LOG: [Kurt, Marius] When in doubt just feed the trauma

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After being released from the Medlab Kurt gets a visit. In terms of bedside manner after recent trauma it's mildly less off-putting than one from Amelia.




Released from the medlab, Kurt had made his way straight back to his room, unconsciously looking at every detail on the way after two days of darkness. One of those details had caught his eye in the mirror, when he got back, and he was staring at it when the knock came at the door.

"Oi, Mr. Wagner, you about? I bear gifts of food an' regrettably non-alcoholic beverages."

"...Marius?" Kurt said, blinking as he turned away from the mirror to the door. "Yes, I am here. Come in."

"Hello," the tall boy grinned as he let himself in. "As Ms. Dane has made her daring return tanned, rested, an' responsible for a truly terrifying volume of food, there is cider. An' a choice array of puddings done up by Laurie's mum, which despite inhabiting the kitchen for well onto a month now yet remain remarkably free of sentience. I find it only fitting, as we operate under the continued assumption that consumption of that which does not kill you shall only make you stronger." He shouldered the door closed behind him, head bobbing briefly to the tray bearing a tall silver thermos and several small, neatly saran-wrapped bowls. "I'm trainin' up in this institution's fine tradition of support-feeding."

"And a good tradition it is", Kurt said, faintly bemused as he moved to meet the boy and take the tray. "But not one I have known you to take part in before."

"Yes, well. I think I prefer to be the feedin' than the fed." Though the smile remained on his face something wasn't quite reaching his eyes as his eyes traced the quiet man who took the tray from him. "So you're . . . doin' better, then?"

Kurt looked at him a little oddly, then turned to set the tray down on his desk. "Very much, thank you. Is this for the recent invalid, then?"

"Yes. Quite. As I have been led to believe that doin' up a tray is what is Done for the convalescing. As you . . ." A crease appeared in the boy's forehead as, under Kurt's look, the words seemed to come with increasing difficulty. The trailed-off sentence ended. "Yes," Marius said.

"I could be considered convalescing, yes", Kurt said slowly. "Though really, after a night's rest, I am quite well. But thank you anyway."

Marius opened his mouth, then shut it again. "Right. All right. I've attempted the experiment, but it becomes increasingly apparent to me that despite my many talents I shall never be the winning contestant in the game of subtlety. So sod it." Marius ran a hand through hair that was just beginning to take a wave again. "I'm sorry. Dr. Grey said to us stay away, but on Thursday I was in Medlab for shift . . ." The hand fell away to drop heavily to his side. "I looked."

Kurt blinked at him for a long moment, then understood. "...ah. And now you wish to know how it is I am back on my feet, with no sign of what happened?"

"Well -- well yes." Then he remembered standing in front of the observation window, and one icy question: "Can I help you at all?"

Marius hands immediately shot up, fingers spread. "I mean, no worries, I am not unaware that the school is rife with miraculous healin' techniques an' some are of a private nature, an' obviously I'm the last to contest personal medical travails be made public. None of my affair. Only I didn't so much as think you could borrow, an' it's just Dr. Grey reported powers accident an' when I saw you you were . . ."

Like me.

"I cannot borrow for myself, you are right", Kurt said carefully. "But how I came to be healed is not all mine to tell, or I would. There was a powers accident, and you saw for yourself, but the healing that was attempted did its job, better than anyone had expected."

"Yeah. That I noticed." Yellow eyes fell on the dark skin of Kurt's cheek, smooth and unmarred. Marius hand rose to touch his own face. "I know from mutations, an' I'm seein' no change. So those you had . . . that wasn't part of your mutation, then."

Kurt shook his head, more or less understanding what Marius was getting at. "They were not, no. Those... took rather a long time to complete."

The boy's head tilted slightly, puzzled by the current in the man's voice. "This good or bad, then?"

"I think... overall, good", came the answer, but Kurt was clearly still thinking it over. "A removal of the past, shall we say."

The boy's eyes stayed fixed on the now unbroken skin of Kurt's cheek, and one spot in particular -- one missing scar among many. His mind went back to a street in Monte Carlo, and a moment of blind rage scored in blood. "For purely selfish reasons, there's one removal I can't say as I mind," Marius said. A slight smirk returned. "One cannot contest there are worse ways to enter into the new year than the shedding of baggage. I suppose the trick lays in a lack of reaccumulation. An', ah . . . havin' the whole set of skin." His eyes flicked to Kurt's. "That won't -- it a danger? That is, you goin' . . ."

Marius stopped, hands flexing. "Sod it. Thought it was just another stop on the way between stations for the train of Sodding Cracked Mutation. Should've considered the source."

Kurt shook his head in a quick attempt at reassurance. "The circumstances are very different. My mutation does not change, to name just one."

The boy's smile was wry. "Rather what I meant. Means it's always been there. An' still is." Marius wrapped his arms around his waist. His head cocked again at the older man. "I've been Between. Burned in it. An' you . . . are you not afraid?"

Kurt looked at him steadily, not even bothering to try to lie to someone who'd been there. "More afraid of my next teleport than I have been of very many things. And that is exactly why I must do it as soon as possible." He sighed. "I know why this happened, and why it is not likely to happen again. But that does not make much difference, somehow."

"No. Really doesn't at all." Despite the memories of his own dredged up by the subject a small, amused smile played across Marius' lips. "Good on us we'd thrown in with possibly the only lot on earth who in the event of such accidents are ready, willing an' able to effect astonishing repair."

"We have been very lucky", Kurt agreed soberly, though there was a small smile on his own face. "More than we deserve, perhaps. Or perhaps it is just a fresh start."

Marius grinned. "Yes, I am sure it shall come as welcome news for all and sundry that this rapidly approaching new year's resolution has become to avoid that which necessitates defensive beatings. Oh, an' near-death experiences. My ambitions are high."

"Yes, I am sure", Kurt deadpanned, "that everyone here will be very glad of that particular decision. Perhaps it will even catch on."

"Well, obviously mine are not the highest ambitions in the room. An' now, having some inkling of the trails faced by a man in recovery, strength must be regained. Reserves rebuilt. The body given proper sustenance to maintain its new, healthful reality." Marius smiled brightly. "In short, Mr. Wagner, eat your puddings."