#her pupils dilating as she looks at clem

[howlsofbloodhounds]

Favorite thing in video games is when a character’s pupils dilate while looking at another character.

[sherwees]

warnings are in main masterlist!

“Doth thou understand?”

Clementine flinched, her heart leapt at the unexpected voice behind her. With a sharp movement, she turned her head and met eyes with those of a girl standing only a mere foot away.

The girl had luscious black dainty plaits, much like her own, though hers were intricately woven and adorned with small, delicate adornments; designed as silver vinery and white dove charms. Her attire wasn't as striking, a beautiful sage dress with a gaunt apron. She seemed cheap, but it wasn't a bother with her visuals.

As their eyes met, she couldn't help but notice the brightness of the girl's near noir eyes, Clem wondered why her lips curled slightly downward. Was she frowning at her? The realization made her try to fix her face into a falsified smile but it was too late since she was already looking down at a crumpled paper.

“I can't seem to grasp where to go, these doors seem locked,” the girl said, her voice was set with distress as she yanked at the stone handles, a played off laugh escaping her lips. Clementine bared her teeth once she noticed the blood in her index travel down her ashy palms from the harsh texturing of the door.

“T' seemeth there's a figure in the distance,” the girl turned, shaking her hand and blowing on her finger. Her accent was irregular, hinting that she might be from one of the small housings nearby.

“She's belike coming towards us?” Clementine inquired and squinted at the girl rushing towards them.

“I think I know her,” the girl replied before waving her hands and standing on her tiptoes to get the runner's attention. As the figure drew closer, the two realized that the girl had no shoes on, her white gown stained with red blotches. Her appearance seemed almost otherworldly, with crazed eyes and oddly cut hair that stood with uneven strands at her nape. Clementine only watched as the girl nearly slipped on her torn hem, only to catch herself at the last moment by gripping onto a nearby wall covered with vines.

The sight of the girl' disheveled appearance made Clem nauseated, the blotches of purple and red that aligned her neck nearly made her hurl. The woman shook her head slowly, her left hand clasped around her mouth as she wept silently.

“I wast there for months, nonstop torturing on mine own corpse. I couldst barely feeleth mine own digit and I haven't felt mine own chest never tight with scars in so long,” she sobbed into her quivering hands before holding a hand to her chest then muttered “my chest feels like it's smoldering..” as she collapsed to her hinds. Her pupils dilated looking into the cloudy skies with some sort of relief, as if she saw heaven itself.

“I haven't seen the lighteth in many days, and I wouldn't bethink yond I wouldst finally receiveth out. That gent ruin'd me forever; mine own beauty, mine own family, and everything is gone. That gent did want me all for himself. I wisheth yond thee girls runneth and findeth safety. The prince–” she coughed up a significant amount of claret before continuing, Clem's stomach curled inward when her eye caught the bone that peaked out of a deep wound on the injured's ankle.

“Grabs girls from wherever just to playeth his naughty games for hours on endeth until that gent hath brought me to the undergrounds just to 'toy' 'round with me,” her verdant eyes already losing life with every word as her skin turned paler with a tint of blue on her neck and cheekbones. the girl with the plaits stumbled back a bit, the nauseam probably got to her now. Clementine could hear the girl from earlier only weeping and whimpering as she approached the distressed woman.

“Shouldst we wend findeth help, dearest Faith?” The girl's hand reached out to the woman's scar beneath her eye with a torn handkerchief. “Nay, Yizhuo!” Faith screeched her retort, causing poor Yizhuo nearly to fall on her bum. “Mine own end lies here and not at the Seine River down in France with mine own fiancee. I bethink that gent hath passed from the pox,” she reminisced with a small heave, snot traveling from her lip to her quivering top lip, looking at the ravens passing above.

“I putteth mine own desire into thee two yond'll only witness mine own final moments..” Her dying eyes met yours, “It'll pose as a warning after all..” Faith blunk slower before her head rested against the palace's alabaster concrete; her chest falling for the final time.

A resounding yell came from across the grassy area where they had seen Faith only a few minutes ago. A fine male in navy formal attire, his white pants stained from the dew and dirt from the ground approached those two with a smile that could make a child sob and shrink into their guardian's side. Yizhuo's only instinct was to yell and holler across the field, all types of pleads and incoherent sobs escaping her lips.

The brown-haired male finally caught up and met eyes with the now-deceased woman, her skin as pale as a spirit and bruised like a hobo. Squatting near the body, he seemed to have no reaction, and it may have been Clementine's imagination; but a smirk may have pulled at his lips, murmuring, "I can't believeth thee finally get hence." Clem even stared at the plaited girl to see if she heard, but she only cried her fragile heart out.

"The lady wast belike a trespasser," he concluded.

Them both gasped at the comment.

“I marry doubt it.” Clementine mustered up her objection, trying to make it seem that she totally wasn't affected by the awful circumstance that occurred only a few ago. “I don't believe thou should comment.” he seethed as his expression dropped fully, your skin felt like it was burnt by hot coals at his cold tone.

“We saw her pass right hither.” Clementine managed to shyly retort again, it sounded more like a mouse's squeak. He glanced at the deceased again before turning back to Clementine, his jaw clocked.

Silence ensued and her skin went still and cold, losing all its previous warmth. There was only a gust of wind that brushed the longer section of his hair that reached his nape, his jaw clenched as he finally arose and pinned her against the wall with brute force; strangling a small wince out of her. Huo only attempted to push him away unsteady, only to be knocked down quite comically on her rear against a stone veneer.

The stone scraped at the back of Clementine's neck once he shoved his head in her neck, his hands travelling on the incline of Clem's backside, right on top of her bustle. His canines bit the crane of her neck before he would soothe it with a slick suckle. “I can't standeth dram working-class wanderers who think that they could stand 'gainst the word of somebody alike me." His tense hand gripped her jaw, your thin bustle rose slightly at his sudden gyrations against her backside. Clementine's body went taut in his grip out of scare, his fellow cold, coarse hand spiking goose flesh on her forearm until it tightened alarmingly before he stepped away.

She immediately fell on the cobblestones at the loss of support, he only snorted at the misfit. He gave the two another smile before he extended his arms for them to grab on. Once you both got to your feet, he turned with a prance.

“Cometh as I may taketh thee to thy respected area!” he said in some sort of boast, taking . He did it as if nothing had occurred only a few moments ago. “Bethink not I did introduce myself correct, but I am thee prince, of course!” The prince moved enthusiastically with a little prance in his steps towards the entry way. “Thee both shouldst be delighted to beest in the presence of me or coequal mine own brother..” His voice stooped down playfully at the mention of his brother.

“But I don't seem to recognize you..” There was a pause in Yizhuo's interruption as if she was trying to revive a memory. “You must be King Kunhang's brother! Yangyang?!” Yizhuo's eyes lit up. “I'm usually said as the.. other.” He recalled in a mutter as a muscle in his jaw moved, his face was now melancholic with bits of jealousy. Both of the girls made a small “oh” before they both eyed eachother before he swung open the door to the Navial Palace.

[wastelandcth]

lay it on me - cth

lay it on me (calum hood x fem!oc) || masterlist || series masterlist

summary: how calum found himself drunk and rambling on about her. 

warnings: none. 

author’s notes: once again - based off of vance joy’s album nation of two!

previous chapter || next chapter

Calum was passionate. That was one thing anyone could see. He was passionate when it came to being in the band, playing his heart out on stage every night. He was passionate about his family, waking up early every day even if he hadn’t slept for more than a couple hours just to be able to talk to his mother. He was passionate when it came to his feelings. When he was happy, the entire world could see that his smile lighting up whatever room he was in. When he was feeling down, his eyes showed the truth even if he still had a smile on his face. Calum was passionate and he knew that once he told Clementine about his feelings, there would be no going back. 

Clementine had been hurt too many times before. She had been lied to, cheated on, used, and pretty much everything in between. She was afraid of love and the repercussions that came with falling in love had. Especially when those feelings were aimed at Calum. She had known him for a couple of years now, the relationship they had created never going past a night tangled up in bedsheets and friendly sleepovers. She felt safe with him, felt that she could be herself around him and not be worried about him leaving because of it. But she knew her feelings were strong for him, and that scared the hell out of her. It made her want to pack her bags and escape the city. There was no one she could handle another heartbreak, there was no way she could handle losing Calum. But her mother’s advice rang in her head as she waited for the doorbell to ring. She knew her mother was right, there was no point in trying to hide her feelings anymore. She was going to have to let her defenses down in order to seek the happiness she saw with Calum. Clementine just hoped he felt the same. 

“Do you remember when I left that first night?” he asked after taking a sip of the wine in his hand. Calum’s third glass of wine might’ve been a mistake. He could feel himself losing the grip on his words, his thoughts jumbled in his brain as they escaped his mouth in a slur. But he needed the courage in order to tell her how he felt. How the past months on tour had been nothing but him worrying about her and wondering if she felt the same. “I slipped a piece of paper into your jacket,” he nodded, looking off to the front door where she usually hung her jackets. “It had my name on it and a little heart that I drew.” Calum laughed to himself as he remembered how his hands had been shaking as he drew the heart, the line was uneven and it looked more like a child had drawn it rather than a 22-year-old. “I knew you were special since that first night, I knew that I wanted you in my life. But you hate relationships and love like I did.” 

Clementine could tell that Calum was drunk, his pupils were dilated and his words came out slowly as if he had to concentrate more than usual on them. He had been back at her apartment for a couple of hours, both of them deciding that they needed a drink to cut the tension in the room. She smiled as she watched him, the way he kept trying to keep his eyes open or how he kept opening his mouth and then closing it, his tongue swiping across his bottom lip before he took another sip of the sweet wine. She tried to stay calm, knowing that he was pouring his heart out to her was something she had become used to, yet it had never been about her. She was used to him rambling on about his family or the band, how his passions created art for thousands to listen to and love. But now Clementine sat shocked as she listened to the man she was in love with ramble about her, about how he felt about them.

“You’re just so...irresistible. Every time we go out to a party or we go out to the clubs with the guys, you’re the only person I can focus on. Can’t get you out of my head, darling. Even if I’m miles away from you, I think about how it feels to hold your hand, to kiss your lips, how it would feel to call you mine. I see all the guys with their partners, how happy they are to be able to show them the world when we travel and I…” Calum sighed, stopping his rambling to take another sip of his wine, setting the glass down on the table and turning so that all of his attention was on her, “I can’t help but imagine what that would be like with you, Clem.” His lips turned into a frown as he watched her for a second, looking for any sort of reaction to his words, “And I know you're so adamant on hating love and relations because that was our thing, we hated that with a passion. But fuck, baby, everything is so new and different with you. I’ve never felt this way about anyone or anything. I had been to that bar countless times and you were hidden in plain sight. So please, let’s just...let’s give this a try? Because I don’t know how I’ll make it through this anymore without you by my side.” 

Clementine’s body was shaking, Calum’s words causing her adrenaline spike. She wanted to run out the door, afraid that she would lose him if she said yes. But saying no to him meant she was definitely going to lose him. So, with a deep breath and a nod, she took his hands in hers and kissed his knuckles gently. She was throwing her defenses down because if Calum was passionate about her like he was about everything else in his life, she knew she would be safe. She knew that if she let him in, he wasn’t going to be like the others, this was Calum. He was the one who she would call at four in the afternoon to tell him about the article she had been reading for most of the afternoon and ask for his opinion on the matter. It was the Calum who she could sit with on the couch for hours and not feel like she had wasted an entire day. It was the Calum she could see herself with, watching him live out his dream while he watched her live out her own. Calum was the one that Clementine wanted to spend forever with and nothing was going to stop her now.

“I don’t think I’d be able to let you leave at this point if I wasn’t beside you, bub,” she whispered and shook her head. “You have me, yeah? I’m here for the good days, the bad days, and everything in between, okay? I can’t promise that it’s going to be easy, but I’m going to try my hardest for you. So lay it all on me.” she smiled, her eyes closing as Calum connected their lips. They had kissed plenty of times before, but this kiss was new and different.

[agirlinhell]

Eulogy me betch.

EULOGY. || @constellationtracer || ( ACCEPTING. )

Title: Hands Of Gold

Pairing: Clementine &&. Violet ( Violetine. )

Genre: Angst, Romance, Tragedy.

Characters: Clementine, Violet, Ruby, Lee Everett ( mentioned ) AJ ( mentioned ), Tennessee ( mentioned ), Louis ( mentioned ), Minerva ( mentioned ).

The first thing that registered in her senses was the scent, like fresh pine and newly turned earth. It was a welcome scent, one that reminded her of home. She breathed deeply, feeling completely at ease, freed from the restrictions of the school and the expectation that she be some sort of role model for the younger generations, free of Lee’s long reaching shadow and the constant feeling of inadequacy, that she would be forever doomed to a miserable life. For a moment, Clementine just relaxed, in the moonlit field, basking in the scent, glad to feel free once again. Her mind lulled, drifting off to who-knew-where, content to breathe in the clean scent of virgin forest, letting her sore muscles rest.

A few minutes later, she felt her presence like a warm blanket on a January night. She was snuggled into her side, burning from within like an inner fire, keeping her warm body and soul. Clementine cracked open one eye slowly, hardly daring, worried she would see something else in her place, that it was all a dream. But no, there she was, sleeping, a serene, secretive little smile curving those delicious lips of hers. “Vi,” she whispered, a soft caress on her own ears. She touched her lips with her fingertips, willing this to be real.

The moment her skin touched the sensitive blush of her lips, her mouth quirked in a happy, sleepy smile. “Clem,” she murmured, the sound of her name in her voice a thrill to all of her senses. She had to stop herself from jumping for joy, so she settled for kissing those wonderful lips, devouring them, losing herself to complete and utter happiness. It was the kind of bliss that was so complete that she thought her soul would leave this world, or maybe that it already had. Beneath her, she chuckled with mischief, wiggling away from her to tease her, tossing her head from side to side to try to avoid her kiss, playing. “You’re terrible,” Violet laughed.

Her wiggling only served to excite Clementine more. She pinned her with her body, pinned her wrists with her hands. Violet settled back and stilled, daring her from beneath the lashes of her eyes, a gaze so glazed over that it seared her straight to her gut. She growled, low in her throat, overcome with desire. “You make me crazy,” she murmured, lowering her face to her neck. “You stay, you go, you stay…” she chastised fondly. “You love me, you love Minnie… How am I supposed to keep you here?” She nuzzled her neck, reveling in the feel of her skin against her face. Stay with me, she willed her.

“I can stay with you here,” she offered, her voice soft, eyelids hooded with love and a hint of desire. She squirmed beneath her, her knees caressing up the insides of her thighs, igniting passions long denied.

Clementine shut her eyes in bliss, charged with electricity, delighting in the way this girl could enliven her so quickly like o one else could. “And where is here?” she purred, cracking open an eyelid. Violet didn’t have to answer, though, for it was then that she saw. Around her towered the moss covered trees and dappled moonlight patches of the grove in which they had spent that first night together, watching the stars on the belltower. 

“Impossible,” she whispered breathlessly, overcome with awe.

“Yeah,” Violet said with a giggle. “This is where we first kissed, remember?”

Clementine nodded dumbly. “Yeah. But… how?”

Her hands roamed, disappearing underneath the hem of her shirt, playing with the edges. “Forget about that,” she commanded, nipping at her collarbone. “C’mere. I wanna kiss you all night long. We can dance the night away.”

Clementine frowned, gripping her hands, stalling her. Not that she didn’t want to, but something was not right here. “Violet,” she barked with an air of authority. “Where are we?”

She pouted. “I already told you.”

“No, for real,” she demanded seriously.

She sighed and turned her face away. “I can tell you, but then you’ll be sad. Then you won’t want me anymore.”

“Vi,” Clementine urged more fiercely, grasping her jaw and turning her face toward her, emerald optics meeting amber hues. “There’s nothing that can ever make me stop wanting you. I love you, like no one else ever could, not even Minnie. She could kiss you every day from dawn to dusk and I would never love you any less because I know that you love me.” She dipped then, kissing her tenderly, releasing her hands. “I know,” she whispered against her lips, pressing their bodies together, “that our hearts and souls are entwined. Your lips may lie, but your heart never does.” She pressed her hand to her chest then, felt the powerful drum of her heartbeat. “Ahh,” she sighed with pleasure. “There’s the truth.” She smirked at her playfully.

Her gaze softened. “Clem,” she whispered, her throat constricted. “Don’t make me say it. Please, just don’t.”

Clementine looked down upon her face, so filled with pain and longing. She could stay here forever, with her, frozen in a moment in time that was no longer real, couldn’t be real. If she stayed here, wherever here really was, she would be lying to herself. Somewhere, in another time, she and Violet were not together, not anymore. A war was being waged and she had no idea who was even winning it. She considered swallowing her curiosity and her pride, doing as she wished, to stay here with her until her life force died out. It would be a sweet way to go.

And yet, she needed to know. Perhaps there was still time, to save them both. “Tell me,” she commanded softly, no less powerful for its lack of volume.

Her pupils dilated, blown out by her order. Her body went slack beneath her. “You’re… you’re dying, and I’m already dead,” she barely spoke. “This is a dream.”

Her words struck her like a faceful of ice water. “Dying?” she choked out. “No…” she denied, eyes wide with disbelief. “No, I can’t be dying. I… I…” she stammered, struggling to find the words. Anguish flared. “You told me you loved me, that we would build a home together, you and me.” The memories of that night on the belltower and their moments in the darkness coalesced, reminding her. “You—lied to me! If you loved me, why’d you leave me?!“ She pushed herself to her feet, glaring down at the girl who had deceived her, leaving her emptier than void.

Violet curled up upon herself, holding her knees to her chest, looking troubled. “I didn’t want to! I didn’t’t mean for this to happen!“ she protested, tears forming in her emerald eyes.

“How am I supposed to believe that?” She demanded, tears forming in her own eyes, burning. “Violet… how could you?” Her voice broke. She hated how weak she sounded, how pathetic, but then, she had always managed to soften all of her hard edges. It practically blew her poor heart wide open, priming the tortured thing for total annihilation.

“Clem,” she started helplessly, breathing in deeply. “If it had been any different… if I had only found you in time… if we only just jumped across the bridge together before Minnie could catch up to us, if we had never said goodbye…” she loosed the rest of her breath in one frustrated huff. “I love you more than anything else in the world and I wanted you to be happy, with me.”

You’re dying. This is a dream.

None of this was real. She was not real. Nothing that she said was real. So she turned her back on her. “You’re an illusion,” she declared, feeling her heart growing cold, perhaps for real. After all, somewhere else entirely, she was dying, probably bleeding out from a wound that had inflicted upon his person. “My Violet was never supposed to die. My Violet would never allow me to die.”

“I still wouldn’t—“

“COME BACK TO ME!” Clementine screamed at her, whipping around and crouching down to her level, taking her hands in hers and intertwining their fingers. “Vi… I love you. Please… don’t leave me. We’ve come too far!” She sobbed, her pride be damned, “I… I need you.”

Violet got up to her feet, and they stood in the moonlit field, hand in hand. “Clem… I’m free like a bird now. I can go east, west… it doesn’t matter. I flew past the sunset… and I saw where the world ends. We can fly together someday. But AJ, Tenn, Louis… everyone back at the school needs you. So, keep fighting. I don’t want to see that fire I loved so much about you fade away into nothing but ashes.” She whispered ever so softly, her emerald eyes filled with love and longing for the girl she’d loved and lost.

Clementine looked deeply into her eyes and cupped her cheeks before nodding slowly as a sad sense of understanding filled her. “I promise.”  She vowed before leaning in and soon, their lips met, desperately wanting, claiming, consuming, burning them both inside and out. Violet fell backward, dragging Clementine down with her by the shoulders. How easy it was to fall back into each other’s arms, to push the world aside and give in to the throes of passion. “I don’t want to go,” Clementine hissed into her ear as her arms wrapped around her neck.

She kissed her forehead, her cheek, her lips, every inch she could put her lips on. “Just promise-”

“I promise,” she vowed. “Not even death could keep me from you.”

Then, finally, Clementine embraced her, wrapping strong arms around her slim shoulders. She squeezed her back just as fiercely, pressing her palms into her back and burying her face in her chest. Clementine bit back the tears, but they came anyway. The proximity to death made them long to be alive again, and never had they felt more alive than they had with each other. Seeing the destruction, remembering the moments leading up to the last time they had saw each other… only served to make them appreciate their time together, and now that time was ending.

There was no more time.

One final, lingering kiss, and then Violet began to fade away as starlight began lighting her up, the winds of change overwhelming her as she shone more brilliantly than the rest of the stars above them. Silver threads of light crawled up Violet’s arms from her hands, intricate symbols of a language long dead. They made their way across her shoulders and down her chest to a point in her abdomen. It was slowly dismantling her from the inside out, the fruit of her extended life in this world alone. Clementine stared into those green eyes that had once captivated her. She placed her hands over hers, their fingers intertwining one last time. 

I’m sorry… I love you… Thank you for everything.

She walked in starlight in another world, and there she lie, among the silver and golden light of the stars, with violet petals circling her as she began leaving this world for the last time. And like the wind, she faded away on a gentle breath warmer than she could remember until there was no one there, leaving her alone under the stars.

When she’d finally awakened, she was in her own bed, attended by Ruby. The fierce red haired medic had told her everything that happened since she’d fell unconscious in the barn. It’d been a miracle that she’d survived after the fever that took her shortly after she’d came into the school on AJ’s wheelbarrow.

“You’re a fighter, Clem,” Ruby praised her, “Don’t ever lose that.”

Clementine nodded slowly at her friend’s words with a smile, “I won’t.”

A few days passed, and after Clementine had managed to get herself to walk properly, she’d ordered Tenn to show her where he buried Violet. He did so, reluctantly, and Clementine took her mare and rode down the riverbank. When she finally found the cross where her true burial place had been, she unmounted and slowly approached it, using her crutches for support. For one blissful moment, her mind was blank, filled only with the quiet music of running water and the harmony of birds in the trees nearby. The peace of it was so beautiful that it actually hurt, too lovely. Violet should still be here with her, but hopefully, they would meet again one day and dance among the stars.

So, she reached for her pockets and gently placed a bouquet of violet flowers on her grave, a sad smile gracing her lips as she prayed to her gods in silence, hoping that somewhere beyond their mortal world, Violet was at peace.

“I… I hope it’s nice where you are. I’ll never forget you, don’t ever forget that. I love you… I love you. I love you.”

Those were the only words she’d had to offer - she knew that words alone could never contain the love she had in her heart for the girl that struck across her own sky like a shooting star one blissful moment of beauty and meaning, until she was gone, but her own sky had been made brighter because of her.

Maybe we’ll learn to fly together someday.

[yellowsugarwords]

The Walking Dead Game FanFiction - “The Damaged Duo”

Title: The Damaged Duo Characters: Clementine, Javier Summary: A buddy cop Javier and Clem story in which Clementine lives in Prescott working solo and meets Javier; the new guy. When Javi is sent on a supply run, Clementine is sent with him as she knows the area. Things quickly turn south when Clementine twists her ankle saving Javi from a walker, and he is forced to carry her back, with Clem being snarky all the way. Author’s Note: omg I love them in this context Requested By: Anonymous support me with ko-fi ♡ ———♥️♥️♥️———- Clementine was known. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing but, at the same time, wasn’t a good thing either. Especially not in her case.

She had been living in Prescott for a while now and rather quickly became known as “the girl who got stuff done” despite her young age. If anyone within the town’s borders needed something — more rations, a village searched, supplies — Clementine was their girl. More often than not, she didn’t speak to anyone before darting out and returning a few hours later with exactly what they had asked for.

She was a loner, but she worked best that way. She and the rest of the town knew this well.

That was, until Javier Garcia came along. Then, things changed.

His family had been in Prescott for under 24 hours before he caught on to the style the girl had. However, problematically, he began to question it. She didn’t give a damn about what anyone said, and her lack of such thought pinned her as a risk to the adult.

Within their first two days he had demanded to know why officials were sending her alone to snatch some meds from a smaller village less than an hour away.

“She’s a child, you can’t send her out by herself!”

Needless to say, she was replaced. The idea that one man could wander into her town and start making demands, removing her from the independent spot she had worked herself into, infuriated her. Luckily for her, she was determined to ensure it didn’t last forever, and her chance to prove it was dangling in front of her nose.

The Garcia family had been in Prescott for officially 48 hours now and yet, somehow, Javier was already accepted into the officials circle where they went through tasks that needed to be completed. Their group went over who would be doing what, and she was determined to take whatever time she had in the limelight to prove that she could handle whatever she was assigned.

“We need someone to snag some supplies from the abandoned warehouse about an hour south. Apparently the group that was there has since abandoned the place.”

With her chest puffed out, eyes gleaming in excitement with an urge for success, she parted her lips to speak.

“I’ll do it.”

She froze, the moment her lungs collapsed in exasperation crystallized as Javier waved his hand, flashing a cheeky grin towards the leader of their meeting.

“That’d be great, thank you.”

Shaking her head, shattering herself from her numb state, she scoffed. “He can’t go, are you kidding me?” Her wrists flapped before her, her stance one of disbelief. “He just got here. He doesn’t know the location yet and,” she hesitated, casting him a side-eye. “Who knows if he’s trustworthy.”

Javi smirked, his body jostling with the signs of an internalized scoff. “Nobody here should expect or trust a child to go and cart back loads of supplies alone.”

There was that word again. Child. How small exactly did he think she was? Her eyes narrowed at the thought.

The leader of the meeting gave a weak snort, rubbing the bridge of his nose in astonished exhaustion. “You both have fair points.” He mumbled into the palm of his hand. He removed it, staring both of the two down, watching as their eyes tore from one another and landed on him. “That’s why you should go together.”

Clementine snorted, her crossed arms collapsing to her sides. As she gave her chuckle, Javi merely smirked at the preposition. “Seriously?” She gave an amused sigh. “No, that’s not happening.”

That’s exactly what happened.

Within half an hour the two had started down the south-bound dirt road towards the warehouse. Luckily for both of them, Clementine knew where she was going. After all, she had been the one that located the place to begin with.

“You know, I’m not as weak as you clearly think I am.”

“Oh really?”

She could feel her eyebrow twitch. “First of all, I’m not a kid. I’m older than you seem to think. Second, I’m also tougher and stronger than you seem to think.”

Javi chuckled, shooting an amused grin towards the girl. She returned it with a bitter glare. “I have two kids with us that are around your age. I know what they’re capable of.” He shook his head. “You’re all still kids. You shouldn’t need to take on these kinds of responsibilities yet.”

“Well they aren’t me.” Her eyes narrowed. “That’s the difference.”

“You’d be surprised at what they’ve been through. What’ve seen. They’re pretty capable.”

“They haven’t seen half of what I have.” She countered, her bitterness subsiding, a hint of sorrow creeping in. She fought it back so she could finish her thinly veiled threat. “So try me.”

For the most part during their walk, Javi kept his mouth shut as best as he could. Her threat, while he found it adorable opposed to actually threatening, gave him the impression that if he hoped to keep a spot in Prescott, he’d better get on her good side. Clearly, she was in with the rest of the town despite them agreeing she can’t do everything by herself. It didn’t seem like that would stop her, however. She was an asset to them, and if he wanted his family to remain safe there he assumed he’d better keep himself on good terms with their child star.

Upon reaching the warehouse, Javi reached back, removing his bat from his holster. He took a deep breath as they drew closer, readying himself for whatever was within the walls.

“Okay, so I think we should–” Turning to his side to continue, Javi was horrified to see that Clementine was no longer at his side. Instead, ripping his gaze further back, he watched a side door gently click closed.

Clementine.

Immediately he darted after her, not hesitating as he threw open the door and tugged it quietly shut. Of course, before him already scoping out boxes was Clementine, rummaging around in one she had already pried open.

His hands fell at his sides exasperated. “You can’t just walk in without backup.” He retorted growing closer, not wanting to be too loud. After all, they hadn’t had a chance to scope out the area.

“I’ve done this countless times before alone.” She retorted, removing a handgun from the box, waving it in his direction and tossing it into her bag. “And yet here I am, still alive.”

“Not for much longer with that attitude.” His brows pressed, shoulders rigid and tense as he studied the area. “We haven’t even scouted the area yet.”

“That doesn’t matter as long as we’re careful.” She retorted, rolling her eyes into the box, snagging some loose bullets rolling around on the bottom. “Stop being paranoid and start looking for stuff. That’s what we came for.”

Just as Clementine turned ready to start another box, a crashing sound resonated from around the corner. Instantly, the two whipped around to see where it had come from. The stack of boxes just beside the one Clementine had been searching had collapsed due to contact, scattering weaponry all across the floor.

The two were silent for a split-second, studying sounds entering the air.

“Shit.” Clementine groaned, throwing herself onto the floor. “Grab whatever you can. We gotta move.”

Without debate, Javi obeyed, stuffing the loose pellets and bullets into his bag and pockets as quickly as possible while Clementine stuffed any garden tools, guns or decent weaponry into her bag. They were in such a frantic mess Clementine didn’t take the chance to mock him for finally obeying her orders without question.

“Okay, now we gotta–” Clementine hadn’t gotten the sentence out before she glanced up, already spotting walkers lurking in from all sides of the warehouse. She grunted, throwing herself to her feet and ripping her axe out from her back pocket. “Mega shit.”

“Who taught you how to curse like that?” Javi spat, scanning the room quickly and swiftly before snagging a pitchfork from his side, stabbing the walker looming over it.

“Plenty of people.” She spat through a grunt, slamming a walker through the forehead before kicking it off, plowing it into the two fumbling behind it. “Don’t focus on my language, focus on taking these things out.”

All they needed was to clear out enough so that they could safely make it to the exit. While Javi was busy dealing with any blocking the doorway, Clementine was handing any that were approaching behind him so they had enough time and space to make their getaway.

Clementine turned, hoping to see how in the clear they were, spotted a walker creeping in and growing dangerously close to Javi’s blind side. She could feel her pupils dilate, fixating on her single and only target.

“Javi!” Without thinking twice she leapt forwards, throwing her axe perfectly into the side of the walker’s head just barely before he got within arms reach of her partner. Instantly, the beast lifelessly crumpled to the floor, but the moment Clementine felt her feet hit the ground she followed suit.

The instant her shoe hit the concrete floor she could feel her ankle give way, the odd, crooked way she landed putting intense pressure onto her foot. With a wail, her eyelids squeezing in agony, she collapsed onto the floor with a grunt.

“Clemen–?” Javi cut himself off as he spun around, noticing the girl struggling to get herself back onto her feet. He could tell by the faint quaking of her leg that she wasn’t doing well. Deep down, he knew there was no way she’d be able to walk out of here on her own.

As quickly as possible, he gave a brief once over of their surroundings. They’d be cutting it close if they were able to make it out of there at all, but if cutting it close or calling it quits were his options, he refused to let an abandoned warehouse and a stubborn teen be the death of him.

After stabbing a walker looming dangerously close, he threw his weapon back with it, knocking over any walkers in the path of the one slain. He dipped down, tossing her backpack over one shoulder and aggressively hoisting the child into his arms. “Hold on tight.” He grunted, darted for the door, plowing down any and every object in his way.

He could feel her hands grip tightly onto his shirt fabric, only allowing one to be free to help shove the door open. The moment it was open, her death grip returned.

It had been a solid few minutes of running, trying to garner as much distance as possible from the warehouse, before Javier’s running slowed even slightly. “You know,” he started, attempting to collect his breath. Already Clementine could detect incoming sarcasm. “For someone who’s seen a lot of shit you sure do act first and think later.”

Clementine, crossing her arms despite being in his hold, wound her eyes shut and raised an eyebrow. “It works when I’m alone.”

He chuckled, inhaling sharply before and after before speaking. “But you aren’t working alone anymore, are you?”

Her eyes opened, both eyebrows raising in suspicion. “This was a one time thing. Don’t get the wrong idea.”

“Well you probably won’t be working too well alone with a sprained ankle, now will you?”

Her eyes rolled. “Shut up.”

“You really do owe me one.” He scoffed. “This floral backpack so doesn’t go with my shoes.”

Clementine snorted. “I got it when I was a kid, can you give me a break?”

“Are you not still a kid?” Without even looking he could feel her squirm, desperate to shoot some kind of glare into his gaze that was squarely fixated forwards.

“You’d better hope you are nowhere near me once I can walk.”

“Ah, so now you aren’t even a kid. You’re just a toddler.”

Whack!

“Don’t beat me! I can and will drop you.”

“Try me.”

Thump!

“Ow! What the hell?” ———♥️♥️♥️———-

[heartslogos]

seas who could sing so deep and strong [19]

Judge thinks that the Void has definitely fucked them up. Some more than others. Judge thinks that the Void took a ship of children - albeit the children of scientists and soldiers, and everything that means - and turned them into flesh-sculpted bombs. The Orokin then took those flesh-shaped bombs and molded them, sculpted them, tailored them, to go off on people who were not them.

The Void, and the Orokin, have messed them up in so many ways.

One of those ways is that Judge sees it. He sees it.

He sees it the instant Kore sees it. He sees Kore seeing it. Judge, from all the way over here in this dim lighting, sees the way Kore’s eyes go round. He sees the way her pupils dilate a ridiculous amount and the way her mouth slightly falls open and he can hear the slight intake of her breath.

Judge sees it when Kore’s eyes and face go round and soft in a way he’s never seen before when they weren’t in the presence of some sort of new and deadly weapon.

“No, it’s - it’s disturbing,” Judge says. “No. It’s - it’s - it’s just. It’s disturbing.”

“Is it?” Kore breathes, fascinated by the mass of - brown. It’s some sort of large quadrupedal mass of brown fur and teeth. It’s hulking and massive and its entire body moves with a gravity Judge has never seen before. It doesn’t move like an Infested - the have a sort of lumbering, jerking gait. And their bodies writhe and shiver and undulate. Judge hasn’t seen anything else of this organic size.

Corpus, of course, have things this big but those are machines and have a very clean and easily understandable way of moving.

This?

This is - it’s -

“No,” Judge says.

“I can’t have it?” Kore whispers, face pulling down into something Judge can only describe as sad and bratty. She turns away from the thing to pout at him. An actual hand to Void pout. Judge has slipped into a parallel dimension. He must have.

Also -

Since when did Kore care if Judge said no? Since when did Kore put Judge in charge of her life choices?

“No. You can’t have it. For one thing it’s huge and won’t even fit on your ship - “

Kore grabs his arm, strong hands squeezing hard as she shakes him, eyes widening further as she stares at something. Judge turns and sees - little ones. Little ones in the same general vein as the big one, but littler.

“Void and stars,” Judge whimpers as Kore’s mouth splits into the widest smile he’s seen this side of a fire-fight with Grineer Executioners.

“There’s three of them,” Kore bounces a little, “Stay here and keep tabs on them I’m going to get my Oberon.”

“We don’t even know what they are! They could be dragons for all we know!” Judge complains as Kore quickly scuttles off into the forest to where they parked their retrieval ships.

The larger brown mass’ ears suddenly flick and it turns its stout, wide face to look directly at him.

Judge’s stomach drops out of his body.

“Kore?”

It’s teeth - it’s fangs - are huge. Judge’s vision focuses on them for a second before the whole scene pans out around him.

The two little versions of the big one have run to climb up a tree.

The big one has reared up on its hind legs and it is - oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. It’s uh. It’s massive. It is - it is way beyond massive.

It’s like twice the size of Atlas massive.

“Kore?” Judge repeats, slowly easing back onto the balls of his feet and bracing to fucking run for it. Hell, Void jump if he has to. “Kore don’t come back here.”

“I’m getting it.”

“Kore it’s going to kill me.”

“Don’t hurt it! Judge! Don’t you dare hurt it! If even a single hair follicle on any of them is so much as singed - “

“Kore, I’m going to get mauled by an unknown Earth predator!”

“You’re a Tenno, Judge, hold it off.”

-

“I don’t understand the seemingly universal fascination with Clem,” Kore announces through their private channel as they walk through Earth’s Strata Relay. Judge’s head is still spinning with dealing with Suda and Simaris. Both Cephalon are more alike than they care to be told, and they’d been throwing thinly veiled passive aggressive jabs at each other using him as a messenger for the better part of two hours.

“What?”

“I was in the Steel Meridian offices,” Kore says, “And there was a huge crowd around Clem. I gave up on trying to turn in my insignias to the proper station and dumped them on the nearest Meridian member to process for me.”

Judge imagines Kore in the incredibly menacing and ominous Nekros of hers losing her patience and dumping all of that on a poor low ranked Meridian officer. He decides that this image is incredibly entertaining considering that every time he walks past the Steel Meridian outposts they just laugh at him.

It’s his proximity to Kore, he knows. They think he’s funny for - being with? Befriending? Generally hanging around? Kore.

He probably shouldn’t enjoy Kore giving people grief, but they make fun of him all the time, so…

“They weren’t even giving him insignias,” Kore sneers, tapping the long fingers of Nekros’ frame against a lean thigh, “It’s so annoying. What’s with everyone? Why is Clem so special?”

Judge shrugs, “He’s a defector?”

“We know tons of defectors. We save the lives of defectors. Defectors work with the Lotus and with the Steel Meridian and with the Arbiters and the Red Veil and everyone in between. I don’t see anyone fawning over them. Why can’t they crowd somewhere less important to syndicate functions?”

“Calm down,” Judge says, dispersing some of Nekros’ vibrant red energy that leaks out of her hands, “You’re going to get us kicked out.”

“I will not,” Kore huffs, shaking Nekros’ hands a little. “How were things with the Cephalons?”

“Passive aggressive and stressful,” Judge replies, “Somewhere in there I think one of them made a request for something but I’d have to go over my recordings to make sure. Honestly, I think I just zoned out for two hours.”