It's been a lot of busy work at Town Hall, but the good news is that there's less to redo than she'd expected. Things in cabinets seem pretty untouched by the floods, and instead it's just mostly cleaning.
"I'm doing well enough. Better now that we're back here. And what about you?"
cw: reference to past infestation/parasitism and mind control
"A lot better, too, now that I'm not full of mind-control bugs for the second goddamn time," he says, rubbing at the back of his neck and giving an almost sheepish sort-of smile. "That sucked a lot, but at least we're back on dry land again. You helping out with things at Town Hall?"
He nods towards the building, craning his neck slightly to glance in one of the ground floor windows. He imagines they got hit as hard or harder than the police station, in terms of their paperwork getting messed up.
"Yes. I'm lucky, most of my work was put away - anything in the cabinets seems to have escaped the worst of it - but not so much for others. And I have apologizing to do at the library."
Her poor book. It's still drying out. She has no hope for the pages to ever be unwrinkled.
"That said, I'm sorry you got infested. I wish we'd been able to leave before that had to start happening. Trying to put us all in the hive...it's not a pleasant thing to contemplate."
There's an edge on her tone, though, that hints there's more than just imagination behind that statement. Only personal experience makes someone that resolute.
"Yeah? Same thing at the police station, thankfully. Cerrit and I just got all the files over there reorganized like a week or two before all this. Would've sucked if the flood had caught us partway through."
He shakes his head. "And - yeah, I'm sorry too. For myself, and for everyone who had to deal with that directly, but also a lot of us got really weird when we were, uh. Infested."
Grimacing, he thinks of some of what he said to Gaeta, and to Drelasa, and that giant winged woman who put him out of his misery. He'll have to find them and talk to them about it all later.
"Glad you didn't get caught, though, or at least I didn't hear you in there with us. Wouldn't wish this kinda thing on my worst enemies." Not least because it's already happened to a couple of his more recent ones, but even putting that aside.
"Fortunately, I escaped their clutches. Or they just didn't think I was a good carrier or something."
She looks to the side, a little awkward.
"Anyway, as long as you're all well now, right? No lingering effects - at least, that's what I've heard with others. And now we just have to work on repairs and getting the town back to where it was."
Thank gods the planting hadn't been affected. All that hard work...
"If you or Cerrit need anything we can dispense, all you have to do is ask. Or whatever else - we're all-" She stops herself from saying we're all in the same boat, finding it distasteful. "Traveling the same road, so to speak. And I haven't forgotten what you asked me before, about magic - it's just a matter of when you have free time."
"Yeah, I think I'm alright," Leon says, nodding. "I mean, I've got a headache that could kill god, but I hear that's not too out of the ordinary for what happens after you, uh, die here."
At least he didn't wake up somewhere fucked up! Crawling back home with his brain in a vise would've been the rotten cherry on top of the spoiled sundae that was this whole experience. In any case, he raises his eyebrows at the near-miss of that particular turn of phrase, getting ready to say something stupid to return fire before Fever dodges it entirely.
"Will do - and that's great, I actually just got off work, if you're free now." He seems considerably more enthused about this topic of conversation, lighting up like a dog that's just heard the word 'treat'. The idea of learning how to do magic had sort of fallen by the wayside with all there was to do to get settled in here and then get unsettled by the whole boat adventure, but now there seems to be time for it at last.
"I am - walk with me? We'll want a good place to sit, to start."
And she'd prefer somewhere grassy instead of indoors, after getting off her shift. A bit of fresh air was always welcome. Still, though, she peers at him.
"Do you need anything for the headache? I actually have medicine on me for exactly that."
Leon makes a theatrical 'after you' gesture, following along readily as she heads off to wherever she has in mind.
"Yeah? Sure, if you can spare any." Truthfully, he'd kind of had every intention of just toughing it out for reasons he hadn't chosen to examine but probably had a lot to do with a weird cocktail of guilt and machismo, but it's a little easier to take an out if it's being directly offered to him. That does beg the question, though - "You get a lot of headaches? Or did you die back there, too, or something?"
The little box she takes from her bag is unremarkable, and the pills inside much the same - she takes one out and offers it to Leon before tucking it away. Most of them are at home, but this is her just-in-case. It had been an unwelcome return when she had none on that ship. Fever knows how incapacitating such can be, and toughing it out anyway. She could, but when one doesn't have to, it's a relief.
"Sally makes these, and they're perfect. Should put an end to your headache's deity-slaying potential."
cw: non-graphic discussion of past character death
The winged woman who put him down had made it pretty quick, too, and it still sucked a lot. Leon huffs, taking the pills with a nod and a quick "Thanks" before demonstrating his well developed and ill-advised skill at dry-swallowing medication.
"Yeah? I should have guessed. She's pretty great at what she does. It's a relief to have someone like that around here."
He guesses the locals have their more magical apothecary traditions to fall back on, but there's something comforting about more familiar forms of medicine, and it sounds like there's pros and cons to each from what he can tell.
"It is. Magic can't fix everything, after all - you need healers just the same."
One person only has so much energy in them to give at a time, and that's just for wounds alone. Poisons will need antidotes. And the average person can't just spell away a fever, in her experience. (Neither type of one.)
And besides, not every mage knows how to heal. She's proof enough of that.
"Yeah?" Leon glances over at her, curious. "Makes sense. It's just funny to hear that - back where I come from if someone's trying to be a dismissive asshole about how hard or complicated a problem is to solve, they say there's no magic fix for it."
No waving a magic wand and wishing the problem away, or whatever.
"I'm guessing that's not as much of a turn of phrase when magic is real and takes work to learn or master, though."
"Oh, we still have it. The phrase has more of a sense about being realistic about what a fix will take, though. Even though magic is real, that doesn't mean you're necessarily going to be able to use it to solve your problem. You can't spell away a debt, ruining your reputation, stabbing the wrong person - well, you can fix his wounds, if you've both learned magic and can use healing spells, but you can't fix that you did stab him."
Some people held onto things like that. Others might become friends.
"Point is, there's limits. Even if some sorts wish there weren't. That'd be terrible, actually."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
It's been a lot of busy work at Town Hall, but the good news is that there's less to redo than she'd expected. Things in cabinets seem pretty untouched by the floods, and instead it's just mostly cleaning.
"I'm doing well enough. Better now that we're back here. And what about you?"
cw: reference to past infestation/parasitism and mind control
He nods towards the building, craning his neck slightly to glance in one of the ground floor windows. He imagines they got hit as hard or harder than the police station, in terms of their paperwork getting messed up.
no subject
Her poor book. It's still drying out. She has no hope for the pages to ever be unwrinkled.
"That said, I'm sorry you got infested. I wish we'd been able to leave before that had to start happening. Trying to put us all in the hive...it's not a pleasant thing to contemplate."
There's an edge on her tone, though, that hints there's more than just imagination behind that statement. Only personal experience makes someone that resolute.
no subject
He shakes his head. "And - yeah, I'm sorry too. For myself, and for everyone who had to deal with that directly, but also a lot of us got really weird when we were, uh. Infested."
Grimacing, he thinks of some of what he said to Gaeta, and to Drelasa, and that giant winged woman who put him out of his misery. He'll have to find them and talk to them about it all later.
"Glad you didn't get caught, though, or at least I didn't hear you in there with us. Wouldn't wish this kinda thing on my worst enemies." Not least because it's already happened to a couple of his more recent ones, but even putting that aside.
no subject
She looks to the side, a little awkward.
"Anyway, as long as you're all well now, right? No lingering effects - at least, that's what I've heard with others. And now we just have to work on repairs and getting the town back to where it was."
Thank gods the planting hadn't been affected. All that hard work...
"If you or Cerrit need anything we can dispense, all you have to do is ask. Or whatever else - we're all-" She stops herself from saying we're all in the same boat, finding it distasteful. "Traveling the same road, so to speak. And I haven't forgotten what you asked me before, about magic - it's just a matter of when you have free time."
no subject
At least he didn't wake up somewhere fucked up! Crawling back home with his brain in a vise would've been the rotten cherry on top of the spoiled sundae that was this whole experience. In any case, he raises his eyebrows at the near-miss of that particular turn of phrase, getting ready to say something stupid to return fire before Fever dodges it entirely.
"Will do - and that's great, I actually just got off work, if you're free now." He seems considerably more enthused about this topic of conversation, lighting up like a dog that's just heard the word 'treat'. The idea of learning how to do magic had sort of fallen by the wayside with all there was to do to get settled in here and then get unsettled by the whole boat adventure, but now there seems to be time for it at last.
no subject
And she'd prefer somewhere grassy instead of indoors, after getting off her shift. A bit of fresh air was always welcome. Still, though, she peers at him.
"Do you need anything for the headache? I actually have medicine on me for exactly that."
no subject
"Yeah? Sure, if you can spare any." Truthfully, he'd kind of had every intention of just toughing it out for reasons he hadn't chosen to examine but probably had a lot to do with a weird cocktail of guilt and machismo, but it's a little easier to take an out if it's being directly offered to him. That does beg the question, though - "You get a lot of headaches? Or did you die back there, too, or something?"
no subject
The little box she takes from her bag is unremarkable, and the pills inside much the same - she takes one out and offers it to Leon before tucking it away. Most of them are at home, but this is her just-in-case. It had been an unwelcome return when she had none on that ship. Fever knows how incapacitating such can be, and toughing it out anyway. She could, but when one doesn't have to, it's a relief.
"Sally makes these, and they're perfect. Should put an end to your headache's deity-slaying potential."
cw: non-graphic discussion of past character death
The winged woman who put him down had made it pretty quick, too, and it still sucked a lot. Leon huffs, taking the pills with a nod and a quick "Thanks" before demonstrating his well developed and ill-advised skill at dry-swallowing medication.
"Yeah? I should have guessed. She's pretty great at what she does. It's a relief to have someone like that around here."
He guesses the locals have their more magical apothecary traditions to fall back on, but there's something comforting about more familiar forms of medicine, and it sounds like there's pros and cons to each from what he can tell.
no subject
One person only has so much energy in them to give at a time, and that's just for wounds alone. Poisons will need antidotes. And the average person can't just spell away a fever, in her experience. (Neither type of one.)
And besides, not every mage knows how to heal. She's proof enough of that.
no subject
No waving a magic wand and wishing the problem away, or whatever.
"I'm guessing that's not as much of a turn of phrase when magic is real and takes work to learn or master, though."
no subject
Some people held onto things like that. Others might become friends.
"Point is, there's limits. Even if some sorts wish there weren't. That'd be terrible, actually."