Ru was scribbling happily in his notebook, jotting down what he could remember. Scraps of particularly good wording, ideas and rough outlines for laws he wanted to implement. He was profoundly glad that he'd had to leave the king and queen laws at home where they belonged. "It takes an hour to get there and an hour and a half to get back. Wait a few seconds."
"Fine. I'm just worried. I mean, she lacks our gifts, but that doesn't mean Rosie isn't gifted. She can heal, she's really powerful. Resurrects people, even. People want her powers for themself, she has to hide them. You can see why I'd worry." Aria snapped in reply.
"Calm down. If she's as strong as you say then she'll have a fine time defending herself." Ru didn't know why Ariana was so worried. Sure, this girl was one of her friends and sure, there were people who wanted to harm her, but if she could raise the dead she could fight off a few assassins.
"Not in battle skills! Martial arts, defense, maybe. Full on duels? That's what I was always best at, not her!" Aria said, tearing at her hair nervously.
"So you're telling me that she never took the time to learn defensive magic? Never figured out how to make forcefields or summon monsters?" It seemed a little crazy that a powerful sorceress whose life was in constant danger never took the time to create some pretty hefty combat spells. Hell, Ru knew like three spells and two of them could be used in a fight.
"She doesn't specialize in that area. Healing, especially resurrection, takes a lifetime of study and devotion, yet she mastered it quite quickly. Other arts? Never quite bothered. Defensive spells, sure, but not much offensive." Ariana explained. "Besides, sorcery is banned. It's not easy to learn this stuff with your life on the line."
"If you say so. I'm sure she'll get here soon." Ru might've been being a little unfair, but he didn't really care. He cared about Rosie's safety because he cared about how Ariana would feel about it. And right now, he wasn't really digging Ariana because even though he was kind of done making a fuss about her burning his papers, he was having a lot of trouble getting important stuff in his notebook. His interest in this girl's life was rather limited. What could he say? He got pissy when he was stressed.
"Fine. I'm going outside to wait." she said, storming out. She sat on the patio for about an hour, when a carriage came into view. Rosanna stepped out, with her golden locks askew, white and golden tattoos unlike the normal, inky black ones of her Shade relative, seeming more dull than Aria could have remembered. Dirt and sweat on her face, dressed in rags. It was pitiful, almost, only uplifted by Rosanna's beaming smile. Ariana would have liked to apologize, or kiss Rosie, but she didn't know what to do. "I missed you." she said, running up to Rosie, voice cracking a little. Rosanna pulled her secret lover into a quick embrace, and pulled away once she saw the coachman staring. "So did I, princess. But this is a little informal. Not that I mean any offense, of course." she said, voice frail and feathery, yet sweet, like a song.
Ru turned to the window when he heard the carriage pull up. Rosie was pretty, her tattoos much more subdued than the normal black of the other Shades. Was this how one knew that someone didn't have the gift? It didn't matter much. What did matter was the way Ariana held Rosie just a little too tight and looked at her with a little too much sweetness. Were they having an affair?
He walked outside, straightening his button up shirt and slapping a lazy smile onto his face. "Welcome to my humble home, Rosie. I'm Cerulean, it's nice to meet you."
"It's lovely to meet you too, your highness." Rosanna bowed. She looked up at Cerulean, noticing the suspicious look on his face. That would make things problematic, she decided, but it wasn't that big a deal. Arranged marriages normally resulted in these things, in the event they were found out, well, he should have expected it.
(Hello! How are you?)
(Sorry I've been gone, debate has been kicking my ass. I'll probably be off most of tomorrow too. Sunday is when my schedule goes back to normal)
Ru nodded at her casually, ready to head back inside. If Rosie and Ariana were having an affair, it really wasn't any of his business. Ariana's affairs were Ariana's problem, and she would be the person dealing with them. And the person involved. "Ariana will show you around. I hope you have a good experience working here." He headed back inside, content to finish up his work.
Rosanna nodded, and Aria showed her inside. "You need to get out of those clothes, they're filthy. Come on, wardrobe is this way." she said. They walked down the hallway, coming down to the wardrobe eventually. Rosanna chose an outfit, a simple grey dress, and found a scarf to the back her hair and an apron in the kitchen, just in case of any other tasks. Ariana showed Rosie to her quarters, allowing her time to get used to them, and then walked to her own. She was exhausted, and despite wanting to catch up on plenty with her old lover, she thirsted for sleep.
About fifteen minutes after Arina and Rosie were off on their tour, Ru realized he had nothing left to work on. All he could remember had been jotted into the notebook and he didn't have enough time to start redrafting laws. He was so used to having things to do that he itched with energy. His brain was telling him to write or to think or to strategize, but he couldn't. There was nothing to do.
What was Ariana doing? Were she and her possible affair mate getting busy, or was there nothing there at all? Ru wasn't the best judge of character and he could be wrong. Still, something itched in his gut when he thought about them. Possibly jealousy, but he wasn't ever going to admit that he was jealous over Ariana. She still didn't like him much at all. And it wasn't like he owned her, she was free to do whatever she wanted. Maybe he should go into town and toss money at someone until they came home with him. It would certainly relieve his boredom.
"Hey, darling. So, paperwork not doing it for you?" Ariana smirked. "Admit it, I'm right. It's boring and pointless." she said, leaning on the doorframe of Cerulean's study. She was indeed tired, but annoying Ru was her favorite pastime, and she wasn't going to miss out on it any time soon.
"No. I just don't have the time to redraft everything. It'll take me weeks." And that was if he really pushed himself and cut corners everywhere. In all likelihood, it would take months of focused work to rebuild everything he'd lost. Even then, he would be missing a bunch of the information he couldn't remember. But Ariana had Rosie now. "Not that you'll be bothered. You'll have your new friend hanging around to entertain you."
"You're more entertaining. Especially when I get to, ya know, mess with your head and stuff." Ariana said casually, studying her nails.
"Of course you are. Every time we speak it's like my brain needs to rewire itself to deal with your mind games," Sarcasm was dripping from Ru's voice as he snapped his notebook shut. If ever there were a time he wasn't in the mood for Ariana's shit, it was now. He might've been acting a little irritable, but Ariana was being annoying and she knew it.
"Oh, that's the desired effect. Fantastic." she said.
Deep breath in, deep breath out. Ru was not going to give in to his base instincts and shout indiscriminate cuss words at Ariana until she left him alone. The would be rude. Pointless too. Ariana didn't seem the time to run away. She'd probably punch him. Or laugh in his face. "Well, congratulations. You've succeeded in making me miserable every time your around." He stood from the desk with a huff. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to a drawing room and unwind."
"I'll follow you then." she said, giving her most obnoxious smile.
It was like doing the last thing Ru wanted came naturally to Ariana. He just wanted to run off to a room and splash paint all over a canvas until he was less bored and antsy. Sure, he wasn't good at painting, but he liked it well enough and it was fairly therapeutic. "If that's your prerogative." The room was on the second floor so he tromped up the stairs and into the room.
Ariana followed him up the stairs, trailing behind him like a shadow. A highly obnoxious shadow.
Ru sighed when Ariana entered the room. Why was she so determined to bother him? What purpose could bothering him possibly have? He pulled out some paints and began setting up a pallet and canvas. "Could you grab me some brushes?"
"Painting? Didn't know you were the type. Well, it's something I enjoy too. If I may?" Aria sighed. She did like to paint, and she was pretty good at it, and staying would probably annoy Ru further. Rosie liked painting as well, but she probably wanted to get used to the place.
"Don't act like my opinion's going to change your mind. Can you grab the damn brushes?" Ariana had made it pretty clear that she didn't care much about the things he wanted. Ru was all finished setting up. The pallet was done and the canvas was set up. Now all he needed were the brushes and he could start splashing paint everywhere more aggressively than he would've if he were alone.
"Hmmph. Well, if you're going to be so touchy about itβ¦. never mind." Aria said, grabbing the paintbrushes from the shelf and getting her own canvas to paint on.
Ru snatched a paintbrush and dabbed it into some gray paint. What to paint? What to paint? Oh! He could draw a seal. He could draw his seal. Perfect! Seals looked like big grey blobs, right? That was what he was painting. Soon the seal's main shape was blocked out, so he began adding some brownish dapples along the shoulders.
Hmm. That was the main thought running through Ariana's head right now. She picked up a brush and some paint pots, and stared at the blank white canvas before her. Suddenly, she stuck her paintbrush in, a little harshly, and began to let an intricate design flow from her fingertips, through the brush, and onto the canvas. Colors, light and dark alike, came together to form a beautiful portrait, not of any one thing, but almost like it was of emotion, love, hate, anger, beauty, sentiment, euphoria, and so many more. The colors, while they might not seem like much to the untrained eye, were a song. Her eyes drifted shut, because there was music swelling in her head, incredible, silvery music, and the music and the colours spun together into something so lovely she wanted to weep and laugh at the same time. And then it stopped. It was only a moment, but an eternal one. And then it had stopped. She opened her eyes, staring at the blinding art before her. Others wouldn't see what she saw, they'd only see blobs, stripes, streaks. But it was enough for her. "We'll, I'm done. You?" she asked, voice quivering slightly. It would be a bit awkward explaining the effect colors had on her to Cerulean. And embarrassing. Rosanna, while she herself painted brilliantly, probably didn't understand the power of the colors like Aria did. And that was okay, nobody did either way.
A decent painting of a seal on a beach with a couple of waves and a few distant cliffs in the background. Ru liked the picture well enough and he was feeling much calmer so when he turned around to look at Ariana' picture he was not expecting some masterpiece of layered colors. It seemed emotional, although whatever emotion it was was indecipherable and a bit muted. He wouldn't be surprised to see it hanging in a gallery instead of in his mansion. "I'm done. I like your painting."
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