Coughing, Temp Taking And "Hold Me" For Victuuri :)

Headcanons about Bug Fables Teams

Some of these are borrowed from other people, most are original.

Some of these are related to my crossover AU idea with Hollow Knight, but I’ll try to keep those to a minimum.

There are spoilers below!

Team Slacker (Stratos and Delilah)

Their main role is investigating rumors of monsters and ruins out in the wilderness. Sometimes they get sent out to find ‘giant supplies’ like a tire for rubber, old tools for metal, etc. kinda like oil prospectors. This job is typically seen as highly dangerous due to the issues of long-distance travel, lesser bugs, bandits, etc. and thus is paid extremely well. Team Slacker, however, is so strong that they just do not have to worry about any of that.

Stratos has been divorced at least once, possibly even twice or thrice. He has kids and Delilah is their adopted wine aunt.

Continuar lendo

Please tell me if any of the links aren’t working

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I just think they would be pals...............

Febuwhump, Day 1 - Touch Starved

This is late, and turned out to be mostly a bunch of idiots fighting with each other. Oh well, it's still done. Doesn't matter if it's good or not - it's out. Unbeta'd, might post on AO3 later if it's worth cleaning up.

Snakemouth Den was dark, dank, and absolutely full of mushrooms.

Kabbu could have come up with a better description for it, really, but considering the amount of mythology surrounding it, the number of adventurers rumored to have died in its depths, the treasure rumored to lie within, and the century-and-a-half of people who had vanished into it never to return, he likely could have come up for a better description for it a week ago, when he was still taken in by the splendor of its myth and the many stories about it.

A lot of mythologized places lost their glamor, once you’d been wandering through them for a week and seen nothing but mushrooms and crystals. It certainly didn’t help that most of the cave was too clogged with spores to smell a foot in front of you. The place’s gory reputation certainly didn’t help – he’d been smelling hemolymph on and off for at least the past few hours, and he didn’t want to know if it was multiple corpses or if one of the undead ants that had attacked them earlier had followed them.

At least he had company.

Vi was quite the fierce fighter, doing away with foes far faster than Kabbu could on his own, and finding Leif was a stroke of good fortune all on its own. The moth had a sharp sense of direction, which was a boon and a half when every tunnel in the place looked the same, and had likely saved them from running in circles more than once. With his aid clearing their path-

“Vi.”

Kabbu’s train of thought abruptly derailed as the moth’s voice cut through the silence. He slowed, seeing Vi do the same out of the corner of his eye, her wings flicking open with an annoyed buzz.

“What?” Vi asked. “D’you need something?

“You’re injured.”

That made Kabbu stop in his tracks. Injured? When had-

“Your thorax. Under your secondary claws.”

“I- no, I’m not! I’m fine! I’m not- I didn’t get hit with shit!“ Vi hissed. She fluffed her fur up, glancing to Kabbu for rapport- but now that he was looking for it, the hemolymph plastering her fur to her body was unmistakable.

“You’re not very convincing when you smell like a crime scene.”

Now that he got a closer look at her… yes, she did kind of smell like a crime scene. He wouldn’t phrase it like that himself, admittedly, but it explained where the hemolymph smell was coming from. Kabbu wracked his brain, thinking of when she could have picked up an injury without her noticing. It couldn’t be the spider, or the fall, or the-

“Those… reanimated ants. They must have-“

“Those fuckers didn’t do shit to me! I’m fine!” Vi swung her weapon for emphasis- only to aggravate the wound, making her bite back a sharp hiss.

“Vi-“ Kabbu tried to say, but she just snarled at him.

“Shut it. I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding all over the ground,” Leif pointed out. Vi growled at him.

“Team, stop fighting,” Kabbu tried to intervene, stepping between them. “We just need to bandage it, and she’ll be-“

“You don’t need to bandage it,” Vi interrupted. “I’m fine.”

“If that gash was half an inch longer, you’d be spilling guts out your sides,” Leif said.

“I’m not spilling guts out my sides now, am I?”

That… was not a particularly compelling point.

“If something gets in a lucky shot, you will be,” Kabbu said. “Just- let me take a look at it, and-“

“And what?! Do you think I’m just gonna lie down and let treat me like one injury’ll take me out of the running just because we’re teammates? I’ve only known you for a week, and-“

“Vi, I-“

"That's enough of that." Leif deftly weaved around him and plucked Vi off of the ground, and she went stiff, freezing like a weevil that had only just realized they'd wandered into the path of a northern moth. Kabbu poised himself to intervene – even he knew she disliked touch, after a week with her – but Leif just tucked her stunned body into his ruff, securing her into place under his wings with a secondary limb like she was a plush toy, and kept walking.

Kabbu just stood there, feeling as stunned as Vi looked, as Leif simply wandered off into the cave.

Finally, his brain kicked back into gear and he burst forward. “Leif, you can’t just-“

He was cut off by a purr. A very loud purr, the sort he’d only really seen from extremely contented bugs, and yet-

Kabbu looked into Leif’s arms, only to see Vi… melted into them. It was as though she’d lost any pretense of shape, simply dissolving into Leif’s claws like a slug or a snail. It was…

Leif shrugged. “If she won’t take care normally, then we’ll have to resort to manhandling. Usually bugs don’t take to it that well, admittedly.”

“Shut it,” Vi grumbled. Her voice was hard to hear through the purrs still swelling in her throat, rattling through her tiny frame like she was in the middle of the world’s smallest earthquake. She fluffed herself up, which only really served to make her look more ridiculous – Leif’s fur was far thicker than hers, and the fur on her side was still plastered to her shell with hemolymph.

“We’re just saying, most bugs don’t react like they’re being cuddled by a swarmmate when you give them a tiny bit of handling, especially not while they’re-“

“I said shut it, okay? How I’m doing is none of your business, and-“

“It might not be our business, but it is your teammate’s business, unless you were planning on never telling your teammates about anything.”

“My business is mine, and you’re not even part of the team-“

“And you were planning to bleed to death in a cave over asking your teammate to slow down so you can bandage your wounds.”

Vi’s mouth shut with a click, and she looked away from him. Leif tilted his head at her, waiting for a response.

A long moment passed.

Finally, Leif huffed, handing her over to Kabbu. “Fine, be that way, then.”

Kabbu silently plucked her out of Leif’s arms, feeling her melt into his carapace without another word. Her fur was surprisingly soft, even with the blood trickling down his claws as she shifted her weight. She didn’t say anything as he reached for their bag, pulling their medical kit out of the bottom.

He patched the wound in silence, Vi seemingly trying her best to ignore him as he tied the sturdy leaves over her shell. It was… gory, rough-edged and ragged, and every poke seemed to make it drip blood again. He had no clue how she’d managed to hide it for so long, let alone walk with it. She leaned into his touches, half the time, pressing the rough edges of the wound right into his claws and making her chitin grind against itself in a way that made him wince.

He had hardly taken three round of it before he broke.

"Vi, can you stop-"

"Stop doing what?"

"Stop leaning into my claws. It-"

"I'm not doing anything, okay? Just- keep going, and maybe you'll be done soon."

He gave an affirmative hum, and got back at it.

She kept leaning into his hands. He didn't know if she was even conscious of doing it- she'd lean, then pull back, on and on in a cycle as if she only just realized she was doing it after the fact.

He was just finishing the knot when she finally spoke, sounding like she was dragging the words out of her throat with a prybar.

“…Sorry,” she grumbled. “Just- I’ve had worse, okay? It’s not worth making a fuss over.”

“You’re soaking your fur with hemolymph,” Leif pointed out. “You weigh- what? Four ounces? You don’t have enough blood to spare for injuries like that.”

“I have plenty of blood, and I’ve had a lot worse, and you don’t have to go into this trouble over- over this.”

Leif looked like he was about to say something, but Kabbu darted in before he could escalate it further. “I know we don’t have to, but- we’re partners, Vi. We’re supposed to take care of each other. Don’t you…”

Kabbu trailed off, tying off her bandages. Vi turned her head away from him. “I can handle it. I don’t need you fussing over me every time I get a scratch in the field.”

Her side was a lot more than “a scratch”, but Kabbu kept that thought to himself. He brushed a claw over her back, testing the strength of the bindings, and Vi shivered. Kabbu stopped, holding still.

“Vi, are you-“

“Shut up, it’s fine, I’m- look, it’s embarrassing, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore, and-“

“Didn’t get held enough as a grub, did you?” Leif asked. Vi’s hackles rose, and Kabbu quickly pushed her down just in time to keep her from jumping at him.

“Shut up! You’re a moth, you don’t know shit about things-“

“We’ll take it that’s a yes, then.”

Vi growled under her breath, fluffing her fur. She was about to say something else, but Kabbu pressed her into the ground before she had the chance. “Now isn’t the time for a fight! Venus, you two, at least try to get along! We have a mission, remember?“

Leif stood still for a long moment, fur fluffed, hackles raised, and for a moment Kabbu thought he might have to mediate between them, or tear them apart from an attempt at a duel. Thankfully, Leif’s shoulders relaxed, tension bleeding from his form. “…fine,” Leif muttered. “We’ll try to get along for now. Don’t expect us to drop it, though.”

“Fuck you,” Vi hissed weakly from under Kabbu’s claws. Leif didn’t respond to her, simply wandering back to the other side of the cavern.

She had gone mostly limp, thankfully, all the fight drained out of her. Kabbu carefully released his claw, checking her bandages to make sure he hadn’t worsened her injuries.

He… needed to redo the bindings.

She seemed fine, thankfully. No worse than she was when he bandaged her, at least, though that was a low bar. He gave her a quick pet on the back after carefully plastering the bandages back into place, and she arched into it, grumbling.

Thank Venus that hadn’t escalated any further.

“I think we should make camp for tonight and have some rest before going deeper, all right, team?” Kabbu raised his voice so Leif could hear it, and saw the moth raise his head from the opposite end of the campsite.

“Sounds fine to us. We… could use some rest, before anything else happens.”

Vi grumbled, but didn’t protest. Kabbu went about the motions of preparing a campsite – scooping out nests for everyone, setting out the bedrolls, packing up the medical supplies for later. Vi settled down to watch, after a while, uncharacteristically silent.

Making camp was meditative, almost. The same set of steps nearly every time, it was easy to get lost in it until it was ready to sleep in. Leif settled down quickly enough, Vi staying balled-up into a lump of resentful bee, and Kabbu could almost forget the argument if he just… laid down and tried to sleep.

Hopefully, tomorrow would be less… stressful.

It had scarcely been fifteen minutes before Kabbu felt something tapping on his shell.

Kabbu pulled himself out of the space between sleep and wakefulness, head still full of fog. He looked up at the source of the tapping to see Vi, fur fluffed and hackles raised like she was about to face down a horrid beast.

Vi took a deep breath, and Kabbu’s half-asleep brain could hardly keep up with her before she spoke.

“…look, I’m sorry about- that, but I’m not weak, okay?”

Kabbu was sure his startled look must have shown on his face, because Vi plowed forward. “I mean it, I’m not- I don’t need help, I’m fine on my own, I don’t need a team to prop me up, because I-“

“No one is saying that you’re weak, Vi. Are you sure you’re-“

“I’m fine, and you don’t have to worry about me, and- look, you don’t have to treat me like a cripple, okay? I’ve worked with worse, and I don’t need your pity, because it’ll heal over anyways-“

“I’m not trying to treat you like an- an invalid, Vi! You’re injured, I thought-“

“I can handle it! I don’t need you to- to kiss it better, or whatever. I’m fine!”

Leif stirred in his nest, and Vi quieted down abruptly, shrinking in on herself. She abruptly looked much, much smaller than she had before.

“…Sorry.”

She didn’t meet his eyes, staring off to the side. “I’m- look, it’s just… frustrating. Okay? I don’t…”

Vi trailed off, shuffling her paws. Kabbu shifted to the side of his nest, easing his elytra open just enough to shield it.

“…It’s okay, Vi. I believe you.”

She grimaced, avoiding his gaze. Kabbu shuffled a bit further to the side, eying the bandages over her side. She looked…

“…do you want to sleep with me tonight?”

Vi startled back into motion, fur fluffing up as far as it would go. “What?-“ she started. before wincing as her voice echoed off the walls. She shook herself out, whisper-shouting at him. “Why would I want to-“

“I’m sorry if I’m overstepping, you just- you look like you need it.”

Vi looked like she was trying to decide if she wanted to be insulted or simply surprised at the offer.

“I understand if you don’t want to, I-“ Kabbu hastily added, but she cut him off.

“It’s fine, I just- if you want to, I guess.”

“If you don’t-“

“Just move over before I change my mind.”

Kabbu shifted to the side, opening his elytra to allow her passage. She nestled into his side, curling close enough that he swore he could feel her shape imprinted into his underbelly, worming her way into the space between his belly and the nest.

…there was more space for her than just there, but Kabbu felt like bringing it up would be- poor.

Slowly, he resettled on top of her, feeling her shift under him. She was startlingly warm, especially compared to Leif, a miniature heat pack against his shell. It was a welcomed addition against the cold of Snakemouth Den, and he found himself quickly drifting off to sleep.

Yes, tomorrow would be better.

this is more of an experimental thing but I wanted to try animating the sprites around a little because it’s quite fun!! I might do more in the future?

What? A new comic?? In THIS economy??? Who'd thunk it!

Sick caretaker Keith

I wrote this last night+ this morning and haven’t really reread this. I’ll do reread and fix process later. It might take a while.

A cold had slowly started to take over Keith. Maybe the first symptoms he noticed besides his raspy throat was his lips getting dry and starting to sting. Soon, watery mucus came down his nose and he started to feel more tired and just generally crappy.  They were supposed to go to the space mall that day to find some spare parts and other supplies but Keith would’ve rather stayed behind. He didn’t think his cold was really all that bad and didn’t want people to think he wanted attention or was overreacting over something minor. Not going without giving a good reason was not an option since Coran had already given everyone a list of things they were charge of finding.  Others, especially Lance, would just think Keith was being selfish and lazy.

  Keith didn’t want to tell about his cold, not even to Shiro but somehow he instinctively started searching for Shiro. Keith found Shiro talking with Allura.

  “Shiro, you should stay behind and get some rest. You’re clearly ill,” Allura told to pale man holding his head.

   “Can’t argue with that. I’ll go back to the bed,” Shiro told hoarsely. He swayed a little and placed his robot arm against the wall to help him stay upright.

  Shiro was… Sick? Well, when looking at his pale, sweaty face, it was kinda obvious but how Keith hadn’t noticed that before? “Shiro, what’s wrong?” Keith asked, walking closer to Shiro and Allura.

  “Keith, can you help Shiro back to his room? I’ll go get something to bring his fever down,” Allura told.

  “You have a fever?” Keith asked from Shiro when he lifted Shiro’s arm over his own shoulder.

  “It seems so,” Shiro replied and coughed a little.

  Keith walked Shiro back to his room and after Shiro had lied down, Keith tried to find out if there was anything Shiro needed. “Shiro, are you thirsty? Nauseous? Cold? I- Do you want me to… Get you something?” Keith inquired.

  “No, I think I’m okay as long as I lie down. You can go back to the others, they probably will leave to the mall soon,” Shiro told.

  “I’ll stay here with you,” Keith stated clearly sounding eager to stay behind. Good thing Shiro was a bit dazed and didn’t find that weird.

  “Thanks,” Shiro told.

  “I’ll… Go to get you some water,” Keith said and left the room. When he was walking towards the kitchen to get Shiro some water pouches, he felt his nose prickling. Keith sniffed, then gasped quickly, closing his eyes shortly then opening his right eye and covered his nose and mouth. Keith let out few stifled sneezes.  His nose started to run and his hand got wet. Keith gave a small, displeased groan before wiping his hand to his shirt.

  Keith was supposed to grab water for Shiro but he himself felt thirsty and sat down the floor to drink before taking out multiple water pouches to take back for Shiro. Keith felt shitty but that was probably nothing compared to how Shiro was currently feeling. After all, Shiro had trouble even standing on his feet and Keith probably would be able even to fight if he had to.

  When Keith returned, Allura was already there. She had placed a cold compress on Shiro’s forehead. She had brought some water pouches too. Keith placed the ones he brought in the same pile.

  “Keith, I thought you were going to the space mall with the others,” Allura told.

  “I’ll stay here and take care of Shiro,” Keith said.

 “I guess I’ll leave him to you then,” Allura replied and left the room.

  Since Shiro was asleep, there wasn’t really much Keith could do. He just waited besides Shiro’s bed, sniffling quietly. When Keith started to get bored from sitting still, he stood up and stared Shiro’s sleeping face. Keith thought he should re-drench the towel to make it cold again. He tried to be careful not to wake Shiro up when taking off the towel. Keith put the towel in a water-filled basin and shuddered when his hands came in touch with the ice cold water.

  Keith wringed the towel and placed it back on Shiro’s forehead. Keith rubbed his hands to warm them. The cold water had made his nose run again. The snot started to get thicker and Keith started to feel more congested.  

 “Tissues,” was the only thought in Keith’s mind when he left the room. He went to the bathroom, blew his nose and took the whole box of tissues with him. He couldn’t blow his nose in Shiro’s room since it made too much noise but he could probably leave the room for that or something. And say he brought the tissues for Shiro, not himself.

  When Keith returned, Shiro was still asleep. Keith leaned his back against Shiro’s bed. After sitting still long, his eyes started to close by themselves. Keith fell asleep but after a short while, got shaken up awake.

  “Keith, don’t sleep on the floor,” Shiro told.

  “Shiro… Sniff..Do you feel any better? Did your… Fever go down?” Keith asked with slightly nasal voice and touched Shiro’s forehead. It didn’t feel hot. “It did. That’s good.”

  “I don’t think you should worry about me now, Keith, climb up next to me,” Shiro told. Shiro was too dizzy to stand up but he was worried about Keith. Keith was shivering.

  “N-no, I’m fine, I just dozed off from boredom,” Keith said.

  “Please?” Shiro asked, but his tone was demanding.

  Keith gave up. He crawled under Shiro’s blanket. Shiro put his arms around Keith. Keith’s face was against Shiro’s chest. Keith groaned tiredly. His nose began to itch again.  Keith tried to push himself away from Shiro. “N-no, l-ah-let go-I’m-Uah-Ha-H’KSHA! Ung-H’KSKH!”

  Shiro felt Keith twitching against from the force of the sneezes and something wet on his shirt.

  Keith realized to his horror Shiro’s shirt was snotty. “I-I’m sorry… I tried to warn you but uh- I- I’ll clean it up.. I’ll get you another shirt I- H’CKSH!”

  “Keith it’s fine, just stay down,” Shiro told.

  “It’s not fine, it’s disgusting,” Keith replied.  “There’s some tissues on the table, let me grab them.”

  Shiro let go of Keith. Keith stood up and took bunch of tissues. He wiped off the snot on Shiro’s shirt, then blew his nose on a different tissue.  Having time to collect his thoughts and wake up properly, Keith remembered that he was in charge of taking care of Shiro.

  “Shiro, are you hungry…? ” Keith asked.

  “Keith, don’t-”

  “I’M FINE,” Keith snapped and immediately regretted yelling at Shiro. “Sorry, I… I’ll go get you something to eat,” Keith apologized and exited the room before Shiro had time to reply to him.

  Thinking that maybe food goo wasn’t really something to give for a sick person, Keith started to go through the ingredients Hunk had gathered. Nothing seemed familiar. Then Keith remembered there was left over food in the fridge, he could try to make a soup using those.

  Keith put a pot on the stove and filled it with water, then started to taste test the foods to decide what to put in the soup. He used some spaghetti hunk made, some space vegetables and some kind of meat. Keith tasted the soup and it didn’t really taste much like anything, which probably was better than space goo. He poured the soup on a bowl and put a spoon in it, then took the soup for Shiro.

  “I didn’t know we had soup,” Shiro told.

  “I made it using leftovers from fridge,” Keith said.

  “Thank you,” Shiro said. He took a spoonful of the soup and made a weird face. Keith noticed this.

  “Is… There something wrong with the soup?” Keith asked.

  “Um no, it’s fine,” Shiro said, trying to spare Keith’s feelings. After all, he had gone all that trouble to prepare the soup for Shiro. But it tasted a bit weird. Not as bad as the space goo but Keith had put some kind of fruit salad in it.

  Keith took the bowl away from Shiro and tasted the soup again. It still didn’t taste much like anything and he was wondering what was wrong with it.

  Shiro realized what had been gone wrong with the soup. The cold had numbed Keith’s sense of taste.

 “I’ll… Go warm up some leftovers instead…” Keith finally told. But before he could leave, Allura entered the room.

  “I thought I should come check on Shiro. Do you still have a fever?” Allura asked and placed her hand on Shiro’s forehead. “It seems so.”

  “Well, it sure did go back up again then,” Shiro told, remembering how Keith earlier told Shiro that his fever had gone down. Seeing Keith trying to stealthily exit the room with the soup, Shiro realized the same thing Keith probably had just figured out. “Keith, come back here, let Allura check your temperature too.”

  “Keith?” Allura asked. Since she had been worried about Shiro, she hadn’t paid much attention to Keith before. Now she thought she should’ve. Keith quickly exited the room but Allura got a glimpse of his flushed face. She dashed after Keith and brought him back to Shiro’s room.

Allura took the soup bowl from Keith and placed it on the table. Then she made him sit next to Shiro’s bed and placed her hand on both Keith’s and Shiro’s foreheads. Keith’s fever was actually higher than Shiro’s. That would explain why Keith thought Shiro’s fever had gone down.

  “Human illnesses seem to be transmitted quite fast,” Allura said.

  “No, not this fast, Keith, why didn’t you say anything before?” Shiro asked.

  “Because you seemed so sick, it felt dumb to complain about a small cold…” Keith muttered.

  Shiro sighed. “Listen, just because someone else seems to be more ill than you, it doesn’t mean you should downplay your own illness like this.”

  “Sorry,” Keith told, unable to come up with anything else to defend himself.

  “Okay, Keith, you go to the bed too,” Allura commanded.

  Keith grabbed some tissues and water pouches before heading to his room. He sat on his the bed, wrapped his blanket around himself and leaned his back against the wall. Keith poked the straw on the water pouch and just sat in his bed, sipping the water.

Allura came in with a water basin and forced Keith to lie down so she could place the cold towel on his forehead. Keith wasn’t sure if it was just a coincidence but when the cold wet towel touched the bridge of his nose, he rolled on his side and sneezed, dropping the towel off. Keith grabbed a tissue and blew his nose and just left the used tissue on his bed.

  Allura placed the towel back on Keith, this time a bit higher so it would only cover his forehead. After making sure Keith would be okay on his own, Allura left the room and leaved Keith to rest.

  Keith was wondering how he managed to fall asleep earlier on Shiro’s room since his runny nose was not letting him to rest. After an hour, he gave up, threw the towel on the water basin and sat up, bundled in his blanket, leaning against the wall. Keith closed his eyes and this time, it didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

Thinking about scenarios where the caretaker acknowledges the sickie's empty stomach/appetite a short while after they've thrown up:

Frowning in concern, raising an eyebrow, or chuckling when the formerly sick stomach lets out a deep, hungry growl.

"Feeling better now, are we?" (Said directly to Sickie or to the belly in question.)

"You threw up so much earlier/last night; you must be so hungry."

"Do you want something to eat? You did end up losing your dinner/lunch/breakfast..."

"I got you a snack for later, seeing as how you just completely emptied your stomach."

"I keep forgetting you've technically missed a meal..."

"You should eat something so that your stomach's not completely empty."

"All that puking must have worked up an appetite, right?"

"No wonder you're starving; you threw up until there was nothing left."

"Your poor stomach must feel so cheated out of its (insert meal/food type)."

I feel like most of these work best with tropes like motion sickness, where the nausea will most likely fade as soon as the sickie's environment changes, rather than lingering causes like actual sickness or food poisoning, but I suppose it depends on how much time has passed. Anyway, I hope someone out there can enjoy this product of my insomnia and trash brain 🖤