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 Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:18 pm
In the time after the noisy hubbub and pleasant chaos of the festival, a certain gryphon found himself with a rather nasty case of the sniffles.
He'd written it off quickly - after all, he'd been so busy that he hadn't had time to get sick, and besides, being sick wasn't part of how it was supposed to go, he didn't get sick, getting sick was just silly.
The sniffles, however, persisted rather obnoxiously, and two days after the festival Ren was curled up on bed with a rather unpleasant cough, chills, and a moderately high fever. While not life threatening, nor even particularly bad, really, it was extremely not nice and Ren felt quite pathetic.
"I'm dyyyyingggggg."
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 4:37 pm
Before Ren could lament further, Jove burst into the room with an irritated grumble. Even though he had been rather sniffly the day before, the gryphon had promised in his annoying big-brotherly way that they would eat lunch together the following day, insistently and with all the sappy, overdramatized love possible. And while Jove had pretended to not care, he didn't like being stood up! So he had waited until his irritation could wait no longer, and then stomped off to go find his brother.
Only to find him lazing about like a lump.
The little ghost would have stormed over and given his brother a shove, if it wasn't for the sudden realization that Ren did not look like himself. Something felt off... He didn't look like himself, and the room smelled... not right. The pup's brows furrowed as he trotted to the side of his bed, silently asking his brother for an explanation.
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:22 pm
Jove would find a rather large, gryphon-shaped lump beneath the covers of Ren's bed, surrounded by a few poofy foxfires all nestled around comfortably in various spots. Upon hearing the footsteps stomping into the room, Ren peered out, eyes red-rimmed.
"Jove," he said croakily, a pathetic expression on his face, which was uncharacteristically pale beneath the freckles. "Oh, Jack, I'm sorry, I promised we'd have lunch today. But I'm afraid I'm just - "
He gave a very loud sneeze, followed by a cough, and proceeded to bury himself deeper into the covers.
"I'm dyyyyinggggggg."
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:55 pm
Jove's brow furrowed, and his head tilted. Ren definitely didn't look good, but dying was no excuse. After all, a promise was a- Wait. Ren was dying? But he couldn't! That would mean he was...
The pup whined, his expression going from confused to downright worried. If Ren was dying, why was he just laying about?
In a frightened frenzy, the pup tossed himself onto the bed, sending foxfires bouncing everywhere as he gave his brother the biggest shove ever. He needed to get the gryphon out of his stupid room and down to the stupid veterinarian so she could fix him!
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Posted: Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:34 pm
The foxfires, in their infinite wisdom, were smart enough to leap out of the way as Jove leapt onto the bed. Ren, of course, in his perpetual state of exaggerated moroseness, was not exactly expecting the shove, and went flying.
There was a loud crash as he tumbled to the floor.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 1:14 pm
Jove did not reply, he thought that was fairly obvious! He was saving his brother's life!
With a rough tug to the arm, Jove tried to haul Ren to his feet. What if the gryphon didn't dissipate, what if he disappeared altogether? What if he turned into a ghost and forgot all about everything? What if he didn't turn into a ghost? Had Ren even considered the awfulness that might follow?
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Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 2:44 pm
"Jove, that's my cough arm it's kind of attached to the rest of my bo - ow - "
Back on his feet, Ren swayed back and forth unsteadily, feeling pathetically weak, and tried to crawl back into his bed.
"Ughhh I feel miserable."
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 6:38 pm
Jove kept a firm grip on Ren's arm, first pulling him when the gryphon swayed away, and then squeaking and bracing himself as Ren's weight shifted towards him. He could only just barely support his brother, let alone carry him to the vet's office. Maybe if he was bigger...
The shift was so fluid Ren might not have noticed the difference. Suddenly Jove was sixteen, and tugging his brother's arm over his shoulder to help him to the door. But even that added growth didn't help. He was too small, too scrawny, and suddenly overwhelmed by the knowledge that his brother was dying. He could barely keep Ren up without falling over himself!
The frightened pup felt tears stinging his eyes, and took another staggered step towards the door.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:11 pm
Ren didn't even notice the shift, his eyes closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, exhaling slowly.
"I hate getting sick," he moaned, half leaning on Jove - which was still too much weight, as the pup was only a few inches shorter than him and could not support that...much...weight...
...wait.
Ren opened his eyes, looked sideways, and promptly yelped, flailing, and tipped over, landing with a resounding crash into the pile of pillows and scattering foxfires everywhere.
"Jove - what are you - cough - I mean - gack - what are you doing - wheeze - looking...like...that...cough - "
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:19 pm
Even though Jove couldn't keep Ren on his feet, he wasn't about to give up trying. He let out a little yelp of his own as the pair of them fell over. It really was hopeless, there was no way he could get his brother down to the vet this way.
Stifling a whimper, the now-teenaged pup crawled up onto the pillows to sit next to his brother. He rubbed at his eyes almost angrily. To think they had fought hunters and trained with horsemen, and were only one year away from graduation, and Ren had to go like this.
In his pile of pillows being an oblivious butthead, not even realizing how traumatic this was for the little brother who was about to be left behind.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:23 pm
He'd seen Jove shift only once before, and it had been so brief that Ren had pretty much convinced himself that he was seeing things, that he, as the older brother, was merely imaging it all.
Except apparently he had been. This Jove was not little Jove (though he was still short and waif-like, thin-boned and small), but an older Jove, with a head of pale hair that fell almost to his shoulders, and a smattering of turquoise freckles across the bridge of his nose.
Older Jove who was rubbing his eyes suspiciously. Ren frowned a little, then inched over and rested his chin on Jove's leg.
"What's the matter?" he asked, tilting his head to look up at his little brother, blinking owlishly and coughing. "What's wrong?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:35 pm
Jove snorted and looked away, but the snort was surprisingly messy, and he didn't wait long before rubbing at his eyes again. That was cruel, asking a question like that. Why would he act so concerned over a not-tear and yet so nonchalant about his own death?
The ghost sniffed, his mouth tightening like he was trying to hold something back. And then finally he said something real quiet. His voice was still soft, with the same accent, but in this form it was just slightly deeper. Perhaps hinting at the voice he would have as an adult, a light tenor.
"Don't go..."
Jove couldn't look at his brother as he scrubbed his eyes again, and bit down on his thumb in an attempt to keep all the emotions inside.
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:52 pm
Ren's ears flicked back against his curly hair, and he pushed himself up a little, frowning. Jove's eyes were oddly bright, and he was scowling at the floor, rubbing at his face.
"Don't go."
Worry sunk into Ren, and he sat up, now slightly alarmed. "Go where?" he said sharply, his voice hoarse, and he moved closer to Jove, a hand lifting to brush away some of the hair that had fallen into his face. "Jove, go where? I'm not going - cough - anywhere, kid. Not anytime soon."
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 7:58 pm
Jove jerked his head away, not wanting Ren to see how upset he really was. A part of his mind was still racing, trying to figure out if it was even possible to save his brother. Maybe if he knew where Ren's phone was... Or he could run out and see if he could find someone, but what if his brother died while he was out searching? He would never be able to forgive himself.
When he heard Ren's question, he had to choke back a sob. "D-dying," he stammered. How was that not going anywhere?
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Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 8:01 pm
Ren made a face as Jove pulled away from him, wings fluttering against his back as he reached out a hand again.
"Come on, don't be like tha - "
"Dying."
Ren's hand froze where it was. Startled, he peered around at his little brother, eyes wide with the sinking realization of what exactly was going on in the pup's mind.
He lowered his hand. Then he scooted closer and wrapped his arms around Jove's shoulders from behind, burying his face in his little brother's back and squeezing him tightly.
"Woah, now, hang on there. I'm not going anywhere soon, okay? I'm not gonna die on you, nope. Not when I still gotta look out for you and make sure nothing's gonna happen to you.
"I'm not dying anytime soon, Freckles. Not by a long shot."
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