Ficlet Requests, Well Don't Mind If I Do. Could You Possibly Gift Us Any Thoughts On Aether And Mountain's

𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 30: 𝒃𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 / 𝒅𝒂𝒚 19: 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

pairing(s): swiss/aeon words: 1314 notes: they/them aeon (cock/dick for their anatomy, only implied here). a present for dottie: happy birthday @coffeeghoulie 💙

Aeon looks around, nose leading his head in an almost bird-like manner as he takes in the state of the bedroom. There’s twenty or so candles of various sizes and burn stages placed around the room, the walls and furniture cast in a warm amber. All dark wax: navy blues, midnight blacks, and deep crimsons grouped together in trios of moody hues. A dying joint sits in the ashtray on the nightstand—it’s the only scent in the room aside from Swiss’ own. Something light, not too strong; pleasantly heady and herbal. 

“What’s with all the candles?” 

Swiss chuckles. He shuts the door behind them and loosely crosses his arms. “It’s called ‘setting the mood’,” he lilts.

They raise their eyebrows. “Hm.” Aeon looks him up and down, not-so-subtly lingering on his forearms. “You wanted to play with fire.”

“These things aren’t mutually exclusive, baby.” Swiss flashes his thousand-watt smile, and Aeon can’t help but roll their eyes and drift into him. They slip into his arms and wrap theirs around his waist. Leaning back their head into the cradle of Swiss’ hands when they come up to the back of their neck. 

Aeon hums. Smiles lazily. “I have something else you can play with,” they say softly, picking the hem of his t-shirt out of his jeans and slipping their hands underneath. They sway their hips a little too, just for good measure. Swiss rumbles, sultry. The quint ghoul runs their knobby fingers over the softness of his lower back, then slides one of their hands to his front. Palm flat against his stomach and drifting upwards. 

“Oh, I bet you do,” the multi ghoul says huskily. He grins, pulling Aeon in until their lips meet, half a kiss and half a shared, breathless laugh. 

Swiss’ mouth is warm, inviting—he always makes it too easy for them to open up immediately, tongues gliding out to greet the other in the space between their eager lips. Aeon tastes the weed lingering in his mouth. His natural mint and whiskey flavor. They never tire of it, no matter how many times they’ve tasted each other by now.

Swiss drops one hand to their waist instead, pulling them flush to his own body. Aeon groans approvingly and brings that hand on his tummy higher, higher. Fingers curling into his chest hair and thigh slotting between his legs.

The multi ghoul huffs. “Make me crazy, baby,” he breathes into their mouth. “So fuckin’ crazy.”

“Yeah?” Aeon teases. They trail kisses down his jawline, his neck. Hand dragging back down his torso until they’re palming the tent in Swiss’ jeans, earning them a hiss. “Gonna show me how crazy?” they mumble into his pulsepoint. 

“Fuck.” Swiss’ head dips back as he grinds into Aeon’s hand. They curl their fingers, pressing them deeper, groping him through the denim. His scent turns spicy and sweet all at once. Flooding their senses with nothing but a potent cloud of Swiss. They throb between their legs when his hands start to roam, chubbing up as he digs his those thick fingers into their waist, their back, petting over the nape of their neck and pawing at their ass. 

When the multi ghoul pulls them into a heated kiss, it’s Aeon’s turn to swear. “Shit—want you,” they pant. 

Swiss laughs breathlessly. “Didn’t even get to any romance yet.”

“Don’t have to—can have me however you want.”

The room spins.

The statement steals the breath from Swiss’ lungs, twisting it into a devastated groan. He grips Aeon tighter. Anchoring them both to the spot and resting their foreheads together. His heart’s pounding against his ribs, and he’s sure the quint can probably hear it—probably feel it against that skinny chest of theirs. 

“Baby,” he says slowly. His voice breaks with the surge of want that rushes up from his core, but it’s the nerves that he chokes on. Swiss swallows in poor effort to shove it all down. He cradles their cheeks in his hands, thumbs grazing over their cheekbones. Specks of ultraviolet in their otherwise charcoal gray eyes flash in the candlelight as they gaze up at him with parted lips and furrowed brow. Concerned despite the obvious arousal between them. 

“What?” 

Swiss takes a full breath. “Aeon,” he says softly. Their eyebrows raise a centimeter. “My beautiful bug.” They light up at the word ‘my’, chirping quietly. 

Lucifer, he can’t keep it in any longer. “I love you.”

Aeon’s eyes go wide. They stare at him for a painfully long moment, eyes flitting all over his face. Five, six, seven . . .The silence is maddening, but Swiss doesn’t dare break it by accidentally saying something stupid. Their fingers curl into his shirt a few seconds later and they force out: “Oh, the candles . . .”

He sighs, tension between his shoulders dissipating. “Yeah, the candles,” Swiss laughs. “Hopeless romantic, you know me. But ya kinda jumped me before I had the chance to be sappy.”

“Sorry,” they say, mouth scrunching to the side as they hold back a smile. “Could have stopped me.”

“Like hell I was gonna stop you.”

Aeon shrugs. “Fair.” But they smile big then, pulling Swiss into a hug. The multi ghoul wraps them up easily, resting his cheek against the top of their head. They smell like Dew’s shampoo and the electric zing of oncoming storms. Metallic and clear and apple-y. They blow a great big sigh into his chest, and it’s all wonderfully domestic. Something about them not realizing he had wanted to craft a certain ambiance and just falling into their usual, casual routine makes him smile. It’s just so them. He isn’t even bothered by Aeon not saying it back; he just needed to say it, lest it tumble from his lips at a random moment before his brain could stop his mouth from uttering the three words. 

Swiss sways them a little in the short span of silence, gaze lost in the flickering flames off to his right. That lingering feeling of arousal creeps back up, but he’s just as content to preserve this little bubble of warmth for as long as Aeon will let him. 

It’s not much longer though, the quint ghoul soon pulling his head out from their embrace. Their face has a little color to it, a slight purple hue over their otherwise deep gray complexion. Swiss can’t help but grin at how cute it makes them. 

“What are you smiling at?”

Swiss grins wider. “Just you. My cute little bug.”

Aeon shakes their head, amused. “You know that I love you, too, right?” 

A flash of giddiness surges through his chest, the entire cavity of it filling with affection. “You love me, too.” It’s a statement, not a question. Swiss fights his cheeks hard from dimpling with delight. 

“Yes? That’s what I just—mmpf!”

Swiss dives in and captures them in a kiss, cutting off the rest of their sentence. The ‘yes’ was more than enough for him. He kisses them like he hasn’t seen them in a hundred years—hands curled in their hair, mouths slotted perfectly together, and love seeping from every possible pore. Aeon melts so easily for him, humming contentedly when he licks over their top lip. Where it was heated and fervid before, it’s deep and tender now: a slow meeting and parting of their mouths, over and over without any intent of stopping. 

“Fuck, Swiss,” Aeon mumbles against his lips after who knows how many kisses. He takes it as an invitation to lick into their mouth, leaning into the hand that’s started skirting back under his shirt. “Please.”

Pleasure coils hot in his stomach. Renewed enthusiasm taking over as they start getting needy again. “Anything,” Swiss rumbles, grabbing at their waist. Pulling them in until they’re flush against him once more, until he can feel them throb through their pants. 

“Take me,” Aeon breathes. “Make me yours.”

please consider reblogging ♡ divider by @ghuleh-recs

Ok first off (I hope I'm not to late) HAPPY BIRTHDAY <3

And second, I just read your latest fic where Phantom regresses for the first time AND I LOVE IT. Honestly, little ghouls have a special place in my heart and it always makes me so happy to see other share the thoughts I have especially when they're kinda similar to my own (like Tain being the older and Dew just being a tiny baby)

Anyway, I'd like to request (only of you want off course) Phantom meeting little Rain and Dew for the first time? Maybe he is still big at first but just seeing Rain playing with toys/stuffed animals and Dew being cradled in someone's elses arms and getting taken care of looks so appealing to him and Swiss coaxes him to maybe join if he wants and slowly he does and Rain and him start to play together and the day ends with Swiss tugging them all in (Dew at first of course). Also you can add pretty much everything else you want, like with what they play, or what Dew does!

Getting to this super late lol (thank you for the birthday wishes I appreciate it)

This idea was so sweet and this is what popped in my head. I needed something soft so this was a joy to write.

I hope it's ok love 🖤🖤🖤

Cw: regressed ghouls, shy phantom, tiny Dewdrop

He'd been in a floaty in between space all day. He hadn't slept well and he didn't feel great and really all he wanted to do was wander into Swiss' room and ask him for help.

But he didn't want to bother him. He didn't want to be too needy...

He hears...he's not sure what he hears in the den but he's curious enough to go find out.

Swiss is on the couch with Dewdrop on the floor between the lower half of his legs, like Swiss' legs are the only thing holding him up. Rain's stomping around with two dinosaurs in his hands, shrieking and making them knock over towers of blocks.

One of the blocks lands in Dewdrop's lap and he blinks at it.

Rain swoops over with the pterodactyl. "Dew's gonna get squished! We gotta save him!"

Dew giggles quietly when Rain uses the dinosaur to grab the block off his lap. Swiss smiles and runs his fingers through Dew's hair.

"Good thing we've got Raincloud huh, firefly? He saved the day!"

"I'll always save Dew!" He races around the room and Dew claps.

Swiss catches him from the corner of his eye. "Hey bug!"

Rain stops running and Dew pouts. Phantom shuffles his feet, fuzzy socks sliding on the wood of the floor.

"Come over here." Swiss pats the spot on the couch beside him.

Phantom launches himself against his side, hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Feeling shy?"

He nods, thumb weaseling up into his mouth. He loves Rain and Dew but they've never been together like this and now he feels like he's intruding.

"Want to just sit with me and watch for a little bit? You can join in and play whenever you're ready."

He snuggles in closer, watching Rain from behind his hair when the water ghoul starts running around again. He roars and shrieks and makes the dinosaurs fight and Phantom smiles.

Rain flops over beside Dew, breathing hard and hands a soft, crinkley star to Dew who promptly shoves it in his mouth, biting hard into the fabric.

"Do you know dinosaurs?" Rain peeks over Swiss' knee to look at Phantom.

He shakes his head, gnawing on his thumb. He doesn't really...

"You can teach him." Swiss ruffles Phantom's hair. "You know what he does know a lot about? Sharks!"

"I have sharks! Hold on!"

He sprints from the den and Swiss cringes into the couch.

"Walk Rain!"

Dew makes a grumbling little sound in the back of his throat and bites his toy harder.

"Maybe Dew's not a firefly, maybe he's a dinosaur!" Swiss smiles down at the little ghoul between his legs, nose scrunched up as he chews on the star.

"C-could be a dragon...."

"Very true, love bug! Dewdrop the dragon!"

Phantom giggles when Dew tilts his head back to look at them, the plush toy hanging out of his mouth.

Rain darts back into the room, arms full of sea creatures.

"Hang on! Mounty has the rest, I can't carry all of them."

The giant rounds the corner with the rest of Rain's toys and Swiss laughs at him.

"You're lucky there are little eyes and ears right now." He drops the toys onto the floor. "Hi bug."

He blushes, Swiss is the only one who has seen him like this and he's not sure what to do.

"S'ok you don't have to talk to me until you're ready."

Dew squirms and holds his arms up until Mountain scoops him up.

"Hello firefly."

Phantom bites his lip. "D-dragon.."

"Hmm? Sorry bug I didn't hear you." He kneels with Dew in his arms, closer to the little Quint but not touching. "Can you tell me again?"

He glances at Swiss who nods. "Dew...h-hes a d-dragon..."

Mountain's eyes go wide. "He is?"

Phantom slowly uncurls from Swiss' side. "Yeah. He ate a star!"

Rain bounces over. "Help me find treasure! Dragons need treasure!"

"Why?"

Rain shrugs. "I don't know...but in all the stories they have some..."

Mountain laughs. "I think Dew is getting tired. Why don't you show Phantom your sharks for now."

Rain takes his hand and pulls him from the couch, both of them laughing when they bump into eachother. Mountain takes the spot Phantom had been occupying, tucking Dew more comfortably in his arms.

Swiss drapes his arm along the back of the couch and runs his nails over Mountain's shoulder.

"Been busy today?"

"Yeah, Sister has me doing the walkway differently now. She saw it at another Abbey so now naturally ours has to look like that."

They chat while Rain and Phantom play whatever game they created and Dew falls asleep, fingers wrapped tight around Mountain's thumb.

"Bath time?"

Rain whines. "But-"

"Minnow." Mountain warns.

"Sorry..."

"If you both clean up you can take a bath in Lus' tub together, lots of room for both of you and a couple sharks."

They race to clean up the toys, only getting distracted a few times. Mountain had left to get the bath ready with Dew in his arms.

"Ok pick a few toys to bring with you." Swiss claps his hands together. He wraps his arms around their shoulders when they're ready and guides them down the hall to Lus' room.

"Hi Lus!" Rain yells as he sprints by, racing to the bathroom.

Phantom clings to Swiss, chewing on his lip.

Swiss tugs his lip from between his fangs. "You're gonna hurt yourself, would you like a soother?"

He peeks around the multi ghoul to watch Cumulus. She's in a chair with Dew wiggling in her lap, fussing softly.

She shushes him and runs her fingers through his hair, holding him tight to her chest until he settles.

"Oh...hi bug! I didn't see you there!"

He gives a tiny wave but doesn't move from Swiss' side.

Lus smiles. "Do think you can help me before your bath?"

He likes helping...he nods.

"Can you pick some jammies for Dew for me? I forgot to grab them and he's comfy now."

"I-I can help." He tugs Swiss' hand. "Where are they?"

"We'll run to Mountain's room real quick and grab some."

Swiss leads him down the hall and over to the dresser with Dew's clothes, the ones saved only for when he's this small.

Phantom pokes around, rubbing the fabric between his fingers, scrunching his nose with his tongue poked out. Fully focused on the task at hand.

"This one!" He waves the soft pajamas around so fast and races back to Lus' room before Swiss can even see what he picked.

"Wow you're fast!" Swiss hears Cumulus before he walks in and he smiles, she's got him out of his shell without even trying.

"Picked these ones! D-Dew ate a star and now h-hes a dragon and these have stars!"

Her eyes go wide and she gasps. "Oh my goodness! Don't tell Aether that he ate a star, he might get nervous."

Rain pokes his head out of the bathroom. "Dew wouldn't eat Aether! Come on Phantom! The tubs ready!"

Swiss ushers him in just as Rain sinks into the bubbles, already making his sharks fight each other.

Swiss helps him from his clothes and helps him over the lip of the tub so he can sink into the water beside Rain.

Swiss laughs when Rain tosses a squishy squid at Phantom and it splats against his chest .

They splash and play, giggling happily, creating games Swiss can't even keep up with. He lets them play longer than usual, well past bedtime.

Rain begs for Lus to wash their hair, claiming she's the best at it and Phantom simply takes his word for it, only shying away a little bit before relaxing under her careful fingers.

He gets them dried off and in their pj's. He can't resist them and their soft puppy eyes when Rain asks if Phantom can sleep in his room with him and Mountain laughs with his arms full of a sleep soft Dewdrop.

Rain kisses Dew's cheek and Mountain's and Phantom gives a little wave before Rain grabs his hand and sprints off down the hall.

Mountain kisses Swiss softly before taking Dew down to his room for the night, humming a lullaby as he walks, swaying the little ghoul gently.

"Ok pick a book and hop up into bed so I can get you tucked in."

They pick Puff the magic dragon and Swiss squishes them together and tucks them in, tickling them when they are trapped under the blanket.

Phantom falls asleep halfway through but Rain makes it to the end of the story despite his heavy eyes.

Swiss smiles and pushes his hair back. "You helped Phantom a lot today, duckling."

"I did?"

"Mhmm, I'm really proud of you."

He smiles wide and snuggles down into the blanket further. Swiss kisses the top of both of their heads before switching on the light projector, sea creatures dancing across the walls with a soft glow.

"Sleep well, I love you."

The only response he gets is soft even breathing from both little ghouls.

Great, now I'm gonna be staring at every pic from now on to try and see the mesh part of the mask.

Fuck. Look at the EYES

Some soft and afkdjjs Dewther for @miasmaghoul ♥♥♥

Mushy May Day 31: Looking at/Taking Pictures

The fridge in the den kitchen tells a lot of stories.

Thank you so so so much to @forlorn-crows for putting Mushy May together again this year, and to @ghuleh-recs for making us the dividers. Love you guys, cannot thank you enough. I had so much fun doing this again <3

Arguably, the kitchen is the central point in the entire ghoul den. It seems like someone's always there, cooking or cleaning or making a snack, coming in from the gardens or slipping out to have a smoke.

So naturally, it makes sense that the fridge is the pack corkboard. Magnets from just every stop the band's ever made cover the stainless steel, holding up shopping lists, reminders on bright colored sticky notes, a calendar, but most frequently, photos. Polaroids and glossy film and printed out on paper, the kitchen fridge is an amalgamation of the big moments and the little ones.

There's one right next to the freezer handle, a little blurry, out of focus. It shows the inside of the band tourbus, a soft purple blanket covering two sleeping forms. It's dark, but if you look close enough, you can make out Dew's spindly fingers, arm wrapped tight around Aeon's waist as he big spoons them. Rain had taken it, the first night they had shared a bunk, early into Aeon's first tour. It makes the little quint blush every time they see it, but the way their tail wags betrays any semblance of embarrassment.

There's one in the center of the fridge, a polaroid film, the flash bright and a little over exposed, two ghouls with their backs to the camera. Aurora is easily recognizable, her hot pink hair covering the bottom quarter of the image. Dew's in the background, sitting in Mountain's lap, a little out of focus as he throws up an As Above gesture. Rain's the star of the show though, his blue black waves pulled back into two French braids, decorated with clips and baubles and ribbons. Dew's hair is in a similar state. There's a caption written in Aether's blocky handwriting below it that reads "Playing Barbies."

A glossy 4 by 6 print is stuck to the fridge with a magnet shaped like a palm tree, from Cirrus's disposable camera. It's summertime at the Abbey, taken from the edge of the dock. Mist's perched on Alpha's shoulders, successfully shoving Dew from Swiss's shoulders in a game of chicken fight. She'd taken it at the perfect moment of realization, Dew's eyes wide in panic just as he tips backwards. They had all laughed when she had gotten the print developed, even as Dew grumbled. He couldn't hide the fond look on his face when it had been pinned up, though.

On the side of the fridge is a picture of Omega and Terzo, the big ghoul sprawled out in an armchair during one of the pack's frequent movie nights, Terzo practically in his lap, smudging paint against the side of Omega's neck. They both had passed out within the first half hour of a particularly loud action movie, much to the snickers of the pack.

There are several from the road, new scenery and places and tourist stops, a polaroid of Aurora proudly holding up a soft drink that's almost the size of her torso captioned "Baby's First Big Gulp." One of Aeon sticking their face through a cut out that makes them look like a video game character in some mall. Swiss giving Dew bunny ears while the fire ghoul takes a picture with Rain and Mountain. Cumulus floating on a blow up raft smuggled into a hotel pool. All three of the ghoulettes squeezed onto a greenroom couch in a way that cannot possibly be comfortable but they had sworn up and down that it was.

There are close to two dozen pictures with a similar set up, the entire band and crew all lined up on stage after the last show of a tour. The lineup changes and shifts, familiar faces running through several photographs, looking bone-deep exhausted but with grins on their faces, satisfied with a job well-done.

Aether approaches the fridge, a photo in hand, searching for an empty magnet. He finds one, chuckling as he grabs one shaped like a bat but in a hot pink plastic, pinning the picture front and center. It shows Aeon and Aurora, both ghouls grinning, wearing cheap plastic party hats, the elastic hooked under their chins. There's a cake on the table in front of them, a sparkler candle lit in the middle. There's words frosted on it, in red frosting in Mountain's loopy handwriting that proudly display "Happy First Summoning Day."

He sighs, smiling at the picture of his newest packmates, before his eyes drift up to a picture pinned to the top corner of the fridge. Aether always looks to it when he's in here, feels a warmth settle in his heart as he takes in the picture. He's memorized it, it will be seared into the back of his eyelids for the rest of his time Up Top and long after that.

It's him and Dew, standing at the front of the chapel, grasping each other's forearms as Copia wraps a multi colored cord around their wrists, the fondest smiles on each of their faces. The cord was a four stranded braid of ribbon, he remembers, purple and black and blue and orange. He remembers the warmth of Dew's hand on his arm, the glint of the gold jewelry in his ears, hair soft and falling over his shoulders, every inch the ghoul he had fallen in love with the moment he had arrived Up Top.

Aether smiles, running a finger along the edge of the photograph reverently, reaching up for the bunch of bananas on the top of the fridge, breaking one off and going to rejoin the pack with his snack.

I can't even eat my feelings today because of Ozempic

Cryptid Biology Season 2: Something Special

[Previous entry in this series: Here. The ghouls participate in a time honored tradition in celebration of the summer solstice... or Dew has an encounter with Special in the woods.] Below the cut.

Dew can feel his heart beating in his chest as he runs through the darkness, ducking and weaving to avoid branches and thorn bushes that appear just inches away from him before disappearing into the black surrounding him.

He curses, feeling his muscles scream at him to slow down, to stop, but if he does, he'll get caught.

Breathing heavily, Dew stumbles over a root, but manages to keep his footing... only to trip and fall over the next one, landing upon the ground with a heavy thud that would hurt a whole heck of a lot more if not for the bed of decaying leaves on the forest floor.

He groans and attempts to scramble to his feet, but when a boot against his back keeps him from rising right away, he relents, flopping back down with an angry huff.

"First you failed to outrun me during the Imbolc hunt, then you ran into me at the one for Ostara, and don't get me started on that pathetic attempt to hide from me during Beltane... and now here we are again." the ghoul above him chuckles, eyes glowing red, face just barely visible with Dew's lackluster night vision, "I think you're getting in my way on purpose, Tadpole."

"Stop calling me that, Special, you prick..." Dew grits out, "Maybe you're the one chasing after me, huh?"

Special hums and grinds his foot down.

"Mn, no, I don't think so." he says, crouching down, "I'm not much of a hunter, you see, I've always been more of a scavenger; I take what the others leave behind, so normally I'd wait and see who's left..."

He moves to press his knee into Dew's back, applying more pressure as he leans forward to whisper into his ear, "You're too much work, so for me to catch you, either nobody wanted you this time, or you're deliberately making it easy for me, because after our first encounter, you've been aching for more..."

Special brushes the hair from his neck and presses a kiss there, "...Haven't you?"

"Shut-" Dew starts to shout, but can't as Special's jaws lock onto his nape, it stings, both from the act itself, and from the toxin dribbling into his wounds from the ghoul's mouth, "Uh-huunh..."

"There's a good boy." Special coos, licking Dew's blood from his lips, swiping his tongue over his teeth for good measure, "Feels better than when a quint fucks your mind, doesn't it? I know it does... It's such an instant relief."

His hand comes down the massage the wound, grinning as the skin heals over from his touch, while also aiding in spreading the venom faster.

"There we go..." he says, finally lifting himself from Dew's body and flipping him over onto his back, "Well, look at you~"

Dew's whole body feels flush, and his breathing has yet to settle from his mad dash through the forest, so he has to look like a sweaty mess, but Special doesn't seem to agree, reaching down to cup his cheeks with his hands, shaking his head teasingly back and forth.

"Aren't you just the sweetest thing?" he grins, then pats his face lightly, "Hm, guess we should get this show on the road then, huh?"

Dew mumbles something and raises his arms slowly, wiggling his fingers, and Special blinks at him for a moment before snorting, "Oh, poor baby, can't take your shirt off yourself? You need me to do it for you?"

"Feeeel allll... wiggly..." Dew supplies unhelpfully, giggling as Special hooks his fingers under the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head in one fluid movement, "Umph!"

"The venom's making you a little silly, isn't it?" Special squishes Dew's face again as he wads up his shirt and tucks it under his head, "That's good, you always seem so uptight..."

He spreads his fingers over his chest, thumbs poised beneath his nipples, "You know..."

"Most people come to these hunts so they can do nasty, freaky things in the woods without consequence." he says, teasing the small bud, "But you, and pardon the joke, are something special, huh?"

"You just wanna be loved.... adored, taken care of..."

Dew mewls as Special descends to nibble at his neck again, fingers rolling his nipples around in soft, slow motions.

"Are they not treating you right, sweet thing? Hm?" Special asks, "Should I talk to that water ghoul you like so much and tell him he doesn't need to be rough?"

"I like... I like rough..." Dew replies meekly, eyes shutting, "S'okay..."

Special makes a disappointed little noise and pulls back.

"You know I don't like liars, Dewdrop." he chastises, "But if that's what you want-"

Dew's eyes widen as Special's hand begins to wrap around his neck.

"Do you want this?" he asks, applying pressure to his throat, "Or do you want me to treat you like you really want?"

Dew groans and kicks his legs slightly, squirming under his grasp.

"Want-"

"Yes?"

"...Don't wanna say it..."

Special pouts.

"But I want to hear it, c'mon, baby, when you're with me, what's your name, huh? How do I treat you?"

"Pri..."

"Yes~?"

"You're a prick." Dew cackles, and Special sits back, rolling his eyes.

"You may be easy to catch, but you're hard to break, I'll give you that." He sighs, "But I'll be damned again if I don't love picking you apart."

"Hehe~"

The multi-ghoul slides down and begins undoing Dew's pants, but the zipper refuses to open and he gives a frustrated noise.

"Just pull 'em off..." Dew says, struggling to move his legs around from under Special's body.

"I have a better idea-" The ghoul tugs Dew's pants down to about mid thigh and leaves them like that, the dense, folded over fabric restricting his movements, "-that's much better."

Dew wriggles, trying to slide them down further, but he can't get the leverage and gives a defeated hiss.

"I could just..." Special pushes his legs back towards his chest, "Yeah, I can work with this."

"H-Hey now-"

Special cranes his neck at him, "What? Suddenly you're embarr-Oh. Oh-ho-ho-ho~"

Dew's ears have flicked back, the tips almost as red as his face.

"What do you think? Should I take you like this, or perhaps I should lay you on your side? What is my princess thinking now, hm~?"

"Just-"

A stick snaps and Dew goes stone stiff, whereas Special lowers himself over his body, territorial, a growl emanating from his throat, wholly unexpected from such a usually jovial, prankster type like him.

What or whoever was approaching seems to get the hint and approaches no further, but the ghoul above him remains locked in his protective stance, glaring out into the darkness.

After a minute passes, Dew can finally hear the sound of retreating footsteps, and not even a second later, he feels something prodding at his entrance, causing him to tense and squeak.

"How annoying..." Special mutters, hastily working Dew open, not giving him any time to adjust, forcing a series of involuntary chatters and chirps to escape his mouth, "We'll have to rush things a bit now, I'm sorry."

"Who was-" Dew tries to lift himself up to look around, but Special pushes him back down, "Hey-"

Special clicks his tongue.

"Humans."

Dew furrows his brow.

"The siblings-"

"Not them." Special hisses, then tilts his head back, letting out an annoyed groan, "Dammit..."

"Then who? The gardener-"

"Outsiders."

Dew forces himself up onto his elbows, wobbling as Special helps him tug his pants back up.

"Careful now, don't want you falling down again..." Special chides, wrapping his arm around his waist as they stand, "...Fucking, of course, those bastards would sneak around on a night like this... I bet they're running back to the other side of the lake now."

"We should go after them-" Dew starts, but the second he tries to pull away from Special, his head starts swimming, "-Fuck, Phil, how much venom did you give me??"

"I wasn't expecting our little rendezvous to be interrupted by a pack of mortal morons, so I gave you a little more than last time..." he pinches his brow, "We'll have to inform the other-"

A loud cracking sound startles them both, making Dew stumble, but he is quickly captured by Special, who narrows his eyes in the direction of the noise.

"Do you think that was the trespassers or..."

A second, louder crack echoes through the woods followed by a chorus of human screams.

Dew cringes and Special begins to make a clicking sound, a common distress noise among ghouls, neither of them is sure what's going on at this point, and the lack of any other sound once a third crack sounds sounds has them both on edge, until...

"You better run, you fuckin' little shits! I have more where that came from!"

"...Bea, I think they got the point, put the bb gun down-"

...Ah.

Mountain heaves a heavy sigh, taking the gun from the gardener, who looks positively miffed, even in the lowlight cast by the lantern in the earth ghouls other hand.

"Give that back-" the hotheaded woman starts, but instead of giving her back the gun, Mountain scoops her up and jostles her around a bit before tossing her over his shoulder and lumbering back off into the forest, "YOU BITCH!"

Special and Dew watch the retreating pair in silence, looking at each other after the two are gone from sight again.

"...I'm getting too old for this..." They both sigh in unison.

"Still though, how did they get passed the barricades?" Dew wonders aloud and Special shrugs.

"They could have swam to this shore for all we know." he remarks, "It's happened before, so I expect the next budget meeting will involve putting something in place to prevent this from happening again..."

"We can't just magic some shit in place?" Dew questions, "Like with the woods along the main road?"

"People getting turned around in the woods is one thing, because they usually make their way back out, if we turn them around in the water, they could drown..." Special reasons, adjusting his grip on Dew, "...Not that they wouldn't deserve it with all the signs we have posted about these kinds of things. They've probably learned their lesson for now."

Dew hums.

"...So."

"So?"

"...Now that they're gone-"

"Yes?"

"...You know what I'm thinking?"

Special looks him up and down.

"...That we should track them down and eat their bones?"

Dew pinches the bridge of his nose.

"No, I-"

"-want to get railed within an inch of your life to make up for that frankly unnecessary distraction?"

"...You really are a prick."

"And you happen to like them very much, so it's a win-win situation for us all, isn't it?"

Aww, I think I want one

anyone baby ghoul fever?

Light a Candle or Curse the Darkness

Part One

In the end, what would be your choice? The summer tour of 2005 does not go as planned.

Warnings: This is not Porn. It is probably not Crack. Hell, it is not even close to an over-the-counter, off brand Ibuprofen. And it ain’t all sunshine and kittens. Oh, yeah, language.

Disclaimer: This is so far out in the AU field that you can’t see it with a telescope. I have never met any member of Duran Duran and I don’t speak English. Well, that would be English English. So, if it seems a little Americanized that is why.

~~*~~

June 21st.

A Day that will never be forgotten.

In less than twenty-four hours life on Earth, as it was known, forever was changed. They had come, without warning, from the far reaches of space. I know, it sounds like a cheesy opening line from a bad Sci-Fi novel or something from Star Trek or one of those movies that the kids had liked to watch. Oh, how I wish it had been a Star Trek episode. Or even one of those Hollywood movies where the hero always saves the day before the total annihilation of the planet. Maybe then Captain Kirk and his merry band could have saved the day. Hell, I would have even settled for Will Smith. But, tragically, no one came to our rescue. The sheer power and technology of these creatures ended whatever defensive measures the nations might have used before there was even a chance. In an instant, every single major city in the world was wiped from the map. Rome. New York. Los Angles. Paris. Moscow. Washington. Beijing. Tokyo. London. All of them. There were no negotiations, no chance of surrender. Millions of souls gone in seconds.

Sometimes I think they were the lucky ones.

Don’t get me wrong, it took several weeks for them to completely dominate the planet, and there was a resistance movement. But in the end, nothing that was done to repel the invaders worked.

June 21st.

The day I and, others ceased to be. Ceased to be individuals. Ceased to be free. That day was the day that whoever had survived their initial attack would forever be known by only a barcode and a number. Me? My number was 7609. Ironic, is it not?

You want to run but there’s no space at all… La la la late bar…

Not some of the most brilliant of our lyrics but still…

Ah, my mind wanders. If I am going to tell this tale, then let me attempt to start somewhere near the beginning…

~~**~~

The first day of summer was spent like so many others, touring. You see, we were in a band, musicians, and we were on a crazy schedule of two months on and two months off. This just happened to be our time on the road and for once we were all traveling together. Everyone’s families and significant others had returned several days before to wherever it was, they had called home, and the feeling of nostalgia had hit us hard. And hard hit was we: someone had the brilliant idea of traveling to the next city, like in the old days, by bus. A tour bus, for God’s sake. A damn tour bus. I don’t know if I should feel thankful about that or not. If we had traveled by airplane, as was the norm, we…I…would most likely not be here now.

Maybe if we had been in an airplane when they had come, we would have escaped the Hell that was to follow. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. That is all there seems to be now days. That, and ‘what if’?

I don’t even really remember where we were when it happened. I think Andy had called it, ‘Somewhere in the Middle of Bloody Fuckin’ Nowhere.’ Andy. He always had a mouth on him. I can’t even begin to remember how many times when we were younger that mouth of his almost got us into trouble or almost cost us a gig. Right now, I would give anything to hear one of the many flamboyant curses that had always seemed to slip so effortlessly from between his lips.

Almost everyone had been sleeping when the bus suddenly stopped. I am pretty sure that several people hit the floor at the sudden stop. Bumps and bruises all around. Later we had learned that they had used what was basically a short-termed EMP pulse in the opening salvo of the attack. Not too terribly high tech for them, but still effective.

I won’t bore you with the details that followed. Won’t bore you with how we saw to any injuries we might have had after we picked ourselves up from the floor of that damned bus. I won’t tell you of the confusion that was present on so many of the faces of the other stranded travelers. I won’t tell you how we decided to leave the interstate. The details of how we wandered the countryside with some of the others from the road, lost, looking for help, are not so important now. I will not tell of how we wandered for a few days before being picked up by them. Okay, so we got lost. We were a pop group not a bunch of bloody Boy Scouts.

Why do you ask that I bore you with such details? Time. Plain and simple, time. I seem to have run out of it; something is happening. They have been moving troops and equipment off the planet; all the while, methodically clearing the barracks, block by block. Guess whose is next.

There are other things that need to be told in this telling.

Jesus.

Where do I start?

I would tell you their name if I could spell it, hell, I can’t even pronounce it. Even after all this time.

Like a nightmare come true, they came from the sky. Imagine our surprise. No one thought to run, so dumbstruck we were. There really was nowhere to run to. We stood there with our mouths open, as we caught the first sight of proof that we were not alone in the universe.

Prompt #1000

"Then why did you even come along?"

"Because someone has to save your ass if this inevitably goes wrong."