All the things my hands have held {Meredith}

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Friends," repeated Lorelei, cocking her head again. Yes, she did know both of them, had spent time with each in addition to just doing her usual stalking. She spent a bit of time with Gwyn, actually, what with the tutoring and everything. They were both awful with their feelings. Costin thought he needed to push everyone away to be cool and safe, while Gwyn barely seemed to understand what feelings were, let alone dealing with people (Lorelei seeming to overlook the fact that both seemed to at least tolerate Lorelei; she did seem to have a knack for being more inherently likeable than she seemed to think).

"Sword fighting lessons can be sexy," agreed Lorelei, pursing her lips. Oh, there was so something there. "They are super similar too, with the whole 'too cool to be allowed' mixed with the natural sex appeal and a general awesomeness,' her fingers were practically twitching at the possibilities. "I'm really gonna have to check that out. I mean," she gave Meredith an almost apologetic look, "I wouldn't want to crush Aiden's hopes or anything. She sounded like she really cared about Costin. She really wanted to know all this information about him and his family situation and all. and, like, we've all got these messed up families so..."

Lorelei shrugged, winced, and found her good hand going toward her gut wound, wishing she still didn't feel that ache.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Really, Aiden? That's-" Meredith stopped, her gaze going immediately to the way Lorelei pressed her hand to her stomach. She frowned "Are you feeling okay? Do you need to rest? You probably shouldn't have carried all these books over here... let me take a look at the wound, I want to make sure you haven't reopened anyway..." speculating about their classmates' hypothetical love lives was entertaining, but it wasn't nearly as important as making sure Lorelei's recovery was going well.

"Maybe I could try some healing magic... see if I can make it go a little faster?" she offered. It had worked to keep her from dying, right? Maybe it could heal up a little more of the damage now.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Great, now Lorelei had made MEredith worry. Worse yet, she was starting to think about the gut wound and what it looked like, all puckered and disgusting looking, despite definitely healing alright. "yeah, I probably shouldn't have carried the books," admitted Lorelei, half muttering the words, her face falling. "I just got excited and stuff. It doesn't feel too bad..."

Still, Lorelei was lifting her shirt up. There was the stab wound, right on her stomach. Or, well, there was the wrapping covering the stab wound on her gut. Lorelei knew what lay beneath it: an ugly, misshapen star shape. It should've just been a line or something, but it was like her gut had twisted or something. It just looked... awful. And while Lorelei wasn't vain, it still bugged her.

"I've tried using some of my own healing magic on it. You know I don't have the juice you do. But, um, it's really not that bad. You don't have to worry or anything. I was just all spazzy and, you know," she shrugged, then winced, since of course that pulled at the wound.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Are you sure?" Meredith bit her lip, studying the wrapping as though she could see through it to the wound underneath, it seemed like every move she made tugged at the injury, which wasn't surprising considering the location of it, but she wanted to try and take away from of her friend's pain if she could.

"I mean, I could give it a try if you like? Even if it just speeds it up a little bit, it might help with the pain?" she didn't think there was too much danger in trying, while you had to be careful with magic in case it went wrong, the most likely thing to happen if the spell didn't work was nothing, which wouldn't make the wound any worse at least. There was a small chance she might accidentally, but she was mostly confident she wouldn't.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei wasn't really all that sure, really. She bit her lip and didn't immediately say anything one way or the other, which Meredith would doubtless immediately recognize as an omission/confession. If Lorelei was sure, she'd probably have prattled for several moments; any bit of hesitation meant, well, the truth in this case.

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Lorelei admitted, flushing. "I'm pretty sure it's going to scar anyway. But hey, it's not like anyone's ever going to get a look at my stomach anyway, right? Like, I'm not gonna wear the kinda clothes Jenny does no matter what she says, and the chances of anyone getting me undressed are pretty much nonexistent," Lorelei tried laughing lightly, but she raised a hand up and sort of dabbed at her eyes as she did, trying not to look upset. It wasn't all her friends' fault that literally all of them had relationships of some kind while Lorelei was just running around being friends and helping out.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith nodded, moving over to sit beside Lorelei, her expression businesslike and ready to see the scar and figure out what she could do to help - an expression which softened immediately as Lorelei spoke and she put her arm around the other girl, hugging her close, albeit carefully.

"Hey, there's plenty of people out there who'd be delighted if you wanted to get undressed in front of them. Not that you have to, or should, if you don't want to, at all, but.. what I'm saying is, there is romance out there for you, I promise." she felt a little bit awkward reassuring any of Gwen's children about that, they were, after all, usually far more educated and knowledgable about it than she was, and it wasn't usually the kind of conversation she found herself involved in, but of course if her friend was sad she was going to do everything she could to make her feel better.

"Now let's see what I can do about this scar..."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei smiled at Meredith's slightly awkward reassurances. "That's what everyone keeps saying," she said. "But it's alright, really. I know I'm the funny sidekick, the Mercutio, the, um..." she closed one eye as she tried to think of another good metaphor or descriptor, eventually landing on: "weird little sister?" Because let's face it, even if she technically wasn't the youngest of the Summer-fill-in-the-blanks, she was arguably the least mature, or at least the one who got most babied... save perhaps Jesse. But Jesse was a pretty special case.

But they had a scar to work out. Lorelei shifted to give Meredith good access, even getting ready to lay down if necessary. She was pretty well certain that there was going to be some sort of scar there, some marking. She still didn't quite know why the star had a weird off star-shape, since it had been a stab and all. It did just look so ugly and puckered to her sight, almost as if it hadn't healed right. Which didn't make any sense, given the magic they'd already poured into it. It also still looked a little...

... a lot like Lorelei had pulled stitches a few times and redone them herself. She flushed, realizing that Meredith might just notice that. "You know, I'm sure it's not as bad as I think. We should just forget about it. Let it heal on its own and stuff."

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"You can't claim to be Mercutio just because you got stabbed," Meredith teased "But honestly though, you're not, don't put yourself in a box, there's plenty of people out there who'd love you, plenty of people who do love you in a non-romantic way as well."

She frowned at Lorelei's sudden squeamishness when she had previously been so willing to try, immediately realising the other girl was trying to hide something, so she took advantage of how Lorelei had already shifted for access to reach over and tug the dressing carefully away from the wound. The jagged shape underneath looked... worse than she expected, but she wasn't as good as Lorelei at medicine, not enough to figure out exactly what that meant.

"Did the last spell not work so well?" she asked instead, leaning in to get a better look "I'm sure it should be more healed than this..."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"It's not a box, it's a role. There's a difference," Lorelei insisted, sniffing. "And it's easy for all you guys to talk about people out there who---' She shut up, much too quickly, her mouth almost making a snapping sound. She flushed pink. "I didn't... I'm sorry, that came out a bit, um, cattier, than I meant? Sorry."

She shuffled again, feeling a shiver as Meredith got a look at the wound. "It's probably because i keep moving," she admitted, wincing. "I try to keep it wrapped properly, but things keep coming loose and all that. Plus, you know, things and stuff," she took another breath, letting it out slowly. "You know there's this theory that, like, wounds sometimes are affected by the emotions behind it. Kinda a magical thing, really. Like, because there's hate behind it, the wound gets worse or something. It's totally stupid though. Definitely not medically sound. Nope."

Lorelei squirmed slightly again. "I think just some, like good magic will work. And holding still," again with the pink.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"No, it's okay," Meredith gave her a rueful smile "I can get how frustrating it probably is..." she almost wished she was in Lorelei's place, if she were honest, because the whole relationship thing almost seemed like more trouble than it was worth right now, but Lorelei was a romantic like her mother, she'd probably always see the end result being worth it.

"That sort of makes sense..." Meredith said thoughtfully, then gave Lorelei a pointed look "but the moving being the problem makes a little bit more sense. Hopefully we can help it along a bit and make that happen less."

She reached out a hand, fingertips brushing the edges of the wound very lightly and carefully. She turned her gaze to it, focused and reached for the words -
The words didn't come. No sooner had she started to even consider what spell was best to use that her eyes were glowing golden, brighter and more sustained than the normal dull flash she had inherited from her father. She felt the magic flow through her fingers with an intensity that made her gasp, could almost see sparks crackling across Lorelei's skin, knitting it together before her eyes.
Within only a few seconds the wound was healed up completely, so completely it left a jagged white scar that looked as though she had received the injury years ago rather than weeks, and Meredith snatched her hand away with a shocked expression, looking up at Lorelei in confusion, the golden glow of her eyes still burning bright.

"I didn't even...the spell...I... I normally have to say the words..." she said, the glow finally fading as she spoke.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

Lorelei was more than happy to focus on the wound instead of her frustrations with her love life. It did bother her, being a Summer female and not really having one (though she supposed that Vivi was there with her as well; perhaps they could discuss it over tea sometime). Part of her kept repeating the standards: she didn't need a woman, her mother had multiple lovers because she was a strong woman, not the other way around; that relationships didn't equate value. But that part was very much secondary to a nervous young girl who wrote romantic stories and was starting to crush hard on a mystery poet.

Magic came forward. "Sure, we should--" but Lorelei paused. She recognized magic, but she also had been expecting to have to repeat spells. Lorelei had more of a memory for them than Meredith. But instead, magic flowed and flashed. It hit so hard that Lorelei's eyes flashed gold as well, as if her own body had to push the excess magic out. She almost felt like she could turn around and heal someone as well. Her stomach burned as well.

It faded. "That was amazing!" chirped Lorelei. She held up her left hand. "Omigosh, you got the wrist too!" she wiggled her fingers. "I mean, it's still a bit stiff, like... like it healed before we could get it set or--" she ran her hands along her stomach, feeling the scar. It almost looked like the edges had been burned, cauterized before healing properly. "But yeah, there should have been words to guide the magic..." she said. "I mean, healing spells are super complicated and require a lot of focus and prep and--omigosh!" Lorelei looked to Meredith. "Are you okay? I feel great, but I was the recipient! This much magic... you're probably exhausted! Do you need me to get you some tea or something?"

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith stared at the wound as Lorelei's fingers explored it, frowning. The wrist too? But she hadn't even... she didn't even get to saying the spell, and not only had it worked but it had worked more powerfully than she could ever have hoped for? She'd never done anything like that before.

"I'm...fine..." she said - she knew what Lorelei meant, a spell like that, the power behind it, she should be shattered, she should be feeling drained or tired or something, but instead she felt energised, like she'd just downed a shot of pure caffeine "I don't feel tired at all? I feel really awake... what's going on?" what was wrong with her lately? One minute she was being sick, the next minute her magic was overflowing, more powerful than it had ever been before? This was too weird.

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

"Really?" asked Lorelei, tilting her head to the side. "I mean, it could be that your magic hit my magic and created some kind of feedback loop? I do know pretty much just healing magic after all. Or maybe because you were really feeling the need to heal me, your magic just,' she waved her arms for a bit, though she held the position. They both knew magic didn't work like that. Okay, yes, magic did weird things. It did particularly weird things for Merlin, Meredith's dad, or, well, one of her dads.

"I mean... it could just be like you're the next, you know, Merlin sort of person," she offered, shrugging. "Or it might be something else? like, maybe there's something here or you drank something?" Lorelei looked around. "maybe the tea...?"

Then her own powers would be supercharged, wouldn't they? Maybe they were? That wasn't even a fair starting point. Lorelei could heal and do some telekinesis... Meredith had a lot more juice to start with...

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Maybe it was something to do with your magic," Meredith said eventually, although she sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than Lorelei "I didn't channel mine properly and maybe it was a sort of feedback loop thing, and yours just gave me a bit of an energy boost. Just a weird little quirk, it happens sometimes with magic, right? Plus I've been so stressed out and everything, I'm sure it's nothing." she dismissed it, her tone getting airier and more unbothered, even though a hint of the uncertainty lingered in her eyes.

"Anyway, you were here to talk about your fanfiction, so let's go back to that," she said abruptly, turning her attention back to the books still piled in the room "Do you... uh.. do you ship me with anyone?" she asked, intrigued despite herself "apart from... well, you know who, obviously..."

[Lorelei Summer-Lac]

The feedback loop, well, that did make some sense, Lorelei guessed. It was one of her theories. She wasn't quite so ready to dismiss it as Meredith though. She studied her friend for a few seconds, actually lapsing into something like silence as she did. Magic did have weird little quirks, and while Lorelei may be an expert in a few things, mostly dealing with Tintagel and the people who went here, she couldn't really claim to be a magic expert. Stress could be a factor...

...and Meredith did want to talk about Lorelei's stories, which were about as unstressful a conversation as you could have, really. Lorelei looked back to the books, considering. "Hmm," she said, moving easily now to move some of the books around, "I think there's one in here where I shipped you with Gaston Jr, but it didn't work very well," she brushed aside books, noting that she'd grabbed quite a few that dealt with their parents. "I think after that it's kinda the Locksley boys? You know, seeing how many of us there are, there are surprisingly few guys that are interested in someone besides guys..."

She chewed her lip, wondering about that. Weird how the numbers turned out.