Dancing with the Wind.
Watercolour, alcohol marker and pigment ink on paper.
*"I've pulled down the Heavens just to please You, appease You. To hold a flower I can't keep."* ['Behold! The Nightmare,' The Smashing Pumpkins, Adore, 1998]
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As I had to take a long-ish break from writing (editing takes time) I am offering you a little scene, which I have written last year. It belongs to this story, the one of the Little Companion made for Prime's Enjoyment, and his Brothers, the Attendants: the Reserved Brother, and the Caring Brother (these, are not names).
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[Velvet Glove, Time Unspecified before Silence Fell]
Little Brother was staring with huge eyes and high ears at the specimen that was in front of him. 'Flowers' had said the Caring Brother.
"Flowers." These were beautiful.
He loved to come to the Oxygen Factory, to accompany his Brothers to take care of the specimens here. He had not been given purpose, yet. He was only following the Attendants, helping or observing as they performed their tasks. Patiently waiting for the Emperor to ask for him, hoping he would finally be given a purpose. And secretly wishing that when he would, his purpose would keep him close to their Beloved God.
Little Brother had learnt so much since he was newly Crafted. He would certainly be given his own purpose soon. As his ears lowered and he inhaled the scent of the flowers, the Sweet One let his eyes close, hugging himself quietly.
"Do you wish to know what these are called, Little Brother?" the voice of the Caring Brother came from his side, the soft and quiet tone making his hearts skip a beat.
His ears twitched twice, and he opened his huge eyes. "Yes, please."
He smiled at his Brother. He knew this was forbidden, but Prime was not here, at that moment. And this Brother had stopped asking him not to smile in his presence alone. So Little Brother allowed himself to smile, when they were just the two of them.
"They are called 'daffodils', and they come from a long extinct planet called "Earthe", you can touch them, gently, if you wish?" The Caring One said - giving him a 'name' was forbidden, so Little Brother only named him and his Reserved Brother in his head. He would NEVER say their names out loud. Ever.
He was about to extend a hand towards the delicate petals, when a deeper, smoother frequency came from behind them both.
"Their other name is 'Narcissus'. Do you know where this comes from, Little Brothers?"
They both froze, Caring's ears perking up and proud, Little Brother's, lowering and getting slowly green-tinted. None of them answered.
"Are you scared to speak, now?" The voice was smiling.
They both turned around, and spoke in unison: "No, Brother, I do not know where this comes from."
They looked at each other, and blushed slightly, before both turning towards the new comers, bowing in perfect synchronisation.
The Reserved Brother was standing very solemnly, a few steps behind their God. None of the younger Ones had heard their steps, and they were now standing very close to them.
The Caring Brother took his place on the other side of his God, and the God Himself took a step towards the Little Brother.
He did not touch him. He just stood close, extending his steeled claw towards the flower the Little One had been about to touch.
"They are also called 'narcissus', after a mythological legend from that long gone world. After the story of a man who fell in love with his own reflection, and lost himself in contemplation. it is said he was turned into one of these flowers."
Little Brother's eyes went from the flowers, to his beautiful God.
He did not understand how one could fall in love with his own reflection. Especially when one was a Brother, like himself, and all his Brethren. And they were all he knew. And Brothers needed not fall in love with their own reflection, for they had Prime to love. No, definitely, Little Brother decided, this story made no sense. No sense at all.
[Theleema, Daffodil of the Storm, Imperial Jester, 2021]
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Post war clones living in apartments and such, one day some group of shinies (they will forever be shinies because they were some of the ones that never went to war they are designated vod’ika forever lol also fix the fast aging issue kk) is sitting in an apartment hanging out watching movies or something when someone knocks on their door. They open it up to a crying woman and they’re all ‘Omfg’ and she asks them to take care of something in her apartment because she’s scared. These vod’ike who have never gone to war are ready for this. They can handle this. If their ori’vod could punch droids and snub their noses at Sith, they can handle a domestic dispute for a neighbor.
It’s a spider. She’s scared of spiders and was trying to relax when she found one above her bed. They dispatch the intruder and comfort her with awkward shoulder pats and telling her she’s brave for asking for help.
They have finally done it. They found a vod’ika who’s more vod’ika than them. They’re keeping her. Does she know how to use the instant pot? It keeps scaring them into changing dinner plans. She can help with that.
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