new day new problems

[demonicbookworm]

Who: Ruca Milda and you
Where: District 1 and later building #1
When: starting in the afternoon
Summary: Ruca is feeling cold. Somebody help him
Warnings: nothing

Ruca could be seen returning to the apartment building with a few books in his hands. He was glancing at them every once in a while with a smile on his face. The fact that he could read as much as he wanted was definitely a good thing about this entire situation. One of a very few good things actually. Yet it wasn't enough to make Ruca forget that shouldn’t even be here nor it would help the boy to cure his homesickness.

When Ruca was close to the building out of the sudden he felt strangely cold. At first he tried to ignore the feeling, but before he noticed he was shivering almost as if he was going to freeze any moment now. He looked around trying to find a cause of this sudden change in temperature but it seemed as if he was the only one feeling the cold.

“What's... going on?” he muttered under his breath to no one in particular. Still shivering he quickened his pace and headed back into the building to find something to warm himself up with. Did he get sick? But wasn't that too sudden?



Later on the boy could be found in the common area on the first floor (having no strength to get to his own room) sitting on a couch in the far corner of the room and covered with seemingly every blanket he managed to find. Ruca stared at his palm for a moment then a crimson flame flickered on it suddenly. The flame vanished quickly as Ruca let a disappointed sigh.

It seemed that even his own fire magic wasn't able to help him.

Comments

[redcladidealist]

"Ugh, it's so hot today," Lloyd groaned as he came down the stairs. Up until today, the buildings had somehow managed to stay cool no matter how hot it got outside, but today it seemed like the heat was too much for even the ice spell or magitechnology used to keep the air cool to keep up with.

As he passed through the first floor, searching for any kind of cool draft of air, he spotted a somewhat familiar boy sitting on the couch. Bundled in blankets.

What.

"Man, how can you stand being wrapped up like that? Aren't you melting to death?"

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca blinked surprised and looked at the other boy. Was it really so hot today? He didn't think so earlier and right now it was hard for him to say for sure.

"To tell the truth I feel like I'm going to freeze..." he placed his hand on his forehead checking if maybe he has a fever.

"...I wonder if I got sick... Apart from feeling cold I don't seem to have any other symptoms though."

[redcladidealist]

If Ruca couldn't tell how hot it was, he probably was pretty sick. It would have to be a pretty high fever to feel cold in this heat, though. High enough to be dangerous. Lloyd couldn't just brush this off.

"If you're sick, you might not be able to tell what your temperature is. Here." He held out his hand. "Want me to help you check?"

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca removed his hand and looked at Lloyd, wondering if he should accept the offer. He really couldn't tell if he had a fever or not. Even his own forehead felt cold to him.

He sighed a little and looked down, finally nodding.

"If you could..."

Maybe he should just go to hospital right away?

[redcladidealist]

With the invitation, Lloyd finished reaching out and put his hand to Ruca's forehead. "Whoa, you do feel cool," he remarked, surprise coloring his voice. In fact, just touching Ruca's skin seemed to take the temperature down in Lloyd's. It made him reluctant to pull his hand back.

He was just... keeping his hand there long enough to make sure he got an accurate idea of how sick Ruca was.

"I definitely don't think you have a fever. What were you doing before, swimming in ice?"

[knightofcourage]

Emil felt sluggish as he made his way back to the apartments from another look around the city, enough so that he really just wanted to drop where he stood and go to sleep for a while. But--no, that wasn't good, right? It was too hot to sleep anyway.

With the distraction of the heat, though, he wasn't paying much attention to where he was going as long as it was in the general direction of the apartments. Easy to bump into someone who wasn't all too aware themselves...

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca, still shivering wasn't paying that much attention, thinking only about getting back. Suddenly somebody bumped into him and the boy lost his balance. A moment later he was lying on the ground feeling even more miserable than before, his books were scattered around.

Not like that was important.

Before he even managed to pull himself up from the ground the silver-haired boy began apologizing. The accident was not his fault but he still felt bad for what happened.

"I-I'm so sorry!" he said looking at the other concerned. Ruca remembered meeting that boy before. "A-are you okay?"

[knightofcourage]

The collision stunned Emil back into awareness, and as soon as he heard the other boy fall Emil was trying to kneel down, seeing if he needed help and trying to pick up the books he'd knocked away while stammering his own apologies. "I'm all right! I'm sorry - I didn't mean to - I wasn't looking, it's so hot I must have started drifting off or something..."

Thinking about the heat only made the feeling worse, and he paused after picking up one of the books to adjust a scarf that felt much heavier than it did when he'd put it on this morning. Maybe he should take it off, although for now he had to help clean up after the mess he'd made. Emil picked up two more books and held them out to the boy he'd bumped into before realizing that the face was familiar.

"Haven't I seen you before?" he asked, trying to remember where they could have met. It wasn't recent, and he had the feeling it had been - yes, just after he'd arrived here. "At the Welcome Center last month, right?"

[demonicbookworm]

"Is it... really so hot today?..." Ruca asked feeling somewhat confused. He couldn't feel any warmth at all. Not even a bit. Thinking that he really must had gotten sick he placed his hand over his forehead to check if he had a fever but both his hand and his head felt cold. He frowned, worried and explained to the other.

"I-I think I got sick... I'm really cold." And of course sickness was the only explanation he could think of. Because what else could it possibly be? Ruca didn't know and he was too cold to ponder about that.

He reached for one of his books but a cold shiver shook him before he managed to pick it up. He tried to collect the book again shortly afterwards, then turned his head to look at Emil.

"You remembered me." With a soft smile he replied to the other boy's question. "Yes. We've met at the Welcome Center last month."

[knightofcourage]

Emil smiled back, but the way the boy had shivered worried him. He handed over the book, trying not to many any rough or sudden movements as he did just in case, and leaned in a little closer to get a good look at Ruca. He didn't look all that well, that was for sure; unfortunately Emil didn't know much more that was helpful. He couldn't tell what made this different from any other illness.

"If you're sick, shouldn't you go see somebody? Like a doctor, or a healer." Too bad he was neither - although maybe Marta could do something? He wasn't sure whether healing spells covered normal illnesses. "I have a friend who can use healing magic, but it might be better to see a doctor instead." Thinking of his own situation, he added under his breath, "Maybe I should go, too."

[fraternize]

And in the common area Oswald finds him, too hot to really want to do anything other than move right now. He's fine as is, but that fire magic catches his eye (as well as the swaddling in blankets, poor thing) and he slips on over as quietly as he can, looking down at Ruca with probing eyes.

"--are you all right...?"

People seem to be having hot and cold flashes these days - he supposes this one isn't too different, but he's relatively curious about the state of things.

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca was startled by the voice. He didn't notice the man's presence before. In his surprise the boy completely forgot that the man asked him a question and only after a while he remembered about it.

"Ah, I-I... I don't know." he answered timidly. "I feel so cold... I think I'm probably sick."

That was the only reasonable explanation for it. Yet apart from shivering from cold he didn't have any other symptoms.

[fraternize]

Cold? The complete opposite of Oswald, who feels like he's going to start melting in three, two, one— "Ah..."

'Sick' doesn't seem like the right word for it.

"You and everyone else, perhaps. When did you start feeling like this...?"

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca sighed a bit and tried to wrap himself more in the blankets. He looked almost as if he tried to hide in them, considering that only a bit of his face could be seen now.

"When I was heading back to the apartment I suddenly felt really cold..."

[fraternize]

That sounds like it could be close to the same time that he was starting to feel ill (hot, too hot, he'd like to stick himself in a freezer and not move for a couple of days). Maybe, anyhow, and he reaches out immediately after he sighs, pressing his hand to push Ruca's bangs up and feel Ruca's forehead.

He's more than surprised to find that he's actually starting to feel (a little bit) better with this. This world survives with physical contact though so once he starts thinking about that, it sinks in that this is just another thing in the grand scheme of them helping the people who kidnapped them. While he does feel the warmth start to flood out...

Oswald isn't sure how to feel about this, but this kid looks like he's suffering so he keeps his hand there until Ruca tells him otherwise.

[gingerzippo]

Badou couldn't be near people long enough. It wasn't hard to suss out which person had which sickness--the halls of the buildings were full of people either wrapped in blankets or boasting tank tops and shorts and flip-flops. Still, Badou had already figured out the mystery earlier on: this was yet another probably government-induced disease by the city's welcoming committee. And the only way to make it stop was through hugs. Badou had no choice but to cope with it exactly the way they planned for him to. Those bastards.

This isn't the first time he's seen someone curled up on one of the common room couches, lost in a haystack of blankets. But this one is a face he recognizes. Badou walks up to the pile, hair tied up, wearing sandals, cargo shorts, and a light blue tank-top. He plucks his cigarette from his mouth and briskly lowers himself onto the couch beside Ruca.

"They got you too, huh?" he sighs, pulling a tiny and thin sheet of a washcloth from his pocket and dabbing his forehead and temple. "For as nice as the civilians are, this city doesn't play nice sometimes."

[demonicbookworm]

There were so many people falling to this mysterious disease that Ruca wondered just what kind of epidemic could it be. It didn't took him long to come to conclusion that the city was at fault here. Not like it solved his current problem. He was still freezing completely clueless as to what to do. If it was just a normal sickness he would easily find a way to get better - after all, he studied to became a doctor. However right now he was well aware that medical knowledge was not going to help him any.

Why was this happening? What did they do to deserve such a fate? Ruca was sure he would not find answers to these questions anytime soon.

When Badou sat beside him Ruca merely nodded in answer to him. A moment later a shiver shook him violently.

"I feel so cold..." he muttered, then looked at Badou in hope that maybe the other would be able to help him somehow. "Mr. Badou... I really don't know what to do anymore."

What should I do? That was what he wanted to ask, even though he never said it like that.

[gingerzippo]

Do they really need to put something like this on the smaller ones in the city? Badou is irritated in his stead--though maybe it's the heat--as Ruca shivers at his side. He's figured this all out already; hopefully this clues the kid in.

"Here," he says, his arm coming around the poor boy's blanketed shoulder and pulling him close. He presses Ruca's shoulder to his chest, chin propped on the top of his head, and holds him close. "Friend had the same trouble earlier. Give it a minute. Just see how you feel." When he and Ruca had first come together, getting cozy was a bit of an awkward process, for Ruca himself especially. Now, Badou is hoping that he'll be a little more comfortable with him this time. The kid's coldness is comforting, but he's really freezing.

[demonicbookworm]

Ruca was surprised by that and to be honest, he wanted to push the other away at first, but he hesitated and gave up on that. Badou wanted to help him, the boy knew about that, yet he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at least at first and it took him an extra moment to actually relax.

Badou felt warm, which was such a relieving change for poor Ruca, who just a moment ago was more than sure that he'd end up freezing even under all those blankets. The boy never returned the hug though, simply because it would be just too embarrassing for him to do so.

"...I feel better." he muttered shyly. "...Thank you."

[thestoryof]

Konoha is not sweating, but he is definitely super, super warm and it's rather uncomfortable. Still, he's able to move around as usual, and he's crossing the common area when he sees the blankets in the corner. He frowns a little, then approaches.

"... Ruca? Are you cold?"

[demonicbookworm]

"Konoha..." Ruca looks at the other. "Yes. For some reason I feel really cold."

He sighed a little, burying himself further into the blanket.

"...Maybe I really got sick."

[thestoryof]

"... Mm. You're not the only person. I saw some other people being cold, too."

He crouches and leans in closer so he can look at Ruca's face. It's impolite not to keep eye contact.

"Do you want something warm to drink?"

[demonicbookworm]

In fact he would prefer if the other didn't keep eye contact and stayed a bit further away. Ruca looks away almost instantly.

"I already tried that... but it didn't work." he frowns a bit. "It seems as if nothing can help me."

[primaveral]

...weird. The apartment buildings were usually cold indoors, so why did it feel even hotter than outside? Kanonno went back to her room to change into something cooler, but it helped much less than she was hoping.

She didn't want to go back outside, but staying in her room made her feel even worse. Trying to find something to distract her from the heat, she headed back to the common area... and that conspicuous pile of blankets seemed perfect for the job. Thinking someone just left a mess, she picked one up to put away.

...she wasn't expecting a person underneath it.

"Ruca?!" She drops the blanket back on his head and squats down to his level. "Are you okay in there?"

[demonicbookworm]

If it was warm in here Ruca couldn't feel it at all. For him it was even colder than in Tenos. The blankets weren't helping at all, but Ruca stayed wrapped in them anyway.

...That is, until suddenly somebody picked one of them up. Startled Ruca looked at whoever was trying to take his blanket away from him and seeing Kanonno, he gave her a confused look.

"Er... Y-yeah... Kind of..." He smiled awkwardly, then shivered suddenly. "...I just feel... cold."