Papili uses her ink powers to make little umbrellas and protective coverings so she can walk around and mingle in the sun! (Her powers also come in handy to cover a body that needs to be hidden for as long they need to way for the cost to be clear.)
Did you even know she has ink powers? She does! she uses them to forge documents when coming up with new identities and living arrangements for the people that extracted! Yippee!!
Papili’s favorite type of butterfly is the pipevine swallowtail!!!
This is the first one I got! So it's the one I used.
Fancy another trip to the past?
Google docs as always!
Send me a (🗣️) + two muses on my blog, and I’ll make them have a conversation whether they know each other or not!
--
Small footsteps rouse you from your slumber, it was a fitful rest anyway so there isn't much to complain about for the disturbance.
Sunlight creeps into the room through the cracks in the curtains, you follow the muddled light just as the small jadeblood makes her way into it. The source of the noise. She clutches onto a butterfly plush with all her might, as though her life depended on that grip.
"Are you awake?" She whispers into the room, you watch as she anxiously shifts on her heels. This is the fourth time since you brought her home that she has woken up in the middle of the day, but the first time that her milling about brought her into your room. You felt there was no need to trample on her independence the last few times, no need to impose your worry on her.
Papili would come to you if she needed assistance, you figured. You were correct.
She knocks on the door frame, rocking forward onto the balls of her feet so that she could peer further into the room. The light catches her eyes, and she blinks in an exaggerated manner.
"Mister Styx? Are you awake?" There's a breathlessness to the way she calls out to you, yet it sounded with a specific brand of certainty. It would appear that your little visitor is well aware that you are awake.
Finally, you pull yourself to sit up. You are always acutely aware of the difference between your body and your enhancements fresh from slumber, you move slowly. "I am, yes."
"I always hear you when I wake up in the mornings, moving around in here." She pauses, squeezes her butterfly, and furrows her brow. She adopts quite the look of determination "Can I come in?"
Another first, typically she would run by your room with her head down if the door was so much as cracked open. As it was explained to you, it is an echo of the teachings of her cloister, the worst crime one could commit was disrespecting their elders or the space their elders occupied. You could think of a few things worse than entering a room.
"Yes, of course."
Papili nods with a huff and enters the room, with purpose. She must mean business.
She walks all the way to the foot of your bed and puffs her chest out, momentarily discarding her doll on the bed to place her hands on her hips.
This is going to be good.
You smile at her.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No, but Mister Styx. We need to talk."
"You have my undivided attention, then."
The five sweep old makes her way around the bed, so that she stands directly in front of you. The look of determination on her face is anything but surface level, you catch extensions of it in the spark in her eye.
"I was watching. While you digged through the cavern. The leftover rocks, after the big ships came. You were helping people and taking out the ones that weren't moving no more on the side." Despite the subject matter, she doesn't sound that sad about the only home she's ever known being destroyed. It comes across more like she's pitching a shiny new business model, and this is the hook. You have an idea you know where this is going.
You nod your head.
"You found me. Us!" She indicates the toy laying by your legs. "You looked really sad, Mister Styx."
"You are very young, Papili."
"Uh huh! You said that. You said itsa shame. The-speck-able is what you said, too!" She looks thoughtful for a beat. "You said that means really really nasty." She says as she taps her fingers against her chin.
This time when you nod she lights up. Reacting as though this was not the recounting of a personal horror, rather she was getting a question right on a history test.
"I do recall this, yes." That must be what's keeping her up in the mornings, you make a mental note to be there for her until she is relocated. "Are you okay, Papili?"
She puts a hand up, signifying that it is not yet your turn to speak.
"Then you said, Mister Styx, you said you would take me somewhere safe."
Most of the efforts from that rescue were going toward clean up and rehabilitation, there was no one available for relocating at present. That's why she is still here in your home, fixing you with a stern stare.
"Wherever I want!" Her arms fold over her chest, as if in protest to a comment you haven't made yet. "That's what you said."
"That is what I said."
"I want to stay with you! It's safe."
"Pap –" You were going to let her down easy, but she didn't give you a chance. She keeps talking.
"I asked your blood color and you said 'purple'. But it's a secret! So I asked why you said it!" She drops her arms so that she can wring her hands together. "You said…'Cause you trust me."
For what it's worth, her memory is stellar. Word for word, she remembered that conversation. That's impressive, considering the situation. How long was she under that rubble?
"We were holding hands and you said that." Papili swallows, perhaps preparing herself for the inevitable rejection. "I never was safe like that before the ships came, Mister Styx. When you held my hand and said that I was safe."
Tears started to sting the corners of her eyes, eyes that were now trained on her hands.
"I want to stay here. I trust you!"
Quickly, she snatches her butterfly off the bed and takes a step back. Head angled toward the floor.
It is your turn to speak, but you don't really know what to say. Nyx was one thing, there are only so many people capable of providing for an infant alien. Papili, on the other hand, would have no shortage of places she could thrive in.
A secluded hive surrounded by dense forest couldn't possibly be one of them.
Could you even turn her down, though?
"That is a big decision you are trying to make."
"Mhm!"
You turn your head toward the window, where sunlight continues its attempted break-in. Relentless.
"Such big decisions are best made when the moons are up."
Papili deflates a little, returning to shifting on her heels. It does not last long, though, in the next second she springs right up.
"Can I sleep in your bed, Mister Styx?" That one catches you off guard, not that your expression betrays you. There's no way you're going to be letting her down.
"Of course."
Before you've finished, she was already climbing into your bed, her butterfly friend quickly becoming a pillow. Pap makes herself comfortable.
"What was the really really nasty word again?"
"Despicable."
"You don't have a lot of pillows, Mister Styx. That's despicable!"
You laugh, shifting to make yourself comfortable again.
"A downright shame."
"A shame!" She shouts with a giggle, snuggling up into her plushie.
Hit & Run || Hayley Kiyoko
Look at your face, look at my dress
Looks like we're not here to impress
We'll take the stairs
One, two, three steps at a time
Now that we're here
All we got to do is climb, climb
Weightless || All Time Low
I wanna feel reckless, wanna live it up just because
I wanna feel weightless 'cause that would be enough
If I could just find the time
Then I would never let another day go by
I'm over getting old
Crawling Towards the Sun || The Hush Soud
Night covers all our tracks
To break some fragile backs
So we tell some lies
And then we hide from light
Burn Down This City || Felix Hagan and the Family
And I would chase back the shadows
That are slowly taking hold
I would run to the mountain
And scream into the storm
And push it back down forever
So hold on
Send me these music notes (♪♫) and a troll and I’ll give you four songs that I relate to them!
🗣 Styx and Papili!!!!!! Gimmie that leap frog content
Send me a (🗣️) + two muses on my blog, and I'll make them have a conversation whether they know each other or not!
It's a little late for Fathers Day content! 😶
--
A soft light danced across the room and over Styx’s face as the sunset and its influence battled the blackout curtain for dominance, not enough to blind him, just enough to make him envy the jade bloods that could experience it’s warmth unmuddled.
He did not remember falling asleep, actually, the moons were high in the sky when he settled in with his work that he estimated would.. Probably take him the next two days to complete. Yeah, it was going to be into the morning and the next night kind of day, or so he thought.
Papili.
He gave a sideways glance at the cup of tea she’d brought him, apropos of nothing, the evening before. It was still half full. She must have dosed it something awful for it to have such an effect. Who taught her to be so sneaky?
Styx groaned as he pulled himself up out of the chair, his body feeling heavier than it usually did as he did. “Pap, I’m not mad, I just wanna talk about it.”
As he spoke, he tried to clear the grogginess from his throat, though it was terribly obvious he could sleep another full twenty-four hours to anyone that heard him. His footfall thumped heavily against the wood floors as he lumbered his way from the front room toward the respiteblocks, if he wasn’t so sure of the craftsmanship he probably would think he’d go through the floor at this rate.
“Dad! I’m in here!!” Came the far too chipper for this early in the evening call, from his own respiteblock no less.
Upon entering the room he was, honestly, not surprised to find his daughter all cozied up between, by his estimation, a million stuffed animals. Gods, they looked so comfortable. “Saved you a spot!!” As she spoke, she shoved a good chunk of her cuddly companions to the floor. “They were keeping it nice and warm so you don’t freeze your circuits off.” She then pats the spot a few times
“I have far too much work to do, Tadpole”
“No you don’t!”
“Pap I -- ”
“Handed it all over to Ada and Caenos via text last night? Yeah, I know! We were all shocked you decided to give yourself the day off.” Papili held his phone in her hand and waved it around with a giggle for good measure. Of course she did, and of course she’d roped those two into her little plan. “The most pressing thing for you here and now is which of these seriously cute frog plushies will be your cuddle partner! Or do you prefer butterflies?”
“Ah. Sneaky, clever girl.”
“I think of everything!”
Once again she pats the spot next to her. Knowing full well she passed off his workload to the two most stubborn trolls in his network, he supposed he was left with no choice. He let himself fall into the bed, causing her to bounce a little.
“I might have used too much sleep aid.” She said with mock concern, a huge grin on her face.
“Y’think so?” He mumbled back, wrapping an arm around her to pull her into a hug. Turns out he did prefer a butterfly.
Send me a (🗣️) + two muses on my blog, and I'll make them have a conversation whether they know each other or not!
On with the show!
---
“Hey I don’t know about you, but where I’m from people say excuse me when they’re trying to pass by someone! Don’t you have manners!”
First this guy had the nerve to push by while you were just minding your business, looking at the juvenile cacti lined up on the clearance rack, then he topped it off with the sheer audacity to keep walking while you tried to get his attention. He didn’t even turn his head when you called out to him! Who raised this guy!
“Hey! Hey!”
Dad taught you better than to chase after strange purple bloods, but dad wasn’t here. Neither were any of your other ten or so impulse controls. Needless to say, no one stopped you from barging up to him and grabbing his shoulder to turn him around to face you. He was a little cold to the touch even through his shirt, but you ignored that. Highbloods and all.
“You could stand to be a little nicer -- “ It was when his gaze met yours that you wished that you had just left it at this guy is an asshole. The soulless eyes that met yours sent chills up your spine.
“There must be someone out there that cares about you.” Ugh, his voice was much worse.
“Maybe it’s best if you don’t grab after trolls that you don’t know.”
You slowly let go of his shoulder, though you do not recall sending the signal to do so. Not that you weren’t happier for it, you were just busy swimming in those pupil-less eyes.
“Be a doll, won’t you grab the nightshade for me?”
“Uh! I’m not doing anything for you! No way!”
He smiled, an action that both tugged at the stitches that began at the corner of his lips and made your stomach lurch. You might lose your lunch. “No?”
Again, against your will, you reacted. Reaching across him to grab the pack of seeds that rested on the shelf just behind him. The scent of vanilla assaulted your senses when you got close enough.
“Thank you so much.”
You hand him the packet.
“I think I learned a thing or two about manners this evening.”
He pats your arm once as he passes by, your body once again under your control.
Papili is hard! Considering she herself doesn't know what she's into -- She's very good at being independent but I think she would need someone that reminds her that she doesn't need to be that way actually. Definitely not a clingy person, either. They'd need to be able to exist independently of her, too.
