#ninerlina

[autisticblueteam]

Show Off (Ninerlina)

[AO3] [Ko-Fi in Bio]

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 1037

Summary: Carolina can be a little bit of a show-off, when you let her and Niner is a bit of an enabler.

Notes: Second fic for @rvbfemslash february, essentially just a bit of fluff with no plot with a pairing I haven't played with yet.

“Anyone ever tell you you’re a bit of an adrenaline junkie?”

Carolina dismounted the ceiling with a distinct thunk and stuck the landing—Niner was surprised she didn’t do the whole arms up thing, y’know, seeing as the woman moved like a trained gymnast. Hell, she could have been a trained gymnast, for all she knew. These Freelancers came in all shapes and sizes and Carolina made up at least half of those shapes and sizes all on her own.

The amount of talents that woman had—quite frankly it was ridiculous. Someone had too much time on their hands as a kid.

Carolina pulled off her helmet and shook out her hair, tufts sticking up out of a waterfall of red that had come loose from her ponytail. The helmet hair really added a note of exhilaration to the whole look as she grinned through to the cockpit, eyes bright and alive. “What would ever give anyone that idea?”

“You can’t see it, cause I’m wearing this helmet, but I’m rolling my eyes at you right now, Lina. Rolling my eyes.”

“Shouldn’t your eyes be on the sky?” Carolina teased dryly, combing wayward strands from her face.

“Shouldn’t my eyes be on the— seriously? The nerve of you people, do I look like an amateur?” Shaking her head she turned back to the front of the ship, her controls steady as ever as they made their getaway. She couldn’t quite keep the grin out of her voice, though; she knew that when Carolina laughed, coming up to the cockpit ready to claim her well-earned spot behind her. “Eyes on the sky. Honestly! You ever hear me telling you how to do your job?”

Carolina raised a brow. “You mean like you were whilst we cleared the LZ for you last week?”  

“…touché. Alright, alright, I’ll give you that one.”

“We on target for the rendezvous?” Carolina pulled up the flight data on her co-pilot screen and commenced the upload of the intel she’d retrieved from the compound.

“Of course we are. When am I ever late, huh?” Niner said, course plotted for the rendezvous and flying full speed to reach it. They’d get there with time to spare. “Now, back to the adrenaline junkie thing.”

“You’re hardly one to talk,” Carolina said, note of amusement in her voice and the lopsided smirk on her lips. “You enjoy what I do.”

“Now what context are you saying that in, because I might have to turn off the radios.”

“Both,” she chuckled, “but specifically my ‘adrenaline junkie’ stunts. You can’t honestly tell me you didn’t enjoy pulling off that roll to catch me?”

There was another thunk, Carolina hopping down from her seat as the upload ran its course. Stood, instead, behind Niner, hands on the back of her chair and her torso in the perfect place for Niner to drop her head back against. Just a little.

“Now I’m not saying that,” Niner said, bonking her armour with the back of her helmet, “I’m just saying you’re a bit of a mad woman for even attempting a completely unnecessary leap off the top of a transmission tower, just so you could do a flip of you own and land mag-locked to the ceiling of my bird.”

“I pulled it off, didn’t I?”

“You sure did. But only because yours truly is an amazing pilot who managed to catch you, otherwise you’d be a teal splat on the ground and let me tell you, babe, that’s not an attractive look.” Then, with a thoughtful shrug and a sideways nod, “Though I suppose if anyone could pull it off, it’d be you.”

Carolina chuckled. “You know I honestly can’t tell if I should be taking that as a compliment or not.”

“Eh, not my best. I’ll think up something better before I see you again later.”

“I’m seeing you later, am I?” An armoured arm looped around Niner’s shoulders and Carolina’s chin rested on the top of her head. Luckily for them both, she was more than used to the kinds of distractions Carolina brought to the cockpit—some much more… riveting, and difficult to ignore.

“Well clearly I need to get my time in whilst I can, before your show-offy habits are the death of you.”“You know, this is all very rich coming from the woman who pulls stunts on the way back from missions, whether I ask you to or not,” Carolina said, tapping the top of her helmet. Niner could practically feel the buzz that still ran through her, just with her stood so close to her. Her energetic tip-toe bouncing certainly helped, though; never could stop herself stimming after a stunt like that. Kind of adorable, not that that was something you’d necessarily say to her face.

“Never said I wasn’t a hypocrite. Now c’mon, we’re nearly at the rendezvous. Come back to the hangar at like, nine?” the bobbing chin against her head was probably a nod, “nine, and we’ll finish discussing how much of a show-off you are.”

“Oh I’ll show you how much of a show-off I can be,” Carolina said, with a kiss to the top of Niner’s helmet and a smirk in her voice. Niner took a hand of the controls long enough to give her hand a squeeze and to make a mock shooing gesture over her shoulder.

“That’s it, back to the co-pilot seat, go on. You can seduce me all you want later.”

“That a promise?”

“Lina, you’re killing me here.”

The arm around her shoulders slithered away, though not without another kiss pressed to the top of her helmet. Resuming her position in the co-pilot’s seat, Carolina re-did her ponytail and slipped her helmet back on. The data had finished uploading, so she disconnected the drive; they’d want it anyway, just in case.

“Mother of Invention, we’re inbound,” Niner said, as the shadow of the ship loomed on their horizon. Glancing back over her shoulder, she confirmed, “Nine?”

“Nine.” Carolina tilted her helmet in that way that she’d come to recognise as her smirk. “I’m holding you to that promise.”

“Technically I never agreed it was a promise.”

“When have you cared about technicalities?”

“Touché.”

[anneapocalypse]

RvB Rec Day: NinerLina Recs

You didn’t think I forgot Rec Day, did you?

Do you like NinerLina? I like Ninerlina. Here, have some.

a plane rides lonely and level by @cinaed. 9800 words, rated T. 

Fuck, she missed the Freelancers. Most of them would’ve appreciated her trick with the mines and the gallows humor. Carolina might have even asked her if near-death experiences were a turn-on with laughter in her voice.

First off, Cin is a gift to this fandom and if you’re not reading her fics, go get some. With this particular fic, I hardly know where to start talking because there is just so much to love, from Locus doing something actually useful for Chorus, to Niner’s reflections on the culture of Project Freelancer and the people she’s lost. I love Kimball and the fact that she’s allowed to still be angry; I love this conception of Megan Wu and how she comes to life. The story as a whole is really well constructed with strong setup and payoff and the reunion between Niner and Carolina at long last is utterly satisfying.

Superstar by @nogoawayok. 5000 words, rated T. 

There's a flashiness to her motion, especially in the feet, but it never crosses over into superfluity or sloppiness. Each pivot that Niner thinks is for show carries some part of Carolina's body into the next blow, and the next, and the next. She's fast, but never frantic. Fluid and fancy. Niner's so used to South's brutal functionalism and the general rawness of her combat sport of choice that it takes her a good thirty minutes of watching Carolina Church shadowbox to find the missing word. Playful. Carolina Church fights with elegant playfulness.

This fic will always be high on my list for NinerLina, RvB femslash, and modern AUs in general. The setting, a queer MMA gym run by retired fighters South and Niner is compelling on its own, but what really makes it are these characters, the delightful shape they take in this universe and the way they play off each other.

Every Boob is Special by @ialpiriel. 1200 words, rated E.

“You’re the one who started this,” Carolina says. “But fine. They’re nothing special.”

“Every boob is special,” Niner replies. “Make ‘em special in the telling.”

“Why don’t I just show you later?”

“That would require off-hours fraternization, and you’re a stick in the mud when there are rules involved.” There’s the sound of vinyl and plastic. “I still can't believe I've never seen your tits. ‘Off-hours fraternization.’ You know what I’m gonna do next time we both have a day off?”

Niner keeps Carolina’s imagination occupied over the radio during a boring mission, complete with excellent banter.

This, With You by @lydia--argent. 3400 words, rated T and E respectively.

“Don't you ever,” 479er punctuates by shoving Carolina's hips, “ever, let me think you're dead again.” She pulls away and sits at the controls before Carolina has a chance to answer. But Carolina's heart is pounding in a way it hasn't in years, and she knows in the pit of her stomach that there's only one way she's ever leaving this pelican for good again.

A two-part series, another reunion on Chorus fic and an old favorite, this one from Carolina’s POV. Fun, fantastic character voices, and hot as hell besides.

Happy Rec Day, friends, and happy reading!

Previous Rec Days

[t-auto]

Yes

Sooooo, anyone else feel like the CT/479er ship name should be Connect4?

[t-auto]

It’s adorable, and gay, and I love it!

Carolina and niner stuck in an elevator

“Mother! Fucker! God damnit!” Carolina hits the control panel with every syllable.

“So, now might be a bad time to mention this,” Niner says, “but I’ve never actually seen the whole ‘percussive maintenance’ thing work.”

“I’ll make it work,” Carolina says. The wall groans under a kick.

“Hey! How about we try to not plummet to our deaths!” Niner knows better than to grab Carolina, than to even touch her first when she’s like this. Mission gone bad, extraction totally fucked. That last one might not even be all Carolina’s fault.

Carolina whips around. Please, like Niner’s not used to shit-fit Carolina.“You got a better idea?”

“Yeah,” Niner says, taking a swaggering step forward. “Outside of mission parameters though. Think you can handle that?” She unseals her helmet with a hiss.

“Huh.” Yeah, Niner’s a little proud when she can knock the words out of Carolina’s mouth. The adrenaline helps, but still. “I bet I can handle that.” Carolina unseals her own helmet and gives a truly horrible eyebrow raise.

“Oh my god, you’re an enormous dork,” Niner groans, and goes in for a kiss.

Send me a prompt and I will do my inebriated best to write you something super fast!

[shoplifting]

@ anyone who followed me for red vs blue, i made a blog for it, @ninerlinas. probably gonna stop posting rvb stuff here.

[tuckerfuckingdidit]

secretlystephaniebrown replied to your post “i was so Shook i forgot to even brag that i guessed both pairings for...”

DUDE IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR MORE NINERLINA

http://archiveofourown.org/works/9628343

1) i like ninerlina better, i have an accent that just makes it sound like i’m still saying carolina in my head lmfao

2) I LOVE YOU

3) I LOVE THIS, I GOT TO “LITTLE BROTHER”, REALIZED ONE OF MY FAVORITE HEADCANONS OF ALL TIME HAS FIC

AND GOT SO EXCITED I STARTED CRYING

[textsfromchorus]

[Image Description: A medium shot of 479er and Carolina. There is text that reads (479): That butt dial turned into a booty call.]

[anneapocalypse]

RvB Rec Day: Femslash February Faves

Fic Recs

the party at the edge of forever by @cinaed. Kaikaina/Carolina. Rated E, 20k. Warning for drug and alcohol use, general NSFW, and well, canon-typical Kai. If you are a Kaikaina fan you simply can’t miss this one. Join Kai as she crosses the galaxy and flirts her way across Chorus on a quest to find her brother, throw the party of the century, and maybe get laid along the way. With a bang-on (bow chicka) Kai voice and a well-written ensemble cast, this fic is a real gift and a fun ride from start to finish.

GRENADE by @what-happened-to-agent-georgia. Ohio/Sherry. Rated T. 1700 words. A very cute fic in which Ohio is forced to improvise a Valentine for Sherry... and improvising never quite goes as planned.

Art Recs

This hilarious Kimbalina comic from @ivorytrenchcoat

A cute Texsis from @ask-the-freelancers

Ninerlina and TexCT from @quetzalcactus

A Kimbalina kiss from @amvial

[autisticblueteam]

tuckerfuckingdiditmain replied to your post when you only just make the connection that lina...

that scene is either the ninerlina manifesto or proof positive agent carolina Gave No Fucks about her personal wellbeing beyond the completion of a mission, lololol. i like the former. it doesn’t threaten to keep me up at night.

the latter also hit me and i did the same i just noped outta there no thanks leave that thought for another day

ninerlina it is! though funnily for me my first instinct was “oh yeah Lina knew that maine would have figured something out” or even better “Lina checked maine’s channel and heard rap music and just Knew”

[tuckerfuckingdidit]

@littlefists replied to your post “secretlystephaniebrown replied to your post “i was so Shook i forgot...”

PETITION TO HAVE RED DO A VOICE MEME AND SAY NINERLINA SO WE CAN HEARR THIS CUTE SHIT

only if i get a long ass list of words

i meant to say that caroliner sounds like i’m just saying carolina in my accent, but then i realized if said accent got thick enough, ninerlina could actually sound like ninerliner

[annefiction]

Radio Silence, Part 3: Snow Blind

Some Carolina/Niner, brief reference to Carolina/Maine. This chapter contains non-explicit sexual content.

It’s been seventy-six hours and nineteen minutes since she started her mission clock running on the bridge.

“Carolina, you know what needs to be done.”

“I do.”

“Then do it.”

Sync, she said to herself, and started the clock.

A solo mission. What they’d been training for all along, really. What Tex had already been doing—placed at the top from the start, a position she’d never had to earn. She hadn’t worked her ass off, month after month, through orientation and team building and sim training and the missions against the insurrection. Carolina didn’t make squad leader just by hitting hard or running fast or even having the highest combat scores—though she did have the highest combat scores. But being first doesn’t make you a leader. Not if you leave your team behind.

She thinks of York, her infiltrator. Wash, her engineer. The Dakotas, her stealth specialists. Wyoming and Florida, her recon team. And Maine…

Seventy-six hours in the snow. Her perimeter is faltering.

Keep reading on AO3

[lydia--argent]

Feeding Yourself From The Department of Defense (an RvB Fic)

new au challenge: write/draw your otp as rival mre reviewers on youtube (via @anneapocalypse)

NOW YOU’VE DONE IT. OR I’VE DONE IT. OR SOMEONE’S DONE SOMETHING.

It begins because Niner is going to kill Carolina in their home.

Years of service, commendations, a stellar and storied career ending in an honorable but emphatic discharge, all for obeying her orders. Working security is boring, the gym is boring and tends to generate a number of warning emails, and now Niner is yelling at her.

“It's the living room wall! I take it back, it's a hole where the living room wall used to be!”

The dust and plaster flakes are mostly contained to drop cloths. Carolina rolls her eyes.

“You said you liked open floor plans,” Carolina points out. Niner's kind of gaping at her, so Carolina clarifies, “When we got drunk and watched that remodeling show.”

Niner takes Carolina by the shoulders and sits her in the mostly-clean armchair. “This is going to stop,” she announces, once Carolina is at her eye level. “Right now.”

Carolina crosses her arms and glares. “What's going to stop?”

Niner sighs. It's still odd, hearing that sigh in person, when Carolina used to get it calling for immediate extraction.

“It's your third remodeling project this summer, and it's the last fucking time I come home from flying clear across the planet and I can't use the fucking kitchen.”

It's my house, Carolina doesn't say. It was her idea, her money, the product of nowhere left to go and a vague sense of adult obligation. Niner had said, “What the hell are you going to do with a house? Do you even own any furniture?” Carolina had helped her empty out a storage unit six states away, and now it's most definitely their house. It has been for a year, and evidently Carolina's been driving Niner slowly insane.

“You hearing me?” Niner shakes Carolina's shoulders gently, and kisses her on the forehead. “This is some bullshit. You need a hobby. One that doesn't necessitate interventions.”

Carolina's face screws up involuntarily at the word 'hobby,' calling up housewives and nursing homes.

“I'm starving,” Niner points out. It sounds ominous. “There's a hole in the kitchen. You moved the refrigerator somewhere, I don't know where, but if it's not in the kitchen it may as well be in space.”

So it's possible Niner has a point about the hobby thing.

Carolina reaches up and runs her hands along Niner's sides. Niner's stomach rumbles, and Carolina grins at her very pointed look.

“We can order out,” Carolina says.

“Again.” Niner does grumpy ridiculously well these days. Carolina pulls her into her lap.

“I've got some MRE's stashed away somewhere.”

“Oh, hell no.” Niner tries to make a break for it and grabs at her phone, but Carolina laughs and holds on to her waist. “You will never get one of those near my taste buds again, you lunatic!”

Niner orders thai food and Carolina digs a box packed with MREs out from under the bed. Her habit of keeping them stashed away is one of the few things that Niner won't giver her shit about.

The food inside? Definitely fair game.

“Who already chewed that?” Niner asks around a mouth full of noodles.

Carolina just dumps all the picante sauce onto the enchilada and takes a huge bite.

“Just tell me you're not gonna drink the Tang,” Niner begs.

“Remember that time we were outside Mosul?” Carolina asks.

Niner levels a look at her. “Seventy klicks out in the desert doesn't count as anywhere near a city.”

“I ended up with like, five of these somehow. Bet South was trying to fuck with me, but then the drop went bad and I was stuck there.”

“Three days in half a shack,” Niner recites.

Carolina looks speculatively at the orange-flavored beverage powder. “Maybe I should eat it dry again.”

Niner grins and pulls out her phone. “Fuckin' dare you.”

“Only if you let me get through the whole story.”

“Deal.”

The next couple days, Carolina's free time is devoted to cleaning up the house and rescuing the refrigerator from the garage. She forgets about the video until Niner texts her “10k views and counting. found you a hobby.”

*

Something crinkles in Kimball's face. She squints open one eye and sees a very familiar tan wrapper.

“I'm not hungry,” she says.

“You haven't eaten since breakfast,” Smith says. “Our leader needs her energy!”

Kimball sighs. “I'm not your leader,” she says for the hundredth time. “I just helped coordinate. And the effort is appreciated, but really. I'm not hungry.”

Smith frowns. “Trail mix.”

“No, thank you. Maybe check with our...counterparts, from the neighborhood association.”

A look of poorly-suppressed distaste on his face, Smith makes his way across the DuPont lobby.

Kimball takes a sip from her water bottles and sighs as her stomach grumbles.

“Hey, boss.”

“Hi, Bitters.”

Sometimes Kimball wonders how Bitters got involved in activism when the whole concept of 'active' was fairly appalling to him. He slings his sleeping bag down into a pile next to Kimball and manages to recline.

“Here's the thing,” he says. “And I'm only telling you this because I think it'll be hilarious.”

Kimball raises her eyebrows at him.

“I've got some MRE's in my backpack. Ever had one?”

“A meal ready-to-eat? I haven't. Aren't they made by the military?”

Bitters shrugs, and Kimball decides against this as a teachable moment because the next thing that he says is “It's hot food.”

If Kimball has to eat one more nut-based product, she might snap. Logically, she knows that this is a personal price of a sit-in. Open fire is out of the question if they want the public to stay at all on their side, and kids paid minimum-wage to deliver pizza aren't very willing to try and get past the guards. Kimball knows; she's tried twice.

It's day three and who knows how much longer they're going to get away with this. She might argue with anyone who calls her the leader, but she is a primary organizer of civil disobedience training and protests. She'll need to be on her game.

“All right, hand it over.”

The packaging is dense but easy to open once she gets the trick of it. She squints at the blocky writing.

“Wheat snack bread? All right...”

She follows the instructions for the heater carefully, folding the bag over and sliding it back into the box.

“I need a rock, or something,” she says, laughing a little, and Bitters cracks up. That's when Kimball notices his phone out.

“If you want to document something,” Kimball says wryly, “Point that thing at them.” She waves her hand at the guards lining the entrances and stairwells.

“This is way better,” he assures her. “Keep going.”

“If we must.” Kimball sighs dramatically, then gives the camera an earnest smile. “Today's rock, or something, is the base of this statue in the lobby of DuPont's D.C. office. We're here because of a proposal to start the production of chemicals near a vulnerable population...”

Bitters groans, but Kimball keeps telling the camera about why their organization is protesting disposal of uncharacterized chemical waste (a no-brainer to her, but some people seem to require some telling). She keeps up a running commentary on the contents of the MRE, partly because of the camera in her face, but also because she can't help it when Bitters eats some cheese spread straight from the pack.

“It's good!” he insists. “Nutrients.”

They get hauled from the building the next day, and the video is spreading not quite like wildfire, but far enough that Kimball has to sigh and agree when Bitters pulls out another MRE during their next protest.

They're getting the message out. That's the important thing. And if she gets some asinine comments about MREs being meant for soldiers, not goddamn hippies, then she's pushing the right buttons.

*

Carolina tries to not read the comments on her videos. She's proud that they're popular, happy to make a few people laugh. Most of the country doesn't have a damn clue what goes into being a solider, and hearing a bisexual ex-Marine's stories might do them some good.

It's an accident, trying to pause a video to see if she can get the lighting better and somehow scrolling halfway down the page. The word 'bitch' catches her eye. She clicks the link, something that has this guy royally pissed off and posting on Carolina's video for some damn reason.

The video opens on a woman sitting in a field. She's younger than Carolina, intense, riotous curls held back from her face with a scarf. She's also struggling to open MRE Menu Number 12.

“We're here, camped out in the Appalachian mountains,” she says, “This is a veggie burger in barbeque sauce, and today we're going to talk about mountaintop removal mining.”

The guy holding the phone calls the woman Kimball, and Kimball is ridiculously articulate for someone trying to swallow a piece of dry muffin.

Carolina laughs out loud when Kimball waves the First Strike bar and says, “For fucks' sake, I started eating these things because if I see another Clif bar, I might cry. What the hell.”

Niner comes in from the (reconstructed, thank you) kitchen and leans her chin on Carolina's shoulder. The wolf whistle is loud in her ear, but Carolina agrees.

“She's hot,” Niner says. “Shame her taste is so shitty.”

“Hah hah,” Carolina says, and subscribes to the channel.

Too many MRE review youtube videos were consumed during the writing of this (although thankfully no actual MREs). The title is from one of Hannah Hart’s most excellent episodes.

[lydia--argent]

Carolina and niner stuck in an elevator

“Mother! Fucker! God damnit!” Carolina hits the control panel with every syllable.

“So, now might be a bad time to mention this,” Niner says, “but I’ve never actually seen the whole ‘percussive maintenance’ thing work.”

“I’ll make it work,” Carolina says. The wall groans under a kick.

“Hey! How about we try to not plummet to our deaths!” Niner knows better than to grab Carolina, than to even touch her first when she’s like this. Mission gone bad, extraction totally fucked. That last one might not even be all Carolina’s fault.

Carolina whips around. Please, like Niner’s not used to shit-fit Carolina.“You got a better idea?”

“Yeah,” Niner says, taking a swaggering step forward. “Outside of mission parameters though. Think you can handle that?” She unseals her helmet with a hiss.

“Huh.” Yeah, Niner’s a little proud when she can knock the words out of Carolina’s mouth. The adrenaline helps, but still. “I bet I can handle that.” Carolina unseals her own helmet and gives a truly horrible eyebrow raise.

“Oh my god, you’re an enormous dork,” Niner groans, and goes in for a kiss.

Send me a prompt and I will do my inebriated best to write you something super fast!