hh_mirror

Molly was, as promised, officiating the ceremony in full Kendra armor, complete with a skirt of recently-knitted chain mail. She’d spent quite a while coming up with a suitable ceremony, and she grinned as she organized her papers on the makeshift podium--it was going to be memorable, whatever else might be said about it. The ceremony was taking place in the WART room, to be broadcast live, and Molly had arrived early to decorate--festoons of popcorn and feather boas looped around the walls and ceiling, and she’d stuck candles everywhere a candle could possibly be stuck.

“Okay, how are you two holding up?” she asked, glancing from one to the other. Devi, she thought, looked absolutely beautiful in her dress, if more than a little nervous.

“Um, I’m okay,” Devi replied. She was nervous, nervous and excited and jittery as hell. She looked at Nny and grinned, wondering if he was as keyed-up as she was.

If anything, Nny was more so. He fidgeted uncomfortably in the unfamiliar jacket, the collar feeling tight and awkward. "I. Um." A skittish grimace, not quite a smile. "I'll be relieved when it's over, I think."

“Ah, that’s normal,” Molly said reassuringly. She reached over to switch on the radio, tapping the microphone a few times. “Just don’t do what Theo did, and puke behind the punch table.”

“Is this thing on? Okay, so, yeah. This WART is to celebrate Nny and Devi’s wedding, so after the ceremony go ahead and Floo on in any requests you might have.”

She winked at Nny and Devi, and after a quick glance down at her notes, she took a taper and lit a tall red candle.

“In the name of Nigoth, Worm God of the Nether Pits, I bless this union and this ceremony. Nny and Devi have come before you, O Nigoth, to be joined forever as Husband and Wife.”

She took a breath and tipped a drop of patchouli oil on the candle. It flared up and nearly took off her eyebrows.

“Do you, Nny, take Devi to be your wife,
To be her eternal buddy,
her rock, her external sanity, and her true love?
Will you stand by her in happiness, depression, and mixed states?
protect her from harm, and mutants
comfort her in times of distress,
and, if she ever be prescribed medication, be sure she takes it?”

Nigoth? Nny listened closely, and bit his lip. "I don't know if I can promise that sanity," he said finally. "And I don't think much of medication. But to, um. Be there. To love her. To fucking annihilate anyone who threatens her and help her fight off anything I can't destroy... I can promise that. Forever."

Devi reached out and squeezed his hand. She knew, even if he didn’t, that he was her ‘external sanity’.

“Ah, close enough.” Molly turned to Devi.

“Do you, Devi, take Nny to be your husband,
To be his eternal buddy,
his rock, his external sanity, and his true love?
Will you stand by him in happiness, depression, and mixed states?
Bandage his wounds,
protect him from harm, and mutants,
comfort him in times of distress,
and help him clean up his, uh, tools?”

Devi was also wondering about ‘Nigoth’. She bit her own lip, trying not to laugh at the ‘bandage his wounds’--Molly couldn’t know about the whole Stayfree pad incident, could she?

“I do,” she said, squeezing his hand again. “I’ll be there, forever, no matter what--happy, sad, crazy, till the end of time. I love him, and that’s worth more than anything else in the world.”

“Awww.” The Narrator was almost gone now, but he still occasionally piped up. “That’s the sweetest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.”

Molly smiled, and turned over a page.

“The symbolism of the circular rings was explained by the great Native American leader, Black Elk, who said:

‘Everything the Power of the Worlds does is done in a circle. The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball and so are the stars. The wind in its greatest power whirls. Birds make their nests in circles ... The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always coming back again to where they were. The life of a man or a woman is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.’

“Okay, Nny, repeat after me: I commit myself to the bond and unique relationship that exists between us, and pledge to keep it alive, with voodoo if necessary. As this ring has no end, neither shall my love for you, even if we all get nuked and we have to sell it for food.”

That, Nny had no trouble repeating word-for-word, his gaze locked on Devi's face the whole time. He didn't even snicker at the bit about the voodoo.

Devi, the butterflies in her stomach going into overdrive, returned his gaze unblinking. She took his other hand, wondering how his weren’t shaking as much as hers.

“And Devi, you too, same thing.”

Somehow she managed it without stammering, or snickering about the voodoo and nuclear bombing.

Molly, beaming, held out the rings. They went beautifully with Devi’s engagement ring, which was, of course, a poison ring.

Nny's hands may have been steady, but his stomach twisted and fluttered as he took Devi's ring and slid it onto her finger. He gave her hand a brief, anxious squeeze, hoping his palms weren't too sweaty.

Devi, with a small grin, took Nny’s and, after about three tries, managed to slide it onto his finger. She knew her hands were ice-cold, and she laced her fingers with his, for reassurance.

“All right, I and Nigoth now pronounce you husband and wife. Kiss kiss bang bang, and then it’s all over bar the drinking.” Only Molly could pronounce such a benediction and still beam with maternal pride.

Oh yeah, we're supposed to... Taking a deep breath, Nny leaned in and kissed Devi lightly, as uncertainly as if they'd only just met. He pulled back, blinking at her shyly.

Hey, screw that noise. Devi wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled him in for a real kiss. Very, very real. About as real as was humanly possible.

Molly applauded, and blew an earsplitting wolf-whistle. “That’s more like it. All right, you two, save it for later. Let’s eat.”