#also Ceylon might be open to answer your guys' asks for a little while now | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

johannstutt413 · 4 years

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(requested by anonymous)

The Doctor and Ceylon left the office together, her arm locked with his cordially as he walked her to her dorm. “You know what I find fascinating, Ceylon?” He asked not long after leaving the office.

“What would that be, Doctor?”

“Since you and Schwarz arrived here,” he continued, “I haven’t seen you together often. Is there a reason for that?”

She nodded. “We’ve decided it’s best to spend time with others in our respective fields - after all, there are several other Oripathy scholars working at Rhodes Island for me to learn from, and Schwarz has both her new duties to attend to and other mercenaries that understand her troubles better than I ever will. Besides, as much as I love h-having her by my side, it’s not healthy for two people to spend every waking moment together.”

“Oh, of course. I was just curious because I’ve been working on organizing a couples’ retreat for those Operators who have a special someone in their lives, and I was wondering if the two of you would be interested in coming along.”

“Um...when you say special someone,” Ceylon clarified, “you mean...romantically, yes?”

The Doctor nodded with a smile. “Yes, I do.”

“I...I’ll bring it up with her. Who else would be attending?”

“Well, let’s see.” He counted each pair on his fingers. “There’s MountainPass-”

She made a small noise at the mention. “I’m sorry?”

“Oh, they’re just some names I came up with for each couple. Kind of like team names, which will help with some of the activities. Courier and Cliffheart, Skadi and Spectre [WhaleShark], Silverash and Siege [Lovers Leo], Provence and Scavenger [Mousecapade], Flamebringer and Perfumer [Rose Thorns], Matterhorn and Vulcan [Get the Horns] - they’re all confirmed, and I have one or two I still need to check in with. You have another week or two to get back to me.”

“I will ask her tonight,” Ceylon confirmed. After a moment’s pause, she asked, “What’s your name for us?”

The Doctor smirked. “Siesta’s Salvation.”

Schwarz came home that evening to find Ceylon pacing back and forth, deep in contemplation. “Lady Ceylon? Something’s clearly bothering you.”

“Schwarz, the Doctor invited us to an event, and before I say yes to his invitation...there’s something we need to talk about.”

“We should talk over tea.” The sniper went to the stove, grabbed the kettle, and filled it under the faucet. “Beyond this point, you had a good day?”

Ceylon sat at one end of their dining table and worked to calm herself down. “Oh, yes, just lovely. I was in the lab most of the day, testing one of the new decrystallization mechanisms, and we actually saw some reversion today, which is more than promising.”

“Decrystallization...so getting rid of the scars?”

“Exactly.” She stirred a spoon around their sugar dish. “We can get it to deconvert epithelial cells, but anything beyond that is proving more troublesome. Still, it’s definitely progress. What about you? Anything interesting?”

Schwarz shrugged. “Scavenger mentioned going on a couples’ retreat with Provence in a few months. She asked me if we were planning on going, and- Ceylon, what’s wrong?”

“That was the event I mentioned earlier.”

“Oh.” She left the kettle to boil and sat down at the table, moving the second chair to be closer to her lady. “What was your question?”

Ceylon took a deep breath before extending a hand in Schwarz’ direction. “Schwarz, what are we, exactly?”

“As in, what’s our relationship?”

“Exactly.” She sighed. “The Doctor seems to think we’re romantically involved, and no doubt Scavenger and several others do as well, but we’ve never...We haven’t done anything that would suggest that, as far as I know.”

Schwarz thought about that for a moment. “Well, there was that one night at the bar where you said, and I quote, ‘I’ll never love anyone the way I love my darling Schwarz.’ That might have something to do with it.”

“But it’s not like we’ve kissed...right?”

“In public? No.” Her almost-eidetic memory of her time with Ceylon played back in her mind. “But then again...Do you remember the month after you came back from university, and you asked if I had any experience because a few of your friends asked you about yours?”

Ceylon’s eyes burst open. “Oh! There was that, I suppose. I haven’t told anyone about it, though.”

“Neither have I.”

“So that couldn’t be it...” She frowned as the kettle began to whistle. “I’ll get that.”

Schwarz got up from the table at the same time. “No, my lady, I started the pot, so I’ll get it.”

“But you’ve been on your feet all day. I’ll take care of it.”

“Lady Ceylon, please-”

“Schwarz, I’ve got it-”

“Ceylon.”

“What?”

The sniper hadn’t moved to get the still-whistling kettle, which gave Ceylon her chance to do so. “I think that may play a part in this idea they have of us.”

“Hmm?” She brought the kettle back to the table. “What do you mean? Your tea bags, dear.”

“Thank you. From what I’ve heard from Scavenger and a few of the other Operators, bickering like we just did is a sign that two people are very close, and since some of them aren’t familiar with our story, they might assume we’re together because of things like that.”

The lightbulb went off in her mind. “Okay, that makes sense. The Doctor was just saying today that he was surprised he didn’t see us together more often, though, so how would he know about that?”

“Ceylon, the Doctor has a hundred ways of collecting information about his people.” She poured her first cup, watching the water darken with a satisfied smile. “It would surprise me more to know that he didn’t know about that part of our relationship.”

“That explains why people think of us that way, but that doesn’t answer the question yet - what do we say we are? Are we...a couple?” The professor poured her milk into the cup while in a second, smaller cup, she let her tea bags and sugar steep.

Schwarz watched her ward with a look reserved for her alone. “I’d say we weren’t while we lived with your father, certainly.”

“You’re being rather coy about this.” Ceylon re-extended her free hand as she removed the tea bags, satisfied with the color. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“...I told Scavenger I planned on going on the retreat with you.”

Her eyes leapt to Schwarz. “You did?”

“I did.” She took a deep breath. “Lady Ceylon, since you came of age, there’s been this unspoken tension between us, like the surface of a lake; every now again, like that kiss when you came home from university, where that tension was broken one way or another, but most of the time, we’ve kept from making waves for the sake of not losing what we have. After the Festival a few months ago, I realized that was a...well, in plain language, a stupid way of handling things.”

“When were you planning on saying something to me? I mean, you were going to tell me at some point, right?”

Schwarz held her gaze, but her eyes wavered. “My lady, I worry that it will simply hurt you to know just how heartless I truly am.”

“You think I don’t know what your past has done to you?” Water was gathering in the corner of her eyes, but nevertheless, Ceylon was unfazed. “I’ve traced your scars with my eyes before, and while I admit, I don’t know how that feels, I know there’s something left in your heart. After all, without that, how could you...how could you love me at all?”

“I...I don’t know.” Nevertheless, she took hold of the hand in front of her, squeezing it softly.

The professor blinked, freeing the forming tears to fall down her cheeks. “Schwarz, you helped me realize what it means to love someone. Not that filler romance trash that my peers gossiped on and on about at university, where what you did mattered more than the feeling behind it, but the real thing. I’ve never had to pick up a weapon to defend you - for one thing, I’m no good with them, and you’re more than capable of defending yourself in a fight - but I fought night after night against the guys and girls who I attended class with who saw me as an easy mark, trying to convince them there was more to love than they’d discovered with nothing more than my memories of you to rebut their idiotic arguments. But then, that kiss, it- it solidified for me that it was you, it would have to be you and no one else, because no one else could ever love me more completely than you.”

“La- Ceylon...” Schwarz own eyes, for the first time she could remember since her parents’ deaths, began to tear up as well. “I don’t deserve you.”

“And I’ve never given a solitary fuck if you thought you did.”

She couldn’t help but laugh just a little. “I haven’t heard you say that in a while.”

“Oh, bother it all,” Ceylon gasped, rolling her eyes. “Just kiss me already, darling.”

“As my lady wishes.” Schwarz stood from her chair, let go of her hand to embrace her, and did as she was asked.

Early the next morning, the Doctor was greeted by Ceylon as usual, but something was unusual about her appearance. “Good morning, Ceylon. Is everything alright at home?”

“Oh, just splendid,” she beamed back at him. “We’ll be attending your retreat, Doctor.”

“That’s great! With the two of you, I should be able to get a package deal on the resort reservation.”

Ceylon nodded with a smile. “Good. Schwarz also asked that, if you couldn’t afford the honeymoon suite, that we be allowed to pay the difference for it.”

“Honeymoon suite...” His eyes lit up. “You mean-”

“We had the most insightful conversation yesterday. Hopefully we can talk about it some at the retreat.” She winked at him.

The Doctor cheered. “I’m glad I could help. Honestly, you’re the only person I’ve ever seen her smile with, so it seemed a little odd that you two wouldn’t be together.”

“She’s been with me since I was a child, Doctor,” Ceylon shrugged. “I’d say it’s more unusual that we have become a couple, considering.”

“Well, to each their own. I’ll get to work on that honeymoon suite for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, one other thing.” He handed her a paper. “This came in overnight. You might need to have another talk with Schwarz tonight.”

Ceylon’s eyes narrowed as she read it. “...Perhaps our neighbors should do themselves a favor and invest in a strong pair of earplugs if they’re so concerned.”

#arknights #ceylon (arknights)#schwarz (arknights)#there's clear mention of their relationship being like sisters #however #i think we've seen enough anime to know where that goes...#and considering the wording in Ceylon's archives leans more in this direction #it likely depends on which of the two you ask and how #arknights fic

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