don’t you say it

[say]”I’m sorry,”[/say] Vai murmurs to him softly, watching the shivers dimple across his skin, but cold as he is, Torchline in LongHeat is the opposite, and even if Sunjata’s fever won’t thank her, the man under it might. Reaching out, she smooths her fingers through his sweaty hair; an act of reassurance more than an attempt to neaten it out. Vai doesn’t really think that’s possible right now Still, as he looks up at her so sadly, at least she has an answer for that.

[say]”Ronin has gone to the Climb to try and find out more. Safrin directed him there. He’ll come back soon, and I doubt he’ll leave without something to show for it.”[/say] Especially not with Remi on the line, and the witch feels her heart clench at the thought of the alchemist in the same state as Sunjata.

Shaking it off, she nods and rises to her feet. [say]”Tea is a good idea,”[/say] she murmurs. [say]”I’ll go and make some - you don’t go anywhere, deal?”[/say]

He doesn’t know what she’s apologizing for – only that it means something when she does. Something in him relaxes, even as he grows colder than the furnace he’s been day after day, delirium taking the reins day in and day out. His head throbs suddenly, as if his body is trying to compensate for the cold by warming him up more and finding that all it does is make him shake.

Ronin having gone to the Climb, however, directed by Safrin has his fingers slow on their trembling. “[say]I didn’t… I said no to going to the Climb.[/say]” He says with a frown, not making the connection at first until eventually it clicks. Hotaru and Wessex. They’d gone to the Climb, come home sick – and all of them, Nate, Sunjata, and she had come down with it in their household. And he can recall Wessex being… Different. Though he isn’t totally sure how much different.

His heart hurts. His head hurts.

“[say]I won’t.[/say]” He promises quietly, turning on the bed halfway so he might stare out the window – trying to fight the sickness that rampages through him in having him see things that aren't there.

Vai lingers by the door, watching Sunjata with a sense of frustrated sorrow; sorrow that she can’t do anything to cure the sickness (and for a healer it is a bitter pill to swallow); sorrow that she doesn’t have answers. But she tries to rally, to focus on the things that she can change, and she leaves him for a few moments to head down to the kitchenette.

What she comes back with is a pitcher of cold, sweet tea, hoping it will be more tempting than water. [say]”Here.”[/say] Vai smiles and pours a small glass for him, drawing up a seat beside the bed and reaching out to help him try to take a sip. [say]”Want to hear a story? I know enough to keep us entertained for a while.”[/say]

She lingers by the door at first, and he’s too busy focusing on the window, on birds beyond it that he’s not sure are real or not. But his gaze does slip back to her momentarily when she returns, lashes fluttering slightly as he offers a quick glance before looking away again.  A glass of cold tea is offered, and he takes it in too warm hands, goosebumps rising along his skin and a shiver running down his spine, he stares at it as if to ensure that it’s definitely not water.

He’s just pretending that tea added to water tended to make it something else entirely.

Still, it’s with a great deal of exhaustion and fear that he manages to take a sip from it, fighting the sensation of daggers in his parched throat. “[say]Sure.[/say]” He murmurs, hoping that it would be something he could focus on to finish drinking the tea. And it works, for the most part, until exhaustion and sleep drag him away again.

- FIN <3