have you changed? so have I

@omniishambles asked : "They’re gonna hate me. They already hate me." From Leah , from x .

amelia   embraced   her   without   a   second   thought   ,   pressing   gentle   kisses   against   her   blonde   hair   whilst   slowly   rocking   leah   within   the   safety   of   her   arms   .   something   inside   amelia's   chest   ached   painfully   ,   (   a   strange   unfamiliar   sadness   wrapping   itself   tightly   around   both   women   alike   )   .   she   wanted   desperately   to   soothe   her   ,   to   promise   that   everything   would   somehow   be   alright   in   the   end   ,   and   yet   such   reassurances   dissolved   silently   alongside   the   tears   staining   amelia’s   otherwise   pristine   shirt   .   (   this   was   unusual   for   her   )   ,   to   care   this   deeply   ,   to   hold   someone   so   tenderly   outside   of   rufus   and   the   children   .   but   leah   had   long   since   become   more   than   a   friend   in   amelia’s   eyes   .   she   was   family   .   a   sister   .   (   and   she   wanted   to   protect   her   sister   )   .

❝   .   .   .   they   could   never   hate   their   favorite   aunt   ,   leah   .   you   truly   should   not   be   so   hard   on   yourself   .   ❞   eventually   ,   hazel   eyes   lifted   to   search   leah’s   once   more   ,   (   and   a   weary   ,   semi   honest   smile   finally   settled   across   amelia’s   face   )   as   she   wiped   away   the   remaining   tears   with   the   hem   of   her   sleeve   .   ❝   .   .   .   if   anything   ,   they   miss   you   terribly   .   you   cannot   possibly   imagine   the   amount   of   pictures   they   have   drawn   for   you   .   all   of   them   ,   with   little   sunflowers   .   ❞

@cbitus // & AMELIA

That simple thought made Leah laugh, but with it came a sob that escaped before she could stop it. They were the sweetest babies in the world, and she loved them fiercely. But she'd let them down. Where had she been while they were pouring out their love into painting? When they wanted to see her and she'd cancelled time and time again?

Home. Covering her bruises. Wiping her tears. Putting on a smile as though that could change anything, but desperate to diffuse the tension after she and Chase had disagreed.

He'd disagreed. With what she was wearing, or what she'd made for lunch, or the fact she was evern thinking of going somewhere without telling him, asking for permission. At the time, it had drip fed into normality. Now, though, away from that situation, the dark bubble popped, she could feel differently.

She could feel anger. At herself, yes, for allowing it to go on the way it did. But at him too, for treating her that way.

Leah reached for Amelia's cheek, wiping away the lingering trace of tears even while her own face was still streaked.

@omniishambles . a gray saves the day 👽

C57BL/6's ship had picked up on the distress signal a few hours ago. Changing course and docking had been an easy maneuver. Spaceships in trouble were usually full of good test subjects, C57BL/6 thought. Worth a little detour.

Inside, the scene was bloodier than anticipated. Whatever had happened had decimated all of the crew, leaving behind nothing but mangled corpses. Some had their insides torn apart from the inside out (as if something had burrowed itself inside their stomach, then broke free).

Interesting.

There was a hostile life form on this ship. Perhaps several. It was the only logical conclusion, considering the severity of the carnage. But C57BL/6 was not too concerned. It would be a simple retrieval. Clearly, this life form was animalistic in nature. Perhaps even stupider than the humans it had killed.

C57BL/6 expected the ship to be empty (save for the creatures, of course). But after a few minutes spent exploring the dark corridors splattered with blood, he picked up on a wave of emotions, coming from one of the rooms. Human emotions, no doubt. (Humans had so many of those).

Even more interested than before, C57BL/6 headed for the room. A human would make for a very fine subject, too. What a bountiful day, after all. But humans scared easy, and this one was already on edge. So, he made a point to raise his hands as he walked in. His appearance could be unsettling to lesser life forms.

@hvbris // & C57BL/6

If that voice hadn't been in her head, Leah might not have heard it. Her heart was drumming loud, drowning out everything else. She was desperately trying to focus on her breathing, to control the ragged gasps that were all she had left after running hard. It would hear her if she didn't calm down.

The door whipped open, and a tall figure entered. It took a moment for her to register that it wasn't the creature that had eviscerated the entire space station. Her instinct had been to curl up even tighter in the small space between the desk and the lockers.

Fear turned to confusion, then to fear again, despite the offer of help.

''...what are you? Who are you?'' She replied, correcting herself. It was intelligent, obviously, if it could speak and communicate so clearly. Until this horror show had started, she'd never seen an alien before. Even with interstellar travel, the chances of seeing another living organism was incredibly rare.

Leah wondered briefly if this could be some strange type of android. The working joe's were basic in their design, just humanoid enough, but very clearly robotic. Not like the higher end synthetics.

His heart dropped and he felt himself turning cold as he studied them. Physical attacks were never a good sign but this one had drawn blood and not only that but her wounds weren't healing. He knew it was going to be a fight but he had hoped it would not be such a big one.

"Oh si, I have seen this before," Lorenzo still reassured her with such an air of blase confidence he hoped would adequately hide his internal worry. He used the moment to temporarily shift attention off of him though, pretending to be focused on redressing her arm. "I will bless your arm later," he mused comfortably and patted her shoulder with a large, warm but very gentle hand. "Es no new to me," which was the truth at least, he had seen it before and it had terrified him then too.

@multipleoccupancy // & LORENZO

That offer was enough for her parents to dive in, and Leah let them. Her Mother confessed the things that had happened in their apartment when Leah was just a baby, the entity that had grown more and more sinister as it tried to terrify its way to gaining what it wanted-

A soul.

An innocent soul was best, of course. Leah felt a familiar twinge of nausea mingled with love, because her mom had done everything she could to protect her. She would have sacrificed herself. Had stood on the window ledge with that doll in her arms.

''It started small, things moved around- the doll moved around.'' Mia was explaining, her face white at the very memory. That had been happening here too.

Keys moved. Books. Glasses and cups. Little things that had sowed irritation in the household, easily blamed on eachother. Leah thought it was weird how tense her mom seemed to get whenever something wasn't in its place. But then appliances began to act out, as though they had minds of their own. The sewing machine started running with nobody near it. The TV switched channels, lowered and raised volume. Ran painful static no matter how much her dad fumed over the antenna.

Leah had been letting her parents talk, telling Lorenzo these things. But suddenly it was her turn again, because they were looking at her. Leah could see the fear in their eyes, and for a brief moment, she wondered if they were afraid for her, or of her.

''I saw something. In the basement.''

The silence in the air was stifling once those words left her lips. Leah reached instinctively for the cross around her neck, turning the delicate gold in her fingers like she had so many times.