#madmarchh

He needed a thief, and a thief is what he got.  Neither of them had been seeking love.  To be honest, they were seeking adventure, escape, treasure -- anything else.  Love had been a surprise -- something unplanned.  It was a feeling, an emotion, that persisted through separations, fears, loss.  But it was that fire, that strengthened them.  Their love had been tested.  Their love had survived.  Their love was the greatest treasure they had ever claimed.

Boundaries of our Fears - Lil and March Aesthetic

Sometimes, life proves that magic exists.  Not the magic of spells and wands.  No, the magic of the heart.  The magic that can persist through the smallest of actions.  Actions that save a life, change another -- forever setting them both upon a path that linked them together through the entire span of their lives.  War and strife turned to love and hope.  A love that had rested under their skins for longer than they had ever put words to the emotion.  A love that gave them both strength beyond measure.  A love that helped them build the family neither of them had ever dreamed for, but it was everything.  It was their happy ending.

Don’t Break Character - Hatta and March Aesthetic

HELLO MY LOVE HI YES I WANNA DO ALL THE THINGS

( @madmarchh )

Touch is a delicate subject for them both.  Their backgrounds are similar -- assassin and thief.  Lil also has her history of abuse, which went on for the majority of her life, even after she was free of her father’s torment.  She just moved on to a new kind of abuser, and it’s something that makes her very leery of men in general.

The two of them first meet in Paris, and he asks her to go on an adventure with him.  She was looking for an escape from Paris and her life, so she takes the leap of faith on March’s offer.  Unlike many of the men she had worked with in the past, he speaks to her like an equal.  He believes her words about her skills, and he seems amused at her daring to talk back to him.

It would be an adventure that stayed with the both of them.  Neither of them delved too much into their pasts that time, but there were kisses shared -- kisses that were new for the both of them.

Both of them possess dark sides that do come out from time to time.  The first time that Lil saw March’s darker side, he nearly killed her.  It wasn’t necessarily a dark side for him, more apart of how his brain works, but at the time, Lil didn’t know.  She reacted before thinking, trying to “snap” him out of it.  The situation spiraled, eventually leading into the two of them laying a lot out on the table.  That was the night that she admitted she had killed her father, and that she had enjoyed it.

Lil and March have always been a wilder relationship than Hatta and March.  Lil loves him just as deeply, but there is a deeper understanding of the darkness that does live inside March.  That mutual understanding of what it’s like to take a life with your own hands -- and not always out of self defense.  Lil’s patience with March runs less, which makes the times they have hurt each other sting worse.

Touch comes before sight, before speech. It is the first language and the last, and it always tells the truth.— Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin 

When it comes to Mad March and Hatta, they’ve had a long history -- much of that history revolving around touch.  Hatta loves touch.  She thrives on that connection to others.  Part of this comes from the fact that she was denied comforting touch often from her parents, and so when she finally had a concept of it from Megan, she learned that love and care could be felt through things as simple as a hug.  It was then that she began to associate the truth behind touches -- the clench of her mother’s fists, the way the cooks would gently kiss her forehead when she was said, ect.

During her youth in the castle, she feared Mad March.  Not because of anything that the assassin had ever done to her, but due to his reputation alone.  Then, there was the fateful night that thrust the both of them together.  The first time that Mad March and Leiella touched, it was when his knife cut her back, slicing through her dress, leaving a scar that she would have for the rest of her life.  She would pass out soon after, and it would take years before she ever learned that it was March that saved her that night.  There was something in that touch between them that changed both of them forever.

It would be almost a decade before they saw each other again -- knowingly.  She had grown up, but he still looked the same.  Still, it took her a moment to really register who he was.  The very first time that she touched him, knowingly, was to place a flower in his lapel.  It would shock March -- the freedom that she had when it came to touching him.  The reality of who he was returned, and fear flashed in her eyes for a moment, but March told her part of their story then -- that he had changed.  He had left the Queen.  Hatta learned to keep her hands to herself, but it would be something that would change them again.

He taught her how to inject emotions, to take them in their most purest form.  In her panic one night, Hatta took too much, and it was March that found her.  The assassin that had been so hesitant to touch her, felt fear and guilt -- emotions he wasn’t used to.  He touched her, held her -- did everything he could to save her.  Eventually, he showered her, holding her up while singing to her a song that would stay in her mind for the rest of their lives.  That was the night that she learned the entire truth of their story, of how he saved her, and she also learned just how deeply he cared for her.

These are only a few of the main points in their storyline, because it diverges from there depending on the verse.  In every one, March is hesitant at first, because he knows Hatta can feel and see the truth in him if they touch.  He hugs her tightly when she’s upset -- a touch that is full of protection and love.  His hands are weapons, but to her, they are also protection - they are home.  No matter if they are friends or lovers, they are home for each other.

So, even before they had even spoken to each other, or really seen each other, the two of them had shown the truth of their connection.  March saving her from the castle, doing everything he could to get her out.  Hatta accepting him back into her life years later, offering her friendship.  The two of them always showing their care for the other through actions, before words.  Even if it’s Kit, or Regen! March -- actions still speak louder for them both.  Hatta, even with her words, never expects those words of love back.  She understands the love in his touch, and how rare that is.

Her understanding of the importance of touch -- in all situations -- is why she doesn’t hate her scar anymore.  She’s come to learn that it’s a remembrance of the moment that March found freedom from the Queen.  It’s a memory of how March came into her life, and despite the situation of that night, Hatta would never change it.  She wouldn’t know how to be her without having known March.

My dearest March,

If my plan has worked, you found this note while adventuring on some mission, some job.  I wanted you to have a piece of home to care with you.  I know that me, Alistair, and our life here rests in your heart.  I will always believe that, because I know you.  I know what lies beyond those dark eyes of yours.  You have a soul, and yes, it’s not he purest white soul in all the worlds, but it is yours.  Yours, March.  

It’s the soul that I, at one time, feared, but as souls are, they can grow, they can learn.  No one is completely doomed.  There is always faith, always hope – always love.  I used to think I was naive for thinking such things, but I’m starting to believe what you’ve said before – that’s my magic.  Faith and love.  What is it that our song speaks of?  Not breaking character?  If you look at our life, the times that we have broke character, the other one has been there to pick up the pieces.  

We’re mosaics, my love.  Beautiful pieces of broken glass that have been put together.  Some of my pieces mixed in with yours, and some of yours with mine.  Now, our son is in that mix, too.  You are a good father.  I have seen that love in your eyes, especially as you listen to me speak of Alistair’s adventures in the world.  

Know that you have taught me how to survive.  How to be strong.  You’ve taught me so much – more than you will ever realize, and I owe you my life more than once over.  Thank you for being there.  Thank you for taking a chance on a petite brunette that kept wanting to put flowers on the lapel of your Westwood Suits, or the hatter that stole one of your jackets because it smelled like you, which comforted her on her darkest nights.  Be still, my love, and be safe.  I love you.  xoxo

Your hatter,

Leiella

7. How do they physically engage with other people, inanimate objects, and their environment? What causes the differences between these?

Lily is very cautious about her interactions with others, especially physical.  This is a hold over from her growing up in an abusive home, spending the first fifteen years of her life in that type of scenario.  The next decade, or so, was spent in a criminal type mob life, so she was always on her guard.  This also makes her hyper vigilant of her environment, always knowing where escapes are, things that could be used as weapons, ect.

This relaxes when she is at home, but because she knows the security scenarios in place there.  Also, very few people know or have access to her actual home.  She always has at least one safe house type place to go if she has some where with her.  It is in her real home that you see her guard drop some.  Her hair and clothing aren’t pristine, she’s more relaxed, and open.  It takes a lot of trust and time to get to this point with her.

21. What kind of relationships do they tend to intentionally seek out versus actually cultivate? What kind of social contact do they prefer, and why?

Lily seeks out work based relationships.  These are business partners, contacts, and the like.  It is rare for her to seek out relationships of a social nature.  Her lack of trust is the biggest part, on top of fear that her past will come back to haunt her in the worst of ways.  She is not open about her criminal backstory, and it hangs over her.  Not to mention, she still has PTSD from things that happened in Paris.  None of this is stuff that she easily talks about, if at all.  Even the closest people to her still have little idea of all that she endured during her years in the underbelly of Paris crime.

41. What associations do they bring to mind? Words or phrases, images, metaphors or motifs? Why?

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( @madmarchh )