what tangled webs we weave

Deadline fast approaching with little to no progress made, Amelia is forced to make an impossible decision, against all her morals and all that she holds dear: begging Guinevere for help. (human au)

• what can i say? i really like imagining characters having the same hobbies and neuroses as me

"Ginnnnnny, can you make a magic ring for meeee?" came Amelia's whiny voice over the phone. "Also, could I borrow some yarn? And maybe a hook?"

"Want me to make the blasted thing for you, as well?" Guinevere mumbled, sitting up and setting her book on her bedside table. Looks like she won't be finishing it tonight, after all…

"Would you?! That'd be--" she started excitedly, then paused. "Er, no, I'd better do it myself… Could you help me, though, pretty please with a cherry on top? It's, like, so important that I get this done, but I just don't understand what's going on and everything's a horrible knot and I'm just about ready to walk into incoming traffic and I don't know what to doooo~"

"Fine," Guinevere finally said with a sigh, holding her phone against her shoulder and tied back her hair. "Bring your pattern and I'll see what I can do. When should I expect you, fifteen or twenty minutes?" Maybe she could get some quick tidying done, at least, before--

Just then, there was a knock at the front door, followed by Amelia bursting in. "Hey! I brought some of those nasty pastry-things you like, also!" her voice called out, only slightly muffled by the wall. "You really should lock your doors, by the way! You never know what kind of crazies could be coming by, y'know?"

🧶︎

"Hey, are you listening?" Guinevere asked, waving her crochet hook in Amelia's face. "This is going to be on the test!"

Amelia groaned. "Why's there always gotta be a test with you?"

"What a ridiculous question! How else are you supposed to learn?" she scoffed. "Anyway, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted, once you have your slipknot in place and have chained twenty, go in and do a row of double crochet, like this: insert, yarn over and pull through, then yarn over and pull through again," she said, first demonstrating slowly before blazing through the rest of the row without a second thought. "Simple as that, yes?"

Amelia stared warily at Guinevere's apparently magical fingers for a few seconds, then tried to make a few chains of her own, the first wobbly, twisted steps of a newborn deer. "Ugh, this is gonna take foreverrr," she whined. "Why do I have to do this, anyway? The pattern I was looking at just called for 'single crochets,' not 'double crochets.' Can't I just jump ahead to thaah~t?"

Guinevere blinked. "Oh. I suppose that is what you say in the US, innit? I knew you said something weird and wrong, but hadn't the foggiest what it was."

"Huh, the UK has its own terms?"

"Moreover," Guinevere continued as if she hadn't heard the other woman, "you can't expect to jump into a project all nilly willy! We have so many more stitches and their associated cultural histories to cover before we get into anything like that. Finished the first row yet? Well, let's take a look, then, shall we?" she said, peering over at Amelia's work. "Hmm, yes… See, your tension's all over the place. Frog it and start again."

"Waah, I don't care about any of that, I just want a little Shroomish!" Amelia groaned, but did as she was told all the same.

🧶︎

Guinevere smiled a bit into her cup as she took a sip of tea. "I must say, I am rather surprised you haven't stormed out yet like you usually do. Perhaps my lessons in humility have finally gotten through to you," she commented. Then she looked up to see Amelia making the absolute ugliest gauge swatch she had ever seen, truly fighting for her life with each painstaking, dodgy stitch… but with such a fire in her eyes as she did so. Guinevere didn't know what to make of it. "So, what's this all about, anyway?" she asked, softly.

Amelia jumped, as if just getting out of a trance and blinked a few times before looking away, bashful. "Ah, well, Sakura's birthday is coming up, y'know? And since she's always making such cool stuff for me, I thought it would be nice to return the favor…" she trailed off, glancing down at the lopsided monstrosity in her lap and bit her lip. "But maybe this wasn't a good idea, after all," she said with a sad smile. "I should've known… I'll never be able to make something worthy enough for her. I should've give up while I was ahead and just bought something..."

Guinevere felt her heart rip in two. Right good job you've done, now, Ginny, she thought. You've gone in too hard and broken the poor bird's spirit. "No, your heart's in the right place," she said, hoping she didn't sound as awkward as she felt. Sentimental things like this didn't come easily to her... She half wondered if she should call Marianne, but finally managed to find some words to string together: "Like any other skill, you get better at as you work at it. No pain, no gain, yes?" Amelia's watery eyes flitted up to meet hers; she took this as a sign to continue, voice more stern now: "Besides, I didn't raise a quitter now, did I?"

"No sir, I mean ma'am," she said, a slight sniffle still in her voice but otherwise regaining her typical silly grin.

"That's right, soldier! And Sakura deserves something nice for dealing with such a complete Muppet like yourself day in and day out, doesn't she?!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Right! Now cut your yarn and give me twenty!"

Amelia stopped and gave Guinevere a look. "…Twenty push-ups?"

"Twenty chain stitches," she clarified.

Amelia mocked a salute: "Aye, aye, cap'n!" and got to work.