melodiesoflife | Feed a fever, starve a cold?

Who: Albel and Reno
What: Player Plot: Down with the Sickness
Where: Throughout Aqures Ixen, in their homes or the homes of their caretakers
When: Albel, May 16 -- ? ; Reno, May 21 -- ? (yes, during Diamond Weapon too, uh oh!)
Warnings: Language as always, hallucinations (possibly including body horror), severe anxiety, will add more if they come up. Headers will be labeled.

[Multiple threads and varying severity are fine, just put Reno or Albel in the thread header for who you want.]

Albel

As if revisiting the Lunar Gate wasn't stressful enough, whatever meltdown Sephiroth had just had was the last straw. Well, to be more specific, opening the can of worms that was Terra was the worst of it, especially when neither man was an especially good communicator as it was. Adding alcohol was just more fuel for the fire. So the Behemoth challenge was like a blessing. Albel could go, beat the thing senseless, and work out his frustrations.

At least that was the plan. But apparently using his Beastmaster job didn't count as "single combat" if he got help from his dragon. He would have beaten the damn thing, too, but for that technicality. Tch, stupid. Now Albel was even more stressed for having lost.

He sneezed. Again. Ugh, so annoying.

... Except it got worse. Sneezing became sniffling, sniffling became coughing, it all became a pounding headache with sweats and chills. Apris, it felt like the mountains of Airyglyph, he was so cold! Could this get any worse?

Reno

Reno blew his nose again. Ugh, gross. The girls had already preemptively quarantined him to his room -- apparently a weird flu had been going around and it was super contagious. But this was just a little cold! It couldn't possibly be that bad.

Colds sometimes had fevers, right? Sometimes? Maybe? Whatever, it wasn't even that high.

At least K-chan could still stay with him. But he didn't have time to be sick right now! The Assassins needed him! Surely this would all go away on its own in a couple of days, and then he'd be fine. It was just that gross sewage air, that was all. It was definitely not going to stop him from hunting down Diamond Weapon. That was too important.

Reno jumped, his heart suddenly racing as he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Breathe, he told himself, trying to calm down. Just a shadow, just a trick of the light.

There were no gods or goddesses to curse him here. There were no gods or goddesses to curse him here...

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Albel closed his eyes with furrowed brow. "What would help is if the room would stop spinning..." he grumbled, then groaned. He wasn't sure if closing his eyes made things better or worse.

He blinked up at Sheena. This was awful. Not only did he feel awful... but this sickness was making him weak! He didn't like depending on other people! It was beyond uncomfortable... he was a burden.

He hated it.

Gently lowering herself on to the bed to sit next to him, Sheena placed a hand lightly on his cheek. "If I could get it to do that for you, I'd do it in a second."

When he looked up at her, the ninja gave him an understanding look. They were a lot alike in other areas, so why not be the same in this situation? She hated being sick and didn't want to be a burden to others, so why wouldn't he feel the same?

Besides, he hadn't actually asked for her help; she had freely given it.

"I know you're hating this, Albel, but just bear with it, okay?" She stroked his cheek lightly. "I'm not going anywhere." Translation: she didn't think he was a burden, and never would, but she was going to help him however she could. In her bossy, stubborn way.

Edited (Nothing like noticing a missing word really late.... *facepalm*) 2016-06-20 10:00 (UTC)

Albel closed his eyes and sighed -- just barely suppressing an actual whimper. But he leaned into her touch.

"You wouldn't," he murmured wryly. Sheena was as stubborn as he was. But, as he stayed with the uncomfortable knot wringing in his stomach, miserable for being weak in front of her... nothing happened. And slowly... it started to fade. It made him confused. It made him angry, instinctively, in self-preservation -- because he couldn't possibly be thinking that she really cared, could he?

Could he?

His brow furrowed, his jaw clenched.

And she continued with that touch, her strokes remaining light and caring.

She chuckled softly in admission. "No, I probably wouldn't. But unless I miss my guess, I'd probably be told the same thing I just told you." By him. Especially if she were in the shape he was in. At least he hadn't tried to get up. Well, while she was there, anyway.

Seeing his expression, she brushed his hair back from his face, her concern deepening. Is he getting worse?

"Albel? What is it? What's wrong?"

Oh, she cared, Albel. She really did, so go ahead and think it.

Albel squinted up at her, brow furrowed with his thoughts. Surely she was sick of this by now, but he couldn't help it.

"If you knew my past, you wouldn't be here," he said, his voice scratchy from the coughing. "If you knew me, you wouldn't be like this... you wouldn't like me."

If she was sick of it, she wouldn't be there, now would she? She had accepted that it was a part of Albel a long time ago, so he should stop worrying about it.

"Your past? You're worried about your past?" She sighed and continued brushing his hair back. "Not everyone's past is perfect, Albel. Mine included. So I don't have the right to judge you based on that. Besides, the past is the past, it can't be changed."

But the person can.

His brows shot up in surprise. Of course common sense would dictate that everyone had things in their past they weren't proud of. Not everyone slaughtered villages or got their parents killed.

But there was something in the way Sheena said it... He believed her. He wouldn't have guessed it upon first meeting her, the way she was so recklessly caring about strangers.

"And you accept that?" he asked. Though it would seem the answer was obvious by the way she continued to pet his hair.

Nor did everyone get a quarter of their village's population killed and their only parent put into a coma for twelve years. Not to mention getting their best friend killed.

But why shouldn't he believe her? It had taken some time, but she had finally come to believe it herself. And that was why she could say it with conviction. As for her caring about strangers? That was a part of her that was second nature and probably would never change.

"Yes, I accept that," she confirmed. Leaning down, she met his gaze with hers. She wanted to make sure he knew she was sincere in what she was about to say.

"And I accept you for who you are, Albel. Okay?"

Albel watched her warily for a moment more. This was foolish -- dangerous, even. But it was her decision, and he wouldn't coddle her. At least that's what he told himself.

"If you are certain," he said finally, agreeing as much as he would. "Then you will take responsibility if you later decide you made a mistake."

There. He washed his hands of that. He wasn't a nice person, he warned her, she should know better. But, after a moment, he leaned against her hand with a resigned sigh. "... But I do like you here."

There, he'd said it. Let the sky fall.

Edited 2016-08-29 06:46 (UTC)

There would probably be moments of coddling each other in the future--but only when necessary. They were too much alike for that not to happen.

"Oh, I'm positive," she said with a small smile. "And it's a deal--although I doubt I'll ever think that."

He'd be surprised what she knew about him just from the time they spent together. He might believe he wasn't a nice person, but Sheena had seen things a little differently. As he leaned into her hand, she flexed it against his skin comfortingly. "Good, because I'm not going anywhere."

And what do you know? The sky stayed in place.

Feed a fever, starve a cold?

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