#poking my eyes grrrrrrrr

[ilostyou]

swiftsos parallels - part 14/?

[makerofmadness]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land: Run Into the New World! Chapter ☆1: Through the Vortex into a New World!

“Ugh... ough...”

Kirby opened his eyes.

Right in front of his eyes was grainy, white sand. The peaceful whooshing sound of waves could be heard. 

Kirby quickly got up to his feet and gave a look around at his surroundings.The waves were breaking on the white sandy shore and retreating back into the sea. Just a short distance away from the foreshore grew brightly colored grass and many trees full of leaves. 

“Hmm?... Where am I?... I... uh...”

There, he finally recalled being sucked up by the mysterious vortex.

“Guess I blacked out after getting caught up in that vortex thingy. What happened to Waddle Dee?”

Kirby began walking around, looking all over the place restlessly. However, it didn't seem Bandana Waddle Dee was anywhere nearby. He didn’t see any of the other Waddle Dees, or any of the other residents of Dream Land either.

Kirby turned his back on the ocean and made his way into the expanse of trees. 

The sound of waves gave way to the sound of tree leaves swaying in the wind. The dim forest extended out far and wide. Kirby continued walking deeper and deeper into the forest.

“It’s really quiet in here...  Wonder if anyone else is here...”

Just as he started feeling just a tiny bit forlorn...

He could see a bright light coming from the end of the forest.

 Kirby gave a sigh of relief and started running for the end.

And then- the moment he got out of the forest, Kirby shouted:

“WOAH! COOL!”

He almost couldn’t believe his own eyes at the sight spread out before him. There were many tall things that looked like pillars standing there, reaching all the way up to the sky. The ground was hardened and perfectly leveled, with a white line drawn on it.

“What a strange town...!”

Kirby broke into a run, absolutely spellbound. 

As he approached the pillar-like structures, he began to notice the many doors and windows which one would be able to enter through. 

Kirby finally realized they weren’t pillars at all, they were buildings.

“Wow, these houses are huge! Who’s living in them? Heyyy, HEYYY!”

However, there was no response.

Upon further inspection, the window glass was cracked, and the walls were covered in cracks. The floors were covered in weeds. 

“Is anybody here?...”

Kirby entered one of the buildings.

Inside, it was completely silent. As he looked around the building, he saw a single car parked at the far end. 

“A car... Is it gonna move?”

When Kirby approached, suddenly, three pairs of ears poked up out from behind the top of the car. Three fuzzy animals poked their heads out.

Encountering this world’s inhabitants for the first time made Kirby happy.

“Hello! My name is Kirby. If you don’t mind me asking, where-”

However, the three animals glared at Kirby and growled:

“Grrrrrrrr...”

Kirby was confused.

“Huh? Ummm... are you mad at me? Why-”

Without warning, the trio of fuzzy creatures pounced.

“WaitwaitwaitwaitWHAT?! Stop, don’t do this!”

Kirby tried to stop them, but the beasts’ desire to fight bore like fangs. With such circumstances, he had no choice but to fight.

“Alright then...!”

Kirby sucked in a lot of air.

His signature inhale.

“Grrrr?!

The beasts, facing this inhale attack for the first time, were frozen like a deer in headlights. In desperate attempt not to be sucked up, they dug their short paws into the ground with a firm stance. 

Whoooooosh!

Without letting up, Kirby continued to inhale. 

It was there that something unexpected happened:

The car behind the beasts, wobbling so much that Kirby wondered if it was floating, came off the ground straight toward Kirby.

Kirby panicked. There was no way something that big could fit inside his mouth!...

However, the moment he was hit by it, Kirby’s mouth stretched out wider than one would think possible. 

Enough to suck in the entire car.

“Nggggg?!”

The next moment, the car was stuffed in Kirby’s mouth.

At such an unexpected event, Kirby darted his eyes about in shock and confusion.

“Ng... gggg... ngng?”

Although he couldn’t talk, he didn’t feel any pain.

Kirby’s form had taken the shape of the car.

This- should it be called Car Mouth?

New world, new ability??

Caught off-guard observing the impact, the three beasts backed up. 

“Grrrr...”

“Gr...”

They were trembling, faces frozen in shock. 

If they were able to talk, they likely would’ve said, “What even is this guy...?” Oh crap!”

The moment Kirby glanced over at them, the three creatures jumped and fled the scene yelping.

“N... ng... ng?”

Kirby, about to chase after them, noticed a few things:

The way he was now, Kirby’s body had taken on the shape of the car. Tires underfoot. 

As he tried to drive, he picked up noticeable speed.

With that force, he broke through the wall, jumping out into the outside.

Road full of cracks, sharp hills, nothing special.

Without axels or breaks or handles, Kirby began his wonderful drive.

~

Bathing in the radiant sun rays, Kirby pleasantly continued driving. Crossing the bridge over a large stream, dashing down the highway, to wherever the road would lead him. He was so happy, he wished he could sing.

As he continued on his merry drive, Kirby, noticing small shadows passing across the sky, glanced up.

More birds than he could count were flying overhead.  

With the talons of their feet, they appeared to be gripping something: Small cages.

And what they were carrying inside those cages...?

Kirby strained his eyes, before the realization hit him:

Inside the cages were Waddle Dees. 

Dozens of Waddle Dees, held inside the cages, were being carried off.

“The Waddle Dees...!” Kirby shouted without thinking, overcome with surprise. There, the car came rolling out of Kirby’s mouth, taking him out of Car Mouth mode.

Back in his normal form, Kirby’s mind was set on chasing after that flock. 

“Waaait!!”

However, the birds moved quickly. Soon they were completely out of sight.

The moment Kirby skidded to a halt, he could hear a faint voice:

“Heeeelp! Help me!!”

Someone was calling for help.

“...that way!”

Kirby began to run in the direction of the voice.

His destination was a small town. 

No- it was what used to be a small town, it seemed. The buildings had all been destroyed, reduced to piles of rubble. Scattered here and there were furry animals like the ones from before, running around. In the skies flew the birds who had carried those cages. They seemed to be hunting their prey.

“H-Help meee!!”

Shouting and attempting to run away, was an aqua-colored creature with big ears. Surrounded by beasts, targeted by the birds- clearly he was in a dire situation!

“HEY!!”

Kirby shouted as he ran toward the beasts and birds.

“Grrrr!!”

“Caaww!!”

The beasts and birds, noticing Kirby, all charged to attack at once. However, when Kirby got serious, no one could stand a chance against him. In the blink of an eye, it was no contest. 

Both the beasts and the birds were crying out as they fled the scene. 

The aqua-colored creature, running up close to Kirby, let out a relieved sigh before speaking:

“Phew! You saved me! Thank you...”

However, his look soon turned glum before he continued:

“But what about those other guys, the Waddle Dees? They were all captured! And taken away!”

“Huh? You know the Waddle Dees?” Kirby asked, surprised. “My name’s Kirby, and the Waddle Dees are my friends. What about you?” 

As Kirby said this, the aqua-colored creature shouted with delight:

“You’re Kirby?! Like, the Kirby?! Oh my gosh, the Waddle Dees told me so much about you! I was thinking about how nice it would be to get to meet you someday. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kirby. I’m Elfilin!”

“Elfilin...”

“Yeah. I’m friends with the Waddle Dees too. We built this town together, and we lived here happily. But then, they came and attacked us...”

Right that moment, a shout could be heard:

“Kirby! There you are! Wait for meeeeeee!!”

Coming in running, waving his arms around wide, was Bandana Waddle Dee. On his back, he was carrying a long spear.

“Waddle Dee! Thank goodness!”

With a spring in his step, Kirby ran over to him. Full of joy, the two embraced each other tightly.

“So you really came to this world too after all! I missed you so much, Kirby!”

“Yup! I was looking for the Waddle Dees for a while.”

“...a while?”

“Yeah. A while ago, when I got sucked into the vortex, and I woke up on the beach- and after that, I’ve just been doing this for this whole time!”

“...Huh? But that’s... uh, Kirby...”

Bandana Waddle Dee stared at Kirby confusedly.

“Kirby, you said you got sucked into the vortex a while ago...?”

“Uh-huh!”

“We were sucked into the vortex, into this world, way more than a while ago.”

Bandana Waddle Dee spread his arms out.

“We’ve been looking for you and Great King Dedede for... I don’t even know how many days at this point.”

“...what?”

“But we didn’t have any clues at all... that’s when we met Elfilin and became friends with him. Together, we built this town here, and we settled in.”

“...I’m sorry, what?”

Kirby stared blankly, mouth agape, absolutely lost. 

It had been so many days since the Waddle Dees got sucked into the vortex that they were able to build an entire town...?

And yet Kirby had only just gotten to this world a short while ago?

“How did that happen? We all got sucked up together.”

“Yeah... I don’t really know, but...” Bandana Waddle Dee said while pondering, “maybe time got all warped somehow inside the vortex. That’d explain why we both got sucked up at the same time and yet came out at different times and places.”

“Hmm...”

Kirby tried thinking about it, but didn’t understand it any better. Regardless, thinking to go along with what Bandana Waddle Dee had said, he continued the conversation:

“So King Dedede’s not here?”

“...yeah. We got separated in the vortex and still haven’t found him yet.”

Bandana Waddle Dee looked dejected. Kirby, with a cheery voice, tried to lift Bandana Waddle Dee’s spirits.

“It’ll be fine, I’m sure we’ll bump into him sooner or later! Maybe King Dedede just went back to Castle Dedede first, he’s probably just waiting for all the Waddle Dees to come back too.”

In response, Elfilin shook his head with a sad look.

“No, I’m afraid. It doesn’t seem like anyone will be able to return home to Pop Star anytime soon.”

“...really?”

“Yes. I’ve always been on this star, but I’ve heard things about Pop Star from the Waddle Dees. Before they came along, though, I’d never even heard of it. I’m guessing that this star and the one that the Waddle Dees came from are in entirely different universes.”

“Different... universes...?!”

Kirby’s eyes widened. 

It seemed he had come to a much more difficult place than he had thought. 

“According to Elfilin,” Bandana Waddle Dee said, “this place where we are now is called Natural Plains. With the forest and the lake nearby, it kinda looks like Dream Land, right? So, we decided we’d build a town here. We had a feeling that the Great King would’ve landed somewhere in the plains here too... but then the Beast Pack showed up and destroyed everything.”

“Beast Pack?”

Elfilin responded to Kirby’s inquiry:

“They’re the guys who just attacked us. The fuzzy ones are called Awoofies, and the birds carrying the cages are Clockers.”

“The Beast Pack’s leader is known as Leongar,” Bandana Waddle Dee added. “I haven’t seen him for myself, but apparently he’s really, really strong.”

Elfilin nodded his head.

“The pack’s basically Leongar’s minions. They’re most likely carrying out all of Leongar’s orders. They destroyed our town and kidnapped the Waddle Dees. If Kirby hadn’t gotten here when he did, they would’ve gotten me too!”

Elfilin trembled with fear. Kirby offered some encouraging words:

“Never fear, ‘cause I’m here now! Let’s go save the Waddle Dees! Elfilin, I promise that as long as you’re with me, everything will be fine.”

“Ok! Thank you, Kirby!”

Elfilin looked at Kirby with a twinkle in his eyes. 

“The Waddle Dees would talk about you all the time. About how strong you are. And after that fight you put up, I can see it was the truth!”

“But I’m wondering, are you still able to use your Copy Ability in this world?” Bandana Waddle Dee said worriedly. “Kirby, have you tried already?”

“Nope! But it doesn’t matter, ‘cause even if I can’t use any Copy Abilities, I’ve gained a new ability here, and it’s really neat!”

“Huh? What ability?”

“Yeah! See that car...”

Kirby looked around, but the car was nowhere to be seen. It seemed he had gotten quite far away from where he had stopped using Car Mouth. 

“I’ll have to show you later. Anywho, it was so cool! But first, let’s all go rescue the Waddle Dees.”

Bandana Waddle Dee and Elfilin both nodded.

“Well then,” Elfilin said, “we should start by investigating the shopping mall.”

“Shopping mall?”

“Yes. A large building located in the North of Natural Plains. Right now, it’s no longer in use. The Beast Pack seem to have settled in the ruins around the land, using them as bases to carry the Waddle Dees off to.”

“That means the Waddle Dees are there...?”

“Yeah, probably. I could see the clockers carrying their cages off northward. Follow me, I’ll lead you there!”

“Got it, let’s go!”

Just as Kirby cheerfully shouted this, from somewhere in the sky, something was approaching, making a humming noise.

Kirby, noticing this, strained his eyes and stared.

It was a yellow star. Simultaneously, Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee shouted:

“THE WARP STAR???”

It made a sudden drop toward the ground, and stopped right in front of the three.

“A small star???” Elfilin shouted in surprise. “What is this?”

“It’s the Warp Star! It must’ve gotten sucked into the vortex with me. Thanks for coming along, Warp Star!”

Kirby quickly hopped onto the Warp Star, and held out a hand to Bandana Waddle Dee and Elfilin.

“C’mon, hop on! With the Warp Star, we can get to anywhere in no time!”

“Gotcha!”

Bandana Waddle Dee eagerly latched on to the Warp Star. Elfilin timidly boarded, clinging on to the Warp Star tightly. 

“S-So I’m guessing... this thing flies?”

“Of course! Now, here we go!!”

Just as Kirby shouted this, the Warp Star began to speed off with its usual hum. 

Though he was scared at first, Elfilin, getting used to it quickly, cheered:

“Woah, this is awesome! We’re going so fast! Like this, we’re gonna reach the shopping mall in no time at all!”

However, out of nowhere, Bandana Waddle Dee shouted:

“Wait a minute! Warp Star, stop!!”

The Warp Star came to a sudden halt in midair. 

Elfilin, who was nearly thrown off, screamed:

“Hyaaaaa!! Wh-What?! What’s wrong, Bandana??”

“I think I just heard something. Sounded like a voice.”

Bandana Waddle Dee looked around at the surroundings.

Kirby heard it too. From somewhere in the distance, voices were faintly resounding.

“The voices... the Waddle Dees!”

Bandana Waddle Dee nodded.

“They’re all calling for help, they’re crying.”

“They’re being held somewhere nearby. We gotta look for them!”

The Warp Star flew lower and continued slowly.

Bandana Waddle Dee pointed at the tunnel that could be seen up ahead.

“The noise is coming from that tunnel!” he said.

“Got it! Let’s go!”

Kirby and co. hopped off the Warp Star.

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Table of Contents

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[coeurdastronaute]

Kiwi 11

Previously on Kiwi

Nothing could have been more welcomed than the spring. And not the beginning of the spring, but rather the full blown, wonderful, lush and verdant, alive and living, blooming and warm and sunshine afternoons. It brought about the feeling of new and completeness, of happiness that wasn’t hardfought. 

“Give. Me. The cookie!” Lexa yelled and she plodded her way through the park, hands up and jagged, like the monster she was portraying. 

Tiny legs waddled through the grass, squealing with delight as the auntie teased and tripped over herself, flummoxing her way around in the sunshine and grass. But laid flat on her stomach, morally defeated the monster watched the little bare feet approach and giggle before poking her cheek. 

“Aunt Lexie?”

“GrrrRRrrr.” 

“No, no bad.” 

“Please?” Lexa asks, tilting her head to the side as she squints, hair messy and obstructing much of her view. “Pretty please?”

“No more bad.” 

Not even two yet, her nephew was precocious and she had a soft spot for his tiny shirts and socks and dimples and hair and snores. Their tour came with a nanny now, and she was okay with it because he was the best way to spend a few hours detoxing from the blitz of traveling around the world. 

“You’ll share with me please?” she asked, sounding a little sad and sticking out her bottom lip. 

A piece of cookie was fed to her as a little boy squatted near her, gently feeding as if she were an animal in a petting zoo. She wasn’t sure how to explain to someone how much moments like this saved her life. How stale animal crackers and tiny fingers who pet her head and told her no more bad as the sunshine drifted in between the waving branches of the trees in the park as everyone spoke French around them and her sister lounged on the blanket, rocking her foot to the imaginary beat of the afternoon harmonies. 

“We have to head back to the hotel soon,” the adult explained as she turned a page and caught sight of her watch. “Indra scheduled a meeting.” 

“It’s our off day.” 

“I don’t think we actually have those.” 

“I can’t hear you, I’m napping.” 

“You’re less cooperative than a toddler, just so you know.” 

“I already knew.” 

“I’m going to tell Clarke.” 

“She knows too.” 

Lexa smiled to herself and pressed her face into the soft blades of grass while her nephew plopped down near her, still rubbing her hair gently, making more of a mess of it than usual. Nothing was going to get accomplished today, not with spring around them and hopeful enough to distract from the tiredness of the second half of the tour and the start of festival season. 

“She’s coming along soon, huh?” 

“Just over a week,” Lexa smiled and closed her eyes. “Dublin.” 

“Ah, the city of love. If only we went on tour and hit the actual City of Love… Oh, wait…” 

“She had to wrap up her internship and then promised to come on vacation and see some of Europe with us.” 

“You say us, like Clarke is going to be hanging out with me and the kiddo.” 

“Sometimes,” Lexa shrugged. “If you want to see her and stuff.” 

“I’d like to get to know her, if you’ll keep her around.” 

On the grass, Lexa stretched and basked in a little bit of sunshine. She savored the feeing of the dirt and the grass and the toddler that threw himself onto her stomach while her sister hinted at getting to know her girlfriend. 

“Can you remind me not to do anymore tours ever again?” 

“I would, but you’ve already got the workings of another album in the works,” Anya squinted and tossed her book down. 

“No, I refuse. I’m taking a vacation.” 

“You say that now.” 

“I haven’t taken a proper vacation in like six years.” 

“What about rehab?” 

Lexa scoffed and furrowed, rolling her eyes at the idea that she had any sort of fun while pulling the toxins from her body. That the inability to move from her bed, that the shaking and the sick and the ache and the pain-- none of it was a vacation in any form. But Lexa used it. She savored the pain, even when it was enough to make her want to kill herself, because it was her cosmic retribution for everything else she did to her sister. 

But she would never say it was a vacation.

“If that’s what a woman’s gotta do to get a break, I guess I’m due.” 

“I’ll kill you myself next time.” 

“I might take you up on that.” 

The siblings smiled at each other. Lexa smiled as she felt a tiny head nuzzle under her neck. It was perfect, and Lexa was getting good at appreciating these things. 

XXXXXXXXXX

There weren’t so much jitters anymore as there had been before. From time to time, Lexa would feeling a little more amped up than normal when putting on for a particularly raucous crowd. But in the tedium of such a long tour, the almost day-to-day schedule didn’t really get her up in arms anymore. 

But there was a ritual to it all. Most of her day was perfectly coordinate by her manager and a publicist and an entire corporate army of people whose sole job it was to make her bband a success, and as she got older and sober, she realized how good they were at it, and how easy her life could become if she let it. 

And what no one seemed to point out, or at least not that she could remember, was that if she listened and was receptive and prompt, her days led to more free time. It was an actual wonder to see it function as it should. 

The nerves came slowly, and though they never reached the former, paralyzing level, they still grew the closer it got. Lexa took the edge off with stretching and playing video games before the meet and greets, and between that and the set, she read and kept quiet, to herself, away from people. She was about to be pelted with thousands of voices, and having none was her permanent pre-detox. 

Sometimes, she watched the opener, proud of their growth. Sometimes she called Clarke, depending on the time zone. 

Mostly, Lexa sat in her green room and waited, itched, ahed to play. The nerves came from an eagerness to wreck herself on stage.

“Can we skip the hand squeezing after tonight?” Lexa asked as Indra swept into the green room, eyes fixed pointedly on her phone screen as she typed some response. “I went for a run yesterday and I need to recover.” 

“Where’s Anya?” 

“You can just tell me, you don’t have to wait for Anya.” 

“She’s nicer to me; she doesn’t ask for ridiculous favors like avoiding wealthy and famous and connected people who play your records.” 

“Not to your face,” the guitarist grumbled.

“How kind of her. But this is something I need her help with.” 

“Maybe I can help.” 

“I don’t know,” she shook her head and shoved her phone in her pocket. “I think… This is a tough... “

To many, they wouldn’t see how much Indra cared about the two sisters. They were her bounce back to the big times. She discovered them, brought them up, showed them the ropes, kept them as safe as she could. She celebrated the highs, the hits, the shows, and she was there for the lows, for the rehab, for the relapse. She lived for them, giving up all other clients, traveling with them part-time. She was protective because they were her’s. 

“You’re going to have Anya tell me whatever news you’re about to break?”

“Yes,” Indra nodded, earning a smile. 

“Coward.” 

“You could be nicer to me-- I’m letting your girlfriend come along for a few weeks.” 

“You like Clarke.” 

“I do, which makes this a little more difficult.” 

“I’ve never seen you have difficulties telling me anything before. This must be bad. Did we get dropped from the label? Am I under arrest? Embarrassing pictures leaking? My porn history hacked?” 

“Not that I’m aware of,” Indra sighed, mentally making a note to have all internet-capable devices double checked. “This is more of something that I want to prepare you for, but I’m trying to be considerate of your sobriety.” 

“Oh, yikes,” Lexa furrowed and turned around, facing her friend who looked like she struggled with these words more than ever before. “Well, I’m in a good place. I’ve been working the meetings. Honestly, I can handle anything.” 

“Tonight there’s-- Well… What I mean is the... “ she took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. “Where is Anya?” 

“Probably changing the kid. She likes to put him down before our shows. I told you to ban him from the tour. The whole lot of them. Anya and the kid and the husband, exhausting.” 

“Costia is coming to the show tonight.”

The name hurt. It hit her like a ton of bricks. In any string of words put together in the world, she never imagined that Indra would put those words together. 

“Weird. She hates my shows.” 

“She’s promoting a movie she’s in for a second, and she’ll be in town. She knows it’ll generate buzz and rumors.” 

“You’ve spoken to her publicist then?” Lexa nodded to herself, keeping it all business. That would help, she convinced herself. 

“I did. It… it didn’t go well. We basically got the message that it’s happening no matter what, and we should prepare, and there’s no stopping it.” 

“Couldn’t you just ban her?” 

“And then the story is about how you’re still hung up on her. If she comes here, it’s her that’s hung up on you.” 

“Is she?” 

She hadn’t meant to sound interested, and she wasn’t actually. She hadn’t thought about Costia in a long time, but suddenly she had to think about her, and that was hard. Awkwardly, her agent shifted and took a deep breath, strongly disliking this conversation. 

“I mean, who wouldn't be?” 

“Don’t manage me.” 

“It was a good line though, wasn’t it?” Indra offered a small grin. 

“I don’t care. Do I have to see her?” The manager pursed her lips and Lexa groaned. “I need to call Clarke before this hits the waves.” 

“Want to hit a meeting after all of this? I’ll go with you.” 

“I’ll let you know.” 

“Hey, you almost ready to go on?” Anya stuck her head into the room. 

“Oh, now you show up,” Indra shook her head and brushed past her.

“What’s her problem?” 

Lexa just shook her head and turned back toward the mirror. 

XXXXXXXXXX

The sweat was just starting to cool on her neck when her sister stalked toward her, and Lexa knew she was in trouble, even if she didn’t know what for just yet. The euphoria wouldn’t go away. She was still on that high and the stadium was still changing her name despite the encore and there really weren’t drugs that could compete with something like that, even with Anya’s angry face. 

“So that’s why you switched up the set list for the encore.” 

Hands on her hips, she stopped in front of her sister, blocking her off from the rest of the world, cornered and toweling the sweat off of her neck and forehead. 

“Thought we could just do a few different songs tonight,” Lexa shrugged. 

“Indra should have told me. You should have told me.” 

“Why? It’s just a normal night.” 

“That dumb bitch got you hooked--”

“Okay, hold on. You can’t blame her for my actions. Costia didn’t--”

“Don’t defend her!” Anya yelled. 

Lexa had seen her sister mad. She’d made her mad from time to time, believe it or not. She was good at it, but it was never real anger, never this real kind of bite to her words that she currently was exhibiting. This wasn’t a time to reason with her or nitpick word choice. 

In all honesty, Lexa just wanted the night to end. 

Her legs were sore, her brain was a little distracted, and she knew she was gong to wake up to very stupid rumors. But she’d be one day closer to her girlfriend arriving. She smiled, thinking about Tinder’s numbers. 

“You’ll be with me. We’ll do the stupid hand shaking and after party thing, and be on our way. I’m fine, by the way.” 

“You changed the songs.” 

“Yeah.” 

She looked guilty at the admission as her sister sized up the result of the news. 

“You played her song.” 

“The only songs I play are mine.” 

It was a lie, but her sister didn’t push. 

“We’ll do a meeting tomorrow. Two if you want.” 

“Can we just take it hour by hour. I’m honestly fine. I don’t want to think about it too much.” 

“Okay.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Does Clarke know?” Anya ventured, softening slightly. 

“Yeah, I called her before we went on. That was an awkward conversation.” 

“What did you say? Hey, my ex is here and I have to see her for very stupid and very commercial reasons?” 

“Basically, but with a lot of ‘please don’t be mad at me’s thrown in for good measure.” 

Anya smiled and put her arm over her sister’s shoulders before steering her toward the dressing room. 

“You should send her flowers tomorrow.” 

“Already ordered.” 

“Thata girl. I knew you were trainable.” 

XXXXXXXX

It wasn’t hard to see Costia, and that was the hard part. She was beautiful. She was still beautiful. She would always be beautiful. It wasn’t hard to be in the same room as her because she was light and airy, she was wind and wild and illuminating to anyone that came within her orbit. She was intoxicating so that nothing made sense and you did things you normally wouldn’t do, but it was okay, because she had the capacity to see you and believe in you and make you believe in yourself. She was effervescent, and Lexa hated that word because no one was ever actually effervescent-- except for Costia. 

She wasn’t a bad person, contrary to what Anya might think. In fact, often she was a very good person who held doors for strangers and was the type to discreetly tell you there was food in  your mouth before following it up with a compliment about your shoes and the next thing you knew, you were best friends and it was a week later and you didn’t know how you got to St. Tropez. 

It wasn’t hard to see Costia-- it was actual torture. 

Costia smelled like coke in Barbados. She tasted like lines off tanned thighs. She looked like two yellow pills and a tab on a tongue. She was a numbness that made Lexa itch like she hadn’t itched before and she wondered if she was still in love with her. 

And all of this happened in a room full of people who had no idea. 

The niceties of the party were done and the evening stretched. Anya kept an eye on her sister and Lexa was grateful for it. She needed it, she realized; not because she was afraid of doing anything, but just that she was very afraid of being alone. 

“I recognize that look,” Costia whispered as she slipped beside Lexa, weaving through the crowd to find her alone in a corner. 

“I don’t have looks.” 

“You are desperately planning your escape.” 

“Just trying to find my sister,” Lexa disagreed, avoiding looking at her. 

If she glanced, she would have seen her shoulders, bare and sun-kissed. She would have seen the familiar slope of her nose and the stupid little scar on the corner of her jaw that she felt very self-conscious about despite it being half an inch and unnoticeable to anyone who wasn’t intimately-- Nope. She wouldn’t glance. 

Her palms were sweaty, and she gripped the glass of water tighter in her hand. 

“You look good, by the way. I don’t think I told you that. We didn’t really get a chance to chat, though I imagine that’s by Indra’s design.” 

“She’s good at her job.” 

Costia chuckled and Lexa felt her throat close. 

“I followed your lead. Clean for 4 months.” 

“That’s really good. You look,” Lexa gulped and looked at her ex, cursory and strictly for show. “You look good.” 

“Thank you, for doing this, for coming tonight,” Costia offered, taking the chance of meeting Lexa’s eyes finally to be earnest and grateful. “I know it’s stupid, but our paths crossed and we need all the publicity we can for this movie. It’s stupid--’ She tucked a stray curl behind her ear and Lexa died. 

“It’s not. I’m proud you’re branching out. I wasn’t going to do anything else tonight anyway.” 

She got sized up with that comment and she felt it. Deep amber eyes searched her face and plump lips curled up the faintest amount. Only someone acquainted with those lips would see it and appreciate. 

Lexa looked away immediately before taking a sip of her water. 

“We should get out of here and catch up.” 

If only Anya were around. Or Clarke. 

Clarke. 

Fuck. 

Lexa took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearing all of the noise and the memories. 

“I promised my sister I wouldn’t leave without her. We have a show tomorrow, and this tour has been crazy. I’m running again and I ran yesterday but I want to do it again tomorrow.” 

“That was about six excuses rolled into one.”  

“I think the most important of all might be Clarke. I promised her I’d behave myself.”

“You don’t trust me?” 

It was the look. The same look she had before every wonderful thing that happened during their relationship. The look that Costia got before mischief was afoot-- before she tackled Lexa into bed, before she tossed her book aside and crawled into her lap, before she told her to ignore her phone and spend the weekend in a cabin. 

“No. I don’t.” 

She laughed and shook her head. 

“That’s fair. I’ve been fairly untrustworthy in the past.” 

“You can say that.” 

They were quiet for a moment and Anya caught Lexa’s eye from across the room and did her best to make her way over for the rescue. 

“So. Clarke. That’s an interesting name. How’d you meet?”

“Tinder.” 

“Wow. I wouldn’t have taken you for a dating app user.” 

“I’m not. It was for a radio interview game… almost a year ago, actually,” Lexa smiled to her chest as she recounted it. 

“How’s she doing with the whole,” she waved her hands in Lexa’s direction. “Rockstar thing.” 

“Anya doesn’t let me call myself that.” 

“It’s still true.” 

“She’s good. She’s... “ Lexa paused and smiled, unsure of how to describe her present versus the haze of memories she’d buried and been forced to excavate in the past fifteen minutes. “She’s sturdy. She’s steady. She’s gorgeous and funny and strong. She finds me impressive for the things I’m proud of being and she’s not bothered by the things everyone else latches onto. She’s a photographer. And messy but in a neat way-- like her mess isn’t unwieldy. It’s perfect. She’s like breathing, you know? When you sit at the bottom of the pool and then get a big gulp of air. That’s what she feels like.” 

Speechless, Costia stared at her ex as she realized she’d said many words. She recounted it all in her own head and felt each syllable like a knife creating small slits across her skin. 

“Wow. Where can I get one of those?” 

Lexa blushed to the tips of her ears and smiled, embarrassed and awkward as she sipped a little more. 

“Sorry, I just… I don’t get to talk about her much on the road.” 

“No, no… it was refreshing,” the model lied. “Have you written her songs yet?” 

“No.” 

It was Lexa’s turn to lie, though she didn’t consider it such. Not when she hadn’t published or really polished anything worthwhile. 

“That’s surprising. Did you tell her you were going to see me?” 

“Yeah, I called her before I went on tonight.”

“How’d she feel?” 

“Not great. But she understood.” 

“Sounds too good to be true.” 

“She’s… yeah. I don’t know. She’s my favorite person on the planet, honestly.” 

Before Costia could ask anything else, Anya was able to disentangle herself from the group that accumulated and found her sister. 

“I think you gave the reporters more than enough time together,” Anya muttered, disinterested in anything from Costia. “Ready to head out?” 

“Yeah, sounds good,” Lexa nodded. “It was great to catch up. I’d say let’s do it again, but I have a feeling our sponsors might say no.” 

“Or your girlfriend.” 

“Clarke?” Anya scoffed. “Nah. She’s too graceful to say something like that. But I will. I think we can say this was enough catching up for a century.” 

Costia nodded and looked back at Lexa who didn’t disagree with her sister, though she shook her head and tried to soften the blow. 

“That’s not true,” Lexa feigned politeness. “It really was good to see you, and I’m glad you’re doing so well.”

Costia leaned forward and hugged her ex. Lexa only used one arm and pulled away as quickly as possible. 

“You too, Lex,” she smiled. “I’ll see you around.” 

“Yeah, I hope so.” 

“I could go without it,” Anya interrupted. 

With a nod, Costia made her way back into the party and Lexa looked at her sister before earning a disapproving glance. 

“We were just catching up. She’s clean, and I know how hard it is sometimes.”

“You looked chummy.” 

“We actually were just chumming it up.” 

“She lives in a room behind a door that you don’t want to reopen. Leave her there, Lex.”

“I am.” 

“Good.”

NEXT

[vegetacide]

Whump●tober - Scars

Veg-notables:  This one was hard for me to get through for some reason possibly something to do with my muse getting distracted by something shiny and skipping out of the friggen room while I was being berated by an angry person on the phone… GrRrRrrrR  After which I poking at it for 2 days and I think I have poked it to death… Result = not 100% satisfied with it but if I look at it much more my brain may combust.. so here you go

This is an continuation of my vegetable Virgil story line,

Thanks @gumnut-logic for taking a look at this for me last night and your continued encouragement, 

Obligatory whumptober stuff: @whumptober2019 @la-vie-en-whump

Blanket warning: Conversations and vague memories  

Characters: Virg/Kayo and Scott

Whumptober - TaG’verse

Previous posts can be found HERE.   

15. Scars

Enjoy…

oOo

Virgil blinked slowly as he resurfaced from the depths of slumber, his groggy mind coming back on line through the foggy vagueness of confusion and disuse.  

His body felt stiff and oddly overused for some random reason that he couldn’t remember.  Like he’d been on back to back missions and had over exerted himself but he couldn’t recollect the context and breadth of those rescues.  

Fleeting images of flames and rubble hovered around the periphery but when he tried to latch on to them they skittered away like dust motes in the ethereal light of dawn streaming through a villa window. 

As a throb of something in his temple made him grimace he gave up on the sluggy chase through his memories and shifted to his physical reality.  

A steady beeping sound coming from nearby rang dully through his ears and as it counted its rhythm he noted that it seemed to be keeping pace with thump beneath his breastbone. His mind conjured up the image of a heart monitor, that with the stinging antiseptic quality to the air had him drawing the immediate conclusion of a  medical facility but he couldn’t remember how he’d gotten there.  

The hard mattress under him and the feeling of rough sterile sheets further confirmed his findings along with the moderate pang of an IV catheter as it pulled at the crook of his arm and the itch caused by the medical tape keeping it in place.

Further assessing an oddness struck him ,  one side of him felt exceedingly warm and heavy while the other was slightly chilled.  

Peeling gritty eyes open that he hadn’t consciously realized he had closed,  he looked down.  He couldn’t help the lazy smile that turned up the corner of his lips as soft, dark strands tickled his cheek and a sultry scent of living jasmine curled its way up his nose.  

Kayo…

She was snuggled into his side,  an arm slung sleepily across his midsection and her head tucked in tight to his chest. Her own chest rising and falling steadily with sleep, the limpness of her limbs suggesting she was buried deep within R.E.M and most likely not to rouse for a while. 

Lifting his head took some effort, but he managed and lay a soft kiss on her  crown,  breathing deep and savouring her comforting fragrance.

With a  little more effort, he stretched his arm across his body despite the IV line and oximeter on his finger and brushed a stray lock of hair from her face, slipping it neatly behind her ear.  

Energy spent, he let his head fall back on the thin pillow and his hand came to rest over hers on his chest. His fingers automatically threading between hers. 

God, what the hell had happened to him? He felt like the world had steam rolled over him a few dozen times.  

Flattened,  deflated and utterly spent all under a heavy miasma of fog. 

‘Breathing, just work on breathing for a moment,’ He told himself and did just that. Eyes flickered open and closed as exhaustion threatened to pull him under again.   

A movement at the edge of his awareness forced him to focus and concentrate.

Long, legs where propped up and crossed at the ankles on the end of the bed.  Shoes shucked off,  socked toes twitching periodically.

Virgil’s gaze traveled along rumpled pants and a creased oxford to a crown of messy brown hair.  The slumped form of Scott, hunkered awkwardly in one of the standard plastic chairs synonymous for hospitals the world over was just off to one side of the single occupant room that he highly suspected was the ICU by the array of equipment that cluttered its confines. 

Concerned twitched at Virgil’s brow at seeing his brother so unkempt and unlike his usually put together self.  He posture looked haggard, worn in a way that his years shouldn’t though Virgil knew those years hadn’t been the kindest to any of them with respect to what life had thrown at them repeatedly. 

Scott too was sleeping, but his sleep was not the unhindered kind that Kayo was currently blessed with.   He could make out the twitches of movement in the low light of the room and the dark line of his brother’s brow low brows spoke of a mind whirling with unpleasant imagery.

He’d caused this. 

Scott always always wore his concerns for his siblings blatantly, the fine lines and greys where evidence of that and Virgil couldn’t help the pang of guilt for being the cause even if he couldn’t remember the how and why of it.

Not be able to bare his brother’s continued suffering,  Virgil summoned what little energy he had and forced his leaden body to do his bidding.  A shift of his foot and he nudged Scott’s.   

The blaze of discomforted that seared through him had him holding back a gasp and Kayo stirred, her fist tightening on the bed linens and pulling at his hospital johnny which in turn snagged on the packing that apparently padded his side    

Virgil cursed to himself for disturbing her, tensed and instantly regretting it as an ache intensified and spread like wildfire during dry season across his lower torso.

Ow… 

A memory flashed as vision greyed.  A burning building.  The red flash of his baby brothers baldric.  Black smoke and stifling heat.  

What the..?

He recalled a door.  A big, heavy mental door.  A glimpse of inside, snippets of long metal benches,  lab equipment, an odd wavering and then…nothing.

“Christ…” He hissed out softly and sank back into the bed, eyes clenched shut. His pressed his hand to his flank and drew a leg up in hopes of finding some relief from the burn of pissed off nerve endings that where currently screaming bloody murder at him.  

A warm weight on his upraised knee and  a soothing gliding through his hair had him squirting up thought bleary, watering eyes.  

He was met by deep blue, filled with worry staring down at him as comforting, familiar fingers combed over his skull and a thumb brushed his creased brow. 

“Hey, little brother. You in pain?”  

“I moved.”  God, his voice was like gravel

Scott smiled at that.  “Well that’s an improvement from drooling all over your pillow.”  He reached up, flicked something on the head board that Virgil didn’t have the energy to investigate. 

Kay shifted at his side again. A long elegant stretch followed by a jaw cracking yawn and she was sitting up, the lovely spring green hue of her gaze scanning over him with worry.  

“Hey,  beautiful.”

“Hey yourself.” She said and brushed a kiss over his cheek. “How are you feeling?”

Virgil swallowed, his tongue felt like a block of lead in his mouth.  He fought a moment to clear his throat and was thankful when Scott brought a cup of water to his lips. 

A few sips and he eased back. “I’m okay,”  

It was an answer that had Kayo head shifting towards Scott looking for confirmation one that would most likely not be his favour

“That was Virgilese for I hurt too much but it takes too much effort to say otherwise so…’I’m okay.’ ”Scott translated.   

“You’re a horrible liar, you know that right?” Kay said, turning back to Virgil with an eye roll as she fussed with his sheets. 

Scott chuckled at the exchange knowing well the frustration of dealing with the engineer. “Kay, I paged the nurse but you think you could hurry them along a bit?" 

Kayo gave a nod, slipped from the bed.  “Sure thing,  I’ll be right back soon.”  Her hand lingered on Virgil’s arm a moment ““Maybe I’ll check in on Grandma too and leave the two of you to your own devices for a bit. She said she wanted to know when he was awake.” 

“Might as well,  Grandma has been driving the staff up the wall with questions. It’s best to distract her until after the nurse finishes up in here. 

Kayo go Virgil’s shoulder a  soft squeeze, a loving glare of exasperation and she was gone. 

Scott grinned, his head shaking as he settled a cheek on the edge of the bed.  “You got your hands full there, little brother.”

“Ugh.”  Was the only response Virgil could come up with, his lids starting to feel heavy so he let them close. 

“What the hell happened?” He winced as he tried to ease the burn that lingered by shifting position.

Scott wandered across the room,  pulled a pillow out from a small supply closet,  “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Virgil furrowed his brow, tried to peel back the thick fog over his memories. The answer coming slowly and in spurts.  

“Chemical plant.”

Scott nodded as he came back over,  raised the sheet at the end of the bed. “Globalmax Chemicals.   Lift your legs.” The transition from information to command was seamless 

Virgil shook his head as he tried to comply but the effort of tightening of his abs to accomplish the task only added fuel to the banking fire in his gut. Scott frowned and stepped in to assist, sliding a hand under his calves and settling the pillow beneath his knees to ease the pull on his abdomen. 

“What else?”

“There was a fire,  Alan was with me…”  There was a question in his statement that Scott caught on to right away..

He looked up as he tugged the blankets back into place and reached up to adjust the bed angle. “He’s okay,  shaken up but in one piece. You saved his life though he might want to thump you for it. Something about him having body armor.” 

Virgil rubbed tiredly at his brow as the bed shifted beneath him, sighed as the pain eased off a bit. 

“Better?” 

He nodded.  “There was an undocumented fire room. Massive blast doors but it was near the storage vats… door wouldn’t open..but then it did..”

Scott’s eyes grew dark, something unpleasant flashing across them that Virgil would have missed had he not known his brother as well as he did. “Scott..?” 

Just then a redheaded nurse pranced into the room. 

8-8-8

Scott turned as the nurse flounced through the door.  

Oh great… Nurse Ratchet was back on duty…oh joy.  He rolled his eyes as she perked up at seeing him, thrust her double D’s out and checked her tightly bound hair as she made her way across the room to Virgil’s bedside.

Scott shuddered when her eyes racked up his body like he was a top sirloin steak waiting to be eaten. 

It was a good thing Kayo was still out of the room or the laser beam war would start again and Scott was pretty sure he was done refereeing that fun show. 

Kayo had nearly throttled the woman earlier and had Scott not seen all the signs and stepped between the two there would have been bloodshed…high point, at least they were in a hospital.  Scott was pretty sure though that modern medicine wasn’t  advanced enough to put back together the mess that Kayo was capable of making when she put her mind to it.  

Eyeing the nurse dubiously, Scott went over to the other side of the room out of the way of the top heavy, rather abrupt nurse and took up residence at his brother’s side. 

Nurse Ratchet did the standard check of vitals, pulse, blood pressure, temperature before moving to checking pupil dilation and jotted it all down on his chart.  

“How are you feeling today Mr Tracy?” She asked without looking up from the chart.

“Mr. Tracy is my father,”  Virgil replied giving his neck a roll

Scott reached up and helped adjust his pillow and his brother gave him a small smile in thanks, lids drooping. He was flagging and Scott hoped this was over with fast.   

“Any pain, My Tracy?”  The nurse obviously deciding his last comment was irrelevant.  

“A little.”  

Scott cleared his throat,  the nurse looked his way and he amended.   “You can take that as a ‘Yes’”.  

A raised brow at the clarification and she made a note on the chart.  “I see.”  

Putting the chart down she folded back the covers, “I need to check your wound, clean it and change the dressing, perhaps your brother could wait outside.”  

It wasn’t a question but Virgil shook his head.  “I don’t mind.”  

“Very well,” and like that she pulled up his hospital johnny to uncover his gauze covered side. 

Virgil squeaked at the suddenness of the exposure to his person and Scott being ever alert to his brother’s modesty adjusted the sheets enough to hide Virgil’s dignity.  

Scott’s temper flared.  “Really,  a little bedside manner would be nice.” 

The nurse just tutted.  “I’ve seen everything already, no point in hiding it now.”  

The comment only made Virgil turn a darker shade of red and Scott scowled but he withheld saying anything else for fear his temper would get the better of him.

The nurse had a brutal personality but she was highly skilled and from what Scott had seen very proficient at her job even if she was a bit too rough for his liking. Virgil deserved the best treatment and Nurse Ratchet or whatever she was called, was it. 

Biting his tongue he put a reassuring hand on his brother’s shoulder and watched as the nurse from somewhere South of Hell  pulled back the edges of the gauze to inspected the jagged line of stitches underneath.

A soft curse came from Virgil as gloved hands probed the tender area and his eyes closed.  

“Ouch…”

Scott leaned a bit closer to inspect the damage himself and held back his own grimace at the angry red flesh. “Looks better than it did” He supplied. 

“Good to know”  Came a pained response through clenched teeth.   

The synth-skin mesh that had been grafted over the injury was doing its job of holding things together along with sutures but it wasn’t in the prettiest of stages. The team of Doctors had been forced to remove some necrotic flesh around the jagged slice as the infection had progressed to prevent further harm to his sibling’s already battered immune system.    

A few additional trips under the knife would be needed in the coming weeks to implant more grafting but it was a start. There would be a scar for sure and no amount of surgery would ever be able to fully erase it existence. The mark would serve as a constant reminder of what their chosen profession had nearly cost them all.

It wouldn’t be his brother’s first one and would most likely not be the last but Scott figured it would have a lasting effect on his family as a whole for some time to come. 

They’d all be marred in one way or another by what had occurred and like any scar it would take some time to dull but it would still be there.  A distant memory that all one had to do was look in the mirror to see and remember. 

A hiss from Virgil  dragged Scott out of his head and back to what was going on in the room.   

“I know it stings but try not to tense up too much,  the musculature beneath sustained some damage as well and clenching up is only going to exacerbate the discomfort despite the pain blocker and numbing salve.”  

“No…shit…”  

“Now Mr Tracy,  no need for such foul language.  I’m almost done.”

A grunted reply from Virgil and a short while later, the nurse was snapping off her gloves and tossing them in a biological waste bin. Her beady eyes turned to Scott.  “Visiting hours haven’t officially started yet but they don’t seem to apply to your family… I suggest you let him sleep and try not to agitate him too much. He’s immune response is still compromised with the infection and things can easily go from good to bad in his current state so he requires rest.”

The warning shot had been fired  and Scott had received the message loud and clear. “Gotcha” He said as the nurse flounced back out of the room.   

“…fuck me.. I’m already agitated.”  Virgil grumbled as the door swung closet.

Scott chuckled at that and helped Virgil settle again. “Well,  she is scary as hell and I am pretty sure that your girlfriend might take a hit out on her by the end of all this but Nurse Ratchet does know her stuff.” 

A pained snort, “Coming from the guy that didn’t just have to go through that… your words aren’t worth much.. And really? Ratchet?.” 

A smile split Scott’s face. God, he had missed this easy back and forth they shared. He shrugged,  “It seemed appropriate..”

Scott crossed mental fingers and hoped, prayed that he wouldn’t ever lose this camaraderie if all the dark things ever came to light.  

“You have no idea what her name is do you?” 

Scott faked a thoughtful look and gave up with a nonchalant shake of his head.  “Not a clue…” 

“No wonder she’s brutal…”  A yawn split his brother’s face. 

 “That is a possible cause, sorry about that.”  Scott rolled back on the heels of his feet, shoved his hands into his pockets as quiet descended in the room. 

Virgil’s eyes drifted closet. 

“I think Nurse Ratchet has a thing for you.” 

Scott gaped,  “You did not just go there..”

“I think I did.”  A smiled turned up Virgil’s lips though he didn’t bother opening his eyes.  

“Remind me why you’re my best friend again?” 

“Cause your only other options are the Terrible Two,” He didn’t elaborate further than that as if just mention Gordon and Alan was answer enough, “John on the other hand  is way too smart for you to have an intelligent conversation without leaving you in the dust with a brain hemorrhage…that and you can’t play chess worth beans..” 

“I can too play chess.”  

An eye cracked open and looked at him with skepticism.

“Oh shut up and go back to sleep”  Scott grumbled and crossed the room to slump into a chair.

“Stop sulking. You know I’m right.” The voice was teasing and very, very tired. 

“Shh..”

oOo

Next post can be found HERE

The Master List of prompts can be found HERE