Solivagency - Empires SMP

XLIII

When Scott woke up, he knew two things for certain.

One: He was in pain.

Two: He was cold.

He didn't think he had the energy to shiver, but it was freezing and he had to try. It was very slow going, dragging the energy up to start, but once he had started shuddering he was just unable to stop, curling into himself and wrapping his arms around him tighter. Usually, his wings were sufficient blankets to keep him warm, but an uneasy absence of weight on one side and something keeping the wing neatly bound on the other meant that he couldn't drape them over his shoulders as he normally did.

Someone was quick to throw something warm and heavy over his shoulders and he untensed ever so slightly. It didn't do anything to cut into the icy sensation practically drowning him, but it did take the edge off of it, he supposed was better than nothing.

He felt his eyes protest as he slowly, slowly opened them, practically easing them open from cracks to fully visible, and blinked a few times to clear his vision. It was still exceedingly blurry, and he blinked a few more times to try and clear it away. It helped a bit, but he was still stuck in the loop of blinking and trying to get it completely gone.

There was someone else in the room with him. They were muttering under their breath, quietly talking to themself, and their voice was accompanied by the clinking of glass and the rustling of fabric. He tried to catch a glimpse of them, but he was rolled onto his side and they were on the opposite side of the bed.

Then she tapped her foot in the very specific pattern of one and then three times, moved and repeated the foot-tapping again, and Scott instantly knew it was Gem. It was an anxious habit she had developed whilst in the... dungeon, and she sometimes still did it when she was incredibly stressed.

She moved and stopped, tapping her foot again. It continued a few more times as if she had nothing on her mind but an attempt to comfort herself, and he felt bad. What was making her so stressed?

"Gem?" He squinted as a large purple form came into his view. A few more blinks and tries to clear his view were fruitless, but it didn't stop him from seeing the large smile of relief that split across her face.

"Scott!" She beamed down at him. It was almost scary, how quickly she burst into a grin. Then before his eyes even began to focus, she was magically producing a potion out of thin air. "You're finally awake!"

Scott did not know where this enthusiasm came from. Scott did not want to know where this enthusiasm came from. For all he knew, she could be on her last hurrah of energy before her body completely shut down. "...I thought that was obvious."

"Are you feeling okay?" She inquired, jamming a thermometer into his mouth. He squawked and spat it out, instinctively flaring his wings but yelping when only one of them responded and the other refused to move and started throbbing. He dragged the blanket tighter around him as she tried to shove it back in and made an offended noise in response.

Finally, she stopped trying to take his temperature and withdrew the thermometer with an exasperated look. Then that face turned into a frown as she stared at the reading on it. "You're... very cold."

He shivered. "How cold?"

"Almost hypothermia levels." Gem grimaced. Then she was back to holding that potion he had seen earlier. "I need you to drink all of this, okay? No spitting."

Scott gave her an uneasy glance. "What is it?"

"Warming potion." She explained. "Now drink."

He opened his mouth to respond, but then the neck of the bottle was being forced into his mouth and a bunch of the potion was sloshing down his throat. He spluttered a little, but after an insistent look from Gem, he made himself choke it down.