Not matter how they came to motherhood, if they're loving or toxic, made sacrifices or mistakes, carried in their wombs or accidentally acquired a child, let's celebrate with the mothers of the GFFA!!!
Feel free to add more! I know I'm leaving a ton out 😅
The Anomaly Series, Chapter 8: Undercurrents (Jod Na Nawood x Reader)
A/N: So, cool folks...I know I took a literal forever to get this thing ready for presentation, but the thing is, I think I kinda HAD to. There were angles I hadn't thought of before the editing process; emotions that weren't normally going to be added, but had to be...and on top of all of this, my gut absolutely refused to allow me to cut a single corner after all the narrative disasters that I've seen on T.V. in the last several years.
Therefore, I think I can safely say that this chapter sets the tone for the second arc of this tale, and even if everybody vanishes after this, I'll at least not have that plaguing my conscience a moment longer. Thank you for your time, and I'll see you all on the other side of this installment. <3
CW: There will be callbacks to everything that happened on Argann, as well as a very tiny foreshadowing of what At Attin itself does to those who are deemed “human weapons”. Keep that little factoid in mind for now, and thanks!
Special Notes: Spoilers reach to Episode 4, whereas the divider included in this chapter was made by @saradika.
@lucatielle @lillydoublel @elenavampire21 @tropelovingpainter and any other Skeleton Crew fans who might want to give this story a try.
There's a strange new ache in your heart as you watch Neel and Wim settle in, their plates full of food from Noomas table and their heads full of stories from the Up Above. As two of the first four people to leave At Attin in who knows how long—and possibly also the youngest—they've already become tiny celebrities within their respective households. Celebrities that just might, if the news of them spreads widely enough, be the next to face the local cameras.
“Ooh! Did we tell them about Port Borgo yet? That place was SO weird...”
For now, though, you're quietly praying to whomever's listening that they get to be kids for just a little while longer.
“...Yeah, that was where we first ran into Brutus, right?”
Brutus?
It takes you a few seconds to snap yourself out of your silent fog, yet once you feel a bit more focused, you've got your datapad primed and ready for business.
“What did you mean by Brutus, Wim?”
“He's some kind of wolf-man,” Wim answers, almost dismissive. “Really scary-looking. Plus, his breath stinks.”
“Uh-huh...”
You write down the words “Brutus—Looks Like Werewolf” on a new page in your first file, your past work carefully moved out of sight of the Undersecretary.
“...I noticed you said that was your first meeting, so uh...does that mean you happened to see him a second time?”
Both boys fall silent at this, their hands no longer reaching for their lunches in between. They almost look afraid at this point, an unfortunate thing that you had certainly hoped to avoid at all costs.
“It's all right, you two. If there's anything you think you should say, anything at all, feel free to say it.”
Luckily for everyone, both Nol and Wendle are sitting close by, and are therefore able to give their respective sons the go-ahead.
“Brutus is the captain of Jod's old crew,” Wim answers first, feeling a little more at ease. “He was also the one who tried to chase us down when--when we escaped from our jail cell.”
“Jail?” Wendle asks, his voice growing nervous. “Why were you in jail? Did this Brutus put you there?”
"Well...kinda?”
“It wasn't Wim's fault!” Neel adds quickly, leaning forward. “Brutus did that because he wanted to use us to find this planet!”
“This planet,” Fara repeats, looking concerned as well. “You're telling us that a group of space pirates wishes to find At Attin.”
“Oh, it's okay, Ma'am! We got away before they could follow us, right?”
Fara's not too keen on answering Neel yet, instead standing up slowly and turning away from both boys with an unreadable look upon her face. Wendle and Nol aren't looking too comfortable, either, for you see them share a quick glance of something horrific before they each fall back into a stunned silence.
“Dad, what's wrong? What did I say?”
For a fleeting second, you almost consider standing up and stepping in, as there's still quite a ways to go in this little meeting and you don't want to lose any key information that might otherwise decide the direction of this case. Not when you're so close to getting to the bottom of everything, or so you keep on telling yourself.
“...Nothing, kiddo. I just...think there's somebody here to see you!”
Before things can get too out of hand, however, Baby Tuloo crawls her way out of the playroom and into reaching distance of her oldest brother, thus creating a welcome diversion for the adults and a little morale boost for the youngsters.
“There you are, T! I wondered where you'd gone!”
Tuloo responds by leaning back and lifting her tiny hands to indicate 'Uppies', something that Neel is all too happy to oblige by taking her into his lap. Once she's gotten comfortable and everyone else has regained their composure, however, that's when it's time to get back to business.
“This...cell of yours. Did you get taken there before or after you first met Jod?”
Fara frames this question with all of the restraint expected of her position, something that you just can't help but admire her for even as you're still processing this situation yourself.
“Right before.”
“And what happened next?”
“He—Jod, I mean—made our jailer's keys float through the bars. That's how we started planning our escape.”
“So he's not just a convict, but a convict that can do magic tricks?”
Wendle, by contrast, is instead looking as though he's either come across a particularly hard technical error, or else just been asked to swallow poison. During such an unusual conversation as this, you wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to be both.
“Please tell me that you at least remembered to disarm him!”
In fact, as he turns his attention from the boys to the Undersecretary, you could almost swear that he's exactly two minutes away from fighting Jod himself.
“It's all right, Wendle. We do remove every weapon we find...right?”
This doesn't stop Fara, however, from doing her best in keeping his anxiety under control. So much so, perhaps, that you almost wonder if there's some kind of way she manages to communicate with her eyes that you yourself haven't learned how to do yet.
“Then I hope that includes the human variety.”
This simple sentence leaves an unspoken but chilling effect in the air, a feeling that the three remaining adults in the room, yourself included, have a difficult time ignoring. For you in particular, it's got you officially nervous now, because at no time beforehand had you ever wondered to yourself if your Captain was a threat. Not when you were somewhat preoccupied with him the moment you first made eye contact, and even then, perhaps not in an exactly good way.
Nevertheless, as you're neither feeling ill nor injured, perhaps you can start making up for this unfortunate lapse in judgment.
“It will,” you promise them both, taking a quick breath in and out for added confidence. “I'll do it myself if I have to, and hopefully, nobody will get hurt in the meantime. Now…can you two tell me exactly what happened on Argann?”
“Well, the thing is—” “Uh—”
Wim almost launches into a full explanation at the same time Neel hesitates, yet before Fara can interject, you’re nodding at Wim to get him to keep going.
“Let’s try this one at a time instead, shall we…? You first, Wim.”
You’re quick to come up with the solution, though, so for that, Wim’s more than willing to continue.
“The thing is, we didn’t want to cause any trouble, okay? We just wanted to find our way back to At Attin, tell everybody how sorry we all were, and maybe figure out what to do with our ship once we made it back.”
“Understandable. I’d probably do the same if it were me, but anyway. Please go on.”
”That other stupid crew, though? They had to go and chase us down, start shooting all their blasters at us, and oh yeah, Neel almost passed out ‘cause of them!”
“No, I didn’t!” Neel insists, letting out an annoyed honk from his trunk. “I was too busy watching Jod and the lightsaber!”
“Did too-o-o!”
“Boys,” you laugh, clapping your hands twice to get things back under control. “I'm sure that nobody fainted, you were all trying to stay alive. Now Neel...you mentioned that Jod was using something called a lightsaber, correct?”
“He was, yeah.”
“How does that work, exactly?”
“Well, um...he didn't really hit anybody with it, I think. More like...just making sure the blaster lights didn't hit us instead.”
“I see...and was this the same time that the wolf-man—”
“—Brutus.”
“Right, Brutus—was this the same time that he lost his arm?”
“Sure was,” Wim acknowledges, his voice scornful. “That’s what he gets for grabbing Fern!”
Fara's looking a little amused now, probably a good sign that this won't be such a traumatizing moment after all, especially if these two boys continue to stay upbeat throughout this little meeting. In turn, you're making yourself giggle internally by doodling a comical version of Brutus' face, your contribution to the art world being a large-eared wolf's head with animated weeping eyes like some sad excuse of an emoji.
“Oh, but that wasn't all that happened,” Neel interjects, his eyes suddenly serious. “The lady who came out of the ground helped us, too.”
There it is.
The confirmation you've been waiting for, and from a trustworthy source, no less. This certainly backs up what K.B. already told you in the hospital, if not also suggesting that there's some sort of higher power at work here.
“A lady? What sort of lady?”
Still, as solid as this new path in the investigation might seem, there's one thing about all of this that you don't want to blow up in your face.
Higher powers or not, you're hoping that they're on your side.
“She was like—like a living shadow, or something.”
“Like black vapor, I take it?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
“And did she scare you at all, this shadow woman?”
Neel starts rubbing at his left ear as he mulls this over, a look of deep concentration evident in his eyes. Did he ever do this back when you watched him for Nooma, or is this something he developed when he vanished into the Up Above...? You find that you're unable to remember this now, even though a part of you believes that you should.
“I wouldn't call her scary, exactly...more like, just startling.”
That can be one thing you ask someone else about later, though. For good or for ill, you can't have any more distractions today.
“Because nobody expected her to be there?”
"Yeah. Uh, I mean, no, no we didn't.”
You scribble in the words “Surprise Guest” before you speak again, though following with the words “Ask Silvo” seems more than fitting for this situation, especially since nobody else is looking at your writing save for yourself. He's most likely the missing link in all of this, after all, so if you ever get the opportunity to question him, so much the better.
“I see...and was this before or after she removed the wolf-man's arm?”
“Definitely after,” Wim acknowledges, his voice growing a little sharper. “I guess she didn't like watching kids get threatened.”
“Neither would I, Fara joins in, a sympathetic look evident in her eyes. “Did this mystery woman say anything to you?”
At this, both boys share a mysterious look before turning their faces back to you.
“I think,” Neel begins, “it's what she didn't say that got us all wondering.”
“And what was that?”
“She and Jod looked at each other in a kind of...WEIRD way,” Wim continues, his little brow furrowing in concentration. “It was almost like—well, like they somehow KNEW each other.”
“Not just that,” Neel adds quietly. “They looked at each other like they were family.”
