#benta

[metalmewtwo-kxb]

drabble 1 - The Lost

(set many years in the future, year unknown. art included)

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

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After so many painfully long minutes, the kit began to twitch and squirm in his paws. She squeaked and cried feebly while sluggishly pawing at her face, her tiny voice weak from the recent freezing. And the more she fidgeted, Benta had to shift her to one side to prevent her from falling.

He didn't realize he was holding his breath as he stared at her, watching her return to life as the embers of the fire finally grew into proper flames. As he shook he could only bring her closer to his face to look her over more carefully...but also to listen to her heartbeat over his own as it thudded in his ears.

He was stunned to discover her eyes could not fully open yet, and not because of the ice. She could only be a few days old, perhaps no more than a week. She also seemed frail and had not eaten for at least a day. But other than that... she looked almost healthy.

And the sight of her soft aura reappearing felt too captivating to look away from.

Her movement came and went though, likely from exhaustion. All the same anxiety gripped at his core over and over, more expecting the kit to regress. When she stopped fidgeting and crying altogether, having simply gone limp in his palm, that anxiety turned into a thorn of fear.

She was still breathing, but when Benta nudged her with his thumb she didn't seem to respond. This time he brought her closer and nosed at the kit's face, trying not to grip her too hard for all the panic trying to race back into his head.

"H-hey-" he tried, using a mental link to try and reach her. "Are you...are you still there..?"

There was a long pause. Then her chest and belly rose and fell with a larger breath, and she squirmed again.

"Mm--... M-yeh..?" Her voice sounded slightly better. Though, that was all Benta could totally process before the kit reached up and pressed her tiny paws against his muzzle, and catching him completely off guard when she gave his nose a small affectionate lick.

"Wha-- I--!!" He almost pulled his head away as he sat up in a startle, but managed to stop himself short. And he let out a heavy sigh, which caused his sense of breathlessness to return.

Her evident confusion about what was going on didn't matter, he supposed... She was alive and that was what counted most.

Still, he could not help but feel guilty over the fact that...he was very obviously not who she thought he was. Now that he thought about it, it had to be the pokemon he found her with. She would not have tried to stay close to them otherwise. Even as blind and deaf infants, mews and other psychic types were usually intelligent that way. They knew who was safe and who wasn't, especially when it came to their parents.

But, the one to harbor this kit's sense of safety was...clearly gone. Along with anyone else it might have had.

... ..I am so, so sorry I cannot change that for you... Benta thought as he unbuttoned his overcoat and pulled it off with one hand, only leaving the cloak on for himself. The overcoat was thicker and warmer, so it just needed to dry from the melted snow before he could fashion it into a make-shift nest for the kit.

After laying it out on the floor by the fire, he held the kit close and hunched over her where he sat, smoothing out her fur and curling his tail up along his left to keep the frigid air outside from so much as touching her again.

I really should have been faster...

He scrunched his eyes shut in dread of the memory that thought resurfaced. A memory of the last time he hadn't been there. And hadn't been fast enough. When he found out in the worst possible way that there were at least a few humans who had managed to survive and avoid the invasion of those blasted virus pokemon. The kornetiks, and their unknown controller.

Maybe it was wrong to think so...but in his grief he would have preferred the humans have been wiped out entirely...rather than fate only leave the ones that stole his own cub from him.

It was so many years ago...and the time Benta had spent searching for them was just as long as he'd been grieving and blaming himself. He even brought his initial goal to a halt just for the chance that he could track them down.

After all this time he became desperate and came to this region, to Mount Coronet hoping to get help from one of the world's greatest powers to find where the humans went and take his son back. Maybe they were the terrible humans that were mentioned to him before. The ones that hunted pokemon for power. If that were the case, he could even get rid of them. That had been the idea.

But that's all over now... he realized. Due to the blizzard, the path to the temple would already be sealed up with snow. So...that hope was torn, and he could only feel ill over the loss.

Even so...

This kit may not be his, but, Zen technically wasn't either. In either case his decision felt perfectly clear.

I will not lose another...

Before too long, Benta retrieved his overcoat from the ground and bunched it into a messy but fairly decent bedding for the kit, and moved it to the warmest side of the fire at a suitable distance so it would stay warm without burning. Then he carefully placed her on top of it, where she unsteadily shuffled around before nuzzling down and settling in.

Once he was certain she was resting comfortably he stood up to go to the front of the cave and get fresh air, and clear his head if he could.

The cold was biting even without being in the middle of it. And as he looked out, there was not a single soul left exposed among the snow and trees. He didn't bother enhancing his visibility this time since there was no need. If it weren't for the wind, the mountain's wilderness would be silent for all that had taken cover before the storm. It was both calming...and eerie.

At least, in spite of everything, he felt as though he could calm down and breathe again.

Maybe tomorrow would be better... Not that he could prevent his mind from drifting back to Zen, and this whole ordeal. He just had to make himself accept nothing more could be done, and there was nothing he could have changed.

He couldn't help the shaky breath that followed.

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(End)

[mischeviousmew]

Bonus panels:

Benta, Zen, and the baby mew belong to @metalmewtwo-kxb

[mono-phile]

[detournementsmineurs]

"Rotes Haar" par Madame d'Ora et Arthur Benda (1911) à l'exposition “Femme Fatale” du Hamburger Khunstalle Museum, Hambourg, décembre 2022.

[onionringbearer]

i remember the boy, but i dont remember the abunda anymore.

vice ganda

[phaedraismyusername]

This is possibly way too specific BUT for any of my urban/contemporary fantasy or magical realism type reader girlies who are also eagerly following the whole Kendrick dragging Drake situation then BOY do I have the rec for you

White lady steals a magical golden comb from the Jamaican river spirit River Mumma to open a Jamaican restaurant in Toronto, consequences occur, and she gives the comb away and our protagonist has to set off on a Wizard of Oz style quest across the city to try and get it back from (and i swear I'm not lying lol) DRAKE who's refusing to return it because he's a fucking hack lol.

Yes it's a weird book but I really enjoyed it and I genuinely don't think there will ever be a better time to recommend it lol

[loccorocco]

Comic practice: Bleach

[gwm247]

Zama Benta

[icc13]

Zama Benta – 2024 Texas Pro

[metalmewtwo-kxb]

Early mother's day sketch for those who celebrate 👏

Featuring baby Benta and his (melanistic shiny) mama 🩷

[mermaid--bride]

Tia Nastácia e Dona Benta

Ruki: Alright... Here is the kitchen.

Yuma: Ugh... I hate this place...

Ruki: Let us find your book already and hope we can leave soon.

Yuma: Haah? Wait... Ya already found yer book!?

Ruki: Naturally. My character is the owner of the farm and she spent her time either in her office, responding to important emails, or in the living room. It was not very difficult to find it.

Yuma: Huh... I wish I was that fast. Had no luck looking through anywhere, even if my character is supposed to be the caretaker of the house.

Ruki: Well, Maria did say your main quality was in your food. Specifically your bolinhos de chuva.

Yuma: So many weird names... And I can barely walk around in this stupid dress.

Ruki: Well... I agree this is not exactly the clothing I would choose to wear... However I prefer this over Kino's fate.

Yuma: Pff... Yeah, guess yer right.

Hm? Heh, would ya look at that. I found it after all!

Ruki: Good grief... Who would place a book inside an oven?

Yuma: Who cares? Let's go already. I hope everyone is done finding theirs as well. I'm so done with this stupid game.

Ruki: Yes, let us get going then.

[lilyrose-thfc]

How we would lineup if i was manager

[bookaddict24-7]

RECO OF THE WEEK!

Frying Plantain by Zalika Reid-Benta

Synopsis: 

“Kara Davis is a girl caught in the middle — of her Canadian nationality and her desire to be a “true” Jamaican, of her mother and grandmother’s rages and life lessons, of having to avoid being thought of as too “faas” or too “quiet” or too “bold” or too “soft.” Set in “Little Jamaica,” Toronto’s Eglinton West neighbourhood, Kara moves from girlhood to the threshold of adulthood, from elementary school to high school graduation, in these twelve interconnected stories. We see her on a visit to Jamaica, startled by the sight of a severed pig’s head in her great aunt’s freezer; in junior high, the victim of a devastating prank by her closest friends; and as a teenager in and out of her grandmother’s house, trying to cope with the ongoing battles between her unyielding grandparents. A rich and unforgettable portrait of growing up between worlds, Frying Plantain shows how, in one charged moment, friendship and love can turn to enmity and hate, well-meaning protection can become control, and teasing play can turn to something much darker. In her brilliantly incisive debut, Zalika Reid-Benta artfully depicts the tensions between mothers and daughters, second-generation Canadians and first-generation cultural expectations, and Black identity and predominately white society.”

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Check out my review here.

Add this book to your TBR on Goodreads here. 

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Have you read this book? Would you recommend it?

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Happy reading!

[dandjiheart]

"O sábio da vida é usar a moderação em todas as coisas.".

-Dona Benta (Sítio do Pica Pau Amarelo, livro Dom Quixote das crianças).

[onionringbearer]

TAWANG TAWA AKO SA TIKTOK NA TO!!!! HAHAH

[tomfordgucciss98campaign]