Limitations ~ Scaraether

10

The blonde finally found time for him and Paimon to be alone, and she already knew she'd done something he disliked.

"Paimon, can you tell me why Kuni knows my name?"

"What?! How do you know that?!" The girl froze, a fearful look morphing on her face.

"Because it slipped out of his mouth a couple of hours ago." Aether crossed his arms and sighed, "While I don't agree with you telling him— whenever you did— you should've made me aware."

"Well, Paimon thought she wouldn't have to since when it slipped from her mouth weeks ago, he just played it off as obliviousness...."

"...weeks ago?"

"Yeah, back when your relationship was still fresh... Paimon knows she should've informed you, but Paimon's sorry!" She felt her body shiver as she received a smile from the blonde, expecting him to send her to solitary confinement within the Adeptus realm.

"Huh...?" She floated dumbfounded as she felt a gloved hand gently patting her head, messing up her hair.

"It's fine; I'm sorry if I scared you, and I'm not angry that you told him— even mistakenly. It's just a name, after all."

"So, Paimon's not in trouble?"

"No, no, you're not; don't worry."

"Oo, thank the archons!" The sigh of relief that left her lungs relaxed everything in her body as she felt sleepiness take over her, "Paimon's sleepy now; wake me up if you intend to adventure."

"Won't do."

"Awe~ come on!"

"Nope. I won't allow your sleep schedule to get ruined. Good night, Paimon."

"Please?"

"Good night, Paimon."

"...please?"

"Paimon, good night." Paimon huffed as she floated upstairs to her room. A small chuckle left Aether's mouth as he watched her stomp on the air before sticking her tongue out.
Walking upstairs to his room, he softly closed his door and began getting ready for the night. Taking down his hair, brushed his hair, and took off his clothes before hopping into the shower for a refreshing shower.

Lying in his bed comfortably in the sleepwear Thoma provided him not too long ago, feeling himself drift off to a dreamless (hopefully) sleep, Aether promptly closed his eyes and let it take his body over.

GASP

Aether sat up on the bed; his body felt sweaty despite the cold temperature of the room. Eyeing around the room anxiously, a shaky sigh of relief left his mouth. He kept telling himself that it was just a dream and that he shouldn't take it so seriously.
Laying his back on the soft mattress, he tried to focus on something that would take his mind off things. His breath was still shaky; his eyes closed, but sleep didn't want to take him this time, leaving him to feel foolish.
He didn't even know why his nightmares over the past few years increased. They started with him falling through an endless void, to his sister leaving his grasp no matter what he did; now, it's replaying every dangerous scenario he's been in with horrid results.

Oh, the fight with Ei? Instead of saving people from their god, everyone who rebelled perished while he watched, unable to move.

The fight with Stormterror? Yeah, the abyss wins, and the citizens of Mondstadt suffer tremendously.

Osial, the ancient god? He flooded all of Liyue and took over as the new ruler.

But, oh, there's more than that. Such odd dreams with odd endings that Aether wouldn't mind if they didn't feel so realistic; dreams he wouldn't care for if he didn't forget about reality even for a second. The way his nightmares were vivid and gore-filled didn't sit right with him. A shudder went down his spine as the images replayed in his mind repeatedly. Perhaps he should take this as a sign to relax and take time for himself instead of pushing forward constantly. Conceivably, Kuni was right about him being a doormat, and he doesn't enjoy it as much as he makes it seem.

He missed his sister because at least she dared to tell people off whenever either was overworked; he just let people walk all over him, no matter how tired he was.
And not once in his life did he think he would even miss the old nightmares that plagued him and his being.

He faintly heard the sound of bird chatter from outside his window, and he regretted capturing the birds and bringing them to his Adeptus realm. They always seemed the loudest after a bad dream, but their presence did alert him the sun was rising, so he had to thank them for that.

"Aether, wake up!" loud knocking reverberated throughout his room. Aether didn't want to get up as his limbs felt stiff, his throat sore, and his eyes dry.

'Am I sick? That's not good,' were the words repeating through his mind. Reluctantly sliding off the bed and nauseously walking toward the door, halfway opening it to find Paimon floating as expected.

"Woah, you do not look good. What happened?"

"Nothing, Paimon."

"Are you sure? You look sweaty and—" she flew over and put a hand on his forehead, "—you're burning up pretty badly."

"..." Aether tried to find the right words, but this was the first time he's gotten sick in a while— and his body felt weak.

"Paimon thinks you're sick," The fairy pushed her way into his room, blocking the door, "So, you won't be leaving this room."

"Come on, Paimon. We have commissions."

"No, we're taking a break; we deserve one anyway."

"But who's going to cook for you?" Paimon pondered her answer before snapping her fingers,

"Kuni! Paimon will find him, explain everything, and bring him here." Before Aether could protest, Paimon had already left the realm, leaving Aether to himself.
He found it unnecessary and troublesome to bring the puppet into his business, but his body ached with a feeling of dizziness, so he went to sit down on a chair in his room.
His head lay between his arms; he closed his eyes tightly, trying to rid the migraine that bedevils him. Many times, he tried to get to his bed and many times failed, therefore; he just stayed where he was.

__

He felt a hand brushing through his bangs and heard a sigh leave its owner's mouth. His body didn't even react properly to the sudden actions.

"And you're supposed to be the Honorary Knight?" the unconcerned voice filled his ears as he leaned into the touch, "Come on, let's get you to bed. Don't want you to have a bad posture, do we?"
Feeling himself getting lifted bridal style and carefully carried to the bed agitated his headache even more, causing him to grunt a little.

"You should take better care of yourself; this is quite pathetic, you know."

"Mhmm..." The coldness of his bed enveloped him, and he felt the urge to sleep, so he did.
Kuni looked down at him, smiling a little as he did so.

"Don't bother him for the rest of the day— probably even tomorrow," Kuni instructed Paimon, "can you look through his bag for medicinal herbs? I'll fix him some soup to eat later."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Paimon went over to his (magical) traveling bag and duh around in the compartments before finding the herbs and pulling them out, giving them to Kuni.
Thanking the silver fairy, he took them to make a rather simple medicine.

"It's anything a pharmacist or doctor could provide, so it should help." He mumbled, placing it down next to Aether— a small letter next to it.

"Great!"

"Mhm, what do you want to eat now?"

"Uh... an egg roll is fine."

"Really? That all?"

"Paimon doesn't eat that much in the morning!" (sometimes)