#where as she used to only paw when she wanted to be under a blanket

[tea-time-terrier]

Paw-brush-treat-reward-repeat.

[dadsbongos]

cycle & jerk

5k words / warnings - pinv sex (unprotected, creampies), breeding kink, light choking, hair pulling, chilchuck's a mean dirty old man, heat cycle, i haven't written in awhile so like. idk don't execute me if this isn't a slay

summary - you are a rat-half foot-hybrid mix, king of the junjile but still social and fierce, and you go into heat and chilchuck can smell it (ew) and he's the only one that can help

~~~

Huffy panting causes Chilchuck to stir in his bedroll. A whine muffled into thin fluff, then the gentle drag of scratchy blankets catching on clothes as a lump grows more apparent beside him. Shyly, a hand wanders from clutching his arm to petting down his chest -- pausing at his belt and scrunching his shirt with a hearty groan. He watches quietly, heart thumping into his chest because he’s just not sure how to breach this.

Stupidly he’d assumed he still had more time. Looking back, he’s genuinely unsure as to why he ever thought that. The signs were there that tonight was his culling, weren’t they? He should’ve been more prepared.

four days prior.

Despite only servicing a single party in your entire adventuring career (and only wanting the one), you have a very strict set of dates in which you’re unavailable for work. Yet this month, regardless of his numerous efforts, your party leader has kept you in the dungeon past expiration.

“I told you I needed out of here before today, didn’t I?”

“You did…”

“And where am I?”

“Still here…”

To his credit, Laios appears earnestly ashamed -- hands folded in his lap and head bent to avoid looking you in the eye. He murmurs soft apologies, even as your attention is called across the room by Marcille.

“Take it easy,” she coos, which only infuriates you further, “What’s so important that you have to be so mad, anyway?”

“It’s basic decency,” you throw an arm out at your side, gesturing to your fellow half-foot on the right, “Chilchuck, back me up!”

“She’s right,” Chilchuck shrugs, “Although it sounds unfair to put all the blame on Laios.”

“I can’t leave before we’re done here,” you grumble, swiveling to face him fully (Laios sighs in gratitude that your wrath has been directed elsewhere), “I don’t get paid upfront, you know?”

“Huh, wonder if there was some way you could’ve fixed that.”

“I only work with Laios, why would I need to join a union?”

“Scab,” he coughs, far more teasing than of genuine frustration.

“Maybe we could help get you back to the surface if you told us what the problem was!” Marcille rolls around onto her hands, eyes wide in curiosity, “C’mon, share! Light a fire under us!”

“It’s embarrassing,” you scooch closer to Chilchuck before sagging against the wall, joining him on the ground. You fail to notice when he flinches at your proximity, “My business is my own.”

“Best leave it alone,” Senshi agrees, “We’ll just have to stay outta your way ‘til we’re done here.”

“Well, don’t avoid me,” you continue to scoff, watching as Izutsumi rustles along Chilchuck’s lap just to bat at your rounded ears with both paws, “Izutsumi, don’t touch those.”

She hisses quietly, only diverting her attention so far as your tail sandwiched between yours and Chilchuck’s thighs. You allow her to malleate the flesh, only because she makes no off-hand comments about how strangely cool the skin is (just the memory makes you glare over at Laios again, who cowardly shrinks back).

“You’re irritable today,” Chilchuck glances at you warily, tone equally cautious.

“And?”

His back slides down the wall until he’s nestled fully into his bedroll and turned away from you onto his side, “Nothing.”

Izutsumi hums quietly, head plopping into your lap, you two exchange confused glances before collectively deciding to let his sudden retirement go.

Since that night, Chilchuck has been avoiding you. You’re certain.

Initially, you’d attempted to rationalize it as a sense of hysteria, that you were simply hyper aware of his presence after the incident shared with Izutsumi. Until more incidents began compiling atop each other, and you were unable to pass them as individual misunderstandings.

Such as that next morning.

“Oh, you getting water?” Chilchuck rose from his slump against the far wall, gaze honed on Laios.

Your leader nods before thumbing towards you, “Yep. Found a small fountain across the hall. Wanna come?”

Chilchuck looks at you, blinking stupidly, before shaking his head, “I’ll probably wait until we set camp again.”

Then there was lunchtime.

“You’re so far away…” Marcille whines, stretching her arm out as if to manhandle Chilchuck back towards the rest of your party.

“There’s no room over there.”

Everyone stares at him for that, Izutsumi curling into your side protectively while Laios points down at the gaping space between you and Senshi with his plate. He grins, full of heart and goodwill, “There’s room right there, Chil’.”

“Oh,” Chilchuck’s shoulders slack, body unenthusiastically scooting across the floor until he’s awkwardly inserted beside you. Noticeably closer to Senshi than you, chuckling distantly and gazing solely into his food, “Duh. Didn’t notice that.”

Izutsumi smacks her lips in a rush to swallow her bite before contradicting, “You were staring at that spot for five minutes.”

“Thought you were gonna take it,” he recovers quickly, then promptly shutting his mouth the rest of lunch.

And the next day.

Anytime you spoke, he’d find an exit from the conversation. He’d conveniently need to speak with Laios, or Marcille, or Izutsumi, or Senshi whenever you approached. Not to mention how glaringly obvious the physical space between you was, whereas he usually traveled towards the middle of the pack with you he’s now suddenly braving the front alongside Laios.

Each effort on your part to shut down tension was swiftly dodged, only managing to thicken the strain between you.

Until that night:

“I’m heading for the bathroom,” Chilchuck rises from his bedroll with a yawn.

“Want me to go with?” Laios offers.

“No,” but his kindness is wasted on Chilchuck, who grimaces at the thought of pissing with a silently listening Laios.

Laios frowns over at you, “But it’s dark out there, I would’ve kept him safe.”

“He’ll live,” you retort, frustration with the lockpick boiling over into an eye roll.

You feel a lithe finger dig into your thigh, finding Marcille turned onto her tummy in her blanket, “You could go confront him now. He’ll have no excuses with nobody else around.”

Figures someone as invasive as Marcille is so invested in yours and Chilchuck’s recent friction.

“Yeah, I’ll just go up behind him while he’s peeing. Great idea.”

“Scare him into submission,” Izutsumi adds, though betraying you by selfishly occupying Chilchuck’s mat across the room. She snuggles into the warmth he’s left behind, yawning loudly -- looking about three seconds from drifting into slumber.

“There’s ale stocks along the way,” Senshi now joins the conversation, and is arguably the most helpful, “Some of ‘em bound to be full. He won’t turn down a drink.”

“Huh,” you tease the idea further. Even if by some uncharacteristic possession, Chilchuck does refuse the offer of alcohol, you can always beat him with the bottle. Knock him out to tie down and force out answers once he’s awake, “That could work…”

You replay that very thought process in your head as you await for Chilchuck to wander back down the hall. You passed as far as the corridor after the ale shelves before realizing how strange lingering outside the bathroom is, then deciding to sit with your back to the wall. Not long now, Chilchuck will be right in front of you.

He won’t jump back in shock, either. He’s heard you walking, you know he did because you heard him pause, sigh, and continue at a much, much slower pace. You’d almost be swooning over how he could discern it was you by your walk, if only there wasn’t such a vexing reason for you to be out here.

At least you have the advantage, your superior rodent vision can make him out in the pitch dark, meanwhile he’s relying on estimation as to where you are. If you wanted, you could probably just throw the ale at his head and get the knocking-him-unconscious bit over with.

“Okay,” he sighs again, louder, arms folded across his chest, “What?”

“Me what? How about you what?”

Chilchuck leans his head away from you, as if he can’t so much as stand to look at you, “What’re you talking about?”

“Just sit,” when he makes no such move, you lift one bottle in your hand, swirling the dark liquid inside, “I brought a bribe just to be nice, don’t let it go to waste.”

“Where’d you get that?” his curiosity blocks out his better instinct, sitting at your side to snatch up the bottle. You can see the instant he regrets it -- his nose wrinkles up and he swallows harshly, “Okay, what do you want?”

You ‘hpmh’ at his testy tone, letting him stew in the unpleasant silence before he’s uncorking the bottle and taking his first gulp. His nonchalance is more irritating than his avoidance; now he wants to insist you’re the weird one when he was dodging you as some toxic, erratic creature. Rage spurs you to your feet, swinging around to stand directly in front of him.

“You’re avoiding me, I know you are!” in retrospect, you will be glad you’re so far from the party so you two can yell without disturbing them.

“I am not!”

“Stop being defensive, just tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it!”

“I can’t,” Chilchuck grinds the heels of his palms into his eyes, face blooming red. That tangy aroma usually hidden until it was right under his nose, flooding his mouth. It was now overpowering your usual scent, and he assumes the only reason you’re so oblivious is because your own advanced smelling has grown blind to it, “It’s nothing you can fix. I’m just cursed with heightened senses.”

“Huh?”

“Huh?!” you stumble back, arms curling around your stomach, “No way! You can…”

.

.

.

Oh, God.

“Yep.”

Oh, God, no.

“Gross!”

Chilchuck shrugs, tilting the ale against his lips and murmuring into tinted glass, “Usually it's only the bloody part we can pick up on, but uh,” he sips the bitter liquid, clearly hesitant to finish his thought until your curious hum encourages him, “I guess beastkin are more… potent…”

“Ew!”

“I didn’t want to finish saying it!”

“But you did,” you gag, “You’re a pervert, phrasing it all nasty like that.”

“What? Would you rather me say it how Laios would?”

“Don’t even joke about that,” you go rigid suddenly, heart seizing at the mention of Laios, “He can’t find out about this.”

“Agreed, it’d be disgusting to hear him ask all those personal questions.”

“So,” you emphasize, clasping your hands nervously, “I need to get it taken care of before I become a problem.”

Chilchuck freezes. Eyes drifting slowly from his bottle to your pinched face, “No.”

“What?”

“No. Ask Senshi or Marcille -- hell! Knock out two problems in one swoop and have Laios help! He’ll leave you alone for the rest of your life if he can get all his questions out now.”

“I wasn’t saying that,” you totally were, and you should’ve known better due to his aversion to interpersonal party-relationships, “Just, I dunno, keep me away from the others.”

“Why me?” he groans.

“You’re the only one who knows…”

“What about Izutsumi? Can’t she be your guard?”

“No! I wanna preserve my positive image in her mind as long as I can.”

Chilchuck scowls, polishing off the bottle with a loud gulp and rolling the neck between his hands, “Guess this is why we never saw you around this time.”

“Uh-huh…”

“And you’re gonna be miserable down here until it's over.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And it’ll only be worse once you actually go into heat.”

“I know, Chilchuck, I’m thirty -- I know how my own heats work.”

You watch confirmed and suspected information sink in for him: Chilchuck was surprised to meet you upon joining the party, as far as he’d heard from whispered tales beastmen looked human most of their lives. Yet you’ve got large, circular ears with a light layer of fur, a pudgy button nose that twitches, and a fleshy tail unfurling to your ankles. You store fat easier than any other half-foot he’s ever met, your legs are stronger and faster than any other half-foot, too.

As terrible as it sounds out of context, your body fascinates him. Not to liken himself to Laios, but well… Ideally this could be his perfect excuse to fully explore, he could have so many questions answered.

Are there humanoid ears hidden behind your hair? Does the peach fuzz on your tail match what courses over your thighs and arms? Has the strength of a rat’s jaw proportionally stretched to your own, like with your legs? Is your whole body warm like a humanoid or cool like your tail? Do you only leave every other month because your rat heat is worse than your human ovulation?

Would having sex with you be like with any other half-foot, or would you be a completely new experience?

Have your strange circumstances forced you into a romantic stasis, making you vulnerable and sensitive to his experienced hands?

If he refuses you now, would you take the bait and ask Laios for help instead?

“Laios seriously doesn’t know about this? At all?”

“I’m sure he knows menstruation exists,” and by proxy ovulation, “but no, I haven’t mentioned my heat.”

“I would’ve thought he’d constantly ask about your… anatomy…”

“Honestly, I think it’s why he approached me to join his party, but I told him off after the first weird question,” you laugh quietly at the memory, “Funny enough, he didn’t seem weird. Most men that approached me were dogs, so meeting him was a relief. Never wanted to work for someone else after our first dive together.”

Chilchuck nods slowly, smoothing the pad of his thumb across the emptied bottle and staring into his dark, murky reflection, “You’ve been in the party longest. You gotta be fond of the guy by now.”

No, he corrects, judging by how you phrased it -- you’ve always been fond of him.

“I guess…” you shrug, “but I’m not fond fond,” you cross your arms defensively, humiliated chills racing up your arms at his unspoken rejection, “I could be, if you’re so adverse. It doesn’t have to be you, Chilchuck. Sorry for asking something so intimate.”

Chilchuck lays the bottle down, shaking his head as he stands, “Don’t ask that dolt. I’ll help.”

“Really?”

More questions infiltrate his mind, unwelcomed as they are interesting.

Do you squeal or huff when you cum? Are you the type to leave scratches? Do you bite (and thus, back to the jaw strength thing)? Would you let him yank your hair? Your tail? Both?

“Thanks, Chilchuck,” you feel the inexplicable need to whisper your appreciation, as if raising your voice could somehow rouse his testy attitude and result in backtracking.

“You should call me Chil.”

“Huh?”

“It’d be awkward to hear my whole name during sex. That’s about as close as people can get, right?”

“Oh!” you’re taken aback. You thought he was against that, though clearly…

His face is flushed (however his decisive speech and sturdy stance negate any intoxication allegations), and you can almost make out the thump of his heartbeat in the filling silence. Or maybe that part is your imagination. Maybe you’re hoping his heart is racing as fast as yours.

“When would be best?” he clears his throat, pulling at the collar of his shirt as though it's choking him, “Now?”

“No!” you cry, mostly out of shock he’s that willing, “No, it wouldn’t do anything now since I’m not… you know. Yet. We’ll have to wait.”

“How long?”

“Not sure. This is why I like to be at home during.”

“I get it,” he runs a hand down the length of his face, hissing quietly in exasperation, “I hate playing these things by ear.”

“‘These things’?” you chuckle as Chilchuck’s face goes red at the implication, he storms past you praying you drop his slip-up, “You do this kind of thing often?”

“Shut up.”

“So, you’re just the guy to go to, then! I should come to you every other month!”

“Shut up!”

…

“Glad to see you two made up,” Marcille’s cheery tone is the first to rake through the room next morning, “Though…”

You’re practically draped over Chilchuck’s back, already feeling your body temperature climbing unnaturally. He’s patting your sweltering cheek sympathetically, allowing you to burrow your face into the bend of his neck. And you’re pressing your chest obnoxiously into his back.

“You’re a bit close,” she teases in a quiet giggle.

Chilchuck rolls his eyes, biting back any replies to avoid unintentionally spilling your secret.

He turns, lips brushing your temple as he whispers to you, “How’re you doing? I could probably lie to Laios and- “

“No,” you whine, embarrassment evident in how you curl your arms tighter around his waist and shuffle closer, “I can’t right now, that’s so… weird.”

“Sure, that would be weird.”

That night, both you and Chilchuck jammed into an off-room from the rest of your party. You two having made the escape after everyone else fell asleep to avoid questions about why you were separating yourselves.

He chooses not to comment on how you strip down to only your panties before falling asleep.

…

Huffy panting causes Chilchuck to stir in his bedroll. A whine muffled into thin fluff, then the gentle drag of scratchy blankets catching on clothes as a lump grows more apparent beside him. Shyly, a hand wanders from clutching his arm to petting down his chest -- pausing at his belt and scrunching his shirt with a hearty groan. He watches quietly, heart thumping into his chest because he’s just not sure how to breach this.

Stupidly he’d assumed he still had more time. Looking back, he’s genuinely unsure as to why he ever thought that. The signs were there that tonight was his culling, weren’t they? He should’ve been more prepared.

While he’s internally debating the ethics of chickening out on his promise to you, you’re suffering. Bad.

Sweat clings along the back of your neck and all down your molten face. Worse than that heat, is the one between your thighs. You’ve been duly rubbing at yourself through your panties for the better half of eternity, earnestly hoping to deal with this yourself rather than following through with using Chilchuck. That in itself is proof you’re barely in your right mind, masturbating has never worked before -- obviously it won’t now.

All it succeeds in is making you wetter and messier.

A little physical stimulation, you reason, can’t be bad. So you faintly trail a hand over Chilchuck’s soft stomach, pausing before his crotch and feeling your chest pound at the thought:

Below his navel is his penis.

Then there’s the next thought:

His penis should be inside you.

You moan quietly, eyes clenched shut and cheek smushing into your bedroll. Were you not preoccupied with the broiling in your stomach, you’d probably be feeling the ache in your knees holding up your weight. Your back arched and rear presented for mounting.

Just as you’re delirious enough with desperation to shake Chilchuck awake, he’s turning onto his side and carding stray hairs from your damp face. Fire licks up his fingertips and he frowns, “You’re warm.”

“Chil,” relief fills you at his voice, something else filling the seat of your underwear. The hand on his tummy winds up to the collar of his shirt, you fumble with the top button, “Chil, can you- ? Please, I feel so fucking hot, Chil. I need you.”

Chilchuck casts the others a brief glance through the door before pushing up onto his elbows, one hand joining yours between your legs. He swallows harshly at the warmth, slithering beneath the waistband of your panties to skim his fingertips directly along your pussy. You push back into his hand with a mewl, near the point of gasping for breath at the new sensation of a man’s fingers pressing inside you.

“Slipped right in,” he muses, tilting his head to be level with yours, “So wet and ready, you should’ve woken me up before. Could’ve saved you the embarrassment.”

Anything impactful like words and vowels is slurred as you rock into Chilchuck’s hand, bottom lip tugged between your teeth. The pads of his fingers dive towards the pouch of your stomach, curling in search of one specific spot.

You gasp sharply and buck back, unabashedly and with no care if it catches bleary eyes from the other room, making him sure he’s found it. His other hand juts out to press up on your tummy, only aiding the pressure of his fingers inside you.

“Not- uh! - not gonna finish like this, Chil,” you whine pathetically, batting your lashes at him wetly.

“Who said anything about that?” he slips his fingers out of you, then swishing the soaked digits around your clit just to hear you try, and fail, to muffle a squeal into your pillow, “Finish: like it's a job. I’m trying to watch you squirm like the bitch in heat you are.”

You hadn’t assumed he was the type, given his opposition to being personal. His consistent, almost annoyingly thorough, separation of business and pleasure. This (apparently incorrect) observation stems from how you also hadn’t assumed he was the type to be curious about you.

Chilchuck teases your slit to watch if you'll try smothering more moans by biting your mat. He inches his face to yours, listening for pinched curses and wails. Eyes trail down your face to your chest, studying the way it pillows against the bedroll. He feels every part the creep he accused Laios of being.

“You're so sensitive,” he notes, shuffling onto his knees behind you, shoving his pants midway down his thighs, “What? Not used to this?”

You swat at him in protest, though still humping pathetically. Every twitch and moan is based on pure instinct, you’ve got no clue how to intentionally be sexy -- you’re just praying Chilchuck is too hypnotized by your cunt for your inexperience to be glaringly obvious. Between work and the fetishizing of both your race and curse, a partner has been hard to find: making you a rare half-foot approaching your golden years as a virgin.

Chilchuck lubes the head of his cock with your syrupy wetness before sliding inside, hands playing the fat of your hips. He lets out a low groan, one hand groping from your side up the curve of your ass and along your spine before winding in your hair. His fingers slot around the roots, taking the base of your skull to use as leverage while he fucks you.

He can make out the choked sound of you tempering a moan by sinking your teeth into cushion. You reach back, nails snagging his exposed thigh to anchor him deep inside your wetly clicking cunt. Chilchuck wrangles your back against his chest by your hair, placing his hand over your mouth as a muzzle. Hot breaths fan the soft skin of his palm, skin slapping skin slowly growing louder in a way that should make Chilchuck more careful than it does.

Rather, he speeds up, hand on your hip rounding to circle your sloshed, swollen clit.

“Just shut up and take it,” he grunts, releasing your mouth to seize your throat, until ribbed tissue presses into his palm.

Gagged whimpers and gasps die as sputters in the pit of your chest, Chilchuck biting and sucking your neck to silence his own wanton crowing.

Every glide out of you is met with your violent heat and need sucking him back in. Your head swivels, putty nose rolling against his cheek as you press sloppy kisses along his cheek.

Heeding your frantic, whispered pleas, Chilchuck shifts to return your kisses. Tongue against tongue, hands pulling your bodies into one sticky tangle.

“Gonna let me breed you?” he growls, using his weight over you to suddenly pin you against your bedroll. Your wetness dripping toward the mat, down his wrist, and along his pelvis, “Gonna give me a baby? Make me a daddy?” your ass perks up, tail coiling around his thigh to tether him, he chuckles cruelly down at you, “Yeah, such a good mousy cunt for me. Open and wet, taking my cock.”

“Yes, yes, yes,” you chant, gasping aloud now only for Chilchuck’s hand around your neck to return to your face -- two of his fingers depressing your tongue. Even with the obvious attempt to hush you, you call to him. Garbled, braindead slews of pleas for his cum and begging for (somehow) more attention.

“Is this really all your heat, or are you just such a secret slut?” your whine and clenching stir him up, gooey and compliant and bursting at the seams just for you, “Trying to be all cute, asking for help,” his thrusts quicken when you arch back, hand snatching around his at your clit, “If you wanted to be my cumslut, you could’ve fucking said so.”

You bury your face into your makeshift bed, muffling something in the mat, and Chilchuck yanks your head up by your hair,

“What was that, slut?”

Your thighs are quivering, cunt gushing around him, chest pounding erratically with the need for air, “Just want your cum, Chil!”

Chilchuck stills against you, shuddering and cock heavy in your gut as he cums inside you--

Not that you’re finished yet.

“So good!” you sing, welcoming the reprieve and stubbornly tucking Chilchuck deeper inside you despite him being spent. He throws his head back, eyes rolling in his skull as you continue, “Just a bit more, Chil, please, please, please!”

“Desperate whore,” he slumps forward, biting your shoulder before whirring onto his back, “You do the work now, if you’re so fuckin’ greedy.”

“So mean,” you pout, though the complaint doesn’t deter you from sinking onto his cock like this.

“You’re gonna fuck me asleep,” Chilchuck is courteous enough to languidly snap his hips up into yours, “Needy, desperate bitch.”

For as much as he teases you -- he’s on the brink of tears from overstimulation, voice clipped and throat raw with the need to cry.

“Just one more,” you whine, hands scratching back against his chest, “Gimme one more, please?”

“Fuck,” Chilchuck sucks in a sharp breath, icy tears pricking at the corner of his eyes, “Fine.”

An airy giggle flows through your lips, ditzy and hot and eager.

A few aggravated plaps is enough for Chilchuck to be puffing and shaking, your bounces deteriorate into heedy grinding. Chilchuck winds both arms around your midsection to pull your back against his chest, frustrated tears caking his lashes the longer his abused cock cooks inside you.

“C’mon, babe, you can cum for me. You gotta feel good, too, right?” he’s murmuring in your fluffy ear, flicking your clit with his thumb, “No point in this if you don’t feel good, too.”

His words are not what flips you into euphoria, but rather the sensation of his cum trickling from your swollen cunt -- fucked loose from your incessant jerking on him.

You toss your head back, Chilchuck narrowly avoiding a broken nose by swerving to the side. Loudly thunking together, your clamped knees trap his hand between your thighs -- gurgled cries for breath and his name croak from your hanging mouth.

“Good slut,” he lays sloppy, open-mouthed kisses against your neck, fingers slowing to a pause on your clit, “Best cunt for me.”

“Thank you,” you sigh into the open air, voice all soft and sweet.

Chilchuck laughs at the sound, lulling to the side to spoon you, “You’re way nicer like this. Could get used to it.”

“Don’t ruin this,” you yawn, pinching his wrist.

“Whatever, this better be enough to satisfy you,” he pulls the blanket over your conjoined limbs, too drained to pull up his pants and redress you.

“Hey,” you call, met with a soft groan of acknowledgement, “You know I’m not a mouse, right? I’m a rat.”

“Mhm,” he lazily confirms, “Sounds better than ratty cunt, though. So pick your battles.”

The next morning, a hand is shaking you awake. A soft and polite gesture immediately ruined when you realize the hand is much larger than Chilchuck’s. In a panic, your eyes shoot open to see your cheerful party leader.

“Thanks for going in the other room,” is the first thing out of his mouth, and you want to punch him, “I figure you two would want to get sorted out before everyone else wakes up.”

“Laios…”

“Hm?” his hand is still burning a hole through the sheet on your shoulder.

“Stop touching me.”

“Sorry!” he clutches the offending mitt to his chest, then rising to a stand and waving goodbye, “See you in a bit! Try not to take too long, okay? I have a lot of questions.”

“Get out.”

Unbothered by your mortification, Laios gives a thumbs up and creeps out into the room with the rest of your party.

“We should kill him,” Chilchuck husks into your ear.

“We should.”

“So,” Chilchuck cups the pouch of your tummy, squeezing in a way simultaneously strange and affectionate, “‘s this gonna become a problem?”

“Hm? Oh, no, I think I’m infertile.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Rat eggs and human eggs don’t actually mix well.”

“Well, it’s a relief I won’t have to raise another kid, I guess. How terrible would that be? I’d be on my deathbed when it gets married.”

…?

???

“Hey, wait,” you roll over in bed, brows furrowed at the man, “Another?”

He nods sluggishly, judgment clouded by both drowsiness and libido, “Three daughters already, so that’d be my fourth,” he cackles at your shocked face, “What? Sex with a coworker you don’t know isn’t panning how you thought?”

“Oh, shut up. I know you, just not your family. Totally different.”

“Definitely. Opposites.”

“So,” Laios swings his head towards Chilchuck, smiling politely, “How many nipples?”

~~~

stupid bonus

“What?” Chilchuck’s eye twitches.

“Sadly, I think it's only two because there’s only two visible mammaries…” the blonde has the gall to sigh at such a thought before suddenly blooming excitement, “Unless there’s more hiding in some kind of wrap! Are there?”

[ziggyzolch]

Headache Ⅳ (Wanda Maximoff x Reader)

Summary: You're bored and Tony won't let you leave the building unless you bring a babysitter with you. Warnings: ig kinda mean wanda Previous Part

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── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

❅❅❅

A week with the avengers and you’re already bored. They haven’t let you go on missions or leave the building yet, so you’ve been relying on your friends’ class notes. All you’ve been doing is training, studying, playing video games, and attempting to prank Wanda. She was always one step ahead of you. Scaring you before you could jump out the corner to scare her, using her powers to flip the bucket of ice water and making you spill it all over yourself, and worst of all, predicting the punchline of your jokes before you could get to them.

You learned of her mind reading capabilities when you called her stupid in your head and she rid you of your blanket privileges. She was super sensitive to lame insults, you noticed. It was either that or shoving you against walls was just enjoyable to her.

The one time she was tolerable was during your occasional drinking nights with Peter, and sometimes Pietro. She was touchy, but not mean. Kind of. Last night was one of those nights, and Wanda had gotten the most wasted out of all of you, leading you to call it a night a little earlier.

You wake up to a gentle nudging on your cheek. Peaking an eye open, you break into a smile at the sight of your cat. “Hey, little buddy” You whisper to him, adjusting your position on the floor. He meows back, continuing to paw at you. Pain pierces through your head when you push yourself off the floor. You probably shouldn’t have drunk half your weight in vodka.

A groan comes from the bed in the corner of the room when the chair you were using to hold yourself up creaks loudly. Your eyes widen when you see Wanda gagging with her upper half leaning off the bed. Rushing to get the bin, you bolt towards her, placing the trash can under her before she could puke all over her floor. Wanda clutches the bin while you hold her hair back.

“Let it all out.” You attempt to comfort her while your own head’s spinning. She groans after emptying the contents of her stomach, rolling onto her back.

“I’m never drinking again.” Wanda groans while you laugh, taking the bin to the bathroom and dumping its contents into the toilet.

“Do we have training today?” You peek your head out of the bathroom while washing your hands.

“No practice on Saturdays.” She finally gets up, walking towards you.

You’re brushing your teeth as she looks in the mirror, fixing her hair. Spitting the toothpaste out, you ask, “Can I leave the building yet?”

She shrugs, making eye contact with you through the mirror, “You’re gonna have to ask Steve or Tony.”

You groan. Kate has been on your ass about your whereabouts the past 7 days, and you’re running out of excuses. Also, you missed her. The team is great, but you’ve only known them for a week. Plus, you’d rather not cross paths with Steve again. He’s lectured you more times than you could count.

Finishing up, you wash your face and leave Wanda to do her business. You bend down to take out a random black camisole and sweatpants out of your bag and place them on the desk, your back cracking as you straightened back up. Wanda refused to let you keep your clothes in her closet, so you had to make do until you got your own room.

You don’t really know where you stand with her, you haven't fully warmed up to each other yet. She still hasn’t let you sleep on the couch. Even drunk, she pushed you to the floor when she caught you falling asleep on her sacred sofa. You couldn’t be assed to argue at the time, but as you're twisting and turning your torso, attempting to rid the pain in your back, you wish you did.

Walking to the nightstand, you check the time on Wanda’s phone. She confiscated yours as a ‘security protocol’, but you think she just wanted to fuck with you. Ignoring the feeling of eyes on you, you sigh and lift your shirt over your head, groaning when you realize you left your clothes on the desk. When you turn, you find Wanda standing outside the bathroom. She looks you up and down, smirking at your blush as you walk to get your clothes.

“Uh, can you turn around?” You curl into yourself, attempting to cover up your body.

The brunette rolls her eyes, “This is my room, you can’t tell me what to do.”

Your blush deepens, “You can’t be serious.”

Wanda doesn’t move from her spot, shrugging. You groan and leave the room, closing the door behind you and taking off your pants. You’re mumbling curses under your breath when a gasp catches your attention. Peter and Natasha are standing at the end of the hallway. The former with his hand over his eyes, a deep blush covering his face. Natasha smirks as she drags Peter by his arm, walking past you and turning a corner. Sighing, you lean against the door, pulling up your pants when suddenly you’re falling forward.

Wanda looks down at you, flat on your face with your pants halfway up. “Fucking bit-”

You don’t even get to finish before you’re being lifted and pushed into a wall. “I dare you to finish that sentence.”

“Why are you always abusing me?” You pout, attempting to turn around and look at her when she pushes your face further into the wall.

“Apologize.” She grits out.

You’re about to retort when you remember you have to talk to Tony. Reluctantly, you mumble out an apology and Wanda turns you around to face her, smirking, “Good girl.”

She pulls your pants up, tapping your reddened cheek and walking back into her room.

What the fuck.

❅❅❅

“Come in!” You push past the door of Tony’s lab, taking in all the machines and holograms around the room. You hadn’t actually gotten a chance to get a good look at everything during your failed heist. “What’s up?” Tony turns to you, blowtorch in hand. Eyes widening, you slowly back up, “Uh, I just wanted to ask if I could leave the building-”

“Nope.”

“What! Why?”

“You’re not exactly the most trustworthy person.”

“Untrue! I saw Peter pick his nose once and I haven’t told anyone!”

“You literally just told me.”

“Please!”

You grab Tony’s shoulders, moving him back and forth and pleading, voice raising in pitch.

He groans, grabbing both your wrists, “Jesus, Fine!”

“Yes!”

“But you have to bring Wanda with you.”

Your face drops, “Peter can come with me.”

Tony shakes his head, “He wouldn’t be able to catch you if you ran, plus you’re all buddy-buddy with him.”

“Okay, fine, but on one condition,”

He raises an eyebrow.

“Can you get me an automatic cat food dispenser, or install one, or hire someone to feed my cat.”

He laughs, “Don’t let Steve find your cat, and sure.”

You internally celebrate, rushing out and back towards Wanda’s room. “Hey, Wanda-” Pushing open the door, you catch the witch sitting on the couch with you laptop on her lap. You grab your laptop and place it in your backpack before she could blink.

One hand on your hip, you stare at her, waiting for an explanation. After a beat of silence, you finally ask, “What were you doing on my laptop?”

Wanda’s eyes dart around the room, looking everywhere but you, mumbling something under her breath.

“What?”

“I wanted to play the game I saw you playing earlier.”

You tilt your head, eyebrows furrowing in confusion before she groans, “The one where you fight zombies and stuff.”

“Resident evil?”

“Not that one.”

“Call of duty?”

“No!”

“Left for dead?”

“No it was like, ugh I don’t know! Like, it had skeletons and I saw a pig.”

Your eyes light up in realization, “Minecraft?”

Wanda slaps her hands together, “That’s the one!”

You laugh, shaking your head and moving towards your bag to take out cat food. “I’ll let you play, if you come out with me tonight.”

Your cat approaches you when he hears the bag rustle, and you exit the room for a second to pour the food in his bowl. Wanda refused to let you keep the litter box and food bowl in her room, which was fair.

You walk back in, finding Wanda wide-eyed on the couch, “Like, on a date?”

Your eyebrows shoot up, “What? No! Tony said I could go out if you came as a babysitter.”

Wanda deflates, “Oh, sure yeah.”

You take your laptop out again, moving to take a seat next to Wanda. You’re explaining how the game works when you get an email from your roommate and best friend, Kate, jokingly asking if you’re gonna bail on the hangout. You quickly type out a reply, ‘im coming. bringing a friend,’ You pause for a moment before continuing, ‘best regards.’

Wanda’s lips tilt upwards at you considering her a friend despite her behavior towards you. “Why is she emailing you?” You raise an eyebrow, “You took my phone. Remember?” Her mouth forms an ‘O’ shape before reaching her hand behind the couch cushions, bringing your phone up and handing you it. You snatch your phone from her hand, rolling your eyes. “Asshole,” You stiffen, only relaxing when you realize Wanda hadn’t heard, “Uhm, okay, so you make these tools…”

Wanda was horrible. It took her an hour and a half to finally get used to the walking controls and crafting, kind of. “This is a stupid game.” She pouts as the respawn screen pops up for the millionth time. Glancing at the corner of the screen, you curse as you jump up. “We need to get ready. Can you call Peter and ask him if he’s busy?”

You change your clothes, not caring about Wanda seeing you. She had already seen you in your underwear so there was no point.

Wanda hums, makes no move to pick up her phone.

You roll your eyes when you catch her staring, “Can you stop being a creep and call Peter. Invite Pietro if you want.”

“Fine.”

❅❅❅

The silhouettes of your friends become clearer as you approach the location on your phone. Wanda’s bows furrow when she sees that it's an abandoned construction site, awkwardly parking the car. You and Peter rush out of the car, excitedly hugging your friends. Peter had invited Ned and MJ, while you had Kate Bishop. The twins weren’t as popular as the rest of the avengers, so you didn’t worry about your friends recognizing them. Wanda and Pietro stepped out of the vehicle and approached your group.

“Guys! This is Wanda, and this is her brother, Pietro.”

Exchanging pleasantries, you all start walking towards the building. Wanda turns towards you, “Why are we here? Is this just your normal hangout spot-” Her eyes widen when you shush her, placing a finger on her lips, “All will be revealed, little witch.”

You were all sitting in a circle inside the abandoned building, the flashlights of your phones illuminating the room. Ned and Kate sat on either side of you, with the twins, Peter and MJ sat across. “Silence!” You clap your hands together, continuing when everybody turns their attention towards you, “Rumor has it, this building was the site of satanic…occult? Cult? Whatever, you get me. Ritual!”

Wanda smiles in amusement, winking when you make eye contact.

Kate tilts her head at your blush, “Anyways! We will be contacting the spirits present here.”

Kate chimes in, lifting a bottle of water, “I brought holy water with me!”

You and her planned this thing together, and holy water was never mentioned. Taking the bottle from her, you pop open the cap and take a sip. Bishop laughs when you attempt to stop yourself from making a face, “Wow, okay. Glad you brought vodka to a fucking demon ritual.”

Ignoring you, Kate takes out a ouija board from her bag and places it in the middle of the circle. Wanda’s eyes light up as she turns towards her brother.

“Alright, everybody put your hands on the pointer thing.” You say while placing your hands first, everybody following after you. “Spirits, ghosts, beings, entities, and everything else, if you are here, move the…puck thing.” Kate is about to laugh when suddenly the pointer moves towards ‘yes’. Peter looks around, wide eyed, while Wanda and Pietro are oddly calm. “Uhm, okay uh. Jesus.” You wipe the sweat off your forehead, “Are you evil?” Everybody gasps as it circles around ‘yes’. Kate pushes on your shoulder, “Can we stop?” You roll your eyes, “No. Alright, what’s my name?” You all look in confusion when it moves to the wrong letters. You read them out,

“H-E-I-S-E-N-B-E-R-G? Heisenberg.”

Wanda, Pietro, and Kate all break out into laughter, removing their hands from the board while you and the rest look at each other in confusion until Kate explains the reference.

Kate gasps, “Weren’t we supposed to say goodbye before we took our hands off-” The phone lights flicker, and a banging sounds behind you. You screech, jumping into Kate’s arms, “What the fuck!” You tuck your head into her neck when the lights flicker again. Your friend wraps her arms around you in an iron grip, just as scared as you. You don’t catch the red mist dissipating off the board.

The banging stops, and the lights don’t flicker. You detach yourself from your friend, standing up. MJ slaps her hands on her thighs before getting up, “Let’s get the fuck out of here.” You all agree, turning to rush out of the building. 

Every little sound was making you jump as you exited. Wanda sneaks up behind you,

“Boo-”

A blood curdling scream comes out of you as you turn, your hand clutching at your heart. Your glare does nothing to the witch. Wanda fakes a look of pity as she pulls you into a hug, “Aw, are you scared? I’ll protect you, baby.”

“You literally are the reason I’m scared!” You whine, lightly shoving her off of you. For the rest of the night, you were attached to at least one person from the group. Wanda was growing irritated watching you hang on to everyone's arm except hers, and everybody could tell. Kate was holding onto your hand when she caught a glimpse of Wanda, jealousy radiating off of her.

She gave her a knowing look, “My hands are getting sweaty, hold someone else’s hand.” She shakes you off of her, ignoring your whine and pushing you towards Wanda. You didn’t want to hold onto her since all she did until now was torment you, but everybody else already got a turn.

Wanda beams when you hold onto her arm, smiling when Kate shoots her a wink. She blushes when she feels you squeezing her bicep.

After getting burgers and circling the area for a while, you land back at Wanda’s car. MJ and Peter continue the path alone as Ned bids everyone a goodbye.

“Hey!” Kate approaches you, “You coming back? I know you have that thing with your grandma but I miss your company.”

Deflating a little, you shake your head, “Not for a while, I’m sorry.” She was your best friend, your laptop wallpaper was a picture of her, “I’ll tell you if I do, though.” You add.

She leans in to kiss your cheek, “Alright. Stop ignoring my texts, at least.”

Your eyes stay on her as she walks away, slightly frowning. Wanda wraps her arm around your shoulder, ushering you to the back seat. “I miss my life.” You sigh, leaning against the window as Pietro and Wanda enter the car. She looks at you from the rearview window, “You’ll get used to it.”

Pietro twists his body to turn towards you, “Who knows, maybe you’ll get to go back to your dorm in like a couple months.”

“Maybe.” You pick at your cuticles. A couple months. Here. You could do that.

Just a couple of months.

❅❅❅

Next part

A/N: my new fic is depressing so i figured id update this cute little one, thank you for reading!

Comment if you wanna get added to the tag list.

Tags : @sgm616

[russellsppttemplates]

My girls (Lance Stroll)

Lance gave Juno one job: to make sure his girls were looked after while he was away at a triple header

Note: english is not my first language. My baby fever has been through the roof lately, and while I was working on this, another blurb came through for dad!Lance, so I joined them.

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: reader is pregnant

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog @hiireadstuff @c-losur3

"Have you seen Juno?", Margot asked her older sister while she did her homework, "where's mummy? She usually is where mummy is", Addalynn smiled, "I just need to finish this question and then I can go downstairs with you, wait a bit for me, please", she asked.

Margot waited for her, standing by her desk and watching curiously as her older sister wrote on her notebook until she finished, tidying her desk and storing the notebook back in her backpack, "we can go downstairs now", she smiled, holding Margot's hand and going down the stairs with her, the patter from Luna's paws and nails on the floor telling them you were in the kitchen.

You had only read about it in books, and since Luna had only been in your family for a little over a year, you never experienced being pregnant while having a dog. So far, besides your two daughters, you also had a four-pawed shadow following you around, "Luna, you can't get all tangled between my ankles, okay? Mummy can't see you that well anymore, only your tail every now and again", you giggled as you looked for her snout, hearing the girls approaching you.

"I knew she'd be here", Addy whispered to Margot as she called the dog, sitting on the floor to play with the dog.

"Are you hungry, girls? I can make you something before we sit down for dinner", you offered, figuring that dinner would still take a while to be ready.

"No, we just wanted to play with Juno", Margot said, pulling on the rope material so Juno could pull back.

"I finished my homework, too, and we knew Juno would be where you were", Addalynn added as you blushed slightly, "she's following daddy's request to look after you!", both girls giggled.

"She's looking after all of us - but I think she does come to stay with me whenever she wants a rest", you winked, "she knows I won't go too far too quickly", you offered.

When you finished dinner and tidying up with the girls' help, they were quick to go to the living room, turning on the TV and finding the channel.

"Is daddy on track yet?", you asked, ushering Juno to her spot on the sofa by your left before you sat down next to the girls on your right.

"Lizzie was saying they're going to start soon", Addy added as she unfolded the blanket on top of her and Margot's legs, "do you want some of the blanket too?", she asked.

"I have mine here, love, thank you, though", you smiled, arranging it under your bump carefully as you stretched your legs on the footstool, "Oh, forgot my pillow", you mumbled, changing your position.

"I'll get it, mummy!", Margot offered, getting the pillow you needed and placing it under your feet, "is it good?", she checked.

"It is, sweetheart, thank you", you smiled at her attentiveness as she climbed back on the sofa.

"Daddy is going really fast!", Margot pointed out, "is this the one where he could win?".

"This is practice still, the one where he can go for the pole position is much later and you will be asleep by then", you stated, not wanting to bend their bedtime routine even more than you were already doing.

"Okay", they said in unison, respecting your orders. Overall, they were pretty good at following what you asked them to do, usually only throwing tantrums when they were really tired and understanding what could and couldn't be negotiated pretty well. Of course they were still kids and had their developmental needs and challenges, but you also had an inkling that Lance had spoken to them about how they needed to behave extra well since he wouldn't be coming home for three weeks.

.

You rolled to Lance's side of the bed, finding Luna already looking at you, "the girls are not up yet?", you mused, rubbing the sleep out of your eyes.

Getting up gently, allowing your back and hips to stretch properly and readying yourself to go back to spending most of the day in a standing position, "Good morning, baby girl, you're up too, at least, you can keep me and Juno company", you smiled, rubbing your bump softly as you felt her movements, little feet kicking your ribs gently for now.

The silence didn't last for too long as when you were getting yourself dressed, Juno's ears popped when she heard noise, leaving you briefly to go to the girls' bedrooms. Putting on your lounge wear set and making sure it would be stretchy enough around your bump you stepped into the corridor to find your two curly haired girls petting Juno.

"Good morning, mummy! Did you sleep well?", Addalynn asked, coming close to give you a hug.

"Good morning, my loves. I did, did you?", you kissed the top of her head before kissing Margot's as well, hugging her too, "I'm going to let Juno out in the garden so she can do her business, are you coming down now?", you wondered as you picked out comfy clothes for them.

"I'll go in a bit - I need to pee!", Margot let you know before speeding to the bathroom.

You opened the back door for Juno first and then started making breakfast.

The doorbell rang, making Juno go up to the door with you, and once you opened it, she barked loudly at the man holding a box, "Juno, it's okay!", you assured her as she took a protective stance in front of you, "she's harmless, really, but she will bark at anyone she doesn't know, I'm sorry if she scared you", you told him.

"It's fine, no worries, I used to have one just like her when my children were younger", the delivery man, "Y/N Stroll, right? These two boxes are for you, may I?", he asked, wanting to help you by at least putting the package on top of the table near the door.

"Sure, thank you! Juno, come here!", you called the brown labrador so she wouldn't get in the way.

"There you go", he said, "I hope you have a good day!", he waved as he walked back to the car.

"Thank you, you too!", you waved back before closing the door.

The girls walked down the stairs, Addalynn in the outfit you picked out and Margot holding her clothes on her hand, "who was that, mummy?".

"A delivery man - we got two packages. Do you need help getting dressed, love?", you asked Margot, who nodded as she looked at the smaller box.

"Can we see what's inside?", Addalynn quesioned.

"Sure, you girls do that one while I do this one", you encouraged, ripping the tape on the box on the table to see a beautiful bunch of flowers along with a card.

I can't wait to be back home, I miss you girls so much!

There are some flowers for you and the girls and a little treat for Juno, too - figured she wouldn't be the most gentle with a plant!

I love you!

- Lance

"Mummy, this one has flowers, too!", Margot showed you two smaller bunches of flowers and a bag with some dog treats.

"These are from daddy! This one is for me, each of those is for you and then some treats for Juno", you explained, showing them the card so Addalynn could read it out loud as you carried the flowers to the kitchen so you could put them in water.

"Let's take a photo and send it to daddy, okay? Smile big, my loves!", you cheered, snapping a cute photo of the girls, Juno and the flowers and sending it to Lance.

Even though it was late where he was, your husband still sent you a text with many heart emojis and then another one reading "these are three of my favourite girls, and I would like to see the other two 👀".

Taking a selfie in the mirrow on the hallway, perfectly showing your baby bump, you sent it back to Lance, earning the same reaction to the first one you sent.

After having breakfast, you sat on the sofa to watch the qualifying session, the girls laying out their Lego sets, "daddy didn't tell you in which position he was starting?", Addy mused.

"No, I told him we would watch it today and I stayed away from the news, too, so I have no idea what's going to happen", you offered, pressing play on the remote to start the program.

Juno was quick to recognise Lance, getting up from her spot where she rested her head on your legs, tail wagging, "yes, Juno, that's daddy!", Margot squealed.

"Does that mean daddy got P3?", Addalynn asked as the voice over as they filmed the paddock spoke about a penalty, "yes, he goes up a place", you smiled.

Later on the night, your baby girl couldn't seem to settle so sleep wasn't coming by easily, "if your sisters find out that you're keeping me up so we can watch daddy's race, we're going to be in trouble", you spoke, fluffing the pillows as Juno looked up at you, "you can't tell anyone either, okay?", you warned the dog as you set up you iPad on your bedside table.

Lance ended up in second place, the podium celebrations showing his happiness as he sprayed the champagne on the other drivers, "mummy's tired, baby girl, and daddy is flying back soon", you tried to soothe her by rubbing your bump, hoping she would slow down enough for you to sleep once you turned off the streaming channel.

.

Lance couldn't wait to be back home, getting his luggage from the plane as soon as he could before he walked to his car, putting all his belongings inside and driving home to his family. Triple headers were hard as it was, but now that he had his family waiting back home, they were even harder.

He closed the garage door and parked the car, taking his luggage to the laundry room before expecting to meet the girls at the corridor but finding the whole floor empty.

Lance found you napping on his side of the bed, the girls napping on your side and Juno by the feet of the bed.

Smiling at the view, he walked up gently to you, Juno alert as she sensed someone else in the room and barking before noticing it was Lance, stepping closer to him to rub her snout on his legs, "hey, Juno, you did a good job here from what I can see!", he scratched her ears.

The girls stirred in their sleep, blinking their eyes a couple of times before looking at him, "hey, girls", he whispered.

"Daddy!", they yelled, making him kneel on the floor so he could hug them closely, "I missed you princesses so so so much", he said, inhaling their scent and squeezing their bodies closer to his.

"We missed you too, daddy", Margot said, kissing his cheek while Addalynn nodded, snuggling herself closer to Lance.

You turned on your side, opening your eyes to see Lance and the girls, "you're home already?", you croaked out, a sleepy smile on your lips.

Lance climbed up on the bed so he could hug you close, "I am, love", he greeted as his arms wrapped around your body.

"Hello, my love", you whispered against his lips before kissing him, feeling his hands rub your bump

"Hey, darling", he said once he let go of the kiss, "baby girl has grown so much these past weeks, hm?", he smiled, pecking your lips, "you're so beautiful, Y/N - isn't it true, girls? Mummy looks so beautiful", he added as they nodded, "I have all of my beautiful girls with me", he pulled them into the hug, squeezing you together for a family cuddle.

[the-fandom-is-now-my-life]

Kitties as wild as nature

The jabberwock ghouls as cats

Wc: ~700

Notes: I have been thinking, would Lyca also be a cat or should he be a puppy?

Haru

He is a red Abyssinian cat with an almost strikingly unnatural bright colour.

He has a darker colored leg that he doesn't put too much weight on and he seems to react nicely when you massage it slowly.

He has a favorite toy that you got him when he was a kitten in your first shopping spree with him, a small bunny-like creature that you named ‘peekaboo’.

He is so insistent on being outside as soon as you allow him to go as late as allowed, running around and around chasing leaves and bugs and bringing his little friend along. If he doesn't get his 3 hours minimum of outside time he acts so nervously pacing around the house.

Cares so much about little creatures like his peekaboo and any other stuffie that he can carry on his mouth that he adopted baby Ren the same day he came, always licking him clean and dragging him around to show him some bug in the backyard.

Even though cats sleep more than twelve hours he is always zooming around rearranging leaves, herding groups of similar cat toys that he makes Towa ‘supervise’ or dragging Ren back out after he escaped and hid under the sofa. All of this he does always accompanied by his favorite baby, peekaboo.

At night for being such a responsible kitty cat and taking care of the house he gets a tiny cup of catnip tea to relax a bit before sleeping.

Towa

Given he was a stray you doubt he is truly any race of cat but he looks a lot like a ragdoll cat, his hair fully white and some beautiful blue eyes (they almost look lilac under the sunlight)

He was originally a stray but for some reason soon after Haru came he started hanging around your house enough for you to say he is yours.

He is either hanging around Haru or fucking around God knows where, it isn't strange for him to disappear.

The quietest cat ever?? You have never seen him meow when serving food or playing, even then he does make himself known, rubbing himself on you and purring a ton. You do think he might be who meows horribly loud at night but whenever you check there is nobody there.

He seems to like eating flowers better than his kibble or wet food. Even you asked the vet and she ran tests the best she could give you was ‘he probably just likes the taste, I wouldn't worry too much about it’

He is quite a cuddly cat with both you and Haru, but for some reason he detests the little kitten, striking him whenever Haru isn't looking or dragging him away from your lap to lay in his place.

Sometimes whenever Haru licks Ren he might start licking him and it's like a little grooming ball

Ren

An exotic shorthair kitten that was too disobedient his owner considered him untrainable and gave him to you.

The only one of the bunch who doesn't look out the window, doesn't want to go out, will not even step on a blade of grass. At least on his own volition, he doesn't have much choice when Haru drags him to watch a caterpillar.

The baby snuggles up to you under your blankets, plushies and pillows as he purrs softly between your legs.

Please buy him one of those cat beds that look like a shark, he loves watching marine biology documentals from there

Whenever you use electronics like TV or tablets he will be hanging by your shoulder and might paw at it like the fruit ninja cat. That is the closest thing to playing he does.

Maybe he absorbs Haru's need of sleep because he is always sleeping or dozing off under the sunlight, even the vet was worried but it seems he is just really lazy

Unluckily, Haru can slip under the wardrobe and your bed so he is never safe. He even has a knack for knowing when he is relaxed enough to take him off guard and strike giving him to fighting chance

[sumtheamazinglysickauthor]

My Medicine - A Xyx Fanfic

"Achoo!” The sneeze came right out of you as you sniffled for a few minutes. Your nose was blocked and was it just you or was it really cold in here? You were so exhausted, too.

“Love, guess who’s back from work~” You hear your husband call out. You’d usually get up and run to him, but you didn’t have the energy. Still, didn’t mean you wouldn’t try. You got up, barely, and put a blanket over your body then proceeded to try to walk outside of your room.

“Doll?” Xyx’s eyes had a hint of worry in them, “You alright?”

“Oh- Yeah! I’m fi-” several coughs come out before you can even finish your sentence. Xyx rushes to your side, checking your temperature

“Oh baby. Looks like someone’s caught a cold.” He says, “And she decided to start walking around instead of resting in her bed.

“Hey! Forgive me for wanting to see my husband. Hmph.” You say, but not without some more coughs coming out of you.

Xyx lets out a chuckle, “You’re forgiven. If you wanted to see me, you could’ve just texted so. Would’ve saved me from an awfully boring meeting with a client, for a day at least. I know you always miss my sexy face.”

“Forget I said anything.”

Before you could say anything else, Xyx starts carrying you, taking you to bed.

“W-What are you doing?”

“Don’t act like we’ve never done something like this, love” He smirks.

You felt the sheets behind you as Xyx gently places you on the bed. You knew you were blushing. You also knew why you started feeling a little warm.

“Now, you stay there alright? I’ll be right back.” he leaves and you watch, wishing you could just grab his hand and ask him to stay. You wanted to ask him to hold you tight, kiss you, and tell him that you didn’t need anything else. If only it was just the sickness talking. It definitely wasn’t.

A few moments go by and you groan, wondering where Xyx is. It felt like it had been hours since he left. How come he gets to go away like that when he just came back? Unfair.

Unfair is just another type of fair you remember Xyx say. You smile thinking of the video calls you guys have had. You’ve come so far from that.

You feel something fluffy under you. You looked and found Cat beneath your blanket. You slowly sit up, bringing them to your lap and petting them. They used their paws to push you down a bit, as if they know you’re sick and are trying to tell you to lie down. You do as told because why wouldn’t you? Cat was too cute for you to say no to anything. You giggle thinking of the time Xyx said Cat was just some stray

“And what’re you laughin’ about?” you see your husband at the doorway, carrying a tray with soup, some medicine, and a glass of water to you. You sit up again and smile.

“Just this lil thing called nunya” you manage to say.

“You dag.” He snickers, before walking towards you and placing the tray on the nightstand, “Drink this and take the medicine.”

“Are you trying to poison your own wife” you dramatically gasp. The sickness was really taking over you. “How could you do such a thing! And I thought you loved me.”

“Oh, m’lady… My deepest, most sincere apologies for not being clearer. For this isn’t poison, but a cure for your deadly disease” Xyx plays along, making you giggle.

“Aren’t you allergic to sincerity?” you raise a brow.

“You’re right. What sort of spell did you cast on me then?”

“Are you calling me a witch?”

“You have some serious gall to accuse me of such a crime. Where’s your testimony? Your evidence?”

You glare at him before smirking and blowing a kiss.

The man is a bit flustered at first, but gives you a smug look. He leans in for a kiss, but your index finger stops him from doing so.

“Nuh uh. I’m not gonna get you sick too.”

“I’m not gonna get sick from a kiss, doll.”

“We will literally share–” you pause from a moment, blushing a bit, “y-you know… And that means we’ll be sharing germs and bacteria and that’ll make you sick and–” before you finish your sentence, Xyx grabs the hand that stopped him from giving you a smooch.

“What a travesty.” he says before cupping your face and kissing you. It was warm and nice and you didn’t want to end it. You knew you should’ve because Xyx would have a chance of getting catching the same cold, but could anyone blame you? How were you supposed to pull away when he was this addicting.

When the two of you finally pulled away to breathe, you looked at him with a pout. “Okay, now you’re probably going to get sick and it’ll be all my fault.”

“I wouldn’t mind chucking a sickie for you, doll,” he winks, “and don’t blame me when you’re the one who blew me a kiss. It was bad enough that I already wanted to kiss you.”

You felt warm at the confession. Xyx being your husband didn’t make things any easier. You could never get used to the things he says.

“Now, love, drink the soup before it gets cold. Or I could always make you drink it… I have my ways.” his voice was deeper now, and you just gulped.

“Okay okay! I’m drinking it- Sheesh.”

You took the soup from the nightstand, taking a sip of it. It tasted warm and amazing. You recognized it to be your favorite and smiled before taking the medicine and drinking the water. Honestly, what would you do without Xyx?

“Thank you…” you clear your throat, “for this. It’s really helping with my throat.”

Xyx smiled at you, “Well I am your hero, babe.”

“Oh my knight in shining armor! How can I ever repay you?”

“I can think of a few ways…”

You roll your eyes, trying to hide your grin, “I take it back. I don’t need to repay you.”

“Well, too bad there are no takebacks then.” he grins.

“Whatever. I’m tired. Get in bed, I want cuddles.”

Xyx chuckles, “So demanding, aren’t you?”

“Oh don’t act like you never are.”

“Can’t recall.”

“Xyx, please” you whine.

“Fine. Since you said please so sweetly.”

He lays next to you and you immediately hug him. Cat was now sleeping on one of your legs, but you carefully put the other onto Xyx. The two of you look at Cat, who seemed peaceful at the moment, before looking back at eachother. Honestly, you felt cured.

“Are you sure you’re not my medicine? I seem to be feeling better already.” you look into his deep emerald eyes.

“Is that so? Should I get closer to you then maybe?”

“Maybe you should.”

His laugh is soft and warm. It was so cozy. It felt like… home. You could stay like this forever and never leave.

“I love you, Xyx” you confess, like you have a million other times.

“I love you too, doll” his voice is deep and so sincere you could never doubt it.

You are my medicine

[bonefall]

just read that briarlight from your rewrite doesn't only have her thing with Millie and her inappropriate behaviour (at least from what I got) BUT also has strained relationship with graystripe,which I think is interesting concept 👀 could we get more detail on that ?

Sure thing! I don't plan to completely eliminate Millie's inappropriate behavior, but her abelism is treated as abelism by the narrative.

Graystripe is not allowed to get off blameless here; he should have protected his daughter. But he didn't. Briarlight has complicated feelings towards the fact that her dad didn't help her when she really needed him.

I actually really like Graystripe as a character so this matters a lot to me; the narrative treats him like he's a perfect being when he's an extremely complex guy. Graystripe does what he wants to do, and is a passionate and loyal person, but how would he decide between telling his mate to back off, and protecting his daughter?

I don't think he can decide. Siding with one could mean losing the other, and after what he's lost, he can't do that. So instead he does nothing, trying to play 'Both Sides', and just ends up alienating both.

Briarlight

Around the time of Bramblestar's Storm, ThunderClan is working on a better mobility device for her that will allow her to get out of camp, on more types of uneven terrain. I plan for Jessie to actually be the one who finally figures this out, a proper kitty cat genius of engineering, using that blanket they salvaged to help prevent chafing.

Here is a mouse drawing in paint lmao, it is a modified version of @cryptidclaw's Briarlight design, which I asked for their permission to use!

[ID: A drawing of a paraplegic cat, Briarlight, from Warrior Cats. She has a furry 'mullet' mane and a mobility device in three colors. There are green rings around the neck, hips, tail and back legs labelled 1, a blue blanket stretched over the belly labelled 2, and a red bark sled under the immobile legs marked 3]

The rings are made of twine of some sort, with the blanket sewn into the ones on the neck and legs, with the ones on the hips looping around the sides of the bark sled

The blanket prevents thorns and rocks from scratching her body; very important because if they were caught under her legs, she would not feel the pain to know it needs to be removed else cause infection

The bark sled is the only part that touches the ground, to prevent wear to the blanket and prevent it from getting ripped up too quickly. (oops I drew it too short lmao it should reach as far back as the paw)

This version is an improved model of the one that Wildfur used and made the entire TNP journey with; his would look very similar to Cryptidclaw's initial design (For the record it is the best mobility device for a paraplegic warrior I'd ever seen and they deserve a ton of credit here, I just improved some technical aspects of their design!)

ANYWAY back to discussion of abelism

So around this time, Briarlight finally sets a hard boundary with Millie. Her mom can't respect her, makes her feel horrible about herself, can't appreciate this incredible new mobility device, so finally Briar says, "Do not talk to me until you understand that my life isn't a tragedy!"

I think this actually does make Millie reconsider what she's been saying and doing to her kids, but fixing the relationship from this point is slow and gradual. Graystripe also gets caught in this; I'm thinking it was a sort of, "honey please speak to your mother," "Dad if you keep that up you're getting cut off too" situation.

Thankfully there's going to be plenty of time to do it since I'm not letting Briarlight die in AVoS. She survives AT LEAST until TBC, where her outspokenness against Bramblefake is going to put her in danger.

[red-panda-agere]

I'm not sure if you usually take asks, but I will die for any headcanons you have on Little Yoomtah or Little Zora. Please. I know some people headcanon that Zora uses her epithet to turn herself back to be that size, but I want to know your opinions. I'm sorry if this sounds awkward. I'm just not really used to talking about this side of things. I'm glad you're a safespace and show it proudly!

ฅ(•ㅅ•❀)ฅ

I’ve literally been avoiding talking about these two because I’ve been worried nobody wants these headcanons, I’ve never been so happy to get an ask, Epithet is my biggest interest and has been for over a year now, ESPECIALLY BLISS OCEAN!!!

SO I HAVE FAR TOO MUCH TO SAY AND I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE SO EXCITED TO TALK ABOUT THESE TWO (but I’ll try to keep it short!)

(I will not be talking about Anime Campaign, as much as I want to,,,)

Regressor! Zora Salazar

Headspace range of 2-5

Yes, on occasion she likes to use her epithet to physically regress herself but if she’s with anybody else she refuses to let herself be physically small, especially when she’s already unbelievably mentally vulnerable as well. Ontop of this, if she’s ever with Yoomtah or someone else who’s regressed, she doesn’t want to make them feel bad or upset since they can’t just do the same as her. So, Zora usually only uses her epithet to regress when she’s alone.

I feel like she’d use her epithet to age herself down just to go play at the park by herself, and not feel out of place, or like the swings were too small. She gets a bit sad though when she does something she thinks is cool but can’t turn around to see if her mom or dad saw her do it.

Even when only mentally regressing, it can be the result of a meltdown, Zora bottling up her emotions and refusing to regress as much as possible. She will put off regressing for as long as possible, enjoying being regressed but dislikes the fact she enjoys it. Being vulnerable is very hard for her, even when she’s alone. She will eventually hide in a blanket fort and cuddle her wolf stuffies and color, crying while doing so as she guiltily tries to make herself feel better.

Teethes and chews on anything and everything. She really likes more rubbery things though, pacifiers and chewlery, but will chew on blankies or stuffies when those aren’t available.

She hides her pacifier under her scarf or hat when regressed, but still in uniform, even though nobody would be around.

Not very verbal when little

Needs a nightlight to sleep when little

She melts at the nicknames “sunshine” “little lady” and things like “lil bugger” or just “kiddo.”

Her prized stuffed animal is a Build-a-Bear wolf named “Silver.” He has voice boxes in his paws from her ‘co-workers’ telling her how loved she is. The one from Yoomtah is more silly than the other three, and weirdly a bit static-y for some reason.

Honestly just a pretty chill little one when she’s regressed. Compared to other little ones, she’s honestly okay with anything, and is only really emotional if she’s been caught regressing or a caregiver is trying to help her regress. Afterwards, she’s okay with a lazy day of cuddles at home but still excitable when she’s asked if she’d like to play or go on a zoo trip.

When overwhelmed, she likes to hide in pillow forts alone by herself and look through story books or play Pokemon.

She really likes playing with Calico Critters. The texture of the Calico Critters makes her really happy, and the fact they’re animals just makes her ten times happier.

Zora would shoot you in the back with a Nerf gun and evil giggle to herself.

Wears blankets around like they’re ponchos or capes.

Sometimes she just has days where she likes sitting in caregiver’s laps when she can, or at least next to them, hiding her face in their neck. If it’s mentioned, or even acknowledged she will sit back up so fast.

She has really bad and vivid nightmares about her parents that usually leave her regressed pretty small and crying into her baby blanket. The baby blanket is one she’s had since she was a baby, her mother making the blanket for her, quilting the sun and sheep patterns into it. It’s one of the few items she took with after her parents were killed.

Avoids baths at all costs

Dinosaur nuggets

Doesn’t really do “little clothes,” but she does enjoy baggy t-shirts and pajama bottoms.

Loves playing outside when little, but not really in Sweet Jazz, unless it’s beach season. She’d much rather be running around the woods, finding cool rocks and showing anyone with her the cool mushrooms she found (but didn’t touch).

She prefers apple cider when a caregiver decides to give her a bottle before bed.

Loves talking about dinosaurs

She enjoys Sherrif Callie’s Wild West, but will usually prefer older movies like Care Bears or The Land Before Time.

Regressor! Yoomtah Zing

Headspace 3-6

She adores playing dress up, especially when she gets Zora to join. They like playing “Dragon and Princess” but they end up arguing over who gets to be the dragon sometimes so they just play dragons.

Invites Zora to all of her tea parties and treats Silver as “the honored guest” every time. When she has tea parties on her own or with just her caregiver, she has elaborate drama between all of her stuffed animals. She can’t have ‘pretend’ tea parties either, there’s always sugar cookies or snacks of some kind, and usually soda or strawberry milk in the teapot. She thinks most tea tastes too bland.

Always has Bluey, My Little Pony, or some cartoon on in the background

She loves finger painting and likes giving everyone in Bliss Ocean one of her masterpieces so she can receive praise.

Near impossible to make her upset or find her fussy

She probably tries to eat things she shouldn’t. (In all honesty, she probably does this normally but ESPECIALLY when little she needs to have a watchful eye on her.)

Releases Zhu Zhu pets into rooms without warning

She can sit still for hours if you give her enough bracelet making materials, especially rainbow loom.

She enjoys loud toys a bunch, but understands that Zora gets overwhelmed by them when they’re together.

Zoobles

She really likes pink lemonade and strawberry milk.

iPad baby

Her assortment of toys is really varied and random. You could find an original gen 1 My Little Pony toy and then stumble upon the newest Hot-Wheels set.

She has a Furby that is almost always in her hands, as well as a collection of animatronic animals. Some of her favorites are her iDog, Hatchimal, Little Live Pet turtle, and a Furreal Friends Alicorn (just to name a few.)

If possible, she becomes even more energetic when regressed (and more impatient/lh)

Will wear onsies, dresses, skirts, overalls - whatever, she’s not picky about clothes, just impatient when they’re being chosen for her.

Yoomtah is alot less shameless about her regression than Zora and will ask everyone in the headquarters to play with her.

When Zora feels extra little, Yoomtah likes to act as the big sister, and sometimes babbles nonsense at the regressed cowgirl if she babbles first, and pretends to have full conversations with her in baby talk.

When Zora is being really stubborn about regressing, Yoomtah is really good at getting her to relax, not prying or asking things like ‘how old are you right now?’ or ‘do you feel little?’ She just walks in and asks her what she wants to play, or if she wants to come build a sand castle with her.

Yoomtah and Zora seem to have some sort of secret, silent code, and Yoomtah can always understand what Zora wants even if she doesn’t speak. Not even Zora knows how Yoomtah does this, because sometimes she’ll ask for something for her and Zora won’t even realize she wanted it until it’s given to her.

She and Zora will often just sit and talk about animals they like. Zora really likes talking about canines and animals on land, while Yoomtah knows far too much about microorganisms and alien sharks. They probably watch Wild Kratts and Octonauts together.

[abbatoirablaze]

Fantastical Beasts, Charlie Weasley

Word Count: 1.1k

You looked between your two nifflers, snuggled up on your bed with you, on the small mound of shimmering fabric that was their blanket and their small pile of coins, and then to your boyfriend.   The letter to his mother remained unattended while he wrote his own letter to the ministry about relocating a group of orphaned dragons whose mother had fallen prey to poachers. 

“Charlie….”

“Hmmm?”

He hadn’t bothered to stop writing, his quill going on feverishly, pushing past the hair that had slipped into his face.  You couldn’t help but smile at the passion that he’d held for the fantastical beasts. 

Even now, the triplet newborn dragons were curled around his feet next to the fireplace. 

“I hope you know that we can’t keep them,” you reminded him softly, “not in the long run anyways...they're nearly as big as our Nifflers now and they're only babes.”

His eyes snapped up to yours, and you stared into the chocolate eyes you fell in love with your first year at Hogwarts. He bit his lip, and tilted his head, the characteristic Weasley green flecks popping through as he gave you a nervous once over.

“We are home in Romania,” he reminded you, “there are plenty of dragon reserves here.  I just have to clear it with the ministry since there are a few of them.  I don’t necessarily have to let them go.”

“Charlie…they’ll outgrow the house in just a few months time…”

“Then we’ll have a few months…”

“You are incorrigible,” you laughed softly.  Charlie smiled at you, and you shook your head, “and how are you going to tell our children about their three new siblings?”

Charlie eyed your pet Nifflers lovingly, “I think they’d be fine with more siblings…rather they be dragon or other creature…”

“And what if they were some other sort of fantastical beast?” you tried softly, figuring that you should at least break the news to your boyfriend before you mailed the letter to his mother.

“What sort of other fantastical beast?” he asked, “I doubt that we could get away with any Bowtruckles or a Jarvey…but we might be able to get away with a Crup or a Kneazle. But they aren't very much fun.”

“Charlie…I-I wasn’t thinking of an actual beast,” you sighed, shaking your head at him.  You got up from your bed and started towards the kettle to get yourself a cup of tea, “I just-was thinking is all.”

“I can see the gears grinding in your head, my love…” he offered softly, “can tell that something other than fantastical beasts is on your mind…”

“Just thinking about the holidays.”

He frowned, “I know…I’m sorry we missed Christmas with my family…mum was a bit sad she didn’t get to see us…and you know how my brothers and sister are.  They adore you…and you and dad didn’t get to talk about your history with muggle objects.  But we’ll see them sometime at the end of the month…I promise.  As soon as I get these dragons settled. Mum wanted to save our sweaters for when she sees us in person.”

“It’s already near the end of February, Charlie…”

His frown deepened and he looked up at you.  His eyes went wide, “I missed Valentine’s Day…”

You gave him a sad smile. 

Just last week you’d decorated the house and made his favorite meal.  You had planned a very romantic night for the two of you which started with a picnic in the mountains and ended with the two of you falling asleep under the stars after you revealed to him that a little Weasley was on the way and it wouldn’t just be the two of them and their creatures any longer.

But it never happened. 

He’d come across the poachers then. 

And two days after, on February 16 he’d shown up covered in dirt and ash, carrying his trusty knapsack, where three little dragon heads were surrounding him, their little paws on his shoulders as they explored their surroundings. 

He stood in an instant, making the dragons jump.  Apologizing to them, the creatures seemed not to care as they snuggled back up with one another as he made his way towards you, “sweetheart, I’m so sorry.  I didn’t even th-“

“It’s fine, Charlie…we’ve both been scatterbrained as of late…especially when it comes to what we love…”

“But I love you!” he proclaimed softly, taking your hands in his own.  You forgot about the kettle you’d just pulled from the stove and watched the sadness in his eyes, “I-I promised that I would be home…”

“You came home in the end…that’s all that matters!” you reminded him as you leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, “but I-I did want to talk about that night.”

He frowned, his brow creasing.

“Y-you know I can’t take time off…poachers never stop and the drag-“

“I’m pulling back on the jobs I accept,” you admitted, cutting him off, “a-at least until the end of the year.  I can’t worry about the safety of the dragons if I’m worrying about something else.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing…nothing…I just-“

“It must be something!” he said quickly, “you were so happy.  We were going to go to China after we visited my family and go assist in-“

“I can’t because I found out I’m pregnant.”

Charlie stopped speaking.  His eyes went wide as he looked at his girlfriend, “wh-what?”

“W-when they went to do a wellness check on me…to make sure I was good for China next month…they found out that I-we’re pregnant…we’re going to have a baby, Charlie.”

His breath caught in his throat as he looked at the woman he loved.  You bit your bottom lip as he stuttered out, “a-a baby.  Us?  We-we’re going to have a baby?”

You nodded.

“I-it won’t just be us?  And Artemis and Selvans?” he asked, looking to the Nifflers still asleep on the bed.

“No…” you whispered, taking his hands and leading them to your still flat stomach, “I-I’m eight weeks…which means-“

“We were tracking the Hungarian Horntail,” he blushed, remembering just where the two of you were when you’d conceived, “the forest in-“

“I remember where we were, thank you very much,” you giggled, cutting your boyfriend off, “I-I wanted to tell you when I found out last week…was going to tell you on Valentine’s Day…”

“We’re going to have a baby…”

“Yeah…”

He smiled, pulling you to his chest once more as your lips connected. 

[ask-healthy-light]

The shields were lifted, the crystals were dropped, and Sunburst felt wave of foul energy wash over him, all too familiar and even more terrible than before, but unlike the others, who were closer to the cursed crystals, he stayed standing, and conscious; and using what little magic he had left, he only just managed to grab the others before they fell, before he pulled them away from the windows.

In the split second that the crystals were unshielded and close by, his friends had been drained of all of their energy and magic, and they fell unconscious faster than the eye could see; but when he saw the new star dive suddenly downwards, Sunburst nodded, and carefully started to drag the others to the centre of the room, begging to anyone who was listening for all his friends to be all right.

Struggling to hold back his tears, Sunburst did whatever he could do make the others as comfortable as possible, quietly telling them in turn that he was there for them, and that he would not be far; and when he had given everypony a pillow to lie on and a blanket to lie under, he dashed out of the room at winged speed to find them some food and drinks, hoping that they had given Nox enough time.

Even such a great distance away from where they others were, when they dropped the cursed crystals, Nox could feel the same awful wave of dark energy, but she did not let go of the chest in her paws, nor did she take her mind off her goal, nor her eyes off the dark speck far below her; and she dove towards the ground at ever increasing speed, appearing overhead like a star, falling to the Empire.

At the base of the Crystal Castle, a shower of crystals fell all around the Palace, shattering upon impact with the ground, the roofs of nearby buildings, or the shields and helmets of the Guards who had been positioned there for a long time; but before they could even react, the entire area around the Crystal Heart was tainted by countless shards of impure tuned crystal, defiled by a dark curse.

In an instant, every Guard dropped their arms and fell, and although the strongest Guards only fell to their knees, they could hold on for but a mere moment longer before they, too, fell unconscious, wholly drained of their magic and energy; but the magic within the Heart was greater than any curse yet devised, and the foul crystals were swiftly purged of their curse, but not in time to stop Nox.

A light appeared overhead and vanished underneath the Palace in the blink of an eye, followed a few seconds later by the sound of a hurricane, startling everyone who had not fainted or fallen asleep, shattering the windows of nearby buildings, and snapping branches off of trees; but as panic spread through the streets of town, Nox opened her eyes to find nothing but blackness wherever she looked.

Tightly holding the chest in her arms, Nox could not tell whether she was slowing down to come to a stop, or whether she was still flying at the same unbelievable speed as mere moments ago, since she felt nothing around her; she spread out her wings to slow down, and tried to find solid ground with her paws, but she did not know whither she was headed, nor where she was, and she started to panic.

Though she hoped it was untrue, and that either her mind or her senses were merely tricking her, it dawned on Nox that she she remembered where she last saw such pure blackness, and she cried in nigh utter silence; for she did not want to believe she had been put back into Stasis in the darkness of Limbo, whither she had been banished by the Tantabus when it took control of her Mother, aeons ago.

Even when she closed her eyes and tried to speak, hoping, praying, begging to hear from her Mother, or her Aunt, or any of her friends, she heard nothing, and her tears flowed faster, and she did not even listen to her senses when a voice called to her from the distance; but the voice grew clearer, and louder, until she opened her eyes, and looked upon Light, wearing a bright smile on their face.

In an instant, Nox dove into Light's arms, caring not about the box she brought, and whispered:

"L-Light… I-I-I… I th-thought I was…"

But Light merely held her gently, and promised her they were there, and they were all safe…

(Thanks for reading! And if you enjoyed, please reblog! Thanks in advance!)

Send an ask or request! | Start at the beginning! | Next part!

Featuring: Nox Lunarwing from @nox-lunarwing

[braveclementine]

Chapter 14

Warnings: None (anyone can read this story)

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. I do not condone any copying of this.

𝓘𝓣 was chaos when we got back to the familiar tower. People were rushing out with a stretcher, wearing bright colours. Pepper was running in heels behind them. They opened the car and I hopped into Bucky's lap so that they could pull him out.

Pepper was shouting orders, though it sounded hysterical. Bucky and Steve got out of the car, hurrying through the side of the building. Bucky kept me pressed close to his chest the entire time, but once we were in the building, he pulled me up closer, pressing loving kisses to my forehead.

"Gosh Blizz, you have no idea how long we've been trying to find you." He murmured in my ear.

"You were?" I mewed quietly. It had felt like years. I could feel the tiredness seeping into my tiny bones already. I needed a nice nap.

Preferably on top of Steve's head.

"Can I hold her?" Steve asked.

Bucky shook his head, holding me tighter, "I need to hold her a little longer."

Steve pouted a little, but gave Bucky what he wished. He looked directly at me, "Bucky cried for hours after they took you. I promised him we'd get you back."

Bucky only held me tighter and I felt large water droplets fall into my fur. I peeked upwards, another teardrop landing on my nose and it trailed down, lost in my fur.

"Sorry Blizz." Bucky said, wiping my fur and pulling me up even closer to his face. "I'll pull myself together, promise."

"You are already together?" I was puzzled, tilting my head a little and batting his nose with my paw.

He looked in one piece anyways. I didn't see any cracks.

The elevator doors finally opened and they strode down the hallway towards the bedroom. Steve opened the door, locking it behind them.

Bucky flopped down on the bed, carefully laying me across his chest. Steve reached over, stroking my fur. They were pressed close together and I got up, carefully laying myself as far as I could across their bodies.

Then I mewed in pain, curling up into a ball. My muscles hurt.

"We should take her down to the lab and get some tests done. See where she is hurt and everything." Steve said with a frown.

"No tests." I mewed, backing up away from Steve, cowering down into the blankets.

"No." Bucky said, picking me up gently in his hands. "Look how terrified she is, even when you mention tests. She knows we won't hurt her and she's still scared. We can't-"

"We need to know the extent of the damage so we can help her heal." Steve interrupted earnestly. "What if something is broken? We have to take X-rays at least so that we can get them to heal properly."

Bucky looked hesitant, stroking me with calm, gentle gestures. He looked down at me. "Not tonight."

"Okay." Steve agreed. "Not tonight."

"Mrs. Stark would like you both to know that Mr. Stark is in recovery now and will make it. He should be awake tomorrow morning." The robot lady I had actually missed said suddenly.

"Thank you F.R.I.D.A.Y." Steve said. "Can you ask Bruce to prepare the X-ray machine for tomorrow. We want to make sure Blizzard is okay both internally and externally."

"Yes Captain Rogers." F.R.I.D.A.Y. said.

"You want to sleep with us tonight Blizz?" Bucky asked in a cooing voice as Steve slipped out of bed, undressing himself into just the short black pants and the rest of him was bare.

I carefully hopped onto his chest, curling up on him so that Bucky could do the same. Then they both slipped under the covers, putting me up between their heads on the pillow.

I laid in a comfortable position, which had taken some time to get to as everything else hurt. But once I did that, I was able to fall asleep fairly easily.

❆❆❆

𝓘 only woke up once Bucky began to stir in bed. I found that I was more or less in the same position that I had fallen asleep in. I got to my paws gingerly, wincing as my muscles hurt in so many different places.

"Do you think there are any medicines we can give her to help her with the pain?" Bucky frantically asked Steve as he took in my state of being.

Steve's eyes looked equally pained. "I don't know. That's a question for Bruce. I think we go down and see him now. It'd be bad to feed her if there's something that needs to be done on an empty stomach. She ate yesterday so she should be okay. . . I hope."

Bucky picked me up with such gentleness, I wondered if maybe I might've died and gone to Heaven. I didn't even know a human- even one as good and pure as Bucky- could handle something as small and fragile as me with that much gentleness.

It still hurt a little- as he was trying to support all four of my legs and one of them hurt to much when pushed next to the others. But once he got me all settled in his hands, I was able to stretch it out again.

His steps were even gentle, walking in a rocking way so that he didn't jolt me to badly.

The elevator ride was as smooth as ever.

"Tony's awake." Nat said as she passed by us. I guessed then that the lab that Tony and Bruce usually worked at and the place that Tony was recovering must be on the same floor.

"Thank you Nat." Steve said sincerely, glancing down at me in Bucky's hands. Nat barely gave me a second glance, hurrying into the still open elevator, before the doors closed right away behind her.

All of the sudden joy of seeing Steve and Bucky and Tony, all of the joy of being free diminished a little upon seeing the red-head. It made me remember just how I ended up in this position in the first place.

The hurt of seeing these two with a woman that wasn't their soulmate.

But I would try not to think about that anyways. It was to painful and I didn't like pain of any kind.

"Bruce first." Bucky said. "Tony'll have a fit anyways if we went to see him first and didn't take care of her."

Steve nodded and we stepped into the semi-empty lab. Bruce was behind his normal desk, and there were several machines that I recognized already.

"Oh good, you can set her down right here." Bruce said, nodding to an empty spot on the counter in front of the machine that I stood on the first day that I was brought into the Avengers tower.

Bucky carefully set me down and I decided to lay on my side for the time being. Bucky hovered with worry until Steve pulled him away and made him sit down on one of the hard plastic chairs that Tony and Bruce had placed around the room in case someone came in for a chat- which was rare.

"Alright." Bruce said, "Blizz, can you step onto the machine for me? We just want to scan for any broken bones."

I reluctantly got to my paws, trooping into the box. I decided to close my eyes against the fright. I heard the tiny lazers whir, but didn't feel anything once again.

Once the lazers whirring stopped, there was a pause, and then there was a robotic voice that said, "Front left leg fractured. Healing uneven, already in process. Minor strains on the ribs, healing in process, even. Small tear behind right ear, needs approximately two stitches, not healing yet. Bruising up and down the torso and back right leg. Healing."

"Mother fuckers!" Bucky cursed angrily behind me.

"Okay Blizz, you can exit the box now and lay back down." Bruce said quietly, and his footsteps walked away from the box.

I backed out quietly, laying right back down on my right side again. It was easier that way.

"Bucky-"

"Those complete, utter assholes!" Bucky continued to rant. His feet paced circles around his chair, becoming heavier stomps the angrier he became. "I'm going to punch every single one of those bastards faces in- starting with Fury!"

"Bucky." Steve tried again, pushing him back into his seat. "One thing at a time. You can't be running off to SHIELD. You gotta stay here with Blizzard, okay? Besides, it wouldn't do for you to show any violence, you know that. SHIELDs got you on a tight enough watch as it is. I can't lose you."

Bucky softened a little, taking Steve's hand in his. "Alright. I know. Sorry."

"I don't blame you." Steve said softly, kissing the top of Bucky's head. "I'm furious too."

Bruce came back over with a clipboard, some pieces of paper, and a set of tools that looked very pointy and not very friendly at all.

"Okay." Bruce sighed. "Things get a bit difficult from here. The stitches will be no problem. They'll be tiny and she'll be on pain meds and numbing agent anyways. The leg on the other hand is already healing, but it's healing unevenly, which will cripple her in the future. The one and only solution I have right now is to re-break it and then set it straight. That's going to be painful, even on pain meds and numbing agent. I can put her under, but there are always risks with putting animals under, especially ones that are as small as her. If she was a bigger cat, there wouldn't be as many worries."

I looked over at Steve and Bucky. They both looked uncertain.

"There's no other option at all?" Steve asked, pondering Bruce's statement.

"Not with getting it to heal properly." Bruce sighed. "I can leave it be. It'll be shorter than the rest of her legs and most cats can get around pretty well on three legs. Although, it may lead to the option of having to be amputated in the future, which then comes back to the worry of the anesthesia. She's not going to get any bigger than this."

I wasn't entirely sure what amputated was, but it sounded more unpleasant than having my leg rebroken.

"I think you should just break my leg again." I meowed up at him. "I can take it."

I got onto my paws, limping over to where Bruce was standing, his arms crossed over his chest, one thumb to the corner of his mouth. I stuck my broken leg out to him. "Just hurry up. I'm hungry."

"Shit." Bucky said, "I can't watch. Please, I can't watch."

"It's okay." Steve and I said at the same time.

"Here." Steve said, leading Bucky to the door. "Just wait out here. I'll get you again when it's done."

Bucky left the room, water glistening in his eyes. I kept my gaze on Bruce so I didn't start crying myself as Steve came back over.

"Is there anything you need me to do Banner?" Steve asked.

"Just hold her right around the middle so I can give her the pain meds. I'll do the stitches first, give it time to kick in." Bruce said, grabbing two syringes.

I shied away from them, straight into Steve's hands. "It's okay Blizz." Steve whispered softly in my ear and I screwed my eyes shut, my ears and tail twitching as Bruce gently inserted the needle into my side. I mewled, but didn't move.

"I'm sorry Blizzard." Bruce said, "The next one is going to hurt too. Steve, can you support her head. . . right there."

Steve's fingers pressed gently behind my head. Bruce inserted another needle right below my ear. It wasn't as long, but it did hurt more and I mewled in pain again.

"Okay give this four minutes." Bruce murmured. I opened one eye to see a needle and thread in his hands.

"Can't you use staples?" Steve asked, sounding fretful.

"Her head is way to small Steve. It has to be done this way." Bruce sounded sympathetic.

When the procedure was actually done under my ear though, I didn't really feel anything.

Well. . . no. That wasn't it necessarily. It was more that, I didn't feel any pain. It didn't feel comfortable of course. It felt like. . . well it felt like it ought to have hurt, but it didn't really. Like I knew it was painful, but I couldn't actually feel the pain.

Instead, it was this weird, squishy, almost light-headed sort of feeling all around my ear. Like it had become. . . bouncy? It was a very strange concept. I didn't feel as though I could move my ear though, even though my reflection showed that I was, indeed, moving it.

Steve steeled himself once Bruce put down the other implements. Even Bruce seemed nervous himself, taking many deep breaths, before he finally took my paw in between his fingers. He hesitated.

"Shit, I can't do it." He muttered, dropping his hands. "I'm to strong with the Hulk in me. I need someone else to do it."

"Like who? Tony can't do it." Steve said. "Bucky and I can't do it, neither can Nat. I don't know, maybe I could get Clint or-"

"You called?" A new voice asked.

It was a low, pleasant voice that seemed to come out of nowhere. I turned my head to see a strange man wearing dark blue robes with a red cape, come striding out of an orange circle.

"Oh." Steve finished with a mutter. "Or him."

"Yes, I'm sorry." Bruce said and I watched as he put down a phone. "I need you to break the cats leg."

The strange man blinked. "Pardon?"

Bruce re-explained everything and the man sat down in front of me. I noticed he had many scars on his hands and I figured he must be a vet. The scars must be from where several thousands other cats had scratched him.

I lifted my broken leg up again, placing it in his hand. He blinked again, looking between Bruce and Steve.

"She's smart." Was all Steve said.

The man sighed and a very strange orange glow seemed to swirl around my leg. His fingers were gentle, before there was a snap.

I mewled, throwing my head back in pain, my feet shuffling a little, but I tried not to yank my paw out of the man's hand. I knew he had to reset it.

He was very quick in doing whatever else needed to do, finally putting a tiny pink plaster thing around my leg.

I quickly collapsed on my side, panting. Tears were streaming down my fur, matting it.

"I'm sorry Blizzard." Steve whispered, stroking my head. "I'm so sorry."

"You said Fury did this?" The man asked, frowning slightly. His hands hovered, like he wanted to pet me, but didn't dare to in case I reacted badly.

"I don't think he himself did it." Nat said from literally nowhere. Her and Bucky were now standing in the entrance to the room. Bucky wasn't even looking in the room, his gazed fixed to the floor.

"More likely he had some scientists running experiments." Bruce said.

"The idiot." The man scoffed.

I decided I liked the strange man. Besides, he had cool hair. There were gray streaks in it on either side and he was very nice looking. I wondered if he liked cats.

He must if he worked with them every day as a job, right?

"Thank you Stephen." Steve said. "We were trying to figure out who was going to do it that didn't have super strength."

"Wong has me doing stupid things." Stephen said with an eyeroll. "There's been nothing life threatening on our end and one of the interns let the portal to the Pacific Ocean in. Needless to say, it's been a mess cleaning it up. I was glad to get out of the Sanctorum."

He said a few more words between himself and Bruce while Bucky fretted over me like a dotting mother or something. I was honestly surprised he didn't start licking my wounds himself.

Stephen was gone in a whirl of orange.

"Take her back to her room and give her half of one of these every ten hours with both food and water." Bruce said, handing Steve a small orange bottle with a white cap on it. "Half. And don't overload her with food. Whatever she ate yesterday was the first thing she ate in almost six days. I'm not entirely sure why she was starving herself- perhaps because she's smart enough to realize it was her only way out- but either way you need to monitor everything."

"Thank you for everything Bruce." Steve said as Bucky picked me up in his arms. He cradled, me, being careful of my now pink leg.

"It's really no problem Steve." Bruce said, waving it off. He started to clear off his desk of the machine and the other tools that he had used to help me.

Bucky and Steve started to walk out of the room, but I felt I needed to say something else to Bruce for helping me.

"Thank you! Bye!" I said, lifting my good paw and waving it.

Bruce looked up, his serious expression slowly melting into a smile as he waved back slightly, before picking up the machine and carrying it over to an empty shelf.

"Good kitty." Bucky whispered softly in my ear, kissing the top of my head.

I was home

⬅️➡️

[sparksbynightfall]

C1 - Episode 1 : After Hours

Stars, stars everywhere ... as far as the eye can see.

I was lying on the grass under what looked like an endless night sky, and everywhere I turned, there was nothing but stars. Although my dreams had taken a different turn ... this time, I welcomed the change of pace and just enjoyed it for what it was. The grass beneath me felt soft and comforting, like a warm blanket.

I decided to get up, not knowing what else to do but stare. Maybe I could find something else if I went elsewhere. Surely, I thought to myself, there’s more than the sky here considering what I’ve been through in my previous dreams. 

I started to walk through the grassy field, not sure where it would take me but anything’s better than sitting around. Even though I appreciated how peaceful this dream was, I still wanted to wake up eventually. Only the sounds of my feet grazing against the grass and the occasional heartbeats. It was starting to creep me out a little …

After what seemed like a long walk around, I finally saw something that wasn’t grass. It was a beacon … or what I thought was one as it stood still. There was no wind to stir it, but despite its stillness, I ran towards it, eager to discover what it was.

That’s when I saw her, a Cresselia, an actual Cresselia was there, just standing by the grass with what looked like fireflies dancing around her. I was seeing multi-colored fireflies which was pretty mesmerizing. 

As I drew closer, more details of her form became visible. She wasn't responding as I came face to face with her though. She stood as stiff as a statue, her eyes closed as if she was peacefully sleeping while standing up.

Some of the fireflies seemed to notice me as a few of them appeared around me, dancing around with their tiny wings. I was about to sit down when I felt someone shift. 

The Cresselia opened her eyes, most of the glow that was covering her before disappeared revealing what she really looked like. The details were a bit blurry but I can still see what she was. 

She wore a white dress, not too long but it made her look almost like an angel. There was a pink gem attached to her chest which looked ... broken? At least that's what I thought I saw as it looked like it was broken from the inside yet there was still a pink glow coming out of it. 

Her wings didn't look like the ones typical for a Cresselia as it roughly looked like a Vivillion's wings made of glass. They seemed as if they could break easily at the slightest touch.

"Protect her... for me..." the Cresselia spoke, her voice fragile and fading, the light in her chest formed a large hole, slowly melting into the colors of the night sky. Her voice was fading away like she was being pulled back. "Bring ... her back ..." 

I didn't know why but I had the instinct to reach out, stretching out my paw towards her. I didn't even realize that my legs were making me go to her. I could only call out as she was literally fading into the night. 

"Hey, are you okay-"

Suddenly, everything went silent. The stars above seemed to multiply, the grassy ground beneath me turning into a swirl of more stars, some crashing into each other forming bigger stars. My outstretched paw met only empty air as the grass disappeared, leaving me floating in the sea of stars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So ... who exactly is the First Star?" 

Class is finally over and it's the start of the weekend for most of us at Sinnoh High. It would be a perfect time to relax after a long week but apparently, Lucia had other plans because of the whole Star Guardian thing. She left a not-so-subtle note on my locker as I was about to head out of the campus.

Favonius, my Shaymin companion, and I were walking down towards the Jubilife TV station when I asked a question to him. It's been something that's been weighing on my mind for a while.

"Ah yes, the First Star! The one who started it all!" I can tell he was pretty excited when I asked that. I guess they're someone who's pretty important. 

"A long time ago, back when the world was dark … there was a spark of light. Fearing that she would never be seen, she glowed as brightly as she could. Eventually, more like her would join in, slowly filling the once dark sky with them …

... as the first star who appeared all those eons ago, she was determined to make sure all of the other stars would shine for all eternity. So she took out some of her own light and scattered it across the universe. That's where the Star Guardians come in … each and every one of them holds a small piece of the First Star's light." 

There was a short pause from Favonius before turning to look at me. "And that's pretty much all I know. It's the same old story that's been passed around."

I have to admit, I was touched by the story. Now I was even more curious after hearing the First Star. Who knew it would be this important? I wonder if there's more Guardians out there … 

We reached the rooftop of the TV station where Lucia and her Azelf companion Mai had been waiting. The rooftop doubled as a popular hangout spot, offering a panoramic view of the city. It was one of the tallest buildings around, and if you ask me, I'm still not used to being in high places. Nevertheless, it's pretty cool that they let people use this rooftop as a place to hang out.

"Hey, you've arrived! Sorry for the short notice there. This was the only time I was available." Lucia was in her usual cheery self with Mai silently waving at us.

"It's cool, but are you really sure this is the best place? It's way high up off the ground..." I did voice my concern, eyeing the rooftop with a bit of unease. I hadn't imagined my first training session as a Star Guardian would take place on such a high perch, but Lucia had insisted we start right after Friday class. So much for a relaxing evening, I guess. 

Lucia shrugged, with her aura of confidence as always. "It'll be fine, trust me! That reminds me that I should teach you Cosmic Flight next time. Flying's much better than walking if you ask me. Just have to do it one step at a time!"

Despite Lucia's reassurances, my stomach fluttered nervously. Flying? That sounded both breathtaking and terrifying at the same time. I hoped Lucia knew what she was doing.

"Wouldn't it be better for us to do this at the park? Usually, there's only a few people at this time," I suggested to her, eyeing the rooftop's edge.

"The folks at the park wouldn't be too happy having a stray star destroying the place now, would they? I don't want anyone finding out too soon." Lucia made a hushing motion when she said that. 

"Right right I forgot to tell you that … best if we lay low for the meantime. We wouldn't want to attract a bad crowd." Favonius added, before jumping over to a nearby bench. "Speaking of laying low … I'll get some shuteye while you do your thing. Cafè work is tiring I tell you." 

Just like that, Favonius was now curled up and took a nap. It's a good thing he got a job at the local cafè that way he'd have something to do while I was away at school. 

We both transformed into our Guardian forms, and I have to admit, I'm still getting used to it. The sensation of starlight enveloping me was strange yet oddly comforting, like being wrapped in a gentle, cosmic embrace. My clothes dissolved into shimmering particles, replaced by an outfit that materialized from whatever light was nearby.

The dress that appeared on me was elegant but not too fancy, with hues of bright pink and mint green weaving together in intricate designs. It fit snugly but comfortably as if it had been tailored just for me. Whoever granted us these powers seemed to know exactly what we needed, down to the smallest detail. 

I gripped my staff as it appeared before me, I felt its weight and how solid it was in my hands. The staff was simple yet beautiful, it reminded me of those scepters that queens always had with them. The tip of the staff was an elegantly designed crescent moon put right in the middle of a bright pink heart. Beside me, Lucia stood with her bracelets adorned with lavender gems that matched the accents on her Guardian attire, somehow she looked even more confident like that. 

"Looking great! Alright, let's get this started. I've got some basic moves we can try out," Lucia said with an encouraging smile, her tone was reassuring and I could tell she was very excited about this.

I never really considered myself a fighter. That was more Cipher's thing. Pokemon moves are already challenging enough, but Starlit Moves were on a different level. Stars aren't the easiest thing to control and I had been warned of the potential dangers if you're not careful.

The rooftop was bathed in the warm glow of the late afternoon sun, casting long shadows as Lucia and I faced each other. I adjusted my grip on the staff, feeling its weight in my hands. 

"Ready?" Lucia's voice rang through the quiet air, her tone daring and motivating at the same time.

I nodded, swallowing my nerves. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Lucia grinned, her bracelets shimmering just as she was about to enter combat. "Good. Let's begin."

With that, we launched into our training session. Despite my anxiety, I managed to use Stellar Swift, summoning 3 bright pinks with a flick of my staff and flinging them at Lucia . Lucia, positioned opposite to me, raised her arms, her bracelets showing arcs of lavender energy that crackled through the air as she effortlessly deflected my attack.

With each exchange, I focused on deflecting Lucia's attacks with my staff, feeling myself strain a bit. Her techniques were as accurate as it was powerful, each burst of energy challenging me to think and react fast. The rooftop echoed with the sound of our movements.

It was a small victory when I managed to deflect a powerful Astral Sphere from Lucia, the energy scattering into the now orange sky. Despite how extreme the training was, it felt nice to see progress, even if it was just a few techniques learned in this last minute session. The hours had passed by, each moment filled with new challenges and a few surprises, it felt like an entire day had passed by despite only training for a few short hours.

"Looks like we're making progress! Stellar Swift is really easy to master once you get the hang of it, but we might need to work on the rest," Lucia remarked with a smile, turning back into her usual form. Mai, still lost in her thoughts, stared up at the sky before Lucia nudged her gently. "Anything to add, Mai?"

"Hmm? Oh! Uhh ... you did great!" Mai replied absentmindedly, a small smile spreading across her face. 

I wonder what she was thinking about. That might just be something I'll know when she talks about it ...

Favonius was fast asleep while all of this was going on. He must have been a heavy sleeper as he didn't seem to stir a bit. 

"I guess we can call it a day. It's getting pretty late and I have things to do back home." Lucia did a little stretching and dusted herself off. "We can continue some other time. For now, just enjoy the weekend."  

"Yeah, I-" 

I reached for my staff as I was replying, however, I clumsily grabbed it the wrong way, causing a burst of stray starlight to shoot unexpectedly toward Lucia. She barely had time to react before it struck her arm, and she gasped in surprise.

"Oh no ... I'm so sorry ... are you hurt?" I quickly ran to her with my staff in tow. Thoughts were running through my head as Mai also had a look of deep concern. 

"Ack! Hey, it's alright ... No harm done ..." Lucia managed a small, strained laugh despite clutching her arm and struggling to stand. "It's just a Stellar Focus Blast..."

I instinctively held her arm, thinking of something I could do to fix this. I needed to help somehow even when Lucia wasn't bothered by what happened. As soon as I touched her with the tip of my paw, I felt a warm glow.

Wait, this is ... this seems familiar ... could it be ...?

An orange light began to glow, looking like a tiny campfire. It stayed there for a bit before Gracidea petals danced around it and vanished as suddenly as they appeared. I stared at Lucia's arm for a moment and noticed that the scratch had healed completely as if it had never even been there. 

When I looked back at Lucia, I saw her staring at her arm in disbelief before she looked up at me. I could hear Mai breathing a sigh of relief as she realized what had happened. 

"This is ... incredible! A healer isn't easy to come by. Looks like we got one more lesson after all." Lucia stood up though she didn't transform this time which was her go-to when we started our training earlier. She was still determined from before as she gave Mai another light nudge.  "Mai? Hit me with your best Dazzling Gleam if you will!" 

"What!?!" Both me and Mai gave each other a look of disbelief. Of course, Mai had to know what she was up to when she decided that out of nowhere. "Lucia, do you hear yourself? You've just been hit earlier with an attack ..." 

There was a pause for a bit before Lucia gave her confident smile. "I did say I was going to find new guardians whatever it takes. This is our chance to prove we still have it in us! I’ll be fine, Mai. You know that, right?" Mai nodded her head with a little bit of hesitation, readying an attack. 

Lucia turned back to me as I got up. "Ready yourself, Elle. Just keep your paw where it is, alright?" I hesitantly held out my paw towards her and just nodded. I was also as hesitant as Mai and was hoping Lucia knew exactly what she was doing with this. 

With that Mai unleashed her attack, and a bright pink beam of stardust shot out into Lucia's direction. I concentrated hard as the orange glow started back up again, covering her as she stood there. Despite the attack being directed at her, she didn’t even flinch. 

There was silence for a bit before Lucia finally spoke up. She managed to tough it out but I noticed a few scratches here and there. She smiled back at me again and let out a tired sigh. 

"Well, that was pretty close. It's a good thing you were there to heal me up, Elle. Great work today!" Mai had to heal her up back to full before giving me a thumbs up. As reckless as Lucia was, she had her ways of training me from the looks of it. "I think I'll have to really call it a day here. Keep up the good work, Elle. I mean it when I say you did great. See you at our next training session"

"Well ... it's nothing really. I mean, I still have a lot to learn after all." I let out a nervous laugh as I picked up Favonius, who was still sleeping by the bench. A bummer that he missed whatever happened here but oh well, I can always tell him when he wakes up. 

"Thanks for today, Lucia … Mai. I guess I have something to work on." I smiled back and gave them a wave goodbye.

"It's part of the job after all. Come on Mai … guess we also gotta keep going. See you next time, Elle." Lucia smiled before turning the other way with Mai hovering behind her. Mai gave me a wink before they both flew off. 

[ Mod's Note: Woooo finally done with this after a while! Might be a bit rusty with my writing skills but hey hope you can get a good read out of this!]

[the-broken-truth]

Heheheh. Hello! Now we are going to the fun part! What if Björn has a love interest? A strong warrior from a village where they worship the bear, she’s known as Astrid the Brave and when they hear that there’s a god for the bears, they started to worship him and beg him to help and protect their village from plagues, dangers, etc.

Björn answers Astrid’s prayers and he agrees to help her village if she completes three challenges for him. If she completes, he will help her village and she will turn into his champion.

Broken Truth: A Love Interest?! Awesome! This is going to be fun now, let the words weave together.

[A Village in Midgard - The Bear Shrine]

The snow slowly fell from the skies above as it blanketed the village below, the people of the village walked around doing tasks but things weren't as prosperous as they could have been; the hunting parties hadn't been successful in their hunt and pillagers have been raiding surrounding villages, it was only a matter of time before they reached them, and the people of the village were beginning to lose faith - faith in their patron god, Björn - The Great Bear. But one refused to lose faith and she was on her way to the Great Bear Shrine with a slab of deer meat in her hands as the wind blew her short grey hair around.

Her eyes laid upon the statue of the great bear before her and walked at the feet of the statue before placing the slab of meat between the bear's front paws, she closed her eyes and clapped her hands together before her face as she took her breath in an inhale and then exhaled before she began praying.

"Oh, Great God of the Bear. Hear my prayer. Please bless our village with your protective and prosperity." The girl spoke to the statue of the bear - all was silent before the girl suddenly felt a warm feeling behind her, she turned around and her eyes widened. Behind her was a teenage boy around her age if not older - his shoulder-length dark brown hair blew in the wind as he looked down at the girl with golden eyes. He was dressed in royal blue clothes with a cloak of fur dropped over his shoulders, he opened his mouth to speak and his voice came out in a powerful echo.

"I am here, Astrid the Brave." Björn spoke to Astrid, who bowed to him with a nervous smile on her face.

"Lord Björn, you have come!" Astrid said with excitement in her voice, but Björn placed a hand on her shoulder and made her stand straight to look into his eyes.

"It's been a while. Now, how may I help you? You have prayed to me for many moons now and I have come to answer your prayer. What is it?" Björn asked as he returned his hand back under his cloak

"The village crops are suffering and nothing has grown in a long while. The hunting parties are coming back with less and less prey every day and the village continues to grow. There have been rumors of pillagers on the outskirts of our village and I fear that they might come to attack us and we are not ready if they do decide to attack Please, Lord Björn, as the village that worships the Great Bear, we need to favor of the Great Bear." Astrid explained as she looked at Björn who looked down on the village and the people who walked around aimlessly. Björn nodded before he turned and looked at Astrid.

"I hear your plead and I shall aid you but I need you to prove yourself and your village worthy of my protected and aid," Björn said as he walked over to Astrid, who stood still in silence. "I have 3 tasks for you and if you complete them, I shall give your village my protection and aid, and I shall also make you my champion."

"Yes, Lord Björn. What can I do to earn your blessing and become your champion?" Astrid asked with excitement in her eyes.

"I want you to complete 3 Tasks: Collecting a Rare Crystal in Alfheim. Second, travel to the realm of Musphelheim and collect a special iron from the top of the tallest mountain in the realm. Lastly, travel to Svarftalfheim and collect wood from the oldest tree in the dark forest. Return here with those three items and I shall name you my champion and bless your village with my favor." Björn explained as he counted on his fingers to Astrid before returning his hands under his cloak.

"I understand, Lord Björn; I'll leave for Alfheim at once," Astrid said as she bowed to her patron god and old friend again but she was stopped and 2 projections appeared before her: A tall man with a dark brown beard, pale almost white skin covered in scars that bore a red marking on his left side and golden eyes that looked pitiful and full of sorrow and pain. He carried some kind of axe covered in ruins. The second projection was of a boy with clear blue eyes and reddish sandy hair and light tan skin with a bow in his hands.

"During your travels, if you run into these two individuals: Avoid them at all costs and do not tell them that you have met me or know anything about me. Understand?" Björn narrowed his eyes at Astrid who nodded her head over and over again until the glare on his face disappeared.

"I understand, Lord Björn; I shall avoid them and even if I see them, I won't tell them anything about you." Astrid said as she looked into Björn's golden eyes, he smiled at Astrid before gesturing in the direction of the stairs that led down to the village.

"Go now, Astrid the Brave, return to me safely and in one piece." Björn said before he turned and began fading away in a golden light before he was no longer there, or at least to Astrid's eyes. In reality, he activated his cloak's power to become unseen by the human eye. He watched as Astrid smiled to herself and began walking down the stairs, ready to complete her mission for the grace of the Great Bear.

[About 3 Months Later Leaving Alfheim With The Rare Crystal: At the Peaks of Musphelheim]

Astrid pulled herself over the edge of the mountainside and exhaled when she reached the top, before her was a cluster of the special iron that was on the Great Bear's List. Walking over to the cluster, Astrid pulled out her pickaxe and began chipping away at a long arm of iron from the cluster until it broke, falling to the ground before her. She took one last swing and broke the long piece into two pieces and gathered the pieces into her backpack when she heard someone walking behind her, she pulled her sword out of her sheath and turned on her heel and there he stood - The Marked Man.

"Who are you?" The Marked Man asked.

'This is the Marked Man Björn warned me about the one she said that I need to avoid. What is he doing at the peaks? How did he know that I was here?' Astrid thought to herself and the man narrowed his and spoke again.

"Answer me, girl; who are you?" He asked again.

"I am no one you need to concern yourself with, Marked Man. I am simply a traveler on a journey and now I have collected what I needed; now I am heading back home." Astrid said as she began walking but the Marked Man spoke again.

"Tell me something, Girl, have you ever heard of the Great Bear God that goes by the name of Björn?" He asked.

"No. I have never heard of that name." Astrid said as she began walking down the path she took to reach the mountain peak. She was going to need to be careful during her time in Svarftalfheim for if she ran to the Marked Man during her time here, she might run into the boy known as Loki there.

[The Dark Forest of Svarftalfheim]

There she stood, before the largest and oldest tree in the dark forest of Svarftalfheim, looking up at the tree limbs above. She pulled her sword from her death and threw it like a disk, hitting one of the thinner tree branches and severing it from the tree; sending it crashing to the ground with her sword. Astrid grabbed her sword and chopped the tree branch into 3 smaller pieces and picked them up before placing them in her backpack. Suddenly, the presence behind Astrid her turn around, and a boy was standing behind her but not just any boy.

'Loki.' Astrid thought.

"Oh, hi; I didn't notice that you were here. What brought you here to the Dark Forest?" The boy asked with a smile on his face but t disappeared when he saw the girl before him wasn't smiling, "Is something wrong?"

"No. I am leaving." Astrid said as she tried to walk away but Loki got in her path and asked her if she heard of someone named Björn but she said no before she pushed him aside and walked away leaving Loki alone.

[4 Months Later - Village In Midgard - The Bear Shrine]

She was home. After a year of traveling and collecting the items she was asked to retrieve, she was finally home and the first thing she did was the return to the Bear Shrine and placed the items on the Bear Shrine before the Bear's Paws. She placed her hands together and began to pray.

"Oh, Great God of the Bear. I have returned from my mission and retrieved the items you have asked for. Please come before me and judge me for my efforts." Astrid prayed and almost instantly, Björn appeared before her with a smile on his face.

"You have completed my tasks and returned to me unharmed. You are worthy to be my champion and your village has earned my favor, Astrid the Brave." Björn smiled before he pulled her into a hug and placed his chin on her head, feeling the warmth of his champion and friend for the first time in a long time.

[medicaldoctordana]

His Little Backpack

Pairing: MSR

Rating: T

W/C: 2k

Synopsis: Dana Scully's big spoon isn't so much a spoon. Four instances where M&S share a bed. One instance where Scully gets to shoot Mulder AND The Lone Gunmen. It's not her fault Mulder broke his promise.

Read on ao3

I. Koala Bear

Neither one of them said anything as they got into bed together. This was a one-time thing, a clerical error they couldn't resolve. Neither one of them minded for they were more concerned with how the other would be managing their feelings about the situation. The covers were flipped and their pajamas were donned. Scully slid onto the left side of the bed in tandem with Mulder sliding onto the right side. They were doing this. They were sharing one bed.

Few words were exchanged between checking in and where they lay now. Only torrid looks and the word fine repeated on a loop. It’s not early in their partnership and they’re surprised it hasn’t happened sooner. They face opposite walls and pretend they’re alone in their own motel room. Surely eight hours will go by quickly and Mulder will be up soon enough for his morning run, or insomnia, or whatever.

Scully tucked her paws under her chin and had the blanket pulled up above her shoulders. Her knees were drawn tight to her chest, but not so much to angle her back end out too far. She tried to relax, running through her mental gambit of techniques. She hoped she would finally find peace enough to sleep through the whole night.

Meanwhile, Mulder lay on his back with his arms above his head. He tried to keep his elbows within the bounds of his own pillow. His toes hung off the bed when he flexed and had decided to forgo any blankets at all. He didn’t want to fight for them and didn’t really need them this time of year. He was hoping he wouldn’t be plagued with a sleepless night for laying awake next to his sleeping partner was not a torture he’d like to endure.

When six in the morning came about, Mulder’s body naturally woke up, no longer able to bear the stillness of slumber. However still he was though, was not as still as the body affixed to his back. And with stillness came rigidity. The arms around his neck compressed his chest enough to make it challenging to draw a breath. And the legs were tied to his waist in the way a life preserver would. He reached up to lightly touch the conjoined wrists by his heart.

Scully was on his back like a little koala bear hugging a tree. He was glad he forwent the blankets, for Scully was warmer than any cotton blend on earth. They would never speak of this incident.

 II. Piggy Back Ride

Somehow, they ran into this problem again. The motel clerk said they had the extra rooms, he just couldn’t change the reservation. Their new computer system was glitching and wouldn’t let him reassign the agents. And unfortunately, the room key access was tied to the new computer system. This was the worst and fanciest motel they had come across. What kind of motel upgrades to computer chip door access?

Scully rolled her eyes and called first dibs on the bathroom. The room advertised a soaker tub and Scully definitely needed to pamper herself if she was expected to share a bed with Mulder, again. The last time she had woken up alone. This time she was hoping to let him wake up alone.

Mulder was flipping channels when she vacated the steamy bathroom. “All yours,” she proclaimed to the darkened void of their shared room. Skinner had all but promised this wouldn’t happen again. It went against FBI regulations, but apparently a tough situation is a tough situation. He told them to use their best judgment, whatever that meant.

Mulder was back in the room by the time Scully slid into bed. She flipped her light off and her covers on. Mulder was using the spare blanket in the room this time. He looked shy and embarrassed when he asked the clerk in front of her. He wrapped himself up like a burrito before flopping on the mattress.

He mumbled something under his breath while she was half asleep, she was too tired to wake herself up and worry about it. “Don’t koala bear me tonight please,” is what it sounded like. Scully had no idea what he meant and used sleep as an excuse to not figure it out.

When morning came, Scully did indeed wake first. You can do anything you set your mind to, she reminded herself as she felt Mulder’s breath rumbling softly under her forearms.

Wait, she could feel his breath through her arms? Scully recoiled coldly, realizing she had her arms wrapped around his chest. And upon further investigation, her toes were dangling dangerously close to his center. He was still burritoed inside the blanket, she was just on him like he was giving her a piggyback ride. Fuck. Shit.

Trying to be as smooth as possible, Scully took back ownership of her limbs and backed away from the bed. She retreated to the renovated bathroom and composed herself. Suddenly the words Mulder whispered to her before sleep made a little more sense.

Koala bear? Piggyback ride? This happened last time too. Fuck. Shit. Oh whatever, he slept through it this time. She would never mention this instance and neither would he.

 III. Jet Pack

“Third time’s a charm,” Mulder joked as the receptionist delivered the bad news. There was a conference in town and all the rooms were booked out. Scully’s call ahead did nothing to secure them an extra room. Hell, it wasn’t supposed to be an extra room, it was supposed to be their other room. They were FBI agents of different sexes. Their jobs regarded the sharing of one room as inappropriate and mandated they did everything in their power to find separate lodging.

After an hour and too many calls around town, Skinner had been consulted and signed off on the one room requisition, again. He joked they kept making a habit of this and regretted it based on Scully’s lack of reply. Well, it was a very loud reply actually, her slamming the phone shut and hanging up on him. It wasn’t funny, it was frustrating.

This time, they did grumble and commiserate on their repeated unfortunate circumstance. It was odd getting to know your work partner’s preferred side of the bed and night time routine. Mulder finally acknowledged the discomfort and suggested getting a cot or sleeping in the tub.

Scully reminded him their last shared room would have provided a better tub to sleep in and there was no way in hell she was letting him mess up his back that badly just to avoid sharing the bed. They were adults. They were friends. They could share the bed.

They made eye contact as they flipped the covers over. No spare blanket this time. The motel was out of extra bedding already. 

“Do you want to sleep with a pillow between us?”

The response was the pillow to the head.

Curling up with anger, they both found it hard to fall asleep. By two and three am, the room was filled with snores.

At five, they both woke up groggily. They shifted in sync, both still half asleep, both still maintaining their current positions. Scully shifted her hips and let out an unfortunately loud flatulence. Mulder’s eyes popped open, “blast off, my little jet pack,” he mumbled to the wall.

Doing just so, Scully bolted off his back and shuffled to the bathroom to wash the shame from her body. When she exited the bathroom, she sent her partner a look that said if he ever spoke of this, she would shoot him again. And this time her aim would be just as precise and his shoulder would not be the target.

 IV. Backpack

The hole in the roof was unfortunate. The cow making the hole was unexpected. Needing to share Scully’s undamaged motel room was just unlucky and an undesirable situation. The people of Kroner assumed them to be a couple for some ungodly reason. Mulder and Scully had just started navigating this unknown and undefined territory.

“Don’t have a cow, Scully.”

A glare was given in response.

While they were settling in for the night, Scully was so uncomfortable that her shifting around was unsettling to Mulder.

“Would cuddling help?” Mulder’s suggestion was seemingly unprompted. “I know you sleep better when you have something to cling to. I don’t mind if you want to be the big spoon.”

The room was dark, neither could see the other’s expression.

“No.” Came her curt reply.

“Yes.” She said a moment later.

“Fine, whatever.” She grumbled as they turned together to face the windows.

He lifted up his forearms, getting ready for her arms to slide into place around his neck. She attempted to keep her legs to herself but after five minutes of rubbing her feet together, Mulder reached down and pulled them over his hips.

“You’re all strapped in.” He patted her hands and she dug in her nails to his chest.

“Speak of this and I’ll shoot you, Mulder.” She released her grip and smoothed down his shirt. “And might I point out you’re the one all strapped in? You’re wearing me like a backpack, Mulder.”

“You carry all the things I need, Scully.”

“Shut up, Mulder.”

 V. Matching bullet hole in his other shoulder

The lone gunmen knew how to have a good time. Whenever they hosted a friendly gathering, they went all out with snacks and drinks. Emphasis on the drinks. Four beers in and Mulder was more loose-lipped than Scully would have liked. Thankfully she wasn’t in attendance. They were swapping stories and somehow, the question had been asked about shared motel rooms. Had it ever happened? How many times? What was it like sharing a bed with the luscious Special Agent Dana Scully?

It may have slipped out, the part where she always ended up on his back. He didn’t mean to say it. Didn’t mean to share the personal information Scully explicitly and repeatedly reminded him to keep to himself. He was having fun with friends, got caught up in the moment, forgot. He was just drunk enough to call her and snitch on himself.

“Scully, you have to shoot me.” His voice was desperate, like it was the only solution to save the world.

“Mulder, I'm not shooting you.”

“But Scully! You promised!”

“Oh, so you want me to shoot you? Mulder, I’m confused.”

“No, Scully. No, I need you to shoot me. You need you to shoot me. I broke a promise. I broke your promise. Our promise.”

“Mulder?” Scully didn’t know where he was. She didn’t know the circumstances. She couldn’t tell how inebriated he was. However, her blood started to boil when she heard the calls from behind him.

“Yeah! Shoot him little piggy!” Yes she’s a cop, but fuck anyone who dares to call her a pig. Langley would get the first bullet in her clip.

“No, a koala bear is much too cute to shoot Mulder. She wouldn’t.” Byers would still get a bullet, just maybe a skim, not a through and through.

“She has before.” A chorus of three voices came.

“Shoot him up to the sky, you little jet pack! I hear you pack a powerful punch! Lots of fire power!” Oh, Frohike was definitely getting at least half her clip. Maybe a round right in the mouth to shut him up. Scully had never felt so pissed.

“Scully, I’m so sorry!” Mulder was clearly mad at his friends, not nearly as so at himself but enough so that Scully could save all her bullets for him. He would take care of the others.

Silence was met on the other end but that didn’t stop Mulder from hearing how red her face was or how loud her heart was pounding.

“Mulder. I’m going to shoot you.”

“I know.” He sighed and she hung up. He’d probably never get to put on his little backpack ever again. How unfortunate.

 tagging @today-in-fic

[shallyne]

Feysand Month Day 10: A Bad Day

Uncontrollable

My try at Bad Day! Canon Divergent!

Words: 1,329

TW: sickness (cold)

Feyre is sick and some weird things happen because her powers are untrained

Feyre woke up a pounding in her head. She didn't have any nightmares that night after her second night in Velaris, which was unusual, still she felt heavy. Her limbs and her throat hurt. Water, she needed some water. She sat up, groaning.

The sun was just rising, it must be early. She was listening if she could hear any noise from outside, from Rhys or the others. But it was silent.

She threw her blanket back and stood up but suddenly everything was moving around her, the room swaying and she had to grip the bedpost to keep standing. It's just dehydration, she calmed herself down, she just had to get some water. She was fine. Fine, she was- a sneeze interrupted her thoughts. As she sneezed she felt her blood pumping, something rumbling under skin, and it was gone again in seconds.

She found out what happened when she opened her eyes and found that every single surface in this room was covered in ice. "Shit!" she hissed. Feyre winced when a knock sounded on her door.

How could she explain this? It was ridiculous, she didn't even know herself what just happened. Where that came from.

Another knock sounded and Nuala explained that it was her and if she could come in. "No!" Feyre yelled, her voice cracking. Water, she just wanted water. She took a step towards the door and slipped on the ice, falling on her ass. Something rustled and then the door opened but it wasn't Nuala in the threshold, it was Rhys. His eyes were locked on her and before she could say something, she sneezed again. This time she losed a heavy wind that was blasting a vase to the floor.

Rhys was instantly at Feyres side. "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I don't know what happened, I just-the room."

"I don't care about the room, are you okay?" he said.

Feyre nodded. Rhys helped her up and Nuala was quickly at his side, giving Feyre a pair of slippers. She was barefoot, she didn't even realize until now. The shock too big.

Feyre slipped in and Rhys got her out of the bedroom. "I'm sorry." she repeated.

"Don't apologize, it's okay." Rhys said leading her to the living room. He pointed at a chair, signaling her to sit down. She did and he got a blanket, wrapping it around her. "Mor is already on her way to get Madja and Cerridwen is making you tea."

"Madja?" Feyre croaked. Her throat hurt so much. Rhys handed her a glass of water and said "Our healer. My families preferred healer."

Feyre emptied half of the glass in one chug and then said "That's not necessary."

"Feyre," Rhys smirked. "You just froze an entire room, I'd say it's quite necessary." Embarrassed Feyre took another sip and he sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "He didn't let you use any of your powers, did he?"

"No." Feyre admitted. She looked into her glass as she said "I didn't know I could do that."

Rhys nodded. "It makes sense, you got a kernel of every High Lords power."

Feyre wanted to ask him more about these powers, but suddenly she sneezed again and everything went dark. Darkness everywhere, what happened? Panic started rising inside her when she realized something laid on her. Something huge that was pushing her down. She panicked and wanted to call for help but she couldn't talk, the only thing that left her mouth was a hiss.

Suddenly the thing that pushed her down was lifted up and Rhys looked down at her. He was huge. The whole room was huge- no, she was tiny. She looked down at herself, at her grey paws.

She was trapped. She would forever be trapped in the body of a kitten. Her heart beat so fast and she could barely hear Rhys saying her name.

When he realized that she wouldn't hear, he reached his hands towards her. Out of reflex Feyre bit him. He drew back, looking at his hand. "You're really strong for a kitten, you know that?"

Feyre hissed. She wasn't in the mood for jokes, she wanted her body back.

"Feyre, listen." he said sharply. Feyre stopped, looking up at him. "Imagine yourself, in your real body, sitting on this chair. Make it real, do not think about the body you're in." Feyre closed her eyes and breathed in and out. Listening to Rhys's words. Her body. Back into her body.

When he said "Good!" she opened her eyes. Everything was a normal size again. She looked at her hands. Yes, she was back in her body. The tattoo was back on her hand. Reliefed she loosed a breath. Rhys chuckled. "That's not funny!" Feyre snapped.

"I know, I'm sorry." he said, holding up his hands. Feyre took a look at the bite. It was already fully healed but there was a bit of blood on his hands. Oops.

Feyre smiled at Cerridwen when she put down a cup of tea on the sidetable. "Thank you." Feyre said. Cerridwen nodded once, smiling, and vanished.

Feyre wrapped the blanket, that had just scared tiny kitten Feyre moments ago, around herself and took the tea. The warmth felt beautiful. Rhys looked out of the window and then smiled. "They're coming."

"Mor?" Feyre asked. Rhys nodded. "And Madja."

As if they had heard them, Mor winnowrd into the foyer with another lady, Madja. Feyre tried not to stare, she had never seen Fae with grey hair. Madja smiled at her and then at Rhys. "High Lord." she nodded. "I heard the lady is sick?"

"Just a cold." Feyre said before Rhys could answer. Madja still smiled and said "That's what I am here to find out. Do you want to stay here?" Feyre cringed a little when she remembered the frozen bedroom and nodded. "Yes."

"Alright." Madja said, walking to her. She did a quick job. Asking Feyre questions and then she held her hands over Feyre, looking for something, Feyre didn't know but she could feel Madjas power. Her own power singing in response.

"It's just a cold." Madja agreed. "I can't do anything about the powers," she looked to Rhys "but you could, High Lord. If Feyre is okay with that. You could use your powers to suppress hers."

Rhys and Madja looked at Feyre in question. "What? No!" Feyre said.

He came closer again, had distanced himself while Madja examined Feyre, and said "It's just for the time you're sick."

"I'll get them back?" Feyre asked.

"Yes." Rhys agreed.

"You promise?" she asked.

Rhys smiled at her. Some emotion in his eyes that Feyre couldn't place. "I promise."

Feyre shrugged. "Okay."

Madja nodded. "Then I can leave some tonics to help you sleep and to reduce your symptoms. You don't have a fever but it also keeps a fever down, in case you get one." she turned to Rhys. "If she gets one and she has fever for a longer time, don't be afraid to get me. No matter the time."

"Of course." Rhys said. He sat down in front of Feyre. "Ready?"

Feyre sighed and nodded. She lowered her shield for him. As he did his Daemati work, Feyre gripped his hand. A few moments later, he smiled. "Done! Do you feel different?"

"I feel like I won't explode if I have to sneeze now." Feyre said.

He chuckled. "Way better, then." he stood up. "I'll just talk to Madja, I'm back in a second."

"Take your time." Feyre said.

She leaned her head at the back of the chair. "When she feels better you need to train her powers." she heard Madja saying. Rhys agreed and thanked her.

She heard them mumbling. Sometimes she also heard Mors voice but she couldn't make out what exactly she said.

Listening to their mumbling, Feyre started to feel sleepy. It didn't take long until the sleep took over.

Taglist: @reverie-tales @unofficialfeysandmonth2022 @feysand-month

[theimpossiblescheme]

“ we need each other. i need you. you need me. “

Time was, the Junkyard had only a single Healer to attend to all the Jellicles.  As a kitten, Jenyanydots could remember the scent that always traveled behind Emmeline wherever she went—the sharp, pungent smell of herbs and chemicals, flavored with the unmistakable tang of stress.  Dark circles always ringed Emmeline’s eyes, but the eyes themselves were bright and twinkling and full of mirth and love for her charges.  Her paws could be rough, but they were always light and gentle.  Her voice could be strained from hours of work and lost sleep, but it never lost its sweetness when she sang to her students.  A sort of frenetic energy always radiated from her, like a hummingbird flitting from flower to flower, injury to injury without stopping to rest for long.  Jenny had grown up with the utmost respect and affection for her, not least for how much she shouldered on a daily basis.

But with all of that due respect… she couldn’t help but prefer the way things were done now.

Tantomile’s knowledge of every medicinal plant under the sun was staggering.  At a glance, she could tell what leaves had come from what stem, what sort of poultice or elixir could be made out of them, what ailment they could best treat—anything that might be relevant and then some.  She credited her wisdom to one of her humans, who made human natural remedies for a living, but Jenny suspected that wasn’t the whole truth.  Never once did Tanto have to pause to remember what her pet might have told her, and her quiet confidence knew no bounds… it had to be a sort of instinct.  Like the knowledge of past lives, or perhaps even the Everlasting Cat’s paws coming down over hers to guide her.  It was awe-inspiring to watch her work, even if her patients didn’t always share her serene calm (despite her best efforts).

Coricopat, on the other hand, specialized in the less obvious ills—the ones that plagued a cat’s mind, turned their pain inward rather than outward.  He could sit with someone for hours as they poured out their fears, their anxieties, the shadows that followed them and made them doubt their own eyes.  All while never saying a word… just listening, ears forward and head tilted to meet their eyes as they talked, drinking it all in.  When he finally did speak to offer his thoughts, there was no judgement, no denial of this other cat’s reality—just pure empathy.  He always had something for them to fiddle with to keep them grounded: a little paper sculpture, a crystal, a flower, even a blanket or stuffed animal he knew they loved.  Nothing could penetrate their little sanctuary, wherever they happened to be, and Cori would never send a cat away until they had said what they wanted to say.

For her own part, Jenny knew that there were some ills that weren’t easily fixed with a pawful of lavender and a kindly word.  That was why her nightly excursions also included raiding her pet’s medicine cabinets for anything just strong enough for feline use—things like flea solution for especially bad bites, antiseptic that stung enough for you to know it was working, and pills for stubborn flus and coughs.  Not exactly the old-fashioned approach—and Heaviside knew how much the kittens hated those pills—but it was an approach that worked when everything else failed.  And whenever her regular visits with this odious “vet” person came around, Jenny forced herself to pay attention to the chatter and jargon.  You never knew what might be important later.

That was the unit they formed within the Healers’ den.  Whenever a new cat came to them complaining of some ailment or other, there would be a moment where their eyes met overhead in understanding.  Trusting Cori and Tanto to take the lead with an efficient cure and a listening ear.  Trusting Jenny to step in when a more dire solution was called for.  A silent signal of, “We need each other—I need you, you need me.”  And they were all three needed by their family in turn.

She found she wouldn’t have it any other way.