#typans

Destiny (1)

Seven on high - Andal/Cayde-6

Hornblower / Temeraire (1)

Off the Starboard Bow - Archie Kennedy/John Granby

barter

Team Fortress (23)

It’s all sniperspy, unless noted otherwise.

thrifty

All bite

No bark

ARMSTOPPER - Engineer/Spy

Critical Provocation

Happy Hour

hindsight

positive reinforcement

Tell You Everything

Conflict Resolution

Get This Feeling, Feel This Static - Engineer/Medic, Sniper/Spy

Last Stage Fashionalism - rule 63-verse

Part 2

Part 3

Various Ficlets/Prompts:

Gun Maintenance

Fluffy

Domestic

Yuri

hypnotic

ostentatious

Idle

Post comic 7 ficlet

just might come crashing

Top Gun (2)

Been Told

rings around

I’m in the not so unique position of where I wrote at least 4 of the fics at least 75% of the way done 13-15 years ago, which is a huge chunk of words. I would estimate 12k written over a decade ago. The Top Gun fics were leftover WIPS from last year. Minus 20k words in total? So more like 71k. Which. Still a massive amount for me.

Total number of completed stories: 26

Total word count: 91,005

Looking back, did you write more fic than you thought you would this year, less, or about what you’d predicted?

I published 1 fic last year and it took all I had in me. But, privately, I wrote a bunch of OC stuff. I definitely blew myself out the water this year. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much output in a loooong time.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted in January?

Bruh. Team Fortress 2 after 14 years of moving on. I’m still fervently shipping sniperspy—and I’ve always been a same fraction girlie. Not much has changed with how I think of them but now that I am older and wiser and better at pwp… I know they’re both bottoms. I know it in my heart. I think the me from 14 years ago would be pretty pleased that I can now write decent pwp (or I just don’t care to be self conscious about it anymore).

What’s your own favorite story of the year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you happiest?

lol, I love all bite to pieces. It was fun to write! Truly joyous. I answered this question on a tumblr meme so here’s the answer:

I was on an absolute mission with that one. Knew what I wanted, from top to bottom. Wrote it VERY fast. I love how it flows; it’s easy to read, easy to understand the dynamic. (At least, for me.) Sniper bottoms. Spy bottoms. They’re both extremely clear with what they want, and aren’t, like, blushy-shy about it. There’s a lot of characterizations I crammed in as well and, tbh, the jokes still make me chuckle. (Awoo, biscuit, and LET’S TEST THIS PUPPY OUT, being the top three.) That fic was all for me, HAHA!!

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

I wouldn’t say it was a risk… but I feel like I really showed my ass with just might come crashing. I think it’s an indulgent fic, which is not inherently bad, but I wasn’t going to post it. It started as a collection of somewhat melodramatic scenes that I didn’t plan to make cohesive, didn’t make a plot other than “they go up to the mountains and don’t even hang out with each other for the majority of it”. I drew a lot of scenery inspiration from my own mountain trips.

Admittedly, I don’t much like reading “I Love You” confessions in fic, especially during sex. I wanted to play around with what I would consider…. a neat confession, of sorts. Mind you, this is only the tip of the iceberg with that fic.

Oh, and something I learned from all that… I truly believed this was written pretty poorly for an audience (that wasn’t me!). I didn’t think it would get compliments, like, at all. LOL. Imagine my surprise by all the nice things people took the time to say, haha. So thank you to everyone who did take the time.

Do you have any fanfic or profic goals for the New Year?

Nah. Just keep chugging along, I guess. I wanna finish foresight, and I wanna write more not-so-sub-but-yeah-he-likes-it!sniper. u_u

My best story of this year

Ooh, a toss up between ARMSTOPPER and hindsight. Unfortunately, my thoughts on hindsight have kinda been tainted by the follow up I’m trying to push though so I think hindsight is a bit of a pain in the ass atm, but ARMSTOPPER also had that same kind of suffering. ARMSTOPPER made me take the biggest victory lap, while I reread hindsight more often just because I do like it a lot.... both of them have Spy suffering so maybe that's the real entertainment for me.

My most popular story

Critical Provocation has a baffling amount of hits to me. Well. Not baffling. But it sure is funny. Thrifty actually has the most kudos as of now, but not by much, and it was written earlier in the year.

Critical Provocation was something I knocked out in, like, two days. Because I saw a funny tumblr shitpost, and also I was determined to write Sniper as a bottom, but not… like… being shy about it? I’m not super into extremely shy-blushy-mewling sexually inexperienced bottoms, especially with Sniper. idk, I think Sniper would really put on a gameface about it. Then I think it’s a really cute narrative payoff when he does break. That’s just my two cents. Anyway critprov was fun to write. I’m glad people enjoy it. perhaps the people also long for confident bottom!sniper..... :/c

Story of mine most under-appreciated, in my opinion

Oughoguh it’s not anyone’s fault but Off the Starboard Bow is another one that I’m super proud of but it combines two very niche Age of Sail fandoms that are quite…………….. quite old. I think it’s nicely written, fun, and true to voice. I miss writing for Temeraire. Granby is also a fun character to write for. Things are always happening to him, all of the time. He should be able to suck dick in peace. Archie also deserves to get his dick sucked. rip archie kennedy you would have loved to be granby's normcore boyfriend.

Most fun story to write

I’ve said this with all bite already so my second choice would be Happy Hour, which I sorta wrote buzzed on martinis and melatonin during an 18 hour flight to South Korea, where I didn’t sleep for 48 hours (had to take a third flight to Jeju). It was the only thing keeping me sane on that wretched plane. I had a woman digging her feet into my thighs so ironically when I do reread the fic, Spy going apeshit on the other spies was just me channeling the same violence, and I think of that unhinged plane lady often.

Editing that fic was wild, let me tell you. There’s so many post-dinner minific parts because I wrote the concept of them on the plane. I wish I saved a screencap of an early draft. Utterly incomprehensible.

Most Sexy Story

Thrifty? I’m not sure on this one. I wrote a lot of oneshot PWPs and all of them have sexy scenes, but I think thrifty hits that spot of having adequate build up throughout the fic, with all the flirting and whatnot, and like.. the payoff sex scene, which I think it is very cute to write sniperspy being super into each other and not so fussy with the physicality of it all (just the emotional). Spy especially putting himself in a less dominant position but still being in control is fun.

Oh. I just remembered gun maintenance as well. Conceptually, that was pretty hot. (gun puns....) Non-explicit build up is what I enjoy writing a lot.

Story with the single sexiest moment

positive reinforcement. Another fic inspired by a tumblr shitpost but

Sniper leaps from his chair, grabbing Spy by the face, thumb and forefinger circling over Spy’s mouth to shut him up. Spy jumps, surprised into reaching for Sniper’s wrists, but it’s been a while since Sniper touched him, and the burning stare is enough to make him freeze in place. Sniper gives Spy’s face a little shake for emphasis. He leans down, fingers digging into Spy’s skin through the mask. “Then. Figure. It. Out.”

lol. I love sub!sniper with all my heart but in those moments when I write him calling the shots, I do have fun with twisting the dom/sub dynamic around. I mean, what’s cuter than teaching your normally calculating attack dog the command to “go feral” on you? :’)

Most “holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you” story

Nah. All my fics are in the category of “I’m Not Surprised”. hindsight, in fact, was such a ME fic to write. No one should have been surprised about me writing this kind of time travel fic.

Story that shifted my own perceptions of the characters

LMAO, I GUESS THE FIRST TF2 FIC I WROTE AFTER 14 YEARS? barter? I wrote it, got a bit dissatisfied with falling into “oh spy of course gets on his knees and sucks sniper's dick” trope and so I was like… I’m gonna turn the dom/sub dynamic around a bit. and wrote it twice?????? i don't claim to be reasonable. but i think i did make it clear that Spy was running the show the entire time.

Hardest story to write

ARMSTOPPER TOOK ME 14 YEARS TO PUBLISH. Prior to this year, I had not open the document since 2015 but the creation date was 2010. That file has survived three computer changes, all my years of uni, 10 years into my career. that's my teen child. i can get it a drivers permit.

On a more serious note, ARMSTOPPER’s unfinished state was due to a lot of high expectations from myself at the time, combined with me just drifting away from TF2 around 2015. I got into other fandoms! I also wasn’t a deft enough writer to fully pull off with what I thought I had to write. ARMSTOPPER was supposed to be long and plotty with a sex scene, confession, and courting. And I didn’t know how I wanted to end it at the time. And so it languished!

Years later, I opened it back up again and thought what I had written was still good. I’m not sure if it’s really noticeable, but there’s a distinct shift in writing in the middle of the fic where I simply continued where the early 20s me left off. I think towards the later half, it’s just a bit snappier and the narrative humor is sliiiightly different but I think I was able to emulate my older style of writing, which is a wild thing to say, haha.

I also had to pull out an unbelievable amount of meme jokes from the fic. There is a “Deal With It” falling sunglasses meme gesture Spy does at the very beginning and in my heart of hearts I knew I could not totally rewrite over it.

Most disappointing

(puts my hand on ur shoulder) Those Aren’t Posted.

But!! Honorable mention goes to rings around — where I forgot to write an entire scene (THE ENDING I PLANNED?!?) and posted the fic, panicked, and had to, at great speed, write that missing scene in. WHICH IS WAY THERE WAS A WEIRD TIME SHIFT EPILOGUE AOUGHGOGH MY GODDDDDDD. I wrote a different ending (with Carole), which I did not initially plan because I completely forgot my original ending (with Ice). Incredible work, by me. What a blunder. Other than that, I very much like rings around. It deals with my favorite time travel themes of guilt, longing, and a character looking into their future and just simply hating it because they end up being happy, LOL.

Easiest story to write

Critical Provocation. I saw the shitpost “griping and complaining on it” and a demon possessed me. I slapped that one down quick since I was looking for any excuse to write bottom!Sniper being on the inexperienced side but totally up for it. Wrote out the banter I wanted (WHICH SOME ENDED CUT, THEY WOULDN’T SHUT UP ENOUGH TO GET THEIR DICKS OUT..), and then the rest fell into place, thank god. It was a very Point A to Point B type of writing experience.

Fun bonus fact: I have mulled over a pillow-princess!Sniper follow up but I genuinely think I’d write it in such a way where it’d be more like restraint kink than being pampered. Idk, imagine they attempted it and found it lacking.

Biggest surprise

Bruh. TF2. all of them.

But, more seriously just might all come crashing, which I will get more into in the next question. I’m not surprised I wrote it, I’m just surprised I published it since I tend to not post stuff I find embarrassing, lol. That fic was really supposed to be for my own practice and entertainment.

So… what I mean to say is…… JMCC was written …… from the heart and … (grits teeth) very sincerely. Not that my other fics aren't sincere but. Like. This one was….. hrm …this was written with genuine affection and earnestness for the ship. And I truly didn't care to put in any more than what I wanted (hence the gaps). I don't think it's very polished, and the pacing is something I did not focus on. I’m a pretty confident writer, so to put something out there where I’m kinda like “lol, that was meant for me to read myself, not for others” is… eh. Kinda revealing, I guess.

Most unintentionally telling story

Right. Here we go. I’m gonna yap at length about just might come crashing. Because I feel like it’s a bit different from the other tf2 fics I put out there. Like I need to justify myself, lol.

I put a lot of boring themes in that one. Career burnout. Now’s-not-the-right-time romance. His-Happiness-Over-Yours. The importance of time away from something or someone you love (a job, a partner). Being perceived in what you think is the most cringiest way possible (gee..). I love dynamics that play with mutual attraction/awareness of feelings, but both participants actively choose to not go forward for whatever reason. It’s emotional purgatory, and that’s fun to me.

It’s my ideal, self-indulgent version of sniperspy; love as a responsibility you're taking on. Love being a cold little cabin you are caging yourself in, with all these monitors and trackers you aren't using. The one time you do, there's a huge truth being blurted out that you can't beny but you're also not surprised by it. And the only surprise Spy feels is his own deep, unrelenting happiness. He disassociates, compartmentalizes, because he knows he’ll choke on it.

All this, and he still lets Sniper go out for days, freely, despite being lonely, because Spy knows Sniper will come tapping against his window eventually. Sniper is an independent spirit, but he also knows the lengths Spy has gone, and that's also daunting—being invested in someone's happiness that might not be in line with your own. I think, in the end, they are two fundamentally different people that just happened to cross paths due to circumstance. If early on they had met other people more compatible.. I mean. I don't think they're each others' first choices. They both know it.

This isn't even addressing the mercenary careers they both have, and there's a high chance either one of them will find the other dead in a ditch eventually (in THEIR minds, at present). To them, being in love is a burden you take on so you make damn well sure it's worth it.

Then, I suppose after all the mutual pining’s been addressed, they’d deal with it in their typical mercenary way, by being absolutely ruthless with it. For them, being in love is a job, one you can also burnout of. These are two people who take joy, pride, and satisfaction from their careers. They are going to care a whole lot. So, you know, other than that being a completely deranged way of thinking, that’s just their take.

(I touch on this in hindsight, the time travel fic when Spy is having a moment and thinks about the work and effort of a relationship.)

Don’t get me wrong, JMCC is a hopeful romantic fic—but there’s a tragic undercurrent to it, lol. I don’t resolve the career burnout. I don’t have them confess directly. They don’t talk about it. I don’t go into the UFOs. I don’t even write an explicit sex scene. They don’t even see each other for the majority of their two weeks in the mountains. At the end, Spy comments on Sniper being intentionally hurtful. Is it mutual? Yes, it is.

Fourteen years ago I wrote all that matters, which I belatedly realize was kinda the prototype for this, the first iteration of that underlying sadness and the work that goes into maintaining a relationship. There's a bookmark comment on it by nik_knak, "Maybe it's just me, but I myself find it rather depressing, even in the end." Haha, they've nailed it even before I did. Funnily enough, it’s also from Spy’s POV; love as extra work you’re willing to take, and you’re just lucky to have that other person return it, and that you might be happy doing it.

So, yeah. That was a telling fic. The most unintentional part of it was me revealing that Spy is my little meow meow. My sweetie pie. My silly pookie. My dipshit clown dolly I like to continuously waterboard in an iced tub just to see him suffer while I put Sniper into the woodchipper but give him a nice mug of hot chocolate afterwards.

Story I’d like to revise

Brother, once them fics are up I don’t touch them. Unless to fix typos or sentence structure.

Story I didn’t write but will at some point, I swear

This will get me blacklisted but I think about a BLU Spy/BLU Scout with RED Spy/RED Sniper comedy hour fake dating situation a lot. Wherein BLU Scout attempts psychological warfare with his sperm donor, R!Spy, by pretending to date B!Spy, who goes along with it because it would be so fucking funny. R!Spy sees through their plan and doubles down, ALSO pretends that he’s SO HAPPY his SON has FOUND a GOOD GUY to DATE and he hOPeS THEy aRE soOoOoO hapPY tOGeTHer.

In the meanwhile, R!Sniper proceeds to reconsider his life choices. Relationships go down the pisser. RED and BLU teams implode. All because B!Scout and B!Spy are fucking and committed to the bit.

And that’ll be the fic.

Closing statements:

Never delete your WIPs. Never say die. If you're not feeling it, put it away. Maybe in 10 years you'll come back to writing and it'll be fun again. Maybe you'll love tf2 again.

stories with the most kudos, bookmarks and comment threads: Most kudos and bookmarks were for thrifty, which I think is flattering! It's got a....high private bookmark count, lol. Happy Hour had the most comment threads, and that was a multi-chaptered fic so it makes sense. Happy Hour had some of my favorite thoughtful comments as well, lol.

work i’m most proud of (and why): I've talked enough about ARMSTOPPER so I'm going to say Off the Starboard Bow this time. I liked what past me started all those years ago and so it was really easy for 2024!me to swoop in and finish off the quick pwp part, lol. Rereading it, I love the tone and the banter, how easy it all the characters mesh together. There's not much worldbuilding involved but I like the sense of Laurence just... knowing people outside his usual circle. And that Granby sort of sees that.. oh. Most of the Navy isn't super stuck up, it's just Laurence that is so severe about it, LOL.

There should be more Hornblower and Temeraire crossovers! I think the double Williams and Archie/John Granby angle is SO CUTE and fun to do. The thought of Laurence having more buddies from the Navy (that are Bush and Hornblower) is pretty funny. You think aviators are weird? Buddy, he's been surrounded by weird people since day 1.

work i’m least proud of (and why): nah. I'm gonna riff off pell's answer and say that I'm quite happy to have posted anything at all. I don't think I've had a perfect execution on most of them but that's just something to think on for my next fics.

share or describe a favorite review you received: lol, i save a bunch of comments in my inbox so that I can go back to reread them whenever I'm feeling low about my writing, but there's a comment I specifically treasure--from a minific for the sniperspy collar fic. Like, it was one of the least expected comments since... idk. The ficlet was so short and silly, but the commenter really had an eagle eye and sense for what I was really trying to explore; implied kink discussion/negotiation, disguised as silly banter and jokes.

You know, I hope everyone gets to experience these golden comments where it has everything; the reader's favorite part in quotes, an opinion, a specific read/analysis that nails what was in your head, and then more points where you didn't consciously consider. (That makes you go "DID I WRITE THAT ON PURPOSE?") I think about their comment a lot and kick up my little feetsies every dang time.

a time when writing was really, really hard: on an 18 hour flight where I couldnt adjust the font size on my tablet so I think maybe some people behind me saw me writing fic. my bad.

more seriously, at the beginning of the year I was really struggling with some Top Gun, Bad Batch, and Master of the Air WIPs. My heart wasn't in it and I was forcing myself until April where I just sorta gave up and went into "I will write my Star Wars OCs" and even then I wasn't very happy.

Then! I read a couple of novels to get back into the groove of reading published works and it was refreshing.

a scene or character you wrote that surprised you: Aside from getting back into tf2 in general, not really? I guess I'll hand it off to just might come crashing. It's very................romantic. As romantic as I like sniperspy without setting myself on fire from sheer embarrassment. My idea of fluff for them is... just this.

a favourite excerpt of your writing: 

“I'll stay if you'll have me,” Sniper says, undressing in the bathroom. He pokes his head out. “Daft fuck. I know what you're doing. You assumed I’d go out by my lonesome for two entire weeks. No people. No civilization. No showers.” “Yes.” Spy raises an eyebrow. “Since you were raised by wolves in a cave.” “Oi, show some respect for my parents,” Sniper says. “I'll have you know me mum’s a very lovely ‘roo. Raised me proper. In a pouch and everything.” “That does certainly explain many things,” Spy replies. Sniper steps out of the bathroom, naked but still sadly unshowered. He strides over to the bed and takes Spy by the chin, his hold firm. “I'm gonna spend the night with you ‘cause I wanna, alright?” Sniper says, leaning over him. His sharp-eyed look is back, the one Spy finds both dangerous and endearing. “You really thought I was gonna fuck off in the woods the whole time?” Spy doesn’t answer that particular question, at least not directly. Still, he feels as if he’s admitting something incriminating when he returns Sniper’s look. “I wouldn't be upset if you did.” The corner of Sniper’s mouth tics upwards. “You miserable shit,” Sniper says fondly. He drops his hand to turn back to the shower.

bruh... this part makes me blush. it's a confession without the explicit confession... I like it a lot. it's mostly dialogue but... there's a lot of teasing affection. being comfortable. i wrote an entire fic just to have context for this scene.

how did you grow as a writer last year: did you know.. did you know if you write 2-3k words consistently every week you can keep this up for 4 months because you kept in practice? wow. new concept alert. no one has ever thought of this i bet.

how do you hope to grow this year: get more deranged. stop being afraid of people younger than 24. they mean well when they say sigma.

who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer, beta, cheerleader, etc.): as always.............. spite. im so sorry to be so evil coded, but it's spite. I write when I'm not getting the themes and pwps I want so I write out of spite and anger, especially when I don't have my usual group of friends in the same fandom. This is why I struggled with MotA and Top Gun fics. I was eating so good there wasn't any need to cook for myself. u__u

On a more positive note!!!! I got back into sniperspy because of a fanart I saw for barter. :')

anything from your real life show up in your writing last year:

I’m always taking inspiration from real life but usually in an indirect or vague sense. Not a specific event. There are a few parts from ARMSTOPPER that I draw from irl knowledge that occasionally comes in handy when writing violence. TF2 lends itself to gory humor which is absolutely fine and dandy, and I like to play into it in a slapstick kind of way. I don’t often go beyond that. I’m definitely not writing medical/surgical jargon for free (and tbh it’s not entertaining writing if you do find yourself going into that much detail), nor do I feel compelled to write a story that has to do with work. 

For instance, I would not write a surgery/hospital AU. I would not write about various insane items getting stuck up people's butts. Not an aux cord up someone's penis. Never about a penile fracture caused by someone riding cowgirl. You ever been called to work at 3am for this? It would not be fun. I would hate every second, and I actually enjoy my job, aside from the getting-called-at-3am part. :P

That being said, there’s a part in ARMSTOPPER where Spy describes amputating Engineer’s arm in a kind of romantic way—the physical description on how it feels is true to my own experience but obviously not the romance of it, LMAO. Then later when he sees the Gunslinger as a particularly gruesome weapon, those descriptions are meant to be off-putting. Those are real details that I've personally seen before. So that, I suppose, is my real life job bleeding (hehe) into my fics. I have helped cut off a lot of limbs in my career………………………. (dead stare)

I didn’t mean to get super into this question, but I pretty opinionated on this, lol.

any projects you’re looking to starting (or finishing) this year: god, the follow up to hindsight is kicking my ass. i've set it aside for now but I would to finish it in 2025, and not.. say.... in 2040. but who knows.

other current wips, for those curious:

psychological horror spycest

various stupid pwp fics (ie sniper in a maid outfit)

spy being mature(?!) about deescalating a coworker-with-benefits relationship, sniper about to throw up from having normal emotions about it

I have a feeling sas:rh s2 will kill me dead so I want to finish this fucked up Augustine/Paddy->Eoin(dead) situationship fic I've been noodling at for the better part of the past 8 months.

---

Colonel Harding starts the lecture off with a brief introduction that leans more towards congratulatory than damnation. It’s a fine thing, getting the Navy’s cream of the crop, and the goal is to make them even better than they are. Always room for improvement, there is. The cohort is eating it up. Bucky has to stifle his own laughter behind a hand. As ever, the grin escapes and stays plastered to his face, right to the moment Harding chooses to turn towards him.

“Of course, your live exercise instructor for the next few weeks,” Harding says, gesturing as Bucky emerges from the tomcat’s underbelly. “He’s one of the few pilots with recent combat experience, and a very close and personal look at the MiG 21. You’ll all do well to listen to what he’s got to say on the matter.”

Bucky tries hard not to take a sarcastic bow. Instead, he tosses his meager stack of manilla folders onto the nearest desk, parks his hip next to it, and leans. The desk skids to accommodate the weight.

“Mornin’,” he greets over the short screech metal against concrete. “Major John Egan. I’ll be running the MiG simulations, both in-class and live hop exercises.”

The problem with Major John Egan is that he’s a nobody. The class is a mix of bland looks or furrowed brows, and Harding looks especially amused behind the eyes.

And Gale — well. Gale’s got on a funny expression, lips pressed together and eyes almost glaring. He looks a little annoyed for the full second Bucky glances at him. When the frown disappears, Bucky wonders if Gale had it in him to look full on pissed if he threw him a wink.

So, Bucky does the next best thing and fixes Gale with the biggest winning smile he can muster without looking too insane.

“Callsign—Bucky,” he finishes.

And that gets the class’ attention. More importantly, it makes Gale’s jaw clench and cheeks go ruddy as the room’s attention swing around towards him.

--

There isn’t much that surprises Drifter anymore. Sure, there are moments where he’ll spook but there’s a difference between getting startled by a gun at his back and, say, the idea of end of the world. The latter is old news, and the details on how the world ends keeps changing.

Still, words couldn’t describe the feeling of seeing Shin roll up in a Fallen Walker, pop the top off, and wave at Drifter, like they weren’t in the middle of a nasty little skirmish between the Hive.

“You know how to drive that thing?” Drifter asks, climbing onto one of the legs. Stupid question. Of course he does. Shin might’ve not touted himself as a tech guy, but people tend to pick up a few skills here and there after a couple of hundred years. An Arc blast whizzes by his ear. He jumps, just a little.

“You know how to ride it?” Shin fixes him with a patronizing stare before he drops back in, leaving Drifter to scramble through the opening after him.

The inside of the Walker is spacious. It seems to be freshly stolen, given the bright smell of ether and black splatters over the controls. He wonders when Shin found the time to throw the bodies out but that question was neither here nor there. Drifter slides into the gunner’s seat. From the corner of his eye, he sees an open control panel where Shin had hotwired the thing—a little messy, not how Drifter would do it, but good enough.

The Walker starts stomping forward. Shin turns out to be a courteous driver, unless you were a Hive Knight, then it’s just a foot to the face. Drifter’s hands relax at the cannon controls.

“You get bored or what?” he asks. There’s not much Hive left to smash or shoot at. A Walker seems like overkill at this point.

“I like to keep things fresh,” Shin replies, and leans to the side to fiddle around with the wires.

Drifter glances at Shin’s fingers, noting that one glove was off to get a better feel for the electricity. He can guess that Shin wants to configure the autopilot. Drifter can redo the programing in less than a second, but he sort of likes the view of Shin doing some delicate work. He can’t say why. Not without a gun to his head.

Shin notices his staring. His hands pause for a moment. “You wanna help or just watch?”

Even with a gun to his head, maybe. Drifter flashes a sharp smile. “Kinda wanna watch, actually.”

--

The weekend usually brings about the same crowds toward Saint’s ship in the hanger. Occasionally a new face shows up, eager to try their hand at Trials, and Saint is more than happy to let them in. Late nights tend to be the most popular times for full matches, which leaves his weekend mornings free to feed the resident hanger birds and clean up shop. 

The birds have been fewer this early morning, and the hanger remains quiet. The sun has barely risen, glowing its muted orange. Saint enjoys the view, sitting on one of his ammo crates and sprinkling some birdseed from time to time. Despite Osiris’ arguments, it’s just as good as a cup of coffee. Maybe even better.

Still, a cup of coffee would be nice. Saint is about to get up and procure himself one when he sees someone slinking over to his… general vicinity. Their eyes meet. Saint only feels a little shocked to see the Drifter some steps away.

For a moment, neither of them move. Saint gives a short wave, in case Drifter isn’t actually here to see him then at least he’s given a greeting. But, against all odds, Drifter starts approaching in earnest, giving off an incredible aura of nervousness and, strangely enough, determination.

“Good morning! Are you here for a Trials card?” Saint asks dubiously, but not totally devoid of hope.

“After what y’all put me through last time?” Drifter sniffs. “Hell no, brother.”

Saint deflates a little. Ah, well. Their last Trials outing had been fun, in Saint’s opinion. Drifter obviously doesn’t have the same sentiments, which is a shame. Drifter had done remarkably well despite all his protesting. A man who can complain and put up a decent fight at the same time isn’t one who’d been using all his faculties. Saint wonders what’ll put someone like the Drifter through his paces. 

“Hm.” Saint lets out a huff of static. “So how may I help you? A new scam?”  

Drifter doesn’t seem bothered by the comment. “No scam here.”

The pause that follows after doesn’t give Saint much confidence, but Drifter appears to be gearing himself up to say his next piece. Saint politely waits. The pigeons peck at his boots, trilling, so he sprinkles another handful on the ground.

“I’m just—ah. Look,” Drifter begins, eyeing the pigeons rather than Saint himself. “I have some information you might be interested in. As a fellow associate to the Vanguard.”

“You can send the information to my Ghost. I thought we were already contacts,” Saint says, apologetically, about to wave Geppetto in, but Drifter shakes his head.

“This is a little more sensitive. I’m trying to be tactful here,” Drifter says through gritted teeth. He blows out a sigh, sounding like he’s ripping off a bandaid. “So, just thought you’d like to know. Your man Osiris signed himself up for a Gambit match.”

Saint takes in this new information with what little grace he can manage. “He what?”

“You heard right. He paid for admission and everything.”

“Pull him out.”

Drifter looks almost as annoyed as he does. “He paid me extra for admission. It’s not in my interest to pull him out without his permission. He’ll think I scammed him.”

“Well, it won’t be in your interest if he gets killed playing one of your games,” Saint says, low.

Drifter shuffles his feet, like he wants to agree but instead he stands up a little straighter with a scowl. “Look. I’m only passing along an observation. The guy was a top notch Guardian back in the day when he had the Light. And for what it’s worth, I did tell him he might not do so well in Gambit without it. I told him multiple times, actually, and he just threw more Glimmer at me to shut up. What could I do, you know?”

Saint-14 puts his pouch of birdseed to the side. It leaves his hands free to clench them into fists, gloves creaking against the strain.

Drifter obviously notices. He throws his hands up in exasperation. “You think I’m a dummy? That’s why I’m here. I’m sayin’ you go get him. He sure as hell didn't listen to me.” 

The idea has some merit. Osiris is stubborn at best with Saint so it makes sense he’d be impossible with Drifter.

“Fine,” Saint says. “Put me in.”

Drifter flicks him a green coin. “It’s a thousand Glimmer for the entry fee.”

Saint catches it, turning the coin in his palm. The Vex symbol glints in the weak morning light. “You said no scam.”

Drifter doesn’t seem to be aware of which coin he’d given him. Judging from his careless shrug, the man truly seems to regard himself as blameless. “It ain’t. This is doing business. There’s a buy-in for everyone. Gambit needs a lot to keep running — running safely, if you catch my drift.”

Saint stands up. He drops his hand on Drifter’s shoulder. He gives it a reassuring squeeze. “Drifter. Your tenacity is admirable.”

He can feel Drifter’s muscles tense under his palm. The man starts to look a little paler. It’s a little mean, Saint-14 can admit, and it’s not like he’s short on Glimmer. But the principle of the matter still remains; he’d rather not be hoodwinked and he’s not above relaying that message.

“I can discount you fifty percent. Ex-Vanguard special,” Drifter says, sharp as a tact. Amazing how quick on the uptake some people can get with the right pressure. When Saint’s hold loosens, he steps back with a strained smile. “And I can sub you in as a Sentry. You’d make a good fit.”

“No.”

Drifter’s strained smile disappears. “No?”

“I’ve read up on your Gambit matches from Shin Malphur’s reports,” Saint says, ignoring how Drifter frowns at the name. “I will go as an Invader.”

Drifter gets a gleam in his eye. A little bit of hunger, a lot more of greed. He flips one of his green coins. No doubt he has a bias for the more vicious role. “Ohoho, interesting. Done.”

Satisfied, Saint leans away. “Put me on the opposite team as well.”

Drifter’s coin goes flying from his fingers. It pings off the ground, scaring a couple of pigeons into the air. 

“Uh,” he starts. “I thought you’d want to get Osiris back.”

Saint shrugs. “And I will. Easily.”

Drifter’s mouth stays shut for an extended amount of time before he opens it again, his voice a little weaker. “Just so we’re clear, Saint, bein’ an Invader ain’t about protecting anything. You’d have to kill-”

“Extremely easily then.”

The good thing about having a longstanding reputation is the general lack of opposition when it comes down to doing things your way. Drifter looks like he understands the concept or, at the very least, resigned to it.