Inkytober

[TheSongOfTheStars]

so I know Inktober is for drawing, but I found some prompt lists I though looked like fun and hey ink, pens, writing, right? Also I won't do all of them, just fill out the ones I feel like

Angst
1st ― "I loved you."
2nd ― Cleaning injuries alone
3rd ― Missing
4th ― Possession (object, person, etc)
5th ― Returned
6th ― Safety
7th ― Help
8th ― "I can't breathe."
9th ― Knitting needles
10th ― Getting dressed by someone else
11th ― "You could have saved ___ and you didn't."
12th ― "Why should I have cared?"
13th ― Forced muteness
14th ― Taken
15th ― Unprovoked hatred
16th ― provoked hatred
17th ― Silence
18th ― Blame
19th ― Possessive behavior ("You're mine," "They can't have you," etc)
20th ― "What defines a monster?"
21st ― Sick (as in outside forces, not necessarily a cold)
22nd ― Falling
23rd ― Excess
24th ― Wrong
25th ― Heat
26th ― "I am not what you think I am."
27th ― Lost
28th ― Forced blindness
29th ― "I don't know you anymore."
30th ― Abandonment
31st ― Guilty

Soft
1st — “Your dastardly plan was to snuggle me into oblivion?” “Yes. Is it working?” “. . . Yeah
2nd — Blanket fort
3rd — “I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much!”
4th — Doggie pile
5th — Holding hands
6th — Costumes
7th — Lullabies
8th — Bedtime story
9th — Grandparents
10th — Fairy garden
11th — Hugging
12th — Comfort
13th —Sleeping in
14th — First sunset
15th — Watching the night sky together
16th — Lights at Christmas
17th — “Stinky man.” “No!!”
18th — Banter
19th — Playground
20th — Playing in sand
21st — Show and tell
22nd —Flying
23rd — Platonic love
24th — Making clothes
25th — Hand-me-downs
26th — Dancing
27th — Telling parents stories
28th — Face paint
29th — Makeup with small children
30th — Excitement
31st — A crush

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Day 2- Blanket fort
486 words
"Aaaaaaveeeth?"
Aveth turned around just as Kwet landed on the walkway, his wings twitching particularly violently.
"What'd the humans do now?"
"They-" Kwet stopped, his head tilted, wings askew "How'd you know it was the humans?"
"Because, for the past cycle and a half, it's always been the humans."
"Alright, fair enough, but they're doing something strange!"
"Whatever it is, I promise you, it's probably perfectly normal for them."
Kwet tugged on his arm "Come look. Just come look. Alright?"
"What even are they doing and why don't you just ask them about it?" but he opened his wings anyway and let Kwet pull him into the air.
"But what if it's some especially sacred-"
"I'm going to stop you there, because last time you said that, Lynx was pranking you."
"Yeah, well....but they're gathering up all those faberic squares
and they're draping them over the furniture around the media vewing entertanment screen."
Aveth stifiled a chuckle "So, they're taking blankets and draping them over the chairs and couch in front of the TV? Doesn't sound all that strange to me."
"What? How is that not strange?"
They landed together in front of the storage bay turned human-habatacion.
"For humans, that doesn't sound too weird."
"Just look."

Aveth peeked around the corner. Serpens, Lynx, and Cassiopeia had stripped the couch of it's cushions and rearranged the chairs, so that the blankets would form a@7 roof once they where spread over the furniture.
"They're just playing Kwet,"
Kwet poked his head around the corner "Are you sure??"
"I'm positive. Look, I'll ask them if you're that worried about it."
"No, don't-"
"Hey guys," Cassiopeia was suddenly at their feet "What's up?"
"Nothing!" Kwet said quickly.
"Nothing," Aveth followed up much more casually "Just wondering what you're up to."
"We're building a blanket fort!" Lynx's head popped up from the center of the fluffy mass.
"And, um, why?"
"Just for fun," Serpens said, tucking a blanket into the corner of the couch "We're going to watch a movie when we're finished."
"Yeah, wanna watch it with us?"
"Well, I'm busy," a smile snuck across Aveth's face "Can't be interrupted except for possible crises, but Dr. K seems to have some time on his hands. I'm sure he'd love to join you."
"Aaaveeeth," Kwet gritted out "Noooo."
"Yeah, come on," Aveth coaxed as Cassiopeia beamed up at them eagerly "All you're going to do is stand around worrying in medbay anyway."
"C'mon, you did say you wanted to see some more human movies," Cassiopeia bounced up and down on her heels, still smiling winningly.
"Oh...oh, I- oh alright," between the two of them Kwet melted and let Cassiopeia lead him into the room.
Aveth nodded his goodbye silently and took off. He glanced back once, just in time to see Lynx fling a quilt over Kwet's folded wings, effectively incorporating the confuzzled doctor into the design of the fort.

[TheSongOfTheStars]

DAY 2- angst- cleaning injuries alone
355 words
Tovoth staggered into his quarters and felt the tension leave his body with a snap, like a tight string being cut.
He fell to his knees, cuts stinging, wings aching.
Oh he wanted to sleep. But the nagging pain, clawing with tiny needles at every edge of his skin, he couldn't ignore it.
With fumbling fingers he pulled himself back up and reached for the small box tucked away into the corner of a shelf.
He pulled out the heat scanner and slowly began work it over the tears in his skin. He couldn't risk having one of them set into scars.
The only sound was the hum of the scanner and the hiss of his own skin molding back into place. Far too much space for his thoughts to slip through.
He forced himself to focus on the pain. It was hard. Every time he let his mind wander, his hands slipped, making his injuries worse.
He had to twist to work on his wings, aggravating whatever inside him was damaged. But that could wait. It'd most likely heal on its own with no consequences.
Five minutes, five minutes in medbay, and he'd be back to normal. But he couldn't, he couldn't do it, he couldn't face them, anyone.
By now they'd all know, they'd all know and they'd congratulate him. For murder.
His fingers slipped and he cut himself. Deeply.
He spat in pain and surprise. He could see his own wiring and light began seeping out.
It was so much easier when Veem-

No!

He promised himself he wouldn't-
He'd cut himself again.
Redirecting every ounce of thought and energy he began sealing over the edges of the tear, before he began loosing light.
But it was too late.
Guilt, inexplicable guilt came pouring out, flooding him, even as he returned his focus to patching himself up.
The tears came next. It wasn't anger, even though it had been Veem who'd damaged him. And it wasn't sadness, he didn't regret what he'd done, he'd been following orders.
He was just... confused.

Finished. Externally at least. Inside something still felt broken

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Angst
3rd ― Missing
591 words

Kwet checked and double checked the storage bay turned human sleeping quarters. Then he checked and double checked the internal sensors. The result was the same.
Only three humans.

Muttering and fussing to himself, he shot down the corridors of the Farriser, fiddling with a portable interface, trying to figure out if maybe the sensors were missing the fourth signal somehow.
All but oblivious to the world around him, he rounded a corner at top speed and with a resounding clang! collided with Mahevth.
The interface flew out of Kwet's hands and clattered against the wall as the doctor fell backwards.
Mahveth paused, steadying himself, then stepped closer, concerned "Are you alright Doctor?"
"Yes, yes, no, nonono, no. Of course. I'm fine. No-" Kwet simultaneously tried to explain that he was fine but worried that one of the humans was missing. The result left Mahveth hopelessly looking over Kwet's shoulder for Aveth.
"I have to go," Kwet managed after a second of silence and he snatched up his interface "I'm so sorry."
He opened his wings and went speeding off again.
Mahveth stared after him, even more concerned.

A wind of ice and teeth slashed and gnawed at the sides of the Farriser, the threadbare sweater and ripped jeans were no protection.
Lips and finger tips turning blue, Serpens seemed oblivious as his own body shuddered violently, eyes trained on the storm around him as he crouched on the inside of the engine turbine.

He didn't move, didn't blink, as Kwet materialized out of the blur of snow and landed beside him.
"Put this on," Kwet ordered, stuffing a coat into his face "Sevens, how did you even get up here?"
"Climbed," Serpens replied softly, slipping his arms through the sleeves and buttoning the front "Why?"
"We're nearly eighty feet above the ground, in the middle of a snow storm, couldn't you- I don't know- isolate yourself inside where you're not going to get hypothermia or break your neck?"
"No," Serpens said.
Kwet sighed heavily and sat next to him "Here."
Serpens took the thermos, a snowflake encrusted eyebrow lifting in question "What is it?"
"Hot...um....hot chocolate. I know, I know it isn't healthy, but I thought, well, Lynx said you liked it."
Serpens unscrewed the lid and poured a the cocoa into it, then sipped it lightly.
"It's good. Thanks."
Kwet nodded and Serpens went back to staring upwards.
"Are you looking for something?"
"The sky's gone," Serpens said it simply, as if that was supposed to satisfy Kwet's worries.
"Yeees, so it is. Do you feel alright? You've got to be freezing."
Serpens sighed and shifted, leaning closer to Kwet "I've never really seen it though. The shields went up before I was born."
"Surely you've seen pictures?"
"A few, but, they seem so underwhelming," Serpens tilted his head "I imagine it's much better in real life."
"Probably...blue right?"
"In the day, supposedly. It was black at night."
"And a yellow sun and one moon."
"Yeah... Wait, how many moons does your planet have?"
"Three."
"Wow. Was it bright at night?"
"Mm hmm," Kwet suddenly seemed distant, his eyes trained on his hands.
"I'm sorry," Serpens whispered, eventually, barely audible above the wind "I-"
"No, it's not you."
"You miss it."
Kwet had to pause before he could answer "Of course I do."
"You must hate it here."
"No," this time he replied too quickly "No. It's not bad here."
"But it's not home."
Kwet sighed and stood up "Let's go back inside, you're going to get sick."
"Alright."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Soft
4th — Doggie pile
396 words

"Um. Has anyone seen Lynx?"
Avenling winced at the collective sigh that answered his question. "I promised he could help me fix the communication panels and I can't find him."
Serpens set down his book and stood "I haven't seen him for a while now."
"Or Carmine," Cassiopeia added, bouncing up and down.
"I don't think the dog wants to help me too much."
"Yeah, but she's never more than three feet away from him."
"I think I saw him with Q-T," Nara Sona said.
She and Gaitraic were playing Seven Seekers and neither of them took their eyes off the three-tiered energy boards.
"So he could be literally anywhere," Aveling shook his head.
"I'll help you look," Serpens volunteered "Who knows where he's squirreled himself off to."
"I don't know what that means but it sounds about right."
Serpens sighed internally.

"If we don't find him in the next five minutes I'm going to have to tell Kwet and I really don't want to have to do that."
45 minutes of poking into the small corners of the Farriser had given no sign of Lynx, Carmine, or Q-T, and Serpens understood Avenling's frustration. Kwet could easily run a quick scan to pinpoint Lynx's location, but he'd be unbelievably upset over the fact that Lynx had gotten "lost".
"Let's check one more storage bay," Serpens said "Maybe they're playing with the boxes or something."
"Q-T isn't even supposed to be playing," Avenling grumbled as they stepped into the low light of the dusty bay "He's supposed to be helping Aveth and the rest of the maintenance crew clean out the energy cores....which I guess explains his absence, he hates cleaning the energy core."
Serpens ignored Avenling's muttering and climbed to the top of a crate.
"And it's not like I'm forcing Lynx to help me, he practically begged-"
"Hsst!" Serpens hissed and pointed "you'll wake them up!"
Avenling stopped and leaned over to see past Serpens and had to cut back a laugh.
They'd found their missing boy and little Vive, but also Aveth and the rest of the maintenance crew, all of them asleep and smudged with soot. Aveth cradled Lynx in one arm and Q-T in the other, while 76, 78, Zizza, and Morri had draped themselves wherever they could fit over the larger Vive.
"Oh well," Avenling whispered "Let's just let them sleep."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Soft
6th — Costumes
603 words

"At this point, I'm just too scared to ask."
Aveth squinted "Ask what?"
"What...what they're doing," Kwet gestured vaguely at the wall and Aveth turned his heard, eyebrows tucked up.
"They being...?"
"The children! I'll never understand them! It's so frustrating!"
Aveth chuckled "Okay."
"Okay? How is that okay?"
"You don't need to scientifically analyze and categorize everything and everyone."
"No, of course not. But I do like to at least make sense of what's going on."
Aveth set down his scanner and flew up to the ledge Kwet was perched on, arms crossed. "Just ask."
"I said I didn't want to and it didn't do much good last time. Instead of an explanation, I was buried in...blanks?"
"Blankets. And you did get an explanation, you just didn't like it."
"It didn't make sense!"
"They were just having fun! Do you know what that is?"
"Oh don't start that again," Kwet turned his back to Aveth and crossed his arms over his chest, wings tucked up high around his head.
Aveth sighed, giving in before he'd put up any resistance "C'mon, Kwet, I'm just teasing. What even are they doing that's got you so upset?"
"I don't know. Something with the fabrics again, only instead of the furniture, they're putting it on themselves."
".... You do know-"
"Yes, yes, yes, not normal clothes, I mean MORE fabrics."
Aveth rolled his eyes and spread his wings "Come on."
"But-"
"Nope, we're going to figure this out before it drives you crazy."
"It will not-"
"It actually might," Aveth stepped off the ledge "Come on."

The humans' quarters where a mess. Aveth could practically hear Kwet's neat-freak side crying out in pain.
Clothing was flung out across the floor with careless abandon and the children where standing in the center, still like the eye of a whirling storm. Lynx and Cassiopeia stood nose to nose, or rather, nose to forehead, as Lynx was far smaller than Cassiopeia. Lynx was wearing a headband with cat ears attached, a long black cape, and boots that were approximately three times too large for him, Cassiopeia wore a bushy green wig, a long red trenchoat, dark sunglasses, and a striped scarf.
Serpens was sitting on a crate, reading a book, not activly participating in whatever it was Lynx and Cassiopeia were doing, but a laughably large hat had been jammed over his head.

"Alright, what's going on? Before you kill Kwet with curiosity and Kwet kills me with pestering. Where'd this stuff come from?"
"Dunno," Lynx chirpped.
"A box, Cassiopeia supplied helpfully.
"Andromeda found it in an old storage shed. She thought the costumes would amuse Lynx," Serpens said, not looking up from his book "It got out of hand."
"Costumes?"
"Play-pretend," Serpens answered Kwet's question, still focused "It's just a game."
"A messy one," Kwet looked down and pulled a face.
Aveth shook his head "Kwet, come on, they're having fun."
Serpens' eyes flicked upwards, just in time to see Kwet's wings tense slightly, then they were glued to the page again "I'll make sure they clean up."
"Hey, do you guys want to-" Lynx began to ask.
"I have data scans to complete in the med bay," Kwet stumbled out and spun around, his wings opening and he shot off.
Lynx's face fell.
Aveth crouched "I don't think any of your costumes would fit me Lynx."
The little boy's face lit back up "That's okay, I have some ideas."
"You can't have the scissors back, Lynx, if you're thinking what I think you're thinking," Serpens said.
Lynx grimaced, then shrugged "C'mon Aveth, I'll figure something else out."

[TheSongOfTheStars]

Soft
7th — Lullabies
188 words
"Serpens?"
Serpens sat up and looked towards Lynx, his eyes already well adjusted to the dark from staring upwards "What's wrong Lynxie?"
"Can't sleep."
"Still?"
"Can you play it again? Just one more time?"
"Alright, but quietly, so we don't disturb Cassiopeia or Andromeda."
Serpens lifted the guitar out of its case and Lynx scrambled up onto the bed, curling up onto the pillow as Serpens struck the first cords.
After a moment, there was a shuffle and both girls came trooping in, dragging sleeping bags and pillows. They collapsed on the floor in a pile and wordlessly settled down, like a pair of kittens in a nest.
For as long as the song lasted, it was just their breathing and his heart beat to keep the tempo by.
"Play another?" Cassiopeia breathed when he finished it.
Without answering, he started on a second song and when that was over, again on a third one, until they'd all fallen asleep. Then with a sigh, he put the instrument away and pulled his blanket over his shoulders, leaning against the wall and letting Lynx have the pillow to himself.

[Ranger of the North]

Aw :3