Cosmic Creations

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[orbitingideas]

My lore!

I saw this on @wannabegossipgirll so I wanted to do that too!

Hi! You all can call me Orbs or Orbie or whatever

I made this blog a while ago but started posting on March 14 (2026) after finally quiting AI chat bots cold turkey. I have always been anti-ai but would always be in this loop of saying "I wanna draw!", opening my iPad, clicking character ai instead of procreate and after hours of nothing I would get a single drop of dopamine, it was horrible but now that ive stopped my senioritis is finally gone.

I love making stories and hope to post them all + opinions, analysis or really anything via any creative media I had stumbled upon.

For years ive been so jealous of the writers and actors of characters that people post headcannons and art of. Like Illiya and Shane or Percy Jackson or Trollhunters. I so badly wished that my characters could feel as real as theirs. But then I posted my first fic with origional characters and for the first time they do. I would always hide my characters and stories via art, paper or Google docs for them to live their life only in my mind. But now they live in the minds of others and they feel so much more real

I hope this blog inspires people let go of AI and instead combat it by creating their own art/stories

My ao3 ---> featuring fics that im too scared to show here!

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[orbitingideas]

FINISHED WITH ALL MY FINALS (aka only one but it’s okay!)

In the books, it’s mentioned that the crew of the Hail Mary have access to all published human literature and media, so I like to imagine Rocky and Grace watched a TON of movies on the way to Erid

[dontrecognisememirk]

Fanfic readers when you answer one of their comments

Fanfic writers when you comment on their fic

[orbitingideas]

Some doodles of Ryland Grace to celebrate me finishing my ap exams!

Finals week or my final week!? 😅

[orbitingideas]

AHHH TRAVELER ITS FINALE TIME 🪙 💰 👛 🪙 💰 👛 🪙 💰 👛 🪙 💰 👛

I dont usually mention chapter word counts (will change up soon) but this monster is 9.4k words (for reference my chapters are typically 2-3k 😭😭😭) after finals im probably cutting this beast into 3 parts cuz this is like 3/4 book chapters. Round of applause to anyone who finishes this one go 👏 ✌️ 👏 ✌️ 👏 ✌️ 👏

On the morning of the most important day of your life, Grom’s sobs are the first thing you hear. Your heart aches from the raw sound as you desperately force your body to react as quickly as your mind, though you seem to be lagging out.

“D-do not worry, Kushi. Y-You will be okay” he cries as you hear bandages being unraveled

Okay? You felt fine. Finally managing to open your eyes, your hands grip his shoulders to try stabilizing him.  “h-hey what's wrong?!” 

Grom slowly looks at you tearfully as his hands shake, his expression you can only describe as fully shattered. One hand shoots to your cheek,  “are you hurting? I am so sorry, this is my fault!”

“What is? Grom, what's wrong?”

You trail his eyes down to between your thighs where a bloody mess had already formed, now you suddenly feel the familiar ache in your core. 

Grom lets out a thick ugly heave from his sobbing “I-i must have done this in the middle of the night by accident, I am-”

You cup his face quickly, forcing him to look at you “Grom Grom! This wasn’t your fault okay? This is a normal thing humans experience-”you stop, his sobs were louder than your words, you had to calm him down before anything. You pull him by his head down to lay on you, not caring about the mess you will make on him. Your fingers rake soothingly through his scalp a

s your lips whisper against his ear “Shhhh, I’m okay, I’m all okay. Just focus on my breathing okay?…I'm right here…” 

His arms wrap tight against you, heart beating so fast you can feel it against yours, but you continue until you can no longer feel it against your chest. His breathing slows, the tears on his cheeks drying up. And finally when you know he's calmer, you speak up

“Orcs don’t have their period?”

He sniffles, his voice is still shaky as he speaks into your neck “w-why would they experience english grammar?”

“N-no its something human women do every month, they bleed from there every month”

“Why…whyever do they do such a horrid thing?” he slowly sits up with you

“I…I’m not sure,” you falter, afterall you weren’t allowed to speak about periods that much in your old village. ”I just know it has something to do with getting pregnant and that it means i’m not pregnant”

“I could have told you that” he mutters as he looks down at the blood, seemingly not caring for the mess you were making on him, before looking up at you “is it painful?” his voice shakes.

“A-a-bit sometimes” you under exaggerate, but you didn’t want him to be worried about you during The Great Hunt. 

“Why have I never noticed?” he murmurs this more to himself

Your brows furrow, “I usually hide it, it’s shameful to have your period and hiding it is considered normalized back at my old village. Nobody talked about it here, especially Ghor, who of all I would be the most blunt with, so I just thought it was the same as back at my village.”

He raises his weight on his forearms on either side of you, lifting to hover your head above yours. His eyes, you notice, seem to be almost betrayed. “Why would you not tell me you were in pain?”

You hesitate, but all you can do to explain is just slightly shrug, “I-i well…It just seemed normalized, honey! It's the same as me wearing a corset without you knowing, holding my past beliefs…”

Grom suddenly drops onto you, the force of his body only making you jump startled as he huffs into your shoulder, “I still don’t understand” he mutters in frustration. you laugh at this little tantrum before raking your fingers into his hair softly. He eventually lifts his head up to look at you, his breathing comes out shaking “how can I help?”

Your hands slide to cup his face gently, “I should bathe and wash up and get ready”

Grom tilts his head slightly to press his cheek deeper into your right hand as he looks on the side. “O-okay I can help” before you can interject he lifts you up bridal style to take you to the bathroom. 

Despite the blood he sets you on his lap as he sits on the side of the wooden tub before creating a warm bath. You always wondered how it worked, how when he pushed a button on the wall, water would come out of a spout below it. I’ll ask him another day, you mentally note. Once full, he turns to you with asking eyes and doesn’t start assisting you until you nod. His hands gently lift off your pajamas before assisting you in peeling off your bloody undergarments to set into the trash. His movements are slow, calm with no more panic from the blood, there is no lust in his eyes as he sets you into the tub. You sigh and shut your eyes as the warm water does wonders for your aching stomach.  “hot enough, Sweetie?”

“Yeah”

“Good, I shall take my le-”

“Actually…” you open your eyes to stop him by gripping his hand,  "I was wondering if you could stay? So I have someone to talk to”

Grom looks at you, the sadness in his eyes lightens a bit as he smiles. He folds his arms on the edge of the tub, his chin resting on them as he watches you carefully. “How long does it last?”

You perk up as you scrub our arms, “my period? 4 days, typically happens every month”

“You said it was painful”

“Typically it hurts in my stomach” you gesture by pressing your hand to your lower belly, now toned from your months long training, it almost startles you, you’re not used to seeing yourself with muscles. 

“So you are weak?” he asks blunt with concern in his eyes

“A-a little, but nothing to prevent me from doing anything!”

His shoulders relax, but as he continues with the conversation, you can tell he’s not back to his normal self. “Hunt is today”

You perk up excitedly and continue to scrub yourself with a newly found energy, “Yeah!”

“How do you feel?”

“You know, I thought I would be so nervous I'd throw up, but I'm actually so excited to see how my progress has paid off!”

Grom opens his mouth to say something before shutting it again, “That is nice, Sweetie” he says instead, you furrow your brows at his unusual answer but wave it off to instead continue with your legs. You were excited to see Ghor.

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You march happily side by side with Grom, your hair freshly braided, bow hung around your back, quill of arrows on your side. You had Grom’s dagger strapped at your thigh, a waterpouch hanging on your shoulder, and a pocket full of make-shift pads that Grom insisted you carried.

In the center of the town were a large group of Orcs stretching and counting their ammo in preparation for the hunt, while holding Grom’s hand you make your way to the edge of the group where Ghor was. She stops mid stretch and smiles, “y/n! Are you ready?!”

“Yeah!” you perk up and twirl to show her your set up, your eyes catching a glimpse of the Griffin statue. You had never been to the center of the town so you never really got a chance to see it that well. It was taller than the average male Orc, normally you wouldn’t notice it but it was freshly waxed so it shined for attention, and Orcs kept on walking up to it to touch its paw and mutter something under their breath.

“Good. you packed light, did you stretch like I told you to? Stretching is important, very important of the utmost!-” Ghor stops mid rant and trails where your eyes were watching “Oh! That is our statue! It is representation of one of our gods, North Star. Orcs are praying for bravery! Whoever wins competition gets to be poured with milk alongside him!“ she buzzes with excitement at this fact

Your nose scrunches in distaste, “Why?”

She laughs at your reaction, "it is symbolic thing! Milk is so rich and good for you! So only kings usually get to bathe in it. By bathing alongside him it represents in that moment you are on God's level!“

You perk up suprised, it was shocking that Orcs could consider themselves to be on their gods pedestal, even if it was for just a moment.  “r-really! W-well should I go pray?”

Ghor smiles brightly, “Absolutely!” she grabs your arm starting to tug you towards the statue, her voice starting to growl in delightful bloodlust “and if no one will let us! I swear I will-”

“Ghor, could you actually give us a minute? I will meet me there” Grom's terrifyingly calm voice cuts her off, his arm landing on your shoulder to hold you back. Ghor turns around, her face hesitant but she lets go, waves kindly and starts making her way to the statue. You don’t turn to Grom, your mind still clicking together the facts, he said to me instead of us.

You hear a shaky sigh from him as you turn to meet his gaze "y/n...I do not want you to participate in hunt"

Your mind lags, the message not hitting until a full 2 seconds later. "what? Why?"

He bends closer to you, glancing around as his voice lowers to a whisper "this morning...I thought you died, Sweetness' his eyes, there’s something in them, it's not just sadness, it's fear too that you didn’t recognize earlier.

"I didn't! It's just a period! it happens every month!"

His hands land on your shoulders to keep you still. "but it is a fact, you are weak during this time"

You try to jerk away from his grip but fail "only by a bit!-Grom I have been training for this day since I got here! you can't stop me"

His eyes darken suddenly, it makes your heart stop as you take a step back at the unfamiliar gesture. You didn’t know Grom was even capable of showing it to you. For the first time fear runs through your veins when you look at Grom "y/n," he says darkly. You flinch as his hand reaches to you, your arms wrapping around your head to protect it; a habit given from your father. You don’t feel his hand for a moment, as if it paused, but then you feel it sharply tug off your bow and snap off your thigh strap. He’s not particularly loud but the sudden tone change is enough to cause everyone to silence and turn towards the both of you. "if you do not stay here with Rag, then I will chain you drown in our home, you will never leave our bedroom"

you gasp at his words and lift your head from your arms, “n-no-no!” you beg, tears well up so quickly that you’re blind in an instance. You try to reach for your things, clawing up at them blinding only for hands to reach from behind you to stop yours. You sob loud and ugly as you try to tug away from them, not having to look to know it was Rag.  “N-No Grom! P-please don’t do this! Please! Grom please!” 

Unknowing to you, Grom tosses your bow and dagger to the ground behind a log before looking at you. His hand reaches out for you but suddenly stops, he looks down at his hand in hatred before letting it drop in defeat "just...stay here,  please" he murmurs softly but your pleas are louder. When you don’t respond he sighs and looks to Rag  "please make sure she stays"

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Your vision clears as Rag blows through a horn, sending all of the Orcs sprinting to the forest. You watch from the center of the town, Grom doesn’t bother looking back, but Ghor does, there's pity in her eyes. You plead, you mentally beg please please please come back for me but she doesn't, she dives into the forest and leaves you.

Rag walks slowly back to you and slides down to sit nearby. Two minutes go by, then 5 then 7. You were still stuck in shock from what Grom did, you couldn’t believe it. But worst of all, you stupidly let all your feelings out for all the Orcs to see. It was pathetic, it was ugly, and worst of all, it was weak. There wasn’t going to be a next year, or a next time, because now that they saw this moment, they would never let it go. 

2 more minutes go by, then 3 more. You open your mouth to ask something but your throat is still so raw after your sobbing that you shut it in embarrassment of your broken voice.

Rag raises a brow, “I do not prefer to hunt” he says after a beat, “That is why I do not join in, in addition it is also wise for someone to stay back to watch the town”

That would be smart, afterall you couldn’t hear anything, the normally loud town was now dead quiet everyone gone, except you.

Another beat of silence “Ghor, what has she trained you on?”

You perk up at that and take a moment to regain your voice, still hoarse from crying “core strength, hunting tactics, and i’ve studied about all the animals you can find here, and their habits, ”

“Core, so you’re good at climbing trees….” he pauses before looking away “Only the east side or…”

Your head jerks to trail his eyes to the opposite part of the forest where all the Orcs went “All, “ you respond firm with newly found hop “I found it unusual how Orcs prepared for only the east side, animals can move and migrate”

“So you can do the west side?”

You nod sharply jerking back to make eye contact "definitely" 

“And you are aware that any game found in the forest, so long as it’s not endangered, is acceptable?”

“Yes” you say firmly

His face is still stoic as you wait eagerly, breath hitching when he raises your bow and dagger, wanting so badly to pounce on them but he doesn’t offer them to you. You look up at him puzzled “Have you thought of your why?” he asks

Your hands jerk back as you look down, brows furrowing, you hadn’t. But you need this, you can't go because you couldn’t answer a question, so you shut your eyes and let the first words in your brain come out, “I only have forty years in me, I wasted 18 of them, I will not waste the rest of them. Since I can remember I have wanted to go out. I wanted to explore, I wanted to live. I have been here for three months yet I have only been able to see a small percentage of the village. I refuse to spend the rest of my short life surrounded by walls again, I refuse to believe that is living and I refuse to be discriminated against because those Orcs think I am weak, I am not. I don’t just want this, I need this because I need to live.”

You open your eyes, unable to breathe from anxiety but it all goes away when you see his smile, wide and clearly happy with your answer. He gives you back your dagger and bow. Once his brow quivers when you don’t immediately run off, you turn to Griffin, “Can you teach me how to pray to them?”

He chuckles before leading you over to the statue, he puts his hand on the paw and you do the same with the other. “Oh great North Star, please give me bravery for what I may face in the forest”

But now that you were closer you noticed 3 more that were all pushed together, back to back. You circle the rest to see a Tortis, bird, and some hairy monster that looks like sasquatch. “What are they?”

Rag perks up, “They are the representation of the rest of our gods. Galápagos, Phoenix and Basque each represent intelligence, prosperity and safety, the South, East and West Star. Orcs do not typically pray to them during The Great Hunt- ”

He’s cut off by you placing your hand on the hand, wing or paw of each statue to murmur prayers. As you do so Rag smiles at you, he must admit that it was nervous for you, but now he sees that you will succeed, because you’re hungry for success.

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It had been hours, judging by the sun distance, maybe 2 pm. Which meant you had been hunting for 8 straight hours with nothing. And you only had 4 more left  to find something.

You continue to trudge through the forest, why is there nothing here! Goddamn it! No where did it say the west side didn’t have any good game-

You jerk to the side at a rustle in the distance you had been hearing it for the past few miles but could never find anything. Each time you heard it your heart started racing, then after 10 minutes of searching your fear became frustration. Finally reaching your last straw, you grab two arrows, dig them into a nearby thick trunk of a tree and climb until you reach a thick enough branch to support your weight. You sip water as you wait, well not really wait, you were mostly just resting, but then when you were just about to leave after the nice long break, it came out. You have to slap a hand over your mouth to prevent you from gasping. 

Is that really it? You wonder as you watch it sniff, bigger than a bison, hair covering its eyes, furry with white spots, but when it sniffs loud you know what it is, a Sniffer. You found a Sniffer. 

A Sniffer has been tracking me for miles.

You quietly get out your bow over your back and string one of the arrows, with shaky hands you pull it back, and shoot. And you hit! But it keeps sniffing the ground as if not noticing. Oh right, Sniffers have incredibly thick skin, Orcs in the past have never been able to take them down via arrows alone. In your horror the Sniffer looks up slowly and notices you though its long hair, the wind breezes to reveal wide whole white eyes that terrify your soul. It didn’t matter if it couldn’t be killed with an arrow, there was no going back now.

It backs up slowly and rams with power into the tree, the tree wobbles, the force almost sends you back if you hadn't gripped the trunk. It backs up, about to repeat. In your calf wrap around the branch as you try again, aiming for the head. The Sniffer moves at the last second causing it to land in its neck. To your joy it cries in pain still before ramming. The fOrce this time is enough to move you, you swingback, hanging upside down from the tree, still dizzy, you try again, eye eye eye, you scream to yourself in panic, hit the fucking eye! You let go of the arrow as it hits and you fall.

You lay on the ground, body paining from the landing. You look up at a sound, you can’t tell what it was from the ringing but it's something. You see the Sniffer…its laying down but squirming seemingly in pain and…the arrow-your arrow its in its eye. You jerk onto your arms, scrambling to your feet but any weight you put on your right foot makes you shout in pain. Instead you grip the earth to pull yourself behind the beast, grabbing your dagger as you slide onto the ground behind it, taking the final bow by stabbing it in the head.

When the beast stops moving, you cry loud and proud in victory despite it being a stupid thing to do. You survived! Now all that was needed was the easy part to take it home

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It was three hours into the journey when you realized it would be impossible to make it back in time, your speed was heavily slowed down due to your injuries and huge catch. Three fully fucking hours you think, dropping the arm you were tugging the beast by in a huff, and I can’t even see the village. You cry out in frustration, not caring what could hear you “No! No! I refuse to succeed but fail anyway because I'm not strong!” your vision blurs as tears well up and you drop to the ground to bang your back into a tree trunk. You shut your eyes to calm down. The odds were against you, with a painful foot that had only gotten worse there was no good chance you could make it home in time. My focus shouldn’t be before 6, I can still see the broken branch where I started, will I even make it back before night?

Beyond your head is a sudden sound that causes your heart to drop, it was the unmistakable sound that caused your stomach to fall to the ground, a dragon. You lift your head slowly to see it, back pressing painfully to the tree. How did you not hear it? You had to have heard the walking, or the wing flaps! You stabilize your breathing as the dragon tilts its head to the side, it was huge, definitely an adult. Red scales and two wings with four legs, yes a dragon. Its teeth were sharp, the lower ones resting menacingly outside its upper lip. Smoke curled from its nostrils, in one moment you could die via a roasting. You try to stand but your legs are too weak from pulling, in defeat you slump down and you let out a tiny sob. this is it, you think to yourself, my end. What will Grom think when he sees my body? Will he not care? We argued, I told him I love him but did he even truly know? There's so much I've wanted to tell him, so much I've wanted to know about him, to ask him-I’ll never get to know how the magically hot water works! You tear up finally at that thought, tears draining down your cheeks, I’m doing this for him to know how much I care but I never even got to-

Your thoughts halt when the dragon stops sniffing your catch and looks to you, eyes remaining on yours as its head stalks closer. But you shut your eyes and allow yourself to pretend you’re away, you don't want your final moment to be in pitiful fear.

No, Grom told me that even during moments of anger and frustration, he still loves me. My death will be hard on him. I hope this dragon burns me into a crispy charred mass instead of eating me. Grom doesn’t deserve the drawn out pain of hoping I'm still out here surviving, his grieving will already be long enough. I hope he is able to find my body rather quickly, he should be able to identify it from my dragon scale necklace, afterall it is fireproof.

You hold your breath as you feel the dragon's hot nose nudging against your chest, causing you to jerk up in surprise and snap open your eyes. After a few moments of stillness the dragon backs their head away from your chest, and you can tell by the look in their eyes, the same one you see in the Teacoose, they’re not going to hurt you. Why? You look down and see your dragon scale necklace. You reach in confusion and hold  it up for the dragon to see. They huff, leaning it to tap its snout against the scale in recognition

“you…you’re not going to hurt me are you?” you ask softly as you reach with your other hand, it burrows its hot snout into your palm rather quickly, making you stiffen but then relax. “Okay you probably can’t understand me but…” You put on your necklace before angling your head in front of their eyes so they can see you “Could you help me?” You speak slowly while pointing to the Sniffer and then in the direction of Drugad. Their head rises from your hand before looking at you, then the Sniffer, then towards Drugad and then the Sniffer. It pauses a bit too long for you to think he’s thinking. Dragons are supposed to be smart you think but I think I got stuck with a dumb one with how long they’re thinking for. Just when you lose hope it walks over to gently pick up the Sniffer by its huge mouth. You gasp in surprise, scrambling to your feet to try to limp over onto to fall in your rush. You feel the dragons shadow above you as you stand back up on your knees. They tilt their head to the side in dog-like curiosity before turning to the side to stretch their wing to you.

Your brows furrow in confusion before standing back up, you take one legged jump before holding onto the dragon for balance. Each movement you make you do with hesitation and patience, just in case you were wrong. But the dragon allows you to climb up on their back and hold on to their spine’s scales. They shiver, the movement as if they’re gently trying to shake you off-yeah no it doesn't want me to be here-but before you can get off it lifts from the ground with a singular strong wing flap. You scream in terror, the wing against your face as the dragon dives to the sky so strong it feels as if your skin will be pulled off! Your heart pounds against your ears, your grip so tight your knuckles are turning white. But then the dragon starts to even out and soars in the air. With this change the wind becomes slower, almost relaxing. Your grip eventually loosens, and all you can think about is how wonderful the world looks from up here, how beautiful the sunset's colors are without the trees in the way. Finally, you stop thinking about what the Orcs would think of your actions, you’re just so happy that you’ve survived.

But was this extraordinary enough?

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“I got one whole deer!” exclaims Thrall, holding the catch above his head with a toothy grin.

“I’ve got 104 rabbits!” explains Gorgo, everyone around gasps in awe, that's 24more than last year! He throws a smug smile at the scornful Thrall before showing his wife and children.

Then at last Grom comes into the center of the town, two huge moose over his shoulder as he drops it down to the center of the ground. Even though everyone is amazed at the find, his face remains neutral. “I got a moose.” it was casual, unfazed, almost bored at what was sure to be another automatic win. As Grom’s eyes scanned the audience, they're only met with Rag’s dimly calm ones instead of yours. Grom’s eyes widened in panic, everyone chanting his name as he roughly pushed past the crowd to Rag. “Where is y/n?”

Rag just glances at the east side of the forest blankly and then back to Grom. His brows arch in anger as he grips Rag’s tunic, no longer showing him his typical respect, “how could you let her go!! Who knows what is out there!?! We are not yet married!” he turns to his sister, his tone switching to a plea instead of command “Ghor! We have to go in and search for her” 

Grom readies his axe, about to charge into the forest when he stops and gasps at the sight. You are on the back of the dragon as it flies over everyone and lands in front of the crowd. You gently slide down the dragon's wing, landing on your good foot with a grunt, and leaning against the dragon's side to keep from collapsing. The dragon gently sets the Sniffer right next to Groms moose’s, his catch looking miniscule compared to the Sniffer. You smile to yourself, thinking that the dragon knew what it was doing and hold onto your side as you pant.

There’s a long while of silence as the crowd of Orcs stare at you, wide eyes and jaws hanging open for flies to enter. You stare back, eyes scanning for a specific Orc until your eyes meet with him, Grom. His face is frozen in a mixture of disbelief, fear and awe. You grip your side harder, holding yourself back from running, well limping, to him. All you wanted after this day of fear and exhaustion was to curl up into a ball and be protected by his arms. But was he angry that you left anyway? Would he accept you if you went to him right now? 

Then finally one Orc emerges from the crowd, it’s Droug, his face painted in disbelief, gesturing with his hands almost erratically, “NO! There is no way we would believe that you caught Sniffer!” he smears. As if detecting the tone the dragon snarls, head pointed to Droug. It makes him tense and back up towards the crowd in fear. The dragon makes a sound as if pleased before laying their head down like Taro does when she’s sleeping. Still, they’re careful to move their upper body to the ground so that you don’t lose your balance.

Too tired to speak you point weakly to the arrow and stab wounds in the Sniffers head before gesturing to the beasts blue blood on your clothes and hands

“no bite marks” Thrall interprets for you, walking out the crowd and past Droug to squat down in front of  the beast, “It was killed by piercing wound to the head!” 

You reach with your hand to pull out the dagger, tossing it on the ground for everyone to see the blade, stained with the Sniffer's blue blood.

But Droug sputters in disbelief “I have hard time believing this untrained dragon just helped you!!” 

You pull out your scale necklace out, a smug smile on your tired face as you hold it up above your head. Proof that the dragon would help you.

Another moment of silence for everyone to murmur whispers to their peers, “No way she caught Sniffer!”

“But there are no bite marks”

“Wow it is huge! Look at it!”

“Stop it son, do not get too close to her”

“But I wanna see human warrior!”

Ghor now leaves the crowd, shoulder roughly hitting Droug’s in spite as she walks to you. She  sets her hand on your shoulder, it was light and gentle unlike all the other times. She looked at you with a smug toothy smile and glimmering eyes, dare you say that she seemed proud

You muster up the rest of your strength to speak, your voice hoarse and quiet, “A-am I too late?”

She barks out a laugh before shaking her head “no! not by a longshot!” Ghor turns to face the crowd with you, hand lifting to sharply hit on your back as if to reinvigorate you.“ What did you catch?” Ghor projects for the town

You pant harshly, your head turning to her, “A-A Sniffer?” you say as if a question

“Say it louder! ” she commands proudly, her hand dropping to take your hand and raising it into the air

You take a burning breath in “I-i caught a Sniffer!”

“Louder!” she hits your stomach with the back of her free hand, brows furrowed and face scrunched up in intensity “From here, Sister!”

You take a long deep gasp for air before you yell as loud and clear as you can muster “I CAUGHT A SNIFFER!”

“YEAH YOU DID!” Rag says with much louder intensity as he marches to your other side, he takes your hand off the dragon and raises it high. You stumble a bit before balancing on your good leg. He turns to address the village “people of Durgan!” he commands with a white smile and bright tone that almost shocked you “I give you your champion! Y/n!”

One quiet beat of waiting goes by, then another, and another. Instead of a crowd of cheering, the Orcs look back at you in silence, some younger ones hesitant, their hands inches away from clapping but their elders' expressions are firm like rocks, shaking their heads disapprovingly at the younger ones. 

You want to die, partly from embarrassment of the awkward moment but also from weariness and grief. For that short while of trekking through the forest, you had forgotten you had ever cared about what the other Orcs thought of you. It was such a free and calming feeling, and you had grown rather accustomed to it in the short half hour. But now it was back, and you didn’t want to feel it anymore.

So instead you stare at Grom’s face, trying to solve what his expression meant. He was still frozen in thought staring at you.

Ghor roars in frustration and drops your hand, marching forward in front of you both. You slump at the loss in balance before getting caught by Rag, he lets go of your hand to hold your shoulder. “What is wrong with you all!” Screeches Ghor to the crowd, “This feat will be marked in our history books!“ she yells and fists her hands in anger.

“We do not want her in our history books!” Roars another Orc, a bystander with a long white beard.

“Why not?” cuts off Rag, letting you lean against the dragon before stepping away. His voice is that same scary calm you were used to.

The Orc scoffs “She is not strong, she is fragile and she is not brave”

Rag laughs cold before gesturing to your kill, “If that is the case, then how come Sniffers are not caught every day around here, go on! Tell me why!?” he laughs before crossing his arms in a cocky way “It is not as if they are rare! Our forests are infested!”

The Orc jerks back and falters at the response, “w-well because ....Fine! I admit they kill many Orcs per year but dragons!” he points an accusatory finger at you “Her kind destroyed many, Rag! We cannot forget! And especially not reward her with immortality via our history books and stories”

There’s a beat of silence, then another, and just as you were about to regret even leaving your bed, Droug walks closer to place a hand on the bystanders shoulder. “No,” he murmurs. “That is not good enough excuse anymore for hating humans, not this one.” he clarifies and gestures up at the dragon, guilty in his tone as he speaks. “Judging by height, size and tail length, this dragon is a healthy adult, at least 300 years old, meaning that she was alive during the war. The humans grasp on dragons was prominent leaving no dragon unaffected by their terror. If she was able to help y/n without spite from the past, then it is only true that we forgive as well."

From the crowd there’s only a few murmurs of your name, some sound surprised, as if it was the first time they ever heard of you. This should have made you happy but all you wanted was to leave to be encapsulated into the warmth of your bed. But the closest thing you had right now was just staring at Grom, internally begging at him in your mind to forgive you.

But then you relax slightly at a realization, you’re not sorry. In every world, in every reality. If right now you blinked and you were back in time to this morning, you would still defy him. Even though your chest was still burning and your leg was potentially broken, even though they still don't approve of you, you still would’ve ran to the west forest. 

I’m not sorry, you think. I’m proud of myself, and I only hope you are too.

As if he can hear you, his expression shifts as if thawing, it melts away for a small smile that, ironically, you can only describe with the word proud. In a blink of an eye he's in front of you hands on your cheeks as he bends down to meet your height “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

“N-no” you stutter, voice shaking. 

His smile grows for something of relief, leaning in to kiss your nose. “Thank South” he murmurs just for you to hear, making everyone else seem to go away, at least for the moment. “I’m so proud of you. A-and I am so so sorry, Sweetness.” your shoulders slump, releasing tension you didn’t know they were holding.

You smile in relief, thank god, he's not angry. Slowly, his grin then morphes into something more mischievous. In a flash he lifts you up onto his shoulder. You screech in fear, gripping his free shoulder and hair, but his hand on your thighs was firm. Once you’ve stabilized yourself he turns to the crowd of Orcs and lets out a loud triumphant laugh.“I think my mate deserves a bit more for her Sniffer than your pitiful whispers!” he yells, lively and without remorse for the town, “EveryOrc give it up for Y/N!”

He starts to chant your name loudly, hitting his fist to his chest in equal time. Quickly it grows, with Ghor, Rag, Thrall and Droug copying with him. You giggle as you notice even the dragon playing along, sleepily hitting the ground in beat. And for a bit you’re touched, despite the loud cheers that you knew you deserved, you were grateful to at least get this. 

Then from the crowd suddenly emerges the youngest Orcs, they stand near Droug to copy him, striking their chests and hitting their weapons to the ground in beat as they shout out your name. The chant grows, your cheeks now burn with how hard you were smiling. At last, the only one left from the crowd were the eldest, one by one they gave in to join the celebrating Orcs. Until now every single Orc is yelling your name louder and louder, slamming their weapons into the ground in beat. And best of all they're smiling. They're excited! Jumping all up and down around you. 

The sound is barring, almost deafening in the best way. Your heart bursts in happiness as Ghor points with excited figure to the Griffin statue, “SOMEONE GET US SOME MILK!”

You squeal in delight as Grom starts for the statue, your grips on each other tightening as he walks. His free hand repeatedly punches the air as he continues to chant with the rest of the crowd. 

Once near the statue, Grom squats down and gently slides you off his shoulder to sit you on the ground. He pulls back from a kiss on your cheek with mischievous eyes. “Huh?” you question dumbly as he reaches behind you for something. You gasp when the sudden cold milk lands on top of your head and spills down your clothes. Beside you, Rag does the same to the statue with a much bigger bowl. You squawk as the cold milk rushes like a wave to your knees, working as a quick way to cool you down.

In another time this might have seemed like a humiliation ritual, but to you it almost felt like a rebirth. The milk was cool with a sweetly fresh smell, helping you cool you down externally and internally. The chanting of your name continues all around you. You feel celebrated and regret initially thinking this ritual was weird because Ghor was right, you are being worshiped. It causes bursts of laughs and endless giggles to escape your mouth with every cup of milk poured on you. The refreshing milk soothes the ache of your throat. 

Every Orc takes their turn to pour milk on the statue before you. Sometimes they would tease like Ghor or Rag who would pause a moment too long before sharply turning the cup over to jumpscare you. Some would be like Droug and gently pour near the back of your head away from your face out of respect. And some were older, clearly more traditional, they would receive the cup and almost falter before eventually pouring the cup on you. The message was clear, they accepted you as one of them, but it would take a while to get used to you.

But sadly there was one person who didn't take a cup. You watch as the merchant stares from the side, away from the chanting crowd. Two tiny kids at his side trying to pull their hands out of his protective grasp with all their might. Near the end of the ritual, the merchant sighs before gently letting them run towards you. But his feet are firmly planted onto the ground. 

By the end you're still giggling. Though your cheeks burned, your heart felt too good to stop. Your laughs are matched by Grom as he lifts you up from the now muddy milky ground. “We will be back before the feast” he says to the crowd before leaving. 

 You look up at him, “Why are we going? And what feast?” you ask 

“In a few hours all kills are cooked and feasted upon, and we are going home because Sweetness, you need to be cleaned!” he chuckles into your hair, “That foot also looks like it needs some attention, and…I need to apologize to you"

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Taros licks on your foot are rough and almost on the edge of painful, but you don’t tell her to stop because you know she’s just trying to heal you. You raise your arms as Grom tugs a new outfit over you, a simple tunic and his pants since he wants you to be warm tonight. He then kneels down in front of you beside the bed, and picks up Taro to place on your lap. “Here, help y/n from here”

You smile and look down at taro, keeping her in your arms to softly pet her head as you watch Grom carefully wrap a bandage around your foot. You notice the stiffness in his shoulders as he opens his mouth, “I am so sorry, y/n. Not only for what I said but for my doubt. Somewhere in this universe there is another you who was fully capable of doing what you just did, but she did not, because I did not let her.” He looks up at you, brows furrowed and eyes shining in sorrow, “I should have never underestimated you. And I promise you never shall. “ he pauses with the wrapping, putting a firm hand on your thigh that tells you he’s serious, “I vow to never chain you down to one place, from now on and forever.” His hand lifts to reach towards you but it falters before finishing up your bandages. “Could…Could you ever forgive me?” 

You smile sweetly, “Of course Grom, I understand why you did it.” you then nod to your foot as Taro climbs up to sit on shoulder. “Is it good?” you ask

“I put the healing cream on your ankle but it will not be as effective since the injury is internal, but since you were able to walk on it, it should not be anything as severe as a fracture. I suspect a sprained ankle”

“That's good” you say and bend down to kiss his forehead, he seemingly relaxes  but you can see there’s still tension in his expression. 

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In the middle of town was now a large table that was shaped like the outline of a pentagon, with Orcs sitting on both sides. You were put at the center of one outer edge, with Rag on your right, Grom sitting on your left, Ghor across from you and Taro on top of your head, sleeping somehow. You look in awe at all the unusual Orc dishes, a majority of meat prepared in many different methods, of various different methods, served with all kinds of unusual vegetables that you were excited to try. But of course the main course was your Sniffer which was offered to you first. You smile gratefully at Smog as he offers you a piece, but then he holds out something to you. “It is tooth of Sniffer, it is said to bring you good luck” you smile as you take it, examining the ivory fang, or tusk. it was as big as your palm, with some good heft to it.

You watch around as everyone eat, but smile especially bright at the sight of the merchants kids, happily gnawing on bites of dark blue Sniffer meat, its juice dripping down their tiny green fingers

Rag suddenly stands, the chair creaking as his movement. Without him having to say a word, all conversations are quickly halted.. “It is traditional” he starts, his head slowly turning to you. “For the winner to tell the story of their victory” 

You smile bright and turn to all the Orcs, some move their attention to their food but you focus on the ones who are watching with wide excited eyes. 

You want everyone to notice you, even if they weren’t listening, you wanted to tell your adventure and entertain the masses. You set down a sleeping Taro on Groms lap as you stand, dragging your chair back with a slight limp before planing it firmly into the ground. You climb up on top for all to see you. Such a surprising action makes a few Orcs stop mid conversation to watch. You keep a majority of your weight on your good foot before speaking with newly found energy and vigour. 

“It was hours of traveling!” you start out loud “The beating sweat of the sun burning my skin, but what irritated me most was the rustling sound of rustling I heard every mile or two….”

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The walk home was better than the walk from, the pressure you put on your foot is just sore but bearable. Rag took a look after the story and said it was sprained, so it was good to get used to putting pressure on it.

Grom helps you onto the bed as you brush your hair, but you notice how his eyes still hold the same guilt as before.

You smile at a sudden idea “Grom, honey? What was that song they played at the end of the feast?”

He perks up to look at you “Aurk thoon? It is an old song”

You hum “I figured since it was in Orcish, it was rather catchy, do you have a copy of it in your jars?’

Grom’s smile grows slowly before he stands back up, soon coming back with the jar. He removes the lid before setting it down as the familiar song fills the room. You hum and sway with the tune before standing up from the bed and gesturing him closer.

“Dance with me”

His face flashes with panic as he holds your hand to keep your balance “you are still-” 

“I’m healing rather fast! Come on please? I'll put my weight on my good foot” you promise

He hesitates but sighs in defeat before interlocking his fingers with yours and dropping your other hand to hold your waist. You smile in victory before holding onto his shoulder as you both gently move to the music. The moment is sweet, soft and intimate, but there's still tension in the air.

Your hand lifts from his shoulder to cup his cheek, turning his head to make him look at you, “Hey…” you murmur, “don’t be guilty anymore, I told you I forgive you. Besides, I understand”

His brows furrow in confusion. “But you are not me”

“But I can put myself in your shoes, your intentions were pure and you didn't want to risk never seeing me again. We already aren’t promised a lot of time, why risk making it shorter? and though you scared me, I would’ve done the same. But all that matters now is that you regret it, right?”

Grom nods firm, “completly” he says genuine

“Then there is no reason to feel bad, honey”

He sighs and smiles, “You are right, but I will still continue to prove myself to you.”

You smile bright and lean on your tippy toe to kiss him sweetly, as you dance the tension slowly disappears, his moves more dramatic as he carefully twirls you. His singing becomes louder and his smile larger, until you’re both twirling dramatically and singing in messy unison.

But as you lay asleep your brows furrow at the feeling in your chest, you felt…empty, now that The Great Hunt was over, what was next for you? 

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The next morning you were thinking in the kitchen, mindlessly reaching into the ice box for the Teacoose’s meal before hearing a sharp yelp of surprise outside. You quickly rush and swing the front door to see the red dragon from yesterday, staring down at Grom in confusion, as if wondering why he isn’t you.

She pears her head back to you and seemingly relaxes before pushing her head into your arms. You laugh as people walk around and gawk in surprise. “Hi there friend! Aww you missed me?”

Grom laughs almost in audacity, “Stop that!” he playfully scolds, “Now you are acting like when you first met my Teacoose friend”

“Bridget is cute!” you add as you place the steak into her open mouth, the sight of her teeth chomping not phasing you.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes in fake mocking, “right I forget you named her…What adorable name are you going to call her?” he nods to the dragon

“I’m unsure, besides she may not come back honey” you say, giving her one last gentle squeeze before letting her go, she pauses before carefully pulling back her head out of your porch and flapping up to disappear into the sky.

Grom chuckles “You know Droug is right, you really do have a special touch for Draconi” you perk, a thought emerging in your mind when he said that. You quickly turning to grip his wrist and keep him from leaving, 

“W-wait! Are you guys hiring?”

He laughs as if you said the funniest joke, “always! It is just me and Droug, I keep on trying to convince my sister to join but-” he stops mid-sentence from the realization, eyes slowly glancing over to you as a teasing smile grows, “Why?” he playful drags out

“Oh come on Grom!” you groan at his mock ignorance “you know what i’m going to ask you! Can I work with you? I’d love to help train any Draconi!”

In a snap you’re in his arms, being swirled around on the front porch as he laughs in triumph, “But of course! We must go shop for you! Now!” and with that you’re off to the market, his hand pulling you sharply along to the market.

Once there Grom rubs his chin while thinking “Hmmm” he hums while scanning the stalls. “You most certainly will need a shield. Protection from dragon fire too! You will not fit into armor we already have so we need to…ugh, we need a metal smith” 

You sigh, already knowing what that meant. With a tight grip Grom leads you over to the metals merchant. You look down and away Grom he speaks to the same merchant who refused to pour milk over you. “I need a custom order. Dragon armor, same as you made for me, only smaller, here are some measurements” unfolding a piece of paper from his pocket to carefully slide across the table

He raises a brow at the page before glancing up at Grom, “This is for her?” he nods to you as you try to make yourself feel smaller. You Distract yourself by trying to decipher the Orcish written on the stalls backwall behind the merchant. 30 pieces of gold for custom armor it read in Orcish, you hopped he wouldn’t increase the price aga-

“Hm, it will be ready in 3 days, 15 coins please” your eyes widden and you jerk your head to Grom, no way you were that off.

Grom's smile grows in surprise, his hand pulling you closer by yours “b-but, doesn’t that mean 30?” you whisper softly as Grom drops the coins at the stalls table.

 “you are right,“ he whispers back “it seems the price has decreased for you” 

You turn in confusion to the merchant as he writes something down on the paper, “I’ll add in engraved runes, free of charge! What would you like?” he says this specifically to you

You turn your head to Grom, sputtering a bit in utter confusion and disbelief.

The merchant smiles slightly and huffs in amusement before writing something down on the paper “Sniffer is my favorite meat,” he explains “When I tried it years ago, so much happiness flowed through me my father thought I was going to die.” he laughs at the memory, “No one has ever been able to catch one since then! I am indebted to you, for letting my kids be able to taste it at least once in their lives, thank you y/n. If this is for Draconi training, heat protection and durability would be helpful, I believe I also put good fortune on your armor, Grom, I shall for hers as well!”

Grom adds, “on her head I would especially like luck, she will be sliding a lot on the ground so something for protection against friction or rubbing burns,” he shivers as if remembering something uncomfortable, perhaps your rope burns all those months ago.”flexibility on her bottom thigh plates, since she will be most comfortable with climbing.” As merchant writes the rest of them down Grom speaks up, “You know, if you really are grateful to my mate, I believe she deserves an apology”

The merchant pauses mid writing before sighing as he sets down the pencil and looks up at you, “I am sorry for my discrimination against you. I see now that you have proved yourself to deserve respect from us Orcs” his eyes glances towards a chair, the same piercing chair you wanted months ago, before glancing at you and straightening up to make his way towards it. “How bout piercing to further my apology! Free of charge! As many as you want!”

Your fingers twitch in excitement as you run over to sit in the chair. You smile brighter at the thought that you were the first and only Human to have ever sat on this chair. I deserve it, you think to yourself as the merchant prepares his table, I earned this.

“So what will it be?” he asks with a lively tone, holding up a picture of a fully decked out pierced ear, each piercing labeled. You gasp at all the possibilities. 

“I think i’d like one on the lobe, this one in the middle, conch” ou read, “and this one on the ear flap! Tragus?” you read as Grom laughs.

“Woah never thought you would pick such lively ones” he laughs, fiddling with a loose piece of your hair. You can tell his tone is not at all judging, it's excited and just surprised. You can understand why he would be surprised, all he had was a few lope piercings and one hoop on the edge of his arched ears. 

With a smile he offers his hand and you happily take it, shutting your eyes and squeezing it after each piercing. The pain of each one grows but with that your excitement for the future does too. You wanted adventure and you have that and more with Grom, you’re happy with your decision to leave your old village, proud of your hard work, and invigorated for what the future holds for you here. 

Previous

Ending Caviates!

Holy cow that was so much scrolling I just had to do 😭😭

Ill be taking a small break from writing on tumbler till end of May since Ive got ap exams and Finals but will still be here for comments 💜💜💜

Thank you all so much for reading!!! Like comment and everything please I appreciate it all soooo much!!!!!

Tags: @sultrystaticwitch @alonelyvagabond @koldusek @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

caviates for my orc story :

Hello there! (For those who came from my orc story) This is not the end of the story! As i said in another comment I plan on writing another arc years in the future that will surround y/n finding her brother again(mentioned in chapter’s 6/7(omg i’m so sorry I promise i didn’t mean that 😭)), him falling in love with Rag and having to deal with the villages backlash, but I’d like to better plan out this fiction and study mlm stories so it may take me a while (no this is not me fancily saying that i will be watching/reading heated rivalry…I may if I get bored). In the meanwhile if you would like to request any fiction ideas, pleaseeeeee ask meeeee. 

It means so much to me that my first ever story was seen by many and best of all liked!! Ahhhh ive always wanted to write and post but never did out of fear and i’m so honored you all too the time to read, double tap and commented. It truly means so much that you care for what I have to write

Some little things about this upcoming arc: it will be more explicit than the original (aka more smut/smut involved, i’ll write if I feel comfortable or if it actually aids the story. We will get to see an aged up y/n and Grom as well as a comeback from y/n mother and father!. The overarching theme (that I have planned) is about death, since a main part about Grom and y/n’s love story is that y/n will be around for a small fraction of Groms life. For any Rag fans out there (hey gurl hey 😉) we will get to see more into his POV!

For now I wanted to talk about some inspirations and stuff like that and little bits of stuff because I always enjoyed reading about writers' inspiration. (This is not beta read, spelling and grammer mistakes beware 😎)

So idk why but i’ve always just been obsessed with the though of an Orc bf. I think its cuz of the culture or how strong they are, maybe green is just attractive to me…..idk but I leik it 

I thought a medieval time setting would have more tension around their relationship than a modern one so i picked it yee.

Overall I was really inspired by @specsthesecond orc fic. I loved how their reader insert character seemed to have their own personality that wasn't basic or meant to represent everyone. And I also loved how they dabbled with the difference in language in both human and Orc and how they were able to have the both fall in love through their actions only 🤧🤧🤧 I would've done the same if I wasn't too scared 🫣😫😒💔

When the Orcs spoke I really wanted it to show that they were different, the best option I thought of were accents and a russian esc accent is what came first to me (curse you heated rivalry) so I added that sme tendency for russians to omit the and a in their sentences while adding this thing where they don’t use contractions. Since, I thought it made sense for someone to not use contractions if they didn’t speak english so much and weren’t used to it.

Lowkey if you read chapter 2 and realized that Rag and Grom always had tusks and were like “huh?” yeah thats cuz I retconed it oopsies sorry for gaslighting you I totally forgot that I wanted to add them in hehe

I really wanted to add themes of cultural stereotypes. As an Indian I see so many people believe that India is all dirt and gross. What hurts most is that while I try to tell them that not all parts of India are like they seem to get offended??? So I wanted to add that in here with the villages just refusing to believe that Orcs could actually be civilized. 

I fully plan on going back, re-wring a few bits to make more polished and also posting onto AO3, i so wish I wrote down rules and stuck with them, like looking back at my old chapters i cry and panic when i see an Orc use contractions/ the or a. If you noticed thanks for not calling me out 😭😭😭. For now I want to share some of these newly written details because they do help/better ones understanding of the plot but lets be real, no ones gonna check in on this fic in a year to re-read it (ik i wouldn’t😭)

In the middle of writing this fic i rewatched trollhunters and 3below and I was so inspired by their own version of curses. For example the trolls say “by Dayas grace” and the aliens “Seklos and Gaylon” and i wish i figured this part out before writing. I only knew that i wanted Orcs to follow Polytheism to contrast with humans, so I added in “oh gods“ but I wish I could've written in less basic ones.

Like some ones i was planning were, “By Norths Grace”, “May South be with you”, “Thank East you are okay”, “BY ALL THAT IS ABOVE ARE YOU OKAY?!”, I will most definitely be adding these in soon…hopefully

If you thought that it was out of character for Ghor to understand y/n in chapter 13 one thing that i wanted to add to ghors character was that she was an avid bookworm and a warror since  i love when characters have traditionally contradicting traits. I totally forgot to add this but the reason why ghor was able to understand y/n is because shes familiar with human literature while Grom is not. A Lot of human literature available to her, i imagine, this would've included very hollow female characters and in response Ghor would’ve been confused with how y/n doesn’t fit into this. But then she realizes that these female characters aren’t what women are, but what they were supposed to be. Ergo y/n would want to be as pretty and proper as them.  (this is mentioned in the bonus chapter!) - I’m saying and not showing this because I fully think there are people who will misunderstand this even though I have forgotten to write it in. I do have plans to do so later but lets be real, you’re not going to go back and read it if I did update it.

I will be adding a masterlist of this work soon its just that the only places I have to write are my school cromebook (which has tumblr blocked ☹️) my phone (which would be so hard to copy paste on while making it aesthetically pleasing) and my pc (which is just perfectly angled so that my parents can see my scene and I just so happen to have a father who loves to sneak into my room quietly, scare the shit out of me, and who is stricter than nessasary)

For now that is it! Yayyyy if you guys have any questions about the story I didn’t explain better or like things you want me to draw or headcannon ideas idk please ask!!! If youd like to be on the tag list for this fic also please let me know, current people on this list are: Cassjoyse; Alonelyvagabond

[orbitingideas]

HELLO THERE TRAVELER WELCOME TO CHAPTER 15

“Could you help me shear Rag’s sheep today?” Grom asks during breakfast, “I have tried but he does not trust me to do so because I ‘almost chopped the head off of one’” he air quotes with distaste, “I disagree but he insisted during my attempt yesterday.”

You giggle, “Of course! Can you take me there in the afternoon?”

He quirks up a brow, “of course, but why cannot you come before training, it is only at noon, it will not take more than four hours.”

You grin, “Well I thought I’d take a break with my reading and writing studies to learn Orcish. I've asked Gorgo and Thrall to teach me since Gorgo is a teacher and Thrall is a scribe.”

The wide toothy grin Grom shows you makes your heart turn to mush, “Oh my wonderful Kushi!” he stands up, hands suddenly dropping his utensils to raise you high and 

twirl you around in the air. You squeal as he eventually slows down, your legs wrapping around his waist as he holds you firmly. “At What time?”

“8, I’ll study with them at the library till 9, probably stay there studying till 10, and then come back at 11 to eat lunch”

Grom's lips bury into your cheeks in a deep kiss, “oh wonderful! I am so proud of you.” his hand cups your cheek as he presses another kiss to your forehead. “After I am done with work I shall take you to market to finally buy a chain for that scale you got.”

He sets you down in your chair before taking his seat again to finish eating, his hand staying on top of yours the whole time.

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You arrive in the library and rush over to where Gorgo and Thrall were seated, taking a chair across from them, “hello!”

“Ah! y/n!” Gorgo beams as he reaches to shake your hand, “how have you been adjusted to Drugad?”

You smile and sit back down, Taro crawling off your shoulder and onto the table. “I’ve been adjusting fine. Thank you both so much for helping me with Orcish!”

“Of course!” Thrall waves his hand as if it was nothing, “Orcish is simple-”

“Well to us it may be, Thrall” Gorgo butts in, “but first we should start with the basics-”

“Like grammar!” Thrall intercepts

Gorgo slowly turns his head to glare at Thrall “Actually, I was thinking we start with just some common phrases.”

He scoffs, “if she wants to be a good speaker, then she should start with grammar rules!”

“How can she start with grammar rules if she doesn’t know what to do with them-”

The sound of a huge slam makes them both jerk their heads to you, dropping down a large Orcish book to flip to the correct page, “Actually, If you both wouldn’t mind, I was hoping to start with numbers! Since a majority of Drugad seems to still use the Orcish number systems. I’ve already been studying how the system works but I’m having trouble with the pronunciation. Can we start with one?”

Gorgo and Thrall slowly turn their heads to each other, matching shocked expressions, then back to you as they simultaneously bark out laughs, “but of course!” roars Thrall with delight. 

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”After training you follow Grom happily to a little pen outside of a home, bigger than Groms and more ornate with bright blue lit Enips hung all around

“y/n! Thank goodness you are here!” Rag exclaims with a worried look on his face, standing up from a stool and beckoning you both into the pen. You jump over the fence to make your way to him, Grom following close behind. You walk over to a distressed Rag, no no that wasn't the right word, he was more overly concerned over how big the sheep got “look at them y/n! They are more fluff than sheep! What if this affects their taste!”

You giggle “wool, it's called wool. Its definitely time to shear them” 

“shear! Right!!” he sharply removes a big pair of steel scissors from his pocket, offering it to you. ”Thank you again for this y/n” Rag softly says a bit more relaxed, ”I would have let Grom do it but when he tried he nearly almost cut off the head of one of my babies” you giggle again, it was so jarring seeing Rag so passionate and worried about something so miniscule, he was usually so calm and stoic.

Grom groans from behind you as you take the scissors from Rags hand, dragging a stool close to one sheep to start cutting carefully, putting each tuft of wool into a bag. 

Grom watches carefully before taking your water canister and raising it so the strap isn’t around you anymore. “Its still half full” 

“I wasn’t thirsty today”

“Doesn’t matter,” he responds roughly, gesturing with the canister, “You need to drink, Rag can I go inside to get another canister for her”

Rag gestures with his chin “Go on” He says with sudden change of tone, it's calm and eerily serious, his gaze not wavering from you. He must be worried I’ll mess up, you figure. Rag doesn’t speak up until Grom shuts the front door behind him “what training?” 

“Grom’s sister is preparing me for The Great Hunt." you explain as you pause on sheering to chug down the rest of the water in the canister.

“Ah” Rag hums in realization, his shoulders relaxing, “I was wondering what you were doing trying to tag that huge Wyrm”

You stop mid gulp to turn your head to him, swallowing thickly “you saw that?” you ask surprised

He slightly shrugs, arms crossed, “I was taking stock of supplies, I happened to have noticed you and  stayed to watch for a few minutes. It was…” he pauses, not in hesitation but in struggle to find the right word, “impressive, very impressive” he reveals “Ghor, she is a rather rough teacher, though well nonetheless."

You set down the now empty canister to continue shearing the sheep, “yes, she is”

“Mhm, you hope to win?”

“No, just get a deer and hopefully win the favors of the Orcs.” you hear him sigh, “you seem…weirdly interesting in this, Rag”

“I am just surprised you decided to go this route, I thought a human like you would hide in the safety of Grom's home.” You huff, offended he would think that of you as you snip another piece. But then you hear Rag sigh from beside you, his tone filled with regret. “Forgive me, that was incorrect, I hoped you would because that is what I would have done if I were in your position.”  

You stop and slowly turn your head to him, brows furrowed in confusion as the now wool-less sheep prancing away from you happily, another one quickly taking its place. “what are you saying?”

He raises his head to lock eyes with you, “Grom sugar coats everything and Ghor is rather overly hopeful for the future. But the truth is…Orcs are no longer in the belief that all humans are weak” he leans forward to you, elbows resting on his knees, his hands folded in the front, “a few ago centuries, Orcs went to war with humans, in that time we had seen the horrible things they are capable of. Draconi are seen as sacred creatures, any eggs or infants we find abandoned we help aid them to live the rest of their life by themselves. The ones that you trained with are ones that have decided to stay with us. But during that war…” he pauses, eyes turning glossy with tears before he jerks his head away, “it was…horrible to see what they would do to them, all just for victory.”

Rag shuts his eyes, swallows thick before turning to you. “Almost half of the Orcs here have been around humans, and the other half have only heard tales from those Orcs. Tell me, how you would describe women of human villages"

“Um…” you look down to think, letting the finished sheep go to be replaced with another “submissive, obedient…thin…”

“We see them as weak,” he states, blunt and sharp. “The Orcs not only hate you because of their predetermined distaste over your species, but because they think all female humans are weak.” You raise your head, teeth clenched in anger from his words as you continue shearing the next sheep. “You could catch a deer, a moose or hell, even a whale; you win the whole game but they still will not accept you. Y/n, I am sorry, but in order for them to accept you, you will have to do something extraordinary”

You try hard to drown him out, your hand fastening its pace with the sheers, but his words still enter through your ears and stay in your head. “This competition is harsh and let us both be clear, Grom may go easy but without trying he will be in the top 10. Every single Orc here is ahead of you in strength and hunting skills. Before the tournament you need to ask yourself, why do you deserve to win? Wanting it is not enough because I guarantee you, you do not as much as the next Orc. To an Orc, victory in battle and hunts is what one strives for the most in life. What makes you different from the competition?”

He finally shuts his mouth, leaning back away from you. You wait for more but then never come, the particles in the air seemingly still for the moment.  “I have noticed Grom’s grammar has gotten better,” you only reply with a nod, lately he has started to use “A” in his sentence. As you  snip off the last tuft of wool from the sheep, you let it leave before the last one takes its spot. “You have made a real impact on him, he has become better at expressing himself, though I notice he is better at doing so with you.” he sighs, its relaxed as he letting the tension escape his body through his lips ”I wanted to thank you for that. I hope you continue to stay here, despite the hardships. ”

You hesitate for a moment before replying, “it’s nothing”

The stiffness in the air is cut by the sound of the front door swinging open. Grom marches back to the both of you with a now filled up canister of water. Standing by your side, he puts the strap on you so it hangs on your shoulder, his eyes furrow at your expression. “You alright, Sweetness?” 

 Slowly looking up at him, you quickly fix your expression with a smile “y-yeah” you say though it isn’t convincing, you take the canister and stand back up from the finished sheared sheep, “That was that the last one, right Rag?” you ask quickly before taking a drink.

He pauses, eyes seeming to try to dissect your face before he stands up, “yes it is, “ he says without looking at the sheep, rising to stand from his stool. “you may take the wool if you would like, I have no use for it. ” pulling out a few coins from pocket, he hums while counting them on his palm “hmm…”

“10 would be suitable,” Grom says firmly as you rise to your feet. You sigh in relief that he spoke up, you had no idea how much you could’ve asked for, even one seemed too greedy.

“I agree, ” Rag says counting them out in his hand, “afterall I do not trust anyone else here with my prized sheep.”

As Rag holds out a hand of 10 gold coins, you jerk out of your temporary freeze a moment or two too late and leap forward to take the coins. “Th-thank you”

Grom beams a proud smile, letting go of your shoulder as he grabs the bag of wool. You both turn and climb over the pen, both starting your walk back home. You don’t pay attention as you walk, too busy staring at one of the coins. Your thumbs rub over the golden surface, once, then twice, then again and again.

Grom chuckles, “you keep doing that it will get smudged up” he teases fondly but doesn’t make any movement to stop you.

“I can’t help it,” you say without looking away from the coin, “it's the first time I've ever earned something, all for me.”

He smiles down proud, “You still up for going to market?”

You finally look up, smiling wide, “yeah!”

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You walk into the markets once again! Determined for it to end differently from last time, that was months ago, the Orcs must have gotten used to seeing me around now, right?

Your eyes darted to every stall, analyzing to see if they had jewelry and whether they caught your eye. Your eye stops at one, a simple thin bronzy gold chain that would’ve gone perfect with the scale. You hesitate, it was obviously well made, it must be expensive. I don’t want to spend all my money on one item, I want to save at least one coin. 

Grom notices this and gestures to the stall, “that one sweetheart? That chain looks durable” with your hand in his he leads you towards the stall.

“Y-yeah, but i don’t think i have enough”

He laughs, “You think you are gonna pay for chain?! Over my dead body! ”

“B-but”

He suddenly bends down to meet your head, his grin wide and toothy, eyes filled with adoration.  “Sweetheart, I am a male,” Grom explains, “I do not spend my money on anything besides food for me and animals. Besides training animals is a very dangerous job,” he starts to straighten ”I am paid very well”

You pause for a second but nod, “o-okay…if it’s reasonably priced”

Grom laughs loudly in triumph, taking your hand to head to the merchant's stall. You jolted slightly when you saw it was the same merchant that refused to pierce your ears. Well that was months ago, maybe he will be different. “Good day Brother! I would like that chain for my mate please! How much?”

You smile as you look at the sign behind the merchant, trying to figure out what the number was in English. hmmm six? “ten” the merchant says instead. You weren’t surprised, that was until you looked at Grom's expression, shocked and confused

He stiffens, his tone taking on a more professional tone “Your sign says six gold coins”

Hahh? I got it right?

“It is ten for girl” the merchant points with his chin to you.

You turn to see Grom’s eyes narrow predatorially, his jaw clenched. “That is wrong Bro-”

“Do you know the amount of gold humans stole from dragons during the dark ages?” he demands, "gems, relics, magical artifacts now collecting dust. I am sure she has enough if her kind stole all that”

Grom’s voice becomes rougher “That was a hundred years ago, she was never alive during that time! And she would neve-”

“I do not care” the merchant cuts him off, “ten coins, take it or leave it.”

“Brother…” Grom grits his teeth but cuts himself off to shut his eyes and take a deep breath, when he opens his eyes are now calmer, the muscles in his face more relaxed “look, you are a respectable merchant, I have been going to you for years for my jewelry. And now I am simp-”

“Take it or leave it, Grom. I am not changing my price”

Grom opens his mouth to speak but you interrupt by dropping all your coins and swinging the chain off the hook, “thank you have a good day” you mutter quick before tugging Grom away and out of the market. 

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The air is stuffy and thick all around as you both walk back to your home, you wait for him to say something but he never does. You don’t dare to look up at Grom's expression, afraid of what you might see. But you knew Grom had words to say, he was merely holding back his tongue currently. His grip on your hand was almost painfully tight. Each step his legs took seemed to release a bit of his rage into the Earth.

I can’t live on this, I can’t continue to. I hate being hated for things that aren’t true, I would never hurt any creature and I would never steal gold. And worst of all I hate seeing Grom like this, I need to figure out my motivation soon.

Once home you watch from over his shoulder as Grom nails a hole into the scale before carefully threading the chain into the scale. He stands and turns to you, his face still hard from the earlier fight. “Let me put it on” he almost asks, 

Without hesitation you turn and lift your braided hair, his warm hands raising forward to gently wrap the chain around your neck and carefully clasps both sides together, “there” he  says at last. you turn to look into a mirror on the wall with a smile, you loved it, how it sparkled in the light and how proud you were when you saw it.

“And it won't fall off?” you add looking at him through the mirror, though his eyes are still sad there's a bit of a smile caught on his lips,

“No it will not” his hands softly slide around your waist from behind, “Glush’s chains are always well made’ and Wyvern scales are very durable, even if they did come from baby” you feel the weight when Grom puts his chin on your head, “Peaches misses you, by the way.”

“How do you know”

He shrugs “I can tell”

You giggle, looking at him through the mirror “maybe I’ll visit tomorrow"

“Yeah..” he doesn’t smile back, his eyes deep in thought,. “y/n I-”

You sharply turn around, interrupting him, “Hey…I’m here to stay” you smile and cup his face to make him bend down to your height. “I’m not going anywhere” you say while shaking your head, “And regardless I am much happier here than back at my old village. I’m tough enough to handle a few petty Orcs, right? ”

He hums in agreement, a small smile growing on his lips but it doesn’t reach his eyes

You frown at how he looks, your mind racing trying to think of something to cheer him up before gasping loud as you figure just the right thing. “Guess what I did during training!!!” you squeal, already jumping up and down in excitement

He raises a brow “What did you do, Sweetness?”

“I. caught. A deer during training today!” his sad eyes disappear for a wide genuine grin as he bellows loud in your victory, hands gripping your hips to lift you up the air like earlier this morning. “AHA! My mate caught a whole deer! There is nothing she cannot do! AHAHAHA!”

You laugh with him, hiding the fact that it took you way too long to drag the deer back. Almost concerningly long. You couldn’t help it, he was always so proud of your achievements, how could you ruin the moment by telling him? He won’t ever have to know, you decide. You'll fix your time before he ever finds out. 

Next

Previous

LIKE COMMENT SHOW PROOF OF LIFE THEYRE MY REASON FOR LIVINGGGGGG

id also love to read your guy's predictions!

Next chapter will be the great hunt!!!

Tags: @cassjoyse @alonelyvagabond

[orbitingideas]

Low key wanna make an Ouran Host Club fanfic where Y/n is Haruhi's family friend from America who's south asian and moves to Japan to live with Haruhi because she got accepted in a prestigious dance program and gets to go to Ouran with y/n.

Like hear me out: y/n finishes her first day of school and has a few hours to kill before walking back home with her. So she decides to find an empty room to practice dance. Her Japanese is still rough but she finds the music room (IYKYKYKYK) and figures "oh perfect!!!"

And then she goes in, insert host club shenanigans and then Haruhi stops them like "damn bros this my friend, stop annoying her!"

The fic would then go through her befriending the group and her struggles with being in Japan and would explore themes of racism/bullying (since shes not from japan), difference between middle and upper class, eating disorders, and maybe pride for one's culture.

(Like if you'd read, if I get a good amount ill write it and maybe tag u idk)

[orbitingideas]

Welcome traveler to chapter 14!!! And this is a long one but im pretty proud of it!!!Only a few more chapters left in this arc!

Grom suddenly swipes the book from your hands and slaps it closed “Okay so repeat back everything I just said”

You take a large breath in, “The east side of the forest is the side that The Great Hunt takes place in. It is socially unacceptable to shoot down a majority of magical creatures for food, exceptions include Sniffers, Dicor, Mire and Bunin because they are invasive. The unmagical animals that can be found in the forest are rabbits, moose, deer, elk, boars, fish, hare and wild turkey, no other birds besides wild turkey….” you finally take a breath and pause “I can’t think of anything else”

Grom lets out a triumphic cheer “aha! Perfection Sweetness!” he picks you up from the bed to twirl you around like a princess, giggles escaping your lips as he sets you down, “However, Sniffers are not included in that list since they are mainly in the west side of the forest, good thing too, they are very dangerous.” 

you sharply turn to him with a frown, “I know, it's dumb that we only study animals from the East side of the forest. There's no change in terrain, temperature, vegetation or anything in the forest that would cause animals to stay in their part of the motion. Animals won’t listen to those rules, Grom.” 

He barks out a laugh before softly bending over to cup your face, “well in my almost 300 years of participating, I, nor anyone, has caught Sniffer during great hunt, sweetie. And we have always hunted in east side of forest.”

You scoff and cross your arms “Then it is not perfect”

“It is close enough” you roll your eyes as he pecks your nose, “sweetness, it is not like you said you could find sharks in forest” his chest rumbles as he chuckles before he turns your chin to him, “it is close enough to perfection” Grom then straightens and leaves the room for the loud cries from the animals.

You groan annoyed as you follow quickly behind him, “why do we only hunt in the east side of the forest?”

“We all do, it makes it easiest to find home since Sun sets in west” Grom looks over his shoulder with bright eyes, “we just follow Sun home. And I would prefer you do same. Besides that means less to study”  you make a mental note to ask Ghor more about the east forest’s geology. 

The animals cheer as the both of you come into the kitchen, the Sukdaes shoving past Grom to lovingly head butt your stomach, birds perched on your head. Taro’s meow sounds like a roar as she jumps off the table, landing on your shoulder and wrapping her tails around your arm. You laugh, catching the few potatoes Grom tosses to you and gently feeding the Sukdaes as you try to make your way to Grom “What is the plan for training today?”

You grin brighter, “Ghor’s finally gonna let me try to hunt for something, me and a whole hour in the forest to try to hunt for as much as I can.”

Grom smiles and walks over to you, one hand on your free shoulder while the other feeds seeds to the birds on your head, “well whatever you do, I have no doubt you will impress me”

Before you leave you struggle to take Taro off your shoulder, “Taro!” she meows deeply in refusal, “ugh! I can’t take you with me! I'm not allowed outside help” another refusing meow before you finally manage to tug him off and set her down on the counter“ugh, stay!”

You turn to leave but his meow sounds so close to a wait!. You turn back around as she leaves. Taro comes back dragging your water canister by the strap, and with one of Grom's dagger holsters wrapped around her body. You smile warmly and kneel down to take both, “thank you Taro, i’ll be back soon” you peck her head before putting both on, but not before having to heavily adjust the strap size on Grom’s holster, after all his thigh was much bigger than yours. 

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“I like new outfit!” Ghor exclaims as you both walk into town towards the forest. You smile and look down at your clothes, you are sporting your new skirt with Ghors shorts underneath it.  “Dagger was smart, you will need it.”

“Thanks!”

“And Dagger was smart, you will need that. It has no corset, correct?”

“Nope! And I-” you stop suddenly as you both walk past a large building, “hey, isn’t that Groms place of work” 

Ghor turns “Oh yeah”

“Caaaaan we maybe say hi to him real quick?”

Ghor groans annoyed, but ultimately leads you inside. You frown when you don’t see Grom immediately, instead the first Orc you see was one you didn’t recognize, standing at the edge of an underground enclosure, iron bars on top to prevent anyone from falling in. The Orc was buff, had a more desaturated skin tone with thick scratch scars littered on his biceps, the sides of his hair were shaved and the rest braided. He turns and sneers at you. “Ah, newly arrived human, what are you doing here?”

Ghor answers for you, her snarky tone similar to the one she used to give you, “At ease with your axe, Droug. We just wanted to see my brother. Where is he?”

With his chin, Droug points to inside the enclosure. You peak down between the bars and gasp. Grom was facing off against what looked like a baby dragon-no not a baby dragon, its front two feet were wings. A Wyvern! He dodges its attempt to bite and sprints away, the Wyvern almost catching up to him were it not for Grom sliding on the ground into a hole in the wall that was too small for the Wyvern to enter. Grom marches up a pair of stairs besides the enclosure, panting as he wipes his sweaty brow with the back of his hand “I am not retrying, I cannot-y/n!” his tired expression disappears “What wonderful surprise!" Grom charges towards you in excitement, lifting you up by your hips to hug “what do I owe your wonderful arrival, Sweetness?”

You giggle into his sweaty hug as Droug gawks at the both of you, “Wait, Grom, this is your mate?” your jaw drops. Normally when you describe someone, you describe their appearance. However your appearance was anything but an Orc’s, from your short thin hair to your clean finger nails. But Grom managed to describe you to another Orc without him realizing you were a human. Grom described me without even bringing up my appearance, he thinks of my personality first. 

“But of course she is!!” Grom bellows as he gently sets you down, 

“We just wanted to visit” Ghor explains from behind you, you think you can hear a smile in her voice. Wait why does she sound happy?…“What were you doing just now, Brother?”

“oh, this baby Wyvern has loose tooth, we are not fast enough to freeze him.”

Droug chorkles and mutters under his breath “why not make y/n do it…”

Grom beams “great idea Droug! I was thinking same thing!” her hands slam down on your shoulders as she gives you a slight push towards Grom “ever since we destroyed that corset” she gags, “she has become very fast!”

Droug’s face falls “wait, you are being serious? I was not”

Grom crosses his arm, pondering the idea, “Sweetheart, which Draconi from the arena have you managed to tag?”

You smile nervously and straighten “Every Draconi in that arena!” Though you don’t want to have to touch any kind of Draconi that isn’t used to human contact, you do enjoy the look on Droug face when you mention this. 

“So you are familiar with Wyvern’s…but I do not know, Sweetums…”

Droug gawks applaud “You tagged adult Wyvern?! With bite force strong enough to cut grown Orc in half and venomous tail?! No way you can do this.”

Grom sharply turns around to Droug, “you and I both know this Wyvern does not have his venom yet. And why do you not believe? Because she is human?”

“Of course because she is human Look at that little skirt!” he points, “No sane and successful warrior would dare wear that!”

“I have seen her come face to face with those Draconi with my own eyes!”

“Get hold of yourself, Grom! Next you will tell me that she befriended fully grown Dragon!”

“And why is that so unbelievable!”

“The most dangerous Draconi?! Being befriended by weakest creature that exists?!”

In the midst of the argument, unknowing to Grom, Ghor beckons you to come closer silently. You carefully sneak quietly behind Grom and sneak down the stairs with her, reaching a cool dark and small room with a small hole near the ground on the left wall; the Wyvern’s cries in pain seemingly coming from it.

Grom removes your bow and quiver from your back, a huge mischievous grin on her face “You cannot harm it so you will not need this, here” she whispers, sliding a shield onto your left forearm. 

You shoot a panicked look, glancing up the stairs but Grom and Droug were still arguing, “why this?!” you whisper afraid and turn your head back to her, “wouldn’t hunting be better than this!?”

“Draconi’s we practiced with were trained to be around humans, this will actually hurt you!” she shoots an excited look, “what's that symbol you gave me after you faced that Wyrm?” she struggles, raising up each finger before you realize what she was trying to do.

“Thumbs up!” you whisper harshly as you correct her hand, she flashes a look of recognition before holding it up with a bigger smile. You suppress a groan to keep quiet, she was right, those Draconi’s weren’t using their full potential, this will be good practice before I start trying to hunt.

As you tighten the straps of the shield she reaches for a shelf to pull out a few glowing blue tinted orbs that look like they're made of ice, their edges rough and jagged. “It is freeze, hit Wyvern with and it will freeze solid for three minutes. Use your dagger, Wyverns gums are tough..”

You nod and pocket the orbs before sliding out the hole to enter the enclosure with the Wyvern. Your eyes watch as it bites at the wall. It was taller than you, with pink scales that shifted orange and yellow in the light, a short tail that whipped sharply behind it. You carefully make your way closer to the Wyvern.

Wyverns, you try to remember from your studies, you should know, afterall they are found in the forest, they… are known to be less intelligent than Dragons but just as dangerous. With tails equipped with venom and the strongest bite force out of all the Draconi. But it was still a baby so all you should worry about is not being stabbed by its tail. 

From above you, Grom and Droug are still arguing “I refuse to believe that human is your mate!”

“Oh and why is that!? She has more character than you ever will, and I have known you for decades longer than I have her!”

“You said she was strong-minded!”

“She is! She has had to go through more than you and I ever will.”

“More than war?” The room seems to still, everything pauses.

“Hundred times yes.” Grom’s voice is sharp and clear, “She has had to-BY GODS Y/N!” uh-oh he noticed you. The Wyvern perks up from the sound and turns to you. It pauses as its yellow eyes spot you, not yet taking charge. Panic sources through you but you need to think, I need to find a moment to throw-

It roars loud before suddenly charging at you, sharp tail whipping closely behind it. You immediately take off in a sprint perpendicular to the side of the arena, turning mid run to catch a glimpse. Think y\n its mouth was open as it ran, tongue fiddling with one specific tooth, bottom row on its right sight, three teeth from middle. 

As you leap forwards to gain distance away from the Wyvern, your hand digs into your pocket. Sharply turning into the wall you throw an ice orb with all your strength. The orb hit right into the mouth of the Wyvern. First its back legs freeze, now sliding against the ground, then its long tail stops mid whip, then its whole face still mid roar. With the Wyverns' whole body now frozen still, it slides on the ground until it stops, now having a slight blue tint.

Above you, you hear the cheers of Ghor and the sigh of relief of Grom. “Way to go y/n! I told you she would do it! Did not I Droug?!”

You pant as you walk up to the Wyvern, counting three from the center of its jaw until you find the loose tooth. Smiling bright, you grab your dagger and reach to wedge it between the tooth and gums but you stop when you hear a whimper from the Wyvern. You jerk your hands back and your head up to see, the Wyvern eyes were still moving, its-his pupils dilated small, like mine do when I'm scared. You thought it would be knocked unconscious once frozen, poor thing, it was in pain, and it would feel that pain when you would pull out the tooth.

Sliding the dagger back into your holister, your hands pet his head instead , “shhhh, it's gonna be alright” you murmur softly, he reminded you of your own childhood, everything that doctors would do that you had no idea why, teeth pulling, leeches sucking, disgusting herbal medicines. You understood why they all happened now, you were sick; but what you couldn’t understand was why your father didn’t tell you why they were doing it.

“What is she doing?!”you hear from Droug above “tell her to grab tooth already!!!”

You disregard him and continue to pet the Wyvern, grabbing your water canister at your side to pour some water down his dry throat “Poor you, all that biting and trying to get this tooth out must have dehydrated you” slowly his pupils become larger.

 “Hurry up! It is gonna!-”crack, The Wyverns front wings suddenly snap straight, crack, then his back feet, crack, then his tail. Too quick to react, the Wyvern snaps back from the frozen form, his eyes wide and glowing as if predatory, but fear doesn’t course through you. You hear everyone hold their breath from above, then quick heavy footsteps. The Wyvern stands on his back feet to rise to its full height, wings spread to make itself look bigger. It stalks closer, and then slowly opens and tilts his mouth back towards you, staying still. You smile in relief when you realize what's happening. Grabbing your dagger, one hand hovers over the tooth, the other ready with the dagger. You take a sharp breath before digging the dagger in, quickly plucking out the tooth and jerking back a few steps in case he mouth shut too soon. The Wyvern roars in pain, keeping his mouth open until he notices you were out. He then buries his head to the ground, wings covering his head as his body rises and falls in pain. “shhhh, it's okay,” you coo, kneeling down to the ground to pet his wings softly, “its alright, Sweetie…”

Soon enough the Wyvern’s head peaks out from his wings, his tail whips around to pluck something from his back before pressing it into your hand. You don’t get a chance to see it because someone's hands pull you back into the small hole. “Y/N! HAVE YOU GONE MAD! ARE YOU HURT?!” Grom's arms hug you tight from behind before turning you around to examine your body, his face struck with intense fear and his eyes glossy with tears “oh by all gods! You terrified me!” his voice shakes.

“I-i’m fine” you stutter, you didn’t realize earlier how panicked Grom had gotten, you must have given him a heart attack when you didn't pull out the tooth at first. “I’m sorry I worried you” 

Any anger or frustration that was already on Grom's face melts away at those words, “Oh my sweet sweet Kushi,” he holds you tight to his chest as Ghor and Droug enter the room behind him. Ghor's face beams with ecstatic pride while Droug arms are crossed with a look of disapproval “I love you so much.” he murmurs into your neck

Ghors hand sharply lands on Grom's back, causing him to jolt, “Relax brother she is being taught by best! Did you see how fast she ran? HAHA!!” she laughs

Droug scoffs “not in hundred years would I call that success!”

Grom pulls away to sharply turn to him, his voice practically  “why you-”

“What do you mean?!” you demand, cutting off Grom and holding up the tooth “I got it out!-”

“Not way Orc would do it!”

“Droug is right,” Ghor adds “why did not you take it out when Wyvern was frozen, it would have saved you time”

“Because he was terrified!”

Droug scoffs “So? Real Orc would have just pulled it out, not waited”

“Well I did what was right, how would you feel if I froze you and pulled out your tooth”

He rolls his eyes “I would have been happy because you were helping me”

“No you would not have! You'd be a child, scared, confused and the worst pain you’ve ever experienced!” 

“It is baby Wyvern! it does not-”

“What? You think he has no thoughts? Or feelings? I bet that's how you felt when you first met me? How could I ever understand the same concepts as you? Be as smart as you? As strong as you? Oh I'm just a human! I don’t have any thoughts or dreams or wishes? Just because you can't understand him, doesn’t mean he can’t understand anything. 

You pant from your rant, Droug’s eyes widen in shock as if he didn’t think you could ever be that loud. Grom cuts the silence by placing his hand on your shoulder  “y/n is right,” he says “Out of all of us, you use most force even when it is unnecessary. Meanwhile y/n saved us possibly weeks of having to gain back his trust, thanks to her we can jump back into training him, thank you Sweetie. In case we need you again, may I ask for your help?”

You turn to look at him over your shoulder, your smile beaming “Of course!” 

Ghor beams before tapping at your other hand, “now, let us see what Wyverns gift is!”

You didn’t realize you were still holding your hand shut, opening your hand to see a scale, larger than a coin, as thick as leather and as solid as metal. You hold it up as it glimmers pink and orange, shifting yellow as part of it hits the light, fascinating you.

“It is Wyvern scale!” Grom gasps, “Very rare! Every type of Draconi is territorial over their scales, and you cannot harvest them after their death because they disintegrate!” he pecks a deep kiss on your cheek from behind you, “You never stop surprising me!

You giggle and look down at the scale, “it would make a nice necklace…”

“I shall buy chain for you then,” Grom huffs as he straightens “And, In honor of your help Sweetness, you can pick this Wyverns name”

Your smirk as you turn your head to Droug. Eyes locking on his as you reply smug “Peaches”

Droug rolls his eyes “Peaches, It is Wyvern! Known for crushing Orcs! Pick something tougher”

“Who says it has to be a tough sounding name?” you respond  “Besides his scales look like a peach”

“But-”

“Peaches it is!” Grom cuts off “Thank you Sweetums”

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Soon Grom comes back to you cooking dinner, smiling warmly at the sight as he kicks off his shoes and hands his bag on the wall. You turn the stove off and turn around to him, softly walking over with a giddy smile. “Hi…”

He smirks as if holding a secret, “Hello…again.“ you giggle into your palm as his eyes gleam ”Come here” his hand tugs yours, leading you away from the stove to a cabinet you haven’t touched since arriving. His free hand opens the door to reveal…

you snort in laughter “Jars?” yup! Many empty jars with Orcish labels tapped on the glass in Orcish, 

“Oh come on! These are special jars~” 

You roll your eyes as he takes one, but your humour-filled smile goes away when he takes off the lid and music suddenly fills the air! Lutes and violins come from the jar as the birds around you sing along to the soft and romantic, “its…”

“Not so silly now huh?” he asks playfully smugly as he sets down the jar to the side, “dance with me” he softly requests, you happily do so, putting your hand in his and the other on this shoulder as his hand wraps around your waist snugly. He leads, gently swaying you in the warm moment. His eyes are warm and fond, in the bright gleam in the sunlight they even seem to glow. 

“No…how does it work?”

“Spell…music from one moment is trapped in jar…it is temporary, sadly, eventually it will run out. I stockpiled long ago, but never had reason to indulge until now…” his eyes glanced away for a second before coming back to yours, now dimmed and sad. “I…I want you to know that given option, I would rather have our worst moments than have our best ones with anyone else.”

You smile warmly, tears blurring your vision, “I don’t care for anything Droug said. I didn't even listen, too focused getting that tooth” you murmur, “Thank you for sticking up for me, and I'm sorry again for scaring you”

His eyes only get sadder, brows furrowing, “I am more sorry for not believing in you”

You chuckle and slightly shrug “I didn’t either honestly! I’m just too scared to not follow Ghors orders”

He bellows out a laugh, before his hand comes to cup your face “well how do you feel now?”

You hum warmly, “Wonderful”

But even though you had done so much to prepare, you still don’t feel ready for The Great Hunt. 

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Tags: @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

Welcome to chapter 13 travelers! MNDI! aka smut!(I'm pretty happy with it this time :)) as before I have marked out the beginning and end of the explicate content with red so you can easily skip it!

Tags for smut: Fingering

It's been a few weeks since that faithful night, and since then the two of you haven’t spoken about it. Every time you both speak there’s been a type of tension so thick you both almost couldn’t see each other through it. His tone and wording always seemed careful, as if he was trying not to set out tripwires, his touch reserved, only used when necessary. And you can’t even remember the last time he's braided your hair. At night Grom would scoot to the very edge, clap off the light and say the same line.

“Good night, if you need me for anything wake me up” It was neither cold nor inviting, his voice always shook in the end but when you turned he was never crying

You’re certain that Grom feels guilty for that moment, every time you lay down in bed you can see it in his eyes. You so badly want to take it away, wanting to let him know that it's not his fault, that he was perfect that night, it was you who had to figure out what you were feeling. Even now, weeks later, you are still unsure of what you need but ever since that moment you feel like you’ve lost a piece of yourself. 

You long for his touch once more, in any form, loving or intimate. Skin on skin with no horrid material between the both of you. You’ve been daydreaming again, his hands on your cheeks, his chest against yours, his arms around your waist.

I was right, you think to yourself as you climb down the rockwall after beating your previous time, I do regret not looking at him that night…

Of course Ghor didn’t notice, and even if she did she didn’t care, her focus solely to your preparations for the great hunt. What was once a tough workout that required intense focus was now a quick warm up that you had cut the time down by half.

“Well I think it is time we practice hunting down live target” she says with a growl, you were half listening, your thoughts on Grom as she tugs you out of the training forge.

You don’t pay attention as Ghor leads you down a path into town, your mind elsewhere. Grom's expression that night was something that kept haunting you, that mixture of panic and concern as he tried to calm you down, stalking you through your mind.. You perk up at the sudden sound of Ghor “Brother!” you jolt in surprise to see Grom in front of you, wait where the hell were you both?

“Ghor, what has brought you and Y/n to my place of work?” your brows raise, Grom was in leather armor, with belts wrapped across his chest and knicknacks around his hips.

“y/n needs to practice with some live targets”

Grom's brows widen before his eyes jerk away from you, “you sure? Is not it too soon-”

“She has excelled at rock climbing, tree climbing and has gotten rather good at a bow and arrow surprise to say”

Grom sharply turns to you in surprise, “you have? Without me?” its tinged with betrayal

“Yes yes she has done rather well at not dying. Now! I was thinking we do simple exercise with your Drake”

“Drake?!” you panic and look around, you were all standing in a simple arena where the walls had enclosures all around, blocked off from the main arena with iron bars. The enclosures were either big or small depending on the size of the capture. They were rather nice though, with grass on the ground of each enclosure, huge water buckets and openings on the other side of the outside world. “What's a Drake?”

Ghor groans “Type of Draconi” she replies blunt which made you even more confused

Grom tchs at Ghor's reply“do not be uninformative, tell her more”

Ghor rolls her eyes before turning to you, “Dagon, four legs and wings; Drake, four legs no wings; Wyvern, two-”

“Ghor! There is more to them all than just that!” Grom snaps angrily

“Well I am not the one who trains these glorified lizards”

“They are not liz-” 

“Brother, I say this with most respect… “ she puts a hand on his shoulder and a fist on her chest with a mock look of sympathy “I truly could not care less about your huge winged lizards”

He grumbles in frustration before sighing and turning to you, his eyes soften when they settle at yours, “you have heard of Dragons?, ” you nod “To keep things short, there are 6 types that we classify with generalization term Draconi; Dragon is what you imagine when you think of Dragons, since they typically thrive everywhere; they have four feet and set of wings. Drakes have four legs and no wings.” he explains gently

Ghor scoffs from across you both, crossing her arms “oh so she get watered down version but I have to suffer with whole research paper?”

“Ghor, please-”

“I will not brother!”

Grom ignores her rant and turns to you, “Do not worry y/n, Drake that we have here is good” he leads you over to a certain enclosure, you look inside to see a small dragon like creature. It was much bigger than a dog, with its head aligned to your chest when on its four legs. Like Grom said it had no wings, its scales were a bluish metallic purple that shifted pink in the sunlight. You could tell it was a child by the way it bounced around with its tongue open like a puppy.

“His name is Pimmas” he murmurs to you, “he will not hurt you. Drakes have no fire, and he is too young to have sharp claws or teeth.”

Ghor slaps her hand onto your shoulder, jerking you away from Grom, “Here is task,” she slaps something down into your hand, a large red circular sticker “stick this down somewhere on Pimmas, it will have one on its hands too”

You look down at your palm to examine the sticker, large enough that it covers your whole palm, a thin sticky layer on top, “how will he know?”

Grom laughs from behind you “Pimmas loves to cuddles,”

“No weapons” Ghor adds, as Grom beckons Pimmas to come close within the closure “just touch him before he touches you” 

“There!” Grom straightens once the sticker is stuck to Pimmas’s palm, “we shall be up there” he points up a ladder that leads up to a small deck close to the ceiling, pushed against one of the walls, the edge of the floor had fences to prevent anyone from falling. Ghor was already headed up the ladders.

Grom turns “Stay for 30 second” he says firm to the now sitting Pimmas before pushing down a nearby lever to raise the bars covering the enclosure, Grom turns to you, hesitates on stepping forward to you before ultimately just saying “Stay safe” and walking over to the latter.

Too soon Pimmas starts to charge to you, in a panic, all you can think to do is just run away.

Think, I need a plan. Pimmas is heavier than me so I can use that against him, I could slide away at the last minute. Once you reach the wall of the arena, you turn to Pimmas, the sight of him charging you is almost horrifying if it wasn’t for his puppy-like face. You notice how he runs like a wolf, with leaps instead of steps so it would be hard for him to stop last minute. Taking a moment to catch your breath, you wait until he is close before sprinting to the other side, but you’re already exhausted and losing speed. 

As you try to find the perfect time to do so your energy quickly goes down, soon your leg pains with every movement. Your sight becomes slightly blurry as you stare back at the Pimmas while he charges at you, a look of puppy delight on his face. Panic bubbles from your chest but you can’t find it in you to run away, there's just not enough air getting into your lungs. Eventually it becomes too late, Pimmas leaps and falls on top of you as you collapse, licking your face with a rough tongue, his clawed hands pin down your shoulder, pressing the sticker into your skin before it sticks off Pimmas’s palm.

You hear Ghor and Groms' loud footsteps as they run over to you “Hell was that?!” Ghor demands from above as you can’t even find the energy to push Pimmas off you, Grom has to do it for you, tugging him back by his collar.

“C-can’t breath” you pant painfully,

Grom’s eyes widen in realization before he drops to his knees in front of you, “her lips are blue! She cannot get enough air in her!” his hands fumble with your blouse before he rips the top open to reveal your chest and gasps at what he finds. His hands are on your corset to force it open until fabric tears and the reeds within snap “What hell is this?!” he demands as a large gust of air suddenly enters your lungs with your next gasp, your lips slowly becoming their original color. You feel the corset slide out from underneath you as Ghor examines it with curious disgust.

“What is this unusual undergarment," Grom taps on the material “huh, surprisingly tough for something so…girly eugh.” she gags

“It was preventing her from breathing! Why would you put this on?” 

You gasp for another breath “C-corset….t-typical wear for…m-my village"

Without care, Ghor discards the corset by tossing it over her shoulder, from behind, Pimmas catches it in the air before playing with it like a dog, forever ruined. “Whyever would you subject yourself to such…hell”

“T-to give…t-tiny waist…it is-”

“Oh it is beauty standard”

Grom turns his head sharply to Ghor. As your vision clears you realize Grom's expression wasn’t anger, but instead a mixture of concern and confusion, as if he doesn't understand why you would forgo ease of breathing for beauty, or how Ghor could comprehend this faster than him. 

Ghor was surprisingly calmer than Grom, you would think that Ghor would call you stupid for wanting to be favoring beauty, but you were shocked at her understanding tone. Ghor reaches for your shoulders to sit you up, “This is no longer your old village. Corset is not beauty standard here” Grom opens his mouth to speak but then shuts it. “And frankly, everything that came from that village, no teachings in basic things like reading, writing, fighting, and now this, it has only made and kept you weak.” You pant until your lungs are no longer on fire, “In order to thrive here you must leave behind what you were taught at your village.” Finally that typical Ghor disgust comes in ”Start by throwing away those skirts” she nods gestures to your skirt you were wearing, long, billowy and useless for speed.

“B-But I like skirts, a-and I feel pretty with one…”

“you do not have to omit it entirely, but change it to better suit this life.” she stands up “that is enough for today, we can retry this next day, come. I shall show you home. Evenings brother!” as Ghor helps you up you look down so you don’t see Grom's expression as she leads you out of the arena and to home. 

Once at your door Ghor rummages into her pocket and pulls out something, “here! I bought this for you! It is like mine!” with a cheeky smile she gestures to her shorts, “they contain pockets! And this will be good for upcoming days! Spring is ending soon” your stomach pains with unease, she was right, spring was soon to end and that meant summer was coming…

“Thank you” you murmur as you take the pair of shorts before heading inside.

You look at yourself in the bathroom mirror, Ghor was right, everything you were taught was meant to keep me quiet and obedient, you were always meant to be only a housewife and everything that didn’t aid in that you was never taught, unlike here, you never had a choice. Everything you know from there, was only told for that goal, everything.  

I don’t want to act like an orc, I can’t, so let’s not try. I like and want to feel pretty, I want to keep my dress skirt some way but how…it needs to be shorter. As if listening into your mind, Taro comes walking in with a pair of scissors in her mouth, dropping them to the floor with a loud meow. You smile down at her before lifting them up

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Grom finally comes back home, he drops his bag, gently calls for Taro before walking to his bedroom. His eyes are on you when he opens the door, in the bathroom modeling off one of your skirts that you had cut to end at your mid thighs, the pair of shorts Ghor gave you underneath. “Do you think it looks good?” you ask unsure, “Ghor gifted me a pair of her shorts, I like them! They're like pants but shorter! I guess that's why they call them shorts” your eyes finally land at Groms, they seem…puzzed, confused? No he's blushing…”I decided to cut my skirt to make it shorter, and added the shorts so I don’t expose myself.”

Grom finally lets out a sigh “smart, I do like it, it looks good” he walks over to stand behind you, “You look good,” he turns to admire you through the mirror “really good, this will be good for training”

You giggle, “even with my hairy legs?”

He chuckles and looks over your shoulder to look down at them “Did not even notice them” 

You wait for his eyes to finally meet yours through the mirror  “you haven’t braided my hair in a while, can you please do so before I go to sleep?”

His eyes soften at you before turning to walk into bed, you eagerly climb between his legs and sit up straight. Grom's fingers gently brush to detangle your hair. 

The moment between you is delightfully warm and quiet, it reminds you of that night…that night…."I think I figured it out, what I felt that night”

There's a pause before his arms wrap around your waist from behind, you hum at the warmness “Share your thoughts?" he asks softly

“It was a shame for the pleasure that I felt that night, but I sat with Ghor's words for a while and she’s right, I'm no longer at my village, no longer tied by their god or rules and no one here will ever shame me for enjoying life for once. I was struggling with that shame for wanting intimacy, so I thought that if we did it then I could finally move on from those feelings and enjoy it the next time, but it didn’t go away and I only felt worse” you lean your back against his chest, “I used to look back at that moment in shame but now I look back and smile at at how close I felt with you”

He doesn’t speak as he finishes up your braid and even after then he's still quiet. You turn your head over your shoulder as Grom looks down at you “I’m so sorry you had to come to terms by your own, I felt so horrible…I had no idea how to help you, what to say with you and every free moment I racked my brain trying to think of what you needed. But I just could not understand how you felt so ashamed of something so natural” his face hides into your neck, speaking against your skin, “I am sorry I did not have anything for you” his voice breaks, “I am sorry that for weeks I was distant from you, couples should communicate with each other but I had no idea what to say. To be honest I am ashamed that my sister knew what to say when I could not”

“You weren't distant, you were always there to hold me, and every night you said that if I needed to talk to just wake you up. You did what you could…”

He grumbles into your neck “should have been better” 

You turn to him, causing him to raise his head from neck “I wouldn’t have known what to do if I was in your position.”

His head slowly raises, sadness imbedded into his eyes, “so I did not hurt you that night”

You giggle “of course not, it felt heavenly. I just wish I took more time to enjoy the journey and not just the product, could we maybe try again?”

He raises a single brow “You…are you sure?”

“Yeah! But this time I want you here so I can look at your face and better connect with you!”

A smile slowly on his face again “Okay, I can use my fingers, but are you sure? I do not want same to happen again”

“It wont! I've thought about this the whole day…well hours….maybe just a few minutes ago”

He sighs concerned, “y/n…”

“I promise I'm ready!!!”

With an amused huff he lays you down to the bed carefully, “please stop me if you do not like it anymore, I am doing this because I love you, I want to get this right, and because I also wanna see your face” he pecks your nose as you giggle 

You capture his lips into a passionate kiss, soft, slow but confident in the action, your arms sliding around his neck to pull him closure, fingers digging into his hair as if they belong there.

“Mhmm” you feel him delightfully hum into the kiss as his fingers loop your waistband and pull down each garment one by one, carefully placing them somewhere to the side of the bed.

Finally he pulls back to breath, his forehead pressed to his as he pants with you. Grom's eyes are stuck on yours as his fingers graze your folds, a feather-like gentle touch that has you whimper in sensitivity.

He smirks at that before giving your lips another peck, “I did not know I did this to you” he softly murmurs, his expression slightly smug seeing that he turns you on.

You scoff in disbelief, “of course you do, do you seriously not see me staring at your biceps, back muscles, abdominal-ah!” He then slowly slides his finger in, interrupting you, long and thick enough that it slightly hurts. Your hands grip his hair tighter, your mouth opening tells him of the slight pain “Grom it-oh gods!” Pleasure ignites in your stomach as he curls his finger into a specific spot, it causes you to let out a loud high-pitched whine “o-oh my!--yeayeayessss” Your head dizzies as you feel him kiss the side of your neck.

“Yeah sweetness? Tell me how it feels”

Your eyes slightly roll back as you try to keep them open, “s-so-so g-go-good…” you slur, feeling him chuckle against your neck before he pulls his head back to look at you. His eyes are narrowed in almost a lazy way. His smirk smug almost teases you. The pace of his fingers fastens as he admires your expression, the way you repeatedly cry out his name, how your words become unintelligible once he starts teasing your clit with his thumb. “Grom! Gromgrom…feel it!-i-inside me…:

“Yeah sweetie?” You feel his lips speak against yours “can you let it out for me sweetheart? Just relax” he coos. You cry into the air as the bubble in you finally pops before and you ride a perfect wave of pleasure

Once you’re able to see his expression is full of love, his hands cup your cheeks, “better?”

“Mhn - hmm, I love you so much" you feel him slide a fresh pair of panties back up as he chuckles, he kisses your hip bone and then your lips.

“I love you too sweetheart, I am so happy I pleased you. Here I will clean you up“

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As always LIKE COMMENT SHOW PROOF OF LIFE PLEASE I LIIIIVE FOR ITTTTTT If you would like me to tag you in the next chapter PLEASE LET ME KNOW I LOVE DOING SO, I DREAM OF BEING ONE OF THOSE FAN FIC-ERS HERE WHO HAVE HUUUUGE TAG LISTS. If you have any good title ideas for this fanfic pls let me know i have no idea :\

Tags: @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

Chapter 12!!!

MDNI - u know what that means!!! I hope you enjoy my first attempt at writing smut, if u dont like smut I have marked with red where it starts and ends

Tags for scene: cunnilingus, oral, fem receiving, angsty end tehe

You wake up from a light emitting from your left, ugh the damn Enip, “Ugh grom…“ you groan, turning your head towards the light and fluttering your eyes awake.

He stands up from his desk, leaving the last piece of your mothers china he was still working on “Sorry sweetheart, I did not mean to wake you up, I thought Enip was dim enough.” he gestures to it, a thin sheet placed on top that did dim some of the light. 

You weren't listening, your face frozen in shock, why? Because Grom was shirtless. All huge and rippling muscles exposed to you, every thick vein along his forearms now under your gaze. You didn’t know Grom had tattoos let alone scars, well it should’ve been obvious, he's been living for 300 years, he's bound to get a few scars on his body. However, the black markings surprised you. What looked sinful on Thrall was so…attractive on him. They were runes all around his body, a circle-ish one on his left peck, a band of what seems to be an alphabet of another language around his right bicep, and some of the same alphabet down the sides of his ribs.

“Sweetums, you are staring”

You jerk up to meet his eyes “oh! sorry!…” you blush embarrassed, “I was just…th-hose markings you have on your body…” you jerk your head away embarrassed.

“My tattoos?”

“Is that what they’re called?” He hums in confirmation, easily climbing into bed to wrap an arm around your shoulders while the other hand rests under his head. You burn in desire to touch him, wanting to press your fingers against each crevice of your abdominal muscles, but instead you reach to tracing the tattoo on his chest. From above you hear a huff of amusement from him “this one is protection rune”

“They have meanings?”

He scoffs “of course they do, they are on my skin forever”

You smile into his chest, your eyes fluttering closed at the delightful smell of his natural scent, like a soft flowery leathery smell. You glance up to look at the tattoo on his arm “What about this one?”

“It gives me strength“

“How so?“ 

“these runes are magical,” he explains “Think of them as like spells implanted onto my skin, forever casted”

“Thats so cool! I'd like one!”

He smiles, his free hand cupping your face “Sweetness it is pretty painful” 

“Oh” you pout and playfully face plant into his chest, making Grom softly laugh at you.

You raise your head and extend your arm over to touch the tattoo on the side of his waist. “what about this one?” you ask.

“Unbreaking” he mentions casually though you noticed the tension in his jaw as he speaks, “I got it after I broke my ribs as kid” he admits.

You can’t help but giggle at the thought of little innocent Grom before pulling back your and to rest on his chest, his lips then suddenly quirk up into a playful smile, “if you ever get one tattoo, where would you put it…”

You look up as you think “well…i want protection, so maybe something like the one on your chest?”

“So something here?...” his hand on your cheek drops down, his finger tips gently sliding along your collar bone in a way that sends shivers down your sides, “or maybe up here?” Your breath hitches as they trail up the side of your neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake. You clench your jaw to swallow down the sound that tries to crawl out of your throat before forcing your eyes on him. He has to be doing this on purpose, there's no way you’re mistaking this look for anything other than smugness. His lips quirked into a cocky smile, eyes narrowed in a lazy way, or perhaps that's just because he's tired, “to prevent you from getting your head chopped off, hm?” 

You pause before replying, taking a bit to figure out what he was talking about, “yeah yeah right…” Before you could say another thing, he leans in for a kiss, stops and then pulls back before raising his hands up to clap two times, leaving you both in the darkness, and you wrestle with a feeling you never thought you would have to. The overwhelming desire to touch and be touched, to feel his lips everywhere, to stay up late as you explore…Is this…lust? No it can’t be, its wrong to feel it….

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Grom's breath is hot against your ear as he leans in closer, it stirs something inside you that shouldn’t be there. Why are you reacting like this?? He’s not even trying! He's just teaching you how to shoot an arrow!

His hand is on yours, helping you draw the arrow back, “keep both your eyes open focused on target” the target being a piece of wood Grom had painted red and hung behind a tree behind his house. You struggle with your new bow that Grom had engraved with runes just that morning. “Now, easiest way to do it is…” you weren’t listening anymore, you couldn’t. All you could focus on was his chest pressed against yours, the feeling of his hot breath against your ear, how he’s speaking is a low murmur, if his fingers weren’t tight against yours you would surely let the arrow go long ago. 

You can’t help but think about how much you want him closer to you, how much you want his lips to press against your skin instead of speaking, for his hands to touch other parts of your body instead of your hand, for the both of you to be in bed instead of outside…

You're jolted awake from your thoughts as he suddenly lets go of the arrow and it strikes right in the center of the wood “you did it!” Grom exclaims, straightening up sadly to his full height. You look over your shoulder at him meekly, positively that he was doing all the work, 

“Could we try that again together?” you ask nervous

He chuckles but then bends down to assume the same position, this time you try hard to listen to him, “remember, use your peripheral vision to see through arrow and align it to where you want to hit” this time you take the liberty to move where you see fit, before letting go. The arrow ends up landing off the target and on the tree. Even though you were off target you still beam excited. I actually hit relatively close to my target.

Behind you Grom laughs “That was great! Bit more work is needed but I am sure you will be natural soon, practice while I make lunch” he bends to peck your cheek before leaving.

With his departure you let out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding, lately you’ve been having a lot of thoughts, feelings that weren’t allowed back at your old village, but this isn’t your old village…

There’s more to it than just intense lust or desire, you genuinely want to be closer to Grom, to feel like one with him. 

Days go by of training, practicing with the bow and arrow and most importantly sleeping with Grom shirtless. You try to stuff these feelings down but they only grow more and more, would it be weird to talk about this with Grom? You ask one morning alone, animals surrounding you as you restring your bow. It's wrong to think this way and feel these thoughts. Then again…would Grom mind? Maybe I should ask him tonight, but what if I make it weird…is it normal to feel like this? There's no way I could ask Ghor…or should I? No, I've been blunt with Grom before, I should be open with my thoughts.

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That night you watch too closely as always as he gets ready in the open door bathroom, brushes his teeth, combs and braids through his hair, before finally reaching up behind his head to pull his shirt off by the neckline, almost as if he was purposely teasing you. 

Your gaze isn’t even lustful, it's fully admirational, his skin was beautiful, it almost had a rocky tone to it, with little flecks of a lighter green that shine like glitter in the moonlight.

He folds his tunic into a drawer while you pretend to read a book, you have gotten better over the weeks…though there were some words you couldn’t figure out.

Grom chuckles as he stalks over to the bed, “are you reading that, Sweetie?”

Your eyes dart away from his chest “uh yeah”

He chuckles again as he plucks the book out of your fingers “did not know you could read upsidedown, sweetums” he places the now rightside book into your hands before sliding into bed, 

You quickly shut the book embarrassed and reach over to set it on the bedside table “heh right…right one of my many talents," 

Grom smiles down at you fondly as he claps off the Enip, “goodnight sweetheart?”

You turn to your side to face him, leaning on your elbow, “actually I was wondering if I could have a kiss goodnight…” you say while looking down, too embarrassed to look at him,

“Of course sweetheart” he murmurs, his hand tilting your chin up  before capturing your lips in a slow sweet kiss. When he pulls back too soon your hands quickly cup his face to pull him back to your lips, the kiss desperate and messy for more. He pulls back with a low groan  “gonna kill me one day with your kisses sweetums” he murmurs against your lips smashing his against your. You groan in relief into the kiss, but too soon his lips leave yours to trail down your the side of your neck, you can’t do anything to stifle the gasp that comes out your mouth, jolts of pleasure bolting into your skin at every contact point he makes with his lips, woah…neck kisses are really good, he continues until he meets the top of your nightgown. 

He pulls back suddenly, his eyes filled with desire, but there's something else, perhaps he's finally growing onto his senses. “I…” you push him sharply to roll onto his back, sliding onto his chest before sitting up on his lap. He gawks at you in surprise before slowly sitting up with you, his hands sliding down to rest at your hips, “woah, you are really getting stronger” he says in awe trying to ease the uncertain tension

You hesitate, “I want this, I-I have for a long while, but I'm worried I shouldn't, what does your religion say?”

You didn’t realize you weren’t looking at him until his thumb tilts your chin up so your eye meets his, his smile is small and understanding “sex is seen as how couple gets closer together, similar to dating, but physical. We see forms of intimacy like this are necessary for a good relationship ”

You struggle with your words, unsure of what will be taken with offense or what questions will seem dumb, so much so that for a bit you can only let out a few nervous stutters. In response his hands slide up to your waist, rubbing soothing circles there with his thumb “Breath sweetie…just tell me your thoughts, any and all.” 

You shut your eyes to take a deep breath in before letting it out, “I…” you open your eyes “have been told that it is morally wrong to do…. it for pleasure, so I feel ashamed for wanting it”

His brows furrow, sadness tinged in his eyes as both hands cup your face, “sweetheart…You should never feel ashamed for that, not with me, it is natural to crave being closer to ones partner” one hand drops to hold your hand, thumb rubbing your knuckles in a way that calms you down

The world now seems to quiet down for this moment. Seeming every living part of it asleep except for the two of you, your soft breaths filling up the walls of the room “Have..have you ever?...”

He nods without you needing to finish “yes”

Another long pause, you don’t bother asking with who, even though you know he'd tell you in a heartbeat, it didn’t matter at that moment. “I um…I’m unsure what I want now, is it considered too soon to do so?‘‘

“Not if you are uncomfortable with it‘ he explains

You let out a sigh of relief you didn’t know you were holding “so i’m not…wrong if i want it?”

“Never“

You let out another breath “i…I want to, I truly do want to, I never really thought I would have to wait so long with a partner so my mind feels like we should. But I don't know if I'm ready to go all the way. I think because I still believe one should be wed before we…” you struggle trying to find the word  “Intercourse…"

He nods, brows furrowed empathetically, "I understand…however, we do not have to go all the way to still enjoy each other”

You blush at his wording, much more eloquent than yours and look up with a puzzled look “what?”

“I could please you with other ways, like via my tongue or fingers” You try to imagine it in your head but cant “shall i show you?”

You tilt your head at him, the gears in your head turning before a flustered blush spreading across your cheeks “Will you have time?‘ 

His eyes quickly glance at the clock on the wall before back at you “It is just five in morning, sweetie. You have to be at training forge by noon, that is 7 hours, only if you want to, of course.” 

You hesitate, but you can tell by his soft, patience filled expression that you could take all the time you need to decide. Maybe if I do this then the shame of wanting it will go away, maybe this feeling of urgency will be gone too…“yeah, okay lets try…”

His hands slide up your waist but then halt right below your breasts, uncertainty in his eyes “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” you nod, “I don’t want to feel far from you anymore”

His hands slide under your rear to below your thighs, lifting you up to gently lay you on your back, “you sound nervous” 

“I don’t know why” you answer as he softly pecks the other side of your neck “truely…”

“Shut your eyes‘ he murmurs husky, his lips now against your lower neck, “imagine the act…imagine every detail…‘

You shiver from the words, his tone.  “I can’t, I have not the foggiest idea of how one is pleasured by a tongue” then again when the act was e

“Ah, fear of unknown” he rises until he lips are against yours, you could feel a smug smile on them “do not worry sweetums, I will tell you everything I do” a pathetic whine comes from your lips as one of his hands slide up to the neckline of your nightgown, his finger tracing the collar causing you to shiver “may I take this off?”

You don’t nod, so desperate and starved you reach for the ends around your thighs and abruptly pull it off, revealing your undergarments, you throw your dress somewhere around you, wrap your arms around his neck to smash his lips against yours

He pulls back panting “Someone is excited” he teases “I wanted to take my time, but since you are eager ..." his fingers, now tracing your panties, tap against your hip bone “may I?‘

“Please‘ you beg breathlessly he smiles smug against your lips before sliding them off, tossing them behind him carelessly. Your face burns when his head fits snugly between your thighs, all bare for him, every part of yourself under a microscope for him to behold. He pecks kisses up your inner thigh, slowly making his way to your center, the tips of his tusks scrape deliciously against your skin, making you jolt with every contact. 

Finally, his thick fingers spread your lips apart before his tongue slides from bottom to top, your stomach explodes from pleasure as his tongue flicks your little button, it causes you to arch your back sharply and unconsciously grip his hair.

Grom groans and presses his lips against your deeply, causing the vibrations to vibrate into you. “You taste so good” he says into your folds before doing it again. His tongue is rough in the best way possible, his speed slower than before so that he can really taste you better. When your hips buck too much his arms come to pin them down still.

You don’t dare to look down no matter how much you crave to, no matter how much you know you will regret it. You stifle back moan after moan until you can no longer do so anymore from the overwhelming pleasure

“O-Oh my gosh” you cry loud, his lips suck your little nub between his lips, his tongue repeatedly sucks and flicks against it in a way that's almost torturous. The act is almost stressful in a way, you can’t allow yourself to just enjoy the pleasure, so instead you beg him to make you reach your ending point

“Please please please” you beg in a whiney voice, both hands gripping his hair tighter, it causes his eyes to roll up and a rumble of a groan to emerge from his mouth, causing you to hold. “Oh gods…please please Grom…” you beg “theres…theres a-please” you stutter as your body unconsciously tries to squirm away

“Nuh-uh, where are you going, sweetie?” he murmurs in a teasing tone that makes you breathless, his hands on your hips tightening to keep you still “just relax and let it go for me, can you do that for me sweetums?” he ask sweetly against you

You shut your eyes as you nod, taking long breaths out before the ball inside of you finally explodes, with a sharp motion your back falls against the sheets as you cry loud in your orgasm, he doesn’t show any mercy, his lips refusing to leave yours until he's sure you’ve let everything out. With one last pitiless suck he pops off you, b.efore slowly climbing up your body to your face “sweetie?” his voice is deep and breathless

You still stare up into the ceiling refusing to look at him, unsure of what is going through your mind, what emotion this is. He leaves the bed as you ponder on it, coming back rather quickly with a warm wet towel to press between your thighs. “you did so well” he praises “how was it? Did you enjoy it? Are you in pain‘

As he raises his head to hover over you, tilt your head to the side, causing his brows to furrow in concern, "what is wrong, did you not like it, “ his voice slightly shakes with the next part “did I hurt you?” 

you shake your head quickly, unable to stop tears from sliding down your eyes, “I-I don’t know” you sob softly without him needing to ask why you were crying, 

Above you Grom internally panics, unsure of what to do, what to say and how to comfort you, his expression breaks at the sight of your tears, thumbs frantically rubbing them away, “p-please, how can I help?‘

You turn your face as your vision blurs with tears, “I feel so dirty for doing that” you sob softly, reaching out to him with your arms, “hold me?‘ Your voice breaks, Grom wraps his arms around you tightly before rolling over to lay you on top of his chest, he slides a blanket over your body and lets you sob into his chest. Once you’re done you sniffle against his neck."It felt good, “ you whisper “but I hate that I liked it”

For once he doesn't respond, unsure of what to say. He couldn't just repeat what he said earlier, you needed more. But Grom couldn't understand what it's like to live in a world where one has to feel ashamed for such simple matters like sex. So he lays there, his thoughts stirring trying to figure out what to say. When the hour ends and he still can't determine out what you need, his grip tightens on you, it's tender and refuses to waver for a second, almost as if he's trying to send a comforting message. I don’t know the answer, but I will be here no matter what and help you find it.

“I love you Grom, sweet dreams” you finally whisper 

There's a long pause before he speaks, “I love you too sweetie, wake me up if you need anything.”

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As always LIKE COMMENT LITTERALLY ANYTHINY EVEN CRITIQUES

I apologize if the smut wasn't good, as said before this is my first time writing smutI tried to reference fictions that I enjoyed reading but I just...its different reading pieces you've written yourself 🤧🤧🤧 is it like that for everyone???

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Tags: @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

Chapter 11 ahhhhhh im really proud of the humor for this one!

After hours of training you were now laying on your back panting heavy and fast, frantically reaching underneath your blouse to loosen strings on your corset. “Welp!” Ghor stands over you “you have negative skills, are negative strength and are surprisingly slow for your small size.” 

You gasp in relief as the corset comes undone, you have run, you tried lifting rocks of impentitrable size, even tried running while lifting said rocks. Ghor covers her face, dragging her fingers down to pull on her cheeks with a groan of frustration; then drops to the ground to dramatically sit besides you. “i…have never, met someone, so useless as you are. What hell did you do back in your old village?!!?”

You take another breath in “women were expected to clean and cook,” pant  “for my family i would spend the days at the market selling flowers” pant “for a majority of the year”

She peaks at you from between her fingers “Was not your village devoid of greenery?”  

“Yeah, so after we sold all” pant “we sold daggers” you feel something furry against your arm and look to your side to see Taro holding up the water canister that you eagerly take.

Her hands drop from her face as she scoffs “How? Was not your village was useless with metal”

You gasp again for air after gulping down the water, “my father would make daggers, then i would secretly sharpen them”

Ghor's eyes widen with surprise “so you are not completely useless…” she murmurs more to herself before sharply standing up “I refuse to give up on you, sure you are basically as useless as ball of clay, but you still have potential! NOTHING will stand in my way to mold you with my hands into whatever i desire” she says aggressively, gesturing a squeezing motion with her hands. Ghor sharply bends down grabs your shoulders and lifts you up “DO YOU UNDERSTA-”

you shriek afraid, feet now hovering off the ground from her hold “YES!” 

She drops you dramatically back onto the ground “Then we shall continue until your body gives up on you!”  

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By noon you were in the same position as last time. On your back, gulping down the water that Taro had given you. Axes, swords, warhammers, spears you had tried to wield them all to no avail; they were all too heavy for you to even try to swing. There were daggers but Ghor said there was no point since you have to be close in order to kill, dagger is only good for cutting your already dead kills.

“Can’t we just find a sword that's small enough for me!” you breathlessly to Ghor, who was crouched down in misery 

“No self respecting weaponist would make tiny-ass sword for human! And I refuse to order from humans…Their skills are inferior compared to ours anyway. ” she says, tinged with disgust “However even so, we quite literally cannot even train you to be able to wield swords because ALL OUR GODAMN WEIGHTS ARE HEAVIER THAN YOU!!!” she squawks in frustration. 

The door barges open as Grom bellows excited “I HAVE ARRIVED! Ghor have you-oof” Ghor is to him in a flash, jerking his huge bag out of his hand and rummaging through it frantically, 

“Please tell me you have Philli nag in here” 

He scoffs “of course not, why would I bring alcohol to y/n after training? Especially y/n, I do not even think she has ever had alch-” he pauses “why is my mate laying on ground?”

You hear his steps, each one louder than the other, “She is not dead!” Ghor yells to him, “just weak as bunny”

Groms face suddenly coming into sight as he looks down at you, his concerned look shifting to a soft fond smile as he knees down besides you, “hey sweetheart, ” he murmurs soft

“H-hi,”

He smiles down at you as he sits down crossed legged, sliding his hands under your back to lift you up onto his lap. His fingers brush through the strands of your hair that fell from your braid as “Taro’s been helping me, bringing me water…” you pant softly as Taro comes over and knudges your foot with another full canister, you chuckle as she climbs onto your lap.

Groms hand reaches down to pet her head as he chuckles “good girl”

Ghor yells from behind you both, “I think if we continue anymore she will disintegrate, that is it for today y/n! See ya tomorrow, we will work on more weapons, maybe you can use a stick to kill…somehow” you tell by her stuffed voice she was already eating. 

When Grom stands up with you in your arms you jump out of them, “I can walk..” you mention and follow him to the entrance but stop. At the right of the entrance you stop by something on the wall you didn’t notice. Rocks stuck to the wall that one would easy to hold onto. They trail up to the high ceiling, on the sides are four equally distanced bells, each one bigger than the one below with the biggest bell attached to the ceiling that had a thick piece of rope wrapped around its post, long enough that it touched the ground.

Grom notices that you stopped and trails your eyes to where you were looking to. 

“Rock wall?” he muses, 

You turn to him excited “looks fun! Reminds me of something my brothers would do, only neater and bigger! They would glue rocks to the back of the church and climb up them” you laugh at the memory, “I always wanted to try”

“Hmm why don’t you? Just try to make it to first endpoint” he points to the lowest bell, 

You turn to Ghor who was watching, mouth full of pasta that was specifically meant for you. Not even listening. Grom only wanted what was best for you so if he believes you could do it, you might as well try.

You turn back around, the previous burn in your arms now subsiding, “Alright!” you walk over to the rope where Grom was standing as he held one end on it, a toothy grin on his lips. He ties the rope around your waist and knots it tight. Then he takes a match out of his pocket to light with a lick of his tongue before using it to melt the end of the rope.

You gasp in awe “you can do that?”

He hums in agreement, “mhm hmm, orcs have rough tongue and flammable saliva” 

“Huh, i’m going to be thinking that every time we kiss”

Grom chuckles as he presses the melted end to an exposed slide of the rope, fusing them both together. “There we go” he backs to drop and snuff out the flame with his foot as you put your weight on the rope to test it out. 

“perfect!” you exclaim when it doesn't come off. 

Grom smiles and kisses your forehead “alright, if you’re too tired, stop at your current place and rest. If you cannot go on, climb back down. I will always be ready to catch you if you fall” his expression melts as he looks at your face, filled with no fear just excitement “have fun” he murmurs before walking to stand beside his sister.

You rub your hands together and hop up high to hand on one rock, your feet perching on the rocks below you. You didn’t think that much as you continued, just using intuition to pick which rocks you would trust to lift you up higher and higher, your only true goal was ringing the bell.

You finally do and happily ring the bell, even though you figure that a typical orc must take much less time, as everything orcs do is above the average of humans. But when you look down you see Ghor's face, it's fully open in surprise, her eyes are side, jaw open, mid bite from the half eaten pasta still in there.

Her expression is shared by Grom who snaps out of his daze with a loud bellow of a laugh and a few crisp claps “Thats my Kushi! You see how fast she was? Oh by gods! Can you reach next endpoint sweetie?!” he yells up to you

Your brows furrow by the new nickname as you look up to the next bell. You were tired already but the high from the adrenaline made you want to go further. With a soft grunt you reach for another rock to lift yourself up.

This goes on, with each bell you happily ring, thinking that it was the last one but the adrenaline drives you to continue forward like a drug. It didn’t matter that by now that your muscles were on fire, your mouth dryer than sand and your lungs devoid of air. You were so eager to ring the next bell, wondering what kind of ringing it would omit. Finally, you reach the third bell and happily ring it, halting at your current position to take a break for your lungs. Ghor and Grom still cheer up at you from far below. You don’t dare to look for fear youd trigger some Dormant fear of heights.

Ghor's voice is loud, her tone commanding,  “Keep going y/n! Push through pain! You got this!”

While Grom's words are just as loud but with a loving, softer tone, “You are capable of doing this y/n! I believe in you! It is just one more section!”

You look up to examine the rocks ahead of you, they were smaller than earlier rocks but that didn’t matter since they were made for orcs, so your small fingers could still hold onto them. What mattered is that they were much farther apart, and an orcs' armspan is larger than yours.

The stone that seemed the best to grab onto was too far away for you to grab, so instead you jump, your feet leaving the rocks they were standing on as both hands grab the hook of the rock. Underneath you Grom and Ghors words become louder as your feet scramble to try to find somewhere to perch on. When they do you lift yourself up happily, now crossing the division point. As you continue this pattern, you find yourself having to take more breaks to breathe, as if the air there wasn’t quite right. You jump and reach with your left hand for the next rock but cry in surprise as your hand slips off of it. Your grip tightens around the rock your right hand was holding on as your feet slip off and your body hangs. 

A bead of sweat slides down your forehead as you try not to panic, Don’t look down, Don’t look down, Don’t look down. You think to yourself while stabilizing your breathing. As your feet go back on the rocks they were on, you look down at your hand to see what caused you to slip. Dust, these rocks are dusty, that's why I can’t breathe as well. Who the hell isn’t dusting these rocks that well? You wipe the dust off on your pants before trying again, making sure to tighten your grip using your palm. For a while this ends up working, looking up you only have a few more leaps to go. You could practically taste victory, it tasted just like salty gross sweat, maybe that is just sweat… 

But then you feel it, with your hands busy you’re unable to do nothing to brace for the sudden sneeze that escapes your lips. The force causes you to be pushed away from the wall before you start to fall.

“Y/N!” Grom cries underneath you as you fall. You panic and grip the rope you were attached to, but you’re too weak to hold yourself up so the rope only viciously scrapes against your palms, causing you to let go with a sob of pain.

Grom rushes before easily catching you in his arms, princess style, looking down with an amazed expression while you were still in a faze “By all our gods!! Sweetness you climbed so high!” he exclaims 

Ghor is suddenly beside him “My Gods! look at her! Look at her hands! They are dusty! No orc has been up there in decades!! Ugh I am going to beat those cleaners asses, if there was no dust up there you would have made it!”

Grom's eyes furrow in concern as he shifts your weight to one arm and gently holds the underside of your hand with the other, careful not to touch your palms, “you noticed dust but not blisters?”

She glances again mid rant “Oh yeah, y/n good job today, I should have tested you on core muscles sooner! You are dismissed! We have excellent starting place! Come back at noon tomorrow so i can steal your lunch again, I MUST START MAKING PLANS” 

Grom sighs and rolls his eyes with a smile before picking up his now empty bag he came with and leaving the training forge.

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“Hey! Give her some space!” Grom commands while trying to keep all the animals at bay. The birds perch on his shoulders trying to get a look, the Sukdae’s try to nudge their heads between both your hips. But the rabbits and Woopertinger are the ones with the best spot, sitting on the counter beside the sink to watch as Grom gently rinses the soap off your blistered palms. “Ugh, what is that human word for being excessively curious? ear-y?”

You giggle into your shoulder and speak directly to the Woopertinger, “Nosey”

He scoffs before lifting you by your hips to place you on the counter, standing between your legs as he reaches for a dropper bottle on a nearby shelf. “but you listen with your ears…english is so weird. Anyways, stop being nosey!” He specifically says the last part to a Sukdae that had its head perched on your knee. Only to be met by black blank voidless eyes. He sighs in defeat before dripping drops of what looked like oil onto your blistered hands, “This is healing gel, it will rapidly heal wounds, you should be blisterless by tomorrow morning” 

As he rubs the oil gently into your skin, he speaks again in an awe struck tone, his grin wide and toothy “I could not believe you did that! Wow! Every day you amaze me, my sweet! You must have accumulated core muscles from lifting up crates of roses and potatoes all those years! Gods, I am so proud of you!” Grom beams, setting down the vial to take a wrap of bandages Taro offers and wrapping them around your hands “I have managed to find bow small enough for you! I have just got to engrave it with protection runes and it will be perfect for you.”

Once done, he looks up to meet your eyes, once done wrapping your hands he sets them down on your lap to rest his on the counter edge besides your outer thighs, leaning towards you with an adoring smile. 

Now that your hands are bandaged you reach for the new bowl of pasta Grom made and  happily eat. There's a soft pain that emerges with every touch of contact but you manage to not show it in your face. 

You enjoyed this moment of quietness, though it was hard to ignore what was in the air. The loud buzzing of excitement that came from your sudden potential. You had something that no other orc in Durgan had, something you could exploit during the first hunt. You could climb in the trees, catch kills that no other orcs could. Who knows what you'd be once you'd learn to wield a bow.

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Tags: @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

Chapter 10! DOUBLE DIGITS, small chapter for u today bc I cut the origional chapter in half, (it was like 3.4k idk if people on tumbler f with that)

You know you’ve entered the library because it smells exactly like the one at your old village, the same mixture of paper and ink you were never supposed to sniff, there was even that same tinge of rebellion.

The shelves reach the high ceiling, shoved to the brim with books. seemingly as large as the ceiling of your old church.  You look around happily for covers that seem to peak your interest, you find ones with magical creatures on the covers, a large cat with orange strips and a horn! Dragons and ones with illustrations of humans that peaked your interest, after collecting a healthy supply of books you start to leave the library

“Ayy! You gonna check those out!?”

You jerk in surprise almost dropping all the books from panic and peak to see who it was, 

“Oh it is you…. y/n right?” she walks over in a confident march

you shiver “y-you’re the librarian?”

You panic, you weren’t prepared to talk to Grom's sister, and now you surely seemed like an underconfident mess, “of course” she scoffs, her sass reminding you of Groms “are not you going to check those out?”

“Um…what do you mean?”

She looks at you in a mixture of disbelief and irritation "seriously? You have to catalogue what books you take from library!” she walks back over to her table, when she realizes you're not following her, she sharply turns around and groans loud in irritation “well follow!”

You gasp and rush over, struggling not to drop any books. On your shoulder, Taro meows in disappointment with the new change of speed. 

On the table, you set down and gently push the books over to her, one by one she picks each up to disinterestingly check and write down the titles on a piece of paper in front of her. She tch’s suddenly at a few of them “these ones are in orcish”

“Oh…” you frown, you should probably only focusing on learning how to read english, “could I please check out the ones that are in english please,” She mumbles out the titles as she writes them down. While fidgeting with your thumbs nervously you build up the courage to ask. “I was wondering…why don’t you like me?”

She snorts “you are weak, frail, sickly pale and stupid looking” she says with no hesitation

You almost jerk back from her words but force yourself to lean forward. “Okay…so um…why do I look stupid?”

She scoffs “well for one you can’t even tell difference between english or orcish characters! I mean they are vastly differ-”

“I can’t read“ you blurt out quickly, 

Slowly, her head raises from the sheet, her surprised expression the same as Grom’s when you told him you couldn’t read, that same mixture of extreme shock with slight sadness. She pauses, before speaking in a soft tone of disbelief “you were never taught?”

“Girls aren’t allowed to, so I was never taught to read or write, only basic math. I want to learn, Grom’s going to teach me when he comes back at noon.”

Her expression melts off for something unreadable, still hard and snarky, but maybe a bit more empathetic. Ghor lets her chin drop into her chin before muttering orcish words into her palm,”s-so i can become smarter.” you stutter, nervously gripping the edge of the table “But how can i become stronger? I want the other orcs to like me”

She scoffs and looks you up and down, “well you need to get stronger and show that to other orcs, best way to do that is to get you ready for first hunt. Since it is spring we have till beginning of fall to get you ready.”

“What is the first hunt?”

“Indirect competition to get biggest or most kills, Grom and I usually are up there with most since he knows where animals like to burrow. And I am fast at throwing axe” she snarls with delight at the thought. “I…i shall help you prepare!”

You perk up excited “Thank you so much! But there's no way I can shoot a huge animal though!”

She shakes her head “you do not have to win competition, just get something that would be surprising. In fact, I would be surprised if you caught measly rabbit, but with your determination we should aim for deer”

Instead of typical fear you feel a flame excitement flicker in your stomach and head “can we start today?” you ask quick and eagerly

Her eyes widen in shock before she chuckles deeply “well why not?-”

The door suddenly swings open as huge steps come in, you giggle in delight when familiar arms wrap around your waist and pull you to a warm chest, “there you are, sweetums-Ghor! I see you two are talking! I am happy!”

“Brother!! Why did not you tell me anything about your mate! I thought she was idiot by choice” 

Grom laughs into your shoulder before looking down at you fondly “no, not by long shot”

You look over your shoulder at Grom with a wide smile “Ghor is going to prepare me for the great hunt!”

Grom beams with happiness before looking at Ghor “really? That is kind of you sister. I never knew you would be interested in it”

You nod as Ghor huffs “well i see that there is no hope you will pick orc as mate” you giggle, normally you would’ve been hurt by that but knowing that orcs mate for life made you certain she was joking. Her hand reaches across the table to harshly land on your shoulder, causing you to squeak in surprise “so she shall be my new student!”

“Student?”

Grom's soft eyes landed on you “my sister trains younger orcs on how to protect themselves. Her students have become very good hunters and soldiers! ” Your eyes brighten in excitement  “You guys are planning on starting today?”

She nods sharply “you could watch if you don’t trust me, Brother”

He chuckles “of course I do, with my life and with hers. Sweetheart, would you like me to watch?” 

As if a vision for the future, you imagine yourself training, with Ghor’s rough nature and your weak self, you were sure to make a fool out of yourself, “no thanks Grom! I’ll be fine”

“Alright then, I will drop off lunch to you both at training forge, I will see you soon,” as he bends down to kiss your forehead as Ghor gags across from you both “I love you”

“I love you too”

Grom tries to pluck Taro off your shoulder to no avail, the stickiness of her palms make her promptly stuck on the skin of your shoulder. He finally stops when she lets out a deep meow of refusal, “Okay okay! will leave you both together”

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The training forge was a huge indoor circle arena, with dry dirt patted into the ground, smooth grey cement walls. On one particular wall hung many different kinds of weapons, all oversized and gleaming with sharpness. You stare up at them in awe before Ghor pulls you awake with a sharp yell “AY! Y/N! Get your head out of clouds! Come on! We gotta check your rudges”

“Rudges?” you ask as you walk up to her, 

“Y’know, speed, strength, skills, huh all s’s…“ she murmurs in realization

“Statistics” you state.

“Ugh Another s word! English is so weird…Come on! Let us start with your training!”

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[orbitingideas]

Welcome travelor to chapter 9, its a fluffy one~ im pretty proud (if I say so myself)

You wake up in a bed, quickly recognizing it as Grom's stone bed, hold on, there's no way…it can’t be this soft…

You crawl on the empty bed to the edge and take a peek at what exactly you were laying on. Underneath you were many blankets layered on top of the stone bed, acting as a makeshift mattress.

You roll over on your other side to see Grom bent over his desk, his hands busy with something. Judging by the lack of light coming from the windows and the lightning bug lantern Grom was using, it was midnight. You quietly slide around Taro, who was sleeping in the middle of the blankets, and off the bed, wobbling over to Grom to see what he was working on. Grom was so deeply focused that he didn’t even realize until you lean over his shoulder. He gasps in surprise, dropping a pair of tweezers on his desk. In front of him was…your mothers plate, half built, the thin delicate red and blue designs matching perfectly, glued together by some sort of metallic glue you couldn’t tell the color of. “You….You’re fixing it…” you gasp again at the fixed bowl in front of his working space “you have fixed it” you carefully reaching down to pick it up, angling the bowl to see his work better, admiring the perfectly placed pieces and examining the bronzy metallic material he used to stick the pieces together…

“Copper…” he replies timid “Stronger than clay...I was gonna repaint over them once I was done putting them together”

You smile at him “dont, I love it like this.”  you gently set the bowl down to its original place“I would’ve noticed in the morning, you know” you murmur as you walk to his side. 

He turns in his chair to face you. Rubbing the back of his neck nervously “I am aware, but I just um…” he struggles with his words before groaning in defeat, his chin falling on his hand. “I don’t know what I would have done! Most likely I would have hoped you would have never noticed!” 

You make a hmp sound and turn around to easily sit in his lap, you couldn’t help it, it seemed like the best way to comfort him. You wrap your arms around to rest on his shoulders. “I’m not that stupid…” you joke lightly 

He perks up in surprise by your action but relaxes into you easily, he doesn’t laugh. “No, not by a longshot…” his arms are around your hips now, pulling you closer to his body, he looks down at you, eyes wide and glossed with desperation, “I was just so scared…after you ran from me in market. You left everything…for this, and your first day you fell asleep in tears” his hand slides to cup your face, his other hand slowly rocking you on his lap “I’m sorry,” his voice is hoarse “I wanted to give you everything,” he pauses as his lower lip quivers before his voice breaks “and I could not even give you one good day-to hell with all of them! Who cares what they think…” his voice raises, his tone more pleading than confident. “I will figure something out, I will weave place in this town for you” his face falls into your shoulder, tears falling on your skirt.. “Until then, please, I beg of you with everything I have, please stay here with me…”

You smile tearfully and cup his face “honey…I left for you not for this place. I want to be with you. And as long as I get to do that, I'll be happy”

He groans softly in frustration and hides his face in your chest.  “you deserve more than happiness”

You smile into his hair and reach to rub the tears off “lets just start with being happy for now, thank you for fixing my mothers china. Now, come back to bed with me”

He shakes his head “need to finish this up-”

“You can do that later, come to bed with me, Honey” you cut him off

With a huff and a teasing smile he lifts you up bridal style and walks to the bed, softly setting you down on the bed, his eyes meet yours and flicker with sadness before he crawls into the bed and gently lays his head back on your chest, you smile and happily wrap your arms around his neck and press a kiss to his forehead.

“I will explain tomorrow “ he says abruptly, your brows furrow in confusion, the light suddenly turns off with a clap. You gasp but clasp your hand over your mouth to prevent you from asking. He's tired mentally. 

Your sadness is now gone and replaced with determination. You remember what Rag said, homes are built, not found. He was right, and no matter what, you are determined to make a place in this village before your dying breath. 

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The next morning you wake up with Grom's chest curled against your back. You carefully turn your body to look at him but he's already staring at you awake, expression unreadable. “Morning” you whisper timidly, you glance over his shoulder and smile at the lamp, now getting a better look you realize that others was the yellow fruit hanging from the trees! You smile cheekily before clapping. The fruit suddenly emits a bright white light. You sit up on your knees “oh that's amazing.” 

“It is Enip, there is no name in English,” he murmurs as you lean over his body to take the fruit 

You sit back in front of him “you grow these outside…”

He nods “you make them emit any color of light, depending on what gem you put in them…”

"There's a gem in here?” You perk up, holding the fruit to the light to try to see the little cut gem in there, “whats in there?”

“Not sure what it is called in your language” he slowly sits up with you, “directly translated I  think it means, unbreakable rainbow glass”

You lower your hands to rest the fruit in your lap, your eyes meeting with his, “It sounds like a diamond to me, Honey.” you reach over him to set the Enip back in its place “I love that about us, I love our differences in culture, that's a wonderful description of a diamond.”

He stares as you straighten up in front of him, eyes darting as if reading your expression turning to lay on his back “Honey is such a weird nickname…”

You grin, laying down to fold your arms on his chest and placing your chin on them, “how so?‘

“Honey…” he glances down at you, placing one hand on your lower back. “It is…not a rather tasty substance, too sweet for my liking.”

You bury your face into his chest to laugh “it's just a term of endearment, my love…then again I suppose it is weird since it's a physical object. I don’t know why I call you it, it's just the first thing I think of when I see you” you glance at him again and melt “Now I remember why, your eyes, they're the most beautiful golden color i’ve ever seen‘

His gaze softens just a tad, his voice vulnerable in disbelief “really? No one has ever complimented my eyes before…”

“Then i’m happy to be the first…” you turn your head to press your cheek into his heart

His other hand comes to pet your hair lovingly, a smile finally growing on his lips. “I thought you were terrified of me when we met…”

You snort out a giggle, opening your mouth to respond but your stomach suddenly interrupts your thoughts with a rather loud grumble. 

Grom can’t help but shut his eyes to chuckle at that, his arm finally reaching to wrap around your hips and pull you closer to him. “Hungry? Come, I will cook”

You nod and slide off the bed, before quickly taking his hands to sharply tug him off the bed as he yawns, “hey! No more yawning! Yawns are contagious, you know.”

He flashes you a puzzled look “yaw-ning?”

“You know…” pretend to yawn, fanning your fingers against your mouth as you shut your eyes tiredly.

Grom's puzzled face falls for realization “ah, we call it drudging. Hmm, Yaw-ning, it sounds like the action, smart!”

“Drudging…“ you repeat with a smile, trying to replicate his accent

He grins,  “Perfect”

“You flatter me, my love. I know my accent is horrendous." you smirk “now come on! Today’s too good of a day to spend being sad,”  

He watches as you tug him to the kitchen, his gaze filled with adoration  “breakfast, right...”

“I’ll help you!”

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After feeding a majority of the animals have left except some of the birds, squirrels, and the fanged winged rabbit which you learned was called a Wolpertinger! You look down at your plate of breakfast, everything is normal, bacon eggs toast, only the eggs and toast were almost the size of your hand and the bacon was almost as thick as the width of your thumb. One of the Ravens comes through the open window and drops a few scrolls upfront of his plate. Grom sighs and opens the biggest one first, his eyes running across the lines before he gently groans in irritation.“I am afraid I have to go to work just for a few hours sweetheart. I need to see what work needs to be done for when I come back, I will be back by noon. Will you be alright?”

You smile “I will. I've been wanting to explore the grove, especially that big building next door to here, the one with the big pillars.”

His brows furrow with concern “library, sweetums. Are you sure you’ll be okay, there is bound to be at least a few orcs at the library.”

“Do you have to be an orc to get books”

“No however-”

“Then I should be fine”

He suddenly smiles bright, the sadness of last night finally washing away as he rests his chin on his hand. “You do not know how to read” he murmurs teasingly, excitement flowing through his veins in anticipation for your inevitable response

You look at him confused but then grin in realization. Just days ago when he had wanted to teach you to read, you had refused. Now, his tone was not mocking, but excited to see you change your mind to learn more. You roll our eyes with a fond smile “Honey, could you teach me to read? Please?” 

He bellows out a triumphant laugh, making all the critters around you jump slightly “But of course! Pick out any books you want to read!`”

He then stands up suddenly, taking your now empty dishes in the sink to wash. You furrow your brows and walk up behind him “let me wash my plate”

He laughs as if you were joking “by the gods, no”

You giggle, walking over to his side as you try to reach for the plates, but his wet hand snaps to yours, gently raising your hands to his lips while his other hand puts away the dishes. You pout while he kisses your knuckles, his eyes narrowed with passion when they look down at you.

“You help cook, I clean ” he says gruff before gently setting down your hands to walk back to his front door, 

“Correction, ” you say following his side “I watch you cook, I watch you clean”

“That is not-” he stops mid sentence as he reaches for his bag, a huge messenger bag made of thick layer, with all kinds of unfamiliar trinkets on the sides, perhaps for training dragons.

Dragons…

“Fine you are correct,” Grom admits. “How about noon we advance to you helping me cook, and I clean.” he turns, bending down to hold your chin. “Are you happy with that?”

When you nod, he smiles and cranes his head to give you a loving kiss. You sigh against his lips, reaching to grip his tunic as starts to he pull away, “n-no one more” you beg

He chuckles against your lips "I gotta go, sweetness” his other hand comes to cup your cheek,

 you lean into it, “just a few more?” 

“What happened to just one more?”

“Inflation” you respond snappy before reaching on your toes for another one, he chuckles before happily catching them in another kiss, “be truthful,” he says after pulling back  “do you not want me to leave because you don’t want to be alone or do you just wanna cuddle ”

I whine against his lips “second one“

He grins and kisses your forehead "Gods, I love you so much. Thank you for cheering me up” he murmurs against it before looking up at Taro, who was currently perched on top of your head, “Taro take care of her please” 

you don’t want, every cell in your body wants to grip onto his tunic and pulls his body to yours to become one, but instead you sigh, you can do this, you can be alone.  “I love you too!!”

He heads out the door leaving you alone with Taro.

You enter the bathroom and clap to turn on the Enip, the light is a warm cream color as it brightens the room. Your hair was already braided and brushed back, not hiding an inch of your face. You decide to change into a plain blouse with billowed sleeves cuffed at your wrists, however you keep your snuggly tied corset underneath. Instead of a skirt you opt for the leather pants you brought with you; after all you were now in a village that didn't care if you weren’t in a skirt, besides it would be much less hot without the skirt and easier to travel in. You look up at the mirror again, you are now ready to go out, but you hesitate. “Come on y/n, you wanted adventure and this is it.” After clapping off the Enip you march to the door, but hesitate as you open it. Taro sees this and gently climbs down on your shoulders, you turn to her, “Do you think I can do it?”

She meows in response, a meow that could be anything, but right as hesitation enters your mind, she jumps off your head to sprint away down the hallway, you wait for a few moments and she comes back with canister full of water

 You bend down to pick it up, smiling happily as you hang it over your shoulder while Taro climbs up your pants to perch at your shoulder. You open the door sharply, ready to leave into your new world, ready to face all the challenges you will meet.

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[orbitingideas]

WELCOME TO CHAPTER 8, its a long but good one! We finally get to the grove!

How did you get here? You wonder as you woke up, you were no longer on the floor but instead you were now in the carriage, in Grom's lap, the steeds at a sprinting pace. You shift off his lap wearily, Grom frowning in disappointment behind you.

“When did we get on the carriage?” you mumble tiredly, rubbing your eyes. 

His eyes look away. “I…carried you here this morning, while sleeping.” 

You smile, not catching his lie "Aw, well you didn’t need to do that, What time is it?

“Noon” He grins wide “10 minutes away from Drugad”

You gasp loudly, if it wasn’t for your excitement you would’ve mentally berated yourself for sleeping for so long “seriously? 10 minutes away?! Weren’t we supposed to make it by late afternoon today?”

Grom glances at Rag “we started rather early today, it is why I did not wake you up. Now come here, your braid got messed up while you were sleeping” 

You eagerly do so but do a horrible job at staying still between your legs, the excitement making you fidget. 

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Soon the carriage stops and you perk up, “we’re here?” 

Rag hops out with a nod, rummaging through his sack before pulling out a piece of what looked like chalk, 

Grom climbs out of the carriage before offering his hand to you, you take it and carefully slide out the carriage with your luggage in hand.

Rag enters a large circular clearing with no trees, walking to the edge before kneeling down and drawing a big circle with the chalk.

“Rag, what are you-” you jump at the sound of a loud sudden magical hum. The closed circle hums until the image of the ground disintegrates for a black empty hole. You panic at the look of the abyss hole, backing up until you hit Groms chest, a soothing hand coming to wrap around your waist, his chin suddenly at your shoulder, 

“Wait, wait…” he coos into your year, the circle then rises to become vertical, like a door, now wide enough to even fit the huge steeds. 

Rag looks at you over his shoulder as he slides his luggage sack over his shoulder “do not worry y/n, it is safe, even for humans.” He says before standing into the black abyss

Your jaw drops in amazement before you turn your head to Grom “how…”

“We are in teleportation pod sweetie. That, what Rag just used, is teleportation chalk, he made us portal to our village.”

“Oh, where is the village?”

He smiles  “Very, very far. Farther than any human could possibly travel in this century. In a magical forest filled with magical creatures.” He raises his head off your shoulder to stand straight.

The fear you’ve been carrying the whole trip finally leaves your head. Thrall's heavy hand lands on your shoulder, making you jump, “well shall I go first or you lovebirds? Come on now! I’ve been dying to see my brother again” he says and shines a playful smile, his tone is patient and not at all trying to urge you, just trying to give you a playful push.

You take a breath in and exhale out of your nose before taking Groms hand with your other one. “Let's go!” your hand takes his and without hesitation you both step into the black portal. When both legs are in.

You smell of burnt charcoal and sage before your vision finally clears. It reveals houses everywhere like yours only bigger with more supports, bright green grass everywhere, in the distance it almost seemed glittery. Orcs everywhere walking around with work, trunks over their shoulders, sacks in their arms, weapons at their side. The sounds of bartering, metal clashing together, feet stomping against the ground fill the air.  One orc walking by finally notices you all and drops his sword as a wide toothy grin snaps to his lips "they're back! Everyone, they're back! Thrall!” Thrall laughs as he gently pushes past Smog to run into the arms of the orc, and quickly a large crowd of orcs accumulates to greet everyone.

You grip Groms arm tighter as orcs push past you all, they were so tall and green and huge! You had never felt smaller than you did at this moment, not even as a toddler running around your old house…

You watch everyone greeting each other, Smog hugging a female orc, Gorgo on the ground as a tiny childlike orc climbs all over his lap. The couple taking turns hugging an older orc couple. And Rag as he gives a firm handshake to another older looking orc.

“Brother!” a female orc cries making you jump and hold your luggage tighter, Grom smiles, letting her walk over to him and giving her a tight hug with one hand, the other not letting go of your hand. 

When she pulls back she talks in orcish to Grom, not even noticing you. There was no denying this wasn’t Grom's sister, she was just barely his height, with them sharing the same nose and honey gold eyes. But unlike her brother, she was leaner than him, with metal impaled through her nose and left brow, her braid was looser but just as long as Groms, and instead of sporting a sword, her axe rested by her side.

Finally as her eyes glance down, they do a double take on you, her smile falls as she mutters something in orcish and points to you. 

“No no sister she is not stowaway, ” Grom says in english, you perk up stowaway?! “She wanted to come with us, Ghor this is y/n, y/n this is my sister”

You hold out your hand “h-hi i’ve heard about you.” your voice shakes nervously

Her expression scrunches in disgust and you quickly drop your hand “Brother…who is this?”

You stare downwards embarrassed but then perk up at the sight on the ground, you hadn’t felt the grass on your ankles until now, yeah your description earlier was just your exaggeration but was it…

“Its hard to explain sister” You bend down to pluck a blade of grass from the ground, “She is  um…we are sort of-”

You straighten up and gasp “OH MY GOSH THE GRASS REALLY IS GLITTERY!”

Both of them sharply turn their heads to you with matching puzzled expressions, “huh?” they say in unison.

You pet the blade with a smile “And it's so soft! I can’t believe it! It's so beautiful”!

There's silence between them before Grom bursts into a bellow of laughter before his forehead falls into your hair, an arm resting around your shoulders. “Yes it is my sweet.”

Ghor finally speaks in English “sweet?!” Her accent is heavy.

You turn to him “I've never seen grass this green! Its always so grey and yellow where i’m from” 

Grom straightens and turns to Ghor with a smile, “can we catch up later? Trip was harsh on her”

She huffs but sharply turns around to walk away

Your mouth opens but before you could say a thing, Grom's arm quickly leads you out of the crowd.

“W-where are we going?‘

“To my hut!” you could hear the smile in his voice “it has been while since i have fed my animal friends”

You smile bright, legs matching the speed of his. He leads you to a hut near the edge of the town, still lively and surrounded by houses but closer to the dense forest, it was as big as your old home, but lusher with vines that were a bit overgrown, bushes all around, grass that was taller than the rest of the town, and a huge tree filled with a happy yellow fruit you didn’t recognize. 

“You like it?”his hands rest on your shoulder as he speaks into your ear

“Yeah!” you look over your shoulder to see him smile, it's so…homey!”

“Homey?” he questions, tiling his head like a puppy

“Its like home, but better”

He chuckles “ahh homey” he says understanding, reaching to open the door. As he does there's a suddenly loud cacophony of the sounds of animals, you try to find it, taking a step into the front room only to jump at a suddenly deep meow that was coming from your right. You turn to see a black cat, sticking to the wall on all fours, wait no its not a cat, it turns to you, its third eye opening, two tails winding themselves into view. You yelp in surprise as it suddenly jumps and lands on your shoulder

“Taro!” Grom scolds “we do not jump on visitors!” he plugs Taro off your shoulder, her paws sticking a bit to your sleeve before gently putting her into your arms, “I am sorry if she scared you”

“You didn’t say Taro could stick to walls!” you giggle and set down our luggage to happily take Taro

“Yeah, I must have forgotten to mention it, I am just so used to it.” the loud chirps and growls grow louder and he sighs as if annoyed

“Would you like to help me-‘

“Yes!” you squeal excited walking to his side to the kitchen

The animals burst loud in excited chirps and barks as you both come to view. There are birds perched on top of cabinets, raccoons and squirrels sitting and hopping on the table, but there were also creatures that you didn’t recognize. Like a huge rabbit looking creature with wide eyes, antlers, fangs and bird wings on its back. In the center of the kitchen there were three deer with teal fur and white spots, horns that curled inwards and four fully black eyes, you smile as Grom walks up to pet watch of the racoons and squirrels, making his way around the kitchen to give each one attention, murmuring soft words “hey there girl, were you alright without me? Oh look at you! You have grown! Oh and your wing has healed nicely. Now y/n where is y/n…y/n?-Y/N!?”

He jerks in surprise at what you were doing, petting one of the most terrifying animals he has befriended through his small window “aww whos a good boy!” you coo as if to a dog, when actually it looked closest to a bear! With white fur and a purple diamond pattern down its back. Its eyes were bright blue with yellow whites. Its teeth are huge and perfectly white, tongue dark blue and rough. “Aww look at its tiny wings!” you point at its back, comedically small pink wings on its back. “Does that mean you could fly sweetie? Oh I'd love to watch!”

Grom watches but then relaxes softly, walking over to the cabinets to take out various tree nuts to offer to the animals on his table. “I cannot believe you are calling her cute”

“Well she is not cute then what is she?” 

He sighs “She is Teacoose”

“Awww thats cute” 

“More like terrifying, gosh you don’t know what i had to do to keep my neighbors from shooting her down” after all the nuts are done he walks to his ice box to pull out a thick piece of meat, walking to your side to toss it into the Teacoose’s mouth. You retract your hands and turn to him, his eyes filled with adoration before they're interrupted by one of the deer butting their heads against his side.

You both look down and laugh, before you pet the undersides of the creature's chin, “and what are they?”

“Sukdae“ he says as he reaches for another cabinet and grabs a canister, placing a few whole potatoes in your hands, you look at them confused as he walks to feed away to feed the birds but then the Sukdae suddenly gobble up the raw potatoes before you can. You laugh as you watch them, kneeling down to your knees to meet their height, and holding out one potato to each Sukade's mouth so that they are all fed.

When you were done, Taro, who was sticking to the wall of one of the cabinets, then jumps onto one of your shoulders, Grom tch’s behind you, about to take her off but you stop him “don’t, i like her there! Who's a good Kiz, you are!” Taro burrows her face into your hand and deeply meows.

“Ha! Seriously Taro? It took me whole moon cycle to befriend you but you befriend Y/n with snap!?” Taro responds by glaring at Grom, he scoffs playfully before walking back out the kitchen, you follow as he takes both of your luggage and leads you to a room.

He plops drops his luggage harshly into the stone bed, and gently sets down yours next. His bed was pushed to the farthest corner, a dresser across the foot of the bed, a bedside table on the side of the head. And a desk against the wall of the door, everything was so large, and it was all decorated tastefully, with blue and dark oak wood accents. 

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After lunch most of the animals had left for the day except the birds, squirrels and weird rabbit thing. One of the birds helps bring the dishes into the sink to wash as Grom suddenly groans into his hand.  “i need to find something suitable for you to sleep on”

You watch the birds clean with a fascinated expression before his words finally hit your brain right! His bed was quite literally stone.

“Oh okay, shall I come with you?”

Hesitation crosses his face but you’re already rushing to the door, he huffs in frustration before rushing to meet your side as you exit his home.

The market was on the other side of the town. Like yours there were stalls, but they were bigger, and instead of empty and loveless, it was rather crowded and lively with action, arguing and bartering with unusual items for sale. Though there's whispering among the orcs that you cross, of which you didn’t seem to notice. Grom's grip on your hand was tight, but he notices that you were staring at a stall of jewelry, he stops. “We could look,” 

You look up at him to smile before letting go of his hand to walk closer to the jewelry being offered, gold and silver, from rings to necklaces and bracelets with glowing gems and…your brows furrow at a stud looking piece of gold that screwed in the back. “What is that?” you point.

His brows furrow “ear piercing? I thought humans had those” 

You shake your head “no, i never did until i saw you guys, how does it work? Is it like a hole through your ear?” you subconsciously touch yours  “my ear doesn’t have a hole, is it supposed to?”

He chuckles “of course not, it gets pierced” you glance at the side of the stall, an older orc sitting in a chair as the merchant impales his ear with a needle “d-does it hurt?”

He shakes his head “no, not much”

You smile and look at him “could I get one?”

His eyes widen in surprise before he laughs loud “but of course!” he bellows excitedly as the merchant walks over after piercing his client “Brother! It is nice to see you again, My partner would like her ears pierced”

You notice that orcs call people by brother or sister titles even though they are not of blood. Ghor calls Grom brother however Grom calls her sister, you remember how the orcs he typically calls by these titles look older than him. Maybe brother and sister in this context was the equivalent of a term of respect. You examine the merchant's face as he looks at you, there's no way this man isn't older than Grom, with forehead wrinkles, and a white strip down his beard.  

The merchant gives Grom a warm hand shake with a matching smile before his eyes are tainted with distaste as they look at you, “are you…serious?” he snorts with mocking laughter “what will she even do with it? Walk around like an orc? Ha! She's half size of you”

Grom jerks back with a furrowed look “so? She wants piercing and she is here to stay, why not?”

The merchant scoffs “it is like…giving piercing to elf! Do you understand my point now?”

“No”

The merchants face falls with surprise before he tch’s again "piercings are for orcs! They represent us orcs! If you find piercing, you know it belongs to orc, what is she?”

Grom slowly glances at you, his eyes unreadable, “She is human… but-”

“But nothing! She is not orc and she will never be orc! Get out of my stands…”

Grom sighs in defeat and turns to you, only to realize you’re no longer there standing next to him

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You had left for Grom's home rather quickly after hearing that, letting Grom stay for his shopping. Entering his bedroom you shut the door with your back, sliding down onto the ground. You jolt in surprise when Taro jumps off the wall and in front of you, showing a puzzled meow. You sigh and let her crawl into your lap and climb onto your shoulders. No I can't sulk, you walk over to the bed, there was only one case laying on the stone bed, the other cracked one on the side with your clothes already put away. Your hands shake as they go to the luggage case, heart pounding against your chest, brain blind with fear. In a snap you quickly open the case and gasp at the sight.

Your worst fear had come true, your mothers prized china, passed through from generations in your family now broken, forever, no longer able to do their purpose. 

You should’ve never brought them, they were too fragile for the trip, too fragile to even live here or stay here, bound to have broken anyway. Grom probably only has more durable dishware that would’ve easily hurt these, why would you even bring them? It's not like they could ever fit into the rest of Groms dishes, or with Groms life at all…

As these thoughts fly in your brain your vision blurs with tears, a broken sob leaving your lips as you rub your cheeks of the tears, you feel Taro's tongue against your other cheek as if to help clean your cheeks but it doesn’t work, you sit back down on the tiled ground, curling on the ground and holding Taro tight as you cry yourself to sleep. 

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AS ALWAYS LIKE COMMENT LITERALLY ANYTHING THEYRE THE ONLY JOY I GET

If u guys have any ideas, headcannons, art, or title ideas you want me to take into consideration pls let me know.

If anyone wants me to tag them in the next chapter please let me know seriously it is a JOY.

Tags: @cassjoyse

[orbitingideas]

HI AGAIN TRAVELER!! This chapter 7 is a long chapter so ive put more art of Grom at the end, I hope you leik it!!

Your mind keeps on playing tricks on you. Every once in a while you'd hear the howling of dogs, you turn sharply towards them only for Grom to ask what you were looking for. But luckily you had a full night's advantage ahead of you. You jump out of the carriage after Grom as everyone else sets up camp, you stand beside the carriage fiddling your fingers unsure of what to do. Until Grom pulls out his bag from the back of the carriage and pulls out a few things that look like a towel and a bar of soap. 

“You probably want to wash up, do not you?” he asks you and you perk up 

“I-i um…well I do have my clothes, but it's alright I um…”

“Would you normally bathe this frequently at home?”

“Uh yeah” you look down flustered “once a day..”

“Good, there is river over there, it is clean” He gestures with his chin to the far right of the trail, “trees will cover you, humans like privacy, correct?” his tone is confident until the last word. 

You hesitate, the idea of showering in the forest all alone and vulnerable, and throughout the whole day your mind keeps playing tricks on you with wolf sounds.

“yeah…but could you actually be with me?” you glance up shyly through your lashes to peak up at his now blushing face 

“I um, for safety?"

“Yes” you reply fast

“Then of course!”

You trail behind him, keeping your head down to watch at your feet. But no matter how slow you try to walk, he manages to walk slower so you’re walking beside him. 

“We’re here,” he says and you look up to come face to face with the river, you look to your right but Grom is no longer there.

You panic “i-i-”

“I’m right here sweetness!”

You turn around and relax, with his back to you and arms crossed, he waves just for you. You look around worried, you’re not afraid that one of the orcs could see you, but that your father could appear when you are at your most vulnerable. 

But you tell yourself that you’ve had a whole day's worth of sprinting ahead of them, no way your father goes from far away to on your trail in 10 minutes. You slide your dress down your shoulders as you fold your clothes to the side

“Talk to me?” you call out to him as you keep on eyeing the part of the forest where Grom's back was turned

“About what-”

“Anything” you cut him off, fear tingling in your voice.

“I um…i’m excited for you to meet my sister, see my house, all my animals” you dip the soap into the water and frantically rub it between your hands “There are Jackalopes that live with me, Sylphies-oh you probably do not recognize those animals since they are magical. I have ordinary ones too, ravens and a raccoon. Some live with me some of them just stop by for food…” you slowly relax, soon done with the bath and step out of the river to quickly towel yourself 

“Your home sounds wonderful“ you say, drying yourself off and setting the soap on your old clothes. You gather up your things and walk up till your standing behind hiim “you can turn around now”, when he turns his cheeks are brown with blush. “You don’t need to shower?” 

He chuckles as he takes your things and leads you back to the camp.”Do I smell that bad, sweetness?” he teases

You blush and look to the ground with a smile “No,” you reply truthfully, just last night you were internally praising how good he smelled. Sweat just seemed to slide off his skin without leaving the stench

“Well that is good, orcs do not require showering as much as humans” he wraps an arm around your shoulder, “i would have but for you sweetness, however the others might need our help setting up camp”

When you both get back, everyone was sitting around the fireplace, Smog and Gorgo counting supplies while Thrall was busy writing in scrolls and Azrog and Kragnar sharpened their swords and axes. You take a seat in front of the blue fireplace across from Rag.

“You catch anything while we were gone?” Grom asks the other orcs gruffly as he packs up your clothes and bath supplies.

Smog shakes his head “Zilch, can’t find crap”

“Impossible, there has to be something in this forest…” explains Gorgo 

Thrall makes a tch sound “ humans don’t really think to make sure to keep count of numbers of a species in their habitat” 

You tense and shiver to make yourself smaller, Grom furrows his brows as he notices before walking to sit by you, wrapping a tight arm around you to rub your shoulder “do we not have enough jerky?” you scrunch your nose at the unfamiliar word, assuming it was the name of the dehydrated meat. 

Smog shakes and glances at you “well I prepared only enough for seven of us…” you tilt your head down so your hair covers your face, but Grom prevents this by tucking a strand behind your ear. You retaliate by hiding in his shoulder. 

“It is okay..” he murmurs into your ear before kissing the edge of it “do not be guilty”

“I’m sure,”  Thrall adds “that we could find something out here with Grom” he nods to him.

Grom's expression hardens at Thrall, his gaze deep in thought as he looks down at you. But eventually he sighs, gently taking your chin to direct your face to him. “y/n, I need to go with others to hunt for food, they are useless without me.” you notice how no one seems to even attempt to argue against this comment “Rag will stay here with you, will you brother?” Rag nods across the fire, “are you okay with that?”

You take a breath and force yourself to pull back from his chest, holding your hands behind your back to hide your nervous fiddling. “I’m okay with that, I trust him,” 

He pauses, a hand going to sweep against your cheek to study your face before sighing, “I will be back before sunset” he turns your face to press a kiss into your cheek

A smile immediately pops onto your face from the kiss “Okay, Honey” you jolted as the other orcs bellow loud in laughter at your nickname, Grom's gaze jerks at them, his soft kind face melted off for scowl as he stands and lets go of your face. 

“Hey! Knock it off or I will let you all starve!” he barks at them.

Thrall scoffs “Idunno…I think I am going to catch biggest haul this time!” Grom reaches up to snap a huge branch from an overhead tree, throwing it sharply for it to hit the back of Thrall's head. It only makes them laugh louder as Grom rushes to meet up with them.

You listen to them argue until you can’t hear them anymore and turn to Rag, studying the blue fire, no it wasn’t a fire, it couldn’t be, there was no heat, and instead there seemed to be blue spheres of light-

“They are Lightning bugs” Rag explains gruffly, “fireflies that have been hit with lightning shine brighter and blue,“

“Oh! I’ve never seen them before”

“They are quite hard to catch, I've only ever seen them in the magical part of the forest” His gaze now turns to the sheep, four of different colors tied up to a tree as the wander around on leashes “I never knew they were so…hairy” you laugh loud and reach for Groms back to get the cabbage that was thrown at you a day ago, peeling off the leaves 

“Thats wool it can be used to make clothes or anything” you giggle “it can be sheered off, infact it should be soon in the summer, they're going to overheat otherwise”

You hear him chuckle “you seem to know a lot, tell me, why in the many gods names are they not eating?” he asks irritate, gesturing to the ground at what seems to be-

 “Rocks?!” You look to him and burst out into laughter

“Well yeah! I mean they do look like Dicor, and they eat rocks”

You snicker into your hand and reach into Grom's bag for a cabbage that was thrown at you yesterday. Peeling the leaves off the head before feeding each sheep. Rag watches while intrigued before you hear him chuckle “no wonder Grom loves you, you are a natural at this.”

“Oh, this is just a basic thing, well at least for us humans anyways”

“That is what Grom always says too, it all just comes naturally to him. He always had a thing for animals, they all just love him. He takes care of all of our animals, from our steeds” he nods o the horses “to our dragons and trolls and unicorns eccetera”

“Is that why you brought him along?”

He nods “mhm hm, its why we brought him along, horses never do shit unless he is here” you jerk at his vulgar language as he glares at the steeds

“Oh, you don’t seem in disapproval even though this seems to be a first time an orc fell in love with an human”

“Of course not, how could I be? I’m proud, He worked hard to be able to come on adventures with me and explore outside the grove.”

You snort at how similar his story seemed to you “isn’t Drugad  filled with magical creatures and plants? Why would he ever want to leave such a seemingly wonderful place that I would dream of going to”

Rag shrugs slightly “it gets boring, the days monotonous, same creatures coming in and out. He wanted a change to his day to day life even if it was temporary"

You furrow your brows “yeah temperary” you were 18, expected to die at 40, 20 years was a speck compared to the life Grom would live out. A selfish question suddenly appears in your head, burning itself into your brain matter.

“Do…do um,” you look away, too ashamed to make eye contact “do orcs mate for life?“

There's a long silence as you incinerate in shame “Yes.” Rag finally says 

You sigh in relief, your shoulder relaxing “I know, its selfish-”

“Of course not, I understand your thinking process, if I were you I would ask the same question”

You fiddle with your fingers and turn slightly to make eye contact “R-Really?”

“Yes, afterall, this next chapter in your life will be difficult, Grom sugarcoats too much for you,” you furrow your brows in disbelief, one of the reasons why you loved Grom was how blunt he was. “Life will be hard for you. It will not be the perfect utopia you are expecting, y/n. Are you ready  for what you might face when there?” 

You hesitate and look down, you mind hesitating on your decision, but it's all shut down at the memory of yesterday. “I want to be with Grom.” you say confidently

He nods gruff with a small smile “Then remember, every home is first built, not found.”

You jolt and tense at distant sounds, gripping the grass under your hands before realizing it was just the orcs, you sigh in relief and turn to the sound to see each orc counting how many fish each one had caught. 

“Ugh 5?!” exclaims Thrall with irritation “ugh, Grom has the most that means”

You smile but Grom's expression was blank as if he didn’t care about winning. He only smiles when his eyes meet you. 

As everyone sits down, collecting the raw fix together, You reach for one about to start cooking but Smog and Thrall beat you to it, snapping the heads off each fish before tossing them to Smog where he would scrape off the scales with a knife, oh right, i’m not expected to cook anymore. You cringe in embarrassment and look down. 

“Whats wrong, Sweetums?” 

“I-i um, nothing nothing…” you scoot closer to him, realizing how dark it had suddenly become.

“Are you…regretting your decision, I know we are all loud and rowdy but-”

“No! No I just…” you glance behind you into the dark forest quickly “i-i don’t like the umm…”

His eyes widen and he hums in realization before putting an arm around you, and pulling you to him gently, “you are worried about your father”

You glance yo at him slowly and nod

His warm arms slowly wrap around you to pull you closer to his side. “Do not worry I will stay up watching, ” 

You chuckle scared “ you shouldn’t stay up the whole night-”

“We will take turns” He silences your worries with a kiss on the forehead 

“I…okay, “ you watch as Smog offers Rag the first cooked fish

“What are you most excited for?” he asks trying to distract you

You smile, “going to sleep in a bed, and seeing all kinds of new animals, like your pet Kiz”

“Heh yeah me too, I cannot wait to see Taro again, my sister never really liked her but has agreed to feed her, she is pretty independent but I hope she is doing fine without me, I have never been away for this long”

“Your sister or Taro?”

He pauses before chuckling deep “both of them.”

You smile at the thought, leaning your head towards him, silently asking him to braid your hair. His hands hold onto your waist to raise and set you down between his legs. He slowly digs his fingers into your scalp before softly detangling the knots that have accumulated. As he brads Smog finally gives you a whole cooked fish which you happily eat. 

“Grom told me you wanted to hear about our gods stories” you glance up to meet Thralls eyes

“What a great idea!” adds Gorgo midbite as Smog translates while cooking. “Shall I tell it?”

“Oh course not! I am this groups scriber, writer of stories ergo best story teller!!”

“Yeah but my grammar is better”

Thrall scoffs, opening his mouth to talk but Rag cuts him off “I am too tired to tell the story, Grom you tell it. y/n wants to hear it from you anyway” you blush at how true that was

Smog finally gives Grom a full cooked fish before you, and he doesn’t bother with eating it. “shall I then?” He waits but there's no push back from the other orcs “Alright then” he clears his throat and you raise your chin to fully meet his eyes, knees tucked up to wrap your arms around your legs. 

“Once there was nothing, absolutely nothing except darkness. And then suddenly there was something, those big glowing things in night sky?” you glance up at stars “they appeared, our gods. Only four at first. Out of all, brightest star of them all then thought, what if there was something else out there, not made of gas, but out of something solid, and then our planet came along.“

“Once this realization that their thoughts turned into reality, other stars jumped in, what if this planet had life? What if food also was life? What if water was blue? What if heat was red? What if surface had breeze? and with that our planet was built”

The gods wished to see what they created but they could not, for to touch in literal sense would mean they would have to destroy their world. They were protective of what they created, so they tasked life in this world to protect their elements.” 

“Trolls were created to protect deep layers of ground, mermaids to protect ocean. And finally, us orcs were trusted to protect forest.”

He finishes with a proud tone, you smile and look at everyone, noticing how they all had fallen asleep from the story. You slowly turn your head to Grom “we will start to travel early in the morning tomorrow" he lays down on the bare floor to head to sleep 

“That was wonderful” you whisper 

Grom answers with a kiss your head. “Sleep.”

“I’m not tired” you murmur an answer

“Yes you are, I can hear it in your voice, why do you not sleep?”You sigh and turn in his arms to press your cheek to his chest. “i will stay awake,” he reminds you and you sigh before nodding, allowing your eyes to shut. He smiles down at you before quietly eating hos now cold fish. Just as you had fallen asleep, tens of miles away a dog had barked, followed by the yell of a human “The dogs found her scent! This way!”  

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Groms ears perked up, yes the sound was faint and could be anything.  However it did seem eerily similar to a dog's bark. He reaches over to Rags sleeping figure roughly shaking him awake,

“huh…Kushi?” he speaks in deep orcish

“No, it is Grom. I heard something in distance, we need to leave” he says, looking over his shoulder for any foreign light before reaching to gather the lightning bugs.

“What? Why-”

“Just trust me” he whispers harshly “I heard-” Grom gets cut off, this time theres no questioning it, a pack of dogs howls, Rag quickly perks up awake before shaking the rest of the orcs awake while Grom packs everything up 

Everyone climbs into the carriage as Grom carries your sleeping form. Folding his legs to set you on his lap and cradle you as you sleep. His hands gently covering your ears so you can't hear the horses loud neighs as they sprint, and the sound of a man yelling your name.

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As said before, LIKE COMMENT ANYTHING!!!

If you have any ideas for the title of this fic or any headcannon ideas you want me to write or draw, pls comment them!

And if you'd like to be tagged in the next chapters please let me know it is honestly a joy to do so 😭😭😭

Tags: @cassjoyse

Working with his expressions rn…(will come back to render the larger drawing, just wanted to post this chapter with art) also no flaming for anatomy or inaccuracies, I am the god here.

Also omggg the art low-key looks of better quality than last time!!!

[orbitingideas]

MWAHAHAHA WELCOME TO CHAPTER 6 TRAVELER *throws dab-loons at you* I shall reward you with a bonus doodle headcannon of Grom (may delete/change)

You didn't know whether you'd rather hear of your brother's beating or take it for him. Either way the sound of his cries of pain felt as painful as the real deal, you suspect father was doing it to his legs, that way he couldn’t run to his male lover again. You couldn’t believe it, your brother was living romantically with another man. You were surprised because you didn’t think of him like you would other homosexuals. Maybe it was because he was your brother and didn’t seem like the type? Flamboyant and feminine, but you learned some new things that night.

1, his name was Rob

2, your father already had a bride waiting for him

3, your father has access to dogs that can find a person miles away

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You gasp awake from the nightmare, heart pounding in your chest as you slowly sit up off Groms chest and between his legs, you jump a bit in surprise when Grom's face suddenly comes to view

“Another nightmare?” Grom asks concerned and you shake your head, that would make it the third one today and Grom already wanted to stop traveling for the day. You didn't realize until now how harsh you were breathing, your lungs burning in fire.

“N-no, I was uh…flying! And I crash landed, just a bit startled” you smile weary “Whats the time?”

He murmurs and reaches behind him for something  “Dinner, eat” you jump at the piece of dehydrated meat suddenly pressed against your lips. Taking the strip you bite on it gently. Pressing a cheek against his chest as you take the time to just admire his face, this was the closest you had ever gotten to him. You noticed things that you never did before, like the texture of his skin, his wide roman nose, how his ears were elongated and narrow at the tip, and how he had an earring, a simple thick gold hoop with tiny rune engravings. 

“It was a mighty fine shot” mentions an unfamiliar voice, the first one who had dared to say a word after riding for the whole day. You tense and turn, through the dusk you meet eyes with the orc who had taught you how to sharpen a dagger “forgive me for peeping but I was concerned when I heard yelling, when you hit your father with your luggage case?” he chuckles “did not know you could have it in ya, I could not believe you cracked the darn thing! my name is Gorgo by the way” he reaches his hand for yours to shake but then drops it with a casual wave seeing how far away you were.

You relax and glance wordlessly at your luggage cases that Rag had placed beside you a Grom, if your memory serves you right, the one that made contact with his body was the one with your luggage, the heaviest one, but you were too afraid to check if you were right. You'd have to see if you had broken your mothers heirloom china dishes, it was better like this, you could live in a world where it is both broken and fully intact rather than possibly just broken.

“Thank you” you say softly and go back to leaning back on Grom's chest, Gorgo smiles sweetly and glances at Grom to say something in orcish, Grom surprisingly snarls and responds back in an irritated tone. His hand gripping yours tighter. After a while of them going back and forth, the other orcs jumping in occasionally, you finally perk up intrigued “hmm?” you ask sitting up from his chest to look at him, he looks disappointed that you’ve pulled away from his chest

“What? Nothing sweetums-”

“Ooo~ sweetums~” teases one of the orcs, one with dark green freckles and red eyes. Out of all the orcs he had always intimidated you the most with huge tusks, pieces of metal impaled on his face and ears, and dark black ink on his neck and forearms.

“Shut up Thrall”

Everyone chuckles from his irritation “oh come on! Cannot we finally talk to her?” Thrall begs, 

“No, she is weak”

“I feel fine-”

He silences you by curving his other hand gently over your mouth,“-Weak” you try to tear it off but of course he's stronger. 

“Oh come on, Grom! Let the lady talk!” Thrall advocates while another orc, Smog who earlier that day distributed food to everyone, sets up a lamp in the middle of the carriage, though inside doesn’t seem to be a flame, and if so you were in disbelief of how a single flame could shine so brightly, let alone be so hot that it was fully blue. Thrall laughs “Gosh we have been dying to meet you! Ever since he started courting you by buying you those knives”

“Oh and did you remember the pants!” Smog interjects “Gosh I could not breathe from laughter when Azrog and Kragnar told me that!” he gestures to the homosexual couple you saw kissing weeks ago. Both the buffest of the whole group, Azrog nods in acknowledgement while Kragnar waves small. You hesitate on waving back, afterall they didn’t speak English, who knows what your wave might be interpreted as. 

Everyone laughs “wait you were courting me then?” you turn to Grom who was hiding his face in his hand, a faint brown tint to his cheeks 

“In orc culture” explains Gorgo “buying of ones weapons represents extreme trust, afterall if a warriors weapons fail you you are dead, and gifting of any piece of clothing in orc culture is seen as intimate since clothing often represents protection”

You shake your head in disbelief “no way he was actually using those daggers”

Thrall laughs loudly “I could not believe it either! He used every last one till their pitiful ends”

Grom scoffs, digging into his bag and throws a stick of dehydrated meat at Thrall "They are impressive for someone who had very little to work with!” 

That only makes everyone laugh louder, But you couldn’t believe it, at first you thought his advances were small but he was actually full out courting you in front of all the orcs. 

You turn to Grom who was still looking away with a hard annoyed face and brown cheeks “ive always wondered, is his brown cheeks the equivalent to blushing for humans? Is he embarrassed?"

Thrall bursts out into the loudest laughter of the night as Smog translates mid chortle for the couple and Gorgo nods with a big smile. 

“She figured you out brother!” Thrall yells pointing at Grom, 

“Shut up” he groans “Rag! How long till Drugad,” 

Rag had a small smile in his voice “long enough that you might as well get used to then making fun of you brother” 

You furrow your brows and turn timidly to Rag “how long?”

“We’ll be traveling through the night, taking a short break for the horses to rest and then continuing for a faster speed, can’t say for sure, y/n”

“Oh okay, Thank you Rag ” You sigh as you turn back around, anxious about the break and all that could change in 10 minutes. 

You feel Groms arm tighten around your shoulders “y/n…you have no reason to be scared out here, we will protect you, “ he gestures to the other orcs

“Yeah! We are most likely the toughest things out here in the forest!” interjects Thrall as he flexes his arms while everyone else rolls their eyes “kings of this forest! Hoo-haa!”

You try to smile bravely for Grom, but still, you can’t imagine how you’ll feel if you have to see your fathers face again, or worse, your mothers. 

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Later that night everyone had fallen asleep, You were leaning your cheek on his bicep, both of you still awake, “ tell me what is bothering you, you’re still awake afterall”

You tilt your head back to sigh, you thought you were doing good pretending you were asleep. “Will…will the other orcs in Drugad approve?”

He sighs admittedly “ Drugad is mostly monotonous, but they will be approving, most orcs are open minded.”

You nod “what about your parents?”

“Long gone, but I have sister" you can hear a smile in his voice “i think she would like you” 

you look up at him “really? I’ve always wanted a sister…will we be expected to wed?”

He stifles his laughter with his hand, causing you to jump in surprise at the sharp gesture “of course not!”

“When will we be?”

“Whenever you desire!”

“Well…we should have kids soon…”

He chokes on air “Kids?!”

“Well yes! We’ve already kissed before marriage! It is the wives duty to give as many kids into this world as possible…is it not like that in your religion?”

He holds your chin to direct your eyes to him, his touch gentle. “No Sweetums, in orc tradition, orc couple is lucky if they get one child, forget however many you were expecting”

“Well my mother did have eight..”

He chokes again on air “EIGHT?!” he whispers harshly to not wake up the others “WHERE WERE THEY WHEN WE THERE???”

You jolt up and stifle a laugh into your hand “they all left already! “ you whisper back “I hardly remember them…well most of them”

Hmm? Who do you remember?

“My…my older brother, second youngest, it was late this one day and all I remember is my father leaving in the middle of the night and my mother crying that he was gone, and then in the middle of the night next day he came back with bruises…I heard my father talking about some sort of male lover” even through you really should you decide to omit the details of the dogs, would Grom even know what dogs are? Your brain was still buzzing from earlier and even with your short naps throughout the day you were still stressed, you just wanted to be in Drugad

You peek up at Grom to see him looking at you in horror and concern, but surprisingly enough he doesn’t seem to be scared about the prospect of the same happening to you. “I am sorry you had to be raised by that cruel man”

You lean against his chest again and he wraps his warm arms around you whisper, “its alright, i’m fine”

He softly pets your hair, gently untangling it from the bottom to top. “You will be expected to do nothing more than be happy there,” he says softly, “our way is simple. Help others. Do your part. Only harm to live or to protect, and most importantly,” his smile grows, “love whoever you want”

You smile, and in this moment all hesitation in your choice is gone. “Tell me more?”

“Hmm..” he grumbles “Stories sound better from someone else. Ask Rag”

You giggle, is he being self conscious about his grammar? Honestly at first it had irritated you but now you almost forgot about “well Rag is not you, I prefer your voice to his“

You see his cheeks turn brown again “you’re blushing” you reach to poke at his cheek

“Nonsense y/n” he quickly grabs your hand to set down, keeping your fingers interlocked “now shush while I talk”

You laugh “okay mister ruining my sleeping schedule”

He scoffs and speaks in a teasing voice “fine, I guess I will just sleep-”

“No!” you wail in a whisper as he lightly laughs

“For the love of the gods!” sharply yells Smog “we get you are in love but shut up! We are trying to sleep” you look at Grom in shock before stifling a laugh  into his neck, he chuckles into your hair and encapsulates you in his arms to slowly lay down on top of him.

”Is it fine in your religion to sleep together before marriage?” He nods and holds you tighter, you relax against him in relief, feeling no guilt for sleeping. You smiled into his neck, even though he was embarrassed by his English, you were proud of how it had greatly improved. You smile remembering your old midnight meetings, how slowly his English got better and better with more vivid descriptions of places and animals. But you never dared to comment about his lack of the use of “a” and “the”, you had grown to love that about his english and you’d be damned if it ever changed. You brush his hair back, his eyes still closed but tips of his lips twitching for a smile that you gently kiss before it spreads to a grin, you lean to bury your face into his neck and sleep restfully.

But not before hearing a distance barking, and peeking up the carriage to see nothing all around. 

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