#‘it’s okay. I’ll keep your secret that you might actually like Snafu’

[gingerwerk]

Can’t believe I never wrote a bit in the flowers and tattoos au about the squad going out on Veterans Day with the intention of getting every free meal that the city of Boston could offer

In my heart I just Know it would’ve been a very special bonding moment for bill and snaf because they are such shameless cheapskates and would accidentally end up spending the whole day together/competing to see who can get more free shit

[lamialamia]

Hi there! Secret Santa back with a second message for you.

First of all, thank you for your answers last time, they have been very helpful! I’m still in the process of outlining your fic (I randomly got a shit ton of new ideas and have spent this morning organizing them into a semblance of coherence). It’s been so fun to build this world for you. I thought it would be a struggle since it’s not territory I’ve explored before, but it’s actually been a relief with how fresh it feels to try something new!

That being said, I have a few more questions before I dive into actually full-on writing :)

1. I did some completely normal and not at all weird stalking of your profile and saw your reblog of Sledgfu headcanons, one of which was your idea that Snafu nudges Sledge’s neck. Immediately that sparked something for me and I would love to include that hc in your gift, but I wanted to ask your permission first since it was your idea! It feels a bit too much like theft for me to just use it without checking first haha!!

2. Are you at all interested in receiving the work as a gift on Ao3 when it’s published (as in I actually dedicate it to you and gift it to you)? It’s totally okay if you don’t want a gift work and would just like the link, but I just thought I’d ask in case you want it to feel more like an actual present!

3. And finally, as I’m sure you can tell, I am like…incapable of shutting the fuck up. What I mean by this is that the outline for your gift is already 1.6k words of literal bullet points of underdeveloped ideas and dialogue, so the fully fleshed out and written fic might end up being a bit lengthy (though I intend to keep it as a oneshot). Is this something you’d like me to try to tone down on? I know not everyone is interested in reading something super long LMAO. Just let me know either way, I’ll do my best!

And that’s all the questions! :)

Also, this is just something amusing that happened during this process: my original summary for the fic was almost identical to one of yours, completely by accident. I’m so glad I went and checked out your writing before I ended up leaving it like that. That would’ve been so embarrassing lmao

P.S. Your header image makes me laugh every time I see it, love it!

P.P.S Your tags on my first ask made me so happy! :)

Sorry for bombarding you once again, and I look forward to hearing from you!!! 💞

Hey Secret Santa!!!! <3

I know that feelings when a fic idea gets out of hand, I have been there, I have done that. It's a blessing and a curse lolol

Ok, about your question:

1/ Yes. My hc is not a property but like dandelion seeds I blow into the wild. Anyone can catch it and blow it away. This metaphor is weird. Anyway, yes, pls use any headcanon on my blog as you wish.

2/ Yes. You can gift me the fic on Ao3 :D

3/ As long or as short as you want to write. I love long fic, I love short fic, I love medium fic. Because fanfic is a labor of love so any length is perfect <3 I mean, the fic I'm writing for my giftee is getting long too! but it's about the story and not the WC, ya know.

Thanks for everything <3 love ya

[lalainajanes]

Hi! idk if you're still taking prompts but can you do one where klaus and caroline are coworker's who are always getting into heated screaming matches during team meetings and everyone who works with them is just used to it, but the new girl is like wtf??? and then later finds out that they're actually married and don't hate each other?? thanks!! your writing gives me life

Obviously I could not resist fluff day! For Step Two of @klarolineshippersclub 12KCXmas event!

With Friends Like These

The office is deserted – its 7 PM on a Friday – so Caroline’sstartled by the sound she hears coming from the hall. It’s a staccato series oftaps. Heels, eating up the distance quickly, and she rolls her chair back,grabbing her phone from the corner of the desk just in case someone’s bleeding.

She’s about to go and see what’s happening, when Kat barrelsin. Her eyes are wide with what Caroline suspects is glee, her hair a wildwindblown mass of curls. Her jackets only half buttoned and she tosses asideher purse, rushing towards Caroline. “You will not believe what I just heard!”

Caroline lets herself be shaken, taking another confusedlook at Kat’s dishevelment. “Did you run from the bar? Thought you were goingto try to seduce the new guy.”

Katherine looks offended. “Try? Please. Mason’s a sure bet.He’ll keep until next week.”

“Wow,” Caroline drawls. “Something came up that’s kept youfrom guaranteed sex? Must be big.”

Katherine lets go of her, tossing her hair over her shoulderand letting out an irritated huff. “Yeah, yeah, mock me. We don’t all get to scheduleregular freaky married sex.”

It takes a fair amount of willpower not to tear her eyesaway and Caroline lifts her chin stubbornly. Katherine might know far too many details about her and Klaus’ sex life butthat was only because Caroline gets a little over share-y when tequila’sinvolved in a girl’s night out. Klaus is shameless enough not to care, evenwhen Kat’s comments get overly pointed. If anything, he leans into it, lets hishands linger and does his best to make Caroline blush. Caroline is working onbuilding up the same aplomb in the face of Kat’s suggestive smirks and taunts.

“You seem to do just fine in the freaky sex department,” shesnipes back.

Katherine grins, slow and very pleased with herself. “Ireally do.”

Caroline groans, walking over to the couch that lines onewall of her office. “I do not want to have this conversation with you.”

Her dry spell is hours away from ending and she’s really looking forward to it.

Klaus has been gone for ten days, dealing with inspectionsfor the new hotel the company is opening in London. Caroline’s team is busy puttingtogether room concepts so she hadn’t been able to justify taking the time awayto accompany him.

She likes phone sex as much as the next girl whose husbandhas a hot accent but it got old after a few days. She misses having a warm bodyto roll into at night; the way he wakes he scrapes his morning beard againsther shoulder when she grumbles about the alarm.

“Someone’s cranky!” Katherine sings. She circles Caroline’sdesk, helping herself to the bourbon that’s stashed in the lowest drawer. “Mynews might not help you.”

Oh joy.

Caroline slouches low, letting her legs flop ratherungracefully, “And yet, you rushed all the way back here to tell me about it?”

“It’s just too hilarious. I couldn’t not.”

Katherine’s sense of humor is a weird thing, an acquiredtaste, so Caroline braces herself. “Alright, hit me.”

“Uh uh. Let me set the scene.”

“And people say I’m dramatic.”

Kat ignores the complaint, lifting the bottle high. “There Iam, in the ladies room…”

“Taking off your panties so you could stuff them in Mason’spocket?”

“Please. Like you’ve never used that move.”

Caroline could honestly say she hadn’t (Klaus likes toremove her lingerie himself) but Katherine’s already continuing her tale. Sheperches on the edge of Caroline’s desk, wiggling in an effort to getcomfortable.

So it’s not going to be a short story. Caroline presses herlips together, holding in a sigh, glancing at the clock. She’s supposed to grabKlaus from the airport at eleven and she’d planned go home and change intosomething easier to remove beforehand. Hopefully Katherine can resist the urgeto embellish too extensively.

“I’m minding my own business, about to flush, when I hear afamiliar name.”

“Yours?”

“Nope, yours. Preceded and followed by some very colorfuldescriptors.” She pauses expectantly, eagerly watching for Caroline’s reaction.

Only to be disappointed when Caroline shrugs, emitting onlya dismissive, “Somehow I’ll survive.” The last time she’d really been overlyconcerned with other people liking her she’d owned pom poms.

Katherine, however, isn’t finished.

“Really? Even when I tell you that our little bathroomgossiper had very complimentary things to say about your hubs?”

Her hands curl into the couch’s cushions, a teeny flare ofjealousy flaring bright.

She’s an only child and she gets a little possessive, okay?Klaus is into it. He’s also no stranger to getting growly and shooting murdereyes and staking a claim and, since he’s got a bajillion siblings, he doesn’t evenhave the same justification for being bad at sharing.

Those incidents usually result in an immediate need forprivacy (or the reasonable facsimile found behind a locked office door or thebackseat of a car). The next day they’ll sleep in, there will be hickies on herthighs and scratches on his back, and they’ll eat dessert for breakfast.

Honestly, Caroline kind of loves that particular ritual,knows very well that Klaus does too.

“Not everyone thinks Klaus is awful,” Caroline points out.

“Because most people are dumb and lack my excellent taste.”

Caroline eyes the bottle, seriously considering chugging abit and just calling a cab when it’s time to collect Klaus. She really doesn’twant to be drunk for their reunion but, if Kat doesn’t hurry up and get to apoint, it might be her best option. “I love you so I’m going to ignore the factthat you kinda just called me dumb.”

Katherine scoffs, “You’re not dumb, just dickmatized.”

It’s probably a good thing she’s not drinking because shewould have choked. Caroline’s laugh sputters out, grows in volume, and she hasto cover her mouth when it becomes hard to control herself. Her eyes water alittle as she finally manages to stop giggling, “Yeah, I’m totally tellingKlaus that you said that. He’ll take it as a compliment.”

“Literally the only nice thing I’ll ever say about him isthat you’re far more bearable and less uptight than you used to be. I creditthe regular orgasms.”

She and Katherine had been hired at about the same time and,in the beginning, hadn’t gotten along overly well. Kat now headed The MikaelsonGroup’s marketing team, was a wizard at luring in celebs and influencers andmaking their hotels a coveted destination. Caroline had worked her way up torun a design team. It’s how she’d met Klaus (and they’d butted heads too in theearly days) coordinating with him and his architect minions.

“I, too, am a big fan,” Caroline admits. “Though, honestly,you should really give cuddling a try. Totally relaxing.”

“Ew, pass.”

It’s an argument they’ve had before.

“Anyway,” Katherine says, so loudly that Carolineinstinctively glances towards the door. “Back to my story. Greta Martin thinksyou should stop being a total bitch to Klaus in meetings. Oh, and she’s alsoplanning on banging him.”

Caroline sits up, now outraged. “I am not…”

Katherine cuts her off, “You have been a little snippy thisweek.”

Only because Klaus has been baiting her.

“That’s just how we are. He pokes, I prod. He’s annoyinglysmug, all ‘oh, aren’t I the cleverest?’ and I like to knock him down.”

“Verbal foreplay is your thing,” Katherine says, adding aknowing nod.

She throws her hands up, collapsing back again. “Exactly! Mymarriage is freaking great and if that…”

Again, she doesn’t get to work up to a proper rant. Superannoying.

“That’s the best part!” Katherine crows. “She has no ideayou and Klaus are married! Talk about dumb people.”

Well, that’s mollifying. Slightly. Caroline will just haveto make things clear. Plans begin to form. She discards the racier ones (unlessGreta proves to be unwilling to take a hint). She twists her wedding bandabsently, “How has she not noted the rings?”

“Forget the rings. How she hasn’t noted Klaus’ doofybesotted face whenever you walk into a room is the bigger issue. Maybe sheneeds glasses?”

Maybe Caroline will get her assistant to shoot Greta anemail detailing the company’s excellent insurance coverage on Monday.

She hears the bottle clink and she shakes off her mentallists, shooting Katherine a glare. “You know, it would have been easy for youto clear up her misconceptions in that bathroom.”

Kat’s brows rise and she shoots Caroline a look like she’ssaid something totally insane. “And deprive myself of prime workplace drama?Please. You know how bored I get on Wednesdays when I have to sit in those dumblegal meetings.”

Caroline’s displeasure must read on her face because Kattosses her a bright smile, leaning forward and offering the bottle. Her toneturns placating, “Oh, relax, Cupcake. It’s harmless. You’ll probably forget allabout this little snafu over the weekend.”

Caroline’s does have big plans.

“Maybe,” she allows grudgingly. She stands, straighteningher pencil skirt. “Speaking of, I should go home and make myself pretty.”

“You’re going to do that gross airport make out thing, aren’tyou?”

Caroline smiles, not trying to hide the slightly mockingedge to it. “Usually, yeah. But Elijah’s not a guy who tolerates a scene.”

She relishes the freezing of Katherine’s body, the wideningof her dark eyes. Her hand flexes, looking for the bottle that had recentlybeen clutched there.

Caroline withholds it, setting it down and out of reach.

She’s not entirely sure what had gone down at the Christmasparty last year (Katherine was way better at keeping secrets no matter how muchliquor was applied) but she knows Kat’s red lip had been rubbed off and Elijah’svest had been buttoned incorrectly when she and Klaus had met the odd couple atthe elevator bank.

Kat had twitched a little at the mention of Elijah’s nameever since.

She adopts her sweetest expression, “Maybe the legalmeetings will be more exciting when Elijah’s leading them in person, hmm?”

Katherine’s mouth opens. Closes. She wiggles her toes to gether heels back in place before hopping off the desk. “I need to…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, stalking out of the office.Caroline watches her go, both satisfied and bursting with curiosity. A speechlessKatherine Pierce? Caroline never thought she’d see the day.

She makes a mental note to tell Klaus, to wheedle until heagrees to pump Elijah for info. She didn’t often get bored at work, not whenshe could just pop into Klaus’ office and poke around in his projects. But hehad another trip on his calendar next month.

She won’t turn down a little in office entertainment whilehe’s gone.

[phoenixfire-thewizardgoddess]

TF2 Scout Headcanon(s)/Story:

...you know, it strikes me that, in all the fanfic from TF2 I've ever read... none of them explicitly state Scout takes his headset off when he and whoever he's paired with at the time say either cute things or get freaky. At some point, in some string of the multiverse, at least one of his teammates has to have heard something they weren't supposed to.

Spy would never let him live it down. Engineer would try to rewire the headset to auto-shutoff (unless otherwise activated deliberately) after the match, and gives a half-hearted 'Talk' to him without making eye-contact. Sniper keeps making smug eye-contact, winking at the kid, because it's hilarious to him. Pyro... no one's sure what Pyro thinks. Maybe they pinch his cheeks and mumble something. Or they're so scandalised that Engie has to have a 'serious chat' with the scout about keeping things PG 13+ on the airways. Demoman is waiting with a bottle of something after he hears something (once he realises he didn't imagine it while drunk), delighted for 'the wee lad'. Against Medic's wishes/pointed glare, he hands it over and proclaims, "If he's old enough to be shaggin' about, he can have a drink!" to the Scout's eternal embarrassment. Heavy claps the kid on the shoulder, and says nothing. But Scout knows that the Russian knows, and acts weird about it for a week before realising Heavy doesn't care enough to tell the others. Medic hauls him off to 'talk' about the situation. Making Scout suffer through the entirety of The Talk (TM), one that covered every angle, and utilised banana-based demonstrations + talking about consent. Why? Well, Scout had made the older man suffer through a very uncomfortable few minutes (until he could yank out the earpiece, jammed in his ear) and gott im himmel, was he going to repay the kind in kind.

-   

Oh... I have one worse...Okay but like, the Scouts COLLIDE mid-battle and get the WRONG headsets. Couldn't happen, right? Wrong. Medics keep turning up to the wrong locations, and Engineers are putting dispensers in all the wrong places, Snipers are trying to pick off the targets they're being told to take out but they can't see 'em whatsoever, and Spies are confusedly watching the opposing Scouts shout about grabbing the intelligences when they clearly don't have it to hand. In short, it's a little bit of chaos.

But then, of course, they go back to their respective bases and partners/etc. And suddenly both teams are confused and incredibly awkward as they hear what sounds like their Scout with certain team members. Team members who, when subtly accosted later, have no idea what's going on. And then concerns are raised that the opposing Spies might be playing games with the Scout(s)... which sets off most of BLU team, because they all know who Scout's ding-dong-red-daddy is (Red Spy) and that makes it weird. But then Engineers try to call their Scouts in to talk to 'em about the situation... and they start to realise something's up when the youngest members can't find the Engineers. "I thought you said to come in the Kitchen?" says RED Scout, confusedly staring around the empty room. "That's right, so where are you?" responds the unknowing BLU Engie, leaning against the kitchen counter, arms folded. "Er, in the kitchen?" - "Yo Engie, thought you were in the basement?" crackles BLU Scout, looking about the empty room. "I am, son. Y'come in here and we can have a nice chat about something..." mumbles RED Engie, focused on the dispenser he's upgrading. "Er, yeah, I would if you were IN HERE!" he gets in response, making the builder pause. "You sure, I'm two feet from the door and I ain't no cloaked Spy..." "Sure I'm sure, buddy. I'm standing on your work bench and you ain't set a sentry on me yet... so ya clearly ain't here!" - BLU Engineer gives up and orders Scout to his workshop. Pausing at the doorway to realise there's a Scout in there already... talking to... someone, and standing atop his workbench. "Git offa there, ya brat!" he shouts, startling the BLU Scout into falling off. The Scout in his headpiece makes an offended  noise... as the one he's looking dead at shrieks, and falls off the table. Landing limbs akimbo, with someone shouting in his ear, demanding to know if the Scout's alright. The demand is followed by confused silence. BLU Scout staring at his Engineer, while the other kept talking. RED Engineer tries to step out of his workshop and finds himself slammed into by the RED Scout. Who rebounds into a doorway, and slams into the floor pretty damn hard. - Things are starting to piece together... the Engineers snag their appropriately coloured Scouts off the floor, and check them over. At least one of them might have a concussion from that little bout of activity. But both of them seem to have twigged that the Engineer they're looking at isn't the one talking to them. Headsets are appropriated. "Hello? This is RED's Engineer, who is this?" "Howdy, I'm BLU's Engineer... and I'm thinking that everything's making a lot more sense now." "I'll say! Although I'm not sure how in Sam Hill these two managed to switch their headsets without realising..." BLU Scout groans, smacking a hand to his forehead. "We fuckin' collided in the last battle, sent our shit sprawling everywhere..." He gets a light cuff about the ear from BLU Engie. "Language, son." Not learning from his duplicate's mistake, RED Scout adds his two cents. "Yeah, that freaking chucklehead nearly sent us both to respawn by BONK!ing it up before comin' round a corner at me. Nearly made off with m'fuckin' bat too, ya thieving bastard!" He gets a right old whack too; not hard, just reproving. "Hey, what gives? Ya taking his side over mine, Engie? He's a BLU?!" "No, Scout, I'm taking the side of common decency. Watch yer language, son." Replies REDEngineer. "Yeah, yeah, fine." Sulks the Scout. - "Well now, it ain't hard to see how this snafu came about considerin' your Scout and mine are so damn similar." adds BLU Engineer in the silence, having heard it all through the headpiece. "Downright spooky that none'a us even realised we'd switched Scouts..." confirmed RED Engineer. Throwing an apologetic at his Scout, who looked torn between anger and betrayal at the revelation. "To be fair, son, you two sound mighty close to identical, especially when y'throw in the battle noises and such." Okay, both Engineers were getting hurt, yet petulant, expressions. "Aw don't be like that, son..." BLU tried. Immediately seeing he wasn't going to get anywhere with that line of interaction. "Now, I'm mighty sorry we hurt'ya feelings, but the whole reason I was so insistent about talking ta Scout was because..." He dropped off. RED Engineer's expression was downright priceless. "I don't suppose ya overheard something... ya weren't supposed to, involving Scout here?" "Actually, yes. Me'n the rest of the team were worried he might've been, er, tricked by the opposing Spy somehow when we heard... a kerfuffle of sorts, over the headsets -and son, ya need to turn'em off after battle, I can;t stress that enough. Except the other class involved wasn't actually 'involved' if y'get my meaning. I was looking at the person we heard what we thought was our Scout, making a fuss over... so it couldn'ta been them." BLU extrapolated. "Oh, an' if I might ask, who was it?" RED grinned, taking in the horrified expression of his Scout. Who had not caught on that both Engineers, and indeed, their entire teams, had at least a vague idea who they were not-so-sneakretly seeing. "Now RED, I ain't one to go around telling others' secrets... but you might not want to know that the restraints in the- " and here it cut out because RED Scout had grabbed the headset and was shouting over him about nothing in particular. RED Engineer's expression was priceless as he let the Scout calm down, and took back the headset. "I was kidding, son... you 'n him are fine in mah book. Don't worry about it. To be honest, I'm more concerned about BLU Scout and-..." And then it was his turn to hear a verbal barrage, even though he managed to get the Class name across anyway, shrugging. "Everyone knows already, boys, no one minds. At least, I think they're more relieved y'weren't fooled by the Spies, t'be perfectly honest. Specially since Red Spy is ya fath-..." "DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" BLU Scout shouts, and it sounds like a scuffle on the other end as RED team waits. When it dies down, a winded BLU Engineer comes back over the channel. "The more pressing question is how t'get the headsets back to their rightful Scouts without Her Upstairs finding out..." "Can we just pull off the slam-into-each-otha thing from yesta-day?" BLU Scout pants. "Nah, think the ol' witch'll be suspicious of that. Once is'n accident, twice without killin' each otha is a pattern." RED Scout responds. RED Engineer fights down the urge to correct his english. "Alright, then what about we get the Spies to do a straight-up, cloaked swap of the things?" "...and tell frenchie th' whole story? Are ya freakin' insane, Engie?!"  Shouts RED Scout, arms flailing, not quite in the right direction. Maybe he should take the kid to see the Doc... or uh, not, considering... He clears his throat. "Now boy, we ain't got a lotta time to right this. She'll know if we don't get it fixed by morning, in fact I think She already has a good idea what's happenin' and is waitin' ta see what we're gonna do ta fix it. So if we gotta get the spies involved, that's what'll happen." "Awww man, but... fine." RED Scout gives in, huffing like a toddler on the brink of a tantrum. He's not as stupid as some on the teams think he is, and knows full well both Spies will (mad) milk this event for all it's worth. "Then it's settled." BLU Engineer says, relaxing. "Spah, my BLU and your RED, will have ta do the exchange..." "Oh no we will not be doing ze exchange!" cries the furious RED Spy decloaking behind his two teammates. RED Scout startles into a fight pose, and Engineer holds up a wrench automatically before relaxing. "Don't be that way, Spah..." sighs the builder. "Non, give me ze headset. It has caused enough trouble so far, and I would have a word with... the BLUs involved." It is handed over with some reluctance. Before the Spy can say anything, the BLU Scout's drawl comes through. Sounding very much like he would rather be bludgeoned to death before uttering the words. "Okay, fine. But Dad, d'ya know what might happen ta us if the Admin lady finds out we not only fucked up, but we were also fucking-..." "Oui." The words cuts the kid off pretty fast. "I am aware of who else you call 'Daddy' around zis compound, and I assure you, we will be talking about zis in depth soon enough." BLU Scout chokes off a strange sound, and goes quiet. RED Scout is laughing fairly hard in the background until BLU Engineer crackles through the open headset... "Ah, son, I'd be keeping my mouth shut, considering th' things ah heard you saying to-..." "DON'T SAY IT!" "...if y'can keep quiet, so can I." teases the BLU Engineer, as the RED one looks on the Scout in bemusement -the kid's face as scarlet as his shirt. "Oh, zis is truly 'ilarious." snorts the probably-should-have-been-expected voice of the BLU Spy. "Oh, our Spah's with us too, now. I'm giving him the headset and draggin' Scout here off t'see the Doc. Took a right nasty tumble off m'work bench, and I don't think he's seein' straight..."  BLU Engineer says, excusing the two of them as the Spy gets the headset. "Well thanks fer all'a your help with this. Mighty decent of ya, considerin'..." RED Engineer says, loud enough to be heard through the line. He turns to their Spy, "Will you be right with this? I think I'm gonna take the kid t'see the Medic too... haven't seen someone eat doorway that hard since the last time Demo got Pyro wasted." "Oui." says the masked man, dismissing the pair with a hand. "It seems once again we are forced to fix mistakes made by... lesser teammates." The BLU Spy says something in french through the line, and RED laughs. Engineer rolls his eyes, grabbing his Scout. "C'mon kid, let'em have their fun f'now. Let's get your head checked out..." "Aw, Engie, d'we have ta? Doc'll probably cut me open li-..." the complaining tailed off the further down the hall they traversed. - Alone in the room, the spies made brief plans to meet, unarmed (hon hon hon, yeah right), and exchange headsets. As if nothing had happened, at all. - And it works. Except now the opposing teams know FAR too much about the opposing Scouts and their er... class preferences. They'll never hear the end of it. But at least the dragon-lady admin didn't cotton on, right? Besides, most of the teams were okay with the wole thing... and despite some new-found respect for various members, they went back to killing each other the next day. That was all that mattered, right? RED vs BLU? Downtime was for any activity you wanted... even if it meant you had say, awkward conversations with your dad about ya relationship... or even, were unable t'look ya teammates in the eyes for a few days because'a the new taunts the opposing team were using against ya (mostly the Scouts' own words, to make it worse). At least the others involved were pretty okay with it, even if their own teams ribbed them about it for a week or so. The engineers worked together, with special dispensation from the Administrator, to make adaptations to the headsets. Only active on the field, during battle... but with a toggle for emergency activation if certain fleet-footed idiots maybe fell off a cliff during a pre-match jog outside'a base or something. The last part was a surprise. Authorisation to collaborate? Unheard of! But, not one to look a gift-horse in the mouth, they did it anyway. And never again did the Scouts lose their headsets, or give away far too much information about themselves to either team. - In her underground hideout, the Administrator was smoking, trying to relax. Her expression still caught in some degree of disgust over the whole affair. "Miss Pauling..." she called, and the purple-clad young woman startled beside her chair. "Yes, you. Goodness knows there's no one else here..." She huffs, realising on some level she was being unfair. And tries again. "Miss Pauling,  I need you to double-check the Engineers' schematics and find a subtle way of getting the Scouts to test the limitations of their new headsets... one that does not require your... charms." She smirks. "I do not feel they will work anymore on those two." "U-uh, anything you say, Administrator." Miss P nods, acquiescing immediately. She turns to leave, and frowns. "Is there... any particular reason for thi-...?" "Hmph. You have grown insolent, child. Why, a month ago you would not have dared to pause when given a task... and now you backtalk?" Miss Pauling freezes, assuming this is the moment when her replacement will kick down the door and put a bullet between her eyes. Before, presumably, hacking up the remains to bury in the desert somewhere... as she had done to other employees and problematic persons... But instead, the tense air is filled with a  wry, hacking laughter. Cigarette smoke wafting around the dimly-lit room like a fog. "Oh, you are a delight sometimes, Miss Pauling. I will make a woman of you yet, but it is suffice to say, that I wish to be certain there is never a repeat of this incident. The fools may not realise that their headset channels are filtered through my base of operations, but I do not ever want to have another evening ruined by a repeat performance based upon the Scouts' proclivities towards certain classes. Do you understand?" She nods in response, knowing that even with her back to Miss P, the Administrator had seen it. The older woman waves a dismissive hand. "Then GO, and let us never speak about this again, unless we need to blackmail the pair." "Yes, Administrator." She breathes and leaves the room. For some reason, Miss Pauling can't fight the grin on her face as she heads towards the external entrance. Not only did the entire situation resolve, but the Administrator had allowed team fraternisation to continue. Which simultaneously got both Scouts off her back, and proved beyond a doubt that the Administrator wouldn't give a damn about Miss Pauling's girlfriend, as long as the purple-clad young woman continued to perform her role. It was turning out alright.