jin had been feeling ill for quite a while now.
it had begun to happen after her trip to the woods, which was of the usual, as she was an explorer. however, what wasn’t usual was that during her latest travel to the forest, she’d stumbled across a cave, which had these odd teal-tainted stains on the ground. she’d tested the realty of these by smudging some across her fingers, & had promptly then wiped the substance off on her dress.
she hadn’t thought much of it at the time.
but now, she was feeling worse & worse each passing day. she didn’t let it on. she didn’t let her wife know—even if she told jill everything, jin was still mostly secretive, mostly when it concerned her work. jill was fine with that; her business was her business, & jin’s was hers. that’s how it was.
it didn’t stop jill from being concerned.
“honey, are you alright?”
“you seem a bit pale, dear. should you go out exploring tonight?”
“…maybe take a rest for tonight, love. for me.”
it was little things. little suggestions jill disguised as common manners. she’d noticed the slight changes in her wife’s demeanour; the drowsy mood, not necessarily cranky, not quite all the joy. she’d seen how her skin began to pale, how she trembled faintly under the moonlight..
it concerned her.
far more than she let on.
late one night, while the two were cozied up in bed after an early night’s sleep—jill’s insistence— she could sense something was wrong. she hadn’t gone to sleep. not completely. not until she was sure that jin had.
jin hadn’t.
she kept on tossing, turning, shifting every now & then. she heard the faint sounds of wincing, the subtle whines of pain..
her heart shattered more with every noise.
she couldn’t let this go on. she had to know.
“mm… honey?” jill murmured in a drowsy voice, putting on the guise that she’d just woken up; so as to not scare her wife that she’d been listening in up until now. she shifted in bed, turning towards jin, propping herself up on one elbow on the mattress as she laid a caring hand on the other woman’s shoulder.
“is everything alright..?”