I love your Yuletide boys and when you mentioned that idea of doing something Nightmare Before Christmas like, it got my gears turning! So I’ve written you a spooky story with Krampus Moon and made an illustration to go with it!! I hope you enjoy!!
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Snow swirled past through the dark, cutting my face as the cold ice touched my cheeks. Snow crunched under my boots as I tracked further into the forest.
Children had vanished from the village. No one seemed to care.
I hadn’t cared much either, too busy at work, trying to make ends meet so we could keep the lights on and have food on the table…
But then my brother was taken.
The back door to our little cottage had been left open, snow piling up in the opening, covering any tracks that might have been left.
Our parents had died two years ago and I had been left to care for my 10 year old brother. He could be annoying at times and we didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things but he was my brother and I loved him. I’d been doing my best.
So now I was out on the mountain, trudging through the trees, looking for any sign of my little brother.
There had been whispers of a monster on the mountain. 7 foot tall goat man that stalks through the trees, the faint sound of bells accompanying him. People wondered if maybe he had been stealing the children that no one wanted.
If he had been, then he’d taken the wrong kid. Maybe I hadn’t been doing the best job taking care of my brother but that didn’t mean I was going to let this beast steal him away.
Where did he take the children he stole anyway?
The snow storm slowly picking up, and there was no moon to light the way. I only had a lantern to provide me with a little light.
I was trying to get to the top of the mountain where there was supposedly a cave where this creature lived. The further I went, the darker it got and the colder it became.
The trees started to thin and I found myself miles above the village, the lights of the houses twinkling faintly through the snow, far below.
The cold was eating through my thick coat, snow was freezing to my eyelashes and my nose was numb.
I hoped Greg was warm where ever he was, beast or no beast.
Turning back to the dark mountain about me, I started trudging through the snow again.
Almost no one came up this far, especially not in the winter. There were too many wild animals that prowled through the trees.
This beast that people claimed to have seen was probably a lynx or something of the like. Something normal but just as deadly.
Hopefully I wouldn’t meet anything like that out here before I could get to Greg.
The trees thickened again and a cliff wall loomed up over me, black against the gray sky.
This would be a good place to look for caves. Miles away from anywhere and high up on the mountain. It was truly amazing I’d made it this far.
Using my lantern to light the way and squinting through the snow, I started along the stone wall, looking for an opening, hoping I wouldn’t miss it in the dark.
A feeling crept up my spine, as though there were eyes watching me.
Glancing around, I searched for who was watching, an animal, a person… but all I could see was the night and the snow.
Before I had only felt cold and now I was chilled to the bone, an uneasy feeling seeping into me.
“I know you’re there!” I called out, trying to sound brave, feeling scared and stupid.
“Show yourself!”
My voice bounced off the stone and sunk into the snow.
…
Maybe it was nothing. The long hike pared with the lack of sleep from the last few days putting my nerves on edge.
Slowly, I turned back towards the direction I’d been heading and started to trudge through the deep snow once more, the feeling of unease growing stronger with each step I took.
The snow was falling harder now, making it impossible to see more than a few inches in front of me.
I adjusted my path to bring me up against the cliff wall, letting one hand run along it as I keep morning forward.
At this point I was now looking for a cave for shelter just as much as I was for finding my brother.
The wall seemed never ending, the cold stone going on for ages.
Then suddenly it was gone.
I stumbled into the opening, then trotted in further, trying to get out of the snow.
The air was thick and damp, the lantern lighting a small section of stone floor covered in stones and underbrush.
Maybe some of it would be dry enough to start a fire.
I’d have to wait for the snow to die down some before I could continue my search.
Someone from the outside looking in would probably think I was crazy, trudging across the mountain through a snow storm for a chance to save my brother. Out here only because of a rumor of a creature that was stealing children.
And they’d be right, but Greg was all the family I had left in the world and …
I’d seen the beast.
It was two nights before Greg had been taken.
I was walking down a path through the village, making my way home after a long day. A sliver of moon hung in the sky and for a moment it had been blotted out.
When I glanced up, there was an enormous shape on the roof of the house beside me.
A mass of fur with a wicker basket on his back and horns arching from his head.
And then he was gone, a cloud covering the moon sending us into pitch black night.
At the time I had thought maybe I’d been seeing things. I’d really wanted to have just made up the beast in my sleep deprived mind, but then Greg went missing.
Setting the lantern down, I glanced around the cave I was in, my eyes slightly adjusting to the dim light.
It seemed to go back for a ways, a dark tunnel leading to who knows where. Hopefully not leading to a bear.
Not something to explore tonight.
I started to collect sticks and leaves to attempt making a fire.
Bending down to pick up a branch that had been broken off and blown into the cave the lantern went dark.
I’d had my back to it.
Slowly I straightened, a chill of fear running down my spine.
My ears strained for any sound other than falling snow and wind.
In the black, it felt like I was sharing the space with something large, something that towered over me.
But that had to be my imagination, my exhaustion and nerves playing tricks on me.
“Why are you here?”
Time seemed to stop, my body going numb as my brain desperately tried to process what was happening.
Been chatting a bit with @wyervan and was particularly inspired by something about they said about the hot springs int he cave system that their Krampus Moon lived in UwU
EDIT: I should probably remember to mention this is slightly suggestive in nature!
“Are you coming in or not?”
You blink at the goat-man, glancing down at the water beneath him for only half a second before you remember yourself and look up again. Not that “up” helps very much—Moon is smirking at you, relaxed, his arms resting on either side of the pool. The coarse fur of his body sticks to him, wet, and steam rises from his body as much as it does the hot spring. His head tilts to the side, studying you, smug—you cross your arms and turn away. “Definitely not.”
Moon makes a noise low in his throat, something amused, and the sloshing of water follows. “Stubborn.”
You’re about to say something about pots and kettles when the sight of his discarded pants, folded neatly beside the edge of the pool and a cluster of ribboned bells, derails your train of thought. It was only a suspicion before but the evidence is right in front of you now, speeding your heartbeat. You glance at him, surprised, and see that he’s actually shifted closer to you. “Are you... wearing anything in there?”
His tail, de-belled, swishes across the surface of the water. “Do you wear clothes in the bath?”
Your face, still chilled from the cold outside, flares with warmth. You twist your head to the side so quickly that your neck pops, and fix your gaze on a specific spot on the cave wall where the jutting rock casts a cat-like shape in shadow that ripples in the firelight. You definitely weren’t getting into the water now—even if it seemed like a nice idea to your perpetually aching back. In fact, you definitely weren’t even more tempted to get in after finding out he was naked! How ridiculous would that be? Moon was a creature easily twice your height if he stood up straight—even if his waist and hips were narrow enough to seem closer to that of a normal human, his other proportions were dramatically oversized. Like his hands, large enough to wrap around you entirely!
…you weren’t doing a good job of making any part of the scenario you were presented with less appealing.
More of the silky sound of moving water, accompanied by Moon’s rolling, purring rasp. “Silly ideas of modesty. You humans always forget that you’re still just animals.”
You have to bite the inside of your cheek to keep from answering that you have never been as keenly aware of the animal within you as you were at that exact moment.
Before you can think of a response that doesn’t expose you like a ripped pair of jeans, Moon’s hand encompasses your waist just as you had envisioned a moment before and you found yourself tilting and falling and suddenly very warm and very wet. Moon had pulled you into the hot spring, clothes and all.
You gape at the cackling creature as he sinks chin-deep into the water, looking very self satisfied, and grab him by the horn with a sopping mitten.
“Asshole!” you accuse, and watch his grin only widen. “I don't have anything else to wear! My clothes are going to freeze to my skin!”
“They won’t,” Moon tosses his head, effortlessly breaking your grip on his horn and casting your hand aside. “Fire.”
The flames from the fireplace glitter in his dark eyes, mirroring the heat you feel in your own cheeks. You could lay your clothes by the fire to dry them, true, but you’d… have to take them off, for that.
Your internal battle is short lived. There really isn’t an alternative.
“Fine,” you spit, then soften. “Turn around?”
Moon, obliging your uncharacteristic timidity, turns 180 degrees to allow you your privacy. You strip your clothing off while still in the water, ringing then out as best you can and draining the wetness into the pool. You debate leaving your underwear on, but the risk of your damp drawers freezing to your ass the next time you leave the cave is not one you want to take. You only hop out of the pool long enough to run your clothes to the fireplace and lay them out in front of it, the steamy, warm air of the cave chilly to your slick, reddened skin.
A glance at Moon as you scurry back into the warmth of the hot spring reveals that he hasn’t peeked, still facing away from you, resting his chin on folded arms atop the edge of the pool, eyes closed. His face is the picture of blissful relaxation, and looking at him so content only emphasizes the relief of slipping back into the heat yourself.
He, perhaps, had a point about the whole “hot spring” business. But like hell were you going to admit that now that he’d soaked your clothes.
You splash his face spitefully. “Bastard.”
He only opens one eye, expression slipping from tranquility to mild irritation. “Brat.”
Despite the warmth of the spring, a shiver runs through you, and you turn resolutely away from him again as you are reminded that you are both naked, and in very close proximity.
Moon takes advantage of your distraction, splashing you with a bigger wave that hits your face and hair. He’s grinning when you glare at him, and cackles when your attempt to get him back results in a piddly baby-sized wave. Smug son of a bitch.
I made a one-shot based on @wyervan DCA Yuletide AU. It was originally just something for my friend but I decided to change it to Y/n naming as well and post it. I hope Moon isn't too, ooc. But yuh enjoy
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I've recently began lurking on here again and went back to DCA stuff only to find 1 of 2 aus this creator made that have held my mind hostage as of late so i needed to make something. i also heard of a possible dca server?? from scrolling through the dca tag, that i would die to join but me spooked. maybe idk
CREDIT TO @wyervan FOR THE AWESOME YULETIDE AU
I heard no creative limit and ran with it, so here is my character "Sandy" or "boogey" who is both the sandman and the boogeyman (because i think they'd both be the same entity since they work with dreams/nightmares, same spectrum so-)
For the basic idea of her character, 'appeared' in 1700s-ish, was originally just the sandman who gave sweet dreams to children to comfort them, began getting angry at seeing that adult figures were causing her dreams to fail/harm the young minds so in her anger transformed her into the boogeyman who gives nightmares to the bad folk who harm innocents of any nature, kid or adult, and also some lessons disguised as nightmares to children who need it (I.E bullying another child for being poor, nightmare being your stripped of your wealth and are alone) to make them wake up spooked to make better decisions and be kinder because young minds are moldable so why not teach kindness.
In the shadows she is the boogeyman which form shifts and melts to mold into shadows with her hourglass heart sealed away, in the light she is the sandman with her hourglass heart exposed in the back behind a pane of glass (sand melt into glass haha heart hot etc idfk im tired its 3 am). she also takes care of a orphan 7 year old girl named alice in her home somewhere near the edge of the forest.
sorry for the yap session, i have more details about her lore/concept if others are interested, if the character is too OP lemme know and i shall shelve her in the pantry, i'm also making a y/n for the slasher au aaa.
have funny i swear ill learn how to draw them better im tired
