12.08.08 - Why Not to Play With Crutches - Part II

Location: Redwall Great Hall and Infirmary

Characters Involved: Tameus, Harper, Sivaine, Demmer, Bradge, Sharpclaw

"What the...?" Harper stands at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the blood mess on the ground. Given the mop and bucket in paw, he'd been sent down with warning, but!

Harper's nose wrinkles. "'Llo, Demmer. What happened?"

Demmer says, "Apparently, when I get kissed, much blood is involved. He continues to dab."

Tameus is still on a chair, dozing near the fire, recovering from a certain head injury.

Demmer glances up at Harper, then expounds. "Flicktail had a spear tip in his shoulder..... It was pulled."

Harper's jaw drops. Uh? "That's. Unfortunate." Blink. He sets down the bucket, sloshing a bit of water, and starts to mop.

Harper glances back up. "I'm afraid t'ask how kissing was involved."

Demmer says, "He then cried momma and kissed me like I was not his momma."

Sivaine comes up the steps from Cavern Hole, a bowl of soup in one paw. She looks.. happy. And blue; the mousemaid is enveloped in a thick hooded steel-blue cloak. She takes stock of the scene and.. blinks. "What."

Demmer glances back up to Harper, shaking his head.

"Demmer? Is this what happens when someone romances you?" Sivaine eyes the bloodstains, the sleeping Tam, and the Harper.

Demmer's head turns slowly to see Sivaine standing there in her new cloak. "Doesn't someone look mighty regal.... How yah feeling?

Harper's head. Slowly. Cocks. He's not sure whether to laugh or look horrified, so he does both. "Wow."

Sivaine blinks. "Well. Um." That is rather a lot of blood. Blink. Blink. "At the moment? Bewildered and apprehensive." She looks down at her soup. "..I don't think I want this."

Demmer says, "I guess... He's lucky I wasn't pulling the speartip out." he turns back to look at Harper, "Oh, by the way... If memory serves, you were confused about Madison's untimely departure?"

Harper's eyebrows quirk. "Was I? Father Abbot was talkin' about it yesterday..."

Demmer says, "I thought it was you, but I may have been mistaken. Never mind then."

Oh, and. Small glance Sivaine's way. "'Llo." Heh. Man, some couple. Get a room!

Tameus is still asleep. Yeeeup.

Sivaine ducks her head, nose disappearing into the folds of the cloak mantle. "Hi," she muffles. Blood. And Harper. /Wow,/ talk about mixed emotions.

Demmer turns back to Sivaine. "You okay Sivaine?" He resumes dabbing.

Well look, Harper's trying to get rid of that nasty stuff for you, Siv. Inne nice? His ears kind of tinge a little at the tips and he goes back to it. "Hnf," he mutters.

Sivaine's eyes widen slightly. "What? Yes. I'm fine. Erm." Change the subject. "Demmer, the.. blood.. er.. Gwennythe. Finished my cloak." Obviously. "So. Thank you. ..I'd be more tempted to hug you or something, but you're a bit.. red."

Bradge pad-pads into the Great Hall from the breezeway, stepping in towards the fire. When he stops, he seems to get all of his shivers out of the way in one violent series of shakes, then stops. "Whew! Just keeps on gettin' colder out there, dunnit?" Not quite talking to anyone, he rubs his paws by the fire, turning around to warm his hind end as well. It's /then/ that he's facing all the beasts that are already present. "...Hullo!"

Demmer asks, "What's the matter? Afraid there will be more blood?" He turns to the arrival. "Merry meet." he says to Bradge."

Tameus snuffles a little and shifts. He's not really awake - he just rolls over, curls again, and continues slumbering.

Sivaine just.. blinks. Owlishly. "New cloak," she points out, and is just sort of.. baffled into silence.

"It's a nice cloak," Harper pipes up from behind. But his head's still lowered, like he never spoke at all. Ha. Haha.

Demmer chuckles, softly. "No worries, Sivaine... I wouldn't want that pretty cloak messed up."

"...Uh, Ah'ma boy. M'name's Bradge, not Mary." Blink at Demmer. The otter decides to let this go rather quickly, though, and steps away from the fire... Though not far. He sort of peers over one of the tall armchairs at what's going on.

Demmer blinks twice. "Oh, my. That was a greeting I picked up from the Abbot: Merry Meet. Certainly no insult intended, Bradge. My name is Demmer. The lovely mouse is ... Sivaine. And the dutifully working one is Harper."

Ducks goes Sivaine's head again. "Thanks." She sounds almost.. shy. But not for long; her roving gaze has caught sight of Tam. Cautiously, and giving the bloody area a very wide berth, she skirts 'round the chairs to regard the sleeping kit. There's a little nod of greeting to Bradge. "Siv."

"Just call me 'Dutiful'. S'my given name," Harper pipes up again. He's in a rare mood. He glances up to watch Siv, curiously.

Bradge's round otter ears flick in a spot of confusion. "Er, yeah, I know Harper and Sivaine. I live 'ere!" A cheery smile follows this, and he bounds up on the chair, kneeling on the cushion with his front against the back of the chair. "Demmer meet, Mary." His muzzle twitches. "That dun make a lick o'sense."

Demmer sighs. "I'm spending so much time out in Mossflower that I don't know who lives here any more...."

"Heh." It's a chuckle at Bradge's remark, but Sivaine's gaze is directed toward Harper. Briefly. She leans over slightly, canting her head to the side to study Tam. A faint furrow creases her brow.

"It's okay. If ya really wanna know a trick I use, the ones wearin' these 'abits are the novices, so ya gotta reckon they live here!" Bradge nodnods.

The leveret's scut gives a slight twitch.

Demmer blinks, "I missed the Habbit...." He shakes his head. "Whatever is coming over me...."

Harper turns his muzzle into his sleep, to hide a laugh. He coughs. Cough-cough-cough. He continues mopping. My, that bucket water is a lovely crimson shade.

Sivaine frowns slightly at the bump on the back of Tam's head and straightens up with a little sigh. "Tam." Then she looks at Demmer. "Old age."

Demmer glances over to Sivaine with a wry smirk. "You're not far behind me, old maid."

Sivaine snorts amusement, but.. doesn't reply in kind. Instead, she changes the subject. "Do I want to know whose blood that is, or should I just wait for the funeral announcement?"

"Ya probably miss me 'cause I'm always doin' somethin' somewhere like I was jes' outside makin' sure snow wasn't coverin' the path to the garden, then I realized, the garden's covered in snow an', an' there's no reason ta go to the garden so I reckon I jes' wasted a whole lotta my time!" Bradge manages all of that in one breath, and he clambers off the chair to pad towards Demmer. And he gets on his tip-toes, reaching up to apparently try and feel Demmer's forehead.

Demmer shakes his head. "I think Flicktail will survive.... Atleast, physically. I will never let him live down crying momma and then giving me a big fat kiss."

Sivaine eyes Demmer dubiously, balancing the soup bowl on her paw. "..was that before or after he started bleeding?"

Demmer continues dabbing until Bradge gets over next to him. "Calm down, I'm just tired... Oh, he was bleeding, the spear tip was pulled from his shoulder, then he kissed me."

Bradge pulls his paw down all of a sudden. "Flicktail /kissed/ you? Ew!" He giggles like crazy, his paw covering up his mouth and eyes squinting mirthfully. "Ewww! Hahaha! Who's Flicktail?" He gets on his tiptoes, looking around for blood at the mention of bleeding. "Is that what you're moppin'?"

A fascinating tale, all of it. Made oddly more amusing by Bradge's special breed of, well. Bradgeness. Harper seems to do all that he can where he's not just spreading the blood around more and sets the bucket and the mop against a wall, for the moment. He turns his attention to Sivaine - and then Tameus. "He's out like a light..."

Demmer says, "He's a shield otter, a fox really. And he asked why my mouth tasted like fish." He shakes his head. "Oh well.... Is about time I go to sleep."

"No, I'm just.." Sivaine closes her eyes for a moment. "..lots of things going on. Evidently. Out here." A brow is raised at Bradge, but that's it. The mousemaid looks to Harper and her expression quiets. "He fell," she replies, biting her lip. "Hit his head hard. Bottle was there."

Sivaine asks, "Has he been sleeping all this time?"

Demmer stands up. "Good night all. Take care."

Sivaine asks, "Eh? Oh. Good night, Demmer. Thank you, again. It's a wonderful cloak."

"A shield otter?" Bradge contemplates this. "But really a fox." And then he contemplates this. "I'm not a shield otter, am I?" He /certainly/ wouldn't want to be a fox. Oh well. "Sweet dreams, Demmer!" His paw waves enthusiastically. "Meet Mary!"

Harper blinks, looking 'round at Sivaine. "Fell? Fell how?" He goes to crouch in front of Tam, next to Sivaine, thogh he doesn't wake the dibbun.

Tameus is unaware of being spoken about, or having Harper come near him. His little hand is curled in front of his muzzle, and close inspection will show a lump on the back of his head.

Sivaine hasn't taken her eyes off the little scene. "He fell off a pair of crutches, I think. This morning." Yes, she definitely looks worried. "Has he woken up at all?"

"I... I was in the infirmary all day." Now he /does/ go to shake Tam, gently, on the shoulder. "Tam? Tam?!" Okay, way to freak him out, Siv.

Tameus grunts a little, rolling under the shaking. His fingers flex but he doesn't wake up.

"Mary part..." Bradge's eyes squint. Eh. "I'm 'onna go get tea! There's some tea somebeast made already and usually they're willin' ta share." The otter pup trots off to the kitchen. "Tea's warm, too, so if'n yer outside in the cold the tea can warm you up." Maybe he's offering to get some for everyone. Who knows?

"Oh. Well, thank you," Sivaine replies absently to Bradge. Her cloak rustles as she steps aside to set her soup down on an end table and crouch down next to Harper, watching him worriedly. "Bottlebrush gave him a painkiller. I don't know if he took it," she murmurs. Her voice is low and quiet. "I haven't been in here since.. Taye was with him. Harper." Her paw reaches out tentatively.

Sivaine frowns. "Brother Miles?" she asks.

The shaking becomes quickly more vigorous, and then Harper is lifting Tam's shoulders a bit. Siv's paw goes ignored, because the buck looks, well. Kinda really freaked out, now. 'Nononono', he mouths silently. "Tam!"

Tameus's muzzle flinches and then scrunches up. "Nnf."

Sivaine's mouth narrows, and her good paw clamps down on his shoulder. "Harper," she says firmly. "Stop. Think like a healer."

Harper flinches, at the paw and the words. His eyes round on Siv. He blinks. Breathes. "What'd he give 'im? How far'd he fall? Where the /hell/ did Taye go?"

Tameus snuffles groggily. He's not being shaken anymore, and instead of properly waking up the leveret settles again and continues the deep, deep slumber.

"I don't know, I don't know, and I don't know. I was in the kitchen." Sivaine meets Harper's gaze with a steady, serious one of her own. "You're not thinking clearly. We'll take him up to the infirmary and I'll track people down, so /let's go./"

Sivaine's expression softens then, and she gives the buck's shoulder a squeeze. "Come on," she murmurs.

Harper swallows, his Adam's Apple bobbing. He nods, his eyes stuck on Siv for several long seconds before he goes into action. He scoops Tameus up, the limp pliancy of him causing his heart to race. Oh man. Tam.

Sivaine nods to herself and rises, speaking in low, soothing tones while Harper lifts the kit, and starts toward the stairs. "Lucas and Sharpclaw were there when it happened. I heard Taye shout for hot water from the kitchen and Lucas gave me a handful of herbs from Bottle. Tam was awake and looking at me when I brought the cup for him." She waits for him.

Tameus's little fist curls back up near his muzzle as he's cradled in Harper's hold, not stirring otherwise.

"Sometimes... sometimes with a head injury, there's. It takes a while. And. You come in the mornin', 'n' they're..." Harper's starting to jabber. He turns, moving swiftly towards the stairs, sure Sivaine will keep up. One can only imagine how he'd be behaving if Sivaine /wasn't/ keeping him calm. "But maybe it's just the medicine. Why so /strong/, though? I don't..." He shakes his head.

"I don't know. We'll find Bottle and ask him exactly what he gave." Sivaine is using a variation on her storytelling voice - low, liquid, musical and rolling - and her expression is solemn. As Harper overtakes her, she breaks into a quick stride to catch up. "And they're what? They've woken up? Harper."

Harper says, "And they're dead, Siv." He doesn't look back. "Dead."

Sivaine falls back a step, and just.. closes her eyes for a long moment. Then she huffs, and starts up the stairs again. "We'll get him to Brother Miles," she murmurs when she gets close. "He won't die. Harper. He won't die." It sounds almost like a wish.

Bradge comes back in from the kitchen, paws full with a tray holding tea for three! And... They're gone. Upstairs. :\ "...Well dun 'at jes' stink." He turns to go right back into the kitchen.

There's a wild fear in Harper's eyes as he looks back at Siv, barely contained. "He can't. I can't..." And that's all he says before breaking into a run, taking two steps at a time up the stairs.

"Don't drop him!" Sivaine calls, and increases her pace as well. "Harper!"

Harper has miraculously managed not to send them both smashing down the stairs in his desperation. He walks swiftly into the infirmary, setting Tameus' form down as gently as possible on a waiting cot. "Help! Help. Need a healer!" Wait, he is a healer. Idiot.

Sharpclaw is one of the few immediately about, the fox dropping the sheets he's been trying to place on one of the beds. He rushes over to the sound, ears and nose working swiftly to try to figure out what exactly is going. "What's wrong?" the vulpine asks without preamble as he nears Harper.

Sivaine is not far behind, and she's still in her new cloak. Her expression is determined, businesslike, but the quirk in her mouth says worry. She comes up behind Harper, and that steadying paw goes on his shoulder again.

Harper reaches up, grasping Siv's paw like a lifeline. "Tammy won't wake up. He - no one's seen him awake since earlier. He fell on his head. Sharp, it could- He won't wake up, Sharp."

On the cot where he's been laid down, Tameus is in a loose curl, muzzle tucked down, one hand curled near his face.

"No, no, he's not going to die. He's /fine/," Harper mutters with a shake of his head.

Sivaine comes up close; her side is a gentle pressure on the hare's back. "Yes. He's not going to die," she murmurs. Her blue-green eyes peer sharply over the novice's shoulder at Sharpclaw. Get cracking, fox.

Sharpclaw wordlessly goes over to the injured hare, the fox trying to gently check over the hare's head. "Tam? Can you hear me?" He tries experimentally.

"Harper?" Sivaine tests while Sharpclaw goes to it. "Harper. Look at me."

A lump is apparent on the back of the leveret's head. EXperiement? Failed. He makes no response to Sharpclaw.

"Then don't," Harper mutters again. It's oddly under his breath. And then he blinks, when Siv speaks. His paw squeezes hers reflexively. "What?" He turns, glancing at Siv distractedly.

Sharpclaw feels the lump gently, the fox frowning. He swiftly checks for regular breathing, and heartrate. Then, the healer fox is over to the supplies of medicine, taking out a pre-mixed set of herbs. He goes back to the injured hare, starting to apply it, some bandages nearby. A poultice of sorts for the wound.

Tameus's whiskers give a slight flicker in response, head shifting this way and that as it's checked and handled.

Sivaine's expression changes subtly at that mutter - huh? - and she twitches an ear. But. She looks up him, holding her gaze there. "Shh. Talk to me. All right? Tell me something."

Sharpclaw finishes applying the poultice, the fox putting a good bandage upon it.

"Sharpclaw," Sivaine calls without taking her eyes off Harper. "Where's Brother Miles?"

Sharpclaw stands up, the fox nodding to the mouse. "I'll go get him. Should be in the healer dorms" he says quickly as he rushes past to go get the head Healer.

"Good. Be quick," Sivaine calls.

Sharpclaw soon comes back with the Brother in question, the vulpine certainly fulfilling the mouse's words. Brother Miles starts to inspect the wound himself, having been partially filled in on the run back. "Hmm...no more bleeding...the proper herbs are there..." the brother mumbles, before turning to his vulpine companion. "Sharpclaw, get the herb mixture on the lower shelf. It should ease any pain..." The vulpine's off to do as he's told, grabbing it and returning. He attempts to get the unconscious hare to drink the liquid mixture.

Harper grunts, the sound of a cornered animal. But he keeps his eyes locked on Siv's. "Tell you - what? Sometimes. Sometimes you c'n have a bad reaction to medicine. Some creatures metabolize it differently. He could just be - sleepin' it off. Or-" But he doesn't continue. His eyes start to shift back to Tameus.

Tameus's whiskers twitch again, muzzle giving the slightest tilt away when the drink is coaxed against his mouth.

"Tell me something _else._ Something that won't send you into a panic. Tell me about the mountain. Something. Just.. Harper." Sivaine winces, ears angling back. "Tell me what Brother Miles is doing. Is he doing what he's supposed to do?"

Harper is almost jittering where he stands. His eyes shift away from Siv /and/ away from Tam, to stare elsewhere, but her words bring him back with a blink. "Yes. Yes. There's not much t'be done, though. If it's an herb reaction, mayhaps something t'bring it up. If it's not, it's just- wait. Wait 'n' see..."

Sharpclaw continues trying to get the poor hare to drink the mixture, though will stop if it seems fruitless. The Brother shakes his head, knowing there's no more than can be done, other than have the hare watched. Then, there's the mention of medicine. Miles turns to Harper. "What was he given?" he calls out to the hare.

"Good. Thank you," Sivaine soothes. Her fingers massage his shoulder. "Bottlebrush gave him a drink of steeped herbs," she calls to Miles. "Sharpclaw, you were there. What were they?"

Sivaine asks, "Did he even drink the stuff?"

The hand near Tam's face moves a little while his muzzle turns further away; a little of the drink is sloshed onto his knuckles, and his fingers curl.

Sharpclaw relates what he could smell of the herbs that were given to the hare to Miles. The vulpine gets a little forceful, trying to use one paw to hold Tam's muzzle still while slowly feeding him the mixture. Miles nods to the other Healer. "That...all shouldn't cause any reactions."

"Good. We can rule that out," Sivaine nods. And she won't have to string Bottlebrush up by his tail. "So it's just waiting, Miles?"

A little of the drink gets into Tam's mouth and he coughs in reaction, muzzle twisting away. The start of a soft Harper-chirp comes from his muzzle but doesn't complete itself.

"Those sound all right, though..." Harper murmurs uncertainly. "Sharp'd know." And then, "How did he fall, Sharp? You were there."

The fox curses in frustration, both his own gut feeling and Brother Miles' calming paw causing Sharpclaw to put away the herbs. "He was playing with...crutches. He fell" the fox says, gently reaching out to try to stroke the hare's cheek. "He hit his head on the floor." The Brother nods. "Yes, there is little more to do than watch over him, and wait." Sharpclaw's blind gaze doesn't leave the downed hare. "I'll keep with him, tonight. If he stirs, I'll know. Harper...I'll get someone to tell you, if he wakes up. We'll all do our best for him, Harper" the fox promises, determined and serious as he sits at an empty cot beside Tameus.

In a room page-pose, Sharpclaw notes that he should /always/ make notes on rp's like the earlier one, in case he needs to do follow-up rp's.

As soon as the drink is no longer being coaxed at him, Tameus settles again, back into that deep-slumber state.

Sivaine just nods, solemn and concerned as ever. She looks up to Harper for his next action.

Already standing at the side of Tameus, Harper drops to his knees, bowing his head as he takes hold of Tameus' paw. "Please... please."

Which leaves Sivaine kind of just.. standing there. "Do you," she starts after a moment. "Want me to-"

Harper's paw comes up, silently, seeking out Siv's paw and finding it. "Stay."

Tameus's fingers are very little against Harper's. They just naturally curl around Harper's, not hard enough to really grip his hand in return.

Sharpclaw moves over to the cot on the other side of Tam, giving Harper space to be with the injured hare. Brother Miles grabs a set of sheets, before starting to get some tea to help keep Sharpclaw, and most likely himself, awake through the night.

"... Thank you, Sharpclaw. Brother." Harper looks up only briefly, before his eyes fall to Tameus again.

A curious glaze comes over Sivaine's expression and she stills. Then she swallows, nods, and kneels down awkwardly next to him, curling her fingers around his.

"I'll stay," she murmurs.

Both Master Healer and young apprentice give slow nods to Harper, then silence from the two aside from Miles preparing the tea. Sharpclaw has a neutral expression on his face, hardly moving.

No one's bothering him. Tameus slips back into the deep sleep he's been in for the last handful of hours.

Harper looses Siv's paw, but only long enough to curl his arm around her. Hug. He rests his muzzle briefly on her shoulder.

Sivaine's eyes go curiously blank again. She stares dazedly for a moment before she leans into Harper with a small sigh. Her good paw creeps up to find his again.

Brother Miles uses a free paw to take one of Sharpclaw's, gently placing the cup of tea in the other's paw. The Brother then sits down at a cot himself, getting comfortable for a long night of observing the patient.

"This has all happened before," Harper speaks quietly but audibly, breaking the kind of eerie silence. His eyes glance up, then, upward, and he nods. "Yeah."

Bzuh. Sivaine blinks, muzzily, waking from some private reverie. She looks upward, but at him. "This has all happened before?"

Harper nods, looking down at Tameus' quiet - and yes, peaceful - form. "I should have been watching him, but I wasn't. I was-" He breathes a sigh, a weary sigh. He almost seems trancelike. "On something. Herbs... And he fell in the fire." Another sigh. "He was so /little/..."

"You had a son." Sivaine looks.. uncertain, now. "Harper? Herbs?"

"Micah," he provides. Harper's eyes look across the bed, at nothing, consideringly.

"How long ago?" Sivaine manages. She lets her head flop against his chest, but her eyes are creasing at the corners and a troubled frown is starting.

"Almost two seasons. He 'n' Mari - Marigold - were a season, then..." His eyes close. He shakes his head. "It's okay, it's okay."

Sivaine doesn't look okay. Her eyes are squeezed shut and she's frowning; her feet twitch, poke out from beneath her cloak. "He died?"

"No. He lived." And how does he make that sound more horrible than the alternative? "He..." Harp sighs. "And then she took them, 'n' they left." Glance up. "My fault."

"No. He lived." And how does he make that sound more horrible than the alternative? "He..." Harp sighs. "And then she took them, 'n' they left." Glance up. "My fault."

Sivaine's grip on Harper's paw is rigid and vise-like, and she's huddled up into a tight little ball. "Harper." Her voice is getting dangerously chilly. "/Herbs?/"

Harper flinches at Siv's words. And flinches again. His head lowers. "Funny herbs. I-" But he only shakes his head.

Sivaine scrunches up her nose, ears slicked back flat. "No. Tell me. Were you going to tell me any of this? If Tam hadn't fell?"

"I can't hide anymore," Harper mutters, seemingly to himself... He breathes, rapid and shallow, gathering himself. "I have told no one. Ever. When would you bring it up, Siv? When can you?"

Sivaine is absolutely still, taking tiny, shallow, controlled breaths that are lost in her cloak. She doesn't answer for the longest time.

"If you think I don't hate myself..." Harper starts, stops. Shakes his bowed head. "I will never forget the way Flax looked at me. I didn't think anything could - could make her look at me like that."

"... ... ../dammit,/ Harper." squeaks out between Sivaine's gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry," Harper breathes. He squeezes Tameus' paw, staring silently across the way - seemingly into space. A single tear takes a stroll down his cheek. He... nods.

Sivaine is just. Silent.

Sivaine pulls her paw away from his and rubs it over her face.

Tameus, meanwhile, still holds Harper's hand - well, he's not pulling it away anyway. The leveret is unaware of this conversation.

Harper's eyes turn slowly, slowly towards the door, another tear or two winging free. His eyes close briefly. Deep breath. "Why don't you go to bed. I'll stay here."

"Tell me about these herbs," Sivaine muffles.

Harper looks around at Siv. For the briefest of seconds there is reproach in his gaze. Why does it matter, his expression begs. But it is just as quickly gone, replaced with resignation. "Herbs. Herbs that you smoke. That make you feel. Different. A little less there. There was a place, in the woods."

"Why." It's one word, flat. Demands an answer.

"Would any reason that I could give you change what I've done?" Or the way she sees him, now?

"Just tell me." Muffle muffle.

"I can't. I don't know why. I don't-" Harper shakes his head, sighs. He rubs his face with a paw, then runs his fingers through his headfur. He feels so... /weary/.

Sivaine hasn't changed position; she's still leaned against him, but more like an inanimate object than a person, and her paw is over her face. "Just tell me. Because you hated the mountain? Because it felt good?" Her voice is like a metal strip. But it doesn't seethe with anger.

Tameus gives off a very soft 'nh' sound and his foot gives a tiny kick.

But he still can't say it. Harper laughs, weakly. "... Not everything is a story, Siv. Not everything makes sense. Not everything has a reason."

"I know enough of stories to know what has reasons and not. There's a reason and you're not telling me."

Sivaine says, "Even if there's no reason in it."

"Because my Step Da' beat me? Because I grew up in a little nothin' place? Because I was stressed out with a mate 'n' two leverets at too young 'n' age? Because I'm crazy? What, Siv? What reason do ya want? Because none of them are reasons, none of them change the fact or have anything /t'do/ with the fact that I murdered my child's life." Even if he is still alive. Harper's voice is a hushed whisper. "I just. Screwed. Up."

'Because I'm crazy.' Some little part of Sivaine's brain files that one away for safekeeping. The rest of her rises with a rolling motion that extends up her back and neck, raising her head to fix him with a stern green gaze. "Do you still do it."

"No." Firmly spoken.

"/Good./" Equally firm.

"Yes," he agrees.

Tameus's ear twitches.

"Good," Sivaine repeats.

"... Yes," Harper repeats.

"Siv... Go to bed. I'll get you, if- if things change." Harper doesn't look at her.

Sivaine doesn't budge. She's like a steel blue boulder, right there in his path. "No. You're going to talk to me."

"... About?" Harper can't imagine what else there is she wants to know. "We've already covered such. Wonderful. Topics."

Sivaine gives him a Look. It's a good one. "You are going to talk to me," she repeats slowly, "because Tam. Needs you."

"And I'm here. I'm here. So what is there t'talk about? Do you think I'm going to... to do something like that again? To /him/?"

Sivaine's mouth twitches. Her gaze is reproach enough. Quieter, more gently - though in the way talc is to diamond - she says, "He doesn't even think you love him."

"Well, he's wrong," is Harper's immediate answer.

"I know that. You know that. /He/ doesn't know that, or he won't believe it. Harper." Sivaine looks at him in all seriousness. "He needs a family."

"I'm trying, Siv. Every day I'm tryin'..." Harper finally looks directly at her. "But what am I s'posed to do? Other than show him I do 'til he believes it for himself?"

Harper laughs, shaking his head. "Siv, he doesn't even understand the concept o' someone other than yer folks bein' yer parents. If I said, 'Hey, why don't I be yer Da'?' he'd look at me like I'd grown a third head."

Sivaine looks at Harper like he's.. well, no. It's that cold, stern look again, accompanied by the same in tone. "Have you tried?"

"... No," he admits. "Not in so many words, no."

"Then ask him. Harper. Adopt him." Sivaine's features soften now and she twists 'round, bringing her good paw up to cup the side of his face, keep his eyes on hers. "I know you're his father in everything but name," she tells him softly, "but a name has power."

Harper's eyes close briefly at the touch. "But what if I screw up again?" The real fear, twisting in his guts.

Sivaine bows her head, bringing her face close to his until foreheads touch. "You will," she tells him plainly. "This isn't a story. You were careless and selfish and let the object of your desire get away, and now you have to quest through water and flame to retrieve it. And you will. And then you'll lose it again, and you'll have to fight for it. Every. Day. This isn't a story. It doesn't have a single happy ending." She quirks the faintest of wry smiles. "It has more."

Sivaine releases him. Sits back, and eyes him. "But if you never try.."

It's incomprehensible to him that Siv should still touch him - that she doesn't just. Recoil. He'd always expected that from, well. Everyone. The wry smile gets a return one of his own, though it is brief and struggles to exist. "... Heh. I'll be a righ' arse?" Pause. "And/or you'll bite me?"

Sivaine coughs and averts her gaze. "Something like that." She's reddening. Quickly. "Probably something a little more inventive. I've got any amount of sharp things, or.."

"I think perhaps I won't have the opportunity t'find out," Harper considers carefully. "I'll tell him-" When? If. He wakes up. He reaches out, then, paw brushing her shirt sleeve. "I'm going to stay with him. He sleeps better that way." It's true, he does! He starts to stand, sits down on the edge of the cot.

"I could-" Sivaine starts, but her gaze drifts from Harper to Tameus and rests there for a long moment. The color in her face begins to fade and her eyes crease up at the corners as her lips purse into an unhappy shape. "He does," she says quietly. "He does. Well." She takes a breath and rises, cloak folds falling around her. "Well. Good night."

"... You could," Harper says, rather suddenly, after allowing a few seconds to pass. "You /could/ stay." Pause. "I'd sleep better if you did." Is that the tiniest of smiles? There is plenty of room on the cot, actually. Harper shifts, so that he is leaning with his back to the headboard.

Sivaine looks at him, startled. Then she starts breathing again, and again, regards the sleeping kit with that sad expression. "He doesn't want me," she murmurs.

Tameus is still asleep; he is completely gone to the world. One cheek is against the cot and his scut gives the occasional sleepy twitch-twitch before stilling again.

"I do," is Harper's simple, honest answer. And that small, small smile again. "And he just doesn't know that he does, yet. Mayhaps... mayhaps adopting him, mayhaps that will make a difference." Extra security for the Tam-Tam!

Sivaine says nothing, expression uncertain. Hesitant. Her good paw fingers the edge of her cloak, but she doesn't look away.

Harper holds out his paw, no more, no less.

Sivaine worries at her lower lip. Blinks. Takes a breath, squeezes her eyes shut, turns her head away. Her paw snakes out and grabs his like a live wire.

Harper lets out a held breath. He tugs her gently forward, making space in the crook of his arm beside him. Tam's sleeping form is shifted into his lap, at least partways.

"There has to be some Abbey regulation against this," Sivaine mumbles, hunching her shoulders up as she nestles in. She's going red again.

Tameus gives just a flicker of motion when he's moved. His cheek rests on Harper's leg and his hand comes up, habitually near his face - fingers flexing - and they catch lightly on the fabric of Harper's pants at his knee.

"Oh, let them regulate me," Harper muses with a grin. His eyes close. One paw rests loosely on her side and his other rests, protectively on Tam's chest. Keep breathin', little guy. "Now go t'sleep."

"Llp," goes Sivaine. She stares at him, eyes wide, for at least a good minute. Then her expression gradually relaxes and she ducks her head - yes, a small smile. "Heh." She leans in and lets her eyes flutter shut.

Tameus mumbles something. Something that has nothing to do with muffins.

Tameus says, "Mmfnnhghh'rper."

Several seconds pass following the 'heh'. Harper squints one eye open, suspiciously, expecting a Sivmouse to be staring back. But she's not. He nods to himself, rests his head back gently. The last thing he hears before he too drifts off is his name, from Tam, or close enough, and he drifts off with a smile.