#~Call Me Sherlock & I'll Hurt You~ // Verse 1 Tag (Elarinya Discord Muse)

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“They’re kids. With their whole lives ahead of them. They’re not my enemies.” [Aisling -> Ela]

"They are also little shits who deserve a good kick up the backside for being said little shits," It was moments like this where Elarinya genuinely questioned how Aisling let her within a hundred feet of Mila, let alone let her be a second parent to her. Now, Elarinya didn't believe in corporal punishment, she'd never actually hit a kid, but she wasn't above scaring the living daylights out of them. Especially if they were being disruptive nuisances.

"Want me to talk to them? I can get them to behave!"

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

Elarinya shrugged out of her blazer jacket, hanging it on the back of a chair before examining her torn blouse cuff. She had caught it on the bastards’ cufflink when he had tried to grab her wrist after she broke his nose. Which earnt him a kick in the balls, not that she was going to admit to that part though. 

“Well, first of all he was dead naming Mila and he refused to change when I reminded him of the fact that was not her name. Then he started bad mouthing your parenting and saying that our girl did not have the right to be who she is, and Doris lost her temper and ripped into him as calm and collected as I’ve ever seen her. It was actually a little frightening to witness. Next thing I know, your father has his hands on Doris’ neck and coat and I just;” Elarinya mimed punching while clicking her tongue to signify the breaking of Lionel Merrick’s nose. 

“And I torn my cuff! Look, Ais, this was my favourite blouse!”

@ordinaryheroines said: "Now, Aisling, sweetling, please remember why you love me when I tell you this. I may have accidentally punched your father in the face and broke his nose...by accident."

Oh... that is not pleasant. Although Aisling and her father are not on good terms (and haven't been for many years), she does not wish physical violence upon him. She never has. But Elarinya is not known for pulling punches when she is justified, and she knows Lionel Merrick has a habit of running his mouth. She shakes her head and puts a hand to her lips, trying to hide the inappropriate smile that's threatening to break through.

"What on Earth did he say?"

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“If you can just explain a single thing I’ve done to cause you pain… I’ll go.” [Aisling -> Ela]

Elarinya couldn't look at Aisling, no matter how close the other fairy stood. Aisling hadn't intentionally done anything to cause her pain, accidentally and unintentionally yes but never on purpose. The spiteful side of her, the side she inherited from her Pixie ancestry, wanted to lash out, name every instance where Elarinya had to swallow her pain and put a damn smile on her face because she couldn't hurt Aisling. But her compassionate side ordered her to stay silent, so instead Elarinya turned, walking to her desk and pulling out a small ring box, holding it up so Aisling could see it clear as day.

"When I returned to the college before I started my PI business, I was ready to confess my feelings to you and get on my knees to beg for your forgiveness for being a blind fool. But the moment I found you, you were laughing and smiling in the arms of that rat bastard who I had begged you to stay away from before I left. I saw you kiss him, I saw how happy you were and knew I could never compete or be good enough to win you back from him. I had every intension of giving this to you that day, before I saw you with him. It's the promise ring my mother left me, not an engagement ring but a promise that my heart would always be at your service, to do with as you pleased..."

Elarinya swallowed, remembering the sharp agony in her heart at seeing Aisling with Persimmon, "I have kept this with me, a promise to never let what is left on my heart be destroyed again, by anyone. So you want an example of what you did to hurt me? Have that. Have the memory of disregarding our friendship for a fuck boy like him."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“And I’m sorry I said you suck. I didn’t mean it.“ [Philippa -> Ela]

Elarinya gave a small sigh and shook her head to herself, closing the file in front of her and rising from her desk, coming to rest before the teen. She made sure Philippa knew where she was as not to startle the girl and briefly touched her knee as she leant against the edge of her desk, "I know you didn't, Philippa. I have a stepdaughter not much younger than you, so I know how young peoples' emotions can get the better of them in stressful times. And I was young once myself," She gave a small chuckle at her own quip before shifting, her heeled boots scuffing a little against the hard wood floor of her office.

"I am going to tell you something only a select few know about me, and I know I can count on you to keep it to yourself. When I was young, very young, about five years old, I witnessed my parents being murdered. The case is still unsolved, completely dead and cold, and I know I may never get answers for why;" She paused her gaze fixed on the young woman before her with such gentility she was sure Philippa would understand what she was saying behind the words, "But you, my dear girl, you did an extraordinarily brave thing and I know your Uncle Ben would be so proud of you. Now, go on. Go have some fun and give my best to your aunt."

Take care Chirpy.

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

"You're not looking for a lover, I'm not looking for a friend!" [Aisling -> Ela]

That stung. How could Aisling say that? How could her sweet darling Aisling say that to her? Surely she knew? Surely Aisling actually realised why Elarinya couldn't make that jump from friends to lovers with her? Not after what had happened with Alaine and Percy, she couldn't, especially not with little Mila in the picture now. She couldn't mess up a relationship and hurt that sweet little girl.

The hurt quickly turned to anger and her usually so expressive features around her best friend hardened in the mask she used when interrogating the monsters and criminals she hunted. Knuckles turning white as she clenched her fists tightly, Elarinya turned to face the woman she loved more than her own life, feeling only fury and the sickening desire to hurt her just as much as she had done.

"At least I know what I'm fighting for while you're fighting to be known! Since you claim you're so much wiser, why's your life spent all alone? You're alone!" She hadn't meant that. No she hadn't meant to say that at all, it was her temper, she lost her temper. Of course she didn't truly think this about Aisling but the words were out now.

And no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn't take them back.

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“You’re a better person than you give yourself credit for.” [Aisling -> Ela]

It was one of Elarinya's off days. The days where the darkness of her life threatened to overwhelm her fading light, but Aisling never seemed to mind these days, accepting them as just another part of the change the girl she knew had to make to become this woman she now loved. Mila too for that matter, that sweet girl had a way of always bringing a smile to Elarinya's face, even in her darkest moments. They accepted her, and reminded her that her light was stronger than she felt it.

"So you keep telling me, darling," Sighed the halfling before she pulled herself up from the kitchen table and came to rest behind her lover, arms carefully wrapping around Aisling's waist while she bent down the bury her face against her neck, inhaling her comforting scent, "And you have yet to be wrong, Sweetling."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“Is this why you don’t want to let anyone close? You’re afraid they’ll see you like some kind of monster?” [Aisling -> Ela]

This was not a morning after conversation she thought she'd ever had. Then again, she never thought Aisling would fall into bed with her, let alone return Elarinya's feelings for her. But here they were, opposite ends of the room, Ela wrapped in her thickest robe, pushing Aisling away to try and set her free after their morning snuggles and chat had turned to the topic of what they had found out and what Aisling had seen Elarinya do as part of her work.

No matter how many years she had been doing what she did, Elarinya was always aware of a phrase the police chief often told her when she handed them another murderer or criminal they had yet to take action against. Be careful hunting monsters, lest ye become one yerself, halfling. The old walrus was right of course, little by little, day by day Elarinya found herself becoming a little more like the monsters she hunted. Aisling didn't deserve a monster, she deserved the purest and best, and Elarinya knew that could never be her. She was too tainted by darkness to ever be worthy of even a fraction of Aisling's love.

"I am a monster, Aisling, deep down. Things I've done to capture criminals, things I've done to get information, solve a case, people I've hurt-Good, innocent people-to make a case...You need to go before I hurt you and Mila too, please, I...I don't want to hurt you too."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“The worst thing that I ever did… was what I did to you.” [Aisling -> Ela]

Elarinya raised her head to look at her guilt ridden and traumatised lover, her eyes full of heartbreak for her. Finding Aisling the way she had, having to face her and almost pay with her life for it, Elarinya held no malice towards the earth fairy. Never towards Aisling, merely the one who had driven her to such extremes.

"Darling..." She whispered, ever so softly and will so much love and sympathy it was almost tangible. She rose from her seat despite her body's aching protests and encircled the earth fairy in her arms, pulling her close and gently nuzzling her forehead against hers, "What you did when you did it...You weren't yourself. You were driven and consumed with grief, almost corrupted by your own magic, I cannot and will not let you torture yourself with what happened. Look," She moved back a little and stretched her neck, the skin unblemished in the light, all healed where the bruises from Aisling's vines had almost strangled her.

"Look at my neck, no damage. I am alright. I'm right here, with you, and I'm not going anywhere."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“ i’ve loved you since before i ever knew what love was. “ [Aisling -> Ela]

Elarinya kept her gaze on the stars above them. Aisling's words both give her heart wings and cut it to ribbons in the same instance. By the gods and Seelie Court, Elarinya hated her younger self for her blind stupidity and obliviousness. She had believed herself to be in love with another girl, a girl she had planned to run away with who had broken her heart with a betrayal of her trust. And so Elarinya had run away from the shame and heartbreak of being made such a fool of, and left Aisling behind in the process.

She wasn't worthy of such a jewel as her lovely Aisling, her kindness, her beauty, fierce love and fire for life and those she held dear, Elarinya wasn't worthy of any of it. But she clung on to it, to Aisling's attention like the greedy and selfish thing she was, because she did love Aisling so much that it felt like she was finally home and safe. And Mila, darling Mila, who had made Elarinya softer and warmer than she ever had thought possible in her life after leaving Aisling and the College all those many years ago. Mila had called her mum by accident that morning, and Ela had hidden her tears after kissing both her girls, yes because they were her girls now, goodbye before leaving for work.

She couldn't help it, in all honesty, she reached out beside her, linking her fingers through Aisling's and pulling her lover closer in her arms, finally looking down into her eyes, those beautiful, beautiful eyes she adored, "I loved you back then, deep down, I just didn't realise it until I lost you...Now I have you back, I intend to try to be worthy of your love, for the rest of our lives, my sweetling."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

"get down here, you." Aisling -> Ela

Elarinya couldn't help the small chuckle at her lover's demand, letting herself be dragged down to her height before sealing her smile to Aisling's. Her lips were so soft, Elarinya honestly marvelled at her love and her unique softness, she herself had grown quite hard to blend into the world she inhabited on a daily basis. A world where softness was destroyed and a weakness, it made the halfling all the more protective of her fairy.

"Alright, short one, any other demands while I'm down here?"

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

❰❰ WALL ❱❱ sender pushes the receiver against a wall [Evil!Aisling -> Elarinya]

To be fair, this was not how Elarinya liked to be pressed against a wall by a beautiful woman. Especially one she had been in love with for over a hundred and fifty odd years from afar. She had tracked her down, hunted her at the request of Aisling's daughter, Mila, and her own heart. Her old friend had done some terrible things while consumed by grief and her own magic, and perhaps Elarinya was to become another at the rate these vines were squeezing her the air and life out of her.

"Ais...ling...! Please...! I know...I deserve this...But...your daughter...doesn't!"

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“You told me I could trust you. And then you did this.” Aisling -> Elarinya

They had been close once, closer than two peas in a pod, but the foolishness of youth and their lives apart from one another had changed them, it appeared they barely knew one another now. Elarinya had to admit, she barely recognised herself. She had become colder, the realms losing their warmth to her even in the human world, harsher, bitter. Her work made her see the darkness in all including herself, most of the time that darkness was all she could see.

But Aisling...Aisling was light. Pure light. Perhaps that had been her downfall, being blinded by the radient light of a woman she loved but couldn't see. So Elarinya didn't even fight back at the hurtful words hurled at her but the earth fairy, the halfling only pausing the cleaning of her pistols to show Aisling she was listening. What Elarinya had done, had been born out of a desire to help, it was all her actions had ever been born from, and now look at what she had done.

"I told you, you could trust me. I never said you should," Ela felt the lump in her throat harden as she tried not to show how much this pushing Aisling and Mila away was killing her, she had to protect them. Doing this ensured their safety in a way Ela could never have done otherwise.

"That choice was on you."

[ordinaryheroinesarchived]

“I accidentally threw away my hoe… that’s not a bad joke, I’ve made a terrible error my crops will never recover from.” [Aisling -> Elarinya]

Elarinya paused from where she was looking over her last case file, the case itself now firmly shut but she wanted to double check everything before submitting it to the police force in their world, an amused smirk on her features.

"I could make many a joke about earth fairies and their hoes but then I'd also be insulting myself. Would you like me to go through the garden waste bin and see if your hoe is still in there? Perhaps I might find the tool as well?" The last question she couldn't help a small snort of laughter at her own joke.