"I keep telling you, Head Angel, I'm fine! There's no need to be concerned for my work!" An annoyed Alela Grora retorted, cocking her head to the side, both hands on her hips. Her posture showed she was clearly unhappy with Wodahs' claim that she was not in any condition to take the night shift despite constant rebuttals that said otherwise coming from the angel with a hundred and one-degree fever. That angel, being Grora, felt it was an insult since it was coming from none other than the Head Angel himself. Although a small part of her—a very small part of her—somewhat believed that Wodahs was concerned for her health, the vast majority of her outright denied it.
Wodahs merely shut his eyes and sighed, face palming because the particular angel he was dealing with belligerently refused to rest, probably because her pride was coming under fire which Grora apparently considered to be one of the greatest attacks against her. Besides Ater of course, considering that one of the two demons under his brother was responsible for the loss of her eye. No matter how much Ater apologized among the abuse she received from Grora on a daily basis, the stubborn angel refused to accept her apologies. He did need to have another talk with Lady Etihw about that since forgiveness was something the people of the Gray Garden emphasized as a common rule of their friendships with each other. Grora was clearly not the best example of that.
"I beg to differ," he finally spoke after a few moments of silence. "You have been ill since yesterday and have not taken sick days to recover. I've spoken with you about this several times by now. What will you do when you finally crumble under the weight of your own illness, Grora?"
Grora puffed out her chest and shut her eye, arms crossed over her chest. "Blah, blah, blah. You don't need to work because you're sick! Take days off!" She stuck her tongue out at Wodahs, acting like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum with a surly tone as she mocked the Head Angel. "Yeah, right! As if I need time off from work! I've had a perfect attendance for my entire career, Head Angel! My entire career! I've never been sick before! Never!" Grora emphasized while jutting a rude finger straight into Wodahs' face and grabbing the collar of his suit with her other hand as her eye opened. "Do you know what that even means?! What that even means to me?!"
Wodahs sighed again, releasing himself from her grip. "That you'd risk your own health at the expense of your life all for the sake of keeping that perfect attendance to receive a promotion?" he inquired, beginning to get fed up with a conversation going absolutely nowhere. Wodahs was considering walking away and informing Lady Etihw and Lord Kcalb of Grora's demeanor, though he was aware that leaving could agitate her further by implying he didn't care about her. It was the wrong message to send even though he truly did care despite not showing it, but he didn't want her to unintentionally misread the gesture and come to the wrong conclusion over her attitude.
The sick angel was momentarily caught off guard and had to think about her answer. Most likely her fever was making her pick up on her ambitions slowly in conversation or ponder on the meaning of important inquiries even if she did have an answer to them. She put a finger to her chin and considered what he said before smiling as she finally responded. "Yeah, that! The sooner I get promoted, the closer I get to you!" For added effect she shot her arm up to dramatically point an index finger at the other angel. The gesture and declaration made her look and sound determined.
"Weren't you already too close to me just now?" asked a puzzled Wodahs, not sure he was understanding her correctly. She did have a habit of being somewhat vague in her responses. "And what about Ivlis' invasion? Does that too not fit the criteria for wanting to take time off and rest?"
"Ha!" Grora sneered as she blew him off. "Semantics, schematics!" That was an odd word choice. "You wish, Head Angel. I meant your job." She smirked, pointing another finger at him to answer another question he didn't even need to put forward. "That's right, when I advance further up the corporate ladder I'll be taking over your position! Soon I'll be running things around here and there'll be nothing you can do about it when it's official. Besides, that jerk attacking our world doesn't count; everyone suffered and were wounded. Just because an outsider assaults us to steal power doesn't mean it can be included in whatever bullshit criteria you're spouting all the time."
Wodahs crossed his arms and nodded to demonstrate that he now comprehended where his coworker was coming from. He had an idea of it from the start, even before this argument arose. It was no secret that Grora was very ambitious. "I do not doubt your dreams of ascension in the castle. While you may have the capability to handle the work I do, not once have you demonstrated concrete professionalism in your field. Your conduct on patrols is often reckless, albeit not as much of a problem. You use foul language in formal talks instead of maintaining an air of civility when speaking with others and vice versa. You do not sit properly at tables during meetings. And worst of all, you tried to kill Ater on a number of occasions, more than I can count," he listed the issues.
"She deserves it!" Grora ignored the other problems in favor of focusing her hate on Ater.
Wodahs continued, disregarding that outburst. "You've not proven yourself as a qualified candidate for the position, so my brother and Lady Etihw did not considered you for a promotion. There are others who have demonstrated certain values and core ideals that make up the foundation on which Blancblack Castle and the Gray Garden are founded upon. While you have shown and demonstrated some of these values quite well, others in regards to your professionalism are sorely lacking to a point that a possible promotion is going to be out of the question for the time being."
He did not need to finish since Grora was now in a sour mood as seen by her fuming facial expression and equally fuming body language. Wodahs knew she was almost going to punch him. Almost. Still, he wanted to make sure he was understood even if the other angel wasn't happy to hear the insulting truth about her workforce ethics. That was what would've made her punch him. Grora didn't see it that way, believing he was belittling her. It was why she wanted to punch him.
"Do I make myself clear?" the Head Angel risked getting socked in the eye, but narrowly avoided that punch Grora threw at him. He was expecting it and didn't even try to dodge it because the attack missed completely, not fazing him at all. Grora swung at him, but she felt unsteady on her feet as she launched her arm at Wodahs to knock his lights out. It was to be expected since she was sick, but Grora was startled when she suddenly lost her balance and whipped around to grab onto something for support. But there was nothing for her to seize, nothing except Wodahs whom she refused to grab onto. She tried to right herself but fell on her back with a loud groan of pain.
"See what I meant when I said you were sick?" the Head Angel inquired as Grora opened her eye to find the room spinning around her as she struggled to get into a sitting position, uttering small gasps of pain. Sweat trickled down her slightly red, feverish face while her breathing was labored since she ended up knocking the wind right out of herself. Wodahs offered a hand to help her up, but she arrogantly slapped it away out of anger, enraged at the thought of him pitying her.
"I can get up on my own! I can handle myself!" she shouted, struggling to stand while she wobbled slightly. "You don't have to be so goddamn patronizing to me all the time, you know?!"
Wodahs shrugged. "Suit yourself. Now will you start taking better care of yourself, Grora?"
"Piss off and go to Hell!" she retorted and stormed off to a nearby office to sign up for the night shift, apparently not going to consider his advice any longer, slamming the door behind her.
"Suit yourself," Wodahs repeated unemotionally as a couple demons and a Nephilim from the archives came up to speak with him about a current project their department was working on. Even as he was listening to them, Wodahs somewhat wished Grora would reconsider signing up for the night shift. It was already clear she had a fever that could get worse, so hopefully she gave the decision some more thought and took a few days off to recover. Then again, it was Alela Grora.
…
"Stupid Head Angel…" Grora muttered under her breath as she sat in the security office in front of the camera feeds to watch for any signs of suspicious activity. She was seated within a comfortable chair from the reception area, slouching down in it to get comfier while taking a sip of hot coffee. In the end she ignored Wodahs' concerns and took the night shift, forcefully since the attendants determining who handled assignments in Blancblack Castle shared his perspective and tried unsuccessfully to persuade her not to sign up for the night shift, especially since nobody else did on this particular night due to the upcoming Employee Appreciation holiday. Had there been anyone else, she would've assigned about one or two other employees to Grora's station. They were allowed to skip a few night shifts to get more sleep so they could enjoy their holiday.
Although Grora agreed that sleep was necessary, she was a punctual employee who chose to get her work done first before she went to bed—unless she was trying to slaughter Ater, which actually detracted from her work and potentially risked souring peaceful relations with the demons. It was bad enough that Ater worked in the nearby daycare center for the castle's employees while Grora tended to the garden when she was not on patrol, though abandoning her duties to hurt Ater was also just as bad. Not to Grora since she felt it was only fair she got even and then some. But she wasn't allowed to go that far or try for that matter. After the last incident when she shoved Ater's head into a microwave and beat her with a frying pan with the microwave on to the highest temperature, Etihw was enraged and threatened to fire Grora and exile her from the Gray Garden unless she started behaving better. She didn't have to forgive Ater, but she was forbidden from harming the poor girl. That attack really traumatized Ater quite a lot, forcing her into hiding for a long period of time until Kcalb finally managed to calm her down enough to make her come out.
Grora sighed, finishing the last bit of her coffee as she started heating up another pot with the coffeemaker from the kitchen. "Stupid Ater…Stupid Head Angel…Why do they get praise for being good employees and I don't?" she inquired to herself, annoyed that they seemed to be better workers in the eyes of others without considering her own actions. She closed her eye and sighed again, opening them slowly and feeling woozy as her vision blurred somewhat. Grora placed a hand to her forehead, noting the warm feeling coming through to the palm of her hand with sweat that trickled on it. Her fever was getting worse as Wodahs seemed to believe, yet Grora shook her head to try and focus. She was not going to admit to something she believed was false even though others could clearly see the truth in it. She would not stand down just because of a simple fever.
"Bah…" Grora scoffed, looking over the the security feed, "those two really do get on my nerves." The Gray Garden was a peaceful place that had never once experienced any problems. It shared commercial relations with the Corporate Heaven, the Shadowed Sanctuary, and the Flower World, though that was the extent of its peaceful relations and knowledge of the Gray Garden to the outside world. Ivlis' attack the previous year exposed it to other worlds that may have taken advantage of that peace to attack their world too and destroy everything Etihw and Kcalb created. That was why regular patrols were fortified further to ensure no threats ever crossed the borders of their world or attacked from long range beyond them, and security cameras were installed at key points throughout various institutions like the castle and around the village to keep a watch on things. That helped the authorities investigate anything suspicious to protect the world's citizens.
A few locks of stray hair dangled in front of her eye and Grora brushed them away as she watched the footage. Nothing was out of place, everything was fine. She sighed, bored out of her mind since nobody else was handling the night shift. "Jeez, does the whole damn workforce have to be lazy when they get allowed to?" she asked as she stepped out of the room, "Not that they get any work done around here, but it would be nice if they...came by often?" Her voice began to die down in her throat when she saw him, or least his shadow, passing by the doorway. Or at least, she thought she saw him go to the left. Getting out of the chair and staggering slightly to the doorway, Grora peeked out to see where he was going. Her eye was blurry, so she couldn't see very well. "Head Angel?" she called out to him as she took a step forward and stumbled, feeling her forehead as she steadied herself. Her breathing grew heavier, the sweat trickling down her face as it dripped onto the floor. She slowly walked back to the chair, stopping by the closet to take out a fan to plug it into a nearby outlet by the chair. She figured Wodahs came down to get something, forgetting that he would have had to walk by her on his way there to find whatever he was looking for. He could have stopped to say hello, but apparently it seemed to be beneath him—at least to Grora.
Grora sat down again and opened one of the desk drawers, pulling out a radio to listen to music as she poured more coffee. A book she was reading with the aid of some light from a lamp was open, a bookmark marking the page she was on. Yet Grora didn't feel like reading anymore. Her sight didn't seem to be clearing up for the time being, so she closed the book and put it aside before putting her head against a fluffy pillow she had also brought down to stay comfy. "Oh, why is it that I hardly get any help whenever I'm on the night shift?" she inquired to herself, her voice wavering as the headache that came with her intensifying fever applied more pressure upon her.
She turned her head to the security feed for any sign of Wodahs in any of the offices on the ground floor, the garden, or the daycare center. He wasn't anywhere, suggesting he might've been hiding. But that was so totally unlike the Head Angel who never hid anything from anybody or hid in places where nobody could find him. He was always out in the open, making his presence known to anybody who was either looking for him or was simply somebody visiting the castle. She paid attention to the footage from twelve thirty-eight a.m. to one fifty-seven a.m. for some odd reason. Wodahs still didn't show himself. If he was hiding, he clearly had the patience to wait for her to spring his little trap if he was setting one if it hadn't already been set. And it was awfully quiet. What was he doing? Did he sign up for the night shift too to help her? While Grora appreciated his assistance on this occasion because nobody else took the night shift, she was still suspicious as she was informed that she was the only one working tonight. Why did he hide if he wanted to help?
Pressing a call button on one of the keyboards she sat by, Grora reached for a microphone attached to the console and leaned in to speak into it. "Head Angel?" she called, making sure she was quiet enough not to wake other workers living on the floor above. "Head Angel, are you down here?" When she received no response after a few moments of silence aside from the radio, Grora let out an irritated sigh and stood up, shaking somewhat as she held the chair to keep herself steady so she didn't fall like before when she tried to punch Wodahs. Perhaps he was angry about that in some way, though not as angry as she was when he suggested she rested instead of working a night shift to improve her perfect attendance. Maybe that was why he was hiding; either because he was still mad and felt ambushing and scaring her was good revenge or because he was scared of getting hit. But neither option sounded like something he'd do or fell, so it didn't make any sense. When she felt fine enough to walk, Grora stormed out the security office and started patrolling the floor.
She checked all of the offices and every nook and cranny but found him nowhere until she came to the castle's post office. Unlike the post office in Gray Village, this one was specifically established to send mail and emails to and from the employees in each of the departments. But like the post office in town, the castle's post office was equipped with the furniture and equipment to handle physical documents. Desks, shelves, mail slots, and cabinets and drawers for all sorts of paper documents and parcels lined the walls and formed a few aisles. Mail chutes went up to each department with cylindrical containers to store the documents and parcels. A few chutes even went to the basement departments. Only the ground floor had no chute because it didn't need one, so an angel was assigned to be the postman for this floor. Another door led to the room where computer servers were used by the post office for the emails sent around the castle and to Gray Village, as well as to the other municipal administrations around the world. But this door was locked, and as she didn't have a key or any lockpicks on her, all Grora could do was peer through the window to find nobody there. A flashlight could've helped, though her eye was adjusted to the darkness at this point. "Hey, Head Angel, next time you want to ignore me, just—Head Angel?" she called out to him but nobody was there. The office was entirely empty and there was no other way out.
Unsure if it was a prank or not, Grora returned to the security feed at the cameras to see when Wodahs entered the post office or any of the other offices down here. She played back to the footage to when she first saw him and just watched, keeping a close eye on the hallway by the door to the security office during when she saw the Head Angel walk by before. Her attention was right on that specific area…yet nobody was even there aside from herself peering out to see where he'd gone. She fast forwarded through the footage and found she was only one down here, investigating the ground floor for any sign of Wodahs. She rubbed her eye and did a double take, but still nothing as if he was never there. Why didn't the camera see him? An invisibility spell, maybe? It could have explained why she was unable to find him, though Grora had enough of an eagle eye's experience to actually see a sliver of invisibility if not an entire form unseen due to that spell, so it was unlikely since she would have spotted something amiss even in total darkness. Perhaps it was something to do with her fever causing her eye to fail her in that regard or make her hallucinate.
"What the hell…" she murmured to herself, feeling unsteady as she slumped back into the chair. Her fever was obviously getting worse to the point where even she would've believed she was hallucinating because of it and that resting was a far better choice than doing the night shift. Yet Grora had already come too far into the night to give in to her fever just yet. She still had her comfy chair with the comfy pillow, and the radio could just be turned off for a while so she could have a few hours of silence. The fan could still be kept on to cool her down, though the droning noise it created would likely make her headache worse. She sighed, staggering back to the chair as best she could without falling. "You win once again, Head Angel…" she scoffed in a bitter tone of defeat directed more at herself than Wodahs. "Congratulations…you were right again as usual," Grora said, drinking the rest of the coffee as she conceded defeat, but still foolishly persevered.
However, her eyelid was beginning to feel very heavy, especially because she had a fever. Grora did her best as she struggled to keep them open, pouring another cup of coffee to keep herself awake in the fight to stay alert for trouble. All the while she debated whether she really did see the Head Angel or not, possibly wondering if it was just a mere hallucination caused by a combination of her fever and a lack of sleep. Grora chuckled in spite of herself at the thought of becoming quite an insomniac, a satirized joke aimed at her job which might've been responsible. "Yeah, right…" she said softly to shirk the blame off her, "as if I of all people would be afflicted with insomnia."
A sudden black drop snapped her to attention as she looked at her coffee to see if whatever it was landed in it. Yet her coffee was completely still in the light coming from the lamp. Although Grora paid no close attention to it at first, she felt her eye caught a momentarily brief glimpse of red. Grora then looked up at the ceiling to find nothing there. Whether or not it actually confirmed any suspicions she had, Grora felt the red drop she just saw…was blood. Her sweat continued to trickle down her face as she grabbed the lamp with a shaky hand and aimed the light up towards the ceiling. It wasn't that she was scared of anything, but the eerie feeling of being all alone on the night shift while having a high fever unnerved her to some extent. Fortunately, no sign of blood was found leaking through the ceiling, so Grora debunked it as another possible hallucination that addled her already ailing mind. Perhaps it was her feverish mind's way of telling her to just rest.
Either way, the occurrence made her shudder slightly. She took another look at her coffee and quickly got up from her chair. She hurried into the nearby restroom to pour the coffee down the sink and she threw the cup out too for good measure. This late precaution was not only for her own safety since she didn't want to risk drinking anything that got blood in it, but it also made her feel a lot warmer as Grora felt her fever was getting somewhat higher. What she just did was the equivalent of swinging a double-edged sword to attack an enemy while damaging herself as well because that was always the case with double edged swords. It might not have caused any injury or death to her person, but it made her head hurt more even as she tried to comprehend the vivid hallucinations she seemed to be having under the influence of a fever. Grora's vision blurred again as she began to feel very dizzy and lightheaded on her feet. She stumbled backwards against the wall of one of the stalls in the bathroom as she was leaving and winced in pain while moaning softly. "Oww…that really hurt…" she said to herself. "Maybe I really should have requested sick days," she then thought on the way back to her chair in the security office. Yet the walk back was excruciating due to her high fever. Her gait was unsteady as Grora stumbled to the chair and fell forward against it, catching the arms of the chair and struggling to seat herself and get comfortable.
Grora put a hand to her forehead to feel her temperature. She was quite hot, and her hand got sticky from all the sweat pouring down her face which had begun to turn very red. The debate over whether to keep the radio on or turn it off ended in the latter, so Grora shut it off to get some rest. But the constant droning of the fan still kept her wide awake in addition to the coffee Grora drank. It had been what—her third cup. No, wait, her fourth? Fifth? She didn't know anymore. Her head hurt too much. Suddenly all that thinking about how much coffee she had made Grora want to use the restroom, so she wound up staggering back to the restroom again. And when she came back out, staggering unsteadily as she nearly fell onto the floor, she watched Ater's shadow go down the same corridor Wodahs' alleged shadow went down before. Maybe it was the white haired cat demon, or maybe it was another hallucination. Honestly, Grora didn't even have enough energy to shrug. This night shift took a heavy toll on her health, but Grora still had to investigate. She was on duty after all, even with a high fever despite not knowing what exactly her temperature was because she didn't have a thermometer with her at the moment. She should've brought one.
"Ater!" Grora called out weakly, staggering to the hallway while leaning against the wall for much needed support to keep herself from falling. Checking the security footage would have made the trip easier and a lot shorter so she didn't have to go. Yet Grora didn't think of it; she just kept following Ater's shadow as best she could even though it was likely long gone. First Wodahs' shadow, and now Ater's. Were they messing with Grora, or were they just hallucinations on this particular night? "Ater, is that you?! Are you…" she stopped to catch her breath at the door to the basement, having finally made it that far after what seemed like an eternity. "Are you there, Ater?!" she called again while opening the door and stepping through the threshold to find Ater's shadow descending the stairs. Grora staggered down them and again finding nobody down there. Feeling someone or something place something on her shoulder, Grora quickly whirled around. Though she screamed upon turning around to find a bloody Ater with no lower jaw directly in her face.
…
"Ater!"
"Hm? Is something the matter, Miss Grora?"
Grora looked around the room after her momentary daze to find that she was no longer in the basement where she last saw Ater—who looked perfectly fine now with her lower jaw still attached to her head as she and Arbus stood by the feverish angel's bedside and looked at her in confusion—but was, in fact, in her bedroom, lying in bed. An icepack fell from her head and Arbus put it back, confusing Grora momentarily because she didn't remember a thing until she realized she still had a fever. Perhaps that really did explain those strange occurrences as hallucinations.
She sighed before eyeing the two cat demons suspiciously, especially Ater who she thought had a hand in whatever happened to her in the early hours of the morning. "Where am I?" Grora inquired despite already knowing exactly where she was, but she just wanted to confirm that it was not some kind of trick. The hallucinations were her reason for checking to see if this wasn't another hallucination or some kind of dream, so she hoped to debunk either of those ideas or any tricks.
Arbus merely giggled as she gently pushed Grora back against the headboard. "Where do you think you are, silly?" she asked, annoying the sick angel in bed with her cheerful demeanor.
"I know that, you dolt!" Grora retorted coldly and then sighed in frustration. "Just answer the goddamn question, okay? I want to know if this isn't some kind of bloody dream or something."
"You're in your room," Ater answered, still confused, but understood where the angel was coming from. "You are in bed with a high fever you've been suffering from for the past few days."
"Gee, thanks…" Grora muttered bitterly under her breath even though the cat demons still heard her while she prepared her next question. She mentally smacked herself for having thanked Ater of all people. "Now tell me: what exactly happened to me? Don't repeat that I have a fever; I'm perfectly aware of that by now. I want to know what happened since very early this morning. I should have finished the night shift already," she demanded, hoping for an explanation that made sense to her. The last thing she remembered was being in the basement when she encountered that horrific hallucination of Ater, but nothing after that. She expected somebody found her down there.
"You did not finish the night shift," Ater said as-a-matter-of-factly with a blank expression on her face. Grora wasn't sure whether she should hit her for that, though she didn't even have the energy to do so. Her fever, which she now fully acknowledged, sapped what little strength she had left, so she was not in any condition to really do much of anything other than insult the two kitties.
"Yeah," Arbus agreed, "we found you collapsed on the basement floor and thought you fell down the stairs and lost consciousness. The security footage from last night verified a bit of it, not the part where you fell—well, down the stairs, no, but you did fall unconscious down there."
Okay, so she likely did have hallucinations of Wodahs, Ater, and the blood. No tricks.
"And how did I get here?" Grora replied with one final question as she then looked at the gray pajamas she was currently attired in. Obviously, somebody brought her back to her room and had changed Grora into her pajamas. But she just wanted vocal confirmation of that to prove it.
Ater took notice of this. "You regained a bit of consciousness after we found you, but you were still groggy as we helped you back up here. You insisted on taking care of yourself at that point, so we prepared your bed and breakfast while you showered and changed," she said, placing a tray with a plate of waffles covered in syrup, a fork, and a knife on Grora's lap as Arbus put a cup of tea on the nightstand for Grora to drink. The truth sounded a bit different from what Grora thought it might have been, but the end result was the same so she didn't bother to question it.
"I imagine that must have been difficult on your part, Miss Grora," Arbus said rhetorically.
"This is not poisoned, right, Ater?" Grora accused, glaring daggers at her sworn enemy.
Arbus shook her head. "No, of course not. Geez, must you hold a grudge over everything? How many times has Ater apologized and done nice things for you to make up for what happened?"
"Not enough!" Grora shouted at them in response. "I refuse to accept anything from you other than my precious eye which you stole from me by the way!" She pointed a harsh finger at Ater as she yelled, nearly knocking the tray off the bed. "There's no way in hell I'd forgive her!"
Ater merely looked down at the floor in shame as she fiddled with her fingers sadly. Arbus was about to retort back, but was stopped by the voice of somebody else coming in. "Have you completely forgotten that it was an unfortunate accident, or will you persist in clinging onto the misguided belief that Ater did it on purpose?" the angelic man asked as he entered Grora's room.
Grora frowned as Wodahs approached, upset at receiving another lecture from him. "Head Angel…" her voice was cold, bitter as she addressed him. "Who the hell gave you an invitation to come in here? As I recall, I once told you to never come into my room without my permission."
"Yes, I am aware of that," he responded while motioning for Ater and Arbus to leave. "You both can go to the daycare center now," he told them as the two cat demons left the room before he turned back to Grora. "Now, while I am here to check up on you, my brother also requested that I come. He asked me to inform you that he hopes you feel better so you can get back to work."
"Gee, that's so sweet of him," Grora replied in a slightly bitter tone. "Couldn't he have just come himself instead of sending you to do a lackey's work? And why isn't Lady Etihw worried?"
"Lady Etihw is, as I'm sure you might be aware considering how you are familiar with her behavior around this time, sleeping in. She is not aware of how bad your fever has become, though she still does send her hopes for you to get better as well. My brother is currently busying himself with his work. Unlike Lady Etihw, he always handles work professionally and stays up to date on current tasks. It's a shame she doesn't share his sense of duty and workforce ethics, unfortunately," Wodahs explained to her while complaining about the White Goddess' utter lack of responsibility.
He was right, Grora couldn't argue with that since the Head Angel did have a valid point. She sighed in defeat as she picked up the fork and knife to begin cutting the waffles. "Fine…you win, Head Angel. There goes my perfect attendance, just as you may have predicted yesterday."
"This isn't about winning or your perfect attendance," Wodahs said, his voice calm as he held out a thermometer to her. "It's about you getting well enough to return to work. Now, open up and put this in before you start eating. I would like to check your temperature." Grora did as she was told without saying a word as she put the thermometer in her mouth. Wodahs pulled it out a few moments later and said, "one hundred and four degrees…you nearly have heatstroke." He set the thermometer on her nightstand for her and turned around as he left the room. "Just stay in bed for the next several days and rest. You need to recover fully so you can resume your duties."
Grora sighed as she put her head back and looked up at the ceiling. "Yes, Head Angel." It was humiliating, but perhaps it was the smarter thing to do. A fever, regardless of how bad it was, would not stop her from getting back to work. When she was well again, she'd be back to normal and on the path to surpassing him—or at least catching up to him if nothing else impeded her.
…
A little over three years ago, I published Sick Day on the Night Shift on January 21st, 2015. It was the very first Gray Garden fanfic I had written and published on . At the time, it was penned during my transition from writing Umineko no Naku Koro ni fanfiction to Gray Garden fanfiction a few months after I published my last Umineko fanfic, Trick-or-Ghost. During this time, I was still developing as a fanfiction writer and admittedly I still am. That was why, as of late since nearing the end of An Otherworldly Marital Dispute, I decided to return to the beginning of my Gray Garden fanfiction to edit/rewrite the original fanfics. The reason for this was to update them to better fit the non-canon lore I'm developing for the Okegom universe. My Gray Garden fanfiction are some of my highest quality fanfics in my opinion as the author who wrote them, though I believed they could be written better.
I'm still going to write the rest of An Otherworldly Marital Dispute to finish the story. I have not gotten much work done on it as of late because I've also started writing fanfiction for the Elder Scrolls universe. My first Elder Scrolls fanfic is currently in development, but I have not published it yet. I'm currently working on an introduction and mission statement for my profile page to update my profile; it's almost done, and it will explain my interest in writing Elder Scrolls fanfiction in more detail. In addition, a lot of important things are going on in real life and I need to attend to them as well. Basically, I am juggling quite a lot at the time but I will soon have some more time to devote to writing fanfiction in the near future.
I hope you all enjoy reading my fanfiction as I enjoy writing it.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Gray Garden; it's owned by Okegom/Mogeko.