#delivered with a reptilian glare no doubt

[doctorcrabby]

As much of a gut punch as The Reverse Of The Medal is, this has to be one of the best insults ever written:

#aubreyad #stephen maturin #patrick o'brian #aubrey-maturin series #the reverse of the medal #delivered with a reptilian glare no doubt

[geminimoon14]

Sanders Sides Space AU Part 2

It took Remus and Janus no time to settle into a routine with the crew of the USS Sanders. There was no surprise amongst the crew when Remus was revealed to be directly related to Roman, though it was convenient to be able to report the former’s antics to the Captain directly. Fortunately, Janus and Remus were successfully incorporated into the crew with hardly a problem.

Virgil was walking by Logan’s office, ready to deliver Roman’s research request when he overheard, “You drink POISON!” Virgil rushed in, ready to call up Dr. Patton for an emergency treatment when he saw Logan calmly sipping from his mug. 

Remus’s eyes were wide in admiration as he exclaimed, “Dren! I didn’t know you could do that!” Virgil rolled all four of his eyes as Logan continued looking over a report and drinking from his mug. The Araneus held out a small disc to the Human and informed him, “Princey wants some info on the fauna of Dronter. Something about toxic blood?” 

Logan took the disc and scanned the information before replying, “Very well, let the captain know he should have the information in a few microns.” Virgil nodded, ready to leave when Remus asked, “Did you know he could drink poison? Deathworlders are incredible!”

Before Virgil could ask, Logan sighed and told the other, “For the last time, coffee is not toxic! It helps my general awareness!” Virgil went rigid as he exclaimed, “You WHAT!” His hand went to his communicator as he called Patton and shrieked, “Emergency! Logan drank coffee, nearly a half a mug! We need help now!”

Logan had no time to protest as Patton responded, “I’m on my way! Get him to lay down to slow its course!” The scientist tried to speak but was pulled onto the floor of his office before he could register. Logan huffed and folded his arms across his chest as he waited for Virgil to focus enough that he could help. 

Remus seemed on edge as Virgil’s panic spiraled. Just as it seemed to be getting worse, Logan’s voice called out, “Virgil! In for four.” The Araneus froze at the order and took Logan’s hand as the Human repeated, “In for four...“ Virgil struggled for a moment before inhaling as Logan counted and continued speaking, “Good. Hold for seven… Breath out for eight... Now do it again. In for four…”

Patton arrived just as Virgil started to calm and loaded Logan onto the gurney. Still holding Virgil’s hand, Logan glared and told the medic, “I. Am. Fine! Coffee is not going to kill me.” Patton placed his hands on Logan’s temple and scanned his mind for abnormalities. Logan sighed as he asked, “Is this like the capsaicin thing again?” 

Remus looked to a medical assistant as they revealed, “Human’s purposely eat things that make their mouths feel like they’re burning.” Remus turned back in time to hear Patton ask, “You’ve been drinking that stuff every day!” 

From the gurney, Logan casually checked the time and replied, “Humans drink it as a way to heighten their focus when tired, some to the point of addiction. I utilize it as a way to help my mind prepare itself for early morning cognitive function. I was not aware it was toxic to other species.” Virgil seemed to become a little more anxious as he exclaimed, “Your species and literally eat a deadly poison and all you get from it is a little boost of energy!” Logan nodded along, finally allowed to sit up and slide off the gurney as he remarked, “That seems to be correct, yes.”

Virgil huffed and walked away as he shouted, “Frelling Humans! Never know what’s gonna kill you!” Logan seemed perplexed by the proclamation but shrugged and went back to his desk. Patton pulled up Logan’s medical file on his Holowatch and made a few adjustments on the projection, muttering about heart attacks.

After the incident, Remus stuck around Logan more often than not. Crew members would often find him following Logan with questions about Deathworlders or the study he was involved in. The Human would usually answer to the best of his abilities, not one for discouraging learning and study.

It was only a problem when he asked these questions in public. Such as the infamous question asked in the cafeteria: “Is it true that your mouth bones fall out and grow back?” Everyone in the vicinity had shuddered and fully freaked out when Logan answered, “Yes, we lose our baby teeth when our adult teeth grow in.” 

There was a loss of appetite so sudden that Patton and the other medics had worried an epidemic was sweeping through the ship. When he heard about the incident, Roman ordered Logan to only answer Remus’s questions in private and for Remus to stop asking Deathworlder questions in public. His brother pouted but Roman was steadfast in his decision.

There was no surprise when Remus made it a point to ask the questions while in the Command Center in front of his brother. Logan found it difficult to not answer his curiosities, especially when he would purposefully spout incorrect facts in an effort to get the Human to answer. 

As the only Human on board meant that Logan had to answer all the questions the crew put forth, the reason he had been sent on this voyage was to act as a source of information to his crew on the habits of Humans. 

Being labeled a Deathworlder only proved to further Remus’s interest and most of the crew was protective of their Human. Logan had been fairly awkward in his interactions but the crew had found his honest attempts to learn their cultural behaviors endearing. 

He taught himself Virgil’s language after the security officer had forgotten galactic common in the midst of an anxiety attack. When he learned that Emparas were a touch-oriented species, he had routinely offered Patton hugs at regular intervals and drew the crew’s attention to his need. The scientist had personally saved Captain Roman’s life by mocking an invader to divert his attention from the captain’s struggle to maintain shape under stress; one blast while destabilized would have killed him.

There had been a particular incident which had firmly solidified their need to protect the Human. Unlike most species onboard, the average Human could only hold their breath for a maximum of two minutes; Logan could only hold his breath for a few seconds.

They had landed badly on a planet's ocean and the lower decks had been flooded. No one had been too concerned until Logan, caught in the flooding when he had gone to speak with Virgil, started thrashing desperately. Thankfully, Virgil’s quick reaction had gotten the Human to air quickly.

Janus allowed Logan to look him over with Patton’s aid despite his previous experiences with scientists. Logan had been careful to telegraph his movements and inform Janus what he was doing every step of the way. The hybrid appreciated his efforts, especially when Logan would inform him of his findings and check in that a test was alright.

Together, Patton and Logan had discovered that Janus would have difficulty thermoregulating and scheduled time for him to lounge beneath a makeshift sun-lamp. They also found that his DNA was Human spliced with a reptilian species not local to Earth. 

Logan’s prodding did make Janus a little uncomfortable but it was always done with explicit consent and awareness of the details of the tests to prevent unwanted surprises. Janus seemed even more comfortable with Remus in the room, which was allowed with the promise that he did not not interfere. That promise did not stop Remus from asking questions that made Patton squirm uncomfortably and make him glow purple in embarrassment.

As a result, the crew had become extremely protective of their fragile but strong Deathworlder. Sometimes, crew members would drop by to check in on him or to remind him of personnel meetings when he was distracted. 

Even though the USS Sanders was a science ship dedicated to the exploration and discovery of new lifeforms, it did still have protective measures for emergencies. Such as when space pirates boarded.

Logan grunted as the leader of the mercenaries knocked him to the floor. His wrists were cuffed behind his back and a boot pinned him down. Virgil hissed as they trained their weapons on the scientist, only staying where he was because of how many weapons were trained on the others.

A hand grabbed a fistful of Logan’s hair and a voice hissed, “A Human, huh? There’s a big market for these, especially fighters.” Logan’s face remained impassive as he remarked, “I doubt I would be worth much.” The invader shrugged as they commented, “Not like I’d care. C’mon Deathworlder.”

Logan winced as the alien hauled him to his feet by his hair. Roman struggled to stand, a head wound sluggishly bleeding from the impact of the pirate’s ship firing at them. A pirate used the butt of their rifle to knock the captain down. Patton wrapped his arms around Roman, hiding his face behind the captain.

Janus stayed hidden behind debris, looking like a body crushed during impact. They had kicked his boot, unaware that Janus had only been battered by the force, and determined him to be a casualty of their boarding. 

The leader of the mercenaries kept his hand in Logan’s hair and started towards the exit of the command center as he told the crew, “If anyone follows us, we’ll kill the Human. We got enough to keep us happy that we wouldn’t mind losing this piece.” He placed the barrel of his pistol against the scientist’s temple in demonstration.

Virgil let out a low hiss but stayed where he was as the leader ordered, “Start moving, Deathworlder.” Logan lurched as he was pushed into the corridor and forced to walk away from his friends. Roman tried to sit up but his mind was more focused on maintaining his form while the pirates walked away.

Patton tried to concentrate on locating the damage but found his mind straying as he cursed under his breath. Virgil jumped at the profanity before looking around the command center. Janus was slowly coming around, another crew member helping him sit up, and Patton was tending to Roman. The Araneus made a mental tally, trying to recall who he had seen during the raid before asking, “Has anyone seen Remus?”

Logan tried to stave off the panic trying to creep in as he realised the likelihood of his crew rescuing him in their condition was low. The leader grinned as he muttered, “A Human! And out here of all places! We’re gonna be rich!” Logan bit his lip to stay quiet as the pistol prodded his spine in a silent warning.

There was a choked off sound to the left and the gun against Logan’s back pressed harder against him. One of the pirates was no longer there, along with several others. The leader wrapped one of their four arms across Logan’s chest and jammed the pistol under his chin. Logan let out a grunt as his face was forced up to accommodate the weapon under his chin.

While the mercenaries searched the walls for their allies, Logan’s eyes found a familiar slime that coated the ceiling of the corridor. A pair of eyes surfaced for a moment to send the Human a wink before vanishing back into the mass. Logan kept his breathing steady as the leader called out, “I’m not frelling kidding, I’ll kill him!”

A set of tendrils wrapped around another pirate and he vanished into the shadows of the corridor, the eeriness increased by the damage done to the electrical system when the raiders arrived. 

The other three remaining mercenaries tightened into a defensive circle as their leader proclaimed, “Show yourself or I’ll blow his frelling brains out! One... “ 

The one behind the leader was silent as they were pulled into the shadows on the floor.

“Two... “

The one on the right was yanked to the wall and coated in the slime on the ceiling.

“Three... “

A muffled scream to their left drew the leaders attention away long enough for Remus to slide down the wall in front of them. 

Remus wrapped his hand around the barrel of the pistol and tore it away from the pirate’s hand. The pistol went flying as Remus’s tentacles wrapped around Logan and pulled him away from the pirate. Hands wrapped themselves around the leader’s throat as Remus assumed his humanoid form, tentacles obscuring and protecting Logan, and spat, “Not so fun being the prisoner is it!”

Logan could hear shrieks and growls but Remus’s tentacles kept him from seeing anything. The noises continued for a few moments before everything went quiet. Logan squirmed a little, shoulders aching from the prolonged position the cuffs held his arms in, but sat and waited for Remus to finish the fight.

“Remus?” Logan called, “Can you let me go?” There was a beat but the tentacles slowly withdrew as Remus felt Logan for injuries. Logan smiled as Remus pulled out a familiar code lock and pressed it against the cuff’s scanner. As soon as he was free, Logan rubbed his wrists to work feeling back into them. Remus helped Logan roll his shoulders and ease the ache from how he had been pushed around.

 From around the corner, they heard Virgil yell, “Remus! Did you get him?!” Remus sighed as he called back, “Yep, the nerd’s safe!” Close behind the security officer was Patton, freckles a bright yellow and a scared look on his face.

Patton kneeled next to Logan on the floor and examined his wrists, glow turning red at the marks from the cuffs, while Remus spoke with Virgil. As they exchanged information, Patton focused on wrapping Logan’s wrists and looking him over. He noted the faint mark beneath his chin but realised it would fade. 

Once he was sure that Logan’s wounds were treated properly, the Empara wrapped the Human in a hug. Logan jolted as Patton exclaimed, “Thank Nara you’re okay! I thought they were going to sell you and Roman was hurt and they had a gun pointed at your head!” Logan soothingly ran his fingers through Patton’s hair, careful to avoid his antennae.

Remus sighed as he told Virgil, “ I honestly wanted to tie their insides in a knot but I didn’t want to do it in front of Logan.” Virgil nodded as Remus pointed to all the spots he had shoved unconscious pirates, mostly holes in the walls caused by impact damage. Virgil tried very hard to keep amusement from showing up on his face but, based on Remus’s proud expression he had failed.

Crew members hauled the invaders from their hiding spots and placed them in specimen cages for lack of a better containment center. One of the crewmates in Command had sent a distress call to the local authorities, who had signaled their approach. 

Logan allowed Patton to carry him to Medbay himself, obviously upset about the experience and Logan was not unwilling to let himself be held. However, the Human was not looking forward to Virgil hovering to reassure himself that Logan was safe or Patton’s need to oversee his recovery.

Roman was sitting up in one of the beds waiting for them, in spite of Patton’s order for him to rest. He saw the scientist allowing the medic to carry him and let out a sigh of relief. Virgil, always willing to help Patton with difficult patients, pushed Roman back against his pillows and scolded him. Roman retorted with something that Logan did not catch because Patton was fussing with his bed.

He reclined onto the pillows, letting out a satisfied groan when a tense muscle released, and listened as Virgil reprimanded, “I don’t care if your Faera healing is still working! If Patton says rest, you rest!” He heard Roman scoff as he countered, “Like you should be resting because we both know you’re about to freak out!”

“I’ll be fine! Just lay back down!”

“Not until you start your breathing exercises!”

“You are literally in no shape to be ordering me around!” 

“I will do what I have to if it means my crew will be alright!”

“You’re barely maintaining your form!”

“That doesn’t matter right now. Sit down and breathe!”

He heard someone, most likely Virgil, inhale to deliver a counterargument when Patton cut in, “Both of you take a breather! Virgil, you sit with Roman and Roman if you don’t rest right now I swear to Nara I will use my power!” They both went quiet and Logan only just managed to smother a laugh as Virgil sat next to Roman, who instantly settled against the pillows.

A few minutes later, Remus walked in and dropped himself on Roman’s bed without a word. Roman cringed a little but moved over to make room as his brother wrapped his arms around him. Virgil smirked, clearly about to tease, but jumped when Remus’s tentacles laid themselves over Roman.

Patton smiled as he cooed, “Aww, so it is a Faera thing.” Roman glared but did nothing to remove his brother. Patton moved to a different bed and spoke in low tones to one of the other medics. After a hushed conversation, Patton returned and informed them, “Janus is alright, just a little tired and in his room now. A lot of people were injured but I think we didn’t lose anyone, thank goodness.” 

He turned to Logan and said, “A few of the staff wanted me to tell you they’re glad you’re okay.” The medic shifted his gaze over to Roman as he added, “Remy said you’re an idiot but thanks.” 

Logan recalled the officer as the one wearing a special visor to prevent their ability from affecting anyone. Officer Remy Sono worked in security under Virgil but recalled him as one of the best. Logan remembered that Remy had been in command when the pirates boarded. The insults he had spat at the leader was quite impressive, if a bit foolish. Logan would hate to think what could have happened if Roman had not drawn the pirates’ focus onto him.

He was drawn back to the present when he heard Roman reply, “You can tell him not to frelling mouth off at pirates like that and then he can call me an idiot.” From across the room they heard a voice call out, “Fight me you hingemot!” They started laughing as Roman called back, “You’d lose that fight, Officer Sono!” 

There was laughter from the medical staff and a few conscious patients as Remy held his hand up in a gesture that made Patton gasp and scold, “There’ll be no using that hand sign if you don’t want me to confiscate that poison you’ve been drinking!” Remy let out a whine as Logan protested, “Coffee is not poisonous to everyone, please stop talking about it like that!” 

There was more laughter as patients and staff began mocking the coffee drinkers in the room, both of them pretending to have gone to sleep to avoid the teasing. Eventually they relented when Roman remarked, “If you can mock our poison drinkers, you can get back to fixing the ship. Unless you want me to put Virgil in charge.” 

The Araneus grinned at them and laughed at their horrified expressions. The crew returned to their tasks while their Captain, Head of Security, and Lead Scientist rested. The pirates were picked up a few minutes after Roman had finally fallen asleep. 

Remus had pulled Virgil into the embrace with his brother while sleeping so the latter had no choice but to stay. Logan snickered loudly at the panicked expression when the tentacles had pulled Virgil on top of their captain. When Patton was not looking Virgil threw Logan the same gesture Remy had used earlier. The scientist smiled, almost smug, before settling in for a nap, thankful to still be on the USS Sanders and safe in Medbay.

#sanders sides #sanders side fic #logan sanders #roman sanders #patton sanders #virgil sanders #remus sanders #janus #remy sanders #my personal space au #star trek similarities

[risingsouls]

Recruited: Prologue

[I suck at titles so excuse the lameness of me just using the name for Nabooru’s new verse. 

So I decided to write actual shit for this because I’m in love with the idea and exploring it. This is just some background on how shit gets set in motion but you can have it anyway. :3]

Nabooru had witnessed falling stars before, trails of light streaking through the sky on clear nights. But never had she seen such a display at midday. Watched them crash into the desert sands with such force as to quake the ground beneath her feet, the edifice she and her people resided in shuddering in protest.

If they had been shooting stars, she would have made a wish on them like a child still so filled with hope for the world. She would have wished for clairvoyance, to know the dreadful shift her life would take, delivered by this phenomenon.

After helping to quell the excitement and panic, she joined Ganondorf and a group of the Elite to investigate. They found that the stars were no stars at all but spherical contraptions embedded in deep pits they created in the sand. They cracked open like a quintet of eggs and out stepped a crew of people the likes she had never seen before, their features all varied and strange to her down to the clothes they donned. 

They hardly noticed the pair of Gerudo step forward despite the king’s size as they conversed among themselves. Planning. Doling out orders. Three took to the air without aid that she could see, leaving the Gerudo in awe. The two remaining--a shorter fellow with a snowy mohawk and reptilian features and a burly warrior with dark hair and sea-colored skin--approached and demanded we offer refuge. Nabooru opened her mouth to protest, but the lizard man raised a hand, a yellow sphere of light forming in his palm and aimed at her chest. Baffled by the technique, on edge over its similarity to magic, she closed her lips again. The message was clear: comply or die.

The band of Gerudo lead the strangers back to the Fortress and Nabooru's unease was reflected back at her on each of the Elite's faces. Ganondorf’s tense jaw and posture, the cogs working behind his eyes as he, too, strategized ways to keep their people safe while wondering who they were, what they wanted. Friend or foe. I could see Aveil desperate to speak to me and convey her own ideas or perhaps make a joke about their appearance to relieve the tension in the furtive glances she shot between myself and the pair. Avira's hands never once left the hilt of the broadsword at her back, and I noticed a flash of silver pressed in Valis's palm. When we passed through the gates, onlookers peered around corners, stopped their training to stare, but the king's glares and the presence of these two kept them all at a distance.

The Elite meeting room was the first stop. A compromise to the initial request. Information for comfort. Nabooru sat on Ganondorf's right side, Aveil next to her, their guests seated directly across from them. The rest of the Elite filled in along the table, all eyes locked on the newcomers. She was grateful that Ganondorf wasted no time with introductions or greetings. Though the warning in his tone when he demanded they state their business only caused the two to exchange smirks. Haughty and overconfident like the stuffed-shirt nobles of Hyrule's court when either of them spoke. Nabooru wrapped her legs around the legs of her chair to keep from springing over the table and tearing them from their faces, that sphere of light poised toward her heart stark in her memory.

The lizard man answered with the ease of being used to such conversations, of someone with nothing to hide. The five of them were soldiers for the ruler of a galactic empire, words that only half made sense to Nabooru. He sent them to the planet to scout its resources, to see if it held any promise as an addition to their empire. When pressed on what that meant for them, the two once more exchanged darkly amused glances, and the dire explanation, blunt and up front, revealed why: they either found usefulness in the planet and its people or it and them would be exterminated.

A million questions swirled around in her panicked mind, most of which fell to pieces before they could reach coherence. Every sinew screamed that they should attack, but the weight of dread and apprehension pinned her and the rest of the Gerudo to their seats, masks of indifference threatening to slip and reveal the desperation and anger they had all felt for years. Hyrule's offences suddenly felt as insignificant as the bite of ants.

The second soldier spoke up before anyone could articulate further questions with one of his own. He saw the warriors training, called attention to those who had welcomed them,all armed and in peak physical condition, and asked if they were warriors. That their power levels, whatever that meant, suggested as much, dismal as they were. Nabooru could see Ganondorf felt the sting of an insult neither of them could quite grasp yet, but answered proudly that Gerudo are taught to fight from the moment they could remain upright and hold a sword. 

As the conversation continued along this vein, Nabooru's apprehension welcomed curiosity when they hinted at such information at least being promising toward their survival. Potentially. A new means of combat for her to learn and strengthen herself. They mentioned something called ki, the energy he had used to threaten her, and Nabooru failed to hold her tongue. Was it magic, then? Both laughed and assured her it wasn't, that even a band of weaklings like them could harness ki or life energy and become an army capable of razing this entire planet and more. Another slight, but in the glance she and the Gerudo king shared, the glimmer of something akin to hope and a desire for strength they both shared to some degree sparking in their eyes, she knew they both wanted to unlock the secrets of this ki. A way to solve their current problems. To fight by their own means rather than artifacts not meant for them just as she always hoped.

Neither of them liked the prospective offer they set on the table for the newcomers, a sentiment shared between the king and his second the following evening as they pored over the same maps that often lead to their more heated arguments, the dead end strategies doomed more than one of them, ripped to shreds in frustration. In futility and helplessness. It was like swapping one ruler for another, but neither had cared to doubt their glib explanation of their business there. With some apprehension, Ganondorf had explained the growing tension within the country, the ire and fear of their neighbors that threatened to slowly suffocate and end their race entirely. How they fought to stave off war with diplomacy and promises of unity, a war they could only dream of winning with the scars of the last one still so fresh. It always shocked her how easily he shifted into the role of the humbled king, how he wove his passion for his people back into his words, his motives, his being. She saw the king she was proud of, the man she fell in love with all those years ago.

The bargain was simple: Ganondorf offered the Gerudo as a standing army to rule over the planet for this emperor of theirs in exchange for training in using ki which would help them overtake the current governing body. Nabooru added that, as natural warriors, the Gerudo learned quickly, and would not cost them much time. She also suggested they teach the Elite warriors first and that they could pass the knowledge on to the rest of the tribe, rather than expend time and soldiers of their own on training an entire army.

Though an agreement hung in the air, the soldiers informing them they would need to run that and the rest of their report by their emperor, Nabooru felt an elation she had not felt in years. A sense that they might finally make progress. She wanted peace, but Hyrule had made it apparent that wasn’t an option. The prospect that they could triumph and survive, to discontinue scraping by, she couldn’t help herself. And to be on the same page as the man she devoted herself to working with--someday ruling beside--after so many long months of disagreements and fights...to see a glimmer of the future she thought they could no longer sustain…

They made love that night. Truly. Deeply. Lovingly. Not as the result of a heated argument, a need for release or the adrenaline after a sparring session. Though the thought of impending doom occurred to her and spurred a second and third round before she tucked herself against his side for sleep, the thought that this could be their last night, such anxiety played a secondary role to her bolstered spirits.

Spirits that only soared higher into the cloudless desert sky when the soldiers returned with the rest of their crew and news that their emperor, Frieza, had agreed to the terms. Training commenced immediately, and Nabooru flourished. She felt like a kid again, handed her very first proper sword and learned to wield it. When she tapped into the energy slumbering within her, it amazed her how natural it felt. The skills, the strength she could have had all that time. Flight, blasts fired from her hands that tore through solid plateaus. It was invigorating. She obsessed over mastering it and challenging herself to reach new heights, finding time outside of the formal training sessions to train more. To spar with Aveil, Avira, Ganondorf, or any of the other Elite who would humor her. 

If only she had known her zeal for combat would someday bite her. That she would find her proclivity for fighting, her love and enjoyment of it, a hindrance over an aid.

How it would cost her everything.

Each Gerudo had to brace themself as the gargantuan ship flew low over the fortress, the gust left in its wake ripping flags from their standards and sand whipping through the air. It landed just outside the gates in far more graceful fashion than the pods the others arrived in. Their five guests scrambled to round up all the Gerudo and assemble them in front of the fortress, barking orders to straighten clothing or to stop looking so slack-jawed. Many aired their grievances with the rushed treatment, their confusion over the unidentified craft that flew overhead. But the sight of it working the galactic soldiers into a frenzy made sense with the whispers and off-handed comments made during their stay once they finally illuminated the significance of the ship: Frieza had arrived.

Nabooru stood at Ganondorf’s side as a chair carrying a horned, diminutive creature hovered toward them tailed by two what she could only guess were his guards or generals, and she followed suit in bowing along with the rest of her tribe and the soldiers. Her gold gaze lifted in curiosity to watch them, to understand why the emperor was so feared and surmise if the horror stories his men told them rang true. She only had to stare into his crimson eyes and witness that condescendingly amused smirk once to discontinue doubting them.

The alarm bells should have sounded when he requested an audience with both her and Ganondorf. It made sense to want to speak with the one who would rule the planet in his stead. But to specifically request she join them after inquiring if she was the one he had been told about, she should have seen the signs no matter how futile a retreat would have been. Her pride blinded her to any possibility except her skill and power being seen as impressive for a beginner. Enough to have earned the emperor’s praise. 

She had only been half right.

The turn the conversation took after a cordial discussion of the planet’s landmarks and resources, of how the warriors handled the training and a prospective timeframe for the attack on Hyrule, had forced Nabooru to forget most of the details of anything prior. The world slipped out from beneath her when Frieza informed the king and his second that he would recruit Nabooru to his ranks due to her skill and unusually high power level for a denizen of a planet like this one, and explained that he couldn’t rightly take Ganondorf, the more powerful of the two, as he needed him to stay and rule as promised. He would settle for close second. As insurance, to feel that he was given as much as they took in their conquest of the planet.

Every fiber of her being screamed out in protest. How could she leave her home? Her people? Her lover? And after all they had worked for and accomplished and on the brink of sacking Hyrule and starting something so entirely new? They were her life, everything she threw every ounce of her essence into. But to refuse was death. Or worse, her people's slaughter over it. She could feel herself hollowing out with each passing moment, as the same hopelessness she thought she had left behind tore the feelings of assured victory from her heart. 

Ganondorf opened his mouth at last to speak for her, but she stopped him with a deep bow. "It would be my honor to serve you, Lord Frieza."

#:: nabooru ☀ #:: u7 recruited ☀ #fic: recruited

[crystaljins]

A long journey home| 01

Characters: Taehyung x Reader

Word count: 9.1K

Synopsis:  All you wanted was to confront your flaky coworker, Taehyung, not get dragged across a magical fantasy realm trying to deliver a baby dragon safely back to its home kingdom.

Fantasy!au

Notes: I’m not really sure what this is, if I’m being honest. Just a fic so big I split it into two. I basically just wrote whatever I thought was fun and so there’s not a huge amount of plot or anything, really. Just me having fun. Hopefully its fun for you too, at least.

1 | 2 

The second they wrench off the blindfold, you know you aren’t on earth anymore. You don’t know how you know- the dark green leaves that paint the backdrop of your surroundings could be native to any forest, anywhere in the world. But instinctively you can feel it- a magical thickness to the air that tells you that you are very, very far from home.

Two men pin your arms in place with tight grips on your upper arms- if they can even be called men. Their hands are hidden beneath thick leather gloves but you don’t think the leather hides flesh and bone. No, each uncomfortable shift feels like there are knife blades sliding along your skin, sheathed by the leather. Their faces are wrapped in thick black shawls so that only glittery eyes peek through thin slits in the material and there’s something inhuman about their eyes. Both men glare straight ahead and you allow your gaze to shift until it settles on Kim Taehyung, the very man who got you into this mess.

In his defence, you don’t think he did it intentionally. No, you doubt he was even aware that you’d been dragged into this realm while your captors pursued him until this very moment if the way his eyes widen just the slightest bit is anything to go by. But you wouldn’t have been captured and held hostage for the past 48 hours if you hadn’t gone to his house two days prior, that’s for sure. A mere 48 hours ago, when the world had been simple and easy and Taehyung had just been an annoying colleague who never pulled his weight.

You had been constantly making up for his slack- staying late, coming in early, working through your lunchbreak, all to make up for the fact that Taehyung is about as reliable as an umbrella in a hurricane. When he does bother to show up to work, he works diligently and thoroughly and is the kind of worker that is friendly and warm and popular and always getting invited to office parties (which is probably how he’s escaped getting fired thus far). But when he doesn’t show up, it is usually at the worst possible time, like right before a meeting that he was supposed to present at (although that burden then falls to you when the boss realises that Taehyung isn’t coming, 5 minutes into the meeting), or in the busy season where you need all hands on deck. And when Taehyung had not shown up two days earlier, you had been forced to pull an all-nighter and missed your niece’s 1st birthday party. That had been the straw that broke the camel’s back. You had tolerated his behaviour and even covered for him when he requested it of you because you felt bad for him and weren’t really the type to turn down someone who needed your help. But enough is enough and you could cover for Taehyung no longer. Especially when your ailing father rang you and asked why you hadn’t shown up to what might possibly be the last family gathering that all of you are together for.

You had stormed over to Taehyung’s apartment and banged on the door until he answered. Only it hadn’t been Taehyung that answered but three creatures that were most definitely not human, fresh from trashing his apartment while searching for him. They had seen you, assumed you were close with Taehyung, and deemed you of appropriate worth to take along in their pursuit.

Now you kneel helplessly, still in your work uniform from two days ago though it is now soiled and partly torn from mistreatment. You must look quite the sight, dirty and kneeling on the floor of some mythical forest in a pencil skirt and a formerly-white button down.

“(Y/N)?” He asks. Taehyung is a fairly unflappable kind of guy. There are jokes at the office that the building could be burning around him and he’d stop to take a selfie with the flower arrangement in the lobby before evacuating. But he looks genuinely gobsmacked in that moment and if you hadn’t been afraid when you’d first been abducted 2 days ago, then you are now. If Taehyung is scared, then things are serious. You shouldn’t have listened to Jimin’s encouragements to confront Taehyung and you shouldn’t have gone to his apartment. If you hadn’t, you’d probably be sitting at home, watching Netflix and enjoying a blissful day off. You would be completely ignorant to the presence of the supernatural beings you had previously thought only existed in storybooks. But no, now the proof of creatures that even humans could not have managed is not just limited to three beings surrounding you, two of whom are restraining you, but the small, frightened little creature in front of you which may or may not be a baby dragon. It burrows into Taehyung’s arms like a frightened kitten. The sight would be endearing if that little creature wasn’t currently a bargaining chip for your life. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

“I don’t know.” You say, and though you try to sound normal, terror has your voice wobbling with unshed tears. A glare from one of the captors still restraining you has you clamping your jaw shut.

“Do not speak,” It hisses, and if you had to describe the odd quality of their voices, it would be reptilian. Great. You had been kidnapped by lizard men.

The leader, the one not holding you down, pulls off his shawl and the beastly scaled face that lies beneath has you feeling light-headed. Not two days ago you were a simple office worker, a bit plain, maybe a little bit too much of a pushover, prone to crying a little too much, but human. Ordinary, plain, boring human. Magic, mythology… those were fictional things. But no. Unless this is some sort of weird fever dream (which you haven’t entirely ruled out as a possibility yet), you are currently a supporting character in a fantasy thriller that is unfortunately not fictional.

“Choose, Guardian. Your mate’s life or the dragonling’s.” The leader snarls. “We don’t have all day- our Queen wants her prize delivered.”

“Don’t count your dragons before they hatch,” Taehung protests, his hand resting on what you recognise as the hilt to a sword. Why does he have a sword and not a gun? Why not make use of the very lethal technology humans are unfortunately good at creating? “I’m not handing this little one over. You’ll have to kill her.”

Your eyes go wide, but he doesn’t spare you a glance. He shifts his posture, hoisting the little dragon higher against him in his arms and all traces of shock and distress are wiped clean from his face. A trill of fear runs through you at the clinical, detached way he regards you. Surely he wouldn’t allow these creatures to kill you? Yes, you weren’t particularly close, but you were still coworkers and he certainly owed you at least some sort of attempt to save you in exchange for all the favours you’ve done him!

“Taehyung,” You plead, and the tears you had managed to hold in throughout this whole ordeal suddenly spill further but he pointedly ignores you. “Taehyung,” You say again, trying to gather the words that will convince him to save you. He finally looks your way at this, but he merely looks at you like you are a jewel he finds intriguing but not worth the purchase.

“Sorry, sweetheart,” He says, and while he’s always been fond of using pet names for you, this one feels like a punch in the gut. “I do hate to have casualties when I work, but you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You aren’t worth the price.”

Your jaw drops in offence.

He offers a disinterested look to your captors and turns away.

“Kill her.” He offers over his shoulder, already walking away.

“You… you have to be kidding me,” You gasp incredulously. “After everything I’ve… you’re just going to… No! No way!” You cry.

Though you are largely a timid and obedient worker and Jimin is constantly berating you for being a pushover, there is the odd occasion that you get angry. Those occasions are few and far between, but you feel it now, frustration, pain, anguish and fear building in your chest like the crest of a wave about to burst into frothy foam. He’d… he’d just leave you to die?

“You idiot lizardmen!” You screech. Your anger bursts forth in the form of your enraged screech. No longer is the fear of them enough to hold you in place. And clearly you can’t rely on Taehyung to help you out. You flail in their hold and ignore the way their gloves claws dig painfully into your skin. The little dragon in Taehyung’s arms whines in fright at your outburst. “Why the heck did you drag me into this you douchebags! If you’re going to threaten him at least use someone who actually knows him or check your facts or something! Plus if I’m going to die at least let it be for someone better than him! He didn’t even try you assholes!” You yell kicking out with your legs and they had managed to subdue you thus far with your fear of their sharp claws but that is no longer sufficient now that you have reached the current stage of hysteria. “You’re honestly going to kill me because you weren’t clever enough to find one of Taehyung’s genuine friends? Granted that’s a difficult ask because he probably doesn’t have any cause he just leaves the ones he has to die!”

You thrash wildly in their grasps and their claws slice into the skin of your biceps. But they did not restrain your legs and so you kick out. One of your wild strikes collides with the back of what you think may be the lizard man’s knee. He crumples with a grunt and releases you.

Taehyung must not have gone that far- suddenly he has taken advantage of the lizardmen losing control of you and their lapse of attention on him.

“Shouldn’t have let your guard down.” Taehyung announced with a chilling smirk and the next thing you know it that all three guards are disabled and unconscious across the forest floor. Taehyung grabs urgently at your hand and drags you to your feet- he does not flinch at the way your fingernails are bloodied and dirty.

“We have to go.” He tells you urgently, attempting to flee with the baby dragon cradled by one arm and you hand grasped tightly in his. Your shoes were lost long ago- you aren’t sure at what point, having been blindfolded for the better part of the last two days and you are in no condition to flee with him.

Nor do you want to- the man just offered your life in exchange for keeping a dog-sized lizard!

“Let me go!” You cry, wrenching your hand free. You wince when you step on a tree branch and Taehyung’s gaze drops to your bare feet. “I don’t want to go with you, you psycho I almost died because of you!”

“We don’t have time for this!” He snaps, going to drag you again, but you flinch away from his swiping hand.

“You don’t have time for this! Just leave me to the lizardmen at least they’re loyal-“ He cuts off whatever rubbish is bursting forth from your lips by throwing you over his other should like you weigh little more than a bag of feathers.

“Sorry, darling, but we have to get out of here.” He exclaims and then he’s running with you bouncing on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, screaming and protesting the whole way.

++

When Taehyung finally sets you down in small clearing a long way away from your former captors, you do not hesitate. He immediately turns his attention to the dragon in his arms, setting it down and examining it for any signs of harm. You make a break for it, aiming to sprint past Taehyung, barefooted and still wearing your ruined office attire. With lightening fast reflexes, however, he snags your arm with one hand- beside him the little dragon coos curiously.

“And where do you think you’re going?” He asks, tugging you backwards until you stand before him once more.

“Away.” You cry. “You were just about to have me killed for a lizard!”

“He’s a dragon,” Is Taehyung’s icy response. He folds his arms across his chest and tilts his head. “And darling, I’d think you’d know me well enough to tell when I’m lying through my teeth. I was never going to allow them to kill you. I just needed them to let their guard down enough to gain the upper hand. Although you freaking out was a very nice touch.”

That gives you pause. You dig your teeth into your bottom lip, contemplating your next move, before finally relaxing your posture. Taehyung relaxes too, sensing that you are no longer on the verge of taking flight.

“That’s what was happening?” You finally ask. You don’t mean for your voice to catch in the way that it does. It’s just that you’re scared and confused and you nearly died. Taehyung’s expression softens and he sinks onto the forest ground, patting the space beside him to indicate you should do the same. Reluctantly, you sink to the ground- your legs give out half way though and Taehyung reaches out to steady you.

“Are you ok?” He asks, taking the opportunity to examine you. Your skin is caked with a thin layer of dirt. Your hands and knees are grazed and scabbed over. There are some bruises on your cheek and arms from the initial struggle of when you were taken captive and the sleeves of your dirty white button up are sliced into ribbons and slowly turning red from where the lizardmen claws had cut into you. Taehyung grimaces at the state you’re in and reaches for a satchel he’s been carrying since you first laid eyes on him. He pulls out what you recognise to be a first aid kit and sets it beside him. He draws near and begins to produce various ointments and salves that you don’t think can be purchased over the counter at your local chemist.

“I have a lot to explain, I suppose,” He says slowly, tending to your wounds as he speaks. “But first, I need to know something- how did you get here? This is not a place any human can get to. And how did you end up with those men?”

You fidget with the hem of your skirt. The air is cool but not cold and so you are coping in the outfit you are wearing, but you will need new clothes and shoes if you are to get out of this wretched forest any time soon.

“I… I went to your apartment.” You confess. Your desire to confront Taehyung over his work ethic has long fizzled out over the traumatic events of the past few days. Now it all seems like a distant memory, like a dream you had a long time ago and can’t quit recall the details of. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”

Interest sparks in Taehyung’s eyes and a slight smile crosses his face.

“Oh?” He says, and you grimace at the way he’s misinterpreted your words. “Do tell, sweetheart.”

“Not like that! I wanted to talk to you about what a terrible worker you are!” You snap, and the smile slides off his face like you’ve slapped him. “And I was going to tell you that I couldn’t keep covering for you at work anymore, but those lizardmen were there, trashing your apartment and they thought I was close to you. They dragged me with them through this weird doorway thing and we ended up in this forest and have been travelling through it for the past two days.”

Taehyung’s gaze darkens.

“I’m sorry for that. They were looking for this little one.” Taehyung says, reaching out to gently stroke the head of the little dragon. It purrs like a kitten and watches you through narrowed eyes. “This is Taithrwyn. I call him Tata though because that’s a bit of mouthful. He’s the last dragon prince and I swore an oath to his former guardians before they died on my front doorstep that I would return him safely to his kingdom before the full moon. Which means I have approximately one week to cross this entire continent.”

Taithrwyn takes hesitant steps towards you, his eyes cautious and regarding. His nostrils flare as he extends his neck, taking in your scent. As he turns his face towards you, the meagre light shining through the forest canopy catches his scales- they gleam a metallic red. Each scale has a gradient, however- they begin a brilliant scarlet and then gradually fade into a warm yellow that shimmers gold in the soft forest light. His eyes are cat-like- he watches you through slit-like pupils and earthy green irises. Hesitantly, you extend an open palm towards him, like he is a stray cat you’re trying to entice close enough to pet. He watches the gesture closely before leaning forward to press the tip of his snout into your open palm, closing his eyes. A warm feeling fills you at the action. You do not know much about dragons and did not know they existed prior to today, but something tells you that Tata’s tiny little gesture means a lot in his language.

Taehyung watches the exchange carefully, a small smile on his face.

“He likes you.” Taehyung offers, and Tata punctuates his statement by clambering into your lap. “Watch your claws, Tata.” He scolds and you wince as his tiny claws leave little scratch marks on your exposed thighs.

“Is the oath why you were going to let me die? You said you wouldn’t let them kill me… but what if your plan had failed? Would you have left me?” You ask softly. Taehyung does not answer for a moment, but he goes still and his teeth dig into his bottom lip contemplatively.

“Yes.” He finally answers. His answer shouldn’t hurt or surprise you- what are you to Taehyung, that he’d choose you over a baby dragon prince? Especially if he had promised someone else to prioritise it. So why do your eyes water and why do you find yourself blinking back tears? He’s not done rubbing salt in your wounds, however- he continues on. “The life of the last dragon prince is more important than a human’s, no matter who that human may be. And I swore an oath- amongst my kind that is something we take very seriously.”

“Right.” You answer, though your voice is strained with the effort to keep it even and unaffected. “Well, I’ll just let you get back to that, then- if you could just tell me how to get home, I’d really appreciate it.”

“Wait!” Taehyung calls, halting you in the process of getting to your feet. “Where are you going?”

“Home.” You say, and the word is loaded with more desperation and anguish than you had anticipated. But the past two days have been hell. In the worst sense of the word. You had been terrified for your life, trapped with strange creature, wondering through a forest, far from home without knowing if you’d ever get out. If you’d ever get to go home. If you’d be alive for your niece’s second birthday. And Taehyung had been willing to let your life end there. To let it fizzle out after being dragged from everything you knew for a mistake. You want to go home, to your family and friends and coworkers. And to your job. You’d worked so hard to get to where you were but you had allowed your work to become a curse, to become something you hated just to stop the man in front of you from getting fired. When your life apparently meant nothing to him. “I’m going home, Taehyung.”

“You can’t.” Taehyung blurts, and when you don’t answer, he rubs uncomfortably at the back of his neck. “I don’t know how to tell you this, love, but this isn’t the kind of forest a mere human can get out of alive. We aren’t in the human realm anymore. All the rules you know about nature… everything you know to be true… out here they aren’t true anymore. If you go off on your own, the best possible outcome is that you get eaten.” He confesses to you. “Because it’s the quickest and most painless way to go.”

A shiver runs down your spine and the darkening light of the forest around you suddenly seems more menacing than before. You feel a creeping sensation along your skin and flinch. He’s right- you’re barefooted, bleeding and lost. You have nothing on you but the ruined clothes on your back and you probably aren’t even on the same planet any more.

“So then what do I do?” You ask, your voice trembling and uncertain. Taehyung shrugs.

“You come with me. I’ll keep you safe.” He says, as if it’s the most obvious and simple solution. You stare incredulously.

“You? We only just escaped from lizardmen that you were going to let slit my throat with their weird claws in exchange for your pet dragon and you want me to believe you’re the safest option in this place?” You demand furiously. Taehyung grins, and something dark and decidedly inhuman glitters behind his eyes, something you’d never seen before. In that moment, it clicks into place- Taehyung is not a human being. He is not the flaky office worker you thought he was- he is something more ferocious and terrifying and you feel a chill to your skin.

“Oh, darling.” He says. “I never said I was the safest option. Just that I’m your best bet of getting out of here alive. You’ll get to go home once I have successfully returned Tata to his kingdom.”

A strange kind of resignation fills you because Taehyung is right. You sink back onto the ground beside him and Tata climbs back into your lap, curling up like a little lap dog. He’s about the size of a small dog but he’s warmer than one- you didn’t realise how chilled your skin was until you felt the warmth of his scales against you. Involuntarily, you curl your body into wards him more and he lets out a pleased little trill.

“Who are you, Taehyung? Where am I? Why did you promise to take a baby dragon home?” You ask, tracing figures into the soil beneath you as you speak. Taehyung sighs and leans backwards, making himself comfortable before a long explanation.

“In this realm they actually know me as V. Taehyung is my birth name, but I think “V” has a much more dramatic ring to it.” He admits. “And as you may have guessed… I am not a human. I was raised in this realm but I came to yours when I started highschool. My kind was driven from this realm following an awful war and my family were amongst the victims. I’ve been hiding my identity ever since, but due to what I am, non-human creatures in need of help often seek me out. I can travel between realms freely and so they want me to help them. And I can’t in good conscious turn them away. It’s why I’m always flaking at work.” He tells you. You do not respond- so his flakiness was because he was helping people? You aren’t sure how that makes you feel and so you allow him to continue without interruption. “A few days ago, the day before that I was meant to do that presentation, I really wanted to prove I wouldn’t flake as much anymore. But then two of my people, ones who had also come to the human realm following the war, turned up on my doorstep. They were in poor state, and they had little Tata here in tow.” Taehyung’s gaze darkens and his eyes pool with unshed tears. “I did not know them personally but you can’t help but feel a sense of kinship with your people when you come across them in a foreign realm. They had given their lives trying to deliver him home before his coronation after rescuing him from some poachers. And on their deathbeds they asked that I finish their journey for them. I came here to bury them. And I had promised them,” His voice catches, but he clears his throat and soldiers on. “I promised them I would get him home safely and so I will.”

“I… I missed my niece’s first birthday filling in for you. You didn’t even have the decency to text that you wouldn’t make the presentation. I got in trouble and was given one day to redo it and give the presentation, without any of the information you had.” You confess because while his reason for skipping work was to help people, you still want him to know why it hurt you.

“And for that, I am sorry. I know I’m always relying on you… but it wasn’t supposed to take this long. Time passes differently in the human realm, and I was supposed to be back within the hour. But I miscalculated a few… risk factors- I hadn’t realised those men were in pursuit and a lot of people would give an arm and a leg to be in possession of a baby dragon. I’ve been here two weeks trying to avoid getting caught. And I know it’s been stressful for you and I will always be grateful for you covering my back like you have. I promise you that I will get you home safely. Just because Tata takes priority does not mean I will allow any harm to come to you.” He tells you sincerely. You watch him carefully, but you feel a tension you didn’t know you were holding in yourself give way at his sincerity. He watches you with large, remorseful eyes and his promise hovers in the air between you. You inhale deeply.

“O-ok.” You say. “Fine. You… you have my trust. Just… please. Get me home, Taehyung.” You tell him, and your desperation must be shining in your gaze but he just looks taken aback at your admission of trust. He offers you a wide smile, the one that reminds you how handsome he is and why he has so many of your coworkers’ adoration.

“I will, sweetheart, I promise.”

++

And just like that, you end up travelling with Taehyung. There’s still so much information you don’t have and you are still scared and confused. But there’s only so much Taehyung can tell you in hushed whispers on the forest floor with the risk of your pursuers turning up once more. After some interrogation, Taehyung reveals he is skilled enough in combat that as long as it doesn’t turn into a hostage situation then he should be able to adequately protect you and Tata. Still, when the three of you set off quickly, you proceed with caution and are constantly on the lookout for any sign of your former captors.

Taehyung keeps a spare pair of boots in his satchel (which is magically charmed to hold far more than it should). They are far too large, and your feet keep slipping in them but the alternative is exposing yourself to the numerous sharp objects littering the forest floor that can cut into the exposed soles of your feet. He offers you a large cotton tunic which is better than the pencil skirt and ruined office shirt and there’s no hope for his spare pair of pants fitting you for Taehyung is long and large. This would normally not bother you- the cut is similar to a sleeveless dress, albeit a bit more formless, but for some reason you feel exposed. Perhaps it is to do with the devious smile Taehyung offers you when you are done changing.

“This is good motivation to buy you proper clothes when we get into town.” He comments. You are instantly on guard from the way his tone drips with mischievous intent.

“Why?” You demand, a little defensive and on edge.

“Because,” and his gaze turns from a fox-like glee to something decidedly serpentine as he slides it over your body. You feel as though he had just trailed his fingers over your skin. “I would hate for anyone else to see you looking so cute.”

Flirtatious comments such as those are to be the norm for the rest of the journey, something that you eventually begin to expect from him, but you don’t realise that yet and are caught off guard in that moment. You hope that he misses the way your ears are probably hot enough to fry eggs.

You don’t take a hurried pace, but it is rather relentless. Taehyung refuses to allow his stress to affect you but there is a looming deadline for this adventure. Apparently Tata’s coronation is meant to be in a week. Upon rescuing him from his poachers, his former guardians had been in contact with the ailing dragon king and promised to get Tata home before the planned date for his coronation as Dragon Prince. He is not old enough to rule yet, but apparently young dragons undergo a ceremony to declare their royalty and the best translation for the word Taehyung could think of was “coronation”. Getting there in time means travelling across treacherous lands that a fragile and terrified human like you would struggle with. But there isn’t time for Taehyung to take you to the portal that would take you home, in the opposite direction. Instead, you are stuck along for the ride. You must proceed carefully- apparently there are a lot of people who would benefit from selling Tata. Even just his claws have incredibly useful abilities. Fortunately, Tata has the ability to turn invisible which saves you the hassle and difficulty of having to avoid towns completely and pick up supplies through alternate means.

At least the journey is pleasant. It’s like being dropped into a Lord of the Rings novel. You admire the scenery around you in wonder- you have left that awful forest before and now wonder through what you think may be a field of barley. Wheat shimmers like gold in the bright sunlight and there is a dry but pleasant scent to the air. Overhead, the sky is a smooth, uninterrupted blanket of azure blue. Taehyung hums beside you, answering all your questions without a hint of irritation or impatience while Tata stalks what you think may be a cricket.

“So if you aren’t human, what are you?” You inquire. Taehyung shrugs.

“There isn’t really a word for it in your language.” He admits. “I suppose the best word for it is a “guardian” or maybe a “protector”? They say the gods bestowed us with enhanced abilities to protect others. Every creature born in this realm knows that they can seek us out when they need help. Still, they also fear us greatly for our strength which is perhaps why we were driven out.”

“And you still return here to help? After they drove you from your home?” You ask, feeling a mixture of compassion and sadness on his behalf at his admission. He simply smiles thoughtfully.

“It’s my legacy and my honour to do so.” He points out. “To ignore a cry for help would be to spit on everything that I am and on every sacrifice my parents made to raise me in the culture they loved in a foreign realm where the rules of reality differed. And I already make every effort to hide what I am- this is the one thing I cannot and will not pretend does not exist.”

You are silent. Any further questions are thwarted by an intense glow of admiration towards your co-worker. You lick your lips and swallow a few times before you finally find your voice.

“I had no idea.” You admit. He chuckles and shakes his head.

“No need for remorse, lovely. I’m sure you understand better than everyone- not a lot of people would go to the lengths you have to cover for their flaky co-worker.” He reassures you with a wink and a warm smile. Tata coos his agreement, but the conversation ends there because Tata has successfully caught his cricket and you are deathly afraid of bugs.

++

Apparently the next town, where you will be able to buy horses and supplies and halve the daunting journey ahead of you by doing so, is a 6 hour walk away, skirting around the edge of a mountain. But Taehyung proudly presents what he reckons is a shortcut through the mountain, allowing you to reach town in a mere hour. 

You stare dubiously at the decrepit entrance to the tunnel. As daunting and painful as a 6 hour walk in shoes that don’t quite fit an a tunic that barely qualifies as a dress seems, an hour in a cramped, confined and dodgy tunnel seems infinitely worse.

“Are... are you sure about this, Taehyung?” You ask hesitantly. He grins.

“Sure I am! Admittedly it’s been about six months in the human realm since I came here which probably translates to about 60 years in this realm? But how much can change in 60 years?” Is his dismissive answer. He doesn’t hear your answering “A lot!” Because he has already set off, with Tata ambling along in tow. You do not wish to be left behind and are faced with no choice but to follow. 

Inside the air is musty and there is an unpleasant moisture to the air. It is also pitch black which Taehyung quickly rectifies by sliding something onto his finger. It lights up the area around you and it seems to be some sort of ring. There is no direct light source coming from it, yet you can see as well as if Taehyung were holding a torch. Tata’s scales glint in the light and intensify the brightness. The interior is not impressive- rocks, uneven ground, and a slick mossy quality to the walls that has you grimacing.

“You look pale.” Taehyung comments, from closer than you expected. You jump slightly and grasp your chest.

“I… I don’t like enclosed spaces.” You confess. “But… if you’re sure it’s safe, then I’ll manage. It’s better than a six hour walk across the mountainside, I suppose.”

“That’s the spirit, sweetheart!” Taehyung crows cheerfully. He sets the lead, walking maybe a metre in front of you. You follow timidly, cautious of the way your feet slip in the boots and the way the uneven ground promises a sprained ankle if you are not careful. That will surely make the next few days difficult.

You make it maybe 15 minutes into the tunnel when it happens. An ominous sort of whisper, so soft you almost miss it, sounds from somewhere behind you.

“Did you hear that?” You ask, wrapping your arms protectively around yourself. Taehyung had given you his coat upon realising the cave was a little too cool for your attire, but you still felt cold. There was a chill to the air you couldn’t quite shake off. Beside you, Tata pauses at your legs, looking around with wide eyes. Taehyung pauses, tilting his head slightly as he listens carefully for any unusual sounds. Upon hearing nothing, he shrugs.

“We probably aren’t the only ones using this tunnel.” He points out. “I can’t hear anything that you wouldn’t normally hear in a tunnel like this and my hearing is far better than yours.” He continues walking, expecting you to follow.

“Ok…” You say hesitantly, but you aren’t convinced. Perhaps the darkness is just getting to you though, so you quiet and obediently follow his lead. He’s set off at a slightly faster pace than expected, though Tata sits obediently by your side. Perhaps he senses your unease, or even shares it. Allowing Taehyung to get so far ahead is your mistake though because the ominous whispering sounds again and is suddenly replaced with a deafening roar and the next thing you know, the floor is collapsing beneath you. “Taehyung!” You cry and the last thing you see before you and Tata plummet is his expression. Wide, shocked, and horrified. He has an arm extended towards you and his mouth is open in a soundless shout but then everything goes black.

You could wake up immediately or a few hours later but you wouldn’t really know. You have no way of knowing, but you must have lost consciousness during the fall. You know because you snap awake when Tata nuzzles into you with a sad clicking noise. When you run your fingers through your hair they come away sticky and warm. It is too dark to tell but you hope it isn’t blood. You sit up and are overcome with a ferocious wave of dizziness. It takes a few moments of deep breathing before you are able to sit up and hold yourself upwards. Tata nudges his nose into you, clearly trying to help. You wish you had a torch or your phone on you but that had been lost in the chaos of being kidnapped. Instead you are stuck in a dark space. The air is dusty- Tata sneezes. You don’t know how far you’ve fallen or if you’ll be able to get out. You swallow, trying to stave off the wave of hysteria that threatens to pull you under.

“Taehyung?” You call. There is no response. Tata lets out a little roar too, the one you recognise is his way of addressing Taehyung. You don’t know how injured you are and you have no light to see- you can only limp forward, using the wall to prop you up. “Anyone?”

At that last call you hear it again- that ominous whisper from before. You swallow and blink back tears, feeling your heart rate pick up with adrenaline. The sound of a rock bouncing echoes in the space. It could be a big space or a large space, you don’t know. You can’t see anything. Beside you, Tata growls, a low warning sound that you haven’t heard from him before.

“Who’s there?” You cry. As if on cue, the cave around you lights up with a cold glow. Tata’s scales glow blindingly in the sudden light and you are reassured at his presence. It’s cold down here, almost freezing and even with Taehyung’s large coat you still find your teeth chattering. It looks the same as the tunnel you fell from although the ground is littered with large rocks, probably from the ground collapsing.

“No human has come here for 60 years.” A deep voice rumbles- with the same eerie edge as the whisper that has been almost chasing you throughout your journey through this tunnel. The scream dies in your throat- your terror is so great that you cannot even produce the sound.

“Who are you?” You demand, though the attempt at sounding firm and brave is ruined by the sob that chokes your question halfway through.

“Who are you?” The voice asks. A shadow moves in the distance, large and ominous and breathing. The white light seems to be coming from that direction, so you move towards it.

“Just… just a traveller. I got lost and the floor collapsed.” You confess. A deep rumbling sound comes as an answer- the disembodied voice is laughing at you.

“The floor did not collapse, little one.” It answers you. “I crushed it.” You tense.

“Why?” You ask. It continues laughing and the shadow begins moving towards you. Whatever it is, it is large and intimidating and most definitely not a fellow human being.

“To retrieve you, of course!” It tells you. “Such a tasty morsel… and the young dragonling will make a nice entrée. I will certainly gain sustenance. I just needed to separate you first, for your guardian is quite the threat.” The voice sounds almost impressed as it mentions Taehyung.

“He’ll come for you, if you try anything.” You snarl, stepping protectively in front of Tata though you tremble with fear and your nose is dripping with tears.

“The strength gained by consuming the dragon prince will allow me to easily take him down. Though with the state I’m currently in, even this meagre amount of magic will drain me.” It confess and it finally steps into view. Tata lets out a shrieking yowl in fright, scrambling to hide behind you while you swallow a scream. It’s the most horrific beast you’ve ever laid eyes one. Gnarled, peeling skin, which is an awful frost white colour, like its been frozen. Its figure resembles a human, but curled and decrepit, walking towards you with a lurching, tilted gait. It looks like a zombie from a move but more inhuman. Before you can ask what magic it is referring to, your eyes widen as you feel your limbs lock in place and a painful chill wash through your body. Like you’ve suddenly been encased in ice.

“I like a little bit of warmth in my dinner, so I won’t freeze you completely.” The monster tells you. “But I can’t have you interfering. I’ll have the dragon first.”

You struggle but your limbs don’t obey, like you’ve been plunged into an ice lake.

“No!” You cry, but you can’t even struggle. You do manage to lurch forward in an uncoordinated collapse, diving over Tata and curling your sluggish, frozen body to cover him. Your tears cut warm trails across your frozen cheeks. You are so deathly afraid. There is no way you can get out of this alive.

“That’s quite impressive.” The monster says, watching as you glare at him. Beneath you Tata squirms and whimpers in fear. “Not many can move under the influence of my ice magic. I suppose I will have to dispose of you first.”

It raises a frozen, decaying arm- they end in large, disproportionate talons, also glowing white. You wince and prepare yourself for the pain of its strike.

You never thought you’d die like this. You haven’t gotten to say goodbye to your family, to have one last coffee with Jimin. You won’t get that promotion you’ve been angling for. Yet with all that, all those unfinished thoughts and regrets, for some reason it is Taehyung’s face that pops into your mind as the monster prepares its final blow. His anguished, fearful expression as the ground collapsed. The image is burnt into your memory. You’re… you’re sorry to be the reason for that face. You hate the idea that you caused that distress. You shut your eyes, ready for the last thought of your life to be an apology to Taehyung, but the blow you are bracing yourself for never comes.

The being chokes, and bright blue liquid spurts from its mouth like blood in the same moment that the end of a sword, glimmering in the unforgiving white light and drenched in the same blue substance, erupts from the centre of its chest. The monster screeches in pain, an unholy, awful sound.

It collapses and Taehyung wrenches his sword from where he had pierced its torso.

“I hate frost demons.” He complains, stepping over the demon’s lifeless form and crouching down beside you. Tata squeezes himself out from beneath you and clambers up Taehyung’s body so he can wind himself around Taehyung’s neck, his favourite position. “Are you hurt, gorgeous?” He says. He helps you sit up though your body is still mostly frozen and unresponsive. You stare at him with your eyes watering, and for some reason, the sight of him makes you feel like something inside you erupts. You burst into tears, sobbing hysterically.

Taehyung sighs and pulls you into him, cradling you like you are the most precious thing in the world.

“I was so scared!” You sob. He gently pats your back as he embraces you like he’s comforting a small child.

“I know.” He coos. “You did so well, button. Thank you for protecting Tata.” He praises. He catches your chin with his fingers and the light is so much warmer since it is now his magical ring that illuminates the cavern and not the magic of the frost demon. He lifts your face until he can peer directly into your red-rimmed eyes. He takes in the bruises that still haven’t healed from your kidnapping, and the congealed blood along your hairline from your fall and his expression tightens. “Let’s get you warmed up, yeah?”

He helps you to your feet and leads you away from the immobile corpse of the frost demon. Tata follows.

++

You end up having to camp the night in a forest on the other side of the tunnel. Apparently you’d only been unconscious for a mere moment before the Frost demon came. But with your injuries it takes you another two hours to get out of the cave and Taehyung makes the executive decision to have you rest and recover your strength instead of forcing you to power through to the next town. Once you have horses it will be easier, he promises. He’ll buy a carriage if he has to.

The chill of the spell cast on you by the frost demon refuses to leave. Taehyung informs you that he didn’t freeze you- otherwise you’d have frost bite and all sorts of other nasty complications. He simply sucked all the warmth out of your body, hence your sluggishness and difficulty moving. A night by the fire that Tata sleeps in and Taehyung’s warm sleeping bag would have you good as new in the morning.  Unfortunately, your body cannot seem to generate the heat that it needs and even Tae’s sleeping bag isn’t enough to keep you warm. You can hear his soft breathing where he leans against a tree, keeping watch like he doesn’t need sleep. He will have to sleep at some point though. A blaze of heat as Tata shifts from where he is curled of in the flames has you sighing contently.

“Are you still cold?” Taehyung asks, sliding into your bedding before even waiting for an answer. You nearly screech in surprise, frightened by the sudden intrusion into your personal space, but upon feeling the immense warmth his body exudes your body betrays you and you find yourself curling snugly around him. “I can hear you shivering.” He observes.

“Wouldn’t it be better and more appropriate to let Tata be the one to warm me up, considering he’s a dragon?” You ask with a yawn. 

“And miss a chance like this one?” Taehyung asks playfully, curling an arm over your waist and pulling you in close. “I think not. Tata can sleep in his fire nest. Besides, don’t you think you’d have the opposite problem if you cuddled with a creature who has literally spent the past hour curled up in a fire?” The movement of wrapping his body around you is oddly intimate and domestic and you feel perhaps you and Taehyung do not have the close kind of friendship that warrants such proximity. You also don’t care. He’s warm and secure and this is the safest you have felt in what feels like a very long time. The two of you are silent for a long while and you think he may have nodded off. 

“Taehyung,” you call softly, testing for wakefulness.

“Tae.” He answers in an equally soft tone.

“What?” You question. He blinks his eyes open sleepily and regards you in a way that makes your throat feel tight and your heart beat faster.

“It’s what my... it’s what my friends call me. Tae. And while I should have considered you a friend long before now, perhaps I can fix it by calling you a friend now. If you are willing... it would be a true honour if you called me that.” Is his sincere request. Without realising it, a pleased smile crosses your face. 

“I’d love to... Tae.” You say warmly, sweetly. The look in your eyes as you gaze up at him, caged in his embrace, is so preciously endearing that Taehyung wishes he could take a picture and save it with him. He’d carry it always, in his breast pocket. Close to his heart.

Taehyung chuckles. 

“You’re a dangerous little thing, aren’t you?” He mutters cryptically. You cannot read the odd tone to his voice but it seems reluctantly warm. “What were you saying before I interrupted?” He asks you, changing the subject.

“Oh,” you answer, feeling your face heat. “I wanted to thank you, for saving me. And for keeping your promise. I was...” your voice catches and you clear your throat awkwardly. “I was really scared and I’m glad you came.”

He offers you a soft smile, his eyes crinkling in the light offered by the fire that Tata sleeps in. It makes you short of breath- he never stops being ethereally beautiful. It is unfair to your poor, vulnerable heart. 

“I promised you I would keep you safe, didn’t I?” He whispers. You nod and your eyes begin to sink closed when he speaks again. 

“Can I ask you a question?” Taehyung asks and with the firelight lending warm highlights to his pensive expression, he looks like an artful painting. 

“I guess.” You answer sleepily, uncomfortable with the way the vision of his profile is burnt into the back of your eyelids like you’ve been staring at the sun too long. 

“Why did you do it?” He finally says. His voice is a mere whisper, barely audible above the crackling fire. His tone is desperate, like the question has baffled him for a long time. “At work. All those times, where you could have just let them fire me but you stayed back and covered for me... why?”

For once, all his guarded playfulness, the mask he wears to keep people at a distance is stripped back and all that’s left is someone who is genuinely baffled by kindness from another living being. Your heart aches for him.

Why though? Why do you care enough for your heart to ache on his behalf? Why do you care enough to constantly go out of your way? You’ve never had an answer before. Jimin always asks you why you keep helping him and you shrug off the question like a duck might shake rain loose of its feathers. But suddenly the answer, the one that has continued to evade you and the one that you’ve suppressed up until this moment comes forward in the form of a memory.

The job you currently hold is a job that had been your dream for a very long time. Not that you’d ever had a strong affinity for working in an office. It was just that you wanted a stable, well-paying career that your family would find respectable. You wanted to make your parents proud and to help support them with the mounting medical expenses for your father. It had taken you many tries to finally land a job. The amount of rejections had reached the point you thought maybe you’d forever be unemployed and would be stuck working at the convenience store for the rest of your life. The day you’d gotten the call that your application had been successful would be a day that you would never forget, purely because you had finally had your goal achieved.

Tae had been there too, by some odd twist of fate. You had been on the bus, fresh off the phone from being informed you got the job and the first thing you had done was ring your father. You were dripping wet, soaked from the bucketing rain but you didn’t care. There hadn’t been any seats available but that didn’t matter- you announced the news excitedly to your dad, barely restraining yourself from jumping up and down in the middle of the aisle. The bus had lurched then and you had tumbled into the arms of none other than Taehyung, who caught you with one arm without losing his grip on the large black umbrella hooked onto his forearm.

“Sorry!” You had explained, quickly hanging up with your dad. Taehyung had smiled widely.

“It’s no worry- you’ve gotten some good news, then?” He had asked you. You beamed and nodded.

“Yeah… I just got my dream job.” You had confessed. He had smiled, oddly forlorn and gazed ahead.

“I remember that feeling. I got my dream job earlier this year.” He admitted. “But I’m probably going to lose it.” He scrubbed his hand across his face, stressed. Concerned for this random stranger, for some reason, you had probed forward.

“Why?” You asked. Taehyung had shaken his head.

“I guess I’m just not cut out for it.” He had confessed to you, ashamed. “Don’t worry about it. All the best with your dream job, Miss Stranger.”

And with that he had gotten off the bus. It was still bucketing outside and for some reason you had watched him as he alighted from the bus. An old homeless lady had been shivering alone at the bus stop and you had just enough time to watch him hand over his umbrella and sprint off into the pouring rain before the bus pulled off the kerb. It would only take a few seconds to soak him completely through and if he caught a cold that would not help the potentially-unemployed situation.

Someone who would give up their umbrella for a random person like that, you had thought, shouldn’t lose their job.

And when you encountered him the next week, seemingly with no memory of your encounter but fresh from a scolding from his superiors, you had timidly offered to help him out. Simply because you’d seen him be kind. Not because of a workplace crush or because he was good-looking (although he is very, very good-looking). Just because you thought kindness should be rewarded with kindness.

You tell Taehyung as much and he goes silent, watching you with unreadable eyes for a long moment. You begin to feel the sweet, cotton-y pull of sleep tug at your eyelids as he continues to remain speechless.

“But I guess I went overboard,” You confess with a yawn, struggling to keep your eyes open. “And I overloaded myself and forgot why I was helping you in the first place… but that was why I started.”

You don’t notice the way Taehyung’s eyes go slightly misty at your words. Because it is custom, amongst his people, to always go out of their way to help others. At the cost of yourself, you must protect others. But never has he met another being not from his kind willing to do the same. And never has he been repaid for the numerous favours that have been requested of him. But all this time, he was being rewarded for his kindness by you. Not because he asked for it or because you owed it to him… but because you wanted to. Because you thought it was the right thing to do.

An oddly warm and pleasant feeling spreads through his chest and he finds himself smiling to himself.

Your eyes droop shut and flutter in a valiant effort to stay awake. Taehyung watches this fondly.

“Go to sleep, sweetness.” He whispers and almost on cue you subconsciously nuzzle into his warmth and fall silent.

He pulls you in close and soon find himself lulled to sleep by the steady rise and fall of your breathing.

-to be continued-

#taehyung #taehyung x reader #taehyung fluff #taehyung fic #kim taehyung #bts fluff #writing

[chaotic-incorrect-quotes]

You and Harry Make Vegan Quesadillas

pairing: reader x harry styles (as that is a given)

words: irrelevant

“Y/N!”

“Harry!”

Harry Edward Styles bursts through your apartment door holding bags of supplies for quesadillas. The bright green reusable Whole Foods bags are blinding in your minimalist chic apartment. Harry dumps the bags on your kitchen counter as you run over in your pajamas and help him organize.

“What are we making today, Harold?” you ask enthusiastically. Harry “Hazza” Styles delivers an equally jazzed grin and looks directly into camera.

“Well, dear reader, today we’ll be making Smashed Avocado Vegan Quesadillas. Are you ready?”

“Oh hell yeah!” You reach deep into the Mary Poppins style bag, careful not to fall into the deep abyss of organic wholesale products.  You pull out a series of ingredients.

“For the spice mix we will need: 

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp ancho chili powder (or use cayenne pepper or chili powder to taste)

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp salt” Harry rattles of, stacking the array of spices one on top of the other neatly. 

“It’s almost like you’re reading off a recipe, Harry from the band on sabbatical One Direction.” Harry laughs, pinching your cheek.

“And you are correct, Y/N! Shall I read the rest of the ingredients?”

“Dear god, no!”

“Excellent!” Harry grabs the majestic Whole Foods Reusable AND Recyclable (of you believe) Bag and dumps out its contents onto the kitchen counter. “Y/N, I’ll need you to heat the olive oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-heat high. Get the spice mix ready by adding all of the spices to a small bowl. Once the oil is hot, add the bell pepper, zucchini, and red onion.”

You get to work on your given tasks. “Oh Harry Styles, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were Rachel Ray wearing a skin suit,” you say with a laugh. Harry glares at you angrily his emerald eyes morphing into reptilian slits. 

“How dare you doubt me! You have insulted the H̴̨͓̝͕̯͕͙͖̳͉̭̟̓̃͆͑̈̂͒̽̈͋̇̈͋̕a̵̪̥̠͂̐̀̃̏͐ͅȑ̸̢̢̟̂̂͑͜r̷͉̫͍̙͍̰̞̬͉͕̣̿̈́̍͐̃̊̋͘̕͜͝ͅͅÿ̷̢̞̦̘̭̩̖̦̣̱̣͕̫͚̥́̃̽̅͑͆͊̐̇̓͠ ̴̢͒̑̈́̂̄͘Ş̵̡̨͔̻̘̯͖͖̹̖͍̤͚̒͆̔͒̽̓̈́̇͆̓̀̕̕͠t̶̛̘͖̪̥̜̼͇̐̽͒̄͌͗͆̀̑̐̽̓͘͠ȳ̶̡̢̥̲̹͚̥̪̜̜̤̫̜͇͠ͅl̷͙͍̼̘̙͍̩̓͌̽͐̓̒̾̅͋̌̀̌̚͝é̷̮͑̅̔͋͑͘s̷͚̠̰̩͚̉͂̌̈͜͠  name!” he growled. You stare at him blankly, stirring the pot or whatever.  Harry takes a breath and smiles. “Just kidding! Let’s go back to cooking some delicious quesadillas, [redacted].”

[redacted] continue to stir the vegetables while Harry from O̷̢̧͇̲͍͖͔̭̩͛͗͒͗̏̋̅͘̚͜n̷͍͎̩̪̮̈́́̅̽̍̌̈̿̇̉̾̂́̀́͜͝͝e̵̡̢̖̮͇̩̹̣̙̩̥͙͇̦̻̫̿͋̓̔́̾͊̎͌̀̚͝͝ͅ ̷̡͙̥̭̲̦̳̬̤̦̥̞͕́͜D̵̛͎͛͆̇̇͂̏̊̌͂́͊̀̂̚į̸̛̮̯͕̘̼̹̤͙̩͓̍́͐̽͌͑͆̋̒̾̅̚͘͝͝ṙ̶̡̭͇̘̳͈͆̋̏̽̍͛͊͋͌̽͆̓̓̄̋͊ẻ̴̙̝̰͂͜͝c̸̛̘̪̾̊͑͒̀̉̃̆͗̉͛̕͠ţ̷̧̢͍͍͎̪̖̥̻̯̟̬̫̅̆̑ͅͅį̴͇̖̖̹̼̟̥̭̽o̵̱̯͓̰̝͍̝̜̥̹̘̰̤̗̲̾̑̏͑̓͑̒̈̐̚͘ͅņ̵̺̲̓͗̌̌̾̆̃̅͠finishes the rest of the quesidillas. “These vegan quesadillas made with organic and fresh ingredients from Whole Foods looks delicious, Haz.”

“Thank you very much, [redacted]. Now that the quesadillas are done, [redacted] are no longer needed in this universe.” [redacted] gasp.

“What?” Harry looks back at [redacted] with his reptilian eyes and gives [redacted] a wide froggy smile. 

“Goodbye, [readacted].”

#imagine #mundane #mundane imagine #harry styles #hs 2 #fine line #one direction #solo harry #harry styles imagine #harry styles fanfiction #lights up #louis tomlinson

[tinybibmpreg]

Day 66 // ft. Pythrormr, Dreya, Oliver & Alban

#12 / Safe and Sound

“No no–it’s alright, come here,” Pythrormr beckoned his son closer. The boy hesitated, and then stepped forward. He gently tugged the boy against him, and took a moment to soothe and nuzzle him, rumbling softly. He brushed a clawed finger over the boy’s head-feathers, marveling still at how different the short, rounded squares were from his own sleek and pointy ones. They were puffy and soft in contrast to his silky feathers.

Two-toned eyes stared up at him, and he kissed the boy’s smooth forehead. “Father, are you okay?”

“I'm fine, my dear, just in labor. Your sibling is on their way.” He rubbed his swollen belly, and his son put a tiny hand on it as well. The baby kicked, and as he winced, his son grinned.

“Hello! It’s me, your brother, Oliver! Father says you’re going to be born soon. I’m excited to meet you.”

“And I’m sure they’re just as excited to meet you as well. N-now…” A contraction gripped him, stronger than all the previous ones, and he trailed off, holding his belly. “Ooh…”

Oliver searched his face, frowning. “Father?”

“Oh, j-just a moment, darling- mm…” Oliver crawled off of his lap, and knelt next to him as he laid down on his side. He buried his face into a pillow to muffle the noises he was making. Oliver pet his hair, making a small cooing sound, mimicking the one he often made when the boy was upset.

After a minute, the contraction faded away, and he took a moment to steady his breathing. Then, he turned his face towards his son. “Oliver… I need you to go down the road to the house with the dead tree and knock on the door. Ask for Miss Draya. Be very polite. When she asks you what you’re doing there, tell her the General needs her help.”

“Okay.”

“If she asks how far along I am, just say I told you I’m very close.”

Oliver nodded. Pythrormr rubbed his head, and pressed another kiss to his forehead.

“Good boy. Now, hurry.” After a pat to the shoulder, Oliver climbed off the bed and ran off. As soon as he heard the front door slam shut, he sighed and began to undress. He got off the bed and looked around at the candles and charms he’d set up. He adjusted a few of them, and lit the final candle at the small shrine on the nightstand.

He drank the concoction that had been sitting in the center of the shrine since he’d first realized he was in labor, wincing at the bitter taste of it.

All that was left of the ritual was a prayer, so he got comfortable in his nest and recited the chant he’d once heard at the other side of the lake, the one he’d repeated over and over while straining to deliver Oliver over six years ago.

-

Though Oliver was young, he understood what was going on. His bearer liked to baby him, pretend he was ignorant of many things, but he knew that having a baby hurt a lot, and that his bearer would be sick and in pain until his sibling was born. He’d read a few books about it.

Still, he didn’t like seeing his bearer in pain, and it did scare him. The books described how childbirth was dangerous, and that things could go wrong for both the bearer and infant.

It hurt his lungs to run all the way to the house with the tree, but his bearer had told him to hurry, so he did. Running always made breathing difficult, especially if he ran for an extended period of time. Oliver slowed down when he reached the property, and went up the door. He knocked, and waited, coughing.

Doing that didn’t make his chest feel any better, but he couldn’t help it.

The door opened, and a reptilian woman with long brown and black headfeathers glared down at him through her thick glasses. “What are you supposed to be?”

“I’m Oliver. Are you Miss Dreya?”

She snarled and corrected, “It’s Professor Dreya to you, Oliver. What do you want?”

“The General needs your help, Professor!”

Her eyes widened. “So you’re that wretched creature he delivered six years ago. Great to see the cause of my banishment choking ungratefully at my doorstep, I suppose.”

He didn’t know what he was supposed to say in response to that. “Hello.”

“Hello.” She sighed, her ruffled feathers smoothing down. “So, your bearer’s having another mongrel, is he?”

Mongrel wasn’t a word he had heard before. “He’s having a baby.”

“And he wants me to help him.”

Oliver nodded.

She resigned to her fate. “Alright. How far along is he?”

“He said he’s close.”

“Great, a nonspecific answer. Hey, did you run here?”

“Yeah.”

“...Are you alright?”

He shook his head. “I have bad lungs.”

“We’ll take my truck over. Come on.”

-

In between pants and groans, Pythrormr prayed to his beloved’s gods, even if he did not believe in them, in words he only half understood. He knew the father would have wanted the children to be born according to his culture’s tradition, and though the man had no idea he had sired two offspring, Pythrormr would not disappoint him.

He could feel the urge to push growing stronger with each contraction, but waited. Until the urge was irresistible, or if Dreya had told him he was ready, he would hold back.

The front door opened, and he heard his son’s light footsteps, as well as the heavy steps of a reptilian, the dragging of a long tail.

“Father, I brought Professor Dreya!” Oliver brought the former professor into the bedroom. Dreya looked just as irritated as always, her feathers ruffling as she took in the sight of him laboring in his nest. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yesss… Your sssibling issss quite clossse…”

“I’ll be the judge of that, sir. You just lay back and actually try to relax this time. Oliver, go make yourself as out of the way as possible.” She put her medical kit on the bed next to him as she approached, a look of disdain on her face. With a bit more force than necessary, she moved his leg out of the way.

“He… He can sssstay… Ah…”

“I said to relax,” she growled, two of her declawed fingers pressing into his cloaca. He leaned his head back and focused on breathing, mouthing the words to the prayer. “You still have a few centimeters to go.”

“But I-”

“-Feel the urge to push,” she finished for him. “I know. But yet again, your body has no idea what it’s doing. That’s why we don’t have little hybrid babies all alone on the outskirts of the desert.”

“I… I have you.”

“Against my better judgement. I should hold your little half-breed hostage until you reinstate me back into society.”

“I’ll- I’ll kill you if you hurt him, Dreya.” He pushed himself up with one arm, teeth bared. Then he fell back on his side as his abdomen contracted, groaning.

Dreya moved towards Oliver. The boy hissed and darted to the bed, ducking under her arms. Pythrormr forced himself to get to his knees, pulling his son close. His headfeathers flared, and he growled at her even as the pain made him want to curl up.

“Always on alert, ready for anyone to strike, no matter how injured, how ill. That’s General Pythrormr- ready to kill even when he’s an hour away from delivering a hybrid that won’t survive past the age of ten.”

He refused to believe that Oliver wouldn’t survive to adulthood. His blood had always survived impossible odds. Oliver was a fighter at heart, just like everyone else in his bearer’s family. The baby would be as well.

Though… he glanced down at his son. Oliver had just run a distance that would be easy for any reptilian child his age, or even a younger one his size, and his breathing was ragged, his chest no doubt wracked with pain. He could feel his son’s heart racing against his skin, not from fear, but overexertion.

He knew even a human child wouldn’t still be so worn down.

“Well, General? Do you believe your children will survive?”

“They’re my blood.”

“The both of them are lucky to be carried to term at all. They need doctors and daily medical care. You leave that boy here all alone, don’t you? Just him out in the desert, just a few miles away from me.”

Of course Dreya still held a grudge against him. He shouldn’t have expected her to forgive him after so long. It’d been foolish of him to think he could actually have help during his delivery.

He had Oliver move behind him, and when Dreya pulled a knife from her coat, he lunged at her.

-

It was exhausting to kill and then drag a body outside, and to clean the blood from his scales, but he refused to have a corpse looking at him while he gave birth to his beloved’s second child.

Oliver was unfazed by the death, but worried about him as he sank to his knees in the doorway. He doubted Dreya had told the truth about how dilated he was, so he bore down, groaning.

“Father!” Oliver hurried over to him.

Pythrormr did a count in his head, and then relaxed, panting. “Hey, Oli… Would you mind cleaning up the floor in here while I have your sibling?”

“Okay.” Oliver, always the obedient child, did as he was told. He left the room to find cleaning supplies, and Pythrormr crawled over to the bed. He pulled himself up onto it, and got into position. As soon as he was ready, he pushed again.

Just as Oliver’s birth was excruciating, this one was too. He didn’t understand why it hurt so much to deliver such small babies, but his body insisted on making it as painful as possible.

His son cleaned up the blood splatters on the floor, and picked up and relit a candle that had fallen. Once all the blood was gone, soaked up by towels, Oliver came over and asked, “Do you need anything, Father?”

He shook his head. Oliver still seemed worried about him, and sat down on the floor next to the bed.

The boy stayed quiet and huddled up until Pythrormr gave one last yell. The baby slid out onto the bed, and he gasped. Carefully, he lifted up the baby and laid them down on his belly. As he wiped the baby clean with a small towel, Oliver peered over the edge of the mattress.

“You have a little brother, dear.” Oliver’s eyes brightened, but he didn’t move. Laughing softly, Pythrormr reached for him. Oliver climbed onto the bed and crawled closer. The baby began to cry, a quiet whine just as Oliver had done as a newborn. He finished wiping the baby clean, and wrapped him up in a soft blanket. Leaning back against the wall, he held the baby to his chest and tugged Oliver against his side.

His son was enamored with his new sibling. “Hi there, brother… I’m your big brother, Oliver.” The boy looked up at him and asked, “Father, what’s his name?”

“I’m not sure yet, dear. It took me a few hours to come up with yours…”

“He looks like me. But without my spots.” Oliver was albino, but with patches of brown on him that was very similar to his father’s skin color. The baby was all white, not a single brown scale or speck of flesh to be seen.

Typical of young children, the baby had far less scales than he or Oliver, and the scales he did have were fairly smooth.

“His eyes aren’t like mine either…’ Oliver said, as the baby settled down and opened his eyes, revealing pale pink eyes. His pupils were the same shape as Pythrormr’s.

“They’re the same as half of your eyes.” Each of Oliver’s eyes were half brown on the side close to his nose, while the outer half was pale pink. “Would you like to hold him while I take a shower?”

“Yeah!” Oliver happily took his little brother, and once Pythrormr was certain he had a good hold on the baby, he left to take his shower. It felt great to feel hot water on his scales, and to get the fluids off of his thighs. He felt horribly sore between his legs, and it hurt to touch his slit.

The water started to turn cold, so he shut it off and dried himself with the last towel he could find. He found and pulled on a pair of underwear and some shorts, deciding to go without a top so he could get some skin-to-skin with the baby.

It felt nice to lay down in his nest, knowing they were all safe and sound. The baby was cooing at Oliver, and his son was purring loud, a scratchy rumble Pythrormr loved to hear more than anything. He had Oliver lay down next to him after retrieving a diaper for the baby, and pulled the baby against his chest. He would have to prepare food for the baby, and give him a proper bath, but for now he was content to let them all relax.

He was just about to doze off when Oliver asked, “Have you thought of a name yet?”

“Hm… How about Alban? Oliver and Alban… I think your father will love your names.”

“They’re human names, right?”

“Human names, just like him. He’ll be so proud of you two. You’re both perfect.”

“Even if I’m really sick all the time?” No doubt the baby would be just as weak as Oliver, have the same poor immunity and fragile skin.

“Yes. You’ll always be my perfect boys. Your father will agree.”

“When are we going to meet him?”

“I don’t know, Oli. Maybe when you’re both bigger. It’s a long trip to where he lives. Your brother is too small to make it that far without a doctor, and I’m afraid there’s no doctors who would go with us.”

He had considered taking Oliver with him to the isolated territory his beloved resided in the last time he’d gone, but did not. He was too focused on work, and wouldn’t have been able to have had the time necessary for introducing Oliver to his father. He’d been lucky to have a night alone with his beloved. Now Alban was squirming in his arms, and he couldn’t risk traveling so far with a newborn.

“Okay. I hope it won’t be too much longer, though. I want him to meet Alban too.”

“So do I, dear.”

#here's a birth one for the holidays lmao #oblio's fics #original #mpreg #male pregnancy #mpreg birth #labor #Oliver (WRiE) #Alban (WRiE) #General Pythrormr #Professor Dreya (WRiE) #What's Right in Exchange

[kinsbin]

A Piece of Him

Title: A Piece of Him Word Count: 1692 Ship: Repton/Lou [Canon/Self Insert]

Summary: On a mission near Terra Nova, Lou’s home Terra, Repton decides to surprise his lover with something. When he gets hurt in the process, Lou isn’t sure if he’s more worried or flattered that the other would go through all of that trouble. Perhaps it was a bit of both. 

Author’s Note: A writing commission @snagg-ships! He asked for some fluffy Repton and him and I was so happy to deliver. I love writing for fellow Storm Hawks peeps honestly! 

The Terra that they had landed on was warm, the rich red ground of the soil burning the bottoms of Lou’s feet even through the souls of his thick boots. He didn’t complain, however. He had no reason to. While the weather was warmer than he was used to, he had grown tolerant of it. Perhaps it was the desensitization of traveling with a group of cold blooded Raptors, who adored the heat more than anything at times. Or perhaps it was the feeling he garnered after seeing them as they basked in it, their faces lighting up with relief and comfort at such a simple but familiar thing brought them the utmost comfort. Lou supposed that he had a soft side for warm weather, either way, because of the reptilians he had made a habit of traveling with. Either way, it brought a smile to his face as he continued to stir the boiling pot of soup in the middle of the campsite. The world around him was quiet.

While the Raptors had gone on a recon mission for one reason or another around the Terra, he had opted to stay back and guard the camp. Guarding, perhaps, was only one reason he stayed behind. The other brought a soft pang of melancholy to his chest, causing him to stop stirring and glare at the fire for a moment in an effort to recollect his thoughts off the negative energy it dared to present him with.

Lou could still remember Repton’s face as he walked by him on his way to his cycle. The lingering, careful gaze the Raptor leader held against him made his whole body shiver with an odd sense of delight and guilt. Even more so when Repton spoke, his a low growl against the revving of distant companion engines over the vast nothingness of the desert stretch around them:

“This Terra...it’s close to Terra Nova, isn’t it?”

And he didn't answer. In a way, that was all Repton needed in the form of confirmation. He had seen the maps on their plotted course. The proximity to Terra Nova that was, perhaps, too close for comfort. Seeing Lou in such a melancholy state, eyes fixated on the ground instead of aware and ahead of him like he usually was, put the pain of sympathy into Repton’s heart. A rare, disgusting emotion he would much rather live without. As much as he tried to ignore it, though, it always appeared with a vengeance. A fierce fire that burned his skin every time he saw Lou too close to the Terra he once called home. The Terra he helped to destroy. There was guilt there on both of their parts, silent and understood well amongst their anxieties.

When Repton left in a rush, Lou assumed it was to get away from the Terra. To chase whatever they needed around it down and to get them away from the ghosts of the past lingering not a far distance away. Lou contented himself with staying terrabound, keeping an eye on the camp while the others patrolled different sectors. Why Repton enjoyed splitting his team up like this was beyond him. Tactically it was inefficient to say the least. Still, he supposed, for a simple recon mission the move was more permissible.

When the sound of a cycle landing in the distance echoed off of the vast expanse, Lou thought it was one of the other Raptors arriving early. Perhaps Leugey who would want some of his food. Maybe Spitz, with an interesting new story. Heavy footsteps fell softly against the ground. He counted every one of them, brows furrowing when he heard one fall softer than the other in his ever observant phase of thought. They were injured, whoever they were.

Slowly turning around, Lou’s breath caught in his throat as he saw who it was.

“Repton, what the fuck happened!?”

The spoon fell onto the ground with a wooden clatter as the human rushed over to Repton’s side. The larger being held his side between one clawed hand, blood welling from between spread fingertips and dripping down his bruising knuckles as he winced through the sudden attention Lou began paying him. One eye was already shut tight, however, to prevent the blood that welled from a gash over his brow from entering into the sclera. Lou reached down, gathering his shirt up into a small fist to wipe away the blood on his lover’s eyes without thinking about it. Repton shied away from it at first, but a firm look held him in place while he scoffed and gazed off to the side.

“A small scuffle, hardly worth your worry.”

“You are literally bleeding out from your side,” Lou’s voice was deadpan and disbelieving as he dragged the other towards the campfire, Repton’s weakened state giving him no choice but to follow as the other continued, “Sit down here while I get the first aid kit. Tell me what happened already, too, I don’t want to ask again.”

There was silence for a while after that as Lou rummaged through his supply pack to pull out the necessary medical treatments for Repton’s injuries. Repton, in return, sat still as asked. His tail swished behind him aimlessly, seeming to be the one part of his body uninjured by whatever scattered mess he had got himself into. Muffles of insults and inaudible refusals of Lou’s help died under a hiss as Lou placed a cold cloth of disinfectant against his side, moving his hands to clear the space for a better view.

Repton stared at the human at his side. He watched, almost transfixed, as his brows furrowed while he appraised the injuries. Skilled hands were tentative and careful against his scales as they pulled away at his armor to give the wound room to breathe. It was cleaned and bandaged between the two in silence as Repton tested the waters of Lou’s order to tell him what happened. He admired Lou’s face as it furrowed in concentration. The endearing way the corners of his eyes wrinkled as they concentrated and how he bit his lip while working on the bandages. For a human, Repton could only muse with a chuckle to himself, he was incredibly...cute.

“Take a picture,” Lou’s voice snapped him out of the seemingly longer than normal daydream he was having, “It’ll last longer.”

“Why would I want to take a picture of your face?” Repton’s sneer back was banterous and less than serious, “I get enough of it every day, don’t you think?”

Lou chuckled, standing up once his work was done to look at Repton. When the larger lizard was sitting down, they almost matched in height. It gave him the ability to stare into the other’s eyes as they watched him back, careful and tense as the known question he wanted to speak up about held stagnang in the air between them. The one Repton had yet to answer.

Finally, however, he sighed.

Reaching around, Repton pulled a satchel from his belt. It had been hidden near his tail so that Lou hadn’t quite been able to see it. The boy looked on at it as Repton held it out in his large, non-bloodied hand. Carefully using the tips of his claws to unfold the fabric surrounding the prize inside. Lou watched with bated breath over what Repton was going to show him. Just what, he thought bitterly, was so worth getting hurt as he was for?

When he saw it, his heart dropped. The after splash caused tears to well up in his eyes.

The single pink, jagged stone was barely worth anything outside of Terra Nova. Though it thrummed with a luminescence that made it shade Repton’s hand in its sweet pinkish hue, that was all it was good for. Lunar Love Crystals were given only between lovers. A sign of their support to one another and their loyalty, for only those who truly meant their love would go into the single cave they were found in. Eyes damp with tears that dared to overflow, Lou looked down and then up at Repton, whose eyes were averted to the side, too embarrassed to completely make eye contact.

“The Cyclonians weren’t too happy that I had taken it,” Repton muttered in explanation, “But I doubt they will have use for it enough to come after us...I just….Wanted you to have something from there. Something I could provide for you.”

Lou gave him no more chances to speak as he threw himself at Repton, arms wrapping around his lover’s neck. The weight of the other was so unexpected that it nearly sent Repton falling backwards, had the Raptor not used his tail to steady himself. Lips crashed against his own, chapped but welcome against his own scaled ones. They were salty, he realized in awe, with tears that Lou leaked through the smile on his mouth.

“You didn’t have to-” Lou murmured out, “You honestly didn’t. I...Repton...this is more than you’ve ever had to do for me.”

Repton’s arms wrapped around his human, a chuckle gurgling out against his lips as his tongue slid out, catching tears playfully against him while he smiled, “It is not enough, actually. You deserve far more...I am glad it is enough for now, though.”

Lou laughed. That’s all he could do. The single item, and its single gesture, solidified the Ratpor’s spot in his heart. It shone like the stars between them both as they embraced, illuminating their camp with the love they had felt for one another. Repton could not give back Terra Nova to Lou, not as it was, but a piece of it...A piece of him? He would face a thousand Cyclonians to see him smile like this again.

“I love you.” The words fell from his lips before he could stop them. Lou smiled, another kiss pressed to his lips through his shaking, laughterous sobs.

“I love you too, you silly, silly Raptor.”

Though there was still blood, and sweat, and tears...The soup bubbled on the campfire. All was well.

#self ship #self insert #storm hawks #storm hawks self insert #writing commissions #kinley writes #snagg-ships #HERE U ARE DARL I HOPE U ENJOY <3

[maniacalmachinist]

From the Ice and Ash (pt 1)

(First try at a story for a D&D character I’m developing, constructive criticism is welcome)

Short Story By

"Maniacal Machinist”

PROLOGUE:

“Born of Silver” . . . that is what they called us, enslaved by the humanoid races of Thalengar.  A nation which only knew hate and divided it's denizens, favoring the humans of all things.  It's been several centuries since the dragon's war ravaged the land, many paying the price in blood and scale, and for every dragon that fell, their remains empowered the armies of the humans.  Swords that pierced scale and burned muscle and bone, not even the red dragons would face such a weapon.  But we of the silver kin were a prize of rare fare among the humans . . . they knew we tend to abide by laws, and knew we'd not raise a claw against them.

I looked over at my mate, she had just lain a new clutch of 3 eggs. We had given our master a false premise, stating that with all the strain she's been under, only 2 would be viable . . . I remember getting thrashed by that miserable excuse, but I had no choice . . . we had a opportunity to save one of our number from this fate of servitude.  My mate caressed her eggs with a tired look, then turned her eyes to me, “Which one shall we send, my dearest?”  I could tell she was fighting back the pain of losing more to the slave trade, but we knew freedom for at least one was the best we could hope for.  I looked over the clutch, of them, one had a more faint aura of strength than the others.  I ran my claw over it, as if to say good bye to my own child.  She wrapped her arms around it, breathing her cold breath over it, then handed it to me and I did the same.  “I must go now . . . it's freedom awaits . . .”

“Do we give it a name?”

I shake my head, trying to fight my pain, “No . . . it is the tradition of those present to name the sired.  I have written the name of our line, but the rest will be up to the monks.”  I look around, awaiting a break in the patrols of the estate, my mate brushing her claws against the shell.  “Fair winds to you . . . our lost one.  May you know the life we could never have granted you.” Her words in draconic were somber and melodic, and I nodded back before taking cover in the night, “If I do not return, know that at least two of us died free this night.”

Thalengar : Keepers of Yaruspire (15 years later)

“Are you fucking kidding, Jamax . . . you do that, you're just dead . . . fucking dead!” Chamelia chuffed, agitated with the silver's general attitude in the main hall.

“What, you expect me to remain cooped up in here like some animal?”  He twirled his sword about, though in the clear of the hall itself, it was considered rude to practice weapons in areas not dedicated for training exercises.  “You guys haven't given me much to do beyond reading the same crap day in and day out . . . now how many different ways do you want me to memorize that same fucking script?”

Chamelia shook her head, a well aged Bronzekin, she harbored experience and despair behind her eyes, but it was her who helped deliver this upstart to the mountain temple.  “I should have left your parentless egg in the wilds . . . perhaps some scroungers would have done well with scrambled eggs that morning.”

Jamax lost concentration a moment, dropping the sword and nearly clipping a claw prematurely.  It was a rather devious insult to say the least, but he knew not to press it further with the aged warrior.  “Ok ok, fine . . . but still, I need something more to do than just . . . well, THIS” he waved his arm about the room, being the only source of noise, most of the monks and scribes knew to ignore the budding teen years of various humanoid species, and Jamax was no exception.”

Chameia chuffed again, though in more a low laughing tone.

Jamax growled, “Fuck you, what's so funny, hagscale?!”

He never saw her sudden movement, charging him, pinning his scaled hide to the floor, “Luckily for you I was reminiscing how I acted the same you are now, and how many other Liberated I had to help raise, just as you.  Don't think you're so special that you'll get treatment better than the others.  Everything we do here has a reason and method . . . you're not meant to understand it at this age, but you will thank us later.”  She shook her head, composing herself, running her claws over her head frills, her hazel eyes glaring at him, “Fucking hagscale?  Really, you think I haven't been called worse?  Seriously . . . ?”  She dragged him back up to his feet, but keeping him kneeling before her, “Don't ever doubt that you're here doing what you are doing for your own good.  Until then shut the hell up, and follow me hatchling.”  She smirked, and all Jamax could do was stay there dumbfounded for a moment before following his tutor.

They continued to the archives, Halls of the Past, as some of the more interesting locals called it.  There, in the center of the room, was one of the head monks of this section, Master Fengdral.  Where Chamelia was of the Bronzekin, Fendral was human, though with a skin tone of similar color, and hair, as the warm bloods called it, of almost pure black, with a few strands of silvery white coming through.  Fengdral opened his eyes hearing the newcomers, “Jamax, you would be wise to at least give Chamelia the benefit of the doubt from time to time . . . this place has been a haven for dragonkine and their sympathizers for centuries on end, please show some respect due, or at least heed some of the teachings of your ancestors.

Jamax sighed, trying to get his manners together, “I understand Master, but I feel trapped here . . . “  he chuffed in agitation, then was elbowed by Chamelia in short order thereafter, “But what is it you are wanting me to see?  I know you told me my sires are dead, but what is that supposed to mean now?”

Fengdral shifted, “Because today, you start your path . . . once you are outside the walls of this monastery, you are no longer in our protection.  There are creatures and people beyond who would sooner kill or enslave you as look at you . . . you show some skill, but like any youngster, you lack discipline and balance.  So, today you will commence in your Path of Visions . . . “  He gestured for the two of them to follow, Chamelia seeming a bit more light humored than usual.

Jamax raised a brow, flicking his tongue on instinct to detect anything afoul, “I was never told this . . . what the fu-” Chamelia popped the side of his neck, “Manners, hatchling.” she whispered in low Draconic.  Fengdral lightly chuckled hearing the two.  Passing a number of scribes, the arrived at the doorway to another room.  The Master opened the door, leading them in . . . and Jamax's eyes widened . . . therein, he saw shelves and glass displays of the remains of eggs . . . all draconic, or perhaps reptilian, to one degree or another.  The colors and textures of the shells and fragments were meticulous, as if they were frozen in time from when the occupant hatched.  “Each shell is a story, every crack a struggle, every cry a triumph, and every tear shed out of pain or joy.  The story we told you is but one we inferred, but your shell will tell you your story . . . how you proceed thereafter is your choice.”

Jamax looked nervous for the first time since he could remember . . . much was a blur of events, successes, and failures.  “Am I even ready for this?”

Fengdral, “You dont' have to do this now, young one . . . this is more to show you what's available.  Not all of the Dragonkine, or Lizardkine, come here because they have already decided their paths . . . some even come back for the sake of clarity in their past, as if some mistake is about to repeat in their lives.  WE give you the same offer . . . if you think some key to who you are lies within the vision, we will prepare when you are ready

Jamax looks at Chamelia, “Yes, I did this, though it was only a while back . . . that one day I coudln't come hunting with you, remember?” And he nodded with that.

“Did that make a difference in your situation?”

Chamelia shrugged, “It made clear a few things I had overlooked to be sure . . . but the rest was purely for personal reasons.”  She rubbed her arm, looking to the side as if remembering something . . .

Fengdral coughed, “In any case, your decision will be required, either way . . . now I will tell you, that we tend to put more focus on training once the Vision is completed . . . otherwise, you must wait another 5 years before we'll test you for your role in the Monastery.”

Chamelia chirped in, “We can always use more cooks and guards.”  Fengdral gave her a father's stern look, but she merely smiled like a spoiled daughter at him in return, the Master's face almost melting into a smile.

Fengdral cleared his throat, “But I digress . . . continue your duties for the day and sleep on it.  Tomorrow, you'll decide your path.” And with that, he escorted them out, Jamax left wondering what sort of story his shell would show him.  His duties were on less than par the rest of the day, his mind filled with questions and fear . . .

TO BE CONTINUED . . .

#D&D story #fiction #D&D Character #D&D Scenario #Dragonborn #Story

[kiribakus]

man remember project metis

here is literally everything i have written for the third chapter of Project Metis since i probs won’t get to it for a while

****Chapter Three: they told us we could be whatever wewanted, and we chose puppies***

FILE: TODOROKI SHOUTO

MILITARY RANK:Special Officer

DIVISION: HybridStrike Corps, Musutafu Base, PPDC

ACCESS: Omega Level

AGE: 5

HEIGHT: 176cm

ALTER EGO: “Shouto”

PACK AFFILIATION:Apollo Pack

PACK RANK: Point

STRAIN: Alpha

POINT OF ORIGIN:Endeavor Project

DESCRIPTION:Category Five; dragon-like; long, serpentine body; six eyes, heterochromia;spines and vents down back, spines trailing down to make a heavily spiked tail,note crown of horns and white shoulder spikes; red sheen over black scales

QUIRK: half-cold,half-hot; can expel magma from mouth and propel ice from shoulder spikes; canchange temperature of hide at will

FILE: MIDORIYA IZUKU

MILITARY RANK:Special Officer

DIVISION: HybridStrike Corps, Musutafu Base, PPDC

ACCESS: Omega Level

AGE: 25

HEIGHT: 166cm

ALTER EGO: “Deku”

PACK AFFILIATION:Apollo Pack

PACK RANK: Flank

STRAIN: Alpha

POINT OF ORIGIN:Lycaon Project

DESCRIPTION:Category Three; lion-like; smaller but strong feline build; thick, curlingmane; green sheen over black scales and mane; beaked face, thick hide, dullspikes, massive claws on heavy paws

QUIRK: “one forall”; incredible physical strength

MARCH 17, 2035  8:32 HOURS

LOCATION: LOCCENTMission Control, Musutafu Base, Japan

Urarakahides a yawn behind her clipboard and doesn’t notice the person sneaking upbehind her.

“That’s agood look on you,” Aizawa says, coming to a stop beside her.

Urarakasqueaks and blushes, peeking out from behind her clipboard and glaring atAizawa. “Sensei!” she exclaims. “You shouldn’t sneak up on a lady like that!”

The cornerof Aizawa’s mouth twitches. “How are they?”

Urarakalowers the clipboard and turns to the holographic screens displaying a herd ofthousand-ton monsters running, swatting at each other, leaping, and all inall…playing around. On screen, Mina bites Kirishima’s tail and he yelps.Uraraka smiles. Then, straightening her back, she delivers her report.

“Artemispack seems to be in top-tier condition,” she says. “The test run a couple daysago showed no sign of shifting pack structure—Bakugou is still clearly thepoint of the pack. Ojiro and Shouji aren’t showing signs of discontent as rearguards, and Tokoyami is as usual, submissive to Bakugou. Any worries we hadabout Kirishima vying for Bakugou’s position are null. All our results suggestthat his insubordinate acts help Bakugou blow off steam. He’s acting as theregulator for the pack.”

“Good,”Aizawa says. “I’m still worried he’s a powder keg on the brink of exploding,but…”

But weneed him. Urarakanods. She gets it. “Apollo pack is due for a test run soon, but I don’t haveany worries about shifting pack structure. As a rule, they tend to be steadierthan Artemis pack anyway. That kaiju takedown illustrates just how functionalthey are as a pack. My only concern would be that they rely on Todoroki alittle much, but all his psych analyses come back with negligible worries. He’sa machine when it comes to leading; I’ll never understand how you managed topry him from Todoroki-sensei’s hands.”

“It cameat a high cost,” Aizawa says. “Sometimes I wonder if I have yet to realize allI gave up for him.” He frowns.

“I believeIida briefed you on the results of Alpha Strain’s routine check?” Uraraka says.

Aizawanods. “Yes, and I did look over the test run results briefly when they came out.What I really need to know from you is how the officers themselves are doing.”

Urarakarolls her eyes. “Well, Artemis pack is doing as well as their kaijucounterparts. They’re not…close…like Apollo pack is, but they have anunderstanding. They work together when they’re needed and their ties arestrong. I think Ojiro feels inferior,” she says, frowning. “Tokoyami and Shoujibalance and rely on each other. Kirishima and Bakugou balance and rely on eachother. But Ojiro has no one. I want to look into that.”

“AndApollo pack?”

“Like afamily,” Uraraka says proudly. “Midoriya and Tsuyu might as well be siblings.Mina gets along with everyone, and Kouda is protected and looked after by hispack. Todoroki is respected and loved.” Her smile fades a little. “Midoriyatold me he’s been having those nightmares again. He had one so bad it woke uphis packmates, the morning before the double event.”

“Is it aproblem?” Aizawa asks.

“As aresearcher, it’s not my place to say,” Uraraka says. “It’s Todoroki’sresponsibility to get Midoriya in to a psychiatrist if he thinks the nightmaresare affecting Midoriya adversely. I trust his judgment. He’s logical andclear-headed, and if he thought Midoriya was dragging his pack down, he’d doanything to fix it. But Midoriya performed well during the battle, so it can’tbe affecting him that much. As a researcher, I think it’s okay to let it go.”

“But as afriend…” Aizawa trails off.

Urarakasighs. “As a friend, I don’t like to see him suffer. I worry Todoroki is beingtoo cold, but I’m not in their heads. I don’t feel what they feel. I don’t knowif Midoriya can handle it, even if he thinks he can.”

“Thankyou, Uraraka,” Aizawa says. “For now, I’ll advise the Marshal to withdrawApollo pack from any encounters with return kaiju until we can get Midoriyaanalyzed properly. No special treatment aside from that; if he thinks he canhandle it, I’ll let him try. But I’m not throwing one of my best officers intoa situation where a trauma-induced moment of hesitation could kill him if I canhelp it.”

“Is itbecause he’s a good officer, or because he’s Alpha Strain?” Uraraka asksquietly. Not quietly enough, though, because Aizawa gives her a sharp look.

“If youwant to talk favoritism and human rights with me—”

“No, no,I’m sorry,” Uraraka says. “It just slipped out. I understand even if I don’tlike it.”

“Good,”Aizawa says. “We don’t look it, but we’re skating on thin ice here. The lastthing I need is one of my closest to start doubting our cause.”

“I don’tdoubt us,” Uraraka says. “But they are my friends, too.”

“Then youknow better than any of us why we can’t have anyone too nosy poking their headinto what we do,” Aizawa says.

Urarakanods.

Aizawajerks his head towards the door. “I’m going to check in at R&D. Make sureour officers don’t kill each other, won’t you.” He turns away sharply.

Urarakasighs and collapses into a chair, rubbing her temples. Ah, she had ruined hergood mood. Why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut?

She looksup at the kaiju moving millions of gallons of water like it was nothing as theypounce on each other and roll and snarl, jaws parted in what might as well besmiles. Aizawa-sensei was right that they were soldiers who lived to fight, butthey were also human underneath the mass of scales and claws and teeth and fur.They were human and they needed to be treated as such. Aizawa-sensei couldn’tseparate their human and kaiju selves, couldn’t help but see the whole picture;it was only logical, but also terribly heartless.

She wishesIida were here. Iida always knew how to phrase his concerns logically. He wasalways on the same wavelength as Aizawa-sensei, but Iida had a heart. Hecared for their friends as much as she did. He knew that Aizawa-sensei’s waysweren’t fair and he would find a way to word it so that Aizawa-sensei wouldagree. Uraraka thinks about calling him, just to hear his steady voice and havehim talk her down but no, she had taken this shift to allow him to sleep in foronce. She wouldn’t wake him up even if the sound of his voice, heavy withsleep, brought peace to her mind.

Besides,she loved this part of her job. She loved the kaiju. That’s why she was here andwhy she put up with the ethical dilemmas of their work. And to think UrarakaOchako, a woman fresh out of graduate school, could befriend the groundbreakinghybrids and work alongside the legendary Aizawa-sensei to keep them all safe—

Shefrowns, and then swears softly. Speaking of safe…

She poundsthe com. “LOCCENT to HYCOM, what the hell are you guys doing? They’re going tokill each other! Get on it, officers!”

MARCH 17, 2035  8:15 HOURS

LOCATION: MusutafuTraining Bay, Musutafu Base, Japan

Enrichmentdays, Midoriya thinks, are awesome.

Urarakahad told him why enrichment was an important part of keeping their kaijuhealthy and their mental health stable, but Midoriya couldn’t really fathom allthat science-y mumbo jumbo. All he knew is that his hundred-foot long lungswere heaving and he hadn’t felt this alive in days.

Ojiro’sear frills lift and then lower, a taunt. He’s poised and ready to leap, rear inthe air and spayed out in front of him, a reptilian dog ready to play. Midoriyatenses his own haunches and leaps out and to the side, ready to pounce onOjiro’s unprotected flank. Ojiro tears away from him, long blue tongue hangingout of his mouth as he pants. Midoriya chases him, hind legs bunching as hepicks up speed.

They teararound the group of kaiju in an outer circle, so fast Midoriya can feel thewind whistle past his ears. Ojiro makes for the relative safety of Shouji’stentacles. He’s right—Midoriya won’t run under Shouji’s body because he doesn’thave a death wish. Shouji eyes him with what Midoriya guesses is amusement.Tokoyami, draped across the slope of his back like a black, feathery ridge,ruffles his wings in irritation at the disturbance. Midoriya huffs. He bats atone of Shouji’s tentacles and gets another two slithering out after him.

Yelping,Midoriya jumps away. Shouji makes a sound that is definitely amusement.Tokoyami, decidedly woken from his dozing atop Shouji’s back sits up and glaresat Midoriya for a moment before beginning to clean Shouji’s scales with hisbeak and claws. Shouji makes an appreciative noise and lowers himself into thewater. Ojiro, realizing his protection is about to crush him, scurries out andright into Midoriya’s waiting paws.

Midoriyabody slams him, knocking them into a wrestling match in the water, jaws partedand snarling, the flats of their paws batting at each other. They’re careful toavoid each other’s spines. Ojiro gets to his feet and starts to run again, butMidoriya grabs onto his hind leg and drags him down, pushing him onto his backand holding him down with a heavy paw. Ojiro huffs.

You win.

Thehivemind is alive with emotions and thoughts and impressions from all thehybrids but Midoriya can pick out Ojiro’s voice easily, warm and amused, just alittle disappointed. This is why Midoriya was a flank and he was rear guard,though. It was only a natural result.

Midoriyalets Ojiro get to his feet and bumps shoulders with him affectionately,brushing their hides together from shoulder blade to hip. Midoriya feels aspike of pain and hears Ojiro exhale sharply and he pulls back, alarmed.

Shoulderouchpulled, Ojiro projects and Midoriya canfeel the faint throbbing as if it were his own pain. He sniffs at the sore spoton Ojiro’s shoulder, projecting his own worryconcernwasitme?

Ojiroshakes his head; he had landed funny on his leg when running from under Shouji.Midoriya laps at the sore spot anyway, as if he could take the pain away justfrom cleaning it. Ojiro pushes at Midoriya with his nose, appreciating thesentiment. He pads off to see Bakugou probably, who will look at his injury,snort, and say well, what do you want me to do about it?

Morelikely he’ll point out that it’ll heal when they shift back so Ojiro shouldjust deal with it, but Midoriya doesn’t want to give Bakugou that much credit. Ever.Hey, when one of your own kind nearly shreds you for trying to play fight withhim, it sticks with you.

Hispartner gone, Midoriya turns back to find a new bloodmate to brawl with. Minahas taken to leaping up in the air and swatting at Tokoyami on Shouji’s back,who screeches at her and claws back. Shouji doesn’t seem too perturbed byTokoyami’s distress. Their section of the hivemind is an almost sibling-likesquabble, easily dismissed as not real fighting.

Ojiro andBakugou are together. Kirishima is dodging Tsuyu’s attempts to smack him withher tongue, and underestimating her speed if that yip is anything to go by. Todoroki,predictably, isn’t engaging in the fun and instead sits off to the side, stillmanaging to look elegant with the long column of his neck extended and the sunglinting off the sharpness of his facial features. Kouda sits beside him, theonly kaiju bigger than Todoroki, head on his paws and eyes closed, taking inthe sunlight on his rock-like hide.

Midoriyaapproaches Todoroki, bobbing his head. It’s a causal invitation to play. Koudalooks up, senses Midoriya’s intention, and moves off towards Shouji with apassing good luck offered to Midoriya. Todoroki blinks slowly.

He regardsMidoriya with passing interest, showing no intention of getting up from wherehe’s comfortably splayed in one hundred feet of water.

Midoriyatries again. Runchasejumpcatch? He suggests. Bitepawgrowlplay?

Idon’t, Todorokireplies. You go.

Midoriyawhines. Not pack without you.

Artemisis here, Todorokipoints out. Bother them.

ButMidoriya doesn’t want to bother them. He wants to see Todoroki get up and dosomething, enjoy himself for once. Todoroki’s always so stone-faced andbusiness-minded; he never got a break. This is their break. Theirscheduled time off to play like the puppies at heart they all were.

Midoriyanot-so-delicately swipes a paw through the water and splashes Todoroki in theface.

Todoroki,to his credit, doesn’t react as angrily as he could have. His shoulders tense,but other than that he doesn’t move, dripping with water. His scales glitterand then he’s covered in steam, burning away the salt water. He exhales loudlyonce, expelling salt from his nostrils. He’s not amused.

Midoriya,however, is. He runs in a circle around Todoroki, continuing to splash him whileTodoroki burns away all the water. He paws at and chews on Todoroki’s tailuntil Todoroki shifts and growls at him. He actually gets Todoroki to whip hishead around and shift towards him. Midoriya leaps back, but Todoroki doesn’tfollow. He’s almost got him, though. Midoriya pads back towards him andheadbutts his shoulder affectionately, rubbing against him like a cat.

Todorokigrowls again and Midoriya does it again. He can feel the tension in Todoroki’sbody and his mind, irritated by Midoriya’s pushiness. As always, his mind isimpenetrable, but Midoriya can tell it’s a swirling mess right now. He probablyshouldn’t taunt Todoroki too much—he was much stronger than Midoriya,and bigger, too.

Midoriyaflicks his tail across Todoroki’s nose almost flirtatiously and Todoroki snaps.He gets to his feet faster than Midoriya expected and swipes at him. Midoriya’sfast enough to get away with only a few scales off his hide, but Todoroki canreach far.

The chasedoesn’t last long. Midoriya knows to run hard when he’s irritated Todoroki thismuch, but Todoroki has speed, length, and power and Midoriya’s only purpose inagitating him was to get him up and running anyway. Todoroki swipes Midoriya’slegs out from under him and Midoriya goes down, rolling onto his back.

Todorokiis on him in a second, hovering above Midoriya and prodding at him with one pawwhile Midoriya flattens his ears and growls, his muzzle crinkled into a snarl.Todoroki prods at his cheek and Midoriya hisses, swatting at his paw. Todorokijabs at him again and again, Midoriya on defense but still belly-up,vulnerable.

ThenTodoroki lets out a low, rumbling growl and parts his jaws, making a clickingnoise. His paws are on either side of Midoriya’s shoulders and he dominates thehivemind, pushing against Midoriya’s consciousness and subduing him.

Midoriya’sgrowl peters out and his muzzle flattens. He makes a small, chuffing noise andlowers his paws, allowing Todoroki to nose along his neck, nipping at the softskin he finds there. He’s completely limp under Todoroki’s ministrations andwhen Todoroki nips at his chin, Midoriya dares to lick his chin. Todorokigrowls softly, pleased. He parts his jaws and wraps them around Midoriya’smouth. Midoriya goes still and allows Todoroki to shake him a little and pressa paw over his heart, claws kneading Midoriya’s vulnerable underbelly.

This iscomplete submission.

Todorokireleases him a moment later and steps off him, eyeing Midoriya one last time.The hivemind is grudging fondness from Todoroki and a sense of satisfactionfrom his kaiju specifically at Midoriya’s submission. The rest of Apollo packare pings against Midoriya’s mind, vying for Todoroki’s attention next.Todoroki steps away from Midoriya, but not before the tip of his tail brushesagainst Midoriya’s nose.

Midoriya’sheart sings with so much pleasure, he knows it reaches the rest of hisbloodmates through the hivemind. Mina snorts, but she’s Todoroki’s next target,rolling on her back easily and grabbing at his face to lap at his chin,playfully submitting to her point.

Kirishima,inspired by Midoriya’s display, bumps Bakugou. Unlike Todoroki, though, Bakugoudoesn’t tolerate any kind of playfulness. Her turns on Kirishima in an instant,snarling. Kirishima barks back, pawing at Bakugou, playing with fire. Bakugoucharges him and Kirishima hops back swatting at his face. Bakugou knocks himoff balance immediately. Kirishima falls onto his belly and Bakugou climbs overhim, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

The fightgoes from Kirishima’s body immediately and he lets Bakugou give him a few roughshakes, snapping his head back and forth. Midoriya winces in sympathy. It lookslike it hurts, but when Bakugou releases Kirishima, there are no teeth marks inhis neck. Kirishima sinks bonelessly into the water, turning over curling hispaws over his chest, whining.

Bakugouignores him. Kirishima whines louder. Kidding, kidding! The hivemindsays.

Kirishimaplaces a paw against Bakugou’s muzzle and Bakugou’s lips pull away from hisgums with the force of his growl. Don’t touch me.

Aw, Bakugou…Kirishima plays cute harder, thistime wagging his tail.

Bakugousnorts. I hate you, he says.

Kirishimadoesn’t say ‘I adore you’ in so many words, but his love for Bakugou isn’texactly subtle across the hivemind. Even Midoriya can feel the force of it.This time, when Kirishima presses a paw to Bakugou’s muzzle, Bakugou knocks itaside so he can lean down and nip at Kirishima’s chin. Kirishima’s tail goeswild.

Bakugousteps off him and Midoriya huffs at Kirishima. Gross, he says.

Kirishimamight as well grin at him, tongue lolling out of his mouth. He flips onto hisstomach and growls gently at Midoriya. Midoriya growls back, tensing to leap onhim.

Bakugouthrows himself between them, jaws parted as wide as he can spread them, and roars.

Bakugou isnot Midoriya’s point. But he is a dominant member of a pack and Midoriya, alower rank than him, cowers back, tail tucking between his legs and earsfolding back. He shrinks into a ball, unable to run as his muscles lock.

Bakugoudoesn’t have a chance to make a move. Todoroki is at Midoriya’s side and infront of him with an ear-splitting roar of his own.

The twopoints square off, roaring at each other and posturing. The rest of their packsslink away save for Midoriya and Kirishima, frozen with fear and confusion thatinnocent playing had instigated a point-versus-point battle.

Bakugou’sjaw frills extend and shake, brilliant red-orange sunbursts against the purewhite of his scales. He’s intimidatingly large and fierce, but Todoroki is notshaken. He flares his own spines and ear frills, and the vents running down hisback hiss and spit steam. Their heads starts low but slowly rise in tandem witheach other until Todoroki’s height beats Bakugou’s.

Bakugoustrikes first. He swipes at Todoroki’s neck, but it isn’t with the flat of hispaw as he had swatted at Kirishima—this was with claws extended, hoping to tearTodoroki’s throat open. Todoroki bats him away, but then Bakugou is throwing himselfat Todoroki, standing on his hind legs to use both paws to punch at Todoroki’sface. Todoroki mirrors him and they fight like tigers, dueling with their frontpaws and then dropping to all fours so they can try to ram each other withtheir bodies before standing back up again.

Todorokishould be faster than Bakugou, but Bakugou is angrier. He manages to sink hisclaws in the flesh of Todoroki’s hind leg and hold on as Todoroki snarls andtries to throw him off. Bakugou locks his entire body onto that haunch andtears at Todoroki’s leg with his back legs, trying to cripple him, but Todorokidoesn’t let him. The steam that spews from his vents grows hotter, as do hisscales, and in one burst, he forces super-boiled steam into Bakugou’s rightthree eyes and burns the skin off the pads of the paws hooked onto him.

Bakugouhowls in pain and lets him go. When they stand face-to-face again, Bakugou isblind in three eyes and his scales are ashen and flaking off where Todorokiburned him. Todoroki is limping, his back left leg shredded. They circle eachother and Midoriya feels for the first time, the seriousness of this fight.

SPECIALOFFICERS BAKUGOU AND TODOROKI STAND DOWN, IMMEDIATELY, Yaoyorozu shouts over thehivemind, using HYCOM’s controls to amplify the volume of her voice so that itdrowns out the rest of the thoughts and voices of the hivemind. Bakugou,Todoroki, and the rest of the hybrids wince at the loudness. Kouda tries tocover his ears with his paws.

All ofyou are to return to base for a debrief at once, Yaoyorozu commands. You arenot to engage each other on the way to base or I will personally see youturned off from the Hybrid Strike Corps.

Before hecan help himself, Bakugou thinks, Sure you will. There are so manyplaces for a kaiju hybrid to go.

Itwould be my absolute pleasure to turn you off and watch the Jaeger teams tearyou apart,Yaoyorozu says heatedly.

Letthem try, Bakugousays, bearing his teeth.

Bakugou, Mina speaks up before anyone elsecan. That’s enough.

Like Iwanna hear that from you,Bakugou says, but the fight is gone from his mind and his limbs. He andTodoroki limp back to their exit bays, tension still humming across thehivemind. Their packs follow, subdued. The mood of contentment and relaxationfizzles out like steam in open air.

MARCH 17, 2035  9:07 HOURS

LOCATION:Shatterdome, Musutafu Base, Japan

#fics #tododeku #kiribaku #pacific rim au #one day i'll keep writing it #i promise #i'll probs pick it up again after uprising lbr #happy birthday everyone who still cares about project metis #anon