"I'm doing shockingly well all things considered. Like a five out of ten for pain. Can I have something to eat?"

She is pretty out of fucks to give at this point. She set fire to her insides and lived, everything after this is gravy. She's still flinching away from the searing pain in her memory but that can be dealt with later. She shoves it down again. She's starving. 

"Sure. Soup or sandwich? That's what we've got here. You should be good to head out soon, I'll have someone in to check and get those bandages off in a bit. Would you like to talk to the doctor or a therapist?

"Sandwich, please. I'd also like to talk to a therapist, thank you."

She needs an outside perspective on her plans going forwards.

She gets her sandwich.

Her therapist is a cat-woman. She gives the standard confidentiality-barring-life-threatening-situations speech then asks what Liath wants to talk about, if anything.

"Mainly I want to talk about what the best way to handle fear of miscasts going forwards is. Should I be getting right back on the horse, or do you recommend something more gentle?"

"That depends a lot on what kind of person you are. But one thing to remember is that for almost all sorcerers, especially those who push themselves, miscasts are not a possibility. They are an inevitability. What were you feeling when you miscast? Were there any outside conditions you could control to make it less likely?"

"I was feeling... Resentment, at the world for having put me in a corner where I'm forced to work twelve hour days. That'd been building for three weeks; I can handle it, I can deal with it, I just don't enjoy it. I don't think anyone enjoys that kind of workload. I had just about gotten to the point at which I wanted to hurt someone. ...recreationally, preferably... I'm just digging myself deeper here aren't I?"

"I'm not sure what you mean by digging yourself deeper, but I've seen that sustained high stress is not good for people in any number of ways. It's not just unpleasant - the stress makes you think confrontationally, irrationally, it makes you leap to faster and easier seeming answers, it makes you get frustrated with your work more easily and degrades creativity. In the long run, more hours worked does not even necessarily lead to more work being done. You may be able to 'handle it', but are you doing the same quality of work you would be doing if you worked eight hour days and took some time to relax and do things you enjoy?"

Liath... finds herself nodding. Oh, it's easy to nod along to someone saying she should give herself more breaks, that's just self-indulgence, but the quality of work argument is sound. And she doesn't need to be that hurried, does she? She's ahead of schedule already - in the advanced class for sword work and knows how to call up Flaming Sword of Rhuin - And she'll get Aqshy's Aegis, she's close -

"I think I should talk very seriously to my program advisor," she says. "And see if I can adjust my program to something closer to three months."

"I think that would be a good idea. As far as I know, you can adjust your class schedule at any time. If nobody mentioned this to you already, well, this place is full of workaholics." The therapist smiles wryly. "I wish more people listened to that advice when I give it."

"Having a brush with your mortality changes things. I'm not going to let this stop me. But maybe... I don't have to charge into it, sword drawn, you know?"

Nod, nod. "If you're dead or burnt out you can't do whatever it is you're setting out to do... And sorcery can do that to you if you're not careful."

"Yeah." She smiles. "Thanks for the advice, I think that's what I needed to hear. Can you send someone to attend to the bandages so I can go back to my rooms?"

"Of course, I'll get a nurse in here to discharge you. Here's my card if you want another session - though I will have to charge next time."

The therapist goes. A different nurse from before comes in, checks the bandages, removes them and tells her she's good to go, though she should keep in mind the soreness will continue for a day or two and her skin will be more tender and easily-marked for about the same.

She changes back into her battledress, and sees about finding her dorms again. She would like to collapse for a little while someplace private.

The hospital is on the opposite site of campus from her dorm room.

Three different people ask if she's alright.

"I'm fine," she says. "No permanent damage, though you'd better believe I'm thinking hard about reducing my twelve-hour class schedule. So maybe you guys will see me around more!"

They all agree that'll be nice and maybe they can go drinking or something.

Maybe they can do that, sure. 

(Feels like a chore.) 

She goes back to her room and flops into bed. Her skin stings. 

She probably should cancel her classes for today. 

She lies in bed for fifteen minutes, then gets herself up and moving again. 

She doesn't know what to do with herself if she isn't working. She can't take the whole day off. 

... She could get another meal at least. Maybe look for a sub. 

She goes and eats an early lunch and allows herself a small break.

No subs make themselves obvious to her. Nobody talks to her at all in the cafeteria, unless she initiates.

She goes looking for the architecture club.

People are happy to point her to the Architecture Club. Fittingly enough, it's in a very nice building, with features designed to encourage studying and awe. Open space, lots of glass, high ceilings, lots of light, a subtle grandeur to the decorations that says Money, but in an understated sort of way. This could almost be one of the less-decorated rooms in her palace. And it's one that seems to house a whole bunch of other clubs as well - but Architecture Club has the best and largest spot, an entire wing really.

The front of the Architecture Club is blocked by a smiling teen at a reception desk. She says they're always happy to see new people interested in the most important and impactful club on campus, the one concerned with the design of the very spaces around them! Would she like a tour?

"Why yes, I would love a tour." 

The Architecture Club has even more money. There are magical tables for mocking up room and facade designs that must be absurdly expensive, with people arguing over designs over one of them and changing things every few sentences. There's a fancy cafeteria, well stocked, just for the Club. There's an art gallery, and several workrooms nicely equipped for drafting, model-making, and so on. There's a... Ballroom, almost, half lecture hall and half space for a party, with lots of effort put into making it grand. The Club is currently not too crowded, and the people here talk to her with a quiet superiority. Oh yes, she should become a member, and eventually she'll be an important member, like them...

Familiar territory, if not expected in a university. 

She would indeed like to become a member. May she use one of these tables for a moment, she has a design she'd like to show off though she's not certain she knows the controls on these very fancy tables. Was this space designed by the Architecture Club, incidentally?