#so i cant really blame him. but vanitas you have two hands!

[littencloud9]

dante knowing that vanitas is being all prickly because hes worried about noé is SO funny god

[rox-the-proxy]

Arranged Lives

Based off of @superfluous-vanitas Tribes AU mixed with ARK: survival evolved and some of The Isle ideas/creatures and concepts. And it helps that I love anything TerraVan so their art on their AU gave me the idea to write this! Its nothing long, but I do hope you enjoy!

“Are you sure you’re okay with all of this?” Lea asked as he sat in front of his Allosaurus as he ran a wet brush over its rough skin. He turned his head to look at the raven haired male next to him who was leaning back on a rather large, white and gray colored Tyrannosaurus, though unlike many of the others of his same kind, not only is it much larger with more pronounced brow ridges, he also had armor like skin starting from the base of its neck all the way down to the tip of his tail. paired with a narrower muzzle, it was clear this T-Rex was genetically different and probably one of the very rare occurrences that happened in these parts of the grassy plains of their tribe’s territory. How had Vanitas gotten this creature and tame it was beyond Lea, but it worked in favor of their tribe when it came to the many times their tribe has gotten into territory fights with other neighboring tribes. In fact, the topic of their current conversation was on one of those said Neighboring tribes. “I mean, did Xehanort even ask? Or did he just throw this on ya?”

Vanitas sighed and that was all the red head needed to know that this agreement was suddenly thrown onto him verses being part of the conversations that lead to this agreement. “It’s not all that bad,” Vanitas stated as he ran his hand down his creature’s jaw as it let out what could be considered a low and deep grumbling purr of content, which was an odd sound to hear from a predator like that one. but their tribe were masters at taming predator type creatures. Small or big, it was just a matter of time and patience for each type of creature they managed to capture. Either way, back to the topic at hand, Lea was sure he felt more annoyed then Vanitas did but then again hes known the Tribe Leader’s adopted kid for as long as he can remember now. and he knew that Xehanort was putting forth the marriage of his kid to Tribe Leader Eraqus’ kid; Terra in order to put an end to the constant fights between their tribes and in order to expand territory as well. both tribes were fairly large, and combined together they would make one of only two large tribes that had once been two separate tribes as well. However, that didn’t mean that Lea agreed with it. while Vanitas had this…infatuation with Terra, Terra had no interest in Vanitas, however. While this arranged marriage was something Vanitas was more on bored with, Lea had heard that Terra had been very much against it, still was even.

Despite having finally agreed to the marriage, everyone knew that Terra was anything but pleased with this. But it was necessary to end the constant conflicts and to bring the dawn of a better age for both of their tribes. Terra saw it was mere business and necessity, Vanitas saw it like that and maybe an opportunity to maybe win the bigger male over. though, Lea had his serious doubts that this was all going to work out, considering the bad history between the two tribes. It was never personal for Vanitas, territory fights broke out more often then not and Van and his T-Rex only ever went out during those fights when Xehanort deemed it necessary. Which wasn’t often, but during the last battle, Vanitas had been called to the fight and when he brought along his T-Rex, a lot of the other tribe's men had gotten hurt or killed. It had been one of their more….aggressive battles. Terra had been present for that battle and he and Vanitas had a run in, while Terra and his own T-Rex had been ready to take the other two on, Vanitas had no intentions of fighting him, so instead of making the bloodshed worse, Vanitas took his leave. Xehanort had been furious beyond belief. Lea had been worried that his friend was going to be punished for his actions, but with a mutated T-Rex who was very over protective of him, he didn’t have to worry too much. “Its for the good of both Tribes. We are stronger and more efficient together then we are apart.” at the words of his friend, the read head rolled his eyes as he turned his gaze back to his own Dino, gently cleaning out bite wounds and lacerations on his neck from the pack of Raptors they had encountered earlier. “Is she gonna be okay?” Vanitas asked from his spot against his partner, the red head chuckled.

“Are you?” Lea asked, giving the raven a small smile. he watched as Vanitas looked down at the charm that had been gifted to him by his soon to be husband. It was out of tradition, the man had explained to Vanitas. Not because he actually liked him. to anyone, Vanitas just rushed the comment off and happily accepted the charm. But to Lea, Isa and anyone else who knew the raven as well as they did, knew that the comment stung. “Seriously, you gonna be okay? we could always still go with Isa’s and my plan.”

Vanitas laughed, shaking his head at that. Isa and Lea had come up with some overly complicated plan that involved them steal supplies and mounts from the Tribe stables and running away. Isa and Lea had their lives figured out, they technically didn’t need to stay with this tribe to survive. With Isa’s smarts and Lea’s uncanny way with the Allo species, they could easily have a pack of them in a week or two’s time before getting other Tribe members and eventually starting their own little familial group. Vanitas didn’t necessarily have that. he wasn’t…all that great with connecting with people, never had been for as long as he could remember. And that wasn’t much, a lot of his childhood was hazy, he had been told that he was taken in by this Tribe when they found him with this small, odd looking juvenile T-Rex. He was close to starving, covered in wounds that at the time and in the moment couldn’t be explained. When eh came to, he was in a more or less daze, so a lot of his time as a child before being taken in by Xehanort was unknown to him. but Lea and Isa had taken to the raven quickly as Xehanort often left Vanitas with them during his recovery period. Since his arrival, many of the other Tribe members found him strange ,a bad omen as it was when Vanitas was taken was when their Tribe leader became far less inclined to show mercury to their rival tribes. Many blamed Vanitas’ coming as a bad sign, the end of their Tribe. And it truly did seem like that up until this deal with Eraqus’ Tribe was met. “I’ll be fine. just gotta stay on his good side is all.” Lea rolled his eyes at the response, Vanitas couldn’t really blame his red-headed friend for it either. Lea had always tried to look out for him as best he and Isa could. Both more then willing to stand up for him against the many accusations of other Tribe members that Vanitas was a curse along with his Rex.

Lea had opened his mouth to respond to that half-assed reasoning but paused when his Allo lifted her head up suddenly along with Vanitas’ Rex. The two got to their feet quickly but calmed down at the sight of Isa, Tribe leader Xehanort, Tribe Leader Eraqus and Terra walking their way. Lea was quick to bow to the two Tribe leaders as was Vanitas. “Afternoon Tribe Leaders,” Lea greeted with a forced but polite smile, the red-head was never good with authority and Vanitas swore he was going to get himself killed one of these days. Both males then stood straight again as Lea snapped his fingers at his Allo who stood on her feet, shaking her body as if to loosen her muscles. “I’m going to safely assume you all wish to speak to Vanitas and Terra privately, so Isa, Ally and myself will take our leave. We’ll catch you at the Dinner hunt, Vani.” The red head said waving to his friend who nodded slowly. He waved a silent goodbye to his two long time and only friends as they started to walk away with Ally following her rider. With his friend gone, Vanitas felt a hundred times more nervous then he had the moment his golden colored eyes had landed the group. He cleared his throat and turned his attention to the other three.

“Afternoon Tribe Leaders, Terra,” he greeted, with a slight inline of his head. “To what do I owe this unexpected visit?” Xehanort huffed, walking up to the boy as he placed a hand on his shoulder. For a moment, Vanitas had to stare at this Rex who opened a red colored eye after he had laid his head back down and closed them. but the moment the man who took him in had placed a hand on him, this earned a low, deep, but threatening growl from the Rex. Vanitas gave the group a sheepish smile as he turned to face the mutated predator. “Shhh, easy boy. What’s got you riled?” he asked softly, as he ran his hands down the creature’s jaws and over his muzzle. “Apologies-“

“There is no need to fret, young Vanitas. We are simply here to suggest that perhaps you and Terra here go out for a while on your own. Talk to each other. With your mounts of course. Xehanort and I believed it would be good for you to spend some more time together before the ceremonial day. As once that day comes you both will be far to busy getting ready to even have time to say good morning to one another.” Eraqus cut in with his usual calm and soothing tone. Honestly, talking to him was less stressful then talking to Xehanort who had been the man to save his life so many years ago. To tell the truth, he enjoyed talking to Eraqus more then he did talking to Xehanort. Though he would never admit that to Xehanort’s face. “That, and it will give you both time to talk about certain topics, and what you two will be doing once your both married. You can both live here, or back where our tribe is located. You cant take all the time you need until your hunting group goes out.” He explained looking to Vanitas who nodded wordlessly. He gave him and Terra a reassuring smile.

Vanitas watched as Eraqus leaned in close to Terra and whispered something in his ear which got the blue eyed man to blush darkly and look away, the tribe leader only laughed. Vanitas jumped when eh felt his own tribe leader lean down and whisper in his own ear. “Do try to be civil and not ruin this for the tribe.” Was the only warning he got before he started to follow his old time friend. Once gone, Vanitas sighed, relaxing now that the two tribe leaders were gone. An awkward silence fell over him and Terra. It wasn’t like they had much in common and it wasn’t like his own Rex was anything like Terra’s. for a moment, Vanitas refused to look at the bigger man, he focused on petting his mount who was letting out low rumbling purrs of content.

“So…what is up with your Rex anyway?” Terra asked, being the one to finally break the silence. Vanitas looked at him a bit confused by the question, but he looked up at Terra’s Rex, a female with black and red coloring on her body. she was larger then the average T-Rex, but she was nowhere near the size of his own. But then again it wasn’t like his Rex was exactly normal, no one quite knew why his mount was so large, temperamental or looked so weird, but most assumed it was due to a genetic mutation. How had the mutation happened and could have caused it, no one had a clue. But his had been with him all his life, or for as long as he could remember. Vanitas shook his head quickly as he focused back on the man’s question.

“With the growling? He isn't a fan of Tribe Leader Xehanort. Not that blame him but-“

“I meant why is he so…” Terra made a vague motion with his hands, gesturing to the entire creature who was at this point merely watching the two as they spoke. “Why dose he look so strange. What’s his story?” at that, Vanitas laughed and shrugged.

“I only remember waking up with him at my side. I don’t remember how I got him or how I even got here. but he’s no older then I believe it or not.” Vanitas looked up at the male and was met with the sight of Terra looking more then a little confused by his words. that’s when he remembered that only his Tribe knew that he wasn’t originally from this Tribe. He had forgotten that Terra and Eraqus didn’t know, and now that he said that, he wondered if he had just screwed this entire ceremony over. Terra must have noticed his worry of him taking a seat next to him and placing a hand on his lower back in a comforting manner was anything to go by. “I- uh…” he trailed off, finding himself overwhelmed with nerves. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes locked onto his Mount’s face. “I was found by Tribe Leader Xehanort years ago. I was starving and hurt pretty bad. that first year or two with him during my recovery period are hazy at best. So I don’t remember much. But Hypo here has always been there with me. Hes not even fully grown yet, or so we think anyway.” The raven shrugged as he smiled at his mount who let out a long yawn, lifting his head and shaking it for a moment. “We aren’t sure why he looks the way he does either. but we assume it’s because of a genetic mutation. But its all assumptions.”

Terra nodded falling silent again. despite everything, and Vanitas wasn’t someone who clearly was a bad person, but many of his tribe members had been killed or wounded due to that Rex that Vanitas had. Of course, it wasn’t all of his own fault either. Vanitas’ tribe were excerpts when it came to combat and fighting with predator Creatures. So any tribe that went head on against his were often cashed away covered in blood and carrying the bodies of their fallen warriors. The last battle his and Vanitas’ Tribe had it ended in far more death then many of their other battles had ever ended in. and when Terra and his Rex; Ash had confronted Vanitas and Hypo he was shocked when the raven had gone several shades paler then usual, turned tail and ran instead of standing his ground. Neither Tribe won that day after Vanitas ran. Both Tribes were shocked by this and ended the fight almost as soon as it started, each going back home to lick their wounds and treat their wounded, as well as put their dead to rest. That’s when Terra had started to think about Vanitas a lot more, there had always been something strange but interesting about him. part of him had even wanted to take a chance to just sneak off to speak to him. however, that was dashed and pushed aside when Xehanort came to their village, offering an agreement that could lead to both of their tribe benefiting. At first he had been excited to hear what the man had to say, but that excitement turned to shock when he said he was willing to offer up his son; Vanitas for marriage to him so that their Tribes would unit and the fighting would not only end but it would mean both territories would be shared and thus making life for each tribe so much easier. Terra was not happy that he was basically being offered Vanitas as a bargaining chip. What was even worse was that his own father had agreed to it.

He wouldn’t have been so angry if he had a say in it. its not like he would have said no, after all, it would make life easier for their people. And then his friends; Aqua and Ventus wouldn’t have to risk their lives so much when they went out to hunt or help gather food. He would have been willing to accept it if he had just been included in these talks. He was all for doing what was necessary to help his tribe, especially if it made their lives easier and meant they wouldn’t be getting slaughtered anymore. But that hadn’t been the case here, he had just been thrown into this agreement and without so much as a word said to him until only a few weeks ago. since then, he and Vantias had met more often then ever before, these meetings weren’t pleasant during that time, he was mad, angry. and it showed in the way he came off as professional as possible and just cold when he spoke to Vanitas. Hell, even when he craved the wooden charm that would traditionally be given to the women in his Tribe, but it could easily be worn by men as well, but either way when he carved the charm and gave it to Vantias he had said it was only due to tradition, nothing more and nothing less. Outwardly, Vanitas accepted it with grace. But when he looked at the raven in the eyes, he saw hurt, sadness. It shot a pang of guilt into his chest. So, on that day he had told himself that he would try to be a little nicer to him. it didn’t work over night, but he was warming up to the raven slowly.  Today had been one of the few times he and Vanitas were left alone to talk and like always it was always weird, but Terra knew it was due to him coming off so cold and harsh with the other male who also had no say in this entire thing. When he looked at the golden eyed male he saw him looking down at the charm, holding it between his fingers as they sat in silence.

“I know you must be disappointed in the match up,” Vanitas started saying, looking at him as he started speaking, his fingers tightening on the wooden charm. “But if it’s any consolation….i’m not disappointed.”

Terra blushed darkly, and it didn’t help that the raven had his own blush on his face as well. Terra couldn’t help but smile and chuckle slightly. maybe this marriage wouldn’t be so bad after all.