Chapter Text
Sage
When you tell Sage that you're feeling in a slightly low mood, he listens quietly while you explain it, taking you seriously without needing to ask any questions.
You're actually a little surprised at how easily he seems to get what you mean, and not for the first time, it occurs to you how hard Sage occasionally seems to be on himself, or that he doesn't always think he's worth a second chance.
Sage asks if you'd like to train together, because he often finds that he needs to distract himself or lose himself in something difficult when things are going down the drain. But he understands when you tell him maybe another time, you're feeling a bit listless right now.
So Sage decides to tackle the problem head-on... since you're low on energy, he asks if he can simply pick you up and take you exploring that way instead. You laugh and say he's going to be low on energy too if he carries you around all day, but not only is he not kidding, Sage picks you up and carries you effortlessly, smirking and chuckling as if he's enjoying proving you wrong way too much.
He holds you against his chest, one arm behind your shoulders and the other below the bend of your knees. No one seems to be paying either of you the slightest notice, so you eventually lean into his front and jokingly tell him to do his worst.
You can hear Sage's breathing change every time he climbs a new staircase to show you the view, or how warm he gets when the breeze from the docks seems to whip through your jacket, as if he's making up for the cold for you.
He buys something spicy and sticky for you to eat from a streetstall, making sure he buys one for himself too so that you don't feel guilty about him only spending money on you when you know he's pretty short. He even refrains from wolfing his in the first ten seconds so that you won't have to eat by yourself. If you don't finish he'll look guiltily hopeful and then eat straight from the skewer in your hand.
He grabs a couple of bed-rolls and takes you up to the rooftop that night, so that if you can't sleep you can both stare at the stars instead. When you lay down, he yawns and stretches and whacks his tail heavily across your chest, saying this is so you can just pull his tail if he starts snoring.
...but you start to feel like he finds it comforting to be close to you too.
You find yourself drifting awake at some point during the middle of the night, and finding you feel the tiniest bit better. You quietly turn toward Sage, only to catch him quickly squeezing his eyes shut and pretending to be asleep, he wasn't looking at you at all.
You gently extricate one of his hands from where he's got them bunched under a makeshift pillow, then uncurl his fingers and rest your cheek in the middle of his palm. You go back to sleep with your head nestled into his hand, not bothering to hide your grateful smile in case he just happens to open his eyes in your direction again.
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Anisa
When you let Anisa know you're experiencing a low mood, her first concern is that something must've happened in town- did you get roughed-up by some overzealous watchguard? Did Mournfall's usual suspects target you with a scam? Were you pickpocketed?
You try to reassure her that this just happens sometimes, but Anisa still hurries out of the room and returns with an armful of wanted posters. She couldn't be more genuine as she swears that if any of the merc packs or local thugs ever step out of line with you, it would be her pleasure to set things straight, if you'll allow her.
You gently take her hands and draw her up from where she's been half kneeling to make the promise, holding both of her hands in yours and rubbing your thumb over hers to comfort her. Then you make her laugh by pointing to the wanted posters and saying 'err... isn't that Sage?'
You two continue with what you had planned for the day, agreeing that sometimes sticking to a routine can be helpful, especially when you have someone with you to keep you going when needed.
But Anisa also starts writing you a small letter during all the moments when you're not looking. At the end of the day, she gives you the letter, apologising in advance for all her messy writing and telling you to open it later, otherwise she'll be way too embarrassed.
The letter is about all the stupid stuff you do that makes Anisa happy and brightens her day, even when you're in the worst mood ever. It's full of funny drawings, like one of her captain's face when she lied and told him you're Felix's cousin. It cracks you up so much that you have to go to her room and thank her and tell her you're keeping it forever. The touched expression on her face as she starts laughing means more to you than you can say, and does a ton to brighten your day too.
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Felix
The words 'I'm in a bit of a low-' have barely been uttered before Felix draws a deep breath through his nose, presses both hands on his desk and abruptly stands to his feet, announcing 'come with me', as if you have just spoken the passcode to a secret society and there is not a moment to lose.
Felix immediately takes you to one of his hidden sanctuaries- this one contains his much-hinted-about 'cursed tome collection', a name which only begins to describe just how cursed these books turn out to be. Felix needs to advise you on several dire precautions for handling the texts and not speaking passages from them, even though most are written in languages so diabolical that Felix refuses to include them in his translation spells for you.
He does, however, explain the infernal purpose of each of the books to you, including the book where every page has been incinerated beyond recognition, and the book where opening it causes frothing black hellslime to splash down the front of your robes. You yell to wake the dead and Felix bursts into ridiculous laughter, apologising and hugging you and using a quick incantation to reverse the damage, explaining that book is so much more fun when it's a surprise. You're nervously laughing too as you tell him he really has it coming now. But while your heart just got the jumpstart of a lifetime, this is a strangely better feeling than the numbness in your chest this morning.
Next, Felix portals you both to a graveyard, keeping one of the cursed tomes tucked under his arm. His eyes light up with a rather nefarious energy as he asks how many corpses you might like him to reanimate, or whether you think any have possibly been buried in locations other than the ancient-looking graves.
"What?!' you blurt, but Felix just pats your arm and tells you not to worry, if he passes out from the gravity of the spell, the decaying bodies will simply collapse as soon as he's out cold.
"How... how about I read to you instead??" you try again. As much as you appreciate the lengths Felix will go to to show you that he cares, you'd rather have him in your arms with a hot chocolate and blankets than in your arms half-dead himself. Felix acquiesces to being dragged back to Fathom with you, mumbling that you wield far too much dark power now that you know about his soft-spot for goopy romance novels.
Later, Felix shyly presents you with the latest book in his favourite romance series, which he hasn't even started reading yet. He clears his throat and apologises in advance for any... interesting... content, as he's not exactly sure what the first few chapters will entail. He also asks if you would prefer him to read to you instead, he says he knows he's a bit dreadful at making people feel better, but he'll never ever give up on trying, or on you.
You shake your head and whisper that just him being there helps you feel better. You also can't help but feel uplifted at his barely-contained excitement as you start reading, Felix is apparently the sort of person who has to constantly cover his mouth with his hand because he doesn't want you to see him grinning like a fool or looking devastated at all the shocking parts. At one point you have to tug back his hand because it's so amusing and you're trying to see his face, but he just snorts and laughs and clamps his opposite hand over his face instead, flailing at you to keep reading with the other.
You and he are definitely going to have a little heart-to-heart about Felix's own self-care strategies come the morning.
But for now you're just enjoying his utter joy and adoration as he flops into your lap, his hands apparently covering his face for all eternity as you reach some of the content that makes him so enchanted with these books after all.
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