Just a "little" scenario me and @flutterytickles were thinking of...
2.5k words of Rio being miserable with a cold for the first time and not knowing how to cover her mouth :)
"Oh my god, Rio," Agatha hissed, lightly pushing her girlfriend away as a soaking sneeze was aimed down into her chest. "Do I look like a tissue to you?"
The brunette pouted, running a finger beneath her twitching nose and sniffling softly. "Aren't you going to bless me?"
Agatha ignored her, instead gesturing to the growing damp patch on her chest, "You've just ruined my new shirt!" She looked down at her pale violet shirt, it had been speckled with damp droplets down the majority of her chest. She wasn’t really mad at her, not entirely. She knew the poor girl couldn’t exact help it but still, that was a new shirt.
Rio stirred from where she’d previously been laying onto of Agatha, their bodies pressed together a movie played in the background, neither of them had really been paying attention but it supplied a nice background noise. The brunette sniffled damply, scrunching up her nose as she scrubbed a knuckle under it. She sat up properly, her weight in her knees as she straddled her girlfriend.
Agatha crackled, “You’re lucky you’re cute.”
Rio cracked a small, sheepish smile. "You think I’m cute?" She teased back, her voice still stuffy. Her nose twitched violently as if to undercut her attempt at flirtation.
Before Agatha could respond, Rio’s breath hitched. "Hhh... hhh’tsschhhiew! Hh’tsSSCCCHuu!" She barely managed to angle herself away, her body pitching forward as she sneezed messily down straight onto...
“RIO.” Agatha’s jaw dropped as she felt the mist land on her face and neck, “I told you to cover your mouth.” She reached up and wiped her face with a small grimace. The older woman just blushed in response, sinking back down to hide her face in her girlfriend’s chest, her nose and eyes teary as she sniffled wetly.
“I couldn’t feel it...” She felt her mumble against her shirt, Rio looked up, taking the chance to wipe her nose on her palm, before huffing, “You could at least say bless you ‘geez.”
"You’re exhausting," Agatha shook her head, though her tone had softened. She reached over to grab her jacket that she’d previously taken off and had placed on the floor beside the sofa. She swore she left one in here- “Aha!” She smiled triumphantly as she pulled a soft handkerchief from her jacket pocket, reaching back she cupped Rio's chin gently and tilted her face up. "Hold still."
Rio blinked, surprised but obedient, her lashes fluttering as Agatha dabbed carefully at her nose. "Y-you don’t have to do that," She murmured, her cheeks growing pink.
"Someone has to," Agatha replied, the corners of her lips twitching. She tried to sound stern, but there was a tenderness in her voice that betrayed her. "You’re like a sprinkler, and my clothes are in the line of fire." She gave a satisfised hum and placed the used item on the nearby coffee table.
Rio let out a watery chuckle, only to cut it off with a sharp gasp. the purple witch’s eyes widened, she barely had time to reach up to cup her hand in front of her face before Rio snapped forward with another sneezing fit.
"Hihh…Hhh’kssSHHhh! HhHuuh..Huhh’tCHSHhh! Eiihh…eiihH’tCHSHhhuu!"
She felt each damp blast spray the inside of her palm, her expression shifting from a grimace to sympathy as Rio pulled back with a miserable sounding sniffle. Agatha discreetly wiped her soaked hand on her pants, trying to avoid making a face, “You’re such a messy little thing, don’t do anything by half, do you?” She teased, reaching over to grab the fabric from the table and held it to her girlfriends' messy face, “I think you need to blow your nose dear.”
“I can never feel them coming, it just happens.” The green witch sniffled before leaning forward and blowing her nose heartily, the sound was less than dignified but that was the least of their worries at this stage. Agatha folded the soaked fabric, before cleaning up the rest of her girlfriend’s face.
“Maybe we should-” She began but a different question clicked in her mind, making her pause mid-sentence, “Wait- why are you sneezing so much? I’ve never seen this nose so irritated before.” She dared to reach up to softly trace Rio’s quivering nose under the pad of her thumb, the red edges twitching under her gentle touch.
Rio’s breath hitched again under Agatha's touch, her eyes fluttering closed. She managed to hold back the sneeze this time, but the effort left her sniffling damply, her red, irritated nose twitching against Agatha’s thumb. She continued to think back, wondering what could have triggered this when finally, “Oh...”
“I took a soul last night.” Rio began, trying to recount how things how gone. It hadn’t been exactly smooth. The soul had been a stubborn fellow, wheezing and clawing as he tried to evade Death’s grasp. It had made her job a hell of a lot harder, claiming a soul that didn’t want to go was always tiring, “He was sick, down with something nasty.” She continued, pausing briefly as her own nose flared once more, she barley had a second of warning before- “hhhuh’KCHhHsssh!”
Agatha chose not to comment on how Rio had just sprayed down the both of their arms, instead discreetly wiping it away and letting her continue, "Spirits don’t carry germs or anything when I collect them. But this guy - ugh. His soul was just saturated with sickness. I felt it the moment I touched him, like being slapped in the face with a wet rag full." She shuddered at the memory, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
The younger witch raised an amused eyebrow. This was certainly new territory for the both of them, “So you’re telling me, Death herself caught a cold?”
Rio pouted, her red-tipped nose twitching dangerously again. "It’s not funny," She whined, her voice congested. She sniffled and scrubbed at her face, only for Agatha to gently catch her wrist mid-motion.
"Stop that, you're going to make it worse," Agatha scolded softly, reaching for the handkerchief again before thinking again at the feeling of the over-used fabric. She sighed, looking down at her shirt. Rio had already used it and well, what more could hurt? With a defeated sigh, Agatha pulled down her sleeve over her hand and used it to dab at Rio's irritated nose, her movements more tender than her tone let on. "When did you feel this coming on?”
Rio groaned, rubbed her glassy eyes. She’d been trying to ignore the growing pressure behind her eyes, the beginning of a headache starting to linger at her temples, “A few hours ago, maybe? Ugh, this is so embarrassing.” She mumbled, laying back down on top of Agatha, breathing deep as she sank into the heat of her skin.
“You’re okay, it’s not your fault. This is new to you.”
Rio narrowed her eyes, though the effect was undercut by another desperate hitch of her breath. Agatha quickly pressed her sleeve to back to her nose, using the fabric to muffle the messy triple, "Hhhihh’TCHhiew! Hh’iiTSSCCHuuhh! Hhh... hhhKCHhhuu!"
“Bless you.” Agatha murmured; she sighed to herself as she shifted Rio from her position where she’d been nestled against her chest. The woman gave a mumble of annoyance in return but shuffled up to allow Agatha room to sit up. When she did, she pulled her shirt over her head, holding the fabric in her hands, “Too late to worry about it getting ruined now.” She said reassuringly as she held it to Rio’s nose and encouraged her to blow.
“Maybe tomorrow we’ll teach you how to actually use a handkerchief.”
The night had been rough. Rio had spent the majority of it coughing and spluttering as she grew increasingly more congested. Her nose hadn’t let up either and had taken on a permanent irritated, red hue. She seemed to be sniffling constantly, wiping at her nose on whatever had been closest, and for the majority of the night that had been Agatha’s chest.
It had gotten to the point where in the very early hours of the morning, the younger witch had gone into the bathroom and turned their shower onto the hottest setting it could go, letting steam envelop the room. She’d essentially dragged Rio in there, the exhausted woman crumpling against her side they both sat on the bathroom floor. The steam had helped. That was for sure. Rio’s head had been resting against Agatha’s shoulder as she fought to keep herself awake, of course she had no warning before she wretched forward with a loud, throaty, “hh--hhIhh’IIIZzTSSCHhhhu!”
Agatha had to bite her lip to stop herself from jumping at the sudden blast against her neck. She breathed deeply as she regained herself. Rio hadn’t been sick before. She didn’t know the warning signs; she couldn’t feel when she had to sneeze. It wasn’t her fault. But oh god, she couldn’t imagine how it felt. She was so used to her own drawn out allergic fits, each sneeze seemingly to take a momentous amount of effort just to get out. Meanwhile her girlfriend barely had to- “Ehh’KSCHHhhuhh!"
“You really get no warning with these, huh sweetheart?”
Rio whimpered, she couldn’t answer yet, her chest heaving as her breath hitched once more. "Hhhiiihhh! Hhh—hhHh’HCHHhiiieww! Hh’iITSCHhhhuuu!" The sneezes were uncontrollably again, leaving droplets on Agatha’s neck and shoulder. She flinched but held steady, grabbing a washcloth she’d left nearby and gently dabbing at Rio’s nose and mouth.
"Bless you, again. That was a lot." Her girlfriend said with a soft chuckle, wiping her girlfriend’s face clean before discarding the cloth to the side.
Rio leaned back against her, utterly defeated, her head flopping into the crook of Agatha’s neck. "I hate this," she mumbled, congested and miserable. "I don’t even know how this all works, I barely get a breath in before I just sneeze, I don’t know how you deal with this so often.”
“Love, I get sick like twice a year, that’s hardly often.”
Agatha couldn’t help but laugh at that, a warm sound that vibrated against Rio’s temple. “It doesn’t hate you darling, it’s just overwhelmed with that god awful cold you’ve got in there." She kissed Rio’s damp forehead, ignoring unfamiliar smell of sickness which clung to her.
After a few hours of this, the green witch was thoroughly exhausted. She could barely sit up by herself but at least she could breathe a bit better now. It had been the second time she’d fallen asleep against her that Agatha decided they’d had enough. She turned off the shower, wiping at her own clammy forehead with a cool cloth (it had been uncomfortably warm in there) before doing the same for Rio, brushing away beads of sweat that had lingered on her brow. Once she’d finished, the leaned down and scooped the woman up into her arms, cradling death like she was nothing more than a fragile child as she carried her back to their bed, pulling and tucking the covers around her before settling into the sheets.
The next morning, Agatha woke up to find Rio sprawled out on the bed, her breathing uneven and punctuated by the occasional congested snuffle. The poor thing looked miserable even in her sleep, her face still flushed and her nose still red and irritated. Agatha sighed, brushing a stray lock of hair from Rio’s clammy forehead.
She was still cocooned within the bundle of blankets, her crimson nose and cheeks barely visible under her messy, dishevelled hair. Her breath rasped fainted, a congested snore betraying her stuffed nose. Agatha continued to watch her girlfriend with a mix of sympathy and amusement. Death herself, brought low by a cold. In a strange sort of way, it was almost poetic. She leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, then winced as her lips met clammy skin. Still warm. With a small yawn, she pushed herself up and out of bed, readying herself for the day ahead.
It didn’t take long for Rio to wake up, rubbing her eyes with a groggy, congested grumble. Agatha returned with a tray, carrying tea, some sort of medicine, and a fresh stack of handkerchiefs folded neatly alongside a glass of pitcher of lemon water and some glasses.
“Good morning,” Rio croaked, her voice rough from a night of coughing. She sniffled wetly, reaching for the edge of the blanket to dab at her nose, but Agatha stopped her with a raised eyebrow and a disapproving look.
“Oh no, we’re not doing that today,” She said, picking up one of the handkerchiefs from the stack.
Rio blinked up at her as she approached, her red-rimmed eyes bleary. “Why’re there so many of those?” she mumbled, gesturing vaguely at the handkerchiefs before sniffling loudly.
Agatha sat on the edge of the bed, handing her a mug of tea. “Because today, my love, we’re learning how to properly use one. We’re not going through another night of this-” She gestured dramatically the shirt she’d been wearing, still visibly damp, “- without you at least trying to aim somewhere less... me.”
Time to take matters into her own hands.
“Alright,” The younger witch began brightly, holding up a neatly folded handkerchief. She sat cross-legged on the bed in front of Rio, who had propped herself up against a mountain of pillows, looking thoroughly unamused. Her nose twitched ominously, but Agatha carried on. “Lesson one in not sneezing all over your girlfriend: proper use of a handkerchief.”
Rio groaned, dragging the blanket up to her chin. “I don’t need a lesson,” she mumbled, though her congested voice and perpetually twitching nose betrayed her. “I’ll just—Hh…hhhiihh...” Her breath hitched dangerously, and Agatha quickly pressed the handkerchief to her nose just in time to catch a loud, messy, “Hhh’TSSSCHHHHhh!”
“Bless you, again,” Agatha murmured, wiping Rio’s face with practiced tenderness. “You do need a lesson. Now, pay attention.”
She folded the handkerchief with dramatic precision. “Step one: open it like this, so you have plenty of room to catch everything.”
Rio squinted at the fabric; her eyes still watery from the sneeze as she whined, “I’m not a child, Aggie!”
“Step two,” Agatha continued, ignoring her, “hold it here, over your nose and mouth. Like this.” She demonstrated, holding the fabric to her own face briefly. “Then, when you feel it coming—”
“I don’t feel it coming,” Rio grumbled, cutting her off. “That’s the problem!” Her protest ended abruptly with a sharp, involuntary gasp. “Hhh—hhH’HNNTSSCHhhhuuu!” This one she tried to stifle, but it backfired spectacularly, leaving her making a mess all over the both of them.
The purple witch sighed in resignation. This was a learning process, a messy learning progress. She knew she was probably destined to catch this awful crap in a few days - was Death even contagious? Reaching up her pulled her thick hair back into a ponytail, content to keep at least one piece of her out of the line of fire.
“Okay, let’s take this from the top...”
