Work Text:
“Of course! You’re always welcome, I’ll make some tea”.
The tweet was opened on Dr Olsson’s phone, sitting on her desk. The moment she got confirmation, she started rushing to pack up the last of the lussekatter that she had made earlier with Macy. There was no reason to hurry, obviously, it wasn’t like she was being ordered to someone's office, but honestly? Getting to see Falcone was enough reason for Olsson to move hastily around her little labspace.
It took her five minutes of running up the stupid staircase to the supervisor floor (the elevator was broken) before she was standing in front of Agent Falcone’s door. She let herself in, not even bothering to knock.
“Tea time?” Falcone smiled up at her from where they were sitting at their desk, monitoring Entity 2827.
“Tea time!” Olsson confirmed, shutting the door behind her and hopping into one of the extra chairs Falcone conveniently had in their office. It was commonplace for the two to talk there now. Nobody thought twice about it, as the scientist and the specialist agent both worked in fields regarding the same entity. As such the two had decided to let themselves indulge in a bit of a calm-down session at work, with these meetups they had dubbed “tea time”.
Mostly because they almost always had some herbal tea during their talks here.
Olsson allowed herself a moment to relax, and take in the soft, comfortable air around them, before taking out the basket she had brought along with her.
“Dude, I’m just like… rrrrrrrrrrr right now, yknow?” she said, in a joking tone.
Falcone gave a fake little gasp at her sentence. “Oh no, not rrrrrrrr!” they replied dramatically. They both giggled, settling down in their seats. “‘Tis the curse of the microwave brain.” Olsson laughed.
She loved moments like this. Moments that the two had to themselves to joke and mess around. It was fun, to just laugh with someone she cared about without having to think about the horrible mess that was the outside world.
“Ripp” she heard Falcone say, “It’ll be okay. You just gotta become mmmmmm instead.”
Olsson tried to hold in her laughter at the silly comment, almost succeeding in keeping a straight face as they replied with “Ah yes. I simply have to mmmm instead, of course, of course.”
Falcone nodded along so sagely it could almost be thought that they was taking this conversation seriously, and that was all it took for Olsson to burst out laughing. The two of them almost collapsed in a fit of it, always on the edge of calming down when they would catch each other's eye and start all over again.
When they’d finally settled down, the tea had started to cool, and as such Olsson took out the pastries she had brought. Falcone’s eyes widened upon seeing them.
“Oh my god, those look fantastic,” they commented. “See, this is why you’re my favourite, Olsson.”
An easy smile slipped onto Olsson’s face, who briefly gave them an explanation as to what they are: ”It's ideally supposed to be a christmas food but I was craving today.” They conversed a bit about the food, how it was made, and they laughed a bit at all the different shapes Macy had made instead of the original S.
Then came a quiet moment.
And now came the part Olsson didn’t like. Where she had to be serious and actually work, and talk about things neither of them really wanted to talk about.
“Anyways… I had something I wanted to discuss with you.”
Falcone straightened, likely hearing her tone shift and preparing themselves to be ‘professional’. Olsson could see all the telltale signs of their abrupt switch, the way they straightened up (as if either of them were straight), crossed their leg and smoothed out their face to convey less emotion. It made her feel strange, to watch them close up like that, but she understood that it was just how Falcone adjusted to the conversation.
“Of course, how can I help?” they said. The tone was almost reminiscent of a person working customer service, a fake friendliness that she despised coming from her best friend.
It was fine. This was work anyways.
She cleared her throat before continuing, keeping herself from any change in posture or tone. People are much more easily convinced by those they perceive as friendly, after all.
“I’ve been having a few issues with the handling of these recently contained entities.” Falcone raised their eyebrow. Something in her expression must have changed, to betray her fear to keep talking, because Falcone was quick to soften their features, reassuring that “It's alright. This is a private room, anything you say here will remain between us.”
Olsson took a breath before continuing “I know it isn’t my place to say anything. Don’t you just think it’s a little…harsh?”
Falcone simply smiled at her, as if her thoughts were something they had expected. Maybe they had. Olsson had always been the more emotional of the two of them.
“It can appear harsh, but it's the only way to get through to these monsters. They don't listen to reason, or logic. Violence is the language they speak, so this is the only way we can communicate.”
The response was casual. They could have been talking about the weather, and not the fact that Falcone was completely at ease with the idea that these entities deserved to be tortured everyday. They continued without missing a beat.
“We've attempted to be kind, to be understanding. 7827 was given a comfortable room, a beanbag chair, and coffee on demand. It was spoken to, it even had music played for it. And it still killed hundreds of us in an attempt to "escape".”
Olsson took a while to mull over the words. The way Falcone put it made it seem so simple. The entities were murderers, therefore they deserved to be murdered as well.
And yet…
Olsson had seen other entities. Had experimented on, made friends with other entities. She knew that they could be good, had seen them care for each other as close friends, make bonds as strong as family, love each other as well as other humans.
The way Falcone put it made it all seem so simple. But Olsson knew better. And she knew better than letting so many of them be hurt for something they don't deserve.
But she couldn’t say all that. Not to Falcone.
She planned her next words carefully.
“Yes, I understand that. It's just, I've dealt with other entities before. With smaller experiments, less harmful sure, but still! I… I still want to believe that there is a way to, maybe, reason with them?”
Falcone tilted their head, looking at her almost… pitifully. As if they thought it was a shame that their old friend simply didn’t get it. For a moment, it looked like they circled through a couple go-to responses in their mind.
“We've tried. Any attempt to reason with them has led to the deaths of hundreds.” Is what they settled on. A fact that they believed explained their point of view perfectly.
Olsson gave them an expression that clearly said that it didn’t. Falcone sighed, taking a moment again to think of what to say. Their eyes seemed to sadden for a moment, as if the answer they came to was not one they wanted, and they hesitated, looking into Olssons eyes.
“Do you know how 32 escaped in the first place?”
It took a moment for the question to process. Even then Olsson didn’t really understand it. Why, out of everything, was this what Falcone had decided to bring up?
“I… was not in this facility at this time… you know this.”
Olsson had been in this Organisation for as long as she could remember. As far as she knew, she was born here, made to be the perfect cog in this well oiled machine.
But she was raised in a facility in Sweden. She hadn’t always worked in Wyoming. The only reason she had ever been relocated there was because she had met Falcone during an entity relocation trip, and had wanted to change stations so that she could stay with them. And this was a while after 32 had escaped.
Nobody ever talked about it. 32 was infamous after all, had started the biggest revolution the Organisation had ever seen less than a week after escaping, and murdered hundreds of innocents and agents alike.
And, though nobody would admit it, she could tell that many were still mourning the loss of Patton Alvarez, who had been turned against them by said entity.
Point was, nobody ever talked about how 32 escaped, and she was very confused about why Falcone would mention it now.
She found herself hesitantly asking “How... how did it escape?”
Falcone took a breath, almost bracing herself, before launching into an explanation in a quiet voice.
“32 befriended one of our agents, B.I. The two talked often, and they became close over the course of 32's captivity. One day, 32 made a request. It asked for a hug.”
They had to take another deep breath before continuing.
“B.I. believed that 32 was their friend, so they agreed. And 32 knocked them out, stole their keys, locked them in the cell, and escaped. It proceeded to cause an astrological event that killed over 500 civilians. The current number of casualties is still unknown, because many people turned into puddles.”
…Holy shit.
Satan, Olsson knew it was bad, but she didn’t know it was manipulate-an-agent-and-fucking-melt-hundreds-of-people bad! No wonder nobody talked about it, that many people dying was a MASSIVE fail on the organisation’s part.
Falcone looked her right in the eyes as they finished their statement.
“The entities are dangerous and manipulative. They will pretend to go along with your logic, with your reasoning. But eventually, they will turn on you. It's in their nature.”
The room was silent, the sounds of work outside muffled by the soundproof padding the office walls were covered in. Falcone’s words ran through Olssons head on loop, as if she hoped that by listening to them she could process them better.
She knew that the organisation was here for a reason. She had grown up learning it, of course she fucking knew it. But to hear that they had done something like this, seemingly for no good reason, still made her head hurt.
Over 500 civilians. Many turned into puddles.
How could anything do that?
“...I'm sorry for ever doubting. Is B.I alright?”
The moment she asked it she realised how stupid it sounded. Were they alright? Of fucking course not! It was one thing to have your trust betrayed like that. To later find out they murdered half a thousand people? That was trust issues for days!
Still, Falcone replied honestly. “I'm... Not sure. There was an attempt to recapture 32 with 200 agents. B.I. was the only survivor. I believe they're currently on paid leave while they attend therapy to help their PTSD.”
And, yeah, that was about what she expected.
“Yes, I suppose that was a stupid question.” There was a moment of silence, where the two took a moment to think about what they wanted to say next.
“Well...in either case, 32 is in captivity now. It is not as if it can harm them anymore, right?” Olsson looked at Falcone hopefully.
Everything about their posture screamed tired. Their back, which had been ramrod straight at the beginning of this conversation, was completely slouched over. Their hands were loosely clasped in their lap, and their face was grim, eyes notably downcast.
Olsson wondered for a moment if Falcone had been close with B.I.
She wondered B.I. would ever be close to anyone again.
Falcone sighed, hands reaching to rub at their eyes.
“Correct. But the trauma still remains.” They pushed their hair back, straightening up and leaning forwards in their chair. “Now we are trying to learn anything we can, in the hopes it will help us protect ourselves. In case these Entities escape again, or if more come to our planet.”
Olsson brightened up at those words.
“Yes! I actually wanted to mention that to you. I know I should be contacting my supervisor first but... I trust you more than them.”
Falcone looked at her questioningly. “Oh?”
“I believe I have made a discovery about a way to weaken them without retaining any long lasting injuries!” Olsson gushed in a quiet tone.
Falcone’s eyes widened at the idea. “Really? That's fantastic!”
For as long as the organisation had been standing, there had been two ways to contain an entity. They could either go willingly, or they could be brought in with brute force. Oftentimes, the latter option would result in major scarring and/or trauma that would make it difficult for an entity to be experimented on later.
Olsson, along with the other members of her team, had been working recently on a way to fix that issue. They had been attempting to create a sort of “sleeping drug” that was capable of working on the entities.
The most recent breakthrough, as she explained to Falcone, was the idea of finding a way to recreate the chemical reaction similar to how melatonin makes you sleepy. Obviously there was no easy way to do so using pills or syringes, considering they were mostly omnipotent, so the idea was to find a way to corner them before using a gas that would knock them out.
Olsson went over the properties of the gas they had created, as well as how it could be used safely and the ways it could be beneficial to the higher agents, and Falcone hung onto every word. This theoretical drug could make the job of the containment specialists much, much easier if it were created.
One conversation spiralled into another, and before they knew it half an hour had passed, the tea was drunk and the lussekatter were almost finished. The conversation lulled into a sort of quiet, the two sitting in a comfortable silence.
It was nice, homely even.
Do any of the entities ever get to feel like this?
It was a sudden thought, one that made her stomach churn. Did they?
Were the entities ever allowed a moment of relaxation? Allowed to enjoy the company of their friends and family? Did they get to talk and laugh together, feeling happy about what they’ve accomplished?
She couldn’t imagine they could do much of that when they were being held up in a cell.
“I uh... can I be quite honest with you?” She found herself asking.
Falcone sent her a reassuring look, and stars, how was they not tired of hearing Olsson ask this question?
“Always. Nothing you say will leave this room.”
Still, she hesitated. Always. This was a safe space. She could say whatever she wanted to Falcone, always could.
“I don't trust the rest of the organisation with this yet.” she sighed. It was stupid. She was being disloyal, and because of what, a moral code that she suddenly decided she had? Fuckin hell, she and Falcone had straight up murdered people in the past and she’d felt less remorse than this!
Still, she continued talking before she allowed herself to back off. If she didn’t get this off her chest now, who knew how she could spiral later?
“Something about the recent events in this facility specifically doesn't sit right with me.” The last part was mumbled “Especially not about Alvarez and Theo…”
The two had become a major thorn in the organisation's side, although almost everyone refused to acknowledge it. There had been rumours of the ex chef starting another revolution against them, as well as the fact that such a valued member of the org was just out there with so much classified information. It was a massive issue.
And yet, neither of those things were what Olsson had been referring to.
Recently, she made a twitter account. It was nothing major, just framed as an opportunity to talk to other agents as well as some major enemies in a public space.
Really, she didn’t think it would make a difference whether she did or didn’t talk to them.
Then she started seeing what Theo and Alvarez tweeted.
Now, to be clear, she had been fully expecting the death threats, fighting and different opinions. She had not been expecting the amount of raw, unfiltered hatred the two had for the organisation, nor the kind of things they said about it. The way they tweeted made the org seem like a fucking nightmare in ways that Olsson haden’t even considered before. A place for torture, pain, and corruption that had been so thoroughy brainwashed that there wasn’t a single member that could even question the organisation without being punished for disloyalty.
It made her feel… strange.
She was surprised when Falcone nodded, face slightly screwed up in uncertainty.
“Yeah... I know what you mean.”
Before she knew it, she was rambling about her thoughts.
“Everyone keeps saying that they were "brainwashed" and "manipulated" and yet I have never received any reports of these entities being capable of such? Not to mention, a Starborn having these abilities would be borderline catastrophic!”
It was one of the bigger issues she’d had. She knew the organisation was capable of brainwashing (she had been there when they first used it, after all!) but an entity being capable of it? The closest they had ever come to something like that was learning that 923 could alter people's dreams unconsciously, or learning that-
No. Stopping that train of thought right there.
Falcone’s answer was quick.
“I'm not sure about brainwashing, but 27 is capable of mental manipulation. That's why all agents and scientists are required to wear earplugs when entering its cell, and why they must go to counselling afterwards.” That was true. The canivig category of entities had all been known to be able to manipulate humans much more than any other entity could. Although, she had always known that it was because this category was capable of making humans sympathise through emotional manipulation, not mental.
“32 is also capable of mental manipulation, that is how it managed to raise an army after its escape. It swayed hundreds of people to its cause, and then those hundreds of people died.” Also true. 32 had the persuasion skills of an excellent public speaker, able to sway the opinions of so many with simple words.
“Of course. I just feel as though it's a little hypocritical.” They let out a little tired chuckle, ”I mean, most of the people we work with are only here because they're terrified of the entities! The org has spread just as much propaganda as 32 has, and at this point, both sides have spilled enough blood to fill an entire sea. It's… upsetting to think about.”
“It is.” Faclone agreed. They seemed to shrink in on themselves for a moment, words coming out far more quietly, as if they were scared to be caught speaking.
“Don't share this with anyone but... The organisation has made many mistakes.”
Olsson, quickly sensing Falcones mood change, tried to laugh it off.
“Well, that's obvious, everyone's made mistakes before. It can't be that bad, can it?” Her smile attempted to be reassuring, but she was almost sure it came off as a grimace.
Falcone sounded almost disappointed.
“It claims to be perfect, but we all know the Organisation is deeply flawed and runs from a place of hatred, rather than protection.” Olsson averted her eyes at that. Only a fool could deny that statement.
“But I still believe the Organisation is the best defence we have against Entities. And honestly... I think the Entities should be hated.” She looked back at Falcone, and caught the horrible, angry glint in their eye. “They're evil. They hurt, and they kill, and they try to convince us that they still deserve freedom.”
Of course.
That’s what this was all about. Falcone was not thinking from a place of rational and objectiveness. This was personal. Of course it was personal.
It made perfect sense. They had been in custody of these criminals for a while now, specifically the one that killed their own husband.
Falcone didn’t understand where Olsson was coming from because all they knew was the entities that murdered. There was no fucking way they would be able to understand that some of them were trustworthy, not when the ones they knew were all monsters.
“...Agent? How many entities have you interacted with? Inside the facility. Not... the ones that are fighting.” Maybe a bit crude, but cut her some slack, she was thinking through a lot right now.
“32. And 7827.” Of course.
The only two entities they had ever talked to were the two had that caused a mass genocide on multiple occasions.
“What’s so funny?” It took Falcone’s question and titled head for Olsson to realise she had been silently giggling to herself for a moment there. She tried to talk to her more jokingly to light up the move for a minute.
“Maybe I should take you into my field someday!” She smiled. Maybe then it would be easier to explain. Not all of the entities were killers after all! Some were actually very kind, to each other and to Olsson herself! “Believe it or not they can be...quite nice?”
“7827 tried to convince me it was nice as well.” Ah. There went that route. She tried to backtrack as much as she could.
“No, no! I mean as in friendly! Very complacent when they need to be” she said, still smiling, although now more apologetically.
Falcone’s look bordered on murderous. “But it isn't. It's a murderer. They're all bloodthirsty, and they'll kill you if they ever get half a chance. Don't forget that, okay?”
They looked more concerned then. “Please stay safe.”
And Olsson shook her head, because stars, Falcone just didn’t get it. They didn’t understand what they could be like! They wasn’t around the safe entities, like 103, or 628, or-
“I wish I could take you to see Emile.”
It was blurted out before she could stop herself. Falcones confused look only made her continue.
“It's one of the entities at my old placement,” She started quickly. “They were the nicest beings I had ever met. A Canivig, similar to 27, but it used its mind powers completely differently.” Falcone was listening closer now, leaning in with an unreadable expression.
“They would often check into our minds and find little ways to calm us down during experiments and such. And it was such an empath, always knew when we needed some nice words and a hug.” She was smiling now, rambling without constraints. Stars, she hadn't talked to Emile in so long.
Emile was her best friend back in the facility in stockholm. It had been ‘contained’ when she was around 18, and they had always been very close. Olsson had been in charge of making sure the entity was safe and stable, and she was closer to it than she was with any other person in the facility.
It was there when nobody else ever was. When Olsson stepped out of line, acted irrationally, and was punished for it, Emile was there to calm her down. It was there to make her feel safe.
And all of the experiments they would conduct were done together. She remembered being able to share her passion for science with it, and in turn, it shared it’s love for psychology with her.
“We even got to do some more fun experiments with it! Like that time we figured out exactly how much meat it could tear in one bite!” That was a particularly fun one. They had set up a variety of meats, raw and cooked, and had taken a moment to observe how well its teeth could maim any specific type. It was quite interesting, mainly because while its teeth looked like a wolf’s, and were expected to be best for puncturing and gripping its prey, they worked much more similarly to cat’s teeth, which are better for ripping meat off bones instead.
The memories brought a fond smile to Olssons face.
“They were really nice.”
“I'm sure. It sounds very nice.” Falcone’s sarcastic tone went unnoticed by Olsson, who was too busy daydreaming about her past.
“I just think... some of them really don't deserve this, you know?” she sighed.
Falcone’s frigid voice was much more clear this time.
“It would still kill you if it was free. The complacent ones are given comfortable containment, where they are taken care of. But all entities must be contained, for the good of humanity.”
Still, Olsson smiled and continued.
“Oh it was!” She paused at Falcone’s incredulous look. “Free, I mean.” She smiled a bit guiltily. “They just kinda lived in the area, haha…”
“What?” The monotone tone was enough for Olsson to start worrying again.
“Shhhh. Nothing leaves this room! You promised” She said quietly, although still in quite an animated tone.
“You- you're on their side, aren't you.”
…
“What?”
Holy hell. This was not how she wanted this explanation to go. Of course she wasn’t on their side! Stars, she- she’d just wanted to explain that some of them deserved to not be contained, that’s all! She wasn’t trying to get them out-
“The Entities, your "Emile", they've gotten inside your head.” Falcone’s voice was sad, their expression dismayed but hardened.
“Why would I be- no!” Olsson tried to explain but she couldn’t find the words, fuck, Falcone just let her speak-
“You want them to be free, don't you?” Now they sounded accusatory. Fuck. Shit. Where had she heard that tone before-?
“Falcone please, just hear me out! Not all of them!” Oh fuck she was really digging her own grave here huh?
And now Falcone was raising their voice, shit-
“Don't you realise what that would mean?! For humanity?!”
“They don't all deserve to be free, I know that!”
Her ears were ringing, shit shit shit shit-
“They're all the same, Olsson!” fuck, if they would just listen for a moment- “They're all monsters! The moment 7827 APPEARED in this world, it began to kill people. Its first actions were murder!” They were being too loud, too loud too loud someone was going to hear- “Of course Entities can pretend to be kind! They convince you that they're nice, that they're friendly. And then they use you to further their plans, and kill you the moment you're no longer useful!”
She was panicking. Why was she panicking? Calm down, calm down, don’t yell, don’t yell-
“Agent please. I don't want them all free I swear. I promised you that I would not lie to your face about my purpose here and I am being entirely honest in this moment. Some of them really are safe!” Fucking shit, why couldn’t she just shut her fucking mouth? She’s going to get in so much trouble-
“Please, I've spent so much time learning about how they think, I can't just give that up now!” She was going to cry. Don’t cry don’t cry I’ll give you something to cry about you little-
“Olsson. Calm down.” Falcone’s voice was quiet now. They were- it was quiet, they were okay. Nothing could happen here, it was fine. It was fine. Falcone would never hurt her. She wasn’t there anymore, it was okay.
“They've manipulated you, Olsson. They got inside your head and they're using you.” It was said so clearly. No room for discussion.
She wanted to say so much. Fuck, she wanted to yell and scream at Falcone because they didn’t understand anything. And she wanted to apologise. She wanted to get on her knees and beg for forgiveness that she doesn’t deserve, wanted to take it all back and pretend it never happened. And she wanted to cry, fuck, she wanted to curl into a little ball and let Falcone hold her until they wasted away together, in this office, away from the stupid entities and fucking organisation and all these god damn morals.
What she ended up doing was whispering in a broken voice.
“You're never going to believe me are you?”
Her eyes were glued to the ground in front of her. Everything was still too loud, the chatter of the outside world not even close to the ringing in her ears, but Falcone was so, so quiet.
She hated it. She hated this. How did it go so wrong?
She didn’t want to look. She didn’t want to see how disappointed Falcone would be in her. She didn’t want Falcone to see her. She didn’t-
There was a hand on hers.
She blinked back her tears. And stared at the hand.
“Hey.”
Falcone’s other hand reached for her face, and tilted it up to look at them.
And their eyes weren’t hardened in anger like she thought they would be. They were soft, so, so soft. Comforting. And Olsson broke down.
Because this was her best fucking friend and she fucked this up for both of them. She- she fucked everything up- she always does. Shit like this was the reason she could never rank up and be anything better than a scientist, she was too fucking emotional all the time.
But Falcone was holding her now. And she was allowed to cry. There was nobody here except them, and she was allowed to cry.
She didn’t know how long it took for her to calm down. Just that eventually, her heart stopped beating so fast and her sobs were reduced to sniffles. Falcone was still holding her by the end of it, safely in their arms. She let herself sag a bit, breathing still shaky.
Falcone ran their hands through Olssons hair, slowly, soothingly.
“I was telling the truth when I said nothing you say will leave this office. I won't turn on you, Olsson. You're my friend. But I can't... I can't listen to this.” They sounded genuinely upset, as if hearing Olsson speak so happily was hurting them.
“I promise you, I will find a way to kill these entities. I will free you from their influence.” Olsson let out a shaky breath at that, but she didn’t have the strength to argue. “But right now, you're no better than them.”
They let go, pushing Olsson away to look her in the eyes. And though they were full of grief and pain, they was a set, determined look to them.
“Please leave.”
They stared at each other for a long, tense moment. And then Olsson looked away, cracking yet again.
Her voice was quiet, shaky and unusually small.
“...please. They made me feel so...safe…happy… I just-”
“That's what they do!” The exclamation made Olsson flinch, and their next statement was much quieter, although it still held the same passion. “They make you feel happy, and then they destroy you.”
Another moment passed, both wanting to keep fighting, but neither wanting the other hurt. After a beat, Olsson stood up and started to pack up, she mumbled something about giving the pastries to Macy, and started towards the door.
“Hey, Olsson?”
She paused, almost at the door handle. “...Yes”
Falcone was hesitant, but incredibly sincere “Stay safe, okay? I may not agree with you, but. Don't make statements like that outside this office. They can hear you. The Organisation will destroy you if they believe you to be a threat.” A pause to let their words sink in. “Please don't become one.”
Olsson stayed silent, just long enough for some concern to start brewing, before letting out a wet chuckle.
“...I won't.” A breath.
“We promised to never leave each other, right? Can't exactly stay with you if I get fired haha…” She took a moment to turn back to Falcone, face downcast. “I'll…
I'll stay away from the entities for now. Maybe it'll...clear my head.”
Falcone smiled at that, clearly happy that she was willing to compromise.
“I’ll see you around, Freya.”
“...Thank you, Ember. I love you.” It was an olive branch, confirmation that no matter what did happen, they could always reconcile. A plea for Falcone to show that despite it all, they would have Olsson’s back.
“...”
“Love you too. You're welcome for tea any time.”
Dr Olsson smiled at her best friend, standing up slightly straighter and removing any signs of her tears. She waved a small goodbye, before opening the door and walking out.
Hopefully their next tea time wouldn’t be so… emotional.