Chapter Text
Expie clung to the jagged rock face, her black fur matted with cave grime and drying blood, the tip of her tail twitching erratically as she peered into the abyss below. Pain throbbed from the bandage wrapped tightly around her inner thigh, a hasty patch job after a tick got her earlier that layer, and another strip of cloth clung to her lower stomach where a sharp rock had grazed her during a desperate fall.
Her orange eyes looked around in the perpetual gloom, cutting through the cave mist that hung like a shroud. She had descended 2 layers already, farther than most notes scrawled on pod walls claimed any specimen survived, driven by the gnawing hunger in her gut and the chip in her skull beeping faint warnings of “bleeding” The tail bag slung over her fluffy appendage held scraps: a half-eaten ration bar, a few loose wires for bartering, but nothing to stave off the dehydration creeping in. Her flashlight beam danced weakly across the void, illuminating twisted roots and dripping stalactites, while the machete at her hip felt heavier with every labored breath.
A metallic glint caught her eye far below, embedded in the cavern wall like a discarded bone. A drop pod. Fresh? or at least not yet overgrown with glowing fungi. Her heart quickened; pods meant supplies and notes from the doomed before her that could help, maybe even a medkit. But they also attracted the crawlers, the ticks, the things that slithered from the dark. Furtive instincts screamed to skirt it, bury herself in shadows and slip past like the predator she was bred to be, but the wounds burned too fiercely. She needed bandages, real ones, not scavenged rags soaked in her yellow blood. Gripping the machete's hilt for reassurance, she began the descent, her clawed paws finding purchase on slick vines and protruding scrap metal. The air grew thicker, laced with the acrid tang of recent impact, and faint vibrations hummed through the rock, echoing the planet's restless pulse.
Minutes stretched into agony as she rappelled down a sheer shaft with her claws, flashlight clamped between her teeth, tail bag swaying like a counterweight. Finally, her paws touched the pod's scorched hull, dented but intact, a hatch ajar with dim emergency lights spilling out. No immediate skittering or hisses greeted her; unusual. Experiments didn't linger near pods; they burst out, scavenged, and died unlike her. She slipped inside, machete drawn, body low and coiled.
The interior was cramped, wires sparking faintly from the ceiling, walls etched with fresh scratches but no frantic notes yet. And there, huddled in the corner amid scattered gear, was another. Not a mangled corpse or feral survivor, but alive: a white-furred figure, smaller than her, with a sleek, almost glossy coat that shimmered under the lights. His bioluminescent blue eyes snapped to her, wide and calculating, a bushcraft backpack slung beside him and a hunting rifle cradled in his lap, magazine loaded. A few spare mags lay nearby, along with rolls of adhesive bandages pristine in their packaging. A Milky subspecies, rare as a functioning medkit this deep. Male, by the subtle build and scent. He didn't flinch or lunge; instead, he leveled the rifle with steady paws, his fluffy white tail tucked defensively.
"Back out. Now," he growled, voice low and measured, laced with that arrogant edge Milkys carried like a badge. Logical eyes scanned her wounds, her gear, assessing threat levels. "I smell your blood from here. You're half-dead already I bet. Trade if you must, but don't linger."
Expie froze, red eyes narrowing, predatory instincts warring with survival pragmatism. Milkeys were smart, spliced with ocean genes for vision and cunning, but fragile, metallic blood turning wounds septic fast if exposed. This one looked fresh-dropped, supplies intact. She eased her machete down, a flashlight beam playing over his setup. "Bandages for the light mine's dying. And maybe a plastic bag too if you're feeling generous and your pod's a beacon for every shade crawler in the layer. I saw a nest of them while coming down here."
He didn't lower the rifle, but his gaze flicked to the flashlight. Pods came with basics, but light failed fast in the damp. "Light's worthless without batteries but fine. Two bandages for it but no bag. You're Experiment stock, I know your rep: furtive, but always up to something. Whatever… Deal?"
She hissed softly, tail flicking irritation, but nodded. The thigh wound itched with infection risk; ticks carried filth that festered quickly. Sliding the flashlight across the pod floor, she tossed two rags from her tail bag as change. He snatched the light, tested it with a click, then lobbed two bandage rolls. Precise, no waste. "Name's Milky, or that's what they called me. Dropped two cycles ago. I'm staying put till supplies can't hold anymore."
Expie peeled back her thigh bandage, wincing as yellow blood oozed, and slapped on the adhesive, the cool stickiness a mercy. Stomach next; the gash wept slower but burned, the risk of infection now thankfully gone. "Expie. 2 layers down. You wont last another 2 days even with supplies. Wait… you have rations?"
Milky rummaged his backpack, pulling a sealed bar but not offering. "Enough. Rifle's loaded for defense. And this place is fortified. You're clearly mobile, and wounded. What are you doing? Scavenging?"
She smirked, fangs glinting, repacking her tail bag. Predatory playstyle meant she thrived on ambush and guile, not hunkering down. “I'm retrieving cargo fragments, layer by layer. Honestly the Ticks are the biggest threat, traps are easy to spot. You Milkys think you're smart, but alone? you're just like us. Saw a white-fur note up on the first layer: 'My pod is safe yet my hunger made it so I can't move. I'm slowly dying' And he died there, his hand was still gripping his machete that im now using. So tell me, is it arrogance? Do you really want to sit here and die?"
He paused, blue eyes dimming thoughtfully, rifle dipping slightly as he looked down; he sighed. Pods weren't built for survival, just short lived drills to get them as far down as possible. "I guess, I'm as dead in here that I am out there."
Expie leaned against the pod wall, machete across knees, sharing scraps of her run: dodging spikes, eating glow-moss to fight thirst despite the cramps. Her voice dropped, whispers of wall notes: suicides from depression. Milky listened, logical mind piercing survival.
His own tale spilled: his sensitive eyes gave him night vision, and his speed let him grab supplies before holding up in here, rifle his only edge. Staying meant starvation in a few days, a week tops. But joining her? Risky, but two heads doubled odds in his favor, her machete paired his rifle. That is if she wasn't going to kill him…
"And you're not going to kill me for the supplies?" he muttered, half-question.
"Yet," she teased, red eyes playful but sharp. "Of course not! Look, you just shoot straight, I'll sneak, after we get to the next layer and it doesn't work out, we split up. Deal?"
Milky weighed it, paws flexing on the rifle. Alone meant death by attrition. With her, her climbing and machete plus his precision. Chip beeped in his skull too, demanding depth. He slung the backpack, pocketed mags and spares. "Fine. Trade's done and I accept that we're partners till we get to the next layer or die. But you're leading, Expie."
She grinned, slipping out first, machete ready. The pod hatch sealed behind, its lights winking out as they descended together into the dark, "Watch the next," Expie whispered, her voice barely audible over the distant drip-drip of water. "There's a trap about 9 meters down. We'll go around it I guess"
Milky nodded, his blue eyes scanning the path ahead. "Got it. Your night vision's impressive for Experiment stock."
"Comes with being furtive," she replied, a hint of pride in her voice. "You Milkys might see better in the dark, but we know how to move through it."
They descended in silence for what felt like hours, the only sounds their labored breathing and the occasional skitter of cave insects. The air grew colder, damper, carrying the metallic scent of deep-earth minerals. Expie's wounds throbbed with each movement, but the fresh bandages held even as they rubbed against the earth, the adhesive keeping the anything from seeping through.
The path narrowed to a treacherous traverse across a sheer rock face, with only finger-width cracks for purchase. Milky went first this time, his lighter build an advantage. Expie watched as he moved with careful precision, his white fur stark against the dark stone.
"Almost there," he muttered, reaching for the next handhold.
Then it happened.
The rock under his right paw crumbled without warning. Milky gasped, claws scrabbling for purchase as he began to fall. Instinct took over Expie lunged, her machete clattering to the ledge below as she grabbed his wrist with her paw. The sudden weight nearly pulled her over, but she dug her hind claws into a crack, muscles straining.
For a heart-stopping moment, Milky dangled over a thirty-meter drop, his blue eyes wide with shock. Then Expie hauled him up, grunting with effort, until he could scramble back onto the ledge. They collapsed together, breathing heavily.
"You... caught me," Milky panted, staring at her with new understanding.
"Of course I did," Expie snapped, though her voice lacked its usual edge. "You're carrying half our supplies."
A flicker of something like respect passed between them. Milky retrieved her machete, handing it back handle-first. "Thanks. I owe you one."
"Just don't make me do it again, thankfully your species is light or I would've considered dropping you." she said, but the joking glint in her orange eyes had softened.
---
The next section of the cave opened into a wider chamber, its floor littered with debris from some ancient collapse. Milky's enhanced vision picked out the danger first.
"Traps," he whispered, pointing to nearly invisible wires strung between stalagmites. "Recent. Someone's been through here. This is... organized"
Expie's tail twitched nervously. "Ticks don't set traps off right?"
They moved with extreme caution, Milky identifying the mechanisms while Expie found safe paths around them. His logical mind mapped patterns in the placements a grid designed to funnel intruders toward a central point. While she helped get around it
"There," he pointed to a metal container wedged between two boulders. "That's what they're protecting."
The container was a small medical crate, its surface scratched and dented but the lock mechanism intact. Expie approached first, examining it with her claws.
"Standard," she muttered. "Shouldn't be too hard-"
She inserted a claw into the lock mechanism and twisted. A sharp *crack* echoed through the chamber as the tip of her claw chipped off, flying into the darkness. Expie hissed in pain, shaking her paw.
"DAMNIT! Ugh, Rusted shut," she growled. "Or broken..."
Milky moved forward beside her. "Let me try.."
He examined the lock, his blue eyes narrowing as he analyzed the mechanism. Unlike Expie's brute force approach, he worked with delicate precision, feeling for tumblers and releases. After a few seconds of careful manipulation, there was a satisfying *click*. The container lid popped open.
Inside were ration bars, water purification tablets, and most precious of all a functioning medkit with antiseptic and painkillers.
Expie stared, her orange eyes wide. "How did you...?"
"What? its simple," Milky said simply, already packing the supplies. "Just find the pins, line them up and slowly turn."
She nodded slowly, the hierarchy between them subtly shifting; they were complementary. Each other making up for the others weak spots.
---
Deeper they went, the air growing so thick with moisture it beaded on their fur. Milky's white coat became damp and matted, losing its glossy sheen. Expie's black fur absorbed the darkness, making her nearly invisible except for the occasional glint of her eyes.
The discovery came in another pod this one older, its hull overgrown with phosphorescent fungi that cast an eerie green glow. The hatch was jammed half-open, and the smell hit them before they saw inside.
"Death," Expie whispered, her nose wrinkling.
They found the body in the corner. Another Experiment, this one with grey fur turning patchy with decay. Cause of death was clear, a self-inflicted cut to the throat with their claws. The note scrawled on the wall in shaky script told the story:
‘Four cycles alone. Thirst is going to kill me before anything else does, honestly I'll just end it with my claws. If anyone reads this, take what you need.’
Milky read it aloud, his voice flat as his ears went down. "Depression. Common in solitary confinement scenarios."
Expie said nothing, but her tail wrapped protectively around herself with a whimper. She began gathering supplies, more ration bars, a water filter, spare batteries. Before pushing the body. "Help me," Expie said suddenly.
"With what?" Milky crossed his arms in confusion
"Getting him out. We can't... we can't leave him in here. He's rotting" With a sigh together, they lifted the stiff body, carrying it through the hatch and laying it respectfully in a crevice away from the main path. Expie placed a small stone on the corpse's chest.
Back in the pod, they sealed the hatch against the smell. For the first time since they'd met, there was space to breathe, to rest. Milky used the flashlight Expie gave him to give her light.
"Your bandages," he said after a while. "They need changing. The climb ripped them. I’m decent at wrapping"
Expie hesitated, for a moment. Letting someone that close while vulnerable... but the wounds did burn, and infection in these caves meant certain death.
"Fine," she said finally, turning to present her back relaxing. "The stomach first."
Milky worked with clinical efficiency, his paws surprisingly gentle. He cleaned the gash with antiseptic from the new medkit, applied fresh adhesive, his movements precise and careful. When he moved to her thigh, she flinched despite herself with a hiss of pain.
"Sorry," he murmured. "The tick bite went deep. There's some inflammation."
"Just get it done," she growled, but her tail remained still, not lashing in agitation as it normally would.
When he finished, Milky repacked the medkit. "You know there's morphine in here if the pain is too bad. Theirs probably two days of hard climbing ahead."
Expie shook her head. "No. I need to stay sharp."
"Stubborn," he said, but there was no malice in it.
They ate in silence, sharing a ration bar. Milky took first watch while Expie tried to sleep, curled in a corner. But sleep wouldn't come every sound echoed in the small space, every shift of rock outside made her ears twitch.
After an hour, Milky spoke without turning from the hatch viewport. "You're not sleeping."
A pause, "Neither are you."
"I'm on watch."
A beat of silence "Uh, so am I."
A pause. Then: "We could both sleep. The hatch is sealed."
Expie considered this... but was too tired to argue.
"What if the ticks- whatever. Fine," she said. "But I'm keeping my machete close."
"Understood."
They arranged themselves back-to-back, a practical arrangement that covered all angles. Milky's white fur was surprisingly warm against her back, his breathing steady and calm. Expie found herself matching her breaths to his, the rhythm soothing.
Just before sleep took her, she felt Milky's tail brush against hers, not aggressively, but almost... companionably. She didn't pull away.
In the glow of the flashlight, two very different hybrids slept, their alliance forged not in words but in shared survival they now had each other's backs.
Literally.
------
Expie woke to warmth.
Not the damp, clinging warmth of the cave, but a living warmth pressed against her side. Her orange eyes blinked open in the pod to find her black fur tangled with Milky's white, her head resting against his shoulder, her tail coiled loosely around his. Sometime during the night, their practical back-to-back arrangement had dissolved into something more... intimate.
For a moment, she didn't move, listening to the steady rhythm of his breathing, feeling the rise and fall of his chest. Then reality crashed in. Her muscles tensed.
Milky stirred, his bioluminescent eyes flickering open. They stared at each other in the dim light, inches apart. His blue gaze was unreadable.
"Morning," he said finally, his voice rough with sleep.
Expie scrambled back, fur bristling with a blush, skin feeling hot under her fur. "We... must have shifted during the night. Uh, t-the cold."
"Right," Milky rolled his eyes with a scoff, sitting up and checking his rifle. "The cold."
The awkward tension hung between them like cave mist as they gathered their supplies. Milky checked each ration bar, each water tablet with clinical precision, while Expie sharpened her machete with more force than necessary. Neither mentioned the nuzzling. Neither needed to as they stood up to open the door
"Ready?" Milky asked, slinging his backpack.
Expie nodded, machete in paw. "You first. Your night vision's better for spotting immediate threats."
Milky noddedin agreement and approached the pod's hatch, his paws moving to the manual release. The mechanism groaned in protest—rusted from months or years of neglect. He put his weight into it, muscles straining beneath his white fur.
"Almost... there..."
With a final heave, the hatch unsealed. Fresh cave air rushed in, carrying with it a scent and sound that made both of them freeze.
Decay And feeding. The hissing of Ticks
Milky's blue eyes widened in the dim light filtering through the opening. "Oh, no..."
Outside, clustered around the crevice where they'd laid the dead Expie, were Ticks. Five of them, each the size of a small dog, their segmented bodies pulsing as they fed. Chitinous plates covered their backs, and multiple legs clicked against the stone as they tore into the corpse. One looked up, its compound eyes reflecting the pod's interior light.
Milky's instincts screamed: “Close the hatch!” He lunged for the manual lever, but the rusted mechanism moved with agonizing slowness. The Ticks had already noticed them. Three detached from the corpse, skittering toward the pod with alarming speed.
"Shit! Too slow!" Expie shouted, pushing past him. "They're coming!"
Milky made a split-second decision. Abandoning the hatch, he swung his rifle from his back in one fluid motion. The stock settled against his shoulder, trained precision taking over even as adrenaline flooded his system.
*Crack!*
The first shot took the lead tick through its eye cluster. Blood splattered the cave wall as it collapsed, legs twitching.
*Crack! Crack!*
Two more shots. One missed, sparking off stone. The second hit a tick in the joint between head and thorax. It staggered but kept coming.
The remaining ticks scattered, two fleeing into deeper shadows in fear, but one saw the opening. As Milky worked the bolt for another shot, the creature darted through the partially open hatch, moving with surprising agility for its size.
Expie was already moving forward infront of milky, machete raised, but the Tick was faster. It bypassed her entirely, going for what it perceived as the greater threat the one making loud noises and flashing lights.
Milky tried to sidestep, but his backpack caught on the hatch release mechanism. A moment of imbalance was all the Tick needed.
Its mandibles closed on his left ankle with a sickening *crunch*. Milky screamed a raw, primal sound that echoed in the confined space. Pain exploded up his leg, white-hot and debilitating.
"Milky!" Expie's roar filled the pod.
She didn't hesitate. Didn't calculate odds or assess threats. Pure predator instinct took over. Her machete came down in a silver arc, severing the Tick's head from its body in one clean stroke. Ichor sprayed across the floor as the mandibles went slack, but they remained embedded in Milky's ankle.
The remaining ticks scattered, startled by the commotion, fled into the darkness.
Expie slammed the hatch shut, engaging all the locks with trembling paws. Then she was at Milky's side. He'd collapsed against the wall, beneath his white fur his breathing coming in ragged gasps.
"Don't... don't move it," she ordered, her voice surprisingly steady. "The mandibles are barbed. They'll tear more if we pull."
Milky nodded, sweat beading on his forehead. His blue glowing eyes had lost their usual calculating sharpness, clouded with pain. "Medkit... morphine..."
Expie scrambled for the supplies they'd taken from the dead Expie. Her paws fumbled with the latch normally this would be Milky's task, with his fine motor control but she got it open. Inside were two injectors of morphine, clearly marked.
"Here," she said, pressing one against his thigh.
The hiss of the needle, she pumped a bit before withdrawing. Milky gasped as the drug hit his system, his body going slack almost immediately. The tension drained from his muscles, though his breathing remained shallow.
"Now the bandages," Expie muttered, more to herself than to him.
She examined the wound. The Tick's mandibles had penetrated deeply, blood milky's yellow life fluid welling around the embedded chitin. The risk of sepsis was clear if not treated.
With careful precision that surprised even her, Expie used her claws to work the mandibles free. They came out with a wet, sucking sound, followed by a fresh flow of blood. She cleaned the wound with the last of their antiseptic, the liquid sizzling against the strange blood-metal mixture.
"Gonna... need stitches," Milky slurred, the morphine taking full effect as his body felt numb and he relaxed.
"No suture kit," Expie said, already wrapping the wound with their remaining bandages. "This will have to do. Pressure and keep it clean."
She worked quickly, efficiently, her earlier awkwardness gone. This was survival. This was what she knew. When she finished, the bandage was tight but not constricting, the metallic blood already staining through the white fabric.
"Thanks," Milky whispered, his eyes half-closed.
"Don't thank me yet," Expie said, but her voice lacked its usual sharpness. She checked his pulse at his wrist fast but steady. "The morphine will wear off in a few hours. We'll stay here until then." She checked over her handiwork just to make sure he was okay then sighed in relief.
With Milky stabilized, Expie checked her own wounds. The bandages Milky had applied the night before were holding surprisingly well the stomach gash had scabbed over and fur was even starting to grow bacn, and the tick bite on her thigh showed only little inflammation. She reapplied antiseptic sparingly, knowing their supplies were dwindling.
"Your turn," Milky murmured from where he lay propped against the wall. His words were slightly slurred, the morphine making his usually precise speech loose and flowing. "Let me..."
"You can barely keep your eyes open, I already did it anyways" Expie pointed out, but she moved closer so he didn't try to move as far.
Milky's paw reached out, surprisingly steady despite the drugs. His blue eyes, though hazy, focused on her thigh bandage with professional scrutiny. "Clean job.”
She hummed and settled beside him, her black fur contrasting with his white. The pod felt smaller now, the air thick with the coppery scent of blood and the chemical tang of antiseptic. Outside, the cave was too silent for comfort. The Ticks were gone, but their presence lingered in the memory of clicking mandibles and Milky's scream.
Milky shifted, his head coming to rest against her shoulder. Expie stiffened for a moment, predator instincts flaring, then relaxed. He was wounded. Drugged. Vulnerable in ways she'd never seen him before.
"You're warm," he mumbled, his voice taking on a dreamy quality, it shocked Expie.
Expie stayed silent, listening to his breathing. The morphine was doing more than killing pain; it was stripping away boundaries of the logical distance Milky always maintained. Honestly, Expie didn't mind it.
"I feel... floaty," he continued, one paw gesturing vaguely. "Like I'm on a cloud." A soft chuckle escaped him, a sound Expie had never heard before. Milky didn't chuckle. He analyzed. He calculated. But this Milky was drugged.
"Your fur," he said suddenly, his fingers tracing the edge of her bandage without actually touching the wound. "It's not just black. It's... every shade of dark. Like a cave at midnight. Like the space between stars."
“I definitely gave you too much.” Expie's tail twitched, but she didn't pull away. "You're high."
"Probably," he agreed cheerfully. "But it's true. I've been... analyzing. Your coloration provides 87% better camouflage in these conditions than mine. My white fur and eyes... stupid adaptation for caves. Honestly it should be... dark. Like yours. Maybe thats why most of my species hides.”
He leaned heavier against her, his warmth seeping through both their furs. "You caught me. When I fell."
"You had the supplies," Expie repeated her earlier justification, but it sounded hollow even to her.
"Mm," Milky hummed, not arguing.
His words were slowing, the morphine pulling him toward sleep. Expie found herself adjusting her position to support him better, her paw coming up almost involuntarily to steady him as he slumped further against her.
"Thank you," he whispered, the words barely audible. "For not... leaving. Most would. A wounded partner slows you down. I wouldn't blame you if you left."
"I'm not most," Expie said, and meant it.
Milky's breathing deepened, the drug finally claiming him. Expie sat there in the pod, a white-furred Milky pressed against her side, his bandaged ankle propped on her backpack. She could feel the slow, steady beat of his heart through the contact.
She found herself studying Milky's face while he was asleep. Without the constant calculation in his glowing blue eyes, without the tension of survival in every muscle, he looked younger. Vulnerable. The marine splice markings along his jawline were finer than she'd realized, almost elegant.
Her own wounds ached, but the pain was distant. Secondary. The immediate threat was past, and for now, in this sealed pod with a drugged Milky breathing steadily against her, there was... peace.
A strange thought occurred to her: she'd never slept beside another living being before. Not like this. Not with trust. experiments were stealthy, joking predators who were opportunists. Milkys were thinkers, analysts who calculated odds and made logical choices.
Yet here they were, breaking both designs.
Milky stirred in his sleep, a soft sound escaping him. His paw, which had fallen to his side, twitched. Without thinking, Expie reached out and stilled it, her black fur against his white. He settled immediately, his breathing deepening again.
Outside, the cave waited. Deeper layers called with their promises of cargo fragments and escape. Ticks and traps and whatever other horrors the planet had crafted lurked in the darkness.
But for these few hours, while the morphine did its work and Milky healed, they had this: a pocket of relative safety. A partnership that had been tested by blood and was somehow stronger for it.
Expie closed her orange eyes, not to sleep she would keep watch but to rest. To listen to the rhythm of Milky's breathing and the distant drip of water…
Expie kept watch over her wounded partner, her predator's senses tuned to the darkness beyond the hatch, ready to defend this fragile peace with tooth and claw and machete.
—-
Eventually Expie's stomach growled loud enough to echo in the small pod. She'd been ignoring it for hours, focusing on keeping watch over Milky's sleeping form, but the hunger had become a physical presence, a hollow ache that competed with her almost healed wounds for attention.
Her orange eyes drifted to the Tick corpse in the corner.
It was grotesque. The severed head lay several feet from the body, ichor congealing in a sticky pool around both. Chitinous plates reflected what little light remained, and the multiple legs were curled in death's final spasm. The smell was... organic. Musky. Not entirely unpleasant to a predator's senses.
But more importantly: it was meat.
Experiments weren't squeamish by design. They were survival stock, built to endure what others couldn't. Expie had eaten worse in her descent, cave grubs that tasted of bitter earth, the occasional rodent that wandered too deep. But a Tick... that was new.
Ther was enough for both of them. Enough to fuel the climb ahead.
Milky stirred but didn't wake, the morphine still holding him in its grip. Good. He'd protest. He'd say risks or whatever.
But logic didn't fill empty bellies.
Expie rose, her movements silent despite the stiffness in her body. She retrieved her machete from where it lay beside Milky, the blade still stained with Tick ichor from the killing blow. She examined the edge still sharp enough.
The cutting began with practiced efficiency.
—-
Halfway through cutting, she paused. Milky's portion?
Her eyes flicked to his sleeping form. He'd need the protein to heal as well. The blood loss from the bite would have weakened him, and the climb ahead...
She divided the meat into two roughly equal piles. His was slightly larger.
The sound of the machete against chitin must have finally penetrated the morphine haze. Milky's blue eyes flickered open, unfocused at first, then sharpening as they took in the scene.
"Expie...?" His voice was thick with sleep and drugs. "What are you..."
Then he saw the piles of meat. The Tick corpse, now mostly dismantled. Expie's paws are stained with ichor.
"Oh," he said softly. All the calculation returned to his eyes in a rush. "You're... harvesting it."
"Im starving," Expie said simply, not stopping her work. "You will be too when the morphine wears off. We need protein to heal."
Milky pushed himself up on his elbows, wincing as the movement pulled at his bandaged ankle. His logical mind was clearly wrestling with survival pragmatism. "The risk of parasites... Ticks are scavengers, they could carry-"
"Everything down here could kill us," Expie interrupted, finally setting her machete aside. "Hunger will kill us faster."
She picked up a piece of the meat, examining it. Pale, almost translucent, with thin streaks of fat. She brought it to her nose, sniffed. Meat, fat dripping. Not entirely unpleasant.
Then she ate it.
The texture was... chewy. Rubbery at first, then giving way as her teeth worked it. The taste was stronger than she expected mineral-rich, with an undertone of something almost sweet. Not good, but not revolting either. Just... meat.
She swallowed, waiting. Her stomach, empty for too long, clenched in protest at first, then settled. No immediate cramps. No burning.
"See?" she said, though it came out more defensive than she intended.
Milky watched her, his blue eyes tracking for any sign of distress. He sighed, the sound heavy in the quiet pod. "Give me... the smallest piece first. To test."
Expie almost smiled in victory. She selected a piece from his pile and handed it to him.
Milky took it with careful paws, his fine motor control still somewhat impaired by the lingering morphine. He examined it as she had, even sniffing it with clinical detachment. Then, with visible reluctance, he took a bite.
His reaction was immediate and visceral. His face contorted, a shudder running through his white-furred frame. "It's... awful. Texture is... gelatinous and the taste is... ughl."
But he chewed. And swallowed.
They sat in silence as minutes ticked by.
"Nothing... immediate," he finally said. "Mild nausea, but that could be the morphine. Or the thought of what I just ate."
"Eat more," Expie said, pushing the rest of his portion toward him. "Small bites. Your body needs it."
To her surprise, he didn't argue. He ate methodically, each bite taken with the same precision he applied to everything. His face remained a mask of distaste, but he finished the entire portion.
When he was done, he leaned back against the wall, breathing slowly. "Well. That was... an experience."
"Welcome to the depths," Expie said, finishing her own portion with less ceremony. The food sat heavy in her stomach, a good heavy, the weight of sustenance after too long without.
They sat in companionable silence as their bodies processed the unfamiliar meal. Milky's color improved slightly, the pallor from blood loss giving way to a healthier tone beneath his white fur. Expie felt energy returning, the constant gnawing hunger replaced by a comfortable fullness.
"Thank you," Milky said quietly, his eyes on the remains of the Ticks chittin and shell.
Expie shrugged, cleaning her machete blade with a scrap of cloth. "Partners. Remember? Hows that ankle."
"I remember," he said. And for the first time, he sounded like he truly believed it. “And it's fine, the bleeding stopped thankfully.”
Milky's eyes drifted closed again, the combination of morphine, food, and exhaustion pulling him back toward sleep. This time, when he slumped sideways, Expie didn't stiffen. She simply adjusted her position, letting his head rest against her shoulder once more and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, pressed up against eachother they shared warmth.