Work Text:
the day is pleasant until it isn’t; sun peeking past scattered clouds pushed along by a breeze is suddenly replaced by a dark, heavy pall of cloud cover rumbling with thunder and flashes of lightning, the wind picking up with a seeming haste to unleash the storm upon the pair of witches making their way down an open stretch of road.
the lightning is high in the clouds, reflecting off the water there, but they know the risks of flying in a storm, and neither want to take the chance.
qifrey is the first to break into a run, despite the rainflinger seal sewn into the lining of his cloak. with an indignant shout at being left behind, olruggio is quick to follow.
soon, they crest a low hill, and olruggio nearly cheers when he realizes what he’s seeing: a small roadside shelter, nothing fancier than a lean-to, made of stone and timber, that was obviously built with rainflinger seals hidden somewhere in the structure.
he glances at qifrey to see if the other boy has the same idea, but qifrey is looking down at the road ahead of them, if his eye is open at all. he grabs qifrey by the wrist and, despite the growing weight of his velvet cloak, begins running faster.
the shelter is surrounded by a perimeter of dryness, and as they cross it, both boys practically collapse to the ground.
olruggio immediately begins fidgeting with the closure of his cloak, and the heavy fabric falls with a wet thud as it slides off his shoulders. he looks over to qifrey to make sure his cloak kept him dry, and once he concludes the other boy doesn’t need help, he pulls out his palm quire, thankfully only slightly damp.
the ink runs a bit on the paper, but olruggio draws a drying seal and aims it at his cloak; he’s gotten in trouble before for ruining the velvet parts of his apprentice uniform with moisture, and he’s in no hurry for it to happen again.
when his cloak is dry - and warm, which he’s glad for, because the wind carries a chill despite the shelter’s protection - he turns the drying spell on himself before it runs out.
“d’you need one too?” he asks, tearing the used sheet out of his quire and stuffing it into a pocket.
qifrey doesn’t answer, and when olruggio looks at him, he’s reminded of gossip he’d heard in the great hall as a child. he’d ignored it at the time, but the rumor mill never stopped turning, and when they were a bit older, qifrey had, with no small amount of reluctance, told him that the rumors were true.
sitting next to olruggio, qifrey is curled in on himself, knees held to his chest and face hidden in his arms. his cap has fallen to the ground, lying on its side.
olruggio considers him for a few long moments before looking down at his cloak piled in his lap. almost immediately, he has an idea.
he has to shift onto his knees, but he shakes out his cloak as best he can and hobbles closer to qifrey. once he’s close enough, he throws one end around his friend’s shoulder and sits, moving closer so the both of them can fit underneath it easier.
qifrey starts when the cloak first lands on him and tries to move away when olruggio sits, but olruggio scoots after him and ends up leaning against his shoulder, only narrowly avoiding knocking their heads together.
there’s a stretch where neither of them move, and eventually qifrey must realize that olruggio doesn’t plan on moving, because olruggio can feel qifrey sitting up straighter and turning his head. the movement is enough to push olruggio’s cap off-center, but not quite enough to make it fall off his head.
“what are you doing?”
qifrey sounds miserable, and olruggio knows he probably looks it, too, with no one to hide it from.
he doesn’t look at qifrey, turning his gaze down to his palm quire instead. without putting too much thought into it, he starts lazily drawing a spell. if qifrey asked, he’d say it’s practice, but it’s mostly just something to keep his mind and hands busy.
“s’cold.”
qifrey doesn’t respond and hides his face again after a few moments. olruggio continues to draw. they settle in like that.
it’s hard to tell how much time passes, with the clouds covering the sky. olruggio goes through a good bit of his quire, even after he starts taking breaks to watch the rain. at some point, qifrey relaxes a bit and stares out over the field across from them.
eventually, the clouds begin to thin out, and the rain lets up. now that the sky is visible, it’s obvious that at least a few hours have gone by. there’s no way they’re not late to report back to the great hall; they need to get back to town and the windowway there, even if it is still raining.
olruggio flips to a blank page in his quire and carefully draws a rainflinger spell, leaving the ring open for the moment. he stands abruptly and pulls his cloak up with him, ignoring qifrey’s confused expression while he puts it back on properly.
hands hidden in his cloak, olruggio finishes the rainflinger spell and stuffs the other side of his quire into a pocket before reaching down to pull qifrey up. it’s a little awkward taking him by the hands, with the way he has his arms around his legs, but olruggio manages.
“come on,” he says simply.
qifrey comes up easier than he expects, and he’s stumbling backwards a little when qifrey tries to pull his hands out of his grip. he manages to keep hold of qifrey by pulling him in the opposite direction, and they do a little half-spin as they both try to regain their footing.
it’s almost a sweet moment, but qifrey recovers first and pulls his hands away a second time, putting a surprising amount of strength into it. caught off-guard, olruggio trips and falls backwards into the mud.
they look at each other for a moment until olruggio realizes that, despite the rainflinger spell, the parts of his cloak he’s sitting on are beginning to soak up water from the ground.
“what was that for?”
he’s not angry, at least not that angry, but he furrows his brows for good measure.
qifrey looks like he can’t decide whether to apologize or snap back at olruggio, and olruggio lets out a frustrated groan as he stands up.
he looks down at his cloak, shaking it out in a futile attempt at drying it again. so much for his effort earlier.
he looks up again, past qifrey, in the direction they’d been walking when the storm rolled in. he has another idea.
“come here!”
he makes a show of it as he lunges towards qifrey, throwing an arm out to the side to make his cloak flare out behind him as he begins to run. as he expects, qifrey is quick to react, turning on his heel and easily moving out of reach. olruggio keeps after him.
at this pace, it won’t take them long to get back to town.