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the-daily-multi-fandom-post · 5 years ago

Text

Blue eyes:

Fandom: the vampire diaries

Paring:Matt Donovan x reader

Summary: Y/n Lockwood, the twin sister of Tyler Lockwood and the best friend of Matt Donovan. Gets kidnapped and almost killed by Kathrine pierce. When she gets saved some things are spilt and let me say. That’s the mother f*cking tea!

“Matt I’m telling you, you just have to tell her.” -Tyler has been trying to get his best friend Matt Donovan to confess his feelings for his twin sister Y/n. The thing is Matt likes her and she likes him, but neither will confess their feelings. -“Ty she isn’t into me like that.” Matt said as he sat down in the couch looking at Tyler. Tyler rolled his eyes as he sat across from Matt. “Who’s not into you?” Y/n asked as she walked into the living room of the Lockwood mansion. “A girl likes Matt and Matt won’t confess his feelings to her.” Tyler proclaimed as he looked at Matt while he rolled his eyes. “Well..” Y/n started as she took a sip of Matt’s beer. “If she knows what good for her she’ll go for you.” Y/n said giving Matt a smile. When really she wants to go find the girl who likes Matt and remove them from mystic falls, sending them far far away. Matt was about to say something when Y/ns phone rang. “Excuse me. I’ll be back.” Y/n said picking up her iPhone. “Hello?”

“Y/ns been on the phone for a while. Where did she go?” Tyler questioned as he walked out of the living room. “Damn it!” Tyler cursed as he saw y/ns phone lying on the ground outside of the Lockwood mansion. “What’s going on, Ty?” Matt asked as he walked up to Tyler. Tyler held up y/ns phone to Matt. Matt looked at the phone confused than to Tyler. “Kathrine.” Matt said nothing the phone had a text message from Kathrine. “I’m gonna kill that bitch, I swear I will.” Tyler vowed. Tyler went inside grabbing his phone and car keys. While making his way to his car (with Matt shortly behind him) he called Stefan. Asking him to help him find his sister.

.“So your telling me, kathrine kidnapped your sister why?” Damon asked looking at Tyler. “Because she wanted to trade a werewolf for her life with Klaus. Klaus has been looking for a werewolf for a while. So I guess Kathrine decided to use Y/n. Now will you please help me find my sister or not!?” Tyler rambled. His only living family life is in the hands of Kathrine Pierce. “We’ll help you.” Stefan said giving Tyler a reassuring smile. “Well how are we going to find her?” Matt asked looking at the three supernatural creatures. “A witch, Stefan call Bonnie we could use her help.” Damon demanded as he looked at everyone. -Y/n was a friend to Damon. Like they are so close that they are kinda like brother in sister. That is until Y/n had found out he was a vampire. He lied to her witch made her leave him and never talk to him again. Because she told him she was tired of people lying to her. When that is all he had been doing. Bonnie came to the Salvatore boarding house and preform the spell. Y/n was at a apartment on the other side of town. As soon as Tyler heard this he started to go out of the door when Damon stopped him.

“Damon let me by. My sister needs me.” Tyler commander. trying to push Damon away. “Look I know you want your sister back. I do, I love your sister as if she was my own. But we need you to have a clear head going into this.” Damon said as he looked into Tyler’s brown eyes. “Your sister is smart, she isn’t going to do anything to get herself killed.” Damon said. Tyler nodded as he pulled away from Damon. Damon dropped his grip but stayed infront of the door. “What’s the plan?”

“Alright Stefan and Damon will wait outside of the door while Tyler and Me go in. Well try to get her out. If we can’t then your backup.” Matt said as he looked at Stefan, Damon, and Tyler. “Look at Romeo getting his saving on.” Damon teased making Stefan and Tyler give him a bitch face. “Not. Now.” Tyler hissed through his teeth. Damon nodded as he looked at Matt. “That’s all I got.” Everyone nodded looking around. “Let’s get going.”

“Tyler Lockwood and Matt Donovan, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Klaus said turning around to look at the two. “I want my sister back!” Tyler demanded looking at Klaus with a frown. Matt stood their with a frown on his face as he Noticed there was no signs of Y/n. “Why would I let you have her when I am not done?” Klaus asked. Klaus looked at Matt and gave him a smile. Until he heard a growl. “What was that?” Matt mumbles looking to Tyler. “That my friend is called the noice of a hybrid. My first hybrid that is.” Klaus said with a smile. “A hybrid?” Matt questioned looking at Klaus. “I forgot you two aren’t the brightest. I gave her my blood and snapped her neck. She is now in transition so if she doesn’t drink the Doppleganger blood she will die very soon.” Klaus said with a smile. “Kathrine, come here please.” Klaus called out. “-And bring her with you.”

The noice of a door opening filled the silent room. Kathrine walked into the room with Y/ns following behind her. Y/n had dried blood on her mouth and she looked a little uncomfortable. “Are you okay y/n/n?” Matt asked as he tried to move closer to her, but Klaus stopped him. “You step any closer to her and I’ll pull out her heart.” Matt nodded as he stood back. “Y/n, love.” Klaus Started catching her attention. “Do you want to live?” He asked looking into her (y/e/c) eyes. Her eyes was full of fear. Fear for not only her life but the life of her twin brothers and her best friend/crush. Y/n nodded as she looked at him. “Use your words. Do you want to live?” “Yes, I want to live.” She said looking at Klaus, giving him a nod. With that he smile moving over towards a blood bag from the frigdge. “If you want to live, drink this. You will become as powerful as me.” He claimed as he held out the blood bag towards her. She nodded slowly taking the bag from him. Taking the cap if she slowly drinkers some of the blood. She took a few sips until she jerked it away. Klaus closed the bag as he watched her. She fell to the ground as he bones began breaking with a crunching sound.

“Make it stop!” Matt yelled as he watched y/n scream in agony. “Klaus, what’s happening to me?” Y/n cried as she felt more of her bones break. “Your a hybrid now.” Y/n felt her bones stop breaking for once. Her whole body was in pain and was sore. She felt as if she had been ran over by a car. “Klaus.” Stefan said from the entrance of the apartment. “Let then go.” Klaus rolled his blue eyes at the vampire shaking his head with a laugh. “You can not stop. What had already happened.” Klaus said. Pointing to Y/n who was being helped up by Matt and Tyler. “I wanna go home, Matty.” Y/n said as Matt held her close. “Go, I got him.” Stefan said towards the three. Tyler and Matt nodded as they took Y/n away. “Stefan the night and shining armor. Now you must know that there is as reason I let them go.” Stefan nodded looking at Klaus. “That’s why I’m here.” Damon said as he walked into the room. “Now threes a crowd, Damon.” Klaus said looking at Damon. Damon nodded looking at Klaus. “I know that's why I have this.” Damon said holding up a white oak stake. “Now We don't want anyone on the wrong end of this.” Damon stated with a smile as he fiddled with the stake.

“Damon, what happened?” Elena asked as she watched Damon and Stefan walk into the Lockwood house. “Klaus whooped their ass.” Y/n said as she looked at the two Salvatore. “How did you know?” Damon asked as he rubbed the back of his head, where klaus had hit him. “You have blood on you and I can tell for a fact it isn't Klaus blood, so spill. What happened?” Y/n asked looking at Damon and Stefan. “We ended up fighting some but klaus won. He decided to run. So after we woke up from our necks being broke Kathrine and him were gone.” Damon said as he looked at everyone. “How are you feeling?” Stefan asked looking at Y/n. Y/n was sitting beside matt with her head on his shoulder. “I have a head ache, but it could be worst.” y/n said with a shrug. Damon nodded looking at Y/n with a small smile. “What's going on between you too?” Damon asked giving the two a smirk.

Earlier;

“How you feeling?” Matt asked Y/n as he helped her into the bed. “Tired.” She said as matt lifted the blankets for her to get under. Matt nodded with a chuckle. She laid down getting comfortable as she looked at Matt. “You scared me today.” matt said as he stood in front of her. “I’m sorry.” She mumbled fiddling with the blanket over her. “I was scared, I was scared that you were going to die.” Y/n frowned as she looked at him. She moved over and lifted the blankets, patting the spot beside her. Matt chuckled as he kicked off his shoes and laid down beside her. “I love you, Matt.” Y/n confessed as she laid her head on his chest. his heart sound like it exploded or he was having a heart attack. he looked down at her with a smile. “I love you too.” He said. Y/n smiled as she looked at him. She looked into his blue eyes and smiled. She looked into his eyes than to his lips. he smiled as he leaned forwards. Their lips close to touching making them both smile. Y/n leaned forwards closing the gap between. After a few seconds they pulled back looking at each other with a smile.

“He just better not hurt my sister.” Tyler said giving Matt a threating look. “He wont.” Stefan and Damon said at the same time. “He has a whole town of supernatural creatures coming at him if so.” Caroline said giving matt a smile.

#Matt donovan #Tyler lockwood #Stefan Salvatore #damon salvatore #Bonnie bennet #the vampire diaries #kathrine pierce #klaus mikaelson

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activatingaggro · 7 years ago

Text

SIPARA NZINGA | 8.3 sweeps / 18 years old

off the western coast of hamavet, the farthest continent

(6,161 words)

There's bubbles still in your flaps when the gate opens, and you can finally step out.

The first hall that Wilcox leads you down is surreal! It's not so much a building, as it is a dome: the walls are curved high above you, high enough that her horns aren't even scraping the ceiling, and they're glass all the way through. You can see the water outside, sloshing against the glass, and the fish trudging through it. (Floating? Swimming?) There's goosebumps pricking on your skin from the air down here, but when you place your hand against the glass, it's even colder.

"Come along now, miss," Wilcox says, and you startle, turn on your heel to follow.

When ID had told you that he had a proposition for you, you hadn't quite trusted him! You and him.. well, you're complicated, right now, that's the problem. He lied to you. He lied to you, and abandoned you, and he didn't care enough to fix it, not for an entire half-sweep. And what's an apology to fucking that? You'd cried over him, for fuck's sake, and you'd made Pheres deal with it, for perigees and perigees.

.. but a half-sweep isn't too long, when the two of you'll live for at least three dozen of 'em. That's what he keeps reminding you, each time you start to snarl. And how're you supposed to stay mad, when he gives you opportunities like this? Proposition, he said, but this's a fucking favour, more like. "There's a fuschia looking for geneticists, my little hellion," he'd told you, all coy over the husktop, just this side of cloying, "and she's under the Queenpin's thumb, so I could get you in. It's research, ashmote, and more technology than you've ever seen in one place. Isn't this the sort of thing you do?"

You'd been a little suspicious, but how were you supposed to say no to that? Research! Actual research, in a field where they needed you, and where you could work with people for the first time - properly, without having to hide what you know, or how you learned it. You don't know much about ID's boss, but you know plenty about his business. And what's one gray-eyed pupa's education source, when everyone here was probably illegal as fuck?

Illegal, or fuschia.

He hadn't mentioned Wilcox was so tall, though. Or that she was quite this fuschia.

"This is the main lab," she tells you now, peering back over her shoulder. You don't like looking at her, much! ID loves seadwellers, but you've always been with Pheres: there's something about the way their skin moves that makes your skin crawl. It's too dull in spots where it ought to be bright! The fat's too thick, in all the places it shouldn't be at all. And when she smiles at you, it wrinkles her cheeks, and right under her eyes, and nowhere else.

Her pink eyes.

"I think you'll like it. I enjoyed the work that, ah, monseiur Comedy sent our way. You work on helminths?"

She's really, really tall.

"I read your papers," she prompts.

"Yeah -" There's an octopus on the wall, watching you through the glass as you walk through the next hall. There's seadwellers everywhere, clustered together at the tables, and.. there's only ten or so, scattered throughout the room, but this is more than you've ever seen in one place before. You draw your arms in closer, and if you're half-cuddling your bag, fuck anyone that'd look twice. "Um. Wait, nah, girl, soz. I work with, like, ectoparasites! Annelids, mostly. My base stock was, like, nereididae, originally, but I bred 'em to be calcified, and ---"

BT: <))) I told Wilcox I don't need help > So she sent you anyway <

BT: <))) Charming > She's wasting everyone's time <

AA: loool.

AA: mb you don't need help, bb. mb you need G U I D A N C E. >;}

BT: <))) HA >

BT: <))) Of course > Why wouldn't I need help from a hemoanon <

BT: <))) Sweeps of education > But all of that blunts in the face of .

BT: <))) What > Bootleg schoolfeeds? <

AA: bb, pls.

AA: it's stolen orn fucking bust.

BT: <))) Of course > What was I thinking? <

BT: <))) Empress fucking forbid it's not illegal <

BT: <))) Because the rest of this isn't bad enough <

BT: <))) I'm in the lab > If you fuck up my prototype <

BT: <))) I'm feeding you to it >

"And who," she drawls, peering at you over her nose, "are you?"

Rostik Taalik is a lot of things. She's the only other landdweller here, for starters, even with the fins behind her ears. She's the only person your size, with barely four inches on you. She's one of the only folks your age, and she’s got the longest eyelashes you’ve ever seen on a troll.

And all of that means she's your designated lab partner for the night, as you decided when you walked in. Unfortunately, as it turns out, she's also a huge bulge munch.

"Fuuhao," you drawl right back, spite so thick that it feels like it ought to catch on your tongue. Your eyes are gray and your horns are capped for the night, the blunted edges of the round-end chafing at your skull each time you move, but you're not a lowblood, right now, and you're not going to let some upstart indigo start acting like she's got anything above you. "We spoke online, nookmunch. Now, scoot over, I'm sitting down here."

"Wilcox said you're working on pupation. And I'm supposed to help out." The device she's been staring at is big enough that it takes up a whole corner of the room. It looks sort of like a recuperacoon, if someone made a coon out of sopor: it's ridged like one, with the gentle fall and rise of any healthy device, but the sides are slick with slime that seeps out of it with every passing second, sliding towards the vents on the ground with the careless viscosity of pudding.

When you touch it, the slime clings in strings to your palm when you tug it away.

"Brilliant," Taalik says from behind you, dry. "Should I wait while you lick it?"

"Nah, dude, hard pass on that shit." You wipe off your hand on your pants, then turn to face her.

She's got purple all the way through her eyes already, and more jewelry in her face than you'd see in a tongue. She's playing with the ring in her lip as she watches you, eyes half-lidded, and thank god she's one of those folks who can't hide shit: her ears are round, her face is finned, but she's low enough that she doesn't make your skin crawl, like the fish, and her contempt's clear.

You might be in gray, but you know that look. She's already making up her mind on what caste you are, and how she feels about that.

Well, fuck her. She wants to make decisions? So are you.

"So, like, lemme see if I've got this straight. You want to, like -" You wish you had gum to chew! But your fangs are too sharp for that shit: the last time you'd stolen a pack from Laledy and tried it, you'd half slit your tongue. So you settle for shoving your thumbs into your pants, horns down just to show her how much you don't fucking care. "Start a second pupation, yeah? Crack us open, scrape out the bits, and start it over. But slight problem there, dude. You gonna breed up new new imaginal discs? 'cause we're kinda all out."

"And if you don't have those -"

She clicks her tongue at you, then flips her braids over her shoulder. "Congratulations. You've read a book.” She curls her lip at you, all contempt, and.. you should be focusing on that, but her lipliner’s tighter than you’ve ever managed. You’re not sure if you’re impressed, or if you hate it. “But obviously not enough, because you're still behind. We can insert that shit with viral carriers, dumbass. Set it up however they want. Venomsacks, broader shoulders, a bigger rack, different chrome - it's all in the research notes. Or did Wilcox not share that?"

"I've read the book, dude." You should pop her, honestly! Establish dominance the old-fashioned way: flip the laptop, that coffee, and the table right onto her lap, and see if she's still going to sass you after that. But you don't want to start a fight in the middle of the lab on your third night here. "But never mind all of the spy shit."

(The spy shit. You can't believe you're in coon with a bunch of seadweller fucking rebels.. and this girl.)

"What about the disks for the rest of you? How the fuck are you gonna keep the bits that you want coming back properly?"

"Never mind. Did Wilcox send you to waste my time?" She looks like a land-dweller, but when she blinks at you, languid, it's like watching one of the fish. The way she does it is all fucking wrong. "Because," she says, flat, turning her attention back to her husktop, "that's shit we've already got covered. When you enter the cocoon, it'll pick up on your pre-coded disks."

"You mean the ones that melted in the second instar?" you mock, flipping your ears forward, and she looks back up.

AA: tweet tweet, mothernfuckern.

AA: do i gotta lay out, like, birndseed to get you to come out? bc if so: n/n/n, soz, am not doing it.

AA: you get shitty old brneadcrnumbs like evernyone else, and you will fucking like it.

LB: how could I refuse with that kind of an offering

LB: what’s going on?

AA: ty, ty. i knew you'd fucking love it.

AA: i'm tlking to ppl who arne kind of yrn ppl. i mean, not rnly, they'rne all fucking fish? but they'rne Y RN P E O P L E kind of ppl.

AA: so i was wonderning if you can gimme any deets?

AA: and i'll give you deets back, ofc. >:}

LB: you’ll have to give deets to get deets tbh

LB: my kind of fish people doesn’t give me a lot to work with

AA: jfc, dude.

AA: 'kay, bettern way of putting it. >:}

AA: have you hearnd anything abt a nearn-tyrnian doing, like, rnesearnch? igenetics rnesearnch?

LB: hmm

LB: I think I know who you’re talking about

LB: been tapping up pre-ascension scientists for something or other right?

AA: lol, y.

LB: what do you need on her?

AA: uhhh. idk, dude, yrn the infotrnoll.

AA: how about..

AA: how likely is she gonna trny to shove me in a cocoon? >:}

AA: is that a thing that, like, ppl arne sayin'?

LB: she’s tapping you?

AA; lmfao, n.

AA: she tapped me like, a week ago.

LB:

LB: and you’re asking me this now

AA: looool.

AA: yeah, well, bettern now than nevern, rnight?

AA: she's a fish, i ain't exactly, like, supern wornrnied, herne. so chillll. i've filleted bettern folks than hern. >:}

AA: and i got info forn you in exchange, so, like, don't F U S S.

AA: how would you feel if you could just totes change yrn face?

LB: ok well I haven’t heard of anyone getting ganked and so far everyone I know of has responded to quads

LB: but also no one has left

LB: does Hadean even know where you are

AA: 'kay, cool.

AA: that's abt all i need to know, lmao. like, i'm prnetty surne nobodies bailed, bc this is fucking wicked?

AA: but y, wanted to check. >:}

AA: and ofc he doesssssss.

AA: wtf kinda q is that?

LB: idk he seems like he’d be a little freaked out about you doing shit on a seadweller’s turf

LB: it’s a little different than taking a fish down in the ring

LB: do you have an escape plan?

AA: loool.

AA: he prnobs is, lbrn.

AA: but w/e, he trnusts me to handle my shit, and i trnust him to handle his.

LB: what will you do if things go bad?

AA: dude, i'm yrn doctorn, yrn not mine. dnw abt it, 'kay?

AA: but fwiw, i totes have a rnoute alrneady planned.

AA: and if anything goes 2spoopy4me, i will pop down a vent, get out into the shipbay, and follow the sewage outlet all the way back up top.

AA: nbddd. evernyone else herne is like, fucking six footerns, and it's a squeeze forn M E.

LB: i might not be your doctor but this isn't medical. you did say that she was more my people

LB: and maybe delete your actual plan. are you sure things are encrypted on your end of things

AA: y, y. i'm just sayin' i know what i'm doing, losern. >:}

AA: and ofccccc.

AA: this entirne convo's deleting off my end aftern this shuts, dnw.

LB: what sort of stuff is she working on anyway?

AA: evernybody herne's into genetics. and fixing shit.

AA: like, she gave us a full hourn long goddamn lecturne on abt how grn8 it would be if we could just F I X ppl, instead of culling them.

LB: is there one big project you're working on or a bunch of smaller ones

AA: bunch of tiny ones. but they all feed into one big one.

AA: even tho idk if ppl arne rnealising that yet, lmao.

AA: wtfevernnn, waderns arne fucking dumb. >:}

LB: is everyone else there a seadweller?

LB: also do you know what the big project is yet

AA: y, me and m arne the only airnsacks.

AA: and y. loool.

AA:

AA: how would you feel if you could just totes change yrn face?

AA: it's that. >:}

LB: oh huh

LB: definitely useful

LB: literally no way the empire would like that

LB: also whose m

AA: the othern airnsack herne, brnah.

AA: so therne's yrn info. tyvm forn yrns, yrn aid has been apprneciated.

AA: we cool?

LB: yeah sure

LB: be safe

AA: loool. you too.

AA: don't get locked in any morne basements, bb.

You’ll give props where props are due. When you hit Taalik, she barely flinches. She just pauses, rubbing her jaw like she’s more shocked than anything else, and watches you.

It takes a moment to swallow the snarl trying to rip all the way out of your throat. But you manage to keep it down to nothing more than a rattle. “I’d, like, say now you apologise,” you sniff, “but obvs your lusus didn’t raise you properly, so what-the-fuck-ever.”

“And what,” she says, her fingers still resting on the pale spot on her jaw, “am I apologising for?”

If you’d had more time, you should've gone for her nose.

(But it’s a cute nose. You don’t want to break it, mostly, not until she starts talking.)

“We’ll just pay off the lowbloods,” you mock, “and get them to test it. Like - are you for real? You’re just going to pluck some poor kids off the street, and turn them into - like - fucking labrats?”

“Would you rather we didn’t pay them?” She finally lets go of her jaw, and part of you wants to bolt back when she steps in. She’s indigo. Even if she wasn’t high enough to make your skin crawl, there’s something uncanny about her, and the way she moves. The way she smiles, on the rare occasions you’ve wrestled one out of her.

(Dry, mean, at everyone else’s expense - but still a smile.)

Taalik’s the best out of everyone in this lab. She’s the only other landdweller, and when you’re surrounded by gills.. well, that’s worth more than just chrome, isn’t it? But you’ve watched when her sleeves slide up, taken in the tight coils of her arms when she’s getting annoyed enough to start snatching things. She might be the only one you want to deal with..

But that doesn’t mean you want her in your space. She’s still indigo, and you’re pretty sure she could make a fair try at ripping you in two.

.. but that doesn’t mean you’ll flinch, either, as she steps in close. “No, I want you to be decent,” you snap, tossing your curls, and you let your shoulder clip her as you stride past. There’s a whuff of something that might be a laugh behind you, but you’re going to fucking ignore that. “C’mon. If we’re gonna start planning for test subjects, anyway, dude, we ought to do it right. Pay some olives - if we want this to work on everyone, we might as well start with the median, anyway..”

AA: pheeeeeern.

AA: wtf do you do when someone's rneally, rneally cute.

AA: but also, like, yrn prnetty surne they'rne legit 100% chaotic evil.

RS: / mmm / my assumption / personally / has always been to pile them /

RS: / but i think hadean might have some objections to that /

AA: hey!

AA: fuck off, i'm chaotic neutrnal at best, tyvm.

At the end of the second week, everything goes to fucking hell.

Pulling an all-day work session had been kind of dumb. If Hadean was here, he would've hauled you forcibly to your 'coon after the first six hours - but he isn't here, and you've got to take advantage of that. When Taalik had drifted off to sleep, you'd kept working with half a mind of impressing her.

Or, no - not impressing her. Proving her right! She's been leaning on you more and more over the last two weeks, and last night, she'd asked you if you knew how to set up a time-released enzyme package.

By the time you'd found out you didn't, it was too late to ask for help, and the only thing that mattered was fucking doing it. If the sun was up by the time you managed, who cared? You'd done it.

And now you were going to haul back coffee and waffles before she woke up, so you could hold it over her in the best kind of way.

Or, at least, that was the plan. There's voices drifting out of the cafeteria when you come up near, which's unusual enough to make you pause.

"I still think this is unneccessary," Wilcox says, and there's something strange enough about her voice that you stop mid-step. The hall's empty, but the door to the cafeteria's open, as always. And it doesn't sound like it's full. "You're not really allowed to be in here, you know?"

There ought to be the clank of forks and plates by this point. Or at least the rip of the nasty protein bars that half of the fish down here eat. Instead, when you flip your ears forward..

Under the whispers, someone's crying.

"Don't worry!" someone else says, and it's a new voice that you haven't heard before. Temasekian, part of your pan pings, helpful, but that's strange: everyone here's further north than that, and you're the last person that Wilcox hauled in. The gates, as she told the lot of you, had closed, and her party had been assembled. Every project had a team. All you had to do now was make them work. "Warrants procured, lah. Nothing illegal here!" A beat. "Hope there's nothing illegal," they - she - teases, and there's amusement soaking her words like salt. "Right, yeah?"

"I don't think you'll believe me if I say no."

"Probably not~!" There's a thump. You should turn and bolt. You should be burrowing deep into the vents now, and heading straight for the dockyard. You should be doing a lot of things, but it feels like your feet are lead.

Not quite lead. You can take a step forward, silent as a mouse, and when you do, around the doorframe, Wilcox comes into view. There's a girl standing in front of her, her hair shining as bright as bone in the dim of the room. Her horns are long enough that they're framing Wilcox's neck, for all that her head's ducked down. If she moved too suddenly, or turned her head, they could slice right into the skin, easy as butter.

Maybe that's why Wilcox has her fins pinned back, for the first time you've seen her. "There's really no need for that," Wilcox tries again, brisk, as the girl steps away. The lighting in the cafeteria is poor, as always: it's been a joke for longer than you've been here that it ought to be replaced, but half of the seadwellers were born in the depths, and they'd objected. (You don't know why you're thinking of this now. You don't know why you're still standing here.)

The lighting is poor, but when Wilcox shifts, it hits her wrists, and the cuffs shine red.

Farther out of sight, there's a shuffle of feet. Then a thud, and a shriek.

The girl pivots to look. You sink into the shadows, your pumpbiscuit racing, but her eyes slide right past you, off into a distance you can't see. "Hey!" she says, and at the same time, Wilcox surges forward, fins flaring out.

Then someone wails. You recognise her voice: Hoshio, you think, the one with the fins shaped like the summer sun. "Wrong answer," someone else says, light. Their voice's deeper than the white-haired girls. "Sorry, sweetheart! Want to try again?"

"Hdijah!" the girl snaps. "Be nice! Royalty!"

You turn on your heel, and bolt.

Taalik's awake when you slide the door open. (Slide, not slam: if everyone's in the cafeteria, well, the two of you've been overlooked. No point in drawing attention in, now.) She's half-sprawled over your desk, shoulders slouched, her braids half-out of the twist she'd pulled them into.

"What's going on?" she asks, barely looking up. She's got such a long neck! Every time you look at it, you think she ought to have gills there, but the skin's smooth as the skin of her hands.

"Imps."

"Really. Did Falric finally succeed in summoning demons? Or did you just get into the mind honey?" She drags her finger across the screen. The video scrolls forward. The girl is saying something peppily about mascara, and eyeliner, and the best way to repel an auspistice with both --

So you slap your palm down in the center of it, and Taalik jerks her head up so quickly, you think she's going to bite you. If it was anyone else, she'd have hissed at you. As is, she just stares, eyelashes fanning over her eyes, like she thinks that makes her look unimpressed. "I should break your hand for that," she says, but she doesn't so much as move. "What, Fuuhao?"

"Imperials," you say, slowly, "are in the facility, and they arrested Wilcox, and they snapped Hoshio's arm. Like, she doesn't fucking have one, anymore. So what d'you think they're gonna do to me and you?"

She considers you for a moment. Then she sighs, pushes back her chair in a scrape of metal on metal. "Well. You better go, then. Like hell they'll do anything to me." She's so brisk. "But you?" Side-long, she looks at you. "No point in hanging around."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've got dirt in your veins, dumbass. Are we really going to argue about that?" She's bustling along, even as you're sidling back towards the bathroom. There's a vent you'd scoped out there, the first night. It's just big enough for you to fit into, if you duck your horns, and you'd spent an hour each night since then tracking it to the shipyard, and counting how many steps it takes. You hadn't had the opportunity to try it, yet, but. It can't be too hard. You know you'll fit.

It just won't be pleasant, but when you think of going back into the hallway -

You won't. Better the vents.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm leaving," you say instead, cracking the door.

She's shoving things into the bag, but she looks up. The look isn’t quite a smile! It’s more.. a curl of her lips, all dry and brittle, like that’s the only way she knows how to. "Try not to die."

That's about as friendly as you're going to get, you think.

The scramble through the vents is about as cramped as you expect. But if you keep your horns down, at least, they don't scrape, and there's enough clunks and sighs of machinery that no one thinks to look up.

AA: ico.

AA: are you here?

AA: because i kind of

AA: aw, shit.

AA: everything’s kind of fucked up right now, and i really, really could use some help.

You’re halfway across the shipbay when the door crashes open, and the girl saunters in.

(Not the girl. Nanako Bonjou, ID had told you, words rattling across the front of your screen so quickly that you’d barely had time to read them. Twelve sweeps, oliveblood with strong telekinesis, IPC --

Where’s the rest of her battery, sweetheart? Because fuck her, you’re going to have to worry about the rest of that, and at least some of them ought to be sick --)

“Où es-tu?” Nanako calls out. “Où es-tu, ma petit souris? Montre-toi! Montre-toi, où que tu sois!”

The ground is dry under foot, and you’ve had sweeps of practice. The first thing you’d done, back in the room, was strip off your boots: now you’re down to socks, and when you launch yourself across the pavement, it’s as silent as you can manage. Her ears are flat, inflexible little things! She can’t hear you, if you try hard enough.

If you can keep your pumpbiscuit from giving you away. It’s pounding like a drum, so loud that you can barely here her off in the distance. All you want to do is get to the sewage outlet, but that’s out in the open, right where she can see it. Right now, she doesn’t know you’re here.

So you dive underneath one of the ships, instead, wriggling and kicking. The metal scrapes at your skin, and you have to slow down so that it doesn’t tear. What if they spot the blood, and try to catalogue it? What if your name comes up? You’ve never paid that much attention to science. You don’t know what they could do with a piece of hair, or a scrape of skin, or blood --

Fear is hard. You’ve never been one to be afraid of anything, not really, and if you hadn’t spent so much time calming Pheres down, you’re not sure you’d recognise the way your hands are going clammy, or the tightness in your chest. But this girl could kill you.

This girl will kill you, if she can. Taalik’s an indigo. The rest of the scientists are all violets -

- and her partner had still snapped Hoshio’s arm like it was so much tinder.

What’s a neck, compared to that?

“Sounis,” Nanako sings, and you can see her boots as they step by. You don’t breathe. Your phone is on silent, but you don’t dare to check it: ID’s advice had been for you to get the fuck out, and not wait for him to do something to help you.

(”You’ve gone and buried yourself under a ton of saltwater, darling,” he’d said, distressed: “I’m going to try, but I just don’t know what you want me to do, here!”)

(Like he hadn’t been the one to tell you about this.)

(It’s not fair to cling to his coat-tails: you’re not seven anymore, and he’s not your quadrant. But part of you’s resentful all the same.)

THat’s fine, though. You’ll make it be fine. You haven’t relied on ID in a half-sweep: you don’t need him now, not when it’s just you and a single girl in the bay. You’ll fight her yourself, if you need to, and with that thought, you slink out from under the ship enough to look.

When you peer out, she’s standing in front of the sewer outlet, just waiting.

That’s fine.

You don’t know much about ships. But you know enough to recognise a HMS Starbruiser when you see it, after all the nights Riccin spent trying to explain them to you. “They’re the fucking best,” she’d told you, practically curling in on herself from enthusiasm, “and they’re pure magnesium, girl, that’s the best part about it. Pure fucking - you can’t get better than that, in terms of weight, in terms of goddamn quality.” They were so expensive that the two of you’d barely been able to understand the price, back when she’d finally gone and found a listing online. And then, barely a perigee later, they’d all been recalled.

Except this one, apparently. There’s a fuel line, right above your head, brushing against your ears. When you sidle back and give it a yank, just hard enough for your prosthetic to stir, the line gives.

Another yank, and it gives.

The spray of gas hitting the ground sounds like thunder in the silence of the hall. She must hear it. She has to. So you’re sidling back before it’s even hit the ground, and as soon as you’re back on your feet, you lean forward and give the back of the ship a shove. The fangs of your prosthetic biting in stings, more than it should after two weeks of healing. You can almost feel the siphon of blood as it pulls in -

- but it’s worth it, because a moment later, when you shove the ship again, the brake snaps somewhere underneath it. It lurches forward, uneasily at first, but with the minor slope of the ground rapidly giving it momentum. You’ve only got a second to fumble your lighter out of your pocket. A flick of the switch, then you toss it over your shoulder, hands shaking.

You don’t stay to watch. You’re already bolting when there’s a sizzle behind you, and then, a scarce second later, you feel the heat as the fuel line catches fire.

It’s when the ship’s hull catches fire that you hear it, though: the crackle of metal catching flame, and the shriek of the bolts, already beginning to protest under the new heat. Ducking behind a new ship, there’s a shriek and crumple of metal behind you, loud enough that it makes your soundflaps pin.

But you have to keep moving. There’s another ship that you give a shove, hard enough that it leaves you shaking, but it’s sliding right towards the flaming mess in the center. The air’s full of smoke already, black and billowing up at your feet, not at all deterred by the shriek of the sprinklers above flicking on. The smoke tickles at your lungs. It burns at your throat, and pulling your shirt over your nose doesn’t do anything to stop it. Pulling up the hood of your jacket helps a little, but not much.

It’s fine, you remind yourself. You’re not going to be here long, and the fish inside the labs -

- well, if they’re still alive, you hope you didn’t just blow up their ship.

(You hope Taalik’ll be fine. “Try not to die,” she’d told you, and you didn’t even think to say anything back.)

There’s crates along the side of the shipbay. You duck into those, and now.. all you have to do is wait. So you count to sixty, hidden neatly behind the cargo, and try to breathe in through your mouth. The girl will have bolted for the ships. IPC agent, ID had said, and an expensive model like a Starbruiser - well, it’s got to have been hers, doesn’t it?

And even if it isn’t, there’s six tons of water above you, and more below. A single crack in the frame of this place will drown the lot of you, from the fuschia on down. She’s a telekinetic. She’s probably securing a net over the flames even right now, siphoning out the oxygen and snuffing them before anything can blow.

It’s been sixty seconds. She has to. And in the meanwhile, the smoke’s burning all the way through your lungs, and you know the sort of damage that does. The sort of shit you’re probably breathing in.

(You didn’t get away from the explosion as quickly as you should’ve, you think. Your flaps hurt. Your bulbs hurt. Your body hurts, in a way you can’t tell if it’s from blood loss, or the explosion, and that’s doing nothing to stop the frantic patter of your heart.)

She’s going to be at the ship, and you have to go, you have to go now. So you take a shaky breath, you duck out of your hiding place, and you make for the sewage outlet.

She’s not there. It’s clear, and there’s a weight off your shoulders. The air is full of smoke, and your body aches, and she’s going to kill you if she finds you, but - she didn’t. She isn’t going to. And you’re half-way into the pipe when something snatches you by the back of the neck, and hauls you out.

There’s a burn on her cheek, shining a sickly green in the light. Her eyes are red, red as the cuffs around Wilcox’s wrist, and you’re twisting to swing a fist right in her face before you’ve even processed who you’re looking at.

It’s like punching a wall. You shriek, pulling away from her, curling your arm in on yourself, and she just sighs, shaking her head. There’s a thousand warning notes flashing in front of your eyes, wailing about damage, and the fangs of your prosthetic are sinking in, tighter and tighter, to try and fix it.

“Merci, ma sounis,” she scolds you. There’s soot on her nose. The edges of her hairs are burned black, frayed in the dark. “Hadn’t run, wouldn’t have chased, yeah? But you ran! And you broke things. Friend built ship! What supposed to say? Rebel blew it up? Shame on you.”

You want to say something witty. All that comes out is a snarl, instead, but all of your thrashing isn’t doing anything to free you: it’s like being held by iron, and the only result you get is an exasperated cluck. “Aah. How old you? Seven? Wilcox all wrong, wrong, wrong, shouldn’t be done. Should’ve known better. Bad enough, pulling guppies in.”

“Can no do nothing about guppies. But mice?” She shakes her head, sending the white locks flying. “Sorry,” she says, and maybe it’s even real. You don’t care. There’s brown crowding your eyes, blocked only by the way you keep blinking, and you - you don’t even know why you’re bothering, honestly. She’s going to cull you, and you don’t know what you’re going to do, and you didn’t tell Hadean, and you didn’t tell Pheres, and -

"Sorry,” she says again, and draws her hand back again. This time, you can’t exactly stop her, not with your prosthetic shattered. All you can do is thrash, but a heel to the gut doesn’t do anything - your leg bounces off of her psi like armor, and her grip is iron. Your hood falls back. All you can do is pin your ears back, and hiss.

(You’re going to die, and nobody is ever going to know.)

But when your hood falls, her face blanches. “Poivre?” she breathes, and then she takes a step back. A moment later, she seems to realise you’re still in her hand: she drops your collar, as quick as she’d snatched you up, and when you land on your feet, already staggering back, she doesn’t try to follow you.Her face’s as pale as her hair. Only for a moment, though, and then there’s green flooding her cheeks, all at once. Her hand falls. Your pumpbiscuit is pounding like a drum, too loud for you to make out more than the shapes of the words that she’s saying.But there’s a hand on her mouth, and when your hiss fades into a cough, wet and raspy even past the thump of your blood, just like that, something in her crumples.She doesn’t turn away from you. She just takes a step back, and then another, her eyes taking you in like she’s seeing you for the first time.You’re missing something, here. You should figure it out - but all you can think about is the outlet, right behind her. When you take a shaky step towards it, one hand on your throat, she doesn’t move. And even the second doesn’t illict a reaction.So you dive into the pipe, instead, and run.

#[drabbles]#sipara nzinga

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theplattexperiment-blog · 8 years ago

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Pray for the world. Reading: Proverbs 26-31 Proverbs 26-31New International Version (NIV) 26 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,  honor is not fitting for a fool. 2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,  an undeserved curse does not come to rest. 3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,  and a rod for the backs of fools! 4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,  or you yourself will be just like him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly,  or he will be wise in his own eyes. 6 Sending a message by the hands of a fool  is like cutting off one’s feet or drinking poison. 7 Like the useless legs of one who is lame  is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 8 Like tying a stone in a sling  is the giving of honor to a fool. 9 Like a thornbush in a drunkard’s hand  is a proverb in the mouth of a fool. 10 Like an archer who wounds at random  is one who hires a fool or any passer-by. 11 As a dog returns to its vomit,  so fools repeat their folly. 12 Do you see a person wise in their own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool than for them. 13 A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road,  a fierce lion roaming the streets!” 14 As a door turns on its hinges,  so a sluggard turns on his bed. 15 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;  he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth. 16 A sluggard is wiser in his own eyes  than seven people who answer discreetly. 17 Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears  is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own. 18 Like a maniac shooting  flaming arrows of death 19 is one who deceives their neighbor  and says, “I was only joking!” 20 Without wood a fire goes out;  without a gossip a quarrel dies down. 21 As charcoal to embers and as wood to fire,  so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife. 22 The words of a gossip are like choice morsels;  they go down to the inmost parts. 23 Like a coating of silver dross on earthenware  are fervent[a] lips with an evil heart. 24 Enemies disguise themselves with their lips,  but in their hearts they harbor deceit. 25 Though their speech is charming, do not believe them,  for seven abominations fill their hearts. 26 Their malice may be concealed by deception,  but their wickedness will be exposed in the assembly. 27 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it;  if someone rolls a stone, it will roll back on them. 28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts,  and a flattering mouth works ruin. 27 Do not boast about tomorrow,  for you do not know what a day may bring. 2 Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth;  an outsider, and not your own lips. 3 Stone is heavy and sand a burden,  but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both. 4 Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,  but who can stand before jealousy? 5 Better is open rebuke  than hidden love. 6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,  but an enemy multiplies kisses. 7 One who is full loathes honey from the comb,  but to the hungry even what is bitter tastes sweet. 8 Like a bird that flees its nest  is anyone who flees from home. 9 Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,  and the pleasantness of a friend  springs from their heartfelt advice. 10 Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family,  and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—  better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away. 11 Be wise, my son, and bring joy to my heart;  then I can answer anyone who treats me with contempt. 12 The prudent see danger and take refuge,  but the simple keep going and pay the penalty. 13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;  hold it in pledge if it is done for an outsider. 14 If anyone loudly blesses their neighbor early in the morning,  it will be taken as a curse. 15 A quarrelsome wife is like the dripping  of a leaky roof in a rainstorm; 16 restraining her is like restraining the wind  or grasping oil with the hand. 17 As iron sharpens iron,  so one person sharpens another. 18 The one who guards a fig tree will eat its fruit,  and whoever protects their master will be honored. 19 As water reflects the face,  so one’s life reflects the heart.[b] 20 Death and Destruction[c] are never satisfied,  and neither are human eyes. 21 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold,  but people are tested by their praise. 22 Though you grind a fool in a mortar,  grinding them like grain with a pestle,  you will not remove their folly from them. 23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks,  give careful attention to your herds; 24 for riches do not endure forever,  and a crown is not secure for all generations. 25 When the hay is removed and new growth appears  and the grass from the hills is gathered in, 26 the lambs will provide you with clothing,  and the goats with the price of a field. 27 You will have plenty of goats’ milk to feed your family  and to nourish your female servants. 28 The wicked flee though no one pursues,  but the righteous are as bold as a lion. 2 When a country is rebellious, it has many rulers,  but a ruler with discernment and knowledge maintains order. 3 A ruler[d] who oppresses the poor  is like a driving rain that leaves no crops. 4 Those who forsake instruction praise the wicked,  but those who heed it resist them. 5 Evildoers do not understand what is right,  but those who seek the Lordunderstand it fully. 6 Better the poor whose walk is blameless  than the rich whose ways are perverse. 7 A discerning son heeds instruction,  but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father. 8 Whoever increases wealth by taking interest or profit from the poor  amasses it for another, who will be kind to the poor. 9 If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction,  even their prayers are detestable. 10 Whoever leads the upright along an evil path  will fall into their own trap,  but the blameless will receive a good inheritance. 11 The rich are wise in their own eyes;  one who is poor and discerning sees how deluded they are. 12 When the righteous triumph, there is great elation;  but when the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding. 13 Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,  but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. 14 Blessed is the one who always trembles before God,  but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble. 15 Like a roaring lion or a charging bear  is a wicked ruler over a helpless people. 16 A tyrannical ruler practices extortion,  but one who hates ill-gotten gain will enjoy a long reign. 17 Anyone tormented by the guilt of murder  will seek refuge in the grave;  let no one hold them back. 18 The one whose walk is blameless is kept safe,  but the one whose ways are perverse will fall into the pit.[e] 19 Those who work their land will have abundant food,  but those who chase fantasies will have their fill of poverty. 20 A faithful person will be richly blessed,  but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. 21 To show partiality is not good—  yet a person will do wrong for a piece of bread. 22 The stingy are eager to get rich  and are unaware that poverty awaits them. 23 Whoever rebukes a person will in the end gain favor  rather than one who has a flattering tongue. 24 Whoever robs their father or mother  and says, “It’s not wrong,”  is partner to one who destroys. 25 The greedy stir up conflict,  but those who trust in the Lord will prosper. 26 Those who trust in themselves are fools,  but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. 27 Those who give to the poor will lack nothing,  but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses. 28 When the wicked rise to power, people go into hiding;  but when the wicked perish, the righteous thrive. 29 Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes  will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. 2 When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice;  when the wicked rule, the people groan. 3 A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father,  but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth. 4 By justice a king gives a country stability,  but those who are greedy for[f] bribes tear it down. 5 Those who flatter their neighbors  are spreading nets for their feet. 6 Evildoers are snared by their own sin,  but the righteous shout for joy and are glad. 7 The righteous care about justice for the poor,  but the wicked have no such concern. 8 Mockers stir up a city,  but the wise turn away anger. 9 If a wise person goes to court with a fool,  the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace. 10 The bloodthirsty hate a person of integrity  and seek to kill the upright. 11 Fools give full vent to their rage,  but the wise bring calm in the end. 12 If a ruler listens to lies,  all his officials become wicked. 13 The poor and the oppressor have this in common:  The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both. 14 If a king judges the poor with fairness,  his throne will be established forever. 15 A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom,  but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother. 16 When the wicked thrive, so does sin,  but the righteous will see their downfall. 17 Discipline your children, and they will give you peace;  they will bring you the delights you desire. 18 Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint;  but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. 19 Servants cannot be corrected by mere words;  though they understand, they will not respond. 20 Do you see someone who speaks in haste?  There is more hope for a fool than for them. 21 A servant pampered from youth  will turn out to be insolent. 22 An angry person stirs up conflict,  and a hot-tempered person commits many sins. 23 Pride brings a person low,  but the lowly in spirit gain honor. 24 The accomplices of thieves are their own enemies;  they are put under oath and dare not testify. 25 Fear of man will prove to be a snare,  but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. 26 Many seek an audience with a ruler,  but it is from the Lord that one gets justice. 27 The righteous detest the dishonest;  the wicked detest the upright. Sayings of Agur 30 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance. This man’s utterance to Ithiel: “I am weary, God,  but I can prevail.[g] 2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man;  I do not have human understanding. 3 I have not learned wisdom,  nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. 4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?  Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak?  Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is the name of his son?  Surely you know! 5 “Every word of God is flawless;  he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 6 Do not add to his words,  or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar. 7 “Two things I ask of you, Lord;  do not refuse me before I die: 8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me;  give me neither poverty nor riches,  but give me only my daily bread. 9 Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you  and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal,  and so dishonor the name of my God. 10 “Do not slander a servant to their master,  or they will curse you, and you will pay for it. 11 “There are those who curse their fathers  and do not bless their mothers; 12 those who are pure in their own eyes  and yet are not cleansed of their filth; 13 those whose eyes are ever so haughty,  whose glances are so disdainful; 14 those whose teeth are swords  and whose jaws are set with knives to devour the poor from the earth  and the needy from among mankind. 15 “The leech has two daughters.  ‘Give! Give!’ they cry. “There are three things that are never satisfied,  four that never say, ‘Enough!’: 16 the grave, the barren womb,  land, which is never satisfied with water,  and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’ 17 “The eye that mocks a father,  that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley,  will be eaten by the vultures. 18 “There are three things that are too amazing for me,  four that I do not understand: 19 the way of an eagle in the sky,  the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas,  and the way of a man with a young woman. 20 “This is the way of an adulterous woman:  She eats and wipes her mouth  and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’ 21 “Under three things the earth trembles,  under four it cannot bear up: 22 a servant who becomes king,  a godless fool who gets plenty to eat, 23 a contemptible woman who gets married,  and a servant who displaces her mistress. 24 “Four things on earth are small,  yet they are extremely wise: 25 Ants are creatures of little strength,  yet they store up their food in the summer; 26 hyraxes are creatures of little power,  yet they make their home in the crags; 27 locusts have no king,  yet they advance together in ranks; 28 a lizard can be caught with the hand,  yet it is found in kings’ palaces. 29 “There are three things that are stately in their stride,  four that move with stately bearing: 30 a lion, mighty among beasts,  who retreats before nothing; 31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat,  and a king secure against revolt.[h] 32 “If you play the fool and exalt yourself,  or if you plan evil,  clap your hand over your mouth! 33 For as churning cream produces butter,  and as twisting the nose produces blood,  so stirring up anger produces strife.” Sayings of King Lemuel 31 The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him. 2 Listen, my son! Listen, son of my womb!  Listen, my son, the answer to my prayers! 3 Do not spend your strength[i] on women,  your vigor on those who ruin kings. 4 It is not for kings, Lemuel—  it is not for kings to drink wine,  not for rulers to crave beer, 5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed,  and deprive all the oppressed of their rights. 6 Let beer be for those who are perishing,  wine for those who are in anguish! 7 Let them drink and forget their poverty  and remember their misery no more. 8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,  for the rights of all who are destitute. 9 Speak up and judge fairly;  defend the rights of the poor and needy. Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character 10 [j]A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies. 11 Her husband has full confidence in her  and lacks nothing of value. 12 She brings him good, not harm,  all the days of her life. 13 She selects wool and flax  and works with eager hands. 14 She is like the merchant ships,  bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up while it is still night;  she provides food for her family  and portions for her female servants. 16 She considers a field and buys it;  out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She sets about her work vigorously;  her arms are strong for her tasks. 18 She sees that her trading is profitable,  and her lamp does not go out at night. 19 In her hand she holds the distaff  and grasps the spindle with her fingers. 20 She opens her arms to the poor  and extends her hands to the needy. 21 When it snows, she has no fear for her household;  for all of them are clothed in scarlet. 22 She makes coverings for her bed;  she is clothed in fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is respected at the city gate,  where he takes his seat among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them,  and supplies the merchants with sashes. 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;  she can laugh at the days to come. 26 She speaks with wisdom,  and faithful instruction is on her tongue. 27 She watches over the affairs of her household  and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children arise and call her blessed;  her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women do noble things,  but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;  but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Honor her for all that her hands have done,  and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

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