MissAvarice
I love writing these two. They're just so adorable.
Let's be honest your wh0re of a man will never match up to my pure, innocent April.
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Oriel sat beside the pond and ran her spires over the surface. Sometimes fish came up, mistaking it for a bug or something of that sort. She was able to entertain herself with such simple actions. It had been a couple days since April's last visit and Oriel was slightly worried about her.
April had warned Oriel it may happen. Her father was pressuring her to spend more time in the village and with the family. She was learning to be a proper housewife from her mother and had been given more chores to refine her talents or something of that matter.
Gender roles weren't seen in the monster realm since they had a single Queen ruling them and they different so much in appearance there was rarely something a man could do that a woman could not. She had learned that the human world was not the same. Women were meant to cook, clean, and raise children. Their husband was meant to work and provide for the family. She didn't like the way that woken were seen as lesser. She had to admit that human women did tend to be more fragile than human men but that was probably due to the way they were raised.
She looked away from the water when she heard footsteps approaching and listed herself off the ground so she was 'standing' again. April burst through the treeline and ran over to Oriel, throwing her arms around her middle and burying her head against Oriels chest.
"April?" Oriel asked. She had never seen April acting like this before. April was always perky yet casual around Oriel. April didn't say anything in reply. "Are you crying? Whats the problem?"
Oriel didn't know how long she'd been hiding there near the village. April never asked Oriel when she was going to leave and Oriel didn't have plans to leave. She was sure she'd been there for at least three months at this point.
"It-its nothing you can fix." April sniffed, trying to slow her tears.
"Let me try." Oriel insisted. She wanted to see April smile again. She had come to realize how beautiful April's smile was. It had taken her far too long to realize that she was talking for April and she was afraid to say it out loud. Oriel had never known what love was. She remembered asking Avina about it years ago.
"Why do you think some monsters have destined partners and others don't?" Oriel asked Avina. Some creatures felt a strange draw towards each other the moment the met while others didn't. Their species was strange in its difference despite having come from only one monster.
"I don't have a clue." Avina admitted. "But it would be nice to not have to search for love."
Oriel gave a slight nod though she didn't know if she agreed or not. She was in her young thirties, she estimated. Most humans were married and had children by that age. However Oriels slowly maturing body looked to be in her late teens still. She'd never felt that strange love for anyone and she had met every single monster in their realm. It was part of her job to know them all.
"What's love like?" Oriel asked.
Avina hesitated with her answer. How do you describe love. "There's different kinds of love really. It will vary but in the end you just desire to be around the person often. Seeing them happy makes you happy. You want to protect them and do everything you can to make their lives mean the most."
"That sounds like how I feel towards you." Oriel said.
"But ours is a platonic love. You wouldn't want to marry me. You might touch me but you don't kiss me." Avina said. "A romantic love is different. That's what the pairs have."
"What's the difference?" Oriel asked.
"I've never felt romantic love for another person. From what I know, though, it is everything I described before with the addition of one more emotion."
"And what is that emotion?"
"Lust."
At the time such things didn't make any sense to Oriel. How could you lust for one yet still desire to protect them, hold them, and keep them happy. Lust seemed something selfish and distant to her. Pleasure was a temporary matter and one she had rarely indulged in with others. Rarely being that she had only slept with two people before, each only one time.
The second one had asked for more from Oriel. She had wanted a relationship, a connection. Oriel didn't feel the same way and decided if she wanted that selfish pleasure, she could do it without the use of another's body.
Oriel understood it now though. How you could find someone so beautiful that you desired their body and yet their body didn't matter at all because you could see no future without them by your side. Well, perhaps she could go on without Ariel but she didn't want to. It was a foreign notion to Oriel.
"You can't fix it. It's my father. He's always been talking about the Crudel boys. Zavier specifically. He was just hunting before but now," April took a deep breath to calm her voice, struggling to keep it even, "he's arranging my marriage to Zavier. My father, Zavier, and Mr. Crudel are deciding it all for me and I can't do anything about it."
"Did you tell your father how you feel?" That was probably a foolish question, Oriel realized.
"Yes. He said that I do have some say in it. I can decide my wedding dress and help plan the ceremony." April pressed her forehead against Oriels shoulder again, unable to stop her tears any longer.
April had talked to her about Zavier Crudel and her father before. It wasn't that Zavier was a bad person, April just didn't find him attractive. Their personalities clashed and she didn't enjoy spending time in his presence. Zavier liked her, or so April said, though he cared more for her looks than their personalities getting along. April feared it would be a show marriage, that Zavier would not love her the way she desired to be loved.
"If there were theoretically a way to avoid this, what would it look like?" Oriel asked. She didn't know human law and custom well enough to come up with a solution on her own quickly.
"I don't think there's any other way unless Im engaged to someone else before the wedding." April said. The marriage arrangements were made through discussion and the shake of hands. There was nothing legal binding her, only her father's control over her.
"Then say you are engaged." Oriel advised.
"I can't just claim that. He'll refuse to believe me unless I show him a ring and my fiance." April said.
If April were to show up with just a friend, she would have to marry them likely within the next few months. Oriel could understand that situation well enough. If April didn't marry them it would be clear she was just escaping. However they did need someone. Preferably someone that her father would not much like so they could hold off a wedding due to April not having her father's approval.
"Then you shall have a fiance." Oriel said. "Tell them you are engaged. I can deal with the rest."
"Who do I tell them I am engaged to?"
"Me."
~~~~~~~~~
I considered adding more but I think I'll save that until a later date.
Obviously this was not their real engagement (as I sent you that scene before) however it is the first step Oriel takes to make this a real relationship.
Take notes, Faris.