#and I suspect I wasn't supposed to be working with old wool pants for the fabric | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

forestwater87 · 7 years

Link

This is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever been insanely proud of. I don't even know where to begin with this one. I just think it's cute as fuck.

Heavily inspired by (and maybe a little ripped off of) PadalickingGood's RT Hybrid AU. Their art is AMAZING, and their hybrid dorks are absolutely precious. (Not gonna lie, totally stole some ideas off of them, such as many of the animal ideas and the idea of trimming horns.

Anyway, the fact that David is a cat is entirely the fault of Pheebadohoh and KatykatUniverse, who made the cutest damn catboys and broke my insanely long bunny/dog tie with the need to make him a kitten.

ALSO I’D JUST LIKE TO MAKE IT ABUNDANTLY CLEAR THAT @kittensneezi IS LITERALLY THE ONLY REASON THIS IS BEING PUBLISHED INSTEAD OF LIVING BURIED IN MY WIPS FOREVER. BLAME HER. SHUN HER.

Sometimes Gwen was convinced that God thought He was real funny.

"God damn it motherfucker . . ." She yanked at the comb that was caught, wincing as it tugged but wouldn't budge. "David!"

Yeah, God was a hell of a comedian. Because what would a sheep be without wool?

David burst into the room, half-in and half-out of his shirt. "Is everything okay?" he asked, frantically trying to wriggle into his clothes and hurry to her side at the same time. Tripping over his tail, he stumbled forward, catching himself on one of her horns and nearly sending them both to the floor. "Gah!"

"Sorry," she said, helping him to his feet. "I didn't mean to make it sound like an emergency or anything, I just . . ." She sighed, pulling at the comb with no better luck. "Got stuck again."

His ears perked up. "Oh, no problem!" He hopped up onto the desk behind her and settled into a crouch, flexing his fingers to extend his nails. Gingerly sliding the needle-thin point of his index claw into her wool, he teased apart the strands until the comb was freed, then retracted his claws and fluffed her hair. "There we go! All better!"

"Thanks." She glanced down at herself to make sure everything was more or less in order and gestured for him to get off her desk. "Come on, let's go wake the zoo."

"All right!" As they walked toward the campers' tents, he gently patted her horn and said, "I didn't hurt it, right?"

She shrugged. "Nah, I've got a tough skull. Though . . . aren't cats supposed to be graceful?"

"I couldn't see! No one's graceful when they're blind!"

Rounding up the kids was never especially fun, though at least when they were tired it was easier to keep track of them. Even Nikki wasn't up to much this early in the morning, barely snapping at David's tail before settling in for breakfast.

THUNK.

"Fart nards!"

THUNK.

"Stupid door!"

David glanced toward the entrance to the mess hall, his eyes widening. "Gwen, Nurf's h —"

"On it." She got up, leaving her food behind, and went to where the boy was twisting and floundering, trying to get inside without catching his horns on the doorway. "Can I trim them now , Nurf?" she asked, leaning against the wall and watching him snort and scuff at the ground with his sneakers.

"I don't —" THUNK "— like —" THUNK "— people touching —" THUNK "— my horns!"

"No one does." After a few more seconds he stopped, panting, his tail flicking back and forth. There were some pretty impressive gouges in the frame, and Gwen raised her eyebrows. "But it's just gonna be worse the longer you wait."

He glared down at the ground, crossing his arms. "Fine," he muttered, tugging at his septum ring sullenly.

Gwen looked back at David. "Hey, bring us food when you get a chance? We'll be out back." She liked trimming inside, but there was no way those horns were getting into their cabin, so she settled him down on a rock behind the mess hall and went into her room to get the supplies.

She pawed through her stuff, wincing. Normally she'd shine a flashlight through the horn to see (and avoid) blood vessels as much as possible, but that was for maybe half an inch at most. Nurf'd never been trimmed in his life — and to be fair, she couldn't imagine anyone getting close enough to try without getting gored — and she was going to have to take off a lot more than that.

"All right," she said, setting the box down next to Nurf's rock and running a hand along one of his horns, "this is probably gonna bleed a lot, but it shouldn't hurt. You're off the hook for camp activities, though — don't want you fainting, so you'll be in our cabin most of the day."

"Fine." He looked and sounded angry, but she noticed the way his leg kept bouncing and his hands trembled. "Whatever, I don't even care."

"Close your eyes. It'll be less scary that way."

"Shut up! I'm not scared!" But he did as she said, screwing his eyes shut and taking a deep, shaky breath.

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't quick, but eventually she'd cut his horns to a manageable length and gotten the bleeding to die down. "Okay," she said with a sigh of relief, gently bandaging the ends, "remember they'll grow back, and if you do it more often they'll look and feel better. It's like a bad haircut, all right?"

Nurf opened his eyes and gaped in shock; the grassy clearing looked like the site of a gruesome murder, bits of bone and huge splashes of blood staining the ground around them. "What the — !" He climbed to his feet and wobbled just a bit, letting her take his elbow and guide him over to lean against the wall.

"I know, I know." Gwen rested a hand on his upper back, hoping she sounded soothing. But she wasn't very good at this kind of thing. Where was David when she needed him?

"Oh my gosh, what the heck happened back here?!"

Oh. There he was.

David's knuckles were white around the tray of food he'd brought to them, the glasses of orange juice-like product trembling in his unsteady hands. His face was pale and cheesy, his hair had puffed out on end, and his pupils dilated into slits.

Well, so much for soothing. She took the tray, ignoring the way he hissed and jerked away from her bloody fingers. "Thanks, David. Can you get Nurf some clean clothes? I'm gonna make sure he eats something."

"I-I . . . um, okay." She'd never seen him this shaken, and it would've been entertaining if she didn't need him to be a functioning adult. "I'll . . . be right back, then."

Once he was gone, Gwen handed Nurf the tray. "At least get through the toast and juice so you don't pass out."

"I won't," he grumbled, but nibbled at the toast and kept his gaze turned away from the bloody patch of grass.

After a few minutes David returned, keeping his eyes on his feet. "I'm, um, here. With clothes."

"Awesome. Take Nurf to the showers and then bring him back to the cabin. I'm gonna change into something that looks a little less Carrie ."

The rest of the day was spent in an armchair, watching old cartoons with Nurf, both of them trying to ignore the way his horns were jagged stubs. He wouldn't look at them, not even when she periodically unwrapped them to put more anti-bleeding gel on the ends, and when she heard the faintest sniffling from his side of the room, she tossed the remote at him without looking and let him turn the volume up.

David wandered in as the sun was setting, bringing them both dinner (they'd wordlessly agreed it wasn't a good idea to leave Nurf alone with their personal belongings, so Gwen was confined to the cabin). He set the tray down and stretched out on the floor, rolling onto his back and watching the television upside-down.

"Nurf?" He glanced up at her with a grunt, and she continued, "I think you're in good shape. Eat something and I'll walk you back to the tents?"

"Yeah, fine, I don't care." He picked at his dinner, frowning, and she suspected the Quartermaster's spaghetti and crickets wasn't the only reason.

Gwen glanced down at David, who met her eyes and shrugged as well as he could while sprawled on the carpet. She rubbed at her own horns, poking the dull tips thoughtfully. "You know, I should probably trim these down too, before I forget. It's been a while." They both turned to her with varying levels of wariness. She met Nurf's gaze, trying to keep her face and voice casual. "Would you mind waiting around a little longer so I can get that done? It won't take long."

"I . . ." He shrugged, still looking sullen. "Whatever."

"Great!" She stood and stretched before heading to the bathroom, making sure to leave the door open. After a second she texted David: 'Come in so he doesn't feel weird about being curious.'

He replied almost instantly: 'but what if he steals something while we're both in there?'

Gwen didn't even bother replying, just cleared her throat loud enough to travel into the next room. Getting the hint, she heard David mumble, "Excuse me!" A few moments later his head appeared in the doorframe. He hopped onto the lip of the sink as though that wasn't the most inconvenient place he could perch. "So why are we doing this?" he asked, drawing his knees to his chest and cocking his head to the side, his tail wrapping around him like a shawl.

"You'll see." She kept her focus on the flashlight in her hands, flicking off the overhead light and shining it through her left horn. (She didn't need to; after enough years of caring for them she'd more or less memorized where the blood vessels ended. But just in case Nurf decided to wander in, she wanted to make sure she showed the whole process.) Marking the place she wanted to cut with a black marker, she turned the lights on just in time to hear clumping, heavy footsteps.

David winced, shifting back as she reached for her trimmer. "Sh-should I move out of the way?"

"Nah, it's not gonna bleed, don't worry." Despite himself, he leaned in closer as she began to work, looking fascinated. "You can ask questions," she added, keeping her eyes on David but really talking to the silent figure in the doorway.

He finally seemed to pick up on what they were doing and scrambled for something to say. "So . . . uh, how often do you have to cut them? I've never noticed."

"I try to get it over with before showering, just in case I nick something," she replied, "but like once a month, ish? About the same time I shear my hair."

"And it doesn't . . . hurt?"

She shook her head. "Once, at like fourteen, I was embarrassed and tried to cut them all the way off. Didn't get halfway through one before I passed out from the pain. But it's like your claws; fine as long as you don't go too deep. Though sheep horns are a little different from, say, a bull's, which'll probably bleed a little every time." Setting aside the trimmer, she filed the end until it was smooth and rounded.

"Why're you doing that?" Nurf blurted out. He didn't look away as the counselors turned to him, but his jaw tightened, and he reached up and brushed the bandaged ends of one of his own horns. "Why didn't you do it to mine?"

Gwen continued working, focusing on making a straight cut. "Figured I'd wait until it was a little less raw, you know? It wouldn't hurt, but it'd be pretty gross and might fuck up —" David winced and she rolled her eyes, "— mess up the healing. I don't know enough about bull horns to be cool with risking it." He didn't reply, watching her carefully as she finished and cleaned up. "Ready to get out of here, kid?"

"Don't call me that," he muttered, but followed her to the front of the cabin.

"W-would you like me to walk him back?" David asked. He usually was the one who'd do this kind of thing; Gwen wasn't known for being especially nurturing, let alone going out of her way to escort one of their more difficult children to bed. But David was still looking a little pale, his eyes darting nervously to Nurf's horns and quickly away, so she dismissed him with a raised hand and led the way to the campers' tents.

They walked in silence for the most part, which Gwen had expected. Nurf wasn't chatty on the best of days, and this certainly hadn't been one of those. Aside from a muttered obscenity when the Quartermaster flitted low overhead, the boy was quiet.

It was only after she'd bid him goodnight and turned to leave that he spoke, so mumbled and fast that she almost missed it. "It won't be that bad every time, right?"

She shook her head. "Just be smart and don't go another 11 years between cuts, okay?"

"Do you think . . . maybe, next month . . ."

"I'll teach you how, yeah. And I'll ask QM to pick up the stuff you'll need." If it was any other kid she would've ruffled his hair, but even with his horns shortened and stubby, she didn't want to get too close. "Goodnight, Nurf."

David was curled up in a ball on her bed when she returned, his eyes glittering in the light from the hallway. "Everything all right?" he asked, stretching and rolling onto his side as she came in.

"Yeah." Shoving him over so she could sit down, she plopped onto the mattress and started untying her shoes. "He's freaked out, but he'll get over it. And I can't blame him — freaked me out a little, too. Lot more blood than I'd expected." She was quiet for a few moments, waiting for him to agree (and admit how unnerved he'd been), but when she looked over his eyes were glued to her shoelaces, the pink tip of his tongue poking out between his lips. "Oh, for Christ's sake, here ." She swiveled so that she was laying back against her pillows and set her feet on his lap, letting him untie her shoes and play with the laces. "You're fucking ridiculous."

He blushed, but glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and grinned. "You did a good job today," he said, swinging one of the laces around his index finger. "I'm really proud of you!"

"Why?" Gwen snorted, shaking her head. "I ruined my boots," she glared pointedly at the sneakers she'd been forced to wear instead, "I turned the back of the mess hall into a swamp of evil — almost making you throw up, by the way — and you were left alone the whole day." She flashed him a sarcastic "okay" sign. "Real stellar performance all around."

"You related to Nurf," he replied with a shrug. "That's not easy."

"Eh, thick skulls gotta stick together." He chuckled, finally done with her shoes and sliding them off her feet before laying down next to her. "Besides, it's . . . shitty, having someone fuck with your horns. Especially when you're away from your parents and the person doing it doesn't really know anything about bull anatomy." She hooked an arm around his neck and gently scratched behind his ears, smiling as he melted into her side with a purr. "I felt bad, I guess."

"I didn't know it was that scary," he mumbled against her neck, growing drowsy from the fingers in his hair. "I'm sorry."

She kissed him on the forehead. "It's fine. Beats having a giant tail, at least. I still can't believe you've never closed that thing in a door."

"Just like another arm." His tail came up and clumsily flicked her nose, making her sputter and laugh. "Hard to forget it's there."

Fighting the urge to shove the fuzzy limb out of her face (she'd learned quickly that some things were too sensitive to be touched without good reason), she wrapped her other arm around his waist and pulled him closer until he was laying half on top of her. "Shove me away when you wanna get up," she said; he usually couldn't sleep more than a few hours at a time, and spent most of the night prowling.

He gave a sleepy hum of agreement and licked her nose before curling up and falling asleep.

#and i published such good angst literally a few hours ago #why did i immediately follow it up with this?#campcamp #hybrid au #i don't even know #cc david #cc gwen #gwenvid #cc nurf #hey at least there's lots of nurf bonding

22 notes · View notes