the punchline goes (rose)(TW)

[Deleted]

Andromeda knew that her choices were entirely fucked up. She knew that dating the sweetest person in existence and killing other people in the middle of the night didn't add up. She knew that people didn't respect or understand her chosen mission in life. That mission being to rid the world of vermin, snakes, and all around just shit people. She knew she was doing the right thing. Although the ability to kill had gotten more difficult as her and Phil became closer and closer. She knew that he wasn't supportive of her vigilante ways, she also knew that he didn't know all the details. She was happy, thrilled even, to keep him in the dark. So there he was in the dark. And there she was, always, always in the dark.

Tonight was not a night to show any mercy toward her victims of choice. It was easy to think of them as not being exactly human, as being monsters of a kind. And what was so wrong with killing monsters? Tonight however one of them got the best of her. She stumbled out of the building where she had been hunting her prey, the gash in her arms so deep she could almost see the bone. She cursed under her breath, and then out loud. She usually didn't go to for injuries that happened on her vigilante missions because it would raise too many questions at work. Instead she generally took care of the thing herself or went to Jamie. But this, this was a deep one, this was a bad one.

What amazed her the most about it was that it wasn't even a magical knife it was just a plain old muggle with an insanely good aim and incredible speed and stealth. She could try to fix it herself but it was just deep enough that she wasn't sure she could do it the right way. She could also go to her sister, of course she was the healer after all, talented and smart and clever. But no, Andy just ducked into Knockturn Alley knowing that if she looked hard enough someone could lead her to the right place.

Through the grapevine she finally stumbled upon the name and location of the person who she could talk to who would discreetly take care of her injuries. She had wrapped a tourniquet above the wound, and threw on a jacket so it was hardly visible but the bulge from the tourniquet itself was easy to see. Even easier to see was the paleness of her face as her body reacted to blood draining out of it.

The place was easy to spot once she knew what she was looking for and even easier on the eyes. She approached the door and knocked on it with her uninjured arm. 

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Rozalina Antonina Nightshade]

Late October 2026
@lestrange

Rose wasn't always at her "home", if you could call it that. The place had been an apothecary, long abandoned and run down. She'd taken a liking to it because in her mind it was easy to convert to her needs. Both a place for her to stay but also a place to work out of. It was discrete and unassuming, not drawing attention in the shady part of town it resided. But nor did it feel dangerous. When you were a Nightshade though, little felt dangerous. She wasn't always here though, so she kept a house elf at the shop/converted home. The magical being kept the place in shape for it, took messages, and knew how to reach her in a crisis.

Rose had just gotten home. Exhausted after the long day. She'd had to travel back to Russia for a week and just gotten back. Dealing with her family was.... draining and infuriating. She threw her bag onto the floor and slumped down in an arm chair. The fireplace of the sitting room lighting magically to cast the room in a warm glow. She leaned into one of the arms of the chair, her hand covering her face as she let out a slow and shaky breath. The house elf came scurrying out of the kitchen, with a tray with a tall glass in hand with a dark liquid of a particularly strong alcoholic drink. She'd just taken that first very long drink when there was a knock at the door.

Rose didn't moved from her seep, though her eyes turned from tired to sharp, staring intensely at the door. The house elf looked at her master, who nodded, before scurrying to the door and opening it. The house elf took only a moment to assess the situation. IT wasn't the first time a patient showed up at the door after all. "M-Mistress? You have a patient," the house elf squeaked out. Rose lowered her glass, setting out another sigh, before getting up from the arm chair and moving to the door. She took a long sip from her drink as she eyed this stranger up and down, her gaze hard and icy as she scrutinized. Only after a moments silent contemplation did she lower the glass and hand it to the house elf. The house elf took it without hesitation and stepped out of the way. "I only accept cash for first time patients. I won't ask how you got that-" She motioned with her head to the woman's arm, "And you won't tell anyone about me. Deal?" She knew why the girl was here. A back alley healer was only used for one reason. To heal an injury that you didn't want others to know about. Her fees weren't just for the healing. People were paying for her discretion.

[Deleted]

The door opened.

When the healer in question appeared, Andy took in the sight. There was something something about her. Something that screamed kindred spirit.

"I have cash, and I'm not interested in talking up the town, or anyone for that matter." Andy was sure that Vik had come across her before. He was a black market thief after all, and he had never mentioned this healer... so yeah, he probably had worked with her in the past. That thought made her want to bring him up, but she knew this wasn't the type of place for small talk.

She gently pulled off her jacket, revealing the wound in a more obvious fashion. "Fast little bugger," she noted, speaking of the person who had given her the cut. 

The funny thing was, the healer said she wouldn't ask about the wound but deep down Andy wanted to brag about her life behind the scenes, her life in the darkness. On the surface she didn't want to be proud of the things she had done but... here, in this room, with her... she wanted to open up.

Gross.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Rozalina Antonina Nightshade]

Late October 2026
@lestrange

Rose wouldn't deny that sometimes she was curious as to why or how a person that visited her was injured. She could always piece together at least a part of the story from the injury itself, but there was still always missing pieces. To be honest though? That curiosity was very mild, and she never felt much like pursuing it. Just like she didn't want people prying into her business she wouldn't pry into their's. It was why she did this work. In some twisted way she wanted to help people, regardless of who it was that came to her. Without a doubt she'd patched up countless criminals. Probably even murderers. Many she knew must be wanted. But she didn't discriminate if they had the cash to pay for her work.

Rose nodded as the woman agreed to the terms, cash and silence. Rose had stepped aside, to let the young woman in, when the stranger took off the jacket to reveal the full wound. Obviously it'd been bad, the way she'd been favoring the arm before. But seeing it even in the dim light? Well, Rose was right to assume it'd been bad. Rose eyed it for a moment before turning on her heels and heading down the hall way to the door that led to the basement. She motioned over her shoulder for the woman to follow. She'd need better light to assess the damage and heal it. Back when the place had been a shop the basement had been used for storage. When Rose had converted it to her London home though, she'd transformed the basement into a medical space.

"Was it caused by magic or no?" Rose asked over her shoulder, not bothering to turn back as she opened the door to the basement and descended the steps. The basement wasn't anything fancy, but it was equipped enough to cover anything you might need for a back alley patch job. She started to put on some sterile gloves as she finally turned back to the young woman. "Take a seat there," she motioned to the exam table.

[Deleted]

The woman moved down a hallway and Andy followed, even before being beckoned. She didn't want to be alone in a room of a strangers house anyway, especially not in regards to how she had met this particular stranger. Going into a basement was also not ideal, but Andy could handle herself and this was the best way to get the injury taken care of. "No," she answered, "not magic," she added for confirmation. Sadly, this muggle had gotten the best of her and she was just not skilled enough to deal with a cut this deep.

She took a seat where directed, setting her jacket down nearby. She sighed a little as she settled in, not having sat down since the fight itself and realizing she needed much more rest than she liked people to know. This woman though, being a medical person, would probably note based on Andy's pale skin and sunken eyes, that Andy was not the healthiest of people, and definitely did not get enough sleep. She wasn't particularly upset about that fact, most of Andy's enjoyable and important encounters happened when she should have been asleep.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade