Nich shivered where he was sitting on the bed, freezing now that he had next to nothing covering him. He accepted the potion with trembling hands and swallowed it, seemingly trusting Rowan enough to not poison him since he didn't inspect it at all before downing the whole thing. He winced when Rowan started to mess with his bandages, wanting to pull away, but knowing that he should probably let her do what she needed to do. Most of his body was bandaged due to the extent of his wounds, to be honest, so removing and replacing them was time-consuming and very painful and uncomfortable. "H-How long does the potion take to work…?" He asked weakly. "What is it going to do to me?"
Rowan was removing his bandages as gently as she could with the state some of them were in. She could tell simply by how difficult it was to remove some of them, Nich was not having a good time with this either. Rowan had gotten lost in the work that it took her a few seconds to realize Nich had asked her a question. She paused from her work cleaning and re-wrapping the wounds to write, It might take a little bit, and that's how it's supposed to work. It's a mixture of healing, pain killers, and fever reducers. The fever reduction and pain reduction should be the first to hit and the healing is supposed to just give your body a boost against infections and help with clotting. So nothing immediate and just help to your body's natural processes. After she wrote the statement she went back to his wounds.
"Mm…" Nich lay back on the bed, his ears drooping. He was panting a bit in an attempt to cool down, although he was still noticeably shivering. Part of the bandages took some of his skin with them and he yelped, gripping the sheets and gritting his teeth to try and keep quiet. It hurt so bad, but changing the bandages was important, so he was really trying to keep still for Rowan. His breathing was shallow and he kept his eyes screwed shut, clearly in pain despite his efforts to hide it. The potion hadn't kicked in at all yet, so he was still feeling everything, and the fever only made everything feel so much worse. He felt dizzy and hot and achy, and generally very uncomfortable.
Rowan was being as gentle as she could be. But even with all of Nich's attempts to hide it, she could tell he was in a lot of pain. She paused for a second as she grabbed her spare rag and muttered an incantation feeling the rag turn cold and wet in her hands. She gently placed it on Nich's forehead as she wrote out, using a different technique that would last in the air a little longer, You don't have to hide your pain. I know it hurts. So do whatever you need to do. And let me know if you need me to stop. With a little nod she went back to replacing the last bandages.
Nich jumped and shivered when something cold and wet suddenly touched his forehead, but once he got used to it, it definitely felt nice. He managed to read what Rowan had written through blurry vision, and he nodded weakly in reply. He could feel some of his wounds starting to bleed again as they were torn back open by the bandages, which was both painful and uncomfortable. At one point, the bandages tugged and tore in an especially painful area and Nich whimpered and gripped the sheets more tightly, breathing heavily. "Nngh… stop, s-stop, I… I need a minute…" He said weakly, trying to pull away from the source of the unbearable pain. He really needed a couple of minutes to regain himself so he could recover a little mentally from all of this, and to have a quick break from the pain.
Rowan immediately stop when she heard Nich tell her to. She completely understood why given how difficult of a time she was having with the bandage she had been removing. In fact, she was impressed with how long Nich had managed to keep going given the state he currently seemed to be in. She slowly wrote out in the air, Let me know when your ready for me to continue okay? Until then is there anything I can do to help?
Nich held the back of his hand against his forehead for a bit, breathing heavily as he tried to let the pain ebb away. It never really went away, but after a couple minutes, it was back to a tolerable level. He exhaled shakily and then nodded, looking pale, but he still had a bit of red flush around his eyes and on his cheeks from the fever. "Hah… okay, you can— you can keep going. I think m'alright for now. How much more do you have to do?" He asked weakly, looking up at Rowan from where he lay.
Just another one or two, Rowan wrote back in response. She frowned as she studied Nich's current state and then at the final bandages. They definitely needed to be changed, Nich didn't look like he could really handle much more. She put down the bandages and poultice before grabbing the pile of old bandages, I'm going to go take these out and you get some water okay? I can finish the bandages when I get back.
Nich looked up at Rowan weakly, still a bit out of it from the pain. A break would definitely do him some good, but he seemed a little confused nonetheless. "Mmnh…? Oh, okay… that's fine." He replied softly. As he sat up, he grimaced and looked down at the sorry state he was in. Everything hurt badly and he could see beads of blood blossoming through the fresh bandages already. He just hoped that they would be enough to keep him from needing them replaced again very soon. He managed to get to his feet and shuffled over to drink something, still feeling awful due to everything that was wrong with him at the moment. He supposed that it would be a good story, but he felt miserable for now. After he'd had something to drink, he headed back over to lay on the bed and relax for a few minutes.
(Rowan's replacing the bandages if I didn't make that clear. Girl just keeps an endless supply on her lol)
(Oh mb, I figured she was rewrapping them all when she was done aha)
(Edit: fixed 👍)
(Nah mate, she rewraps as she goes so if they have to take a break it's all gucci lol)
Rowan took the old bandages and exited the room. She took a deep breath in and out once on the other side of the door, mentally preparing herself for the people that were downstairs. With a calm mind, at the very least, Rowan made her way down the stairs and towards a bin to dispose of the bandages. She was trying her hardest not to let anyone see what she was carrying because she knew they would start questioning her about why she had them. Instead she made it down to the bin, dropped the blood bandages inside, and then immediately turned around and sped-walked back to the room.
Nich closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Everything hurt, but taking a break helped the pain to ebb down from unbearable to a dull throb. He was sure that would change soon enough, but he enjoyed the bit of relief for the moment anyway. He looked up when he heard Rowan coming back and winced, knowing she'd have to finish the bandages now. He'd decided that he really hated these bandages now, but he knew they were important. He couldn't sit up again; any movement was pretty painful, so he just looked over at the door from where he was laying. "Welcome back…"
Rowan smiled as Nich greeted her shutting the door after her. She noticed that he looked at least a little better than before she had left. She walked over to his bed and picked up the bandages, checking over the few spots left. The final stretch was most likely going to be the worse, Rowan looked up at Nich and wrote out, Ready to continue?
Nich seemed understandably apprehensive, but nodded nonetheless. He just seemed very uneasy knowing how much it was going to hurt. "Yeah… let's get this over with." He smiled and laughed weakly to try and reassure Rowan, but he definitely looked nervous. He figured he'd have to be more careful to not get cut up like this in the future.
Rowan gave him an encouraging smile as she began to peel away the bandages once again. She silently wondered what would have happened if she wasn't there. Or if she had tried to take the job herself and Nich hadn't come along. Those thoughts couldn't get the better of her while she was changing the bandages. Given how bad these wounds were she really couldn't afford to be careless.
Nich groaned and bit down on his hand to keep himself distracted and quiet. He went pale again, and the pain came back full force. She's almost done, she's almost done… it won't hurt for much longer, just push through. Don't be a wuss. You've been through worse. He turned his ears back, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to watch. As much as he tried not to think about the pain, it was overwhelming, and he could barely think about anything at all anyways.
Rowan was moving as quickly as she could without hurting Nich by going too fast. She spent another few minutes unwrapping, cleaning, putting a poultice on, and then rewrapping with fresh bandages the last few wounds. When she was finally done she placed the bandages and poultice on the ground before tapping Nich on the shoulder, All done.
Nich looked up weakly when Rowan tapped him and sighed softly in relief. The pain hadn't really gone away yet, but he was hoping that it would soon. "Great… thanks…" He grimaced as he sat up, still feeling woozy and uncomfortably warm from the fever that hadn't quite faded. It was better than before, but he still didn't look like he was feeling great. "Hopefully I get over whatever this is so we can get out of this place, yeah?"
Yeah, but we're not leaving until there are no infections and you don't have a fever, Rowan replied happy to see he was feeling a little better than before. She knew the next step after all of this was to get something in him so his body could really begin recovering. Rowan moved away from Nich and towards her bag, You up to eating something right now?
"Mm…" Nich yawned and scratched at his ears, looking up to see what Rowan was saying. "I don't want to keep us here for too long, though." He sighed, tapping one foot on the ground. He didn't like being cooped up here. "Eat something? Ah… I guess so." To be honest, he wasn't particularly hungry, but he figured that eating might do him some good anyway. "What do you have?"
I think I can make a simple soup, Rowan wrote back to him. She had some fairly basic edible herbs in her bag that could make hot water flavorful and give it some sustenance. That and she didn't want to give him anything too heavy with his current illness. She could use a bowl and some magic to warm the water up and then let it stew for a few minutes. So that's exactly what she began to do.
"That's fine… thanks." Nich lay back down to try and relax and get more comfortable for a bit. The pain was still present, but more of a dull throb than sharp, stabbing pains like before. His head felt heavy and his vision was a bit blurry, and he still felt warm, but he decided that overall, he was fine. Not great, but stable, and much better than he'd been when he woke up.
Rowan placed the bowl full of water and herbs on top of her bottle holder for when she made potions. She muttered a spell under her breath and fire bloomed to life on her palm. Rowan coughed a few times as she rested her hand beneath the bowl and waited for the water to heat up. She wasn't ignoring Nich, she was just focusing on the food. Once the water was boiling and had started to turn into a warm array of colors appropriate to what she had been using, she closed her hand to put the fire out. Rowan carefully grabbed the edges of the bowl and placed it down on the end table next to Nich, Careful it's hot.
Nich had dozed off into a light sleep by this point, but stirred and looked up when Rowan approached the bed. He groaned softly and sat up, shaking his head to clear the drowsiness. "Mmnh… thanks." He mumbled softly, testing the temperature of the bowl with one hand before he pulled it into his lap and stuck a spoonful of the soup into his mouth. It wasn't really like any soup he'd had before. Not bad; pretty good, even, it just had a very unique flavor that he wasn't really expecting. "Mm… what did you say you were making this out of?" He asked curiously as he took another bite.
If I'm honest, whatever herbs I had in my bag that were edible on their own would add some flavor and sustenance. So I think I put in some rosemary, oregano, sage, basil, and thyme, Rowan wrote out. She had only made that one bowl of soup for Nich, and she hadn't even tasted it. So if it tasted bad, at least he wasn't saying anything about it. Rowan instead reached into her bag and grabbed one of her ration packs that had a bit of granola, dried fruit, and nuts.
Nich nodded and looked down into the bowl curiously. "It's good, it's just… really not like anything I've had before." He laughed softly. "Although I suppose I haven't had herb soup before. I've had more typical soups with vegetables and meat and stuff. Do you want to try some?" He asked, holding the bowl up a bit in case Rowan wanted to taste the soup she'd made.
Rowan hesitated before she grabbed an extra spoon and dipped it into the bowl. She sipped it gingerly and was pleasantly surprised at the taste. Given it was really her just throwing things into, the soup turned out fairly well. She gave Nich a smile as she pushed the bowl back to him, I'm, honestly surprised. It's not the best soup I've made, but it's not bad either.
Nich shrugged and kept eating. He finished most of the soup, but he still wasn't feeling great, so he didn't have the whole bowl. "Hopefully all of this sorts itself out soon… I don't want to be stuck here for too long." He sighed softly, resting the bowl on the side table before he lay back down on the bed. "Sorry for keeping you stuck here as well."
