#quick question can you tell that I don’t draw canines a lot

[camping-with-monsters]

Finished refs of Hansel and Gretel!

I uh. Actually finished these weeks ago but I forgot to post them tee hee 🤭

[pawsitivevibe]

Dog Towel Robe Tutorial

Does your dog love to swim? Does he go dock diving? Maybe you bathe her a lot? We all know staying wet isn't necessarily great for their skin and coat, or your car or living room! Wouldn't you love to have a convenient, travel friendly, hands-free solution for helping dry off your canine pal? How about a towel robe for your dog!

You've probably seen these in pet shops or online, but man they're like $40-80! That seems silly when you can buy a towel for $5.

If you have access to a sewing machine or a needle and thread, you can make one for your dog for less than $20 of supplies.

If anyone happens to try this, please do message or tag me! I’d love to see what you made! If you need any tips or more explanation, feel free to send me a message. 

Step 1: Gather your supplies

You'll need a towel. A cheap towel, an old towel, a more durable towel. Any towel will do. Then you'll want some thread. I used extra strength outdoor thread because I had some, but any thread is find. You'll need some velcro strips. Do NOT get the ones with sticky stuff on the back. You want sew-on velcro. Velcro is also called "hook and loop tape", and generic brand is fine! Just do not get an "adhesive" one - that has sticky stuff on the back. You want "non-adhesive." The sticky backing makes your sewing needle angry.

Here's an example:

https://www.amazon.ca/Non-Adhesive-Strips-Fabric-Fastener-Interlocking/dp/B07QXHKW2H/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=sew+on+hook+and+loop&qid=1620418712&sprefix=sew+on+hook&sr=8-3

You can find hook and loop tape at craft stores, the craft section of Wal-Mart, etc.

Question: I can't find velcro or my dog doesn’t/I don’t like the sound of velcro.

You can try using buttons in place of the velcro OR you can use something like cord or shoelaces to make ties instead. You can put a tie at the neck or sew the neck closed where the velcro would be, and make two thinner waist straps that tie at the top.

Step 2: Measure your towel

Throw that towel over your dog's back to see how long it needs to be. The narrow end of the towel should drape over your dog's head or neck. If you want to be able to pull the robe over your dog's head like a hood, then put the towel like the photo. Otherwise, you can just drape it around the neck. You want to mark along the back, however long the robe needs to be to cover your dog's back.

My dog is just big enough that the towel hangs nicely down her sides without being too long. If you have a smaller dog and the towel hangs too long you can always use a smaller towel OR you will need to cut along one side to cut the excess off. You want the towel to hang a little lower than your dog's belly because you want the towel robe to be able to wrap under your dog a bit.

So, for a smaller dog pull the towel to one side until one side is the ideal length, and then mark or fold the towel so you know where you'll need to cut the excess along the side.

Step 3: Cutting

Cut off the excess at the back and/or the side. We are trying to keep as many of the hems the towel already has so you have to do less sewing, by the way. You can cut it differently, or more rounded at the ends, but you'd have to sew more.

Now, you're going to need the extra piece you cut off the end of the towel to make the belly strap. Cut that baby down to something like this:

You can round the end like I did or leave it square ... It doesn't really matter! If you leave it square, it'll be slightly less sewing.

*Note: if you want to make this robe without velcro, don't make this belly strap. Use scraps from your towel or even another fabric to make two narrower straps that go around your dog's belly and tie above the back.

Step 4: The belly strap

Time for some sewing. Get your sewing machine or needle and thread ready!

You're gonna take your belly strap piece and flip it so the two "good" sides of the towel are pressed against each other. Easy to tell if you're using a patterned towel with an obvious good side. If both sides are the same, it doesn't really matter, just pick one.

Now sew around that baby. The sides and top if you rounded it. Leave the bottom open.

Now you're gonna turn that baby right side out using your open end.

You can leave your end open for now!

Time to attach your velcro. Two strips near the closed end should do nicely. Pin those in place (or don't ... I don't pin things often lol) and sew them on.

Step 5: Hemming

Okay, so here's basically the lazy/easy way of hemming some sides so that the ends of your towel doesn't fray. You should have at least two ends of your towel that are already hemmed or finished. For the one or two ends that aren't, you're going to fold the ends back into themselves. Roll the edge over so that the frayed end is tucked inside. Go ahead and sew the edges like that.

Your hemmed edges should look like this, with the rolled edge underneath and sew inside: 

Step 6: Attaching the belly strap and velcro

*Note: if you're not using velcro, this step will be different.

You're going to grab your dog and drape that towel over them again. Then you're going to take your belly strap piece and figure out exactly where you want it to go so it will attach to one side of your towel, wrap under your dog, and velcro on the other side. Mark and/or pin where your strap needs to attach and where it should meet velcro on the other side.

Now you're going to sew the open end of the belly strap to the good side of your towel where you marked it. You should sew the open end down/closed now too. The velcro on the strap should be facing down. 

Pin your prickly velcro to your towel where you marked. Again, two strips is probably good. 

*Note: if you're not using velcro, you'll have to sew your two straps to either side of the robe so that they can wrap under the dog's belly and tie at the top of the back. Again, sorry I don't have pictures for this version. I will try to get on making one and posting a separate tutorial!

Step 7: Neck velcro

Pin your velcro like this on one end of your robe and sew in place:

Note: If you aren’t using velcro, you can try a button, snap, draw string, or some cord to tie into a bow instead. 

Step 8: Enjoy!!

Throw that robe over your dog. Attach the neck velcro like so:

Slip that belly strap under your dog and velcro it to the other side. 

Boom!

I highly recommend giving your dog a quick toweling with a regular towel before throwing this on. And of course obviously only use this while supervised!

Please send or tag me if you make this, I’d love to see it!

[skswriting]

the lottery offering

Rating: M Pairing: Jeongguk/You Words: 22,334 Summary:  “I volunteer,” you say softly, gasps rising up from the crowd behind you.  You can hear some of your tribe members burst into tears, some mutterings of thank the gods.  Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Elder Choi smiling smugly.  “Are you sure, child?” Alpha Kim asks gravely, “Are you ready to leave all this behind?  You will not be able to come home.”  You internally scoff.  Home.  This place hasn’t been home in years.“I am sure, Alpha Kim.  I volunteer to be the offering this year,” you confirm, voice unwavering. AN: i’ve been working on this for too long and it ITSELF is too long i literally just wanted to write about big dick jeongguk why am i like this Warnings: jeongguk is an alpha, there’s like a hint of beastiality? you don’t actually get fucked by a wolf though you just want to be lol, lots of gratuitous sex and overall cheesiness because jk is still a goofball, pussy eating, finger, edging, overstim? maybe? or at least a poor attempt at it, blowjobs, vaginal sex and knotting, i’m not sure if i have to warn about anything else, also major warning i read through this SO quick i was tired of looking at it i’m sorry

When one of the Elders asks for you to meet in their cabin after dinner, your heart sinks to your feet.  The Elders, and most of your tribe for that matter, don’t go out of their way to speak to you, so for one of them to call upon you can’t be good news.

You don’t eat much, stomach twisting violently as you sit in a secluded corner, immune to the chattering around you.  Maybe today is the day they kick you out.  It’s no secret your tribe doesn’t like you, your orphanism a major hurdle they’re unable to overcome, considering the scarce resources your tribe are reluctant to share with someone who’s unable to provide.

“Elder Choi,” you knock politely, bowing your head as you pop your head in, “You wished to see me?”

“Ah, yes, Y/N, come in child,” his voice is soft, giving no hint as to what’s to come, “Please, sit.”

You kneel on a pillow at his tea table, accepting the cup from him.  It’s silent as you both drink, your mind whirling as you try to think what’s about to happen.

“It will be your first Lottery tomorrow, yes?” he asks.

“Yes, Elder Choi,” you answer.

He nods and falls silent again.  He stares out the window and you watch him carefully, the flames of his fire casting shadows over his face.  He gives you a small smile when he faces you again, setting his cup down with a decisive clank.

“We have not had to host a Lottery for a few years.  The Lottery, though of mutual benefit to us, is a sad affair.  To lose a member of our tribe, a son or a daughter, to have them ripped away from their family and friends.  The tears and the good byes.  Heart wrenching, isn’t it?”

It’s a rhetorical question, but you answer anyway, “Yes Elder, very heart wrenching.”

“It is a blessing, however, when someone is selfless enough to volunteer, someone prepared to give themselves over instead of letting someone be ripped from us.”

It hits you, what he’s asking.  There’s no love lost between you and your tribe, but to have an Elder hint that you should just give yourself over cuts in a way you weren’t expecting.

“Little Mina will be in the Lottery this year, won’t she?” Elder Choi asks, and it’s a low blow.  She’s been sick for a few years and it’s been hard to obtain medicine for her, but she’s been so optimistic about everything and is the joy of the tribe, “It would kill her mother if she was chosen.”

“It would…” you whisper.

“I’m sorry, I did not mean to bring the mood down.  I merely wanted to make sure you were ready for tomorrow.  Do you have your dress ready?” it’s a ruse and you know it.  He’s laid the seed and now he’s waiting for it to take root.

“Yes Elder, I’ve been working on it for weeks,” you tell him and he nods.

“Good.  Please, finish your tea, I don’t wish to keep you too late and have you tired for tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Elder.”

He says nothing more as you sip slowly at your tea, mulling it over.

You don’t like his manipulation; it’s abhorrent, really, to use your outcast status and the personal attack of Mina against you.  But really, what is there to keep you here?  There’s no happy ending for you, just a life of solitude, always on the outskirts.  What could the other side hold that would be worse than what you’re already facing?

You’ve made up your mind as you push your empty cup away.

“Good night, Y/N, I’m glad we had this talk,” he tells you earnestly, leaning forward as he stares into your eyes.

“Good night Elder, I will see you at the Lottery tomorrow,” you bow to him, before you take your leave.

-

It’s a somber atmosphere, you and the other participants standing in front of the stage, Elder Lee standing beside Alpha Kim behind the bowl with all the offerings’ names.  All of the participants are dressed in white, as symbolism of consenting to being an offering, blank and ready to leave everything behind.

You’re standing at the front, Seyoung on one side and Bongsoo on the other.  They both have their hands clasped in front of them, the tension evident in the rigidity of their muscles, but you’re standing loose.  You’ve already made your peace, you just have to wait for the right moment.

“Everyone,” Alpha Kim booms, “Thank you for gathering here today.  It has come time for need of another offering.  We have plenty of goods to provide for trade, to be delivered next week before the cold sets in.”

There’s no call back, as the crowd waits for the end.

“Let us not stall any longer.  Jeongguk, please, step forward and draw the name.”

The recipient this year is tall and toned, muscles shifting under his tunic as he steps up beside the alpha.  Judging by his aura, he too is an alpha, dark eyes sweeping across the crowd.  It must be your imagination, but you feel as if his gaze lingers on you for a moment longer.  There’s no mistaking the red bleeding into his eyes, overtaking the gold specks of his status.  He’s the closest you’ve ever seen turning feral and you’re surprised they’ve let him get this far.

Your heart kickstarts when you see him raise his arm and prepare to reach into the depths of the bowl and seal someone’s fate.  Before his fingers get the chance to grasp onto a slip of paper, you step forward.

“I volunteer,” you say softly, gasps rising up from the crowd behind you.

You can hear some of your tribe members burst into tears, some mutterings of thank the gods.  Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Elder Choi smiling smugly.

“Are you sure, child?” Alpha Kim asks gravely, “Are you ready to leave all this behind?  You will not be able to come home.”

You internally scoff.  Home.  This place hasn’t been home in years.

“I am sure, Alpha Kim.  I volunteer to be the offering this year,” you confirm, voice unwavering.

He examines you for a moment, before turning to Jeongguk.  Jeongguk takes a moment to take in your figure, head tilting as his eyes roam over you.  You stand tall and proud, looking him head on.  His mouth quirks when your eyes meet and he nods.

“What is your name?”

“Y/N, Alpha Kim.  My name is Y/N.”

“Y/N, we have accepted your volunteer as this Lottery’s offering.  Gather your things, we leave within the hour.”

You bow to them, surprised to receive a bow back, before you turn to the side and bow to the Elders.  You don’t say anything to anyone as you head back to your small hut to gather your meager things.

-

The Lottery started when a shifter pack approached tribes like yours, desperate beyond belief.  Their numbers were small and members of their pack were on the verge of turning feral, unable to sustain mates to keep them from turning.  They proposed a trading system: tribes would provide bodies for mates and in turn they would provide resources.  This would keep either of you from dying, letting the pack slowly grow their numbers and letting your tribe stockpile food.  The Lottery was considered the easiest and fairest way to pick who would be traded. The Lottery has been around for as long as you can remember.

The redness of Jeongguk’s eyes means the process has started; his canines are elongated even in human form and his nails are too long.  His hair is shaggier than others and his communication skills are lacking.

The other problem is that he apparently tends to stay in his shifted form, a big, black wolf that’s almost as tall as you and definitely bigger.  The first day of your return trip, Jeongguk walks ahead of you, tail swishing as he leads with Alpha Kim.  Alpha Kim had explained quietly that you might have a harder time mating with Jeongguk with how far along he already is, the feral part of him fighting to reject the bond in order to move forward with the transformation.

It’s not a comforting thought, because if you mate with Jeongguk and the bond is rejected, you’ll both die.

“Please be patient with him,” Alpha Kim asked of you, which seemed uncharacteristic for his alpha status, “I watched Jeongguk grow up, I can’t let him go feral.”

“Yes, Alpha Kim, I’ll do my best,” you had told him.

Now, you’re on your way to your new pack, your new home.  You’re still wearing your Lottery dress and you’re starting to sweat, unused to walking for so long, but you don’t say anything.  It’ll take a few days to reach their pack and you don’t want to already be a burden to them.

There’s only a few of you.  You, Jeongguk, Alpha Kim, and one guard introduced as Yoongi.  You can keep up for the most part, because Jeongguk and Yoongi are the only two that are shifted, so they keep it slow for Alpha Kim.

Eventually though, the fatigue catches up to you.  Your calf muscles are screaming, urging you to take a break and rest, and you think you can feel a blister on the back of your foot.  You don’t mean to lag behind, but it’s getting harder to breathe, your chest tight, as you focus on each next step and not just dropping to your knees.

A rumble breaks you out of your headspace and you glance to see Jeongguk standing in front of you.  His eyes scare you, blank as they stare at you, and you’re almost unable to see the gold amidst the red.  There’s a brief stare down between you, before he turns his back to you and hunches down slightly.

You’re surprised that he’s offering to carry you, but your screaming feet don’t let you look a gift horse in the mouth, so you tiredly straddle his back, anchoring your hands in his midnight black fur.  He doesn’t even seem to register your added weight, trotting to catch back up to the others.  Alpha Kim doesn’t say anything as you rejoin them, but he does give you a slight smile.

“Thank you,” you whisper quietly to Jeongguk, for his ears only.  They twitch in recognition, but that’s all you get.

Bedding down for the night is slightly awkward, the shifters trying to give you privacy as you roll out a sleeping pad and lay a thin blanket on it.  There’s a little of the fire left from dinner that they’re maintaining to keep you warm and you’re thankful, huddling down beside it.

The blister on the back of your foot needs tended to, the skin peeling and the blood dripping.  You hiss as you touch it, digging into your rucksack to see if you have any salve.  You keep your groan to yourself, frustratedly running your fingers through your hair before you go to stand.

“Where are you going?” a soft voice asks and when you turn, you’re surprised to see that it’s Jeongguk who asked you.

He had shifted back earlier, but this is the first time you think you’ve heard him speak, and the airiness of his voice doesn’t match the sharpness of his face.  It’s pleasant though, a soothing, melodic timber.

“I’m going to see if there’s some salve materials nearby, burdock root or chamomile or something,” you shrug, limping a little as you turn away, “I’m not running away, I’ll be right back.”

“I’m not worried about you running away, I’m worried about how dark it is and the wild animals around here,” his voice takes on a gruff quality as he snaps the words out, gaze heated, “I’m coming with you.”

Your bite your lower lip, feeling properly chastised.  You didn’t mean to cause offense and you duck your head as he nears.  Neither of the other shifters say anything, watching you two leave.

It’s quiet as the two of you walk, you using the waning light to search.  You want to apologize, but you don’t want to add insult to injury, and he doesn’t seem keen on saying anything either.

“Burdock?” he gestures to a flowering purple bush.

“Oh, yes!” you grin, hobbling over to it.  You hum as you gently dig into the ground, unearthing a few roots of the plant and tearing them apart gently.

“Chamomile doesn’t grow this far north, but there should be some symphytum around we can add,” Jeongguk tells you, standing behind you, seemingly on watch as he surveys the surrounding area.

You’ve never heard of that plant, but he seems to know what he’s talking about so you nod as you stand.  He reaches a hand out to steady you, your skin tingling under his fingers.

“Your dress,” he says suddenly and you just look at him, “You should have let me dig up the root, you got it dirty.”

You look down at yourself, seeing the dirt patches on your bare knees and the smudges on your dress.

“Eh, it’s just a dress, I can wash it.  I’ll let you pick the symp… symphytum when we find it though,” you grin at him and you’re rewarded with a half chuckle, “We should get back to it before we lose the light.”

Jeongguk raises an eyebrow as he taps underneath his eye, “I can see in the dark, remember?”

You bark out a sarcastic laugh, “Sorry, my puny human eyes are only so useful.”

“It’s okay, we’ll get through this together,” he grins as you and you give him a real laugh, before you nudge him along.

Jeongguk points out some other plants you never heard of before as you search for the symphytum and you take in all he has to offer.  You dabbled in medicine and gardening in your tribe and so you listen to everything Jeongguk tells you, especially considering the area you’re heading to is so much different than the area you grew up in.

“Ah, here we go, symphytum,” Jeongguk points it out and you nod, taking in the features of the plant, “we need the flowers and leaves.”

“Wow, how do you know so much about all this?” you ask, admiration clearly present, and you swear you see him blush a little.

“My grandma was our pack’s medic,” he tells you, gathering what you need to add to your burdock root.

“Was…?” you ask softly.

“She died last year,” he says, quite gruffly.  He doesn’t elaborate more than that and you don’t expect him to.

Your parents passed when you were young, and you don’t remember specific details of them, but you know the feeling of loss well, an emptiness inside that you can’t seem to alleviate.  There are memories you have that you know you’ll never get to recreate or commiserate, and you can empathize with Jeongguk on that, who must have been close to his grandmother if his knowledge is anything to judge it off of.

You don’t say anything, but you lay a hand gently on his arm, hoping you can convey your emotions to him.  Jeongguk looks at your hand on his arm before he looks up at you, eyes still guarded, but you don’t look away.  He studies you, able to see you much better in the dark than you’re able to see him despite your eyes adjusting, before he touches his hand to yours in return.

You smile softly at him as he shifts from touching your hand to holding it.  Neither of you say anything as you stay there for a moment, just existing together, before he softly clears his throat to break the moment.

“We need water to turn this into a paste, let’s head back to camp,” he says and you agree.

You let Jeongguk carry you back to get to camp quicker and you see Alpha Kim and Yoongi curled up in their shifted form, the fire still lit but small.  Alpha Kim raises his head as you two approach, giving you both a quick once over to check that neither of you are hurt.  Once satisfied, he turns his head the other way, and the two of you are left to your own devices.

“Here, mash them like this,” Jeongguk tells you softly, sitting beside you on your sleeping pad as he crushes the materials together between two rocks, “We’ll add just a bit of water at a time until we get something thick and not too watery.  It’ll stick best to your blister that way.”

You nod, watching him carefully as he makes the paste.

“Give me your foot,” he instructs and you scoot back to place it in his lap, “this shouldn’t hurt, but let me know if I press too hard.”

He’s careful as he spreads the paste lightly over your blister, face entirely concentrated as he takes care of you.

“It doesn’t look like we have to wrap it, but we’ll put some more on in the morning.  You should lay down now, though, it’s getting late, and we have to get up early in the morning.”

Before he moves, you grab his wrist to make him look at you, “Wait.  I… I wanted to apologize.”

He tilts his head in question, waiting for you to continue, and you frown as you let go of his wrist.

“I didn’t mean anything when I made that comment about not running away earlier,” you tell him, “That wasn’t a dig at you, or your pack.”

Jeongguk sighs as he removes your hand only to hold it, staring down at the way his hand engulfs yours, “It’s okay.  I can’t imagine how hard it must be for your tribe to give up someone every Lottery.  I know it’ll be difficult for us, having such a small time frame to prepare to be mated for the rest of our lives, but please know that I’m thankful for you.  I don’t know your reasons for volunteering, but I like to think that your willingness gives us more of a chance, with no prejudice and no fear.”

Jeongguk softly places your foot back on the ground, before he pushes himself up and away before you can say anything.  You can tell by the movement of his body that he’s about to shift.  It looks like such a weird and painful process, the bones shifting into place as he hunches over, fur sprouting from his skin as his face elongates and ears pop up.

You notice that Jeongguk always shakes his legs out when he shifts, and just him; neither Alpha Kim or Yoongi do it.  It must just be some quirk of Jeongguk’s and it makes you giggle around a throat still tight with emotion as he does it, making him turn towards you.

He growls lowly in his chest, something that sounds almost playful, before trotting over to you as you settle on your sleeping pad.  He nudges his face against you, still growling a little, and you giggle as you realize he’s trying to push you down to lay on your sleeping pad, snuffling over you as you settle down, pulling the thin blanket over you.

He sniffs at the ground near you, turning in a few circles before he decides to curl up behind you, close enough that you can feel the heat of his body but not enough that it’s suffocating.  Combined with the heat of the fire, your body relaxes onto your pad despite the hardness of the ground and you fall asleep easily.

-

You wake up pleasantly warm, head pillowed on something soft.  You hum as you snuggle deeper into it, body rising and falling rhythmically, a soft rumbling in your ear thrumming through you pleasantly.  It’s almost enough to lull you back to sleep, before you realize you didn’t fall asleep with a pillow and what you’re laying on feels eerily alive.

When you crack your eyes open you see Jeongguk in his shifted form curled around you, your body wrapped up in his with your head resting on the side of his torso.  He’s awake, lazily watching you, and you notice that some of the red in his eyes is diminished.  They’re brown and gold this morning, shining brilliantly in the early morning light.  You realize he’d purposely been rumbling for you as it slows down, the sound dying out beneath your ear.  You can feel his tail twitching by your legs, as you’re completely swaddled in him, and you realize this is one of most comfortable moments of your life.

“Good morning,” you whisper to him, and he sighs as a response, curling around you tighter, “We should eat before we set out.”

You pick your head up to see Yoongi gone, probably to hunt for breakfast, and Alpha Kim in his human form rummaging around through their belongings to prepare for whatever he brings back.

You slowly extract yourself from Jeongguk, stretching sore muscles from walking, but you’re surprised to find that your back isn’t sore from sleeping on the ground.  You wonder how long you’d been laying on Jeongguk, knowing he’d chosen to curl up behind you when you went to sleep.  Judging by the way Jeongguk whines and huffs as you untangle yourself from him, you can tell he was as comfortable as you had been, trying to use his body weight to keep you pinned down.

After a light breakfast, the four of you set out.  Jeongguk makes you ride on his back for the rest of the day, despite your protest that your feet and blisters were fine.  He had growled at you, circling your form and rubbing up against you until Alpha Kim had approached you.

“We won’t reach the pack until tomorrow afternoon, it’ll be easier if the three of us can shift and Jeongguk carries you,” Alpha Kim had told you and you had acquiesced, mounting Jeongguk.

The second day passed much the same as the first had, and ends with the four of you bedding down for the night around a small camp.  Jeongguk is less shy about curling around you in his shifted form this time around, nudging your shoulder with his snout before unceremoniously plopping his head down in your lap.  You want to protest his closeness because you feel gross, still wearing your dirty Lottery dress, but you had been unwilling to hold them up for even a moment just for you to change, so you let him lay on you.

It had been worrying to you that Jeongguk had stayed shifted all day, but you can’t deny how comfortable he is when you’re trying to go to sleep, forgoing your blanket as you bury yourself in him.  You brush your hands through his fur, marveling at how soft it is and he starts to rumble under you.  You realize that he doesn’t do it for you but that its his way of letting you know that he’s comfortable.  His nose digs under your hand until it’s resting under your palm, urging you to move it.  You fall asleep petting him, thinking that volunteering no longer feels like a death sentence but more like… a new beginning.

You wake up to sunlight and rough jostling, with a gruff snuffling in your ear.  You’re disoriented for a few moments, head rolling against the ground as you try to gain your bearings.  You’re laying on your side facing away from the camp and there’s sweat dripping down your back because Jeongguk in his shifted form has you pressed right up against his underside, nose tight against the back of your ear as he growls deep in his chest.

It takes you a moment, but when you register the wetness and the growling, you realize what’s happening.  His lower half is thrusting up against you and his cock is between your legs, rubbing against your skin.  Your pulse quickens as you realize that Jeongguk must be having a wet dream or something similar as he growls in his sleep and licks at your skin, sending a jolt through your entire body.

You’re almost mortified to realize that the wetness you first thought was coming from him is actually from you, that you like what’s happening.  Even though he’s in his shifted form it’s still Jeongguk and there’s no denying that you find him attractive.  The fact that he’s rutting against you is doing things to you, his cock hot and heavy against you making your head spin.

You’re afraid to look down, to sear the image into your mind.  You know it’s not going to look like his human cock, but when you glance down, you can’t help the way you keen in the back of your throat.  He’s big, precum smearing against your stomach as he works his cock under your dress, pressing against your clit from the way he’s got you pinned.  With one of his legs over both of yours, and one of his front legs extended over your torso to press into the ground to give himself leverage, you would have to fight to get out of his hold.

But you don’t want to.  You can feel the heat between your legs, the arousal swirling in your stomach as his growling gets deeper and his tongue gets more insistent.  You can feel the press of his teeth against the sensitive skin of your neck and when his thrusts speed up, hitting your clit just a bit faster, you can’t help but moan lowly.  You hope Alpha Kim and Yoongi are out hunting so you don’t have to deal with the embarrassment of knowing they know.

You give a tentative thrust down and moan a little higher when Jeongguk’s cock rubs against your clit harder.  You clench around nothing, whimpering as you thrust down again, and again, until you’re working in tandem with him.  You can feel Jeongguk’s body shaking behind you, his low growling shifting to a higher pitched whine, nosing roughly at your ear before his nips turn purposeful.

You startle when it dawns on you that he’s finally woken up, the nip more than a dream instinct, but his thrusting doesn’t stop.  You gasp when he starts shifting behind you, helping you onto your knees and elbows as he stays crouched over you, body dwarfing yours as you rest your forehead against your sleeping pad.

You can’t believe this is happening but Jeongguk doesn’t give you time to think, his shifted cock giving your clit delicious friction as he stays mounted this way, thrusting with conscious purpose now.  He noses along the entire back of your neck, licking the shell of your ear and nipping at your shoulders.  Your back is so slick with sweat you can feel every press of Jeongguk’s belly against you, clenching with each thrust, wishing he’d stuff you with his cock.  It’d tear you in half but it’d be worth it to be so full, to be forced to take it, to test the limit.

You moan as you think about it, letting Jeongguk phantom fuck you and reaching a hand under your dress to touch the tip of his cock as he thrusts against your stomach.  Jeongguk lets out a half howl, thrusting up against the palm of your hand as the press against your clit becomes constant.

“Jeong-Jeongguk,” you hiccup, “S’too much, please, gonna cum.”

Jeongguk is shaking above you and you sob as the pleasure peaks, Jeongguk continuing to fuck up against you as you cum, clenching hard around nothing and whining in displeasure over it.  He noses eagerly at your neck, licking furiously at your skin as his thrusts grow erratic, close to his own orgasm.

You reach further down so you can brush feather light fingertips over the body of his cock.  His shifted cock is much different than a human cock, no mushroom head but thick at the base where his knot would be.  You groan as you think about it, the dirty mechanics of being knotted like this, out in the open in camp with your knees pressed to the ground and your dress pushed up to your breasts.  Your panties are useless at this point, sopping wet and glued to the ridges of your cunt.

You feel Jeongguk throw his head back and howl loudly as the first spurts of his cum shoot up to your tits, smearing against the skin of your stomach before it drips down onto the inside of your dress.  It’s disgusting, and filthy, and you’re horrified to learn that you love it, the feeling of being utterly dominated like this.

Jeongguk pants against your skin as he expends all that he has, his body sagging against yours but not forcing you down to the ground.  Your body is shaking as he steps back from you, his snout trailing down your back and to your crack, nosing at the thin fabric of your panties.  You can feel the puffs of his breath against your soaked skin and you slowly push yourself up, arms and legs shaking.

You’re breathing hard as Jeongguk walks around you, eyes brilliant as he stares at you.  His tongue flicks out to lick at your cheek and you breathlessly giggle, Jeongguk pressing his face against your chest to slowly guide you back, laying you against your sleeping pad.

You’re tired, the exhaustion settling in your bones as you glance up at the slightly blue tinted sky.  It has to still be early, but when you glance over, Alpha Kim and Yoongi are gone, which you are immensely thankful for.

However, Jeongguk doesn’t give you time to rest.  He sniffs earnestly at your neck, rubbing his face and tongue against you as he works his way down.  Your dress feels disgusting from where the cum covered front is pressed to your skin, but Jeongguk just brushes it up over your breasts, licking at one nipple and then the next before he continues down.  He cleans your stomach of himself, nose warm and tongue warmer, and you’re not ashamed at the way arousal has started to pool in your stomach again.

Jeongguk must be able to smell it, tongue pressing more eagerly the closer he gets to your cunt.  He nudges your thighs apart with his snout, growling appreciatively when they spread and your smell hits him full force.  He bites at your panties, pulling the thin fabric away and down your legs, tossing them in a random direction over his shoulder before the point of his tongue flicks against your clit.

You don’t bother to stifle your moan, the feeling of his tongue rough in texture as it presses harder with every lick, cleaning you of your dripping arousal with valiant effort.  You cry out when his tongue presses inside you, licking at your walls deeper than most cocks have ever reached. You can’t stop the little sounds you make, the humping of your hips against Jeongguk’s face as the pleasure builds.

If he tongues this good you can’t imagine the damage he can do with his cock, spearing you open effortlessly and making you cum multiple times.  You clamp down around his tongue as you think about it, wishing he would just fuck you, shifted or not, cumming to the thought of it.

Jeongguk snuffles happily against you, licking your cunt clean of your cum and your thighs free of sweat.  When you gain the energy to lift your head, Jeongguk is hunched over you, licking his jowls with his tail wagging.  His tail wagging.  It’s so ridiculous you can’t help but laugh, letting your head thunk back against the ground as you hear the telltale sound of his bones shifting.

After a few moments of silence, gentle hands lead your legs closed, running up your sides to grab your dress and pull it up and off, hitting the ground with a wet smack.

“C’mon, there’s a little stream near here, let’s get you cleaned up,” his voice is laced with sex and you shiver, letting him pull you up and onto shaky legs, opting to just carry you when you end up swaying.

It’s not awkward to be naked in front of him, rubbing cold, clean water against your skin.  Jeongguk watches you for a few minutes, appreciating the dip of your fingers between your thighs as you clean yourself of spit and arousal and your cum.  He finally strips himself and you can’t help but stare.  Even in human form he’s big, cock hanging half hard and heavy between his legs, thigh and abdominal muscles toned and flexing as he perches himself on a jutting rock to wash himself.

Your mouth is watering and you don’t even care; you can feel the weight of cock on your tongue and you specifically want his in your mouth right now, dragging your tongue down the protruding vein and around the bulbous head.

“We’ll never get back to the camp if you keep staring,” Jeongguk smirks over at you, brushing his hands down his thighs in an obviously teasing manner.

“I want to suck you off,” you confess easily, squeezing your thighs together when you see Jeongguk’s gaze darken and his cock jump.

“Later,” he promises, and you’re practically drooling when he fists his cock, hand tightening on an upward stroke, “we really do need to be going.”

“Then quick jerking off,” you whine petulantly, and Jeongguk has the audacity to laugh at you.

Jeongguk gives you his tunic to wear back to camp as a makeshift dress, keeping a small bit of distance from you, which is much too far considering he had almost fucked you into the ground earlier.  This must be his way of attempting to be respectful, or at least you hope so; just the thought of Jeongguk regretting any of it or being ashamed makes your stomach clench painfully.

Alpha Kim and Yoongi are packing up camp when you arrive.  They give the both of you a knowing look and you blush as you duck your head, realizing they must be able to smell what you two had done.

“Come,” Yoongi smirks, the word intentional, “if we leave now we’ll get home before lunch.”

Home.  It sounds pleasant and right coming from Yoongi.  You’re going home, not just to their pack, but your pack now.

-

There’s a small welcoming ceremony when the four of you finally arrive and you’re overwhelmed by the positivity of the pack.  Their numbers have grown, but it’s not the size of some other shifter packs you’ve seen.

Jeongguk keeps close to you as elder pack members pull you into a hug, welcoming you to your new home and encouraging you to ask for help when you need it.  Shifted pups sniff at you, particularly your stomach which makes you blanch, before yipping and wagging their tails happily at you.

“This is Y/N,” Alpha Kim booms to the crowd, “Y/N selflessly volunteered herself to be Jeongguk’s mate to prevent us from losing him to his feral side.”

The little pack cheers and you blush at their enthusiasm.

“Let us let these future mates have time for themselves,” Alpha Kim turns to you and smiles, “Please, rest.  The journey was long and I’m sure you’re… tired.”

You try not to react, knowing that he’s not talking about the walking.

“I’ll show you to our cabin,” Jeongguk tells you softly, placing a hand on your lower back to lead you away, “Thank you everyone.  We’re happy to be home.”

You smile and wave at everyone as you walk away, Jeongguk leading you towards the center of their pack territory.  It’s a foreign feeling to you, so used to staying out of your tribe that you don’t know what to do knowing you’re going to be living in the thick of it.

“These cabins look so nice,” you comment, looking at the smattering of cabins around you.

“Alphas build cabins before they take a mate,” Jeongguk explains, “Outside of me, none of our alphas are of age yet, so no one is preparing to build.”

“Woah, you built this?  That’s impressive,” you exclaim, as he reaches for the door.

He stops with his hand on the handle, seemingly frozen, before he turns hurriedly to you, “Um… actually, could you stay out here for a moment?”

You furrow your eyebrows, confused, but nod.  Jeongguk gives you a quick, thankful smile, slipping in through the slightest crack so you can’t see inside.

You feel a little foolish standing outside Jeongguk’s cabin - well, your cabin now, as well.  You can hear frantic clattering inside and Jeongguk’s light footsteps as he runs around.  You hear the terrible screech of a window opening, and when you bend around the corner of the cabin you can see what looks like trash being thrown out of it.  It startles a laugh out of you, realizing Jeongguk is cleaning for you, and it’s so endearing.

You wait patiently, knowing Jeongguk wants to make a good impression on you.  Finally, the door creaks open, before Jeongguk pushes it open wide and steps aside.

“Please, come in,” he says, slightly out of breath, and you giggle at him.

“I could have helped you clean,” you tell him, stepping past him and he ducks his head after being caught.

It’s modest, and homey.  There’s a little kitchenette to use when you don’t want to go to the main dining hall, a small sitting area, and a hallway that leads to a small bathroom and bedroom.  There’s a pack bathhouse that they utilize, so the bathroom has a toilet and small wash tub for a quick rub down, and the bedroom is just a pile of furs.

“I know it’s not much but-” Jeongguk seems embarrassed, scratching behind his ear as he avoids your gaze.

“I love it,” you tell him honestly, “it’s very comfortable, very… you.  And I like you.”

The blush that spreads across Jeongguk’s face is satisfying and you grin at him.  You were worried you and Jeongguk were going to have an awkward period of forcing yourselves to get to know each other, but it’s been pretty natural.  There might have been some truth to Jeongguk’s words that you volunteering made it easier for you two to connect, as there’s no expectations for either of you.

“I know Alpha Kim said we have time for ourselves, but there are pack duties I need to get caught up on,” Jeongguk tells you, almost sounding regretful that he has to leave.

“That’s okay, I understand,” you tell him, and you truthfully do, but there’s a small pit of nervousness at the thought of being by yourself as you’re still unsure of the inner workings of the pack, “but um, am I… allowed to be out by myself?”

Jeongguk gives you a strange look, placing his hands on your shoulders and smoothing them down your arms, “You’re part of the pack now and my future mate.  You don’t have to walk on eggshells around us, gods know no one out there will.  Please familiarize yourself with the pack, it’s home now.”

You nod, feeling ashamed about your question, but unable to articulate to Jeongguk how out of place you felt when you were in the midst of your tribe.  Jeongguk hesitates for a moment, swaying back and forth, before apparently coming to his decision and leaning down to press his lips to your forehead.

With a horrifying sense of clarity, you realize you let Jeongguk go down on you before you’ve even properly kissed.  But then again, you two don’t have an exactly conventional relationship.

“I shouldn’t take too long,” he whispers against your skin, seemingly unwilling to go.

“Okay,” you whisper back, smiling when he kisses your forehead again.

As they say, parting is such sweet sorrow.

-

You take the time to introduce yourself to the surrounding cabins, receiving delighted responses.  You feel bad, because there are so many names thrown at you in a short time frame that you don’t remember most of them.  You met Alpha Kim’s son, Namjoon, and two people claiming to be Jeongguk’s best friends, Jimin and Taehyung.  There’s the old lady just a cabin down from yours, who winks rather lasciviously at you when she tells you that the wood the cabins are made with are thick and block sound.  There’s a human girl around your age named Jihyo on the other side of your cabin who is super sweet and invites you in for tea, which you postpone to another afternoon.

You meet another girl on the way back to your cabin, because you are actually really tired, who introduces herself icily as Ina.  Despite her attitude, you bow politely at her.

“So, you’re Jeongguk’s mate,” she says kind of tersely, after having sniffed at the air around you with a look of disdain.

You’re familiar with this kind of attitude, which is very reminiscent of your tribe, so you continue to be polite to her.

“I am!  I’m Y/N,” you introduce yourself, “It’s nice to meet you Ina.”

“I heard Alpha Kim say you volunteered.  I’ve never heard of someone volunteering,” she continues.

“I remember it happening once when I was a kid, but back then-”

“Did you only volunteer because you think he’s hot?” she interjects over you.

Your mouth clicks shut, unsure of how to answer her.  You’re afraid if you say no, she’ll wheedle her way into the depths of your soul and pull your tragic reasoning out.  But you can’t say yes, because not only is it not true, but you’re afraid that she’ll spread an ugly rumor around that you’re shallow.

It’s a conundrum you’re not sure how to approach, but thankfully your saving grace is a smiling older woman placing her hand on your shoulder and deflecting Ina’s question.

“Ina, what’s with the inquisition?  Y/N dear has had a long journey, we have plenty of time to get to know her as a person, and as a mate for Jeongguk.”

Ina looks embarrassed at her interruption and bows to the older woman, with a small sorry before she scurries off.

“I’m sorry, you didn’t have to get involved-” you start but she waves your apology off.

“Don’t worry about it.  And don’t worry about Ina, she’s just feeling slighted right now.  Is it okay if I take up some of your time?  I’d love to have a cup of tea and get to know you,” she smiles so prettily at you, eerily familiar, and you find yourself nodding before you remember you were going to take a nap.  Too late now.

“Would you like to come back to Jeongguk’s cabin?  Well, mine too I guess.  Um, our cabin-” you stumble over yourself, out of your depth as she laughs.  Not at you, but at the obvious confusion you’re having trying to fit yourself into the pack.

“Sure deary, let’s go,” she links her arm with yours, turning you to your cabin.

You spend a pleasant hour with her, apologizing at first for not knowing where Jeongguk keeps his stuff but easily locating a kettle and some tea.  She introduces herself as Minseo and gives you a brief history of the pack, and some of the members, before she conspiratorially asks if you want to hear stories of Jeongguk from when he was a child and you quickly agree.

That’s how Jeongguk finds you, kneeling at the little table with Minseo, tears in your eyes as she recounts a story of a buck naked teenage Jeongguk jumping into a lake on a dare and not evening completing it.  He looks shocked to see you and Minseo giggling against each other, tea refilled and steaming, before it transforms into a serene look.

“Hi mom,” he greets Minseo and you abruptly stop giggling, turning to the woman beside you with wide eyes and a hanging mouth.

She grins sneakily around the rim of her mug, “Ah, baby, you ruined my fun, I hadn’t told her I was your mother yet.”

He rolls his eyes but is still smiling as he leans down to kiss the top of her head, snickering to himself when he sees how shocked you still are as he kisses your cheek.

“Are you staying for dinner?  We’ll be eating here tonight, Omega Kim is bringing us bear as a treat.”

“Omega Kim has always been so sweet on you, you’d think she was your mother and not me,” Minseo pouts and Jeongguk coos.

“Maybe if you were nicer to me,” he singsongs, not even trying to avoid the slap she aims at his shoulder.

“Yah, do you know how long I was in labor with you?” Minseo complains but she’s smiling, looking so incredibly happy as she gazes at him.

“I’m sure you’ll remind me.”

“A whole day, Guk, an entire day of pain and agony and spreading my legs so your grandmother could check just to tell me you were being stubborn and weren’t coming out despite being stretched by a watermelon.”

Jeongguk groans, “Do you have to be so graphic about it?”

“It’s not like it’s something you won’t go through,” she teases and the implication brings a blush to your cheeks.

You and Jeongguk?  Kids?  You’ve barely though past your mating ceremony, but you suspect it’s a normal thing for mother-in-laws to be worried about.

“Besides, with the way our little Y/N smells, it doesn’t seem like you’re all that shy about it,” she says knowingly and you choke on your tea.

“Mom!” Jeongguk groans, avoiding looking at you as he scratches behind his ear, “Please.”

Minseo grins to herself, downing the last of her tea as she stands on creaky knees.  Jeongguk helps her to her feet, you pushing yourself up to follow them to the door.

“I’ll let you two have your time.  Please dear, don’t be a stranger, I love visitors,” she tells you sincerely and despite your mortification that she can somehow smell what you and Jeongguk had been up to, you wholeheartedly agree, “And Jeongguk, eat some more, your cheeks are getting thin.”

“Yes mom,” he tells her dutifully, kissing her cheek before she hugs you goodbye.

You wave at her, watching her bustle down the path, before Jeongguk shuts the door.

“Can everyone smell your cum on me or something?” you ask and Jeongguk bursts out laughing, though you can see a bit of embarrassment lingering on his face.

“Well, kind of, but it’s mainly just me.  You probably can’t smell it because you don’t have the sense for it but each of us have our own, uh, scent.  So earlier when we… ahem,” Jeongguk clears his throat, seemingly unwilling to explicitly mention it and you grin at that, “a lot of my scent would have transferred over to you.  That’s what everyone is referring to.  They’re probably surprised because scenting is kind of an intimate thing and we’ve only just met.”

“Oh,” you hum, “so I smell like you.  That means everyone knows whose mate I am, that I belong to you.”

Jeongguk makes a strangled sound and clears his throat again, “Yes, that you- yes.”

The two of you stand by the door, just staring at each other, before Jeongguk moves away to head to the kitchen.   There aren’t many dishes to do, but Jeongguk does them anyway, and you think he’s doing them just to have something to do.  You decide to help him, sliding silently up beside him and taking a dripping dish from him quietly.

It’s quiet between you two as you work together, Jeongguk washing and you drying them before putting them away.  Finally you ask a question, addressing the difference between you.

“Does it bother you?  That I’m not shifter, so I have no way of scenting you back?” you ask softly.

Jeongguk takes a moment to answer, scrubbing at a spot in the sink that looks stained and unable to come out.

“No,” he finally says, “my mate doesn’t have to be similar to me in order to be a good match for me.  I don’t need someone who has good eyes or good sense of smell,” here’s teasing you here, judging by the tongue he sticks out at you, “or a certain status for me to want to spend my life with them.  I just want someone I’m comfortable with and who makes me happy.”

The answer settles something pleasant in your stomach and you smile shyly at him.

“But…” he hesitates for a moment, “I do want to apologize.”

“For what?” you ask, putting the towel you were drying with back on a rack.

“This morning,” he says softly, “I hope I didn’t… force myself on you or make you feel uncomfortable.  I mean, I enjoyed it, and judging by the sounds you were making you did too, but I never verbally checked with you and that was wrong of me.”

You bump your shoulder against his, before leaning against him, “Jeongguk, it’s okay.  You didn’t force me.  Caught me by surprise, sure, but… it was good.  You were good,” you’re blushing, hiding your face against his tunic sleeve, but you don’t care, “I liked it and I wasn’t exactly quiet about wanting to do more after, was I?  We have a week before our mating ceremony, so maybe we can just… explore until then?”

Alpha Kim had explained that it’s a big tradition within the pack, a little ceremony held in front of the pack, with food and dancing.  Then, you head off to the outskirts of the pack clearing where there’s a mating clearing, an area blessed by the Moon Goddess.  You and Jeongguk aren’t allowed to have penetrative sex until then, a tradition long held in their pack that the first “real” copulation has to be blessed by Her for a good life together.  At least Jeongguk’s already semi fucked you outside, so it won’t feel so foreign actually getting mounted in the open like that.  Besides, it’s not like you can’t do other things.

“You can’t say things like that with a straight face,” Jeongguk groans, “You have no idea how hard it was for me to tell you not to suck me off this morning.”

You laugh, Jeongguk turning you to gently pull you into his arms, “You have no idea how hard it was for me to not just drop to my knees and do it anyway.”

Jeongguk growls and you shiver, Jeongguk holding you close to his chest as he presses a loud kiss behind your ear.  He moves to pepper kisses down your neck, nipping at your pulse point while you scrabble to hold onto his back.

“Jeongguk,” you breathe, “kiss me, please.”

He wastes no time pulling back to press his mouth to yours, swallowing the whine you let out as he pushes you tightly against the counter.  You’re ignoring his semi for the moment, pressed deliciously right up against you, to enjoy the feeling of his mouth practically devouring you.  His tongue feels as good in your mouth as it did in your cunt, brushing against your own and against the back of your teeth hotly.

Jeongguk’s hands can’t decide if they want to grab at your ass, your waist, or your thighs, kneading whatever skin they come in contact with.  At some point they’re in your hair, tugging you away from his mouth with force so he can kiss down the front of your throat to your collarbones, biting and sucking bruises into your tender skin.  All you can do is take it as he forces his hips upward, groaning as he nestles his covered cock right between your pussy lips.  You’re still wearing his tunic as a dress, so you can feel him in his entirety and god is he big.

“You’re gonna drive me crazy,” he growls, your skin stinging from the bite he just left that he soothes with his tongue, “I can smell how wet you are already.  Just wanna go down on you until you cry, finger you until you’ve came so many times you lose count.”

“Jeongguk,” you sob, overwhelmed with how bad you want him, “touch me, please.”

“Come on,” he lets go of your hair to pull you up on his hips by your thighs, “so many things I want to do to you.  You stepped up to that stage with no fear and clear determination, looked me right in the eyes like I can’t bring you to your knees.  Wanted to bend you over and fuck you right then, show your whole tribe the sweet pussy they’d be missing. Fuck, Y/N.”

There are actual tears in your eyes as Jeongguk stomps his way to the bedroom, softly laying you in your pile of furs.  He towers over you on his knees, eyes roving over you as he takes in your flushed face and heaving chest, smirking at the way your thighs rub together.

“Pull your tunic up,” he instructs and your hands quickly fall to grip the hem, “slowly.”

You swallow thickly, taking a few deep breaths as Jeongguk places his hands just below your knees, eyes falling to watch the way your fingers shake.  You pull it up slowly, eyelashes fluttering as you savor the drag of the fabric against your sensitive skin.  Jeongguk hums, fingers creeping up your legs the farther you pull the tunic up, licking his lips when he sees your panties and the wet spot they’re sporting.

You pause when you reach your navel, letting your fingertips trail against your skin as the goosebumps erupt.

“So pretty, baby,” Jeongguk breathes, the furs shifting under his knees as he leans over you more, abs quivering from exertion, “What a show, keep going.”

You whimper a little, placing your hands flat against your stomach as you continue to push the tunic up, feeling yourself up.  Your hands slide up your sides causing you to shy away from the ticklish touch and your fingers brush just under your breasts.  You jolt at the feeling of Jeongguk’s tongue against your stomach, hands flying down to grip at his hair.

“Did I say you could stop?” he growls, biting softly at your skin, tongue hot and wet, “Show me those tits, baby.”

“Jeongguk,” you moan, arching your back as you push the tunic up higher, your exposed nipples immediately hardening in the cold air, “feels good.”

“Take it off,” he commands and you listen, struggling to pull the tunic over your head while laying down since he won’t move back to let you sit up.

“Touch them,” he orders and you pinch your nipples softly, moaning louder, “Mmm, harder.”

You listen to him, pinching harder as he travels up your torso, leaving little lovebites in his wake.

“‘M gonna fuck these pretty tits one day,” he tells you, licking the valley between your breasts, before he bites rather harshly at your right breast, his hand swamping your own on your left breast.

He massages the left as he wraps his mouth around the right, sucking harshly and biting at your sensitive skin.

“Guk,” you sob, one hand trapped under his and the other gripping onto his bicep, “your mouth, I- fuck!”

Jeongguk grins, nipple tight between his teeth as he tugs, letting it go with a wet smack, “Touch your pussy baby, just a little.  Show me how wet you are for me.”

You’re soaked.  Without even touching yourself you can feel the way your panties cling to your skin.  Is it always going to be like this with Jeongguk?  You sure fucking hope so.

Jeongguk lets go of your breast to plant his hand into the furs beside your head, giving himself leverage as he switches from kissing your chest to marking your neck.  You squirm as his body heat settles over you, so close to touching you but so far away.  His chest brushes against yours, your nipples rubbing against his sweaty skin as his hair brushes against your cheek.  You whine into his ear as you massage the junction of your thighs, canting your hips up to try and brush against the front of him.

“Just a little,” he reminds, voice raspy against the shell of your ear, biting gently on your earlobe, “Touch yourself through your panties first, tell me how wet you are.”

You breathlessly follow his instructions, letting your fingers wander from the apex of your thighs to the top of your mound.  Your heart is beating erratically as you massage it slowly, so close to your wetness but teasing yourself just a little more.  Jeongguk has the perfect vantage part from your neck to watch your hands work, chest rumbling with the first touch of your fingertips against your clit, acting like he feels it just as acutely as you do.

“Oh,” you breathe out, Jeongguk’s teeth sinking in behind your ear.

“Tell me,” he growls, “Tell me how you feel.”

“So wet,” you immediately concede, brushing your fingers down to rub against your entrance where your wettest, “I want you so bad Jeongguk, I’m aching for you.”

Your pussy makes an audible sound as you rub your fingers against the fabric of your panties.

“Pull them down, just a bit,” his voice is rough as he pants, eyes trained on your fingers as he loses sight of them exploring between your lips, “Wanna smell you.”

You shimmy them down slowly, body wiggling under Jeongguk’s as you get them down just far enough for you to work with.  Jeongguk’s groan is low as your smell hits him and he licks a stripe up your neck.

“Put a finger in.”

You don’t disobey him, breaching your walls with just one like you’ve been told.  You’re so wet you can barely feel it and you whine in dissatisfaction.

“One not enough for your greedy pussy?” he sneers, raising himself onto his haunches to get a better look at what you’ve put on display, “Two, then, but only two.”

You work a second one in and the stretch is nice, but nowhere near filling.  Jeongguk watches the push and pull of your fingers, crossing his arms over his chest as he casually observes you.  It’s so apathetic you cry out, willing him to do something, but he doesn’t.  He lets you finger yourself for a few minutes, watching your drip onto the pile of furs beneath you as he breathes steadily.  The only real way you can tell he’s affected is by the way his nostrils are flaring and how dilated his pupils are.

“Feel good?” he finally asks.

“You’d feel better,” is your instant answer and he seems pleased, giving you a smug smirk as he shrugs his top off, “Could touch me so much better, your fingers are-are thicker and longer and-”

Jeongguk leans down to press a kiss to the center of your sternum, hands raising to grip your hips tight.

“Fuck, baby, you smell fantastic,” he groans, tongue slithering out as he trails down, biting and sucking as he goes, “Tasted so good on my tongue, can’t wait to eat you out again.”

“Please,” you beg, you whimper, you plead, “please touch me, Guk.”

“Okay, baby, since you’ve asked so nicely,” his hands slide down your hips and around your thighs, settling his shoulders between your legs.  You keen at the stretch, cool air brushing against your wet pussy as Jeongguk takes a moment to watch your fingers at eye level.

“Show me how wet you are,” his voice has dropped, tone low and rough and you exhale hard through your nose as you do as he asks, scissoring your fingers as you pull them out so he can see how thoroughly coated they are, “Fuck yeah…”

Despite the gruffness of his voice, his hands are gentle as he takes your wrist in his hands and presses them into the bed.  Jeongguk is so utterly focused on your pussy, using his thumbs to spread your lips apart as he takes in a deep breath.  It’s a little embarrassing for you, but the unrestrained moan he lets out overpowers anything your feeling as you squirm in his hold.

“I can’t wait any longer,” he mutters to himself you think, before he all but attacks your pussy with his tongue.

“Guk!”

He’s vicious, tongue laving from top to bottom as he eats you out, basically swallowing you whole.  You’ve stretched yourself enough from your two fingers that his slip in easily, and he’s quick to push it to three, working them in tandem with his tongue.

You’re practically vibrating beneath Jeongguk, physically unable to keep your mouth closed as you let him know just how good it feels.  You’re so worked up you can feel your orgasm approaching fast, your thighs beginning to shake the closer it gets.

“Oh, cumming, I’m-” you try to speak but you feel like you’re about to swallow your tongue.

Just as you feel like you’re about to tumble over the precipice, just when you can taste it in your mouth, Jeongguk rips himself away from you and your orgasm comes to a screeching halt.

“No, nonono,” you cry, frustration tears budding in the corner of your eyes as you reach out to a panting Jeongguk, “Why did you-!”

“Shh, it’s okay baby, just relax,” he coos, leaning down to press kisses into your thighs as he brushes his hands lovingly up your sides, “calm down for me, yeah?”

You pout down at him, wiping at your eyes as you huff.

“Just trust me, okay?” he smiles cutely at you, like that makes it feel better, as he softly buries his tongue back into you.

You want to be mad because you were so close, but his tongue calms you down and you sink back into the feeling.  Jeongguk seems eager to get back at it and you sigh as the feeling builds back up.  He alternates between sticking his tongue in you and thumbing your clit and dredging his fingers against your walls as he sucks on your clit like a man starved.

It doesn’t take long for you to feel the beginnings of your orgasm approaching and you decide to keep it to yourself.  But Jeongguk must pick up on the tells of your breath quickening and your hands becoming restless because just as you’re about to tip over the edge again Jeongguk pulls away with a wet smack.

“No!” your hands fly up to cover your face because you’re actually crying this time, tears of frustration slipping down your temples into your hairline.

“Pretty girl,” Jeongguk kisses his way up your body, nosing at your ear as he smooths a hand through your hair, “Take a deep breath for me.”

You sniffle into his shoulder, smacking his bicep weakly as you cling onto him, “Why are you being such a dick?  I just wanna cum.”

“I know you do,” he kisses the tip of your nose, before pressing a smothering kiss to your mouth, “And you will, it’ll feel good, I promise.”

“How am I supposed to know if you keep stopping!” you complain and he laughs into your skin as he settles between your legs again.

Jeongguk presses apologetic kisses to your pussy, humming as he slips his tongue up and around your clit as he eases his fingers back in.

“Sorry baby, forgive me?” he grins devilishly at you and you can’t answer, eyes already starting to roll from how deprived you feel.

“Please no more teasing,” you whimper, threading shaky fingers through Jeongguk’s hair, “I don’t think I can take any more.”

“Okay pretty,” he acquices, and you can see the physical change in him, the way his tongue turns pointed and the way his fingers stiffen inside you, “I’ll let you cum.”

You almost wish you had let him do as he pleased, because he works you up to a quick orgasm and tongues you through it, wrapping a hand around your waist to hold you to the bed as you squirm and twitch and gasp your way through it until you’re finished but he… doesn’t stop.

“G-Guk, that’s-” too much, but the words die in your throat as he merely buries his face farther in your pussy, fingers taken to stroking the upper bounds of your walls to keep them lodged up to his knuckles.

“You wanted to cum,” he tells you darkly, mouthful of pussy, “So cum.”

“I did,” you squawk, futilely trying to close your legs around his head, but he easily holds them open, “I c-can’t!  Not again!”

“You will,” he tells you simply before he dives back in.

And you do.  Two more times, the feeling not as all encompassing but just as intense, leaving you slack jawed and with an aching back from how you arch and shy away from his touch.  Your body melts into the furs when his fingers finally retract from inside you, tongue leaving your clit numb and sore.

“Such a good girl, make so many pretty sounds for me,” Jeongguk murmurs, massaging your hips as he lays beside you, “Did so well for me, baby.  Gimme a kiss.”

Your mouth barely works but you kiss him, Jeongguk leaning his torso over yours to make it easier on you.

“You’re still hard,” you note, glancing down to see the bulge in his pants, hidden away from you for too long.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it,” he tells you but you whine.

“Wanna suck you off, been thinking about it all day,” you admit and he makes a low sound in the back of his throat.

“Yeah?  Wanna suck your alpha off?  Wanna make me feel good?” he asks, voice low and soothing as you push yourself down his body, bringing his pants with you.

You groan at the feel of him, cock sticky with your arousal.  You don’t care about that, and don’t hesitate to suck on his head, hand moving down to play with his balls and twist at the base where you know a knot is waiting for you.  You want it in you so bad you whine around his cock, pushing down so you can suck on more of him, tucking your teeth behind your lips so you didn’t nick him.

Jeongguk groans above you, hands carding through your hair to hold it back, watching your mouth work him over enthusiastically, spit dribbling from the corner of your mouth.

“Ah, baby, just like that,” he moans, giving a tentative thrust of his hips that you gag around, “So eager.”

Jeongguk is big, and most of his cock doesn’t fit in your mouth, so you happily suck what you can and fist the rest of him.  He feels as good in your mouth as you expected him to, heavy against your tongue and the taste heady.  You pull off to breathe, jaw aching from the girth of Jeongguk’s cock, and he coos as you gasp for air.

“So good baby, so close, just a little more, yeah?  Gonna cum down that throat of yours, gonna feel so good, mmm,” he moans as you swallow him back down, fighting through your need to gag to hold your mouth around him and just suck, twisting your hands around the rest of him, “Y/N.”

You whine as Jeongguk reaches down to hold your head steady, before catching on that he wants to fuck your mouth.  You moan around him, making sure to keep your teeth hidden as you tongue at the head each time he thrusts in.

“Ah, yes, yes, gonna cum,” Jeongguk growls, leaning up on an elbow to watch your face intently as you glance up at him, “Hnng!”

There’s so much cum and you try to swallow as much as you can, but you have to pull off to breathe and a few splatters land on your cheek and jaw.  You continue to jerk him through it and Jeongguk hisses through his teeth at the sensitivity, baring his neck as he lets you work his cock roughly before he unceremoniously pulls you up to him to shove his tongue in your mouth.

You laugh breathlessly as you fall against him, trying to keep up.

“You’re insatiable,” you condemn and he grins against the column of your throat.

“You just make me feel so good, sound so pretty for me,” he tells you, “Want to fuck you so bad.”

You can’t help the way you clench your legs together and Jeongguk can feel the muscle movement from where you’re settled on his lap, calming down together.

“Soon,” he promises, running his hands up your back as you relax against him, heart beat slowly returning to normal, “Let’s just enjoy yourselves, like you said.” 

-

You’re humming to yourself as you help prepare meat in the dining hall.  Some of the pack members had gone on a hunt the day before and the second run had gone out this morning.  They were trying to stock up on their own food, as well as add to the supplies they were going to trade to your tribe for the Lottery.  Well, your old tribe.

Jeongguk had gone out on the second run and he had been excited this morning.  Jeongguk told you he liked hunting more for the physical aspect than the actual hunting part, though he did disclose that one of his favorite memories was taking down an elk all by himself.  He promised to find a rabbit, which was meat you really liked, so you two could have dinner in your cabin and you found the gesture incredibly sweet.

However, when Minseo rushes into the preparation room, eyes wide and chest heaving, your heart drops into your stomach.  The chatter from the other pack members dies down quickly, as you all zero in on the absolute panic on Minseo’s face.

“Minseo what’s-”

“It’s Jeongguk,” she whispers, reaching a shaky hand to you, “Jeongguk’s hurt, we have to go.”

You hear the words, can see Jeongguk bleeding in your mind’s eye, but you can’t make your feet move.  Jeongguk’s hurt.  Your future mate is hurt and all you can think is the worst, hand tightening around the knife in your hand.

“Y/N, dear, it’s okay,” Minseo gently takes the knife from you, laying it on the table as your breathing shortens, “C’mon, he’s in the healing hut, let’s go see him.”

Minseo holds you close to her as the two of you sprint over to the healing hut.  The closer you get the louder it becomes and you two see the rest of the second run standing around outside, debriefing Alpha Kim.  Some of them are already bandaged up, favoring legs and holding limp arms to their chests.  You can only hope Jeongguk made it out with as minor injuries.

Alpha Kim notices you and Minseo drawing closer and beckons you into the hut, “He’s okay, he’s inside.  He’s asked for you, go see him.”

You quickly nod at him, bounding up the stairs and holding your breath as you push the door open.

The first thing you notice is how disheveled Jeongguk’s hair is, face dirty and gaunt and a small frown marring his face.  The second thing you notice is the bandage wrapped around the entirety of his left arm, stained red in some spots.  The third and last thing you notice is Ina curled up in Jeongguk’s lap, sobbing.

They haven’t noticed you and Minseo yet, the door opening too soft to be heard over the sound of Ina’s crying.  You go to take a step forward and announce your presence, but Minseo places a firm hand on your shoulder and shakes her head, motioning for you to be quiet.  You want to protest, to let them know you’re here, but realize Ina is talking as she cries.

“Why did you have to choose her?” she asks, hands clutching at Jeongguk’s pants, face hidden, “Why did you have to step out of the pack?”

Jeongguk sighs softly, a light hand placed on the back of her head as he tries to console her, “Ina, we talked about this…”

“No, you talked about it,” she vehemently denies, “You decided we weren’t a match and you decided to end it.  I wanted to work through it and stay together.”

Together?  You should have known from the way Ina had approached you and the way she talked to you that there had been something between them.

“I could have made you so happy,” she whispers, pulling away to look up at him.  Your heart breaks for her.

“Ina, I wouldn’t have been happy if I had stayed,” he breaks it to her in a gentle voice.

“You never even gave us a chance!” she rips herself away from him, standing up and turning so quickly that you barely have a chance to prepare for when your eyes meet

Ina’s nostrils flare dangerously but you meet her stare head on.  Jeongguk stands up behind her, ready to step in, but you shake your head at him.  You and her were going to have to talk it out one day, better now when everyone can bare witness.

“You’ll never take away the fact that I was his first,” she declares and you have to stop yourself from rolling your eyes at her childish attack.  You wanted to be civil, seeing as how you’re in the same pack now, but she’s made it clear she has no intentions of ever treating you as an equal.

“Well, we all make mistakes,” you shrug.  You can’t deny the little trill of fear that runs down your spine when her eyes narrow and her hands clench.

“You bitch-”

“Ina,” Jeongguk growls behind her, voice low and authoritative, “Don’t talk to her like that.  I didn’t “choose” Y/N; if she hadn’t volunteered it would have been whoever was drawn from the Lottery.  I’m sorry but that’s the truth.”

Ina’s face twists and she turns her head away for a moment before she charges forward.  Your eyes widen, bracing yourself for impact, but Minseo guides you away from the door to let her barrel out of it.

It’s quiet for a few moments, before Jeongguk sighs heavily and sits back on his medical cot.   His movement snaps you back into the moment and you take a small step towards him, causing him to raise his head to look at you.

Jeongguk looks exhausted as he simply stares at you for a moment, before he raises his arms in welcoming and you fall into him.  You wrap your arms around his shoulders, cradling his head to your chest as the tension in your body floods out of you.  You’re not surprised to find that a few tears fall, utterly relieved to see and feel that Jeongguk is only minorly injured.

“Y/N,” Jeongguk says tiredly, breath washing across your skin, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

You shake your head, kissing his crown as you rub your fingers against the back of his neck, “I don’t care about Ina right now, are you okay?”

Jeongguk lets out a deep sigh again, the arms he had tightly wrapped around you growing limp, “So tired.”

“What happened?” you asked softly, “How did you get hurt?”

“Bear,” he says gruffly, “Took us by surprise.  Snagged m’arm with its claws.  Had’ta flee.”

His words are starting to slur and you squeeze him to you for a long moment before you slowly ease him back down onto the cot.  Jeongguk doesn’t fight against you, nuzzling against the hand you lay on his cheek as he gets comfortable.

“Rest now,” you kiss his cheek and his eyelashes flutter closed, “You’re okay.”

You watch his face even out as he falls asleep, the furrow between his eyebrows slowly smoothing.  When you turn around, you see Minseo watching the two of you with soft eyes and a softer smile.

She simply says, “Let’s let him rest.  We’ll prepare him dinner and you can deliver it later.”

“That sounds good.”

There’s quiet between the two of you as you head back to the dining hall before Minseo breaks it, “He was wrong, you know.”

“Jeongguk?” you question and she nods, “About what?”

“He says he didn’t choose you, but he’s wrong.”

“How so?” you ask, because you very plainly volunteered, there was no choosing on his end.

Minseo smiles serenely up at the clear blue sky, closing her eyes against the sunlight, “He chose you the moment you stepped forward.”

-

“I don’t think this is a good idea,” Jeongguk frowns at you, watching you change into heavier clothes.

You roll your eyes, completely exasperated with him, “I don’t care what you think, I want to do this.”

You pull a thick cloak around you, cinching it around your neck as you face him.  He’s tonguing his cheek, staring intensely at the wall as he thinks.  The two of you have been arguing about this for the past half hour, the both of you adamant on opposite stances.

“You don’t know the area well enough,” he finally settles on, “There are other pack members who would be more useful on this supply run.”

You pause in lacing your boots up, slowly and carefully facing Jeongguk as he seems to realize the implications behind his words.

“You think I’m useless?” you ask in an even tone and he takes a step towards you before you even finish.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” he snaps, as you glare at him and shove past him.  He snags your arm to turn you to him before you can leave the bedroom, “I just meant-”

“I know what you just meant,” you rip your arm from his grasp, continuing down the hallway, “I can’t just be your bitch forever Jeongguk, I have to be of some use to the pack.”

“No one thinks-!” Jeongguk is hurrying after you as you head towards the front door, but you’re done listening.

“I’m going whether you like it or not,” you tell him fiercely, and he stands kind of dumbly in place, eyes wide and chest heaving, “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Y/N!” he calls out, but the only answer he gets is the slamming of your front door in his face.

When Alpha Kim had approached you about accompanying some pack members on a supply run, you had immediately said yes.  You’d only been with the pack for a few days but you felt like a burden, so you tried to pitch in wherever you could: clothes mending, laundry, food prep, farming.

This supply run would give you a chance to get to know some of the pack members a little better and the surrounding area as well.  You were excited about it, and it hurt your feelings a little when you had told Jeongguk and his response had been a shake of his head.

“No, I don’t think you should go,” he had said, casually, turning away from you like the conversation was over.

He seemed to think that because he was an alpha, what he said went, but you were your own person and you had already decided you were going on the supply run; you had told Jeongguk out of courtesy, not permission.  So you had simply left Jeongguk to his lunch and went to pack some of your belongings before you really began arguing, before he called you useless.

Now, you’re approaching the group gathered outside Yoongi’s cabin, the alpha the leader of this particular run.

“Ah, Y/N, good, you’re here.  That should be everyone, are we ready to set out?” his voice is quiet but commanding, and your little group quiets down as they nod their agreement.

You don’t look back as you follow the group out to the edge of your pack boundary line and across it, chatting with the human girl Jihyo.  You two have spent some time together since you’ve arrived and you feel better about not being the only human on the run.

Yoongi leads your group in his shifted form, nose to the ground as other shifted members flank the sides.  You dislike the idea of the shifters circling around you humans like you need protection, but considering you still don’t know the area, you don’t fight against it.  You’re sure they’re just being extra careful with you as well, considering how new you are.

You and Jihyo collect some simple and easy herbs as you walk.  There’s a deer den the group is headed to and there’s a black berry patch Jihyo had mentioned that was near it.  You’re expected to reach a camping spot by sun down, head into the deer den to catch them by surprise in the early morning, swing by the berry patch, and reach home just before dinner.  You hope that it’ll give you and Jeongguk enough time to calm down after your little spat to talk it through.

Yoongi stops suddenly in front of you, one of the pack members stumbling into him as he raises his nose to sniff quickly at the air, tail stiff with alert.  The others seem to realize something’s amiss as they crowd you and Jihyo in between them, watching the tree line for whatever it is Yoongi’s smelling.

Except Yoongi lets out an amused huff before he shifts back, turning to face the way your group had just come from.

“You might as well come out of hiding, I can smell you,” he calls out and you look where he’s looking, but with your diminished senses you can’t see anything.

Until a black body shifts its way between some bushes, head held high as he walks to you.  You roll your eyes and turn away from Jeongguk as he joins your group, padding his way up to Yoongi, ears and tail lowered in respect.

“Weren’t you attacked by a bear a two days ago?  Should you really be following us?” Yoongi asks rhetorically, before he shifts back.

Yoongi barely gives any of you time to adjust to the new addition to your group, sticking his nose back to the ground as he continues to follow the trail.

Jeongguk turns his head to look back at you but you push forward with Yoongi, refusing to spare him a glance.  You can feel your blood boiling. How dare he follow you like you’re some little girl who needs her father to watch over her.

Jeongguk doesn’t approach you as you and Jihyo continue to collect easy supplies as you walk.  You’re going a little slower than you expected, but the way the pack does things is different than you’re used to.

It becomes evident what’s given Yoongi some concern when he pauses over a dark splatter against a tree trunk, growling lowly in his throat as he sniffs at it.

“That’s… blood,” Jihyo whispers nervously by your side, subconsciously reaching down for your hand in search of comfort.

Jeongguk nears Yoongi and they seem to have a quick conversation if the look they share is anything to go by.  You’re surprised to see them motion for your group to head into the trees, off the established path.  One of the unshifted members behind you explains what’s happening when they sense your hesitation.

“It must be another shifter’s blood if Yoongi’s taking us into cover.  He must not be sure what’s hurt it,” he says, a shifter named Minho, “It looks like old blood though, so it’s probably more a precaution than anything.”

You nod and when you face forward, you can see Jeongguk is looking at you over his shoulder.  You give him a quick, reassuring smile and he accepts it, turning back to help beat down the grass for your group to walk through easier.

Yoongi seems satisfied with your cover after a few hours, shifting back to put a halt to the group.

“We’ll bed down here for the night,” Yoongi announces, the treetops hiding the waning sunlight, “We’re a little farther from the deer den than I would have preferred, but we’re capable and can make do.  I know there’s a little lake nearby where we can get some fish for extra food and wash up really quick, which we’ll do in shifts.  Minho, help me gather some wood.  Seulgi, Jeongguk, you head to the lake-”

“Wait, that’ll leave Y/N and Jihyo by themselves,” Jeongguk quickly interjects, meeting the withering glare Yoongi sends him head on.

“Your point?”

“W-Well, someone should stay with them, shouldn’t they?  Seulgi can handle fishing by herself, I’ll-”

“The two of you will catch more fish faster than just Seulgi by herself,” Yoongi counteracts, before his voice turns teasing, borderline mocking, “What’s the matter, Jeongguk?  Don’t trust your mate by herself?”

“That’s not-!” Jeongguk splutters and you snort, crossing your arms.

“Then Seulgi and you will gather the fish.  You should remember where the lake is, I won’t insult you by holding your hand and walking you to it.”

Jeongguk’s face turns red and he glowers, Seulgi nudging his shoulder good naturedly as they turn away.  Jeongguk does shoot you one last glance but you ignore him again, upset with his response to this whole situation.

“C’mon, let’s start setting up camp,” Jihyo says and you snap back to it, nodding as the two of you get to work.

Quickly, the two of you pat the ground down enough that you’ll be able to easily contain and control your small bonfire.  Jihyo shyly asks if she can set her sleeping pad near yours and you feel your heart constrict in a pleasant manner, pulling yours closer to hers in answer.  You like Jihyo and you hope that your friendship with her only grows.

“Jeongguk’s been acting kind of weird today,” she observes, almost hesitantly, like she’s afraid to cross any boundaries.

You sigh as the two of you settle in to wait for everyone to get back.

“Yeah, we had a fight this morning about this supply run.  We’ll be okay, I’m just upset with how much it seems like he doesn’t trust me.  I know we’ve known each other for less than a week, but all this seems completely uncalled for.  He followed me out here for god’s sake.”

Jihyo nods, taking it what you’re saying and thinking it over, before she says, “I have no advice, sorry.”

You laugh, patting her hand as you smile, “It’s okay.  It’s something Jeongguk and I have to figure out for ourselves.”

“For what it’s worth, it seems to me like he’s just worried about you; I’ve only known Jeongguk a few years and he’s always been kind of reserved and off on his own, but whenever you’re around he always seems to be a little more present and engaged.”

You sigh, running a hand through your hair, and she smiles reassuringly at you, as she says, “Maybe try and talk to him tonight, before bed.  You’re not supposed to go to bed angry, right?”

You stand as Minho and Yoongi breach your little clearing, arms loaded with more firewood than is probably necessary for a night, but it’ll be good to have as a precaution.  You’re the most adept at starting a fire, having had to use one everyday to heat your little hut in your old tribe and whenever you wanted to eat, so you have it going in no time at all.

The four of you sit and talk as you wait for Jeongguk and Seulgi to get back, and it takes longer than you were expecting.  You’re not sure how far this lake is but it can’t be that far and Jeongguk’s not enough of an idiot to have gotten lost.  You briefly think about the dried shifter blood and start to worry that whatever got it had got them.  Yoongi must detect the change in your heart rate because he shoots you a comforting smile.

The relief you feel when they finally come back, sacks loaded with fish, is overtaken by surprise when Jeongguk unceremoniously dumps a large and slimy catfish in your lap with a wet plop.

“I caught this for you,” he simply says, turning away immediately to hand his sack to Yoongi so they can start gutting the contents.

You stare at the fish in your lap for a moment, it’s dead beady eye staring back at you as you start to smile.  Even in the midst of a fight he’d been thinking of you and you shake your head, pulling a knife out of your belt to gut and debone it.

You wonder if, as you bed down for the night, Jeongguk is going to sleep beside you.  You’ve gotten used to sharing space with him the past few days and your sleeping pad feels empty without him.  He and Yoongi are talking on the other side of the smoldering fire, probably a plan for the sneak attack on the deer in the morning, and he looks handsome in the firelight.  His jaw is drawn tight, chewing on his lip as the two of them strategize, arms crossed over his chest with his biceps flexing as he shifts his weight from foot to foot.  He’s handsome, you’ll never deny that, and what makes him even more attractive is the way he cares, especially about others.  Especially about you.

You’re less mad at him now then you were earlier, but you know it’s something the two of you still have to discuss; he needs to realize that you are an individual and you get to make your own decisions, whether he agrees with them or not.  But you realize he was right in being worried about you going on the run in the first place, unfamiliar with the pack and the area. You’ll let him know that you’ll listen to him more next time if he’s willing to do the same.

Jeongguk suddenly glances over at you and you don’t shy away from his gaze, even if your heart does jump with surprise.  You scoot back on your pad a little to pat the space in front of you and he smiles, a small genuine one, before he motions you to wait a few more minutes.  You’re content with that, letting yourself relax as you watch him finish up his conversation, before he eagerly pads his way over to you.

“Gukkie,” you smile at him as he settles right beside you, wrapping an arm around your waist to haul you into him.

“Hey, pretty girl,” he greets, leaning in to kiss you softly, at odds with the way he tightly holds you close to him.

“The fish was good,” you tell him and he grins happily at you.

“Seulgi was getting mad at how long I was taking, but when I saw it I knew I wanted to get it for you,” he admits and you laugh at him.

“There were plenty of other catfish you could have caught,” Seulgi grumpily snaps at him, still awake and sitting by the fire even though her eyes are starting to droop, “It didn’t have to be that particular one.”

He ignores her and you poke his side for it, Jeongguk just burying his face in your shoulder.  You smooth a hand down his back, bunching his tunic top in your hands as you keep him close, breathing in his comforting scent as your body melts into him.  He shifts so the two of you are a little more comfortable, one of his arms sliding under your head as a makeshift pillow while one of your legs slides between his.

“Are we okay?” he whispers to you, the chatter of the last few pack members serving as quiet background noise.  You think you can hear Jihyo snoring, enhanced by the few crickets you guys haven’t scared away.

“I still want to calmly discuss it and not just accept your bribe of fish-”

“-it wasn’t a bribe-” he sulks.

“-but I get it,” you tell him gently, laying your free hand on his cheek.  He kisses your palm as you continue, “we should’ve talked it out more before I stormed off and you decided it was necessary to crash the party.”

Jeongguk has the decency to look sheepish, “Sorry I just- sorry.  Yoongi’s right, I should trust you more.  I just worry about you, being new to the pack and the area.  I trust the members with my life but if something happened to you on this run and I wasn’t here to protect you, I’d never forgive myself.”

“You won’t always be able to protect me,” you gently admonish him.

Jeongguk heaves out a heavy sigh, like it pains him to admit, “I know.  I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” you tell him, “I should have listened to your concerns seriously before I got mad.  It’s just… hard for me to listen to others. It’s been just me for so long, I’m not used to other people caring for me.”

“Sounds like we both have some things we need to work on,” Jeongguk notes and you smile into his neck.

“Together?” you whisper, glancing up at him.

“Together,” he smiles before he kisses you.

“Ugh, get a room,” Yoongi gags from the other side of the bonfire, and you and Jeongguk giggle into each other.

-

You and Jeongguk are incredibly sexually compatible, that much is obvious, but more than that, you find that you genuinely enjoy being around him.  Time and time again, you find the two simply together and enjoying each other’s presence, not just each other’s bodies.

It’s nice.  A comfortable life with someone you genuinely enjoy being around and someone you didn’t just settle for is not something you’d ever have.  Jeongguk makes you laugh until your stomach hurts, tears clinging to the corner of your eyes.  He makes you cry with soft stories of his childhood, recounting precious memories with his parents and grandparents, about friends that have come and gone.

It’s amazing.  He’s amazing.  You keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, for something to pop this bubble that you’ve been living in for the past few days, but it doesn’t come.  You don’t expect your life with Jeongguk to always be this easy, but you know that if you two continue to work together like you’ve been, you’ll be able to overcome anything.

“Our ceremony is in a few days,” Jeongguk tells you two mornings before your ceremony, curled around you with your head resting on his bicep.

He’s scratching at your scalp, and you’ve noticed these last couple of days that he’s lost most of his feral features.  His nails are short and blunt, and his fangs have retracted to match the rest of his teeth. You’ve learned that it wasn’t so much that Jeongguk’s feral transformation that made him lose his communication skills, but that he’s fairly reserved most of the time naturally.  It doesn’t bother you; you like watching Jeongguk just exist in the space around him, filling it entirely with his very being.

“I know,” you whisper, brushing the lightest touch against the newly started ink on his chest.  It’s part of the ceremony, Jeongguk having earned the right to bear the pack’s insignia, and it’ll be completed by the time you say your mating vows.

“Are you nervous?” he asks, using the leverage he has in your hair to tilt your head back, staring intensely down at you, “Are you regretting your decision?”

“No,” you tell him immediately, because you don’t, “there are some things I regret in life, but you’ll never be one of them.  But yes… I am nervous.  I don’t know why though.”

He smiles sweetly at you, kissing you even sweeter.

“I can’t wait,” he says honestly, smattering kisses across your face as he tries to pull you closer, though there’s miniscule space between you two already, “getting to do this with you for the rest of my life… it sounds almost too good to be true.”

You bury your face in his chest and he lets you, wrapping his arms tightly around you as he pins you to the furs.

“You’re sappy,” you mumble into his chest and he hums, not denying it, “but the rest of our lives has a nice ring to it.”

The only thing that could potentially put a damper on your mood is Ina, who has been nothing but rude and condescending to you.  You ignore her, for the most part, and don’t mention anything to Jeongguk because it’s not worth a second thought.  Jeongguk is your mate now and it’s something she’ll just have to accept.

Jeongguk’s friends, Jimin and Taehyung, are really sweet to you, and help you prepare for your ceremony considering your lack of friends.  But you think you can begin calling them friends of your own as they help rub oil into your skin, specifically around your neck, to help loosen and slightly numb it to prepare it for your mating bite.  They also help you make a necklace for Jeongguk, your own symbol of possession considering you can’t return his bite.

The night before your ceremony, you’re whisked away from Jeongguk, Minseo giggling at the outrage on his face.

“It’s bad luck to see your mate before the ceremony, Y/N’s gonna have to stay with me tonight,” she lies and you cackle as Jeongguk whines at her, uncaring of the fact that he’s amidst his pack in the dining hall.

Some of the older women coo at him as he stands, stalking towards the two of you as Minseo drags you around.  The rest of the pack joins in on the fun, pulling you around the hall as they block Jeongguk’s attempts from getting to you.  The both of you laugh as you play along, you hiding behind people as Jeongguk wrestles pups to the ground, acting like they’re his biggest obstacle.

“I’ll never get to her this way!” Jeongguk proclaims, letting one of the pups gain the upper hand and put him in a rather strong headlock for someone his size, “You’ll never take her from me!”

You giggle as Minseo comes around to collect you, pulling you out from behind a sweet omega named Taeyeon, tucking some hair behind your ear as she slides a clip into your hand.

You grip it tightly as she leans into you, whispering, “This was my mother’s.  It would… mean a lot to me if you wore it during your ceremony tomorrow.  Mother always wanted to see Jeongguk’s mating ceremony and I think she would have loved you.”

It brings tears into your eyes and you hug her tightly, as the crowd around you continues to laugh and play loudly.

“Thank you,” you cry.

Minseo kisses your cheek, keeping you close to her as she says, “Out of any daughter I could have received, I thank the gods it’s someone like you.  I know you and Jeongguk will be happy together.”

Minseo is going to have you flat out sobbing in a few moments as she pulls away to smooth your hair down before she steps back.  You wipe hastily at your eyes, pocketing the clip safe and secure in your pants.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” she tells you.

You go to answer, but familiar arms wrap around your waist and lift you up.  You squeal loudly, the crowd bursting into cheers as Jeongguk spins you, grin becoming visible as he shifts you until he has an arm around your back and under your knees, both your arms around his neck.

“Gotcha,” he’s smug, like it was actually a challenge to get to you.

“Oh no, whatever shall I do?” you sarcastically intone, pressing the back of your hand dramatically to your forehead, “It looks like the big bad wolf has caught me.”

“I’d be careful, little lamb; this big bad wolf has quite the appetite and it seems he’s caught something particularly tasty,” he licks his lips, winking at you, and there are whistles from the crowd.

You snicker but quickly school your features, fluttering your eyelashes at him as you say, “I wonder what I could possibly offer in exchange for my life?”

Jeongguk purses his lips, pretending to think, before he says, “I suppose I could spare you.  In exchange, you have to promise yourself to me.”

“Oh?  That’s a steep price,” you tease, biting your lip as Jeongguk growls a little at you, “Is it worth it, do you think?”

You hear a few people in the crowd shout out yes! and you grin at Jeongguk as he says, “You promise yourself to me, and I in turn promise to devote myself to you until I die.”

“I get to keep my life and receive a promise of my own?  Seems grossly unfair to me.  How about I tack on my own promise of devotion?”

Jeongguk doesn’t respond, just hoists you up a little farther so his aim is more on point when he kisses you hotly.  The crowd around you cheers the two of you on and you can’t quite hide the smile you’re sporting in the kiss, no matter how hard Jeongguk tries to eat it up.

-

The day of your ceremony, Minseo does steal you away from Jeongguk, practically shaking with excitement that she gets to help you dress.

Your dress is made of light cotton, something easy to slip in and out of, both for the ease of the party and the copulation.  Minseo rubs a sparkly powder made from fern flowers, flowers thought to have been blessed by the Moon Goddess, into your hair.  She gives you a watery grin when you slide Jeongguk’s grandmother’s clip into place, securing some hair out of your face.

You’re barefoot, to appreciate the earth beneath your feet, one of the blessings of the gods that allows your pack to survive and prosper.  It’s a beautiful day and at noon the pack members howl, signaling the start of the ceremony.

As Minseo guides you out of her cabin you feel your heart jump up into your throat from nerves.  You have the most absurd thoughts as you approach the center of the pack grounds, things like: will Jeongguk be there to meet you?; has all of this just been a sick joke, a taunt of the gods to show you what you’ll never have?; will you wake up back in your tribe, all alone again?

Minseo squeezes your shoulders as you suddenly stop, eyes wide and breath shortening.

“It’s okay sweetheart, just take your time,” she tells you, “you take this at your own pace, okay?  Today is about you and the start of your life with Jeongguk, this isn’t about anybody else.”

“Will he be there?” you ask her fearfully, afraid that when you reach the center he’ll laugh at you from the sidelines, as if you were ever good enough for him.

“Being Jeongguk’s mother, I know him inside and out.  Y/N, I’ve never seen Jeongguk look at someone the way he’s looked at you.”

You nod, taking a deep breath as Minseo smooths some of your hair down, waiting for your signal.  Finally, you nod with a bit more finality and step forward.

Various pack members throw seeds at your feet as you pass them.  The congregation grows thicker the closer you get to Jeongguk, but they’re purposefully blocking him from view, Alpha and Omega Kim standing at the very end.

“Y/N,” Alpha Kim greets you and you bow to him, “Please, rise.  Accept this gift of our pack, as we formally acknowledge that you are to be mated to one of our alphas, Jeon Jeongguk, and that better yet, you are officially one of our own.  Today and going forward, you are a part of our family.”

You wipe a tear from your eye as Omega Kim steps forward to place a rather simple but beautiful flower crown on your head, you bowing a little lower to show respect and thankfulness for the gift.

“Allow me to be the one to say this: out of any offering we could have chosen, I’m thankful you had the courage to volunteer.  Please, step forward and meet your mate.  If I can be blunt, he’s been rather anxious all morning.”

An indignant hey sounds from behind him and you laugh, the Kims parting to give you your first glance of Jeongguk and it steals your breath away.

He’s standing in the middle of the pack circle, wearing just as simple of a tunic as your dress, just as barefoot, and just as handsome as you’ve seen him everyday this week.  But his hands are clasped tightly in front of him, eyes glassy as he gazes so fondly at you it causes more tears to spring to your eyes.

Jeongguk holds his hands out as your step to him and you willingly follow the way he pulls you to him, dropping his forehead against yours.  The pack is quiet and respectful as you share the moment together, before you feel Jeongguk release a shaky breath.

“Hi,” he says, voice hoarse and you want to laugh but you can feel your lower lip wobbling.

“Hi,” you parrot, throat tight with emotions you’re currently unable to process.

“You look… more beautiful than anything I could have ever imagined,” he tells you, raw honesty shining through each word he speaks, “The clip- thank you.  I know grandmother is smiling down on us today.”

You can’t respond, choking on all the words you want so desperately to say to him, but he seems to understand you anyway if the spring light kiss he gives you is anything to go by.

There’s light applauding from the pack as you two straighten, Alpha and Omega Kim stepping up to the two of you.

“Everybody,” Alpha Kim intones, raising his hands high, “Please join me in blessing the joyous joining of these two bodies.  Though they are separate in physical form, they are one in soul.  May the Moon Goddess bless their lives together as we help watch over them, so is our promise as a pack.”

The shifters throw their heads back to howl as you and Jeongguk cross your arms to join hands, Omega Kim wrapping a twine rope that has been steeped in the same fern flower powder in your hair.  It sparkles against your skin, catching the sunlight as she wraps and wraps and wraps, up and down your arms until she knots it in place, knot hanging between your hands.

“In front of the pack, recite your promises.”

“As an alpha,” Jeongguk starts, staring directly at you, voice steady and resolute, “I promise to protect you with my life.  I promise to give you my all, so that we may have a good life together, here, within this pack, until fate intervenes or decides otherwise.  I promise to love you more today than I did yesterday, and love you even more tomorrow.  As my word is my bond, do you accept?”

You don’t think as you nod, already knowing what your answer is, “I accept.”

“Y/N, in front of our pack, please recite your promises.”

You take a moment to gather yourself, rubbing your cheeks against your shoulders to rid yourself of your tears since your hands are bound.  Jeongguk coos softly at you, pure elation etched in his face as he watches you.

“As a human,” you begin, voice shaky with emotion but ringing true with clarity, “I recognize that there is not much I can do to provide for you.  But I promise to be the best mate I can be, to support you in your endeavors and to lift your spirits when you are down.  I promise to love you with my entire heart, until fate decides to bless us with children, and I promise to love and protect them as any mother would do.  As my word is my bond, do you accept?”

“I accept,” Jeongguk whispers, arms straining against the rope in an effort to not just pull you to him and ravage you in front of everyone.

“We as a pack wish you all the happiness in the world,” Omega Kim finishes, reaching forward to undo the knot, letting the twine fall away from your arms as Jeongguk finally pulls you into him.

He’s crying into your hair, holding you close to him as the pack surges forward to give you their congratulations before they set off to get the party started.

“Why are you crying?” you blubber into his shoulder, holding onto him, “Stop it, you’re making it worse!”

He hiccup laughs into your ear, running his hands down your back as he finally pulls away.  Your heart swells as you wipe the tear tracks off his cheeks, leaning up to kiss him softly.  He nuzzles his nose against yours as you pull away, tucking you into his side as you follow the crowd to the party.

“I do really like this dress.  Looks like your Lottery dress,” Jeongguk says, clearing his throat of any remaining tears, tugging playfully at the hem.

“It is!” you say, stepping away as he keeps a grasp on your hand, Jeongguk letting out a laugh as you use it to your advantage to do a little spin, “Well, parts of it.  Figured I’d never wear it again but could still get some use out of it.”

“You look pretty,” he says simply, “and not to be a pervert so early in the afternoon, but you’ll look even better out of it.”

“Shut up,” you blush and he grins.

You and Jeongguk aren’t allowed to drink any wine, to keep yourselves clear headed for your impending copulation.  You two don’t need to drink to have any fun, though, as the two of you twirl around with your pack members, dancing and laughing and eating to your heart’s content.

You’re flushed and sweaty as the sun starts to set, the pack lighting up a bonfire as the party starts to wind down.  You’ve been stopped by individuals of the pack who want to personally congratulate you and wish you well.

“I’ve watched Jeongguk grow up and he’s always been such a sweet boy,” an older beta woman tells you, spindly fingers clutched around yours, “He’ll take such good care of you.  And I can tell you’ll take equally as good care of him.”

Jeongguk is on the other side of the clearing, nodding along as he intently listens to an older alpha tell him a story.  He seems to feel your gaze on him because he pauses in his conversation to glance up at you.  He gives you a small smile, tilting his head in question, but you just smile back as you shake yours.

“You know the old wives tale about the copulation ceremony, don’t you?” the beta asks.

“Oh, no, I don’t believe I have.  What is it?”

“They say that if your fern flowers glow during your copulation, the Moon Goddess is revealing that you’ve found your true mate.”

You’ve actually never heard that wives tale before and the surprise on your face makes the beta laugh.

“Don’t overthink it; it’s just a fairytale we tell the pups.  My advice to you during your copulation is just to relax, you’ll only make things worse for yourself if you’re tense.”

You nod, having already heard this from other mated pairs.  But if you’re being honest with yourself, your not worried about having sex with Jeongguk.  Sure, there’s a little pit in your stomach, but it’s completely overshadowed by the excitement thrumming through your veins at crossing this last intimate barrier with him.

The crowd gets quieter as the moon rises and the party dies down.  There are lots of tired pups being gathered up by their parents as Minseo lovingly embraces you, and then Jeongguk.

“You birthed me, shouldn’t I be hugged first?” Jeongguk exclaims, pulling his mother tightly into his arms as you snort quietly beside him.

“I like Y/N better,” she says simply, but she holds him just as close to her, “I’m happy for you both.”

Jeongguk lets out a shaky exhale, letting her go before he takes your hand, “Thank you.  We’re going to make our rounds before we head to the clearing.”

She nods and gives you a radiant smile, waving you both off.  The rounds involve wishing everyone thanks and bidding them goodnight, older shifters try to give you last minute advice and others your age merely patting you on the back and giving you sly smirks.  Yoongi is probably the worst and you try to ignore the lascivious grin he gets you; he’s already experienced the carnal desires between you and Jeongguk, this isn’t anything new for him.

“Alpha Kim, Omega Kim,” Jeongguk greets and you bow to them and they smile at the both of you, packing up the remaining food to be delivered to your cabin, “thank you for this celebration.  We’re going to go pay our respects to the Moon Goddess now.”

Which is code for: we’re going to fuck like animals.  You try to keep your face neutral, but like with Yoongi, you try not to look Alpha Kim directly in the eyes.

“We wish you all the happiness,” Omega Kim reinterates and you do return this sweet little lady’s genuine kindness, “Oh and Jeongguk?”

“Yes ma’am?”

“Go easy on her,” she teases and you immediately cover your face as you hide behind Jeongguk.  Why are shifters so shameless?

Jeongguk seems just as embarrassed, holding onto you as he whines, “Alpha Kim please control your mate.”

Alpha Kim raises his hands and shakes his head, “Keep me out of this, son.”

The two of them laugh as you wallow in your embarrassment, before Jeongguk forces you beside him to bow one last time and walk away.

“He told her,” you state, glancing up at Jeongguk to see his ears are red, eyes focused on the treeline in front of you.

“He totally told her,” he soullessly intones and you can’t help but crack a smile.

Jeongguk tries not to laugh with you, but he can’t fight the way his lips curl as you giggle into his side.  The walk to the clearing doesn’t take very long and your heart rate picks up when you enter it.

“Jeongguk,” you whisper, eyeing the candles spread around, most of them adorning the base of the Moon Goddess statue.

When you turn to look at him he’s smiling softly at you, leading you further in.

“This could have been a fire hazard,” you scold, for lack of anything better to say.

“Shut up,” Jeongguk rolls his eyes, pulling you to the blanket he has laid out in the center of the candles.

You quiet down as you kneel on the blanket, running your hands over the fur.  It feels new, almost untouched, and you spread out on it on your stomach, sighing as some of the tension eases out of your body.  The clearing is quiet and you close your eyes, almost feeling like you could fall asleep.  The thrumming under your skin for what’s to follow can’t be ignored, though.

You don’t jump when a hand grasps your ankle, thumb rubbing against the skin there as another hand travels up the back of your leg, gripping at your thigh.  A kiss is pressed to the crease of your knee and you laugh at the ticklish feeling of it, before the hand on your thigh grips your hip and nudges you to roll over.

You do so, gasp getting caught in your throat when you see Jeongguk kneeling over you, eyes dark and half-lidded as he gazes down at you, his stare intense.  His hand on your hip moves up until it’s clutching at the dip of your waist, his fingers firm and intent, and your eyelashes flutter at the contact.  The want to close your legs is intense, but Jeongguk is slotted between them.  Jeongguk inhales sharply when he feels them tighten around his thighs instead, which is of very little reprieve for you, and if anything it makes the feeling worse.

“Let’s say our prayers to Her,” he tells you, voice already starting to deepen.

You don’t trust yourself to speak so you just nod, letting Jeongguk help pull you up and over to the statue.  You smile up at Her as you kneel at Her feet, clasping your hands in your lap.

Jeongguk bows his head as he says his prayers to Her, but you keep your head raised.  It almost seems as if She is looking back at you, her gaze stony and resolute but still so benevolent.

“I don’t have anything else to ask of You, You’ve already given me Jeongguk.”

The euphoric feeling that spreads through you suddenly is almost too much to comprehend and you sink into it, letting the feeling travel through your body until you can feel it even in your toes.

“Y/N.”

Jeongguk’s voice sends a shiver down your spine and you spin on your knees to see that Jeongguk has already moved to the blanket, leaning back on his hands with his legs extended in front of him.

You can already feel yourself start to get wet as you crawl towards him, Jeongguk sitting up to meet you in a messy kiss.  Your hands fly to his hair, angling his head up to give your neck a little slack, his own landing on your ass.  The feeling in your body gets hotter and more intense the longer you touch Jeongguk, one hand slipping from his hand to trail down his neck and rest on his pec, right over his heart.  The resounding and steady rhythm beneath your palm is comforting, despite the hungry way Jeongguk is trying to devour you.

“Want you.  Need you,” he groans, his hands on your ass drawing you closer, settling you more firmly in his lap so you can feel him compressed hot and hard in his trousers.

“Get naked,” you breathe out, pulling back to rid yourself of your dress.

Jeongguk’s eyes open, mouth forming a half smirk as he no doubt opens his mouth to say something stupid, before his mouth drops open when you unceremoniously pull your dress over your head.  His mouth shuts with an audible click and he acts like every time he sees you naked it’s the first time.  You knock the fern crown off in your haste and Jeongguk replaces it with shaky fingers, hands smoothing down your flyaway hairs.

“I’ll never get over how pretty you are,” he whispers, hands reverently running over your skin, from your shoulders to your fingers and back, down and around your sides to your ass and thighs, “Feel so good in my hands.  Can’t believe I’m the one who gets to touch you like this.”

You whine as you wriggle in his lap, his fingers light and ticklish, “Love your hands, Gukkie, they’re so big.  Touch me more.”

He hums as he leans forward to attach his lips to the top of your tit, sucking at the skin as his hands tweak your nipples.  You don’t really get much out of having your breasts fondled, but Jeongguk seems to like playing with them and the caress of his hands does feel nice, even if it’s not the most arousing.  You still let yourself get lost in the feeling as you run your hands through his hair, letting Jeongguk leave as many love bites as he wants as he works your nipples to hard peaks.

“Taste good,” he mumbles, his breath causing goosebumps to erupt when it hits your wet skin.

“I have something that tastes even better,” you promise, trailing your own hand down your stomach to lightly trace your lips, feeling how wet you already are yourself.

“You think?” he grins, teeth encasing your nipple for a second, “Think I should find out for myself?”

“I think I’d let you do whatever you wanted to me,” you tell him honestly, squeaking as he shifts under you to take you in his arms, slowly lowering you until your back meets the blanket.

His eyes are black and molten as he pulls back from you, lips furiously red from where they’d worked your skin over, “Don’t tempt me, lamb, or I might take you up on that offer.”

You spread your legs wide in response, fingers drumming against your skin from his lack of touch, pussy aching in need.  Jeongguk lets out a slow breath as he finally sheds himself of his clothes, your mating necklace getting caught in his shirt before he pulls it free and lets it fall back against his skin, complimenting his completed tattoo.

“So good for me,” he praises, kissing his way down your body.

Jeongguk appears to have no patience, immediately diving into your pussy like he’ll die without another minute of it on his tongue.

“Fuck!” you cry out, thighs clamping around his head at the sudden feeling, and his strong hands pry them apart and hold them to the blanket, keeping you open for him.

Your eyes roll back as he delves his tongue into you, eagerly licking and sucking any part of your pussy his mouth can reach.  He’s neglecting your clit with his tongue, but his nose brushes against it continuously and its enough to have you fucking your hips up into his face to get more pressure on it.

“Be a good girl and stay still,” he growls, one hand letting go of your thigh to throw his arm across your hips and hold you down, “Gonna get you nice and wet for my cock but… it looks like you did a good enough job of that for me.”

You groan and nod your head, “Want you so bad, Guk, been thinking about your cock all day.”

You can feel him grin into your pussy, which shouldn’t be as hot as it is, before he says, “Don’t worry, I’ll give it to you.”

He’s been fucking you with his fingers all week, so when presses one slowly into you to test the stretch, you’re quick to ask for another.  And then immediately another.

“So greedy,” he tuts, but doesn’t argue as he presses three fingers into you, watching with rapt attention as your back arches at the sensation.

It’s addictive, the way Jeongguk moves and crooks his fingers inside of you, tongue finally lapping against your clit in order to relax you more.  With his arm still holding your hips down, you take to clutching at his hair to move his tongue in a way you like and he lets you guide him, humming against your skin as you clench around his fingers.

When he finally pulls away you whine your dissatisfaction, eyelashes fluttering open as Jeongguk crawls up your body, his chin wet and glistening in the candle light.  You huff as you wipe it off, arm linking around his neck after.

“I was gonna cum,” you pout, accepting his light kiss.

“Oops,” he shrugs, smirking, and you smack his shoulder, pulling him back into you.

You could kiss Jeongguk for hours, tongues stroking together as your hands explored.  You especially like touching his back, the muscles taunt and defined under your hands as he presses his body against yours.  You both moan as his cock nudges into the wet mess that is your pussy, Jeongguk pulling away with a wet smack and a nip at your lower lip.

“I want to have sex like this,” he tells you, laying his palm against your cheek, “I want to watch your face.”

It’s almost embarrassing to think about, but you can’t help but echo his sentiment and the two of you shuffle for a few seconds, Jeongguk planting his knees more steadily into the ground as your thighs bracket his hips.  That nervous flutter starts up in your stomach as Jeongguk presses the head of his cock against your slit, rubbing it slowly against you as he himself seems to gather his nerves.

Jeongguk holds onto cock as he leans back down over you, pressing his mouth reassuringly against yours as he slowly pushes in, your mouth dropping open as he fills you.

You’ve taken cock before, but it had always been quick trysts with men who didn’t care about you, usually with you half clothed and pushed up against a wall, your own fingers rubbing your clit to give you something as they chased their own orgasms.  There had been some girls you had fucked, pussies wet as you rubbed them together, and there had even been a sweet, traveling woman who had buried her face in your cunt for a few hours and worked your pussy raw.  She had pulled the best orgasms out of you until you cried, but then she had disappeared like a ghost and left you aching for days.  Most people didn’t acknowledge you after, unless they wanted to get their rocks off again, and you had gone with it because you had your own needs to fill too.

Jeongguk is not most people and you can feel the tears gathering in your eyes as he pushes his cock in until his pelvis meets yours.  He’s dropped his head to place his forehead against your collarbone, breath ragged as he finally comes to a halt, body quivering as you clutch onto his shoulders.

“Okay?” he asks, voice deep but quiet, “Hurt?”

“I need a sec,” you whimper, trying to relax around the intrusion and he grants you it, keeping you close as he peppers kisses across your skin.

The throbbing in your pussy changes from uncomfortable to needy as he cock pulses in you and you finally rub your nose against his neck and whisper for him to start moving.

Jeongguk takes a shuddering breath as he slowly pulls his cock out and inches it back in, fingers creating indents on your hip as you clench around him, trying to adjust to the feeling.  His thrusts help, loosening your body up as the pain ache transforms into spikes of pleasure.

“Feels good,” you whine, loosening your hold on his shoulders and letting him pull out of your neck, “Gukkie, feels good.”

You smile up at him as his eyes open, before they widen considerably.  His minuscule thrusts stop and you fear the worst, raising a hand to his face.

“What?  What is it?” you worry, trying to turn your head to see if maybe something’s happening and you see-

You see your hair spread around you with the strands glowing against the blanket.  You gasp, raising a hand to pinch some of the powder off your hair to see it coat your fingers, glowing a translucent blue against your skin.

“Y/N,” Jeongguk whispers shakily, reaching a hand up to touch the crown that had fallen onto the blanket when he laid you down, “the flowers… they’re glowing.”

Jeongguk’s right, your hair is glowing and the rest of your body is starting to glow too, where fern powder has fallen onto your skin all day.

“You’re-you’re glowing and that means your- that means we-” Jeongguk’s lower lip is starting to wobble and he can’t finish his sentence, dipping his head to let it rest in your neck again, “Y/N.”

You cry with him, clutching tightly onto Jeongguk as the message the Moon Goddess sent you sets in; Jeongguk and you are true mates.  It doesn’t sound real, as you sob into Jeongguk’s shoulder, and you don’t feel any different than you did ten minutes ago.  But fern flowers don’t randomly glow, especially not after they’ve been plucked, and not coincidentally on your mating day after giving the Moon Goddess your thanks.

Jeongguk kisses you, a messy thing of tears and spit as he undulates his hips, framing your face as he sets the pace.  You can make out faint murmurings of it’s you as Jeongguk tongues you, pelvis pressed against yours as he grinds against you.  The pressure is almost too much, the hard plains of his lower stomach pressing tantalizingly against your clit as you open around his cock.

His pace turns more frantic, pulling his hips back farther and farther, spearing you on his cock more and more as his hands roam your torso.

“Pretty girl, my pretty girl,” he groans, licking a thick stripe up your neck as your legs tighten around him, overcome with the feeling, “So wet, feel so good around my cock.”

You nod in quick agreement, hands slipping down his back as he starts to sweat, “Guk, touch me, please.”

You cry out as his fingers toy with your clit, tears gathering in your eyes, carding your fingers through his hair.  Your orgasm is fast approaching and Jeongguk seems hellbent on sending you over the edge fast.

“Yes, yes, Gukkie, so close,” you pant, having trouble keeping your eyes open.

“Gonna look so good around my knot,” he grunts, the pressure of his fingers turning deadly and you cry at the feeling, “Gonna knot you so good you’ll feel it for days.  This is the only knot you’ll ever need, the only knot you’ll ever want, got that?” his voice turns into a growl and you openly sob.

“Only ever want you, Guk- gonna- gonna-!”

You throw your head back as all sounds get caught in you throat, back taunt as you arch it, Jeongguk fucking you through your orgasm as his fingers don’t slow.  It’s so good, consuming your entire body as it locks up until all you can feel is it and Jeongguk.

“Baby, look so good like this.  God, I’m so lucky.  Gonna bust- gonna knot-”

Jeongguk stops talking, leaning down to clamp his teeth around your neck.  You don’t even flinch at the feeling, your body thrumming from your orgasm.  There is a sort of warmth in your heart at knowing that once Jeongguk leaves his bite claim it’s official by shifter standards, that you and Jeongguk are mated for life.

You gasp as you feel the initial swelling, Jeongguk biting harder in tandem as his knot grows.  You’ve never slept with a shifter before and the swelling, despite being aware of it, is not something you’re quite prepared to take.  You whine as it continues to swell, Jeongguk growling around his mouthful of your skin as his thrusts slow down as it locks you two in place.

You squeeze your eyes shut as Jeongguk begins to cum and bites through your skin, pain erupting along with it.

“Oh fuck, fuck,” Jeongguk grunts, licking at your neck before he throws his head back and howls, body twitching in your hold.

There’s… a lot.  It feels like Jeongguk cums for a minute straight, panting heavily into the air before he lets his full body weight fall on top of you.  You wheeze but don’t fight it, pressing your nose into his temple as you breathe together.  Jeongguk licks periodically at your bite wound as your breathing evens out and your heartbeats return to normal.

“I can’t believe it,” Jeongguk finally whispers, “How would I get so lucky?  To meet my true mate through a voluntary offering.”

His words bring tears to your eyes again.  It does seem too good to be true, to have been ostracized from your community only to have that ostracism lead to your volunteering at Jeongguk’s Lottery.

Jeongguk raises his head to meet your eyes and he’s wearing a dopey smile, brushing his fingers over the crown of flowers.

“You’re still glowing,” he whispers, eyes bright and shiny in the candlelight.

“Cut it out, I’m gonna cry,” you hiccup, trying to pull Jeongguk down to kiss you, but he resists, testing the pull of his hips.

His knot has gone down enough that he’s able to pull out, but he quickly plunges his fingers into you.  You go to protest, but the words die in your throat as he gazes very seriously up at you.

“Y/N,” he sounds just as serious, “I just- I love you.”

You reach out and punch his shoulder and he rears back, more out of shock than actual pain, “Ow!  What the hell!”

“You can’t say that to me when you’ve got your fingers in me like that!” you protest, though his words have sent your heart spiraling.

“I didn’t want to let the cum out yet,” he says, pouting like the ridiculous idiot he is.

You open your mouth to say something, but he leans in and softly kisses you, finally removing his fingers so he can hold you by your waist.

“I just wanted you to know,” he says, shameless and honest, “I don’t expect you to say it if you don’t feel it.”

You feel a lot for Jeongguk, but you’re not sure if that feeling is love or not, so you keep it to yourself for now.  Jeongguk doesn’t seem offended, if the sweet kisses he continues to give you mean anything.  He places a hand on your cheek to tilt your head and you hiss as it pulls the stiff skin of your neck.

Jeongguk grins as he pulls from kissing your mouth to kissing your neck, the attention alleviating some of the pain.

“We have the clearing all to ourselves,” Jeongguk murmurs against your skin and you hum in acknowledgement, letting him slowly guide you back down on the blanket, “Let’s lay here for a bit, yeah?  I wanna take my time with you.”

“Guk…” you start off and he looks up at you, raising a quizzacle eyebrow, “... thank you.”

He doesn’t ask for what.  You both already know, can both feel it when he raises up to kiss you again, with the intention of taking advantage of all the time you guys have left.  Which is forever.

[btstimestamps]

Mine [Ch.1]

Pairing(s): maknae line x fem!reader [hybrid!au] [college!au]

Genre(s): fluff, tiny amount of angst, lots of smut 😜

Summary: Having three of your best friends as cat hybrids was quite chaotic especially when their heat hits them all at the same time.

-----------------------------------------------

"I'm home~"

You glanced up from your textbook for a moment to acknowledge your friends presence before focusing back on your task. It was the usual evening with Taehyung showing up to your shared apartment first after finishing his classes, your other two friends arriving after from their club activites.

"Have you eaten?" You asked as you wrote down a note next to a highlighted paragraph.

"Nope. I'm hungry." Taehyung slumped next to you and pouted making you smile.

You removed your reading glasses and placed your items on the oak table before going over to the kitchen to heat up some kimchi pancakes your mother had brought over when she came to visit during the day.

"Oh! I love your mother's cooking." Taehyung wrapped his arms around your waist and rested his chin on your shoulder as he smiled adorably, his tail swaying side to side in a quick pace.

Being used to the skinship, you simply hummed in response as you placed the delicious food on a plate.

"Eat up before it gets cold."

"Yes mom."

You softly laughed at his words as you headed back to your spot on the cushion sofa.

"There's a party tommorow at Seokjin-hyung's house. Wanna come with us?" Taehyung asked after he had his first bite.

"I have to study for the upcoming test. You know how important it is to me." You sent him an apologetic look but he shook his head, refusing your rejection.

"I'll only take a yes."

You sighed and sent the boy a nod making him cheer. In that moment, Jungkook and Jimin entered the apartment in a tired fashion.

"What with the celebrating?" Jimin asked but immediately caught the smell of food, his body automatically taking him to the source.

"Hey! These are mine!" Taehyung complained as Jimin mercilessly took a huge bite out of the pancake.

"Hyung, [F/N]-noona already heated up our food." Jungkook nodded towards the other plates you setted on the side and Jimin smiles in glee.

"Thanks [F/N]! You're the best~"

The trio sat by the table and chatted as they ate while you continued with your studying. It wasn't until they finished that you stood up and cleaned the table, ushering the boys to rest on the sofa while you cleaned up.

"Can we watch that movie today, noona?" Jungkook's voice startled you that you almost dropped the plate that was in your hands.

He reached out in time, placing his hand over yours and you both stood still trying to comprehend the current situation. Jungkook's cheeks turned a dark shade of red and he retracted his hand causing you to almost drop the plate again.

"That was close." You placed a hand over your heart while Jungkook came out of his daze, forcing a chuckle to leave his lips.

You were obviously not fazed by the contact, more concerned for the plate to even think about it but the younger boy strangely could not stop thinking about how your soft hand felt against his. If only he could feel more of your skin underneath those clothes and-

"Jungkook?"

His eyes widened as he realised where his mind was going and he took a step back.

"Are you ok?" You asked as you tried approaching him but he turned away and stormed off to his room.

The door slamming made you wince and you glanced over to your roommates who both shared a looking of understanding.

"Don't worry about Jungkook. He'll be fine in the morning." That didn't take away your concern but you sent them a nod, deciding it was best to drop the subject.

"I'm heading off to bed then. Goodnight." You took a step towards your room but you were called once more.

"Can't you sleep in my room tonight?" Jimin questioned and you blinked in confusion.

"I can but why do you want me to? Did you have a nightmare last night?" You said back with a tinge of worry but Jimin's smile that he directed towards you indicated that you were wrong.

"I just want to be close to you and cuddle and kiss-" Taehyung lightly elbowed Jimin in the stomach before he could finish.

"Go to bed, [F/N]. We'll see you in the morning." He told with a warm smile.

You returned it as you bid them farewell once more and soon entered your room. Taehyung's smile immediately dropped and he turned to glare at his friend who raised his hands while feigning an innocent expression.

"We are all friends, remember?" He emphasised the most important word making Jimin groan and slump against the sofa.

"I know but I can't help it." He sighed, closing his eyes as an image of your pretty form appeared in his mind.

"You're heat can't but you can. Control it for the next week." Taehyung told making the older boy huff.

"Tell that to Jungkook. He will be the worst out of us three."

Taehyung glanced at Jungkook's door already knowing what the male was up to and released a sigh.

"I'll talk to him in the morning."

The two decided to call it a night and head to their rooms.

---------------------------------------------

"N-Noona..."

Jungkook bit his swollen lip as he aggressively pumped his thick member with his longer slender fingers wrapped around it.

He imagined you with your ass up in the air as you bend over to take his throbbing cock in your mouth. Your lust filled gaze never leaves his and it drives him insane.

Jungkook almost rips off his sleeve once he bites into it to hold in his cry. Cum shoots out and his body shakes as he rides his orgasm, his eyes rolling to back of his head due to the pleasure. He breathed heavily, trying to calm down from his high before he grabbed some tissues from his side draw and cleaned up. Jungkook soon settled in his bed, glad that he had released a bit of the stress that he was suffering from but he knew it was only going to get worse as the week went by.

---------------------------------------------

"Good morning!"

The three cat hybrids shuffled out of their rooms, looking equally tired as the other but as they smelt the delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, they perked up.

"Did you sleep well?"

Jungkook had sat down with his friends and began eating, not realising you had directed the question to him until Jimin nudged him.

"I did...sorry about last night, noona." a tinge of pink dusted his cheeks as he ducked his head in shame.

"It's alright! Don't feel bad." You patted his back in comfort and Jungkook almost purred, his cat ears twitching.

"Calm down, you're making it obvious." Taehyung whispered and the male jumped in a startled manner.

You had gone away at that point to grab your bag, not hearing the interaction between the two which was a relief.

"I'm off then. I'll see you all at the party!" You put your shoes on and sent the three a wave before you headed out of the apartment.

"I don't want noona to go to the party..." Jungkook mumbled with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Jimin had to agree with the younger boy, a small frown settling onto his handsome features.

"I might go crazy if I see any other boy look at what's mine." He hissed, his cat ears stretching back as anger hit him.

Taehyung rolled up the magazine that you had left on the table earlier and lightly smacked each of them on the head.

"Control yourselves."

Jimin glanced at the taller boy and rolled his eyes, his lips forming into a small smirk.

"You should be telling yourself that."

Taehyung glanced up and saw his reflection through the mirror, hanging on the wall. His normally brown eyes were now glowing amber as his irises had become thin, his canines sharpening also.

He cursed under his breath and turned away, closing his eyes but as he did, images of the dream he had last night played around in his mind.

"Make me yours, Taehyung." You were lying underneath the shirtless male, your hands reaching out to bring him down.

He bit his lip and lowered himself, tilting his head to be able to share a kiss with you.

"Fuck." He muttered in annoyance before he hastily walked back to his room.

He threw on a random shirt with black skinny jeans, brushed his black locks into a decent style before wearing his favourite pair of shoes. Placing the strap of his bag on his shoulder, he released a huff and nodded to himself.

"Be strong, Taehyung. Be strong."

-----------------------------------------------

"Have all three of you bonded with [F/N] or something?"

Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook simultaneously looked to their right to see their dog hybrid friend Namjoon who raised a brow at their behaviour which they had made quite obvious.

"What do you mean?" Jimin decided to ask for the three of them but Namjoon simply rolled his eyes.

"You all look like you want to incinerate every male that is even thirty centimetres near her." He looked over to see your cheery self chatting with a few other people as you took sips of your juice.

"[F/N]! Don't be so boring and have a few drinks!" A male classmate approached you as he offered you alcohol but you shook your head, pointing towards your own drink.

"No thanks. I would rather not have a headache the next day." You smiled politely but he dismissed your words with a wave of his hand.

Your roommates watched from afar, growing tense as they saw the male grab your hand and drag you to his circle of friends.

"Uh oh. This does not look good..." Namjoon muttered as he sank into the sofa to make his presence less known.

You were trying to stop them from making you drink, being as polite as possible but it only annoyed your classmate, him having the nerve to throw a drink at you and soak your clothes.

"If you don't want to then why be here in the first place. It's a party, you stupid-"

A fist came in contact with his cheek and it sent him flying onto the table. A gasp left a majority of the students including you who gazed at your friend in shock.

"T-Taehyung..."

Jimin and Jungkook were out of their seats ready to fight but the so called calmest out of the three had beaten them to it. Taehyung bared his sharp teeth, his ears perking up while his tail swished aggressively. He stepped forward to grab the male but you quickly intervened, wrapping your arms around his waist.

"Stop!"

His amber eyes moved onto your trembling form that clung onto him and they immediately returned to their normal colour.

"I knew I shouldn't have invited you."

Seokjin entered the scene, his eyebrows knitted together as he expressed his anger towards the male who was struggling to get up. He glanced over to Taehyung and sent him a small smile before speaking up.

"Take her home. I'll sort this out."

They exchanged a nod and you glanced down as Taehyung entwined your hands before he took you away, Jimin and Jungkook following behind.

"Here, noona." Jungkook had covered you with his jacket before you stepped outside and you gave him your thanks.

It was quiet as you all walked back to your apartment but as soon as you stepped in, closed the door and settled onto your sofa, you were the first to speak up.

"You all have been acting strange recently. Do you want to tell me why?"

Jimin looked at the younger two before deciding to speak up.

"It's actually-"

"Nothing, we're fine. Exams are coming up and we're just stressed."

Taehyung had cut Jimin off who raised a brow in his direction. You didn't buy his excuse and stood up, shrugging of Jungkook's jacket in the process.

"If you don't want to tell me, fine." You bit back at them and Jungkook's ears turned flat as he saw how hurt you became.

Taehyung was unfazed and waved his hand towards you in a careless manner. You bit you lip to hold back saying anything else before turning away and marching to your room. As soon as the door shut, Taehyung's expression matched Jungkook's causing Jimin to look at him in disbelief.

"What was that?"

The black haired boy slumped back into the sofa and sighed.

"The first time I went through my heat with [F/N] around, she was way too awkward with me. She even offered to leave our apartment for a week. That's why I always told you two to be away from [F/N] whenever it happens but now that it hit us three at the same time, we can't all just dissappear without telling her." Taehyung informed and the two finally understood.

"I'll deal with it on my own. Don't worry, hyung." Jungkook said making his friend smile.

Jimin agreed too before letting out a yawn.

"I'm going then. See you tomorrow."

It was the next day and it was you day off so you proceeded to be lazy and have a bit of time to yourself. You weren't alone in the apartment, Jungkook being their too but he had locked himself in his room claiming he had a stomach bug and didn't want you to catch it. You were worried sick at first but last night's conversation reminded you that you were not talking to any of them especially Taehyung so you proceeded to ignore your friend and let him deal with his sickness himself. Although, a small part of you still wanted to go out and buy him medicine.

"Noona..." You had walked past Jungkook's room to go into your own but paused as you heard him call you.

"Kookie? Are you ok?" You called him with concern laced in you voice.

"I need help." He weakly answered and you immediately turned the knob to his door which you were sure was locked.

You stumbled inside, your lips parting to speak but your mouth turned dry at the sight before you. Jungkook was shirtless with his boxers pulled down while his hand was wrapped around his cock.

You were speechless. Is this the reason why your friends were acting strange? Did that mean...

"You're all on your heat? At the same time?" You asked in disbelief and Jungkook groaned in frustration.

"Please, just help me, noona." He begged and you flushed, your cheeks turning red.

"I-uh-um-vagshsvzh-ok." You stumbled over your words as you shuffled towards him.

Once you were an arm length away, Jungkook grabbed your hand and placed it on his throbbing cock.

"Stroke it." He ordered and you horribly blushed at his straightforward words.

You did but it still wasn't enough making him hiss.

"Come here." He yanked you forward and you fell on his lap.

He leaned forward, your lips almost touching but he fought back his instinct and asked for your permission.

"Can I kiss you?"

You gulped, too embarrassed to even nod but the look in your eyes indicated that you were allowing him. He immediately kisses you and you were tense at first until he moved his lips and guided you to follow his movements. A shiver ran down your spine making you relax. You didn't know where to to put your hands so you settled them on his shoulder, squeezing them here and there whenever the kiss became intense. Jungkook guided your hand back to his hard member and you stroked it at a slow pace making him moan in the kiss. You parted from the kiss and watched as he leaned his head back, breathing heavily as you pleased him.

You couldn't help but admire the way he expressed his pleasure so you experimented by giving his cock a light squeeze. A strangled moan was heard after and you bit your lip, liking his reaction.

"Should I do that again?" You asked and Jungkook almost melted at the flicker of dominance that appeared in your eyes.

"Yes, please. Please do it again. I love it."

You honestly didn't know where this confidence was coming from but you loved it just as much as you loved Jungkook submitting to you.

Picking up your pace, Jungkook's breathing pattern quickened as he felt his high coming and you leaned down, showering his neck with kisses. You harshly sucked on his sweet spot and his grip on his bedsheets tightened.

"I-I'm gonna cum." He stuttered and you slowed down your strokes making his eyes widen.

"Noona, make me cum, please!" He begged and you licked your lips.

"Don't worry, baby." You assured and Jungkook felt his heart flutter over the pet name.

It wasn't long before his hot seed sperted out and landed on his lean stomach. You grabbed a few tissues and helped the younger boy who was trying to calm down. You planned on getting up after he pulled up his boxers but Jungkook was fast and wrapped his arms around your waist. He dragged you back down, and you made a startled noise as you fell on your side.

"Stay with me." He whispered and you glanced up, closing your eyes for a second as he placed a kiss on your forehead.

You leaned your head against his bare chest and sighed.

"Are you feeling better now?" You asked and Jungkook hummed in response.

You didn't realise when you fell asleep but you definitely did when you felt someone yank Jungkook away from you.

The male landed roughly on the floor and he winced before looking up to glare at whoever disturbed his peaceful sleep. His expression changed to fear and guilt as he saw who it was exactly.

"Hyung..."

"Is this how your dealing with it because, I don't see you doing it on your own." Taehyung looked over to you but you weren't scared, you were calm.

"You should have told me you were going through your heat." You got off the bed and helped Jungkook stand who then stood behind you, his cat ears pointing down as he kept his gaze on the floor.

"We're friends, [F/N]. If we do this, I don't know where our relationship will stand after this." He countered but you shook your head.

"I love you all and I care for you all. So, if I have to help you, Jungkook and Jimin go through this heat then I don't care about our relationship. I'm not the same awkward turtle I was two years ago. I will help you this time." You declared.

Taehyung's canines grew sharp as his coloured orbs changed into a beautiful shade of Amber. He leaned forward and lightly hissed but you stood your ground.

"Don't start complaining when you're unable to walk."

[akkeyagentofhelheim]

Agents’ Imbalance

[1071.03.24 -  02:00]

Trips to the Jaw were kept to a minimum ever since the Rebellion took their residence there. Akkey and Liam had begun experimenting semi-regularly with his newfound ability, but other than that one instance where she went to him--it was perfect timing, truly, seeing Yun and Nala’s spar--, she would ask him to come to Yrus instead, to the cove. Tonight, however, she had a different purpose for visiting. A question that nagged her at the back of her mind for the past few weeks.

A portal stretched open in a place towards the far north of the old god’s bones, where the stronghold was the thickest and most isolated from people other than the scheduled entries. It was well into the night, not a cloud to be seen, swathing the landscape in light.

“I swear to Hel, you’re getting more and more difficult to find.” Akkey grumbled, one boot planting firmly into the bare ground, her arms crossed as she regarded the tall, lean figure that stood underneath a lone tree, perfectly in the guardtowers' blind spot and hidden from sight.

“Language,” Juro turned to give her his usual crooked grin. His scarf fluttered at both the motion and the wind that decided to blow in that moment. He returned her gaze properly, “Is that how you speak about your divine mother?”

“Oh, shut up.” 

He let out an annoying chuckle, before sombering slightly. Particularly since they were on the topic of maternal figures. He asked quietly, “How’d that day go? The 13th...” Her mother’s death anniversary and her original birthday was extremely recent after all.

She was slow to reply, but when she did, there was cautious satisfaction in her voice, “...better than usual, actually. Shadowing’s been helping a lot, I think.” Her eyes were cast to the side when she said that, always a little iffy on the subject.

A leaf crunched as his foot shifted, amber eyes watching her carefully, “That’s good to hear.”

“Yeah…”

Their gazes met once again, locked between colleagues that could’ve been friends, but there were too many layers to uncover, a gap between them that couldn’t meet. Physically, Akkey was older, but Juro had an ancient aura around him that seemed to keep people at a big, unreachable distance from him, despite both of them entertaining their childish side more often than average. Two powerful agents contracted under Helheim.

The wind blew again, and her long dark hair and his light fringe moved in simultaneous waves. There was a shift in energy as Akkey opened her mouth in careful question, finally deciding to break the silence, “Why are you here, Juro? Is there something wrong?”

The Bookkeeper raised his brows, smile pleasant on his handsome face despite being in shadow, “...merely enjoying a moment of solitude to myself before returning inside. What’s with the sudden interview?” His tone was low to match her caution.

She shook her head, "No. You know what I mean. Why are you here? Now?” She raised her wrist slightly to motion towards the Jaw, and Juro followed the movement with his eyes. The quiet tension between them remained.

“The battle against the Conclave was progressing. I needed to witness it for the Library.”

“By risking life and limb to save Yun?”

The mutual apprehension tangibly heightened when she asked that, and the wind dropped with it in contrast. Juro blinked. His face remained unchanged, lazy grin and calm regard towards her, but Akkey knew she had hit something. That was why she came here in the first place.

“...no.” His reply was even.

“I saw you, Juro.” She wasn’t letting it go. Unlike their last conversation as agents, when she finally understood timelines and alternate souls, and broached the topic of his neutrality. She let it slide then, but the inconsistency and sheer strangeness of it wouldn’t let her this time.

There was an effort to keep himself steady now. She didn’t miss it, as his smile became stiff. Her ears picked up on something, although she couldn’t put a pin on what it was exactly. 

She continued anyway, “I felt your portal. You intentionally opened Virion beside the construct, that was no accident. The sword. The stun. You screamed…” She pressed forward with a step, and Juro involuntarily reacted, taking his own backwards. 

“When the construct was finally defeated, you were right beside me. I know what you were up to--I was doing the exact same thing. Every decision you made leading up to that point was for the purpose of rescuing the time jumper, even ignoring Stonegit, who was just as fucked up as Yun was.” 

His breath was shallow as his cadence faltered, "I didn't…"

“No help, no harm. For twenty years, you keep preaching that obnoxious mantra to me. Neutrality, and whatnot,” she jabbed a finger in the air, pointing towards the construct that peeked over the canines, “None of that was neutral.”

The sound became clearer. It was metal against metal, linking then pulling at intervals, like they were adjusting and positioning themselves. Juro was becoming visibly agitated, and Akkey could tell he wanted to teleport away. She understood. She would have as well, if it were the past. That’s why she had to be quick.

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate it. For fucking once you helped without me having to beg for it with a story. But you don’t get to break your oath, your Bookkeeper code, something that I know for a fact that you follow with every will and breath you have, so much so that you would let innocents die before your eyes--” Akkey grit her teeth at the memory from their old days, but she pushed it away, and went on, “--and then now that suddenly doesn’t matter because Yun was trapped?”

His hand had come up to his chest. Akkey saw it tremble once as the space behind him bent out of invisibility and into Virion’s physical form. Its wings were raised slightly, bristling. Juro shook his head, almost desperately, “It does matter!” 

“Then why did you save him? I was right there for Stones! I could have helped him for you, and you fully know that! I don’t go by your dumb rule! What is so special about this kid that you would do that?”

Akkey was less upset and concerned now, and just more confused as she thought out loud, albeit aggressively, “He’s… he’s… we barely know him! Sure, he told us about the Conclave in the first place. And now he’s here to fight Frigga, don’t get me wrong, I‘m grateful, I’m hopeful, I’ll be supporting him any way I can, but other than him and Milae having the same soul, he’s noth--” 

Wait… she stopped short upon the realization.

Her head swiveled to look at him, “...Milae.”

Juro jolted at the name, “Don’t…” Virion flapped its wings threateningly, hovering slightly off ground between both agents. The air from the movement blew outwards, and the wind picked up, hair and clothing beginning to flutter wildly.

“It’s because he’s Milae, isn’t it?” Akkey pressed. She eyed the golem with caution, but she was certain now, “You knew that from the beginning. With Milae… you are super--” her hands waved slightly panicked as she tried to settle on a word, “--I don’t know, weird about him.” 

She paced as she put two and two together, the breeze turning into a gale with her, “I thought I was imagining things. It may not be by a lot, but I know you better than a lot of people on Aidorin. You don’t stick around one person for very long other than me, and that’s only because of work. It gets in your way.”

“But you did that favour for him, with Frigga, and ever since then I saw you with him more often. Like--like a curious kid. Following him around. You went to the Fallfeast and--” She squinted. The festival was a little hazy, she was drunk, but even then… “--every time I think back to seeing you there you were with him, talking, laughing. And here… after the mass teleportations. He was worried about you. He stayed by your side.” 

“Akkey, please--” It was unmistakable now. It was the scrape of chains that filled the air, coming from nowhere yet also everywhere. A raucous cry came from the golem, training all six of its eyes in anger towards the nix. But Akkey didn’t stop, instead her brow creased further in her need for an explanation.

“You like him. Not like Dario does, no, but you--Jin Juro, Agent of Helheim, Bookkeeper of Neutrality… are no longer neutral. You’re attached to Yun Milae. A friend.”

The rush of air, clinking chains, and animal screeching that had continued to build in waves over the conversation suddenly ceased, like the world had stopped to take a breath, going completely white like it was covered in snow. Then like a dam, it broke into a torrent of magic, the golem bending out of its form in streaks of grey-blue and white, twisting in the space between them as Hel’s given magic surged above, before collecting, shrinking, and drawing itself into Juro’s staff that had appeared in his grasp.

The Bookkeeper held the stick in both hands like a sword, in a form with which Akkey was familiar, but only from him, as it morphed into what looked like a mirage of a different weapon, the base staff still in his grip but giving an illusion of a long, sharp, slightly curved blade with dancing cranes engraved into it, and a simple, squarish hilt peppered with golden flecks in the black canvas. 

He was right up at Akkey in a sudden burst of speed before she could blink, and she only managed to throw up an elemental blade of her own right on time. Weapon clashed with weapon in an explosion of energy and ice as Juro bore down on her, using his height and raw power to make up for his lack of comparable combat skills. Akkey grunted at the effort to keep herself upright as the pressure from above increased. Virion’s grey-blue and white energy pulsed once, casting Juro’s face half in shadow and half in light. It was a dull amber that stared back at her, lifeless and lacking his usual spirit, his face blank.

It sent a shiver up her spine.

A portal opened below her and she slipped through, causing Juro to lose his balance as she appeared behind him, arms raised high, ready to slash downwards in an attack from above. But he turned at the nick of time, meeting her blade of ice in a wide arc up. Again, magic collided.

The surge of Hel supplemented power blew their hair back violently, whipping Akkey’s dark locks wildly in the air. An olden, intrusive memory of another swordswoman Juro knew that looked like her crossed his mind in barely an instant, but it was enough to intensify the sound of scraping chains. 

They were locked in the struggle for another breath, before Akkey twisted her grip and sent out two shards flying from her makeshift weapon. They caught the Bookkeeper on the shoulder, slicing skin in quick succession. The pain shifted his grip and both blades slipped, and they pushed off each other in the momentary lapse, increasing the distance between them once again as power levels continued to rise, sending forceful gales in opposite, outward directions.

“Juro!” Akkey called out in agitation. This was a Juro she had never, ever seen in her life. They had sparred many a time, absolutely, but he always approached it with humour, amusement, a teasing grin pulling at his face. But this… this was nothing.

His hold on the sword became slack for a moment, letting it almost touch the ground as he trained his gaze towards her. Red began soaking the torn fabric on his shoulder as he bled, but it was short lived. Light shone from the wounds, magic pouring from it but in blues and golds instead, until it stitched the cuts close. The dark splotches of blood stopped growing.

Akkey started at the display of energy, uncertain if it was controlled or not. It definitely didn’t look intentional, but the colours and the power from it were familiar… and it wasn’t Hel’s.

“That’s yours,” she breathed, almost nervously, as she recognized it only due to recent events, “That’s from before, you used that on Yun. After the construct…” He lifted his head, and his face was finally illuminated properly by the moon, still completely void of emotion. The scars on his jaw caught light and seemed to glow unnervingly, casting a strange, unrecognizable aura on the blonde man.

Akkey clenched her fist as she approached him again, gradually picking up speed, unable to quell the annoyance in her at his refusal to give any type of straight answers,  “You said you didn’t have any! Since when did you have your own magic? Has it always been like that? Why have you never used it before?!”

Juro predictably had no reply. Instead, his enforced weapon slipped into the belt of his pants and out the side, mimicking a sheathed sword, his stance widening as his right hand hovered above the handle, eyes watching Akkey’s approach quickly closing the distance, waiting for the perfect moment. 

It came in a flash of silver and a water tendril, shooting out in a dangerously fast streak of light when Akkey threw her left arm forward like she would a ball, but much quicker and much more easily missed. But Juro met it head on. His staff unsheathed at lightning speed, swifter than any sword movement Akkey had seen before, and cleanly knocked her attack away.

But Helheim agents would as agents always would, as both twisted in a second attack hidden behind their first. Akkey threw her right arm up at the exact same point and time that Juro swept his sword arm around and willed his golem to open at the end of his weapon.

Portal collided against portal.

The characteristic hums turned into a high pitched, ear grinding whine, two frequencies twisting, looping, turning into one, then booming into a massive roar, deafening with the sound of chains that continued to scrape against the back of their heads. Agents strained as gravity and dimension warred against each other in immense tension, churning, curling, each unwilling to give in, contracting smaller and smaller into a disc as it pushed into the other, surging and fighting in a nauseating twist of magic. It crawled against skin and bone and muscle, bending, warping, pulling space and water unnaturally to its extremes in their struggle for power, building higher and stronger and bigger over the other in suffocating layers--until it could no longer hold itself in.

It exploded.

The pressure that contained it fractured, an eruption of energy flooding from between them. There was an outpour of light and colour many meters high into the darkened sky, splashing against each other then cascading with a perfect split in the middle-- blues and golds towards Juro, purples and bluey-greens to Akkey. It was bright, blindingly so, as it shattered the landscape and blew them apart, sending them flying fast and far, bouncing and rolling painfully against the cold, hard ground as the air was knocked out of them, bruising and scratching their skin.

Akkey cried out as she landed heavily on her side, covering her head while the force of the detonation of energy kept her down, a cacophony of chaotic magic that gushed across the flats of the Scrublands and crashed against the side of the Jaw like a wave of ocean water on the shoreline, but immediately dissipating upon impact. It was many seconds before it died down, the wind calming itself and the overwhelming light finally fading back into darkness, leaving only the moon and stars behind. 

The sounds of the sudden short battle disappeared, and she got to her feet painfully, cautiously observing her surroundings as it cleared, searching for her colleague. Juro was nowhere to be seen at first, but finally she saw him in the far distance, his prone figure on the ground.

Shit--! “Juro!” She immediately appeared a few feet away from him, running as quickly as her thin legs would take her.

But she couldn’t reach him before Virion burst from the weapon he used, which had fallen out of his grip and returned to its mundane pen form when the impact rendered him unconscious. It rose to its twelve foot form and surged forward in a blur of feathers, catching her torso and arms cleanly underneath one talon and dragging her into the ground, dirt piling up around her as its weight had her completely trapped. 

“Gah!” She grunted as her back hit soil once again. Virion bent its head down, six beady eyes glaring into hers as his wings bristled in anger at the provocation the nix had brought onto its master.

“V-Vir.... Let her go…” a rough voice strained to make itself heard from behind the golem as it screeched its vexation over her head. Virion twisted its long neck around to regard its master questioningly, as Juro stirred, carefully picking himself up. It bristled again in disagreement for a few seconds, but relented soon after, lifting its leg off her and sweeping its wings to land beside him, helping him up to a sitting position. He shook his head, a tiny smirk slowly creeping its way back onto his face, “I was the one who attacked first…”

Virion could only croon in dissatisfaction, nudging him to lean against it as he caught his breath. The Bookkeeper obliged, without the energy to put up a fight, as he turned inwards for some introspective examination.

The initial attack was a haze to him, in similar fashion to the incident with Sylar's body. The barrage of questions as Akkey had gotten closer and closer to the truth placed an intense amount of pressure on him, and her realization regarding Milae finally voiced things he had been denying, ignoring, finding loopholes around, and it escalated into that uncontrolled surge of emotion, forcing him to turn all senses off and let body take autonomy. 'Friend' echoed unwillingly in his mind and he threw it aside in a panic, hurriedly bringing his attention to the seal instead.

It was dangerous for a while there, but it seemed intact, starting with the Modern Bookkeeper first, his direct opposite yet the closest copy there could be that wasn't an offshoot from his timeline. Lines to several broken and jittered timelines had unfortunately snapped a little early, snuffing out their Bookkeepers' lives, but frayed threads like those were due for fracturing soon. Every time his seal was threatened, especially as of late, they were the first to go, to keep all other unbroken, stable threads unharmed. It would have ended much more disastrously if this happened to anybody other than Akkey. It was a close call.

He sighed in relief to find everything still in place, then slowly turned his head to face her, who was sitting up with great care, feeling where she would expectedly be sore in the morning. She groaned and cleared her head, “What the fuck, Juro…”

Green locked with amber, and it was a tumultuous range of emotions, anger, shock, confusion, and concern--but it was all one sided. Juro’s break in character was expectedly temporary. His mask had returned, with a lopsided grin and a raised brow, and Akkey let out a long, annoyed exhale at that, "My confusion is valid, alright, if I have to work with you until one of us dies--probably me--and you've begun acting like this, with magic of your own, then I deserve some sort of explanation--"

“My answer hasn't changed, Akkey...” he interrupted. His cadence was even once more as he referred to their conversation up in the rafters, "My Helheim contract, the Library and the Bookkeepers, my neutrality… I still won't explain. Even if you ask."

She felt a wave of unexplainable sadness wash over her when he said that. The light in his eyes went empty for a moment, a deep loneliness crossing in them, resigned to his fate of solitude and silent suffering. 

Resigned? To describe it like that was slightly incorrect, but she couldn't place it as accurately as she would like to. Intensely dependent… Unhealthily so…

Her brow creased in further worry, "Juro--"

He shook his head, wincing slightly as pain flared up down his back, yet firm in interrupting her thought, "There's a disturbance on the timelines right now, and my involvement in the battle was in the interest of that. Hence why I'm here, why I appeared near the construct." That was only half the truth, and both were highly aware. That's why Juro said it almost forcefully, unarguably the end of that conversation. 

It was several moments of stubborn egos that played tug of war, but she huffed in eventual surrender. Still, not before Akkey added a final thought, "Fine. I'm sorry for prying. I won't ask anymore," The slight insult at being kept in the dark remained, but only temporarily as she softened, regarding him with care and worry that was almost motherly, if the nix were even capable of instincts in that vein.

"But suppressing it and running away like this will only bring you greater pain later on, and you'll end up regretting it," she said. They both knew she spoke from some experience, "There is no comfort in living like this, faltering, wavering, walking the neutral line. You'll hurt a lot more people than you want to."

Her eyes bore into his this time, and he took it, unchanging, two souls who end up finding each other sometime, somehow, across timelines, in a ripple of cause and effect. 

The moment was interrupted with a shout from above, and they broke their gaze to see several guards and their dragons flying towards them, as they had noticed the explosion of power from their positions. Their fight wasn't exactly subtle, no matter how short.

"Ah shit," Akkey cursed, feeling the familiar wash of meek regret at the constant consequences of her impulsive actions. There was barely any physical damage, thankfully, but it was light and sound that definitely was not inconspicuous, "Lila might kill us…"

"And this is where I take my leave," Juro cracked a wider, cheekier grin, the previous tension forgotten, "The Commander will have my head before yours." Virion immediately swirled into a portal for a place Akkey knew she couldn't follow.

"Hey! You bastard--!" she whirled around in indignation as the Bookkeeper escaped, "Don't you fucking dare run!"

She stomped up to him, standing taller than where he sat, when his smirk lessened slightly as his tone became serious, "I am not. I think I might have some more information about Frigga, but I have to research a little more. If anyone asks… I'll be at the Library," he tilted his chin up to meet her eyes again. Akkey paused, then nodded in understanding, "Alright."

It was another heartbeat before he split his face into that exasperating smile once more, and fell backwards into the open portal, "See you later, Chief." He disappeared from sight as the dragons landed behind Akkey, who was massaging a temple in annoyance, left to deal with the aftermath by herself.

[hoodie-lover]

My Multiverse Ask Event! #4

KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - First, Second, Third Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Fourth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Fifth, Sixth, Seventh Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Eighth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Ninth Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Tenth, Eleventh KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Fifteenth, Sixteenth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Seventeenth, Eighteenth Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Nineteenth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Twentieth, Twenty-First Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Twenty-Second, Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, Twenty-Fifth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Twenty-Sixth, Twenty-Seventh, Twenty-Eighth, Twenty-Ninth, Thirtieth Megalovaniaintensifies - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-First, Thirty-Second, Thirty-Third KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-Fourth, Thirty-Fifth Glorious_Smut - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-Sixth KikiTheSapphireKitsune - Archive of Our Own - Thirty-Seventh, Thirty-Eighth, Thirty-Ninth

Error managed to get into the Creator Realm, he brought the gang with him and they were looking for Maxie and her friends. Though that implied the creators wouldn’t find them first, which they did. 

“Hello, hello, hello!” Maxie said, wrapping her arms around Error as he glitched and screamed. 

“LET ME GO!” He screamed, and Maxie let him go with a pout. 

“So, as Kiki said, we will be inhibiting your quest! Trials and tribulations to test how much you have actually grown to see if you actually deserve to know. Also we’re bored and want to mess with you.” Maxie said, and Error facepalmed. 

“So, what do you want us to do?” Nightmare said, growling. 

“Please Nightmare, nowadays your bark is worse than your bite. Anyway, we have a few obstacle courses, some logic puzzles, some PTSD triggers.” Maxie said, smiling evilly. 

“What…?” Cross said, and Maxie raised an eyebrow. 

“What?” Maxie said, and Cross facepalmed. 

“Oh, no no no, I have only written a story about forest rangers. I would never torture Error. I am usually the one hissing in the comments to punish anyone who does hurt Error, I wish the hissing thing was a joke. Nightmare would kill me if I hurt Error, right? Getting killed by my second favorite Sans for hurting my first favorite Sans is not on my list pal.”

“Well, it seems we have a good noodle. Truly a rare find.” Error said, and Cross snickered. 

“One, I’m flattered that you like me. Second, I’m glad you fear me.” Nightmare said, looking around for the voice.

“You won’t see them, from here on out, you’re in a little playground my friends and I made. Good luck.” Maxie said, snicking. 

“Oh dear, guys, watch out the voices are planning to get the askers to mess with your search. They wanna draw this out so take any hints we give with a grain of salt. I'd start by looking at what Error is ẁ̵̡̼e̷̪̿à̸̩r̴̜͗i̸̛̦̗n̶͕̄ǵ̶̲, not many Sans with both a j̷͕͕̈́͂a̸̹̓ċ̵̲k̵̳͈̓̆ȇ̵̟̎ṭ̶̯̈́ ̵̨̺͋a̵̜͝n̵̠͋d̸͙͝ ̷͖̇͊s̵̢̟̑c̷̦̜̐͠a̸̦̘͗̎r̶̪̣͛f̵̰̄̾.”

“I think you guys are being censored. And I think we know who.” Error said, glaring at Maxie as she whistled. 

“So any other possible relationships in the making? come on my gloomy boys feed me gossip!”

“None over on our end. Though Swap!fell has a crush on Blue, and Red is territorial. We’re waiting for the brawl.” Killer said, chuckling at the thought. 

“sanses and the one or two AU papyruses when you try to stop the human at the judgment hall why not stop at the soul room to get near god power”

“Doesn’t matter. They would still beat us. We would have six, and the human has beat the photoshop abomination.” Sans said, and the others nodded. They had come over for a quick hang out.

“Ok my little Horror, aka my third fav, how good a cook are you? Like we talkin Gordon Ramsey of skeletons or what? Also are you aware you are a cute little bean?”

“I love Gordan Ramsey! He’s awesome! He has no qualms about yelling at people for their awful crimes against food. And I am aware, trust me, I know how to use it.” Horror said, winking. 

“May I hug all the dark sanses or would that cross a line? You all deserve all the love the megaverse can give you. I know what it feels like to be trapped, alone, and hurt in so many ways, I know what it is like to feel out of option and angry. You don't deserve that, despite everything you are all wonderful.”

“I’d love a hug!” Cross said and felt the hug, though no presence was seen. 

“Can I have a hug?” Horror asked and was given a hug.

“I’m good.” Killer said, and everyone else nodded. 

“Oh guys there are so many people who have written lyrics for your song megalovania. They can be quite good. I have only ever played the pacifist route myself and can't bring myself to watch an actual playthrough cause I can't watch my beloved monster friends get killed, but it is a catchy song. Have you guys seen any of them yet? Also I think you will like this fan song a lot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtCBLvAw4ZY&t=71s”

“What the fuck?” Killer said, nearly everyone had the same reaction.

“I liked it.” Cross said, humming the tune.

“papyrus how does your special attack work like if the annoying dog didn't take it”

“It’s just a blaster. Though it would be much friendlier than Sans’.” Papyrus said with a shrug.

“Can I also hug Blueberry? He is my fourth favorite.”

“Absolutely! I love hugs!” Blue said and felt the hug as he smiled. 

“You voices are weird.” Stretch said, lighting another cigarette.

“No more. That’s your third, I’ll burn the pack if you smoke another.” Blue said and Stretch groaned. 

“flowey if you really think its fun watching human kill everyone why do you beg for mercy if you act like you dont care ps if u wanna murder human kill toriel first.”

“I don’t beg! I was just scared at first and knew I couldn’t break the script! And in case you didn’t hear, I have literally done everything.” Flowey said, rolling his eyes. 

“to annoying dog sorry to papyrus in advance please follow papyrus all day while playing dogsong and steal all his bones  ps im glad ink didn't murder you”

The annoying dog yipped, he was glad he wasn’t murdered too. He kicked his stumpy legs and wagged his tail as he flew off to Papyrus, who had a feeling of foreboding and anxiety.

“YOU STUPID CANINE!” Papyrus declared as he tried to run while missing his femur. The dog smiled as the song echoed through the Underground and the dog smiled an innocent smile. 

“So here is a question to the Sans personality types, why do you lie to your brother about their food? You're not helping them, it would be far kinder to be honest and help them learn to be better. Someday they are likely to meet someone who will not let them down gently and will hurt them.”

“Implying we can. They either run out the door before we can talk or we have to try talking over them.” Sans said.

“Impossible in many AUs, plus, it’s actually good half the time.” Outer said, and Red nodded, glaring at Swapfell as he was ogling Blue from a distance. 

“Dream, what is it like being with your brother again? How is your guys brotherly bond affected by well everything that happened?”

“It’s awesome. We have fun and prank some unsuspecting Sanses every now and then. As people seem to forget for the longest time, we were mistaken for fey. And we didn’t help those accusations.” Dream said, “Though we never hurt anyone. Just harmless things like a pie going missing or flowers vanishing into thin air.” Dream snickered, he was back in the Doodlesphere by this point and reviewing paperwork. 

“Boys how do you feel about Uncle Dreamy?”

“Don’t.” Killer said. 

“No.” Cross said, eyes blank as he shook his head, everyone else was silent as they shook their heads and cringed. 

“frisk how is murdering everyone one fun after all i dont think you enjoy getting repeatedly killed plus since you reset so many times you know everything that happens underground besides there are more things to murder in surface ps you didnt answer if you got to the surface on genocide”

“I like to see the dust fall, them scream in pain, and beg for mercy. It’s cute. And yes, I can murder more things on the surface, but they don’t turn to dust or give the, for lack of a better term, high I need. And I don’t get to the surface, only if I spare everyone do I get there. And before you ask, in neutral runs I’m in a limbo state, have to RESET to leave.” Frisk said, smiling as their eyes glowed red.

“frisk what about napstablook or mad dummy you can't kill either”

“I can kill Glad Dummy, and Napstablook is worthless. I don’t wanna waste my time on them.” Frisk spat, growling as they left the ruins, stepping over Toirel’s dust. 

“You know what is cute? all the baby bones art of you guys. Awww why is every baby sans just so huggable? Ok ok but really baby Error! just picture a tiny baby Error and tell me that shit is not cute.”

“They’re very cute.” Nightmare said.

“But they didn’t show us any.” Killer said and Nightmare froze. 

“Oh.” Error said, and Nightmare turned into a puddle out of shame.

“And payback time, Nightmare, any stories about Dream?”

Springing back to life Nightmare donned a wicked and demonic grin. “Dream didn’t know what a bed was until he was 100. And it took three people to pry him off of it.” Nightmare said. 

“That’s actually sad. How long did you sleep in a tree?” Cross asked and Nightmare whistled. 

“Our whole lives before the apple incident. Up until then we only slept in a bed seven times each.” Nightmare said, and Cross gave him a teary hug.  

“dust how come your a bad guy you were forced to kill everyone your not a bad person if someones a bad person its the human and chara”

“First of all, Chara is only a problem because of Frisk, so they aren’t as guilty as you think. Though they are not innocent. And no one wanted to befriend a killer, sure they like Red, but it’s the culture. And Ink played his cards right so I couldn’t make things worse for him, there’s a reason he didn’t stop Nightmare from helping me.” Dust said, “Same goes for everyone else.” He finished and everyone nodded. 

“Hold on a sec, contacts? How do contacts work with eyelights? I don't understand...”

“Magic.” Error said, and Maxie snickered. 

“So, let’s begin the challenges!” She said and they were separated and thrown into a version of Snowdin.

“Where are we?!” they cried out, looking around but Maxie laughed. 

“Welcome to your first challenge! Can you handle the Star Sanses all by yourself? Only one of you has to win for all of you to proceed, and the battles will be scaled so you are evenly matched.” Maxie’s voice echoed through the area, but she was not seen. 

“Maxie. What are you doing?” Jana asked, accompanied by Beatrice. 

“Having a bit of fun. What are you doing?” Maxie said, smiling innocently. 

“Are you seriously messing with them?” Jana said, shaking her head in disapproval. 

“You didn’t raise any concern when Jack, Zack, and I were talking about our plan. So why are you looking at me like that?” Maxie said, and the two sighed. 

“Because we want to help. But only to an extent.” Jana said, and Maxie was intrigued.

“To what extent I may ask?” Maxie wondered, smiling. 

“If you trigger their PTSD or do anything relating to Ink, we’re out and we will tell them who Error was.” Beatrice said, and Maxie shrugged. 

“Sure. It’s a deal.” She said, holding out her hand as Beatrice shook it. 

“We’re still going to Jack’s for pizza right?” Maxie asked, changing the subject.

“Hell ya. I’m bringing garlic knots.” Beatrice said and Maxie's eyes lit up. 

“Garlic knots!” She held her hands up in joy. 

“Blue most of us saw that Christmas party webcomic already. We know you spiked the eggnog. Why do you always pretend to be so innocent? not that I have much room to talk on that front...”

“I have long admitted to spiking the eggnog at that party. And I haven’t spiked anything since. No one seems to believe me!” Blue said, grumbling as his eyes turned to small broken hearts as tears filled his eyes. 

“Sure.” Stretch said, and Blue glared, some glitches popping up. 

“to sci and alphys is it possible to turn flowey back into asriel.”

“Without 7 human souls, I don’t think we can. We’ve looked into it, just to see if it was possible. He may be ok with staying as Flowey, with the exception of the pacifist run, but others in his situation aren’t. So we looked at his code to see if it was hypothetically possible, and it isn’t.” Sci said, sipping coffee. 

“Yeah, h-honestly, I was h-hoping that we could. I-I regret i-it so much. I-I wanted to see i-if I could help others. B-but this is i-irreversible.” Alphys said, ringing her hands. 

“It broke Toriel and Asgore’s hearts. Though, they would respect Flowey’s wishes if he didn’t want to, he is still a person whose opinions should be listened to. Even if he is a jackass.” Sci said and Alphys nodded. 

“sanses how do you guys stop genocide routes from starting since you said there were very few”

“We don’t. They just stop, and then they start up again. Like wet and dry seasons, only more sporadic.” Classic said.

“Some worlds, like mine, don’t have as many, the way the world works kinda discourages it.” Red said, and Swapfell nodded. 

“frisk what was the strangest interaction you have had with someone in the underground”

“Gaster. He is so mysterious and strange. I wonder what his deal was, but I never can find out. I’ve met his followers and such, but I’ve never heard him speak, and I’m assuming the person I saw was Gaster!” Frisk said, they were somewhere in Snowdin forest, marking down words on their arm. 

☝☜❄ 💧✌☠💧 ❄⚐ ❄✌☹😐 ✌👌⚐🕆❄ 💣🕆☹❄✋✞☜☼💧☜. 

 ❄☟☼☜✌❄☜☠ 🏱✌🏱✡☼🕆💧. 

“so what has been the most dangerous mission the dark sanses have been sent on”

“There was HorrorLustFell.” Nightmare said, “Unaware of what was going to happen, I had Cross deal with it.” 

He was waiting for Maxie to start up her game, and he hoped his boys were doing well.  

“HorrorLustFell.” Cross said, “I took a month-and-a-half break after that to recover.” Cross said, raiding Grillby’s and the shops for armor, supplies, and food.

Everyone gave similar responses.

“Who all is helping with the search? everyone or just the gang?”

“Just us. Everyone knows what we’re doing and they’re willing to help if we need it.” Error said, shrugging as he made himself a swing and began to swing.

“Okay here is one for the classic undertale gang, since they know about the resets and multiverse now. thoughts on this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8hGMFQPBDw”

“Sans, do you want to talk?” Papyrus asked, and Sans was gone.

“I knew he had problems, but if someone can deduce that? Wow.” Toriel said, holding her hand over her mouth. 

“We have several therapists available.” Outer said, “The hard part is getting him to see one. And I know I’m a hypocrite.” Outer said, shrugging. 

“You are correct, space Sans.” Papyrus said, “I just wish he could talk about it.” Papyrus said. 

“I mostly wanna see what paps has to say about his brother hiding his mental health problems.”

“I knew he had issues, but I want him to talk to me, I know it’s hard to talk about your mental health problems, but it’s been five years. Though he has suffered far worse than any of us, if the Dark Sanses are anything.” Papyrus said.

“I’m going to stall Frisk, Toriel, you need to get out of here. Frisk will be getting here soon.” Papyrus said and everyone dashed out of the house.

“Have the sans ever had to have an intervention for any of the other sans, like Blueberries alcohol problem?”

“I have no problem first of all. And secondly, we have had to have interventions.” Blue said, “Black had a drug addiction a while back, and we are trying to get Papy to stop or reduce his smoking habits.” Blue said and Stretch sighed. 

“At least I’m working on it.” Stretch said, and Blue nodded. 

“oh i'm just teasing him, cause I love him.”

“Thank you!” Blue said, smiling. 

“frisk has there ever been a timeline in which the annoying dog didn't take the legendary artifact and if it wasn't taken what does the artifact do”

“I have never gotten the artifact.” Frisk said, Papyrus and Sans coming into view.

“to error how much exp did ink get you?”

“Quite a bit. The number escapes me, but it was in the hundreds.” Error said, swinging. 

“flowey at the end of the pacifist timeline you decide to give up the souls and break barrier once the barrier was broken you could have easily murdered more humans and get to be a goat again so why kill a few for their souls?”

“Timelines never last that long, and when I turn back, it leaves an impact on me that makes it hard to be a jerk for a while. Residual effects of being that whiny crybaby.” Flowey said, “And it wouldn’t change anything.” Flowey said, wilting a bit.

“Fresh, tell me about your furby collection? I miss mine. I had 3, they always said they were hungry last at night when I was falling asleep... it was kinda creepy.”

“I have a version of every Furby ever made. 3 is pathetic yo. Though they are demanding and creepy sometimes, I’ll give ya that brah.” Fresh said, looking around as snow fell around him.

“What are you guys doing to find Error's origin anyway?”

“We were going to ask the creators what they knew, since none of Killer, Dust, or Horror’s code could help us and Error’s code is a mess on account of him being a glitch, then we’d go from there, asking questions and making guesses based on what we knew.” Nightmare said, “For all we know Error could be from one of the many neutral timelines, and that wouldn’t pin anything down at all.” Nightmare said. 

“Blue, how do you hide your glitches? That seems like a very hard thing to explain to people you don't want knowing about the multiverse.”

“Dream made a small illusion charm with Sci and Alt’s help that makes me look normal. It’s also pretty!” Blue said as he held up a golden charm in the shape of a blueberry, it was attached to a gold chain that was hidden by his battle body.

“Have the rest of the Sans seen Error in his glasses? I need to see them all squirm at how cute he is!”

“Only Blue and Classic have seen him in his glasses. Other than us of course.” Killer said, “I helped make the frames, and the way his eyes lit up when he could clearly see for the first time, it was the best feeling in the world. I remember taking care of Pap, it felt like that.” Killer said, and he smiled at the memory. 

“How does Dream feel about being an uncle now? Is he a FUN Uncle?”

“I’m not really considered an uncle per say, but I do try to be fun. And it is fun to say that I am technically the Dark Sanses’ uncle, they have the funniest reactions.” Dream said, laughing.

“Error am I embarrassing you too much?”

“Yes.” Error said, still swinging.

(Tumblr, I need asks from you guys too.)

Next

Previous

[noona-clock]

Go Ahead, Take a Bite 🧛

Genre: Vampire!AU/Fluff

Pairing: Shownu x You

By Admin B

You told yourself you would never go to one of these things.

But... you were desperate.

Your university, being the progressive, inclusive institution it was, held monthly blood drives specifically for local vampires. Rather than being normal blood drives meant to help the sick, it was more like a soup kitchen for vampires who couldn’t find sources of blood on their own.

And, right now, that was you.

Usually, you used a connection through your dad at a nearby hospital, but he and the nurse who actually procured the blood bags for you were both at a two-week-long conference. For some reason you couldn’t comprehend at the moment, both of them had forgotten to set aside a couple of meals for you beforehand.

And, if you’ve ever gone a whole two weeks without eating... well, you wouldn’t be alive right now to tell the tale, would you?

Exactly.

So you swallowed your pride and headed toward the student medical center on campus. You gripped your ID as you strode up the walkway, trying to pretend like you weren’t feeling faint with hunger. 

The receptionist greeted you with a smile, and you returned it with a close-lipped one of your own - your fangs were currently out and proud, but you were not proud of them. 

“Welcome!” she chirped, holding her hand out to check your student ID. “Are you giving or receiving today?”

“...Receiving,” you murmured.

“Perfect.” She handed your ID back and gestured toward a set of double doors close by. “Go through those doors, and they’ll sanitize your fangs for you.”

You simply nodded your thanks before following her directions, shuffling quickly through the doors and stopping to wipe some rubbing alcohol over your protruding canines.

It was shameful and embarrassing, but you were starving. You had no choice.

Unless you wanted to shrivel up and turn into dust.

That’s what you’d heard would happen if you ever went too long without feeding, and even if it wasn’t true, you were not keen to find out what would happen.

The nurse who took your used cotton ball after sanitizing instructed you to wait in the small waiting room, though she assured you the wait would not be too long. There were a few donors who were almost finished with their paperwork.

You nodded in response, trying hard not to fidget or shake your knee or give any indication you did not want to be here. There were a couple other people -- vampires -- waiting with you, and the last thing you wanted was to draw attention to yourself.

Just a few minutes later, the nurse announced all of you could go on back, and you were the first one out of your seat. You slid through the curtain separating the waiting room and the... well, I guess you could really only call it the Feeding Room. Because that’s what was happening.

You weren’t sure what you’d been expecting, but you were a bit startled to see fellow vampires sitting next to the donors and just... feeding from them. Sucking on arms and necks like it was... not weird.

I mean, maybe you’d been expecting something like an actual blood drive. Needles and IVs and the blood bags you were so used to and... not vampires just straight up biting and sucking and drinking actual humans.

You let the other vampires who’d been in the waiting room pass you, turning back toward the nurse. “I’m sorry,” you murmured anxiously. “I thought... how come...”

“First time?” the nurse asked with a friendly smirk.

You nodded.

“We like to save all the materials for the real -- normal -- average blood drives, and since you all have your own way procuring the blood, we figure we’re just here to supervise and clean the wounds of the donors. You’ll simply find one of the donors, feed, and leave.”

...Why did that make you so uncomfortable?

Maybe because you’d never done it before. Because your dad worked at the hospital, you’d only ever fed from blood bags, never from an actual, living person.

The nurse turned you back toward the feeding room and urged you over to a young man who was very obviously looking for someone who needed a donor.

“Here we go, Mr. Son,” the nurse called out.

The guy suddenly looked at you, a soft smile appearing on his lips as he began to approach you with his hand outstretched.

Well, now you were even more uncomfortable. This guy was acting like this was a totally normal, everyday thing. Like you were having a business meeting or something.

“Hey, I’m Shownu,” he said once he reached you, shaking your hand.

“Y/N,” you murmured with a nod.

“Nice to meet you.” His smile had widened now, and he began to usher you over to two empty chairs.

“Have you done this before?” he asked after he sat down.

“No,” you told him immediately. “Never.”

“Me neither, actually. One of my buddies does it all the time because his little brother is a vampire, and he knows how bad it can get. He’s been trying to get a bunch of us to help out for a while now, so I figured I should.”

“You’re not terrified?” you asked with a deeply furrowed brow. The way he was sitting in his chair, his tone of voice... it was all so casual! Like this was no big deal!

I mean, maybe it wasn’t a big deal because it’s not like vampires were super rare these days. But it was a big deal for you!

“No, not really,” he chuckled. “...Are you?”

“Well, yeah,” you admitted. “I’ve never fed from a live human at all. I have connections at a hospital, so the blood has just always been in a bag. I don’t have to worry about hurting anyone.”

“Well, that’s exactly what these drives are for. The nurses are here to make sure no one does get hurt. Arm or neck?”

Shownu had just finished unbuttoning the top two buttons of his shirt and was now rolling up his sleeve.

You opened your mouth to reply, but your attention was caught by... his arm.

Because oh my god.

His arms.

Were probably the beefiest arms you’d ever seen.

Like... seriously.

You’d never actually had the urge to bite a human before, but the instant you saw his forearm - the muscle, the veins, the smooth, tan skin - you wanted to bite him.

And then you remembered he’d asked you a question.

“A-arm,” you stammered, shifting uncomfortably in your seat next to him.

He murmured an ‘okay’ before scooting closer and sticking his forearm in front of your face.

You gulped.

Oh, god.

“Go ahead, take a bite,” Shownu said softly. “It’s what we’re here for.”

You glanced at him uneasily, no longer hiding the fact you would rather not be here.

“It’s okay,” Shownu assured you with the most earnest of expressions on his handsome face. (Wait, why were you just now noticing how extremely good-looking he was?)

“I know, I’m just -- I’ve never done this, and -- it just makes me... uncomfortable. It feels wrong.”

“It’s the opposite of wrong, actually,” he chuckled, reaching out with his free hand to gently touch your shoulder. “You’re just not used to it. But it literally happens every day. And it’s not like I’m some random guy you’re attacking in the street. I came here willingly. For the sole purpose of letting you feed from me.”

Okay, well, when he put it like that... it did make you feel better.

You let out a deep breath as you nodded at him. “All right,” you whispered. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Now eat.”

He held his arm even closer to you, and you hesitantly reached up to take hold of it.

Good Lord, you had seriously never touched an arm like this before. It felt as thick and sturdy as it looked, which definitely sounded a lot dirtier than how you actually meant it. And, unsurprisingly, you felt your cheeks blushing because of it.

So you quickly dipped your head and bit down right where you saw his vein pulsing. Where you smelled his fresh blood.

The second you bit into his flesh, you regretted it.

Except you didn’t because his blood tasted amazing. It was warm and smooth and robust and it tasted absolutely nothing like the bagged blood you were used to. You were now dreading going back to the bagged blood, actually, because the difference was that astronomical.

“You must be really hungry,” Shownu chuckled when you came up for air almost a whole minute later.

“Well, yeah,” you gasped, reaching up to wipe a drop of blood from the corner of your mouth. “But you also just taste really, really good.”

Shownu looked awfully proud of himself upon hearing you say that, though he grimaced slightly when you went back in for more.

Thankfully, you were able to tell when you’d had your fill, and though it was extremely difficult to pull away for good, you forced yourself to. A nurse immediately came over to Shownu, dabbing

an alcohol-soaked cotton ball over the two puncture wounds on his forearm.

You weren’t sure what to do now, but after a quick glance around the room, you figured you were just supposed to... get up and leave.

“Thanks,” you said awkwardly before standing up and turning toward the exit.

“Oh, hey,” Shownu interjected. “Hold on, I’ll walk you out.”

“Are you sure?” you asked quizzically as he stood up next to you. “You’re not supposed to drink orange juice or eat a peanut butter cookie or something?”

“Yes, he is,” the nurse interrupted, handing him exactly what you’d just mentioned - a small cup of orange juice and a bag of Nutter Butters.

Shownu smiled as he took them, quickly downing the juice and opening the packet as he began to walk toward the door with you.

“How do you feel?” he asked, trailing closely behind you.

“Oh, I -- I’m much better,” you replied with a somewhat breathless, awkward chuckle. “I hope I didn’t... hurt you or anything. Like I said, I’ve never --”

“You didn't, I promise.”

He reached out his arm - his god-like, spectacular arm - to open the door for you, and you slipped past him, your heart racing as his scent wafted through your nose. He smelled like crisp leaves and outdoors and just a hint of sweat and his blood, my goodness, you could smell his blood.

“How come I’ve never seen you around campus before?” Shownu asked after the two of you stepped out into the dark night.

“Well... do you take any night classes?” you asked with a soft chuckle. Most humans didn’t.

“No, but I usually do late-night workouts. Or midnight snack runs in the dining halls.”

“Ah, there are your reasons. One, I never go to the gym. Two, I don’t need to eat food.”

“Oh, right,” Shownu laughed. “Yeah, that definitely explains it.”

The two of you walked a little way in comfortable silence until you reached a fork in the path; you had to go one way for your first class of the night, and you were fairly sure the gym was the other way.

“I, uh... I have class, so...”

“Please stop me if I’m being too forward,” Shownu said suddenly, his brow furrowed as he focused on the ground right next to your feet. “But I kind of want to see you again?”

He what now?

“You... what? You -- you do?”

“I know we just met, but... I mean, you sucked on my arm. That kind of creates a bond between people. A weird bond, but a bond nonetheless.”

A soft chuckle escaped your lips, and you timidly tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “Yeah, I have to agree,” you murmured.

Honestly, it could’ve been the fact Shownu was super handsome and seemed really sweet and kind and also his blood tasted amazing but... you did kind of feel that bond.

“So...” he took a tiny step toward you, and your breath caught in your throat. “Can I? See you again?”

“...Maybe,” you answered as you lifted one shoulder into a shrug.

“Oh, maybe,” he repeated in a teasing tone, the cutest, most adorable smirk now pulling at his lips. 

“Yes, maybe. I’ll change it to a ‘yes’ if you promise me one thing.”

“What would that be?”

“You’ll wear long sleeves.”

Shownu’s brow furrowed slightly, and he tilted in his head in confusion. “Why?”

“Because your arms are way too tempting, and I would rather not bite into them unless it was absolutely necessary.”

“...What if I told you... I wouldn’t mind if you did?”

Your cheeks warmed immensely, and you quickly averted your gaze, your mind now racing with too many thoughts (all dealing with him not minding if you bit into and fed from him again, of course).

“Here,” he murmured, reaching into his pocket and sliding out his phone. “Give me your number, at least. I’ll text you, and if you don’t reply... I won’t bother you again.”

There was absolutely no reason for you to say ‘no’ to that, so you took his phone from him, quickly putting in your number before handing it back.

“I do really have class now,” you said softly, finally returning his gaze again. “In, like, ten minutes.”

“Okay, go,” Shownu chuckled. “Wait, you don’t want me to walk you or anything? You feel safe enough?”

“I’m good,” you assured him. “I have my own built-in weapons, remember?”

“Ah, that’s right. But... still. Be careful.”

“I will, don’t worry.” You took a few steps backward, watching as he replaced his phone back into his pocket.

“Have a good night, Y/N.” Shownu lifted one hand in a very dad-like wave, and you couldn’t stop from letting out a little giggle as you waved back.

“You, too.”

You turned on your heel then, picking up your pace as you began your trek to the English building.

You weren’t even halfway there when you felt your phone vibrate in your bag. You fished it out, a smile instantly pulling at your lips when you saw a message from an unsaved number.

I have plenty of long-sleeved shirts. I promise I’ll wear one of them if I can see you tomorrow.

Since you’d become a vampire about five years ago, you’d been fairly sure your life as an average person was over. You would probably meet a vampire, fall in love with a vampire, marry a vampire, and have (presumably) vampire children.

You had innately decided it would just be better for everyone to find someone of your own kind.

But...

You were questioning all that now.

Because if a guy you’d just met less than half an hour ago could make your heart flutter the way it was fluttering now? You couldn’t just ignore that, human or not.

So you opened the message and typed back a reply.

It’s a deal.

Master list // RULES // Read About the Admins

[sandyferal]

The Vacation part 7

Not much but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

“What is this stuff?”

Bushroot looked up at Liquidator’s question.

It was late, and the two were now the only ones awake. A few hours after they had arrived back Quackerjack had finally pulled Megavolt to bed, leaving the two mutants awake on their own.

Liquidator was looking at himself curiously. One of his arms had been severely tinted green.

“It’s been this color ever since we visited the fountain,” Liquidator said.

“You mean ever since we robbed it.”

“Reggie, when it comes to us, there’s seldom a difference.” Bud let the green tinted arm drip off his body, then sprouted another limb in its place.

“Y’know, you might not want to let that stuff go,” Bushroot said. “It’s actually kind of valuable.”

Bud’s ears perked up. “It is?”

“Yeah,” Bushroot said. “I mean I was going to mention it at the fountain but I got interrupted! It said on one of the signs that there’s a rare breed of algae in that fountain that turns it that color. People used to think it had healing powers, part of the reason no one is supposed to touch the fountain.”

Bushroot could almost see the thoughts forming in the canine’s mind.

“Oh geez,” Bushroot said.

“Reggie, I think I have an idea!”

“I can see that.”

Bud grabbed the trench coat and hat that Bushroot had left on the floor earlier. “I’m going to head out for a bit, but I’ll be back before you know it!”

“Do you have to?”

Bud frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Y’know, we kinda got a good thing going here. No one knows we’re here, no one is looking for us, there’s no Negaduck,” Bushroot said. “Maybe we should just try to enjoy ourselves for a bit?”

“This is how I enjoy myself Reggie,” Bud said. “Do you just miss having a normal life Reginald?”

Bushroot sighed. “I wasn’t really trying to say that but I guess? It’s just, it’s our first day here and we already started doing all these little things. Can we just go a little while without doing some sort of petty crime or scheme?”

“I think when you’ve been a criminal for so long breaking the law just becomes a bit of a habit,” Bud said.

“Not for me.”

“Yes,” Bud said with a smirk. “You don’t have a habit of breaking the law, you just have a habit of breaking the laws of nature for your own personal gain. That’s completely different.”

“It is!” Bushroot said. “My experiments don’t hurt anyone… intentionally… I mean at least not people who don’t deserve-but that’s besides the point!”

“I get it Reggie,” Bud said. “But hey I promise that I won’t let this get too out of hand. Just one little scheme and then I guarantee that the Liquidator will be on his best behavior for a while!”

“Why do I somehow not believe you?” Bushroot sighed. “But go ahead, it’s not like I can stop you.”

“Listen I’ll be in disguise, no one will recognize me.” Liquidator planted a quick kiss on Bushroot’s cheek. “This won’t get in the way of you relaxing or my name isn’t Bud Flood!!”

With that, he left through the window.

…

“Spaaarky…”

Megavolt grumbled and rolled over.

“Hey Sparky!”

He felt himself being gently shaken for a few moments. Then he heard the creaking of springs. Suddenly the bed beneath him began to shake and before he knew what was happening he’d fallen onto the floor.

“Quackerjaaack!” Megavolt groaned, peeling himself off the floor. “You could’ve just turned on a light or something.”

“The lights are on plughead,” Quackerjack said. “You still wouldn’t wake up!”

Mumbling to himself, Megavolt opened his eyes to see Quackerjack was right. He couldn’t make anything out, but it was very bright. With his hands he began searching for the bedside drawer, only to have his eyewear slipped into his fingers by Quackerjack.

“Thanks,” he said absentmindedly as he placed them on his face.

“Y’know Sparky, it’s not fun for me either when I have to be the one to keep dragging you in and out of bed,” Quackerjack said.

“Then don’t,” Megavolt said.

“Well if I didn’t you’d be asleep all day!”

Megavolt yawned and stood. He made his way out of the room, Quackerjack following him closely.

“Well there’s other people here,” Megavolt said. “Why don’t you go bother Liqui or plant...head… ugh I can’t make good insults right now.”

“Well they’re both gone. Besides I always prefer bothering you.”

Megavolt smiled to himself. “I’m sure you do.” As he said this he walked over to the kitchen where there was a single fork lying on the empty counter. Taking it, he made his way over to a electrical socket, and stuck the fork in.

Immediately a surge of electricity shot through him. When it was over he stretched and shook himself out.

“Oh yeah!” Megavolt grinned. “That’s the good stuff!”

“Maybe I should get a taser and shock you every morning. I bet that’d be an easier way to wake you up,” Quackerjack said.

“Did we not get one?” Megavolt asked. “I thought we had something that one time?”

“We had a cattle prod and a joy buzzer,” Quackerjack said. He giggled. “But those weren’t exactly used for waking you up.”

“Oh yeah.” Megavolt looked around. Then something clicked in his brain. “Hey where are the others?”

“I just told you Sparky, they’re not here!” Quackerjack said. “They’ve both been outside for a while.”

“What are they doing?”

…

Bushroot watched the crowd of people surrounding the small stand from the shade of a nearby tree. If there was one thing he admired about his partner, it was his uncanny ability to draw people in.

“Only a thousand dollars a piece!” Liquidator’s voice rang out from across the street. “Quite a bargain for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”

“Wow, he really does love scamming people doesn’t he?”

Bushroot looked around and saw Megavolt approaching, with Quackerjack trailing alongside him.

“That’s an understatement,” Bushroot said. “He’s been at this for hours.”

“And you’ve just been watching him this whole time?” Megavolt asked.

“Yeah,” Bushroot said, not taking his eyes off the crowded stand. “He’s kinda fascinating. D-did you know, it only took him ten minutes to get a crowd of over forty people? It’s been three hours and the crowd has only gotten bigger. I don’t know how he does it.”

“Yeesh, you’re talking like it’s magic,” Quackerjack said, his face darker than usual. “I’ve seen it before. Guys who talk big draw in the crowds to buy their bullshit, while everyone starts to ignore the actually interesting ideas. It’s nothing special.”

“Yeah…” Megavolt looked at Quackerjack quizzically. “Well I wouldn’t have gone that much into it. But yeah, he’s just selling… what is he selling again?”

“The water from the fountain,” Bushroot said. “It’s worth a lot of money.”

“It is?” Quackerjack asked. “And you didn’t tell us?!”

“Oh I tried to, but you interrupted me!” Bushroot said.

“Hey, let's not point any fingers,” Quackerjack said. “But I can’t believe all those saps are paying a thousand dollars for water from a crummy old fountain.”

“Well it does contain Chlariaphyta, a very rare species of algae that’s known for being used in some forms of medicine. That’s probably why people thought the water had healing properties back in… in the…” Bushroot trailed off, realizing that he was overexplaining again. “Anyway, my point is that it’s-it’s actually kinda valuable for a good reason.”

“Right, well unless I was an aquatic plant enthusiast, I still wouldn’t think it’s worth that much for fountain water, algae or no algae,” Megavolt said.

“You wanna go somewhere else until waterboy gets done with his little sale, or are you going to keep staring at him for a few more hours?” Quackerjack asked.

“I think I’ll stay here for a bit. Just to make sure nothing goes wrong since it’s technically illegal to even touch the fountain, which makes it definitely illegal to sell the water,” Bushroot said. “Besides, I have to keep all these layers on to make sure no one recognizes me and the only thing keeping me from sweating to death is the shade of this tree.”

“Suit yourself!” Quackerjack said. Then he grabbed Magavolt’s arm and dragged him away.

[nonhumanwithin]

Advice for confused kin

(Note: I’m not fictionkin or any other type of unusual kin, just a normal otherkin, so I’ll be talking about my own experiences and not really fictionkin or the like. I wish I could help, I’m sorry!)

This is more centered around my personal experiences, but I do hope it helps others as well. Writing out your thoughts can sometimes help clear your mind c:

So, I’ve struggled with figuring out my kintypes for a long time. I’ve known I’m otherkin for almost 9 years now, and yet I still struggle from time to time with my identity. This is mostly due to my mental illnesses (BPD and CPTSD, if you’re curious), which I know I’m not the only otherkin struggling with. I know of a few others who are adults and have been in the community for some time who struggle with finding out their identity. So, if you’re like me, or maybe more new to the community or younger, either way, I hope this helps at least a little.

First, I’ll go over some basics:

Being otherkin means you identify as a nonhuman being (non physically!). You are this creature, and it is you.

Being otherhearted/kith means you identify with the creature, not as. Maybe you wish you were this creature, maybe not. It holds a part of your heart, and in a way, is probably apart of who you are as a person, but it doesn’t shape your identity in the same way a kintype does. You probably can’t imagine not identifying as your kintype, but you could still be you without your kithtype.

However, being otherhearted/kith is NOT the same as having a favorite animal. It can be like a favorite animal, but you feel like “favorite animal” doesn’t quite describe how you feel about the animal. It is definitely something more than that.

Cameo shifts are shifts into another creature that isn’t your kintype. (Note that shifting as your kithtype counts as cameo, or at least, I don’t know any better word for it, so that’s what I’ll call it for now.)

So, how do you distinguish a kintype from a kithtype? What makes a shift a cameo instead of a kintype shift?

I think for something to be considered a kintype, you must identify as it for a certain amount of time (maybe about 6 months) and distinctly feel that it is you and feel as if, when you see your kintype, you are looking in a mirror, not seeing a friend. (Of course, if you find your kintype and decide you’re sure enough to call it a kintype before 6 months that is completely fine, I’m talking about those who are confused or questioning and want to be absolutely sure!)

For me, when I see something I know is a kithtype- for this example I’ll use wolves, as they are a kithtype of mine and I did think I was a wolf for a while- I do see similarities between us. But I feel more a deep admiration for them than a feeling of “that’s me!”. I feel as if I’m seeing brothers and sisters, like I could walk among wolves like they are family, but they’re not. I like to compare it to the way Native Americans in movies (idk about irl so I’m comparing to movies bc it’s easier) have certain animals they deeply respect and sort of draw power/happiness/knowledge/etc from. It is a deep connection, and for me it feels almost familial. I want to protect wolves, and learn about them, and someday see them in person. I want to be their friend, their ally, their sibling. But I am not one of them.

With my dog theriotype, it’s different. When I see seppalas with black and white coats like how I imagine my theriotype to look, I get a very strong feeling like “that’s me!!!” and feel as if I’m looking in a mirror, or seeing a picture of me when I looked really good, haha. I see myself as this animal, and it feels completely natural to do so. I could imagine myself as my dog theriotype doing dog things, or imagine something silly like being a dog doing human things, like typing at my computer. But it feels 100% natural to see myself this way. Calling myself a dog feels right. Calling myself a wolf would feel more like, trying to fit into your older sibling’s clothes as a kid, if that makes sense? I sometimes want to be a wolf because I admire them so much. But, I am not one.

But of course, the lines between kin and kith aren’t always so distinct. Maybe you feel so strongly for an animal that you wonder if it is a kintype, but you feel it’s not quite strong enough to be a kintype. Maybe you have had very strong shifts as your kithtype and question if it means something more, or if the shifts were only cameos. Maybe you heavily relate to some of the characteristics of your kithtype and feel as if these characteristics are linked to a kintype and this creature fits your feelings fairly closely, probably not totally accurately.

Alternatively, maybe you question a kintype being a kithtype instead because you don’t always feel it so strongly. Maybe you’re not as connected to one kintype as another. Maybe you think you’re just biased and really really like this animal and shouldn’t be so quick to label it as a kintype.

So, where do you draw the line?

It might be different for you, but for me personally, I think I would have to consider myself this animal enough to want to call myself this animal, at least most of the time. Maybe I don’t feel it as strongly as my dog theriotype, but if I were to introduce myself to someone, I would want to mention all of my theriotypes. I must have somewhat frequent/strong shifts of this animal that do not fade, or feel partially shifted for a long period of time. I’ve found that if I have random bursts of shifts that are only caused by outside influences, they are cameo shifts. My kintype shifts might be more random, last longer, and feel more solid, while cameo shifts feel more unstable, like they won’t last very long.

What sucks about me personally is that, when I cameo shift, I feel very strongly in that moment that I am that creature, that I identify as it. I have had very strong feline shifts, where I feel totally cat and want to rub my head on things and purr. But I get these shifts too infrequently to call myself a feline. Though that’s how it is for me personally. Maybe you’re different and have very infrequent shifts, that’s okay!

The main difference is that I do not normally identify as a cat. I have strong cat shifts caused by outside influences and will feel as if I am internally a cat for a short time, but it always goes away. If I am doing something unrelated to cats and not thinking about it for some time, and someone asks what animal I feel like in that moment, I would not say I am a cat.

Another difference is I will sort of instinctively shift as a reaction to certain situations, such as fear. For example, I have social anxiety and I remember a day when I went to the store feeling particularly anxious, and had a strong orca shift as a result, feeling the urge to slap my tail at anyone who got too close (sounds hilarious writing it out tbh). I wouldn’t normally have cameo shifts as a defense thing like this. I wouldn’t shift into a dragon or cat or whatever in this situation unless I was already thinking about them a lot or something.

I would have wolf shifted in the past when I believed I was a wolf, because my dog theriotype is pretty similar to wolves and I was confident I was a wolf back then. So, it’s good to try to remain unbiased if you are questioning a kintype and wondering what animal your shift is linked to. Instead of labeling it with any specific animal, stay neutral. For example, if you feel a long snout and the urge to growl and bare your teeth, do not call it a canine shift. There are other animals with long snouts that growl.

If you have a lot of cameo shifts and want to determine whether certain shifts are cameos or indications of a kintype, I would recommend:

Doing research. You’ve probably already done research to figure out what animal exactly you are shifting into, but I’d recommend also figuring out if you identify with many of the traits from this animal. For example, do you feel drawn to the habitat it lives in? When you hear its vocalizations do they sound familiar and you think if you could make these vocalizations it would feel right? Think about how big or small the animal is, does it feel right imagining yourself from that point of view? Maybe you’ll find you do little things that are similar to this animal. Be aware that they could very well be normal human things, but ultimately I think it’s up to you to determine whether these characteristics feel related to a kintype or not. Also, everyone is different! Maybe you don’t like the habitat your kintype lives in, etc. You don’t have to identify with all of these questions.

Take it slow, don’t think too much about it. Personally, the more I think about a potential kintype, the more I want to rush things and feel more biased and want to label myself, but this can be a bad idea.

Going off the last note but it’s 100% okay to be wrong about your kintype. If you absolutely feel right calling yourself a certain creature and want to label yourself this now, go ahead! Do what makes you happy. Maybe in a few months or a few years you’ll realize you were wrong. But that’s okay, everyone is still learning and growing, everyone makes mistakes. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for switching labels when it doesn’t affect them at all. It’s your own life, your own mind. Only you know how you feel, and no one can tell you how to think or feel or whatever.

However, if you are prone to rushing things and switching labels and such and want to quit, I would recommend waiting around 6 months before labeling a new kintype. If by then you still feel strongly you identify as this animal, label away! I say 6 months because from what I have seen it’s the period of time before someone can be diagnosed with a mental disorder. You have to experience symptoms of a disorder for at least 6 months in order to be diagnosed. I think it’s a good amount of time, because a lot can happen in 6 months, but you will not change who you are as a person or your core identity in 6 months. Basically, your kintype isn’t going anywhere by then. The only reason I can think of someone identifying as the wrong kintype for 6 months is if their actual kintype is very similar, and maybe they aren’t aware it exists (which is what happened in my case!), or haven’t looked into it enough. But of course, it’s totally up to you. Whatever you’re most comfortable with.

It’s also totally okay to not know your kintype. Maybe you don’t know any of your kintype(s), and just know that you don’t feel totally human. That’s okay! Everyone goes at their own pace. You have all the time in the world to figure yourself out.

Keeping a journal is a good idea. Try to be as unbiased as possible and write down your shifts and other otherkin experiences. Write down why you think you shifted, if it’s totally random or was possibly caused by something. Write down any urges you have that you think are kin related.

Maybe try inducing shifts of different animals you are considering as kintypes and note the differences between them and how comfortable/stable the different shifts feel.

You could have a friend or just have a timer or something to remind you to randomly ask yourself how you are feeling in that moment, if you feel like any particular animal. It can be very subtle.

Do things your possible kintype would do, watch videos, look at pictures, or if you’re into drawing, draw yourself! Draw how your phantom shifts would look, or draw what you think you would look like as this possible kintype. If you can’t draw or feel it wouldn’t accurately capture what you’re thinking. try to imagine it as vividly as possible. Does it feel like you? Do you feel as if you’re looking in a mirror, or does it feel more like a character/fursona, or like seeing an old friend?

I won’t get too into detail about finding your kintype and how to do research and such because there is already a lot of information about that out there. I wish you all luck on your journeys to discover yourselves!

[bionicdragonguardian1]

Recluse Vampire Izuku

Inspired by @25coriandah‘s little bit of art (which does actually happen in this part, yay!!) where Izu finds Wolf Pup Kacchan and has no clue how Werewolves work, and every book is wrong.

If you think I’m making Supernatural references

One; I almost definitely am

Two; I am very aware of it

Three; I’m not only drawing from SPN for both Izuku/Kacchan when it comes to their weaknesses/strengths/powers/etc

Four; remember that one plot line that ended up making all of us SOB because someone we loved died? Yeah, remember that. I shamelessly hint at it for a future part.

If you think I’m mischaracterizing anyone please tell me

But I can tell you I’m plugging some headcanons and such in here

@thepinkjinx, here ya go!!

If anyone else wants to end up on a notif list, lemme know

Part Two

Izuku took off back to his home, pushing the unlocked door open with his back, then nudging it closed with his foot. Gently placing the blonde on his couch.

Izuku felt his fangs dig into his lower lip. Drawing some of his own barely flowing blood to the surface. Hissing at the jolt of pain he licked his lower lip, to speed up the healing.

What was he thinking?! He couldn’t care for someone, much less a child! And that completely ignored the fact that he was a werewolf. Smooth Izuku, smooth.

The blonde boy groaned, curling in on himself, the blood-red eyes found Izuku’s green ones. Distrust clear in them, along with confusion as to where he was.

“Hey…” Izuku tried, edging closer to the young wolf. He was about three feet away when there was a distinct, and quite loud actually, growl coming from him. Izuku didn’t push it.

The growl only went away when Izuku took two steps back.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Izuku told the boy. “I found you in my woods.”

Red eyes looked thoroughly unconvinced, glaring at Izuku as he sat up, tail coming free and curling up behind him. Showing that he was on alert.

“My name’s Izuku Midoriya, what’s yours?”

No response.

“Do you understand me?” Izuku tried, slower.

The blonde was looking at him intently, frowning then slowly nodded.

Izuku supposed it made sense, the boy- wolf, whatever- was young. Maybe werewolves weren’t well versed in human speech at such a young age?

“I’m Izuku, you?” Izuku asked.

The blonde’s lips turned into a scowl. “Speak louder, Deku, I’m Katsuki.”

Izuku didn’t think he was speaking that quietly, but again, reclusiveness for over 110 years had probably messed with that. Especially he was living in the middle of nowhere.

“My name’s Izuku!” he spoke louder, not only because the blonde had told him to, but because he was offended. “That’s not nice Katc-Kact-Kac-” he stumbled, trying to pronounce the blonde’s name the way the boy had.

“See, Deku.” the boy grouched.

“Kacchan, that’s rude.” Izuku reprimanded seeing the boy looked stunned by the nickname. Looking ready to argue. “You call me Deku, I call you Kacchan.”

Izuku had his pride and would never admit to the blonde he simply couldn’t pronounce his name.

The blonde glowered but accepted it begrudgingly.

“Will you follow me to my library?” Izuku asked, increasing his volume almost immediately when Kacchan’s face went from pouty to angry, which appeased him easily.

Kacchan sent him an unamused look. “You smell wrong.”

Izuku sighed. “I’m a vampire,” he sat down in the armchair beside the corner of the couch Kacchan was occupying. “See?” he said with a smile before pulling his upper lip to show off his fanged canines.

Kacchan looked scared now.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Izuku spoke quickly but realized that Kacchan didn’t understand him when he looked ready to bolt. “I. Won’t. Hurt. You.” Izuku spoke strongly with total conviction. “I promise.”

The blonde’s tail was up on end, which Izuku hadn’t realized had gone down until it was back up. But his teeth weren’t bared and his posture seemed to relax.

“You’re a skittish little wolf.” Izuku commented.

Kacchan’s squinty gaze went to confused. “You know what I am?”

Izuku moved his hands in so-so motion. “I know what you are, only.”

Kacchan looked at him intently. “I’m not little. I’m five.” he held up his hand, and Izuku only then realized that all of Kacchan’s nails were, in fact, black claws.

Izuku smiled softly. “Well, I’m…” he paused to do the math, which was hard because Izuku wasn’t entirely sure what year it was. “About… seven-hundred, so you’re little.”

Kacchan looked both stunned and offended at Izuku’s age.

“Can we go to my library now?” Izuku asked again.

Kacchan nodded slowly, standing up and walking beside Izuku as they headed down his halls.

Izuku saw that the boy’s tail was more relaxed than it was at first but still stiff, showing that Kacchan was still on alert.

They went to the end of the hall and Izuku opened the double doors to his library.

Izuku saw Kacchan’s eyes go wide in surprise, his mouth falling open. “You stay here,” he put the boy at one of the tables in his massive library. “I need to find my books.”

He didn’t run, running tended to wreck the rugs. He’d learned that a long time ago. Though he did move quickly.

Thankfully his personal organization system was something he was well acquainted with and made the Dewey Decimal System look easy.

He didn’t have a ton of books on Werewolves, he realized as he grabbed the four books off the shelf, so he made a quick stop at his generalized Supernatural Creature books, which he had three more of, before heading back to Kacchan.

He found the boy had largely stayed put, just moving away from the table to the floor between a few of the smaller shelves.

He set his books on the table and grabbed the first one he had.

Monsters of the Moon: Werewolves  By: Trystan Greytooth

He could start here, he supposed, getting to the table of contents. Chapter 6: Weaknesses

Well, that was rather straightforward. He should know what to have the boy avoid.

He saw him grabbing something off one of the shelves but didn’t think much of it. He frowned. “Huh, according to Trystan Greytooth you’re very allergic to Silver.” which he already knew, but that meant he was going to need to get all knew forks, knives, and spoons since his were-

He flinched at the rather loud chomp and the sound of metal bending.

He looked over to Kacchan and realized that Kacchan had grabbed some of Tenya’s original Silverware, 100% silver, and completely unique to Izuku.

That sound of metal bending was Katsuki chomping on them, bending them out of shape.

While part of Izuku was screaming, he was more resigned. “Apparently not.” he muttered. Which raised so many more questions because that was something even he had been told over the centuries.

0 for 1. Uh oh.

He continued to the next one.

“You’re apparently…” Izuku looked critically at the blonde boy. “Well, that’s definitely wrong” he chuckled. Heading over to Kacchan and taking the two undamaged spoons away, and trying to get him to take one of the others out of his mouth.

The wolf pouted but seemed little more okay with it when Izuku sat on the floor next to him. “You definitely don’t look like a wolf that walks on two legs.” Then he looked to the blonde. “Is this what you look like all the time?”

Kacchan shook his head slowly. “Look like a wolf when I want, but look different on Full Moon.”

Izuku sighed. 0-2. Not promising.

He continued reading. Actually, Kacchan just confirmed the next five were wrong!

“Leave my spoons alone.” he told him sternly as he stood up and grabbed a different book.

He opened it and immediately realized it was wrong.

“Werewolves only way to create more is scratch a human during a Full Moon.” he read, then looked to the boy. “Kacchan,” the boy perked up. “is your mama like you?”

Kacchan gave a small nod, and Izuku knew instantly that this was not something he should ever bring up again.

0-3, go Kacchan.

He switched over to one of his more broad-topic books.

Chapter 21: Werewolves

Izuku barely needed to skim the first page to realize that this one was also wrong.

0-4, this is not going to go well.

Creatures of the Dark: Mary Shelley

Izuku paused. The same woman who wrote Frankenstein? He must’ve put one of her books in the wrong section. He opened it, finding that a note from Ochako in it, and Mary Shelley’s signature in it. He frowned, he didn’t quite remember reading this, so he would have to read it and reshelve it.

Zero for five, on account of my own shelving mistake.

Kacchan came back to the chair beside Izuku. “Wrong?” he asked.

Izuku sighed and nodded.

“You tell me ‘bout you, and I tell you what I know.” Kacchan offered.

Izuku wanted to hit himself with the dictionary sized book he held in his hands.

“How much do you know, Kacchan?” he asked the boy curiously.

Kacchan shrugged. “Some, not lots, sorry.”

Izuku slowly reached out to pet the boy’s spiky blonde hair, which was far softer than it appeared, and he was apparently okay with it. “It’s okay, you tell me what you know, and we can go from there.”

Kacchan nodded happily.

Izuku set the book in his hand aside but made a note of the title. Essentials of the Supernatural: Leonard Ganem. Then he pulled out his own notebook to take notes on what Kacchan told him.

“You can turn into a Wolf?” Izuku remembered him saying that.

Kacchan nodded. “Anytime I want.” Izuku nodded but watched as Kacchan frowned before pulling out the book by Tristan Greytooth. “Only look kinda like this on Full Moons.”

Izuku took note and made a sloppy and quick sketch.

“It makes me dangerous.” Kacchan mumbled.

Izuku paused his pencil just over the page. “What?”

“I… don’t remember… I’m always angry on the Full Moon.” Kacchan elaborated in the most unhelpful way.

“And that makes you dangerous?” Izuku prodded.

“I hurt anyone that’s not a Wolf.” Kacchan said stiffly.

Izuku barely kept himself from either grinding his teeth, letting his jaw hit the floor, or baring his fangs at the boy. “You can’t control it?” he asked instead.

Kacchan curled up in a ball and nodded. “Mama was mad, said we go huntin’...”

Izuku's stomach rolled. “When was that?”

Kacchan’s red eyes were zeroed in on the table. “Yesterday.”

Izuku really wanted to throw-up, a mother had left her five-year-old son alone in the woods to die, and he would’ve if Izuku hadn’t found him. It was only then that he remembered that the Full Moon was three nights ago.

“Are you hungry?” he asked the boy.

Slowly Kacchan looked at him, confused, but nodded.

Izuku gave him a bright smile. “Let’s head into town, you can eat there, and I’ll buy food for you.”

Kacchan frowned. “You have money for that?”

Izuku’s heart clenched. “Yeah, I do, don’t worry about it.”

Kacchan clearly didn’t quite believe him, but accepted it. “You don’t eat?” he asked, changing the topic.

Izuku shrugged. “It doesn’t make me sick, but it doesn’t help. I need to drink blood once a week, animals.” he clarified when he saw the boy worry.

Katsuki hopped off the chair, clearly ready to head into town.

“Hang on, Kacchan, I need to change.” Izuku told the boy as they went through the double doors.

Kacchan frowned. “Why?”

Izuku sighed. “The sun hurts my eyes, and a long time in it can burn me.”

Katsuki sighed, looking to Izuku expectantly.

“Oh, you can go back to the living room, I’ll be there soon.” Izuku told the boy.

He seemed skeptical, which now that Izuku knew his mom had abandoned him, made sense, but Izuku was sticking to it. Eventually, he huffed and turned to head back to the living room.

[antis-loyal-puppet]

Marvin HCs.

Ok before i start i'm going to clarify that this are my HCs! Ok? Good. Now that we got that down lets continue.

Marvin is the third youngest out of all the egos(he's 25).The ones that are younger than him are J.J.(24) and Robbie(19).

He loves cats, a LOT. He has a male one year old white cat with one blue and one yellow eye that he calls Prince. He loves him and always dresses him up with shiny collars. However he is still allergic to cats thanks to Sean so he sneezes a lot when he is around Prince(all the time)but he doesn't care cause he loves his kitty too much to give it away.

He has a new cat mask that looks way better and more professional but he still has his old mask because it carries a lot of good memories.

Marvin pretends to not know a lot about magic and not be good at it, but in reality he is one of the most powerful magician to ever live! He's brothers know about this but they don't talk about it cause they respect the fact that he wants it to keep it a secret for his own reasons.

While most wizards magic has one colour depending on how powerful they are, Marvins magic is colourful and radiates a pure and powerful light that when people see it they get a feeling of warmth and safety. He specializes in fire spells.

He loves to draw. He draws all the time but he thinks he isn't that good at it even though his drawings are out standing!

He doesn't eat meat but he still consumes dairy products and eggs. He also prefers tea over coffee.

Marvin is a thief. A really good one as well. He isn't evil and doesn't do it for the money. He does it because he is obsessed with anything shiny and sparkly. So he steals jewellery and crowns that are made of gold and that have a lot of shiny rocks on them(diamons,emeralds,etc.) He doesn't consider it stealing but rather borrowing. However it is still illegal so the police always keeps an eye out but they have never caught him because he is very quick and quiet. He also never uses his magic for stea-i mean borrowing cause he likes to give himself a challenge.

Marvin and Jackieboy man used to be best friends, but after Jack fell into a coma and Marvin started stealing they started getting in a lot of fights and now they have a hero-bad guy relationship but even though they never talk about it, they really want to go back to being best friends.

He is very flexible and can do a lot of acrobatic tricks .

The sides of his head are shaved but the hair on top of his head are long and curly(he still keeps his hair a bright green neon colour). He keeps it down so that they cover his right eye completely but when he *cough* *cough* works he keeps it in a man bun.

His eyes are a bright yellow colour. His upper Canines are sharp like a cats. He wears black skinny jeans and any shirt with a blue colour(his favourite) especially grey blue. He has a lot of ear rings(3 on each ear and on on his left eyebrow. 7 in total) and he wears a lot of bracelets on both hands. He also dyes his nails black and sometimes uses eyeliner.

Marvin is straight but can not be fully committed in a relationship. He also is an introvert.

Marvin isn't scared of Anti but rather curious about him. He follows him around and tries to study his powers. He want to understand where his powers came from and what Anti is truly capable of. Anti tried to ignore ignore him but it didn't work. After many months of Marvin following him around and trying to talk to him they finally got to know each other and became good friends which unfortunately causes his brothers to think he has been corrupted and that he is evil now which upsets Marvin a lot so a lot of times he cries about it because he is very sensitive( but he hides it by being super sarcastic shhhhhh) and Anti tries his best to comfort him.

Wow that was a lot. Tell me what you guys think and tell me if you want me to talk about my HCs on the other egos or send me asks with your questions about them, i'll be glad to answer. Also @kisstheashes i know Marvin is your favourite( he is my second favourite) and i want to know your opinion on my HCs about him. Also @puppetofanti i know he isn't your favourite but i still want your opinion!

[angstymarshmallow]

Kiss Me After Midnight (Jax x MC)

[A little note: I want to write more Jax fics since I’m in a jax x mc mood right now. I’m working on other stuff...but this was a nice break from the things I know I should be finishing...Hope you enjoy it!]

Tagging: @flynnomalleys :’)

[Word Count: 3680]

It was nearly midnight when Harlow heard her phone, blaring from beside her. She paused her show on Netflix long enough to lean forward and caught the sight of a familiar number flashing on her screen.

She smiled.

Just the sight of his number could do that to her. It could make her smile, make her giddy as a strange flutter resonated somewhere deep inside her chest. She couldn’t explain exactly what he did to her, she only knew she couldn’t stop herself from reaching for it and pressing the phone eagerly to her ear. And she really should have stopped herself – making it this easy for Jax would give him the impression that she was wrapped around his little finger.

“Harlow,” he greeted warmly from the other line. “I’m glad I caught you.”

“Hey,” she stretched, “another late night at the office. Adrian had me compiling lists for him – it felt pretty endless. Even now I swear I can still see numbers floating around in my head.”

He lightly chuckled.

“I’ve only been home for the past hour,” she squinted at the time. “And I think I’m still too keyed up to go to bed.” She twirled a lock of her dark hair. “How’s Shadow Den?”

“Same old, same old.” His voice was surprisingly brusque when she asked him. As though catching it himself, he sighed. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to brush off your question like that.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “You’re just very protective of your people.”

“But they’ve got nothing to fear from you.” He muttered. “I’m just…used to keeping so much of it a secret from pretty much everyone –” he sighed ruefully a second time. “But it’s good to know I can share it with you, in fact they keep asking me when’s the next time I’m going to bring you around.” He scoffed, “they think I’ve been surly lately because I haven’t seen you.”

She laughed. “That definitely sounds like you, always worrying about other people instead of yourself.” Although he couldn’t see her, she shook her head.

“I don’t remember you complaining the last time I rescued you.”

“Hey!” She exclaimed indignantly, “walking me home after someone tried mugging me does not count. I had it covered.” She waited a beat, “but I was pretty grateful you were around the corner to get my purse back for me.”

“You know I’m always here when you need me.”

And he had proven that to be true, at least a dozen times over since they met. 

Her fingers clenched around her phone at the thought. 

Every night she spent with Jax was another night she thought it would be easy to fall for him. Easy for her to lose herself in his smile and his intimate embrace without even trying. And she was fighting a losing battle convincing herself that she was only in it for the thrill. With Jax, she found herself wanting more.

“So, why did you call?” She switched the subject, “It must be something good for interrupting my Netflix session. You know it’s Game of Thrones night, right?”

“How many times have you marathoned that show, Harlow?” He hummed.

“That’s – that’s –” she frowned at his teasing, “that’s besides the point. This show deserves more than one go around and I don’t remember you complaining the last time you were here with me.”

“We might be remembering the same night differently,” his voice dropped an octave, “because I distinctly remember you pouncing on me the moment we settled in to watch it.”

“It’s not my fault!” She objected without thinking, “you’re just so irresistible!” Oh. The moment she uttered those words, she regretted them. Instead of the pause she feared, much to her surprise he chuckled good-naturedly on the other line.

“If I’m so irresistible then you wouldn’t mind going out with me tonight.”

“Gee, I don’t know.” She pretended to think about, but already her stomach quivered in anticipation at the prospect of seeing him. He was just so damned smooth. Was there anything he wasn’t good at?

Harlow was already off the couch, digging into her slippers before she ventured towards her bedroom as soon as she spoke. “I did have a serious date with eyeballing Jon Snow for at least another two episodes.”

Jax laughed.

“But I think he’ll manage without me tonight.” She added brightly.

“I’ll let him know you’re in good hands tonight.”

Placing her phone in-between her shoulders, she started fishing through her walk-in closest. “Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.” He replied, without missing a beat.

She rolled her eyes, almost freezing as she passed a pair of dark jeans. “You know I’m not a big fan of surprises.” Her last surprise had nearly driven her off the wagon. Crazy hadn’t been enough to define what she had recently gone through – finding out your new boss was a vampire was no easy feat for anyone in their right mind. Good thing she always had trouble with that.

“A good kind,” Jax paused, interrupting her thoughts. “I promise.”

“You’ve always been good at keeping your promises,” she mused, spying a little black dress. “So I guess I can let you off the hook this time.”

She could almost see his grin in her mind – and his canines poking out as clear as day. “Good, pack light. Dress light. I’ll be down by your place in ten.”

Pack light? Dress light? She thought with a frown. What exactly could he have meant. “Where are we -” before she could ask him what he meant he hung up. Shaking her head, she placed her hands on her hips and eyed her wardrobe. Just what exactly did Jax Matsuo have in mind?

-

Jax was as Harlow expected on time. He was never one to be late when it came to their impromptu meetings. He never left home without his sword and it was still strapped against his back, as if he thought at any time something could go wrong. But knowing him and her trademark for finding herself in trouble – he was probably right to.

He looked as handsome as the last time she saw him. And not a day too soon, as she drank in the sight of familiar leather. She nearly shivered in delight.

His dark eyes were gleaming at her with a mixture of happiness and something else. Something she could only describe as desire under its growing intensity. She greeted him with a quick kiss that he quickly tried to pull her back to.

His lips were thorough in their inspection, kissing her as though he was trying to commit the softness of her lips to memory and incited a small moan from her, when he finally tore himself away. “Hey,”

“Hi,” she breathlessly said back. She gave him a smile as he reached for her hand. She could still feel the warmth from his lips lingering as they slipped into an easy walking pace across the sidewalk. “No ride today?” She kept hoping she’d have a chance to see his motorbike in action but was sorely disappointed when he shook his head.

“Not today, I figured we could enjoy a walk.” He jerked his chin at the path in front of them; a long winding road that Harlow had covered jogging last week. “The moon is out, and the sky looks beautiful tonight.”

“Feeling sentimental, aren’t we?” Even as the words left her throat, she couldn’t help but agree. There was something special about seeing the moon out; shining brightly down at them as they gazed at it.

“Am I?” He laughed, “I can’t help it. The moon is the closest I’ll ever to be the sun.” He mused darkly.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s the only thing that lights the dark,” Jax continued quietly, tightening his grip around her wrist. “The only thing that keeps it from completely taking over.” He looked down at her then, his eyes suddenly solemn. “I guess in a way, it reminds me of what I can’t have.”

Harlow swallowed, finding it suddenly difficult to breathe. She couldn’t understand the sudden faraway look in his eyes and yet she was under the impression that they were no longer talking about the same thing. She squeezes his hand, drawing the light back into his eyes. “Hey, you said you had something to show me?” She prompted, hoping to distract him. She didn’t know what demons lurked underneath where he wouldn’t share with her; but she knew she had to always try to bring him back.

“Oh,” Jax blinked at her for a moment. “Oh, yes.” A sly smile erased the trepidation she had felt building between them. “Follow me.” He said eagerly, gripping her hand tighter.

“Ow!” She winced a little and automatically he loosened his hold fraction. “Wait! Slow down.”

-

Jax was infinitely faster than her and it took a lot of patience for him to slow his pacing. He wasn’t used to holding onto someone that could have difficulty catching up, but he wanted to share something with her – a piece of himself that no one else knew.

Not even his second in command at Shadow Den.

He ignored the sudden anxiety he felt in his stomach. He wouldn’t fill his head with second thoughts – he had known Harlow long enough to trust her and his instincts. And his instincts were telling him she was special – important. She was unlike anyone else her had ever met.

His hand entwinned with hers flexed as they flitted through a crowd. He kept a good watch on her from the corner of her eyes, because despite her protests about being independent – Harlow’s luck had often made her a damsel in unfortunate circumstances.

When he found the building he was looking for, he pulled her into the alleyway and only stopped to gaze worriedly back at her. She was still there, hugging her shoulders in her dark and clad leather jacket.

One singular eyebrow was raised as she pulled back her bangs from her face. Her lips formed a faint frown. “Jax,” she begun.

“Hmm?” His lips were itching to smile at her apparent confusion.

“Public sex isn’t really my thing,” she skimmed the overgrown trashcans and wrinkled her nose and the dingy graffiti covering the sight of the building. “Like at all.”

He laughed. “That isn’t why I brought you here, although we should definitely re-visit this conversation later.”

She narrowed her eyes and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “No, I think that’s always going to be a hard pass for me.”

“Hmmm,” he pulled her to him, cutting off the rest of her retort. He couldn’t stop himself from tilting her chin up to kiss her.

She returned it just as quickly, looping her arms around his neck; pressing herself possessively into him.

She could make him forget the rest of the world around them if he wasn’t careful. And Jax had always taught himself to be careful. Cupping her cheeks, he deepened the kiss before pulling back enough to stare into her eyes. His dark crimsons reflected back at him.

“Do you trust me, Harlow?”

-

Jax’s voice was remarkably soft when he spoke. It was always soft whenever they spoke of serious things, and their feelings that had never been fleeting – but his question had taken her off guard. She admitted to herself that it quelled the little weeds of self-doubt that had been rearing its ugly head, but she was still surprised at the intensity of his eyes boring into hers. Staring up at him, all Harlow could think was of an answer that should have scared her. But it didn’t.  “Yes, I think I do.”

“With your life?” He pressed with a sudden urgency entering his voice. He stroked her cheek.

And Harlow relished his touch. Despite the flush that crept upon her neck, she loved the feeling of his cool fingers until they tucked underneath her chin.

Jax angled her forward, still waiting for her answer.

Slowly, she nodded.

She didn’t think it would have been possible – but then again, a couple months ago, she hadn’t thought vampires were possible either. There was no denying she trusted him, and even more surprising was how much she entrusted her life into his hands.  She wasn’t a person that trusted easily,  it was never something she gave to others no a whim – not even with Adrian who had been there for her too. He had never been this level of clarity.

And a thousand different reasons why she shouldn’t trust him flooded her thoughts. But the most important reason why she kept those thoughts back. Yet, no matter how different their circumstances and responsibilities were, no matter how much their lives were beginning to yank them in separate directions – she trusted him. She trusted him, because she was falling for him – falling harder than she had ever thought possible. “I do Jax.” She uttered so low that she thought she thought he hadn’t heard it until she saw his smile. “I trust you.”

“Good,” his shoulders went a little slack. “Now, relax.”

“Wait what –” Before she could finish her sentence, Harlow was suddenly swept into Jax’s arms. Her eyes widened in bewilderment, before she felt the ground beneath them fall away.

Jax propelled himself with the weight of his feet, springing forward. The jump wasn’t something difficult to make by any means – he had done it countless of times over the past decades, and yet he could feel how different it was this time. This time he wasn’t going up there alone.

The air around them whizzed by as he launched himself and he grinned at the sound of Harlow’s cry of surprise and outrage until his feet landed them safely on-top of the roof.

“Oh my god, are you insane?!” Harlow nearly yelled as she slid down from him. She could barely hear his laugh over the sound of her heartbeat. She slapped his shoulder. “You could have killed us!”

He quirked an eyebrow.

“I mean you could have killed me.”

“You’re fine, aren’t you?” His eyes gave a swift once over just to be sure. “All in one piece. Weren’t you the one that said you trusted me with your life?”

“I’m beginning to reconsider that.” She grumbled.

Jax smiled so endearingly back at her that Harlow was having trouble staying upset with him. Her lips twitched to return his smile. “I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you.”

She looked away, cheeks burning even as she ignored his confident smirk. If he kept saying things like that….

She didn’t finish the thought, instead she turned her sights to glance meekly around them, to get a better idea of their surroundings. “This is…rather high.” She slid a little closer towards railing of the building. From here, it overlooked half the city.

She could see thousands of lights engulfing down below her. She couldn’t hear the traffic from up so high but she saw the telltale sign of moving lights from vehicles, and the bright lights that were blurring together from where she stood. She thought if anyone had ever done this, had ever taken the time to admire how everything down below shimmered. Then as her eyes traveled back up to watch the stars, she knew she never had before today.

She had seen stars before on the balcony of her own apartment, and yet staring up at them as Jax sidled beside her, she couldn’t help but think the stars above were brighter than anything she had ever seen.  They were alive – living and breathing pieces that belonged to the universe.

“It’s beautiful out here.” She murmured. She was so used to putting her head down that seeing how much the city came alive made her realize she had been missing something. She wandered dimly, how people were down there – and how many of them would kill for a view like this.

Jax watched her from the corner of her eyes and thought differently. Seeing her hugging her shoulders, tucking her long dark hair behind her ear and watching the excitement flash inside her eyes made him think she was the most beautiful thing out here. Tearing his gaze away, he stared up at the sky with her and her fingers found his in the dark.

“I used to come up here a lot,” Jax muttered, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between them. “Back when my grandparents were still around and this place wasn’t so developed. This used to be one of the highest places you could go to see the city.” He smiled fondly at the memory. “They took me here as a reward for doing good in school.”

“Couldn’t they get you candy like anyone else?” Harlow muttered.

He laughed.

“Though I suppose, I can understand why.” She sighed wistfully, “I can only imagine the view it had back then, what it looked like.”

“I wish I could show you.” He agreed, turning to her. “But the reason why I brought you up here was because it’s still a good place to see how pretty this city is – even with the darkness lingering and festering its center.”

“Jax.” Harlow saw the conflict in his eyes; the way they seemed to be holding something back. “I know you’re not used to sharing pieces of yourself with other people – I know you’ve been alone for a long time.” She took a deep breath, trying to steady herself despite how fast her heart was racing. “But you don’t have to do that with me. I love the pieces of your world that you show me,” she returned her gaze to the midnight sky, still glinting down at them with its stars. “Even the parts that should terrify me.”

“And why don’t they terrify you?” Jax hadn’t meant to sound so snappy but he had been introduced to this world without a choice. He had been turned without a choice and being Clanless – there was a part of him that would always envy her. She was introduced to their world with open arms and had stayed despite it. “Why do you accept everything so…so…rationally? Like everything’s still okay, still normal?” His jaw clenched. “Like this is all going to end well?” With a fight brewing, he knew better than to delude in such things. He had to keep his people safe. He had to make sure they were always ready. But her…Harlow never seemed worried about the impending doom she was now caught in the middle of.

Harlow kept quiet for a moment, mulling over his words. “All my life I’ve felt like something was missing.” She rolled her eyes, “I know how cliché that sounds but I’ve never really felt…normal.” She didn’t want to go into further details than that, knowing she had her own demons to fight outside of the ones this new world showed her. “But here, despite all the danger – despite the risks it puts me in, I’ve never felt more alive. More normal.” She turned back to him; her eyes meeting his, the same moment he moved closer. “And with you, I feel like I’m just another girl.” Her voice shook a little as spoke, but she compelled herself to fight the urge to look away. “Falling a little more each day in front of a guy – hoping he feels the same.”

His eyes widened a little in shock. He remained motionless, freezing in a way that made Harlow think he would run. He wouldn’t – she knew he wouldn’t, Jax simply wasn’t the type to run.

But this wasn’t about danger lurking in the corner for them. Suddenly, she was the danger. A danger to his heart and Jax couldn’t think of anything to say. He could only stand and stare at her in complete shock from her confession. He had never thought, he had never presumed to know how she felt about him.

Harlow gnawed at her bottom and slowly, so that he could stop her if she was wrong about his feelings for her - she took both his hands and noted that they were both shaking as hard as her voice. “Your world doesn’t scare me as long as you’re always in it.”

He kissed her then, cutting off the rest of what she was going to say. Not that it mattered. Nothing else matter when he kissed her like this, like she was suddenly the only thing that mattered to him. He kissed her with a fierceness that made her knees grow weak, made it hard for her to stand. He kissed her with a passion that swarmed her and her pulse jumped as his tongue coaxed her mouth open. He kissed her roughly and made it hard for her to stand.

All she could do was cling to him and kiss him back with every ounce of desire and want, and need she had for him. While her knees threatened to buckle, she showed him how much he meant to her.

His fingers dragged themselves through her hair, before sliding to her cheeks and then to her chin. He tilted her face forward to kiss her - over and over again. And as he tasted her, he found waiting back for him the kind of acceptance he had never known. Not in a long time.

There was so much she didn’t know, so much he wanted her to know and a lot he was afraid to tell her. Harlow wasn’t someone that should be here, and yet he had never known anyone any braver. Anyone that possessed the same strength she did to dive head-first into danger.

For so long, Jax was accustomed to not relying on anyone and he didn’t know where to begin - where to let her in, knowing she was falling as deeply as he fell for her. He could only hope the rest of the world wouldn’t destroy what they had.

When they pulled away from each other, they were grinning like two people entranced in their own little world and for now, Jax thought this could be enough.

-

[hyannah]

Anon Archives Vol. 3

I think I already answered a similar question in a previous anon archives, but just in case - most of the time I make my own textures and I may release them publicly one day! In the meantime though, WebTreatsETC has a wonderful library of subtle grunge patterns. The trick to textures is “less is more” so the more concentrated the imperfections are, the better.

...*resolution ;; This isn’t the case with everything. Depending on the subject of your drawing you may want different consistencies. Objects and  materials like metals or concrete might require harsher textures as a guide when painting, but for character illustration I’d highly recommend the subtle approach.

Mhmm, well, I’m so bad at explaining... Let me try. I’ll make a proper breakdown one day! (awkwardly written tips under the cut)

Babies and small children have very soft features. They have round, undefined jaws, large eyes with small mouths & noses. As a child grows older, their eyes adjust and grow into their fully developed skulls but, in their early years they can look disproportionately large. You can use this to your advantage in character illustration!

Women typically have curved, rounded features but that’s not always the case. Genetics determines a whole lot when it comes to appearance, so females can inherit masculine traits and vice versa. If you’re going with a typical feminine approach, then rounded eyes, thin eyebrows and delicate chins/jawlines will help. I urge you to experiment, but start simple like this!

Men typically have more chiselled , angled bones with deeper-set features, but as I said before that’s not always the case. Low-set eyebrows and smaller eyes are, in my opinion, the part of the face that most determines “masculinity”, but sharp jawlines with high or wide cheekbones are equally important.

That being said though, it all depends on the character you’re designing. Your character’s age, weight and genetics determines a lot. Many of men have soft features and women can develop sharp jawlines, noses, small eyes, etc. Have fun!

Hey there! That’s an interesting question, because lately I’ve been fluctuating. If I’m well rested and focused, a full piece can take anywhere from 6-8 hours, but depending on the complexity of the piece and other factors like concentration levels, motivation and my mental state - a single piece can take a day or several.

Thank you very much! I wish I could have faith in my character design “process” enough to teach you in confidence, but the truth is a lot of my choices are down to intuition and my own personal aesthetics. Uhm, I can try giving you some pointers though!

It helps to have a rough idea of your characters personality, disposition or backstory first. An individual's appearance can often reflect who they are underneath. It can determine if they are well dressed, if they look after their appearance or what kind of style they carry themselves with. A sad or depressed person may look worn or unkempt. Alternatively, they may be the exact opposite - and have an immaculate complexion in an attempt to hide it from others. It’s all about their personality!

Having a “theme” can do wonders. Much like using fixed colour pallets in art, having a word, object or animal as a reference can help draw parallels between the symbolism and their design. for example:

Wolfe is made to resemble a wolf, so his hair has little tufts and his eyes are yellow. He has claws, sharp canines, and an aloof disposition

Rose, as her name suggests, resembles a rose. She has a prominently red colour pallet, a petal-like birthmark on her eye and subtle blue accents to make her details pop.

Hunter’s appearance purposefully contrasts with his profession as a priest. He’s gruff, strong, foreboding and a man of few words.

Definitely cartoon! I just got so smitten with comics as a kid, I went from still life painting to cartoons pretty quick. So quick that I never really had a true “realism” phase. But I can certainly still appreciate it.

I’m pretty sure everyone’s style is an amalgamation of the things they loved about other artists growing up. By all means, if you wish to take inspiration from my art then go ahead - it’s an honour! I only ask that you don’t copy or replicate my art. Be open to all kinds of style. Experiment and adjust. It’s more fun that way!

(Excuse the awful photo, I missed the short window of natural light Scotland gets in the winter)  I have been using the UGEE 2150 monitor tablet for maybe...a year and a half now. It was by far the biggest investment I’ve ever made on a graphics tablet but it was worth it, and is still cheaper than a Cintiq by a country mile (retailing at about £340) He’s a big boy, but he’s reliable, responsive, and feels great to work with. I had a lot of issues with SAI when I set up my dual-monitor workspace and it seems to be a frequent issue with UGEE products, but I did eventually find a workaround and the tinkering was well worth the money I saved. The screen is 21.5 inches and it weighs in at around 8kg total, so he’s not ideal if you travel a lot. However, if you have a fixed workspace environment he’s a keeper!

A Malignant without a host is pretty much powerless. They have no ability to manipulate physical matter, so words are their most powerful weapons. When a Malignant has a host and is possessing their body, they can do all the things a human can. If a hosted Malignant is apparated but isn’t possessing anything, then they can still manipulate their host’s body but nothing else. For example, if Ghasper is apparated but is not possessing Wolfe at the time, then he can still touch Wolfe, but not Hunter or Rose.

I can’t, sorry! That’s for the comic!

Uhm, well Malignants still know enough about their time spent alive to tell you all about that stuff. Their names, voices, etc helps. My ghosts don’t have genitals.

“TBoA” is the acronym for the comic and the full title will be released along with the trailer :)

Oh my gosh, please don’t ever worry about something like that! Anything people make for me is treasured deeply and put on my wall or kept by my desk. I truly care about all the support I receive and I don’t want you to ever feel like I won’t!

This honestly made my day when I read it! What a wholesome story, I’m so glad! Tell your brother he has good taste! And let your mother know she’s right!

What a delight! The more Hunters there are in the world, the better. At least for me. ;)

I dunno why this made me laugh as much as it did, but thank you for making me smile! Wolfe is...not in a good place right now :’(

I looked up the song and the band as soon I received your message and I love them both! Thank you very much for the song recommendation. I absolutely love to listen to new music.

Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I don’t deserve the praise but I really appreciate it. I’d make the worst art wife though.

Yup! I haven’t had the chance to play Warriors or Echos though ... I’m broke and I struggle to make leisure time these days.

ACE!!! You little rascal, I forgot all about this - but thank you so much! My handwriting is chicken scratch, honestly ... I do try to reign it in for my art but I have no doubt you’d soon grow tired of my lopsided, wriggly handwriting.

[schaaadenfreude]

beast

The cell phone woke Chris up. It was on vibrate, but the buzz of it against the nightstand still pulled her from her dreamless sleep. She almost ignored it, but long habit had her grabbing for it and tilting the screen to check the caller ID. It told her that Work was calling. She groaned and swiped across the screen to answer it, though she left it flat on the nightstand rather than bringing it to her still-sensitive ears. “H’lo?”

It was Sacha, the intern they’d only recently taken on, whom Chris still considered an exuberant child for her innocence. Sacha sounded, as usual, far too chipper for the ungodly early hour of just after eight-thirty a.m.  “Hey, Chris. I know you probably just got back in from your, uh, full moon stuff, but we need you to come in.”

Chris was too sleepy (and cranky) to curb her first impulse, so rather than something more diplomatic, she growled, “Y’don’ wan’ me t’come in right now.” Usually, Chris could enunciate a little better, but she was still moon-dazed and tired.

There was a pause while background noise Chris didn’t care to listen for occurred on the other end of the line. Then, in a more hesitant tone, Sacha continued. “We kinda do. A hit-by-car just came in and we’re pretty sure it’s a werewolf. Your pack isn’t… missing anyone… is it?”

Suddenly, Chris was wide awake. She sat bolt upright and snatched the phone up. “What?”

“I’ve never seen a werewolf – uh, in wolf form, y’know – in person before, but it looks like what you’ve described. Definitely not like a regular wolf. Huge. And this one’s badly hurt. Dr. Floyd is pretty sure if this thing wasn’t a werewolf, it’d be dead.”

Chris put the phone back on the nightstand, but tapped the speaker icon so she could slide off the bed and start throwing clothes on. “I need more detail than that, honey. What, who, when, how.” There was a chance this patient was a wolf she knew, slim though that was. The only werewolves with any business this close to Seattle were her pack, and all five of the others were accounted for, as far as she had known when she’d gone to sleep an hour ago.

Thankfully for Chris’ patience – rather, her notable lack thereof – Sacha got to the point. “Just got it in fifteen minutes ago, or so. I dunno who brought it in, except that they claim they hit it with their truck. Happened on the highway right near the park. They think it was coming back toward town. They loaded it into their truck bed and drove it here, since we’re the nearest wildlife rehab. Dr. Floyd did the exam, but says he doesn’t know how werewolves tick, so he can’t say much besides it’s got a lot broken and lost a lot of blood.”

“What does it look like, Sacha?” Chris managed not to snap, though mostly because she had to concentrate on lacing up her shoes. If she struggled with fine motor control still, she really shouldn’t drive…

“Prooobably 300 pounds? Maybe more, we didn’t weigh it. Colored like one of those red wolves you get back east, gray and brown. Built like everything you’ve ever said about your wolf form. Kinda like a human, but with canine legs and head and arms bigger than a silverback gorilla.”

Red wolf colors, huh? No one Chris knew, then. Which was both good and bad. She scooped the phone up and turned speaker off before tucking it against her ear so she had both hands free to unlock and open the bedroom door. “I’m on my way. Tell Jerry and whoever else is ogling that thing to keep the fuck back if it so much as twitches, okay? You too, hon. I don’t wanna deal with any of you getting tagged.”

“It looks in bad shape, Chris. I’m surprised it’s still alive at all.”

“We’re hard to kill,” Chris replied in a wry drawl. “Be there in a few.” She ended the phone call without another word and took the stairs two at a time. Thankfully, her pack-and-housemate Neil didn’t stir from her tromping around the house and letting the old door slam shut behind her.

Hauling herself into the doorless and topless Wrangler’s cab shouldn’t have taken as much effort as it did. Still, she trusted herself a lot more driving the battered old Jeep than her motorcycle, in the shape she was in. She’d fill it up with gas on the way back to apologize to Neil for borrowing his car without permission. Not that he’d mind; the Jeep had been hers, and she’d given it to him when he joined the pack so he’d have transportation.

The morning sunlight was harsh, making Chris grateful for her dark, polarized sunglasses. They made her look like a Matrix extra, but they worked. And she hadn’t bothered to put on her eyepatch before she left, so this would also stop passersby from staring. She was not in the mood to deal with that right now. It was difficult enough to check her temper in normal weekday morning traffic.

She pulled up to the clinic’s employee parking around back and wasted no time hopping out of the Jeep. Sacha was there opening the back door for her before she even reached it. The lanky intern looked down at Chris with concern drawing her shapely eyebrows together. “You look rough, Chris.”

“If you’d spent all night hunting and were subsequently called in to work, you’d look like this, too,” Chris retorted as she brushed past Sacha. The intern flattened against the wall to let her pass, then fell in step behind.

“They’re in exam room–”

“Five, yeah, I smell it. We need to get it out of an exam room, though. Too close to the public.” She adopted a quick stride that even the taller Sacha had a little trouble matching. For only being about five feet tall, Chris was pretty leggy. It helped that most of her weight was muscle and bone; she had little else, and only escaped looking malnourished by being more muscular than an Olympic athlete. That tended to happen with werewolves, though most looked better fed than Chris.

She paused at the door to the exam room to listen in, and heard only the shuffling of Dr. Jerry Floyd’s feet on the tile floor. She opened the door and had to pause again when the scents of blood and pain and fear washed over her and made her mouth water. She swayed a little on her feet, eye unfocused to bask in the prey-smells, until Jerry spoke in a worried tone. “Chris? Are you all right?”

The old veterinarian’s pack-a-day rasp made Chris pull her attention away from the hunk of bleeding meat on the exam table with a physical effort. “Nope. What can you tell me about that one?” She gestured to the exam table with a jerk of her chin without moving any closer.

Jerry stepped away from the meat while he stripped blood-coated gloves off his knobby hands. He loomed about the room like a scarecrow; overly tall, he looked like someone had taken a man with normal size and proportions and stretched him out end to end. “Without x-rays, I couldn’t tell you anything specific, but there’s a lot broken. Ribs, a hind leg, probably some fractures in the cranium, too. Given the ribs, there’s bound to be a lot of internal bleeding as well. If this was anything but a werewolf, it would’ve bled to death by now.” He gave her another concerned look. “How am I supposed to handle a werewolf this badly hurt? You heal fast, I know, but how fast? I cleaned out as many wounds as I could, but I think some of the skin closed over before I got there.”

“Secondary infection isn’t a problem you need to worry about,” Chris told him. “If its immune system is that badly compromised, it’s next to dead. Just set the big bones, and whenever it changes back, that’ll take care of the rest. Providing it makes it that far.”

“So it is a werewolf?” Sacha asked from behind Chris. She was peering over Chris’ head into the exam room with ill-restrained curiosity.

“Yep. Sacha, do you know if the kennels in back are occupied?”

“Not right now, I don’t think.”

“Go check, and if there’s anyone home, move them all to the front end. Open up the furthest kennel and set it up. We’ll stick the cub in there for now.”

Sacha scurried off to her assignment, and once the intern was gone, Jerry Floyd’s frown deepened. “I’m sorry for calling you in today, Chris. I know it’s not a good time.”

Chris flapped one hand dismissively. “No choice, I get it. M’glad you called me. This cub’s too dangerous to let y’all handle it without me.” She was even too tired to stop herself from letting that “y’all” slip.

“’Cub?’ How can you tell it’s a young one?” Jerry inquired.

Chris paused and blinked. “Good question.” She took another deep breath, mostly out of habit. Cubs smelled no different than older weres. All she smelled was blood, anyway. Well, that was the only smell she could pay much attention to; the others weren’t half so appetizing. And, after spending most of yesterday in beastform, her senses in this one seemed dull. So she gave Jerry’s interested gaze a shrug. “Context. Most of us who know what we’re doing aren’t stupid enough to run into the road when a car’s nearby. It takes a dumb, ignorant cub to pull a stunt like that.”

“That makes sense,” Jerry agreed. “Are you sure it’s safe to move this one to the kennels?”

“I’ll make sure it can’t escape. Most of the damage that’s not healed already will heal once it shifts, anyway.” Something occurred to Chris. She stepped out of the exam room to hunt down paper, and ended up with a pad of prescription forms. She scribbled a short list on the back of the sheet she tore out of it.

“You know Maddie will have my hide if she catches us wasting those,” Jerry warned. But his voice held more amusement than concern. Maddie ruled the front end of the clinic and had also taken over their account books like a domestic force of nature; Chris adored her even though Maddie annoyed the piss out of her most of the time. Especially on days like today, when she was cranky and tired and this close to taste-testing the patient in exam room 5.

“Maddie can bite me. If she didn’t want me to use these as a notepad, she’d buy us some real damn notepads.” Chris eyed the list, then added another line.

Sacha swept up to them shortly thereafter. “The kennels are empty, so I just opened the one of the far end. Got the gurney, too.”

The child was a little scattered, but a good worker. Chris handed Sacha the list. “No need, I can carry it. I just need you to run to Target and get that stuff for me.”

The list received a dubious once-over. “Wwwwwwhy?”

“If that cub survives, it’ll shift back to human and wake up hungry. Needs clothes and food. I need food too, because if I have to stand near that bleeder for too much longer without eating, it’s not gonna be pretty.” When she had a better rein on her tongue, Chris would regret the alarm that flashed across not only Sacha’s face, but Jerry’s as well. They knew she was a werewolf, but she’d done a reasonable job so far of hiding what that really meant. Hopefully, the damage she’d just done to their trust wasn’t irreparable. She couldn’t find it in herself to care so much, not when she had limited energy to expend and better things to use it on than diplomacy. She shooed Sacha out to run the errands and stalked back over to the exam room.

Jerry caught her shoulder before she could enter, and it took more effort than it should’ve for Chris to keep still. Jerry apparently noticed, because he removed his hand swiftly, though not with a jerk as though he was frightened. “Sorry. Chris, are you sure you’re okay to do this?”

“The more often I’m asked that, the less ‘okay’ I get,” she replied through clenched teeth. “I know my limits. If it gets to be a problem, I’ll step back. But you need me here to handle this. That’s why you called me in. Don’t waste my time second-guessing your very correct decision.”

Jerry relented without another protest, and Chris entered the exam room. It was still filled with the smell of blood, but the air felt different now. And the cub’s aura, which had been a dim glow of pain-color (her brain called it red) interspersed with flares and sparks of sharper distress, was lit up with a brightness that tasted of metal and turned earth. It sparked and flanged with incandescent agony that made its injuries look dull by comparison. Chris sympathized. Shifting shape was painful at the best of times. This was uncontrolled and done while injured. If the cub had been anywhere near conscious, he would’ve probably screamed.

“Shifting back already. Fucker must be pretty resilient. Jerry, could you get the doors for me?” Without turning to look at her coworker, Chris approached the exam table and slid her arms underneath the heap of twitching werewolf. The cub was scrawny for his size, but still several hundred pounds, and probably seven feet long tip to tail. Jerry hovered by the door, though, and watched Chris juggle the load without a word. He’d seen her hold down a Rottweiler not much smaller than this werewolf (and certainly more active) without breaking a sweat. She might have been five-nothing and barely one hundred pounds, but she could deadlift more than this cub with little trouble.

Dr. Laura Nesbitt was approaching another exam room as Chris waded out of five with her burden, and the middle aged woman’s eyes widened. “Need any help?” she asked warily.

“Under control,” Jerry reassured her. The dry tone to his voice indicated that he wasn’t going to forgive Chris her temper any time soon. “But if you could get someone in to clean up behind us, I’d appreciate it.”

Chris ignored them and trudged through the clinic. It would probably take the cub half an hour to shift fully, all things considered, but having her arms full of something bleeding and quivering helplessly was not improving her control at all. She needed to put the cub down and get away before she took a chunk out of the poor schmuck. Thankfully for her impatience, Jerry was at hand to open doors for Chris without her having to wait.

Once she’d dumped the cub on the dog bed in the back of the furthest kennel and closed the chain link gate behind her, Jerry spoke. “How do you propose to restrain that cub if it wakes up… violent?”

“Workin’ on it.” She stood with her feet planted on the cement floor and one hand lightly hooked through the chain links. Eye half-lidded, she took a deep breath; with it, she drew power from the earth under her feet. Most werewolves were not mages, to cast spells, though there was a great deal of magic associated with the beastform and the changes there and back. Earth magic could be difficult to draw upon. There was an endless amount of power to be had, but it did not bestir itself without much coaxing and patience.

Slowly, Chris wove the trickles of power she drew from the ground into the links of the fence and through the mortar between each cinderblock of the walls. To her aura-sight the fence and walls took on a steady glow which spread until the kennel was walled in on all six sides – walls, floor, sloping roof – by a simple shield. It would not stand up to much from the outside; it was the inside of the shield that was as inflexible as bedrock. It would block out sound and smell and even the basic aura-sense most werewolves inherited after the change. The cub would still be able to see whatever there was to see, but that was it. From all else, he would be insulated while he changed and woke.

Jerry gave the kennel a dubious look. Without the ability to sense the shield she’d erected around it, the cinderblocks and chain link didn’t look very adequate to contain a werewolf. Sometimes it was barely adequate to contain a perfectly mundane dog. But then Chris threw her fist against the fencing, and it barely rattled. Jerry’s mouth turned up and he nodded.

The kennels were outside, on the opposite end of the building to the employee parking. That didn’t inhibit Chris from hearing Sacha drive up in her tidy little red Beetle and park. “Thank fuck,” Chris growled, and strode back inside. She didn’t run, but close. Jerry trailed after her, and she pretended not to notice the flutterings of wary concern at the edges of the old man’s aura. He had good reason to be concerned. She hadn’t ever come to work like this, barely holding on to the façade of humanity she was usually able to wear.

A couple of plastic tee-shirt bags dangled from Sacha’s hands, and she immediately held them out to Chris. It took almost more self control than Chris had to bring them into the breakroom and deposit the bags on the counter, then take the time to wash her hands and arms of the cub’s blood, before opening one of the bags of roast beef. When Jerry offered her a clean coat, she managed to shrug into it without acting too much like she objected to the delay. It was a good thing there was already bread in the breakroom, because Chris figured that shoveling slices of meat into her face would probably not inspire confidence in Jerry or Sacha.

“How is the, uh, patient?” Sacha asked once Chris had demolished one of the one-pound bags of thick-sliced beef and most of the loaf of sliced bread. The bread was an afterthought; she needed the carbs, of course, but the beast in her soul craved protein. Flesh.

“He’d started to change by the time I got him into the kennel. Given the shape he’s in, it’ll probably be a while yet before he’s done. I shielded the kennel he’s in, so no sound or smells will go in or out,” Chris told the intern. It was a lot easier to hold civilized conversation now that her belly was full of meat. She hooked a finger into one strap of the second bag and pulled it over to peer inside. As ordered, generic, one-size-fits-most sweats and a pullover in nondescript gray and navy blue, as well as a pack of cotton boxers. She didn’t know what that cub looked like in human form, but her instincts said he wasn’t extraordinarily big or small.

“How do you know it’s a ‘he?’” Sacha, again, sounding curious. “I didn’t get a good look at him when he came in to tell what, uh, bits he’s got.”

Chris tapped her aquiline nose right along the old break she’d gotten before turning. That was explanation enough for Sacha, though Jerry raised a wiry eyebrow. “You could smell that under all the blood and everything else?”

“I’m used to parsing scents underneath blood and more pungent things,” she told him wryly. “If I hadn’t been trying not to sniff too hard, I might’ve been able to tell you where he’d been. At least, what kind of place he’d been in last, besides under a car’s tires.” As it was, besides the cub’s scent (which had, in fact, been masculine but not overwhelmingly so) she had gotten a whiff of pine sap and dirt, so he’d been in wilderness. The tang of motor oil had been there, too, but since he’d been intimately acquainted with a truck’s undercarriage, that went without saying.

“Now what?” Jerry inquired. He sat at the breakroom table with his hands laced together, observing her steadily. “What’s the procedure for finding a badly injured werewolf cub?”

Chris couldn’t stop herself from rubbing one hand across her face, eye burning faintly from sleep deprivation, and pinching the bridge of her nose. “I need to figure out where and how he was turned. Dunno how much I’ve emphasized this to you, but turnings are A Big Deal, capital letters included. I need to track down whoever turned him and left him to run amok.” That was all she would say in front of these people, friends though they were. They were mortals, and didn’t need to be any more involved than they already were.

“And what will happen to the cub?” That was Sacha, who sounded sympathetic.

“I’ll get as much useful information about his turning as I can, which won’t be much. Then… a lot of stuff will be up to him.” Most other packs would kill a cub not turned by one of their own. There was a good chance she’d have to kill this one, anyway, if he couldn’t gain control over his beast. But that was not something Sacha needed to know.

“So you’re going to take him home with you?” Jerry inquired.

“Only safe place for him. My packmates are civilized, but most of them don’t have the kind of control I do.” One of them did, but Teddy would also take one look at that cub and bite his head off. That lobo was of the old school, and she knew he disapproved of her keeping a pack of rescued strays. That was probably why Teddy only really respected Dominic, the only one of the pack that Chris had turned herself. She wondered if Teddy knew how much like the vampire’s bloodline-guarding that was. He’d resent the comparison.

“Control to stop themselves from what, killing him?”

 “Mostly to keep their own heads if or when that cub starts to lose it. It takes a few weeks to get used to the change – to get used to it enough to exert some control. Until then, cubs are at the mercy of the beast’s whims. They can’t change at will, which is good, but if something motivates them enough, they can do it. And when one were in the vicinity starts to go, it compels everyone else to do the same. No one wants to be stuck in fragile human form when a potentially hostile beast is around. I know I can put that cub in his place regardless of which form I’m in, so the compulsion isn’t very strong.” In that way, Teddy was also more than strong enough to school the cub regardless of his current shape. But the old man was touchy around other males, and impatient with stupid cubs. Not the nurturing sort.

Chris didn’t care if this cub lived or died, but she at least needed him to live long enough to give her information about his change. Once that happened… it would be best for her to put the cub out of his misery. The old vampire who kept his personal coven in Seattle hadn’t been pleased when she’d brought Teddy into the pack; but that might have been because Teddy was an old wolf used to killing vampires. Chris was a pup by comparison, though she had a string of vampire fangs almost as long as Teddy’s. Since many of those fangs had been taken from the heads of vampires who had been attempting a coup against the Grand Master, Andrei Markov was more tolerant of her than he was of most other werewolves. That didn’t stop him from disliking having too many so close to his den.

She could tell the old bat that it was only on his insistence that Chris settled with her little band of rescues so close. She had, in fact. More than once. But that didn’t change the fact that Sorin – her mocking nickname for the vampire, which he accepted for reasons she’d never know – could and would continue to disapprove of Chris gathering a larger pack. Tolerate her he might, but Chris was not stupid enough to think that the old vampire’s magnanimity would last if he thought she was growing to be a threat.

Thinking of Sorin as magnanimous made her snort in derision. To Jerry’s raised eyebrow, she said, “There’s no guarantee the cub will have any useful information to give me about how he got turned. Cubs and ferals don’t retain memory across the shifts, and the turning is traumatic enough at the best of times that most people block the memories. So chances are, I’m gonna be taking a ‘vacation’ soon to investigate.

“Is it really that important?” Sacha asked.

“A cub with no control was left to wander. He was heading toward town before he was hit. Care to imagine what might’ve happened if he’d made it?” Chris paused long enough for Sacha’s face to become grave, then continued. “Yeah. Bad news. There are a few things that could’ve happened: either he was turned by a feral, who’ll need to be dealt with before it causes more damage. Or, he was turned by a civilized wolf who either didn’t try, or tried and failed to keep the cub under control. That wolf needs to be shown the error of their ways, regardless of which case it is. We regulate our turnings very strictly, and part of that is regulating new cubs until they get a handle on themselves.” If they got a handle on themselves.

“And is there no one else who can do that investigation? You’ve mentioned a higher level of organization among werewolves before,” said Jerry, still with one eyebrow elevated.

“Yeah, and I’m part of it.” She shrugged. Technically, she was not a proper Conclave representative. But she was as close as an American-turned were was ever going to be, and her Conclave superior Alena trusted Chris to take care of business in the no-man’s land that was the western United States. Certainly, Chris was the only werewolf that Sorin would treat with, and that was valuable in and of itself. “So as the nearest member of that body, it’s my job. Besides, I’d go even if I wasn’t. The next nearest pack of werewolves is far enough into Canada that there’s no way this cub could have run across the border.”

Before they could ask her more questions, questions she shouldn’t answer, Chris stood and scooped up the bags. “Gonna check on the cub. If I need either of you, I’ll holler. Should be safe enough to go about life as usual. Once the cub’s fed and clothed, I’ll take him home.”

As predicted, the cub was still changing when Chris got there. The shield she’d erected blocked sound, smell, and magical signals from exiting as well as entering, so the visual cues were all she had to know how far along the cub was. From the looks of it, he was past the halfway point. Significantly smaller, with less fur. Bones poked up in ways they should not and twisted in front of her eyes, both in the change, and in the cub’s agonized writhing. From the way the cub’s mouth gaped open, he was probably crying out in some way.

She dropped into a crouch not far from the shielded chain link gate and began to dig through the contents of the tee shirt bags. She removed the tags and stickers from the clothing and withdrew a pair of boxers from their packaging, but left them on top of the bag and readied the second Ziploc bag of sliced roast beef. One pound of the stuff would not be enough to satiate the cub, but it would take the edge off so that he would be safer to transport. She had food aplenty at home and could feed the cub better there.

The thought of what waited at home reminded her of Neil, so she pulled her cell phone from her pocket. A text from him already waited.

where did you go?

She texted him back, work. cub got hit by a car. i’ll be bringing him back soon. can you behave?

It didn’t take long for Neil to reply. as in a wolf cub? tf?

yep. no clue where, when or why yet. can you handle a new cub in the house?

what do you think i am, feral?

you're manic and the moon is full.

i can handle a cub.

Neil lived with her because, even when he wasn’t manic, his control was iffy. Even Nat and Mako, who’d been turned under the same circumstances and for the same amount of time as Neil, had enough of a handle on themselves that they could live independently. Mako’s was a little more uncertain, but she lived with Dominic, who was far more stable and quite capable of keeping his wife on an even keel. But Chris didn’t have much of a choice about where to take the cub. She just had to believe that Neil was reading himself properly.

When she looked up from the text conversation, the cub was mostly done with his shift. That was impressive, considering how badly hurt he’d been. Intent and motivation also helped the change along, so unwilling ones also took much longer than voluntary shifts. She waited until the cub was completely done, however, before doing anything. She waited until he stirred from the exhausted heap he’d collapsed into.

It took a few minutes more, but the cub uncurled himself enough to look around. He trembled with weakness, but finally managed to turn enough to see her. His face was still bruised and streaked with dried blood, but by the way the whites of his eyes showed all the way around, he was pretty freaked out. Chris wished that she could leave the shield intact when she opened the kennel, but she’d used the kennel’s walls as the framework for the shield, so it was impossible to move anything while the shield was up. And even if she could, she wouldn’t have been able to get anything through it to the cub. So she slowly unraveled the shield.

As sounds and smells trickled into the kennel, the cub flinched. He looked around jerkily. There was little sapience in his face; no doubt he was still mostly beast, even in this form. But he was too injured and weak to do more than huddle against the far cinderblock wall of the kennel as Chris finally undid the shield and began to open the gate. He made a pitiful wheezing sound that was no doubt meant to be a growl.

Chris kept her posture loose and relaxed, and did not look directly at the cub or hold her body directly toward him. “I’m not gonna hurt you,” she told him, keeping her voice high and gentle. Almost a croon. She stayed just inside the gate while she dug the roast beef in one great handful out of the bag. As soon as the cub caught scent of the beef, his wheezing quieted and his eyes locked onto it intently. He pushed himself up from the floor feebly and tried to crawl closer. It would have been quality footage for a horror movie, if she didn’t see from his aura how weak he actually was. She tossed the beef onto the cement floor just in front of him, and he fell upon it ravenously. She squatted on her haunches while the cub ate.

It didn’t take long for the beef to disappear, leaving the cub licking at the leftover juices on the floor somewhat desperately. He’d forgotten all about her until she spoke up. “Are you back with us, Squirt?” He tensed and snapped his eyes to her. The growl this time was more like an actual growl, though still unimpressive.

“My name is Chris. Right now we’re at a veterinarian clinic in Renton, Washington. I’ve got clothes here for you, and if you can put them on, I’ll take you somewhere safe with more food to eat. Then we can talk about why you’re here.” He didn’t respond to the first recitation of her spiel, so she repeated it. She hoped that the cub wasn’t so far gone that he wouldn’t come to his senses. Killing him now would be easier in the short run, but make it a lot more difficult to figure out who was turning cubs and letting them run wild.

Thankfully, during the third repetition, sense began to return to the cub’s face. She didn’t waste her breath after that, just looked at the wall near his head and waited.

“Renton?” he managed.

“Near Seattle.” A lot of people didn’t recognize Renton unless either Boeing airplanes or Seattle were mentioned; Seattle tended to get more immediate recognition.

“Seattle… Washington? United States?” his voice wasn’t much firmer, but besides the physical weakness, there was also a note of disbelief in his voice.

“That’s the place.” His reaction made her think he was pretty far from where he’d started. He looked white, or close enough, and she couldn’t detect enough about his accent to place where it might have come from. But she was fairly certain that his native language was English. It was hard to speak a foreign tongue when you were exhausted and hungry and confused.

The cub’s attention drifted, turned inward. His face had the blank quality that shock tended to impart; only the roiling of his aura told Chris the state of the cub’s thoughts. Before he could get too caught up, she stood. Slowly, so as not to startle the cub. She reached behind herself to grab the clothing, and then tossed them lightly over to him so they landed within arm’s reach. “Get yourself dressed, if you can. Then we’ll go back to my place. I’ll feed you again, and then we can talk about why you’re all the way in Renton.” Another repetition of her spiel from before, but now he was in a better state to listen to it all the way through.

Chris turned around and went back through the gate; closing it, but not locking. She listened to the cub wheeze and pant as he struggled into the clothes. Poor thing was still on the verge of collapse. While the beef had replenished some of the protein his body needed – flesh to replace flesh – it wasn’t enough calories to replenish the energy used to heal so much, so fast. She needed to get a more balanced meal down him before he would be up to much.

Once the shuffling had ceased, leaving only his labored breath and heartbeat, she turned around again. He was still on the floor, looking boneless and pitiful. But before she did more than step back through the gate, she said, “Need a hand getting up?”

“Yeah,” he said, more in a sigh than actual speech.

It was better not to touch a werewolf who didn’t know you without their consent. The beast would bite first and ask questions later. Or never. He was no threat, but if he reacted on instinct, he was bound to lose any voluntary control he had for a while, and she didn’t want that hassle on her hands. So she moved slowly and held a hand down to the cub, waiting for him to reach up and grab it before doing anything more. Once she shifted her grip from his hand to his wrist, she pulled up until he was draped halfway over her shoulders. Then she stood, but rather than trying to help him walk, she just slung him across her shoulders in a fireman’s carry.

His hands clutched her arm convulsively for a moment, and she paused. “Anything hurt?”

“Lots,” he hissed.

“Sorry, Squirt. Would you rather walk?”

“No.” and he eased his grip.

She had to do an awkward side-step to get out of the kennel, but after that, the doors were wide enough to pass through normally. And the cub could keep himself in place while she freed a hand to open the doors. The fact that he was being so cooperative was a good sign. It might have been as much exhaustion as anything else, but there were many other ways he could be handling this little transition.

Thankfully, she only passed by Jerry on her way back through the clinic, and he just gave them a grave look before continuing on his way. She made it to the Jeep and managed to deposit the cub into the passenger seat without much more trouble than she’d taken to pick him up. He didn’t even object when she pulled the seatbelt across his chest and buckled him in. With no doors or roof, and as weak as he was, it wouldn’t take much to sling the poor cub right out of the vehicle otherwise.

It was only when Chris had buckled herself in and cranked the geriatric old Wrangler to life that she decided she needed a better designation for the cub than just “cub.”

“What should I call you, Squirt?”

“Squirt,” he retorted. She glanced sideways and saw the faint smile tug at his mouth. “Or Dane. Or Dan. Or Danny.”

He’d be all right if he could make smartass comments under these conditions. Chris found herself grinning. “Squirt it is.” She hadn’t purposefully started calling him that. It was her pet-name for her son, Jamie, and it tended to stick itself to the people who came into her care.

“You’re Chris, right?” he asked. His voice was still so weak that it was difficult to hear over the sounds of traffic and the wind.

“Yep.”

Silence reigned for a while longer, until Chris turned off the main road into the housing development where the pack lived. They weren’t the only ones, of course, but the development was run by Dominic’s company, and he offered his packmates much lower pricing on the ranch houses than he did anyone else. Chris knew she wouldn’t have cared to pay for the house she had without that discount. She also would not have wanted to live in that big four-bedroom, even with Neil for a permanent roommate. But that house was also the pack’s headquarters, and though the others had their own homes, it wasn’t unusual for someone to crash there for a while.

“So, we’re… going to your place?”

Chris glanced at the cub again, but his face was still inscrutable. “Yeah. Might as well give you a heads up now. Got a roommate; he’s one of us, too. Probably gonna have a touchy temper. Neither of us have had much sleep.”

Dane shot her a raised eyebrow. Chris returned it for a moment before focusing on the road. “Not like that. We’re stuck in beastform all night during the full moon, and it’s impossible to sleep, so we hunt.” Neil was also the gayest human being Chris had ever met; it didn’t stop him from flirting with anyone and everyone, though.

“Right.” Dane hunched down in the seat a little.

[poutypanic]

Demon Hunter* Chap 5

Fic is rated explicit 18+. A little over 3K

AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10702710/chapters/25867851

Chap Summary: This is a pretty smut heavy chapter. Also, full disclosure there is dragon fucking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

A gorgeous gazebo stands proudly amidst the flowers and trees in the garden. The floor sports the demon’s fallen clan seal. Gorgeously intricate, made of several different types of stone. The sun has just finished rising in the sky. The demon has prepared breakfast for you, but you’re not feeling hungry. You don’t often feel hungry for food anymore. So it’s growing cold, but Hanzo doesn’t seem concerned about your lack of appetite.

You’re still riding the cusp between inhuman and human. Not quite supernatural yet. But are losing several of the needs and habits that made you mortal. However, you’re still unable to do several of the things that would make you a succubus. Can’t draw energy on your own, still weak in body, and can’t even partake in the more fun perks like seeing memories through blood. Utterly useless.

And then every day you’re waiting for it. The sickness to come back. If the last succession of times it was brought upon you are any indication, the next time is going to be the worst of them all.

You’re sitting cross legged on the ground on a plush pillow. Hanzo is sitting on the other side of the small table, lounging, and looking absolutely relaxed. The dragons are at the entrance of the gazebo. Just as laid back. The least tense you’ve ever seen them be. Asleep with their heads resting on the last step leading into the gazebo. They almost look like stone. Completely unmoving, not needing to breathe in their slumber. You’ve grown to admire them, powerful spirit dragons that are monsters in their own right.

“Tell me pet, which one was most memorable?”

“You wanna give me some context?”

Hanzo huffs and rolls his eyes. Annoyed, because he feels you should know what he’s getting at. So he will be blunt.

“Which monster did you enjoy fucking the most?” Then he grins, “Besides me of course.”

You feel an embarrassed heat flood across your face.

“They all had their own unique enjoyable aspects.”

Hanzo abandons his relaxed position so he can sit up, reach across the table, and run a nail across your cheek. You find yourself leaning into it, enjoying the simplicity of the touch.

“My dear pet, this blush is ludicrous.”

“I’ve never talked about those things before. It's not something you brag about if you wanna keep making money off of conning people.”

He looks you up and down, “Afraid the common folk would think you are despicable?”

“Yeah, well, it’s a lot harder to convince people to give you money if they hate your guts and are aware you’re a lying whore.”

“A clever way to make a living I suppose,” he takes hold of your hand, brings it to his mouth. Pricks your index finger with one of his canines. Then sucks on it as it starts to bleed.

As Hanzo’s eyes flutter closed you can see them roll back slightly. With his eyes being one color, this isn’t something you used to always be able to notice. But by now you’ve had plenty of chances to be able to pick out the subtle pleasure response, and now it’s easy to see. Regardless of the alluring face he is making, you can’t stand it when he does this. Making sure you are painfully aware that he is sifting through your dirty laundry.

He is searching for a specific memory. Your first conquest. He finds him; a vampire. A cruel man who you just barely end up getting away from. A tough challenge for someone who was so young and inexperienced. He watches as the vampire has you pinned to a wall. Hips and ass a blur with how fast he is fucking you. His teeth sunk into your neck. Blood coats one of your shoulders, rolls down your arm, and drips onto the floor. You look pale, like you’re a step away from deaths door. He has to pull his consciousness out of the memory before he gets to intent on doing the same thing. He’d like to learn more. Straight from the horses mouth. There’s always time for fucking.

“That first one, a vampire? He was very possessive.”

You stay silent. But your first thought was, you would know.

Hanzo can sense that the vampire was unhappy when you left. Looked for you for months, “Do you think he still hunts for you?”

“He was very focused, yes. But I’m sure he’s found someone else to push around by now. There are plenty of warm bodies out there.”  

It doesn't take long for your finger to stop bleeding, so he bites it again. One of the only perks of being a demon that has seemed to manifest itself consistently. A speedy bodily recovery from wounds and abrasions from the soreness that comes from especially rough days and nights.

“Answer my question. There has to be one that crosses your mind far more than the others. One that you favored and replayed while you touched yourself during lonely stretches of time.”

“Fine. If I had to choose… I’d stay… the wraith was probably one of my favorite monsters I’ve fucked,” you chuckle, “Or rather, that fucked me.”

The demon is intrigued, lets you know to be quiet by placing a finger against your lips as he recalls the images. Oh. Hanzo can barely make out the creature itself. But he can see you. Every slick orifice crowded by a thick smoky tendril. You’re completely overwhelmed. Your body contorted in a most uncomfortable way. Arms being held behind your bad by more tendrils. Wrapped around your torso. All of them in a constant state of motion. Tears stream down your cheeks. How lovely.

“Were you ever the boss of any of these situations?”

“Yes, sometimes I had to take the dominant role. You have the movie reel in your head; look for it. Not all monsters are so eager.”

Taking note of your demanding tone, Hanzo bites your finger especially hard this time, and you come off this ground by an inch or two.

“Do you expect me to sift through all of it? Be specific, pet.”

“Look for the merman.”

“Merman? Mermen of old were typically hideous.”

“Hmm, not this one. He was very cute and sweet.”

“Cute?” He says the words with disgust, “Sweet?”

“Yes. He was an environmentalist and was making it difficult for certain companies to fish, and they wanted him dead.” You smirk, “So they hired me.”  

Hanzo closes his eyes, takes a deep breath in through the nose, and starts looking. When he finds the memory he’s looking for, he expels air from his nose and shakes his head. The merman is cute. An innocent looking creature. And there you are, not much younger than you are now. Removing your clothes at the edge of the water in a secluded cave, and the merman is stunned by your forwardness.

He stays a safe distance away from you. He is wary. Knows that mercenaries are being sent to pacify him. But as your weapons get thrown far away from you, and you start to crawl into the water, the merman is becoming more and more curious. Eventually, he ends up meeting you half way. So that you’re both about hip deep in the water. That’s when you start to softly kiss him. It is all very sweet.

“Outstanding, and you were of no help to ones who hired you.”

“Nope.”

“Amazing, absolutely exceptional.”

“Love your sarcasm.”

Hanzo narrows his eyes, “Have you not been paying attention, pet? I am not being sarcastic.”

He wraps his hand around your throat. Uses his hold to pull you forward over the table ’til you’re face to face with him. Hanzo kisses you tenderly. Letting your lips naturally fall away from each other. He slips his tongue into your mouth, slowly runs it along the roof of your mouth. The dragons are starting to stir. You can hear them shuffling around. Emitting off low growls. Hanzo pushes you back an inch so he can bore his gaze directly into your eyes.

“I am having trouble figuring out just what you have not fucked.”

You couldn’t possibly figure out what possesses you to say this. It just flows out of you naturally. Once a freak, always a freak. You side eye the dragons, “I’ve never fucked a spirit beast before, are they capable?”

Hanzo’s grip on your throat tightens, and his whole body becomes coiled. He is immediately on board. You couldn’t back out of this now, even if you happened to change your mind. And he is thinking that he’s about to be in for a hell of a show.  

“Oh, they are capable, pet. They are going to fill you up nicely, stretch you open." He caresses your face and gives you a forceful kiss, "I hope you are ready. Crawl, get on your hands and knees.”

He lets go of your neck, allowing you to do as you’re told. You crawl onto the floor of the gazebo. Obedient and eager, you spread your knees a part before Hanzo has to demand that you do so. You lay your face against the stone and look back at him, “Like this?”

Hanzo bites his bottom lip and nods. A view of your backside is just what he needs for this. As the dragons start to realize what they are being given, their tails start to flick back and forth wildly. They’re prowling around you now, whining out of excitement and anticipation. Their voices start to echo in your head. For us? We can breed the slut?

Hanzo says something to the dragons in Japanese. You don’t understand it, never had the time to learn new languages. But you can pick out a demand in any language. The dragons get close to you, start sniffing your hair, and nuzzling at different body parts. For once you had been wearing actual clothes. Loose comfortable bottoms and a light cotton t-shirt. The dragons are about to make quick work of both.

One of the dragons teeth nips your thigh as it takes the fabric and starts to rip it from your body. The other one does the same with your shirt, its teeth tickling at your back. The sounds and the forcefulness of your clothes being ruined and torn a part are getting your body to a pleasant boiling point. It’s this boiling that always stays with you during sex. Making every moment heightened, sensitive, and fulfilling. Another manifested demon perk.

Now you’re completely exposed. The dragon who ruined your pants nudges its muzzle into your sex. Aggressively pushes up into you, causing your knees to lift up off of the ground. You brace yourself on your forearms and elbows, trying to keep yourself from toppling over. The dragons tongue rolls out of its mouth, snakes over your folds. It feels long and slippery, and easily slips inside of you. Your body lurches at the feeling.

It continuously pushes in further and further, endless. Until it starts to feel like it’s too much. It’s so warm, foreign, and constantly moving. Twisting and making waves inside of you. You whimper and whine. Arch your back, trying to bear the feeling. The dragon coos into your psyche, you taste delicious, so sweet, so soft. You look up to the other one who is looming over you. An erection bobbing up and down between its legs.

The sight of it gives you a giddy feeling nervousness. It’s not exactly long, but fuck it’s thick. Bulbous in shape and thickest around the shaft. The head isn’t much smaller, but will be easier for you to take. This certainly won’t be the first time you’ve taken something with such an intimidating girth, but it’s been a while.

You get up onto your hands as the dragon’s tongue continues to flick and spiral inside of you. You look back at Hanzo to see him back in his lounging position. One knee up with his arm resting on top of it. His tattooed arm resting on the inside of his thigh. With a tight grip over his crotch. A sinister grin spread across his face as he’s massaging his hardening erection.

The dragon abruptly pulls its tongue out of you, leaving you feeling full of wetness from its saliva. It goes back to pressing its muzzle into your cunt, sniffing aggressively. The beast lets its tongue flick out briefly to rub against your clit. It’s smart, and it’s teasing you. Making your body squirm. Your hips lift and fall. Then that damnable tongue pulls back so it can slide in-between your folds. Move up and settle over your clit. Starts to flick and roll against it. Building instant pressure that ends up getting expelled just as quickly as it came.

As you come your back arches, and your hips gyrate. The sight of you as your muscles twitch and your mouth lewdly hangs open, has Hanzo pulling out his cock so he can leisurely stroke it. His gaze is locked on your body as the dragon pulls its snout away from your sopping sex.

You hear a low grumble come from its chest as it mounts you. The beasts cock easily finding its way to your entrance. The fat head rests just against it, not quite pushing its way in just yet. The dragon rumbles and whines, its hips rubbing against your back side.

It feels warm, and its skin is scaly and smooth. Glides seamlessly against your own. The dragons bulky body nearly dwarfs your own. Its thick muscle toned legs are placed on either side of your face, blocking your view of Hanzo.

For a moment you’re upset about this development. Wanting to be able to watch his reactions. Wanting to see as he jacks himself off to the scene of you getting fucked by his dragons. But then the dragon starts to enter you, and you forget all about your blocked view. All at once you’re stretched wide open, and now you desperately need something to cling onto. So you opt in for that leg that is blocking your view. Now thankful that it is there.

A long winded whine gets forced out of your chest as the dragon starts to sheath itself in deeper. You shift underneath it, trying to spread your legs wider. You want to take more of it in, feel even more of a stretch. Your walls are already pulsating. Large heart beats for every bit of the cock that gets pushed inside of you.

Hanzo isn’t lounging anymore. Your whines and moans are so loud that they are reverberating through the garden. Your tight cunt is lewdly stretched open before him, and that nearly has him coming already. Hanzo can sense the dragon starting to lose its patience with the slow entry. He could scold the beast, but he won’t. He’d like to see how well you handle the abrupt rutting your about to get.

Your vision turns into a bright white blur as the dragon shoves itself in to the hilt. Immediately starts fucking into you in short and strong bursts. Your whole body is lurching forward with each thrust. You can't keep your torso up anymore. So you let it slump back onto the ground and keep your grip on the dragons leg. An orgasm hits you immediately and almost with out any build up or warning. You’d whine or moan or cuss; hell you’d do all of that at the same time, but you can’t seem to find your voice right now.

The only noises that are making their way out of you right now are guttural, wet sounding throat noises. The dragon comes, and your insides are being continuously filled. You can feel it pooling inside of you. It’s too much and starts to seep out, dripping onto the ground. The beasts knot starts to form, locking itself inside of you, and the other dragon starts to whine. Becoming impatient with the smell of come flowing through the air.

The word, thank you, goes from one ear to the other. But that wasn’t for you.

Hanzo purrs, “You are welcome.”

The neglected beast is ready the moment the other one pulls out of you. You had watched as it walked around to your back side, pre-come leaking out of its twitching cock. You only have a momentary feeling of emptiness before the second dragon is mounting and plunging itself inside of you.

You are not afforded the soft, gentle entry the other one gave you. Not that at this point you really need it. This time, the rutting sounds are much lewder. You’re so full of slick fluids that every thrust is making salacious sounds. You let yourself become completely limp. Just become a large piece of wet fuckable putty. You’re face planted against the floor of the gazebo, practically drooling.

You’ve zoned out. Giving in completely to the overwhelming sensations that have taken over your body. Before you know it, you’ve got more come coating your insides, struggling to find room. Your whole body is trembling, quivering. But you're not done being used yet. Hanzo’s face comes into your line of vision. He speaks to you while the beasts knot is still swollen inside of you.

“Are you still with us, pet?”

You’re barely able to nod. No verbal answer comes out. Hanzo reaches under the beast and whips the hair away from your face. The hair that has become stuck to your forehead through the fray of things. And you hadn’t noticed any of it ’til now. Hanzo barks another order at the dragon, and it pulls out of you. Goes and joins its counterpart back at the entrance of the gazebo.

Hanzo positions himself between your spread legs. Places both of his hands on the lower portion of your ass. Glides his thumbs up and down over your sloppy cunt. You look back at him, holding your bottom lip in your teeth. You’re so damn sensitive and even the smallest of touches feel overwhelming. He pushes his thumbs inside of you, uses them to spread you open, so he can really see the mess his dragons have left in you. Shimmering pearly white come seeps out of you. Drips and adds to the small pile that’s formed on the ground.

“Tsk, tsk. So filthy.”

He pushed his thumbs in deeper, and your walls clench around them. Already bouncing back from the brutal stretch that they had endured. Hanzo lines himself up and slides inside. Swiftly spanks one of your cheeks.

“Get up, pet. Push back, I want to see you milk my cock.”

It’s not as difficult as you think it’s going to be to get back up onto your hands. You’ve got an incredible amount of stamina. And feel like you could go for a whole other round after this one is over. You’re unafraid, not ashamed to keep his gaze while you lift your hips up and down. Hanzo looks intoxicated, eyes half lidding, a lazy smile on his lips. His nails dig into your hips, drawing thin lines of blood across your skin.

Your orgasm has a slower much more pleasurable build this time. Taking its time while it starts in your belly, seeps downward, and turns into energy directed entirely at your used walls and flushed clit. It feels so good and adds to the continues growing heat under your skin. Hanzo holds you flush with his hips while he comes, small moans and growls for each spurt that is left inside of you. He blissfully sighs, runs a hand down your spine, and weaves his fingers into your hair.

“My darling pet, you never disappoint.”

[awkwardlyamusing-blog]

How to Introduce Your New Dog to Your Old Dog

New Post has been published on http://doggietrainingclasses.com/how-to-introduce-your-new-dog-to-your-old-dog/

How to Introduce Your New Dog to Your Old Dog

Looking back now, I see that the crisis was largely driven by my own hubris.

After failing spectacularly at raising a wild little husky puppy named Ari, I wrote a book about my foibles and the inner workings of a dog’s brain. I interviewed canine behaviorists and certified trainers and read every book I could find on operant conditioning. I was convinced I had become an expert.

I managed to maintain the delusion after Ari’s death three years ago. I continued the misapprehension in the months following, when I adopted Leka, a 14-week-old shepherd mix rescued from a ditch in Mississippi. Leka, unlike Ari, attended a fantastic day school for puppies and became the ideal trail dog—an enthusiastic partner for any backpacking or running project.

She has her quirks—like screaming at the top of her lungs when we visit the vet or try to bathe her—as well as a general distrust of dog biscuits and physical affection and toddlers. But these idiosyncrasies aside, Leka is mostly a happy, social dog. So this spring, my partner, Bill, and I assumed that Leka would be thrilled to play big sister to an adopted canine sibling.

In preparation for the arrival of our new rescue puppy, Maddox, we shifted Leka’s feeding schedule and scooped up all her favorite toys, replacing them with neutral ones about which she’d feel less possessive. We bought Maddox his own beds and dishes, along with baby gates to separate the dogs whenever they needed alone time.

Maddox, a gangly mixed breed, arrived late on a Thursday night. He was as sweet and gentle as his foster mother had promised. Bill and I watched with relieved gratification when, a couple hours later, Leka engaged him in a gentle game of backyard tag. We congratulated ourselves whenever she sat outside Maddox’s crate or shared a toy.

But as the first week of our blended family came to a close, Leka’s satisfaction with this new arrangement dissipated. She began to sigh whenever Maddox would steal a stuffie or help himself to her treat. She began slinking out of the room whenever he entered. By the end of that second week, Leka’s condition devolved into what can only be called a full-on panic attack. That Friday afternoon, I sat on the couch with a shaking 45-pound shepherd panting in my lap, her heart rate fast enough to detonate any electrocardiograph. Maddox, meanwhile, prowled around below our feet, alternately chewing and peeing on a once lovely area rug.

And I? I sat, surveyed the scene, and began to cry. The house was a disaster. Bill and I were both sleep-deprived. Maddox was a feral hyena who desperately missed his siblings, and Leka was in the midst of a nervous breakdown.

Clearly, I had ruined everyone’s life.

Eventually, Bill returned home from work and sequestered Leka in our bedroom. They spent the evening sharing snacks and enjoying the collective peace afforded by a closed door. Meanwhile, I stopped crying just long enough to clean the rug and take Maddox for a walk. Outside, in the clarifying summer twilight, I was finally willing to admit my own ignorance.

I didn’t know nearly enough about introducing a new dog into an existing one’s life. It was time to summon some more experts. So I reached out to five leading animal trainers and behaviorists to figure out where we ran off the rails.

We’re finally back on track, and Maddox has been a part of our family for two months now. Would I do it again? Absolutely. But not before heeding the following advice.

(Kathryn Miles)

Start with Some Soul-Searching

A lot of people are under the misapprehension that dogs are pack animals, but that’s just not true, says Melissa Bain, a professor of clinical animal behavior at the University of California at Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. “Dogs are social animals, like humans,” she says. “That doesn’t mean they always want to be around other dogs.” Her own pet is more than content being the only dog in the house. It’s important to have a sense of whether your dog shares those introverted proclivities. If your dog hasn’t spent a lot of sustained time around other dogs, consider borrowing a friend’s pup for a weekend or arranging well-monitored playtime at a dog park or other off-leash area to get a better sense of how it behaves in social settings.

Play a Little Hard to Get

There are so many dogs in need, it can be tempting to jump into a new relationship based on a photo or sad story. But it’s imperative to know whether or not that dog’s temperament is a good match for your existing canine, warns Sue Sternberg, a canine trainer and an author of multiple books on dog interactions and aggression. Ask questions of the rescue organization or shelter; oftentimes, words like “energetic” and “devoted” can be codes for behavioral issues. If a trial period is possible before adopting, take it. “The worst thing that can happen to a resident dog is for them to live in a house where it’s violent,” she says. “It’s like telling your partner you’ve rented out a room to Hannibal Lecter, but don’t worry, he won’t use our bathroom.” 

Take It Slow—Super Slow

You’d probably advise against a good friend going on a monthlong vacation with someone they just swiped on Tinder. It’s no different in the dog world, says trainer and puppy specialist Diana Logan. “There’s a reason blind dates usually take place over dinner and a movie,” she says. “Brief, activity-driven interactions build comfort and prevent us from going too far down a bad road.” She recommends taking your resident dog and new dog on what she calls “parallel walks,” where the dogs are close enough to smell and observe each other but not interact physically. Back at home, use crates and baby gates to keep the dogs separated for all but limited, supervised interaction. 

Solve Your Resident Dog’s Bad Behaviors First

A new, younger dog is going to look to your resident dog for guidance, says Sternberg. “If your current dog barks at other dogs on the street, he will teach those behaviors to the new dog,” she explains. Ditto, she says, if your resident dog bolts every time you open the door or tears apart the house whenever you leave. If you’re working on issues with your current dog—especially aggressive behaviors—now isn’t the time to add to the family. 

Be an Advocate

A new interloper in the house is a big and often unpleasant change for even the most social dogs, says Katherine Pankratz, a clinical behavioral-medicine fellow at the North Carolina State College of Veterinary Medicine. Some resident dogs may become possessive and aggressive; others, like Leka, may grow increasingly meek and anxious. The trick, says Pankratz, is to be ready to respond. “Be open and compassionate as well as ensuring safety.” In the case of Leka, she says, I probably would have been better off returning her toys to her to give her more confidence that her place in the house was secure. If Maddox kept taking them, I could have separated him to give Leka time with her stuffies in peace. After talking to Pankratz, we started feeding Maddox in a separate room, and Leka became a lot less frantic about having her dinner stolen.

Avoid Playing Favorites

When my friend Kate adopted a second dog, she was so worried that her resident dog would feel sad that she didn’t spend much time bonding with the new addition. I was so worried baby Maddox missed his siblings that I neglected Leka. Both, says animal behaviorist Ken Ramirez, are common mistakes when building blended canine families. The key to success, he says, is to make sure both dogs get individual time with you, either on solo walks or during play sessions. During training time, use a baby gate to separate two rooms, and use that barrier to your advantage. “A lot of times, I’ll literally straddle the gate and train both dogs on either side,” he says. “It’s a good way to help them learn not to be jealous with one another.” Or he’ll train one dog on one side while giving the other dog a favorite toy or chew treat to enjoy. “A dog can learn really quickly that positive interaction is almost dependent on the other dog being around.”

Know the Warning Signs 

That sounds like a no-brainer, says UC Davis’s Bain, but a lot of pet owners don’t know the early signs of anxiety or aggression. One of the most common misconceptions Bain encounters is that dogs are happy whenever they wag their tail. “I always tell my students: no one’s been bitten by an animal’s rectum,” she says. “You need to look at the face and see what’s going on there.” Averted eyes, a fixed lip, or panting are all examples of discomfort. They’re subtle, says Bain, so familiarize yourself with charts like Sophia Yin’s downloadable poster on fear and aggression in dogs. “Too often, by the time a person has identified that there’s a problem between the dogs, they are five days too late,” she says.

Remember Those Childhood Car Rides

Growing up, my younger brother and I hated being in the back seat together. I’d draw an imaginary line down the middle and demand he respect the boundary. He made a point of doing anything but. When I finally hauled off and shoved him, you can guess who got in trouble. The same thing happens all the time when a new puppy enters the house, says Sternberg. “Again and again, I see people punishing the wrong dog. That’s just going to make the resident dog more anxious and stressed, while it gives the new one permission to take more advantage.” You never want to allow physical aggression to get out of hand, but it’s also OK for the resident dog to scold or correct the puppy when things start to escalate: a dirty look, a warning bark, or a quick growl are all useful feedback for the younger dog. Just be ready to step in if that warning isn’t heeded.

Make De-escalation Fun

Even the best behaved dog can get overstimulated and lose impulse control or start ignoring cues from other dogs. When a play session starts to get heated or one dog looks like he’s making bad choices, it’s time to reroute everyone’s energy and focus. Logan recommends “interrupting picnics,” in which you call both dogs into another room, ask them to sit, and reward them with treats while they stay. “Don’t underestimate the value of teaching even simple skills, like attention and eye contact,” she says. “The more skills they have, the better they are set up for success. And you always want their attention returning to you.” If a picnic isn’t working, tether the dogs so that they’re in the same room but can’t physically interact with one another. This also teaches the puppy he can’t necessarily get access to every toy or human he wants.

Don’t Go It Alone

We know to take our dog to the vet when she’s sick, but too few people know to consult with a professional when a dog is in distress, says Ramirez. He recommends working with a certified trainer who specializes in positive-reinforcement training from the start of any new relationship—both with your resident dog and your new dog. If problems start to arise, contact your veterinarian for advice or additional referrals. “Every dog is different,” says Ramirez. “The best thing you can do is come into the situation knowledgeable and ready to help them find a new normal that feels safe and secure.”

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