Faith, Hope and Love Abide
The Wedding of Harold & Scotty
March 9th, 2010


The After

Harold was sure his signature had never meant this much before in his life. He was also reasonably certain it had never been quite that shaky.

Oh god. They were married.

He really had to stop repeating that in his mind every ten seconds.

Looking to Scotty, he laid his pen down and huffed out a half-laughed breath, clasping his hands to stop them shaking.

Scotty grinned back and picked the pen up, still trying to control the last overpowered tears that were threatening to steal away from him, and signed.

The guests were... stunning. In the best way. They had such tunnel vision, just getting to the alter; their focus had been necessarily on getting through the ceremony without passing out, but now...

Such a wonderful, broad mix just within this one small group. Old friends. New friends. Dates of both, yet unknown.

Ayel, their friend from the beach, Harold's much-loved rhadheis. Harold Lowe and Maia d'Thalia, the duo who were all at once both tough and wonderful. Renne -- Nae-Dude -- and the bondmate he loved so. Vex, the mischievous red dragon that had been a friend from almost the start of their time here. Jaycy, one of their very favorite people; the Baroness and her Psly. Montgomery, picked up along the long journey here as a friend. Marlena's date, and Marley herself, dressed in blue. Jamie, their unlikely pal and probably the best friend Scotty had from the beach.

As Jamie and Marlena signed as witnesses, Scotty managed to clear his throat and speak up, "Thanks fer bein' here."

Time to visit. And celebrate.

He's beaming at the end of the ceremony, positively beaming. For whatever reason, he finds himself feeling quite proud and happy and perhaps a bit overwhelmed, even though it's not his wedding. When the ceremony is over and Harold and Scotty have returned, he doesn't get up to go talk to them quite yet, given that he's still a bit sore from the fights last night.

Instead he waits and watches as Harold talks to a Romulan... actually, squees at might be a more accurate term. He can't help but grin at how bouncy the not-Yeoman is. It's kind of adorable, actually.

As soon as Harold seems to be mostly done squeeing at his Romulan friend, he calls out his congratulations. Which prompts the bouncy man to make his way over to the pew Scott is seated at and sit next to him, wrapping an arm around him and hugging him. Scott laughs quietly at the soft, happy noise Harold makes with the hug.

He wraps both arms around Harold and squeezes. "So, how long did it take t'get the kilt on?" he teases, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"For-f*cking-ever, man," Harold replies, chuckling and squeezing in return. "Pretty sure Marley never wanted to see that much of me, ever." He sniffs, shaking his head. "Really, really glad you came."

"Wouldne missed it fer th' world." Scott beams and ruffles Harold's hair affectionately. "An thank God ye got it on properly an it's an indoor wedding. Dinne think anyone but yer husband wants t'see tha much of ye." Yes, that is a wicked little glint in his eyes. Especially since he's now sprawling a bit in his seat, totally showing off his nice, non-revealing in any way trousers.

Thankfully the worst he gets in return for that little subtle bit of ribbing is some elbowing. Literally, an elbow to his ribs, which makes him wince slightly when it connects with a muscle sore still from the duels last night. Although he has absolutely no idea what prompted the giddy noise that Harold makes with the nudge.

"...they'd be talking about it for decades if I did manage to flash the whole church, though, man." Harold bites his lip, bouncing some, and he pulls back a little to hold out his left hand. "Look." He waggles his ring finger, entirely gleeful.

Scott chuckles, the giddiness slightly catching, then snatches Harold's hand to look closely at the ring. "Oooh, it's shiny!" Still teasing just a bit with that, and lets go of his hand with a wry grin. "Well, it woulde been somethin t'make the bairns go, 'DAAAAD! We didne need t'ken thaaaaa!' over if ye had."

Harold sticks his tongue out, presumably for Scott's comments about the shininess of the ring, before beaming. "...I figure I'd just be really f*cking happy to have bairns, so being embarrassed in front of 'em would be totally good with me." He stares for a moment at his own glinting ring, before allowing his hand to fall to his lap again. "Really, really good day..."

He has nothing to say in response to that. Just a soft smile and a bit of a squeeze in response. Oh, yes, he's snuggling a bit now. Official groom snuggler; that's him. Besides, it keeps him from acting on certain brilliant ideas he might get, like hunting Jamie down and dragging him off for a snug, or flirting with Vex.

Scotty had still needed a few minutes more after signing his married name to their certificate before he could actually go and mingle. Partly to control the emotions a bit better, and partly just to breathe and try to grasp again the enormity of it all. But finally, he managed to re-engage, and after giving his Best Man a hug, he gave Renne a wave. "Mornin', Nae-Dude." It was warm, and light.

He had his own little smile of "giddy" about now. The morning had been a tumult -- nerves, the near-paranoid instinct to protect, then unexpected tears at a quiet but fitting reunion. He'd chosen a spot not in the back but not too far in the front either to avoid appearing presumptuous or otherwise of inflated ego. It was the Dudes' day and he was there for them. Mentioning, once his ears caught Scotty's voice? The man got a good, real grin. Thankfully he'd taken his hat off so the flicking of his ears wouldn't have sent the thing flying.
"Doo-d Two!"

"Thanks fer bein' here." Scotty slipped over, crouching down to give Renne a hug. He grinned, good-naturedly, "Quite a beautiful date ye brought, too."

"Eee. Rrr-enne 'On-nerrr, be hee-rrre." It was just the truth and even while blushing like a schoolboy, the beastie quite readily returned the Human's embrace. Wait, what was that? Oh, yeah, his blush.
"Is 'Nay-t. Rrrr-enne lo-ve." Was he confessing to a girlfriend? Ah....yes.

Scotty let go after the hug, but stayed crouched down, glancing at the beautiful woman in autumn colors before looking back at Renne. "Congratulations. That mean ye'll invite me t' yer wedding, if yer cultures celebrate one?"

Ohh, the blush. It just got a little bit bolder. Grinning a little, Renne nodded. It'd just not bloody well be right without the Dudes! "Eee, eey-ess!"

"Lookin' forward to it." He took a breath, then chuckled quietly. "Beautiful day today; warm. I almost couldna believe how warm on th' way. A good sign, I think. An' we're gonna go t' that cottage ye gave us fer th' night or two, too. So, thank ye for that, as well."

At that, he couldn't have helped it, the excited little hop and half-a-squeal. The whole fact of the house in use even now tickled him silly. So far, he'd managed to hold back the urge to pounce but...was there a way to properly pounce and be polite about it? Imp decided to try and find out.

Scotty caught the pouncing nae-dude and laughed, giving him another snuggle. "It's beautiful; we've gone out a couple times now, when we could get time off o' work."

"Eee. Is goo-d!" Squeak. So that did work? Oh, yes-awesome. 'Course, the same trick just had to be used on Harold Lee at some point in the very near future. His curiosity then though, provoked a question. "Wha-t Doo-d Two do?"

"Do?" Scotty tilted his head to the side, confused.

"Do. In worrr-k."

"Oh! I manage Mai Silverblood's store part time, an' I work fer Silas Greyshott at GAME as a mechanic an' engineer." Scotty nodded. "Well, an' I tended a bit at th' Red Dragon t' afford this. Still have a bit left o'er."

"Oooh. Is goo-d." Scotty's nod had gone unknown but his own in unwitting return came with a reply. He'd been to one wedding before this; one that had been utterly extravagant. Fitting, like this one had been for the more straightforward, elegantly simple style the Dudes seemed to exude. "May-bee, if 'Nay-t say eey-ess, Doo-ds hell-p?" He'd have liked to say his blush faded by now but...no. Especially with that idea in his head!

"With yer wedding?" Scotty beamed. "In a heartbeat! I'm a mean chef, an' I'm nae so bad with decoratin' if I give it a run."

"Eee. We doo coo-k too-ge-therrr?" Oh, no. Was that a bad idea to put in his head?

"Wouldna ken why nae." There was a chuckle, and Scotty stood again; he had to at least try to sneak a snuggle in on Ayel, before the day was done. "I've gotta go do th' rounds, but whenever ye're ready t' have yer weddin' with yer lass, I'll be glad t' help. Cook or whatever else."

"Eee! Eey-ess Suhrr, Doo-d Two!" Only when Scotty was away did Renne just grin like a little happy maniac. He'd been tempted, so tempted to whisper a little secret but he was a good imp and held his tongue. A surprise, he planned, two days hence. Mentioning a bit of mingling, one last chitter and he too was crawling off to try and possibly meet some of the curious strangers.

After stealing a snuggle on Harold's brother-in-arms Ayel, naturally Scotty didn't let Vex stay back for long. He couldn't let his favorite dragon go without a cuddle.

Aye, it was a good thing that Vex was willing to tolerate Scotty's cheek-smooching and random pouncing and kissing. He also knew perfectly well that it was tolerated -- Vex could, if she took exception, eat him. Literally.

It made it all the better.

So, he slipped over and then pounced her, wrapping his arms around her and giving her a smooch on the cheek. "Thanks fer bein' here."

He was happy.

Renne kept his coat on but his hat was tucked under an arm as he crawled about. Exploring, investigating and otherwise literally flashing wild colours of happy.

'Nathan. She was here. Somewhere, he felt something begin to really heal in what was his heart.

The Dudes. They were....them and he was more than glad to be here. They did not heal. Rather, they had begun something new in him and it was something he wanted to hold onto.

Other scents and sounds filtered through to him and Renne met them head-on. A few, he passed by and offered a soft kind of smile. He'd heard it all -- the music, the vows, the words and the afterglow of now. He was here. People were here. Nothing untoward had happened yet and while keeping a kind of perimeter-ear, Renne crawled in another direction.

An island long ago had introduced him to pipes and the sounds of today had been equally as impressive. He felt it both logical and right to find the piper and thank him.

It was normal for Johnathan to keep quiet around strangers, but it was unusual for her to not keep up with a conversation.

When Renne and herself congratulated the two handsome married men, she let Renne do the talking. Only smiling and giving a curtsy--but it was a bit too wobbly and it seemed it would have been easier for her to bow. When the two men parted to greet and hear praise from the other guests, she kind of drifted away from Renne and the majority of the guests.

Johnathan let herself linger in the background before getting a smidge of an idea. An idea of what, noone can be so sure of.

Johnathan's departure was silent, as she had been this whole time. She did not want to leave Renne without giving him word; but she knew where to find him now. This idea, though, was something for the reception party and for the newly-wed couple.