A large deer skull masked figure, dressed fine 1640-60s garments with slashed sleeves, ribbons, and cape, crouches before a young woman with pearls in her hair that match her fair dress. Blood pours out of the large figure's chest. Their dripping heart is delicately held in their ringed, cupped hands... offering to the woman. The caption along the bottom reads: Take it, please...I do not want it anymore.
I wanted to love her, I truly did, for I cared for her so much but her love was too much for me. I treasured the time we spent together greatly, but I did not know how to match the affection she gave so easily to me. I did not know the mask I wore would attract such affec-tion. I did not know its smile would be perceived flirta-tious.
When the realization hit me, I wanted to run and
hide.
She deserves someone who could match her affec-tions. And that sadly could never be me. My smiling mask did not help me in my efforts to dissuade her from pursuing my affection. So, I told her to meet me in the garden, that I had something special to gift her.
She greeted me with a sweet smile and held out her hands ready to receive her gift. "I know this is what you want and I want you to have it," I told her. Then I dug my hands deep within my chest and offered her my heart. "Take it, please... I don't want it anymore. I know it's what you want, and with you, it will be safe so please... take it from me."
I thought I could go on without a heart, that was why I encouraged her to take my gift-despite her wary hands.
But I assured her all would be well, letting the lump of muscle and flesh rest heavy on her hands. Gifting my mind to someone who admired my intellect resulted in no issues, so of course I thought giving away my heart would be more or less the same.
If only I knew how wrong I was.
Without a head or heart to guide my actions, my body became aimless. My sense of self was lost. Soon I was a lumbering thing with flesh that began to stretch with a great yearning for what was missing. And that was how she found me.
From an ornate glass jar, she procured the still-beating thing and held it aloft. Instantly, my body stilled and my flesh leaned with intrigued. Through tears, she sniffed. " I kept it safe as promised, and I truly appreciate the sentiment of this gift, but it was never mine to take so...
Please, take it back... You need it far more than I."
digital illustration bathed in warm hues of orange, red, and ochre greens of two figures framed in delight border. The smallest figure dressed in a 16th century shirt and doublet holds a large dripping heart up to the larger who is crouched on their hands and knees, trying to hold back the tentacles bursting through the torn linen of his shirt from a his chest under a wide-sleeved doublet. More tentacles twist and arch from where a head would be above a mane of long wavy hair. Text at the bottom reads: Please, take it back...you need it for more than I.
didn't have the energy to draw Valentine this year, so here's the first and last pieces him with some accompanying writing for all the aromantics 💚💐✨
