd probably wait till you had a few more days to recover. Not that I am, though. Inclined, I mean. I mostly wanna make sure you're okay."

[not_every_mage]

Anders frowned at her, puzzled that she wasn't angrier, but let it lapse into a soft, weak smile. "I guess I am," he said, sounding confused. "That is, for someone who fell in thrall to a demon, ignored everyone and everything else for weeks, and attacked one of his best friends. You might have to grade on a bit of a curve. And you --?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Fell in thrall to a demon, stole items from a teacher and one of her best friends, and ignored everyone and everything for a week," Kathy said, shrugging a bit to try and play it off. "So, not in a position to really throw stones at anyone."

Beat.

"But also okay? Well, feeling better, anyway. Sleep and food help."

[not_every_mage]

"They did," Anders said, eager to commiserate. "And I'll go down to the clinic to see if I can help once I'm up to full strength. I just -- it's different for me. You haven't been hearing how careful mages had to be about demons since the day you were born. So I was especially stupid."

[spin_kick_snap]

"That's true," Kathy conceded. "I'm just the girl who stole and lied to people she cared about because that was gonna lead to me being a better person. So at least you're not alone in feeling stupid? I'm pretty sure we all do." She tilted her head slightly in question. "Did you know he was a demon?"

[not_every_mage]

"So we both win at Who Was Stupider," Anders conceded. "And no, not really. Probably it would have spoiled his game if he was obvious about it."

He still thought he should have been able to tell, but he wasn't sure anyone from outside Thedas would understand why he felt that way as deeply as he did.

Anyhow, Kathy had said some other interesting things. He tilted his head at her. "Can I ask what you stole? Or did you not want to talk about it?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Sure, but I'm gonna have to be...vague on some stuff?" Kathy said. She wasn't about to compound what she'd done to Minako by outing her secret identity. "Do you mind if I come in and sit down, maybe? It's not really a conversation for the hallway."

[not_every_mage]

"Oh, right, sorry," Anders apologized, and swept the door open. "Come on in."

He wandered over to sit on his bed, back propped against his headboard.

[spin_kick_snap]

And Kathy perched on the foot, not wanting to crowd Anders too much. Or get too close and watch him pull away. She was still a little...shaky...in regards to friendships right now.

"So, I stole three things. Well, I guess more like two and a half--one, I just kinda aided and abetted someone else." In fairness, Kathy had been told that they were just taking back someone else's stolen property, but she wasn't feeling very charitable to herself right now. "That one was a hard drive that belongs to Ms. Parker and her boyfriend. I confessed to them last night, once I realized it belonged to them. And the second was a letter of Mr. Starsmore's. I didn't read it, but it's got to be pretty important to him. It was really old and really worn, but he carried it around with him everywhere, so..."

She'd begun wringing her hands. Because, just...wow. How had she ever been able to convince herself that that was okay?

"And the last thing was from Minako. Something very, very important to her. And when she came to ask me if I'd seen anyone go into her room, I lied and then accused her of losing it because she was careless." And then had thrown up the confessions of her previous life into her face.

[not_every_mage]

Anders screwed up his face, trying to find a good light to shed on that set of confessions, and ... couldn't. He wasn't a notably positive thinker at the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

"Oh, Kathy," he said instead. "I'm sorry. If it matters, I know you'd never do anything like any of that if you were in your right mind. Have they gotten the things back yet?"