Rowan ate her rations in silence enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. She looked up as Nich spoke to her and looked at him sympathetically. She shook her head before going to pick his bowl up and take it away from him. She looked back at him to write out, Nich, don't worry about it. If you keep worrying about how long we're stuck here, the longer it'll take for you to heal and the longer it'll take for us to get back. So relax. I'm not bothered that we have to stay a little longer than we planned.
Nich looked down at the bed, still feeling guilty. "I know, I know… I just can't help but feel bad. You could be making money and stuff… I could— I could send a message with you so that they don't suspect foul play or whatever. Getting hurt is pretty on par for me, you know?" He sighed softly, running his fingers through his hair. "Sorry… I'm sure I'm being stupid, or— or unreasonable, I-I dunno…"
Don't. Rowan wrote partially glaring down at him. She could handle someone being sick, someone being hurt, but not someone having emotional issues. Besides Nich didn't need to worry about her, Please just don't feel bad. You're ill right now and I would feel terrible if I left you here in such a state. Got it? I'm not going anywhere until you're better.
"R-Right… sorry…" Nich stopped his whining, although he didn't feel much better. He didn't want to bother Rowan anymore anyways. She shouldn't have to stay here with me just because I got sick… I'll get better, right? He ran his fingers through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you want to do, then? We probably shouldn't just sit around wasting time."
Well, what do you feel up to doing? Rowan asked him as she tapped her other hand on her leg. She knew if Nich did something than he would be less likely to insist Rowan leave him here. Which was not something that was going to happen, but at the same time she knew Nich was sick and shouldn't be doing anything too strenuous.
"Mmh… we could go out to the market or something? I could probably walk." Nich shrugged and winced, since just that was painful. He probably shouldn't be walking around, but that didn't seem to be something he considered. "What is there to do around here?" He asked.
You just winced when you shrugged, Rowan quickly pointed out. She wasn't going to let him out until he could at the very least shrug or sit up without wincing. She shook her head as she began to rifle through their bags. She paused a second to write out to Nich, Do you have any cards? Maybe we could play a game or something like that.
Nich sighed softly and leaned his head forward a bit to see what Rowan was doing. "Ah… yeah, I think I've got cards in my bag somewhere. I don't sort through it too much, so I don't think I'd have taken them out." He yawned and scratched at his ears again, still uncomfortable and in pain, but not wanting to just lie in bed doing nothing.
Rowan nodded and then she went over to his bag. After a few minutes of digging through the bag, she found the deck of cards and pulled it out. She walked over to his bed and thought about what they could play on before deciding the bed was good enough. She wrote out to him, What games do you know?
"Uhhh… I know Blackjack, War… Go Fish." Nich laughed softly and turned his attention to the cards. "Solitaire, Slapjack, stuff like that. What about you?" He asked. He shifted how he was sitting so he'd be a bit more comfortable, but it didn't help very much. "I'm willing to try new stuff if you're willing to teach me."
I know Go Fish! We could play that. Rowan wrote out a smile on her face. She had pulled the cards out of the deck and began doing a poor one-handed shuffle. She noticed that Nich didn't look the most comfortable at the moment and paused her shuffling, Can I help you with anything? You don't look super comfortable right now.
"Sounds good to me." Nich smiled weakly and massaged his ribs with one hand for a moment, trying to ease the aching. "Mm? Oh, I dunno if there's much you can do… you've given me a lot of stuff already, and it's really not all that bad. Just sore and such." He freed his hand so that he could help with shuffling the cards, which he seemed pretty good at. Presumably he played cards with other members of the guild relatively often.
(Okay, if you can't tell, I am running out of ideas to do. So unless you want them to do anything while away from the guild, can we skip to when they arrive back at the guild?)
(Yeah that's fair lol, I'm fine to skip!)
(Oh, thank God lol. I'll get the skip up when I wake up tomorrow if that's okay.)
(Yeah that's fine aha. We can just assume they stayed a few days until Nich was travel worthy or something)
Another four days passed before Rowan had finally deemed Nich well enough to travel back to the guild. She insisted that they take it easy and not push themselves to rush on the way back. So after two whole days of travel they had finally arrived back at the guild. Rowan was attempting to not be noticed as she pushed the door open and heard the normal roar of the guild hall once more.
Nich was still pretty sore and his skin felt tight from being freshly healed all over, but he was definitely anxious to get back home and see the guild again. He walked into the building behind Rowan, acting as normal as possible, and boisterously greeted any guild members who greeted him first. A rather large man scooped Nich up in a hug and squeezed him tightly, which made Nich gasp in pain and squirm a bit to get free. "H-Hey, man… good to see you again." He smiled up at the man, but his voice was strained and he definitely wanted to be let go.
Rowan managed to slip away in the commotion of everyone greeting Nich. She made her way to the bar so she could order a bit of food when she glanced back to see Nich in a less-than-ideal situation. Rowan looked at how close the food was before walking back towards Nich and tapped on the large man's arm to get his attention. She was trying to not be intrusive, but there was only much she could do as she wrote out, Could you please let him go? He got hurt on the job and is still recovering.
"Mm? Oh!" The man let Nich go, and Nich drew in a few wavering breaths. "Sorry, man. Why didn't you say you hurt yourself again, eh?" The man laughed and Nich laughed weakly as well, mouthing a 'thank you' to Rowan as he recovered.
"Well, I just got back, didn't I? Didn't get to share my stories yet." He crossed his arms and smirked a bit once he seemed to have pulled himself together. He hoped none of his wounds had reopened. "We had to catch these bandits, and they swarmed me. Couldn't fight all of 'em off, even though I did get a good amount, and they cut me up pretty good. I'm fine, though, thanks to Rowan's healing prowess."
(Feel free to add random NPCs and stuff if your want lol)
(Will do if I can come up with any lol)
Rowan felt her cheeks heat up as she was praised by Nich. She was just doing what any sane person would do when someone was injured with them. It wasn't anything special and it wasn't like Nich wouldn't be dead if it wasn't there. He would have lived, most likely. She wrote out in the air soon after, I didn't do much. It was just a few healing potions and bandages. That's all.
"Oh, c'mon. Don't be modest. I was in pretty bad shape." Nich laughed softly and winced as he disturbed his bandages a bit. "Y'all had to carry me back to the inn. I was probably gonna die." He hummed thoughtfully and his fellow guild members laughed heartily as they listened. "I'm fiiine though. Feeling great… ish. Did you have fun at least, Rowan? Any quips to add?" He asked, turning to her.
Umm not really. All I would say is that you need to work on your self-preservation skills, Rowan wrote out looking at Nich. The job was a job. They came, caught the bandits, stayed until Nich was healed, and left. Nothing else to it. She didn't see an easy way out of the situation at hand so she stayed where she was. Rowan adjusted her hat to try and block her face a bit better.
"Fair enough." Nich smiled and returned to the conversation, noticing that Rowan didn't seem to want to participate, and so choosing not to force her to do so. The guild members could be a bit intimidating at times, after all. After a while, Nich was feeling pretty tired, his endurance not quite up to the usual yet, and so he excused himself to get some rest. He looked around to try and find Rowan again.
Rowan managed to get away from the conversation after a few minutes of not being noticed. She made her way over to the bar counter where she then gave the pretty lady tending it an order for a full meal. Rowan got her food and then settled down in a nice quiet-ish corner of the bar to eat. She would leave after she was done eating, not wanting to make her own food at her house. She didn't see Nich looking for her, but she was in his line of sight.
It took him a few minutes, but Nich eventually managed to find Rowan at the bar and sat down next to her, looking a bit pale and drowsy. "Hey! How's it going? Feeling alright?" He asked, propping his head up on one hand to keep himself upright. The potions had worn off by now and he was feeling pretty bad. "Getting something to eat? Good idea… I should eat something. How long has it been?"
At least an hour, Rowan responded looking at him concerningly. He honestly looked awful and she figured the potions must have worn off, but she didn't have any more on her to use. Brewing more healing potinos was on the top of her list of things to do. She sighed and shook her head, But I'm fine and you need to eat.
"Yeah… guess I probably should." Nich asked the bartender for something and then laid his head against the counter, his arms wrapped loosely around himself. He definitely needed a top up on his potions, but he'd just have to try and push through the pain until Rowan could get more. Maybe I can get drunk so everything is numb… no, that's probably a bad idea.
Rowan watched him worringly. He definitely seemed to be in pain still and she hated that she had nothing to give him for it. But she her supply was so low she was starting to worry she wouldn't be able to make more of her special potions either. She let out a slight sigh as she finished her meal and stood up, After you eat, go back home and get some more rest. I'll have more potions for you in the morning, okay?
"Mmnh… okay." Nich replied weakly. He looked up when the bartender returned with something to eat, his ears drooping. He thanked the bartender softly, starting to eat, although he couldn't eat too much. "I'll try and get some sleep or something. You should do the same." Nich got off of his stool, staggering a bit before straightening and feigning that everything was fine. "I'll see you in the morning, Rowan." He dipped his head in farewell and made his way out.
