Behemoth

A sweeper for the Dragons I like rocks

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

(Seeing as all my friends are on here...)

Hi, I'm Timotheus Bem. Most people call me Behemoth though. I'm a 4th year student over at Kal Asterock, and a sweeper for the Dragons.

My friends (and teammates)

Ragno Garanthar: @thedragonstriker

Ondine McKraken: @ondine-water-girl

Hilal Sarawai: @futuredragonscaptain

Anaïan "Anansi" Sillas: @i-love-my-web

Skadi Savarog: @isvarg (even if you aren't a dragons player anymore, you're still my friend)

Larsen nolastname: @blowsyouaway (my teammate)

The Roses

Lilas Glasmearin: @little-ass-lilas

Lotus Datuura: @lotus-the-parasight

Tamara "Tammy" Oakenheart: @tammy-shoppingcart

Beatrix D. "Rumble Bee" Rumble: @rumble-bee-bea

Dionysos "Dio" Pinecontis: @dio-pinecontis

Sachama "Sacha" Curupira: @imnotgayforalvinceiswear (an honorary Bards player for some reason?)

Falco Sunspear: @ihatemyunclesuryasunspear

The Bards

Casper Ferreiro: @casper-ferreiro

Callista Ferreiro: @c4llistaferreiro

Alvince "Snooker" Lumni: @alvince-lumni

Eclair: @bnnuy-eclair

Baü Rimbe: @bau-ncyball

Tiffania "Bubble Tiff" Obolas: @tiffania-bubblegum-obolas

The Shadows

Pregrina Freaks: @freaks-you-out

(doesn't work for some reason?)

Conan Villani: @conanvillani

Freki Savarog: @frekisavarog

Kamoho "Kamo" Ali: @kamosharkweek

Kaiulani "Kai" Kahanamoku: @imminent-kaiphoon

Griffin Wells: @griffin-wells

Clio Philopatra: @the-best-hair

The Knights

Key Nagatatsu: @numberonegorotamafan

Key's dragon: @porkrollinferno (for some reason...)

Ssyelle Tournefeuille: @captainssyelle-atyourservice

(Ssyelle's isn't working either sadly)

Milo Stonegarden: @thesnackthatsmilosback

Odward Stonegarden: @the-knights-striker

Ameline Nolastname: @ameline-nolastname

The Goyens and staff

Goyen Noreen Sugoi: @goyen-sugoi

Goyen Mara O'Gargine: @rosesgoyen

Goyen Sanga: @goyensanga

Goyen Surya Sunspear: @robbed4twentyyears

Goyen Ansell: @knightsgoyen

Librarian Naledi: @the-starlit-archive (though it's currently being run by librarian Asterius)

A Gorotama Commentator: @gorotama-announcer-official

Kal Asterock's groundskeeper, Gyse Fantasma: @kal-asterock-grounds

Kal Asterock's therapist, Elliot: @kal-asterock-therapy

Kal Asterock's counselor, Xolani: @kal-asterock-counselor

The other clubs and students

Brunelca: @firstknightsfan

Avala: @myhairisbetterthanyours

Ri (a Basketutama player): @ri-basketutama

Kal Asterock news club: @thekalasterocknewsclub

Cooking Club: @kal-asterockcookingclub

Valgora's apprentice, Ossain: @healer-ossain

Rules and info under cut

Hello! The person running with blog is @moonshinessss, so a lot of the same rules and information on my pinned post apply here (just a quick rundown of the rules if you don't want to read: no nsfw [this is a 16 year old character], don't feel forced to interact, and block if you don't like). Though, there is a bit of extra stuff!

First, this is roleplay blog, and a blog made for a character we've only seen in three-ish episode (outside of Gorotama matches) at that, so the character being ooc is going to happen.

Second, when I'm talking out of character I'll be using green to show it, or I'll talk in the tags.

Third, I won't be able to interact with every text post because I still have stuff to do IRL, so I'll mostly be interacting in the afternoon (past 3pm PDT (Pacific Daylight Time) on weekdays, past 1pm PDT on weekends). I simply saw that the spot was open, and I quite like all the headcannons I already put on Behemoth in my head so I decided to create the rp blog for him.

Fourth, I'm okay with you sending ship related asks as long as the other character isn't a 1st year, and, if that character also has an rp blog on here, are also okay with the ship! (I must ask for no Behemoth x Ragno asks for now though!)

Fifth, I headcanon Behemoth as trans ftm, and has been on T for around 3 months (this'll be continuously changing as time passes in the rp)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Rock of the day.

Tired...

(I'm okay btw!! Just real life being stupid)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Today's rock(s) are a very smooth rock (from a river/creek side likely) and a desert rose (which is not a plant of course, and is instead gypsum or baryte which was exposed to windy sandy conditions over time causing the flat petal-like plates to form!)

(I realized I forgot to post a rock of the day yesterday so y'all get two rocks today!)

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

"I just tried to ignore him... Every time this happened I'd just ignore it the best I could and keep on playing... Because I love playing gorotama. But..."

Ondine tried her best not to cry, but it was the first time she actually opened up about this.

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

"But this time he actually hit me. Like a punch, not just a slap as usual... That's why my nose was bleeding." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

She tried to gather herself again, taking one or two minutes to cry a bit and then breathe. She knew she was safe with Behemoth...

"My dad... He'd never hit me, he's just... Scared... My aunt was in a terrible accident in her playing days and he's just terrified the same happens to me. He used to just be strict but now he's just scared of the world... Of my father..."

She strongly grabbed her scarred arm.

"My f-father... He blames me for playing... He and my dad always taught me everything about the ocean and how to preserve it, they hoped I'd follow their same steps... But when I said I wanted to play gorotama, he just... Got progressively more angry at me, and when he saw I was taking this seriously he... Became physical... Not just me, but my dad too..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stays silent when Ondine cries, and starts looking more and more worried when she tells him about what her father has done.

"Ondine, you should tell the police about what your father's doing to you and your dad, or tell one of the staff here if you need one of the adults to do it. I'd suggest one of the school's therapists..."

He pauses, and carefully lowered the ice pack from her face to pull her into a loose side hug.

"And... you can always hide out at my house if things get too bad at yours. My moms would love to finally get to meet you."

[ondine-water-girl]

"I... I don't know Mothy..." Ondine's body trembled in fear. "I... I don't think it's a good idea to... Tell the police..."

Just thinking of the influences her father had made her think of all the ways that could go wrong. She's pretty sure that he must have a way to have her expelled, or even worse... Get her friends expelled...

But her spiraling thoughts stopped when Behemoth pulled her into a side hug.

"That..." She softly giggled between her tears. "That'd be nice... I bet they're as nice as you."

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

Ondine dried her tears and tried to stabilize her voice.

"Although the only reason I go back to my house now is because I really like my room... My dads built it underwater like an aquarium for me... It was worth getting slapped but... I don't know if it's worth getting punched in the face..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... I would say nothing is worth getting hurt over..." Behemoth mutters softly.

He sighs, and squeezes Ondine lightly.

"... If you don't want to go to the police right now, I won't stop you. But, if you keep getting hurt then I strongly suggest heading to some kind of adult for help. Though, until you can get out of there... Just remember that you can always come and stay at my house."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine notices the little squeeze. Behemoth is way bigger and stronger than Ragno, yet his hugs are much more delicate and light than Ragno's. Not that it mattered, both were special in their own way.

"I'll... Definetly think about it..." She rested her head on Behemoth's shoulder.

"I'd like to know your moms though... See if there's any parent that'd actually like me." She said jokingly and mocking herself. But both knew it was to cope.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth hummed slightly when Ondine says that joke.

"You can get to know them soon. I'd just have to let them know you're coming over, of course. Though, they'd love you, I'm sure of it. You'll find you have a lot more in common with them than I do with them."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly but genuinely.

"Can't wait to know them then."

But something was a bit off for her. She leaned closer to Behemoth, wanting to finally take the ice pack off her face, her face was way too cold by now.

"You don't have much in common with your moms? Well tell me that." She laughed, trying to lift the overall mood of the room. "How are they?"

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

(Just a reminder, Behemoth already took the ice pack off her face)

Behemoth laughed softly with Ondine, and fake thought for a moment about her question.

"Well, the main thing is that my moms kind of dislike Gorotama. My mumma was always more into collecting plants when she was young, and while my Mutti did play Gorotama when they were young — they were even in Kal Asterock, and played on the Bards — they never truly got interested. Another thing is that they-" He was about to say another thing he didn't have in common with them, but he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Behemoth quickly grabbed his phone. It buzzed because his Mumma sent him a text asking how long he thinks it'll take to head home.

"Ah... is it really that late...? My moms have been wanting to make sure I head home as of recent, so you going to be okay if I leave?"

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: Sorry, I don't know how to read-)

"Well, we have one thing in common with our parents at least... Why does no one like gorotama?" Ondine chuckled.

Behemoth's phone buzzed and he checked it quickly, he had to go.

"Yeah, it's fine, your moms are waiting for you."

Sounded...

Nice...

Behemoth stood up, but Ondine stopped him by grabbing his shirt.

"Thanks... For everything today... You're the first person I've talked to about my... My dads..."

Ondine let go of his shirt and handed him the seashell she was previously playing with.

"Here, this is for you." Ondine smiled. "See you later Mothy!"

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stops when Ondine grabs his shirt, and gladly takes the shell she hands him.

"Of course, you can always talk to me about anything. And... Thanks for the shell. See you tomorrow at class." He smiles at her one last time before turning and leaving her dorm.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

"I just tried to ignore him... Every time this happened I'd just ignore it the best I could and keep on playing... Because I love playing gorotama. But..."

Ondine tried her best not to cry, but it was the first time she actually opened up about this.

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

"But this time he actually hit me. Like a punch, not just a slap as usual... That's why my nose was bleeding." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

She tried to gather herself again, taking one or two minutes to cry a bit and then breathe. She knew she was safe with Behemoth...

"My dad... He'd never hit me, he's just... Scared... My aunt was in a terrible accident in her playing days and he's just terrified the same happens to me. He used to just be strict but now he's just scared of the world... Of my father..."

She strongly grabbed her scarred arm.

"My f-father... He blames me for playing... He and my dad always taught me everything about the ocean and how to preserve it, they hoped I'd follow their same steps... But when I said I wanted to play gorotama, he just... Got progressively more angry at me, and when he saw I was taking this seriously he... Became physical... Not just me, but my dad too..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stays silent when Ondine cries, and starts looking more and more worried when she tells him about what her father has done.

"Ondine, you should tell the police about what your father's doing to you and your dad, or tell one of the staff here if you need one of the adults to do it. I'd suggest one of the school's therapists..."

He pauses, and carefully lowered the ice pack from her face to pull her into a loose side hug.

"And... you can always hide out at my house if things get too bad at yours. My moms would love to finally get to meet you."

[ondine-water-girl]

"I... I don't know Mothy..." Ondine's body trembled in fear. "I... I don't think it's a good idea to... Tell the police..."

Just thinking of the influences her father had made her think of all the ways that could go wrong. She's pretty sure that he must have a way to have her expelled, or even worse... Get her friends expelled...

But her spiraling thoughts stopped when Behemoth pulled her into a side hug.

"That..." She softly giggled between her tears. "That'd be nice... I bet they're as nice as you."

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

Ondine dried her tears and tried to stabilize her voice.

"Although the only reason I go back to my house now is because I really like my room... My dads built it underwater like an aquarium for me... It was worth getting slapped but... I don't know if it's worth getting punched in the face..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... I would say nothing is worth getting hurt over..." Behemoth mutters softly.

He sighs, and squeezes Ondine lightly.

"... If you don't want to go to the police right now, I won't stop you. But, if you keep getting hurt then I strongly suggest heading to some kind of adult for help. Though, until you can get out of there... Just remember that you can always come and stay at my house."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine notices the little squeeze. Behemoth is way bigger and stronger than Ragno, yet his hugs are much more delicate and light than Ragno's. Not that it mattered, both were special in their own way.

"I'll... Definetly think about it..." She rested her head on Behemoth's shoulder.

"I'd like to know your moms though... See if there's any parent that'd actually like me." She said jokingly and mocking herself. But both knew it was to cope.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth hummed slightly when Ondine says that joke.

"You can get to know them soon. I'd just have to let them know you're coming over, of course. Though, they'd love you, I'm sure of it. You'll find you have a lot more in common with them than I do with them."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly but genuinely.

"Can't wait to know them then."

But something was a bit off for her. She leaned closer to Behemoth, wanting to finally take the ice pack off her face, her face was way too cold by now.

"You don't have much in common with your moms? Well tell me that." She laughed, trying to lift the overall mood of the room. "How are they?"

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

(Just a reminder, Behemoth already took the ice pack off her face)

Behemoth laughed softly with Ondine, and fake thought for a moment about her question.

"Well, the main thing is that my moms kind of dislike Gorotama. My mumma was always more into collecting plants when she was young, and while my Mutti did play Gorotama when they were young — they were even in Kal Asterock, and played on the Bards — they never truly got interested. Another thing is that they-" He was about to say another thing he didn't have in common with them, but he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Behemoth quickly grabbed his phone. It buzzed because his Mumma sent him a text asking how long he thinks it'll take to head home.

"Ah... is it really that late...? My moms have been wanting to make sure I head home as of recent, so you going to be okay if I leave?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

"I just tried to ignore him... Every time this happened I'd just ignore it the best I could and keep on playing... Because I love playing gorotama. But..."

Ondine tried her best not to cry, but it was the first time she actually opened up about this.

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

"But this time he actually hit me. Like a punch, not just a slap as usual... That's why my nose was bleeding." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

She tried to gather herself again, taking one or two minutes to cry a bit and then breathe. She knew she was safe with Behemoth...

"My dad... He'd never hit me, he's just... Scared... My aunt was in a terrible accident in her playing days and he's just terrified the same happens to me. He used to just be strict but now he's just scared of the world... Of my father..."

She strongly grabbed her scarred arm.

"My f-father... He blames me for playing... He and my dad always taught me everything about the ocean and how to preserve it, they hoped I'd follow their same steps... But when I said I wanted to play gorotama, he just... Got progressively more angry at me, and when he saw I was taking this seriously he... Became physical... Not just me, but my dad too..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stays silent when Ondine cries, and starts looking more and more worried when she tells him about what her father has done.

"Ondine, you should tell the police about what your father's doing to you and your dad, or tell one of the staff here if you need one of the adults to do it. I'd suggest one of the school's therapists..."

He pauses, and carefully lowered the ice pack from her face to pull her into a loose side hug.

"And... you can always hide out at my house if things get too bad at yours. My moms would love to finally get to meet you."

[ondine-water-girl]

"I... I don't know Mothy..." Ondine's body trembled in fear. "I... I don't think it's a good idea to... Tell the police..."

Just thinking of the influences her father had made her think of all the ways that could go wrong. She's pretty sure that he must have a way to have her expelled, or even worse... Get her friends expelled...

But her spiraling thoughts stopped when Behemoth pulled her into a side hug.

"That..." She softly giggled between her tears. "That'd be nice... I bet they're as nice as you."

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

Ondine dried her tears and tried to stabilize her voice.

"Although the only reason I go back to my house now is because I really like my room... My dads built it underwater like an aquarium for me... It was worth getting slapped but... I don't know if it's worth getting punched in the face..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... I would say nothing is worth getting hurt over..." Behemoth mutters softly.

He sighs, and squeezes Ondine lightly.

"... If you don't want to go to the police right now, I won't stop you. But, if you keep getting hurt then I strongly suggest heading to some kind of adult for help. Though, until you can get out of there... Just remember that you can always come and stay at my house."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine notices the little squeeze. Behemoth is way bigger and stronger than Ragno, yet his hugs are much more delicate and light than Ragno's. Not that it mattered, both were special in their own way.

"I'll... Definetly think about it..." She rested her head on Behemoth's shoulder.

"I'd like to know your moms though... See if there's any parent that'd actually like me." She said jokingly and mocking herself. But both knew it was to cope.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth hummed slightly when Ondine says that joke.

"You can get to know them soon. I'd just have to let them know you're coming over, of course. Though, they'd love you, I'm sure of it. You'll find you have a lot more in common with them than I do with them."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

"I just tried to ignore him... Every time this happened I'd just ignore it the best I could and keep on playing... Because I love playing gorotama. But..."

Ondine tried her best not to cry, but it was the first time she actually opened up about this.

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

"But this time he actually hit me. Like a punch, not just a slap as usual... That's why my nose was bleeding." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

She tried to gather herself again, taking one or two minutes to cry a bit and then breathe. She knew she was safe with Behemoth...

"My dad... He'd never hit me, he's just... Scared... My aunt was in a terrible accident in her playing days and he's just terrified the same happens to me. He used to just be strict but now he's just scared of the world... Of my father..."

She strongly grabbed her scarred arm.

"My f-father... He blames me for playing... He and my dad always taught me everything about the ocean and how to preserve it, they hoped I'd follow their same steps... But when I said I wanted to play gorotama, he just... Got progressively more angry at me, and when he saw I was taking this seriously he... Became physical... Not just me, but my dad too..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stays silent when Ondine cries, and starts looking more and more worried when she tells him about what her father has done.

"Ondine, you should tell the police about what your father's doing to you and your dad, or tell one of the staff here if you need one of the adults to do it. I'd suggest one of the school's therapists..."

He pauses, and carefully lowered the ice pack from her face to pull her into a loose side hug.

"And... you can always hide out at my house if things get too bad at yours. My moms would love to finally get to meet you."

[ondine-water-girl]

"I... I don't know Mothy..." Ondine's body trembled in fear. "I... I don't think it's a good idea to... Tell the police..."

Just thinking of the influences her father had made her think of all the ways that could go wrong. She's pretty sure that he must have a way to have her expelled, or even worse... Get her friends expelled...

But her spiraling thoughts stopped when Behemoth pulled her into a side hug.

"That..." She softly giggled between her tears. "That'd be nice... I bet they're as nice as you."

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

Ondine dried her tears and tried to stabilize her voice.

"Although the only reason I go back to my house now is because I really like my room... My dads built it underwater like an aquarium for me... It was worth getting slapped but... I don't know if it's worth getting punched in the face..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... I would say nothing is worth getting hurt over..." Behemoth mutters softly.

He sighs, and squeezes Ondine lightly.

"... If you don't want to go to the police right now, I won't stop you. But, if you keep getting hurt then I strongly suggest heading to some kind of adult for help. Though, until you can get out of there... Just remember that you can always come and stay at my house."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

"I just tried to ignore him... Every time this happened I'd just ignore it the best I could and keep on playing... Because I love playing gorotama. But..."

Ondine tried her best not to cry, but it was the first time she actually opened up about this.

(TW: parental abuse, proceed with caution)

"But this time he actually hit me. Like a punch, not just a slap as usual... That's why my nose was bleeding." Her voice broke and she started to cry.

She tried to gather herself again, taking one or two minutes to cry a bit and then breathe. She knew she was safe with Behemoth...

"My dad... He'd never hit me, he's just... Scared... My aunt was in a terrible accident in her playing days and he's just terrified the same happens to me. He used to just be strict but now he's just scared of the world... Of my father..."

She strongly grabbed her scarred arm.

"My f-father... He blames me for playing... He and my dad always taught me everything about the ocean and how to preserve it, they hoped I'd follow their same steps... But when I said I wanted to play gorotama, he just... Got progressively more angry at me, and when he saw I was taking this seriously he... Became physical... Not just me, but my dad too..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth stays silent when Ondine cries, and starts looking more and more worried when she tells him about what her father has done.

"Ondine, you should tell the police about what your father's doing to you and your dad, or tell one of the staff here if you need one of the adults to do it. I'd suggest one of the school's therapists..."

He pauses, and carefully lowered the ice pack from her face to pull her into a loose side hug.

"And... you can always hide out at my house if things get too bad at yours. My moms would love to finally get to meet you."

[robbed4twentyyears]

Making a proper Intro Post for you fuckers. I'm fucking tired.

So the reason Surya has never had an intro post is because at first I was too anxious to @ other blogs, then I just figured we were good.

After talking with other blog runners and realizing ya'll are just. Too comfortable with what you send me, let's set the record straight.

BOUNDARIES:

I am not fine with being talked to about the romance of fucking twelve year olds. Now, you may think nobody has been creepy about Falco and Key - fair. I did only post the normal ish asks. I got sent actual written porn. by an anon. Even your "innocent" asks make me feel disgusting.

Don't sent me gore, or description of rough injuries, without dming me first. Yes, I engaged with Callista, and yes, at the time that was fine. But I also got sent extremely fucking descriptive gore by an anon. I have become unable to look at Callistas posts because of this.

THE ACTUAL INTRO:

Well, hello there students!

I am your Goyen, Surya Sunspear. Music teacher, and coach of the bards!

Have you met the bards? We know just how to put on a great spectacle!

The captains (and wingers) I have carefully hand chosen to lead us to the banner's helm: @casper-ferreiro @c4llistaferreiro The greatest goalkeepers you will ever find: @bau-ncyball @golden-voiced-goalie Our lovely sweepers: @tiffania-bubblegum-obolas @bnnuy-eclair (my daughter too write that down!!) And our ONLY striker since that traitor left us: @alvince-lumni

Tsk. You want me to promote other teams? Or school staff? Or my partners? You can't be serious.

About Edina

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine jumps in surprise at Behemoth getting defensive.

"I... No, I should've know this would happen..." Her throat felt sore, she knew it wasn't ok but... She should've known...

"For starters, my f-father just let me be at Kal Asterock because he wanted me to fail at gorotama and then go back... Every time I acomplished something he'd... You know..."

Ondine avoided eye contact. She couldn't cover herself with the jacket since Behemoth was putting ice on her face, so she just looked at anywhere but Behemoth.

A tear ran down her face, but no sniff.

"I was just... Really happy when Ragno named me co-captain... So happy that it made me want to tell my dad. He changed a lot, but I thought at least he would be happy for me..."

There was more to tell, but she just couldn't put her thoughts in place.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth shakes his head slightly, and moves to sit on Ondine's bed beside her while still holding the ice pack up to her face.

"Even if you think you should've known better than to tell them, that doesn't make it right. Jumping to physically hurting you because you're doing well in Gorotama... And your parents should feel happy for you."

He takes a pause to think.

"Why do they want you to fail at Gorotama?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's body tenses as her hands stop playing with the seashell and just strongly hold it. She chuckles a bit in nervousness.

"I wasn't going to get away with this, huh..."

Ondine let Behemoth put the ice pack on her face, it stings.

"Well uh..." She hissed for the mixture of the cold and the sting on her face.

"I don't really want to sugarcoat it or anything so I'll just say it... I..." Her hands trembled, it was way harder to say it out loud than she thought.

"It was m-my... My f-father..." Ondine stayed silent for a few long seconds. "My dads don't really like that I play gorotama... But it was my fault anyways, I shouldn't have told my dad that I was named co-captain... It was clear he was going to find out eventually..."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looks surprised when Ondine tells him this, and gains a worried look when she says it was her fault anyways.

"Ondine, what? You're fault? For just telling your parents about something cool? You should be allowed to tell your dads you were named co-captain without getting hurt for it."

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine was glad Behemoth trusted her and to have him by her side. Her nervousness to tell him everything was still there, but at least she felt safe that he was going to be there as she is for him.

"I'll borrow this, thank you." Ondine said playfully as she took Behemoth's big jacket to cover her face. She still remembered when she used it on the Eyrie, she really liked it.

They walked to Ondine's dorm, following a bit of Behemoth's directions since she still couldn't see too well because of her covered face, but they made it. She opened the door and let him in. She sat on her bed and played with a seashell on her hands, keeping the silence in hope that Behemoth didn't ask anything and just put the ice pack on her face.

Ondine knew that probably won't be the case, but she can dream.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth chuckles softly when Ondine 'borrows' his jacket, and just lets her take it without saying a word.

When they got to her room, he looks over all her seashells and ocean trinkets she has for a moment before sitting down on the floor beside where she's sitting.

"I shouldn't put this question off for too long, so... You want to tell me how you got the bruises?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine feels a knot on her throat as Behemoth speaks. So that's why he wore long sleeves even if it was hot outside and he always went to change on the bathroom after matches...

Ondine touches his arm softly, as if saying that's ok with the same soft smile she gave him before. "Thanks for telling me. I did it too, even if it was once... And I can't imagine how it'd be to keep up with that for a whole year." Her voice was a bit broken.

She got closer to Behemoth, hugging his arm.

"So thanks for telling me."

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth pulls Ondine fully into a hug after she finishes talking, though it's clear the hug is more for her than for him.

"... Thanks for letting me tell you..." He mutters before pulling away to grab a cloth so she can more easily hold the ice pack to her bruises.

"Anyways, let's head over to your dorm, yeah?" And Behemoth holds the ice pack wrapped in a cloth out for Ondine to grab.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

(TW: mentions of s/h)

Ondine nods, worried that she might know where this is going, hoping to be wrong. She've done it too, but it was hurtful to think that Behemoth also did it...

"It's ok Mothy, you know we can... Trust each other." Ondine smiles softly, trying to not look as worried and nervous as she is.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"I know..."

Behemoth looks at the ice pack in his hands. The cold chill (it's a magic ice pack) stinging his hands and keeping him from even think about biting.

(TW: lots of talking about self harm past this point! Stop reading if you get too uncomfortable)

"I... I bit myself a lot during my 3rd year to try and stop all the stressful thoughts I was getting. Like... More than just nibbling on my arm. I gave myself bruises, and even bit through my own skin at times. I borrowed some bandages and ice packs from the infirmary under the guise that I was getting hurt more often in Gorotama. I... I've stopped now, of course, but... I never brought the stuff back."

Behemoth let out a sigh of relief now that he finally told someone else about his self harm. Especially since it's Ondine.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine entered Behemoth's dorm. It was a while since she went, not counting her leeched self...

She admired all the rocks and gems that were on display on his room, she smiled to herself, remembering his daily rock posts.

Ondine saw as Behemoth took some things out from under his bed.

"Why do you have all that in your dorm?" She asked a bit worried about Behemoth's health.

She sat on the bed, waiting for Behemoth to set everything up. She was playing with her fingers, waiting until he asked what happened. She knew Behemoth, he wasn't going to acceptt a 'nothing' as an answer...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth freezes when Ondine asks him why he has any medical supplies in his dorm, and almost drops the ice pack he was holding.

"I..."

'Oh helm, I probably shouldn't lie to her if I want to know how she got those bruises... How do I tell her about my biting without her freaking out?'

"Y'know how I never let you or Ragno see my arms...?" His voice is trembling slightly as he speaks.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine's whole body was trembling when she missed her father's call.

But she instantly froze when she got two messages.

Father 'Why didn't you pick up?' 'Call me.'

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She ignored her dad too much and even blocked him, she just wanted to enjoy a normal evening with Ragno and then she was going to message him back... But apparently she flew too close to the sun because now her father was involved, and not even with messages but with a call...

She knew she shouldn't have told them about being named co-captain of the Dragons... She should've just kept it to herself and none of this would be happening, but deep inside, just this once, she hoped her dads could feel happy for her...

Ondine stared at the screen, reading her father's two messages over and over again in the notifications, but not opening the chat. She didn't want to leave him on read, that'd be even worse.

Her head was spining and her thoughts were everywhere. She didn't want to begin to think what her dads will say to her... What will they do to her... It'd been better if she answered the first messages, but she really wanted to have a fun normal day for once... Her mind went back to when she was with Ragno on the skondola a few hours ago, how he pulled her into a warm hug and put his hand over hers. The mere thought was comforting. She could still feel his thumb rubbing circles on her arm in such a gentle way that made her calm down, even if it wasn't happening at the moment.

She knew that she's held Ragno's hand multiple times to help him calm down, but when he did it for her felt... Different. In a nice way.

The skondola got to the bottom, waking up Ondine from her thoughts and bringing her back to the reality that she still hadn't replied to her father. She just walked to her room and laid down on her bed. She just needed a little bit of rest before having to face him...

(I'm working on a lore post to give context before continuing this scene, so I'll just leave it here for now)

[ondine-water-girl]

(OOC: If you haven't read ONDINE'S LORE POST, is a good time to do it now! Since the lore is a bit necessary to understand what will happen for this Ondine arc.) (This is long as fuck omg-)

After whatever the hell happened at the gym, Ondine went back to her room. She was supposed to take a relaxing walk before calling her father, but that was anything except relaxing.

She couldn't keep avoiding it, so as soon as she got to her room, she checked her phone. She unblocked her dad's number and finally read everything he sent to her.

Dad 'Ondine, we need to talk' 'You don't have to be co-captain' 'Please reconsider' 'Why did you even tell me?' 'You want to scare me to death?' 'What if something happens to you?' 'Ondine, answer to me' 'You know it won't be long until your father finds out' 'So quit' 'Please quit' 'I don't want anything to happen to you' 'Come back' 'Please' '...' 'Ondine' 'Ondine, your father found out' 'I tried to hide it from him' 'Please quit gorotama' 'Just do it please' '...' 'Your father will call you shortly...' 'Pick up please...'

Ondine sure wished she read these sooner... With a shaky hand she switched to her father's contact and called.

She didn't have time to gulp before he picked up.

"Ondine."

"H-Hi father, I-"

"You better come, we need to talk."

And before she could breathe to reply, he hung up.

Her hands didn't stop shaking, if anything, they were shaking even more. She ran to the skondola back to Mestras, from there she could get to the beach her house was close to.

During the whole trip her head felt empty, as if accepting what was awaiting her at home. She tried to think about anything, but every time she tried, the thought was swallowed by her fear. Even when she tried to think about Anansi, Behemoth, Hilal... Ragno... Is as if their faces couldn't even appear on her head. She grabbed her scarred arm as her leg bounced, and before she could notice, she was already at her stop.

She walked to her house, at least enjoying the trip by walking close to the sea on the shore. Feeling the breeze and the salty smell in the air while enjoying the sound of the waves crashing. That might've kept her sane enough for what was about to come.

(TW for: abusive parents) (physical and emotional abuse)

Ondine knocked the door, which was opened by her dad. He looked tired. With eyebags and traces of what looked like a fresh bloody nose. He hugged her, strongly, and she barely returned the hug.

"I'm sorry, fishy..."

It's been a while since her dad called her that. She was now even more afraid of whatever was going to happen.

Their hug broke as soon as footsteps approached, Ondine's dad walked away and her father entered the room. Ondine's whole body tensed.

"H-Hello, father."

"Hello Ondine. I would offer you a cup of lemonage and sit down on the couch, but we both know we're not here for friendly matters."

Her father got closer to her, intimidating her by how much taller he was, looking down at her.

"A little seagull told me you were named co-captain of the Dragons." He subtly glanced towards his husband. "And I just cannot seem to understand why this was kept a secret from me."

Ondine gulped. "I didn't want you to... Get mad..."

"If you knew I was going to get mad, then why did you do it?"

Ondine's fists clenched. "I... I just wanted at least dad to be happy for me..."

Her father laughed. "Happy for you? You still don't realize that this stupidity accomplishes NOTHING?" He gave one step forward towards Ondine, his anger starting to rise. "Do you know how many endangered species we discovered this year while you were running around with a ball? TEN."

"I-I'm sorry father, I-" She gave one step backwards.

"Happy for you?! At least have the decency of becoming the ACTUAL captain instead of a lousy second place! Not that it would've changed the outcome, but it's emabrrassing to be happy about being co-captain." He chuckled, cornering Ondine against the door.

Ondine felt like crying and running away, but her own anger was also increasing. "I'm... I worked hard to get the title..."

"YOU COULD PUT THAT EFFORT INTO HELPING WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY NEEDED, ONDINE MCKRAKEN!" He lifted his hand and slapped Ondine in the cheek.

Her dad jumped from the hit, wanting to do something for a second but backing up immediately.

Something was different with Ondine this time. She usually just got hit and then just left, but this time, being named co-captain by Ragno, was something really special to her and she didn't want to stay silent about it.

"I AM NEEDED ON THE DRAGONS, FATHER!" Ondine yelled back, but her father grunted and hit her again. That didn't stop her. "MY TEAM NEEDS ME, OUR CAPTAIN IS INJURED SO I HAVE TO BE THERE FOR THEM!"

She got hit again, but this time it wasn't a slap, it was a direct punch to her nose, which started to bleed. This shocked Ondine, making her fall to the ground from the hit and hold her nose while looking at her father with scared open eyes.

"Never speak to me that way again, young lady." He said awfully calm, not yelling or screaming, he didn't need to, he was scary and intimidating enough.

Ondine noticed how her dad was crying on the corner of the room and her father was getting closer to her again, so she just opened the door and ran away. She tried to do something this time, but she failed... She escaped once again...

She did the same trip back to Kal Asterock. It was automatic, her head was empty and she wasn't registering anything. Just shock and the sting of her injuries.

@earthquakesdragonsmake

(OOC: Imagine she's just coming back from Mestras, I didn't want to write the whole trip back 😭)

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth was walking to the Skondolas to visit his mums when he saw Ondine there already.

'I didn't know she was planning on being in Mestras today... Then again, I haven't talked to her in a bit.'

"Ondine! How are you-" He stops talking when he sees her nose bleeding and her eyes dull.

Behemoth immediately rushes over to Ondine, and lightly shakes her shoulder to maybe snap her out of her (lack) of thoughts.

"Hey, what... What happened?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't even realize she had made it to Kal Asterock until someone shook her shoulder. She didn't hear anything or recognize the voice until she looked up and saw a familiar face. Behemoth.

"What? I..." As she became self aware of her surroundings again, she felt her bloody nose and the sting of her whole face.

The memories of everything that happened with her dads flashed through her head. She was so fucked...

"If I say I'm ok would you believe me?" Ondine asked jokingly, not with a silly voice, but a sad one. She just wanted to get out of there and she was self conscious that brushing it off wasn't an option.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"... Definitely not."

Behemoth looks Ondine over. The bleeding nose, the red spot forming on her cheek...

"Lemme guess, Gorotama practice?" He joked with a similar somber tone, and grabbed a tissue from his pocket for her nose (dw, it's not some loose tissue. He has one of those little tissue packets in his jacket pocket)

He knew she was always lying when she got hit during practice. Sure, he had no real PROOF (until now), but he knew what fresh bruises versus old bruises looked like.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine accepted the tissue and put it over her nose to stop the bleeding.

"So you always knew?" She chuckled at Behemoth's comment. It was a chuckle of defeat. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid to never notice someone noticed.

"Well, you've always been very perceptive Mothy..." Ondine looked at him with a sad smile and tears about to drop, almost if calling for help.

She didn't really know why she decided to call him by a nickname, it just felt right to the moment.

All of her face started to progressively hurt even more. Her disconnection from her emotions was helping her to not acknowledge her pain, but now that someone knew (or partially knew), her emotions were starting to appear as well.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth looked even more sad as he saw Ondine about to cry and how her eyes start to clearly display the pain she's in.

"Mhm..." he nods, and lightly tugs her shirt to signal that they should get moving before anyone decides to show up.

"Let's get you to the infirmary, okay?"

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine didn't want to go to the infirmary. She didn't want anyone to see her like this to begin with, but now that Behemoth had, she preferred to keep it just between them.

"I... I don't really want to." She didn't walk with him when he tugged her shirt. "Can we just go to my room?"

Oh god, the sting was getting worse. She didn't know the difference between a slap and a punch until now, and she could see her father was holding back all this time by just slapping her...

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

"Ah..."

It makes sense. Behemoth never wanted to go to the infirmary when...

...

'Well, except when I needed bandages. Actually, I might still have a few things to help with bruises in my room. I never did bring them back to the infirmary.'

"Okay. But only if we can stop by my dorm for some ice packs." He waits for Ondine to start walking before heading to the dorms with her.

[ondine-water-girl]

Ondine smiled lightly.

"Yeah, sounds like a good plan."

She was really glad she could count on Behemoth for this. She was just going to lock herself up on her room and do whoever knows what. She knows she promised to tell Ragno everything, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to... She was too afraid of her reaction... It was better to leave this between Behemoth and her.

Ondine decided to cover herslef during all the way to Behemoth's dorm, she didn't want anyone else to see her like that, but her clothes weren't very useful for that, so she was just covering herself with her hand and praying that no one saw her. She was walking behind Behemoth, gripping his clothes to not separate while she tried to cover herself.

"Are we close?" Ondine couldn't really see where they were going, she blindly trusted Behemoth.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Behemoth gladly acts as a cover for Ondine while they walk down the hallways of Kal Asterock to his dorm.

"Yep, it's just up here," he responds, and he motions to one of doors to the left side of the hallway.

Once they get to Behemoth's dorm, he let's Ondine head inside first before moving to grab the ice packs he hid underneath his bed with all the other things he borrowed permanently from the infirmary during his 3rd year.

[earthquakesdragonsmake]

Rock of the day.

This one's very tiny and very shiny.