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The 'Xhorhouse' is bustling with activity as everyone gets up and moving that morning. Some are making plans to shop while others are training and practicing their skills for the next job they're given. Voices and movement fill the interior while everyone grabs a breakfast of fruit or bread and goes about their own things, weaving through each other to get where they need to be.
Jester sits amid the chaos and cheerfully nibbles on a cinnamon-y pastry (one of many she'd bought the day before).
"Has anyone seen my bracers?!" Beau calls out with a mouthful of bread.
Caleb, who is full dressed and sipping on some crudely-made Xhorhasian coffee, mumbles a, "Have you checked under your bed where most of your things end up?"
Beau lets out a dramatic sigh. "Caleb! Seriously, I-" she stops. "Wait, that's actually a good idea." before stuffing the rest of her breakfast in her mouth and running off.
The little taste of domesticity has seemed to be good for them. Having a real home to come back to after everything is awful, somewhere they can come down from the excitement for a little while before someone in the town commissions them for another job, it's probably one of the best places their group has stayed.
Just yesterday they'd gotten back from the retrieval of some priceless artifacts. A simple fight with thieves had turned near-deadly when one of them turned out to have some magical abilities. What was supposed to be a quick job for a little extra coin had turned into a very bad day.
But, they were able to return, relax, and take care of each other in their own home.
Jester takes another bite of her pastry before her eyes catch onto Caleb's drink across the table. "Hey Caleb, can I dip my last bite in your coffee? Please? It'll taste super good."
"My coffee or your breakfast?"
"Both, probably."
Caleb looks down at his mug, and gives a half-hearted nod. "Ja, okay," he says as he pushes it across the table. Jester gets a quick dip and it tastes just as amazing as she'd expected.
She can tell by the look on his face when he takes another sip that it's improved the flavor of the coffee as well, and Jester smiles. It's easy to tell that Caleb's not completely recovered from the day before. He looks tired and a little out of it, but that's to be expected. She's surprised he even came out of his bedroom this morning; maybe he actually wanted to be around everyone for once. An improvement!
So, Jester finishes her breakfast and heads to the common area to see if everyone's still around. Nott and Yeza have already disappeared into their lab, and Beau is probably started training. Others are taking a well-deserved lazy day or have gone out shopping.
She greets those lounging around as she tries to decide what she's doing today. She can ask around and see if someone wants to go out with her for the day, maybe get into a little (harmless, of course) trouble with a partner in crime.
Something dawns on her.
"Has anyone seen Caduceus?"
Caleb shakes his head, Fjord shrugs. "Not since we got back last night. He's probably just sleeping in."
"Caduceus doesn’t sleep in," Caleb says it before Jester has a chance.
There's a few early-risers in their group, but Caduceus is definitely the… earliest riser. He enjoys being up and ready before the others, and sometimes making extravagant breakfasts when he's feeling particularly fancy. Jester loves to join him in the kitchen when he's cooking. There's a sort of solitude there that she doesn’t realize she enjoys until she's around her cleric friend.
"Maybe he's working in the garden?" Jester thinks aloud, scanning the room around her as if he's going to appear. She ends up wandering to the stairs before she gets any response from Caleb and Fjord.
The garden's warm lights remind her how much she loves it up here. The tree forms a ceiling of leaves over the top of the tower, creating one of the coziest spaces in their house.
"Caduceus?" No sign of the firbolg working on anything.
The garden is silent save for the sounds of wildlife and… snoring? She immediately turns to the little sleeping area, a shelter made from stone and stray planks of wood with a mattress shoved inside. Jester bends down, peeks in, and sure enough, Caduceus is still fast asleep. Fjord was right.
The more civilized part of her brain tells her that it'd be rude to wake him, but she easily ignores that part and crawls in a bit past the entryway. "Caduceus, wake up! It's morning!"
He wakes with an undignified snort. "Hm? Oh, oh my…" he rubs at his eyes and yawns. "Is it late?"
"Not very late, no. But everyone else is up, so I thought you might want to be too," and maybe she also wanted a possible partner in crime for whatever shenanigans could happen today. "You slept a lot."
"Mm," Caduceus agrees, blinking groggily as he continues to fully wake up. "I was pretty beat last night. All of those spells took a lot out of me, I think." There's a hint of thickness in his voice that makes her wonder if it's just the result of waking up or something else.
Jester winces. "You don’t sound very good. Are you feeling okay?"
Caduceus' brows furrow as he takes time to process the question. He sits up, running a hand down his face with a sniff. "I'm not sure? I feel…" a pause. He sniffles again, experimentally this time, "…stuffed."
Jester frowns and brushes some hair away from his forehead to feel his temperature. Caduceus has generally always been a big, warm body to snuggle up to, but this is too hot, even for him.
"You're really warm," she informs sadly. She's about to pull her hand back when she feels him leaning into it. She must feel rather cool compared to him right now. "Caduceus," Jester says, lowering her hand to cup his cheek. His eyes close just for a second at the soft touch. "I think you're sick."
Caduceus sighs as if he's just been told that his favorite teacup has been broken. "Well, this wasn’t exactly how I wanted to spend our day o-" he breaks away from her with a fast inhale and a deep-sounding, chesty cough. He exhales with a growl, and Jester's pretty sure it's the first time she's heard him honest-to-gods irritated.
Caduceus had worked hard to keep everyone in fighting condition yesterday. Now that she thinks about it, he did seem pretty tired last night. The exhaustion has probably gotten to him.
"We have plenty of days off to do things! This is just the first!"
He smiles, sleepier than usual. "Yeah." Caduceus yawns and sinks back into his bed, getting comfortable once again. Jester thinks she sees a shiver or two, but she isn't sure. "I think I'm going to sleep a little longer."
"Okay… sorry for waking you up."
"It's no problem. I appreciate it, actually. I'm just tired," he says as he gets comfy and hugs his pillow.
He's snoring again before she even gets a chance to leave the roof. Looks like she'll be substituting today's shenanigans for figuring out how to make soup.