#Crewman Patel

[anarchic-miscellany]

I appreciate the writing of "Mass Effect 2". Human supremacists bring you into the fold and hold over you the fact that they brought you back from death, flatter you and tell you you're the special person they need. And also they're the only ones who believe you and are doing something about the mass kidnappings of humans across the Galaxy. But you, the player, and (hopefully) an anti-Nazi human being go: "Yeah dog, these guys are still evil as fuck." But, you know, gritted teeth "working together against a common evil" is a great writing tool, and incredibly fun. So you go along with it. All the while the quite likable, well acted crew on your ship seem like reasonable, ordinary guys (with a couple of exceptions), like those 2 crew members Rolston and Patel just chatting about the former's daughter; you've got Hawthorne and Goldstein complaining about the quality of the food in the canteen; you've got Hadley and Matthews chatting about one of them going to visit "The Consort" on land; you've got your delightful double act of Engineers Donnelly and Daniels who just want to serve with you, and saw this as an opportunity to fight back against evil aliens. It's all very human, very ordinary enough stuff, little snippets here and there to give faces and personality to what was once a faceless selection of evil goons in the last game. That's not even getting into the excellent character of Miranda Lawson and the very much "exists" Jacob. And their silky voiced Martin Sheen leader "The Illusive Man" (an INCREDIBLE performance, like you hire Mr Sheen, you GET Mr Sheen) tells you that it's not racism or supremacy, it's just that every single race is out for itself, it's a dog eat dog world, so why can't they have an organisation after their interests? It's insidious and interesting and sinister in how it's nuanced and gets you involved and invested in their ideals, their goals and their politics. And the hammer blow comes when you're given one of the "good guys" and it's a Salarian (alien) doctor who engineered and modified a genocidal bio weapon against another alien race because his species and the others they work with play god. You start to think that these "Cerberus" guys may have a point... Pity they never made a 3rd game.

[gatecrashing-corneas]

[transxfiles]

for the One Word Prompts ask: any one of (or a combination of all; your choice): Dog, Energy, Puzzle, City

Thanks so much for the prompt! Decided to combine them all into one and went for ~400 words instead of a traditional drabble bc of the four prompts :D

Fandom: The Strange Case of Starship Iris Pairing(s): Background Brian Jeeter/Krejjh and background Arkady Patel/Violet Liu Word Count: 440  Rating: Gen

Time doesn’t really mean the same thing, in space. It’s sort of always the middle of the night when you’re constantly surrounded by the crushing void of the Deep. But Violet Liu figures that when the entire crew’s asleep and Krejjh has the ship’s course pre-set in for the next couple hours, it may as well be called midnight. She assumes everyone else must be sleeping, and that it’s just her anxiety keeping her up, running her mind around in circles, pushing her toward the kitchen to brew some mint tea using the leaves Arkady’s been carefully cultivating over the past few weeks. She certainly doesn’t expect to find Krejjh sitting at IGR-issue counter, opening up a puzzle box while Brian Jeeter sits beside them, smiling at them with disgustingly adorable heart eyes.

Too tired to care if she’s interrupting something at this point, Violet sets the electric kettle to boil and pulls up a stool of her own. “Couldn’t sleep, either?”

“Krejjh was basically bouncing off the walls of our quarters.” Brian says.

“Listen Crewman Jeeter, how am I supposed to stay calm when we were featured on our favorite radio station yet again, this time as the main story?” They spread out their arms and do jazz hands for extra pizzazz. “The Star-Crossed Lovers of Neuzo.” Krejjh sighs happily. “It sure has a nice ring to it.”

“Looks like you’re pretty happy about it, too, Brian,” Violet remarks, watching as he bounces his leg up and down and up and down again. “So, what, you figured… celebratory puzzles?”

Brian shrugs. “I decided to pull out some of the puzzles we found lying in the cupboards of the Iris II. Figured it’d at least help us kill some time.”

“Never done a puzzle before,” Krejjh says, “Hm, puzzle. Puzz-al. Fun word, isn’t it Crewman Jeeter?”

“Heck yeah, bud!” He looks over at the box’s contents as Krejjh pours them onto the table, gently smoothing the pieces over with their hands so that none overlap.

Violet picks up the box lid, looking at the picture on the cover. “Looks like we’ve got a dog walking through a city on our hands, folks.”

The kettle howls, and Violet stands to answer its call just as the doors swish open.

“Dang, am I missing the party?” An amused voice says from the doorway. Violet smiles as Arkady joins her at the tea kettle.

“You haven’t missed anything, yet. We were just getting started.”

“You guys have gotta come over here!” Brian says, excited. “Krejjh found one of the dog’s eyes, looks like things are coming together!”

“Puzzles,” Violet says. “Who would’ve thought?”

AO3

Send me a prompt and a character and/or pairing and I'll write you a drabble

[teacup-crow]

I’m not getting anywhere with this beginning from two years ago and canon overrode it anyway but here have some Brian and Krejjh content

“Hah! Take that, regime scum!” Krejjh waves four arms excitedly as the soldiers begin to run back to their spacecraft, cries of ‘retreat!’ and ‘they’ve got a monster, a Dwarnian, a monster!’ echoing across the small moon. “Won’t be bothering us again for a while!”

“You were brilliant, dude,” Brian pats them on the head - although he can only do that by standing about three stairs up into the Rumour, being so much shorter. “Very convincing.”

“Awh, Crewman Jeeter! It was all First Mate Patel - she was like pow and then everything went booom! and Captain Tripathi came up with the plan and Science Officer Liu set the-“

“Hang on, where is Liu?”

“Funny,” Arkady says, still with gun in hand and murder in eyes. “I was about to ask the same thing.”

Sana sighs. “She might have gotten here before all of us after setting off the pulse. She’s probably already on the ship. Brian, Krejjh, check inside. Arkady and I will take a quick look on the ground, just in case. We shouldn’t be here in an hour’s time, though. Don’t want to give them a chance to send back-up.”

“Back in fifteen!” Arkady calls up to the retreating pair. “Remember, you’re supposed to be looking for Violet, not deep into each other’s eyes.”

“Me? Get distracted by my fiancé’s beautiful eyes? That would never happen.”

“Huh?” Krejjh looks a little hurt. “I thought you liked-“

“Sarcasm, dude. Sorry, I know it’s been a long day. Love you.”

“Aw. Love you too, Crewman Jeeter.”

“You guys are so lovey-dovey it’s gross!”

[jaggedwolf]

Taking Advantage Of Someone With Amnesia

Brian tries convincing himself he's in danger. It should work, even if the short woman peering into each of his eyes with a flashlight doesn't seem like much of a threat. He's also in a medbay? Real low threat levels all around. "Hey," he says, when the woman puts the flashlight away, "Violet, right?" Disappointment flashes over her face before being replaced with a neutral expression, but she nods. That's been happening on a lot of faces ever since the woman with all the guns dragged him in here from- From where? He hadn't had time to ask, and since the last thing he remembered was despairing in his dorm room because he'd found two contradictory sources on the etymology of the Dwarnian word for feather, he doubted he'd figure out that one on his own.

Okay, what did the gun lady say again? "So, I'm 33 years old?" he says, the lie heavy on his tongue. "And I'm on this crew with all of you?" Yeah, this amnesia thing sounds fake. Maybe this was some kind of hazing ritual they put all the juniors through? Violet frowned. "Right, your brain's probably in a frenzy trying to process this. Why don't you take a look at the mirror over there?" He pushes off the cot and does exactly that. Woah. A full beard, which isn't a thing his face can do. His face looks older but like, more relaxed somehow? And there's something about the way he's holding himself too. A comfortable slouch, yeah, but it looks different from the one he's used to - no hunched shoulders, no sense of politely asking everyone in the vicinity to please ignore whatever's happening here. Huh, cool. He grins at himself in the mirror, it's as goofy as ever, and when he looks at Violet she's watching him carefully with a small smile. He hops back up on the cot. Violet's probably got more medical stuff to do. "Any idea how I lost my memories?" "What else did Arkady tell you?" That must be the name of the scary gun lady. He didn't ask, y'know, on account of all the guns. And the scars. And the arms. She didn't seem like someone you wanted to ask too many questions of. "Uh, she said that the war's over and that I don't have anything against Dwarnians, and then she muttered something about the cockpit before disappearing?" Violet sighed but she didn't seem super surprised. A not great thought came to Brian then. "Do I not like the Dwarnians now? Like, their history isn't any worse than humanity's, I'm literally studying their language-" The medbay door slides open. "Crewman Jeeter?" And okay, he feels like it's totally ridiculously cool that not only does 33 year old him seem more relaxed and comfortable with himself, he's also on the same crew as a Dwarnian. The Dwarnian looks nervous, all their eyes kinda squinting at him. He has so many questions. (Like how is said Dwarnian so very handsome, his dumb brain supplies, and he swats the thought away because it is very true and also very not helpful). But he does wanna make a good impression, so in Dwarnian he says, "Hi? I'm Brian, what's your name? The Dwarnian's lips wobble a little. Shoot, did he accidentally say something really rude? This is really basic stuff, Jeeter, get it together. "Arkady told you?" asks Violet. "Yeah," the Dwarnian replies, their eyes still fixed on him. They have nice eyes, but he kinda wishes they looked less sad. "Science Officer Liu, what do we do?" "I," said Violet, looking determined, "am going to use our state-of-the-art medbay tech to take some scans of Brian's brain. You're going to take a walk around the ship while I give Brian a better rundown of his history, and when you get back we'll take it from there." The Dwarnian nodded, only pausing to mention something about a First Mate Patel trying to contact a captain before leaving. Huh, seemed like they had a full crew on board. He stays quiet while Violet does the scans and gives him the promised rundown, only speaking at the beginning so she knows where to start. The xenolinguistics grad school stuff is awesome - he can't believe he'd ever ditch that, even if the money fell through. Neuzo sounds super cool and super terrifying and oh, that's where he and the Dwarnian - their name's Krejjh apparently - met. And then they met the captain and Arkady and- "What?" He bursts out, "okay, Violet, I think it's a little cruel to lie to a guy with amnesia." Violet's smile at this part of her story falters. He presses on, "Like, sure, apparently I was really obvious when Krejjh came through that door but making up an engagement? Not cool." "Wow, is it weird being on the other side of this," Violet says, whatever that means. She chuckles. "I'm not lying, and since you were paying such close attention to Krejjh, I'm sure you noticed they were out of breath and really worried about you?" He had. He grins. "Man, what isn't awesome about my current life?" "The whole being on the run from the IGR bit?" He waves a hand dismissively. "Sure, sure." The medbay slides open again, and this time Krejjh is accompanied by Arkady. She still has a lot of guns and Krejjh is still Krejjh, so Brian feels very good about his decision to focus on Krejjh. They look more settled now. "What's the verdict?" Arkady asks, coming into the room. Brian shifts along the cot away from her. Okay, sure, Violet says they're all friends and apparently older him is used to all the guns. Current him has never even seen a gun fired in real life, so. Violet turns to her terminal, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I need some time to look over the scans, and you need to tell me exactly what happened. Is Sana on her way?" "There's traffic," spits out Arkady, the scar across her mouth twisting as she speaks, "and even she can't jump over the kind here." "Good, we don't need two patients." Arkady rests a hand on Violet's shoulder, squeezing it, and Violet seems to relax into the touch. "Fellas," Krejjh says, "maybe Crewman Jeeter and I could keep outta your hair while you work on that stuff, so he doesn't have to wait in here? If that's okay with you?" Krejjh directs that last question to him, and he shrugs. "Sounds cool to me." Violet and Arkady agree, so he heads out of the medbay and into the hallway with Krejjh. He immediately regrets his decision - what's he supposed to say? Sorry I don't remember our relationship? At least I still think you're attractive? Can I ask you like, a billion questions about the Dwarnian language? Krejjh solves that problem for him. "What does current you know about Dwarnian soap operas?" "Wait, are those a thing?" Krejjh grins wildly. "Oh, Crewman Jeeter, this is gonna be great!"

[fira211]

Late Nights (A Ship With No Headlights): A Starship Iris Fic

Inspired by Krejjh always cheating at cards (and a shout-out to Vignette 8 which is available to Patreon supporters)

"Hey Krejjh, can I ask you something?"

Krejjh looked up from their controls and grinned. "You ask I answer, our lady Arkady.”

There was a long pause before a long-winded sigh echoed through the ship. "I won’t ask who helped you with that nickname. Honestly, I probably don’t want to know.”

“You probably shouldn’t.” It was Crewman Jeeter. Of course it was Crewman Jeeter. There were few people with enough leftover mental space, and not enough sleep, to spend time on nicknames. Honestly, in the name of fixations, there were worse. At least this one didn’t end in Krejjh mumbling in alien languages they didn’t even speak. “You had a different question though?”

“Why do you always cheat?" Arkady asked.

Krejjh’s face twisted in confusion. “That’s your question?”

“Violet asked about our deck of cards, sans the one card, the one you ate,” Arkady said, and ah. That made sense. Arkady wanted to know for Violet. It’s as though squishy feelings reminded Arkady she was allowed to be curious. It was like watching a plant being watered after a long drought. Confusion, followed by growth.

It was kind of great to watch. A little odd, since it left Arkady stumbling around like a lost baby animal sometimes, but great. Arkady had feelings. Krejjh was never going to forget that.

Speaking of things they’d never forget: “Plastic is not as edible as I had hoped. Still, easier going down than some hot sauce!” Krejjh said.

“I’ll take your word on that,” Arkady said with a dismissive hand-wave, “but it made me wonder, why do you always cheat?”

Honestly, what kind of question was that. "It's fun!" Krejjh replied.

"But, it doesn't seem to help you win?"

"Pfft, that's not the point of cheating." Cheating wasn’t to win. Well, sometimes it was. Mostly it was to make Crewman Jeeter laugh. To make Captain Tripathi hide a grin in her coffee. To make First Mate Patel roll her eyes but also hide a small smile in her tea. Now, too, to make Crewman Liu tilt her head in confusion, but giggle, just slightly. There were many reasons for cheating, few of them for winning. Or at least, winning the game at hand.

"I mean, it's supposed to be," Arkady said.

"Then people are cheating wrong,” Krejjh said.

"You are one of a kind, Krejjh," Arkady said. She even sounded like she meant it.

"I do try." Krejjh said, accepting the compliment. From Arkady, they knew it was a compliment. Even if Arkady didn’t realize.

"So it really is just for the entertainment value,” Arkady said, still sounding disbelieving.

"I mean, yeah, mostly,” Krejjh said.

"Mostly?"

Ah right, Krejjh tended to forget Arkady noticed verbal slips. Worse habits to have, but it did mean she wasn’t one to play poker with. "You really wanna get into this?" Krejjh asked.

"Wouldn't mind,” Arkady said, a little mockingly, “but I mean, seems like the week for feelings. So if you have them, shoot.” She even leaned back against the wall, as if she was willing to wait for Krejjh to tell her.

Sometimes Arkady was a good person. Well, no, she was always a good person, but she was often so bristly, like a scrub brush, that you forgot how helpful she was. Then she’d go around and do stuff like ask pressing questions and offer to listen, and even show how actively she was listening.

It wasn’t surprising that her and Violet were slowly spinning into each other’s orbit. They both needed to be listened to, and they both were really good at it.

“I have at least two feelings,” Krejjh said. They did. Squishy feelings for her future spouzze, and delight at the universe in general. Any other feelings were probably gloomy and unnecessary.

“Two more than me,” Arkady said.

Krejjh laughed. “You have at least two: annoyance and a crush.”

“Bite me. No, not literally. Anyway, this is your talk time.”

“Eshalzo,” Krejjh muttered, then a little more loudly, “I guess it's... three? Three things. It's fun, is the biggest one. I like making everyone laugh. And I guess... I mean, not to get too heavy, but I grew up in a really political household? Like my entire sense of self worth was supposed to be tied up in responsibility and prestige and I hated it from the get go. So I bailed out and did the earth equivalent of 'running away to join the circus'. And I found out what fun was. What life was. And I guess it's just a reminder to myself that even if I'm a pilot for a renegade group. Even when things gets rough, I'm not here because I have to be, and I don't have to be stern and serious. And yeah. So… there’s your daily dose of Krejjh feels I suppose.” They grinned up at Arkady, who rolled her eyes, but nodded.

“Fair, and the third?”

“Ah, well, it’s a bit…” Krejjh wiggled a little.

“I promise not to laugh,” Arkady said.

Krejjh smiled, “It’s not so much funny, as a little morbid? I suppose? But if anyone would understand... So, it's a reminder. Of me. To all of you.”

“Krejjh,” Arkady said, a small catch in her voice. She always did cotton on faster than most, and Krejjh isn’t surprised she gets it.

Still, they continued, “If something happens. If something bad goes down. I'll still be here. If I go out. Or if war happens again. Or if Eejhgreb tattles and I have to disappear. When you replace me, I'll still be here. You'll get a new pilot and they're gonna come in and ask why the deck is missing a card and you'll say ‘oh, that was Krejjh, they were a riot’ and I'll still be here. Like a space ghost! But a friendly one.”

“Krejjh—”

“It's a little silly but it's harmless. And I'm having fun now. And you'll remember me later,” Krejjh said, a little out of breath from rushing it out. Feelings were hard.

“Krejjh. I say this with the most sincerity I can muster. We won't replace you,” Arkady finally said.

“You will. You'll have to.” Not that Krejjh expected to go out anytime soon, but they didn’t have any issues with the thought of it happening. Death wasn't scary. Being forgotten was scary. So they made sure they put reminders in place.

They didn’t think to do that, back home. Who would have thought Krejjh would run away? Even Krejjh hadn’t until they did. They weren’t sure how many people remembered Krejjh. How many were already forgetting Krejjh. Eejhgreb knew they were still alive, but Eejhgreb also sounded like they were going to do their level best to forget that. That’s what scared Krejjh.

“No. We'll... Ugh... You're gonna make me say it. We'll replace a pilot. But we won't replace you. We can't. No one could.”

Krejjh looked up, and Arkady looked away. There was an angry slant to Arkady’s mouth, and her brow was crinkled, but Arkady always got angry about her feelings. That she had feelings about Krejjh was… Well, it was pretty damn cool.

Krejjh gave Arkady feelings. This was the greatest day ever. “I am pretty one of a kind,” Krejjh said, trying not to relish too much in the glory and make Arkady annoyed.

“If you like,” Arkady said, trying to be dismissive, but Krejjh knew, “anyway, that's probably enough emotions for one night. So I'm to bed. Try not to crash us before morning.”

“No promises,” Krejjh said, letting it go. They didn’t need to gloat. Today, anyway. Besides that: “... Hey Arkady?”

“Yeah?” Arkady asked, shoulders going tight.

Krejjh threw them a softball. “I also carved 'Krejjh was here' under the controls.”

Arkady’s shoulders, dropped, then shuddered a little, as though Arkady was holding back a laugh. Win. “... Of course you did. Night Krejjh.”

“Night,” Krejjh said, and then, because they really couldn’t let things go, “and uh, actually though, thanks.”

Arkady waved a hand. “Don't mention it. Seriously. Don't. We're even on emotional vomiting and that means we take this to our graves.”

“I mean the chances of us getting graves...” Krejjh joked. There were few people they could make that joke with.

Arkady chuckled. “Metaphorical graves,” she said, walking out the door.

“Fair,” Krejjh said. “Night, First Mate Patel.”

“Night, Pilot.”

Krejjh grinned and turned back to their controls. If they reached out and traced the words they carved, well, no one could blame them.

They left their mark on this home.

[pastelgodmag-blog]

Character Developement: Patel

What is their name? Patel

What model/s of Warframe do they use, mainly? Modified Mag Prime (Voxx), Trinity, Mesa, Ivara, Ash Prime, Nova Prime, Octavia, Valkyr.

What weapon/weapon type is their favorite? Mote Amp, Patel doesn't see much combat and rarely uses her amp, but when she does she's... At least trying her best.

What is your Tenno’s style of fighting? Do they rush in headlong, or prefer to sneak around? Patel isn't very... Well versed in the art of 'stealth'. She's an over active child and spring into trouble the moment she gets it.

Which Syndicate, if any, does your Tenno belong to? Perrin Sequence. Later Fortuna.

Which of the five Schools, if any, do they belong to? Zenurik

Does your Tenno agree with the Lotus? Do they view her as a mother, a tyrant, or somewhere in between? Patel was once under the notion that the Lotus was a calm, loving mother. And she believed every word the Lotus had to say. But soon when she woke from her stasis she wasn't greeted by the Lotus, no, she was greeted by Corpus Crewmen and her Warframe, who she was under the impression of being the bad guys. But after quick explanations and being taken to Themisto, Patel had to face the fact that perhaps... The Lotus had been lying to her. She doesn't view the Lotus as a tyrant or a caring mother, neither disdain or love. She just feels... Disappointed. Like she was lied too. But she doesn't like dwelling on the past.

How does your Tenno feel about the noncombatant civilians of the system? Are they invested in their protection, or are they vague and unimportant? She loves them, especially other kids. She likes talking to Nakak in Cetus but she does have her own friends. A Solaris girl named Lune, a crewman's daughter named Zela, and the niece of a Perrin Sequence scientist named Azima. They're best friends.

Where do they stand in the Corpus vs. Grineer war, if anywhere? Initially opposed to both factions, she quickly changed her allegiance to Corpus.

What are the top five things your Tenno believes are most important and worth fighting for? These can be abstract concepts or material possessions. Fun, Friendship, Security, Happiness, MOAs.

How much of their life before being put in stasis can your Tenno remember? Like Voxx, she doesn't remember much. Barely anything at all actually. She just remembers Voxx's name being familiar and that's it. Sometimes she tries to think on the past and remembers times where she received gifts and played with another girl slightly older than her. She does however vividly remember how grand and beautiful she thought of Fusion MOAs

Do they miss anything about it? A little, she missed the Ayatan Sculptures she used to keep as a little girl.

Who was your Tenno during their lifetime as a human, regardless of whether or not they remember? Patel was the aristocratic daughter of known aristocrat Remor Quix. She was friends with a girl named Anyk Tae, later Dax Anyk, who was the daughter of Voxx Tae. She grew up under the watchful eye of Voxx while her father went off on business trips. He always returned with extravagant gifts for ranging from artifacts to Ayatan tresures, however what she really wanted was just. For him to be there, which caused her to start causing trouble in the Archimedean labs with her faithful friend and later bodyguard, Anyk.

How does your Tenno see their Warframe? As just a tool? As part of their identity? She considers Voxx as a surrogate mother.

Is there any symbolism behind their chosen color scheme and energy color? Do they wear the colors of their Syndicate? Like Voxx, she just likes pastels, it's a letter off from her name after all!

What does your Tenno do during downtime between missions? Patel likes playing with the kubrows on the Orbiter as well as the single Kavat they have (even though she's very much allergic). Aside from that she likes to have conversations with Ordis ranging from technical stuff to silly questions like how big is the planet of Phobos or how vast is space really. That or she tinkers on robots in the Themisto labs with Voxx.

Does your Tenno try to modify their Warframe cosmetically, and make it unique? That's all on Voxx, Patel has no input on what Voxx wears, herself though, she likes anything that's flowy so she can skin real fast.

How does your Tenno interact with the rest of the inhabitants of the system? Do they treat their allies warmly, or with disdain? She views the Corpus like her family. She calls everyone 'uncle', especially Ergo. Grineer however? She doesn't like them, they don't quite scare her but she gets very tense whenever she has to assist Voxx in a Grineer mission. Other Tenno? As long as they don't meet her with hostility she plays nice. She doesn't really like spreading negativity anyways so everyone gets sweetness from Patel. Except Grineer, they're scary.

How do they view themself and their fellow Tenno? Are they monsters barely kept in check by the Lotus’s guidance? Are they the saviors of the system? She doesn't view them as any different than she would a Grineer defector. Slight clashing opinions aside as long as they aren't harming her or her family she doesn't see them as some evil.

Does the bloodshed they cause bother your Tenno? Would they put down their weapons, if they could? Despite being head first into battle, Patel doesn't really like seeing blood all that much. She much rather would stay inside and let MOAs do it for her. Perhaps she does fit into the Corpus lifestyle more than she thought.

Assuming there was no war, what would they want to be doing with their life? Probably living a happy healthy life as a normal child rather than a soldier. She never wanted to be this 'star system savior', she never asked to be made. She's only a child and if there was no war, she would be one.

[gatecrashing-corneas]

[gatecrashing-corneas]

[jaggedwolf]

DVD commentary for the tscosi Secret Relationship ficlet aka the ficlet that never makes me fail to swoon for arkady

aw that is one of my favorites, a worthy choice! The ficlet is here, obnoxious commentary is below 

“Arkady!” Two sharp raps on the door followed Sana’s voice. “It’s not like you to be late, is everything alright in there?”Sana is absolutely the best person to have these dorks sneak around, because she would not assume a thing. Also I guess with this and the goose fic I have a headcanon that Sana just goes directly to Arkady’s room sometimes. (I’ve never thought about it till now, but huh, the only person’s sleeping space we get audio from in canon is Sana’s.)

Violet groaned awake, petulantly keeping her eyes shut. Why was Sana knocking on Violet’s door for Arkady? Felt like a mistake the captain of the ship (or the maker of the ship) shouldn’t be making. 

Violet feels both safe and comfortable enough with her time on the Rumor to ignore the ship captain knocking on her door, even half-awake. This makes me happy. 

Violet sat up and stretched, blinking her eyes blearily when the realization struck her. Right. She was in Arkady’s room, because she’d spent the night there. Ugh, Violet hated how slow her brain was in the morning. An already half-hearted attempt to not smile stupidly was derailed when she caught sight of what Arkady was up to - standing at the foot of the bed and buckling her belt, muttering what were probably curses under her breath.

I imagine rooms on the Rumor are similar enough that going from always sleeping in your room to sometimes sleeping in someone else’s does mess up that morning brain. Also, yes, these dorks are very much in the honeymoon phase where every little thing makes you go “:D yes this person doing this silly thing they’d of course do :D”

Please imagine them both with stupid bed-hair, bc I didn’t include that like a fool, and now more under the cut,

“Alright, I’ll wait out here then,” Sana replied.Oh god, Sana was right outside. This was really really embarrassing. Hey captain, slept with your first mate last night, wasn’t even the first time, don’t mind me stepping past you there while wearing yesterday’s clothes also please don’t- A shirt struck her in the face. She sputtered, and then sputtered even more when she realized it was her own.

I always love Violet spiraling in her head over something silly. (And convinced Sana would notice her wearing the previous day’s clothes. She might, depending on how weird Violet was.) Also, “hey, captain, slept with your first mate” is a great way to possibly elide your own anxieties over breaking the relationship bubble, I mean what.

“How are you panicking Liu?” Arkady whispered, looking not at all guilty for the shirt throwing. She scanned the room for a second, grabbing a jacket from a pile of clothes and sliding it on. “I’m the one who’s late.”“She’s. Right. There,” Violet said, keeping her voice low. She pulled on her shirt and then embarked on a search for her pants within the tangled sheets. “She doesn’t have her ear to the door. We’re fine, the plan with the bet is fine, I’ll start a private call with you before I leave and tip you off when we’re far away enough.” Arkady inspected each of her holsters.

Arkady comfortable enough with Violet’s brand of ridiculousness to interrupt it by throwing a shirt in her face? Also makes me happy. Also, Arkady has already planned for this, because paranoia is useful for silly things too. (Let’s just say she may have already thought about hiding Violet under disorganized sheets on her mattress and who would buy it. XD)

“Look, I am completely on board with Sana winning the betting pool those three have on us, since if Krejjh knew they won they’d probably explode from the excitement and we agreed we had Sana to thank for this-” Violet gestured between the two of them. “-actually happening, but have we considered letting her in on it?”“C'mon” Arkady shot an unimpressed look at Violet. “No way she’s lying to Brian and Krejjh.”

Cut from this ficlet: Pre-relationship Violet accidentally eavesdropping on Brian and Krejjh roping Sana into their bet, and being amused despite herself. 

I didn’t have an idea when I wrote this how, precisely, they had Sana to thank for this. I’m confident that it wasn’t that Sana-patented brand of honesty but instead something casual. Maybe she was drinking moonshine/hanging out with the two of them and was the first to go to bed! Maybe she assigned them some work together. Maybe she said something off-hand in front of one of them that sparked a train of thoughts in their head. 

“Fair enough.” Violet sighed. “But you’re also not looking forward to how smug they’re all going to be, right?”“And you are?”

SO SMUG. Did you hear Krejjh’s voice in that finale?? 

“I’m not,” Violet agreed, pulling on her pants that she’d finally found. “It’s a pretty small ship, I’m not sure if we can pull the wool over their eyes for a whole two more months.”

Sana gave the furthest timeline out, because it makes the ficlet work but also maybe because she’s most likely to be like what are good pre-requisites (Violet should feel safe on the ship. Arkady needs to think less about the blood on her hands as defining her. The crew as a whole should be reasonably safe from the IGR.)….and also has the least faith in Arkady in this department.

Krejjh was the most optimistic (”CREWMAN JEETER THEY ALREADY LIKE EACH OTHER HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT THE MINT-” “yeah bud”)

“Private Connection. Arkady Patel to Violet Liu” Arkady nodded to Violet’s comms on the table and then shrugged, a small smile on her face. “I’d bet on us.”

This was supposed to be snarky play on words!! It wasn’t supposed to be as swoon-y as it is, I am very surprised here. (Arkady 100% intended it though, and feels v. smooth as she immediately leaves the room.)

[jaggedwolf]

fic: if that red string could bite

It was one of those rare times Arkady felt a little optimistic - the nanobots were dealt with, the Rumor was back on its regular routes and there was no sign of the next threat.

Then the goose showed up.

-

It was a rare moment of quiet on the ship, only the hum of the regulators and Arkady’s own movement to be heard. She savored it. It’d been a while since she was up this late alone. She did the usual maintenance on all her tools and weapons and then walked a loop through the common areas, avoiding the cockpit.

She ended up in the kitchen after that. Mint tea sounded good. She’d just finished pouring herself a cup when kitchen door slid open. She spun around.

“Still awake, First Mate Patel?” asked Krejjh. Right, shift change. Krejjh had an annoying look of concern on their face.

“My sleep cycle’s still shifted from the last drop-off.” Arkady turned back long enough to grab her mug of tea. “Want me to head up and babysit the autopilot?”

Arkady was no pilot, but sometimes it was nice to know a real person was awake while they were all hurtling through space in a tin can.

“Captain Tripathi’s got it.” Krejjh yawned, their eyelids drooping.

Arkady set the mug back down. “You look like shit. How’re you not collapsed into bed already?”

“Grabbing a drink for Crewman Jeeter first.”

“Huh.” Arkady glanced at the time. Three in the morning. “Makes sense.”

Read More on AO3

[jaggedwolf]

Audio Clips Agents McCabe and Park Listen To And Then Immediately File As Irrelevant

Clip 1

Voices Identified: Violet Liu. 

"So, I have an actual device to record with now. Pretty sure it's not a battery this time since I've played recordings back on it - though I wouldn't put it past Arkady to have figured out how to make a battery do that temporarily" [sigh]   "She really knows her stuff." [coughing, attempts to speak, more coughing] "Feels like a sick day back in college. I'd love to lie in bed, listen to some mildly illegal music, ignore the world." [coughing] "But the possible connection between Alvy and the other Violet...if I could think a little harder. There's something we're missing here." Report: Nothing relevant here that isn't repeated in a later conversation with Brian Jeeter as recorded in Transmission 9B. Request to exempt similar clips of Violet Liu talking to herself from the requisite deeper analysis. REQUEST ACCEPTED

Clip 2

Voices Identified: Sana Tripathi

[singing, in English, the song of the Cresswin Landing rioters as tagged in Transmission 7] [sounds of items being moved around] [sound of switch pressed] [song playing, lyrics in unidentified South Asian language] [different song playing, lyrics in English]

Report: The clip is contentless.

Request to exempt similar clips of Sana Tripathi’s morning routine from the requisite deeper analysis.

REQUEST DENIED

Sana Tripathi’s original identity (the one she arrived on Cresswin Landing with) is still unknown. Music often betrays where a subject is from and what they value, be it in language or semantics. Send it on for the usual analysis.

Clip 3

Voices Identified: Arkady Patel

"Great job, Arkady, knock out a guard so bad you freak her out more badly than the news that her own government is out for her death" [Sounds of metal clanging] "Fuck. Shit. Fuck fuck-" [Cursing continues in this manner for several minutes.] [softer muttering] "Might as well have snapped his neck right in front of her." Report: The Rumor's vents appear to have sufficient capacity for at least 1 human to navigate through (see attached sound profile for more details). While that fact was already known from the incident the subject mentions, the subject appears capable of traversing the vent system for several hours, indicating something about either the subject’s state of mind, or the vent system itself. 

Request to exempt similar clips of the subject in the vents from these few days from the requisite deeper analysis. 

REQUEST ACCEPTED.

Clip 4

Voices Identified: Krejjh

Note: The audio in this clip was a mixture of Dwarnian and English that would make little sense to anyone who isn’t a fluent speaker of both. All sentences were translated to English where possible.

"Yes, Crewman Jeeter, if you could just-"

[sounds of heavy panting. pitch is concordant with that of Krejjh per earlier samples] "Crewman Jeeter, have I ever told you that you're the bestest and smartest fiance a-”

[audio from Krejjh devolves into incomprehensible Dwarnian beyond the neural translators abilities] Report: The audio continues in this vein for a while. While the audio alone does not confirm that Krejjh and Brian Jeeter's relationship is sexual as well as romantic (see resource 2751A on the utterance of names by subjects when engaged in self-pleasure), no other transmission channels have audio of Brian Jeeter during the same time, making it highly possible he was with Krejjh. There are several explanations for the lack of his voice while physically present. Furthermore, audio from the same transmission channel thirty minutes later reveal the two to be having a conversation about earth animals and better Dwarnian translations for their names. Request to excise similar audio from future reports and transcription protocols - unlikely to be relevant.

REQUEST DENIED Agent, this might be one of the very few documented instances of Dwarnian-Human sexual activity. Continue archiving these clips. The IGR may have use for them yet.