#the utopia complex

[lovelyladylavie]

"Say Goodbye (for now?)"

Alistair couldn't stop his girls from leaving, but he could at least let them know he'd always be there for them.

[lovelyladylavie]

Angst prompts -- "Why are you still here?" Chot & Uzuri

It was a late evening by the campfire, the clouds obscuring even the Moon Orb this night. The girls had gone to bed in their tent and Chot was taking first watch. Uzuri hadn't turned in just yet, something was on his mind.

Uzuri had been a jackass again. It was in his nature, it seemed. He hated whatever part of his past that made him have that hair trigger response. But instead of telling him to hush up, Chot just...didn't answer. Had he hit an actual nerve? He hadn't spoken to him directly all night.

The tension was thick in the air as Chot was darning his socks across the fire from him. His big hands seemed like they'd be ill-suited for such delicate work, but he nimbly sewed the holes shut regardless. Chot felt his eyes upon him and he glanced up and Uzuri looked away.

Uzuri growled, frustrated at the pregnant silence between them. He went for it.

"Chot...why are you still here?"

Chot looked up, alarmed, "what do you mean?"

"I mean-! Your mission is complete already. We saved the Isle from the Gloom, and we freed the souls of the dead. Why are you sticking around?"

Chot looked rather insulted. "How dare you?"

"Wuh-?"

Chot threw his socks back down into his bag. "After everything we've been through together...YOU want ME to leave?!"

"N-no! I'm wondering WHY you haven't! After all the crap you've had to suffer through because of me? Why wouldn't you want to leave!?"

Chot looked at him, then looked up at the sky and sighed. He crossed around the fire and sat next to him.

"Uzuri...you're an ass. You've got a variety of problems. Your flight and height anxiety, your corroded silver tongue, your inability to stop yourself from pilfering a loose wallet. This is...true. But you are also my best friend. I have never confided in else the way I do you. You personally axed off the man I fear the most, so I wouldn't have to. Would Rosa do that? I don't know! Deliah?...Maybe. She's a lil-" he waggled his hand to say 'off-balance' - "Yknow."

Uzuri scoffed, "YEAH."

"But YOU came through for me. You slew my dragon. I owe you. So even if you sling me some attitude every once in a while, I KNOW you got me when it counts. I might get a bit huffy, but it doesn't mean I'm going anywhere. I'm with you to the end of the line."

He raised his fist and Uzuri bumped it. Chot gave him a side hug.

"You're not gonna leave me?"

"No one could possibly get between us. You're my best friend. My first real friend. Besides... Anyone who's seen me get Feather Itch and scrape my wings around in that gravel patch -like a dog in the dirt- needs to stay where I can watch them."

"I still have the pictures."

"And I will find them one day..." He glowered.

"Good luck..."

[lovelyladylavie]

Wound-kissing, Farida and Anzyne

"Really!" Anzyne admonished, "You should be more careful!"

Farida held her palms outward as he cleaned them off with water from their canteen. She hissed as the lukewarm water hit the scrapes.

Farida had tried to climb up a cliff side -with no rigging mind you- and had torn up the skin of her palms after sliding down a few meters. It was the quickest way to the next town and they were low on supplies. Anzyne would've taken the long way if it were up to him; but she was too impatient as usual, and ran off to complete the task. It was rarely up to Anzyne when figuring out what to do in town. His long body and massive stature was 3 times the size of a normal human and made for quite the eyesore. A bit suspicious-looking, being a 12 foot long Lyndewyrm.

He patted them dry. His hands were massive, 3 times the size of hers. But he worked so delicately. Whatever was too humanly small for him, he often found a pair of tongs to be useful and kept a pair in his satchel. He always clicked them before using them. Deceptively human of him, she thought.

But for now, his big hands held hers so gently. He was always afraid he was going to hurt her. He sprayed the disinfectant on the wounds and she cursed aloud, crabbily griping in Hindi.

"Language." He grinned.

"You don't know what I'm saying!" She grumbled.

"I know the sounds of discontent when I hear them." He snickered.

She bit her tongue as he wrapped up her hands with some fresh guaze. He tucked it tight and she winced.

"Oh, sorry..."

He leaned down -and to her surprise- kissed her open palm.

Farida blushed. "Wha-?! What was that?!" She laughed it off.

Anzyne looked at her, cocking his head, confused. "Is that not a human tradition? I saw it on the television. To bless the wound with a kiss, to take pain away?"

Farida blushed harder, "That's for children!"

Anzyne rumbled with laughter. "Well, you're behaving like one! Haste makes waste, darling."

She pouted and pulled away.

"Farida, I'm not done."

"What else needs doing?" She looked at the wrappings.

He reached forward, took her right hand, and bent down. "I haven't blessed the pain away here yet..."

She blushed and let his lips touch her wound and kiss up her slim wrist.

"Does that feel better?"

"...yes."

[lovelyladylavie]

If you're still doing the soft OC asks: 25, for Rosa and Chot?

Does your OC like to cuddle their significant other when they sleep? If so, who is the little spoon? Would they admit it if asked?

Well, here in lies a problem. Chot has wings. Rosa has elbow-spikes.

Chot has to sleep on his side or stomach for comfort, and one sudden jolt from Rosa means a puncture in the chest for him if he was the big spoon.

Rosa being a head and a half shorter than him means a face full of feathers if she was the big spoon

They legit have to sleep face to face.

Rosa DOES have some wax that she can put on her talons and spikes, but its still chancey. A good enough jab will still bruise.

The best thing they could do is hold each other close chest to chest/ face to face. They admit freely that theyve tried and failed.

But hey, they get to look into each other's eyes!

I imagine they tried to get comfortable the first night they shared a tent, but it was more difficult than they thought!

Uzuri: *throws a rock at their tent* "Stop making out! Go to sleep already!"

Chot: "WE'RE TRYING!"

Rosa: "I WISH we were making out!!"'

Chot: "...you do?" 👀💕

[lovelyladylavie]

Crane sisters, sharing a nap! Fluff can be non-romantic too, after all

(This one is actually canon!)

When you grow up in close quarters, such as the bunk room in the back of an RV, you get accustomed to certain sounds and habits of the people around you. There are certain things you need in order to be comfortable.

The Crane Sisters were no exception.

Years had passed since they grew up in the hunk-a-junk RV they had called home. And the first few nights in their new apartment, where they all had their own rooms for the first time in their lives, it was hard to sleep.

That was a year ago. And they had gotten used to their own rooms.

This evening, they returned to the apartment from a particularily frightening day of saving the world.

They had been sent to a swamp-like world, where the sky was perpetually in twilight. They were there to help a colony of Therivians find out who was trashing their prefab colony cabins and tools. It turned out that the clearing they'd planted them down on was cleared for a reason. Egg-laying beasts had used it for a nesting spot for centuries and were trashing the campsite in retaliation. It hadn't been easy to figure out, but once they did, it was a fairly simple fix.

Lavie used her instruments to scout a new spot about a few miles away that was devoid of the calcium present in the eggshells that was now deep within the soil of the original site.

Silva used her enhanced speed to help pack up quickly into the vehicles the colonists had.

Renee used her superstrength to pack up and lift heavy junk into the trucks. Then the trio helped clear a path for the vehicles. It wasn't easy, but they managed. They had several run-ins with the creatures in the swamp and they were frightening things! Covered in mud and branches, 8 feet tall, quadrapedal, and mean as vipers.

But now they were home. They took showers and washed the mud out of their hair, cleaned their wounds -mostly small cuts from branches- and decided it was time for a nap. They all settled into their beds, but it felt...wrong for the moment.

As a family that often had to pack up and move on hundreds of times in their lives, they knew that same disappointment that the Therivians felt when it was apparent they couldn't stay in their chosen home. It reminded them how many times they'd have to leave new friends and environments they'd discovered they'd loved.

And sleeping alone after that just wouldn't do. Because no matter how many times they'd moved, they still had each other.

Renee wasn't falling asleep. She was reviewing the day in her head, trying to figure out if she'd forgotten anything to put in her report. Silva knocked on her open door, pillow and blanket squished in her arms.

"Hey, I know it's kinda dumb, but I was wondering if I could sleep in here tonight? Mine just feels...not right right now."

Renee scooted over and moved her pillow to the left. "In you get!"

Silva grinned and slapped her pillow down and hopped in, her bright pink matching flannel pajamas clashing with Renee's dark blue bed color scheme. Renee let her cuddle in under her arm and within a moment, the familiar sound of each other's breathing was lulling them to sleep.

They were awoken briefly a moment later as their middle sister slapped her pillow down next to them.

"AH!" Renee was startled as the air wave hit her.

"SCOOCH!" Lavie demanded and they reluctantly did so, Silva feeling the now-cooler parts of the bed under her back.

Lavie threw her comforter over her side of the bed and scooted in, cuddling up to her big sister. She laid her head on the opposite shoulder and Renee held her little sisters close.

Lavie's little snores were the missing bass line to their slumber-band, filling the room with a familiar choir.

They slept til 2 am, having taken a strange early evening nap that makes you feel like the whole world has passed you by, but you don't mind. Cause that was that GOOD Sleep.

Renee was the first to awaken.

"Guys I can't feel my arms..."

[lovelyladylavie]

Al x Verena, Regency AU? 👀

(I'm breaking the 3 sentence rule bc I'm super into this one:)

The ball welcoming the foreign dignitaries was so boring, Princess Verena stepped out into the garden to have a walk to shake off the stress.

"Orange, Majesty?" Came the voice of Alistair, the royal orchard gardener, as he appeared beside her looking bemused at all this frivolity as usual.

"You expect me to peel my own fruit?" She raised an eyebrow, but he cut her off, his voice quite calm and serious: "We both know you're far more capable than people give you credit for."

Verena blushed and dug her sharp thumbnails into the skin of the fruit, staining her spotless white gloves with juice. She ripped it in two and offered him half. The Queen Mother would have her head if she knew. Both about the gloves and fraternizing with with a peasant servant.

But the more Verena looked into Alistair's starry eyes, the less she cared what mother thought. He'd materialize at her side over the last few months whenever she strolled in the gardens. She found herself seeking fresh air and kind words and stolen glances more every evening.

"Wanna get out of here?" He offers.

"Desperately."

(Drew this way earlier, but i wanted to put it together with this post)

[lovelyladylavie]

Hello, dear! You've been visited by the random character question fairy! :D ~☆

What is your character's biggest weakness? Why is it their biggest weakness? Have they ever had to confront this weakness? What is their foil?

Lavie: her weakness is self doubt. At the beginning of the story, she's convinced she's the smartest brain in any room, or at least the most adaptable. But when she signs up to be a World Jumper alongside much smarter aliens, she realizes she was just a big fish in a small pond. Her usual boundless confidence is shrunk back when she's in training. But not when she hangs out with her new best friend, her foil, Lizo. Lizo is a lizardman mutant whos always lived in the looming shadow of his scientist mother/creator. He lacks friends and the skills to make them. But when Lavie barges into his lab, corrects his work and saves his life from electrocution, he finds himself magnetically drawn to her. They find comfort in each other's presence: her in his cautious nature, while her punk rock ways make him walk on the wild side. She gets over her self doubt by putting trust in his opinion of her. But when his mother gets in the way and tries to seperate them, he nearly shatters that trust. In the end, they realize just how much they need each other and make up, bonding over their love of science and their hatred of his mom. They have to sneak around to hang out together bc her watchful eye is everywhere.

[lovelyladylavie]

A2 for Larenn!

THANK YOU FOR SUGGESTING MY BOY.

Larenn's a thinky boy so this is perfect

(Sorry for not getting to this sooner its been super busy over here)

Used this expression meme set by @tabithajaneart :