Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue and Lucid "Insomnia" Blue- 6:30 PM
"Lucid! Get up!"
There is grumbling from the basement, "Mom, no…"
"You told me to wake you up for work today. Get up."
"Not a half-hour early!"
Her mother sighs heavily, "Well, sorry."
Her daughter comes up stairs and hugs her briefly, "S'okay mom, thanks for wakin' me up."
"You're welcome," she hands Lucid a jar of bugs out of the pantry, "Why don't you eat something?"
Lucid looks over the contents in the jar, her belly rumbling to remind her how hungry she was. "Alright." She twists the lid off and eats the contents by the handful.
"You've been eating more than usual as of late," her mother observed.
Lucid half choked on the bugs she was swallowing. "Uhh… Guess I have…" She looks down at herself, her belly more than twice the size it had been only a few weeks ago. Her feathers begin to get darker out of fear for her mother finding out her secret, "Uhh, must be my metabolism gettin' lower or somethin'."
Her mother looks over a glass of water at her, "…Or something?"
Lucid nods a little bit, "Or somethin'."
Lucid lies down on her bed and lets her head dangle down to the floor. Her ears and feathers brush the ground and she gives her tail the freedom to swish back and forth rhythmically over the wall. She grabs her MP3 player from her nightstand near her. Lucid pushes the headphones over her ears and puts it on full blast. At first this hurts since her ears are hypersensitive to sounds but eventually she becomes somewhat used to the noise. There were several things clawing at her mind at that moment she would give anything to forget about.
The first of these things was her recently made friend who she had really come to like.
The second of these things was how uncomfortable being pregnant was… and how worried she was about having to tell anybody, especially her mom.
The third was her sister, whom she always worried about escaping jail, though it was the most secure in the galaxy.
These things bothered her daily. It seemed as if there was no escape. The few things she looked forward to in the day were music, work, and her anti-depressant pill- though this was not available to her for the time being.
Every few moments she looks over at the clock out of anxiousness. 6:45… 6:46… 6:47… and continued this pattern until it was finally 7:00. She groans and drags herself from the bed to get ready for work.
She quickly takes a shower and brushes her teeth. Lucid then puts on her favorite pair of jeans and her only shirt. Her feathers on her head and tail glowed with a bright neon blue light. She put on a belt, one she had commissioned for herself and loved very much, which glowed the same color as her feathers except for the buckle, which was silver.
Lucid shoves her hands deep into her pockets and examines herself in the mirror. She put on her most convincing smile and flutters her eyelashes prettily. For a moment, the show she's trying to put on for the world depresses her. The smile drops from her lips, the feathers on her head dim almost black, and her shoulders slump dramatically.
"I need my anti-depressants," she thinks to herself furiously, "but I can't take them while I'm pregnant!" She sighs and rubs her belly sadly, "I need to think more before I act."
She shuts her eyes after a moment and brings back the color to her feathers. The smile is forced to return and she stands up strait. She looks at herself one last time, trying to make her eyes less troubled looking but ultimately failing.
She goes upstairs and takes the house key from the hook on the wall with a, "See ya mom!" and walks swiftly out of the house.
The ship in the garage waited loyally for Lucid, reliable as always. Lucid starts it and drives to work, almost one fourth of the way across the planet. She didn't mind the drive much, the gas for the car was cheap and she loved her job.
The only bad thing about the drive was that it gave her lots of time alone with her thoughts, exactly what she didn't want.
When music didn't relieve her of her thoughts she moved to making an unpleasant screeching sound that hurt her own ears. She put all her focus on driving and somehow made it to work without crashing into anything.
An Adusta Pluma like Lucid who had blue-green feathers walked out of the door just as Lucid arrived. The girl is dressed in a baggy pair of jeans that had glow sticks wrapped around the legs, a black jacket, and a denim hat pulled over one of her eyes. One of her ears pokes out under the side of the hat. She is about half a foot shorter than Lucid. The girl's belly is round with pups just as Lucid was coming to be.
"Hey!" The girl runs up to Lucid, "How's it goin' DJ?"
Lucid gives her a hug, "I'm doin' fine, Ocean."
Ocean happily wraps her arms around Lucid, "I'm glad to hear that."
Lucid's feathers brightened at seeing her ex happy. The two of them had broken up only a week ago though they weren't mad at each other. In fact they were still very much friends. They had sort of agreed to break up since they had each found someone else they liked better and had grown tired of having a romantic relationship with the other.
Ocean is the first to pull herself out of the embrace, "So Insomnia… How are your pups doing?"
Lucid holds her belly, "They kick every once in a while but other than that they've been good… And yours?"
"Really well! I think that I'll get to give birth to them soon."
Lucid nods, "That's wonderful."
"Um," she seems a little nervous to ask what's on her mind but spits it out anyway, "D-do you think the legend Carlos, father of the new generation, will return to see them?"
Lucid is a little surprised, "You still remember him?"
Ocean shoves her ex playfully, "Well, of course I remember him! He's a legend! Will he be back or not?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't spoken to him in a while…"
Ocean looks a little sad, her feathers dimming slightly, "Oh, okay. I'd better let you get to work."
"Yeah, I'll be seein' ya then."
"See you."
Lucid goes past Ocean and opens the door to the nightclub she worked at. The air conditioning ruffled her fur pleasantly and the familiar smell of food she could only barely sense made her feel welcome. A variety of different aliens were out on the dance floor and some sat over at the bar. Lucid could make out a lot of Irkens, many Vortians, a few Vortkens, and the glow of one or two other Adusta Pluma.
She makes her way to the DJ stand to relieve the other DJ of his duties. The other DJ, Radd was too busy listening to the music and mixing it he didn't notice Lucid's approach.
"Radd, I'm here, you can go now, bro." She lets the tip of her tail touch his leg.
Radd pulls off the headphones he's wearing, "Yo, yo, DJ Insomnia finally shows up," he laughs and checks the digital clock on the mixing station continuing to mix the music without stopping, "Just kidding, yo. You're a minute early but you can take over right now if you like."
"That'd be great," she bumps Radd out of the way with her hip, wincing at the pain made from her pups shifting in her belly, and takes over the mixing.
Radd stands back for a while, commenting on her mixing skills and choice of music. Eventually these comments turned into critiques. Lucid endured them but only because this was her teacher, the first person to introduce DJing to her. He had taught her most of what she knew about mixing and creating music.
He had started to create music when he was 7 and had kept it to himself until he was fourteen, sharing it secretly with his close friends. Lucid happened to be one of those friends. She looked up to him as almost and older brother and as her role model. At the age of 15 he shared how to make music with Lucid on the day of her 9th birthday. She was thrilled and so for the next 12 years they taught each other new ways of creating music and collaborated on a few projects. He was even the person who got her the job at the club.
They had become two of the closest friends, but never anything more. Lucid had once suggested going out together though Radd had declined. He told her it would feel weird to go from just friends to boyfriend and girlfriend. Plus, he had reasoned, he was too old for her even though Lucid didn't think that was a problem.
After about an hour Lucid turned around and spoke to him while she used her tail to mix the music, "Why are you still here? Don't you need to get some sleep?"
Radd sighed, "I should get some sleep, but I'm not tired yet."
"You aren't getting paid overtime to stand there."
He shrugs, "Yeah, so what? I want to listen to your music, yo. Izzat a problem?"
"Naw, no problem with that." Her feathers brighten with amusement.
After a minute, he comes out with another comment, "I can tell you've gotten better, though you didn't take off as much time as you usually do for heat. …Was there something wrong?"
Lucid grits her teeth, "Um…" She looks away from him and pulls her ears down unconfortably, "I'll tell you later…"
Radd doesn't ask any more questions, he merely leans up against the wall, arms crossed and tapping his foot to the beat. Lucid turned back around to focus on the music.
Strange as it was, Lucid had started to see Radd now not just as an older brother, but a guardian. This was odd because Adusta Pluma would not guard one another unless they had quite deep feelings for the other.
…Could it be possible that Radd was fonder of Lucid than he said he was?
True, he was often quiet. True, he did treat Lucid a little special. But it was also true he always told the truth. He must have another reason for protecting her because he had declined her offer to become more than friends.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Outside the Nightclub- 5:03 AM
Lucid had finished working for the day. Radd had stayed with her the entire time, despite falling asleep three times and being startled awake by a loud noise or Lucid nudging him. His eyes now looked tired and his red colored feathers were dim with exaustion.
They stop outside and sit together in Lucid's ship. Lucid takes the driver's seat and Radd occupies the other seat next to her.
"You were going to tell me something." Radd reminded her.
Lucid looks troubled a moment then blows out a sigh. "I got pregnant," she admits.
Radd is shocked, " What? I thought you were better than that!"
Lucid is taken aback, " You thought I was better than that? What do you mean?"
"What I mean," Radd's face creases up like he's about to cry, though that is impossible for their species to do, "Is that you always held yourself back during heat. Every time. What would ever cause you to break your habit?"
Lucid looks down at the floor, ashamed.
"Tell me," he persisted.
" Maybe I don't wanna ," Lucid's voice is somewhat harsh.
Radd sighs, "I can tell it's bothering you."
Lucid holds herself from speaking a moment but can no longer keep her emotions to herself, "There was a human demon kid, Carlos. He can apparently live through anythin'. You know the story, he got 87 of us pregnant in just three days. The next morning I went into heat and I couldn't resist becomin' the 88th girl." She looks completely ashamed of her actions, "I think it was the fact he cain't die that made all the difference for me. Otherwise I'm not sure if I'd have made that choice."
Radd takes a moment to absorb all of this.
His silence unnerves Lucid, who puts her hands over her face, "I'm such a whore!"
Radd holds her head to his chest, "You're not a whore."
"Yes, I am," Lucid snuffles loudly, "And I'm stupid too! I'm going to have pups and I don't even have the money to raise them!"
Radd looks concerned, "I could spare some money for you to use to raise your pups."
Radd's parents had died when the planet of Neyonia had been destroyed by the Irkens. The Neyonian's that escaped with their lives that day were now either slaves to the empire or refugees. The refugees were able to find others and banded together to form small communities on neighboring planets.
When Radd joined a community, he was completely broke. He had to live in a box for the first week there and would not move from it. Though he had not been linked to either of his parents by blood, he had been very attached to them and he mourned them greatly. Much to his surprise, his lawyer found his parent's will that left Radd with nearly a million dollars from a college and retirement fund they had kept.
Radd was overjoyed that his parents had thought of him and made sure to spend the money with care. It was not typical for him to loan out money at all, even when he was going to get the money back later.
"I could never pay you back though!"
"Who ever said anything about you paying me back?"
"No…" She shakes her head, "You'd just give it to me? You're not like that."
"Err…" he looks away from her.
"Come on, I had to answer a difficult question, now you have to."
Radd sighs, "I just don't like seeing you sad's all."
"That's it? It usually takes a lot more than that to get you to spend your money."
"I think you're a worthy cause," he says, nuzzling her. Lucid smiles and hugs him in response.
At this moment Lucid's cell phone rings. She jerks herself out of the hug and looks unhappily at the phone, then answers it.
It's her mom.
"Hello?"
"Lucid. Cillik escaped. "
Radd puts his head next to Lucid's to listen in on the conversation.
"Escaped?" asks Lucid in disbelief.
"Yes, when we sent her there a few months ago they had still been building the prison. They stopped construction and she got out."
"Oh my gods. How do you know this?"
"…She's here right now."
Lucid starts the ship, "I'll be right over mom." And she floors it.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Hovering over Lucid's house- 5:34 AM
Lucid had flown at top speed back to the house with Radd who was forced to come along due to the force of motion crushing him into the seat.
There was a crater less than a mile outside the town that was still smoldering. Lucid assumed that it was the wreckage of the ship Cillik had used to get off the prison planet and over to hers.
In town, there was but one set of red feathers, the ones belonging to Cillik. Red light glinted off of her fake metal wings and her arm scythe, making her look like the monster she was.
Cillik was howling, "Where are you Lucid? Sister! Sister! Answer me!"
Lucid looks over nervously at Radd, "Should we go down there?"
"Why'd you come back here if you weren't planning to face her?"
Lucid growls, "Hm. You've gotta point…" She flips a switch in the ship and they begin to descend.
Lucid lands the ship far enough away for Cillik not to notice them. They get out and cautiously approach Cillik from behind. When they're almost to her, Lucid accidentally trips over a rock. She loses her balance momentarily though surprisingly, manages to keep her footing. Cillik hears her and spins on her heel to face the two of them. Radd puts on a brave face but Lucid's face displays the pure fear she has of Cillk.
Cillik spreads her arms wide, "Sister, how nice of you to show up," she takes off the scythe she wears on her arm and lets it drop to the ground. Her half mask is pulled off and let fall next to the weapon, "We've been apart so long, I was afraid you'd forgotten about me."
Lucid turns slightly angry, "I'd never forget someone who brought on the destruction of our home."
Cillik glares at her, "That wasn't intentional."
"But the killing was," Lucid snaps back, "Why are you here? To kill the rest of us?"
"I didn't fly around the entire universe looking for you so I could kill you . That would be absolutely pointless, you're my sister, gods."
"If you didn't come here to kill me, what did you come here for?"
"…To apologize. I was given time to reflect on my actions in that jail. I also suffered from partial starvation, intense pain, and a severe loss of hearing during my time there. Anyways, after much thought I remembered something you and mom liked to call "morals". I, uh, borrowed internet power from them and researched these "morals" and found them inside of myself."
"So you just adopted some morals?"
"Yep."
"…Which ones?"
"Don't kill others, don't hurt others, don't steal, stuff like that."
Lucid thinks for a long moment, "… How'd you escape jail then?"
Cillik's beaming with pride as the answer flows almost naturally from her lips, "I killed them all," then she realizes she had broken her adopted moral code and the smile is stolen from her face, "Uh! I mean-"
"No, I think that was exactly what you meant," says Lucid, arms crossed.
Cillik looks defiant, "Hey, don't expect me to adapt overnight!"
Lucid just snorts and turns away from her sister.
"S-sister!" Cillik reaches out and grabs her sister by her shoulder, "Don't go."
Lucid stops but doesn't look back at her sister.
"I'm sorry. I really am."
Lucid turns around again and sees in her sister's face is sincere. She shakes her head, "Don't tell me that."
"Don't tell you…?"
"Don't tell me you're sorry. You should apologize to all the other families that lost their relatives and friends to you!"
"I don't even know them!"
"You could apologize to the Adusta Pluma that got forced out of their homes."
"I tried. I was kind of flying around blindly for a few months so when I found a community of Adusta Pluma and I apologized but most of them threw stuff at me, and it wasn't flowers and plush toys neither!" She rubs her most recent wounds inflicted by her contact with another Adusta Pluma community, "Those little bugs throw bombs and shoot cannons!"
Lucid raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, uh, I'm off topic again, aren't I?"
Both Lucid and Radd nod.
"Whatever," Cillik flicks her tail, "Forgive me or not?"
"I guess ," responds Lucid
"Alright! One down, one to go," Cillik says, walking off swiftly to the house to speak to her mother.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue, Lucid "Insomnia" Blue, and now Cillik Moonwarm Red - 12:12 AM
After about an hour of yelling at one another, Lucid's mother had allowed her other daughter to stay with them. The main reason this was so was because Cillik had resorted to using death threats. Cillik was now lounging on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, playing violent video games and occasionally yelling at the television. Her mother was busy pacing through the house and giving her red feathered daughter wary glances.
Lucid and Radd had snuck in while they were busy arguing and crept down to the basement. Lucid fell asleep in a chair around 11:00 and let Radd the guest bed, which he had gladly accepted. At this time he was struggling to get to sleep, turning over every once in a while to get into a more confortable position.
In less than an hour he'd have to be up and at work again.
He kicks his feet under the covers and puts his head under the pillow, trying more desperately than ever to fall asleep.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Residence of Moonlight Blue, Lucid "Insomnia" Blue, and now Cillik Moonwarm Red – 4:06 PM
After getting about 15 minutes of sleep, Radd had left at 12:00 PM to go back to work. He made sure he didn't disturb Lucid in her sleep.
Cillik wasn't so kind as to be quiet for the others sleeping. At 4:00 she had just beat Fallout 3 on the PS3 and she started howling like monkey, "Yeah! I won! Yes! Yes! WHOOOOO! ."
"Quit screaming like a two year old!" hollers her mother.
"Shuddup you bug! I beat the game start to finish in less than an hour! It's a new record!"
Lucid storms up the stairs, "Hey, some people are actually trying to sleep 'cause they have work in the morning!"
"You got a job? Gods, you sound like an old beetle," sneers Cillik.
"I think it sounds respectable," their mother cuts in.
"Shuddup, bug," Cillik snaps at her mother, "I wasn't talking to you."
"That's it, go to your room young lady!" their mother snarls.
Cillik pulls a kitchen knife out from under the couch cushion she's sitting on and holds it at her mother's throat, "Wanna loose your head, bug? Keep talkin' an' you will."
Her mother makes an exasperated noise and shuts up.
Cillik turns her cold, murderous eyes on her sister, "Job- shmob," she twirls the knife between her fingers absentmindedly, "If you had really needed your sleep you wouldn't have come up here."
"That's not-"
Cillik tosses the knife right past Lucid's ear. The knife buries itself deep into the wall, the handle was the only thing that stuck out. "Fair? Life's not fair. Get over it."
Lucid jumps and keeps her head down in fear. "Gods above!"
"If you need to sleep so bad, go back to bed," Cillik hissed, picking another knife from out beneath the couch cushion.
"Yipe!" Lucid runs back downstairs as quick as her feet would take her. She almost forgets the pups in her belly and dives into bed, but at the last moment she stops and sits down in her chair again.
Lucid puts a hand over her heart. It was racing faster than ever before.
No chance of getting any more sleep now.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Residence of Radd - 12:46 PM – 4 days later
The day after Cillik had come back, Lucid was already considering moving. Her sister's return was not the only worry she had. She was very close to having her pups and still didn't want her mother to know about it.
Radd must have sensed all this because he had invited her to come and stay with him for the time being. Immediately she had accepted the generous offer. She had packed her things in an hour, told her mother she was going to live somewhere else for a while (as soon as Cillik was out of earshot so she wasn't offended), and left for Radd's house.
Radd had given her a room for herself, separate from his own, and gave his best attempt to be a good host. Lucid quickly became confortable in his house. It was a much less stressful environment than her house and she was happy to have a different scene to wake up to in the morning than her usual room.
At night, Radd might sit at the end of her bed and watch her for a period of time before retiring to his own bed. He was doing that tonight. Lucid, living up to her nickname of Insomnia, woke up just before he was going to go back to bed.
As Radd was getting up off the bed Lucid took hold of his tail, "Radd…Why?"
He stops dead in his tracks, "Why what?"
"Why don't you-" she stops mid-scentence and cringes, her belly in great pain.
"Why don't I what?" Radd asks, almost afraid now.
" Run! Go get the doctor! My pups are comin'! " She screams at him.
"Oh!" Radd jumps back, partly out of his ears getting hurt by her yelling, and partially because he wasn't expecting her to say that. Then, without further hesitation runs for the doctor, leaving Lucid to grapple with her labor pains on her own.
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Residence of Radd – 2:30 PM
In roughly an hour after the doctor had gotten there all of Lucid's pups had been born, though to Lucid that time had felt like an eternity. As soon as the pups had come out of her she blacked out and awoke a few minutes later. Shortly after she had woken up and declared she couldn't go back to sleep again, Radd was allowed into her room.
As he walked in he was astonished to see Lucid with seven pups clustered around her. These pups didn't look a whole lot like the Adusta Pluma that were common nowadays.
One small female had entirely blue fur and a skinny male had entirely green fur, a trait that had been lost many generations ago and hadn't been seen until now. Pups such as these were considered pure.
Another, astonishingly, had more than one color of feather. Actually, the young male had a strip of feathers down his back that formed a rainbow.
Yet another pup had silver feathers, a rarity among the Adusta Pluma at any time. Though it was considered to be caused by a bacteria or virus of some kind- the condition was harmless.
Though, rarest of all, there was an albino and a black furred pup sitting next to each other. The albino had snow white fur and cherry red eyes. Her feathers were black though, usually an indicator of extreme sorrow. The black one had white feathers. He seemed to be the calmest of all the pups.
The others were mutts like their mother, brown furred and had pretty blue feathers. There were a total of three females and four males.
"Wow," commented Radd, "I didn't know it was possible for you to do that."
"Me either," admits Lucid, "though it was probably Carlos with his ability to mate with any species that made them so… unique lookin'."
The doctor nods, heading for the door, "The other ladies had similar results as well. This new generation is blessed by all the gods."
"That they are," agrees Lucid, struggling to her feet to go thank the doctor, though she can hardly keep her balance a minute before sitting back down on the bed. "Th-thank you for your help doctor," she pants hoarsely.
"Yes, thank you," chimes Radd.
"All in a day's work," he says, tipping his hat, "Good bye, and gods bless you all," and he leaves.
Just before he has shut the door Radd and Lucid call back, "Gods bless you as well!"
The pups try to mimic the words, some of them getting half of it out and others just sound like they're mumbling.
Radd laughs, amused, and Lucid gathers them close to her with her tail. He sits down at the end of the bed, looking over Lucid. What he hadn't noticed until now was that Lucid was actually thinner than before. Despite eating until her belly could hold no more, Lucid had barely gotten enough food for all her pups and herself.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, staring at horror at her once round belly, "Are you hungry at all?"
"No… Not a whole lot…"
"But look at all the weight you lost!"
Lucid looks down and for the first time realizes she's much thinner than before, "Oh my god! If I had known getting' pregnant could make me so much thinner I'd have done it sooner!"
She was thin now, but didn't have the body of a supermodel. She looked kind of underfed, actually.
She wobbled her way to the bathroom and stood shakily on the bath scale. Having had been thirty pounds overweight before getting pregnant she thought that she might still be a little out of shape. Incredibly, when the needle stopped, it showed that she was now only two pounds overweight.
Lucid stares in horror at the scale.
"On second thought," she says, turning to Radd, "Gimme everythin' in the pantry."
XxX
Neyonia the Second- Radd Red's house
Lucid was taking care of her pups. Some of them were beginning to speak clearly already, though they had no understanding of what the words meant. Their voices matched Lucid or Radd, whoever was speaking at the time, and would copy them so it sounded like there was an echo in the house.
Radd had gone out to get more food for the house as Lucid had really eaten everything in the pantry. How she had managed it was a feat in of itself.
"Hey." He said, laying down the paper grocery sacks on the table. All the pups copy his words. The pup that Lucid was feeding at the time even looked up and chorused Radd's words along with the others.
Lucid wriggled uncomfortably as the pup went back to feeding again. She huffed at Radd, not wanting to talk at the moment. Her breasts, which had swelled with milk, hurt and getting fed off hurt. Oh, how she regretted giving in to her heat urges.
A dark thought crawled into her head, If only Carlos could come see the little monsters he made.
Lucid's fur rose as this passed through her mind. It hadn't been since she had started on her anti-depressant pills that some thought like this had entered her mind. She knew it had effect for a month after you took your last one and a month was the time it took for pups to develop…
"Oh no," she gasped. She almost let the little green pup drop from her hands and to the floor in her haste to get back to her temporary room. She dug through her bags, desperately searching for her antidepressants.
Not in the medicine bag. Maybe in the suitcase? Not in the suitcase. Maybe in the music bag? Nope. In the laptop bag? No. Maybe she hadn't searched the medicine bag thoroughly enough. Nada.
She went through all the bags three full times before giving a frustrated whine. She had strewn her stuff all over the floor from searching her bags so frantically. Radd, who had been looking on with a concerned expression, now knelt down beside her and put an arm around her as she let out a long, low pitched noise- the Adusta Pluma alternative to crying.
Lucid snuffles loudly and hugs him tightly to her chest, making her milk squirt over his face. "My medication!" she cried, "How could I forget it?" From the kitchen the pups mimic her.
Radd pulls himself out of the embrace and wipes the milk from his face. "Medication? What medication?"
Lucid remembers she had never told Radd about her anti depression medications. Only she, her mom, and everyone at Cynder's last sleepover even knew about it. Her voice grows so quiet only he can hear, "It's an anti-depressant. I need it."
"W-why?" Radd asks, shocked.
"I-I…" Lucid looks down at her hands, "I'd rather not talk about it…"
Radd huffs, "Well, you can't have it yet anyway. It'd get in your milk. Your pups would be affected by it as much as you'd be."
Lucid makes the low noise again and her voice raises to a whine, "But I need it! I can't live without it! "
At this Radd looks very concerned. He holds her face between his hands and makes eye contact with her, "Lucid, I've known you a long time and you haven't always needed an anti-depressant. You lived without it then, you can live without it now."
Lucid snuffles again. He continues to hold her face so she runs her claws gently down his chest fur. He shies away from her, clearly uncomfortable.
She let a growl slip from between her lips momentarily. Luckily it wasn't very loud otherwise she'd have to explain why she was upset to him.
Ignoring the stuff she had left all over the floor, she leaves to finish feeding her pups. Radd stays in her room to pick up her stuff. And, though neither of them are aware of it though they both sigh at the same time.
XxX
Later…
The pups are asleep and Lucid is sitting on the kitchen chair listening to her Mp3 player and making the low noises. Radd looks more uncomfortable than ever. His face is twitching and his foot is tapping rapidly. He joins her low moaning.
She notices the new voice that had joined hers. She pulls her headphones off, "Why are you sad?"
"Because you are sad."
"You don't even know why I'm sad!"
"Yet it makes me sad to see you sad."
Lucid feels her insides wrench. Having him say this only makes her feel more upset and sad.
Her silence urges Radd to prod her with another statement, "Why don't you talk about it?"
"No!" Fury burns inside of Lucid.
"Come on. Tell me," He insists, "It'll make you feel better."
Lucid's face wrinkles up and she growls, her feathers turning dark, "Okay, fine, I'll tell you everything that bothers me. After I do you've got to answer me one question truthfully."
Radd doesn't even pause to think, "Deal. Now what's eatin' you?"
"Well first, there's my sister. She was the start of all my problems in the first place. Cillik took all my mom's attention, she kept me up late durin' school nights, she "borrowed" my clothes without my permission. Durin' middle school I got fat and my social ranks suffered and to get them back I had to put on a show! That show I've kept until today, pretendin' to be happy and nice and popular! I'm ashamed and it hurts me to never feel able to show my true colors.
Then, another thing is that I'm upset that I like a demon from another planet. I should really stick to my own species. But I don't want to kill anyone. That's what it is! I don't like hurtin' people. I don't wanna be like my sister! She is evil.
I also hate being fat, but then I also love it. It's comfortable and soft but it doesn't look good. Plus I'm not fit which is bad.
Sometimes I'm depressed for no reason. Sometimes little things trigger it, sometimes it takes bigger things. When I have a music block I get totally slogged with horrible feelings and right now I think I'm getting one.
Lastly, there's you. You cause me a lot of drama. You act like you like me but whenever I try to express my feelings physically you get all shy! It's annoyin' and saddenin'! It's like I can't trust you."
Radd's ears fall behind his head and he sits for a moment in shock as Lucid resumes her moaning louder than ever.
"Okay, you've done your part of the deal, now it's time for me to keep mine. What question do I have to answer?"
Lucid regains her composure and is able to keep her voice steady as she asks, "Why don't you want to be boyfriend and girlfriend? The honest truth."
"Err…" Radd bites his lip, "It's two things. Partially my anti-social disorder- which I have almost defeated- and the fact that I don't want to die."
"Oh," Lucid's ears droop, "So that's why. Haven't you ever heard of how us females will have two boyfriends, one is the one they love the other is the one they take to bed?"
"Yes. I've heard of that."
Well, now that I've got Carlos to satisfy my in heat urges, would you go out with me now?"
Radd looks uncomfortable again.
"I'd never make love to you," she promised.
Radd chuckles, "You know, that would sound really bad if we were a different species."
"So is that a yes?"
"Er… Only if you said you'd go out with me."
Lucid thinks a moment. If Carlos had multiple girlfriends why shouldn't she have multiple boyfriends?
…
"Of course I'd go out with you, honey."
"S-so is this official? Are we goin' out now?"
"Yep. But to really seal the deal…" she moves out of her own seat and sits down next to him in the same chair, "Why don't we kiss?"
A mix of conflicted emotions pass over his face, but remembering her promise he finally takes her head in his hands and they kiss.
XxX
Aboard the Massive- In the Control Room - Same day
BEEP! BEEP!
The Irken who had been asleep with his feet up sat bolt upright as the computer alerted him of an incoming transmission. The address appeared before him. The Warden, Mt. Vizon Maximum Security Penitentiary, Planet Vort
BEEP! BEEP!
The Irken clicked a button to open the message. He was greeted by the face of another Irken. The resolution was low- perhaps the camera had been damaged in some way- and every so often the picture would flicker.
The Irken on the screen had most of his face covered by a hat though what could be seen was not a pretty sight. He had gashes and was burned a great deal, some of the flesh partially melted off. Despite his condition, he looked relatively calm.
In the background, the destroyed remnants of a lab could be seen. There was broken glass everywhere and a metal beam had fallen from the ceiling that was now lying on the floor.
The Irken on the Massive opened his mouth to speak but the Warden beat him to it. "One of our prisoners escaped, all the others are dead. I am requesting the assistance of the Armada to bring her back."
The Irken saluted, "Yes sir! I'll ask Red and Purple right away sir!"
The Warden merely nodded and cut the transmission.
XxX
Aboard the Massive- Inside the Tallest's chambers- Same day
After twenty minutes of knocking on the door, the Tallest finally answer it. The Irken who had answered the transmission stared up at them.
"What is it?" spat Red, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah, what do you want?" yawned Purple
"Umm…" the Irken shifted nervously on his feet, "Cillik escaped jail. The Warden is requesting the assistance of the Armada."
"You woke us up for that!" hollered Purple, loud enough to wake up any other sleeping passengers.
Red claps a hand over Purple's mouth. "If it's just one creature then get somebody to kill her. The armada doesn't need to waste it's time with some criminal."
"M-my Tallest, she's one of the few you had sent to the high security Vortian prison. She's killed more than 100 Irkens in her lifetime and she's still young. I don't think just one-"
"You dare doubt your Tallest?" asked Red, cutting the other Irken off.
The other Irken cowered in fear, "N-no sirs! Never!"
"Good. Now get out of here.