Could we get Jaxon meeting his human mate for the first time? Perhaps she’s a bit of a small thing working at a bar, bringing drinks to tables and typically being harassed. Despite her size though, she may be sharp and witty, not having a problem with much of the harassment that came with her work but in no way tolerating being degraded. Perhaps she uses her wit to bring them down a few notches or she’s stronger than she looks. Up to you.
Dude, Jaxon got SO much more attention than I EVER could have anticipated. I mean, just look at his notes versus any of my other monster boys, like DANG IN THE HUNDREDS???? I’d never even done a dialogue prompt before! I think it was the ‘werewolf boyfriend’ tag, if I’m gonna be honest, hahah. Not gonna lie, though, the boy’s a snack. So yes please????? Let’s get this show on the road, shall we? Oh, did I mention Jaxon’s half-Hispanic? No?? Oop, have fun.
The Red Dahlia, a local bar named after its ginger spitfire of an owner Miss Dahlia, sat in the middle of a gravel parking lot a handful of miles from town. It brought in all manner of creature and, according to a certain utterly baffled reporter, was a “breeding ground for drunks, lechers, and perverts”. Jaxon chuckled at the memory, his wide palms tucked within the depths of his jackets leather pockets as he stared up at the flashing red neon sign, swinging dangerously from rusted iron chains in the wind. He’d been there when the ‘reporter’(blogger, actually) had come into the bar, working on an article about ‘local, underrated hotspots’; she’d come in, head held high and brown, hair-sprayed curls bouncing, red lipstick so crimson it had called him a peasant, and eyebrows as thin as Miss Dahlia’s patience. She was a target from the moment she walked in.
Miss Dahlia had greeted the middle-aged housewife, a wide smile across her full lips, and the entire bar erupted into outrageous laughter when the woman introduced herself as ‘Karren’(two ‘r’s, she’d elaborated for a Miss Dahlia who hadn’t asked). Karren loathed every inch of the Red Dahlia, insults and back-handed compliments lashed harmlessly through the air, and, when Knash(a local, grungy gnoll with a wicked grin and a short muzzle) grabbed a handful of her bottom, she‘d stormed out with an unintelligible screech. Jaxon missed it.
He’d left the small town, Arrowway as it was known on maps, around a year ago and he’d only just gotten back in town a few seconds earlier; his motorcycle engine rumbling like distant thunder and pressing hotly against his long legs. He’d been in New Mexico, chasing down hunters and beasts alike and digging up any information he could find on his father. Aaron Bluewater, Jaxon’s dad, had been missing for months; the police declared him dead and the investigation had stopped, but that didn’t mean Jaxon was ready to. Nowhere close.
A rowdy group of girls burst from the double doors of the wooden building, laughing and stumbling across the parking lot in their stilettos. A black-haired fae, dressed in what Jaxon would simply call a wasted fish net, caught sight of the sun-tanned male and hollered across the way at him, “Wh-hello, han’some! Wan’ join ‘s?”
“No, thank you,” Jaxon couldn’t help the grin that tumbled across his face as he tucked his thoughts away and approached the old bar. As flattering as the slurred compliment may have been, Jaxon furrowed his eyebrows at the red-faced girls and kept his hands tucked in his pockets, “You have a ride home, right?”
A blonde harpy girl spoke then, her shimmering top see-through and her pink lip gloss smudged, “Why don’t you be our ride home, hmm?”
“I’m not into narcolepsy, but thank you.” Jaxon grinned, his canines illuminated by the flashing red ambiance of the ‘Red Dahlia: Pub and Club’ sign, “You girls call in a taxi, yeah? You’ll get someone killed driving around like that.”
The girls fell into a stunned silence and, as one of them whispered ‘Yeah, I-I can call’, Jaxon pushed opened the bar doors and stepped into the pulsing, Latin music. Jaxon ran a nervous hand through his thick, black hair and cast his light blue eyes across the familiar space, as though he were looking for something, before he took a quick seat at the empty table closest to the door. He noticed a little, plastic menu in front of him and he raised his thick brows curiously. Taking it in his hands, he read over the contents; all of the drink options were as he remembered, with a few new, interesting concoctions listed, but now there was a small section for food, many of which he could recall from his early childhood. A grin swept across his face and a nostalgic warmth fell across his chest as he read over the menu.
“Hello!” Jaxon nearly jumped from his seat, shoulders instinctually squaring and his curved claws peeking forward in anticipation. You stood before him and the warmth in his chest crawled up across his throat and burned at his face. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you!”
Jaxon, for the first time in a long time, couldn’t formulate the proper, English words and a gentle, “Tan hermosa…”
“Hmm?” You intoned curiously, your silken hair tumbled across your forehead and cheeks as you slightly turned your head up to him.
Jaxon’s mouth went dry and English failed him again, “Nada. I mean-I… Nothing. Sorry, you’re fine. Wait, no-I mean, yes, but… Thank you.” Jaxon whispered quietly as he forced himself back down into his seat, he cupped his forehead and groaned softly, “I’m sorry. I’m just… Tired.”
“I completely understand! I feel the exact same way too, sometimes words are just so hard.” You spoke sympathetically, a giggle punctuating your sentence. The sound, unsurprisingly, did not help Jaxon piece his thoughts together better. You introduced yourself politely, the sound of your name echoing in Jaxon’s head for a few moments after wards, “So, what can I get for you, sir?”
Jaxon fumbled with the menu for a moment, reading over the laminated words(despite the fact he already knew exactly what he wanted), “Uhmm, I-I’ll just have a Whiskey Sour, please.”
“Ohh, interesting choice. I was expecting an Old Fashioned. Would you like anything to eat? We just recently added some things to our menu.” You reached over the table, pressing a plain nail against the bold-printed ‘Appetizers’ at the bottom of the small paper. “I personally like the Cheesy Beef Empanadas, they come with Sofrito sauce. The best you’ll ever have in your life.”
Jaxon nervously ran a hand across the baby hairs along the back of his neck and cast you a gentle grin, “The best?”
“Scouts Honor.” You ran your fingers over your heart in an ‘x’ and your smile made Jaxon’s chest feel tight.
“Alright, I’ll have a Whiskey Sour and an order of Cheesy Beef Empanadas.” Jaxon extended the menu out for you to take and he hoped you couldn’t see the way his hands shook slightly under your gaze.
Whether or not it was intentional, when your fingers ran across the back of Jaxon’s hand, a shiver coursed up his spine and his skin tingled where you’d touched him. “Coming right up.”
“Thanks,” Jaxon whispered quietly as he watched you stride away from him. You wore a long-sleeved, black shirt with a red Dahlia sewn into the back, a matching pencil skirt, and dark black stockings tucked into your zip-up wedges. Your hair shone in red-tinted lights of the bar and brushed across your neck and face as you moved. You were beautiful and, much to his dissatisfaction, Jaxon wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.
An elf, as white-haired and lean and feminine as any elf he’d ever seen before, watched you lecherously as you approached his one chair table. Rather than letting you pass by, the elf stood up quickly, his oily hands closed around your back and arms as he pulled you against his shimmering, leather shirt. Jaxon’s blood roared in his ears and he felt a sharp pressure growing in the beds of his fingernails and dancing along his canines.
“What a pretty, little thing I’ve found.” He slurred into your face, inching himself closer to you with each word, “What say we get out of here, doll? I’ll have you screaming ‘til dawn.”
You grimaced at the reek of alcohol on his breath, placing your hands against his shoulders and attempting to politely push him away, “No, thank you. Now let me go.”
“Oh-ho-ho! Mmmm, no, I don’t think so. I’m not quite finished with you yet, human.” Silence fell over the patrons of the bar and club as they all turned from their drinks and rambunctious stories to glare at the outsider man-handling you.
A bouncing cackle echoed across the hushed space and Jaxon recognized Knash, just as grungy as he’d been the last time the young man had seen him over a year ago, tucked in the corner amidst the center of a young pack of gnolls. “I’d do what the little lady says now, ya’hear? A mean left hook, that’n.”
“Excuse me.” Jaxon found his voice as he heaved himself upright, stalking towards the elf as his eyes burst into life with blue flame, “The young lady asked you to stop. So stop before I make you.”
Your startled expression found Jaxon’s glare, and the gentle furrow of your eyebrows and the frown across the curve of your lips sent a scorching wave of anger straight through him. The elf grabbed your face then, cupping your chin in his long fingernails and pressing your cheek against his own, “Oh? Is she your girlfriend? What sort of magic could a mutt like you have possibly gotten your grimy, little hands on to-“
A fist drove itself upwards into the delicate curve of the elf’s jaw, crushing his teeth into his tongue and sending him to the ground in a pitiful ‘thud’ of leather and Axe body spray. You uncoiled your hand and shook your fingers loosely, eyes a blaze of color as you glared down at the unconscious pervert. “I can tolerate a lot of things, sir, but the insulting of my customers is not one of them.”
Laughter erupted throughout the bar, noise echoing loudly between the walls as hands pounded on the tables and hollers rang through the air. Jaxon turned to you, his anger dissipating from his system as an impressed amusement began to fill its place, “Are you-?”
“What do you borrachos think you are doing!?” A heavy ‘thwack’ echoes through the air as a wooden bat slammed against the bar top. Miss Dahlia herself, all five feet and two inches of her, cocked her hip as she swore around her cigar. Her beautiful caramel eyes caught the blue reflection of Jaxon’s gaze and her full lips split into a wide smile, “¡JAXITO!”
“Hola, Tía Dahlia.” Jaxon grinned bashfully at the childhood nickname, but his heart grew warm at the sound of her voice all the same.
Miss Dahlia, dropping the bat and extinguishing the cigar in a crystal ashtray along the bar top, gathered the thick, faux-fur bottom of her red nightgown and hurried around the bar counter. Pausing as her eyes fell down upon the crumpled mass of elf before she turned a firm stare up at you, “Again? ¡Está es la tercera vez está semana!”
“Lo sé, ¡pero él fue siendo grosero!” You answered Miss Dahlia quickly, your Spanish was better than Jaxon had expected(considering the fact that he was unaware you spoke any at all) and listened in amusement as you went back and forth with his spitfire Aunt.
Miss Dahlia began to wave her hands dramatically; gesturing between herself, you, the bar, the unconscious elf, Jaxon, and anything else she could jerk her fingers at quick enough. “¡Eres imposible, estás tan cerca-! KNASH!!”
“Yes’m?” Knash jumped to his flat feet, scurrying forward until the thick fur on his chest brushed against Miss Dahlia’s shoulder. Jaxon narrowed his eyes at the action.
“Take this puta and drop him outside, por favor!” Miss Dahlia’s words blurred together as she wildly gestured towards the front door. Knash nodded, his muzzle brushing across Jaxon’s aunts shoulder and the black-haired male clenched his fist with a frown.
“I’ll go with him.” You whispered quietly, pointing quickly over your shoulder before you helped Knash pull the unconscious elf to his feet and drag him to the front doors.
Jaxon turned towards his aunt, watching as her expression turned from an angry exhaustion to a wide grin. She cupped Jaxon’s cheeks and cooed endearments at him in Spanish, they made his tan face flush and eventually he took her small hands into his own, “Tía. She was only defending herself, she didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Aye, I know, mí sabrino. But,” Miss Dahlia paused for a moment as she shook her head, rubbing her manicured thumbs over the back of Jaxon’s hand, “the police system is not what it was when you left us. They’ve all fallen into the pockets of politicians and businessmen. I’ve had to buy my way out of three lawsuits because of those bastardos!”
Jaxon furrowed his brows at the news, but he remained unsurprised. Their little town had been free of corruption and swindling for a long time, it was bound to fall to greed sooner or later. He only hated that it had all come sooner rather than later. The door jingled back open and Jaxon turned to watch as you and Knash slunk back into the bar. Knash lumbered right up to Miss Dahlia’s side and, with a scowl, Jaxon watched his aunt rub the top of the gnolls head. “Okay, what’s going on here? Knash, are you dating my aunt!?”
Knash began to explain himself with a bashful tilt of his head, but Miss Dahlia cut him short, “Ohh, Jaxito, I was going to tell you, but it just never came up!”
“Meaning you weren’t going to say anything at all, huh?” Jaxon shook his head with a sigh before he pointed a finger at his old friend, “You better not pull anything funny with my tía, got that?”
Knash chuckled, running a large paw along the back of his neck as he gave Jaxon’s aunt a not-so-subtle look of adoration, “Yeah, I got it… Jaxito.”
“Don’t you-“ Knash threw back his head with a rambunctious laugh as he bounced off to rejoin his pack.
A gentle hand pressed against the back of Jaxon’s arm and he turned to meet your mesmerizing gaze once again. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Jaxon whispered quietly down at you. Your head fell just below the curve of his shoulder and he found himself lost in the way you looked up at him.
“Thank you. For standing up for me, I mean.” You tucked a strand of hair behind your ear before you clasped your hands together in front of your waist and fought the blush growing across your nose.
Jaxon smiled, acutely aware of his aunts surprised gaze scouring across your faces, and opened his mouth to respond before you interrupted him, “Oh! Your drink and food! I completely forgot, let me-“
“Wait!” Jaxon wrapped his hand around your waist as you began to dart away from his side. You turned back to him quickly, studying his warming face, “Actually, uhmm. Forget the food. Can-can I walk you to your car?”
“Oh… I, uhh, I have to help Miss Dahlia close the bar.”
“Aye, forget about it today, girly.” Miss Dahlia interjected your explanation, shooing the both of you away with a cocked hip and a grin. “Go on. The Lord above knows you need a date.”
“Miss Dahlia!” You exclaimed, burying your face in your hands with a laugh.
Jaxon cupped your hands in his palms and pulling them away from your burning face, “So, is that a yes, then?”
Jaxon will never forget the look on your face- the brewing grin, the gentle glimmer in your eyes, the soft blush across your cheek- as you said “Yes.”
Spanish is not my first language so I hope the phrase I used are correct! I hope you enjoyed this despite the delay. I’ve really started developing Jaxon and his background, I think there’s definitely more to come with him. WINK WONK
Tan hermosa- “So beautiful”
Borrachos- “Drunkards(masculine)”
Jaxito- “Little Jaxon”(endearing term used for children)
Hola, Tía Dahlia- “Hello, Aunt Dahlia”
¡Está es la tercera vez está semana!”- “That’s the third time this week!”
¡Lo sé, ¡pero él fue siendo grosero!- “I know, but he was being rude!”
¡Eres imposible, estás tan cerca!- “You’re impossible, you’re this close-”
