2013.05.25 - Flowers In Medlab

It's been twenty-four hours, give or take, since Amanda ended up in the Mutant Town hospital, thanks to Mystique. She nearly died there. Likely would have, if not for Kurt. Thus he, early this morning, after the staff there were satisfied she wasn't going to suddenly turn critical on them again, bamfed her back to the mansion and settled her nicely in a medlab bed.
At this given moment, she is actually sitting up. There is a cup of tea beside her and a smoky glass phial about two fingers wide and a palm-width high. Her medicine, one might say. It is empty. 
The woman no longer quite looks like death warmed over, though she is quiet and drawn, still pale. Injuries that were life-threatening when she arrived in hospital became merely critical overnight. Now, they're down to simply serious. By tomorrow, if she continues to take her medicine (and she will!) they'll merely be present. And by the day after that, they'll be gone. Or mostly so. If she keeps taking her medicine. 
For today, however, she's reached her dosage limit. So, she remains in bed, trying not to move too terribly much, lest she cause herself too much undue pain.
Being distracted as he was lately, with trying to adapt the coding for the Danger Room for a broader task at large, it took a while for Doug Ramsey to emerge from the binges of caffeine and sugar haze needed to work with software, and only then to be notified that Amanda Sefton was in Mutant Town hospital, and thusly would appreciate visitors.
One shower, shave, and a stop by a flower shop later, Doug Ramsey knocks at the Mutant Town hospital room. 
"Hello, Amanda? It's Doug," he says, waiting for permission to enter, lest she be, ah, indisposed. 
When she's granted leave, Doug enters timidly, armed with Amanda's favorite flowers (details supplied with a laugh and a smirk from Kurt, and a whole lot of fidgeting by Doug). "Hi, um... I heard you were in the hospital, so uh... Kurt said you'd like visitors." ... and Doug would swear, Kurt was practically -giggling- before he had to go. 
Being distracted as he was lately, with trying to adapt the coding for the Danger Room for a broader task at large, it took a while for Doug Ramsey to emerge from the binges of caffeine and sugar haze needed to work with software, and only then to be notified that Amanda Sefton was in the med lab and would appreciate visitors.
One shower, shave, and a stop by a flower shop later before returning to the mansion, Doug Ramsey knocks at the medical lab.
"Hello, Amanda? It's Doug," he says, waiting for permission to enter, lest she be, ah, indisposed. 
When she's granted leave, Doug enters timidly, armed with Amanda's favorite flowers (details supplied with a laugh and a smirk from Kurt, and a whole lot of fidgeting by Doug). "Hi, um... I heard you were in the hospital, so uh... Kurt said you'd like visitors." ... and Doug would swear, Kurt was practically -giggling- before he had to go. 
Knowing Kurt? He was probably snickering like crazy about it -- the puppy dog crush Doug seems to have on Amanda being what it is. Nevertheless, as the knock at the door sounds, Amanda rolls her head and calls out, "Enter," only to see another blonde head peek in behind a bundle of flowers. 
"Doug..." she greets with a wan smile. "Hi..." A brow arches lightly. "You didn't need to do that," she smiles." 
Hey, there was nothing puppy-dog about it. Just a sheepish embarassment about it, a sort of hopefulness. Which is ridiculous, mind you, and Doug knows it, which is why his body language tends to be a bit more forced as he tries to communiate, well, being -sensible-. 
"It's nothing, you must be feeling pretty cooped up there. Uh, here," Doug offers the flowers, almost practically shoving them in her face in a rush to avoid saying anything terribly embarassing, before managing to slow down and, well, playing it cool. "Your favorite flowers." 
Amanda is, truth be told, too tired to razz Doug about it. But, she smiles at his comment, nonetheless. "Not so much as you might think," she says ruefully. "If I thought I could move without passing out, maybe. But, right now, I'm perfectly happy to lay here." Her smile clears, however. "Still, it's nice to look at something that's not the ceiling for a bit. The flowers are lovely. Thank you."
The razzing could wait, anyway. At least it wasn't outright -embarassing-. "So, uh... what happened?" He hadn't gotten the full details, only that something severe happened, that they'd had to take her to emergency before she had been transferred back. 
Moving quickly, Doug shifts to prop up the pillows, so that Amanda can lie back more comfortably, and then arranges the flowers in a vest, before pulling up and settling back in a chair. 
Amanda closes her eyes at the question, inhaling a slow, deep breath. "Mystique happened," she tells her visitor simply, opening her blue eyes once again. They still seem somewhat veiled, however, though that could be the pain meds she's on. "She and I are having something of an ongoing disagreement. I lost this particular round." And lost hard. "She caught me off-guard."
"... Oy," Doug winces, as he tilts his head, sympathy flooding his own blue eyes as he regards Amanda's bruises and wounds, before shaking his head. "What did she do...?" he asks, as he reaches for a pitcher to pour out water for the blonde sorceress. 
Amanda regards Doug for a long moment, debating how much to tell him. Truthfully, there's not a lot of bruising to be seen on most of the visible places on her body. Her torso, however, is wrapped in a heavy bandage that has padding both front and back, suggesting she was speared. What can't be seen si that there was a good chunk taken out of her back around the fourth lumbar, where Mystique's spaded blade slided in to sever her aorta and then ripped back out, tearing chunks of her flesh with it. 
Eventually, the witch gives a soft sigh and a wan smile. "She stabbed me in the back while I was helping a man she'd shot simply to distract me." Yes. It's the edited version. "Then, she threw me into the harbor, expecting I'd drown." A beat. "If Kurt hadn't found me, I probably would have. Though, it's as likely I'd have bled out, first."
Making a face as though a stinkworm had crawled into his mouth, Doug shakes his head, flushing a bit as he realizes he's been eyeing that torso's bandages too long. "Good thing Kurt found you then. Uh... what did Mystique want with you...? Is... uh..." He frowns, thinking about this. Mystique was Nightcrawler's mother, wasn't she? And Amanda was Kurt's... whatever. 
"Uh, does she think..." Ahhh, great, translation powers, just switching to body language to get the point across instead. 
"She thinks she's gotten her revenge." Amanda says with a wry smile and an awkward shrug. "I hope, anyway." Because she really doesn't want to have to keep looking over her shoulder... though she will, anyway. "Anything more than that? Who can really understand the mind of a psychopath?" Actually, though she doesn't say it, Amanda does have certain insight into it... thanks to her own somewhat psychotic mother. There's a reason she and Kurt are so close. 
Looking thoughtful, Doug nods quietly. "I've run into crazier psychos than Mystique.. from what I know, she's usually in it for the money or for some kind of mutant future. But..." He trails off. "Guess the degree of psychopathy doesn't matter when you're on the receiving end. Sorry."
Amanda barks a laugh. "There aren't many crazier psychos than Mystique," she says, coughing and groaning a little as the laugh jostles her insides. "Nono, Doug. Trust me, what Mystique did to me yesterday? That was revenge, pure and simple. That wasn't money or mutant rights. That was pleasure... for her, anyway." Not so much for the sorceress.
"I've never understood people like that," Doug admits. "I mean, I -could- talk to them, but I could never -get- into their heads. I'd have to..." Shuddering, Doug shakes his head. "There are some languages I don't -want- to try and process, and psychopaths have all sort of tangled up body language and thinking that messes me up." 
And there was always that adage, that if one looked into the Abyss... 
Shaking his head, Doug reaches out to pat Amanda's hand. "Look, uh... if it helps, I could go to your place and get your magic stuff for you, see what we can do about getting you back on your feet? Then uh... I guess, we can track down Mystique." 
Amanda shakes her head firmly. "No," she tells the man sitting beside her. "I don't want anyone tracking down Mystique on this." Not even Kurt, though she knows she can't stop him. "I tweaked the dragon's nose and got its spiked tail in my back for my trouble. It was a risk I took and it came back to bite me. It happens." She gives another wan smile now. "And as for magic... I've already got that covered." She gestures to the empty phial. "One day until I'm healed. I've already had today's medicine. It'll only be another couple of days and I'll be right as rain again."
Slumping his shoulders down, looking not at all happy about what Amanda said, Doug nods slowly, resigned. "Fine, I won't look for her," he says, softly. He wasn't the -macho- sort who'd rip apart things trying to find things FOR VENGEANCE, anyway, just in doing what was right/desired. "So long as she doesn't come looking for you again, then." Hopefully, Doug smiles. A bit of an optimist, at least. 
Eyes shifts towards the empty phial, and Doug glances back at the bandages. "I hope so. Your magic's quite impressive," he smiles, glancing back up towards Amanda's face. "Um... think we can bottle up a lot more and keep it around for emergencies?" 
Amanda feels much the same way -- in that she's hoping Mystique doesn't decide to come back and finish the job, too. She laughs again, wincing as she does, at his request. "The hospital in Mutant Town wants some, too. I might be able to make a few bottles for here, but I can't save all of mutant kind with it. It takes too much energy to make even one phial." They're powerful spells, after all. 
Doug smiles sheepishly. Well, -yeah-, he should know that. But he wasn't -thinking-. 
He could blame it on the company, but truth be told, it was just -his- way around women. "Ah, yes. Got to make sure you've got plenty of energy, yes." For... uh... wait, don't think about it. 
Hurrying to get past the potential embarassing moment, Doug leaps out of his chair. "Anyway! I'm glad you're feeling better! Um... can I get you a burger? Fries? Drink?" 
Amanda shakes her head, smiling as she does. "No. Not yet. I don't think my stomach can take it, yet. Give me another day or two." Yes. You know someone is sick when they won't take burgers from Harry's. The woman really isn't well. Not yet. But, she is getting better. And that's the main thing. (Magic is a wonderful thing.) 
Oh brilliant, Ramsey! "Oh right, uh... I can get you some tomato soup? Chicken broth?" That had to be helpful, liquids with few solids. Taking a deep breath, Doug forces himself to -calm- down, slow down, and runs his hand abashed through his hair. OMIGOD, I'm totally -embarassing- myself here... deep breaths, deep breaths... "Uh, I can get... movies? Something to keep you from staring at walls... wait, let me get a ... uh, you don't happen to do scrying pools, do you?" 
Amanda holds up her hand to forestall the babbling. "Doug-- Doug! Stop. It's okay. I'm okay..." She shakes her head lightly, smiling a fond, lopsided smile as she does. "I've got enough to eat, I'm fine. Maybe a movie or two, but, honestly, I spend a lot of time sleeping, right now." It's good for her! "And I do not have enough energy for a scrying pool." Magic takes energy. Lots of energy. She cants her head. "Why? Is there someone you want to spy on?" she teases.
"Uh, no. It was just that if you got bored, you could just scry something, but.. right, not enough energy. I've -really- got to find out how magic works," Doug says, before realizing he -needs- to take a deep breath. Which he does, before sheepishly grinning. "All right. Uh, your wish is my command. I'll find you something to watch. Uh... anything you want?" 
Amanda flashes a small grin. "Something that isn't Downton Abbey," she replies. "I don't know. A good tv series, maybe. Something funny." But not so funny she'll literally bust her gut laughing. That would be bad. That'll mean an extra day of potions. She won't thank him for that. 
"Plenty of options there," Doug grins, looking a bit relieved now that they were at least nominally in safer territory. THIS he could handle. "Arrested Development, Party Down, The Office... oh, Sherlock!" At least it was short and sweet and wouldn't take -forever- to watch. That, at least, did -fun- things. "I'll be -back-!" 
And it doesn't take him long at all, as he'd simply grabbed one of the tablets he'd inflicted Jocelyn with for her pop culture references, and grabbed streaming so that she could pick out -whatever- appealed. 
Sometimes being a technonerd was handy. 
Again, Amanda laughs. Though, by now it's becoming evident she's getting tired. "Cool," she says softly as he returns. "Maybe I'll start with Sherlock." Who doesn't enjoy Holmes, right? A beat. "But, maybe after a nap." Her eyes drift closed for a moment and her breathing deepens. But, she doesn't quite drift off, as her eyes flutter at least partially open again and she smiles at him. "Thanks, Doug."
Now Doug smiles, brings a finger to his lips, and leaves the tablet plugged into the closest outlet, before executing a short bow. "Sleep well," Doug whispers, as he excuses himself, leaving, considerably more relaxed than he was earlier. That... okay, that ended -better- than the middle part, at least! 
Now if only he could do something about foot-in-mouth disease... 
Category:Log