damned_institute | Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

She smiled back, not that any of it was easy to see in the dark. It was the thought that counted. “I can’t see anything, so…”

But Tsubaki didn’t have the chance to finish her thought. Someone was calling out to Rapunzel, and she turned to look. The voice was familiar, very familiar…

“Sora-san?” she blurted out in return. There wasn’t anyone else in the hospital who had that outfit or tousled brown hair. “What are you--Ah, that’s right, the Club said you were sleeping! You’re back now, then? Are you okay?”

It took Rapunzel a moment to recognize the voice, but only a moment. It had been several days since she had last talked to him, but there were only so many voices she had ever heard in her life and Sora's was one of the easiest ones to remember.

She turned around with Tsubaki. "Sora!" she exclaimed before covering her mouth. Trying again, quieter this time, she continued after her roommate was finished: "Yeah, I thought I hadn't seen any of your handwriting on the board today! I had a bit of an unexpected sleep last night myself, so that makes two of us."

It was definitely nice to have both girls greet him so excitedly, although Sora was initially shocked when it turned out that they knew he'd been sleeping. He might have expected Riku, Kairi, or Renji to notice, but apparently the news had traveled even this far. How had the club figured out he was gone? Maybe a nurse had told someone?

While he didn't like to hear that Rapunzel had also had problems with sleeping too much, it was relieving to see that someone else had suffered from it and seemed to be doing just fine now. "Yeah, it kinda sucks that I had to miss the whole day, but... I feel okay now." Except for the fever, but he didn't need to worry the two girls about that. With any luck it would clear up soon, although Sora knew better than to hope for that.

No, it seemed like it was way more likely he was going to turn into something.

"So, did I miss anything?" he asked, wanting to get that out of the way first. Either way, it looked like he would have two people to travel with tonight, if Rapunzel and Tsubaki were up for his company. He didn't see why they would refuse.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

Of course, unexpected bouts of sleeping happened all the time, but recent developments made every disappearance and change in behavior seem… well, more. Paranoia wasn’t like her, but it was hard not to assume the worst. As a way of explaining herself, she added, “Because there’s something going around. I don’t know if you heard, but people are getting sick… so you should be careful.” There was a note of uncertainty in her tone. Precautions might not have been an option, but they were still something to keep in mind, right? Especially if there were prisoners out there who hadn’t heard the announcements all day.

“But other than that, Renji-san took care of the Club today… You don’t have to worry about that.”

Edited 2012-03-26 05:40 (UTC)

It was good to see Sora seeming okay despite the missing day; it was kind of encouraging, even. Rapuzel had been freaking out about having missed a night, a time when it at least made sense to sleep. If someone as experienced as Sora was taking a whole day in stride, that gave Rapunzel some confidence that unexplained sleeps weren't necessarily a big setback.

Tsubaki went on to recap things on the Arts and Crafts side of things, and Rapunzel stayed quiet, feeling a little guilty for not having kept up. Normally she was so good with the board; today it had just slipped her mind in favour of spreading information to Albedo and cheering up patients like Seishin. She had been missing out on Arts and Crafts missions in general lately, too, no thanks to the mission and its aftermath. At least they had the information to show for it, but seeing Sora again and hearing about the goings-on of the club reminded her of how much she wanted to work with the group again.

And then there was the matter of people getting sick. "Yeah, the sickness is what's worrying me most right now. We're feeling okay, but I know I saw some people who looked under the weather today. How are you feeling, Sora?" she asked, looking at him with some concern. It was hard to tell in the dark whether he looked healthy or not.

It was no surprise that the two of them were worrying over him, although Sora hadn't been prepared for them to be so persistent about it. It was difficult to brush anything off under their scrutiny, especially when they explained that other patients had been feeling sick throughout the day. Just how many had been targeted, and what was that going to mean for the rest of the patients?

The idea that he might change into some kind of creature seemed hard to grasp. There was a feeling of dread to go with it, but it was tough to believe all the same. Sora didn't want to underestimate any of this, but...

"I'm glad to hear that the club was fine without me," he said with a small smile. It was easier to focus on that first. He didn't know if Rapunzel and Tsubaki were currently on a mission for Arts and Crafts, but he decided not to make things awkward by asking. "And, uhh... I guess I feel kind of warm, but it's no big deal!" In the end, he couldn't lie to them outright about something like that.

"Anyway, where were you guys headed?" he followed up with quickly, wanting to draw attention away from his possible fever.

--Wait, had Sora just said what she thought he’d said?

He had never struck her as an easily agitated person, but if there were hints of hesitation on his part, that wasn’t particularly odd. That sort of thing could be explained away by the stress of their current circumstances. Feeling hot, however, was not something that one could just explain away.

Tsubaki’s eyes widened. “A fever?” A fever was definitely a big deal, even a normal one. “You’re not feeling okay, are you?” she accused at once. “Here, let me feel your head.” And with that, she reached out to check his forehead as she had done with Black☆Star many times before.

Rapunzel and Mother Gothel had never been sick often or for long over the past eighteen years; Rapunzel's hair saw to that well enough. On the occasions that either did get sick, however, feeling warm to the touch was often the first sign of something wrong. By this point, Rapunzel knew the signs well enough to do something before they could get worse, and so when Sora mentioned feeling warm, she was right on Tsubaki's heels, the both of them swooping in on Sora like mother hens.

"Right, and don't move this until I say," she told Sora as Tsubaki went to feel his forehead. Rapunzel quickly reeled in the tail end of her hair with her free hand and made to drape it over Sora's shoulders, such that it would rest against the skin on the back of Sora's neck. "If you really are sick, let me see if I can heal you."

Edited 2012-03-31 20:56 (UTC)

Even when he had given the least descriptive explanation, that really hadn't stopped the two girls from worrying about him. Before Sora was truly ready for it, Tsubaki and Rapunzel both crowded in. He fought not to flinch away from Tsubaki's touch, because in the end he didn't want them to worry. But if these symptoms might actually mean something then it was probably for the best that they knew.

"Really, it's oka--" Before Sora could even get the phrase out, he actually had some of Rapunzel's hair thrown over him. "Whoa!" The hair tickled at the back of his neck, causing him to squirm for a moment until he realized that the girl had asked him to stay still. He clammed up and nodded. "All right, umm--"

But in the end, as far as he could tell nothing had happened. Sora had been healed by magic enough times that he was pretty sure he would have been able to recognize it. He shut one eye and tilted his head. "I don't feel anything..."

“You do feel warm…”

‘Kind of’ warm was a bit of an understatement. Against the back of her hand, Sora’s forehead was definitely hotter than it had any right to be. That was bad! Considering what the Head Doctor and the staff had been saying all day, was it too much to hope that Sora’s fever was benign?

Rapunzel’s quick thinking brought her back to the moment before she could follow that line of thinking too far. That was right, Rapunzel could still heal with her hair! It was a little disconcerting to try and remember how badly she had been injured during their mission, but she did remember what the girl had been capable of at full power: the light, the warmth, the honey-gold strength. Granted, they were back to being handicapped again, but if Rapunzel was confident her healing could still work, then so was she.

She moved to Sora’s side so that the other girl had room to work.

Rapunzel set down the rest of her hair and equipment for the moment, readying herself to sing the old familiar song. She stood in front of Sora, closed her eyes, and took a short breath. As she began to sing, she felt tingling warmth in her scalp, and her golden glow soon bathed their little patch of hallway, illuminating the way for any potential passersby. She could already feel the magic draining her - just the way that it didn't back home. If Sora's illness was in its infancy, though, she figured she wouldn't need to use much magic.

Shortly after the verse was finished, Rapunzel allowed the glow to fade, feeling a little shaky by otherwise no worse for wear. She opened her eyes, waiting for Sora's answer. When it turned out that he didn't feel any different, her shoulders sank. "It was worth a try, I guess," she said with a sigh, pulling the hair off Sora's shoulders with an apologetic look.

"Can we take you back to your room, at least?" she asked, gathering up her things from the floor. "I mean, if you might get worse..." She wasn't sure how Sora would react to the suggestion, but she felt it was worth suggesting anyway. Sora knew better than they did what the ultimate implication of getting sick might be, and rest might at least help to slow the onset, she figured.

While Rapunzel had explained her healing to him before, when she had first joined the club, Sora hadn't been entirely prepared for this. She had a really nice voice, and as she sang her hair started really glowing -- as if it hadn't been pretty enough before! The soft glow it cast around them was comforting, and yet Sora had to admit that it didn't change how he felt in any noticeable way.

"I'm sorry," he said, because he realized how frustrating it was when your power wasn't working the way it was supposed to. "Thanks for trying, though." But the fact that he couldn't be healed only made the fever that much more suspicious. What was he going to do?

Well, not going back to his room, that was for sure! "You don't need to do that!" he said, quickly waving them off. He doubted he was going to be turning into some bloodthirsty creature any time soon. It really was just a fever, and he'd stay aware of it, but he wasn't going to sequester himself or anything. "Really, I'll be fine. I'd like to help you guys, if you don't mind." He didn't have any other plans, so what was the harm? It was about time he gave back to his club members.

If there was one thing Tsubaki had thought could provide a solution, it was Rapunzel’s healing ability. Unfortunately, curing Sora didn’t seem to be an option here--whether it was because Rapunzel wasn’t strong enough, or more ominously, because whatever he had couldn’t be cured so easily.

The worse case scenario made her stomach clench. What the Head Doctor had talked about wasn’t going to happen to Sora… was it?

When Sora expressed his desire to help them instead of rest, Tsubaki knit her hands together, making no effort to hide her concern. “But what if… what if it’s that sickness they’re talking about? It could get worse…” If Landel was to be believed, and he usually was in times like these, his “nasty bug” was going to get way worse. How could they just ignore that?

But what else could they do… Tsubaki still had the vial of mystery liquid that Landel had given her, which was supposedly supposed to help in times of need, but it was still untested. Having Sora take it seemed to be asking for trouble. Oh, but there was also--

“What about the fountain upstairs?” she suggested in a rush. “That’s supposed to heal people or something, right?”

Somehow, Rapunzel wasn't surprised at Sora's reaction. She knew she would have acted the same had it been her. Didn't make her worry about the boy any less, though. She bit her bottom lip, unsure of what to say to Sora's insistence that he help them. There was understanding him and then there was encouraging him...

Thankfully, Tsubaki had the perfect solution before Rapunzel could worry herself into oblivion. Her head lifted, and a hopeful look returned to her eyes. "Really? That's what that thing is for? Well what are we waiting for, then?" she answered her roommate, turning toward the nearby stairs and nodding for the two to follow her. "Let's go! It's on our way anyway."

It didn't look like this was something that the two girls were going to let go so easily, which Sora realized he could understand. He could only imagine how he would have reacted if a friend had told him they weren't feeling well under these circumstances, when the Head Doctor had already been hinting at things.

It occurred to him that if something bad really did happen, he might be putting Rapunzel and Tsubaki in danger by going along with them. But he really didn't feel that bad -- he'd gotten colds as a kid that were a whole lot worse than what he was feeling now -- so he wasn't going to hang back just because of that.

If he really started feeling strange, he could always move away from them, right?

"That fountain? I don't know how safe it is to use, though..." Sora hadn't ever tried it himself, but what he'd picked up about it was that while it worked, there was a catch to it. It didn't sound like the kind of risk that he would want to take.

Still, if it was on the way to wherever they were going, maybe they could at least give it a look. "Well, I guess it's worth checking out, anyway." He didn't have to agree to using the fountain if he didn't want to, and then they could move on to whatever the girls had originally planned. Nodding to himself, he turned toward the stairs and started up them.

[To here.]

Nightshift 62: Main Hallway, 1-West

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Sorry for the delay! Essay is done, so I should be back up to speed now.

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