fool's gold. [tag; kit]

"Oh! Bugger! Shoot! Crap bags! Fudge! Darn! Bother!" Bang!

A tall blonde girl was hopping from one foot to the other, round in circles in her small but functional kitchen as a pan of boiling water smashed against the floor. Erika squeaked and backed up, clumsily managing to hop up onto one of the kitchen counter tops, just as the hot water sloshed by, narrowly missing her bare feet. "Shitting Hell," she whispered with wide eyes. She'd narrowly missed being severely maimed!

Erika was trying to make pasta for lunch. Lulu was at work and she didn't like having the apartment to herself. It was too big and too quiet. So desperate, she'd tried to make friends with two pigeons who were sitting on one of the window boxes, only to be rudely squawked at and pecked half to death. Rude. They couldn't have a pet because her room mate was so violently allergic to fur. The only thing she had to cuddle, really, was Clive. Clive was a large stuffed teddy bear she'd been given as a child and was happily sitting up against her pillows in the middle of her bed.

It was a damp, cold and gloomy day outside. In the business of central London, the worn pavements were wet and slippery with melting snow that was quickly turning into grey slush. It was a far cry from the sunny, arid Morocco from which she'd returned yesterday. It was entirely possible that she'd picked something up while she was away. She didn't feel that well. She felt a bit queasy and her vision was prone to blurring. She must just be tired.

Her lunch was now all over the floor she'd realised with a sigh. She'd have to go off to the deli around the corner. Joseph, the owner, was always friendly and he had the best prosciutto and edam cheese sandwiches. Her stomach gave a rumble. After three weeks eating flat bread and cous cous, she needed carbs. Stat. Gingerly, she placed her feet down onto the floor, clearing up the water and soggy pasta with a flick of her wand. She put on her shoes and shrugged into her minty green coat, pausing to button up her coat against the harsh temperature before bending to pick up the saucepan and letting it drop again as she let out a loud yelp of pain.

The pan was still hot and as it came into contact with her soft skin, a welt soon appeared. No big deal. Whack it under some cold water to take down the swelling, although… before her eyes, it seemed to grow. Blistering white and turning a livid red, deep red as it spread across the back of her hand. This wasn't an ordinary burn. Something was very, very wrong. Did she pick something up abroad? Had her immune system become compromised? It hurt. It hurt a Hell of a lot.

Her mind was made up. She grabbed her bag and she was out of the front door quick as a flash, slamming it behind her and she was at St. Mungo's a few minutes later. Her left hand was throbbing. It was swollen and the welt had turned an odd purplish colour. Was there blood inside? Buggery.

She really didn't enjoy hospitals. They smelt weird and they were depressing. Finding a welcome witch in the foyer, Erika grumbled as she was told to sit so she slunk off and plonked herself heavily down in the waiting room, her big blue eyes watching various people wander by. Someone must have had a baby. A man was hurrying through the lobby with a five mile smile, carrying a handful of blue balloons, a teddy and a huge bunch of flowers. Aw. An early Christmas present.

Twenty minutes had passed and Erika was starting to get a bit antsy. She sighed, shifting in her seat, crossing and uncrossing her legs before rolling her eyes. She'd already counted the ceiling tiles three times. Her hand was throbbing, so intense that it was impossible to ignore. Why could no one see that she was in need of urgent medical attention? Her hand might drop off! Waiting another five minutes, she'd had enough. Erika thought about maybe unconvincing her cousin, Hal but he didn't have a sense of humour and that alone was hilarious. Enough was enough.

"Excuse me!" The tall blonde called, attracting the attention of a nearby welcome witch with a bright, sunny smile. "Could you direct me in the way of Kit Emberton, please?" It just occurred to her that her one time Dutch friend was a Healer. She'd taken his address and lost it. The witch frowned and explained that he had his own practise. Blarg. "Could I have the address?" she asked but the witch frowned at her. "C'mon love, I'm not going to rob him." The witch seemed affronted and disappeared for a new seconds before coming back with a slip of parchment.

Erika turned and strode off back into the snowy capital before apparating away. He specialised in beast healing, did he? How fancy. Arriving at an unfamiliar building, she stepped in, her big blue eyes looking around. It all seemed very…posh. Long legs strode towards a door with a plaque stuck to it and knocked gently. She pushed the door open a little and poked her head around it. "Excuse me, doctor?" she purred. "Could you squeeze me in for a physical?" Erika joked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.

"Ah, I'll survive. Go on! Get out, it's Friday. You're welcomeeee!" Kit sang out from his office, despite the protests from the two remaining nurses that were on schedule. It had been a record slow day, and with no other patients scheduled, the Healer decided he could handle any walk-ins that rucked up on his own. Besides, some solitude every now and again didn't hurt the man who spent majority of his time surrounded by people.

Kit bided his time - flicking through old books, spot cleaning, testing out chairs - the usual activities of a well-to-do Healer with his own practice. Half the time, Kit had no idea how he had ended up so successful in his professional career because he certainly didn't take himself seriously. After combing through nearly every file in the place and pruning out the old ones, he had decided that was enough work when his stomach started to audibly grumble, even over the faint sound of indie muggle music that had filled the halls. Running a hand through his mess of hair, the brunette gathered his locks and tied them into an untidy bun on the top of his head, mulling over his lunch options. There was good Thai takeout only a block over, but Kit couldn't justify leaving when there was a full kitchen upstairs, stocked for this very reason. He spent more time cooking there than he did in his own flat.

Thai a la Kit Emberton was on the menu for the afternoon. He worked fast, one hand holding tight to his wand as he spun around a mixture of spices and herbs, the other working to marinate chicken. Within no time, the whole place smelled strongly of food and his meal was complete. Kit had always loved cooking, especially recipes he had acquired from his travels, and he was always trying something new. Two rushed, albeit mouth watering, bites in and a voice nearly sent Kit flying out of his chair from behind the front desk. He had almost forgotten he was working, he was so wrapped up in the atmosphere of spicy food and good music.

"Shit!" Kit stood up quickly, paying more attention to the brown sauce he spilled on his thigh than his new guest. "I'm sorry," Hands shot up into the air apologetically. Blue-green eyes carried from his pants to the person who had interrupted his lunch. He knew that face. "Erika Trickett?" A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. Wasn't she a sight for sore eyes? "Almost didn't recognize you when you aren't dancing on top of a bar!" Kit chuckled and stepped into the lobby to greet the woman who he spent a night with in Amsterdam. Just as he went in to give the blonde a big squeeze, he noticed the painful looking red growth that covered the majority of her hand. "Oh!" The Healer exclaimed, taking her wrist gently into his hands to get a closer look at the injury. "What have you done to yourself this time?" He grinned, his eyes flicking back up to her own briefly.

Was there music playing? Erika crept forward as quietly as she could, straining her ears to pick up a melody which she swiftly bobbed her head to. She didn't recognise the song but she liked it. Unlike most of her friends, Erika was a rough and ready type of gal. The louder the music, the sweatier the crowd, the better. Mosh pits were a favourite of hers. There was nothing quite like sharing a passion with a thousand leery strangers, all sharing in a euphoric moment. Add beer to the mix and she was sold.

Also, was there something cooking?

Like a bloodhound, Erika's nose was in the air, sniffing around her delicately. The place was empty, surprisingly. It smelt Asian. There was ginger. Coriander? She hadn't had lunch and she really liked Eastern dishes. Her stomach gave a rude grumble as she thought back to the damned pasta that had forced her into this office in the first place. She suddenly had a hankering for prawn crackers. Erika was biiiiiig on foreign food. British cuisine left a lot to be desired. Bangers and mash? Toad in the hole? Whichever way you looked at it, it was still potatoes and gravy. Everything was boring and brown.

The swear word made her jump, her stomach lurching as she realised she'd made him drop something. Guilt washed over her almost instantly as she rushed forward to help, mimicking his actions as her hands came up, palm outwards, to help him. Oh. He'd been the one cooking? Looking back, it didn't surprise her. After all, they had shared a hash brownie in Amsterdam.

She offered Kit a bright, dazzling smile before sweeping into a low bow. "The one and only," she said cheerily, both flattered and relieved that he'd remembered her. They hadn't spent long together at all and it was a few years ago now. The entire night had been a bit of a happy, musical, drug filled blur but one thing had been etched onto her mind and that had been his blue, blue eyes. He'd always been handsome and she was so glad to find that he still was and that the beer goggles hadn't taken over.

Unable to help herself, she laughed before pointing at him. "Don't be rude!" she cooed, tutting and rolling her big, deeply blue eyes before blowing at her hair. "Nice beard," she observed as she cocked her head to the side and let her grin dimple her cheeks. "Check you out," she said brightly, spinning in a neat circle with her arms outstretched to try and encompass all of her surroundings. "You did good," she commented kindly. "I'm well and truly impressed."

Erika stepped forward as Kit did, arms open to embrace him when he stopped. "Oh," she said with a frown that wrinkled her smooth forehead, allowing him to take her wrist. "I dunno," she said breezily, like the horrible mark on her alabaster skin was perfectly normal. "I burned myself and I thought it was fine but then it started to get a bit angry and bigger. I went to St. Mungo's but I was waiting thirty minutes without seeing anyone and I'd had enough to I hassled a welcome witch for your address because I remember you telling me, between flaming sambuccas, that you had your own practice and voila."

She noticed that his touch was tender and it made her curl her toes in her boots. "I'm so sorry to drop by without an invitation," she said with a sigh, offering him an apologetic smile. "But I had a vision of my hand turning green and falling off so here I am. I'm sure it's nothing," she mumbled, flexing her fingers and she was surprised to find that her joints were stiff and uncomfortable. Uh oh.

"Plus I smelt something delicious," Erika said with a swift grin. "I ruined my dinner and then I ruined my hand. I'd just gotten back from Morocco and I was fine out there. I'd burned myself a few times and then I come home and boom! I have some weird thing going on." She offered Kit another smile. "But you're looking good," she purred, reaching out delicately touch one of the Healer's biceps. "It's a shame you decided not to come with us to the canal that night. Skinny dipping whilst highly intoxicated is something I can now cross off my bucket list. Ow," she whined as a surge of pain throbbed through her hand again.

"Oh! Where are my manners?" Kit gave a wry smirk in Erika's direction. "I didn't recognize you when you aren't dancing on a bar or conjuring up enough hash brownies to supply a small army," The Healer joked. To be fair, he had exceptionally fond memories with the blonde woman from their one night stint in Amsterdam. Who knew catching a falling stranger from atop a bar could have such favorable outcomes. "You like it?" Kit tentatively reached a hand to the perpetual scruff on his face to give it a quick scratch. "Merlin knows what state I was in back then..." He shook his head. Hopefully it wasn't his short lived, semi-dreadlocked, phase.

Carefully and intently, Kit's electric eyes flicked from Erika's moving mouth to her mess of a hand. "Well aren't you in luck, then?" As he spoke, his gaze travelled the length of the empty room. "You've picked the absolute best day to hurt yourself, Miss Trickett," Kit flippantly gestured to the lack of any sort of activity in the office. "It's been so slow I even sent all the nurses home," He shrugged. "Looks like you'll just have to put up with me," Kit shook his head.

"I think if I work fast enough, we might be able to avoid any loss of limb," The Healer's eyes widened a bit as he spoke in jest. "I'm not making any promises, though," Kit shrugged his shoulders. "Although!," He placed a hand on her shoulder, the other still holding Erika's wrist up delicately. "If we do lose your hand, I miiiight let you have some of my renowned Thai a la Emberton," He bit down on his lip in a wince. It probably hailed in comparison to the Moroccan cuisine she was accustomed to.

Kit gave a flash of a smile as Erika's touch on his arm sent a quick shiver up and down his spine. There was something so vibrant about this one, he decided. It seemed she hadn't lost her ability to make people feel special, and he was glad for that. "You saw the state I was in," Kit shook his head. "Swimming would have ended disastrously for me, I'm afraid. If I'd known clothing was optional, though, I might've changed my tune," He hummed happily to himself. 

"Right then, let's get you cleaned up," Kit clapped his hands together before leading Erika back down the hall to one of the examination rooms. "Have a seat right up here," The Healer gave a quick pat to the reclinable, leather chair surrounded by various devices and apparatuses. "Don't act up and you'll get a sweet," Kit turned around to face Erika pausing his search through cabinets to see her reaction. He tapped on the large jar of candies next to him that he usually bribed his younger patients with.

Finally having found the serum he was looking for, the long haired man turned on his heels and made his way over to his newest patient. "So Morocco, then?" Kit popped the lid off of the vial and gave a nonchalant sniff before swishing it around. "What brought you there?" He purposely distracted Erika, knowing that the thick, dark potion was not going to feel pleasant on her burn. Kit gingerly took her wrist in his hands, careful to not break their eye contact while applying then cotton ball soaked in the serum to her skin. "Sorry," He pursed his lips. "This is the worst bit," He added, giving her uninjured wrist a squeeze.

Erika laughed, high and tinkling as she snorted again. "Oh shut your face," she chided playfully. "You liked those hash brownies, Mr. Emberton, as did everyone else in that bar," she said haughtily. She grinned again. "Absolutely," she was quick to reply, bouncing happily on the balls of her feet. "It suits you. I've always been a fan of beards," she said gently. Most of her boyfriends or at least love interests had some sort of facial hair. She tilted her head to the side a little, curiously. "Is it soft?" she asked, peering at him, finding herself wondering if it would leave a bristle rash on her face if they ended up doing some heavy duty kissing.

She grinned slowly, her smile decidedly irreligious. "You don't remember?" she asked. Clearly she was kidding, she just liked yanking his chain.

"Yay!" Erika chirped before she laughed again, rolling her big deeply blue eyes at Kit's hilaaaaarious remark. She sighed as she looked down at her injured hand again with a frown. "I'm usually really careful," she whined, her slender shoulders slumping in defeat. "I must just be sleepy," she mumbled as a wave of tiredness washed over her. The tall blonde was finding it difficult to stand as her knees wobbled and her eyelids drooped. Oooh yeah. A nap would be great right about now. She was sure Kit wouldn't mind if she had a half hour sleep on his office floor.

Erika offered the Healer a sleepy grin as she nodded along. "Lucky me indeed," she mused, finding it funny that there must be countless girls who would kill to be alone with him. He must have a girlfriend by now, surely. He was very attractive. Tall and broad and he had big hands. Hands that a girl wouldn't mind having roaming all over her on a cold winter's night. "Woah," she said suddenly, wobbling a bit and gripping tightly onto Kit's free hand as she righted herself. "You know, I don't feel very well at all."

"Whaddya mean, loss of limb?" Erika asked, eyes wide and unaware that he was kidding. Her stomach lurched, turning over as she paled a little. In actual fact, she looked decidedly green. "If I do lose a limb, I'll have your guts for garters," she said darkly. Thai food? The treasure hunter perked right up. "What if I cut off a finger? Could I still have one?" She asked with a sleepy smile. "It smelt amazing on the way in," she said honestly as she nodded. "I didn't know you cooked. You'll make an excellent housewife one day," she joked with a lopsided grin. "I would have looked after you," she said matter-of-factly. "Clothing is always optional if you hang out with me," she commented brightly.

As she was told to sit, Erika hopped up, eyes wide as she looked around. It was clean and bright but there were far too many things she didn't like the look of. Sharp things, scary things. She swallowed as she felt her heart start to race, instinctively pulling back a little from Kit as though she was trying to curl herself up into a ball. Sweets? Erika blinked, looking around. "Do you have any green lollies?" The blonde asked, suddenly interested as she peered into the jar. "I only like the green ones," she informed him. "And have you taken to bribing children, Kit? You're such a blackguard," she snorted.

"Work," Erika replied smoothly, shrugging her shoulders. "I go there often. There are a lot of tombs and stuff that haven't been explored so naturally, the goblins send us in to try and recover some gold and other precious artefacts." She was too busy blabbering on that she hadn't noticed the Healer uncork something and apply it to some cotton wool. "You have lovely eyes," she purred when she found him watching her and she felt herself smile. She felt awful. She felt drained. She just wanted to sleep. Was it normal to feel to utterly lethargic?

"How about you?" she asked kindly. "What have you been up to? Besides building your own empire?" She didn't finish her questioning because as soon as the potion was applied to her skin, she let out a strangled scream that cut through the silent rooms. Instinctively, she thrashed as a hot, searing pain shot through her, trying in vain to jerk her arm away from Kit's strong grip as tears sprung to her eyes. She couldn't breathe. It felt like she had been sucker punched in the gut.

"Motherfuc--" the swear word was halted by another grunt of pain as she screwed her eyes shut tightly and kicked her legs, wiggling in her seat now that Kit was effectively holding her down. Under any other circumstance, it would be entirely pleasurable but she found herself wanting to punch him square in the face. She also really wanted to vomit. She struggled a little before the pain subsided enough that she could collapse onto the seat, taking a deep, shuddering breath. "That wasn't nice," she said in a soft voice that cracked. "Can I have a lolly?"

Electric blue-green eyes flicked from the cupboard in front of him back to the blonde woman that was sitting in the reclinable chair behind him. Kit let out a hearty laugh, tilting the jar of sweets to search for Erika's emerald flavor of choice. "Oohh I think you're in luck Miss Trickett," He cooed through the voice he used exclusively for addressing patients under the age of thirteen. "But! I'll only let you choose your flavor if you're exceptionally good for me," The Healer teased.

"I do what I have to do," Kit protested, his features darkening with the exception of the glimmer of humor in his eyes. "You should see how some of these kids treat me," He complained with a dramatic head shake. Truthfully, the man quite liked kids, but he would be kidding himself to say that they were always easy to deal with.

Kit, after having closed the distance between he and Erika, was now applying a thick, dark serum on her wrist. 'You have lovely eyes.' He shook his head as a wide grin spread over his features, just waiting for the reaction that he knew would not be far off. The potion he used to treat her unique burn, which was by far the worst, had the tendency to trigger extreme reactions and right on cue, Erika lurched backward to try and evade the pain.

"Wheeeew, there she is," The Healer fought to steady her movements while maintaining his delicate touch with a practiced precision that had taken him years. Kit continued dabbing the serum, now more quickly, in an attempt to speed up the painful . "Almostttt," He sang out, biting down on his lip in a wince. "Annnnd, done! Lolly for you. A green one, at that, for censoring yourself," He declared before heading to the jar to claim the prize.

"From here on out, I'll be much nicer, promise," Kit ensured with his back to Erika as he prepared the next stage of treatment. "Don't worry about the redness, either, love. These kinds of burns get better before they get worse," He explained, another vial and her treat in tow.

As he started to work again, Kit decided it would be safe to carry on a real conversation now. "This is hardly an empire," He protested. "Honestly, I don't even own the place. The boss is on holiday so I put my name on the plates," The Healer joked with a wink. Typically, he downplayed his success' for fear of taking away from the point he was trying to make with his practice.

"I've just been fortunate to know some passionate and beautiful people who've helped me a great deal," He explained, this time more seriously. "This keeps me quite busy, really. Been volunteering quite a bit at this little spot called Safe Haven. Rallies, protests, the usual," Kit mentioned matter of factly. "Would love to get back into traveling more. You're quite lucky to go 'round for work," He mused as he inspected Erika's wrist to see how the healing process was coming along.

Erika tilted her head. She liked Kit. She always had. He had this lovely, calm, serene and laid back persona that made her feel instantly at ease. He was just plain nice but they had a friend sort of vibe going on. As he rummaged for a lolly, she found herself thinking that her bestie, Lulu, would really like the Healer. But she had her sights set on Jarrod. Exceptionally good? Erika chewed on her lower lip as she watched him. "Is it wrong that I'm wildly attracted to you right now?" The blonde asked in a low voice. It was the vaguely authoritative tone of voice that got her going. Oh yeah, she'd be exceptionally good. The best patient he'd ever had, for sure.

Erika snorted. "I bet you get a lot of gum in your hair," she replied cheerfully as she offered him a dimpled grin. She liked kids well enough, her family had a lot of them but they were uncontrollable when they were hungry, tired or in pain.

But the pain was blinding.

Hot and searing, it made her want to rip her own skin off. It seemed like it would hurt a lot less than whatever he was doing to her burn. She sounded like a wounded animal, letting out yelps and grunt as her body wriggled as hard as it could. It was no use, though. He must be used to detaining kids. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, one escaping and sliding down her cheek, marring her porcelain skin as it went. In the melee, one of her shoes fell off and dropped to the floor with a dull thud!

When being medically treated, she'd usually be compliant but she was such a baby when she was ill. When she had a cold, she hammed it up so Lulu would make her soup and get her a blanket and let her watch the old Muggle TV when she went to work. Fire. It felt like fire. Unrelenting. An inferno. The heat travelled up her arm to her elbow and she entertained the thought of maybe wrenching her entire arm off and whacking Kit across the back of the head.

He'd said he was done. Erika panted. "Oh good," she croaked as she wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I'd hate to see what you'd do to people you didn't like," she mumbled darkly as she held out a shaky hand for her lolly. She used her teeth to pull off the plastic and popped the boiled sweet into her mouth, finding herself quiet as she sucked, the little white stick hanging out of her mouth like an innocent cigarette. "I'm taking two," she announced, her voice muffled as she snatched an orange coloured one.

Redness? She looked down, faintly alarmed to see a ruby red spread across the back of her hand and she forced herself to swallow. Crapola. "I think you've done really well," Erika said with wide eyes as she continued to suck on her lollipop, her tongue turning a vivid shade of lime green. "You should be proud. I'm proud and you should know that my opinion is the only one that really matters." She snorted with laugher, flexing her fingers and instantly regretting it. "Ow," she groaned. "If you need help putting your boss' ones back up, give me a shout." The air still smelt like Thai food and she was starving.

"Safe Haven?" Erika asked, watching Kit keenly. "What's that?" She enquired, genuinely interested. Ah. "I love a good protest," she said softly as she let out a wistful sigh. "I haven't caused any decent anarchy in years and I find it faintly depressing," she joked with a soft smile.

"Eh," she commented vaguely, shrugging her slender shoulders as she sighed. "It's okay," she said softly. "After the sixth time you get heatstroke, it doesn't seem so bad," she said cheerfully. "You tend to miss home, though. And your friends. I don't really have any time for a boyfriend. I tend to disappear for six months at a time and I come home and find out that they're not longer interested." Her tone of voice was flippant but there was a tinge of sadness clear on her pretty facial features. "I do encourage travelling, though," she said with another smile. "You get time off at Christmas, right?" She asked, her eyes sparkling as she wanted to play match maker. "You should come to our party on Christmas Eve if you're not going home. Or take a weekend to Portofino," she said matter-of-factly. "It's gorgeous in December."

She followed Kit's gaze down to her ruined hand and then back up his face, trying to discern whether it was normal or not. "How's it going, doc?" Erika asked jovially. "Did I escape amputation?" The pain was now more of a dull, annoying ache. She flopped back into the seat as she chewed on her lolly, breaking it in two and chewing the sharp little shards before unwrapping the other one and popping it into her mouth as she looked around. "Are you single?" Erika asked suddenly.

"Safe Haven," The Healer began, although his eyes were entirely focused on Erika's burn that was healing before his very eyes. He was still working to cover the reddish, maimed skin with the glossy potion. The previous serums had started the process, and now there were only a few things left to do before the blonde would be completely back to normal. Although it was unusual for the man to deal with just wizards and witches, he was practiced in this sort of burn and knew how to handle the situation, luckily for Erika.

Kit bit down on his lower lip with the top row of his teeth, swirling the cotton ball on the area of skin that appeared to have been hit the the worst. "Safe Haven, I'm sorry, is a shelter. A place for people who are without home, food -- that sort of thing," He was quick to explain in a breath.

"If you're looking for a bit of trouble, just give me a shout on an off day. I've got a bit of a bad reputation 'round these parts," Kit joked, despite his statement not being completely false. "I'd say the Ministry has a whole drawer full of files on Dr. Emberton," He laughed, shooting her a lazy gaze that indicated he could care less if that were the case. In fact, he kind of hoped that it was. It was a secret dream of his to gain the notoriety that his father had achieved in the realm of activism.

The Healer listened with a faint smile as Erika chatted about her frequent travels. His face dropped, though, when she mentioned that she didn't have time for a boyfriend. Kit supposed he could relate to that, but then again, there were plenty of reasons that spanned beyond time that accounted for his lack of a partner. "Ah, come off it. You're telling me you don't have some handsome, curse breaking, boyfriend? Not buying that for a second, Trickett," Kit offered her a genuine smile before throwing the used cotton ball to the trash next to him.

At the mention of Christmas, the wizard paused. Was it already the holiday season? Where had the year gone? Kit shook his head. "I'll take some time off to go home for a bit, mum and sisters and I usually go away somewhere..." He pursed his lips at the thought. Every since his father's death, they made it a tradition to take a holiday as opposed to being in the family home.

"Yooouuu, ma'am, have just narrowly escaped being an amputee," Kit tapped her forearm with his index finger. "If you'd have waited an hour longer your arm would be the size of a balloon at this stage..." He grimaced at the thought of what could have been. "Now just get you bandaged up and you'll be as good as new," The Healer popped a lollipop into his mouth before walking back to the cupboards to retrieve more supplies.

At Erika's next question, the wizard paused, his hands no longer rummaging through bandages. He took a slow, deliberate breath as he debated how to answer the infamous girlfriend question. "Oh, I'm always single," Kit shrugged his shoulders, deciding to opt for the whole truth. He grabbed a handful of white bandages and made his way back to the witch. "I don't do the whole... relationship... thing," Kit made a face, taking her wrist in his own again and swirling the purple sweet around in his mouth.

Erika fell silent and tilted her head. Now that he'd said so, it sort of made sense that someone like him would be doing something like that. "That's amazing," she said genuinely, eyes sparkling. "Is it in London?" The tall blonde asked, wondering if it was close enough that she could maybe help out. "If you need any more food, just let me know." She paused and offered a goofy grin. "I come from a big family, I overfeed my flat mate. When I make couscous, there's enough to sink a battleship. I'd love to help if I can."

Her deeply blue eyes went back to her wrist and she wrinkled her nose in distaste. She'd felt worse but she doubted that she'd looked worse than she did now.

Erika grinned broadly, her dimples showing in full glory. "You better be careful," she warned Kit conversationally. "Girls like boys with a sordid past," she added with a melodramatic wink before she wiggled her eyebrows at him flirtatiously. She sighed softly. "I don't think anyone's really, truly got a clean file," she said conversationally. "I think I've got one. It's a bit silly," she said candidly, blowing at a stray lock of golden hair. "You break into a few castles, punch a couple of people, accidentally start a riot in central London and boom!" She exclaimed, throwing her uninjured hand in the air. "You're public enemy number one."

Erika snorted. "I wish," she said with another grin. "Guys like that don't like girls like me," she said truthfully as she relaxed on the chair. "I don't think they like the fact that I disappear for three months at a time. Or that I earn more money than them," she said with a thoughtful frown. "I'm convinced you think I leave a trail of broken hearts in my wake," she told Kit with a chuckle. "Nah. Don't really have time. I'm not sure I want a boyfriend," she explained. "I like dates and I like cuddles but things get heavy and they get scary. The moment things get serious, I usually panic. I'm usually out before the first argument starts."

She blinked. "Are you kidding?" She asked, eyes as wide as dinner plates as she looked down at her disgusting wrist. She eyed Kit curiously, not sure if he was being flippant or the threat of maiming was real. She wiggled her fingers which looked a bit like meaty sausages. "I wonder what was wrong with me," she mused thoughtfully, sighing softly. "Thanks doc," she added brightly at the mention of bandages before she followed suit and popped the second lollipop into her mouth, absently alternating flavours like a child.

"Oh that's nice," she said kindly. "Where are you off to this year?" Erika asked, genuinely interested. She travelled an awful lot and if Kit told her where he was going, she might have some suggestions of restaurants or things to do. "If you decide not to go or some back early, you can always come to my family's Christmas party in Cornwall," Erika said cheerfully. "Food, drink, pretty girls in short dresses," she said with another grin. "Honestly, though. Your mum and sisters are welcome too if you decide to stay locally. We'd love to have you."

Erika fell silent and nodded carefully. Understandable. Dutifully, she held her wrist to him so he could start to fix her up properly. "Relax. I'm not hitting on you," she said with a dimpled smile. "Well, I am a little but I can't help myself. You really are quite lovely," she added honestly. "Is there a reason why you don't do relationships?" She asked softly, wondering if there was a way she could get him and Lulu together. She was sure he'd love her. Why wouldn't he? She was tall and smart, beautiful and wonderfully weird.

"I'm just asking because I know someone who you might like. Even if you don't, she's a complete basket case but she's drop dead gorgeous," she began, trying to describe Lulu to the Healer. "You need some more friends," Erika said sternly with a nod of her head. "You, kind sir, can consider me your fairy godmother," she said smugly, poking his forearm.