#im working late today so its FINE but like. AUGH. augh.

[sparring-spirals]

Listening to Neverafter episode 9 chunks while multitasking in prep for todays ep, only to get well and thoroughly derailed by Pinnochio's scene with Geppetto because. god. god. shit. the entire thing is heartbreaking on so many levels, its unfair and upsetting for Pinnochio and the question of why he gets punished so harshly for these things other kids get to do- (aaaaAAAAAHHH)

and in addition to. fucking everything else about it. it really captures beautifully, the specific rage and hurt and helplessness of being a child, when people won't listen to you. the people who should, who need to, who are supposed to care about you, not listening, and the ways kids get hurt and lost and minimized as a result. Getting the lecture and the reprimand when you need someone to listen, to understand. When Pinnochio says "Sometimes you need to lie", and all Geppetto hears is the moral and not the desperation, not the child, terrified. fucking devastating.

"he didn't understand. if he'd been there- if he'd seen-".

(although. at least. we get the small, small comfort of him coming back and the entire party, tentatively asking him: hey. we saw that. hey, are you good? im so sorry. he loves you but he shouldn't have said that. you were right. im sorry. are you okay? you didnt deserve that. you didnt. you were right. you deserved better. you didn't deserve that.)

(and, of course, the righteous anger at the turquose fairy when she tries to shame Pinnochio- the wall of noise of everyone yelling "Its NORMAL." "Withholding information is JUST AS BAD AS LYING-". A wall of noise, crowded around Pinnochio, trying to keep him safe).

[happiiest]

💆

[datela-vodenit]

Babysitting (Wildstar fic)

Since people liked the drawing, this is what I came up with in the hours I had free today. Grammar and spelling mistakes might happen, but hopefully you guys enjoy. :)

Taren peeked around the corner of an empty crate. It was a perfect night for a sneak around a dominion camp. The aurin hadn’t really partaken in stealth missions too often, but for the right price, he couldn’t pass up the offer. His bots were in a bush somewhere, waiting for his signal. From the looks of it, the camp mainly consisted of draken warriors. At least he’d have a better chance at getting away quickly, their armor doesn’t exactly look built for speed. Then he noticed their supply tent, a guard at the side of it. Taren ducked back behind the crate again and took out a laser tether along with a small remote. Taking a deep breath, he pressed a button on the remote. In the distance, he heard the explosion of a ton grenades, as well as the chirping of his bots.

Their distraction seemed to have worked, all of the draken had taken up arms and started to make their way towards the ruckus. Taren made a beeline for the supply tent, relieved to see that it was free of guards. He skidded to a halt in front of a mountain of crates. “Woah!” He exclaimed proudly. “I mean, I hit the jackpot, just a shame I can’t take all of ‘em.”

He triggered the tether and tied it around three heavy crates. Clunk! Taren jumped at the sound of a pile of spears falling behind him. Whipping out a pistol, he turned around to face whoever made the noise. To his surprise, it wasn’t who he was expecting. He gazed down at a tinier version of a draken. The child was a dark brown and auburn color with blonde hair and green eyes. They were decorated with necklaces, bones, and red rags. The kid hastily lifted a large spear and pointed it Taren. “Go away!” They cried, baring their rounded fangs.

Taren lowered the pistol and grunted, “I can’t deal with this now…”

He then pointed the pistol behind the tent and began to shoot holes to tear out and escape. It was then that the draken child screeched. Taren flinched and tried shushing at them, but it was already too late - the mother had already showed up. She was a much bulkier version of the child, venom eyes gleaming maliciously at Taren. “Oh, uhm, hello Missus! You’re child is misbehaving a bit…”

He didn’t have time to recover before the draken lunged at him and plunged them both out of the tear. She slashed towards Taren’s chest, but he managed to snatch the clawed hand before she made a mark. She did the same thing with the other hand, but he caught the other as well. Taren whistled shrilly, calling at his Bruiserbot. The robot answered immediately, letting the Artillery bot do his fiery business with the other draken. The bruiser bashed into the draken mother and stunned her. Taking the chance, Taren stood up and bolted for the crates. Luckily, it seemed like the child had run off and the tethered crates were still there. He took up the tether and whistled for his bots to follow him.

The trio met up at a grinder bike and attached the crates behind it. “Good work, guys.” The aurin praised his companions, who bleeped cheerfully.

Taren heard the screams of the draken behind him, who were close behind. Taking a hint, he started up the grinder and began his journey home. The group of draken behind him quickly grew smaller as he rode off into the horizon. He chuckled to himself and relaxed his arms. Now, he set his destination to the nearest exile camp.

-0-

Taren pulled into the entrance of the camp where a woman and a granok were waiting for him. “Sorry I couldn’t get anymore,” He apologized to the granok soldier.

Before he could continue speaking, the granok cut him off and reassured, “Don’t worry, kid! You did what you could, whatever’s in these crates should be enough for the camp.”

The woman approached him and tossed him a bag of coins. “Here’s your payment, cupcake. Thanks for the help.” She smiled, giving him a friendly wink.

“Well, thanks for the job! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be-”

“Wait a sec…” The granok interrupted him once more.

Taren looked towards the soldier and gasped loudly. The granok was holding up the draken child from before, struggling to keep a grasp on the thrashing gremlin. “Ah… we didn’t order a draken with our supplies.”

“B-But, he wasn’t there before! I mean, he probably slipped into the crates while I wasn’t looking!” Taren cried out in confusion. “Sir, I wasn’t meaning to take him too!”

“Alright, alright, kid! You gotta get this kid back to where he belongs before his parents come lookin’ for ‘im!”

“What?! No, no, no, no, no! I just got back from a near death experience!”

“Well, death ain’t done wit yah yet!” The granok growled, holding out the draken to him - who started reaching for him angrily. “The draken know who you are and if they find yah, they might kill yah!” The woman agreed, “It might be the best option you have. Just give them back the kid, but don’t let them see you!”

Taren had lost the fight. His shoulders slumped forward, holding out his arms to take hold of the pissy child. The draken dropped into his arms and the kid started to bite at him. “AGH!” Taren yelped, fixing the kid upside down so his claws or teeth wouldn’t reach him… but his feet did.

“Die! Die!” The child shrieked as he kicked at Taren’s face.

The granok whispered to the woman, “Wonder if that was baby’s first words.”

Taren’s bots hummed humorously, amused by the comment. Taren scoffs and goes for the tether. He manages to wraps it around the draken and sets him atop the grinder, keeping a hand on the kid’s head so he doesn’t escape. Taren sighs and looks towards the exile pair for help, but only received shrugs. Closing his eyes, he tells himself, “Well… it’s the right thing to do…”

When all was decided, Taren sits down behind the draken and revs up the bike. His bots chirp at him curiously, but he holds up a hand, “Ah, actually guys, you should sit this one out. If I’m lucky, this shouldn’t take long… plus there’s no room, sorry.”

The two bots whined sadly, Taren feeling slightly guilty for having to leave his pals. “Don’t worry, everything’ll be fine and I’ll be back before you know it.” He then looked up to the exiles and said, “Can you watch ‘em for me?”

The woman nodded, “Sure thing, they’ll be here when you get back.”

“Tha- KBFF!” The child had headbutted Taren’s chin, stopping him from finishing his sentence.

Taren grumbled, “Alright, I’m off.”

-0-

This was a real drag for Taren. He had spent all morning, trying to stay awake while avoiding headbutts and shoves from the draken child. Luckily, the kid was getting tired and slowly drifting to sleep. Hearing the snores of the child almost made Taren fall asleep too. “Ugh… this won’t end well if I don’t get any sleep.” He mumbled under his breath.

He pulled the grinder over towards a cave he spotted and parked it outside. Taking up the child, he carried him into shelter and set him down. He shivered, he would need to get a fire going before getting rest. Gathering the necessary supplies, he began to make his fire, carefully watching the kid while he was doing so. Taren reminisced as early as he could to his childhood. He certainly wasn’t this annoying as a kid. Did he ever kick his dad in the face? No! Actually, he might’ve tried kicking his dad once or twice… but it wasn’t in the face!

He managed to get the kindling fired up, placing it under a bundle of sticks and letting it do its work. Taren sighed happily and slouched over. “Finally… I can get some sleep now…” He groaned, even though the glow of morning was starting to rise over the horizon.

Taren let himself flop to the floor, making one more final check on the draken. Then, he closed his eyes, letting all the stress wash away from him.

CHOMP! Taren woke up to pointy teeth digging into his scalp. “AUGH!”

The draken child had woken up before him and started chowing down on his head. His bites were weak, but strong enough to remain latched to the aurin’s head. Taren ripped the kid off and gave him a stern glare. The child spat out any hairs he took with him and hissed. “Oh, you think you’re tough stuff, huh?” Taren barked. “You’re lucky I’m a nice guy or else I probably would’ve ditched you when I-”

Taren stopped himself there. The draken seemed to be puzzled at Taren’s sudden change in mood. A few moments after, Taren came to and knitted his brows together, “No biting anymore, you got me?”

“Psh… okay…” The kid growled, pursing his lips.

Taren then sat the draken down, giving himself a moment to breath and glance outside. The sun was just touching the edge of the ground, meaning he had little to no sleep. Seeing this made Taren fall back to the ground, rubbing his eyes with annoyance - this draken brat was going to be the end of him. A faint roar caught his attention and he sat right back up. It was gone for a second, but came back again. He realized that it wasn’t exactly coming from a beast though. The sound was coming from the kid’s stomach. “I’m hungry!” The child yelled, pounding his feet on the ground.

Hearing this also made Taren’s stomach growl. He breathed through his nose and nodded his head, “Me too. Wait here.”

Taren left for the grinder and fished out one of his backpacks. He took it back into the cave and sat in front of the fussy draken. Taren stuck his hand into the bag for a moment, but then had a thought. He raised a brow towards the draken and lifted his hand out, setting it on his knee. “Now, if you want food, you have to tell me your name and say ‘please.’”

“No!”

“Tch, that was very rude. I don’t think I want to give you food now.”

“Raaah!”

“Name and some thanks, please!”

The draken thought it over and mumbled out, “Zaku…”

“And?”

“Food, please.”

Taren smiled brightly and took out some jerky. “Alright, here you-”

He noticed that the draken can’t really take the food with all the tether still around him. Hesitantly, Taren reach towards the tether and switched it off. Despite being surprised by the aurin’s actions, Zaku swiped at the jerky and started gnawing on it. “Can I get a ‘thank you?”’ Taren complained.

“Mpbhbbh.”

“I guess I’ll take that.” Taren sat back, watching the child scarf down his food. “So, Zaku, huh? Cool name! My name’s Taren!”

This is how Davvik got on his good side, right? Give the kid food and they’ll like you? Although, Taren will have to find a way to teach this kid not to chew with his mouth open. Zaku finished off the last stick of his jerky and smudged the crumbs off his face. He crawled towards Taren and held out a clawed hand, “More!”

“Hey! You can’t have more food talking to me like that! I need to eat too as well!”

“MORE!”

“NO!” Taren tried pushing away at Zaku, but the child persisted.

Taren swatted away at the child, making him land on the ground with a loud thud. Zaku slowly sat up, sniffing with a sad frown on his face. Taren’s sneer turned into a look of regret. The draken started whimpering and tearing up. “Oh shoot…” Taren muttered.

He looked down at his bag and saw a single stick of jerky left. Taren approached the kid and kneeled with stick in hand. “Okay, I’m going to give it to you,” he said, keeping it away from Zaku’s grabby palms. “But you should talk to people like that, ever! It’s rude and hurts people. Now, will you behave?”

Zaku lowered his hands and looked down. He finally squeaked out, “Not hungry.”

His clawed hands pressed onto Taren’s hands and pushed them towards the aurin’s chest. Taren wasn’t really expecting that, maybe the kid wasn’t so bad after all. He smiled at the kid and bowed his head, “Thank you, Zaku. That was really good.”

Zaku crossed his arms and legs, turning himself away from Taren. With that, Taren ate the last stick and closed the bag. Taren then stood up and stamped out the fire, turning to Zaku and explaining, “Hey, we’re gonna need to leave soon. When we get to your mommy, I need to you to say anything of what’s happened between you and me. Do you understand?”

The draken tilted his head to the side. “Don’t tell your mommy about me, okay?” Taren repeated slowly.

“Why?”

“W-Why? She might… hurt me.”

“Nu-uh, Mommy nice.” Zaku firmly stated.

Taren snickered nervously, “Ahhhhh, I don’t know about that.”

“Mommy. Nice.”

Taren rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, kid. Come on, let’s get going.”

Zaku got up in a flash and ran outside, Taren closely behind. So far so good, Taren thought fondly, helping Zaku onto the bike. They resumed their journey, nearing the camp.

-0-

“I gotta pee!”

The grinder screeched as Taren slammed on the brakes. Zaku leapt out of the seat and towards a stray bush. Taren wiped his forehead, knowing that could’ve been a disaster had the child not said anything. While the child was doing his business, Taren was taking the time to think about how hard it must’ve been for Davvik to take care of him - on a spaceship no less. Having to teach him from the ground up. For all the flack that he gives Dav, he really does appreciate what the mordesh has done for him, despite never really being vocal about it. Perhaps he was a bad child. Taren slumped down in his seat, starting to doze off from lack of sleep.

His eyes started to blink to a close until his vision was completely dark.

“AAAAAHHH!”

Zaku’s screech woke him up. Two pumera were haunched, creeping their way towards a fallen draken child. Taren immediately took action and whipped out his big gun. “HEY!” He shouted after the pumera. “Over here, pussy cats!”

The pumera lunged towards him, Taren back up while aiming his gun towards them. Taren was about to pull the trigger when he backed up into a bolder behind him, breaking his focus. To his surprise, the pumera had stopped chasing him and quickly dashed in the opposite direction. Taren’s face fell as he figured out what was going on, “I have a feeling this is going to be… very bad…”

The boulder behind him began to rise from the ground, dirt and rocks crumbling away from the shell of a huge boulderback. Taren stood in shock, clutching his gun. The monstrosity looked a little too big for his liking though. There was only one thing he could do. “Zaku, get to the bike!” He shouted at the child.

The boulderback roared, signaling Zaku to rush towards the grinder. Taren swiftly joined him there, nearly get crushed by the beast’s pillar-like legs. He started revved up the grinder and sped away, the boulderback shrinking from their sight. Zaku giggled at their escape, looking up at Taren to see if he was laughing too - he wasn’t. “Uhm… you good, Zaku?” He asked quietly.

Zaku nodded vigorously and smiled. That was enough to put Taren at ease and he returned to a calmer state. “Alright, let’s finish this journey.”

-0-

They had reached the outskirts of the camp in the evening, the sun preparing to set. Taren got off the bike, lowering Zaku’s tiny legs onto the ground. The draken was already making his way towards the camp hastily, until Taren ran in front of him. “Woah woah woah!” Taren abruptly yelped. “Remember to keep your promise.”

“Huh?” Zaku crooned, tilting his head again.

Taren sighed and knelt in front of the child, “Don’t tell your mother about me, ever! Don’t say my name, don’t tell her I rescued you, just say you got lost or something.”

Zaku twiddled his thumbs together, finally getting what Taren means. “Come back?” He asked shyly, a twinkle of hope in his eyes.

“Me? Ah, I can’t.”

Zaku’s lip quivered softly, “Why?”

“Uh… Cause I don’t think your mommy would like that.” Taren bluntly stated, his voice cracking slightly.

The draken shook his head and wrapped his arms around Taren’s shoulders. “Stay, my friend!” Zaku begged.

This touched the aurin’s heart as he hugged Zaku back, “I know, but I can’t! I just can’t do that.”

His arms clenched tighter around Taren’s neck, not wanting to let go. Taren breathed deeply, rubbing the child’s back. A thought came to mind and he pulled the draken away, “Maybe someday we’ll see each other again. Maybe when you’re older.”

“Then you stay?”

“Uhm… we’ll see.”

Zaku looked down towards the camp, where his kind were bustling about. He saw his mother and started towards her. But he stopped and turned to Taren. Zaku went for Taren’s hand, “Come!”

Taren winced in anxiety. He wanted to grant Zaku at least one last walk before he had to go. Maybe he could make it to a rock before he would let Zaku go free. “Alright, Zaku, I’ll walk with you, but then I have to go. Okay?” He told the youngling.

Zaku nodded and smiled. They made their way silently towards the camp, Taren taking each step cautiously. There was something about hold the hand of the enemy’s child that felt so… awkward. Of course, the draken were an enemy of the exiles, but Taren couldn’t help but feel if everyone acted like Zaku the factions would get along better - minus the clawing and kicking. Maybe he just had to give a few of them some jerky and they’d calm down. They had made it to a decently sized boulder and Taren crouched down behind it. He held Zaku’s tiny palm in his hands and gleamed, “It was nice to meet you, Zaku. I hope we can see each other again.”

“Yeah!” Zaku cheered, giving one last hug to the aurin.

“See you later, bud.”

And with that, Zaku rushed towards his mother. Taren watched as the older draken’s expression lit up at the sight of her young. She ran towards Zaku and lifted him off the ground, spinning him in her arms and squeezing him tightly. Taren smiled at the sight and leaned his head into his hand; he was glad to have done some good.

“HEY!”

Taren nearly jumped out of his skin hearing one of the draken warriors roaring behind him. The draken had snatched his collar and held him up in the air. “I found him!” The soldier growled, throwing him towards Zaku’s mother.

Taren thumped onto the ground, glancing up at a furious looking draken lady. “Taren!” Zaku shouted, swiftly covering his mouth.

His mother raised a brow curiously. “You steal my kid, furball?” She questioned menacingly.

Taren slowly lifted himself onto his knees and shook his head, quietly admitting, “I didn’t take him, I just returned hi-”

“Her.”

Taren did a double take, “Pardon?”

“My daughter, you didn’t steal her?”

It took Taren a moment to answer, but he did so with a lilt of confusion, “I found hi- her in one of your supply boxes. I just thought… it was the right thing to bring her back to you.”

The draken’s eyes squinted. She didn’t really look like she was buying into it and the rest of her posse didn’t really seem to be convinced either. She looked to her child and questioned, “Did he steal you, Zakura?”

Zaku looked to Taren then back at her mother and shook her head, “No. I follow.”

The mother made a noise of disappointment, “You should not go following after bad people on your own.”

“Taren’s not bad!” Zaku yelled. “Taren’s my friend!”

The mother looked back at Taren, who was sweating nervously, wondering how he was going to walk away from this. The draken lady sighed and softened her expression slightly, “If my daughter is telling the truth, you are truly lucky, fuzzball.”

Taren looked up at her hopefully. “Get out of my sight before I change my mind.” She sneered, not even giving Taren a side glance.

He stood up in disbelief, Zaku smiling down at him. Taren bowed his head and simply said, “Thank you, ma’am.”

“What did I say?”

Taren stumbled away, looking back and waving at Zaku. She waved back at him gleefully, standing on her mother’s shoulders. He could hear her faint goodbye as he made his way back to his bike. Smiling to himself he sat down on the bike, taking out his communicator and tapping a series of buttons. It rang until he could hear the voice of Davvik, “Hello?”

“Hey, Dad.”

“What’s going on, Taren?”

“Ah… just wanted to talk for a bit… to say thanks ‘n all… for everything.”