#I’m still not sure if they’d actually managed to sneak it into the official documentation system

[hyperpsychomaniac]

Gerda: I was so excited about being made captain I stayed up last night and wrote three new procedures! *dumps stack of printouts on desk*

Deputy: That… isn’t your job anymore? Wait, why do we need a ‘cake policy’?

Gerda: Because some people think it’s acceptable to announce they have brought cake, but then you go into the kitchen and it is nothing but a single muffin! Yes, I’m looking at you, Hodges. No, it does not count if it has icing and now that is official!

[thenovelartist]

Childhood Friends Headcanon -MLQC

I’m sorry to all the people who come to my blog for ML only to get bombarded by posts for MLQC. But I’m enjoying myself.

Premise: What if the boys and MC actually stayed together once they met?

(Note: Minor spoilers for chapters 7-13, particularly surrounding boys backstories.)

Gavin

He’ll never forget that day in the rain meeting MC.

She knew about him—his reputation preceded him—and it was clear she was leery of him.

But with a little time, she came around.

So much so that she was sad that he graduated before her.

He was kinda sad, too, to be honest. He didn’t want to leave her.

But they never lost touch. Made sure to meet up as frequently as they could.

He didn’t attend his high school graduation—he both didn’t care and thought the everyone else would appreciate him not being present—but she did watch him with pride as he graduated his cop training program.

He almost cried over the fact that he actually had someone there to support him. He didn’t have familial support, but that didn’t really matter anymore when he had his own personal cheerleader.

He surprised her by showing up at her high school graduation.

Not really a “Surprise” but she was still wildly excited to see him, nonetheless.

Though they didn’t get to see each other often—Gavin busy with his demanding job and MC busy with college—they were instantly contacting the other when they had a moment of free time.

Gavin totally tried to coordinate his days off with hers.

They were that couple that claimed they were just friends but looked to the world like they were dating while also each wishing they were actually dating but both being too chicken to confess.

But Gavin finally gets the guts one day.

No surprise MC quickly followed up with a confession of her own.

How do you date?

They’d been so close and doing couple-y things for so long. Like, what was even a date compared to what they normally did?

They decided to do something they wouldn’t normally do and have a nice, truly ‘couple-y’ dinner.

Then they chuckled all the way home because that really wasn’t their style.

Still enjoyed it.

Gavin took her home, dropping her off at her door… and totally chickened out of kissing her goodnight.

They try the “date” thing again. This time, something more casual.

And that time, it did end with a kiss.

Gavin’s little mind went “boom”.

Already positive he’s gonna marry this girl.

Waits a little longer to propose, though. Just to make it seem like he’s not rushing it.

Courthouse wedding a few months later. Her father witnesses.

Then when her father passes shortly after, leaving her with the company, she’s constantly having to ask her coworkers for new copies of documents because she’s not used to signing her new last name quite yet. Especially when everyone still calls her by her maiden name. Or sometimes addresses her like they would her late father. (It’s a change for everyone.)

She’s got it down in a couple of days and likes her new signature better than her old one.

After marriage, Gavin also has a problem of his own. Particularly with the ring on his hand.

It’s his new nervous tick to play with it when he’s stressed on a scouting mission. And when he has to take it off for an undercover one, he’s a mess without it on.

Feels like he’s being unfaithful to the love of his life. MC has had to reassure him many times he’s not but secretly is touched that he feels that way.

These two have disastrous schedules, which is why when they both have time off they can spend together, phones go on silent. Someone can literally come to their house if it’s an emergency.

Kiro

They make it out of the lab together.

Poor kids were terrified out of their mind, each only five. They never let go of each other’s hands during their escape.

And they don’t want to be separated afterwards.

These two kids are each other’s “emotional support person.”

Literally inseparable.

These kids’ guardians bend over backwards to accommodate them. MC has a killer set of puppy dog eyes, but Kiro’s pout is downright impossible to resist.

They end up in the same classes at school.

Play together on the playground at recess and spend lunches together.

They are the “class couple.” And do get teased for it.

They’re told to ignore it, but it still takes a toll on them.

Eventually, Kiro steps out of school to become home-schooled, thanks to his music career.

Oh, these two kids do not know how to handle themselves.

But they are growing up and they can be apart from each other, right?

Right?

Wrong.

They survive not being in class together, but the moment they’re each out of school, they are attached to their phones, texting or calling each other.

Get together to hang out as much as humanly possible.

Kiro has 1000% both snuck off sets to go see MC and snuck MC onto sets to have her around.

MC has also enabled Kiro’s snacking by sneaking him anything he desires.

Usually it’s chips. She’s his chip dealer. Which only leads to the nickname “Miss Chips”.

They were so close that this mutual crush thing was absolutely unavoidable and unsurprising to most people who watched them.

They were fifteen and each exploring their feelings for each other and what dating was like.

And by sixteen, these two were totally making out in closets.

Savin just deals. As long as it doesn’t get out to the public, he’s fine with it. They’re generally discrete, anyway.

Though, the poor guy has had to hunt Kiro’s hiding spot down more than once. Generally, he scopes out the building beforehand so he knows where to find Kiro and MC if the superstar disappears from set.

Kiro would totally get her a promise ring. “I can’t officially propose now, but… I don’t think I’m going to be letting my Miss Chips go anytime in the future.”

She’s in tears.

Kiro’s already planned out proposing to her as soon as they are eighteen and has scoped out the perfect wedding venue.

Though, Savin now has to do everything in his power to keep the whole thing under wraps. He thinks it’s best the public doesn’t know Kiro’s getting married so young. They’ll slowly break it later.

MC travels with him everywhere, attending school online for convenience sake.

But when her dad passes and she has to take over the company, Kiro does his best to settle down more in Loveland to be by her side and support her more.

He fights to film exclusively at her company.

They totally have a closet that they make out in there, too. One MC has the sole key to.

Victor

He doesn’t loose track of her during their escape from that hellhole disguised as a “lab”.

She saves him, and he manages to carry her to safety.

Refuses to be separated from her after that.

Victor soon becomes like her over-protective big brother.

If he’s with her, he’s got his eye on her. And he’s with her a lot.

He’s so soft with her. Yes, there’s name calling on occasion, but he’s always met with a giggle when he calls her ‘dummy.’

He doesn’t really mean it, anyways.

Totally helps her with her homework.

And she always helps him in the kitchen. Rather, she tries and just ends up being the dishwasher after an incident with the fire alarm.

But she’s just happy if pudding is involved.

And though Victor swears he’s not going to make pudding every single night… there’s pudding more nights than not.

She goes to all his graduations; high school and college.

And he’s there supporting her at hers, looking on like the proud big brother his is.

“Good job, dummy.”

He totally teaches her how to write reports and such. Makes her do them and redo them until up to his standards.

“If you can impress me, you’ll win over anyone in the business world.”

Also teaches her all the ins and outs about running a business and how to thrive in the business world.

She’s always ready to take advice he offers.

Everyone in LFG knows that unless Victor actually is in an important meeting, MC is allowed in his office any time.

Has always seen her as his little sister.

Until she takes over her father’s company.

Suddenly, there’s a warmth in his chest as he watches her handle everything with ease.

It no longer feels like he’s watching over his little sister but rather watching a strong, capable woman handle the high-intensity job of running a company with confidence and poise.

… okay, poise was too generous a word. But his point still stood.

Suddenly, he notices she’s actually on his schedule. And their meeting takes place with none of the familiarity that they’ve become accustomed to.

He won’t coddle her as the business owner. She assures him she expects that from him.

And when she leaves his office, Victor finds himself a little bit of a mess.

They slowly lose their brother/sister mentality and grow into business partners that are close enough to have dinner a couple times a week.

“Question,’ he asks her one night. “Can these be considered ‘dates’ or not?”

She drops her fork in surprise.

They date for a several months before Victor proposes. He wouldn’t have proposed so early to anyone else but MC has always been an exception.

They put the wedding together in eight months. It’s a good, large, proper wedding, and they honeymoon out of the country. Because of course they do. Victor wants to give MC the best and only the best.

Total power couple, and Victor takes pride in that.

Lucien

This tree, or their tree, as Lucien likes to refer to it as, holds a very special place in his heart.

It started off as his sanctuary, the spot where he came out to draw.

But then it became the place that he got to bond with the girl who saved him.

After his parents were killed, everything went downhill for him at a rapid pace.

But she…

“It’s going to be okay.”

He still remembers the warmth of her hands when she held his and the tightness of her hugs she engulfed him in.

This girl’s smile lit up his dark world.

She’s the sole reason he escaped the pull of Black Swan.

Being four years apart as they were put a little gap between them growing up.

People looked at them in disdain so often that Lucien constantly lied about her being his sister.

He didn’t like that kind of attention from people, though he also logically knew why they received it.

Though he did his best to act respectfully and appropriately, he couldn’t help but feel all fluttery around MC. Every single time she came around, he had a physical reaction to her proximity.

Did his best to always act the gentleman. The last thing he wanted was to make her uncomfortable.

For now, he focused on his studies, partly because he found them interesting, partly because he wanted to be the kind of man who could provide well for his family.

Because he had his heart set on making one with her.

It was irrational, if he thought of it logically, to be become romantically attached to someone simply because he was emotionally attached to. Yet he could not separate the pull of romantic notions from his emotional relationship to her.

He eventually surrendered his attempts at trying to separate the two and gave up entirely in his quest to understand it.

He was already on his track to a doctorate when she graduated high school. And suddenly, them both being adults made those four years that separated them growing up seem a little less of a hurdle.

That’s when he asked her out.

“I had to wait so long, but I think now’s finally an appropriate time.”

And that’s when she admitted she had feelings for him, too.

It warmed his cold little heart.

They did take things slowly.

But they were already discussing marriage by the time MC had to take over the company when her father suddenly passed.

Honestly, though it was a terrible tragedy, Lucien is glad he finally gets to return the favor of being there for her just as she was there for him all those years ago.

He also decides to hide the ring he’d bought in a drawer, only to open it again when things were stable.

Well… relatively. The life of a media company manager is never fully stable. Mostly, Lucien just got tired of waiting.

He takes her back to their tree to propose.

They get married there, too.

[theflashdriver]

The Gift of Roses (Silvaze Valentine’s Day, 2019)

As flowers went, Blaze had never much cared for roses. There was a furore surrounding them she could liken to no other flower; from each of their colours having their own meanings to the way their thorns supposedly made them a dangerous beauty. So commonly named in songs and so often painted, other flowers might as well not have existed. Even outside their place in the public consciousness roses had to be the most common plant in the royal gardens. At a glance this was obvious; there was row upon row of rosebushes she knew to be older than her. Around a third of the grounds were home to rose varieties, far too much of it in her mind.

So why was a bouquet, wrapped in teal light and hovering just beyond her reach, conjuring such a palpable reaction? 

The feline felt her face glow, her tail refused to lie still and she surely hadn't blinked since she'd eyed those flower. Blaze had awoken that fourteenth of February, slid out of bed, got dressed and opened her curtains, only to find a bundle of flowers suspended before her. Deep red roses with thorny green stems; bound by a crimson ribbon that'd clearly torn once or twice on said spikes. Had he bought them, found them or… had he cut them from the garden, why didn't that matter to her right now? Hands pressed to the window she scanned from the sky to the cobbles but his frame was nowhere to be seen, nor was his unmistakable light.

Mind catching up with body Blaze opened her window and leaned out; still, there was no sight of the hedgehog but, plucking the bouquet from the air, Blaze noticed a small card tied around a flower's stem. As the window closed behind her the flowers lost their brightness and returned to their normal weight. They were real, stem still dripping and thorns sharp to the touch, he'd actually got her roses. As reality became undeniable, feeling exposed despite no one watching, she quickly drew her curtains.

His chicken-scratch handwriting, much too big for the tag, spelt out "To Blaze, Happy Valentine's Day." It went unsigned but it was more than obvious Silver had delivered them. Blaze hadn't expected much to come of today, they hadn't even planned to meet; she had duties to attend, meetings for most of the day and guardian duties for what remained. She'd been almost certain he didn't know what Valentine's Day was; when they spoke yesterday he hadn't breathed a word about it, yet he'd done this? It was so blatant, so blunt; that fact that it wasn't face to face almost made it worse, she couldn't respond immediately!

The two had danced around their feelings for months now; having what weren't officially dates but, if looked at correctly, could certainly have been such. Silver wasn't exactly subtle, blushing at the touch of a hand or a bright enough smile, but then neither was she. But then, if they were dancing around these feelings, she'd surely been the one leading. She'd take his hand and the room would warm, her tail had snuck around his waist more times than she dared recount and she'd leant against his chest fur at least half as often. Had this been inevitable? Had she prompted it? She'd taken a few, well perhaps more than a few, smaller steps yet he now led.

Lost in her thoughts a thorough pound at the door near threw the usually surefooted princess from her feet. Her eyes were thrown to the door, the bizarrely loud hammering still ongoing, then down to the bouquet in her hands. Was it Silver? No, he wouldn't knock like that and why wouldn't he have come to her window? Gardon, if something were wrong he'd knock like that; but if he burst in and saw the flowers he'd panic and…

Feeling her temperature soar she stuffed the roses beneath her covers, hopefully, they'd last, before rushing to the door who dared to-

"Mate! Open up mate! Come on mate, I know you're up; come on!" Marine, of course, she dared to pound on a princess' door. Blaze heaved a deep breath, attempting to steady herself, before unlocking the door. Immediately the Raccoon set upon Blaze, bursting into the room and near enough tackling the Blaze. "Took you long enough mate, I was… Oi, what've you done with the flowers?"

"W-What flowers?" The feline's jaw tightened as her voice failed her; she'd denied the gift on reflex and immediately regretted it.

Marine's eyes flickered across the room, clearly searching for the bouquet, but as they did she wore what must have been the widest, most mocking, grin she could manage. "Oh, just a dozen red roses mate, floating outside your window surrounded by psychic energy, the ones wi' a tag on 'em written by your not so secret admirer." The brat took a step further into the room, "You know, those flowers, easy to miss."

Blaze didn't allow her to pass but, struggling to keep her temperament, the pyrokinetic sighed and asked, "What do you want Marine?"

"Me mate? I don't want anythin'… well… actually," The smile transformed, going from mischievous to innocent in the blink of an eye; ironically more devious. "A certain someone's prepared you a certain somethin', I guess I wanted to let you know that."

Heat returned to the princess' cheeks; her guard broken her brows moved to mount a defence, lowering into a frown. "Marine, if you've tricked him into thinking this day's something that it's not I won't be pleased."

"Eh? I haven't been teachin' him." The raccoon's false innocent was replaced by genuinely innocent shock. "No mate, Silver's in the kitchen by his own accord; I swear on my ships he is. I came up to tell you."

Blaze closed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she attempted to cool herself. It was a lot to process; not only did Silver understand Valentine's Day well enough to deliver roses but he'd come early in the morning, catching her both unaware and before work, to cook something? All without Amy or Marine to tease or lead him? Well, perhaps he'd asked the pink hedgehog for advice when they last met? Either way for him to follow through with it, considering how quick he was to blush and stutter, was almost unbelievable. Regardless, he was here; she'd have a chance to respond, she had to do it right.

Exhaling Blaze opted to pry, "Well, what is it he's making?"

Marine grimaced, "I feel like I've already given too much away… do you really want me to ruin the surprise?" It was a successful counter.

While on one hand Blaze didn't want to ruin a surprise on the other knowing would settle her nerves and lower her temperature. "Is it meant to be a surprise?"

"To be honest mate, I'm not sure? He's um…" Marine scratched her head, clearly searching for the right words. "He may be doin' all this but he's still Silver mate. He's down there panicking way more than you are. Wasn't exactly clear on if it's a surprise but I mean… it probably should be, the roses were weren't they?"

Embarrassment still bubbling within her the princess took a step toward the door, only to immediately stop. She turned, pacing back inside. "If he's trying this hard I need to return his effort."

"Oh? Wait, have you got him somethin'? Were you plannin' to surprise him too? Aww, see, you're on the same wavelength." Though Blaze caught the mockery dripping from the young girl's voice she paid it no heed.

"No, I've… I've had this for a while. The moment was never quite right." Blaze had reached into her desk, delving beneath various vital royal documents, to retrieve a small box.

Holding her breath she opened it, finding the contents just as she'd left them. Housed within the box was a locket, a heart (around four inches wide and a little over two tall) hung on a simple but genuine gold chain. Within its metal cast wasn't a photograph, rather it housed an image drawn and shrunken to fit. When they'd been separated they'd lost more than each other, the world they'd lived in had been erased; their home and belongings had been completely lost. There were no mementoes of their childhood together and so she'd seen fit to have one made. The locket depicted them as they'd once been, a kitten with a much too serious face and a young hedgehog beaming as he clung to her. It didn't quite look like them, they were depicted as uninjured after all, but it best matched when they'd met at age eight; when he'd tried foolishly hard to win her trust, making grand promises to beat up anyone who insulted her flames.

Hearing Marine's poor attempt at stealth, trying to sneak a peek no doubt, Blaze quickly closed the locket and returned it to the box. Blaze turned and stepped past the young Raccoon, making for the castle halls only to have her wrist grabbed. "I get that you're bein' a spoilsport, not lettin' me peep and all, but you're meant to bring the roses."

Without a word Blaze turned, pulling back the covers and unveiling them; fortunately weren't too dishevelled. Taking them, careful to mind the thorns, she went to leave only to find Marine already in the hallway.

"Alright, I'll escort the princess out for her mornin' tryst! You've got lots of smoochin' to do and not much time to do it in." Did she really have to shout?

Blaze took a deep, trying to keep herself cool, before following the young girl; trying to tune out her incessant babbling. Fortunately, their journey went smoothly, there was no sign of Gardon nor any of the Coconut crew, but as they reached the first floor Marine made for the gardens rather than the dining room.

Blaze hesitated, to follow. "I thought Silver was in the kitchen?"

"He is mate, but you don't eat in the kitchen; do you?" She hadn't stopped, pushing back the doors and wandering outside "No, you eat outside, like a regular person."

Blaze felt herself begin to panic again, just how far ahead had he thought this through? How long had he been planning this? Eventually, she shook those thoughts off, hurrying to follow. It wasn't a perfect day outside, clouds dotted the sky and the wind was a touch more than gentle, but that was the least of her worries. Marine was leading her deep into the garden, the grounds were huge but Blaze already knew where she was being taken. Near the centre of the garden, where the rose bushes grew their thickest, was a small clearing that'd occasionally see use for picnics. Of course, it'd be there, roses upon roses upon roses; he really was embracing the day.

Sure enough Marine stopped in the clearing. A simple wooden table had been set on the grass, topped with what was either a red tablecloth or (more likely) duvet. There were two seats, taken from the regular dining quarters, and on the table between them was a vase for the very flowers she'd brought. Despite the effort's simplicity, a further wave of embarrassment shuddered through Blaze; her vision dropped to her feet only to be obscured by the roses. Before she could flare up the princess sheathed the roses within the vase, taking her seat at the table. There wasn't a chair for Marine.

"As much joy as I'm sure it'd bring you to watch Marine," She caught herself; she'd been about to throw a barb for hopes it'd keep her away. With a sigh, placing her hands on the table, Blaze tried again; "Please just go."

The Raccoon was turned to the castle, hand raised to block the sun even though it was behind her. "Oh, mate, he already made sure of that; Silver and I have a deal, soon as I get my pay I'm off."

Blaze blinked. "Your pay?"

Clearly ignoring her the raccoon pointed to the sky, "Oh speak of the devil, here he comes!"

Blaze dared to follow and, as she'd claimed, a glowing figure was descending; wrapped in cyan light with four glowing objects orbiting him. She removed her hands from the table lest her blush set it alight; she could feel her heart thump and her mind blur yet sharpen all at once. As he touched down the bright cloak didn't leave his person, he handed Marine one of the items and leant in to whisper something… something that clearly amused the young girl.

"You don't have to tell me twice mate." She cast a glance backwards, that mischievous smile had returned, she shouted out, "Have fun you two!" Before bounding off with a plate in hand, a plate that would surely get lost in the garden but in truth that was the least of Blaze's concerns.

Glow remaining he walked over without a word, taking one of the floating objects in his hands. As he placed it in front of her the light stripped away; immediately a sweet smell was released. Sat atop a plate was a stack of five pancakes, chocolate baked into them, cut into hearts and littered with fresh strawberries and raspberries. It was almost blunter than the roses; he'd made the effort to cut them in that specific shape after all.

When she found the nerve to look up he'd floated into his chair, a plate of his own sat before him and what looked to be a book lay next to it. Despite taking his place his body was still fully obscured; if anything the light looked to have grown denser. Could he even see through it?

Plucking up the nerve she broke the silence, "Th-Thank you Silver but is everything alright?."

He went to speak only to stop himself, tugging at his chest fur and causing the energy to crackle off of itself. His head lowered and, finally, the psychic layer faded away. She'd half expected a change in appearance, seeing as he'd been hiding himself, but no; by the way, he kept tugging at his chest and what redness she could see from this angle the hedgehog was clearly just embarrassed. She heard him take a deep breath and finally he raised his head, quills jostling as he sat fully back in his chair.

"I-I… um…" Silver had naturally a strong blush, she'd seen it often enough to know that much, but the look he wore now was of a higher magnitude. A crimson flush ran from his chin to the tips of this ears, the sweat on his brow was incredibly plain and his breathing seemed laboured. He was so embarrassed she could see it in his eyes, the way they struggled to focus on any one thing. "I g-guess I should explain all… this."

Blaze wasn't sure what there was to be explained, it all seemed rather obvious, but she was in no state to stop him. Cutting into the top pancake she opted to simply nod.

"I-I know this is really sudden, a-and I know you're busy today, but I wanted to at least do… s-something for today? B-But I don't really know much about it, I-I researched as best I could but I didn't even know if they had this day in your dimension." He slid the book across the table to her, a weathered cookbook that looked to have lost a good third of its pages. It was opened to a page title Valentine's Day Pancakes. "Y-You see… the last time I was in the future I found this book, before that I didn't even know what Valentine's really was? But as soon as I understood I knew I wanted to… do something."

Blaze attempted to distract herself from that embarrassing implication, placing the first chunk of pancake into her mouth. He hadn't made pancakes before, or rather he hadn't for her, but by the sight and especially the taste of them he'd clearly put in effort. The chocolate wasn't overwhelming, the cakes weren't too heavy, and while it was still a little early for fruit he'd clearly searched out the best he could find. If this was his first time he'd more than exceeded expectations.

"I-I still kind of don't know about its intricacies, I read a lot but it's not like I'd experienced one. I get the feeling this might be a little…" He stumbled for the word, "Blunt? B-But, uhm, I hope that's okay? I didn't want to mess this up, especially seeing as it's the first one and all." He was pulling at his chest fur again, staring down at the plate. As if gripped by some sudden realisation he leaned back a little, eyes wide but focused on her. The stuttering continued, "N-Not that there has to be more or anything! We can even stop this one if you want, th-there's no pressure or anything."

Clearly, he feared these feeling weren't mutual, but then he always had; no matter how she'd pushed it clearly hadn't got through to him. Well perhaps returning his push would? With his words in mind, having regained most of her control, she managed to speak again. "Silver, you understand what today is for don't you?" Blaze drew the box from her lap, reaching past the roses to hold it before him. "The relationship between those celebrating it?"

"Y-Yeah," His shoulders were still tense but his eyes softened as he reached out to take her gift. Their fingers brushed for a moment as he gingerly took it from her. The feline, seeing him still so embarrassed, felt her confidence begin to return.

"In that case, you're doing wonderfully Silver, I don't intend on leaving until I truly have to." It was all the reassurance he needed; the hedgehog gently opened the box, ears spiking at the sight. The locket's heart shape was rather intentional, though perhaps a little too on the nose… but then, as he'd said himself, so were his actions. "We're both quite new to this, I-I think blunt might be best."

Having looked it over he eventually thumbed over the latch, rather awkwardly struggling to open it in his embarrassed stupor. Eventually, he managed and, as he did, his whole body seemed to relax. He sat far more comfortably in his chair, his face was still red but wore a soft smile rather than a grimace twisted by uncertainty.

"We don't have anything left of our past together so I had it commissioned." Blaze wasn't certain she was explaining herself correctly, it'd already been a rather long morning, but she kept going. "I know it's a little odd but I feel like it's an important thing to have, to make it all a little more tangible."

"Th-Thank you Blaze, I didn't know I…" He failed to muffle a laugh, cutting off his own embarrassed stuttering. "You look so angry."

Blaze rolled her eyes, "Of course I do, some naïve hedgehog is refusing to let go of me. I already agreed to be his partner, what more could he want?"

He still looked more than a little overwhelmed; his embarrassment remained at the forefront but beyond it, Blaze saw warmth in his eyes. They'd changed a lot since then, both in dynamic and personality, but much had stayed the same. He wore his heart on his sleeve and brought hers to bear; drawing forth a comfortable smile she rarely wore otherwise.

"I've had it for a few months but it never seemed like the right time." She admitted, "If you hadn't acted today it might have lain in there for many more. Thank you for doing this Silver."

"Thank you Blaze a-and I-I'm glad I did and I-I… erm…j-just…" The hedgehog swallowed, managing to pry his eyes from the locket. Those bright yellow eyes still shined warm, the red of his cheeks had fully returned. "H-Happy Valentine's day Blaze."

The smile still lingered on her lips; he'd exceeded her expectations but she still led this dance. She'd match every step he made. "Happy Valentine's day Silver."

[solarbird]

Old Soldiers, Chapter 23: how did you know, before I did?

Yep, still working on Old Soldiers. It's really difficult to switch gears between the Oilliphéist and Venom/Fear of Spiders universes, it really is, but it's happening.

This chapter is worksafe. [AO3 link]

[All dialogue in «angle quotes» is translated from the Spanish. Amélie's thoughts are translated from the French.]

Amélie awoke, early. She often woke before Lena, regardless of where they were, but she didn't mind that. Usually, when it happened ahead of the alarm, she'd doze, and wait, so they could rise together. But sometimes, it there was time, she'd slip out, sneak over to the kitchen, make coffee and tea and get out cheeses and creams and preserves and the morning's good bread, delivered, and the scents would reach over, across, to their bedroom, and awaken her partner, and she'd stumble out, eyes still half-closed, usually remembering to put on a shirt, following the delicious smell of breakfast, and she'd say, "y'know what this needs? Bangers!" and she'd grab the sausages she'd bought a day or two before out of the refrigerator and get to work, and everything would be wonderful.

This was neither of those sorts of day.

The spider plucked at her web. What is it? she thought. It is... something. What?

She didn't really care all that very much about this mission. Morrison had been someone her husband knew, the person to whom Gabriel Reyes reported. They'd met, no doubt, at some function or other. But his time for shaking the world had passed, taking care of him - justice, of a sort, their way - was important to Lena, and so, she was willing to put Talon behind it. And finding herself thinking about that, she let her mind trace that strand further, further down, lower, into thinner, lesser strands - but strands nonetheless.

And she was very surprised to discover that for some reason she did not know, some reason she didn't understand, something had changed.

Jack Morrison, left to his own devices, was going to do something very bad indeed. And it had to be stopped, before anyone else even knew it could happen.

"How did you know?" she whispered, shifting up, and looking at her wife, sprawled across the bed, arms akimbo, hair even moreso. "How did you know before I did?"

Lena stirred just as the alarm rang the chimes of Big Ben. She blinked, groggily, looked up at her wife, and smiled. "G'morffin'," she managed, flopping over onto Amélie's legs.

The assassin smiled back at her partner, but there was a firmness to it. "Get up," she said, firmly, sliding out from underneath. "Something has happened. I must find out what. Suddenly, I think, this mission may be... important."

-----

Amélie pulled her helmet off, frustrated, frowning. Nothing, she thought. Nothing of interest, at least. No new news items, at least, nothing that affected this situation. No outbreaks of violence, of disease, no disappearances, no interesting thefts, not even any strange new conspiracy rumours reaching high enough to matter, not even to her...

Perhaps Sombra has had more luck, she thought, climbing out of her lotus position and off the bed. Or perhaps we can make it not matter. She pulled on the rest of her field kit, and walked into the safehouse's living room, where Sombra sat, intently, poking at virtual keyboards and screens, Lena and Angela keeping each other company, occasionally watching.

"Anything?"

"Nothing, araña - sorry." Sombra turned around, facing the spider. "If he's done something, it's too quiet even to make my ears. And I don't miss much."

"Gabe's almost here, though. I was about to talk to my old friend again, too. See what he thought about our little video."

"Good," Amélie nodded. "I'll make some coffee. Anyone else?"

Lena waved her off, holding up her mug of tea. Angela smiled, though, and said, "I would. I always liked your coffee."

"Sadly, this is not the best version," the assassin smiled back, fondly, "...but I will do what I can with what I have."

I've missed her more than I realised, she thought, as she walked into the kitchen, glancing over the cluster of information monitors Sombra had set up for her, but seeing nothing new. She pulled the pitcher of water and coarse coffee grounds from the small refrigerator, pulled out a filter, and drained the cold brew into a second pitcher, giving it a taste.

Much better, she thought, pouring two glasses half-full, adding milk, some sugar, and ice, and tasted. Yes. The beans are good. It is just a shame the water is so hard. Still, it will do.

She walked out in time to hear Sombra speaking in increasingly agitated Spanish with her friend in Los Muertos.

«What do you mean, he left?» she said, confused.

«He left! This morning! We'd watched your video and were trying to figure out how to get rid of him without getting ourselves all killed by whatever the hell that was, and he walked in and says he has an outside job, needs to take a couple of weeks to work on it.»

«Well... did he say anything about where he was going?»

«We weren't about to ask, we were just glad he was gone. We're gonna pick up and relocate before he comes back. You're gonna tell your friends in Talon about that, right?»

«Of course I am - and you're welcome.» She thought for a moment. I think he's telling the truth, but we'll have to check... «Did he say anything about where he was going?»

«No - just that he had to get training for some special mission. He wouldn't tell us what, or when, or where - he just made some joke about the animal at the heart of the animal? Which I kind of think probably worked better in English.»

Lena largely kept up, listening as the Spanish went by, and looked confused for just a moment before her eyes went wide, and she whispered, "No!" She looked up at Amélie, who looked confused by the metaphor.

"The animal - the beast. The beast at the heart of the beast," she whispered, as Sombra joked with her friend, trying to weasel out possible training locations without actually sounding like she wanted the data. "I think that means us, and I think... I think the beast means Winston."

Angela's eyes went wide as Amélie tested the idea and nodded, eyes half-closed to slits. It fits, she thought. "It is possible. We must send a warning."

"Embassy security's pretty good. I'm pretty sure he's safe as long as he stays in Geneva," Lena said, nodding, as Sombra told them to shut up, can't they tell she's talking to her friends? And the junior assassin waved everyone into the kitchen.

"I knew we should've just capped him from th' start," she said, closing the kitchen door behind her. "Could've avoided all this."

"I did not take this seriously enough," her wife acknowledged, adding another cube of ice to her coffee, and motioning to Angela if she wanted another herself.

The doctor frowned, not at the ice, but at the entire situation. "I do not speak Spanish, and did not catch enough of your English - what is going on?"

"Jack's bugged out, luv. He's headed off somewhere - don't know where, Sombra's workin' on that - t'get ready for some mission, and I think that mission is Winston."

"Winston?!" the doctor exclaimed. "Why? That makes no sense."

"'The beast at the heart of the beast' is what he told Los Muertos, yah? Given what we know about his obsessions, I'm pretty sure we're the beast. Which means the beast at the heart of it is Widowmaker..."

"Let him try," she sneered.

Venom giggled, briefly, before getting serious again, "...or Winston, if y'want the 'joke' t'make any sense, right?"

Angela sipped at her coffee - quite good, still - and thought. "Ana thinks," the temporary Talon field medic said, "...that she knows 'everyone' you are. Given what she said in person, we can assume that means Talon. She also said that I'm involved. Which means she thinks I am involved with Talon..."

"Not wrong, now. Ironic, innit?"

"Quiet, I'm thinking..." she said, not wanting to think about that too closely, "...and if Ana thinks that, then... what? She thinks I am your... contact? Your superior?"

"...her creator, perhaps? Perhaps also mine." Amélie sipped her coffee, still thinking, as the other two women looked at her, surprised, and she shrugged. "That ludicrous set of documents from the investigation - if Overwatch and Blackwatch actually believed the official story about my 'abduction' and 'conditioning' to be who I am..."

"You're thinkin' that all came from her?" asked Lena, half a smile on her face.

"No. But if she went to Jack, after sending that letter to Fareeha..."

"...it could've come from him," Venom nodded. "Yeh. He signed off on both reports..."

"And he's latched onto Winston, because, because..." The doctor stood up very straight, very tall. "Because of your accelerator! Of course! It couldn't just be me, because I am a medical doctor, not a physicist - it would have to be Winston!"

"It almost makes sense," the Widowmaker said, "in an oddly... detached-from-reality sort of way."

"We need to get Gabe in on this," Lena said, shaking her head. "He knew Jack best, before. And that Los Muertos fighter, Delgado. She might know something. She said he talks in his sleep."

"It means bringing her in on this side of the fence," Angela frowned. "Please do not do that."

"He can talk t'her, we can talk t'him. He should still be an hour out of customs, we should try t'raise him. I'll do it."

The door opened, and Sombra walked in, her expression a combination of bemusement and outright disbelief. "You guys aren't going to believe what I think is going on."

"Yeah?" Venom grinned, happy to have an even better reason to kill Jack Morrison. "Wait'll you hear our version. But g'wan, luv - you first."

-----

"How...?"

Ana Amari looked around the pocket valley not too far outside Jalpan De Serra, a hidden spot deep in the nature reserve. Under a canopy of forest, a small, single-storey house sat in good order. But the interesting parts were around it - the cleared, low-level training camp hidden from overhead view, boxed off in most directions by steep slopes and cliffs.

"Pretty sure it was originally cleared during the war," Morrison replied. "Local resistance against the Omnics. Deep cover. Well hidden. People stay away - bad memories, I guess." He chuckled, a little. "I try to encourage that."

He pointed with his rifle over towards a particularly green patch. "Latrines used to be over there, I think. Found a bunch of old tent stakes, too. Probably didn't want anything too permanent, so they'd just tent up and go."

"Either that, or it was a campground," she smirked. "So this is where you go to hide."

"Hide, or think, or train, Ana. Different things, but it's a good place for all three." He gestured towards the house. "C'mon inside. It's comfortable - I've got a combination of solar and geothermal, and there's an uplink towards the top of the cliff. I figure we'll want to get to San Jose a week before Winston arrives, and until then, we should just lay low, and plan."

I don't like it, Ana thought. It is too steep, and the cliffs are too close. "A hidey-hole is also a trap, Jack. You know that."

"Nobody else in the world knows I know about this place, Ana. Not anymore. If there's any safe place in the Western hemisphere..." He opened the door, and threw his knapsack onto the couch against the far wall of the small living room. "...this is it."

[rxbxlcaptain]

RxbxlCaptain’s Official Rebel Rising Review:

Since this novel was released in May, I had heard plenty of opinions -- mainly negative -- about it, so I decided to check it out for myself. I’ll be completely honest: I came into the book bracing myself against a novel that would completely ruin Jyn’s characterization and the urge to throw the book against the wall. Maybe because I came in which such horrible expectations -- Well, I didn’t hate it. 

Of course, of the three Rogue One-related novels I’ve read now (Rogue One Novelization by Alexander Freed, Catalyst by James Luceno, and Rebel Rising by Beth Revis), I would say that it’s my least favorite. There were some redeeming factors, some Imperials that were actually kind of intriguing, some moments that made me go “I’m sorry, are we talking about the same Jyn Erso?” and some moments that made me go “That’s my girl!” So if you’re interested in hearing some very spoiler-y opinions of the novel, click below the cut:

My first issue with the book: It’s genre

The decided to write a book about Jyn Erso -- a woman I’d understood to have been raised as a child soldier -- as a young adult novel. Now, I have nothing against the YA genre, there’s plenty of amazing things within that genre, but... I’m questioning if it was right for this. 

This leads to a significantly less violent childhood than I thought Rogue One (either the movie or the novelization) implied. Jyn doesn’t go on missions with Saw Gerrera until she’s well into her teenage years, and most of those involve coding and not actual fighting. Most of Jyn’s time with Saw is spent on Wrea, the planet where Saw’s base for the Partisans is located, learning coding and splicing. She doesn’t even stay in barracks with the other Partisans but instead has a private room to herself. No one’s gunna all favoritism on that one, Saw. But, really, the first time in the novel when Jyn shares a room with someone is when she’s in prison, which just feels... weird to me?

Another thing I have against a YA novels: There always seems to be a forced romance and this one is no exception. I’ll go into more details below, but I do, at least in part, attribute this aspect of the plot back to the fact that it’s a YA novel. 

But that’s a little bit broad, so let’s narrow it down into a few more things that I did/didn’t like:

Saw Gerrera:

Read all this with the disclaimer that I have not watched Clone Wars and so my knowledge of Saw outside of Rogue One is limited to Wookieepedia and what I was told in this novel!

We all know where this book picks up: Lyra Erso has just been murdered and Galen captured up the Imperials, leaving Jyn all alone waiting for -- someone. That someone turns out to be Saw Gerrera, who Jyn has met once before: when Gerrera offered to smuggle the Ersos off Coruscant and find a homestead for them on Lah’mu. Because of this, she trusts him already.

Saw refers to Jyn as “Kid” and “Darling” a lot of the time which is such a minor detail but it feels so... weird to me. (I can really only read “Kid” in Han Solo’s voice). And it’s just a small part of Saw’s dialogue that just feels way too out of character for him, things that I can never picture Forest Whitaker saying in general. 

Adorable detail: Saw takes to referring to Jyn as his daughter throughout her time there. In fact, most of the Partisans take to calling Jyn “Jyn Gerrera” since the word “Erso” is never to be mentioned in context of Jyn, per Saw’s orders. (And, for good reason, which the characters learn the hard way later on)

Saw’s number one misstep, in my mind at least, was when he finds Galen Erso, realizes he’s cooperating with the Imperials now and promptly tells Jyn that Galen has, essentially abandoned her and she should think nothing of him again while I continue to spend most of my time attempting to discover what he’s doing

Which could lead to some reeeeally fun meta about how Jyn’s feeling about Galen during Rogue One

My anger of this is, of course, rooted in the fact that I really love Galen Erso and I cry every time I picture him working on the Death Star when he really just misses his girls and wishes they were safe and happy so it probably doesn’t make other people as angry. 

So Saw’s running his little side of the rebellion, which has a strange focus on what Galen Erso is going for the Empire (Saw refers to his as their “normal mission”), but don’t worry -- he’s not opposed to blowing the occasional Imperial gathering or stealing their supply shipments or causing general chaos within their ranks. 

Once, against orders, Jyn followed Saw into an Imperial celebration on a planet they’d recently conquered, only to find Saw blowing up the entire thing -- both the reps from the Empire and the natives of the planet -- which Jyn knows she is not okay with. 

He also has some super sketchy mottoes about fighting -- “If we used the same tactics the Empire does and brought about the same kind of fear, we’d control the people and give them the peace you are so anxious to have” and “What we fail to protect, we leave in ruins” for example-- that aren’t out of character with what we see of his tactics in Rogue One but more an explanation of why his methods were wrong.

As implied in Rogue One, the Alliance doesn’t appreciate that. However, different than I pictured in Rogue One, Saw is never a formal part of the Alliance. Idryssa Barruck seems to be the only connection back to the Alliance since, after years of working with Gerrera, she decided to join the more organized forces.

Jyn will meet another member of the Alliance later on, once she’s on Tamsye Prime and the Alliance is trying to recruit her boyfriend as a pilot (more on that later)

After Saw abandons Jyn (which I’ll talk about in the next section), he still send a spy to follow her around the planet she’s settled on to make sure she’s doing okay. Which -- I don’t know, not necessarily out of character, but definitely a dick move. Saw, either you care enough about the girl to keep her with you, or you let her live her life. One or the other, bro, not some weird grey zone in between. 

Saw’s abandonment of Jyn:

If you’re talking about Saw, you’ve got to mention the “big event.”

Saw’s abandonment was... Literally nothing like a pictured. Nothing. Not at all. 

Saw appears to make a snap decision to leave Jyn in the middle of a very active war zone with literally no way to get off the planet. And what seemed even more out of character to me was that Jyn guessed Saw was leaving her behind -- and she still trotted off to the bunker and let him leave her there. (See, Draven, the reason why she doesn’t follow orders is because following them normally gets her bad things)

A quick summary of the operation that leads to this: Jyn and Saw were in charge of recon of a planet, had sneaked in under the guise of being a propaganda work crew, filming the laborers of the planet to make the Empire look good. What they didn’t know was Reece Tallent, a man salty at Saw Gerrera for a whole host of reasons and who suspected who Jyn really was (and really wanted the financial benefits of turning these two in), had set this whole thing up with the Imperials. This leads to an Imperial air attack, hoping to kill Saw and Jyn. 

In the midst of the battle, Saw (who was dangerously close to bleeding out at the time) tells Jyn “Hey, go hide in the bunker over there and I’ll totally come back to this planet that will be totally destroyed in two hours to get you!” to which Jyn is like “That sounds really sketchy and you’re totally going to leave me here, but okay!”

Legitimate dialogue from this novel

Jyn manages to get off planet by stealing a ship with one of the workers on the planet. They sell the ship, split the money 50/50 and never see each other again. She then finds a woman looking for someone to repair her astromech (”I can do that!” Jyn lied, seeing how she’d never repaired a droid before in her life) and hops a ride off planet with her. Halfway through, however, Jyn forges some documents for the woman -- whose name is Akshaya Ponta -- and, in thanks for helping her avoid fines, she invites Jyn to stay with her. 

Turns out Jyn reminds this woman of her dead daughter and she develops a super maternal protectiveness over Jyn (which Jyn finds both really nice and really smothering, considering, you know, her mother died when she was seven.)

So Jyn moves in with this woman, doing some occasional splicing/forgery for her, but mainly she has a lot of free time which gives her time to explore my next topic... 

The Romance:

I believe it’s no secret that I personally believe that Jyn Erso belongs with Cassian Andor for the rest of forever. (Guys, look around at the blog. Forget that -- look at its name)

That being said, I tried to keep an open mind with this romance. 

Hadder Ponta, the boy in question (his mom is the one who took Jyn in, so they’re kinda living together?), was... fine. There was nothing wrong with him. And I don’t really have a problem with the idea of him and Jyn -- she was sixteen and had just been abandoned by Saw and he and his mother has been incredibly kind to her and he was nice (guys, he took her on real dates and bought her food and everything) and safe so I can’t really blame her for diving headfirst into a little romance -- but, as I mentioned before, it felt a little too much like a stereotypical YA romance 

Fun fact about this kid: he ends up speaking to an Alliance recruiter about joining up at one point. He claims it’s because he wants to fly, but he’s also pretty certain that it’ll impress Jyn. (What doesn’t impress Jyn is the fact that the recruiter ends up being someone she knew from the Partisans and accidentally reveals more of her past to the kid than she was intending)

Their romance was a lot of “Hey, we’re about the same age! And you’re a girl and I’m a guy so therefore we’re in love, right?”

Basically, not my favorite kind of romance. (They got along but they didn’t really have chemistry)

But no worries about Hadder coming back -- he and his mother were both killed while attempting to escape the planet and they got trapped in a dogfight between Imperial and Rebellion forces. 

However that leads to a whole new host of problems: Jyn keeps thinking about him for an awfully long time. Really, it’s implied she still thinks of Hadder and Akshaya Ponta when she gets her first glimpse of Cassian as the events of Rebel Rising clashes into the beginning of Rogue One. 

I contribute it less to her feelings being strong enough to last the years and more to guilt. It was, in Jyn’s mind, her fault that Hadder and Akshaya ever died: if she hadn’t come to live with them, the Empire never would have come knocking on their door in the middle of the night and they wouldn’t have died in a fiery explosion. It does feed into Jyn’s resistance to becoming close to anyone ever again, that fear of hurting everyone she befriends, which could actually make great meta about Jyn’s behavior during the canon events of Rogue One. 

Now, speaking of the Pontas, does that name sound familiar to you? It should!

Jyn Erso’s alias’s:

We end up seeing all of Jyn’s canon aliases throughout Rebel Rising which is, in a way, both really cool and kinda disappointing. Here’s what we learn about them...

Kestrel Dawn: Jyn dawns this one (haha, see what I did there? Shut up, I’m funny) while she’s still with Saw. In fact, she’s using this alias on the day that Saw abandons her. She ends up keeping “Dawn” for a last name (obviously “Erso” has proved to be a dangerous last name to have) but returns to “Jyn” by the time she meets the Pontas. 

Tanith Ponta: See, I told you their last name would be important. Remember Akshaya’s daughter that I mentioned? Turns out her name was Tanith. When Jyn escaped off Skuhl (the Ponta’s home planet), she saw the ship Akshaya and Hadder were in crash, but out of some irrational bit of hope (see, Cassian, she does know what hope is) she tells the intergalactic customs agents that her name was Tanith Ponta in the hopes that if Akshaya and Hadder arrived, they would be able to find her.

Liana Hallik: The last alias we’re given in Rogue One (turns out the Alliance missed a few others like Lyra Rallik and Nari McVee, both references to earlier parts of Jyn’s life, being her mother and a droid the Ersos owned on Coruscant) doesn’t appear until late in the novel, when Jyn is bouncing from planet to planet simply surviving. It’s not even the alias she’s using when the Imperial arrest her, but rather the new scandocs she had just completed that the Imperials believed to be her real identity. 

My favorite Jyn Erso details:

She’s smart. Saw, in the very beginning when he had no idea what to do with a child, handed her a code machine one day to allow her to play with it. Well, she did really well -- so well, in fact, that she became the main supply of forgery throughout the Partisans. If you needed a flight manifest or Imperial orders to get you through a blockade or a fake identity for Saw’s next mission: you went to Jyn and she’d fix you up. (She continues to use this skill to her advantage for the rest of the novel)

We get to see her first use of truncheons! That detail is so tiny I should not be excited by it but she was using them for the first time and I just went “Those will be very important in the future!” because I am a nerd and the scene where she uses them in Jedha City was the first moment I admitted I was completely in love with this woman. 

She’s a good person. Like we’ve seen in Forces of Destiny and saving the tooka cat and in the movie itself when she’d run into the line of fire to save a child, Jyn risks her own freedom, and likely her own life, to set a group of female slaves and their children free from a smuggler. She literally overthrows an entire crew by drugging them (note: if you’ve made sexist remarks to get a woman to cook you dinner for an entire journey, she just may respond by poisoning you) and tells the slaves they’re free and gives them control of the ship, only wanting enough to make sure she can get off the next planet. 

She’s knows how to survive, no matter if it’s off credits a day or from people attempting to blackmail her. She survives the a crippling doubt in the faith her mother raised her on in prison and the endless crushing blows of being orphaned again and again. In a way, you can see her grow to become the Jyn Erso we met in Rogue One... It’s just that her background is a little different than I expected. 

IN CONCLUSION:

It was... fine. 

Not what I pictured inside my head of what Jyn’s upbringing was like (I hesitate to say it portrays her as too sheltered, because she is still being raised in the midst of a war, but it’s a hell of a lot more sheltered than what I originally pictured when I thought of Jyn’s childhood)

The romance feels kinda forced and I think some parts are a little OOC but I didn’t hate it as much as I was expecting

If the book happens to land in your lap, it’s a quick and easy read but I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to find it. 

Now that I’ve gone on a long and rambling rant about Rebel Rising (leaving out a lot of details I’m certain I should talk about, like Jyn’s perception of her parents throughout the novel which I super fangirled over) I’d love to hear what anyone else who’s read the novel has thought about it! Feel free to drop by my inbox and discuss!

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

Episode 3x06: The Academy

Damn, no Obi-Wan? :( Well, I guess Ahsoka there makes more sense but still I was rather looking forward to another ‘Obi-Wan and Satine’ episode. But, I’m glad I get to see Anakin again. And I love that we get another Ahsoka episode! :D 

I already knew Anakin wouldn’t be staying, but I’m still disappointed that he has to go. lol, the expression on Anakin’s face when he’s telling Satine and co that he’s not staying is priceless. He looks so apologetic!

God, that cadet looks so eager when he asks Ahsoka if he can see her lightsaber (”That’s a fine weapon! May I see it?”). Unfortunately for him, off-worlders weapons can’t carry weapons on Mandalore because Obi-Wan caused trouble during his last visit there. 

I lol at Ahsoka’s reaction:

Ahsoka: Master Obi-Wan caused trouble? That’s a first. 

Anakin: Just give me the lightsaber.

Anakin then is reminded by a clone trooper (Rex?) that Kit Fisto is expecting them on the battlefield, and returns to the war. And with that Anakin’s part in the episode is over. At least, I think so. Who knows, maybe he’ll make a surprise appearance at the very end. I hope he does, but at the same time I think he won’t. :(

So, Ahsoka is left in charge of a group of impressionable cadets. Something tells me this is going to be very, very interesting... :’D

I love these cadets already. They ask so many questions:

“Does that mean all politicians are corrupt?”

“But if you don’t trust your leaders, isn’t that treason?”

Ahsoka: “It’s every citizen’s duty to challenge their leaders, to keep them honest, and hold them accountable if they’re not.”

Try telling that to the people of the Republic. Or better yet, the Jedi Council themselves. I know it’s not entirely their fault, but I find it so ironic that someone from the Republic is lecturing about how bad corruption is, since the Republic is so corrupt itself.     

Random Cadet: “And how do you do that?”

Ahsoka: “By exposing corrupt officials for what they are. Lasting change can only come from within.”  

Why do I have a feeling those cadets are going to take her words the wrong way... :/ 

Now the cadets are back in their room, hungry and tired of limited rations. Inspired by Ahsoka’s speech, they decide to go off and check whether there really is a food shortage. Goody! This is bound to end in some sort of trouble.

I’m really worried that the cadets will get into so much trouble over what they’re doing, but they are awesome to watch in action.   

Female Cadet: “I have a bad feeling about this...”

So do I. :( I really hope that feeling is proven wrong...

Hmm, it sort of was... the cadets are spotted by some bad guys and manage to escape, but accidentally leave behind some tech thing that they’d brought along with them. Looks important. They realise that they’ve stumbled on something way bigger than they can handle on their own, and one guy (who actually had the idea to sneak into the warehouse) suggests that ask for help from ‘his aunt Satine’. 

!!!!

I can’t believe it... Satine has a nephew! :D One who appears to be developing into a total badass like her. 

ooh, his name’s Korki (sp?)! 

So, off the cadets go to visit Satine. They tell her about what they found out, and Satine says that she’ll handle it and that they better go back to their studies. They’ll have a chance to save the world when they’re a little older. I know she means well, but I doubt they’ll actually listen to her. Just look at how determined they are to do something!

So... next stop: Ahsoka?

Okay, not Ahsoka. Korki suggests they go to the prime-minister (you know, that shady politician who didn’t give a damn about the suffering children of Mandalore last episode), because he’s known him his whole life and he always said to come to him if he’s in trouble. Like right now. The prime minister tells them to bring the recording to the black market deal (???) and all the cadets will know about it. I’m not sure how this will solve their problem, but okay...

I have a very bad feeling about this... :(

During their next lecture with Ahsoka, Ahsoka notices that Korki looks distracted. This leads to Korki admitting what the cadets have done. 

I love the brown-haired female cadet’s explanation, because it’s so accurate: “We were hungry and decided to go look for food.”

Ahsoka is not impressed by what they said they’ve done, because they committed a crime by breaking into the warehouse. After hearing that they’re going to meet with the prime-minister about what they found, Ahsoka advises them to take it slowly, examine every fact and every person involved before they act. Sound advice. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the prideful Korki will listen to her. 

When the group meets with the prime-minister, they are set up, and are only saved by Ahsoka, who jumps in and takes down the attackers like the awesome Jedi she is. Using a gadget, she identifies the man in the hologram as the prime-minister, and the cadets and Ahsoka run off to warn Satine about him. 

When they get to Satine’s home, they see that they’re too late. Satine’s guards are dead and Satine is gone. Korki is guilt-ridden, believing that his aunt is now in danger because of him. With nowhere else to turn, the group goes to confront the prime-minister himself about what has happened.

And... wow. Ahsoka takes a page out of Anakin’s book and gets the cadets into the ‘inner sanctum’ (aka the prison) by handing them over to the prime minister as treasonous traitors. Ahsoka is definitely awesome in this episode. :’)   

 Unfortunately, the plan quickly falls apart, as Ahsoka is unable to find out from the prime minister where he’s placed Satine, and quickly falls into a trap when she tries to force the guards (via jedi-mind-trick) to take her to Satine. The prime-minister first threatens Satine (by torturing her via an electric collar), and then Satine’s nephew, in an attempt to make Satine sign a document labelling her as a treasonous traitor. Luckily, Ahsoka fights back just in time, and with the cadets’ help takes down the prime-minister and his guards. The way she puts that electric collar on the PM is beyond awesome. :D The PM is then imprisoned just like Satine was imprisoned.  

Satine and her nephew hug afterward, which is sweet to see. :’)    

      eeeh! :’) :’) Anakin’s back! :D I didn’t dare hope, but he appeared again!   

aw, the way Anakin looks at Ahsoka is adorable! He looks so proud of her. :’) I love the way his eyes lit up at the sight of her. And lol, he’s so protective of her too. I think he felt that he should act a bit disapproving about the risks Ahsoka took, because he is her mentor and all and he also doesn’t want her recklessness to get her hurt. It’s clear to me by his half-smile at the end that he’s still proud of her and what she accomplished. 

Anakin acting like a parent is just so, so adorable. :’) I want more of it!          

And there’s this:

Anakin: “Sounds pretty risky. You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt.”

Ahsoka: “Nothing you wouldn’t have done.”

lol, that’s true! Anakin really shouldn’t be like that, considering he constantly does the same thing that Ahsoka did in this episode.

ugh, I so badly want to cuddle them both right now. They are cute beyond words. :’)   

On another note, I don’t know if anyone else noticed how Anakin in one shot actually almost looked like the Anakin we saw in “The Padawan Path” in Forces of Destiny. Which is actually quite funny. 

And there ends this episode. It was a truly awesome experience, and certainly better than the Obi-Wan/Satine thing I thought we’d be getting. And there was a sweet Anakin and Ahsoka moment at the very end. This is definitely one I’d recommend watching.  

Next: “Assassin”

[twxntrash]

We’ll Burn It All Down Ch. 2

Not even a week yet and school was as hectic as expected. A few changes had been made, of course. The hierarchy of the school had to be altered each year when the seniors of the previous year graduated and the freshmen of the new year arrived. New people, some fresh bloods stood above the rest, some stood even lower than the rest. So, the social ladder was changed. Usually it was the upperclassmen going even higher, it was rare for a freshmen to be high up on the food chain. But; exceptions occurred now and then.

More importantly; Peridot was infinitely ready to just throw in the towel and never get out of bed again, and the first week wasn’t even over yet!

It wasn’t that she hated school; she was one of the students who actually enjoyed what the teachers taught. Mostly. She had her favorite classes and her least favorite like anyone else, but she enjoyed them all to some extent. But. It was the classmates that made it horrible for her.

Screw what she said at the first day of school. None of her classmates were good people, and if one more snickering dick threw a crumpled up wad of paper at her in chemistry, she was going to punch someone in the face.

Okay, maybe not. She didn’t necessarily have the size, or physical strength, to actually do that. But, she could dream.

At least she wasn’t getting locked in the large senior lockers anymore like freshmen year. Just because she was small and skinny some jock thought it would be funny to see if she could fit in an empty locker. Thank God Amethyst knew how to pick the locks on them.

Speaking of Amethyst.

Peridot quickly stood up, a smile wide on her face as she waved a hand at her best friend, a student who was almost as short as her with hair bleached white. “Hey! Hey, Amethyst! Over here!” she yelled, perhaps a bit too loudly as she waved to try and catch the girls attention.

It wasn’t hard to Amethyst to notice her, and she pushed through other students to reach Peridot. Unlike the blonde, Amethyst was pretty forceful despite her size and was able to intimidate a good number of people. She was loud, rambunctious, fun and just a wild girl to be around, the opposite of Peridot. It was a wonder how the two managed to be friends for so long.

Sliding onto the seat, Amethyst plopped two trays down in front of her, “Hey, Per, what’s up?” Amethyst asked as she grabbed one of the pizza slices on Tray No. 1. Another thing to keep in mind about Amethyst; she liked food, ate enough for her and Peridot both. While she was active enough to stay away from being overweight, what with her wrestling matches and friendly fights, it did leave her a bit on the chubby side. Not that it made her any less attractive; she was a really beautiful girl, Peridot had trouble understanding why so many people couldn’t see it.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old,” Peridot answered as she snuck one of the fries off Tray No. 2, her own food and tray gone after a run in with Jasper and Bismuth which ended with her lunch on the floor and the two athletes laughing. If Amethyst noticed the food theft, she said nothing about it.

“I take it your day’s been pretty boring,” Amethyst responded as she leaned back with her feet on the table and her chair leaning precariously on the back two legs. If a teacher saw, they’d have a fit. “I still say it sucks balls that we didn’t get into that many classes together. If we had more than just english together, your day would have been exciting as Hell.”

Peridot couldn’t help but smile a little at that, “I would probably be in detention each week.”

“Still, more fun than wasting your life away in a library studying.”

“I’m just making sure to put forth effort into my academics unlike some,” Peridot answered with a playful bite to her tone, “Which reminds me, I think you’ll be needing this so you can continue to slack off in your academics,” as she said that, Peridot rummaged through her backpack before pulling out a rather official looking absence note for the school. Complete with signatures and writing from different people. Or so it looked.

Amethyst snatched it from her hands as soon as it was out in the open, “Aw, man, thanks!” she said as she looked over the note, “You’re the best! I’ll just pop this down at the main office before last period and then hang out with the fam. You are a lifesaver.”

The blonde shrugged as she continued munching on fries from the second tray, “Hey,forging documents is what I do best,” it wasn’t really a lie. Peridot had a talent for memorization and copying. She was good, really good at copying the handwriting of a good number of people in this school. Her teachers and several of her classmates. Hell, she could even copy Jaspers handwriting, and that was a miracle itself just to be able to read. It was a gift, really.

A gift she’d been using since freshmen year to escape trouble with forged hall passes, absence notes, excuses and other documents to save herself and Amethyst.

“Seriously, girl, if you want to join me, you’re more than welcome,” Amethyst added as she slipped the note into her backpack. “They won’t bite, and my girls would love you. They’re a friendly batch.”

“From what you’ve told me, they sound like an army of you,” Peridot pointed a fry at her as she said that, “I’m not sure I can handle that many Amethysts.”

“Hey, the world needs more of me.”

Peridot just shrugged at that, munching on the fry that she had previously brandished at Amethyst like some accusing tool. The girls continued to chat, their conversation shifting over to other topics as they ate in the loud cafeteria of the high school.

Occasionally a student or two would come over, knowing either Peridot or Amethyst they’d make a snide comment and then laugh like it was some world class joke. Peridot would look away, grit her teeth and bite her tongue while Amethyst would shoot back an even sharper comment right back at them which would leave them red in the face and storming off. She had to admit, Amethyst was a much better smooth talker than Peridot, she could make an insult or compliment at the drop of the hat. Whatever nasty thing someone said to her, she’d send back at them twice as hard.

It was a talent, really.

After a while, the cafeteria began thinning out and Peridot took a look at her phone. “Lunch is almost done,” she announced to her friend as she stood up from her seat and grabbed her bag, “I’m going to head out, do you want to dump one of your trays for you?” she offered as she gestured to the almost empty trays that Amethyst had brought over to the table.

Her friend shook her head as she continued to munch on the food, “Nah. I’ll go toss them when I finish,” she replied and gave Peridot a light swat to her back. Perhaps a bit lower than Peridot would have liked, but Amethyst probably miscalculated, “You go get out of here, do what you need to do. I’ll catch you later, aight?”

“Yeah,” the blonde nodded as she stepped away, “Try not to get into to much trouble with your group when you sneak out.”

“You worry too much, but, I’ll be careful, thanks.”

With that, the two said their goodbyes and parted ways. Amethyst remained seated at the table to finish off her large lunch as Peridot made her way past the sea of students on their ways to their lockers or classes. She was on her way to the restroom herself. Regardless of if she had to actually go or not, it still offered her a moment of silence and privacy from the other students. That’s all she cared about in the end. A small break and a moment of peace.

Even if it had to be done on a toilet in a school bathroom.

Slipping into the somewhat spacious bathroom, with faded pink stalls marred with notes and writing in permanent marker, and sinks stained by makeup spills and… well, she kind of hoped the red stuff wasn’t blood, but, she wasn’t confident. Peridot did a single glance around to see how many others might be in there, she was alone, and with a hint of a smile she made her way to the last stall.

The door creaked as she closed it, and she had to push the door up a bit just to get it to lock. As was the issue with many of the bathroom stalls in this school. But, when she was done she let out a sigh and sat down with her backpack on the ground.

She didn’t have to do anything. But, just taking a breather now and then was nice. It helped her to collect her thoughts now and then.

Sure, there wasn’t much time left before classes, but, she could easily write up a note excusing her tardiness and the teachers would buy it completely. That’s why she was so relaxed as she slumped and let out a breath of air, sinking down like a deflated balloon.

The year was only starting and already she felt dead. Peridot swore the harassment and bullying only got worse since last year. Like, the fact that they were seniors gave the usual bullies an idea that they had more power, and lashed out at students like her even more mercilessly. It was awful. But, Peridot just had to tough it out. It wasn’t like a saving grace was just going to walk through the bathroom doors and her problems would be solved like that.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the tell-tale clicks of heels against the tile floors made her head snap up and turn in the direction of the noise. She could make out three sets of footsteps coming into the bathroom. One of whom hurried to one of the stalls, and through the cracks in the stall door she could make out the other two standing before a mirror before the sound of heaving made her reel back in worry.

“Oh, grow up , Pearl. Bulimia is so last year,” Pearl or rather Pearl Goldsberg chided as she opened a makeup bag onto the bathroom counter and began carefully reapplying her eyeliner.

Beside her, Pearl Bleu was tentatively standing to the side. Head bowed low and hands fidgeting as she glanced at Pearl Goldsberg and then back to the stall where Pearl Crystals was. “Maybe… maybe you should see a doctor, Pearl,” she offered, her voice so soft and timid, as though she was afraid of just voicing her own suggestion.

“I’m fine, Pearl, really,” Pearl assured as she wiped her mouth with some toilet paper, “Do one of you guys have a mint or gum?”

As the group talked, Peridot felt herself frozen in her seat, unsure how to react to this at all. Should she just stay in the stall and hope no one notices her until they leave? Should she stand up and leave now while they’re there, and risk them taking notice of her, and not in a good way? She really didn’t want to cause trouble, especially with them, and just crossing their path could be enough for Pearl Goldsberg… or rather Yellow Pearl, to ruin ones reputation.

She picked up her bag and hugged it close to her chest as she waited.

“You might as well start packing mouthwash into your bag each morning,” Yellow Pearl rolled her eyes as she fished out a few breath mints from her bag. “And a toothbrush too, especially if you’re just going to vomit every day after lunch. Save everyone else the trouble of taking care of you for you.”

Pearl gagged a few more times into the bowl before she managed to speak again, “I can’t fit it in my bag. Trust me, I would pack an entire oral hygiene kit if I had room. The textbooks this year are pretty big, and my locker is already stuffed.”

“Of quit your whining,” Yellow Pearl snapped as she took out a tube of lipstick. She didn’t even bat an eyelash as the bell rang, “We’re going shopping after school, got it, Pearl? I need some new shoes, and you honestly need to find a better attire. That is just hideous,” she cringed as she looked at Bleu.

Honestly, Blues outfit wasn’t even that bad. It was more subdue than the bright attention-getting clothing that Yellow and Pearl wore, but it suited her, she was cute in it. Any guy and girl wouldn’t think twice before saying that what she wore was attractive. But, Yellows standards were terrifyingly high.

“Right… it is kind of ugly,” Blue mumbled as she tugged at the bottom of her nice blue blouse, not daring to look the pack leader in the face, “sorry, Pearl.”

“And stop your mumbling! God, you know how much I hate mumbling, how many times do I have to say it before it gets through that thick skull of yours?” she added much more loudly and forcefully than needed.

Blue flinched back, hands trembling as she grasped at her shirt even tighter, “Sorry,” she said softly, but under the piercing glare of the head Pearl, managed to say louder, if not in a shaky voice, “Sorry, Pearl.” It wasn’t that loud, but, at least it wasn’t a mumble and that was good enough for Yellow. Though she was still irritated by it.

Peridot couldn’t help but frown a little as she listened to Yellow berate her friend like that. A sting of pity struck her chest. Well, it wasn’t that surprising. Pearl Goldsberg wasn’t known as the devil queen of high school for nothing.

The door slammed open with force and hard clicks against the bathroom door echoed. They were footsteps every student knew, and the sound gave birth to terror in the hearts of any who heard it, as they knew the domineering, nightmarish woman who those footsteps belonged too.

“Ah. Pearl and Pearl,” Ms. Yella Diamond began, her tone almost condescending as she towered over the two students, arms crossed against her chest. Like Pearl Goldsberg, her attire was yellow from her heels to her hair, but hers was much more intimidating than Goldsberg. Her expression turned to mild disgust as the Pearl began heaving again, “...and Pearl. It seems you three must not have heard the bell over the sound of all the vomiting. You’re late to class.”

Yellow Pearl was perhaps the only student in the school not intimidated by the vice principal, in fact some times it looked like she even admired that cruel woman. She smiled easily as she put her lipstick down on the counter, “Pearl wasn’t feeling well; it must have been something she ate, you know how awful and unhealthy school food is,” she lied smoothly, “We’re just being good friends and helping her.”

With any other teacher, that would have been enough. But, Yella Diamond was not any other teacher. She was a brick wall that wouldn’t be moved so easily.

“Helping her? Well, not without a hall pass you’re not,” the tall woman was practically mocking the Pearls as she said that, condescension plain to see. “A weeks detention for all of you; skipping will add another week to your sentence. I’ll see you three after school.”

It was like a lightbulb going off in Peridots head. She opened her bag and pulled out one of her pre-printed slips of papers for emergency notes and signatures for school. Hastily she picked a teacher in mind and began scribbling on the paper with an excuse in mind. Her movements were fast and she stood up from the toilet, flushed for show and burst out of the stall before the vice principal could turn around.

“Actually, Ms. Diamond!” Peridot called out as she held the slip out, “all four of us are out on a hall pass. We’re helping Pearl with the yearbook, we just had to make a stop because, like Pearl said… sick team member.”

As Yella ripped the slip from Peridots hand, the short blonde prayed that she wouldn’t see through the lie. She watched as golden eyes read through the slip, mouthing the words to herself as she narrowed her eyes. Analyzing every last detail with precise scrutiny.

After what felt like eternity, she tossed it back to Peridot, “I see you’re all listed,” she sounded reluctant to accept it, a certain hate for being cheated out of giving the Pearls some punishment. “Fine. Hurry up and get where you need to be,” she said, turning on her heels and marching out as though she was in search for some other student to terrorize.

Peridot felt relief course through her chest, only for it to freeze in fear as Yellow plucked the note from her hand and began reading it herself.

There were a few moments of silence, long enough for Pearl to flush and make her way to the sink so she could rinse her mouth, wash her hands and toss in a mint. Eventually, Yellow did speak, slow and calculated, “This is an excellent forgery,” she complimented and looked up at Peridot with narrowed eyes, “Who are you?”

“Peridot,” she answered quickly, looking away for a moment. This… this could be her chance. She’d just saved these three from the clutches of Yella Diamond. There had to be some prize to that, right? “I… I have a request.”

Yellow raised a brow, hands on her hips, “What request?”

Now or never. Taking a deep breath, Peridot looked up at the three Pearls as she spoke, “Let me sit at your table with you at lunch. Just once! No talking required. If people think you guys tolerate me, then they’ll finally leave me alone,” she explained. What she got as an answer was the three laughing at the mere idea of someone like Peridot sitting among them. But, she was quick to add on. “Before you answer, I also do report cards, permission slips, and absence notes, and I can forge parents or doctors note if given some samples of their handwriting.”

That had certainly gotten their attention, she could see their eyes light up at the possibilities that Peridot had just laid out before them.

Blue raised her hand, “Do you also do-”

“Shut up, Pearl!” Yellow was quick to snap at her, earning a quiet ‘Sorry, Pear’, in response. She took a step forward, cupping Peridots chin under her fingers and tilting her head up. “For a tiny, little nobody… you’re not entirely hopeless. You’ve got good bone structure,” she mused, examining Peridot as though she were a critic looking over a piece of art for its flaws.

Pearl took Peridot by her other side, “Your face certainly is symmetrical, that’s always important. Though your sense of style is just awful.”

She was shouldered aside as Yellow moved Peridot to stand directly in front of her, hands running through her short blonde hair and running over her sides, accessing what she’d be working with. “This could work, yes, we can work with this,” she mused to herself before stepping back. “You want your chance at popularity, well, you won’t get it looking like that. Meet us after school at Pearls car. Don’t be late.”

“Also, I’d recommend being ready to memorize some handwritings as well,” Pearl added as she stepped back and looked to Blue, “This could really work. This is perfect,” she said to their quiet companion.

Blue nodded, ducking her head, not speaking up anymore now that it wasn’t just the Pearls, and not wanting to be told to shut up again.

With that decided, Yellow gave another nod to herself and began her exit with the others following her. “Oh, and thanks for the save with the hall pass. I think you and I will get along just fine.”

When they were gone, Peridot had to bring a hand up to rest on her chest, unable to belive what had just happened. She’d talked to a Pearl. Not only that, but she’d be spending after school with the Pearls. This was… this was a dream come true for so many students.

She was wrong, miracles do come by walking through bathroom doors.

[lydiawhinesaboutfanfiction]

Lords of the Sea

@tuxedo-rabbit is to thank/blame for this

Summary:  Hawke and Isabela are bored without a ship to sail, and the news from Ferelden is as ridiculous as always.

(modern AU, featuring Isabela/f!Hawke, and some minor Alistair/f!Tabris)

Read on AO3 here

The TV in their crappy motel room was turned on to a press conference the king of Ferelden was holding. Hawke, sitting on the floor in front of it, turned it up, half out of national pride, half because most of what came out of the guy's mouth was absolutely hilarious.

“For my latest decree, I, uh, decree, I guess, that all dogs are sovereign citizens of Ferelden,” he announced, looking straight at one random reporter, because he clearly still hadn't managed the art of talking to crowds.

Isabela, hanging upside down off the bed, squinted at the screen. “What?”

“When you say all dogs,” one reporter began, “do you mean just Fereldan dogs? And is there a segregation by, say, breed, because mabari are obviously very intelligent, but some others--”

“All dogs,” King Alistair said firmly.

“Even...dogs in other countries, your majesty?”

The king looked vaguely confused, and struggled to keep professionalism as he answered, “I don't understand what's so difficult about the phrase 'all dogs.’”

Isabela groaned and turned off the TV. “I'm not going to watch what's probably going to be those same questions over and over for the next fifteen minutes,” she told Hawke.

“Fair,” Hawke replied.

This motel was one of many they'd stopped at after leaving (leaving, NOT fleeing, because fleeing implied they weren't welcome, and that they couldn't come back whenever they wanted, both of which were obviously untrue) Kirkwall, and while sneaking around the Free Marches had been fun in the beginning, the monotony of it all was driving Hawke and Isabela insane. They'd already played FMK about their friends about six hundred times and come up with justifications for every choice in every combination and what was there to do after that? Nothing, was Isabela’s thought, except put their ideas into practice.

(“We're not going to kill Anders, Bela. At least not while he's still making us hangover potions.”

“Ugh, fine.”)

So here they were, so bored that not even the king of Ferelden’s ridiculous ideas about governing a country could faze them.

“That guy ever text you back about his boat?” Hawke asked, leaning back against the bed so her head was next to Isabela's.

Isabela scowled. “No. Back to square one, then!”

“We could…” But Hawke couldn't think of anything. “Shit.”

“Hmm.”

Hawke turned the TV back on.

“--does this mean human citizens can no longer own dogs, because they too will be citizens?”

“Will dogs get more or less rights than say, elves, or dwarves? Or mages?”

“Does this mean dogs will be able to vote in local elections? How will that work?”

“Okay! Press conference over,” said the king's press secretary, a man called Nathaniel Howe who had formerly been a soldier under the Queen's command. He ushered King Alistair, who was still trying to yell out things like “if all dogs go to heaven why can't they own themselves?”, back into the castle.

“Your country is a shitshow,” Isabela said dryly.

“Guess Champion of Kirkwoof is a Fereldan citizen now. What a good boy.” The dog's original name was Hawke, because Hawke (the original) had never been good at names, but he had accepted the change with all the grace a mabari could muster.

(The combination of a lack of naming creativity and her childhood obsession with showing ownership over everything had led to her parents being Mom and Dad Hawke, Carver and Bethany being Little Brother and Sister Hawke, and various inanimate objects being things like Apple Tree Hawke, or Barn Hawke. Marian herself was, obviously, just Hawke.)

Champion, hearing his name, excitedly bounded over from the other side of the room and started licking his owner’s face enthusiastically. “Yes. Good boy. Down.” Champion sat back obediently.

“He looks like he wants a walk.”

“You're upside down, how can you tell?”

“Well, men and dogs--”

“Right, okay. I'll take him out. Back soon.” Hawke got up, leashed Champion, and headed out.

They couldn’t stray too far from the motel, in case they were recognized, but Champion made the most of it, spraying his scent on every car in the parking lot, and on most of the doors, too, for good measure. Hawke felt badly that he couldn’t spend more time outside, but mabari were pretty unusual out in the country, and all it would take was one curious idiot to have the templars on them to arrest them for killing Meredith--or worse, that Chantry thing Sister Nightingale was rumored to be running. They’d never be able to get out of it.

Hawke and Champion couldn’t have been gone more than twenty minutes. Half an hour, maybe. But of course, by the time they went back to the room, Isabela was gone.

Gone to see a man about a boat! her note said. Back in a few days ;P

Hawke sighed. “Not surprised. Well, boy, let’s see if there’s anything better on TV, then.”

She wasn’t surprised Isabela had left like that, leaving just a note. She would be surprised if she didn’t come back. Still, this was probably something they should talk about. Both of them hated talking about their feelings. “There’s only one time when you should ask someone how they feel about something,” Isabela said, “and that’s when you’re trying to make sure you’re not about to accidentally commit a felony through lack of communication. Assuming makes an ass out of you and me, after all. Besides, anything less than enthusiastic consent is no fun, anyway.”

Hawke just hoped this new boat wouldn’t fall through like the last dozen. It was like people didn’t want to sell their things to a known pirate. People were stupid.

After three days of catching up on Vael Abbey and Skyping Varric and Bethany about it for over two hours--Varric was doing something in Orlais, last Hawke had heard, and Bethany was following Anders around to random little villages to learn healing but to mostly make sure he didn’t commit any more acts of terrorism--Isabela returned.

“Get your boat?” Hawke asked.

Isabela closed the door behind her, and sighed. Hawke’s heart sank. Not another disappointment.

“I did!”

“You--were you trying to trick me just now?” Hawke jumped off the bed and hugged Isabela.

“The look on your face was hysterical. God, and I thought I hated being cooped up like this the most. I guess I was never alone for it.”

“It’s not so bad. You’ve missed quite an interesting news cycle.”

Isabela rolled her eyes. “Your king and the dogs?”

Hawke summed up the last few days of politics for Isabela.

(“This just in,” the FNN anchor said while Hawke did some stretches in front of the television, two days previous, “Prime Minister Anora Mac Tir has released a statement regarding the king’s decree yesterday granting all dogs citizenship. The statement reads: As of this time, our offices have received no documentation requesting such a decree. We would like to remind King Theirin that Ferelden is a constitutional monarchy, and as such he cannot just say things and have them magically become law.”

Then, the next day, just as Hawke’s pizza was arriving, an emergency press conference by the extremely elusive queen of Ferelden, an elf woman named Kallian, was held. “So, I bet Alistair he wouldn’t actually say the dog decree thing, and he said he totally would, and so I said, there’s no way you’ll make it through a full press conference about that with a straight face. So he said, okay but if I do, you have to take a week off work. It was a deal, so, I guess this is just me saying, no, dogs aren’t citizens, although I think they should be, and I guess starting tomorrow I’m taking a week off work. Alistair is very excited--he has a whole cheese tasting thing planned, and some other stuff. Anyway. Press conference over.” Later, the queen tweeted, “people have been asking what i was going to get if i won: it was the password to the official king of ferelden twitter account,” the idea of which quickly became a meme.)

“So how did you get the ship?”

“Well, while you were out, that guy texted me saying his last buyer fell through, so I should come look at it. It’s not the best I’ve ever seen, but it sails, and I’ve already started putting out feelers for a crew. I probably should have stayed to tell you where I was going, but I was just too excited.” She still looked more excited than sorry, but that was the closest to an apology Hawke was probably going to get, so she was forgiven.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go see it. I can check us out.”

It was a two hour drive to the coast, but it took them about an hour and ten minutes. Isabela’s new ship was docked at a small port, and she actually made Hawke close her eyes when they got there to preserve the surprise.

“Tada! Open them.” Hawke opened her eyes, and looked up at the ship.

It wasn’t as big as the one she’d taken with her mother, Carver, and Bethany when they were fleeing the Blight, and it was ugly as sin, but it was Isabela’s, so she smiled. “It’s--”

What the hell was that written on the side?

“Marian? Isabela!”

Isabela laughed so hard she doubled over. “God! I didn’t even know it was called that until I arrived, but isn’t that the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen?”

“You cannot have a ship named after me!”

“Who says it’s named after you? I think it’s named after the previous owner’s grandmother--ow! Okay, we’ll repaint it, it’ll be the Bethany-- OW! Hawke! Stop smacking my shoulder.”

“I am very happy for you,” Hawke said, through gritted teeth, “even if this is a stupid coincidence.”

“I would prefer to call it fate, but sure, that works too.”

“Well, come on then. Let’s go christen your captain’s quarters.”

And aboard the Marian Bethany Siren’s Call 2, the two of them lived happily ever after.