htryds microshot: Stay Warm
February X783
Jellal knocked on Mystogan with a single knuckle, his hands otherwise full. “Myst? You in there?” He was fairly confident that his twin was actually in his dorm, for once, if only on account of Magnolia being under a thick layer of snow. Still, it was impossible to tell with Mystogan; he might rather be in the cold than borderline stuck in the dormitory with more people than normal. Or he could be with the dragonlings at their place—which would be on account of being successfully forced to stay due to inclement weather.
“Come in.”
Fortunately, Jellal’s initial guess was correct. He managed to get the door open before toeing it closed. “I got you some hot chocolate. It’s from Jet—he got stir-crazy and made enough for the whole building,” he announced as a way of greeting. Jellal set the mentioned cup on Mystogan’s table, still yet to actually see where the other teen was.
“Tell him I said thanks.”
He still didn’t see him, but this time, Jellal could ascertain that his voice was coming from the bathroom. Except the bathroom wasn’t closed. Curious, Jellal moved closer, just to see…
“Is that Shadow?”
Mystogan looked up from his position kneeling on the floor, the black cat in question squirming lightly in his grip. “Yeah.”
Jellal wasn’t sure what to make of the situation, so he settled on being bemused. “Inside?” he asked, even though it was obvious that Mystogan’s outdoor adopted stray was very much inside. It was against the building’s policy to have pets, and Jellal was certain Mystogan knew this, but here he was, clearly trying to teach his cat how to use a litter box.
Mystogan frowned slightly, nearly pouting. “It’s cold outside.”
Oh. Yeah. That was a really good point. While he knew that the cat was used to being outdoors, Magnolia was experiencing an unnaturally intense cold snap. And Shadow was just a short-haired cat. “How’s the potty-training going, then?” he asked, accepting the situation for what it was.
His twin shrugged. “I think he knows, but we’ll see.” As if on cue, the cat trotted away from the litterbox, stopping only to briefly rub his cheek against Jellal’s leg. “He’s having too much fun exploring, still.”
Jellal chuckled at the thought of the cat claiming Mystogan’s space as his own so quickly. The cat emphasized this point by jumping onto the bed, kneading the covers with his paws after only three steps. He could hear the cat purring from even a few feet away. “Well, I guess you’ll find out soon enough.”
“Suppose so,” Mystogan snorted. “Anyway, you said something about hot chocolate?”
“Yeah, it’s over here.”
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A Long Drive
Did You Hear Something?
A Kalpas x Psychic!Reader fic, Chapter 1 below!
Kalpas didn’t normally go to this side of the training grounds, but he wanted a fight and everyone else had left. It was the middle of the , and the few people who were still in the gym when he got on base had scrambled out before he even got there. Most of the area he was in now was reserved for Psychic MANTISes, so he doubted it would even be a good fight if he found someone, but it would be a fight, nonetheless.
The holo-training room was empty, and the main studio was locked for the night. There were a few small rooms in the back that were used for private meditation, mostly by psychic fighters, but they were open to anyone. If there was someone still up, they would be in one of those rooms. If not, he was shit out of luck and would have to settle for a training program he’d already fought a hundred times.
The rooms were more like cubbies or cubicles. Each had a cushion to sit on, some had incense, tiny waterfalls, or in some cases, the room was completely empty. In the third room on the right, you were sitting peacefully. A few candles cast dim light to the edges of the room, but otherwise it was a rather boring space.
Kalpas saw his chance and took it. He had never worked with you before, but you were a MANTIS and that was good enough for him. Slamming the sliding door open, he expected you to jump and open your eyes to identify the threat, but you didn’t even flinch. Candleflame wavered and one even went out with the amount of force he used, but you remained seated with a barely-there smile on your face.
“Hey,” his voice was lazy, but demanding, and never failed to get someone’s attention. Of course, there were always exceptions—you in this case. “Get up.” Still no change at all. Crouching down, Kalpas sat on the balls of his feet and rested his forearms on his thighs. Carefully balanced, he leaned forward and inspected your face with a sneer that only he knew was there.
You were either a really good actor, or dead as far as he could tell. With a scoff, your visitor stood, clearly uninterested in fighting someone so boring. He stalked out of the room and abandoned his original plan of finding an opponent, settling for some mechs.
“I really appreciate you doing this for me,” Su told you while leading the way down to the training grounds. “He truly would work well with a psychic MOTH, but he and I…”
“You don’t have to get along with everyone,” you beamed and hoped Su could tell.
“Still,” he sighed. “Kalpas seems to be rather adept at testing my patience.” When you both entered the training room, you were hit with the smell of sweat and shouts of people practicing, but you were hardly bothered and followed Su into one of the simulation rooms. “Sakura, this is my colleague. I believe they may have more luck than me at working with your friend.”
You knew of Sakura, she picked up such a wide variety of missions, there were few that didn’t know her name. Greeting her with a smile, you introduced yourself. In the back of your mind, you could feel the hum of her own thoughts, though you carefully kept them out.
It was easier to visualize people’s thoughts and consciousness as very small children. They were eager to meet you and reach out, and rather than shielding yourself, you would gently herd them back to the mind they belonged to.
Knowing some Psychic MOTHs were sensitive to touch, Sakura gave you a respectful nod in favor of shaking your hand. “Thank you again, Su,” she nodded to him as well. He gave her a small smile, gave you a little nudge mentally, and left the room.
“I don’t know if Su told you, but this is Kalpas, the friend you will be working with.” Sakura turned and looked over her shoulder at the man who was standing behind her. If you couldn’t feel how annoyed he was, you would think he was just shy and hiding from you. Sakura waited for you to pale and stutter some excuse as to why you couldn’t help, just like most MOTHs that had tried before.
Your calm smile remained in place and never once faltered. It stayed when you looked Kalpas dead-on, it stayed when you said a small ‘hello,’ and it stayed when he growled at you. As far as first impressions go, Sakura thought you were doing great. Kalpas, however, didn’t seem to agree.
“You deaf?” he spoke in a sharp tone. His friend looked at him, clearly confused by the question, but you just shook your head ‘no.’ “Then why the hell did you ignore me?” His question wasn’t presented in a very question-like manner, and Sakura worried he might shoot you down without giving you a fair chance.
“I don’t recall ever meeting, but I certainly never meant to ignore you.”
“Cut the crap,” Kalpas moved forward to stand next to Sakura, trying to intimidate you. “I saw you here the other night, and you ignored me to avoid having your ass handed to you.” Now your eyebrows came down and your smile turned into a slight pout.
“Passing up a fight doesn’t sound like me,” you muttered to yourself. “Oh!” Sakura could practically see the lightbulb over your head as your smile came back full force. “If it was at night, I must have been meditating. I can get pretty caught up in my own thoughts. It’s nearly impossible to remove me from that state.”
“You mean you sit there, completely unaware of your surroundings, and unguarded? If something were to happen to your body, you would have no way of leaving your mind?” Sakura sounded slightly appalled, and you could feel more of her thoughts pushing towards you.
“That’s right,” you beamed.
“You’re an idiot,” Kalpas scoffed.
“Not quite,” you smiled at him now, and he turned away as though the sight burned him. “I’m here to practice working with you today, but if you would like to have that fight later, I would be quite happy to oblige.”
“You want me to let a crazy person in my mind?” Kalpas spoke to Sakura, completely ignoring you.
She looked at you, then whispered back, “I don’t think they’re crazy. Give it one shot. We’re on base, if anything goes wrong, we can sort it out.”
Kalpas grumbled and turned towards the center of the holo-room. “Let’s go idiot,” he jerked his head to indicate you should get moving, and then walked to the center of the space.
Taking a seat at the edge of the arena, you closed your eyes and your face fell into a more neutral expression. “’Idiot’ is not my name. Whenever you are ready,” you took a long steadying breath in and slowly let it out, allowing your consciousness to extend from your body with it.
don't…actually know how psychic MANTISes work. Don't tell anyone. Some day I'm gonna sit down with the ER archives and read them like a fucking textbook I swear. Nothing but love and respect for Phoenix is the hottest thing who I don't want to tag because they would kill me for how terrible I am at following the lore lol Also, sorry it's taking me five years to get through requests, I AM still writing and I don't plan on stopping because I really do enjoy it, but school is picking up so I haven't had as much free time
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