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 Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 6:22 pm
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He hadn't been feeling well, but that was nothing unusual for Veikel; in fact, the days where he didn't feel something as of late were more suspect. Maybe it was exhaustion creeping in on him as he worked through the days and nights, hardly noticing as they blended together like a spoon stirring cream into klah. Even if he did acknowledge that maybe his head was hurting, then he'd take something for it. Veikel was a Journeyman healer well into his studies, not some novice junior apprentice who panicked at the first sign of aches and pains. If it really got bad, he'd take a break for a few candlemarks and get back to it. This was nothing.
But "nothing" was slowly becoming "something", and as Veikel attempted to get up from where he'd been sitting inside the healer's tent, working overtime as per usual, his vision swam. It was for barely a nick of a tick of a candlemark, but it was enough to send him stumbling. A couple of jumping steps found him still upright, though he leaned against the wall for support as he tried to gather his thoughts.
"....." Maybe something was wrong.
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Posted: Thu May 30, 2019 8:13 pm
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Nikal left his sister to keep her sharding secrets, newly christened Gauze in tow. The blue flit, courtesy of practically feral Phalanges, was a far cry from his mother. Barely a few hours old, he was already much more malleable to command and docile than the green had ever been in several turns. Nikal had some hopes that this one could be trained—he might actually even try this time. But for now, he was quickly moving from one side of the infirmary to the other, the flit tightly bound like his namesake around his fingers.
Veikel wasn’t exactly accident prone, but Nikal wasn’t taking things to chance. The totally unrelated and random egg left with his brother might well have cracked open without the idiot knowing, so scatterbrained as he was getting lately. Probably pushing himself too much again. And while Phalanges couldn’t care less about her eggs now that they had been divied and sold and out of sight (and she had gotten her vengeance by biting his ears again), Nikal had a strange urge to make sure this one was okay. Or maybe that was Gauze talking.
He nearly tripped into Veikel when he ducked into the tent. Cursing, Nikal waved the hand Gauze wasn’t bound to at him. “What are you doing? Wake up, idiot, I almost ran into you.”
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Posted: Sat Jun 01, 2019 5:28 pm
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There was a long pause as Viekel turned to look, and for a flicker of a tickmark his expression showed confusion. It washed away in a blink, and a friendly smile replaced all. "Hmm? Ah, Nikal." The smile continued, and the older brother pushed himself from the wall in an effort to stand and not look so....in the way. Or whatever it was that Nikal had spouted at him between complaints. "I didn't expect to see you here, what's up? Did you need to see Mom?"
Normally, he would have pulled his brother into an embrace and laughed against the fruitless struggles of the much younger (and much weaker) man to break free, but he didn't. His arms felt like lead, and even keeping the smile on his face was making his cheeks hurt. Still, he couldn't let anyone know and he was going to make sure they didn't. Veikel couldn't worry anyone because it'd cause them trouble and he would never forgive himself for that.
"If you're looking for her I think she's stepped out for the time being? I can give her the message to find you if you want." The smile faltered for a moment and his eyebrows tensed, but it passed. A soft peep from behind him had a small blue tail move to curl about his neck, the only proof there was something there. "If that's all you need I'll pass it along, no worries."
Was he trying to rush Nikal off? Yes.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 10:50 am
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Ahhh, yeah. Nikal always did seem to get along better with their sister, Veikel thought, even more so since she had a downed dragon and everyone had been off and on concerned for her. Initially Veikel had been excessively smothering and oh, how he longed still to be, but that wasn't going to happen. "Oh yeah, Tai. Good on you." Why was Nikal still here? Normally the boy couldn't stand being more than a tick of a mark in Veikel's presence and yet for some reason he was still here. The comment about his looks took a bit to register, as did the question of what he was doing.
"I look like s**t because I'm your older brother, and I was planning on going and getting some klah. We've got a dragon who will be clutching soon, so there's a lot of things I want to get in order." He frowned, but tried to get it away. It was uncharacteristic, but he also yanked his arm free from Nikal's grasp with what was probably a little too much force. "Er, anyway."
Again, the blue about his neck peeped and from beneath the dark mass of hair two small glowing eyes could be seen. The peep had been in response to the flitter on Nikal's hand, no doubt, but the shy creature made no effort to move.
"You're welcome to stay here and do whatever, but I'm getting some klah and I have work to do. If you've nothing you need from me, leave me alone." Irritation tinged his own words as he brushed past his brother and outside. There were only a few steps taken though before he staggered again, this time no wall to catch himself before he tumbled down. From behind his head a tiny, dark flitter emerged and took to the sky, hovering over his downed form with heartbreaking creels.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 11:58 am
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Oh, shards and shells. He was feeling it, like something thick in his throat that wouldn’t be dislodged. More than anger at being brushed off, more than irritation at himself. Nikal found himself marching right after him, glaring at Veikel’s back.
“I need you to stop being a deadglow all the time,” he said, “but I guess that’s never happening. You’re sick, aren’t you.” It wasn’t a question. He saw how flushed Veikel looked leaning against the wall for support. “You worked yourself up again, and you’re going to keep going until you—“
Collapse. Which was exactly what his brother did. Growling a sigh, Nikal knelt down beside him but made no effort to help him up. “What you need is a kick in the a**,” he said. “And maybe some water. And a wake up call.”
Gauze peeled away from his fingers and awkwardly flapped a few times before he could reach the other flit, cooing in soothing tones.
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 12:58 pm
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Veikel wasn't entirely unconscious, as nice as that would have been, so he heard Nikal's usual gripes. In a normal mood he'd have laughed it off and just chalked it all up to his younger brother's surly nature. Now though, awake and angry at himself and certainly ill, his mood was surly too. Perhaps it was a family trait that he was just better at suppressing than the others? None the less he groaned and moved a bit in an effort to get up.
Sadly, his arms betrayed him and he found he couldn't lift his body. How'd he let himself get this bad? The last time something like that happened he'd managed to catch it in time without anyone noticing, but now Nikal was here being his usual pompous a** self and Veikel wasn't for all that. His head hurt, his body hurt, and he was being looked down on. "Piss off Nikal, what do you even care?" The words were mostly muffled by the dirt and so it was ridiculous to see a grown man grumble from such a position.
That said, the tiny flitter looked more towards Gauze and peeped again, moving so they they were closer together. The darker blue looked over at Nikal, back to Gauze, before moving to land on Veikel's back. More peeps, more chirps, and eyes full of worry. "Bandage, get off."
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Posted: Mon Jun 03, 2019 3:20 pm
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"If you hate me this much, why not just go away? Go haunt Mom, or Tai, or literally anyone else." Bandage had flown off when Nikal moved his brother, and Veikel coughed out some words as the little blue landed back on his chest. The flitter looked at Nikal with large and worried eyes, radiating concern and love and so much more. He sat for a moment before walking up and placing his snout against Veikel's chin.
The poor baby blue's reward was a soft pet with the tip of Veikel's finger, though the motion took effort and Veikel groaned. "What do you even want from me Nikal? To see me sick because of my own stupidity, as usual, so you can feel superior?"
All these words were honest, but also not so. Veikel loved his brother and sister more than anything in the world which was probably why he was so annoyed right now; there was so much he had to do just to stay afloat while the two of them just......naturally did. Maybe that's why his bitterness was coming out with his cold, or rather exhaustion just made some feelings easier.
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Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 1:36 pm
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"....but why? What have I ever even done to you to get that? Is it because I'm not like you, or Mom and Dad? Or like Tai? Because I don't even have remote worth if I'm not working myself to death? Even then I'll probably have to actually be dead before it -" He groaned and bit at his lip, stopping the complaining. There was no point in talking to Nikal about anything, he knew how the boy felt about him. It would have been amusing for the older brother to find out he felt like he was being tolerated; in Veikel's mind he was the outcast one. The one who couldn't do anything right because of his fears and his insecurities.
Shaking hands were placed over Veikel's face, and maybe he was thinking about crying. Not now of course, as he would never cry in front of anyone if he could help it, but certainly he'd be crying. "You're lucky."
Did he mean Nikal was lucky in that no one expected anything from him? No, Viekel would never be that cruel even in his sickened and angry thoughts. No, Nikal was lucky because the parents did expect a lot from him and Nikal was still young enough to make those hopes come true. Veikel, for all his efforts, was practically a lost cause. A healer who couldn't handle blood, who was annoying and smothering and all his good intentions ruined things? Ah yes.
"One day you're going to go on and become someone amazing and I'll still be here, in the dirt."
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Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2019 10:04 pm
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Nikal, for all his brooding tendencies, had never dared speak aloud his thoughts the way Veikel did. He wasn't sure what made him angrier: that Veikel's perspective was something unexpected, or that they shared the same deep-seeded fear. One couldn't co-exist with the other: they were both being stupid, he knew, but it was much easier to face it when it had someone else's face on it.
He set the bucket down by him; he couldn't push Gauze to try for a towel right now, and Phalanges was...being a gremlin elsewhere. His words came out in an undertone. "For ******** sake, Vei, just sit up and wash your face already. I know you can do that much at least. You're still a sharding healer, even if you look gross."
No-one was going to take that away from his brother, Nikal believed. Not even Veikel himself. At least Veikel could actively do something with what he learned: what did Nikal have besides anger?
"What're you even talking about? Nobody's asked you to be a dumbass about your work schedule. I think we'd like it if you didn't look like death all the time, because then this s**t happens."
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Posted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 4:44 pm
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"Of course no one asks, because it's expected. You - okay yanno what? Never mind." Veikel had little to no energy to continue arguing...and that was okay. This was probably the first time in a long time, or at all if he really could remember, that he actively traded verbal barbs with Nikal. Or with anyone, for that matter, as the healer had always relied on his silver tongue and genial manner to get him out of situations.
Still, he groaned as he pushed himself up as much as he could. His head still swam and it was evident in how he swayed, prompting Bandage to squeak with worry and skitter onto his shoulders. He'd gotten himself good this time and would probably sleep for the better part of a sevenday once this was all said and done. Provided, of course, something insane didn't happen like a hatching or another massive Threadfall that wiped out even more riders. Ugh, he didn't even want to think about that and how it'd wipe out his stores for months to come. There hadn't even been proper time to harvest and pollinate, but why was he thinking about that right now. Right now he was supposed to be struggling to wipe his face, which ended with him spilling the bucket as he clumsily reached for it.
"Shardit." Now he was miserable and wet and still being harped on by his younger brother. Maybe this was all just an awful fever dream and he was actually out cold inside the infirmary where no one could see him. Instead of, you know, sitting in the dirt with a crying firelizard wrapped around his neck.
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Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:12 pm
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"Hard to push out someone who happily and easily walks away." Veikel wasn't actively attempting to make himself heavy as Nikal attempted to lift, but he felt heavy anyway. His body ached, he was wet, and he was also extremely uncharacteristically pissy. It had to be the cold talking, or the exhaustion, or both together, because there was no way that he'd ever talk to someone this way, let alone his family. Veikel had always been so careful in his words and phrases so to slip up due to an illness was mind blowing.
Carefully he got to his feet with the help of his brother, and even though he towered over him it was clear to see Nikal might eventually catch him in height one day. They had some much in physical common despite being such night and day personalities. "I can walk on my own." He could not, in fact, walk on his own.
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