#pretty quickly

River: Your cousin is hurt, his twin is gone, the kids might never fully recover, this family is broken and you’re pestering me to fuck a kid. Do you have any care for anyone at all? This isn’t your favourite soap opera! Meadow: That’s not what I am saying… I just think you should tell him how you feel. Let him stay. He wants to stay. And he’d be a much needed support for all of you. River: Stay? You want me to cut the wings of a very talented young man, so I can tell him how I feel, when I don’t know how I feel. Meadow: But at least talk. River: I can deal with your harassing me, but I won’t allow you to do the same to Lucas.

Meadow clenched her fists.

Meadow: River, that’s not what I mea...

River glared at her, it was like staring at his own mother. That same confident posture, that same lifted chin. Like she knew better than anyone else.

River: You really are insufferable. If I had known this is who you’d turn out to be, I wouldn’t have looked for my mother when I came back! The man you want me to get over, you owe it to him even knowing me.

I don’t know how it happened, but my answer took the shape of three really short drabbles! @vorchagirl, you used some kind of inspirational magic - just admit it! <3

Mass Effect - Original Trilogy

“Jane, I’m curious…”

Even if the helmet was hiding Tali’s expression, Shepard had no trouble imagining the exact curve of her friend’s grin. She was also pretty sure that what she saw on Liara’s face was its exact copy.

So it was going to be that kind of an evening.

Hiding her own smile behind the glass, she took another sip of wine and nodded for the girl to continue.

“What was it that first drew your attention to him?”

Shepard tried to keep her face neutral, but it wasn’t easy with the way the two of them leaned forward, watching her with rapt attention.

“You do remember that he’s 7 feet tall? That’s pretty hard to overlook.”

And now Tali was definitely pouting. The commander laughed.

“All right, all right…”

She swirled the drink around for a moment, gathering her thoughts.

“His eyes,” she said, a gentle smile tugging at her lips. “That shade would be unusual even for a human…. You probably won’t believe it, but it were his eyes that made him look alien to me.”

“Not the fringe?” Liara asked.

“Not the spurs?” Tali added.

“Nope.” Shepard chuckled softly and shook her head. “But you know what the funniest part is? Now when I think about home, I don’t imagine a ship or a station like I used to. Now it’s a colour. And it’s glacial blue.”

Mass Effect Andromeda

“Amelia, I assure you, the Tempest won’t move any faster. You can stop breathing down poor Kallo’s neck. He has a short lifespan as is!”

Ryder jumped up and whipped around, narrowing her eyes at the ship’s engineer. His poker face didn’t fool her. Not for a second. She crossed her arms and schooled her features into her most unimpressed look.

“It’s perfectly normal for a Pathfinder to be on the bridge. The question is what are you doing here?”

“Be careful, Gil! You’re walking on thin ice here,” Liam warned, emerging from the hallway together with Scott.

“I’d advise you to refrain from answering,” Suvi whispered theatrically.

The Pathfinder put her palm up and sniffed the air.

“I think I can smell something. What is it?” she mused, tapping a finger on her chin thoughtfully. “Oh yeah, it’s the good old insubordination!”

The various reactions of the crew were interrupted by SAM’s calm voice.

“Pathfinder, we’re arriving at Kadara Port in 5 minutes.”

She tried to keep her face properly stern, but failed miserably. On the second thought, she didn’t really care.

“Does anyone have something to say?”

The question was met with amused silence, but that was fine by her.

“Excellent. Now excuse me.”

The last words were thrown over her shoulder as she marched off to the docking bay, followed by four pairs of eyes.

Liam turned to Scott, his eyebrow raised. “Doesn’t it bother you that your sister is basically dating a hybrid of the Shadow Broker and Al Capone?”

“Well, it should, shouldn’t it?” the other Ryder replied.

“But I’m guessing it doesn’t.”

“You know,” Scott smiled, “I’ve never seen her so happy in our entire life. So whoever he is, he’s doing something right.”

Writing Inspiration

“Honey, no offense, but what in the Hanar hell are you doing up? It’s 3 am!”

She almost falls off the chair in surprise. She was sure she wasn’t making any noise, and she kept the light down too. She even thinks she has figured out a way for her keyboard to not rattle like a bag of incredibly annoying marbles.

“Sorry,” she whispers, even though he’s clearly awake and there’s no particular sense in being quiet now. “I’m just making the last edits to the chapter.”

He rolls his eyes and lets out a long sigh. “Remind me why I encouraged you to start posting the thing in the first place?”

Though he looks kind of severe - even with a serious case of bed hair - there’s a smile lurking in the corners of his eyes.

“Because I wouldn’t stop babbling about how I love what my favourite fanfiction writers post? That I wished I were brave enough to do it myself?” she grins and continues, “and you wanted me to just shut up about it?”

“And only managed to achieve the exact opposite result,” he snorts. “But as far as I can tell, you don’t regret it.”

With another sigh he presses a kiss to the top of her head and stalks back to the bedroom, stiffening a yawn.

She watches him go with a crooked smile, then turns back to the enticing glow of the screen.

“She’s a hart, Lavellan and Dennett both say so.”

“She doesn’t even have stripes,” Dorian protests. “She has spots.”

“She’s still a baby.”

“She hasn’t even got antlers.” The little creature looks impossibly tiny and fragile cradled in Bull’s big hands. She blinks at Dorian with wide brown eyes. “Maker, where would antlers even fit?”

“Hey, I didn’t have horns at first either. They’re something you gotta grow into.” Bull strokes her forehead with a finger. She bleats at him, and he smiles, soft and wide. “And you’re gonna have some badass antlers when you’re bigger, aren’t you? Yes you are. You’re gonna be so awesome.”

Dorian snorts, then pauses. “I do hope you’re not planning on her sleeping here.”

“Why not?” Bull keeps smiling at the little thing.

“She’s a hart, a wild animal! You can’t house-train her like a… like a lap-nug!”

A stubborn look settles on Bull’s face. “Watch me.”

The hart starts to wriggle, and Bull puts her down on the mattress between him and Dorian, holding one arm out to keep her away from the edge.

She snuffles at the blankets, then Bull’s hand, and then Dorian’s leg. She tugs at the linen of his robes with her teeth, but decides it’s not worth the trouble to try to eat it. Her tiny hooves poke him as she climbs onto his lap to investigate the metal of his buckles. She feels much larger when she’s standing on him than she looked next to Bull.

Cautiously, Dorian strokes the side of her neck. She sighs, in a way that he thinks is happy, and leans into his hand. “That’s a good sign, right?”

“Yeah! You’re doing great.” Bull grins, and then kisses Dorian, careful not to disturb the small animal on his legs.

She honks at them long before Dorian thinks the kiss should end.

Sera calls Dorian Imekari’s “no-fun dad.” He prefers to think of himself as her responsible guardian who doesn’t feed her pure sugar, Bull, because harts aren’t biologically capable of eating Orlesian guimauves. He tries to find acceptable scholarly sources on the rearing of young harts, but the Skyhold library has less than nothing. Dennett’s best guesses and Lavellan’s memories of her clan’s halla are all he has to go on. Thank the Maker she’s already old enough to have weaned off her mother’s milk.

Bull pets her and holds her and talks to her constantly, and is generally smitten. He carries her in a sling on his back sometimes, because she’s spoiled rotten after a week. Dorian has absolutely no business imagining Bull with children of his own, but that doesn’t stop him.