#eli ward

As with almost all of their milestones, despite being the younger twin Scarlett is the first to speak. Her first word isn’t “Mama” or “Dada”, it’s “Fee!” (for Sophie, Vesper and River’s dog). Her second word is “Dada”, something that makes River’s heart almost explode with pride and love for his daughter, his little survivor.

Eli doesn’t speak until a couple of months later (he’d always been quiet, even as a baby he only ever cried when Scarlett did) to the point where his parents actually start to worry a bit, but when he finally does his first word is “Mama”. His second word is “Car” (“Just like a nomad”, River jokes).

1: Overheating/Freezing (Darien)

3: Drowning/Dehydration (Darien)

5: Broken/Lost (Darien)

7: Storms/Sunburns (Bram--Inherited)

9: Bugs/Animals (Darien)

11: Whipping/Branding (whumpee)

13: Forgotten/Sacrificed (whumpee)

15: Sleep Deprived/Nightmares (Darien)

17: Collared/Shackled (Darien)

19: Fear/Hope (Darien)

21: Panic/Hopelessness (Eli--Experiment 13)

23: Sick/Survivor's Guilt (Darien)

25: Isolation/Hallucination (Eli)

27: Injured/Amnesia (Darien)

29: Choices/Control (Darien)

I’ve replayed River’s romance scene how many times now and yet this is the first time I’ve ever heard this dialogue exchange? I guess I was always too quick to follow River before, I should have lingered at the bottom of the hill longer.

Anyway, new headcanon that he does regularly pick her flowers in my post-game ending for them. It starts off as an impulsive gesture when he spots clusters of small blue and white wildflowers growing near one of their camps in the early days of their marriage and presents her with a bunch, but it becomes one of the little rituals of their relationship. She keeps them in an old soup can in their tent and when they start to look too wilted, he gathers her more from wherever they’re camped at the time. (On the rare occasions when they fight, as all couples do, he also brings her wildflowers as an apology…the make-up sex that follows is typically fantastic.)

Vesper and River try to reason with him, reassuring him that it was just a coincidence - nothing more than bad luck - that they both lost their parents at that age. They promise him they’re not going anywhere, but once the idea’s in his head he can’t be talked out of it, no matter how hard they try. (The fact that Vesper still experiences lingering health issues as an ongoing side-effect of the relic doesn’t help.)

So when River brings up the idea of kids, she’s initially uncertain but she doesn’t dismiss it outright. She likes kids, always has, and she thinks she’d like to have her own with River someday, but she’s not sure she’s ready to be a mother at that point, especially when she’s still grappling with the idea that she actually has a future to look forward to. River doesn’t press, but he makes it clear he’d like to meet their kids someday.

When she does decide she’s ready, it’s her choice. River is delighted - and a predictably enthusiastic participant in the baby-making process - but Vesper is the one who initiates it. She didn’t expect for things to happen quite so quickly or for them to have twins (lucky for River’s desire to have multiple children however, because after experiencing pregnancy and childbirth once, Vesper never would have gone back for more), but the important thing is that she chose it. It’s her life, and she finally gets to write the future she wants.

What kind of tattoo? A star, of course (Vesper means “morning star”). For a location, I’m thinking his inner bicep. Somewhere visible, but not prominent.

Thank you!!!! Soft OC ask questions here. 💙

1. What's your OC's favourite cuddling position?

Vesper loves curling up on the couch with River at the end of the day, with his arm around her shoulders and her head nestled against his chest (her favourite pillow). If she’s really tired, she’ll sometimes fall asleep like that and wake up later still in the same position because Riv didn’t want to disturb her even though his arm went to sleep ages ago; he only teases her a tiny bit for drooling on him.

She also loves snuggling in bed with him in the morning, just holding and touching each other softly while they talk about their plans for the day or listen to the sounds of the world around them until they have to get up. Later, their kids join them too and they get used to being woken up before dawn by one - or more commonly both - of the twins climbing into bed with them for cuddles. It’s her favourite time of the day.

4. What's an item that is deeply important and special to them? What makes it so special?

She doesn’t have it anymore, but her most treasured possession was the battered, well-loved handheld metal telescope that originally belonged to her late mother, Laurie. The telescope was a gift from Vesper’s grandfather, Laurie’s father, who Vesper never met. Laurie, who had a dreamer’s spirit and a love of the natural world, used it all the time for bird watching, observing the landscape and while patrolling or acting as lookout for the clan. Vesper was fascinated with the telescope as a child and regularly begged her mother to let her use it; Laurie encouraged her daughter’s curiosity by pointing out birds and animals, landmarks, interesting scenery and other details for her to look at.

After Laurie died, Vesper inherited the telescope and kept it safe for almost ten years until it was lost in the chaos of one of the Bakker’s rushed camp relocations when she was 19. Vesper publicly shrugged it off as no big deal, but alone in her tent in their new camp she cried herself to sleep that night for the first time since her mother died. It was one of the only things she had left of her mother and losing it was like losing Laurie all over again.

20. What's something they do absentmindedly that their partner (if they have one) finds adorable?