(2010) Orphan

She couldn’t breathe. Her mother wasn’t breathing, so she wasn’t going to breathe either.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. Her mother was invincible, the one sure, unstoppable, unchanging constant in her life. Other people’s mothers died, but not hers. No, this couldn’t be her mother.

Catrina squeezed the hand she was holding tightly; the skin beneath its fur was cold and unreal. The hand should have jerked back reflexively from the pain, but it didn’t move.

She couldn’t look at her mother’s face. It was too perfectly still, expressionless, alien. She looked everywhere but. The white sheets, the wall above her mother’s head, the glass of contaminated water on the nightstand, sparkling in a fan of sunlight. They were also perfectly still and quiet.

“…Mom?” Catrina finally said. She somehow found time to notice how small and thin her own voice was, almost impossible to hear over the room’s oppressive silence and the staccato beat of her own heart. Tears began to track down her face, soaking her fur through to the skin. “Mom, answer me.”

Her mother did not answer. Because, as it turned out, she was not invincible.
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(Because I'm almost certain someone will ask: This is Catrina at 17 years old. Back then, her hair/fur was longer. Present-day Catrina still has a one-sided mohawk. I don't want to see any comments like "OMG WHY DID YOU CHANGE HER HAIR," okay? )

Look at me, I finally got around to drawing something from the backstory of one of my OCs.

So, about the artwork. I was focusing especially on making good clean lineart, and on rendering. I think I learned a lot while doing this picture.

Catrina's mother Theta, according to her story at the LOC Wiki, ([link]) was the only other member of the LeKryze family to survive Tachyon's attack on Fastoon. Sixteen years later, Theta died after drinking the native water of planet Vitica, not realizing that it was contaminated. I don't think I have to tell you how Catrina felt when she found her mother dead.
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_{Musical inspiration: Gary Jules - "Mad World" ([link])
Imogen Heap - "Hide and Seek" (Don't you dare laugh.) ([link])
Ratchet and Clank (c) Insomniac Games et al.
Please do not use without my express permission.}