Grouse Thicket Truth be told

She had to admit that the herbs Liekos had found had done her better. The very worst of the illness had pasted her by, the horrible cramps and headaches and other, more unpleasant symptoms, were more subdued. However, her full strength she had yet to regain, as well as the unpredictable bouts of nausea that led to her heaving the contents of her stomach on whoever was nearby. 

The morning, she had become truly fed up with being in her den, and before anyone could check up on her, she had crossed the river, slipped through the trees, and come here. The same spot she had met NIco last time. She dearly, dearly hoped @Nico would not show up today, but she had told him that she would be here daily, and she had already missed a couple of days due to her horrible illness. The journey had taxed her, much, much more than it should have, and now she leaned against a thick oak, close to the place she had met the male last time, panting as she tried to recover her breath. 

She already regretted coming here, she should have waited until all her symptoms disappeared, the horrible weakness and the nausea seemingly wanting to stick around. Her thought process was interrupted by another such bout of gut twisting nausea; she closed her eyes as she struggled to push it down. Maybe she would do well to find more of whatever those leaves were, Thimbleberry.

He'd known, the moment he stepped past the borders that morning that he would have the intention of coming back. He still had some unresolved issues within Royal Fire Court and it's members and he wished to solve them before breaking the news to them. It would take another week or so before he even began contemplating how to tell Charley and Aspen that he was leaving because Nico was pretty sure that their reactions would be anything but positive. At this time, with the pack still new, they needed all the members they could get, especially with pups coming and while the soldier felt guilty for leaving, deep down in his heart, he knew it was time to stop being so damn selfless all the time and perhaps think of his own future. Because if he stayed in the Court, the chances of him having pups and a family were rare, and he knew that was really what he wanted.

So why was Nico travelling towards Grouse Thicket with no intention of leaving? Sentiment, perhaps, but he supposed it was a desire to see her again and well, tell her that it would be sometime before he'd come to join her even though he was rather unsure if he was even able to tell her. The soldier shook those thoughts away and without much thought, began making his way to their meeting spot. 

He was definitely not expecting what he saw when he arrived.

Aeronwyn was there, alright, but gone was her graceful self. Instead, she was leaning against the oak tree, her eyes closed and seemingly in pain. Nico's first thought was the laugh at her, somehow there was something in the situation that was so outrageously funny that he couldn't help but smile, even though it was merely a shadow of his usual one. Then he grew serious, or as serious as he'd ever get and cleared his throat, striding forward in large steps as he closed the distance between the, concern in his green eyes. "Darling, you look great," Nico said, "but, something's definitely not okay with you."

His scent first then his words. Nico. Normally, she would be glad to see him, overjoyed, but not today. Really, any day but today. Her eye's flashed open as he cleared his throat, silver gaze sharp as ever, and she managed a small smile as the rolling in her gut subsided a moment. Whatever the circumstances, it was nice to see the man again. But she was ashamed, and worried, and nervous to be seen like this. These emotions, like her last meeting with the male, confused her to some extent. 

"Nico. It is good to see you." She begun, small smile playing at her muzzle. "I'm fine, truly." she considered moving away from the oak, but the thought of moving away from the support alarmed her. "Perhaps not as fine as I would like to be, but-" she paused closing her eyes as another bout of nausea surged, threatening to overwhelm her and fling the contents of her stomach in every which way. The thought mortified her, and she closed her eyes as she fought against it again. Gods, she hated her stomach. "-I said I'd come, so I did." she finished, eyes closed again a moment longer before opening and fixing on him. Her weakness was not what it had been a while ago, and as the effects of her journey here wore off, she slowly shifted away from the tree, her stance becoming more the strict one she normally occupied. As for her surging stomach; that might take longer.

His words, specifically the one of Darling, were heard but not strictly contested. Had she been at full health, he may have earned a glare. But she was beyond trivial matters at the moment, having most of her energy being expended in...other matters.

His gaze narrowed, and he bit his lip, although he still smiled in reply to her own, somewhat glad that she still had the strength to do while scared at the sametime because he didn't know to what extent Aero would go to show that she was fine when she very obviously wasn't. Nico raised an eyebrow when she, as he'd expected, proclaimed that she was fine, not as fine as she would like to be, apparently, but she promised to come and so she did. The man sighed then and approached, closing the distance between them so he stood about a feet away from her, maybe less. "You know, in my time alive, I've concluded that 97% of the time, when a girl says she's fine, she's most likely not fine, at all," he stated, almost matter-of-factly. The soldier peered at her, green eyes flickering with worry.

"What's wrong?" he pushed, licking his lips absentmindedly as he leaned closer, no longer caring whether or not she disliked him being that close because as far as he was concerned, she shouldn't have come if she was so sickly, he would've understood, he would've goddamn waited for her. That is, if Nico was even here to go with her in first place, which he wasn't.

"Look, it's alright. I only came to tell you it'll take a another week at the very least before I can leave," the soldier informed her. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to." or can't, because you should really, really just rest.

Nico obviously was having none of her "I'm fine" talk. At his words, she smiled again, eyes sparkling with a touch of mirth. "You may be right in that regard." She was simply stubborn, a warrior, and loathed, loathed to show weakness. Most women were, but she drove it, perhaps, to the extreme. This nausea, the previous cramps and headaches, they were irritating, annoying, but far from life threatening, or so she thought. No need to moan around all day, in her opinion. 

He questioned her again, what was wrong, and Aeronwyn considered telling him. Just a little, vague. Just to assure him that it was nothing more- she broke off from her thoughts as another wave of nausea hit, she slumped forward, barely registering his words. 

"Shit"

A single, clipped word, before her whole body buckled and she heaved out the contents of her stomach, which was painfully little but there all the same. She had no idea in which direction she vomited, only that she did, and it was horribly, horribly mortifying.  Here was Aeronwyn, Warlord, vomiting her guts out in front of the male she possibly-maybe fancied. Just a bit. Body racked by heaves, when it finally stopped she took a single, shaky step back before collapsing in a heap, desperately trying to compose herself, and quickly, utterly mortified and reeling from what she'd just done.

He smiled, almost amused that she said he 'might' be right. He knew he was right because literally, almost every single time he asked a girl if she was okay and she said 'I'm fine', her expression and body language clearly said she wasn't. He learnt, from a very early age, to not trust someone when they said they were fine, or okay, because most likely, they weren't. Nico opened his mouth, ready to speak again when she slumped forward suddenly. Immediately, the soldier boy was there, giving her a shoulder to lean on while half supporting her at the sametime. "Holy-" she completed his sentence with the single profanity. In another time, in another scenario, perhaps, Nico would've laughed, surprised and amused that she'd used a swear word. Aero was always composed and uptight that imaging her swearing, let alone hearing it in real life, was surprisingly very funny.

Luckily, Nico didn't have time to laugh as she threw up. His first instinct was to step away, but as he was supporting her from collapsing, he couldn't very well just let her fall onto the ground could he? So with a resigned sigh, the sterling scout watched as bits of vomit splattered on his pristine coat; he'd just groomed it that morning and was disappointed to see his efforts ruined so soon. Nico held no ill feelings towards her, however, and spared just a second mourning over his dirty pelt. He didn't mind, not really, what was more important now was Aeronwyn...and teasing her about it later.

The pale warrior stepped away from him and collapsed onto the ground. He lowered himself next to her, crouching down as he looked at her with an amused smirk and worried eyes. "Feeling better?" Nico asked, resting his nose on the top of her crown for a millisecond, aware that she might not like it and kill him, even in her current state, therefore withdrawing quickly.

She dimly registered him beside her, supporting her, and as she lay on the ground a moment longer, she thought back on it. He didn't have to, could have stepped away and let her empty her stomach away from the splash radius. Nico was...confusing. As she composed herself, he spoke again, and she felt a touch on her crown. Had this been a normal situation, it was very likely that she may have killed him. But this was anything but, and the gesture and words had her realize something. He cared for her. The notions was alien, and odd, and ignited an odd feeling in her. 

This feeling was new, strange, but not entirely unwelcome. Her eyes flicked open as her gaze fell on Nico, wearing an expression that looked like someone simultaneously amused and concerned. "Thank you."

The words tumbled from her maw, soft, sincere, driven partially by this new, odd feeling. She was truly grateful for him, but winced in the slightest when she noted the vomit on his otherwise pristine pelt. But now that she had let it out, the constant nausea had subsided, she realized with a small, weak smile as she drew herself up, reclining a moment longer in her Sphinx-like position before, when she was sure of herself and had stopped panting, sitting up. "Significantly so." she said in response to his question, he words tired but carrying a bit of slight optimism. Her expression fell as she glanced at his pelt, the vomit sprinkled on it. She was delightful, wasn't she? Here was Nico, amazing, and her, vomiting over everything. She cringed, mortified at this, unable to form words as the full weight of what she had done dawned on her, new feeling pushed away for now. She had vomitted. On Nico.

Yes, confusing was a very good word to describe him at the moment, given the fact that even he was rather confused on why he cared for her. After all, he barely knew her, though that was to be remedied soon enough. Nico pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and fixed his thoughts on something more important, such as how she hadn't murdered him for touching her, however brief it had been. He'd like to think it was because she didn't think of him as any other guy, but rather, someone a bit more special, but it was probably the nausea that stopped his potential murder. Nico preferred the idea of that he was unique, but did not dwell on it, knowing that he would most likely be disappointed if he did.

She opened her eyes and thanked him, and Nico noted the sincerity behind her words. The corner of his lip quirked upwards in a roguish smile. "Don't worry about it, Aero," he laughed softly, "You can clean my fur in repayment," but by the tone of his voice and the mischievous gleam in his eyes, it was obvious that he was merely joking. No, he wouldn't subject her to such torture and humiliation; cleaning her own vomit from his pelt. There was a stream nearby; he could wash it off then.

"Good," Nico nodded, smiling in relief. "I'm glad you're better. I don't think I could've dealt with another vomiting session," he teased, a playful note in his voice as he noticed her expression shift to something akin to mortification when she saw her own vomit on his pelt. While he did want to tease her, he didn't want Aeronwyn to feel bad about something that was inevitable. Nico himself had decided to stay by her, so whatever happened, he'd asked for it, it wasn't really her fault. "I'm kidding. No worries, Aero. I don't mind; I'll go clean it off later. I mean, I asked for it didn't I?" he grinned, showing that he truly didn't mind and lifted a shoulder in a nonchalent shrug. "Don't worry about it, okay? Worry about yourself. You need a good rest and even more sleep. Doctor's orders." Nico grinned, hoping to lighten the situation. "Or, paramedic's orders." Whatever, it's practically the same thing.

Her horror was still strong, despite what Nico said. But his joking and light-hearted words eased her shame somewhat, and she cracked a small smile at his words. He expressed his contentment at her somewhat feeling batter, and again she felt something odd. She watched him, face a mixture of lingering horror, shame, and yet a small smile, and considered this oddity. Why did she care for him? Why did he capture her attention as the others did not. "Nico, I am so sorry, I simply-" she broke off, not knowing exactly what so say, but he continued speaking, reassuring her, and for that she was glad.

He didn't even seem to care about the few droplets of vomit that dirtied his cleaned pelt, and for some reason this affected her. This irked her, the way he made her feel odd and the way she had no such explanation for it. "A rest...sounds good." she admitted, a small smile accompanying her words. "I may have...snuck off." Truly, she did not believe Burke would be all too happy should he discover she had left her den in sickness while under strict instruction not to. "They worry far too much." she said, she too stubborn to let sickness stop her had left anyway.

"Don't apologise," he muttered, shaking his head, eyes gleaming with sincerity. "There's nothing to be sorry first. You couldn't help it; I wanted to help. It just happened, it's nobody's fault. Okay?" his tone was firm and he offered no room for arguments, eyes narrowing just a tad bit to emphasize his point. Nico didn't want her feeling sorry for herself, as far as he was concerned, there was genuinely nothing to be sorry about. His main concern right now was for her to get better as soon as possible, his dirty pelt could wait. 

"Snuck off?" he repeated, his lips hitching upwards into a suppressed smile as his eyes, green eyes dancing with mirth. "Why am I not surprised?" he laughed, a low melodic sound that rumbled from his chest and rang through the air. "Yeah, well," Nico bit his lip, still amused, "I'll be worried if they weren't worried," he informed her, "because I'm worried about you. I mean, you wouldn't normally throw up on me, would you?" He cocked his head and smiled a winning smile, "Or is it just your way of showing me your love?" he asked teasingly, winking at her.