#stitch the smeet

[refried-ghost]

The whole thing was crushing to Zim in away few other things had been. The death of Miyuki. The Trial. That one time he'd gotten his head stuck in tear in reality.

Skoodge tried to help. So did GIR. Computer. The defective human didn't bother, but she'd try comfort the accomplished invader. Gaz had been there a few times she couldn't look him in the eye. He preferred it that way anyway.

It was a reality check. A nasty, bloody one. A glimpse into a full blown nightmare, that could have been the rest of his existence, only ended by that stupid, ugly faced Skoodge, who was far too kind for his own good, too loyal, and the two human girls that openly disregarded him.

HE showed up once. Managed to slip passed the defense systems while Krysa was dropping stuff off for Skoodge. She smashed a bottle over his head before anyone had a chance to react. Zim had probably the worst panic attack he'd ever had. Gaz was called apparently. She dragged him off threatening Krysa if she tried anything else. The girl rolled her eyes. Skoodge though, Skoodge was enraged over the whole thing.

"The only reason he isn't dead yet is because of you!" He jabbed Gaz. "You said you'd take care of it!" A step forward. "You said Zim'd never see his face again. So, why in the fuck is he here?!"

Gaz looked at him with wide eyes as she held her weakly struggling brother. She opened her mouth to speak, but caught the glimpse of a grin from the other girl. Her blood boiled.

"What are you smiling at?" Venom dripped from every word. Krysa's gaze snapped from Skoodge to Gaz. She motioned dismissive to the Irken. The gamer growled.

"Great! Not even an answer," Skoodge's held his head. "Get out."

Gaz wanted to argue, but Dib was began to struggle against her.

"NOW!"

"Fine." She began to drag him out.

"There's no next time!"

"I know," she mumbled.

They watched her go. Listening as the door slammed. Then a bit more. Eventually the Skoodge's shoulders dropped.

Krysa touched the irken's shoulder, glancing over it at his face. "I didn't know you had it in you to yell like that."

Skoodge flinched and shrunk in on himself a bit. "Uh, yeah... I guess sorta lost it." He sighed. "That wasn't very mature of me, huh?" A shameful blush enveloped his face. "I hope Zim didn't hear that," he whispered into his hands.

Kyrsa twirled around on her good leg and grabbed one of the grocery bags from the floor. "I'd disagree, but honestly, is it really a problem if you were?" She placed the items into sink after shaking off the glass shards. Metal claws picked up the pieces.

Skoodge didn't know how to answer that, instead he looked at the floor.

"I need to check on Zim."

She turned on the tap washing blood and sauce down the drain.

Zim was huddled in his blanket, GIR laid a top his head and neck half hugging him, half patting him. "Shoosh shshoosh shu. Take the piggy. Take it," the robot pulled a pig from his head and shoved it into Zim's face. The Irkens breathed harder. GIR frowned and tucked the piggy into the blanket. "There!" He slid off Zim landing on his head.

But his master wasn't smiling still. He shook violently, wrapping the fabric around him as tightly as he could as his PAK made an skipping whir. With each skip there'd be this quiet almost snapping noise, accompanied by a fully body flinched. Sweat poured down his face.

GIR's frown deepened. He waved his hand infront of him, but was distracted by the magenta that colored it. "Ooo." The eye glow wasn't new, but he'd never noticed how the light bounced before. He flexed his tiny hand.

The stitches were impossible to ignore. They should have been healed by now, but they weren't. Somehow he knew they never would be. They tugged tightly on his skin, feeling as it they tear it if he didn't just stop breathing. He wanted to stop. Or at least slow down. But he couldn't. Not after HE broke into his base again.

Everyone wanted him dead. Zim was painfully aware of that. From the moment he'd shoved that smeet back into the chute. He'd placed a curse upon himself. Countless times as a smeet or in his plug his clutch mates and the smeetry worker or overseers had tried to kill him. Some were direct. Holding him down and trying to rip off his PAK. A handful succeed with dislodging it. Others went with schemes. Handing a tiny Tenn enough poisoned snacks to take the six of the out and making her promise to share with her friends. Only stopped by them getting stolen by Tallers. Their teacher was horrified and furious when he'd found them all dead.

It wasn't necessarily when they'd meet that this desire would develop. But even Red and Purple wanted him dead at this point. They'd used too be the closest to him, so why would anyone else be any different?

It was always his fault too. Zim'd always know that. He shoved his head in the tear. He created the blob. He'd reminisced over the creature to them seconds before it'd eaten Spork. He'd half given up and decided to mess around with HIM.

He couldn't turn off his mind.

Zim weakly struggled against the restrains only half aware of what was going on. It was almost as if his brain meats ceased functioning. HE screamed throwing the phone. The Irken flinched as-

The spear slammed into the ground next to his head. The guard stepping firmly on his chest. Miyuki screamed as the blob tightened it tentacles around her. Her PAK legs shot out frantically stabbing at it. But-

His PAK legs were stuck. The sticky substance had seemed to weld them together. With annoyance Purple pulled out something sharp.

The blade glinted in the light. HE was wearing the sickest grin Zim'd ever seen.

It was suspended in a fluid, cloudy eyes looked vacantly back at him. The skin slightly open revealing a near empty cavity in the torso. The vortian's voice drowned out by the ringing in his ears.

It was pinned down, the tiny, slimy creature's underbelly exposed, a scalpel rested in his own hand. The teacher removed organs from their carcass one by one. Holding each up for the class. He looked back down to the frog, and without much of a thought cut into it.

He screamed and struggled against the restrains. His fog suddenly gone. The blade caught repeatedly on his tunic as it moved. A trail of blood bloomed behind it. The messy gouge only seemed to make the human laugh.

The timer ticked down as he ran for his PAK. Legs weak and heavy, with each step the life seemed to drain out of him. A hand grabbed his ankle. He fell hard. Through blurry eyes he looked down at the half dead Irken snagging him. With a spike of adrenaline he raised his other foot and-

A loud snap echoed throughout the jungle. Red looked at him with terror, then frantically readied his weapon. Zim looked down to find a crushed bone under his foot.

A hand wiggled within his flesh grazing over broken bone. The pain was explosive.

"Zim?" The voice almost seemed as if it was underwater.

The explosive heat that seemed to ripped him apart, that was also a part of him, turned icy cold. His thoughts melting way and dragged on forever at the same time. And he was sure this was how he was going to die.

Zim puked.

[gotta-resisty]

OOC: Resisty Weekly News

This Week: Still a war

After @agnt-of-chaos , Dib, finally recovered and had some nice time with Agent Overlord, @resisty-zim , Zim ended up getting sick. His body and PAK suddenly became weak because his body decided to go and make an egg. Zim was mortified. He and Dib again ended up needing help from @ukagaka-zim and @ambassador-d1b , @kneltnotbowed offered online moral support.

Agent Discord, @the-cooler-gaz , heard a little about it on her Foodcourtia outing with Agent P, @resisty-tak .

Zim and Dib were transported from Ukagaka Zim's base to @aik-membrane 's labs buildings to be more comfortable. And Zim gained some fluff. They also ran into a ghost.

Meanwhile, @resisty-agent-fox had some letter fun on Tumblr and offered to take Purple, or Tyr, out for snacks.

Zim laid the egg just fine but passed out from exhaustion. It worried Dib, and the Computer too the opportunity to try to spark drama. But Zim woke up and they discovered the egg wasn't fertilized anyway.

Dib realized that it could mean a lot for the war, so they both went back to HQ to tell @commandor-lard-nar all about it. They talked to Purple, Tyr, about it too, who was horrified. And Zim went to comfort @agents-pinkies , Smeet Tenn, since she cried over Computer's prank.

After discussing how the existence of natural reproduction in Irkens could affect the Empire, Dib and Lard Nar called Red. Purple had discovered the egg was Zim's, based on the fact that Dib was holding it and marked by Zim with a smell only Irkens could perceive. Purple spilled the beans to Red, who let it slip on the call that he knew Zim had the egg.

Zim was kept on HQ for a few days and worked on a component to keep him from making more eggs. He and Dib went to Earth to install it, but on the way they were captured by the Armada.

During the following mess, Purple and Sarshe hung out for a bit.

Dib and Zim were trapped on the Massive for several hours, not quite a full day. Red planned to empty Zim's mind from his body and PAK and then cut him up to use his defective and usable reproduction system to repair smeeteries. Zim's PAK was to be used for repairing the control brains, so that no defect could ever escape again.

Dib and Zim tried to escape, but they both got seriously injured and caught. Dib got stabbed in the shoulder, which Red let Zim stitch, and Zim got shot in his second set of arms as well the veins close to the skin of those arms rupturing, causing bruising, bleeding, and temporary loss of arm use.

Lard Nar, Sarshe, and Purple formulated a plan to get the duo out. Purple was going to be a double agent and fake bringing Sarshe in as a prisoner to bust Dib and Zim out.

Dib successfully managed to break out again and hid himself and Zim in the vents while they waited for Purple and Sarshe to come. They had to split up and individually they both kicked some Irken ass. They met up again just as Purple and Sarshe caught up and they were escorted safely back to HQ.

Gaz was panicked over the whole thing and relieved they were safe again.

Purple got a room of his own instead of a cell.

Zim and Dib went against medical advice to have a little NSFW fun.

They went back to the med bay later to get a check up, and Zim was having doubts about how different he was to Skoodge and Tenn since he had tasted Irken blood during that fight. He didn't talk about it though. He visited the void and @ask-paranormaloddities Sprouts and Wolfsbane. Dib got sad about Zim eventually leaving and went back to his lab after a chat with Sarshe.

Zim went looking for Dib after his visit, ran into Purple, and backed out of that. Purple hung out with Sarshe and fell asleep while Zim and Dib talked about things and had some nice time. Those two accidentally ended up on the topic of marriage and both had some major gay panic.

After they finished with that they went back to med bay and annoyed the medics and had lunch together, which Zim considered a date. They called Red to piss him off and blew up a computer too.

Gaz discovered a place called the Nebula Casino owned by @zee-of-the-irkens and thought to visit.

@keefs-station came online as well.

After a few days of peace however, Dib was again caught by Red to be used as bait to lure Zim in. And it worked. Gaz panicked as well.

Zim ended up getting defective therapy shocks which instead of killing him sent him into some kind of fight mode. After he brought Dib back to HQ, he went blank, almost no reactions to anything. Like he was dead.

Ukagaka Zim was brought to help and Sprouts went to Zim's base. Dib was in a bad physical and mental state, thinking Zim was gone and having to recover from being severely poisoned.

As of now, Zim hasn't woken up from the state.

Tune in next week to find out what happens next.

[thebestinvaderever]

*Zim stopped* Hey hey, it is okay Dib. I have got you. There is only 2 left, okay? *he thinks for a moment* Let Zim try something that used to always calm me as a smeet. *he hummed 'you will be okay' (from Helluva Boss) as he finished up the last 2 stitches, tying a knot and cutting the extra string*

There you go Dib. You did it! You are a very brave human, good job! *he spoke calmly and smiled reassuringly at him*

*Zim knocks on Dib's door, hands in his pockets and hood up*

(ooc - he's wearing this outfit from the Rebellion au by Idakyrie (srry if I misspelled that and srry for crappy quality)

[Dib opened the door, looking a bit panicked as he realized it was Zim. He stayed silent, not at all knowing what to say to him. It was difficult for him to even make eye contact.]

[cipher-the-sidhe]

I did NOT have time for this this month so pardon how much of a mess it is but no way was I letting Art Fight end without drawing Sun and Moon ;-;

*aggressively throws this @bamsara and runs away*

[youngmoviemaker]

He Left You Behind, You Know

Hehehe, me drawing hand go brrrr. @bamsara

Bonus:

[royaljellyprince]

stitch attack for @bamsara <33333

[squidlykitten]

I'm drawing incredibly self indulgent nonsense for art fight and you canNOT stop me.

This one is titled Indulgent Moneybags Himbo takes the Smeets Shopping, pfft. Kajj has like. . . a lot of money. Like a LOT. He's old as balls and never spent any of his wages, except when he needed to acquire rare weapons materials or wanted to tip a servant. He lives off of ration bars and spent all his time working soooo. . . He's more than happy to spend money buying his adopted Defectives pretty much anything they damn well want.

Tempted to throw Squip in there too, hahahaha, probably carrying a ton of books.

(That's Diloolie's Demeter and Bamsara's Stitch in there, by the by. Not that you can really tell from my mass of scribbles I've got going on right now)

[messinwitheddie]

Gir "Come on, Zim, you gotta get ready!"

Zim "Gir? How-- you're a--"

Gir "You're the guest of honor! Don't keep everyone waiting!"

Zim "What docking bay is this, Gir? Where are we?"

Gir "You look really nice, Zim."

Zim "This is the nicest I've ever looked."

Gir "I always thought you had pretty features. When I was a smeet I hoped I looked like you when I grow up, bit I'll always look like chonky me."

Zim "Aw, Gir, you--"

Gir "I hadn't heard back from you in so long, but I knew you would show this time. I'm making all your favorites. Smells good in here, hu?"

Zim "I'm so sorry for ditching you before the big cook off. I was never the friend you needed me to be. I want to be better, I just don't know how. I don't want you to keep growing up without me. Please, Gir, stop!!"

Gir "I can't. I'm going to keep growing up until I'm grown and then I'll keep living until something stops me-- just like everyone else. I don't have any choice, Zim. None of us do."

Zim "I'm sorry for everything. I should have tried harder--"

Gir "Why didn't you ever answer me when I called?"

Zim "I never meant to hurt you. I was trying to STOP hurting you. I-- I can still turn things around. I know I haven't done a good job of it recently, but I always find a way to turn things around. I can do it again! I'll be home soon. I'll make things up to you once I'm back and-- Please don't hate me."

Gir "Don't cry. If you're upset you'll get a tummy ache then you won't want to eat your meal. I worked so hard to cook it."

Zim *chokes*

Gir "Everyone else is here. Sit down. She saved you a seat."

.

...

....

....

"Will he be okay?"

"I stitched him up as best I could. All we can do now is wait for the bleeding to stop and hope his PAK can repair the rest of the damage. I'm still pissed at you, by the way. You're in a whoooole new realm of trouble!"

"He was hurt! What did you want me to do?!"

"Nothing!! Zim is a menace and his species is a swarm of locusts with megadeth weapons!"

"But he--!"

"I have three thesis papers due this week, another shift at work to start in six hours and a YOU to raise! I don't give a shit if Zim lives or dies!!"

"I do!"

"He would have let you bleed out had you crashed. He would have laughed about it! He doesn't value non-irken life, Reg. We're nothing but toys for him to play with until we break! You shouldn't have brought him here! You didn't HAVE to make this our problem! I dealt with enough of his bullshit when I was a kid!"

"It was the right thing to do and I'm not sorry I did it."

"You don't have to be sorry. Just stay the hell away from him until I figure out how to handle this."

Zim "..........Hey! Shut up over there! Can't a drone sleep one off?...zzzzzzzzzz"

[bamsara]

STITCH AND KAL....baby...

Heyo @bamsara! ^^ I heard you're having burn-out, so I drew both Kal and Stitch. Sorry if it doesn't look good, I haven't had any time to practice. ^^u

[stevetheskeletoninthecloset]

;this is a roleplay thing so I'll continue from there to give sum content;

;@invader-mek just want you to see it;

*we go to lucifer healing mek, putting bandages and stitching scars so blood won't come out*

"alright that would be enough.."

"ugghhh"

"i need some coffee..."

*lucifer goes to the living room*

"ugh...hey beel-"

"..."

"what are you doing?"

*he sees beel sitting on the ground watching the smeets sleeping,and actual eaten food in an almost empty plate*

"oh! Skeleton guy told me to look after the smeets for a bit,i think he had some stuff to do probably fucking around or something i wasn't really focusing"

"smeet???"

"that's what the skeleton told me their called,beats me i guess"

"ah.."

"is that what the foods for?"

"well duh sherlock"

"that's not really what...you know what sure,i don't even care"

"i just want some coffee and I'll go back to work"

*lucifer starts making coffee*

"you know these things are really fascinating.."

"how small and weak they are it's surprising they aren't dead by now, it's the most pathetic thing I've seen in a while it's hilarious"

*beel smiles in his toothy grin but it's more unsettling than the first in a way*

"mhm.."

"oh by the way hows the big green lady?"

"guessing by her stage right now not the best,but she could get better i have no promises to what'll happen i can only try my best"

"sounds pretty sucky, she was probably in a lot of pain,first time i guess"

*says beel in a playful way*

"well they aren't like anyone around here are they?"

"anyway im going back to work and you clean the place,and don't pother me... "

"whatever you say fucker boy~"

*lucifers gives an annoyed sigh and leaves*

[pyrodarknessanny]

trying to work more on this thing  Adzuki is my spirit animal in that I am SOOOO not about  the smeets.  now I COULD skip ahead to the fun stuff BUT i really want to stay on track and wright this shit in a LINEAR manner.   and not jump all over the place and  then have to try to stitch my segments together in order to form something coherent. why the shit is this so hard ...   

[glitterfilledtrashcan]

For the rapr smeet au, how did Red and Purple feel when they found out they were expecting smeets? And, were Red and Purple planning to have smeets or was it just a shot in the dark for them?

Thanks for asking!

The two didn’t even know they were capable of having smeets. Considering smeets had been made in smeeteries long before they were born, and also considering the fact the chances of an Irken producing a clutch when Paks did such a good job as suppressing the hormones and all around acting like a contraceptive to the Irken race, to the point where the Computers weren’t all too worried about sex-ed. Not when they had military training and world conquering to worry about.

Purple was completely ‘normal’ the first bit of the incubation of the clutch. Crankier and more easily aggravated than usual, but nothing anyone was too worried about. (I can tell you about some of the symptoms he went through and all that jazz, but I don’t want to ramble on too much)

In fact, even when he started putting on weight, no one thought too much of it. Since he was eating a lot more food, considering five smeets are going to take a lot of energy, they thought he was just gaining a few pounds. Well, then he gained a few more, and a few more..

He even got so large the little ‘rings’ around his torso and corset couldn’t be worn anymore, and he had to loosen up the corset itself too. Red liked to poke fun at him about all this, even if he was getting a bit worried. Taller Irkens usually don’t gain that much weight, considering how much they have to eat to even just stay alive. They need a lot more than the average Irken.

It eventually got to the point he didn’t even want to go out of his and Red’s suite, or even their bed. Eventually, something happened. He wasn’t eating as much, and was even excising a bit during this time because he was getting more than a bit self conscious about his weight. Well, he was already barely eating enough to keep him from passing out considering how much went into the smeets, he quite literally passes out one day and hit his head on the edge of a desk because he had a sugar and carb crash, the main staple of the Irken diet.

This is about the time they found out about the smeets. Since this was very concerning, lots of tests were run on him, and eventually it was found he had a large fluctuation of certain hormones, which eventually led to the discovery of the smeets. Of course, the two didn’t take the news all that well. They were more than a little confused, and defiantly scared, Red more so than he likes to admit, about Purple’s declining condition. These feelings lasted until it was decided that Purple would need basically a c-section, because even after him getting plenty of sugar and carbs, he just didn’t have enough energy and strength to go day to day, and his condition was only worsening. Of course, this just made the fear spike up even more. How would you feel if you didn’t know you were pregnant and all of a sudden these doctors are going to have to cut you open and take them out of you?

It was ultimately the best decision, and although they didn’t instantly fall in love with the smeets, since it took a while for them to even get over all the confusion and stuff (There was even a rumor going around Purple was a defective, and that’s why this happened. Didn’t really help with the stress.), they eventually got over that hurtle and were very much happy and joyful to have their little bundles of destruction once they learned how to care for them.(Didn't stop them from having the smaller Irkens do most of the child-care, while they just gave them affection and attention) It just meant the next Tallest would probably be one of their smeets, which of course meant they were the best!

(Btw, the scar/stitching on the chest is something both the Tallests have had since they had became tallests. All Tallests get certain things done to them, aside from the thumb-cutting ritual and all that jazz. I also forgot Purple’s Pak on the last pic. Oof!)

Hope I answered your question, don’t mind how long this is!

[membranes-strange-creation]

The stitched hood slid down, revealing the chrome head of a SIR unit.

Gir started, apparently having been asleep after an exciting day of giving the facility minders heart attacks. The smeet he was cuddling with, who was actually smaller than he was, also opened their eyes.

membranes-strange-creation​:

the-nightmare-is-smol​:

Meanwhile, Zim’s PAK legs slipped silently into the open when he crept in, joints glowing in the darkness as they lifted him high enough to see into the cribs.

Not much to see…just sleeping babies. Some had little blankets over them, some were cuddling with stuffed toys: Irken or Vortian dolls, some of the cuter-looking alien animals out there, and…a lime green Earth dog…?

Zim’s eyes narrowed immediately at the familiar color, and he made his way over, reaching in to tug the hood down.

[laurapraat]

Een nachtmerrie deel 1

28 december 2022 Mijn man en ik staan in onze woonkamer. Een half uurtje daarvoor is hij naar de supermarkt geweest. Bij terugkomst stond de buurman van nummer 13 aan de deur. Twee dagen daarvoor is hun busje in brand gestoken. Mijn man heeft die nacht de brand ontdekt en hierdoor heftiger weten te voorkomen. De woningbouw stichting reageerde er maar laks op. ‘Dan moet je maar beter op je spullen letten’. De buurman was daar natuurlijk niet heel erg tevreden mee. En kwam mijn man dit vertellen en hem even bedanken. Hun busje kon gelukkig hersteld worden.

20:00 Mijn man en ik hebben het over de voorvallen van de afgelopen tijd. Ongelofelijk hoe de woningbouw hierop reageert. De laatste weken slapen wij amper. Bram durft niet meer alleen te slapen en wilt elke nacht bij ons liggen. De avond daarvoor is er weer een poging tot brandstichting geweest en een uur later is een auto in de straat achter het pand bekogeld met stenen en vuurwerk. Al dagen hingen er weer vreemde types rond in de parkeergarage onder ons pand. Mijn man liep ’s nachts maar rondjes door en rondom het pand. Omdat in de nacht dat het busje van onze buren in brand werd gestoken er een zwerver zich weer toegang tot het pand had verschaft. De meldkamer vroeg aan mijn man of dat hij kon controleren of dat alle deuren gesloten waren in het appartementencomplex. Tijdens zijn ronde ontdekte hij de brand. In no time werd het pand toen ontruimt omdat er al snel rook in de woningen naar binnen trok. Dit liep gelukkig met een sisser af. Binnen een uur mochten we weer terug onze woning in.

20:10 We hoorde een harde knal en alles stond te trillen in onze woning. Mijn man zuchtte en wilde weer gaan kijken. Wacht! Ik loop meteen mee dan kan ik meteen de meldkamer bellen als het weer nodig is. We liepen de trap af. Niks te zien. Even controleren bij mijn man zijn auto die naast de vernielde auto van die week stond. Niks aan de hand.

20:13 We lopen terug en zien rook uit de parkeergarage komen. Mijn man rent er heen en begint te gillen dat ik de brandweer moet bellen. Hij rent naar binnen om een brandblusser te pakken die hij wist te staan in de parkeergarage. Echter begreep de meldkamer maar niet dat het om de parkeer garage aan de Architect Peutzweg in Breda ging. Ik bleef het maar herhalen. Uiteindelijk maar schreeuwen. De rook en het vuur werd heftiger ik zag mijn man niet meer en begon te gillen dat hij naar buiten moest komen. Ondertussen hing ik nog met de meldkamer aan de lijn. Mijn man kwam op handen en voeten en hoestend de garage uit. De brandblusser smeet hij kwaad tegen het hek.

We vlogen naar binnen. Ik gaf de telefoon over aan mijn man. Huilend riep ik ze snappen het niet!  Ik riep tegen bram dat hij zijn schoenen en jas moest pakken. Ik legde ferry in de wandelwagen. Pakte de luier tas mee. Een tas met spulletjes die ik na de afgelopen keer had klaar gezet voor het geval dat en zette die in de gang bij de kinderen klaar. Steffan pakte de honden. Ik pakte de bench van stitch. Het was heet in het ketelhok… ik rende de woonkamer in. Ik kreeg stitch te pakken en wilde haar in de bench zetten. Ze wist zich los te trekken en schoot weg. Mijn man dook achter haar aan maar kreeg haar niet meer te pakken. Continu hoorde wij enorme knallen en stond alles te trillen. Eruit eruit! Schreeuwde mijn man We moeten er Nu uit! De rook kwam via de ramen, deuren, ketelhok en meterkast naar binnen. En het laminaat kwam omhoog geklapperd. Stitch was de slaapkamer in geschoten. Mijn man heeft de deuren dicht getrokken. Ik pakte Bram en de honden. Mijn man pakte Ferry mee. Op de galerij was het pikken donker. De noodverlichting was uitgevallen. Ik focuste mij op mijn man en zo snel als wij konden vlogen we naar het hek toe de trap af naar buiten. Daar was de Brandweer er goddank dan eindelijk!

Buren van de overkant van het complex kwamen toegesneld. Of ik met de kinderen liever bij hen binnen wilde zitten. Mijn man stond met de hulpdiensten te praten. Ik gaf aan dat ik liever even op mijn man wilde wachten. Ik belde mijn vader. ‘Papa! Je moet komen! Alles brand!’ Mijn vader had meteen door wat er gaande was en vloog de auto in. Ineens voelde ik twee handen op mijn schouder. Het was mijn schoonbroertje. Mijn schoonmoeder volgde niet snel daarna. Ze pakte mij vast. ‘Zijn jullie in orde? Is iedereen uit huis?’ Ik begon nog erger te huilen: ‘stitch is nog binnen ik kreeg haar niet te pakken’. Mijn schoonmoeder begon te vloeken. Wij mochten niet meer naar binnen om haar te pakken en de brandweer ging ook niet meer naar binnen.

Aan mijn man werd gevraagd of dat hij rook had ingeademd. Hij gedroeg zich zoals altijd weer stoer en gaf aan niet nagekeken te hoeven worden. Ik werd op dat moment echt kwaad. En begon te roepen dat hij nagekeken moest worden en de kinderen ook want we hadden allemaal in de rook gestaan in onze woning. We werden naar de ambulance begeleid. We moesten onze neuzen snuiten. Er kwam roet uit, In no time hingen we allemaal aan de zuurstof. Ik probeerde mijn moeder te bellen geen reactie. Een appje geen reactie. Ik appte haar man. En binnen een paar minuten belde mijn moeder. Ze kwamen naar het ziekenhuis. Mijn man werd samen met Ferry in een andere ambulance overgezet. Ruim een uur later werden Bram en ik in een andere ambulance gezet en ook naar het ziekenhuis gebracht.

In het ziekenhuis vonden er al snel onderzoeken plaats. Maar duurde het enorm lang voordat wij weer herenigd werden als gezin. Wat een hel is het om je kleintje van net 6 maanden te horen krijsen en gillen en er niet heen mogen. Bram moest in bedwang gehouden door mij, mijn moeder en mijn vader en nog een verpleegkundige om geprikt te worden. De eerste keer ging fout. Dus de tweede keer was een hel! We hadden allemaal een koolmonoxide vergiftiging opgelopen.

Familie en vrienden stonden er allemaal. Wat was dat enorm fijn! En ik werd er zelfs een beetje stil van…. Steun die echt even nodig was. Ik was echt in de veronderstelling dat er niks meer over was. Dat stitch dood was. Wat nu? Hoe verder? Ik wilde graag naar mijn vader. Op mijn eigen kamer, In mijn eigen bed. Op een plek die altijd veilig is.

’s Nachts mochten wij het ziekenhuis verlaten. We gingen terug naar de woning. Bij de Jumbo werd iedereen opgevangen. Een vrouw die de opvang begeleidde raakte met ons in gesprek. Ik begon over de kat. Ze is daarop gaan bellen en onder begeleiding mochten wij met de brandweer naar binnen. Een buurman van een paar woningen verder op stond samen met zijn vrouw al bij het pand. Meteen beschuldigend naar mijn man te wijzen…. Hij zou dit allemaal wel gedaan hebben. Hoe in en in triest kunnen mensen zijn? Ik weet dat mijn man bij mij en de kinderen was. En dat hij nooit maar dan ook nooit zijn gezin zo in gevaar zou brengen.

De brandweerman ging met een pak aan en masker met zuurstof op onze woning in. Metingen doen. Al snel kwam hij naar buiten. Het is te gevaarlijk om naar binnen te gaan. Ik begon weer over de kat. Of dat hij dan misschien wel mocht kijken? Ja dat mocht hij wel. Hij ging naar binnen. We gaven aan waar ze zicht verstopt had. En de brandweerman begon alles overhoop te trekken. Een hoop gebonk was te horen. Het duurde maar en duurde maar en ineens kwam hij naar buiten zonder stitch. Ik keek hem verdrietig aan en vroeg: ‘ze is dood he?’ ‘Nee ! antwoordde hij! En hij begon te beschrijven hoe ze eruit zag maar dat ze weer weg gevlucht was. Hij ging terug naar binnen deed opnieuw metingen. We mochten mee naar binnen maar niet te lang. Hoe vaker zijn apparaat begon te piepen hoe korter de tijd werd. Spullen pakken die we nodig hadden om de nacht door te komen. En toch stitch proberen te pakken. Weer schoot ze weg ! En ja hoor het apparaatje van de brandweerman begon toch wel erg snel achter elkaar te piepen. Ik moest met mijn schoonbroertje naar buiten mijn man heeft samen met de brandweerman overal brokjes gestrooid, Water wat in de waterkoker zat was nog te gebruiken. Dus hup een bakje met water klaar gezet voor stitch. De ventilatie was open en aan gezet. Dit zou volgens de brandweer er voor zorgen dat ze makkelijk tot morgen kon overleven.

[patchworkpoltergeist]

Nobody tells you this when you get a reissued PAK. It’s need-to-know basis, it’s not relevant to your job, so you don’t need to know. Or at least, you don’t know the hows or the whys or the technicals of it. But you might know other things.

An Elite knows how to sing, though Irkens have not sung songs for over five-hundred cycles. A janitorial drone knows how to calm smeets and make them, though they’ve never met a smeet before. A Smeetery Supervisor, who has never been above ground, trained only for teaching, training, and observation, instinctively stabs a vicious predator to death by aiming for the weak spot in its armor. A Guard can name Tallest Fekks’s favorite verse of his favorite song, though Tallest Feckks reigned and fell centuries before Irkens stopped singing songs. An Announcer sees a drone, a pointless drone unlike any other that he’s never met, and for reasons he can’t understand and feelings he can’t name, is overcome with the urge to run away as fast as he can. When all of them sleep, they watch reruns of a life they never had, of Irkens they never knew, of encodings that no longer exist, and feelings that no longer in the language.

Irkens with PAKs fresh from the factory do not know these feelings and never will. They carry themselves and only themselves. But when that Irken dies and their consciousness is uploaded to The Collective, when that refurbished PAK is wiped and passed on to the next smeet, that smeet carries the first PAK’s Irken with them. The consciousness isn’t there. The hard memory data isn’t there.

It’s not like having a roommate. It’s not like having a ghost, either. It’s moving into a house with height charts drawn on the walls. It’s a hand-me-down sweater with someone else’s name stitched on the tag. It’s finding someone’s lost Pokemon card under the carpet of your new used car. It’s someone’s custom playlist in the iPod of your dead relative.

It’s residue of a life that came before yours.

And when the smeet dies, it will leave the residue of their life in the PAK, and the smeet after that until the PAK is decommissioned out of use.

Whatever--whoever--is left in the refurbished PAK might help in a pinch. It might give a hearty dose of trauma whenever you take a nap. In any case, it’s almost always forgotten. A case of deja-vu gone in a few heartbeats. Most never know it’s there at all. It’s a funny quirk of theirs, talents they’re naturally good at, or another reason they’re creepy weirdos nobody likes.

Nobody, save The Tallest, the PAKnicians, and the occasional Archivist, know any of this. Not unless they think to ask, and almost nobody does. It’s just a funny feeling you get sometimes. A funny quirk. An aftertaste you already forgotten about. And after all, there’s better things to do.

*knocks back a shot of dreamworld coke* Anyway, PAKs are full of ghosts and anyone who uses a pre-owned PAK is essentially a reincarnation of everyone who had it before them.