Another poster design based off of a Gao the Arsonist song, this time "CAESAR" from the "OUR BONES ARE OUR ARTIFACTS" album! Genuinely fucking amazing album and one of my favourite from Gao so far.
GO STREAM THE ALBUM NOW. THAT AND SLUDGETAPES, I BOUGHT THEM BOTH ON BANDCAMP SO I COULD HAVE HIGH QUALITY DOWNLOADS OF THEM <3
Mushy May Day 4: Wound tending/First aid + Bonus prompt "Shut up I'm taking care of you"
Rating: E for everyone!
Word count: 679
Pairings: Alpha/Omega
Additional: Minor injuries.
Summary: Omega has always been the one to patch Alpha up, and this time will be no different.
Here's a link to it on AO3 for those who prefer!
I'm almost fully caught up now with mushy may, and for day 4 we've got something a little shorter but it also comes with this sketch I did of Alpha and Omega for it!
Read below the cut!~
~~~~~~
“So, what happened this time?”
Omega got right to business as he gestured for the Fire ghoul to sit, patting at the edge of the old bed they had been provided with by the abbey for their shared room, an uncomfortable and rickety thing but still miles better than the two of them trying to squeeze into a single like they had to when first summoned whenever they wanted to be together for a night. Alpha kept quiet while taking the offered seat, chewing at a split lip and doing everything he could to act like he hadn’t heard Omega’s question. Omega was always too good at reading people for his own good, and that went tenfold when it came to the likes of Alpha. He had been cleaning up after Alpha’s messes for far too long for something like this to slip past him. He still knew not to push Alpha too much though, and so he gets up from the bed and disappeared into the small bathroom they share, leaving Alpha along for just a moment, and that was all the time it took for the Fire ghoul to hiss out in pain when his body finally started to catch up to just how much it hurt.
Omega came back out from the bathroom, perfect timing as always, and handed Alpha some tablets and a small glass of water. “Painkillers, for the pain.” Omega explained, like they hadn’t been through this song and dance countless times before over the years. His preference for human remedies over some much quicker and more reliable like Quintessence magick was always put into question by Terzo and the others in their pack, and he always had to make up some excuse to justify himself to them, but Omega was always understanding of his aversion. It made sense, after all, Omega was the only living being that he’d told about what he’d been through in the pit, including the reasonings for his strange aversion to Omega’s magick, but Alpha liked to think that it was because Omega just got him, understood him on some entirely different level from anyone else.
Omega disappeared again but returned seconds later with a first-aid kit in hand, another thing he made sure to always have on hand so he could better limit his need to use his Quintessence with Alpha. He placed it on the edge of the bed next to Alpha, before finally giving all of his focus to the injured ghoul before him. With one hand placed on Alpha’s thigh, Omega reaches up with the other, trying to get a good look at the cut on his lip and the bruise on his cheek, but is interrupted by Alpha grabbing at his wrist and holding it mere inches away from his face. “Just… you don’t have to do this y’know… I can handle myself.” Alpha grumbles and tries to dismiss him, but Omega has no plans of leaving his partner.
Omega shakes his head no. “I’m not leaving you, Alpha. How many times have I cleaned you up after a fight? I know you think I’m just doing this ‘because I have to’, but I’m not. I love you, okay? And that’s not going to change.” Before Omega is even finished with what he says Alpha is already sniffling and trying to fight back at the tears threatening to spill. His grasp around Omega’s wrist loosens progressively before just slipping away in its entirety, and Omega is quick in bringing it and his other hand up to cup Alpha’s face in his palms, tilting his head up to look him in the eye, purple and pink meeting with fiery orange.
Omega brings their foreheads together in a loving gesture, horns clacking together gently as they sit there for a moment, sharing their love for one another in simple silence before Omega inevitably breaks it, sitting up and speaking.
“Now, to put it in a way you would…” Alpha’s lip quirks up at that, already knowing what’s coming, “Shut up, I’m taking care of you.”.
~~~~~~
A huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
A quick doodle I did to go along with what I wrote for Day 3, which you can find here!~
It's honestly really fun just doing art and doodles and stuff of the ghouls, it's nice being able to do art without overthinking it for a change :3 Even if everyone I know has told me it looks like they're doing it-
Huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
Rating: Teen
Word count: 1,375
Pairing(s): Zephyr/Aether (can also be read as platonic)
Additional: They/Them nonbinary Zephyr and chronic pains
Summary: Zephyr's been having a bad back day, but thankfully Aether's here to help with his magic hands.
Here's a link to it on AO3 for those who prefer!
Some good ol' hurt/comfort that was born after I started projecting my recent back issues on Zephyr lol
As always, a huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
~~~~~~~~~~
Zephyr whines as the pain in their lower back decides to flair up again, prolonging their misery. They had been in their room for most of the day, waking up with the most horrible back pain and not keen on finding out whether or not getting up and walking around would make it get better or worse. They had to leave eventually though, after a few hours of reading the closest book they could reach without moving much didn’t do all that much to keep away the biological need for food.
That’s how they ended up here, curled over in pain against the side of the aisle separating the band ghouls’ kitchenette from the main space of their den, not even able to grab a sandwich from the fridge. It truly is a huge shame too, they know Mountain had prepped one of their favourites just for them, only to be stuck just two feet away, so close yet so far to that spicy and delicious chicken sandwich that their stomach yearns for. Maybe, just maybe, they could try to slowly inch their way closer to the fridge. Just before they could enact upon their plan, another spike of pain hits their spine. They groan into the countertop, cursing their dark lord for giving them such terrible pains so often. Sometimes they truly wonder if they pissed in his cereal or something in another life.
“Why me? I just wanna eat a sandwich, goddamnit!” They wail, thumping their fist against the counter in despair. So close, they were so damn close, if only they could just get to it. Surely they could do just this one thing and go back to back. Screw their chores, Terzo would hopefully understand, plus they’d probably already missed most of them anyway.
“Need some help there?”
Zephyr nearly gives themself whiplash with how just quickly their head snaps up and over to the doorway leading out into the rest of the abbey, and they swear they could cry tears of joy when their eyes lay upon their would-be saviour.
“Aether! Please!” They would usually be embarrassed by how desperate they sound right now, but their back really does hurt beyond belief, and they needed that chicken sandwich ages ago. Pride be damned, they can swallow it just for a while if it meant being free from this invisible prison.
The burly Quintessence ghoul doesn’t chuckle even a little bit at Zephyr’s pleas for help, which really just goes to convey how much of their pain he must be able to feel with his Quintessence right now. Without a word, Aether is taking long strides over to Zephyr and before they know it he’s helping them stand up to hopefully lessen their pain, if even just a little. They’re leaning back slightly to press against his broad chest for support, and they don’t even realise the tears that had been slowly but surely wetting their cheeks and leaving salty trails in their wake until Aether is already wiping them away with gentle hands.
Aether rests his chin against Zephyr’s short and fluffy hair atop their head, carefully nestled between sharp and curving horns, placing kisses everywhere he can reach. When he starts scratching at their scalp Zephyr is helpless to the purr it pulls out from them.
As nice as it is though, and how much they both truly wish they could, they can’t stay like this forever, they both know it and yet Zephyr still whines a little when the scratches stop and Aether pulls away from them, even if just a little. “You want me to massage your back a little, help with the pain?” He offers gently.
Zephyr sighs, they’re not super keen on the idea of him using up his Quintessence for their back pains when there are far more serious injuries he could save it for, but they suppose it’s their only hope of walking any time soon without crumpling in on themself. “Yeah, sure, Quintessence me up with those magic fingers of yours.” They earn a chuckle from the large ghoul and consider it as a win for the time being. At least they still have their charm.
“Okay, sure buddy. I’m gonna step back a bit now, so you’ll probably need to support yourself on the counter or something, okay?” Zephyr ‘mhm’s in response, but even with the heads up they wobble a little and let out the tiniest of squeaks when the support they had from him being behind them is gone, though they do manage to place both of their hands on the counter in time. They croon when they feel that tell-tale tingle of Aether’s Quintessence before being joined by the feeling of his hands finally touching their back. Aether begins to work his magic, massaging away all the tension with his hands while he pumps them with a minimal dosage of his magick with each and every touch to help with their pain. It works wonders, truly, and within a matter of mere minutes, Zephyr is purring up a storm and fighting the weightlessness that washes over them and urges them to melt into his hands, rather favouring standing upright instead. Their tail has even come up and begun to wag and thump against the counter and Aether has to wrap around it with his own to prevent them from knocking it a little too roughly against the hard surface.
“Could you go a little higher, maybe? Yeah, to the left a little like tha- oh-”
“Here?”
“Oh yeah, that’s the spot~” They moan and they lean into his magic touch, pun not intended.
After a little while Aether pulls away, able to sense now that Zephyr is much more comfortable than they had been when he first found them, and steps back to give them a little space, just enough for them to try out standing and walking on their own without support.
Zephyr takes a few steps and wow, just wow. “Wow. How do I keep forgetting that you can do that?”.
“I’ve told you, you should call me when your back gets bad like this.” Aether reminds them, and Zephyr thinks for a second about saying something along the lines of ‘it always gets like this’ but decides against it, recognizing that Aether almost definitely felt it all the time too, and that this was his own way of saying that he was always there for them should they need him. “Now, while I have pumped you full of enough Quintessence to put a one and only water ghoul by the name of Dew to sleep for a night, you should still probably rest. You wanna do anything?” ‘Do you want me to join you?’ he left unspoken.
Zephyr thought about it a little, they knew deep down what they wanted right now, but they felt a bit awkward to ask it of him. “Do you… Could you read a book to me? In bed?” They pick at their fingers a little, looking at their feet. “I just wanna cuddle or something right now, I guess, but I’ve also got this book I’ve been reading but there’s not really any comfortable ways to lie down with it.”
Aether smiles at them, pure love in his eyes, free of judgement. “Of course, little wisp, how about you go change into some fresh clothes and I’ll grab you whatever it was you looked like you were trying to get from the fridge when I came in?” Zephyr doesn’t reply with words, just nods their head a little too enthusiastically before padding off to their room.
Aether looks over to the fridge and realises he doesn’t know what exactly it was that Zephyr wanted from the fridge so bad, but before he can even open his mouth to call out to the Air ghoul, Zephyr’s already shouting down the hall; “Spicy chicken sandwich!” and a few seconds later “Heat it up, please! Don’t like when it’s cold.”.
Aether chuckles to himself before grabbing Zephyr’s pre-prepped sandwich from the fridge and popping it in the microwave. It looks like he’s in for an afternoon of cuddles with Zephyr and some light reading, and honestly, what more could he ask for?
I had to draw this in the middle of writing my fic for day 2, I just couldn't get the image out my head of Phantom looking like a deer in headlights after being caught about to absolutely demolish an entire pack of crackers with some primula cheese. He just like me fr fr
This goes along with the ficlet I also wrote for day 2 which can be found here!~
Huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
Mushy May
Day 2: Late night snacks
Rating: Teen
Word count: 3,560
Pairing(s): Swiss/Dewdrop + some Phantom/Rain heavily implied on the side, as a treat.
Additional: Recreational drug use, minor blood and injury, references to sex, the ever-looming threat of an earth ghoul whose weed was stolen, and the existence of cheese singles.
Summary: Dewdrop and Swiss raided Mountain's personal stash, and now they raid the kitchen too!
Link to it on AO3 for those who prefer!
I had to take a day off for health reasons, and then I forgot to post this last night, but now I'm back with some swissdew shenanigans!
Once again, a huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
~~~~~~~~~~
Dew woke up with a start when something wet touched him, hissing out into the open air and looking around wildly trying to find whatever unknown had dared to disturb his sleep. His body was still adjusting to the suddenness of being awake, and that didn’t play favourites with his eyes, so he wasn’t able to do much more than squint and swish his tail back and forth in agitation.
“Whuh…!?” Seems his brain is still too mushy from sleep to even finish getting out a single coherent word.
He continued to swish his tail but his hiss faded away into a low growl, near-silent in volume as he was far too tired to do anything more. Dew kept blinking his eyes hoping to open them each time with a newly granted sense of sight, and if he had energy left in him he would have jumped for joy when he finally acclimated to the light. Wait, why would the light be on?
He feels stupid when he goes to pull his blanket off of him only to find that it’s not there, as a matter of fact, it’s nowhere to be found in the room, which only serves to add yet another layer to his confusion. He wouldn’t be caught dead without that thing, be it in his bunk in a tour bus, serving as a protective layer between him and whatever uncomfortable sheets the hotel they’re staying at has, or just as a source of comfort and warmth back here, home, in the abbey. Not that he needed the additional warmth though, definitely not with how things had been warming up recently combined with his Fire ghoul nature.
He looked to his side, hoping maybe he had kicked it away in his sleep after getting too hot or something, but instead, he was met with the glorious sight of none other than Swiss, sleeping like a rock, snoring louder than even Aether, and with a long and luxurious strand of drool trailing down the side of a pillow he was holding onto for dear life. And then everything clicked.
Memories flooded Dew’s head of how he and Swiss had broken into Mountain’s stash earlier that evening, getting their grubby mitts into the real good shit that he usually kept for himself, giant selfish bastard. He also remembered how they had then raided his entire Stash and left very few survivors in their wake, and how they then locked themselves in Swiss' room before participating in some stupid fucked up contest of seeing who could smoke through the most of it in a single day. Dew looked back to Swiss again, that puddle of drool had definitely grown by a few centimetres since he’d last looked. Judging by the state of him, and how Swiss was apparently dead to the world, they probably weren’t finding out who had won any time soon. Dewdrop groans and flops back down onto the bed. Of course, the one thing he couldn’t recall was both the reason for and the result of them getting into this mess.
What he hadn’t been anticipating was for his coordination to still be a little off after only being awake for a few short minutes, and thus he hadn’t been expecting his elbow to hit a sleeping Swiss right in the face. Swiss’ poor nose certainly hadn’t been expecting it, that’s for sure.
The most pathetic and hurt-sounding yelp he’s ever heard let Dew know that all those comments about his elbows being unusually bony may have some basis in truth after all. The ghoul that was dead asleep just a few seconds ago was now wide awake and hunched over himself while he clutches his nose. What Dew thinks is the slightest dribble of blood serves to sober him up a bit from his self-imposed high. He immediately starts looking around before finding what he’s looking for, locating the box of tissues on the nightstand next to Swiss’ bed and grabbing it before he can think too long about why it would be there in the first place.
“Ah shit! M’so sorry Swiss, didn’ mean to.” He blabbers out an attempt of an apology as he holds the tissues out to Swiss, who now has tears of pain threatening to spill at the corners of his eyes as he snatches the tissues from Dew, hissing at him all the while, and, yeah, he did kinda deserve that.
“Th’fuck s’wrong with you? F’ckin’ asshole.” Not even the shock of having his nose bashed by Dewdrop’s elbow could truly wake up Swiss, as it would seem. In true Swiss fashion, the larger ghoul continued to spit and hiss out more slurred insults at the smaller while he grabbed a bunch of the tissues and held them up to his bloody nose which would definitely have a pretty purple bruise on it later on that would lead to them being subjected to another of Aether’s interrogations while the Quintessence ghoul would try to figure out how two idiots like them survived for long enough in the pit to be summoned, just for them to be even bigger dumbasses.
Once Swiss had cleaned up his face and shook off his shame from being defeated by Dew’s bony as-shit elbow of all things, the Multi decided to dedicate the rest of his life to giving the Fire ghoul the dirtiest look he could muster. He wasn’t even giving him daggers now, he was giving him full-on swords. It was almost funny how mad he was trying to look, his nose all scrunched up with his ears down, fur puffed up to further set in how pissed he was with him at the moment. And yet, Dew wouldn’t forget this moment between them for Swiss' ire, which he had rightfully earned to be fair, but for how that heated silence was suddenly broken by one of the loudest growls he had ever heard come from Swiss' stomach.
They stared at each other, both looked down at Swiss' stomach, and immediately looked right back up to each other again, before simultaneously bursting out into a fit of giggles. All of Dew’s elbow’s transgressions are forgotten as they roll around on top of Swiss' bed.
After a few minutes of giggling and another interruption, this time from Dew’s stomach, Swiss finally let out his first fully formed words since he’d been so rudely woken up. “Woah, easy there tiger, don’t gotta go roaring at me.” He put his hands up in a mock surrender “How ‘bout we go and raid the kitchen for whatever good stuff we can find? We can bring it back here and have ourselves a feast.”
Dewdrop thought about it, and he was really hungry now that they’d both been made aware by their bodies, and rather loudly at that. But, and there was always a but, Dewdrop looked over to the locked door leading out into the hallway and his thoughts stilled for a moment. The whole reason it had been locked in the first place was because they both Mountain would be out for blood once he found his stash desecrated and gone, and another memory from the evening was returned to him, this one of Mountain pounding on the door when he had finally found out what they’d done, and how the only thing stopping him from going through with his threat to kick down the door and collect retribution for his precious weed was Aether quite literally dragging him away to cool down a bit if the scuffle they had heard was anything of substance. One thing was gnawing away at his mind right now, and he made sure to voice it; “What if he’s still out there.”
Swiss understood what he meant, and looked like he was speedrunning through the exact thought process Dew had just gone through judging by the slight panic in his eyes, but apparently, he wasn’t anywhere as worried as Dew was, because he just shrugged.
“You got any idea what time it is?”
Dewdrop chews at his lip before digging around for his phone. He manages to find it under a pillow, the very same one that now had a damp spot from Swiss drooling on it, gross. After a more than slightly judgemental look sent the taller ghoul’s way, Dewdrop turns the screen on and goes to look at the time. Swiss leans over his shoulder to take a peek for himself.
Both of them are left in silent shock at the time.
“Shit…”
“Did we really sleep for that long?”
“Must have, the phone doesn’t lie Dewbug.”
“Thought I told you to stop calling me that.” The Fire ghoul hissed, though they both knew it didn’t have any real bite to it.
“But it’s just so fun getting to see your cheeks go red like that, Dewbug.” There it was again, that toothy grin that would make a baby cry. And speaking of the devil, the Multi’s teasing paid off when he got to watch as his partner tried to hide himself amongst the pillows. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the very blush he was referring to would be found spreading its way across Dew’s cheeks at that very moment if anyone were to get a good look.
With perfect timing as always, Swiss' stomach chooses that moment to remind the two of their shared hunger, possibly saving Dewdrop from any further torment and teasing.
Getting back on track, Swiss pads his way over to the door and opens the bolt lock, but before he can even get his hand on the handle Dew is diving across the bed and towards him. “Wait!”
Swiss gives him a look that hopefully reads as ‘You really wanna starve in here?’, but goes out of his way to voice the rhetorical question anyway.
“I mean, no, but-”
“Excellent! Then let’s get-a-going and get some grub.” And with that, Swiss swings the door open, but is careful to make sure it doesn’t bang against the wall and make a noise. He may be crazy, but he doesn’t want to risk being the one to disturb anyone’s sleep. Then they’ll really be helpless when Mountain inevitably gets his claws on them. “Just, y’know, be quiet. Sneaky.” He adds in a hushed tone with a wink at the end for emphasis. And with that, the two ghouls are slowly and stealthy tiptoeing their way down the hallway, making their way to the den and by extension the kitchenette as they pass by the doors to all the rooms that the band ghouls call home. They can hope each and every one of them is occupied by sleeping ghouls, especially as they pass by the room of a certain abnormally tall Earth ghoul. Step after step, they slowly inched their way down the hall, getting closer and closer to their goal.
Finally, the narrow length of the hallway spreads out into a much wider and vastly more spacious common room, or the den as it’s come to be known. The room is near pitch black in the dark of the night, and with their minds still a little hazy from all the weed they had indulged themselves with smoking several hours ago, even with their more advanced ghoulish eyesight, they can't really make much of anything out. Swiss, showing a brief moment of rationality and even using a little logic to boot, reaches out to his side where he knew the lightswitch to be and suddenly the large space is flooded with light, though thankfully on a dimmer setting so it isn’t too much of a shock to their eyes.
What does come as a shock, is the ghoul staring at the pair from where they stand by the kitchenette, looking like a deer caught in headlights, a freshly opened pack of crackers in one hand and an entire brand new tube of Primula cheese in the other.
The atmosphere is palpable, the tension in the room so thick you could cut it, right up until a cracker falls out from the packaging and clatters when it hits the floor, that is.
“Phantom? Why the hell are you up at this time?”
That seems to make the Quintessence bristle up a did. His ears pull back when he whisper-shouts a defensive and very creative “Why are you!?”
Swiss and Dew look at each other at the exact same time, both thinking about whether they should tell him about their escapades and Mountain.
“Uhm… stuff…” Dew blurts out. Very articulated. Swiss gives him a look but he just shrugs. Well, what did the Multi want him to say?
“Hey, are those Cirrus’ crackers?” Swiss tries to deflect Phantom’s deflection, and it seems to work as Phantom is immediately right back to looking like he’d just been caught with his pants down.
Looking around and finding no way to escape from the situation, Phantom resigns and answers the question. “Yes…”
Oh, this was gonna be good. It’s nice to know they weren’t the only ones dumb enough to steal from their packmates tonight. Everyone knows how defensive Cirrus can get over her snacks, and those crackers were her favourite. The fact that they’d only just been bought and she hasn’t even gotten a chance to try them yet will just add to the drama of all this.
“Oooh~ Somebody’s gonna be in trouble~”
Phantom snaps his gaze right over to Dew, glaring at him while he utters his next words. “You don’t tell Cirrus it was me, and I don’t tell Mountain.”
Dewdrop just had to go and tease him.
“Ha, nice try kid, but the big guy already knows all about what we did.”
“Trust me, we all know.” Phantom puts it bluntly, and it doesn’t come as a surprise at all considering how loud Mountain had been earlier, and that was just what they heard through the door. “I meant I won’t tell him exactly where you guys will be tomorrow.” When raises an eyebrow at him. “I’ve been speaking to Sunny, and I’ve seen your guys’ schedules for your chores tomorrow. I’ll do it.” Oh, okay, so the new kid had finally grown some fangs it would seem. Swiss almost barks out a laugh from the shock of it all, who knew Phantom of all ghouls would be the one threatening to sic a pissed-off Mountain on them?
“Okay, okay, you win kid. Sheesh.”
And with that, they seem to slip into a truce of sorts. Phantom sets his pilfered crackers and squeezy cheese off to the side so he can find a plate, and Swiss and Dew walk past him to start rummaging through the cupboards and fridge for anything that speaks to their hunger at the moment. Swiss flipped through the cupboards whilst Dew searched through the fridge.
“All I’ve got here is a bag of chips and a half-empty box of breadsticks that may or may not be on their way to going stale already, any luck over there?” When Swiss receives no reply he looks to check on Dew, and finds his companion doing a silly victory dance as he holds up a pack of some deli meat like it’s the cub in that one lion film they’d watched a couple months back. Swiss had to bite his tongue and hold back whatever laugh or teasing comment he would have let out. It was just so pure. They were both still decently high from Mountain’s weed, raiding the kitchen in the midst of the night as quickly as possible so they could return to Swiss’ room to continue hiding from Mountain’s wrath, and Swiss couldn’t bring himself to look away from Dew. He wondered if this was what people mean when they say that it sometimes feels as if time has frozen when they look at their partners.
“Dew, you look ridiculous.” And the moment is ruined. Swiss turns to bare his fangs slightly at the younger ghoul but Phantom is unphased and just sticks his tongue out in return, the cheeky fucker. By the time Swiss turns back to Dew, he’s finished his celebration and has placed the pack of sliced meat on the nearby side, right next to where Swiss has placed his findings, before diving back on in to grab the final piece to make this meal truly perfect.
“Boom! Cheese singles.” He smirks up at Swiss while she waves the individually packaged slices of processed cheese in his face, positively pleased at himself with his findings.
Phantom decides to pipe in again from over by where he’s now got everything he needs, the entire tube of Primula now squeezed out onto the plate with a knife carefully placed beside it, his crackers still in their pack off to the side where he’d been snacking on a few when trying to find the knife and plate. Truly a charcuterie board for kings. “You’re seriously gonna eat those? Are they even real cheese?”
Dewdrop is quick to defend himself. “First of all, yes, I am seriously gonna eat these cheese singles, and I’m gonna love every second of it. And second, I’m not gonna be judged by the ghoul who is about to eat a fuckton of crackers with squeezy cheese!” He presses an accusatory finger into Phantom’s chest. Now with being so close to him, Dewdrop takes in how the ghoul is blatantly wearing clothes that aren’t his. The shirt is obviously one of Dew’s, while not tight it was definitely on the shorter side and left a bit of Phantom’s tummy out for all to see, and if he had to take a guess on the owner of the slightly too-big boxers he had on Swiss was probably the safest bet. He didn’t miss the messy hair or how a certain bassist’s scent was clinging to him like moss to a rock right now either, and gave the ghoul a small grin and a nod of acknowledgment before deciding to tease him some more.
“I’m gonna want to wash that in the morning, aren’t I?” He refers to the shirt.
“Someone’s going to be losing their weed privileges, aren’t they?” Phantom shoots right back.
“Touché.”
“Too soon, man, too soon.” Swiss can be heard whining from off to the side of their little standoff.
“Alright, I’m heading off now. Good luck I guess, you’ll need it.” Phantom stretched for a second before grabbing his plate and crackers and heading back towards his room, where there was no doubt a Water ghoul would be awaiting his return.
“We know.” They reply in unison and wave him off before they go grab their harvest and do the same.
Swiss is emptying all of the chips and breadsticks out into two separate bowls when they’re alerted by another door down in the hallway opening, that eerie creak causing their hackles to become raised and their ears to pull back. Dewdrop instinctively put himself between the hallway and his precious cheese singles and meat slices, ready to defend this meal with his life. “Who’s there?” Swiss calls out into the dark hallway.
Their blood runs cold when it’s none other than Mountain who emerges from the dark hallway into the dim, though still much brighter, light of the den, his imposing figure slowly approaching them with heavy steps. Swiss sidesteps over to Dew and holds the Fire ghoul’s hand in his, it was his idea to raid Mountain’s stash and if anyone’s getting their tail ripped off here, it’s going to be him. Before they know it, Mountain is stood right in front of the pair, practically snarling at them as a low rumbling growl permeates throughout the kitchenette. In what is possibly up there amongst the dumbest things he’s ever done when being growled at by a much larger ghoul he’s crossed, Dew reaches behind him blindly, grabbing around until he finds what he hopes will be their saving grace. He picks it up and, wincing as he hopes the Earth ghoul doesn’t just bite his fingers off, presents his peace offering.
“Deli meat?”
Mountain stares at the presented cuts of ham for a good long while, but his decision is finally made when his face softens, rumble dissipating as he lets out a heavy sigh. He wordlessly takes the offering and opens it up, taking a handful of sliced meat for himself before passing it over to Swiss, who only just about manages to hold onto it as he’s still stood there in shock and awe, amazed that Dew’s offering had actually worked as the Earth ghoul scarfed down the ham in record time. It does wonders to show just how hungry a ghoul can get after being mad for hours on end.
Dewdrop feels bold and a little stupid, so he decides to crack out the cheese singles too, and sidles up to Mountain before holding one out to him.
Swiss questions all of his life choices as he stands there in silence while they both watch Mountain eat the entire cheese single within seconds. He hadn’t even removed its plastic covering. Dewdrop was near tears at the horror he was witnessing. This must be their punishment for what they had done, surely.
“You two are just lucky that it wasn’t my main stash.”
Mushy May
Day 1: Cuteness aggression Doing each others' makeup
Rating: Teen
Word count: 3,863
Pairing(s): Cumulus/Mountain (Not main focus) + Written with polyghouls in mind but can be interpreted however you want!
Link to it on AO3 for those who prefer!
I couldn't for the life of me think of something for the cuteness aggression prompt so I swapped it out with this... only to realise I don't know all that much without makeup. And yet, I still ended up with one of the longest things I've written in years lol
A huge thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing Mushy May!
~~~~~~~~~~
Cumulus had woken up that day with only one thing on her mind, a plan set in stone, an instinctual need to do but one not-so-simple thing; Today was the day Cumulus would teach Sunshine about makeup.
She wasn’t sure what, exactly, had brought this sudden urge upon her. Perhaps it was a few too many compliments and comments the Multi ghoulette had been making to her and, on the less than common occasions where she could be bothered to do her own makeup, Cirrus. Or maybe it was just because the new summon had brought back memories of her own time as someone new and foreign in a ministry full of people who knew each other, shoved into an already bonded pack, and remembered her first time discovering the wonders of makeup with some siblings, and how much joy it had brought her to have a new way to add to her self-expression. Regardless of the whys and hows, once she had fresh clothes on and some of Mountain’s famous eggs and bacon, she was ready to set upon her self-assigned mission.
“Come on Sunny, It’ll be fun!” Cumulus leads the newest member of their little pack into her and Cirrus’ shared room, closing the door behind them a bit too eagerly as a complaint can be heard from down the hall and quickly brushed to the side as she continues doing what her heart was set out to do. Sunshine’s smaller hand is held in hers while she leads her to a corner of the room where some beanbags were set up for them to sit on comfortably while they do this.
“...You’re sure it’s going to be fun?” Quiet and anxious, as she has been ever since her summoning day.
Cumulus turns to her, looking into her fiery eyes and smiling warmly at her. Her hand comes to rest on her arm in a comforting gesture. “Oh honey, I promise you that I will try to make this as fun for you as possible.”. After a few seconds, she thinks to add “And if it isn’t fun for you then I promise we can stop whenever you’d like.”
That seems to make Sunshine a little less on edge. Still, Cumulus can’t help the small chuckle that’s pulled from her when the Multi ghoulette raises one of her hands, pinky finger extended out with the most serious of expressions that she’s seen on her yet, and asks; “Pinky promise?”
It’s nearly instant how she wraps her pinky finger around Sunshine’s and pulls her close. “Promise.”
She gives a quick peck to the tip of Sunshine’s nose and that seems to be what finally breaks her walls down. It warms Cumulus’ heart, just how pure and genuine the little laughs that the young ghoulette lets out are. It might just be the purest thing she’s heard in a good long time, maybe even in all of the time since she had been summoned herself.
Once her little laughing fit is all done and over, Sunshine lets out a relaxed sigh and seats herself upon one of the beanbags. She chooses the one that looks the comfiest for herself, a pleasantly plump one with pink faux fur, leaving the smaller blue-grey one for Cumulus. She’s not really sure what to do while she waits for Cumulus to finish gathering all of her things, so she settles with challenging one of the plushes perched atop Cumulus’ pillow to a staring contest. It takes a while but Cumulus soon returns to her assigned beanbag chAir, a whole bunch of stuff that Sunshine had no clue about now laid out on the floor in front of her. She feels a sense of relief wash over her as she’s freed from her silly little staring contest, the look that beady-eyed plush was giving her was starting to get intense.
“All right,” Cumulus claps her hands together as she takes stock of everything, double-checking real quick that she has everything she needs. “Let’s get started!”
“So what are we doing, specifically?”
“I was thinking we’d start it simple with some eyeshadow and eyeliner since it’s your first time.” Cumulus explains her plan. As if any of those words would explain anything to the new ghoulette. Just as she had expected, the response she gets is Sunshine’s brow creasing in confusion and a tilt of her head that reminds Cumulus a bit too much of those cute dog videos that a Sister of Sin had been showing her the other day. Adorableness aside, she decides to explain further with a simple “You’ll see when we’re done.”, which seems to be satisfactory enough of an answer for the curious Multi for the time being. She goes back to as she was on the beanbag, her legs crisscrossed as she waits for Cumulus to do whatever it is she’s been so eager for all morning.
From Cumulus’ collection of makeup supplies, she procures a simple and small eyeshadow palette and a couple of brushes. The corners of her mouth pull up into an even bigger smile as she watches Sunshine’s expression go from confused once again, to full of wonder when Cumulus opens up the palette to reveal all the colours hidden within. That pure wonder in her eyes is something Cumulus hopes will never fade.
Cumulus offers Sunshine a warm smile and goes to hold her hand in hers, caressing her hand in a way intended to soothe any remaining jitters she might have. “It’ll be okay sweetheart, promise.” Orange gazes into black as Sunshine locks eyes with her for a moment. “Now,” She clapped her hands together once again “you got any preference for colour?”
Sunshine seemed to mull it over for a few solid seconds, before finally settling on “Hmm, nah. I think I’ll trust you with that stuff for now. Thanks!” She smiled a small and toothy smile at her, fangs and all on display. It was nice getting to see this initially shy and closed-off ghoulette start to grow more comfortable around her new packmates. Cumulus is honored to have the smaller ghoulette’s trust, even if it’s something as rudimentary as this.
With a gentle hand and a bit of hesitance on Sunshine’s half, Cumulus is finally leaning forward, eyeshadow brush in hand, ready to get this party started. She looks over the colours, a range of mostly more natural or neutral colours with a few brighter more saturated options thrown into the mix. The palette was a gift from one of the Siblings in the choir, a thank-you present for helping them out with some extra singing lessons in her free time, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to use it until now. After analyzing her options she decides on trying out a simple smokey eye.
She starts with one of the darker colours from her selection, getting it on the brush before getting to work, sweeping with gentle strokes across Sunshine’s upper eyelid, slowly but surely applying the makeup while Sunshine sat there perfectly still, save for her tail thumping down onto the beanbag despite the ghoulette’s best attempts to hide her newfound excitement.
It took a bit, especially with how Sunshine started to fidget after spending more than a few seconds without doing something, but Cumulus was all done with the first step and is now ready to move on to the second. She picked a more mid-toned shade, applying it over Sunshine’s crease, spanning from the inner corner to the outer edge of her eye. After a little work, it starts to form a gradient-like appearance with the darker shade. With that all did and done she moves on to the lightest colour she has picked out and is quick, yet careful, to apply it above her crease going up to her brow, it doesn’t take her long at all and she’s ready to start blending everything with a clean brush she saved aside just for this. Everything was coming together now.
“Okay Sunny, just a little bit more and we can move on to the next thing, all good?” It’s almost comical how quick she is to nod her head at the question.
She quickly adds a little of the lightest shade to the inner corners of her eyes, helping to really bring out the brightness of her eyes. Once done with that she puts the palette and all her brushes off to the side, discarded for future her to put away and clean up. Now it was time for the trickier part; eyeliner.
She grabs her liquid eyeliner and while she’s shaking the bottle she explains this next bit to Sunshine “So we’re gonna do your eyeliner now sweetie, but I’ll need you to be very still so I don’t mess it up. Do you think you can do that Sunny?”
“Oh, uhm yeah... I can try, I guess.” Sunshine’s anxiety rears its face a little in her response but is quickly put down with Cumulus’ genuine ‘Thank you, sweetie’, which puts her at ease once again. She still seems a little nervous when Cumulus unscrews the cap and pulls the brush out, but her trust in the older ghoulette seems to cancel it out as she lets out a deep sigh.
Cumulus swipes off a bit of excess liner against the edge of the bottle before going to begin to apply it to Sunshine. After a couple of years of practice along with some good ol’ fashioned trial and error under her belt, Cumulus is able to get a good line on her first try. She’s decided to go for a small wing look for Sunshine, nothing too dramatic. She’s able to do the first wing pretty quick, and is about to move on to doing the same for the other eye when she notices how fidgety Sunshine’s getting with her hands.
“Oh sweetie, you’ve been doing so good so far.” Sunshine beams at the praise. “You wanna hold onto this for me until we’re done so you have something to fidget with?” She asks as she plucks up the stuffed cow plush from her bed, a gift from Mountain after they both discovered their shared love for highland cows that came as a matching set with one he has for himself, the very same plush that Sunshine had been staring down as if her life depended on it earlier. The fat little thing glares hard deep into her soul once again as she grabs the presented plush, but this time she is distracted from its intimidating gaze by just how soft its pale blonde fur is against her fingers. She lets out a small ‘Ooh’ while she pets it. Cumulus deems this as a mission accomplished, and after giving Sunshine a minute to settle back down with her new bovine friend, Cumulus does the wing for her other eye.
With the look almost complete there’s just the lipstick left now, and she’s already got a colour all set and ready to go. A simple nude, to really hit home with making her eyes pop. A darker colour didn’t really seem like Sunshine’s sort of vibe anyway. It ended up taking Cumulus a bit longer than it usually would, given how squirmy Sunshine got at the weird feeling of it being applied to her lips, but Cumulus was happy to say that she was all done.
“And done! Tada!” She presented a small mirror to Sunshine, and aside from a few cracks it had earned over the years that reflective surface did a wonderful job at showing the Multi ghoulette how she looks now. That sparkle in her eyes as she took in all the little details and the slight sparkle of her eyeshadow was well worth all the time they’ve spent here, sitting in some old beanbag chAirs in Cumulus and Cirrus’ room, with some fat little cow plush that still bore into the very depths of Sunshine’s being with its little bead eyes.
“Thank you, Cumulus. This was way more fun than I thought it would be at first, to be honest.”
Cumulus chuckles darkly, “Oh honey, we aren’t done yet.”
“Huh?”, Sunshine wears her confusion on her sleeve, her head tilting to the side again in that dog-like manner. Gosh, it was so adorable, Cumulus just wants to eat her up.
“Well, how did you think you were going to learn if you didn’t try it out yourself, sweetheart?” Cumulus brings back the palette and brushes from earlier, along with the liquid liner. She beams at Sunshine with a big and bright smile as she announces “You’re going to try it out on me now.”
Sunshine gulped. She looked to the cow for support, but for the first time today, he had turned his back to her. She was all alone, left to fend for herself. Damn cow.
…
The learning process was painful. Everything was so much harder than how it seemed, Cumulus truly made it all feel effortless but evidently, it was anything but. There were several times when Sunshine had groaned in frustration and considered giving up and walking off, maybe finding somewhere nice and secluded to sulk for the day, but Cumulus was always there to pull her back in with her words of encouragement. After what felt like hours she was finally done, and she took a few steps back to really take in her work.
“It’s… better than I thought it would be!” Sunshine beams at the older ghoul, tail wagging wildly to and fro, slapping with only a slight sting against her legs on occasion. She truly was sunshine incarnate.
Cumulus brings her into a hug, carefully not to step on any of the stuff strewn across the floor beneath them. “You did good Sunny!” She places a kiss on her cheek before pulling away, looking into those fiery eyes once more. “I’m so proud of you.”
Sunshine tried to hide the oncoming blush across her cheeks, but she wasn’t quite quick enough to hide it from the Air ghoulette. She gets a kiss on the nose as another little tease.
“How do you feel about showing the others?”
That seems to startle her a little, as she jumps in Cumulus’ hold. “Show them?” She looks around the room, catching a glimpse of the two of them in a full-body mirror over on Cirrus’ side. “Like- like right now?”
“Yeah sweetie, right now.” A few moments later Cumulus continues on to add “If you’re comfortable with it, that is.”
“Only if I’m comfortable with it?”
“Yeah, we could just take some photos if you want and go clean all this up.”
Sunshine thinks it over once, twice, three times before finally making her decision. She shakes her head insistently “N-no, I wanna show the others. You did such a good job, it would be a shame for it to go to waste.”
Cumulus brings her into another hug, speaking quietly into her ear “Oh Sunny, don’t sell yourself short. You did good too.”
Sunshine laughs a little at that. “If ya say so.” The pAir quickly put their things away, and by that they mean they put it all onto Cirrus’ desk until Cumulus could put it all back in its rightful place at a later time, knowing Cirrus wouldn’t be too bothered by the additional clutter in the time being. With that done the two open up the door, hand in hand, and step out to show their packmates.
They can hear voices down in the den, the name they have lovingly given to the open area of their dorms where they are free to hang out and eat. The smell of something good cooking tells them that Mountain’s in, as are Dewdrop and Swiss judging by the light-hearted yelling they can hear, likely over some game. Their suspicions are confirmed when the ghoulettes walk out into the space and are greeted by the sight of a good many of their packmates already gathered. Dewdrop, Rain, and Swiss were all squished together on the slightly cramped sofa, Dewdrop and Swiss both with controllers in hand as they argue about who allegedly cheated. Rain was of course attempting to mediate the pAir from where he was sat between them, but that was looking like more and more of a losing battle as the seconds ticked by. Meanwhile, Mountain, just as they expected was over in the kitchenette area of the den.
Cumulus decided to announce their presence with a simple question “What are you making there, Mounty?”
The Earth ghoul’s ears perk up, his tail wagging instantly at the sound of his packmate's voice. He doesn’t turn around but answers her anyway while he continues to cook. “I’m making a grilled sandwich since I had to skip breakfast today.” Knowing the question she was bound to ask before she could even think of it, he goes on to explain “Someone must have accidentally locked one of the strays in the greenhouse tonight, and she was reasonably pissed by the time I got there.” He sticks out his arm, littered with plasters and some angry red marks. Ouch.
“Ouch.” She hissed in sympathy “You got them cleaned, I hope?” The question is met with a subtle nod, the ghoul focusing for a moment as he flips his grilled cheese over.
“Oh yeah, it was Lucy so… ya know…”
“Ooh yeah, her scratches sting like a bitch.” Dewdrop butts in from the sofa, seemingly having won his little debate if Swiss’ pout and quiet grumbling is anything to go by. “Pretty sure I’ve still got a scar from the lil’ fucker!” He sounds almost proud of the absolute beating the scrawny black cat had given him when he last attempted to pick her up. But hey, it still somehow went better than all the other times, so that’s something.
“Hey Lus.” Rain waves tiredly over tiredly, and comedically lets out the biggest yawn not even a few seconds later, stretching in a way that never fails to make everyone question the existence of his bones, and a squeal is heard not a moment later when he knocks Swiss right off of the sofa with his tail.
“Ow! You gotta watch that thing man!” The Multi ghoul rubs at the back of his head, feigning injury in typical dramatic Swiss fashion. They’re all used to it by now, and the Water ghoul just scoffs at him with a chuckle before cosying up more to Dewdrop’s side. Oh, it was so clear who the victor of the argument had been.
“Hehe, hi there Rain. Bullying Swiss as usual I see?” Cumulus smirks at the trio from where she was stood at the edge of the hallway. Sunshine was still hidden away behind her, holding onto her hand with a firm grip while she waited patiently.
“Oh you know it, he was exploiting some glitch in their game.” The Water ghoul explains.
“Hmm, deserved.” She says, but they all know it’s all in good fun. A little laugh from behind her alerts them all to the additional presence that they hadn’t noticed yet, and now they were all looking at her as if she’s sprouted a second head.
She looks behind her and checks in on Sunshine, silently communicating to her through facial expression alone, asking her if she is ready. That small nod was all she needed to let Sunshine’s hand slip from hers so she could step up further into the room.
“Ghouls and gentlemen, I have an announcement to make!” She gestures to herself “As you can see, I have a bit of a new look today, at the hands of our lovely little Sunshine. But not only has she done a wonderful job on me, but she also had to go and honour me by allowing me to hone in my skills with her as my latest project.” All of them seem to perk up at that, it’s certainly been a long time since Cumulus has subjected one of the pack to one of her beauty lessons. It was still fresh in the minds of everyone how insulted Rain was when she suggested that he needed moisturizer. He was a Water ghoul, after all, being moist was his whole brand.
“Without further theatrics, I present to you all, my lovely artist and canvas for this evening!” She gestured to her side, and not long thereafter a only slightly hesitant Multi ghoulette appeared. The room is filled with ‘Ooh’s and ‘Ah’s as they all come up to see Cumulus’ work up close, showering both her and the small ghoulette in compliments.
Swiss whistles as he walks up from his seat of shame down on the carpet. “Damn Lus, you did good with this one.” He grins one of his trademark toothy grins at Sunshine, only appearing slightly menacing as he takes her in. “I’d say you may look even more delectable than usual, little spark.” That blush from earlier is now back in full force, Sunshine’s cheeks burning as the Multi ghoul continues to hit on her some more.
“Okay, keep it in your pants Swisstopher.” Mountain calls out from the kitchenette as he starts to make his way over too, his grilled cheese new safe and placed on a plate to cool down for a moment. “You look great Sunshine.” He says before pulling her into a firm hug. “Sorry I wasn’t able to give you your lessons today, like I said, there were some… complications down at the gardens.”
“Oh, that’s fine. It all worked out in the end anyway, Cumulus found me!” Her tail wags strongly behind her.
He chuckles warm and deep, and pulls out from the hug to turn over to the aforementioned Air ghoulette. “And speaking of the devil,” he’s being pulled by Cumulus into a kiss before he can continue the thought. When he’s finally released from her grasp he tries not to think of how her fresh lipstick has probably just smudged all over his mouth and tries to regather his brain cells real quick. “Uh, as I was saying; you look fantastic as always Lus, though the blue is certainly a break from your usual tastes.”
“Hehe, I let Sunny here pick all the colours herself.”
“Damn, you did all that yourself?” Dewdrop asks, sounding genuinely impressed.
Sunshine blushes even more at all the attention but nods in response to the question.
“Wow, you did great for your first time!” Swiss is the next to offer his thoughts. “You shoulda seen what she looked like when Mountain first tried to do her makeup for her.”
Said Earth ghoul was now hiding his face away in the crook of Cumulus’ neck as best as he can with their height difference, and the small whine that can be heard from him causes laughter to spread across the pack. “She looked like a discount circus clown!” Dewdrop exclaimed before clutching at his stomach as he bent over with the sheer force of laughter that hit him. The others were in a similar state.
Their reactions make Sunshine wish she was there to see it for herself.
Dusk my beloved <3
I just had to do a design using my main and highest level legend, he's so underrated it's actually crazy, orb and spear go so hard and don't even get me started on the sigs.
Just don't ask what my rank is...
The art used is official character art from Brawlhalla, I absolutely love the art from the Brawlhalla team and every legend in the game just has so much personality in their key art.
As usual, if you have a character you’d like to see made into a design, let me know!
Honkai Star Rail time? Honkai Star Rail time.
Everyone's favourite slightly sadistic Stellaron Hunter! I thought it'd be fun to switch it up a bit and go with HSR for this design while I try and get more ideas for Genshin designs, this one was really fun to do even if it was a slight pain to get the resources...shout out to wanderer.moe and its creator @dromzeh over on Twitter for being like one of the best places for these assets.
As always, the art used in the design is official art from Hoyoverse.
If you have a character you’d like to see made into a design, let me know!
It's Diluc's time to be made into a cool design and although I don't normally talk about the design process...holy fuck this one hates my computer. Although I understand that working in a 5K res document is pretty taxing, did Photoshop really need to use 8GB of my memory and also take like 1.2GB of storage just for the project file?? To be fair, a more gritty style like this ends up using alot of textures and brushes so it somewhat makes sense.
As usual, the art used in the design is official art from Hoyoverse.
If you have a character you'd like to see made into a design, let me know!
Last post I mentioned that I might do Xiao for the next design and not long after that, I had an idea and quickly got to work. It took me a while to actually get the idea down and be happy with it however I think I've done quite well with this design. Xiao is another one of my favourite designs from Genshin and honestly I hope I get the bastard in a 10x one day, even though I don't play Genshin.
Like last time, the art used in the design is official art from Hoyoverse.
Next design...I'll have to do some looking around and maybe take a moment to decide, unless someone suggests a character.
77th Generation Director Of The Wangsheng Funeral Parlor
I finally realised that not making graphics based off of Genshin Impact and its characters is a terrible idea since there's so much I could do with them...so here's Hu Tao! One of my favourite characters in a game that if I'm being honest, I'm not the biggest fan of, I much prefer Honkai Star Rail.
I'll probably get crucified for saying that but oh well.
The art used in the design is official art from MiHoYo Hoyoverse.
Not sure who I'll make a design based off next...maybe Xiao?
