(40) nemo

This title was given to this part when i had a character named nemo in foolproof but… i ddddon’t anymore. I only have a dragonite named nemo he’s lovely.

Anyway. Have an ancient cattlayan poem.

“Steven has nice abs

We ask him why; must be pushups

But according to Steve

His regiment is from his mother

(His sweet tooth is from his father)”

ok bye

(39) omen

“Marcy.”

She jerked to attention. It was bright, sun shining in through the picture window. Her dad was sitting across from her.

“Why did you do that?”

She didn’t!

“You’ve forgotten everything, Marcy.” He was frowning. Where was mom?

She’s gone she’s gone she’s gone--

Marcy turned, trying to edge past her father even though it made her heart hurt. “I need to go.”

As she slid, falling out of their house into the open air he calls behind her, “You never pull through. You always fail.”

Then she fell, the wind pulling tears out of her eyes and up up away into the stratosphere. She was coming in too hard, cracking her knees upon impact, but it didn’t matter she needed to go and--

She’s stuck on a hill staring at the people below her screaming dying they never existed in the first place, she’s crying, trying to run and help but--

Her mother’s there.

She freezes, but her mother smiles.

“Marcy.”

She falls into her mother's arms and experiences a single second of relief before her mother moves past, leaving her to fall again.

---

What was she dreaming about in part 5?

Lmao how many of u acutally read this. How many of u actually check these blogs anymore.

Anyway on that topic-- what does it mean when your french teacher regularly cameos in your dreams. What is my subconscious trying to tell me.

(38) missed it

She couldn’t remember why she was there.

It was all… different. The city bustled without paying any attention to her, moving in a manner not unlike some sort of hive.

A hive of… something.

She couldn’t remember.

She couldn’t remember a lot of things, all of a sudden. It was all hazy, all of it missing. There was something she needed to do, but…

That was lost as well.

She’d appeared on a park bench, feet propped up on one side. Her scalp was itchy, and when she scratched it little red flecks got stuck under her fingernails.

That was bad, probably.

But she couldn’t remember why.

She’d sat there on the bench until the sun was in the far end of the sky, and she got a little hungry. It felt right to walk around a little, but she was still working on what to do after that.

There was a prickling on her neck.

Was someone following her?

Her pace quickened, pushing her to become more evasive, making her start to take a zigzagging path through the streets. The sun was starting to set, more people heading inside.

Rush hour was over.

Abruptly, she collided with someone. A middle aged man in a suit grabbed her by the arm, pulling her with him, talking about how yes, she was being followed and she needed to go with him. She dug her heels into the pavement.

“What? No.” She was english.

“You’ll be safe with me. I need to take you to a safe house.” He pulled her along, much stronger than she was.

“Excuse me?” She yanked on his ear, causing him to hiss sharply and let her go. She took a few steps backwards, but stopped when she noticed they were on a largely deserted street. There was an unmarked van a little ways down, but the man was looking at her now, hard.

It made her angry.

She had fists with her hands. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“Are you on drugs?”

What. “Excuse me?”

“Your pupils are dilated. Are you alright?”

Oh hell no. She frowned, but he didn’t seemed happy with that response, looking around like they were being watched. He moved forward to grab her again, but she leapt back and shouted.

“I’m not going any farther until you explain!”

Abruptly, there was a gunshot, and a piercing pain in her leg. The suit tackled her as more shots rang out in the street, a window shattering behind them. He pressed a finger to his ear, speaking into it with a sudden urgency as he held a hand to her wound.

She’d already zoned out, unable to focus on anything besides the sudden thought that jumped in her head.

A boy, screaming her name.

Artie!

---

yikes

(37) "are you guys seeing this?"

How could they not?

It was huge, the size of a building, easily. All dark mass and dark eyes and… were those trees growing out of it?

“What do you think it is?” Marcy whispered from next to her.

Rui couldn’t tear her eyes away from it. “I don’t… I don’t know.”

It wasn’t really doing anything, regardless. Just meandering on through the forest, knocking trees back a little to make room for itself.

It wasn’t aggressive, that was… new. The smaller ones were annoying in that nature.

“Should we do something?” Marcy seemed a little wigged out by it, but Steve shook his head.

“No, not right now at least. It’s not that close to home, doesn’t seem like it’s- Rui!”

She’d vaulted out from behind the rock before they could stop her, quietly skittering down the hill. She needed to do something, be closer.

The other animals in the forest didn’t seem to be freaked out by the creature, either. The woods seemed as alive as usual, even though it was gently drizzling.

Marcy should be glad Rui’s getting more data on this thing, anyway. This is fine.

If it doesn’t attack her, that is.

It it attacks her, then she’s screwed.

She stopped just a few feet away from the new treeline, eyes widening again in awe.

It looked like the hill had decided to sprout legs and walk away. It looked as place in the woods, if one ignored the whole void-aspect look.

It was incredible and oh my God it’s looking at her.

There was a short moment of pure panic. Rui found herself reaching for a weapon before its eyes followed her movement and she froze.

The forest seemed to grow silent. Rui’s heart skipped a beat.

Then she noticed how warm the eyes looked.

It wasn’t some mindless creature like the ones she fought, it was something… different.

New.

“Rui!” Steve stumbled to a stop behind her. The creature looked at him, then in turn Marcy when she stopped farther away.

Silence reigned for a few seconds before it turned and continued on towards some unknown destination.

Rui looked at her friends, all teens wearing equally as surprised expressions.

“What… was that?” Steven asked.

“I don’t know.”

“And it didn’t attack you?” Marcy said.

Rui smiled. “Nope.”

---

Take a moment, remind yourself to

Take a moment and find yourself

(36) precious treasure

They were precious to her.

None were related to her by blood. A few grew up near her home, held some of the same values as her, but none were anywhere close to her age.

All the better: she could mother them without much complaint.

It was much more subtly with those that looked visibly older, but Layla didn’t mind. They were the last of their species, the last true Cattlayans in the universe, and they were all very important to her.

The children were the future of their race, and she would protect them. Teach them, guide them, help them grow. Scare away those that threatened them.

She never had a chance to have her own children, swept up as she was, away from her home and culture.

Layla knew they talked some behind her back, about how old she was, what she’s done, what she tends to do. Her methods and habits.

She doesn’t really care. It’s kind of amusing whenever they question her about her age, after all. She can feel how old she is, ultimately. She can feel it in her bones, see it in the tiny lines around her eyes. It didn’t show much, but the signs were still there.

She was old, unlike the others.

Things were different now for everyone. A mix of old and new culture, people trying to decipher who they were now that their home was destroyed.

The children of this era were given a baptism by fire, sometimes quite in the literal sense.

Layla tried to be there for that part, to prevent it if she could, but she was almost always there for the aftermath. The cold that seeped in and broke people from the inside out, tore them down to their very basic nature.

No one deserved that.

---

dOES IT FEEL

GOOD

KNOWING YOU TRIED,

KNOWING YOU’RE ALL THAT REMAINS i hate this part but im just gonna put it here for record purposes