Update!

Quick note: I lied, there's gonna be 25 chapters not 24 so this is the penultimate chapter not the last one.

Enjoy!

The stomping of boots entering her room began to rouse Riven from her sleep. Groggily, she stirred, about to squint her eyes open only for her to recoil in shock when ice cold water doused her face. She jolted, launching herself upright while gasping breathlessly at the sudden chill.

"Get the hell up." A voice beside her snapped snarkily. "Alarm was supposed to be set for ten minutes ago."

"Huh-? Wh-?" Riven wiped the water from her eyes and turned to the voice, the owner being a scowling woman, a scarf covering her jaw and neckline. "S-Sorry, I swore I-"

"Just shut the fuck up and get dressed, we're waiting." The woman interrupted her sharply before turning away to leave the way she had come. "Great fuckin' start."

Riven wasted no time in scrambling from her very basic bed, hurling on the plain green shirt and khaki combat pants and boots that made up her base uniform and sprinting out of her room and small barracks they were situated in. Outside, standing on a bed of dried grass - dead from the summer heat - was the woman from a moment ago along with two others.

Her new captain - Teneff - stood in the centre of the area, arms crossed, face stoic. The abrasive woman - Marit, as she recalled - was now slouched against the wall of the building. Muttering something under her breath at the sight of Riven, she looked away and finished lighting the cigarette held between her teeth, taking in a heavy drag.

Stood at ease next to her was a woman much taller than either of the others, arms crossed and stoic, long red hair tied back in a tight ponytail. As Riven hurried to stand in line beside her, she quickly figured she was the third member she hadn't met the day before, having only returned during the middle of the night.

Riven marvelled. If she had gotten back after midnight and they were already up at the crack of dawn, she couldn't have had that much sl-

"If you're done gawking, Specialist?" Came the stern, no nonsense tone of Teneff, pulling Riven from her thoughts to quickly snap to attention.

"Captain! I missed the alarm! It won't happen again!" She vehemently apologised, ignoring further muttering from Marit.

"Shut the hell up, Marit." Teneff scolded tiredly, before returning attention to Riven. "For your sake, it better not. Each occasion will earn you ten laps of the entire barracks. Being dead on your feet every day won't change anything for me."

Riven tensed further. Despite the calm tone, there was an intensity imposed that demanded compliance. She'd felt it yesterday but now it was two-fold.

"Arrel." The woman beside her stated her own name flatly, still looking ahead even when Riven and Teneff turned their heads to her. "The Captain seemed to forget to introduce me."

"…I was getting to that." Teneff seemed to almost growl out, though it seemed more annoyed than angry.

"Nice to meet you." She continued, nonchalantly greeting her new squad-mate.

Riven didn't respond at first, unsure if the scowl on Teneff's face promised worse than the ten laps she was already facing. Only when it tiredly relented a moment later did she respond. "…Yep. Same..!"

A cry of surprise filled the garage as Riven's roller was suddenly yanked out from beneath the Jeep. After a moment of squinting to readjust to the light of the room after being under the shadow of the vehicle, she saw her squad-mates staring down at her.

"The fuck are you doing?" Marit, front and centre, abrasively demanded. The other two stood a few steps back, calmly observing.

"I-Uhhh…" Riven dumbly droned as her brain kicked into gear at the sudden question. "I was just checking something out. Something seemed off when you were driving yesterday."

"Got an issue with my-?"

"Marit." Teneff cut in sternly, nodding to Riven then the one vehicle amongst many in the barracks garage. "Something's wrong?"

"Um, well." Riven awkwardly hefted herself to her feet and sidled past Marit to the open bonnet. "The engine sounded all juddery so I took a look and one of the spark plugs was damaged, so I replaced that first. But then I noticed that the injectors were kinda gross and gunky so I cleaned those up and ended up sorta cleaning the entire engine so it's all nice and sparkly now. Plus, we should get more miles out of the girl!" Riven returned to the rear of the jeep, kneeling to point beneath the bumper. "So the weird noise was gone but then I realised it was hiding more noises back here and I guess at some point the exhaust came loose - probably the same bump or something that damaged the plug - so I got started fixing that up but it's more stubborn than I was expecting. Whoever was driving it must have really hit someth-" She froze, feeling the icy glare sent her way by Marit, and nervously stood back up. "…Or a freak accident is also possible?"

Turning back to her team, Marit was indeed shooting her a fierce look. Arrel simply crossed her arms, still yet to comment, the corner of her lips barely quirking upwards.

"Specialist." Teneff addressed her firmly, crossing her arms.

Riven shot to attention. "Yes, Captain!"

"…At ease…" Her leader said wearily. "You know you need authorisation to handle the vehicles, right?" Seeing Riven pale, she sighed. "Okay… well, being a competent engineer is one of the reasons you were picked. I'll get your authorisation. Don't let anyone see you messing with this in the meantime."

Following a hurried nod from Riven, Teneff excused herself and exited the garage. Marit soon followed with no small amount of chuntering, leaving just Riven and Arrel, the former finding herself under the scout's unreadable gaze.

"Um…"

"You talk a lot when you're into something, huh?" Arrel asked, an amused lilt to her voice.

The unexpected tone threw Riven for a moment, before she processed what Arrel had said and felt her face grow warm. "I-er, I guess so, yeah…"

The small smirk returned and Arrel made her way over to the open shutters of the garage and rested against the wall. "Finish up. I'll keep an eye out for you."

"Ah, sure. Thanks." Riven spent no time returning to her position on the rolling and pushed herself back beneath the Jeep's chassis, thanking the vehicle and the shadow it cast for hiding her darkened features.

The silence that lingered throughout their squad's building was unbearable for it's only occupant at that moment. Sat on the edge of her bed, one of two in that room, Riven continued to absently fumble with a closed book in her grip, turning and flipping continuously.

Her mind was elsewhere, the past days worth of events replaying over and over in her head: The ambush, her struggle to hotwire a random civilian car while bullets ricocheted from the metal frame around her, Teneff's yell of pain when she caught one in her shoulder because Riven hadn't been fast enough, Marit hauling her away to the on-site medical team once Riven had finally got them back, repeat, repeat, repeat.

One hand left the book to fiddle with the pad affixed to her opposite arm - the result of a rogue piece of shrapnel.

"Marit'll be pissed if she has to reapply that."

The calm tone of Arrel's familiar voice pulled Riven from her mind, looking to the doorway to see the scout standing there with an unreadable expression. She repressed the knee-jerk reaction to straighten herself up in the presence of anyone from her squad - a habit she had been told wasn't needed slash was 'annoying as fuck' depending on who was speaking to her. It was a work in progress.

"I'm still both shocked and amazed that Marit is our medic." Riven remarked, the weak attempt at humour matching her mood. "…How is..?"

"I'll never get used to it." Arrel agreed lightly, moving to sit across from Riven on her own bed, resting back on her elbows. "And she's fine. Won't be on active duty for a while - and us by proxy - but she's fine."

Riven felt betrayed by the relief that washed over her, her fingers tightening their grip on the book.

The action drew Arrel's eyes. "What's with the book?"

"Oh, it's, er…" Riven flashed the cover to Arrel while she found her words, the scout reaching over to pluck it from her grasp. "Teneff's always reading in her free time, or at lunch, or whenever she can, it seems like. I… thought maybe, since she's gonna be stuck in a bed and all, she'd appreciate a new one."

Arrel audibly mused, scanning the book with scrutiny, and quirked a smile. "Murder mystery with a touch of romance, and a hardback." She let out a huff and tossed the book back. "Someone's observant."

"I'm glad I am, to be honest." Riven admitted, putting the book down beside her and smiled, finding Arrel's presence to be greatly relieving the load on her mind. "I would definitely have not chosen this if I wasn't. Teneff and romance of all genres, I mean, like, wha~t?"

"It doesn't suit her, I agree." Arrel nodded, then sat up. "Teneff said something I thought you may want to hear, by the way." She saw Riven visibly falter and shrink, and continued before the newest member of the squad could say anything. "I quote: 'I can just tell she's going to blame herself for this. If she's moping, tell her to buck the fuck up and that it's not her fault. If she's alright, tell her 'fucking good job'.'" Arrel finished, crossing her arms and staring Riven down. "You were definitely moping so 'buck the fuck up'."

Hearing Arrel repeat Teneff's words and mannerisms with her typical flat delivery was enough to give Riven pause in her reply, if only for a moment. "But… if I'd got that car going sooner-"

"She may not have been shot, sure." Arrel bluntly interrupted. "And if it had taken you longer, maybe I would have gotten shot too, who knows?" She raised a hand to silence Riven before she could finish opening her mouth. "Do you know who else out of us can hotwire a car?" Riven mutely shook her head and Arrel continued. "None of us. And Tif couldn't do it either. Point being, it went to shit and if you weren't there it would have been much worse." She pointed to Riven's pad. "I'd call only getting a scuffed arm and bullet to the shoulder a win, all things considered." Leaning forward, she placed a hand on Riven's knee, her voice taking a more gentle tone. "You did good, Specialist."

Riven's head was a-buzz with Arrel's words as she processed them. She'd never heard the scout say so much in one sitting, and all her words landed with their intended punch. Despite Teneff's injury, it wasn't a risk to her life or even her arm. She had gotten them out alive, something only she had the ability to do at the time.

A small, tentative smile crept onto her face, and Arrel took that as a sign that her words had sunk in, leaning back. "That being said, I want you to teach me how you do that. I should really know how to do that."

Her smile widened, warmth spreading from where Arrel's hand had rested on her knee to wash out the previous sensation of guilt. "Sure."

"Where'd you learn that anyway?"

Riven shrugged. "A rebellious orphan teen learns dumb shit." It sounded foolish to call it dumb now though.

"Our new specialist was a car thief?"

"…No."

"Uhuh." Arrel droned blankly, disbelieving her entirely, but shrugged and bent forward to reach under her bed. "Listen, these things will happen. You're gonna need something to distract yourself from it all so you don't get caught up in it."

Constant access to the garage and it's store of vehicles sounded like a good option, Riven mused to herself before watched Arrel pull out a guitar and set it in her lap.

"This is my way." She told Riven while carefully going through the process of tuning the instrument. "I just play whatever I'm feeling and see what happens."

"You mean you need to distract yourself too?" Riven asked, surprised considering Arrel's always-cool demeanour.

"I'd be more concerned for someone who didn't, Riven." The scout answered firmly, and turned her focus to her guitar.

At that, Riven settled back onto her bed, letting her exhausted mind and body rest as she listened as Arrel began to play her way through an impromptu tune.

The bench creaked in protest as Marit unceremoniously slumped down onto it with a heavy groan of relief. Riven and Teneff joined her at the table a second later.

"I swear to fuck," she grumbled, taking a moment to light the cigarette held between her lips and take her first deep inhale, "it takes one of us getting shot to get a fucking break…"

"Well, offer yourself up next time you want some leave." Teneff said firmly from her left, placing down her own drink. "I'd rather not have this happen again."

Marit glanced down with scrutiny at the glass of water in front of her captain. "You're not even fucking drinking?"

"I can't, I'm on painkillers."

"Fuck that, you'll be fine. Order a beer or something. Don't be boring."

"…Aren't you a medic?"

Across the table, Riven watched the exchange continue with an exasperated look until Arrel appeared, sitting next to her while carefully holding her own beverage in her hand. She blinked once - twice - at the purple to red gradient of colour the drink held and the dusting of sherbet around the rim of the cocktail glass, then up to the scout.

Out of the corner of her eye, Arrel was mid-sip when she noticed her unsure gaze and raised an eyebrow. "What? I like sweet cocktails. Don't stereotype me." She plucked an object from her glass and twiddled it between her fingers, spinning the colourful patterned paper that was spread at one end. "Look, it even comes with one of those little umbrellas. Cute, right?"

Riven could only gawk in pure, unexpected disbelief a moment longer, when a server arrived and placed a tray of shot glasses between her and Marit. She politely thanked the woman before grimacing at the spread that Marit had already begun to evenly divide out between the both of them.

"…Is this really necessary..?"

"Fuck. Yes." Marit confirmed with no room for debate. "This is our first leave since you joined and we always do this with the new person. Call it a rite of passage or, fuckin', whatever. Tif did it; Arrel did it."

"Goddon'tremindme…" Riven could barely make out Arrel's mutter of dread beside her.

Teneff simply rolled her eyes and reached into her bag by her legs and pulled out a familiar book.

"Are you seriously going to just read?" Marit moaned again.

Their Captain just shrugged nonchalantly, her eyes quickly flicking up over to a pleased Riven and back down. "It's a good book."

"Whatever, Christ. Boring ass fuckin'…" Marit devolved into a series of mumbles before rapping the table and pointing at the shot glasses. "You first, Specialist!"

Letting out a sigh of resignation, Riven picked up a glass between her fingers to inspect the amber liquid. A moment later, she relented and placed it to her lips, knocking it back in one fluid motion. The alcohol burned her throat, her face tensing at it's strength, but she bided and placed the glass down with a heavy huff.

"Good to see you aren't a little bitch." Marit grinned, picking up her own. "Bottom's up!"

…

…

…

"…Wow. I'm actually impressed."

Slowly, Teneff nodded in agreement to Arrel's words. Book closed, bookmark in place, she had long since began to divert her focus to her competing squad-mates after the tenth glass. Mainly due to the impressive fight their newcomer was putting up to their hardy medic.

It was the fifteenth or so glass that had earned her full attention.

A groan rose up from beside her, where the instigator of the challenge was resting her head in one hand. Marit looked rough, having certainly seen better days, and was sending a very unfocused glare towards her opponent.

"How… in the fuck..?" She managed to utter before having to catch herself from toppling to the side.

Across from her, propped up against the tallest member of the squad, Riven matched Arrel's weak glare with a fierce smirk of her own. Raised up by a wobbly hand was another glass; the number, no-one knew, having not bothered to count when Riven continued even when Marit had needed to stop. She brought it to her mouth, having to concentrate and realign her aim twice before shooting the liquid back.

"Rebellioush teen… doesh dumb… sshhhit…" She warbled messily, her victorious smirk widening as she tried to reach over and put the glass back on the table, only for Arrel to pluck it from her grasp and place it down gently. "Thaaaanksh…" Riven leaned further into Arrel's side. "Yur great..!"

The scout tensed at the action, but quickly reacted to Riven reaching for another glass by slapping the engineer's hand away. "Ah, no. You're had more than enough." In the corner of her vision, she saw Teneff wiggle her brow ever so briefly and narrowed her eyes towards her captain.

"Yur not great neverm'nd…"

"I'm gonna kill myself." Marit grumbled shamefully.

"You'll definitely want to in the morning." Teneff remarked, reopening her book now the entertainment was over. "Both of you."

"Shut the fuck up you piece of shit asshole!"

Riven's head shot up from her meal following the exclamation and subsequent cry of pain that filled the mess hall. The voice, she recognised instantly, having been on it's receiving end plenty by that point.

"Was that..?" She asked her Captain from across the table, who only sighed and moved to stand.

"Yep." Teneff confirmed, closing her book at it's marker and turning to follow the crowd that was already convening to the source of the yell.

They both made their way to the front of the mass of gathered soldiers, Teneff brute forcing their way through with shoves and piercing glares, where they found a male soldier prone on his back. The man, who Riven didn't recognise, was trying his best - and failing - to protect his face from the assault of fists wailing down on him courtesy of the woman straddling him, effectively pinning him down.

"Oh, yeah. That's Marit." Riven confirmed flatly.

Around them, most of those gathered were jeering and whooping at the action, with some who were familiar with the short-tempered woman murmuring amongst themselves.

Next to her, she saw Teneff look up from the one-sided brawl to where she had spotted their scout. Arrel stood across the way casually watching, full trays of food resting in either of her hands. She seemed to notice them the same moment that they saw her, and watched Teneff as she left Riven to approach her.

Riven repeatedly swapped her vision between Marit and her other squad-mates who seemed to be sharing words while she mulled over potentially intervening. She knew she should probably stop the aggressive medic, but was also acutely aware that she had yet to even once beat her whenever they spar and interrupting would likely just earn her her own fist to the face.

Thankfully, Teneff broke off from Arrel - albeit with a begrudging look on her face - to approach and begin to pry Marit away from the bloodied man, sternly reprimanding her as she did so. It took a grunt of pain from Teneff as her still-healing shoulder was jerked from a final lunge toward the man that had Marit stiffen then settle, allowing Teneff to haul her away.

A brief moment of pause hung in the mess hall before the crowd began to slowly dissipate now the entertainment had ended. Some men who Riven assumed were the man's own squad walked over to peel him off the floor and helped him out of the room, chastising him as they went.

"So where were you two sitting?" Riven blinked and turned to see Arrel now stood next to her, having silently made her way over while the crowd had been dispersing. She seemed completely unperturbed by the event, lifting her hands to indicate to the trays she carried. "I'm hungry and now I have two meals to eat."

"…" Riven mutely jerked a thumb the way her and Teneff had come from and they began to head over as she thought about how casually both Teneff and Arrel had reacted to the incident. "…This has happened before, hasn't it?"

"More than once." Arrel answered simply, placing her trays and taking a perch to Riven's left. "Marit has a tendency for violence when anyone talks shit about us."

"Oh… he was talking shit about you?" Riven asked.

Arrel shook her head nudging her. "He was talking shit about you."

"Oh." Riven responded dully, not expecting that to be the case. "I, er, didn't think she gave a shit about me, to be honest."

"Marit cares about her sisters." Arrel said matter-of-factly, continuing to eat. "That includes you. Never forget that."

"Oh." She repeated, a feeling of warmth spreading through her at the revelation. There was only one more question on her mind. "Why didn't you stop her?"

"He was talking shit about you." Arrel retorted flippantly, pausing to swallow her mouthful with a drink of water. "Why the fuck would I?"

"Are you sure about this?" Riven asked as she opened a door leading to a courtyard.

About half the size of a football field, the area was mostly empty. At the far end was a dirt obstacle course consisting of tunnels, walls of varying heights built from both wood and concrete, and mesh crawl spaces low enough for even a small human to fit beneath.

"Of course." Arrel said simply, walking through the door Riven had held open for her, albeit with a wobble to her step. She paused to blow her nose, suppressing a shiver as she did. "You've been around them plenty, you've worked with them before… you'll be fine."

"I mean, yeah, but…" Nervously, Riven glanced over to the row of four large cages lining the left side of the yard, and the four large dogs that resided in them respectfully. Each one had already clocked their presence upon arrival and were locked onto them, ears up. "…They were kinda tearing into people's legs..!"

"Yeah, well." Arrel shrugged and presented the Bite Sleeve she had been carrying under her arm, handing it off to Riven. "You're friendly."

"The fact you said that while giving me this offers zero confidence."

"You'll be fine."

"Why can't the others do this?" Riven grumbled while slipping her arm into the sleeve.

"You really think Marit has the patience for this?" Arrel asked bluntly.

"…Okay, no I don't." Riven admitted. "But what about Teneff?"

"Allergic."

"Ugh."

Arrel managed a small huff of amusement before being forced to stave it off else she'd trigger a coughing fit, but kept her cool smile. "Would it help if I said I'll be watching at least?"

"No." Yes. The rare laugh had Riven already relenting but she wasn't going to show it, and she turned to head over to the cages.

She pulled the lever that opened all four cages in unison and stepped back. As soon as they raised enough, a black blur shot out of the middle-left cage to begin speeding it's way around the border of the yard, stopping for barely a second to bounce up towards Arrel in greeting before continuing it's circuit.

"Second!" Riven yelled after the hyperactive hound, only to have to repeat herself twice over with an accompanying whistle to even get his attention. "Come here!"

As he fell in line with his brothers, all three of whom had obediently paced out of their cages to sit in a line attentively, wedging himself into a spot that didn't previously exist between First and Third. Even then, he couldn't completely quell his eagerness, tapping from one forepaw to the other repeatedly.

"Oh boy." Riven let out an exasperated breath.

She was well aware that the all-black dog fostered a penchant for disobedience that Arrel hadn't quite managed to train out of him. In the field, he was as loyal and trustworthy as the others, but in a comfortable environment…

"Alright. Second," his ears perked at his name and she pointed to him, "I'm gonna need you to calm down, oka-HEY!?"

Riven cried out in shock as Second lunged forward to bite down and latch onto the Bite Sleeve she had thoughtlessly presented while pointing to him. Tail wagging furiously, he playfully chewed on the resilient fabric, whipping his head side to side as he instigated a one-sided tug'o'war with Riven's protected arm.

"H-Hey! Hey, hey! Down..! Heel..! Sit..!?" Riven hurriedly listed off commands, struggling to maintain her balance against the pull of the strong large German Shepherd. She futilely made the same whistle that Arrel had shown her to get the dogs to heel, only for him to not register it at all. She craned her neck to look back over her shoulder to Arrel, who hadn't quite managed to hide the amused look on her face. "Um, he's not listening..!"

"You're not showing enough authority." Arrel spoke up coolly. "You'd better calm him down though, or the others will get the idea."

"Wh-What? What 'idea'!?" She yelled back before turning to face Second again, only to see the other three hounds watching them intently, shuffling in their obedient positions every so often, tails wagging. "Oh no no no..!"

Fourth moved first, also launching himself at her arm. His movement triggered the final two, and the collective power of all four German Shepherds instantly pulled Riven off her feet. They dragged her a few metres before they were satisfied with their victory, releasing Riven's arm from their jaws. First and Fourth broke off to begin a playful scuffle with each other, Third took to lapping the yard in a similar fashion to Second, and said brother - and premier troublemaker - set himself upon Riven, smothering her face with saliva from a barrage of wet licks.

At the entrance to the yard, Arrel had bit her lip and tightened her jaw in a successful effort to maintain her composure. She raised a hand to her mouth. "That it's playtime!"

Arrel nodded with approval once Riven, sitting across from her, completed the set of basic chords she had instructed her to play. "Not bad. You're learning pretty quickly."

"You think so?" Riven asked with a small, unsure grin, fiddling with Arrel's guitar she had resting in her lap. "I guess I have been doing literally just this when we have downtime."

"Fuckin' tell me about it…" Rose a passing grumble from the squad's medic as she returned from the bathroom and made her way past them to her and Teneff's room.

"Fuck off, Marit." Arrel retorted dryly, shaking her head at her sister-in-arms as she slammed the door shut behind her. She rolled her eyes over to Riven. "From the woman whose hobbies are smoking and being passive aggressive."

Meeting Arrel's huff of amusement with a sheepish chuckle of her own, Riven quickly returned her attention to the guitar. Thinking the chords over in her head, her face scrunched in thought before she began to strum again. She played out the chords, switching back and forth between them with an improvised order, and cooed in surprise when the end result didn't sound as terrible as she was expecting. She'd even dare to say-

"Huh." Arrel mused, watching her closely. "That didn't sound half bad." She winked coolly. "You'll be writing songs next."

The idea sounding entirely ridiculous, Riven scoffed. "Yeah, right. Ten more years and an ability to actually sing and, sure, why not?"

"Mhm…"

For a moment, Riven recognised the look in Arrel's eye. The same hard, calculating glint they would hold when she was deep in thought, usually when they were in the field. This being the first time she'd been the target of scrutiny, Riven couldn't help but squirm in place, shrinking under the intensity of Arrel's gaze.

"…Wh-"

"I think you'd be a pretty good singer." Arrel stated abruptly.

"Uh." Riven blanked. "I would?"

The scout made a noise of affirmation. "You've got a good voice as is, I don't see why you couldn't sing well."

The blunt, matter-of-fact delivery gave Riven pause. "I-er, y-yeah, thanks. Thank you. Yes. I guess I will… think. About it." She could feel the heat rising to her face at the impromptu compliment, and in tandem with it's growing intensity was the need to move the focus from herself. "What about you..? Do you-?"

"Fuck no." Arrel firmly interrupted.

Riven blinked at the instant answer.

"Rather be shot in the ass than heard singing."

"Hard no then." Riven chuckled awkwardly.

Choosing to return her focus back to the guitar once again, she began to play through the same tune she'd made up. For several minutes, she continued to ad-lib the chords further, quickly losing herself in her concentration; not hearing the shuffling of cushions, nor the closing footsteps.

A hand came to rest down atop the arm she had resting along the body of the guitar and she jumped at the touch. Arrel had moved to sit in the empty space to her right.

"It's in the wrong position again." She told her nonchalantly, eyes focused on Riven's arm as she readjusted it further down the bulk of the guitar. "Your wrist'll get sore." Once she was satisfied, she let go and glanced across to Riven's other arm and frowned. She reached over, around Riven's shoulders, to cup the hand clutching the neck of the guitar and rotate it around ever so slightly. "And make sure you aren't covering your E-string with your thumb, okay?"

"…Mhm..!" Riven nodded stiffly, acutely aware of Arrel's proximity and the ghost of a breath on the side of her neck as she spoke.

Her mind stalled completely.

Movement beside her had Riven jerkily look to see Arrel now lounging back against the arm of the couch, one arm tucked under her head. Even when tucked, her long legs still reached Riven, gently resting her feet against Riven's thigh. She wore an expectant look and gestured to Riven with her free hand. "Well, keep going? I was actually enjoying that." Without waiting for a response, she relaxed into the plush cushions of the couch, closing her eyes.

Riven could only gawk mutely, the scalding sensation of Arrel's fingers on hers still lingering on her skin. A touch she could have sworn lasted a second too long. Uselessly, she looked from the woman beside her, to the guitar in her lap, then back to Arrel, mind floundering.

…

How the hell was she supposed to focus now?

The sounds of an acoustic guitar and soft singing that filled the apartment slowly slowed to a stop.

"…So, it's obviously not finished. Don't know when it will be, considering how busy everything is right now. And it seems like there's only decade old tech going spare here so this may sound awful. More awful.

"I'm hoping to show this to you one day. Not really known for being good at expressing myself by conventional means - I mean, I'm finding it easier to talk to a little box than to people so… so I'm hoping the message comes across when it's done. And, I guess, this is… romantic, or some bullshit..? But this is all for now, so…

"…Fuck this thing's old… How do I turn-"

The recording came to an abrupt halt, the media player open on Sivir's borrowed laptop closing upon it's completion. Silence rose in the apartment, save for the arrhythmic huffs, sniffs and sobs.

On the floor, against her sofa, knees to her chest, Riven buried her face into the cusp of Evelynn's neck as her girlfriend quietly - tenderly - held her close. When Arrel's voice had first risen from the recording, it had taken more than enough effort on Riven's part to hold it together. But when she'd begun to sing, it only took a few words for the dam to burst.

Evelynn - the ruthless Diva to the outside world, the woman who always knew the right words she needed to say - found herself at a loss. Melancholy filled her heart as she finally had a voice to put to the woman Riven had loved - still loved - before her, and guilt for urging and pushing Riven to actually listen to what Tifalenji had handed her. She quelled those feelings, resorting to whispering reassurances and sweet nothings into Riven's ears, stroking small circled between her shoulder blades.

On her other side, having never seen Riven in this state before, and wholly out of her depth, Rell wanted to support her new sister. She rested against her, shoulder to shoulder in solidarity.

With his single eye, Second continued to appraise the device that he'd been listening to his first owner's voice. Resting his head atop the coffee table, he began to whine and grumble in confusion and disappointment now that her voice had stopped.

"Evie…" Riven uttered between short, uneven breaths.

Evelynn reacted in an instant, raising a hand to cup Riven's cheek, wiping away a tear and brushing loose hairs from her face. "Yes, Honey..?" She asked softly.

"I… I miss them… So much… I-" Her whole body quaked with sadness in Evelynn's arms. "I miss h-"

She couldn't finish her words, cries broke forth from her chest, and Evelynn could only hold her closer; tighter. Her lips gently grazed her ashen hair.

"I know, Honey… I know…"

Hope this was okay, please think about leaving a review! :)
Til next time~