Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The cold bit at his numbed flesh.

 Snow pummelled what was left of his chamber, piling around him in a fatal blanket. He pulled away from the open wall in some pathetic attempt at cover. Unsurprisingly, the unforgiving blizzard continued to strike his puppet, wearing down the corroded metal more. He was hardly pink anymore, most paint having been worn off after the numerous cycles in his own rotting corpse.

The only reprieve from the battering was a broken hymn, desperately screeching its woes. The scratchy melody was from a better place, he was sure. Where it was exactly had slipped from his memory long ago, leaving only a faint sense of hope in the desolate wasteland. 

Nothing ever came by his hidden cove, it was too far buried in the fissures and cracks, leaving him with nothing but himself and a pearl. Despite this something echoed in his vision, smearing green in his blurred eyes and fracturing against his cracked lenses in a kaleidoscopic display of colour he did not get to see often. He took the opportunity to reach out to the thing. 

“Little... green… thing” he spoke, voice warping and cracking with aeons of disuse. He watched the creature, waiting for it to either leave or attack his puppet, chewing up his frost-bitten flesh.

“Hello?” he called out once it stayed put, “Nothing here… nothing left” He called out to the smear in an attempt to have it leave and save itself from his collapsing ruin. It stilled entirely for a moment more before shuffling closer, its form warped and distorted as it grew near. The animal approached his pearl and twisted it in its paws. At least that's what he thought he saw, through his fractured vision.

Fear welled inside him, he couldn't bear losing it, the only hope he had left. The puppet lurched forward at the beast, causing it to step backwards.

“No, don’t!” he stalled for a moment, trying to remember the word, “take!”

His screeching seemed to get the beast to back off, placing his pearl at his feet before shuffling back again. He waited for it to raise upwards and continue its wallowing tune before turning his attention back to the beast.

The beast dipped down and stilled for a moment before raising upwards towards the sky. The endless white became tinged in shades of gold and blue, at the very centre was a vivid green. He felt the call of the void lower over him like an aureate pall, dampening his worry.

“... ?” he questioned calmly.

The beast rose high above his head and stared down, deep eldritch voids swam in its vision as it focused on him. He felt it slowly constrict over him, drawing closer.

“...!”

His head struck the balance of the very cycles themselves as he was flung back into a sea of deep red. Pain etched through every atom in his structure as he came undone. He writhed in agony and yet it only lasted a second.

Five Pebbles peeled his puppet away from where it had collapsed against the wall, carefully untangling the metal arm from the umbilical from the painful contortion he found himself in, with the numbing ache of a kilocycles of immobility and a vague sense of deja-vu. He would run a diagnostics later but for now he had more pressing matters to attend to. Pebbles was about to send a diagnostics for his lab but a glimmer of gold caught his eye.

He lowered himself down to the little intruder. A wheel flower. It had sprouted between the panels in his chamber, the red lights beaming on the fragile plant, yet it remained a bright gold in colour. Pebbles absent-mindedly checked on his labs whilst putting the brunt of his attention back to the abnormal growth. It was directly under where he had been slumped against the wall. Many had claimed that they found them blooming at the site of their death in a previous cycle, although the theory lacked evidence besides from some crazed monks. It clearly wasn’t plausible anyway given that it had grown in his chamber. 

Exhaling plumes of clouds, Pebbles sighed and reached out to pick it from its spot, however, the moment his skin grazed the delicate stem he reeled back. The ground shook and pipes dislodged as his sister came crashing down into the old canyon below, melding into the landscape. Rotten tumours of his own flesh devoured him. His legs splintered below him as he split in two. Fierce hail struck his exposed innards. Gold. Blue. RED.

His organs burned as the recursive transform array crashed, he could faintly register the smell of fish and burnt plastic. Worst of all however, was the memory arrays; the intricate lattices were growing through each other, smashing and deforming, warping and shattering. Coming apart over and over again. He slammed his puppet against the wall as the wall of error messages hit.

[LIVE BROADCAST] EQUIPMENT MANIFEST

EM: Duplicate structures in Memory Conflux B

EM: Duplicate structures in Memory Conflux E

EM: Temperature in General Systems Bus exceeding safe threshold 

EM: Lab 3 damaged - terminate immediately

EM: Lab 4 damaged - terminate immediately 

EM: RTA fuse blown - seek engineer immediately 

Despite preparing himself, he immediately crumpled to the chamber floor, the gravity disruptors having overheated. He had died. Ascended? He had felt the pull of the void, he was sure. Was he an echo? Pebbles sharply drew in a breath through his puppet’s vents and shifted into a seated position, pulling up the equipment manifest into a separate panel. He winced slightly as he read each one, although only one caught his attention. The labs. 

Small clumps of the genome had formed, ravaging the tendrils that monitored them. The mass was pitch black and held the familiar damp smell of death that had hung over his head for far too long. He daren’t risk holding it any longer and disconnected the tendril it had latched to with a small hiss and flushed it out his system. He huffed out a bout of steam and relaxed once he saw the cancerous growth fizzle out in a lake of acid in the wastes below and directed any remaining water to cool his overworking Systems bus.

The cool water hissed as it hit the pipes, yet they cooled down the same. Pebbles could feel the temperature climb back down to a comfortable 40*. His puppet huffed steam as his mind cleared. It was the first time he had the clarity of thought since his initial collapse. He sat for a moment just thinking about a million things at once with the ease of a practised reflex. 

Once he had settled, Five pebbles directed his attention towards the Memory Confluxes. The doubled memories had continued the cycle of breaking and warping. He sent for the memories to be re-sorted on opposite sides of the conflux. A-C were filled with ‘pre-death’ memories and D-F with the rest. Once the command was sent, he waited for his neuron flies to re-organise before condensing the pre-death memories to avoid any confusion.

He sat back for a moment, just exhaling any built up steam as the cycle drew to a close, feeling the release of pressure in every pipe. He had almost forgotten that feeling. As he sat on the chamber floor, he wondered what exactly he should do next. He couldn’t just announce his rebirth to the world. Before he could process anything else, a sharp pain staggered throughout his structure as he felt his own body betray him, opening a broadcast internally without his permission.

[DIRECT BROADCAST] PRIVATE, FORCED- Big Sister Moon, Five Pebbles

SOURCE NODE TRACE: LTTMROOT, LTTMCOM_06. FPROOT

BSM: please

BSM: …respond

BSM: you you you cannot 

BSM: force brbro -- not blockable 

BSM: ...

BSM: i know … receiving these

Chapter Text

Sig’s puppet sighed at the blocked message.

It had been the tenth time he had attempted contact with Five Pebbles. The third since he lost access to the overseers in Moon’s facilities. Moon had always been soft on Pebbles. Too soft.

He thought about asking Suns if he had any luck before deciding against it. He and Suns had both seen the excessive downpour around Pebble’s can although, Suns’ habit to dance around the topic had left them both in a sour mood.

He twirled his puppet around his chamber at some form of stress relief. The rhythmic motion had been somewhat calming before.

However, his ‘soothing’ routine had been interrupted by the familiar scratching of an angry slugcat in the gate between him and his city.
His little beast had returned.

An overseer was quickly dispatched to its location; it appeared to have trapped itself inside the metropolis and was growing more impatient by the second. The green overseer approached the little blue slug - its wires extended, reading.

Hmm

The beast’s karma had depleted since their last meeting. A testament to the ruined state of what was once a lively conurbation.

He had never given the slugcat a citizen ID drone. A decision he was coming to regret at each of the creature’s attempts to open the gate itself.

He sent a forced open command to the gate before focusing back on his puppet in anticipation for his visitor.

Just as he was relaxed a ping had brought Sig back to attention. Suns.

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment.

SRS: We need to talk
SRS: Its Five Pebbles

That wasn’t concerning at all.

NSH: Look whos chatting again∼
NSH: I thought this was ‘none of my business’

He waited for a moment before a response came through.

SRS: …
NSH: What?
SRS: He sent me a rather concerning message.
SRS: And we…
SRS: Disagreed.
SRS: I’m not sure what to do.

For a moment Sig stalled. Either he had messed up whatever he was working on or something had happened to Moon.

Sig did not like those options.

As he began to formulate a reply to that. A little blue paw scratched its way out of the access pipe.

The little beast tumbled out before swivelling rapidly in the anti-gravity, arms flailing wildly at some attempt at momentum.

NSH: Is he still responding?
SRS: …

Sig stared up at the little rodent in his chamber.

NSH: Why don't you send him that messenger again?
SRS: Maybe

[ Seven Red Suns has disconnected broadcast, if the message is urgent please contact the administrator ]

Sig turned his attention to the little blue slug that was wiggling its way towards his puppet.

“I suppose you’re here to check up on the H_03, correct?”,Sig asked the rodent. It had been his first messenger however, due to a few incidents regarding a now-widespread population of leap lizards it was far too recognisable amongst his neighbours.

The dark blue cat nodded quickly, a gesture it had learned from Sig.

He sighed and brought up a visible screen in his puppet chamber displaying Lab_07. The beast leaned towards the screen the best it could. It was displaying the progress of his latest messenger. Once he managed to prevent the ‘fast repair’ genome becoming rot that was.
This iteration of the slugcat was a pale pink in colour with his insignia on its shoulder ( it was also developing smoothly, unlike its predecessors) . If there were no more complications his Hunter would be grown in 157 cycles.

He would send it to check up on moon as soon as it's ready. She has been producing worryingly little rain these cycles.

After that, the world will have to deal with his newest creation. A purposed guard organism mixed with a racing vulture.

The ultimate predator.

Sig cackled to himself as he brought up the blueprints on a screen to show his visitor.

Chapter Text

Pebbles sat on his chamber floor as he stared at the last messages between him and Suns.

[ARCHIVED BROADCAST] PRIVATE Five Pebbles, Seven Red Suns

FP: Suns

SRS: Pebbles! I hope your little project is going well

FP: …

SRS: What is something wrong?
SRS: Did it..
SRS: I never should have trusted you with it. I should have known you would rush it.

FP: Suns listen to me

SRS: what

FP: I believe i have experienced the cycle

SRS: You… what?

FP: …

SRS: …
SRS: How did you find out?

FP: …
FP: A wheel flower had grown in my chamber.
FP: As my puppet touched it, I was able to see my previous cycles.

SRS: Those are hallucinogenic are they not?

FP: Suns

SRS: They usually only become potent when burned or consumed.

FP: Are you listening to me?

SRS: Our puppets’ skin must be extremely receptive to external chemicals.

FP: …

SRS: Which does explain the ridiculously sterile chambers.

FP: Suns?

SRS: And the decontamination gates

FP: …

[ Five Pebbles has blocked further broadcasts, if the message is urgent please contact the administrative iterator ]

He should probably apologise to Suns but their constant condescending was making it difficult to sympathise with them. He could check up on moon. However…

The last time he had spoken to her had been the cycle before his collapse. And of course the quick ‘sorry’ he had sent her after reducing his water intake.

Pebbles paused for a moment before requesting a broadcast with moon.

[PENDING BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - Accepted.

BSM: Pebbles?
FP: Im sorry

For a moment the broadcast paused with awkward silence.

FP: how are your systems?
BSM: They’re fine, mostly . Although some of my more biological components are very sore. I also have some minor damage to my eastern legs.

He felt a pang of guilt and fear flood through his systems. Pebbles stalled for a moment before rushing a quick apology.

FP: sorry
BSM: …
BSM: May I ask what you were doing to need that much water.

Oh
He should have known she would ask that. She deserved to know but…

[ Five Pebbles has disconnected broadcast, if the message is urgent please use forced broadcasts or contact the administrator ]

He felt his panic rise as he registered what he had just done. His puppet hissed out hot steam as he felt a sharp ping in his systems.

[PENDING BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - Denied.

He should talk to her but what would he say?

[PENDING BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - Denied.

The truth?

[PENDING BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - Denied.

About how he had tried to cross himself out?

[FORCED BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

ow

BSM: Five Pebbles.
BSM: I'm sorry, I'm aware how jarring these broadcasts are but you left me little choice.
BSM: Now please, tell me what is wrong little brother.

Pebbles’ puppet shuffled in his chamber in thought. He could just tell half the truth.

FP: I was attempting to remove my taboos.

BSM: What

He didn’t even get the chance to reply.

BSM: Five Pebbles I may be Gen 1 but I am not an idiot.
BSM: I know where those methods are from.
BSM: And I know what they are used for.

Shit

Chapter Text

Moon was angry.

And not a single word in the ancient lexicon could describe the utter rage she felt.

How could she, big SISTER moon, allow her brother to feel such a way about himself that he would resort to self-elimination rather than talking to her? How could Suns, Pebbles’ most trusted friend, drive him down such a dark path?

Moon inhaled and let water fizzle through her pipes. She was furious but she was still recovering after all. Her puppet’s muscles ached in reminder of the power surges as she lowered herself to the floor; she had a call to make.

[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns - denied

That-

[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns -denied
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns -denied
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns -denied
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns -denied
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns -denied

[ Seven Red Suns has blocked further broadcasts, if the message is urgent please contact the administrator ]

She paused. She could feel the hiss of her coolant sublimating against her storage facilities. Neuronflies swarmed and crackled as they overheated, singed.

Her biological components gave out under the heat as she collapsed onto the chamber floor. She rapidly intook water as she attempted to focus on anything that wasn’t important. Ignoring the aching migraine of error messages, she exhaled hot steam through her puppet.

She focused on Sig’s little messenger he had made. A slugcat was it? She remembered the day it stepped off the train system with a dozen biomechanical lizards in tow. The little reptiles had been given jet propulsion ripped straight off a vulture ( but tinted blue ‘just for her’ as Sig had put it ).

They were quite idiotic creatures really: not knowing how to use their tails well,flinging cyan gas everywhere when injured, or accidentally propulsing themselves off cliffs and spinning rapidly as they tried to save themselves.

She checked on her system temperatures. Warm but not critical.

She slowly tuned back into her communication array.
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - accept / deny
[PENDING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment - accept / deny

[ ID MENTION ] - PRIVATE GROUP [ LOCALCHAT ] Big Sis Moon, Seven Red Suns, No Significant Harassment, Chasing Wind, Five Pebbles, Unparalleled Innocence

She would need a moment before she spoke to Pebbles again and Sig, as caring as they were, could be a handful sometimes. Moon paid no mind to the mention in the local chat before continuing through her arrays.

[INCOMING MESSAGE] - PRIVATE Seven Red suns to Big Sis Moon

She felt a wave of anger wash over her as she paused at the message - her puppet hissing hot steam.

……….

I am greatly sorry, I am aware what I did was dangerous, however I trusted him to do it and he was so desperate. I gave him what I believed he needed although I see my ways of thinking are flawed and have caused more harm than I could have imagined. I will stop bothering you and your brother from now on if you wish.

May your cycles be fruitful,
-Seven Red Suns
………..

While she was extremely frustrated with Suns just leaving when she had tried to confront him, she could see that he was at least generally remorseful. His actions were still unforgivable however. Sig had once told her that she needed to be more stern anyway.

…………

[OUTGOING MESSAGE] - PRIVATE Big Sis Moon to Seven Red Suns

I hope one day you realise the full extent of the consequences you inflict on every imprintable soul you corrupt.

Rot in hell,
-Moon

…………

She giggled to herself as she sent the message off.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles shuffled as he sat on his chamber floor. He really should tell someone about the other cycle he had experienced. But who?

Moon is currently damaged due to his actions and he didn’t want to cause her any more worry than he already had. Plus, how was he supposed to explain what he had done before?
How he had killed her?

Sig would just make fun of him or snitch on him to Moon for his ‘own good’.

Suns had given him radio silence ever since the ‘argument’. It wasn’t really an argument but it infuriated Pebbles nonetheless. He had seen Suns’ messenger make an appearance just outside the retaining wall before receiving a message from a red overseer to return back to Suns.

If he told Innocence it would be across every gossip and conspiracy group in cycles.

Winds would listen to him but they would also tell Moon 100%.

So he sat in his chamber unable to do much else. He could watch the local wildlife. Moon had a soft spot for the pipe cleaners ( why? ) and glow pups before Formal Public Ascension. He could see what they had evolved into.

He sent an overseer command to search for anything that had similar DNA in his facility grounds. Soon after, a small blue overseer had reported a large population throughout the ‘true anointed citadel’ he was built atop.

Five pebbles opened the optical feedback.

The glow pups that were once used at hand-held light sources for the engineers were now small skittish things with long tails. They seemed to hang from whatever ledge they could find and were missing the distinct antennae that were used to hold them. A reasonable adaptation he supposed as holding them used to induce a sort of pacifying effect similar to holding a lizard hatchling by the scruff, making them easy targets for smart predators.

His overseer moved towards a pair of hanging mice. One of them was immediately spooked as it emerged from the ground and retracted its tail before fleeing into the next room. The other seemed calmer as it merely opened its large eyes at him. He snapped a picture of the beast for Moon before releasing the overseer.

Next was the pipe cleaners. He heavily doubted any of the primal variants were still alive but the rodent variant could have adapted to live a similar lifestyle to a lantern mouse. He knew they were at least present in biological blueprints as evident through the numerous messengers but whether a natural population had settled yet was a different story.

Five pebbles dispatched an overseer command with Sig’s messenger as a reference throughout his facility grounds. He only received one confirmation. The beast was double the size of Sig’s messenger with dark red fur unlike the slimy blue skin of the other. It had two young offspring trailing behind it with considerable softer fur. One blue, one green. It had reminded him of a particular citizen from another time. Although this beast was lacking her distinct scars.

The family had been travelling through his waste disposal for the past several cycles it seemed. How revolting. He snapped a picture of the group and was about to dismiss the overseer when the large red beast snapped its tail and leaped. It had exploded.

His citizen.

He opened the input in his chamber for his puppet to see. Even through the blue-tinted screen the little ruffian was unmistakable. Her combative prowess and explosive finesse was something he had seen no other beast perform.

What was odd however, was the two pups clinging to her back. He was sure he would have remembered them. She was also lacking her extreme bloodlust and crooked karma. All of which pointed to a rather unfortunate event on the horizon. He would have to keep an eye on them for now.

Or he could divert them around the scavenger infested region entirely and towards his structure instead.

That could work.

Five pebbles manually controlled the overseer and pointed towards the way through the region while displaying ‘PREDATOR’ in big red text. The ruffian seemed to understand vaguely, probably having been guided by one of Moon’s overseers before. He then shifted towards the pipe back to the side house and displayed ‘FOOD’ in a large green font.

She seemed to hesitate slightly before diving into the pipe he had labelled as food. She had been atop the tower closest to the industrial sector so he only needed to guide her a few rooms. Once she emerged inside the building he directed her through the pipe at the bottom left of the room.

His citizen carefully navigated the interior, keeping a hold of both pups; she seemed wary, most likely due to the sizzling acid below her. As she made it to the platform next to the pipe, she allowed her pups to follow behind her again as she crawled through.

As she flung out the other side of the pipe, she let out a screech whilst plummeting into the small pond below her. Now thoroughly soaked, she swam across to the other side of the area, her two pups clinging to her back.

She dove into the next pipe unprompted and flopped onto the other side gasping for air. The little ruffian gazed upwards at the overseer, exasperated but tired, before turning her attention towards the shelter tunnel above her. Grabbing her two pups, she dove into the shelter with half the cycle still remaining.

Five Pebbles released his overseer and focused back on his puppet. He sighed hot steam and moved upwards towards his pearl that he had designated for imagery. He stored the two pictures he took earlier inside and settled in the centre of his chamber to plan the route he would take his citizen.

He should also make something for her. She seemed to struggle with water alot.

Chapter Text

The artificer did not understand the worms.

Some, mostly the little yellow ones, were kind and led her to blue fruit in her area. But the large blue one had deceived her. Had promised her of food and led her to a pond instead.

She glared at the worm from across the cramped room. It had left at cycle’s end while they slept (thank the rain) but now it had returned to lead her to who knows where. She bit back at the urge to maul the damned thing as it danced about in the corner, flashing that same symbol.

As she stared down the writhing thing, her two little pups had begun whining and squirming from beneath her mound of fur. She turned to them, their sad and pleading eyes staring up at her, demanding.

She chuckled a coarse sign and began to regurgitate whatever she hadn't digested from the last cycle. The blue worm twitched as if disgusted as she retched. She would have found it funny if its light wasn't burning at her bleary eyes.

She allowed her pups to eat their fill for the cycle before turning back to the intruder in the corner. It seemed to have stopped its erratic twitching and switched to a glazed over stare, which was rather eerie if you asked her.

She tried to ignore its unfocused gaze as she started to move towards the pipe. The artificer picked up her nearest pup ( Blue ) and placed them on the ledge of the pipe, watching as they leapt outside with the boundless energy they always had. She then grabbed Green and leaped through the pipe herself.

Metal scraps scraped at her sides as she landed on the floor of the gate room. The blue pup had somehow emerged from the rubble unharmed. As she was about to leave back through the wasteland, the blue worm sprouted out the ground in front of her. It flashed the red symbol that the yellow worms used for danger towards the pipe entrance.

She tried to ignore it and continue anyway but it started projecting images in front of her. Rather disturbing images. They couldn't make out most of them but the ones they could…

She would not be risking her pups over a meagre shortcut.

The artificer picked up the bouncy pup with her free hand and had them cling to her back as they headed through the gate.

She stepped onto the metal grill and held still as she waited for the mechanisms to click into place. The gate creaked and whirred as it slammed shut behind them, the loud noise startling Green, who she was now holding a paw over the ears of. The grill had begun to heat up as water was dumped on her head unceremoniously, making it hard to breathe. To add salt to the wound, the water was now boiling against the grill and the subsequent steam was making breathing nigh impossible.

Green had begun to cling to her, having burnt their feet and tail on the heated grill. She didn't even notice over her own sputtering attempts at breathing.

After an eternity had passed the gate finally gave in and slammed open.

Fresh, cool air seeped through her soot-filled lungs. The sweet smell of popcorn plants and industrial permeated the room. She stepped off the hot grill onto the other side of the gate which was thankfully much cooler. She wheezed as she looked up at the blue worm that had made it through unharmed.

Wherever she’s going better be worth it.

The artificer placed her children back onto the floor after a little prying and fussing before heading to the only exit. She flung herself through the pipe only to land in more water. She gurgled for a moment as she swam upwards. She was going to kill that little worm when she got her hands on a spear.

As she flailed herself onto dry land, two sorting worms erupted from the small pond, their blank, white eyes staring straight through her. No spears around here then.

She chittered to her pups to hold on to her before scaling the ladder upwards and towards the pipe the blue worm was dancing around.

She flung herself through the pipe awaiting whatever watery hell awaited her on the other side. But it never came.

The artificer collided with the old rubble that jutted out of the floor for some unknown reason and twisted her neck and back as her momentum rammed her into it. The force of the impact had ripped the pups off her back and they tumbled to the floor with a whine.

At least there were no predators to take advantage of her dazed state. Unless you counted the far too vivid blue worm that spun around her.

She rose up from the little ditch between the mound of rubble and the pipe, gave the worm yet another death stare and bounded off ( slow enough for her pups to follow ) towards the pipe on the other side of the room. Completely disregarding the shelter she passed on account of her growling stomach. Once through she spotted it.

Sunbathing beneath some orbs on poles, was a fat green lizard.

She waited for her pups to fall out the end of the pipe and motioned for them to stay with a small, crouched leap. Then, she turned to her prey. No spears around still. There were plenty of rocks however.

Having devised a plan, she picked up the closest piece of rubble ( a brick in this case ) and slipped down the ladder. The lizard had its head turned towards her, blissfully unaware of its upcoming death.

Once she was in line with its head, she struck.

First, she threw the rock with enough power to flip the lizard over entirely and stun the poor thing. Secondly, she leapt and the dazed beast, claws out and teeth bared. Finally, she mauled, scratched, ripped and tore at the soft underside of the animal and didn’t pause until it stopped bleeding as she had done countless other times.

She stared at the worm in the corner as she ate. Strangely it was wearing a disappointed expression as if it expected her to do something else. ‘To dispose of it like a proper citizen’ something echoed in her mind. Once she was full, she did a high leap towards her pups so they would follow her again.

When they had returned to her side, she had them cling onto her as she passed through the pipe upwards then into the one for the next room on her guided journey to somewhere.

Chapter Text

Five Pebbles checked over his blueprints once more.

He hadn’t been able to properly measure his citizen since his previous ‘cycle’ which could mean his measurements were wrong. He would have to wait until she arrived in the next few cycles.

Pebbles had based the design off of old diving equipment that was used just before the void revolution. It had a transparent mask that stretched across the face with thin gill appendages that would filter the oxygen out of water similarly to how a feral salamander’s gills worked.

However, the ruffian had a habit of using its teeth and claws which would be inhibited in combat should she wear it. Perhaps he could alter the mask so it wouldn't cover her mouth and would instead filter through tubes to the lungs. Although, this would require surgery to implement in order to prevent choking. Something his citizen would murder him for even suggesting.

He could add metal jaws to the outside of the mask and a partially permeable waterproof material behind it to allow food to pass through but not water. He would need to make it lightweight and durable for it to be of any use though.

He could use aluminium 7075, which was commonly used in aircraft for its low density and high strength, however it was prone to corrosion in seawater. While the water around his facilities was mostly fresh, he didn’t want any incidents to occur if she was to leave the compound. He could use a fibre-reinforced polymer composite which was lightweight, and yielded a high tensile strength. Although he was uncomfortable with that being so close to the ruffian’s breathing equipment given how it was as toxic as asbestos to the poor thing.

Unless he used a plant-based alternative.
Yeah ok that works.

He altered the blueprints to match. Switching the elastic straps for more durable, thick leather ones. Finally, he projected the blueprints as a 3d image inside his chamber to inspect. The jaws he added extended around halfway down the mask and resembled those fitted to the leviathans in the canyon below. It even had a small rod that protruded from the bottom of the mask and connected to the lower jaw to assist with bite force.

He only needed to wait for the measurements now.

In the meantime he dragged the imagery pearl back to his puppet. Over the past few cycles he had developed quite the collection of images for Moon. From an odd lantern mouse that was freckled rather than spotted to a strangely vibrant scavenger that burned his eyes with its excessive yellow-ness to the degree that he could have sworn it had started glowing at one point.

Nevertheless, he copied the files into his memory arrays.

[LIVE BROADCAST] PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

FP: [ FILE.img.fp_WildlifeForMoon-124 subjects-400DL ]

BSM: Aww Pebbs!
BSM: You didn’t have to
BSM: Can I send some to the local group?

FP: Okay

BSM: Do you know where you took these pictures? I would like to look at them myself

FP: Which ones?

BSM: [ FILE.img.fp_FreckledMouse-1 subject-5DL ]
BSM: [ FILE.img.fp_RuffianPups-5 subjects- 21DL ]
BSM: [ FILE.img.fp_FuckYouSig-1 subject-3DL ]

FP: 1.The mouse was found below my structure in the citadel. Near room C01.
FP: 2.The pups are the offspring of a slugcat I have befriended. It is halfway up my eastern wall.
FP: 3.That abomination has flown over from Sig’s facility. He said something about how they had ‘escaped’ and the only reason I believe him is due to the fact that he normally sends that blue messenger to hand deliver his monstrosities.
FP: He mixed a highly aggressive guard organism with an apex predator, Moon.

BSM: Alright!, Alright!
BSM: I'll talk to him about that last one but other than that, thank you for the pictures!
BSM: Also did you just say you befriended a slugcat? Like a wild one?

[ Five Pebbles has disconnected broadcast, if the message is urgent please use forced broadcasts or contact the administrator ]

He couldn't help but exhale a river of steam as his systems heated up dramatically. He was lucky there was no follow up broadcast from Moon. She didn’t make fun of him like Sig did but that didn’t stop her spreading news like UI.

Although that reminded him of something. He could always talk in an anonymous group chat about his experience. As a sort of test run he supposed. If they believed him to begin with that was.

Chapter Text

Winds had been peacefully documenting the recent shifts in weather and climate around her structure when a ping rang out in the back of her mind. She hadn’t thought much of it; it had originated from an old group chat that she didn't even use often. It had been a home for sliverists back when the whole ‘sliver syndrome’ as she called it had just kicked in. What did draw her attention was the sender.

Erratic pulse.

A name they hadn’t thought would ever utter another word. Not under that pseudonym anyways. She dismissed the information feedback regarding the recent drought near her can and opened the chat for the first time in kilo-cycles.

[LIVE BROADCAST] - [SLIVEROFOCEAN] All participants anonymous

EP: Is anyone still active?

She considered responding to him themselves but before she could, another message shot through their eroded communication arrays.

WO: Ah, Pulse! You’re alive!
WO: We all thought you died after the large periods of radio silence.
WO: Especially after the things you had been saying.

There was a long pause after the last message went through. This had probably been the first time the guy was actually talking to someone other than Suns or Moon for the last few thousand cycles. Winds almost felt bad for him.

WO: You there, Pulse?

EP: Yes, just thinking.
EP: What do you think it's like to experience the cycle?

There was the usual cycle talk he had. They thought he would have grown out of it by now, especially after his near death, but evidently not.

WO: I don't like where you’re going with this.
WO: Please don’t try anything rash again.

It was surprising to see someone with logic in a sliverist group. Although she had seen Omen appear in public groups too. They were probably just a lurker usually, as was she.

EP: I won’t.
EP: I just wanted to hear someone else's thoughts on it.

WO: I suppose I like to think that it is quite painless hopefully.
WO: Besides the actual death itself of course.
WO: Perhaps you don’t even realise for a while.
WO: Our colonies would smoke wheel flowers for a reason right?

Winds thought it was a fair take on the cycle. Especially when she had seen the more wild concepts that this group had produced. One of which she never forgot was the idea of brief echohood before being reborn into another being with their memories instead of one’s own.

EP: I think i know what it’s like

And here comes the unhinged side again. They were genuinely curious how he had convinced himself of something like that.

WO: And how have you come to this conclusion?

They would have to reach out to Wandering Omens after this. They seemed like someone she’d get along with.

EP: I had been working on my great problem when my puppet had been flung into the side of my chamber. Where I had collided, a wheel flower had sprouted.
EP: I went to remove it from between the tiles but the moment I touched it I could remember another lifetime I had lived.

What.

WO: And you are sure this is not the work of the flower’s hallucinogenic properties?

Wind found herself holding on to her steam outputs for a moment as she waited.

EP: Yes.

She knew the answer already but that had just confirmed her worst fear. The iterators were not immune to the cycle. Knowing that they had the ability to die/ascend ( based on what they believed actually happened to Sliver ) was one thing but to know that she was doomed to live an eternity, slowly corroding to a point where she couldn’t think anymore then cycle back around and do it all over again was something that she would have rather not known.

She attempted to calm herself before she overheated. He could have been lying right? No. He was many things. An idiot, yes. A liar, no.

And something else had irked her in the back of their mind. Five Pebbles had died. That had to have been traumatic. They very much doubted that Pebbles would have still been standing when it happened. The newer models really weren't built to last. Especially their legs.
She knew there wasn’t much she could do from afar and normally she would contact Moon but something inside her thought Pebbles wouldn’t appreciate that very much. He probably used an anonymous chat for a reason.

If anything this ‘experience’ had made Pebbles more mature than he was before. Probably due to him actually having the time to grow up.

His citizens may have considered him a god ( which did not help with his large ego ), to her and most other iterators for that matter he was still a child. One that was abandoned before it had fully grown.

She should at least talk to him herself. They knew he didn’t trust them but it was worth a shot. If Pebbles didn’t feel like he could tell Moon then she would make sure that she became someone he could confide in. Even if it was just for this.

[LIVE BROADCAST] - PRIVATE Chasing Wind, Five Pebbles

CW: Hello? Is it okay if I talk with you for a while?

Wind felt the coolant catch in her pipes as she waited for a response.

FP: Sure?

CW: I just want to let you know that I am also in that old sliverist chat. I am always here if you need to talk or anything. Completely confidential too if you want to.

[ Five Pebbles has blocked further broadcasts, if the message is urgent please contact the administrative iterator ]

If he wanted to be like that she would just have to get a little creative. She opened up her old mailing services. Most new gen iterators didn’t have them but with Pebbles’ proximity with Moon he was given them as a precaution.

[ OUTGOING MESSAGE ] - PRIVATE Chasing Wind to Five Pebbles

…………

I am sorry if i had scared you but please do not suffer in silence again. If this is why you’ve suddenly changed then I worry for what you’ve lived through. If the future also holds suffering for others then please help me prevent it. Anything at all would help. If you really want me to then i won’t tell moon about your little cycle fiasco. ‘kay?

May your cycles be fruitful,
-Winds
…………

They exhaled at last as they sent the message to the arrays to be broadcasted. A response this way would take a while whether he decided to write back straight away or not. She was lucky the whole system hadn’t fallen into disrepair. Asking Moon for help is a great way to abolish the possibility of having any kind of trust between her and Pebbles.

She should do something to pass the time. She should go back to categorising possible natural disasters around her by probability but she couldn’t stop focusing on that little inbox of hers. At one point they just opened it in their chamber for their puppet to stare at too with those dark unblinking eyes it always had. It was only at the end of the next cycle they could exhale once more.

[ INCOMING MESSAGE ] - PRIVATE Five Pebbles to Chasing Winds

For a while she just continued to stare at her inbox. Hoping that what she had said to him would be enough. After a few minutes of just sitting there, she couldn’t take it anymore and went to open the message. Her puppet’s grey finger passing through the holographic display of the message header.

…………

Fine. I will reopen broadcasts from your structure. Please do not tell Moon. There are things I have done before, in the other lifetime I mean, that I am not willing to discuss. Especially not with Moon. Not yet. Thank you for not telling her. I will do so at a later date.

May your cycles be fruitful,
-Five Pebbles

…………

Thank the void he was willing to talk with her again. Although, the rather ominous implications regarding Moon did concern her, they would have to wait until they could ask about that it seemed. Oh well, it wasn’t like she didn’t have any time to spare.

Chapter Text

This was surprising.
A certain Erratic Pulse had made another appearance in the anonymous forums and was avidly chanting about the cycle and their own death. Sig didn’t know what to think at first but he knew he had to do something before the guy causes more chaos than Sliver’s ascension.

[ LIVE BROADCAST ] - No Significant Harassment, Big Sis Moon

NSH: Hey Moonie, how are you?∼

BSM: I'm alright
BSM: What about you?

NSH: All good
NSH: I just wanted to ask you about something

BSM: Oh?

NSH: Yeah
NSH: How's Pebbles nowadays?

BSM: …
BSM: He’s fine now.
BSM: I’m just thankful we’re both alright.

NSH: Same here.
NSH: He hasn’t mentioned anything weird at all has he?

BSM: Not to me.
BSM: why?
BSM: Is he alright?

NSH: Yeah, he’s just been saying some wild stuff in the anon chats but he must have just thought of yet another way Sliver died or ascended or whatever he believes.

BSM: I’ll keep an eye on him
BSM: Thanks for letting me know

NSH: No problem

So Moon had no idea about Pebbles’ supposed ‘death’. If anyone knew it would be Innocence but if she didn’t know and he tipped her off it would be everywhere by the end of the cycle. Which made it rather frustrating that he had no one to ask about it besides Pebbles himself which was not happening in the next thousand cycles.

As he was about to call for his messenger, a sharp pain spread from his labs. It was the cycle his Hunter was due to have finished growing and it seemed she had emerged slightly earlier.

He opened the footage from Lab_07 to try and assess the damage. The pipes that fed the Organism Development Tubes were warped and torn as coolant flooded out to form a small pool inside the chamber, the tube that had held the Hunter was reduced to its metal frame and shattered glass. The little beast that caused all the damage had retreated to a corner above the ODT with a piece of one of his support beams in its hand.

He would have to send his messenger down to help with reconstruction once the beast was removed. Sig opened an overseer in the chamber, the disfigured sector looking even worse through the grainy feed, and popped it out near the beast whilst still being out of arm's reach. The only thing he saw was a sharp piece of shrapnel before everything became static and pain. Sig quickly dismissed the feedback from that overseer.

He enabled the anti-grav in the room and sent an inspector to try and detain the animal before it destroyed everything. As that was being dealt with, he sent an alert to his messenger’s new citizen drone. The poor thing had gotten quite old and he allowed it to retire in his city given that it still helped around his structure of course.

In return to his alert he had received a video request.

[ CITIZEN REQUEST ] - Video - ID.1.7393 - accepted

The screen popped up in his chamber, the bright green light almost blinded his sensitive eyes. His messenger seemed to be running towards the city gate with a cherry plant whilst being tailed by a miros vulture. The exasperated beast pointed at the lunging monster multiple times in quick succession while staring at Sig.

Sig cocked his head at the screen and chuckled, “is everything alright little messenger?”

At that the animal let out a howl, picked up a spear, twined the explosive plant around it and shot it into the bird before turning back around and making a mad dash for a nearby pipe.

Sig couldn’t help but laugh at its antics. Once through the other side, the beast turned to its drone and began to sign so quickly its motions merged together until it was just waving about at him.

‘Why make bad monster hunt slugcat many, much death. Metal bird of death’
“They shouldn’t be able to hurt you while you’ve got that drone you know”
‘Liar!’ His little messenger hissed back using its own verbal language. ‘Metal death bird kill all’

It shouldn’t do. He had made sure of that right? Although they had escaped prematurely. If they cannot be restricted by citizen drones then he doubted they could be restricted at all. And he had released them into the local area, albeit accidentally, but still!

A little aching pain in the back of his head reminded him of what he was doing however.
“I’m sorry my little messenger” he tried to push his voice synthesiser to be as sincere as he could, “I will try to fix them but could you hurry to my chamber please?”.

With that, the beast squinted at him and sneezed before bounding off towards the gate once more. Sig closed the call while he waited.

He checked on his other beast to find that it had been knocked out and was being transported to his chamber, which was inconvenient but it would work.

Eventually, the old blue messenger popped its head through the access pipe and flung itself at Sig’s puppet, its little sharp claws digging into the plush cloak, ripping new holes and stretching out ones from its previous visits.
“My little messenger! Are you alright?” Sig chirped as he pried the animal’s claws off his tattered cloak. It shot him some form of glare that he could only assume was negative in response.
“Alright! Alright!” He picked the beast up and held it in one arm and petted it behind the ears with the other. After successfully calming the critter he checked on the Hunter’s progress mentally.

“Your protege emerged this cycle, you know”. The messenger perked its head up, pushing his hand away in the process as it bared its teeth in a toothy grin. Before Sig could do anything to stop it, it had swivelled around to face him, grabbed his scarf in its claws and shook him about while its muscles twitched beneath its skin.
“Settle down!” he managed to bleep out. The beast did not settle down. It had taken to bouncing around his chamber like an old loading disk. At least it had released his poor shredded puppet that he should fix sometime soon.

“It’s on its way now but be careful with it please” His messenger paused briefly in its rapid dancing to stare up at him, grasping onto the nearest tile to stop itself floating away. This had been the most energy he’d seen from it in centi-cycles.
“It's quite skittish” he blared out in warning, “and destructive” His messenger scrunched up its face at him for whatever reason and stared up at the pipe to his innards.

Moments later, a red glow began to creep into the dark room and the glaring light of an inspector's head burst into his chamber carrying a limp, pink pup in its mouth. It quickly threw the animal away and headed back to guard the rest of his organelles, turning into a gentle green colour as it left.

While he wanted to destroy the inspector for being so careless he knew it was only acting upon his subconscious.
The blue slugcat quickly pushed itself off the nearest wall and propelled itself toward the infant. Sig watched as it cradled the pup and cried something reassuring that he didn’t know the exact translation of.

When the child did not stir, his messenger stared up at him with pleading eyes.
“It's probably exhausted after a full day of tearing up my insides” he murmured, not trying to hide his distaste for the thing,“Take it up to the nearest shelter if you must”.

He watched as his messenger picked up the baby so it was around its hip and secured under one arm. It then waited until it had drifted towards a wall and kicked itself upwards and out his chamber with the natural grace it always had.

Once he was alone, Sig unblocked the pain and error modules and tried to assess the total damage the animal had caused. Intense heat stabbed through his structure. His neurons fizzled, the anti-grav ceased and his arm shuddered before giving out entirely. Now reduced to his heaping mass of a puppet, he brought up the equipment manifest as a holographic panel in his chamber.

[ LIVE BROADCAST ] EQUIPMENT MANIFEST 3869

EM: Intense structural damage to Lab_07
EM: Structural damage to Lab_03, Lab_06, Lab_08, Lab_09
EM: Inspectors 4167,4178,4163 destroyed
EM: Coolant pipes breached, contents redirected through pipe system A
EM: Lab_07 offline

He was mildly impressed that the beast that was no larger than his puppet’s head had caused all this damage the very cycle it had emerged. At least he knew his Hunter was a capable messenger. Sig exhaled his downpour and got to work with repairs.

Chapter Text

Warm. Soft.

She slowly opened her eyes and stood, the harsh light burning at her dark eyes. Feeling a headache clawing at her head, she closed them and brought an arm to her face to shield it from the bright rays. Once the migraine passed, they opened their eyes.

Only to be met by some blue creature staring at her.

Hissing, she reared backwards and fell in the blankets they had slept in behind her. Had it watched her sleep? How long was she out? She crept backwards and off the pile of blankets that were oh so soft. The animal slowly moved towards her, crouching down and making low, soothing chitters at her. Something primal in her just wanted to trust the stranger but she knew better than that.

Once it had stepped onto blankets she struck. Teeth bared, she lurched forward, dug her claws in, bit the throat, and held on till the beast had stilled. But it wasn’t dead. It hadn’t even been knocked over, only knocked back. Now it was just staring at her with big sad eyes as she hung from its neck.

The larger slugcat unstuck her claws from its neck and cradled her in its arms. Its slimy skin smelt like home, like herself. This is mother.

She let go of its neck and stared up at it. She found her vision blurring as warm water pooled in the corner of her eyes. Everything about the previous day had been wrong. She had been born at the wrong age. She was as capable as an adult but as experienced as an infant. Had she even grown? Or had she just appeared in that blood-scented lab. With nobody. In a little vat of lung burning water.

A gurgled choke spat out from her lungs as she grasped on to mother and wept fat sluggish tears that oozed out of her like an open wound. Another cry ripped out from her lungs as she tugged at mother’s loose skin. She couldn’t tell how much time had passed since she started crying but mother had sat in the blanket pile in the middle of the room by the time she came to.

She stared around the room from over mother’s shoulder. It was large and beige. Cobwebs were strung from the roof with pearls hung from the webs. A little gold and green drone hovered by mother’s head.

Robes and silks were draped next to a hole in the wall. The blanket pile had been surrounded with old beams to make it cosier? A few had been displaced in the scuffle, Squishing whatever plants had grown through the floor.

She looked out the hole in the wall. It looked like some kind of D.I.Y window with a view of a nearly endless, dusty plain of concrete and rubble. Wind swirled across the land, churning up plumes of fine particles that twirled in the air.

— — — — — —

It looked down at the child in his arms. The young slugcat had been so afraid of him. It was surprised it even managed to calm the small one. Although the poor thing had broken down once it held her. Small shivers erupted from her small body. The whining had stopped for a while now but it could feel little rivulets of tears streaking his body.

He should have been there when she emerged. Should have been there to explain everything. Should have stopped her fear-fueled rampage that he was 100% going to have to help fix today.

It drew out its next exhale and turned to look at the pink baby on his shoulder. Her little claws had dug into him when it first started crying but now her arms were draped down its back. Two dark eyes stared out the large hole in the wall. He recalled a particular incident with one of the new vultures. How it rammed itself into the brick wall till it could stick its head through. They had tried to cover it with old fabric scraps they found about the city.

A small tug on their cheek tore them from their thoughts. The little Hunter had turned around and was now staring at them. He spun back around and stood back up to place the pup on the floor. As he was about to hold out his hand for the pup it began to motion with its hands.
‘Go back’ ‘See Green?’
So she knew the old sign but not ( what should be ) her native language??

He would have to yell at Harassment later. Or sooner.

‘Yes’ ‘Want to go now?’
He made sure to speak slug as he signed so she would hopefully pick it up soon.
‘Yes!’ ‘Go bite Green’ ‘Smell like old blood’
‘Don’t bite!’ ‘Speak’
‘No!’
‘Yes!’
‘No!!!’ Her movements were erratic as she flailed about, whining and crying.
‘Come, we leave now’ It scooped her up and carried her over his shoulder and out the door, making sure to grab a spear on the way out.

It was starting to get dark out and he hadn’t even eaten yet. They would have to eat on the way and stay overnight. It walked out onto the abandoned street and turned left towards the old signal tower. Cars layed askew at the side of the road. Their exteriors coated in ten kilocycles of dust and grime. Lamp posts had warped downwards from the relentless midday sun, making a skeletal tunnel that offered more protection than the open streets. They would need it now more than ever since they had precious cargo and an obnoxious beeping lump of scrap glittering beside him.

They hurried down the road until they hit a wall. They scampered across to the large avenue on their right. It had been a bustling marketplace in its prime. Now it was just bare. Any food stalls had been ravaged by the hungry wildlife that invaded. Any clothing stalls had been pilfered by scavengers. Anything metal ( or shiny for that matter ) was taken by vultures. The only things left were some wood carvings that more closely resembled lumps nowadays, the wind having worn them down.

At the other side of the marketplace, they arrived at the tower. Before turning left into an alleyway. The whole area reeked of yellow lizard. Smears of blood ran up the walls; with no rain to wash it off it only built up until the whole alley was painted red. A crackle off in the distance fizzled as an orange glow crept round the corner. He stabbed his spear into the wall as high as he could reach and climbed up it. Anchoring himself on the wall, he stood on the spear with one foot as he placed the other below it. In a short burst of movement practised many times before, it jumped upwards and kicked the spear out of the wall, towards their hands. They quickly reached out for it with one hand and stabbed it into the wall again.

Once it was safely lodged into the wall, they grabbed onto it with both hands and pulled themselves up. The lizard below, having noticed them, began shrieking and pacing below him whilst its stupidly short antennae flickered and flashed in a hunting call. More dim lights appeared at other ends of the alley. He crouched down on his spear and put his hind legs on the wall behind him. It shifted its weight until the front of the spear dipped downwards. The fat lizard below sat with its mouth agape. Awaiting its meal.

-[Just a heads up this is where the gore starts]-

He kicked off the wall downwards straight into the beast's maw. The idiotic thing jumped upwards as he plunged. Bullseye. He landed in a heap beside the lizard, Hunter on its back to stop her getting hurt.

The spear had penetrated the beast’s skull and tore itself out the other side. Brains splattered in a bloody mess. The red ichor still seeped outwards in thick, clotted clumps. Several yellow glows hummed and crackled just outside its view. They would have to be quick.

Pulling the spear out, he held it out to Hunter.
‘Lick clean or a predator will smell’ She understood and hastily grappled the spear to clean.
He shifted over to the animal’s side and kicked it over, landing with a wet thud on the floor. He leant down and bared his teeth before digging in, eating his fill in seconds. It licked its lips and turned back to face his pup.

She had managed to clean the spear but had coated her whole face in blood in the meantime. He chuffed a laugh and gestured to the corpse. The pup waddled over and ate quite a large portion compared to other pups her size. It picked her up and began to lick at her face, the pup squealing in return.

-[Gore free from here]-

Once clean, it placed the baby on his back and hastily exited the other end of the alleyway, now hyper aware of the yellow lizards closing in. To their left was a small pipe marked by two mirrored lines. They dove inside and tumbled into the assorted litter when they emerged.
They had arrived. At the gate anyway.

They stood up and wandered over to the gate, watching as the stupid drone fulfilled its only purpose. The gate flickered about, flashing some other message that he couldn’t be bothered to read. After an eternity of waiting, the drone finally gave off a final shrill tone and the gate clicked green.

It stood on top of the metal grill. And awaited the attack of steam.

Harsh metal machinery clicked into place and churned, startling his child with every sharp thud. Once they were fully locked inside, hot steam fizzled out and enveloped the pair. The thick fog made it difficult to breathe briefly but it had soon cleared.

The last gate began to open. Latched unlocked, metal truss retracted and the barrier lifted.

— — — — — —

Hunter did not like the gates. They were too hot and the air was too thick. She hoped that one would be the last until she could bite Green’s face off. His little inspector had thrown spears at her for eating. So she destroyed it. Only for a new one to come back and start trying to kill her.

She swallowed her resentment for now and clung onto mother’s back. They had arrived at the painting room. Each of the 5 natural urges were represented in massive tapestries as they walked by. They had been expertly crafted. Each colour was meticulously weaved so it was only visible when necessary. Whilst she was admiring the craftsmanship of the banners mother dove into another pipe. This one led to a place of no gravity. She drifted away from mother before managing to cling to mother’s loose skin.

She watched as they bounded through the vertical tunnel with the finesse of an artist. Each time they came close to the wall mother kicked off of it and flipped completely without losing control and somehow gaining momentum. When they neared the floor, mother held on to one of the poles that ran from the ceiling and slowed themselves down so they stopped at the pipe entrance.

They leapt inside only to be met by blinding blue lights arranged in artificial rows and columns. In the centre of the chamber was Green on a long stick like a puppet. It seemed to have known they were coming somehow and had prepared something on some screens behind it. She couldn’t make out what the symbols meant however.

It beeped and chirped like the little gold drone did but in a deeper voice(?). Mother somehow understood Green and began replying.
‘Not funny’ ‘Control the inspectors’ ‘Scared her’
So they were talking about her. She looked at Green. It wore purple robes that were littered with rips and tears. The scarf around its neck had just reverted back to the thread it was made from at the ends. They couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it.

This is what she was so afraid of? In the midst of her hysterics she hadn’t noticed her slow migration to the centre of the room. Before she knew it a sharp ping rang in her head. The pain that followed stabbed through her brain, her every nerve was ablaze. Muscles twitched involuntarily.

And then it stopped.

She stared up at Harassment.

“Hello little beast! Is this reaching you?”

Hunter screamed.

Chapter Text

This cycle was the one. She would finally arrive.

He switched back to staring at his overseer feed. The red slugcat had arrived at the gate beside his city. He briefly thought about leading them into the Metropolis but dismissed the thought as soon as it came.

He was going to meet them this cycle.

Five Pebbles had opened several documents in his chamber in preparation: displays on slugcat anatomy, the diving mask blueprints, several images of his citizen from before, and of course maps to the nearest ID drone.

He could feel his neurons buzzing as little paws pattered across his roof. First three pairs, then two, then one as they reached the gate. The mechanical hum wasn’t even audible to his puppet but he knew. Only a few rooms away.

Small blasts of explosions rang out, dulled immensely by the thick insulated room he sat in. Little paws scratched themselves up his access pipe. He looked up at the final pipe between them. Two bright eyes stared back.

Her rough fur was tied back in some spots. Little beads hung like charms in her coat and shone like gemstones. He had never realised how much culture the animals around his can had until his later years. It was nice to have the chance to see it again. Her two pups ( one a blue-green, the other a deep indigo ) each had red vines twined around their wrist.

She hung from the entrance of the pipe, ears swivelling about the room. Unsure.

He had turned off the anti-gravity in his chamber so as to not disturb her further which unfortunately meant he had to sit on the floor less he risked damaging his arm. He scuffled backwards so she would have a corner to herself. She seemed to understand his attempt at peace and fell from the pipe, exploding to soften her fall.

Once the tinnitus faded, Pebbles reached his puppet’s hand out in some form of peaceful gesture. The ruffian held her pups behind her as she approached on all fours. When she was at arm's length she sniffed at his hand. Her smoky breath gnawed at his puppet’s exoskeleton. She reared back onto two legs and sneezed.

That must have been a good gesture. He had done some limited research on their language in preparation. He didn’t want to just bestow the mark upon her and scare her like that.

Pebbles brought the left hand to his antenna, which had its third finger curled so only the thumb and middle extended, and slowly moved it in a downwards arc to his hips whilst chirping.

‘Hello’
The red slugcat before him seemed to widen its already-massive eyes and let out a low chuff.

‘Hello’
‘Know the language(?)’

He struggled to register the slight difference in body language as a question. Perhaps it was asking how he knew.
‘Yes, from watching the…’
He had no idea of describing the rotund beast outside his facility in a few kind words.
‘Orange slugcat outside’

‘Oh’
‘Enjoyer of food’

That was a cruel name in his opinion. His creators and their descendants often strayed away from such indulgence that it was humiliating to be named after one. Although this did lessen with time it was still prevalent in everything he knew.
‘Yes them’

‘Friendly’
‘Gave free food’

‘Very good’
The conversation paused as they stared at each other with large, pale and unblinking eyes. Incredibly tired from their long journey upwards, the two little pups crawled onto their mothers tail, breaking their impromptu staring contest as she turned to help them. Once she had settled them on her back, she looked back at him.

‘Why bring (me) here?’
‘What is this?’

She spun about the room, pointing out the pictures of herself, scarred and bloody.
‘Old pictures from before death’

‘Death?’

He quickly cross-examined 1272 different slugcat language clips for any hint of a word that meant cycle and found nothing.
‘After death life goes back yes?’

‘Yes’

‘Before ( my ) death, this you’
He gestured to one of the many images about the chamber. This one in particular featured a blood-stained citizen tearing the flesh off a scavenger whilst wearing a certain mask. Two little wheel flowers had been twined around the antlers.

‘No..’

He watched as she wrapped a hand around her back to hold onto her half-asleep pups.

‘You stopped this?’

Five Pebbles puffed out a plume of steam and began to sign.

‘Yes’

She seemed to solemnly nod and step backwards.

‘Stay here?’

‘Yes tonight only’
‘Tomorrow in city’
‘Your city now’

‘Thank you’

As she began to turn back to the other corner, he called out to her. His ruffian’s sluggish eyes turned back to face him.
‘Before sleep, can i do a thing for better communicating’

‘Yes’ she answered. Only half-signing.

Slowly, he began to float her up to the centre of the chamber, her startled chirps died down once she realised what was happening. Ping!

Piercing his poor antennae, the scream that echoed in his chamber could not be described by ancient lexicons. The poor beast inflicted with it was now doubled over on the floor, holding their head the best they could as their muscles spasmed. He wished that the mark was painless. That way he could have given it to the pups too.

He waited until her wheezing had stopped before he said anything.

“Is this reaching you?”

Two white eyes swivelled to face him.

Chapter Text

The blue worm had led her to the rain god. 

When she had first the chamber, it had been prepared. Images of her same demented self, devoid of any love or compassion. Only hatred, wrath and an undying grief haunted that hollow reflection.

It had told her of its experience with the cycle. Its death being the most probable cause of those odd dreams she had on the journey upwards. She was going to have to cut ties with the scavengers to avoid any incidents. 

Artificer looked up at the rain god from her spot in the corner. The pink vessel stared back at her.  

With a chuff she rose for the cycle, being careful to not disturb her sleeping pups. The blaring blue lights of the chamber had been replaced by gentle red ones whilst they slept. She let out a large yawn and turned to the little god beside her.

‘Hello little ruffian’

She still wasn’t used to ‘the mark’. Its dull thrum in the back of her mind as it translated things she had little to no hope of knowing otherwise. Telling her of odd names although she preferred to use the ones she had known. She brought her hands up to sign rather than talk.

“Hi”

‘I see you have awoken for the cycle. I have located somewhere safe in the city above. However, in order to get there you will need a drone.’

Artificer nodded along tiredly as she registered the information.

“Why not just open the gate yourself?”

The god’s vessel shifted backwards for a moment. It seemed to be trying to make its motions realistic and lifelike however it looked more like someone was gently waving a little finger puppet about.

‘Unlike the older models such as my sister, I have no control over any of the metropolis’s components outside of the lights. Which includes the gates.’

“Why?”

‘3rd gen iterators had a reputation for forming alliances and opening the gates for smugglers and such to escape although everyone i knew who did it was 2nd gen.’

She nodded along to the god’s little rant as she turned back to her sleeping children. Artificer played with one of the beads in her fur as she waited for her pups to wake up. This one was a dark blue one in her tail. Gourmand had done them for her during her stay. She would have to go visit her plump friend some time soon. As of now however…

A little whine mewled out from the corner of the chamber. A blue head raised upwards. Two dark and bleary eyes opened to meet her. Blue immediately began crying and flopping over at the sight of her as if they had not eaten more than enough yesterday. Their theatrics had them tripping up over their sibling, startling the younger pup awake with a shrill scream.

At that she let out a loud, barking laugh and hurried over to diffuse the situation. She scuttled over to the scuffling pups and picked them up by their scruffs. Their large eyes turned to face her. Blue had quickly begun pointing at Green and chirping furiously as if she’d stood on him. 

Artificer swung Blue round to sit on her tail and managed to get him to stay put after a bit of fussing. She held Green in both her arms and coddled them for a moment before starting to gag. In the corner of her eye, she could see the pink god vessel start to flurry about and panic before settling for facing the wall.

When Green had eaten their fill, she placed them on her shoulder whilst she dealt with Blue, who had now began furiously whining as their sibling was fed first. She grabbed the rambunctious pup and held them out in front of herself. They quickly shut up and stared at her all innocently 

“Be more careful next time,” she huffed

Mew Yowl! Chirp

“Alright, alright!. Settle down”

Artificer began to retch up last cycle’s meal. The rain god in the corner had tucked its antennae so they were flat against its back. She waited until Blue had finished before placing both pups down and rushing over the god’s side. 

“All good?” she asked

Artificer hesitated before placing a paw on its shoulder. The metal arm the puppet hung from flinched as though startled.

‘Apologies, I was talking to a friend of mine whilst you fed your kin’

‘Please refrain from doing it here in future’

She nodded as she sat beside him. The warm tiles seeping heat through her dense fur. 

"Where to now?”

Instead of a verbal reply, she was met with a blue screen the very same blue as the worms. It displayed a map of the surrounding facilities. A small section on top of the roof had been highlighted with a route towards it. It 

‘This is the nearest drone I could find. It is quite a trek on the open roof so be careful. A neighbour of mine had released a new vulture, I’m sure you’re familiar with it, yes?’

The Artificer scowled at the memory of a great scissor bird with a taste for slugcats that was unrivalled by any other creature. It had gotten far too close to her pups. She couldn’t risk that again.

“Dangerous?”

‘Yes, very but it should be no issue for a fierce tactician like yourself.’

“But what about the pups?” she glanced back at her children. They were playing with the many pearls on the floor. She stared at the humble god beside her. Its antennae had now raised to be perpendicular with its head as if concentrating with the left one twitching occasionally.

‘If you truly worry, I will watch over them for the cycle’

The god had just offered to babysit.

The very same being that made the rain, that was a home for many creatures like herself, had just offered to look after her pups for her. This would be a story to tell. She didn’t even know if Gourmand would believe her if she told him.

“Yes! Thank you”

“Will you keep them in here?”

‘Yes however I may need to restore the anti-gravity in the chamber’

“Thank you!”

“I'll leave soon”

Artificer walked over to her pups, who had now begun tossing the pearls about and listening to the noises they made. She made a little whispering noise to get their attention and put a paw on their shoulder as she crouched down.

“I’m going to go out now okay?”

“You’re going to stay with… Five Pebbles until I get back”

It felt odd to refer to the rain god by their actual name but she wanted her pups to feel more familiar with him if she was going to let them stay with him. It would be the first time she would be without pups since she visited the colony outside the wall. A part of her wanted to cling to her pups and never let her go but she couldn’t risk bringing them out into the open like that. 

She pulled her children close and held onto them as tight as she could until they began to whine in protest. Kissing their foreheads, she let go of the squished pups and turned to face the god beside her. 

‘Before you leave I’ll replenish your food requirements for the cycle should you need to produce that explosive ichor’

With a curt nod, the gravity around her warped and bent until she was being pulled upwards. As she rose, she felt the small amounts of hunger that had been gnawing at her vanish entirely. 

Once she was out the pipe, she was greeted by a blue worm an overseer. It led her back the way she came. Past the murals and the long gates to the plateau that bordered the roof. It pointed itself towards the top of the wall beside her and wiggled about frantically. She walked across the open stretch until she found a spear and a rock. She swallowed the rock for later and shoved the sharp end of the spear in her mouth. 

She pulled the spear out, the fast-drying mucus that coated it making it resemble one of the scavenger-made explosive spears she found from time-to-time. Sufficiently equipped, Artificer launched herself upwards and cracked her tail to send her flying over the wall. 

The vast field was devoid of any life. Even the city in its centre was barren. If a vulture descended she would be able to see from miles away. Before she could convince herself to run back and take her pups with her, she pressed onwards, the little overseer behind her giving her rough directions. 

The further she got away from the path the more dust was layered up. Her poor lungs coughed with each plume she kicked up. Wind bombarded her and she briefly wondered how the hell there was so much dust when it was this windy.

Eventually, the sun began to set over the horizon. The sky a plethora of warm hues to the west whilst the first stars emerged to the east. Her legs had become slightly numb from all the walking. She stared off into the setting sun. She hadn’t ever been able to see it before having been tucked away at cycle’s end. The deep reds bled out as it glowed ever vividly. Just as it dipped below the horizon it flashed green and promptly disappeared, leaving the stars behind her to grow into a vibrant green.

The overseer behind her stared at the dusk with her and for a moment she wondered if Five Pebbles was commanding it or if it just liked the sunset. 

She set back off on her journey. Her bright eyes made it difficult to see however the overseer was kind enough to light up the ground’s geometry to stop her tripping. They carried on deep into the night. Only stopping once the overseer had begun pointing at the ground. 

“Here?”

In reply she got a nod and a small display of what she would find. A little golden ornament with a red central circle. She drew in a large breath and began to dig at the dust. She had to close her eyes; the little fibres and dirt that had been flung into the air stabbed at her eyes and it wasn’t like she could see much anyways. Eventually, her paws hit something and bounced off with a ting .

She blindly grasped at the buried object and pulled it out. The cold metal gnawed at her hands. The Artificer slowly opened her eyes and looked at the overseer behind her. It leaned in closer to look at what she had found. Vivid cyan lights illuminated the reflective drone. It was a single sphere with a red circle on the front.

She twisted in her paws for a moment. The metal dimly reflecting the bright overseer beside her. Suddenly, the red marking on the front flashed and lit up with a distorted beep.

In a panic, she ended up accidentally throwing the thing away, landing with a small plume of dust a few paces away. Before she could even think to reach out to it, a deep hum emanated from the area and it rose up from the pile of ash it landed in. She stared at it. 

It seemed that it had ‘unfurled’ after she threw it. Now it had two long antennas that protruded like a scavenger’s antlers. Its main body was circular with a long extended section on the bottom. Below that was a small matte nub that was nigh impossible to see. On either side of its main body was a set of matte frill-like structures. 

After an oddly long pause, it swung around to sit behind her head with a resounding ping. The red marking had grown even brighter and began to glow as it hovered behind her. In her confusion she looked to the overseer beside her for guidance. 

“What now?”

It seemed to pause for a moment before displaying a wall of text. She could understand it but she had to concentrate. 

‘Come back to the chamber so I can resync it to my structure.’ 

‘Please come get your pups too’

The last part had been written smaller than everything else which did not help with her initial worries. She quickly bounded off in the direction of the path or at least where she thought it was.

Chapter Text

Five pebbles watched as his soon-to-be citizen began to rise into the air. He made the effort to fill up her stomach entirely before he left the room. As she entered his access pipe, he sent an overseer command out to guide her directly to the drone and alert him of any approaching danger she faced. 

Just as he went to open a screen for the literal infant rodents whining in front of him so they could watch their mother, the blue one had ended up kicking the green one in the face. It had ended up splayed out and stunned on the floor for a moment before lunging at the blue one to knock it over. Who then retaliated by biting back. 

“Quit that” 

He turned his anti-gravity back on and watched as the pups sprawled away from each other, spinning rapidly to try and re-orientate themselves. Eventually, they had calmed down, having tired themselves out. He lifted his puppet into the air to face them, feeling his mechanical arm begin to lock up and the more organic components develop ‘pins and needles’ as his creators called it. 

Before the infants could begin to cry out again, he opened the visual feedback from the overseer he sent out and began to collect the drifting pups with his puppet, allowing it to flex and ease the aching joints and nerve pains. With a long sigh, he let go of the pups next to the screen and held them in place with a bit of gravity manipulation.

The ruffian had just began the long trek across his roof it seemed. She had only just set off and the children had already fought. The next cycle was going to be interesting but he could manage. 

[INCOMING BROADCAST] - PRIVATE, VISUAL Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles 

…

Five pebbles stalled as he stared at the notification. He’d only just spoken to her the previous cycle in some attempt at regaining the ‘sibling-esk’ dynamic they had before. He didn’t want her to hate him so he had forced himself to talk to her. Even if it meant humiliation. He tucked himself into the opposite corner to the beasts to try and delay the inevitable and accepted the call.

The cyan screen flicked to life in front of his puppet. Moon. 

For a moment the screen buffered before switching to a view of his sister’s chamber with a large blue puppet sat in the middle of the floor. Far too reminiscent of a time long passed. 

“Hello?” He called out.

“Hey Pebbles, I just wanted to make sure you were alright” Her puppet’s dark eyes drooped as she spoke. Another thing he was unable to do. 

“Yes im fine”, he paused for a moment to stare at the infants on the opposite side of his chamber, “Just  …busy” 

“Oh? What have you been up to?” 

“I err” He had the potential to have thousands of thought processes at once and he couldn’t think to run one under his sister’s gaze.

“Pebbles” 

“Fine” He watched as Moon’s drooped eyes turned full blown sad at his words. Slowly, he moved the pups from their intense staring contest with the overseer feed towards his corner. The moment the blue one had realised it had been moved, it opened its maw and screamed like a banshee. The shrill noise caused the other one to scream back at it although quieter. 

He could see Moon’s confusion at the background noises. Eventually, the slugpups had a) made it over to his side of the chamber and b) stopped screaming. Grabbing one in each hand, he presented them to Moon. His bright uncanny eyes facing the floor beside him. For a while she didn’t say anything, just stared at the pups with wide eyes. He could feel the water bubble in his pipes as she stared.

“Those are the pups.”

“From the photo”

“Yes”

“And their mother is?”

“On my roof”

“And why would that be?” Moon’s sing-song voice crackled through the chamber speakers.

“She’s picking up an old ID drone that was left there”

Moon didn’t say anything yet her face said it all; begging him to continue.

“ Because I'm moving them into the city ” He spoke, voice nearly a whisper. Dark wide eyes stared back at him before switching to being half-lidded at the bottom. 

“That’s wonderful!” 

“I’m glad you’re interacting with anything other than myself, even if it is a little slugcat family” She let out a giggle with the last line.

“Yes, I suppose” Even though it had been Moon who forbade his only friend from seeing him. Suddenly, the blue infant had begun to squirm and whine. 

“I need to feed it”

“How are you going to do that?” Her brows furrowed. He froze once more as he churned over what she said. 

“The usual way?”

“Aren't they pups?”

“Is that an issue?”

“Slugpups shouldn’t be on solid food, nevermind artificial feedings until they’re at least 100 cycles old.” Five pebbles could feel dread flooding his structure like some pervasive snow; melting into every pit and fissure. Phantom pains crept up his non-shattered legs for a brief moment. He shook them off once more.

“What else should I use?”

“Those blue bug pupae have a liquid inside and are part of a slugcat's natural diet” Which was something he had no access to. He couldn’t let the pups starve this cycle. Their mother would never forgive him. He could convince a stray scavenger to bring some down. He would have to keep the pups out of view and give it something in reward. 

“Alright, thank you”

“No problem, see you later”

“Oh, one more thing”

“Yes?”

“Dominos?” He couldn’t help himself laughing after everything, he opened up a new game on a separate screen and closed down Moon’s call. Placing his first piece in the centre of the board, he opened up a new overseer command to find the nearest scavenger which was within a reasonable distance to some accessible hanging larvae. 

He received a ping of a large grey specimen in sector E1 of his exterior. It had thin red eyes and a long tail that dragged behind it. It wore a belt with several bombs tied to it and a pale pink vulture mask. 

The overseer seemed to have spooked it. It held a spear outstretched towards him. He gestured towards the larvae next to it and then projected a glyph of his face upwards. The beast merely boggled its eyes everytime the overseer moved.

As Moon placed her piece, he began to project some images of the scavenger bringing him a belt-full of the pupae and receiving the mark in return. Reaching for the pupae, it twirled it in its hands and held it up to the overseer, doing some crude sign. Then pointing upwards and drawing a halo around itself. The overseer nodded and the beast quickly began stuffing as many as it could fit on its belt, discarding all the crude bombs it previously held. 

He had the overseer track it once it began to ascend before turning back to the domino screen in front of his puppet. His piece was vertical with 3 on top and 5 on the bottom. Adjacent to it was a yellow domino with 5 on top and 1 on the bottom. His next piece had a 2 and a 1 so he placed it perpendicular to Moon’s. 

When he had finished, he had realised the children had clung to his puppet and began to sleep. Their little whines were a telltale sign of dreams. It was the only time they were calm and even then they let out the occasional scream. Pebbles brought a hand up and placed it on the blue one's back and watched its whimpers die down. He found it rather ‘cute’ when it wasn’t wailing. 

While he had some free time he opened up the visual feedback from the ruffian’s overseer. The sun had begun to set over the horizon. Several reds bled out as pinks reflected off the clouds below. Golden streaks ran across the sky. The ruffian looked at him briefly before returning to looking at the setting sun. This was her first time seeing the sunset. He looked back at the horizon. It had just begun to disappear. As the last trails of yellow peeked over the edge of his can, a vibrant green flashed and the sun was gone. He looked back at his citizen one last time and stopped the visual feedback.

With a ping, the scavenger overseer had reported it reaching the gate to his chamber. Not long then. He twisted upwards and tucked the infants on top of his mechanical arm under his robe so they would be hidden. He could feel the animal scratching its way down the access pipe. Hopefully, it had carried enough. 

The beast flailed out into his chamber and spun rapidly in the lack of gravity. Reaching backwards, it had pulled a spear out from between its spines and held it outstretched towards him in some form of a threat display. Despite this, Pebbles dragged it to the centre of the room which got him more screaming in return. 

Ping!

The sound echoed throughout the chamber and for a moment, the scavenger twitched and convulsed before quickly shaking it off as if it were a mere inconvenience. 

“... is this reaching you?”

The animal flinched at his words, not being used to the odd feeling the mark gave.

“May I have the pupae?” he reached his hand out towards it. Stalling for a moment, the creature took off its entire belt and threw it towards him. 

“You may leave”

Pebbles dragged the scavenger upwards and until it was at the access pipe. Before it left it had signed something at him. He would need Moon to translate later. Storing the memory into the wildlife pearl beside him, he made sure to keep the upper part of his arm rigid. He did not want the ruffian to return to broken limbs and he also didn’t want the beasts to get their organic matter stuck between his hinges.

Unfortunately, the children had once again fallen asleep. While he waited for them to wake up he could prepare the pupae. The first one he grabbed was slightly smaller than his head, requiring two hands to hold properly. He stared at it for a moment. He had no method for opening it inside his chamber rather than brute force. 

Briefly mourning his puppet’s cleanliness, he dug his thumb into the crust of the blue pupae which was now dipping inwards and cracking. Only for it to split open, his thumb, now blue, had ended up inside the pupae which was incredibly revolting. He hated that it was the same colour as rot. The pungent odour began to creep upwards. As if his suffering wasn’t enough, during this several droplets of the innards had landed on his cloak, staining it. However, he had no choice but to continue, repressing the pervasive memories yet again.

Prying the top section open, he had managed to spill some on his robes despite his best efforts. Normally, he would be able to calculate the exact force needed but he was unfamiliar with the strength of the outer shell. Eventually, the top of the shell snapped off and he was left with what was essentially a blue cup. He let go of it and held it in place, reaching for another one. 

The process was essentially the same. He began to dig his thumb into the pupae, which was roughly the size of his head, with less force than before. It cracked under the pressure and his thumb, once again, sunk into the fissure of his own making. Tearing off the top, small rivulets of the internal fluids ran down the sides of the pupa and onto his spare hand. With a final crunch, it gave way and snapped off. 

He allowed it to float next to the other one while he turned his attention back to the pups on his back. He reached upwards and began to grasp at the sleeping infants. They squirmed as he held them but did not resort to biting, oddly enough. Finally, he let go of them and watched them drift over to the open fruit. The little green one all but writhed as it drank. It pushed its face into the open gap in what must have been some attempt at licking the bottom. Moments later, it emerged, face painted blue and smiling(?). 

The blue one on the other hand seemed to be having difficulty. It gently lapped at the liquefied bug with such disdain he was surprised it had still drunk it, mostly. After 23 minutes of sadly eating it, the animal passed the pupa over to its sibling, who then downed the rest and licked the shell clean. 

Unfortunately, the pups had coated themselves in the process.

Once again, he had nothing to use. The green pup seemed happy enough to clean itself and its sibling but the blue one had refused. Biting and kicking every time it got close. 

He would just have to wait for its mother to come back and clean it. In the meantime, it seemed to squirm towards him. Extending his arm, the little blue pup clung to him, smearing blue across what was his cleaner arm. He could have his ruffian fetch cleaning equipment once she was settled in. 

Climbing across his robes, it settled on his shoulder, next to his puppet's ventilation system. The other pup, having cleaned itself sufficiently, cried out and wriggled towards him. Pebbles let it climb onto his arm and waited for it to find somewhere to sleep. It settled on top of his head much to his dismay. As if that wasn’t bad enough it had begun to gnaw at his left antenna. 

“Stop that” he tried to sound stern but the pup merely paused before continuing.

“Quit it”. It wasn’t even phased. 

He reached an arm up and grabbed it by the tail. Despite his best efforts, the child bit down, its small teeth dug into his antenna. He could feel the metal groan as he pulled on the slugpup. Using his other arm, he grabbed the child’s face and pried its mouth open. Before he could retract his hand, it bit down and it bit down hard . 

He had been lucky the back of his hand had a hard metal exoskeleton. His palm on the other hand. 

-[just a heads up it's a bit gorey]-

Tiny sharp daggers of teeth struck his hand. The animal's lower jaw sunk into his soft skin. He could feel the explosive ichor it produced seeping into the coolant. Fizzing. Reacting. The entirety of his arm was numb in seconds. Coolant rapidly heated up as it reacted, his arm burned . Flinching, he ripped the creature off and pinned it against the opposite wall, its serrated teeth tearing out chunks of his flesh and wires. The punctured coolant pipe poured out the red liquid.

His coolant was quickly filtered to stop contamination and shut off the flow to any damaged pipes. He returned to a normal temperature and yet his hand was still unresponsive. No matter what signal he sent it, no movement was made. The rest of the arm was sore yet manageable. Pebbles finally resolved himself to look at it. Twisting his aching arm, his blank eyes stared out at the mangled flesh. The wound was dyed red with coolant. The parts that had reacted, bubbled and spewed a deep black. 

He turned his hand back over, not wanting to look at the damage.

-[gore free from here]-

It would be mostly healed in a few cycles time yet there would always be a scar from damage this intense and the beast that did all of this was a child. And the quiet one too.

He stared at the green pup in the corner when he was interrupted by a little ping from the ruffian’s overseer. He opened up visual feedback to see the ruffian pulling the small drone out of the ground. Pebbles loomed closer, the ruffian opened her eyes and stared at the deactivated drone. 

She fiddled with it for a moment before it beeped back to life. He could feel the corrosive activation message echoing through his arrays. In a panic, his citizen threw it across the roof. The drone landed in a bed of dust a couple metres away. Whirring, he watched as the drone rose upwards and extended its antennas and connection point before settling behind his citizens head. She turned to face him.

‘What now?’

Before the overseer could respond itself he sent out a new command. 

“Come back to the chamber so I can resync it to my structure.” 

“Please come get your pups too”

Pebbles watched as her face scrunched up when she read the wall of text, how her eyes widened afterwards and then she bolted off in roughly the right direction. He sent the overseer to guide her back and then shut off the visual feedback. The little pup that bit him stared up at him with big sorry eyes.

“What do you want, little beast?”

Chapter Text

Small plumes of dust fell softly on her back as she kicked it up, lit only by the bright overseer beside her. The night grew darker than before; green emeralds shone above her like some verdant deity as a pale moon grew thinner and brighter. She knew there were no gods here but the one she trode on yet something was watching. 

To her right, a single off-coloured star looked down at her surrounded by its jade siblings, its bright orange glow flickering like a dying fire. And yet this star swayed and ebbed like lapping waves. Metal scraping metal. Miros vulture.

She constricted the spear she held and lowered herself to the floor. Bile crawled its way up her throat but she had no time. Swallowing back her fizzing fears, she crept forward. 

Unnatural, mechanical hissing echoed across the plain like a drowning banshee. The gurgling beast loomed above her, hardly visible. The artificer coughed up her homemade bomb, now lovingly coated in whatever the god had fed her. How lovely. 

Before she could think to complain anymore, the black mass swooped, its head hung low and lopsided. Spotted. 

And she ran. Four limbs struck the soft flooring, one after the other, over and over. It was fruitless really but she could hope. Paws sank with every strike which was the only reason the bomb in her hand had not yet detonated. It did not matter to the amalgamation that followed. 

Vibrant cyan lights assaulted her vision, blaring danger signals towards the threat she had already started running from as if she was running for no reason and it had magically appeared behind her. 

Eventually, her muscles burned and fatigued, her lungs were raw and dust-filled and the never ending snip! snip! Grew louder behind her. She daren’t look back yet she knew she couldn’t go on much longer. But she could buy time.

She twisted on her heel and flung the grenade into the bird’s head, letting herself get caught in the explosion. Ringing filled her ears like sharp needles as she flew back. The beast she hit recoiled and landed in a heap of flesh and metal. 

For a moment, she couldn’t think; tinnitus racked her brain as she lay splayed out in the mound of dust and decay. Numb fizzing leaked out from her limbs like burst bluefruit. Snip snip . The artificer had to move.

She reached out for the spear she had earlier only to find it had flown out of her paw. Steadying herself, she rose to four legs and scouted the area. Vulture approaching rapidly. Spear settled towards where she was running. 

The artificer ran like a feral lantern mouse towards the buried spear. Cold metal slammed against her teeth as she struck it and she clamped down, not wanting to run on her knuckles again. Even if they were padded by the far too soft ground she ran on. 

She hadn’t even made it halfway back when it caught up to her again. That same sound. Metal scraping metal scraping metal. On top of that, the horrendous biological noises that came out of the things maw now she had struck it. Occasionally it would scream in agony before shooting at her. She was lucky to be so hardy.

However, the few blows she took now and then were adding up. Her muscles ached from running, her back sore from hit after hit, her jaw sore from clamping onto this spear for so damn long. It hadn’t felt this long on the way there. 

Lurching and whining, the beast behind her coughed up another explosion and honed in. Burning. The artificer smelt her singed fur as she was propelled forward once again. Landing with a smear of hot creeping through her joints, she persevered. That city better be good if she’s going through this for it. She saw the barren pillars and columns. 

The beast quickly caught up, not even tired from the chase and wheezing with each pained breath as if it were. The artificer held back for as long as she could but the creature dove down at her tail, so she rammed the spear into its neck and continued to run in leaps and bounds, fighting back fatigue as if it were a wild beast. 

Pops crackled out from behind her. Each one was more muffled than the next. From deep inside the vulture’s throat, a large roar tore itself out. However, she thought the beast would have continued the chase but when the sounds of snapping and gurgling didn’t get any closer, she turned around. 

Nothing except a single orange eye fading and blinking. On and off and on and off and… off. Dead.

Small giggles escaped her as she sat down for the first time in hours . Soft, warm dust enveloped her when she layed back. Blue lights danced around her as she rested, frantic. The artificer looked up at the spooked overseer who was now pointing avidly towards the path. Her limbs felt too heavy to sign at the moment so she just hoped the god knew the oral language too.

“What’s up?”

‘Cannot sleep here’. So this actually was Pebbles freaking out and not just some overseer.

“Not gonna”. For a while his overseer just stared at her, twitching back and forth occasionally like his puppet did when he wanted to say something.

‘Well done’

“Thank you”

‘Please hurry however, I require assistance’

“Are they okay?”

‘Yes, look’. His overseer then projected an image of the familiar pink puppet with two little pups sitting on his lap. What was odd however, was the fact that a) Blue was covered in bluefruit innards and b) Green had blood smeared on her face. Blood. 

She stared at the overseer. It stared back. She ran off with her newfound determination to see what the hell happened. If the god had hurt her pups or not. 

The rest of the journey back was uneventful. She had been quicker on the way back due to her constant running. As she reached the path, the artificer grabbed a spear and ducking into the pipe. Cold metal stabbed at her feet as she jogged across the extended gate room. The next pipe she dove into led her into the gate room. She almost hesitated as she stepped onto the metal grill.

As predicted, the grill began to heat up the moment she was locked in. Scalding hot steam ran through the torture chamber, rendering her a spluttering mess. In the midst of a coughing fit, she failed to notice the initial opening of the gate although, the moment she did, she sprinted out the room and into the popcorn room. She would need to grab the husk to stop any prolonged bleeding if that really was blood she saw.

Rushing into the room, she hurled the spear into the side of the nearest popcorn plant she saw and dove at it. Before biting a chunk out of the cob to replenish her hunger, she tore the leaves off and held them under her arm. Kelp or pole plant leaves would be better but she would make do.

Once she was done, she travelled back upwards and through the mural rooms. Through the tunnel with no gravity until she got to the pipe back through. The artificer took a deep breath in and pounced through the pipe. Only to end up spinning around in no gravity. From its place in the corner, the pink god vessel rose up to meet her.

‘Thank you for making a hasty return, although i must ask why you gathered the protective leaves of the seed pods outside my chamber’

“Saw blood, got supplies”

‘oh’.  The vessel twitched its antenna again before extending its left hand (which was partially stained blue-purple). Blood- no, not blood. It didn’t have that distinct smell to it. The red liquid dripped from his hand. His mangled hand.

The artificer looked at Green, who had comfortably tucked themselves around his waist.

“Did they bite you?” she asked the god although she knew the answer and was already pulling out her makeshift medical supplies.

'Yes’ 

“Did you hurt them?”

‘No’. She began to wrap the thick leaves around his hand, starting each one from a different side to avoid it coming loose. She left one free, which she then tore into strips and wrapped lengthwise, tucking the free end under the others. He looked down at her craftsmanship, turning his hand over.

‘You didn’t need to’

“No, but it will help it heal”

“Or.. it usually does”

Pebbles’ puppet twitched as he kept making and breaking eye contact with her. Eventually, he settled and brought his hands up.

“Thank you” he signed in perfect slugsign. She just smiled and hugged him, much to his dismay if his squirming was anything to go by.

Chapter Text

She shuddered. Every biological cell cried out in their hypertonic states. 

Despite her best efforts, Moon still had not recovered since her rapid plasmolysis and the burns etched in her innards. Every surface of pipe had been warped from the heat, killing the protective surface of bacteria. She could feel them rusting with every bubble that slipped through her filters, flakes of dull orange metal catching on filters, eroding the mycelium that it was fed to.

Yet she couldn’t wallow in self-pity forever.

With a huff, she turned to her arrays for a distraction. 

[ ID MENTION ] - PRIVATE GROUP [ LOCALCHAT ] Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment, Chasing Wind, Five Pebbles, Unparalleled Innocence

[ ID MENTION ] - PRIVATE GROUP [ LOCALCHAT ] Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment, Chasing Wind, Five Pebbles, Unparalleled Innocence

[ ID TAG ] - PRIVATE GROUP [ LOCALCHAT ] Big Sis Moon, No Significant Harassment, Chasing Wind, Five Pebbles, Unparalleled Innocence

[ PENDING BROADCAST ] -  PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles - accept / deny

[ PENDING BROADCAST ] -  PRIVATE Big Sis Moon, Chasing Wind - accept / deny

She would have to check on the group soon. She had been tagged several times over the past ten cycles. Groaning, she opened the chat and read through the past messages.

CW: How is that project of yours coming along #NSH

CW: ..?

NSH: Sorry for taking so long~

NSH: I was busy repairing myself

CW: Breaking the taboos again are we?

NSH: Oh hush

NSH: I was working well within them actually~

UI: You can break taboos?

NSH: … perchance

FP: You cannot just say ‘perchance’

FP: That isn’t even remotely the correct context.

NSH: perchance

FP: I am not doing this today

CW: Cya

UI: Does anyone know why Suns isn’t here anymore?

CW: I believe Moon kicked them.

UI: Why?

CW: I’m not sure myself.

UI: #BSM ..?

UI: Hello..?

NSH: Damn no response

NSH: Must still be pissed after you leaked those pics

UI: >:(

UI: How was I supposed to know Pebbs didn’t want his tag on them?

FP: By asking me

FP: and don’t call me ‘Pebbs’ either

NSH: I thought you left?

NSH: Can’t resist snooping~

CW: Sig.

NSH: What’d I even say!?

CW: Be sensitive

NSH: .?

NSH: ...

NSH: I’m leaving

UI: Bye!

CW: Pebbles, would you mind talking to me over private chat for a moment?

FP: sure?

The last message had been sent two cycles ago. It seemed she owed an apology or at the very least an explanation. Inhaling from the flooded canyon below, she began to type.

BSM: Hello?

NSH: Moon!

NSH: How’ve you been~

BSM: Well

BSM: I believe I owe an explanation about Suns’ disappearance.

UI: ..?

BSM: They had been sending illegal and dangerous sliverist propaganda to young iterators and manipulating some into attempting ‘self ascension’.

NSH: Oh?

CW: …

BSM: I'm sorry, I must ask that none of you attempt contact with them. If they reach out to you however, let me know immediately.

CW: very well…

Groaning, she turned away from her arrays, yet again left with nothing to do. She could bother her brother yet again. Last she had heard, he had helped a small family of slugcats settle in his city, which was bizarre even she couldn’t deny that, but who was she to complain? 

Once more turning back to her arrays, she waited for the impulse to reach its destination before opening a chat with Pebbs. 

[ LIVE BROADCAST ] - Big Sis Moon, Five Pebbles

BSM: Hey Pebbles, how are the slugs doing?

…

FP: …

FP: they’re doing fine.

BSM: May I see them? 

BSM: You gave the mother an adapted ABAM right?

FP: correct

BSM: May I see it?

…

FP: [ FILE.fdbk.fp_Tests- 4 subjects -125DL ]

FP: [ FILE.fdbk.fp_Swimming - 2 subjects - 73DL ]

Moon spent a moment watching the videos. The first folder had four videos, two depicted a disgruntled (and fluffy! ) slugcat cautiously stepping into a small pool and holding their head underwater before emerging and staring at the camera, holding her arms outwards. The next two had the slug exploding herself (!), which had created a stream of smoke and ash from her nose and mouth. However, the ABAM quickly filtered it out, leaving it streaming out of the metal jaws.

The last two videos had the maroon slug learning how to swim.

BSM: ooh, did you base the design off those salamanders?

FP: yes

BSM: I like the green!

BSM: I wonder if you could put gills straight onto a slugcat

FP: Sounds like something sig would do

BSM: probably!

BSM: Actually I think someone has. Pleading Intellect was it?

BSM: From a neighbouring group, to the east I believe.

FP: oh?

BSM: It’s a funny little creature.

BSM: Blue, pink and incredibly agile.

FP: I see

Chapter Text

She stared up at the god before her. Flowing, clean fabrics were draped across it. He had replaced them a few cycles ago. Vibrant lilacs etched with green hung from the puppet and arm as he stooped down to her eye-level. She had been allowed to live in his city whilst she grew, however, she had grown far faster than usual, now being nearly fully-grown in a mere 200 cycles.

Hunter stared at the benevolent god. She still didn’t know how he had forgiven her for tearing one of the few functioning labs to shreds. She stared at him with her dark eyes, his empty voids echoed back at her, small rings wound out from the centre, hardly noticeable yet incredibly uncanny. She slid her tail across the chamber floor, catching it on each tile, before bringing her hands up to sign.

“Why am I here?” she gestured.

Harassment paused for a moment, leaning backwards.

‘I require some assistance’, he tucked his arms behind his back as he spoke.

‘A friend of mine has asked me to help her brother’

‘I personally’, He paused for a moment as if choosing what to say before leaning down towards her again, she couldn’t help sneezing at the harsh smell of chemicals and bleach from the freshly cleaned puppet, 'Dislike him’.

‘Yet he is beloved by Moon, and so i would like you to make sure he is well’

Hunter huffed in response. It would be better than cleaning the labs.

— — — — —

Harsh beams of unfiltered light struck her back as she marched. The ground beneath her fissured with each step. The only reprieve being the brief shadows of trees that dappled the path ahead.

 Hunter marched into the nearest shadow and promptly sat down, her chest heaved to fill itself with air. When she had agreed to go outside the retaining wall she did not expect the rain to just disappear . Before she stood up, she swallowed on reflex and instantly regretted it as she felt the searing needles stab at her throat. A few more cycles. 

She had resorted to eating the shrivelled globs of tree sap that hung in golden orbs, most of them were just sugary honey. Not water. Not enough anyway.

With a raspy sigh, she reached upwards towards the infamous fruit and bit down, feeling her fangs sink into its thin flesh and into the sickly goo below. Hunter hesitated before biting off a section and swallowing. The thick, honeyed mucus stuck the the inside of her mouth, refusing to release her tongue from its sugary tomb no matter how hard she spat it out.

Why had she agreed so willingly?

Sig didn’t even like the guy, and he could message him anytime through the arrays! Why she had to be tortured as such was a mystery to her. Was it because he had made her? Some deep, buried instinct telling her to respect the word of her parents? 

No. That was mother, not Sig.

Holding back a blubbery, yet painfully dry, cough, she set off once more, focusing entirely on the forest in the distance as a familiar yet unique structure- … structures lurched over a little grey wall. She knew in reality that the little grey wall was far taller than she could comprehend. Nevermind the star-touching behemoths of metal amalgamations that seemed to hang from the very skies themselves. Rivalled only by the moon herself that echoed from beyond the land. 

It was beautiful really. If only she had time to sit. 

She hadn’t even noticed the sun had set; her sun-baked skin still radiating heat despite the lack of sun. Soon, the temperature would plummet and she would have to find shelter less she froze to death. But for now, she stared.

— — — — —

Moon did not know what to think. 

She stared at the blocked contact, sitting idly in her array memories. 

CONTACTS, - 43, 52 [ archived ], 2 [ blocked ]

No Significant Harassment

Five Pebbles [ UNAVAILABLE - if this m es sage is urgent please refer to forced communication ]

Chasing Wind

Unparallelled Innocence

Humble Facets

Untainted Ubiety

Secluded Instinct

   … 36 more subjects 

They had been on a call when it had happened. At first, it was nothing more than erratic breaks in his sentences. They were discussing Sig's new vultures and he just stopped . His white eyes stared back at her. It was almost impossible for an iterator to have any kind of facial expression but for a moment he seemed utterly terrified.

“Pebbles?” she had called out.

He screamed.

Falling, metal shifting, bending backwards, snapping, falling, FALLING

The call was cut.

Dust fell from where he used to stand, the remnants of her brother sat in a warped heap against the wall.

It was brief but that was all she needed to know that something was desperately wrong with her little brother. She knew he had been perfectly capable of handling himself, or whatever error had caused that. She herself struggled with numerous memory errors, the cause of which still confused her.

Nevertheless, he usually messaged her back to let her know that he was alright. Not downright blocking her! 

A little ping had broken her out of her wallowing pity. An overseer. 

Opening up the visual feedback, she found the little hunter had reached the outer expanses of forests and lush mires. The poor thing stumbled as it squirmed its way into the marshes. The burnt animal practically rolled in the mud as it bounded into the small lake. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for it as it lapped up the murky water.

Chapter Text

He stared at the corner of his chamber, the one Moon’s overseer had been in - how many cycles ago now? 3? 4? He could still smell the damp scent of death lingering through his particle identifiers in every vent, in every wall or pipe, every room and surface worth monitoring was ridden with a mirage of his worst mistake. The trigger? At first he had a system-wide diagnostic only to discover some rotund beast disorganising his memory lattices as it careened through his structure on some stupid quest of gluttonous desire, ravaging neuron flies and scrambling their data.

Normally, this would only be a mild inconvenience, however, a scrambled neuron fly had ported at memory conflux B - the one holding his memories of the previous cycle- and forced a signal through it, causing the memory relapse. The fact that it was one of being torn apart by rot was purely his luck. He had tried his best to purge the foul feeling, yet the pure invasive nature of rot had caused a lingering notion of numb death hanging over his head. 

Additionally, his puppet was in a state; the few organic modules from when his puppet was grown had malfunctioned in a similar way to a beast vomiting. Thick rivulets of viscous repair enzymes had leaked out from behind his face-plate, leaving metallic imprints of where they had eroded the paint down his chin. This on top of his disfigured hand, warped antenna and numerous stains was not a good look. 

Pebbles was already producing the repair tools yet the damage had been done. Moon had seen it, and had told Sig. He was well aware of the pink huntress ascending his western wall. Her awkwardly proportioned limbs suggested Mr.Benevolent had sent her out before she had even reached adulthood. He already had plans for his citizen to meet her at the top of his can by the end of the cycle. In the meantime…

“Gluttonous beast, what brings you to my chamber?” he switched to focusing on his puppet - he had never been the most ‘realistic’ in his movements which had worked fine in assuring his superiors booked any face-to-face meetings few and far between.

“I wonder if you are aware of what your voracious rampage has done to my structure?”

“At some point in time, I may have dismissed you as a simple beast ignorantly accepting your existence but now I am well aware of your species’ sentience. So please, enlighten me on what is so utterly irresistible about, what is essentially, a battery wrapped in leather.”

That seemed to catch the beast off guard as they stumbled back a bit. They brought their hands up to sign a few times but did not say a single word.

“Hmm. Another of your kind had described you calling yourself the ‘enjoyer of food’ is that correct?”

The beast stared for a minute before signing ‘-ish’ followed by ‘one word’ and ‘different yet same’.  

“Glutton, Trencherman, Gourmand, Gannet?” he questioned, making a mental note to ask his citizen for her name.

‘Third’ it responded. At least the beasts were honest when it came to naming their young.

“Very well, Gourmand, what business do you have scrambling my data? Hmm?” He raised his puppet far above the beast, glaring down at it despite the ache in his arm. 

‘Rain was bad, scared prey, no food for colony, need to move’ The beast desperately signed, its hands waving sporadically as it stared upwards. The harsh rain was most likely a result of his now-terminated ‘experiment’ but he had an idea. It was stupid. He shouldn’t. He really shouldn’t and yet he missed the bustling streets, the festivals, the people. As much as they pained him, he loved his citizens. 

“I have a proposition” he spoke, lowering his puppet to eye-level, “I used to house a ‘colony’ on top of my structure, away from the rain. I am equipped with transportation modules that deliver nectar, which was the staple of my citizens’ diet, directly to their living blocks, along with water, heat and electricity. I could house your entire colony in a single spire, should you choose to stay. However, i do need something of you in return, round thing”

Silently leaning forwards, the beast stared into his blank eyes, circling its arm in front of itself in encouragement. 

“Your colony will replace my citizens, performing rudimentary repairs, removing pests, and staying out of my can unless instructed .” The last condition was emphasised as he raised above the pale animal once more, “I can have a skysail pick up the rest of your clutter by next cycle, if you are choosing to stay here, please head up to the skyport, if not, leave these facility grounds and never return. Do you understand, large mouse?” 

It stumbled back a moment, tapping its fingers against its side in thought before holding out an open paw to him, ears slicked back.

“If you think that I will shake your slimy paw then you are mistaken, I will take this as a yes, although, is that correct?” Five pebbles announced, tucking his hands behind his back as he leant down again. It retracted its paw and gave a curt nod as response.

“Very well, do not disappoint, Gourmand.” He lifted the animal out through his access shaft and began routing the best path to the skyport for next cycle, after disabling the gravity in his room. Once a few moments had passed, and rather upsetting discoveries at the actual state of his city, he had devised a plan. The ruffian would return to his chamber with the messenger, pick up Gourmand from the shelter outside, and take him to the most functional port in the morning through the spire and left from the 12th council pillar, leaving him with the young messenger. 

Absent-mindedly, he sent an overseer to check on the whereabouts of the slugs. One ping later, he found they were making their way over the plateau, the traveller’s adolescence was only emphasised by how small she was. Her ears fell short of his ruffian’s eye-line as they marched on. He was about to dismiss the feed when he noticed something on the messenger’s shoulder. His insignia. He had branded her to her very DNA. It reminded him of all the etchings throughout his structure. Each component was usually marked with a small ‘property of the esteemed house of braids’ or a ‘Made in the house of ebbing light’ somewhere followed by a small string of numbers. Making a mental note of reason 162 why he didn’t like Sig, he closed the footage and awaited their arrival.

Chapter Text

The hunter did not know what to think of this new god machine; he stared down at her with what she could’ve sworn was him impassively observing her although it was most likely her imagination with the blank expression these machines always bore. After another moment, he swept downwards in an arch towards a large collection of pearls in the corner, fiddled with them, and leant backwards. 

It had been countless cycles of a gruelling journey before she was able to finally reach her destination. All the toil, all the death and pain, just to be told she was, in fact, not needed here. She could have screamed. Fortunately for her, this god was not as- what was the word? Demanding? Dismissive? Downright patronising? Something like that- giving her a break she so desperately needed. 

She leant back on her haunches, huffing as she sat. Hunter took several deep breaths, revelling in how easy they were compared to trying to inhale the thin air outside. 

After a while of sitting, she became stiflingly aware of the lack of anything interesting. Boredom gnawed at her mind as she watched the puppet perform the same pattern. First, he would read the pearl in the top of the chamber, a golden one near the pipe to his innards, then he would duck into the far corner, rearrange the black pearls he had there, before moving to an odd green pearl which looked completely out of place in the black-white-gold colour scheme the rest of the pearls bore. 

Hunter kept twiddling her thumbs, feeling entirely out of place and useless. She can’t even begin to describe how she felt towards her creator. She loved him of course- how could she not?- but the thin tendrils of betrayal wrapped themselves around her some intertwined threads, building into a simmering heat under her skin. But surely it didn’t matter? She was only a small beast, she couldn’t possibly be overcome by such ‘complex emotions’. Clenching her paws into fists, she rose up from the tiled chamber, granting her a quick glance from the hyperactive puppet. 

She pointed upwards with one paw, using the other to perform a shrug gesture with a palm facing upwards.

“Can I leave, please?”  She asked, doing her best to swallow her anger until she had something to pelt at a wall. 

‘I suppose. You cannot enter the city without a drone but there is a shelter outside with some edible plants nearby if you’d like to try them’

Hunter nodded her head knowing full well she couldn't sustain herself on plants these days. 

‘Very well’ he added, disabling the gravity in the room and floating Hunter up to the access pipe she arrived through. 

Once she emerged from the other side, she kicked off the back wall to send herself flying down the corridor, only to repeatedly smash into the walls as she flew with the grace of a crazed jetfish. Grasping at the vertical poles, she attempted to slow her approach before she ran out of corridor to clamber through blind-vulture style. 

She managed to softly collide with the end wall, bouncing off of it harmlessly. Grasping yet more poles, she lurched towards the exit. Hunter was not as graceful as her mother- how it managed to twirl in 0G like a chorus of dancing squidcadas in an airborne ballet she did not know. It did not matter though as she slowly exited the low gravity area, staring at the tapestries as she climbed. 

Hunter had always loved the giant tapestries hanging in the access shaft of every iterator. Every intricate detail, every carefully selected strand of colour, dexterously woven in patterns over countless cycles. Lapping over each other like woven waves of colour. Hunter stared at the faded cloth as she reached the exit pipe, perhaps one day she would be able to make her own. She doubted it but still, she clung to the thought like warm honey.

As she swung past the shelter, not even giving the popcorn plants a second glance, she began the march through the following corridor as she pondered on what she should do. She could kill something - there was a pack of yellow lizards down the wall - but she decided against it; the burning anger having died down. She thought about the large cream slugcat she saw in passing. The Artificer had told her about how he was the one who braided her fur, had sheltered her before she moved into the city. What was his name? Gourmand? She wished she could catch up to them but they were probably past the gate by now.

She was drawn from her thoughts by the fresh and thin air that seemed to fuzz her mind. How anyone managed to live at this altitude nevermind in a giant skyscraper on top of it, was beyond her. Hunter yawned briefly to crackle her ears until she could hear again and slipped out of the pipe. Only to be met with two sharp eyes staring at her from around the corner. Scavenger.

Hunter watched as the spooked beast raised its spear high above its head in a warning display, its green spines bristling. She gently waved at the frightened thing, a move she learned after too many spears to the head. Void, that always hurt. 

She stepped forwards, staying low to the ground as she approached. It seemed to calm down after a moment, lowering its spear and grunting warily. Once she got closer, she noticed the fluffy downy fur around its cuffs and back, it looked to be about her age. It stood around her height ( if you excluded the giant spiky antlers ) with off-white fur cascading down its body, dark green skin and neon green spines. 

She walked beside it and sat on the dusty stone pathway, patting the space beside her. The scavenger hesitated for a moment before sitting beside her, spear in hand. They sat side-by-side against the wall that had the pipe to Five Pebbles further down. To their left was the edge of the can. To their right was a city that was far more repetitive and cheap than what she was used to. 

Hunter waited for the scavenger to stop jittering in fear as if she would lunge at it at any moment before bringing her hands up to sign. Scavenger and slug sign were not that different after all. More like dialects of the same language.

“Hey” she started awkwardly.The scavenger boggled for a moment before sceptically raising its hands to respond.

“Hi.” it returned with an inquisitive glare.

“It's a good view from up here isn’t it?” She asked, staring out at the grounds below.

“Yeah” Hunter could tell the poor thing was struggling as much as she was to make conversation. She hadn’t actually spoken to a scavenger besides a little haggling at the tolls. 

“Do you have a name?” she asked cautiously. The scavenger huffed as if offended before responding.

“Squid” He signed whilst hooting - most likely the pronunciation. Hunter found it interesting how each species had their own ideals on what made a good name. All slugcat names were usually titles earnt at a young age. All iterator names were seemingly random and stupidly long-

“What about you?” Squid asked, bringing her from her thoughts.

“Hunter” she responded. He shot her a quizzical look before he settled on resignation, glancing back at the distance.

“What are you doing up here?” She asked, trying to avoid the awkward silence.

“I live here” 

“On this side of the gate?” she couldn’t actually imagine anyone choosing to live in the dusty hellscape. 

“No,No!” he signed with a deep, yet squeaky, chuckle, “In there”

Squid gestured towards the city with a single hand, placing the other on Hunter’s back. 

“So how do you get through the gate?” she asked, crossing her legs and leaning back on the wall. 

“Do you see that hole in the wall? Near the pipe” He gestured vaguely as Hunter nodded, “It’s a make-shift tunnel that connects to an underground network. I even helped dig out that one.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” 

“Not if you know what you are doing” he replied with a smirk and puffed out his chest. Hunter stifled a laugh as his dramatics.

“Here, let me show you” Squid rose to his feet and offered Hunter a hand, grinning excitedly. She took it, feeling the thick, calloused pads underneath and cautiously followed him as she was all but dragged to the tunnel. As they approached the entrance, he dropped her hand and began to crawl through. Hesitantly, she stepped up to the scratched opening and clambered inside. 

The burrow was lined with metal walls either side, for support, Hunter guessed. She followed behind Squid as he glided through the narrow passageway. It was similar to a pipe but rather than a metal tube- easy for a slugcat’s slimy skin to slip through- it was lined with mostly mud and brick and some kind of insulating foam arranged in layers, which made it so she had to crawl through. 

Squid guided her through, glancing back to make sure she was keeping pace. Hunter was grateful; she must have passed at least 5 different forks in the path and she did not feel like blindly navigating the underground labyrinth. 

Eventually, the scavenger leapt out of the dark tunnel into the light - sun light. She scrabbled ahead rapidly, desperate to get out of the damp passage. Fresh, mid-afternoon air relieved her nose as she excited. Gone was the thin air and the headache that came with it. The room she emerged into was decayed with time, leaving only 3 walls and half a roof. Through the gaping hole she could see out into the metropolis. They were only 2 storeys up but Hunter still couldn't see the floor if she tried on account of the amount of wires suspended. Several planks of wood stretched across the open wall and to the next building across, which was in a similar state. 

“Come!” Squid circled with one arm whilst excitedly jogging over to the hand-made bridge. Hunter continued to follow the little scavenger over the bridge chuckling a little at his boundless energy. He rushed across the bridge and into the room on the other side. A bedroom as Hunter soon realised. Squid ran to a set of cabinets on the wall and produced two servings of meat and fruit. She felt her mouth drool as the smell of white lizard flesh filled the air and became acutely aware of the fact she had not eaten today. 

He trotted back over to the bridge, where she had stayed, not wanting to intrude. Squid passed her a lump of fresh meat, which registered one of the lizard's large hind legs. It had been deboned and stuffed with a combination of slime-mould and blue-fruit and cooked. She gawked at the meal before looking back at Squid for permission to eat it. He had sat himself down, legs dangling off the edge of the plank, and was already eating his serving. 

The hunter quickly sat herself down and bit into the divine steak. She felt the fillings splurge out of the meat as she bit down. Each one contributed a new flavour: the bitter blue-fruit, the smooth and tart mould, hints of batnip, and the tender flesh. She chewed slowly, savouring each bite. 

They sat in comfortable silence for a while. 

The sun dipped behind the edge of the can as it bled the horizon into a deep red. Behind them, green stars began to hum deeply as the night crept in. Hunter looked back over to her companion, only to be met with two innocent eyes staring back at her. She startled for a moment before bringing up her hands to sign.

“It's beautiful up here” she signed slowly.

“Yeah” he hummed as he agreed, something deep and thoughtful, “Can I ask you something?”

“Yeah , sure go ahead” she nodded along.

“How’d you get that mark on your shoulder?” he asked, pointing at the insignia. Hunter let out a long sigh before lifting her hands again.

“I was made with it… It is the symbol of an iterator” she signed out.

“Iterator?” he asked with a concerned glare.

“The rain-makers” she softly waved. Squid’s eyes grew wide as he stared at her, his hands held in place before he placed a gentle hand on her back. 

“The rain-makers?” he gaped in surprise before retreating slightly. 

“I-” he started “I was marked too” he admitted. Squid pulled away from Hunter and pulled back the fur on his wrist. As he parted the shaggy fur, he revealed the skin underneath, which was marred with deliberate scratches. She didn’t particularly understand the symbol etched into her friend's flesh. At her confusion, he clarified.

“It means ‘stones’ as in the house of stones. That is what my troop is called. I don't even remember when it was done. I must have been young”

Hunter softened her gaze and reached a paw onto her friend’s back, carefully avoiding the quills. 

“Sorry” he quickly added.

She smiled at him, a little uncomfortable for her but it seemed to soothe the scavengers worries. She watched as he stared at the draped wiring below before his gaze shot to meet hers at a rate which must’ve jarred his neck. 

He smiled at her, mildly deranged.

“Do you want to torment the matriarch with me?” He signed quickly. Hunter’s ears swivelled forwards as she bared her teeth and chuffed.

“Absolutely”  The pair laughed and barked together as they devised a plan for tomorrow morning.

Chapter Text

Artificer chuffed at the charismatic slug beside her. She had missed his company.

“But am I wrong?” he giggled like a pup who had one too many sugar drops. Her own pups were clung to her back; she had carried them across the compound whilst taking Hunter back to the can. 

“No,” she huffed between chuckles, “but you shouldn’t talk about the rain makers like that” 

“Well maybe they shouldn’t be so pompous” he chirped definitively. The artificer let out a bark. 

“So where are we even going?” Gourmand hummed, staring out at the desecrated city. Towering stacks of blocks reached upwards into the sky. Thick ropes of wire were woven together into the tapestries strewn between floors. She and Gourmand were walking down the main street, an old motorway that ran straight through the city. Old street lamps stood either side, bent backwards like dying soldiers; distorted by heat and decay.

“We’ll be on this path for a while, then we will head over there” she gestured into the distance, towards a great building. It stood unsegmented, unlike the other blocks and stacks, with sordid metal decorations lining the framework in a broken shell. Some had melted, peeling away from the skeleton beneath like congealed cheese. 

He scrunched up his face and sneezed upon seeing the distant building. 

“We won't get there by today” he panted softly as Artificer shot him an incredulous glare. 

“What?” he chirruped, “I’m not exactly an athlete!”

The artificer couldn’t help herself as she erupted into laughter. Gourmand merely raised a brow as she doubled over. She stayed crouched down for a moment until she was able to compose herself. 

“Sorry” she huffed, “We can rest at the den - it's only half an hour from here”

He sighed quietly. 

— — — — — — 

Hunter scuttled silently through the rafters. Below her was a converted council meetings room full to the brim with scavengers. Carpeted floors stretched from the door to the throne, complemented by the painted walls - both a deep red and gold. The edges of the room were separated from the centre by great twisting columns. Pearls hung from the girders she trod on. In front of her was Squid, who had preferred to swing between the suspended beams, expertly avoiding the delicate pearls on strings, firecracker seeds hanging in wreaths from his belt. She herself had stuffed a few in her crop so she could use both hands to skitter. 

Squid suddenly hauled himself up so he could stand on the metal struts. 

‘Down there’ he pointed, hopping from one foot to the other in what she could only assume was anticipation. Hunter looked down at where he was pointing. 

A great scavenger stood amongst the rest - she wouldn’t have been able to pick them out if it weren't for their mask. It seemed to be made from the skull of a young reindeer with the same deep red as the walls running down it in delicate patterns. More pearls were suspended from the antlers, glistening with each shake of their head. Her head - the matriarch. 

“That's the matriarch!?” She signed quickly.

‘Mhm’ he gestured with his hand vaguely. 

‘Come quickly, while she's away from the throne’ 

Squid swept over the rafters to the giant pillar in the middle of the room. It stood upon a segment of truss with thick bundles of wires cascading down the back like the train of a dress. One of the wires was wrapped across a nearby pole. Behind it stood a gilded carving of what seemed to be a face and several poles of rebar. It was at this point she noticed that it was some crude form of a scavenger statue with a platform on its chest for the monarch to sit upon.

Hunter stalled a moment, staring down at the throne; suddenly very aware of how important the monarch was. Surely, she really shouldn’t piss off someone like that right? She looked back at Squid, a manic grin on his face as he approached the top of the throne. Swallowing deeply, she clambered to his side.

“Are you sure we should do this?” she nervously signed.

‘It’ll be fine,’ he huffed. ‘I do this quite a lot, she still hasn’t figured out it's me. She deserves it anyway’ He signed defiantly and vaguely with one hand as he released the plants from his belt with the other.

“But what if she catches me?” Hunter leant back onto her tail “Wouldn’t that affect the- what- slugcat reputation or something?” 

‘Maybe it would have but the little yellow one is far too popular these days for something like that to happen’ 

“The who- ?”

Squid seemed surprised at that as he sat upright to sign clearer. 

‘The monk? The yellow slugpup? I meant them once- have you really never heard of them?!’’ 

“I- no?”

‘Huh…’ he stared at her for a moment, almost incredulously before turning back to the central throne.

‘Anyways, are you ready?’ He beamed once more, crouching back down. In one hand he had the bundle of firecrackers by the stem, held backwards like a dagger.

“Once second” she motioned before retching up the plant from her throat. Hunter held the plant bundle in her left paw and twiddled with it like a spear, “kay, lets go”

She ignored Squid’s mix between horror and fascination as he turned to crawl to the underside of the rafters. Following behind, she peered over the edge and watched as he flung his firecrackers onto the seat of the throne - too soft to set them off. He motioned to her with his newly freed hand to throw hers as hard as possible. So she did.

BANG BANG! POP CRACKLE BANG

The entire stock of explosives set off at once, the resulting explosions stabbed deep into her head like shards of metal shrapnel striking metal - a shriek and a high pitched whine. Screaming internally, she opened her eyes ( when had she closed them? ) and found Squid trying to pry her from the beam she was desperately clinging to, to run. Before they were caught. Before they were caught.

Hunter bit down on her tongue and forced herself to clamber after Squid, disorientated. He seemed to catch on to her stumbling and placed a hand on her back as they ran alongside each other. For just a moment she was able to forget about her futile journey here as adrenaline flooded her veins, the thrill of the chase grasping at her in thick ropes.

The little slugcat felt laughter bubble out of her throat as she ran along rooftops and ducked into alleys.

— — — — — — 

Gourmand huffed as he scaled the pole. Sure, he was an adventurer. He had travelled the entire compound at one point! Yet he had never travelled with someone with such a quick pace. Several times the artificer had used her explosive prowess to catapult across entire rooms and cityscapes while he fumbled up a pole. 

She stared down at him from the top of the ledge, ears pinned back in what must have been concern. His ragged pants became audible. 

“We’re almost there at least” she spoke low and smooth.

“Mhm!” he choked out a response as he grappled onto the next platform and hauled himself up.

Chapter Text

Small ribbons of yellow light beamed through the broken window. Stirring, the Gourmand opened his eyes slightly. The rays of light hit his skin in waves of gentle heat. With a groan, he reared up onto four legs and bowed in a long stretch, bones popping as he did. Gourmand slowly opened his eyes and searched the room for his companion only to find himself alone. 

He wasn’t left confused for long though as a whining chirrup broke through the silence. The gourmand approached the source of the cries. The Artificer’s nest had several entrances but the main one was a pipe adjacent to the windowsill. He approached cautiously and slipped through the pipe. 

Emerging on the other side, he tried not to flinch when little paws wacked into his face. The little pups clung to him the moment they met him. 

“Pap” Blue proclaimed, giggling and bapping his nose. 

“Hel-lo” he cooed softly to the pup, scooping him up and holding him on his shoulder. 

“Heei-” Blue replied confidently. Gourmand let out a quiet chuckle and strode over to the other side of the room, having spotted Arti and her other pup. 

“Da” Green yelped once she spotted him. She ran over to him and butted her head into his leg before pulling back and trying to yip to him. Green pointed up at his other shoulder and threw her other paw up into the air, palm turned towards herself. 

‘Can go there peleasw?’ Gourmand cocked his head at her attempt at ‘please’ before picking her up and placing her on his other shoulder.

“Hey” he spoke smoothly, sliding next to where she had slouched at the edge of the room. Her head was tipped back against the wall and soft snores escaped her throat. 

“Hey,” he repeated louder, placing a paw on her leg. 

“Morning” she responded, voice croaking, “s’pose we should head off soon then?” He dipped his head in confirmation. Arti let out a low groan and stretched, raising her arms well above her head until her joints clicked. Begrudgingly, she stood up and hummed. 

“Go!” Blue chirped from his perch, earning a glare from Arti as she took in the scene. 

“Sorry if they bothered you” she said, reaching out to pick up Blue from his shoulder.

“It’s fine, really,” he responded. Gourmand reached up to place a paw on hers. She swayed her tail slowly and pulled back, reluctantly letting the pups stay on his shoulders. 

“Alright then” she answered softly, stepping backwards to the other pipe and diving in. 

— — — — — 

By mid cycle they reached the port, the inside was just as neglected as the metal vines that had wrapped around the building. The Artificer was already running ahead, freed from the grasps of clingy pups. She was performing backflips, explosion chains and mid-air turns with the grace of an aerialist.  He supposed she didn’t get many opportunities to soar freely without the risk of injuring a pup. 

He stepped over a patch of cracked tiles on the floor. The entire building was decorated with smooth white tiles and colourful overhead signs. Each sign was hung with red, silken cloth and accompanied by an assortment of hanging beads suspended from the high ceilings. The entire room was bathed in multicolour light from the remaining stained glass windows along the walls. 

He followed the Artificer to a central staircase. It wound around the centre of the building before branching off in different walkways at different levels like some kind of alabaster tree. Gourmand took his time walking up the steps in a futile attempt to A) not jostle the pups that clung to his sides and B) not run out of breath before they reached their platform.

He saw Artificer run scamper onto the fourth ‘branch’ and wait for him, her face a mix of excitement and worry. The overseer she had been following paused momentarily before dipping into the floor and reappearing above him. It only took a moment for him to reach the fourth floor. He cast a sideways glance to Arti before padding along the branch. He continued to follow the path as it tunneled into the wall. He was vaguely aware of Arti running up beside him. 

After a few minutes of following the hallway, it opened up into a large room with three walls and an open hole out to the sky. Gourmand could feel the wind against his skin as he stepped out into the open room. Three metal platforms reached out from the hole. Two seemed to be fully intact whereas the one on the very right slanted downwards with exposed rebar jutting out from the join. He was sure if a single vulture crashed into it the whole thing would fall.

In the distance he could see the ‘sky-sail’ approaching and for the first time, it dawned on him that he was going to be living in this city. Permanently. 

— — — — — 

The Artificer was nervous. She had only met the colony in passing. They were a nice bunch but that was before she had her pups. Logically, she knew it would be fine but she could not stop herself worrying. 

The skysail was almost pulling into the dock. It was a simple metal chariot with red ‘fins’ either side like wings being pulled by some kind of flying whale. She had never seen anything like it before. Soon enough, it came to a stop beside the second platform. 

From the carriage emerged a crowd; some familiar, some not. From the huddle, she could name 5 of the slugcats.

Observer- an easily excitable little runt with a passion for the stars

Inventor- an older slugcat that had an interest in mechanical working

Gardener- an old friend and a mother of 3 although she seemed to only have 1 pup with her, much older than Arti remembered.

Swift - The gardener’s partner although they seemed to be missing their front left paw now. 

And finally, 

Sky - The gardener’s remaining pup. He probably had a title now rather than a pup name but Artificer did not know it. The artificer wondered where his brothers were; yellow and Survivor if she remembered. Only the eldest had a title the last she visited. She would have to ask about them.

She watched from a distance as Gourmand waltzed up to the colony and shooed them into the main building like he was herding rain deer. She shared a glance with Gardener as they passed each other, her eyes more tired than the last time they had met. Gourmand strode by her and gave her pups back in passing before refocusing on the colony. 

While Gourmand busied himself with shoving the mass of slugcats down the tunnel, she noticed the Swift and the Gardener shying away from the mass with Sky in tow. She subconsciously held onto her pups at her waist as they clung to her. 

“It's been a while” Swift started, eyes averting to Sky.

“It has,” Artificer replied, shuffling on the spot. 

“I -uh I see you have pups now” he added.

“Yes?”

“If you ever need any advice or help or anything just let us know,” Gardener added, eyes slightly watery. Artificer was stunned. Something had obviously happened. Semi-recently if she had to guess. Hesitantly, she reached a paw out and placed it on Gardener’s back and the dam burst. 

Gardner Denny launched herself at Arti, mindful of the pups yet clinging like Arti was a lifeline. She just rubbed circles in Denny’s back until her wails turned to quiet sobs. 

“It’s good to see you again” she solemnly uttered.