#general's orders

[rockofcalifa]

u know those longform investigative articles that document the events of some specific disaster or crisis like minute by minute

[rockofcalifa]

SHE

Nikola i commissioned from @mordhiobhail !!! wow i love her ???

[rockofcalifa]

shut up about your clearly brilliant plan and kiss me already

part of the Oli & Melv Regency AU

"Twenty-five pounds, or their first offer, right?" Olivia paced back and forth in front of the door, where Melvina stood, watching, hand on the doorknob, as it had been for the last few minutes. "No more than fifty probably and certainly not more than a hundred for the both of us, unless it's really all just a scam and we're being taken for -"

"Liv, please. Calm down." Melvina opened the door. "We've been over all this. It'll be fine. I won't be gone for long."

"Right, I know, sorry." Olivia stopped pacing and rubbed at her face with her hands. "You remember we talked about what you should do if you notice someone following you?"

"Bye," Melv called, closing the door maybe a little too firmly as she left. She understood that Olivia was stressed. Of course she was stressed - they were both stressed. So if it felt like Liv wasn't trusting her with this totally manageable task, she had to acknowledge where the other was coming from. Liv was cooped up in their crappy little rented room and had been for days, unable to go out because of the price on her head (significantly greater than the reward offered for Melvina) and the government agents searching for them. There was nothing Liv wanted more than to go out and make these arrangements herself; but it was too dangerous, so Melvina went alone. That was also tough for Olivia, the thought that something could happen to Melv while she was out, while Liv was powerless to help. Melvina understood this not this because they'd talked about it - because they hadn't - but rather from the way Olivia clung to her at night on the rickety little bed, from the way that she herself felt the same cold worry every time she left Liv in the room to purchase food or run some other errand like this. The thought that - maybe the last time she'd gone out she had been followed back, and the agents were waiting for her to leave so they could get Liv on her own. Capture her, maybe kill her, since they didn't need her alive. And then Melvina would return to an ambush and a dead body -

She shivered. It was wet outside, spitting rain, which made it easier for Melv to make her way through the city and down to the docks inconspicuously. She was searching for the captain of the Kilduroy, which ship had, according to the schedule she had found the last time she'd searched, come into the city last night. The very ship that Lady Braintree had recommended to them before they'd fled her estate, the little cargo ship that would hopefully, if all went well, secret them away across the Atlantic, far away from the dangers they were facing here in England.

The Kilduroy. There it was. It did not look like a particularly trustworthy vessel, but she'd seen worse. The anonymity was to their advantage. After a bit of asking around and, to her dismay, a few curious looks, she found the captain, a middle-aged, disinterested man who immediately perked up upon presentation of Lady Braintree's letter of introduction.

"We're setting out again in six days," he said, "and we can easily accommodate you, and keep it quiet. Every last man on this ship is trustworthy, they know sometimes we carry sensitive cargo. It's going to be -"

"Two," Melvina said. "There are two."

"Oh, all right," said the captain. "What'd you say your name was, lady?"

She hadn't. "J-ane. I'm Jane. And, uh, Catherine."

"Well, Jane. It'll be forty pounds for the both of you, and you can pull your weight on board as well. I'll take half the fare now and half when we set out."

"Okay," Melv said, pulling out the money. Forty was not the twenty-five Liv had been hoping for, but they couldn't exactly be picky.

"Good," said the captain, pocketing the payment. "Six days from now. Be here at dawn."

It was an exceptionally tense six days. Melv didn't really know how they got through it. Olivia was increasingly antsy and would get frustrated at the littlest things. By the last day she had taken to lying on the bed for hours in a miserable daze, staring at the ceiling, unfortunate because that's exactly what Melv wanted to do, and there wasn't room for both of them up there, not when they could barely stand each other.

Purgatory ended on a Wednesday. They brought themselves and their meager baggage to the dock at five in the morning, far earlier than any of the crew actually showed up - and now it was eight-thirty, and they should have pushed away from land at least half an hour ago. In order to stay hidden until they actually did leave, Melvina and Olivia were sitting against against the least dirty wall of the most deserted corridor outside the cluttered crew's quarters where they were to be staying along with everyone else. For forty pounds Melvina might have expected better accommodations, but - mostly she was just upset that she and Liv would not be getting a moment alone for at least a month, or however long this godforsaken journey took them. They couldn't risk their position on the ship, so they had to be on their absolute best sisterly behavior.

At least the others couldn't understand what they were saying to each other. Probably. Surely no one else spoke their language?

"I want to know what's taking so long," Liv muttered. Melvina turned to her curiously. "It seems harmless but if the ship's paperwork is not in order, the dock authorities might perform an inspection of some sort."

Oh. She was right.

"I should go up to check with the captain," Melvina said, standing. "And you should stay here."

Liv looked like she was going to protest, but ultimately she just gave a small nod, quickly squeezed the other's hand, and let her go.

Melvina rounded the corner, coming to the part of the level that was an exposed walkway, and stood standing for a few moments, listening. Hearing nothing unusual - but it was hard to hear anything, with the din of work going on nearby - she proceeded up the stairs to the top deck, where she was greeted by the sight of not only the captain and some recognizable members of the crew, but also the the very uniforms they had been desperately trying to avoid. And everyone was staring at her.

Her hand immediately flew to her hip, where her sword was - not, it wasn't there, it was down with Liv and the rest of the baggage. Oh, god, she couldn't take on this many men anyway. She had half a mind to turn and flee down the stairs but when large hands closed around her shoulders - where had those two men come from? - she realized that she couldn't. That this was it. That they'd finally gotten her, and she wasn't getting away.

"Good morning, gentlemen," she said, fairly loudly, hoping Olivia would hear and get the right idea. "Can I help you?"

"You're under arrest, Utkin," barked the uniform in charge, a lieutenant. "Search the rest of the ship."

Fuck. No. They'd gotten her but they couldn't get Liv, they couldn't.

"Gentlemen, please," said the captain, pale and distressed. "I only have one passenger aboard, and it's this woman."

"Your lies are becoming tiresome," the lieutenant said, condescending. "That's not what your first mate told me when he came to collect his reward."

The captain cursed. At least the man hadn't betrayed them on purpose, right? She supposed it didn't really matter who had done it. All that mattered now was that they didn't find her.

"There's no one down here, sir," said a man from the bottom of the stairs, and it took all of Melvina's self-restraint not to smile or show her relief.

"You keep looking," said the lieutenant. "Return in half an hour if you find nothing. I'm bringing this one in now."

Still being firmly restrained by the lieutenant's goons, Melvina was brought off the ship, down the busy dock, and into a waiting carriage, inconspicuously black and plain. She didn't bother resisting, didn't acknowledge or even notice the curious looks she was getting, instead scanning the sea of faces and bodies for some shape that she would recognize, some discreet, anonymous figure among the crowd that would confirm her hopes that Liv had escaped. Maybe she was the person with their back turned and their legs dangling off of the walkway. Maybe she was hidden among the walkers she could barely make out on the beach. Maybe she was still on the ship, and she was hidden so well they wouldn't find her. Maybe she was in the process of swimming to the shore. Maybe they'd spotted her from the ship. Maybe they'd shot at her. Would they miss? Would she drown? Alone in the cold, dirty water -

"I've heard about you," said the lieutenant, snapping Melvina's attention back to the immediate. "Not a lot, but some. A real troublemaker, huh. I bet you thought it was fun, going around in revolutionary circles, right? We'll see who's having fun when you're serving fifty years hard labor for sedition."

Melv didn't respond, stubbornly looking down at her lap instead of at the smug man sitting across from her in the carriage. Unsatisfied, the lieutenant kept going. "You seem smart enough. You're clearly a woman of ideas. What I want to know is why you've been attaching yourself to that Hvorstovsky. Do you understand?" Melvina gave no acknowledgement. "You aren't a problem for us if you aren't in the country. You become insignificant. There are plenty of rabble-rousers back at home we could make examples of. It's Hvorstovsky we're after. You've made yourself a bonus."

Melvina understood the question, and understood the lieutenant's curiosity. But she had never doubted her decision to stick with Olivia, not when they'd fled the Braintree estate with the agents' dogs at their heels, not even during the past week stuck in that awful little room. They were stronger, more capable, when they were together. And then there was the whole issue of them maybe being a little in love or whatever.

"Not going to talk?" the lieutenant said after a minute. "That's fine. We don't need you to."

The rest of the ride proceeded in silence. Melv didn't know where they were going, but she wasn't surprised when they ended up at the embassy. It was a large, gated structure, heavily guarded, and the lieutenant had to get out and show his badge to the men out front before they were let in.

Once inside, they passed through the public area of the embassy, where an array of men and women waited to have requests and documents processed by officials, and through another security point into the private part, whereupon, after the lieutenant had all of the information processed regarding the arrest, Melv was finally released by the goons.

"I'll have someone show you around," the lieutenant said. "One of my men will accompany you at all times." He held up a warning finger. "If you cause any sort of trouble there will be consequences for you and your friend. I know how to make your stay here as unpleasant as possible. All right?"

She nodded to show that she understood. And so her captivity began.

In a different situation, she would have found her stay at the embassy pleasant, almost enjoyable. Despite the various silent men following her around and watching her every move, she was given a private room far nicer than that in which she'd last stayed, and she was permitted to move about the building freely, a privilege which she fully exercised. For two days she spent much of her time in the back corner of the embassy library, burning through its the supply of books and documents which were in languages she could actually read. Keeping herself distracted.

She was consoled by two things: one, that she was still alone, which she took to mean that the agents hadn't yet managed to capture Olivia; and two, that she was still being kept here, because surely (maybe?) if Olivia was dead, they'd be on their way back home already.

(Then again, if the agents brought her back without Liv and without telling her otherwise, she'd just assume Olivia had managed to escape. Wouldn't he? She'd assume Olivia had managed to get on a ship and leave. She'd assume it as a kindness to herself.)

That didn't stop her from giving every other morbid possibility its fair share of consideration.

It was the night of her second full day at the embassy and, predictably, she couldn't sleep. Tired of imagining all the different ways she might never see Olivia again, she'd instead taken up an amorphous, permeating sense of dread which may have been just as hard on her heart but was at least not as taxing on her brain. She didn't expect anything to break her from her trance, and certainly did not expect anything - or anyone - to literally break into her room.

"Utkin, get up," the man hissed. Melv recognized that voice - it was the lieutenant who had arrested her.

"What?" she asked groggily, her eyes adjusting to the light from the hallway. "Has something happened?"

"Shut up," said the lieutenant. He held out a long black coat and a large-rimmed hat. "I need you to put these on."

Melv did as she was told. She wasn't sure what was going on but it didn't seem entirely... legitimate. She bit off a yelp of surprise as the lieutenant grabbed her by the front of the coat and tugged her into the (empty? weren't there supposed to be men posted outside her door at night?) hallway.

Something must have happened. Had they found Olivia? Had they killed her? Had they decided Melvina wasn't worth the trouble of keeping her around, or alive? She was pulled through the rest of the strangely deserted building, and outside. As they approached the main gate the lieutenant turned to grip both sides of the coat and pull Melvina's face up to his.

"Breathe a word of this to anyone and you're dead, got it?" Melv gulped and nodded, and the lieutenant let her go, instead walking beside her the rest of the way up to the gate.

The guards on the other side of the fence didn't give much acknowledgement to the odd pair, only muttering a "Good night, sir," as the lieutenant passed.

They walked together for another block, Melv too confused to do anything other than follow the other as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Then, as soon as they turned the corner out of the embassy guards' line of sight, the lieutenant turned to her and held out his hand.

"I need those back," he said. Melvina took off the coat and hat and handed them over. Shouldn't she be running? Wouldn't this be a good opportunity to get away? But she stood and watched the lieutenant put the items on.

"You're free to go," the lieutenant continued. "And when you see Hvorstovsky tell her I said she's a real asshole."

"W-will do," Melv replied, a little shocked. And just like that, the lieutenant turned and left.

What? That was it? She'd just been freed like that - while, based on the lieutenant's comments, Olivia was still out there? Was this some mind game - was she going to be followed?

But there was nobody around. She made her way back to the building in which she and Liv had been staying - it was the only place in the city she could think of to go. She took a circuitous, confusing path, partially intentional so as to lose anyone who was following her and partially because she didn't entirely know where she was.

Eventually, after an hour or so, she arrived. She didn't actually have a plan, but she realized that because of the possible change in occupancy it might be a bad idea to go barging back into their old room. Luckily, she noted that the housekeeper had a light on visible through her window, so she didn't feel to bad about knocking.

"Oh, it's you," the housekeeper noted immediately upon opening the door, not waiting for her to explain herself. "I was told to give you an address. Let me get it." She left briefly, then returned with a blank envelope, which she handed to her.

"Thank you, ma'am. Do you remember, um, when this was... given?" A more advanced English sentence than she was accustomed to delivering.

"Wednesday night, I believe," she replied. "Now, excuse me, good night."

So Olivia had escaped from the ship after all. "G-good night!" The landlady shut the door, and she tore open the envelope. Inside was a slip of paper with an address she knew to be in the north part of the city in a script she knew to be Olivia's.

Thank god.

She got herself to the address as quickly as she could, almost running. The morning was lightening and people were appearing on the street and in just a few minutes, she'd be with Olivia again, Liv would be there, or she wouldn't... she would or she wouldn't, just a few minutes, she would or she wouldn't, and in this way she arrived at the correct street, then the correct block, then -

She heard a shout from the other side of the street, and then a slightly smaller person was colliding with her and it just felt so right, after what felt like an impossibly long time, that she was choking back unexpected tears.

"Melvina. Melv," Olivia looked up, unburying her face from Melvina's shirt. "I can't believe it worked."

"Liv," Melvina croaked. "I can't believe you're okay."

"Are you okay?" Liv removed her arms from around Melv's waist, gripping her face and moving it back and forth, inspecting. She then took a step back and looked her up and down. Melv laughed.

"I'm great. I'm excellent," she said, allowing Liv to pull her by the hand towards a door, using the other to wipe at her wet face.

"That can never happen again," Liv said, entering the building and starting up the stairs, Melv still in tow. "I only got our bags back by freak luck and it took most of the rest of our money to get them to let you go, and I had to feed them so many lies about which of their secrets I'd told to whom, and even then..." They arrived at a room which Liv unlocked and entered, shutting the door behind them. "I had no control over the situation, I didn't know if they were actually going to do what I asked or if they were just going to keep the money and laugh at me, I -"

She broke off her train of thought and let go of Melv's hand, beginning to pace around the room as she launched into her next slightly manic tirade. "And then, clearly the plan we were given didn't work out, it's not like we can go back and ask for more help, we're completely on our own and in a way that's fine, I got us tickets for the ferry to Dublin today, even though I didn't know if you'd make it, I figured I could sell them if -"

Melvina caught her arm as she passed. "Liv, please," she asked softly. "Will you shut up about your clearly brilliant plan and kiss me already?"

"Oh," Liv said, looking up at her, eyes widening. "Yeah, okay."

[And she did, cradling Melvina's face in her hands like a sacred object and trying to give and give and give what Melvina needed - heartbreakingly sweet and earnest and Melv thought she was going to start crying again - until they were both breathless.]

"Now what was that you said," Melvina panted, "about ferry tickets to Dublin?"

[rockofcalifa]

Under the cut is the outline of and likely the only excerpt I will write from what I’ve been calling the Oli and Melv Regency AU.

WHATS UP (outline)

- melvina is in england hiding from the russian government with some wealthy english people who are sympathetic to her cause. WHY? tbd. she was probably talking shit abt the emperor - olivia arrives at where she is. olivia is also hiding from the russian government but her case is slightly more high profile and relevant and there are actually people looking for her. WHAT DID SHE DO? tbd. but she's a war hero and she knows too much - shortlist of qualities that olivia possesses: she's mysterious. she's a little dangerous. she's very capable. did i mention she's hot. all of these things make melvina rly pissed off. she doesn't know how to emotions. she's full of extra anger - so they go around intentionally pissing each other off purposefully egging each other on because what else is there to do in the english countryside - oh wait i know what there is to do. duel. yes let's go out alone into the forest and duel without rules or anything - dueling with swords <<<<<<< dueling with your face. aka oops now theyre makin out howd that happen - uh oh! now things are awkward. but at least now instead of yelling at each other all the time they can sit around and catch feelings -- wait. shit. FUCK - finally the awkwardness breaks and they talk after liv has a bad nightmare next door and melv comes running to save her, this part is one-shottable - only a vague idea of what happens next. i know two things: there's a fancy party involved, and the government eventually catches up with them.

Excerpt (basically the second to last bullet point)

The twelfth day of their mutual non-acknowledgement ended without incident. She'd only encountered Olivia twice - once at dinner, as always, and once when Melvina had been outside in the garden with Lady Braintree and she'd spotted Olivia leaving the grounds, on horseback, alone. She'd tried not to watch too obviously, or think too much or too loudly, but she couldn't help but feel that Lady Braintree regarded her a little too knowingly. 

They'd made great progress in planning the part of the garden surrounding the gazebo. She fell asleep that night imagining hedge mazes.

She woke early the next morning to the sound of screaming. 

A second of disorientation before she remembered where she was, and who was in the room next to hers.

She didn't stop to consider the possibilities or consequences. All she knew was one second she was sitting bolt upright in bed and the next her sword was in her hand and she was rushing into Olivia's room to fight off the intruder, only to find none. Imperial spies had not come to take her away. Olivia was alone in the room, sitting on the floor surrounded by a tangle of sheets and blankets, looking very small with her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Are you okay?" Melvina croaked.

"I -" Olivia said, putting her hands over her face. She didn't finish the thought. Melvina put her sword down next to the door and approached closer.

"Hey," she said, bending down to take one of Olivia's hands, but pausing. Oh, she was shaking. Melvina wanted to cry. Kneeling, Melvina reached out again, and this time Olivia removed her hands from her strangely expressionless face, instead gripping the front of Melvina's shirt. Melvina guided Olivia's head onto her shoulder with one hand, keeping the other hand on Olivia's back. "It's okay," she whispered. "Is this okay?"

"Mm," Olivia assented into her shoulder. "Yeah.”

"Okay," Melvina repeated. "It's too early to wake up. Come with me."

Olivia willingly let go of Melvina's shirt, let Melvina pull her up and guide her out of her room, down the hall, and into the next, Melvina closing the door behind them. 

Melvina didn't know if she was being presumptuous, assuming that this was what Olivia wanted or needed. What if she'd rather be left alone right now? But based on how she curled up against Melvina when they climbed into the latter's bed, maybe this was fine. Melvina ran her fingers through the other's hair until she fell asleep.

When Melvina awoke several hours later it was to sunlight coming in through the window. Blinking, she looked to her left to see Olivia was still there - awake now, and staring at the ceiling with a hand beneath her head. When she noticed Melvina stirring, she propped herself up on one elbow.

"Good morning," she said.

"Mmh, hi," Melvina replied, still squinting. Gone was the shivering, fragile Olivia of yesterday, but she hadn't been replaced with an Olivia she was entirely familiar with. This Olivia was talking to her. This Olivia was smiling. This Olivia was doing unfortunate, painful things to her heart - but that wasn't exactly new.

"Thank you," Olivia said, eyes downcast. "Usually, when that happens, I don't go back to sleep, and the rest of the day is a loss."

"Nightmare?" Melvina guessed, not wanting to pry, but - well, she did want to pry. She wanted to know. 

"Yeah. You know. The war."

She did know. She knew, but she hadn't seen it. That was different.

Olivia again broke the momentary silence, looking at Melvina again. "I... don't want to go back to not talking."

"Good." Melvina smiled. "Me neither."

"Oh?" Olivia raised an eyebrow. (She might as well have punched Melvina in the gut, for what it felt like.) "I thought you hated me."

"Well you acted like you hated me!"

"I was just playing along. I didn't know how serious you were about it."

"Hm." Melvina relaxed onto her back and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry I acted like that. I don't know what got into me. I actually like you a lot."

"Oh? Hm? What was that? You like me a lot?"

Melvina swatted at Olivia's arm. "You have five seconds to respond seriously or I kick you out."

"Yeah," Olivia admitted. "I like you a lot too."

They stared at each other. Melvina reminded herself to breathe. 

"...So now what?" Melvina asked.

Olivia cleared her throat. "Lady Melvina," she said in an awful aristocratic British accent. "Kindly show me in the direction of your suitors, so that I might contend with them for your affections."

"sIR," Melvina gasped dramatically, and Olivia collapsed in a fit of laughter.

(a/n: *dramatic voice* THE WAR)

(a/n: *olivia voice* oh? hm? u like me a lot? owo what’s this?)

[rockofcalifa]

6, Mel and Olivia (bonus: regency au but l'll take anything i fckn love these two)

6: things you said under the stars and in the grass

We ran, ran while the sun disappeared and kept running until Olivia stopped abruptly in the middle of a field. I stopped, too; she turned around, smiled at me, and fell backwards into the grass.

I screeched in alarm and ran to her side, but the thick grass had cushioned her fall, and she gazed up at me with amusement. I frowned. “Shouldn’t we keep going?”

“Aw, but I’m tired,” she pouted. “And we’ll hear them coming from a mile away.”

She was probably right, the Imperial Guardsmen on horseback were all clank and jangle. But nevertheless. “We’re exposed out here,” I pointed out. “They could come at us from several directions.”

She didn’t respond, just continued to pout at me, lifting her arms to grab at me unsuccessfully. “Oh, you’re intolerable,” I muttered, surveying our dark surroundings for any sign of impending ambush. The night was cloudless, the moon and stars out in full force, waving grass the only motion visible as far as I could see, until the treeline. The constellations were not the same here, something I noticed whenever I could see them, a constant reminder that England wasn’t home.

I looked down at Olivia, who had been silent for longer than our regular flow of banter would lead me to expect. Her head was turned to the side, her expression pale and worried. 

“Oh, you know I didn’t mean that seriously!” I scolded, dropping down onto my hands and knees.

“I know.” She paused and closed her eyes when I leant over to kiss her, then continued as I flopped onto my back. “I was wondering how I had ever managed to do this alone, without you. The thought seems terrifically bleak, now.”

“Lucky you, then, you’re not getting rid of me.”

“What happens,” she asked, “what happens when everything becomes normal again? And we can return home? What happens to us then?”

“Well, I’d want to go with you, I suppose, if you’d allow it.”

She exhaled loudly, slowly. I patted the grass for her hand until I found it, and fitted our fingers together, squeezing reassuringly.

Then, all too soon, the bark of a dog off in the distance. Olivia shot upright, listening intently, her eyes widening as the sound repeated.

“We’d better get going,” she whispered, pulling the both of us to our feet, and we were off again.

[rockofcalifa]

hi funny im dad

[rockofcalifa]

one of my favorite tracks on my phone is from humanz by gorillaz and it’s just two seconds with one guy saying “elevator, going up”. imagine. song fades out. “elevator, going up.” another song comes in.