Chapter Text
It was around 5:30 in the morning, and Vence was up bright and early as usual. He was doing a bit of stretching and warming up at the Tabantha training grounds, where he serves as the official instructor for anyone who comes in. However, that’s not why he was here.
He was currently waiting for Raphica to arrive so they could have some 1-on-1 sparring. This sparring was less for training and more of an apology from Raphica for the little stunt he pulled the other day. What stunt, you may ask? Well, yesterday, Raphica disappeared for nearly a full day without warning, and Vence, along with the rest of Rito Village, was thrown into a panic. Vence would be lying if he said he didn’t think for even a moment that Raphica was dead. Luckily, he wasn’t, and he came back as evening fell with his arms full of diamonds. He clearly didn’t read the room, and when Vence found him, the only thing he said was, “Think you could make a bow out of this?”
Vence nearly flayed him alive right there.
He forced Raphica to give the whole village an apology and to promise he’d at least tell somebody or leave a damn note the next time he had the instinct to go off on another adventure. He gave an apology to Vence, too, and proposed that, as an additional apology, he’d spend the entirety of the next morning with him whenever and wherever he wanted. Vence chose the training grounds at 6:00am. What could he say? He enjoyed sparring with the guy. The two would basically show off to each other the entire time, and he admittedly did admire how strong Raphica was. The way he moved and shot with his bow was smooth and practiced; it made him look absolutely incredible, and the training grounds always had a way of accentuating him with the angle that the sun would hit the arena. He could sit there and watch him do his thing the whole day, but he won’t. If he did that, he’d be letting Raphica have all the fun, and we can’t have that now, can we?
30 minutes passed by as he waited for the other to arrive, and, to Vence’s surprise, he wasn’t there when it hit 6:00am. He wasn’t too perturbed by it, though. Maybe he just got caught up in Elder responsibilities for a moment; that happens occasionally. He’ll give him a few minutes.
5 minutes passed without any sign of him, but just as Vence started to get worried, the soft crunching of talons on snow came from the entrance of the training grounds.
Vence’s eyes lit up as he turned to see the ever-so iconic brown pompadour stride into view. The man of the hour. Though… why was he walking? He usually liked to fly in whenever they’d come to spar. Oh, well, it didn’t matter. What matters is that he’s here! Yay!!
“Raphica! There you are! You’re five minutes late. I almost thought you bailed on me.”
Vence giggled at his own lighthearted quip. He expected the other to return the same energy, but all he did was give a smile and a wave, which made Vence narrow his eyes a bit.
“What? Not feelin’ up to banter today?”
Raphica coughed and suddenly jerked his head up as if being awoken from a trance.
“Hm- Huh? No, I'm just- I'm just a little tired. Give me a minute.”
Raphica starts shaking his arms and legs, clearly trying to wake himself up more. Well, at least his appearance does indeed match his claim.
His clothes have been shoddily thrown on, and he’s entirely forgotten to wear his shoulder guards. Wait… where’s his bow?
“Raphica? Where’s your bow?”
Raphica pauses his warming up and looks over his shoulder with a confused expression that immediately turns to shock as he sees his bow is missing. Even worse, when he began talking, Vence could immediately hear how raspy he sounded.
“Oh, shit, *cough*. Sorry, I-I didn’t mean to do that. I was in a bit of a rush. *cough cough* We’ve got some spare bows here, right?”
Vence nodded slowly, squinting at his friend and his behaviour. Raphica gave him a thumbs up, clearly not noticing his concern.
“Well then, we should be all set. *cough cough*”
He rolls his shoulders and cracks his neck.
“Hey, are you sure you want to spar? We don’t have to if you’re coughing like that.”
Raphica waves a hand dismissively.
“*cough* No, I’m- *cough* I’m good. I just- *cough* drank something earlier *cough cough* went down the wrong tube. Pass me one of those bows. *cough*”
He trusts him, despite his concerns, and does what he says, tossing him a Swallow’s Bow. Despite his hand being outstretched, Raphica’s reflexes did not register what was being thrown at him, and he completely fumbled it, which made Vence laugh a little.
“Gah- shit- don’t laugh at me, I’ll kick your ass.”
Vence grinned smugly at the other’s playful threat.
“Oh? Is that a threat or a promise?”
And with that, they lifted into the air, and their sparring session began.
~~~~~~~~~~
Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last long. It didn't even last half an hour.
Raphica was noticeably underperforming, and 90% of his shots were going HELLA wide. Much wider than they should.
The other would tease him each time he missed, but it stopped being funny rather quickly. Vence noticed that Raphica wasn’t really as mobile as he should be when in the air; his eyes were half-focused, and he was struggling even to knock back the arrows.
Raphica’s shots gradually got slower and sloppier until he was barely even holding himself in the air.
Vence gave him a worried look as Raphica once again struggled to knock back an arrow, his head swaying as if he were drunk.
“Dude. Raph. Are you feeling all r-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
He was interrupted by Raphica, who suddenly choked, and he watched as his friend dropped his weapon altogether and collapsed to the ground in a complete coughing fit. His fears were confirmed. Something was terribly wrong.
Vence immediately followed him, and seeing him up close didn’t make him feel any better. Raphica was breathing heavily and facing the ground on his hands and knees. When Vence patted his back to comfort him, he could feel that his entire body was shivering while also being noticeably warm, and each cough absolutely wracked through him.
“Holy hell, dude. Are you okay?”
Raphica opened his mouth to respond, but all he could get out was a weak “Vence-” before he gasped sharply, lurched forward, and vomited on the spot.
Vence’s eyes went wide as he watched him empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground, or the lack thereof, as he noticed that it was just stomach acid coming out and nothing else. He opened his mouth to interrogate him, suspecting he hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, but decided against it. Questions can come later; he had to get help and fast.
He offered his wing.
“Can you stand? We need to get you back to the village.”
Raphica shook his head and waved his hand.
“N-No. I’m fine. We can continue.”
Vence put both hands on his hips and gave him an incredulous look, almost as if he had just called him a slur.
“Raphica, is this a joke!? Are you serious right now!? You’re burning up, you're SHAKING, and you just THREW UP. We are NOT fucking sparring. Now, can you walk or not?”
Raphica simply nodded, not having the energy to protest further as he let Vence lift him up.
When he grabbed hold of the other to stabilize himself, Vence was shocked at how hard he was gripping onto him, as if at any moment he could be whisked away by some invisible force. He led him out of the training grounds, and the two of them walked towards Rito Village. He didn’t want to make him fly in case he needed to throw up again, which he did.