#ingredient: harpy

[dunmeshi-would-you-eat]

Chilchuck and Senshi's "Cockatrice and Harpy Egg Piccata"

[blasphelle]

Sona designs for my friends to match mine.

[mediumgayitalian]

The infirmary door creaks slightly as Nico pushes it open, wood swollen in the summer heat. He freezes, listening for the sound of angry curfew harpies, but luckily there don’t seem to be any around (they tend to camp around the Hermes cabin, understandably).

The infirmary is much darker than it usually is, letting the three or four people in it overnight rest. Some softer lights are on at the nurse’s station, making the blonde head under them glow. Nico pads forward, steps a practiced silence on the clay tiles. He can’t see if Will has his hearing aids on under his hair; he probably does, because Nico can’t imagine him on duty without them. Either way, he makes sure to approach the medic from in front, tapping the counter when he’s close enough. Will doesn’t startle, only glances up, flashing a smile — he heard.

“Hey, darlin’,” he greets.

Nico rolls his eyes, firmly holding back the smile that tries to force its way on his face. “Hey.”

“Nightmares?”

Surprisingly, no, although maybe that’s just because Nico couldn’t fall asleep at all. After the third hour of trying — which was, frankly, remarkable, he should get an award for staying in his bed the entire time like the Mature Person He Is — he gave up, figuring he might as well put all his annoyance to good use. And Will, for some reason, is endlessly amused by Nico’s complaining, so it’s his personal mission to make the stubborn boy crack. One day, gods help him, Nico will turn that usually sunny grin into a scowl, just so he can make an irritating Apollo-related comment about it.

(He’s hoping for the same eye twitch he gets when he attempts any ‘Underworld-y stuff’).

“Something like that.”

Will hums, but doesn’t press. After a minute he gestures to the spinny chair behind the nurse’s station. Nico takes the hint, ducking through the half-door and sitting on the old leather.

He likes the infirmary at night. Maybe it’s a strange place for him to find so much peace — ghosts often linger here, many of them pained, and it always smells of rubbing alcohol and eucalyptus — but he likes it anyway. It’s less visually sterile than a hospital, more akin to an apothecary, and the whole place always feels warm. Will’s off-tune humming echoes quietly as he works, mixing with the soft snores of the few patients and the repetitive grinding sound of whatever poultice he’s currently preparing. If Nico wasn’t so randomly wired, the sounds would lull him to sleep. They have before.

“Prepping for tomorrow,” Will explains when he catches Nico looking. Some of the softness on his face fades as he tightens his jaw. “I’m sure we’ll need it.”

Nico uncurls slightly from the armchair, peering curiously forward. He’s not sure what’s more intriguing — whatever healing magic Will is prepping, or the uncharacteristic bitterness in Will’s voice.

“…Need what?”

“Everything.”

“Oh, well, thank you, that clears things up nicely.”

Will snorts. His grip on the mortar loosens.

“C’mere, then, I’ll show you.”

When Nico is close enough, he sets down the pestle, revealing very fine, almost bleach-white powder.

“Shells,” he reveals, pointing to several still-whole ones. He smiles slightly. “It’s the kids’ job to gather ingredients, and this is probably their favourite. They’ll play with the naiads for hours to get enough, Gracie’s always tuckered right out after.”

Nico matches his small smile. Gracie, Will’s youngest sibling, is a cute kid, obsessed with mermaids. He imagines collecting seashells from the Greek version of mermaids is practically a dream come true.

“What’re the shells for?”

“They’re pure calcium carbonate, basically. Good for dyspepsia, which won’t help for capture the flag, but also good for caustic burns, which will.”

Nico nods. He has, for some reason, spent enough time around the apothecary to pick up more than a few medical terms – largely because Will talks like he swallowed a pre-med textbook, which isn’t that far off from reality.

“Why use shells, though?” He gestures to the powder Will is still crushing, even though Nico can’t imagine it getting any finer. “Why not just have Chiron order the stuff? It’d probably be easier.”

“Yeah, but it wouldn’t work as well.” Apparently finally satisfied with the crushed shells, Will tips the powder out into a much bigger bowl, then sets it aside. He carefully selects six of the whole shells and begins to crush them – Nico winces, because the first few cracks are much louder than he was expected in such a quiet room. “Whatever Chiron ordered would be crushed by machines, in a factory, probably made from chalk or limestone. It would still function as an antacid, sure, but –” Will pauses for a minute, facing Nico fully. His voice is softer, and he has to lean in to catch it. “Seashells held living beings. For years, they were homes. Maybe for an entire lifetime. And they were gifted, willingly, by spirits of the sea, and then crushed by human hands. At least three exchanges. There’s magic in that, and that makes them more powerful.”

As Will crushes the new shells, Nico steps up beside him, reaching into the larger bowl and digging into the powdered carbonate. The granules are finer than sand, fine as sugar – he buries his hands in them and concentrates, and in seconds he can feel the tiny remnants of spirits in them. Not souls – there is no human death lingering here – but thousands and thousands of fractured pieces of something that was once living. His arms tingle, goosebumps raising all over his flesh.

“Huh.”

Will grins. “Yep.”

Nico watches him out of the corner of his eye as he works. He is totally focused on his work, face slacking again as he sinks into the motions of it: twist, twist, scrape, check grain size; over and over, again and again. His arms must ache. It’s something like three in the morning, he’s been on duty since ten. Nico knows him too well to assume he’s been sitting idly for any of that time.

“Why don’t you ever play capture the flag?” he asks, surprising himself. He’s not usually one to break silences. Will tenses slightly beside him, and the rest of the words come tumbling out of his mouth, although he was unaware he’d been holding them in so tightly. “I mean, you’re always on shift. I know you’re in here a lot, but you like training, usually. Especially stuff where you get to run around. I would’ve guessed that –”

“I know that capture the flag is important,” Will interrupts. His hands have gone still. Nico snaps his mouth shut immediately. “Obviously. Everyone needs to keep their skills sharp.” His presses his lips together. A particularly loud snore from one of the patients makes them both look over, and it’s a long time before he speaks again.

“But I don’t like when we play war against each other,” he says. He turns to Nico and smiles humourlessly. “I know it’s dumb. But it just feels…I dunno. I’ve treated the injuries after the fact for years – too many of them aren’t accidents. Besides, I’m more help here, anyway. Chiron’s a field medic, anything more serious will need the infirmary.”

He abruptly turns back to crushing the shells, clearly ending the conversation. He has also begun humming again – aggressively and upbeat. The tension is gone from his shoulders, but his knuckles are white against the grip of the pestle.

He is not telling the full truth, Nico thinks. Will is a bad liar. All Apollo kids are, but Will especially – he squirms.

But Will is his friend. And Nico can take a hint – or maybe a silent begging to drop it.

“What time does your shift end?” Nico asks. “Six?”

Will slumps in relief, shooting him a genuine smile. “Yeah. Austin’s taking over for the morning while I sleep, then I’m back again at 2, just before the game starts.”

“I’ll stay up with you, then.”

“Absolutely not, doctor’s orders, Nico, you need to sleep –”

Nico places his hands over Will’s shaking ones, fleeting. His stomach erupts in a way he’s learned to ignore. The tremor in the medic’s hands finally stills, grip loosening.

“I’ll stay up with you.”

“Yeah,” Will says finally, starting the pestle up again. “I guess that’s fine.”

———

part two

[dollpuppets]

Medieval monsters hunt au!

I colored the four characters! Here is an au concept of the Characters that are in colored. I hope people will enjoy this au I've made! Here are the characters!

Wally is a limia snake monster in this whole au. I like to gave him a snake eyes! Let's just say he is a trickster or sort of an villain in this au. He has been working and be friends with the unkown beast of the forest " Home."

Eddie is one of the a main character of this au. His mother is once a great hunter of the village. He take on her place and tries to be the great monster hunter. But since he meet Frank Frankly the harpy, he see not all monsters are evil. Eddie be friends with the friendly monsters and fight the against the evil. He still a clumsy hero and scared of small bugs. He also has a dark curse which it was unknown how he has it. He sometimes turns into a beast (werewolf or minotaur?) by rage within.

Frank Frankly is another main characters of the au. Frank was an harpy but unlike other harpies , he is friendly and wants to be friends with the humans. Frank love to read books and learn spells and alchemist. Let's just say he's is not like any other harpies, he is smart and stay on Eddie's side. He also have feelings for Eddie. Frank also good at cooking and find some ingredients in the forest. ( I gave him a long tail. I thought it was cute!)

Julie Joyful is a faun and friends with Frank. She love to play and wonder in the forest. She live with her brother and sisters in the forest who are supposed to take care of the animals in the forest. Julie wants to have fun and be friends with Frank instead. She likes to put flowers on her hair and Frank to decorate it. She also speaks to the trees (except for the tree monster's) and the flowers. She also have a curse unlike Eddie's, she can go mad and insane she'll end up transformed into a more horrifying monster. But mostly she is sweet and lively girl.

I'll finish the others four soon. I'll probably want to redraw the four of the main characters here.

Hope you like this au!

Medieval monsters hunt au by me!

[jesterjaxx]

Halloween AU lore dump!!!

❗️WARNING❗️

so much infodumping world buidling and headcannons

DJ- Robot

Originally built to be a robo cop type deal. But when given free will refused to hurt anyone and got scrapped

Was found and repurposed by "Momma" to be a son

Really fuckin loves animals. Nature in general but mostly animals.

They get spooked by him a lot though

Hes kinda sad about this but gets it.

Momma is a scraper/engineer and outfitted him with everything a "good human boy" would need, like touch receptors and an ability to taste

Nothing to be done about majorly changing how he looks tho

The ability to feel is a bit too much sometimes

Sometimes all he can feel is cold

Goes to Duncan to see if he can do something about helping communicate to animals that he is a friend. Ala magic.

Machinery and Magic don't mix well typically, you gotta be crazy specific, which isn't really Duncan's styel

Duncan likes DJ tho, and proceeds to steal some of Harolds spellbooks

Side plot of them being wayyyy to hard for him to read, in both way too high level and shitty handwritten chickenscratch that fucks with his dyslexia, so he has to ask Harold for help

Maybe they learn to better understand eachother idk

Maybe they kill eachother

Harold and Duncan team up 6 dead 9 injured every single person is fucking baffled

Anyways DJ is like iron giant up in this bitch

His Momma is kinda worried that one day he'll learn enough mechanics to fix himself up and wont need her anymore

Tyler - Harpy

Ok the chicken fear makes sense now

He gets the uncanny valley feeling looking at chickens

I would too

He would fly into a window

Can he fly?

Hes like a turkey

Or a seagull

Wait im an idiot hes a chicken

Duh

Eva - Gargoyle

Her carver loved buff women thank god almighty for that

Punches like a brick wall

Living Stone

lion paws for feet

Did you guys know sound resonates the best through solids??

Her music listening experience is legit i just know it

Noah - The Blob/ slime monster

Oh god that poor guy

Hes gonna get slime all over his books

Harold - Witch

He's the type of witch to have seperate waters for different kinds of spells

A pretty dorky Witch, even by witch standards

Wears proper witch PPE (robes and hat)

Has his sheldon Big Bang Theory style shirts on underneath tho

Uses incantations and written spells in magical languages mainly

Uses the starlight, paper, ink, historical artifacts and an assortment of magical ingredients as fuels

Has a large collection of quality spellbooks for references

Not those shitty amazon spellbooks that are just a list of pre written spells, these ones were written by some old hag 80 years ago and through flowery rambleing language tell you how write spells yourself. They go into spell syntax.

Harolds books for writing incantations and spells are spiral notebooks

If he uses smbols will typically craft a custom sygil for it

Uses alot of number magic and latin

Uses his confidence in his skills with writing spells to harness magic

Is better at doing spells for other people, when doing spells for himself he tends to overcomplicate things

Actually went to magic camps and magic summer schools

"I was trained for this!" and it's Mostly true

Can make the most specific fucking spell work for him

I cannot stress he is good at this type of casting.

Duncan's way of doing magic pisses him off. Both are convinced their way is better

Harold to Duncan ->"What the fuck do you mean you increased your strength with a posca marker, bare knuckles and a dream. How are you not dead yet >:[ "

He has a lot of respect for magic itself, Duncan's almost disrespectful way of using magic makes him mad.

Whats worse is that it works.

How Harold casts a spell

Writes down a goal -> outlines different methods to achieve it (incantations, scrolls, potions) -> writes out the spelleork with alot of detail accounting for almost every outcome -> it takes very long -> outwardly or inwardly recites writes spell to activate it -> profit

Alejandro - Siren

(I give up with organization here no more bullet points)

Mermaids and Sirens are almost identical, with few overt physical differences

Sirens will typically have colored iris', 2 finned gills, longer tounges, boned ears and uniformly sharp teeth

Mermaids have colored scalera, 3 smooth gills, finned ears and sharp canines

This isn't a rule, and in modern times there are few families of sirens or mermaids that havent mixed with other monsters at some point

Both species have shape-shifting abilities.

Mermaids have two forms, and can switch between them at will, though the process takes hours and the mermaid will have to stay in either aquatic or land form for a couple weeks before changing again. though this wait time can be speed up with tailsmen, it's can cause health problems.

Siren can shift their features at will, including shifting from aquatic to non aquatic with no wait time, some families of Siren encourage "good breeding" and fostering shifting abilities to the point of shifting bone structure, hair, colors and gender at will. This level of shifting controll is a very desirable trait, and cannot be learned.

Alejandro is one of these few families who try to stay purely Siren

Hes a 100% Siren, but unlike his brothers he lacks any shape-shifting abilities, a flaw that has brought him great shame (this is just a genetic fluke, it's like a birth defect)

but he has both a very powerful ability to enchant his words and natural charisma. Dangerous combo.

Because of the well known knowledge that Sirens can manipulate people with ease, Alejandro semi pretends that he is a Mermaid, using his long hair to obscure his gills

He more just lets people assume hes a Mermaid and does not correct them rather than actually lying

He lies about many things but outright lying about species is a bit much

Siren Speech doesn't work as good if someone's also using magic at the same time or knows what's up about it

It doesn't work that great on Heather, Duncan or Harold point blank, or Lindsay, Beth Trent and Justin if they're shifting or shifted

Good thing hes manipulative on his own!

Beth - Mermaid

Yeah sure why not

I don't know enough about Beth yet i need a moot whose obsessed with her

Ezekiel - Ghost

Lmao hes invisible

Poor dude probably gets looked over all the time

Hes just clothes and a transparent person

Justin - Werewolf

The twilight girls would go crazy over him i know it

Cody - Puppet

Oh poor dude

Itll look cool tho

Hed make knock on wood jokes all the time

Trent - Werecat

The trustin girls would go crazy over this i know it

But real like hes chillin

Would use claws as a pick

Geoff - Frankenstein

A man of the people

Literally

Looses limbs easily

Wakes up after a party like "wheres my leg lmao"

Heather - Zombie

Oh this is good

Shes vegan

Would insult people like "i can tell you have a brain why the hell don't you use it"

Very concerned over phsyical appearance

Uses so so many products

Pretty alive looking for a zombie cuz of it

It's kinda creepy

Her eyes got no eyeshine tho

Like a shark.

Gwen - Skeleton/Ghost

Ok this was an accidental double Gwen got both Skeleton and ghost

Since Ezekiel is already a ghost i'm Gonna lean into the Skeleton bit more but throw a transparent silhouette over all of her for the ghost bit

Ghost vs Zombie rivalry

She'd do all sorts of cool drawings and markings on her bones

Gwen, drawing a bat on her femur with sharpie: tattoo moment

Her eyeliner is also sharpie

Who the fuck cares about skincare when you don't have skin

Lindsay: you shouldn't put permanent marker on your face! It can hurt you 🥺

Gwen, floating bones:

LeShawna - Chimera

YES I LOVE MONSTER COMBOS

LIKE COMBINATIONS OF MULTIPLE ANIMALS

lets do classic chimera but with one head

Lean into the Lioness bit cuz Leshawna is a boss bitch and Lionesses are so fucking cool

I might give her a scorpion tail

Duncan - Witch

Another double whoops lol

He's a "fuck it we ball" typa witch

lmao he and Harold are beefing like crazy i know it Harold has 12 spellbooks hes memorized with their specific ways of casting and Duncan is writing runes on his knuckles with sharpie

Duncan to Harold ->"Why are you using 2 pages of latin for a fire spell??"

"Because i need only this bit of wood to light on fire a little bit and nothing else and if i dont i could loose control of it or blow it up or it might not even start"

*stares in did finger guns at a branch and cremated it for fun*

Harold to Duncan ->"Why are you writing runes on your nailpolish??"

"i'm tired of being the only scary bitch here without claws"

*stares in once accidentally rubbed spell notes off of his spellbook and onto his face while passed out on his desk and gave himself acid burns for 3 weeks"

They go crazy they go stupid

Hes self taught

The Duncan and Harold bullying arc turned Street smart vs actually Smart but make it witches

Mostly just picking shit up as he goes

"Stole" (it was free) a pamphlet on different types of magical symbols and has managed to make the symbols illustrated in it work for almost every spell he wants

Fueled by raw unrelenting audacity

Real lore tho- magic is created with belief and harnessed with confidence, you can either go the intellectual route and control every variable and have trust in your control of those variables to harness the magic like Harold, or like Duncan, have enough semi-unearned confidence in yourself to harness magic with little need for more than a few variables.

Basically as a general rule, it has as much meaning as you truthfully believe it does

Doesn't explain what hes casting or how hes doing it

"Where'd you learn how to do that?"

"what are you a cop?"

(learned from illustrations, word of mouth, and other witches on the street)

Has a couple stick n poke magical symbols, several other scribbled on symbols that are temporary

Biggest one is a glyph for fire on his hand, he doens most of his spells using it

Has burns around his glyph tattoos from spells backfiring cuz he got distracted

Uses sharpies, spraypaint, eyeliner and the insides of firecrackers for drawing symbols

If he needs a magical material he'll typically substitute whatever he has on him, belief goes a long way.

"Pure Holy Silver?... this earring looks silver enough

This doesn't work for potions cuz potions are only a little left to normal chemistry.

Has alot of talisman he wears

Carries extra ingredients on him ala accessories cuz fuck it it looks cool

Mains his spells with symbols, uses potions or material fuels if he cant make a good connection between what he wants and one of 10 symbols he remembers at any given time

Uses moonlight, bones, rocks, and personal artifacts as fuels

How duncan casts a spell

Draws glyph -> creates a mental connection between what the glyph means and what he wants to do (this is mostly subconscious with Duncan he doenst know what hes doing he just knows he does it well)-> activates glyph physically (ie hitting, tapping, lighting, punching, tracing with finger)

Example: draws fire glyph on Chris's camper -> wants to set it on fire but not the surrounding grass and trees -> smacks the side of the camper that has the glyph on it -> profit

Duncan, to Harold: You make magic math, i make magic my bitch

Bridgette - Alien

Aww she could be so cute

Surfer girl from planet nine

Owen - Plant Monster

This could visually look really cool

Big carnivorous plant

Izzy - Angel

kaleidoscope = biblically accurate form, cuz she "Looks like a kaleidoscope! Duh!"

Lindsay - Selkie

If you steal her coat ill fucking kill you

Sadie - Vampire

Ough thats cute

I'm Gonna make her pigtails batwings

Katie - Zombie

undead girlfriends

Sadie thinks Katie is so pretty it doesn't matter her eye just fell out

Courtney - Demon

Oh this bitch looooves contracts

Is also upset about Duncan but she just doesn't like witches in general

Whats the point of making deals with humans for magical powers of some humans give themselves magical powers

Demon of what?? Pride maybe?? Or envy??

Shes a sweetheart tho

[ranticore]

due to the tannins, is the sea ever described as bitter or acrid by any sirenians? does it affect the taste of edible plantlife? speaking of which, do sirenians even have a palate that works like their human ancestors' or is it completely different? 🌾

yes! very much so, the overall taste of the water in the areas most affected tends to be peaty and bitter. good-tasting drinking water is sourced from underwater springs or inflows which haven't had time to mix with the stagnant lower layer (which is where the plantlife decomposes and releases those acrid tastes). too much time spent swimming in the brown water can dye your fur too

plants themselves have developed a wide range of defences to grazers including bad or 'spicy' tastes, but the main domesticated reed-plant of the eastern continent is very palatable and bland, with a starchy profile. other food plants can be wild-harvested and added to this to make strong tasting food, but with the base reed 'taste' being a simple sugar, there's always a slight sweetness to reed dishes. it's often offset by side-dishes containing savoury and salty foods.

the palate is about the same as their ancestors' but tastes do vary based on geographic region and culture. typically the coastlines are the most varied and eclectic, due to trade and the general biodiversity peaking around the coasts - they have access to a lot of ingredients to make varied food. pelagic people who live in isolated underwater villages lean more carnivorous and can't cook over open fires so their food is more uniformly bitter from being essentially stewed in tea as a cooking method. same goes for inland people who eat mostly animal protein with wild grasses.

all plants in siren have a high silicon content which would render them inedible to unaltered humans (that's glass. ur eating glass). so although their sense of taste is more or less the same, sirenians also have very resilient teeth which don't wear easily or develop cavities, which accounts for the harpies' ability to eat such sugar-dense foods without risking their teeth. and they only have four.

[bubuslutty]

hc: witch!reader x 141 (+ Ale, Rudy, König, Horangi) as monsters

A monster's high

word count: 1.5k

tags: they/them pronouns, poc friendly, 3rd person pov, proof read by me so sorry for any mistakes, nsfw, fluff

warnings: a bit of body horror

a/n: i initially meant for this to be fluffy but uhhh I guess I'm a whore 🥰 enjoy either way!!! 💙 pls if u wanna see anything pls let me know, cuz I just want more excuses to talk abt monster cod mw2 guys!!

Soap (werewolf):

Johnny has a habit of scenting his witch when they have to go somewhere without him, and he claims it's to keep them safe from other monsters. but does he really need to rub his face all over their tummy and ass??

Johnny's witch takes care of him during his ruts by brewing him teas for his stomach aches. and provides him with their worn clothes so he can have familiar and comforting scents around him when he's rutting.

Soap also likes to hang out with his witch during nights on a full moon, so he can turn and run in the forest. and sometimes they even play catch with him, by throwing a stick and he runs after it, getting it for her, for pets and praises, tail wagging and all.

Ghost (symbiote):

Simon Riley is pretty cool, kind and pleasant to hang out with, Ghost on the other hand is dark in a weirdly attractive way (monster fucker alert). Ghost doesn't really have a form, they're just a mass of black matter that merges and melts into Simon's pores, but also has a voice of its own.

Reader has gotten used to Ghost jumping in on conversations when they're talking with Simon. And has even gotten used to Ghost threathening (flirting) to eat them (??). While Simon always apologises about Ghost, reader hasn't figured out if Ghost wants to eat them literally or sexually.

Reader has also gotten used to walking around Simon's place and being suddenly pulled into a dark corner by a cold tentacle attached to Simon's symbiote. Then asked in a very ominous voice "Can you get orange juice from the corner store? Simon can't, too tired."

Reader shrugs and nods, "Okay." while being held up in the air by dark matter.

"Thank you." Ghost whispers, their voice raising all the hairs in reader's body.

Price (Dragon hybrid):

he can breathe fire, but doesn't allow himself to so he satiates the urge with cigars. Breathing fire is a hazard and can put others around him in danger, and he can accidentally destroy his belongings by allowing the tickle of a flame leave his throat.

But sometimes he slips up, for example when he's balls deep in reader (don't ask me how we got here). They were curious about what it'd be like fucking a dragon hybrid and how can Price say no to those pretty eyes?

It happens when he's about to orgasm, and he feels fire tickle his throat, and when he can't swallow the urge back, he throws his head back and let's out fire escape his lips, blowing it upward so it doesn't catch on anything.

And then when reader realises what he just did, he gets shy about it. Usually he doesn't spit fire when he fucks someone, but reader doesn't need to know that.

Gaz (Crow harpy hybrid):

first of all, Gaz has the prettiest, softest feathers. They're black but Show different colours when lights hit them in different angles. And reader spends a lot of time just admiring them and caressing them while he plays his favourite video game.

And when they accidentally press on the feathers a bit too hard, he jumps and grabs their wrist, "Don't do that again, please."

"Did I hurt you? I'm sorry." Reader apologises

"You didn't, they're just a bit sensitive… That's all." Gaz mumbles and they nod, resuming caressing his feathers in the gentlest way possible as Gaz resumes his game and tries to ignore the tingle at the base of his spine, making him shudder and heat up.

Horangi (Tiger shifter):

at first he scared reader because when they first met him, he was in his tiger form napping in the living room when reader walked in, completely clueless with a bunch of ingredients for a potion in their arms, "I got the-"

They used all of their strenght not to drop everything in their arms because the ingredients are expensive while they stood, facing a sleeping tiger, taking up the whole couch.

The tiger quickly noticed their presence and woke up, lazily blinking and letting out a big yawn, revealing a sharp set of teeth and reader readied themselves to cast a spell if the tiger was to ever attack or try anything.

The tiger kept staring at reader until they got bored and stood up on the couch, and shifted just like that, fur flipped into pink soft skin and bones reshaping themselves in real time.

And so reader was face to face with a naked man in the middle of Soap's living room.

König (eldritch):

König wears a huge diy'ed mask on his head, covering red and black smooth salty skin and tentacles. Sometimes he lets them hang outside the mask, poking and prodding this and that when he's comfortable, but most of the time they're hidden, out of sight.

Reader has yet to figure out where all of his tentacles come from, they know they come from his head, from the area that would be considered his chin and jaw if he had one, like a beard that has a mind of its own.

They've seen peeks of König shirtless a couple of times, but couldn't see any extra limbs or tentacles coming out of his skin, so how earth does he manages to wrap them in huge long tentacles? Where do they come from??

They've asked König of course, but all he did was smile, his eyes shaping half moons, patt their head and walked off without a word.

Alejandro (werewolf):

The only other werewolf in the bunch apart from Johnny. This man has also an obsession with scenting reader after Johnny scented them just to get a rise out of him.

He's territorial of course, very protective and loves to bite and nip at reader when they let him. Be it their hips, waist, tummy or ass, he'll happily sink his teeth in any part of their body as long as they let him.

He's also allergic to wearing clothes when the sun shines, if Alejandro senses that summer is very near, he'll strip to his boxers and hang around in all of his tan and hairy glory.

And reader is only human, when they see him like that, their heart skips a beat and they quickly leave the room Alejandro or otherwise he'll somehow smell them getting aroused.

And Alejandro doesn't even need to smell their arousal to know they're affected, because he can hear their thumping heart when he focuses his hearing.

They also try to avoid him when they've had their back blown by a local resident monster (only Soap's pack tho, no one else or they'll (141 & Co.) have a mental breakdown lmao) because he can smell the cum plugged inside them. and even when they've showered, washed away all traces of sex, he still can smell it underneath all the soap, lotion and body mist. And when he does smell it, he corners them and bullies them into telling him how it went down while they whine and beg him to let them go (they actually love it dw guys, ale would let them go as soon as they express real discomfort)

Rudy (human):

The second human in the pack after reader. While reader is a witch and in tune with the spiritual and supernatural world, Rudy can't feel shit. like nothing at all. everyone might be on edge because they can smell someone's heat and he'd be sitting there absolutely oblivious, at least reader is knowledgeable enough to know the signs of a heat or rut without smelling it.

Reader might be reluctant to go somewhere because they feel like the vibes are off, or the place is cursed and haunted, and Rudy would shrug and go in to retrieve whatever must be retrieved.

Rudy could be checking himself out in a mirror while a spirit would be looking right back at him and reader is just standing there, uncomfortable while he hums and fixes his hair and the spirit is highly confused because how the fuck isn't he being seen by the dumb very handsome human?

He's the type of guy who'd brush off any attempt at scaring him or cursing him without a second thought, a witch would try to curse him by planting a little pouch under his door matt and Rudy would absolutely have no idea and would never step on the matt at his doorstep because his legs are long and he never needed to step on it in the first place, he even has another one inside his house as well, it's just there to look nice really, so the curse never took effect in the first place until reader shows up and hisses in disgust, immediately finding the pouch for Rudy and throwing it away.

Even when a demon is actively trying to cause him nightmares, Rudy doesn't even notice because every night our boy passes out on werewolf knot, brain melted out of his ears, he barely has the energy to open one eye so it's impossible for his brain to conjure up dreams or be active enough so the demon can plant nightmares into his head.

I imagine Rudy getting his organs rearranged in the nastiest way possible while the invisible demon is just standing there like 🧍‍♀️😐 waiting for Rudy and the werewolf, who is probably Ale to be done so he can give him nightmares.

He's our unbothered King and I love him very much.

tag list (pls ask to be added or removed): @canadianmilkbag @angryandreadytokill @obiwankenobis-lap @goapgrim @smalldemonlover @silviafantin15 @reveluving @bobastayhigh @originalsimp @h-leigh @gxldyjess @msdrpreist @chaoticevilbakugo @Lacunaanonymoused @whore4dilfs @canadianmilkbag @ahoeformando @ray-rook

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Yandere Prince x Witch! Reader pt. 2

TW: Drugging mention, abortion mention, violence, honestly just the ordeal of waking up and finding out you're pregnant.

WANNA GET ME A ☕?

Five Months Ago...

"I need it. I need the reassurance she'll love me when I pick her," Helia said, walking into The Woods.

The Woods have light peaking from the tall trees, vines in the sky, and houses of flying creatures in the tree branches. Like an ecosystem, the fairytale characters and creatures that aren't in a castle harmoniously live in the Woods as a community. Near the lakes and streams are where the mermaids and nymphs live. The forest grounds are where mostly minotaurs, elves, fairies, dragons, and dwarfs live. Meanwhile, the sky has the harpies, phoenixes, and others. But everywhere in the forest has witches, vampires, and other magical beings to find and chat with.

"Excuse me, Mr. Elf, do you know where to find someone who can make a love potion?" Helia asked, tapping on the elf's shoulder.

"Oh wow, another royal in these woods. Luckily, you'll find what you seek right in front of you. My friend Y/N made extra potions of the highest quality with the most potent ingredients for the upcoming ball of Prince Helia," The elf responds, handing Helia a vile of pink liquid.

"Do the people who requested this potion want to use it on the prince?" Helia asks, giving the elf some golden coins. "And what does this friend of yours look like? Is she a witch?

"Haha! No. Let's just say gala and ball babies are trendy," The elf laughs, creeping out Helia. "But if you want to see her, look there."

Helia looks at the sunny Woods' path and sees a witch with a basket of herbs, fruit, and meat.

"She's beautiful," Helia thought, embodying the feeling of being bewitched.

Helia returns to his castle and doesn't look back at the woods, for if he did, he'd never return.

~~~~~~~~~~

It's been six months since the ball, and your relationship with Helia couldn't be better. However, that's because after the first love potion dose wore off on Helia, he's been giving you doses so you can't wake up from your lovely dream. But more importantly, the two of you have been preparing for the arrival of your baby girl, Maya.

"How's my beloved wife doing?" Helia asks, crawling onto the bed and rubbing your big stomach.

"You're gone too long. You missed our little girl kicking when I ate some peppers," You say, kissing your husband.

"Aw, sorry I missed your feeding time, baby," Helia coos, kissing your stomach. "How about this? I'll give you extra cuddles while we sleep."

"No complaints from me as long as I get free access to your cock if I get horny," You say, pulling back the covers and letting your husband in.

"Deal."

Helia climbs into bed and spoons you as sleep creeps up on you for the 45th time today. You wake up at 3 am, your body floating a foot in the air. Questions run through your fatigued body as you process your surroundings. A mirror sparkles in the moonlight, and you see the silhouette of your pregnant belly.

"Wha?" You whisper, subconsciously feeling the other side of the bed as if someone was supposed to be there.

You get up and look at your body. Your stomach is large with child, and your breasts are big and swollen with milk. You stare at your reflection in horror, touching your stomach and confirming your new reality. A whimper escapes your lips, and you sink to the ground. Your fetus kicks your stomach, and your whimpers turn into cries.

"Stop moving!" You cry, your nails digging into your stomach.

Your fetus kicks more and more, making you look for a way out of the bedroom. You see an uneven wall and run towards it, hitting the wall for a secret opening. Eventually, you hit the right spot, and an opening appears, leading to a dark passageway with cobblestone stairs spiraling downward. You put a hand on the wall to help keep your balance and go down the stairs, hoping for an escape. When you reach the end, you take your first step toward freedom as you walk on the crisp new grass of spring.

"Into the Woods I go," You say, walking away from the castle and to your home.

It's a silent walk on the way home as the village surrounding the castle is asleep. With only you, your fetus, and your thoughts, you begin to talk to your daughter.

"You know, I thought about trying to find someone to abort you, but it wouldn't matter anyway. No one on this land, Woods or not, would do it. Ever since the royal family passed the lineage law a century ago, nobody could abort a fetus of royal lineage, illegitimate or not. The last time someone did that led to everyone not human living in The Woods. It's not your fault you're inside me, it's not my fault I'm pregnant with you, it's not our fault we were in that castle," You say, stumbling into the lively Woods.

As you walk the village's dirt roads, the castle erupts with noise. You hear horses leaving their stables and running out.

"No, no," You groan, walking into the Woods faster.

"Find Queen Y/N, and bring her back to the castle or King Helia. Do not harm her!" The royal head knight commands, making you run further into the Woods.

The Woods become dark, and the liveliness you love and know becomes non-existent.

"I must be in the Fairytale district," You say, holding your stomach as you trek through the dark woods full of thorns, shrubbery, and trees that seem to be closing in.

"My love," Helia says, seeing your figure in the woods.

You run, tearing your dress as it gets caught in the thorns.

"Y/N, my love! Wait! You'll hurt yourself!" Helia yells, making his horse speed up.

You jump over a fallen tree and try not to focus on the pain from your feet.

"Leave me alone!" You yell, sliding down a steep hill.

You think you can handle the speed, but suddenly, you're sliding out of control. You scream as you head toward a dark valley full of fog and embrace your stomach, preparing for the worst. A hand grabs your arm at the last minute, and you're dangling an inch above raging rapids. Helia carries you back up, and you both rest on the forest floor.

"Are you crazy? You could've gotten yourself killed!" Helia screams, grabbing your shoulders.

"It would've been better than whatever was going on in that castle!" You scream, holding your stomach. "Do you know what it's like waking up and not knowing what happened to your body? What happened to yourself, and why you can't recognize places that feel familiar?"

"All you had to do was stay as my sweet wife, but it's my fault. I didn't give you another dose of love in time. But I won't make that mistake again," Helia states, pulling out a syringe filled with a love potion.

"No! No, please!" You beg, holding Helia's hands.

"Just stay still, and it'll all be over!" Helia screams, trying to stab your neck.

"NO!"

Magic shoots out of your body, flinging Helia across the forest. The silence from the forest takes over, leaving you with your tears and your baby's kicks.

"I'm sorry, May-Maya-no, May. That's right, May. I'm sorry, May. I shouldn't have hurt your daddy," You ramble, crawling to Helia's body.

You grab the syringe and use your magic to incinerate it. Then, you tap on your husband's cheeks for a sign of life. If his body is found in The Woods, it'll be the end of the magical and supernatural creatures in the kingdom.

"Helia, please. Please wake up," You beg, lightly slapping his cheeks.

"Mm...my love, you didn't leave," Helia groans, weakly holding your hand.

You couldn't leave. Not if you wanted any semblance of a future for your friends and family.

"Hey, how about we read parenting books, and have dinner?" You suggest, hoping he will not wonder where the love potion went.

"Queen Y/N, what happened to King Helia?" The head knight asks, jumping off his horse.

"A bear was about to attack me. Helia defended me and got wounded in the battle," You lie, holding Helia's hand.

"Guards, take King Helia to the infirmary for treatment and get the royal doctor and wizard. I'll take Queen Y/N back to her quarters," The head knight commands, picking you up and putting you on his horse.

And so, the witch and the prince return to their castle. Their unborn child is as calm as ever as the witch opens a book with a stork carrying a baby on the cover. The prince, now king, curls up next to his wife, his hand rubbing her belly. The witch hiding her disgust and she turns the next page.

[harpygee]

Ash is adding a secret ingredient to King Alvarius's Special Frog Soup Recipe! Revealed in today's Harpy Gee! Get it while it's HOT! https://www.harpygee.com/comic/king-alvarius-hops-up-pt-10

_____________________________________________

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[foolilazuli]

Part 2 of monsters Laios’s party couldn’t eat

Part 1 if you hadn’t seen it

Dungeon Cleaners (technically they’re safe to eat, but they don’t taste good)

Harpies (they ate their eggs but they didn’t eat the Harpies themselves. I don’t know if they would eat them since they have human faces, though they did eat dryad fruit)

Shapeshifter (This one actually surprised me cause I thought they did eat the shapeshifter but no, they ate the ingredients they had leftover instead. No shapeshifter dish)

Ice Golem (I don’t know if I should add this one on the list. It’s the same reason as the regular golem, but they got a fish out of it instead)

Changelings (2 instances where they used changelings to change their meals but never ate the mushrooms themselves)

Gargoyles (You can’t eat rocks)

Edit: So they actually did eat the Changelings. Sorry, I’m making this list as I’m reading the manga, my bad

That’s all the monsters shown in the anime, now on to Part 3

[dunmeshi-would-you-eat]

Senshi's "Harpy and Cockatrice Eggs Benedict"

[egrets-not-regrets]

Stargazing

Of Fin and Feathers AU: Keed (Alpha Legion mer) takes Lana, his bonded harpy, to the Trail of Stars Cove for a stargazing date, following Mara’s advice.

Author’s Note: FORMATTING IS FIXED NOW. SORRY FOR THE MESS. Collab with @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan. Thanks for letting me use your Alpha Legion boys, Lana, and your Gray Knight in this fic. It was fun writing this follow-up fic with you!

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

Keed was glad he escorted Mara to meet the warsmith. Learning about the social and cultural significance of the Trail of Stars Cove from the old harpy was a nice bonus. He reminded himself to tell his brothers to perhaps spend more time with the gannet elders in order to learn more about this area of Ancient Terra. It might not logistically be useful information, but you never know when certain pieces of knowledge came in handy.

Like this one. If the sight at the cove was as beautiful as Mara described, then he had no doubt that Lana would love it there. He planned to take her to the cove to go on a night of romantic stargazing with him. Keed kept Mara’s suggestion close to his chest and out of his mind to avoid that annoying Gray Knight psyker from finding out about this place. He was going to take Lana there first, damnit!

He waited until it was the Gray Knight’s scheduled time with their beloved Lana to approach his brothers in order to not have the psyker overhear the information that he was about to tell them. After the brothers gathered, Keed quietly relayed the information to them about the cove; about how it was a socially and culturally important spot for the harpies, and how Mara suggested the place for romancing their bonded; his brothers had perked up at that piece of information.

“Thanks for bringing this up to us,” Zariel said, “I suppose you want to take her to this spot first?”

“Yes sir,” Keed confirmed, “And- if you would keep him away while I’m with our Lovely Lana, I’d be very grateful.”

Zariel nodded, “I and the rest of the squad will do our best to distract the wretch.”

“Thank you sir,” Keed said with a grin.

“And we’ll help set up a romantic picnic under the stars for the two of you,” Talos added with a smile, already having recipes to make something special for this picnic running through his mind.

“We, Alpha legion, will do our best to help each other out.” Zarius punched his brother’s pauldron lightly with affection.

“Thank you, brothers.” Keed was ever thankful and looking forward to this stargazing date with their beloved Lana more than ever.

As his scheduled time with Lana drew closer, Keed was filled with anticipation and excitement. Talos had already started catching and gathering ingredients for the picnic. Zariel started planning a way to keep the obsessive Gray Knight off his back. Zarius, who’s scheduled time was the day before his, had given their bonded a heads up about the date night so she would make sure she could stay up that night.

Kalium, an Iron Warrior mer he was partnered with, noticed his upbeat mood during their patrol together, “What’s got you so excited?” He asked curiously.

“I’ll be taking my bonded stargazing tonight. It calls for a clear night.”

The Iron Warrior had a good idea where Keed was referring to, “You mean at the cove where Warsmith Formicas and your harpy leader met?”

“Yes!” Keed replies with a bright grin, “It’s a culturally and socially significant place for harpies- it’s a romantic spot that is traditionally used to have courting requests.”

“Really now?” Kalium asked, sounding rather skeptical.

“Yes- Mara said so, and she’s not one to lead us astray. She knows how much effort and care we have for our Lovely Lana,” Keed answered. He wasn’t going to let the Iron Warrior poke holes into his bubble of joy with his Iron Warrior-ness.

His fellow mer-Astartes made a dismissive hum that dissolved into vexed muttering, “Mara said that… huh…I’ll have to tell Erriox. Damn it. He tricked me into taking his extra patrol shift!”

The Alpha Legion Mer snickered, having heard about the bet between the two Iron Warriors on whether Mara was the warsmith’s bonded. He agreed with Erriox, there wasn’t a bond between the warsmith and the old harpy despite how amiable, almost flirtatious, the two had been with each other. One did not need to be bonded in order to be attracted to another after all.

“Erriox didn’t trick you though. It doesn’t look like Mara and the warsmith are bonded, otherwise she would be behaving differently as well.” Keed explained, remembering even with their weaker bonds, it still had an effect on Lana. “That doesn’t mean a healthy respect and old people flirting can’t happen.”

Kalium let out a loud guffaw, “By the Four! That was exactly what I was watching while we were waiting for them to be finished with their negotiations.” He then insisted “Maybe they’re good at hiding their reactions. Formicas is famous for that kind of thing.” A conspiracy theory building in his mind.

Keed shook his head, “You believe what you want to believe. Don’t blame me if you get assigned shit jobs because you can’t drop that theory of yours. Trust me. Mara is not acting any different and I am sure she is not as stoic as the warsmith.” He swam faster, slightly outpacing the Iron Warrior, “Let’s finish this patrol already.”

Kalium laughed and swam after the Alpha Legionary.

Keed activated his air swimming ability to quickly fly up the cliffs of the colony’s temporary home. It was finally his scheduled time with Lana! He saw their beloved laughing over something Zarius told her.

“My lovely Lana.” He cooed, embracing the harpy from behind, wrapping his arms around her stomach. She giggled as he pressed a kiss to her temple. Smiling, he purred and pressed another kiss to her jaw, down her neck and then back up again, “How I have missed your warm embrace…” ignoring the glare from the Gray Knight. Of course, he was here too. That paranoid bastard. He thought irritably.

Lana laughed and gave her silly Alpha Legionary another couple of kisses, “I have missed you as well, dear Keed.”

“I have a wonderful surprise to show you,” Keed murmured in her ear, his voice practically humming with excitement.

His brothers set up the picnic beforehand, and ensured that there were some cold runes in the picnic basket to keep the food at a proper temperature, while the blanket was weighed down by stones on each corner to keep it from blowing off before they arrived at the location.

“Please close your eyes and trust me, Lovely Lana!” Keed said as he gently scooped her up in his arms and twirled her a little bit. The harpy trilled happily and did as he asked, nuzzling against his armored chest.

He gave a single handed gesture to his brothers who all nod in unison, two heading off to start immediately talking to Draco and snarking at him- slowly having Draco turn his body so he had his back to Lana and Keed while the other two Alpha Legionaries snatched up Claude and Jophiel, who Draco had been trying to convince to let him train them.

The boys were visiting the Gannet Aunties and cousins and had been… almost pounced on by Captain Shiny Gray Knight (he was so obvious). How he thought he could ever be subtle or stealthy with such unusual armor; none of the Alpha legionaries had any clue.

“Give them back!” Draco roared at Zariel and Zarius.

“Never!” They laughed mockingly as they spirited off with the large Scouts. “We’re telling Erriox that you were bullying Claude and Jophiel, trying to force them into training with you alone. Again.”

“Don’t you dare,” Draco growled.

Claude and Jophiel were just letting them carry them off, as they knew just how fighty both the Scout-ling Blood Angel mix and the Alpha Legionary Mix could get.

After being told that people knew about his true form, Claude would usually show up at the gannet harpy colony in his true form. Zariel and his squad were finally slowly, painfully slowly, gaining Claude’s trust- and the trust of his rag-tag bunch of Primaris Marines. His tentacles clung to Zariel as he watched Draco with large eyes.

“Then catch us, you shiny jerk!” Zarius called out, “If you can, you big- slow- motherless chaos chum bucket.” Jophiel, curled over his shoulder with his wings folded tight, couldn’t help but snort and laugh.

They sometimes played this game of keep-away-the-Primaris-Scoutlings since it served to irritate the Gray Knight. Zariel and his brothers knew the two scouts would have to eventually undergo training to learn to control their psyker powers. But until they could find another decent psyker to train them or the Gray Knight would agree to be supervised, that day wasn’t today. So playing keep-away it was.

The rest of the Primaris Scout squad would usually show up and team up with the Alpha legionaries on their shenanigans- until they could steal away their brothers, and then they were their own team with their own game, which was to keep away from the First Born Marines.

“I am not Chaos Tainted!” Draco roared at them, enraged and not noticing that Keed and Lana have slipped off to somewhere else.

“You have to let Erriox or others that he designates to watch you train with Claude and Jophiel.” Cedric rumbles, deep, and low in his chest.

While Roland and Arnault had several pointed questions to ask about a lot of different topics, they had been a bit more understanding that they had hoped for and had reacted a lot better than they feared they might have. Even willing to be one of the designates to watch over Draco’s training sessions.

“I agreed to the rules and punishments,” Draco scowled at the uppity Primaris Apothecary.

Cedric scowled back, “It doesn’t mean we trust you not to go too far like you did before.”

Elsewhere, Keed deposited Lana gently onto the blanket of their picnic spot.

“Can I open my eyes now?” She asked.

“Of course you can, love.” He chuckled.

Lana gasped and laughed delightfully as she took in the sight before her. The sun was just dipping below the horizon, the fading light casting a thin orange glow at the ocean’s end. The crescent moon with its pale shine reflecting clearly in the calm waters. More and more stars appeared as the light faded.

“Keed! This is wonderful! I almost forgot about this place!”

The Alpha Legionary preened at her happiness and curled himself around her, “I’m glad you like this surprise.” He replied.

Lana took his face in her claws and kissed his lips, “This is so lovely. Thank you.”

Smiling, Keed wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back, “Anything for you, my lovely Lana.”

He placed the picnic basket between them and took out the containers of finger food that Talos prepared; a mix of both their favorites. Keed smiled at Lana’s brightened expression; his brother had been incredibly thoughtful in making these dishes.

“These look delicious. Did Talos make these?” She asked.

“Yes.” Keed grinned.

“Of course. I’ll have to thank him when I see him.” Lana smiled.

Keed took off his gauntlets and playfully tapped her nose, drawing her attention back to him, “I’ll remind you to do that, but tonight is for us. Open up.”

The harpy giggled, opening her mouth as the mer fed her a piece of pickled herring. Lana trilled in delight at the burst of flavor. Opening up the container she held in her lap, the harpy picked up a piece of smoked cod and held it to his mouth. She grinned, “Say ‘ahh’.”

Keed laughed and did as he was told, letting the harpy place the piece of cod in his mouth. He chewed on the meat, tasting the distinct savory and smoky flavor of the fish. Talos really outdid himself. Both he and Lana would have to thank him for this delicious food.

“You should have a taste. This is very good.” Keed picked up another piece of the smoked cod and fed it to Lana, his eyes fixed to her as she picked it delicately off his fingers with her teeth.

“You’re right!” Her crest feathers fluffed cutely as she ate the smoked fish.

The last container held thin rolls of cured fish wrapped in delicate pieces of seaweed. Keed took a piece and sang, “Say ‘ah..’ Lana.” Watching her mouth intently.

Lana grinned and opened her mouth to receive the seaweed roll. Only to fluff her feathers in surprise when Keed pulled her to him in a sneaky, but passionate kiss. Lana melted into his kiss, closing her eyes and losing her in the moment. They slowly pulled away from each other’s lips with a smile.

“How was that for a treat?” Keed chuckled.

“I don’t know… between your kiss and that seaweed roll? I might need a sample of both….” Lana answered coyly.

Keed laughed, “I suppose that could be arranged, dear Lana.” as he gently placed the seaweed roll in her mouth, waiting for her to bite into it. He then gently bit down on the other half of the roll that was sticking out, meeting her mouth in a sweet and savory kiss.

Lana trilled in delighted surprise at the kiss and the delicate flavors of the cured fish and seaweed. She giggled, “That was much better. Both samples were delicious.”

Keed grinned and stole a few more kisses from her before feeding her another roll of cured fish.

He pressed some sweet kisses to his Lana while feeding her and getting fed the delicious treats at the same time. He’s so very happy to be able to spend time with her. Despite the path that took him here, he’s thankful that in this moment and time, he's on Ancient Terra with his lovely Lana.

They continued to feed each other and watched the myriad of stars appearing as darkness deepened in the night sky. The stars in the sky reflected in the water, making a continuous trail of stars stretching from sea to sky as the cove was named after. Bioluminescent plankton glowed and sparkled when animals moved through the water, adding to the “trail of stars” effect.

“Have you been to this cove before?” Keed asked, remembering that Lana mentioned about almost forgetting this place; curious to know more about his beloved harpy.

“When I was younger,” Lana started as she looked distantly as memories played across her mind, “The Flock came here to watch shooting stars. Seeing the stars shoot across the sky… it was very pretty.”

“Have you seen shooting stars before?” Lana asked, after snuggling with Keed for a few moments, enjoying the quiet, but also feeling rather curious.

She’s heard them speaking about swimming in shoals in the void-sea, which they refer to as the black of space. She’s also heard them say something about the mad void-sea. Whatever that was. She asked them about that, and they would grow quiet, with Zariel asking her not to ask them that. They didn’t want to lie, but it was not something they liked talking about either.

Lana’s allowed her curiosity and concern about the mad void-sea slide, as she could tell how much it upsetted them to think and/or try to talk about with her… or anyone who didn’t know what they meant when they said that phrase.

“I have seen shooting stars before,” Keed said, while joking, his teal eyes sparkling jovially, “and for some of the people on distant planets, I was a shooting star.”

He scratched his cheek a little bit as he nuzzled Lana in his arms while he gathered his thoughts, “Shooting stars that fall about two to four per hour, while not impressive, are certainly safer than when the stars shooting across the skies increase to almost blinding the night sky. That had not been a fun mission.” He explained.

She paused and turned to Keed, tilting her head, “You came from out there; beyond the stars?”

Keed hummed, “Beyond stars and the black of space, through time and… well. Yes. The Space Marines come from beyond the stars, as you know them, lovely Lana.”

“What is it like?” Lana asked curiously, “To go to distant stars?”

“The journeys can be far, and finding ways to entertain yourself while traveling so far can be hard sometimes, ‘hurry up and wait’ can get terribly dull at times. The distances between stars, between planets are vast, and almost impossible to comprehend,” Keed started, rolling The Rules through his head to ensure that he doesn’t say too much, while also giving her a good story, “One time, when I was about Claude’s age, I had been sent to a distant planet. You see that fuzzy star near the ‘big dipper’ constellation as you call it?”

Lana tilted her head and looked in the direction he’s pointing at and narrowed her eyes and nodded, “Yes, I do.”

“Orbiting that star is a planet,” Keed explained, “Where the sky is more purple than blue, and the flowers sing in the wind. There are some bioluminescent fruits, about the size of a pineapple, the colors of a strawberry, that taste like… peaches with a hint of lime.”

“Oh?” Lana gasped, “How fascinating! Were there oceans like this there as well?”

Keed nodded and grinned, “The ocean of that planet was slightly purple. And we had to breach for the surface more often, less oxygenated air, and more nitrous, even with our armor on- some of my younger brothers got very, very giggly.”

She giggled at the picture he painted in her head.

He curled into Lana and murmured, “I’m so very glad to be here on Ancient Terra with you though. Meeting you has changed my life for the better.”

Lana turned away from looking at the stars to looking at him, “I’m very glad you’re here with me too.” She said, reaching up, kissing his lips. Keed hummed appreciatively and kissed her back tenderly, tightening his embrace around her. They went back to admiring the night sky and the dancing of the bioluminescent plankton, all cuddled up with each other and sharing the occasional kiss.

The couple had been watching the shimmering lights of the plankton for a while when they both noticed a large shape swimming languidly along the outer reaches of the cove. Lana tilted her head, asking, “Keed, you see that large creature way out there?”

The Alpha Legionary knew exactly what, no, who that was. He wants a show, I’ll give him a show… he thought, feeling rather petty. He nuzzled into Lana’s neck, nipping at a particularly sensitive spot, “I thought I was the only large creature around here.”

The harpy whined and shuddered, starting to lose focus as he laid small kisses up her throat, a few of his tentacles winding up her leg and around her waist, “Keed… be serious…”

“I am serious; serious about you…” Keed murmured as he kissed her deeply and passionately, pushing Lana onto her back, not giving her a chance to reply. Lana hummed blissfully and relaxed as she reciprocated his kiss. Her wings wrapped around him, drawing him closer.

Keed felt a sense of petty satisfaction upon hearing the distant angry splash of a tail.

They stayed nose to nose when they broke apart.

“I love you, fierce, bright, love of mine.” Keed whispered, looking at his harpy full of adoration.

Lana smiled and gave him a quick peck, “I love you too, my dear sweet, clever Keed.” She giggled, “Now could you confirm the large shape swimming out there?”

“Of course, my love.”

Keed’s tentacles curled and uncurled as he put on his helmet for greater vision to see who’s in the water; confirming his suspicions.

“Hey Lana, I think we should head back home,” he suggested, “A large predator is hunting in these waters; and I’d rather not end our date on a sour note.”

Keed helped pack up the picnic blanket, basket and what little was leftover of thefood. He casually pulled something out of an armored pocket, tapped a button on the orb-like device. and then tossed the object into the water and smiled sweetly at Lana.

“Let’s go home, dear Lana!” Keed chirped, sweeping his harpy into arms.

Lana laughed, “Let’s go home.”

The flash-bang won’t hurt the stalking fuckhead, but it would mess up his senses, causing his ears to ring and his night vision to go to shit for an hour. The damage that it would cause to the lurking Gray Knight would be fully healed by the time Lana and Keed are back at the temporary home that the Gannet Harpies had set up. Which was a mild enough punishment for stalking someone else on a date.

[hetalianskywalker]

Day 1: The Courtyard

Pairing: Merman Rex x Harpy Reader

Summary: A merman and a harpy plan an escape

Authors Notes: Mermaid AU. This is my first Mermay fic and longest fic ever. So sorry if it’s a bit rough. Partly inspired by a scene in the The Last Unicorn.

Warnings: So with them being a Harpy and a Merman, I go with old school myths so drowning and eating people is vaguely discussed. There is also some blood and it gets consumed. Minor Violence. Death, but not anyone we care about. The villain is manipulative and says some controlling creepy stuff.

Word Count: 2791

Prompt: The kingdom by the sea is cruel. A captured mermaid being carried through the castle gates briefly caught the eye of a harpy in a cage above, a glance full of rage and compassion.

Prompt 3243 by deepwaterwritingpromts

The rage in the brown eyes of the merman below you is just as much a comfort as the compassion is. Even when the brief moment ends, the complicated way they make you feel doesn’t vanish. You cast the blonde one last glance as the stormtroopers carry his coffin-like tank into the witch’s workshop.

A part of you worries as the doors shut, leaving you with no access to the only other inhuman in the castle. Perhaps they have brought him for fresh ingredients for the witch’s potions, but you have a feeling he would already be missing pieces of his blue and white fishtail if that were the case. Your talons dig into your perch branch waiting to hear sounds from the workshop as your mind plays through what might happen next. The silence only makes you more queasy.

It is late into the night when a tank, big enough for him to swim around a few feet, is carried out with magic. He looks exhausted, but that’s what having the magic drained out of you so you can’t fight or escape does to a mythical creature. At least he isn’t dead; it has been a long time since you had decent company other than the birds.

“They won’t be able to find you.” The witch simply states. “Especially now that you can’t summon a storm.” Tired brown eyes glare, but he doesn’t come to the surface to speak to her. She raises her hand and you can all feel the spark of magic in the air. You let out an ear piercing screech and the stormtroopers all around cover their ears. Your tormentor’s attention turns to you with a sharp glare, but the spell dies in her hand.

“Do you have something to add, harpy?” She walks till she is right under your cage. “You have been stuck here for years unable to escape. And I plan to keep it that way till the day I die. Perhaps you can explain it to the Mer.”

All rational thought leaves you for a moment. You had been asleep when her and her private soldiers, back before her island had been part of the empire, had stumbled upon you. If you had been awake and not put into an even deeper slumber by the old power hungry witch, this situation would be far different.

Your massive wings stretch as far as they can go within the cage as the wind begins to pick up. You screech as you summon forth all the magic you can at the moment, trying to shatter the iron bars. They bend before your might and for a moment a part of you hopes they will shatter this time. You can see the Mer look up at you in awe and surprise as the stormtroopers shake in fear.

But this is as far as you always come. The sleep spell once again starts to sap your energy no matter how hard you try to fight it.

“Why can’t you get rid of that damn harpy!?” One stormtrooper hisses. “It will be the death of us all.”

The stormtrooper is tossed against a wall in retaliation with a quick flick of the witch’s wrist. The others quickly fall back in line as the witch catches her breath still staring at you. You have now wrapped your wings around yourself on your perch, barely able to keep your eyes open.

“I… caught the last wild harpy. All on my own. No massive hunting party. No army. Just me. And I have held her. I may be mortal…” She moves her eyes to the Mer for a moment before turning back to you. “But my efforts and power shall never been forgotten by creatures held under it. When I am long gone, my memory will live on.”

As sleep finally takes you, you wish she was wrong. You want to say you’ll forget her after finally tearing her to pieces, but you know you will carry these years of captivity like a badge of shame. You wonder what the Mer thinks of you now.

The next few weeks are a struggle. The witch is being careful to drain as much magic as possible from the both of you while still alive. This has made getting to know the Mer, who you found out is named Rex, a bit difficult with one or both of you fighting falling asleep before the night shift guards come out. During the night patrols, there are windows of time where you can speak to each other without being overheard.

However, you both manage to remain awake tonight. News reached the castle that Lord Vader himself is coming. And he has been asking around about Rex. He had bared his sharp teeth at the witch with a growl making bubbles in the water and his claws slowly scratching down the magically fortified glass when your captor informed you both.

“I won’t ask for details.” You speak softly, laying on your stomach at the bottom of your cage. Your chin rests on your forearms as you look down at your Mer friend. He mirrors your position with his arms on the edge of his tank, looking up at you. “But we need an escape plan now. Your brothers won’t track you here in time.”

“I don’t have any details to give you anyway.” Rex bitterly grumbles. “Other than the fact he took over my battalion after the General died, I don’t know why he’s so interested in getting here to me.” This whole situation bothers both of you like there is something more going on. But whatever it is, it is safer to leave than to seek answers.

“I’m still not powerful enough to take human form and whatever storm magic I can perform right now isn’t going to be strong enough to free you or get my brothers’ attention.” He continues, glaring bitterly down at his clawed hands. You watch the powerful blue and white fin swish back and forth in the water and his sharp teeth clench together. Under normal circumstances, being a storm summoner is one of the most powerful subgroups of Mer there are; both of you would be more than a match for the people around you. You understand the frustration.

“I have an… idea.” He looks up at you again after you say that, curious and wary.

“I don’t like how you said that, senaar.” The blunt reply makes you softly smile just as much as the nickname does.

“Have you consumed?” Rex’s brown eyes squint at you before widening in shock. He quickly shakes his head with a look of disgust. You’re surprised to say the least. “You haven’t.”

“We were soldiers for the Jedi Order and the Republic for 3 years and before that I never had the need to.” He answers just above a whisper. Was eating a species weaker than your own so dispised now? It was strange hearing it from a species you had once heard stories of dragging harpies, who hunted too close to the sea, down below the depths. Perhaps Mer traits and instincts were far more affected by the kaminoan alchemists and the Jedi Knights than you initially thought.

“Do you know why your kind once drowned and ate humans?” You move the topic in a slightly different direction.

“It was a deterrent and…”

“And?”

“It strengthens our magic.” He stops to think and then suddenly looks like he would be sick. “And that happens even more so with other magical beings. You’re not suggesting…”

“It’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” You give him a guilty look. “If I could trade spots and have you give your blood instead, I would.”

He looks oddly relieved and it’s your turn to be confused as you begin to make a cut on your arm. You let the blood begin to trickle down toward his tank.

“What did you think I was gonna cut off my hand and throw it to you for a second?” You grumble sarcastically as he takes the first swallow of your blood.

“You did have me worried.” Rex smiles up at you as you both feel the air sizzle with magic. There was once a time where a Mer’s smile would make your blood run cold, but now the sharp teeth just fills you with hope and excitement for what is to come.

The raging storm has the guards and witch scurrying to hold everything down. Your cage swings to the point it’s dizzying, but you don’t care. You don’t need magic to feel that the Mer are coming.

Rex is exhausted after mustering that strong of a storm. The rain slams into both you and there is thunder and lightning everywhere. All there is left to do is wait, basking in the might of a storm summoner.

“Captain!” You jump, startled at a voice being the same as Rex’s. Suddenly there are dozens of Mer scattered throughout the courtyard and on top of the castle gate. They scatter almost as fast as you see them, but a good handful go for Rex. A mix of the Mer language, Mando’a, and basic immediately fills the air as his brothers pull him from the tank.

Magic is exchanged through a simple touch and Rex quickly changes to human form. While he still doesn’t have the energy to walk, it makes him a lot easier for his brothers to carry. Two of them hold him up while a third checks him over. Three more stand guard around them as fighting can be heard in the distance even with the hallowing wind.

“I’m alright, Kix.” You can’t help but grin along with the rest of the men at the tired remark. The medic, that you have already heard one or two stories about, rolls his eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll be the judge of that when we get home, but you’re good enough to be moved.” Kix sighs goodnaturedly. They begin to head for the exit and fear begins to bubble inside you.

“Yeah, Commanders Wolffe and Bly are tearing up the ocean looking for you.” You identify him as Jesse from the massive republic symbol on his helmet, helping carry Rex’s left side. He says it like it’s a joke, but it also has an undercurrent of worry to it.

“Wait. Free the harpy.” Rex orders; his men all stop before staring at Rex and then at you. You watch a couple of them gulp.

“You can’t be serious,” the arc mer with an intricate helmet design, who you are pretty sure is Fives, hisses.

“I wouldn’t have made it this far without her.” Rex stares up at you as he says it. You smile back and nod before pointing at the enchanted lock on your cage.

“Please let me out.” You beg, looking to the rest of the men. They all shuffle uncomfortably, caught between feeling obligated to let you out and the fear of the damage you could cause.

“What if she goes berserk!?” You glare at the one with the massive arrow pattern on his helmet, definitely Dogma.

“I can hear you.” You hiss at him causing all of them but Rex to flinch.

“The storm is lifting.” Tup says with a hint of worry as the winds begin to die down; you can see the painted teardrop on his helmet as he tilts up to look at the sky. Even with the fighting still going on in another part of the castle, it was best to leave now.

“I’m not leaving without her.” Rex pulls himself out of Jesse and Five’s grasp only to have Kix stop him from falling flat on his face.

“I’ll do it!” The final clone of the group announces, a little too excited, having already began pulling the lever to bring your cage to the ground. It comes down a little too fast, but you catch yourself on the bars.

“Sorry!”

“Hardcase!” He gives a slightly embarrassed laugh in response, scratching the back of his head.

A part of you wants to be mad; the majority of the Mer around stiffen with the expectancy you will be. However, the quick laugh that leaves your mouth serves to only make Hardcase nervously smile and Rex looks at you understandingly. Your freedom is so close.

Hardcase slices through the enchanted lock and you spring out into the sky, bearly giving him the chance to jump out of the way. You cackle at the feeling of the wind before circling back around to them.

You smile at them. Upon seeing your weren’t going to fall into the legendary harpy rage, they all seem to finally relax. They use their claws to scale back over the wall and the rest of the Mer retreat, having gotten what they came for.

“You never would have gotten out on your own, Harpy!” You freeze at the top of the courtyard wall. Rex turns to look back at you from his place on the ground with the rest of his group. He shakes his head; your mind registers the plea, but you can feel the fury of years of torment take over.

“You are always going to be mine! There is no way for you to ever be completely rid of me!” The witch’s words take hold and you turn around in a blind rage. There she stands, wounded and possibly already dying. It does not stop you from swooping down and ripping her apart. You proceed to do the same for every living person in the castle that night.

You don’t come out of it till dawn breaks. Covered in blood, you rise high above your old prison. You know the Mer and Rex are long gone, but you look around anyway. It was safer this way after all you remind yourself; if any of them had tried to stop you while you were like that, you probably would have killed them. There is a reason, after all, harpies are mostly solitary creatures.

You look toward the ocean and consider flying to the islands of Mandalore. Rex had made the home of the Mer sound like a paradise and you would be welcome to visit when you were both free. You smile sorrowfully before flying in the opposite direction.

It would take you months to gather the courage. You found yourself traveling from island to island, finding the world much changed by imperial rule especially with the Jedi Order gone. It was now your safest option to go live on one of the many outer rim islands.

You found yourself flying toward the home of the Mer without even completely comprehending it. Being a harpy they could always turn you away or even kill you for entering their territory, but you had to see Rex. The last look he gave you still ties your stomach in knots. And you miss him. You deeply miss him.

You meet no resistance as you make it to the massive island. They eye you warily, but none make a move to make you leave. You begin to grow frustrated as the hours pass; there are so many of the Sea Alor’s clones on this island intermixed with the original Mer population and even more spread throughout the island chain, not to mention under the water. How were you ever going to find him?

“Senaar!?” You stop and look down. Rex stands on the beach; his armor gleaming in the sun. It looks like he had just returned.

On pure instinct, you swoop down and crash into him. You wrap him in the tightest hug you can and his own arms squeeze you in turn as he falls backward into the water. You quickly let out apology after apology for everything, but he just smiles as you both sit up.

It is then you finally notice that there are way too many eyes on you. The renegade 501st members and some other rouge mer clones seem to swarm around the two of you and you become too embarrassed to talk.

“I missed you too.” The gentleness of his voice brings you comfort just like it did back in the courtyard. He gently leans his forehead to yours and his hands cup your face.

In that moment, you finally found what you had been searching for since you had been apart. You didn’t care about the witch's curse of haunting you, what the empire wanted, the old wounds between your species, or even your own kind’s long held belief in solitude. You understood one another and the sense of belonging made you feel at peace. You should have come sooner, but you're happy to be here with him now.

[monstercampus]

Ellie my birthday is coming up soon!! can I ask how the monsters on campus celebrate the little human's birthday?

omg happy birthday my love!!!! i hope you have/had a wonderful day <333

A lot of monster species don't actually celebrate birthdays, so it's a new concept for them! Some cultures and species acknowledge it but don't have celebrations, some celebrate communal birthdays annually with one huge party for everyone, and others have a variety of practices that vary from place to place and race to race. But anybody who knows even a little bit about humans knows they love to celebrate their day of birth, so they'd work really hard to make you feel welcome and happy even though you're far from home!

For one, a lot of your fellow students and friends will consult professors like Dr. Wellwright for help--their resident harpy and human expert has all sorts of books piled high on his shelves on human behavior, plus he's spent the most time with humans in their own spaces as an alumni of a previously humans-only university, so he has lots of wisdom to offer! He'll help divy up tasks for everyone so all your friends can feel like they're pitching in for you <3 It'll be like its own event on campus: preparing for their first human student's (surprise) birthday party!

Obviously Priam and Anton are heading this operation as your roommates, so their co-operation is tested to the limits as they prepare the dorm with a subtle hand. The party's gonna take place elsewhere so everyone involved can attend, but they've first got to make sure that nothing's out of place for the day itself; cleaning the apartment is one thing, but they're also gonna make sure you get a proper introduction to the day with breakfast and a small present or two--they don't want you to think everyone forgot, after all! So while they're gonna argue about what to make you to eat, and whether or not Priam can wake you with kisses and snuggles (because he cannot be trusted to let you up afterwards!) the shadow that lingers in your room will also prepare by conjuring up some sweet, pleasant dreams to show you the night before you wake up. They want to give you good dreams, but also let you indulge in those sweet, nostalgic memories of home so you have something to look back on fondly the moment you awaken.

In the meanwhile, Jelly and Ollie get tasked with the cake (supervised by prof Aryck, of course) which you would think would be a disaster....and it is! But a tasty one. Ollie wants to make sure the baking is perfect, but Jelly's all wrapped up in making sure you have a selection of everything you could want. So while she's hustling around with a million different ingredients and a dozen different recipes going at the same time, Ollie's rushing behind her to dial down the oven temperatures and fix the mistakes in the batter bowls she leaves behind. By the end the kitchen will be a right mess, and Ollie will be exhausted, but they'll have a spread to be proud of to present to you--and Jelly will clean up the aftermath in the kitchen as recompense. Besides, nobody wants to see Aryck get mad over a careless, left-behind kitchen mess. Your holes would likely never recover

Being the muscle of the operation, the werewolves on the team will task themselves with setting up your party space, with Tentacles offering aid in sprucing up the place and keeping things clean and Huxley bringing along the orcs to build some nice tables and chairs for everyone to use. Initially the plan would be to host it inside, but they'll end up setting everything up out by the beach on the lake--that way you can enjoy the nice weather and have a swim if you'd like! Plus, some of the monsters in attendance (ie. Nessie, the Kraken, Tentacles, Jelly, etc) don't do well without water for long stretches of time, so it's a win-win! They'll also have their resident gorgon August shyly offering up some flower arrangements to decorate with, and though they'll be scarce during the event they'll leave a little present for you behind with a singing snapdragon barette inside.

Lidya and Jude have the task of gathering up entertainment, to which there's no better option than to pull out the big guns and set up the most impressive games they have to offer. Lidya will rig up their biggest DDR-style machine (safely away from the shoreline) along with a bunch of other group games for everyone to play, as well as a couple beach balls and a football to keep the wolves enriched. And whether by choice or through bribery Jude will get his program loaded into the dance machine so he can participate, and so you can see him too!

You wouldn't think it would be a necessity, but Efraim, Zombie, and King Bee all share the responsibility of keeping your birthday a secret, too. As liked as you are by many, there's still enough scrutiny from those other monsters that your friends know there's a chance of them trying to screw it all up. The last thing they want is for some unwanted guests to crash your party or just make you feel bad with mean comments on your special day, so the three of them work for weeks to make sure that nobody that's not invited stumbles upon your party by the beach or even knows it's your birthday until it's all over. As an added precaution, Cyrus guards the event from a respectable distance, so even if someone does come by he can turn them away before they even get close. Nobody in their right mind wants to be on the other end of those hooves anyways.

And there are some who, even if they aren't at your party for long or at all, celebrate in their own little ways with you. Elyos, the statue outside your apartment, hands you a little bouquet when you walk by because the pixies told him about your birthday--and they helped pick the flowers, too! They'll slip you a little card they made alongside it, along with enough birthday kisses to match every year all over your pretty face! And though Isaac is forbidden from attending, he'll still have a gift for you that he sneaks into your pocket as you walk by....but he can't quite bring himself to hand over the letter he wrote and rewrote a hundred times, so that one he keeps to himself. Later, he promises himself.

Some of your profs will make a brief appearance at the event as well, but most of them will stick to cards and small gifts given to you beforehand or after class. Cookies from Aryck, a handmade music box from Sheela, a prized treasure from the Dean's hoard, woven mittens from Mr. M, a raven-feather quill from the Doctor, a spiritual enlightenment pamphlet from the Archangel.....all manner of things, but each one with plenty of thought behind it, you can rest assured. Everyone has so much fun at your party, they'll insist on doing the same next year too! In fact, they all might want to start celebrating more birthdays just so everyone can get together and have fun all over again! You might have to move into a bigger room to fit all the gifts you'll get, though--some of the things the monsters come up with are just wild.

[astarab1aze]

in true wizard fashion, loux is a hoarder. deeply unfortunate, as he simply will not get rid of anything and doesn't really care if he ends up amassing enough crap to start a fire if he so much as farts the wrong way. he likes things, the type to collect lunchmeat tupperware to stuff full of sewing needles and thread, or buttons, mouse bones, feathers, and blackwyrm sacs. cookie tins for brachio seeds, old cigarette tins for harpy eyes, mason jars for blackwyrm eggs, beholder eye stalks, and gas adder acid bladders. crate upon crate of tungskin ready for sale, near endless stacks of old textbooks and stolen tomes, scrolls and diagrams, writs and treatises, crystals and gemstone clusters in wide range of shapes and sizes, hutches, display cases, stolen artifacts and weapons both human and nightfolk, cabinet upon cabinet of jarred alchemical ingredients and ritual tools - and a closet that'd blow any unreasonably wealthy person out of their own walk-in, both masculine and feminine.

he's by no means messy and keeps absolutely everything labeled and organized, regularly going through and tossing what's expired, outdated, or otherwise useless to him and replacing it all later - but he has so much. about the only thing that's regularly disorganized is his desk, and that's not likely to change since it's a place he can be found frequenting - the mess is basically in constant rotation between research, balancing his ledger, going through his records, transitory poition-making since he's a pacer, so on and so forth. that's where he does most of his...well, anything, be it magic or even sleeping (he really only sleeps in his bed if he has a partner). anyway, he keeps everything else very clean, charming a number of common household cleaning tools to automatically sweep, dust, make the bed, scrub the dishes, etc. so that, even while he's away, where he lives is always neat and organized.

[sleepyfan-blog]

First Mer-Introductions

Author’s note: Thank you to @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for allowing me to borrow Jophiel and thank you to @egrets-not-regrets for letting me borrow Erriox, Mara and Lenora! First. Previous. Next

tagged: @egrets-not-regrets @the-pure-angel @whorety-k @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

Warnings: mild panic, poor coping mechanisms

Summary: Jophiel talks Cedric into meeting his mom and not-dad. 

"They are both really kind and good to me. And I've spoken to both of them about each of you. They want to meet you." Jophiel cajoles, a small and hopeful smile on the young Librarian's eyes as he peers hopefully at his brother-cousin.

Cedric sighs a little, shifting a bit as he looks briefly over at Jophiel, before returning to the task of grinding together the ingredients he had foraged. The two of them were sitting on a beach, their tails regularly awash with the waves as he ground together the components of a medical paste that helped wounds to heal properly, while also keeping potential illness and parasites away from the wound in question. "Harpies are often quite wary of Astartes, and for good reason. I am glad that you have found a family, but..." He sighs a little, shaking his head a little "Historically, Sons of Dorn and Sons of Perturabo have very rarely gotten along, even before The Heresy. I don't... I don't want to cause friction between you and the Firstborn Cousin who's... Who you've become close to." He didn't want to make Jophiel choose between himself and this Erriox. The presence of the older mer in Jophiel's life was a markedly positive one - and it did help soothe his worries that the other was a Loyalist. 

Things were very different here on Ancient Terra, but Cedric could not bring himself to even try and begin to extend trust to the treacherous heretics. The thought of willingly cooperating with them for longer than was absolutely necessary made his blood boil and he could practically hear the way that his mentor would bellow at him for being so foolish and naive. Moments before the fiery and stubborn older Apothecary charged whichever Chaotic fool was watching Cedric get scolded for being a foolish pup and stabbed until they either died or fled for their own safety. 

Jophiel watched him with Big, Sad Red eyes, his lower lip wobbling a little as the other swum closer to Cedric "Please... At least meet them once? If it goes badly, I won't try and press you to go again. I can arrange for you to meet mama first, even! Older Brother Erriox frequently goes on Hunts, and I'm sure that mother would understand why you would feel a bit uncertain meeting her in their nest! Ooooh, I could take you to where the Gannet Aunties are! They're the ones who showed me how to use my wings properly in the water, and the ones who helped me create this lovely pattern on my wings." The young Primaris Blood Angel explained, shifting a little to show off his osprey-pattern painted wings. 

Cedric really was glad that Jophiel had finally been able to not just reconcile with the fact that he had been gifted wings like the Holy Primarch Sanguinius, but that his wings were in fact a gift. A blessing, and not a curse or a shameful secret to hide. But the idea of being around even more strangers to him who were very important to one of his brother-cousins was... Incredibly stressful. While he wasn't the most awkward son of Dorn... Cedric was keenly aware of the reputation that the wild populations of his firstborn brothers had cultivated when one heard that there was a Black Templar Astartes mer nearby. He ducks his head a little and asks "They... They won't mind that I am a Black Templar?" While none of the mortal humans had been attacked by the Black Templars with lethal intent - at least not with the Templars inciting the incident once the Realization had come that they were on Ancient and Holy Terra... The magical creatures who lived alongside the humans, and especially the harpies and other kinds of magical creatures who were known to be hunters of humans... Were not given the same sorts of distant protection and reverence, despite also being natives to Holy Terra as well. 

Jophiel paused for a moment, clearly considering his question and the implications he meant by it "Well... No! Of course not. Not unless you try to attack them first for some reason. They know better than to assume all astartes of one chapter are the same, of course. Also..." The young Librarian gestured to Cedric "You don't... Exactly look like a standard Black Templar."

"That's because I'm an Apothecary, Jophiel. All Apothecaries have our primary colorations fade to white during the training into becoming Apothecaries, with the occasional bit of original coloration left to identify which chapter or legion we belong to. It's something that happens to all Apothecaries. Just like how all Chaplains primary colorations shift into black or a near-black color with only hints of other colors to identify which chapter or legion they belong to. It's how the Emperor created us to be." Cedric points out with a sigh, shaking his head a little. He flicked his almost snow-white and black striped tail deliberately, splashing his brother-cousin as he finished grinding the ingredients into paste. 

Jophiel squawked and splashed him back, careful to aim so that the water wouldn't accidentally splash into the mortar and pestle Cedric was using and ruining the batch of wound-binding poultice he was creating. "Yeah, yeah. I know. Sooo are you gonna meet mama and older brother Erriox or not?"

Cedric sighed, pausing in his task to check to see if the poultice was at the correct consistency by smearing it a little around the sides of the mortal, rolling his wrist and getting back to grinding it into a finer paste "If I say yes and do my best to make a good first impression, will you stop begging me? When did you want me to meet them?" He'd rather meet them one at a time, but he suspected if Jophiel was truthful about his gene-lineage, the Iron Warrior would insist on meeting him first, or alongside his mate, as was his right. Not that Cedric intended someone who made Jophiel so happy and clearly loved him and cared for him harm. But ancient grudges were not something easily overcome. He'd need to make a proper greeting gift, but what?

Any sort of medical poultice or potion could be seen as an implied threat - that one or both of them might need what he was giving them. A gift of food could be seen as an insult to Erriox's - or Lenora's for that matter - ability to hunt and forage food for themselves. Nest building materials would be presumptuous and a possible implied threat as well. Shells might work? Especially if he checked to make sure that there wasn't anything living within them first. That had been a surprise that could have ended poorly, but Geoducks were delicious, especially once roasted and wrapped in sea asparagus.

"As soon as possible! I'll go ask mama when and where she'd like to meet you! Don't worry, I'll remind her that you're kind of shy." Jophiel reassured Cedric before swimming off excitedly, diving off into the waves.

"I AM NOT SHY! HOW DARE YOU?!" Cedric spluttered at the top of his lungs, sulking at the very notion. He was cautious, not shy!

~

Three days later and after hours of carefully going through his stash of pretty rocks and neat looking shells, he had settled on a small handful of each to offer Jophiel's adoptive mother and Firstborn Older Brother, should things go well. Jophiel had told him that he was going to be meeting both of them along the shoreline near where the Gannet Harpy flock who Jophie referred to as Aunties were roosting, as a more neutral spot then Cedric being led to where the two of them made their nest. Which Cedric felt was an entirely fair and reasonable thing to do, despite the unhappy pout on the Blood Angel's face as he had told Cedric this. 

Cedric swum up to the designated strip of shoreline near Gannet Rock and activated his ability to swim through the air, which was a more elegant way of being able to move, rather than dragging his tail behind him as he pulled himself out of the serf by his arms. He hummed quietly to himself as he fidgeted a little with the two pouches he had brought along with him. If he had put the rocks and shells together, the rocks would break the softer shells into a fine powder which could be used in a number of useful applications that included but were not limited to increasing the amount of calcium in a dish, but was not what Cedric had intended the shells for. The young Astartes was keenly aware that he had arrived early to the spot that Jophiel had promised that he would meet Miss Lenora and Cousin Erriox. Cedric had been tempted to call the meeting off... But he was a Black Templar, damn it. He would face this trial head on, and hope that it went well. 

"Good afternoon, Astartes." Called out an older feminine voice from above and behind Cedric.

This caused the young Black Templar to startle as he twisted around to see who was addressing him. She appeared to be an older Gannet harpy, from the lines on her face and the faded colorations on her wings. "Y-Yes?" Cedric called out, uncertain as to why she was addressing him. 

"Is there a particular reason why you are lingering on this strip of beach, so near where my family roosts?" The elder Gannet harpy asked bluntly, looking him over. Cedric had been brought to Ancient Terra without his armor or weapons and hadn't brought any of the makeshift weapons he had created while on Ancient Terra with him to this meeting. 

"Uhm... I'm supposed to be meeting a couple of beings here? Per the request of one of my brother-cousins. Jophie said that it was fine..." Cedric explained, feeling horribly uncertain now. This was the correct day, if not quite the right time, yes? And Cedric was fairly sure he was at or near the correct spot. 

"You know young Jophiel?" The elderly Gannet Harpy pressed, her eyes widening a little as she looked him over more assessingly "I've never seen an Astartes with this much white in their scales. Which pod do you belong to?"

Cedric squirmed a little from where he sat in the surf. "I... Ah... Haven't really joined up with one of the established Astartes Pods after arriving on Ancient Terra, actually. Though I do have some contact with a couple of my firstborn brothers!" Not that brother Roland or Brother Arnault knew that. He was pretty sure one or both of them would scold him for it. "But that doesn't mean I'm not part of a pod! I'm with a group of five of my fellow primaris brother-cousins! As far as any of can tell, I was the first to be brought to Ancient Terra, and I've been the one who found the others, usually. Though Claude did find Catius, I think." 

"I see. Is there a reason why you haven't sought out an established pod of Astartes?" She inquired, looking him over again, a small frown appearing on her face "Are you perhaps concerned about the reaction that your coloration would provoke in your firstborn brothers?" 

Was she... Was she referencing the fact that Jophiel had been - and to a lesser extent still was - wary about approaching firstborn Blood Angels and their descendant chapters because of his wings? Oh dear... "I... Ah. Though my primarily white coloration does mean something specific among Astartes, it's unlikely that I would get a bad reaction, if I was spotted by a group of Firstborn brothers... Though they would probably chase me down and try to catch me if they spotted me. My specialization is fairly rare, haha... Though not quite as rare as say, Ramiel's or Jophiel's." 

"Specalization? I had not known that Astartes coloration denoted specialization. Would you care to explain?" Mara pressed, floating a little bit closer to Cedric as she asked. 

"Oh, uhm sure. Jophiel's hood denotes him as a Librarian - a magic user. Most fully trained librarians also either carry a staff or a long-handled primary weapon as well. Ramiel's mostly black coloration and the skull-mask of his helm denotes him as a Chaplain. Specifically a Justicar, which is a Primaris Chaplain-in-training. My primarily white coloration marks me as an apothecary. A healer." Cedric explained "If you're curious about Jophie's wings... They're a rare expression of his gene-seed. A rare and precious gift, although it's been difficult to get Jophiel to accept that. You have my deepest gratitude and eternal thanks in getting him to fully accept himself as he is." He hasn't had to treat Jophiel for accidental injuries to his wings in months. A fact that he attributed to both Miss Lenora and the Gannet Harpies helping him become more comfortable in his skin and wings. 

"Fascinating, I hadn't known that... You didn't answer my question when I asked why you were avoiding joining your older brothers in a pod. Is there a reason why?" The older Gannet harpy pressed, her eyes narrowing a little.

Cedric cringed a little. He had many reasons why he didn't want to formally join a Black Templar pod. Many of them were cowardly in nature...Besides... Neither Brother Arnault nor Brother Roland were part of a proper Astartes pod and they seemed fine! They were both really happy with their bonded humans and seemed to at least tolerate his and the other primaris brother-cousins presences well enough. "I come from a particularly migratory chapter, ma'am. Trying to find a pod of them on this world without proper communication equipment would be really difficult." Which is the easiest answer he has. He really hopes that she doesn't notice the way that he's shaking at the thought of joining a Black Templar pod... It's possible he could join an Imperial Fist pod, but they would immediately clock him as a Black Templar, and would likely arrange for him to meet with Firstborn Black Templars and he... Cowardly though it was, had no desire to meet any Leading Black Templars right now. 

Besides... Cedric also nursed the hope that the other Primaris Black Templars who had been killed for the crime of existing while their Firstborn Brothers were angry and could take their temper out on them would be sent to Holy Terra in this time as well. That he would be able to save them, as he hadn't been able to in the 42nd century. But being able to do so hinged on him not being monitored and potentially stopped by nosy older brothers when he received the distress call.  "Am I not allowed to try and figure out who I want to be, without the pressures of my firstborn brothers pressuring me into the mould they want me to be? Being brought to Ancient and Holy Terra has allowed me opportunities to help my fellow Primaris brothers I hadn't been able to have back where I taken from." He couldn't quite look her in the eyes as he said this, but his chin was tilted upwards in defiance. His entire body was shaking a little with the effort, but... But he was trying, damn it! He hoped she would accept this answer and back off.

The elder Gannet Harpy hummed in response to that, seemingly accepting his words. "Very well. Lenora and Erriox should be arriving soon. Have a good day, young one." With that she took off in a flurry of movement and shifting feathers. 

~

True to her prediction, it did not take long after Lady Mara left for Cedric to spot an Osprey harpy flying towards him. Cedric squashed the instinctual desire to shift into a defensive posture, perhaps grab several of the nearby rocks to arm himself for a fight. From the descriptions that Jophiel had given him, the Osprey harpy circling into land was Jophiel's adopted mother - and sure enough, Cedric saw the large venomfin emerge from the waters. He suppressed the desire to arm himself as the firstborn astartes approached him. He cleared his throat a little before calling out "Greetings, Cousin. Greetings Miss Lenora." He placed his hands in his lap, doing his best to keep them relaxed, a visible show that he wasn't armed and wasn't reaching for a weapon.

The Firstborn Astartes called out "So you're Cedric, huh? Where's your squad, Scout?"

"... The chapter I am from don't have Scouts. We have aspirants and neophytes who are then taken as apprentices as older brothers, though we are sorted into squads for missions based on ability, specialization if any, and mentor preference." Cedric responded back, pouting a little in the older Astartes' direction. "I am the only one here, as far as I know." He technically did have a squad! He even had a fellow Primaris Black Templar! Not that he was going to tell the Iron Warrior that. But the others were off on their own missions and far from here."

"Hmmm...." The Older astartes rumbled, looking him over carefully "I'm surprised that your pod let you out without a minder, little Apothecary."

"I'm not little!" Cedric huffed, barely able to restrain himself from pouting more or sticking his tongue out at the older Astartes, as that would be far too immature and childish of him. Even if part of him was tempted to do something so ridiculous. "I'm larger than you are."

"Maybe in terms of bulk, but you're young. That I can tell, also from the stories that Jophiel has told us about you. You're Cedric, correct?" Cousin Erriox asked, looking him over carefully "You certainly look the part of a young apothecary."

"... Of course I am young? I am a Primaris Marine. What else would I be? As far as I know, no one has been taken from much further in time than I and my fellow Primaris brothers, and we have only recently been sent to our firstborn brothers to aid in... Things." Cedric responded, catching himself as miss Lenora landed. It was part of The Rules not to talk too much about Where You Were From while around the natives to Holy Terra of this timeline, for fear of doing irreparable damage to the timeline.

"Erriox please stop teasing the fledgling, he hasn't done anything to antagonize you." Miss Lenora called out as she landed gracefully on the sand, walking her way over to where the two large mer were sitting, sending a censuring stare the Iron Warrior's way. 

Erriox grumbled wordlessly for a moment before huffing out "Jophiel neglected to mention that any of the Primaris Marines he'd found here on Ancient Terra were sons of Dorn. Though, you're surprisingly not-shouty for a Black Templar."

Cedric hunched in on himself a little, biting back the first response that came to mind. He didn't want to cause friction between Jophiel and his adoptive parent and older brother, so he would do his best to be Polite and deliberately chose his words as carefully as he could manage, despite the irritation prickling at him "Would you rather I have charged you, calling you a heretic while trying to tear you apart with my bare hands?" He was aiming for dry sarcasm, and hoped that he managed it. 

"Hah. I am a loyalist, which I am certain Jophiel has already told you. Still, I'm surprised that we aren't being menaced by your pod for being this close to one of their not-Scouts." Erriox hummed, a small smile gracing his scarred face. 

"I am here to meet the two of you for the first time. What I do in my spare time as long as I don't deliberately put myself in danger is no concern of my older brothers." Cedric sniffed. Not that he had a proper pod who he belonged to. Nor had he told Brother Arnault nor Brother Roland he was doing this, unsure as to what their reactions would be. He was... Sixty-percent sure that Jophiel had told the two firstborn Templars about Erriox in enough detail for them to know that he was a pre-heresy Iron Warrior, but he couldn't be entirely sure. 

Erriox actually chuckled at that, eyes shining with mirth "I'm sure your older brothers would protest that. You're a handful of mischief, just like Jophiel."

Cedric flinched at that, ducking his head a little, realizing that he had been silently challenging the other by too much direct eye-contact. He couldn't help but grind out a sullen "And?" despite himself.

"That's not a bad thing." Lenora called out, much closer than he'd thought she was moments ago. He shifted to look at her, while keeping Erriox in his field of view. She slowly reached out and ruffled his short white hair "It's wonderful to meet one of the brothers who Jophiel has spoken so much about. He loves you all very much."

"And I know I speak for the others when I say that we all love him very much. Jophiel was decanted a couple of weeks after we were. Despite protesting that it doesn't make much of a difference, it really does." Cedric hummed, a small smile appearing on his face. They did occasionally tease Jophie about being the youngest of their group, but he made it so easy sometimes. He froze when he felt her touch, his eyes going wide as he tried to process the gentle touch being given to him by someone who wasn't a fellow Primaris Marine.

"Who was decanted first?" Lenora asked, stumbling over the word a little, sending an unreadable look at Erriox who shrugged in response. 

Cedric didn't immediately answer, the warmth of her hand and the light, pleasant scratchy feeling of her claws on his head had completely derailed whatever he was going to say. He was keeping very, very still as he tried to figure out whether or not he was enjoying himself or he was going to try to figure out how to politely ask her to stop touching him right this very minute.

"Mmm, I think you've short-circuited him. Sons of Dorn are stubborn as hell, but give them an unexpected friendly touch and they freeze up. They're not great about expressing or receiving affection. Like at all." Erriox, the bastard accused him of. 

The young Apothecary made a small sound in the back of his throat. He had attempted to growl at the older marine but had failed miserably. It was somewhere between a purr and a squeak. "We do not! As for your question earlier, Ramiel and I were decanted within minutes of one another. Rami likes to argue he was first, but he's wrong. I was." Cedric answered, attempting for playful confidence... though from the way his voice shook, he'd failed spectacularly. 

"Uh huh." Lenora hummed, smiling as she pet his head again.

Cedric leaned into her touch, a rush of complicated emotions that he was doing his best to Ignore and shove in the Feelings Box in the back of his mind, a whisper-soft purr starting to rumble from his chest. He understood why Jophiel liked Miss Lenora so much. She was warm and kind and just the right kind of stern when the situation called for it. Her scent was soothing as well. If he thought she would let him, he'd curl around her and beg her to keep gently touching him like this. It was so comforting and he was trying to blink back tears. They weren't angry or terrified tears, but they were still stinging his eyes, though he had yet to let them fall. "I am... I'm the oldest of the five of us. Not only in terms of decanting, but in how long we were each in the there and then before being brought here. Catius got lost in the Warp during the Primaris rollout. Calude would have been killed by being crushed to death by a flying tyranid he killed. Jophi... Jophiel won't tell me what happened just before he got sent to Holy Terra. And Ramiel... Ramiel died in my arms years before I was sent here." He desperately hoped that the other Primaris Marines who were killed by the... Capriciousness of their first-born brothers would be or have been sent to Ancient Terra, and that they had survived or would be able to survive with help... Or maybe even on their own. 

"... What the actual fuck did the Mechanicus do to you pups?" Erriox grumbled, a growl low in his chest.

Cedric flinched and shifted so that he was physically between miss Lenora and Erriox. His mind reminded him that the two of them were mates and it was vanishingly unlikely that Jophiel would come to care for and trust the Iron Warrior if he had shown habitual cruelties towards his mate... But long years of experience with firstborn brothers had taught him that that kind of growl coming from one of them always, always meant pain and suffering was sure to follow. Usually immediately.  "Arch Magos Bellisarius Cawl along with his team of mechanicus priests and trainers created and trained us before we were sent off to our chapters, on the orders of the Imperial Regent, once he learned of us. Some of our trainers were Iron Hands, and others were -" Cedric shuddered, keenly aware of the very harsh training methods that the silver and grey astartes whose chapter name was never spoken of. Their power... Their psychic might and viciousness with which they punished any signs of hesitation or weakness. "I don't know what they were called. We were not to speak of them when they weren't present."

"... But none of these trainers are here, in this time?" Lenora asked, one hand still petting his hair, the other drifting down to rub soothing circles into one of his shoulders. 

Cedric gave into the shameful urge to bury his face into her belly, the tremors wracking his body getting more violent "N-no. N-not as far as I know. I haven't seen or heard of any of them. And I would have heard of them, at least by the bloody wake they leave in their path. They... Really... don't like Chaos Marines. Ancient Terra or not, I don't think that any of... Any of them would tolerate the presence of chaos marines on Holy Terra, previous agreements by other loyalists be damned."

"Father's balls I don't want to meet whichever chapter scares a Black Templar this much." Erriox rumbled, sounding much closer to him and miss Lenora than he had been before.  A marine sized hand came to rest on the shoulder that Miss Lenora wasn't massaging. "Ancient Terra is safer than the hell you managed to escape, young one. You're safe here with me and my mate."

"Thank you sir." Cedric mumbled into Lenora's belly, his body slowly stopping trembling. "M'tired all of a sudden."

"Yeah. Lots of high emotion will do that to someone. Especially traumatized Scouts. Rest well, we will guard you." Erriox rumbled, gently squeezing his shoulder in reassurance.

"Thank you, sir." Cedric mumbled again, relaxing into the Harpy's warm touch, sleep pulling him under sweetly.

He could hear them talking as slumber took him, Erriox's voice rumbling. "We should take him to the nest. He'll be more comfortable there, and our other pup will be glad to see one of his chosen brothers there."

"Alright… Please help me carry him? He weighs more than you do."

"Of course, love." A chuckle "He's bigger than I am."