[center][h1][color=5486ae][b]John[/b][/color] & [color=#758173][b]Mina[/b][/color][/h1][/center] [hr] [color=5486ae]”Well…”[/color] John gave a slight chuckle and a sideways glance as Mina took the handkerchief from his hand. [color=5486ae]”My schedule is always welcome.”[/color] He then glanced away as she was doing her thing. His words caused Mina to give a pause in what she was doing, glancing at him with an inquisitive smirk. He crossed his hands at the back,giving any weird looks and gossips a cold glare, waiting for either Mina to finish or the carriage to arrive. Both seemed to come at roughly the same time. [color=5486ae]”Yeah, I’d agree, though it’s probably different for me than for you.”[/color] John gave a rather faint smile, as the carriage stopped. Before the driver needed to hop down to service his guests, John already opened the door and handed the driver the destination and his payment. Before long, he was in the carriage, sitting next to Mina when she asked about the blood sample. [color=5486ae]”Oh for sure. It’s been a while since I met your uncle, hope nothing’s up with him.”[/color] Mina couldn’t contain the small laugh at John’s last words, trying to figure out what the best response would be. [color=#758173]”Well I suppose strange things have been happening with me for a while and my uncle’s condition isn’t devoid of that.”[/color] She finally said, now unbuttoning her sleeves and rolling them up some. She seemed to relax a bit more, now out of the prying eyes of the public. [color=#758173]”While he has good days and bad days, the bad days are beginning to happen more often. The sunlight sensitivity seems to worsen on his bad days, he becomes rather irritable, and even I rarely see him anymore when those days are upon us.”[/color] She finally said with a sigh, glancing at John with a solemn smile. [color=5486ae]”Well, that’s never good to hear.”[/color] John crossed his arms upon Mina saying, his casual friendliness earlier noticeably vanishing. [color=#758173]”So I’ve begun closely monitoring his vitals on those bad days and recently have been taking weekly blood samples to examine myself. Obviously I’m no doctor, but I’ve found something curious and honestly you’re the only person, let alone doctor, I feel I can trust with this.”[/color] Hmm, it’s back to the whole blood sample. He did tell Mina about how to take blood samples, yes, but that was a while ago when he was still living in Kolonivka. She did ask for specifics recently, which he didn’t really pay much thought over other than the thorough technical description. But now that she said it, he was the only person she could trust. He really felt honored that this was the case, especially for someone of status and connection like Mina, who had no shortage of close confidants, and that often included the person who probably should have known this info before he did. [color=5486ae]”For sure, discretion shall be kept in my veins.”[/color] He said, tapping his index finger a couple times on his thigh. [color=5486ae]”But your uncle’s physician, who were they…Dr. Igor, right? Do they know this information?”[/color] A soft smile graced Mina’s lips before she reached over and squeezed John’s hand. [color=#758173]”Thank you John, I truly appreciate you being discreet.”[/color] At the mention of Dr. Igor, however, a scene flashed in her mind. The older man had been berating Mina for taking some matters into her own hands, despite her attempting to share it with him. Her uncle had overheard the whole thing and an unusual burst of anger overtook him. [color=#758173]”Ah, Dr. Igor unfortunately resigned after a small accident befell him several months ago. I’ve been the sole caretaker of my uncle since then.”[/color] She said with a sad sigh, not revealing much more than that. [color=#758173]”He was gracious enough to leave me with some of his medical supplies, though, since it’s so hard for us to get good doctors willing to move to Kolonivka.”[/color] [color=5486ae][i]’That’s a weird way of putting it.’[/i][/color] Was what John thought as he heard of what happened. But he too left at that, as Igor was just a local physician and not a part of the Institute, and they didn’t meet that much, so he couldn’t know exactly what happened there. [color=5486ae]”Well that sucks. There really needs to be more development for Krasivaya. They aren’t getting enough attention.”[/color] John said, rolling his eyes a little, but returned back to the topic at hand. [color=5486ae]”Yeah, I’ll take a look. But the topic of importance right now is you. What were you doing in the execution arena there to be like that?”[/color] [color=#758173]”Agreed.”[/color] Mina said simply in response to development, she truly was all for developing her lands more and planned to focus more on that once she became countess. For now, though, she was rather preoccupied in keeping the peace and caring for her uncle. He moved the conversation on to the execution and why she was there. She thought for a moment on how to respond. [color=#758173]”I was there merely out of curiosity, I suppose. An execution with no explanation of the crime, I found it quite curious. Besides, it’s always good to know what crimes other kingdoms are dealing with in case it happens in your own, wouldn’t you agree?”[/color] She explained, actually being rather truthful. She did leave out her initial suspicion of magic being involved. [color=#758173]”It ended up being quite a bit more intense than I’d anticipated. For one, it was far warmer than I’d thought it would be. Then there was the actual execution. The man was absolutely mad and something…nefarious seemed to be at work there.”[/color] [color=5486ae]”I guess yeah.”[/color] In the world of politicking, it was probably so. Though for John he’d probably be fine shifting through the paperwork that accompanied these crime cases, but executions are perhaps the most obvious and exciting. He listened to her observation with a little bit of skepticism. Not for her words, her words he had no doubts about, but its implications. A warmer stage could mean a lot of things, from poor crowd control to ventilation, and a madman…well he had been a Caesonian once… [color=5486ae]”That could mean a lot, but I guess we’ll see when we get back to the guest house.”[/color] He said, something which they were not that far away from. Very soon, the carriage arrived outside the guesthouse yard, and John, like usual, took the initiative and went ahead. He asked a maid for the usual items he’d need delivered to a vacant empty bedroom. [color=5486ae]”Alright, let’s help ourselves.”[/color] John said, inviting her to sit on the bed. [color=5486ae]”How are you feeling exactly? From then till now. You can be honest with me.”[/color] Mina had a request of her own of the maid, instructing her to bring her a box from her room. In said box was the blood sample she’d mentioned to John earlier. For now, however, she needed to let John do his examination. So she listened to him, taking a seat on the bed and even getting a bit comfortable by leaning back. [color=#758173]”Well…”[/color] She began to ponder, thinking of exactly what had all happened. [color=#758173]”I felt completely fine at first, I was speaking with Leo about the execution as it began. It wasn’t until the execution began that the headache hit. I felt compelled at that moment to catch the eye of the dying man and that’s when it all went black.”[/color] She went on to say, speaking the truth…for the most part. [color=#758173]”After that I saw a memory of me as a little kid with a friend and my mother. Then I woke up and everyone was freaking out. I felt dizzy and weak and frankly quite parched, which is still how I’m feeling honestly.”[/color] She explained with a small sigh. [color=5486ae]”That’s…”[/color] Oddly specific timing...it is quite odd that it happened like that. Could that just be a complete coincidence? It better be so. It basically checked out with the other list of what seemed to happen. The servant arrived at the room with a tray with two cups and a jar of cool water. As soon as the servant left, the doctor touched the jar with the back of his hand, making sure the water was relatively cool and not freezing. Then he poured both of them a cup, though Mina’s more full than his, considering she probably needed more of them. [color=5486ae]”If heat is just the issue, this should help after a while.”[/color] He took a sip of water before taking out a white fountain pen to write down a few things in the blank sheet of paper he had in his pocket, seemingly a checklist of sorts. Then, he raised a hand a little bit, with a little hesitation and a request. [color=5486ae]”If you don’t mind.”[/color] While John was pouring the water, Mina tucked the box the servant had brought her beside her. She would wait for an appropriate time to present it to John, but for now she took the water and took a sip herself. The cool liquid was quite refreshing, not having realized how thirsty she actually was. [color=#758173]”Be my guest.”[/color] She responded as she leaned in a bit closer. Gently, he laid his palm on her forehead before leaning forward and laying his forehead on the same hand’s wrist, so as to compare the temperature. It was close enough that she could feel the warmth from him as well. Mina sat silent for a few moments, simply watching John, his closeness not going unnoticed by her. He would likely find that she was a bit cooler to the touch than he’d probably expected, but she’d always run on the cooler side when it came to her temperature. She always figured it was because she came from such a cool climate, but John didn’t share it. His brows twisted in confusion but took his time to write it down carefully… [color=#758173]”Well Doctor, what’s your assessment? Perhaps I need mouth to mou-”[/color] She began to say teasingly, eyes trailing over his face, his lips. She was cut off, however, by a sharp pain in her head and she sucked in a breath as she winced. [color=#758173]”That damn headache is back.”[/color] She said through gritted teeth, her eyes clamped shut for a moment as she waited for the pain to pass. John almost dropped the note he was writing on, as he rushed back over to her side, an arm around her shoulders. Almost as quickly as it had come on the pain seemed to subside and Mina slowly opened her eyes. [color=#758173]”You know this is exactly how my mother’s so-called madness began. Headaches and fainting spells. Perhaps I am to end up just like her.”[/color] She said with a small laugh, but she couldn’t hide the moment of fear she felt at the thought. John’s eyes drooped down as he looked away, trying to hide away the worries he had for his friend. Everything he had been suspicious of recently - the Varian nobles the previous day, this weird execution, what Mina was going through, and now her mother’s story, something she had not really talked about until now - he was trying to dance around the uncomfortable possibility. Maybe it is time that he gave it the light that it deserved. Like she once said… [color=16c2d5][i]“The tears only flow when the coffins are closed.”[/i][/color] Those close to him might be at risk at the moment… [color=5486ae]”Give me a second.”[/color] John stood up from his bed and headed over once again to the items that he requested. Two of the things he took out were both small canisters, but one that were difficult to notice was instead coming from his chest pocket. He handed both over to Mina. [color=5486ae]”This one helps with headaches. It’s relatively harmless to have, but save it for what happens earlier. Just brew two teaspoon with warm water, just like how we have tea.”[/color] If she were to look inside, both are powder-like, but one is very visibly red and smelled pretty spicy. That one he handed afterwards. [color=5486ae]”If your symptoms don’t go away, have this one, three teaspoons, and three salt teaspoons. It will be hard to drink at first, but it'll dampen these fainting spells.”[/color] [color=5486ae]”That’s pretty much what I have for my assessment…”[/color] John said with a sigh. It was still a bit hard to take, and especially more so for Mina. He knew that nauseating moment; he knew how everyone whom he treated had felt. [color=5486ae]”Oh and…it’s not really that effective, but…”[/color] And so he leaned in for a kiss on her forehead. A soft touch that lasted for only a brief moment. [color=5486ae]”Everything will be alright. Sometimes…madness can be beaten.”[/color] An unexpected warmth bloomed in Mina’s chest as he kissed her forehead and his words only furthered that. He was giving her hope, the hope that she wouldn’t end up like her mother. It was a comfort she hadn’t realized she needed. So, setting the two small canisters on her lap, she reached up and gently touched his cheek before placing a kiss of her own on the other cheek. [color=#758173]”Thank you, John. You’ve always been a wonderful friend and I’m happy I have you to rely on.”[/color]