#yeah. i hc Rita as one of the types to almost never get sick

[meganechan05]

Judge and Bailiff - Chapter 4

Because AO3 is down, imma have to post this brand new chapter here so ENJOY! (￣▽￣;)

Edit: it's back up lmao

Don't worry. It's fluffy and cute and very much RitaMoru being an old married couple.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rita groggily woke up, only to find themself in their bedroom. They tried to push themself up, feeling their arms grow weaker with each movement as their vision was still blurry from suddenly collapsing outside the courtroom. A pair of hands quickly grabbed their shoulders, making them turn to find Morfonia.

"Morfonia...?" They began to cough, their voice hoarse and their throat extremely parched.

"Don't push yourself. The physician said you have a high fever." She helped her King sit against the backrest. She then handed Rita a mug of warm tea. "Here."

They took careful sips, allowing the warm tea to soothe the pain. They let out a small sigh, only to shiver when the warmth quickly faded. Morfonia quickly moved to put the mug back onto the nightstand so she can tuck Rita in, only for the Judge to fight it.

"I'm fine."

"You're not. You have a dangerously high fever, passed out in the middle of the castle, and can barely keep yourself up. Even Himeno said to keep you in bed when she called."

"She called?"

"Something about patents and using Gokkan's tunnels to Bugnarok to make deliveries. I already handled it." She waved her hand as if to wave it off as something they shouldn't worry about.

Rita looked at their retainer, perplexed and also surprised to hear her taking action. Morfonia noticed and looked away.

"She said it was urgent and you're in no shape to do anything so I used my right as your successor to take charge. Nothing wrong with that, right? You always told me to in case anything happened."

The Judge could only look towards the ceiling at this, knowing she's right. They did always have backup plans written out in case of emergencies. Moreso after the first Bugnarok attack as they weren't sure what could happen when the Kings were fighting. They were just taken aback since Morfonia had a tendency to avoid work as much as possible.

"The trials?"

"You already finished investigations and wrote down your verdict so it's more of confirming it in court. Why? You wanna postpone?"

"Postponements would only keep those possibly innocent in prison longer than they should." They began to get up again. "I'll just give my ruling and-" They were pushed back into bed by their retainer.

"I'll handle it. And if you keep moving around trying to work while resting, it will only keep you sick longer which means more work for me to do. So stay in bed."

"It's fine-"

"It is not. Don't make me cuff you to your bed, Rita."

Rita glared at their retainer, only to lay down with a small huff. If there was anything on the list of pros for Morfonia, it would be that she tends to keep her word. But sometimes it could be a con in Rita's book for situations like this.

Morfonia pulled the blanket up to cover her King. "Just rest. The more you rest, the faster you can get back to work." She grabbed Rita's Caliber and Hotline before leaving, knowing the Judge would grab them at any moment.

Curse her.

~~

"Hm? Rita-san's out sick?" Gira asked as he was reading over paperwork.

"According to Morfonia-sama, they've caught a cold so she will be taking care of everything."

"Do all attendants do that?"

"It often depends per country. Had you not become a traitor against your brother, you would have been his temporary replacement should he have fallen ill since you were next in line for the throne. Not only is she Rita-sama's retainer, Morfonia-sama is also the successor to Gokkan's throne."

"I didn't know that. Then I guess I shouldn't cause problems for them. Knowing Rita-san, they're probably stressed from not being able to work."

"A decision to strengthen relationship between Shugoddom and Gokkan?"

"Something like that. I do owe them for when everyone faked my death." He checked off the list in front of him before signing papers. "I just hope Morfonia-san will be okay with that."

~~

Morfonia stretched after leaving the courtroom, having finished all of the trials for the day. "Mou... I don't know how Rita can handle rowdy prisoners like that..." she whined, recoiling from the nasty comments thrown from guilty prisoners.

Not her fault they've committed crimes with evidence to prove it. Rita already had the paperwork documenting everything as well as audio recordings when investigating. No one could really fault her for her King's decisions.

"Sounds like you have it rough."

She turned to find Himeno. "Ah. What brings you here?"

"To check on Rita, of course. While your physicians are adequate, the least I could do is do a check, myself, to make sure a fellow King is okay."

Morfonia backed away, glaring at the Queen in suspicion. "Nothing else?"

"Why would there be anything else?" Himeno fluttered her lashes in innocence.

"Knowing you, there could always be something."

Himeno furrowed her brows at the accusation. "If you're referring to my selfishness, you do know it goes both ways, right? If Rita's healthy, they're the only one I can trust to give fair rulings to people. A change in power is too tedious even with Gokkan's Neutrality. So. Where are they?"

Morfonia eyed the woman before sighing. "If they get angry, that's on you."

She led her to Rita's quarters where the Judge was still asleep, a plush Moffun wearing a face mask in their arms. Himeno then noticed what looked like a handcuff connected to the bed post at the footrest.

She turned to Morfonia. "And that?"

"Ah. I caught them trying to get out of bed between trials. I did warn Rita I'd cuff them to bed if they tried to get out and work."

Himeno tried to hold back a laugh at this. Of course they would. She took off her backpack holding her medical supplies before going to work. Checking Rita's temperature and breathing pattern.

"Rare to have them fall sick."

"Scared the Shugods out of everyone," Morfonia said, folding her arms. "Injuries from battles or tough cases, we can expect, but not a cold."

"Even more surprising since they can walk outside in those clothes. Don't they know it's freezing out?" She put away her equipment. "Have they've taken any medication yet?"

Morfonia hesitated. "They didn't want to."

Himeno rolled her eyes at this. "This stubborn idiot." She shuffled through her bag, taking out a box and what looked like jelly packets. She handed them to Morfonia. "Good thing I packed these if they're going to be stubborn. Just give them one packet of the medicine. If they get fussy about it, bribe them with the jelly."

Morfonia looked at the packets. "These are safe for them to eat while sick?"

"Common practice in Ishabana when a child refuses to take their medicine. Guessing since Rita rarely gets sick, no one would figure out the Chief Justice hates medicine."

"Just don't tell the other Kings," Morfonia said with a pout. "Imagine how angry they'd get if they found out you know about that."

"Whatever you say. But it looks like you have everything handled. Just keep me updated as they get more rest, okay?"

"Sure."

The Queen of Ishabana took her leave, only for Morfonia to sigh. "To think the others would be that worried." She couldn't help but to smile as she set everything onto the nightstand. "But it means Rita's being friendly with them."

"I'm not."

She nearly jumped out of her chair when she heard Rita's voice, turning to her King to find them awake. "R-Rita?! How long were you awake?!" She exclaimed as the judge sat up.

"Somewhere along the lines of being called stubborn." This only made them cough, their voice still hoarse.

Morfonia gave them their cup of water. "Then you heard everything about the medicine?"

Rita quickly turned away at the question, not wanting to look at Morfonia in the eye.

"Rita. It would be a pain if you don't take it. And no screaming or it'll make your throat worse." She heard Rita click their tongue in annoyance. "At least take it so Himeno's visit wouldn't be for nothing. Even bringing you a jelly drink since you're so picky." She waited until Rita held out their free hand, allowing her to place the packet onto their palm.

She watched as Rita slowly opened up one end before staring at the packet. Shugods, she wanted to record this moment to laugh at later.

Imagine the Immovable King being afraid of taking their medicine.

Rita quickly poured the contents into the mouth before drinking the water, their face scrunched up. They heard Morfonia hold back a laugh which prompted them to glare at her. But the two knew each other long enough that said glares don't really mean anything.

"Good judge~ You took your medicine~" Morfonia teased, handing their King the opened jelly packet.

"Speak none of this to anyone," they mustered out before taking a sip.

"Whatever you say~"

[nokaru]

Red, yellow, green and 8 ball for the OC ask! Any OC(s) of your choosing <3

Meefy my beloved hello hiii ilysm thank u for the ask ^^ this is a LONG one bear with me here jsjsjs naturally AnS OCs!

🔴 Red- What is a trait your OC has that those around them don't see very often? Is it seen by a rare few or completely overlooked?

Zarr: his melancholy and nostalgia. He hypocritically preaches "what is dead is dead, past is past and dwelling on it will only bring you down" but he drags the dead weight of his past along with himself, his heavy heart grounds him in some sense but inevitably it is just what it is - a burden. He doesn't let anyone in besides very few privileged ones, so only one who's aware of his internal turmoil is his wife Rita. and maybe Butcher knows but does not talk about it.

Rita: her aggressivity. She's not naturally an angry person, dare I say she's the calmest of them all actually but she has a tendency to bottle things up and she rarely flies off the handle ...so boy when she does get mad MAD heads start "falling off". Besides that, the actual hidden trait would be her two-facedness. She has an image of a good and approachable person about her but she wouldn't be the big boss of the underground assassination scene if she was all unicorns and rainbows.

🟡 Yellow- What is something your OC wants but knows they can never have? How does it feel to never get this specific desire?

Tsu: something something never shooting his shot with Zarr when he had the change when they were young something something buried first love something something always the right-hand man and close companion nothing more something something just being happy by your side something something gay 🫵

Emi: perhaps it's just in a poet's nature to long for something, to yearn for something more, anything beyond what you have now. Yes, she's the richest she's ever been. She has all the comforts that soothe her whims and needs. Yet she wants more and more. Maybe what she actually desires is the familiarity of her youth, the bad smell of a shady tavern, the sweet taste of her lover's lips- ANYWAY

🟢 Green- What is considered a weakness in your OC that is actually a strength? What is a strength in your character that can be twisted into a weakness?

Sister Fiona: some may say her weakness is her religiousness? ((I hc that the AnS universe runs on multiple gods type of system but even though, Fiona and the underground's main "religion" is pretty pagan. She's a nun/cleric of Somni, goddess of night travelers, thieves and whatnot.)) Even though Fiona does not act as a proper "nun" she has set values and doctrines she follows, which may restrict her sometimes. Lacking freedom and dedicating your life to a god (even tho the god is extremely well respected) can be seen as a weakness if not a burden in the eyes of the underworld. For Fiona her belief is her strength, ofc not as big big of a strength as her sword but still...Her dedication is what fuels her in life. Also being a nun of Somni means you are automatically respected and nobody picks a fight with you so yeah.

Roslyn: her independence is her strong suit. She wouldn't be a fearsome pirate captain without being as independent as her at such a young age. Naturally, too much independence turns into a hindrance. Distrust and loneliness are her two close friends.

🎱 8 Ball- What situation was your OC lucky to escape from or get out of? What or who helped them unexpectedly?

Nokaru: long story short - getting abandoned by Obi, being held and tortured by a rival clan for a few months was less that ideal for her development. She got out, by herself, with no help. She walked all the way back to her clan's headquarters like nothing happened. She's not lucky, she's just competent.

Emi AGAIN cause I love her: Emi's life is just a series of unfortunate events, from getting out of her overbearing, manipulative patron's estate to managing to "take care" of a corrupt almost-husband and his family's sick marriage plan Emi has seen it all when it comes to Tanbarun aristocracy. What helped her get out of all the misfortune in her life were her ambitions for riches and recognition. Also her very nice but very shady and scheming ex-boyfriend (Tom tommyboy 👈 Obi's older bro)