[ P ] walk through fire

After many exhausting days, the parades were finally over. Sethos ached right through to his bones; his gait was lopsided and stiff, each stride accompanied by a grimace of pain. In fact, the trail of prints left behind him had one hind limb dragging, obscuring some of the trail. But he paid no mind - his head was fuzzy with an overdose of pain medication, the scent clinging to his fur as he slowly, painstakingly, made his way to the only place he figured could help him.

A journey that shouldn't have taken him more than an hour almost took him three. By the time he arrived at the doorstep of the physiatrist, the medications had worn off and he was gritting his teeth so hard he swore they were fracturing. Blood smeared across the usual white as he frequently bit his tongue - an attempt at a distraction away from the pain now radiating from his spine and hind legs. The long patrols and constant standing during the festivities had done him in, and through the foggy mess of his mind, he contemplated what he was going to do once he was fixed up again.

Because who knew how long that was going to last, and therapy and medication only do so much. The bottom line was that he was crippled, as much as he wanted to reject that reality. But unfortunately for him, this was it. With the parades being the first real "duties" given since the war, he was made very aware that he could no longer perform that which was expected of him.

So he stumbled to the door, collapsing against the frame with a rush of wind escaping through his teeth that ended in a quiet snarl. Lifting a paw, he rapped weakly against the wooden door, hoping that Kaeya was home. If not, he guessed he'd just lay here until he got home.

code & art by claerie

It felt as if that mottled crown only just rested upon his pillow, that a frame had collapsed within the comforts of his bed but a mere moment ago before jolting back to high alert. Dreams ever fleeting when one lay startled by the thump against his door. A solitary sound at first that he began to believe may have been a trick of the mind for who would come here this late… only to be chased by faint rhythmic knocks. Was this some kind of emergency… or had he simply missed the coming dawn?

Long sigh fled his lungs as gracelessly he drug himself from bed. Gathered plant life scattering in his wake from where it had lain in the satchel beside him. All thoughts residing beneath a fog as paces fumbled their way down crafted steps to leave the enveloping shadows of a room behind. What time was it? A query swiftly answered when a regretful glance lay cast toward adorned window to behold, not the luminance of the moon trickling in but rather the harsh light of a sun long risen. Blinding to witness as eyes squinted against its radiance and forced all those shattered pieces to fall into place.

Shit. Time really had gotten away from him.

While there had been no scheduled appointments for this day, he really should figure out better times to go out ‘hunting’ or maybe even find someone who did not have to be up at early hours to harvest those night stricken herbs for him. Grumbling to none but himself a paw rose to pull over his features roughly smoothing out fur still mussed from a disrupted slumber before a more steady path lay forged toward the door way. One where no sounds echoed from its frame save for shallowed breaths. Well someone had to be there.

Falling fully from his visage, snowy limb tugged at the handle; bidding a door to swing open as decorated crown poked free. Looking straight ahead at first before sights gradually trailed downward taking in the haggard sights of one glimpsed within the distance town - not to speak of that strange dream. The canary’s frame one which crumpled as if it no longer held a leg to stand on.

Slowly nails sought to cup the man’s skull, trailing to the crook of his jaw in a check for signs of life. Those that may shine brighter than the breaths which struggled. Kaeya’s voice falling in gentle murmur, “You still with me Sethos?” Or was this wavering consciousness only skin deep? If this one could not move on his own, uncertainty lingered on just how he would move a much larger frame into clinic alone.

table; bunny