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bo-bo-bean · 1 year

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Curing a Phobia (chapter one)

Curing a Phobia

Chapter One: Dandruff of a Wimp

“Alligator teeth, for sure!” Giggles laughed with an ecstatic look written on her face. Flaky heard herself yelp before she could even think of the thought. Sharp teeth crammed into her jaw? That’s an accident waiting to happen! What if she bit her tongue? It would be no more!

“Really? Cause I would love shark teeth,” Petunia added in her own answer. That was even worse, it felt like…! Losing teeth constantly, biting the cheek. If she drew blood with sharp teeth, would she want to eat others? Would sharks be considered cannibals? Not to mention if she died, they would only see the teeth! She learned it from wondering if shark week was a week to worry about sharks, so she did extensive research and regretted it.

The two were in the middle of a game of Would You Rather. Flaky, hearing both options, couldn’t help but overanalyze every option until the two grew bored and changed to the next round. They tried their best to include Flaky, but perhaps their choices were too much for her. Still, they offered sympathetic smiles to her, as they did every time she discussed the options.

“What about you, Flaky?” Giggles wondered. The porcupine felt her quills slant down. She grew worried and wondered if they would fall off.

“U-um…” she spoke up. Her mind raced like rapid waters and it felt as if her throat was being grabbed by two hands destined to end her life. “I-... it… um… does it have to… be just either…? I… I would like, um… bird teeth.” Giggles sighed with an eye roll.

“Birds don’t have teeth,” Petunia oh so helpfully pointed out.

“I-I know! I know that… let me just… think…”

“Flaky, it’s just two options…!” the chipmunk had tried to patiently tease but it came off a bit abrasive. “Alligator or shark?”

“N-neither…!”

They both groaned.

“Flaky, we’re really trying, really…” Petunia softly spoke. Feeling guilty, Flaky looked down. The skunk, sharing the reaction, huffed and took Flaky’s hand. “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“I-I know…” she nodded softly. Lammy waltz over with a few sandwiches and cups of tea.

“Aww is everything alright?”

“Yeah…” Giggles looked at her friend with a smile she mustered up quickly. “Thanks.”

“It’s just… you’re scared of so much and we don’t even know what the things are most of the time, or even the reasonings.”

“I-I wish I knew too,” Flaky rubbed her arm.

“Well we DO know some things,” Petunia said outloud. “Spiders, snakes, baby chickens.”

“Waterslides, ponds, airplanes,” Giggles continued, counting her fingers. “Is there anything you’re scared of most?”

The quilled friend tugged at one of her spikes, some dandruff falling to the floor beneath her. She gulped her dry mouth. “... Flippy…”

This got the two to nod understandingly.

“Okay that one I see,” she agreed. “But… Flippy’s a pretty nice guy…! Honest…!”

“Yeah! He loves playing games with us…!”

“N-no!” she shouted. “H-he’s a monster…! He’s hurt so many…!”

“Flaky! He’s not a monster…!” the pink one chastised. “We don’t and won’t know what he’s been through, but he’s a friend of ours, like you are to us…!”

“Besides,” the skunk shrugged, picking up her tea. “He’s neat, that’s a good thing to have in a friend.”

“And loves to laugh!”

“He’s scary to me…” Flaky’s eyes downcasted south again. The two could only share glances, wondering what isn’t scary to her.

“Pass him, pass him!” Toothy screamed.

“No, don’t even! Don’t you dare, I swear!” Cuddles reacted with intensity. Flippy grinned as he propped himself on his knees, controller in hands. He accelerated his character in the digital car, hugging the wall of the track. “I’m gonna make it! I’m gonna make it!”

But before his own character could fly over the checkered line, Flippy’s car flew right by, gaining speed from drift points. “NOOOOOOO!!!”

Defeated, Cuddles dramatically flung himself to the carpet. “Curse you! Curse you all to hell!”

“Ha! ‘The veteran isn’t that good at video games’, hm?” Flippy beamed with pride. Toothy bowed to Flippy on his knees.

“Ye are worthy! We are not! Ye are worthy! We are not!” he chanted. This caused Flippy to snort and erupt into laughter. Cuddles merely groaned on the floor.

“My highscore… My life… ruined!”

“Oh come on, it’s just a game.”

“It’s my livelihood!”

“Trust me, it isn’t.”

Flippy helped the dramatic rabbit up and then stood up himself. “Come on, I’ll let you beat me next time. For now, let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”

“Let me!?” Cuddles feigned shock and offensiveness.

“Ooohoo! He got you!” Toothy grinned like a maniac, holding Flippy’s shoulders. “Now fetch something for the king.”

“Stahahap…!” Flippy snickered. “Let’s all just grab something out. My treat.”

“... you serious?” Cuddles lost his pridelessness for a few seconds to see if he heard that right.

“Yeah, I’ll even let you pick the-”

“Hell yeah!” he bounced back to life. “We’re going to Guppy Grub!”

With shared smiles, Toothy put the game on pause and followed Cuddles and Flippy outside.

“You sure you wanna pay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I don’t mind,” he shrugged. “Besides, I’m caught up with bills and groceries, so unless there’s a robbery, I think I’ll be alright.”

“Ya heard the man!” the bunny concluded.

Walking down the icy sidewalk, Flippy looked up at the sky, getting lost in the snow falling down and grabbing at his fur ever so gently. It was winder and while regular bears hibernate, he didn’t need to. Just on some days, he was lethargic and would pass out anywhere when the weather got cool. He once found himself in the hospital because he passed out at the top of stairs. The doctors remarked how he only got a broken arm from his body basically ragdolling down seven stories.

“Are you feeling tired?” Toothy decided to ask. Flippy broke out from his trance.

“Oh no, not today,” he shook his head. “Yesterday I caught up on sleep when you guys wanted to invite me over.”

“Probably for the best,” the bucktoothed friend looked at the eager rabbit. “Knowing Cuddles, he would draw a mustache on you.”

“I would not!” he defended quickly. “I would put you in the Ancenstor Fellow pose they always do.” Thinking about the though, he sniggered and trotted right next to the bear.

“Yeah, I feel like you would.” Flippy’s eyes went back up to the sky.

He was glad he wasn’t too tired. Winter was his favorite season. Everything was clean and beautiful and the snow falling was so hypnotic. He would watch it for hours while snuggled in his bed out the window. Admiring it while it made piles against the glass along with his thick fur made him tired and thinking about that feeling nearly got him stumbling.

“Woah!” the beaver caught his arm. “You alright?”

“I think it’s too slick for him,” Cuddles grabbed his other arm. But as if on cue, his wasn’t looking where he was going and felt his feet slide out from under him. A slanted sidewalk due to the incompetence of a certain blue moose and the ice made Cuddles fall into the powdery snow. Since he was clutching to Flippy’s arm already, he brought him and Toothy down.

“Pfft you wihihing nut!” Toothy clamped some snow and pushed it into his face. “Was that on purpose!?”

“I sweahahar it wasn’t!”

“Suuuuure sure, yeah I’ll remember that, garuntee!” he looked back at Flippy. “You alright?”

“Yes yes, I am,” he nodded, sitting up. “Just lost my thought for a second.”

“You sure? You aren’t tired?”

“Nah,” he shook his head, taking off some snow in the process. “... winter is beautiful.”

“It is,” the beaver smiled in agreement.

“I think the only person who would hate winter is Flaky. She always feared icicles.”

Cuddles looked at Flippy and Toothy for backup, but he saw Flippy looking a little saddened.

“... now you’ve done it,” the freckles beaver glared. “Flippy?”

“... just… thinking,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “... I wish I could get along with Flaky. She really seems nice.”

“Hey, it’s her loss man, you’re awesome!” Cuddles pointed out as he poked his arm. His jacket was noticeably more plush due to his fur thickening.

“No no, I… I think she’s just… scared of me,” he admitted. “Every time I’m around, she cowers or just hides. I… I think I’m doing something wrong, but I don’t really know what.”

The two best friends were silent now. They didn’t know what to say since… it was true. Flaky avoided Flippy like the plague. It kind of made sense, though. He was in the war, moving to this town right after deployment for unknown reasons. And there were his… episodes. He became a whole different person. Flippy was kind, clumsy, goofy, this other him was… not. He had the most menacing yellow eyes and a predatorial pair of teeth. It scared everyone, yes, but they knew Flippy wasn’t this monster. Well… almost everyone. “... I think I’m a monster to her…”

“That’s not true…!” Cuddles argued. “When I first came here, man, she was TERRIFIED! Just because I skateboard all around! She was scared of getting run over!”

“She didn’t like how big my tail was,” Toothy offered any comfort he could.

“Well it’s fake, anybody would be sca-ow!!” Toothy threw another pile of snow at the rabbit, then looked at Flippy.

“Point is… Flaky isn’t really a people person, but she’ll adjust…! It may take longer with you because she’s never been… to w-a-r,” he spelled out slowly as to not panic the already saddened bear. “But… she will. You’re really an awesome guy.”

This made him smile at him, give a nod and breathe in and out slowly.

“Thanks… I appreciate it…”

“Yeah, of course!”

“Can we go now? I’m freezing my butt off and I’m hungry…!”

They all stood back up, walking to Russell’s restaurant. Flippy was smiling, happy to have had that talk, but Cuddles and Toothy? They themselves were now the ones lost in thought.

#happy tree friends #htf #htf flippy #htf cuddles #htf toothy #htf flaky #htf Petunia #htf giggles #why did i write this?#don't know #but i like it #poor flippy #poor flaky #both are beans #yes this time you have to wait for chapters #no taksie backsies #or however you spell it

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wingedscribe · 2 years

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Confluence

confluence, n.: a coming or flowing together, meeting, or gathering at one point

FFXIV Write 2022 Day 13! The four rising stars of the Eorzean Alliance end up in the same place for the first time and agree to clear out a den of pirates together.

Traveling through the Eorzean Alliance had been plenty interesting, Hikari thought, but all told they were pretty happy to be back in Limsa Lominsa. The Drowning Wench, with its noise and bustle, had started feeling like home at some point, creeping up around the edges of their awareness until, once they were on the airship away from the city, they realized that they were leaving that easy familiarity behind again, and that they missed it.

Again, not that it was a pain to visit the other cities, but. Good to be back, regardless. Besides, Hikari had gotten stronger in the meantime, and returned to the Arcanist’s Guild for more training--and that was only an advantage. So, with that well under their belt and nothing else to do, they headed downstairs to the Drowning Wench’s main room to see what Baderon apparently needed help with.

They weren’t the only one with that in mind, apparently. Standing by the bar were an unusual duo; a tall roegadyn woman with a sword and shield slung over her back leaned against one of the pillars of the room, scanning the entrances and exits with the low-level paranoia of someone who had been an adventurer for a while. As she turned her head, her bluish-grey braids catching the light almost as strikingly as her pale right eye, the iris as well as the skin around the eye bleached near-white with what looked, to Hikari’s only somewhat-trained eye, like aetheric corruption. An unamused frown was carved across the woman’s statuelike face, and from both her bearing and her weapons Hikari really wanted to see what she would be like to fight in a spar--but the middle of the morning in the Drowning Wench was probably not the time to ask that. It was more a question for happy hour.

Next to the woman, the other half of the odd pair was a fluffy miqo’te man who was even shorter than Hikari themself, which was an accomplishment. He was dressed a lot like they were, in a caster’s robes; unlike them, he’d dyed the robes white, counter to his dark skin and darker hair and fur, and had a simple shield thrown over his back, as well as what Hikari thought was a Conjurer’s cane.

Huh. That was interesting.

“G’morning Baderon,” they called as they headed toward the bar, leaning against it as was their wont and grinning at the Guildmaster’s answering eyeroll. “Heard you’ve got some problem that needs taking care of?”

“I swear you’ve got some sixth sense for trouble,” Baderon groused. “I was just about through explaining to these good folks before you got here--but that said, ‘s a job for more than one person, from what I hear. And you’re good, but one good hit will send you sprawling.”

“Hey,” Hikari protested, “three good hits. I’ve gotten better.” They turned to look back at the other two; the woman was still scanning the bar in general, but the man--barely more than a boy, really--was staring at them with open curiosity in his green eyes. “Hikari Sakamoto,” they introduced themself, raising a hand in lieu of any more formal greeting. Perhaps they had been in Limsa Lominsa too long; their parents or sisters would cringe at the lack of proper etiquette. “General adventurer and problem-solver around these parts. You two new in town?”

“We’ve visited before,” the boy said, approaching the bar excitedly, “but not for very long, just for a meeting with the Admiral.” Alright, that was interesting; it took a certain level of skill and a certain level of trust, Hikari knew, to warrant a meeting with Merlwyb. Their fingers ran over their own Lominsan ring, and a glance at the other two adventurers revealed similar rings, set with a dark stone instead of the Lominsan red. “I’m Rhel’ir Lyegha, of Ul’dah--and my friend’s Askirael Loetrachwyn.”

“Also from Ul’dah, these days,” The woman said, her voice low and with a rasp of disuse. “You’d be an arcanist, then?”

“Mostly,” Hikari deflected, smiling at the thought of the small guild down by the Fisherman’s Guild they’d also joined recently. They had their knives stashed among their various outfits, but all in all it was better to stick to being an Arcanist in public. “So: what’s this job that you’ve got that needs looking at, but only by people the Alliance trusts?”

“Put that together, did you?” Baderon raised an eyebrow, and then spotted someone else heading up to the bar. “One moment. What can I help you with, friend?”

“I heard something about a job that needed doing,” A quieter voice said, and Hikari blinked up at a tall viera archer who had headed up to the bar. Getting a hunch, Hikari glanced at their hand--there was another ring, this time with a yellow stone. Gridania, then. The man--well, perhaps man, Hikari couldn’t make much of a call based on their practical leather armor or fine features--had snow-white hair that tapered to black near the ends, like the hares that lived on the coldest mountains in the north, and while their smile was easy and amiable, Hikari also registered visible bowstring callouses. No stranger to that weapon, then. “Although it seems like I’ve made it to the party rather late--good to see you again, Rhel’ir,” they added, and Rhel’ir brightened.

“Ciel! Didn’t expect to find you in Limsa Lominsa,” he admitted. At Askirael’s raised eyebrow, the young man shrugged. “We met in Gridania while I was training. Both at the Carline Canopy.”

Baderon cocked his head to the side at that. “You’d be the Ciel that Miounne has been talking about, then,” he said, and the viera--Ciel--inclined their head, ears bobbing with the motion.

“I certainly hope so, if what’s been said is good,” they said. “She let me know that you were looking for assistance, so…” they trailed off, looking again at the group. “That said, you might have it covered.”

“I don’t think extra hands would be amiss, to tell the truth, if you’re all amiable to working together. This one might be difficult,” Baderon said, and sighed. “Word has it some suspicious-looking buggers have been sneaking in ‘n out of the Satasha Seagrot, an’ I need a trustworthy sort to head up north of Aleport an’ find out who they are an’ what they’re up to. Don’t sound like much on the surface, but after that visit from the fishbacks’ pet pirates…” He nodded to Hikari, who winced in recognition.

“If you’d permit me, Master Baderon,” a new voice said, and Hikari did offer a more respectful half-bow to Commodore Reyner, mostly because he’d been friendly and competent every time they’d interacted with him. “I should be happy to elaborate.”

Reyner described the situation--a mysterious ship around the Isles of Umbra, possibly docking within the Satasha Seagrot after a local farmer reported seeing strange pirates entering and leaving the caves. The Yellowjackets and Maelstrom had their hands full with the sahaugin, of course, meaning the easiest solution was to task trustworthy adventurers with the investigation of the Seagrot.

During the explanation, Baderon had pulled out a map of the area; Ciel leaned over it, frowning.

“From there, it looks like a good deal of the La Noscean shore is within relatively short distance for raids. They’d need a way to conceal the entire ships, of course, but--”

“Good eye, lad,” Baderon said. “An’ they might have it. There are stories Mistbeard had a hidden cove somewhere in that area--if they’ve found it ‘nd are using it, that’d give them a place to hide ships full ready to sail.”

“And then night falls, and they head out and strike on their raids,” Hikari finished, nodding and thinking through what they’d seen, pointing all the spots on the map that they’d seen or heard about raids. “All of these were in the past few moons, and they’d barely have to outfit their ship--no need to get supplies or food, that’d be barely a few hours’ sail. Then vanish again before the Maelstrom navy can get mobilized and be gone. Clever. Let’s go ruin their party, then.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Ciel said, with a smile that told Hikari they’d probably be getting along just fine. “I’ll admit I’m not the most used to working in a group, but--”

“But getting stabbed in the back in a sea cave would be a horrible way to go, all told,” Rhel’ir offered. “And take it from me, it’s a lot easier not to get absolutely killed with Ask around, she’s very good at stopping that from happening.”

“Thanks,” Askirael said, not meeting anyone’s eyes.

“Gotta say, I’m also not used to working with a team,” Hikari admitted, looking at the other three for a long moment. Well, they did look like they could hold their own in a fight, so… “Well, let’s see how it goes. If it sucks, we can all go our separate ways after shutting down these Reavers.”

#ffxivwrite2022 #ffxivwrite #hikari sakamoto tag #ciel monnawesfv tag #rhel'ir lyegha tag #askirael loetrachwyn tag #narrator voice: this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship #truly ciel and hikari full expected to never see the other three again after this but NOPE #you're stuck in this found family now no taksies backsies

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