seen from United Kingdom
seen from South Korea
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Germany
seen from Taiwan
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from China
seen from Japan
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from South Korea
seen from United Kingdom
seen from China
seen from Italy
seen from China
seen from United Kingdom
seen from United Kingdom
Meanwhile Zoey…
Then theres Bobby! 😊
You smell... like dogs!
(Poses by @akuiyumi)
🎶
Answering Sara's things and ALWAYS having him want to take people's hands-- holding them, pressing kisses to them, whatever else. Looking back at how he's been in the past.
...Realizing perhaps far later than I should have that he has a small thing for hands.
~ lady-Plantagenet holding a seminar for the York Boys and Warwick.
"Sometimes though, you are just looking so extra adorable that my heart explodes into a 10 minute drum solo.."
Come here and let me see you smile please - eUë
Hello, new followers. I'm not always so sassy 😂
(requested by anonymous; same timeline as this post)
“Ifrit, we’re going fishing.” This was less of a request for Saria so much as a declaration from on high. “Silence doesn’t want to come, but I’ve got a boat and some gear from Provence, and it’s about time you and I had a talk.”
“Alright. Can I bring my smokes?”
The Vouivre shrugged. “Do you have any that don’t smell like a burning candy bar?”
“Zima probably has some.” Ifrit, who had a singed textbook in front of her at the moment, grabbed her tablet. “I’ll ask her. When are we going?”
“Couple of days from now.”
The devil child smiled. “Cool! Why doesn’t Silence want to come with us?”
“Something about her feathers getting wet.” She shook her head. “I swear, that woman. Well, you’re doing homework, so I won’t bother you anymore. Dinner in half an hour.”
“‘Kay!”
As Saria walked back into the living room, Silence half-glared at her. “I told you why I can’t go with you.”
“I know you did,” she replied, “but having important business meetings isn’t as fun. Besides, it’ll help keep the tone light for the whole trip, which...well, we need all the levity we can get for that conversation.”
“Are you sure you want to have that talk without me?”
Saria sighed. “No, I’m not, but I think it’ll be simpler if she hears it one at a time. Less confusing, you know?”
“...It’s your decision.” Silence turned back to her laptop. “Half an hour, you said?”
“Half an hour.”
The Liberi nodded. “I’ll have my formulations done by then. Thanks.”
“No problem.” After a moment of deliberation, she walked over and kissed her cheek. “We’ll get better at this, right?”
“Eventually...hopefully. For her sake.”
Saria smiled to herself. “That’ll be nice for a change...”
-
A few days later, and after receiving briefings from the Doctor, Kal’tsit, Provence, and Silence (the last one less formally than the others), Ifrit and Saria were on their way to a campsite where they’d be spending the next few days together. For her part, Ifrit was just happy to be off the base, and while she had to be careful not to start a forest fire, seeing all the trees around her was a novel and exciting experience. As for Saria...Well, the fish were definitely the furthest of her concerns, but before getting to that, she wanted some nice mother-daughter bonding time, and doing something outdoorsy gave her a break from the more bothersome elements of her career, so all’s well that ends well.
And, to the great surprise of both of them, things were going very well by the last day of their trip; the fish were biting the entire time, and even on their slowest day, they caught enough to pair nicely with some mushrooms they found while foraging around. They had rations to fall back on, but nature’s bounty came through for them in the most delightful way, and Ifrit only had one pyro accident the entire time! That was a new record for a three-day period.
Eventually, though, it came time for the talk to happen, and their last day on the water came with a heaviness Ifrit immediately picked up on. “Something wrong?” She asked once their lines were cast.
“Not wrong, no,” Saria replied, “but we need to have a talk about something.”
“Are you and Silence going to start fighting again?”
The Vouivre had to stop herself from getting defensive. “No, Ifrit, that’s not...It’s about time we told you why we were fighting in the first place.”
“Oh! Okay, then.” No words for a minute or so. “Are you going to tell me?”
“I’m trying to find the right way to say this...We were the ones in charge of the experiments.”
“...What.”
“Rhine Labs gave us to you as part of an attempt to turn a Sarkaz child into a weapon. It...wasn’t my proudest moment, agreeing to work on the project, but Silence committed to the challenge, and I wasn’t about to let her work alone. When we realized how much we were hurting you and the others, we refocused our work on keeping you healthy, as it was pretty clear you were more than meeting our expectations, but...eventually, it was too much for us to handle - you were too much to handle - and everything went up in smoke during your strongest tantrum ever. I saved you and Silence, but the other children and a large part of the staff were killed, and I left the company while Silence stayed behind with you. She felt like I abandoned her, I felt like she’d crossed a moral threshold she’d never come back from, and until we met again at RI, I thought you might’ve died...but there you were, healthy if under heavy treatment, and there she was, treating you as if it was the simplest part of her job while working with a dozen other patients. If it weren’t for the Doctor, I don’t think we would’ve even tried to get back together, but new flames can spark from cinders when they’re given tinder...Ifrit, please say something.”
“You...” Ifrit was breathing slowly, steadily, completely on command. “You did this to me? You and Silence made me like this?”
Saria sighed. “Yes.”
“I would be a normal kid who didn’t burn everything they touched if it weren’t for those treatments?”
“That’s hard to say,” she admitted. “You already had a strong affinity for the arts before the experiments, but it would probably have been easier for you to control.”
No words for another while. Eventually, Ifrit piped up again. “I’m not going to forgive you, but I don’t hate you.”
“You don’t? That’s a relief-”
“I hate Rhine Labs.” She was seething, but exercising a measure of restraint more in line with Silence than her normal self. “I hate Oripathy. I hate Reunion, and the people who stuck needles in my arms, and the rocks on my skin, and the stones in my spine, and everyone who thinks badly of the Doctor, and I hate who you were. I’m glad those people burned that day, and I wish I’d burnt more...but I don’t hate you, and I don’t hate Silence, and I’m happy I have two moms who are trying to be better than the people who did this to me. Are you experimenting on anyone at Rhodes Island?”
That stung. “No.”
“Good. Don’t...I love you.”
“Love you too...” The fish seemed to be able to sense the tension, as they hadn’t been biting for some time. “Is there anything you want to know?”
Ifrit looked at the water. “I want to know when we’re gonna catch something. It feels like we’ve been here an hour!”
“Heh...Maybe we scared them off-” As the words left her mouth, both their reels started spinning. “Never mind!”
“If mine’s bigger than yours, you have to buy me ice cream when we get back.”
Saria laughed. “Alright, I’ll make that bet. I’m not going to lose, though!”
-
About a day or so later, after some delays with their return transportation, Ifrit sprinted into their house, hugged Silence, and ran to her room. The stunned Liberi, who’d just pulled out a container of instant ramen to heat up, watched Saria walk in with take-out with a sense of awe. “I’m assuming you had a good conversation?”
“She doesn’t hate us,” the Vouivre replied, “but she did tell me that if we do anything like we did to her again, she might burn everything to the ground. Again. She was very insistent that I say ‘again’ when telling you this.”
“So better than we expected. How was the fishing?”
Saria shrugged. “Good. How were the meetings?”
“Boring and unproductive, as usual.” She sighed. “I wish I’d gone with you. Never thought I’d miss having to put out a house fire in the middle of the night, but...I did.”
“Well, we’re back, so you won’t have to worry about that...I missed you.”
Silence put the ramen cup back and hugged the now empty-handed Saria. “I missed you, too. Not just these past couple of days, either...When did we change so much?”
“When we made Ifrit explode and blamed her for it,” she replied with a profound sigh. “I wish I knew how that argument started.”
“I don’t think any of us knew. She’s not mad?”
Saria shrugged. “She’s been quieter than usual, but I don’t think she’s mad at us like we were worried she’d be. We should take her to the Fire Gym tomorrow.”
“Good idea.” Silence released her wife and glanced at the bags. “Fried chicken?”
“Ifrit’s idea. I lost a bet and had to get her ice cream, and she figured, while we were out, why not?”
She sighed. “I swear, if we were still on Rhine Labs’ salary...Will you go tell her we’re eating now? I’ll set the table.”
“Sure.” Saria snuck in a kiss as Silence went to start that. “Love you.”
“Love you, too...It’s good to be home.”
Ohhh Blue! You know, Ray really likes tank tops, why don’t you brighten her day a little bit? ;^)<
Blue: Sure! If she wants me to!
He doesn’t get this one.
