#and even then i might just say shoot me

[glassrowboat]

Neuvillette x Reader.

Summary: Pearls, like every organic substance, will show their age with time. Loose their shine, their luster, and the once bright white beads that hang from a lady's neck will turn a soft cream. Even precious gems have their limit on life, and it's that very fact that has worry chewing away at Neuvillette's being.

Author's note: Aka, the reader is an old lady in this one.

“Careful, my pearl.”

Neuvillette's hand took yours, hoping to aid you in climbing up the lush fields and a single hill you two were currently traipsing.

Each step had you relying on him a bit more, leaning into his hold until his arms were surely the only thing keeping you standing as your soft breathing turned ragged in in the crisp air of summertime. It only slowed, falling back into a gentle melody when the sting in your hip, aroused by the climb, had subsided.

Without the pain in the back of your mind, reminding you of its constant existence, you were able to gaze over the steep rolls of grass covered land and the nearby beach as the small accomplishment of achieving your goal of getting up there in the first place settled in.

The walls of the city were still in view, towering over the plateaus right outside the Court of Fontaine and casting a shadow that seemed to reach out in hopes of touching the tips of your shoes or even the red blanket already set out for you both to sit on with a muddied gray you would normally associate with a dreary day. The sun made sure of that as it shined brightly, bringing a charming blue with it along with leaving the thin wool blanket that had been basking under its rays warm to the touch.

Your palm met it as you settled down, muttering an “I know, I know,” all the while as the fabric warmed your skin.

Next to you two canes rattled against each other as Neuvillette set them down side by side; a crochet otter (your work) hung from one of them to mark it as his so he wouldn't accidentally pick up the wrong one before heading out the door and into the dawn of a new day each morning. It swayed lightly before falling to a stop.

“I'm not made of glass, dear." you reminded him.

“And I”- the blanket ruffled, sheet stirring and forming new wrinkles in its fabric as Neuvillette settled down next to you, boots resting in the grass to assure he won't get any dirt on the blanket- “of course, would forgo ever daring to imply you were.”

Creases were in the corners of Neuvillette's eyes and a soft smile on his face when he added, “but still, please do be vigilant.”

You didn't even have to think twice before you matched his expression. “As you say.”

You heard the waves rushing in, lapping at the shore as water laved at the shore, leaving bubbles of seafoam in the sand only to be washed away by another lap of the low tide. They were gentle, slowly coming in and back out to the ocean. You tore your eyes from to look up at Neuvillette only to discover he was already looking back at you.

“When did you prepare all of this, anyway?” You gestured around you, hand waving over the picnic basket you had spotted from the moment Neuvillette had first brought you the otherwise isolated spot. “I didn't think you would have the time to pull something like this off with how busy you have been now that you've been handling Lady Furina's duties on top of everything else.”

“While the work has been tedious, even I have days off. However, I would be dishonest if I told you Sedene didn't help with the preparations.”

A laugh quickly bubbled up and escaped you as you pictured her little legs running around with a quilt dragging behind her, basket in one hand as she marched forth with determination in her eyes to do something nice for the man the melusine's so lovingly called father and his dedicated wife. Perhaps she would even be singing a song in that accent of hers you so loved to hear; not like it could ever compare to your husband's own gentle voice as he said the words I love you.

“You two coddle me too much.”

“I am merely being diligent.”

You sighed, head falling to Neuvillette's shoulder. Your own white strands of hair, having long lost their original color with the ages you have lived, blended in with his. All except the blue horns glowing behind your backs, lighting you both up in a way the blue sky above could never hope to compare to with a gentle glow. “You took the vow in sickness and in health far too seriously.”

You could have sworn you heard Neuvillette say “as I should” when he started to ruffle through the basket, one hand outstretched to find exactly what he's looking for before pulling out a container full of sandwiches. The white, fluffy bread was stuffed full of chicken salad, almonds, and cranberries, just the way you had taught him to make them in the quiet moments trying to navigate around a kitchen made for one before sending him off to work with a packed lunch.

Those moments where the curtains were drawn open to welcome in the few streams of light before the sky had changed back from night time and brief kisses were shared as you leaned over a counter trying your best not to get distracted from the task at hand had always left you with butterflies fluttering in your stomach as he pressed one last peck to your cheek and the ring on your hand before leaving for the day. Now, he's making the same sandwiches for you and encouraging you to take a bite as you raise it up to your open mouth.

It didn't taste the same way you made it, but that hardly mattered when you had wind whipping through your hair and the taste of the sea breeze on your tongue all from his efforts to grant you both a nice day.

Swallowing down what you could, you asked, “is there an reason for this?”

“I simply thought it would be in our best interests to enjoy the day together while I had the chance. Before I'm handed something else to fill my schedule, that is.”

“And what a day it is.” You hummed as another wave rolled in.

His hand has been ruffling through the basket again, looking through its contents to pull out a bottle of water you could only assume was from some far-off spring that somehow tasted like a pure hearted blessing with hints of apples from the trees grown nearby stopped short before he pulled it back out.

“I cannot deny I…regret not being able to spend as much time with you as I would like. I suppose you could say this is me doing my best to settle my grievances with that fact.”

It didn't take you even a second to respond with: “Well, that's idiotic.”

Neuvillette blinked once, twice, and even thrice before schooling his visible shock and managing to ask you “excuse me?"

“Dear, you're busy. So what?" You shrugged. "I knew what I was getting into when I said yes to your proposal.”

“Well, it has been a good few years since you said yes."

“If you're trying to suggest my mind has changed over all this time, it hasn't. You're a workaholic who stays indoors all the time to do paperwork with that fancy pen of yours. That's been true even before we were wed, and I knew it well. To me, you're still the man I fell in love with.”

“That's not- I'm not sure how to articulate...” his voice fell off, growing quiet before Neuvillette slowly nodded. “I believe I understand.”

“Good.” Picking up one of the sandwiches you hadn't taken a bite of yet from the plastic tupperware, you raised it up to his lips. “So instead of lamenting over the fact you're not with me all the time, eat something. Please.”

Slowly Neuvillette's hand raised to take the sandwich from you, pinching it between his gloved fingers as he inspected it this way and that like he didn't know what it was before finally giving in and taking a bite.

“It's better to eat with company, anyway.” You said, urging him to eat with you as Neuvillette started chewing at the bite he toom.

The tide was still high, running along the shore by the time everything had been devoured, and the trash was stored back away in the basket to be dealt with at a later date. Even that one stray napkin you had tried to chase after to avoid littering only to have been gently pushed back down to sit on the blanket to continue resting before Neuvillette had gone to get it himself. Perhaps if it was a scarf, it would have been more romantic, but you still greeted him with a smile and called him your hero nonetheless when he came back.

His smile had been more than worth that entire ordeal as Neuvillette came back to stash it away before fixing the sweater hanging off your shoulders to be a bit more secure lest he have to run after another stray item.

The top most button was fixed together when his hands finally fell down to run along your arms.

“Are you warm?” Neuvillete asked. “I didn't think to ask Sedene to pack an extra blanket.”

“I'm perfect. Truly. No need to worry yourself silly.”

Neuvillette repeated your words, testing them before he shook his head with a chuckle. “Yes, I'm sure you are, but I want to get you back home lest we dedicate our whole day up to being here regardless. After all, were you not working on a new crochet project before we left?”

Admittedly, you were. It was laying half finished on your chair in the sunroom just waiting to be finished. You could even imagine the wadded up ball laying next to it, threatening to fall off the chair and create a big mess you would have to clean up.

“Looks like you won this one. Fine, we can get out of the cold and go home.”

“There we are.” He pressed a lingering kiss to your forehead before helping you up.

Soon, you both were folding the blanket together. Meeting corner to corner in an overly meticulous manner for something you were going to insist needed to be thrown in the wash the moment you both crossed the front door, but you said nothing as Neuvillette focused on it. Almost to a concerning degree, the same way he always made sure his ceremonial robes were perfectly ironed and the brooch adorning his jabot was straight before allowing himself to be seen in the public eye.

It was only when your back turned to face him to pick up the basket and both your canes did Neuvillette's slitted eyes spare a moment to gaze up and watch the few clouds he could see coming in before he wrenched them away and bringing them back to you.

You were already ready, basket held tightly in your grasp.

Neuvillette held his arm out to you. “Shall we, my pearl?”

Taking his arm you replied back with “we shall.”

The walk down the hill was easier than trying to stumble your way up it, and it was nicer to your hip, too, giving it a small shred of mercy. This way, you thought as the ground beneath your feet turned from green grass to a concrete sidewalk, you wouldn't have to lean on Neuvillette the entire way home through the streets decorated with flowers and civilians who stopped to stare at the both of you as you hobbled with each step past them.

Your keys clattered, chiming as they smacked against the charms you kept on your keyring as Neuvillette unlocked the door for you both before leading you in and to the living room sofa.

It was only when you were properly sat down again did he go back to place your canes by the front door. Your claims of being able to do it yourself were easily brushed off with a claim he could handle it just as well as you could.

“I…” Neuvillette tried to say as he walked back into the living room with you, shoes already off and no doubt nestled side by side right where he always left them after a long day at the Palais Mermonia. “I was hoping to talk to you about something, but I was unable to bring myself to mention it earlier.”

“I could tell.”

“Is that so?” His lips quirked down just as you spotted a growing wrinkle between his brows.

“You're still as obvious as ever. You never were good at hiding when something was on your mind.”

“Personally speaking, I like to think it's because you have the innate ability to read me.”

“Or our years together have given me a certain edge.”

A hum left Neuvillette, agreeing with you when he spotted the flowers in the vase beside your head, rainbow roses that had once been a brilliant series of pinks and yellows were now curling in on itself at the ends. He couldn't stop himself from plucking one from the vase to watch it whirr as he spun it softly to watch the withered ends of the petals fan out. A tornado of perfume and fading color laid in his hands.

How was it he didn't stop to notice them fading away until now?

“They'll need to be replaced.” You said, eyeing the stray petal that broke off and slowly floated down to the floor. With a single step, it would be crushed and reduced to nothing more than dust.

“No, let them stay a little longer.”

You didn't bother to protest, not even as you could see the slow crawl of clouds coming in and blocking out the sun you had been enjoying earlier that day. Not even as they turned dark.

“I'm sure you recall the time when the gentleman from Poisson, Mister Callas, was pulled in for trial, yes? I still don't fully understand why he refused, taking a duel instead despite knowing what the outcome would be. It was such a grueling affair,” he paused, “but do you ever wonder if he wished, in those last moments, he could have said goodbye to Miss Navia?”

“That's certainly a thought.”

Reaching up, you took the flower from him. He didn't protest either.

“Of course, there was the matter of Carole and Vautrin along with the events that occurred with the primordial sea. So many people all swept away with the tide. Surely, they had someone they were planning to go home to that very day. More goodbyes to say left unsaid. If I were in their shoes, I know I would regret not being able to do the same.”

“Is this about what was bothering you earlier?”

Neuvillette nodded. “It is indeed.”

Neuvillette's robes ruffled as he got down before you, one knee to the floor and one brushing against your leg. The fabric tickled you, but you were quickly distracted from the feeling as he pulled the rose from your grasp and placed it in your lap. Like this against the rich fabric of your skirt, it was made all the more obvious how this little flower that had exuded life had gone dull with the passage of time.

All my took was being snipped from the plant that had given it life. Then the days did the rest.

“My pearl, I have gone about this in a roundabout way, haven't I? You might have more of a point than I care to admit when you claim I don't know how to handle delicate topics with the same finesse I wish I could display.”

You smiled to yourself, musing over the fact that the only place he wasn't awkward was the courtroom.

“Well, it certainly doesn't help when you're talking as if you expect another prophecy to come down from the sky and sentence all Fontaians to death.” With a shrug, you added the word “again.”

“Then allow me to be direct: I asked myself if there was anything I would not regret doing with my life, and my answer was you. Not doing enough for you.”

Taking your hand, Neuvillette turned it over in his own, letting his fingers trace over the wrinkles you had accumulated over the years you had lived with him side by side. If he were to take his off…well, they would be the same as ever.

“My pearl, that day you fell down in the Opera Epiclese and couldn't get back up on your own had left me worried for days on end. The entire time you were bedridden, I was left hoping for all the moments I still wished to have with you to be possible.”

You squeezed his hand.

“And the thought came back to me after the last judgment of the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinal.” Neuvillette confessed. “Of never being able to see you again.”

“You make it sound like I'm planning to leave you.”

“No, it's not that, but in my five hundred years amongst you humans, I have learned no one truly plans to leave. It simply happens. One day, they're there, and the next, they're not.”

“Oh, Neuvi.” Your lips parted as you tried to find the right words to say, somehow finding everything you wanted to convey couldn't be properly articulated. All you could tell him was: “Then I regret all the desserts we didn't share, the picnics we missed, the nights in which you were too busy catching up on paperwork, but we don't have to let those be regrets, we can make up for it now. Just like today.”

“You say that, and yet neither of us know if we're promised tomorrow.”

Your hand left his to take Neuvillette's cheek in your hold to guide him down to you until your foreheads were barely kissing. The gesture flattened his bangs, making them cover his eyes for only a moment before you were brushing the strands out of your way. “Well I have no intention of leaving. I'll be there tomorrow and the day after that, and the day after that, again and again until you're left with no choice but to push my raggedy old bones in a wheelchair everywhere we go.”

“I would hardly mind.”

“In sickness and in health.” You rolled your eyes, trying not to openly laugh at the fact he was saying the same thing he did earlier to your jab about the vows you shared.

Your thumb circled his cheek, running along the bone hidden underneath to bring his attention back to you, and when it was you could see the room around you growing bright again as a few golden rays started to peak out from the clouds and shine through the curtain lined windows. Just like the sadness in his eyes, the gloom of an oncoming rain storm seemed to be fading away. Some may only consider Neuvillette as the stone faced Iudex, but to you he was still the man who was far too obvious for his own good, wearing his emotions not on his sleeve, but in the sky.

“Thank you for spending today with me.”

You circled his cheek again, careful not to smudge the blue tinted makeup under Neuvillette's eyes. “Of course. Ask again any day, and I would gladly climb that hill with you again and listen to you ruminate about water.”

“As would I.”

“No matter the weather.”

His head turned into your palm, meeting your touch. “Until death do us part.”

You didn't bother to count how long you two stayed like that, not even with the constant tick, tick, ticking of a grandfather clock coming from the hall. Everything seemed to settle for a moment in time. Stopping just for you two. He didn't even shift on the floor in an attempt to get comfortable as he continued to kneel before you.

The silence was only interrupted when you leaned in further and finally pressed a kiss to Neuvillette's lips. He met you in turn, kissing you back with a gentle slide of your lips to his before he was situating himself back before you with a small smile gracing his features.

Finally, the sky behind you had become clear once again as he asked “my pearl, do you not have a project to finish?”

And truthfully, you did. A little matching otter in your own favorite colors to hang off your canes was waiting to be given a head, but for now, it could wait.

Because all you needed was “just a moment more.”

After all, you didn't want to regret letting this day pass you by. Or tomorrow when it inevitably comes.

And neither did Neuvillette as he agreed with another kiss to your lips.

[lacystar]

it wouldn't even matter if he did "shit on you behind your back" when you "never say anything back." the thing it absolutely boils down to is that you knew him when he was a minor and he has come forward saying that because of your influence and power, he felt uncomfortable around you. any POSSIBLE comeback other than an apology ends there. slur or no slur, any other response to that is bad. or, is it just that someone underage you've hurt in the past telling the truth about you only scares you when you know they have the public influence to protect themself?

[wowevenmoreloveonearth]

I really need to stop going into the general 911 tag bc some of y’all are so stupid and that’s ok but you’re also really mean and I’d like you to please keep it away from me (I have blocked so many people already)

[diteach]

Practicing a beauty sport when you're ugly as hell grants you a place in heaven btw

[chibi-scone]

So that new Rhys Darby interview about s3 ….💀

[cherry-shipping]

ok so anyway. if anyone is curious abiut dreamy and their role in miles world. they r besties with him But also like a secret babysitter. because as hard as he tries He s kinda a shit hero And tbh every spiderman except like hobie (also dreamys bestie. btw) is naive as hell when it comes to heroism. theyre like crime bad always No exceptions. so dreamy works sorta from the shadows to Erm clean up after miles a bit. like. erm. bust certain so called villains out of jail bc like -_- a dude stealing baby formula from a store does Not deserve 2 go 2 prison Hello. and sometimes they team up w miles and they play incompetent and clumsy like Oh Nooo iaccidentally let the bad guy get away 😣😖 like they r literally playing secret hero babysitter for his ass. instead of those “from your friendly neighborhood spiderman” notes theyd be like. “sorry lol //local villain sympathizer”. n e ways Thats their deal. in miles universe Smiles ^_^

[izzy-b-hands]

Just submitted a new patient request to Anchor Health. Cross your fingers for me, so I can get set up w/a doc I can stick with who can handle my T and PCP stuff and maybe even mental health stuff? (their website let me mark all three as things I wanted them to provide care for at least)

and the poor local PP can get back to trying to help others without me taking up any more of their scarce resources and staff

[asvidema]

i'll take a moment to thank, from the bottom of the heart, all the friends and the people i don't even follow for leaving tags on my art. special shoutouts to those who share thoughts about it and compliment my designs. you have no idea how much that means to me

[tuituipupu]

i've essentially watched the entirety of the substance without watching it bc i am super squeamish but the plot rly intrigued me (the plot isn't just margaret qualley btw /srs ♡ i prom)

[musical-chick-13]

It is because these people are stupid. Hope this helps.

[sealeneee]

siiiiiiigh

[tlatia-the-radiant]

May I ask how he is a mass murderer? He took no part in either of the purges or the Xenocide, and even tried to stop the purges. He is kinda the good guy here, and he brings up good points, you are blaming him for things he didn’t do. If anything he is a more respectable person that the Emperor, which is a low bar, but the point still stands

Laura stiffens a little bit.

"Vendis Adi. Chao Jin. Elizabet Porte. Hallis Cruz. Benna Cruz. Those were the first five casualties when the Moiraides boarded the Dawnbringer. None of them were Astartes, or even armed. They were just innocents caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. That didn't stop Custodians from killing them, or ninety-eight other people. Murshi Cen. Philla Vilm Cen. Urga Jalom. The list goes on, and I remember them all."

"That's not mentioning all the people killed when the Summer Light was crippled, or when the Pax Nova was hit by a broadside," Citalicue adds.

[geddy-leesbian]

my mom is going to bed and I still really feel like working on that Luis having to mercy kill Leon thing so now I am free to do so without being questioned about why I'm crying :)))

[deservedgrace]

Company Criticized of Wrongdoing Investigates Themselves and Determines That There Actually Was No Wrongdoing, more at 8

[fiyerotigelar]

A comment on an article about Lone Star 💀 sir if you think lone star is politically correct I’d hate to see you watch a show on a network that isn’t too scared to actually say fuck you to conservatives

[juliannajoy69]

tw shooting, mass shooting, death

i think the scariest thing about mass shootings in America is knowing that one day you will be connected to one. you may be a part of one. you may be a victim of one. you may know someone who was in one. who died in one. who was there. no matter what, no matter how safe you feel, it will always be there. it is inevitable.