You Brought This On Yourself

[Meredith Prophet]

"You brought this on yourself, you won't get any sympathy from me," Meredith repeated to her son for the sixteenth time, rustling her newspaper.
Sam looked over at her from the seat next to her through wide sorrowful eyes. The skin of his face was raw and red, having broken out in a big rash from where he'd been messing around in her potions supplies.
She coughed slightly, eyes scanning the newspaper, trying her best to ignore him.
"Mu-um..." He croaked at her.
She closed her eyes, unable to resist the temptation. It was hard to remain angry that he'd gone through her things and made himself ill when he was in fact ill, and the maternal instinct to mother him was too hard to ignore.
She set her newspaper aside, and stroked the hair back off her son's forehead, "The healer will see you soon."
He burried his head into her shoulder and she wrapped an arm round his shoulder.

[Chance Gracieux]

“And this is why you don’t go touching strange plants or other objects that you find in the magical world,” I mutter out the corner of my mouth to my little sister River, hand on her back as I guide her into the room. “Even if they do look ‘fuzzy,’” I add, rolling my eyes a bit and trying to hide the worry in my voice.
River, of course, is terrified and pale, with her fingers all red, shiny, and puffy, and her eyes unable to see anything more than ‘sparkly Tinkerbell lights’ that drift in and out of focus. I can’t help but wonder if the Welcome Witch was right to not consider this an emergency, but there’s nothing I can do but wait our turn.
I nod absentmindedly to the pair of people ahead of us – some lady and her kid, who looks a couple years older than River and has a rather nasty rash on his face – while sitting River down in one of the chairs and proceeding to pace a bit behind her.


(That's River, in case you're wondering.)

[Meredith Prophet]

Sam turned his head up as soon as he heard footsteps, looking over in the direction of the people.
"Have you been playing with things you shouldn't too?" He croaked at the little girl.
Meredith almost winced. His voice sounded gravelly and hoarse, reminding her how sick he was. Not to mention she sounded like an awful mother, letting him get away with things that made him ill.
"Shush, Sam," She murmured, stroking the hair back off his forehead, offering the guy and the little girl a half smile to acknowledge their existence.

[Chance Gracieux]

River turns her head in the general direction of the little boy's voice, staring sightlessly and nodding.
"I just wanted to touch it," she explains, sounding plaintive. "Who are you?"
I return the half smile but don't bother to attempt conversation, finding it easier as always to let my little sister do that instead.

[Meredith Prophet]

"I'm Sam," He tells her proudly, through his breaking voice, then demands, "Who are you?"
Meredith decided there really was no point in trying to shut him up as he wouldn't, just contenting to drop her gaze so she won't feel awkward by not talking to the man and just letting Sam get the conversation out of his system.

[Chance Gracieux]

"River...." she answers, voice quavering slightly as she looks blindly around the room, then suddenly squeezes her eyes shut for a moment, looking stunned when she opens them. The fairy lights must have done some sort of dance again, but she shakes it off with a shake of her head, turning back in the general direction of Sam and raising her hand with all five fingers displayed.
"I'm this many," she says proudly. "How many are you?"
I shake my head down at the ground, not sure if I'm more amazed at her resilience or utter lack of shyness around strangers, knowing that it shouldn't be either.