#Shuraig | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bradsmindbrain · 1 year ago

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Feathers and Fur

Summary: A few weeks after the defeat of Maximus, Shuraig and Rugal’s relationship has become a lot more domestic than expected.

Ao3

Tw: none

Rugal huffed as he placed the construction materials he was carrying on the ground, a few of the metal beams among them clanging against each other as they hit it. It had been a few weeks since the Death of Maximus, or the Dramaturge, or Alba Zoa, or whatever it was he was called, and now he and the rest of the Tri-Brigade were in the process of trying to create a more permanent, shared residence for their own tribes now that the ever-looming threat of the nation of Dogmatika and the Despia were out of the picture. Well, not entirely, the population of Dogmatika were no longer Despians thanks to that combined form of Albaz and Ecclesia, but without Maximus guiding them, it’s likely they wouldn’t be as big of a threat as they were before, they were probably trying to focus on their own reconstruction efforts too. With Maximus out of the way, hopefully their tribes and the nation of Dogmatika could come to an agreement in the future, and put countless years of strife behind them.

The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky, and many of the other members of Rugal’s construction crew were beginning to pack up and leave from the building they were currently working on. As this was a new settlement, buildings of course had to be made. He and many of the other stronger tribesmen such as Kerass had taken it upon themselves to construct this new settlement’s various buildings, a task which they were quite adept at. That being said, Kitt also played an integral role in this as well, as many of her inventions made the construction process much easier. Watching as the others took their leave, Rugal decided that it was about time to leave and rest as well, and most importantly, check on Shuraig.

Shuraig had survived the final battle thankfully, but not without his own wounds. His use of the Bucephalus II had caused some major scarring to his arm as a result of the energy discharged from it, leaving purple, fern-like scars snaking up his left arm. He’d been staying at their shared home ever since it was built to try and recover, but he was getting a bit better, much to Rugal’s relief. He left the site, and began making his way through the streets of the settlement as night began to fall. The cool night air was nice to feel compared to the hot, arid air that permeated the rest of the day. Even with his white fur, it was hard to stay at a comfortable temperature, but sacrifices needed to be made for this new home of theirs.

He and Shuraig had been… together for a while. Between him, Shuraig, and Ferrijit, he and Shuraig had known each other the longest. He was exiled from his tribe for killing a criminal before he could get his proper due (even though his standing in the tribe probably meant he’d get a slap on the wrist despite what he did), and Shuraig was exiled for being a burden to his tribe due to his lack of a left wing, both while they were in their teens. They had met a few weeks after he was exiled, there was some hostility at first due to rivalry between their home tribes, but they decided to stick together for survival. Those early days were tense when the first met after their exiles, once Shuraig had learned he had killed one of his own kin, he was on edge around him. Meanwhile, he was worried that Shuraig’s single wing would cause problems when it came to getting resources. Despite their mistrust, they had to rely on each other, they were exiles, and any help they could find was invaluable. Over time, they got more comfortable around each other, with Shuraig becoming less cautious around him and himself realizing that Shuraig was fully capable of doing most things despite his inability to fly.

Their bond had only gotten stronger from there, especially after Ferrijit and Kitt joined, which was probably two years later. Shuraig sometimes braided his fur, and sometimes he helped preen Shuraig’s wing. It wasn’t uncommon for the two of them to sleep together either. Meanwhile, he and Ferrijit got along like a house on fire, despite their wildly different upbringings. He sympathized greatly with the other teen’s desire to provide for her younger sister, and the two of them frequently went off hunting together. Kitt, well, Kitt was a very smart cookie, she was only exiled so that she wouldn’t be separated from her sister. She was a bonafide genius despite being no more than seven, albeit one that was a little… inept at social cues. He very clearly remembered her asking Shuraig where his other wing was when they first met. Ferrijit looked mildly horrified by the question, but Shuraig just laughed it off and explained.

Kitt made Shuraig his first prosthetic a few weeks later, crudely pieced together out of scraps she had found in the wilderness. Despite the fact that it was nowhere near as high quality as Shuraig’s current prosthetic, it did fulfill its intended purpose, allowing the bird-man to fly. He remembered how happy Shuraig was to finally be able to fly, how much he laughed as he soared through the air, a sound that was exceptionally rare to hear from the mostly stoic young man. He remembered how much his heart swelled at seeing how happy his friend was. They made sure to give Kitt some extra portions that night, and regularly brought her back all kinds of scraps of metal that they could find afterwards.

About a year and a half afterwards, they had stumbled upon a group of Dogmatika crusaders raiding Shuraig’s tribe, which was nowhere near where Shuraig remembered it being. Despite their exile of him, Shuraig wasn’t just going to sit idly by and let them fall to the Dogmatika, and so Shuraig led the three of them into the fray (Kitt was of course told to stay back). With their help, Shuraig’s tribe was able to push back the crusaders, and the three of them were quickly heralded as heroes, with Shuraig being accepted back into his tribe for his efforts. Shortly afterward, they had learned of the true scale of the Dogmatika’s crusade. While relations between the tribes of beastmen and the nation of Dogmatika, His Magnificence Dogmatika Maximus had called for full blown raids on the tribes, pushing them further and further southward.

The four of them, Shuraig, Ferrijit, Kitt, and himself, wouldn’t let this stand. With a lot of difficulty, they were able to rally and unify their own tribes and the tribes of other beastmen in order to push back against the looming theocratic threat, and thus, the Tri-Brigade was formed. Kitt was the one to come up with the name, it was supposed to be a portmanteau of Tribe and Brigade, but also Tri since the ones who rallied for its creation came from three different tribes. Shuraig was elected leader, something he was reluctant to accept at first, but he came around to it. Shuraig chose him as his second-in-command, a duty that he was happy to fulfill for his longtime friend.

They fought hard to protect their tribes, and thanks to all the tribes working together, they had a lot more resources at their disposal, resources that Kitt put to good use to engineer powerful energy-based weapons that allowed them to counteract the Stigmatas of the Dogmatika crusaders. Weapons weren’t all that were made, Kitt had also put together a much higher quality prosthetic for Shuraig, one much more complex and usable than his previous one.

They spent as much time together as they could, as their new duties meant that there was little room for indulgence, but they managed. They often partnered up on missions if they could, and always made sure their living quarters were close to each other if they could help it. Shuraig still braided his fur, and he still helped preen Shuraig’s feathers, but there was something developing along with the gentle touches and missions spent together, though neither of them said anything about it.

They didn’t just defend, they also frequently raided Dogmatika outposts, both for resources and to push them back to reclaim their land, gaining quite a bit of infamy among the Dogmatika. They weren’t just Shuraig, Ferrijit, and Rugal, they were Shuraig the Ominous Omen, Ferrijit the Barren Blossom, and Rugal the Silver Sheller, titles that amused them to no end. During one such raid, he’d gotten hurt pretty bad. It was his fault of course, he should’ve paid better attention to things outside of field of vision. He remembered how enraged Shuraig was, how he began blasting through the outpost and every crusader in it. Shuraig had always been reserved and level-headed, even during their time alone, so seeing Shuraig act like that was shocking to say the least, to say nothing of the fact that the mask obscuring his face made his rampage even more terrifying.

After they returned to their home base and he got patched up, Shuraig came to visit him. The two of them talked, and their shared feelings for each other came to the surface. He remembered very clearly how Shuraig described how worried he was at losing him during the raid, and he remembered reassuring the slightly smaller man that it would take a lot more than that to take him out. It was sweet, seeing the usually stoic Shuraig so concerned for his well-being and declaring how much he cared for him. He remembered telling him that he felt the same way, and after a few moments of realizing that their feelings towards each other were one and the same, they kissed.

The rest of the night was a blur as they laid in Shuraig’s bed, filled with cuddling, kissing, Shuraig burying his face into his furry chest, and declarations of “I love you.” After that night, it didn’t take long for rumors to start swirling around about the nature of their relationship, which they dealt with relatively quickly. They officially confirmed that they were together, but that it would not be affecting their fight against the Dogmatika crusaders in the slightest. Much of the Tri-Brigade was happy for them, none more so than Ferrijit and Kitt, the former of whom joking that it was about time the two of them got together.

True to their word, entering a relationship did little to distract them from their duties, and for the next five years they battled relentlessly against the Dogmatika, gaining all kinds of new allies along the way. The most notable of these allies was the Springans, small ash spirits who lived in the great desert of Golgonda. The Tri-Brigade had a strong alliance with the desert dwellers, with the Tri-Brigade bringing them things that they would find interesting in return for the Springans providing them with materials they would find scattered throughout Golgonda. Not too long ago Kitt was sent to stay with them in a bid to keep her safe, as she was too valuable to the Tri-Brigade to lose should a more direct attack from the Dogmatika crusaders occur.

Thankfully, their strife against the Dogmatika was at an end thanks to that boy who fell from the sky a few months ago, Albaz, but that was an entirely different story.

The moon hung low in the sky as Rugal stepped into his and Shuraig’s shared abode. Two stories and made of adobe, just like all the ones that had been built so far. Theirs was about average-sized, with a living room, office, kitchen, and washroom on the first floor, and a bedroom and a few storage rooms on the second floor. He spotted Shuraig in the living room, prompting him to speak., “I’m back, feeling any better?”

Shuraig sat on the sofa, fiddling with the Mercourier resting on his palm, a small device Kitt made for surveillance, before the rise of the Despia, there had been an innumerable number of them, and Shuraig kept quite a few as pets, now there was only a single one left. He wasn’t wearing his prosthesis at the moment, despite how useful it was, he had told Rugal that wearing it for long periods of time could be uncomfortable. He was wearing his black undershirt and grey pants, a far cry from the multilayered combat attire Rugal had grown so used to seeing him in these past few months. Shuraig turned to look at him, a slight smile forming on his lips before he spoke, “About as well as I felt when you asked this morning.”

Rugal gave a little chuckle as Shuraig turned to face him, despite the fact that Shuraig was just a year younger than him, being twenty-three, the bird-man still had a rather boyish face. He and Ferrijit loved to lightly tease him about it, especially since many people who saw his face for the first time didn’t always expect him to look so youthful, especially considering his rather intimidating build. His muzzle turned up in a grin, “Doesn’t hurt to check again.”

“Fair enough,” Shuraig responded as Rugal grabbed a book from the nearby bookshelf before coming to sit down to the left of him, slinging an arm over Shuraig’s shoulder. Rugal began reading it from where he had left off last night. Back when they were raiding outposts, he often took any books he could find, usually to help deal with boredom and take his mind off of more stressful matters. Sure, since they were written by the Dogmatika, some portrayals of outsiders in their stories weren’t exactly… accurate, but it’s not their fault Maximus made them a glorified cult.

Rugal sat quietly for a few minutes as he read the book before Shuraig spoke up, “So, how was work today?” His tone was rather neutral, but Rugal knew that he was being genuine about his curiosity. Shuraig was always a man of few words, sure he spoke a bit more with Rugal, but even then his calm, cool demeanor remained.

“Same old same old,” the wolf-man replied, “got a couple more buildings up today, gotta remember to thank Kitt next time I see her, those machines she made to help us build have been a real lifesaver.”

Shuraig nodded, “Yeah, Ferrijit’s really impressed with what Kitt’s been able to put together for this place.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Rugal said as he looked up from his book. “If I had a younger sibling that was as much of a genius as her, I’d be pretty proud too.”

“We all would,” Shuraig added. “Abyss, I’m not even related to her and I’m proud.”

“You’re not wrong about that, I am too,” Rugal responded. He moved a hand to ruffle Shuraig’s feathery hair a bit, which the smaller man barely reacted to, save for a faint smile. “Anyway, if we keep going at the pace we’re at, we should be able to finish the town before the end of next month.”

“Yeah, you’re making pretty good progress, even your break tomorrow shouldn’t slow things down too much,” Shuraig replied.

“Wait, why?” Rugal questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Shuraig rolled his eyes, “Albaz and Ecclesia are leaving tomorrow to head to… wherever it is that they’re going. Everyone’s going to say goodbye to them, Kitt, Ferrijit, Theo, Adin, Sargas, basically everyone they’ve met.”

“Oh right, I completely forgot that it was tomorrow,” Rugal replied, pulling Shuraig slightly closer to him. Albaz and Ecclesia had done so much to put an end to the Dogmatika, it was only fair that he came to say goodbye, even if Shuraig, Kitt, Ferrijit, and Sargas were closer to them than he was. It was thanks to them that the Tri-Brigade finally had a chance at normalcy again. “I’m surprised that Sargas is going out of his way to say goodbye,” he joked.

Shuraig gave a snort, “You know he wouldn’t miss it, even if he hasn’t been able to keep his hands off Regulus since Maximus was defeated.”

Rugal gave a chuckle, “Can’t really blame them, from what I heard from Kitt, they haven’t seen each other in years.”

“Yeah, Shuraig responded, placing the mercourier down on the table in front of him before raising his hand to scratch behind Rugal’s ear. It was his left hand, so he had a bit of trouble moving it, as it hadn’t fully recovered yet, but he was able to perform the motion without any major problems.

Rugal gave a content look as he felt the sensation, opening his eyes once Shuraig was done. “Anyway, yeah, I’ll try to get a chance to say goodbye to them.”

Shuraig nodded, “That sounds good to me.”

Rugal buried his muzzle in Shuraig’s shoulder, “Glad that you approve.”

Shuraig rolled his eyes, “Whatever.”

Rugal chuckled as he turned his attention back to his book, placing his right hand on Shuraig’s left. It was nice, being like this. Being together without the threat of war with the Dogmatika hanging over their heads was… odd to say the least, but Rugal didn’t mind it. He doubted that their relationship would ever become something he would consider “domestic,” but here they were, sitting next to each other on the couch of their shared house, talking to each other about how their day went, and just having a nice, casual conversation. It was a strange change of pace, but Rugal knew that he and Shuraig wouldn’t have it any other way.

#yugioh #yu gi oh #ygo #abyss #shuraig #rugal #fallen of albaz #ecclesia #sargas #regulus #springans captain sargas #therion “king” regulus #kitt #ferrijit #my stuff #definitely writing something for sargas and regulus too

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