Worried, Sick
A/N: I could be writing Sole Memorial (formulating the chapter while I’m at work does not make good production) or any other backlog fic I got, but instead I wanted to write out this ABL headcanon. So... enjoy!
Atta had thought her pacing days were over, at least those ones where she would act like the sky was falling. But things just couldn’t be so easy for her, could they?
No, they couldn’t, and that was why she was pacing to and fro in front of her bedroom, waiting anxiously for word from inside. “I should be in there,” Atta muttered, pausing to touch the leaves, and then go right back to pacing. “But can I really… No, no, I should. What kind of message am I sending by being out here?”
“Trust, for one thing,” Mother piped up, petting Aphie as she could any ordinary day. “Besides, Dr. Flora will need all the concentration she can get.”
Atta stopped and tried to force her wings still, but they still quivered. “But what if something happens and I’m not there?” she asked. “I should be there for my—”
“Trust me, you’ll be the first to know if anything changes.” Mother grasped her hands—Atta hadn’t even noticed her put Aphie down—and squeezed. “Now follow my lead. Breathe in… and out…” She herself took deep breaths to demonstrate, and the familiar guidance began to calm Atta’s nerves. “There we go, that’s my girl. Everything will be fine, I know, and do you know why?”
“Because Dr. Flora’s on the case?” Atta answered almost absently.
“Yes, and what else?”
After a little more consideration, Atta gave her a sheepish smile. “I guess Flik has gotten out of worse scrapes than this.”
“Well, that, but what I’m trying to say is this happens all the time”—Mother affixed her with a firm look—“and you still see plenty of fathers in the colony, don’t you?”
“Right, right.” Another smile, this time nostalgic. “It’s our lot in life.”
“Well, maybe not our lot, but it’s our life,” Mother chuckled.
No one knew why nor how, but there was a strange phenomenon among most bug species that males would fall ill after trying for a child. It varied from bug to bug, some mild and some severe; but it happened without fail. Every couple knew to expect the telltale symptoms of exhaustion that fell in the morning. Even Flik, it seemed, had no choice but to follow that rule.
Exhaustion just might have been an understatement, however. “He just looked so…”
As Atta recalled what happened earlier that morning, what peace she gained began to melt away. She'd woken up to find Flik awfully pale and unmoving, much like he’d been after the night of the colony’s revolution. It was because she’d seen him like this before that she thought she was just having a nightmare, only becoming horrified once she realized she wasn’t dreaming. How else was she supposed to feel, seeing such a jarring change when her consort had been so lively merely hours before?
After that, no amount of fact could phase her. It didn’t matter that this was something almost every ant parent went through at some point. It didn’t matter that there existed fathers in the colony, healthy as could be. It didn’t even matter that Flik had startled awake (though it was hard to tell) at her panicking. All she cared about was getting someone to help, please help, don’t let her lose him!
“I should have known this would happen. Something always happens, it’s Flik,” she muttered, and then she sighed wistfully. “But he’s so good with Dot and the other children, and I wanted—and he also—he said he’d be okay and like an idiot I believed him.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Mother began softly, understanding, “your father was much the same way when we agreed to have you, and didn’t he turn out fine?”
Atta bit back a retort.
But it seemed her message still rang clear. “I know you’re worried, and don’t you think I don’t understand.” Mother squeezed her hands again, this time a little tighter. “Just follow the doctor’s orders, and that boy will be up and running in no time. In the meantime”—she sent a knowing glance down—“you can go tell the colony the good news.”
“The colony! That’s right, I have to make an announcement!” Then Atta pulled away and groaned when she realized just what she had to explain. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they already know. I must have woken everyone up.”
“Maybe our younger members, sure,” chirped Dr. Flora, peeking through the leaf curtains. “But I recall when a certain queen before you screamed so loud we formed an army!”
“Flora,” Mother chided and sent her a halfhearted warning look, “I trust you have some words to ease your queen.”
“Oh, yes.” Dr. Flora stepped aside and allowed her nurses to leave. “You can come inside, now. We’ll be back later to check on him, but he’s stable.” She giggled knowingly. “I should go make sure Thorny hasn’t keeled over by now.” Another giggle, and then she was on her way. “Congratulations, Your Majesty!” Almost immediately after, nearby passing ants followed with their own greetings and congratulations—some had noticeably stiff edges to them.
Atta groaned again and would have hid her quickly heating face if not for her growing desire to return to Flik’s side. Straightening up, she marched through the leaves, ready to face whatever sight lay within.
And once she did, her anxiousness fell away.
Flik was nearly fully hidden under the petals save for his hands, which had bunched some of the petals against his face in a clear display of embarrassment. Sickly pale as he was, he was still very much alive. Even his groans were more akin to awkwardness than pain.
Atta sat at the edge of the flower, soon torn between taking a hand or crossing her arms. The first option won out. “You scared me to death, you know,” she scolded him.
Flik startled and lowered the petal hiding him. “A-Atta, hey!” He flashed her a smile; tired in his current state, but still oddly charming. “W-what brings you here?”
“To our room?” Atta said, raising a brow.
“Oh, of course! Ours. We’re…” He brought the petal back up a little, but he looked more thoughtful now. “So, we’re actually having a…”
“We are.” Atta gave Flik’s hand a small squeeze. “Hard to believe.”
“Yeah…” Oh, he’s got stars in his eyes now. “A little tyke of our own. Who’da thought?”
“You hadn’t?”
“It was more of a fantasy to me.”
It was certainly more than Atta ever thought, but she kept that to herself. “Tell me about this fantasy,” she said instead. “Maybe… any names?”
“I have, actually, though it’s been a while since I thought of them,” Flik confessed. “Let’s see… I guess, for our first girl, I’d always liked—”
Before he could finish, the leaves forcefully parted. The pair turned their eyes to see a buzzing and lilac blur making a beeline to the bed.
Thankfully, for all her obvious worry, Dot refrained from barreling into her brother-in-law. “Flik! You okay?!” she cried. “I heard you got really sick, but I was stuck in Blueberry Scouts and had to stay until we were done!”
“Aw, I’m fine, kiddo,” Flik chuckled and patted her head. “Just need a little rest, that’s all.”
“What happened? You were fine yesterday.”
“Uh—well…” Flik tried to laugh the awkwardness away. “Atta and I were working on a special project, and I may have overexerted myself?” He sent her an apologetic glance.
Dot glanced at her sister, frowned suspiciously, and set her attention back to Flik. “But how come Atta’s okay?”
The apologetic glance returned with a plea for help.
And thus began a long and hopefully friendly explanation for the coming of a new member of the family.
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! And yes, my headcanon that I wanted to write out is that bug fathers get sick instead of outright dying. ( -v-)
This can go either two ways: a general sick story with no stakes, or something that leads Atta (and maybe also Dot) on a small quest to get some medicine that happened to run out.
P.S. If there’s interest, I may write more snips involving the likely OC that would come out of this. Got a name picked out and everything!
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Desert Rain :part 2
Warnings none yet.
I've decided to expand the drabble I wrote.
You had been left alone in the tent hoping to be left alone long enough to change out of your wet clothes without any interruption. Picking up the dry clothes Fraser? Had dropped when he had stormed after Dave Kershaw You noted it looked like a boiler suit. Well it wasn't like you could be chosey. You did have a change of clothes but they had been abandoned along with the truck. You had decided your tools were more important. Stripped off completely you hung all your soaking clothes from the line running along the top of the tent and pulled on the boilersuit being glad it covered everything, even if it was two sizes too big.
Exiting the tent you went looking for Alexander and the driver whose name you had forgotten but were sure was Frank. It was too late and too dark for you to repair anything but you needed to know where you would be sleeping and what would be the plan to recover the truck come morning.
Noise seemed to be coming from what you could only guess was a mess hall of sorts made up from mud bricks, bits of timber and copious amounts of canvas. Walking in you scanned the room quickly hoping you would find your colleague quickly as you could already feel multiple pairs of eyes on you already. Spotting Alexander near the back you made a quick beeline towards him and sat down. "Do you have any idea what we're to do about the truck or where we might be sleeping? " you asked. "Plan is we sleep in the tents we were shown and some guy called Mike is going to take us back to the truck in the morning. Never said a time, just they would come get us." Came the reply. "Also I've to give you this" Alexander said as he handed over a revolver. "Something about he trusts his men but you never know anyone really" . Taking the gun in hand you slowly rotated in your hand before getting to your feet. "I'll see you in the morning then".
Morning came with a wave of heat that you gladly welcomed after the cold desert night. No-one had come for you yet and you couldn't hear anyone outside the tent. Retrieving your own clothes you got dressed quickly and exited the tent. Your early rise seemed to have been for nothing as not a doul could be seen. It seemed like the tight schedule of army life didn't quite make it out here. You decided it would be best placed if you stated in your tent.
What seemed to be an hour or so passed before a wild head of hair popped through the flap of the tent. "You y/n" was asked . "Am Mike Sadler your taxi driver for the morning" You had no idea how he knew your name only guessing that Alexander or Frank had told him. Getting to your feet you followed him to a waiting vehicle and climbed in the back and waited for the rest of your party. It was only in the daylight you noted that, this Mike was the man who had defended you last night against Stirling's protest.
As you waited you spotted the man called Fraser? Enquiring you asked "What's his deal. I swear I didn't know if he was going to explode or die of embarrassment when he walked in on me changing last night" "What Bill? Hard to say really. Keeps himself to himself, bloody good soldier though." Came the reply. "Although I get ghe impression he's not been around women much. Tends to shy away and just drink when we're in Cairo" Interesting you thought to yourself as you watched thr man you now knew as Bill Fraser walk across the compound.
The rest of the day went quickly enough. The truck and everything in it was retrieved, you spent the rest of the day working on a particularly stubborn truck that refused to start jnly managing to get it going when it was time for dinner. Joining everyone else you felt more relaxed and could banter with those around you. As you did you couldn't help feel like someone was still staring. Looking around you locked eyes with the culprit whose was turning a familiar shade of red.
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Poem…August 4, 2022
“The Panther”
I sit disturbingly quietly on my lily pad on top of my blue blanket (Septolet)
Instead of under it, lately
The heat beneath has become too intense
The lava from my volcano has enjoyed leaving prominent burn marks
Licking my paws, I stare deadly at the constellations (Panku)
I am the panther of the night
I am supposed to fear the waves
I do not
But I do not trust them as much as I used to
My plain tawny grayish coat unkempt
I do not always care to be the lipstick lioness of the concrete jungle (Septolet)
Only when the guitar strikes the correct heart chord in my hallow temple
They left too many scars
That went straight to my heart
My nails sink into the round floating leaf of a water lily
Fragile
Like me
Remnants of murky green chlorophyl crawl under my uptight paws and into my bloodstream (Septolet)
Making me sickly
And as we know
It ain’t easy being green
My whiskers in pain
Like my chakras
Too scared to dip back into the sea where I used to enjoy swaddling myself
In my blue blanket
Where I would cocoon
Protection in the pupal stage
To later blossom into a butterfly
Instead, I rest my unsure torso on-top of the disintegrate pieces of shallow nature (Septolet)
A wildcat who is exhausted from being on the prowl
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