On the topic of Niets, how was he able to overcome his sickness? In what ways does it still affect him? What lengths did he (or those close to him) go to in order to make himself better?
Sickness talk under the cut! Stuck it there because there is definite death mentions, as Niets is terminal.
He actually hasn’t overcome his sickness! The Pack’s closest thing to healthcare was basically “hope you die being memorable before you die of whatever sickness you’ve got“ if the Shamans couldn’t tend to it with their herbs and what little magic they had available. Which, happens to be the case with Niets. To be entirely honest, Niets is actually an unfortunate case of birth defects and illness the desert just isn’t equipped to handle.
As for how it still affects him... generally it’s in the form of semi-frequent coughing fits (and general shortness of breath that seems to set in abruptly..) and absolutely horrid night fevers, though there’s a few symptoms he just hasn’t noticed among the fervor of day to day Argent Dog life.
Like the chronic pain that he’s positive all other Argent Dogs have (they don’t, several did, but never complained about it to any of the Shamans, and so Niets simply didn’t either). Or the frequent nosebleeds, or the ease in which he bruises...
Pantser’s noticed one more symptom that’s escaped Niets’s notice. Odd little lumps that form on the smaller canine occasionally. Usually, when they’re present, Niets’s sickness gets even worse. But then, it’s been getting worse in general...
Niets holds to what The Shamans told him once. It can’t be healed, and he’s long accepted that and the fact that - especially after the big storm and the end of the first(?) iteration of The Pack - he’ll die from his sickness one day. He doesn’t know how long or little time he has left, but he’s determined to make life a little nicer for others in the meantime. If he can die doing something memorable and great, that’s even better.
Pantser instead does what he can. Including making sure Niets doesn’t hurt himself in the grips of the night fevers, or keeping enemies from attacking his partner while Niets is coughing and wheezing. He also makes sure Niets actually rests and eats and generally takes care of him, while also steadfastly trying to ignore the fact that his partner is getting weaker and weaker over time and there’s nothing he can do to make it easier on Niets...
((While neither of them know it and in fact The Pack doesn’t have a word for it, I think the hints above are enough to just flat out state it - Niets has cancer. A very specific sort that I’m striving to depict properly. That, in tandem with how badly Argent Dogs were actually fed (see: not always at all, and sometimes things that were going to make them sick(er) ) and the less than optimal conditions and the birth defects he’s dealt with all his life, means he doesn’t have very high chances of things getting any better as things stand right this moment. Once he founds Proxima Skulk, he’ll be in a better place than the desert for his own care at the very least.))














