#Marianne ( loved ones )

[cannibalavanti]

fate is evil, fate is kind

[whaliiwatching]

her throne is his lap

[thelovelesslesbian]

this is bravery

[wexhappyxfew]

stray bullets

(a/n): it's been a long time coming, but.....i am beyond excited to share this piece. focused on some early days with kennedy x bucky, i wanted to dig into kennedy and her character (and her fun internal monologue) and introduce exactly how she's connected with bucky - because let's be honest, even she doesn't know how it happened. please enjoy!! :D (also...it's a bit of a long one - i was having some fun haha!)

The silence around the interrogation table was enough to mess with any person's head; whether they were the command pilot, like Lieutenant Bradshaw, or a tail gunner, like Marianne Salinger, they all seemed to sit in reserved quietness as they festered in the happenings of just an hour ago.

Sweat trickled down the sides of her face as she leaned against the wooden table, picking at pieces that were peeling up, trying to keep her eyes away from the maps sprawled out, and that big leather-jacket notebook where Bessie kept all her notes, coordinates and documentation for what planes had gone down - when and where. The other tables were much more lively - louder, chatty, a bit of yelling even. The Silver Bullets table was quiet, and they were all sure it had to do with the notable lack of their flight engineer, who was currently at the Med-Bay, bloodied and unconscious.

Margie Harlowe was on all of their minds it seemed.

And the thought of having to recount the events leading up to that point, made Kennedy want to vomit. The hit had come just as they were on the 90 degree turn to get the bombs ready to drop. Achterberg had taken control of the plane, with Bradshaw and Montez working to guide the B-17 swiftly to the side, as the onslaught of flak and bullets sprayed from the German fighters swinging around above them.

Kennedy remembered the yelp and anguished cry of pain that had come from her headset, the blood-curdling scream for help that had Kennedy forgetting about her .50 cal and racing towards where the top turret was. She couldn't get that look on Margie's face out of her mind; sobbing, horrified, the blood covering half her face, Stagliano trying to calm Margie down the best she could, while waving off the sad excuse of help that Kennedy had been. Freezing up like that, what was she thinking?

"Sergeant Farley." Kennedy's head snapped up - she didn't realize she'd blanked out, staring at the dried blood on her hands, shoved up underneath her fingernails, and had her name being called all at once. She met the eyes of the interrogator and swallowed.

"Lieutenant Bradshaw said you were there when you got Sergeant Harlowe out of the top turret." the interrogator started, "Can you recount that for me?" Kennedy stared at him, suddenly feeling the eyes of everyone at the table and some of the surrounding upper brass, on her.

Colonel Harding had stood in the background, hand nervously resting on his upper lip, eyes masked in worry as the group had come in - it seemed whenever something happened to Silver Bullets, he was always at interrogation, especially their table. Making sure wrongs were righted and that whatever was going on, was fixed. He looked out for them.

"I was, sir," Kennedy managed out, shifting a bit, as more sweat dripped down her face, briefly catching the worried look from Judy just a few people down. Her eyes caught on Vivian's gaze opposite her own. She then found Francis watching her, and tried to avoid her emotions that she felt as she noted the ones in their co-pilot's own. The only thing keeping her steady was Lieutenant Bradshaw's presence beside her.

In some innate way, having Lieutenant Bradshaw there kept her from losing it.

"It was quick," Kennedy said, "I figured flak or….something from one of the fighters. German fighters. Bullet spray." Kennedy saw Paulina nod her on encouragingly.

"Sergeant Ratcliff was manning her post….so, I went to Sergeant Harlowe," Kennedy said, her eyes filling with tears, her voice breaking, "I got her out of there. As quick as I could. I…I laid her down. There was blood…..everywhere…." Kennedy trailed off. She was staring at her hands again, covered in blood. Margie's blood.

"I was able to stop the bleeding from both the side of her face and her shoulder. Took what bandage was there and wrapped her shoulder. Set it in a splint." Paulina said quickly, her words firm and much more logically-backed and confident than Kennedy's would ever be, "I ensured that there weren't blocked airways and she could breathe. It was a joint effort, Sergeant Farley and I, to ensure her safety." Kennedy looked to Paulina and gave her a slow nod of thanks, to which Paulina nodded back. Because that's what they did for each other; having each other's backs like this.

"Alright," the interrogator said, making a few extra notes before clearing his throat and looking towards Lieutenant Bradshaw, who was sat there stoic and quiet, "we lost Browning and Alder. How many chutes….?"

Kennedy watched in a reeling bit of slow motion as Judy sat there and recounted the number of chutes she had seen, Marianne and Francis chiming in with their own recounts and visuals. How many more chutes would they have to count, planes going down all around, before this would be over? Before this nightmare would end?

Kennedy looked to the empty chair where Margie would've sat and felt her heart sag and her throat tighten with emotion she had been forcing herself not to feel. It was eerily similar to when Captain Faulkner had taken the hit. When she had died. They still had sat around this stupid interrogation table, having to talk about that mission, about what had happened, with Captain Faulkner's chair left open, her presence highly gone. They all remembered that. It hurt.

Whether it was the fact she was sat at that table, or was used to a constant presence of eyes, she glanced upwards and found, from the middle opening space where some of the brass would linger in times like this, Major Egan watching her, his hands placed on his hips, and his eyes seeking out her own.

Kennedy had never been wrapped up in any sort of long-winded conversation with Major Egan - their differences in rank and formalities were already a larger factor than needed when it came to talking to him and she didn't want to incite any sort of inappropriate ideas past that. They'd debated about baseball a few times - her, a raging Red Sox fan, him a stupid Yankees fan - and they'd even had a few conversations that were outside that realm. But it was never anything much more than that. And she intended to keep it that way. Yet, something in his gaze made her not want to look away from his face, from his eyes, from his presence stood there in the center of the room.

"Sergeant Farley?" She snapped her head away from his eyes and back to the table - many of which of the Silver Bullets girls were currently watching Kennedy with sorrowful and worried expressions, while Lieutenant Bradshaw eyed her curiously.

"Sorry?"

"The number of chutes from Browning. That you saw?" the interrogator asked. Kennedy righted herself and straightened her back.

"Right."

When they were dismissed, after Kennedy had been sat, blanked out for a greater portion of her time there in the seat, Lieutenant Bradshaw had caught her before she could run away, pulling her to the side, with a warm hand on her shoulder and a soft look in her eyes.

"You should go visit her," Annie said quietly, "I can tell by the look in your eye that you won't change out of these clothes or eat until you do." Lieutenant Annie Bradshaw did know her rather well in that sense.

"Yes, ma'am, I will," Kennedy said firmly, reaching up to wipe at the beads of sweat still trickling down her face - whether from the stress still circulating her body or the idea of Margie there on a cot, unconscious, she wasn't sure, "you do the same." Annie watched her with a smile before reaching up to squeeze her shoulder.

"I will, Farley," she said, before patting her shoulder, "and wash up. A few of the girls were planning on heading to the flying club tonight. Destress and all." Kennedy smiled softly and nodded.

"Will do." she said and Annie smiled before turning and heading off - leave it to Lieutenant Annie Bradshaw to instill what comfort they all needed after something like that. Birdie used to do much of the same - Annie even had the same look in her eye as Birdie usually did after a mission. Kennedy smiled slightly.

"Sergeant Farley." The achingly familiar voice struck her system and she turned to her left to find Major Egan walking towards her, as she watched him approach with that slow, even and swaggering gait, his crusher cap a bit lopsided on his head, sweat dropping down the sides of his face, as he wore that stupid, beige sheepskin jacket that she had offhandedly made fun of him for that one time (and proceeded to rub in her face ever since).

"Sir." she said, saluting him quickly as he came to a stop in front of her and shook his head, reaching up to bring her arm down from the position she'd taken up.

"Nah, nah, don't worry about that bullshit," he said and she raised her brows, "Harlowe. Sergeant Harlowe - is she good? Is she alright?" Kennedy stared at him, her heart pulsating inside her chest in a way that made her unable to get her breathing entirely under control. She watched him, tilting her head to the side and then managed to find her footing.

"Not entirely, but she's alive," she said firmly, with a nod, "flak hit up top. Or….stray bullets. Either way, she was hit and knocked out. But she's fine now." Kennedy watched him as she spoke, his eyes refusing to leave her own as he stared down at her, his larger-than-life presence soaking up every part of the view in front of her, the worry in his eyes, covered with that joking nature a slight surprise and the deep breaths he was taking enough to make her fail at controlling her own.

"And yourself?" he asked her, the corner of his lips poking upwards, a smile fighting to be on his face.

"Me? Sir, I, uh, I'm fine," she said quickly, sputtering a bit like a small child, "I'm fine seriously-"

"Good, good," he said quickly - they were pretty quick with whatever they seemed to be talking about here, "just…..when the planes came back and Harding said something about Silver Bullets taking a hit, I thought…..thought the whole goddamn plane had gone down from the way he was fucking talking so." She stared at him. He stopped talking and then stared at her, before running a hand over his face and nodding to her. She stared back at him, unsure of what to say.

For probably the first time in a long time, looking at him, she did not know what to say. This panicked approach to this sudden stillness and quiet. There were voices all around them, nurses bustling about with medics and doctors, and pilots with their crews meandering away from interrogation like limp horses, dragging gear that was nothing but a pile of garbage behind them. And the smells - like gasoline, smoke and death wafted through the air, enough to make a person want to vomit. She needed to go see Margie, and she was beyond sure that Major Egan had somewhere better to be as well. Kennedy wanted to move her feet, but she couldn't. No part of her was moving or even ready to move. Major Egan was stock-still in front of her as well.

"Is there….something else, uh, sir?" Kennedy didn't know what to do with Major Egan sometimes - call him sir, but he told her not to bother? Call him sir because he was the one who held rank? Major Egan continued to watch her and then ran a hand down his slightly sweaty face and shook his head.

"No." he said quickly, firmly, "You should get a check on Sergeant Harlowe. Make sure she's alright when she wakes up." If she wakes up, Kennedy thought, but that sour idea in her mind disappeared as Major Egan nodded to her. She stared at him for a moment longer, before she slowly nodded to him, turning away from him. She took a few steps before she could hear his footsteps and feel the placement of his hand wrapped around her elbow.

"Farley," he said, his voice quieter, as she stopped her paces and turned, her eyes searching his own as she looked at him, "seriously, you alright?" She stared at him, slightly surprised at the way his voice had grown softer, his eyes less vibrant than normal.

"Yes," she told him, but as he tilted his head towards her, she felt her heart race a bit faster than normal and couldn't help but take a shaky step back from him, "it was just a lot today that's all. But it's a lot every day. Nothing new. Can't complain." Major Egan watched her, like he was trying to diagnose whatever the fuck was currently wrong with her, acting like she didn't just watch their flight engineer and closest companion almost die.

"You like the jacket?" he asked her quietly, and it didn't take long for what stress she had in her mind and heart to roll back into that violent ocean crawl of waves and a small laugh to leave her lips.

"Is that why you came waltzing over here?" she asked him, her voice low, as she crossed her arms, "Because if that's all this was about, I'm just going to head to the Med-Bay now." Major Egan let out a dry chuckle and looked to her.

"And if I told you it was?"

"I would happily discard that jacket for you, even start a bonfire." she said, "We could get real fancy." She stared at him. "It looks ridiculous."

"You sure about that?" he said, popping up the collar, which made her roll her eyes, "I think it fits me pretty well."

"I would beg to differ," she said, "seriously, an A-2 would do you one better."

"You going sweet on me, Farley?"

"Since when did that idea get into your head?"

"You like me in my A-2, admit it."

"It would look better than that shitty thing."

"C'mon, Farley, don't leave me hangin' now." She raised a brow at him as she crossed her arms across her chest and smirked his way.

"Goodbye, John." she said, with a grin, turning away, only to have him placing his hand on her shoulder and turning her back around. She looked up at him.

"For someone so hellbent on making his rounds, you sure seem to like hanging around me." she said quietly, with a small smile, watching as his eyes seemed to twinkle in the hazy afternoon sunlight.

"Consider it a compliment." he offered her.

"A compliment?" she said with a small smile, "Didn't know you handed those out. And for free?"

"Farley…." he said with a slight groan in his voice that made her laugh as she reached forward and nudged his shoulder.

"It's okay to admit that, Margie says I'm a grand friend to have anyway," she said, watching his gaze soften at her, "it means a lot, truly."

"Friend's a word." he said with a shrug, his face tensing up slightly as she stared at him.

"Yeah." she said, with a nod, "And so is goodbye." He stared at her and she smiled up at him.

"I'm only kidding," she said, before her face fell a bit, "seriously, you okay? You weren't even on the mission and you look seriously fucked up." Kennedy had hoped that keeping up with this banter, this light-hearted, dare she call it flirting, maybe would lift his worrisome and lonely spirits, but he seemed drawn into himself and concave again and she wasn't sure what more to say.

Hey, even going as far to compliment his physique's correlation to an A-2 was pretty nice of her!

And something she wasn't actually lying about - not like she had spent too long staring at his broad shoulders over breakfast the other day (but no one except her knew).

"Didn't know you handed out compliments with a side of self-degradation, now huh?" he said and she let out a scoff and crossed her arms to look at him again.

"Seriously, John, what's wrong?"

"You can call me, Bucky, remember?"

"John."

"Nothing's wrong. Nothing, just…." he looked around, that lazy smile on his face, and looked back at her, hands rested on those hips of his again and looked to her, "does anything have to be wrong when I come to talk to you?"

"Usually there is something wrong."

"Kennedy-"

"Alright, look," she said, "if you don't budge, I'm gonna head to the Med-Bay, check in on Margie." She was playing her emotions really well, so well she had almost forgotten the mission altogether.

"So, you gonna tell me what's wrong, or am I going to have to decode it from you myself? Beg on my hands and knees? Don't make me look that pathetic." Major Egan watched her with a slight smirk and she shoved his shoulder again.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"Like whattt?" he said as she rolled her eyes with a laugh, "Oh, c'mon, Kennedy, I'm supposed to hear that Silver Bullets took a hit and not think about you?"

Kennedy's smile dropped and it seemed the realization hit Major Egan at the same time and for a moment, they were just standing there, staring at each other like deer in headlights. She couldn't look away from his eyes, because for the first time there was something more than besides his usually flirty, joking self. Hell, that was just how he normally was - no stake in the ground with a soul, moving with the wind, taking him where the Lord put him, all that bullshit. For a second, she almost thought she wasn't hearing him straight and was going to leave it at that. But no, he'd said that and she was sure her face matched the color of her dirtied ginger hair and her strawberry-blonde ends.

"Egan!" The two turned from each other, in what had been a…rather intense stare down and found Crank coming towards him, "Harding needs us!"

"Give me a fucking second, Crank! I'm talking here!" Major Egan yelled back before turning to her and gulping, before parting his lips as if to speak. She stared at him still, unable to find the words that would amount to much of anything.

"Don't give me lip, Bucky - look, we gotta go!" Major Egan turned.

"Just a minute, Crank, seriously." Major Egan called out before turning to her still stood there.

"You really should go." she finally said, her voice somewhat hoarse as she did so, like she couldn't get the words out right, "Colonel Harding-"

"I don't care what Harding thinks right now," he said firmly looking at her, "look, Farley, I-"

"It's fine." she said quickly, plastering on a smile quickly and a nod, "I'm fine." Major Egan looked far from convinced in that moment. Because she wasn't convinced herself.

He had heard Silver Bullets took a hit and suspected immediately it was her?

That's why he had looked at her like that?

In interrogation?

She wasn't much to him, so she thought, at least - what…the few conversations they'd share? She'd practically egged him on into conversations about baseball where it was less of a discussion and more of a debate. If anything, he should've heard Silver Bullets and suspected about Annie or Francis.

"Go on," she said, shoving down her feelings and emotions, offering a small smile, "Colonel Harding sounds like he really needs to talk to you. Plus, if you must continue to talk about your stupid sheepskin, I'll be at the flying club later. Maybe I'll even beat you in darts. Again." Major Egan stared at her, for the first time, a little wordless and nodded.

"Kennedy, I-"

"It's fine." she said, convincing herself the very same - if she acted like she didn't hear it from his lips, then it never happened. He never said those words, never looked at her like that, never even bothered to tell her he was worried about her after hearing about Silver Bullets getting hit. If she ignored it, it wasn't what had happened.

And it was better that way.

"Bucky-"

"A second, Crank, please!" Major Egan yelled over his shoulder again, before looking at her and sighing, jabbing a thumb behind him.

"I gotta…." he started, his words fading as he managed a weak smile at her.

"Yeah, yeah," she said quickly, with a nod, and a forced smile.

"Let me know how Harlowe is…?"

"I will." she said as he began to backpedal backwards, his eyes holding hers still. Then, she watched Crank come up to Major Egan's shoulder and spin him around before pointing and frantically talking. Then they were walking away and disappeared. Kennedy stood there like the wind had just been taken out of her sail. Why'd she act like that?

"Hey! Kenny!" Kennedy turned and found Judy coming up to her, with Bessie and Carrie behind her, splitting a few cookies in their hands, "Here you are. We thought we couldn't find you." Kennedy stared at Judy, who came up beside her, with bright eyes, before looking to Bessie and Carrie, who shared a look before looking at Kennedy.

"You alright, Farley?" Bessie asked her, glancing in the general direction of where Major Egan had wandered off to, "What'd Bucky want?" Kennedy snapped into her usual collected self (which took far more effort today than usual) and ran a hand over her hair, cringing at bit at the smell of oil and grease that followed - which undoubtedly Major Egan had smelled - and sighed.

"Heard about Margie." she said firmly, cooly, kind of quick at that, like she couldn't get the words out fast enough to cover her ass, "He knows we're close and wanted to check in. Make sure things were okay."

"Always sticking his nose into all our bullshit," Carrie muttered, crunching off a piece of the sugar cookie and shaking her head, "you know I heard the other day he was trying to ask Bradshaw for a tour of Silver Bullets. Next thing you know, I'm tearing into him, telling him he touches my area, my shit, it's over for him-"

"He just wanted to make sure she was okay, Bergie," Kennedy said with a shrug, "guess it just gets old, hearing about losing people. Over and over."

"Especially someone from Silver Bullets." Judy finished for her, "Bucky's always been sweet as peaches to me, anyway. It's mighty kind of him to come and check up on you. Knowing how close you two are. He's got an awful soft-spot for Silver Bullets."

"Some soft spot." Carrie said with a slight chuckle and smirk, glancing at Kennedy, who rolled her eyes, ignoring the looks, and glanced back to the direction of where Major Egan had gone.

"Let's go to the Med-Bay," Judy said, "I'm sure Margie would want to see us when she wakes."

"What this face?" Carrie said, "We all look like sorry excuses for circus clowns."

"At least a little flak never scared off that charisma, Bergie." Bessie said as she wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and the whole group burst into chuckles as they headed towards the Med-Bay, sharing cookies and smiles.

But all that was on her mind, until the hit the Med-Bay doors was that Major Egan had thought of her, when Silver Bullets was said to have gotten a nasty hit.

Her.

[silent-shanin]

Making accessories even for your beast gf

[appendectomy]

I jest about loumand failmarriage but I do actually really appreciate that amc iwtv gave them some genuinely sweet and romantic scenes that make you understand why they were drawn to eachother. lesser shows wouldve treated this pairing as an obstacle to loustat and made it shallow and demonised armand especially bc of this, not giving him or louis an ounce of compelling history to make sure the audience never strays from the loustat 'endgame'. instead, the iwtv writers treated both parties in that relationship with nuance and used it as an opportunity to expand upon their characters which I really really appreciate. they let you find substance and interest in all the relationships in the show, not just the ones that are intended to be the 'final' pairings.

[thecluelessdoctor]

It's time for my annual day of thinking about that one really weird jukebox musical made by Disney and lucasfilms that I hate and adore with every fiber of my being. I hate it because it's a jukebox musical and half the characters are the worst things ever and the writing is really bad alot of the time and I love it because the relationship between the main two characters is the GREATEST ENEMIES TO LOVERS I HAVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME and it's a straight couple and it's not cringe (or it's good cringe idk) AND I can cut the tension when they are flirting with a knife and it's funny

...this post is about Strange Magic by the way. It's amazing and terrible all at once and I need to talk about it at some point because I've been thinking about it again

[fistfuloflightning]

A surprise visit

Day 14: Pianoforte for @janeuary-month, an au where Edward fell for Marianne instead

[sieglinde-freud]

i miss claude so badly im already planning my golden deer maddening run while still in the middle of black eagles. i just want my guy. my favorite guy. unfortunately i just love the black eagles as a group/cast but i am mourning my man (i never kill him btw)

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

And as a side note it is fascinating to me how Austen consistently says if someone has completely impeccable social graces they are probably hiding something. I don't have an interpretation of this, I just think it's neat.

[asherlockstudy]

So we know Marianne Faithful always said her best sex was with Keith and Anita freaking Pallenberg said her first night with Keith was a revelation to her?!?!?! Got it. My insticts once again do not betray me

[haynahkho]

and when i close my eyes (i see her ghost)

characters: hilda and marianne (fire emblem fates)

pairing: marianne/hilda (f/f)

wc: ~6.8k

In the midst of war, two hearts entwined in a past filled with unspoken love find themselves on opposite sides of a devastating conflict.

[bi-leth-eisner]

it's my job to make sure that each character I come across who, by all means deserve every last bit of kindness and warmth after all they've been through and yet, as they're drowning in love, can only hurt in all areas: deep down in their heart, in the back of their mind, and on the surface, because they feel like they deserve none of it, feel adequately loved without it feeling wrong or undeserved

[babsi-and-stella]

Marianne Faithfull as one of the guests at Abbey Road Studios for the 'Our World' live television broadcast, 25 June 1967.

[wexhappyxfew]

hi shannon! i saw you were taking prompts and i knew i HAD to ask for bessie! can i ask for "i wouldn't miss it for anything" from the random dialouge prompts for her? excited to see what you come up with!

HEY BLU!!!! thanks so much for stopping by! :) let's just say i had a LOT of fun with this prompt and got to play with a few OCs i haven't introduced in writing yet - so, please enjoy our resident navigator of Silver Bullets, bessie carlisle, with judy rybinski and a guest appearance from marianne salinger! please enjoy and thank you again!

______________________________________________________________

introductions and pleasantries

"Has Tommy written you?" Judy asked quietly from beside her against one of the walls inside the flying club, nudging her shoulder with that small smile of hers, "Any news from the Pacific?" Bessie grinned and pulled the letter from her pocket.

"That and some newspaper cutouts of the 100th that he's been seeing," Bessie said pushing some hair behind her ears, "a real sweetheart, truly, my Tommy." Judy giggled and looked through the cutouts and glanced at Bessie.

"He popped the question yet?" Bessie glanced at Judy before smiling slightly and crossing her arms.

"He's hinted….through his letters. When I see you again…..my Ma's house….back porch looks beautiful in the summer….I'll get you flowers the second we're home and a nice dinner….Mr. Thomas McKenzie isn't smooth when it comes to covering up his intentions in the sweetest way possible." Bessie said with a chuckle and Judy giggled again.

"Please tell me I can attend the wedding." Judy said, gripping Bessie's arm gently with a soft squeeze, "I'll make my Mom's lemon and blueberry scones for the bridal shower."

"Awe, Judy," Bessie said with a grin, "of course you'd be there, dressed in a beautiful blue dress no doubt. One that matches your eyes. All the girls." Judy grinned - she always looked happiest with the women of Silver Bullets. Her smile looked best glazed on her face with joy.

"I wouldn't miss it for anything, you know that." Judy said, looping an arm through Bessie's, "And you two are going to have a wonderful family, and a cute little home, and you'll be the best geography teacher Queens has ever seen."

"Thanks, Judy." Bessie whispered and Judy watched her, genuinely and deeply, her eyes peaking out from behind her long eyelashes and bright, blue eyes.

Judy, young as she was, was by far one of the most genuine people one would ever meet. Attentive, kind, considerate, as well as someone with incredibly good aim (but you wouldn't guess that about her from first meeting), Judy was like Bessie's little sister in some ways. An incredibly good friend, listener, and tagged along with every opportunity - beers, darts, dancing - she was there.

"Good evening, ladies," both Bessie and Judy looked up and over and found the newest replacement pilot - Lieutenant Robert Rosenthal - stood there, perfectly gelled and curled hair, a soft look in his eyes, a slight smile on his face, and his peak cap tucked under his arm, "I don't mean to interrupt." Bessie watched the Lieutenant; she'd never spoken to him, but Annie had come back from a meeting with Operations, mentioning that she'd had a run-in with a new Lieutenant, Robert Rosenthal, and that he'd been real sweet, a calm presence, and had flown B-17s in Texas in his skivvies. Bessie smiled. Quite the combination.

"Not at all," Bessie said, with a wide smile growing on her face, "what can we do for you?" Lieutenant Rosenthal smiled and nodded and stuck out a hand.

"Robert Rosenthal, I just wanted to introduce myself to all the women a part of Silver Bullets," he said, and Bessie shook his hand firmly, "I met Lieutenant Bradshaw and she advised for it and said you'd all be here, and I wanted to follow through with that."

"Bessie Carlisle, I'm the navigator." she said, before glancing at Judy and almost chuckling at her face. Judy - sweet, innocent, Judy Rybinski, was stood, bright-red in the face, a nervous smile on her lips, watching Lieutenant Rosenthal, staring up at him like she suddenly didn't know how to speak. Bessie nudged her ribs.

"Judy Rybinski, sir," Judy said, sticking out a hand, "turret-ball gunner. Pleasure to meet you." Bessie watched Lieutenant Rosenthal shake her hand, a small smile on his face as he nodded, before readjusting his gaze to the two of them.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you both," he said, "Lieutenant Bradshaw discussed with me the previous happenings of Silver Bullets and her position as well….I'm sorry about Captain Faulkner." Bessie watched Lieutenant Rosenthal, feeling Judy's tightening grip on her arm an evident signal that Judy's emotions about Captain Faulkner were still as prominent as the day it had happened.

The day Francis had called over the comms that Birdie had died on impact, that she, Francis herself, was taking control of the fort, that she was going to make sure they'd make it all back, safely. Bessie remembered Judy coming up and out of the ball turret, eyes red, stumbling as she tried to control herself, curled up in her cot thereafter, struggling to get out of bed. It was their first real loss and ultimately the most devastating. It wasn't like they'd gone down and she was MIA; she was gone, she was dead.

"She was one of the best pilots I'd ever met," Bessie said, "thank you though, Lieutenant Rosenthal." Lieutenant Rosenthal nodded and then looked towards Judy. Bessie took a willing glance at Judy and saw her, a few drips of tears in her eyes being fought back in her vision and she nodded.

"Yes, sir, one of the best," Judy offered.

"I'm sorry," Lieutenant Rosenthal said quickly, "I didn't mean to upset you both, just that I recognize how important she was to the 100th-"

"No, no," Bessie said quickly, placing a hand on his arm and shaking her head, "not at all, she was the best, but really, don't worry, it's okay." Lieutenant Rosenthal smiled and nodded and then glanced towards Judy again.

"Can I buy you both something?" he asked them. Bessie knew Judy had a nearly entirely filled beer in her hand and that Bessie's was almost out, so she cleared her throat and nodded.

"Yeah, Judy here could use a refill, I'm pretty filled though still with my beer, thank you though, Lieutenant." she said with a nod and glanced at Judy who was staring at Bessie with wide eyes.

"Let me get you something," Lieutenant Rosenthal said to Judy and Bessie watched as Judy swallowed and stood up a bit straighter and nodded.

"Thank you, sir, I'd appreciate it." Judy said, nervously tucking her dark brown strands of hair behind her ears that had fallen from her curls, "You really don't have to though, sir, I was thinking of taking the rest of the night in." Lieutenant Rosenthal smiled - he had an incredibly nice smile - and glanced back at the bar and then back towards Judy.

"You sure?" he asked her, a smile playing at the corners of his lips. Judy watched him for a moment before a nervous smile grew on her face.

"Maybe just one drink then, sir," she said, her cheeks glowing red, before glancing towards Bessie, "I'll be back in a bit, Bes, don't wait up for me." Bessie grinned and watched as Judy stepped forward and waded beside Lieutenant Rosenthal towards the other part of the bar, a smile riding on her face, far and wide. Bessie couldn't remember the last time Judy had let herself as loose as she seemed to be tonight. She deserved to relax a bit, especially with how the last few months had been for her.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lieutenant Carlisle," Lieutenant Rosenthal said with a wave over his shoulder and Judy shot her a grin. Bessie nodded with a smile.

"Who's that?" a voice asked, appearing beside Bessie in record fashion - she glanced over and found Marianne Salinger, resident tail gunner of Silver Bullets, with her orange cat, Frank, curled in her arms, a slight smile dancing on her face as she watched Judy stand at the bar next to Lieutenant Rosenthal, the widest smile spread on her cheeks.

"Lieutenant Robert Rosenthal, you heard anything about him?" Bessie asked her. Marianne shrugged her shoulders and glanced towards Bessie.

"Flew planes in skivvies, that's about it. Likes Artie Shaw, taps his fingers a lot." Marianne said quietly, ever-observant as she was, "Seems like a nice crew, don't know much else though." Bessie smirked and glanced over back towards Judy and found her rather excitedly talking to Lieutenant Rosenthal - Judy was very enthusiastic about a select few things and that usually involved intense hand-waving and apt descriptions and Bessie could tell the girl was in her element. And Lieutenant Rosenthal, ever the enthralled and attentive person he appeared to be, was listening intently and deeply, his eyes seemingly refusing to leave her face.

"Judy looks happy and I think that's all that matters," Marianne said with a smile, lifting up the fat, orange cat, "and we'll let Frank here get the final word, but at the minute, if she's happy, I'm happy." Bessie reached forward and scratched behind Frank's ears, the cat purring slightly and the touch before she noticed the slight tear in his ear.

"What happened to Frank here?" Bessie asked and Marianne rolled her eyes and glanced towards where DeMarco was with Meatball.

"Meatball was bothering Frank, and so Frank, as he should, not putting up with his bullshit, fought back and well, his poor little ear got the brunt of it," Marianne said, "I was up Benny's ass about letting Meatball all about - you know it killed one of the neighbors' chickens? I told Benny to get a grip on his dog or else there'd be issues." Bessie let out a laugh and shook her head and Marianne sighed.

"Major Cleven had to go pay the poor son-of-a-bitch because Meatball killed the thing," Marianne grumbled, "I mean, Frank's one of the most chaotic cats I've ever gotten the pleasure of holding, but he's not going around doing that. He's just crazy when he wants, but I control him."

"You're too funny, Mar," Bessie said and watched as Marianne smirked and shook her head, "so, you want to introduce yourself to Lieutenant Rosenthal, get the pleasantries out of the way with Frank?" Marianne smirked and glanced towards the Lieutenant and Judy, before glancing at Bessie.

"Let's wait until Judy has come down for air first," Marianne said, "she's having fun. Frank can sniff him out later."

"Sounds like a plan," Bessie said.

And to top off the night - Frank really loved Lieutenant Rosenthal.

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

ah yes, she's concerned about the aggressor and attacker who was invading them six months ago. something is wrong with the empire right now, poor edelgard; whatever could've happened to her? :(

like... what. why do you care about what's going on with her specifically when she's the person who made the decision to invade leicester? does the whole war just mean nothing to marianne? it's just totally fine that all those people died in a war edelgard started? poor edelgard, something happened to her after she started her attack? you're concerned about the leader who gave the order to attack your home?

hopes has stupid lines but this one is top tier of the top tier and just an excuse for more edelgardjerking from the writers.