#tick tock ghg

[architectoftheclocks]

clockg emoji., clock 🕰️

[sundialhunter-a]

Nothing ever stays the same.

Traffic blared by Zora as she kept her distance from the lights of the city, noise and gases touching her nose and making it wrinkle a little. Everything was bright and loud and so attention grabbing in the big cities. Changing billboards and places, nothing ever really stayed the same, was never really the same city twice.

It drowns out the song, at least--

WHAM!

“GHg--! What the fu--”

“THERE you are!!!”

“Ah’--Yoom--”

The tiny cyborg lets out a loud “Eee!!” and only giggles in delight as they easily cling to Zora’s torso. The cowgirl, on the other hand, curses and grabs her by her shoulders. She leads them off behind the building by them, trying to ignore the happy little ticking Sundial was making in her head--

“Took you long enough for me to finally spot you!!! You were gone for like EVER!! More than usual!! Everyonewaslikekindaworriedbutnotmedidyoubringmeanythingwherewereyou--”

“Ey--EY! Shhht! Don’t yew start--!” The sundial hunter puts a finger in front of her lips to quiet her rapid-fire babbling before someone heard them. Of course, Yoomtah didn’t care as she only giggles again before pushing her hand away.

“Awww, come on, I’m just happy to see you!!! Boss was starting to get really worried and junk after you didn’t check in!! But you know how they are!! Did your phone get lost in some backwater river or something?? You like NEVER called back--”

[ Yoomtah... ]

(Shut up--)

[ Yoomtah-- ]

(Shut up shut up--)

[ Please--she misses-- ]

(STOP TALKING--)

“...Zora?”

“--!”

Zora blinks, realizing she was gripping Yoomtah’s shoulders with a vice-like hold. It didn’t hurt her or anything--the benefits of being mostly metal--but it did cause her to tilt her head quizzically at her, neon eyes reflecting confusion.

“...Are you okay???”

“...”

Zora doesn’t answer.

But she does bring her closer, a soft ‘beep!’ of surprise as the taller of the two gently embraces Zing in a tight hold. It was a good thing the cyborg wasn’t charged up at the moment, because that would have made this entirely unpleasant.

Stupid cop.

“Ah’...ah’ fucked up, Sparkplug.”

...Uuuuuh, what?

“Ah’...can’t...come home. Don’t think Ah’ can, nawt until...ah’ can...fix it, or...”

“Uh, fix?? Fix what--is this about the amulet?? Are you still looking for that?? Boss assigned me on that, don’t you remember--”

“Of course Ah’ fuckin’ do, Yoomtah--Ah’ was there. It’s...not that.” Yeah, that STILL stung, a blow to her pride that hasn’t completely gone away yet. “Ah’ just--Ah’ can’t go back, alright? If ah’ don’t FIX ‘dis, Boss is gonna fuckin’ lose it.”

“Fix what?? You are like--not making sense and this is coming from me!!”

Yoomtah huffs and looks up at her, a frustrated pout on her face.

“If this isn’t about the amulet then like--it should be fine!! Come ooooon, it’s so boooring without you around--”

“AH’ CAN’T!”

“Ah’...”

“...can’t...”

“.....”

They don’t move for a while. The noises of the city almost fade off from the tick tock tick in her mind, breathing in tune to help her quiet down from her sudden outburst. Fuck. She shouldn’t have...

“Ah’...didn’t...” Mean that. Fuck. “It’s just--not somethin’ Ah’...can tell yew without bein’ here all fuckin’ night, an’ yer--yew got shit t’ dew--”

Yoomtah doesn’t speak up. Zora goes on, mumbling under her breath. She doesn’t realize that sundials had been summoned around her, clicking in different speeds as she tries to think of SOMETHING, anything--anything to buy her more time, anything to get her to leave and not have some other Epithet magic hurt her too--

ZIIIIP!

The hunter blinks as the weight in front of her shifts BEHIND her and now she’s got who knows HOW many pounds of ROBOT piggybacking on her, of all things--there’s a strangled grunt as Zora almost falls over, but manages to stay upright. Yoomtah looks down at her from above, eyes sparking with mischief and giddyness.

“Well, if you wanna just be up all night and stuff, we can totally do that!! Oh--OH BETTER IDEA!! We can go JOYRIDING!! Let’s go steal some dude’s car--come on come on come on GIDDYUP--”

“Ah’--Git OFF o’ me, yew can WALK--”

“Nuh-uh!! I’m gonna be driving!! You gotta go steal a car like this!! And then you can tell me what’s up!! I can’t sleep so we can go anywhere you want!! Pleaaaaaaaase?? Just the two of us!!”

[ ...Please...? I missed her...WE missed her... ]

“Pleaaaaasepleasepleasepleaseplease--”

“...”

(....fine.)

Yoomtah wiggles excitingly as Zora wordlessly starts moving forward with her in tow.