Merry Christmas, Illya! I know we haven't talked before, but I checked the Discord messages today, and read about how tough things are for you right now. I just wanted to gift you something to lift your spirits and make you feel a bit better! I know we haven't talked before, but I still value and long for your happiness more than my own, for your joy, and for you to just know that you are incredible: incredibly strong, incredibly hard working, incredibly unique, and incredibly awesome! So, Merry Christmas! I hope that after the exams and everything that you do get a chance to relax completely, to just live in the moment and enjoy life. I know that because you are you and you are amazing, that you'll accomplish whatever your dreams are. So, I wanted to take the time to let you know that you are valued and appreciated for more than all of the effort you put in, for just being you. So, I hope this little story accomplishes some of it, but I already know that you are a million times more amazing than any story I ever could write you. I'm not very good at explaining myself or talking that well, so hopefully I didn't jumble up what I'm trying to say to you. I didn't know what pairings you liked or even your favorite character, so I just wrote Ryuu taking care of Shirayuki; their canon friendship is absolutely incredible, so hopefully, I'm not too off base writing them for you. Merry Christmas again! And Happy New Year! I hope you have a lovely day, and I know that you'll do incredibly on all of your exams! Good luck!
The castle rests quietly tonight, coated in a light blanket of snow, and though really she should have went to bed hours ago, Shirayuki rests her head on her folded arms and sleeps in front of her desk. Scattered around are medicinal notes, a few, lone herbs, and the supplies, some to store them and others to run tests.
It's as if the pharmacy, itself, is blanketed in a room full of quiet, and gingerly, Ryuu peeks his head out from underneath his desk, to be met with the quiet breaths of Shirayuki, and by his estimate, the quick glance to the dark window, she should have left for her room hours ago.
Ryuu wiggles out of his blanket and crawls out from underneath the desk. On second thought, he reaches back in to grab said blanket, and carefully pulls it over to the older herbalist. Shirayuki doesn't stir at his quiet footfalls, instead she seems to bury her head deeper into her arms.
Ryuu carefully drapes the blanket over her back, tucking her in with hands that are sure in their movements, yet tentative for fear that she'll wake up and startle at his proximity. He doesn't want to disturb her, just allow her to rest more comfortably. The young preteen moves around her carefully to put the herbs left out away, and to put away her supplies.
As someone who works harder than he probably should sometimes, he understands her drive, her determination to grow and to succeed. He pauses, once the supplies are put away. What should he do now? It's a little chilly to crawl back under his desk and go to sleep, and yet he doesn't want to move around too much, for fear that he'd wake up his friend.
Awkwardly he stares at her, Shirayuki is the picture of calm, even slumped over her shoulders as she is.
"Good job." His voice feels both too quiet and far too loud in the otherwise silent room, "You did good, Shirayuki." He knows that she's probably too asleep to hear him, and he really doesn't want her to wake up, but she really needs to know this. She needs to know that she's valued, that she's incredible, and even though she fell asleep before she finished her work, he still finds her admirable, still learns a lot from her.
With Ryuu, Shirayuki's not his friend because she's one of the best herbalists he knows, though she rightly is, she's his friend and someone he admires, because she is incredibly kind to him, sees him for more than the eerily young herbalist others see him as, more than the boy that others consider too young to know anything, and more of course than a talented herbalist. She sees him as Ryuu, loves him as a person, and she's sort of like the big sister that he never knew he wanted, until the day that she stepped into his life.
If he could return the favor for all of that to her, then he would. If he was any good at words or emotions, he'd tell her so. But he isn't. He's better at herbs, knowing what they do, when to harvest them; he's learned more about herbs than he's ever learned about people, and still she's chosen to be his friend, to support him.
Ryuu moves quietly back towards his desk, slips under it quietly as can be, and falls asleep, grateful to return even a small bit of the love she's shown him, back to her, grateful to have supported Shirayuki in some way. He sleeps with a gentle smile upon his face, without even one word to explain why he's smiling so much.