*/*/*


Momentary Abatement

There was a sort of thrill that came with breaking the rules. Especially if it was for a good cause. The Sanitorium still made his hackles rise but Vesli braved the entrance. The white-clad nurses didn't so much as glance at the satchel he carried like it was a temperamental explosive. "Backup satchel for restocking," he'd told them. The best lies often had a bit of truth to them, after all. The area around Bird's bed was thankfully nurse free. Vesli paused automatically on seeing that her mask was once again set aside. He coughed awkwardly, still establishing the rules of these interactions. Would there be times she didn't want to interact with him without the mask on? Vesli didn't know. So, it was always a bit of a relief to receive Bird's raised eyebrow.

"My satchel? Do not need to restock yet. Only allowed to run the smallest experiments while confined." Without her mask he was able to actually see her pout and it was just as he pictured from her voice. Vesli's lips pursed inwards to stifle a laugh. He did not believe the Doctor would be happy to discover her ruffled feathers amused him.

"I am aware you do not need to restock, Bird. I'm not completely blind," Vesli drawled. "Before you ask, yes all of your backup supplies are safely stored with the backup backups." He opened the pouch to withdraw a small pot with a lid and a spoon. Both pilfered from the mess hall kitchen with great care. Vesli had scoured all these thrice before deeming them sanitary enough for his mission.

"What's this?" Cue the customary head tilt. Counter-clockwise this time. Bird seemed to alternate the direction each time she did this.

"You really have been in here too long if you don't recognize food, Bird," his teeth flashed in an amused grin.

Bird lifted the lid and gave a cautious sniff. "Does not smell like Sanitarium or mess hall fare. Unusual delivery method as well."

"Honestly, it may be just as inedible though. I will not be insulted if you found you preferred the food here to my cooking." Well, no, he'd be a little insulted. Just not overly surprised. Living as a vagabond for many years hadn't exactly given Vesli the budget to experiment with styles and spices. Having Rir in his head wasn't much easier as the fuzzy asshole insisted that fruit and vegetables were for the weak and all meat had to be raw.

"You made me food."

"I attempted to make you food. The stuff they serve here is probably partly to blame for why you're still stuck on bed rest."

"How'd you get ingredients?" Bird lifted a spoonful of what looked to be a cloudy brown soup with shreds of this and that floating about in it. Vesli winced internally, tempted to take away this mistake before he could make her sick and therefore stuck in this whitewashed hellhole even longer.

"Well, Rir has a good nose for hunting both for game and herbs. Though finding things either of us deemed edible was, shall we say, difficult." Vesli's hand came up to stop Bird, but it was too late. She'd bravely put the spoon in her mouth. There was a pause. Vesli half expected the doctor to change colors or spit it back out on him, both if he was unfortunate. However, it was impossible to say who was most surprised when Bird fell on the soup with a happy little hum that had sparks racing up and down Vesli's spine. The soup of suspect virtue was gone in about ten maybe fifteen seconds. "Hungry?" Vesli barely avoided putting his head in his hands at the words. Why Vesli? Why was that his response? Clearly, he must be the deity of conversation with such a glorious repertoire at the disposal of his gilded silver tongue.

"Could use more skill in presentation." Ah, Bird. Blunt as a dull hammer. Never change. "But delicious." Well, that was something. Something that had his mischievous grin returning.

"Thank you for the complement," he smirked, a cautious playful tone to his voice, "I would try for presentation, but bathing hours are restricted as the Hamlet is being repaired." Vesli watched her expression carefully, ready to apologize if this was venturing too far into Aela's territory.

A gleam entered the doctor's eye at his remark, her own playful smile emerging. Bird took the moment to eye him up and down. "Perhaps I should have Aela put you in some leather, you do have the posterior for it."

"Oh, been staring at my ass, have we?" He gave a mock preen at her words, even including an overly dramatic flip of what little hair he had.

"It is much more enjoyable to look at than a fish person." Bird's scrunched shoulders hinted at restrained laughter. "Why do you think I'm always behind you?"

"But what if I want a turn to stare at your butt? Equal opportunity and all that" he shot back without missing a beat, only his enjoyment of their banter preventing him from having too much blood rushing north.

"Earn it."

"I'll work on that. In the meantime, Doctor, do try to get better. The Hamlet gets rather dull when one is stuck doing nothing for too long," Vesli stood, taking the pot, lid, and spoon with him, once more hidden away in Bird's spare satchel. Had to return these before they were missed after all.

"Will cancel plans to spontaneously contract the Red Plague then. Ruining my research. Should be ashamed of yourself," she retorted. With a laugh, Vesli left. It wasn't until he was out of the Sanitorium and half way back to the mess hall that the realization hit him. Aela had still been in the Sanitorium as well. Yet, he'd brought the Hellion no food. Vesli stopped frowning at himself. Perhaps it was because he'd heard that the barbarian was to be released soon and there had been no word about Bird? Yes, because there clearly was not any other reason for him to bring food to Bird and neglect Aela. Should he apologize? How? Sorry Aela, forgot to feed you, no hard feelings, right? Ugh. Vesli blamed his scatter brain and started once more to the mess hall. Hopefully, Aela would forgive him. He would prefer she simply not know, but with Bird who knows what would come out of her mouth. Perhaps in the end it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.

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Rir didn't like the way Somneri looked at them. Vesli attempted to soothe the creature, but even Vesli had to admit Somneri's stare was making him uncomfortable. It was a hard stare, with the other man's thoughts locked behind the granite wall of his expression. Made Vesli's skin itch from the sheer pressure of it. Vesli did not know what he'd done to earn this look. He had been behaving himself in waiting on his team to heal. Even the local religious gang had barely glared at him for his efforts, which in all honesty Vesli considered an achievement in itself. Maybe Somneri wasn't really even looking at him? It was entirely possible to stare off into space with some unfortunate soul just kind of ending up in the way. With what they had gone through to become what they were he couldn't exactly blame him for a wandering mind and troubled thoughts.

Vesli all but felt Rir's disbelieving snort at that explanation. Vesli debated before deciding that if Somneri had an issue, then his fellow abomination would just have to come to him to address it. That settled Rir. No reason to hunt for trouble. Better to wait, ambush the trouble later. Vesli gave a long-suffering sigh at the beast's thoughts, getting a feeling of a confused head tilt and the sentiment 'what did I do?' At least they both agreed on how to deal with this new development from their fellow beast-walker. Wait. Watch. And be ready for whatever came next.

*/*/*

When Aela had at last escaped the sanitized hellhole, she'd hugged each of them. Vesli was pretty positive that the hug she'd given him was just a tad bit more bone-crushing than what the others received. The reprimand was of course summarily ruined by her waggling her eyebrows at Vesli. "Finally making a move on the Doctor, huh? Was it Rir's idea? I bet it was. That beast has balls twice the size of yours both literally and figuratively!" This got a sputtering cough out of the resident Abomination, which sent the Hellion into gleeful cackles.

"Aela, it was not a slight against you I promise," Vesli began intending to follow up that he was certainly not making any moves thank you very much when Aela's arm crushing him into a side hug interrupted him.

"Of course not! The Doctor is very pretty and so tiny I just want to squish her! You've made me jealous, Vesli! Good for you!" It was at this moment Vesli decided that attempting to argue with the Hellion was likely going to go nowhere fast. Best to just let her think what she will. Aela would eventually realize the truth of the matter. Eventually. Maybe. Because it was certainly not what she was insisting it was in the slightest. Vesli steadily ignored Rir's snort, heading to start the first 'training' session with Raleigh. He hoped the Graverobber would forgive him if this one was especially bad considering his still healing body.

It was about a week after this that Veci was at last freed from the Sanitorium. The Plague Doctor exited the doorway to see all three of her companions waiting on her. Aela rushed the doctor, paused just before making contact, then gave a surprisingly gentle squish instead of a bear hug. Vesli was glad Aela had some form of self-control. Bird still looked like she'd snap under an especially strong gust of wind. Calliot approached the good Doctor at a more sedate pace. "You are well, Veci?" he questioned.

"Been better but am walking. And am outside. Considerable improvement. Too much white inside," Bird looked at the Sanitorium and shuddered.

"On that sentiment Bird, we completely agree" Vesli strode over to her at last, giving her a once over for any missed injuries. Or any suggestion that those nurses had so much as thought about doing something to Bird that was not helping to heal her injuries. Satisfied all was as well as it could be considering, Vesli ushered the group away from the whitewashed walls of the Sanitorium. Happy as this reunion was, it would be happier away from that accursed place. He was pleased to see Bird relaxing the further they got. The group settled at last in an open area near the quest roster board.

"Missed sunshine," Bird was practically absorbing it like some form of sentient plant.

"I hate to be that person, but we must consider that the Heir will want our team back in rotation now," Caillot frowned. "To be honest, I am surprised that they did not send us on a mission without Veci, despite our own injuries and exhaustion."

"Well the last time they replaced someone in our group the replacement died rather horribly," Vesli pointed out. Plus, he was unsure of their survival rate in their current condition. Caillot was back to full health or was at least back to mostly functional. But he, Aela, and Bird most of all were still wincing, slow and sluggish from their encounter with the Tentacle-Fucker from space. It was likely the Heir realized this. Vesli wouldn't give them the generosity of thinking the Heir cared. No, it was more likely that the Heir simply did not wish to spend the time to replace yet another team slaughtered by the creatures here. They had been at least somewhat more careful in their assignments lately. Vesli suspected they were simply attempting to conserve coin, and if that meant conserving lives as well, then may the Heir's coffers always be a tad short on change. "But you are right Caillot. With Bird out and about we're likely to be ordered back on active duty sooner rather than later."

"Was hoping for a longer rest," Bird gave a sigh.

"May the Spirits protect us," Aela was solemn. The group sat together in silence after that, watching people and enjoying what little was left of their 'vacation'.


A/N:

So. Been a minute since I updated. Life happened, you know? But. Now I am reclaiming my hobbies and this story from the all consuming hunger of life. Let's hope I prevail, shall we?