Longing Dreams and Puppet Strings

From the moment a person is born, they strive for connection.

The cries of a newborn are pleas for comfort. An infant reaching out to an adult is them reaching for an act of love. The purest laughter often comes from the joy that arises from the attachments formed between others.

All through our lives we carry this most innate desire. Fulfilling it keeps us happy and healthy. Neglecting it leaves us crushed under misery and even madness. Some are better at forming these links than others, but we all have the urge to do so even — and perhaps even most of all — during the worst of times.

Few times could seem less conducive to forming friendships than two days before a rebellion, especially if one had just quit the rebelled-against force that very same day. But if people are friendly enough, it can happen.

Such was the force that first brought together Katya Serdtse and Steve Malva.

It had been a crazy day for the both of them. Steve had finally quit the Emperor's Coven after weeks of growing disillusionment. His impromptu road trip with his new friend King had been a balm to his soul, and led to a reunion with his dear friend Lilith and a reintroduction to the Owl Lady's house demon on more friendly terms. As for Katya, she and the BATs had been contacted about new members of the resistance and had taken Katya's staff to Latissa to prepare the new hideout before they met up with everyone.

After a few hours of comparing information, the coven heads let everyone else off the hook to get some food and rest in preparation for the coming day. Steve, feeling a bit out of the loop with Lilith sleeping and King over with his family helping Luz carve her palisman — Titan, he missed Ricard, his brave little lion — he figured he'd go grab some food and then work on his motorbike.

"Hey," called a woman's voice. He turned and found one of Raine's bards watching him, her arms loosely crossed under her bust and a hip propped in a decidedly feminine way. "Care to join?" she asked, a grin baring her prominent fangs. Steve fought down a blush and smiled.

"Sure," he replied. Company was usually better than non-company.

The night carried on with the bard woman, Katya, introducing her to her friends Derwin and Amber. They all chatted, Katya joked around, Derwin asked questions about the Emperor's Coven, and Amber made what she probably thought were biting comments but Steve couldn't help but laugh at the clear wit behind them.

Soon, Derwin and Amber made their way to the bunks to get some rest, but Katya stuck around. They kept up the chat, talking about their childhoods, families, mentorships under head witches — Katya under Raine when she attended St. Epiderm and Steve under Lilith while he was at Glandus and then as a scout — and anything else that came to mind.

"So what's the story behind that bike of yours?" Katya asked, gesturing across the hideout at Steve's motorbike that he'd brought inside to remain under the radar.

"My stepdad and I built that from parts," Steve replied. He'd already spoken of his mom, stepdad, and half-brother Matt, as Katya had talked about her aunt and uncle who had taken her in for most of her late childhood. "It was a way to help me relax during training for the coven."

Katya hummed at the mention of his former occupation. She glanced over at the stacks of folded uniforms that Steve had managed to summon under Darius's orders for their plan tomorrow. Whatever it may be.

"What about you?" Steve asked. "A saw that staff of yours on the way here."

Katya held out her hand and her staff materialized in reddish magic, the shaft then disappearing to leave only the rhinoceros beetle palisman to settle in Katya's palm. "This is Herc," Katya said, holding Herc out for Steve to see. "He was my grandmother's palisman. We bonded after she died."

"That's so sweet," Steve said, eyes shining. He brushed the heel of a hand across his eye and reached out, pausing before he touched Herc for the palisman's permission. Herc fluttered the wings under his shell with a chittering sound and pressed his horn into Steve's fingertips like a handshake.

"Guess he respects a witch with a horn, huh?" Steve joked, tapping at his own single horn. Katya couldn't help but laugh at that.

Soon, too soon, Steve decided to check on their sleeping arrangements. As it turned out, according to Raine's orders, the BATs and Steve would all be sharing a corner of the room with bunks, Katya with Amber above her and Steve with Derwin above him. As Derwin and Amber had long since changed into sleepwear and fallen into slumber, it left them to change and follow suit.

Steve couldn't help but think, as he stripped down to his sleepwear behind a changing screen set up near the bunks, that the evening almost felt like a date. He blushed at the idea, especially of having a date after eight years in the Emperor's Coven with such a beautiful and witty woman with such pretty fangs. He wasn't that lucky.

Unbeknownst to him, Katya was feeling much the same as she changed behind a changing screen. She was confident enough to admit to herself that she found Steve attractive and charming after one evening of a pseudo-date. Granted, two days before an all-or-nothing gambit to save their society was probably not the best time to become twitterpated, but she'd always found love to be an empowering force. MAybe it would give her something concrete to work towards?

They finished at the same time and emerged, and both stopped dead in their tracks, faces glowing pink. Steve was wearing only his uniform trousers, his defined physique laden with scars open for all to see. Katya wore a sleeveless, thigh-length lavender nightgown that clung to her curves and admittedly looked very comfortable

'Wow, they're hot,' both of them thought at the exact same time.

"Uh, g-good night," Steve stammered, slowly backing away toward his bunk as his brain labored to sear the image of Katya into his memory despite his fraying objections. He stumbled as he backed into Derwin's bunk and chuckled before rolling into his sheets.

"Sleep tight," Katya replied, stifling a giggle behind her hand as she, too, prepared to sleep.

So distracted, neither noticed King across the way. Luz was putting the finishing touches on her egg-shaped palisman, Eda giving some last-minute instructions. But King watched his new friend with the bard girl he, Eda, and Luz had met and broken out of the Conformatorium all those weeks ago in their first adventure together.

He smiled under his skull and whispered, "I'm rooting for you two."

Maybe Luz's romance obsession had rubbed off on him.

The next morning was tense.

Katya volunteered to escort Luz and King part of the way to meet up with the other kids from Hexside before racing to catch up with the rest of the CATs at their undercover airships. Steve had his hands full enchanting the cloaking stone for Eda to disguise her as Raine. Then came the act of branding Eda … Even a few weeks ago, being the one to brand the infamous Owl Lady into a coven would have been a feat of glory.

Now, it made Steve feel sick to his stomach with shame.

"No going back now, eh?" Steve said with a tense smile.

"Never even considered it, Man," Eda replied. She arched an eyebrow and placed a hand on Steve's shoulder. "Hey, don't beat yourself up. It's my choice and it's to throw a monkey wrench in Belos's coven system." She laughed. "Thanks for helping it along." She glanced past him and her smile turned from genuine to a bit wicked. "Now go talk to your new girlfriend."

Steve looked backward just in time to catch Katya turning away, her cowl unable to hide her look of concern. Steve bit his lip and sighed through his nose, making a decision. He walked up beside her, the sight of such a beautiful woman so clearly uncomfortable in a stolen scout uniform giving him mixed feelings.

"Hey, Katya," he prompted. She looked at him curiously, her hazel eyes sparkling. "After all of this is over. After we win," he emphasized that word with a determined smile. "Would you like to have dinner with me? One-hundred percent a date."

Katya blinked at him before smiling back and taking his gloved hand in her own. "Yeah, I would."

"Really, Katya? Now?" Amber complained from the helm. But she sounded equal parts annoyed, teasing, and impressed. "Titan, you weren't kidding with all those stories. You work fast."

"Eh?" Steve wondered.

"I may have a bit of a checkered past when it comes to dating," Katya shrugged casually. She looked at him appraisingly. "Is that a problem?"

"Not until we get serious," Steve grinned back. "I can't judge, anyway. I was a bit of a heartthrob back in school."

They laughed together, and it felt like a warm hug.

As they neared their destination … it seemed like maybe things would work out.

"Wine?" Steve asked with a lopsided smile.

"Please," Katya giggled, taking the glass he offered her. She lifted it to her lips and took a sip. "Mmm," she hummed. "Goreberry. My favorite."

"Only the best for you, Katya," Steve said.

The couple stood on a stone platform on the edge of the Isles, the boiling shoreline a dull roar across the beach. A round table was set up with roast cockatrice, boiled eyes, and grilled asparaguts wrapped in bacon. A candelabra was set up to provide soft light.

Katya took her glass and moved to the edge of the platform, gazing at the moonlight reflecting silver off the Boiling Sea and illuminating the steam rising off the waves. The grinning skull of the moon also illuminated her, dressed in a wine-red, off-the-shoulder dress with a low-cut back with black, strappy heels. Her hair rose in her favored high ponytail to bear the graceful lines of her neck that bore her favorite chain choker necklace and bangles on her wrists to match.

Katya gasped as Steve stepped up behind her, his arms wrapping around her waist. She sighed and drained her glass before turning in his arms and placing her hands on his chest. Steve was dressed in a charcoal suit jacket and slacks, over a wine-red shirt. His name was stenciled on the breast pocket of the jacket, the perfect amount of "Steve."

Thunder rumbled in the distance.

"Care to dance?" Steve asked. The hairs on the back of his neck tried to stand up, but Katya kissed his cheek and soothed his sudden fear.

"I'd love to," she replied and removed her heels to lead him out onto the sand. The waves rose high and crashed like the thunder. But the couple held each other close and swayed to music in the air out of the reach of the boiling seawater.

"Is this a dream?" Steve wondered aloud.

"If it is," Katya whispered into his chest, "I hope it never ends."

The music in the air grew tense and discordant … because it was actually music.

Music from strings.

Strings, strings, strings …

"Ugh, this is so boring," the Collector said, letting his hands go slack and two puppets collapse. Steve and Katya rattled to the ground, their hands somehow still touching.

"Some games seem boring until the very end," King explained. "But if you see them through, they turn out to be the most fun." He fiddled with the hood covering his horns. He didn't want to admit it, but the pajama-like robes the Collector had dressed him in were really comfortable.

"Well, what's the point if it's not all fun?" the Collector asked, his tone whiny … but his eyes just a little too focused on King from the corner of his eye. He really wanted to know.

"The same reason games have rules, I guess," King said. "Rules make the game what it is. And it's not always fun explaining the rules, right?"

"Yeah," the Collector said with a nod, now clearly invested.

"Sometimes you have to have less fun parts to get to the really fun parts." King fiddled with his claws. "Owl House is no different. There's quieter times, but that just makes the crazy times more fun." He laughed it off, but his heart hurt. Titan — Dad — he missed Luz. He missed Eda a lot, too, but they'd figured out how to keep her and Lilith unpuppeted for now. Luz, though … he just hoped she and the others were safe.

"So, how's this related to Owl House?" the Collector asked, gesturing at the fallen puppets.

"A big part of the game is finding people you really like," King explained. "Mostly it's like family and friends, but sometimes," he thought back to Luz and Amity or Eda and Raine, "sometimes it's about finding other stuff."

The Collector was quiet for a long moment, and King's belly twisted with dread. This was always the worst part about trying to guide this cosmic child. Would he accept kIng's words or finally get bored with him and puppet him to continue his "game" unchecked?

"Okay," the Collector said brightly. "Owl House has been fun so far. Why stop now?" He flexed his fingers and puppet strings again flashed to animate Steve and Katya. "So why these guys?" he asked.

"They're good people," King said simply. "Steve took me on a joyride across the Isles for no reason other than he thought it would help me. Katya worked against Belos."

"What's a joyride?" the Collector asked.

"It's where you hop on a staff or a cart or Steve's motorcycle and just … drive. You make whatever stops you want for as long as you want and then hit the road again," King explained. "It's kinda hard to explain, but it's … freeing. It feels like for a while your problems just disappear."

"Hmm …" The Collector scratched his chin before his eyes brightened.

Katya whooped with glee as Steve gunned the engine for his motorbike and raced down the roads of the Left Arm, sometimes called the desert arm because of its dry climate that culminated in the sandy, rocky Desert of Palm Stings in the Hand.

Alone on the long road, Steve ratcheted up the gears until they were all but flying down the stretch of sludge-phalt at speeds that she doubted even her dear Herc could match. She blinked against the winds of their passing, her eyes watering … and then she gasped as shadowy figures emerged from the dusty horizon.

"What the-?!" Steve shouted, but he was cut off by the road suddenly lifting into a ramp. At their speed, they couldn't even begin to avoid racing up it and into the air. Katya held on tightly to Steve's waist, her mind whirling with calculations to use Bard magic to soften their landing, but Steve flipped a few switches and twisted the handlebars, sending a surge of hot air from beneath the wheels that had them land in a semi-controlled skid.

As they caught their breath from the panic, the shadows again emerged from the dust to reveal witches and demons wrapped in dust-colored robes, their heads and faces covered in veils or turbans. Each one held a large, wicked-looking curved sword.

"Bandits," Steve said, his voice tense with obvious nerves. "Katya, stay back." He traced a spell circle in each hand, his right summoning a long, leaf-bladed spear and the other he settled around his horn. Katya summoned her staff and her tambourine, refusing to be a simple damsel in distress. She didn't write women that way and refused to act like it in reality.

"Back to back!" Katya snapped, and the confidence in her voice had Steve acting without thought to settle against her back. Katya began playing a fast tune on her tambourine, magic from the zills wafting over the bandits that would make them march away, but the spell seemingly had no effect. Damn, they must have had ear protection.

Katya channeled more magic through her tambourine and rattled the zills again, this time sending telekinetic vibrations into the sandy ground before clapping the shaft of her staff to the rim, the zills making a sharp sound. A rush of wind raised a cloud of dust to obscure her opponents' vision, and then she channeled more magic through Herc.

So many people thought that Bard magic wasn't strong, but any bard could tell you how false that sentiment was. Bard magic could put people under the bard's control, had more focus on telekinesis than any other style of magic, had a strong connection to the element of wind, and further to storms. Katya's spell wreathed her palisman in lightning, and with a flick of the staff, the built up energy lanced at the group with a peal of thunder and arced between four bandits before running out of force. With more rolling of her tambourine, she telekinetically seized the fallen bandits and hurled them at their fellows to create confusion.

As Katya handled her side, Steve had been far from passive.

Steve traced a spell with his free hand and snapped his fingers, and his motorbike roared to life, the wheels straining for traction on the sand before the armored vehicle went racing toward the bandits facing him and scattered them like moths before whirling around for another charge. Steve hung the spell circle on his wrist — slipping it onto his wrist to sustain the spell just as he had with the circle around his horn — and traced another spell that filled his cupped hand with blue flames that he launched in a stream at the bandits recovering from his bike's charge.

Steve winced as his horn throbbed from the spell he'd hung around it and he whirled in place to catch a bandit's sword on the shaft of his spear. With a deft twist of his longer weapon, he disarmed the bandit and slashed him across the chest, sending him out of the fight. His horn throbbed again and he traced a shieling spell of transparent white magic that he raised against a different tide of fire. He flicked his finger and his bike roared toward the offending bandit to crash into them and send them flying with a shout of pain.

A third throb from his horn had him jump before a funnel of sand could sink him down and make him easy prey, a spell of his own of Construction magic — the style with the strongest link to the earth element — that compressed the sand he and Katya fought on into sandstone that would resist any further magical tampering.

Another throb of his horn and he whirled his spear and struck forward into seemingly empty air, but a wet squelch and a shout of pain sounded before the mist of an illusion faded to reveal yet another bandit. "H-How-?" he burbled, blood running from his mouth.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Steve said cryptically, his training and common sense urging him not to divulge the secret. In the safety of his mind, he could thank the Titan that he'd learned the spell hung on his horn that had saved his life countless times: an Oracle spell that warned of danger.

The spell gave another throbbing warning … but it was different. This one warned of danger to another. Without thinking, he whirled and pushed Katya to the ground, just before a distant bandit fired a crossbow bolt into the space she had just occupied … and into Steve's ribs through the dragonhide of his biker jacket.

Steve was stopped in his tracks by the force of the missile and knocked onto his back with a whoof of expelled breath.

Katya screamed in rage and denial, the high, long, piercing shriek doused in her magic and focused by Herc to send a shockwave of vibrations that ripped at the ground and rattled the surrounding bandits, penetrating their inner ears by shaking the bones of their skulls right past their ear protections, and racing through their bodies to wreak havoc on their nerves and send them cascading to the desert ground.

Katya fell to her knees as a wave of fatigue from using so much magic bile crashed upon her, her staff barely supporting her. She grit her teeth and stumbled on her knees to Steve's side, her vision flickering with black that threatened unconsciousness. She finally fell to her hands as well, Herc reverting to his true shape to settle on Steve's collar and examine him.

"Steve," Katya rasped, placing her hand near the bolt to try and pry it free.

"No," Steve grunted between short, sharp breaths. "Leave it. Plugs the hole."

"Steve, you need help," Katya panted.

"Too late," he chuckled, then coughed, flecks of blood spattering his jacket and shirt. "T-Take the bike. Find help."

"Steve, no," Katya pleaded. "You're going to be fine."

"Heard that before," Steve said grimly around a shadow of his usual grin. "Lied to other scouts, too." He groaned with pain. "Katya, I-" More coughing, more blood. "I-"

"I know," Katya whispered and kissed his forehead next to his horn, tears falling. "I feel the same way." She took his hand in hers and held tight, more tears falling. Steve a gave another rattling gasp, and-

"Stop!" King shouted, some of his Titan power leaking into the words and shredding the illusion the Collector was showing him around the puppets. The sound tore at the puppet strings and again sent them rattling to the ground.

"Aw, it was just getting good!" the Collector whined, crossing his arms with a huff as he floated with his legs crossed, too.

"Why would you do that?" King asked in indignation.

"Thought some action would make it better, you know?" the Collector said flippantly. "Ugh, then it got mushy again."

"Collector," King said shakily. "Please don't hurt my friends just for conflict. It-" He swallowed thickly. "They don't deserve that." They don't deserve this, was what he wanted to say, but that wouldn't help anything.

"Fine, whatever," the Collector said. He hummed in thought, floating over and around. "How about one more try?" ge suggested, stringing up the puppeted Katya and Steve one more time. "I think I've got a winner."

Katya sighed as she sat on her cot in the Conformatorium. The worst part of this terrible place, to her, wasn't the stale food, the wards that stifled the prisoners' magic, or the handsy guards that tried their luck before she kicked them in the nads and got meals taken away for it. No, it was boredom. There was nothing to do in the cells, with the only breaks in the monotony being meal calls and light's out alerts.

"Prisoner 20110," called a guard, the usual pair of invariably bulky guys in the conical masks, "place your hands on the back of the cell and do not move."

"What's going on?" Katya asked, a little stunned by the sudden change in tedium. The second guard was a bit out of view and seemed to be holding something.

"Do as you're told!" the guard snapped, prodding the cell bars with one of the shocking nightsticks they used. Katya flinched and did as instructed, keeping her hands on the back wall and her eyes fixed to resist her burning curiosity. She heard the door to her cell rise and had the sudden, insane urge to make a break for it, but reason reasserted itself. She'd never make it. She a male yelp and grunt before the cell closed again and the guards walked off, one shouting, "Play nice!"

Katya took that as a cue to look and blinked at the sight of another prisoner in the drab grey prisoner uniform sitting on the floor of her cell with his back to her, rubbing the back of his head.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Your new cellmate, prisoner 20711," the guy said with forced humor before he stood shakily to his feet and turned to face her.

Katya blinked at how cute her new cellmate(?!) was. Strong jaw, beauty marks scattered across his face, hair cut in a quiff to make room for a single horn set over his left eye … Crystal-blue eyes that she thought she might drown in …

"Erm," she cleared her throat. "Why do I suddenly have a cellmate?" she asked.

"Apparently there's too many prisoners and not enough cells," the guy said with a shrug. "Since we both were thrown in for non-violent crimes, they thought we probably won't kill each other." He coughed into his fist and offered a hand to shake. "So, nice to meet ya, roomie. I'm Steve."

"Don't call me roomie," she replied, though a faint smile softened the words as she took the offer. "I'm Katya."

"Nice to meet you, Katya," Steve said, carefully keeping his eyes from roaming anywhere disrespectful. Even in the boxily-cut, grey uniform, Steve could tell she was a knockout. Especially since it did nothing to hide rich, caramel skin, sparkling hazel eyes, glossy black hair, and a pair of cute, tiny fangs.

"So …" Steve said, finally taking his hand back when he suddenly realized he'd been shaking hers too long and rubbing the back of his head, "what do we do here?"Katya didn't answer, her eyes wide and staring. "What?" he asked blankly, lowering his hand. "Is there something on my face?" Katya's gaze tracked his arm and he looked, finding only his coven sigil.

His Emperor's coven sigil.

"Ah," he said with more forced humor. "Yeah. That." He lifted his arm again to clearly show the winged sword thrust into a triangle. "I've shown you mine. What about yours?"

"You're Emperor's Coven?" Katya asked, posture tense and wary.

"Was Emperor's Coven," Steve said, with bitter emphasis on the first word. He glared down at the sigil. "Apparently going to visit your family in your brief spare time is not 'conducive to a unified front,' or something." He flicked his hand dismissively and sat with a groan on her — their? — cot. "They're keeping me here until they figure out what to do with me."

"Why didn't they just execute you?" Katya asked, then clapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry! That's not-"

"Hey, don't worry about it," Steve chuckled as he waved it off. "It's a valid question. And uh," he coughed again, "one I would really like answered."

Katya bit her lip before settling onto the cot next to him. "Well, until then," she said, bumping his shoulder with hers, "I guess you're stuck with me."

"Oh, the horror," Steve drolled. "Being in a stone box with a beautiful girl."

"Woman," Katya corrected, though her cheeks pinked.

"You said it, not me," Steve said, letting his eyes roam for effect. Katya laughed and pushed him, then he laughed and bumped her back. Somehow that led to a lighthearted wrestling match on the dusty ground which ended with Steve pinning Katya by her wrists.

"Give up?" he asked, breathing heavier.

"Well-" Katya said, then leaned up and placed a kiss on his cheek. Steve blushed and his grip went slack, and Katya rolled them over to pin him. "Nope," she chirped, giggling. Her laughter faded at the stunned look still on Steve's face.

"So, uh, we don't have a lot to do here, if I recall from guard duty," he commented, voice a bit strained despite the casual tone. "Would, erm-" He swallowed and closed his eyes to take a deep breath, face turning red. "Would I be a total scumbag if I made a certain suggestion to pass the time?"

"That depends," Katya said, eyeing him with a faint grin. "What's the suggestion?"

Steve leaned up and kissed her lips, for a brief second, before pulling away. "We could talk?" he suggested with a grin of his own, his face still burning.

Katya brusquely got up … then offered her hand to help him. Steve took it and she hauled him to his feet with surprising strength given her slim frame. Then she kissed his cheek again. "Talk first," she whispered in his ear. "And then …" she ran her fingers over his chest, "… maybe we'll see where it goes."

They sat on their cot and began to talk about anything and everything, from their pasts to their covens, to their hobbies, to their families. They both felt a sense of deja vu as they talked, almost as if they'd heard it before …

Oh well. At least they certainly weren't bored.

"Well?" the Collector asked, eyes bright.

"That … was a lot better," King admitted. "No violence, at least."

"But you like violence, right?" the Collector asked.

"Not when my friends are getting hurt," King explained.

"Ugh, too many rules," the Collector groaned, flicking his fingers to put the puppets back in their spots in the archives. He summoned a star-shaped platform. "Hey, how about we go on an Owl House adventure?"

King thought back to Eda and crunched the numbers before nodding and hopping onto the shooting star. "What did you think?"

"Saving Bonesborough from the Owl Beast," the Collector cheered. They flew off into the distance, unaware that their game would be seen by King's family.

Steve blinked as whatever blanket of oblivion that being a puppet entailed was drawn away. He looked around and found the collector and Lilith. His heart leapt at the sight of his old friend — he really liked her new hairstyle, too! — and he grabbed her in a hug and swung her around. After her laughing protests, Steve let her go and moved to allow the next person to be un-puppeted.

He looked around for Matty or their parents, for anyone else he might know … and he found the BATs. He made a firebee-like for them and and clapped Katya on the shoulders from behind, startling her. She whirled around and smiled like the sun before glomping him in a hug.

"I had the weirdest dreams when I was under," she said as she moved back, but still kept him in her arms.

"Yeah, me too," Steve said. They looked at each other and understanding passed between them. "Maybe we could compare notes?" he suggested with a lopsided grin. "Over dinner?"

"I'd like that," Katya said, and kissed his cheek. "I'd really like that."

What's up, everybody? This idea of dreams while being a puppet came to me like a sledgehammer and would not stop scratching at the inside of my brain until I wrote it out. I had no idea where it was going until it was written, but I like the possibilities that came out of it. Plus, it gave me an excuse for Stevatya fluff, so win-win!

*The title is based on bits of the Season Two code poem: "Seething Seas and Puppet Strings, He No Longer Dreams of Kings…" I reworked it a bit - I just couldn't resist the meta reference.

*Someone brought to my attention the idea that Steve was one of Lilith's proteges, much like Amity was in "Covention." I can't believe I had never considered that before, but it's a great idea. In my mind, such a relationship would have led to Steve forming a genuine friendship with Lilith — because who wouldn't be friends with Steve? — and becoming one of her most trusted subordinates before her defection, and then leading to their continued friendship before Steve defected, too.

*It seems I can't write Steve and Katya without meta-commenting on how they are both attractive from character design standpoint. What is wrong with me, eh?

*I'm not sure where it came from - probably her writing about food falling in love - but I've always imagined Katya as a very "in love with love" woman who dates easily. She's been burned before, and delved into her writing to cope, but she never gives up hope that the next one could be "the one." And as for Steve, I can't help but imagine that he was friendly with everyone and had a hard time turning people down. He hated leaving people brokenhearted, but preferred to cut things short if he knew they weren't going anywhere. Not to mention he knew he was going to become a scout, where romantic relationships would be discouraged.

*Katya and Steve's prisoner number's were derived from the premiere dates of their debut episodes, "A Lying Witch and a Warden" and "Sense and Insensitivity."

As always, I hope it was a fun read. Leave a review if you like! And may your own works be fun to read and to write!