#ANYWAY plz enjoy the diteline fluff! i sure fucking did

[safyresky]

Always

Summary: During their stay with the Amazons, Dite asks Jacqueline an (admittedly loaded) question. Or: The day Jacqueline fell very very hard for Dite and had 0 idea for a solid 300 years.

---

"Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm?" Jacqueline blinked once, very slowly, before coming back down to earth. "Oh! Yeah, absolutely. What's up?"

Dite bit her lip, pulling her braid forward and petting it. She frowned, her wings fluttering anxiously. "So like, it's a bit of a weird question. Maybe. Um, I think maybe you may not want to answer it? I think it's crossing a few boundaries but like. These past few months with you have been really, really fun!"

Jacqueline laughed. "I like that your idea of fun involves a whole lot of violence."

"We're learning ancient fighting techniques from the Amazons themselves! It's GREAT knowledge to have and absolutely EYE OPENING and we are rocking these outfits!"

"I like the detail in the chest plates," Jacqueline said, poking hers. There were swirls and ferns all over it, snowflakes twirling about at the edges of the details. "And there's some cool tricks we're learning too!"

"YEAH! It's FUN!" Dite said, hands up in the air, wings mirroring her.

Jacqueline laughed, loudly and from the heart. Her eyes lit up; the wind gently blew her loose hairs back, the thawed tresses lifting in the breeze.

"I've seen this whole different side of you," Dite sighed, looking up fondly and stretching out her legs. The waves crashed on the shore, the surf almost hitting their feet. "It's so…free! And full of joy! I never knew you were this…happy?"

"You said that like it was a question."

"It’s not the word I wanted. It's just…whenever we’ve met at work, when you got back from um. Your…"

"Recovery?"

"Is that what it was?"

Jacqueline looked thoughtful for a moment, shrugging. "You could say that, yeah. That and being like, way too small to go to important meetings like that on my own."

"You’re still small."

Snow hit her leg; she laughed, grabbing what she could before it melted and plopping it right on the sprite's head.

The sprite laughed, grinning up at the goddess beside her. A big, toothy grin that stretched from ear to ear. She lifted her hand, a pile of snow appearing in her palm, and plopped it on top of her head.

"Plop!" she said, still wearing that goofy  grin.

Dite laughed. "Is that even comfortable?"

"Is for me! Cold doesn't bug me at all," she said with a warm smile, the snow already melting down her back.

"You’re so silly. And goofy! I like that a lot! I like that I got to meet this side of you. You’re always so…reserved during summits, and during our legate meetings, you’re not as reserved but you’re still a little. Y'know. Cautious, I guess. But here, as we've been hanging out and learning and vacationing sort of, it's this whole new you I've met! But like, it's not a new you. I think it actually is you and you’re very careful to guard your you. What I'm trying to say is, I think you're the most fun person I have ever met and I cannot express enough how much it means to me that you shared yourself with me!"

Jacqueline blinked, feeling her face getting very hot as she flushed. AGAIN. What was it about this girl that made her get all blushy and uncomfortably warm? She felt like she was gonna burst into flames.

"Oh, I've flustered you again, haven't I? I'm sorry."

"It’s okay! I'm not very…I don’t really…um. I don’t have a lot of friends? Most of them have died because, y'know, humans and stuff," she scratched the back of her neck, frowning thoughtfully. "I think that takes a toll after a while, you know? And it gets easier, but also…it doesn't. And I'm not. I don't. It's. Hmm. I don’t have a bad rep, but I'm kinda stuck under a not so great one and a lot of magibeans tend to uh, assume the worst. But you…you don't! You didn't. There's only been one other person in my life who's done that, and it still kinda throws me off every so often."

"Oh?" Dite asked, trying to ignore the little itty bitty pang of jealousy that suddenly turned up. "Who's that?"

"Bernard? Santa's arch elf?"

"Oh! He's nice! I like him," she said with a fond smile. "You're friends?"

"I think so! I'd say we hang out a lot but like, mostly I go bother him when I'm feeling down or something crazy happens that I'm too afraid to tell my parents about," she said, pulling her legs up and hugging them. "He's always been very sweet and nice with me, and lately he's been snarky and I'm kind of liking it, actually! It's different! More fun."

Dite was relieved to feel it wasn't in a like-like way (pros to being Cupid's Legate and also daughter, she suspected). "Banter's fun."

"It kind of is!"

In the distance, the clatter of swords on shields rang out. The waves kept crashing, seagulls squawking high above them.

"Why are you alone?" she asked, pulling up her own legs.

"What do you mean?"

Dite let out a puff of air, her breath blowing a stray hair off her face. "They didn't tell us what happened. Just that something had happened, and we wouldn't be seeing you for a bit. Then you came back from your recovery, and you were alone. Forgive me if I'm crossing boundaries; I don’t mean to. And maybe I'm way off base with where we're at, and I shouldn't ask at all! But I'm gonna. The question I wanted to ask you was about all…that. What happened?"

Somehow, the sprite managed to make herself even tinier. She hugged her legs tighter, burrowing her nose between her knees. She looked so sad; so hurt.

Dite immediately felt a pang of regret.

"I'm so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked! I didn’t mean to ruin the mood."

"Oh, it's okay," Jacqueline replied. "You didn't bring down the mood." She shifted her head, forehead still on her arms, but eyes looking right into Dite's now. "My brother left."

"Oh," Dite said.

"Yeah. From what I've been told, it was probably a long time coming. Nobody thought it'd be as…explosive as it was, though. He got into a big fight with our Dad, and our Mom had to separate them. Elements went flying. Stuff was freezing. He whipped up this MAHOOSIVE storm," she leaned back, throwing her arms to the sides, palms out. "It tanked all of Crystal Springs for like, a week. Transportation was out all around."

"That must've been scary."

"I imagine it was. You see, um. I was a little bit unconscious. A lot maybe."

"Oh?"

"If you hear about what happened the day he left, everyone will tell you about the big old storm. It was bad! Ice storms are the nastiest. They freeze everything all while causing whiteout conditions. You can't see or go anywhere and the wind makes drifts and it's sucky conditions all around."

"Even for someone like you?"

"Actually they're kinda fun for someone like me. But this one wasn't. They talk about the storm all the time; and there were a couple of casualties. They were all healed, of course," she added quickly, sticking out a hand as if to reassure.

"Of course. The Springs."

Her fingers curled in; she brought her hand right back to her side. "Right. Yes. The Springs. Healed them. Once they were accessible, of course. And most everyone was able to handle their injuries until then."

"Nobody died."

"Somebody almost did."

"Who?"

Jacqueline looked over at Dite, a tinge of fear in her eyes.

"You?!"

She nodded.

"Oh no," Dite said, breathlessly. She put her hand up to her mouth, eyes wide and watery.

"Are you crying?"

"Not yet," she blubbered. "What happened? Are you okay?  You almost died?!"

"Not yet," she repeated with a laugh, pulling her hair forward. She reached up, her fingers gently making their way through the braid and taking it apart. It was already falling; her hair did not like staying back. "I got caught in the crossfire."

"You went after him?"

She nodded. "I was small, you know? I had no idea what was going on but I knew that sometimes he'd do bad things. And it seemed like this was one of those times. It got really loud downstairs and he was late for our snow date so I went to see what was happening and found the downstairs hall an absolute ice rink, and Mom and Dad in the kitchen, hurt. Not moving. Awake! Talking, but stuck. My brother left. I followed him out. Words were said, and he hurt me."

"Not with words."

"No. I mean they hurt too, of course. But no." She sighed, her hand absentmindedly drifting to her midsection. "They've taught us about all sorts of weaponry here. Your bracelet is so full of charms now," she pointed to it, Dite lifting her wrist. The charms clinked together. "But they haven't taught us about one of the most dangerous weapons. Ice. I can shape it into anything," she said, a glowing palm coming up.

In it, a solid cube appeared. "I can make it round. Square. Soft. Hard..." As she spoke, the ice in her palm shifted, matching the shapes she was listing, and then the textures. "Sharp."

In her hand, the ice shifted; it poked outwards, growing sharp. "And if it's sharp enough, and thrown with enough force, well…"

Lifting her arm the way they had been taught with the javelins just last week, she launched the icicle. It hit the ground with a sharp shtick, sticking itself deep into the sand. It twanged, briefly shuddering before stilling and beginning to melt.

"He stabbed you."

"Three times."

"Oh god."

"I know. One minute I was looking up at him, telling him not to go, not to leave me. The next, a glow; then something sharp, and then everything went black. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in the Springs, looking into my mom's eyes. I've never heard her sob the way she did when I woke up. I've also never been squished as hard as I was by her after that."

Dite giggled. Her eyes widened. "Oh! I'm so sorry I should not have laughed--"

"It’s okay. I like your laugh. And it is kind of funny. The squishy bit, not the stabby bit."

"No, that's not funny at all!"

"I've got some sick scars now," she said. "You've seen them, I'm sure."

"I had noticed them, yeah. Gosh, I'm so sorry, Jacqueline. That's…a lot. And you were so small!"

"Apparently I still am," she joked, a thumb idly flicking away the wet under her eyes.

"You may be tiny but you are so, so tall to me. I mean, to go through all that, and do everything you've done to get here to this point? To survive? That's amazing."

"You think?"

"I know."

The lapsed into silence again. Dite's right wing hovered above Jacqueline, the goddess thoughtful.

"Do you miss him?"

Jacqueline stilled.

Dite glanced her way, concerned she had maybe turned herself to ice. But she hadn’t! She had just stopped idly swaying. Tears filled her eyes, trailing down her cheeks.

"So much," she admitted, the rest of the words smothered under a sob that clawed its way up her throat.

Dite's wing fell, encompassing the sprite and pulling her close. She shuffled in the sand, moving closer to Jacqueline and throwing her arms around her, bringing her in tightly. She did what her Mom did whenever Dite felt down; rubbed her back gently. Kept her wings around them. Murmured nice things in her ear like there there, let it all out. That's it. You'll feel better after a good cry, and so on.

The sprite uncurled, burying herself in Dite's chest plate. Droplets of wet began to appear in the sand around them, the poor thing shaking with how hard she was crying.

She didn't know how long they sat there. How long she held her little buddy. A silly little name that Jacqueline had laughed at, but now, Dite was thinking, maybe wasn't really...accurate? Appropriate? Whatever the word, it didn't feel right anymore.

The sun began to set, the glow of dusk reflecting in the sea. At some point as the sun went down, Jacqueline's shudders slowed, until finally she lifted her head off the chest plate. She sniffled, curling up against Dite's side until she could rest her head on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry. That was embarrassing. I didn't think I'd…gah! I'm sorry!"

"Don’t be! I asked. I'm sorry for bringing it up. I should've been a bit more tactful, maybe. I didn’t realize how traumatic…"

"Nobody does. Nobody ever asked. And nobody's really explained things to me, either."

"Is that why the wall?"

She nodded against her arm. "It's easier to interact with other magibeans if I keep myself on my toes. Easier to not get hurt if I shrug it off and carry on."

"Armour."

"Yeah. Speaking of…sorry about yours. It’s covered in Jacqueline gobber. I can buff it out."

Dite laughed. "It’s okay! Really," she said, squishing the sprite's shoulders in a very feathery side hug. "Thank you for telling me. I know you said you have Bernard, but if you ever want a change of pace, you can come to me, if you'd like."

"…would I get hugs like this?"

"Oh my gods absoLUTELY! I love hugs! And you seem like you need them."

Jacqueline snorted, snot going flying. "Oh, that was gross! Ew! Sorry!"

Dite laughed. "Snots happen."

"Thank you for asking," Jacqueline said, adjusting herself to sit more comfortably alongside Dite.

"Thank you for telling."

"Thank you for listening."

"Always."