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duskspring · 6 months

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A Pet and Clothes - Rain/ Mountain

Domestic December - Day 4

Summary: Rain brings in a cat from a snowstorm and Mountain takes care of them both

Content (do let me know if I forgot anything!): A cat implied to have been abandoned, Rain being cold (literally), fluff

Word count: ~2.1k

It wasn't uncommon for the ghouls to be sent out on errands between tours. It was mostly chores like handiwork or running to town to pick up some groceries or mail that didn’t get to the abbey.

Rain was the one sent to town today. It was meant to have been Dew, but Rain volunteered since a heavy rain had been predicted to fall that day. The water ghoul didn’t mind rain at all, in fact it made him more energetic. The problem was that it hadn’t actually ended up raining. It was a snowstorm instead.

Rain cursed himself for having walked the way there, unable to drive and not knowing just how strong the wind was gonna get. Each step took an incredible amount of effort, even for the non-human being. The big bag of previously undelivered packages slung over his shoulder didn’t exactly help either. His teeth were chattering, his steps unsteady on shaky legs. The wind and snowflakes blew right against his front, slowly making him lose all sensation in his face. His simple long sleeve shirt and jeans weren’t doing him any favors.

As he marched past an alleyway, a strange noise caused his head to turn. It was soft and high pitched. He thought he’d made it up for a moment. It must have been the wind. Except, he heard it again, much more recognizable as a meow this time.

Rain’s heart clenched in his chest. The idea of some poor animal caught outside in this temperature was terrible.

He decided he would just have a quick peek. See if the critter had a collar, a place to go. He’d see that and then be on his way again.

Yeah, right.

The alley protected him a bit more from the wind. He wiped the snowflakes off his face, his numb hand barely able to get that done. He waddled further down the street, his eyes scanning around him trying to find the hidden cat.

A third meow led him towards a set of trash cans. Rain lifted the top of one of them, seeing a full trash bag inside and praying it wasn’t in there.

Before going through the effort of ripping the bag apart, he decided to first check the other. But he didn’t even lift the lid ahead of spotting a black stain upon the snowy ground. He instantly fell to his knees, his jeans soaking through as he reached out as delicately as possible. He tried wiping the snow off the cat, to which it luckily didn’t respond with aggression or evasiveness. It was quite small. Not fully a kitten, but certainly young. It wasn’t wearing a collar.

Of course there was still a chance it was someone’s pet, but Rain didn’t think about that at the moment. He didn’t want to risk it. He carefully lifted it up, bringing it underneath the collar of his shirt to try and warm it up. He tensed up at the extra cold hitting his chest.

“It’s ok. You’ll be ok.” Rain’s voice shook, moving back on his way towards the ministry.

The journey felt like it took hours. He tried to somehow stay positive, to just look forward to being home. Still, it felt like the road was endless. It was freezing, miserable. He wanted to cry, but knew it wouldn’t help at all.

The cat’s nails dug into his chest. Not so much in an aggressive manner, it appeared more afraid than anything. He tried shushing the creature and, in a way, also himself.

As soon as home was in sight, Rain found the last reserves of his energy to steadily stomp its way.

The wind and snow had only gotten worse. He could barely see at this point. Opening his eyes further than a sliver only hurt and blinded him more. He had no idea how he would even open the property gate when he could barely see.

“Rain!” There was a muffled yell a little bit in the distance. The water ghoul tried looking up beyond his squinted eyes, a vague shape waiting at the gate. The person quickly came closer to him, a big, dark stain on the icy wasteland his home was turning into, “Fuck, you had me worried.” Mountain’s voice cut through the wind much clearer now that he stood right in front of him.

Rain wanted to respond, but his jaw almost seemed frozen shut.

“Come on.” Mountain didn’t hesitate to pick his packmate up, the bag Rain had been carrying now dragging behind them. He was dressed much more appropriately for the weather. He was still really cold, but at least he was able to move his muscles properly.

Rain snuggled up in the big arms that held him, careful not to crush the cat that still rested in his shirt. The mail bag got let go off as soon as they were inside the building. That would be someone else’s problem. Rain, however, was not put down. He was carried all the way past the ghouls’ common room, and towards Mountain’s bathroom. The earth ghoul carefully put him down on a countertop, turning the taps of his bath and rushing out for a moment.

Rain’s hands and toes hurt like hell as they started to warm up again. They tingled and itched, but he just tried to focus on being happy that he was finally home. He tried removing his soaking wet tshirt, his arms stiff and shaking.

“Here, let me help.” Mountain walked back in. He’d removed his jacket, carrying some of his own clothes for Rain to wear. He quickly stopped the bath’s tap from running before coming to stand before Rain, “Can you lift your arms?”

“Wait.” Rain whispered, his arms still cradling the cat up against his chest.

Only now did Mountain get a good look at his friend, noticing the weird bump on his torso which was covered by his shirt.

His eyes flicked up to Rain’s, “What’d ya got there?”

Rain wanted to take the cat out from underneath his garment and show it off, but his arms were still too cold. Instead he simply explained, “Cat.”

Mountain’s eyebrow raised, but quickly moved Rain’s shirt up. Indeed, he spotted and carefully took the black cat over from the water ghoul’s hands. He held it up in front of his face, “Hello, little friend,” He smiled, “Where did you come from?” The question was framed towards the cat, but his face turned questioningly to Rain.

The response was a shaky shrug, which made Mountain turn nearly his full attention back to him.

The taller guy quickly grabbed two towels from a cabinet, putting the cat down on one of them on top of the counter. “Arms up.” He repeated.

Rain was luckily able to move according to the instructions, trying to ignore the tingling pain that spread to the rest of his limbs.

Mountain lifted the shirt off his body and let it fall to the floor where it landed with a wet splat. It’d been completely soaked through. He put the second towel around Rain’s shoulders, before moving on to his pants. He unbuttoned and unzipped it before helping Rain stand up to remove them.

The water ghoul had to lean on the counter for his legs to not give out. He allowed Mountain to undress him fully, then pick him up a second time and carefully put him down into the warm bath.

Rain involuntarily gasped, sinking into the water in delight. He closed his eyes and tried to fully relax.

Mountain, meanwhile, was focused on the cat now. He patted it with the towel in an attempt to dry it. It looked and meowed at him, gaining a smile in return. He then quickly moved out of the room to get his phone. He took a quick picture of the cat and sent it to their pack’s group chat, asking if anyone could find something for the critter to eat. Finally, he grabbed it, together with the towel it’d been sitting on, and sank to the floor.

“How’re you holding up, Lilypad?”

Rain’s eyes opened again to look at him, “How long did you wait for me outside?”

“Not too long,” Mountain dismissed, “But I needed to make sure you were ok. Why were you even out? It wasn’t your turn. Dew could’ve melted the snow as soon as it hit him.”

Rain shrugged, “We thought it was gonna rain.”

The response he got was somewhere between a scoff and a laugh, “You’re too nice, Rainy.” The cat happened to meow just as he said that, “See? This little buddy agrees. It’s the living proof of it.” He held it up for Rain to look at.

He smiled, “They need a name.”

“Are you even sure it’s a stray? Cause you know it’s better to put up ‘found’ posters in town once we can get back there. Someone might miss it.”

“They were gonna freeze.” He defended himself.

Mountain was quiet for a moment and Rain expected to get scolded, “How about Salem?”

“What?”

“We could name the cat Salem. Salem the black cat. I know it’s cliche, but I think it’s cute.”

Rain giggled, “I like it.”

The two sat there having a simple, pleasant chat for a bit. At least until the clear sound of the door to Mountain’s bedroom being busted open shook their attention away. Footsteps hurried their way and the bathroom door soon flew open as well.

“Where is-” Cirrus cut herself off with a gasp, crouching down next to Mountain and immediately holding her hand out for the cat to sniff.

It was no secret Cirrus loved cats. They were some of the few things that could make her lose her normally cool attitude. Mountain let her take the cat from him without protest. She’d have put up a fight otherwise.

“Do they have a name?” She asked, “Oh, and are you ok?” She looked at Rain.

“I’m fine. The name’s Salem.” Rain smiled.

“Hi, little Salem.” She smiled at it, “Cumulus is trying to find the sister whose cat is always running around. We’ll get you food soon enough.”

“Cir, do you mind?” Mountain asked gently, wanting to give Rain the chance to relax and not immediately be overwhelmed.

She stood up, “My cat now. But you can visit them on the weekend.” She joked, though she actually didn’t put the cat down and instead left the room with it.

The two men laughed at her antics. After which they picked up conversation again, Rain enjoying the warmth of the bath until it ran cold. He shivered as he got out, taking the towel Mountain held out for him again.

The taller ghoul wrapped his arms around Rain from behind and rubbed his arms for further warmth, “You can wear those for now if you’d like.” He nodded towards the clothes he’d picked up earlier.

“Thank you.” Rain smiled. He loved wearing other people's clothing, especially Mountain’s. The knit sweater and oversized, on him at least, sweatpants carried the signature earthy scent that always managed to make him feel at ease.

Mountain effortlessly picked him up a third time, carrying him into his bedroom bridal style.

“My legs work again, you know?” Rain chuckled, though only snuggling closer.

“But you deserve to rest up fully.” The water ghoul was a little disappointed to be put down again so soon, but couldn’t complain that he got the chance to snuggle up under Mountain’s blanket.

“I’ll go get you something to eat. You just stay put, alright?”

“Alright.” Rain yawned. Being in bed, finally warmed up and comfortable, immediately made him sleepy. He thought maybe if he did eat something he’d get his energy back. But he didn’t even get the chance.

Mountain had spent a little while cooking up a rich pumpkin soup. He went all out with it, wanting to spoil Rain and just hoping he wouldn’t end up sick.

Making his way back to his own bedroom with a little tray his heart warmed at the sight he was greeted with. Cirrus had reentered the room, together with Cumulus this time. They tried their hardest to stifle their giggles and aw’s at Salem, who had made their way onto Rain’s chest. He seemed to still be asleep regardless of the extra weight, torso calmly rising and falling with his breathing.

Mountain didn’t make a single move. He wanted to freeze the moment; the warm, cozy, togetherness in the room. He’d been worried sick for Rain’s wellbeing a mere few hours prior, yet now he thought he may perish from joy. Rain was alright. So was he. And so was Salem.

[My Main Masterlist | Domestic December Masterlist]

#another one I'm not fully satisfied with but I'll cry about that later #getting a good banner for this one was also hard. GIVE US MORE PICS OF RAIN AND MOUNTAIN!#domestic december #the band ghost fanfiction #rain ghoul #mountain ghoul #cirrus ghoulette #headcanon #ghost bc #the band ghost fic #the band ghost #ghost fanfiction

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tls123 · 10 days

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Oh my god HOW DID YOU LIKE SVSSS!!!!!

i liked it more than i thought i would but overall less than i might have given the potential of the story, i think in general i really enjoyed the characters (mxtx never goes wrong with characters, she creates them in a way that makes me feel unhinged) and the world building but the pay off to the set up—which i really liked!—felt a bit........ i mean, just alright.

the dynamics too are pure mxtx, personally the bin/gqiu dynamic specifically really was the least interesting part of the whole story. to me!! but individually i loved both characters. my interest was just elsewhere because """elsewhere""" felt way more fascinating idk how to explain it

was very, very happy about the extra with airplane and the yue qingyuan / shen jiu one because that's exactly what i wanted more of in the story itself as well as just more shen yuan/qingqiu interacting with cang qiong mountain

maybe it's my orv brain but like i told jana a while back i think i would have enjoyed svsss way more if it was more about shen yuan (loner; hater; etc) suddenly finding himself among all of these people (disciples looking up to him; sect siblings relying on him one way or another; common folk admiring him; etc etc) and starting to.... live? again?

Shen Qingqiu hadn't noticed that, unconsciously, he no longer considered the disciples around him (...) to be mob characters the novel had described in a scant number of words.

^from volume one, he starts seeing them almost immediately because he's not actually that separate and he genuinely cares. all the time. about everything. even before that we get:

This was only a book, and all the people were constructs, imaginary characters. Logically, Shen Qingqiu was very clear on this fact...but when a character was actually being taunted and bullied right before his eyes, it was just flat-out unrealistic to expect him to be completely unmoved.

like why are you lying, shen yuan (<- svsss tagline if there ever was one)

just the idea of this really lonely detached guy finding a community, i know it's not the story mxtx was trying to tell but again, with the set up i really wanted to see it go in that direction.

there's one line from vol two where liu qingge goes "you fear becoming a burden to cang qiong mountain (...) but cang qiong mountain fears not your burden"

and basically what i'm saying is that i wish the story had been about THAT

(and also ning yingying's lines in that same chapter about shizun always taking on everything himself and why is it always you like that whole moment with the cang qiong mountain almost begging him to see that they care. idek what i'm saying but you know)

(also foaming at the mouth that we only got tiny tiny glimpses of shen yuan's life from before, those handful of times he mentioned his siblings i wanted to take a bite out of my kindle. tell me more!! dear fucking lord tell me more!! keep talking! elaborate!! he really felt very "kim dokja and his fourth wall" at times, sorry once more about the orv brain)

tldr: i guess i wanted a story about shen yuan/qingqiu but mxtx created svsss to be a story about bin/gqiu. and i just have to be okay with that.

#does this make any sense? no. am i still hitting ''post''? yes. sorry kay #fra.txt #fra.xml #pathos-logical #overall i quite enjoyed obsessive lu.o bin.ghe. so intense and possessive about the one person who showed him a little kindness #(so what if he also showed him a lot of pain too here and there?)#but like i said the bin.gqiu dynamic just didn't pull me in. of course to each their own #(''one person'' but poor yingying was trying to help him since day one.)#but also..... to me it felt like his arc was the least satisfying. he just.... is. whereas most everyone else seems to evolve more tangibly #right now i can't help but think of tianlang-jun. ''i can't bring myself to hate humans''#not to mention all the women from his harem becoming characters in their own right #i wish i could explain myself better but i don't have the words. sorry!#l.uo bin.ghe you ARE interesting i just feel like your story could have been more #as an apology here's my favorite line of yours: ''I don't want you to repay me. I just couldn't get over my anger''#see?? i pay attention to you too baby boy #i should re-read all of ^^^ that but i won't </3 #edit: one thing i forgot to mention is that i did like the small snippet we got of bin/g-ge reacting to shen yu.an/qin.gqiu #like now that's something that immediately caught my eye it already made for such a more fascinating dynamic.#also i've seen a few things about shen yua.n (not trasmigrated) getting to meet bin.ghe/bin.g-ge and again that i would take a peak at #fully black lotus bin/g-ge coming face to face with shen ''i'm a hater but also can't help but be kind all the time'' yu.an truly pickles #my tickle. i'm sat. i'm listening. i'm compelled.

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