Briar walked back to the large, segmented den she shared with Mortis, Lia, and Hikaru with her craft supplies in tow. The condition that Hikaru and Mortis had developed was awful and worrying, but after being looked at by every healer the Armada had to offer it seemed like the only thing they could do was wait until a solution was found. She was never one that enjoyed just sitting around and waiting for something to resolve itself, but considering the fact that she wasn't a healer and had no real way to help in this situation she tried to come up with the next best thing.

Walking into the den, she made her way to the chamber that Hikaru shared with Mortis and she found the smaller male there alone for the moment. Even with his illness her brother still tried to maintain some kind of grasp on his responsibilities and while she admired that about him she did feel bad for poor Hika that was left here alone. She smiled around the sack of odds and ends she was carrying as she paused in the curved doorway, sitting down her supplies so she could speak. "Hey, Hika. Would you like some company? I brought some stuff to help keep you busy if you'd like."

"Briar Zeitgeist Fatalis"

Hikaru hadn’t left the den much now that the mushrooms were getting larger, breathing was difficult enough. Sitting up was plenty of work. He was doing so now, just because for the moment it was easier to take in breath sitting up. He couldn’t really do much of anything besides wait and hope he pulled through whatever happened to him. He was losing hope, but he would never give up.

Silver kohl lined eyes lifted from his paws as he watched Briar come in. She was a familiar and comforting sight while he was in such dire straits. She paused slightly at the door, offering her company and something to occupy his empty paws. Hika’s grin grew, though he didn’t say much with it being so easy to aggravate his cough. He welcomed her inside with a kind gesture.

"Speech"

Once she was welcomed in she grinned again and brought the bag of supplies closer before she settled down near him, opening the bag and beginning to pull out some crafting supplies. "lI wasn’t sure what you’d be interested in so I brought a bunch of different stuff, but I thought some crafting might help pass the time." She laid out a roll of twine, a small pile of shiny seashells, a pair of rolled up rabbit furs, some clay beads, some thread, a couple of needles made of slivers of bone, and some coiled up rope.

"I’m not really even all that sure that any of this equates to anything," she admitted with a chuckle before picking up the rope and beginning to practice some knots she had been working on. "I’ve been experimenting with how to build a fishing net," she said as she tied and untied a couple knots. She knew he had been having trouble with coughing along with the mushrooms so she tried to do the talking for the both of them, casually chatting while she worked. "I’m not much of a hunter, but I figured that even I could toss a net in the river and pull it back out!"

"Briar Zeitgeist Fatalis"

Thankfully Briar wasn’t about to make him talk and as she took his invitation she explained what she brought with her. To pass the time. Hika tried not to think about the passing of time, but it was a slow and steady tick. Was he headed towards the end?

Hika tried not to think of it as he let himself look over the supplies she brought, saying she hadn’t really thought of a plan for all of it, but hoped to distract him with it all. Hika couldn’t say he didn’t appreciate her efforts. Her attentioned helped brighten his spirits and made the day a little better. She mentioned creating fishing nets herself.

The koi started to paw at the twice and pulled the shells and beads closer to him. Maybe a net would be more useful but his first thought was something nice for Mortis. He wondered if he’d wear a necklace. He’d never managed to give him his gift like he meant to on the trip. Maybe he’d surprise him with something tonight.

"I grew up on islands.” He started softly so he didn’t aggravate the sopres in his throat. "I’ve been mending nets for as long as I can remember.” He mused as he started to string bead and shell over the twine.


"Speech"

Briar's ears perked when he mentioned that he had a lot of experience with mending nets from growing up on the islands. She grinned and her tail wagged, asking, "Really? Would you mind helping me with them when you're feeling better?" When. Not if. He was going to be fine just like everyone else that was sick in the pack would be fine—she was confident of it. Thinking of any other possibility would just drag her into despair at the whole situation and there was enough of that going around already without her adding to it. She tied a nice looking knot and instead of untying it she started adding one of the seashells to the twine, wrapping the string around a bend in the half of a clam shell to secure it before she added another knot and then another seashell. She wasn't even exactly sure what she was making, but she just enjoyed making things with her own paws and seeing what she could come up with. Maybe it would turn out to be nothing, but it was still fun either way.

"Briar Zeitgeist Fatalis"

He offered his insight and Briar almost didn’t believe him at first, but then she sought his help once he was feeling better. Her optimism helped his heart, but his mind had been made up since he started coughing up mushroom spores that his time was limited now. He’d humor her though, maybe if he started to believe differently to how he felt he’d really find himself recovering. Hika wasn’t so sure of that.

"Of course, Briar.” He tried to be convincing, and sound as sure as she did that one day in the near future he’d come to her, healed, to mend nets at her side. For now, Hikaru continued on the bracelet he was working on, awkwardly tying knots and adding shells and beads before it began to look like a finished product. He carefully weaved the twince around and through the beads until it finally came together as a piece of jewelry. The shells were fashioned as the centerpieces, carefully tied into place with smaller beads to accent them. The dark twince almost resembling the color of dark ocean and waves against the beads and shell.

"Do you think Mortis will like it?” Hikaru asked softly as he lifted the piece for Briar to inspect, right before he fell into another coughing fit.

"Speech"

Briar was happy to quietly work on her little project for a while and it was relaxing to just have something to focus her attention on. She continued weaving shells and twine together, eventually beginning to curl it into a spiral that almost looked like a circle or shield made just of shells once they were overlapping one another and the twine holding them together was more difficult to see. She didn't really know what use or purpose it would have, but it was kind of pretty how the light reflected off the percent surface of it.

When Hikaru questioned her over whether Mortis might like what he had made or not, she looked up with interest and was about to answer when Hikaru got caught in another coughing fit. She waited patiently for it to pass, giving him a sympathetic smile. "Of course he will," she answered to his question, admiring the pretty piece of jewelry he had created. "You have a good eye for this kind of thing!" She chuckled softly, looking at the odd thing she had created with a shrug, nudging it aside. "How have you and Mortis been anyway?"

"Briar Zeitgeist Fatalis"