[flashback] sick day

[2goodarms]

A decade isn't enough time for illnesses to evolve from their pre-freeze state. So many of them start the same way they always have: with a chill. A lot of times, people don't even know they're sick. What's feeling a little colder than usual, needing to curl up a little tighter under your allotted blanket?

So Curtis doesn't know, for a good forty-eight hours, until the shivering doesn't quit even after Gilliam loans him two more blankets. As soon as Tanya feels his forehead, he's whisked away to the very back of the Tail, stumbling a little as the train heaves along the tracks. Everything's tilted just a little too far off-kilter, and weaves just a little too sharply whenever they go over a bump. He's grateful when he finally has a chance to sit down.

...Actually, maybe he'll lie down for a bit. Yeah. Just a couple minutes.

Comments

[2goodarms]

The smile dims. "Dunno. I haven't been hungry."

[hate_gettin_older]

"I got your protein block," Edgar says immediately. "Whenever you do get hungry, I guess?"

That's a touch uncertain, and he looks up at Evie as he says it.

[snowpiercer_npcs]

She's frowning slightly as she watches Curtis' face.

"It's probably better if you try to eat now," she says.

[2goodarms]

"'ve gone longer without eating," he mumbles.

(Unnoticed by Curtis, the frown on Evie's face shifts, subtle but clearly perceptible.)

"I'll be okay."

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"No." Her voice regains some of its earlier steel. Turning back to Edgar, "Here. Give me his protein block, then go ask Gilliam if there are any hot water rations left this month."

[hate_gettin_older]

Edgar looks from her to Curtis, jittering slightly again, clearly waiting for his okay.

[2goodarms]

Curtis sighs, very quietly.

"S'okay," he says. "Go."

[hate_gettin_older]

"Gone," he says, drops the protein block on the edge of the next bunk, dodges around the battered cabinet where Evie keeps her scanty supplies, and scoots off for Gilliam's tent at top speed.

[2goodarms]

Curtis watches him go, lets out a longer sigh, and sags further into the rolled-up blanket under his head.

"He's a good kid," he mumbles.

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"Yeah," agrees Evie, just as soft. "I know."

She moves the cloth to his neck, and for a time, everything's quiet.

[hate_gettin_older]

Not for a very long time; it's a bare few minutes before Edgar comes tearing back.

"Gilliam says there's a little left," he reports through gulps of breath. "He asked how much we need and I din't know."

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"We'll be good with a cupful, I think," says Evie. "And a spoon, if you can find one. Something we can use to stir it."

[2goodarms]

Curtis blinks at her, muzzily.

"You said there wasn't any tea," he points out.

[snowpiercer_npcs]

She shakes her head. "Broth. A little protein block in hot water. I've done it before with a couple other patients."

The expression on Curtis's face, even through the fog of illness, makes it clear what he thinks of that idea.

[hate_gettin_older]

"Doesn't sound that bad," Edgar says, uncertain but trying for encouraging.

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"It tastes less...intense than a protein block," Evie decides, more encouraging than uncertain.

[2goodarms]

"Fuuuuuuuck."

That groan makes Curtis sound a good ten years younger. He drags his arm back across his eyes.

"Do I have to?"

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"No, but unless you want to be too weak to stand up once you're better, I strongly recommend it."

[hate_gettin_older]

"Come on," Edgar urges.

And then, with a wicked grin and a lilt to his voice that's a deliberate imitation of a younger Curtis coaxing a much younger Edgar: "I'll eat some if you eat some."

[2goodarms]

"Oh my god, fuck off," says Curtis, but a weak croak of laughter punctuates the words. "If I wasn't sick I'd smack you."

[hate_gettin_older]

Edgar's snickering, but it's at least partly out of relief.

(If he can make Curtis laugh then things aren't so bad.)

"I'll go find a spoon then?" he says to Evie.

[2goodarms]

Evie nods.

"Yeah," says Curtis; he's still smiling a little. "Go find a spoon. Let's get this over with."

[hate_gettin_older]

What Edgar comes back with, some ten or fifteen minutes later, is a crude bowl made from the hacked-off bottom of a plastic jug.

"No spoons," he says, "but Sareet says they've been using these to mash up protein blocks for babies," and holds out a section of metal pipe, narrow and heavy.

[snowpiercer_npcs]

"That'll work," says Evie, accepting both the pipe and the bowl. "Thank you. Can you hand me the protein block?"

With effort, Curtis lifts his head just enough to take in the proceedings, then sinks back down with a muffled groan.

[hate_gettin_older]

He does, and then perches on the edge of the counter to watch what Evie's doing.

It isn't often he gets the chance to see anything he hasn't seen a thousand times already. Even if he's never likely to need to know how to turn a protein block into broth, it's still interesting.