12.27.08 - What a Dad Does

Location: Redwall Infirmary

Characters Involved: Sivaine, Tameus, Harper, Bottlebrush

"Have your mug?" Sivaine asks Tameus as she carries him into the infirmary. The leveret is bundled up in layers of blankets, and the mouse is supporting him with one arm beneath and another lightly laid on his back, walking carefully to prevent spillage. She looks tired - a few wisps of headfur have come free, and her eyelids are heavy.

He has his mug. It's steaming and pleasantly aromatic and Tam's muzzle is shoved against the top, bathing his face in the warmth. His other arm grips onto Sivaine as he's carried back in, eyes shut, ears dropped backward. It's a brief period of wakefulness amid the sick but he's hardly awake at all.

Harper shakes his head at BB. "I really wish I knew how you managed t'get such a pleasant disposition, mate. What d'ya think? If I bonk m'head hard enough, mayhaps I'll lose my memory 'n' inherit a cheery attitude like yers?" His back is to Siv and Tam, and he only hears Siv's voice! To which he does not turn. "Anyway, you haven't asked, but I'm in a talkative mood, so - the emergency turned out all righ'. Poor young otter delivered /triplets/, c'n you believe that? And they all lived, though I fear the one's sickly..."

Bottlebrush snickers, "I dunno why I am so cheery, considering what I used to be.." He then nods, his ears twitching a moment, "I hope that one gets better..It must be hard on parents to loose their dibbuns..and just born would be even worse." He blinks and then dips his head towards Siv and Tam, "Hello, you two! Is Tam ok, SIv?" He looks a little worried, the fox having been rather holed up after his find a day or so back.

And Sivaine has her head bent toward Tam, so likewise. Her eyes cut toward Harper at the sound of his voice, going sharp beneath the weariness, but it's Bottlebrush she gives a little nod of greeting to. "No, Bottle, he's not," she says flatly to the healer fox. "I don't think the midnight dunk in the pond did him much good either."

Tameus's ears give a slight twitch at Harper's voice. He leans his muzzle into Sivaine's shoulder and gives a low snuffle, then turns it aside, trying to hold the mug steady as he starts coughing. It's deep and harsh, though partially muffled against the mouse's shoulder.

Sivaine shifts her grip to steady him as he starts. She closes her eyes for a moment, brows beetling.

Harper is all smiles while listening to BB, nodding and nodding and nodding. But then! Is Tam okay? What? Harper's ears twitch and he looks around, brow already furrowing in a frown. It only gets worse at Sivaine's word. "The midnight /what/?" he barks.

Bottlebrush's ears shoot up and he nods, "Oh my!" He drops the broom and hurries over to start heating a few rocks while also putting on more water to boil, "Why don't you get him set up in a bed, Siv?" He uses tongs to place a few already heated rocks in a metal basket of sorts, need to keep a beast warm, you do.

"The midnight dunk," repeats Sivaine, "in the pond." Her voice is level, as is the gaze that settled on the buck, but she's too tired to make an effort at sounding cool. "I was out for a walk last night and he was on the ice. Which cracked. Bradge got him to shore." Her expression is impassive. She glances briefly at Bottlebrush. "I was coming back to do just that."

The coughing tapers off after a while and Tam stills. He draws wheezy breaths and then puts his mouth to the edge of the mug, trying to raise it shakily and take a sip of the hot liquid.

"Who let a sick dibbun leave the infirmary and who let him wander around t'play on the /ice/?" Harper asks with a dangerous look sent towards the door. Oh, /who/ was on infirmary shift last night... He is already on his way over to Tameus' cot, where he sits. He feels his forehead, frowningly. "/Who/, Siv."

Bottlebrush continues to get things up and running for a long night of taking care of a dibbun. He hurries over with some heated stones in a metal basket to place under the bottom end of the blankets to keep Tam warm, not saying a word.

Sivaine brings her hand around and gently tips the mug a fraction for Tam with her fingertips. "I have absolutely no idea," she replies, watching the bundled-up leveret carefully. "I tried to find you, but I ended up having to go in the dorms for his spare clothes."

Bottlebrush then makes his way to a chair and settles down, his ears perked up as he bows his muzzle against his chest, "I will be napping if I am needed. Just say my name Tam, Siv, Harper, and I will wake in an instaint. The water is over the fire and I already measured and cut herbs to be steeped." With that, he is dozing lightly. Still no Ardice-like 'zwheee' sound.

Harper's ears flatten. "I was needed at Mossflower Village - an otter with triplets," he explains. And adds, "I left word. No one-" Of /course/ no one told anyone. Bah. "That explains the mess," he adds as an afterthought. At Bottle's words, he gets up and goes to pick up where the healerfox has left off. "Someone is going to be on pots duty for the rest of their /life/..." Grr, argh.

With Sivaine's help Tameus is able to take a few tiny sips before he turns his muzzle aside, flinching slightly and starting to cough again a second after.

"Thank you, Bottle," Sivaine calls, but not too loud; she's quickly distracted as Tam starts coughing again. She lowers the mug and takes hold of it, using her forearm to keep him upright. Her expression is concerned and focused as she brings him over to the cot being prepared. Harper.. is not answered.

Harper removes the water from the fire when it boils - starts the herbs to steeping. He keeps glancing back at Tameus. Siv isn't even in his focus at the moment. Except to order around, of course! "Siv - see those blankets, there? /Swaddle/ him. I want those things wrapped so tightly 'round him he c'n hardly breathe." She'll have a couple of moments to do this. When the tea finishes, Harp comes over with it. "Get rid of that," he says of the tea he already sips. He inserts himself onto the cot next to Tameus, not minding where Sivaine happens to be.

That suits Sivaine just fine, or at least she doesn't protest. She just twitches an ear and dips slightly at the knees to set the tea down on a nearby bedside table. "Come on, Tam," she murmurs quietly, disentangling him from the blankets (which are briefly draped over the headboard) before she sets to rewrapping him, silent and brisk except for a moment where she forgets and tries to hold him with her healing arm. "Nhf." She's jostled; her ears angle back a fraction.

Tameus settles on the cot, knees drawing up and trying to keep himself sitting upright. He hugs at the blankets, a focused expression of discomfort on his face as he's wrapped very, very tightly. "Nnf. 's .. too tigh', Siv," he tells the mouse, voice raspy.

"It's meant to be tight," Sivaine replies, tucking in a tail-end of blanket. "I daresay your father knows what he's doing."

Well, if she daresays, she must be right. Harper's ears twitch with - is that annoyance? Perhaps. He places the fresh tea to Tam's lips. "We'll try this way. See how much you c'n drink, Tammy - the rest will sop in a biscuit." So long as he gets it down, really.

Tameus's eyes try valiantly to keep track of Harper, but they're unable to really focus. He grunts and sips at the tea, nose crinkling up. "No 'oney," the leveret observes in a weak little voice. ".. put 'oney in 't? Like N'than did?"

"Siv. Get honey." That's all Harper says.

Tameus asks in a feeble tone, "'re y' mad, 'Arper?"

Sivaine draws back, turns, and leaves.

Harper studies Tameus a moment. After a fraction, he nods. "Yes. I am. I'm mad that because some beasts didn't think, I might easily've lost you. That makes me mad. Does that make sense, Tammy?"

"'m not.. los'," Tam gets out, then ducks his head against the edge of the blanket-wrap and coughs. Hard.

Well, not like /he's/ particularly a source of warmth just at the moment, but nonetheless Harper draws Tameus to him, into his lap and curled against his chest. His paws hook together, around the dibbun, his chin resting on his shoulder. "No, yer not. Thank the Spirits."

Tameus doesn't respond. He's busy with a coughing fit, shoulders hitching with each one, body curling up in Harper's lap as he struggles to breathe in between.

Harper just keeps ahold of him, awaiting Siv's return.

Sivaine isn't long; she probably took the stairs two at a time. The mouse returns, a pot of honey with a stirrer in the crook of her arm, and strides briskly back. The pot is offered wordlessly.

The coughs taper off for a moment, and Tam pushes his face against Harper's chest. "Y' weren' 'ere," he mumbles.

Harper takes the pot and the stirrer, sorting out the honey in the tea. "I had t'go on a moment's notice. I left word with one of the Novices, though a lot o' good that did..." Mutter. He then holds the tea to Tam's muzzle. "Drink, Tam."

Tameus opens his mouth obediently and takes a few swallows. The honey helps with the herbal taste and eases his throat a little, though after a little while spent sipping he turns his muzzle aside to cough again. Even when these lessen again each inhale is a struggle.

Harper holds the tea away while Tameus struggles. "Tammy, you need t' /promise/ me... /Promise/ me you won't /ever/ do anything like this /ever/ again." His words are a mixture of firm and wavery.

Sivaine.. hovers. "Anything else you needed," she asks, eyes on Tam.

Tameus rubs his muzzle into Harper's shoulder and makes a little raspy noise, glancing up at his father's face. ".. like wh't?" he mumbles, barely able to form the words.

"Like going out 'n' playin' in the snow when yer sick 'n' supposed t'be takin' it easy. Like goin' out on the ice!" He's not shouting - his voice is at normal volume. He's just... emphatic in his quietness. And to Siv, a distracted grunt. "No." He puts the mug again to Tam's lips. "Drink a bit more, Tam."

"Good night, then." And she's gone again, more than likely to bed herself.

Tameus ducks his head. His ears wilt - yes, wilt more than they already are. "I w's feel.." Cough. ".. feel'n better. I wan'd t'.. pl'y..." He swallows and coughs again, the sound rough and deep in his chest.

Tameus considers the mug for a moment between coughs, and takes a sip.

Harper holds the mug briefly away, giving him a moment following the sip. "Do you think I'd tell you you had t'do somethin' for no good reason? Tammy, if I /tell/ you somethin' it's because it's for your best. I need you t' listen t'me when I tell you those things. That's what a Da' does 'n' what a son does."

"... 'll lis'n," Tam mumbles, giving a slight nod. ".. 'm sorry. 'msorryda'."

Harper brings the mug back to Tam's lips, quietly for the moment. He waits 'til he's taken another sip. "... It's all righ'. I just don't know what I would've done if somethin' worse had happened." He keeps his free arm hooked 'round Tam. Warmth, warmth!

Tameus sips and turns his muzzle away. "D'ddn .. g've y' pr'sn y't," he points out to the older buck.

Harper smiles slightly. "You can, tomorrow, if you want. Tonight you're not leavin' this cot." And, as a result, neither is Harp.

Tameus snuffles and .. croaks. He tries to talk but all that comes out at first is a raspy noise.

He takes a breath and tries again. ".. 'll t'll y' wh' 's.. 'n y' c'n g' g't 't?"

"Tomorrow, Tammy... For now, sleep." That tea out to be making him drowsy, anyway. He goes to lay the dibbun down on the cot, pulling up the sheet to his chin.

Tameus grunts but doesn't protest. He lays down curled on his side, grasping at Harper's habit through the bundled blankets. "Y'r n' gonn' leave?"

Harper shakes his head, firmly. "No. M'not." He shifts around on the cot so that his back is leaning against the wall. He strokes Tam's headfur. "Sleep, Tammy. I'll be here."

Tameus's eyes shut. His breathing is heavy, strained - but he's exhausted from being sick and soon dozes off.