"Mm?" Nich took a moment to process what Rowan had written, blinking a couple times. "Oh! Yeah, yeah, that's fine. Um… I should probably sleep too. They say resting is good for healing bones or something. Dunno if I believe them, but sleep is good anyway." He hummed thoughtfully and got up, grimacing for a moment before he headed over to his own bed. "I guess we can continue the get-to-know-you stuff in the morning."
Rest is always a good thing for healing, but don't feel like you need to sleep because I am. We can continue talking in the morning. Rowan wrote back noting his grimace for later. She sat over on her bed and cleared off the top from all the supplies she had piled on it. Once it was cleared she laid down properly before writing out one last message, Good night Nich.
"Mm… goodnight, Rowan." Nich mumbled in reply, sighing and groaning as he sat down on his bed. He took a minute or so to get himself situated in a somewhat comfortable position and then he was quiet, which was certainly unusual for him. He definitely was the chatty type under normal circumstances, but right now he was tired and still in considerable pain despite the potions. Even so, he managed to fall asleep, and he still seemed to be asleep in the morning.
Rowan managed to sleep through the night in a deep dreamless slumber, a rarity for her, and even woke up an hour or two later than she normally did. It surprised her for but a moment before she remembered all the magic she used yesterday, and she knew how exhausting magic can make a person. She went through the motions of reaching her throat soothing potion as she glanced over at Nich seeing him still fast asleep. He needed the rest after yesterday, and decided not to wake him as she drank the potion.
It took Nich another hour to finally start stirring, and a few minutes after that to actually wake up, opening his eyes with a groan of pain. Now awake and conscious of his injuries, he curled in on himself, feeling nauseous and like his skin was splitting apart on every part of his body. His ears flattened back against his head and he was definitely wishing that he was still asleep. He was too distracted to notice whether or not Rowan was awake.
Rowan was brainstorming possible spells and potions when she heard movement from Nich's bed. She looked over figuring that it was just him moving in his sleep again to see him curl up in himself. She moved to get off of her bed and walked over to his bed. She quickly analysed the situation seeing nothing wrong right away. She gently tapped his shoulder as she wrote out, Everything okay Nich?
Nich flinched when Rowan tapped him and looked over his shoulder at her. He looked pale and clammy, and generally just terrible. Nothing like the boisterous, vibrant personality he usually was. He managed to make out what Rowan was saying through blurry vision and groaned again. "Ugh… I-I feel sick…" He muttered. "Everything hurts… feels like my skin's splitting everywhere. Like I'm about to explode or something, I… I dunno…" He held his breath for a moment and then exhaled shakily. He felt clammy and both hot and cold, so he figured he must have a fever or something. It was possible that some of his wounds were infected, or he could just be feeling awful. He didn't really know.
Rowan frowned heavily as she gently put the back of her hand on his forehead. He was burning up and she quickly removed it before going to her bag to start looking for the right concoction to reduce fevers. She continued looking as she wrote out to him, You're burning up too. Do you think you can sit up and take your clothes off so I can check on your wounds? I'm worried you might have an infection, but if not you're definitely sick.
"Mmnh… yeah, I guess so…" Nich mumbled in reply. He wasn't too keen on stripping in front of Rowan, but the overwhelming, stifling heat from the fever was enough to convince him to pull his shirt and pants off. He kept his underwear on, of course.
It looked as though he'd bled through most of his bandages, and upon inspection, some of the wounds definitely felt hot to the touch, and he flinched whenever he was touched anywhere. He may have caught something as well, but he definitely had some infection.
Rowan grabbed her fever concoction and then after a moment grabbed a slow healing potion and her wound poultice before turning back to Nich. She wasted no time looking over Nich taking note of where he had bled through the bandages. She dropped a bit of the concoction into the potion, shook the bottle up, and handed it to Nich with the message, Drink. She then grabbed new bandages before going to change the bandages and treat any infection she would find. He may have come down with something given how sickly he looked, but she was going to focus on his wounds first since that's was what supplies she had on her at the moment.
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?