Chapter 3! Hope you all enjoy.
Makkari loves her camera. It's something she can use to bring back pictures for the others from her distant travels. She can't always bring back what she sees but she can bring back the pictures. Unfortunately, super speed and technology don't go well and if she doesn't wrap up her camera properly before running in a special pouch Phastos made specially for her, it tends to get damaged by the air pressure.
Makkari really thought she had her camera well preserved this time but she had tasted a new sweet she just knew Druig would love and wanted to share it with him. Her camera dangled from her neck as she arrived back at the Domo in a sonic boom that rattled the surrounding area and it wasn't until she had shared the sweets and moved to show her husband the pictures of the new area where she'd discovered them, did she realize the shutter was broken and the memory case cracked.
"You and your sweets, love," Druig laughed when he saw Makkari's pout upon the realization her favorite possession was damaged. Her face quickly turned to worry when she noticed the cracks near the memory compartment.
'All our pictures are in here,' she signed frantically. 'You don't think they're all gone do you?'
Druig took the case from her, opened the compartment and inspected the tape inside.
"Reckon Phastos would know better. He's the one who made the thing," he supposed, turning it over. It looked undamaged. "I'm sure it's fine my beautiful Makkari. Don't you worry."
So Makkari goes to Phastos sheepishly – who raises his eyebrow at her in disapproval upon finding out how she broke it – but reassures her all the same.
"The memory is intact. The outer compartment kept it safe," he speaks as he looks it over and Makkari reads his lips in relief. "The pictures inside should be alright but I need to make a new camera frame before you'll be able to view them again. I'd repair this one but since you shattered the glass and the outer casing it's easier to just upgrade the inner mechanisms too."
'How long will that take?' Makkari asks. She loves her camera and doesn't like going many places without it.
"A few days," Phastos promises before chastising, "this isn't the first time this has happened Makkari. You really ought to be more careful if you don't want to go without it."
Makkari signs out her apology before zipping away. Phastos chuckles and gets to work. His other inventions can wait.
True to his word it only takes him a few days to build a new camera and fit Makkari's old memory card in it. He's surprised it still has space given how many pictures the speedster tends to take. He supposes she must delete them if they're no longer of importance because even he hasn't figured out the secret to unlimited data space yet.
Satisfied the card fits, he turns it over to test and see if the new make of the camera fits the old card. Instead of starting with the newest pictures first, he starts from the oldest. The images are from centuries and centuries past. They start out as monuments and various trinkets. The pictures are clumsy and blurred at first. Makkari clearly took time to figure out how to work the thing with her pent up kinetic energy keeping her from staying still long enough for the camera to capture the photo.
His initial goal is fulfilled, since the memory card clearly works perfectly but Phastos grins as he heeps flipping through the images, noting the improvement over fifty or so pictures. He's satisfied with the working and is about to set the camera aside, ready to return to the speedster later when the last picture he flips to catches his attention.
It's Druig and Makkari. That's not a surprise since Druig tends to star in a lot of Makkari's photography. No, this photo in particular catches his attention for a different reason.
It's a lovely photo.
They're sitting side by side holding each other's hands. The two are in their uniforms although Makkari dons a red headscarf not unlike the one Sersi once wore for her wedding which Phastos assumes must have been offered by the humans in the area they were in. They're all used to sharing in traditions of the humans when asked so that isn't strange either. Phastos really wouldn't find anything peculiar about this particular picture either – Makkari loves taking photos with the other Eternals as much as she does of the sights she sees – if it weren't for the official looking man in white sitting in front of them who is solemn despite his twinkling eyes and seems to be reading or reciting something. Based on the way the people in the photo are arranged, there's clearly a ceremony occurring and Phastos wonders who took the picture and if it were one of the other Eternals. Curiosity piqued, he flips to the next photo and almost drops the camera.
It's almost the exact same setup, except now there are rings involved. Druig and Makkari are gazing at each other and Druig is slipping a ring on Makkari's finger as the man in white smiles with the photo following it with the roles reversed. Unable to believe his eyes, Phastos flips forward yet again to find yet another photograph. The man officiating is gone now and Druig is smiling and kissing Makkari's forehead, her face cupped in his hands. His eyes are closed in contented bliss and so are Makkari's her smile wide and open mouthed in the beginnings of a laugh. It's such a tender photo that Phastos feels he's intruding on a private moment.
Heart beating fast in shock, Phastos turns to the next image and now there's no denying what the ceremony is. The man officiating is back in the photograph as well as a few random humans. They're all clapping and cheering as Druig feeds Makkari what appears to be some sort of sugared sweet and the photo after is her returning the favor. Phastos flips faster through the gallery after that. It's mostly just the two Eternals celebrating among the humans albeit at a different location from where the ceremony was conducted. The sweets are passed around and someone bestows flowers on both Druig and Makkari at some point for they're wearing the garlands around their necks for many of the pictures. They're both radiant with happiness in every image and the final one is set to the backdrop of the sunset.
Druig is holding Makkari in his arms as she leans back against him. He gazes down at her in devotion and she looks back in adoration. The photographs are all amateurish and this one is no different which Phastos knows is because to the humans working a camera would be a novel thing. It is not an invention he has shared with them yet let alone centuries earlier when this photo would have been taken. Yet despite it all, the one undeniable constant in all these photos is how happy Druig and Makkari are and how at home they look. Phastos does not fancy himself very observant. He prefers tinkering with his tools instead of butting into the other Eternals business. In fact, the less he knows about their matters, he considers it the better for him. Still, he feels foolish for never noticing their resident speedster and mind manipulator had had a thing going and were committed for so long.
Phastos wonders if there's a reason they never told anyone but decides he'd rather not know. He found out about this event by accident and he would ask the two Eternals involved if he thought it worth his time and energy. As it stands, he figures it is none of his business still. He knows the truth and that is enough for him. So when Makkari comes asking for her camera later in the afternoon he hands it back to her without a word of the contents inside and bids her adieu with a warning to take better care of it for next time.
He tries to act the same as always around them after his discovery but, nonetheless, he can't help but notice the way Druig calls her his wife and the way Makkari calls him her husband when they sign to each other, thinking no one else is reading. He notices the rings on their fingers and how in love they are still and regrets, even the slightest bit, that he had never cared enough to find out earlier.
Sersi has always been a hopeless romantic. Falling in love came to her as natural as breathing whether it was with the world or with stories or the endearing creatures called humans they are meant to protect. It was no wonder then, the ease she fell in love with Ikaris too. Being with him has been the happiest she has ever been in her eternal life. She cannot remember her life before waking up on the Domo but she sometimes longs to remember if only to know if she and Ikaris were this happy in their previous life as they are in this one. She doesn't think anything can destroy what she and Ikaris have. It's the best kind of bliss. And Sersi wants nothing more than the rest of her family to experience this kind of elation too.
She wonders about Gilgamesh and Thena. They have a connection that is so different from hers and Ikaris' and yet Sersi always feels like she can see something more. She has never had the courage to directly ask the god and goddess of war about the nature of their relationship. They are such deeply private people. Thena has her boundaries firmly established even if she never speaks them aloud and Gilgamesh is too kind for Sersi to disturb with prying questions. They're a pair that leaves her burning with curiosity and yet she doesn't mind not knowing what their relationship is like.
Makkari and Druig, however, are a different story. Sersi cannot pinpoint the day Druig began to look at Makkari like she hung the sun in the sky and cause the moon to change tides. As far as she knows, he's always looked at her in that way. The earliest days Sersi remembers are when Druig was sullen and closed off from everyone. It took him the longest to warm up to the rest of the group. Despite all of Ajak's best efforts, the one to succeed in slowly pulling him into the fray had been Makkari and ever since then they had had a relationship that was apart from everyone else's.
Sersi is confident Makkari is equally as in love with Druig as he is with her. The way she plays and teases him is different from her behavior with everyone else. Her touch is more frequent, she stands closer to him than anyone else and her eyes are more tender. Every lovesick look Druig graces her with, Makkari mirrors to perfection. It's disgustingly sweet and horribly aggravating.
Sersi doesn't understand why the pair continue to dance around each other. They could be so happy! As happy as her and Ikaris, if only they admitted their feelings for each other. Things can't go on like this, Sersi decides. It's been six thousand years already and she's had enough of watching them pine and yearn and never get together. Sersi doesn't think she's one to meddle, she respects the rest of her family too much for that, but just this once she can't help herself. The very least she's allowed to do is ask. So she goes to Druig first.
He's sitting out in the grass on a hill behind the Domo reading a book. He occasionally looks up at the nearby village kids who are playing around him, smiling at their antics. Sersi can't help but smile at that too. The others find Druig's desire to interfere with the humans irritating, arrogant even. But she knows he only does it because he cares. He finds humans more fascinating than the rest of them, her included because as much as Sersi loves the humans, she has never felt a desire to interfere as much as Druig does. She supposes it's a side effect of having such empathetic abilities. Still sometimes even Sersi doesn't know how to place Druig's intense desire to interfere but she doesn't care because to her it makes him endearing the way Phastos' inventions do for him and Makkari's hidden hoard of treasures does for her.
"Sersi," Druig greets without looking at her. She takes it as an invitation to sit down and makes herself comfortable on the cushy spring grass. Druig always did tolerate her best out of the other Eternals and she considers it a compliment… and is also the only reason why she dares come forward with her invasive questions.
"Pleasant day today," she muses, looking out at the children with him as they run around in a game of tag.
A pleasant gust of wind passes by and the children stop and shriek in delight. Druig's lips quirk slightly in amusement as he hums in agreement. They sit in silence after and Sersi realizes she didn't quite think her plan through. She has no clue how to ask Druig about his relationship status with Makkari or even if he'd take it well. Just because he likes her second best doesn't mean she is immune from his explosive temper.
"Go ahead and ask whatever you're holding in." Druig's voice startles her, it's like she's read his mind. Then remembering the mind manipulator's powers she narrows her eyes at him.
"Did you read my mind?" she accuses not heatedly.
"You think too loudly," he shrugs. Seeing her horrified expression, he amends, "I didn't probe. I can sense the trajectory of thoughts though. I know you came here to ask me something. So go ahead."
She supposes there's no use keeping it in.
"When are you going to ask Makkari out?"
Druig blinks once, then twice. Then in the most surprising event Sersi has ever witnessed, he bursts into laughter. In all the reactions she had planned for, this was certainly not one of them. Druig laughing openly is a rarer occurrence than a new species emerging over a millennium.
"What are you laughing at?" She asks eventually once he stops laughing. "Don't you have feelings for her? It's so obvious."
Druig snickers at that.
"Excellent observation skills you have there. I believe this question of yours is better directed to Makkari."
Sersi wants to probe more, inquire more. She doesn't understand how she should ask Makkari why Druig hasn't asked her out yet. Is it possible he has but Makkari refused for some reason? But that doesn't explain Druig's laughter. He didn't seem hurt like he would have if the reason they're not together is rejection.
Knowing Druig won't answer any more of her questions, Sersi leaves him be.
It's by luck that she meets Makkari while going downhill just as the speedster is zipping up it, no doubt looking for her best friend.
"Makkari!" Sersi calls, right as she zips by, hoping the speedster feels her vibrations and halts. The speedster returns just as quickly as she passed Sersi and greets her brightly.
"Going to see Druig?" Sersi asks, once again feeling awkward and unsure how to ask, her signs slow and deliberate. If she were anyone else she'd let the matter drop and let it go but she isn't anyone else and now she needs to know. It's a matter of love and the heart and nothing bites Sersi more than not knowing those.
'He already knows I'm here,' Makkari signs. 'He said you had something to ask me?'
Sersi wonders if she should curse Druig or thank him. Clearly in the split second Makkari had made it up the hill and back he'd told her Sersi wanted to talk to her. The matter manipulator could almost feel him laughing on the top of the hill at her current plight.
'Is everything okay, Sersi?' Makkari is concerned now, her brows furrowed the longer Sersi stays silent.
"Why hasn't Druig asked you out yet?" She blurts out, forgetting to sign in her haste. Then she elaborates, slower this time, "You both seem to love each other. Yet it's been thousands of years and you both are still apart when it's clear as day how you both feel. I asked him why he hasn't asked you out yet but he told me to ask you."
Sersi doesn't think Makkari will be offended but she winces anyway hoping the question isn't too insensitive. That she isn't prying on something too private for the speedster. To her relief Makkari looks like she wants to laugh as Druig had too. There's a twinkle in her eye that tells Sersi that Makkari thinks the question is hilarious and now she feels out of the loop as if there's an inside joke she's not in on.
'He asked me out thousands of years ago,' Makkari signs with bright smile. She continues, 'then I asked him to marry me a few thousand years later.'
She ends her statement by flashing her left hand towards the shell-shocked woman in front of her and Sersi feels like she got whiplash.
"You're married?" she whispers, certain she's mixing up some of the signs in her shock. Makkari can read her question just fine though.
'Only a while after you and Ikaris,' Makkari confirms. For her part she looks a little sorry for having kept it but the glint in her eye tells Sersi she still finds this all amusing. Sersi can't wrap her head around this.
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
'No one ever asked.'
Makkari shrugs after that. It's a matter-of-fact statement and Sersi finds she really cannot refute it because, truly, no one ever did ask. She, herself, hadn't even known they were in a relationship let alone married despite her intense curiosity about them. She moves to apologize but Makkari is anticipating it because she holds Sersi's hands before she can sign out her regret.
Letting go of her friend's hand, Makkari signs herself, 'Don't apologize. If we cared so much for anyone else knowing, we would have told you ourselves.' She stops for a second, then, 'The privacy is quite nice.'
With a sweet Makkari smile she then zips off to where her husband is waiting for her ('her husband,' Sersi thinks. Druig is Makkari's husband. They're married. The way she and Ikaris are.)
Sersi walks down the rest of the hill slowly. She realizes she had been so blinded by her own relationship and open displays of love between her and Ikaris that she hadn't stopped to consider that Makkari and Druig might prefer a different form of expression. One that isn't quite so ostentatious and revealing. They're both different forms of love, neither right nor wrong, it's just that she hadn't considered the latter to exist before now.
Still, having the answer to her question is quite satisfying and she realizes she's thrilled to know Druig and Makkari are more in love and married than she previously knew. The hopeless romantic in her sighs at the realization the couple have been in love and eloped forever ago and that they're ridiculously adorable about it in plain sight still.
Yes. Druig and Makkari are experiencing marital bliss too, and Sersi couldn't be happier for them.
Druig ups the ante on their bet the minute Makkari tells him she has told Sersi they're married. Neither of them has a clue how many of their friends are already aware of their relationship status but Makkari declares she has already won one part of the bet virtue of Sersi being the first to ask.
"She didn't ask about our marriage though," Druig teases, signing quickly along. "I don't think that's quite fair my beautiful Makkari. She asked when we would be dating. She didn't even know we already were!"
'I still win!' She signs back gleefully.
"And I sent her to ask you for confirmation so really you told her. I could have lied to her instead of sending her to you and she still wouldn't have known. There's no winning there, love."
Makkari glares up at him from all her tiny 5'3" inches but the moment Druig leans forward looking at her with that playful smile and teasing blue eyes of his, her mouth twitches and she loses the battle too.
'Fine,' she concedes. 'What's your suggestion then?'
"Sersi will tell everyone before the week is up."
'She wouldn't!'
"She will. She can't keep a secret to save her life. And her husband is Ikaris. She'll tell him if she doesn't tell the others and he'll tell everyone else."
Druig looks confident and Makkari raises her eyebrow at his cockiness.
'You sure you want to take that?'
"Absolutely. You'll see. It'll happen."
'I don't think Sersi will tell,' Makkari disagrees.
She looks doubtful even as she says it and its Druig's turns to raise his eyebrow at her. She shoves him playfully as a result and he laughs before grabbing her arms and pulling her closer. Their secret might soon be out in the open but until then they still have their privacy. He intends to utilize every second of it before their endearingly annoying family find out and wreak havoc.
So far Druig and Makkari are still even so... who will win the wager? And who do you suppose will find out next of the two remaining Eternals?