Ru stared uneasily at the blood. Something in his stomach went a little topsy-turvy when he thought about Ariana carving cuts into her arm. Plus, the open wounds couldn't be sanitary. What if she got an infection and died? His mother would have to find a new candidate for marriage who probably wouldn't be as easily married as Ariana. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Do you want to bitch about it or have me give you a backrub?" she snapped.
"Having it out in the open like this can't be clean. Shouldn't you bandage it?" Ru knew he was picking at an open wound. He truly did. He just… had to make sure things were taken care of. Even if he tried to leave it alone, it would pop up in the back of his mind. Better to rip off the bandage now and get everything over with.
"I've done without before, and with worse injuries. Seriously, though, stop bringing it up. I'll be fine. I just need some sleep." Aria thought that Cerulean was being a little too much of a helicopter spouse. He was incredibly nitpicky and worried for no reason entirely. It was infuriating.
"Okay," Ru didn't sound convinced, even to his own ears. He tried to put the issue out of his mind- it didn't work, but he tried- and slid under the covers. The best thing he could do was try to sleep and ignore all the dried blood. Which would probably flake off in the night and get in all the sheets. Perfect.
Aria pulled the covers on her side of the bed over herself, not bothering to change out of her dayclothes. She was tired out, and fell into sleep quickly and easily. But it was the same as every night. Each time she fell asleep easily and deeply, and dreams arose that were startlingly intense and consistent. It seemed as if her subconscious was dragging up resources of horror within Aria that she hadn't even known she possessed. In her dreams Ariana experienced an overpowering fear of death that in her waking hours she had never quite understood. She started to think that perhaps something was wrong with her that she experienced this fear of death as alien, as something she could only give in to while she was unconscious.
Ariana almost hungered for the hyperreality of her nightmares. Part of her wanted it all, the fear, the pain, the undoing, the nothingness at the edges of what could be grasped. She woke, nauseous and panting, from a series of nightmares so intense that Ariana had to touch her arms to reassure herself that her skin was still soft and alive, and not black and crumbling. Stumbling, Ariana found her way to a bathroom, where she washed her face with cold water to dispel the lingering terrors. She didn't know what was going on with her. The dreams had been getting worse recently. She knew she should see a physician, but Ariana also knew that it was pitiful to rely on others for help.
Ru began to wake when Ariana left the bed. He had never been a heavy sleeper unless he was exhausted and Ariana was anything but quiet, especially caught up in her post-nightmare thoughts. For a few seconds, Ru was completely baffled as to where he was and why he had been woken up. His room was empty and servants weren't allowed in until after seven. Then the marriage, the honeymoon, the burning, the massage, everything, came back- all in one huge rush of memory.
"Ariana?" he called, patting the empty bed in an attempt to find where she was. She had gotten up in the night, but why? What was happening? Was it something bad? Was the manor under attack? Was she trying to escape into the night and never come back? "Where are you?"
Ariana sat down on the edge of an ivory bathtub with golden clawed feet. She felt sick. Her arms and legs were noodles, her hair like poison needles, her tongue thick and nauseating like a sea sponge. Aria felt like she would vomit.
And then she did.
After successfully emptying the contents of her stomach into a nearby bucket, she stayed by the bucket, head bowed, front covered in sick, hair drooping in messy strands around her eyes, continually retching into the bucket. She could barely sit up, and much less move herself anywhere. What was going wrong with her?
Ru heard retching noises and shot out of bed. Were they coming from the bathroom? He slammed the door open, only to see Ariana dry heaving into a bucket. There was vomit down the front of her shirt and her hair was matted and sweaty. Tonight was not going well for her. But how could he help? Illness was one of the things that really made his skin crawl. Just seeing the vomit had set loose an army of invisible ants, crawling up and down his skin.
Still, he couldn't just leave Ariana here. He squatted down to her level, moving noisily so she could tell where he was. "Can I get you some new clothes? And help you get cleaned up?"
"I don't need any-ack-help." she choked out.
Sure she didn't. Ru sighed, wondering how he could help Ariana without making her annoyed or angry or anything else. Maybe he could frame it as if it were something he wanted. 'I want you to clean up' instead of 'can I help you clean up'. "I know. I just want you to get cleaned up. Can you do that right now?"
"No, I-" she began to choke out dry sobs, slumping against the tiled wall. Her eyes were like dead things.
Fuck. That was a mistake. Ru approached Ariana slowly, extending and pulling back his hands until he finally reached her shoulders. How did you comfort a crying person? He hadn't done this in years. Not since… well thinking about him would just make Ru even more useless. Should he run a bath? Running a bath would probably calm Ariana down. He rocked her slowly, making little 'shh' noises and doing his best to be soothing. "I'm going to run a bath, okay?"
"Mmhm." she nodded, eyes burning with hot tears. Her mouth tasted dry, she felt pathetic.
"Okay. Do you want new clothes?" Ru pulled away from Ariana and ran a bath, using an old rag to scrub the vomit out of the tub. Once it was clean and the water was steamy, he pulled away, sitting beside Ariana once more. What should he do next? Get her clean clothes? Set her in the bed? Ask her to spill about what had made her wake up to vomit in the middle of the night? Shit, no. That would just make her feel worse.
"N-no. 'M fine." she murmured.
Great. A non-answer. What if Ariana wasn't going to answer any questions aimed at things she wanted? That would make this night considerably harder. "Okay. The bath is full and it's pretty warm. You ready to get in? Also, I think you might need to change your clothes. Unless you're okay with getting the bath fully clothed."
Ariana didn't move. She was tired, could barely focus at all. She just wanted to sleep.
So now Ariana just… wasn't answering. She must've crashed. Ru picked her up, setting her gently into the tub. Should he wash her? Would that make her uncomfortable? "I'm going to wash you off, okay. You don't have to answer, I'm just telling you what I'm doing. Try to move around or yelp if I make you uncomfortable." He grabbed some body wash and began lathering up his hands.
Ariana mumbled out slurred abuse and threats as he shifted her into the tub, but fell still as warm water cascaded over her thin form. She should probably get out of these clothes. Wet clothes were never comfortable. She attempted to kick off the many layers of skirts and petticoats, but failed, too weak to even move very much.
Ru watched as Ariana tried to get he clothes off. It was really sad. Like a wet kitten trying to fight someone off. He rinsed his hand off in the tub water and set the body was beside him. He wanted to help get her clothes off- in a completely non-sexual way- but he also had no idea how she would take it. "Can I help you take off your clothes?"
"Yes." she breathed out. She didn't care Ru's intentions, she just felt sick and tired.
Ru disentangled Ariana from her skirt and stripped off the may layers, tossing them to the side where they formed a sad, soggy pile. Her shirt soon followed. "I'm going to wash you off now, okay? Remember that you should just wriggle and try to cuss and stuff if you don't like what's going on." He re-lathered up his hands and slowly began washing her back.
Ariana sat there, deciding to let Cerulean do his work. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, and she exhaled a small, peaceful sigh. Aria was too tired to protest, and she could barely hear what Ru was saying at all either way.
Ru quickly began washing Ariana down, never lingering too far in one place. Anything that might make Ariana uncomfortable was quickly skimmed over. Soon Ru was giving her one final rinse and pulling her out of the tub. There was a bath mat right in front of the tub so he sat her there and grabbed some towels. He bundled her up and, once she was dry, dropped her onto the bed. "I'm going to go grab you some clothes. Try to stay awake."
Ariana nodded, but found herself falling asleep as he spoke. She just wanted to drift back into a dream state, no matter what the dreams contained.
Ru jogged over to his dresser and snatched up one of his bigger sleep shirts. It probably wasn't the best thing to dress her in but was loose and he could easily get her into it. Or out of it, if she had another attack tonight. He unbuttoned it, worked Ariana into the shirt, and then buttoned it up again. "You're all set. Going to sleep?"
"Mmhm." she mumbled, eyes shut. Ariana had taken all the pillows and covers to her side of the bed, the room felt freezing for no apparent reason. She felt childish and it was wonderful.
Ru stripped out of his plainclothes pants, which he'd forgotten to take off before he fell asleep. Once he had yanked on pajama pants and a sleep shirt he turned back to the bed, only to find that Ariana had stolen all the pillows. And covers. Perfect. He grabbed some big fluffy towels from the bathroom, balled up one, and fell asleep using the towels as blankets and pillows.
Aria woke up feeling nauseous and groggy. She wondered if she had consumed any alcohol the night before. This feeling was akin to a hangover. She looked over to Cerulean, who was fast asleep. She quietly got out of bed and took a shower, even though she was already inexplicably clean. Ariana finished washing off the dried blood on her arm, and went back to bed, sitting crosslegged on the mattress. A stray droplet of water fell on her husband's shoulder. Ariana hoped desperately that Ru wouldn't wake up, she wanted to avoid talking to him. Strange, she didn't remember any of last night. Had she been drugged or something?
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