InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Forecast for tonight: dark."

Ariana Kendra Winifred Susan Dumbledore (feedingoats) wrote in lockewood,
@ 2010-04-08 14:39:00

WHO: Ariana and Gellert
WHERE: The Hospital
WHEN: Late Wednesday/Early Thursday
WHAT: Retrieving the sick sister!
RATING: TBD
STATUS: Incomplete

It was horrible. The illness. The way it caused the slightest bit of water in her stomach to stage a revolt and expel itself from her body. The way it made every inch of her body ache with a fierceness she hadn't known possible. Or maybe it was the heat that radiated from her every pore. Ariana wasn't quite able to pinpoint which was the more detestable feature of the illness and she wasn't certain it was important. The key was its cumulative effect. And the pesky fact that it contained her in the town hospital.

Ariana had been there once before. After the incident with Ms. Alice. At that very moment she had felt as though the hospital was exactly where she belonged. What they had all feared for her fate as a family might just be what she needed. Contained at the hospital she couldn't hurt anyone...

But, that felt like a lifetime ago. If not a lifetime at least enough space that Ariana had tasted the potential her future held. Perhaps. No matter how unlikely it might be she couldn't let go of that hope anymore. She clung to it tightly. Even as she lay in her small bed, sweat beading her brow she desperately didn't wish for this future. Ariana squirmed uncomfortably. She swung her bare feet over the edge of the bed and gripped her hands tightly to the edge of the bed as her head swam. Stars forming before her eyes she tried to breathe slowly, hoping they would stop. Gellert had said he was coming to find her. This would all be so much easier to bear if she could just see Albus, be near him and know that he was going to be alright.

He had to be alright.

Finally the rapid rotation of the world slowed, enough so that she could tuck the edges of the flimsy gown she wore around her legs. Her own clothes had long ago been sacrificed to the contents of her stomach. She didn't want to bother Scorpius or Ms. Hufflepuff to clean her clothes, not when they had so much else to do... do hospital gown it was. Ariana placed a hand flat on her stomach. She would be able to make it down the hall. She would. If she could just focus on that one task at hand.

That however seemed to be impossible.

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hallowedsummer
2010-04-09 07:58 pm UTC (link)

The process of traveling from his own room down the corridor to Ariana's had initially seemed like simplicity. Gellert was no longer vomiting, after all (though as he was also not eating, perhaps that was to be expected). And if he sat very, very still, he could nearly ignore the fever that smouldered just beneath the surface of his skin. He was beginning to find sleep less and less achievable, his thoughts rushing too quickly, too vividly through his mind for slumber to have any easy sway. The relief of what had been near-constant exhaustion--the return to what was Gellert's typical state--made him optimistic, indeed. It seemed as though it ought to be no significant feat, making it just a few metres down the hall to wherever Ariana was staying. But somewhere in his reasoning Gellert must have made a rather large error, for several doors down from his room his energy finally gave out. He was clutching the wall, fighting the waves of dizziness that crashed over his body and threatened to send him sinking to the floor.

Gellert forced himself to take in several deep, shuddering breaths, pressing his fingertips to his temple, letting the rapid stumble of his pulse reorient him to reality. Ground him in it. He did not want to look ill when he finally made it to Ariana's room. There was little purpose in cultivating further anxiety in her, at least for the moment. Better to leave that for when Gellert was healthier and more certain to be effective in his attempts to restrain her should her upset become too great.

When he finally managed to push himself upright again, he had lost track of how much time had passed. It could have been seconds, or minutes, or an hour that he had been leaning there, clinging to consciousness with white knuckles. He touched the back of his hand to his brow, to make sure that his face was not unduly flushed or damp. Perhaps a little. Gellert raked his fingers through his hair, ordering himself to stand a bit taller, to make himself presentable. He was almost at the end of the hall. It occurred to him that perhaps he ought to have turned left upon leaving his room, not right--that perhaps he was headed in the wrong direction entirely. It was not a prospect that Gellert wished to fathom.

He felt surprisingly steady as he took his first step, and then another, breaking away from the security of the wall to walk down the middle of the corridor, glancing into the open doorways as he passed them by. Relief surged within him when he finally spotted Ariana, and he tried to make his smile seem as relaxed and natural as possible as he stepped up, grasping either side of her doorframe. "How are you feeling?" he asked, though just by looking at her the answer was obvious.

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feedingoats
2010-04-09 10:04 pm UTC (link)

If she concentrated hard enough it sounded as though someone was working their way down the hallway. When she had first arrived she had strained to hear such comings and goings. It might mean the healer was coming by with a potion that might make her feel slightly better and anything was better than her current state. Though by now she had come to realize that the potions they gave her barely cracked the surface at the wretchedness that this virus brought.

It was difficult though, to make sense of all the sounds around her. The rushing of the blood through her head at each movement tended to take over all her senses. It reminded her of the way that magic tended to swell around her and pulse outward. Such a memory wasn't entirely good though. It was a mixture at the pleasure of such a release and the fear of what it always brought. Luckily her stomach always seemed to have excellent timing, lurching and bringing her back to the moment.

She wasn't wrong in her attempted hearing though. Before she'd brought her own feet to the ground to make her own attempted escape, there was a figure at her door. The tall familiar figure of Gellert. She tried to tilt her head to the side but it resulted in more of a flop, which was also far too fast of a movement. Ariana closed her eyes briefly before cracking them open once again. "I have-" She needed a moment to stop the rolling of her stomach. "Felt better." She finally managed to say, her words soft and gravely. "You are standing Gellert, I am jealous." That Ariana said with complete honesty as she hadn't quite been able to muster the bravery to make her own attempt.

"Albus, is Albus doing any better?" She asked and found renewed strength to attempt to get up. Her palms flat on the bed she pushed upward. Attempt number 1.

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hallowedsummer
2010-04-10 02:40 am UTC (link)

Ariana looked sicker than he had imagined. Her face was nearly as white as the bedsheets, except for where a ruby flush had tinged her cheekbones, betraying her fever. Gellert waited to release the door until he was certain he could stand without swaying. He crossed the room, not bothering to rush himself. She hardly looked in any condition to be making judgments regarding the state of his health, anyway.

Gellert sat down on the edge of her bed and placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. He could feel the heat from her body through the thin protection of her hospital gown, searing the skin of his palm. "Better than yesterday," Gellert said, though he was not entirely sure how true his words actually were. Albus seemed to have fallen into a febrile half-daze, surfacing from time to time into something approaching lucidity before falling into a trance again. "Do you need me to get you a wheelchair?"

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feedingoats
2010-04-10 09:13 pm UTC (link)

Her own health was of lower importance. At least that was what she preferred to think at the moment. Albus had sounded far worse off then her and with Gellert's concern... she couldn't help but place that worry first. Albus was her brother, and while she had always been closer to Aberforth... Albus was irreplaceable. She would do anything to make certain he regained his health. Seeing Gellert upright though gave her hope. He had cleared the worst of it hadn't he? So would Albus.

Her first attempt had not gotten far, only an inch or so off the mattress before she sunk back down onto the cushion, Gellert's slightly cooler palm a temporary oasis on her shoulder. "Good," She breathed out, relief in her voice. Ariana lifted her chin and gave Gellert a small sort of smile. All that she could muster. "I want to walk," Ariana began the smile fading. "But I don't know that I'm able." She finally finished. "You'd think you all would have a much simpler magical way of getting about when you're this ill." There was the first note of irritation in her voice. She tried to be a good patient but she found she disliked it greatly when the one thing she had, her physical abilities, were taken from her.

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hallowedsummer
2010-04-10 11:15 pm UTC (link)

"Well, I could always levitate you," Gellert suggested, drawing his wand and twirling it between his fingers. It was more of a half-joking suggestion, anyway; he doubted Ariana would take well to being floated down the corridor at the tip of the Wand.

He dropped his grip from her shoulder to instead take her small hand, lacing their fingers together atop her knee. "Really, though," he said after a few moments had passed, "if you cannot walk, you cannot walk--no matter how much you might like to."

Albus had been semi-awake when Gellert had left the room, but with how long he had been gone, there was no telling whether or not he had already drifted back into a doze. Either way, he would want Gellert to wake him up upon his return. Gellert had not yet decided whether that was a wish he would grant.

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feedingoats
2010-04-11 02:38 am UTC (link)

Her nose crinkled slightly as she contemplated that idea. Being levitated down the hall probably wouldn't be all that it was cracked up to be. Especially not in this hospital gown. "I suppose I wouldn't actually care for that, especially not with my stomach-" She paused. "Though it's best not to speak of that body part at all." Just reminded her of how volatile it really was.

Ariana's lips tugged downward. She took solace in the solid feeling of his fingers around hers. "My legs, they just feel like wet noodles." That was the most accurate description that she could come up with. "I've never felt so wretched before. Well-" She could recall one particularly painful moment in her life. "I've never felt so ill." There, she corrected herself. They were two entirely different feelings.

"Let me try one more time." She said as she gave his hand a squeeze. Giving the task her full concentration, Ariana closed her eyes and slid her feet down to the ground and pushed upward. The excess of focus had a, perhaps, predictable result. A static charge escaping from her finger tips. Ariana threw her hands up in the air, the motion causing her to groan.

"I give up." This illness was decidedly defeatist.

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hallowedsummer
2010-04-12 02:45 am UTC (link)

Gellert gave her what he thought was an encouraging smile. "You will be feeling better soon enough," he said. Perhaps he ought not to be making so many half-hearted promises, but he very much believed that a determination to get better was an integral part of any recovery process. Hopelessness would only lead to the loss of hope.

He bit back a pained noise when that shock burst from Ariana's fingers, grateful that she released him almost immediately afterward. "It's all right," he said, forcing himself not to rub his hand against his thigh as if to shake off the lingering electric charge. "Here, I'll get a chair."

Pushing himself off the bed with a bit of effort, Gellert pushed the wheelchair from its spot near the door to Ariana's bedside. He leaned over to slip a supportive arm around her waist. "Put your arm around my neck," he directed. "I'll help you in."

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feedingoats
2010-04-12 05:45 am UTC (link)

She hoped he was right but based on how long he had been ill... she was having a bit of difficulty believing that to be the case. Perhaps eventually though, he was upright and keeping food down, in theory. "I can only hope so. I'm not certain there is much farther down to go." Ariana shook her head, shaking off the words. "I didn't really mean that. I'm sure it could be much worse." Goodness, she didn't want to jink herself into actually making it worse.

Ariana bit down on her lip tightly as she tried not to think of the fact that she had just shocked Gellert, something he didn't need in his current state. "I'm sorry." She finally said, shoulders slumping slightly as he moved about the room and brought the much despised chair forward. She hesitated a moment before doing as he had suggested and looping her arms around his neck. Her cheek pressed to his chest she was still for a moment. "When we're better- will you make me a promise Gellert?" Maybe it was the fever and perhaps it wasn't the best time to make potentially life altering decisions... but Ariana was determined nevertheless.

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