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the-tomcat-disposable · 1 month ago

Text

Where The Rivers Are Poisoned

Summary: Tayo and Nah'ri moth-sit.

CW: eye injury

This is Tayo (any pronouns), Nah'ri (she/they), Ares (he/they), and the moth (they/them)

The dark dragon reared its head and its eye flashed red as it focused on the kid. The poor thing only had 3 stars on its back, and attempted to scurry for shelter under something— a ribcage! It reeked of darkness and decay, but it could work. As the moth attempted to wade through the thick, dark water as fast as possible, the beast roared as it swooped down on its meal. Only, they found themselves alive by some miracle.

A shriek, pop, and a crackle sounded behind them as they honked for someone to help them. Their call was answered by the honking of another kid tumbling out of the air with seemingly no cape. They landed in front of them with a splat and stood up to immediately offer a candle to light. Once the moth had done so, they noticed their outfit looked like a magician's... a flamboyant one.

Did megabird send them a circus performer to help?

The second thing they noticed is that this stranger's wings were tied around their waist instead of resting on their shoulders. How odd, but they didn't have time to question it before another kid landed next to them, lighting their candle and honking for them to accept their white ones. This kid had strange wings that were more like a scarf and green pants that matched the thick fog of the wasteland. They also seemed to be wearing heavy shoes and lacked a mask. Their expression seemed unfriendly, but they had offered them friendship.

"Thanks to you, I lost 5 winged lights! Ugh, whatever, I'll find them eventually," they spoke with a harsh tone and a thick accent as they slammed down a square brazier and lit it, "anyways, name's Nah'ri, that's my friend Tayo."

Tayo waved and honked, and without warning, both the moth and Tayo had been grabbed by their hands and lifted off the ground. They flew fairly high up and the moth now saw how many of those dark dragons were stalking the area for light. They honked with terror and, as they began their descent, the moth looked down at their landing spot. A bonfire! It seemed out of place in this green hell, but it was a light source away from the blue spotlights of the dark dragons.

Upon landing gently next to the spirit, the moth pulled out their candle to burn away the darkness that they were encased in, only to be tugged away. "Don't do that yet, you're not ready," Nah'ri warned. Her tone seemed to signify that this spirit was genuinely torturous to relive, so they obliged. They sat by the bonfire as they watched their new "friend" prop an unconscious Tayo up against the stone wall.

"Does he usually... faint out of nowhere?"

"Yeah. If he moves too fast, he faints," Nah'ri spoke plainly as she let out a loud honk to knock over the crabs and set a few in the bonfire, "I'm not sure why."

"Oh. Well I guess I'll—" the moth began to stand up and walk away on their own before Nah'ri put a firm hand on their shoulder suddenly. She said nothing and glanced around as if embarrassed.

"Don't. Not yet," she glanced back at their still unconscious friend, then sighed as they looked back to the new kid, "kid, what's your name?"

"Uh- Everest."

"Well, Everest, you should wait for Tayo to wake up, he loves to make new friends. He— we'll— help you to the temple," she explained, seemingly forced, then coughed and walked back to the bonfire to sit closer to Tayo than she was before and crossed her arms, "it's too dangerous for a new kid. I'm just... looking out for you."

Tayo woke with a soft honk, and Nah'ri's eyes lit up with joy. Her entire demeanor changed to a much more softer one when she was with Tayo, it seemed. They were trying their best to fight back the endearing smile that crept onto their face as they climbed the bonfire to toss down a crab to share with her— and Everest, they supposed.

Nah'ri handed them a crab leg, which they nearly declined before their stomach roared. They ate it and half of another crab in minutes, leaving Tayo overjoyed to find such a wild flame like herself. Though the moth couldn't see Tayo's expression behind her mask, they assumed from the look in their eyes that they were grinning with joy.

Everest fell backwards into the sand and flailed their arms at the subsequent dust cloud settling on top of them and huffed as Nah'ri scoffed and bickered about their manners to Tayo, who brushed her off with a honk and paced slowly towards the moth. He looked over his shoulders to his friend with a honk.

"Everest," Nah'ri spoke with a huff as they slouched against the wall with their arms crossed and stared over them, "just tell me when you two are done." Tayo honked a few times. "Yeah, sure. Of course we will."

Tayo kneeled down besides Everest as they sat up, supporting themselves with a hand and accepting Tayo's white candles. They were slightly taken aback by Tayo's voice, which they titled their head at.

"What? Did I not sound how you expected?" the sound of Tayo's grin faltered, and quickly returned as they spoke in a deeper voice, "I can change it, if you'd like!"

The moth honked as they sat upright and crossed their legs, glancing at Nah'ri grinning while drawing in the sand with a crab legs, then staring up at Tayo with bright yellow eyes, "you can do that?! How?"

Tayo stood up and dug their staff into the ground and spun around it, "I used to preform in the Valley after I had gotten my cool outfit." Nah'ri glanced up at them, as if they were tempted to correct them, then looked back down at their drawing. Tayo hummed and walked over to Nah'ri, careful to step around the lines in the sand, and tapped her chin as she examined them. She made a few more marks and nodded.

"Ah, I forgot that," Nah'ri murmured, nodding and standing up, "right, you're ready?"

Tayo nodded and pressed his mask against her face with a laugh as he caught Everest squinting at them. Nah'ri hoisted their friend onto their shoulders and Tayo rested their head atop Nah'ri's after adjusting their hat.

Nah'ri slid over to Everest and held out a hand, which they took and all three of them were far up in the air in a few flaps of their wings. Tayo hummed a familiar tune, one that Everest had heard when the first stepped into this vast world. Occasionally, Nah'ri surveyed their surroundings and landed on a ledge to allow their wings some rest.

On one ledge, Tayo had removed their hat and handed it to Everest, watching them run in circles as they jumped to catch a butterfly in their hat. This annoyed Nah'ri just slightly, who scolded Tayo for causing a distraction. They bickered back and forth until Everest had caught it and sighed with relief, just for them to yelp and nearly fall into the dark water below when it flew away upon lifting the hat.

"Had enough fun, Everest?" Nah'ri pouted. The moth in question stood back up with a jump and ran back towards the pair. Nah'ri kneeled down and Everest carefully placed the hat back atop Tayo's head where it belonged. Tayo let out an amused huff as they adjusted it.

"Sorry, it kept getting away!" Everest apologized once Nah'ri stood back up and offered their hand.

"It's fine, you're a moth. I don't expect anything differently."

They took Nah'ri's hand and were pulled up into the air again, flying effortlessly over one of the dark dragons that terrified them to their core. They'd looked back warily at the monsters as they flew through a passageway, briefly hearing a distant roar as they landed for Nah'ri to take a brief break.

"Someone got hurt, we need to go—" before Everest finished their sentence, Tayo loudly interrupted to ruffle their hair.

"Don't worry about 'em! I know them, I met them some time ago. They told me to buzz off when me and Nah'ri recollected the winged light that got scattered around," Tayo shrugged. Nah'ri chuckled and muttered in response, "hm, seems like them alright."

Everest scratched their head as they were essentially dragged along on foot up a sandy hill, "huh? They don't want help? Why?"

Tayo began to speak, but she was cut off by her friend, "no clue, but they've never really seemed to like people. Anyways, Ares should be nearby, we should check on him."

As they approached a spear and shield halfway buried in the dune, they heard the jungle of a bell. Nah'ri inhaled sharply as she came to a halt a few feet away.

"Wait, you and that freak back there have hi—" Tayo began to question, but fell off her back onto the sand with an 'umf', and Everest giggled as they let go of Nah'ri and ran to Tayo to pull him back onto his feet. "Yea, that was Phobos, they don't like anyone."

Tayo thanked Everest for the help and groaned as he and Nah'ri approached the shield together, Everest trailing not far behind. "Megabird, is everyone in the Wasteland cranky and weird? Sheesh!" Tayo scoffed. The bell rang as another person stood up from behind the shield, keeping their hands on it, and moving their head to face the noise.

Everest caught up with them and panted. When they looked up, they tilted their head at the stranger, who honked in response to Tayo's words. Tayo began to explain their situation to them as the currently grey figure honked and glanced held out a candle towards no one in specific. Their was a silent few seconds before Nah'ri nudged Everest in the direction of the candle.

"That's for you. He can't see you," Nah'ri explained, "as in, he's blind." Everest nodded in understanding, holding their candle to his and honking in awe as his outfit came into view. He was dressed head to toe in black, with a blindfold, antlers, and fluffy ears.

"This is Ares, they don't really like talking to people," Ares honked and faced Nah'ri, "no, we didn't bring a table or tea. Sorry."

Everest circled them curiously and reached for his blindfold, "well, maybe they'd see better if they took this off!" Both Nah'ri and Tayo reached for Everest to stop them with a worried look on their faces.

"Everest— wait!" they shouted simultaneously.

Ares tilted his head towards and swiftly lifted their hands to their face as they felt their blindfold being loosened and then fall off. One hand pulled down his hat to cover his eyes as he lowered to sit against the earth.

Everest clutched his blindfold in their hands and froze, looking at their friends apologetically. "Sorry! Sorry, I'll—" Everest began to hand the blindfold back to Ares, who turned towards Everest and blindly flailed one hand around and snatched it back.

"Now, what the Eden did you think you were doing?!" Nah'ri scolded. She placed her hands on her hips and stomped towards Everest with genuine anger. Tayo followed behind her and pulled her backwards by her cape just as they lifted their hand to flick Everest's mask. Nah'ri's anger turned to shock as she yelped and hissed a curse at her friend.

"Relax, they're just a kid, alright? They're new to the world," Tayo rested a hand on their shoulder as they softened, "remember how the moths used to—and still do—ask really intrusive questions about my condition?"

Nah'ri inhaled calmly, "yeah... it wasn't none of their business, but they were just asking and making assumptions because they haven't seen it before." Tayo nodded with a grin beneath their mask as Nah'ri looked back towards Everest, now much kinder, "look, kid, I'm... I'm s—"

As Nah'ri choked on their words, Ares honked in despair. The group looked over instinctively to find that their witch hat had been stolen from their hands by a passing breeze. As they began reach to grab it, Everest flapped their wings and glided towards it. They caught it not far away and skipped on back, looking towards Nah'ri. She smiled approvingly! They handed Ares their hat and looked up at them as they placed it back on their head.

Nah'ri tried her best to restrain a giggle as Everest gasped at the sight. As they adjusted it to ensure it wouldn't take off again and felt their blindfold for which side was to face outwards, the moth saw why they covered their face; they had a huge scar across their eyes and hollow eye sockets with perfectly rounded dark stone orbs inside of them.

They honked loudly and ran over to Tayo, pointing back at Ares who tied their blindfold back on and tilted their head towards Everest's commotion. Ares honked a few times and Nah'ri reassured them that this wouldn't become a huge deal.

"Tayo, his eyes are dark stones! He has a super weird scar! How did that happen?!"

Tayo let out an anxious chuckle and rubbed the back of their neck, "well, it's not really my place to explain. You can ask him."

"Bad idea, he doesn't like to talk about it," Nah'ri spoke, and Ares shot up with a scared honk, "and I told him that this wouldn't happen."

Ares hid behind the shield again with an anxious honk, and Tayo chuckled, gesturing Everest towards him. "C'mon, Nah'ri, our buddy here could use a few friends! They could end up as close as us."

Nah'ri murmured something about Eden that Everest didn't catch as they kneeled in front of Ares and laid out seven white candles in front of them. Ares had sat with his face against their knees and a bright blue hue emanated from it. They moved their hands over the offerings and considered for a while before accepting them.

Everest glanced back towards Tayo, who was still talking with their... partner? It was hard to tell what those two had but Everest suspected that there was something deeper than friendship between them. Tayo gasped and turned Nah'ri's face towards the other two. Nah'ri seemed surprised.

"Well, would you look at that," Nah'ri teased, "Ares wants to talk?"

"Shut up," Ares hissed weakly, then stood up, flicking their ears, "let's get moving."

"What about your eyes?" Everest asked, following Ares as they walked in the direction of the broken temple. Nah'ri had walked ahead with Tayo on their back. Tayo offered Ares a boost as he climbed up onto their back and Nah'ri offered Everest her hand.

"I don't like to talk about it..." Nah'ri took off once Everest grabbed on and Ares held onto Tayo tight. They looked straight ahead with a pout as Everest looked towards them curiously.

"That's okay."

...

The journey was quiet, with occasional humming as the reached the temple. Tayo had been the one holding the most conversation, asking Everest of their interests and such. They had learned that Everest enjoyed tea and cinnamon rolls from the Aviary Village cafe. Tayo preferred crab and soup. They offered to perform in the Village Theater, confident that they still could put on a good performance despite their condition, but Everest insisted that they would prefer not to watch the lead role faint on-stage. Ares laughed at that, to which Tayo responded with threatening to drop him.

Nah'ri and Everest's feet touched the ground and Nah'ri held out a candle to the dark stone diamond in the center of the platform. after a few moments, the gate began opening and the one- two- no, three dark dragons emerged. Everest's grip on Nah'ri's hand tightened as their vision began to blur as the dragons closed in on the four of them. The last thing they remember seeing was an equally terrified expression on Ares's face as they were pulled into the temple.

...

They had woken up a while later, and it was dark. They must have been out for a long time. They blinked their eyes open and held out a candle. So, this must be the Wasteland Elder's temple. It took them a moment to understand what happened before they fainted, and they looked around frantically to find their friends. They were relieved to find Tayo and Nah'ri just to the right of the elder's altar in the center.

They'd curled up together against the stone, illuminated by lit candles, and Tayo had set her mask and glasses on top of the stone behind them and Nah'ri's red horns were beside them. Huh, those were a headband. It was a cute sight, to see how close they were. Tayo was holding onto Nah'ri as though she was going to slip away from her, and Nah'ri looked completely relaxed.

As the moth considered trying on Tayo's mask, a yawn and the sound of water being shaken in a jar alerted them. They turned to spot Ares sitting on the sand not far away. They slid over and Ares's ear flicked. They tucked their blindfold into the waistband of their dress and stared forward.

"Everest?" they questioned as said moth sat besides them. They hummed a yes in response and pointed to the jar.

"What's that?"

"You're going to need to be a little more specific," Ares spoke as he yawned again, "my jar, I'm assuming?"

Everest hummed a yes and looked up at their now hollow eye sockets. It was a lot more unnerving in the dark, so they pulled their candle from their chest and set it in front of them in the earth. That did not make it less unsettling.

Ares tipped the jar and his two dark stone eyes fell out into his palm. Everest watched him as he pushed them into the sockets and shifted slightly. "This jar has clean water inside it to wash my eyes."

Everest nodded, "ah, I see."

"I don't," Ares grinned. There was an awkward silence and their smile dropped, "not funny? Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Everest reassured, then shifted to face him and sat with their legs crossed, "can I ask you questions?"

Ares thought for a few seconds, then yawned and laid against the sand, "sure. Can't promise I'll answer them, though." They stared at the ceiling and blinked uncomfortably, though that just seemed to be how they adjusted their prosthetic eyes.

Everest looked over towards the other two, still sound asleep though now in a more comfortable position against the floor, "what's their deal? Are they... you know, together or what."

Ares shrugged, "not sure. It's not my business."

Everest pouted at their answer and sighed, removing their mask and rubbing their eyes. They set their mask besides them. "Well, sure, okay," Everest began, "but you've never at least gotten suspicious? They're spooning right now."

Ares thought while they fidgeted with the sleeves of their dress, "like I said, not my business. Whatever they have is for them to sort out." Their tone was tinged with slight annoyance. They should drop the topic. Maybe they'll ask them themselves when they're awake.

"Alright," Everest sighed, "you're very reserved. Why?"

"After that stunt earlier, I'm not too keen to speak to you," Ares hissed and turned their back to the moth. Everest pouted, "I apologized!"

"I couldn't hear it!" they hissed loudly as they shot up and turned, jabbing the moth's chest with an accusatory finger and enraged expression that startled Everest. They retracted their hand and breathed slowly upon realizing their outburst, but his scowl remained on his face, "don't go around taking people's blindfolds off, they might need it."

"Okay, sorry," Everest muttered as Ares huffed and turned back over with their back to them. It was only then when they noticed the amount of stars marking their cape.

"How'd you get so many winged lights?" the moth questioned, and Ares groaned, pulling his hat down over his face and cape further over themselves.

"Eden. Now let me sleep."

Everest slowly reached for their cape to feel the stars on their cape, but he stood up and grabbed his jar and walked closer to the altar and laid down against the floor near a row of candles. He removed his hat and placed it beneath his head. He had gotten comfortable when he heard footsteps approach him and stop in front of him, and sighed.

"What?" they whispered, and heard Everest sit next to them, but they said nothing for a while.

"I know you're still there."

"Did it hurt?" Everest whispered inquisitively and suddenly, "losing your eyes, I mean."

He didn't respond. They felt a warm hand near their face and swatted it away. Everest backed away and stood up to set their mask on the stone of the altar before laying on their back next to Ares. Their breathing slowed to a steady pace as they began to snore lightly, but Everest still had many more questions to ask!

What was Eden? They suspected that that's where the light called them to, but would find out eventually. What's after this temple? Would it be safe, like the previous realms? Why were Nah'ri and Tayo not afraid of the dark dragons? How did Ares lose his eyes, and, upon observation, another question arose...

Why does Ares sleep with his eyes open? That's weird.

#btw Tayo and Nah'ri are not dating but you can ship them if you think they're cute #No beta read we die like our ancestors #pluto writes #skykid #sky kid #skykid oc #sky cotl #sky: cotl #sky children of the light #sky: children of the light #skyblr

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