Hypothermia
Seremnis decides she’s going to make a friend out of sheer spite for an elder dragon, and definitely not because he’s very good at giving warm hugs. Spoilers for HoT and the Icbrood Saga- And introducing @actually-an-octopus ‘s Lumea, also known as the pure incarnation of sunshine given form as a mushroom.
"...Cauldron, Claw, Eye…" You will fail them. Seremnis' ear twitched as the only sign of acknowledgement, her hand only hesitating for a moment before she stubbornly continued, tracing shapes in what stars she could see between the clouds, back to the snowy ground. "...hounds, soldier, staff, scales…" Someday, they will leave you. She grit her teeth, taking a steadying breath. She'd come out here entirely of her own accord- they were all heading back out tomorrow to deal with the rest of the lost spirits, and she didn't want to keep them awake; if they could get any sleep in this nightmare-infested place, she didn't want to ruin it. Still… the whispers always got worse when she was alone. "...Tower, wolf…" They cannot help you. She bit back the urge to respond. It never helped to try and start a conversation with these whispers- and, bad as they were now… she really, really didn't want to see what they did with her dreams again. "...Gnarl…" she stopped abruptly, sitting up to allow for a short series of hacking coughs, doing her best to muffle the sound with her elbow, wincing a little at the small drops of sap that remained there afterwards. So that was still… not great- her throat and lungs had been sore for a while, though, it was probably-
"Seremnis?"
Thorns, that was Braham, she'd been-
She barely had time to process that she wasn't alone anymore before she felt a heavy blanket tossed around her shoulders, corners quickly tied in front to keep it on. Brambles, he walked fast- or… maybe she was just tired. Maybe still a bit numb, too, she reflected, rubbing her fingers against the fabric for a moment before she finally focused on the norn kneeling in front of her, trying to ignore the gnawing feeling of guilt caused by the worry on his face.
"Being out in the cold like this is what got you sick in the first place," he continued, sitting back into the snow himself, seeming to check his handiwork with the blanket for a moment or two before shifting to sit beside her instead."Gotta find some way to keep yourself warm up here when you're not built for it."
"...Oh." She looked at the snow, her awareness of the silence that fell after that quiet answer steadily increasing until she decided she needed to break it. "...I'm, uh… sorry," she mumbled, taking the edge of the blanket and pulling it closer around herself.
"Oh- no, it's, uh… it's good. I mean- we haven't really been somewhere this cold for a while, and… I, uh- I mean, Zori figured we probably shouldn't leave you behind with the Kodan. Whispers, and all that."
Oh… right, he'd lost people up here already, hadn't he? Of course he wouldn't want to leave someone behind. And neither would Zori, but… well, one of the things she was starting to appreciate about Braham was that he was a /terrible/ liar. She'd only started looking recently, and she'd already found about five different tells; he'd speak quicker, didn't make eye contact, often times he'd gesture a bit more with his hands… maybe it was a little unintentional on his part, but she appreciated it. Herself, on the other hand…
"Oh- no, that's… Well, thank you for that, really- I just hadn't wanted to wake you, is all." Maybe not the best time for secrets, but… she wouldn't be okay until the whispers stopped, and she knew it. No need to give Braham more to worry about than he already had.
"...Oh." She watched him mentally start and stop a few times before letting the attempt go. "...yeah, bein' honest, I haven't really gotten any sleep yet either. Lot to think about."
"...And the whispers?"
"And the whispers." He rolled his shoulders, pushing his feet out, a bit further into the snow. "...But I guess they're probably worse for you than anyone, huh?"
"...You think?" She was honestly a little surprised- she… thought she'd been dealing with them well enough, had she…?
She saw him wince, shrug slightly. "I mean- I don't know, I just… y'know, the whole 'elder dragon in your head' thing probably brings up… not the best memories."
Ah. She hummed, running a finger back and forth across the fabric of the blanket again. The inside was… softer than she expected- the outside was clearly some sort of fur, but… the inside must be something else.
"...Yeah, it… really doesn't," she replied eventually. "But at least it means I have some experience in dealing with it."
"...How… do you deal with it?"
She turned her head to watch him a little better- saw him looking out at the snow, worry in his eyes.
You didn't, really. No… no, she didn't, but- sheer strength of will wasn't what got here this far anyways.
"You keep people around you to snap you out of it." She gave him a smile, some feeling in her chest lifting a little as he gave her one back. She wished she had more to offer than that, but… well, it was the truth. She wasn't about to ask him to just power through this when she didn't think it'd work. And granted, the whispers were… different; they weren't nearly as frequent and lacked the constant, buzzing undertone, but they were certainly more… pointed. Definitely more uncomfortably accurate, at times.
"...So, uh. How're you liking the blanket? Feelin' much warmer yet?"
Oh, so that's what it was for. Huh. She'd rub her fingers across the fabric, thinking. Maybe it… wasn't working right? She supposed it'd help block the wind, but she still couldn't /quite/ feel anything with her fingertips…
"...Huh. Guess I shoulda warmed it up first," he mumbled.
Seremnis looked back towards him at his response. Should- should that have been easier to answer? Clearly, he knew how these were supposed to work, but…
Braham shrugged, patting the ground next to him. "Sitting a bit closer should help, if you don't wanna go back in by the fire yet."
A bit…?
She stared for longer than she'd like to admit, running through options. She didn't- did she know him that well? She- yes, she trusted him, with… multiple things, multiple times- usually her life but this was- this was entirely different, it-
She blinked a couple times as she saw his easy confidence start to fall a little. Okay- alright, so that probably was… not a strange thing to ask, normally. And, if… still-foggy memories held true, he… had carried her to the Kodan's refuge when she'd gotten… cold-sick, or whatever it was, and that'd been… yeah. Alright- alright, yeah, that had gone… well she thought it'd gone well, and this couldn't be that much different, so- it was worth a shot, then.
She took in, let out a long breath, letting go of the blanket in order to push herself over the couple feet it took to reach his side- pulling the blanket around herself again and half- burying her face in the long fur of its outward-facing side, faintly recognizing by feeling that he seemed to relax slightly in the process. She- thorns, she hated that she was still so very much not used to this. And it wasn't even like she'd never gotten a hug before- Zori alone seemed to want to make sure that the entire guild got plenty, but- but with Zori, it was always easy to know exactly what her intentions were; an empathic bond made that sort of thing easy. But anyone else? Exceptions of Trahearne and Caithe aside, it was too- too distracting, too… she couldn't focus well enough to tell…
...But it- it was a whole lot warmer, actually. The odd feeling of… some sort of tingling, in her forearms, starting to spread to her fingers, caught her attention, bringing her out of the quickly spiraling thoughts. Was that… was that normally what they felt like when the numbness left? Any other time something had gone numb, she'd usually had to fall into and out of shade before anything could warm back up naturally; it was always… strange, to her, simply letting things heal at their natural pace…
"...Are you… feelin' alright, Seremnis?"
She blinked. Oh, right. Braham. She thought for a couple moments, then nodded. "Warm," she mumbled. That was- that was the intent, right?
"...Alright, yeah, that's… good. You're just a bit, uh… tense? You sure nothing's wrong?"
Oh. You're worrying them. Not that that was something new, though, really. She took a longer breath, pulling the blanket closer around herself, and nodded again. "Mhm."
"...And you're sure you don't want to sit by the fire instead…?"
"I'm fine," she grumbled, half to herself. This was- this was Braham she was dealing with. Big- hearted, terrible-at-lying goof with far too much on his plate right now to be worrying about her this much.
"...If, uh… if you're sure." She felt something touch her shoulder for a moment or two before drifting away again, silence rather quickly settling in.
He knows of your weakness.
Well, almost silence.
...But he wouldn't- he wasn't the kind of person to use that. She wasn't even sure if he was the kind of person to know that- Right?
Yes. Right.
You know he isn't doing this because he cares about you.
Then why was-?
"...What… were you doing out here?"
Seremnis' ears twitched, a moment passing before she lifted her head to meet Braham's gaze- he still looked a bit… well, concerned.
"...Looking at the stars. Tracing the constellations," she replied, shifting her attention back towards the sky.
"Oh! You know a few? It's… a bit cloudy for me to see any of the ones I remember, but…" she felt him sit up a little straighter. "Wait- there, those two real bright ones- I think those are Hare's eyes!" He lifted his arm to point, and Seremnis sat up a bit herself in an attempt to see. "And then the two above that make the ears, 'n below that you got the legs 'n tail…"
He is gaining your trust.
Seremnis hummed, smiling a little. "...You know, I think those ears are a part of the Unnamed Soldier, too- they make up the horns, the bright ones are claws-" She'd lift her own hand to point, tracing them out herself. "-it's one of the charr's, so those three back there are the tail…"
"Ooohh… yeah, I guess I can see that. Can't really see the tail behind those clouds right now, though…"
...You know what? If Braham did want her trust, for whatever reason, he could have it. There were, clearly, far worse people she could give it to- the overgrown snowball in her head the very pinnacle of that list. And, beyond that? ...This was... nice. Letting her guard down, just… a little bit. For a night. Pretend nothing would go wrong for a night.
"...Mhm. I've had most of the ones I know more-or-less memorized for a while now." She let herself lean her weight into Braham's side, pulling her legs closer and wrapping the blanket around them- starting to understand what it was for. It kept warmth, rather than produce it; and while, evidently, she didn't really radiate a lot of warmth herself…
"Huh… Where'd you learn all of 'em?"
Braham did. Braham most certainly did.
-----
"Marshmalo! Marshmalo, we got another letter!"
Malomedies looked up from his desk, once again filled with that strange mix of fondness and irritation that always accompanied the nickname he'd been oh so mysteriously given. He knew where this young mushroom-sylvari had gotten it from- he wasn't even entirely sure Seremnis had intended to use it when the two of them first officially met- but he was also very keenly aware of a certain other firstborn encouraging it when the small necromancer was still a sapling. Leaves from the same branch, they were…
"I suppose we must be quite popular this month," he replied calmly, shifting around some papers to leave an empty spot on the desk. "Who would this one be from, Lumea?"
"It's…" The young sylvari held the paper up for a few moments before looking up to Malomedies again, eyes sparkling. "It's from mom again!"
Hm… strange. Usually the letters she sent were much shorter- directly to the point, as it were. It looked like there were several pages to this one, though…
"...Interesting. Would you like to read it?"
"Mhm!" Lumea trotted over, sitting herself down on a chair he'd started to keep more permanently by his desk, handing him a small stack of cookies, (customary, at this point, for her letters to arrive along with some form of baked goods,) and putting the letter on the desk, smoothing out the paper before beginning to read.
"...Marshmalo..."
Ah, of course. He would never know whether or not she did that on purpose.
"...I have discovered that being very cold for too long is bad for your health. I have also discovered the use of blankets- they trap the heat that most races naturally produce. Sylvari do not produce much heat. Norn do."
Hm. This was rather typical of her letters, so far- he'd found it a sort of challenge, trying to read between lines and discover what exactly his old student was up to. He had no doubt she'd learned that first fact the hard way- something unfortunately typical of her- but, knowing the likelihood that she'd actually asked in order to learn about the second…
"I have also learned about more constellations from… Brah-ham. Many of them share stars with other constellations I already know."
Malomedies paused, looking over at the letter himself, towards the name. "...I believe the second 'a' may be silent."
"Oh, so… Oh! Braham! He's mom's norn friend!"
Malomedies looked up towards her in mild surprise. "Is he now?"
Lumea nodded. "Mhm! She said he's a guardian, so he's real good at protecting people!"
Malomedies had heard of the young norn, of course. Word traveled around the grove a bit quicker nowadays- broke the tooth, put himself in the line of fire in a daunting prophecy- either slay or fall to an elder dragon- had a significant legacy to try to live up to because of his parentage…
Lumea turned the page over, revealing no text but the title of 'Hare' over an intricate star chart depicting the constellation in question, a light outline clarifying the shape- the next remaining pages containing others of a similar quality.
...And, evidently, he also knew a fair amount about constellations. Come to think of it, it really shouldn't surprise him that Seremnis might become friends with him, if they knew each other. It wouldn't surprise him much if they both needed the companionship, either.
"...Woah… did you teach her how to make these?" Lumea pointed to one of the charts- Wolverine, he noted.
"That I did. I believe it was one of her favorite things to learn- she'd spend quite a few nights looking for them in the sky, when she had the time." Trahearne had told him once that she'd continued to do so /well/ into her time with the Pact in Orr. It made him a little happier to know that she still remembered how to chart them.
"Ooh… maybe that's why there's always so many stars in her dreams."
Malomedies felt a smile sneak it's way onto his face. "If she's able to shape them, it certainly wouldn't surprise me."
And for such a busy young sylvari, with so much expected of her from the very beginning, it'd always struck him that Seremnis would actually look… relaxed, tracing the stars. He'd take it as a… good sign, then, that she seemed to be sharing them with someone else.
He'd pick up one of the cookies, taking a bite out of it as he looked across the other papers scattered across his desk, incriminating evidence of another overnight study that would almost certainly earn him a concerned lecture later.
If she was anything like… well, any of the sylvari she'd been essentially raised by, she would… very much need the incentive, if she was going to let herself relax more often.
