Who: Anders & Leliana What: Leliana hits up Anders for his services (the non sexual kind) and offers a donation for his clinic. When: Probably before Cindy got rescued. Where: Free clinic. Rating/Warnings: Lowish! Status: Complete!
Sometimes people revealed too much over the internet - it didn’t take Leliana to hone in on the exact free clinic her darling acquaintance offered his services at. And it seemed like this darling acquaintance also shared the same world in which they dreamt of, and she had to wonder if she’d meet him too - she’d come across Alistair, the Warden. Sten. Morrigan (that was a woman she didn’t trust). Isabela had confided that they’d meet in a ‘sexy’ way.
But no mention of the mysterious doctor quite yet.
“I am looking for a Mister...Anders?” Leliana requested, greeting the receptionist with a sweet smile, the foreign accent clinging to her words, giving her voice that silky tone. “I...don’t have an appointment.”
The receptionist gave Leliana a look. Dr. Anders (as he insisted everyone call him despite the fact that neither his first nor his last name was ‘Anders’) was certainly having a lot of attractive women coming to visit him lately. “Of course,” she said. “I’ll just need to see your health card or whatever it is that Americans use in their clinics help me and the nature of your appointment, and I can add you to the queue. Have you been to the clinic before?”
Oh, right. Doctor. Not Mister. Silly her. “Um, I have not,” she said with a sheepish kind of smile, nails scratching at her scalp in a degree of awkwardness. Leliana didn’t look injured, nor did she look like someone who would need free care. She was well-dressed in something casual yet elegant with a set of shoes that looked like they cost a pretty penny. “We are acquaintances. I’ve got an offer to propose - a financial one - that could benefit your clinic.”
Her kind of shadowy business gleaned an impressive amount of money, but Leliana was far from greedy. She’d give to those who needed it, and that was her offer. No strings. Not even if he rejected what she wanted to ask of him.
“Oh!” The receptionist exclaimed. The clinic was always in need of money, and though he never mentioned anything, she had noticed Anders always donated some money every month. “Oh yes, of course. Excuse me.” She got up and went to fetch Anders.
Anders was between when his receptionist came to get him, mentioning something about a large donation. He was in between patients, so it was fairly easy for him to immediately follow the receptionist out to the main meeting room.
“Hello,” Anders said walking out into the reception area, wearing his sunniest smile. He offered his hand out to the woman. “I’m Anders. Would you like to accompany me to my office?”
No, he didn’t look like anyone she’d encountered in the dreams yet. “Leliana,” she greeted, taking his hand for a welcome shake. “We’ve spoken. If you recall.”
On the network, with all the insane dream discussions. That network. That Leliana.
“Lead the way, doctor.” An office would be the best environment to discuss things. Not like she liked to air any sensitive information where public ears rested. Eyes were everywhere and she knew that not all of them were hers, and considering the fragile state of the County in regards to all this illegal activity, she would not take her chances. Not even close.
When Anders heard the name, it clicked. They hadn’t exchanged names on the Network, but when he ran into Isabela she had told him. His smile became a little more genuine as he lead the way to his office. “Would you like something to drink? Coffee? Tea? Water?”
“No, I’m good, thank you.” Definitely had the personality of a doctor with good bedside manners anyway - and Leliana liked to think she was a good judge of character, usually able to pinpoint the tell-tale signs of someone with intentions not so pure. “And I certainly didn’t mean to pop in during a busy time - I promise I’ll make my visit quick and to the point!”
Surely he had many things to do, many things to tend to, but hopefully an agreement could be settled upon. And they’d be in contact regardless, of course, thanks to the connection of that funny little internet cluster of a community - especially if their dreams were held in common.
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” Anders said. “We have an extra doctor in today, so it’s not too busy.” He led the way to the office, and then closed the door behind them, then sat in his chair behind his desk. He was pretty excited to meet Leliana in person, given that they shared the same land in their dreams.
“What can I do for you today?”
Once he took a seat, she occupied the one across from him, setting the purse on her lap. Wasn’t a name-brand Gucci kind of thing, but it had its charm, its cuteness. “I am actually interested in your services. Medically speaking. I’ve got those who work for me often getting themselves into...messy situations. And I’d like a safe haven for them to go to, should an emergency occur. A go to person. Instinct tells me you’re trustworthy enough.”
There was also the part where she was willing to donate money - no matter what the answer - but she wanted to gauge a reaction first.
Messy situations sounded rather suspicious. Anders frowned. “Define messy situations,” he said. While he wasn’t opposed to illegal activities if they were for the greater good, he wasn’t particularly keen on the idea of helping people who were doing illegal activities for the sake of themselves, or at the sake of someone else. Well, unless that someone else really deserved it.
He hoped that it was the good kind of messy situations. He had grown to rather like Leliana on Valarnet and it would be a pity if it turned out she was somehow involved in all the criminal activity that had been going on lately.
Leliana wouldn’t outright manipulate a good person, no - she’d play her cards close to her chest, but let enough information to clear things up but also not reveal anything too private. Death and deception in the name of righteousness, that was her burden. A little over-glorified, but someone had to go through with the tough decisions. She was used to it.
“I’ve got good people going double-agent in certain circles, certain hideouts - people getting attack. A dear friend of mine went missing for leverage. We’ve been collecting intel and anything else we can glean, but sometimes things don’t go without a bit of...blood spilled.” Sure, she can hole them up in a regular hospital, but the strings that required pulling to keep it all hush-hush was more than exhausting.
And considering the doctor across from her was full of all these goody intentions, then maybe he’d bite.
"This is far more excitement that I had bargained for when I moved here," Anders said, frowning, though there was a touch of levity in his voice. Then again, with mysterious dreams and possible powers, maybe double agents was part the course. He still wasn't sure if Leliana was one of the good guys or the bad guys, or of there were good guys and bad guys, but people were apparently getting hurt, and going missing, and he could help them.
"If I agree to do this," he said slowly, "can I stop doing it if I decide it's not something I would like to be involved in?"
That was an unexpected question - but a completely valid one, she’d give him that. Both brows flared up in mild surprise. “Of course,” she said, her tone almost confused, as if she wondered if she really had it in her to force someone into service. Absolutely not! “I’m no bully. I promise you. Should you feel uncomfortable, then you have no obligation to continue.”
She’d done questionable things - she always would, it was part of the game, but never would she do something like that to someone innocent. To those who didn’t deserve it. “And, actually…” Better now than never. Leliana fished in her purse and pulled out a thick envelope. She had enough to live comfortably - anything extra that just sat there was wasteful, and what better cause than to a clinic in shambles? “This--it’s for your clinic.” She set it on the desk. “I trust you won’t use it for personal reasons. But I am sure you could use new equipment. A bonus for your staff members. No matter what your response is.”
Her surprised reaction almost made Anders feel guilty for asking. Anders took the envelope and briefly glanced in it. He'd count it later but that looked like quite the sum of cash. He tried not to look too surprised. "Thank you," Anders said. "That’s very generous of you. I wouldn't dream of using it for personal use.
"I'll do it, by the way," he added. "If there’s people getting hurt, I should help them.”
Which was exactly why Leliana knew he’d be the best to come to - finding someone who genuinely cared more about someone’s well-being than the money it paid to give medical attention was a rare find. Most of the time it was about money, and she’d given it - but the facility was worth it, if it helped those that couldn’t afford medical attention on their own.
Even the system failed people.
“We’ll be in touch, then?” Leliana’s smile was soft and genuine, didn’t have that regular uncurrent of I will slice your carotid artery and bleed you out that most ‘business situations’ had often involved. “Not just for your help, but…” She sighed. “Considering we dream of the same world, I’m sure we’ll have plenty to discuss as things progress. And who knows. Perhaps we’ll meet there too, no?”
Anders returned her smile. “We’ll be in touch,” he confirmed. “Call me any time you need my services. Or whenever, really. I’d be happy to go out and talk about Thedas with you. Was there anything more that you wished to discuss with me?”
“I’m sure we’ll have plenty to discuss about our strange little dream world,” Leliana mused, brows furrowed in a degree of defeated disbelief. “Alistair and Isabela are ahead of us. We’ve got quite the catching up to do!” And it wasn’t like she had any intentions of settling down here, of all places, but she’d stick around and see where this whole dream phenomenon took them.
It was the kind of crazy train you couldn’t get off of. A trainwreck you couldn’t look away from.
She scooted the chair back and stood, offering her hand for a shake. “Take care of yourself, Anders.”
“I’m sure there will be plenty to discuss,” Anders agreed. “Magic and demons and darkspawn, oh my.” He hadn’t actually seen any Darkspawn yet in his dreams, but he had been told that there was going to be a Blight. He wasn’t entirely looking forward to that. Maybe he’d miss it.
He stood when she did, and took her hand. “You too, Leliana. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.”