singinghuntress | IC Inbox: Duplicity

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He doesn't shush her weeping at all, doesn't murmur platitudes or promises. He simply holds her, letting her cry it out, somehow suspecting she's been fighting doing so for long enough. He strokes her hair, ignoring his own tears. He'd wept too many to pay them any mind any longer.

When she pulls back and then rests her forehead against his he lifts a hand and places it on the side of her face, thumb rubbing her cheekbone.

Azwel smiles a watery smile of his own. "Fewer than I'm used to, I had four siblings... but... it sounds perfect." He wobbles slightly, eyes half-open. "It... sounds much more manageable...."

He steps back, then stumbles toward her sofa to sit down before he falls down.

She tenses a little as he steps back and watches him with worry as he stumbles towards the small sofa and sits down. After a few moments she was following him, settling at his feet as she leaned forward against his knees to reach out and touch his cheek.

"It vould haf been a start... if ve had more after zhem, I vould haf loved zhem all zhe same." But, she knew it would never happen. "I vas an only child so I don't know vat it vas like to grow up vith siblings." Would it have changed her fate? Who really knew.

But.. giving him children would have been a blessing regardless of how many they ended up with. "But, at zhe least.. I vanted two." After a breath or two she was shifting to settle on the couch next to him, leaning against his side. "I zhink... ve vould haf been happy."

He watches her, his gaze soft and still slightly unfocussed, and when she joins him on the sofa he curls his arm around her. "We would have been, yes," he whispers, his eyes falling shut again. There's a pause where he goes quiet, and one might think he'd fallen asleep or passed out but he speaks again after a moment, words interspersed with deep, slow breaths. "Would have... left this place... had a... a home, somewhere else."

There's another pause and he sighs slowly. "Though I... have to confess this isn't... the only thing... on my mind...."

Rip curled up a little more against him, drawing her long legs against her chest as she rested her head on his shoulder as he curled his arm around her. Right now, this was exactly where she needed to be.

"Zomevhere ve could haf lived peacefully." She felt him sigh beneath her as she closed her eyes, still mourning what could have been. However, when he spoke, she opened her eyes to glance up at him, worried and curious about what else was on his mind. "Vat else haf you been zhinking about?"

It's a moment or so before he replies, and when he does his words are slow. "It's... getting worse. More... difficult to chase away, to... distract myself from. Takes... more, now."

His hand curls around hers. "J'ss... want to stay here f'r'a while. With you."

The way he was speaking, slow and slurred worried her as she gently squeezed his hand and tilted her head to look at him. "Azvel? Vat's wrong..?Vat did you take?"

Can he hear the worry in her voice? She didn't smell any alcohol or anything smokeable. So, that left...A lot of different types of drugs actually. Rip shifted to sit up more and gently grasp his chin to have him look at her. "You can stay here az long as you need. I'd never send you avay. Just tell me vat's wrong und how to help."

He wants to sleep so very badly, but he does hear the worry in her voice, and sees it in her eyes. He blinks heavily and rubs his face.

"Mmmmhhhh... 'S'a painkiller draft. Simply... took more than usual and... it's kicked in a little... harder'n I thought it would do."

He swallows thickly. "Just need to... sleep for a bit... Then I'll be right as rain.". Here he manages a vague smile

She tenses a little when he said he took some sort of painkiller and a little more than he should have. Rip may not know much about medicine, but.. she was aware that could be dangerous.

"I'm vorried about letting you sleep." She was studying him intensely and definitely very worried. "Because I swear zhe only corpse in zhis relationship should be me."

"I don't think I have a choice... about sleeping," he murmurs. "Just for a short while. 'V'e done this before. Be all right..."

He leans against her, clearly having surrendered the fight against sleep.

With him out like this, she didn't have a choice but to get comfortable as he slept. Though, Rip.. might be making sure he still has a pulse from time to time while she patiently waits for this to wear off.

She's a little too worried to even attempt sleep so...

It's about an hour before he stirs again. The whole time, his pulse was slow but steady, his breathing deep. It's doubtful he even dreamed, as he'd remained motionless.

Presently he pulls in a slow, deep breath and sighs, sitting up blearily, and has the good grace to look sheepish.

"I... well. That was a miscalculation," he sighs. At least now he sounds reasonably lucid.

After checking his pulse a few times and finding him slow but steady, Rip finally and very reluctantly relaxed and just... waited.

An hour later when he started to stir, she was still there with him leaning on her. Though by now she was gently threading her fingers through his hair. "A miscalculation."

Her words were just blunt. "Exactly, vat vere you trying to do?" Though she had a sneaking suspicion.

Oh, dear. Azwel can't wriggle his way out of this conversation. Not that he could bring himself to. He leans into her touch for a moment and then sighs.

"I'd been taking it for weeks, now, but recently, I..." he pauses, looking for the the words that would best explain it, "I'd been using more of it since that night. Only a drop more than usual, but today the pain was especially severe and my own mind especially tormented that I... didn't pay sufficient attention to how much I'd added."

The motion of her fingers stilled as he mentioned that he had been taking something for pain. That she could understand but..

His mind had been tormented over their loss, must like hers had been. Rip will admit she might have done something stupid in her own way since that night but, nothing like that.

...Not... that drugs really affected her that much anymore anyway.

"You overdosed. Because of..." The child they lost. Rip couldn't even bring herself to say it as she resumed running her fingers through his hair for now.

Azwel lets his eyes fall shut.

"It was one loss too many," he whispers. "A pain in my soul as though pain in my body and mind weren't enough."

The loss of their child was the last blow, cracking that facade of strength. He shudders, pulling in an unsteady breath, tears rolling from his eyes despite the weary expressionlessness of his face.

Rip nodded and then drew him into her arms and held him, her head resting against his. She understood what he meant, she'd been feeling the ache deep within her but, had been trying her hardest to distract herself with something else.

... Like her time with Alucard, the very reason she disappeared for a few days afterwards. Rip wasn't exactly the best at coping with things either. She became just as self-destructive, just in different ways.

After a few moments, she pressed a kiss to his hair as he cried against her. A few of her own tears were trailing down her cheeks again as she tried not to think about their loss. "Ve've both lost a lot in our lives. Zhis was.." her hold on him tightened slightly. "Ve haf each ozher still."

They're just going to keep making each other weep if they continue like this. Azwel sniffs, rubbing his wet nose, slowly realising his tears have left wet spots on Rip's shirt. He's pretty certain she doesn't mind any more than he minded hers, but he still takes several deep breaths in an attempt to stop. It's exhausting and he's already feeling terrible.

"We do," he murmurs into her shoulder. "And we will... for as long as we can." He pauses, hesitating over whether he should air the rest of his thoughts. They're vague notions, untested and thus unproven, and yet they can't be reasoned away.

She could hear the hesitation and knew there was more he wanted to say. It was just... a question of him being ready to share his thoughts with her. Rip kept running her fingers through his hair for now, letting him have a little time to breathe before she spoke again

“For however long ve are here und hope neither one of us get sent home.” Which was a death sentence for both of them in reality. Rip fell silent for a few more moments... “ .. ve can deal vith vatever gets throw at us.”

He nods, giving a vague smile. "True," he whispers. "We can. We won't let them break us."

Words he hopes he can live by, especially given this place's ever-increasingly devious attempts to do just that.

A little flutter of his old optimism flits through his mind. Maybe he'll weather all of this, after all. But he'll have to tell her what it is he's weathering. He pulls in a deep breath and lets it out in a long sigh.

"This pain getting worse is... worrisome," he says. "And I've been feeling as though something is wrong for a while, now. Ever since I arrived here, really. But I don't know what it is. It's... vague. Elusive."

Her fingers paused for a moment, more worries being added to her already growing pile before she started to continue running her fingers through his hair. She knew he was in pain at times.. but. She didn't realize how bad it was.

"Iz zhere a vay to figure out vat it is or vhy zhe pain is increasing?"

He sighs, leaning into her touch for a moment. "The only way I can find any of that out is to submit myself for a complete medical examination. You can see the trouble there. But I've reached the limit of my own research and testing."

A pause. "Or I could find a healer. See if their magick could do something, instead."

Her touch was gentle as he leaned into it as she considered the troubles getting a full medical examination might entail. "...Perhaps, but, you may need to get a medical examination anyvay to find out vats wrong vith you. A healer uzing zheir...magick could make zhings vorse."

Admittedly, she didn't know much about healers in general. Rip's more familiar with medical examinations and experimentation than Alchemy and Magic. "If Haven vorries you, ve could ask for one in private zomevhere or ask one of zhe Doctors to come to my home for you."

"The trouble is magickal in nature, but... you're probably right. It straddles the line between magick and science and... I'd need to find someone who is familiar with both. As much as I hate to think about it, Doctor Reid is most familiar with this... condition."

Then he sighs and shakes his head. "That's not fair to him--he's been nothing but professional and unbiased this entire time, despite his associations."

At least he wasn't going to argue with her on that part. And..Reid was exactly who she was thinking of going to honestly. Despite who he was associated with and her own issues with the good Doctor in the past, he took his profession seriously from what she's seen...

"I vas just going to suggest him. Ve can insist he doesn't involve anyone else if you like." She hesitated for a moment. "Zhe Ivy voman feels off to me und zhe last I saw of her, she vas vorking on zomezhing zhat..felt pleasant but, she vouldn't let me get near it."

Rip really had no idea what she saw in the workshop she 'politely' got chased out of not that long ago. "Zo if she is your concern, ve can alzo insist on him examining you zomevhere not Haven."

Azwel rubs a hand over his face. "As much as I'd prefer he make a house call, so to speak, I suspect we'll need access to the machinery they have there. And to further complicate the issue, I may have to involve her, as she has access to..." Here, he stops, then blinks at Rip as the fact finally catches up to his rambling thoughts.

"When did you go over there?"