Millicent Bowyen - Tumblr Posts
When I turn around, he cups my face in his hands and he kisses me so deeply that I don’t know who is breathing for who, but his mouth and tongue taste like warm honey. I don’t know how long it lasts, but when I let go of him, I miss it already.
Melina Marchetta, On the Jellicoe Road (via painfulbliss)
Her feet were freezing.
She'd been tucked in under a blanket all morning, huddled down over an explosive device that required a great deal of concentration and focus to keep her pieces in all the right places, and when she finally came up for air, Milli realized she could barely feel her feet.
The engineer stood up and stomped around the shop trying to get the blood flowing, her fingers shoved under her armpits. Her letter to the Captains' Council hadn't worked. She'd been back almost daily to check to see if they'd read and understood it. They didn't seem to care. Wintersday was for snow, damn the merchants!
"Well damn the snow," Milli muttered angrily to herself. "It's just a stupid mechanical...oh." The idea, so simple, dawned on her like a brand new day.
Sitting back at the table, Milli pulled out her notebook and began to scribble a design. Absently, she pulled the blankets up over her legs.
They were only mechanical devices. Removing their functionality would be easy. And if asked, well, she'd just say she heard gunshots one night and then didn't bother to report them. Because the Council obviously didn't care about the merchants.
Milli grinned.
It was one of the first things she'd started work on as soon as her hand stopped hurting.
Milli figured Aell wasn't one to wear jewelry or be so overt with his displays of affection, especially if he needed to woo a client, but she thought -- hoped -- that he would be willing to accept this.
The heart was as small as she could make it -- and with Milli's eye, that was pretty darned small -- and sat in the center of her palm, barely larger than her fingertip. Milli attached it carefully to a fine silver chain, not a necklace or bracelet, but to be looped around buttons and slipped like a pocket watch into a coat.
It was difficult to keep it from him while she worked, but utterly worth it when she was done.
Gently, Milli stroked the sapphire necklace he'd given her for Wintersday. It was one of her most prized possessions. He had worked so hard on it and she would cherish it forever. This was just...needful. Not a response, because she'd made him something as well. A mirror, perhaps? It didn't matter. She needed to give it to him, to let him know. Though likely he did anyway.
That night she snuck home with a box and a small note, slipping into bed beside him. He immediately turned and dragged her into his arms, still mostly asleep, but he always knew her.
In the morning he would wake and find box and note both on his bedside table.
My love,
Enclosed is something only I can give you. You may claim to have stolen it or swept it away, but in truth it is given freely to your keeping. I know you will care for it always. You are everything I need, Aellarian. And everything I could ever want.
So I give you my heart.
Yours,
Milli
The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Things were fine until they weren’t, but in retrospect she should have suspected something was wrong. People she knew and trusted grew quickly and uncharacteristically tense and withdrawn. Those who were of a more jumpy nature disappeared entirely. And Jack became strained, one with too much on his shoulders, desperately looking for someone to unload it on. She tried to share the burden, but he protected her even from this. He always protected her.
And then even Jack was gone.
She heard from one of the locals that the Stone Mason’s Guild Hall had been ransacked. And when she checked his room at the Lion’s Shadow, she found it equally ruined. His personal belongings were gone. Whether that meant he’d left before whoever did this got there or they had taken everything when they took him, she didn’t know.
Like the lamps in the windows of a house, her sources of information went dark. Something happened with the Hangmen, she gathered, though what she didn’t know. But people were scattering to the winds.
From then on, it was delicate. She provided what money and supplies she could to those leaving. She didn’t go to Divinity’s Reach. She kept her store open and if a Seraph stopped in once or twice, she showed them only the face of a shopkeeper, though she was left trembling and sweating after.
She specifically avoided news. She didn’t want to know if friends were being tried and hanged. She wanted to space out her heartbreaks.
In a few weeks, she was calmer. Things were back to relative normal. If the shop wasn’t as prosperous, that was because she’d spent the extra on her friends. On buying them safety. It wasn’t something she could regret.
Milli was left in the rubble of what had once been. So she did what she always did. She picked up the pieces and moved on.
Reblog if you've ever experienced this in RP or any kind of writing
[One finds an unsigned note, weather-sodden and ink-bled, slid beneath the door of that flourishing shop.] Never did get that garrote from you, pretty miss. I’ll be by for it in three days time; and I hope you’ll keep the lamp lit for me.
Milli read the note again, breath held. She fingered the necklace of bones on the exquisite gold chain around her neck. Ains was back. Her fingers drifted over the ink on the parchment. She'd missed the hound so.
Carefully she folded the note and put it in her pocket, then went to find the garrote. She placed it in a nice box, with a ribbon green she'd been saving for something special.
Milli smiled. Seeing old friends again made her happy.
Tag Meme; Milli Bowyen
Tagged by @rising-ember!
Full Name:
Millicent Bowyen
Gender and Sexuality: Female | Bisexual
Pronouns: She/Her
Ethnicity/Species: Elonian/Krytan | Human
Birthplace and Birthdate:
Day 88 Phoenix (24 years ago) | Lion’s Arch
Guilty Pleasures: Eating apple candies, long baths, taking her girls swimming
Phobias: Physicians, charr
What They Would Be Famous For: Owner of Clockworks & Mechanicals Unlimited in Lion’s Arch, former ranking member of the Southbend Clubs criminal organization in Lion’s Arch, former supplier of weapons and explosives for various separatist organizations
What Have They / Would They Gotten Arrested For: Never arrested, but guilty of: murder, extortion, smuggling, theft, bribery.
OC You Ship Them With: Tom Door
OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Dexten Thornley
Favorite Book Genre: Fairy tales, children’s stories
Least Favorite Book Cliche: Grimdark and edgy, romantic suicide
Talents and/or Powers: Milli is a talented engineer and weaponsmaker. She has a great gift for innovation and has put that to use in creating many inventions over the years, most of which were meant to kill people. In recent years her focused has shifted to safety and she now provides the most intricate home safety and security systems in Lion’s Arch. She is also skilled in alchemy and blacksmithing in order to facilitate her work.
Since she’s been running her business, she has developed into a savvy businesswoman and keeps her shop running smoothly even with her daughters in the shop day in and day out.
Why Someone Might Love Them: Milli is, above all else, a caregiver. Even when she was a member of a group of vile cutthroats, she still found ways to bring joy to their lives, give them comfort and friendship and even take a little for herself. She is often selfless and is always eager to see people she considers her friends. There is a very low bar as to who she considers friends. Those she loves she protects fiercely and her heart is always open.
Why Someone Might Hate Them: She can be rather spineless. Intimidate her and she’ll be avoiding you forever. She has a dislike of charr and necromantic magic on principle, though both are less severe than they once were.
How They Change: Milli has developed from basically a girl in a woman’s body into a woman in her own right. She’s endured horrors and pain (physical and emotional) and come out the other side stronger. She’s occasionally stubborn, but mostly in the area of her work.
Since her daughter was born (and she began taking care of her niece who she now considers a daughter), she’s become very protective. This was exacerbated when her husband killed himself rather than let her leave him. She holds tight to her girls. They are the most important things in the world to her.
Why You Love Them: Milli is my second GW2 toon to RP, but she was the one I played for the longest. She experienced so many different things and I had so much fun playing her. I’m glad she’s found her happy ending. Some people deserve a sunset. Milli is one of them.
Tagging:
@thefreelanceangel, @countofthemoonlightlantern, @vincasownwords, @atlasoak, @house-leours, @thefoxinblack, @johnny-tyler, @slumlordnox, @thorne-to-a-rose, @themanymusesofmaea, @skoryy
And one for Milli. Minus the eyepatch, of course. Because it wasn’t an option :P. This is way too much fun!
Have & Have Not: Millicent Bowyen
Tagged by @rising-ember
broken a bone | gotten stitches | had a near death experience | killed someone | tried and failed to kill someone | invented something | been hung over | kissed someone | slow-danced | been in a long-term relationship | had sex | had sex and regretted it | had a one-night stand | had a threesome | experimented with their sexuality | had a kid | gotten married | self-harmed | traveled to another country | been in a play | received an inheritance | been in a wreck | lost a loved one | been dumped | dumped someone | smoked | gotten high | been slipped something in their food/drink | won a contest | won an election | joined a sports team | gone skydiving | gone hunting | been in a band | had a job | been fired | been in a wedding party | owned a pet | seen a ghost | skipped class/work | learned an instrument | gotten a noticeable scar|sued someone | been robbed | been mugged | been kidnapped | been sexually assaulted | been brainwashed/hypnotized | gone more than one day without eating | had a recurring nightmare | been bullied | bullied someone | seen someone die | attempted suicide | been tied/chained up | shot someone| stabbed someone | saved someone’s life | cheated on someone | been cheated on | had a stalker | been betrayed | been in a fight | been arrested | been to a funeral | had surgery | broken someone’s trust | gotten a piercing | gotten a tattoo | used a fake name | been tortured | been abused | been blackmailed | had an attempt on their life | gotten away with a crime | gone on a road trip | been in love
I find myself missing her sometimes. But she’s happy. And I find myself loathe to change that. Going to do Ewan next, I’ll tag from that one :).