so darling hold my hand (I'm ready for this)

daggers will be choosers

Red Carnation -
Alas for my poor heart

"Oh, that!", Sersi exclaimed happily, gently moving a few kids out of her way so she could get to the show case.

The dagger was as beautiful as they'd last seen it, it's golden blade gleaming in the sun that was shining through the large, looming windows above them.

It had been the first time the matter manipulator had used her powers on earth. The look of awe and wonder in the boys eyes as she'd handed him his newly transformed knife, now more of a dagger, had stuck with her for all this time.

It was one of her fondest, most vivid memories of the earliest of humanity she'd encountered.

She'd just opened her mouth to say something when a shout rang out, startling everyone.

"Literally shut the fuck up Richard, I don't want to hear it anymore!", a young woman with thick rimmed glasses yelled at the man in front of her, presumably Richard.

Said threw up his hands in exasperation, partially turning away from her.

"You never want to listen to anything I have to say! This is not how a relationship works, Karlie!"

Particularly the newly named Karlie looked like she wanted to strangle the man in front of her, Richard looking only slightly less angry.

Druigs teeth ground against each other, his jaw clenched so tightly it was almost starting to hurt.

Almost.

Humans and their unbridled anger, the destruction boiling under their skin begging to be left out and tear into the next best thing, inflicting as much hurt as possible. The Eternal hated it; and he was about to make it stop.

Neither Sersi nor Makkari had been fast enough to stop him. His eyes glowed, those otherworldly embers, willing them to halt. The two fighting humans relaxed instantly, standing up straighter, their faces an indifferent expression with their eyes glowing under Druigs influence.

A hand on the side of his face brought him back, but more in the form of a caress than a slap. Glowing embers slowly shifted downwards to Makkari, who was looking at him with wide, horrified eyes, moving frantically.

"They will see you!", she signed repeatedly, a little too fast to be possibly normal for human standards, but it was already too late.

An elderly woman that had been prepared to scold the couple for making such a fuss in a museum noticed first, hand clasped over her mouth.

Other museum go'ers who had seen the commotion stop so suddenly locked their eyes on Druig, whose own had begun to dim.

The children were gaping aswell.

Fuck.

Fuck, this was bad.

Druig blinked, willing the fire in his eyes to extinguish.

"Go, I'll handle this!"

Sersi was suddenly standing in front of him aswell, shielding him from prying onlookers, with her hand on his arm, carefully tugging to the left and to the exit.

He only barely noticed how his Makkari signed to the curator that they'd be okay.

_______________________________________

They were a good few hundred meters away from the museum when she turned towards him, stopping them both in their tracks.

He'd fucked up, he knew that. People had seen, had seen what he could do, what he was capable off, had put them all in danger.

Makkaris words to him were like a gut punch.

"Are you okay?", she asked

And in all honesty? Druig felt like throwing up.

"I fucked up.", he started, painfully slow so as to not stumble over his words, face contorted in furyover his own carelessness. "They're always fighting, always. And I was able to stop them, so I did, but... I shouldn't have. I put you and Sersi in danger. I'm sorry."

He wanted to avert his eyes from the understanding in hers, but found he wasn't able too. She smiled at him as if he was the sun.

"I don't know how it must feel for you, and I'm not pretending I do. But you have to understand that that's just how humans are. They fight all the time, even over the most mundane things. And they need to, sometimes, you know? They're not good at talking about things, so sometimes they have to yell."

She heaved a breath, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm not saying that they should beat each other up, but don't you think its unfair to take away their free will to solve problems their own way? Not talking about a problem doesn't make it go away, Druig, and I think you know that very well."

The mind controller frowned. It was an odd take, but the more he thought about humanity as he'd gotten to know it, the more plausible Makkaris theory seemed. Well, it wasn't really a theory, but you got the gist.

Druig thought of his own family. He wondered what would happen- oh, that's right.

Almost instantly his expression soured like he'd bitten into a lemon, which his Makkari, of course, noticed.

Both of her arms came up to wrap around his middle, drawing him closer in the process so that they could rest their foreheads against each other.

"I think I understand now. Thank you.", Druig signed in the minimal space between them.

His beautiful, beautiful Makkari nodded and smiled.