Fairy Ointment ~ GG

 Acorn Count: 14/660

 Seelie Upgrades Added:

   -   Adult Lost Limb - Acorn Requirement: 200

        Age Requirement: 1 Month

       (500-word story on how your folk lost that limb!)

   -   Moonbleached - Acorn Requirement: 0

       (500-word story on how your folk lost that limb!)

 INFECTION: Frostmaiden’s Kiss

   -   Maiden’s Eyes - Acorn Requirement: 0

       (500-word infection story!)

   Characters Depicted: 

   -   Eclipse (Written (MinTea-Leaves))

   -   Grey (Written ((LiteralCryptid))

   -   Seelie Hollow (Mine)

   -   Tawny Oleo (Written (Grimsby Grove NPC))

---

  Hey there, I’m just putting this down here to ensure I hit the deadline. I’ll write a story for this, but it’s still in the works. Be sure to check in sometime soon. I’ll post an update when it’s done!

  EDIT: June 13th

   And, only two months later, we’ve got the story done! It usually takes me longer to write than to draw, since I can pick up art and doodle whenever, but to do writing, I usually need to sit down for a longer period.

   But, hey, at least it didn’t take me half a year this time.

   In this story, we brush a toe against the Hollows’ A+ parenting and the lasting impact it’s had on Seelie. It turns out that when everyone thinks you’re alright and can take care of yourself, your self-care skills tend to fall through the cracks without people noticing. Seelie thinks this is fine– everyone else, however, has Opinions about it.

   We’ll be hopefully exploring this more in future stories, but for now, enjoy Seelie getting lightly bonked over the head with forceful self-care.

---

  In the grand scheme of the injured, Seelie had gotten off easy.

   The rest of the tent was filled with people with deep wounds, missing limbs, or sporting newly blighted eyes. All Seelie had was a nasty case of road rash, leaving their left side wrapped in bandages. They just looked a lot worse than they were, and honestly, everyone was just kicking up a big fuss.

   That didn’t mean people were letting Seelie off easy, however.

   There was a long discussion with Mori and Tawny about how, no, Seelie hadn’t gone out to fight the blue fang themself; they’d been caught off guard while running a hot plate to one of the scout postings. No, they hadn’t tried to stand their ground, they weren’t a moron. They’d tried to run right back for help and were mostly successful.

   At least that cut down on the glares and tutts. Well, from the medics, at least.

   “You understand you’re an absolute dumbass– right?” Eclipse hissed, glaring at Seelie with his one uncovered eye. “‘Got any sixes?”

   “You’ve told me that a couple dozen times, yes,” Seelie sighed, curling their knees closer to themself to search the cards in their lap better. “No, go fish.”

   At the tent’s entrance, Grey frowned, crossing his arms across his chest (pretending not to scan the cards Eclipse had shoved at him).

   Eclipse looked over at him, smirking. “Ey, at least you match us now. All we need is Grey’s left eye, and we’ll be a matching set.”

   “Don’t try it.”

   Eclipse just blinked innocently, still smiling.

   On the medical bed, Seelie tutted, shaking their head. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but the medics say it should regrow in a few weeks.”

   Unfortunately, Seelie hadn’t landed gracefully, and the right side of their face had taken most of the impact. Mori decided to remove their damaged eye to let it regrow instead of trying to fix the broken bits with their limited supplies.

   The sudden lack of depth perception was nauseating if Seelie was being honest with themself.

   Seelie shivered, fighting back a wave of dizziness, trying to focus on the cards before them.

   “Well, I’ll just have to savour it, then,” Eclipse said sharply. “After all, I’ve got a captive audience here.”

   “Eclipse…”

   But Eclipse didn’t listen to them, instead leaning in, still smiling with his vampire-sharp teeth. “You don’t practice what you preach, do ya? I mean, you’ve been on our asses for months about how ‘we’re a team.’

   “Team for ‘ye and not for me, eh?”

   Grey’s brow furrowed, tusks worrying at his lips. “Eclipse,” he warned.

   “Yeah, yeah– ‘you didn’t mean to,’ ya dunce,” Eclipse huffed, reaching over to flick Seelie in the head. “Doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.”

   Usually, Seelie would’ve huffed, taking Eclipse’s criticism on the chin (or the forehead, as it were).

   What Seelie did instead was scream.

   Eclipse practically flipped off the bed, landing on all fours with his tail suddenly giant.

   Grey snapped forward, jumping over the hissing Eclipse to yank Seelie’s hands away from clawing at their face. He nearly flinched back at the sudden chill but held firm. “TAWNY!”

   Tawny was already sprinting across the medical tent, reaching Seelie’s side. She placed her hand on their forehead, her paw lighting up with pale pink magic. Though the soothe pain spread across Seelie’s body, it seemed to flicker and lap along their fur, not nestle into it.

   Still, Seelie gasped for air, their hands stilling in Grey’s hold, even as they twitched.

   “Seelie, if Grey lets go of your wrists, can you answer my questions?” Tawny asked, somehow keeping her voice entirely calm.

   Seelie blinked, their remaining eye welling with tears, but they managed to nod.

   Tawny looked over at Grey, who grimaced but released Seelie’s hands. He stepped back, again folding his arms across his chest and glaring down at Seelie. “The hell was that?” he hissed.

   Tawny ignored him, placing another hand over Seelie’s chest and summoning a magical seal. She frowned. “Seelie, I need you to answer me honestly– did you conceal any wounds from your fight with the blue fang?”

   “No,” Seelie signed, their brow furrowing even as tears ran down their face. “No, I didn’t– I wouldn’t.”

   Eclipse huffed, looking like he very much doubted that last part. He stood up, brushed the dust off his paws and awkwardly hovered beside the bed. Tawny and Grey blocked most of his access.

   “Alright. Did the blue fang’s frost breath hit you?”

   “It didn’t use it against me.”

   Again, Tawny frowned. “And you’re certain of that?”

   Seelie just nodded.

   Tawny hummed, letting the seal over Seelie’s chest dissipate. “Can you tell me what happened just now? Why were you clawing at your face?”

   “Migraine,” Seelie signed, pausing to gesture to the bandaged side of their face. “It came on suddenly– felt like someone was taking an icepick to the socket.”

   Eclipse hissed, ducking his head to his chest as his tail twitched behind him.

   Tawny ignored him. “I’m going to take off the bandages– let me know if anything hurts, alright?”

   She waited for Seelie’s consent before slowly unwrapping Seelie’s face, pausing when Seelie twitched at the feeling of cloth shifting against their lycan face. She went slow but soon revealed the scraps, cuts, and empty eye socket.

   The still empty eye socket.

   Usually, a few days out, there would’ve at least been the glow of ether creating the framework for the new organ. But there wasn’t even a glimmer of it– just the dark brown flesh, flicked with pale blue.

   Tawny leaned forward, placing a paw over the socket to cast diagnose again–

   ‘Before promptly yanking it away, shaking off the bite of cold.

   Grey’s eyes flicked up to meet Tawny’s, his tail curling around his ankle. “Their hands are freezing, too,” he mumbled with a shrug.

   “Seelie, have you ever suffered from ethanemia?”

   “I don’t believe so, no,” Seelie signed after a thoughtful pause. “Not to my knowledge.”

   “And no known allergies?”

   Again, Seelie shook their head– though they didn’t pause this time.

   “Alright,” Tawny nodded, humming thoughtfully. “I’ll look through your medical records, but–”

   “Uhhh, we don’t have any,” Eclipse interjected. “They got lost during the whole Basilisk fiasco. ‘Weren’t focused on grabbing those while we were on fire.”

   Tawny paused, looking over at Eclipse in confusion, before eventually nodding. “...Okay, thanks for telling me. I can’t make a complete diagnosis without a medical history, but I believe you’re having an immune reaction.

   “Have you ever been flagged as immuno-compromised back at the Grove?”

   Again, Seelie went quiet, their thumbs rubbing at their palms in thought.

   They kept thinking, even as Tawny’s ears pinned back.

   “‘Nothing came up unusual at any of your checkups? Nothing that you can remember?”

   Seelie brow furrowed as they suddenly shook their head. “I was never sick– I didn’t need any checkups.”

   The medical tent went dangerously silent.

   Tawny’s heart-shaped eyes sharpened into harsh Vs as she turned to the two Grove travellers. “Is this normal for your Grove?” she asked, still calm as doctors always were, but the sharpness in her voice promised consequences.

   Grey growled, his lips curling back over his teeth. “Absolutely the fuck not.”

   “They dragged me to appointments practically every day when I first showed up,” Eclipse confirmed, glaring at Seelie. “‘Told me to schedule appointments every three months– nagged me for weeks if I tried to skip it.”

   “You’ve never been tested?” Grey hissed, pushing a finger into Seelie’s chest. “Never had blood drawn? ‘Haven’t even spit into a stupid cup?”

   Seelie blinked in confusion, again shaking their head. “I wasn’t sick; I didn’t need to,” they repeated, glancing around at the three furious folk looming over them.

   “Fucking fantastic.” Grey took his hand from Seelie’s chest, pinching at his brow. “Congrats, it’s frostmaidens.”

   Tawny cocked their head to the side, curious, even as her ears still pinned back. “There’s no infection point.”

   “‘Doesn’t have to be,” Grey explained. “It’s endemic in the Grove– most carriers are asymptomatic. It doesn’t do anything on its own– but it puts the immune system into hyperdrive. The immune system kicks in if the sick person is injured, but sometimes, it doesn’t shut off.”

   “Was everyone else infected also an asymptomatic carrier?” Tawny asked, reaching over to scribble some notes onto the chart beside Seele’s bed.

   “Uh, they didn’t have to be,” Grey shrugged. “If the infection was violent, that usually introduces the blight and kicks the immune system into gear, leading to pretty quick presentation. Thank you, Dr. Fiver, for forcing me to take notes,” he muttered at the end.

   Tawny’s brow furrowed as her tongue worried at her teeth. “Should we be worried about other flare-ups in people?”

   “No, you can test for the asymptomatic version– it’s what checkups are for,” Grey paused, growling, before shaking it off. “It can be treated– stopped from progressing into true frostmaiden’s. Most carriers have immunosuppressants on them to take in case of injury. That usually stops it.”

   Beneath them, Seelie blinked, tears still leaking from their remaining eye. They shivered as they ran down their bare face– practically freezing.

   Ah.

   “...I didn’t think I needed to…” Seelie whispered, their shoulders rising up to their cheeks, absorbing some of their tears.

   “And we will DEFINITELY be talking about THAT,” Eclipse hissed, glaring daggers into the chart next to Seelie’s bed, before sighing. “But not right now.

   “Just– focus on getting better, ‘ya dumbass.”

   “...Of course.”