Summary: Keyleth's apartment contract doesn't allow for pets (which she's rather annoyed about, but she really needed the place to stay). Imagine her surprise when she wakes up with a brand new pet she's never seen before. A vaxleth modern au
Pairing: Keyleth/Vax’ildan but can just as easily read as gen
Word Count: 1769
Warnings: Please don’t do this is if you actually find a strange animal in your home. This is just for the sake of a cute idea ^^;
AO3
Keyleth woke in her small, one-bedroom apartment with something long, warm, and thick in her bed.
And it was moving.
Her eyes snapped open and she blindly turned on her bedside lamp, eyes focused on the part of her bed that was moving. Inch by inch, she removed the covers, until her green and orange polka dot sheets were on the floor and she could clearly see the culprit. A snake, currently making its way under her legs.
“Well aren’t you beautiful?” she said out loud. The snake picked it’s glossy, black head up and stuck its tongue out at her.
“Yes, yes, I know. I’m just going to-” She swung her legs over the side, giving her full view of the creature. It was black with dray gray markings all along it’s body. It was all curled up, but she estimated it was about four feet long.
“You really are a gorgeous thing. If only you belonged to me.”
The snake stuck out its tongue again and started slithering across the bed again.
“I, uh, dammit, I’ll be right back.”
She stood up and made her way to the bathroom. She quickly washed her hands and dried them on her pajamas. She walked quickly back to her room.
“I’m back!” she announced into the room, looking around before properly stepping in. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the snake hadn’t disappeared into a corner.
“Okay,” she said, starting to walk toward the bed. “I’m gonna try and pick you up now, okay?”
The snake picked its head up and started at her. She waved with both hands.
“Okay, gonna pick you up now. You look like a Black Rat snake, and you probably would’ve bitten me by now if you were venomous, so let’s do this.”
She knew if her superiors could see her now, they’d be yelling at her not to pick up strange animals, but she’d been a vet for a while and all signs pointed to this snake being harmless even if it did bite her. Besides, it was six A.M., no rescue agency would be fully operational yet. It felt like a worthy risk.
She slowly reached out for the snake and when the snake just looked at her, she took that as a good sign and picked him up. The snake loosely wrapped itself around her arm and stuck out its tongue. She smiled back.
“Okay, now I have no idea where to put you until I find out who you belong to and if you don’t belong to anyone then I’m impressed.” Black Rat snakes could slither vertically, but still, she lived on the 4th floor o fher apartment building.
The snake stuck its tongue out in response.
“Let’s get in the kitchen.” She slowly made her way to the kitchen, hitting the light-switch with her elbow. She and the snake blinked at the sudden burst of light. It curled a bit tighter around her arm.
“It’s fine, little guy, it’s just the light. You’ll get all warm now.” She paused standing just inside. It suddenly hit her how small her apartment was. It was only meant for one person, which was okay on most days, but now with a snake that didn’t have a tank, her small kitchen compiled mostly of dangerous appliances and cabinets hanging above cluttered countertop space, she was faced with a dilemma.
“I guess I can just put you-”
She walked to the breakfast bar that was far enough away from the appliances she wouldn’t have to watch him twenty-four/seven while she made breakfast. She gently placed her arms on the pile of magazines and let go. The snake slithered off her arm.
“There we go! Now, you stay there while I make myself some breakfast.”
She turned and washed her hands again in the sink before popping some toast in the toaster. By this time, the sun was up above the horizon line, sunbeams streaming in through the half-open blinds. The toast popped up and she spread some butter on before eating and glancing toward the breakfast bar again.
The snake no longer sat on the pile of newspapers.
Her eyes widened. She whirled around, looking everywhere on the nearby surfaces for the snake, toast still hanging in her mouth. She even checked in the toaster, as if the 4-foot-long snake could make it in. She couldn’t find it anywhere.
She sighed around another mouthful of toast and that’s was when the cabinet door slammed shut. She looked up and saw the black snake climbing its way up the cabinets, moving between one cabinet and the other to get on the very top.
“Look at you, so clever!” Her body relaxed. “But you have to get off of there, it’s really dusty.”
The snake continued to climb and she let it. She didn’t know how to deal with climbing snakes, so she figured she’s just pick it up once it made it up there, but first, she had to prepare.
In the living area, where she had a TV, a small couch and her desk, she took the newspaper from yesterday and started shredding it up over her small desk. A pile soon grew and she flattened it out so it was less of a mound and covered most of the clean space on the desk. She flicked on the lamp beside the desk and angled it so it shined on the newspaper.
Satisfied, she turned back toward the kitchen, where the snake was now investigating everything the top of the cabinets had to offer. Washing her hands one more time and lamenting how dry her hands were going to be after all this, she grabbed a chair. Standing on it, she clapped and was able to get the snake’s attention before picking it up. Surprisingly, it went along with it, though it did tighten its body around her arm, but not painfully. It slithered off once they made it to the area she had set up for it.
“Oh, shit,” she suddenly realized. “You’re probably hungry.”
The snake stuck its tongue out at her.
“Actually… wait there.”
She went back into the kitchen and opened up the fridge and, yep, there was a container still stuck in the corner labeled “DO NOT EAT.” Somehow, she had accidentally brought a container of dead mice back from the clinic instead of her leftover lunch. How that had happened, she wasn’t sure, but she was planning on bringing it back soon, but now it presented her with the perfect opportunity.
She grabbed one of the mice, putting the rest back in the fridge and laid it in front of the snake. It ate it up greedily.
“If I had a proper bowl, I’d offer you water, but I’m not sure if I can provide that.”
The snake didn’t respond, busy digesting its breakfast. She took this time to clean up whatever she had left in the kitchen and wash her hands after handling the dead mouse. After that, she sat on the chair beside the desk, focused on the snake so it wouldn’t slither away again. Staring so intently, she almost didn’t notice someone knocking on the door.
She glanced down at the snake, who looked up at her.
“Stay.”
The snake stuck its tongue out at her. She took it as a yes even though she knew it was just smelling.
She stood up and answered the door. She was surprised to find one of her neighbors on the other side. He was shorter then her by a couple inches, his long black hair done up in a messy ponytail. She vaguely recognized him as one of the newer people who moved in along with someone she assumed was his sister.
“Hi,” he sounded out of breath. “I’m sorry to wake you up and to alarm you, but I seem to have lost my pet snake. Have you-?”
“Oh, yes!”
His eyes widened. “I… you have?”
“Yes, yes, come in!”
She held open the door and he almost looked wary as he stepped in.
“Your snake is right over there.” She pointed to the nearby desk where the snake stayed curled up. The man let out a breathy laugh as he approached the desk.
“Simon! Come here, you slippery motherfucker!”
The snake, Simon apparently, lifted its head up and stuck out his tongue. He automatically stated to uncurl and move toward his owner, who held out his arms for Simon to climb up.
“You gave me a goddamn heart attack,” the man continued as the snake curled up his arm. He smiled as the snake made its home around his shoulders. He looked over at Keyleth and his grin widened. “Cannot thank you enough, I was afraid whoever found Simon was going to be screaming at me, but you seem to be taking this well.”
“Oh, he’s been very good, only slipped away once, but once I fed him, he was happy to curl up under a lamp.”
The man looked at her in awe. “You have?”
“Yeah, I had some frozen mice left over from- shit!”
“What?”
She put her head in her hands. “I forgot all about work. I was so busy with Simon, it completely slipped my mind. And I don’t know the bus schedule at this time-”
“Let me drive you.”
She looked up, now her turn to look at him in awe. “I- really?”
He nodded. “I owe you a lot more for keeping Simon happy and not killing him, so yeah, I’ll drive.”
“Oh, okay, then. Let me just get ready.”
“It’s no rush, I have to put this guy back anyway. I can bring my car around.”
“Okay, thank you-”
“Vax’ildan, but you can call me Vax.”
“Keyleth.”
He smiled. “It’s nice to meet you, Keyleth.”
“You too.”
They stood there for a moment before there was a soft thump on the carpet. Both of them looked down and saw Simon had made it off Vax’s shoulders and was slithering away. He cursed as he picked up simon, holding him this time.
“Well, I’ll see you in like, half an hour?”
She nodded. “See you then.”
“See ya.”
Vax left with Simon, doing his best to shut the door with an armful of snake. Keyleth sighed, finally noticing how her apartment was in a bit of a mess because of Simon. She looked down at herself and realized she was a bit of a mess still.
She made her way back to her room, mentally preparing how she would explain everything to her boss.
These are my favorite fics from the last week. (Potential spoilers for C2E025 or earlier, including C1. Check fic tags for specifics.)
Recs:
Sorry To My Unknown Lover by BlazeSRS (Caleb/Molly; Caleb can finally get what he wants, but what will he lose? Angst)
Yelling at Stormclouds by Angel Ascending @angel-ascending (Beau & Molly; After, Beau tries to say a few things to the Stormlord; Hurt/Comfort)
Third Time’s the Charm by CatKing_Catkin @pangurbanthewhite (Fjord; hey want to read about terrible things happening to Fjord in captivity? Here you go)
Loud by HallowHolmes (Why Molly dresses the way he does; Angst)
healing word by erebones @erebones (Beau/Jester; I am a sucker for smut where people talk and learn; nsfw)
Multipart Updates:
Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 of A Feast Fit for Heroes by CatKing_CatKin @pangurbanthewhite (This time Jester asks Fjord and Molly about their favorite foods)
Chapter 2 of Caleb Widogast Needs Help by PrincessSteve (Caleb/Molly; Modern AU)
These are my favs, but I generally stick to AO3 and prefer one-offs. If you’ve read a Critical Role fic that you’d like to rec, add it to the list (and link the author) and tag it #critficrec.
Full Archive of Past Rec Lists Here | New fic list every Friday!
[Important: If you see anything here misattributed or missing a tumblr id and know what it should be, please let me know so I can correct it. If you don’t want your fic rec’d, please also let me know.]
