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Harrow has never seen The Princess Bride. Everyone says she should, she would like it. But Harrow has never seen it. Perhaps if they had a remake with more bones in it she would. Therefore the first time Gideon says to her “as you wish” she thinks nothing of it. It's mixed in with her usual eclectic pet names, penumbral mistress, midnight hagette, and Harrow assumes is just another layer to the enigma that is Gideon Nav.
Gideon keeps on saying it. Every demand, every barked order, Gideon eventually sometimes with sarcasm sometimes with a burning emotion that Harrow cannot, refuses, to try and place, does as bidden and she says as you wish. It becomes normal and Harrow discards it as just another level of Nav’s elaborate roleplay habits. She comes to expect it, to crave it falling from Gideons mouth like perfectly ripe fruit. A phrase that Gideon says only to her, even when she is drooling after blondes with massive tits, or a lithe woman who dances wicked with blades. Another possessive and secret link between her and Gideon that Harrow is loath to give up.
Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.
-Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold
Palamedes has seen The Princess Bride. He is after all, underneath his birdlike demeanor and scholarly habits, a romantic at heart. And so when he hears Gideon reply to Harrow's grouchy orders at 3am as they bang out their theses he quirks an eyebrow. His eyebrow stays quirked when Harrow accepts it without a hint of self consciousness. Palamedes assumes that either their dating and has somehow, like a feel good movie cured Harrow of her self consciousness and deep self-loathing or, more likely Harrow had never seen the princess bride and Gideon Nav is (unknowingly?) confessing to a brick wall.
“Sooooo…” he drawls, smooth over the table as Gideon brings over yet another a glass of lukewarm water for Harrow to sip at as they work and some wheat thins to entice Harrow to nibble on them. “Have you ever watched The Princess Bride Harrow?”
“- and obviously (oh god insert some smart nerd nonsense)- Excuse me the princess what, Sextus? What does that have to do with aforementioned nerd nonsense.” Harrow splutters mid thought and Gideon, Pal notices, goes still for a moment before affecting a casual air and says “It’s a movie Nonagesimus, ever heard of those? Something people watch for, you know, fun?”
“I know what movies are, Nav. I just find them pointless, predictable and a waste of time.” Harrow huffs and reshuffles her papers trying to find her train of thought about bones once again.
“It’s a classic, Harrow! Don’t tell me you’ve never seen The Princess Bride! It’s got giant rats and fights to the death and morbid and dark magic it’d be right up your alley!”
‘Aha’ Palamedes thinks to himself. ‘Gideon did not know that Harrow had never seen princess bride. I should ask Cam if Dulcie has seen it.’
Gideon was getting worked up, a light blush on her cheeks. Pal wondered idly whether it was from the incredulous truth that Harrow had never seen Princess Bride, or from embarrassment that she had been professing her love to Harrow and Harrow had no idea.
But now shine on, and what care I,
Who in this stormy gulf have found a pearl
The countercharm of space and hollow sky,
And do accept my madness, and would die
To save from some slight shame one simple girl.
-Maud (Part XVIII),Tennyson
Coronabeth has seen The Princess Bride. Judith knows this from many games they played together when they were young of knight and princess. They are at a house party, and Cor returns from the kitchen a new toxic pink cocktail in hand and sandwiches herself in between Judith Deuteros and Camilla Hect on the couch, lush with drink and practically squeals into their ears. “ You will not believe what I just heard in the kitchen!” She is flush with delight and gossip and has a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she leans in closer to Judith conspiratorially, her hand on Camilla's thigh dragging her into the conversation as well. “Dear Gideon just confessed to Harrow in the most beautiful way I’ve ever seen. Oh! It was so romantic! She was just like Wesley, Harrow was all like 'go get me another drink Griddle' and all Gideon responds with is 'as you wish'. Oh aren’t they just terrible! I don’t think Harrow even knows what Gideon is saying to her that lucky gremlin. How I would love to be confessed to in such a manner like that.” And Coronabeth is in Judith's space batting her long lush eyelashes in a move obviously calculated but not any less effective for it, lovely and bright and sparkling and poor repressed Judith’s throat bobs from the strain of not immediately and effortlessly giving into her wishes. And she catches Camilla’s steely gaze from over Cor’s shoulder and it pins her in place as Cam’s lips twitch into the slightest hint of a smirk and she presses a kiss to Cor’s hair and mouths at Judith ``as you wish”. Judith thinks she may perhaps die, and is only slightly relieved when Marta pulls her away to do shots. As she falls asleep in her bunk that night, feet away from Marta's, she mouths “as you wish” into the night and presses her own knuckles to her lips.
Had I a man’s fair form, then might my sighs
Be echoed swiftly through that ivory shell
Thine ear, and find thy gentle heart; so well
Would passion arm me for the enterprise;
But ah! I am no knight whose foeman dies;
No cuirass glistens on my bosom’s swell;
I am no happy shepherd of the dell
Whose lips have trembled with a maiden’s eyes.
Yet must I dote upon thee—call thee sweet,
Sweeter by far than Hybla’s honied roses
When steep’d in dew rich to intoxication.
Ah! I will taste that dew, for me ‘tis meet,
And when the moon her pallid face discloses,
I’ll gather some by spells, and incantation.
-To-, John Keats
Gideon has watched The Princess Bride hundreds of times. Gideon could recite the entire movie line by line. Gideon had thought of the perfect way to confess to Harrow and was only slightly thwarted by the sheer indignity that Harrow has never seen Gideon's favorite movie. But, she supposed, Wesley's intentions were not immediately conveyed to the fair Buttercup either. For the sake of true love, she decided to not give up her one sided confession. However she decides that it is perhaps for the best that Harrow has not seen The Princess Bride. It would be very embarrassing for Harrow after all to turn Gideon down. Eventually Gideon even forgets she meant it as a confession to Harrow, and it simply becomes another expression of endearment, of devotion. Not that she could ever forget her love for the bonesy wraith that haunts her heart, but she forgets that her words are any more explicit in her love for Nonagesimus than any of the thousands of simple actions that she takes every day. So when they show up at Dulcinea's for movie night and she starts The Princess Bride, it takes a moment too long to realize, oh shit, Harrow will know now.
“There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours.”
-The Princess Bride
Dulcinea has seen The Princess Bride, has watched it in Cam and Pal’s arms when she's too weak to do anything but lie down, it’s a comforting simple movie. She chooses it for this weeks movie night, having heard the tragic tale of Gideon's unheard confession from both Camilla and Palamedes, and if she had enacted a small bit of Princess Bride roleplay with each of them, well no one else had to know how dramatically she swooned at her two lovers' “as you wish." Dulcie is also a mischievous little imp and delights in chaos among her friends and so it is with not little glee as she watches Gideon's face of dawning comprehension of what is about to go down. However to Dulcie’s great disappointment, enlightenment does not seem to dawn on Harrow throughout the movie. Gideon keeps glancing at her anxiously, as if she is a snake coiled to strike at any time, but Harrow simply sips her lukewarm water and appears to be enjoying the film, from what little Dulcie can read from her pinched face. Perhaps Palamedes was wrong, and Harrow had known about Gideon's not so secret confessions this whole time? But then how would one explain Gideon's panicked little glances throughout the night? Surely if Harrow had known that Gideon was confessing to her she would have given the poor girl some response at least? Or perhaps, Dulcie mused as the gang started to coalesce and head out for the night, Harrow's repression just simply disallowed her from connecting the confession in the movie to Gideon's obvious heartsickness over herself. She never noticed all her other little tells after all. For a girl who claims to be the greatest (specific nerd subject) scholar of her generation, she can be incredibly, even forcefully oblivious.
What is Summer in a fine brocaded gown!
I should like to see it lying in a heap upon the ground.
All the pink and silver crumpled up on the ground.
-Patterns, Amy Lowell
Harrow has seen The Princess Bride, finally. As Nav puts it, she's finally caught up with the rest of the world, at least in this one single aspect of pop culture. Next on the list Nav says, is learning how to whip, and floss, neither of which sound like activities Harrow is willing to do. Harrow also has noticed a strange behavior from her ginger companion. Those three simple words that used to fall easily from Griddle’s mouth have stopped their flow entirely. Harrow is bereft, upset, and generally short with Gideon without really considering why. Those words were for her and her alone, but have suddenly dried up. Harrow wonders jealously possessively if Gideon has started to say them to another girl, perhaps Camilla, or Dulcie, or worst of all, Coronabeth. Harrow is snippy and mulish to all around her, barking orders at Gideon and bristling when they are followed without her ever saying the words that Harrow craves.
She is furiously calculating in the lab (vague descriptions of nerdiness) when Ianthe arrives languid and basking in the sweet taste of schadenfreude.
“Oh poor Harry'' she drawls with the limp elegance of a greased panther on the prowl. “Has Gideon finally turned her devotion elsewhere? It was only a matter of time really, muscleheads like her always start after a new pretty face before too long.”
“What do you need Ianthe, I'm very busy being a nerd”
“Well if Gideon has finally given up on proclaiming her love for you every other minute, I figured I’d offer myself to your devices.”
“We’re not- She isn’t-“
“Ah, you really never even noticed? Poor dear, no wonder she would give up on you if you still hadn’t figured out what she was saying all this time. Corona won’t shut up over how romantic it was.”
“When did she- Oh.” Pieces are clicking into place for Harrow suddenly, shone into sleek relief in the wane spotlight of Ianthe's words. The Princess Bride, Gideon's strangely impassioned horror over Harrow having never seen the movie, the stark cutting off of her words after movie night, the heartsick looks Gideon would shoot Harrow and Harrow would studiously ignore because it couldn’t be after everything there was no way that Griddle- “I have been an enormous fool. Who the hell confesses like that. Romantic brained idiot. Ginger fucking buffoon” Harrow is packing papers and pens in her bag and starting to rush for the door.
“So should I take that as a no to my offer of my services Harry? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity you know.”
“I regrettably find myself in your debt Ianthe, however I believe that I have other priorities at this time.”
“Suit yourself,” Ianthe says as she slides away, as if she moves slow enough she will escape the hurt of being denied. “Go ahead and throw yourself against a girl who has already moved on. I can wait.” But Harrow is already rushing out the door in a mad flurry, dashing to the small apartment she shares with Gideon Nav.
Gideon lights up as she always does when Harrow enters the apartment. For once Harrow allows herself to think that, perhaps, it's more than friendship or obligation for Gideon to stay in her life. Perhaps, she wants Harrow to be in her life as much as Harrow wants Gideon to be in hers. Something in her aches as Gideon bounds over so much like an overgrown puppy and says “Harrow!! Welcome back! I thought you would be doing nerd shit for like another 3 hours! Wanna see me crush some zombies in Zombie Crusher 4: Return of the Crushening?” And Harrow, tortured soul that she is, gently takes Gideon's excited flapping hands and presses a kiss to one of them as they still and simply says “As you wish,” dark eyes meeting gold. And if Harrow is flushed to her ear tips no one has to know but Gideon. And if Gideon ugly cries from sheer joy of her affections returned, no one has to know but Harrow. And if they have a long and sometimes awkward, mostly sappy and hideous talk about feelings for each other, well that is for the two of them to know, and you dear reader, to never find out. The End?
harrow’s spinning buoyant, gideon’s arms a harbour, the two of them stupid in the arms, teasing the other for their missteps—and harrow’s splitting into tenses, a childself twirling with nav in the park, watching the ceilingfan spin in nav’s childhood bedroom, forever summer
-@makkachinning, spidergriddle AU