Worrying Takes a Toll...

[imhisaunt]

Who: Delmar + OTA
What: Delmar gets the flu
Where: Around Town / Delmar’s Apartment
When: 16th Nov – Approx. 26th of Nov
Warnings: N/A – Will Change if Needed

It had started as a dull thudding at the back of his head whenever he moved a might too much and at first he’d pushed it to the back of his brain. He was prioritizing all the work that needed to be done, all the things that needed to be worried about. But it hadn’t stayed just a headache. Headache was followed by aching in his muscles, in his joints, aching from the top of his throat deep into his stomach. And the heaviness and static fuzz of fatigue followed quickly on the heels of that pain. Then finally the alternating shivers and sweats.

Delmar doesn’t realize it but he begins to sink in to himself. He doesn’t answer his phone when it rings. He begins spending more and more time wandering into quiet, uncrowded spaces. Voices, particularly more than one at once, grates on him sharply. Too many people nearby makes him feel stuffy and dizzy. So subconsciously he begins avoiding them. Hiding.

Eventually he retreats entirely into his apartment. Too disoriented to realize that he’s acting any differently. After all, it isn’t that different really, is it? He was always shy and reclusive back home. Himself, his crosswords, and his blankets in the quiet.

The quiet empty is familiar. And at the back of his mind he misses ‘familiar’ so very much right now.

[Nov. 16th – 20th - Around Town]

Delmar can perhaps spotted shuffling along the riverside staring off into nowhere or sitting in the grass in the park practically dozing in the open. If you call out to him he might not notice you right away. Particularly if he’s fallen asleep.

[Nov. 20th – 26th – Delmar’s Apartment]

By this point Delmar does not feel well enough to leave his apartment. If you wish to see him, you’ll have to come find him at home.

Comments

Around townnn, 20th

[redwinekindofgirl]

He hasn't been answering his phone, and that's been playing on her mind. She hasn't known Delmar that long, but that doesn't mean he hasn't become important in that short time.

When she finally sees him, he's in the park, sitting on the grass. Julie enjoys the park for the openness and the greenery of it, and how she can almost pretend that she's free if she doesn't look up to the cavern ceiling, but those thoughts do not come immediately to mind when she calls out from a distance and he doesn't respond.

She jogs closer, her steps faltering slightly as she realises that it looks very much as if he's completely dozed off.

"Heyyy." Julie crouches by him and speaks very gently as she touches one of his hands and chafes her own over it. "What are you doing?"

around town, the 19th

[roseofthetyrells]

[Margaery is on her way back from Delight's temple, a bolt of turquoise colored silk clasped in her arms when she sees Delmar sitting in the park. she calls out to him once, twice, with no answer.

that has her worried. as far as she knows, he's not on the Null's hit list, but what if someone else chose to do him harm simply because they could? so she approaches him quietly and gently lays her hand on his shoulder]

Delmar? Are you all right?

[imhisaunt]

Delmar is in fact in the light, worthless kind of sleep that comes with illness. The kind you can't seem to outrun but at also can't seem to hold on to, and you never wake feeling at all more rested than when you had first dozed off. As such it takes a few moments before he shifts his head to blink blearily up at her and it is followed with a look of confusion, his mind not putting two and two together that he fell asleep in the park nor why she was here.

"Julie?"

[imhisaunt]

[Delmar's head was hanging forward, forehead pressed to his knee. He's too tired to hold it up himself, and his knee doubles as something soft to hide his face behind. He's so near to sleep that he didn't hear when Margaery called out to him. It's only when something comes to rest on his shoulder that he even becomes aware of anyone else nearby.

He makes a soft but croaky noise in his throat before finally lifting his head.]

Oh...Miss Margaery...

[His voice is nearly gone, but he tries for his usual smile.]

...i'm sorry...I didn't hear you.

[redwinekindofgirl]

"Yeah... You okay?"

Her hand moves from his and up to his arm, where she chafes again lightly as if she's trying to rouse him. She tilts her head down to meet his eyes, her own softened with concern, and she frowns slightly.

"What are you doing out here? Were you sleeping?"

[imhisaunt]

He doesn't immediately know how to answer that and instead ends up casting a sort of lost look around them. Little by little the trees, the grass, they begin to piece back together to form a vague picture of when he had come here earlier to sit and catch his breath.

"I...I must have fallen asleep."

At last he looks back to her.

"What time is it?"

His voice wavers between croaking to almost non-existent wheezing as though there's an angry scratch at the back of his throat stopping him from getting any decent breath.

[roseofthetyrells]

[with that posture, she's definitely concerned. he looks like he's pretty rough for wear and she hates the idea that someone could've possibly tried to harm someone so nice.

though, the croaky noise is something of a relief? he doesn't sound injured, just like maybe he's coming down with something, especially when he speaks]

It's quite all right. Are you not feeling well?

[redwinekindofgirl]

Ah, this is worrying. Julie shifts her posture to give her better balance on the balls of her feet and takes hold of his hand, lifting it up to rub her hand gently over the back of it. He doesn't sound very well at all, and should probably not be sat outside like this.

"It's time that you went home and got into bed," she tells him, straightening up to stand and giving his hand a light tug.

"Come on, I'll walk you."

around town;

[trashmouths]

"You look like shit."

Richie Tozier is watching the older man, a large piece of wood in his hand like some sort of baseball bat or club. It's a habit he's started up since arriving here--landing facefirst in the dirt in the colosseum has only made him slightly more paranoid than everything in Derry. 'Walk softly and carry a big stick' indeed, although he's still working on the walk softly part.

...Actually, he's not working on that at all, if his extreme bluntness is anything. He swings the stick in the air, smashing imaginary monsters with it before looking over again.

"Like, you really really look like shit."

[imhisaunt]

He reaches up to pat her hand, instinctively wanting to reassure her. "Now, n-now it's alright. I'll be fine." He then breathes in a short, haggard breath.

"I'm sure its nothing."

[imhisaunt]

I'm afraid I'm not feeling my best

[He starts to shake his head but finds the movement makes the aching worse]

You should be careful, or you might catch something yourself.

[He would feel even more awful if he got a kind lady like Miss Margaery sick]

[redwinekindofgirl]

"Delmar." Julie's voice turns stern, as does her expression. Delmar is much older than her, certainly, but she looks for a moment as if she's dealing with a wayward child.

"I can't get you up and carry you on my own, but I know someone I can call if you're gonna be stubborn."

[imhisaunt]

Delmar was trudging along a quieter street, mind elsewhere, when Richie spoke to him. His mind was so much elsewhere, having wandered off somewhere deep into the fog of fever, that Richie's voice didn't even register as a thing in reality. Not until he reiterated the sentiment. Then Delmar slows, stops, and blinks dumbly at him, body feeling heavy and brain thudding at the back of his skull.

He frowns weakly.

"Thats n-not a very nice thing to say," Delmar rasps before trying to clear his throat unsuccessfully.

[imhisaunt]

Delmar relents. "No need for all that." He begins awkwardly trying to get up, looking much like a foal trying to learn to walk for the first time on its spindly legs and using her hand as an anchor when his legs want to buckle. "I-if it mean that much to you, Julie, I'll go. I don't want to worry you."

At long last he is on his feet, though his head still wants to dip forward like a flower top-heavy with rainfall.

[redwinekindofgirl]

Oh, now she's definitely worried. She doesn't let go of his hand and uses the other to support him under his elbow as he stands, and once he's on his feet she situates herself under his arm with her own wrapped snugly around the small of his back.

"Why do you have to be so tall," she grumbles, exasperated by her own 5'5" frame and how awkward it makes it to support him. She looks around, then points. "We're going that way, okay?"

[roseofthetyrells]

I'm so sorry to hear that.

[she gently squeezes his shoulder]

I never get sick. You, on the other hand, should get indoors and have a cup of tea. May I escort you back?

[Margaery is used to working in the worst orphanages in Flea Bottom. if those children couldn't get her sick, nobody can]

omg julie you can't just ask people why they're tall :P

[imhisaunt]

"Oh that's always been a mystery," He murmurs distractedly, "My mother and father weren't so very tall, and certainly my brother and sister aren't either."

Just another way in which he had stuck out in the family.

He lets her take the lead, doing his best not to lean on her too heavily for fear he might crush the poor thing.

[imhisaunt]

Oh. Well that is very fortunate.

[He smiles at her, though its almost a bit loopy with his disorientation. He feels entirely out of sorts, mind and body having given up on working together coherently]

I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble, Miss Margaery. You must b-be very busy.

[roseofthetyrells]

I suppose so, but when I was young, all it meant was that I never had an excuse to not go to my lessons with grandmother.

[she notices the loopiness of his smile and is even more determined to get him inside where it's warmer]

It's no trouble at all! I was just headed back to my own apartment, seeing you to yours wouldn't be a problem for me in the slightest.

when you're her height you question everything

[redwinekindofgirl]

Julie doesn't expect the answer but she's glad that he's talking instead of zoning out. It's hard enough to do this without that kind of issue on top of it. Still, she squeezes his hand in an attempt at reassurance while they walk slowly towards Delmar's home spire.

"What do you think you're doing out here when you're sick?" she asks, frowning up at him. "If you wanted fresh air you should have just opened a window."

[trashmouths]

"Why?" Richie doesn't miss a beat, looking owlish with his glasses, and swings at invisible monsters again. "It's the truth."

Another swing, this time so hard he grunts and nearly spins away, but he's back in the game as he looks over him again.

"It's not my fault you look like runny cottage cheese now. Are you gonna puke? One of my friends was stuck all summer with a cold and all he'd do was throw up, it was gross but kind of awesome."

[imhisaunt]

"Because when someone doesn't feel well nice people don't say things that make them feel worse."

Being told that he looked awful, particularly in such vivid and stomach turning terms, only compounds his feeling awful. By nature Delmar is meticulous about his appearance, finding that measure of happiness in a well coordinated outfit, and its a particularly sore point with him when he feels he's not at his best. And he certainly does not feel at his best right now.

[trashmouths]

"Oh." He says it with the air of a typical 13 year old--it should be common sense, of course, and while Richie is by no means unintelligent, it seems to have literally never occured to him. THere's a reason he's called trashmouth, even among his friends, but there's no one to groan and say 'beep beep, Richie,' when they've had enough.

He swings at a monster--a raptor in his mind--and winds up nearly cracking his stick over the brick. Wincing at the aftershock, he drops his weapon of choice and shakes out his hands, one of them moving to adjust comically thick lenses.

"I'm sorry you look like shit?" It's not his fault, though, so why he has to apologize is beyond him. Maybe hurt feelings? Probably hurt feelings. Richie switches gears almost immediately.

"How old are you?"

delmar's apartment, nov 22

[ghostlocked]

[Harlan has sent Delmar a worrying amount of unreturned texts and calls in the past 24 hours, so now he's knocking on Delmar's door, ready to storm the castle. He's concerned for his friend's well being, of course, but he figures that if Delmar died somehow, he would've come back by now. What he's really worried about is that Delmar has gotten nabbed the Door and sent home. Maybe that'd be a good thing, technically. Delmar would've gotten to go home. But... His home didn't sound all that nice, and Harlan would miss him. He's allowing himself to be selfish here.]

Hey, Del. You home? [He knocks again when there's no immediate answer.] I'm coming in, okay?

[He'll wait another moment to see if his buddy opens up, but if he doesn't, he's keeping to his word. He'll teleport in if the door's locked.]

[imhisaunt]

Delmar answers that indirectly. "I miss looking at the horizon." Back in New York he'd start and end every day with a walk along the beach, watching the sunrise and sunset stain the waters lovely hues of pinks and oranges. Without it he feels like something's missing.