#No longer a grumpling

[crossfitandcarbs]

The hardest part is she was part of a bonded pair of rabbits, so now Grumples has no idea where his soulmate has gone.

[azullumi]

ayato, kazuha, wanderer — mornings with him (2) ☆彡

summary — mornings with him are often filled with nothing but affection and not wanting to leave the bed.

characters — ayato, kazuha, wanderer (w/ gender-neutral reader)

tags — fluff, established relationship; scenario

word count — 757

a/n — this is part 2 out of 2! this is the link to the first part!

AYATO

"my love, it's cold." he grumbles, pulling you closer to him to prevent you from leaving and you can't completely escape his grasp when he's holding you so tight. he's acting as if there's no blanket that could warm him up and get rid of the cold but in his own defense, your own warmth beats the blanket's own so deal with it.

"archons, you're too warm." you say, trying to make him let go of you, however, he wouldn't budge. "it's cold."

"ayato."

"i don't want to."

he has you wrapped closely to him with his arms, completely showing how he doesn't want to let go of you. however, you were suffering because of how hot it is and the fact that ayato was holding you so tightly wasn't helping.

"do you not feel the cold?" he asks and you responded immediately, "obviously, i do not."

"well, too bad, i do."

you could already imagine the expression on his face, a smirk tugging on his lips, clearly amused and archons, he should be thankful that you couldn't escape his arms or else he he would have to get out of the bed with a red handprint on his face.

"release me or i will not talk to you the whole morning."

he hums, "bet."

ayato, later on that morning, had to apologize and plead for you to talk to him already.

KAEDEHARA KAZUHA

"stay a little bit longer," he reaches out and grabs your wrist, holding onto it as you were about to stand up from the bed. his grip on you wasn't tight and it was easy to just shake it off to make him let go of you but you couldn't find it within yourself to do that.

it was obvious from his voice that he was sleepy and he did not have even the smallest bit of intention of leaving the bed with you until later. however, you have to start moving now or else the morning will start late for you and you'll end up having to chase after tasks that you could have finished right now, at this moment.

"kazuha," you called and he hummed as a response, still not moving from his position, "let go, i need to leave the bed already."

he whines, pulling you closer to him, burying his face on your hair. "just a little bit longer then we can leave."

"i can't do that."

"yes, you can," he replies and you could only sigh. you dragged yourself out ot the bed with kazuha behind you who seemingly didn't mind as long as he still has his hold on you. he has his eyes closed and only relying on you for suport.

you ended up having to go through your whole morning with a sleepy kazuha clinging onto you and following you around.

WANDERER

"come back here." a voice calls out to you, a grumple, clear irritation lacing the tone of it. you turn to look at him, smiling at the sight of his messy hair and sleepy expression. it was a rare thing to see and it was honestly cute though if you're going to say that outloud, he might not like it.

"i have work, kuni." oh, how he adores the way you gently call him by his nickname, the one wherein its only you who is allowed to call him that, though he didn't think much of it and focused on the fact that you were really planning on leaving his side before he wakes up.

"that's not important, go back to sleep." he says, pulling you back to the warmth of the sheets and the comfort of his arms. he has himself positioned behind you, his face hiding at the crook of your neck and you could feel his breath fanning against your skin and his hair tickling you, emitting a chuckle out of you.

"kuni," you say, dragging his name longer out of your tongue, seemingly a warning to which he didn't listen to. he only hummed though and this only ended up tickling you more. noticing your reaction, he peppered kisses on your neck to drive more out of you and it was a success when you were a laughing mess, trying to escape him.

giggles and laughter filled the whole room when he continued to tickle you with his kisses and touch. through broken chuckles, you pleaded to him to stop and let go of you but he didn't listen and only said:

"no, this is your punishment for trying to leave me."

— navigation | masterlist

[fruity-mega-coconut69]

Back In Your Arms Again

[Pairings]: Tara Carpenter X Fem!Reader

[Summary]: You glanced at Tara, realizing the situation only when you saw Chad only in his shirt and underwear  while looking down. You nodded. “I…I live here now, so..” You trailed off before roughly walking through them, dropping Your bag beside the empty bed. “But… I see you’re busy, so I think I’m gonna go..”

[Warnings]: nothing really, it's sooooooooo short but at least it's something, my writing

A/N: God, I've been so busy. But I'll try to stop finding excuses and write more!

You honestly never thought you’d see her again. Not after what happened. But here you were, standing in front of the door to your dorm. A name was already on it just above yours.

Tara Carpenter

Your stomach tightened as a lump began to form in your throat the longer you stared at it. After a while, you lifted your hand, ready to open the door to hell but it suddenly opened. 

“Yeah, I-” Tara stopped dead in her tracks and her words died in her throat when she saw you.

“Tara.” You breathed out, her name was like venom on your tongue.

“Y/N” Her voice was much softer than yours, her eyes, too.

“Tar-?” Chad’s loud voice echoed down the empty hallway as he appeared behind Tara and you looked up at him. “Oh, shi-” He cleared his throat. “Y/N. Hi. Wh-what’s up?”

You glanced at Tara, realizing the situation only when you saw Chad only in his shirt and underwear  while looking down. You nodded. “I…I live here now, so..” YOu trailed off before roughly walking through them, dropping your bag beside the empty bed. “But… I see you’re busy, so I think I’m gonna go..”

“W-wait, Y/N” Tara’s voice makes you stop right away. “Wh..what happened with your old dorm?”

“None of your business, Carpenter” And with that, you walked out of the dorm room, the door slamming behind you forcefully.

“AN-and I can’t believe it! Like how? And that douchebag, Chad was there, too! In his fucking underwear and a shirt!” You sighed in frustration, waving your piece of fry around as you talked angrily. Zhanna, your life-long best friend, was looking at you with a concerned face until you finished talking and she reached for your hand, holding it still. 

“Hey, hey, I..know that this is definitely the worst thing that could've happened right now, but it is going to be fine. I’ll be here. Always. And I told you, you can come live in my apartment” Zhanna smiled warmly at you. 

“I know, but I don’t wanna disturb you, Andrei and Bao. That’s already too many people, might I add.”

“You won’t! They are happy with it too” Zhanna bit her lip, some of her blonde hair fell in front of her face. She let go of your hand and pushed the strands of hair back behind her ears, also pushing her light purple glasses further up her nose. 

“Yes, because you guys are too good people.” You giggled,  getting up from your booth at the  best restaurant near Zhanna’s apartment, The Flavour Club. It serves the best coffee and pizza. Odd combo but still good. Zhanna sighed before getting up after you, throwing some money on the table and walking out after you. 

“And, it’s either having to hear my best friend and her partners banging or having to hear my ex girlfriend and ex best friend banging.” You grumple, throwing a paper napkin into a trash can that you walked by.

“Oh, hey now, I was your best friend wayyy before that jerk.” Zhanna frowned.

“I know, but he was like my brother until….” You trailed off and Zhanna’s face softened, taking your hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

“And if you -and I know you do- want some more time to think about moving in with us, then feel free to do so.” Your hands swung back and front as you walked, your fingers still interlocked. You nod softly. “And I already told you to get over that bitch.”

You frowned and bit the inside of your cheek. “She’s not a bitch. Don’t call her that” You mumbled under your breath. 

Zhanna stopped suddenly. “What was that? What did you say?” You knew she knew exactly what you said.

“Nothing”

“Right”

A/N: Also it's not proof-read sooo

[wtfuckevenknows]

3 . “let me give you a reason to stay in bed” <3 <3 <3

THE LAST SMUT PROMPT!!!!!

And let me preface this by saying I abso-fucking-lutely failed the assignment on this one!!! This is 691 words of PURE FLUFF FOR SOME REASON (the reason being it's me, hi, I'm the problem it's me)

Peep @noxsoulmate laughing at me *pouts*

I am so fucking sorry Shannon @goodways but this is what my brain came up with...

3. “let me give you a reason to stay in bed” 

Carlos woke up to the sun starting to filter in through the big windows, TK still sleeping soundly besides him. 

For a couple of minutes he stayed where he was, giving his mind the time to wake up properly, enjoying the feeling of TK wrapped around him in his sleep. 

Once he was fully awake he grabbed his phone from the nightstand and began mindlessly scrolling social media for a while. 

But soon enough he got restless. Carlos wasn’t a fan of sleeping in, and staying in bed for too long made him feel like he was wasting the day away. 

He decided to surprise TK with breakfast in bed, that way they could still enjoy their lazy day off together - TK’s request after the stress of wedding planning had gotten the better of them these last couple of weeks - but Carlos would have something to do. 

He slowly started the process of untangling himself from the koala glued to his side by gently lifting TK’s arm that was curled around his torso. Carefully, as to not wake his fiancé, he rolled onto his side, grabbing his pillow as a replacement for TK to wrap his arms around. 

He managed to get into a sitting position, but just as he was about to push himself off the bed he felt his wrist being snatched in an iron fist. 

TK’s “no” sounded ridiculously adorable, his sleepy voice barely more than a grumple, and Carlos could nearly hear the pout that he was sure was adorning TK’s face. 

“Too early….Come back.” Even though TK still sounded on the brink of falling back asleep, his last words were ushered rather forcefully. 

Carlos turned back around to TK, who really was pouting with his eyes closed.

“I was just going to make you breakfast in bed. You can sleep for a while longer. I’ll be back soon.”

He leaned down from where he was perched at the edge of the bed and pressed a gentle kiss to TK’s face in between each sentence, first on his forehead, then on his nose, and finally he gave TK’s lips a little peck. 

TK’s face stretched into a happy, lazy smile and he launched into a full body stretch, looking every bit like an adorable little kitten. When he finally opened his emerald green eyes, his gaze immediately finding his, Carlos felt himself smile back reflexively. 

“Good morning, beautiful,” he breathed, just before pressing another soft kiss to TK’s lips. 

“Hmm, morning,” TK purred back, tugging at Carlos' wrist that he was still holding onto.  

“I need cuddles. Come lie back down.” TK always knew exactly what he wanted, even while still being half asleep. Carlos couldn't believe this adorable, beautiful, captivating, fierce man was going to be his forever. 

When Carlos didn't reply fast enough, TK tucked again, underlining his desire by murmuring, “Baby, please.” 

Carlos was just about to give in when TK added, “Let me give you a reason to stay in bed,” in what he was sure was supposed to be a seductive way. However it sounded ridiculous to Carlos' ears, TK’s voice still a little shaky and unclear from sleep, and it made him laugh. 

The pout returned to TK’s face and Carlos couldn't help but kiss it off of his face. 

“Carlos,” TK whined, when he pulled back.  

Carlos, grinning from ear to ear, finally gave in and let himself fall back onto the bed, and as soon as he was horizontal, TK rolled half on top of him. 

While pressing kisses into TK’s fluffy bed hair Carlos started gently caressing him by running his hand along his fiance's spine, lulling TK back to sleep.  

“Go back to sleep, mi amor. I promise I’ll stay right here as your personal pillow. And when you wake up again, you can try to seduce me again.” Carlos couldn’t help but chuckle at his own words. 

The only reply he got was a soft snore, but later, when TK woke up for real and after they had breakfast in bed - ordered, not self-made - they had the most gentle, loving morning sex of Carlos' life. 

You can find the other prompt fills here.

[terrevfunkrib]

If you are still drawing grumplings, may I perhaps offer (if you are still asking for them):

My lil' baby Taty! Also the ref below is them as a teen!

Im sorry, but i am no longer doing baby grump requests! Im in a mood lately where i havent really been wanting to draw anything and im getting through my last week of school before summer! Love the charater though!

[goresnax-archive]

"wait a little longer"?, alegander be realistic here. they trapped you here for TWENTY. YEARS. without a whiff of communication with your own wife, what makes you believe they would ever let you go back to her?, plus even then she probably would've been targeted if you came back considering she did some incredible research on them, alegander, there's nothing you could've done to prevent such an event

"Still..."

[He let out a shaky breath]

"I-If I hadn't joined this damned organization in the first place, th-than..."

"..."

[He covers up his head with his arms]

"... Than none of this would have happened..."

"We would've been at home.. h-happy... married, perhaps a grumpling or two... safe..."

"But NO... I just HAD to join, and now I'm MILES AWAY, with no way of protecting her!-"

"... I-I'm nothing but a fool..."

[cryptic-loser]

Okay soooo,, hi Snax VS The World enjoyers! The story is getting. Entirely reworked. Again. HOWEVER. I have some,, grumpus anatomy kinda stuff!! So!!! Here we go!!!

Fur patterns!!!!!! AND they hint to the ancestors of grumpuses!!

Freckled patterns descend from Snow/Tundra Grumps,

Striped patterned grumps come from Forest Grumps,

Splotch grumps are descendants of Swamp Grumps,

And Wavey patterns are from Desert Grumps!

And then, we got horn shapes!!

They ahh. Literally don't mean anything-

I HAVE SOME UHHHHH LIL ANATOMY THINGS THO!!! SO YEAH!!

•AFAB grumpuses have pouches. I think that's a pretty common headcanon among the fandom tbh- This pouch is usually used to hold snacks, or baby Grumpuses. This pouch can get removed with surgery, and this is the equivalent of Grumpus top surgery.

•Baby Grumpuses (Grumplings) come from eggs (again, very common headcanon), and then when they are hatched, kinda look like newborn puppies. Very little fur, very smol, eyes shut. They're kinda pathetic, OTHER THAN they have something to replace their sight!! Grumplings have whiskers that fall out after they reach like,, 5 months (same time they open their eyes), and they function similar to a cat's whiskers, helping them not bump into shit.

•Some grumpuses have alot more chest floof than others. This is more common in Freckled Grump descendants, but others can have longer chest floof too. Some grumpuses choose to keep theirs short, others choose to keep it long, it's mainly a comfort thing.

•When it comes to genetics, it's kind of simple. For fur color, a grumpus will have one of their bio parents fur colors, or rarely, a mixture of both. Nose/paw color is much the same. Eye color is usually a mix of the parents eye colors, and it's rarer to have one or the other, and very, VERY rare to have heterochromic eyes, containing BOTH of the parents eye colors. Fur patterns are always one parents or the others.

•Albino grumpuses, much like people and animals, are EXTREMELY rare. Albinos have very light fur colors with no markings, though the hue still depends on the parents colors. The nose and paws do not seem to be affected by albinism. The eyes, however, are usually red or pink, and very, VERY sensitive to light.

That's pretty much it for now!!! I shall post more later!!! FAREWELL!!

[b-r-i-n-g-x]

I think i forgot to share this but about almost a month ago i made another child for my LizEgg family au

More info undercut

Their name is Fruitjam Batterfig (Pawsy usually call them Fruity hdhddh)

They don't usually speak they'd rather use sign language. Their body is a bit deformed, like on of their arms is longer than the other, their one eye and their head are a bit squished down, and they just only have one pointy tooth.

And one more thing.

They were made out of this:

Thanks for Floofty's science skill they mamaged to turn the Snaxquatch into a grumpus like and they only needed DNAs from Lizbert and Eggabell. And it was Pawsy idea to take a Snaxquatch home.

Now they live like a real grumpus, tho they sometimes have difficulties to accept that or believe that. (They don't really believe that they're like part of the grumpus or that they're a real Grumpus and they think they'll never will. Lizbert Eggabell and Pawsy of course try to convince them otherwise.)

I'm gonna tag @flooftyfizzlebeans here since I'm not going to lie, their grumplings ideas inspired me a lot

Tho a lot of my idea were inspired by someone i hope it doesn't seems like stealing. If it is, I'm very sorry it wasn't on purpose.

[flooftyfizzlebeans]

i barely know about kelchup clumberjam but i would die for them

*rubs hands together* oh no you are about to know a lot about Kelchup Clumberjam.

Kelchup is someone that Liz met in grade school. There was something there that made them connect immediately. Maybe it was the fantastic adventures Liz was always inviting them on, maybe it was how receptive Kel was to her make believe scenarios. Maybe it was something Mother Naturae simply wanted to happen.

In any case, they quickly became close, running off into the forest to catch crawdads in the river after school. They climb the same tree and do nothing but talk and talk and talk until the sun goes down. Lizbert's parents invite them over for dinner as often as Clumby and Aleg would allow.

While they still fed Kelchup, they tasted food from people who know how to cook once and never wanted to look back.

Liz and Kel said they were going to get married!

Of course, as they grew older, things stopped being perfect. Kel's parents divorced, and gave them conflicting views on who they should be. Lizbert started hanging out with other people in addition to Kelchup. But... They were still close.

They were girlfriends throughout high school. Middle school, as well.

At some point, Kelchup got the impression that they were the best. That they were destined to be royalty and Liz would rule alongside them. Some medieval fantasy that they clung onto when things started getting turbulent. It didn't help that there were stories told of two lovers in the distant past, as told by The Mother, that Liz and Kel saw themselves in. One was the queen of a distant land, the other her wisest advisor, living to see the fall of their empire to it's own forces.

The Heart and The Mind, it was called. There were a few more characters in that story, but it didn't matter in the moment. Well, the two of them found the three others, became good friends and al that, but it doesn't matter right now.

It did wonders for Lizbert's ego, to be called the best. But at some point, it didn't sit right with her.

Kelchup's superiority complex wasn't bad enough to prevent them from keeping friends. That is, until the day the two of them broke up.

Filbo was the odd man out of the group, not part of the ancient story and honestly not as intelligent as the rest of the group. Yeah, sometimes other people sat with them, but Filbo was a core member, thanks to Liz.

Kelchup decided that insulting Filbo to his face was a good idea. In fact, they'd been doing it since they met Filbo. But this time what they said rubbed Liz the wrong way.

They implied she was better than any grumpus on earth. That he didn't deserve her friendship.

And so, Kel didn't deserve her relationship.

They were both mature enough to not make a huge drama and tear each other up afterwards, and kept civil until senior year was over. But then contact fizzled out soon after.

They couldn't believe it. All those years, those formative years, the talks and plans and every grumpling name they came up with together was for nothing, ultimately.

And so, Kel had to be better. They had to be *the best*. Everyone would see that they were, and then they'd be good enough for Liz, the only grumpus better than them.

I hope to teach them that they don't need Liz, that the fact she is no longer a big part of their life anymore is ok. And that they don't have to be the best in order to be worthy of love. Or even to pretend they are.

They have three friends who still care about them, and would love to take on the world as a little group!

But the King still misses their Queen

---

I have a fic where Kel dies

But I don't think that's necessarily how their story goes. After finding out about the snakolytes, and how easily Kel slots right into them, I know Kel will find their queen.

Kelchup was incorporated into the snakolytes, and works with scientific snak research along with V-[REDACTED]. She freaks them out for some reason, but they make well enough colleagues.

They will find the queen.

They will study her.

They will find out what she is made of. Who she is.

They will love her.

[cyberaxolotl]

Wh-whats the miria project? 😰

SOMEONE PAID ATTENTION TO IMIMI’S BIO ‼️

in all seriousness, the Miria Project is a silly little concept in my silly little interpretation of the grumpus world, and it involves primarily the children. I have 2 characters who are or were part of it.

warning: this concept might be distressing to some

Imimi was part of it, but in “current time,” she became too old to be in it. Children are considered “expired” and no longer useful by age 10. When she was in it, she was subject 014.

The other child is Eriyah Batterfig, who is subject 042, and because he is 8, he’s still part of it. I’ll post Eriyah’s stuff soon

But in better description, the Miria Project is made to study grumpus biology and behavior in grumplings. After a grumpling has hatched, the parents are asked whether or not they’d like to enter them into the project, being assured that their grumpling will be fine.

Imimi was put in as a baby out of her parents ignorance, while Eriyah was put in due to Eggabell; she hadn’t read the fine print while working at that hospital. The reason Wiggle was not part of the project but Imimi was was due to the projects establishment happening when Wiggle was already too old.

What does the Miria Project do? It mostly doesn’t affect daily life, other than the armband being annoying, but the children are taken in at the last week of the month to survey their behavior based on their daily life and special stimuli. This ranges from seeing how they respond to stuff that should induce extreme joy, to inducing meltdowns, to seeing how “animalistic instincts” present themselves in grumplings. It’s all for studying behavior, after all.

Eriyah, having two mothers who love him and care for him well, mostly had positive results in the Miria Project. However, Imimi, while loved, is under a lot of pressure in her daily life. Her results were partially positive, though her half of negative results came from meltdowns when forced to make decisions.

Their parents were not informed of their childrens results or allowed to say.

long story short, project troubles troubled children. will be elaborated on in little snippets and ficlets and stuff. imimi is so very troubled

[stinging-metal]

Hello! Are you still asking for grumpling references? I've seen your old blog doing that and rebooted it witl two out of five grumplings already. But you you won't reblog with that account, but that post might be old

Can I still give you the refs for you to improve drawing grumplings?

Im sorry but i no longer do grumpling requests! Thank you for checking beforehand though!

[mushroom-for-art]

Probably gonna have to redesign him the colors looked cute all baby pastel and ooh swirly egg and now he just looks all psychedelic and funky as all hell and overcomplicated because I just went ham. But I adore him regardless and will likely never redesign.

[cheesesteakphil]

Sunday means Sketch day! Only a small one, I have some bigger comics I want to post on their own later :)

Depending on how long you think the events of bugsnax take, I don’t think enough people consider grumpuses hair growing out (if it applies). But I think Orlifa’s hair would have definitely grown out some while she was on snaktooth and so, Much to her annoyance, her natural hair color would have started coming through (remember all that time ago when I said she’s not really blonde? I didn’t forget that, but I will keep the truth a secret here for a little longer). But I like the idea that she would have asked gramble to make her a hat to cover her roots for a little while longer. Funny Sherbie hat :)

In true dad fashion, Bonreed would absolutely buy the most rediculous clothes to put baby Orlifa in. He has an entire hidden photo album of his own of all the shit he know’s Elorana would NEVER have her grumpling in lmao. Orlifa constantly tried to find the album growing up to get rid of it but could never find it.

Stay FUCKING SAFE someone gave @thegalleonsnest a gun

[girlyliondragon]

I finally got to making a Grumpinati OC because I see too many good ones and wanted to do my own. So I made this girl on the whim and she’s only a few days old in terms of her creation and I already wanna throw her in some shenanigans. (Hell I technically already did when rambling/brainstorming about her interactions with other OCs) I wanted a design that’s pretty with an edge, and jotting her down on GDocs took longer than it should as I redid a few of intricacies. So forgive the messiness in the bio.

Talara Quietbell, nicknamed Tala by few, was your pretty standard Grumpus with a standard life until the sudden death of her husband Zipper Bubblesky shook her. Her way of getting away from it all was to run off, taking the egg she had with him as the only memory she wanted to keep. However in her frantic reckless haste, an accident knocked the egg out of her paws and led it to crack, causing her to lose the Grumpling she had planned to have for years. It all happened so fast she couldn’t properly process the loss, leading her to hole up in a dark alley so that nobody saw her finally break down.

A few days later, and at her lowest moment, she was approached in private by a tall figure in black in that very alley, and blinded in her tears didn’t get too good a look at the Grumpus. They exchanged very few words before a contact card was put in her paw.

With nowhere to go, and needing a way to keep food on the table for herself now, she took the chance despite that nagging feeling in her head being skeptical. Talara didn’t want to go back home though, she wanted to start over after her old life came crashing down so fast. She didn’t show much in the face at the offer, but thanked the back of whoever that grumpus was nonetheless, taking it as a possible means for a new life. That figure from the encounter she would actually come to meet later, what she didn’t know was she had entangled herself into the Grumpinati in taking that.

She joined them, moved up the ladder and now currently works as a spy under the corporation to gather intel on others to report back to the higher-ups when possible, and maybe take advantage of a few weaknesses of two, but she prefers the dirtier work be done by the assassins and such unless it’s a desperate situation. She holds a disdain to those lower than her rank-wise telling her to do things and is very vocal about letting them know that, which led to a big brutish one to dare try cornering her and start a fight. She lost her eye and had one of her bigger teeth knocked out completely in the process, the encounter not humbling her but instead only enhancing that contempt further as she lay in the infirmary.

Talara respects very few in her line of work, to say the least, but is capable of showing she does really care for those that do have that respect in her own way. She’s just terrible when it comes to actually showing it in expression as Talara is very good at keeping her more extreme emotions (Outside anger or the like where she needs to defend herself and is required to threaten) in check in public spaces, so any outward moods she shows tends to be very mild on the muzzle. She holds the nickname of “Mrs. Stoneface” by her co-workers thanks to this, starting as a joke but eventually it stuck, along with the unfortunate assumption of not giving a damn even when she does. The fluffy maned grumpus holds an odd-seeming level of respect to her own leader, even getting angry when others badmouth her behind her back in Talara’s vicinity. It’s not at all necessary, but low and behold it is a newly developed berserk button that betrays her neutral look. Most don’t know why, and she prefers that for very personal reasons.

Talara’s nickname Tala is considered a privilege to even call her, very few she allows to refer her to it as it has the vibe of a soft pet name. So she isn’t into being called it casually unless you’re close to her in some way relationship-wise.

The knife is something she keeps on her person. Talara however like a lot of others in her Corporation, despite having it, does not like the idea of offing other Grumpuses willy-nilly as it is too messy and attracts attention (Plus she isn’t evil). It is moreso her method of threatening others most of the time, and prefers to only actually use it when the situation is absolutely requiring its use. But outside that restraint, she’s very much a “Looks soft but could actually end you if you push her.” type.

It’s not the best (Or smartest) choice in life she could’ve made, and she in working under them ended up becoming a harder-edged Grumpus compared to before, but it’s a fresh start and despite all the bullshit it’s been more eventful than her previous secretary job and life.

“Unless you’re my boss, don’t tell me what to do.”

Art/Talara Quietbell: Mine

Do not steal/crop/edit/etc. Do not tag as kin

[poliel]

Adopted Egg

Yo, I wrote a thing based off the Adopted Egg AU!

~

While Boiling Bay wasn’t as bad as Sizzling Sands or Frosted Peak it was still pretty bad. All the lava made it too hot to be comfortable and the various aggressive and angry bugsnax made it a pain to traverse. But hey at least getting headbutted by a giant angry popsicle or hit point blank by a big scoop of seemingly frozen solid ice cream cooled Buddy off fairly well. And the ocean water was nice lapping around their feet as they wondered back down the beach.

Thankfully though their pack was full of bugsnax though, at long last they’d caught everything single one that could be found here now. Meaning they could finally head back to Snaxburg. … After a quick nap though because they’d been out and about for far too long. And dawn was still a few hours away so almost no would be out and about when they returned to town anyway. So they turned and started for the wreck Floofty had taken shelter in before they’d been convinced to return to town.

As they neared it, they slowed because… was that a skeleton? Shaking off the initial shock, Buddy picked up the pace, jogging the rest of the way over. Yep, it was a skeleton all right, nestled up deep in the shade and protection offered the wreck’s overhang. Its bones were a clean white, indicating it was fresh. The sand underneath it was a dark maroon, probably blood. But most intriguing of all was the egg it was curled around, lying on a little blanket, the edge closer to the skeleton marred with more dried blood.

Far too big to be an eggler even if this was an area they showed up in, the splotches of dark green and magenta on it made it pretty clear that it was a grumpus egg andthat it couldn’t have come from anyone in Snaxburg. Not that there’d been any real question about the latter given the skeleton curled around it. But… none of this really added up.

It wasn’t too terribly long ago that Buddy had been down this way and in this wreck, their sense of time was very off these days but it couldn’t have been much longer than a week or two. While it was perfectly possible a grumpus had washed up here on a raft or something, crawled their way up here and then died, presumably via injuries judging based off the blood, it wasn’t possible for their body to have rotted all the way to bones yet. And even if there was something around that could eat a corpse, the bones looked undisturbed and unchewed on in general. So… where had it come from?

They lifted their camera to take some pictures, being sure to get some from as many different angles as possible just in case they needed to look over the undisturbed scene again later. Then, careful of the weight of their full backpack, Buddy crouched down to get a better look. First, they poked skeleton and then leaned in to sniff it, learning nothing. Next, they pinched up some of the red sand and lifted it to their mouth. Gagging they turned their head to spit because while they’d definitely confirmed it was blood it tasted foul, whether that was because it was several days old or something else, they didn’t know enough to say, either way they regretted decided to taste it.

After shaking off their disgust, they turned back to look at the skeleton and its egg. They needed to investigate more but also… they couldn’t leave the egg out here unattended. It was possible it had already been left out too long and thus it was too late for it but they had no way to know that for sure right now so… with a sigh, Buddy picked it up before straightening. Holding it to their chest with one paw, they pulled Sprout’s buggy ball out of their pouch and then pushed the egg in there instead. While it was about the same size, the oblong shape making it a bit bigger, it was notably heavier, making its presence uncomfortably hard to not be aware of but they’d live.

They pulled their backpack off to shove Sprout inside for now. There was barely enough room for him and he didn’t sound happy as they zipped it up but he’d just have to deal with it for a little while because they had some more investigating to do.

~

Any evidence about the skeleton or how it had come to be there had long since been obliterated by the wind and sea, leaving the mystery disappointingly unsolvable. Buddy searched high and low all over Boiling Bay and then Shimmering Springs too for good measure and found a whole lot of nothing, not even any shed fur anywhere or more dried blood. There was a notable lack of snakpods that weren’t high up though, indicating it was likely the mysterious grumpus had found and eaten them before succumbing to their wounds and somehow rotting away to nothing but a skeleton.

It was nearing midday by the time Buddy decided to give up and drag themself back to Snaxburg. While they weren’t squeamish about skeletons or dead bodies in general, they’d rather not take a nap next to one if they didn’t have to. Besides they still had the egg and what to do with it to worry about.

The first thing they did upon reaching town was drop their backpack off in Lizbert’s hut. Almost everyone would be expecting food but they’d all have to wait a little bit longer. Next, they went to the research tent.

“There’s a skeleton out in Boiling Bay,” they said as they sidled up to Floofty at their work table. “It’s in the wreck you used to live in. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”

Floofty looked up from the lollive they were dissecting with a sigh. “No. Even if I had any use for a skeleton, why would I leave it out there? And if you’re implying I killed someone, you’d also be incorrect. You can check around town to confirm everyone’s still alive if you don’t believe me.”

“Nah, I didn’t think you had anything do with it. I was just making sure since it’s in your old shelter and not many of the others ever go out to there.” Also if anyone in Snaxburg was responsible for it in one way or another they were near if not right at the top of list of likely candidates.

“Good. Now leave, I’m busy.” They lifted a paw to make a shooing gesture at them before looking back down at their work.

Buddy would’ve gladly left to go take a nap somewhere but they still had the egg sitting heavy in their pouch. Floofty wasn’t a doctor but they clearly knew some stuff and thus might be able to determine if the grumpling inside was still alive or not, thus saving Buddy another long trek up to Frosted Peak to ask Eggabell. So they pulled it out, placing it gently on the table. “I found this next to it. I figure you might be able to figure out if it’s been left out too long or whatever.”

Floofty paused for a moment before putting their tools down and shifting their attention solely to the egg. They carefully picked it up to hold up and turn in their paws, examining it from all angles. “Hmm…” The looked at Buddy again. “You found it next to the skeleton?”

“Yep. It’s really weird. Clearly, they died recently but… only their skeleton and a bit of dried blood are left behind. I looked everywhere for more but… there was nothing.”

“That is odd. Very well, I shall examine the egg. Later I would like to look over the skeleton as well.”

“Awesome. I’m going to go take a nap.”

They were awoken by the sound of raised voices. Their own fault for choosing to sleep in Lizbert’s hut with not only the door ajar but the window open as well. It was still annoying though. They could move and sleep elsewhere or close everything or heck, even just roll over and pull a pillow over their head to cover their ear holes but… what was everyone fighting about?

“…totally can take care of it by myself,” Gramble was saying, his voice two steps away from having a protective growl in it.

“Yeah, right.” Cromdo scoffed. “You’re half-starved and go wondering around and often outof town almost every night, no way you could take proper care of it and the grumpling when it hatches.”

Ah, they were fighting about the egg. Not surprising honestly but… why was it so hard for everyone to get along?

“So I should be the one to have it,” Cromdo continued.

“Hell no,” Beffica came in next. “You just want it for one your schemes.”

“She’s right.” Wambus, the only one not yelling so his voice was hard to make up from in here. “Ain’t no way anyone here would trust you with it.”

“Gramble and I are clearly the best suited to take care of it.” Wiggle. “Having a little grumpling might be the exact thing I need to spark my muse.”

“Uh, no offense Wiggle,” Beffica again, her tone making it clear offense was meant, “but taking responsibility for raising a kid is kind of a huge deal. Doing it because you want to ‘spark your muse’ is the wrong reason. And you know I hate to admit it but Cromdo’s actually right about something for once, Gramble’s barely keeping himself alive. Adding on taking care of an egg and then eventually a grumpling is a bit much.”

“Exactly!” Cromdo again. “Wait what do you…”

Gramble interrupted with a growl. “I can handle it. An egg is exactly what I’ve always wanted and now I finally got a chance and I ain’t letting any of ya’ll take it away from me.”

Wambus’ voice came in next. “Assuming you can somehow keep it alive long enough on your own, you’re going to teach it not to eat bugsnax and then it’s going to starve to death then.”

“Buddy already said after they finish publishing their story they’ll come back with food supplies for me so it’ll be fine.”

“Can I hold it?” Chandlo surprisingly cut in next. “Just for a bit.”

“Sure,” Triffany said, indicating she’d been the one holding it before.

The argument resumed after that but Buddy stopped paying attention as they rolled over and pulled the pillow over their head, muffling the voices to be near inaudible. They were curious about how it was going to play out but not enough to stay awake any longer for now. They’d ask for an update on it whenever they woke up properly.

They woke feeling not well rested – such was never the case these days and thus not worth trying for anymore – but good enough to go about their day and pretend they were fine. After forcing themself out of bed, they weren’t around town, doling out the fruits of their earlier hunting and donating everything left over to Gramble’s barn. They then returned to Filbo who was doing his rounds around town.

“What happened with the egg?” they asked as they fell into step with him.

“Oh uh… Floofty examined it and said it’s okay. And then as soon as word spread about it everyone fought about who should take care of it. No one wanted to trust anyone else with it for one reason or another. Eventually Chandlo suggested everyone could just take turns with it. Which no one was happy about at first but then we talked about it some more and that’s the best way to do it for now since everyone was fighting about who was going to adopt it.”

“Interesting solution. Who’s all taking turns with it?”

“Gramble, Wiggle, Beffica, Triffany, Cromdo, and Chandlo. I wanted a turn too but… Beffica pointed that I tend to be a bit uh… clumsy so maybe I shouldn’t have a turn since I’d probably break it or lose it or… something.” He let out a heavy sigh, sagging a little before perking back up. “She’s right though so… I don’t mind.” He’d never told a more obvious lie. “I can keep updated on it through just doing my normal stuff around town.”

“Hmm… it was great talking to you. I have something I need to go take care of though.”

“Uh… okay. See you later,” he said after them.

Beffica was in Filbo’s hut again, snooping. She jumped and even squeaked a little, as Buddy tapped her on the shoulder. “Oh, hey Bestie,” she said as she turned to face them. “Don’t sneak up on me like that.”

Buddy normally would’ve apologized but they weren’t very happy with her right now so they went straight to business instead. “You need to let Filbo have turns watching the egg too.”

“Uh… why?”

“Because he wants to.”

“But… he’s Filbo.” She gestured with her paws as if her point were the most obvious thing the world.

Crossing their arms as they stared at her, Buddy didn’t respond.

It took her a few seconds but finally she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine. If you think he can be trusted with it, I’ll talk to the others about him getting a turn too.”

“Good. Thanks bestie.” They lifted a paw to fist bump her turning to leave. They had tasks and stuff they needed to get back to.

-

Not even a full two weeks later and everyone in town had been scheduled into have a turn pouching the egg. Even Floofty and Snorpy, the two Buddy would’ve thought the least likely to want anything to do with it. And a few weeks later when they finally convinced Shelda to return to town it wasn’t long before she’d basically taken on a grandma role to the egg, having her own occasional turn with it.

Buddy was the only one who didn’t have a turn taking care of it. They were too busy running around doing stuff and working on their story. They’d hopefully be free of this cursed island soon anyway so there was no need for them to get involved with it much.

But seeing everyone start to get along around the egg was nice. There was still fighting and disagreements but overall everyone was trending towards being nicer to each other. It was more than Buddy could’ve asked or hoped for, hopefully it would continue into raising the grumpling once the egg hatched.

~

I'm ending it here because a lot of the other ideas proposed for the AU are pretty scattered timewise which would make it hard to cover them in this fic quickly and coherently. But know, post game everyone ends up living in one big house to take care of the egg and there's polyamory stuff and more eggs going on in the group.

[soulthefunnyman]

Finally got something akin to a reference for Lawnsie, since I can’t draw lmao. At least I think my writing’s giving them justice.

Much more coherent background, still can add to it but that’ll happen more as I make use of them.

Minor Details

6’1, just taller than Filbo.

Mid 20’s, young blood in the journalism industry that gives Clumby more headaches than she can count.

Colour scheme is largely orange, orange fur, orange nose, orange paw pads, whole lotta orange. Eyes are a light aqua though.

Wears a black vest/turtleneck with a lot of pockets to store whatever they need, notepads, pens and pencils, any pictures… 

No over or underbite, has sharper teeth.

Legs are slightly longer than their arms, but not overly so.

Always wearing sunglasses, helps with their photophobia. The only times they are off is when it’s dark, they’re resting on their head otherwise.

Frequent urban explorer, loves the thrill of exploring decrepit buildings and finding things long forgotten.

Post Snaktooth, they decided to room with Filbo in order to assist him with his new political career and to have someone to rely on after nearly losing everyone.

Frequent patron to Cromdo’s karaoke bar, surprisingly enough. Enjoys singing stupid songs with their friends.

Backstory

Growing up, Lawnsie always had an interest in the unknown, particularly creatures of the unknown. This stemmed from fears as a grumpling, always blowing things out of proportion and seeing everyday things as something unknown. They left it for a short while as they got older, focusing on other branches in their life, but that curiosity never quite left them, eventually leading them into photographic journalism. Their parents were rather supportive, if confused, but they trusted their decisions. 

They believed that there were things out there. Things that couldn’t be easily explained. They sought to figure out those things.

They hung around the lower end of the job ladder for a few years, eventually landing a job in the GNN after a couple freelance articles caught their interest. This is where they met Clumby, who would come to know her as their boss, and someone to fear if crossed.

It was around this time that they picked up the interest of exploring abandoned buildings in New Grump City, very quickly becoming their hobby outside of work. It was also when they discovered their dust allergy. The feeling of exploring a place that was left to rot, seeing what was left behind, piecing together what it was like before everything was left to gather dust… figuring out why it was abandoned.

They fell in love with it all. It made them feel like a detective.

This was their life for another couple of years, working under Clumby, handing many articles that often pertained to their cryptid passion, questioning many about what they saw and attempting to bring the truth to light. Then the Grumpfoot article got published.

Everything went down after that. It wasn’t as if they were well liked publicly anyway because of their constant articles about supposed make-believe creatures, but at least they were tolerated at work until the article got released.

Clumby ripped into them once she had to recall them. She had a lot less patience for their shenanigans once everything had passed.

After that point, it only made sense that Lizbert sent them the invitation to Snaktooth six months later. The events of Snaktooth helped with their social skills for one, and even gave them the opportunity to make friends there.

Filbo grew close to them, often giving him support while everything blew up in his face and spending more than a few nights chatting away at the campfire together, talking of their lives and what brought them here. This was where they learned about Filbo’s track record with holding a job, which they could sympathize with. Freelancing was like roulette after all, they never knew the next time they could land an article.

Gramble also became a good friend, bonding over Bugsnax in their own ways since neither of them ate them for their own reasons. Of course, they were still worried about the fact that he was starving, so one night while everyone else was asleep and he was sleepwalking, they fed him one of the Snax they caught while out on their travels. The next day, when he spoke to them about the fact that he ate one in his sleep, they felt guilty of it. They never told him what they had done until after Snaktooth, which no doubt made the blow hurt more. Things were rocky for a little bit after that, but they made up after Lawnsie helped him find a new pet.

Everyone else ranged from someone they got along with but never interacted with much to someone they understood but quite uncertain in their relationship, but they never outright hated anyone after Snaktooth.

After everything had gone down on the island and they were forced to flee, Lawnsie and Filbo moved in together, and became reliant on each other during the tough times recovering from Snaktooth. It was a struggle, with everyone dealing with the trauma at the same time, but they all managed to pull through, themself included. Because of said trauma, they could not go back to urban exploration for a while, as it reminded them too much of the wreckage than Snaxburg had become after the earthquake, and often made them think about how Lizbert and Eggabell were doing.

They felt guilty for the fact that they couldn’t help them, but understood they couldn’t really do much with everything falling apart around them. It still didn’t lessen the blow, though. 

Once Filbo finally started running for mayor, they did everything in their power to paint him in a positive light, from writing articles to vouching for him during rallies, and it all paid off for him. He couldn’t thank them enough, promising to do the very best he could.

They took up freelance articles again, keeping their passion for cryptids alive despite the horrors they’d seen on that island, even managing to generate a small following from it. More than a few passionate letters came for them, thanking them for trying to find what was out there.

After everything that had happened in their life, they finally found a place to share with others. The Snaktooth expedition kept in close contact, often meeting together for various events. They never realised how alone they truly were until they met everyone, but they wouldn’t trade it for the world.