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sickly-kari · 2 years ago

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Novemetober Rescheduled - Day 14: Can't Keep Anything Down @monthofsick, Prompt-List

Thinking of Their Daughter Summary: Some friendly family time between two parents and their sick daughter (Ao3-Link)

INCLUDES: vomiting, child sickie, original characters, comfy family time,

He found his wife and daughter in the living room in an unusual constellation. Their little girl was snuggled into the furthest corner of the couch, propped up on a big pillow. Only her red-nosed face poked out of the blankets, and, occasionally, a small hand would appear out of a fold to reach for the bowl of tangerine slices on the low table, that her mom was peeling for her.

She was sitting at a slight distance to her, carefully picking away the pith from another fruit while watching over the child, who likely did not want to cuddle while feeling sickly. A book was lying turned over on the table, they must have been reading a story.

“How have you been faring.” Ha sat down with them, snacking one of the more disformed tangerine slices that the girl had ignored.

“Well enough, we're just letting the evening go by slowly.” She gave him a welcoming smile and pushed her hair back, allowing him to give her a peck on the cheek. “I haven't put the soup into the fridge yet, you can have some as well.”

“Good idea.” He crouched down by the cupboard and turned on some soft music, before leaving for the kitchen.

It was pretty large pot, considering she must have prepared the meal on short notice. Placing his portion in a bowl into the microwave, he also poured the rest into a small container so that he could already put the pot and lid into the dishwasher. He drank some water and waited for the timer to finish, when he heard some coughing from the living room.

A quick glance through the door showed him his little girl bent over one of the rounded, plastic drawers from their bedroom, strings of spit hanging from her face until a larger gush of watery vomit poured into the container. The pained expression on her face made his own stomach twist in sympathy.

“Shh, shh, it's alright”, his wife was holding the tub under her chin and wiping the tears from her rosy cheeks. It seemed she already had a small stash of tissues prepared, so he only brought over a glass of water for each of them.

The little child clumsily spat out more saliva to get the string hanging from her lips to finally let go, but a quick wipe from her mom helped with that.

“I'll clean that out”, he offered to take the drawer from her hands, and she nodded while easing their daughter back into the pillow.

When he returned from the bathroom with the clean drawer, the microwave was also done and his meal had even cooled down to a pleasant temperature already. One in each hand he returned to the living room and sat down next to the two angels.

His daughter had closed her eyes while suckling on another fruit - it probably helped to get rid of the taste - while his love just returned from throwing out some of the tissues.

“I saw some weird dark stuff in the tub? Do you think she ate anything bad?” It did not seem to be blood but looked concerningly out of place among the soft yellow pulp.

“It's chocolate. Valentine's after all”, she calmed him down.

“They're already exchanging chocolate in second grade?” That was just confusing, he thought while sitting down and stirring his soup. "But I don't think there is anything wrong with chocolate while sick."

She relaxed her shoulders with a coy smile. “No, I got some from [redacted], and she spotted it when I came back. She complained about the taste but somehow still ate the entire bar.” A glance over at the sick bundle in the corner showed that the girl seemed to be resting fine for now. "She had been crying and vomiting so much today. Almost everything she eats comes back up, so I was just glad she wanted to snack on something."

“Yeah, better than nothing. And that means that the competition has already been defeated by default.” He asked her to wait a moment and hurried to grab the little package from his coat. “Here, for you”, he slid back onto the couch next to her with a grin, "for my dear valentine."

With a blush on her face, she wrapped her hands around his and slowly removed his fingers from the present with the red bow. “Thank you.”

“I'm sorry that we couldn't go-” They had made plans for the evening, which had been cancelled, because their daughter got sick; he wanted to apologize for it.

But she put a finger on his lips. “Shh. Don't want her to feel guilty about anything”, she whispered with a smile. They looked at each other for a moment and silently reached an agreement that spending the evening looking after each other easily beat anything else. They allowed themselves one more kiss.

It only lasted until their little one weakly burped up some air. When they turned their heads, they saw her hastily reaching for the tub and swiftly moved over to help her out.

#writing #emeto #sickfic #fluff #valentines day #novemetober rescheduled #emeto tw #sickfic prompts #comfy family stuff #v.v

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sickly-kari · 2 years ago

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not writing for prompt 13, instead I'm thinking about a parent thinking of their sick child while at work

trusting that the person taking care of them does a good job and looking forward to bring a little present home to cheer them up, maybe occasionally talking over the phone on a break because the little one missed them or was feeling particularly lonely

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sickly-kari · 2 years ago

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Novemetober 2023 - Day 12: Group Sickfic

@monthofsick, Prompt-List

Summary: Lucy and her friends get sick during a sleepover, probably ate something bad (Ao3-Link)

INCLUDES: very detailed descriptions of vomiting, child sickie, original characters,

“Lucy, Elena, Chiara! Time for dinner”, her friend's mom called from downstairs.

Lucy was not able to finish her plate and pushed the remaining sticks of broccoli around on her plate, even though she did not mind the vegetable usually. They were soon allowed to get up and were told that it was okay to stay up for longer tonight, but they should still brush their teeth.

Without any intention to follow the instruction right away, she followed her friends and trodded back to Chiara's room - they were staying the night at her house - and flopped back onto the pillows around the board game they had been playing, but somehow neither of them really felt like picking the pieces up again. A few yawns made themselves heard, and their young host hesitantly asked about actually getting ready for bed. Lucy nodded readily, her body felt heavy and tired - the other girl agreed as well.

It was a little crowded in the bathroom with the three of them quietly brushing their teeth. When she crouched down to slip into her pajamas, her head suddenly felt dizzy. “Kiki...?”

Chiara rinsed her mouth and emptied the glass of water back into the sink before turning her head. “Hm?"

“I feel kind of... bad", she admitted with one hand on the radiator to steady herself, but she liked the way the heat flowed into her hand as well.

The other two girls looked at her with question marks on their faces. “Are you sick?”, Elena worried. “I’ll tell mom", Chiara suggested.

“Noo... If my mom finds out, I'll have to go home.” Tears welled up in her eyes, while she complained. “I wanna finish the game tomorrow.”

“Me too. Did you bring your sheepie?” Before she could respond to Elena's thoughtful question, the other, more energetic girl had already gone running to get it from her backpack. The large plushie was pushed into Lucy arms and her tears slowly receded as she calmed down.

She went straight to bed and distantly followed how the other two got another blanket and a couple more pillows from somewhere else in the house. The large bed in Chiara's room had enough space for the three of them to snuggle in together and whisper briefly about the comic they had read earlier. They giggled briefly, when one accidentally kicked the other while turning around, but the room quickly turned quiet once they were all tucked in.

Lucy had been mindlessly staring into the darkness for a while when she realized that she must have woken up. She winced, suddenly feeling hot all over. Her small fingers gripped into sheepie's wool and held it tightly, while she curled up on her side on reflex. Having the plushie nearby helped her not to be afraid all alone in the dark room, there was no way she would have lost it in her sleep.

Still, with every tug on her stomach she could not help but sob quietly every once in a while. A stabbing pain slowly built up within her, it frightened her more than the darkness could. She should tell a grown-up, she thought - she knew which of the rooms Chiara's parents slept in, but she worried about whether she was allowed to walk through the house without permission. A weird, wet, grating sound from inside of her made the pain move, she twitched, sweat broke out across her skin. It was scary, what should she-

“Lucy? Are you awake?” Elena's suddenly voice came from her right. She spoke hesitantly, but Lucy was just glad to have someone with her. The mattress shifted underneath her as her friend sat up. “I felt you move. Are you... alright?”

“Mhrrh”, she whimpered, “I feel bad.”

“Oh”, silence briefly filled the room. “I think I'm sick too.”

Lucy did not get how she could say that so calmly, when it felt like the bad feeling inside of her had taken on a life of its own. Pressing sheepie against her tummy did not help, a shudder crawled up her back when she heard it gurgle even through all the cloth.

The back of her mouth was numb, each slow-moving breath seemed to fill her airways for several seconds like steam from a cup of tea - and it even tasted a little like one. When she remembered that she had to answer, the other girl had already summoned a magic spark on her palm. Its light softly spread through their corner of the room.

“...you're white like a ghost!”, she sounded genuinely scared for a moment. Lucy heard her move, maybe she sat up. “Ki-... Kiki, wake up.” The otherwise so mindful girl seemed to be in a hurry. Lucy had slept in the middle and could somewhat feel how she reached across her to shake Chiara. “Maybe, can you call your mom? Come, wake up.”

She did not like the way the blanket and the sweaty shirt rubbed across her skin - it made her feel fragile and wet. Something turned inside of her, she instinctively stretched her head backward when a sharp burp travelled up her throat. She gulped, it came out like a quiet, croaky hiccup but made every hair on her skin stand up.

“Lucy?” There was a hand on her shoulder. She managed to open her eyes, Elena was holding onto her. “Lucy! Let's- let's go get them ourselves.”

Wedging an arm underneath herself, she got up on her knees with her help. Compared to the usual silence during bedtime, every ruffling of the blanket was loud and unnerving and every turn of her stomach, wet and painful, seemed to deepen the frown on Elena's face next to her.

“But I feel really... Elly, please... I'm scared...” She tried to stand up, but her entire body was strained stiff. Her head seemed to spin, her mouth hung open, “H-help”, she stuttered, before suddenly feeling a pressure rush up through her chest to her head. Her breath shook. Her eyes dropped from Elena down towards the mattress.

That weird taste returned to flood her mouth and nose. She tried to lift her head, but it reflexively bent down again when a sour mass of... something... forcefully bubbled up over her tongue. She had no choice but to abruptly let it pour out where she cowered. She briefly thought that Chiara would be angry with her, but the thought was quickly replaced by tears and shivers.

She coughed and cried and spewed out another wave of vomit immediately after. The beige mix of liquid and solid splattered noisily onto the previous puddle and made her shudder when she felt it soak into pajama pants at her knees. The fuzzy fabric quickly felt sticky, and each terrified movement made it spread a little further.

Whether she wanted to or not, she recognized little bits and pieces from their dinner in the mushy mess. No matter how mushy they looked once they were on the bedsheet in front of her, they hurt like spiky pebbles while travelling up through her. Dull, slimy, pink-brown chunks of sausage, which she had not chewed well, slid around next to the more angular carrot chippings, whose bright orange was uncomfortably easy to spot in the blend of colors. She almost wished her friend had not created the light hovering next to them; the unwelcome sight made her head spin.

“Lu, what is-”, Elena hiccupped as well, her hand on her shoulder tightening slightly. She looked shocked, head muddled just as much as Lucy's, trying to say something, covering her mouth with one hand. She could briefly be heard crying, not moving from her side, until she doubled over and threw up as well.

They had eaten the same, but weirdly enough the stream splashing onto the fabric had a lighter color. The sight did not help Lucy's stomach at all. She shuddered and retched, each time sending another dribble of bubbly liquid across her tongue, which she could only spit out with clenched jaws. It did not make much of a difference for her anymore, she felt sore and sticky all over. Half her pajamas were covered in stains, and she felt the slimy liquid soak against her legs.

They both cried, Elena trying to wrap the blanket around them, Lucy's hands clinging to her sheep plushie. It had surely gotten dirty at some point, but she did not have the will to check until the exhaustion allowed her to ignore the pain and dirt and doze off.

Although Chiara tossed and turned in her sleep, while her body was tormenting her, she slept through most of the night. The sun still had not risen yet, when she awoke with a gasp hot and trembling. She only knew that she had to get to the toilet quickly.

She pushed herself, her hand slid over something wet. Confused, she paused for a moment and noticed that her entire back felt wet and cold - and smelly. She turned around. A little magic light remained hovering beside the bed, flickering with its last rays, but what it made her see was terrifying.

Her stomach dropped, she slid out of the bed and hobbled out of her room, clutching her stomach and yelling for her parents through the searing pain in her middle. She made it to their room, and her dad barely managed to get a good look at her before hurriedly emptying a drawer and holding it under her chin. It was promptly filled with a layer of sick. He stroked her back, while more and more came out. Hands clenched into fists, she sobbed and tried to talk between heaves about how sick she felt and how he needed to help her friends - please.

#emeto #sickfic #sickfic prompts #emeto tw #novemetober rescheduled #u.u

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sickly-kari · 2 years ago

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Novemetober 2023 - Day 11: Totally drained/exhausted

@monthofsick, Prompt-List

Summary: Experiencing chills in first person

INCLUDES: extensive chills, inability to move, mild vomiting and fainting towards end,

I sneezed and only moved my head slowly, when I searched for the chair, which I had left my clothes on since yesterday. It was close to my desk, but I did not quite feel like standing up yet. I sat on the side of my bed for a while longer, gathering myself and leisurely letting my eyes glide over my bedroom. The morning sun painted the outline of the window against the wall opposite to me. It stood a little different from usual, I had woken up earlier.

The room felt colder than usual. I frowned and pulled my arms around myself, beginning to shiver. My body felt colder than usual too, from my arms to my chest, a shiver ran over my shoulders. My skin felt thin, my head weirdly hollow. I tried not to make any sudden movements while reaching for the blanket and pulling it towards myself. It was kind of heavy, and it ended up being easier to pick my legs up from the floor and roll back onto the mattress.

My breath quivered, shaking with each little shudder of my chest. I turned on my side, pulled my knees towards me, and tried to slide a little deeper underneath the blanket, until it was up to my nose. It worked, slowly I felt a little warmer.

I laid like that for a while, occasionally opening my eyes and wondering if anything had changed. I tucked the blanket more tightly around myself, ensuring not even my toes would be caught by a stray wind. I hoped I could go back to sleep and let my body handle itself, so I could wake up all better. But I did not feel tired at all. Just weak.

Slowly breathing in and out, even sitting up again seemed like too much of a hurdle. I was thirsty, I realized and remembered that I would likely get worse if I did not drink anything. The thought passed, there was nothing I could do about it. I licked my lips and tried to listen for steps, but it did not seem like anybody was getting close to my room.

As soon as I lifted myself up from the mattress again, cold air immediately washed over that side of my body. I only sat for a few seconds until my entire body was shivering, hands shaking in place, muscles in my legs contracting and relaxing, shallow breaths over quivering lips. I raised my head, trying to calm my chest, and then tried to shout. My voice felt brittle, like twenty individual fragments rather than one proper word. I called for [redacted], who should be around, then simply for help, even though that was not something I wanted to do lightly. Afterwards, I practically let myself fall back into the warm spot where I had been resting.

A while later, I realized that no one had heard me. Neither my shouting nor the sneezing that kept shaking my entire body. I was sure it was loud enough, even if it sounded hoarse. But without a response I was left shuddering under the blanket and dug my head back into the pillow wiping away some snot from my nose with it.

I must have managed to simply wait for an hour or more, not asleep but not thinking of much either, until the need to visit the bathroom became noticeable. I tried to ignore the subtle tug and hoped I would get better shortly; then I could go. I almost felt warm again, so maybe I would try to get up again in a while.

The shape of sunlight on the wall had travelled far. Every warm breath that I sent under the side of the blanket felt comfortable. Wiggling around slightly, I could move my feet, legs, and arms all fine. I went over the trip to the bathroom in my mind, memorized which doors I had to open. I could also get something to drink, while I was there. I waited for a while longer, somehow hoping that I would simply get better or that someone would notice. Then I sat up.

Exhaustion or something of the kind swept over me, sending alarming stings all over me. I took long deep breaths, my lungs filled themselves slowly but reliably with the frigid air before exhaling it again. I was able to keep myself steady, felt each cell on my arms and legs prickle as they withstood the change in temperature. I was doing well, my palms on my knees felt warm even. I would only briefly close my eyes to rest.

The unsteady pull of gravity circled around me like a pendulum, I could not figure it out, until I blinked and remembered what I was doing. After a couple confused turns of my head to look at the room, I found the door. I let some drool that had gathered in my mouth drip onto the blanket. It would be too heavy, so I left it behind, pressed one hand to my chest to control my breathing, then pushed myself up with the other.

I must have stumbled forward in a daze, until I grabbed onto the door handle. My eyes fluttered open, as I pulled on it with stiff fingers. Something brushed against my right shoulder, the doorframe bent, I tried to hold onto it, but my trembling hand missed it. The corridor in front of me was twisting itself around a corner, the floor was moving and suddenly coming upwards towards. Then, my head and shoulder suddenly hurt. I felt the rough surface of the carpet grate against my skin.

The cold was piercing into me, deep enough to make my toes curl. My shoulders and torso were shaking like I was riding an old train. I wanted to raise one hand to cover my eyes from the light, but it felt so heavy that I barely managed to lift it from the floor. My breath got stuck, I sneezed hard and was left with even less strength, gasping for air on the floor.

My nose itched, a tense pressure had filled my head, I sneezed again and could not breathe afterwards. Weirdly enough it felt hot in my throat, I had not thought it possible that there was a warm spot on my body left. My eyes were barely open anymore. Alarm bells were ringing in my mind, but the cold had made them sound dull and far away.

I bent myself, another sneeze robbed me of any energy that I had left. My head spun; I could remotely feel a weird taste on my tongue. Several jerks went through my body, my chest felt sore and pulsated hot and cold interchangeably. Breathing quickly, I let my mouth hang open, my lips felt wet despite how chapped they were. The last thing I felt before passing out was a moist warmth creeping over my chin and cheek. It was comforting, up until the chill made my mind go blank.

#sickfic #sickfic prompts #emeto #novemetober rescheduled #fainting

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sickly-kari · 2 years ago

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Novemetober 2023 - Day 10: Ill with an Audience

@monthofsick, Prompt-List | Ao3-Post

Summary: Even though her mom tries to hide why they urgently need Lucy's help, she catches on and stresses herself until she is sick

INCLUDES: child sickie, vomiting, panic attack(?), magic,

---

The three children were flipping through the science-experiments book that Lucy had gotten on her birthday with the promise to make the ones she picked out. The large pages were littered with drawings of birds giving comments and quick explanations about each apparatus and material, so most of their time was usually spent giggling about which animal looked the silliest, but today the mood was dry.

Over the weeks, the room with the orange curtains and low tables had become their classroom as well as playroom for the days on which their parents were still busy with work a couple of floors above them, and today seemed to be particularly busy. They could hear people running through the corridors of the old building and caught a couple concerned exchanges when people passed by in front of their room, but were curtly hushed back inside each time they asked about it. When Lucy finally felt her mom coming onto the ground floor, she already jumped up and waited for her by the door. "Mama!", she eagerly ran up to her as soon as she was in sight.

"Little light, I hope you're not too tired?", Thalia's expression softened, when she scooped the little girl up and settled her on her hip. "It's so good to see you. But, I'm sorry, we cannot go home just yet."

The girl snuggled close to the familiar warmth, mumbling into her shoulder. "That'sh fine. If I can stay with you?"

"I actually came, because Mr. Powell has another exam for you. But I will be there too." Her moms voice was unsteady, obviously aware the news would not be making her any friends, but she still made it sound like a done decision.

And Lucy did not like it. She immediately raised her face with a confused frown. "But school's already over! She already made us take a test in English today", she complained vigorously, shaking her head all the while. "I'm tired, that's mean. What if I fail?"

"It was my idea, so if you get mad at anybody, it should be me", she tried to chuckle, while gently pushing aside the lock of hair that had fallen over her daughter's face. "And you won't fail. Let me show it to you first. Alright?"

She stubbornly sat in silence, while her mom walked back down the corridor with her in her arms. Her eyes quietly followed the walls and people that they passed by. Everybody in the research building had been on edge for the last few days. They were not sharing the news about the last expedition publicly anymore - especially not to the children - but after several days, being told that there is simply nothing important to report did not even convince the youngest among them. Even now her mom appeared more worried about something else, than about telling her she would have to take another class. "Sure…", she acquiesced with a quiet grumble and let her head sink back onto Thalia's shoulder to close her eyes for the rest of the way.

If this was what it took to stick with her mom for the day, she would at least try to endure the tense atmosphere around all the researchers.

---

"Lucy? Shh, open your eyes. We're there." Thalia's hand stroking across her hair made her open her eyes. "Did you get some rest?"

She shook her head, a heavy lump had formed in her chest. The entire idea of a sudden exam seemed increasingly suspicious the more she thought about it. It was odd, that they only called her alone in. It was odd, that they went somewhere else to take it. It was odd, that they interrupted their work for it despite whatever was already going on.

Her skin felt cold ever since they had stepped through the large stone arc separating the annex from the central gallery. She gulped, when her mom set her down and opened the door to her lab.

There were a couple of other people inside, most of which quickly stepped aside, but Lucy's eyes were immediately drawn to the large cloth spread out on the floor. The red fabric was covered in the special clay and sand mixture that she had even created herself a couple times in geology class, but they had usually only made small handheld spells with them. For a moment, she felt excited to be tasked with drawing on such a large canvas.

---

"Pleasure to see you, Lucy", Bhastat Powell stood up from the side of the large table on which he had been preparing materials. "Thalia has been talking about your advances in Legeistry, and I would like you to prove your efforts." He crouched down to meet her eye-to-eye and held one of the calcite wands out to her, hoping she would not be able to see past his façade of professionalism. "You can use as many as you like, but you have to draw us something specific."

While Lucy timidly weighed the wand in her hand, he shared a quick glance with the woman standing behind her. The idea of having to rely on the small child did not sit well with either of them. Her mother looked pale ever since their earlier discussion, and it had rubbed off on the daughter.

"Do you remember the path with the blue ivy leaves that we travelled on four weeks ago?" They had visited that place of power with the other students, allowing the children and accompanying adults to get a grasp of its magic. For most people it was erased from their memories as soon as they stepped back into reality, but it was still worth the attempt. And even though he himself did not remember much more than the fact that they went there, the girl nodded immediately.

"Please change her into the lab clothes", he addressed Thalia with a hopeful glimmer at the back of his mind.

---

Taking off her socks, she stepped onto the hardened clay a couple minutes later. It was like dipping into the soft waves at the shoreline, the energy that the canvas had been infused with softly pulsed over her toes. She wiggled them up and down, before gripping the wand in her hand with determination and walking into the center of the room. She had several more in the big pocket of her cloak.

---

Thalia sat on one of the tables. Her unease was more apparent now that she did not have to face her daughter, who was busying herself at the center of the large magic circle, directly. In an innocent way, she actually seemed happy to get a try at drawing one of the spatial glyphs. But while most of the smaller glyphs were being prepared in nearby rooms, this one could be not be taken care of by anyone else. Bhastat and a handful of others remained in the lab, waiting for the moment the girl finished her work to jump in and start on the outer structure of the recall spell.

"We have more than enough time", the teacher and leader sat down next to her, whispering not to distract Lucy. "I spoke with Carter again. They're burning through their remaining spiritcylinders quickly, but no one will die for another four hours." The possibility that the expedition team would be met with further accidents remained unsaid, much like the wounds and health issues that would be incurred the more time passed before they managed to rescue them.

"Just do not to let my little one find out." She whispered through clenched teeth. "I'm sure she'll do it, but she should not find out any time soon that those lives depended on her. No matter the outcome."

---

The chalk in the wands crumbled easily as she let her mana flow into it. Each line she drew blurred slightly and sunk from the air into the clay. The colors spread and mixed while she used up several sticks, recalling the lines and veins of the plants she had seen on that day. They formed a pattern, each stroke made it more recognizable, but each stroke also found more resistance before she managed to bind it into the canvas.

She glanced at the others; mom had told her they just wanted to watch and that she should ignore them. But the expressions on their faces were way to dull for them to be driven by curiosity or rigor. The initial enthusiasm left her slowly. This 'exam' seemed really important to everyone. Her mom and teacher would not be angry with her, if she messed up… but maybe something bad would still happen. The possibility slowly tied her stomach into a knot.

---

"She's sweating." Again, Bhastat was the first to say something after the long silence of watching her work.

Thalia had noticed it as well. "I know", she muttered. Her daughter's movements had gotten hastier and stiffer. At first she had swiftly crawled up and down the canvas to paint wherever she liked, but now she was sitting in each place for longer, trying to perfect it before moving on. And when she did, she was shivering, stealing glances around the room with troubled eyes.

She should try to calm her down, encourage her, but she did not know if she could find the tone. Instead, she merely watched her extend the glyph by several more lines. As far as she could tell it still looked like she was making good progress, but as someone without the exact knowledge it was impossible to tell how much time she would need.

---

Her head felt full with the meaning of the far-spanning roots and the connections between spaces, and her thoughts swirl around it anxiously. The room felt warmer than when she first sat down. She stretched, trying to shake off the feeling of being sucked into the clay suffused with magic.

She wondered if it would be alright to stand up and walk around briefly, but did not entertain the thought for long. She really could only guess. Thinking of all the bad things that might happen if she did not finish soon enough made her legs feel like twigs, too weak to even carry her weight. Briefly closing her eyes, she breathed deeply in and gathered her mana.

---

The sudden coughs of the little girl cut sharply through the silence in the lab. The sound of her steadily drawing the wand across the surface had stopped. Sweat pouring over her forehead, she suddenly seemed even paler. "Mama…", she could be heard whimpering in a broken voice.

Everybody's concern took an immediate rise, eyes turned from her to the two people in charge. Bhastat leans towards Thalia and whispers, "Even with the additional circle that we'll add later, having another person inside won't damage anything, right?" His low voice conveyed his mixed feelings.

"It'll slow her down." She mutters with hands clenched into fist, barely keeping herself from rushing into the circle. "Thank you… I'll go." She was on her feet without delay, emptying her pockets of all the objects that would interfere with the magic.

The next series of coughs ended in a retch, sounding wet and painful, emotionally tearing the mother apart from the inside.

Before she can throw caution to the wind, Bhastat touches her shoulder. It makes her pause just long enough to ground herself. A second later, she has properly checked herself through and steps onto the clay.

---

She could feel herself shake, unable to decide where to draw next. When pulling more mana from her center to her fingers, she instead felt her stomach hitch. She was just trying to focus on the glyph, but her mind was swimming in a see of lines, blurring her memory and her vision.

Placing both hands on the floor to keep herself from collapsing, she felt helpless despite almost being finished. Hot tears crawled over her cheeks, before she even noticed she was crying. She could taste something bitter in the back of her mouth, but did not manage to swallow it again. It slowly slid over her tongue. She heard a splat, her fingers suddenly felt warm and wet.

---

"Shh, shh, I'm here, little light." Thalia let herself down onto her knees right behind the child and slowly wrapped her arms around her to reaffirm her. She could feel the shaking of her shoulders and hugged her tightly to keep her steady. "I'm with you. You always show me the things you draw, I know you can do it today too."

She softly wiped away the tears off her face and grimaced when she saw the glob of vomit drip onto the canvas, covering up some of the lines her daughter had painstakingly carved into the ground. She felt her buckle again, but kept brushing her hair and humming quietly, while she spat several thick streams across the floor.

---

One assistant researcher had grabbed a dish and was about to call for Thalia's attention to slide it over to her, when Bhastat grabbed his arms.

"No synthetic polymers- no plastic inside the circle, try to find a metal bowl or something!", he hissed, reminding his colleague of the necessary precautions.

---

Her hands, mouth, face, everything felt sticky and hot, but a comfortable wind grazed her skin every so often. A finger on her cheek freeing her sight, an arm around her waist holding her up. "Mama?"

"Hmm?" She heard a soft hum in response and the tenseness in her chest softened.

"Did-… Did I ruin it…?", she chocked out. The sight in front of her was terrifying, puddles and splashes of brown and orange across the previously smooth surface.

"Not at all. Can you tell me why?", her mom's voice encouraged her.

"Th-the inner mana-in… -in-infused lines still g-glow independently of the final appearance?" She gulped, trying to keep saliva from gathering in her mouth. "I can still finish it? Right." She lifted one hand to grab one of the wands and shuddered when the slimy film across her fingers let it slide around slightly.

---

"Lucy, where does that line there continue? You remember drawing it in your dreams, right?" Thalia gently guided her daughter with her words, helped her lift her arms when she seemed tired, and cleaned her face when her hair hung in front of her eyes.

---

Flowing mana into the wand still allowed her to draw, she remembered the most recent line that she had drawn and continued from there. Her ears were buzzing, but she could always remember another piece of the glyph to complete. Her skin crawled when she pushed some of her stomach contents aside to see the carvings better, but she kept at it.

She finished one section, realized how much more she still had to do, and thought that everybody was waiting on her. Promptly, bile gathered in her mouth. Dropping the wand, she cupped her hands under her chin and retched and heaved until the makeshift receptacle overflowed. Droplets noisily fell onto the wet surface. She cried, thinking for a moment that she was losing progress.

"You almost have it, Lucy."

She sobbed and sniffled loudly but nodded. Without looking too closely, she emptied her hands somewhere to the side and wiped them off on her cloak. She clenched her fingers around the wand and continued. Even through the tears she somehow managed to make out where the spell was still lacking. Even though her throat hurt and she could barely rasp out a response to her mama, she gasped for air and drew the last few lines.

---

Neither Thalia nor Bhastat were familiar with that spatial rune, yet they still recognized it immediately when it was completed. The mother plucked the wand from her daughter's hand and carefully lifted her up from the ground. "You've done so well." As much as she feared for the lives of the expedition team and wanted to help complete the project, the frail, tired girl in her arms deserved her attention most right now. She had more than earned that much.

Stepping across the vomit and clay out of the circle, she sat down on a nearby bench to let her daughter rest and get something to drink for her. Telling her comforting words whenever she threw up again and steadily cleaning her up until she calmed down.

Meanwhile, Bhastat already coordinated the other workers to step over and start adding their assigned runes to the circle to furnish the primitive glyph and make it functional and precise for their purposes. Work went quickly and within minutes the spell buzzed to life. But neither Thalia nor Lucy paid them any attention while they shepherded the members of the expedition team back into civilization.

---

While people appeared in the room and left, the sick girl rested on her mother's lap. She clung to her tightly, determined not to let her go for the rest of the day. Her trembling slowly died down, she caught a couple strings of spit in her shirt, and she cried loudly, not caring about how many people passed by behind her, as long as her mama told she did well.

#emeto #novemetober rescheduled #sickfic prompts

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