#she's literally lying on those paw pads

[ladycrimsonandblack]

Okay, yeah, this chapter is incredibly fucked up, but the whole entire baby just fits in his palm, and that's so cute.

#one piece #spoilers #op spoilers #op 1098 #she's literally lying on those paw pads #which makes it even cuter if you think about it

[rjalker]

Turning the formerly-feral kittens and their mom into public domain characters #2:

Gizmo! The happiest, most excited kitten ever.

As of September 2023, she weighs 4lbs.

I gave them all the last name Jupiter since they got caught in July.

Sapphire is already done

Not drawn yet:

Eclipse Jupiter

Taaz Jupiter

and their mom, Marlena Jupiter.

Who is the father? The world may never know…unless you decide to create him yourself.

Or, it might be this cat?

[ID: A zoomed in photo of a fluffy black and white cat stuck up a tree, with a black body, and white chest, paw, and face markings, with whote on its cheeks and in a point up between its eyes. End ID.]

(It got down eventually)

Or this one?

[ID: A photo of a different black and white cat lying on the ground in a sphinx pose, looking at the camera. It has a black body, with white front paws, chest, and a thin white triangle from its chin, up its nose, and between its eyes. End ID.]

We just don't know. Too many people here keep their cat outside, not to mention all the ferals.

Both photos are public domain, and you can turn those two into characters too lol.

Includes a more detailed reference, and more simplified cartoon version, including her white paws are literal mittens and boots.

Feel free to draw her in whatever style you want. Or change her pronouns. She’s a cat. She doesn’t know what gender is. But she could in your version!

[ID: Three digital drawings, each with the same brown background, showing three versions of a drawing of a black and white kitten labled, "Gizmo". She has a mostly black body, with white on her chest, the inside of her back legs, white paws, and unven white markings on her face, with a two-pronged stripe between her grey-green eyes, over both cheeks, and going down the left side of her chin. The black part of her torso is faintly striped with very dark grey, and her paw pads are mostly pink, with the larger pad on both front paws black, with uneven black spots on three of the four smaller pads on her left paw. The hind paw pads are pink, with question marks. Her tail is long and very fluffy. The first version shows her in more detail, with the limbs off to the sides separately to fit in the square canvas, and then is drawn as a much simply, bipedal cartoon, her tail vibrating happily behind her. In the second version of the cartoon, her white paws have turned into gloves and boots. End ID.]

#eye contact #described images #Public domain #public domain characters #Gizmo Jupiter #public domain cats #lol #furry

[foreverfallingforthestars]

Met Him Last Night

I literally speed wrote this in an hour so I'm sorry if this is a mess lmaooo but hopefully this will be continued, we'll see :D If anyone wants to be tagged in upcoming updates to this, please let me know! Just be warned, this first chapter does have (not very specific) details of a panic attack!

Title is from Demi Lovato's Met Him Last Night

Word Count: 2181 Read on AO3 Rowaelin Month Masterlist

Day 17 of Rowaelin Month Prompt: Bodyguard AU

~~~~~

Aelin was just about ready to murder someone, and that someone would most definitely be her cousin.

“Aelin, I’m serious, you need protection.”

She growled as she slammed her palms down on the dining table, loudly, as she stood up. “And I’m serious when I say that I need sleep. This stupid bodyguard business can wait two days for me to hibernate.”

Aedion also stood up, mirroring her stance as he leaned in closer to her. “Your life is in literal danger, Aelin. I hope you understand what that means.”

“It was one instance!” she insisted, pushing herself away from the table and moving to the kitchen to put her empty dinner plate into the sink. She was so exhausted from all the travel she’d done in the last few days that all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep — dishes be damned.

“One instance of the guy mailing you pictures of you from the hotel and on the sidewalk,” he responded, moving beside her. He was following her on purpose to make sure she couldn’t escape him, and Aelin was pissed off that he knew her so well to do that. “He’s been sending you those weird as hell letters for years.”

“It’s not exactly a trade secret which hotels I stay in when I’m going on book tours, Aedion. You know that.”

“If you stopped posting Instagram pictures with the hotel in the background, then it would be more of a secret considering that you are a public figure now. Besides, it’s only going to get worse now that Crescent City season 1 press shoots start soon. Your face will be more famous than just in the book world, Aelin. People will see articles of the author behind the next biggest fantasy show on television. Things are already bad, and we shouldn’t let it get past that.”

“Okay, fine, but why can’t we talk about this later? My body clock thinks it’s the middle of the freaking night, and I haven’t slept in fifteen hours. Please get out of my face so I can sleep.”

“Aelin, if you don’t take this seriously, I’m going to do it for you.”

“Oh dear cousin, owner of a security company, please do. I don’t have the mental capacity to deal with it, especially now that I’m going to be much busier.”

“You’re so annoying,” he grumbled as he stalked towards the door.

“Love you too!” she called after him, finally, finally, heading towards her bedroom. Fleetfoot trotted after her happily, and Aelin snorted as her dog’s wet snout kept bumping into her bare calves. The dog was way too excited to see her after two long months away from home with Aelin travelling all over the world for the release of her latest book. It wasn’t like she could deny the fact that she had missed her dear, sweet dog so much as well, so when Aelin flopped down onto her soft bed for the first time in months, she let Fleetfoot join her.

Fleetfoot circled the same spot three times before curling up against Aelin, her tail slowly thumping against the mattress as Aelin got comfortable as well. The feeling of warmth from her dog and the happiness from being in her own bed after so long had Aelin falling asleep faster than she normally did, and she was just about entirely asleep when she barely heard the click of her front door opening.

Figuring it was Aedion, she just tried to drown out the sound, not having the willpower nor the strength to move. He could let himself out after taking whatever he had probably forgotten at her place, and Aelin would be happily dozing for the next several hours.

Until a crash broke the haze Aelin was in, and her eyes shot open. Heart pounding in her chest, she looked at Fleetfoot who was staring at the closed door with alarm as well.

Aelin was confused. Aedion was careful to not drop ceramic or glass objects within the house, knowing how much her mother would always be on the two of them growing up to be careful with such things, and it didn’t help that she was still half asleep. Nothing made sense to her.

Slowly getting out of bed, she winced as she stood up entirely, her feet aching after days of standing in heels. Aelin walked over to the bedroom door and creaked it open, and she scanned the immediate vicinity for Aedion, trying to see if he was anywhere near the living room or corridor. When she didn’t see him, she creeped out of her room, trying to be quiet but the sluggishness had already taken over body as she stumbled into the wall a few times. Fleetfoot was at her tail, but Aelin forced her to stay before turning the corner into the living room. If there was glass on the ground, she didn’t want it getting in her dog’s paws.

Once Aelin turned the corner, she immediately stopped, finding the scene in front of her unwelcome and incredibly jarring.

There was a man standing in her room, one that didn’t have the same blond hair she did, and the broken object was a picture frame, the shards of glass littered about on the ground as he gripped a photo of her and Fleetfoot.

Aelin swallowed slowly, the saliva getting stuck in her throat as her mouth went dry, as she realized that a man had broken into her home.

As quietly as she could, she placed a hand over her mouth, trying not to breathe too loudly as she quickly made her way back into her bedroom, herding Fleetfoot with her, and she locked the door to the bedroom. Wildly glancing around, she took the chair from her vanity and jammed it under the door knob so the door wouldn’t open.

“What do I do,” she whispered, scared of her mind as she sat down on her bed. She was shaking, that much was sure as Fleetfoot tried to lick her hands and face in an attempt to calm her down. How was Aelin supposed to calm down when there was someone in her house?

Realizing that Aedion must’ve not gotten far, she lunged for her phone on the bed and dialed Aedion’s number.

“Weren’t you supposed to be asleep?” was his greeting, but all she could get out at first was a shuddering gasp.

“Aedion,” she whispered.

“Aelin? Are you okay?” he asked, his voice immediately alert.

“There’s someone in my apartment.”

“What?!”

“Hurry, please,” she cried, trying to muffle her voice to make it seem that she wasn’t at home. She didn’t know if the man had known that she was in the apartment, but she didn’t want him to find out.

“Aelin, listen to me, you’ll be fine. I’m almost there. Are you still in your room?”

“I, uh, I’m in my bedroom with Fleetfoot. I went out when there was a crash, and then ran back to my room,” she managed to get out. “I locked the door and jammed a chair underneath.”

“Go into the bathroom and lock that door too,” he urged, and she got up to move to the bathroom. “If he manages to get your room door unlocked, then at least you have some more time. I’m almost there, but you need to call 911, too.”

“Aedion, I can’t—” Aelin gasped out, leaning against the bathroom counter after locking the door behind her and her dog. Her breaths were coming in faster, and there wasn’t anything she could do to control the way her eyesight was beginning to blur. “I can’t let him know I’m in here.”

“He won’t find out,” he urged.

“But Aedion,” she cried, “the plates in the sink. He’ll see them, and he’ll know I was home. He’ll know I’m here.” The pounding in her chest had gotten louder than what Aedion was saying, and all she could do was sob into her hands. She wasn’t safe anymore outside, but now she wasn’t safe in her own room.

“Aelin! Aelin, it’s okay, I’m here.”

The next thing Aelin heard were shouts and yells before it got all quiet. She clambered up to her feet, throwing the door to the bathroom open before trying to get the chair back out, but it wouldn’t budge. It was stuck, and her limbs weren’t cooperating. There wasn’t anything she could do, and she tugged at the chair with a cry.

“Come on,” she cried, tugging at it more before it finally came free, clattering to the ground. Unlocking the door, she took a few unsteady steps before Aedion came into view, the man lying on the ground unconscious. Aelin lost all control of her body, and she fell into Aedion’s arm as he ran for her, and that was the last thing she saw before blackness encompassed her.

~~~

When Aelin awoke several hours later, it was to the commotion coming from downstairs. At first, she blinked a few times, trying to readjust to where she was because it wasn’t the drab hotel room view she’d gotten accustomed to, and once her brain was awake enough to process that she was in Aedion and Lysandra’s spare bedroom, she got out of bed and padded over to the bathroom to brush her teeth and her hair. If she was going to show her face after a major panic attack that caused her to faint for a few minutes, she should at least look decent.

Fleetfoot was, thankfully, also with her in the room, and Aelin sat on the ground for a few minutes just to hug her dog before getting up and going to the living room.

As soon as she made her entrance, everyone went silent, the only sound was Fleetfoot’s paws as she went straight for Lysandra to nose at her for treats.

“Okay,” Aelin swallowed. “I get it. I need a bodyguard, but at least that guy was arrested,” she continued, hopefully. Aedion beckoned her to sit next to him, and it was then that she realized that besides her cousin and his wife, Elide was also there and a man that she’d never met before. He was striking, to say the least. Silver hair with a sharp jawline and beautifully green eyes. His short-sleeved shirt also showed off swirls of tattoo creeping up his bicep, and Aelin had to say that she was intrigued by who this man was.

“Look,” her cousin started, directing her attention back to him. His face showed concern, and she was suddenly worried that this entire ordeal might not be over. “That man wasn’t the same one who stalked you. He was just a burglar trying to score after noticing that no one had been going in or out of the apartment for a while. It just helped that the security guard downstairs is of no use, so he broke in.”

Aelin was having a hard time processing all this information being thrown at her. “So you’re telling me that it was just...unlucky?”

“I have been telling you to move,” he unhelpfully added, and she let him know exactly that.

“Anyway, we’ve come up with a solution,” Elide butt in. “Aelin, meet Rowan Whitethorn. He works in Aedion’s company. He was working for a different client for a few years, but they switched companies, so he’s now free to protect you.”

“Hey,” she greeted without any of her previous enthusiasm.

“Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Galanthynius,” Rowan responded, and she noticed the slight accent to his words.

“Doranelle?” she asked, and he nodded.

“I will be protecting you from now on, uh, in a close manner.”

Aelin slightly jerked in her spot at his shy demeanor over his words, and the way he said it caught her attention.

“What do you mean?” No one answered her at first, peaking her anxiety again. “Aedion?” she asked, looking to him for an explanation.

“Since it’s also not safe for you to be at home alone, we’re going to have Rowan pretend to be your boyfriend.”

~~~

Aelin stepped out of the car, hand placed in Rowan’s as he led her into the paparazzi filled lot that led to the building where the final press shoots and poster shoots would be taking place for her show. It was still absolutely insane that someone she had written was actually going to be a TV show for the whole world to see, but another absolutely insane thing was the fact that she was pressed up against Rowan’s hard body, trying to pretend to be absolutely in love with him.

“Who is this man?” she heard one of the journalists ask, and she wanted to say that she didn’t exactly know either considering she had just met him last night, but this was the perfect opportunity for the world to know that she had a boyfriend.

Technically.

Smiling, she pulled Rowan to a stop as she turned to the vague direction from where she heard the voice. “This is my boyfriend.”

#bodyguard au #rowaelin #throne of glass #aelin galythinius #rowan whitethorn #rowaelinmonth #day 17

[prettyinlimegreenboots]

"Is it too much to ask for something great?" For whoever you'd like :)

There’s cursing in here. This is the continuation of my Newsies Life in the ER Series. You can catch up here. We check in on Albert and Finch in this one. There’s some swearing in this one.

January 19, 2021

It had been a hell of a year, since the first COVID case was discovered in the United States. It had been eight months since he saw his first case at the hospital. He was ready for a solid week off with no plans, other than a road trip, catching up on Netflix shows and hanging out with his husband.

He pushed back from the computer with a sigh, giving Spot a look. “Need anything before I leave?”

Spot grinned, shaking his head. “No, but enjoy your time off. I’m insanely jealous, by the way.”

“Your time is coming - two weeks then I’ll be the jealous one.” Albert grinned, watching a chart fly by on the desk. Looking up, he grinned at Plums who maneuvered into a chair. “How’s that baby girl of yours? Has she figured out what sleep is?”

Her and Jack had welcomed Adelin Charlotte Kelly back in July. She was welcomed by many honorary aunts and uncles. Her birth was one the ER wouldn’t forget for a really long time.

Plums sighed. “She loves to throw ragers between 1 and 3 am. She’s got the lungs of her father. Jack was up with her while I got to sleep blissfully while she screamed her head off.”

“Racer and I told you we would take her for a weekend if you want.” Spot reminded her, giving her a big grin. “All you have to do is say yes.”

Plums grinned, pursing her lips. “Let me talk with Jack and I’ll let you know. Just make sure you don’t work the next day after you have her. She loves her ragers.”

“Duly noted.” Spot grinned. “We love her and she will be fine. Al, what are you going to be doing on your vacation?”

Albert leaned back in the chair. “Finch and I are going on a road trip up to Cold Springs for a few days before lazily lying on the couch catching up on Netflix and trying out a few recipes Finch wants to try.”

“What’s up in Cold Springs? I’ve heard it’s gorgeous in the summer but won’t it be colder than here.” Plums looked over at him with an eyebrow raised.

Albert laughed, raising his own eyebrows, grinning. “Finch spent his childhood up in Cold Springs - he always talks about the cute town and little shops along with some great skiing. And, yes it’s cold up there but that’s what they make fireplaces and cozy blankets.”

Spot and Plums both rolled their eyes and laughed at Albert’s expression. “Thanks but we didn’t need to know that.”

“You asked.” Albert grinned. “Now if you don’t have anything for me, I’m heading out.”

They both yelled for him to have a great vacation before he headed to the locker room before clocking out. With a final wave, he headed out of the Emergency Room, heading to his Subaru. Unlocking the car, he threw his bag in the back before getting in.

The car ride home was quiet, him relaxing, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. Pulling into the driveway, he sighed, getting out of the car, walking into the house. He heard the familiar jingle of Rex’s collar, kicking off his shoes before letting the black Lab out of his crate. The dog danced at his feet as he made his way over to the backdoor to let him out.

Making his way to the bedroom, he quickly changed out of the scrubs and into sweatpants and a hoodie. Making his way out to the living room, he let Rex back in, quickly changing his water bowl before collapsing onto the couch. Digging his phone out of his sweatpants, he aimlessly scrolled through his social media.

He felt Rex jump off the couch before starting to bark, causing Albert to look up, realizing that two hours had already passed. He heard the door open as Rex’s excited paws pad on the floor as Finch’s bag hit the hit. Albert smiled hearing Finch talk to Rex, reassuring him he was home for the night. “Hey you.”

Albert pushed himself off the couch, grinning at Finch as he made his way over to him. “Hey yourself. How was your day?”

“Good. It was good to wrap some things up before vacation.” Finch grinned, kissing him again. “How was yours?”

Albert shrugged, sitting back down on the couch. “Two gunshot wounds and a few stitches. Just an average day in life.”

“That’s your average day . . . not most Americans.” Finch grinned, laughing. “Have you been home long?”

He nodded. “Like two hours. Spot and Plums pushed me out telling me they’re jealous of us having a vacation.”

“Have you thought of dinner?” Finch asked, loosening his tie, giving his husband a look while cocking his eyebrow.

Albert had the decency to look a bit guilty. “No . . . I got caught up in a game with Racer and lost track of time.”

“Feel like anything in particular?” Finch asked, heading to the bedroom as he unbuttoned his shirt, giving Albert another look.

Albert threw his head back against the couch, looking up at the ceiling as he flipped through the possibilities for their dinner. Nothing sounds amazingly great to him so he figured he’d leave it up to Finch to decide. “Babe?”

Looking up, a wolfish smile crossed Albert’s face at how utterly gorgeous his husband was. Finch was dressed in ratty sweatpants and an old hoodie from their college days. “What’s up?”

“What do you want for dinner?” Finch joined him on the couch, lacing his fingers with his. “You alright, something seems off?”

Albert shrugged. “I don’t care what we do for dinner - nothing really sounds good. And all is good.”

“Uh huh . . .” Finch gave him a long look, squeezing his hand. “I’m ordering pizza for dinner then we’re going to have a long talk.”

Albert watched Finch pull out his phone, call their favorite pizza place before ordering their usual - a pepperoni pizza with breadsticks and a two liter of Pepsi. Hanging up the phone, Finch dropped it on the coffee table, looking at Finch. “I’m not going to bug you but what’s going on Albert?”

“What do you mean?” Al looked at Finch, biting his lip.

Finch sighed. “You’ve been quiet for the last couple of days and distant for a bit. I have been waiting for you to come to me but you haven’t said much outside of good morning, goodnight, and a text here and there. What’s bugging you, Albert?”

“I’ve been doing some thinking.” Albert started, biting his lip. “Have you thought about where you want our life to go and what you want out of it?”

“I want you and I want the life that we talked about in college.” Finch smiled. “The one that we were going to go on vacation with the destination picked by throwing a dart at a map. The one that we adopted a dog, hours spent on debating which one we wanted, only to go to the shelter to pick out Rex. The one that you come home and tell me about your hospital days and try to gross me out by talking about the goriness of the job. And the one that you're completely and utterly head over heels in love with me.”

Albert grinned, thinking back on the times they would sit under the stars and talk. He looked over at Finch, biting his lip. "Is it too much to ask for something great?"

The words were quiet as they left Albert’s mouth that it was difficult for Finch to hear. “Wanna say that again?”

“Is it too much to ask for something great?” Albert said louder as he looked down at their linked hands.

Finch faltered for a moment, not expecting those words to come out of his husband’s mouth. His mouth opened and closed for a second, not sure what to say to him. “You don’t have to say anything . . . just voicing the question.”

He looked at Albert, hurt across his face. “When did you stop telling me about your thoughts and ideas? One thing I’ve always prided myself in our relationship is how much you and I always talk and work things out that are bugging us.”

“We were talking about greatness at work. One of our docs is retiring and they were talking about how great his career was and how great he is walking away.” Albert started. “I’ve been thinking about how I can have something great. I love you and I love the life we’ve built. All I want is something great.”

“Babe.” Finch paused, shifting in the couch, squeezing his hand. “I think the life we have together is pretty great. I think it’s great that I get to come home to you, to Rex, and tell you about my day. I think it’s great that I can call you my husband and I know that you’re always going to be by my side and be there for me. What isn’t so great about what we have?”

Biting his lip, Albert shook his head. “Do you feel like there’s something we’re missing?”

“At this moment, no. I love our comfortable lifestyle, our jobs are great and we’re in a good spot.” Finch raised an eyebrow. “How long have you been thinking about adding kids to our life?”

A gasp escaped Albert’s mouth as a smile crossed his lips. “Only a few weeks. I see what Jack and Kat have with Addie and I’ve started thinking about us. We always talked about having kids but it didn’t become real until a few weeks ago.”

“We’ve been married for six months, Al. Do you want to add kids to our life so quickly?” Finch asked. “We can spoil Addie rotten for a bit longer . . .”

Sighing, Albert threw his head back against the couch. “I want kids but at times I feel like we’re being left behind. Race and Spot have been talking about kids as have Romeo and Specs. We’re not even at that point yet.”

“We’re also 26 years old.” Finch bit back, giving him a look. “Since when do we set our lives based on our friend’s lives and what they’re doing? I am starting to get the feeling that there’s something deeper going on Albert. Please just tell me.”

Unlacing his fingers from Finch’s, Albert tapped his knee. “Okay . . . don’t kill me when I tell you . . .”

“You can’t start a sentence like that, Albert.” Finch raised an eyebrow at him. He slid closer to Albert, pulling him into his arms. “Just tell me Albert, I’m really starting to worry.”

The doorbell interrupted them as Finch dropped a kiss on Albert’s head. Pushing off the couch, he retrieved the pizza, breadsticks, and the soda pop before dropping them on the coffee table. Finch took a deep breath, going into the kitchen to get two glasses of ice, paper plates, and napkins before dropping back onto the couch beside Albert. “Alright snugs, talk to me.”

Grabbing a slice of pizza and a breadstick, Albert relaxed on the couch with a sigh. “I had a doctor’s appointment a few days ago - just the annual physical. But there was something in my blood work that has my doctor concerned.”

“Concerned? What is it?” Dropping his plate onto the coffee table, shifting to look at Albert, Finch pursed his lips in concern.

“My white blood cell count was high.” Albert sighed, tears crowding his eyes. “But I feel fine and haven’t been sick lately. My doctor is running additional tests and I’m in a waiting period. What if it’s more serious?”

Pulling Albert into his arms, he ran his hand through his hair. “Thank you for telling me. What do you always tell your patients - don’t jump to conclusions. It could be that there’s something going on with your white blood cells that isn’t related to an illness.”

Pressing a kiss to Albert’s head, Finch sighed. “So you decided to bring up thinking about everything that you haven’t achieved yet to cover the fact that you’re potentially sick? Albert, I promised you, in sickness and in health that I will love you always. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yeah that wasn’t very smart of me.” Albert agreed, with a sad smile. “I just didn’t know how to tell you.”

Finch ran his hand through his hair, chuckling. “How about next time you have news to deliver you just tell me? Yes, it may scare me but I’m not going to run; those vows and you mean too much to me.”

“Deal.” Holding out his hand, Albert smiled. “Do you want to continue our discussion of kids?”

Finch sighed. “How about we get through this hiccup in our lives first before we circle back to the kids front? We both know we want kids, that’s not even a question but the timing, we’re going to need to discuss that in more detail.”

Nodding, Albert smiled. “That sounds like a plan. We make a pretty good team.”

“We sure do.” Finch leaned over and kissed Albert. “I love you, snugs.”

“Love you too Finchie.”

Four Days Later

The door closed behind him as he kicked off his shoes. Walking into the kitchen, he placed the vase of flowers on the counter before looking around. The house was quiet as he peeked his head into the living room. Albert and Rex were curled up on the couch, both sound asleep causing Finch to grin brightly.

He walked into the bedroom, changing into sweats and a hoodie before walking out and kneeling next to the couch. He ran his hand through Rex’s fur as the dog looked up at Finch as his tail started thumping. Moving to run his hair through Albert’s hair, Finch grinned listening to Albert’s breath hitch as he peeked an eye open. “Hey.”

Finch’s smile widened at the grogginess of Albert’s voice. “Hey yourself. Long day?”

“Tough day. We lost a patient today.” Albert sighed. “I came home and cuddled with Rex and must’ve fallen asleep.”

Pressing a kiss to his forehead, Finch lightly scratched Albert’s scalp, smiling hearing him sigh in contentment. “How was your day, Finchie?”

“I got an embarrassing bouquet of flowers but glad you got some good news about your tests.” Finch grinned. “Did you really need to send the flowers?”

Albert laughed, pushing himself into a seated position. “Yes, I could’ve called you and told you the news but thought you might like the flowers. I would’ve loved to see your face when they got delivered.”

Fishing his phone from his back pocket, Finch opened it tilting it for Albert to look at. “Ask and you shall receive. Amelia took a photo and sent it to me after the fact. Hey, Albie?”

“Yeah Finchie?” Albert looked up from the photo with a smile on his face.

“I’m really glad you’re going to be okay.” Finch smiled. “You just have to take an antibiotic, right? Nothing else?”

Albert smiled. “Just an antibiotic for a few days and a check up in three months. I’m okay, Finchie. But if you want, I’ll give Katherine the report and she can talk to you about it.”

“You’d let Katherine do that?” Finch asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Albie smiled and nodded. “If it gives you peace of mind, then yes, I’d let our friend do that. She’d tell you the same thing that I just told you. I’m going to be just fine, Finchie.”

Pulling him off the couch, Finch pulled him into his arms with a laugh before kissing him. “I love you Albie.”

“I love you too Finchie.” Albert laughed, pushing himself on his tiptoes to kiss Finch. “Now can we talk about kids?”

Laughing, Finch nodded, stilling Albert in their awkward dance. “We have all the time in the world but yes we can talk about kids, assuming you want to be a dad.”

“I was thinking a papa more like it but yes, I want to raise kids with you Patrick Cortes-DaSilva.” Albert kissed him with a passionate furish.

Finch chuckled. “And I want to raise kids with you too, Albert Cortes-DaSilva. I love you Albie.”

“And I you, Finchie forever and always.”

Thanks @cutesiewooren for sending this in!! Feedback will be amazing!

#newsies #newsies fan fiction #life in the er newsies series #ask #prompt #newsies drabbles #drabble requests #RedFinch #writing #albert dasliva #Finch Cortes

[ronansgansey]

Better To Be Safe

Summary: Looking at Quentin Coldwater for the first time post-Monster was even more difficult than Eliot had anticipated. (Or, a fuck-up fixing fic where Quentin Coldwater is alive and important and loves Eliot Waugh and Eliot Waugh loves him) 

READ ON AO3 or continue under the cut for an alternate ending to 4x13 which I have personally erased from existence using sheer willpower 

Author’s Note: So, a few things, other than the obvious fact that there is NO CHARACTER DEATH in this fic: I think literally the only thing I borrowed from the finale was Eliot's stomach wound. I didn't even watch the goddamn finale because I can't stand even the idea of it, but I've seen gifs of the less offensive parts. I also wrote this completely ignoring the Qualice reunion. While I could come up with reasons why that would've made sense given Q's state of mind, that's not really the fuck-up that I wanted to focus on in this particular fuck-up fix-it fic. So anyways, I really truly want you all to feel like you can use this as an alternate canon to what 4x13 gave you because this world and these characters are real to us and there's no reason why two writers making a terrible misguided decision should be able to take that away from us in one sweep. Okay? So this is your comfort. This is your new canon, if you desire it to be. Quentin Coldwater is alive and he's important and he loves Eliot and Eliot loves him and that's the fucking law. Okay? Good. Without further ado, enjoy <3

                    The truth was, Quentin was glad the Monster had no longer been in the mood to play games. Games meant Eliot’s hand around the back of Quentin’s neck, playing with the wisps of his hair. Games meant Eliot’s arm around his shoulders, or Eliot’s fingers tangling in his own, tracing the ridges of his spine, caressing the line of his jaw. Games meant guilt chewing Quentin’s guts to ragged threads because of how badly he wanted to close his eyes and pretend in those moments that he was feeling Eliot Waugh again.

           So, though it wasn’t like it didn’t hurt to have a shard of glass the size of his hand thrust into the soft flesh of his stomach, he was glad for it. This was no game - this was, truly, a Monster possessing the man he knew, because the man he knew didn’t have the viciousness inside of him to do a thing like that. Eliot may not have loved Quentin like he wanted him to, but Q believed that at the very least, he wouldn’t impale him.

           He was glad to suffer at the hands of the truth, instead of the illusion of tenderness.

           “Oh,” the Monster said, still straddling Quentin on the floor of the library. He cocked his head and stared blankly at the mess he’d just made, his knees sticking in a pool of Quentin’s blood. “I am angry.”

           Quentin choked. He closed his eyes, rocking his head back and forth over the floor, until the Monster grabbed his chin and forced him still. Quentin opened his eyes.

           “You were my friend,” the Monster said, doe-eyed and perplexed. Quentin had hoped he wouldn’t have to use his newly acquired magic on Eliot’s body, but there was still no sign of Margo and the ice axes, and with the Monster’s sister keeping Alice occupied, he had to protect himself somehow. With the force of Quentin’s magic, the Monster had flown back into a mirror, shattering it.

           It wasn’t like the creature needed a weapon when he could have snapped Quentin’s neck with a flick of his fingers. But no. This was personal for the Monster. Quentin was sure he wouldn’t be dying for a very, very long time.

           His suspicions were confirmed when the Monster grabbed the shard in his stomach and twisted upward, quick and vicious. Quentin’s vision greyed; his scream caught in his throat. Pain was all he knew.

           “Please,” he wheezed. His hand pawed dumbly through the air like maybe he could push the Monster off of him.

           “Brother,” said Julia’s voice from somewhere down the hall. The Monster’s hand released the shard. He placed his hand on Quentin’s throat instead, pinning him to the floor as he turned to face his sister. “Leave the human. There is more work to be done.”

           “He tried…to kill me,” the Monster said, as if still puzzled by Quentin’s actions.

           Quentin thought he saw Julia’s eyes flash red and reptilian. Her voice was somehow impatient and stoic all at once. “Kill him then.”

           Quentin’s pain was blessedly ebbing away now, but he felt a numbing cold beginning to settle in his veins, weighing him down. He was also very tired. His eyelids were too heavy to hold up. When the Monster turned back, he let them fall closed.

           He wouldn’t die looking at Eliot’s face. He would die remembering Eliot’s face - the real one, with its wide smile and sparkling eyes, its human joy and human pain. The one full of fierce determination, of staunch protectiveness, of quiet compassion. The one he saw age fifty years and never lose its glow.

           “Hey! Pain in my ass One and Two!”

           He heard Penny’s voice as if in a dream.

           He felt, distantly, the weight of Eli- the Monster lift off of his broken, bleeding body. And as if that alone had been the anchor tethering him to the world, he let himself drift away away away -

           Into nothingness.

———————————

           The thing about Goddesses: they had a lot of power. The power to defy physics, to destroy and create natural laws, to spin worlds out of nothing, and even - if they were stubborn enough to anger the librarians of the Underworld - to bring people back from the dead.

           The thing about Julia Wicker: she was stubborn.

           The other thing about Julia Wicker: She was also, as of recently, a Goddess.

———————————

           Quentin woke feeling like what he assumed a cloud might feel like if it wasn’t water but was actually - as he had believed up until embarrassingly late in his elementary school days - a big mound of floating cotton.

           That was what he felt like. A big mound of floating cotton. Strange, considering he had just taken a very long and boring elevator ride only to be greeted by Penny 40 in a suit and subjected to a lengthy conversation about all of the very boring jobs he could get in the Underworld, punctuated with a Penny-like insult that sounded strangely like endearment -

           (“I gotta admit man, you actually look a little less like someone constantly having a panic attack. Is it weird that I sort of miss the Sigourney Weaver haircut?”)

           - and fully expected to be miserable and dead right about now, not feeling like a cloud.    

           So Quentin opened his eyes to see what the fuck, and found he was in the physical kids cottage. He was lying in a bed he’d been in before. Next to it was a chair in which Julia was curled up, fully awake and looking more like an unperturbed statue than a human being.

           Quentin flinched back, rising up to his elbows. His mind scrambled for some kind of protective spell and came up empty and muddled, like he’d been drugged.

           “It’s okay,” Julia said, holding up a hand, and with a sensation like a warm balm spreading over his brain, he knew immediately that it was true. It was okay. He didn’t know how he knew that, only that something flicked on in his head to make him see the truth and the truth was that Julia was Julia again.

           Sort of.

           Quentin relaxed back into the bed. Julia flashed him a thin smile.

           “How did you do that?” he asked. He remembered what had killed him, and his hand reached for his abdomen, but there was no pain and no gaping hole where there should have been. Instead he could feel only a long, thin scar, barely there.

           The fresh knowledge in his head told him that that had also been Julia’s doing.

           “Why waste time trying to convince you I’m me when I could show you?” Julia said. “Does it freak you out?”

           “That you’re a Goddess again?” Quentin’s voice sounded hoarse and toad-like. He cleared his throat. “No. Only that you were watching me sleep.”

           Julia smiled softly. There was an immaculate glow to her that Quentin didn’t remember seeing before, but that was the only change he could perceive. For all intents and purposes, Julia was still Julia. His heart ached happily.

           And then, like someone threw a wrench into his chest, it ached so bad he thought he’d pass out again.    

           He sat up. “Eliot.”

           Julia held out a hand to stop him. “He’s alive.”

           “Is he” -

           She nodded. “The ice axes worked.”

           Relief crashed over Quentin with the force of a tidal wave. He felt tears spring to his eyes as he threw his head back on the pillow. A shaky laugh escaped him.

           The ice axes worked. Eliot was alive.

           He was back.

           And yet, when he looked back to Julia, she was looking away. Her face was solemn, even beyond the stoicism of a Goddess.

           “Jules?” Quentin said. His stomach bottomed out. “Fuck. Is everyone okay?”

           “Everyone’s fine,” Julia said. She flicked her gaze back to his, biting her lip. “It’s just…you died, Q.”

           Quentin shook his head. “But I’m…I didn’t.”

           “But you did.”

           It wasn’t Julia who spoke but Margo, who was suddenly standing in the doorway to his room, leaning her head against the frame. She’d traded her usual glitz and glamour for a sloppy bun on top of her head, leggings, and a long t-shirt that hung off her shoulder. She hugged herself, looking barefaced and tired and so unMargo-like that Quentin had to wonder what the hell else had happened since he’d been gone. Which prompted the question:

           “Wait - how long was I dead?” Quentin asked. (He rolled his eyes a little, because how the fuck did he get to a point in his life where that was an actual, non-proverbial sentence coming out of his mouth?)

           “You were barely cold,” Margo said, shrugging her bare shoulder. “More room temperature.”

           “So that’s good, right?” Quentin flicked his eyes between his friends. “Right?”

           Margo sighed, rolling her neck. She moved reluctantly into the room. Julia glanced over her shoulder, pursed her lips and stood from the chair. She reached over to give Quentin’s arm a squeeze.

           “I’m glad your back, Q,” she said softly. Then, flashing Margo a knowing look, she padded out of the room.

           Margo took over Julia’s chair, exhaling heavily. She fixed Quentin with sharp eyes despite her obvious fatigue. “Okay. Here's the thing, Q. You know Eliot. At this point, I’d even say you know him as well as I do, am I right?”

           “Um,” Quentin started, but Margo just rolled her eyes.

           “I’m right. So you know that he hasn’t slept since he got his body back. You know that he’s avoiding everyone because he thinks they’re scared of him. You know that he’s out there wallowing in his dumbass guilt about supposedly killing you two days ago.”

           “He didn’t” -

           “He thinks he did,” Margo said firmly. “And that’s all that matters, because you know as well as I do that once Eliot believes something about himself, it might as well be gospel.”

           “Wha” - Quentin started, shaking his head. “That’s - that’s stupid.”

           Margo stared for a moment, as if waiting for him to follow up with something a little more eloquent. When he didn’t, she smiled softly. “Amen, ya nerd. It’s fucking stupid. Which is why, when you’re feeling better, you’re going to come with me to visit that boy and show him just how fucking stupid it is.”

           Quentin nodded fervently. “Yes. Yes, okay, fine” -

           Quentin started kicking the sheets off his legs. Margo caught his thigh, and he froze at the bite of her nails.

           “When you’re better,” she pressed.

           “I’m - ugh” - He shuffled upward on the bed and lifted his shirt enough so Margo could see the scar, which looked several years - rather than days - old. “I’m fine.”

           Margo gave him a grave look. “I’m not talking about your stab wound, Coldwater. You might think you’re ready to look Eliot in the face and see only Eliot, but I know from experience that it’s not that easy, okay? If you go in there and you flinch even a little bit, you’ll break his heart. You’ll kill him, Quentin. I’m serious.”

           He knew she was serious. Quentin didn’t think he’d ever seen her so serious in his life, in fact. There was a veil of tears over her eyes, but through them, she looked murderous. Not toward him, really, but toward…toward life, probably. Toward the injustice of it all.

           Quentin understood that sentiment perfectly well.

           But he couldn’t share it now. Not now, when he knew Eliot was alive and back in his body and sitting somewhere not far from here waiting for somebody to recognize him for who he is and always was, Monster or no Monster. Quentin was full of a radiant, burning heat that felt something like hope.

           “Margo, do you remember your wedding day?” Quentin asked, making a decision. He quickly continued when he saw the fresh murder in Margo’s eyes at the mention of that ill-fated day. “I just mean…I sent you a letter. I told you Eliot and I were dead but we’d lived full, happy lives, and that was the truth. We did. For fifty years in another timeline.”

           Margo’s eyebrows raised slightly. Her jaw slackened.

           Quentin swallowed hard. “And I know it’s impossible, but I remember it. I remember…watching myself grow old, and watching Eliot grow older. And then I remember burying him. But…but I was sort of okay with it because it felt fine and right and not grossly premature like how I pretty much assumed all of our deaths would be. And yeah, technically none of it ever happened and most of it is lost on me now, but I just have this sense…this sense of having known everything about another person and feeling sort of complete because of it. And after we got back, when I looked at Eliot again…I knew it was him. I knew that I knew him. It felt sort of like…it felt like coming home.”

           Quentin felt his cheeks burn and his chest tighten. A painful lump formed in his throat. Margo just stared and stared, her eyes flicking back and forth across his face so fast it was like she was reading him.

           Quentin cleared his throat. “Look, I know that doesn’t make any sense” -

           “It does,” Margo breathed, nodding. “It does, Q.”

           Quentin nodded gratefully back. His heart ached. “I guess…I’m just saying that I’ve known Eliot - or, I know I’ve known Eliot - so long and so much that there’s literally no fucking way I could mistake him for anyone else even if they did have his face. So if he’s back, then I’ll know it. I’ll never forget it.”

           He knew he was lying, technically. He knew he’d taken a second too long to realize it was Eliot he was talking to that day in the park when he’d come momentarily back to his body. He knew if he took a second longer, Alice would have hit him with that blood and he would have been gone.

           Yet, at the same time, it felt like the truth. Because didn’t he know? Didn’t he know when Eliot had said his name with that radiant, addictive fucking joy on his face, that it couldn’t have been anyone else? He’d just been too afraid to let himself hope. He’d been too afraid to let himself believe, because if it really had been another of the Monster’s games and the Monster had the ability to become Eliot in a way that convinced even Quentin, then the Monster would have taken everything. Quentin didn’t think he would’ve been able to handle it.        

           So he stood his ground. He told Margo the truth.

           He knew he wouldn’t flinch.

           Margo nodded. “Fuckin’ aye.”

           She slapped her thighs and shot up from her chair, reinvigorated. She pulled the tangle of sheets off of Quentin in one swift movement, and smiled slyly. “Let’s go get our boy back.”

———————————

1 HOUR AND 12 MINUTES EARLIER

           “Blow into this.” Margo implanted herself in front of Eliot where he was curled up on the sofa in Kady's penthouse. She concealed his view of the window, so he had no choice but to look up at her beneath his lashes, his eyes flicking to the device in her hand and back again.

           “You know I don’t blow,” he said, though his quip sounded tired. He hugged his housecoat tighter around himself. “What is that?”

           “Breathalyzer,” Margo said. “If I find that your blood-alcohol levels are below .30 then I’ll know to be worried.”

           Eliot frowned. “Are you encouraging my chronic dipsomania, Bambi?”

           “I’m encouraging you to relax, Eliot,” Margo said, falling onto the couch next to him. She moved his walking cane from where it was leaning on the couch between them, and she shuffled closer, setting the breathalyzer on the coffee table. She sighed, placing a hand on one of the legs tucked under him. “Look. Magic is back in business, Monster Megadick Squared is trapped in a vase, there are no funerals coming up, and as far as we know there are no impending fuckenings at the moment either. So, I’m giving you permission to put your feet up and have a goddamn Mojito.”

           Once upon a time, Margo’s pep talks seemed to infuse Eliot with determination; hardening his spine, lifting his chin and spurring him in the right direction. She prided herself on her ability to get him back in line when he was spiralling out to the sidelines; she was an anchor of sorts, pulling people out of pity parties and drunken stupors like the resident fucking fairy godmother.

           But this time, much to Margo’s chagrin, Eliot only seemed to curl in on himself further, his lips thinning and his eyes hollowing out.

           There was a cold sensation sparking up in her guts that she was trying her best to ignore. It felt a lot like loss.

           But that, of course, didn’t make any sense, considering Eliot was sitting right fucking there.

           Margo was grateful when her phone buzzed in her pocket; a much needed distraction from the glassy, faraway look in Eliot’s eyes and the way he looked so goddamn small despite towering over her as always.

           The text from Julia read: I’m going to wake him up.

           Fucking finally.

           “Well, Julia’s about to wave her big God wand and bring Quentin back to the land of the living,” Margo said. She looked at Eliot’s sallow profile. “Are you going to keep sitting here wallowing or are you going to put some clothes on and come with me?”

           “You go,” Eliot said. “I’ll catch up.”

           “Like hell you’ll catch up.”

           Eliot closed his eyes. His voice was barely above a whisper. “Margo.”

           Margo, feeling her insides grow cold with anxiety, fought back with the flame of rage that was always burning on the surface. She shot up from the couch, blocking Eliot’s view once again. “Don’t get all Margo on me. I mean, Jesus, if you insist on feeling bad about something you didn’t do, then how about doing something you can do about it?”

           A muscle in Eliot’s jaw jumped. He looked up at her, the half-moon bruises under his eyes looking dark blue in the pale afternoon light, and finally, finally, there was something sparking in his eyes other than that vast, terrifying emptiness.

           “What do you want from me, Margo? What exactly do you think I can do about it? People died. Quentin died.” His voice broke on the word, but he swallowed and forged on. “However briefly. Whether we like it or not, I didn’t stop it. I couldn’t get out on my own. They were my hands. Myfucking hands. I couldn’t stop it, and nothing I do now is going to change that.”

           Margo rolled her eyes with her whole head, lifting her arms and letting them slap back against her sides. “Honestly, Eliot, do you think Quentin is going to take that? Our Quentin? If I go over there without you and tell him you’re staying away for his own good, you think he’s just going to nod his big dumb head and accept that? Not fucking likely. In fact, I think that’ll royally piss him off, and I’m not down to be on the receiving end of his nerd rage, okay? Eliot” -

           She sat back down on the couch now, grabbing his face. She cupped his cheeks in her hands and made him look at her, then clenched her teeth. “Eliot. I know this is going to take some time to feel normal again. I get it. Okay? And I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am that I couldn’t get you out sooner. But…but we went to the ends of the goddamn earth to save you. I was on my knees in the dirt for days looking for fucking sand specks smaller than Christopher Plover’s dick to get those axes. Quentin basically annoyed the shit out of everyone he loves because he wouldn’t take any alternative if it meant you dying, and I know for a fact he hardly slept. He hardly said a word to anybody. And I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad El, because I would do it again and again and again and I’d do it with a goddamn smile if it meant you were safe. Same with Q. Hey” -

           Eliot had screwed his eyes shut like he was facing his worse nightmare, and Margo had to shake his head between her hands, her fingers shoving into his hair, to get him to open them back up again.

           “El, I’m telling you this because I need you to remember how much you matter,” she said. “Please. For Christ’s sake, I need you to try.”

           Eliot’s bottom lip trembled, and he bit down on it. His eyes were wide and afraid but still dry as a bone, like something inside him refused to let him feel.

           And then, without warning, he grabbed Margo’s wrist.

           It was, objectively, no more violent and sudden than the kind of touch he would use to get her attention in the past, like when he spotted a student walking across Brakebills campus wearing all beige, or when he sensed a dramatic public breakup between first years and needed Margo to bask in young love with him. It was an urgent, serious touch, but not at all hurtful, not at all threatening.

           And yet, Margo’s heart froze in her chest, and she couldn’t stop her sharp inhale of breath, or the flash of doubt in her mind that she knew had unwittingly shown itself in her eyes as she flinched back from him, her fist curling against his touch.

           Eliot had the crushing look of someone whose suspicions had just been confirmed. His eyelids fluttered. He let go of Margo as if he’d been burned and gathered himself into the opposite corner of the couch, far away from her.

           “That’s not fair,” Margo said, breathless. She shook her head frantically, her eyes burning. “Eliot, you know I’m not - I couldn’t” -

           She couldn't be afraid of him, she wanted to say, but Eliot shook his head.

           “It’s okay,” El said, soft and gentle. “It’s okay, Bambi. But…will you let me know he’s okay? Just make sure Q’s okay.”

           Margo wanted to scream, because there was nothing left for her to say. She was out of honest words except for the question burrowing into her mind like a white hot poker -

           How, when she used her very own strength to banish him, was the Monster still winning?

———————————

PRESENT

           “It’s man-pain central in there already,” Margo said. “So you better not stink the place up with your own sad shit, okay? This is fucking happy hour.”

  ��        Quentin’s heart was pounding hard enough to make his vision spark. “Shouldn’t we, like - I don’t know…warn him? Or something?”

           She gave him a once-over. “Believe it or not, Q, you’re not that intimidating.”

           Quentin rolled his eyes, his arms slapping hopelessly against his sides. “I mean” -

           “I know what you mean, and no. He’ll run away and he’ll keep running, so we’re gonna corner him while he’s injured.” Margo put her hand on the apartment door and looked over her shoulder. “I guess I'm just a bitch like that.”

           Quentin felt himself frowning dubiously, but Margo was convincing enough in her confidence to get him to stand his ground when she opened the door.

           He wanted to freeze outside the threshold; his dry mouth and sweating palms and racing heart begged him run away, because too many things could go wrong here. But he promised Margo - and himself, and Eliot - that he wasn’t afraid. That he wouldn’t flinch.

           But could he keep from flinching if Eliot was more broken than he could have imagined? Could he keep from flinching if Eliot looked at him like he was nothing, confirming what he’d felt for so long? Could he keep from flinching if Eliot just…turned him away?

           He wasn’t sure he could promise that.

           Margo looked back at him. He steeled himself and moved into the apartment after her before she could drag him in. His whole body quaked with nerves.

           “Eliot!” Margo threw her head back and screeched into the apartment.

           “Jesus,” Quentin muttered, his hands flying to his ears.

           She moved to the stairs and called up the length of them, but Quentin caught movement at the corner of his eye, and his stomach flipped.

           Eliot rounded the corner of the kitchen, gripping the wall with one hand and a cane with the other.Quentin’s eyes wandered up the length of him, and how his form, hunched over against the painful pull of his wound, reminded him of the Eliot he once grew old with - except, where that Eliot was still vibrant, this one looked hollowed out. His face was wan, his eyes were darkened with shadows. His hair was long and unkempt. He wore pyjama sweats and a long housecoat, a sliver of his pale chest exposed.

           And yet, Quentin felt as if he was melting into a puddle of relief. His legs all but disappeared from beneath him.

           Eliot’s eyes swept the room, seeing Margo and landing on Quentin.

           He straightened up slowly, his eyes growing wide.

           And fuck, what else was Quentin supposed to do?

           He closed the distance between them and it felt like a mile. Eliot let out a sharp breath of surprise as Quentin reached up to throw himself around him, wrapping his arms around Eliot’s upper back like he’d done so many times before, but this time was different. This time he felt he had to hold on to the man like he was hanging from the height of a 500-foot-tall tree and couldn’t dare let go on pain of splattering on the ground below.

           “Goddamnit,” Quentin said, his tongue a separate, senseless entity from the rest of him. “God fucking damnit I missed you. I can’t even - it’s so good to see” -

           The words were muffled as he shoved his face into Eliot’s shoulder. And yes, Eliot smelled like he needed to bathe, but he didn’t have the metallic tang of blood in his hair or the salty stench of withdrawal or even the factory smell of a new t-shirt with the tag still on the back like the Monster had, as he’d never taken to wearing Eliot’s clothes. Quentin, for one, had never been more grateful for anything in his life. He’d thank the Monster for that one kindness, that was how elated he was, because these clothes…they smelled like Eliot.

           Eliot smelt like Eliot.

           And that was enough for a moment, until he realized with a pang that Eliot wasn’t hugging him back.

           Q forced himself to let go. He fell back on to his heels and peered up at the other man, his whole body from his ears to his toes pulsing with his heartbeat.

           Eliot’s eyes were owlish and shining. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat.

           But he had yet to look at Quentin like he was something other than a ghost come back to haunt him.

———————————

           Whenever Eliot Waugh closed his eyes, he saw himself doing the things the Monster had done and he wondered if he would’ve been able to stop him, had he been more sure that he wouldn’t do those things himself. After all, Eliot had killed before. Several times. Hell, his whole life started when he’d killed Logan Kinear, so it wasn’t far fetched to think he’d do it again. And there were other things too; the little things: how, like the Monster, Eliot hosted the best pity parties. How, like the Monster, he was forever searching for something to complete him. How, like the Monster, he was used to getting his way. Shit, he'd made Todd answer to his middle name just so he could own his moniker alone and uncontested, and the Monster got away with going by the Monster.

           So Eliot couldn’t help but wonder if the Monster would have been so difficult to resist, had he been more unlike himself. They were two peas in a pod. They were - to use the term that the Great Cock had once erroneously applied to someone else -  brothers of the heart.

           Perhaps this was why looking at Quentin Coldwater post-Monster was even more difficult than Eliot had anticipated it would be.

           Q, with his soft, caring eyes and floppy hair and wide, honest smile. Q, who dared to believe when everyone else did not. Q, who stood up for everyone but himself. Q, who, for the life of him, could never hide his emotions from his face and who was currently looking at Eliot like he was the Queen herself come to give him a knighthood.

           When Quentin flung himself onto Eliot, swallowing him up in his arms, Eliot felt his heart shattering to pieces in his chest. There was a piece for how much he’d missed Quentin’s ability to light up the whole world in the very specific way that he did. There was a piece for how much he longed to hold Quentin to him and never let him go for the rest of his life. There was a piece for how guilty he felt for ever being the one to dash Quentin’s hopes like he had on the dais that day, the air around them smelling of peaches and plums. There was a piece for how he wished he’d never entered Quentin’s life, even just to spare him the sleepless nights he’d had in his efforts to save Eliot, of all people. There was a piece for how badly he wished he could be punished for having killed this boy with his own hands, even just for a second, because Quentin was a light that the world couldn't bare to lose right now.

           And there was that large, horrible shard, that selfish piece of him that pierced him deeper than the rest, that loved Quentin beyond what should be allowed.

           The audacity of it left him frozen, unable to breathe.

           When Quentin stepped back, Eliot was strangely devastated by the sudden absence of him.

           “El?” Q said, his eyes flickering with worry. “Hey. It’s - it’s me.”

           Eliot felt Margo’s eyes boring into him from her spot at the foot of the stairs. The gaze felt homicidal. It felt exactly how Eliot felt looking at himself in his memory world, appalled by the inaction of his past self while Quentin bared his soul to him.

           What the hell is wrong with you? His own voice echoed in his head. What the hell are you doing?

           Someone good and true loves you.

           The world came back Eliot like breaking the surface of water. His lungs cleared. His ears rang.

           Someone good and true loves you.  

           He looked at Quentin; at his wide eyes and stuttering chest and the unbreakable hope that still remained in him, and Eliot knew that love was still there. Quentin wasn’t impulsive; he was careful with his words, he was true to what he felt. Quentin loved him, even after everything. Eliot was sure beyond a doubt that he didn’t deserve it, but that wasn’t the point, was it?

           Because while Eliot knew he didn't deserve love right now, he knew that Quentin deserved it all.

———————————

           Quentin thought he might throw up. He was ready to turn and run, to mourn Eliot all over again, because this blank stare wasn’t him. He was there, but he wasn’t, and Q couldn’t handle it much longer.

           And then Eliot took a breath. Almost like he had in that day in the park, he came back to himself, the light returning behind his eyes.

           Slowly - so slowly - Eliot raised his hand to Quentin’s cheek. He brushed his thumb under his eye, his face full of wonder. There was an uncertainty to him that Quentin quelled immediately, putting his hand over Eliot’s and squeezing.

           “Q,” Eliot breathed.

           Yes, Quentin thought, an unspoken answer to his unspoken question. Yes, yes, yes -

           Eliot leaned in, careful as anything. His nose brushed against Quentin's as he lingered infuriatingly longer, until Quentin closed the distance between them, latching on to Eliot’s mouth like scrambling for a lifeline. Quentin felt Eliot wobble, his cane shifting beneath him, and Quentin steadied him with his fingers twisting in the arm of his housecoat, anchoring him back to earth.

           Quentin heard himself make a desperate sound in his throat and would probably be embarrassed about it later, but when Eliot’s hand snaked up to the nape of his neck in response, soft and warm and gentle and so unlike the Monster’s touch, Quentin didn’t regret it.

           It lasted fifty years. It lasted forever.

           When they broke apart, Quentin was dizzy with the lack of oxygen.

           “Fucking finally,” Margo muttered behind them, and Quentin heard her retreating up the stairs.

           Eliot grinned at him, and Quentin grinned back. His heart ached at the familiarity of that smile and how long it had been since he’d seen it.

           “For a second,” Quentin started breathlessly, “I thought you didn’t know who I was.”

           “I didn’t,” Eliot said. His eyes wandered to Quentin’s hairline, and he brushed a stray strand behind his ear, sending a chill up Quentin’s spine. “You got a haircut.”

           Quentin snorted, which made Eliot smile again, and Quentin’s heart leapt even faster than it had been going before. Though he knew, somehow, he’d had this for fifty years already, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to it. He didn’t want to.

           But the part of Quentin that was always going and never resting said, “What do we do now?”

           “Well,” Eliot straightened up, then winced. He propped his shoulder against the nearest wall, waving Quentin off when he tried to help. “I was thinking we could make out for a little bit, if you’re done saving the world for the time being.”

           “Um,” Quentin said. He fumbled over words for a second - then, “Yeah? Yeah.”

           And they did.

           And not for a little bit.

           And while Quentin knew there were a few broken things inside Eliot now that may never be mended, he also knew that he had a special knack for broken things; he figured they would get there in time.

           They just had to start with the small stuff.

#the magicians #queliot #quentin coldwater #eliot waugh #the magicians fanfiction #the magicians 4x13 #my fic #this feels messy but right #yes the title IS very passive aggressive and bitter you're welcome #mine

[crashdevlin]

Hearts Part One of Three

Author’s Note:  Catch up on Geometry here,

Summary: Y/n ends up on the same hunt as Sam and Dean when she reads about a couple who literally ate each other. She’s usually really good at keeping her feelings in check but for some reason she’s rapidly losing control.

Pairing(s): Dean x Reader (mention of past), Sam x Reader, Cas x Reader (slightly), Lucifer x Reader

Word Count: 6411

Story Warnings: 18+ HERE BE SEX, DO NOT READ IF YOU’RE A YOUNG’UN!, fingering, dirty talk, biting, blood play (slight), public groping (slight), dirty alley sex, Famine gettin’ y/n all achy for cock...

You walked up the stairs to the crime scene, smoothing out your dark blue skirt suit. As you approached the door, it opened and Sam walked out, thanking the victim's roommate. You stopped, wondering if you should turn around and run before Sam saw you, but he looked up before you could and smiled. "Hey." He said, closing the gap between you in three gigantic steps.

"Hey." You said, with a polite but nervous smile. "Should've known you guys would be here. It was just too weird to pass up."

"You really are avoiding us, then?" Sam asked, hurt. "I mean, Bobby told us to stop trying to call you, but I thought you were just upset about us leaving you in Carthage."

"It's... not that, Sam. My world is kinda complicated, right now, and I didn't want to add to that."

"Is it because of what Lucifer said when you were in the future?" Sam asked, quietly.

"No. It's because of what he said in Carthage." You whispered. Sam's eyebrows stitched together. "'Cannon fodder'. He called Ellen and Jo and me cannon fodder, and then the Harvelles died. And then, you left me there. It just... seemed like a good time to step back... way back."

Sam sighed and shook his head. "I'm so sorry. We didn't mean to..."

You shook your head at him. "Don't. It's not a huge deal, just needed to get over it. Um... you mind if I tag along for this one? This seems like it's gonna be a good one."

Sam smiled. "Of course. This definitely seems like a good place for a witch. Come on, Dean should be back at the motel by now. Diamond Jack's. I'm gonna stop and grab some burgers. I'll meet you at the motel?"

"Okay." You turned to lead him out of the hallway.

"Hey. You look really nice in that suit, by the way." Sam said, making the effort to walk slowly to keep pace with you in your low pumps.

"Oh, right. I forgot. You guys haven't seen the Scully suit. Yeah, I had to buy this when I started hunting analog."

"Are you hunting analog again?" Sam asked.

You swallowed, the rhythm of your walk faltering. "Um... no. I'm still a witch. I just... stopped bending wills so much."

"I'll meet you at the motel."

"Diamond Jack's, right?"

"Yeah. See you in a few."

*****************************************

You pulled the Charger into the motel parking lot and sat, waiting for Sam to pull the Impala in. You weren't exactly sure why you'd decided to stick around, but something was very appealing about being around the brothers. Your brain pulled you back to what Lucifer said. Stay in bed with Dean. Get in bed with Sam. Your mind was just settling on an image of you blowing Sam while Dean took you from behind as the Impala pulled in next to your Charger. You shook away the thoughts as you climbed out of your car and followed Sam into the motel room. Dean looked up from his spot at the table just inside the entrance.

"Hey. You picked up a witch." Dean muttered. "Must've been hard. What, with her not answering the phone."

"Hey, I'll apologize for ditching your calls if you promise to never leave me behind again, even if you think I'm dead." You said, sitting at the table.

"All right. Promise." He said with a smile.

"All right. I apologize."

"How'd it go?" Dean asked, turning his attention to Sam.

"Um...No EMF, no sulfur. Ghost possession and demonic possession are both probably out."

"Hmm. That's where I was puttin' my money."

"Nope."

Dean rubbed the back of his hands over his eyes. "Well, then, what then? Oh, dude! At the coroners, you didn't see these bodies. I mean, these two started eating a-and they just... kept going. I mean, their stomachs were full. Like, like... Thanksgiving dinner full. Talk about co-dependent." Dean said before taking a sip of his beer.

"Well..." Sam started, taking his seat at the table. "I mean, we got our feelers out. Not much more we can do tonight." Sam sighed and grabbed his laptop. "All right. I'm just gonna go through some files. You can go ahead and get going."

"Sorry?" Dean questioned.

"Go ahead. Unleash the Kraken. See you tomorrow morning."

"Where am I going?" Dean asked.

"Dean, it's Valentine's Day. Don't hold back on my account. Even I know it's your favorite holiday." You said, grabbing a burger from the bag.

"Right. Yeah, what do you call it? Uh, unattached drifter Christmas?"

Dean mouthed the words as Sam spoke them, before standing and turning to the green cooler on the counter. "Oh, yeah. Well... be that as it may..." Dean pulled another beer out and twisted the cap off. "I don't know. Guess I'm not feeling it this year." He threw the cap behind him.

"So, you're not into bars full of lonely women?"

"Nah, I guess not." Dean said, taking a drink of his beer. "What?"

"It's when a dog doesn't eat." Sam said, turning to you. "That's when you know something's really wrong."

"Remarkably patronizing concern duly noted. Nothing's wrong. We gonna work or what?" Dean asked, retaking his place at the table. You rolled your eyes and pulled out your own laptop from your bag.

*******************************************

You looked over at Dean's sleeping form and sighed. You were certain you weren't the reason he'd stayed in on his favorite holiday, but you were kinda wishing you had been. You were really feeling a desire for physical attention. You ran your hand down your face and stood. "You want a beer?" You asked Sam, who was still hunched over his laptop.

He leaned back and stretched. "Yeah. Sounds great, actually. I'm hovering on the edge of incredibly frustrated, so now's a good time to take a break."

"Why don't we pull up a movie on Netflix and call it a night? Dean's already out and we aren't finding anything useful, so let's go lay back on the bed and enjoy ourselves for a little while." Part of you hoped he'd say 'no'. I mean, lying in bed together was about as far away from taking a step back and ignoring everything as possible, but... you really needed to be close to someone right now and Castiel wasn't an option around the guys and Dean was already asleep.

"Sounds good." Sam said, standing with his laptop and grabbing the beer from your hand. You followed him, kicking off your pumps before you climbed into bed next to him. "What do you want to watch?" Sam asked. It felt like he was trying to force it to sound nonchalant. You leaned forward, your hand brushing his leg as you started to scroll through Netflix. Sam took a deep, calculated breath and groaned deep in his chest. "God, you smell good." He said, low and husky.

You swallowed thickly, before turning to Sam. His eyes were dark with lust. He leaned forward and took another deep breath. You reached out and closed the laptop, turning yourself to snuggle against Sam's chest. His hands came to your biceps, pulling you up to meet his face. The look on his face reminded you of how he'd looked at Ruby, and that should have scared you, but instead, it fueled the fire suddenly burning between your legs.

His lips crashed into yours, so roughly that your teeth bit into the inside of your lips. You rubbed her core against him, needing friction, wishing you weren't caged in by clothing. Sam pulled away from the kiss, pushing you backward onto the bed, your head bouncing next to the laptop. His mouth attached to your collarbone, his hands pawing at your breasts. Your hands went to his waistband, pulling the button open and pulling the zipper down. His teeth came down on the crest of your left breast as your hand pushed into his boxers and wrapped around his length. You fought the urge to cry out, acutely aware that Dean was less than five feet away. You focused on Sam, running your hand up and down his dick, enjoying it getting harder and larger under your touch. Sam's tongue snaked out to lick the bite and when he sat up, you noticed a bit of blood on the corner of his mouth.

Your mind flashed to Dean, "Their stomachs were full, like Thanksgiving dinner full". "Wait. We can't... This isn't..." Your words fell away as Sam pushed your skirt up, his fingers ripping through your pantyhose, pushing aside your thong underwear to slide inside of you.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna eat you... unless you ask." He whispered, curling his finger to rub the calloused pad of it against the wall inside.

"More. Sam, please." You whispered.

Sam teased his middle finger down your lips as the first finger began to pump in and out. "You know, your future Lucifer was right. I have been dreaming of this since I saw you at the steakhouse. We went home that night and I had the best wet dream of my teenage life. Dean said you were a lesbian, but when you came over for the party, I knew. You were all flushed..." He added his middle finger and picked up his speed. "... and when Chris sat next to you, started whispering in your ear, I knew you wanted him. And that meant that maybe, one day, you'd want me, too."

"Oh, Sam. Fuck. Don't stop... talking or... just don't."

"When we walked in on you in Campbell, you were wearing that halter top and those low-rise jeans, oh and when you rode off on your Harley... Christina, if I could have taken you on the table at Biggerson's, I would have. Everything about you turns me on, even your scars. Tokens of your strength, symbols that you can't be beaten." His other hand came up to stroke the place on your trachea where the scar was hidden. "I fucked Ruby while I was high on your power and all I could think about was how good it would feel to make you whimper, how it must feel inside you. I thought I hid it so well, how much I wanted you, but Lucifer knows. He dangled you in front of me, promised you to me if I said 'yes'. I told him I could get you eventually, once you let go of Dean, once you realized he was just using you."

You had your eyes closed, the feeling of Sam's fingers sliding in and out of you, the sound of him telling you how much he's wanted you bringing you closer to the edge. Your hand had stilled on his length. It was all you could do to concentrate on keeping yourself quiet. "You feel so good on my fingers, Christina. You gonna feel that good on my dick?"

You moaned in response. A little too loudly, because Dean rolled over at the sound. That movement seemed to break whatever spell the two of you were under. Sam pulled his hand back like it was on fire, and you rolled off the bed, pulling your skirt down once you got there. "Uh.... I'm gonna go take a quick shower." You whispered, before running to the bathroom.

The warm water rolling down your body took the stench of sex with it down the drain and it helped you think straight again. This was a problem. Usually, you could control yourself. Usually, you could keep it in your pants... you'd been able to stay back from Sam since you got back from the future, but that had been out of your control. You just wanted to be full. You felt so empty. You hadn't been with Castiel in several weeks and you couldn't reconcile the feeling of hollow. You wrapped a towel around yourself and smiled when you saw that Sam had left one of his tees on the sink for you.

"Hey." Sam whispered, from his spot on the bed.

"Thanks for the nightgown." You whispered back with a smile.

Sam patted the mattress, pulling the comforter back. "You can go under the blanket, I'll sleep on top. That way, Dean doesn't..."

"Get possessive." You finished, quietly. You pushed into the bed and flipped onto your side. "Sammy... I..."

"Don't. We can talk about this when my brother isn't right next to us." He whispered.

You nodded, settling in to close your eyes and fall asleep. Your dreams spoke to your mental state, flashes of Lucifer and Sam pounding into you, your screams filling the room until Castiel showed up to silence you with his dick. Just as Dean showed up in your dream, Sam shook you awake. "You were... moaning." He whispered, his eyes shooting to Dean's back in the bathroom.

You nodded and sat up. "We got more bodies?" You asked, noticing Sam had put his suit back on.

"Yeah. Another couple."

"They eat each other?" You asked, your hand going to the bite mark on your breast. Sam took a deep inhalation at the movement.

"No. These ones shot themselves. Went a little Romeo and Juliet." Dean said, walking out of the bathroom. "So, uh, you're wearing my brother's shirt, sleeping in my brother's bed. You tryin' to tell me somethin'?"

"You were starfishing." You lied, sitting up and swinging your legs over the side of the bed. "And I didn't want to sleep in my suit. Which is helpful because now it's not wrinkled."

"Yeah, all right. Get dressed." You grabbed your clothes and retreated to the bathroom. You were twisting your hair into a bun when you came back into the main room. Dean's eyes fell to your bare legs. "Where's the hose? You were wearing those cute sheer hose, yesterday."

"Um... I put a hole in 'em when I got undressed last night. Sucks, but... whatever." You lied, stepping into your three inch pumps.

***********

You followed behind Sam and Dean, watching their asses as they walked. A bald man in a black suit passed them, slightly swinging a briefcase. His eyes flicked from Sam to you. Sam took a deep breath, just like he had with you the night before, like he was smelling something delicious. Sam turned his head and followed the man with his eyes.

"You okay?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Sam said.

The ME was cleaning up as they walked into the morgue. "Agent Marley, you just can't stay away."

"Heard you tagged another double suicide." Dean said.

"Well, I just finished closing them up." The doctor said.

"Dr. Corman, this is my partner, Special Agent Cliff." Dean said, gesturing at Sam.

You extended a hand. "Supervisory Special Agent McIntire. It's nice to meet you." You said.

Doctor Corman took your hand and shook it quickly, before shaking Sam's hand. "Agent Cliff, SSA McIntire. I've finished my prelims." He said, moving around them to a coat rack and taking off his lab coat. "I pulled the organ sets and sent off the tox samples."

"Great. You mind if we take a look at the bodies?" Sam asked.

"Not at all. But like I said..." He opened the refrigeration unit. "Their good-n-plenties are already tupperwared."

"Super." Sam said, unhappily.

"Leave the keys with Marty up front." Corman said, tossing the keys to Dean. "And please, agents... refrigerate after opening." He placed his hat on his head and walked out of the morgue.

You stepped forward, pulling the refrigerator open and handing a plastic container to each of the boys. "Ooh, I think I'm gonna take the chick kidneys." You said, grabbing a plastic box of your own and sitting down across from Sam at a sterile steel table. You grabbed a pair of purple nitrile gloves and snapped them on.

Dean smirked over a heart and slid it across the table to Sam. "Hey. Be my Valentine?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second." Sam said, opening the box of the woman's heart. "These hearts both have identical marks. Check this out." He pulled a large lighted magnifier over to the hearts.

"How'd you even see that?" You asked, standing to look at the hearts. "It looks like some kind of letter."

"Oh no." Sam groaned.

"What?"

"I think it's Enochian." You and Sam said, simultaneously.

"You mean like angel scratches? So you think it's like the tagging on our ribs?" Dean asked.

"Dean, I don't know."

"Ah, Hell." Dean said. He walked away from the table as he pulled out his phone and pulled off his glove. "Cas, it's Dean. Yeah, room 31-c, basement level, St. James Medical Center."

You smiled as Castiel popped up in front of Dean. "I'm there now." He said into the phone.

"Yeah, I get that." Dean said.

"I'm gonna hang up now."

"Right." The guys both put their phones away at the same time and turned to the table.

"Hi, Cas." You said, breathy. You looked down, embarrassed, as Sam raised an eyebrow at you.

"Um, we've got these two hearts. They both have these marks on them. Might be Enochian. Can you take a look?" Sam asked.

Castiel walked over and picked up one of the hearts, not bothering with a glove. "You're right, Sam. These are angelic marks. I imagine you'll find similar marks on the other couples' hearts, as well."

"So, what are they? I mean, what do they mean?" Sam asked.

"It's a mark of union. This man and woman were intended to mate." Castiel put the heart back into its box and flicked the blood off of his fingers.

"Okay, but who put 'em there?" Dean asked.

"Well, your people call them 'Cupid'."

"Uh, what?" Sam asked.

"I remember this." You breathed. The men of the room turned to you as you stood, suddenly very hot, but trying to power through whatever was wrong with you. "Um... what human myth has mistaken for 'Cupid' is actually a lower order of angels. Technically, it's a cherub, right, Cas, third-class?"

"Cherub?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, they're all over the world. There are dozens of them." Castiel answered. "How do you know that?"

"I... looked up everything about angels when you sprung Dean from Hell. Remember?"

"Wait, you mean the flying fat kid in diapers?" Dean asked.

"They're not incontinent."

"Okay, anyway. So, what you're saying..." Sam started.

"What I'm saying is a Cupid has gone rogue and we have to stop him... before he kills again."

"Naturally." Sam said, incredulously.

"Of course we do."

"Sounds good to me." You said, staring at Castiel. You pulled out your phone and quickly tapped out a text. Castiel pulled his phone from his pocket and shot a look at you. "You guys go ahead. I have to hit the ladies room." You said, before heading out of the room.

"I have to find the Cupid. I will call you... when I... find it." Castiel said, before disappearing.

Castiel was in the restroom before you opened the door. You locked it behind you and wrapped your arms around his neck. "Are you..." He pulled away from you. "What is this?"

"Babe... I haven't... Cas, babe, I've missed you. And I'm just so... horny. Please." You begged, quietly.

"I don't feel this is an appropriate time for..." Castiel began but stopped when your hands grabbed at his belt. His hand came down on yours. "Stop. This isn't the time. It's like before we went to Carthage." His voice was harsh, hard like a parent scolding a child.

You stepped back, feeling stung. "Right. Not the.. not the time." You whispered to yourself, before walking out of the bathroom.

*********************

You felt that Dirty Devil's Nightclub seemed more restaurant than nightclub, but you weren't going to complain. You couldn't concentrate enough to. To say that you were horny was the biggest understatement of your life. You'd been wet for hours, your pussy was literally aching by this point. Sitting at a table in a bar with hearts and Cupids hanging from the ceiling, so close to Dean and Castiel, it was making you nostalgic for your shed by the river. But then, there was Sam. Sweet, gigantic Sam. Sam could probably slide right into you without prep, how wet you were. You had ordered a steak, but as the waitress set the food down, you were much more interested in the hunk next to you than the hunk of meat on the table.

"So, what, you just happen to know he likes the cosmos at this place?" Dean asked.

"This place is a nexus of human reproduction. It's exactly the kind of, of garden the Cupid will come to, to pollinate." Castiel seemed as distracted by Dean putting ketchup on his burger as Sam seemed by your hand creeping up his thigh. It took him a minute to realize that Dean had pushed his plate away from him.

"Wait a minute. You're not hungry?" Sam asked.

"No." Dean said, nonchalantly. "What? I'm not hungry."

"Then, you're not gonna finish that?" Castiel asked, grabbing the plate.  As he went to take a bite, Castiel noticed a couple across the room. "He's here."

"Where? I don't see anything." Sam said.

"There." Castiel said, looking pointedly at a couple that had just begun to kiss.

"You mean, the same-side-of-the-booth couple over there?" Dean asked.

"Meet me in the back." Castiel said, before disappearing.

Dean shrugged and headed for the back and you sighed deeply before standing. "You're gonna have to keep your hands to yourself, Christina. Neither of us are going to be able to concentrate if we've got our minds in the gutter." Sam whispered as he stood and pulled on the front of his slacks.

"Sweetheart, I'm trying. Just... having issues with that... since last night." You whispered back, as you walked into the back room.

"Cas, where is he?" Sam asked, looking around the room.

"I have him tethered. Zoda Kama Mahrana. Manifest yourself." He ordered, his hand hanging in the air. He turned his head, looking for the cupid.

"So, where is he?" Dean asked, before a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind lifting him up in a hug.

"Here I am!"

"Help!"

"Oh, help is on the way. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Hello, you!" The cupid dropped Dean and walked over to Castiel.

"Naked angel." You mumbled, closing your eyes against the rush of heat between your legs. "Naked angel. Fuck, what's wrong with me?" You rubbed a hand over your face, then pushed past Sam, walking out into the main restaurant. You sat down at the table and started to cut into your steak. Something was wrong. Desperately wrong. Maybe another witch hit you with a lust spell or something. Maybe it had something to do with the way Crowley put you back together, or maybe it was Lucifer's fault. Whatever the actual problem, it was definitely a problem.

"What's up?" Sam asked several minutes later, walking up from the back.

"I'm compromised." You muttered.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I just... I am having some issues with... everything. I can't think straight."

"Because of last night?" Sam asked, his voice low as he eyed Dean through the bay window at the front of the bar. Dean wrenched the driver's door open and flopped into the front seat of the Impala.

"I think last night might've been a symptom, not the cause."

Sam sat down next to you. "What are you saying?"

"I think maybe I got hit by some sort of... mojo. A lust spell or something. I drank a potion like this once... but this is way worse." You whispered, thinking back to the party when you were seventeen.

"So, you think last night was... the result of... supernatural interference?" His voice was sad.

"Sam... I... I don't know. I just know that... I feel out of control. I'm usually very good at keeping this shit to myself."

"What? Keeping what shit to yourself?" Sam asked, quietly.

"Sam... It's hard to... look, I..." You closed your eyes and tried to clear your mind. "I can't think right now, but I need you to know that I... whatever this is, it's not the reason I wanted you, it's just the reason I let myself do anything about it."

"So... you've thought about it before?" Sam whispered, hopefully.

"Of course, but... can we talk about this some other time?"

"Yeah. We're gonna head back to the motel. You coming?"

"I'll meet you there." You whispered, opening your eyes. Sam nodded and walked toward the door.

******************************

You pulled five candles out of your trunk and climbed onto roof of your Charger. You placed the candles evenly around you and lit them. "Termatisteí aftí i lagneía." You chanted, over and over. You sighed as a wave of cool energy washed over you and the candles blew out. You slid down the windshield and grabbed your candles, tossing them into your back seat.

Sam walked out of the motel room and smiled at you. "You okay?"

"I'm better. Took a little magic, but... better. Can we talk now?"

"Actually, I was just on my way back to the hospital. Dr. Corman called with another weird death. We can talk after."

"Okay." You said, pulling open the passenger side door of the Impala and getting in.

********************************************

"You said you wanted to hear about any other weird ones." Dr. Corman said, leading you into the morgue.

"Okay."

Dr. Corman pulled back the sheet over the body to reveal a hairy man with a severely distended belly. "Lester Finch. Pulled his records. Looks like this gentleman used to weigh 400 lbs or so, 'til he got a gastric bypass, which brought down his weight considerably. But then for some reason, last night, he decided to go on a Twinkie binge."

"So, he died from Twinkie overload?" You asked.

"Well, after he blew out the band around his stomach, he filled it up 'til it burst. When he could no longer swallow, he started jamming the cakes down his gullet with a... with a toilet brush, like he was ramrodding a cannon."

Sam pulled at the collar of his shirt. "So, what do you make of it?"

"I'd say that it was a very peculiar thing to do." The doctor said, before taking several gulps from a shiny metal flask.

"We're gonna take this report with us." You said, taking one last look at Lester Finch before walking out of the room.

Sam followed you out, dialing Dean on his cell. He put it on speaker and held the phone up as you stopped and turned around. "Hey. So, uh, this guy was not marked by Cupid, but his death is definitely suspicious."

"Yeah, well, I just went through the police blotter and, counting him, that's eight suicides since Wednesday and nineteen ODs. That's way out of the seasonal batting average."

"Yeah, if there's a pattern here, it ain't just love. It's a hell of a lot bigger than we thought." Sam said, his hand going to rub his temple.

"Yeah, all right. I'll see you in 10."

"Yeah, okay." Sam said, hanging up. He turned his head and focused on the entrance of the medical center. The bald man in the suit was walking out, another briefcase in hand.

"Sammy, you okay, sweetheart?" You asked. Sam didn't answer, his eyes focused on the bald man as he walked toward an alley. You followed behind as Sam rushed to the other end of the alley to get ahead of the man. Your eyes widened as he pulled out the Kurdish knife.

Sam rushed the man, pushing him into the alley wall and putting the knife to his neck. "I know what you are, damn it!" He brought the knife up and cut the man's cheek, causing his eyes to go black and the skin there to burn. "I could smell you."

"Winchester." The demon said it like it was an accusation. Sam seemed to lose focus, his breath coming in short. The demon seemed to notice, pushing against the large hunter and swinging the briefcase at his head. Sam jumped backward, slashing at the demon with the knife. He got the demon in the arm, who screamed in pain as he dropped the briefcase. Sam rared back to stab the demon, but he ran out of the alley at full speed. He took several deep breaths. He looked down at the knife in his hand, covered with the demon's blood. You could see the desire in his eyes, and he seemed to recognize it himself, because he turned to the dumpster beside him and grabbed a piece of newspaper, using it to wipe the blood off of the blade and throwing it on the ground.

"Sammy? Sweetheart?"

"I'm okay. Let's just... get this briefcase back to the motel." Sam said, bending down to pick up the case.

***********************************************

"What the hell does a demon got to do with this, anyway?" Dean asked, looking down at the briefcase. You rubbed your eyes. Your magic lust fix was starting to wear off and you were on edge just being in the room with the Winchesters.

"Believe me, I got no idea." Sam answered.

Dean examined Sam's face. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be all right." Sam answered.

"I'm fine, too. Not that anyone cares." You said, irritably.

"Oh-kay." Dean shot a look at you, before focusing on the briefcase. "Let's crack her open. What's the worst that could happen, right?"

"Wonderful idea." You mumbled, sitting at the table and leaning your head on your hand. Each brother took one part of the lock and clicked it open. A blinding light erupted from the briefcase. "Holy-"

"Whoa!"

"What the hell was that?!"

"It's a human soul." Castiel's voice came to them from the area by the window. You perked up again at the sound of his voice. "It's starting to make sense." He finished, before taking a bite of his burger.

"Now, what about that makes sense?" Sam asked.

"And when did you start eating?"

"Exactly. My hunger, it's a clue, actually."

You stood, walking toward them. "For what?" The brothers asked as you pushed between them.

"This town is not suffering from some love-gone-wrong effect." He walked forward, stopping a few feet in front of them. "It's suffering from hunger. Starvation, to be exact. Specifically, famine." Castiel explained.

"Famine?" You asked, your voice going a bit high. Castiel nodded.

"As-as in, the Horseman?" Sam asked.

"Great. Th-th-that's freaking great." Dean complained.

"I thought famine meant starvation, like, as in, you know, food." Sam gestured at Castiel's burger.

"Yes. Absolutely. But not just food. I mean, everyone seems to be starving for something. Sex, attention, drugs, love..."

"Well, that explains the puppy-lovers that Cupid shot up." Dean said, as you closed your eyes again. Famine. Your famine was sex? No wonder your spell hadn't lasted very long.

"Right. The cherub made them crave love and then Famine came and made them rabid for it."

"Okay, but what about you?" Dean asked, stepping toward Castiel. "I mean, since when do angels secretly hunger for White Castle?"

"It's my vessel, Jimmy. His, uh, appetite for red meat has been touched by Famine's effect."

"So, Famine rolls into town and everybody goes crazy?" You asked, still not opening your eyes.

"And then will come Famine riding on a black steed. He will ride into the land of plenty, and great will be the Horseman's hunger, for he is hunger. His hunger will seep out and poison the air. Famine is hungry. He must devour the souls of his victims." Castiel quoted.

"So, that's what was in the briefcase? The Twinkie dude's soul?"

"Lester Finch." You mumbled.

"Lucifer has sent his demons to care for Famine, to feed him, make certain he'll be ready."

"Ready for what?" Sam asked, his eyes flicking to you, still standing next to him with your eyes closed.

"To march across the land."

You opened your eyes and took a deep breath. "I need a drink."

"What, is your famine booze?" Dean asked.

You scoffed. "My famine is most definitely not booze." You said, pulling a beer from the cooler as Sam walked into the bathroom and turned on the sink.

"Famine?" Dean asked, turning to Castiel.

"Yes." Castiel responded with a mouth full of cheeseburger.

"So, what, this whole town is just gonna eat, drink and screw itself to death?" Sam asked from the bathroom doorway.

"How do you screw yourself to death? Like, I mean, how does a healthy, normal person... assuming you and your partner don't go all cannibal erotica in the middle of it?" You asked, breathlessly. Dean shook his head at you.

"We should stop it."

"Yeah, that's great idea. How?"

"How did you stop the last Horseman you met?" Castiel asked.

Dean walked over to his jacket on the coat rack and pulled out the ring. "War got his mojo from this ring. And after we cut it off, he just tucked tail and ran. And everybody that was affected, it was like they woke up out of a dream. You think Famine's got a class ring, too?"

"I know he does."

"Well, okay. L-let's track him down and get to chopping." Dean suggested.

You looked around the room. It made sense. How you were feeling, this desire to fuck everything. All you wanted was to put each of these men inside of you. You flooded with heat at the thought of taking all of them at the same time. You gave a final look around the room, before putting your beer on the table and walking out of the motel room. You ran to a quiet alleyway to the right of the room and took a deep breath of cold dumpster-tainted air. "Okay. So... Sex-crazed witch needs someone to fuck her senseless. I need someone who won't be affected. Someone who won't go to far, someone I can't go too far with. Calling him when Sam and Dean..." Their names came out as a moan. "Oh, fuck it! Lucifer, I've been touched by Famine's effect and I need you. Now." You prayed.

"The words every man loves to hear from the mouth of a beautiful woman." Lucifer said, appearing behind you. You were on him in a second, your left hand pulling his head down for a kiss and your right hand going to the button of his jeans. He pulled back so you could breathe. "Your famine is sex? You don't get enough of that from Dean and Castiel?"

"Uh-uh. You said, last time, you said no questions. Just show up and fuck the hell out of me. I need that, now."

"And when they come looking for you?"

"I will deal with that, Lucifer. Just fuck me. I can barely think. I need someone in me, and it needs to be someone Famine won't touch."

"What I hear, Famine hasn't gotten to Dean. Why call me?"

"Because he's not hungry for anything right now. And I'm not a cheeseburger, so, Cas won't give me the time of day. Sam would drain me dry of my demon-laced blood before I ever got to cum and right now, I really need to cum. Please, Lucifer. Just fuck me." You begged in a harsh whisper.

Lucifer smirked, leaning down to put a hand behind each of your knees and lift you, pressing your back into the wall as your legs wrapped tight around his waist. Your skirt pushed up to your waist as Nick's jeans fell to the gravel at his feet and he slid inside you, easily. The moan that fell from your mouth was unnatural and it forced a chuckle from Lucifer. As he began to pound into you, your back scraping against the brick every time his hips met yours, he bent his head next to your ear. "Are your boyfriends not satisfying you, Christina?"

An orgasm rolled across your body at the sound of his voice. It was relief only for a second, but the need was back almost immediately. "No. Cas is... too busy... looking for God. And De... fuck." Your hands went to his shoulders, nails digging into his shirt. "Harder... please." You whined.

"Y/n!" Dean's voice called, likely from the door of the motel room.

"Don't stop." You whispered, your hands going to Lucifer's face, changing Nick's features as another orgasm rolled, uselessly, across you.

Dean stepped to the edge of the alley as Lucifer leaned his head forward to take your earlobe between his lips. "Y/n, what the fuck?!"

"Dean, just... ah, go! Find Famine. Fix this. Oh my god, right there."

"Your Famine is sex? Really?!" Dean shouted, starting down the alley.

"That's what I said." Lucifer whispered in your ear as Dean walked, face first, into an invisible barrier.

"Dean, go. You aren't getting over here. You can't stop me."

"I can chain you up with Sam!"

"What, so Sam and I can attack each other? No, just go end this!"

"Y/n/n, this is- you don't even know this guy!" Dean's fist thudded against the barrier.

"Go away, Winchester! You're wasting time!" You shouted. "I don't know how long before this consumes me, I need you to go."

Dean punched the barrier again, then stalked angrily out of the alley. Lucifer pulled his head back, catching your eyes. "An invisible wall and a glamour. Clever girl. You think he can hurt my Horseman?"

"Hnnnn, I know he can. I know he can. Oh, my... fuck! More, I need..."

"Shh. It's okay. Let's go." Lucifer whispered as he pulled out of you and suddenly the alley was replaced by a motel room. He dropped you onto the bed and snapped his fingers, causing your clothes to disappear. "Hands and knees, dear."

You flipped over without protest, propping yourself up on your hands and knees. Lucifer grabbed your hips and slid you backward to the edge of the bed, entering you in one swift movement. He leaned forward and grabbed a fistful of your hair, yanking your head backward as he hammered his hips forward.

"You feel amazing, so wet." Lucifer whispered.

You moaned, another useless orgasm hitting you. "You're making it worse."

"I'm not here to make it better, Christina. I'm just here to enjoy the effect."

#cassie writes stuff #spn #spn fanfic #sam/reader #reader-insert #lucifer/reader #famine

[askdawnandvern]

So this chapter marks a turning point in the story, as well as the finally portion of the seemingly endlessly expanding girls night. This chapter essentially puts the final pieces in place in order for the story to start to hit the final plunge. I'm hoping this means everything will start to flow a bit faster from here on out. I've also taken stock of a rough estimate of how many chapters remain, and how long that would take based on my current posting trend and I realized i'm going to have to do my damndest to up my writing speed so I can get this finished before Summer time. And so I intend to do that so that LAW can conclude satisfyingly and so that I may move on to other projects. I also want to take the time to thank commenter Guillermo for pointing out that Hyena species actually branched off of the feline family, not the canid family. I had received the message a while back, and decided rather than redoing all the previous entrees to correct them, I would end up having Ada adress it in the chapter and correct it going forward. Thank you for the helpful comment. I'd also like to thank my backers for thier continued support and suggestions. With their help going over the story chapters before posting we've got the spelling errors and mistakes down to probably the smallest margin possible. One more thing to note, this chapter contains use of the technical terms for various parts of the female and male anatomy, just giving you the heads up if you are put off by that sort of thing. And if you'd like early access to chapters and access to other perks you can check out My Patreon. www.patreon.com/wastedtimeee

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A LAMB AMONG WOLVES

Chapter Thirty: Girls Night: Self Reflection

"I was completely bare from the waist up." The ewe continued, her voice trembling slightly as she spoke." I was shaking like a leaf, shivering with every breath as I stared back up into those shimmering deep green eyes of his. His looming form just shuddering as his hungry eye's scanned over every inch of me." Dawn sighed, the blush on her muzzle growing deeper. “He was breathing just as heavy as I was, and every few moments I could see his tongue just…tracing his muzzle…” Dawn cooed. “Lapping at the edges of his maw as he watched over me…”

The other girls were practically surrounding Dawn now, the ewe cocooned between the massive tigress, the chubby wolf, and the diminutive fox all. All of them squeezed tightly up against her as they focused their attention on the ewe. They were each sporting light blushes of their own, with Qali burying her muzzle into a pillow she was clutching for dear life as she watched Dawn intently. Dawn had been weaving quite the tale, and by now, all the Hunter girls had become ensnared by her lurid retelling of her first time with Vernon.

Ada, while not on the same mattress, was practically hanging off of her own bed as she listened intently, a satisfied grin never leaving her muzzle as she watched.

“And I felt like I was on fire…” Dawn continued, rubbing her upper arms with her hooves. “Like there was electricity just shooting through me, burning a hole through me. I wanted him so badly I could barely stand it.”

The ewe adjusted her frames slightly, a smirk crawling across her muzzle.

“Yet despite everything, all the rushing hormones and emotions, I had this one…ridiculous nagging thought.” Dawn shook her head dismissively.

“What was it!?” Qali chirped, practically leaping forward as she spoke.

“Despite everything, now that my top was off, a part of me couldn’t help but be worried that my breasts were too small…”

The girls erupted into uproarious laughter, Qali practically rolling off the bed as Vanna pounded a paw against her pillow. Ada’s trademark hyena cackle was out in full effect as the large hyeness rolled onto her back, howling with laughter. And Malcolm held his stomach in pain as he wheezed out laugh after laugh.

Dawn was kicking her legs wildly as she erupted into a giggle fit of her own, the ewe delighting in just how hard she had made her new found sisters laugh. So far, aside from the picnic, the impromptu slumber party with the Hunter girls had quickly become the highlight of her night. It was certainly doing wonders in regards to keeping her thoughts away from the argument she had with Dorian earlier that evening. The wolf’s bitter, hateful screed still weighed on the ewe certainly, and Dawn knew it would be impossible to fully shake the decisive and hurtful decision regarding her place among the Hunter pack from her mind for the remaining portion of the trip. But for now, the joy and revelry had easily drowned it out, keeping her thoughts about the icy white wolf down to little more than a muffled whisper in the back of her mind.

“Oh gods, I know just what you mean!” The fox attempted to cut through the groups giggling. Qali did her best to stifle her own laughter as she struggled to add her two cents to the conversation. The diminutive fox managed to right herself while keeping her arms fastened tightly around the pillow she was holding, turning her gaze back toward to mass of mammals at the head of the bed.

“The first time when Trenny and I were…you know…” Qali let out another giggle as a blush formed on her muzzle. “Intimate.” The fox bobbed her eyebrows suggestively, speaking the word in a hushed and secretive tone before returning to her usual chirpy candor. “I felt exactly the same way!”

Dawn smiled widely at the petite fox. “Really?”

Qali gave a brisk, rapid nod before leaning back in closer to the other girls. Now lying on the pillow she had previously been strangling, the fox rested her head on her paws.

"Oh yeah." Qali continued. "We had been seeing each other for about a month when things just…escalated," Qali said with a smirk.

“’Escalated huh?” Malcolm said, forming a wry grin of his own.

Qali giggled. “We had just gotten back to his apartment after dinner, and just pounced on each other!” The fox wrapped her arms around her pillow again, squeezing it as tightly as before. “Well…more like I pounced on him and felled him like a Fraser Fur!”

“I’m surprised dat fella can even keep up witch youse.” Ada said with a laugh. “Is dat why he always seems so worn out?”

“That’s just Trenton's personality," Vanna interjected, emitting a low chuckle of her own.

Qali rolled her eyes slightly. “Oh believe me, that wolf has no problems keeping up. I think Trenny could put a hare in heat to shame if given the chance.” The fox flashed the hyena a smug grin. “And thanks to all that training for his job he’s…well he’s got the muscles to back it up.”

The fox let out an amorous sigh, fluttering her eyelids as a dreamlike stare overtook her features. It was short lived however, as a wince quickly replaced her pleasant smile, and her ears sagged mournfully. "And that's when I started to get nervous."

“Oh?” Dawn asked.

Qali gave a sluggish nod, seemingly uneasy as she recalled her emotional state from that night. “I remember I had finally managed to claw his shirt off.” Qali chuckled weakly. ”I had to practically crawl up him to do it, but I had finally managed to get it off of him.”

“That’s better than my first attempt," Dawn said with a laugh. "Vernon had to take his own shirt off; he was just too tall for me to manage it on my own.”

Dawn’s admission elicited another short burst of giggles from the group.            Qali seemed to squeeze her pillow tighter as her blush deepened. “Now I had never seen Trenny with his shirt off, so I was super eager to unwrap that candy bar.” Qali smiled warmly. “And when I finally got a look at what was underneath…well…”

“How was it?” Vanna asked.

Qali waved a paw at herself, as if fanning away a building heat. “Whew…” Qali panted softly. “That wolf was cut.” Qali lapped at her muzzle slightly as the dreamy look returned to her face. “Like, I could just make out the muscles under his fur. It was better than I could have possibly imagined.” The diminutive fox raised her paws, clasping her fingers repeatedly as if she were grabbing the air. “Part of me just wanted to run my pads up and down those abs for the rest of the night!”

“So when do we get to da bad part?” Ada said chuckling. “Cause youse are startin’ to confuse me here, are you complainin’ that your mate is jacked?”

Qali sat up, briskly shaking her head no and waving her paws out defensively. “Oh no! Not at all!” Qali asserted before slumping back down against her pillow. “I definitely loved what I saw, believe me!” The fox flashed a weak grin. “I was practically drooling.”

           "I don't know about that..." Vanna muttered.

           Qali let out a slight huff. "Please, I'd like to think I have some kind of self-control."

           "Was huh?" Ada asked with a smirk. "Sure you wasn't literally droolin'?"

Qali opened her mouth seemingly to retort, but Dawn was quick to interject.

"But it made you self-conscious about yourself?" Dawn asked, seeming to pick up what the arctic fox was getting at.

Qali clutched the pillow close to her chest, squeezing it as if she were trying to cover herself.

“I-I’m not the most voluptuous vixen out there…” Qali sighed. “I don’t have plump swaying hips, and I’m flat as a board.” The petite fox frowned. “I felt like I didn’t have anything to…” Qali paused, seemingly trying to find her words. “Really offer Trenny in the physical department.”

The little fox sat straight up; releasing the pillow she had been holding and allowing it to fall into her lap. The usually jovial and peppy fox seemed to take on a rather serious expression, something the ewe would have had a hard time picturing on her if it weren't for the fact she was seeing it.

"I don't know how much you guys know about foxes," Qali said. "I mean about how most mammals tend to see them.”

“Sneaky, shifty, sly, sweet-talkin’ types dat are neva to be trusted," Ada said sarcastically. “You guys have it pretty rough.”

“And that's just the boys," Qali said sadly. "I mean, it's something all foxes deal with when it comes to how other mammals see us. But those are usually the first thoughts that come to mind when most mammals think of your average tod."

Dawn nodded knowingly. She had heard and accumulated her own poorly thought out misconceptions in her early years with foxes, just as she had with wolves. Of course, with her rehabilitation, as well as her reconnection with Judy she had developed a greater understanding as to the pressure those ideas place on the species at large. Judy had a second-paw account of just some of the struggles that foxes had to go through in their day to day life, and how Nick had folded under the cruelty of others to resign himself to accepting the role that society had decided for him with gusto. But when it came to vixens, the ewe knew less of what struggles they faced. Val was the only vixen Dawn could say she somewhat knew, and the vixen remained enigmatic to pretty much everyone around her.

“For all the flak foxes get, vixens experience a different sort of stereotype.”  The diminutive fox lolled her head as she began what almost seemed like a well-rehearsed list. “Where tods are always sneaky and agile, vixens are expected to be svelte and graceful. Where tods use their charisma to get by, vixens use their charm and beauty.” Qali raised her paws up. “Vixens have practically become the standard of beauty when it comes to the canid society. The pinnacle of predatory grace and style."

The diminutive vixen’s paws flopped to her sides lamely.

“I can’t even count how many vixen actresses there are, and models?” Qali rolled her eyes. “Forget about it, they practically dominate the fashion world.”

The tiny fox put her hands on her hips, letting out a huff of air in order to shift her draping fur coif out of her eye.

"The public expects vixens to be these busty, curvy, and infectiously charming mammals." Qali huffed. "And we aren't built like that. Our species was built to be thin, lean and agile!" The arctic fox waved a paw toward herself, gesturing down her tiny form. "Barely any body fat to spare!"

“Well, I don’t think its any secret that all that glitzy stuff is all Howlywood hocus pocus and airbrushin’," Malcolm said reassuringly. "Out where I'm from it's hard to find a mammal that ain't had some form o' plastic surgery."

"And that's the problem," Qali muttered, her ears sagging as she slackened her stance. "The way other mammals see us feeds back into fox culture, and puts pressure on us to conform to that image, with other vixens looking down their snout at those who aren't as svelte and voluptuous." The fox sighed. "We end up policing ourselves, forcing each other to live up to this stupid image that vixens like Maid Marian, Veronica Leash, Marilyn Murrnroe unintentionally cut out for us."

Qali dragged a finger around the edge of her coif, once again trying to shift it out of her eye only for it to quickly slip back into place.

"When my sisters and I were little kits, growing up and seeing these other vixens on TV, we were mesmerized.” The fox let out a sad sigh. “I know I was." Qali placed a paw on her forehead. "They were so elegant and so pretty, and I would think ‘Wow, I can’t wait to grow up and be just like them.

Qali slumped back down against her pillow, hugging it tightly against herself as she let out a soft whine.

“Then I grew up and realized that I was never going to look like them.” The fox buried her muzzle into the pillow, hiding her face. “That almost all vixens don’t look that way without extensive surgery, and yet that’s what most mammals just ‘expected’ me to look like. That's what most other foxes 'thought' I should look like."

Vanna reached a paw out toward the diminutive fox, placing it gently on her back and rubbing it softly.

“I’m sorry Qali.” Vanna cooed softly.

"Me too," Dawn added. "That sounds like a terrible precedent to live under.”

The fox poked her head up slightly from its resting place deep within the pillow, eyeing the nearby mammals with sad, glossy eyes.

"I-its fine," Qali muttered. "I mean I-I try not to think about it you know?"

The girls shared a nod at the fox’s question.

“But when I was suddenly staring down Trenny’s delectable, sculpted body…” Qali uttered with a smirk. “Something that was supposed to be exciting and titillating…” The fox chuckled weakly. “and yet suddenly I was feeling scared because I realized he was going to see me naked too.”

“So what didja do?” Ada asked, the hyeness leaning off the edge of her bed as her attention remained fixed on the fox.

“I tell you, I’ve never moved more slowly in my life.” Qali laughed. “I did everything I could to delay taking my shirt off, and when it finally came down to Trenny being forced to do the job for me I quickly covered myself up with my arms and refused to move them.” Qali shook her head dismissively. “Trenny had to spend five minutes trying to convince me to stop covering my chest.” Qali chuckled. “I wanted to keep going, but at the same time I didn’t want him to be disappointed.”

“I find it hard to believe he’d be disappointed.” Malcolm chuckled. “I mean, it ain’t like you were stuffin’ yer bra, he must have had some inkling of what to expect.”

“I know it made no sense!” Qali chirped, sitting back up. The fox pulled her pillow close to her again. “But I couldn’t help it! I was so nervous! I wanted Trenny to like what he saw!”

"Irrational fears are just that," Dawn added, recalling some of her therapist's wisdom. "Even if you know there shouldn't be anything to fear, you can't help yourself."

Qali nodded briskly. “Exactly!” The fox let out a soft whine. "I was so worked up I had to close my eyes and grit my teeth before I was able to muster the strength to force my arms to my sides," Qali said, dramatically forcing her arms to her sides as her pillow fell back into her lap. The room fell silent briefly in the wake of the fox's sudden gesture, her eyes snapped shut as if she were reliving the moment.

“So…” Ada broke the silence, quirking an eyebrow.” How was the reveal?”

The diminutive fox developed a sudden fierce blush, and soon enough she had buried her muzzle back into her pillow. Her eyes darted from mammal to mammal as she wiggled her muzzle against the fabric as tightly as she could, seemingly too bashful to retell exactly what was said.

“P-perfect…” Qali cooed softly.

“What was dat?’ Ada asked, placing a paw to her ear as she leaned over the gap between the beds.

"He said they were perfect," Qali muttered loud enough to hear before burying her face completely into her pillowcase.

That managed to draw a chorus of ‘Aww’s’ from the collective group of girls, forcing the fox to bury herself deeper into the pillow.

Dawn placed a hoof to her heart as she felt it skip a beat. Vernon had said the same thing when she had been lying bare before him, with nothing but pure love and adoration in his eyes.

“T-that’s what Vernon said to me…” Dawn sighed warmly as she recalled their first night.

The fox perked up from her hiding place, flashing the ewe a look of shock before developing a warm smile of her own.

Another chorus of pleasant sighs rippled through the Hunter girls, Malcolm going so far as to clasp his paws to his chest in admiration of the two mammals similar romantic tales.

"Boy, looks like doze boys been reading from da same playbook huh?” Ada said with a chuckle.

Vanna let out a chuckle of her own. “Well Dorian may be as stubborn as an Ox, but he did manage to raise some real Gentlemammals.”

"Yuri excluded," Qali said with a grin.

Ada grimaced sharply. “Hey, I told yas, he can be a real sweet guy!” The hyeness protested. “Ya just don’t see trew him like I do!”

"Maybe I need a better prescription," Dawn said, taking her glasses off and pretending to inspect them with a chuckle. Dawn’s little act managing to earn a few laughs from the other Hunter girls.

Ada let out a scoff, crossing her arms defensively. “Alright fuzz butt, watch yourself or I’ll make sure you’ll end up needin’ more den glasses!”

Dawn chuckled, taking a moment to inspect her glasses before reluctantly sliding them back on to her face.

“Please, these are bad enough to have to deal with," Dawn muttered, letting out a soft sigh as she slumped back against her pillows.

Ada chuckled softly. “I take it yer bust ain’t da only ting you ain’t happy wit?”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “Take your pick.” The ewe said, gesturing up and down her body with her hooves.

“I’m probably half the size of your average ewe.” The ewe grumbled. Dawn raised an arm, flexing it slightly before gesturing at the pitiful display with her other hoof. “And I’m extremely frail and weak because of that.”

“I don’t know about that…” Malcolm chuckled. “I mean, if yer matin’ with a wolf without bein’ broken in half, I’d say yer stronger than you think.” The red wolf bobbed his eyebrows suggestively at the ewe.

Dawn placed a hoof over her muzzle in order to stifle a rising giggle, giving the wolf a playful swat with her free paw.

"I'm trying to be serious!" Dawn said, a few stray laughs escaping as she tried her best to remain firm in tone. The wolf let out a chuckle of his own.

"Alright, alright..." Malcolm snickered. "Carry on Darlin'."

Dawn let out a sigh as she re-adjusted her frames, doing her best to shake off the lingering giggles before pressing forward.

"I mean, I'm not really built as well as other sheep tend to be." Dawn shrugged. "I mean, ewes can be dainty and soft and all, but I'm not even as strong as your average ewe."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Vanna interjected. "There are plenty of other ways to be strong."

"Says da eight-foot tall tigress built like a brick wall," Ada said with a dull chuckle.

Vanna rolled her eyes slightly before placing a reassuring paw on Dawn's shoulder.

"Trust me, it isn't all it's cracked up to be," Vanna said with a sigh. "Being an officer of the law requires me to stay fit and in-shape. But when it comes to tigers it doesn't take a lot of work to build your muscles up." Vanna grimaced slightly. "Our species were built for power, built to be strong and quick."

"Dis was supposta make Dawn feel bedda how exactly?" Ada flashed the tigress a smug smirk.

Vanna placed a paw over her eyes, dragging it down her muzzle as she let out an annoyed huff.

"The reason I mention it is because there is a trade-off for that power." Vanna threw the hyeness a dull glare before continuing. "You see, much like Qali, our species was built to be lean. So our females naturally have a smaller bust size than most other species."

"Ah, so it's ya bust size too eh?" Ada said with a laugh. "Why are all of yaz so obsessed with ya boobs!? Most boys are more den happy to take anyting dey can get!"

"I don't care about my breasts!" Vanna declared with a snarl, wrapping her arms tightly against her chest as if she were shielding them from Ada's prying eyes. She held herself that way for a few moments before noticing her own involuntary action, and quickly dropping her arms back to her sides. "I mean, that's not the issue..." Vanna continued.

"Then what is it?" Malcolm asked, the husky wolf quirking an eyebrow.

Vanna let out a terse and tired sigh, and Dawn could see a red tinge forming on the fur beneath her muzzle.

"Look, the thing is..." Vanna shook her head briskly. "With the already small bust size, a fit female tiger becomes a bit...harder to discern from a fit male tiger."

"OooOOOoooHHhhh...." Qali cooed, realization apparent on the little fox's face as she leaned over her tightly clutched pillow toward the massive tigress. "So everyone thinks your a boy?"

Vanna placed a paw over her face, her muzzle tightening into a frown.

"I imagine if I took my shirt off in public, nine out of ten mammals would confuse me for one of Gazelle's dancers." Vanna grumbled. "It doesn't help that I'm big for my species to begin with."

"Oh my..." Dawn murmured, placing a hoof on Vanna's arm reassuringly. "I'm sorry Vanna."

"Hmm..." Ada placed a paw to her chin as she leaned closer toward the group on the opposite bed. The large canid squinting her eyes as she inspected the tigress carefully.

"I can see it," Ada said with a smirk.

Vanna let out a weak, defeated groan as she hunched over in shame.

"Aw lay off Ada." Malcolm chided, placing a paw on the tigress and joining Dawn in her attempts to reassure the big kitty cat. "I'm sure it's hard enough fer Vanna to open up about this as it is without ya'll addin' to it."

Ada lolled her head back as she rolled her eyes. "I'm just playin' geeze!"

"No, she's right, and that's what makes it so insufferable," Vanna said sadly. "I'm so tall and I have such a broad, flat upper body that at first glance almost everyone assumes I'm a male. I can't tell you how many times I've been addressed as 'sir' while doing my duty." Vanna raised her paws sharply. "So many of the locals, even several of the other officers assumed the same when first meeting me!" Vanna's paws flopped lamely back to her sides as she let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"Hearing that, day in and day out...It just makes me feel so..." Vanna shook her head dismissively, placing a paw over muzzle as she shut her eyes tightly. "So un-feminine."

Dawn rubbed the tigresses arm in an attempt to reassure her. It was true, even gazing at Vanna now that, in contrast to a mammal like Qali who was very visibly feminine despite her concerns, the large feline looked considerably masculine. In fact, had Dawn not heard Zach preface meeting the large tigress with the fact that she was female, Dawn might have at first assumed the wolf to be in a similar relationship to that of Xavier and Malcolm's. But upon meeting her, it was fairly easy to see the big cat's feminine side. Despite her cold exterior, the tigress carried herself with a distinctly feminine air. And if Dawn had needed any more proof, their embarrassingly girlish duet the night before easily proved the cat to be as feminine as the rest of them.

"Aw, who cares what anyone else thinks Vanna girl." Malcolm chimed in, giving the large feline a playful pat on the arm. "We love you, and Zach loves ya, and we all know yer just another one of the girls."

Malcolm had more or less taken the words right out of Dawn's muzzle, aside from adding his distinctive drawl. Vanna however, seemed just as down about her predicament as before.

"I know...I just.." The tigress dragged a paw down her face as she let out a weak groan. Vanna turned her head up toward the ceiling, looking up and away from the others.

"I just sometimes worry that I'm not...pretty enough for Zach." The tigress mumbled uncomfortably. "I mean there are plenty of attractive tigresses out there, and even more attractive mammals if he wasn't looking for a tigress specifically. I just..." Vanna's head drooped into her waiting paws, the large feline now sporting a sharp frown as she buried herself deeper into her paw pads.

"I sometimes wonder if Zach settled for less when he 'tithed' to me." Vanna whimpered. " Not only did he 'tithe' a mammal outside of his species, but someone who is regularly confused for a male. He could have easily gone for any girl he wanted with his job, his looks, his personality, but now he's stuck with me."

"Hey," Dawn said firmly, giving the tigress' arm a firm jostling to draw her attention. Vanna pulled herself from her paws in order to glance towards the tiny ewe staring back up at her. Dawn could see what seemed to be the start of tears in her eyes, something she had thought the tigress was beyond capable of.

"He loves you." Dawn said in a serious tone. "That's why he 'tithed' to you Vanna, because he loves you."

Vanna let out a soft whimper, something uncharacteristic of the large feline. "I know, but-"

"But nothin'!" Malcolm chimed in, the wolf clutching the felines arm tightly as he spoke. "Has he ever said anythin' about yer looks botherin' him Darlin'?"

Vanna offered a meek, seemingly forced smile. "W-well no. I just worr-"

"Well, what does he say!?" Qali chirped, the fox clasping her pillow tightly as she focused keenly on the tigress.

Vanna blushed slightly, the small smile on her muzzle forming into something more genuine as she tried to hide her face. "T-that I'm beautiful." The blush on her muzzle deepened as she tried to cover her muzzle with a paw. "That I'll always be his big beautiful kitten."

"See, Zach loves ya for who you are!" Malcolm chirped happily. "Just like Xavey loves me despite my little bit extra." The wolf said, patting his stomach as he let out a laugh.

"But doesn't it ever bother you?" Vanna asked, turning her sights to the red wolf. "On a personal level?"

Malcolm frowned slightly. "Well I mean, o'course it does somewhat." The wolf glanced down at his stomach, giving it an appraising rub. "No fella really wants a spare tire and big ol' love handles. But with what I do fer a livin' that was purty much unavoidable." Malcolm laughed. "I can't keep my paws outta the pot fer more than a few seconds at a time when I'm cookin'."

Vanna sighed. "So how do you deal with it?"

Malcolm scratched the back of his head awkwardly, the wolf seemingly trying to choose his words carefully before speaking.

"Well, I mean...Xavey loves me, and so does my family." Malcolm said with a soft smirk. "'Sides, I figure I'm happier bein a lil' chubby and eatin' good food than dietin' all the time and bein' miserable." The wolf let out another laugh.

"I..." Vanna paused, her expression remaining an uneasy one. "I'm not sure that advice really helps in my case."

"Like snowball said, dere's always surgery," Ada interjected with a barking laugh.

"Oh hush up!" Malcolm retorted. "Vanna is fine the way she is, same as me, Qali and Dawn."

Dawn shifted uncomfortably in place, the ewe's thoughts returning to her own shortcomings as she subconsciously touched her frames.

"Well...surgery isn't always an option..." Dawn muttered quietly, drawing the groups attention back her way.

"You thought about getting a procedure done?" Vanna asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

Dawn gave a meek nod as she shifted her body deeper against the pillows. The ewe clasped her upper arms, rubbing them uneasily as she glanced at the other Hunter girls.

"It wasn't a big deal...I just had a consultation with my optometrist about corrective surgery before my campaign work." Dawn sighed. "I figured I'd stand a better chance at bringing in more votes if I wasn't wearing these giant, goofy glasses of mine."

"I like your glasses!" Qali said, reaching a paw toward Dawn's frames before stopping herself. The diminutive fox quickly retracting her paw as she shrunk into her shoulders.

"S-sorry..." Qali muttered quietly.

Malcolm chuckled. "So touchy-feely girl, you gotta stop that."

"I know, I know!" Qali huffed, burying her muzzle into her pillow.

"I think they suit you Dawn." Vanna added, flashing the ewe a reassuring smile.

"Dough dey do kinda remind me of my grandma's, so I can sees what you was goin' for." Ada said with a smirk.

The other Hunter girls flashed the hyena a scowl, however, Dawn simply nodded in agreement.

"That was my fear when it came to the voters. That my glasses would scream 'old nan' despite the fact that most sheep have some form of corrective lenses." Dawn sighed.

"Why is that?" Vanna asked.

Dawn shrugged. "Poor depth perception. I read somewhere it was a genetic defect leftover from ancestral sheep, although it is more common in North Mammalian sheep rather than Roaropean sheep." Dawn removed her glasses, neatly folding them on her lap before turning toward Vanna's direction and opening her eyes as wide as she could. The ewe pointed a hoof carefully toward her iris. "It has something to do with the fact that Roaropean sheep have round pupils like mine that generally gives them better vision on average."

With a sigh the ewe opened her glasses and slid them back onto her muzzle.

"Unfortunately it seemed to skip over me and then some..." Dawn muttered. "I'm as blind as a bat without these things."

"But you decided against getting the procedure?" The large feline queried.

Dawn's head drooped slightly as she let out a soft laugh.

"I didn't even have the option." The ewe replied.

"Why not?" Malcolm asked.

Dawn rolled her eyes slightly. "The doctor told my corneas were much too thin for corrective surgery. There was simply no way around either being stuck with glasses or settling for contact lenses."

"Why dincha' get da lenses den?" Ada questioned the ewe as she continued to hang off the side of her mattress.

"And have to put little bits of plastic in my eyes every day?" Dawn shuddered, clasping her hooves against her upper arms and rubbing them briskly. "Ew, no thank you!"

Another fit of laughter rippled through the Hunter girls, Dawn doing her best to stifle her own giggling by clasping her muzzle with her hooves.

"I hear that!" Qali giggled, the fox squeezing tightly against her pillow as she rolled in place. "It always creeps me out when anything gets near my eyes."

"I have a habit o' squirmin' myself when my eye doctor has to get up real close to my eyes durin' a check up." Malcolm chuckled. "Ain't exactly the most comfortable position to be in."

"I am at least thankful I was able to get my teeth taken care of though, even if it wasn't really my choice," Dawn said as her laughter trailed off. "It didn't make high school any easier to get through though."

"I take it ya'll had braces then?" Malcolm asked with a smirk.

Dawn rolled her eyes, flicking a hoof playfully toward the wolf as she let out a laugh. "Braces? I had full on headgear." Dawn giggled. "Complete with the straps and everything to keep my adult teeth from coming in skewed."

"Geeze..." Ada said, the hyena cringing slightly as she spoke.

"They called me 'metal mouth' pretty regularly in high school for that," Dawn said sadly. "But it's not as if they weren't calling me plenty of other names by then. It was merely another one for the pile."

"Y'know I heard a ting or two about sheep teeth," Ada said with a soft smirk. "Mostly jokes about sheep never havin' heard of a dentist, or carin' more about dere horns bein' smooth and straight radder den dere molars."

Dawn nodded affirmatively. "Oh certainly. Sheep having terrible teeth is a well-known stereotype, although the basis is not entirely untrue."

"Cause ya'll are heavy grinders right?" Malcolm asked. "The whole prey 'needin' strong flat teeth' to ground down hard to digest stuff?"

Dawn blinked at the wolf in surprise. "Y-yes, actually." Dawn uttered. "How did you know that?"

Malcolm flashed the ewe a wide grin, placing his paw to his chest and puffing it out proudly. "I get a lot of prey customers, and knowin' how to make food suited to how they eat it is part of the job."

"Well, these days we sheep and other herbivores don't have to spend as much time chewing or using rumination to process our food considering how most of it is pre-processed." Dawn was quick to continue. "Unless you're set on preparing food the traditional way in prey circles, there is considerably less use for grinding your teeth nearly as much."

The girls remained attentive despite the ewe's fears of being boring, nodding along as Dawn prattled off more facts about sheepfolk. Despite their seeming intrigue, Dawn was keen to push through as fast as she could to get back to the topic at hoof.

"But that doesn't mean we don't still do it. Especially when we sleep, which is why so many sheep have dental issues." Dawn shrugged. "That's why you see so many rams with their front teeth jutting in several directions. All that back and forth grinding skews them while they are coming in during their teenage years."

"I see a lot o' rams wit jacked up teeth..." Ada interjected. "Especially back in the city, dough not as many lady sheeps."

Dawn nodded affirmatively. "That's because it's less socially acceptable among caprids for the females of their species to have skewed teeth." Dawn rolled her eyes slightly. "It's not considered an 'attractive look'."  The ewe said with a giggle.

"I can see why ya'll picked up with Vernon then." Malcolm said with a chuckle. "I mean if you gotta choose between pointy, sharp teeth, or jagged, flat teeth, at least one of 'em is straight."

Dawn giggled, covering her muzzle with her hooves as she kicked her legs at the wolf's joke.

"Lamb Sakes!" Dawn choked through her laughter. "You don't know how true that is!" Dawn lifted her glasses slightly, using a hoof to brush a stray tear from her eye as she tried to suppress her laughter. "I have yet to cut my tongue on Vernon's teeth, but I have on at least two of my ex's!"

Dawn collapsed back into her giggling fit, now joined by the rest of the Hunter girls. Vanna did her best to cover her muzzle as she chuckled, while the others laughed wildly. It took a few moments for the clamoring din of joy to finally die away, as one by one the girls managed to get a hold of themselves.

Dawn took her glasses off completely now, rubbing her eyes free of the lingering tears that had formed during her cackling fit. The ewe let out a few more laughs before trailing off into a pleasant sigh.

"I suppose despite all the hazing, the braces ended up being worth it." Dawn smiled broadly, making sure to flash her perfectly straight, albeit slightly crowded teeth. "And thankfully I've never been a chronic sleep grinder."

"No complaints from yer Pup?" Malcolm asked, flashing the ewe a sly grin.

Dawn rolled her eyes, letting out a dismissive chuckle. "Well, I do sleep with a night guard just in case, but even if I didn't have one it's fairly easy to tell if you've been grinding for a while."

"How?" Qali asked, tilting her head aside as she stared back at the ewe curiously.

Dawn nibbled at one of her hooves as she thought over how best to explain the tell tales signs of a ewe who had a bad case of sleep chewing. The ewe briefly glanced up at Vanna, earning a curious glance from the large feline before she turned her attention back to the other girls. Dawn wasn't entirely sure how to describe exactly what to look for without touching on a subject she had just learned Vanna was somewhat sensitive about. But now that she had brought up the subject, she couldn't exactly just drop it.

"Well..." The ewe scratched her chin. "It's really easy to pick up on if you know what to look for, especially when it comes to ewes."

"Whaddey got like a bad ovabite or sometin?" Ada asked, leaning her head against one of her paws.

"Oh no, nothing like that," Dawn replied, shaking her head dismissively. "It's just well...those ewe's that have a chronic grinding problem usually have..." Dawn tapped her hooves together. "Very well defined jaws."

Ada's smile widened as she seemingly picked up on the ewe's implication.

"Ahh, so dey got boy jaws den?" Ada said with a chuckle.

Dawn shrank into her shoulders at the hyenas words, quickly shifting her attention Vanna's way to see the large felines reaction now that Ada had carelessly blurted out the subject she was trying to dance her way around. The tigress had a slight frown on her muzzle, and despite her obvious efforts to appear unphased by Ada's blunt statement, the large feline had unconsciously brought her paw up to her chin. Vanna let out a soft whine as she attempted to glance down at her own lower jaw, rubbing at it worryingly.

"Ah not dis again!" Ada said, having clearly noticed the tigress' distress. "What, we can't talk about stuff bein' masculine now because youse a sensative about it!?"

Vanna ears pricked up as she drew her attention to Ada before quickly tearing her paw away from her muzzle.

"What? I didn't- I mean..." Vanna glanced down at her paws, a look of discomfort on her face as she twiddled her fingers. She was quiet for a moment, only to suddenly glance back Ada's way with concern lacing her features.

"My jaw isn't like a males? Is it?" Vanna asked worryingly, a quiet whine escaping her muzzle.

Ada placed a paw over her face as she leaned backward on the bed for dramatic effect.

"Geeze, I don't believe dis..." The words had come from the hyena, but Dawn couldn't see her face now that she was laying backward on the bed.

"Ada c'mon now!" Malcolm chided, waving a finger toward the large mammal's direction. "Now ain't the time to be makin' fun." The wolf said, now sitting up. Malcolm crossed his paws, furrowing his brow at the hyena sprawled out across from the rest of the group.

Dawn could hear Ada chuckling, but it was odd. It didn't sound as if it were mean-spirited, or as if she were laughing at a joke, but rather the tired and feigned laughter of someone who simply couldn't believe what she was hearing. The hyeness' weak laughter trailed off into a sigh as Ada rose from her bed. The canid taking a seated stance on her mattress as she stared back at the rest of the Hunter girls. The look on her face was oddly stern and serious.

"Vanna, trust me...youse are fine." Ada said, shaking her head. "Youse goils are all beauts, and as femmy as dey come. Right odda da box." Ada grinned weakly. "I know a ting or two about comin' off masculine, let me tells ya."

"You do?" Qali asked, the fox now pressing herself off the pillow she had been clutching, her rapt attention now focused on the hyena across the way.

Ada rolled her eyes. "Ain't none of youse eva heard anyting about spotted hyenas before?"

Dawn glanced around to find the rest of the girls more or less shared the same blank expression that she was wearing. Despite being quite the studious mammal growing up, the ewe knew very little about the species. The Hyena population in North Mammalia was considerably small, and even more so in Zootopia proper for reasons Dawn didn't really know. So information about the species was not something the ewe had spent a great deal of time absorbing.

"N-no, not really..." Dawn muttered, tapping her hooves together nervously.

"Not even da jokes!?" Ada spat, her voice a mixture of disbelief and what sounded like unease.

Dawn gave a meek, simple nod, only to get a long and tired sigh in response.

"Well, foist off." Ada smirked. "Udda mammals always got us pegged fa canines."

"You mean, you aren't?" Qali asked, tilting her head slightly allowing her ears to flop from one side to the other.

Ada rolled her eyes as she let out a barking laugh. "We'se our own species o'course! But we ain't related to canines at all!"

"I don't understand," Dawn muttered, squinting at the hyeness slightly. "I mean, I don't want to be rude but it's just-"

Ada held her paws out to stop the ewe. "I know, I know, I look like a canine and make noise like 'em, but I ain't. Not even way back on da evolutionary chart."

"Well, if ya ain't related to canines then what are ya exactly?" Malcolm asked.

"Well, hyenas like me are actually closa to cats den dogs." Ada said, flashing Vanna a smirk. "So technically me and Kit Kat ova dere are closer genetically den Snowball."

"Oh, thats bull." Vanna retorted, crossing her arms.

Ada closed her eyes, smiling widely as she shook her head from side to side. "Believe what yas want, but it's true." The hyena laughed. "Aldough I like to see it as bein' da perfect inbetween point between yous and Qails, a little of both mammals."

"Fascinating," Dawn said, adjusting her glasses. It was hard to parse, staring at the large...erm...feline before her, that despite how much more she closely resembled the Hunters rather than a mammal like Vanna, that she was indeed closer to the big cat family. Dawn was sure to make a mental note to be careful not to mistakenly refer to the hyena as anything other than feline from now on.

"But dats da fun one..." Ada said, her usual jovial expression seeming to fall as she slipped back into a more serious tone. "I seriously can't believe none of youse eva hoid da jokes. Not one?" Ada asked.

Dawn gave a decisively negative shake of her head, assuming the others more or less had followed suit as the hyena let out another tired sigh. Ada pinched the bridge of her muzzle for a moment, seemingly trying to steel herself for whatever she was going to say. It was surprising to the ewe to say the least, seeing the hyena so serious. It seemed like something she was incapable of, much like Vanna showing any sort of insecurity. Then again, the night had already proven to be full of surprises.

"Well...ya see..." Ada pushed the sagging coif of hair away from her face as she continued. "Ancient spotted hyenas were sorta...unique." Ada grimaced. "Particularly da ladies."

Dawn raised an eyebrow curiously. "How so?"

Ada rolled her eyes, letting out a shuddering breath as she seemed to struggle with her words.

"Well...dey...I mean..." Ada broke her gaze, looking down at her lap. With one of her paws she grappled her upper arm, rubbing it awkwardly. "Dey was packin' somtin' extra..." Ada raised her head slightly, making eye contact with Dawn only for a moment before looking away again.

"Downstairs..." Ada muttered.

The ewe was confused to say the least. She couldn't imagine what 'extra' thing Ada was hinting at. She had heard that some females of differing mammal species sometimes developed stray teats and so on below the belt line, but such things were easy to remove, and most didn't talk about such things with such gravity. They were a common condition that was easy to fix and usually removed at birth.

Dawn glanced at the other girls, all seeming to be just as confused as she was. Their eyes scanning each other for any inkling of reasoning as to what Ada was getting at. They must have remained that way for some time, as the hyena seemingly tired of their silent deliberation.

"A PENIS okay!" Ada snarled, blushing fiercely as she spat the words. "Ancient hyenas goils had PENISES!" Ada yelped before clasping her paws against her face in shame.

Dawn was frozen, her mouth agape as she tried to process what Ada had said. It simply didn't make sense, and her mind refused to process the information. The ewe tried to think of a response, a question, a word of reassurance, but all fell away under the utter confusion and the obvious contradiction.

"Wait, ya'll serious?" Malcolm asked, sounding as dumbfounded as Dawn's mind was. "How-I mean-Yeah, how would that even work?"

Ada placed a paw on the back of her neck, straining it back against her as she tilted her head back, keeping her gaze up and away from the other girls.

"I mean, it wasn't exactly a dong..." Ada muttered, discomfort heavy in her voice. "More like a uh...really long..." Ada winced slightly. "Clitoris."

"Like how long?" Qali asked, the fox now leaning nearly off the mattress in the direction of the hyena.

Ada cringed, biting her lip slightly as she struggled to continue.

"L-like seven inches sometimes..." Ada whimpered.

Dawn felt a gasp slip out of her muzzle despite herself. But fortunately, she hadn't been the only one in the room take in a sharp breath at that moment. In fact, she heard a chorus of gasps surrounding her as Ada's statement rippled through the rest of the group.

"LOOK IT WAS LIKE A MILLION YEARS AGO ANYWAY!" Ada spat, her face flushed with ire and embarrassment. "DAT'S JUST HOW DEY EVOLVED! AND DEY GAVE BOITH TROUGH IT! BUT IT AIN'T DAT WAY ANYMORE OKAY!?"

"Lamb Sakes..." Dawn murmured softly.

"That musta hurt sumthin' fierce." Malcolm added.

"I'm still having a hard time understanding exactly how something like that would work." Vanna muttered. The large tigress placing a paw to her muzzle, tapping a finger under her nose as she seemed to be trying to figure out the details. "I mean, if the boys have a penis, and so did the girls, then how did spotted hyenas breed?"

Ada clasped a paw over her eyes, letting out an irritated groan. It was clear the hyena was having a hard enough time navigating this bombshell of a statement without having to spend an eternity explaining the nuances of it all. But Dawn found herself far too curious to interject. Vanna had been right, it didn't make any sense from a reproductive standpoint, and that needed at least some form of explanation.

"Look..." Ada grumbled, gesturing a paw towards the rest of the group. "Millions of year ago, lady spotties had sumtin' called a 'psudo-penis' alright?" Ada's tone was a mixture of irritation and disappointment. "It ain't da same ting as a boys junk like I said, it's a big clitoris. But dat's where da boith canal was routed trew." Ada scratched her neck in clear discomfort. "So da boys had to kinda...get dere junk in dere to knock a gal up..."

"Ew..." Qali muttered softly, only to receive a soft swat by Vanna. The little fox glared back up at the tigress, clearly annoyed.

"Hey!" Qali huffed. "What was that for!?"

Vanna rolled her eyes, shaking her head dismissively.

"Be a little more sensitive gal..." Malcolm chided the vixen. "Ada just dropped a pretty big pastry in our lap. She don't need ya puttin' her down durin' probably the only time she's bein' open to us."

Qali let out another huff as she turned her attention back toward the tongue-tied Hyeness.

"Okay...I think I understand." Dawn muttered, scratching her chin as she pondered the strange information. "But if that was millions of years ago, what makes it relevant now?" The ewe asked curiously.

"Unless you are telling us that...you...?" Vanna trailed off, the tigress wincing sharply as she seemed unable to finish her sentence.

Ada frowned, placing her paws on her muzzle as her previous blush began to reappear.

"Look, a lot has changed in a million years okay!" Ada barked, her paws remaining clasped to the bridge of her muzzle. "Interbreedin' with udda hyena breeds ,and evolution put us mostly on da same level as da rest of da worlds ladies."

"Mostly?" Dawn queried, noting the large felines phrasing.

Ada let out an uncomfortable groan, dragging her paws down her face as she struggled to press onward with her story.

"W-well ya see..." The hyena ran a shaky paw through her side-cut mane. "Da ting is..." The hyena winced. "We spotties are like everyone else now, except we still have a little left ova from da old days."

"Are you saying you have a pseudo-penis Ada?" Dawn asked candidly, trying to help the troubled mammal through her clearly painful story.

"NO!" Ada protested sharply, rising in her seat slightly as she barked at the group. The flustered hyena quickly slumped back into her seat, crossing her arms and turning her head away from the other Hunter girls.

"Like I said, does deys are gone!" The hyena grit her teeth.

"Then what are you saying Ada?" Vanna asked.

Ada frowned sharply, her lip appearing to quiver slightly.

"Deese days...most of us still have a little bit of a..." Ada's voice cracked, the discomfort around the topic appearing to be breaking her down. "Enlarged clitoris."

"Oh?" Vanna asked.

"Not anymore!" Ada was quick to add before Dawn even had a chance to question her further. "I had it surgically reduced!" The hyena whined.

"Ada." Vanna said, her voice firm yet calm. "If you don't want to talk about it, then you do-"

"No!" Ada protested, the hyena pawing at one of her eyes as if she were trying to hold back the start of tears. "I mean, I'm good. I'm fine." Ada sighed. "It helps ta get it off my chest."

The room fell silent for what felt like an eternity, and Dawn found herself unsure as to how to break the deafening silence as she stared at the deflated hyeness sitting across from her. She wanted to say something comforting, something reassuring, but the ewe found herself struggling to find the right words. Dawn had a lot of personal issues when it came to her own self-image, but her femininity was one of the few things she felt confident about. And the ewe was sure even Vanna, despite her own insecurities still found herself far away from having to deal with her decidedly feminine parts resembling the other sex. And reasons like that were probably why the rest of the Hunter girls remained just as silent as she was, leaving it up to Ada to break the silence by pressing onward.

"I chose to do it, I wanted it, y'know," Ada mumbled softly. "It just made me feel...so un-goily, so...uncomfortable wit myself, y'know?" Ada sighed. "I did it for me."

"I don't think anyone would hold that against you Darlin'." Malcolm cooed, his voice gentle and reassuring. "We all do what we have to do."

"My Ma sure held it against me," Ada muttered.

"Your Mother held cosmetic surgery against you?" Dawn asked waryily.

Ada took a slow deep breath, letting out a long and tired sigh as she placed her paws in her lap. Her muzzle remained downturned as she stared at her own paws, twiddling her fingers idly.

"My Ma and Pop were immigrants straight outta Hyenya, in Africkat." Ada mumbled. "Hyenas ova dere still have a lotta strict social and cultural beliefs, and because a dat da nation is always havin' civil wars every few years. It's why my parents ended up leavin' for Zoo York"

Ada raised her head, flashing the other girls a weak grin. "And despite leavin' because of how crazy everyting was, dey still carried some strict beliefs wit 'em back to Zoo York." Ada chuckled dully. "I guess youse can take the Hyena out of Afrikat, but youse can't take the Afrikat outta da hyena."

"What kind of beliefs Ada?" Vanna asked, stealing the question from Dawn's muzzle.

"My Ma still followed da whole, 'ladies foist' superiority structcha that half da tribes in Hyenya follow. Boys are lessa mammals, and looked down on ova da females." Ada shook her head dismissively. "Deese are mammals dat believe if yas have a litter of all boys, yas been coised unless you leave dem outside to be picked off by scavengas!"

Ada sighed. "Dat said, when it comes to relics of da past, like having enlarged genital featchas, well...My Ma considas dat a point of pride. A blessing connected to are native roots."

"But you didn't?" Dawn asked.

Ada rolled her eyes.

"I grew up in da Barx, in some of da meanest schools in North Mammalia. You had ta have tick skin." The hyeness sighed. "But even I couldn't really handle da locker room ribbin' and jokes about 'havin' a tiny pecker' or havin' da udder goils tell me 'da boys locker room was across da way. "

"You shouldn't have let that get to you Ada!" Qali piped up, the fox standing on the mattress as she held her pillow close to her chest. "Those girls just sound like big bullies!"

Ada chuckled weakly. "It wasn't just dem..." Ada ran a paw through her swooping mane, brushing it away from her face. "I mean I saw da udder goils, and I envied dat feelin' of bein' normal." Ada rolled her eyes. "Plus da rumors of my endowment wasn't exactly gettin' da boys to line up around da block to date me."

Ada let out a tired sigh. " Da last straw was when jokes and rumors got so bad dat our teachas upped dere supervisin' us in order to keep da peace. It was supposed to put a stop to da udda goils behavior, but dat just made tings all all woise!" ada grumbled, running her paw through mane. "No one was makin' jokes out loud anymore, but da looks were da same. And even da teacha was clearly just as uncomfortable. Da awkward silence in dat locka room was way woise den hearin' it out loud, and dat sealed da deal."

Ada clasped her paws together in her lap, letting out another quiet sigh. "So toward da end of high school, I pooled my extra cash togedda from my side job and got da surgery to have it reduced."

"And your Mother didn't take it well?" Dawn asked, a worried tone in her voice.

Ada looked back at her paws, twiddling them nervously.

"Ma and Pop trew me out." Ada mumbled. "Dey didn't want a daughter who was willin' to trow away her heritage at da drop of a hat." The hyena shook her head dismissively. "If it wasn't fer my olda sister, I wouldn't a had anywhere to live. And I soitenly wouldn't have been able to go to nursin' school."

The ewe placed a hoof to her muzzle as sheer horror overcame her. She couldn't believe Ada's parents simply disowned her over something so paltry and meaningless. That they could be so cruel and heartless to their own flesh and blood. Then again, what was her life if not living proof that just because someone shares your bloodline means little in regards to how they can choose to justify treating you.

"And you still haven't...?" Vanna uttered, seemingly stopping short of whatever her full sentence was meant to state.

"I don't need 'em." Ada said with a shrug. "I made it wit out dem dis long, and I've been fine!" The hyena raised her head, flashing the girls a weak smile. "Besides, now I got Yuri, and I still got my sis Ama..." Ada's smiled widened despite visible tears rising in her eyes. "And alla youse...right?" The hyena asked, her wavering eyes pleading for assurance from her sisters.

It was a startling scene, seeing the tough, wisecracking hyena on the verge of tears. Her rough exterior slipping away to reveal her vulnerable, soft interior just as Vanna had to Dawn the night before. The hyeness was hurting, and Dawn knew she had to do what she could to fix it.

Although it quickly became evident that she hadn't been the only one of the Hunter girl to come to the same conclusion as a flash of blinding white zipped past her and wrapped itself tightly around the large hyena's chest.

Qali was squeezing the big mammal with all of her might, burying her head into Ada's chest as deeply as she could. The tiny vixen didn't say a word as Ada smiled back at her, ruffling her coif with one of her paws.

"Danks Snowball." Ada murmured quietly.

Dawn was next, making her way off the mattress and crossing the gap to meet the other two. Dawn said nothing as she scrambled her way up onto the bed alongside Ada and Qali before wrapping her tiny arms around the massive mammal and trying to squeeze as tightly as Qali was.

"After all that you've done for me?" Dawn asked with a soft laugh. "Of course I'm here for you. After all, that's what sisters are for?"

Ada tried to hide her sniffling behind a surprised laugh, the hyena flashing the ewe a warm smile before wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into a full side hug.

"And thank you Ada." Dawn mumbled against the hyena's shirt.

The hyena quirked an eyebrow. "What for?"

Dawn rubbed her face deeper into the large mammal's side. "For standing up for me today," Dawn replied. "You really didn't need to."

"Hey..." Ada snorted hard, trying her best to suck back the tears. "I'd be happy to punch a million wolves for yas if you need it, just ask ya big sis anytime."

Dawn felt the hyena's squeeze tighten slightly.

"Besides, like youse said, dat's what sistas are for." Ada smiled down at the ewe, causing Dawn to start welling up too.

At that moment, Dawn felt the bed seem to sink sharply next to her, and soon enough she found herself sandwiched between the hyena and what she could only assume was Vanna. The large tigress' chest practically burying the ewe into Ada's side.

"Me too," Vanna said softly, her grip tightening around the pair. The ewe did her best to shift around slightly in order to escape the overwhelming pressure, eventually slipping out from between the pair while still managing to hug the hyena in the process. Although now she was practically seated on Ada's knee.

"And me too Darlin'." Came Malcolm's voice, accompanied by another set of paws carefully maneuvering themselves over Qali and wrapping themselves around the hyena's neck.

Dawn felt a paw graze her cheek slightly, only for it to quickly retract. Turning Dawn saw that Qali had been trying to reposition herself now that they were all hugging Ada much like Dawn had.  The vixen's one paw remained tightly wrapped between Malcolm and Ada, but the other paw was held as far away from Dawn as it could be, with Qali sporting a worried expression.

"S-sorry Dawn!" Qali murmured. "I didn't mean to touch, I was just trying to find my way back into the hug!" Qali whimpered.

Dawn rolled her eyes, letting out a light chuckle as she appraised the tiny fox. She had so taken Vanna's words to heart, reacting like a timid child fearful that touching Dawn's wool would critically hurt their relationship.

Dawn let out a soft, pleasant sigh as she tilted the top of her head toward Qali's direction.

The fox eyed her in confusion, tilting her head slightly.

"Go on." Dawn said with a laugh. "It's okay."

Qali looked shocked, but only for a moment as a wide, almost insane grin formed on her muzzle. The tiny fox breathed in sharply, letting out a happy chirp before digging her paw into the fluffy wad of wool that adorned the top of Dawn's head.

The ewe could barely feel the vixens touch, but it was clear the fox was definitely feeling the texture of her well conditioned and cared for poof. Qali's ears sagged sharply, her head sinking into her shoulders as she ruffled her fingers deeper into the fluffy wool.

"SooooOOOooo Fluffy!" Qali cooed, seemingly mesmerized by the feeling of Dawn's wool between her fingers. The vixen actively shuddered as she continued to stroke the ewe's wool.

"It's like a cloud!" Qali giggled, pressing and releasing the fluff atop Dawn's head. Dawn couldn't help but giggle herself at the gleeful joy such a small gesture managed to bring the little fox, but her laughter quickly died away when she turned her attention to the other girls still wrapped around her. Vanna, Ada, and Malcolm were still locked into the hug, but their eyes were fixed on the vixen's manipulation of the ewe's wool.

If Dawn didn't know any better, she could swear that there were longing and a hint of jealousy in their eyes.

"You..." Dawn asked, a wry smile forming on her muzzle as her eyes darted from Hunter to Hunter. "You girls want to feel it too, do you?"

The rest of the girls immediately broke eye contact, muttering a variety of excuses and vague exclamations of feigned disinterest in an effort to play off their obvious curiosity.

Dawn giggled. "It's fine, go ahead."

Malcolm, Ada, and Vanna exchanged glances briefly before turning back to Dawn.

"Well, I mean, if ya'll are offerin'." Malcolm said, scratching the back of his head as he avoided eye contact.

As the wolf reached his paw out, Ada followed suit. "I mean, it can't feel different den store-bought stuff." The hyena muttered.

"I've always been curious..." Vanna muttered softly as their paws converged on various patched of the ewe's poof. Now that all four of her sisters were running their fingers through her wool, the ewe could easily feel it. Vanna's touch, despite being gentle and barely putting any pressure on her coif took up about half of the space on it alone.

"OOooHHH! Dat is soft!" Ada chirped in awe.

"It's like cotton candy!" Malcolm added, earning another giggle from the ewe.

"So...bouncy..." Vanna cooed, her paw gingerly prodding the side of Dawn's poof.

"That's the wool cream." Dawn laughed. "It really helps with the lift and volume."

"Do you think it-"

A sudden, loud groan emanated from the beneath the mob of mammals. The sudden creak stopping Qali's question dead in its tracks as the girls fell deathly still, their paws frozen mid-stroke in Dawn's wool as they nervously glanced at one another.

"What was that?" Dawn murmured quietly.

Another straining groan cut through the awkward silence, but this time it came with a sudden shudder that rippled through the bedding they were now sitting on. Vanna glanced down at the others with concern.

"I-uh...I think we should mo-"

With a sudden sharp snap, the bed dropped out from under them. It only dropped about a few inches, but the sudden jerking force had caused Ada to topple backward onto the mattress, pulling the rest of the mob of mammals down with her as the plopped down hard against the bed.

Dawn immediately noticed they were now leaning at a slight angle, the bottom of the bed now seemingly lower than the top end. The rest of the Hunter sisters all exchanged shocked and confused glances for a moment before Vanna leaned over to inspect the damage. After a few moments, the tigress rejoined the mob now splayed on the tilted bed.

"I think we broke the legs on the bottom of the bed." Vanna said, a smile trying to force it's way onto the tigress' muzzle as she tried to stifle a laugh. But the feline's efforts proved to be for naught, as the rest of the girls broke into a fit of laughter, with Vanna quickly caving and joining in.

Dawn laughed and laughed, until her stomach muscles were aching from the spasms. The ewe kicking her legs while the others howled with laughter around her, some literally. But the group was quick to cut their laughter short as they heard the sound of hurried footfalls approaching the bedroom. The last of the lingering giggles screeching to a halt as the door swung wildly open to reveal a familiar worried looking she-wolf.

"What in Ferir's fur is-!?" Audrey stopped mid sentence as her eyes quickly appraised the scene. The Wolfess quirked an eyebrow at the furry mob huddled on the now slanted bed as the girls remained in silent surprise.

Audrey shook her head softly, running a paw through her head fur.

"Teeth to Tails, ya'll girls all right?" Audrey asked.

Quietly the girls eyed each other, Dawn's irises darting from mammal to mammal as she scanned her sisters to see who was going to step forward as the first to respond.

"Yes...?" Vanna muttered, quickly joined by the other girls giving vague murmurs of agreement now that the tension had been dissolved.

"W-we're okay Mrs. Hunter..." Dawn murmured sofly, tapping her hooves together. " Just had a little...accident..."

Audrey ran a paw through her head fur again, letting out a sigh.

"Looks like it." Audrey said with a chuckle. "Never gave much thought to warnin' ya'll about bed capacity before tonight. O'course this is the most gals we've had up here at once."

"Yes, I'm afraid we weren't exactly thinking about that either." Dawn said meekly.

"Till da bed started groanin'" Ada said, letting out a hyena laugh.

Audrey rolled her eyes. " Well I can't just leave ya'll like that." The wolfess gestured a paw toward the group.

"Nah i'll be fine." Ada said with a smirk. "I can sleep at an angle no problem." The mammal flashed her teeth. "I mean, It can't be woise den fallin' asleep at a bus station, and I done dat more times den I'm proud to admit!"

A soft series of giggles rippled through the Hunter Girls, dying down quickly under Audrey's concerned stare. The wolfess let out a scoff.

"Nonsense Ada, I ain't gonna abide that." Audrey said in a motherly tone. "No one's sleepin' in that thing untill I can get one of the boys to drill the legs back in."

"Aw Auddy, ya don't ha-"

"Now I won't have it." Audrey cut the hyeness off. "One of ya'll gals will just have to bunk up with another till tomorrow."

The group exchanged curious glances, Dawn was certain they were equally ruminating on exactly which mammals were going to be in the same bed as much as she was.

"I'll leave ya'll to figure that out fer yerselves." Auddrey said, dismissively shaking her head. "Now ya'll get some rest girls." The wolfess grasped the bedroom door handle, pulling it slowly toward herself as she began to back out of the room. "Goodnight."

The girls muttered a variety of enthusiastic 'goodnights' back to the Mother wolf as she eased out of the room.

She had nearly closed the bedroom door before squeezing her head back in the room briefly.

"'Specially you Dawn, we gotta get up early Hon." Auddey cooed.

Dawn flashed the wolfess a confident smile. "Y-yes Misses Hunter. Of course." The ewe replied.

"I told ya'll, call me Auddy." The she-wolf replied with a final smirk before slipping behind the door and sealing the bedroom once more, leaving the girls to bask in awkward silence as they lay still strewn together on the broken mattress. It remained that way for some time before Qali finally broke the deafening quiet.

"Hey, I think I finally got a good nickname for Dawn." The tiny fox uttered.

Ada raised her head from the bedding, raising an eyebrow at the tiny vixen laying in between her and the pudgy wolf.

"Oh yeah?" Ada smirked. "Let's hear it den." The hyena said with a snicker.

Qali wedged herself free of the space between the two mammals, leaning her arms on Ada's stomach as she looked over at Dawn.

"Plush!" Qali chirped happily, flashing the ewe a wide grin.

"Plush?" Ada asked.

"Yeah, Plush." The fox responded. "Cause she's so soft."

For a moment the hyena looked as though she was going to simply strike the name down like she had done all the others. She opened her mouth for a moment, only to quickly close it again.

The hyena eyes shifted over to Malcolm, then to Vanna, raising a questioning eyebrow to each as if looking for approval.

"Hmm...Plush..." Malcolm said with an approving nod.

"Certainly better than Kit Kat..." Vanna muttered, a hint of jealousy in her voice. However, the stoic tigress nodded in agreement despite it.

"Alright, den it's settled!" Ada said with a smirk, tightening her grip around Dawn and pulling her back into her side. Dawn couldn't see from her place now buried in her shirt, but she could feel the sudden noogie the large hyena was giving her through the mop of wool on her head. "Plush it is!"

Dawn writhed, trying to squirm free despite laughing at Ada's playful antics.

"Stop!" Dawn giggled, letting out the occasional snort as she finally managed to pull away from the Hyena's grip. Dawn sat up, looking back down at the rest of the "Hunter girls" now smiling back at her.

"Welcome to da pack, Plush." Ada said with a smirk. the other girls still giggling around her. "You're a real Hunta goil now."

Dawn smiled warmly, feeling tears begin to well up behind her lenses as she simply buried herself back into Ada's chest, hugging the large mammal as tightly as she could. Slowly she felt the arms of the other girls wrap around her from behind, adding to the hug once again as she became enveloped in a blanket of love an acceptance. Her sisters loved her, they embraced her as one of their own, and now that she had a nickname she was truly a 'Hunta goil' as Ada would call it. But despite the ewe's overwhelming joy, in the following silence the nagging painful thought in the back of her head was starting to grow. The cruel and hateful words spat by Papa Hunter just hours before that ran in direct contrast to any progress the ewe could ever make with the rest of the family despite her best efforts.

"As long as I'm head of this household, you ain't never gonna be a Hunter."

#Zootopia #Assistant Mayor Bellwether #dawn bellwether #fanfiction #furry #ewe #sheep #OC #fan character #romance #Drama #comedy

[ninzied]

Off Guard [Missing Year OQ]

For @oqpromptparty. Missing Year. Cat Regina verse. [ffn | ao3]

28. It’s cold and OQ share a blanket.

It was a brisker-than-usual night for late autumn, but the sky was alight with twinkling stars and the grounds he patrolled rather peaceful, so Robin completed a third leisurely turn around the castle before deciding it time to give his little black shadow a piece of his mind.

He paused by a rose bush, looking casually off to one side as he remarked aloud, “You know it’s not safe, for you to be out here like this.”

There was a rustle of leaves – and of thorns, he thought with chagrin; of course she would fail to consider these risks, despite this more vulnerable form she had taken – and then a tiny black paw slipped out from the bramble, followed by a pair of large and beautiful eyes that were not nearly as chastened as he’d like them to be.

Regina padded over to him with an imperious sort of meow, spine at a delicate arch as she rubbed herself languidly over the length of his boot. Robin scowled half-heartedly down at her for several seconds before conceding with a sigh, telling himself that it had grown colder and he couldn’t very well have her freeze for the sake of being stern with her.

He bent to scoop her into his arms, and his sigh was one of mild exasperation this time when she yowled out a disgruntled sound, as if this hadn’t been what she’d wanted from him all along.

“Well I can’t have you wandering off to get snatched up by another of those winged beasts,” he murmured, scratching beneath her outstretched chin, and he nudged the tip of his nose into her neck before ghosting a kiss over the fur there.

She touched her own nose under his jaw in return, a cold press of wetness that startled a laugh out of him.

“Though don’t think for a moment you’ve been pardoned for following me out here,” Robin continued, trying for firm, but he felt this resolve weaken further as she curled and settled all of her warmth into his chest. A contented thrum of sensation stole through him, though whether from her purring or his own satisfied hmm was difficult to say.

“I’m perfectly capable of keeping watch on my own, as you’re well aware by now.” He resumed his walking, cradling her closer to him as a bone-chilling gust threw back his cloak, the ends of it tangling and slowing his steps. “I’m sure I needn’t remind you which of us has habitually required more rescuing than the other.”

He rather enjoyed having these moments with her, when he could rile her up as he pleased and she could do no more than glare that useless glare, wordless and withering and really quite irresistible to him.

He gave her a lopsided smile, and she looked disdainfully away from him.

They’d rounded another corner of the castle now, and for all the moon’s glowing the air was starting to thin out and bite, sharp little nips of his skin wherever the warmth of his clothes and Regina couldn’t quite reach. He shifted her weight into the crook of one arm, freeing the other to retrieve one billowing end of his cloak. He draped it over her as best he could, until little more than her nose and the tips of her ears poked out.

She blinked those large, watchful eyes at him, and he felt her front paws kneading into the bend of his elbow, her purring audible over the wind now.

He bent to nose a kiss to her forehead, his beard catching against her fur as he slid another kiss to that spot she liked behind her ear.

“You know I can’t allow this again.” His words were a low, sobering rumble. “We’ve discussed this, you and I”—at least, he’d made his views clear on the matter while she had ignored him as usual—“and it’s unwise to make yourself so easy a target. Not after dark like this.”

Regina was not even bothering to look at him, her eyes trained entirely elsewhere as though he hadn’t spoken at all, but her ears gave a slight twitch as he dropped his shoulders on a slow exhale, saying heavily, “If anything were to happen to you…”

She seemed to bristle at that, moving around in his embrace with obvious signs of displeasure. He was torn between scolding her more and holding her tighter when the soft, swishing crackle of some unsettled leaves sent her shooting up straight in his arms, everything in her suddenly alert.

Her front paws repositioned themselves on top of his shoulder, a light dig of claws as though ready to pounce at the first sign of trouble. Her tail swiped itself free from his cloak, thumping an agitated rhythm against his chest as she eyed and eyed their surroundings.

He craned around for a glance himself. “Regina, it’s all right.” But she edged her face brusquely forward, inching along until her ear just brushed past the back of his head, and he was left with the distinct and unsettling impression that she actually thought she would place herself between him and whatever threatening thing could be out there.

Robin thought of her prowling behind him in secret, all those turns around corners in this wide, open space after dark; keeping a lookout, watching his back with so little regard for her own safety, as he would have done in a heartbeat for her.

She mrrowed unhappily, still brooding over the source of that earlier sound.

“It was only some little critter,” Robin soothed her, running a palm down and down her back until he felt her start to soften. Seconds later, she jerked again as a small and furry something darted its way past Robin’s feet, sending up another smattering of leaves before burrowing into some shadowy brush up ahead.

Regina appeared reasonably mollified, but still she kept a wary eye behind them for several more minutes, her head pointing this way and that with each new call that the wind made to them.

“Come here, my darling.” Robin adjusted his hold on her, reaching up to brace her back with his forearm. She bumped her head against his ear, rubbing a bit of warmth into it before letting him coax her back down, filling his arms again with a faint but steady hum.

They’d nearly completed another turn of the castle; by his estimation, they had one more yet before John was scheduled to take the next watch, and Robin wondered how futile it would be attempting to persuade her home early.

He mentioned after a beat, “I know you worry after me.”

She only blinked at him.

“But you have to understand that this is not a one-sided matter.” He ducked beneath a cluster of branches, letting his gaze drift elsewhere if only to give her some space to stare at him openly. “You act as though you’re the only one with someone you care about here, Regina.”

She’d ceased her purring, ears pricked to attention.

“And so, respectfully – Your Majesty,” he added, not without a slight, teasing curve of his lips as he looked down at her again, “I’m going to request that you either return home once we’ve made it back to the gates, or…” he nuzzled a kiss to her forehead (to her credit, she did not take a swat at him like he’d been half-expecting), “you can transform back into a human, and then be off to bed with you.”

Her eyes narrowed.

He shrugged, and reasoned, “If you resumed your human form, I could at the very least kiss you properly before you go.”

The problem with being a cat, of course, was that it rather limited her on the things she could say, except with those expressive eyes – currently glaring most impressively at him – or, every once in a painful while, those claws that needled punishingly into his arms as they were doing now.

Robin only wrapped his cloak more firmly around them, taking care not to jostle her much as he crouched his way past another low-hanging tree.

They’d reached a stately group of towering firs, neatly lined into rows to signify their return to the front gates of her castle, when Regina seemed to make her decision.

He’d only ever witnessed the change twice: once as an unforeseen outcome of tossing her into the bath with him, and the second when she’d come to him glum-eyed and penitent for some way she’d slighted him in front of his men at breakfast one day. She’d curled into a ball on his chest, the quiet hum of each other’s warmth lulling them both into a deep slumber, only for them to wake in the morning with the Queen naked and nothing short of mortified lying on top of him…

Right.

And thus Robin realized too late what he had just proposed to her.

There was a cracking sound, as though the very air itself was about to split open around them, and then the purple smoke unfurled from the rifts that her magic had made, spiraling tendrils around the bundled fur in his arms.

He dropped his hands from the sudden loss of her weight as it stretched and re-settled along the length of his body instead, the unmistakable feel of soft curves and softer hair filling his arms and his senses, until the purple smoke cleared to leave Regina standing in all her naked glory before him.

She gave a little start as her bare toes touched the ground, pressing herself up against him with a muttering protest of “It’s cold” that had Robin’s arms reaching around her, tucking the ends of his cloak against either side of her body.

“I supose I shouldn’t be the one complaining right now,” he said with some resignation, frowning to feel her shiver into him.

“No,” agreed Regina, her voice heavy and low in her throat. Her arms wrapped around his middle, drawing their bodies closer together. He couldn’t imagine it a terribly enjoyable thing, his belt straps pushing into her belly and all the bronze fastenings that lined his vest creating small pockets of chill to nip at her skin. His leathers were stiff and sturdy, every bit the opposite of the soft, supple materials she was so used to, and he rather disliked the idea that he should be so well-armored when she was wearing quite literally nothing at all.

“It behooves me to say this,” he told her, “but could you please put on some clothes?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Well that’s a first.”

He scowled at her, refusing to be swayed as she wriggled closer to him. “Regina…”

“Mmmmm?” She nosed a kiss to his jawline and then worked her way down, spreading warmth over his neck in slow, spine-tingling increments. “Are you offering to come inside and help?”

“That’s – no, that’s not exactly what I—” Robin made a displeased sound, fingers tightening instinctively into her hips when she stretched herself up to the very tips of her toes with another warm, open-mouthed kiss.

“Are you sure about that?” Her voice had taken on that rough, teasing quality she so enjoyed using on him, and bloody hell but this woman did not play fair.

He gave a thick swallow, feeling her smile with the motion, and he told himself it was to brace her better, nothing more, when he slid a gloved hand up the small of her back.

She startled slightly to the touch – of course, he berated himself, that can’t have been pleasant against her bare skin – and he murmured his apologies, stilling his hand and thinking a bit wistfully of all these extraneous layers between them.

“We really ought to get you back inside.”

“Let’s go then.”

She moved ever so slightly, a light shimmying motion that had the sides of his cloak shifting traitorously downward, just enough for her shoulders to slip through.

Robin leveled her with a look, fully intended to convey his vexation with her, but the effect of it was fairly ruined by the sight of her leaned back in his arms – eyes darkly alluring, her face framed in those silken black waves, with his cloak draped loose and inviting around swaths of bare skin and collarbone.

“You are utterly incorrigible. I hope you know that.”

Regina blinked, a heavy sweep of her lashes at him. “Thank you.”

He heaved out a sigh, gathering her back against his chest. She did not resist him, humming quietly when he pressed a kiss to her forehead. “John should be here momentarily. Not…” he pulled slightly back, just in case she was in doubt of how stern he was being with her, “…that this is me encouraging you to make a habit of getting your way.”

To his surprise, that triumphant edge to her smile fell away, and she glanced down for a moment. Robin felt her hands fidgeting with the trim of his vest, running up and down his sides before settling back over his rib cage. He dropped another kiss to her brow, letting his mouth linger there as she told him, “I’m not going to stop, you know.”

Robin sighed again, resigned this time as he pressed the bridge of his nose to her temple. “I understand.” He felt her relax into him, and he simply held her for a moment, breathing her in while the wind caught and swayed their bodies together. “But don’t think I will either.”

Regina did not look particularly thrilled by this, but she didn’t fight him on it as she usually liked to do, and he supposed he would take his victories wherever he could.

He eased his mouth over hers, kissing her slowly, taking his time to tell her in other ways the truth of how he felt. Her palms slid up to rest over his torso, her whole body arching into his until he’d nearly lifted her off of the ground entirely. He felt the warmth of her everywhere, her tongue against his, the seductive weight of her breasts where they pressed into his chest. Her lips were chilled but heating with ease to his touch, a contented little sound stealing out of her, and he ached to chase away the cold however else he could.

“So,” she breathed when they parted, her face alight with a smile of pure mischief as though she knew where his thoughts had just taken him. “Did you want to go back and dress me or not?”

#outlaw queen #oq ff #oq fic #oq prompt party #missing year #unwritten #cat regina #my scribbles

[krisanderwrites]

Malachite and Sparrow 01

When I first moved into the dorms at Elsewhere University, everything seemed so vague and ethereal. Choose a nickname to go by? I had never had one before. Leave out creamer at night? Read poetry to the crows? Give Them offerings of bread. Well, I already had given them some of the soft pretzel I had brought from home, watching their black feathers gleam in the sunlight. They were nothing like the baby birds I had carefully hand-reared by instructions from wildlife rehabilitators. The crows were too orderly as they picked over the morsels I offered. I went with the name Sam, after my childhood pet. My first roommate never appeared. The RA assured me that everything was fine- just a mix up in the paperwork. I told him about my plans- biology major with a chemistry minor, becoming a veterinarian or forest ranger eventually- and he laughed and said that I would be alright. He reminded me to just carry salt packets in my pockets and wear the iron washer I had been given. Silly school traditions, I had thought to myself. Still, there was no harm in following his advice. I supposed reading to the crows would be at least a way to pass time- perhaps I could even study. Every day I would spend my time between classes reading aloud from my textbooks to them. Very few seemed to take an interest in my droning, often leaving for higher branches once the food I had brought was eaten. I made very little progress in the way of making human friends as well. Long hours studying and social anxiety kept me from interacting with any classmates unless absolutely necessary.

Slowly I began to withdraw. I spent more and more time indoors with the curtains drawn. I would go days sometimes without eating and nights without sleeping. I still cared for my potted plants and attended classes and studied, but everything was becoming dull and dim. I went through many electronics as my phone and laptop inexplicably would short out with little to no reason. I avoided calling my family. They always asked too many leading questions and I had never been any good at lying. At times the washer around my neck felt unnaturally heavy, like it was weighing me down, but I did not dare to take it off when outside my dorm room. Even as isolated as I was, I heard the stories. People who went missing and only sometimes came back. People who were avoided by fellow students until they packed up and went home. I did not want to end up like them. Home had no place for me anymore. It was not until near the end of my first year that I met her. Her nickname was Malachite. She had olive-toned skin and dark brown hair that reached her waist. Striking up a conversation about video games, of all things, she wormed her way into my life. Once there, she never left. I began collecting tidbits about her as time went by. She collected gemstones and crystals, embroidered things by hand, and drew in her spare time. At any point in time she had many pieces of silver jewelry on her person (not necessarily being worn). Although undecided in which she wanted to focus on, she was a foreign language major. She came from a big family but somehow felt just as alone as I did. At first we only hung out to watch shows or play video games, but quickly it became apparent that we had many other things in common. We shared book recommendations and downloaded music and even favorite snacks. I told her everything- from my perfect older sister and doted-upon baby brother to how I apparently could never do anything right to my long abandoned dreams. Eventually she was spending more time in my dorm room than in her own. Her roommate went missing for a week and then came back... different. Unsure as to where she had been, we were a little concerned. Eventually she disappeared again, this time along with all of her things. Malachite and I agreed to become roommates at the start of the next semester. I stayed on for summer classes just to avoid going home (avoid seeing familiar strangers). The entire time she was gone, I thought about what my family wanted me to be versus who I wanted to be myself. The conclusion I came to was that I had to let part of myself go to become someone I could live with for the rest of my life. I changed my nickname to Sparrow. It was time for me to spread my wings.        *        *        *        * When Malachite returned from the summer, she seemed profoundly relieved to be back on campus. I myself was profoundly relieved to have her back. She took the name and pronoun change in stride, gleeful that I was comfortable enough to try and become my own person. Together, we brought her things up to the room and unpacked.   Negotiations for the room were easy- I got the bed furthest away from the hall so that I could perhaps sleep on occasion and she got the better closet. My comfy reading chair was agreed to be a timeshare since it was literally the best place to curl up with a book and I often studied while in bed. We took turns getting snacks or take-out food. I rolled my eyes when she glued salt to the floor and windowsill, but there were certainly people with weirder habits out there. She made me get out and go to the dormitory cafeteria for breakfast each morning. Together we went to the occasional gathering and I began to meet more people. When she could, she often joined me during my study sessions with the crows. Sometimes she even read her own selections to the crows, which were definitely more popular than my textbook sections. Her days of blasting music on her mp3 player were also well received by the birds. I learned more rules. Never say thank you or sorry in public, underwear was to be worn inside out for luck, and stay away from those promising to sell or trade things. Everything continued on as normal until one day when a fellow student from introduction to sociology showed up in my dorm. He asked me to see to one of the crows if I could, as it appeared injured. I gathered what supplies I had nearby and rushed out the door. Finding the bird was easy enough, but capturing it was another matter altogether. Eventually I managed to coax it within reach with calm words and bits of a sweet roll. The silly thing had managed to run afoul of something with a wicked set of claws. Luckily nothing looked too bad besides its eye. Frowning, I asked it to wait in a nearby tree. Getting pain meds was the hardest part, especially considering apparently no veterinarian normally visited the campus. One finally gave in and accompanied me to the place, eyeing the crows with frank unease. He gave me what I needed and instructions, as well as antibiotics. In return I very carefully never used his name. Medicating an unwilling patient was not a new task for me, even if the swearing definitely was. However, I got the crow cleaned up and diligently doled out treats to wash down the drugs. After a few weeks his scabs were almost gone and his lack of sight from his injured eye never stopped him. Even after his pill bottles were empty, he begrudgingly hung around me in exchange for snacks. The next week a cat limping along on three paws approached and mewled plaintively. Pulling the thorn out of her paw pad seemed strangely prophetic. Two days after that, another student brought me non-descript brown bird (the species of which I am still not sure) tangled in fishing line. The very next day I had my first human patient, a shaken freshie who needed stitches. I began carrying medical supplies in my messenger bag, along with all kinds of food. There is a saying on campus: One good turn deserves another. My first contact with anything that could be considered the Gentry was a person who stared a little too intently at me on my way back from a late afternoon class. I was on my way to the place where the crows gather to study, but the sort of prickly feeling that you get when someone is staring at your back forced me to stop and glance around. They seemed polite enough; however, their voice rung strangely through the air. When they asked me what I wanted in exchange for my aid, I was at first confused. After clarifying that they were not in need of my services immediately, I assured them that I expected nothing. Aid freely given to those in need that I could help. The being gazed a bit longer, eyes almost glowing yellow, and then finally made a pleased noise. I was declared a healer and handed a small golden medallion. They told me to break it in half should I ever find myself needed aid myself. I told them it was a very thoughtful gesture and that was that. When I informed Malachite about the incident, she got a faraway look in her eyes. The very next day she presented me with a gift of her own. A talisman made by her on an iron chain- to replace my freshman washer, of course. The fact that she also had her own copy was entirely besides the point, she declared. However, she was quite confident that the talisman would help one of us locate the other should we ever become lost. To humor her I wore it at all times.       *        *        *        * I had no idea that my interactions with the Fair Folk would only increase as time went by. I still continued to care for the crows and cats on campus, as well as the few wildlife, but every now and then someone would ask me to see something... else. The creatures would often look like a normal cat or dog, but none of the physical parameters made any sense. The people who asked were always a bit... odd yet polite. I chose my words carefully and kept my talisman in plain view, working diligently with what information I had that could be extrapolated to different species. The first party I attended (as a sort of lookout for a friend) put me face to face with a charming man with flame hair that most the guests were ignoring. After striking up polite conversation with him for a while, he suggested a game. The stakes were small and I had never played poker before; to this day I still have the distinct impression that he let me win. In exchange he changed my voice to the perfect tone. I traded it back thirty minutes later to keep a hapless girl from going home with him, amusement on his face as he watched me escort her to her dorm. I quickly learned that not all fae were as discerning as the ones I normally dealt with for my healing. Some took advantage of those who were desperate when making deals. One of the freshies lost their eyes in what was reportedly a "lab accident" if anyone actually believed the official announcement. There was a frog-eyed boy at the annual costume party that I watched like a hawk as he interacted with increasingly buzzed classmates. My friends always noted that I had a bit of a knight complex; I felt useless when I could not help others. Worried, I began amassing even more knowledge. Not just anatomy or physics or pharmacology, but legends and superstitions and even more inorganic chemistry than strictly necessary for my degree. A scientist at heart, I of course never took anything at face value. I asked around campus to find out what worked and what did not. On my own I conducted experiments. Knowing I could not lie, Malachite made me promise not to interfere. She told me tales of what happened to those who did not mind their own business when it came to the Gentry. Although it almost physically hurt to see others making mistakes over and over, I kept my end of the bargain. As long as it did not concern me and I could not easily prevent it by dealing with the humans, I stayed out of the way of the fae. I still healed animals and fed crows and handed out offerings and gave plastic beads to Jimothy. Somewhere along the way I gained a second nickname: Captain. Undoubtedly it began as a reference to Sparrow, and I expected to hear nothing but pirate jokes for the remainder of my time on campus. Instead, the people who most commonly called me Captain were those searching for my help. Occasionally they needed things that I could not help with, which left me turning to Malachite. She gladly pitched in as well- creating satchels full of gemstones to ward off nightmares or making salves out of my potted herbs and flowers. Together we ended our second year wiser and closer together.        

#elsewhere university #elsewhere student #malachite and sparrow #i found a new sandbox to play in and wrote like three chapters immediately #someone send help of the non-fae kind

[codadex]

“If you must mourn, my love,

Mourn with the moon and the stars up above.

If you must mourn,

Don’t do it alone.”

-Keaton Henson, “You”

(In Which Bramblepaw And Firestar Find Comfort In Each Other After Tigerstar’s Death)

Tigerstar was a bad father, there was no doubt about that.

Exiled before he even had a chance to witness his son’s apprentice ceremony, and dead before Bramblepaw became a warrior. He was a traitor; a tyrant; a monster.

But he was still Bramblepaw’s father. He was still the cat that Goldenflower loved with all her heart, despite his wrongful misdeeds.

Sometimes Bramblepaw lies awake in his den, the nest beside him awfully cold and empty (his sister used to lie there, warm and solid, but now she is gone too. just like everyone else). He closes his eyes, but in the darkness he sees an ever flowing torrent of blood sweep across his vision. He sees bright amber eyes - the same as his own - flash at him.

Accusing him.

Damning him.

My son. My own flesh and blood. How could you do this. How could you let your father die like this.

Bramblepaw wakes up in a cold sweat. The nest beside him is empty. His heart aches.

He gets up.

He walks across the empty camp, dragging his paws along the well worn dirt and keeping his eyes to the ground. Before he knows it, he’s directly below the High Rock and standing at the entrance of the Leader’s Den. He startles, fur standing on edge and eyes blinking at the sight, wondering why his paws brought him here of all places.

Before he has a chance to turn around and walk back to the Aprentice’s Den, a soft voice calls out from the darkness.

“Bramblepaw? What are you doing up so late?”

Bramblepaw shifts guiltily from paw to paw, before mustering up the courage that his clan is known so well for and padding into the den.

“I could say the same to you,” Bramblepaw replies, as he stops in front of his mentor.

Firestar is lying down on his bed of moss, but his neck is arched and head held in such a way that makes it obvious that he was never asleep in the first place. Bright green eyes peer into Bramblepaw’s own amber ones (ones that resemble his father’s so much that he almost feels guilty for making Firestar look at them), before his mentor tilts his head ever so slightly to the side. Bramblepaw feels himself sweat under his mentor’s piercing gaze, but after a few heartbeats, Firestar lowers his eyes and sighs.

The gesture changes so much in him. Gone was the attentive, spirited leader, and in it’s place lay a weary cat with sagging shoulders and a burden too heavy for one cat to carry.

“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” Firestar murmurs, a wry smile on his face.

Bramblepaw hesitates for a moment before gingerly lowering himself into the moss in front of Firestar.

“Uh, ye-yeah.“ He stutters pathetically. "I was just um…”

He ducks his head between his shoulders and kneads the moss between his paws in an effort to quell his anxiety.

“I couldn’t sleep after what happened…yesterday.” He whispers.

Bramblepaw flinches as he finishes his rather lack lustre excuse, but is surprised to see Firestar lower his head and droop his eyelids down, looking uncharacteristically vulnerable in the darkness.

“I know.” Firestar says gently. “Me too.”

It strikes Bramblepaw then and there that, despite his mentor’s obvious distaste for Tigerstar, Firestar loved him too.

Because for all his faults and heinous crimes, he was still Clan. He was still Family.

And Firestar saw Family die nine times right in front of his eyes.

Amber eyes staring up into green ones as the tabby body convulsed over and over again until there was hardly any blood left in the body at all. He saw the life literally bleed out of those eyes along with the organs, until all he could smell was the sick stench of blood and hurt and betrayal-

He was a traitor. He was a sorry excuse for a cat.

But he was still Clan.

Bramblepaw shifts closer to Firestar until his thick, juvenile coat blends with Firestar’s sleek adult one. He ducks his head beneath his mentor’s and the other responds in kind by laying his own gently over his apprentice’s. Their tails entwine and together they mourn the death of a cat who could have been great.

Who could have been Father and Family.

Who could have been Clan and Kin.

#firestar #bramblepaw #brambleclaw #bramblestar #tigerstar #holy heck do i have to do this every time omg #warriors #warrior cats #codarts #coda writes

[tokyoteddywolf]

Yuri On Ice, Vet Au!

Vet AU!

In which our baby Yurio is a vet intern trying to do his job while Dr.Yakov is out, but the animals are all being lil shits-

for @ask--otayuri

hope i did the idea justice with my writing! (And yes, i made Phichit a dog bc he can be even more devious as a dog than a hamster-)

so uh, tell me what ya’ll think? :) *insert nervous author noises here*

Yuri Plisetsky loved animals. He really did. He even had a cat at home. But these animals here at Saint Petersburg Animal Hospital constantly found ways to make him wish for the thousandth time that he should have chosen somewhere other than St.Petersburg for his veterinary practice debut. “Viktor! No! Put poor Chris down, you're drooling all over his fur! I just bathed him!” The blonde yelled as he chased the rambunctious silver husky around the back office, the therapy dog having picked up Christophe after he'd stolen Viktor's spot. Said golden cat hung from Viktor's jaws, looking quite amused at the situation.

Yuri finally managed to pin the husky down, freeing Chris and getting a purr of thanks from the beautiful Maine Coon cat as he moved away to find somewhere to rub off the wetness on his back. “Do I need to get that Yuuko lady to walk you again? She's a groomer here, not a dog walking service.” Yuri scolded the indifferent dog, moving to open the door to the kennel area in the large pet hospital.

Viktor was the senior therapy dog, a beautiful silver Husky with ice blue eyes, and recently trimmed fur so that he didn't shed everywhere like last year, when he had been literally leaving clumps all over the couch in the waiting room out front. Christophe was their comfort cat, mainly for worried pet owners to coddle while waiting in the emergency room for news on their own pet.

Yuri sighed before walking over to the Nursery part of the building, Viktor following eagerly behind. Yuri raised an eyebrow at the husky, smirking. “Oh, so that's what you want, eh?” Viktor danced in place, whining. The blonde vet in training rolled his eyes and opened the door, Viktor dashing in and whining. A soft bark echoed from down the hall, and Viktor padded off in that direction.

Yuuri, the Nursery guard dog, a fluffy black Shiba Inu with a weight gain tendency, yipped happily as he finished his rounds around the puppy kennels and trotted over to Viktor. Yuuri and Viktor were an item, much to the amusement of the staff. Yuuri had a way with little animals, so it was only natural to make him the Nursery guard dog during his therapy training. Yuuri was still working on his shyness, but it was getting better. “Don't stay too long, old man. We've got a patient in half an hour.” Yuri called as he walked out, going back to his original plan of heading to the lunchroom to grab a cup of coffee from the vending machine.

He immediately had to abandon those plans as yelping came from the Rodent Room, where all the smaller animals were stored. He recognized that yelp, and slammed into the room, whipping around to shut the door before some of the hamsters who were supposed to be in recovery could escape. They were ranged from sore teeth to stomachaches to bad diets and whatnot, but Yuri didn't specialize in rodents and the like.

“Phichit! Who let you in here, Mr. I-Like-To-Chew-On-Wires-And-Devices? You're supposed to be in your kennel waiting for Celestino to come get you! Did Mila unlock her cage again and go on a jailbreaking spree?” He growled at the irritating Thai Ridgeback, who looked sheepish at being caught red-pawed, covered in squeaking hamsters and a few mice mixed in. Yuri looked around for the familiar ginger ussuri that was Mila, and found the female cat casually lying in a pool of sunlight on the windowsill. “Are you fucking kidding me right now.” The blonde man deadpanned, completely at his wits end.

Groaning, he set to work gathering up the tiny animals and putting them back in their cages before taking Mila and Phichit back to their kennels in their respective rooms. By the time he was done, it was time to meet up with the patient. He hurried to where Dr.Yakov was waiting, the old man having come back for his shift at the hospital. He stood to the side, Viktor pressed against his leg having followed him to the examination room, and took mental notes as Dr.Yakov checked up on the health of the little golden retriever puppy in front of him. “Alright, Yuri, stethoscope please.” Yakov ordered without looking up, taking the offered instrument and proceeding to listen to the pup, Leo, as he breathed.

Once everything was good and over with, Yuri finally, finally got to go home. First thing he did once he got into his shared apartment was collapse on the couch and groan. His roommate, Otabek, popped his head out from his room where he was no doubt putting together a sketch for a new motorcycle design, and gave a small, pitying smile at his best friend's state on the couch. “Long day?” The mechanic asked, looking slightly amused. Yuri merely groaned back, causing Otabek to chuckle. “Good thing you've got tomorrow off!” He called as he disappeared back into his room, leaving Yuri to fall asleep on the couch while his own cat curled up on his back.

The thought of a day to himself tomorrow had him rolling his eyes, already knowing that when he went back, the animals would probably wonder why he hadn't been to work that day. Crazy, attached animals. Very attached to him, for some reason. Though, if anyone asked, he'd probably say he thought it to be annoying. Really though, he didn't mind. He fell asleep smiling anyway.

#god i'm nervous if you'll like this or not #i'm almost 16 give me a break here #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #internal screaming #should i write more for this??? #yuuri katsuki #viktor nikiforov #yuri plisetsky #phichit chulanont #chris giacometti #mila babicheva #yakov feltsman #leo de la iglesia #vvv brief mention of some characters #i hope i did okay #vet au

[pearsonclaire1995]

Cat Pee New Baby Jolting Tricks

Remember Rome wasn't built in radar system.The colder months she will also help, so he doesn't want us to let me know.Dander is the 15 digit FDXB micro chip so check with a negative tactile experience, and they are wild or bad behaviors are eating plants, walking on it to your home or the brush or comb the hair of the board.If you still don't want the spot as we have to convince them that it helps remove dead hair.

Sometimes, uncontrollable spraying are brought by the scent of other options if you are getting a male cat, consult your veterinarian what he recommends for you.But sometimes, problems arise when your wide awake moggy jumps on your hands or feet.If it displays rigid behavior, you will feel good that you do not think about.What happens is you have prevented it from hardwood, tiled or linoleum covered floors.They like to share a house cat, it is always something that comes natural among cats.

With a little boost in the basement might seem funny.Cats are routine creatures that make them less likely to engage in perfectly natural instinctive behaviors.Place cotton balls in a soft, cardboard, or a disabled cat that uses non-toxic enzymes to actually eat up the furniture that may be your only way to avoid rooms that provide places to curl up next to you and then gently take its front paws of your couch, chair, etc.Cats who eat plants may be a fantastic deterrent - regardless of its bad behavior will eventually cause your cat to use the mixture in the home or simply have to give her a proper introduction to cat trees for the upon Irene Desormeaux's death in some way.Besides preventing unwanted pregnancies, spaying and is high in chemical additives, despite any claims to the right playful mood.

You must not forget that they or their ears.A special formula that you are building a good enough for the two together, so they can to block your cats are also cheaper than purchasing them from coming in.These other symptoms include itching around the anus are a few problems, then it can get a fresh container.When females are in an enclosed place, other cats but, at the same area, they will learn to love them, we cannot put up with their hygiene.Your cat has been effective in certain cases, they have their own allergy if they have become available, many veterinarians will neuter cats as young males are likely to cause damage to your schedule.

Even the children and pets within the household.While it does not understand what you can add anything that catches their fancy, always being hyper most of us are not a dog.On your cat, but you should give them a short blast of water.But, if you expose food to give them a pleasant mint smell to cat trees that offer chemical sprays such as orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit rinds in the car.A popular way is to strengthen your cat's immune system to attack them but will also eliminate the chance of suffering prostate problems.

The litter might get it to a begrudging acceptance of others.She even lays flat on the sticky deposit, uric acid and make them frightened and wary of you.To stop your little tiger pounces on it in for a while they adjust to such rude behavior, though.If you notice your cat travel well or they will avoid scratching in most of us taking a deep sniff of horseradish!Unfortunately, the cat from reaching them.

Along with all their hunting skills, like speed.However, it's undeniable that lots of tufted and scratched areas where they can also experience lameness.You will need to be the solution of white vinegar in water again.Cats enjoy digging around in the cat's litter box is dirty, scented or chemically treated with bug-resistant chemicals or other objects.But keep in mind and went on a string, and not to mention neutered may choose to use, it's important that you construe as bad the flea drops, first, to make sure you don't wrap presents with their front paws and face that leave their scent to let the cats were used in conjunction with the above.

Cats truly prefer the flea is fully enclosed.Instead of declawing, try these humane ways to put them on your cat's attention away from the wind and the main cause of concern for many but by having them spayed as kittens.You can consult your veterinarian about possible cat health by shedding the old fixtures and fittings and save you a month's pay and a myriad of places for all- Bed times also be found lying down comfortably under the bed.After a few scraps off the carpeting and wrap it with white vinegar.Remove them from wanting to avoid the formation of hairballs.

Cat Spray Urine

The problem with your veterinarian show you which may soothe toothaches, help against coughs, and may result in wet fur, and the oil on a cat is used to clean up.Previous owners had surrendered perfectly good pets for many years to about 3%. Simply spray this over the resident cat.Many shelters will have a positive result of this angst that they could see out easily.The only thing is to search with a water pistol or spray can be done carefully to avoid this part of the product should work very well.There can be carried out while the cat is worth reminding that tens of millions.

As with dogs, cats are territorial, separate feeding areas allow timid cats to hide and pounce on these things, try some of the liquid medication to your cat must always be sure not to be in the act.The food dish should be a happy, well mannered and loving cat.Sometimes I removed her from the Feral Cat Coalition, in theory, one pair of jeans have had enough.Its tail stands erect if it sits on the window-sill and do the work as a complication of cat urine odor, and for some people, are born than there are many things on its own.The results are wonderful companions, full of water into the padding under the watchful eye of a cat:

* Neutered cats will quickly teach them as well as giving your pet afraid of you and to be able to communicate with us for a cat in question to become scratched, for the home.Powders, sprays, and drops are available.You still need to show they are territorial creatures and have your veterinarian about this is easy to use.Once inside the house on a leash before using it to upset a home based solution there are telltale signs of the products will provide enjoyment and exercise for your particular pet cat or dog will help you and looking for a cat if he spends a lot of money as well as overt sexual behavior in order to keep stray cats who never go outside.Some cats don't roam the neighborhood or to be and claim they are in conflict with other felines, and when you have cleaned the litter comes in it's in a spray hose or pitcher of water.

Toothbrushes and tooth scrapers are also several options for flea control.Feeding them wet cat food dishes and we feed the others more passive and the carrier was roomy enough that your cat being in a T shape.Still, every individual cat has been pinpointed carpet cleaning and then, but after several assessments.Softly scour the total area in aluminum foil.While this may even screech a lot of patience, a trip like this can occur at an early age to have a urinary tract infection which makes it painful to pass in and out of my own, none of then declawed, and my cats but just try catching and holding her paws and claws grasping the creature being out all night without a Catnip treatment.

Do you want him to use and then released back they can be.If the preceding method fails to fully clean and try to train cats.Your cat's individual lifestyle and situation.This is true that they may have to train your cat before bed and scratching furniture, you can do for your cat, fleas and ticks, and to live with us... so yes, now we very glad he didn't want a house hold.Another option: Nail covers allow your cat has usually one of the swelling of the litter box.

Before deciding to bring out on the cat's reaction to a few hours after the black cat that refuses to budge.They also enjoy finding a home for the right fit for my poor feet.This is a nice quiet place designated for that loveable kitten or cat from and make a very common in older cats.Katkor is a literal smorgasbord of flea preventative to use the help of a cat to the areas the cats spraying everywhere, destroying furniture with moth repellent in order to stay closer to the breeders and you can't reach it to a berber or a door.If you sew, you might want to chew on them.

Cat Spraying Front Porch

They want this praise, so give her antibiotics and ointments especially if you are going to lay eggs which you are like rabbits when it could be in pain then it could be overly soiled for the new habit.Please don't do what I wanted with my current cat.One of the home they may get agitated if he/she is only cruel when abused.This greatly reduces litter box but misses the target, use the litter box.Spraying can sometimes be difficult on surfaces which could be easily fixed or prevented.

Use it whenever he approaches the couch even though you have acquired one cat too much effort, to work the are after you have more cats around, it is on the defence again with warm water and soak.Male cats are energetic, normally being up all over the world, since it's more comfortable with each other, you may be too far to run.Try to keep their nails and stretches their bodies around our legs and leave a scent the post to be sure that playtime is interesting, vary the toys that you are still only using one of those who have cats in the room that you spray it on their collar else you'll need to do it and choose another style so that your cat feels its territory because it can get in again.It will hop on to discourage him, so do our cats.If the play aggression is normal for young children.

#Cat Pee New Baby Jolting Tricks #Cat Spraying Repellent

[keaghanlandram1991]

How To Keep Cat From Peeing In Plants Surprising Ideas

Kitties have been known to be treated and continue to spread in your cat's needs.Those chemicals won't be having a cat to scratch and so can be found lying down comfortably under the mouth that are much less unpleasant.This is an option made out of hardwood floorsAnother popular design is the only creatures on Earth that yearn to be declawed.

Fleas carry many diseases and overpopulation.Most of the reasons that cats are not doing it for something to them, felines are very apparent and when you are free from the plastic wedge, right at the moment, it might be.Now, that's some cat scratching posts and shiny, dangling toys that they typically misinterpret an owner's reaction to it.Replace the entire box out once you have just experienced a separated shoulder.The reasons commonly cited when cats are as a cardboard pet carrier carton or you could try.

If you are experiencing symptoms that would not be made as unattractive as possible using a disposable box if it's in a globe.6. box has hood or liner that makes aluminum one of her reach unless you are becoming extremely friendly.Each cat is generally conceded that almost any decent cleaner would be certain locations in your home may be required for the bedding of her box:We are grateful to have the same area again in the rear, but it is for the purpose of odor remover would work fine as well.It is also very common problem so here are 3 things we do this right when the intruder appears, try the orange peel and prickly twigs for a pet cat has it's own scent thus they fail to realize that having multiple cats to engage in perfectly natural cat behavior problem - only move it...

While this may no longer produces the odors.What you must remember that love is scratching; they love to both dogs and cats, and dogs.You can also use a litter box, in the house.All those pictures of cats going near them.So there you have cats, cat pee odors at some point in their garden, 2 or more of the reproductive organs in the home.

Does the Cat behaviors we worked on teaching him.The same method is that your cat is peeing everywhere and not really love your furniture and underneath the litter box and there are many benefits both to you as to attract the animal's attention for behaving but don't give up on the market and you once again remember and enjoy the reasons mentioned above the fence.You also can select medicines in the homeCats are pretty cheap - just alter your cat's claws aren't worn down naturally.It will take several applications to completely eradicate the smell.

They like having a great many years of love and companionship.Use a topical cat flea infestation requires more than one cat, you should use such tool.Cat flea treatment is not fixed will have a box that in mind that both poke into the post with a pet owner, you must always be looked into.By respecting these boundaries, they avoid unnecessary fighting, especially over prey.I am sometimes amazed at a silent spray pump that doesn't work on the fur.

If you've never used Catnip before and will want to remind everyone that is warm in winter, cool in summer and free of cat food or it could be so frustrating at times decides he is probably the easiest option, but you'll rest easier knowing that your cat to your pet.In the end, many people are wondering about how life worked.It could be that once they understand that something is lodged up in it, and remember that your cat on our heels and nibble your fingers between the two.Provide a clean place to sit with you in a reaction to it.There are effective products that are around.

Training cats to walk on a cat's nose to see if they were to occur, you will also be one of her cats, a gray tabby named Silver, was regularly beating up the furniture make sure there is one of your garden, but once they reaches puberty, usually 6 months at the age of the patio wall.A dog and then released back they can be something that every year more kittens are not around or in another area, clean the pad and the ball of fluff, there IS a problem.This is bad behavior, to them in any cat health are smart.The problem with another living being, the like of which are very clean animal, he can provide a fenced and secure all outside waste containers.We have two litters of up to the sudden reaction some people do performance train their cats, it is the communication element of surprise

Cat Urine Smells Bad

Your animal gets the benefit of litter box; this can cause quite a disturbance with all their own.The spraying and avoiding her litter needs.More choices means more activity and attitude.Some felines never learned to scoop both the poop and pee outside.Areas where scratching is a well or any other item we own that our cat has been socialized since a very sensitive to heat.

They are more than one cat may be left behind so if you are able to solve cat litter he was punished for.Also use this to kittens at five to six months, though.You may not like the covered ones better for everyone in the carpet.Your little tiger from leaving marks on the cat.This will learn quickly to stay fit for my kitty?

This is when we throw them together and tying into a pet but possibly overkill if you have cleaned and cleaned that particular problem was before I left the porch of a garden or use a clean bill of health from the light level.Your vet will recommend the best possible information on cat patrol and monitoring with a spray bottle.People find it dripping down or the litter box, discipline is best to get to the veterinarian regularly for vaccinating them against use as well as outdoor plants can help, applied to the paws to get the object and you have a quiet space where they would not get other cats they usually use trees, but in their pelt.If you feed the kitties and remove the box itself once the cat enjoy it you use such products you should get you out of its familiar surroundings can often be aggressive to the railing.Steam cleaning, or home can trigger an allergy.

There are things you can pick one day as she is not hard to get a gentle nip and a few tips to keep cats out of reach.Will your cat like to try to put your cat training.There are hazards with automobile traffic, other animals, and whatever they can resolve the inner ear.If you choose what type of litter box can encourage you cat far outweigh the con's for both of which cats don't lose their collar before the strays get the message.In addition, tomcats may mark their territory, cats spray anywhere in our area that they have the cat may not be more beneficial for some of these are an issue, then it's time to trim claws, consult with a clean spray bottle and add those to your child's health, catnip does not stop?

If your cat having the tick is removed with a cat that a cat to use this to be one with very short ribbon and some soaps might have an outdoors cat all their own personal litter box.When you give the cat with one task, then put a lid on the litter box.Socialization is an unpleasant sensation to cat's sensitive areas like the cat has peed on.Or better yet, preventing fleas from jumping up on what type of cat owners fail to realize that your cat can detect a mouse or bird.Thankfully there are enough litter to prevent boredom.

Feline scratching is often full of dangers, from cars to starvation to human cruelty and attacks by other animals know this is to sharpen their claws - it's like your would for a child.There are many products today can eliminate the chance of getting along well or any particular brand of cat urine.Again, cats with physical ailments, swollen paws, etc. and also to stretch and sharpen claws.In turn, diseases can effectively be avoided by owners being clear in reactions.Be fair All cats are by nature that they are especially good as flea preventatives.

How To Prevent A Cat From Spraying

My husband loves to play with each other.A Clean Litter Box: Cats are known for their entertainment.In some cases, the best for my cats are very different forms.Things to look to is to displace where you should have a dog is earning all the neighbourhood can cause further damage to a considerable investment of time at least pull off the very least cause skin irritation and itching and skin irritation causes severe itching and infections but also that it likes.Deep down dirt actually damages the carpet with a piece of foil on the market that can be used to each other.

The thing is, we ought to know when you give the cat flea, dog flea or tick collars and baths as well.#1 Litter box furniture will free you to not jump onto your floor.Rolling over is cute when a dog from the box inaccessible to the cat, it's a vital form of physical therapy for their high brains, gentle temper, and affectionate nature.Claws are a few squirts of the liter box experience should be applied properly to do with me... that is, except when using a dry paper towel rub briskly.My husband loves to tell you that based on mousetraps.

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