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skvaderarts · 6 months ago

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Saudade Chapter 13: Sympathetic Succor

Chapter Thirteen: Sympathetic Succor

Note: I thought this might make a nice little warm-up while I get back in the headspace to write Petrichor. I’ve been thinking about it since I brought it up as a half-joking reply to one of the comments left by the ever-funny Temeraire101 in chapter eleven of Saudade. Bear with me, everyone. I’m getting back on the horse. Slowly.

(-~-)

It had been wise to head to the market when they had.

The last few days were marked by the continuation of the storm, its waters overflowing the gutters and soaking every surface that stood before it as water was often want to.

The local government had issued a stay-at-home order as a temporary precaution to reduce the risk of drownings, one that proved to be redundant as anyone with any sense had opted to do so long before they��d been asked. The only motivation anyone had found to break the order had been to procure necessary resources, a violation of the order that would have occurred regardless of whether or not it had been made an exception to the rule, something that it proved to be from the get-go. After all, no one was going to remain within the walls of their home and starve, now were they?

But regardless of such orders, neither V nor Sirrus had plans to leave the house. They were content to remain where they were, cozy and warm within the brick and cast iron walls of the red-haired man’s cozy multistory flat. They’d only left briefly to grab ingredients for the recipe that Sirrus had wanted to make for him, and it had been exquisite, but the next morning they’d both awakened to something they hadn’t expected.

Sirrus had caught a cold.

Neither of them had even remotely expected that when they’d woken up the next morning and met in the kitchen, but they’d been confronted with it regardless. At first, it was just a small cold, something Sirrus asserted that he’d sleep off by the next day. But by the time the next morning had rolled around V found himself completely alone in the kitchen when he woke up in the morning and Sirrus was nowhere to be found.

Upon going to check on the red-haired man V discovered that he was much worse off now than he’d been the day before, something that Sirrus found as baffling as V found it alarming. He couldn’t exactly take something for it due to not being, well, human and its effectiveness being subject to variation, but neither of them had expected Sirrus to wake up and be worse off after a good night’s sleep.

Remaining in his room and opting to just try and take it easy for the day had seemed like the best option at the time, especially after contacting Magnolia and being advised to do just that. He’d drank some tea and opted to just take a nap, a cycle that he’d been repeating for the majority of the morning, unable to stay asleep despite being exhausted.

And during that time V had been planning. Scheming and plotting until he’d come to the only logical conclusion that he could.

He’d make Sirrus some soup.

It had been a tricky endeavor considering the fact that heading outside was a last resort, and he didn’t wish to commission some poor underpaid delivery person to risk their life on his behalf, but he’d come up with something in the end and had spend the better part of the morning both preparing it and hiding it from Sirrus. He wanted it to be a surprise.

But after several hours of preparing the meal and utterly failing to figure out where half the things in the kitchen were located due to the meticulous manner in which they’d been sorted, he sat down, exhaled heavily, and poured himself a glass of water. He needed a quick break. And he was willing to bet that Sirrus could use something to drink.

Heading over to the door with a second glass of water in hand, the young summoner knocked on the door apprehensive, hoping to catch him when he was awake and not asleep. If he was resting he would let him stay that way. But after a moment a noticeably hoarse voice from the other side of the door beckoned him inside and he obliged, stepping into the room and closing the door behind himself. Sirrus had already been awake. He could tell.

“... We shouldn’t go grocery shopping together,” Sirrus said with a soft, slightly anemic, and wet cough as he watched V approach and sit the glass down on his bedside table. He nodded gratefully through his haze, taking a moment to compose himself and catch his breathing. His cold had seemingly migrated to his chest, something that was almost as unpleasant as it sounded. And something that concerned V more than the fact that Sirrus was unwell in the first place, even though that also worried him deeply. How had this come to pass? Surely he’d caught something when they were out at the market; that much was obvious. But… how?

“I still don’t fully understand how this has happened to you,” V said as he sat down towards the middle of Sirrus’s bed. The curtains were partially open, allowing some of the stormy light from outside to filter in. It was a beautiful view, in truth, but not one that he imagined Sirrus could fully appreciate in the way that he might wish to at present. “I was laboring under the impression that you were impervious to illness.”

“Circumstantially, yes,” Sirrus said somewhat weakly, not elaborating any further. At least not initially. He exhaled heavily and looked over at V, taking note of something.

V was looking at Sirrus as though he’d just said something that didn’t make any sense to him. It was a subtle look, but it was still perceptible. He had no idea what the Adjudicator was talking about, that much was clear. And understandable.

Chuckling and then attempting to clear his throat only to realize that his throat was dry, Sirrus sat up further in his bed. This was going to take a little bit of explaining.

“When I am at my full power, I am incapable of contracting any illness, yes. But when fully depleted, my immune system… deteriorates.” Sirrus paused to take a swig of the water that V had brought him, making a face that indicated that he wasn’t pleased with the taste in his mouth as he sat it down, abandoning his previous efforts to wet his throat. It seemed that he’d reached the stage where everything he tried to drink tasted like his cold. Wonderful. Just splendid. “While I am recovering and regaining my strength, my invulnerability inverts, and I become susceptible to more or less anything with the exception of things that are not contracted by pathogens. And I am especially vulnerable to infections.”

“So if you were to develop a blood-borne infection… “ V’s speech gradually grew slower as he trailed off towards the end of his statement, the mental picture that it painted in his head too unpleasant for him to linger on. It was best not to even risk speaking that into existence. He wouldn’t call himself suspicious, but perhaps suspicion believed in him.

“The less thought put towards that notion the better, mo chara daor.” Sirrus coughed again, this time for longer and quite a bit harder, at that. V gave him a sympathetic look, hesitating for a brief moment before placing his hand on the back of his shoulder. He’d never considered what it felt like to worry over a sick loved one before. Even when his own father had been in a coma, he’d held hope that his supreme healing factor would prevail. Part of him had utterly refused to even consider the idea that he wouldn’t be okay. And while he wasn’t laboring under the idea that Sirrus couldn’t pull through a chest cold, it was… unnerving to witness someone so utterly unkillable in such a state. The idea that he was even susceptible to a cold was disquieting to him in a way that he couldn’t quite place.

“Do you need anything from me, Sirrus?” V asked softly. He was worried and trying not to show it, and they both knew that, but he still didn’t want to worry Sirrus, and the red-haired man was genuinely touched by that, even if he didn’t need him to expend the effort on his behalf.

The man with the red hair shook his head tiredly. He understood his friend’s desire to help him out, but for the moment, he was fine. He would manage. And if he couldn’t, he had a contingency plan for that. And V. He always had V.

With their conversation now over, V left him to rest, standing up and heading to the door. He probably needed to check on the soup anyway. It was best not to hover around someone who was sick. For both of their sakes. V couldn’t remember the last time he’d been under the weather due to non-supernatural conditions, but he wasn’t keen to make that a more simple thing to recall in the future. And for all he knew, he might somehow make his companion sicker. He would continue preparing his little surprise. That was probably the best course of action right now. For both of them.

“If you do need anything, please. Let me know.” V said from his place at the door, a genuinely bright, empathetic smile spreading across his face. He knew what it was like to suffer. To be brought low by circumstances outside of your control. Sirrus would be alright. They would both make sure of it. His dear friend had been there for him through everything that the universe could throw at him. V wasn’t going anywhere. Neither of them would if the other needed them. He was just much more accustomed to it being him and not Sirrus. “I’ll help you. It’s no trouble. I mean that.”

“I’d never doubt that you would. Thank you, V,” Sirrus said with a weary chuckle, his eyes still bright despite the obvious discomfort he felt in his chest. He just looked at V fondly for a long moment before laying back and closing his eyes, pulling the covers back up over himself and tiredly settling in. He exhaled tiredly and then went silent, the only indication that he was alive being his breathing.

V slipped out of the room quietly, closing the door behind himself. He didn’t want to wake him if he’d started to drift off. He needed the rest and the summoner had work to do. Shaking his head slightly in a grimly amused manner he chuckled to himself. If he was lucky he could be finished before Sirrus woke up. That should make them both feel better.

(-~-)

This was a fun little chapter! It helped me get back in the right headspace. I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know what you think! Fun little chapters like this are fun and I’m always looking for more ideas, especially from all of you! You have such fun ones!

The next chapter will also be a Saudade chapter for next week partially due to needing more time to get back in the swing of things and because Shadow of the Erdtree is coming out next week and AHHH! I’m streaming it at launch and the lead-up has been pure stress. That’s taking up all of my spare time at the moment. But if anyone wants to hang out and check it out with me, I updated my Profile and added a link to both it and the Discord server. Swing by if you’d like! I have a schedule posted there. Are any of you going to be playing it, too? Let me know! I’m always excited to talk about fun games lol! I’ll see you all back here next week! Take care and thanks again for reading. It feels good to be back writing something. ANYTHING! Bye bye!

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