Pipsqueakverse Drabbles

The man’s begging was pathetic. Jack had heard it all before. He cocked his head and stared at the human, the embers behind his eyes burning bright.

“It isn’t your life to beg for, and it isn’t mine to spare. When you die, your body will rot, and feed the plants. Insects and grazers can eat the plants, and then other things eat those, and then humans eat those things, and then rot. And so on, until the stars all burn out.”

He gave a theatric wave.“My only contribution is I sometimes smooth out the process.”

### Okalae

“Is all of that yours?”

Okalae glanced down to where Cassandra was pointing. “Oh, no. Sorry.” Their white robes were covered in blood, starting around their wrists and soaking upwards. “None of it is mine, actually. The assassins had nonmagic weapons.” Underneath the bloody robes, Okalae’s godtouched skin remained unbroken and unharmed.

Cassandra stared at them for a long moment, clearly trying to decide if she should say something. Okalae had some guesses as to what it would be, but didn’t particularly care. They viewed combat and killing the same way many would view arguing.

Easy, sometimes pointless, and fun.

### Aiko Katayama

She played the memories back, over and over again, until every last detail had been squeezed out of them. The rain running down the glass. Takehiko’s arms wrapped firmly around her. His stilted apologies. The smell, off in the distance, of gunpowder. A promise of peace, broken.

And Aiko felt everything. She felt Takehiko’s regret. Her own grief. The rage of her friends and family as the war rolled in. The fear, as the only possible outcome presented itself.

Now, all was silent. Aiko stood alone in the village, surrounded by unthinking corpses whose hearts and fears lived inside her.

### Quxfin

The god roared, and Quxfin let it. They waited patiently for the rant, the theatrics, the demands to be worshipped or feared. And so she replied:
“No.”

She walked through the desolation the deity rained down, pushing spears of light aside and undoing the arcane glyphs that it weaved.

In this god’s world, it was an apex predator. It had never met someone like Quxfin before.

Before her spark ignited, she was an archmage, and reality was her toy. Now?

Now the only thing stopping her from conquering the universe, slaying its masters, and building an unbreakable future was time.

### Sesilius

**Monster**.
The word echoed in his head like a curse or slur. Humans were so hypocritical, and narrow minded. “If you lived like us, wouldn’t you desire freedom as well?” He’d asked.

“Your suffering doesn’t excuse your cruelty,” Alia had replied.

Sesilius wasn’t looking for excuses or absolution. He was looking for understanding. But it seemed that there was none to be found here. “I don’t have much longer here,” the Veil was beckoning him back, “but I’ll return soon. The sooner this world realizes it needs to share, the less suffering it’ll take.”

Next time, he’d be truly cruel.

### Jay Volkan

“Sixteen thousand creds.” Jay’s voice was as absolute as the price.

“For batteries? That’s outrageous.” The man crossed his arms. “My past supplier charged a third of that.”

“Then buy from him.” Jay rolled his eyes. “Tricell Batteries are hard to come by, and importing them isn’t cheap.” Especially from another world. He had a hookup on Zimask, even if Terra’s supply was dry. But turning credits into a currency that he could use on Zimask was going to heavily cut into his profits, so he needed to charge this much. “If they matter, you’ll pay.”

And he was right.

### Remi Amber

“I can’t do this anymore.”

Remi closed his eyes, trying to stop the conversation from repeating in his mind. Trying, and failing. For someone with allegedly ‘high psionic potential’, he was awful at controlling his brain. Maybe Slyten would help. Maybe space was the answer.

“Your body looks a way it never has before.”

Changing was hard. Even if Remi wanted it, not everyone else did.

“Is this what’s making you so sad?”

He couldn’t answer that question. So they’d broken up.

Remi pulled out his phone, and called the recruiter back: “I’ll join the next mission. All done here.”