Sorry for running late, I went to bed early last night because I had early yoga, and when I got up the site was down, so this is my first chance to post. I chose this prompt because it's something I'm going to be dealing with all too soon. *sigh*: grief

So sorry, Chris...

That intro was a little maudlin, sorry. Please feel free to use "grief" in any context that you'd like.

[unrecoverable text]

KT: Wow, uh, I have to confess that I've never understood women who would do something like that. They certainly exist, though! He might have picked the wrong woman.

Eep - KT, does she really think that will work? An ex of my FIL tried that and it didn't work for her.

KT, it's certainly an interesting twist. I'm gathering this was something done 'in the heat of the moment' and not with any forethought. But I could see it happening. I always wanted children, but I never really had much in the way of boyfriends. I made a pact with myself that if I turned 30 and there was 'no one in sight' then I would have a child anyway. Now I probably wouldn't have done it in the way Julia is going about it, but I can understand her wanting a child... even if she never tells Nambu about it. And she would have a legitimate reason for not doing so, if she didn't know how to contact him.

Here's a prequel to a story I'm working on now... ========== The whole Den -- even all the ground -- shook when the Thing That Fell From the Sky hit. Able and the other males violated the taboo and rushed into the nursing rooms to check on their mates and the kits. He was especially worried about Tailless. This was her first litter. Tailless had a blend of fear and relief on her face when she saw him enter the low-ceilinged cave. All three of their babies were trying to squeeze under her to hide. Once they saw their father, they tumbled out to meet him, whimpering very slightly. The terror in their big, black eyes was intensified by their pure white fur -- they hadn't started acquiring the tan patches that will camouflage them against the desert sands outside, and their ears had just begun to grow; soon their ears will make their heads look twice their actual size. They shivered as they stood before him. Able started nuzzling them while making comforting cooing sounds. Tailless came over and did the same. Once the kits stopped shaking, Able and Tailless greeted each other by touching the tips of their tongues to the other's teeth. He wagged his tail and she wagged her stump even though they were just as frightened as their young ones. * * * * * The sun began to set as all the hunters stood in the Den's entrance. They looked in the direction where the Thing That Fell From the Sky hit the ground. Something that looked like a black, cloudy snake stretched from the ground to the sky. They tipped their heads from side to side as they watched...was the Thing close to another den? They all exchanged concerned looks -- someone had to go see. Able dipped his head. The others wagged their tails, thanking him. He then nudged Swift who then did a quick twirl to express her joy in being chosen. She was young -- she hadn't even considered taking a mate yet -- and she was smaller than the rest, but she was the fastest runner. If he needed to send for help, she wouldn't fail him. The others went off for the evening hunt while Able and Swift went deep into the Den to use the underground tunnels. * * * * * Able and Swift had to detour and backtrack four times when they got close to the Thing That Fell From the Sky -- several tunnels had collapsed. Finally, they reached the exit Able had in mind when they left the Den. They emerged from a rock outcropping and saw the Thing a short distance away. Even though it was blackened and broken, Able knew it was just like the flying things that went in and out of the Strange Den from time to time. A small breeze blew, sending many strong, bad smells toward them. At least the cloud-snake thing had gone away. Swift tried to snort the bad smells out of her nose. When that didn't work, she turned to go back into the tunnel. Able let out a disapproving grunt. Swift whimpered in protest -- bad smells mean bad things. He responded with a tiny growl -- someone might be in there. Once they had found their way inside the Thing, curiosity began to override her instincts. The strange bad smells weren't in here, so that helped. But there was one bad smell Able recognized, and he swallowed down a sad whine. It was dark, but not that much different than a moonless night. There were several Hindwalkers inside. Some were slumped over in their seats, others sprawled on the floor. But were they good Hindwalkers -- like the ones in the Strange Den -- or bad ones? Able went over to the nearest Hindwalker on the floor. He gently tapped this one on the shoulder with his paw and said, "Oof?" a couple of times. No response came. He went to two others and got the same results. Swift did the same to others. Able let out a sigh and left her to it. He didn't need to see any more. He went outside. Did it matter if they were good or bad Hindwalkers? They weren't waking up any more, far away from their den, their family. He looked for the final light of the setting sun. He turned toward it, pointed his face toward the sky, and let out a low, keening, cooing type of wail. It petered out with his breath. He inhaled deeply and -- Disrespect! Able angrily spun around and saw Swift jump out of the Thing while barking a strange bark. She had an intense look of urgency on her face. He realized she was making one of the Hindwalker sounds. "No! No! No!" He glared at her -- didn't that obnoxious kit care that this wasn't the way to grieve the ones not waking up? "No! No! No!" she stomped her feet, challenging him. He charged after her, determined to teach her a lesson. She jumped back inside, staying just ahead of him. She deftly hopped over several Hindwalkers on the floor until she came to one that couldn't be seen from the entrance. She spun around to face Able and let out a defiant snort. Able laid his ears back, bared his teeth, and -- jumped back, startled by a small moan that came from the Hindwalker. Able looked at the Hindwalker's face -- he always found the hairless faces of this breed fascinating -- to make sure he hadn't imagined the sound. The eyes fluttered open. Able's eyes were drawn to the hair between this Hindwalker's mouth and nose as the lips moved slightly. Able knew then that he had to send Swift back to the Den to get Healer. "Faron?" the figure on the floor said weakly, "Jasmine?" Weren't those the names the Hindwalkers had for the Travelers? It was apparent now that Swift also needed to bring as many strong ones she could find so this Hindwalker could be taken to the Den. This was a good Hindwalker, and the bad ones might be hunting him.

Oooh very intense. Curious to learn about the injured Hindwalker and loving the fennec POV.

Thanks, Chris! (But this is a Zeruda POV -- if you stuck a Fennec and a Zeruda in the same room alone, the Fennec would probably try to take the Zeruda in a fight, even though the Zeruda could just step on the little fox like a bug!)

Ah okay.

KT -- "Illegal or immoral" -- that had me smiling, I can just see Nambu's face if he heard his job being thus described! EW -- These fennecs (and Zarudas) get themselves into very interesting situations. I like the camaraderie and the care they show to each other. Chris -- hugs

//Jason slammed down his gym bag, kicked the dresser for good measure and just to round it off, punched the door, so hard that he ended up nursing a couple of fingers in his mouth. It was inevitable that Mark would pop his head in. "Hey, you okay? Are you rearranging the walls?" Jason took his fingers out of his mouth, sat down heavily on the bed. He only said one word. "Anderson." Mark nodded sympathetically. "Tell me." Jason looked as if the only thing he wanted to tell Mark at that moment would be "get out." But he relented. "He's been giving me grief again. He's been on my case since the incident on the race track..." "When you didn't respond to a summons," interrupted Mark. Jason shot daggers at him. "Shut up. I made it back AND I told you about that ray weapon. Anyway, he's been treating me like shit since then. Not that he treated me much better before...but now it's starting to get on my nerves. In a serious way," he added darkly. Mark sighed. In his view, Anderson was absolutely right. But Mark also knew that Jason had a lot of insecurities that even being the second-in-command of G-Force had healed yet. And Anderson was, perhaps, not helping. "Hey," he said seriously. "Sometimes the only thing that can help is talking to someone. And I'm here." Jason looked at him. "You're here to do what exactly?" "To listen. I'm serious. Whatever I'm doing, if you want to talk, interrupt me." "Yeah, that's nice, talking to my Commander about the Chief and the grief I'm getting." "Jason, you insult me," smile Mark. "I'm also your friend, no?" Jason didn't look convinced. But he let himself think that maybe, just maybe, talking to a friend could help.//

DT: It can be immoral, what Nambu has done. Depending on how you want to see it, he took vulnerable kids and made them into killing machines, brainwashing them. Hopefully Jason can accept that he has friends and family, not just commanders and teammates.

I can see why Jason feels he can't talk to Mark. After all, mark *never* does anything wrong. He may feel better talking to Tiny or Princess, but he's not as close to them either.

Wow, I am really embarrassed. I wrote this little bit as a follow up to two other prompts and for some reason never posted it. I found it today, while going through some things I needed to finish... This is supposed to follow Prompt# 178 (Memorial) and #179 (Devestation). Those can be found here: http://www.gatchamania.net/thread.php?threadid=4868&sid= http://www.gatchamania.net/thread.php?threadid=4871&sid= It makes a little more sense to read those first, but you certainly don't have to. *********************************** Prompt #163 --Grief Everything was falling apart. [FONT=comic sans ms] How could you leave me to deal with all of this alone? [/FONT] Ken stared at the photo of Joe in his hands, that familiar half-smile on this face, while Jinpei mugged for the camera over his shoulder, behind him. [FONT=times new roman]What's that look for Ken? We spent our entire lives beating back Galactor, and now we've finally won. [/FONT] [FONT=comic sans ms]No we haven't! Ken's mind screamed. And now they're back. What did you sacrifice yourself for Joe? To what end? We've lost you, and now they're fucking back! It wasn't supposed to happen this way! Dammit! [/FONT] He buried his face in his hands, grief rising in his throat, the photo fluttering to the floor. [FONT=comic sans ms]I can't do it. My team is falling apart and why aren't you here to help us? Help me!?[/FONT] Lifting his head and clutching the edges of the mattress for support, he stared down at his feet. At the picture he dropped. He could see those blue-grey eyes boring into him. They had always seen right though him. Right from the very start. [FONT=courier new]Come on Ken! Sack up and suck it up! You know what needs to be done, so DO IT.[/FONT] [FONT=comic sans ms]Joe....[/FONT] [FONT=courier new]Don't make my sacrifice meaningless. Kick their asses back to the hole from where they came, shut them down good and hard, once and for all! [/FONT] Ken's hand clenched into a fist, knuckles turning white. Could he do this?

Better late than never, RB! I'm glad you decided to post this, in spite of the amount of time that's passed since the prompt was posted.

I loved it, RB! Thank you for posting! Plus, you gave us the chance to read some older fics again!

A nice portrayal of some of the aspects of grief. It would have been very hard for Ken to take his team back into action without his right hand man and keep up the appearance of strength. I think you nailed it.

Hey, we got to read it now, so it's cool. Poor Ken, yeah, I really had wanted to see more of what happened between the original series and GII as far as everyone trying to deal with Joe's loss.

Thanks for the comments, especially since this is way overdue! Yes, I guess better late than never! That'll teach me to keep better track of the bits and pieces of writing I have scattered about! I also fixed the links in my original post as they weren't working before.