rain meme for
marriageable
( It's been a few weeks since he'd met Daphne trying to clear debris from the big storm that basically wrecked all of September and there's another storm coming down but at least this time it's rain and not sticky lorasses or something even more unpleasant. It's not the best weather but he's still glad he managed to get the roof and sides back onto his house before it came up; being outside in this is not his idea of a good time.
That's why he's incredibly confused when there's a blurry figure outside in this weather. There's a crack of lightning and he can see a little more clearly - it's Daphne, soaked through her sky-blue dress and her hair plastered to her head. He throws his door open and motions her inside. He had rebuilt his house a little bigger than he'd found it but it's still small so they'll be close but at least she'll be dry. )
Why are you walking around in this? You could have called or something.
( It's not said with admonishment or anything like that. Daphne's a grown woman and perfectly entitled to walk around in the rain if she wants to but she looks smaller, somehow, with all her clothes dripping with water. She doesn't even have a hat. Damn. )
That's why he's incredibly confused when there's a blurry figure outside in this weather. There's a crack of lightning and he can see a little more clearly - it's Daphne, soaked through her sky-blue dress and her hair plastered to her head. He throws his door open and motions her inside. He had rebuilt his house a little bigger than he'd found it but it's still small so they'll be close but at least she'll be dry. )
Why are you walking around in this? You could have called or something.
( It's not said with admonishment or anything like that. Daphne's a grown woman and perfectly entitled to walk around in the rain if she wants to but she looks smaller, somehow, with all her clothes dripping with water. She doesn't even have a hat. Damn. )
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When he presses into her, she's so tight that he lets out a low moan and he pulls her legs up around his hips so he can go deeper. )
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It was her mistake to think this would be as simple as his fingers inside her. Just the head of his cock breaching her cunt is too large, too much, her body tensing in rejection, the breath knocked out of her. ]
Ow—
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God, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. Was he smaller than me or something?
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She shakes her head, needing several seconds to collect herself, vision blurry with tears. Her hands cover her face. Is this what Mama was preparing her for? Was this what she was referring to so cryptically? ]
No. [ Her breath hitching. ] I don’t know. I think something has torn.
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Daphne, have you never had sex before? Because sometimes it hurts the first time, especially if the guy is big.
( He rolls from atop her so he isn't smothering her and tries to decide what to do with this. He hates that he hurt her and he hates that he still wants to have sex with her and those two things bounce around in his head. )
We don't have to try again. I don't need that.
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Her palms still covering her face, she lets the pace of her heart slow, and the pain to abate before sitting up, batting away tears before she finds words. Her hands fold into her lap, trying to summon back the countenance she’s more familiar with. There is no dignity here. She’ll have to manufacture it. ]
I would like to leave.
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( The rain has stopped, at least, and she'll be able to go home without getting soaked again. He wants to comfort her but she probably never wants to see his face again so this has turned into exactly the thing he hates: he isn't meant to have this with anyone. He should have known that going in. )
Let me get up and give you some privacy. I wish I could take it back and not hurt you.
( It doesn't take him long to get dressed and get downstairs so she can have her privacy to collect herself. )
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It takes considerably longer for her to dress, and to try to do something about her hair in the state it’s in, which gives her some time to think of what she’s going to say.
She wishes her mother were here. She would know what to do, the right thing to say in this moment. She always knew. But she isn’t.
Though quiet, she’s at least calm as she descends the stairs, holding her skirt in one hand. ]
Bucky?
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Yeah? What can I do for you?
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She presses her lips together, and looks away. Her jaw works, before returning her gaze. ]
I don’t need anything. I wanted to apologize.
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( He takes a chance and stands to put a hand on her shoulder to squeeze it. )
You did nothing wrong. If you still feel comfortable around me, I would like to have a conversation about my past and some things that I haven't told you. If you don't, you can go. I won't force you to be here. Not now and not ever.
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No. [ Her head shakes. She turns, pinching her nose the way she has seen Anthony do many times over. They are nothing if not mirrors in many ways. ] No, you’re not listening to me.
You’re… wallowing in your perceived misdeed. God, I am so tired of men wallowing around me. My brother, Simon, now you. And you think it is somehow virtuous, but I assure you it is not. If only you’d listen first, perhaps you would understand that.
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All...right. I'm gonna listen, then. If I start wallowing again, you can remind me with a kick or something but right now, I'm all ears.
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Finally, she stops to look at him square in the eye. ]
I grasp that there are many things I do not know in life. I know that you have many more years on me, and I fully accept there is much I have to learn about you because of that.
[ A deep breath. Here, she does soften. ]
You believe that you hurt me, physically. If anything, you have wounded my vanity. I am the one to blame for my own naivety and for not being forthright. I withheld my virtue from you, and my misfortune, even if involuntary. Hindsight has allowed me to acknowledge that that was my own undoing.
It has nothing to do with you, James. I am not made for this, clearly.
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Look, I didn't realize you didn't know. I assumed because you had been married, you knew about sex and there's clearly a miscommunication here. But virgins have sex every day, Daphne. You just have to warm up more for that. I don't think that's anything to hurt your...vanity. I can see why you would feel that way, though, if you didn't know.
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You misunderstand. I am a woman who has been cursed. Branded.
[ Her smile is sardonic. ]
God has already decided that. I see now. [ Resolute, she nods. ] That is why I am married to a man who cannot give me children. It is why I will live my life, alone, with a man that despises me utterly — and I cannot even blame him for that, truly.
And I would not blame you, either, if you regret every part of what has transpired here this night. But I — [ Her breath hitches audibly. ]
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I regret hurting you physically. I also regret not listening to you before - but I do not regret making you feel good. Making you feel good made me feel good too and you deserve that, Daphne. I know it's a lot for me to ask you to talk about it but...do you want to talk about it? Your marriage and this whole being cursed thing?
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[ She won’t sit. She can’t. She’s sure if she does, she’ll lose all momentum and drown in her own sorrow. ]
It’s silly. I just thought maybe I could have this. With you. You desired me, and I desired you.
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If you want something with me, you can have me. There's stuff you can do in the bedroom that isn't the one act, Daphne, and I showed you one of them. Besides, I like you more than just the physical. I'm fascinated by you. It didn't change.
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She peeks up, her eyes plenty sad. ]
Is that it? Fascination? [ She’s been desired many times over, she realizes that now. Fascinated men for years. ]
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( He squeezes her lightly. )
You'd rip my heart out if you never spoke to me again. I don't know if I've expressed it well enough or anything but...that's how I feel.
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Well, I could not do that. I may be cursed, and occasionally unkind, but I am not cruel.
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If you're cursed, so am I. I've thought I was cursed for almost a hundred years.
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Do two curses break each other?
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( He chances a kiss, the lightest one he can manage, and pulls his lips away to speak again. )
Are you a woman afraid of curses, Daphne?
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