playthedamncard | 'learn you some self care, bitch' - prophesis at some point, probably, internally

'learn you some self care, bitch' - prophesis at some point, probably, internally

[No one has ever accused Seto Kaiba of laziness. He has a whole company of dedicated employees, but he works just as hard as anyone. Genuine work, not just sitting around Being Important. It's the only way he knows how to exist.

Which occasionally presents a problem.

Are his people encouraged to take their PTO? Damn right they are. Parental leave covered? Of course, what country do you take this for, America? His people are well cared for, even if he occasionally snaps at them in the heat of the moment. He demands the best, especially out of those closest to his most important works. Shame he's never learned to heed his own advice.

When Mokuba worriedly suggested he looked a little run down, he naturally said it was fine, just a little tired, nothing some sleep and a dose of vitamins won't fix. When the truth was that he'd been feeling a little more than just run down all day. Slower than usual. Less focused. Exhausted by nothing.

He doesn't have time for that. He's got kickboxing after a booked two hours of going over the improved Solid Vision codepush before it goes live, and that's after several board meetings about quarterly funds and stocks and some new ideas for commercial branding, not to mention he's got a public appearance regarding an expansion to KaibaLand that he absolutely cannot be looking 'a little run down' for, so...he just...can't. He has to be at 100%. Anything less is unacceptable.

So naturally his condition doesn't improve by morning. His condition has considerably worsened. He raids the medicine cabinet to take a few things that individually should help ease some symptoms but also probably should not be taken together, and spends as much time on makeup to hide the pale pallor of his skin or the darkness under his eyes as he can before that's just too much concentration. Nibbles on a piece of fruit and calls it breakfast because he can't imagine stomaching much else. His body aches, and every step feels like a chore, much less standing rigidly straight, but he does it. Powers on. He has to keep going, because he doesn't have a choice, because he has to give his all, in everything, all of the time, or what is the point?

He does not quite make it to the front door before he quite suddenly is left wondering if the carpet under his cheek is merely worn from use or if it could use a deep clean. It's the last semi-coherent thought he can remember having.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There's a whole messy flurry of motion and noise that he is vaguely aware of. Which is awful, but not as awful as the pounding in his head. Or his chest. How heavy everything feels.

And then he mostly stops existing at some point. Out like a light. If he dreams, they're cloudy and easily forgotten when he does stir back into wakefulness. Not necessarily into coherence, but hey, his eyes do blink open. Everything feels like shit, except for the coolness on his face. That feels nice. Doesn't keep him from making an annoyed groan and weakly raising, then dropping again, a hand as if to wave off the help.]

'm fine, Isono, gotta get to the presentation-

[You know, the important things. He blinks the bleariness away. That is not Isono.]

...Why're you in my house?

Lie still, Seto.

[ Her voice is soft, and not without compassion - but also will not be contradicted. This poor boy. He's so like Marik, and nothing like Marik at all, isn't he? When Marik feels even slightly ill he behaves like he's bedridden, so people will take care of him.

And he does need people to take care of him.

Ishizu tries to brush Kaiba's hair back into place with the towel, in case he's particular about having it tousled. Marik is. (So is she.) ]

[This is suddenly so damn surreal that he's not even worried about his hair. This seems like his master bedroom. Is he still dreaming? Why would he dream of Ishizu? This better not be another vision.

He does do the unwise thing of trying to be contradictory, stirring enough to make a...brief attempt at sitting up under his own power. Nnnnnope, no, that's not happening. Okay. Maybe listen to the figure that's actually upright.

Unless.]

Oh, fuck. [language-] Am I dead? Is this a weird afterlife? [No, honey, you just feel like death.]

Everything will become clear if you let yourself rest.

[ And there's every inch of his face wiped. She stands to take this towel back to the sink, and yes, Ishizu Ishtar is both in your house and knows where you keep everything already.

While she does so: ]

I do assure you you're alive. Though through no efforts of your own.

[ Bad Seto. Bad. Working yourself to exhaustion and then Saying A Swear. What an unruly boy. ]

Wait. But. I have...things to do.

[He's so??? confused??? And someone has to be to blame for this. There are a few people off the cuff he can think of who is To Blame.]

Did Marik do something? [If Ishizu is involved: blame Marik. He always does something.]

You trust my brother so little?

[ .....Understandable, honestly. But she has to almost - laugh at it, anyway. And...let's see. What does he need next.

Well, she predicts she will need some empirical proof of his condition. Let us retrieve a thermometer, come back to sit by his bedside and watch over him. ]

Did hijack my tournament. Tried to kill people. Several times. [So, a normal Sunday in this world.] Kinda kills trust.

[There's a good old thermometer, and he cringes. Not that sticking it under his tongue is going to hurt, just...the implication that he's sick. He can't! be sick! says the teenager whose body has decided that continued existence is impossible at this rate. But he'll take it anyway. And speak around it because of course he does, brat.]

You're in my house. [To come back around to this salient point.]

I am. [ Stay still, please. There we go....

Oh, dear. Ishizu actually blinks when she looks at what the display on that thermometer is doing. You are in some deep distress, young man. ]

Why're you in my house. How'd you get in my house. [Who called her and who let her in! He could probably figure it out if everything wasn't so fuzzy. Like his brain's sloshing around inside. If she put her ear up to his ear, she might be able to hear the ocean.]

I have work to do.

[The most important thing!]

You have a fever. [ The thermometer beeps, and Ishizu presents her young realist with the results. ]

If you push yourself now, you'll do your work poorly. You must rest.

[ And then, as he has inquired several times: ] I am here to ensure this outcome.

... [Well. That sure is a number. That he doesn't want to see. Empirical evidence 1, Kaiba's pride 0. He sinks a little further into his pillows.] What do you care if my work gets done poorly?

I don't. But you do.

[ Ishizu lays the thermometer aside, ready for the next time her patient requires convincing. ] And I care about you.

[ Hasn't she always? Hasn't everything she's done worked, in its own way, for the good of Seto Kaiba....

(......by Ishizu Ishtar's definition thereof?) ]

Since when?

[It sounds needlessly callous even to him, but he feels like he should be forgiven for it. Everything hurts. His body is rebelling. He has to rely on other people to get shit done.

Still, he has the wherewithal to look a little sheepish about the question, somewhere past his deathly pallor.

Someone who isn't family who cares enough to be here, somehow, to attempt to help him. It's...unusual.]

Always.

[ She says it easily, as easily and sincerely as she'd offered him his trust.

Then she changes the subject, because Ishtars are incapable of not being multiple flavors of insufferable simultaneously. ] You should eat something.

[...Oh.

Clearly it's the illness that makes him feeling a certain odd and unidentifiable way about that.]

Nng. [Very articulate when he's down for the count.] Not hungry. [Get you some calories, damn it, coffee does not count for shit!]

Malnutrition worsens illness.

[ This is a fact and is not up for debate. Ishizu leans over the bed, reaching for the covers...

....to tuck Seto in. Nice and cozy, and going nowhere, do you understand, young man. ] I'll bring you food.

'm not a child.

[Don't worry, big sis, he ain't going nowhere. Muscles? Jelly. Bones? Molasses. If he ever tries to get out of bed, he'd just slither down to the floor like a liquid.]

[ He's so ill. So ill, and so defiant despite it. Whatever in his temperament forbids him to accept situations as they are...it only hurts him.

Clearly this line of protest must be snipped in the bud. ]

Have you looked after yourself with the foresight of an adult?

[ And on that, she glides to go fetch a meal. ]

[Sometimes adults get sick!!! Just. He doesn't get sick. Because there's too much to do. And he's healthy! He stays in shape and at least makes a good attempt at getting all the nutrients he requires.

Uuuuuuuugh, this sucks.

The nice thing about being in a mansion is that there are people who work in it. So Ishizu doesn't have to do any food-making herself. She just...needs Mokuba to do the actual ordering. A strong presence she may have, but this is the Kaiba mansion, and a Kaiba she is not. Thankfully for everyone, Mokuba is a hovering worrywart about his brother who definitely wasn't just waiting pacing outside the door or anything, ready with questions about how he is and what needs done and and and-]

[ Ishizu has had Mokuba for fifteen seconds but if anything ever happened to him she would foretell the deaths of everyone in this room and then herself.

A simple, filling meal seems best at this time, so she explains what she needs. Then she confides in him, sibling-to-sibling, with plenty of reassurances about how all shall be well. The only concern is whether the patient himself will behave in a manner that helps or hinder his progress -

but with Mokuba helping her look after Seto, they've nothing to fear. ]

[Seto does everything to take care of Mokuba. So it's only fair to help in return! Especially since he works so hard. And doesn't...like accepting help. ...But that's okay, because he doesn't really have a choice in the matter this time!

So he hangs out in the kitchen, and lets her hang out as well, because she's a big sibling who seems to know what she's doing even when she can't see the future. Some simple if hearty soup. Applesauce. Toast. With actual water, not coffee, not a protein shake, not even tea, just. water. Hope she doesn't mind a nice young man chattering at her. Actually asking about the family while they wait. Because he has nervous energy and there's a guest.]

[ It's like being around Marik, in the days before the initiation. Ishizu finds herself....aching?...and smiling at the same time. Does she envy Seto...?

No, she's simply so glad for him. He has this sunbeam in his life. And she knows he recognizes its worth.

Her family is well, Mokuba. Marik is helping her by traveling the world to lecture on ancient Egypt, and Rishid looks after him. When they are all together in their home in Cairo, they show her pictures of where they've been, and sometimes come to watch her observe excavations.

You were an excellent site overseer, by the way, young man. She was quite impressed with how respectful you and your workers were of the...dig....you completed.

Now, do you think Seto would like some cinnamon on his toast? ]

[Do you want to see a small puffball swell up with pride? Because he definitely does. He will perhaps wisely refrain from retelling the story about headbutting a dangerous magical asshole off a small dangling case he was riding into the sky. Even though that's definitely the best part of the whole thing.

Cinnamon yes. It'll be like breakfast in bed, only under less than ideal circumstances. It's the thought that counts...? Definitely that. Seto will.........maybe appreciate it!

If Miss Ishizu needs anything! All she needs to do is speak up!]

[ Miss Ishizu will keep that in mind. It's quite reassuring.

She slips back into the room with the tray, closing the door crisply behind herself. ]

Your young doctor is quite conscientious.

[ ...is it selfish to wish to bask in the glow of speaking to the child a little longer? To hope, for multiple reasons, that when she looks over at Seto, he will be exactly as she left him? ]

[Not exactly! He has a phone in hand. Given the way he's squinting at the screen, it's probably not good for his eyes to have light shining in his face, but he's trying! To text!]

I don't have a young-... [seto.exe is being slowed by other running applications] Mokuba? [There you go, kiddo.]

[ Excuse her as she slides this tray beneath that work she is definitely not judging you for doing, Seto. ]

He cares deeply. You must be proud.

[ The patient must still be so clumsy and groggy. Soup might be difficult to eat solo. She suspects he will wish to make an attempt, however, so Ishizu should...accommodate.

Here is a napkin bib for you. Someone in this room is sucking all the dignity out of it with the sheer elegance of her demeanor and there is none left for anybody else. ]

[At least he's in a more sitting up so as not to choke on anything nor drop his phone straight on his face position. That's something. Be proud of that much.]

He's the best.

[...And then she's just tucking a napkin in and if he weren't already that awful almost greyish color, he would probably be red from sheer embarrassment. It at least gets him to put the phone down. He wasn't sure if he was spelling words right anyway.]

I'm not paying you. [Just. Cuz like. That's a thing servants do? The things she is doing.]

[ She could, Ishizu supposes, inform him she never expected him to. It's the truth. But...oh, child. Child. Child. ]

You've yet to grasp the circumstances.

[ Very well. She shall explain to him, in full, why she is here. While getting the food ready for him. Here is your spoon, Seto. Take it, if you would be so kind. ]

I came here upon deducing your illness because I suspected you hadn't cared for yourself properly. And you might require aid in so doing.

[ She looks him up and down, with a pointed extra glance for the phone. ]

It seems my predictions were correct.

[There isn't much he can do to stop her. Though he'd only want to out of pride. Everything happening right now is just...happening, and he's mostly just along for the ride.]

I've got people to help.

[Uh-huh, and do you let them help outside of gathering you up off the floor to set into bed? He looks at the helping of food and frowns. Feed a fever, is that it? Everything hurts and everything is both too hot and too cold at the same time. How can he be both burning up and shivering? Stupid bodies. But yes, of course he's going to attempt eating by himself. He's a big boy. Applesauce seems innocuous enough to start with. Even if he holds to spoon a little awkwardly, a little heavy, like a child just learning how to use utensils. But he's gonna do it or die trying!!!]

'm not your brother.

[Just pointing that out.]

I'm aware.

[ For one thing, her brother would be demanding she feed him.

Instead she shall sit here, ready to observe and assist if needed. Please don't drip on yourself, Seto, you'll make such a mess of your nice bed. ]

[He has other sheets! It's fine! It'll be fine! Stop watching him! It's weird! You're weird!

Getting spoon down, easy. Getting spoon back up, that requires a little more. He does not go face first into his food, but he does lean over in what might seem a precarious way just to make the distance between food and face much shorter. Still exhausting though. He does look like he could nod off right into the soup if he's not careful, and that would be even worse. But one bit of food is down, so...good...job?]

Don't have to watch me. [probably she does though]

[ Indeed, Ishizu remains unmoved. ] If I don't, you'll push yourself.

[ She will lower her gaze, at least, to respect his self-consciousness, but - oh, dear, she is too used to Marik. One of her hands is itching to help him with that. To take the spoon and...just....

Ishizu grabs her right hand with her left. One more chance. Give him one more chance. It's important for the children to do things themselves. She mustn't.

But he doesn't look comfortable, and that hurts to watch. ]

I always push myself.

[Which is true. And the problem. He's so focused on make spoon go down make spoon come up consume that he does not have any attention left for whatever Ishizu may or may not be doing.

Until finally he just. can't. His arm feels like lead, and he's exhausting himself just from the act of feeding himself, and his arm just lays there on the tray like a traitor. He, slowly, sits himself back into a more upright position with a groan. This...sucks, and he's barely actually eaten anything. This sucks!]

[ Ishizu's heart just about breaks. Oh, Seto.....

She can't resist any longer. Forward she leans, taking up that abandoned spoon. She fills it with soup, about halfway - not too much, not so much that sipping it will overwhelm him - and brings it to his lips. ]

Open your mouth.

[He's a smart boy. He knows food is good for him, especially when sick. He knows this. It's probably better if he looks too sick to have any kind of embarrassed blush blooming on his face.]

Not hungry.

[This is. the worst. It could be worse - Ishizu is not going to hold this over him, is not going to threaten him in any way. She's shockingly genuine. And yet pride won't let him just let this happen.]

It wasn't a request.

[ You are too weary to feed yourself, sir. You no longer get a say. Ishizu does not raise her voice. But she also does not budge.

Open. Your. Mouth. ]

[He's petulant and prideful, but he's too achy and tired to keep it up for long. He does, however, do his best to scowl about it first. Just to make sure she knows that he does not like being given orders or given no choice.

...Soup smells good though...so, fine, okay, whatever, they're both stubborn, but she has more energy to keep the stubborn streak up. He obliges. Even if he doesn't like it.]

[ Well done. Ishizu nestles the spoon carefully against Seto's lips, tilts in the contents nice and slow so as not to overwhelm or burn him. When she's finished, she withdraws and refills, repeats...

Oh, a drop is nestling in the curve of his lip. She places the spoon down briefly to daub that away with a napkin.

Her poor boy. Her poor proud weary boy. He's raised himself from nothing, but he's done so nearly all alone. Trying to be the strong one for his sibling. Unwilling to embrace his greater part in the whole of fate, even if it would connect him to others.

Ishizu's expression is downright maternal, and somewhat wistful. He doesn't have to carry that load all alone. Let her.

Let her, Seto. Please. ]

[She's doing everything, and there might be some small teeny tiny part of him that's grateful, just so he can relax, even if relaxing is the enemy-

But also she's doing everything, and it just seems so wrong. Even if soup good. After a couple of spoonfuls and a dab of napkin, he gives a little shake of his head.]

You're not my mom. You don't have to do this.

[ Stubborn boy! But Ishizu only relents to stubborn boys who try different tactics. Against this one, she can stand firm.

If you don't wish for further soup, sir, please eat this toast. ]

Be at ease, Seto.

[ See, with toast, you get to bite it yourself. Does that make you feel more powerful? She is trying to be considerate.

....Though. ]

Everyone has burdens they cannot shoulder alone. We do not necessarily have to take on each other's pain - [ and if Rishid suddenly needs to repress a sneeze, so be it; she worries about him, too ] - but support from others unlocks strength within ourselves, as well.

[ He needs to feel an active part so badly, doesn't he? And yet he fights his fate. Self-made man, you have taught her many things. Yet even your problems are of your own making. ] Please entrust your wellness to me. You will be ensuring your own recovery.

[...yes the toast makes him feel a little better. He'll even hold it! It's not a spoon it's not awkward in his heavy hand and all he has to do is hold it in place. And it's his other hand anyway so it's not even the tired arm! He will nibble toast. Under his own power. For now. How long is anyone's guess.]

I don't think being my nurse is going to unlock some kind of hidden strength in me.

[He's pretty sure his strength is hovering at near 0 as it is anyway, but as ever, she's not exactly being literal.]

Could've taken me to a hospital. Called doctors to come over. [ma'am do you have a license]

Would you wish me to?

[ ...Yet he has a point. Ishizu had barely considered the idea anyone but she would care for him. She had realized his circumstances, and acted.

....Fate guiding her, perhaps. In which case there may be some significance to this incident. Or....?

Or the same factor was at play then as there is now, watching him feed himself and hoping he likes the cinnamon. It is not merely being taken care of to which Seto Kaiba objects, is it? He is attempting to understand why it's her. Why it's Ishizu Ishtar.

Frankly, Ishizu Ishtar would also like to know. Surely she cannot - she cannot be hiding something from herself. Not when she knows the sorrow that brings. ]

If I was actively dying, yeah.

[Which he isn't, arguably. He's just...sick. He nibbles at the toast (mm, cinnamon, good call) what might be called thoughtfully, using the brain cells that aren't burnt out to consider the situation and Ishizu's presence, her answers to his persistent questions and pestering. His tired eyes gaze over at her, and, yes, he could use a couple days of sleep, but he's still present (at present).]

Why are you here? [He's asked it before, but he's asking it again, because he wants an answer that isn't 'taking care of you doofus'. Because yeah, no shit, he can see that. But she does not have to be here in his bedroom hovering over him. He hesitates with his next bite.] Do you even know?

[ He saw through - or was it a guess? Either way, she supposes she can't be surprised. Seto Kaiba was always good at defying expectations, at sensing how best to disrupt her plays at the last moment. Doing exactly as anticipated until she's caught wrong-footed...

She's avoiding the question. Ishizu is every bit as strict a disciplinarian with herself as she is with others. She turns her gaze inward, considers the question. Why is she.....? ]

Seto.

[ Oh, this is impermissible, this is selfish, this is terrible of her. All she can think is that it must be her, that she cannot possibly entrust him to anyone else. That somewhere along debates over destiny, Seto Kaiba became her responsibility in her mind, and Ishizu Ishtar is nothing if not dutiful. ]

I am here because...

[ She is being ridiculous. But she cannot leave his care to others. She must not.

She....will?....not? ]

[In another time, with more energy, he might have laughed in her face. Oh, Ishizu, the seer, who eerily knows nearly all - doesn't know something? Can pluck at the strings of his mind and heart as though he were an open book, but can't look at herself? It's funny.

It's not really funny.

She struggles, and somehow, that's satisfactory. Not so much, perhaps, that she's struggling, but that her attempt at answering his questions means, in one way or another, she's telling him honestly that he doesn't know. Maybe she needs more time to figure it out. Maybe, even without The Powers That Be pulling them around, something is out there guiding her. (Not him. Can't be him. He guides himself.)

But whatever the case, he is satisfied. Or at least, finds this acceptable. He sets the rest of the toast down, apparently done with it for the moment, and observes the spread in front of him rather than continuing to stare her down.]

I'd like more soup, please.

[He's even polite about it. Is...is this a reward?]

[ ....Satisfied with his opponent at a loss, or simply satisfied an attempt was made and she is sincere? Or attempting to guide her hand towards his desired behavior?

Ishizu will let him play his power game if it gets food into his body, however. The necessity of that, she feels with absolute clarity.

Once more, the spoon. ] It's hot.

[ So be careful. Here you are, you darling shining boy.

...It is peculiar how right this feels. He is the reincarnation of her Pharaoh's best friend, a mighty priest, and yet....

Somewhere along realizing she has built visions for herself of her reading some of her favorite ancient texts to him in bed, the way she used to read to Marik when he felt unwell and fussed, Ishizu begins to suspect she may be projecting a tad. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

'learn you some self care, bitch' - prophesis at some point, probably, internally

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject