A New Era

Chapter 18: It's Worth the Pain

Ink sighed as he finished another piece of paperwork. He winced as his ribs moved even slightly from the exhale, making him gingerly adjust his seating.

If it was his choice, he'd see about passing out on his bed. Counter point: his chest hurt way too much for that. He'd sooner fall asleep leaned back in an office chair than potentially having to get up from a bed.

He supposed he could just draw; ignore the sleepiness and just draw since that hardly hurt his chest. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

As he was willing himself to get up and deal with the pain when an excited knock came from the door. He blinked and stared. Who in the world would be excited to see him?

"Come in?" he said quietly, half expecting this to be a joke.

    Was he didn't expect was to see an excited Palette run in, his little eyes stars as he rushed to the foot of Ink's desk, small paintbrush in hand.

    "I did it!" he yelled, bouncing up and down.

    "Did... what?" Ink asked, confused by the child's joy.

    "I hit the target!" the little bones yelled triumphantly, holding the paintbrush high above his head.

    That tugged at Ink's memory. He quickly smiled, "Great job!"

    "I'm ready to learn how to aim now," he said, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

    Ink blinked before looking away to think. Say yes and be in a world of pain, but bond with someone that seemed to like him or say no, and lose that bonding opportunity?

    Saying yes would definitely mean a trip to the hospital. There would be no way that he could deal with that kind of excruciating pain for that long. Then he'd have to say what happened... there had to be something else.

    "I'm not feeling well enough to do any training-" there was that look of disappointment (sUsPICioN) -"But! Is there anything else you'd like to do?"

    Palette looked away before thinking. He thought lo by and hard before looking back to Ink, "How about nice cream?"

    "Nice cream?"

    "Stuff's not cheap!" Palette defended passionately before looking down. "We don't have yo if you don't want to."

    "No no! I want to!" Ink said, leaning forward. It took all willpower to wince gasp, "Give me a second to get ready and I'll meet you in the lobby."

~§~

When Ink had said 'yes' to the nice cream, he'd anticipated a little pain. Movement was painful, but surely simply walking and trying to keep up with an energetic little bones wouldn't be that hard.

He'd thought.

Every step brought him closer to considering recalling himself (not that he hadn't before). Every movement in his ribs made him feel like dusting. He wouldn't doubt the possibility of a few of his ribs actively dusting as he stood in line for nice cream with Palette bouncing and prattling on about something at his side.

It was odd, not getting looks from people. Every time he walked the halls of the center, glaring and frowning followed. Here? No one cared.

He guessed everyone thought he was just another Ink, not THE Ink. He wouldn't lie, it was almost worth the pain to just be another face in a crowd.