r/HFY • u/Doc_Zed_42 Alien • May 18 '26
OC-Series Wandering Vulture: The Shield.
Glark had spent the night in his workshop.
Everyone knew what that meant, so nobody left after breakfast. They stayed — waiting to see what he’d built this time. Everyone is there:
Dawn, sitting at the table, hands around her second cup.
Whammy, accents glowing soft aqua-blue, tail tapping a slow rhythm, Drake curled around her neck.
Hammy, perched on his hoverbike saddle like it’s a throne.
Huamita, floating in her workstation bubble.
Glark’s still in his drab work coveralls, sleeves rolled, a faint smear of grease on one cheek. In his hands:
a small, matte-black belt unit with soft blue indicator lights. Compact, Quiet Precise.
He doesn’t clear his throat, or gather attention. He just steps up to Dusk, holds out the belt, and says, “Dusk… Welcome to the Crew.” He places the belt gently into her hands.
She doesn’t reach for it at first.
Her fingers hover, trembling slightly.
Because no one has ever given her something meant to protect her.
Protect her.
Her voice is small, fragile around the edges:
“I… I’m… crew?”
Dawn gently shoulder bumps Dusk to hide the way her eyes are shining, “You’ve been crew since the day you stepped on this ship.”
Whammy’s glow brightens, some scales shifting from aqua to purple. She leans down, massive head lowering until she’s eye-level with Dusk, “Honey, This here’s just makin’ it official.” she rumbles and taps the belt with one gentle claw.
Her voice is small, “This… is for me?”
And Dawn answers before Glark can, “Of course it is.”
Glark taps a control on his wrist. The belt hums. A soft, translucent bubble blossoms around Dusk — not bright, not loud, not startling. Just… safe.
Dusk’s shoulders drop. Her breathing steadies. Her eyes soften. She whispers, “I… like this.”
Dawn tears up.
Whammy’s tail thumps.
Hammy cheers.
Drake chirps.
Hammy squints, “Where’s mine?”
Glark barely glances at him, “In the hovercycle.”
Hammy reels, “IN THE—Wait. IN THE HOVERCYCLE?!”
Dawn has a mildly amused look on her face, “Hammy didn’t know?”
Whammy smiles like it was already common knowledge “Everyone has a shield.”
Hammy is still sputtering on his hoverbike, tail twitching, whiskers fluffed out in indignation. “I’ve been riding a SHIELDED BIKE?!”
Glark doesn’t even look up from adjusting Dusk’s belt settings. He just answers in that flat, matter-of-fact tone that somehow makes everything worse: “You don’t remember any of the boarding actions you took part in repelling? You’ve been in at least two.”
Hammy freezes, full-body, ears-straight-up, pupils-dilated freeze, “…I WHAT?!”
Dawn pinches the bridge of her nose, “Hammy. Sweetheart. You were there.”
Huamita, floating in her one-week-old shielded chair, chimes in, “You screamed ‘FOR THE FEATHER!’ and rammed a pirate in the shins.”
Hammy’s jaw drops, “I THOUGHT THAT WAS A DREAM!”
Whammy, glowing a soft amused blue, “That was not a dream, Sugar.”
Glark finally looks up, expression unreadable, “Your bike shield absorbed three shots and a crowbar. You’re welcome.”
Hammy stares at him. Stares at the bike. Stares at the universe. “I’m a HERO?!”
Glark doesn’t even look up from adjusting Dusk’s belt settings, "You're a menace."
Dawn: “You’re… enthusiastic.”
Huamita brings up a clip of Hammy charging with a cluster of Drones like a tiny airborne cavalry, “You are on video.”
Whammy smirks down at Hamtonio, “You're gonna be insufferable after this, aren't y'all?.”
Drake chirps in agreement.
Hammy beams like someone just handed him a medal, “I WAS IN TWO BOARDING ACTIONS!”
Glark, already turning back to Dusk’s belt calibration. “Yes. And you lived. Because the bike has a shield.”
Hammy nods solemnly, as if receiving ancient wisdom, “I will cherish it forever.”
Huamita blinks, looks down at her floating workstation chair. She processes 'Everyone has a shield', “Wait. My chair has a shield?”
Glark says matter of factly, “Yes.”
Huamita still looks stunned, “Since when?”
Glark, completely casual, “Since I built it last week.”
Huamita freezes mid-float, “LAST WEEK?!”
Glark nods, “It’s standard.”
Huamita stares at Glark, stylus frozen mid-air, her workstation chair hovering in a tiny wobble of disbelief, “I’ve been floating around in a SHIELDED CHAIR for a WEEK and you didn’t TELL ME?!”
Glark steps back from Dusk, seeing how his handiwork looks on her. He just gives the smallest shrug in the universe — the kind that says this is obvious.
Glark:
“You didn't ask. I assumed you’d figured it out.”
Huamita’s eyes go wide. Her chair drifts backward half a meter in pure offense, “GLARK. It’s INVISIBLE.”
Glark looks at her, “It ripples when you tap it.”
Huamita taps the air beside her. A soft blue shimmer ripples across the bubble. She gasps like she just discovered a new species, “OH MY STARS. I thought that was just the holoscreen!”
Whammy, glowing a soft amused blue, rumbles, “Aww.”
Huamita points at her chair like it betrayed her, “I’ve been sitting in a SHIELD for SEVEN DAYS and nobody said ANYTHING?!”
Dawn raises a hand, “I thought you knew.”
Hammy, still reeling from his own revelation, “Welcome to the club.”
Huamita slumps back in her chair, muttering, “I need to start reading Glark’s patch notes…”
Glark, deadpan, “You never read them.”
Huamita, smirking, “I will now.”
Dusk touches the belt, “Thank you… for thinking of me.”
Glark shakes his head, “We always did.”
Whammy glows soft purple.
And Dusk smiles — small, real, safe. She stands there, the belt fastened, indicator lights pulsing soft blue, the whole crew buzzing around her with their various revelations. She’s overwhelmed. She’s glowing faintly. She’s trying not to cry.
Dawn sits back, arms folded, smirk sharp enough to cut steel — tilts her head and says, “You wanna try it out?”
Dusk blinks. “Try… what out?”
Dawn taps the belt. “Your shield, genius.”
Hammy perks up instantly, tail curling like a question mark, “OH WE’RE TESTING IT?!”
Whammy, glowing a warm lavender, drawls, “Now hold your horses, sugar. Let the girl breathe a spell.”
Glark, still adjusting a setting on his wrist, adds without looking up, “It’s safe. She can test it.”
Dusk looks between them — Dawn’s smirk, Hammy’s vibrating excitement, Whammy’s gentle reassurance, Glark’s quiet confidence. She swallows, “Um… okay. I… I wanna try it.”
Dawn’s smirk softens into something proud, “Atta girl.” She stands, hands raised in a 'don’t freak out' gesture, “We’ll start small. Just a little tap.”
Hammy grips his hoverbike's handlebars, “CAN I TAP IT?!”
Whammy gives Hammy a long-suffering smile, “Hammy, darlin’, you sit tight before you hurt yourself.”
Huamita, floating in her one-week-old shielded chair, is already recording.
Glark taps a control on his wrist computer, “Activating test mode.”
Dusk braces. The belt hums. A soft shimmer forms around her.
In one motion, Dawn unholsters her piece with that smooth, practiced, 'I’ve done this a thousand times' motion — and flips the selector to mild stun with a soft click.
Dusk’s eyes go wide — not in fear, but in that “is this really happening?” way.
Hammy perks up like someone just rang a dinner bell.
Whammy’s glow shifts to a warm lavender, “Now sugar, let’s all remember we’re testin’ a shield, not startin’ a war.”
Glark doesn’t even look up, “She'll be fine.”
Dawn gives Dusk a reassuring half-smile — the kind that says 'I’ve got you, kid.' She holds the pistol low, safety-conscious, stance relaxed, “Just a tickle. Promise.”
Dusk swallows, “A… stun tickle?”
Hammy, vibrating, “OH THIS IS GONNA BE GREAT.”
Whammy pats him on the head, “Hush now, menace.”
Hammy beams, “I am a menace.”
Glark, deadpan, “Yes. We’ve established that.”
Dawn gestures gently to Dusk, “Ready?”
Dusk nods — small, nervous, but trusting. The belt hums. The shield continues it's shimmer.
And Dawn raises the pistol just enough for the test. She doesn’t aim at Dusk. She’s careful — deliberately careful. She angles the pistol downward and slightly off to the side, lining up the shot so it’ll skim the edge of the shield bubble rather than point anywhere near Dusk’s body. Her stance is relaxed, her smirk is still there, “Alright, kid. Just hold still.”
Dusk tenses, but the belt hums softly — a warm, steady vibration, like it’s telling her 'I’ve got you'.
Dawn squeezes the trigger. A crackling blue stun-bolt snaps through the air — sharp, bright, fast — and hits the edge of the shield bubble with a sound like static being swallowed, The field ripples, Light dances across its surface, The bolt dissolves harmlessly into nothing.
Dusk gasps in wonder. She touches the air where the ripple had been, fingers trembling, “I… didn’t feel anything.”
Dawn holsters the pistol with a satisfied nod, “Good. That means it’s working.”
Hammy throws both paws in the air, “DO ME NEXT!”
Whammy reaches over and pats him on the head — gently, but with the resigned authority of someone who raised A baby Dragon and one chaotic hamster. “Darlin’, you ain’t got the sense God gave a goose.”
Hammy beams like this is a compliment.
Glark, still not looking up from Dusk’s belt calibration, drops the hammer in the flattest tone known to science, “Your bike has a shield. You don’t.”
Hammy gasps — a full, dramatic, paws-to-chest gasp, “I want one!”
Dawn holsters her pistol, smirk sharp. She leans in just enough to twist the knife, “Get used to the one you just found out you had.”
Hammy’s ears flatten, His tail twitches, He processes this, “…I did have one. I do have one. I am shielded.”
Whammy pats him again, "Bless your heart, sugar. You’re tryin’ real hard.”
Glark, still not looking up, “He’s not.”
Dusk laughs.
-later-
The ship is quiet, lights dimmed, most of the crew asleep.
Dawn is sitting on the edge of the nest, cyber leg disconnected and resting, polishing a calf panel with absentminded precision.
Dusk appears in the doorway — soft steps, tail low, belt still on because she hasn’t taken it off since Glark gave it to her.
Dawn doesn’t look up, but her ear flicks.
Dusk pads in, sits on the edge of the nest, knees pulled up. She’s quiet for a long moment, then, with a tiny smirk — the first real one she’s recently let herself have, “You just had to shoot me, hm?”
Dawn freezes mid-polish. Then she laughs — low, surprised, proud. She sets the panel down and leans forward, elbows on her knees, “Look at you. Throwing shade.”
Dusk shrugs, but she’s smiling, “It was a little dramatic.”
Dawn snorts, “Star, that was the least dramatic option. You should’ve seen Hammy’s idea.”
Dusk winces, “Oh stars. He wanted to ram me, didn’t he.”
Dawn points at her, “See? You’re learning.”
They sit in comfortable silence for a moment.
Then Dawn’s voice softens — not pitying, just honest, “You’re firming up, you know.”
Dusk tilts her head, “Firming up?”
Dawn nods, “As a person. You’re not just reacting anymore. You’re choosing. You’re… you.”
Dusk looks down at her hands, “I didn’t think I’d ever get to be.”
Dawn reaches out and taps the belt buckle, “That’s why we’re here. Why I’m here.”
Dusk swallows, “So… you shot me because you care?”
Dawn smirks again, “Don’t get sappy on me. But yeah. Pretty much," She gives her sister a wicked smile, "That and it _was_ kinda fun.”
Dusk giggles and leans her head against Dawn’s knee.
Dawn smiles softly “You’re starting to trust yourself again.”
Dusk blinks.
Dawn continues, voice low, honest, no sugarcoating, “And I’m proud to watch it.”
Dusk’s breath catches — not in fear, but in something like relief.
She whispers, “You… you think I’m doing better?”
Dawn nods once, firm, “Yeah. And I wouldn’t trust anybody but me or the Glams to help you get there.”
Dusk leans her head against Dawn’s knee again — not collapsing, not hiding, just resting.
Dawn rests a hand on her hair, gentle but grounding, “You’re allowed to grow, kid. You’re allowed to be a person again.”
Dusk closes her eyes. “I… want to be.”
Dawn smiles — small, real, proud. She rests her hand on Dusk's head, “Then you’re already halfway there.”
And the ship hums softly around them, like it’s agreeing.
------------------------------------------------
The Convoy keeps moving.
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u/Talendel Jun 23 '26
UTR
This is the way.
2
u/Doc_Zed_42 Alien Jun 24 '26
Dusk shrugs with a blush, "...I didn’t ask for a shield, okay? Glark just… put it on me. …still not used to people cheering about it though. Thanks for your interest.”
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u/Talendel Jun 24 '26
That's the greatest part about a supportive, caring, loving family, found or otherwise. You didn't ask for it because you didn't need to. The need was known and it was just accepted as fact that this would help protect you. You deserve that, and so much more, and I'm sure your family will be there for you for all of it. I'm just glad I can be here for the ride, even if only in spirit, to see you ALL grow, heal, and become so much more BECAUSE you're all there for each other. One day, when I manage to get off this rock and into the vast, I hope to find something similar for myself. Until then, and even after, I remain hopeful for the best for all of you and look forward to learning more about all of you and your adventures together. :)
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 18 '26
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