Bane felt his eyes drift open, a splitting headache gnawing at him. He could feel the old and worn mattress of his bed bellow himself, the raggedy old sheets draped on him. The fox tried to sit upright, blinding pain making its way up his neck, making him immediately lie back down, whimpering softly at the pain.
"You shouldn't exert yourself so much." A voice prodded softly at him from across the room. "You shouldn't exert yourself know better by now.
Banes eyes snapped across the room where his sister sat in a chair, facing the bed he laid on, her long blonde falling over her shoulders. She had a vaguely disappointed look in her eyes as she faced her brother.
"I thought you would already know by now how dangerous it is to push your magic so far like you did, to its absolute limit at that." She frowned. "I thought you were better than that."
Bane looked down, away from his sister because he knew that she was right. His sister had always been the better healer, even though she hadn't been gifted with the same level of magical abilities, she still found ways to make bane feel like a disappointment sometimes.
"I-I just wanted to prove to them that I could do it, I couldn't risk losing this job Erin, you know we already have almost nothing!" The last words rising to screams.
His sister scowled at him, even through her moodiness showing concern for Bane.
"That doesn't mean you decide to do something like this!" She shouted. "You could have died if you hadn't been careful, if you had pushed your magic just a bit farther!"
Bane was beginning to become frustrated, snarling as he shouted, "But I didn't die, I knew what I was doing! I know more of my own magic than I think you believe I do!" He snapped back at her.
Erin crossed her arms, her lips pulling back, ears spiking back.
"All I am trying to tell you is that you can't keep going on like this! You may have been fine this once, but I can tell you that you won't always be this fortunate, especially not after repeated burnouts."
"Erin, you and I both know that I can't, if we want to provide for ourselves and each other, I can't lose this job." He swallowed, a sudden lump forming in his throat, tears lining his eyes. "I can't lose this."
All of Erin's previous annoyance faded, her scowl disappearing, sighing softly and rubbing at her temples.
"Fine." She spat, her face neutral though Bane knew she was probably a mess within. For all she acted as if her brother was only an annoyance to her, Bane knew how much she worried over him.
"But please." She said, voice almost a whisper. "Do whatever you can to avoid a burnout. Make excuses if you have to so you don't overwork yourself Bane. Because if you don't, then I fear you won't have much time left to make a difference."