#cotton writes

[mosshugs]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

A fic about learning the hard way that everyone has to be fragile sometimes, and it doesn’t make you weak to reach out to the people who love you. Especially when all they want is to be there.

[mosshugs]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Another one- this time a little OT3 fluff because their definitely isn’t enough of it. Keiichi, Mion, and Rena finally have enough time to start figuring out their emotions for each other- but they have to face down one disapproving grandma first. I hope y’all like it :)

[mosshugs]

Cliffside Confessions

Kin memory fic but this time it’s Inanimate Insanity! Some Mephoj for the soul

It was pleasantly warm out tonight.

This was the thought that meandered in OJ's mind as he made his way to the meeting place, smiling idly to himself and staring thoughtfully off the edge of the cliff he walked along. The grass was soft beneath his feet, a light breeze wrapping around him like a blanket as he neared the shrubs that marked his destination. Speeding up in excitement, he pushed his way through the bushes and beamed at the familiar sight of his friend and crush resting in their usual spot; sat in the windblown grass beneath a particularly large tree on the cliff side. He and Mephone 4 had been meeting here for a few weeks now, easily reviving the little tradition they'd begun in the first season of the competition. It was natural to get back in the swing of it; simple to just talk for hours together as the stars traced their path over the sea. Of course, the glass had no particular reason to expect this night would be any different. With little fanfare he approached the phone-who, for his part, was clearly lost in his thoughts-and placed a gentle hand on his back, offering a greeting. "Hey 4, sorry if I'm a bit late. Knife had made a bit of a mess in the hotel so I had to stay an extra second to clean up. It's good to see you, though." He let his smile bleed into his voice, touching it with friendly warmth. Still, the only response he received was a detached grumble; something decidedly abnormal for his companion. Sure, Mephone 4 wasn't known for being the most open soul all the time, but here in there space he would usually let up on the grumpy facade... Concerned, OJ frowned, taking a step around his friend to get a look at his face. Mephone's expression was blank, his eyes dark with sleeplessness and haunted by anxiety. At first glance he almost appeared angry, but to one who knew him well the expression carried only pain and fear. Instantly worried, OJ sat down in the silvery grass beside his companion, reaching a hand out to lightly touch the other's. "Hey, what's wrong? Did the challenge not go well today? Or was it... something else" He dared not speak the name he'd been told before, unwilling to dig up painful memories if it was avoidable. Though, if the lost look Mephone wore was any indication, it wasn't avoidable tonight. Still, the electronic seemed to snap back to himself at least the littlest bit. At once he shook it off, answering too quickly and still with the strange hollowness to his words, almost cold in their delivery. "I'm fine, OJ. It's nothing." Of course, the juice glass had not been born yesterday and did not believe this for a second. "C'mon 4, talk to me. Something isn't right-" Before he could finish, the other stiffened, his expression twisting for a second, as though he could cry. It was gone as quick as it had come, replaced by the same clear effort to hold back and a frosty, snapped response. "I said I'm fine, OJ, it doesn't matter!" With that, the electronic pushed up from the ground, turning his back and walking a few paces away from his shocked friend before stopping to wrap his arms around himself, shivering despite the comfortable heat of the sea air. For a second there was silence, but only a second. Be it recklessness or wisdom nobody could say, but something motivated OJ to stand as well, taking only a step or two closer to the other before he spoke; murmuring so gently the breezes could have very nearly carried it away. "4...I know some days are bad like this, and you want to be strong, but you can't bottle it up forever. All that hurt and fear and everything, I care y'know? I worry about you... You've got to talk to somebody about this stuff, it doesn't even have to be me! You've just..got to tell someone, so it can't eat at you like this.." He trailed off, waiting for a response other than the faint hiss of waves far below them. The quiet hung between them for a long moment, and then another one, seeming eternal to the nervous glass who could do nothing but hope he hadn't pushed too hard. Finally, the silence cracked, broken by a sentence almost too softly spoken for OJ to hear. "You're right. It doesn't have to be you." This probably would have hurt to hear if it wasn't instantly followed up. "But it is you, isn't it? It's always you." As he spoke, Mephone turned to face hist friend, showing the way his face now shone with a few escaped tears. For once, he didn't even seem keen on bothering to wipe them away, instead just continuing on an increasingly loud rant as he slowly approached the glass. "It's always you, with your stupid sweet smile and your stupid voice and your stupid, always caring about everybody on this stupid competition that wasn't even supposed to be important. And your stupid caring about me for some stupid reason! It's you, OJ, it's you and you make me...stupid!" He paused here, catching his breath and only seeming to vaguely realize how incomprehensible that was. OJ, in the meantime, was staring with a sort of bewildered expression; seeming torn between being happy or apologetic. At once Mephone sighed, his face lit with tears and a hint of a blush, and he buried his face in his hands, catching his breath before trying that again. "It IS you, because you're the only one I want to tell any of this stuff to. You're the only one who really, cares about it, and I can just, talk to you, and feel kinda, secure with you, and, ugh." He trailed off again, clearly lost in the attempt to explain himself. In a sudden swoop of sweet, divine mercy OJ actually managed to connect the dots, and in spite of everything he couldn't stop himself from smiling, the anxious hollowness from moments before filled with a fresh, sunny burst of affection. Before he could even think about his actions, he closed the distance between them; taking 4's hands and carefully pulling them away from his face. At once the phone looked up, mingled fear and warmth and confusion flitting across his face as his companion spoke. "Don't worry 4, I get it. It's you too, for me I mean. You're the one, to me." The two blinked at each other in the wake of this confession, both seeming equally clueless in how to proceed until Mephone finally bit the bullet and reacted, his voice steadying just enough to manage one sentence. "Well, it would've been nice to know that sooner." At once he burst out into laughter so strong it brought tears rushing down his cheeks; and OJ followed right behind him.Together they dissolved into a cackling fit, falling over on the ground and clinging to each other like life rafts in their little clearing while they laughed till their sides ached in protest. It was ages before either regained their breath enough to even attempt talking, but both were quietly pleased to see that when it ended they were still holding tight to each other; Mephone enough so that he turned to bury his face in his...boyfriend's, chest. It was OJ that gained enough oxygen to speak first, voice almost shy in it's tentativeness. "So, are we official now?" Mephone snorted at that, pulling himself tighter against the other. Despite the fact that his face was hidden, the playful eyeroll was apparent in his tone. "You really are clueless, huh? But I guess I have been too... Yeah, we're official now. Big sap.."

[mosshugs]

Bright Eyes

Another kin drabble! Marina and Pearl’s first meeting, takes place right after the last one. 

The ride to Inkopolis had been mercifully peaceful, with nobody on the metro giving Marina anything more than a glance despite the ruckus she’d made getting on board. Watching the lights go by outside the window had been almost soothing; a reminder that no matter what happened from here on, she was free of the barracks of Octo Canyon. At the very least that chapter of her life was over, though the next one was too uncertain for her to truly relax. Actually, the further she let her mind wander on the rumbling train, the more she wondered if Inkopolis had been the best idea. If anything at all that Octavio had said was truth, the inklings would be less than thrilled to see her there. Would they send her back? Attack her? Worse? Each new possibility added to her mounting anxiety, and by the time the metro pulled into the Inkopolis station she was trembling like a leaf. Still, going back home was not an option now, and this was the route she’d chosen; for better of for worse she was going to commit to it.

Taking a deep breath, the octoling girl picked up the couple of things she’d managed to grab on her way out and hurried toward the front, pausing just long enough to garble a few more expressions of gratitude in broken inklish at the conductor. She’d truly never be able to thank him enough for this; a free ride was nothing to sneeze at; and yet he only shrugged it off and sent her along with the best of well wishes. 

And then she was alone. The city was dark, even the night life having died down by this hour, and yet even with the lights out it was clear that this place was bigger than anything Marina ever could have imagined. The walls of the buildings around her rose into the darkness like the canyons she’d only just left behind’ the streets and alleys sprawling out in every direction like an impossible maze. All at once it was very overwhelming, the reality of the situation sinking in, and the octoling barely managed to avoid crying on the spot. Whatever she had expected freedom to be like, this wasn’t it. This was aimless and lonely and impossible, what had she been thinking coming here? She’d be killed here, she didn’t have anyone, or even anywhere to sleep! She was going to starve here all by herself and nobody would even know about it. As her thoughts spiraled out of control and her panic mounted, threatening to overtake her, Marina did the only think she could even think to do. She ran. She ran with no goal, tearing down alleys and sidestreets as if she might magically find some clarity in the dark passageways of the city. It was aimless, pointless, just like her entire runaway attempt; but with luck maybe it would burn out energy. Or she’d just fall over an edge into water somewhere, whichever came first. For the second time that night her lungs were burning, chest heaving and legs screaming with the desire to stop; but she kept on, wide eyed and racing to nowhere and glancing behind her just in case someon-oof! With a startled yelp, she crashed directly into someone, toppling over easily in her weakened state and hitting the ground with a thump. Hers was the only wheeze she heard, so from the sound of it whoever she’d run into was still standing; an idea which was quickly confirmed when she looked up to see the startled face of a young inkling girl. Immediately she froze, unable to do anything but stare as all of Octavio’s warnings of inklings flooded her mind. Still, this girl didn’t look anything like the one’s she’s fought, or even the ones she’d been cautioned of. This squid was smaller, with bobbed white hair that neatly shifted to pink at the tip and a shimmery crown that perched neatly on her head. What was even more striking than this though, were her eyes; stark gold with pupils like stars, clear and bright and filled with life; an impossible contrast to the eyes of so many octarians, glazed and dim with the fog that was trained into their minds from childhood. For a split second Marina found herself almost captivated, staring dumbly into stellar gold until the other girl’s voice broke her from her stupor. “Whoa, hey, are ya okay? Can ya get up from down there?” Her voice was accented but thankfully understandable, and Marina silently thanked the Great Zapfish that she’d been taught the basics of inklish in her advanced training. Slowly, she rose to her legs, wincing as the muscles throbbed from overuse and struggling to find her voice. “Yes, I am okay. I am sorry! I was not meaning to run into you...Are you unhurt?” Of course her voice came out thick with octarian lilt, and she internally cursed herself for that- not that a voice change was going to hide much when she was still in full octo-armor, but still. Despite this, the smaller girl didn’t seem especially fazed, mostly just a little shocked as she continued on. “No I’m fine, don’t worry. But uh... Aren’t you a little far out here? I know some folks might give you trouble, out wandering around like this..” She seemed reluctant to ask, struggling with the tact of her own wording. It was a sentiment Marina understood, and she offered a pained smile to the stranger, crossing one arm shyly over her chest to grip her other arm and dropping her voice to a near whisper. “Um...yes. I was coming here on the Metro..?” She offered this, quickly realizing from the expression that greeted her that this explanation was not quite enough. With a sigh, the octoling girl braced herself and continued, trying to help the other make some sense of her reasoning. “I..am not belonging in Octo Canyon anymore. Inkopolis was only other place I could remember, but I am not knowing what I was thinking. Perhaps I will, try to go somewhere else. I cannot go back, but Inkopolis...A foolish choice, for an octoling.” Telling a stranger this was most definitely a terrible idea, an inkling stranger no less. Chances are this was a great way to end up hurt, or jailed, but with exhaustion and misery settling in thick Marina couldn’t bring herself to care. Tears were threatening, rising to burn behind her eyes again; but she wiped her face before any could escape. She didn’t have the oxygen to spare for crying, she had to get going to...wherever it was she was headed. Before she could take off again though, the squid girl in front of her took  a step closer, her face twisted in a look of concern. That alone was enough to give Marina pause, confusion washing though her at just how worried the strange girl looked. “Wait, do ya not have any place you can go? You just, ran away and got here by yourself?” The questions dripped only with baffled anxiety, catching Marina off guard so much that she could do little more than nod. Instantly, the little squid got a thoughtful look on her face, reaching out to catch Marina’s arm  in a gentle grip as she pondered to herself’;clearly weighing something in her mind before determination set in and she nodded. The whole display would have been amusing if it weren’t for the situation, as right now Marina could do little more than stand there and wait in mildly alarmed confusion. After a few seconds of silence, the small inkling inhaled a deep breath, blurting her next words as though she didn’t want to give herself a chance to back out. “Look, it’s up to you absolutely but, I’ve got the space for you to come crash at my place if you need to. You don’t gotta but, I don’t care if you’re an octoling, I can’t just leave you out here by yourself without even offerin’. Especially since I got more than enough space and all..” She trailed off here, clearly awaiting a response. Meanwhile, for her part, Marina was now convinced she was hallucinating. Surely this couldn’t be real, the very first inkling she ever truly met offering their home to her? It didn’t make sense! Weren’t they afraid of her? Should she be afraid of them? Reasonably the answer was probably yes, but between the genuine concern on the inkling’s face and the total exhausted burnout that had been settling in like a stormcloud since she’d stopped running, the octoling found herself nodding before she’d even really thought about it. “Yes, please. That sounds wonderful...” And it did. It really did. A roof, a bed, and the comfort of someone being nearby to keep the empty loneliness from strangling her. It was almost too good to be true, but somehow it would seem that it was; if the excited, almost childish grin on the other’s face was indicator. In exchange, Marina offered her own tired smile; accepting as she was gently pulled along behind her newfound friend, who was currently talking about what she had at her house. Honestly, so long as it had a place to sleep, it could have been a shed for all Marina cared, that would have been enough. Her rampant energy from before was gone, replaced by the first trace of relaxation she could remember having felt. All at once, she realized something, her head snapping up as she spoke; possibly interrupting whatever her new friend had been saying. “Names! You should be knowing mine, if I am to be coming to where you live! I am Marina, Marina Ida.” The smaller girl mulled this over for a minute, then responded with a smile that could have lit up the darkness of the deepening night before answering herself. “Well, hi Marina. I’m Pearl.”

[mosshugs]

Amnesiac

This is literally a kin memory written like a fanfic for the hell of it

The battle had been going so well.

You’d taken out the enemies closest to you with a couple of quick shots, your trusty N-ZAP ‘85 proving itself useful as you easily wiped out your opponents. You could hear the jeering of your true foe, commanding his fleet from farther back. What a coward, to make the others do his dirty work. He was no better than Octavio, in that sense or any other; though you had to begrudgingly admit his take on sanitization was a new type of threat. The monster claimed he’d mobilized the procedure, speeding it up enough that a single attack from a weapon full of sanitizing goo could wash the mind from any cephaloperson. Still, the blows were almost painfully easy to dodge as his undertrained army challenged you; seeming blissfully unaware of how skilled you and the other agents had become over the years.

It was so simple, so easy, it was easy to get cocky. No enemy had gotten close, no shot had come near to landing; and even in this chaos your friends were behind you cheering and congratulating one another on successful shots and slick moves. Flashing a subtle grin, you turn to face them; unable to resist the urge to glance at your companions. Your sight settles on your wife, watching her roll with gusto and fire with her much-beloved dualies. Her golden eyes glinted when she noticed you watching, a proud smile spreading across her features and her movements becoming even more exaggerated in an effort to show off.

“Reena, watch this!”

And so watch you did, enamored as she dodged nearly too quickly to be seen and took out two enemies with a quick shot of her twin guns. Even after all these years she didn’t fail to impress you with her savvy tricks; always done with such flair that it was very nearly a performance.

You were still entranced by her when you heard the charger fire, only subconsciously registering the sound as it echoed through the air. For a split second you saw Callie’s horrified face, Agent 8’s eyes widening as she also saw what was about to happen; and then the blast collided with the side of your head, knocking you down, and for a moment you don’t really notice anything else.

At first it was just painful and annoying. A single charger shot wasn’t enough to splat you these days, much less kill you. Instinctively you lift one hand to the throbbing contact point on your head, feeling the spatter of cool ink over your tentacles and pulling it away to investigate it. Your ears begin to ring as you take in its sickly, familiar green color and everything that entails, and all at once you realize just how invasive the pain from the hit is. Still sitting on the ground you lift your gaze,your stomach dropping as the terrible reality of what was about to happen crashed into you. For the fist time in years you find yourself frozen, unable to move  even as you watched your friends scramble to get close to you. They’re taking down every enemy within the area, no longer playing around with the mission. You see Marie- no, no, that’s Callie, rushing to help you.

And then you see Pearl.

She runs to you, skidding to a stop in front of you and grabbing for your hand. You see the tears welling in her eyes and it makes your heart feel like it could shatter on the spot. Suddenly you become aware that you’re crying too, trembling and whimpering as a cold numbness begins to spread through your thoughts. You can already feel it gnawing at the edges of your memories, unraveling you like spun thread, and you desperately grip the hand of the squid in front of you. You can hear again now, and you almost wish you couldn’t; as the desperation in her voice is almost too much.

“Marina I’m sorry! Stay with me okay? Just focus, focus on everything and don’t forget. Please don’t forget. Remember our wedding, with Judd as the ring bearer? Remember when you told me you liked me and I just stuttered for ages? Remember when you came to inkopolis and you bumped into me? The first night you stayed with me, I told you you were my first sleepover. We made Off the Hook, don’t forget. Please, please Reena don’t forget..”

She’s babbling and you do remember it. You can recall every last thing, but even as she pulls those thoughts to mind you can feel them beginning to haze over and crumble away into nothingness. You can’t quite remember the name of the octoling behind her; one with fuschia hair and wide eyes who you feel you’re supposed to know. You think you might recall the inkling nearby with the long green tentacles on both sides, but you’re not entirely sure. Your breathing speeds up and you lock eyes with the girl in front of you, trying to clutch her name tight in the deepest part of your mind where it can’t be taken away. Your voice comes out higher than intended, unsteady as the unnatural Novocain works its way through your mind.

“Pearlie please, I don’t want to forget. I love you, I don’t want to forget please don’t let me please..”

You murmur it like a prayer, knowing that she can’t do anything. She’s just as powerless as you are to keep your feelings, your thoughts, your self from turning to dust and emptiness. All she can do is hold your hand and lean her forehead against yours, sobbing. You cry too, trying not to wail as you feel everything slipping away; leaving a sickening hollowness that tell you you’re losing something important. You’re certain you’re meant to know this girl in front of you, with her heartbroken golden eyes and her short white and pink tentacles. A name echoes somewhere in your subconscious, but it’s too far away for you to reach. Your head is pounding, and for a reason you can’t really remember your heart carries a misery so thick you feel you could drown in it; though even that is being dulled by a staticky nothingness even as the green and pink pair of squids start trying to pick you up and lead you away; their own faces masks of grief and fear.

And then, mercifully, something in you flips a switch and unconsciousness swallows you up before you can even think to fight it.

When you wake the first thing you see is the weak sunlight streaming through the window by your bed. The second thing you see is your wife, your Pearlie, fast asleep with her head on your hospital bed. Her cheeks are flushed and tear-streaked, her tense shoulders twitching as though she were currently trapped in a bad dream. For a moment you don’t have any idea why you’re here and not warm and cozy at home, but then a flicker of recent events stirs in your mind, reminding you of why your head still aches, and all of a sudden the only thing you can think about is that you still remember. Callie, Marie, Agents 3, 4, 8, Capn’ Cuttlefish, Pearlie, Pearlie, Pearlie.

You put a hand on her head, smoothing back her tentacles, and she jolts awake with a start. Almost immediately her gaze fixates on you, wide and scared and vulnerable and filled to the brim with an unspoken question. You try your best to smile, though you aren’t sure how well it turns out- it seems some small things are still a bit lost- and you begin to whisper to her.

“I remember the wedding,” you begin softly, voice hoarse with sleep and tears, “I remember when I confessed to you and I was so scared you’d say no. I remember when i came to inkopolis, and the first sleepover, and Off the Hook. I remember everyone, I remember you. I didn’t forget, I didn’t forget.”

The kiss she gives you then speaks volumes that all her lyrics would have coveted.

You carry the scar from that shot for the rest of your life- an odd, pale green and black patch that spreads across the thick of your tentacle and onto the skin of your cheek. A few things are lost; minor things, memories that you miss but could stand to be without. You are thoroughly aware that the loss could have been far worse, you felt how that emptiness crept through you and shudder at the thought of it having been permanent. But it isn’t, and you remember.

And you will never, ever, forget.

[mosshugs]

One Chance

More self-indulgent memory fic. This time based around Marina fleeing the octo army. 

All Marina could do was run. It was so dark. A light would have been a liability; easy to spot in the black of night. For the first time in her life she was grateful for her outfit- pathetically useless as it was for armor, it was at least dark enough to keep her hidden as she darted through the shadows away from the barracks. Ducking her head and freezing at every sound, the octoling girl swiftly and silently made her way through the canyon; heading for the only exit she could think of. She’d been on plenty of stealth missions before and had never flinched, not fearing death back then. Some of the emotions that had awoken at that concert weren’t exactly convenient, it seemed, as the terror nearly strangled her. She had to get to the station, she couldn’t be seen. She’d be sanitized for this. Finally, the dull walls of the station rose up over the horizon. It was hardly a silhouette in the night, but it might has well have been the spire of salvation for Marina. Breathless and shaking, she put all she had into the last sprint toward the building; squeezing her eyes shut and booking it even as she heard a confused warble from an octarian on patrol somewhere nearby. Frantic, she slipped through the doors, unable to do anything but pray that she hadn’t been spotted by anyone unfortunate. The station itself was nearly empty, the last subway for the night about to pull out. Eyes wide, she flung herself toward the doors with a cry, tripping and collapsing on the bottom step up and looking up to the very surprised little conductor for the metro, a sea cucumber with only a tiny hat to indicate his authority. “What in blazes girl, you could have fallen right onto the track! Just get here on time for yer train and you won’t have to...” He trailed off as he looked at her, and despite his lack of ability for facial expressions she could practically feel the shock he had as he looked her over. It was only now that she became aware she was crying, tears spilling down her face as she tried unsuccessfully to pull enough oxygen into her screaming body. There was no telling how far she’d run, but it still wasn’t far enough. Still too close to be safe. She couldn’t quite articulate all this though, all she could manage was a handful of words, coughed out in a strangled sob. “Please...I’ve got nothing, but I’ve got to go. I can’t go back, please...” As soon as the words were free she coughed, still heaving for breath and trying to deal with the realization that she was completely at the mercy of this stranger. The conductor, for his part, seemed a bit lost on what to do. Slowly, he glanced down the aisles of his metro, seeming to note that it was very nearly empty. Not many passengers keen to ride at this hour, it would seem, only desperate little octolings running away from who knows what. After a short moment of thinking, he turned back to Marina, who was only just managing to regain some sort of stability where she knelt on the step.  “Alright. C’mon then, I’ll take ye where ya need to be. No charge. I don’t rightly have much better to do anyway.” With that, he slid down the aisle, making space for Marina to scrabble to her feet and race into the subway, babbling thank yous and incomprehensible gratitude the whole way. Nervously, she followed her new acquaintance, unsure what to do now with no protocol, no commander, nobody she knew. The silence dragged on for a few seconds, with her growing increasingly tense as she walked until the conductor broke the silence. “I don’t believe I got yer name, miss. And I’ll need to know where ya plan to be heading, if I’m gonna be taking ya there.” At once she nodded, her words tumbling free in awkward, clunky inklish. Who knew if this guy spoke octarian, after all? “Marina.. I am Marina. And..” She blinked there, realizing she hadn’t actually thought about where she’d be going. What all places even were there? A bit panicked again, she rifled through her memory for the name of somewhere, anywhere, at last managing to recall a pace she’d heard the name of in many a mission briefing. The inkling capital would be a dangerous place to go, but no part of this wasn’t dangerous. It’d be somewhere far away, and really that’s all that mattered. “Inkopolis, please. Take me to Inkopolis.”

[mosshugs]

russetfur and blackstar for the music meme? like as a ship

Sacrifice- Zella Day (pitch shifted version)

This isn’t a hundred words ‘cause that isn’t enough so I just wrote a general short drabble under the cut. I hope you like!!

Screeching, flying fur, flashing claws; Blackstar’s world had been turned into nothing but this brutal battlefield in a matter of seconds. When his patrol had found the fox den, they had meant to go back and make a better plan before attacking, but the inhabitants of the burrow had come from seemingly nowhere and descended on them in an instant. In the first heartbeats of the battle the huge tom had been separated from his mate, and he’d scarcely seen her since. Swiping out a great black paw to claw the nearest fox across the shoulder, he turned his attention to searching the fray for any sign of her. He could see the battered, angry cats of his patrol, but he saw no sign of his beloved anywhere. Panic set in quickly, and he yowled her name into the chaos, his heart racing with fear at her absence.

All at once he caught sight of a flash of rusty fur, all sticky and tangled with blood. She was injured, cornered against stone by a beast of a fox, yet still her dark green eyes were alight with proud fury and her sharp tongue was spitting vicious curses, but she stood no chance alone.In an instant the leader charged, shouldering past the other dueling pairs and racing for his mate. He was on the canine within a moment, his claws tearing at its eyes with relentless rage. He heard Russetfur’s yowl of shock from behind him, trying to warn him, and then teeth latched firmly around his middle, silencing his consciousness before he could even register the pain.

By the time he returned from his brief rendezvous with Starclan, he’d been dragged beneath a lip of rock at the edge of the small clearing. The foxes were gone, driven off by the battered but victorious warriors who now sat catching their breath in the grass. Slowly, he became aware of a familiar warmth wrapping around him; a rhythmic tongue rasping comfortingly over his ears. His breathing must have given away that he had come back, because she stopped her grooming to murmur into his ear.“You dumb, impulsive furball. You don’t have enough lives left to keep pulling stunts like that.”Her voice was soft, mingling gratitude and frustration twisting through it.“What possessed you to just charge in like an untrained apprentice? You could have been finished, Blackstar. That was far too much risk to take..”She trailed off, her muzzle pushing gently against his head in a nuzzle, and with a strained purr the leader pressed his head back into the fur of her throat; lovingly nestling himself there. His voice was gravelly when he spoke.“I’m still here, aren’t I? And besides, for you my dear… I would proudly sacrifice every life I still possess. ”

[mosshugs]

hey the drabble thingy for patty or eruka plz? ;3c

Hollow- Cloudeater

As always: way more than a hundred. I went for Eruka ‘cause of the song!

"....Is the plan clear, Eruka?"The voice was pure venom, an icy hiss that felt wrong on the ears. Eruka stared into slitted golden eyes, wishing with every bone in her body that she could respond in defiance; reject every command Medusa gave her and finally leave this. The snakes under her skin seemed to sense this, and tightened uncomfortably to remind her of what bound her here. A grimace took over her expression in an instant, and she dropped her obstinate glare to the ground, grumbling an unwilling agreement."Yeah, I understand."The words felt like poison dripping from her tongue, and she spat them accordingly. If her captor noticed this however, she gave no sign of it; merely grinning her terrible grin and slinking off into the shadows again. No sooner was she gone than the frog witch lifted her head again, glowering angrily after her. Still, she took to her orders, turning on a heel and walking off in the direction of the Academy where she knew Crona would be waiting. Quiet footsteps steadily morphed into the innocuous plap, plap of her little frog body against the cobblestone when she changed form, hopping along the alleyway with only the company of her thoughts; and such serious thoughts they were.She thought of Crona, anxious and timid and withdrawn; thought of the way their eyes lit with terror at even the mention of their mother. She thought of the eldest Mizune sister, fallen beneath Medusa's cruel hand. She thought of her own blood, infested with serpents it would take ages to be free from, and with each thing she brought to mind she grew angrier. How dare Medusa do this, what had ever given her the right to bend so many to her will with nothing short of torture. It was infuriating and horrific and terrible and-Too much.In that instant, as she drew close to the collapsed old crates outside her pseudo-sibling's bunker, she made a decision. She was done taking this; she was done being a tool of it.That's why when she spoke to her friend this night, she told them to stay with the Academy, advising them to end their information hunting mission and simply try to live out their life. She kept the details vague, giving no sign that this was mutiny on her part, merely  informing them that it was the best way to proceed now.Only once they had fallen silent; presumably sleeping, did she leap down and begin the journey back home. The newfound rebellion was a terrifying one; she would have to be tremendously cautious to not give away that she'd defied orders, but she also felt free. She'd broken some part of the control over her, and that simple victory was enough to bring a smile to her froggy face as she bounced away into the shadows.