#what is anaya hiding???

[intercomkris]

forming family ( ??? )

anaya ; anaya is an intern at futuresim labs located in strangetown. working there for over 3 years now, anaya is slowly beginning to grow unpleasant with the secrets futuresim labs is holding off from the public. anaya hiding secrets from the townsfolk in the bay, what could futuresim be hiding? but most all being pregnant is what has her on edge the most. . . what could this mean for her unborn child?

taylor ; taylor is a rookie programmer, working at futuresim labs. though just starting 3 months ago, taylor is unaware of the secrets that the lab is hiding and most of all his fiancé. strangetown native, he's more than happy to be closer to his hometown. when will taylor discover the uncovered truth behind whats going on at the lab and most of all his wife. . . would he make the right decision for not only himself but his child?

[death---dealer]

Scolding. ( Noa x Human!Reader, POTA Oneshot. )

Title: Scolding. Fandom: ( Kingdom of the ) Planet of the Apes. Pairing: Implied! Noa x Human!Reader. Rating: T. ( Sexual implications, talks of a naked human body. ) Words: 4.5K+ Summary: What would Noa's reaction be to seeing you in a dress for the first time?

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It was long faded; your eyes scanning the yellow tinted fabric of a dress you had scavenged only a few months ago when Anaya, Soona and Noa had taken you to the Echo ruins for the first time. Faded but in the dim orange glow of your hut, you could still see the vividity of the flower pattern that once clung so happily to the threads. They appeared blackened now and barely outlined the shapes of petals, but your imagination did its due job and filled in the blanks for you.

It was like it was barely clinging to whatever hue it had been for the last three-hundred years, beaten and soaked by the sun’s wrath until it came into your loving and reminiscent possession. It would have been easy to explain to the three Apes if they had captured you admiring it. You liked Echo things. You were Echo to them in most regards despite the constant reassurance that you were also a part of the Clan. It would be easy to just tell them that you found the pattern interesting and leave it at that but something yelled inside of your mind to take it. 

Humanities self-loathing jealousy for things more beautiful than the nature that surrounded you day in and day out.

Humanities seething love for things that would make themselves outwardly more appealing.

Hesitantly at first, you had no reason to tuck it into your rucksack that Autumn day and take it back to the Eagle Clan but something spurred you to do just that, it was as if the other bodies it had once been placed upon were seeping into you and telling you stories one by one from over the generations of who had owned it up until its time with you. Stories of firsts kisses in the dress, chaste and afraid, stories of love and adoration as the wearer was showered in compliments from their significant other, closer melancholy of another Human finding it and never realizing the value….

You were a romantic and it pained at times that the world you found yourself in, especially from your Human lineage, tore that down and destroyed it into a lacking ghost of what it could have been. Human’s did not love the same way Apes did, and it was apparent from the first day you came to be with Noa. 

It was different.

You folded the crinkled fabric gently between your fingers and never looked back on it, no intentions made for the garment as it was shoved into the sack against your hip. You washed it the day after and it did nothing but sit as a folded pile in your hut, a shimmered reminder of the remnants of Humanity, a sweeping caress you would place your hand on when you wanted to remember a time before your own.

A time where there swirled nothing but vanity and the self-absorbed nature of individuals that would ultimately and always lead to the downfall that began generations ago. No need for it in the climate of the Winter when you had taken it, no need for it in the political position that the world sat in, teetering between intelligent Apes and the smaller, dwindling aspect of intelligent Humans.

But still… Your eyes admired the garment for what it had been once as it was splayed on your animale hide boasted nest. Faux wooden buttons against the bosom that were chipped around the edges, the silky texture of the thinned straps as you lifted the dress upwards, wrinkling in on itself and let it drape down your body and pressing at the crevices of your shape, stopping at mid-thigh with a shrill of exhilaration trickling down your spine.

It felt strange to be so exposed to the air, your arms tucked in on themselves out of censored defense and it took all your willpower to relax a bit as your heart ran a marathon against your ribcage to the point of self-inflicted hardened breathing. 

Your entire life centered around safety and keeping yourself alive, something that you loosened control over once you became more associated with the Eagle Clan. Once… Noa had taken you under his Eagle’s wing and secured your survival by always being at your side. A dress was juxtaposed to that, no armor and no shield against otherwise delicate skin and that felt guilt filled and sinful in your mind. There was nothing telling you that it was appropriate.

There was nothing assuring you that Noa would even like it. He’d probably think it pointless. Clothing were clothing to him, such an Echo aspect of privacy that did not exist to Apes who wore no clothing and only accessories with cross body bags, thinned twine belts and the armbands that signified they were a Clan, together and not apart. 

There was screaming from your appendages fully cased in the firelight, the heat being a gift against the otherwise chilled Summer air that surrounded you, there was no guarantee that a snake wouldn’t sink its teeth into your leg after popping out from the tall grass of the meadow, there was nothing stopping a bug from landing on you and trailing around as if you were one with nature. Not that those things would be an issue. 

You’d let Noa sink his sharp canines bouncing against the moonlight straight into you without reserve if that’s what he so chose to do upon seeing flesh that had never been seen, you’d let Noa’s hands trail your bare arms, fluttering and calloused like the tiny legs of a beetle in an attempt to keep you warm and there was a drop in your stomach that you were… Wearing what you were in order to garner some semblance of attention from the otherwise occupied Master of the Birds. Would he… notice? Your fingers trailed against the bottom hem of the dress, wavy and bumpy as the fabric was coming undone in spots and it had obviously been repaired by inadequate sewing. There was a small hole right above your belly button, beckoning even the most docile eyes to look at it and it captivated you to see the color of the dress against the tone of your skin.

The things that could happen to you for being so bare would not happen, they persisted as improbabilities against the larger scape of what would happen when you finally mustered enough courage to tug your equally worn jacket over your shoulders and trailed to meet Noa once the sun had fully set in the field adjacent to the Village. 

Quiet and peaceful, the two of you could enjoy each other's company without the prying stares from the other Chimps, without the constant pestering from Anaya or the curious glances from Soona that told you all you needed to know about the Eagle Clan’s leaders intentions towards you.

Ignoring them was the way to go around it but it was hard at times when you found no time alone with each other, finally yearning to use the dress for what you imagined its intended purpose might have been at one time in the past. To impress. To dazzle against the wearer and show their intended what might lay underneath. It did just that, not to boast about yourself. It clung to you like a second skin, stretching the fabric as you took a deep breath in and held it carded in the depths of your lungs. 

No bra, your breasts perked against the thinned textile as you trailed a hand upwards to adjust the right sleeve against your suddenly heady skin. It felt so… Human to wear. The drawing in your mind and imagine that Noa would want to tear it right off of you. The growl he’d release for you upon seeing what was underneath as if it weren’t evident enough from the way the yellow garment was hugging the right places. You doubted that it would make a difference, you were both too shy to act upon impulse but it was a tasty delicacy you were using to hype up the anxious sensation in your limbs as you released the breath you had been holding in. 

The gravity at the center of your being felt unbalanced as your feet shuffled themselves into your boots. Not adequate for the rest of the outfit, you had no way to tell how the dress might have looked actually put together with the proper accessories but you did your best and flattened the fabric against your hips and sighed. Whoever had worn this before… Who ever fitted it against themselves like you were doing must have felt the same, right?

The blood rushing in your ears with silenced anticipation, the jittering of fingers right under your breasts as you smoothed the cloth there starting from the buttons lining down your sternum and out towards the flare of your ribcage. This was fruitless, Noa would not care, you mind was convinced of that and you had no idea what you were even thinking as you grasped your jacket with your right hand and faced the exit of your hut. 

Noa would not care and that was alright. As long as you felt good about yourself wearing it, that was all that mattered as you trailed right out the entryway. 

The gliding of your thighs against each other was an odd sensation outside of them ever kissing when you washed yourself. They were often carded in the thicker fabric of your cargo pants or pressed together without release when you slept and you never took notice of the lick of arousal it garnered from just your mind running with the idea that Noa would want to touch you there. The way his leathered touch would feel against them as they were pried right open with very little strength. How hot he’d be against you as he slotted his tapered waist between then and urged you to tighten and stay secure as he rocked into your body. 

Your mouth fell open at the absurdity of the thought but it was persistent and called for you to walk a bit faster, feet trudging through the scape of the village to the east. Noa was waiting. The Chimp was always waiting for you, the outline of his body finally captivating your minored night vision that was aided by a few of the fire stakes that scattered the perimeter of the Clan’s edges. He would not care, your mind replayed itself over and over again but there was the excitement of the Ape seeing you for the first time so vulnerably. You hoped that’s how it came across. A sense of comfort, a sense of understanding that you felt… Safe with him to wear such absurd and impractical garments. You had no idea what he found so interesting about you, heart racing inside of its ribcaged home as you came to walk more gently against the ground, eager to not step on anything that might alarm yourself like an innocently placed twig begging to be snapped under the weight of your body. There were obviously unspoken things that were of interest to both parties, the way that Noa looked over at you upon your impending arrival, shoulder fur rising in acute absorption as was the case when you made your presence known to the Ape who had to have known of your arrival before you hit his peripheral.

Noa’s vision was greater than your own; the sweep from your feet all the way up to your head, the Ape loomed over every small detail he was able to detect against the backdrop of the village itself. You could almost feel the dilation of his gold and green irises, blown to proportion from the lack of proper lightly and more so… You were desperate to think that it was more from how you looked in his line of vision rather than the strain his gaze needed to present to see things about you in detail. 

Noa’s mouth parted naturally as was his natural default expression, something you found so amusing as it casted a light right against the sheen of his sharpened canines when under the right circumstances before they drifted back into the home of his gums. But this… Your heart fluttered a bit to crazed in your chest as you came a bit closer, grasping the hem of the dress once more to keep the nerves that were bursting out at bay.

This time out of more surprise at the appearance of your… Arms. Longer than his own, he was able to see the build of your flesh against what smaller muscles you had to his own. There was the delicate coating of your thinned hair that he was able to detect as the flushed light behind you seemed to set your skin aglow at the angle of which he was peering up at you with. 

So… Strange… Noa felt a jolt inside of his navel and it blossomed upwards to rest right beneath his diaphragm. Uncomfortably, he shifted his position and tried to get it to go away as Noa’s mind collapsed in on itself. Has… Has he seen them like this before? Your legs! Had he seen… Your legs been like this before? Tangling in on themselves as if you had just learned how to walk? Your calves shone as they caught the light. They were so new, he wanted to touch them. Noa’s brow hardened at that thought. He wanted to do more to them than that, but was he willing to relent the control he had over himself to admit? 

Noa wondered… If they felt any different than his own set of legs. They were more proportionate to your body length and seemed to stagger here and there against the terrain, balance was never your forte and Noa was on alert even now to make sure you did not take a tumble. On the flip side, Chimp legs  were shorter and more attune to heavy lifting and were incredibly centered to allow him to balance and hold with the help of his dexterous feet.

He could lift you and force you to let him admire you. To sink into the flesh that was teasing him so ardently along with the overwhelming fragrance that rivaled the meadow’s speckled wild flowers. The scent between your legs that was so clear in regular clothing was smothering to him and caused a stifled jostle for the Ape that was hard to ignore as you walked nearer and gave him a small brisk smile of affection and adoration. 

“So-Sorry I’m late. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to wear.” 

That sounded so Human, you wanted to slap yourself, tucking a piece of your hair behind your ear as you tried to set aside the everlasting notion that Noa was perplexed beyond belief and it was hard to see otherwise when he was coiling himself into a tightened ball of nerves beside you. The hackles of fur along his broadened shoulders rose from interest at the lack of clothing. At the lack of privacy you were showcasing. It was forbidden in his mind to ever think about your body like that, Noa had no self-control to stop and the one time he allowed himself to go down that road, he couldn’t look at you for an entire week out of shell-shocked embarrassment.

Noa was stagnant and amply watched as you dropped your jacket first onto the ground for you to sit on before following suit with your delicious frame. It was like it was slowed down and dilated for him to take in every detail. The ripping of the fabric against your skin as you stretched your thighs apart to seat yourself properly, the way that drifted up ever so slightly and gave witness to a piece of your hamstring as your legs lifted and rested into a crossed position, the strap that was holding the garment up drifted downwards and stopped right above the bend of your elbow and the Ape found it difficult to not gawk at the newly exposed piece of your jugular. 

It was heavily beating implying nerves on your end from the quickened pace. Implying want and desire as Noa felt his mouth run dry with temptation to place his teeth against the beating vein. Right away and without any reserve, your arousal was drifting around the young Ape like a ripened fruit best to pick off the branch at the moment than to wait any longer. He had not seen what you were wearing before. Ever.

It was obvious from the pulling and drift of your breathing which catapulted the fabric against and away from your chest that you weren’t wearing anything underneath, scratching at the inner part of Noa’s conscious mind that he did desire to see what lay there, bare and without fur. Sure, Female Apes had the same characteristics you had, there was nothing… Special about them, Noa fluttered his eyes to the side in an attempt to keep the morbidity of his train of thought at bay. 

So why would the young Chimp be so… interested in seeing you… Without anything on? Sure, the fabric seemed interesting enough, mildly see-through Noa had to admit to seeing that when you first beckoned your arrival with a blushed smile. At least where the textile was thinner did it appear to cling closer to your skin, Noa’s mind felt like it was set ablaze with a trace of jealousy that he wanted to cast his body against yours in such fashion---...

There was the small hole of wear and tear that tugged right below your right breast, against the ridge of what Noa imagined to be your ribs… It expanded and shot back in with every breath you took as if it were teasing the Ape that it might just burst open if you inhaled too aggressively.

Maybe it was the primal part of Noa’s mind that yearned to see you exposed as a form of acceptance, that you were Ape just like he, just like Soona, Anaya and Dar. You were after all, with a roll of his shoulders at the satisfaction of the thought itself, Noa chuffed, you were a part of the Eagle Clan. There was no need for the pesterance of clothing, but you insisted and Noa never argued against the Echo logic which held privacy and embarrassment so highly. 

Maybe in some sick twisted way, Noa just wanted to know what your reaction to being bare would be. Would you try to cover yourself up, much like you were doing as you drew your arms to fold against your sternum, ultimately bolstering your breasts against the cap of the dress collar. Noa looked at that briefly and puffed his cheeks out before gazing out at the stark field that now held very little interest for him.

You’d try to cover yourself up was the deduced fact just as Noa was trying to sly away from the fact that there was a part of him that was yearning to just stare at you instead of the darkened landscape to figure out the purpose of your choice. It was warm enough, Noa figured, feeling a heated breeze through his thinner fur of the Summer and colliding with the skin beneath. 

“What… Is it? Have not seen you-... Wear…. That.”

“I found it… A couple months ago…” Your voice was hushed as you looked down at your own body and shuffled your butt a bit to get comfortable against the ground below. It was mildly cushioned from the bent grass that conformed against your lower half, tickling a bit at your bare legs and left a ricochet shiver to run up them and let it linger between your legs. There was no way to play faux confidence even as the yellow dress dragged itself upwards and displayed more of your thigh for Noa to take delectations in. You wanted to do nothing but pull it down and apologize for the mis-understanding and scuttle back to your hut for the night and tear it off with no intentions to ever wear it again.

All futile attempts at thinking that Noa’s opinions did not matter were lost. You… Cared, your heavy eyelids fell shut slightly as you looked at your lap where your hands were tangled in on themselves, pulling into knots with your fingertips and releasing them out of anxious desire for either one of your to say something that was going to be beneficial instead of sitting in what felt like bated and intensely scrutinized judgment.

What… Was Noa thinking? Did--- did he like it? Did the Ape think it was just a stupid Echo aspect, to worry about what you wanted to wear? To worry about your outward appearance? You drew a deep breath in but that did nothing to help your mind from falling into a pit of its own despair.  There was a pull in the center of your chest that hurt more than you cared to admit at the time that you wanted Noa to say something about it, even if it were critical so you could retaliate as if your words were going to convince him otherwise.

“I-I think we…” The tapering in your voice was relaxed and flowed into eased correction, “Echo… used to call it a dress.”

“You have not,” Noa muttered softly, and shifted his body ever so slightly so his shoulder brazenly drifted against your own and it felt like your skin was set aflame that rivaled even the bonfire in the center of the village at its peak during the evening meal. “Worn before.” That was said previously but in a different way and this time, it was accompanied by a swinging of Noa’s right arm to translate it into signing as if that were going to help the intended thoughts that now danced around the inside of his mind as frenzied contact between your stares was made and Noa felt a shattering of your clear scent radiate down into the depths of his nostrils once more and he turned back forwards, leaving your mouth open as if you were going to say something but ultimately decided against it at his reaction. It was an astute observation by an already obsessive Ape who took things apart at times to cure whatever seeped inquisitiveness that possessed him at the time.

That… You tilted your body inwards and captivated the very tips of Noa’s darkened fur against otherwise virgin skin that Noa himself started to enter by shifting his larger body towards your own.  That obsession was something you always found so attractive about Noa and it appeared it dove even deeper by your underlying desire to be the puzzle that he could not crack but attempted time and time again.

“Not much… to cover Echo’s… arms and legs.”

“Not really.” It was getting more difficult to hide the disappointment in your voice as you uncrossed your legs carefully, feeling the cracking of your kneecaps as you did so. Sitting up so you were able to pull the dress down enough to cover yourself better, you tugged the fabric to the point of the stretch against your thigh and carded your knees inwards so you could curl into a defended ball of nerves that now leaked uneasy confidence. “I think it was used more for celebrations and stuff… Thought it would… be nice to wear. Something different, you know?” The words felt empty and shallow now that you were explaining it in verbalization. Noa pressed his mouth together into a tightened line of discernable emotion. He knew you well enough to notice the shift in your tone. The body language that you paraded here with was gone with whatever semblance of self-assurance you had when you told him that you were unsure of what to wear and ultimately choose what was laying against your flesh that Noa wanted nothing more than to sink his own canines into. Forget the fabric, he'd be able to rip that off without any notice if it chose to get in his way---...

There were things the Ape could say, his teeth bared themselves in a small grimace of frustration aimed towards himself only while the fur along his longed collarbones rose in agreement to the emotion that ravaged around. The only coping mechanism Noa had was self-deprecation at times like these when he lacked the Echo understanding of what you were begging him for. Gritting the blunted top and bottom set of his teeth together for a split second, Noa relaxed his jaw and glanced towards you as you actioned your neck upwards to look at the sky and the twinkling of the lights that dotted along the midnight navy backspace.

There was such innate interest in you, Noa wanted you to know that but how… Could he just come out and say it? There was no way that you’d be receptive… Right? “Think it is… Nice. Something different…” 

Noa nodded his head assuredly at his own choice of words, hoping you recognized them as having a dual meaning. One towards the yellow scorned dress that had been faded and brought back to life by a captivating body and movements that flushed against your hips, bustled against your chest and waved invitingly at the Chimp, and the other towards the wearer itself. The hold of your shoulders that seemed to perk with anticipation, shoulder caps flushed with red that was from the heat of Noa’s proximity.

“Something different… is always… Nice.”

The smile that Noa gave you was rushed but held enough tenacity emotion for you to notice that it was bashful as if he were unsure of the cadences of his statement. As if he were… Afraid that you would not understand. Noa’s mouth parted once more, dripping his hot breath against the warmed skin of your bicep as the breathing was rapid but paced and not sporadic. You found yourself in a mimicked position, your lungs being crushed in by your position but it felt good and soothing against the knowledge that Noa was… Attempting to give a compliment, if you so chose to be optimistic about what the Master of the Birds was uttering to you.

And optimistic you stayed.

“Do you think so?” You whispered hushed, bringing your face down to kiss your forearm as you wrapped your arms around your knees and kept yourself positioned to longingly peer up at the sky. Noa felt jealous at that, shuffling once more to bump his shoulder against yours in an attempt to keep you grounded and focused on only himself. Selfish, he knew that but the way that you tore your eyes back into his foliage irises was something that lit Noa on fire, the smile that tugged itself across your expression was something the Ape longed to see over and over again. And he wanted to be the only one to stir it from you. 

“I think… It is welcomed. Especially when it is… You who brings something… Different.”

[ohwaitimthewriter]

Look at me if you dare

Pairing : Noa x human!reader

Warnings: angsty fluff? Fluffy angst? (you chose!)

Words: 4.3k+ (for real?? 😳)

Requested:

A/N: So! I didn't plan it to be this long but HERE WE ARE. I had to remove the 'getting angry' part but for good reasons, and only if you'd be interested in,: I'm thinking about a part 2 🫣 I need some time to ponder about it, but it is still a possibility! Thank you for your request, I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you'll like it! 😁 (even if it took me forever and I'm so sorry for this 🥺)

Enjoy your reading 😁

Planet of the Apes Masterlist.

Crouching at the river's edge, you watched your reflection ripple with the waves of the peacefully flowing water. You observed the gap between your eyes and the shape of your nose, which marked the boundary between the two. The little dimple formed by your upper lip just below the bridge of your nose and the plump of your lower lip. The thin line they formed, neither a smile nor a sad pout, a straight line free of expression.

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The hunting had been good that day. A stag, one of the biggest bucks in the deer herd. Euphoria had spread throughout the colony when none other than Noa, the leader of the Eagle clan, had returned from a long day's hunting with a few of his own. Anaya and Soona, of course, were part of the group, and you watched the two friends squabble with Noa over who had the best approach to killing the deer. Anaya was certainly trying to take more of the credit, puffing his chest out, but he quickly shook it off when Soona gave him a light punch in the ribs, complaining that he had no right to take full credit for the success of the hunt.

It was, of course, a team effort, and success depended largely on following the instructions given to each individual after agreeing on the best strategy. And this time, the best strategy was Noa's.

You watched them bickering, bragging about their feat, and could only smile at Noa's proud face, knowing full well that he had been the most astute on this hunt. The most astute and therefore the best provider for his clan.

And then his gaze met yours.

The cocky restlessness that radiated from his stance subsided. He glanced at the carcass strapped to his horse's saddle before locking his green irises into yours again and untying the animal, which fell to the ground with a thud.

Noa grabbed the animal by its antlers and began to drag it with one hand behind him, as he made his way towards you.

It seemed you were the only one who didn't quite understand what was happening. Anaya wanted to follow Noa, but it only took one look for Soona to understand and stop Anaya in his tracks. Anaya gave her a quizzical look before his mouth formed an 'O' in realization.

Dragging the animal's carcass seemed effortless, even though it was obvious that Noa was trying to hide the uncomfortable strain he had to exert on his arm muscles. Despite his thick fur, you could easily see the strength he was capable of, his muscles becoming more prominent with the 200kg of inert weight he had to pull behind him. He moved on all four, really only using three of his limbs, and the force of the pull made his shoulders even bulkier. The whole scene was rather impressive, but you had question marks plastered all over your face as Noa drew closer and closer to you.

Earlier in the afternoon, you had sat down by the big communal fire to work on making a spear more suited to your build. You didn't leave the log you were sitting on until the hunt was over. For a brief moment, you thought Noa wasn't really coming to you, but rather dragging the animal to the bonfire to share it with the rest of the colony. You wanted to believe it, because the wrathful looks of some disapproving apes were beginning to weigh heavily on your shoulders and you didn't quite understand what you had done to endure their judgment.

The carcass fell in front of you, and at the same time you heard an ape… Ezio, if you remembered his name correctly, who had taken part in the hunt, utter a muffled growl of… protest?

If you heard it, Noa must have too, but he decided to ignore it, preferring to keep all his attention on you. His stunning green eyes landed in yours and, like every time he gazed into the immense depths of your irises, you were afraid he'd discover a secret you'd been keeping under lock and key ever since you'd discovered it yourself. A secret that drew you irrevocably to him, but which you suppressed and buried deep inside yourself when the eyes of apes like Ezio landed on you.

You chose to avert your gaze towards the dead animal in front of you and prevent him from discovering it. Noa placed his hand firmly on the beast, pushing it further towards you until it touched your feet.

Why… was he bringing you the carcass?

You looked up at him again, and though you tried to give him an unsure smile, the silent question could be read in your eyes as they settled back on Noa.

No matter how much Noa saw you doubting, he couldn't help but feel proud to have brought you such a trophy. He wanted you to see it, to realize the strength it had taken him to kill it, bring it back and drag it to you. He wanted you to see his qualities as a leader, his qualities as a hunter, qualities that made him a perfect mate and that he would be perfectly capable of providing for all your needs… whatever they might be. He'd killed that deer for you, as proof that he was the best match for you. And any doubts you might have had could only be swept away by those 200kg of fresh meat he'd hunted.

At least, that's what he told himself in the back of his mind. That's what he wanted you to acknowledge in him.

In front of his attentive and expectant gaze, you remained unable to understand why he had placed the body of this animal at your feet.

On closer inspection, the stag was of impressive size, and there was no doubt that its remains alone could feed the entire colony. Your eyes followed the animal's shape and you couldn't help imagining its life before it unfortunately crossed the path of Noa and his hunting team. The animal must have been majestic. Its antlers were broad and you could count 14 points. An old creature. From the way its body was laid on the ground, you could only see one of its eyes, and the lifeless black iris squeezed your heart. A wave of empathy for this beautiful animal swept through your body and you instinctively leaned towards its corpse. With tentative fingers, you stroked its shoulder, as if to soothe the soul of the animal that had just given its life to provide for others. Its light-brown bristles were rough against the delicate skin of your fingertips, but it didn't matter, especially as you were certain to feel the gazes of the entire colony scanning your every move. Some approving. Others tolerant. And the last, disapproving.

You tried to push away the burning sensation in the back of your head caused by all those eyes on you, and uttered in a whisper addressed only to that deer, and perhaps, to Noa too, a heartfelt "thank you" for this animal's sacrifice.

Noa tilted his head towards you, seeking your gaze as he tentatively brushed your fingertips to capture your attention. A cloud of tingling ran up your fingers, from your hand to the hollow of your collarbone, creating a mass of tingles there that spread down your spine.

"He fought well."

Noa's gruff voice was meant to be reassuring. He understood your sympathy for the deer and wanted to be sure to let you know the animal had given everything to survive, but that Noa had been the strongest of the two.

You nodded silently and quickly wiped away a tear you hadn't felt rolling down your cheek. You took a deep breath, sharing a glance with Noa.

"Now it can rest." You say. " It'll serve us well."

Noa breathed through his nose proudly at your approval. It was all he needed, all he asked of you, and he grabbed the deer's antlers again to take it away in preparation for dinner.

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You ran your tongue over your teeth, and if you weren't showing them off to the little fish that passed by, oblivious to the giant you were compared to them, you made a mental note of the shape of each of them. Smooth, not particularly sharp, and even the teeth you used as canines weren't particularly well-suited to forcefully shredding any fish or animal flesh.

Not… suitable.

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

That evening, Soona joined you for dinner. Sitting cross-legged, you had set a bowl of vegetables and fruit in front of you, and on a thick piece of cloth was a piece of meat from the deer that Noa had brought you earlier.

Crouching beside you, Soona was biting into the animal flesh, and you admired the ease with which she was able to detach the raw meat and chew it as she would on the juicy flesh of an apple. Your meat, on the other hand, was cooked.

Soona glanced at the sharp little blade lying delicately next to your meat. Even though she was used to seeing you use it to cut small pieces of meat or fish, there was still a kind of fascination in her eyes. The Echos jaws weren't as powerful and efficient as those of chimpanzees, and while she didn't think they were very practical for everyday life, she was fascinated by your ability to find tricks to make life easier.

Her gaze was always benevolent, and you were never afraid to show her all the human tips and tricks that enabled you to navigate your daily life without too much trouble. Even in the troubles your three friends sometimes got you into.

Something as simple as biting into a piece of meat became a challenge, in all proportion, for a human, and this was quite fascinating for Soona.

But tonight, there was a glitch. Like a feeling of discomfort towards this piece of meat. Normally, you would have started by eating meat, or fish depending on the day. Meat, then vegetables, then fruit. A very specific order that you followed at every meal, even if Soona didn't understand the point of always having to "start with what's salty and finish with what's sweet", as you'd explained to her when she'd asked you. "I prefer to have a sweet taste in my mouth as a last bite." Soona hadn't had the heart to argue otherwise, if that was what you preferred then so be it.

And tonight, you had left your meat aside.

How odd.

Soona briefly moved her hand to show you your meat before signing.

" Not eating?"

Your eyes fell on the untouched meat. Usually, you would have taken the time to cut it up before starting your meal. But not this time. The blade you had taken out of your satchel after cooking the food over a fire had drawn more than a few questioning looks, some almost suspicious.

How long had people been watching you like this? Had it been a long time? And if so, how had you managed not to notice before?

Maybe you'd been blinded by the kindness and acceptance that Noa, Soona, Anaya and even Dar - who more than once had left you stunned by Noa's mother's tenderness towards you - had granted you. Your human condition had never been called into question, and although it had taken several weeks - months for some - for your presence among the clan to become as natural as taking a breath, you had never felt… rejected.

So why now? Why were you suddenly aware that maybe… your mere presence was perceived as that of a virus that needed to be contained. Like an underlying disease that had taken several months to blossom into its first symptoms.

Ezio and his gang of three other apes were stationed right in front of you, on the other side of the communal fire. The contemptuous look they gave you knotted like ropes around your wrists and you found yourself unable to move them to grab your blade and cut your meat.

You didn't know what to say to Soona because you really weren't eating your meat. Not because you didn't like it, nor because you weren't hungry, but because the judgment weighing on your shoulders blocked any will to move a muscle in the pit of your stomach.

Your gaze stopped for half a second on Ezio, who took advantage of your brief attention to challenge you, a small huff piercing through his muzzle, letting his cheeks formed a light puff.

You chose not to dwell on it and focused instead on Soona, who was looking at you with concern. You hesitated over your words before blurting out:

"I… I wouldn't want to… wouldn't you feel awkward watching me cut up the meat?"

Your question was genuine, but Soona widened her eyes, astonished by the implication of your sentence. She almost wished she'd laughed at you, because in all the time she'd seen you do it, it was about time you started worrying if that was really how you felt.

"Why would I bother?" She asked back.

And you sighed. Point scored for Soona. Your question made no sense as far as Soona was concerned. Of course she didn't care, and if she had, you were almost convinced she'd have asked you about it by now.

Seeing your defeated face, Soona went on to sign.

"I understand." And she gestured to your jaw. "Weak. Easier in small pieces to chew." She paused for a moment to gauge your reaction, and you seemed to accept her silent words. "I understand." She repeated aloud this time, her voice slightly rocky on the edges. "Anaya understands." She went on, and as if she could read the real reason for your concern in your eyes, she finished by directing her gaze towards the clan leader who was sharing his meal with Dar. "Noa… understands."

But Ezio and his friends didn't understand.

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Your hand plunged into the river, shattering your reflection, which had suddenly seemed too hard to look at. You didn't like what you saw. The water seeped through your fingers and its coolness slid under your skin in a vain attempt to bring some sanity back to your brain.

The delicate nature of your skin suddenly jumped out at you. Your hand bore various scars, large ones from sharp stones, small ones from bramble thorns, scratches from tree bark…

〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️

You'd looked for it everywhere.

Earlier in the morning, you had wished to go outside the village boundaries in search of a particular plant. It was about to be that time of the month when your period pains would start, and valerian, a plant with small white flowers, could help ease those painful cramps.

Soona would usually accompany you, but today she was busy with Dar. So you decided to go alone, but to your surprise, Noa refused. He argued that it was too dangerous for you to venture outside the territory of the eagle clan, almost forgetting that you had been living outside its boundaries for several months.

After extensive negotiation, he gave you permission to go, on one condition: that you take your spear with you and that Eagle Sun go with you.

But the spear you usually left at the entrance to your hut had disappeared. After spending an hour looking for it, Eagle Sun became restless and an unfamiliar ape, whom you'd seen hanging around with Ezio, informed you that he'd seen a spear… in a tree.

So you ended up right there, and the longer you stared at the top of the tree, the more you felt dizziness creep into the back of your skull.

Your spear was probably 8 meters, maybe 9, above your head. The ape who had shown you the way had pretended to have urgent business to attend to, and left you to ponder how you were going to climb a tree whose first branches were 3 meters above the ground.

After a minute's thought, you decided that with a sufficiently high first support, you'd certainly be able to pull yourself up onto the first branches and climb to your spear. There was only one effective way to do this: a horse.

Surprisingly enough, it had worked. It had worked so well that it had angered Ezio, who had been watching the whole scene in the hope that you'd end up making a fool of yourself and proving that you had no place among the eagle clan.

A split second was all it took. You had begun climbing down, having previously dropped your spear to the ground, when a sudden jolt made you lose your balance. The branch your foot was aiming for slipped away, and your hands suddenly clutched the trunk in a vain attempt to hold on to your body, which you felt falling like a mass toward the ground. The bark burned your skin and cut into its surface as you tried to slow your fall and, fortunately, your feet hit another branch before your body finally hit the ground with an impact you could only imagine would cause severe pain.

Okay, 5 good minutes.

Your forehead pressed against the rough trunk, trying to calm your suffocating breathing. You felt as if your heart was threatening to burst out of your ribcage, its beats hitting your ribs so hard. Your trembling hands, still clasped around the trunk, curled in on themselves, leaving only the bottom of your palm touching the bark that had bruised them.

You didn't want to make a move. You closed your eyes, unable to bear the sight of the ground a few meters below you. You didn't want to move, and anyway, even if you wanted to, the pain radiating from the inside of your hands prevented you from gripping anything. You didn't even dare examine your hands, for fear that the mere act of bringing them towards you would cause you to lose your balance again and end up on the floor.

And even when your name rolled off Noa's lips, you didn't react. You tried to breathe deeply, trying to calm the heart that had started a race faster than it could keep up with, but you couldn't get rid of the fear that had gripped your insides the moment you fell.

Fear. You felt it keenly now. It ran through your veins and forced you to hug the trunk as tightly as you could, undeniably tightening your legs around the branch you'd suddenly found yourself sitting on. It was fear, too, that made you jump when a large hand came to rest gently on your shoulder.

Noa.

Unlike you, he had climbed with incredible speed and fluidity. His build was made for it. His hands, his feet, all his muscles - everything was designed to enable him to pull himself up any structure without difficulty.

He gave your shoulder a gentle squeeze, urging you to look at him, but you stubbornly kept your eyes closed, your forehead almost wishing it could sink deeper into the bark which would most likely leave a mark on your skin.

A soft hoot escaped his mouth, hoping that this time you'd turn your head towards him, but fear gnawed at your stomach too much to dare move a muscle.

And yet, you had to.

You wanted to rage at yourself for your inability to move, for your stupidity in climbing that tree, for your stupidity in not being smarter and realizing that your body wasn't made for such a feat. For not having enough strength or balance or dexterity. But your trail of destructive thoughts ended when you felt the knuckles of Noa's fingers brush gently against your cheek, carefully beckoning for your attention.

His thicker, rougher skin turned out to be much more tender than it first appeared, and your eyelids fluttered at his touch before opening fully, allowing your eyes to look at him.

His cheeks puffed up slightly letting out a gust of air, twice as content that he'd got what he wanted and that you'd accepted his touch. How about thrice as content when his scent, faint as it was, had just mingled with yours in the exact spot where his knuckles had landed.

His hand clung to the tree trunk again, and your skin felt quite cold all of a sudden as it lost his touch.

"Come." His low voice danced in your eardrums.

He locked eyes with you and promptly adjusted his posture to match with where you stood, making it easier for you to slide onto his back. And if fear had made you reluctant to leave your pitiful safety on that branch, it was quickly swept away when Noa gently grabbed your wrist and wrapped your right arm around his neck.

The sudden proximity of your face to his enclosed you in a protective bubble that belonged only to the two of you. You couldn't remember ever having seen him look at you in such a warm, loving way, and the softness of his green eyes felt like a barely perceptible touch, only leaving you longing for more. A brief floating moment in which you were both ready to lose yourself as his fur tingled the skin of your bare forearm, and you almost thanked it for keeping your feet on the ground.

What could he possibly see through you to look at you in this way?

When you took the time to look at him, you saw strength, benevolence and an insatiable desire to meet the needs and expectations of his clan; you saw reliability, commitment and, more than anything else, safety. He didn't have to do much to make all these things shine through in his features. Through it all, Noa was radiant to your eyes. And you were easily swept away in languid admiration if you weren't careful.

And then there was you. Unable to climb a tree. So what did he see within you?

You left the safe mental bubble in which you'd both found yourselves entangled inside to finally hoist yourself fully onto his back, wrapping your legs around his slimmer waist and your arms around his powerful shoulders.

In less time than it took to say it, you were back on solid ground for an inspection of your wounds.

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You hadn't been here very long, but you could already feel your thigh muscles screaming with discomfort, in this position so unnatural to you.

Not wanting to fight the tugging sensation, you let yourself fall on your bum, choosing a cross-legged position, more comfortable and less demanding for your… weak muscles.

The water clung to the fabric of your pants with little splashes, gradually flooding the inside of your shoes in the process. Although the coolness sent shivers down your spine, it didn't stop you from contemplating your body's constitution with a certain contempt.

An unsuitable jaw. Delicate skin. Weak muscles. It was an inevitable conclusion shared by many.

You could see them now. Those stares.

Those stares that said "weird".

Those stares that said "weak".

Those stares that said " not belonging ".

And the more you saw yourself in the waves of that river, the more you realized they were right. You didn't belong.

A raindrop slammed into your reflection, just above your cheek, creating a halo of tiny waves that distorted the features of your face. Then another raindrop clattered with a silent " splash ", and yet another, until it blurred your vision.

It was only when you had wiped the tears from your eyes that you noticed the reflection of a second figure appearing beside yours.

Without bothering to look directly at him, you let out a deep sigh when his shoulder brushed yours as Noa came to crouch beside you. His eyes were glued to your reflection as it danced in the gentle swell.

What did his irises see within your reflection?

You sensed a form of understanding, as if he knew what was going round and round in your head, and in a slight moment of comfort, you felt his shoulder press so lightly against yours that, if you didn't know better, you might have thought it a mere happenstance.

"you belong here." The light touch on your shoulder seemed to tell, and a tear dropped down your cheek again, "Look at me," it seemed to tell him. "I'm looking at you," his careful gaze told you. A second tear joined the first, " Look at me properly." and he huffed through his nose, confident but eventually his eyes acknowledged and conceded to your human condition. Another tear rolled down your skin, clinging for dear life to the tip of your chin before crashing into the water, "you see it now". Noa shifted his eyes away from your reflection, "I see it", putting an end to the silent talk.

His reflection disappeared from the surface of the water, leaving only a sensation of emptiness as his massive body moved from its spot beside you.

Noa glanced back at you, watching you curl into yourself, still sadly obsessed by a reflection he could only find beautiful.

[kidasthings]

Echoes of Eden by Kida

Noa x Mae - #theystillgotthoseskeletons

Chapter 1: Echoes of Eden by Kida – @kidasthings on Tumblr

Next Chapter: https://www.tumblr.com/kidasthings/751031002718240768/echoes-of-eden-by-kida?source=share

Chapter 2

Mae found Noa outside the makeshift sky tower, the hawks still cartwheeling across the heavens like avenging angels.

“Stop!” Mae demanded, flanked by an assortment of curious apes who had crowded at the entrance to the building behind her while they held their conversation. Her face was slack with dismay. “What do you plan to do to them?”

Noa didn’t spare her a glance back. His attention was fully focused on the five captives before him, and his expression was stormy.

To their credit, the human hostages held his gaze, if a bit wavering. Finally, a dark-haired man schooled his face into some semblance of bravado and demanded, “Let us go and you’ll never see us again.”

“I know what … you are capable … of,” Noa replied in his steady, halting manner. The crease between his brow ridges deepened, and now he stole a dark look at the anxious human woman at his back in rebuke.

“Listen to him, to us,” Mae interjected, sprinting over, and swinging out in front of Noa, hands spread wide as if she could protect her own people from the worst of his. “This was a misunderstanding. He never meant to find this place.”

Lips half-parted, the hero of the Eagle Clan glowered at the young woman with the blue eyes and the side-plait in her hair. He had hoped, many times, to see her again. It had been against his best judgement of course, but there lived some small, treacherous part of his psyche that yearned for the sight of a certain duplicitous human female.

But to what end?

With a heavy heart, Noa requested that the five captives be blindfolded. They were tightly bound when they began to struggle in earnest, their eyes covered with strips of animal hide that blocked out the dimming world around them. The humans shuffled uneasily once the apes were done; their fear was palpable in the cool evening air.

An elder stepped forward, one of the few council that survived the original invasion by Sylva's raiders.

"If you will not be forthcoming ... with your purpose ... then banishment is … necessary.” The elder, an older chimpanzee wearing many colored stones, nodded to Noa. "Cast them out."

Mae flicked panicked looks between the scowling Noa and the writhing humans as they were at last secured. In desperation, she bounded forward and clung to Noa’s arm. It was like a live wire, feeling her fingers sink into his short fur. “You can’t..”

Noa felt it instantly, his entire body stiffening in response for half a heartbeat.

Short-lived, the young ape just shook her off as if she were an annoying gnat and stepped away. He did not even deign to look her in the eye. “Let’s go.”

Noa led the procession, his strides purposeful yet laden with an unspoken sorrow. The path they took was intentionally convoluted, winding through the dense undergrowth and over streams that glittered faintly under the first stars. The sounds of the forest, usually comforting, now carried a tense silence broken only by the rustle of leaves and the soft thuds of footsteps.

Mae followed close behind, her heart torn. The pendant around her neck - a symbol of peace and a painful reminder of the bond she shared with Noa - felt heavier with each step. She watched Noa’s broad back, the set of his shoulders speaking of a burden she could only guess at.

She could not ascertain how long they walked. An hour? Four?

Soona and Anaya, Noa’s close friends and trusted members of the clan, traveled alongside the group. Their expressions were unreadable, their usual warmth hidden behind a mask of duty. The small group of apes from the village flanked the humans, their presence a silent warning against any thought of escape.

After what felt like forever, Noa finally halted. The group had ventured deep into the forest, far from any familiar trail. He signaled to the others, who carefully removed the blindfolds from the human captives. Blinking against the sudden influx of dim light, the humans looked around, disoriented and unable to recognize any part of the forest while the small contingent of Eagle Clan villagers began to remove the bonds from the captives. Sighing and rubbing her raw wrists in relief, the woman with the bob stepped back behind the four men with which she traveled. Each was attired in worn camouflage uniforms streaked with dirt, no doubt earned on their long, treacherous journey.

Turning to Mae, Noa’s voice was soft, conflicted. "Take them with you," he instructed, his eyes not meeting hers. "Without … their weapons. This is where we part … ways again."

Mae opened her mouth to reply, her emotions swirling, when sudden movement caught her eye. One of the human men, his expression desperate, revealed a hidden knife he had somehow kept out of sight. In a swift motion, he grabbed the closest ape within reaching distance. Unfortunately, this turned out to be the naïve Anaya. The man, the dark-haired one who had spoken up earlier, began pressing the blade against the ape’s throat.

The forest erupted into chaos. The apes growled, their bodies tensed for a fight, but Noa raised a hand, signaling them to hold. “I thought they were searched!”

Mae’s hand instinctively moved to the small pistol hidden in her belt - a secret she had kept even from Noa. "Let him go," she said firmly to Anaya’s aggressor, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her.

Mae became hyper-aware her allegiance was being assessed right there in front of both species.

The human’s eyes were wild, his fear palpable. "We need a guarantee we’ll get out of here safely," he demanded, his voice shaking.

“Was he … not checked for weapons?” someone could hear Soona say incredulously.

Noa’s gaze finally met Mae’s, filled with a mix of betrayal and pleading. The complexity of their relationship, marked by trust and tension, hung heavily between them.

Mae took a slow, deep breath, her decision clear. "No one needs to get hurt," she addressed the other human, her tone even. She spoke to him like one would a spooked horse. "Let him go, and I’ll ensure your safety. You know I know where you’re heading."

The tall man hesitated, his grip on the knife faltering as he searched Mae's face for sincerity. After a tense moment, he simply shook his head and gritted his teeth. “His life,” the man stated chillingly, “for our guns and supplies.”

Anaya began to struggle anew when the knife was temporarily lifted. Grunting, the man returned the blade to his victim’s furry throat and the young ape stilled in fear. Had the man grabbed any other villager, he would have been quickly overpowered and brought to his knees with a fully cracked cranium. It was well known that the strength of apes was five times greater, after all. Lucky for him, Anaya was a gentle, fearful soul that did not go looking for trouble; he stood compliantly like a deer in headlights waiting for the crash.

Noa lifts his hands, palms up and out, and breathed in deeply. His nose flared, as if scenting the air. Around them, the palpable tension of the other apes increased as they hissed and growled.

The man with the knife began backing up, and the four others with him began to back up as well. The others in his group stole nervous glances amongst each other, not entirely on board with the fifth man’s spur-of-the-moment choices – sadly, they were far too late to alter them.

“Last chance. Release him,” Noa’s voice dripped darkly.

“No can do, buddy. Not until we have our stuff.” The man’s eyes flicked to Mae. “Look, I don’t know what you are doing with these animals, but maybe you can convince them it’s better to just give us our packs?”

Mae was so frustrated she could curse.

Both she and Noa’s eyes met for only a second, and one sentiment was wordlessly exchanged in that moment.

Shit.

“We don’t need the guns, really,” the only other human woman piped up, stepping carefully forward. All heads swung her way. “We just need our bags. You have something of ours we really need back.”

From just above knifepoint, Anaya’s wild eyes pleaded with Noa and Mae to do something, anything.

Noa began to chant.

Mae stiffened in surprise, her guarded expression shifting curiously.

Above, far above, the circling eagles gathered.

The mantra came to a crescendo, and the others – Soona, the other apes, even Anaya, began to join in.

A dark, darting shape dropped like a missile from the sky and daggered its way towards the face of the man holding the blade. He screamed, dropped the weapon, and a quicksilver wink of light fell to the grass.

Another bird plummeted from the sky, followed by yet another. They each found a suitable target in each human, ominously sparing Mae.

“Noa!” Mae cried in alarm, unable to watch birds of prey ravage the humans in front of her. She scrambled forward, knees hitting the ground, and reached back for the pistol from the seaside bunker on her belt. It was still conveniently concealed beneath a blue jacket, thankfully remaining out of sight from Noa’s people. The sting of tears pricked her eyes as she became wracked with indecision.

Humans, immune like her, being disfigured by birds. How was this even possible?

Despite her inner turmoil, self-preservation stayed her hand.

Noa nodded at Mae, a silent acknowledgment mingled with sadness. Perhaps it was to mollify her, perhaps not, but a marked change began. His tribal songs ceased, fading away with the night wind.

"Why is it so hard?" he murmured, more to himself than to her.

The five humans fell to the ground, clutching their faces. Red rivulets streamed down the back of their hands through the spaces in their fingers.

Anaya broke away once released, huffing heavily as he shot over to the group of apes beyond Mae.

Thank you, he signed to Noa, who grabbed him by the forearms and checked him for injuries just as Soona met them halfway. A suspicious stare was leveled Mae’s way by the female ape, almost accusatory, but she did not have much time before she began to fuss over Anaya. “Are you … okay?” she asked worriedly.

“Fine,” he puffed, exhaling deeply.

Noa released Anaya just as the Fort Wayne group scuttled backwards, their faces unrecognizable after being ravaged by talons. “Traitor!” one shot out at Mae, voice laced with pain.

Mae flinched, struck back by the accusation.

“Bitch,” another cursed. They stood up, scuttled backwards. The dark-haired man that had held Anaya hostage groped the grass before him, searching for something before abandoning the effort.

“Go, while you still can,” Noa intoned chillingly.

A bunch of hoots and howls from the assembled apes backed him up on that threat, and the injured humans wasted no time in scrambling and falling backwards, half running, half limping away.

Soon they were nothing but crackling twigs, grunts, and whispering foliage in the distance.

Mae watched them go, unable to react to what she just witnessed. Far above her, a hawk shrieked in rage.

Noa reached out, his hand brushing against hers for a brief, electric moment.

Breaking her stasis, she glanced down for a march of moments between them. Noa closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and flared his nostrils before turning away from her burning stare.

A pregnant pause followed.

With a final, lingering look, Mae took a step in the direction of the other humans but couldn’t find the strength to go. As the night grew deeper, the sounds of the forest resumed their nocturnal chorus.

Mae clenched her fists tightly at her side, molars grating against each other. An enraged expression stole across her features for a moment, the continual strain of restraint etched there.

The young woman then recalled something interesting mentioned by the sole woman in the group during the confrontation.

“We just need our bags. You have something of ours we really need back.”

No, she couldn’t mean –

Mae whirled on the spot. With her back straight but her spirit burdened, she shifted back towards Noa decisively.

It came all too late to Mae that she was suddenly following a group of apes back to their village like an odd wraith. The taste was bitter on the back of her tongue, but the thought of leaving behind something critically important would taste far worse.

I need to reach their supplies.

For the sake of all that was good and holy, she needed to do this – after all, the very future of humanity depended on it.

[reddesires]

Fishing with the Sunset Trio [Headcanons]

Implied Noa x Human!Reader

Fandom: (Kingdom Of The) Planet Of The Apes

Rating: Tooth rotting fluff (if you couldn't tell, I love cute interactions)

A/N: Here is some cute Headcanons of spending a day of fishing with the trio, enjoy enjoy ❤️

Requests are welcomed!

• You and Anaya rallying up together to ambush Noa as he's concentrated on his prey traveling upstream, you two jumping upon him when he sets his sights at the right moment, he's quick to chase after you two intending to give you hell.

•Soona basking on the sidelines, enjoying watching you and Anaya annoying Noa. The shenanigans that you two conjure too funny for her to bother to intervene on Noa's behalf.

•You finally relenting and giving Noa a helping hand in fishing (totally didn't get caught by him and forced to help him as punishment, totally).

• Noa convincing you to use his spear, him watching as you struggle to even lift it beside your head, you too prideful to admit defeat but the pathetic throw and missing the fish by a long shot exposing you.

•Soona and Anaya not even holding back their amused laughs as you try to run downstream away from your embarrassing performance, Noa grabbing you, not letting you also as hoots escape him too.

•the trio expertly hooking and throwing the aquatic creatures into the woven baskets, a competitive air held between them as they tease each other on who's better at fishing.

•"Anaya is the best at catching fish! Noa struggle, Noa catch small fish!" Anaya boasts, Noa huffy as he tosses said small fish into Anaya's face, the ape falling backward into the stream

•Trying to hold back your laughs as the male apes rough house, water splashing everywhere smacking you in the face drenching you, a silence overcoming as they slowly look to you.

•Jumping up and dashing over to them. "No! Don't you try to run now!"

•When you do catch up to them, you grip their ears as you scold them. They can't really take you seriously, though. You find it pretty funny, too.

•Soona collecting pretty stones intending on making them beads for when she can braid your hair, she always looks forward to those times since she gets bored of weaving all the time.

•Noa pushing strands of wet hair out of your face as you pout, his expression one of what you would call admiration, you can't help but shyly try to hide your face from him, a smile gracing your lips.

•You and Soona trying to catch fish by hand, each of you crying out in exclamation but unsuccessful as the trawl managed to slip your grasps, Anaya trying his hand on it but also failing even going as far as diving into the shallow stream to catch the fish (unsuccessfully ofc, just a faceful of pebbles).

•Noa tossing you over his shoulder as you try to sneak away to get out of fishing duty, you try with all your might to get out of his grasps but to no avail (he's always surprised how light you are in comparison to apes).

•Soona reprimending Noa on how he should be careful with you, she gets worried that the boys are too rough with you. "Stupid Noa! Be careful with Echo!" (she's very protective of you, and she makes it known).

•Anaya convincing you to climb onto his back as he runs downstream on all fours, the water showering everywhere, not only scaring away the prey but also giving Noa a heart attack afraid that you'll slip off off Anaya's back and bonk your head somewhere, Soona more than willing to give Anaya a good smack on the head for the scare.

• Finally, getting enough fish for the clan at dusk due to all the distractions, all of you completely drenched, but all was due in a days work or so Soona says.

• The communal meal was filled with chatter and laughs, you feeling more than fulfilled by more than just your berry and fish dinner. Your gaze caught Noa's, an electric buzz filling your body, and a beaming smile overtaking your features, he's chuffs in response.

[mae-is-crazy]

I was wondering if you could do Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes one shot where Mae and Noa are sitting by a fire in a cave, like you know how some movies do like silhouette scenes where the light shines on them but you can only see their silhouettes and they're talking very softly I'm not really sure you can come up with something maybe it's something serious or like something touching or heartwarming. But I always imagine they would be tired and like exhausted or something or emotionally or physically but they're like getting closer to each other I mean they're Bond or something which eventually mae fall asleep on him and he feels all awkward X3

Okay, I'm being so serious right now what I say that I LOVE THIS REQUEST!! So frickin' wholesome and cute. I'm usually one to go into serious and darker content, but I couldn't miss the opportunity to write some fluff. I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope you have just as much fun reading the finished product :) :)

Signs of Constant (Noa/Mae)

Synopsis: A quiet night by the fire leads to sharing the beauties of two different world.

(This story is unedited. Edits will be conducted at a later date).

In the serene warmth of the fire in front of him, Noa observed Mae.

He studied her face like it was the last time he’d see it. And it very well could be; she’d been gone for two springs, off with who he assumed to be a group of intelligent ech- humans- so who knew how long she’d be gone for next time. When Anaya alerted him of her presence, Noa had felt this warm wave in his gut that pushed him to see her without a second thought.  

Through the limited lighting of the dancing flames, Noa took in her every feature.

Noa could see a faint scar on the bottom right side of her chin, one that hadn’t been there the last time she was around. Her hair looked different too. Darker? No, it was just the night. It did look shorter, but only slightly. It was still in that lose braid he last saw her with.

Something that hadn’t changed, however, was her eyes. Even with hues of orange engulfing the small cave the two were huddled in, its raging colors were no match against the cerulean shade in her eyes. Even before the two were formally introduced he’d first noticed the striking color, a color that shood out against the earthy browns and greens of his clan. They somehow seemed to shine brighter on the night.

As if reading his mind, Mae blinked in his direction. She smirked slyly as Noa quickly looked down at his lap. “Gotcha,” she teased lightly.

Noa silently prayed his dark pelt could hide whatever heat was radiating off his face. He turned to look behind him, instead focusing on the massive silhouettes on the rocky backdrop. It was clear enough the height difference between the two, but the fire only made it more obvious- almost monstrous.

An ape and a human. Two different species, two different worlds. Different ways of life and how they think the world should work. And yet they were at peace with one another.  It shouldn’t be possible, and yet here they were, sharing a fire.

Mae follows Noa’s field of sight. She watches the shadows behind them bounce across the rock wall. Noa side eyed her. A smile began creeping upon her face.

“My mom always did this when we had a fire,” Mae explained as eh shuffled herself to turn around, her back facing the fire. “You can tell stories with the fire.”

The put her hands up and together. She stacked her thumbs on top of each other and made a slight cup with her hands. She displayed it in front of the fire, and…

“It’s a bird,” Mae moved her hands in a fluid motion as if the creature was in flight. Noa couldn’t’ hide the amused chortle, only making the girl’s smirk grow into a toothy smile. Noa could feel a quickening sensation in his heart. Her eyes seemed to shine brighter through her smile- brighter than the flames in the pitch black night- because of her smile.

Mae changed her hands to form a new shape. This beast had a snout similar to that of a boar, but without jagged teeth or short, flappy ears- whereas this thing’s ears stood at attention. “It’s a dog.”

Noa gave her a confused glance. Mae put her hands down immediately after.

“The hands… are like sign.”

“I don’t know sign.”

Noa twisted his whole body to fully face Mae and she silently did the same. He put up one hand and took a deep breath before slowly twisting his fingers into different shapes. He’d tuck a finger into his parm or point to the side. He took a moment before moving onto each letter to let Mae absorb what she was seeing.

“Fire,” he whispered. Mae looked at her own hand. She glanced up at Noa’s hand and back down at hers before trying for herself. Noa watched the girl tale her time forming each character. When she’d make a mistake, he repeated the sign until she’d get it right.

Noa released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He softly smirked. There was so much to learn from one another. So much to teach as well, it seemed.

Mae looked outside past the fire. The only thing visible in the dead of night was the celestial body of stars. It was a constant in this rapidly changing world. Noa found reassurance that, no matter what happened, he could as least look up each night and find that the stars hadn’t left him.

Noa signed without looking away from the girl. “Stars,” he murmured. She followed quickly in suit and mirrored his gestured. “Stars,” she mimicked quietly.

The ape nodded in approval. He raised his hand one more time, this time spelling out each word as he shaped it.

He tucked his thumb between his pinkie and ring finger. “M.”

Made a fist but being sure to keep his thumb exposed. “A.”

Noa’s fingers touched each other tightly and sat atop his thumb.

Mae beat him to finish the word.

“E.”

The two watched one another carefully. The silence that once brought Noa comfort now made him feel awkward, almost uneasy. Whereas Noa would stare at Mae, it seemed that she was doing it to him- thinking to herself, forming possible judgments. What did she see that he couldn’t?

The intensity in her glare suddenly shifted and her she relaxed her shoulders. Mae squeezed her eyes shut and dipped her head. She stretched out her arms and yawned. Before Noa could register what was happening, Mae leaned closer to him, resting her head against his shoulder.

Noa stiffened like a board. He heard his breath and eyed the fragile girl (though she was far from fragile outside of the physical scene). The fire was beginning to die down. Even so, Mae still did not shiver against Noa’s body.

He waited a minute, two, ten before settling on the idea that she’d fallen asleep. He tilted his head to catch a glimpse of her peacefully slumbering form.  The young ape felt truly honored to feel trusted with this precious girl’s life in such a vulnerable state.

Noa was just about to allow himself sleep when he heard a tiny voice against him:

“Tomorrow, I want you to each me your name.”

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Why Not Us?

Bleeding in Moonlight: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five | Chapter Six |

CW: Memories of mass murder, some internalized dehumanization, survivor’s guilt

-

Misae made it to the little bedroom before the moon rose, thankfully. He nearly tripped over the strange mattress on the floor, the one they’d blown up with air and then thrown blankets and pillows on. It was meant to be his bed, he thought, which made sense.

Anaya might let him on the real bed, but not to sleep. Wolves, like dogs, slept on the floor. It would be lonely, but it would make sense. Almost nothing did, now. Sitting in chairs, eating pizza instead of having to shift to eat the raw meat thrown into the kennels, wearing clothes and being asked if he would like something to drink… they didn’t seem to know what he was, to understand. 

He could hear them now, Eden, Anaya, and Vanessa, from down the hall. They talked and laughed, and Misae felt hollowed out at the sound, wishing he could be there with them.

Maybe there would be more pizza.

He laid one hand on his stomach. It felt… almost rounded. He’d never eaten so much or so well, not in all the life he had lived. He hadn’t had to fight over any of it, either. There hadn’t been the need to snarl and posture, or crawl on his belly and lick at an older wolf’s mouth, hoping they’d give him a few scraps out of pity or some dim affection.

The moon’s slow rise made him restless, bouncing on his toes as he tried to decide where he could safely change. The room was small, but he could fit under the big bed if he was smart about it. 

But then the humans would get into the bed, and if the mattress dipped low it might force him back out.

The call to shift prickled under his skin, and Misae stripped his shirt and pants off before it could take hold and leave him confused and trapped in the cloth. He tossed the sweatpants and shirt onto the bed just as he felt his spine begin to bend.

It always felt so good, when the shift started. Like waking up after a good sleep, coming back to where you belonged. He had always been meant to walk on four legs, and the human side was only what he was allowed for good behavior.

He leaned over, a sensation like goosebumps running up and down his arms and legs, setting his hair on end. The healing wound in his leg throbbed but some of the pain felt more distant as he changed.

It wasn’t that the wound disappeared, it was only that his wolf body knew how it felt to be injured with silver far better than his human body did. It knew how to ignore the pain, how to keep moving, because to let the pain take you was to be singled out to die. Wolves who were too hurt to keep going were wolves that starved, his instincts knew it. Wolves who starved died.

Everyone died anyway. It hadn't mattered how good they were when Bill didn't want them any longer.

He shuddered and shoved that thought aside. He couldn’t think about his family, not now. It would overtake him and he’d just be trapped in the grave in his mind, even if his body was here still breathing.

He couldn’t think about dozens of flat blank eyes, frozen in mute horror. He couldn’t think about the warmth still lingering in the stiffening bodies pressed all around him, about how Nina had tried to cover him and hide him from the shots even as she had been bleeding to death herself. 

Had Nina been his real mother?

It was possible. Their fur was the same, their eyes were the same. But some of the other wolves had fur and eyes like his, too. But... maybe Nina had been his mother.

Maybe she had known it, if only at the end, and tried to save the one pup she could.

The humans had tried to ruin them to each other, make them hurtful and hateful, but the wolves had found a way to love, anyway. In secret, when it was safe, and at the end when nothing was safe and it didn’t matter any longer there was one more way to love that Bill couldn't take from them.

It made no difference if you loved when you would lose each other anyway. In the end, the werewolves had loved each other, and it hadn’t saved any of them.

Except him.

Misae closed his eyes, stretching his shifting muscles and forcing himself to leave the dead behind, for now anyway. For as long as he could. 

Bones cracked and broke beneath his skin, painlessly reforming. Misae dropped to a crouch and leaned his weight forward on his hands, feeling bare, vulnerable fingers change to rougher paw pads and clicking nails. He stretched his front legs until the muscles stretched and burned and sighed, contented by the feeling.

Canine teeth lengthened and his ears grew. He twitched one just to feel it, exhaling a rough sigh as his tongue briefly lolled out. Fur spread over skin like a blanket, a little patchy but still warming his chilly body, and the bed on the floor called to him. He was tired, and the killing back at Bill’s house kept trying to worm its way past his moments of comfort and warmth in this new place, with these new people.

If he laid still, it would catch up with him, and he didn’t want Anaya or Eden to hear how wolves mourned, how they cried. He didn’t know if they would still comfort him then, or if they would turn angry at the sounds, or learn to hate him. Bill’s family hated the sound of the mourning wolves, beat them for their weeping in human form or for their howls as wolves. 

Who knew what regular humans would do? 

Misae only knew that Anaya and Eden had been kind, so far. But so had Aaron, sometimes - Bill’s youngest son had been known to scratch behind a wolf’s ears when none of the other humans were looking. Even Austin had once bandaged Misae’s leg after he’d gotten it caught in a fence and bled.

That didn’t make them any kinder when the werewolves broke the rules, rules no one ever said out loud but simply expected the wolves to learn by being beaten when they were broken until they figured them out. It had never stopped Austin from calling them all names, or laughing when they fought.

Human kindness always had limits. 

Always.

Even as he became the first form he ever knew, the stalking werewolf that Bill had never been able to separate from the boy whose body the wolf shared, Misae knew he had to hide. Not from Anaya or Eden, who had already seen him as a wolf. Not because he feared them.

He had to hide because they didn’t know to fear him.

Misae’s nose turned black and scents exploded into the world around him. What had before been just the light smell of cleaning products and maybe a pumpkin-scented candle was now a collection of stories he could read in the air and along the ground. Vanessa had walked in here to set up the mattress, having forgotten to take her shoes off after getting the mail. Misae could smell the grass she had stepped on, scent the slight shift in her smell of frustration when it took a long time to get the air pump working to set up the mattress. He could smell, on the mattress, long months spent idle with no need to be used. The faintest smell of a camping trip, some time in the past - the last time the air mattress had been needed.

The way his sense of smell changed was always what gave away when it was time to find somewhere to hide, before the silver light could touch his fur and call to him. It would make him want to run, to howl and see if any other wolves were nearby to answer.

What would he do if they were?

He had known only his own family. He’d never seen any werewolves that didn’t huddle together in the kennels, fighting over the barest hints of kindness shown to them by Bill and his family. If he met a free wolf, he might simply lay down, show his belly, and wait for them to tear out his throat when they smelled the kennels on him. 

Misae paced restlessly around the small room, limping and trying to keep weight off his injured leg, snuffling against the ground, tracing the hints of Eden and Anaya in here and then following the softer smell of Vanessa until he found the closet door was cracked open.

Perfect. Like a den.

He had to paw at it, whining softly with his ears flat against his head, looking nervously at the patch of moonlight that seemed to head inexorably in his direction. His heart raced beneath his fur at the sight. 

Bill had always said, over and over again, never let the moonlight touch you. It was the only rule the humans told the werewolves, and taught to the pups before they were put into the main kennels. During the full moon, for three nights, they would huddle together inside big wooden boxes that formed a kind of den. Anyone caught outside the den, by Bill or by the cameras, would be punished.

It was the first thing Misae remembered learning, while still toddling around on four short legs, a few weeks after birth. Never let the moonlight touch you. He'd broken the rule running from the guns, from the grave of his family. He'd broken the rule running from Austin. But… that had been different, hadn’t it?

Hadn’t it?

Misae clambered clumsily over a pile of cardboard boxes, blowing harshly through his nose as things packed inside clattered around. He pushed at them with his snout until he had made for himself a sort of barrier, protecting him from the world outside this tiny space. He turned in a circle and then laid down, ears flat, shimmering amber-brown eyes watching the silvery light that cut across the bed through the open doorway.

Beneath his nose, soaked into the floorboards years ago, he could smell a hint of a rose perfume. Left by some other person, long before any of the familiar smells of Vanessa's life had entered this place.  

The scent made him shudder, heart going cold.

Bill's wife Ada wore rose perfume. 

The smell of roses, for the children in the puppy kennels, meant one of you might vanish that day. Ada sometimes took them, luring them out with treats and soft words until she could get the loop around their necks to pull tight, leading them on the leash inside.

She mostly brought them back, after sticking needles to take blood or give what she called 'medicine' that put the puppies to deep sleep and left them groggy and confused upon waking. She mostly brought them back.

But not always.

Rose perfume drifting on the air was sometimes all the warning they got before a pup disappeared. 

The memories made him tremble and he whined softly, but quieted the sound as fast as he could. It was something all of them learned, not just how to hide from the moonlight but also how to be so quiet that none of the men and women inside the house could hear and think of them.

They all learned how to be, if only temporarily, forgotten.

Now Misae was the only left for Bill and his family to remember. He wondered if Bill would come for him, still. Try to find him. Or if, now that he'd outrun Austin, he'd let Misae go into a world where nobody was left to even love him in secret any longer.

It was Eden and Anaya he needed to hide from now. Not because they might hurt him, but because he might hurt them. Wolves were most dangerous when the moon was full, calling on their nonhuman blood. 

It made them monsters - hungry, mindless killers. 

Everyone knew that.

Bill made sure everyone knew that. 

He watched the moonlight’s slow crawl along the small room until his eyes drifted shut and he dozed off, his tail flicking occasionally. Once the moon began to set in the morning, just as the sun rose, he’d be able to be a boy again. Until then, he could relax into the form he was far more comfortable in even if he had been painstakingly taught to fear what it was capable of.

He slept deeply enough to have fuzzy, formless dreams. He was beneath all of his family, trying to crawl out from under them. They called for him, cried for help, whined and whimpered and shouted and cursed. 

The air was being slowly crushed out of him, and he desperately tried to get out from beneath the weight of their deaths, their memories.

He looked up to see straight down the barrel of Austin’s shotgun, the black within the metal circle, holding his death.

Found you, Austin said, softly. Time to go, Rusty.

Fingers touched the top of his head.

Misae?

He jolted awake and snapped out of sheer instinct, ears flat in a flash and teeth clicking together. He didn’t quite catch anything, but as his eyes opened, he saw Anaya looking down at him, eyes wide, her hand jerked back against her chest. 

“Misae?” She repeated, voice a little shakier this time. She was wearing sleeping clothes, and Eden was just behind her, wearing only a pair of low-slung sweatpants that had Misae looking in jealousy at skin only scarred along the underside of his chest, two odd half-circle shapes that didn’t mean anything to Misae’s mind. “Holy shit.”

“DId he bite you?” Eden asked, an edge to his voice. “Anaya, if he bit you-... isn’t that how it-... it spreads?”

Misae curled up tighter, whimpering, his heart picking back up into a pounding race that made him dizzy. He tucked his tail as tightly as he could and looked up with his chin pressed against the floor, licking at his chops nervously.

 “Naya? Did he-”

“No, he didn’t,” Anaya replied, frowning back at Eden, before dropping into a crouch. “And we don’t know that that's how it spreads, or whatever. Or even if it does spread. Who even knows what’s real and what isn’t about werewolves?”

“Before yesterday, I would have told you nothing is real about werewolves,” Eden said, hovering behind her. 

“And you would have been wrong, wouldn't you. Besides, he was asleep. I woke him up, that’s on me, not him. Hey, Misae. Hey there, honey.” Her voice softened, and she shoved some of Misae’s barrier of boxes aside, until she could hold out her hand and lay it down with knuckles on floor and palm facing up, between them. “It’s okay, honey. It’s just me. Are you good? We were worried when we didn’t see where you’d gone. You were making some noise in here, I thought maybe something was wrong.”

Misae’s nose twitched. He eased forward, belly to the ground, until he could slowly lay his chin in her palm. She let one finger gently scratch at the soft fur there and he whined. 

“He’s okay,” Anaya whispered. “I scared you, huh? You were having bad dreams, I bet. Don't blame you, this has been a really weird day. Just... the weirdest. Can I ask why you're here in the closet?”

“There’s a joke about being a closeted werewolf in there somewhere, but I’m honestly not awake enough to make it,” Eden said, but he moved back until he could sit on the bed. He didn’t quite relax, not yet, but the space helped Misae to feel a little safer. Eden didn’t look - or smell - angry. 

“Oh, shut up,” Anaya said, rolling her eyes, but the corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. She wasn’t angry, either. “And don’t spend all night coming up with it, either. I don’t want to hear it when we wake up.”

“Well, now I have to come up with something. I have to come up with something and have it be the literal first thing I say to you when we wake up,” Eden teased, flopping himself backwards onto the bed and wriggling under the blankets, sighing happily when he was covered up. “Oh, this comforter weighs a ton. Perfect.”

“For someone who likes to sleep in the absolute wilderness like a caveman, you sure love a weighted blanket.” Anaya snorted.

"If I'm a caveman, that means you like a caveman." Eden grinned. "Ha ha, you're in love with a Neanderthal," He sing-songed. Anaya threw up a middle finger over her shoulder in his general direction, and Eden's smile only widened.

Misae wondered what a Nee-ander-tal was as his eyes flicked to the side, taking in the window, looking for the moonlight. To his relief, the curtains were closed.

The room was dark, now, except for a small lamp they’d turned on by the bed. There was no chance of the moon catching at his fur, calling him to hunt, to rip and tear and rend. 

Misae pushed himself slowly onto his feet, ignoring his throbbing back leg. Anaya smiled at him, and it felt like a reward. His heart beat faster for new reasons, and he followed her as she eased back and away from the closet, pushing past the boxes. 

When Anaya sat on the air mattress on the floor, Misae moved slowly onto it as well until he could lick at the corners of her mouth with his tail tucked underneath him. She laughed and pushed lightly at him, and he moved to lay on his side, paws curled to show her his stomach, baring his vulnerable throat.

“He likes you,” Eden commented idly from up on the bed. “Pretty sure that’s wolf for ‘you’re cool, let’s be buds.’ Also I think it means he thinks you're in charge."

"I am in charge," Anaya said, voice haughty, but there was laughter lining every word. "It's good that both you boys know it."

Misae shifted back onto his stomach and curled back up until his tail covered his nose. Anaya smiled at the sight, reaching out to scratch the top of his head. Misae sighed, eyes drifting closed again. He relaxed under the gentle affection. “There you go. All right, what matters is that you're okay. Let’s try to get some sleep, yeah? All three of us.”

He watched her stand up, ears drooping as she climbed into the real bed, next to Eden. He watched her get under the blanket, laying next to Eden. He laid on the floor where wolves belonged, missing the warmth of his family. Missing the den. Alone, here, on the ground. Werewolves weren't meant to be alone - he knew that, not from Bill or Austin but from how perfect it had felt in the den, in the kennels, when they were all together.

Anaya turned off the lamp, and darkness overtook the room.

The humans, he thought, would be blind in the dark. Misae could see everything, though. He could see the silvery moonlight held back by the curtains, could see Eden’s chest rise and fall, slowing as he slipped into sleep. He could see that Anaya stayed awake a while longer.

He listened to her breathing, holding back his whimpers until it slowed and deepened and he knew he wouldn't wake her. He could lay here, alone.

Well.

Not entirely alone. 

His family was here, even if they weren’t. They would never leave him, not fully, not all the way. Even now he could feel them nosing around him trying to find a comfortable spot. He knew the pressure of their bodies around him like he knew his own paws. He could feel their chill breath on his neck, the soft nuzzle of affection that he would never really feel again. He could sense snuffles and whines, jostles for position that sometimes ended with playful snarling and rumbling growls. He could feel Nina’s weight on top of him. Feel her body jerk with the shots she had taken that he hadn’t. He could hear them, in his heart, howling just outside the little house.

He could hear their cries, begging him to join them. He should have slept for the last time in the big grave with the rest of them. He had been meant to die with his family. He wasn't the fastest in his family, the smartest, the best hunter. He wasn't anything better than anyone else.

There was no reason for him to survive, no special ability or way of being he had that made him deserve this bed with its soft blankets when everyone he loved was quiet and cold in the ground, covered in dirt and decomposing now.

He hadn’t deserved to meet kind humans. He didn’t deserve to eat pizza until his stomach ached and sit in chairs. He didn't deserve hot water to clean the dirt and blood from his skin. Others in his pack had deserved it so much more, and they had been given silver bullets instead, and now...

Now Misae was the only one left who remembered them.

He closed his eyes against the way the darkness wanted to change shape, to make him see his dead family with all the blood and bullets. He listened to their wistful, spectral howls, just outside the window. Calling and calling and calling, crying to him and to each other.

Why you? Why not us, instead? Why not the little pups, why not the mothers, why not the older wolves who had been good for so long? You were never all that good. What about you deserved to live? Why not us?

Why was it you?

Anaya and Eden slept together.

Misae slept with ghosts.

-

@finder-of-rings  @burtlederp @deluxewhump @scoundrelwithboba @shrimpwritings 

@yassifiedinformation @wildfaewhump @whatwhump @honeycollectswhump @tundra-tiger

@dont-look-me-in-the-eye @there-will-always-be-blood @fangedcinnamonroll @pigeonwhumps @yassifiedinformation

[hotchocolatefanfics]

Kingdom of The Planet of The Apes Thoughts: Second Viewing! (Or KoTPoTA out of context)

- I’m calling Noa a fool for most of the movie: “Run you fool!, Get out of there you fool! Hide fool!”

- Noa: “Rules must be followed!” Also Noa: “Some rules must be broken!”

- Noa and Raka have Mae mixed messages. Noa yelled at her to go away and Raka yelled for her to come back lol

- Raka rambles for an entire horse ride. No need for a radio or music, the guy never shuts up!

- Anaya dramatically faints at one point.

- Proxy is basically a theater kid.

- Imagine if Sylva and Lightning walked in on Proxy’s history lesson with Trevatheon and found the two having a toga party (they both have a bed sheet wrapped around them and seaweed made crowns on their heads).

- Mae teaches apes how to curse. They still don’t really know what the words mean but Noa develops a real potty mouth!

- Does anyone know what they did to Anaya? Poor boy looked traumatized when we see him again.

- “They broke my egg!” I thought he said LEG the first time. Dude, forget about the egg!

- Lightning seems to have a habit of scratching this one part of his chest. When he gets shot, we could see a scar or somewhat healing wound there. He might have gotten it when they captured Eagle Clan but I swear I saw him do that before the attack.

- Proxy pulls your arm with both hands when he wants to show you something and is excited about it. It’s kinda cute…Just remember to share his enthusiasm!

- Mae: “I’m not stupid.” Also Mae: (pretending to be mute and primitive for her survival)

- Noa’s official nickname is bird boy and no one can change my mind on that!

- Did anyone notice how banged up Noa is by the time he reaches the coast? His face is all bruised up!

- I don’t think any other ape has ever had to fight or get beat up as much as Noa did in this one movie.

- Trevatheon: “It’s your world, I’m just living in it.” (Sips tea)

- Horses get slapped and poked at a lot in this movie.

- How in the heck did Sylva climb that bird house castle as fast as he did?

- Eagle is basically a cat for the most part. Beginning: “How dare you exist!” Middle: “I don’t like you but I will follow you anyway.” End: “You’re alright, Chimp. I choose you now.” And also: “This is for my master!”

[razrogue]

Describe your OC - Anaya Jefferson (Infamous)

For my @infamous-if OC, Lia Rose (her stage name)

🎶 - How do they sound? Describe their voice.

I'm strictly going to go for her singing voice (she is in a music band universe after all lol) and Kelela is closest to what I imagine for her.

👀 - How do they look like? Give an overall description of them

I made them in this picrew until I figure out a face claim. She's dyed her hair green since she was 13, has seven piercings - got her ears first pierced as a baby & got the rest of them between 14-16 (Seven went with her for her eyebrow at 16 and held her hand throughout). She's got deep brown skin, the biggest brown eyes to lose yourself in, big lips, is 5'7" tall, and usually wears her hair in braids, flat twists, a top bun, or a flat twist out (her natural hair is about mid back length). Besides Seven's initials on her right wrist, she has a butterfly tattoo on her right upper arm, the name of the first song she wrote (find the light) underneath the left side of her ribs, and a big bouquet of flowers on her left upper thigh. She definitely plans to get more, just hadn't decided on what else she wants yet.

💐 - Their favorite plant/flower

Her favorite flowers are coneflowers, zinnias, and peonies.

👗- Describe their style

Very boho for the most part. Flowy tops, crop tops, maxi skirts and dresses, wide leg pants, sweaters, sundresses, leggings, scarf wraps. She lives for cute comfort.

💌 - How would they react to a love letter?

Flattered and she'd cherish it. She's kept the handful she's received from people.

🤦‍♀️ - Something that continues to embarrass them to this day

When she first dyed her hair, she tried to do it alone and ended up not getting the color all over. Her parents decided to let her live with her patchy multi-toned hair but a friend's mom ended up helping her try to fix it. That led to her first set of braids to hide the issue. Whenever someone remembers her terrible first dye job, it still makes her embarrassed.

😊 - Something that always makes them smile

When she's writing songs and the words flow freely, when butterflies are all over the garden she has at home, first spoon of ice cream on a warm day, when her flat twist out turns out just right

💢 - How do they handle being annoyed?

Anaya usually lets most things slide but when she can't, she has to walk away and be alone. She might go outside and just walk for a bit or she'll go meditate for a bit. She knows annoyance can quickly escalate to anger for her so she tries to remove herself from the situation in order to prevent that.

🐕 - Favorite animal?

Lemurs & otters (thanks to nature shows growing up), rabbits, and cats

🥘 - Favorite food?

Grilled citrus salmon, oxtail with rice and peas, roasted sweet potatoes, red velvet cake, mint chocolate chip ice cream

🍸- Favorite drink?

Mango smoothies, honey citrus mint tea, pineapple serrano margaritas

🌹 - Do they have a signature scent? Perfume, shampoo or alike?

This is the closest I can think of for her signature scent as far as perfume. Her shampoo would smell like white pepper lavender or tobacco vanilla. Anaya's favorite scents can lean spicy or fresh/clean/herbaceous or a little woody.

🎳 - Do they have hobbies? If yes, what are they?

Painting, swimming, writing poetry, cycling, playing piano, writing songs, gardening, axe throwing

👤 - Do they enjoy being alone, or do they thrive around people better?

Anaya definitely thrives around people. Growing up like she did, her parents barely paid attention or were always absent, it affected her a lot so now she doesn't really like being on her own too much.

🍁 - Their favorite season and why?

Summer! Anaya's always loved being outside in the warmth and sunshine, getting to hang and practice with friends uninterrupted, and writing at night beneath a clear starry sky.

[rowretro]

✧𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍✧

WARNINGS: sexual refferences, mentions of drugs

✧taglist✧: @heeseung-min @jaeneohee @lovingvoidgoatee @neruishoon (anyone I may have missed)

✧CHAPTER 13✧

It's been quite a few months since the babies were born and the couple were slowly getting used to their sleepless nights. "So this thing with Ryujin you're actually serious about it for once?" Sunghoon asked as he rocked baby Anaya, who silently snuggled into Sunghoon. "Yeah, and I'm selling my first house as a realtor today. Everything was going well until one of my exes ruined it-" Heeseung sighed "Which one?" y/n asked snickering as baby Avaani smiled up at her mom, imitating her snicker. "I forgot her name- one before Yeji, after Nina-" Heeseung sighed.

"Oh the delusional one? what did she do?" y/n asked as she fed Avaani. "Well I was showing the house to a couple who have 2 kids, and everything was going well until she showed up, made up some lies about the home I was showing and stole my people." Heeseung complained, to which Avaani whined. "Doesn't she have a showing tonight?" Y/n asked as Hee groaned.

"Ugh I get it she's showing a stupid house with my people. they were mine but you know what? I'm a new Hee, I'm not going to do dirty work like she did because Im a nice realtor." Heeseung added "Or are you a little pussy?" y/n said as Sunghoon glared at her "y/n... language- babies pick up on these words yk?!" he warned. Y/n rolled her eyes as she turned back to Hee "Sometimes you've got to be a snake." the girl said as Heeseung shook his head "Fraid not y/n... anyways... I'll be off now." Hee said as he left the house.

"We gotta help him out" y/n said as Sunghoon frowned "You only get one chance to go out tonight and you want to waste it on your brother's delusional ex?" Sunghoon asked. "Babe we owe him... I mean well you did impregnate his babysister" y/n pointed out as she rocked the baby "How do my little angels like to spend the day with uncle sunooo yayyyy!" Y/n said in a baby voice as Sunghoon sighed loudly.

Love can make people do crazy things. For Sunghoon, he has killed many people and even tortured them for love. Never did he ever think he'd find himself covered in fake tattoos, in a ripped tank top which made him look practically topless, reeking of pot with a funky accent. Never would he have let his darling wife wear extremely short denim shorts with an extremely revealing nipply top, her eyebrows overdone and lips overlined, thick eyelashes, and a bottle of vodka in hand.

"Ready babe?" she asked as Sunghoon rolled his eyes "Lets get this done and over with." Sunghoon simply said "HEY Y'ALL, YOU'RE A BUNCH A LIL CUTIES HUH~ WE MADE YA SOME BROWNIES, MY HUBBY'S BEST AT THOSE YK?" Y/n squealed, walking in there seeing the shocked face of the realtor "AH SHARON RIGHT? THE REALTOR EX WITH 40 CATS AND OXY?" the girl added as Sunghoon followed. "Ah y'all must be our new neighbours, this lil hot junk is my wife~ got married after she dropped outta highschool~" He said, playing with his fake tongue piercing.

"So.. our new neighbours huh~" the wife said with a shaky voice, shudderring as she saw the clothes y/n wore "You look a lot like that hot CEO-" the woman added "I ain't no CEO, Am just a doctor... i prescribe drugs- weed, oxy, coke u name it we got it~ they're in those brownies we made" He said as they just blinked. "TRUST ME GAL THIS HOUSE IS PERFECT, ME AND MY HUSBAND HAD THE BEST SEX OF OUR LIFE IN HERE~" she yelled, twirling her hair as she chewed her gum staring up at Hoon.

"Ok Wow that makes our decisions easier-" the woman mumbles. "Oh baby, it was right here on this sofa where we concieved our 7nth son remember?" y/n added as Sunghoon tried to hide his real reaction, while the couple stared in shock. "Oh my god babe remember when the cops arrested you in that kitchen. I bet there.s still some coke n dried blood left over~" The girl added as Sunghoon agreed with her. "Hey speaking of these memories really are making me feel something huh..." Sunghoon trailed off, as he roughly caught y/n in an open mouthed kiss leaving the couple mortified "Yepp I think this house is definitely off the list, lets go back to that other realtor." The husband said, dragging his wife away.

Upon arriving home, Sunghoon took a long shower, while y/n comfortably played with their babies "Took me a while but finally got all that fake ink off, and god my body feels weird without those fake piercings, god the things I do for you y/n..." he sighed. Y/n smiled, hugging him tightly "Hee called me and he was so happy he sold that house coz of us, he bought you those ice skates you always wanted... and well, maybe in you're down for it next week..." Y/n trailed off as she handed him a box.

"Open it" she said with a smile, the man opened it and a big smile plastered his lips "You're finally gonna ice skate with me??? and the twins?" he said with a smile as he picked up the matching tiny skates "God they look so cute but aren't the a little too big?" Hoon asked "it's for when they're a little older, and they know how to walk a-and if they don't fit I'll buy something better" she said, smiling as Sunghoon kissed her, lovingly. His plan was to lock her in the basement and punish her for wearing something so provocative... but how could he when she's so sweet?

✧𝐆𝐔𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐍✧

[happydragon]

People liked my other post and I said bet

We'll start with wifey. Her name is Jana and she is the island's school teacher. I was thinking like a one room school house vibes kinda school. She came to Pabu from Corssuant about 5-6 years before tbb and has lived there since. She loves being a teacher and loves the kids.

Next we have Anaya!! She is Jana's daughter, is 4 1/2 years old and was born Pabu. She loves the ocean and all things she considers pretty (which is a lot of things). Her favorite people include, Mama, Crosshair, and Wrecker.

And lastly we have Jax! Yes that Jax. For most of the kids from the vault it was not very hard to find their parents/guardians but it would take some time before they could be reunited. Once reunited, the children and their families would go into hiding (i.e The Hidden Path). Unfortunately Jax's only remaining relative died shortly after Jax was taken. It was a long time before Jax was able to adjust to Pabu, but it did help that Jana was also Mirilian like him. It wasn't until after Crosshair and Jana got married (which is a few years after the finale) that they officially adopted Jax cuz they wanted him to want it too. They are in no way trying to replace his previous guardian and wanted him to come to them

Anyway that's what I got!! Please feel free to ask me any questions!!! I love my little family

[death---dealer]

If reader survived such an accident, he would make sure that whenever she would travel alone, his eagle would accompany her (wether she knew it or not).

I'm almost.... oh my god okay okay okay okay okay listen you tempted me with this i need to do it for the greater good

Noa, Eagle Sun / Reader Headcanons - Interactions.

Your relationship with Eagle Sun started out the same way that the Eagle's relationship was with Noa at the start of the movie. Very rough around the edges, the bird was very unsure of you, not sure how to view your relationship with his Master. He clawed at you a few times out of defense when you got too close to Noa when he was perched on his shoulder; sensing it to be a threat rather than you just wanting to embrace the Ape. You swore that bird was never going to hear the end of it from Noa as he scolded him like a child. ~*You felt so bad for him and tried to pet his beak after Noa told him to back off ( in simple terms ) but he just squawked loudly and you were fast to hide behind Anaya and Soona who were watching the entire thing happen with the utmost amusement. He flapped his wings in your general direction again causing you to cower even further. ~*Followed by more scolding from Noa as he tried his hardest to explain to the bird that you were not a threat, you were more than allowed to be in Noa's space. He just blinked innocently - those little beady eyes staring holes into you.

It didn't take long for him to warm up to you though; you offered him a bit of fish once and he took it graciously. Noa told you not to do that, but you did it anyway.

Began bringing you berries to eat as an acceptance of you, an acknowledgment of the treat you had given him. Noa thought it was nice until he was absolutely nailed between the eyes by a rather quickly flying blueberry.

He began following you happily at that point, surely from Noa's commands, but he was a happy bird regardless. All around the village, in the woods, by the creek. Eagle Sun very often was either over head soaring or perched against a tree branch, you in his sight. ~* It just meant that you were trusted, good natured and more than decent to follow around - Noa had told you how intuitive the birds were and you accepted his following as a small compliment in Eagle form.

If you were with Noa, Eagle Sun was often sitting on his Master's shoulder, peering at you, waiting diligently for a command from Noa. If there were no immediate commands, Eagle Sun would jump over to you, never on you, but right in front of you and beckon you to pet. ~* You comply, placing a pointer and middle finger against the birds head and giving him a small pet. He's responsive, will peck at your fingers for more if you pull away too soon. ~* Noa could have sworn that one time while you were giving some affection to his bird that Eagle Sun looked right at him and almost mocked him. Noa told you of this but you told him it simply wasn't true. That he must have been imagining things.

The first time that Eagle Sun ever landed on you was in part to Noa who urged you to try it out - Hopeful to see if you were comfortable with it. He just got out of a council meeting where the prospect of you getting your own Eagle, to be bonded with an egg, was a hot topic of conversation. First though, before the final decision was made, Noa needed to see if you had any fear ( much like the fear Noa had at the beginning. ) ~* Eagle Sun did not land on your arm like you had hoped - He landed on your shoulder, placing himself rather precariously on you to the point where he shuttered for balance. His tiny claws grasped onto you a bit harder than you would have liked- but not enough to draw blood yet. His tiny beak went down, then back up with a few strands of your hair. You didn't move, you couldn't as your eyes shifted to Noa, Anaya and Soona. You questioned with your eyes what you were supposed to do- You had no idea why he landed there when you had so diligently offered your arm. Well, Noa thinks to himself, at least you're not afraid of him anymore.

[naushtheaspiringauthor]

~Child Of The Storm~

Nikolai Lantsov x OC

Image by - @brokendreamtale2

Warnings- none

A/N- Let me know if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist!

Taglist- @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @sirisuorionblack @nadeleine123n @marauders-wife

Ch-38 ~Plans and discussions~

Anaya wasn't exactly fond of being chosen to represent the Etherealki with Zoya in the war council, yet she seemed to have no other choice now.

She put on her kefta and let her hair down then headed for the war room.

Tolya and Tamar stood outside, just a shout away in case of trouble. Mal sat at Alina's right in his roughspun clothes, the sunburst pinned above his heart. 

Sergei sat to Mal’s right, his arms crossed sullenly over his chest. He wasn’t happy to be sitting next to an otkazat’sya guard, and he was even less pleased that Alina had insisted on seating a Fabrikator directly to her left, in what was considered a position of honour.

She was a Suli girl named Paja whom Anaya hadn't really seen much before. She had dark hair and nearly black eyes, and the red embroidery at the cuffs of her purple kefta indicated that she was an Alkemi, Fabrikators who specialized in chemicals like blasting powders and poisons.

David sat further down the table, his cuffs emblazoned in gray. Then there was Fedyor, then Zoya and Anaya beside her.

The first part of the meeting was spent discussing the numbers of Grisha at the various outposts around Ravka and those who might be in hiding. Zoya suggested sending messengers to spread the news of the Alina's return and offer full and free pardon to those who swore their allegiance to the Sun Summoner.  Anaya suggested providing full sanctuary to anyone who agreed to side with the Sun Summoner.

They spent close to an hour debating the terms and wording of the pardon. Alina would have to take it to Nikolai for the King’s approval, and she wished to step carefully. Finally, they agreed on “loyalty to the Ravkan throne and the Second Army.” No one seemed happy with it, so Alina was pretty sure that they'd gotten it right.

It was Fedyor who raised the issue of the Apparat. “It’s troubling that he’s evaded capture this long.”

“Has he tried to contact you in any way?” Anaya asked.

“No,” Alina responded

“He’s been spotted in Kerskii and Ryevost,” said Fedyor. “He shows up out of nowhere to preach, then disappears before the King’s soldiers can close in.”

“We should think about an assassination,” said Sergei. “He’s growing too powerful, and he could still be colluding with the Darkling.”

“We’d have to find him first,” observed Paja.

Zoya gave a wave of her hand. “What would be the point? He seems bent on spreading word of the Sun Summoner and claiming she’s a Saint. It’s about time the people had some appreciation for the Grisha.”

“Not all of us, just the Sun Summoner" Anaya spoke

Zoya lifted one shoulder. “It’s better than them reviling us all as witches and traitors.”

“Let the King do the dirty work,” said Fedyor. “Let him find the Apparat and execute him and let him suffer the people’s wrath.”

“Do you think he believes it?” asked Zoya, studying Alina. “That you’re a Saint risen and back from the dead?”

“I’m not sure it makes a difference.” Alina responded

“It would help to know just how crazy he is.”

“I’d rather fight a traitor than a zealot,” Mal said quietly. It was the first time he’d spoken. “I may have some old contacts in the First Army who will still talk to me. There are rumors of soldiers defecting to join him, and if that’s the case, they must know where he is.”

Zoya looked around the table and said, “You need to know what we’re up against.”

The room fell silent. 

Piece by piece, Alina laid out what she knew about the nichevo’ya, their strength and size, their near invulnerability to bullet and blade, and most important, the fact that they did not fear sunlight.

Anaya assisted her in explaining the strengths of the shadow monsters, but they didn't seem to have many weaknesses.

“But you escaped,” Paja said tentatively, “so they must be mortal.”

“My power can destroy them. It’s the one thing they don’t seem able to recover from. But it isn’t easy. It requires the Cut, and I’m not sure how many I can handle at once.” Alina spoke

Anaya noticed that she didn't mention the second amplifier.

“We only escaped because Prince Nikolai got us outside the Darkling’s range, they seem to need to be close to their master.” she continued

“How close?” asked Pavel.

Alina looked to Mal.

“Hard to say,” he replied. “A mile. Maybe two.”

“So there’s some limit to his power,” Fedyor said, with no small amount of relief.

“Absolutely. He’ll have to enter Ravka with his army to get to us. That means we’ll have warning and that he’ll be vulnerable. He can’t summon them the way he summons darkness. The effort seems to cost him.”

“Because it’s not Grisha power, it’s merzost.” David spoke

In Ravkan, the word for magic and abomination was the same. Basic Grisha theory stated that matter couldn’t just be created from nothing. But that was a tenet of the Small Science. Merzost was different, a corruption of the making at the heart of the world.

David fiddled with a loose thread at his sleeve. “That energy, that substance has to come from somewhere. It must be coming from him.”

“But how is he doing it?” Zoya asked. “Has there ever been a Grisha with this kind of power?”

“The real question is how to fight them,” said Fedyor.

Talk turned to defense of the Little Palace and the possible advantages of confronting the Darkling in the field.

                                        ...................................................................................................

Back at the hall, the scene was quite unusual as Alina had decided upon making everyone sit together. She sat at the Darkling’s table. 

The other tables didn’t seem to be faring much better. The Grisha sat side by side in a jumble of red, purple, and blue, barely speaking. The clink of silverware echoed off the cracked dome, the Fabrikators had not yet begun their repairs.

At least Sergei and Marie seemed content, even if Nadia looked like she wanted to disappear into the butter dish as they cuddled and cooed beside her.   

[victorluvsalice]

-->Anyway, with the rush over, I decided that I wanted Alice to make a pizza in her new pizza oven, so I had her check out her options, then prep some veggies and make some cheese in order to get a garden pizza going. Victor and Smiler kept working the sales floor, chatting to customers and leading to a few more sales – a guy named Umber snagged one of Victor’s Energizing scents for $744, while Brytani deigned to buy some watermelon conserve for $171 (I made sure Victor rung her up, since Smiler doesn’t like her for some reason). Cameron Fletcher also came by to grab a $2 spinach – I’m glad he’s not too annoyed that I banned him from the break room microwave. XD Alice wandered back upstairs while waiting on the stand mixer to clean one of the displays (which WERE getting a bit manky) – I promptly sent her back downstairs to collect her prepped vegetables and get the pizza in the oven while I had Victor finish the cleaning magically and conjure up some spaghetti for himself. Smiler meanwhile got another sale – someone named Anaya buying a box of veggie MREs for $241. For five seconds, everything seemed to be going well –

-->BOOM ANOTHER MASS BUYING EVENT! Complete with lag, because you gotta have lag. *heavy sigh* I had Alice stay downstairs long enough to get her pizza (as it was almost done by the time everyone decided they wanted to buy something), but after that, it was all hands on deck to take care of customers! Fortunately, they got them all – Paolo with a cube of beeswax for $18; Tetsuya with a box of canned fishcakes for $413; Dali with a box of chocolate syrup jars for $413; Jeb and Osuma both with friendly animal treats for $17 each. Oh, and a guy named Chad grabbed a strawberry out of the produce fridges for $19. Whew! I put Victor on "removing all of the out-of-stock signs" duty afterward while Smiler cleaned up some stray plates and glasses that had ended up on the produce stands (the custom “farmer’s market”-style ones I got from Brazen have slots on the little shelf underneath, it appears – perfect for Sims to hide shit from you) and Alice made a clay bunny. As you do. Alice then used the toilet and ate a container of prepped veggies over the bathroom sinks (I forgot you could just eat prepped ingredients straight-up) before running off to shower in the rain. *shakes fist* ERRATIC SIMS! While she was busy causing newcomers to the lot to gasp, Victor and Smiler handled what I decided would be the last sales of the day – Ivana with a box of canned tomato sauce for $413, and Francine with a pumpkin animal treat for $46. There was another lady wanting to buy something, but for some reason Smiler kept insisting they couldn’t get to her, so before things got any more chaotic, I decided to have them close the store. All in all, they sold 18 total items for a profit of $3,729! Not bad for a day’s work!

-->Except – when Smiler closed up shop, three people stayed behind, the previously-stuck lady and two others, all with shopping carts over their heads. Puzzled, I had Smiler and Alice (back in her clothes) ring up the two that could be reached (Victor heading back into the break room for another nap) while I let the “stuck” one time out – this did NOT result in any post-closing sales, though, just some customer goodwill. Well, for everyone except the customer who was mysteriously blocked. Sorry, lady, not sure what happened there! Try again next time!

-->Anyway – with that sorted, the trio decamped to the break room to watch a bit of TV and do a bit of flirting, as they do. :) Once the last customer had FINALLY left the store, they headed back to their place, arriving back home at about 9 PM in-game –

[dolphs-world]

Shogunate of the Planet of the Apes ~ 6/6

In "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes", there is no difference in sex. Sex is not a theme. It's a bit refreshing as you feel that the apes would treat a human male the same way as Mae. But then there's still the trope of the patriarchal death, rescuing the mother, the female friend turned love interest??? Maybe? It's vague, which is nice. It's nice having an asexual film but it's weird after everything I have said about the original. In Burton's version, the film is hypersexualised. Now there's apes and sexy female apes that look really uncanny. Thade wants to fuck Ari. Ari and the human woman whose name I can't remember even though I just the movie less than an hour ago want to fuck Mark Wahlberg. Wahlberg kisses Ari as a sign of respect and then proceeds to tonguefuck the blonde chick. There's a scene where a humanoid female ape wearing a skin-tight outfit woos her fat husband of an orangutan. What is the point of all this? Nothing.

Which film was better? Kingdom, hands down. Whilst generic it was a good movie. The theme about how knowledge is lost is great. Not just through Proximus, Caesar's disciples kept making assumptions about what everyone knew to the point that their last one does not even know what an airport is and believed there was a point where apes had zoos for humans. In the Burton film one of the apes doesn't know what a zoo is even though there are zoo in the original 1968 film. Proximus was cool although it was just an abridged version of Fallout New Vegas. The action, whilst good was very hard to see. This is one positive I can give the Burton film, I could always see what was happening. That and the score was good. The only time Kingdom's score was good was when it was copying the original. And that's the thing about these movies, there best aspects come from the original film. Burton's film has a complete misunderstanding of it to the point of farce and no deeper meaning whilst Kingdom kept making me role my eyes. I'm struggling to remember what new and interesting things happened in it. I liked it when the bonobo friend, Anaya, said he was scared and that it took a couple of minutes to get over it. I liked when Mae killed William H. Macy. - Oh yeah, William H. Macy. He's introduced with a far away shot and I heard his voice and thought "no, there's no way" and then it was. But apart from that, it was great how I didn't recognise anyone. - I thought these were get uses of these tropes. I liked the stuff about the eagles and the build up of. I liked how the 3 antagonists died, first the queer-coded one to start the climax, than the gorilla to avenge Noa's dad, then Proximus with the eagles to show that Apes Together are Strong. But it's a pretty generic movie and I didn't like the ending. The score was too loud and I like the more pessimistic aspects of these movies. The ending was a all set up with no payoff. The Tim Burton movie was ALL set up with no payoff.

The only good part of that movie was Thade. Tim Roth was fantastic as always but he was a bit lame to whinge about Charleton Heston. Michael Clarke Duncan was leagues above everybody else but still nowhere near the levels of Roth. But then Roth is stuck behind glass and hides. Duncan kills the 'good' gorilla but realises he was wrong. The blonde chick tonguefucks Wahlberg but does nothing else but look 'hot'. At least Nova was sympathetic in her animalism. Oh yeah, I don't really like how animalistic everyone is. There's a reason they are essentially humans in the original, it's so you can relate to them. It works better as "Kingdom" goes along but it's distracting how I'm supposed to connect with apes that speak like that. In Burton's film they jump like frogs. Everyone else was really really bad at acting. Why was there a comic relief with Paul Giamatti? Why was Rakku also a comic relief in "Kingdom"? These movies aren't supposed to be funny, the original is not intentionally funny. Why did they randomly set up the boy at the end wanting to be a man and then immediately fails? It seemed like Pericles was going to be set up as Semos but he wasn't? Why did Wahlberg not take Pericles with him? I'm not even going to talk about the ending beyond sharing this quote: "In this temple as in the hearts of the apes for whom he saved the planet the memory of General Thade is enshrined forever." What's the point of reimagining one of the most thought provoking on the nose science fiction movies if you have nothing to say?

This whole experience happened because on Thursdays I go to bar to annoy my friend working there but I didn't want to today. I wanted to watch a movie. Last month at my local theatre they had a one-time screening of the original that I saw. Before the film they showed a trailer for "Kingdom" and it looked like they were just remaking the original again but from the point of Cornelius (it can't be Zira because we can't have a woman as the lead). I also thought it was a weird trailer to show because it spoiled the original. I'm glad it wasn't a remake but it's most interesting aspects come from the original. I never planned on watching any of the "Planet of the Apes" films after the original even though I have heard that "War" and "Conquest" are good. But I also didn't plan on the original to become one of my favourite films. Now, I am going to watch/read every piece of the "Planet of the Apes" franchise!

[ashintheairlikesnow]

Perdition

Bleeding in Moonlight: Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three | Chapter Four | Chapter Five |

CW: None, really, other than someone eating pizza... badly. Oh, and some brief references to the FLDS cult.

-

“All right,” Vanessa said, leaning over her drink and giving Anaya a fixed stare across the table. “Explain.”

Down the hall, the shower ran. Eden looked back over his shoulder, thinking about how he’d had to show the kid how to turn the knob from cold to hot, and the boy’s absolute shock when he’d felt hot water hit his palms, stinging the scrape there. 

The kid hadn’t even flinched fully back, just turned to Eden with those strange golden eyes so wide. 

It comes out hot?

Eden had been thinking, ever since, about how it would feel to only have experienced cold showers your entire life. Assuming there had even been showers. He was starting to think maybe Misae had been hosed down in the yard.

Like a dog covered in mud.

Like a wolf.

He rubbed at his temples, a headache threatening. His brain kept trying to cycle back to the sight of the skinny young reddish-brown wolf racing through their camp, the bloodied wound in its back leg - and then shifting to Misae, naked with his leg bleeding, curled up under their car trying to hide from the man hunting him. 

He couldn’t reconcile the two creatures as the same, in two different shapes. Anaya, apparently, could just believe in werewolves in a flash, a split-second reorienting of their entire conception of reality not even bothering her at all. 

It wasn’t so easy for him.

“What do you mean?” Naya asked, her eyes on the window behind Vanessa. "Explain what?" The little black cat from earlier had shown back up and was sitting just outside the window, watching them, blinking yellow eyes in slow, wordless communication. 

Vanessa had said it wasn’t her cat. It supposedly belonged to an elderly neighbor. Eden wasn’t so sure the cat agreed with that assertion.

“I’m not trying to be rude,” Vanessa said, sipping the apple cider-whiskey-and-lemon-fizzy-water concoction she’d made and offered to them both. Anaya had taken her up on it, but Eden had begged for something as simple as a beer.

He’d ended up with something ostentatiously draped in chocolate and peanut butter that was pretending to be a stout, but fuck it - it was still beer. Beer that tastes like a peanut butter cup, sure, but beer.

“No, I know, I know you’re not, it’s just-... it’s kind of a weird subject for him-”

“Is he a Lost Boy?” Vanessa’s tone was flat now.

Eden and Anaya shared a look. Eden raised his eyebrows. Anaya shrugged, then turned back to Vanessa. “I don’t know what that means, Ness. I know Lost Boys is a Peter Pan thing, but-”

“Man.” Vanessa laughed, open and easy. “You never watched any of those documentaries I told you to watch, did you?”

Anaya flushed.

Eden snorted. “Well, if you told her to watch them, I guarantee she didn’t. Number one way to keep Naya from doing something is to tell her she has to do it.”

“Hey!” Anaya swatted at his arm, and he grinned at her, batting his eyelashes until she broke back down into giggles. “That’s not fair. You do it, too.”

“I know I do, but we’re not talking about me, are we?” He held up his beer as if making a toast. “Talkin’ about you, baby.”

“I hate you,” Anaya said, and leaned over to steal a kiss. 

“Gross,” Vanessa said, sounding utterly unbothered. “This is why I don’t have roommates, you know. So nobody has to see kissing.”

“You never kiss anybody here?” Anaya blinked, looking around. “But your house is so cute!”

“Number one - thank you, I worked really hard on the piece of crap falling down shack I bought six years ago, so I appreciate that. Number two… No. This house is my sanctuary, baby girl, nobody ever crosses this doorway who might think they have a claim on it if they do. And number three… Lost Boys are named after the Peter Pan story, yeah, but it’s… okay. Uh. How do I start… So you remember I grew up in Cedar City, in Utah?”

“Nope.”

“We talked about our childhoods like six times, Naya.”

Anaya winced. “Sorry. My memory is swiss cheese on a good day-”

Vanessa waved her hand. “Honestly, that’s fine. I’m just as bad, I can’t judge. So, not super far from Cedar City, you run into these… people. I was raised Mormon, not that it stuck-” She lifted up the cocktail she’d made for herself and shook it until the ice clinked against the side of the glass. “As you can see. My mom is still absolutely convinced I’m coming back to it, but that’s just Mom being her usual optimistic self. Anyway, not relevant. There’s this offshoot group near us, and they call themselves FLDS, but they’re about as Mormon as a sack of hammers. They’re pretty much flat out a weird sex cult run by old men who choose dozens of women to marry. That’s the Cliff’s Notes, it’s actually much grosser than that. But, uh, when there’s a dozen men that marry a dozen women each…”

Eden wrinkled his nose. “There can’t possibly be enough women to make that work.”

“There aren’t. Nice catch. Or, rather, there’s too many men. So they kick the teenage boys out. They come up with some kind of story, some excuse for it. One boy I met watched a VHS tape of Fern Gully in secret but made the mistake of telling his brother, who told on him. One was overheard telling a girl he thought she was pretty when she was already set to marry somebody’s grandpa. Another said all they told him was that he seemed kind of lazy at the worksite last Thursday. One poor kid just had the absolute freaking audacity to not even notice the girls at all, they decided that meant he was looking at the boys instead. Doesn’t matter. They kick them out, dump them on a road with a backpack - if they're lucky they get a backpack - and tell the boys good riddance, don’t come back. They don't have any documentation, they don't have any idea how to live in the modern world. Most of them have never even handled money themselves. Sometimes you’ll hear them called the Sons of Perdition? Ringing any bells?”

Anaya frowned, looking at Eden. He shrugged back at her. “Sounds sort of familiar,” Anaya said slowly. “Like maybe I saw something on the news.”

The shower turned off. All three of them went briefly quiet, as they heard the bathroom door open and close, followed by the guest bedroom door doing the same. 

“You might have. There was a big case about it years ago, that's what the show I wanted you to watch was about. In any case, I’m telling you all of this because I thought maybe you’d picked up a Lost Boy. Sometimes, with the Lost Boys, their moms have kids who already left, or a sister or something, and they can give the boy a phone number to call. Mostly, though, they’re on their own. My mom helps them, she drives the roads some days looking for the boys and takes them to a shelter in Cedar City. When I visit back home we do it together. So, yeah. I thought maybe that’s where he could be from.”

“I… don’t think that’s it.” Eden looked down at his beer. “We found him in the woods, like… deep into the woods, and he was coming from somewhere even deeper. Actually, he found us, I guess. We saw him hiding under my car from somebody who was after him. And it didn’t seem like the plan was to bring him back alive.”

“Hence the being shot,” Vanessa said, thinking out loud.

Eden nodded. “Hence being shot.” Honestly, he liked her - she was sharp and soft at the same time. He could see why Anaya had been so sure she’d let them stay, that she’d help them out.

“Well, my first guess was wrong, then, I suppose. But there’s all kinds of survivalists hiding out in the woods. Usually just a family by themselves, or maybe a couple related families who put together a little compound. Most of them keep to themselves and tip really well when they show up in the local diners, keep some of the farm supply stores more or less in business, but sometimes you get some that are alone in the woods long enough to get…” She trailed off. "Weird."

Anaya sipped her own drink - just the cider. She’d told Eden she was worried that if she drank alcohol she’d just flat out fall asleep at the table. They were both running on nerves and caffeine by now. "Weird?” She prodded, gently.

“Odd,” Vanessa said, finally. “Paranoid. Hostile. They’re the kind of guys that think we’re all microchipped by the government, or that vaccines make you pick up cell signals. Things like that. People who sit around alone too long get really weird. Or maybe they were already weird and that’s why they went out into the woods. I mean, as long as they tip twenty percent on a decent meal, they can live however they want in my book, but not if they're trying to cover up abuse, or something. If that’s where this kid comes from, well. There might not be anybody he can easily go to, relatives-wise."

Eden thought of Misae's scars. "... I think abuse was pretty much a given. You don't shoot at someone who's running from you if you're a good place to grow up."

"Yeah. Poor kid." The timer over the oven beeped, and Vanessa pushed herself to her feet. “Just a second. Hey, Strange Boy Misae!” Vanessa’s voice shifted into an effortless projection that found its way through every corner of the little bungalow of a home. “Pizza’s ready! Come eat!” 

She swept herself into the kitchen, leaving Eden and Anaya briefly alone. Eden held his beer in his right hand and let his left drift, until it found Anaya’s fingertips. She smiled without looking at him and grabbed on tight. 

“This was a good place to pick,” Eden admitted, reluctantly. “To find a place we can crash. You did good, baby."

“Told you so,” Anaya sing-songed, voice low and loving. “I’m always right, even when I’m not.”

“Aaaaand this moment right here is why I never admit it when you are right,” Eden said, voice dry. "Because you do that every single time." They clinked beer bottle and glass together, and kissed again. Anaya half-laughed into the kiss, making it awkward and bad and the best kiss, all at the same time.

He heard the softest scrape behind him and pulled back to see Misae hovering in the doorway, wearing Anaya’s star-sky pajama pants pulled as tight at the waist as they could go and a shirt of hers that didn’t quite meet the waistline, showing a flash of pale, scarred stomach. His hair was mussed and stuck up and out every which way. His eyes danced around the room and he moved in a way Eden could only call slinking, sticking to the wall as he eased himself slowly into the room. He limped, still, but not nearly so badly as he should have. 

He shouldn’t have been able to move at all, not really, not without crutches or help.

Well, maybe teenagers who turn into wolves heal fast, Eden’s brain supplied with hysterical false calm. Didn’t he say he heals fast? 

Misae’s eyes moved constantly, the whites showing around the iris as he took everything in. He crossed his arms in front of himself. Outside, the sun was getting low in the sky, sending blazing golden yellows and oranges that cast Misae in a light like reflected flames. It made his gold eyes seem to glow. 

“Hey,” Eden said, his voice gentling immediately. “Feeling better? Was it a good shower?” He patted the seat next to him when the boy didn’t move.

Misae looked down at the chair, back to Eden, and then towards the kitchen. Vanessa bustled around in there. 

Something fell in a crash of ceramic and Misae’s lips pulled back in a heartbeat, baring teeth that weren’t as flat in the canines as they should have been, snarling even as he hunched into himself further, self-protective, and pushed himself back against the wall. Eden could damn near see his ears suddenly tipped in fur, elongating, pushed back against his head. Was he getting shorter?

“Everything’s fine!” Vanessa called out before anyone could ask. “Just a second! Everything’s totally good!”

Misae’s teeth were sharp enough to crunch bone now. Eden couldn’t deny it - he was watching the boy begin to turn. He wasn’t getting shorter, he was shifting from bipedal to something that had to stand on all fours. Eden swallowed, hard, his heart beating so fast it made him vaguely breathless. 

"Holy shit," Anaya breathed, next to him. Her grip on Eden's hand went tight enough to hurt, squeezing his bones together. He wondered, in a kind of wild irrational flight of fancy, if Misae's bones hurt right now, changing shape in everything from fingers to spine. "Misae, honey-... sweetie-"

“Come sit,” Eden said, keeping his voice low. “Everything’s okay, Misae. She’s a good person, she won’t hurt you. I promise. Even if she tries, we'll keep you safe, I swear. Just sit down next to me, okay?”

Misae blinked, and the sense of something not-quite-human was gone in a heartbeat. No monster here, it was only a frightened teenage boy who limped carefully to the chair next to Eden. 

Eden decided not to think about what he’d seen any longer. Not even a little bit. Not even for a second. He locked that up in a box inside his head marked LATER. Or maybe NEVER.

Misae sat down like he’d never been in a chair before, lowering himself carefully as if he thought it might bite him. He sighed in something like contentment when he finally settled. “This good?” He asked, chin down but looking up through his eyelashes.

“It’s perfect. So was the shower good?” Eden asked again, just for something to say. In the window, the black cat kept watching them, eyes locked on Misae now.

Misae nodded, but he didn’t speak anymore. He… really wasn’t a talker. Most of the time, it felt like talking to a statue, a robot.

Like talking to a dog.

Maybe he never talked because nobody had ever cared to listen.

He shook that thought away just the same as he’d shaken off the last one. He’d admitted to himself, deep down, that this kid wasn’t completely human and he'd clearly come from somewhere awful, but he needed at least one good night of sleep to be able to fully grasp it.

Or maybe he never would. 

“We’re going to just chill out for a couple days,” Anaya said, leaning forward so she could talk directly to Misae around the obstruction that was Eden. “Just rest, and figure out what to do next, okay? So no worries about having to be on the move again right away. So just… think about where a safe place might be for you to go, okay? Maybe some people that could take care of you?”

Misae looked at her, tipping his head to one side, eyebrows furrowing slightly. The silence drew out. Just as Anaya looked away, Misae murmured something too low to be understood.

She blinked. “What was that?”

“... I don’t know any other place,” Misae admitted, voice rough, just above a whisper. Something like a growl or a whine just at the edge. “Don’t know any other people. I only knew one place, and it isn’t safe. All my people are dead. I told you.”

Eden needed another beer.

Desperately.

Vanessa returned, smiling brightly as she held a couple plates heaped with slices of pizza, breadsticks, and tomato sauce to dip it in. “I made two pizzas. Who wants sausage and pepperoni, and who wants barbecue chicken? Oh, hey, you’re here. That shower did some good, you look like a totally different person now!” 

Misae’s eyes flicked to Eden’s and then away. “Thank you," He muttered, leaning away as if wanting to hide from the attention. 

Vanessa showed Misae the plates. “Dinner is served. So pick your poison, kiddo.”

Misae’s eyes widened in alarm, and he turned to look at Eden. The sound he made this time was definitely, fully, entirely a canine whine. Eden could very nearly understand him.

Don’t make me eat this.

"I've been good," Misae whispered, begged really, eyes beseeching. "Don't make me eat the poison meat. Please, Eden."

Vanessa blinked, pulling the plates back towards herself a little. “Uh… what?” 

Eden cleared his throat. “It’s a joke,” He reassured Misae, reaching out to touch his shoulder, feeling the boy lean into the touch with something like ferocity, nearly pushing Eden off balance. He gave the boy’s shoulder a squeeze and felt him shaking under his palm. Somehow he ended up with an arm around those bony, thin shoulders, pulling him close and speaking against his hair. Some of it tickled Eden's nose. “She was joking. It’s not actually poisoned. Take the sausage one, you’ll like that. I'll eat it, too, okay? So you can see it's good to eat, and nobody's going to get hurt."

“It’s not poisoned,” Anaya agreed quickly. “It's totally, completely safe. We promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

"Not helping when you say the D-I-E word, Naya," Eden murmured. Misae nosed into the crook of his neck, whining again. His stomach growled along with it, the sound as loud as a whalesong in the small dining room. Eden's own stomach growled as if in response.

“I’m so sorry, kiddo,” Vanessa said, sounding stricken. “Oh, gosh. I really didn’t think when I said that, huh? That you wouldn't know it was a joke. I'm so so sorry. Totally normal pizza, one hundred percent not even a little bit poisoned. Just regular food for regular humans. Look, watch." Vanessa picked up a slice and took a bite herself, chewing ostentatiously. "See? Safe!"

Eden very nearly burst out laughing. Not from humor, not really, but just from a kind of exhausted hilarity he couldn't quite control.

Whatever Misae was, regular human sure wasn’t it. And his reaction to the poison joke made something in Eden hurt, absolutely certain this kid had seen some other people - or wolves - poisoned with their food before, maybe even seen them die from it.

Maybe the slaughter of his family wasn't the first time he'd had to see the ones he loved be killed right in front of him. Maybe it had been the last, instead.

Every detail made him want even more to know where this kid came from, and simultaneously want with equal desperation to never, ever know.

Misae slowly nodded, watching as the plate was set down in front of him. He didn’t move to eat, though, his eyes on Eden and Anaya as each politely asked for the type of pizza they wanted - Eden taking sausage and Anaya barbecue chicken with a side of ranch dressing, because she was occasionally an abomination. Eden loved her anyway.

It was a little harder to love her when she dipped pizza in ranch, but he did his best.

It wasn’t until Eden picked his pizza up and took a bite that Misae’s hands moved, slowly, to echo Eden’s movements. Eyes on him all the time. “Hot,” He commented, pulling his fingers back from even the slightest touch. His nose crinkled a little, which had to be maybe the weirdest, cutest expression Eden had ever seen someone make. “Hurts.”

“Yeah,” Vanessa agreed, settling back into her own seat. She slid a freshly opened beer across the table at Eden, who mouthed thank you and batted his eyelashes, watching her smile brighten in return. “Just came out of the oven. You really timed your shower perfectly. You can use a fork if you want, I promise I won’t judge.” She winked.

Misae blinked back at her, then moved one hand hesitantly to touch the silver fork at the right of the plate. He held it like a toddler who’d never seen one before, more or less just closing his fingers in a fist around it, stabbing ineffectually at the sausage until some stuck. 

Anaya, Eden, and Vanessa all watched as he took a piece of sausage with a bit of steaming cheese clinging to it to his mouth, stuck it awkwardly inside, and then hissed as the heat burned his tongue. Then his eyes went wide and he chewed frantically before swallowing and all but throwing his fork at the next bite. 

Misae next jammed his fork hard enough to get a huge chunk of cheese, sausage, and even a little crust to lift up this time. The plate rattled beneath his graceless enthusiasm. 

He shoved the whole thing into his mouth until his cheeks bulged like a chipmunk’s, chewing with effort and seeming to swallow the whole bite nearly whole. 

After that, he gave up on the fork, dropping it with a clatter. He used his hands instead, gathering the remaining pizza together in a sort of lump and eating it until red sauce smeared a circle around his mouth. He made soft grunting noises as he ate, maybe sounds of contentment, curled around the plate as if protecting it from anyone else trying to grab a bite or take it from him. 

Eden was the first one to find words. “He’s, uh… he’s new to pizza.”

“I’ll say,” Vanessa said, slightly faint. “This is the single most disgusting thing I have ever seen, and I cannot possibly look away.” She set her own slice of pizza slowly back down on the plate and took a drink without ever taking her eyes off of Misae’s feasting.

None of them did.

Misae finished every bite on his plate before the other three had even managed to finish a single slice - not that any of them even bothered to try now, too engrossed in the sight of a teenager eating pizza the way he might have torn into an animal carcass if he were in a nature documentary. 

Misae picked up his plate and licked the bits of sauce clinging to the ceramic away. Only when he set it back down, so well cleaned it seemed like it had never had food on it at all, did he seem to realize the others weren’t eating. He swallowed, eyes dancing nervously from Vanessa to Anaya to Eden and back. 

Eden picked up his slice of pizza and set it on Misae’s plate. “Here you go,” He said, voice gentle. His stomach turned over, appetite gone after the spectacle. “Go ahead and have mine, too.”

Misae licked his lips, looking uncertainly down, then nodded and tore into that piece, too.

As he did to Anaya’s barbecue chicken slice.

And Vanessa’s. 

Then he drank the side of ranch straight out of the little bowl, and licked that clean, too.

Eden might never have an appetite again.

“I didn’t know anyone could eat this much pizza at once,” Anaya whispered, sounding less grossed out than just deeply, deeply impressed. 

“I think he’s officially eaten a whole pizza by himself,” Vanessa half-whispered, eyes wide.

She set a breadstick down on Misae’s plate and watched him eat that, too, in three quick bites, barely chewing. “Where the hell is he going to put it all? He weighs like ninety pounds soaking wet.”

Eden closed his eyes. His headache was getting worse. He needed to sleep more than he needed literally anything else on earth. Too bad he only really slept well in the woods. Well, maybe he was so far past tired by now he could sleep anywhere at all?

“Wolves,” Eden said in a tight voice, “Can eat like twenty percent of their own body weight in a single meal. I saw that on something David Attenborough narrated once.”

“Wolves?” Vanessa asked.

The light outside was starting to dim. It’d be another night of a huge harvest moon, Eden thought. Not yet, but soon enough. He’d go outside and look at it for a while, if he could keep himself awake long enough. 

Misae stared back at them, curling into himself again. He flushed, but it just blended with the red sauce around his mouth. It really did look like blood, even starting to darken as it dried. 

He followed Eden’s gaze to the window, looking out at the oncoming night. 

Then back at them.

“Thanks for the food,” He said, without looking up. His voice was thick. He stood so fast he knocked his chair over and then half-limped, half-ran back down the hall. The door to the guest bedroom slammed shut behind him.

Eden exhaled, slowly. “Well…”

“That,” Anaya said, shaking her head, “Was definitely something I have never seen before. And that I hope to never see again.”

“Yeah. Uh.” Vanessa stood. “I’m going to… get us all the rest of the pizzas, I guess. Assuming I can stand to even look at it now.”

Eden hummed assent and took a drink, letting the blend of bitterness, chocolate, and subtle sweet peanut butter sit on his tongue while he stared outside. 

What were they going to find in the bedroom when they went back in?

A scared teenager with a stomach ache?

A wolf with bared teeth?

Or, somehow - impossibly - a creature who was both?

When he looked to the window, the black cat was still there. Still watching them, as the moon began to rise. It blinked, slowly, and Eden drained the rest of his beer.

It was going to be a long night.

-

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