Cat-less Cat-owner

[Red_Tower]

Bill reached the house, and after a bit of struggling and maneuvering, managed to unlock the door. He walked in, pushing the door closed gently with his back, before finally setting Kano down on her bed. Failing to notice a blanket around, he took his coat off and cover her with it. Bill went back to the door and locked it, putting the key back on the desk where he found it. And then he sat, watching over her and the house, his mind racing, thinking about friends long-gone.

[Deleted]

It was a while before Kano woke up, a bit for her to realize she was awake, and now she was trying to figure out if she wanted to do anything about it. For starters she was a bit hot, and this did not feel like dead moss. That wasn't helpful really as it took her a bit to figure out where she was. The clockmaker decided that now was an okay time to open her eyes. 'I'm back at the house..... I don't think that's where I'm supposed to be.'

Blinking to get them to focus better the girl found that Bill's coat was on her adding to the heat she felt. Removing it did nothing aside from make her cold, pulling it back over herself her golden eyes searched for a reason not to get up. Seeing no reason to remain still she got up... And promptly fell. "I'm starting to wonder if today is worth this..." It was mumbled to the floor that she found to be pleasantly cool.

[Red_Tower]

Bill glanced over his shoulder from the desk when he heard the girl shift and mutter something. He didn't really know if she was awake or not, but spoke up anyways. "I think you're sick. At the very least, it seems like you have a fever. I'll help you, if you want..." The mage told her, returning to looking at the things on the desktop. He had considered giving the shifter medicine and such while she was asleep, but she needed rest, and he felt better asking first. If he felt like he had to, he'd act anyways, but he gave Kano the chance to accept first, or try and get better on her own.

[Deleted]

'Why didn't I think of that?' "Yes please...." The floor was cold now and from her spot on it there was no way to fix it without getting up. Getting up was something that she wanted to do but couldn't really see as a possibility at the moment. Kano also doubted Bill had even heard her respond given how quiet she had sounded to herself. Normally she would stop somewhere and sleep something like this off no problem, but the clockmaker was now uncertain how well she had shaken the group and still hadn't figured out why she was here. The girl didn't recall telling him where she was going or seeing him either.

[Red_Tower]

It would seem he hear her, because nearly the instant she responded Bill was standing up, digging through his bag. He pulled a couple of glass vials out of his satchel, putting them down beside her. "Once you drink these you can lay back and rest, and I can continue working without you needing to do anything. Tilt your head back" He told her, taking the tops off of the two bottles he had set aside.

[Deleted]

Seeing as she wasn't even sitting Kano had to do her best to respond with appropriate timing, lifting herself up enough to do as requested. Golden eyes did their best to remain focused on the person now before them as she leaned against the bed for support. 'He.. He is very fast when he wants to be.....' The heat she was feeling had been replaced by cold and right now dealing with anything took a lot, let alone figuring out how he had heard her at all.

[Red_Tower]

Gently, Bill tipped one of the vials of medicine into her mouth, knowing how bad it tasted, and giving her a moment to swallow before giving her the second bottle, which didn't taste much better. After that he took his other coat out of the leather satchel and balled it up as pillow for her. He pulled a rag out of the bag and wet it, placing it on her head. "Now try and rest, and I'll see what else I can do." The mage told her, trying not to go to quickly, but trying to help her as quickly as he could. She wasn't in a dire condition, but without help, she would take a lot longer to heal. "Why do you let yourself get this way?" He muttered to himself.

[Deleted]

Kano didn't choke or gag or even cringe when she swallowed simply glad he wasn't shoving it down her throat. Laying down and doing her best to ignore the way temperature shifted suddenly for her the clockmaker heard his question. Huff. ".........It used to happen more often. I guess it's because I don't let myself stop." She left out the fact that the people at the orphanage would force medicine down her throat and ignore her and that when the Old Man wasn't paying attention she would simply not sleep or sneak out to study while it was snowing as well as how when traveling on the occasion it got this far she simply let herself crash and waited it out somewhere. Never before had anyone responded like Bill was, the orphanage was cruel, the streets even worse, the Old Man would reprimand her then try to seem angry the entire time, and on her own she barely bothered to do anything.

'Habit.'

[Red_Tower]

"Ha, so you need me to slow you down a little." Bill said with a half-grin, focused on treating her. He put a lotion on her neck which would help her temperature stabilize a bit. He examined all of the exposed skin on her for bruising, rubbing a thick cream onto them. It was already well past noon at this point, so he pulled some dried meat out of his bag in case she wanted any. It was rare for him to go through this much effort to take care of someone. Normally he would just sell someone a bottle and be done with it. But Kano was a friend, and Bill looked out for his friends. "Normally. Shut up, I've done the best I can." He fought himself in his mind.

This could take a bit.

[Deleted]

"Maybe, I didn't have you to slow me down before I knew you and I came out of that mostly okay." Her pause had been a bit to long again, it was frustrating. This entire day was frustrating. Not being hungry or thirsty were the main problems Kano faced when ill, simply because she didn't want to eat or drink however necessary it may be. Bill had reminded her of a lot of things when she first saw him, her flippant comment that he hadn't heard at the time testament to that. Now she knew him and he was just Bill, there was no comparison that she bothered to hold him to. 'So...... Huh, I've never really quite been in this situation. Nothing close either....... I'm done. With. Today.'

[Red_Tower]

"All things come to an end at some point, right? People can only tempt death so many times." Bill muttered, at first he thought to Kano, though he wasn't entirely sure. All he knew for sure in the moment was that they were both safe, and that he needed to take care of her. "How far would you go, if a friend was in danger, or going to die?" It took him a moment to realize what his thought just implied, sighing. "I wouldn't do that, not for most at least." After a second, he realized that he had actually muttered the last bit. Bill set about weaving a protective spell around his companion.

[Deleted]

'And when it's your job to be doing so?' ".....That's the funny thing about clocks, you can take them apart smash them, melt them down, set them on fire, but you can still make it into a working clock again." Kano hardly noticed Bill mumbling, to busy falling back asleep to really notice much of anything. Had he been a bit louder or something startling come to pass there would have been no problem. This was true for a lot of things with the clockmaker, it could always have happened differently and the simulator that was her mind provided her with many absurd and viable options.

[Red_Tower]

"Gods how I wish that were the same for people..." Bill murmured in reply, finishing his spell. At the very least it would protect her from contracting anything else, and hopefully help her immune system. He wasn't sure what was from bad habits on the run, and what was from her breaking illusions.

[Deleted]

((That took way longer than expected..))

Waking at sometime in the evening Kano found it to be darker in the already dark room, huffing a bit and deciding not to test standing up again she found the house had warmed more after the day in the sun. Blinking a bit and looking around she did test sitting up instead, it worked shakily. Swiping at her bangs that barely passed her brow the clockmaker searched for the book she had been flipping through the previous evening.

[Red_Tower]

Bill was sitting at the desk again, the chemistry equipment that had been sitting on the shelf was now in full use by the alchemist. He had all sorts of things boiling, foaming, or steaming, and he was in the middle of stirring something with one hand and flipping through a book with the other. He was murmuring something unintelligible under his breath about measurements and ingredients, clearly wrapped up in his work. Bill glanced to the side as Kano sat up, but pretended not to notice. She seemed to be doing a fair deal better now, but she was still a little weak, and would need more time before doing any serious activity. "If she got like this on a regular basis before, I can hardly believe she's alive."