#shubrine

Katherine is not pining. No. No way in hell. Just because Shelby is sweet, pretty, smart and amazing does not mean Katherine is pining. Just because Shelby is all Katherine can think of recently, just because Katherine regrets what she said at the festival, just because Katherine daydreams about Shelby- no. She is not pining, no shot. Not when Shelby is already over her, Katherine is not pining.

She doesn't completely regret what she said. There were valid points there! But maybe she does a tiny bit regret shutting down any possibility of a relationship.

Because, really, Shelby hadn't been pursuing her in the same way Joey once. Katherine doesn't like that she was treated as a thing to be won, but that was Shelby's only offence. And she's been so nice and sweet since, and it would be so nice to take her out on a picnic...

Like, really confused. What do you mean soulmates are real!?

When she first heard about it, about the fact that everyone had a soulmate and eventually you’d get a red string connecting to your soulmate, she thought it was a joke. It had to be! There’s no way that’s real! It can’t possibly be real…

Until it happened. She just… woke up one day and there was a string attached to her finger! Just… there! She couldn’t de-attach it, trust her, she tried.

She did wonder who it was though. She was a princess, so surely it would be whoever her parents married her off to, right?

Shelby thought the idea of a soulmate was pretty cool! If a bit unbelievable. Sometimes, she stayed up at night imagining who it would be. She wondered what their voice sounded like, what they acted like, looked like.

So when she finally got her soulmate string, she was ecstatic. At last, she would find out who it was! She was new to the mangrove when she got it so she hadn’t met all that many people yet, she had met Katherine thought… she secretly hoped she was Shelby’s soulmate.

Katherine decided to follow the string, alright? But it was only because others had started doing it and found their soulmates already. Not because of a certain witch, no, that’s dumb.

…and then she saw her.

It was Shelby, standing right there with that adorable shocked look on her face that made her feel all sorts of feelings that she shouldn’t be feeling.

But, saint Pearl, was Shelby pretty…

There's a lot of things you feel upon finding your soulmate. The two of them celebrate, holding each other's hands and talking without pause.

Neither of them expected the stress.

Shelby doesn't have any social standing - she's even new to the area! And her witch schooling is... Mm. Best not to talk about that. Yet, now she has to be a match for a princess! Katherine doesn't care about any of that (and Shelby will love her forever for it) but everyone else does!

And Katherine didn't expect to need to justify her soulmate. She literally didn't choose Shelby (though if she had a choice... Just don't tell her parents that part!)

They'll get through all this together. Life brought them to each other, and now with their combined powers, they're gonna kick some ass!

She already could shift dimensional planes - but now she even has better control of it! Which is useful when Joel gets too big for his boots (literally, in some cases!)

(Maybe Shrub is a princess forced to deal with a bunch of men that want to marry her but she only wants her knight Katherine perhaps?)

It's no coincidence that Shelby's suitors keep 'failing'. Every attempt they make goes disastrously wrong and Shelby's parents decide they aren't worth their daughter's hand in marriage.

Shelby knows it's Katherine. She's seen the sly smiles she gives her, nevermind the nights they've spent together when Katherine was supposed to be 'guarding' her. And Katherine respects that Shelby isn't interested in sexual intimacy, when all these men just talk about children!

(Meanwhile, Katherine and Gem having a tea party wondering when their partners were gonna realize that they could simply be a polycule.)

Katherine and Gem don't even care about dating each other. They could go either way on it really. But, at this rate, it seems like bringing up the topic will be the only way to get through to their partners!

Another thing about her magic, it makes her emotions clear as day. When she's happy, her eyes have small rainbows in them and the air is evidently fresher, when she's sad there's a little rain cloud above ger head, when she's angry the air around her is suffocating and electric.

When she's very happy when she sees Katherine, the rainbows in her eyes are painfully obvious, the area around her is brighter and her hands are stained with pink and hearts. Katherine finds it so endearing.

Truthfully, Scott and Katherine are friends, very close friends. Thing is, they both swing the other way, this is just, well, a cover up of some sorts. To get their families off their backs, and their partners Jimmy and Tango for Scott and Shelby for Katherine, know about it and have no issue with it.

When they tell their parents they're out on a date, they are. Just not with eachother.

It's the perfect cover up, in their opinions. Because if their parents find out now, they'll simply have to accept it. Making a big deal about it would cause more issues for their families - why fix something that isn't broken!

Katherine found an ancient city, she couldn't not loot it. In hindsight, she probably should've asked for company. But it was going well, till she fell, made too much noise, and awoke the warden. This warden, seemed more human, than any other warden she's seen. Long white hair, a bright golden eye, pale human skin, dark-blue stormy themed clothes. But there was skulk all over the girl, her other eye was infected with it, turned a light blue.

But. She was friendly, her name was Shelby. Shelby said she didn't mind Katherine looting, she had no use for it. Katherine would go daily, every night after monster hunting, Shelby would always patch her up. Whoever said wardens were scary, clearly haven't met Shelby.

Shelby would point out Katherine hasn't met other wardens. Shelby talks to them sometimes, through the skulk, but they're not very good conversationalists. She much prefers Katherine's company. And, Katherine coming here keeps her safe from the other wardens too! They're more grouchy than she is.

It does mean Shelby has been working hard to find interesting things for Katherine. She doesn't want to run out, what if Katherine stopped visiting!