The cup fell from nerveless fingers and broke apart into several pieces on the wooden floor.
Kayo ignored the curse and immediately set about picking the pieces up before Gordon could attempt it himself. He’d overbalance if he tried and make himself so much worse.
Quickly she put the pieces to one side as he let out a strangled sob, she’d see to them later. Right now she had someone to comfort.
Leading him back to the couch, Kayo enveloped him into a hug that Virgil would have been proud of. And Gordon melted into her embrace and let go.
He’d never admit crying himself to sleep in Kayo’s arms, she knew that, but he’d obviously needed the outlet. With everyone else out on missions it had given Gordon the opportunity he needed, even if what sparked it was a shame.
She found herself gently running her fingers over the scar that distorted the Olympic tattoo on his bicep. Gordon relaxed further under her ministrations and Kayo was able to manoeuvre his head onto a cushion on her lap.
The bisected tattoo was giving her ideas.
Gordon had never been shy of his hydrofoil scars. They were a part of his life that, while rarely talked about, were not hidden away. It was something she greatly admired about him. She bent to kiss his temple and ran her fingers through his hair, feeling the scar from the surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain.
A sleepy murmur and a hand reached up and snagged hers, pulling it gently down so Gordon could kiss her palm before tucking it under his cheek.
‘Love you, Tan.’
‘Love you too, Fish.’
But he was already asleep again.
When Scott came back later he asked her if Gordon was alright with his eyebrows and she answered in kind. He smiled sadly at his injured brother and offered to swap places but Kayo waved him off. She was happy to be here for Gordon, he’d drifted off into a natural sleep and neither wanted to jeopardise that.
Later, when everyone was home, Gordon was back to his usual self, but she knew it was a show for his brothers. Kayo treasured that he’d felt comfortable to break down with her and confide in her how hard he was finding his recovery this time around.
Two nights later Kayo padded over to Virgil’s art studio. While her creative brother would have had no concerns giving her what she needed, no one entered that sanctum without permission and she’d waited until Virgil was ready to use it himself before asking.
Explaining her mission, Virgil’s concerned frown gradually shifted into a huge smile, and he busied himself around grabbing everything Kayo could possibly need for the task. He cleared an area for her to work so that she would not be disturbed and asked her which method she’d like to follow – traditional or modern. While usually she’d choose traditional Kayo knew that Gordon needed this fixed now so she went with the modern method.
The cup had been a special one, one that Gordon had been given by one of his teammates that had not survived the hydrofoil. She totally understood why this breakage was the one that broke him too.
She set to work.
Laid out on the bench was fine sandpaper, epoxy resin, gold powder and a paintbrush. She’d brought the fragments of the cup with her, and with Virgil’s quick tutorial she was off.
It took all day to carefully sand and fix each tiny piece of china to the next with the gold-coloured epoxy, but eventually it was ready. It would cure overnight once Virgil placed it in his kiln and she could present it to Gordon tomorrow.
A rescue called out the boys out in the early hours of the morning but it wasn’t a long or difficult one and so once she’d stowed the cup safely in their bedroom Kayo busied herself getting breakfast ready. Sure enough, by the time the rotis had baked and the dhal cooked to perfect consistency the four of them had settled at the table.
Breakfast was a quiet affair with Virgil and Alan not really awake enough yet, but the sounds of eating and the slurping of teh Tarik were comforting. Afterwards they all drifted off to whatever they had planned or the day – Virgil and Alan back to bed, Scott to his morning run before settling down to reports and Gordon had a date with her and the gym.
Gordon grinned at her as they took their places and circled each other. There was much grinning amidst the fighting, and by the time the session was finished they were both sweating and panting. But still smiling.
They showered and made their way back to their room, where Kayo nudged Gordon to sit on the bed.
‘I have something for you, Gords.’
‘Oh?’
He sat up, curious as to what she was referring to, and tried his hardest to worm out of her what the gift was, but Kayo stood firm, laughing at some of the more outlandish suggestions while she waited for Gordon to finish guessing.
Only once he’d finished did Kayo return to the bed bearing her gift. Gordon’s smile was bright as he accepted it and unwrapped it.
And he froze.
For a moment Kayo thought she’d made a terrible mistake as he sat there staring at the cup in his hand. But then he moved, carefully putting the cup down on the bedside table before he launched himself at her, holding her so tightly and kissing her deeply. They only stopped when they needed to come up for air, and he rested his forehead on hers. He whispered to her.
‘Thank you, Tan. You have no idea how much this means to me.’
They stayed like that for a moment before instinctually both moved at the same time. This time kiss was much more tender, and Gordon’s hand gently tangled in her hair while they changed position on the bed.
Here are character sheets for changes that calamity trio's designs had went through in the «Catachresis», AU written by the astounding @banyanas
there's more to come as @brushbanditarts and i have made respective artworks for upcoming chapters. stay tuned and check out other works for @ampminibang!
https://archiveofourown.org/works/43679544
other works for this au: comic | @brushbanditarts’ illustration | mossman and shadowfish
So, one thing i've always found interesting about the local fauna of Amphibia is how... Alien several creatures seem to it.
More speciffically, it's birds and mammals.
Amphibia's birds are enormous monsters, almost all of them are true Apex predators, and even the ones who aren't, are still huge, monstrously strong and dangerous.
They are mostly just oversized examples of their respective animals, but they also temd to possess one or two features not found in their Earth counterpart(be it teeth, a second set of eyes, or hair).
That part isn't too unusual. There are plenty of animals in Amphibia who are simply bigger versions of Earth Animals, and in several cases they feature additional extra additions.
But Birds are a bit different than these in several ways.
First off, is that Amphibia has another kind of birds, one that fits into the environment far, far better compared to the other things that are living there.
These insects that very much look like birds.
They are numerous in diversity, a common sight, and again, fits into the local eco system far, far better than the giant, feathery, "normal" birds, who stick out drastically compared to their amphibian, reptilian, and insect companions.
And they aren't the only ones.
Amphibia has very few mammal species, but the ones that they do have, are very much like the birds, huge, oversized apex predators that don't really seem to fit into the local ecosystem.
Then there is the fact that despite their enormous size, strength and power, these animals are nowhere near as numerous in diversity as you would expect
On earth, just to give one example, we have dozens and dozens of different kinds of different predators species just within one category, which isn't the case with these guys. When Amphibians talk about herons, they talk about one single kind of bird, not a class of birds.
Frabkly speaking, just from how powerful they are, these birds should be dominating the ecosystem and have dozens and dozens of various subspecies. Instead they seem to be very limited in number, and isn't doing as well as you would expect for such powerful creatures.
And then of course we have chimera like monsters like Chicka-lisk the Stormbringer and... The wolf... manticore thing.
Animals that might be natural, but frankly look like someone stitched together different species with magic(Chicka-lisk in particular explicitly being a magical being), that stick out not only because of their chimera nature, but also because they are composed of at least one of these animals that don't seem like they fit in with the rest of the animals on the continent.
On their own, these animals would be unusual, but not completely out of the ordinary given Amphibia's bizarre creatures.
But then there are two other species that suggest a much, much different picture regarding these animals.
The Mossmen and the Shadowfish.
Both of whom were kidnapped/enslaved by the Amphibian Empire from their original homeworld, experimented upon, and then used for the betterment of the Amphibian ruling class.
They are completely alien, and frankly do not fit in with Amphibia's local ecosystem at all.
Just like birds, Bats, and the rest of the animals I've covered above.
In other words, i think that all of these, birds, bats, etc. Are what remains of species that were kidnapped from their own homeworlds and brought to Amphibia long ago. Whereupon they were experimented upon, grew enormous in size as well as mutated in various ways, while certain animals were the result of magic being used to create hybrids between local amphibia animals, and these imported species, creating monsters like the Chicka-lisk.
It would explain the lack of variety in these animals(As only a limited number of species would have been brought to the homeworld compared to how many existed on Earth), why there are two completely different sorts of birds on the continent that have nothing to do with each other, and why all of them just don't fit in at all with all the other creatures that call Amphibia home.
You know, now after seeing what EXACTLY happened to Marcy, I think that the repercussions of freeing her would be the loss of her memory.
(Much like Grunkle Stan in Gravity’s Falls ending.)
She was injected with all the greatest minds in Amphibia and all the knowledge in the Universe and possibly the Mutiverse from how Andrias ancestors used to take over worlds.
It’d be impossible on Earth for them to get that all out (perhaps some if the scientist in “If You Give a Frog a Cookie” is actually useful) and even in Amphibia challenging, so the likely effect of her freeing all the souls that escaped death finally fade away and she remains as a husk of knowledge, or in other words the holder of the green gem and that alone.
Anyways, that’s all from me for now, but I get the feeling we’ll be seeing her again… very soon.
*glances at Froggy Little Christmas*
But if we do, the her we see is not the her we know. I can only hope we see some scenes in the mind space if the time comes to past.
