Hinnom looks like they're going to burst into tears: there's already yellow pinpricks at the corner of their eyes, and Marduk feels like she's been called on in lecture. She doesn't know what to do.
She's certain she's not pale for Hinnom, or any other colour; their friendship is the platonic camaraderie of lonely age-mates in a hostile city. But she doesn't think she can deal with the way they look right now.
"It's okay," she says, and she sounds a little distraught now, too. If Hinnom starts crying, she's going to cry, and then where will they be? They won't have to worry about the drones: judging by the alarmed looks Riccin is giving them, they might cull them just to escape. "It's okay! They're just going to run our symbols and IDs and make sure no one is dying."
Their lusus is climbing out of zir shirt and wrapping around zir neck, the oversized mandibles clicking with what might be distress. She wants to pat them, but the mandibles and each set of legs are coloured with bright, poisonous red, so she bunches her hands on the side of her tunic instead.
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She's certain she's not pale for Hinnom, or any other colour; their friendship is the platonic camaraderie of lonely age-mates in a hostile city. But she doesn't think she can deal with the way they look right now.
"It's okay," she says, and she sounds a little distraught now, too. If Hinnom starts crying, she's going to cry, and then where will they be? They won't have to worry about the drones: judging by the alarmed looks Riccin is giving them, they might cull them just to escape. "It's okay! They're just going to run our symbols and IDs and make sure no one is dying."
Their lusus is climbing out of zir shirt and wrapping around zir neck, the oversized mandibles clicking with what might be distress. She wants to pat them, but the mandibles and each set of legs are coloured with bright, poisonous red, so she bunches her hands on the side of her tunic instead.