Chilly Boulder, Sunday Afternoon

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When Kathy had meandered into town today, it hadn't been with the intent on heading to the ice cream shop, even if--in retrospect--ice cream was probably a great way to shake the lingering effects of a poisonous curse. She'd just wanted to get away from her dorm room, away from the bits of glass she was still finding on the floor, away from the

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Eliot wasn't really the "going out for ice cream" sort. But he was the "duck into an ice cream shop to try to avoid getting hugged by a giant teddy bear again" sort. Especially when he was still too wiped out to fight them off properly.

"Kathy," he greeted, brushing his hair back from his face and trying to play it cool after darting in like the street was on fire. Outside, a fluffy brown bear with a jaunty red bowtie strolled past. "Hi."

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"Mr. Spencer!" Kathy looked up from her sundae to give her teacher a relieved smile, quite possibly the largest one she'd worn in days. "You're all right! And--" her eyes tracked to the giant bear in the street "--also realized that ice cream would probably help make things better?"

She had your back, Mr. Spencer.

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Eliot's eyes flicked from her to the staff to her friend. "Yeah. Ice cream." Why not. He looked over the selection and pointed to the cherry. "Scoop of that."

You know, just to keep his cover.

He turned back to Kathy with a smile. "How you holding up?"

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"I..." Sure. Ask the hard questions, Eliot. "Umm...I'd say about four naps and ten meals away from being back to normal," she offered, hoping maybe he'd take that as an entire answer. "Plus whatever conditioning I need to do to get my stamina back. Umm, any ideas for that?"

Deflect, Kathy! Defleeeeect!

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Eliot took his scoop of cherry ice cream from the clerk and shrugged. "I'll let you know soon as I figure one out. Can't say I've had to recover from havin' my soul poisoned, before."

Well, not in a literal sense, anyway.

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"And here I thought you'd seen everything," Kathy said with another small smile, which faded a second later as she said, "Mr. Spencer, I owe you a major apology. I'm so sorry for about what happened in class last week. And for helping steal Ms. Parker's and Mr. Hardison's hard drive."

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"I'll accept that," Eliot said. "So long as you take mine for class, too. I, uh. I didn't hurt your ankle, did I?"

He honestly wasn't sure. He hadn't been paying attention at the time.

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Kathy shook her head. "You squeezed it and that hurt? But it wasn't damaging or anything. Kinda like how a pinch hurts, but doesn't hurt."

Which had sorta been what it was? A full-handed pinch? Maybe?

"Wanna know the saddest thing? I hadn't even gotten that stupid mirror yet. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to rob Mr. Starsmore to get it."

Not even really 'if' by that point. How.

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Eliot sighed. "I don't think it mattered if you had it yet," he said slowly. "I think -- maybe it started the minute you saw it." He had to think that; it was better than thinking he'd actually just decided to go off and wail on Sterling for half a reason. "Hell. I don't know."

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"I tried to hold out," Kathy said softly. "When he told me that I'd have to steal a letter from Mr. Starsmore. I told him that was unconscionable and then I turned and stalked out. And maybe three days later, I came crawling back with the letter he'd demanded." She stabbed at her sundae, a little more forcefully than she'd anticipated. "Just to have him tell me the price went up and I'd have to steal something else if I wanted it to keep working past Sunday."

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Eliot hissed through his teeth. "Least you lasted that long," he said. "I literally caught the first flight out to go get what I'd promised him."

That he'd offered him. For a fucking wolf claw.

"Anyway. Can't be changed now. The important thing is to learn from it and keep going."

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"How?" Kathy asked, looking up at him. "That's the part I'm stuck on. I'm sorry, I don't mean to whine, but I don't understand what I'm supposed to learn, other than I'm susceptible to doing all the things wrong that I did. And I definitely don't know how I'm supposed to move past it. I feel like I shouldn't move past it, yet. Like I'm not done being sorry yet."

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Eliot's lips quirked in something that wasn't quite a smile. "Didn't say 'move past'. Just 'keep going'." He drummed his fingers on the table a few times, staring down at them. "It's never -- easy. Learning what you're really capable of. I ain't gonna lie, you'll probably carry this the rest of your life. Thing about carryin' a weight though -- you get used to it. And you get stronger for it."

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"If this is what it takes to get stronger, I don't think I would have minded staying weak," Kathy admitted. "I just feel so ugly. Not, like, normal ugly, but an ugly person."

Her voice was soft when she added, "I think I lost a friend. I know I lost of lot of self-respect. Probably the respect of others when I go to confess what I did. And, on top of all that, I still have no idea what I'm going to tell my parents when they call to ask how my SATs went. The ones I'm supposed to be taking..." She checked her watch. "Right now."

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"Pretty sure tests can be rescheduled," Eliot said. "Tell 'em you were sick. Wouldn't even be that far from the truth, right?"

As for the rest of it -- Eliot had spent a large chunk of his life as the sort to just burn bridges behind him rather than apologize. He wasn't really the one to offer advice on that front.

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"I'm gonna need a doctor's note for the amount of sick I'll need to be to make missing the test okay," Kathy snarked. "And maybe a prescription I can show them, too, just to be safe."

Sighing, she hooked her hair behind her ears. "How about you? Did everyone forgive you for the stuff you did already?"