#nocturnal mm24

[nocturnalghoul]

Mushy May 2024

Day 4- Wound care/First aid

Rating/warnings: T (slight discussion of blood, but nothing graphic)

Pairing: Cirrus & Rain

Words: 786

Cirrus injures herself doing something Aether specifically told her was dangerous, but luckily has Rain for help.

Thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing and @ghuleh-recs for the divider :)

“Aw, what the fuck! Shit!” Cirrus yells as she feels something caught up in the whirlwind around her slice into her arm. Her best guess as to what happened is a sharp piece of wood got caught up in her magic and slashed along the back of her arm.

She drifts back down to the ground and takes a second to poke at the wound, wincing with a sharp inhale as she finally truly registers the pain.

There is a chance that she might have let her control on her magic slip a little due to being distracted remembering the fight she had had with Aether about her plan.

So what if riding a small tornado is an “impractical method of transport” and has “potential to get somebody hurt”, it looks cool as hell and there was no way she wasn’t gonna try it out. Besides, Cirrus had argued, she is responsible enough to only try it out in the woods where nobody else would be. She thought it wouldn’t hurt to at least try, but the blood trickling down her now firmly arm points to the contrary.

The sting of the cut is one thing, but having to admit to herself that perhaps Aether was right, and her plan was stupid hurts even worse.

Shit, Aether.

Looking at the slice it’s something that could easily be patched up without a fuss, but is in an awkward enough place that she can’t get a good look at it and isn’t confident she could do it herself.

Even though she might finally be acknowledging that she was wrong in their argument, there is no chance she will let Aether know he won. Going to him so soon afterwards is a hit to her pride Cirrus refuses to take.

She pulls down her sleeve and applies pressure as she hurries down the path, deep in thought about what to do. Luckily, the answer drifts to her on the wind. On the path to the east, she hears Rain humming while on a walk.

Beelining it through the trees, she manages to catch up with him easily enough and pops out in front of him.

“Oh hey Cir, come to join me or…” he trails off, noticing the blood dripping down the back of her arm past the sleeve. “Woah, what happened?”

“The consequences of my own magical actions I guess, but just know that it was cool and totally has potential” she grumbles, looking back towards where she came from.

“You’ll have to show me later, but I saw Aeth in the kitchen before I left if you want him to check that out for-”

“NO!” Cirrus cuts in, far too forcefully before grimacing apologetically.

She sees Rain raise an eyebrow inquisitively, thinking for a moment before moving on. “I see... well I’ll take a look”

He reaches out slowly to inspect the wound humming in consideration. “Eh, I think it’ll be fine. Doesn’t need stitches or anything major, but let me clean it up for you.”

She watches as he doubles back down the path to take the opposite fork and strides after him. It takes a good thirty seconds for her to remember that there is a first aid kit in Mountain’s greenhouse, but then she sighs in relief. Rain has got it under control.

Of all the ghouls she could have run into, she is glad it’s him. Both ghouls have gotten into countless situations due to stubborn pride, but somehow the other is always there to help. No judgment, no questions, no doubt. Just whatever is needed of them in the moment.

Rain idly chats about whatever happens to run through his brain on the walk there, a pleasant distraction and exactly what Cirrus needed.

They get to the greenhouse quickly enough, Rain walking in and heading straight for the first aid kit while Cirrus makes herself comfortable on a bench Mountain keeps by the door.

It hurts for a second while she adjusts to fold her legs under her, but that initial sharp pain is gone.

Once all the blood is washed off, it’s really not much more than a shallow cut. Rain puts some antiseptic on it and a few butterfly bandages and declares Cirrus “discount healed” with a big toothy grin.

“My hero” she proclaims with a big dramatic swoon gesture before bursting into laughter. “As payment, let me tell you what the intended vision was.”

~~~

While on his evening walk, Copia swears he can see two of his ghouls atop a small localized hurricane in the distance, but quickly decides to not see it and walk the opposite direction. Whatever trouble they get up to, they can work out themselves.

[nocturnalghoul]

Mushy May 2024

Day 2- Lake Night Snacks

Rating: G

Pairing: Cumulus & Rain

Words: 591

Thank you to @forlorn-crows for organizing the event once again ♡

Divider by @ghuleh-recs

There’s a high chance the loud noises and faint smell of bacon coming from the kitchen is purposefully trying to tempt somebody out, but Cumulus has been tossing and turning so long that she really doesn’t care. It only takes about 20 seconds before she’s throwing on a robe and slippers and setting down the hall in search of a distraction.

There’s a faint discontent noise from down the hall that she immediately clocks as belonging to Rain, bringing a soft smile to her face. It is so rare that she gets time alone with the water ghoul, the two of them often getting snagged by somebody else. This chance for the two of them to hang out alone is beyond overdue.

Before heading to bed she had noticed how beautiful the moon was shining on the lake, streaks of captivating pale blue light rippling with the shifting surface of the water. It had almost convinced her to head down, so it makes sense that Rain ended up there. Odds are he got carried away and only wandered back in.

As she rounds the corner to the kitchen, she can’t help but take a moment to appreciate the darling look of concentration on Rain’s face as he carefully pours batter onto a griddle in slow deliberate shapes.

“3am seems a bit early for breakfast” she teases, hopping up to sit on the counter opposite the griddle.

“It’s not so much early for breakfast, but late for dinner really. Got caught up at the bottom of the lake enjoying the moonlight, when I realized I was starving. Nobody else was up, but I had a feeling the extras wouldn’t go to waste” he yawns out in response, flipping a pancake onto the empty plate next to Cumulus.

“Hmmm you have always been perfect tempting, and I am here now so it’s a fair assumption.”

Cumulus smiles at the heart shaped pancake before picking it up, ripping it and handing one half to the water ghoul. She takes a quick moment to reunite the heart in a cheers motion and pops the treat into her mouth.

“Mmmm, it might be the late hour but that’s beyond amazing”

“Sunny and I have been working on incorporating fruit puree into the batter” Rain beams, sighing contently as he eats his own half.

“Mmm I love that y’all found an excuse to do something together that doesn’t end in tracking water everywhere”

Rain attempts to fake looking hurt at the insinuation that Sunshine and him are anything but well behaved, but it only lasts about 3 seconds before he dissolves into giggles.

“Yeah alright, well maybe you and I will have to scheme up some trouble to make up for it.” he lilts, following the air ghoulettes eyeline to the bacon beside him and handing her a piece.

The two go back and forth trading jokes and enjoying the alone time as Rain finishes up cooking. Eventually they hear a telltale groan of Mountain stretching as he shambles down the hallway to start his early day and make sure to leave the plates of food where he will see them.

They quietly scamper off to the patio to leave him to his routine, and make plans to meet up for some less elaborate late night snack and overall shenanigans on a semi-regular basis.

The next time the moon gets that particular irresistible shine to it Cumulus knows she’ll get alone time with her favorite water ghoul once again. This time she doesn’t even attempt to sleep, knowing the anticipation would keep her up anyways.

[nocturnalghoul]

Mushy May 2024

Day 10- Quiet Nights

I played it a little loose with the concept of the prompt, but it still fits and overall is something I enjoyed writing :)

Rating: G

Characters: Sunshine and Zephyr, background Ifrit and Swiss

Words: ~1.1k

Summary: Shortly before her summoning, Sunshine gets worried about how being summoned topside and having the latent fire magic inside of her activated will change the air element she already has. Some late evening meetings with some ghouls recently returned to the pit alleviate her concerns.

Involves my personal headcannon that while hybrid ghouls are born as such, multi ghouls are made so

Thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing and @ghuleh-recs for the great dividers ♡

Already, Sunny can feel the pull. The humans of the ministry might not know yet, but she has been told by the Dark Lord himself that she will be the next ghoul summoned by the satanic ministry. In three short months by topside calculations, she will be summoned.

This time is different though, a direct blessing from Him to strengthen the fire element within her. She has always felt its potential, but once she goes topside she will be both air and fire. A true multi ghoul. The prospect is exciting, everything she could ever ask for, but nerve-racking all the same. What if she learns to love the fire too much, forsaking the air element she has known her whole life? What if in order to strengthen the one element the other weakens?

These and various other questions have been blazing through her mind ever since she got the news, a wildfire of worry charring any other line of thought caught in its way.

The answer to her worries comes in the form of a resource she didn’t even know existed, the previous band ghouls. Getting an introduction to Zephyr and Ifrit was simple enough, news of returning ghouls travels fast and why not set up a dinner meeting for them and the new kid to chat.

Sunny sees the meeting with the ghouls for the perfect opportunity that it is, exactly the chance she needed to quell all her worries about being topside and her latent fire element.

She has always been extremely direct and voices her concerns to the two ghouls almost immediately, before the hellish vintage Zephyr picked out has even finished being poured.

She carefully notes the roaring laugh this pulls from the fire ghoul and the fond exasperated sigh from the air ghoul.

“Told you she wasn’t worried about the fire part, this is all on you my dear” Ifrit teases, pouring a little extra wine into Zephyrs goblet with a knowing look.

The plan gets worked out quickly leaving lots of time to chat and get to know one another. Each night leading up to her summoning Sunny will meet up with Zephyr and work on meditations to better connect her to her air magic. In addition, every other evening she will meet with Ifrit briefly to go over fire ghoul things. Just because it’s not her present concern doesn’t mean it won’t come in handy and Ifrit is historically eager to help anyways.

The meetings with Ifrit are raucous and energetic, freeing in a way she didn’t know was possible. The meditations with Zephyr are magical in multiple senses of the word.

As in tune with her magic as Sunny previously thought she was, it quickly becomes clear how much more she could improve.

Zephyr's techniques tend to be a mixture of focused meditation and light yoga, after which she swears she can sense the ambient magic swirling on the breeze around her.

There’s a closeness that grows in the silence. The shared concentration and mirrored movements accompanied by the soft sounds of air rustling the plants around them imprints upon Sunshine a feeling of having the air ghoul’s soul laid bare and hers revealed in turn. These moments together quickly become the highlight of her day, and something she knows will be missed terribly once she is summoned.

Halfway through her summoning countdown she meets up with Zephyr but something feels different. The older ghoul is holding back, but this time she doesn’t push, willing to let the conversation topics float along however Zephyr sees fit.

After several minutes she finally hears it, that same resigned sigh from the night they met.

Still, she waits patiently. A light smile and a turn of the head as encouragement to spur Zephyr to speak on whatever is weighing his mind without pressuring him. It works perfectly.

“If it helps at all, you won’t be the only multi ghoul up there. I hope that you find kinship with them,” he starts, nerves seeping into his normal light demeanor. “The method I want to show you tonight is something I made with said multi ghoul. There are parts specific to a multi-element aptitude, which I do not possess, but I hope I can explain clearly enough for you to understand.”

Sunshine works through the movements slowly, a drawing of pure elemental power into the body and a push down towards the ground to expel any other random magic within. It makes her veins feel like they are sparkling in an intoxicating way.

She frowns a little noticing there doesn’t seem to be as strong of an effect on Zephyr, but shakes it off choosing to enjoy the time with her new friend.

Night after night the two have dinner, joyous swapping of stories without a care in the world, followed by quiet purposeful meditations. Before they know it though, it is the eve of Sunny’s planned summoning.

Zephyr, Ifrit, and her have one final dinner together to celebrate the short friendship that they have fostered. The two older ghouls insist that they will see her again and cannot wait to hear about all the fun she will get up to. They both pass her along a few messages for ghouls on the surface, and leave her to prepare for the following day.

As she moves through the magical exercises on her own that night she feels at peace, bolstered to tackle whatever being topside will throw at her.

~~~

The summoning is chaotic as always, but overall goes uncharacteristically smooth. Sunny takes to her new element with gusto, the time spent with Ifrit more than paying off.

Everything is definitely still an adjustment for her with many new places and faces, but there are a few people in particular she is on the lookout for as the day moves along.

Late in the evening after all the chaos calms down, she sets out to wander the grounds and find a nice spot to meditate and reconcile both the elements inside her. From a distance she spots a lovely looking clear patch in a garden and makes her way over to it.

In the center of the clear patch stands a tall ghoul, performing movements that at this point are as much a part of her as anything else. A calm breath in, a forceful one out. A purposeful sway to facilitate the movement of ambient elemental energy. Leaning back on a bench nearby is a skeptical looking Ghoulette, looking on and heckling him as she corrects his form.

A hopeful smile creeps its way onto Sunny’s face and with a confident stride she bounds over to the meditating ghoul, hand outstretched.

“Hi, I’m Sunny and I bet you must be Swiss, Zephyr and Ifrit have told me so much about you. Mind if I join in?”