talking is hard as it is, and when you're just a nugget and can't hear? it's even harder. but at least Slayer knows that feeling oddly enough, how hard it can be to communicate and get your understanding better.
[Part 3]
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04: Hard Earned rest
It was surprisingly not hard to teach Heather's new human about her. It took time to type everything out, but it was nice that he asked about her mom. He seemed so happy to hear about where they used to live in the big garden and under the blueberry bush. She only had hazy memories of her dad, but they were warm and soft. Heather could and did tell the stories her momma told her about her dad.
She did not know what happened to either of them after the monsters came. Since she could not hear, her momma taught her how to read and write! And she had been learning numbers from her old human. He did not seem to know them well though, Heather had to puzzle out a lot by herself with the old phone.
Her old human was nOt all that smart, but he was nice and they lived together for a lot of months. Heather missed a deep frown from her new human, as she was typing to tell him about what it was like living on the desk.
Really boring, but don't worry, his desks were so big and neat! All sorts of neat things on them!
Heather liked that he talked with her, at her pace too. It was nice not to have to rush to think or try not to miss things by reading faces. And she could rest when she needed to.
Heather was not sure when she went from typing to falling asleep. Only semi remembering resting on the massive wrist while her big friend typed a question. She woke up in an odd spot, but not unwelcome, snuggled up in the soft material of a shirt. Heather looked around and found herself not on a desk but… bed. Her new human's bed? He was walking somewhere out of sight, Heather could feel the faint vibrations still, but the pad was set near her with the chat window to the ghost.
‘sorry i feel asleep.’ Heather tried to type out on the big phone thing. Pulling a part of her nest with her to stay warm.
‘You had several long days.’ the Ghost typed back almost at once. It made Heather wonder if being a ghost was boring, ‘Do you need food and water little one?’
Heather nodded, paused and had to frown as she carefully signed the ‘yes’ motion to be sure she remembered before typing. ‘yes yes! please and find spot.’
‘Spot?’
Heather had to think and then tried to type the words right. ‘drain? re- leave.’
‘You need to go to the bathroom.’
What did baths have… OH! Drains. Big humans had drains there. Silly ghost,but that did work out. ‘or under bush?’
‘The Slayer is coming to get you.’ The ghost wrote back after a few moments and Heather looked up and around this new strange room.
Nothing yet. The girl turned back to the big phone-pad thing. Tilting her head back and forth a bit before touching the new word. ‘what is… s l a y e r?’
‘That is who saved you little one. Who has been taking care of you.’
Heather had to think about it. ‘slayer is big friends name?’
‘One of his names.’ the ghost wrote, and Heather had to puzzle that over. Her new human had more than one name? ‘What is your name?’
Heather brightened up, and then paused, looking intently at the letters. Not for the first time she wondered, trying to type several times. Puzzle out how to spell her name again. She had only written it once really. ‘Hev health hevor ghefv hallvor.’
The girl sat back with a frustrated sound. Then jumped at feeling movement and a vibration, seeing her new human tapping the side of the bed before looking at her and the pad. Heather fidgeted and looked down at her lap and then back up at her big friend. Making another frustrated sound as she fussed with the old T-shirt and sank into herself. How can she get it out?
Heather thought of the plant, the letter ‘H’ and the flower she was named after in the garden of her original home.
She looked up and tried typing, ‘i don't know how to write it. flower at home start with H.’
Heather looked up at movement, watching as her new human… ‘Slayer’ (what did that mean??) Braced one hand on the bed, and peered at the pad. Using his other hand to move the chat log and read what was typed. He looked at Heather and blinked, shifting to stoop and offer a massive hand to her. Fingers twitched before he was picking her up. Nest of cloth and all, she had to scramble to get a hold of something.
“Nuh!” Heather protested, but did sigh once the other hand came up to hold her secure.
Drat.
She still had to teach her human about things. Like giving a warning- well actually it did make sense as much as she had been willing to ride with him… Slayer, he did not really give any warnings so far. She just saw him wanting to hold her coming so far.
“Plplpl….” Heather still pouted as she was carried over to… oh! She knew that desk! The girl looked puzzled at things set up on the surface, and a… a big pot! It had one of the blueberry bushes in the center of the desk and his things had been moved away to another desk. Heather was set down by the odd metal box wrapped around the pot as if it had been made to fit.
Heather was set down on the top of the box, level with the pot. her big human made the motion for her to stay as he was already looking around. She watched him for a moment before running over to the pot. Finding a spot to relieve herself but then tried to promptly climb in the bush that was like a massive twisty tree.
She was going to pout in the blueberry bush and try to figure out how to spell.
A deep rumbling vibration had Heather jumping after a few minutes, peering out between the branches as her human came back. He was not looking for her but sitting at the desk and putting… books?
Yep, those were big books that were set on the desk’s top. Heather frowned, confused and then scooted along the branch to look out between the leaves, trying to see what the books were about. They looked old, but had pretty colors that made her a little excited, her legs were kicking in the air.
Heather noticed one book looked almost as thick as she was tall!
Then she recognized that some of the colors on one book looked like flowers. That had her attention, and finally Heather climbed down out of the blueberry bush. She paused as there was another strange rumble that had her pausing and pressing her hands to the spot behind her ears.
What was that?
A big hand was reaching over, pausing as Heather did not come closer, Slayer tapped the side of the pot as if thinking she did not see him. A steady vibration that was different from what happened before. Sighing, Heather came out from under the blueberry bush, catching the big finger tip that was tapping. Looking at it as if surprised she could stop the motion.
Heather looked up at her strange, bigger than big human, still upset at herself that she could not communicate, but kinda wanting to see what the books were. Those glowing green eyes looking back at her with a slow head tilt. Slayer seemed to make some sort of sound before his hand turned and was held out for her.
He wiggled his fingers a bit.
The girl smiled, and then once the big hand was still. Sliding a bit between two thick fingers to sit on the warm palm. Heather looked up as she was moved not the surface of the desk but over and then squeaked as her living platform was pressed against Slayer’s chest. For a moment she was squished a bit as the broad chest vibrated and thrummed. Like he did when she was stuck under all those inches of armor.
Heather tucked herself against the soft black shirt, sitting on the side of his hand as his other one came up. A thick but gentle finger pad touched the top of her head, Slayer was trying to give comfort. Did he know how she felt? He did not talk, and she could not hear, so maybe he struggled with finding ways to talk too.
The girl sighed again, reaching to pull at the other hand not supporting her until she could hug his thumb as the rest of his hand made a sort of shield. Working through emotions that were hard for her until she felt a bit better.
It was not like hugs, but almost.
Heather sat up on the big hand, bracing to look up at her human’s face. Trying to read it, and just finding worry, she smiled up at him. Then pointed at the book, carefully signing.
‘yes?’
Massive hands cupped around her, making sure heather was not going to fall before she was moved. Slayer was lowering her down between his arms, and Heather saw the big pad-phone thing but the big human was lifting one of the books, tilting so Heather could see them.
They smelled… nice. Old paper and ink. Heather could see that the book had big pictures of flowers on the pages, drawing her over closer until her new human used a wrist to keep her from trying to climb the book. The girl brightened up as she pointed to a word she knew. And then realized Slayer was flipping through some pictures before stopping at a page.
Heather squealed in sudden recognition, bouncing forward and got stuck between two pages in her excitement. It was confusing and if her human did not have such a good grip she might have been stuck in the book before she was freed. Bouncing with both hands on the page and pointing up excitedly.
Her human looked alarmed and the book was lowered, but before he could pick her up, the girl was climbing onto the book and ran over to the picture that took up all of one page. Bouncing around it before pointing down at it, then herself, to the big drawn picture of one flower from the plant and to herself. Hopping with arms out.
This was her!
Was this why he had the books of flowers?
Slayer was smiling at her, leaning forward to carefully pull the book and her closer. One finger tip touched her head, and then pointed to the big letters on the top of the page.
A little drabble I got inspired to write by talking to @gullivertravelstowonderland about their Giant!Doomguy au. It’s great. Everyone should go check it out. Chapter 3 just got posted.
So, anyway, this is my Night Sentinel OC. He might get mentioned in addc, he might not.
Contains: Some strong language, mentions of canon-typical violence, but nothing too serious
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"Whomever transferred you here, lad, hated you."
Miphos' helmet snapped towards the voice that just spoke. One of the torch bearers was sitting by a pillar, the small flame casting shadows up on the walls. The flame was too small to generate any heat enough to be welcoming.
"That might be true, but I serve the Argenta with pride."
"Give yourself another week. You'll realize this is the most abused battalion in Argent D'Nur."
Without really meaning to, Miphos let his eyes stray towards the Giant. An outsider to their people, he stood four times as tall as any other man, with his ramshackle armor and strange choice of weaponry. Rumor and legend surrounded the enormous man, but he never breathed a word to refute or confirm a whisper of it.
However, that might just be because the man couldn't speak.
Or refused to.
It was still unclear to everyone why exactly he spoke not a word.
Currently, the Giant stood in the huge archway, back to the rest of the battalion. The snow storm raged outside still, forcing them to shelter in abandoned ruins. It was a tower of some sort, stretching high into the sky, but the staircase had been smashed, so they could only shelter on the bottom level. The only way in or out of the ruins was through the enormous archway, which had the Giant standing guard. The enormous wall of rage and meat and armor, keeping them corralled inside.
Rumors that were told to Miphos when he'd been told of his transfer flooded to the forefront of his mind. The Giant had made a deal with the demons for power and size. He would feast upon the dead of the battlefield, Argenta and demon alike, to sustain himself. New transfers were forced to serve the Giant as his personal slave until he grew bored.
None of those so far seemed to be true, but then again, the Giant always lingered in battlefields too long, and had nearly stepped on Miphos only a few mere minutes after transfer.
A shudder ran down his spine. The cold was beginning to really set in. The wind howled like the demons they were up in the High North to find information on.
Miphos found a spot by a pillar to rest, curled around himself to try and preserve warmth.
While dozing in and out of sleep, he heard the Giant move. Miphos lifted his head. The Giant had turned and was observing the rest of the battalion. Behind the helmet, enormous eyes bore into the others, and then he moved. Pointed to another sentinel, pointed to where he stood, and then left.
Once the Giant had moved, the sentinel rushed over to the archway to stand guard while the Giant left.
It was sometime later when the Giant had returned.
Lumbering up into view, he dragged several small trees worth of logs. Miphos trembled at the display of brute strength and scooted around the pillar to put something solid between himself and the Giant. He’d not been able to see that much of his brute strength previous to all this.
Everyone watched silently while he stacked the logs in a certain way in the middle of the room. One of the torches was thrown onto the pile of logs to set it ablaze. The flames cracked heartily as the Giant settled down, back against the curved wall, legs outstretched towards the flame. Enormous arms crossed over a massive chest.
Everyone, including Miphos, moved closer to the fire to get warm. Most were bold enough to remove helmets and gloves and try to eat their rations.
Miphos kept a sharp eye on the Giant while he removed his own helmet. The Giant just watched the flames, colors flickering over his face shield. Someone roughly nudged his arm and Miphos glanced over at the culprit.
“Coward.”
“What?”
Someone sat down beside the other sentinel with a huff. “He said you’re a coward.”
“I am not.”
“You’re afraid of him.” They gestured towards the Giant. “Those gruesome stories kept you up, huh?”
"I'm not afraid of anything."
"Oh yeah? Go sit near him. If you manage to not piss yourself, we'll believe you aren't afraid."
Miphos got to his feet, jaw set firm. Many sets of eyes fell to him while he walked towards where the Giant sat. His echoing footsteps drew more attention to himself and Miphos was trying not to totally lose composure as he knelt on the stone by the Giant's leg. The pair who had called him a coward for ducking for cover when he had returned with wood were passing coins among themselves.
He swallowed softly and dared to glance over his shoulder, up at the Giant. The Giant's fiery gaze had sent chills down his spine without the rumbling gurgling of this large stomach echoing through the ruins. Miphos clenched his fists and forced his gaze back to the bonfire. It did not matter his last unit teased and made fun of his transfer, trying to scare him into believing the Giant really consumed the flesh of the Argenta. He refused to show fear.
After a moment, he heard the Giant shift a little and glanced back. He had uncrossed his arms, paused, and then crossed them again. Miphos let loose a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding and shifted his position to be sitting instead of kneeling on the floor.
The Giant fought for Argent D’Nur. If he was hostile enough that he would kill someone for just sitting near them, he wouldn’t have tried to take care of the rest of the battalion by starting the fire. He wouldn’t have been carrying supplies for the rest of them.
His rations were eaten quickly and he put his gauntlets and helmet back on to keep the biting wind back. The fire did help, his body didn’t feel so frozen. Exhaustion from the long trek began to set in, the ache radiating deep from within his bones. Miphos pulled his knees up to his chest and allowed himself to doze. He wasn’t comfortable enough to fall fully asleep, but a doze was acceptable.
Every so often he was pulled to reality by a shift or grunt from beside him, the Giant seemingly attempting to get comfortable in the limited space. He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that the battalion had been forced to sleep in worse condition because of the Giant’s presence. It was a rule of the Argenta that battalions would sleep in the same spaces, and that meant anywhere that the Giant was unable to fit was off limits to the rest of the battalion. The bitter cold was still unfortunate.
Miphos was pulled fully to consciousness when he heard a loud thump. He raised his head to spot the danger. The wind howled relentlessly outside. There were soft clanking noises as all but the Giant shivered in their armor. The other Sentinels were asleep, curled tightly around themselves or each other in a desperate attempt to stay warm. Distantly, Miphos wished he was closer to one of the members of the battalion to help preserve warmth by.
Unable to spot the noise, Miphos reached for the hilt of his sword. If the demons thought they would take the Argenta by surprise, they would be mistaken.
The thump sounded again, preluded by the scraping of metal on stone. Miphos nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized what was happening. The Giant had removed his helmet, and now was removing his gauntlets. Fear shot down his spine. Nobody was foolish enough to remove armor unless they were eating, and the Giant notably carried no rations.
Was he really going to be eaten as a snack for this colossal man?! What was he planning!? Murdering the rest of the battalion and reporting a demon attack?
Once his massive hands were free, the Giant removed his chest plate and the protective wrappings that covered his middle, exposing himself to the relentless chill. Confusion cut through the fear like a knife. What exactly was the Giant planning?
Massive eyes, seemingly glowing in the dark, landed on Miphos. He dropped his sword out of surprise. The Giant reached towards him, and Miphos was frozen with indecision. Should he run? Scream? Try and defend himself? Then the Giant’s exposed flesh wrapped around his body.
It was warm.
Near hot. The chill melted from Miphos’ body and he decided to go limp as he was pulled from the ground, closer to the Giant's warmth. The Giant gently placed Miphos on his chest, and the smaller man could have melted. It was blissfully warm in the Giant’s embrace.
Miphos had felt the enormous man shift a little, but he couldn’t care much longer. He was so tired, and finally he was feeling warm. The soft beat of the Giant’s heart under his head was extremely soothing. It took only moments for Miphos to fall asleep in the Giant’s gentle grasp.
---
Morning came early, and Miphos stirred first. The cold wasn’t nearly as biting as it was the night before and on top of that, the Giant was still very warm and cradling his comparatively small body against his chest. The part that was unexpected was that the rest of the battalion was sleeping peacefully on or against the Giant as well.
One Sentinel, helmetless and sleeping, was snuggled up against the Giant’s bicep, not a foot away. Miphos pushed himself into a sitting position. Sometime in the night, the Giant had shifted to be laying down. He spotted a few Sentinels sprawled across the Giant’s lap or propped up against his side.
“By the wraiths…” Miphos was looking for a way down when suddenly a large hand pushed him back to a lying position.
He squirmed a little under the Giant’s hand to get a good look up at him. He’d lifted his head and was watching him.
“Let me up.” Miphos whispered.
He shook his head, the corner of his mouth twitched upward in good humor, and then laid his head back down.
Miphos groaned quietly and decided to give in. There was no way he would be escaping until the Giant wished to let him go.
<.< I had the need to do a cute with doom slayer, so I'm starting with a friend's version first. I'm attacking them again with little Iris. =D
Based on @smolbugarts story "A Monster of Divinity"
GO READ IT! now have a silly cute of a giant Slayer. follows after the other gift story I did.
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It was oddly still when Iris woke up and looked around. Not in a bad way but even the girl could sense the sleepiness. An odd but nice feeling of protection that let her grandparents and the other survivors all sleep soundly still. Only stirring to get some more water, or to shuffle to the bathroom and back to bed. Trusting their savior and current protector outside, to sleep with no sentories.
It was… nice.
It was also a little boring now for one wide awake Iris as she sat up in her bed spot. She looked at the soft light outside, the grey of morning finally fading into sunrise.
The girl checked that her grandparents were still safely sleeping. Then started to extract herself away from them. With an extra day and night of rest compared to everyone else, Iris was wide awake now. She had seen the shadow of the giant man coming back, but no new person came inside.
He was… guarding them?
Iris made extra sure to not step on anyone as she picked her way to the door to the rest of the building. Then from there to the only unlocked door she knew of, to the big grassy ‘inside’ back yard. She peered outside, and saw… a boot!
Or did Flynn have robot feet?
The girl had not been brave enough to ask if he had robot feet, but she recognized the foot now. Iris made sure the door was closed and started walking over to the massive form stretched out on the ground. Most of him was laying down under the roof of a wide section of this place. Like an open garage, or just wide roof space between two buildings.
Flynn was laying down, partly on his front, half on his side. Arms crossed and head resting on them, using a big bundle of… something as a pillow. Holding it between his arms.
But…
But he was laying down.
Resting for the first time Iris had seen in the last few days. She dared to pad through the grass until her little hands braced on his knee. Catching her breath, then looking up and around, realizing heat was coming off the giant’s body, even by his knees. It helped get rid of the chill of the morning.
Unaware her tromp from the grass had made just enough noise to alert the dosing giant he had company. It was not until just tiny hands were gripping his pants leg that eerier blue eyes opened. Wide not from aggression but sudden worry, and the giant held very, very still.
Iris thankfully did not try to climb, but stayed beside his knee for a minute. Looking around before starting to follow the leg up, the girl sighing in relief at getting under the roof. She let go of the fabric and padded around on the old cement. Then came back to massive form taking up a good chunk of the space.
Unaware that she was being, if not watched but still most of the focus from Flynn on the little human walking around his bulk. More so as she was grasping the fabric of his shirt. Holding still, he did not want to-
Flynn wheezed a sound, startled, his whole body almost jerking away from the tiny body. Just barely holding still, as tiny, really just minuscule hands, but still very cold hands were suddenly pressed against the skin he had not known was exposed.
Iris had been grabbing the hem of the giant's shirt for a few long moments. Just needing to hold onto the only sense of safety and protection she had had for a long time. She had been enjoying the that feeling of being safe, and heat, when noticing the scar not far from her.
A ragged and wide set, like claws, and one line almost as big as Iris!
It seemed old, a different texture from the rest of the thick hide like skin. Without so much thought, she had reached out to touch, feeling the difference of scar and skin- and then had realized how warm the giant really was. Again. Iris pressed against this spot exposed from the shirt riding up. Not until a kitten with a cold nose and paws pressing into someone’s side to warm up-
The size comparison was not that different really.
Iris felt the near metal solid muscles twitching under the giant’s skin. Felt when he took a deeper breath and it escaped like a sigh. Watching his middle moving in a rippling motion with each breath, not just his chest moving. The girl looked down, trying to watch her own breathing trying to link what was small movement to her was so much bigger in the giant man.
But alike.
Looking around, Iris pressed her hands into Flynn’s side a bit more. Cuddling up, again like a cold kitten as she rested her head against his side. He smelled like salt, earth and something metallic, strong but not bad. Iris had smelled much worse, as it was a good way to tell if a building was infested with possessed things when one could not hear.
The girl looked to her right, that little opening between the shirt, and the giant’s abdomen. It was… really tempting to sit there in the dimly lit spot. To be warm and safely under cover. Iris grabbed at the shirt hem again, thinking better of it, she did not want to be rolled on. Using the wide fabric plane to walk beside, aware of the vibration as Flynn sighed again as the girl walked up to his arm.
Iris knew she fit in his hand, so the bicep was a practical mountain of muscle on its own. She could not even come close to looking over it, even with bracing her hands on it and hopping. Cheeks puffed, Iris was forced to follow the line of Flynn’s arm to the elbow. Then little hands patted a path from there down his forearm. It took a little bit longer to do so, as Iris kept pausing to pat or pet over whatever she could reach in the network of scarring from what seemed like to the girl as car sized biceps to the forearms.
Little hands were careful, not wanting to hurt despite the size difference. Fascinated as much as confused as what could possibly hurt her new guardian. He was so big and strong! How could anything hurt him?
Iris paused at what she recognized as a burn mark. Feeling over it, not aware of the now lidded blue eyes watching her through. Watching Iris at the middle of Flynn’s forearm, as if stuck on the old burn scar. He almost sat up as the girl lifted part of her shirt to look at a not so old but still healed burn mark on her side, linking and remembering her own pain. Then made a small sound of remembered hurt as she looked at the mark on Flynn’s arm that was almost bigger than her.
A growl slipped out of the giant Slayer, the vibration almost gave him away as Iris looked up. Then put both hands flat on the old burn.
The child leaned forward and gave the mark a kiss with a, ‘Mwah!’, as if trying to make the old mark feel better. Unaware that there was a whine from the giant as he almost clutched his chest.
How absolutely dare this tiny, helpless thing try to make him feel better!
The giant Slayer, predator of hell itself, could not help feel his heart starting to melt as Iris finally made it to his left hand. The thick, calloused fingers resting over his right wrist, and as he watched, Iris grasped his middle and forefinger. In that purely shameless way of the young, even with everything that happened, Iris flopped over the back of Flynn’s hand. Holding onto the curve of his digit and resting her little chin on his knuckle.
Iris seemed to almost doze there, just resting and catching her breath from the adventure so far. Unfortunately, like with any child, the rest was not nearly as long as the nearby adult hoped it would be. The giant grunted in mild surprise as Flynn watched the girl climbing over his forearm, using the spread out fingers to help her. Up and over, tumbling into the foam stuffed canvas cover that was his temporary pillow.
Unbothered by the roll, Iris looked up, and squeaked at seeing an almost glowing blue eye watching her. She hesitated, wondering if she woke Flynn up with falling onto his pillow. He did not seem upset to her, just blinking at her as if still sleepy. The spot she was in now, between his head and the bicep she had to walk around, it was much warmer here, from Flynn just breathing. His supporting arm also blocked the breeze of the morning.
All around in the air and ‘ground’ was that vibration rumble of sound that only seemed to come from the giant. Iris remembered the first time feeling it, while being held and moved after being given water. She had felt safe.
Iris crawled over the giant’s pillow and right up to his face with an odd sense of fearlessness. The child still felt safe with Flynn, and he brought back her grandparents!
The giant man twitched faintly as once again cold hands pressed on his right cheek. How were her hands so cold again, so soon? Once more for him eas that feeling like a kitten pressing against him, only not meaning to warm up this time. Seeking comfort? Before Flynn could worry or think too hard about that, the girl moved to reach over.
Her tiny hand patting over his cheekbone. Iris pressed her head to Flynn’s cheek, shifting to press against another spot. The pats seemed random, but the soft, inquisitive pats were odd, yet welcomed. Iris was trying to find a good spot to give the giant man a pet back, remembering the feeling of his fingers giving her back pets.
Iris patted the side of Flynn’s nose, leaning over to press her head to the spot over the scar on the bridge of it. Then another little, ‘mwah!’ was given after her successful boop.
This time, the giant did whine a sound, not used to attention. Not used to affection so openly for… him. Flynn could barely see the child now as he half closed his eyes as she was moving to pat his right cheek again. Thankfully not getting too close to his eye.
Having someone so small, mortal, human… just trusting him to be so close. To be… not scared of, but seeked out?
Iris squeaked as the loose ring of the giant’s arms shifted. Closing in before a massive hand cupped around her. Holding the girl pressed against the broad cheek as he rumbled a low, deep vibration while shifting into a better position. Nudging Iris into a bit better of a spot beside his jaw.
Not daring to move too much once releasing Iris, Flynn did not doze but rested as his new human settled with him for hopefully a nap too. Her tiny hands grasping one of his fingertips as Iris settled.
Cold little feet braced on his neck and Flynn grunted in surprise as the child somehow managed to rest those cold feet on his pulse point. He winced and did not dare move away from the cuddling tiny human as she was back to patting his jaw and chin.
How dare someone be this cute.
Fynn rumbled and grumbled as he slowly shifted to pull his shirt up a little more to cover the bare feet with the collar.
DOOM Borrower au, based on @horseyneigh2002 's ADDC stories. GT themed, with Fredrick and Lily in that world.
Starts with all the feels and cutes pre-invasion as tiny Lily grows up with her human parents. I wrote a lot of this out of order sor trying to post in order XD have best dad trying to be best dad to a itty bitty daughter before hell invades [during and post invasion coming soon]
Big lug gets some pats =D day two attempt for GT july
Studying:
The Slayer yawned without thinking about it, paused mid yawn as he remembered the little human near his head. Feeling her tense up but thankfully not faint again as he slowly closed his mouth. Settling his head back on the bundle of fabric he was using like a pillow. Stretched out half on his front, half on his left side, the big, not quite man listened to the heartbeat beside him. Shift just a bit to press the right side of his head against Cassidy's small self, a happy rumble coming out of him to find his claimed humans safe after all that had happened. He could feel Margery behind him, leaning up against his back. As if she was not aware of doing so with the Guardsman.
There was a hesitation before Cassidy dared to move again. Her small hand patted the side of Slayer's head. The still damp hair almost black like her own, but at least he was mostly cleaned up now. Not stinking of gore, faintly of blood from his own now patched wounds and of dish soap that had been used on him by the Guardsmen.
Slayer opened his eyes as the soft touch lingered. Almost alien that something did not hurt, by demonic hands or needed medical treatment. It had his attention to try and look at Cassidy surprised.
She paused as she was checking the bandage on the giant's temple, still almost tucked up against his neck. The woman hesitated before shift to show him her right fingers, and the damp red, “...you're bleeding through.”
The Slayer blinked slowly before shifting. His own right hand came up to touch the bandage that Deegan had taped on. Inadvertently squishing Cassidy against the spot between his neck and shoulder for a moment. Slayer eyed his own damp fingers and sighed, head wounds always took just a bit longer to heal. Even after all the alterations.
“Are you okay?” Cassidy asked in a soft voice, dark eyes watching his face intently.
“Mhm,” Slayer nodded slowly, licking the blood off both his own fingers as well as Cassidy’s before settling his arms loosely around the human. Tapping her legs gently as his eyes closed again, but not putting too much weight on her. He was not ready to sleep properly, but did go back to dosing as a small hand hesitantly patted, then petted the side of his face and hair. The gentleness was such a rarity that Slayer stayed awake just to enjoy it.
Not minding when his human’s fingers drifted down to start tracing the scarring on his face. Then checking the bandage again, as if Cassidy’s unable to help it. One hand rubbing through the relatively short hair of the might as well be a giant. At least Cassidy could stay upright now around Slayer. The Slayer?
It helped that his glowing eyes were closed again. Cassidy felt a bit more brave to inspect what she could of his features. As severe, or harshly stern as he could and did look before while tracking the demons… Slayer’s face was more calm now, if not just neutral.
Other than the bandage on his temple, every other discolored mark looked like old scarring. Cassidy traced one of the larger marks over his nose, then followed the next scar that cut through his eyebrow, it was almost as thick as her fingers. As she was inspecting the odd mark on the Slayer’s right cheek, Cassidy could feel the big man rumble.
Not quite man?
It almost seemed like the Slayer was purring. Shifting a little, he was mindful of who was using his back as a sleeping rest, but slowly tilted his head. One glowing blue eye cracked open, giving Cassidy a glance. Then slowly the near giant was tilting his head and lifted his chin to press his cheek into one of the soft hands. This little human was firmly rooted into the stop of needing to be protected by him. Slayer did not mind her studying him a bit.
Having that soft touch, again, was too much of a treat, a rarity. Something so strange but nice as he closed his eyes to the feeling of his hair being petted while his neck and shoulders were gently poked. He really needed to sort out how to cut his hair before Hell tried to invade this colony. Yet this felt nice.
Slayer did not want to move for now. Cassidy was patting his cheeks again, once of the few places he could feel something anymore thanks to the extensive nerve damage. A few thousands years of fighting and culling hell itself would do that to someone. Him.
No thinking about that for a few more minutes. Slayer just had to tilt his head a little bit to get the smaller human to give his forehead and hair another pat, then give a well needed, though gentle, scritchies around the bandage on his temple while the wound finished healing.
@gullivertravelstowonderland Have a thing, I love your MoD story and just.... GET LOVED ON! Also have a young Vito before the bad happened.
Also a part of the GT july, warmth prompt, just...out of order.
Warmth: Flynn and Vito
It was one of those strange, and rare moments of knowing he was dreaming of a memory. Not too early of one that it was hazy, maybe some odd years old, but he was also realizing it was not fully a ‘bad’ memory. Looking around, Flynn could recognize that he was in one of the better healing chambers of the arena. Not so deep in the pits, he was sitting in a chair with the back removed. It had been to let his back be treated better, and this had been the first day someone used a healer’s wraith gift on him while Flynn was awake.
He wanted that healer to come back, the cool, almost numbing energy felt nice on his exposed back. More so after the time he had spent in hell.
Not the arena, now that he was awake and aware, the fighting arena was almost fun. The fighting part, not so much the treatment up until this point. He shifted in the dream, looking around from where he had been put in the corner. With two half walls it gave the impression of Flynn having his own space to himself for once.
Even if it was an illusion, and a healer could walk over to check on him at anytime, or offer another cup of water. It was nice to have some semblance of space and not have another prisoner pressed up against him. The healers seemed confused at him though, but not in a hostile. Though not weak as he saw a woman about his height bodily lift and drop a fighter in armor onto a bed and strap him down.
Strong woman!
Flynn was actually smart enough to just… sit. And watch. He could stand and stretch now and then, but the chains on his legs kept him in a set area. The one time he did go to a half wall was to get attention and get some water by offering the empty cup and slowly saying the native word for water he had learned.
After that he found if he sat quiet during that day, the healers would bring him water, then some of their tea. Then… food.
Snacks?
It was a roll of soft bread, what seemed like a cross of a cookie and cornbread. Then a fruit. He let them fuss with his back, and got a honey flavored brownie. Let the two younger healers, a girl and boy that could not be even as tall as him, that noticed and watch the accelerated healing… he was allowed to walk unchained to the local equivalent of a bathroom. Even with an armored guard escorting, the silver colored guard was different then some of the others. Oddly quiet and just calmly standing guard for the healers more than seemingly to guard him.
That had been much better then what was in his prison cell before!
At least the corner was dimmer so Flynn could dose when it got boring. He was picking up some of the native words of this world, but not so much to fully understand why he was here (there?) and not being pushed to fight.
Then, an almost impossible thing happened around midday. More strangers had come to talk to the healers in the bigger part of the room but a sound had Flynn looking up to see a small frame peering around the half wall at him. Wide black-gray eyes looking up at him from a child’s face.
Bigger than a human child likely of the same age, the boy looked like he would be around ten, but was just taller like the locals all seemed to be. The boy was in one of those awkward stages of growth, starting to lose the baby fat but the boy's face was round and soft still. Flynn felt something in his chest soften, no matter the annoyances and insults from some of these strange people, kids were just… kids. This little black haired boy looked as confused as he was excited by the wall.
The man gave a soft chuff like sound, something he had heard done lowly to the big wolves.
“Hi?” The boy offered the simple greeting, watching Flynn back in that intense way of kids trying to sort something out in their heads.
Flynn hesitated a moment, before daring to speak in a low voice. Not wanting to draw attention, but also the return greeting was likely still very accented, “Hi.”
“I saw you fight with father! From above, he only spars and trains with the Sentinels now.” The boy chirped, hesitated as if not sure what to do but then in that senseless, fearless way of the young came closer. Dressed in a simple style of clothes, but it seemed pretty good quality to hold up against the chaos kids could get into. Not ‘fancy’ but durable, and had pockets to hold all the boy's random things. “Father liked you, he said you fight with… heart? Not mean though.”
What an odd compliment.
“...thank?” Flynn hesitated, not sure what the rest of the phrase was here. Or what a good chunk of that ramble was, yet grasp just enough to understand the boy saw Flynn's last fight…. The day before?
The boy was clutching a few idems as he looked up at the still taller outlander. The expression of innocence wonder, not judgemental greed or calculation of what to throw him into a fight with next. It had the man relaxing a bit, taking in a partly eaten yellow-green fruit and a little book.
“What that?” Flynn asked slowly, trying to make sure he was speaking the new words right while he motioned to the book and saw the little boy brighten up. The man was surprised and pleased as the boy came over to show him.
Holding up the book to show it was a plain cover, small for Flynn's hands but he picked it up and opened it. Almost expecting to see a story book but instead…
Doodles.
A little sketch book for the boy with a type of pencil in the spine of the book. The book was not grabbed back, so Flynn skimmed the pages. Finding shaky lines of the young learning to draw more things. The boy was drawing what was around him, including plants, animals that Flynn was not sure were real or made up. Something that looked like a dragon with a person on the back with a fuzzy cap? Another page had an egg with purple and blue colors added. There were a few pages of someone far more experienced drawing in the book too. Landscapes, a waterfall, and another, detailed egg in a nest.
Then there were doodles of the child of some of the architecture around the arena building in the later pictures and… some of the fights? It was a rough picture of him, he recognized some parts of an opponent's armor.
“Like?” The boy asked, trying to repress a wiggle and failing at it.
“Nice,” the man smiled, finding the pencil again and pulling it out, pausing to see if it would upset the boy. The kiddo looked far too interested though and bounced in place to see what the strange outlander would draw.
“What is it?” The boy asked, watching as an animal he had never seen formed on the page.
“...rabbit.” Flynn said in English, smiling as the boy tried to copy what he said. It sounded so strange with the kiddo’s own accent. “Close.”
“What are… rab-bi-ets? Are they big like bears?” The boy asked, taking the book back once offered. The looked up at movement and gasped in delight at the small distance Flynn measured between his hands. “Small?”
“Small.” Flynn agreed, “Soft…nice.”
The boy looked back to the new drawing in his little book then froze as a low voice called from the other side of the big room.
“Vito.”
The boy, Vito, had much the same look as a human child. That internal debate if he could get away with not answering, then looked guilty at his own thoughts. It was kinda cute, if not funny to the outlander.
“Yes sir?” Vito turned to look back at a man not much taller then Flynn. Someone with short white hair, one eyes clouded and likely blind, the other almost the same black as Vito's own eyes. Planly dressed like some of the non active Sentinels, though being half blind the older man might be retired despite the fit build.
“Do not bother the fighter,” the father spoke clearly, “Let him heal in peace son.”
Vito turned back, looking worried as he peered up at Flynn… hesitated before he offered his fruit, there was just two small bites taken out from one side. “Sorry! I didn't know you were healing!”
“It… okay,” Flynn spoke slowly, carefully using the native words still. Then hummed in surprise at the odd fruit put in his hands, watching the boy run out of his area and back to the father.
Flynn took a careful bite, looking down surprised at the cool, if not mold flavor. Something…nice.
He remembered the taste of the odd fruit, it was one of the first real nice, natural flavors…
Something he wanted more of.
A clatter of sound jarred the altered man out of his sleep. The following sound of someone jumping up from their spot against his shoulder. Reflexes kicked in for Flynn those few seconds before his companion. Reaching up and wrapping his hand around the injured Sentinel in half armor. Fingers curled to hold the smaller man firmly, yet he managed not to press on the wounds.
Both froze into the stillness to match the winter storm outside. The giant scanned around, waiting to see where the demons were flooding from-
A single, hell mutated gargoyle was plastered against one of the few windows. It's tattered, twitching wings were freezing in position as the snow bank rose around the very… ice solid demon freezie. Arm half lifted to catch the smaller Sentinel.
Flynn snorted deeply, glancing to his side at the young Sentinel.
Dark, shiny black eyes stared back with an unimpressed expression that mirrored his far more scary mother. Mirrored, not an exact copy of the look, but enough that the giant grinned. “Can you let me go?”
There was a notable pause as Flynn slowly smiled wide enough to flash teeth.
“What are doing!? Ack!” Vito started to ask and then let a started yelp
The much larger demigod lifted his left arm that was holding his only companion at the moment. Stomach flexing as he sat up, eyed the still frozen demon. Making sure there was no glow of energy in it. Looking back down, Flynn grinned one more at the now upsidedown Vito. Shifting into a better position he lifted his other hand to help support the now limp young man. Vito letting the giant turn him carefully to squint at his left side where his broken under suit was mostly on but had a good section cut off for the wound to be treated earlier.
“Must you?” Vito demanded, tolerating being moved and inspect only because of the trust he had.
“Mmhm..” Flynn hummed, then carefully helped Vito right side up, watching as the young Sentinel still leaned back on his right hand for support. The jolt of adrenaline must have drained out, Vito’s carefully selected position to get the best heat was now gone. His smaller form was remembering that there was a winter storm still and started to twitch as he fought the shivers.
Flynn gave a low rumbling sound of worry.
“I'm…. I'm fine.” Vito shivered a bit more. “Gods I was kinda warm th…there.”
He felt the giant shift, not resisting being lifted up into the right hand. Watching as Flynn shifted to reach behind to grab and pull the bear-like pelt. Having been laying on it, it was also a mix of bed and warmth, like Flynn’s shoulder had been. Vito could only watch in curiosity as he was moved as the giant sat up. The young man basically tucked under the heavy fur and used the massive left arm to wedge against the living warmth. Vito made a relieved sound as the body heat and insulating fur was thawing him out. Not resisting his giant commander as Flynn inspected the building they were stuck in. Then found a slightly better spot to sit and learn back into a reclining seat.
The giantanic man peered down, checking on Vito and smiled a bit at finding him dozing off again. He tucked the fur cloak around his smaller friend.
Flynn blinked, pulled the rest of the cloak around and checked the inside. For the first time realizing he did not see more than one seam in the middle. What… what animal was big enough to make this? He puzzled over that while settling down and held one of the few completely unafraid persons of his altered self. A low rumble excepted the massive chest, Vito leaning against Flynn like he would settle in a wintherin nest.
They still had at least the rest of the night to doze off while the storm raged before there was anyone able to look for them. Sentinels or Hell’s beasts. Or one angry wintherin rider commander, Vito's mother. She still scared him more than Valen.
Flynn grunted as he realized he had a sudden craving for the odd yellow-green fruit like in the dream-memory.
The other humans were definitely just that bit too far ahead of him now. The Slayer could smell better the longer he was away from the sarcophagus, and just being aware again. In other words the Slayer could track those he was after by scent and by sensing the living souls. Or at least one of them he had gotten used to during these last several nights. Exactly how many he was not sure.
The problem was they kept running away from him. Or was it the strange, oily possessed that they were running from?
The Slayer paused and knelt beside one of the heavy air lock doors, glancing around just in case something was going to try and jump on his rear end again. Then reached out with his free hand to feel over the mostly smooth door. Shifting how he knelt and held the human just a bit more firmly against the left side of his chest. Feeling her head against his neck in his current crouched position as he found a hand hold.
He tried not to dent the metal, it was an airlock after all, but something creaked under his fingers as the Slayer slowly lifted the door up. Muscles flexed and rippled from arm down to his back. He had to concentrate really hard not to flex his left arm or hand, so as not to hurt Cassidy. His new human charge was already limp again, at least not reacting much as he carried her.
The Slayer was trying to stay in the larger main halls, but more than once he had to stoop to get through the smaller doors. He missed the Argenta architecture all at once, now that he could compare it to human made structure. Argenta made things were always inclined to be on the larger, if ornate side. He did not almost hit his head nearly as much, or have to ease through a doorway back then. At least the main halls were a good sixteen or fifteen feet tall, giving him just a few feet of leeway to stretch.
A high pitch screech from one of these new creatures had Cassidy flinching against him. The Slayer reflexively growled a low note as he looked up, holding the human a bit more firmly against his chest as if expecting something to try and grab her. Trying not to hurt her as he ducked under the lifted door, wincing as the door dropped a little faster then he expected. It scraped his back and the giant growled as he turned to eye the door. Not seeing any of his blood but his back smarted.
Weapons fire had him swing his free hand from reaching behind him to double check, to the front as the Slayer reflexively moved to guard who he held. A thunder deep rumble came out of his chest as he looked around the dark hallway. Only light coming from somewhere ahead before the screaming of possessed rose in the air.
He was getting up at the same time a human voice yelled. The Slayer stretched out his full stride as he made it five paces before grunting as he hit his head on a low vent. It did not hurt but was annoying as the Slayer growled at it, before having to hunched lower as he moved. Free hand lifting off of Cassidy to reach up and help him find lower things. As wee as he could see in near dark he was not back in the habit one might say.
Too late the Slayer realized he had felt smaller hands holding his wrist when he was covering the humans head just in case. He grinned wide in the dark, his new little one had been moving on her own? Was she trying to get comfort-
…Wait.
How do you give comfort to a human-?
The Slayer grunted again as he stood too soon and clipped a door frame. "...ugh."
