Winnie heard his groan and shot from her seat, she opened the door quickly, the motion stirring her long strands of hair, the long strands she still hadn't put up, though she had changed her clothes in the time she had waited for him. "Lord Marcus…" Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper as she regarded him with wide brown eyes, concern shining in them. He spent the whole night in the bathroom! she thought with a blink. "You must be hungry, or at least thirsty."
Marcus couldn't stand her eyes, her goddamn eyes. He wanted her to stop worrying about him. He was fine. Or…. he would be when he killed his uncle. He looked met her gaze, eyes hardening and closing up over his vulnerable parts. "I am just fine, I told you so last night.", he told her briskly, and strode to the other end of his room, not quite managing to muster yesterday's bravado, but close enough. Just leave me alone. He felt the guilt lying heavily in the pit of his stomach, but refused to let it get to him.
She watched him pass. "Well, may you please eat something, or drink something? Perhaps gargle… for my sake at least?" she tried. She wasn't sure how he would reply to the offer. With the look he gave her, he probably wasn't take the bait. But she continued. "Then… we may proceed with your check…" She clasped her hands behind her back.
Check…. sh*t. Marcus turned to look at her, attempting to pin her down with a glare but really only succeeding in an exhausted stare. "I'm not hungry.", he sad simply, turning away again.
"On the contrary Lord Marcus, you just don't feel hungry. We humans run a time table, eating is imperative and essentially done in part in the morning. If the table is ignored, harm may come to you, and that is counterproductive." She explained as the buttered a warm roll. She set it on a saucer and walked it over to him. She sat him down on the bed and placed it on his lap. "That is all I will advise you to eat. Please cooperate." Winnie didn't like the neutrality in her tone, so bland and firm. Yet, it was required, especially dealing with a patient. Showing emotion will lead them to grasp it and sway you to their will. She couldn't afford that. "I shall fetch my things and we shall begin." She smiled faintly and turned into her room.
Marcus muttered a curse under his bed, sinking into the cushions of a couch and eyeing the roll in his lap. Should I eat it? Eventually, he decided not to, if just to spite her.
She returned and set up in silence. She had made sure to sterilize each of her medical instruments before she used them once more. She tsked at the sight of the roll but said nothing. Winnie worked swiftly, checking his ears, eyes, hair, and temperature. As she was recording his temperature, she looked up at him briefly. "I'm going to need you to remove your shirt." She told him, firmness in her gaze. She set down her record book and looked towards him.
Marcus had sat completely still up until now, neither speaking nor looking at her. Now, his eyes hardened further and clashed with hers. "No.", he said simply, harshly.
"Why not?" she countered. "You desire nothing of me and I nothing of you. This is strictly for your well being, unless you see it as more than that…" she smirked. She shook her head. "You must be terribly lonely up here…such a shame but Lord Marcus, we set ground rules last night." she feigned a blush. If he was going to be difficult, she was going to have a little fun.
Marcus was too tired to tease her right back. Too fucking tired. Too broken. Too…. he didn’t even know anymore. “I have no reason to see it as anything more than that.”, he snapped at her, pulling back.”And if you really think I’d think that highly of you, then you need to check your sanity, not mine.”
(If she keeps nagging him he’ll cave in and agree)
((Okay! But I gtg for tonight, ill reply in the morning))
(Night!)
With a small laugh, Winnie rolled up her sleeves. "No i'm not, I know very well that I am a beautiful woman. And you're not to bad looking yourself. Now, as much as that may churn your stomach and hurt your ears, I will stop if you take off your shirt…" she trailed off. "If you don't, I'll cut it off of you. You may just be stiff from spending the night on the floor…"
Marcus glowered at her, eyes smoldering dangerously. “Fine.”, he spat, pulling his shirt over his head in one smooth movement. The fabric fell to the floor, revealing a plane of smooth, tan muscles and warm skin. His chest rose and fell with his breathing, and he looked her right in the eye, almost as if he was daring her. “But if you ever cut anything on my you’d find yourself bleeding on my floor.”
Winnie gave a smile of satisfaction, doing her best to act indifferent at the sight of him. "I have no intentions of cutting you, and if I ever did, you'd find yourself bleeding on the floor." She replied as she began to prod and press some focal points on his chest. "Any pain?" she asked after a moment.
Marcus’s body was, in fact, racked in pain, but he was careful not to let it show on his face. “No. And I wouldn’t be on the floor. I’m not a weakling.” Normally, he would have tormented her, raised a teasing eyebrow, smirk suggestively. But he was too tired. He just sat there, feeling her warm hands in his chest, wishing she would pull away and leave him alone.
"Well that's a lie…" she muttered. "You're muscles are tensed, of course your in some sort of pain." She prodded his shoulder, kneaded the muscles. "How long have you felt like this?" She moved towards his elbows, testing the joints and feeling about his forearm. "And I have no doubt that you aren't a weakling. Nevertheless, neither am I…."
Marcus snatched her wrists away from him arm, holding them a safe distance away from his body. “Stop.” He was not going to have his babysitter massaging his chest. His shoulders were drawn up tight, and he was all alarmed to find that osrt of him didn’t want her to.
Winnie had trail his forearm, gasping as he pulled her wrists away. She raised her eyes to his, narrowed and fiery. "Very well." she yanked her wrists from his grasp, "I have seen as I need to anyway." Turning her back on him, she fixed her sleeves and packed her things. She'd catalog the scars she had spied on the inside of his arms, but later.
Marcus immediately pulled his shirt back on, knowing she had seen his scars and the gouges in his arm but not particularly caring. Let her try to squeeze the truth out of him. Let her fail. He turned away, crossing his arms and glowering at the ground.
Winnie put her stuff back silently. She wasn't sure what to say, how to say it.
He harmed himself. She knew that much
As she shut her chest, she thought of anyway to make this easy. There wasn't want. So as she returned to the room, Marcus turning away glowering like a child, she found it hard to smile. "Your arm…" she started but her voice faded. She never understood how people could do such a thing. Others had harmed her in her past, repeatedly, taking pleasure in her pain, but she'd never seen the sense in harming herself even more. But she knew that others took solace in the pain they inflicted on themselves, she had heard of others cutting themselves just for the sickly tantalizing taste of blood.
Twisted minds in a playground of sorrow…
Hopscotch and tag with friends of shadow..
Taking turns with daggers, cutting to marrow…
Never expecting to see tomorrow…
Bleeding nice and slow…
"A Picnic for Me by Lauren Dean…" Winnie muttered. "A female author and inmate of the Winterbridge Assylum… Have you read her books?" she asked him, taking a step closer.
Marcus stood up and took a step back from her. “Leave me alone.”, he snarled, but there was an undetectable note of fear beneath his voice. He took another step away from her, heart pounding. A terrifying idea occurred to him. What if she told his uncle? Not that the son of a bitch would actually care, but he would have a piece of very private information. “And don’t you dare tell my uncle.” Marcus was all too conscious of the gouges in his arm, fresh from last night, lying hidden between only a thin layer of fabric.
(Oh my god that poem tho)
(it's egdy, and I had one of my more angsty writing friends proof read it before I posted it. XD)
Winnie frowned. "I have no intentions of telling on you. That would make me seems like as much of a child as you." She snapped back. And she instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry, that was - it was uncalled for…" She sighed. "I know that you have a lot going on in your mind. Even if I don't know specifically what… But I have been taught that my patient's trust is most important. Any revelations that occur among us, stay among unless toxic."
(lol)
(it's reaaaally good omg)
Rage burned in his eyes for three solid seconds. But instead of taking it out on her, he just turned away. "If the Lady does not mind, I would like to get dressed into proper clothes.", he nearly spat. His words were sharp, dangerous, meant to cause a slight flinch. Not sparing her another look, Marcus strode towards his wardrobe, giving her a cue to leave. She didn't understand, would never understand.