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"In fact, even after Marigold knocked Vanya out of the way there was still time for her to… move or just do anything to avoid getting crushed. We were in some old ruins and it was coming down from behind us… but it\'s not like we only had a small area to squeeze into, or that the boulder was moving particularly fast. The groove for the boulder trap was knee high at best. 

"We had enough time for a full argument about it in fact. Marigold was all \'Go on without me\'! And Vanya was like \'Stop being a fucking idiot and just get out of the way\' to which Marigold responded \'No it is too late, I cannot be saved. Do not morn me!\' Vanya decided that Marigold was being silly… so she went up to Marigold and tried to pull them both out. Marigold kicked her away though. 

"Which was pretty rude… but she did get run over by a boulder shortly afterwards… so it was arguably justified? Honestly, Marigold is lucky the ground was so soft there. Sure she can regenerate but if her head had been crushed I\'m not sure she would\'ve been ok. Vanya was genuinely worried about her that time. Of course, Marigold just moaned the whole time as her back slowly put itself together after she was crushed. 

"Marigold did get properly punished for that one. Vanya wrote back to Marigold\'s mother, her name is Dahlia by the way. So Vanya wrote back home to try and get some advice, because she was really quite scared for Marigold\'s safety that time, and it really scared her… but you\'ll never guess what the punishment was…" 

*Hmmm… it\'s gotta be something super wholesome right?*

[Obviously. But I don\'t know in what way.]"My guess is going to be… that you put her in a blanket and then Vanya spoon-fed her hot chocolate," said Lily. 

"Close, but no," said Burnice. 

Kat shrugged, and seeing that Lily was guessing decided to join in on the fun. "I guess I\'ll go with Dhalia turned up and treated her like a kid for a few days," 

Burnice shook her head once again, "Dhalia did actually do that once as punishment, but that was for a completely unrelated incident and we were much closer to the capital when it happened so Dhalia only had to take one day off work,"

Mint, seeing that neither of her two friends\' guesses worked, went the other direction, "She was locked in a box for a day," Lily and Kat looked at Mint confused. "What, clearly your guesses weren\'t right either," 

"True but Burnice said I was close," retorted Lily. 

Mint opened her mouth to retort… but couldn\'t think of one so she closed it and looked over to Burnice for answers, which she gave. "Right, Lily was the closest to correct. So, first off, Vanya chained Marigold up as best she could. Nothing too weird at first, just this time, Vanya made it impossible to get out because the chains were enchanted to paralyse someone. So once that was activated, and Marigold started to get really excited…

"Marigold was bundle up in a massive blanket while Vanya wrote nice things about Marigold on her skin. As she did this, she read each one of them out. That\'s when Marigold started panicking, but obviously she was paralysed so she couldn\'t escape. Once Vanya got done with it, Mauve and I stepped forward and started to read out all the times she\'d helped save us since we joined the party and how thankful we were that she\'d kept us alive for a few years at this point. 

"Then Midnight came in and read out a letter from Dahlia that talked about how proud she was of Marigold, and how all the adventures we\'d been on had been great publicity for the kingdom. How Marigold had \'selflessly\' stepped in front of blows meant for a number of strangers and how she\'d managed to protect so many innocent people. 

"At some point during this whole thing Marigold started crying… and just… the haunted look on her face when we were done. Honestly it made us think we might\'ve gone just a tad too far when it came to that punishment… but Vanya put her foot down. \'I put up with injuring you horrifically for your enjoyment. The least you can do is take into account my feelings sometimes. Sure we\'re not really dating, but god that doesn\'t mean I want you to die, certainly not before I do. We\'re elves for crying out loud. If you don\'t make it to 100 for some stupid reason I will rip your soul from the afterlife and then resurrect you as a plush toy to keep save till the end of time\' which… I mean, that\'s a thing I guess," 

"Are you sure they\'re not dating?" asked Lily. Again. 

Burnice looked over at Marigold and Vanya who both seemed rather pleased with themselves right now. "Honestly Lily? The more I think about it, the more certain I am that the only two people who think they\'re not dating are each other. It might even be true in their heads… but I also bet that one day Dahlia and Vanya\'s parents are going to get together and sort out a wedding ceremony for the two of them. Their attendance will be mandatory,"

"Yeah…" Lily said slowly taking her own glance at the pair. "Vanya seems to actually understand Marigold… which is a big deal. I guess neither of them a quite ready to admit what that means though. I can\'t imagine being with anyone who isn\'t Kat so… I guess I don\'t really understand the idea of denying it. I mean… I was scared sure…

"But if someone else said it to me, and Kat didn\'t deny it, I wouldn\'t either, I was just afraid of rejection. Those two… yeah I don\'t have any good words for whatever those two think of as a good idea. I\'m honestly surprised they both agree that they\'re not dating instead of just one of them… but whatever. I guess Marigold likes variety in her beatings… but she clearly comes back to Vanya every time," 

Mint tilted her head to the side, "Are you all not being a bit silly? While it does sound like they care for each other, it sounds more like they\'re best friends then future spouses," 

"I mean… they have sex a bunch as well, that doesn\'t sound \'friendly\' to me," said Lily. "Or… it might be \'too friendly\' for just friends," 

Mint shrugged, "If you say so," 

Kat rolled her eyes and asked, "So how long did it take for Marigold to recover from that punishment?" 

Burnice thought about the question for a few seconds before answering, "I suppose it depends what exactly you mean by… recover. Obviously there was no physical damage done to Marigold so as soon as we released her one could argue she was fine. The restraints didn\'t do any damage at all!

"But just as obviously this was more of a mental punishment. I know Marigold was scrubbing at her arms for like a week afterwards, as if she was still trying to wash away the kind words. She would watch us all warily for the first few days… oh and for about a month afterwards if someone nearby complimented anyone, not just Marigold she\'d like, jump and freeze up, while eying everyone around her warily as if she was about to be barraged with compliments again. 

"Vanya did keep a list of compliments on her for a while afterwards… in fact she might even still have it because I don\'t remember her getting rid of it… but I can\'t be sure about that, it\'s not like I\'m watching Vanya all the time. So it could\'ve just gotten dumped at some point, or Marigold could\'ve snuck it into the garbage one night. I could see plenty of different things happening to that paper. 

"Anyway, if Marigold started to plan something stupid Vanya would just carefully start to unfold this small piece of paper from one of her pockets and most times Marigold would quickly abort the plan and promise not to go through with it. A few times she made, and won, the argument of getting to do it anyway but those attempts were quite rare and sometimes unsuccessful."

Mint nodded, with her face set into the most serious look she could manage as she said, "Ah yes, process wood. Truly paper is a thing to be feared." Of course, Mint\'s face cracked pretty quickly after those words were out of her mouth and everyone nearby was laughing.