Super short for the two prompts, will think about the others:


Lois:
Sometimes being the big sister absolutely sucked, especially when your younger sister was being a terror and your mom was making lasagna--the best dinner in the whole world--but apparently five years old meant never-ending energy and with Dad away until dinner was going to be on the table, well. That's how I ended up being Lucy's babysitter even when I was way too young for her to even think of listening to me.

I wasn't that bad. I was pretty sure of that.

This time she kept trying to steal things from the table, and I was so glad that we still used the plastic safe plates for now. "No, Lucy," I snapped, yanking the plate from her hands and hurrying over to put it back in Dad's usual place at the table. In those few moments I made one critical mistake. I turned my back.

Some how--don't ask me how a five year old is a ninja--Lucy got her hands on a vase of flowers. No one had thought to unholy-terror-proof that.

I mean, it was an accident? Mostly. She wanted to look at it, or--in a sudden fit of generosity--decided to move it from the sideboard to the table itself. To make it prettier, I could guess without even asking. Instead, well. Not quite enough coordination there.

We just looked at each other and Lucy's eyes welled up with tears, and in an instant I made a decision. Mom came hurrying in, looking alarmed. "Girls, are you okay? What--"

As her eyes fell on the wet glass and flowers, I said hurriedly, "It was my fault. I wasn't looking where I was going." It sounded weak even to me, with Lucy hiding behind me, but hey, what are big sisters for?

----

Tavi:
There were most definitely perks, Tavi decided, to being captain. The private bath was easily the best of these, bar the entire concept of private apartment. Crows, other than the luxury level and a little less space, it wasn't that much different than his quarters in the Citadel. Not that he'd spent much time there, and Kitai had been given something entirely befitting an Ambassador and daughter of a foreign leader. It amused her, and she'd reveled in it, too, with absolute relish.

Tavi couldn't prove it, but he suspected Gaius was just as amused.

True, this apartment was smaller, and fairly bare and as businesslike as one could expect of a Legion, but there was room for bookshelves--oh, the plans he had for that--and a bedroom and bathroom, and it was just upstairs from the planning room underground. All in all, he'd lived under far worse conditions, especially lately. Another great part, though...

Kitai was lounging on the bed when he came in, hair still dripping. "I approve very much, Aleran," she noted. "This is far better than your other bed would have been."

He gave her a mock-affronted look. "I'll have you know that was the best available for a regulation Legion cot for a third Subtribune Logistica." Who was in disfavor with his commanding officer, he added mentally, meaning it was fairly terrible, not that regulation cots were good to begin with.

She rolled her eyes. "And I suppose this is regulation for a captain."

"Well," he hedged.

"Aleran."

"Captains have a little leeway..."

Her lips turned up. "Which, I would guess, your previous Captain did not use."

Tavi coughed. "Uh, no, but then, uh."

"But then he did not have a reason to ask for a specific size."

Some day, Tavi thought to himself, he would stop blushing. One day. "I didn't ask," he protested weakly. "They just sort of did this, I only found out after. I would have--"

Her eyebrows went up yet again. "Consigned us both to your narrow, uncomfortable, specifically-sized Legion bed." Tavi wanted to beat his head into a wall. He honestly did not know how he had walked into that one so neatly. At his expression, though, Kitai just broke into peals of laughter.

At least she was teasing, even if the teasing still worked.

"I really wouldn't have asked for this," he said as she calmed down. "I'm not complaining, but..." He left it hanging. He didn't like special treatment, especially when he wasn't sure it was the right thing or even entirely why they would go behind his back to ensure it. The rest of the command center he'd helped design, but this...

Kitai shook her head. "I know you have been uneasy. You saved their lives, chala. They wish to give back."

He looked away. "Not enough of them."

The creak told him she had sat up, and a moment later he felt her fever-warm hand grip his chin and turn it towards her. She was frowning, displeasure in her eyes. He had to force himself, even with that look, not to drown in those eyes. "This guilt does nothing," she said severely. "And insults their affection."

He took a long, slow breath, then nodded. After a moment, he added, "Though I'm not sure who insisted on the bath," he said wryly. "Probably Max."

Displeasure had turned to laughter. "Then you must find a way to thank him," she said mischievously. "Later."

As she leaned forward to kiss him, Tavi decided that later sounded good.