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Marianne was not very pretty. Not by goblin and troll standards. She'd never be considered attractive by any Dark Forest denizen, nor, he knew, would she consider any of them to be particularly beautiful. He remembered well her comment of 'seriously?' upon seeing the former object of his affections, imitated by Sugar Plum.
No, her skin was too soft, her teeth were too strangely blunt. Her hands too small, her whole body just a slip of delicate fairy dust. A nose that seemed far too small to be useful, and her ears too long and thin to be of much help, surely. And her coloration – strangely pale skin compared to those he'd viewed with interest in the past, with no carapace to cover or darken it.
Even her wings stood out, bright purples and blues. Too loud for most goblins to want to be around for any appreciable length of time.
But... but he liked them, regardless. The way they seemed to almost glow in the dimmest light. How graceful she could be in the air when she flew. Whenever she spread them open in front of him even now, he still paused to admire her.
And over time he was able to view his fairy paramour with... changing eyes. A different appreciation. It had never been her looks that had attracted him to her, but he learned to like all of her, in time.
The way she blew her hair up out of her face, her smirks whenever she bested him in sparring, her ferocity, and bravery. Her toughness. The straightforward nature of her conversations. The way she laughed with wicked glee whenever Thang or Stuff got themselves into trouble. How she looked at him.
The Bog King knew himself to be hideous by both goblin and fairy standards and yet, when she looked at him, it were as though he'd turned into the sun. She lit up every time their eyes met, cast him warm smiles, and he basked happily in her affectionate gaze. Something he'd never thought he'd be lucky enough to have. And whenever her hand found his, when their fingers laced together and they shared simple touch, all prejudices against fairy and goblin ideas of beauty fell away.
Appearance had little to do with what they had, he knew. But... He was beginning to gain an appreciation for her soft, soft skin.