Blight turned to stare at Bug as the voices echoed. "STOP, Aunt Bug!" he complained, loudly. And then he shook himself, doglike, as he peered back down Tunnel J. "I dunno but don't eat 'em. They have my sick," he explained.

He then fell silent, staring out, concentrating.

Okay, so he wanted... his sickness, to all come together and to chase down that bastard who'd hurt his father. I'm gonna get you, he thought, savagely, fierce determination driving him.

Blight wasn't really familiar with chrysalises; he didn't realize that, even if his whatever-he-was-going-to-do was potentially fatal, it'd probably just drive the Orthoclase back into its gemstone to heal. And that was a best case scenario. Worst, it might just make it sick for awhile. He just knew that he wanted to hurt it--and kill it--and that his weapon was disease.

The little dragon focused, for a long moment, concentrating on his magicka, on Orthoclase, on Canis.

Almost at once he... began to feel sick. That-... that wasn't good.

"...Uhoh," was all he said, aloud.

Blight has infected himself with some worms. In his gut. Yuck.

Dark
!1L[heart, gut, brain, eyes, muscle]

dice overlord
gut

"...What 'uhoh?' -What do you mean, uh-oh?!" Bug demanded, springing to her feet. It wasn't out of concern, though--her little paws were rapidly backing away from the dragon.

"What'd you do? Blight, what'd you do?! Did you make me sick?"

Her voice was growing a little shrill, panicked, and her ember eyes were round as saucers. Her fur, even, was puffing up around her spine-scales as she stared.

What had he done..?

Warning: worms

Blight glared at Bug a little balefully.

Then he burped, a brief, miserable sound, and cowered his wings against himself. "Not you," he retorted, and--reminding himself that they weren't siblings, that she was his aunt and needed respect--bit back the insult that threatened at the tip of his tongue. She wasn't even worried about him.

"Even if I did make you sick, I could fix it," he added sullenly. But-... could he? He wasn't so sure he could fix whatever he'd just done to himself. He felt bad, like his gut was churning, and he didn't like it one bit.

"...I'm gonna try again, anyway. You don't have to stay here," he added--but he sort of hoped she did.

After a long moment--and another wincing burp--the little dragon tried again.

This time there was a flicker of magic, and Blight... threw up.

It was the first time he'd ever puked, and he wasn't aware that there were more parasites roiling and churning through his own gut, probably reproducing. But he did hawk up a nasty, writhing white little worm of his own, and grimaced, leaping back. "EWWW!"

He'd thought he'd make Alpha sick. He hadn't--and he watched the worm rapidly inch and thrash its way down into Tunnel J, vanishing very quickly among the discarded armor scraps there--expected a BUG to come out! A-... REAL bug!

"IT'S A BUG!" he squealed.

Dark
!1L[heart, gut, brain, eyes, muscle]

dice overlord
eyes

Bug stared after the parasite.

"Blight..? That is. So gross. ...Kind of cool but SO gross," she repeated, scrunching up her nose.

Disgusting.

She glanced back to him. He didn't look all that well, sort of hunched and paler than usual, and she tilted her feline head. "You okay, buddy?" she asked, though she wasn't really sure what she could do if he wasn't.

She was also, now--suddenly--doubting her name very strongly. "That was a worm, not a bug," Bug protested, but there wasn't a lot of vehemence in it.

Blight hunkered down, the feeling of unwellness swimming through him. He focused again, briefly causing the beneficial bacteria in his gut to flourish--it made him feel somewhat better, but not, really, a whole lot.

"I think it'll go after it, anyway. For hurting Dad," Blight explained, huddling his wings close around him. A grimace twisted his face. "...My stomach hurts. You can go, though. You can't help. I'll watch."

There was a faintly plaintive touch to his tone, though.

He sort of wanted Dad.

Bug eyed Blight.

He was gross, with flies, and sick. But he was miserable, too. She wanted to be off playing and exploring, and she wasn't, at all, normally the selfless sort. But... she didn't want to leave him, here, not like this.

The cat-dragon sighed, exasperated (she didn't have to be graceful in defeat).

"I'm not leaving you here like this, you dummy. I'll stay, but don't make yourself sick again. You said you like fur? C'mere. Just don't try and take mine," she added.

A moment later the cat-dragon was curled up against him, offering him her warmth.

"I'm going to sleep, though," she added.

exit Bug

He wouldn't have wanted to admit it, but he was grateful. As much as he wasn't really close to Bug anymore, she was still nice to him, sometimes--like when it mattered.

Like now.

She was warm--hot, even--and he curled his slightly-larger, furless hide against her pelt. It would be hard not to drift off to sleep, himself, but he lay there fidgeting and miserable--and wondering where the worm had gone. Would it really find Alpha-? He could only hope so.

For now, Blight was left pondering his own mistakes. Like how he'd manage to sicken himself.

And just what he could do to fix it.

exit Blight