She was glad she did not have to walk up several flights of stairs because it was taking all of her effort not to punch a wall and break her hand to divert her attention. If only a bubble would work for her! But no, she had to constantly injure herself. Damn! She was tight lipped because she was trying to keep back the litany of swear words from the languages she spoke.

When he said they were almost there, she sagged some. With her sweating bullets, the smell of roses took on a sweeter smell that roses took on before they died. It also became thicker in the air.

When the elevator did the thing elevators do as they stop... You know, that moment one gets the sensation of free falling? She shut her eyes and tried not to think anymore. Also, if she knew he blamed himself still, she would have probably started telling him to knock it off.... In Hungarian. In fact, she muttered a few choice words in said native tongue.

Supporting her and moving slowly towards his door, they were soon in his very living room. "I'll grab what I need, sinks over there to wash up," he added motioning towards the small kitchen space. Thank god for private student accommodation. It easily looked like just another tiny New York apartment.

Grabbing the med kit he kept well stocked, along with some surgical gloves and suture kit, he was glad he kept the place spotless. Considering his own health issues, it wasn't exactly a surprise he made sure to have his home be clean and mostly bacteria free. Setting it all on his coffee table and giving his own hands a good scrub with soap, it seemed that everything needing to be done, was.

"Well then what would you prefer we deal with first? The hand might be an issue but if you want my suggestion, the burns are the pressing issue." Getting them properly treated and bandaged would give Xavia some measure of relief. "I've also got a half decent dryer, if you want to dry your skirt off. I've spare track suit bottoms you can borrow if need be." In any other instance, that might come across as a pretty lame chat up line. The note of concern in his voice hopefully made his motives obvious.

She nodded as he helped her to the living room and such. Washing up happened and she was situated on the couch. She looked down at her legs and said, "Pants might hurt." She said this honestly, then gingerly lifted the damp fabric high enough to clear the nasty looking burns.

"Burns," she said and gestured to the leathery looking wounds on both of her thighs. The tea should not have burnt anyone beyond first degree but she was weak to both hot liquid and cold, the cold should have helped but it hindered.

She was hurting too bad to care if he made a pass at her anymore. Indeed, he would see that clearly enough. Even her aloe had not worked very well at all. She took a deep, shuddering breath and clenched her jaw.

"We can look at my hand later. Please make it stop." She gave an imploring look to Artair. Her eyes were showing the signs of her distress.

Nodding at her response, he pulled the various things he'd need out of the first aid pack. Burn creams, bandages and disinfecting wipes. Should be enough to give her some relief, as well as stop any nasty infections until she could get them properly looked at. "I need to clean the burned area before I can put on any cream or the bandages. I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt. A lot."

"Scream if you need to Xavia, I can deal with any complaints later." Giving her a sympathetic look, he steeled himself for what would come next. It never felt good having to cause people pain while trying to treat them, but it was a sad fact of medicine. Sometimes, pain was necessary.

Gently cleaning the burns on her legs with the wipes, trying to ignore the pained sounds and other obvious signs of distress, he got a good look at the burns themselves now. This was all from less than boiling water? Jesus that was one hell of a weakness. Certainly put his own mutation in perspective. By all accounts he was damn lucky as far as mutations went, he still lived a pretty normal life.

"Bear with it a wee bit long, only need to get the cream and bandages on. Worst is already over." Hopefully. He didn't know how effective the burn cream would be, she'd already said pain killers weren't particularly effective on her.

She did not scream. At least... Not until it became unbearable toward the middle of him cleaning the nasty burns. She was sweating bullets by the time he was putting the ointment on. She buried her face into one of the couch cushions, unable to bear her brave front anymore.

Hell, it was probably surprising she lasted as long as she did. By the time he was done applying the ointment and dressing her legs, she managed to not pass out, which was a feat, to say the least. She was breathing ragged breaths, shuddering, sweating, etc.

She looked at him with watery eyes and hiccupped. Holy crap, that had hurt. "Is it o-hover?" She asked very quietly as she watched him. This might have made her seem child like as far as vulnerability went. But could anyone blame her?

If, indeed, it was over, she did not dare move from the spot she was sitting in. Lord help her, but she just couldn't do it. She hated to admit it to herself but she probably should have bitten the bullet and let him take care of this before it got so bad.

Smiling at her and wiping his hands on a towel he had on hand, "All done, hopefully that'll be fine until you can get it looked at by someone with the proper facilities." That had probably hurt a lot more than she had let on, but the worst was over. Standing up to full height and stretching, that had taken a surprising amount out of him. Christ knows how Xavia felt right now.

Quickly washing his hands and throwing the towel in the laundry basket, it was good to help someone, actually use the skills he was learning. To often in recent times he'd been using his power to hurt people. Helping felt weird. But good weird.

"I could check out your hand now if you want, but I have a feeling you're pretty wiped out after that." Wouldn't blame her if she wanted to crawl into bed and not leave it for fifteen hours. Artair might not have been paying attention to her reactions while tending to the burns, but even he had picked up on her pain, the stronger rosey smell and pained eyes. Some signs he could pick up on.

"You in any less pain? Now that those are dealt with." He was more than happy to get the poor woman home, back to her daughter. 

"No." She muttered, "No hospital, no lab. Professor maybe." Her voice was shaky and weak sounding after all of that. "I can't deal wit' it." Indeed, even if he was right in that she needed to go, it would send her into panic and that was the last thing she needed.

She wasn't feeling so well. Her legs still hurt, though they weren't quite as bad. She was biting her bottom lip. She felt like she was withering, if that made any sense whatsoever. Actually, she looked wilted in a way. Her eyes felt heavy, and her mouth felt parched. Sandpaper... That was the texture of her tongue.

She turned her palm over so he could look, but it was all she could do to move. He would see that the skin around the wound was looking healthy, but she was not.

She shook her head at him, "I don't feel well. Can I just rest my eyes?"

"Thats fine Xavia. Doc's got everything he needs to help you anyway and he's the person I'd probably go to first anways." He could understand her trepidation, even without all the anti mutant rhetoric going around she'd mentioned some bad experiences anyway. Didn't help that no one really like going to the doctors.

If she rested now, chances are she was out for the night. Damnit, he couldn't just throw her in a taxi and hope she got home safe at this point, might as well let her rest if she needed it. "Thats fine lass, rest as long as you need, just shout when you want to leave so I can let you out the building." Security at his was really good. Too good sometimes, if the number of times he'd locked himself out was a measure for it.

Packing away everything he'd brought out, making sure to leave a note to replace so items next time he was at university. "If you want a glass of water or anything, just ask. I've got some half decent bottled stuff, along with any variation of over the counter pain killers you could name."

He might deal with more pain than he actually let on to people. Some things, were private.

She gave him a tired smile, and fell asleep as he was talking to her... Still sitting up... Still dressed in the damp skirt. Xavia hadn't meant to, but her head bobbed forward and she passed out. Hopefully he would catch her before she flopped forward.

Should he catch her, she would give a sigh and... Wait was she reaching her arms around? Yes, yes she was. Her arms went to curl around the back of his neck out of instinct, and her face went right for the crook of his neck... Unless he managed to catch it before it happened... But this was a sign he must have earned her trust, for she probably would have tried to keep from passing out in general.

But she didn't do much more than that... The poor thing was just completely exhausted. Her face looked peaceful in sleep... He might notice finer details when closer... How pale she was at the moment, a fresh looking scar that was still pink just above her lip, the smudges beneath her eyes from lack of sleep... They only hinted at a harsh reality.

Things she carefully hid while awake showed in the vulnerability of sleep. He would probably smell the rose scent dimming down with her sleep. And somehow she trusted him, a near stranger, with her safety.

Thank god for quick reactions, it was the only thing that saved Xavia from face planting. Catching her before she hurt herself, and gently laying her into a more comfortable position to sleep in, he was officially done for the day. This was not what he'd been expecting, but then again who really expected this exact situation? Getting her a blanket and covering her, he had to admit, she did look peaceful for once tonight. "Sleep well lass, at least one of us will."

Sighing, and stretching his aching muscles out, he'd consider sleeping if his mind wasn't stuck on again. Sleeping wasn't on the cards for him again, so he might as well do something useful. Sitting down at his desk, turning on his computer and pulling out one of his textbooks, he set to on a little bit of research. Meeting this strange woman had made him realise how little he knew when it came to helping people with unique physiology. 

So he spent his night pouring over any and all reports of mutants with similar abilities to Xavia, in hopes of finding a way to explain her strange wound. Who knows, he might get lucky with his searching.

She woke up within a few hours, having fallen from the couch when she tossed a little too much. Dazed, she would not move. It took her a minute to realize where she was and that she was in a great deal of discomfort. Sighing, she threw her arm over her face. Xavia spent several moments trying to deal with the pain.

After she decided she could move again, she pushed herself up and it was all she could do to !make it back to Artair's sofa. She was panting by the time she settled back in. She glanced around her, searching the room for him. "Artair?" She asked, almost hesitantly.

A wave of nausea, probably from the pain, she thought and took several deep breaths. Oh my goodness, she thought and called out, "Bat'room?"

A voice startled him awake. Damn, had he really dozed off, sitting up while staring at a screen? The headache suggest that yes, he had. Rubbing the grit from his eyes and sourly checking the time, he must have had maybe an hours sleep, if that. 

The voice interrupted his grumpy thoughts again however and his reply was instinctual from too many nights having to take care of drunk friends. "Turn left out of the living room, it's the door right in front of you!" He shouted in reply, hoping Xavia would get there in time. If someone was shouting for the bathroom, it usually meant they were about to throw up and he not need to deal with that right now.

A dull throb in his chest forced him up and into the main room. Great. With the lack of sleep and minor stress of the day his pain was flaring up. That was always fun. Taking some of the stronger pain killers he had, and drawing a glass of water for Xavia for when she emerged from the bathroom, Artair was wondering if she'd really be OK to get home tonight at all. Sighing, he really hoped so, because otherwise he'd be sleeping on the sofa again. 

He'd probably hear her stumble toward the bathroom, the door close slightly loud but not horribly so, and the sound of her losing her dinner. And then it would be quiet for several minutes. When she emerged, she went back to sit on the couch and sat there shuddering for a while.

When he came round with a glass of water, she noticed he did not look too well either. She watched him quietly for a moment before asking, "You alright, Artair?" He would be able tyo hear the concern in her voice... It seemed she wasn't even thinking about herself in knowing he was looking the way he did.

She waited until he brought the water, assuming he sat on the couch, and then reached over and gently touched his arm.

Looking up as she came back out, she looked a wee bit worse for wear, not that it should be surprising. Burns, pain and now nausea? Not a fun mix. Bringing the glass over to her as she sat on the sofa, he was a bit surprised by the question. Did he really look that rough? Sure he had slept, well in fairness he hadn't gotten much sleep all that week but surely he looked mostly the same as before?

"About as good as can be expected. Pains flared back, nothing I'm not used to by now." Chronic pain went with the territory when it came to surgery. "Going to make sleep hard to come by again, which is not great since I haven't had a full nights sleep for about a fortnight."

In all of this, with everything this night had thrown at her, she was taking the time to be worried over him? Chuckling to himself a bit, he could help it, it was just so odd to him. "Sorry, just getting struck by daft thoughts. Don't worry about me lass, I've dealt with this long enough to be used to it."

She gave a tired smile and replied with, "You take care of me and expect me not to ask you how you are doing? What pain do you have?" She waved away his protest. It was just who she was. In the meantime, though, she took all of the water in all at once, which normal people wouldn't do, but being a plant, she seemed to need it.

Water helped. She took a deep, shuddering breath afterwards and looked down at her thighs, which seemed to start looking a touch better... Odd, right? She was still pretty clammy in general, however. "I do not t'ink going home will happen. I know t'at t'is is not great... Some stramge woman camping out on your couch. I am sorry for all t'e trouble."

Xavia looked down at her hands as they clutched the glass. She felt rather guilty now that he felt bad after he took care of her. He did not have to do that, but he did do it. She felt bad that she had caused trouble.