Broken Boulder Allow Me To Mansplain "Puns" To You, Since Hillary Clinton Didn't

apologies for the delay, angel <3

his 'cold' is clearly no cold at all. thank god he thought to isolate himself -- if any of the children caught his illness, delight wouldn't know what to do -- but he does not know what on earth it is wrong with him. he aches, clinging to consciousness listlessly, more an effort for alarian's sake than his own. his temper is short, frustrated by his own limitations, by the timing, by the bloody cats everywhere. if it weren't for his children he would think: it would be better to die in this than keep dragging on, suffering; if queenie were alive he might give in to this thought. but she is not and he cannot leave his children, even if seabreeze is here and part of him wishes -- well. she's a better mother than him, is all.

he thinks at first alarian is approaching him, and then queenie, the sight of familiar merle wildly disorienting until his fogged senses come together. "brilliance," the chancellor croaks -- fuck. he folds his scrawny form onto itself, as if hoping to conceal the effects of his sickness from his daughter. she shouldn't be here -- what if she catches sick too! -- but he doesn't have the energy to shoo her. "why're you here," delight manages instead, attempting a disapproving frown that looks mostly miserable.