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"At what point do we start worrying if he's dead?" Daya asks the awkwardly quiet party.
Usually, Kabru is one of the first people to arrive at the meeting place, and his presence acts like a social lubricant, making working with these people tolerable. Without him, no one knows how to talk. It's kind of weird. Mickbell subtly slides closer to Kuro.
"The minute he didn't show up in the first place," Rin grumbles, tapping her foot impatiently. "I told you, if Kabru's late, it's because it wasn't physically possible for him to be on time- and if it's not physically possible for Kabru to be on time, then he's probably bleeding out in an alley or something."
"Should we go in without him?" Holm wonders. "I mean, we did agree to have those fauna samples collected by the end of-"
"We need to check on him," Rin insists, folding her arms. "I'm serious, if he's not showing up, something's wrong."
"I guess it does seem out of character," Holm admits. "But if we don't leave soon, we won't be able to get in and out quickly enough to hold the agreement, and I can't imagine Kabru would be happy with that."
Rin folds her arms, falling into frustrated silence.
"Can't we send for someone to check up on him?" Daya suggests.
"Who?" Mickbell finally chimes in. "What, you're gonna throw a handful of coins at someone and just trust them to actually do the job? That's stupid. Let's just head in, Kabru can take care of himself."
"No, that's..." Daya trails off, staring at Mickbell meaningfully.
"That's right," Holm realizes, following her gaze. "We don't need a picklock to reach the grove we're heading for."
Mickbell bristles instinctively. "You can't just cut my pay because-"
"Mickbell. Go check on Kabru," Rin says, unfolding to her whole height. "And you'll still get paid."
Mickbell scoffs, but turns around. "Fine. Kuro's coming with me."
"You're the one who pays him, so that's fair," Daya reasons. Kuro's ears twitch.
"We'll see you in two days," Holm promises. "Have fun taking it easy meanwhile!"
"Yeah, yeah," Mickbell mutters.
The three of them start to head towards the entrance of the dungeon. Mickbell watches them go, rooted in place by some odd feeling in his chest. Kuro is looking at him curiously, he knows, but he just...
Rin turns around and speedwalks back to them. "Mickbell."
"...what."
"Kabru's... stubborn. So. If you have to manhandle him a bit, don't hesitate."
"Do you really think I can manhandle a tallman?" Mickbell asks incredulously.
Rin eyes Kuro.
"Oh, right," Mickbell relaxes. "But Kabru's actually a pretty reasonable person, right? So it probably won't be necessary."
Mickbell still doesn't like him, of course. But there's a reason he's been working with him for so long. He really is just... so much better at dealing with people than any of the other party leaders Mickbell and Kuro flirted around in the past.
Rin purses her lips. "...if he needs to lay down, but he won't, Kuro should sit on him."
"...right," Mickbell says, suspicious.
"Rin!" Holm shouts. "You coming?"
Rin turns on her heels and leaves.
"Ugh," Mickbell rubs his forehead. "Why do I feel like we're getting into something troublesome?"
He's visited the tavern Kabru lives under before, so it's not too much trouble to find the place again. Things don't get annoying until Mickbell goes to knock on the door and accidentally pushes it open.
"...it's not locked?" Mickbell mutters, baffled. Maybe Kabru really has been kidnapped or something. Suddenly on edge, he pokes his head into the dark room and scans it for anything out of the ordinary.
Every shadow seems to be crawling off the wall. There's a strange sound echoing around the room too- his ears twitch as he tries to pinpoint it. It's rhythmic, probably someone breathing- but who? There's a lump in the bed- oh. Kabru is sleeping.
"Seriously?" Mickbell huffs. Kuro makes a noise that might be a laugh, and Mickbell elbows him. "Oi, Kabru, wake up."
Honestly, Mickbell's really just confused. Kabru, for all his flaws, is a competent and professional guy. Oversleeping doesn't really seem like the sort of thing he'd do. Actually, in the dungeon, Kabru's a really light sleeper. It seems weird that he's not waking up, even with all the commotion Mickbell's making.
"Oi," says Mickbell, an odd feeling surging in his chest. He moves closer and grabs Kabru's shoulder to shake it. "Oi!"
Finally, Kabru blinks awake, but he seems bleary. "...Mickbell?"
"Yeah," Mickbell says. "You didn't show- what gives?"
Kabru stares at him silently.
"Kabru," Mickbell says. "We had work? You're like, an hour late now? Hello?"
"Oh," Kabru finally says. His voice sounds absolutely wrecked. "Is everyone okay?"
"They went in without us," Mickbell tells him. "They sent me to check on you. Are you dying or something?"
Kabru takes a moment to think about it. "Cold."
"Huh?"
"I have a cold," he repeats. "I'll get up now, though."
"Woah, woah, woah," Mickbell quickly backs up as Kabru starts to sit up and sway. Kuro moves forward quickly to grab him by the shoulders and push him back down.
He's really out of it, huh?
Normally, Kabru is quick and sharp in a way that pisses Mickbell off. It's weird seeing him this malleable.
"Hot," Kuro huffs, hand on Kabru's forehead.
"Yeah?" Mickbell moves forward to check for himself- and yeah, Kabru is burning up really badly. "Okay. Kabru, hey. Do you have any medicine?"
"Hm?" Kabru blinks. "Already had some wine."
"What? No, medicine."
"You drink wine for a cold," Kabru says, like he's telling a child that milk comes from a cow.
"No- whatever," Mickbell scoffs. "Kuro, can you watch this guy for a bit? I'm going to run out and buy some medicine. And food, I guess, he never keeps any in his house. Is he stupid? Remind me to ask him for the money later, too, I'm not paying for this out of our pockets!"
Kuro grunts affirmatively, and Mickbell scurries away, eager to get away from... that.
Amusingly, Kabru's accent is a little more understandable when he's sick.
"Yeah," Kabru is saying, more to himself than anything. "Yeah... I think, I'm, I think it's... sickness? Plague? Dirty? Rat fuck? Wait, what's the..."
"Cold," Kuro supplies to him amiably. It's nice not to be the one struggling with language for once.
"Cold," Kabru repeats. His eyes are glassy.
"Where'd you hear rat fuck?" Kuro asks, curious. "Do you know what it means?"
"Ah..." Kabru blinks slowly. "I heard it used... by hospital. For... people with sickness? By kobolds."
Kuro snorts. Usually, Kabru is a lot more careful with how he speaks. Even when his language is broken, there's an elegance to it. Fever-brained, though, he's a lot more clumsy.
"It's an insult," Kuro tells him. "A pretty bad one, too."
"Oh," says Kabru. He doesn't seem alarmed about having misspoken. How unusual.
"You know you can ask me any questions you have," Kuro says. "You're always so understanding when teaching me common- really, it's the least I can do to repay the favor."
"Yes," Kabru nods. "Except, except, Mickbell..."
"He gets anxious," Kuro allows. Of course he does- Kuro's all he's had for almost his entire life. But Kuro's not going to leave just because he can speak better.
All of a sudden, Kabru goes pale. "He gets anxious."
"What?" Kuro frowns. "Kabru? Is something wrong?"
"Then why'd he leave us here alone?" Kabru asks, switching back to common. "Wait- I shouldn't have let- ugh, I hate being sick, I can't think- I shouldn't-"
He doubles over, hiding his face in his hands. Kuro hovers over him, not sure what to do.
"I really fucked things up," Kabru wheezes. "I wasn't thinking. Fuck!"
He's breathing fast and shaking. It's not weird for adventurers to panic- but usually it's because of the dungeon. Kuro isn't sure what Kabru's so worried about.
The door swings open again, Mickbell balancing soup and glaring. "Wh- Kuro, I said to watch him!"
Kuro shrugs. He did.
All of a sudden, Kabru lets out a heavy, shuddering gasp, and then goes completely still. Mickbell and Kuro stare as he straightens back up and smiles. "Mickbell, by the way..."
He doesn't finish the sentence.
"Okay," Mickbell says. "Uh. Uh. Well, eat this while I brew the tea. Kuro, make sure he eats."
Kuro nods.
Kabru is limp and glassy-eyed again, all signs of alertness gone. It's like he's a puppet whose strings have been cut. It's... really unnerving, and also makes it difficult to feed him.
"Get well soon," Kuro mutters to him. Maybe then he'll remember whatever it was he had to tell Mickbell.