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frostedfaves · 3 years ago

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Naive (3)

Masterlist

Pairing: demon!Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Summary: You pick up on the lies in Wanda’s life and she decides to show you the truth.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY, dark!fic, demon things™️, more hints at dom/sub because I’m a whore for demon!Wanda

A/N: I can’t believe that it’s been a month since I posted the last one 😭 I have some things planned for the next part and so on but I also kinda wanna take requests again??? idk we all know how I get overwhelmed easily with that so we’ll see what happens there. anyway tell me your thoughts on this please!

Previous part

Waking up feels like gasping for air after being trapped underwater. You aren’t sure how long you were asleep, but the mid afternoon traffic quickly alerts you of how much of the day has passed.

Despite your head feeling like it’s made of cement, you manage to stand up, slipping off thin pajamas as you walk into the bathroom and stop at the mirror. Your skin seems tender in places and you’re a little bit startled when there isn’t a single indication of the bite marks and scratches you feel, even after rubbing your eyes a few times and turning in every direction possible. Deciding to let it go for now, you reach for the shower stall to turn on the water, detouring to the bedroom instead when you hear your phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“You didn’t save my number, did you?”

“Wanda?” You pull the phone away long enough to quickly clear your throat. “I mean hey, Wanda! What makes you think I didn’t save your number?”

“You answered like you didn’t know who was going to be on the other end.”

“Okay, you caught me,” you admit after a moment of silence. “I promise I’ll save it as soon as we hang up. Anyway, what’s up?”

“Remember that pet adoption center you pointed out to me?” You acknowledge her with a hum. “I was thinking about getting a cat…Wanna tag along?”

“Absolutely! I was just about to shower though so I can be ready in an hour or so.”

“Perfect! I’ll text you when I’m outside.”

The two of you say your goodbyes and you keep your promise of saving her number, typing in her name and hesitating on the emoji keyboard. Realizing you’d spent far too much time contemplating this, you simply save what you have and hurry back to the bathroom, something in your brain urging you to not keep her waiting.

Within an hour, she sends you a text in all caps and a smiley face that tells you she’s arrived, and you can’t hide the fact that you’re surprised when you come outside and she’s waiting on the passenger side of the car.

“Hey! How are you?” she greets cheerily as she approaches you with a hug, and you shiver when her hand touches your lower back. “Are you cold?”

“No, I’m okay.” You smile and thank her when she opens the door for you, attempting to collect yourself as she crosses to the driver’s side again. “I’m really happy to see you again.”

“You are?”

“Yeah,” you admit quietly as she pulls away from the curb. “Is that such a bad thing?”

“No no, I just didn’t want to assume you were enjoying our time together as much as I was.”

She places her hand over yours while she glances at you, smiling as she squeezes your fingers and thigh lightly. You feel a rush of something traveling from the places she touched to your brain, only slightly aware of the fog settling in your mind.

“Well I didn’t want to be too enthusiastic about it and scare you away if all you wanted was friendship,” you clarify, meeting her eyes when she reaches a red light.

“I suppose you’re looking for more too, then.”

“I am now.”

The light turns green and she breaks eye contact, but the little smirk that follows tells you everything you need to know. At least, you hope it does.

“I think he’s the cutest one we’ve seen yet,” you comment about the kitten that hasn’t looked away from Wanda since you approached his area. “He seems really drawn to you, too.”

“How did he get the name ‘Baby Satan’?” Wanda inquires with an employee, who approaches you with a chuckle.

“It’s actually Baby Stan, because we used to have an adult cat named Stan as well and needed to tell the two apart. We were going to give him a new name but decided to leave that up to his new family.”

“It says ‘Baby Satan’ though,” you cosign with Wanda, gesturing to the extra A mixed in with the magnetic letters that spell the kitten’s name.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I don’t know how that got there,” the employee apologizes as she reaches over to fix the sign, and you watch her freeze as Wanda touches her arm.

“Don’t be sorry. Keep it; I want to adopt him.”

“Okay, right this way,” the employee mumbles as she turns awkwardly and stumbles over to a desk, and as the two of you follow her, you look back to see Baby Satan still staring at the woman beside you.

“What was that about?” you speak up finally once you’re in the car with her new furry friend, and Wanda frowns at you while fastening her seatbelt.

“What?”

“Why did that employee react to you like that? You touched her and she started acting really weird after.”

“Oh, Kim’s fine!” she assures you as she fixes her mirror before pulling out of the parking lot. “I actually asked her about that while you were looking at scratching posts and she said I’d overstepped her boundaries and made her uncomfortable. Don’t worry, I apologized and everything’s good again.”

“She told you her name?”

“She was wearing a name tag, babe.”

Babe...that’s new. Still, the sudden nickname doesn’t completely distract you from the fact that you’re certain there was no name tag on Kim’s uniform. You’re debating with yourself about bringing this up when you notice her heading toward Lane County.

“Are you taking me to your house?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.” She glances at you and over her shoulder toward Baby Satan before turning back to the road. “I figured I could introduce both of my kittens to the place they’ll be spending a lot of time in.”

Her fingers brush over your knee as “my kittens” leaves her lips, and you’re almost embarrassed when your hips involuntarily buck slightly. Noticing the small change in your behavior, she takes advantage of your head turned toward your own window and allows her instincts to continue driving while she stares at you, placing her palm on your thigh and rubbing circles on the fabric covering it that brings her closer and closer to your core.

“Home, sweet home,” Wanda announces as she pulls her wandering hand away to park the car, jumping out a second later and grabbing her furry son from the backseat. “Hey there, Baby S.”

You step out of the car in a similar fashion of pulling yourself out of a swimming pool, taking in the fresh air and trying to relax yourself as you follow her into the apartment building. The hallways reflect the quiet and clean neighborhood as you make your way into the elevator and up to the 6th floor, suddenly entering the most empty apartment you’ve ever seen.

Of course there’s furniture: a couch with a TV mounted on the nearest wall, a dining table with a set of matching chairs, a few stools placed at the island and kitchen appliances that are shiny and new. But there isn’t any personal artwork, posters, books or even just a lamp that you could tell Wanda purchased herself with one glance.

“Are you staying in an AirBNB or something?” you ask as she carefully places Baby Satan’s carrier next to the couch, and she chuckles.

“I guess technically it was one before I moved in, but I’ve been here for two years.”

“Okay...so where are your pictures?”

“What?”

“Where are your pictures?” you repeat, maintaining a steady voice despite the expression she gives you as she faces you again. “Pictures of your family, friends, you as a child?”

“If you knew my family, you’d understand why you don’t see them here.” She startles you by practically growling her words but you press further.

“Okay but you also said you love plants and we’re the only living things in here.” You step back to put more space between you while quiet shuffling noises are heard inside the carrier. “What’s really going on here?”

You can easily spot the shift in Wanda’s emotions: going from defensive, arms crossed and eyes glaring to resigned with slightly sagging shoulders and a defeated sigh.

“Fine, you got me.” She bends over to pick up the carrier again and passes you on her way to the door, stopping a few feet away. “If you’re serious about pursuing a relationship with me, then I should probably show you my real home.”

“I don’t know...”

“Come on, love.” She comes just close enough to bring your hand into hers and a tingle spreads through your body, causing you to pull away but her grip only tightens. “I promise I’m not going to hurt you, and this is the only time I’ve lied.”

You find yourself being drawn closer to her, and an almost familiar feeling washes over you when her thumb begins rubbing gentle circles into your jaw. The metal on her ring is so cold it almost burns upon contact, yet you nuzzle into her more with each pass along your skin.

“Don’t you want to be good for me without being forced to your knees first?”

If the fog surrounding your consciousness wasn’t so thick, you might’ve been shocked by this side of her, so calm yet demanding you serve her. But the hand on your jaw seemed to cover every inch of your body and sink into your nervous system, forcing you to fall into her and let her lead you back to the car with a simple arm around your waist. You’re buckled into the passenger seat again and a slightly blurry grin greets you from behind the wheel seconds later.

“I can’t wait to make you mine.”

Your head falls against the car window as she drives to the edge of Lane County, and your altered vision picks up on businesses turning into isolated suburbs into grassy fields into forests. You travel along narrow, winding roads past the tallest of trees with very few spaces in between, and your hazy state of mind prevents you from panicking when Wanda turns onto a dirt path that doesn’t even seem to be safe for bicycles. The wheels bump along the forest floor until she comes to a stop just outside of a two foot dwelling, similar to a cave.

Once the two of you are out of the car again, she holds your hand with her free one until you reach the cave, instructing you to sit in front of it while she does the same. She places her palm on the door, and her rings seem to come alive as they interact with it for a few moments before it swings open and the three of you are sent flying through a tunnel. You land with a groan on the hard floor and dust yourself off as you carefully stand, any questions dying in your throat as you face Wanda again, now standing before you in her true form.

“Welcome home.”

#wanda maximoff #wanda maximoff x reader #dark!wanda maximoff x reader #avengers x reader #marvel x reader #frosty's dark!fics

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lathalea · 4 years ago

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Fern Flower

This is a comfort fic with Kili and a gender neutral human reader bonding over their insecurities during the Quest.

For @jentaculargums - hope you'll like it! 💙💙💙

Special thanks to @guardianofrivendell for the prompts: blanket and mirror. ***

The surface of the forest lake is still and smooth like a mirror, only stars reflecting in it against the backdrop of the dark evening sky. Like diamonds on black silk. The air is filled with the scent of pines and bonfire smoke. Distant sounds of music and laughter come from behind you, echoing among the trees. After traveling for many days, the dwarves of Thorin’s Company have finally found a perfect place to rest for a few days before continuing their journey to Erebor. You have been traveling with them for a while now, enjoying their company and their lighthearted banter. You felt that special warmth in your heart whenever you sat with them by the fire, that warmth that chased away your loneliness for good. As a human from your world who arrived to Middle Earth, you were still learning how to survive, but the dwarves were always there to help you. Fili gave you one of his knives and taught you how to use it, Dori would always make sure you had an extra blanket when the night came, Bofur was always full of funny stories and Bombur would give you a full bowl of food even if the supplies were scarce.

And then there was Kili. The dark-haired dwarf who always had a smile for you. He and his brother were somehow always around you, helping you with your pony, sitting beside you at meals, joking or planning the next mischief with you. Soon after you joined the company, the older dwarves would refer to the three of you as “the troublemakers”, and you were secretly proud of that nickname, slowly starting to feel like you belonged right there, with that group of dwarves. But Kili was the one who seemed to understand you best, or perhaps it was the other way… or both. Sometimes you caught yourself looking at him, seemingly without any reason, and sometimes you would catch his glance, warm sparks dancing in his coffee-colored eyes. It felt as if you could understand each other without words, and perhaps that was why none of us had ever spoken about this bond that seemed to bloom between you.

But now your eyes are drifting to the sky above you and then to the glittering surface of the lake. You lower your gaze and see your own reflection in the water. You stretch your lips in a smile, but the happiness never reaches your eyes.

“I see you’re admiring a beautiful view,” you hear a familiar voice and quickly turn around.

“Kili!” you exclaim. “What are you doing here?”

“I got bored listening to Gloin talking about little Gimli,” he groans theatrically, “so I figured I could torment you instead.”

You chuckle, “Well, there goes my evening. Are you going to tell me that story about how you nicked some apples from that farmer who had large, angry dogs for the umpteenth time?”

“Not at all! I was planning to tell you that story about apples, the farmer, his dogs AND uncle Thorin being very cross with me and Fili for a week afterwards!” Kili grins.

“Your uncle Thorin is very cross at you now for scaring poor Bilbo, so I can imagine that part of the story very well!”

You laugh together and you are sure Kili is about to continue the banter when he speaks with a serious tone in his voice, “Are you okay, Fern? You have been away from us for some time now.” Fern. That’s how the dwarves decided to call you when they first found you in the forest, sleeping among lush, green ferns. Somehow you’ve grown to like your new name, it was definitely more fitting to the new world you found yourself in than your regular modern name.

“I needed some time on my own. It’s really beautiful here. And the silence… we don’t have that kind of silence in my world,” you say, thinking about the ever-present noise of cars, trains, lawnmowers and other machines. There were things and people you dearly missed but that was not one of them.

“Would you mind if I sat here with you for a bit?” Kili steps towards you hesitantly.

“Not at all!” with an inviting gesture, you pat the log you are sitting on. “I thought you came to fetch me.”

“Not really,” he sits down beside you and hangs his head, his dark hair covering his cheeks.

“What is it, Kili?” you turn to him, placing your hand on his forearm and feeling how stiff his muscles are under his shirt, his hand clenched into a fist.

“Nothing, really,” he mutters.

“Come on, Ki, you know I’m there for you.”

He lets out a sigh, but you can’t see his face, still hidden behind the curtain of his hair.

“Fern… Do you… Do you think I’m ugly?” his whispered words drift to your ears on an evening gust of wind.

“You? Ugly? Who on earth said that to you?!” you gasp in disbelief. Kili was many things, cheeky, funny, sometimes a little annoying, but definitely not ugly.

“The boys say… I’m like an elf. B-because of my beard,” he admits.

“What are they talking about? There is nothing wrong with your beard!” you say, and you mean it. You have grown to like that dark shadow of a stubble on his cheeks, as opposed to the heavy, braided beards of his companions.

“It… doesn’t grow as fast as I would like it to,” he sighs again. “What if it never grows longer?”

“Hey, Ki… look at me,” you ask him and, after a moment, he turns his head towards you. His eyes are shining with the reflected light of the stars above you. “I will still like the way you look, no matter if your beard grows or not. You can shave off all the hair from your head, and I will still like you!”

It’s quite dark, but you think you see how his cheeks darken slightly.

Kili clears his throat in embarrassment and soon you see the familiar cheeky sparks in his eyes, “Fern, I’m speechless! Shave my head? That’s an outrageous thing to say to a dwarf!”

“Ah, yes, I remember, you, dwarves, and your hair thing,” you nod. “I wish it was like that in my world.”

“Is it that much different from ours?” he wonders.

“For many people, having hair on your body is considered shameful. Some even think it’s disgusting to have hair on your legs, arms or other places, especially if it’s dark,” you explain with a frown.

“But… but how? It is a natural thing to have hair! That’s the way we are born.” he tilts his head. “Why is it so bad?”

“I have no idea. I just know I’ve been teased about my body too, I know how it hurts,” your hand moves to your forearm, checking whether it’s covered.

Kili’s eyes follow your gesture.

“Is that why you always wear long sleeved tunics and long trousers?”

“Is it that obvious?” you grunt, trying not to think of the shaving razor you left at home.

“Hey, I get it, I always wear too wide tunics to look more... bulky. My grandmother keeps saying I’m too thin for a dwarf,” Kili gives you a shy smile. “She says no dwarf-maid will like me…”

“And my grandmother says I’m too chubby for a human!” you smile back at him. Somehow, instead of feeling ashamed by the way your body looks, larger than the bodies of supermodels on the covers of the fashion magazines, you start feeling more at ease.

“You humans are weird. The way you look, you would make a perfect dwarf! If we were in Ered Luin now, both dwarven men and women would say you’re pleasing to the eye!”

“It’s because they haven’t seen my stretch marks. They are ugly,” you hear yourself say and wonder at how easy it is to talk with Kili about those things. Perhaps there is something in the evening air, something in the darkness that shrouds you both like a comfortable blanket, that makes confiding in each other so easy.

“What are stretch marks ?” he frowns, not understanding.

“You don’t know? You get them for example when you are young and your body grows quickly. Or when you are a pregnant woman,” you say, surprised at his words.

“Ah! You mean warrior’s scars !”

“ Warrior’s scars? ” Now you don’t understand what he means.

“We call them this way out of respect. Each of us has many battles to fight. Warriors go to a battlefield, mothers give life, our bodies change as we grow… Those marks on our skin are like letters on a parchment, telling the stories of our lives. That’s what Mother says,” Kili offers.

“Your mother sounds like a wise woman,” you nod.

“And she is right. It is a thing to be proud of, not ashamed of! Have I mentioned you humans are so weird?” he winks at you cheekily.

“And you dwarves are not, I imagine? With all those beards so long that you have to tuck them into your belts? And those braids! It takes forever to braid them! I’m still amazed by the fact that Fili can eat anything without drowning his moustache braids into a stew or eating them by mistake.”

“He keeps those braids because he’s a showoff,” Kili chuckles. Hearing his laughter makes your heart feel lighter. Friendly banter is what you’ve grown to like in the company of dwarves, and especially when it’s him you’re teasing with.

“And you’re not? You take ages washing and combing your hair!” you retort.

“Well, it’s not like my hair is as naturally beautiful as yours, Fern! I have to work hard to look the way I do!” He gives you a grin.

“Flattery will get you nowhere!”

“What a shame, I thought we could switch our guard duties. You know how much I hate waking up before dawn,” he makes puppy eyes at you.

“You hate waking up in general! I’m not taking your shift!” you giggle and then an idea strikes you. “But we can bribe Bofur to do it if you have some spare pipe weed…”

“I don’t,” Kili sighs sadly. “But I know who does!”

“Who is it?”

“My dearest brother…” a mischievous grin appears on his face and it’s all you need. It doesn’t take you long to come up with a convoluted plan on how to distract Fili and snatch some of his pipe weed supply.

“That’s great, Fern! It has to work. You’re a treasure,” Kili nudges you with his arm, flashing his white teeth at you. “I’m so glad we found you!”

“You better, because you’re stuck with me now,” you can’t stop yourself from sniggering.

“It’s good, because…,” he pauses and asks you suddenly, “Do you know why we called you Fern ?”

You whisper, “Because of the place you’ve found me at?”

He shakes his head and moves towards you a bit, looking deeply into your eyes.

“We, dwarves, have this legend about a fern flower. They say that it blooms once a year, on the eve of the summer solstice. The person who finds it will have wealth and fortune for the rest of their life,” he takes a deep breath. Something in his gaze softens as he gently presses his forehead against yours and whispers five words.

“You are our fern flower.”

***

Read it? Like it? Reblog it!

Taglist:

@fizzyxcustard @reblogunderthemountain @shrimpsthings @dark-angel-is-back @sherala007 @amelia307@anyaspidergirl-blog @justfollowtheroad @jotink78 @rachel1959 @saltwater-in-the-afternoon @linasofia @xmly-xo @bitter-sweet-farmgirl @yourqueenunderthemountain @guardianofrivendell @nelleedraws @beenovel

#kili #kili x reader #kili fic #kili and fili #kili x you #comfort fic #the hobbit #the hobbit fic #gender neutral reader #insecurity #fili

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melting-tofu · 4 years ago

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S/o with sensitive hearing - ft. Xiao

[ Anon requested: Hi, I just discovered your blog not long ago and so far I love it! Is it ok if I request for a gender natural S/O that has very sensitive hearing, and it sometimes gets too much so they just end up going into something like a panic mode, tysm! You can pick any characters you like ❤️🙏you don’t have to if you don’t wanna, it’s completely fine, thanks! ]

I got you <333 I picked Xiao because I think he just- 😭

My phone, that had been in lots of wars, almost died while writing this

Note: Gender-neutral reader

-> Masterlist

-------

。Generally, he's scared of getting you scared... 😭 by all the noises around so he doesn't dare to bring you to noisy places or let you get lost in sea of people (unless you beg) and such

。But meh he doesn't like those places either-

unless you have ear pieces and they work he's relieved

。The times you have gotten panicked, he didn't know what to do but to pull you as far way as possible and held you while burying your face in his chest, wrapped his arm around especially to cover your ears-

。So there's a time you asked to follow him because you just want to watch him fight-

。The environment he often works in is just... scarily scary...

。Just the sounds of slimes can panic you-

。So he doesn't dare to let you go with him at first

。But please- he can't say no to that poor look on your face pleading to stay by his side.

。So yes he guesses he'll let you this time... just this once.

It's been barely an hour since you two entered the forest and you have already gotten countless "absurd" encounters, neither of you realized that you had forgotten to bring your trusty ear pieces at first. "D-did you hear that?" you whisper and start to tremble while clinging on his right arm. Xiao sighs, turns to you again with a serious gaze "What is it this time?" "S-something that sounded like- a creature with multiple legs- so heavy footsteps... it's g-getting closer-" You answer while gripping his arm tighter, furrowing your eyebrows and look around panickingly. He brings a hand to pat your hair and smiles (??) "If you meant the little spider over there, then yes I could hear it. Is that all?" Huh? You look at him, confused, it's just a harmless spider? Unless you're scared of spiders... You only just calm down for seconds before suddenly, a loud alarming yell by a hilichurl bursts out but you can't recognize makes you squeak and jump into his arms. "A-archons!" are words you managed to scream out before contionously sobbing. He guesses he has to stop right here and take you back first...

#genshin impact x reader #genshin x reader #xiao x reader #tofu.writes

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nagipops · 4 years ago

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hi!! i think the ask box is open right now but what about a fem! reader that was kinda adopted by all the hashiras when she was small, and on her first mission, she gets turned into a demon? and like they're all conflicted but it's kinda sad how the reader wants to die because she was turned :( if you can't write it it's okay! i love ur works sm <3

SWEET NOTHINGS, BITTER ENDINGS PART I.

SUMMARY: in which your overwhelming tenacity leads you to suffer a demonic fate.

WARNINGS: blood, profanity

A/N: thank you darling! this got a bit long so i’ve split it into two parts— the second part will be posted very shortly! link to part two

“(Y/N)!” Giyuu barked. “Get back!”

You steadily held your nichirin blade in front of you with both hands, staring down the towering demon in front of you. Three veiny arms sprouted out from each side of its body, taunting your group as its flaring yellow eyes locked onto yours.

Clutching the handle of your blade tighter, you panted heavily to control your breathing, clenching your teeth. “I’ve got this!” you hollered back, your knuckles turning white.

You heard a clink of metal and the whirling of a sword as a short purple-haired hashira stepped in front of you. “It’s too dangerous.” Her typical honey-sweet voice was darkened with concern and anger. “Please, (Y/N).”

You were shaking with anger, and... envy? All you wanted was to be strong. To bring home a kill on your first mission. To not be seen as a child anymore by the nine pillars who had taken you under your wing when you were just a baby.

I’m not a kid anymore, you wanted to scream. I want to show you what I can do.

“Go,” Giyuu commanded, casting a glance at Shinobu before briefly locking eyes with you. “We’ll handle this.”

Biting your tongue, you glared at the demon for a moment longer before turning on your heel and retreating to the rest of your squad.

“(Y/N)-chan!” Mitsuri wailed, throwing her arms around you. Over her shoulder, you spotted a fuming Obanai glaring daggers at you; whether he was jealous of the pink-haired girl draped over you or angry at your reckless actions, you couldn’t tell. “We were so worried about you!”

“No, we weren’t,” Obanai hissed. “What you did was idiotic and careless. You were putting everyone in danger.”

“Iguro-kun, always so protective!” Mitsuri giggled, patting you on the head before releasing you from her surprisingly tight hold, her expression growing serious. “Tomioka and Shinobu might need our assistance. (Y/N), go find Sanemi and see if he needs help. Iguro, come with me!” She quickly flounced off with a seething Obanai in tow.

Huffing a sigh, you entered the mass of trees behind you to search for the white-haired hashira.

Lofty, swaying pines loomed over you as the sounds of battle crashed throughout the forest. A flock of crows frantically flapped out from the canopy, shooting into the sky as their noisy caws rang through the air. Frigid winds whipped all around you as you hunted down the wind pillar.

A piercing clink of metal, not unlike the noise of a nichirin blade, sounded from your left. Sanemi? Cautiously drawing your sword from its sheath on your hip, you slowly made your way to the source of the noise.

As you neared a small clearing, the sound grew louder and louder, but you still could not locate any hashira or any demons for that matter. You spotted a thick tree to your right and fled over to hide behind it while you scouted out the area.

The clinking continued, and as you listened more closely, it seemed to be coming from...

Above?

Your heart went cold as you realized you didn’t hear any human voices around you.

At all.

You slowly slid your gaze upwards, not daring to move a single muscle.

And there it was. With a rotting arm clutching a chipped, bloodied blade, carving out the remains of a tattered corpse, three feral red eyes piercing through the dark shade and locking onto yours...

A demon.

Fear pooled instantly in your stomach as you felt bile rise in your throat. The putrid stench of rotten flesh and blood nearly made you hurl on the spot, yet your horror kept your nausea at bay.

Were you going to die here?

You felt your terrified breaths grow shallow as the demon above you licked its lips, tossing the corpse down in front of you with a thud.

“N-nemi?” you whispered in fear, praying, praying to the gods that this wasn’t one of your brothers. You quickly studied the corpse and your surroundings, searching for any sign that this bloodied body wasn’t him. You searched for his sword hilt, his white hair, his signature haori, but the darkness of the deep night made any hint or clue futile.

Glaring at the bloodthirsty demon above you, you were petrified with fear. Your heavy feet were locked into place. Your thumping heart nearly burst out of your chest. But you stared the beast down with all your might, slowly reaching your blade out to the corpse in front of you in attempt to retrieve the scrappy remains of what was left of it.

Inch by inch, your gaze unwavering with the demon’s bloodshot eyes, you dragged the body closer and closer to you until it was just within arm’s reach. Steeling yourself, you swiftly grabbed the body and darted away.

You had no time to check whose body you were holding. All you knew was that you had to—

“Kff!”

All of a sudden, your back hit the ground. Hard. With the wind knocked out of your lungs, all you could see was black. You felt your blade slip out of your grasp as your spine seared with red-hot pain. Once you regained your senses, you opened your eyes...

Oh, shit.

Impossibly sharp fangs loomed over you, dripping with foul saliva that oozed onto your heaving chest. Crazed yellow eyes speckled with pumping red veins latched onto yours, a rotting jade-colored head thrashing back and forth as its piercing claws pinned you to the ground. Its breath was the most vile scent you’ve ever smelled in your entire life, reeking of blood and flesh and who knows what else.

And it was just mere inches away from your face.

Stifling a wave of nausea, you swiftly pulled your knees up to your chest and pushed, kicking the demon backwards by its torso as hard as your body would let you.

Darting over to your blade which had fallen to the ground just a few feet away from you, you picked it up and pointed it at the snarling demon who was picking its burly body off of the forest floor.

“You!” you shouted, wiping your slimy face on the sleeve of your uniform. “I’m not scared of you!”

The demon responded with a warbling noise, something that sounded like... laughing?

Your nerves set on fire. Oh, that’s it. You would end this vile monster right here, right now.

“Leaf Breathing, Second Form: Whirlwind of Fronds!” Exhaling sharply through clenched teeth, you felt cool winds start to whip around you, picking up speed as leaves and needles rapidly gravitated towards you as though you were a magnet.

Now!

Growling with fury, you charged at the gremlin with all your might, the swirling flurry of foliage honing in on the center of its chest. Each leaf transformed into sharp, miniature daggers, piercing through the demon’s grayish skin and buying you just enough time to move in close. Wielding your blade with both hands, you raised it above your head before forcefully slicing downwards with a roar, aiming for the neck.

But your opponent was nimble, and it barely dodged its head out of the way, landing you a clean shot down its shoulder to its flank. Shit, the arm can just regenerate itself, you cursed, quickly angling your sword laterally for a slice through the neck as the demon howled in pain.

You slashed your sword as hard as you could, but instead of cutting through soft flesh, you were met with thick, gnarly bone. The demon had raised its other arm in defense, keeping your lethal blade at bay. Struggling to push back against the sturdy bone, you gritted your teeth as you attempted to release your sword from its muscle.

But the demon had already beaten you to it and whipped its hefty arm outwards to shake you off, hurling you across the clearing.

“Hkk!” You landed straight on your back once again with a heavy thud, but you noticed that your blade was still lodged into the creature’s arm. Perfect. Even though single nerve in your body was screaming in pain, even as your limbs trembled as you shakily picked yourself up off the ground, you would never back down from a fight. “Hey, ugly! Let’s finish this!”

The demon howled furiously, clamoring to rip your blade out of its arm.

“Third Form: Drill of Needles!”

Hundreds of thousands of pine needles descended from the midnight sky at your command, whirling into a tight cone while speeding towards the neck of the monster. You heard the earsplitting drilling of flesh and wood followed by a deafening groan and huffed in triumph as the pent-up exhaustion began to release throughout your body.

You nearly hit the ground for the third time when you caught some movement out of the corner of your eye.

Oh, hell no.

There was the same demon, its bright yellow eyes even more furious now, perched high up in a tree.

“B-but...” your mind and vision grew hazy as you noticed the gaping hole in the demon’s chest, with its neck still intact. I missed? You cursed sharply at the sight of your chipped blade thrown carelessly on the ground a great distance away from you.

What do I do? Giyuu, Shinobu, what do I do? Mitsuri? Obanai? Is anyone there?

Your felt your body begin to admit defeat, your legs shaking as they threatened to give out from underneath you, your heaving lungs burning and aching for rest.

The corpse.

Where was the corpse? The same one that got you into this mess?

Sanemi?

You struggled to keep your vision trained on the demon high above as your body started to wobble in exhaustion. “Hey,” you slurred. “Come out here! We’re not— kff! We’re not done yet!”

A snarl sounded from over your shoulder as the familiar stench of rotting flesh flooded your nose once again.

This time, you plummeted to the ground face-first, hearing your nose crack in the process. But your body was too drained for you to properly register the pain.

You were so numb.

Groaning, you slowly rolled onto your back and gazed into the eyes of the demon hovering above you hungrily. Its arm that you had sliced off had already fully recovered, while the other arm choked your neck with an iron grip.

Your vision was nearly white now, your oxygen supply running low as blood trickled out of your neck where the demon’s claw had pierced the skin.

Die. Die. You were going to die. On your first mission. Without a single kill under your belt.

Forcing a smirk onto your face, you squeezed your eyes shut as you endured the pain as best you could. “Hey, now— hck... If there’s anything that Sanemi taught me... it’s that humans... always get the last laugh...” You cracked open one eye, staring straight into the demon’s yellow orbs.

“Noxious... nectar...” you gasped out one last command, watching the bloody pinpricks dotted all around the demon’s greying skin transform into purple specks of poison. The monster thrashed around, violently clutching its head at the pain seeping through its entire body. You watched as your first and last kill take place right in front of you as your vision began to fade.

But not before the demon’s deadly blood dripped into your open wounds.

link to part two.

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#demon slayer #demon slayer headcanons #demon slayer imagines #demon slayer x reader #hashira #kny hashira #kny #kny angst #demon slayer angst #kny x reader #kny imagines #kny headcanons #sanemi imagines #giyuu imagines #mitsuri imagines #shinobu imagines #rengoku imagines #uzui imagines #angst

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a-small-batch-of-dragons · 3 years ago

Text

Dragons Can Be Nice

Prompts: Hello, first off I adore your writing, your stories are among my favorites for this fandom. I have a prompt (but you can feel free to ignore). Can you write some hurt/comfort for character!Thomas? Maybe with him getting stuck/hurt in the Imagination? - anon

Okay I’m not sure about the context but I saw an ask you answered about “what are the dragons names” or something, and I got a flashbulb image of the sides finding a bunch of baby dragons. Just a lot of fluff and baby dragons. Big happy dlampr (platonic/romantic/weird grey area) with a bunch of baby dragons. Janus bleping at the baby dragons. If in canonverse, the imagination is overrun with baby dragons and c!t has some dreams featuring baby dragons. Just. Baby dragons. - anon

*pokes head out* did someone say dragon fluff?

Read on Ao3

Warnings: mild supernatural horror, like really really mild

Pairings: this is platonic all the way down, babes

Word Count: 4481

In a lot of stories, dragons are mean. They kidnap princesses, they hoard gold, they kill knights, they destroy towns. They are evil and scary and not at all what you'd like to run into on a dark night, on your own, far away from help. Witches are very much the same. Dragon witches, then, must be the worst.

But maybe there can be nice dragons, too.

When Thomas was little, he used to spend much more time in the Imagination. Which was good! He likes seeing the things that Roman makes, Roman is really good at his job. His favorite is the big forest because the trees are so tall they look like they go on forever. Logan says they don’t and Logan is really smart but sometimes it looks that way. Roman likes leading Thomas around the forest on their adventures because then they’ll always run into the others too!

Virgil likes sitting near the caves because it’s quieter there and he can play with the rocks. Sometimes he’ll find Virgil near the river. The river wears the rocks nice and smooth and they look so shiny when they come out of the water. Sometimes if it’s really hot he can get Virgil to throw him in the water. Apparently, kids are supposed to like being thrown at things? Logan had some explanation for it but Thomas doesn’t remember.

Janus also likes being in the caves. Janus is…scary sometimes. Thomas has to think really hard when he’s around Janus. And not like how Logan is really smart and makes Thomas smarter by talking and teaching him, but Janus is…tricky. He likes Janus, but sometimes Janus makes his head hurt. He has this smile that he does that makes Thomas feel really small. Patton says Janus cares about him and he wants to believe Patton but sometimes it feels weird. He did tell Janus that one time when he accidentally got lost and started crying when he didn’t know where to go. Janus found him and smiled that smile and it made him cry more so he stopped. He was really nice when Thomas explained that he was lost and scared and cuddled him until Roman came to find him. Janus is a lot nicer after that.

Logan doesn’t always come on their adventures. Roman says that’s ‘cause Logan is boring but that’s not true! (Thomas is pretty sure Roman doesn’t actually think that Logan is boring, he just likes to say it because it makes Logan tease him back.) Logan is really cool, he knows so many things and he’s really good at what he does. When he comes on their adventures, he likes to be the royal advisor. He says that’s the person that tells the prince what to do. Or sometimes he likes to come along to observe the plants. He does experiments in his room that he doesn’t let Thomas see all the time because it’s dangerous. But he does let Thomas help! That’s always nice.

Patton stays home when they adventure most of the time unless they’re going on a picnic. Picnics days are the best days because Roman always makes sure the weather is really nice. Well, except that one time where there was a really far away thunderstorm. Logan said it was because the forest needed a drink which is fair, but the sky had turned purple and it was a bit colder. But then the sunflowers had come out and it was really pretty. But when they’re not on picnics, Patton makes dinner for them so it’s ready when they come back.

Roman has a brother! He does other things in the Imagination, Thomas doesn’t really know what. His name is Remus, and sometimes he comes to play the bad guy when Roman has an adventure. Watching them fight is really cool and it’s Thomas’s job to sneak around while Roman distracts Remus so they can trap him! Remus isn’t really a bad guy, he just likes to mess with his brother sometimes. Thomas gets it. Remus is really good at making sure Thomas is okay, even when he’s being the bad guy. Even when Thomas gets captured he’s really nice. One time he scooped Thomas up when Roman was playing prince with the villagers and carried him away to be ‘kidnapped’ except they just ate ice cream until they got stomach aches. Patton wasn’t very happy that they ruined their dinner appetites but Remus said they just filled up their dessert bellies first so it was fine.

Thomas likes going into the Imagination but he’s always supposed to be with someone. It’s normally Roman, sometimes it’s Logan, sometimes it’s Remus. They’re normally free the most and know the Imagination the best. But sometimes none of them are free and he can’t find anyone else. So he…sneaks in.

It’s fine! He doesn’t go far! He just…sometimes he wants to say hi to the villagers. They’re really nice too and they don’t tell on him when he sneaks in and he’s not supposed to be there. One time he got an entire loaf of bread all to himself and ate it in four big bites.

So he goes in the big red door and just starts walking. He knows where he’s going to get to the pond and he’s not going far. It’s just over the hill. So he walks over the hill. The grass is so green and tall here. He gets to the top of the hill and looks down.

That’s weird. The pond isn’t here.

He shrugs and starts down toward the tall grove of trees. It’s probably just inside the forest and he forgot. The trees are still really tall. So tall he can barely tell which one is the top of which trunk. He pats the trunks as he walks past, saying hello to each tree. When the trees start to grow closer together, he stops patting them, using his hands to push his way around them.

It’s getting darker. Logan says that’s because when the trees grow close together, their leaves form a layer called the canopy, which blocks out a lot of light. Thomas keeps going, frowning as it starts to get colder. Maybe he should’ve brought a jacket.

It’s really dark. Thomas is starting to wish he’d maybe not gone into the forest. Maybe he should’ve just sat on the hill where he could still see the door. But the pond can’t be that much further, he can get there. And then he won’t be scared.

Not that he’s scared!

It’s really cold too. Maybe he should’ve brought a coat. He shivers as he pushes his way around another tree. It’s getting so dark he can’t see very far in front of his face. He almost walks into a tree.

…okay, maybe he should turn around and go back.

He turns around.

And around.

The trees all look the same.

Which way did he come from?

He…he doesn’t know.

Wait, which way was he going?

Thomas spins in the darkness of the trees, searching for something to tell him where he’s supposed to go.

Something snaps.

He freezes, eyes darting around. He can’t see anything.

The forest is silent. Not even the wind makes a noise. His breathing starts to pick up.

Leaves rustle to his left. His head jerks around, straining to see. There’s nothing but the still trunks, nothing but the quiet shifting sound of twigs.

M-maybe if he just picks somewhere to go, eventually he’ll make it out of the forest. And then he can get someone to help him figure out where to go. It’s gonna be fine. He has a plan, he knows what he’s going to do.

The second he takes a step forward, something cracks loudly in the trees.

Roman said that there were big animals in the forest. Remus said there were monsters in the forest. Logan said there was no such thing as monsters.

But Logan isn’t here.

Thomas turns around and starts walking the other way. He’s not going to go toward the big sound. He’s going to go this way instead because that’s his decision, not anyone else’s. And that’s what he wants to do.

The cracking behind him gets louder.

Roman said there was something that he fights that Thomas isn’t allowed to help him fight. It’s too dangerous. It’s big.

The thing behind him sounds big.

Thomas starts walking faster.

Roman said that it wasn’t something Thomas had to worry about.

Another twig snaps and it sounds closer.

Thomas starts running.

Remus said that it was really big. Bigger than the castle Roman built. Remus said it was really scary. That it had sharp claws and big teeth and—and—

Thomas runs around the trees as the snapping and crackling get closer and closer. His chest hurts from breathing so heavily. But he can’t stop. It’s getting closer.

He wants Roman. He wants Remus. He wants someone.

Please, someone, come help.

Behind him, he hears a snarl.

“The Dragon Witch,” Remus says softly, as they wait for Roman to come rescue Thomas, “she’s nasty. Like…nastier than me nasty.”

“But you’re not nasty, Remus, not really.”

“You’re sweet, you little sewer rat, but I mean it. She’s really not nice.” Remus looks at him and Thomas scoots backward. Remus doesn’t have his pretend bad guy face on, he looks really serious. “If you ever think she might be close to you, run. Okay?”

“O-okay.”

Thomas runs.

He runs faster and harder than he ever has in his life and behind him, he thinks he can hear the slither of scales and the scrape of claws as it chases after him. He thinks he can smell the smoke curling out of its nostrils as it finds him in the forest. He thinks he can feel the hot breath of a drooling mouth on his back.

He runs.

He trips.

He falls.

No, no! No, no, no, he has to run, he has to go—he has to get out of here, the—the Dragon Witch is going to get him, he doesn’t want the Dragon Witch to get him, he—oh, why didn’t he just stay out of the Imagination?

And why did they have to watch Sleeping Beauty for movie night?

The memory of Maleficent as the giant dragon on the cliff, breathing fire at Prince Phillip as he tried to fight it off fills his head and Thomas whimpers, curling into a tight ball and pressing himself against a boulder. If he’s really quiet, maybe—maybe it won’t find him.

Fear grips his chest and he curls tighter, maybe that will keep it inside. The rock starts to hurt where it presses against his skin. It’s cold.

He thinks he can hear the Dragon Witch getting closer.

Don’t find me, don’t find me, please don’t find me.

“Thomas? Thomas, where are you?”

Thomas’s breath catches in his throat. Is that—is that Roman?

“Thomas?” It is Roman! “Thomas, it’s dark out, I need you to help me find you, where are you?”

“R-Roman?”

“Thomas!”

In a blur of red and white, Thomas sees Roman rushing out of the trees, looking frantically around for him. He stands shakily, crying out as he leans against the boulder.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Roman pants, smiling as he hurries over to him, “you’re alright, good, come here—“

“I’m—I’m sorry, Roman, I—“

“Shh, shh, shh, it’s okay, sweetheart, you’re okay, that’s what’s important,” Roman coos as he scoops Thomas into his arms, “come on, let’s get you back home.”

And now that Roman is here and he’s carrying Thomas there’s no way the Dragon Witch could be here. Because Roman is here and Roman will keep him safe. The fear in his chest suddenly makes him really cold. He buries his face in the crook of Roman’s neck and holds on tight, stammering out another apology as he starts to cry.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” he hushes, “you’re safe now, I’ve got you. Come on, we’re almost there, the others are worried.”

He feels bad, he didn’t want to make everyone worried.

“None of that,” comes the gentle chide, “we’re always going to worry about you, you’re our Thomas. Let’s get you back safe and we’ll get you something to eat, hmm?”

“O-okay.”

He hooks his chin over Roman’s shoulder and holds on, letting the soft swaying of Roman’s walk soothe some of his fear away. Sooner than he expected, he feels the air change from the chill of the Imagination to the warmth of the apartment.

“Thank goodness, you found him.”

“Is he alright? Is he hurt?”

“Guys, be quiet, he’s tired.”

Thomas cracks an eye open and accidentally makes eye contact with Janus. He flinches away and cuddles closer to Roman.

“Shh, it’s okay,” Roman soothes, “you’re safe now.”

“He’s hurt,” Logan says softly, somewhere out of sight, “Remus, can you go get the first aid kit?”

“On it.”

“Patton, I don’t believe Thomas has eaten recently, you and Virgil—“

“We’re going.”

“We’ve got some pasta left.”

“Thomas?” Logan lays a warm hand on his back. “Can you hear me?”

Thomas nods, his cheek rubbing against the trim on Roman’s shoulder.

“Roman has to go close the door to the Imagination and I’m going to take a look at your ankle. He’s going to have to put you down, alright?”

“Janus,” Roman murmurs, “here—“

“I’ll take him.”

Thomas isn’t proud of the way he clings onto Roman tightly when he tries to set him down.

“It’s alright, sweetheart, it’s just Janus.”

He bites his lip as Roman eases him into Janus’s arms, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Don’t,” comes the quiet voice, as a gloved hand pats his cheek, “you’ll hurt yourself, sweetie.”

Thomas opens his eyes and Janus lifts his chin, smiling softly when he sees Thomas’s eyes are wet with tears.

“Hello, sweetie,” he murmurs, cupping his cheek and pulling him closer on his lap, “just sit with me for a moment, hmm? Logan’s going to have a look at you and then we’ll get you something to eat.”

“A-are you mad?”

Janus tilts his head. “Should we be mad?”

“I’m—I’m sorry—“

“I didn’t ask that,” he corrects softly, his hand still gentle on Thomas’s face, “I asked if we should be mad.”

Thomas gulps. “I…I went into the Imagination when I wasn’t supposed to. I did something you told me not to do.”

“You did.”

“I…I messed up.”

“You did,” he repeats, softer this time, “and then what happened?”

“I—I got lost and it was dark and it got really cold and I thought something was chasing me so I—I ran away and then I fell and it—it hurt and I—I—I’m sorry—“

“You’re scaring him, Janus,” Logan interrupts, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

“Hush, sweetie,” Janus murmurs, pressing a kiss to Thomas’s forehead and pulling him close for a cuddle, “let Logan look at your ankle.”

Logan’s warm hands are practiced as they check his leg. It hurts a little but he can still move it fine. He can’t stop looking warily at Janus, though.

“He’s not going to calm down until you tell him we aren’t mad,” Logan says patiently, wrapping an ice pack around his ankle.

“W-what?”

Janus kisses his forehead again. “No, sweetie, we’re not mad,” he says softly, “it’s true, you shouldn’t have gone in there alone, but you know that and nothing extremely bad happened.”

Thomas gulps.

Janus frowns, pulling back a little. “Thomas? Did something happen?”

“Janus, don’t scare him.”

Janus closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I’m not mad, Thomas. But you should tell us what happened.”

“There,” Logan says, patting Thomas’s knee, “all better. I’m going to go put the first aid kit away, I’ll be back.”

He passes Roman on the way out. Roman smiles and comes over to crouch down next to the couch, ruffling Thomas’s hair.

“Better?”

“Mhm.”

“Then why do you still look like someone told you Disney is never making another movie?”

Thomas shifts in Janus’s arms. “I…I thought the Dragon Witch was chasing me.”

Roman inhales sharply. “The Dragon Witch?”

Thomas nods, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes again, only for Janus to pull him into a proper hug, tucking his face into the softest part of his shoulder and rubbing his back firmly.

“Shh, shh, sweetie,” he whispers, “you’re safe, it’s alright, I’m sorry, that must’ve been so scary.”

Thomas clings onto Janus and cries. Roman’s hand lands in his hair after a moment, stroking gently through the strands and scratching lightly at his scalp.

“It’s alright, sweetheart,” he hears, “you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re alright, we’ve got you now.”

“Was--was the Dragon With re—really after me?”

“No, sweetheart, you know I’d never let that happen to you. She’s far away, far, far away, near where Remus’s side of the Imagination is. There’s no way she would be able to get to you, sweetheart, never in a million years. We’ll keep you safe, you know we will.”

“P-promise?”

“I promise.”

Thomas holds tightly to Janus’s cloak as he turns back around to look at Roman. Roman smiles and ruffles his hair again.

“You still look afraid, sweetie,” Janus says quietly, “is there something else?”

“I jus’—the—dragons are scary,” Thomas mumbles, twisting the hem of his shirt in his hands. “I don’t…don’t wanna have nightmares.”

Roman makes a soft noise of understanding. “Dragons don’t all have to be scary,” he says softly, “there can be plenty of nice dragons too.”

“Really?”

“Sure.” He turns to see Logan coming back in. “Logan, there can be nice dragons too, right?”

Logan blinks. “Yes, theoretically, there can be both nice dragons and dragons that aren’t nice. Why do you ask?”

His gaze lands on Thomas and his face softens. Logan’s really smart.

“Ah, I see.” He comes back to sit on the couch. “Most dragon young are quite nice.”

“They are?”

“In most versions of dragon mythology,” Logan says softly, “dragons are born from eggs like most reptiles are. The mother lays her eggs in her nest, often in a cave or somewhere else dark and safe, and guards them until they hatch.”

He cups his hands together in front of him.

“Most of the pups are about this big when they’re first born and their scales still haven’t hardened yet. The scales harden after about a week, once the dragons’ body has finished solidifying.”

“Solid—what?”

“Solidifying. An egg is only so big, little one, fitting an entire dragon pup inside one is no small feat. Do you remember trying to stuff all the LEGOs back into the bag they came out of?”

“And missing like…four,” Roman huffs, “yes, Logan, we remember.”

“If the LEGOs could bend—which they can’t, so don’t ask,” Logan says, narrowing his eyes at Roman, “it would be easier. Dragon scales don’t harden fully until they’re out of the egg and they never need to go back in.”

“So…they’re…soft?”

“Smooth, perhaps, I don’t know about soft.” Logan shifts to ease a cramp in his leg. “Dragon pups are also very curious, according to most of the literature surrounding them, they love exploring. From most of the stories, they are very friendly as well.”

“See?” Roman pats his shoulder. “Nice dragons.”

“Nice dragons,” Thomas repeats, his eyes starting to droop.

“Don’t fall asleep just yet, sweetie, let’s get you something to eat.”

Thomas sits at the table with everyone else, eats his food, and lets Remus scoop him up and carry him to bed once it’s clear he won’t stay awake through dessert.

“There we go,” Remus says softly, getting him tucked into bed, “all better now. Your ankle okay?”

“Mhm.” Thomas blinks sleepily up at him. “Tired.”

“Well, yeah, I bet.” Remus pats his head. “You go to sleep now, okay?”

“R-Remus?”

“What’s up, little sewer rat?”

“C-Can you stay? Just for a bit?”

Remus softens, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Still scared, huh? Hey,” he murmurs when Thomas nods, his cheeks burning, “you’re okay, it’s okay. I’ll stay. Nothing’ll get you while I’m here.”

“Promise?”

“I’m the only bad guy allowed to play with you,” Remus says firmly, “you go to sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”

Thomas closes his eyes as he feels Remus shift on the end of the bed. The weight is a comfort. And Remus is right, nothing can get him while Remus is here.

Logan’s words drift back to him as he starts to fall asleep. Little baby dragons. Curious baby dragons. Nice baby dragons.

Maybe he can dream of those.

————————————

There is a pond in the Imagination that is halfway between the border to Remus’s side and the castle on Roman’s side. The water is crystal clear and several lily pads float in the center of the water. Trees let their flower petals drift down to land in the water, sending little ripples bouncing back and forth.

In the middle of the pond one morning is a giant nest.

Roman finds it, walking through the Imagination on his way to meet with Remus. He pauses, tilts his head, and begins to call it toward him. Perhaps one of the birds accidentally forgot to secure their nest properly and it blew into the pond. As it drifts closer to him, he frowns.

This is much bigger than most bird nests, even John Feathers’s nest over on the mountains. He keeps pulling it closer until it bumps up against the shore. He crouches down and peers inside.

His eyes widen.

The inside of the nest is lined with moss, the soft green color coming through the shiny insides of egg shards strewn about the branches. They catch the light and shine brightly, almost blinding him, at least until they’re trodden upon and break up even more.

And crawling about, sniffing eagerly at the branches, the moss, the air, and his fingers, are tiny dragon pups.

One of them, a brave little one with red ridges across its brow and a golden sheen to its scales, scurries up the side of the nest and noses at his hand. He turns it over, mystified, as it begins to sniff his palm. It sets one clawed foot inside, then another, then another, until it stands perfectly in his hand. It raises its little head and chirps at him. Roman blinks and slowly lifts his hand, watching as the dragon pup chirps again, happily this time, as it spreads its wings and stretches.

“Ro-Bro! You’re late, what’re you—“ Remus’s delighted gasp comes from his left— “you found babies!”

Indeed, another one of the pups with a black streak down its wings scrambles out of the nest and scurries over the rocks to Remus, clawing its way up his pants to nibble excitedly at the white streak in his hair. Remus laughs, catching the pesky little pup around the middle and setting it on top of his head.

“I love them!”

“I can see that,” Roman chuckles, the dragon pup in his hand making the jump to his shoulder, “I think it likes you too.”

“Where did they come from?”

“I think Thomas is dreaming.” As if in confirmation, the dragon pup lets out a rumble and nuzzles his shoulder. “Yeah? Are you dreams, little ones?”

Another purr and a series of excited chirps from the nest.

“Well, we’ve gotta get the others!” And before Roman can say anything, Remus has summoned the other Sides into the Imagination. “Look!”

Patton squeals and rushes for the nest, despite Logan’s quick protest of not scaring the babies.

“They’re dreams, Logan,” Roman says quickly, “they’re harmless.”

“I see.”

Patton, of course, already has two in his lap and is cooing over them as they chirp and sing and twine together in his lap. Logan rolls his eyes fondly and squats down next to the nest. One of the dragon pups immediately scurries up and stands on its hind legs, leaning up to sniff at his nose.

“Hello,” Logan murmurs, “you’re very interesting.”

The dragon clicks back, seemingly as interested in Logan as Logan is in it. It flaps its wings a few times, hovering in the air, before landing carefully on Logan’s knee. It scratches lightly at the fabric of his jeans.

“Here…” Logan sits down as Roman bites back a smile. “There, is that better?”

The dragon chirps, waddling forward to take his tie in its mouth and tug lightly.

“That’s my tie, little one.”

Virgil hides a snort at watching Logan and the dragon pup examine each other, before his attention is caught by a tiny squeak from under the nest. He frowns, leaning down, expression softening when he sees a dragon pup hiding out of sight.

“Hey, there, bud,” he says softly, “you okay down there?”

The dragon pup flinches a little, cowering against the nest.

“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you.” He slowly offers a hand. “Why don’t you come out of there? That’s can’t be comfortable.”

The little pup sniffs at his hand.

“See? I’m not gonna hurt you. You can come out, it’s okay.” Virgil takes a seat on the ground and plucks a berry from a nearby bush. “You hungry?”

“Dragons are carnivores, Virgil.”

“Well, maybe these ones can also eat berries.”

“Maybe.”

Indeed, as the little dragon pup starts to crawl warily forward, taking the berry in its mouth, it seems to like it. Virgil smiles as the dragon crawls into his lap and curls protectively around the berry.

“See?”

“Alright, perhaps they do like berries.”

“You should write that down in your—“ Virgil cuts himself off before swatting Roman’s shoulder— “look at J.”

“What?”

“Shh, look at J!”

Roman turns, as does Logan.

Janus is sprawled out on one of the big flat rocks near the pond with at least three of the pups on his stomach. One of them has the cloak flopped over it like a blanket, kneading it with its talons. One of them is completely splayed out, wings wide, rolling back and forth on the soft ruffles.

And one of them is staring at Janus with its tongue hanging out.

Janus’s tongue is poking out too.

“Aww! Janus is blepping!”

“I am not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“Am not!”

See? There are nice dragons after all.

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#dragonbabbles #fic #sanders sides #roman sanders #remus sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #logan sanders #janus sanders #deceit sanders #sympathetic deceit #sympathetic remus

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guqin-and-flute · 3 years ago

Text

And A-Fu Makes 4--Ch. 3

[Happy belated birthday, Jingyi! 🥳]

[Ao3 Link]

Things got a little better in school. Not too much. What they were learning was so boring that paying attention didn’t really make it better even when he did use his new rocks so his ears woke up. His ears just didn’t like what they were hearing. When Yellow-Father visited the Cloud Recesses and gathered him up and asked him all smiley what his favorite thing from class today was, A-Fu scowled. “When I leaved. ”

Yellow-Father’s eyebrows went crinkly. “An education like this is a great privilege, Fufu. You’re very lucky.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t feel lucky. Not never.”

His father’s crinkles turned into a little frown and he said, all serious, “There are a great many people who never get to go to school, let alone have the life you’re going to have.”

“Then they’re the lucky ones.”

After that, Yellow-Father closed his eyes and took a deep breath before smiling and asking if he found any good bugs lately--which was such good timing because A-Fu had ! He got to show Yellow-Father the little house he had made for them in the back garden with mud and sticks and a couple rocks--unfortunately, only a couple had actually stayed inside. And maybe that was because they were too busy sleeping on their backs with their legs all curled up but that was okay, because he held them up all proud and Yellow-Father agreed that yes, they were a very nice find and now he could go and wash his hands.

What actually really started to make school lucky was that they began going outside to train and use their practice swords more. A-Yuan may have been good at everything else and just a little bigger than him, but A-Fu was starting to feel great when he got to swing his sword around all strong and fast like his fathers. Up until now, no one at Cloud Recesses had let him whack anything, practically--it was all ‘hold it like this’ and ‘bow like this’ and ‘etiquette etiquette etiquette’. Blah blah blegh. Just another thing to forget. But A-Fu was finding out that his body was pretty good at remembering things, even if his brain wasn’t, and one time, even the teacher passed by and nodded, saying, “Just like that, Lan Fu,” and the sun came up in his chest all sparkly and happy.

He grinned over at A-Yuan, who was concentrating really hard on swinging straight down and didn’t see him, but it was totally okay, because the teacher had told him that he was good! He was doing so good!

After class, he ran all the way home through the sun coming down through the trees to the Hanshi and told the whole entire thing to Blue-Father about 5 times as they walked to the secret bunny patch in the woods. He even stopped on the path to stand with his practice sword to show him his stance and everything. “I’m so proud of you,” Blue-Father had said with a wide, warm smile, waiting for him to catch back up. “You’ve been working very hard.”

“I have! Watch, watch--I can do it so fast! So much faster than A-Yuan! I’m gonna kill all the bad guys!”

Blue-Father shook his head, still smiling, turning to walk beside him with Shuoyue held behind his back. “We should use our swords to protect people.”

Right away, A-Fu copied him, holding his practice sword behind him with his shoulders all straight and his chest puffed out. Their footsteps crunched on the white rocks, every once in a while matching up on a step. A-Fu tried to make them match more, but Blue-Father’s legs were too long. “Yeah, from bad guys that I’m gonna kill! When is the next war?” he asked, looking up at his blue father, all calm and tall against the trees. “Are we gonna win it?”

“Wars are not scheduled, silly boy. Nor should we wish for them.” He held out his hand--A-Fu switched his sword hand and took it as they kept walking. “Your die’s have fought very hard to give you a world free of war.”

What? That was the worst news! “No more wars ? How is people supposed to be heroes, then? That’s not fair, all you got to be heroes! Die, you shouldn’t have ruined it for the rest of us.”

Blue-Father gave a small hum of laughter through his nose before looking down at him with a smaller smile, shaking his head again. “In truth, wars aren’t about glory or heroes. A good leader sees them as a last resort, not something to seek out. The ones who suffer the most are the people who cannot protect themselves and those left behind--and so we dedicate ourselves to the service of those who need us. That should be your goal if you want to be a hero, not the killing. It's what your Uncle Wangji does, when he can. He is known for being where the chaos is.” He looked out into the deep green of the forest shadows. “There is nothing wrong with a peaceful life.”

A-Fu rolled his eyes and leaned way over, hanging from Blue-Father’s hand. “Boooring. I wanna fight--kshh kshh ksshhew!” he added really loud as he reached out to beat up a rock right next to the path, whacking it so loud ‘tok’s echoed around them, scaring a squirrel up a branch.

Blue-Father’s hand squeezed and tugged him back carefully. “A-Fu, don’t treat your sword that way, use it with respect.”

Sulkily, A-Fu stuck it behind his back again.

“And you will have plenty of opportunities to fight, in the life we lead. What’s more important is to have empathy and kindness. Ah, Wangji.” He nodded to him as they finally stepped into the little meadow, bunnies hopping up eagerly to see if they had treats in their pockets. “A-Yuan!” He added with delight as A-Yuan raced up and grabbed onto his thigh with a big grin.

Excited, A-Fu pulled his hand away and wrapped around his other leg, linking his feet behind his heel. “Walk! Walk!” he hollered and so Blue-Father did, walking with careful straight leg steps all around the bunny patch while they both giggled into each others faces when they swung by and the little white puffballs of rabbits scattered in front of them.

A-Fu loved playing near the rabbit hutches with his family--it smelled like sweet hay the rabbits ate and the clean water smell of the stream nearby which made cheerful noises. Some sun came through the thick leaves, but not a ton, so it was green and shady, even on sticky hot days. The grass was thick and fun to jump around and dance and wrestle on.

After 3 times around the whole meadow, Blue-Father shooed them off so he could sit, and A-Fu shyly went with A-Yuan over to go say hi to Uncle Wangji where he sat watching them with a guqin on his knees and a bunny nestled in the corner of his thigh. A-Fu showed him that he still had his rocks from school, tucked in his inner pockets, snug and warm. Uncle Wangji nodded with a little smile and A-Fu felt all shiny and bubbly and thought that this was maybe one of the best days ever. He sat right next to him, leaning on his leg, and told him what songs he wanted them to play when Blue-Father took out his xiao. The grownups played lots of music while they were there; dancey ones and pretty ones and boring ones they played all slow and sad. It was nice because the music was kept close by all the huge trees, like a private recital. A-Fu danced with A-Yuan to the fast ones, pretended to be underwater for the slow ones, then chased the bunnies around when there were too many of those--until A-Yuan made him stop.

Eventually, though, fathers started talking in between the songs, and that got long enough that the instruments just stayed in their laps and A-Fu got bored. Then, he had the greatest idea. He grabbed A-Yuan’s hand and pulled him up so his special speckley rabbit hopped out of his lap. (A-Fu had named it Poop-Eater and A-Yuan had named it Turnip and they both would not use each other’s name--A-Fu because he thought it was lame and A-Yuan because he thought it was gross--even though it was true , because he did eat poop, A-Fu had seen it.) Dragging A-Yuan over to where the grass was long and soft and pretty un-nibbled, he said, “Let’s do a dueling!”

A-Yuan held out his arms wide, showing him in his sleeves. “But I don’t have my practice sword.”

“Hmph. Well, okay, I have mine...so the duel is who can swing the sword the best. You go first.”

A-Yuan scrunched his face up and looked back at where Blue-Father and Uncle Wangji were chatting quietly about something, both petting the sleeping bunnies in their laps. “Do I gotta? I’m playing in bunnies and I'm tired.”

“Yes, we gotta, for really real! We can play in bunnies after!”

After one more longing look at the rabbits, A-Yuan sighed. “Okay.”

They practiced, back and forth and back and forth, and since A-Fu was so good in class, he was able to tell his cousin that his hands weren’t holding it right. Then, that his feet weren’t right, and then that he wasn’t swinging it fast enough or straight enough. It felt great to be the one in charge, the one who knew all the right answers, for once. Eventually, he rolled his eyes and asked, all smug, “Did you even pay attention in class? It’s not that hard. Are you trying at all?”

Right away, he knew he messed up.

A-Yuan’s face got all wobbly and red and his eyes went shiny. He dropped the sword and ran to Uncle Wangji sobbing, saying that A-Fu was being mean to him. A-Fu’s tummy dropped into his feet like when he had jumped off the too high wall. He ran to go hide behind his father--but, of course, he didn’t let him. Blue-Father found his hand and tugged him to his feet and made him stand up straight and tell them what happened. Uncle Wangji sat on the grass and held A-Yuan under his chin and listened to A-Fu explain with a quiet face that didn’t show what he was thinking at all. “I wasn’t making fun of him! We were playing!” There was a long silence, and A-Fu squeezed his eyes shut and covered his ears. “I’m not lying!”

Blue-Father’s even voice said, “Then tell us, A-Fu.”

Desperately, A-Fu looked up at him where he stood, still covering his ears. He was looking down at him with a serious face, eyebrows raised. He wouldn’t let Uncle Wangji yell at him.

...Right?

“Diedie… ”

“We need to take responsibility for the hurt we have caused. There is no getting out of it.”

“You were making fun of me,” A-Yuan sniffed, all miserable, turning in Uncle Wangji’s lap to look at him.

Everyone else was looking at him, too, and A-Fu got all hot and squirmy and ashamed because now everyone was mad and hated him. “I was just...I was teaching him...he wasn’t doing it right…” he whispered, his eyes all blurry.

He just wanted to be good at something. Why was he in trouble for being better than A-Yuan at something when A-Yuan had so many other things he was better at? It wasn't fair.

Uncle Wangji looked at A-Yuan, whose lip trembled as he said in a voice like a wobbly guqin string, “But you said it so mean.”

“I didn’t! That’s how they teach me !” A-Fu cried, pulling his hand down from his ear to scrub at his tears.

“Do you know it is wrong?” Uncle Wangji’s voice was quiet--which definitely wasn't yelling but it sure felt like it.

A-Fu just covered his face and didn’t say anything.

“Should you do it, if you are aware?”

“...No.”

Blue-Father knelt down beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. “You know that this is not how we treat people. You need to practice empathy--think of how he is feeling. If it hurts you, it will hurt him. What do we say to A-Yuan?”

When A-Fu looked back at A-Yuan, seeing him still crying made A-Fu start crying again, which made A-Yuan start crying again and they hugged and A-Fu said he was so so sorry and he would never ever say anything mean to him ever again. A-Yuan forgave him right away, like he always did and hugged him back super tight. A-Fu saw Blue-Father smile a little at Uncle Wangji--who gave a teeny smile back. (A-Fu was getting better at being able to see them. They were there! Just quieter.) Then they both curled up on Blue-Father’s lap and played with the bunnies while Uncle Wangji played more nice songs on the guqin and things just all got so much better.

‘Empathy’ was a Blue-Father word--A-Fu noticed it popping up, like Blue-Father kept it in his pocket. Whenever he yelled when he got too mad or did something without thinking or talked before his mind caught up, it was ‘empathy empathy empathy’. Maybe it was his favorite or something.

Some of his other grown ups had pocket words, too--Great-Uncle Qiren’s was ‘Prohibited’ or ‘Impertinent’ and Yellow-Father’s was ‘Careful’. When A-Fu started looking, he kept noticing it more and more--when he played with A-Qiang a little too rough or balanced on the edge of the koi pond, he got a 'careful'. When he ran around right after a bath, he got a “Fufu, careful! ”

One time, he got a ton of ‘carefuls’ in a row, when he was in Koi Tower and he snuck out behind the nanny’s backs again. He went around and around in the halls to lose them until he was almost dizzy and when he finally stopped, he realized he didn’t recognize anything--there were no windows and more doors than usual, dark and sturdy. The walls didn’t have as many fancy curlicues and dangly bits as the rest of Koi Tower, more plain blue with just some gold circles studding the pillars every once in a while. Well. A-Fu just had no idea where this was.

He wasn’t worried, though, because when he poked his head around a corner, he spotted Yellow-Father facing away, talking to a black and gold someone in a doorway, so he dashed down the hall and catapulted into his father’s legs and yelled a hello with a big grin. It wasn’t until he looked up at his father’s face that he noticed he wasn’t smiling back like he usually was. His expression was all tight and unhappy, his eyes darting between A-Fu and the man he was talking to.

The man was smiling down at him, though. But his eyes weren't friendly--they were dark and... waiting. They glittered like a snake and A-Fu even liked snakes--but he was pretty sure that people shouldn’t have the same sort of eyes.

Yellow-Father’s hand squeezed his shoulder as he tried to turn him around quick. “Fufu, you are not allowed down here, you need to--”

But A-Fu spotted something and he squirmed back around in his hands. “Why do you have that?” He pointed at the man’s hand where it sat on his hip with only the pinky covered by the black leather of his glove. “That’s weird.”

“Lan Fu-- ”

The fact that Yellow-Father just full-named him flew out of his head because A-Fu decided right then and there that he didn’t like this guy when he said, “Wow, you’re a rude little shit, aren’t you?” Then, the stranger man tilted his head, his wide, weird smile growing wider and weirder. “Ooooh, is this Er-ge’s spawn?”

A-Fu jutted his chin forward and folded his arms. “No, I’m--”

“That’s enough. I think you have somewhere to be,” Yellow-Father said. And A-Fu froze, looking up at him with wide eyes. Because Yellow-Father was never rude, no matter what--but his voice had been rough and cold like ice and he was staring at the snake eyed man. And he was finally smiling; all hard like a warning.

For some reason, that seemed funny to Snake Eye Guy and his teeth peeked through. “You’re not even going to introduce us?”

“No.” Yellow-Father took A-Fu by both shoulders and turned him, marching him right back down the hall.

“Rude. Do you like sweets, brat?” Snake Eye Guy called after them.

A-Fu scowled back over his shoulder as Yellow-Father kept steering him in front down the hallway, almost tripping him on his feet. “Yeah,” he said, super tough, just like Gray-Father would. “Why?”

“Come find me if you ever want any.” Then, he laughed, delighted when Yellow-Father’s fingers tightened on his shoulder like claws. “Oh, what, Lianfang-zun? What do you think I’m going to do to him? It’s just candy.” His mocking followed them around the corner A-Fu had to take at a jog.

Yellow-Father had hustled them down the strange corridors until they found the sun again. He was still squeezing until A-Fu yelped that he was squishing his bones out, and he let go right away. When he stopped to kneel down and rub them, he started scolding with a worried frown, “Fufu, you cannot keep doing this. You need to stay with your nannies and out of places that are not meant for you. You have to be more careful.”

A-Fu just wanted to know who that guy was and why his hand was like that and why he was so weird and why was Yellow-Father so mad at him and did he really have candy?

And Yellow-Father wouldn’t answer any of his questions at all. He just kept saying, so serious, that A-Fu could never be around him again or talk about him and that he needed to be careful. And usually A-Fu was annoyed at new rules, but this one seemed to make sense. It would also be pretty easy to follow, because he gave him the creeps and he didn't really want to have to talk to him again. But he still wanted to know-- “Why?”

“He’s not someone a child should be around. If he ever tries to talk to you again, you come and find me right away, Fufu. Do you promise me?”

“Who was he?”

“Do you promise ?”

A-Fu had to think. “Yeah. Why?”

“Just...don’t worry about him. You shouldn’t see him again, but if you do, leave at once.”

“Are you mad? Why can’t I talk about him?”

“...Because it would be gossip. Gossip is forbidden.”

A-Fu guessed that made sense. Maybe. He reached up and grabbed Yellow-Father’s hat dangly, asking, “Are you mad? Are you mad at me?”

Yellow-Father sighed and rubbed his face and then finally smiled at him, all squinchy and small and harassed. “No. No, I’m not mad. I’m sorry.” He pulled A-Fu in close and squeezed, kissing his forehead.

“Is he a bad guy?” A-Fu asked Yellow-Father’s neck. “I can beat him up for you, I’m getting really good at swords.”

Yellow-Father huffed out a breath and smoothed A-Fu’s hair down. “I’m sure you are. But no. Just...just be more careful. Don’t come here again. Stay with your nannies.”

“Why? Careful what?”

Yellow-Father pulled back and rubbed his temple. “It’s time to go back, now--and no more escaping! You can’t be so naughty, what are you going to do to my heart, making me worry? I’m going to have to have a talk with your nannies….”

If ‘Careful’ was Yellow-Father’s pocket word, maybe one of Gray-Father’s pocket words was the grownup word 'Conviction'. A-Fu first learned about it when he went to stay at the Unclean Realm for a whole entire month in the summer.

It was so much fun--he went into town with Uncle Huaisang a lot and hid in the sweet smelling fabric at the silk shops and got a little toy fan, just like Uncle Huaisang’s. Almost every day they went down and both got candied hawthorn sticks as they walked around and looked at things. A-Fu’s favorites were the toy stands--he got pinwheels for him and A-Yuan and A-Ling and A-Kui. He tried to get them in all the Clan Colors but they didn’t have red, so he got A-Kui yellow, too.

Sometimes, though, they would go into the forest and find a little stream where Uncle Huaisang would tie up their sleeves and they would try to catch fish with their hands. Uncle Huaisang was really bad at it and A-Fu told him so. He got so offended that he splashed him and got his robes all wet. And one day, they followed a little blue bird for-ev-er until A-Fu started complaining and scared it away. Uncle Huaisang had paid him in candy to not repeat any of the words he yelled at the sky as it flew off above the trees. Oh well. A-Fu liked hunting for things on the ground more anyway, like frogs or turtles. They couldn’t fly away and they were easy to stuff in his pockets or his sleeves. One time, he brought back, like, five toads and Gray-Father said the same bad words as Uncle Huaisang when they got on his important letters. From then on, toads were banned from the Unclean Realm, which made A-Fu grumpy. But at least he still had the 3 salamanders he found and he was learning new vocabulary words, like he did for school.

Other times, he would help weed and water the vegetable garden out behind Uncle Huaisang’s room. They had planted it together the last time that A-Fu had stayed a million years ago and things were still growing--but there were a couple beans and lettuce and carrots he got to munch on after they rinsed them off. It was kind of boring, but he got to look for worms and eat, so it wasn’t so bad.

Nie Zonghui, Gray-Father’s second in command, always had a nice smile and showed him how he could use his double sabers, which was the coolest thing next to Baxia. Now that he actually knew things about swords, A-Fu followed him around a lot when he was doing practice drills in the training yard with all the pink flower trees around it, copying his moves with sticks, since his practice sword was back in the Cloud Recesses. “I’m not certain I should be teaching you these,” Nie Zonghui said with a smile down at him as A-Fu hacked at a practice dummy’s butt. “Sabers and swords use different techniques and I don’t want to spoil your learning before you even start.”

“Well, if it’s my sword, I can use it how I want, right?”

“Mm. Not quite. You’ll be taught Lan skills.”

A-Fu frowned, wiping sweat off of his face with his sleeve, then shoving his headband up when it slipped. “Then I’ll get two--one sword, one saber and I’ll use them in two hands like you and it will be the coolest thing anyone has ever seened.”

Nie Zonghui grinned and looked over at the Nie shijie that was snickering nearby at the next dummy. “Uh, that will be a sight. I look forward to it.”

A-Fu nodded firmly at them. “Yeah, you do that.”

When Gray-Father stopped doing boring work talking to people and came out on the training grounds, A-Fu would challenge him to a duel and fight him with a Nie practice saber. It didn't always go so well because Gray-Father knew more moves, but when it got too complicated, A-Fu just whacked his shins and knees really hard and then tackled his tummy so they fell on the dirt and laughed. When Gray-Father wasn’t around, the cool Nie disciples sometimes let him whack them in the knees! He just had to promise to avoid the nards, which he thought was fair.

He would go walking and playing with Gray-Father on days where he was back from Night Hunting and meetings, riding on his back or one shoulder like he was Clan Leader--or even a King! When he sat up there, he was so tall, he could probably be in charge of anybody! Sometimes Gray-Father was grumpy and not in the mood for a lot of wrestling. Sometimes he told A-Fu to ‘calm down and cut it out’ when he got super bouncy or loud. But most times, he was happy to see A-Fu and threw him up into the air or pretended to eat him or asked him all about his day. And A-Fu was so super happy to see him too, because he missed him.

Sometimes, though, he got a little sad and missed Blue-Father and A-Yuan and his Cloud Recesses friends and the bunnies and Uncle Wangji and even Great-Uncle Qiren. Sometimes, he had nightmares where he woke up in a place he didn’t know and no one would look at or talk to him. Those times, Gray-Father would let him crawl into bed once he knocked on the door. He would hug him close to his chest and pat his back and say that he missed Blue-Father, too, and he wouldn’t ever leave A-Fu anywhere he didn’t know. The Unclean Realm was his home, just like Cloud Recesses and just like Koi Tower, but he just had a whole bunch more practice of Cloud Recesses. He was used to the night noises of the bugs and the shush of the tree outside his window when the wind blew. Well, he told his father, A-Fu just needed to stay here more often, that’s all! And he had smiled.

When Gray-Father heard about how good he was getting at swords in school, he was so totally proud of him. His father ruffled up his hair and smushed his cheeks and said, “Practicing a lot, are you? You’re going to be a fearsome warrior just like your die? Smite all the evil?”

A-Fu got that happy sparkly feeling bubbling up again. “Yeah!”

Uncle Huaisang grinned and fwipped his fan shut, patting A-Fu’s shoulder with it. “Ah, good job, good job! What about reading and writing, xiao-Fu? I bet your calligraphy is going to be impeccable!”

A-Fu wrinkled his nose--peckable? "We don't keep birds like that in the Cloud Recesses, shushu," he reminded him, all patient. Ugh, did he ever think about anything else besides birds?

His uncle and his father looked at each other. "Oh, of course! My mistake. But I bet with your shu-gong on your case, you're the top of the class!"

A-Fu shrugged, flapping his toy fan open and closed really fast, the way that made Uncle Huaisang wince (and he did). “I hate reading. It’s stupid and hard. I like doing swords way more, I’m better at stabbing. ” When he said it, he jabbed the fan forward with both hands toward Gray-Father’s chest.

Gray-Father did a complicated twisty thing with his hand and snatched it right from A-Fu’s fingers, bopping him on the head with it. “Good boy, practicing.”

A-Fu wrapped both arms around the sting and scowled. “Hey!”

Uncle Huaisang sighed. "Aiya, another one. Promise me you'll at least still paint with me?"

Before he could answer, Gray-Father asked, “How are you with a bow and arrow? Have you started yet? Maybe we could try hunting sometime soon.”

Uncle Huaisang made a scrunchy face, folding his arms. “Da-ge, don’t you think that’s too rough for him? And... would Er-ge approve?”

Some of the happy went away from Gray-Father’s face and he looked over at Uncle Huaisang. “I went out with die around his age. And Xichen has agreed that he should have a broad education.”

“But he’s just a baby!”

What!

Extremely offended, A-Fu puffed up and raised his fists. “I’m not a baby! I can hunt! Die, die, I can hunt, can’t I?”

“Of course you can. I can take you later today. How about it?”

When A-Fu cheered, Uncle Huaisang rolled his eyes and muttered something, fanning himself real fast.

When they went, it was still a nice day but the sun was so bright when it peeked through the leaves, A-Fu had to squint against it and sweat kept trickling down his neck, even though the air was cool up in the mountains. They were both clopping through the forest on Gray-Father’s big brown horse, Leiting, with A-Fu perched in front on the saddle. He felt very important and tall and he kept very quiet just like Gray-Father told him to be, looking around with his practice bow in his lap. When he snuggled back against him, he felt Gray-Father chuckle in his belly and he reached down to pat A-Fu’s chest. Then, his father sat up, straight and quick, and twisted to the side, shooting his bow with a twunnnnng before A-Fu even knew what was happening.

And it turned out that Uncle Huaisang was actually right.

Because when they got down and found the arrow butt poking up from the bushes, A-Fu’s tummy clenched up tight like a fist. The other end was stuck in a bunny. It was lying there all floppy with blood coming out of its mouth and nose. The one dark eye he could see was looking at the sky, reflecting the sun coming through the leaves. It wasn’t moving. It wasn’t ever gonna move again.

It was dead.

And all A-Fu could think was that this bunny wasn’t ever going to feel the hot sun again or eat a flower or anything.

He had heard about killing before, and he knew what dead was. Kind of. Sort of. He had just never thought about it for Really Real, actually happening. It was for stories and legends. It hadn’t meant anything before now.

Suddenly, the nice day was horrible and awful and he burst into tears, startling Gray-Father and Leiting, who swung his huge head around to stare at all the noise. Then, he puffed out a breath and shook his head with a jangle.

“Why did w-we gotta shoot it!? It’s j-just a bun-unny!”

Gray-Father frowned and knelt down next to him, a hand on his shoulder. “What did you think hunting was, child?”

“I do- hic- on't know! Why did you do that?!”

“We hunt animals and take them home for their fur and meat. For food.”

He stared down at the bunny’s big gray body, just laying there on the ground. “Food?!”

“That’s how we eat. What did you think was in rabbit stew?”

“I don’t k-know ! Bits! P-Parts!”

With a face screwed up, Gray-Father pinched his nose with his fingers, then looked at A-Fu again. “You thought we just cut parts of an animal off? That would be cruel, their legs and things don’t grow back. Chicken is chickens. Pork is pigs. We kill them and eat their meat, just like wolves and tigers do. It’s the natural order of things.”

This was the worst news in the world. All this time, he had been eating silly chickens and fluffy rabbits? They were dying? No wonder there were Lan rules about not eating meat or killing in the Cloud Recesses! He wrapped his arms around his tummy and yelled, “I hate it!! I’m-m never gonna kill an-nything ever!”

Sighing, Gray-Father picked him up. A-Fu put his arms around his neck and wiped his nose on his shoulder, smushing his face into his chest. He smelled like leather and the sun. With a thump, Gray-Father sat down on something, maybe a log, patting his back. “We are cultivators. One day, it will be your job to kill evil things--”

“Bunnies aren’t bad guys! They never hurt anyone! ”

Pat pat. “I never said that. Listen to me. You don’t have to like it, but it’s important to know what goes into your food. Everything in this world has its price.”

“I’m n- never gonna eat meat ag-gain!”

“Child--”

“No ! Never! It’s ho-horrible!”

A-Fu felt him heave another sigh as he kept pat-patting. “Alright, alright, deep breath. It’s your choice--you’ll be like your Blue-die and rest of the Lan. If this is what you decide, then we’ll make you vegetarian food when you come here...and I’m sure the cooks in Koi Tower will do the same. But you can’t be picky about what you eat, because you need to grow up strong. You’ll eat what’s put in front of you.” Gray-Father peeled him back and looked down at him with a serious face as A-Fu sniffled. “That means no more of Jin-shao-furen’s rib and lotus root soup or pork bao. No sneaking things with meat from the kitchen just because you get tired of it. If you have a conviction about something, you stick to it. It means nothing if it changes when you please--that’s not conviction, that’s convenience. Do you understand?”

This was obviously a way bigger decision than he had thought when he first said it. He scrubbed at his eyes and stared at the threads sparkling on his father’s robes in the sunlight as he thought. They were bright gold in the dark green, like the fish scales in Uncle Zixuan and Aunt Yanli’s koi pond. “...N-no more pork bao? Or bo-mu’s soup?”

Gray-Father raised his eyebrows and nodded. “Or chicken or fish or any sort of meat.”

He snuck another peek over at the arrow poking up out of the bushes, then stuck out his chin, crossed his arms and announced, “Yes. Never.”

With a big, rough thumb, Gray-Father wiped his tears away from his cheeks, then rested his hand on his shoulder. It was really warm. “Alright. Think more before you decide, because it’s a big change. And if you believe in something, I expect you to mean it.”

A-Fu wasn’t going to think more because he meant it, he really, really did. He didn’t even look at the body of the rabbit as Gray-Father brought it home and he hid behind his hands when they stopped by the kitchen to drop it off. When a golden Jin butterfly fluttered from the sky, Gray-Father scowled and lifted A-Fu down from Leiting’s big back and set him on the ground. “Go find Huaisang. I’ll be by later.”

Instead, A-Fu first wandered to his room and ate the rest of the sticky candied hawthorn that he had forgotten next to his bed and felt a little better. Then, he went and found Uncle Huaisang. He burst right into his room and announced how terrible hunting was. “Did you know they kill the animals!?” he demanded up at him. “Did you know that? I think everyone should!”

Uncle Huaisang pressed his lips together, looking at the door like it had said something rude. Then, he took A-Fu out into their garden and together, they threw seeds on the warm ground and watched the different birds come fluttering down, bright as little bits of colored cloth. He even showed A-Fu how to follow them from behind and reach down to catch it. He wouldn’t let A-Fu try on his own, cause he might grab too hard, but he let him hold one really, really gentle in his hands after he caught it.

It was tiny and smooth and he could feel its little heart beating super fast against his fingertips through its fluff as it looked around. It was so light and small that he all of a sudden got worried that he would squeeze too hard and kill it, so he let it go.

The rest of the day while he played and ate and ran around and snuggled with Gray-Father, the rabbit totally wasn’t even in his head.

But that night, after he was tucked into bed and the lantern got blown out, he laid there and thought about the bunny and death. What if they killed a baby bunny's mommy and now it was all alone in the dark? What if it was a Cloud Recesses bunny's cousin? What if they had just killed A-Yuan's bunnies’ A-Yuan? A-Yuan would cry and cry and cry all day if he had seen.

Rolling over onto his back, he watched the branches outside wave against his ceiling in the moonlight, rustling outside his window in the wind that blew in the sweet smell of flowers. Death seemed to be what big, strong things did to littler, weaker things. It made sense--people were bigger and stronger than the bunny, so they killed it. Tigers were bigger and stronger than regular people, so they killed them.

Were his birth parents small and weak? They had to be. Had someone shot them through the heart, just like Gray-Father did today? He squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them, green and black speckled clouds of stars squishing around in the dark. Before today, they had just been a story Blue-Father told him. It hadn’t been real life. And he never really thought or wondered about them dying; they just were dead already. But he guessed that they didn’t just come that way because dead people couldn’t have babies. It was weird.

It was better that he had his real fathers, now. They wouldn’t ever leave him and Gray-Father could beat up every tiger.

When he got back to the Cloud Recesses at the end of the month, he made sure everyone knew what hunting really was. “And the bunny just died!”

Great-Uncle Qiren sipped from his tea cup, then set it back down in front of him. “Yes, that is the nature of hunting. If you’re worried, it does not sound like the creature suffered.”

“Uh…” No, he hadn’t thought about that. “That’s good. I guess.”

Blue-Father squeezed the base of his neck, comfortingly. “That must have been quite a shock if you weren’t expecting it.”

“Yeah….Did my birth parents get shot by an arrow?”

Blue-Father took in a quick breath, but it was Great-Uncle Qiren who said, in a quieter, kinder voice, “No, Lan Fu. They died in battle, protecting their Clan. You don’t need to know more than that.”

“Why?”

“There is no need to trouble your mind with such knowledge while you are young. Know they did what they could to protect you. As Xichen does now.”

“I won’t be troubled!”

Great-Uncle Qiren shook his head, mouth a tiny bit smiley under his moustache. “Enough.”

“Will you tell me later? When I’m older?”

He tilted his head a little. “Perhaps.”

“7?”

“No, it will be many years. Do not ask again, I will not answer.”

A-Fu looked up at Blue-Father, who was petting the ends of his hair where it laid over his shoulders, watching him with a soft smile. “I’m never gonna go hunting again,” he said, firmly. “I’m gonna eat like a Lan always.”

Blue-Father’s eyes curved up and Great-Uncle Qiren made a little bit of a pleased face and nodded. “It is wise of you to consider the sanctity of life and purity of your body. It is why we have this rule.”

Huh! There were good reasons for rules! A-Fu never knew.

When he told his class, some of them already knew about it, like the older kids and A-Yuan--which wasn’t surprising because A-Yuan knew everything. But a lot of them asked questions, which he did his best to answer while feeling very important. They asked him things like ‘did you see its ghost?’ and ‘was it scary?’ and he demonstrated being dead a couple times, then Gray-Father being the hunter. After a while, they all wanted to try and they ended up all taking turns pretending to die and kill each other in a big game around the practice yard, which was really fun! Until Teacher Lan Hai came back outside and had them practice tightrope again.

#my fic #my stuff #3zun raise jingyi au #3zun raise jingyi au content #3zun

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panicinart · 4 years ago

Text

🔞 Nsfw alphabet 🔞

☎️ OG Billy Lenz ☎️

It's time for some Chaotic Rat Gremlin

Also side note I'm at the moment reader the novel and ngl I changed a few things since it didn't fit his character very well. I'm not that far with it but I hope I did a good job with interpreting his character :)

A = Aftercare (what are they like after sex?)

☎️You know that feeling were you're really tired but got some extra suppressed energy, so you just kinda stand there in hell? That's him.

☎️Billy doesn't know if he should run around naked and do his usual rat gremlin stuff or fall asleep so hard like someone drugged him with something.

☎️Either way it's going to be a ride, because you're gonna need to catch a naked rat man running around before the sorority sisters come, or your whole bed is drenched in drool.

B = Body part (how is their body build? any favorite body part of them and their partner?)

☎️A fucking twunk, he probably was more of a twink before he met you because bitch only got small amounts of food and not that many opportunitys to build up muscles.

☎️Billy has a bit of a biceps, back muscle, and leg muscle but that's really it. He also doesn't have a lot of hair mostly a bit on his chest, crotch area and a small hair trail that bairly connects those points. If he goes all out he is also able to grow a bit arm and leg hair.

☎️Honestly I feel like this gremlin is proud of the little chest hair he has, so he really likes that area. He sometimes squeezes his man milkers and you cannot change my mind on that.

☎️Billy LOVES his s/o's thighs and chest! Big, small, doesn't matter their great (especially the thighs, their a gate way to something great).

☎️With the chest it is more of a thing that he thinks is funny, his grabby hands sometimes poke, squeeze and lightly slap them.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum)

☎️Doesn't produce a lot of cum, but it is STICKY. The cum is very white, and kinda like chewing gum. It comes in spurts and god help him this man can shoot a load meters away, he shoot his load more then he can count into his eye, and also yours.

☎️He also produces A LOT of precum

☎️It doesn't have a lot of taste, maeby a bit on the sour / bitter side???

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, do they have a dirty secret?)

☎️Billy has some kinks (???) that aren't really good for him, for example he would beg to be humiliated but after the act he will be a sobbing mess, be angry or thinks all the things his partner told him are true. Basically self destructive tendencies that he let's out with sex in an unhealthy way.

E = Experience (do they know what they're doing?)

☎️Surprisingly he kinda knows what he does, were did he got that info?? Who knows, Billy certainly can't remember, (probably watched some people geting it on or stole a porn magazine).

F = Favorite position (which position(s) do the like the most?)

☎️All positions are great positions as one confused and wise attic gremlin sayd.

☎️But in all honesty it depends on his mood so here are his top 5 in no particular order:

Kepper

Stick figure

Grasshopper

Counterblow

Valedictorian

G = Goofy (are they more serious or do the like to clown around?)

☎️This man has a hard time staying serious, there are rare moments were he stays focused while being on the mission to go to pound town. Most of the time you hear him giggle, snorting and sometimes saying random one liners that he pulls out of his ass that don't make sense to you, but he still laughs like he heard the funniest shit in the world.

H = Hair (any hair down there? How do they groom it?)

☎️The hair is quite thin and a bit curly, it's a good amount of hair but not a forest, because Billy doesn't take care of it the hair it is all over the place and can look a bit overwhelming.

☎️Billy doesn't really groom it and since it's the 70s, he also doesn't shave it

I = Intimacy (how are they during sex in a romantic aspect?)

☎️He is generally not the romantic type so don't hope for rose pedals and lit candles.

☎️When he is in a more lucid state he will give your face small and sweet kisses while he giggles happily with a manic undertone.

J = Jack off / Jill off (how do they masturbate and how often?)

☎️Before he met you? Probably almost daily. The pumps are fast and eager without a rythm and really messy.

K = Kink (any kinks?)

☎️There is almost nothing he wouldn't try at least once, Billy is an adventurous and curious guy, so I keep it down to a hand full.

☎️Dirty talk, it's either messy game with words that he repeats like a broken record or really fucking good, not in a poetic way but the filth that comes from his mouth is GOOD. But he often does it when he is more unstable, be a bit more careful around him especially if the words become messier and messier.

☎️Breeding, not in a way of wanting children, god no don't let this man near kids, he is scared of them and they are scared of him, but more in a way of wanting to see you stuffed with his cum. He may not produce a lot but he got the Stamina for that, the only question that lays in the room is, if you can keep up with him.

☎️ We all know that he is really into voyeurism, it doesn't even need to be sexual he just likes watching you. If you give him a small show he will vibrated with anticipation and pounce on you immediately.

☎️Phone sex, do I need to say anything more?? It's thrilling for him and sometimes it gets paired up with a bit of roleplay (unintentionally most of the time) , the whole act is also a great way to tease him. Just don't do it too much, he can take a bit but it's a fine line of a horny Billy and an angry Billy.

☎️There is still so much more but god dammit I will be here forever.

Edging, overstimulation, Pegging, Thigh jobs, geting his hair pulled, praise and many more!

L = Location (were do they like to have sex?)

☎️The thought of fucking you everywhere is really alluring but he mostly does it in the bed and attic. He doesn't want to risk getting caught and honestly the thought alone that people could be near gives him anxiety.

M = Motivation (what turns them on/gets them going?)

☎️Everything, you could just walk around and he could pop a boner. The guy is just really unpredictable and his moods can swing erratically which influences his horniness a lot.

☎️But if we assume he is in a more stable mindset where is squirrel brain isn't high on sugar here are a few things that always work;

Soft and sensual touches on arms and thighs

Teasing/slight tickling with fingers on the back of his neck to the end of his spine

Showing a bit more skin the usually and having direct eye contact that lingers a bit longer then the norm

Any close contact to his crotch area, the man will jump on you like a dog

N= No (what's a turn off/they don't want to do?)

☎️Getting too violent, it's more of a safety thing for your own health. He can quickly slip in a dangerous mindset, ESPECIALLY at the beginning of the relationship and I doubt you like to be the moaner's next murderer victim.

☎️Billy can't stand brats in bed it irritates him, or just any kind of attitude.

☎️He also doesn't like it if his s/o dirty talks back, when he does it it often doesn't register in his mind, so if his lovely partner does it, it kind of disgust and displeases him greatly.

O = Oral (do they like to give or receive? How is their skill? How do they react during receiving?)

☎️He LOVES to give oral, Billy could die between your legs and honestly, that's the way he wants to go. He also wouldn't say no to a blowjob and would get ecstatic with the offer (if he didn't ask demanded first).

☎️But sadly Billy isn't that skillful, he makes a lot of sloppy noises and purposely makes a mess, spit, your juices and possibly his cum will be splattered across your whole crotch area and thighs.

☎️He does well alright tho, it isn't anything special but the way he has his grabby boney fingers grab at your body restlessly and his tongue tasting every corner makes it up for any lack of knowledge he has. His tounge is also really long.

☎️You think he stays still when you go down on him?? Oooooh no, god you might have to tie his hands up. They would grab anything they can get, cushion, objects your hair ect, and the guy will pull and squeeze it like his live depends on it.

☎️He also will buck his hips into you and straight up face fucks you, ya need a lot of strength in your arms and hands if you want Billy to stay still. Also the noise he makes? For some it can be really hot but for other a huge turn of, he chokes on his own spit and the moans can sound really animalistic and loud. Either gag him or let everyone know you get hot and heavy with him. That is if anyone is in the house.

P = Pace (how is their thrusting? Hard, fast, deep ect)

☎️He goes FAST, like a bunny in heat, so you better be prepared to have some bruising from his violent thrusting.

☎️The thrust are also relatively hard but 0 rythm.

☎️ His dick also sometimes just slips out, it happened a few times that he also completely missed the targed and rams his dick full speed to your ass (and continues like a champ).

☎️And if your afab he probably "accidentally" buries his junk in the wrong whole.

Q = Quickie (do they like Quickies, if yes how often?)

☎️Yes god he loves them, he often uses them to get rid of extra energy or pent up emotions and there is A LOT , (just be a bit careful with the emotions, maeby talk it out (if you manage to have a reasonable conversation with this rat of a man) what he feels and why he wants to do it, safe words is also a good idea).

R = Risk (any risk their willing to do?)

☎️Fucking you in a room while the sorority sisters are right next to it, he would be so drowned in the bliss that he forgetshis anxiety, but if you are able to comfort him afterwards do it. He often slips into a bad and sometimesaggressivemanic state untreated. (Again,it's a mess if you don't want to get caught, gag the man).

S = Stamina (how long can they go? How long do they last?)

☎️Bitch can go all night, no joke he recovers fast and his hunger for you has no end. He may take small breaks in between the rough fucking, but I'm gonna tell ya his grip on you is like steel he won't let go of you.

T = Toys (any toys they like? If yes, what toys do they like on themselves and on their partner?)

☎️He think's their funny and definitely will mess around with them. Use as many as your kinky heart desires he will follow lead.

☎️On him? Great he waits eagerly on the bed almost jumping from the spot because he is so excited. He loves vibrators and nipple clamps, but collars are good too!

☎️On you? Lord have mercy on your poor soul because you didn't know what's coming for you. Honey you got a big storm coming. But please teach him how to use them and what feels good and what not or else he will stab your insides with a dildo.

U = Unfair (are they a tease? How do they react if teased?)

☎️Billy goes always straight to the point, but sometimes he teases which often happens without his intentions.

☎️The whole thing gets even worse when he goes down on you. This man has bairly any cohesive thoughts what makes you think that he can concentrate for a solid minute. While he is doing it his mind is already somewhere else, which makes him stop for a few seconds or slow down, or not giving the right spots the attention they need. So your agonizingly lay between the almost orgasmic feeling and under stimulation.

V = Volume (how loud are they? What sounds do they make?)

☎️Not necessarily LOUD but people will know what's going on (if you go down on him it's a whole other thing).

☎️The noises he normally makes is strangled / chocked up moans, groaning, giggling or straight up laughing and some mumbling that you for the most part don't fully hear.

W = Wild card (random nsfw headcanon(s))

☎️Billy has a thing for submissive and innocent people, it is more fun to see them react to his vulgar and partly extreme behavior. The way the Yelp when he gives them a rough handling or spurts out the most filthiest thing makes his blood boil. It just something of corrupting someone innocent, sweet and well mannered to something that can only be described as a human mess is making him more feral then he already is. Bonus points if they are covered in his cum and drool.

☎️If somehow you both manage to a a healthy relationship this man will go down your pants faster then the speed of light. And Billy gets quite upset if you say no to him.

☎️Likes to suprise his s/o with him wanking it in front of you in the worst time you can imagine. Ho? Your bringing in the groceries and are in a hurry because the ice cream will melt? Suprises Billy blocks the doorway and rubs his dick violently while having direct eye contact. If you manage to walk past him he will follow you around trying to put your hands on his dick, or even try's to get a blowjob out of you. If not well then his hand and your thighs or ass will do the job too!

☎️Loves to bite and suck on your neck it's also something that gets him going like nothing else, nobody know why but it does.

X = X-ray (what's going on under those clothes?)

☎️Not exactly fat, but he got something packing, around 6.5 inches in length and 5.3 inches in girth. The man is cut and got some thin veins here and there.

Y = Yearning (how high is their libido?)

☎️High, just say your into the mood from another room while having a mouth full of stuff and the man will go crashing down the attic before you finish your sentence even tho it was bairly understandable on what you sayd.

Z = Zzz (how quickly do they fall asleep?)

☎️It's always different one time he is knockout in a few seconds the other night he was awake for another 4 hours, it just depends on how much gymnastics you both needed to make and how bad his manic episode is.

#slashers #slasher #slasher fandom #slasher community #my writing #headcanons #slasher headcanons #ns//fw headcanon #ns//fw #billy lenz #black christmas #black christmas 1974 #phew that was a lot #or at least it feels that way #gender neutral s/o #mention of afab #gender neutral reader #billy lenz x reader #billy lenz x s/o

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redux-iterum · 3 years ago

Text

A Kindling: Chapter Two

(AO3 counterpart here.)

A mass of grey exploded from the brush. Before Rusty could so much as blink, he found himself thrown backwards. He landed on his side and rolled a little, grass and ferns and soil catching on his pelt.

Rusty wasted no time in getting to his feet, staring at the big grey tabby that stood across from him. He started to turn, but he was tackled again and knocked onto his back. The tabby loomed over him, bright yellow eyes alight with interest.

Rusty was small enough that he could reach with his back foot and kick the cat in their face. The tabby threw their head back with a noise of surprise and Rusty scrambled upwards again. This time, he didn’t try to run, except to stumble back a bit to give himself space and time to get a good look at his assailant.

This cat—a tom—was quite bigger than Rusty, and significantly furrier; it was hard to tell how much of his size was from his hair alone. His face was large but youthful, making Rusty blink as he realized that he might be around Rusty’s age—which was quite terrifying, given how massive the tom’s paws were. His eyes were the only brightly lit part of his face, and they oddly did not seem angry or even wary. If anything, he looked curious.

“St-stay back,” Rusty stammered anyway, as if he could pose a threat to this monolith. His back paws inched a step or two away. “I’m not here to cause trouble.”

The tabby blinked, and spoke in a much higher, younger voice than Rusty had expected. “Well, that’s obvious. Not that you could.”

Rusty stared. This cat was definitely his age, then. “I just- I was only following that animal, whatever it is.”

The bright eyes widened in shock and sparkled in amusement. “You don’t even know what you were hunting?”

“I…” Rusty’s head lowered and his shoulders hunched of their own accord, embarrassment warming his ears. “No.”

“Wooow,” the tabby said, sounding genuinely awed. “You kittypets really are sheltered. Even a kit knows what a mouse is.”

‘Mouse’, Rusty thought, even more embarrassed. He had heard the word before, but never had an image attached to it. Now it seemed painfully obvious that he had been after a mouse. His ears burned, sliding back to fold against his head.

Eager to get away from this feeling, he changed the topic. “What’s a kittypet?”

“Uh, you?” The tabby’s eyes scanned him with bafflement. “You live in those houses with the humans, right? You’ve got a collar.”

Rusty didn’t know how this cat managed to make having a collar sound scornful. “I-I do, yeah. I live with my human.”

“So you’re a kittypet.” The tabby gave a self-satisfactory nod. “And you really shouldn’t be on our territory, hunting our food. You’ve got food at home.”

“I do,” Rusty repeated, quieter. He wanted to huddle again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.”

The tabby eyed him doubtfully before abruptly turning his head back and calling into the woods, “Is that the answer you wanted, Bluestar?”

“More or less,” said someone else.

Rusty jolted upright as two cats, both even larger than the tabby, pushed out of the undergrowth. One of them was a dark red tom with white feet, and the other, the tallest of the three, was a magnificent blue-grey molly who only had to glance at Rusty to make him want to bow his head in respect. Both of them had long hair, like the tabby, and both of them had grave, hardened faces, though their eyes were alert and more youthful.

“I had been hoping to see more of a fight,” the molly said, her voice low and commanding, “but we can take it from here, Greypaw, thank you.”

The tabby—Greypaw, rather—immediately took several steps back to allow the older cats to approach Rusty. Rusty stood, frozen in place, as they moved forward with slow, deliberate, incredibly intimidating steps, until they were within a tail-length of him. The red tom tilted his head a little, quietly regarding Rusty.

The molly looked down at Rusty. “Hello, Rusty. I am Bluestar.”

Rusty swallowed, too nervous to wonder where she got his name. “Hello.”

Bluestar had to have noticed his nervousness, because her tone softened a little. “I’m the leader of ThunderClan, the Clan that owns this forest.”

So they are real, Rusty thought, eyes wide.

“This—” Bluestar nodded to the tom “—is Redtail, and you know Greypaw already. We’ve come to speak with you tonight.”

Rusty blinked. “M-me? Why?”

Redtail spoke now, and his voice was much warmer, easing Rusty’s anxiety a little. “We’ve noticed you for a while now, staring into our woods since you came to live with the humans. We actually expected that you would wander past the border someday. It was a lucky coincidence that we decided to talk to you tonight, just as you trespassed.”

“Oh.” Rusty lowered his chin a little, embarrassed again. “I didn’t realize this wasn’t a place I could explore. I mean, I heard you chase house cats away, but I just… I was too curious, and my friend—”

Bluestar cleared her throat quietly and Rusty immediately clamped his mouth shut. “You don’t need to make excuses, Rusty. We’re not upset with you.”

Somehow, that didn’t make him feel any more relieved.

“We had Greypaw attack you to see how you’d react,” she said. “And while you’re not exactly strong, you were honorable about coming here uninvited, and we respect that.”

Redtail suddenly walked forward and began circling Rusty, sniffing him. He and his tail were long enough that they formed a complete ring around Rusty. He stayed perfectly still, keeping his eyes on Bluestar, having a feeling that that was the correct choice.

“Now let me ask you…” Bluestar’s head tipped to one side just a fraction as she appraised the little house cat. “Are you satisfied with your life as a kittypet? Are you content to live in a house, wearing a collar, eating those pellets forever?”

Rusty blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden questions. “It’s- it’s been pretty boring, honestly. I…”

He trailed off, unsure of where to go with this.

Bluestar nodded with a subtle sense of encouragement. “Go ahead. How do you feel being a kittypet?”

Rusty took a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. “I guess I would say that it feels… easy. Which, I don’t think that’s a bad thing for some, but I’m always bored when I’m home. If- well, if you have been watching me, you must have seen me going into everybody else’s yards. I irritate some of my neighbors, and I don’t mean to, but I can’t help it. Just staying inside, or in my own yard, I get restless. The only reason I haven’t come here before is because of the rumors about you. That you chase off strangers, and things like that.”

He happened to glance at Greypaw, who was now much closer, like he had been sneaking up to listen in better. The tom seemed quite intrigued by Rusty’s speech—almost eager, if Rusty wasn’t mistaken. For what, though, he wasn’t sure.

Bluestar spoke again and Rusty immediately returned his attention to her. “Then you would leave your kittypet life, if you think you could.”

Rusty considered this idea for a few heartbeats, then nodded. “I would. My friend would think I’m crazy, but I’d love to see what else is out there. I just don’t know if I can.”

Redtail paused as he came around to Rusty’s head and silently caught his eyes. He looked pleased. “I think you can, chrii, if you really want to.”

“Then you agree?” Bluestar said to him.

Redtail nodded. “It’s worth a try.”

“Very good.” Bluestar turned back to Rusty. “Then we have an offer for you.”

Rusty held his breath without quite knowing why.

“If you are willing to leave your kittypet life behind,” Bluestar said, lowering her head a little to meet Rusty’s eye level, “and if you are willing to work hard and learn our ways, ThunderClan would be interested in having you join us.”

Rusty’s eyes widened. Something in his chest flared to life in a way he had not felt before. “Me? T-to be a Clan cat?”

“That’s right.” Bluestar met his eyes with a pale, serious stare. “I will warn you now—Clan life is not for everyone. You will need to hunt for food, and defend our borders, and live with many other cats who may not all like you at first. You’d have to change your name to something like our names. We don’t have your human healing powers out here. You could get sick or injured, and you won’t have the humans as an option for help.”

“And we have a Code we live by,” Redtail added, also looking Rusty in the eye—though his gaze was much less intimidating. “You’ll have to follow our rules and obey your superiors. And, most importantly, you can’t come back to your human for any reason.”

Rusty blinked. “Why not?”

“We stay away from humans,” Redtail said. “We don’t take food from them, we don’t play with their cats, and we don’t go into the Houses unless we’re forced to. We take care of ourselves.”

“That means that you would have to say goodbye to your friend.” Bluestar caught Rusty’s attention now. “You won’t be able to go to his home and play with him anymore.”

A great deal of these warnings, oddly, did not bother Rusty, but as soon as this last condition was given, he hesitated. “…Could I at least talk to him?”

“No,” Bluestar said. “If you are one of us, you don’t talk to kittypets.”

Rusty’s eyes lowered to the ground. Losing all contact with Smudge was a hefty price for…

“It sounds like a really difficult life,” he said, looking back up at Bluestar. “Is it all that bad?”

Bluestar’s eyes crinkled, surprisingly humorous. “No, of course not. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be doing it.”

“Being a Clan cat is great!” Greypaw burst out. His huge paws almost tripped over each other as he closed the distance between him and the rest of the group. “We eat real food, and we have the forest all to ourselves, and we’re so strong we scare all the cats in the Aulmir and Houses, and we—”

“Greypaw,” Redtail said patiently.

Greypaw’s ears went down, but he didn’t fully deflate. “Sorry. I just think he’d really like it.”

“I do too.” Redtail looked at Rusty. “Being part of ThunderClan means you’re courageous and powerful. You have a community who will fight to the death to protect you from any danger.”

“Even at first?” Rusty asked.

“Even at first,” Redtail affirmed. “We have our great wide forest, and we still travel to different places and meet with different cats—the other Clans that live nearby. You’ll get to learn a great deal of new things, all the while living a real life, running and climbing and hunting.” He cocked his head to the side almost fondly. “And we have many stories to share with you. I think you’d be interested in those.”

“What do you think, Rusty?” Bluestar said.

All three ThunderClan cats watched him expectantly as he focused hard, considering his options. Exploring, hunting mice, meeting new cats: it all sounded exciting. He didn’t mind the work that would come with being feral, if he had those cats that could support him while he learned their ways. He didn’t even really mind the idea of changing his name.

But the risk of getting hurt or sick, having to abandon Smudge, and the warning that he might not be welcomed initially…

He looked at Bluestar. “I don’t know what to do. It’s a lot to think about.”

“That’s alright.” Bluestar straightened up again, returning to her businesslike posture. “I know it’s a big change from what you’re used to. We can give you two days to think about it. The night after tomorrow, there will be two warriors waiting for you at the edge of this forest. You can give them your answer. If you decide to join us, they’ll take you to our camp.”

“And that’ll be it?” Rusty asked.

“No more kittypet business,” Redtail said. “You’ll give all that up if you say yes.”

“Huh.” Rusty’s eyes returned to the ground as he considered this. He nodded slowly. “I would like to think it over, if that’s okay.”

“That’s why we offered it.” Redtail gave him a friendly tap on his back with his enormously fluffy tail. “I hope to see you in our camp soon, Rusty. Until then, I think it’s time for you to go home.”

“We do have a patrol to continue,” Bluestar said, not too unkindly. “Consider things carefully, Rusty. It’s all or nothing. If you say no, you aren’t welcome back in this forest.”

Rusty was a little worried by that last note, but he said, “Okay. Thank you, Bluestar. For the offer. Regardless of what I say.”

Bluestar looked down on him, but with approval in her eyes. “We’ll see you soon.”

With that, she jerked her head to the side and Greypaw approached, nosing Rusty’s shoulder and almost knocking him over. “Come on, I’ll take you back to the border.”

Rusty cleared his throat and dipped his head respectfully to Bluestar and Redtail before hurrying after the departing Greypaw. When he caught up, he opened his mouth to ask a question, but Greypaw spoke first.

“It’d be cool if you joined us,” he said. “You seem nice. And the other apprentices are either too shy or too up their own prats to hang out. I’ll help you learn the trade, if you come back.”

Rusty blinked, surprised by the offer. “Well… thank you.”

“You’ll get a much cooler name than ‘Rusty’, too.” Greypaw snorted. “’Rusty’, really, who named you?”

“My mother,” Rusty said, and couldn’t help digging back a little. “Not much weirder than ‘Greypaw’ and ‘Bluestar’ and ‘Redtail’. What if I get a weird name?”

“You won’t,” Greypaw said. “I’m sure of it.”

The two couldn’t talk any further; they had reached the end of the forest and Rusty could see his house (and a panicked Smudge) from here. He looked back at Greypaw, and was surprised by the earnest eagerness on his face.

“Hope to see you again, kittypet,” he said.

Rusty, not sure what to say, gave him a nod and started for his fence. He heard Greypaw rustling through the ferns and grass and disappearing into the woods. He didn’t look back. He had a feeling he would be tempted to return there if he did.

“You’re okay!” Smudge cried when he was close enough to speak. “I saw that cat—he’s huge! How did he not kill you?”

“He didn’t want to.” Rusty bunched up his haunches and leaped onto the fence. He turned to Smudge, unaware of his fur flaring and his eyes sparkling. “You are not going to believe what happened.”

#warrior cats #warriors redux iterum #iterum #a kindling #chapter #chapter two #book one #arc one

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