#silver timeline

[mrssylargray]

[sealkymilky]

Part 3 of the Smiling Chief. I find it adorable that among all the nigh-smiles, "gonna kick your ass" smirks and "so long suckers" smiles, the only time John smiles with genuine pleasure is when he sees Cortana again. Oh that brings me back to the final episode of S01, when Chief's half-smiles in response to Cortana's not being interested in taking over his banged-up body, and that joking exchange meant that they've finally cemented their friendship. So freaking adorable!

[indigograceauthor]

“They took my image and bent it to their purpose, so I took it back. This armor doesn’t belong to them. It belongs to me. To the ones who are gone. And the ones who are still in the fight.”

~ Master Chief John-117

One of my favorite promo images from Season 2. He looks so badass. Forever my Master Chief 💚🧡💚

[lpmurphy]

Of the Care and Keeping of Spartans Master List

Spring in Tchakova Park Full work on AO3 Spotify Playlist

Pairings: John-117/OC Status: Completed Summary:

Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.

In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice.

Chapter One: Lights on the Water

Chapter Two: The Jungle

Chapter Three: Goose

Chapter Four: The Rock

Chapter Five: Picture Frames

Chapter Six: Gold Visor, Hazel Eyes

Chapter Seven: First Aid

Chapter Eight: Headboards (NSFW)

Chapter Nine: Family Dynamics

Chapter Ten: Anthuriums

Chapter Eleven: Conversations

Chapter Twelve: Pillow Talk (NSFW)

Chapter Thirteen: Meet the Parents

Chapter Fourteen: Eavesdropping

Chapter Fifteen: Confessions

Chapter Sixteen: Arrivals

Chapter Seventeen: Downtown

Chapter Eighteen: Flashes and Blinks

Chapter Nineteen: Bathroom Conversations

Chapter Twenty: All Too Well

Chapter Twenty-One: Headboards Volume 2 (NSFW)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Girlhood

Chapter Twenty-Three: Fishies

Chapter Twenty-Four: Night Swim

Chapter Twenty-Five: Gúta (NSFW)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Carvings

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Persephone

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sunshine

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Scarf

Chapter Thirty: Cultivation

Chapter Thirty-One: Incursion

Chapter Thirty-Two: Ignorant Innocence

Chapter Thirty-Three: Home

Chapter Thirty-Four: Epilogue- Spring in the Highland Mountains

Bonus Chapter: Stay (NSFW)

Something Borrowed: A Sequel AO3 Spotify Playlist

Pairings: John-117/OC, Background Riz/Vannak Status: Completed 8/6/24 Summary

Springtime on Reach had always been Violet's favorite season. She had always adored the mild temperatures, the flowers and greenery in constant bloom and the beauty it brought to Tchakova Park. Meeting John beside the pond the year before had only given her another reason to love the spring. But, on a May evening beside a lake in the Highland Mountains, Violet found yet another reason to love springtime.

In which the 117s tie the knot, Cortana becomes an unlicensed therapist, Kai and Vannak organize a bachelorette party, and Riz plans a wedding.

Chapter One: The Desert

Chapter Two: Sisters

Chapter Three: The View From Tchakova Park

Chapter Four: Cinnamon Whiskey (NSFW)

Chapter Five: Housekeeping

Chapter Six: Tests

Chapter Seven: Cleansing

Chapter Eight: Discoveries

Chapter Nine: Orange Juice

Chapter Ten: Mer

Chapter Eleven: Something in the Orange

Chapter Twelve: Best Friends

Chapter Thirteen: Fog

Chapter Fourteen: Q&A

Chapter Fifteen: Group Message

Chapter Sixteen: Nightmares

Chapter Seventeen: Last Minute (NSFW)

Chapter Eighteen: Threads

Chapter Nineteen: Lamby

Chapter Twenty: Balloons and Streamers

Chapter Twenty One: Marco Polo

Chapter Twenty Two: Bachelorette Part 1

Chapter Twenty Three: Bachelorette Part 2

Chapter Twenty Four: The Morning After

Chapter Twenty Five: Bubbe Fran

Chapter Twenty Six: Becoming

Chapter Twenty Seven: Promises

Chapter Twenty Eight: Empty Chair

Chapter Twenty Nine: 117

Chapter Thirty: Epilogue- Someday Came Two Years Later

The View Between Villages Read on AO3

Status: In Progress (2/4)

Summary:

'This wasn’t home. It felt like someone else belonged here, and perhaps someone else did. He stopped being the boy who did the moment he called on that coin. Childhood came spinning to an end as soon as it came up heads.'

In which Violet receives orders to Eridanus II, and John brings his wife home.

Part One: Cold

Part Two: Ghosts

Of Mothers and Bedtime Stories Read on AO3

Status: Complete Summary:

“Daddy?” Hailey called. “Yeah, babygirl?” “What’s your mommy’s name?” “Catherine.”

A line of questioning from a very curious five year old forces Violet to consider her feelings towards the woman that created her husband, and what she means to him.

[threshergm]

Honeymoon

An experimental one-shot to see if I can figure out how to write John and Talia being intimate and affectionate with one another. Turned out pretty good, I think. Now I just need to figure out how to get them from strangers meeting on a battlefield to this, haha. Missing Pieces will be posted, some day! Still working on it. @lpmurphy @authortobenamedlater @mrtobenamedlater @pelgraine @ageless-aislynn @inthatfandom @whirlybirbs @fabulaprima @silverpelt3600 @halofanfiction @thefinaljediknight @eureka-its-zico @ionlymadethissoicouldleaveanask @t65flyer @makowrites

_______________________________________________________

The rental kiva was spacious; but Talia wasn't surprised, this was an ONI psyop, after all, and they'd spared no expense. John had held her hand as they'd wound their way up the flagstone path set into the hillside, insisting on carrying their bags, as if her arm hadn't fully healed months ago. The entranceway was wide and curved, wrapping around the shape of the cliffside it was set into. An open building style, the entranceway blended into a living room with an open hearth, which transformed into a spacious kitchen next to a dining table for six. The only interior walls were to the left and rear, the first containing a frosted glass door, and the second a door of polished oak and slightly ajar, revealing a bedroom with a single large bed. Talia's heart fluttered at the implication. It was a honeymoon rental, after all.

"Wait here," John said, setting their bags down gently near the front door. He walked slowly - somehow silent, even in boots - right hand hovering over his hip, where Talia knew he carried his sidearm concealed under his jacket. With Spartan reflexes, no one could beat him on the draw. He came first to the frosted door, sliding it aside quickly, right hand steady over his hip. Seeing nothing, he moved quickly back to the bedroom, drew his sidearm and cleared the larger room with it at high ready just as quickly. John came back to Talia at a fast walk, looking sheepish and holstering his sidearm, tugging the jacket back over it.

"We're secure. Sorry. Old habits." 

Talia smiled, shaking her head, "A lifetime of training, and it's your first vacation. Don't be sorry." She smiled that patient, slightly bemused smile, like she was schooling a clueless tourist on how to use their transit card on the Metro. John scooped up their bags and carried them to the small card table in the living room, setting them down with a thud, while Talia looked around. She had only been out of the big cities a handful of times in her life, but everyone born on Reach knew what a kiva looked like. So many holovid dramas were set in places like the Highland Mountains. Hardy first-generation pioneers scraping out a living among the jagged peaks, titanium prospectors looking to strike the motherlode, honest folk struggling to save the family farm. The reality of the rental kiva wasn't quite so rustic, but you could see that history in the hand-carved oaken furniture, woolen rugs on the polished instacrete floors, and real wood-burning fireplace in the living room. Through the large picture windows facing east, she could even see a flock of moa pecking at the hillside.

Talia pulled her coat off, while John walked over to the fireplace. Open hearth with a cylindrical chimney leading up and through the polished instacrete ceiling; the staff had helpfully left a box of pre-cut kindling and crumpled paper on the rim of the hearth. John hadn't lit a campfire since survival training as a child, but it came back to him, as he arranged the fuel, kindling, and tinder in a pyramid. He was fishing for matches at the bottom of the box, when he felt Talia's hands glide over his shoulders, and reach for the lapels of his jacket.

John used to flinch when she touched him. He didn't flinch anymore.

Talia peeled his jacket off his back, and walked over to the wall, hanging it on the line of steel coat hooks next to her own. As she returned, her hand pulled the tight band keeping her hair back in a low pony and shook it out, wavy locks cascading over her shoulders. John's heart skipped a beat, mind flashing back to how she'd looked at the Marine Corps Birthday Ball; hair up and pinned to perfection, neck elegant, skin exuding the warmth of the ruby-red dress she wore, and smile as radiant as the sun cresting the horizon in low orbit. Warmth crept up his neck from the spots Talia's palms had brushed his shoulders. Talia returned to his side, and her hand found the small of his back, rubbing it gently. The skin on John’s arms prickled at the contact, and he hoped she didn’t notice.

“I wonder what the others are doing? Vannak has command of Silver Team when you’re not around, right?” She smiled as he struck a match, touching it to the small mound of paper atop the wooden pyramid. The flames took, spreading downwards into the kindling, and the kiva was quickly filled with the hiss and pop of burning hardwood. John glanced at Talia, warmth spreading from his neck down into his chest as he noticed the flames dancing in her umber eyes. He cleared his throat, trying to focus. “I know exactly what they’re doing. I left orders that they take ten days leave, duties permitting. It didn’t feel right, taking a… vacation, if they couldn’t do the same. Even booked a hotel for them downtown; some place called The Savoy. Supposed to be nice. I paid.” Talia cocked her head, “John… The Savoy is, like, six stars. The best in the city - no, the best on the planet. How can you afford that on an NCO’s salary?” John shrugged, “I’ve been drawing pay since I was six years old and never had anything to spend it on. If I’m going to spend it on anything, I want to spend it on them.” Talia’s hand crept upwards from the small of his back to rub between his shoulder blades, eyes on the way the firelight flickered across his stubbled cheeks and jawline as she smiled. “I love how good you are to your team.” “They’re my family,” John’s eyes met her own now, holding them in a steady gaze, “You’re my family now too.” “Yeah?” Talia’s breath caught in her throat, her gaze dancing between his hazel-green eyes and his lips, gliding closer as her heart began to thunder in her chest. “Yeah.” They brushed lips; experimental, as if fighters in the ring, feeling each other out. Second contact was more committed, Talia’s hand reaching up to cup the back of John’s head, palm prickling on his close-shorn hair. John’s hands found her hips, fingers wrapping gently around the swell of them; a proper kiss, lips pressed to lips. Talia pulled away, just barely, breath hot. “That was nice,” she whispered hungrily. “It was,” John growled, pulling her to him, her small frame crushed against his, lips crashing into hers, needful and unrestrained. Talia knew this was the end; the last lines of resistance crumbled, the last stronghold taken. He would never be the Master Chief again, not to her. He was forever John now.

The floodgates opened, and in poured love.

[helix-enterprises117]

Everyone's opinion on Jimmy Rings, it seems.

this is what its like being autistic on tumblr

[itsxroxannex]

Just chilling in the OT

Slash and Silver belong to me

[antirepurp]

such a normal and well-adjusted 14-year-old

[mrssylargray]

[redwylde]

I have to say I love the consensus by the fandom that Sonic and Silver interactions are just softer than anything.

The unbridled joy of freedom-and-fun-loving Sonic the Hedgehog paired with the unextinguishable hope of a dreamer from a devastated future sharing the wonder they both feel for the world around them is just so pure.

There's just something about Silver seeing the clear, blue sky in Sonic and Sonic being reminded why he loves life and the world through Silver finding joy in mundane and yet new and wonderful things.

[indigograceauthor]

Halo Season 1 Soundtrack

Beautiful, epic music.

[lpmurphy]

Fic Summary: Who she once was became fuzzier as the years went on; blurrier around the edges, like a scope that was out of focus. But in all of the memories that remained hers, there was him.

Chapter Summary: Riz wakes up in a room that isn't hers, and learns that she isn't the only one there.

Note: Riz and Vannak have been living in my head rent free for weeks now, and can stay as long as they would like. Please enjoy my self indulgent attempt to give them the better we were robbed of.

One: Plain, Gray, and Ugly

MEMORIES weren’t something that truly belonged to them. Instead, they were leased to them until they were determined to be non vital. An unimportant distraction. But, some remained. There were moments from before that she remembered with fuzzy edges - a dull glow that left them shadowed but lit from behind, like someone had left a light on behind a closed door. But there. Still there, buried underneath to occasionally excavate and determine their worth before they were stuffed down again. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but mostly, ambivalent. Like a dream that faded as soon as she awoke. An itch she couldn’t quite scratch. But in all of the memories that remained hers, there was him. He remained firm in the forefront of each, clearly in focus even when the rest was indistinct. He was always that; firm. Solid. She didn’t need to squint to remember the shape of his face like the others that had become distorted by time or interference.

He was the first thing she could remember. The first thing she had seen when she woke up confused and groggy in a room that wasn’t her own surrounded by kids she did not recognize. It wasn’t her room- her room was pink. Her ballet shoes hung on her bed. Her bedspread had butterflies on it. Mama just helped her pick it out last week. But this room didn’t look like her room, or any room she had seen before, and the girl with red hair in the bed next to hers looked like she didn’t know this room either. And she certainly did not know who that other girl was.

It was gray. Everything around her was gray. Plain and gray and ugly. Mama would have hated it, and so would Grand-mère. A room needed to serve a purpose, they would say, but that didn’t mean that it couldn’t be pretty, too. Though, as she looked around the plain, gray, ugly room and counted the beds - just enough for all of the kids who looked around just like her - she decided that it must have had a purpose. Even if she wasn’t quite sure what that purpose was yet. 

Someone had changed her clothes, and they were ugly and plain and boring too. All of them were dressed the same, she noticed. The other children looked around - some still slept, but others rose to either sit on the beds or wander around. Probably to search for a reason why they weren’t in their own beds in their own homes, too. Hadn’t that been where she went to bed? She couldn’t quite remember. Her brain felt heavy when she tried to remember; like when the dentist gave her a shot to make her mouth feel buzzy and thick when she had a cavity filled. She hadn’t liked the feeling then. She still didn’t like it now, either. 

Stranger than the plain, gray, ugly room and the buzzing feeling in her head, she didn’t know why she was there in the first place. Or how she had gotten there - how any of them got there. ‘Everything has a story’ Papa would tell her. ‘Everything has a reason, if you look for one. You have to be willing to search for it.’ But she searched the empty walls of the strange room and could not find a reason written upon them, nor determine a story. 

She thought of the game she played with Papa where they would make up stories while she sat at his big desk and made notes on the big kids’ papers. He would give her new words to use and fit into her stories - last time, the word was peculiar. When she asked what it meant, he said it was used to describe things that were odd; out of the ordinary.  They would only stop when one of those big kids came to ask him a question, and then they’d make them a character in the story, too. When she asked if it was peculiar that some of the big kids wore their pajamas into his office even though it was daytime and they looked like they hadn’t slept at all, he just laughed his big laugh and nodded and said ‘indubitably so’ . He would tap her nose with his red pen and it would make her smile. He would lean back in his chair and ask her to keep telling him her story while he put marks all over another piece of paper. This was peculiar too, she thought. Indubitably so. 

She’d make up a story now, she decided. If she couldn’t find one, then she’d make one. They’d all be the characters. Maybe they’d all been taken by a witch like in her books. She hoped it was a nice witch. One that took little children because she was lonely and wanted a family of her own to love, or who would take them on some great adventure before they would wake at home in their beds like it was all some strange dream. She didn’t like the stories about the bad ones. Papa always skipped them. Maybe this was no different; a witch who took children for reasons that were still unclear to her as she sat on a strange bed in a strange room full of  strange kids in strange clothes. Like the princesses in her stories, they'd all be saved by a brave knight. She gave them a happy ending in her story - she always liked those the best, anyway.

Some looked scared. Some cried and hugged their knees to their chests as they looked around and called for their parents. Others looked calm, even though she was sure that their hearts felt like a rabbit in their chest the same way that hers did. One boy with freckles and brown hair looked around with a face she didn’t see on the others - like he was trying to make a plan before he noticed one of the other boys crying and quietly sat beside them. 

But then she saw him. He sat on the bed right across from her that had a number on it, alone on top of the plain white sheets. His skin was darker than hers, she noticed. It reminded her of Papa’s. Mama’s was like the cream she put into her coffee in the mornings, dotted with the same freckles she gave to her. Papa would joke that Mama was just one big freckle and kiss her shoulder, and she would laugh and say that they were both kissed by angels. She always liked it when she said that. The thought of Mama made her chest hurt - she wanted her here to say something nice and make her feel better like she always did. 

But Mama wasn’t here. So she watched the boy instead. He was bigger than most of the other boys. He sat up on his bed, just watching. She thought it was funny the way he looked over the room like a grown up. Some of the kids cried. But he didn’t. He looked calm. Tough. Like he was challenging whatever this was to do its worst. She thought he was brave not to be afraid. For some reason it made her feel less afraid, too.

He turned to look around the room again and noticed her watching. She looked away when he looked back at her, pretending that she was looking around too and they just happened to look towards each other at the same time. It wasn’t nice to stare, but he didn’t look away, and the way he stared back right at her made her feel nervous. It made her tummy feel strange. She didn’t know if it was a good strange or bad strange. Just… strange. Peculiar. But today was already peculiar enough, so she didn’t think much of it.

“Do you know what’s going on?” he asked. His voice didn’t shake. It sounded just as tough and calm as the rest of him. She shook her head. He nodded. “Me either.”

He moved to the end of the bed and sat on the edge so he was closer. His legs didn’t dangle off the edge like hers. His toes almost touched the floor. He held his hand out, which she thought was polite, “I’m Vannak.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. Just stared down at his hand. Meeting new people was never her favorite thing. They always thought she was odd because she was quiet. Papa said it didn’t make her odd; just peculiar. She’d rather think than talk; observe before she engaged. But Mama would want her to be polite, too. Without lifting her face, she took his hand. He squeezed too hard and shook it too rough, but his hand was warm. 

When she didn’t say anything, he asked, “What’s your name?” 

Mama’s voice echoed through her head like she was whispering in her ear; “Head up, ma fille. Be proud to be seen.” She lifted her head and found that he was looking right at her. His eyes were dark like hers. They didn’t seem tough, though. They were just kind. She said her name quickly, but her voice was so quiet that he had to lean forward.

“ Red? ” His face squished up like he didn’t believe her. It made her belly flip again like it was doing somersaults, but she didn’t tell him that her name was Riz, not Red. “Is that because you have red hair?

She didn’t correct him. She just nodded instead. That serious look returned and he nodded like it was something really important. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Red,” He started to turn away from her when the blonde boy with green eyes in the next bed got up to come to talk to him. Before he turned away, he looked at her again and added, “You have pretty hair.”

Her hand went to her hair to touch her curls, still loose around her shoulders, and felt her cheeks grow hot. That strange feeling got even stranger when he nodded to her and turned to start talking to the boy.

He seemed nice, she decided. In a very serious way, like he didn’t have much patience for silly things. Papa was nice in that serious way, too. She missed him. Did he miss her too? Did they know where she was? When were they coming to get her? She didn’t like it here.

She wasn’t the only one who didn’t like it here. A blonde girl sat on the bed beside her with wide, wet eyes that darted around the room as she sniffled. Each time, she would wipe her eyes and nose with her hands. She assumed that the girl didn’t want the others to know that she was crying; wanted to prove that she was brave like Vannak was, too. The ponytail she wore her hair in had come loose, still half sticking up with the other falling out like she slept with it in. Blue eyes glanced up at her and the girl wiped her face before Riz could see the tears that slipped down her cheeks. They regarded each other for a moment in silence before Riz rose from her bed and sat beside the blonde girl on hers. She watched her warily, as if sizing her up, but Riz sat quietly. His brave had made her feel a little brave, too. Maybe she could share that brave.

“Your hair is falling out,” she said quietly.

The girl sniffled again and rubbed her hand on her pants, which she thought was gross, but she didn’t say so. “I don’t know how to do it,” the girl said. “My daddies always do it for me.”

The girl’s voice caught and Riz looked away so she could wipe her tears. It seemed like the kind thing to do. She didn’t like people watching her cry either, but this felt like something worth crying about.

“Well, maybe I can do it for you until we go home?” she offered. 

The blonde girl looked over at her again like she was sizing her up before she nodded slowly. Riz sat up behind her on the bed and twisted out the elastic in her hair the way Mama showed her so that it wouldn’t hurt. Her hair came down in a thick tangle that made her wish that she had a brush. The pretty glittery one she used every morning. But that wasn’t here, probably because it wasn’t plain and gray and ugly, so she used her fingers to brush through her hair. 

The blonde girl sniffled again, “I’m Kai.” 

“I’m Riz.”

“Do you know why I’m here?”

“No,” she said. She wished she could say yes. “Do you?”

“No.”

The girl sniffled again when she started to pull her hair back and smooth it with her fingers like Mama showed her. She couldn’t get it tight like she could when she did her own hair, but it was better than being tangly and messy. It made her proud that she could do it herself. Mama taught her to do her hair after Grand-mère taught her because Mama had different hair than hers. Hers was straight and long, but the same color as hers. She would pull her hair up with ribbons or pretty clips, press her cheek to hers in the mirror and they would make faces at their reflections until they laughed. Mama said it was important for her to know how to do it herself in case she wasn’t around to help her. She wiped her own face. If Kai had noticed, she didn’t say anything either. 

Kai stopped crying shortly after, and instead started talking. And talking. And talking. She talked her ear off while Riz tied her hair back. Vannak laughed when Riz caught his eye where he sat on his bed and shook her head like Mama would when Papa did something silly, like they were a team. Kai kept talking and talking and talking, and Riz was pretty sure she didn’t breathe once the whole time. Mama told her it wasn’t nice to say shut up, but she also said that people need to hear hard things sometimes, and Kai needed to hear it, so she told her. 

For a minute, she almost forgot about the scary that didn’t have a story or a reason. Or about the story she made up about princesses and knights and a witch that took them from their beds.

But when the men came into the plain, gray, ugly room in plain, gray, ugly uniforms and started shouting, she knew it wasn’t a witch. She would have liked that better, she thought. Even if it was a bad one.

---

They didn’t go home. 

Instead, she became the knight in her stories as weeks passed. They didn’t call them knights, though. They called them Spartans.

“Team 3: 117, 125, 028, 134 and 098.”

She didn’t like being called by a number. She had a name, you know. Names were important; they held power. And she didn’t even like the number 28. She liked the number 9, because it was her cubby number in kindergarten and in first grade, too. But they didn’t ask her, and she didn’t tell them, because she didn’t think they would care, and she had seen what happened when they talked back. Soren had been taught that lesson a lot over the weeks, but he didn’t seem to be learning. But she did. Papa always said she learned by observation, anyway. She learned that if she stayed quiet and listened, then things were easier. So, she stayed quiet, and listened. Mostly, she watched.

As the weeks went on, she watched more and more. She watched what got the others in trouble, what earned the others praise. She watched the other kids when they went through their exercises and kept track of what made them succeed, and extra attention to what made them fail. They called them exercises, but they weren’t like any exercises she knew. It must have been one of those multiple meaning words Papa told her about. She wished she could ask him. She wondered if she’d ever be able to. She stopped telling herself that she would be able to a few weeks ago. It made it hurt less that way .

But she stepped forward anyway when they called the number she didn’t even like and followed the man’s finger to where he pointed. He didn’t say thank you when she did what he asked. Just continued to shout out the numbers that they were made to remember that first day when they made them run and run and shouted at them to identify themselves until they no longer said their names and instead said their numbers.

Vannak stepped forward at his number and stood beside her with that serious look that made his face very straight and tight. They didn’t like smiling here, which was okay. She didn’t feel like smiling much. Kai followed and got yelled at for how bouncy her steps were. The quiet boy with freckles followed too.

The girl in the bed next to hers, Nora, was on their team, too. She guessed that made it a bit better. They sat next to each other in class while Déjà taught them all about history and math and science. It felt like school at home until they had to go back outside or into the obstacle courses where they had to find a way out without being noticed by the men in uniforms who were trying to find them, because they got hurt if they did.  She could pretend that she was playing at recess with her friends, this way. Even if she didn’t really like the game. Kai was already talking to the quiet boy with freckles that didn’t look like he wanted to talk to her, but was listening anyway. She wasn’t sure that they were supposed to be talking, but she learned that it didn’t really matter to Kai. The first time, he got in trouble for not working as a team. He was trying to do better, though. She didn’t mind being on his team. She liked being on a team with all of them, really.  

“Got something to say, 125?” the man shouted. They all snapped straight, standing tall and keeping their eyes forward so that they wouldn’t get noticed either.

“No, sir!” Kai said, keeping her eyes straight. Her ears turned pink when someone else snickered. Riz was glad that they got yelled at, too. 

“Then can it! Team 4: 066, 036, 002…”

They stood quietly as the rest of the teams were divided. Vannak stood with her in the quiet. She liked his quiet. It felt the same as it did when they woke up and he told her that she has pretty hair. Like he was tough. Brave. His brave made her feel brave, too. They listened, standing straight and tall, as the rest of their numbers are called. She was a little relieved that she didn’t get paired with a few of them. So far, everyone had been nice, but there were a few people that were rude. Grand-mère would have said they were acting like connards , but Mama said that she couldn’t use that work until she was twenty, and she was only six, so she had to keep that one in her back pocket until then, like Papa would say. 

The objectives were explained and they were released to devise a plan. Only one minute, they were told, which she had learned was pretty generous. The freckled boy turned to Kai and Nora and started to speak quietly, that same look on his face that she saw when they woke up crossing his face. Nora turned over her shoulder and waved them over.

“Vannak! Riz!” she called. “Come here. John has a plan.”

Vannak turned to her, that serious look broken for just a moment when confusion replaced it instead. “Your name is Riz?”

She nodded, her belly flipping. She didn’t meet his eyes, but he just kept looking at her and she was forced to look up. She was worried he was going to look mad, like she had lied somehow. She just didn’t want to be impolite. But when she looked up, his serious look was soft, and so were his eyes. “Why didn’t you tell me I got your name wrong?” he asked.

Her cheeks turned bright red and she shrugged. “It’s okay.” 

“No, it’s not,” he said firmly. He talked like things were always one way or the other. No patience for silly things. “Names are important. Why didn’t you tell me?” 

She couldn’t find an answer. She knew that she should have. Maybe she just liked being called something other than a number. But really, she just liked that he called her that, so that’s what she said.  

When she said it, his lips twitched up into a smile. She hadn’t seen him smile yet. It looked nice, and it made her smile, too.

“Can I keep calling you that?” He asked. 

She nodded, her voice too quiet like it always seemed to be around him when she said, “Yeah. I like it.” 

“Okay, Red,” he jogged towards where Kai, Nora, and John all stood huddled and left her behind with that funny feeling in her tummy. He turned over his shoulder like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to say something else, but then added, “I’m glad you’re on my team.” 

She was too.

[threshergm]

Halo: The Series - Talia Perez Backstory

Talia is a UNSC Marine Reservist. Her unit is H&S Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marines ("New Alexandria's Own"). Like the name suggests, the regiment is based out of the city itself (at FLEETCOM, no less), and is drawn from Marines who live in and around the New Alexandria area.

She's a Communications Marine - able to maintain, repair, and operate any radio or sat-link communications system in the UNSC Marine Corps inventory.

Talia's Abuelo is alive and named Raul. He was a Navy man, a reservist who served aboard big warships, and he retired at the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer.

When he and John are in the same room, they refer to each other as "Chief." Talia rolls her eyes at this, but can't help but smile.

Talia is third-generation Reacher; Raul Perez having emigrated from a failed colony named Hidalgo decades before, and the family having originated in Cuba on Earth.

Many refugees from Hidalgo settled in the same area of New Alexandria. The neighborhood became known as Santiago Circle. Spanish is still spoken on the streets, thus preserving the accent among the residents.

Talia's father Nestor was a Navy reservist as well, a WSO aboard a Longsword fighter. He instilled in Talia a love of literature, especially fantasy, and read to her every night he was home during her formative years. Their favorite was The Lord of the Rings.

He was killed in action against the Covenant during the Siege of the Atlas Moons. Talia was only ten years old.

Talia has a little tattoo of the Gull Crown of Gondor in black, with a tiny White Tree superimposed over it, on the inside of her wrist in his honor.

Talia's mother Elena always resented having her so young, feeling she'd been robbed of her youth, and skipped town after her father died. Talia was devastated, but her grandparents took her in.

This left Talia determined to prove that she was better than her mom by marrying young as well, but sticking around and being the mother she wanted for herself.

When Talia was 14, her mother returned a changed woman. Diagnosed with terminal Boren's Syndrome, she came home hoping to reconcile with her daughter before her death. Talia forgave her repentant mother, and cared for her for nearly a year before she passed away. It was an enormously healing experience.

Around the same time, Talia met Alex Shawcross, the love of her life. He was a poor kid from Manassas - his father was a firefighter who died in the line of duty - leaving him to care for his four siblings while his mother worked two jobs to make ends meet.

Talia first saw him waiting at the transit station with his four siblings one day after school - already a man at just 15 - and it was love at first sight.

Alex was cutting lunches so his siblings would have something to take home for dinner. Talia noticed this - and how skinny he was - and started bringing leftovers from home and leaving them in his locker so he'd have something to eat. When he caught her; she confessed her love for him, and they were inseparable after that.

They had an adorable chaste teenage romance. Meeting at her favorite tea shop before school, trips to bookshops were he would watch her go through the stacks thoughtfully, sneaking out to meet at the park halfway between their houses to sit on the swings together and talk. Staying after his baseball games to sit on the blanket she brought to pad the bleachers and stargaze.

The Marines were part opportunity, part desperation for Alex; while Talia saw service as a way to honor her father's memory and live up to the example her grandfather had set. They had their plan - serve a contract, go to school, get good jobs. Make enough to get Alex's family out of tenement housing in Manassas. Buy a little land outside the city, build a kiva in the hills. Alex would work in the city, Talia would work from home and raise their children.

Alex proposed to her the night before they shipped out on their first deployments - to opposite ends of the Outer Colonies. They made love for the first time on a blanket in center field on the ball diamond, under the stars and aurora of Reach.

Talia made it back from her first deployment without incident. Alex didn't. He died under a Covenant glassing beam on an unnamed rock, trying to evacuate an unregistered colony that had called for help. No remains were recovered. All she has left of him is the simple, cheap, but cherished brass ring he gave her the night she agreed to become his wife.

Talia's never been the same since Alex died. She carries the weight of him every day.

[threshergm]

Hey, @lpmurphy, you love making play lists. Any ideas?

Does anyone want to help me construct a playlist for my S1 novelization which I have officially titled "Halo: Awakening"?

I don't use Spotify or anything but I'd like to have a rotation of songs to get me in the writing mood.

Here are some I've found myself listening to:

Battle Symphony by Linkin Park

Castle of Glass by Linkin Park (I almost named the project after this song but it's also the title I would use for my Babylon 5/Earth Alliance Civil War ripoff starring Captain Lasky. I am 99% sure I'll never write it, but I don't want to part with the title.)

Bring Me to Life by Evanescence (If this doesn't give you John + Cortana chills what's wrong with you.)

Immortals by Fall Out Boy (This is my Silver Team song. I like to imagine Cortana would play it before an orbital drop.)

Holding Out For a Hero by Bonnie Tyler (Tell me the UNSC would not use this for propaganda.)

Numb by Linkin Park (My Miranda & Halsey song. I also have a Linkin Park thing for fanfic inspo, it seems.)

What I've Done by Linkin Park (my Jacob Keyes song.)

I Enjoy Being a Girl by Doris Day/Rogers and Hammerstein (Just a fun one for Kai.)

New Divide by Linkin Park (my Jacob & Miranda song...I. REALLY. Have a Linkin Park problem.)

Human by Rag'n'Bone Man

Unbreakable by Bon Jovi (a good Master Chief song)

That's a decent list but I am in this project for the long haul and I need MOAR. Specifically looking for Kwan and Makee songs, and songs for the Arbiter/Sangheili and Covenant generally. I'm not picky about artist or genre for this.

My musically driven friends, come to my aid! @ageless-aislynn @sarnakhwritesthings @morganas-pendragons? Also @rainintheevening and @novelmonger, I know you two aren't in the fandom but Star Wars/MCU fic inspo songs could work well for Halo too.

[emthimofnight]

My dear friend @einelitas wanted me to take a crack at designing a silvaze fankid, and here she is!!! 🥰 Serene is a quiet, polite, and intelligent person, but she struggles to make friends. She has immense telekinetic power, just like her dad!

[itsxroxannex]

I'm supposed to be asleep rn but uhm

Slash and Silver belong to me