discussing the binary counting system

[holdin hands]

me: bb ur hands r so cold

This is not the first time he's been one; days long past of being private first class, looking up at the shining Strike Team with wonder in his eyes, alongside everyone else. But then he joined, he grew, he rose to the challenge. Suffered setbacks sometimes. Poor calls in the field, sure, but also in the management of his teams, the resolution of arguments, the soothing of emotions. But with every mistake he sculpted his emotional intelligence and wisdom higher and higher until he could bring the absolute best out of the people who counted on him for his guidance.

He'd first met Freja while he was giving a lecture on leadership to her division. She stayed after to ask more questions- about how to handle underperformers, no matter how frustrating they became to work with.

"Hey dude! Looking spiffy as ever- what cybernetic polish do you use?Anyways, we're about to blow one of the support columns on the bridge. Should be gorgeous. Wanna let your gal press the button? Might get you major bonus points. . ."

and Emre has to force himself to be like "um. thanks. sure." and slowwwwwly takes the remote from them.

(the Emfrej wedding post)

Sombra would say that verbatim to both of their faces lmao (meanwhile she has the time of her life. is this what having people care about you feels like?)

also huge shoutout to @chernoblogging's alternative universe here with Hazard, I was this () close to including him in the original post:

Freja out of the blue someday (after things have calmed down and they're both more stable) goes "let's get married" and Emre is ECSTATIC and stays up the entire night planning out every little detail. Freja the next morning walks in and goes "okay I made the appointment with the courthouse" and Emre very sheepishly slips the color swatches for the table cloths back into his pocket.

In all seriousness though, Freja has been daydreaming about what the wedding would look like, but she has trouble feeling like she deserves something extravagant. I do think the wedding dress is the most important part of the equation for her- looking like a "bride" is something that she's wanted since high school. She is also adamant about writing her own vows.

Meanwhile Emre is planning everything according to his interpretation of her tastes. Injecting very little of himself into any of the plans because he wants it to be her day, something to spoil her and make her feel as beautiful and worthy as he sees her. It takes a herculean effort from Emre's dad to get him to consider what he himself wants from the wedding also.

A few miscellaneous headcanons:

They end up having the wedding in Turkey because Emre's entire family line wanted to come whereas Freja has little living family left and little attachment to home.

I feel like they're the kind of couple to take dance lessons before the wedding, so their first dance is crazy awesome. Emre is twirling her like his life depends on it. Freja specifically bought the a dress that would twirl well for this reason.

Sojourn offered to officiate the wedding but Emre turned her down because 1. his parents already an officiant in mind and 2. he wanted her to be able to enjoy herself and party not as a leader, but as a friend. She becomes the best (wo)man instead.

(Sojourn does pull a few strings to make sure their wedding is legally valid across all possible international jurisdictions, including the moon somehow? because that's the kind of thing she does for those she cares about in her free time.)

As for the maid of honor, Freja doesn't really care and wasn't going to have anyone, but I think she'd extend the offer to whoever helped her subtract the murderous AI from Emre.

Which means it would be EXTREMELY funny if Sombra was the maid of honor. There's a way I have imagined this storyline playing out where Sombra and Freja end up being tentative friends. Sombra annoys the hell out of her but that's part of the charm.