#inky bby

[neoninky]

Well this post happened which led to me doing this ridiculously cute doodle:

Everyone say thank you to @hanafubukki and @masquerade-of-misery this is completely their fault lol Sigh....and now I'm going to work on Chapter 4 of Her Devoted Shield so we can see more of Lilia and da canon bois *rolls out*

Oh wait- I also posted an official profile for my OC, Astrid, yesterday with a drawing I did. I want to do more art for my OCs so keep an eye out for those.

Tagging peeps just in case they need a serotonin boost: @nuitthegoddess @iscarlettappel @foxwitchaine @wysteriadelights @valy-gc @victoria1676 @aiimee9 @feldya @aquaburst3 @sillyfatherof3 @therealmalleusdraconia

[cloudcountry]

vincent: hey auburn :D theo told me you like my paintings! i am honored. do you know about this one? oo is it popular in your time? *shows starry night*

auburn, opens mouth, takes deep breath: The Starry Night (Dutch: De sterrennacht) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise, with the addition of an imaginary village.[1][2][3] It has been in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City since 1941, acquired through the Lillie P. Bliss Bequest. Widely regarded as Van Gogh's magnum opus,[4][5] The Starry Night is one of the most recognizable paintings in Western art.[6][7]-

vincent:

theo: shes good at this

I HAD A VISCERAL REACTION TO THIS ASK I HOPE YOU REALIZE THAT (it was a good one)

day like 187 of me not understanding why mc was so calm around LITERAL VAN GOGH i would have humiliated myself i would have blabbered i would have lot my mind i would have jitter and scrambled i would have dumped so much information and question i would choked on my own spit and died in front of him

[fullscoreshenanigans]

#I headcannoned him more southeast asian #so that’s kinda what this is #but then my sister said Latino Ray #and she is honestly so right

Ray from The Promised Neverland this time!

[trashmouth-richie]

Alright, babe. Let's do Angsty, and your words are: crunch and parking lot

xo -Amanda

@curiositydooropened you asked for angst and bby i’m delivering hot and ready in 30 minutes or less, like surfer boys pizza or a real horny boyfriend. 🍆💦

18+ HEAVY ANGST, upside down themes, s1 canon events with reader thrown into the mix. you’re dating eddie! yay!

<650 words

send me a prompt! from this post :)

A strong western wind bristled the leaves.

Wrestling colors of burnt persimmon and chestnut hues around in a whimsical swirl of a colorful tornado. Some stuck to the inky wet of the grass from the early morning rain. Others found their way like Magellan to a faraway land (a nearby leaf pile) or maybe into the yard of a lucky kid able to rake enough of them up to earn a few dimes in the pockets of their Levi’s. 

It was chilly for the unusual Indian Summer Hawkins was experiencing this fall. As if winter broke through the endless seams of  the late humid summer, demanding to be felt, to be seen.

Could you do that? Be seen? 

You heard the screech of the ailing boy nights before. The squeal of tires from the police station. His mother—you presumed, frantically called his name into the town, like a lone wolf howling into the harvest moon hung sky. 

Yet, the boy remained missing. 

Would you be missed…like the Byers’ boy? Who would call for you? Would he?

Flyers went up, crunching beneath the metallic thump of a steel staple. Into telephone posts, poked through cork boards around the school with colorful tacs. Taped to pay phones and called across radio stations. 

Eddie had assured you that he had probably run away, typical for kids that age who didn’t get what they wanted. But you felt something. Heard things in the night while curled into his chest. It spoke to you. Begged you to look for It.. 

Barbara Holland went missing. Last seen at a party of Harrington’s that you heard him loudly strutting around the hallways about to impress the quiet, pretty freshman girl. 

Again, you told your boyfriend of your worries. Cried to him about the lack of sleep you’d been getting, the nightmarish creatures you’d seen when your eyes were closed. He pulled you into him, forefinger hooked under your jaw, and like a fish on a line, you succumbed to him. It was hard not to when somebody loved you the way Eddie did. 

Had it been days? You couldn’t be sure. 

Street lights flickered. They always did at Eddie’s— it was normal. But maybe you should have been more self-aware. Maybe you would have noticed It. 

Long spindly arms clawed at your coat as you ran, bony fingers hooked into the belt around your waist, pulling you back, further and further towards the opening at the base of a tree. 

You fought, clawed at dirt and muck and shit to escape its clutches. Badly bleeding, injured, breaths away from death— until you weren’t. Until you were somehow nestled beneath foliage— safe, hiding, alone. 

The treeline behind the trailer park was where you laid. Unable to make a sound, caked with dried blood, colored dark on your body, the sharp stink of infection and decay permeated the chilly air, and you knew it was from you. 

Would he know how much you loved him? How proud of him you were for sticking up for kids who needed it?

You’d miss his smile, his dimples, that giddy dorky laugh he couldn’t hide when you tickled his sides. The way butterflies swarmed in your stomach when he kissed you.

Would he miss you…cry for you?

You lie in wait watching the leaves scatter across the dirt parking lot. Body cold and broken, blood trickling to the earth. Time ticking down to what could possibly be your inevitable end. 

[ask-thedevilishinkman]

no inky today BUUUTT ☝️

I thought I should show you his bby brother, bendy

I was also thinking if I should drop more BATIM OCS cuz why not lol

[droewyn]

I DID AN OOPSIE

Okay, so context is important here.

This is Spriggan.

This is Spriggan’s not-so-smol son, Captain Toebeans T. McGillicuddy Wildboi I.

Yes, their names are immaculate.  Yes, Cap has thumbs.  Also yes, if you look into one ear, you can see clear through to the other side.

Spriggan was a roughly one-year-old adult feral cat when we trapped her in our backyard on Halloween night, 2019.  We’d caught Cap about a week prior, and he was about 16 weeks old.

Cap assimilated pretty well for a kitten who was too old to be adoptable.  He loves my husband, his mother, and Alisaie beyond life.  He likes me okay.  He’s terrified of my father-in-law.  Very few other humans have ever seen him.

Alisaie isn’t relevant to this story, but here she is anyway.  You know that meme that was going around that was like “which cat is the bby and which is the criminal”?  Yeah, we got one who can do both.

So, socializing an adult feral cat is hard.  I’m not going to go into it here, because I have this handy link where I did go into it.  It includes more pictures, and also the most important video in human history.

https://www.tumblr.com/droewyn/710812951143219200/you-guys-you-guys-you-guys-you-guys-you-guys-my

The big takeaway that you need to know is that while Spriggan is part of the family, and likes being part of the family as far as we can tell, she Cannot Be Petted.  Also, that our cats look Very Similar In The Dark, particularly Cap and Spriggs.  He’s enormous but she’s very floofy, and they both can look solid black if they’re curled up or viewed from the wrong angle.

Here’s the oopsie.

It’s 1AM.  I need to use the bathroom.  I must pass through the living room to get to the bathroom, and Cap is on the loveseat.  I pet him and rub his ears.

I go to the bathroom.  I’m in there for like two minutes, max.

I come back out, and reach down to pet Cap again.

IT IS NOT CAPTAIN.

The good news is, I still have all my fingers and all my blood.  Spriggan didn’t even hiss; she just teleported across the room and GLARED at me.

She’s still glaring at me today.  I am In Trouble.

But this time last year she would have shredded my hand so yay progress.

The Inky Kitty Committee having a rare meeting, feat. the baby looking spooky af.

[thebiscuiteternal]

This timeline with Baby!NMJ and older NHS is adorable. Does NHS get any time to paint or participate in his hobbies? It would be really cute if he did and Bby!NMJ tried to help.

What little time he gets to himself, he usually spends caring for the sect's falcons. Since falconry was a hobby his father also enjoyed, and they're useful for catching small game, it's generally seen as "acceptable." He would like to have a wider variety of birds, but decided as a child that he didn't want the headache of having to justify himself constantly. The falcons are good enough, and they all love him and shamelessly beg for petting and cuddles.

On very, very rare occasions (when he has a reasonable expectation of being left alone all day), he'll paint. He's not a master, but it's good enough that it would be readily apparent to a discerning eye that he could be a master with practice. He found even less time to do it when Mingjue was very bitty, but around 2ish years of age, he started having extra supplies on hand so Mingjue could make finger scribble "paintings" of his own. It's a bonding exercise for them.

(Mingjue will never be a painter-painter, but even as a teenager, he sometimes drags Huaisang off and pull out the supplies when he can tell his brother is on the verge of a stress breakdown.)

---------------

"Gege." Nie Mingjue said as he held up his paper between chubby little ink-stained hands. "Look."

Nie Huaisang looked up from his own work in progress and had to bite back a smile at the Serious Business scowl on his three-year-old brother's face. Affecting an air of gravitas to play along, he laid his brush aside and took the paper, leaning back in his chair.

"Well, now, let's see what you've got here, didi," he said as Nie Mingjue clambered over the edge of the table and into his lap. "It looks like... a sheep?"

"No!" Nie Mingjue protested with a huge grin.

"No? But it's so fluffy!"

"Issnot a sheep!"

"Alright, alright, let me think," Nie Huaisang said, tilting his head to 'examine' the scribble of ink at a new angle. He could tell already that some of Mingjue's brush swipes had clearly meant to be striping, which told him he was looking at, by his estimate, his brother's thirty-seventh tiger, but immediately getting the answer wasn't part of the game.

"Hmmmm... I see very large paws... is it a bear?"

"No! Issnot a bear!" Mingjue said, slapping his hands down on the desk.

He barely missed the painting Huaisang had been working on, leaving inky little handprints on the wood, but that was fine. It would hardly be the first time Huaisang had worked around his baby brother's enthusiastic contributions.

"Not a bear? Oh my, you've made this very hard!" Nie Huaisang said, poking Mingjue in the side and making him laugh. "I don't know if I can guess it!"

"You have to! You have to guess!"

"Well, I suppose if I have to..." He squinted at the scribble, chewing at his lower lip in intense pretend contemplation, which made Mingjue laugh more. "It's not a bunny..."

"No!"

"And it's not a deer..."

"No!" Mingjue crowed, grin so big it might split his face.

"Is it... Oh! Is it a tiger?"

"Yes! Issa tiger!" Mingjue cheered, throwing his hands up.

"It's a very clever tiger, pretending to be other creatures like that. Excellent work, didi," Nie Huaisang said, dropping a kiss on his baby brother's head. "Why don't we hang it up to dry, and then it can go live with your other tigers?"

"Okay," Mingjue said, letting Huaisang lower him to the floor so he could get up.

Just as Huaisang had finished pinning the paper to his drying rack, however, the door opened and Nie Zhen, one of the guard captains, entered. "Your presence is required in the main study," he said without so much as an honorific or a salute.

Nie Huaisang sighed inwardly, but kept his face neutral and gave Mingjue a gentle warning tap on the shoulder when it looked like his little brother was starting to puff up in anger. "I'm on my way."

Again, not so much as a nod as the captain left, and Mingjue stuck his tongue out at the door as it closed. "Ass."

"Didi. Where did you even hear that word?" Huaisang admonished, still with no actual heat, as he wrapped his brush and ink to keep them from drying out while they were gone.

Mingjue grinned up at him unrepentantly. "At the grounds," he said, obviously meaning the training areas.

Huaisang did sigh at that. "Of course you did. But don't go using that word where other people can hear it," he said offering a hand.

Mingjue took hold, still grinning, and they left the room to go find out what the vitally important thing he wasn't actually needed for was.

[ladylooch]

The Spiral [Lio Meier] - Part 1

A/N: I have been working on this for weeks. But this past weekend this was the only WIP I worked on. I ate, slept and drank Lio Meier’s downfall. It dominated every waking hour. But I am really proud of this one. Whew! I was in the writing trenches bbys! But here it is, in all its glory. The time when everything in Lio’s life blows up.

I have some very specific warnings below. This is a deep one, layered, and may be difficult to read for some. Please consume your content carefully 😘

Warnings: Childhood trauma (mental/psychological), a lot of mentions and insinuations of abortion, VERY angsty, drinking/ drunk Lio.

Word Count:4.1k

Crackles and pops of the bonfire embers are highlighted by the inky Swiss night surrounding the Meier and Hischier families on a cool summer evening.

“Maybe like thirty seconds left.” Timo murmurs to Lio as he turns over the marshmallow hanging from the fire stick.

“LuLu and I are going to eat these in the tree house.” Lio announces, leaning back into his dad’s chest.

“Okay.” Timo chuckles, squeezing his son tight to him for a hug. “What do you think now? Is it done?”

“It’s gonna fall.”

“Yeah, we should pull it out.” Timo agrees. “Can you get the graham crackers and chocolate?” Lio does. Together, they work the marshmallow off onto the awaiting ingredients. Lio loves summer in Switzerland. He eats his whole body weight in s’mores with Swiss chocolate. His mama is right. American chocolate is not the same. 

“No Reeses cups today?” Timo asks. 

“No.” Lio says, pressing the crackers together, careful not to break them. 

“Mmm, who are you? Mama usually can’t keep Reeses stocked for you.” Timo chuckles. 

“That’s only in Jersey.” Lio says, bringing the s’more up to his lips. He bites into the gooey and delectable treat. He grins at his dad, having no idea his face is already covered in chocolate. “Best one yet.” 

“Good. Enjoy, buddy. Livy, come here and daddy will make a s’more with you.” Lio books it off to the back corner of their spacious yard in Switzerland, where his best friend and cousin, Lucie Hischier, awaits for him.

“You take too long.” Lucie quips, annoyed. 

“Your marshmallow is burned to a crisp.” Lio scoffs in response

“I like it!” She grins holding up her sticky fingers. She already ate one of the two she made. They both giggle as Lio sits down next to her. They eat in content silence. From their spot in the tree house, they can see down to their whole family mingling together around the warm fire.  Mack and Livy are with Timo making s’mores the long way like Lio did. “When we grow up, are we gonna live by each other?” Lucie wonders. 

“Yeah, LuLu. Maybe by then you’ll have patience.” Lucie may be Uncle Nico’s daughter, but she is nothing like him. Lio thinks if Lucie played hockey, she would spend most of her time in the penalty box. 

“I have patience.” She squints. “Maybe we will live here full time.” If Lio’s mama had it her way, they already would. Lio shrugs. He likes both places they live, but it would be nice to see their grandparents more. “I wanna grow up and have lots of babies after I get married.”

“Yeah. Like our parents.”

“Well, like my parents” Lucie shrugs. Lio licks the bit of marshmallow clinging to his fingers. 

“My parents are married?”

“Yeah, but your parents had you before they got married…” Lucie tilts her head at him.

“Well that’s cause they couldn’t wait to get married to have me.” Lio says matter of fact. “They wanted me first cause they didn’t want to have a baby during the season.” 

Lucie anxiously bites her lip, glancing again at where their parents are sitting by the bonfire. 

“That’s not what I heard.” Little Lucie doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal. So she says “I heard my dad tell my mom that Auntie Em only moved to Jersey because of you. That she didn’t want to leave her life in Switzerland and he isn’t sure they would have ever gotten married or been together without you.” 

Lio stares blankly back at Lucie. His little blue eyes lift beyond his smaller cousin where she munches innocently away on her s’more. His eyes crawl up the wood boards to where they had carved their initials inside on the first day they were allowed up here. From there, he moves to his parents laughing together at the bonfire. His mom is holding Livy’s s’more as she takes cautions bites. They never told him that. Lucie must be wrong.

“No, I don’t think that is what happened. You heard wrong.” Lio tries. His voice sounds small and far away to him because his heartbeat is pounding so hard through his head.

“I guess Uncle Timo had told daddy he didn’t want any kids.” Lucie didn’t hear her dad say the full sentence- Uncle Timo didn’t want kids without Emma. So her innocent repeat paints a different picture. “Guess he had to change his mind.” 

Lio Meier is only 10 years old, but the whole world shifts under him from that moment forward.

- - - 

A decade and a half later, Lio Meier slumps low on the couch in his parent’s living room in Switzerland. His right hand rubs at the splitting headache in the center of his forehead, while his left holds a glass of expensive whiskey from his dad’s collection. If his parents are going to sit him down for an intervention, he is not doing it sober. He brings the glass to his lips, sucking down a big gulp as his mom and dad walk into the room. They’re already on their good cop, bad cop shit. Lio sniffs, rolling his eyes as they sit down in front of him.

Emma purses her lips at her son’s obvious contempt at being called home. But what she is hearing around town is concerning. Rumors swirl in their little mountain village that he has… followed in the family footsteps? Maybe? That some nice, Swiss girl he went to school with has wound up pregnant after a night with him. Apparently, when the girl told Lio, he tossed a few bills of cash at her and told her to take care of it. Emma isn’t quite sure how things came to be this way with Lio. She hopes to find out in this conversation.

Timo sits next to his wife, fingers clasped together, silent as he stares at his son. Lio is unrecognizable today, really since he returned home from his last season. Him and Emma knew something happened in Jersey. Lio didn’t elaborate and Lucie was vague to Emma when she asked. The other concern is this being a reaction to his lack of success so far in his professional career. A Stanley Cup seems lightyears away for the franchise again. 

“We just gonna stare at each other all day?” Lio turns his hands up in annoyance at them.

“Lio.” Timo warns. 

“What? You two called me here and now you’re holding me hostage in silence.”

“Honestly, I’m trying to find the right words to say to you.” Emma begins, shaking her head. “I’m hearing things.” She finally settles on. “And I’d like to hear from you if they are true.”

“Depends on what you heard.” Lio reaches for the whiskey glass again. Timo’s laser blue eyes watch him gulp down the brown liquid. 

“Why don’t you put that back down.” Lio pauses with the glass on his lips. His dad stares him down. Timo wasn’t asking; he was telling. Lio puts the glass back on the coaster with a loud ping.

“I heard… someone in this town may be pregnant with your baby.”

“Maybe she was. I don’t know.” Lio waves it off with a flick of his fingers. He puts those same fingers back on his splitting headache. 

“What do you mean maybe and I don’t know?” Timo asks. “Those seem like things you should be pretty fucking sure about.”

“Her and I talked a few days ago. I gave her money to take care of it. It’s handled. You aren’t grandparents.” Emma’s spine snaps to attention. 

“What?”

“I told her-“

“I heard what you said.” Emma seethes, getting visibly angry. “So your approach was to tell her to take care of it? Instead of taking ownership of your choices?”

“Look, I’m not having a kid. I know you two made the choice to ruin your lives by having me, but I’m not following in your idiotic footsteps.”

“Excuse me?” Timo scoffs at his son incredulously. “You’re going to judge our choices right now?” He doesn’t see the way his wife is retreating in on herself. It has been over 15 years since Emma last felt judged about getting pregnant with Lio. But her son is now facing a similar situation and his contempt towards her stings. Small tears fill her brown eyes as she watches Lio and Timo jaw back and forth. Timo gets louder. Lio sits up in the chair. Soon, they’re both standing. This is not how she saw this conversation going.

“We are so disappointed in you right now.” Timo shakes his head, exhaling heavily. His cheeks are tight, lips pursed angrily. Emma stands, dashing between the men, one hand on each of their chests. 

“Disappointed?” Lio spits, lip curling in disgust. “She was trying to ruin my life by getting pregnant. All she wanted was my money and to take away the best years of my career like mom did to you, by turning you into the family man you didn’t want to be. I had to protect myself and I would do it again in an instant.”

Shock stills the living room. Timo forgets his son completely. His hands go to Emma, wincing as she retreats from his touch. 

“I never said that.” Timo says immediately to his wife. “Those are his words, not mine, baby.” Timo turns, snarling back at Lio. “Where do you get off?”

“Me!? You made a mistake having me!” Lio screams at his dad. “It’s why you lied to me about it for so long! So I fixed that for us by not doing it all over again!” Angry tears wreak havoc in Lio’s blue eyes. Timo’s face collapses into a twisted frown at the obvious, intense pain on his son’s face.

“Lee…” Timo trails off. 

“I know all about it. I’ve known since I was ten years old that you two didn’t actually want me. You didn’t plan for me or pray for me or wish for me. I was a mistake.” Every moment Timo and Emma uttered their little white lie runs through each of their minds. They never wanted Lio to feel unwanted. They didn’t think the fudging of the truth was hurtful or would cause any damage. But they also didn’t realize their son had known the truth since he was ten years old. Each lie for the last 15 years has chipped away at Lio. Now, being in the same circumstances as his parents, he has reached his boiling point in their living room.

“No. Lio-” Emma starts, voice shuddering with her emotions.

“You shouldn’t of had me.” Lio looks directly at Emma. “You should have pulled the plug when you had a chance and lived your life here the way you wanted to. You ruined everyone’s lives. You choose to have me and dad felt obligated to take care of us.”

“You don’t get to speak down to me about choices that gave you life because your recklessness is trying to make you accountable.” Emma’s previously silent rage explodes through the room as she steps around Timo. “Get out of my house.” She jabs her pointer finger into Lio’s sternum.

“Fuck you guys.” Lio spits out at them. 

Timo leans forward to go after their son for his disgusting display of disrespect. But Emma’s shocked whimper stops any more forward progress. The house shakes at the timber of Lio slamming door.

“We wanted him.” Emma whispers to Timo, big tears raining down from her brown eyes. “We never lied about that. He thinks…” She puts her hand over her mouth and begins to sob.

Timo doesn’t say it, but he knows what Emma would say if she could speak.

Lio believes his parents love him out of obligation. 

And he has for the last 15 years.

- - -

After the fall out with his parents, Lio heads into town and grabs a post-shift beer with Liv, who obviously has not heard from their parents about what is up. Quickly, Liv leaves to head back to her and Luca’s place for an at-home date night.

“We are going to paint headshots of each other.” Liv giggles, knowing Luca is a shit painter. She can’t wait to see how wonderfully bad it is. Lio would rather burn his eyebrows off than do dopey shit like that with a girl. 

Lio sticks around town, ignoring the looks and whispers that follow him. He’s had people talking about him in some way or another his whole life. He not going to start giving a shit about it now. 

One beer turns into 6, which turns into 3 shots of whiskey too, until he is drunk enough to relax from the confrontation with his parents. He wanders his way back towards home, stopping at Lucie and Connor’s lake house to check in on his favorite little girl. Stella Wood sleeps on her dad’s chest in the living room where he is continuing to watch mindless, toddler TV. 

“The show getting good?” Lio quips.

“Fuck no. But the remote is tucked into the cushion and I can’t get it without waking her up. She’s been a Tasmanian Devil today.” Lucie snorts in the kitchen where she is wiping the stone counter off. “And if I wake her up, hot stuff in the kitchen is going to be very unhappy with me.”

“You were the one who gave her cotton candy.” Lucie calls.

“Yeah, that was a bad idea. You were right, baby.” Connor looks at Lio. “Fun though.” Lio chuckles, collapsing into the big reclining chair across from them.

“You want a beer?” Lucie asks, walking in with three beer bottles. 

“Yeah.” Lio sighs, happy to have the coldness in his grip. He pops the top, taking two big glugs. Lucie goes to sit between Connor’s thighs curling her legs up to her chest as she takes a sip of beer.

“So… what’s new?” Lucie asks with insinuation. Lio looks away from where he is stroking his thumb over the raised words of his bottle. Their eyes connect and he knows Lucie has heard the same rumors his parents have. Probably from her parents. 

“Same shit, different day.” Lio takes another pull from the bottle. Lucie, ever the mom now, holds her calm presence. “Had a little fun last month that caught up with me.” He widens his eyes, thinking again of the conversation with Isabella a few days ago. His stomach had dropped from his body and he choked on his beer. He thought they were going to have a drink and head back to his place. Not have a bombshell explode his whole life in three words. 

“What are you going to do?” Lucie asks.

“Nothing. She did something about it.”

“Oh.” Lucie takes another sip of her beer. A slight crinkle appears in her forehead.

“Yeah and apparently now I’m not welcome at my parents’ house.”

“Really?” Connor asks as he smooths over Stella’s wild, brown curls.

“Yeah… things got a little heated today and they didn’t like what I had to say. Apparently holding a mirror up is not appreciated in this family.” Lio takes another sip. “Like, I get they made whatever decision they did with me, but I didn’t ask to be born, and they shouldn’t get pissed at me for not wanting to continue in their bastard child tradition.” Lucie flinches at the harshness of his comment. She’s never liked that word, especially not now after having their child before her and Connor were married.

“What mirror?” Lucie inquires.

“Just that my dad didn’t want kids and was forced into it when my mom got pregnant with me. Or that my mom wanted to stay in Switzerland and couldn’t because of her choice to have me. My dad’s career was never the same after I was born, so that decision cost them a lot career and money wise. This was a mistake I could fix so I did. They could be more grateful for preventing a rinse and repeat.”

The room is silent for a moment as Lio’s words fall between all of them. The TV is the only disruption. Lio tilts his beer bottle back, hoping the liquid will wash down the awkward air in the room.

“You are a fucking moron. Your parents are doing really well and your family is great, Lee. Happy and healthy.” Connor shakes his head. Lio’s out-there way of thinking about being domestic in any situation is once again rearing it’s ugly head. No wonder he lost Savannah. She’s better off without this version of Lio anyway.

“LuLu gets it.” Lio motions to his cousin.

“No, Lee…. I don’t think I do.” Lucie straightens. “Because from what you’re telling me, I’ve also ruined an NHL player’s life, and stole his best years from him, by getting pregnant with his baby for the money.”

“Luc.” Lio chuckles, shaking his head. “It’s not like you were playing baby roulette with just anyone. Connor was already a millionaire.” Lucie instantly looks taken aback, which confuses Lio because the three of them have definitely joked about this before.

“Oh, so that’s what all the girls in your life have in common? We’re all just gold-digging whores? The girl you knocked up who you told to take care of it? And your mama who wrecked your dad’s life by choosing to have you? And me who found the most expensive rookie in the league to knock me up?” Technically Lio was that year, but that is neither here nor there. Lio is frustrated by the way Lucie is stuffing words into his mouth. 

“At least the one that stuck wasn’t Marco’s. But I’m sure you would of taken care of that one. Not enough commas in his bank account.”

“Alright. Time out.” Connor shakes his head, recognizing how drunk Lio is. Things are about to turn ugly and he doesn’t want to have to time his catch of Lucie’s hand when it inevitably winds up to slap her cousin.

“That is so fucked up, Lio.” Lucie snaps, putting her beer down on the end table with a slam.

“No what is fucked up is that you didn’t take my advice after you two broke up.” He gestures between Lucie and Connor.

“Oh my god.” Lucie gasps, covering her mouth with her hand. The room goes still as tears fill her big brown eyes. She winces, like she is realizing something she never has before. “When I came to stay with you, you told me you would take care of everything. That if Connor and I couldn’t work it out, you and I would figure it out. All this time, I thought that meant you would take care of us. We would be our own family….” Her eyebrows furrow. “But you hoped I wouldn’t pick this at all.”

“Wait, what?” Connor asks, turning to his wife. He looks across the room at Lio who’s eyes are widening.

Of course Connor knows it was Lucie’s choice, always her choice. It was early in her pregnancy when the infamous hit happened. Lucie could have… made a different choice. Connor thinks about how safe it felt for her to be with Lio during that time. Then a cold shiver rolls down his spine, wondering if Lio was really in Lucie’s ear telling her not to go through with it. Did he give her money? Offer to drive her to the clinic? Promise to never tell Connor what happened? It was a miscarriage, Con. I’m so sorry. Connor’s blue eyes darken with storm clouds as his daughter stirs slightly against his chest. What lengths would Lio have gone to cover up their mistake like he is trying to do with his right now?

“Did you tell Lucie to get rid of our daughter?” Connor’s voice is tight as he asks the words he has to. Lio flinches.

“What?”

“Did you tell Lucie to not have Stell?” Connor repeats louder, more firm. Lucie glances nervously between the two men. Connor laughs in disbelief at Lio’s panicked face.

“I told Lucie I would support whatever choice she wanted to make… that she didn’t have to do this if she didn’t want to. She was really scared.” Lio points to Lucie generally like she isn’t in the room. She is hearing his words from a completely different perspective than three years ago. “I know that sounds bad now because Stell is here and we love her, but at the time, Lucie needed to hear that she had options.”

“Yeah and the option you proposed to her was to end her pregnancy.”

“It was mentioned, yes. But there was also adoption or raising Stell alone or… this. What you two have now.”

“Alone!?” Connor stutters out. “So, what if she wanted to raise Stell without me?”

“As I said, I was supportive of whatever Lucie wanted to do.” Connor inhales sharply. 

“You need to leave, Lio.” Connor stands, passing their whole world over to his wife on the couch. He smooths Stella’s hair down as she cuddles into Lucie’s shoulder. Connor feels his knees almost give out in pain. What would life be like without Stell? Without her soft kisses and baby giggles and huge hugs when he comes home from the road. How could Lio have supported a life for Stell without Connor? Or a life without her ever existing to begin with? 

“I just wanted to support her! Why is that bad?” Lio’s heart is in his throat now, as Connor slowly steps forward.

“What would be good about Lucie wanting to raise Stella without me? You were going to be daddy to my kid? You are right about one thing tonight, you’d be a shit fucking dad, Lio.”

“I…” Lio never thought about any of these scenarios in depth. He really just wanted to show up for Lucie. And Lucie chose Connor so quickly it didn’t seem to matter.

“Would you have told me?”

“W-what?” Lio puts his beer down, moving to sit up straighter. He swallows nervously.

“Would you, my best friend, have told me I had a daughter?” Lio is silent. He doesn’t know what to say. He doesn’t know if he would have. Lucie was so scared and had held so tightly to his shirt those two weeks she had lived with him. He would have protected her, but that doesn’t feel like the right answer to reiterate now. Lio looks at Lucie, needing her to step in and say something. Her eyes are lined with betrayed tears, looking at him like she isn’t sure who he even is. Why have people been looking at him like this lately? What the fuck is going on?

“Luc…?”

“You’re a fucking coward, Lio. Anyone who thinks our daughter shouldn’t be here doesn’t get the privilege of being in our lives. Get out. You are no longer welcome here.” Lio tries to speak.

“Get. The fuck. Out!” Connor bellows, hands tightened into fists at his sides. Stell startles. She wakes up, immediately sensing the tension in the room and begins to cry. Connor turns away from Lio, rushing back to his wife and daughter. 

“It’s okay, Stell. You’re okay. Mommy and daddy are here.” Connor gathers her back from Lucie. He turns back to Lio. “I’m not fucking asking you again.” 

Lio stands, leaving his half full beer bottle. He rips the front door open and leaves the second home he’s been kicked out that day.

- - -

The next morning, a ping wakes Lio. He wants it all to be a bad dream, but the raw realness of what happened yesterday mars his body with physical aches and pains, including a hell of a hangover. He groans as he grabs his phone, pulling it to his face. He squints, seeing a new text awaiting him from an unsaved number.

Hi Lio, It’s Isabella. I went to the clinic and they told me I’m not pregnant. It was a false positive. Guess we dodged a bullet.

Lio stares at the text, watching his cursor blink in anticipation of him responding. He doesn’t.

Dodged a bullet? Then why does it feel like he is still bleeding out.

Continue reading: Part 2

[pokenimagines]

SFW | Marnie | Headcanons

So this stems from my hatred of Marnie's tournament outfit and just the Team Yell outfit in general. I hate the Team Yell outfit. They should have let her keep the jacket. Piers has a jacket. Give her her jacket back, Game Freak. And also a lack of platonic Marnie & older-sibling-like Reader.

So, how would Marnie react to older-sibling-like!Reader giving her a snazzy new jacket to wear with her new gym leader outfit as a congratulatory gift?

Marnie deserved the world. I've adopted her, Hop, and Bede; so I will gladly write sibling content for them. They deserve it. Also Marnie, you need a coat on bby, it's cold out there.

Rules | Discord Server (16+)

SFW Marnie: Respect the Drip

Marnie deserved better, in your opinion, when it came to the gym uniform. Leaders were allowed to customize their gym uniforms if they wished, but Marnie had literally just taken over the gym, and didn't have anything fun for it.

You, being her dear friend, and basically like another sibling to her, wanted to rectify the situation.

This led to you and Piers actually going shopping, searching for something for her. When you found it, you just knew it was perfect.

It was a leather jacket that closely resembled the one that Piers always wore, except the sleeves were now longer and the white parts were now an inky black.

So you waited until right before Marnie's next gym appearance to surprise her with it. You had it wrapped in a cute little gift bag and waited patiently by the door leading to the changing room.

When Marnie came out, she wasn't surprised to see you there at all. You often wished her good luck before battles. However, she did notice the item in your arms.

You smiled and handed it to her, and when Marnie opened it, you could see her eyes lighting up. She threw the jacket on immediately, loving the warmth it provided. While Spikemouth wasn't in the coldest areas in Galar, it still got chilly inside the dimly lit town.

"This is perfect...thank you."

She looked rockin in her new jacket and she even struck a small pose, though there was a faint blush on her cheeks at the embarrassing display.

At least now her outfit was a bit better than what she had before.

•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅• Thank you for reading! Did you know we have a discord? It has everything from RPs, General Discussions, and even an 18+ area to go hog wild in! We even do announcements early for when the inbox is opening for requests, as well as other events! Come in and join us!

[https-furina]

lovingly bites u

omg omg omg omg it’s inky 🤭🫶🏻

hi bby!!

[chaotic-on-main]

7 10 11 24

hi bby :3 thank you for the questions <3

7. If you were an animal, which would you be?

bunny, hands down. but a shark would be a close second. bunnies are so cute yet so vicious and tbh that's me (not to brag). if I was a shark, i'd be a mako because i love their wide unknowing eyes. so beady, so large.

10. pen, pencil, or typing?

this is an awful question because i like them all for different reasons. pencil because the sounds of the scratching, the glide of the graphite, the differences in darkness based off of pressure. then pens, hoo boy. i love gel pens so fucking much. my favorite ones are the Pilot G2 pens in size 1.0. they are just so INKY and glide on paper so nicely. bUT KEYBOARDS. THE CLICKING. also they're just so much easier to write with because my typing is able to keep up with my fast mind. tbh i love all three and making me choose is a sin, next (also sorry i moaned there for a second, i didn't mean to)

11. weirdest pet peeve?

hm. well i get pissed off by a lot of things LMAO. i don't think this is weird but i think repeating myself might be a big one. i can repeat twice but if you ask me to do it more than that, i'll probably look at you with my eye twitching. also maybe being asked to do something when i'm in the middle of doing something though i attribute that to my adhd. if i'm hyperfixated and you interrupt me to make me do something or ask me something, i will lose my shit ;alskjfd

24. if you could bring one person back to life, who would it be? (dumb answers only)

this is so fucking funny. maybe andrew jackson?? i don't have time or energy to list the issues but he was an awful human and i want to revive him just to tell him to shut the fuck up then take him out of this mortal world no i will not be elaborating

send me some asks to distract me from my shitty parents

[neoninky]

So here's a thought.... (Diasomnia Fae Rambles)

Ok Diasomnia lovers, I has another theory dump lol

So dragon fae - the Draconias being the most prominent examples in game - are born from eggs and are born as literal baby dragons as we have seen from Chapter 7.

And as we have seen there are other nocturnal fae that take after animals such as bat fae like Lilia or crocodile fae like Baul and his daughter.

So...was Lilia born as an actual baby bat? Was Baul and his daughter hatched from eggs?? I have so many questions lol.

Lilia clearly has little bat familiars that visit him during lessons and during his dream sequence, the man literally appears with a whole colony of bats like friggin Batman. Or like the zodiac members in Fruits Basket that attract their animals in real time lol. Which honestly is stupidly charming and I love it.

It makes me wonder about Baul's time before living in Briarland/Briar Valley. I forget where exactly it was mentioned, but I do recall Baul saying that he's native to Sunset Savanna. Did he just randomly come across crocodiles in the wild? Like he had a pool by his house and crocodiles would be drawn to him and just come vibe in his backyard lol. In relation to my fae OC characters like Tai who is a fox fae: would he run into wild foxes while hanging out in the woods? Ok that would be stupidly cute actually oh lawd. Or more importantly...when Lilia's baby girl Hildie is born, is she a lil humanoid fae baby or a tiny baby bat that eventually takes on a human form???? *serotonin explosion* Anyhoo. There y'all go. Feel free to discuss lol.

@nuitthegoddess @hanafubukki @foxwitchaine @masquerade-of-misery @diasomniareads @onegianthotmess

[zappedbyzabka]

I love Ralph’s hair

All inky black…and reddish brown…and just brown sometimes. Bby looks so handsome.

[monmuses]

Okay, this has to be their best prank yet. Perrito has to admit, he never thought his family would get THIS creative. A true testament to what a good seeker he is in their ongoing game. It had taken far longer than usual for him to figure out what to do, disoriented from having been manhandled and thrown around. But eventually, the small dog had gotten to work and— with perseverance and a sense of impending dread he chose not to focus on —gnawed free from the sock.

Now all that is left to do was free himself of the water.

The cold, dark, rough water...

Thrown around by the current, barely able to see past the murky water— eyes and nose stinging, ears ringing, chest burning, head aching from unfortunately-placed rocks —little legs frantically paddle against the tide, trying to head toward the fading light he sees above. It's so, so close... At least, he's pretty sure it is. It has to be, right? Yeah. It is. Just a bit longer and then... he can rest.... and when he's done-

He'll find his family.

Just like he always does.

And they'll have a good laugh over this. At least, Perrito will.

Just a bit further... And then- .... he can...... rest.

His eyes and nose stop stinging. His ears stop ringing. His chest stops burning. His head stops aching.

And his legs stop paddling. - (( *hands over a bby boi who needs to be Saved* ))

UNPROMPTED ASKS - Always Accepting!

Death was one to be carefree and often spontaneous in places you would never expect Him to be. Any place, he could be there, watching intently with dark, red eyes. On the few occasions that he wasn't in the dark and watching poor souls suffer at the hands of their own consequences. However, with a young pup as Perrito, struggling to stay afloat in the water, he seemed interested.

It was not this young pup's time yet. He quickly knew that with how young he was and quickly understanding that this was not the pup's choice to swim in water with rocks against its paws. He stopped, staring and watching before following the tide in an inky, dark form within the water before emerging on the banks, paws extending to snag a claw around his weakened body.

He wasn't breathing, poor thing. He had been freed of the trap that laid around his body in the form of a sock. struggling for air after swimming for so long against a strong tide. The tide of life - that was how Death saw it all. Gently, a single pawed finger pressed against the young one's chest to bring him back, filling him with a familiar, comforting warmth.

"Awaken, perrito. It's not your time yet," he spoke gently, bringing the pup to his side in his palms. "There we are... good as new. It's dangerous to swim against such a strong current."

[annwayne]

The Red Logs: Return to the Temple Ch. 13

Chapter 13:

Last Chapter <- -> Next Chapter

Fem!OC X Crosshair

Word Count:  2437

Fic Summary: Blood

There are benefits to owning a clone bar. Underworld lords don’t threaten you to pay for protection. Clones are great company. And the drinks taste great. However, there are also risks to owning a clone bar. Like, for example, becoming the fuck buddy of a special clone task force member so your life gets threatened when a Separatist puts out a bounty for your capture in order to use you as blackmail. Also your sleep schedule gets wrecked. But Anya Tougt is a little more capable than an average bar owner.

Ao3 Link Here

Warnings apply to whole fic:

Canon typical violence, descriptions of panic attacks, alcohol, swearing, 18+ themes (eventual smut), trauma, religious trauma parallels, mild gore

Authors Note:

Enjoy ;)

26 BBY. Master Tali sent me on my first solo assignment. Tatooine, what a dreary planet. Anakin wasn’t exaggerating when he talked about his home. He asked me to check on his mother for him. Of course I agreed. His Master may drive me up a wall, but Anakin is a friend.

I stepped through the door first, lightsaber ignited and emitting a faint blue glow in the darkness of the room. Tech and Crosshair filed in behind me as I stepped further into the pitch black. My skin crawled with each step deeper into a room that felt too still. When the door closed behind us the only light left was my lightsaber.

“My sensors aren’t picking anything up.” Tech’s voice cut through the inky silence. “There is no one else in here, droid or organic.

Bump

There was that prickling sensation on my skin again. “You sure about that?” Crosshair’s doubts earned a scoff from his brother. Their movement behind me sent a shiver down my neck- but what was causing this constriction in my chest? Our steps slowed.

Bump

“Hmm, this is strange. My night vision will not respond. What about yours, Crosshair?” A grunt answered him, but Tech had already changed his focus. “Annie, why have you stopped? We need to find a control panel to light the room.” Words passed through my ears but I did not pick up their meaning. It was stronger now.

Bump

“We are not alone.”

Immediately searing white burned my vision and several blasters fired off. Plastoid armor clanked and then I felt a strong grip yank me to the ground. When I reached out my fingers felt cold metal. We were behind some kind of wall, and Crosshair’s rifle blasts had joined the noise of battle. While keeping my head low, I looked down at my hands. Or better, where my hands should be. Instead I only saw white. A warmth in my left hand told me I still had my lightsaber.

“Tech, check on her.” Blaster fire accompanied the sniper’s words.

Then Tech moved on my other side. We were sitting slouched against something solid. “Annie,” His voice made my head turn. Only white. “Can you see me?” Something fluttered near my helmet.

“I- No, everything is white.” Once again, Tech shuffled beside me and I felt Crosshair duck behind our cover. Then whatever was above our heads shattered and rained down on us. The sharp pieces stung my exposed skin. “Vekek knew we were coming.” I hissed as I pulled out a shard of glass from my forearm. “Tech needs to upload the virus while Crosshair and I go after her.”

“I believe you experienced the worst of the flash, which means you could be blinded at maximum an hour.” Tech fired off his blasters, followed by two thuds as the droids he hit collapsed. Then his shoulder bumped mine again. “How do you expect to chase down Vekek while still blinded, Annie?”

“We can’t wait an hour.” I hissed. Suddenly, alarm shot up my back and spurred me up with it. Without hesitation, I activated my lightsaber and impaled whatever caused the panic. Crackling fizz confirmed a droid was down, due to my hand. “It’ll be like training as a youngling.” My words were more for myself than the others as I began reflecting bolts I could not see.

“What kind of training makes you blind?” Crosshair’s voice came from my side, he must have stood up.

“Lightsaber training.” Before either clone could further object I stepped through the shattered screen and closed my eyes. Everything was white anyways. I had hesitations using the force after leaving the order. But some skills were impossible to drop. They became second nature, and occasionally, I even forgot the force was behind them.

Bolts bounced off my saber as I stepped forward. Plastoid footsteps and shifts in the room’s stale air alerted me to Crosshair and Tech’s movements. Metal clanks and droid vocalizations gave me a clear picture of the obstacles we needed to remove. As a unit we moved, droid after droid fell easily to the clones’ blaster fire and my lightsaber strikes. I sliced my lightsaber forward, cutting horizontally through an enemy in my path. Then I plunged my saber overhead into more metal that fizzed. Blaster fire slowed, eventually ending with Crosshair’s Firepuncher ringing out as the final shot.

Immediately Tech rushed. “Uploading the virus now, looks like the system still has all of the research, but she could have made copies. ..What is..” He grumbled to himself until a spark and pop announced wires were pulled from their sockets. "..Kriffing interference..."

A presence approached my side. Quietly, while Tech went on about Vekek’s security system, Crosshair asked, “Vision back yet?”

Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and blinked rapidly at the change in my sight. Crosshair became a fuzzy outline I could barely squint at. Not to mention all the spots covering my eyes. “Ugh- if you can call this vision..” A throbbing headache slammed against my skull.

He nodded his head before turning to look Tech’s way. “Room’s empty. She slipped out, but not through the door we came through.” Crosshair scanned the room while holding his rifle near his chest.

“That’s impossible, the schematics showed that door was the only entrance to the laboratory.” Now on his knees, Tech studied the underside of the terminal.

A fuzzy arm pointed towards something on the back wall. “Schematics include any of those?”

Tech hissed as a spark of electricity popped at his hands. Then, he turned his gaze to follow Crosshair’s hand. “Vekek has the advantage in tight spaces. Perhaps we should attempt to cut her off at the escape pods?”

“No.” I spoke sharply. We were close. She was close. “That leaves too much up to chance. Finish here, then meet up with Hunter and Wrecker.” If Tech had any objections, he didn’t air them. Then I turned towards the sniper. “Come on Cross, we can’t let her get away.” My legs moved before my words were finished.

Behind me, Crosshair remained unmoving, helmet trained slightly down as if he were in deep thought. Right before I called out to him again, his head snapped up at the sound of me prying off the grate covering the access port. In seconds he was at my side. Another steadying breath and I stepped through the threshold.

Exposed wires and tubes snaked the low ceiling, forcing me to duck down occasionally. Crosshair didn’t have that luxury. Instead, the tall clone was forced to stay hunched over to avoid hitting the mess above us. Rows and rows of hallways stretched on what felt like kilometers.

By now my vision was much less blurry but still full of spots. We kept close together, silent, and listened for the sounds of movement. This was a horrible place to get caught in a fight, especially against an Ardennian.

Clatter drew my gaze to the left, down another thin shaft. That was a mistake. With a thud, our target dropped down from the pipes and swung something heavy into the back of my helmet. Immediately those spots turned into stars. Searing pain rolled my head and I hissed. When I regained sense of location, I whipped around only to meet air. Crosshair backed up to me, watching the tubes above us with this rifle scope.

Taunting laughter echoed down the shafts. Crosshair tilted his helmet down a path, then urged me towards another. Too many horor-holos told me splitting up in an environment like this was a bad move. But I trusted his judgment.

Every time the Ardennian moved through the pipes lining the ceiling I could hear rustling that was softer than the clatter that led me to this growing headache. My lightsaber hummed and a blue glow mixed with the red lights dotting the tight corridors.

Then, clatter. I followed it down an eastern path, but this time I was prepared. As the small scientist jumped down behind me I stepped around her, leaving the metal pipe aimed for my head to clang against the floor.

"Oh, this one is clever." She shot me a toothy grin as I gripped my lightsaber tightly. "But not clever enough."

Red shot from a blaster I hadn't seen. Searing heat forced my lightsaber to the ground. With a clunk the laser sword closed and rolled down the corridor. I glanced back to see the pipe raised and aimed at my shins.

If I dodged in here I'd land on my side.

Any other quick movement might get me tangled in low hanging wires.

Instead I threw out my arm towards the rolling lightsaber and braced myself.

Time was out.

A blast echoed through the halls and ended in a thump. Crosshair stood where my lightsaber- now back in my outstretched hand- had rolled to. Vekek was unconscious from the stun blast and slumped on the ground. I stood, using the thick wires as support against my back.

“Thanks.” Relief slowed my breath as Crosshair stepped into the hallway. Horror-holos be damned, splitting up was the right idea.

“No problem.” He grunted in reply, focused on binding the four arms behind Vekek’s back. “Hit her with a low stun, but it’ll be a few minutes before she wakes up.”

I nodded my head once and tapped the com on my helmet to let Hunter know of our progress. “Alright,” He huffed, breathing heavily. “Meet us in the main corridor, then we’re gone.” I picked up the unconscious Ardennian and nodded towards Cross.

We sprinted through the ship, coming across no droids as we met up with the others. An eerie tightness squeezed my chest as we started running towards the Marauder’s location. Everything was going well. Even in my bar I knew that was a bad sign.

That’s when the ship started to shake. Blasts, likely from another cruiser, caused the floor beneath us to tremble. I stumbled, nearly falling on my face.

“Woah, who’s shooting at us?” Wrecker questioned.

“Didn’t think Kenobi would be here already.” I answered.

“Didn’t think he’d fire while we’re still on board.” Crosshair pointed out.

I hadn’t thought of that.

“No, actually,” Tech fiddled with his datapad as he ran up to be beside me, showing me the information on it’s screen. It meant nothing to me. “That is Admiral Trench, firing on his own command ship.”

“What? Why’s-”

And then a blast.

Loud.

Ringing.

And pain.

Where was the pain? Haze clouded my eyes and a crack ran down my right eye. Barely, I could make out one of the brothers across from me. Something hot was digging into my neck. Yells joined the noise of creaking metal. Something of a conversation, though I couldn’t tell if it was one sided. I tried to turn, to look towards those voices but gray metal met my eyes instead. Moving hurt. And I was so tired. I just needed…

A gasp tore through my body and I felt death’s door knocking against my skull. But a garbled voice forced my feet up. Cackling turned my head. Through the crack in my vision I saw Vekek’s small body atop Tech, his helmet thrown off and blood staining his armor.

Her hands were around his neck.

That garble quieted.

Her hands were killing Tech.

Killing.

Tech.

Another scream joined the clatter and I was closer, somehow. Rage and terror filled my pounding head as I stumbled towards the pair.

My lightsaber activated.

/ activated my lightsaber.

And that buzzing blue light, somehow, slid through the small Ardennian’s chest. All grip in her hands lost. She slumped forward.

I fell on my ass.

Tech coughed, sitting up too quickly for someone who nearly died, and checked on me. “Annie, oh my maker..” His voice was miles away, yet still clear. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

That made sense.

I sat up, also too quick, my head spun but I grit my teeth and stumbled anyway. “We gotta go, this ship is falling apart.” Some semblance of awareness returned to me as I looked around us, noticing the straining metal and thuds of ion blasts growing as whatever was left of the shields was failing.

Either my words or the rapid blaring alarm convinced Tech. He slid under my arm and stood fully, helping me like a crutch as we ran towards the nearest escape pod. Droids, functioning and not, were everywhere. But they didn’t pay much attention to us. Their high pitched voices cried out about death and their circuits. We slipped into one of the few remaining pods and launched, being hurtled into space away from the action.

“Do you think they made it?” I hissed at the return of pain pounding against my skull. They had to have made it… All of this was-

“Yes, I believe so.” Tech sighed, pushing his goggles up to rub the skin under. His helmet had been left behind. “Now,” He said after a pause. “I need to stop that bleeding.” Then, he reached for my helmet.

“Woah!” I blocked him, throwing my arms up, but searing pain forced them down with a yelp. Tech's eyes widened but he made no move for me. His gaze pushed me against the back of the tight pod as much as I could. “Don’t. Touch my helmet.” Knifes plunged behind my skull. Another groan escaped me.

Irritation crossed Tech’s face. “We do not know how long it will take the others to find us. As I said before, you have lost a lot of blood and will continue to do so if I do not patch you up.”

My cheeks flexed as I grit down my molars. Now that the adrenaline was dying, I was paying for my injuries. And yet. “You can’t.” My lips trembled as the voice modulator died, leaving only my real, human, voice to speak. Tears threatened at the edges of my eyes, but a tightness in my throat threatened more. “I can’t.”

Slowly, carefully, Tech shuffled over to me. The clone made sure to broadcast all of his movements before making them, it was like I was some wild animal. Maybe I was. Eventually he was sitting right beside me. Our thigh armor clanked against the other. With that same intense care, he twisted so as to face me. I had never seen such a look from him before. Those dark eyes were heavy with concern and knowledge, the kind of look that reminded me of Qui-Gon. My eyebrows furrowed. One of his hands raised to cup the side of my helmet, my cheek if it were bare.

“Anya.”

My name, my real name.

“I know.”

[bijibachi]

‘ey y’all remember inktober 2019?

she’s still working on it 😂🤓