Scamall: [looks down at Spéir, in her arms]

Spéir: [tense all over, the blood he'd coughed up staining his shirt and arm, but...]

Spéir: [only has his jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, and ears lowered thoughtfully as he stares at Nova himself]

Spéir: [seemingly completely unaware of Scamall watching him]

Scamall: (voice weak, barely manages to get out) "Spéir."

Spéir: [ears flick backwards, tense, as he quickly looks up at her]

Scamall: [flashes a weak—uncertain—grin]

Scamall: [her ears lowered and brow furrowed, weakly) "are you okay?"

Spéir:

Spéir: [coughs and clears his throat awkwardly, but quickly takes control of the air around him to float out of her arms. Once he’s straightened and regathered himself, places his feet solidly on the ground]

Spéir: [coughs even more as he flexes and stretches his arms and shoulders… all while his back is turned to Scamall. Although she can’t see his face, his eartips are angled diagonally backwards and he seems to be staring at Nova]

Spéir: [finally, slowly comes to a stop in his stretching and coughing]

Spéir: (words just as slow, speaks hesitantly, his voice thick) "… yeah. Just… tried to use too much magic. Ate some ambrosia. Feel much better now."

Spéir: [and hesitantly looks over his shoulder at her, forcing a smile… though his eyebrows are furrowed and concern is clear]

Spéir: (carefully, voice still thick) "are you okay…?"

Scamall:

Scamall: [face flickers—]

Scamall: [face and legs collapse. Falls to her knees, bringing her hands to her face as she breaks out crying]

Spéir: [sighs, an awkward, pained smile coming to his lips]

Spéir: [quickly—but clumsily, still uncoordinated from his overextension—stumbles forward to drop in front of Scamall and—]

Spéir: [wraps his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tight]

Scamall: [just cries against him, her cloudy afro condensing into a waterfall that drips down her head and pours into her dress. Finally processing the panic of everything that just happened—]

Scamall: (sobbing) "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I—"

Spéir: [moves his hand to the back of her head, rubbing it comfortingly and pressing her face into his shoulder]

Spéir: (voice thick and strangled still) "no, it's fine, Scamall. You've always been the nicer one between us. You just wanted to protect someone who helped us. I get it."

Spéir: [hesitates—]

Scamall: [hair slows in its drizzle, but continues pouring down into her dress before itsmagic rejoins her form. All the while, just quietly cries into Spéir, relieved by his understanding—] :'D

Spéir: [—sighs heavily, squeezing her tighter]

Scamall: [metaphorically melts into him, hugging him tighter for a moment in return as she hiccups]

Spéir: (grudgingly) "… plus… it would probably be better to have someone else with us…"

Spéir: [shifts around Scamall as he turns to look over his shoulder, at Nova]

Spéir: [snarling slightly; bitterly) although… I don't think they are a good faerie to fill that spot…

Spéir: [tenses for a moment, but quickly eases up and sighs again]

Spéir: [turns to face her again, lowering his hand from the back of her head to rub her back comfortingly]

Spéir: (softly—though his voice is still rough from coughing—says) "… so don't beat yourself up, okay?"

Scamall: [feebly nods, sobbing and hiccuping as she clings to her brother]

Spéir:

Spéir: [gives her one more squeeze, then, awkwardly) "… we should probably set up camp, yeah?"

Scamall:

Scamall: [hiccups and sniffles again, but hesitantly pulls away from Spéir. Wipes her tears away with the backs of her hands]

Scamall: [finally, opens her eyes to meet Spéir's with hers full of tears, her eartips against her shoulders, and a weak smile on her lips]

Spéir: [watching her worriedly, but carefully. Clearly analyzing her as he most often did when struggling to come to decisions]

Scamall: (weakly) "yeah."

Spéir:

Spéir: [offers her a weak smile]

Spéir: [and, finally, taking a deep breath, glides to his feet with a gust of wind, then offers his hand to help her stand]

Spéir: (gently) "c'mon. I got you."

Scamall: [lets him help her to her feet, only using a bit of wind to aid her]

Siblings: [and, hand-in-hand, hesitantly step over to Nova]

Nova: [still curled in a ball in the same spot as before… naturally, considering they were passed out and Talamhdé had left them to the siblings]

[Or, well… any other kind of fae-creature could've tried going after them, but…]

[Despite Talamhdé's leaving Nova in their hands, Scamall had a feeling it was still watching them. And that, if they failed to protect Nova, it would step in itself]

Nova: [a small, surprisingly human-looking androgynous faerie… on a surface level. They had warm peach skin, an endless amount of plain brown freckles, and long, ridiculously curly vermilion hair that distorted into the surrounding environment as it got further from their scalp. More typical for a faerie—and suggesting they might be a nature faerie—they had long, pointed ears; fawn-like legs; wooden hands and forearms; two long antennae stretching from their forehead; and delicate snow-white, mothlike eyelashes]

Nova: [last but not least: although their eyes were closed, Scamall had gotten plenty of time earlier to be able to picture their vivid purple eyes, surrounded by a golden ring and lilac sclerae]

Nova: [… even for a faerie, they were far from normal]

[And so was the fact that their whole form was semi-translucent and flickering…]

Siblings: [sigh in near-unison as they look down at Nova]

Siblings: [then hesitate, turning to look at each other awkwardly]

Siblings: [and force awkward smiles, their eartips drooping]

Scamall: [awkwardly looks away from Spéir, raising her free hand to bury it in her hair]

Scamall: (voice soft, awkward, and apologetic) "sorry, I…"

Spéir: [at the same time, squeezed her hand in his, eyebrows furrowing in worry as he watches her]

Spéir: (gently) "Scamall…—"

Spéir: [but goes quiet as they accidentally interrupted each other]

Scamall: [hesitantly looks back to him, face pinched in unease]

Scamall: [gently pulling her hand from his, anxiously) "their form is weak… I'm going to give them some ambrosia."

Spéir: [face twisted in surprise for a moment as she pulled her hand from his, but just as quickly went empty again as he listened to her speak]

Spéir: [sighing heavily, looks away and runs a hand back through his hair]

Spéir: (with his sigh, defeatedly) "… alright."

Scamall: [offers a weak smile even though he's turned away from her—in case he looked back—but quickly drops it to kneel down beside Nova. Awkwardly fishes through the many pockets hidden under the ruffles of her dress in search for an ambrosia square, buried deep within the fabric]

Spéir: (at the same time, hesitantly looking back down at her, voice soft) "I'm going to set up camp by myself. Do whatever you need to for them, alright?"

Scamall: [hesitates, caught off-guard]

Scamall: [can't help a small smile, ears drooping and eyebrows furrowing slightly]

Scamall: (gently) "thank you, Spéir. I know this isn't easy for you."

Spéir: [face flickers, jumping from indignant, to embarrassed, and quickly settling on irritable as he purses his lips and turns his face away]

Spéir: [ears low and pointed back in irritation, grumbles) "I never said that."

Scamall: [giggles softly, raising a hand to cover the lower half of her face. At the same time, draws her other hand—and a square of ambrosia—from one of her pockets]

Scamall: [fae-tipped ears lowered back slyly, teases gently) "oh, you didn't have to say." ;)

Spéir: [scoffs—and, though Scamall can't see it, she knows he's rolling his eyes as he turns away]

Spéir: [stepping away, sulkingly) "whatever."

Scamall: [snorts, then gives a longer giggle]

Spéir: [gives a heavy sigh, his back still turned to her. And yet smiling softly]