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The New World is fraught with danger and filled with monsters both thinking and feral. It is a land where humans struggle to survive and coexist with forces far greater than themselves. Hence why the massive monsters that call this place home have taken it upon themselves to guard and guide them. To teach and train them and see to it these frail and imperfect beings have all that they need to survive if not one day thrive in these inhospitable lands.
And in light of the danger confronting the New World, from within and without, the monsters and men inhabiting it must decide if they wish to grow closer together or drift further apart in response.
Thumbnail comes courtesy of
Jazzumi!
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
“YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY!” the Nargacuga howled before tearing into Puck with a bloodthirsty snarl.
“Woahohoho now! Turf Warrrrrr!” the Ebony Odogaron excitedly bellowed as the Nargacuga and Pukei-Pukei tumbled through the stands. Blood and fur and feathers sprayed up around them in clouds of violence as the enormous Wyverns mauled one another.
Fat and happy on food, and the unexpected entertainment, the remaining Trainers cheered and goaded on the two women. Shamelessly, though just as likely out of habit, the sunlight spotlight followed the both of them.
Arms held out to her sides Nyx tried to placate the crowd and wrangle her unruly underlings. “Trainers-”
BLEGH
Howling in anger, Nell stumbled back from Puck's bruised and bloodied form after the Pukei-Pukei spat a purple glob of poison directly into her face. Seeping into her fur, and burning her eyes, the Nargacuga squawked helplessly when the infuriated Pukei-Pukei latched her prehensile tongue around her neck. Furiously flapping her wings, and lifting into the air, Puck proceeded to try and drag the batcat around the arena.
“I'LL TALK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE LITTLE FUCKUP HOWEVER I PLEASE!” Puck screamed back as she strangled the Nargacuga.
“Trainers, please, I understand that-” Nyx squeaked.
Blinded, and wheezing for air, Nell impotently kicked her legs as her scaled heels scraped along the forest floor. Teeth grit, and barbed tail lashing angrily behind her, she throttled the Pukei-Pukei's thick and slimy tongue within her grasp. Biceps bulging explosively, she pulled down on Puck with everything she had.
“Trainers-”
Tears streaming out the sides of her spherical peepers Puck wildly flailed about as she tried to relax her tongue's grip too late. Eyes bulging out, the feathered chameleon cratered towards the trampled earth.
FWACK
Where she crashed down into a billowing plume of dirt. Shouts and guffaws echoed around the clearing when Puck slammed into the ground and released her stranglehold.
Frantically trying to clean her face, and gulping down air, Nell blindly stumbled about while Puck blearily staggered back to her feet. Both women were desperate to regain their bearings to reclaim the advantage. As they ambled into one another-
“ENOUGH THE BOTH OF YOU,” Nyx roared as she rose into the air with a twirl. Inflating her lungs to near bursting, her form becoming practically circular in shape, a heavy and heady violet mist trickled past the bat's teeth. With a screech she emptied her lungs and forced out a mist coated bullet of air. Not only were Nell and Puck blasted aside by the displaced air, ragdolling across the forest floor in the process, both of them fell unconscious on the spot. Neither of them stirred so much as an inch as the Nightshade Paolumu's sedative screech ended the fight in an instant.
Sheepishly did the Silk Seer clear his throat and bring the spotlight back to focus on Nyx as she stared daggers at him. Tch. Of course her most problematic underlings would be all but inseparable from Omar's favorite troublemaker. “...As you were, Silk Seer,” the Nightshade sighed as, with a swish of her hand, she motioned for the spotlight to return to him.
“B-b-but of course, Trainer of Trainers!” Jet still held firmly in hand, the shellshocked Hunter unsure how to respond to his girlfriend lying prone before him after bludgeoning his bully black and blue, the Nerscylla gently and then not so gently tried to shake him free from his stupor. “I. Ehrm. Well. I must confess it's hard to follow up on uhh... that...” whistled the Silk Seer. Swinging the sunlight back to Nyx he set Jet down beside him and winced when he caught the Nightshade Paolumu glaring at the Hunter.
Blepping and hissing in a panick, too scared to reveal himself were he to rush to Nell's aid, Taras whined as he cupped his hands around his snakey snout. Fur standing on end he nevertheless crept closer and closer to the side of the stage where Jet lay.
Arms crossed about her chest, Nyx furrowed her brows and looked out to her Trainers as narcotic mists trailed out from between her clenched teeth. “As I was saying earlier. Now more than ever we must take our responsibilities seriously. Never has it been as dangerous as it is now for Hunters venturing beyond the safety of our sanctum.” The Nightshade Paolumu's eyes drifted towards Nell's unconscious form and her curious attire.
“And I know full well how recklessly and irresponsibly many of you carry yourselves,” the bat tersely stated as her eyes wandered over the audience. “That cannot stand. Not anymore.”
Hanging low to the ground, and slithering up alongside Jet, Taras lisped at him as softly as he could manage. “Jet. Jetttt!”
The Hunter's spirits soared at the sight of snake squirrel. “Taras?!” Never had he ever been so relieved to see the nerdy noodle.
Taras hissed in relief. “Jet! What are you even doing here?” the squirrel snake nervously wiggled. “Are you okay?”
Looking back and forth to the Silk Seer, and Nell, Jet defeatedly shrugged his shoulders. “It's. It's a lot to explain.” Head held low he could just about kiss his Rookie Trainer's dopey snout. “And no.”
Reaching forward, his thick blue scaled fingers tenderly sliding under Jet's arms and protectively coiling around him, Taras tucked his best friend close to his bosom. “...Let'sss change that then,” Taras decisively stated. “We can't... we can't do much for Nell right now. But we can for you!”
“Taras wait! No! No no no no no!” Jet pleaded with him. Shifting in place he motioned to the stray strands of silk matted to his chest plate. Subtly did they vibrate with his every movement before-
Slinking away with Hunter in tow Taras, and likewise the Silk Seer, startled when they snapped towards each other. The silken leash tethered to Jet, holding tight, tugged the wide-eyed Tobi-Kadachi and the just as surprised spider into one another.
“...Hoo boy,” Jet gulped. Lips pulled flat, hands slapping nervously against the side of Taras' fingers, the Hunter defeatedly sighed as he turned to the spider. “I. Ungh. Yeah I got nothing.” He weakly gestured to the Tobi-Kadachi. “Taras, Silk Seer.” Sharply inhaling through his clenched teeth he then motioned to the Nerscylla. “Silk Seer, Taras.”
Forearms pinched tight around Jet, Taras tried to tug him free as the flustered spider scraped forward along the forest floor. Digging his carapace covered heels into the stone and silt he stood his ground and tried to reel Jet back in. Taras and the Hunter both meeped when they found themselves tugged towards him. Tail sparking, and abdomen angrily vibrating, the Wyvern and Temnoceran soon found themselves in a tug-of-war as Nyx continued to rumble and ramble.
“Furthermore...” Nyx contined to elaborate. “Some select few of you are becoming far too comfortable around Astera. Treating their borders and boundaries as temptations to be trespassed. Flaunting their rules and, more importantly, MY OWN.”
Sharp inhales sounded out from a fair few Trainers as they nervously tugged at the undersized and ill fitting clothing and rags that pulled taut across their massive frames.
“Monsters are not to enter Astera and humans are not to leave the Ancient Forest,” the Paolumu said with an irritable twitch of her rounded ears. Eyes resting heavily upon Nell her gaze curiously swiveled about looking for Taras.
KRSHHHHHHHH
Who promptly rolled onto the stage behind her.
KRASHHHHH
With the Silk Seer tumbling in beside them. Propping himself up with a grunt, and scowling at the Tobi-Kadachi as a hiss slipped past his mandibles, Silas curiously grunted while he took in Taras's sparking form. Wait. That clothing. Those weapons. That was just like...
The Slayer! Silas' brows furrowed as he looked to the haggard Hunter draped over his limbs. The Slayer. This Taras. That... that Nargacuga too even! This Hunter... was he the connective tissue between all of them?
Stomping forward, a purple scaled foot slamming down before Jet with seismic force, Nyx turned back to the audience and addressed them. “Whilst we have our own concerns with our own supplies we cannot solve it by unduly taxing humans of what meager amounts they possess in turn. Silk Seer, Jet the Hunter, I do believe that will be all for now-” she menacingly boomed as she not so subtly reached for the human.
She may have promised Omar she would not punish her own impudent subordinates. But he never said she couldn't take his own to task...
"HURK." To Jet's surprise... the Nerscylla's lanky and lithe form scrambled to a stand as the spider protectively stood sentry.
“H-h-hold, Trainer of Trainers!” pleaded the Silk Seer. His sapphire eyes went wide as the spider managed to put two and two together. “While your Trainers ought to know better, tis true, it has come to my attention that the Hunters have been, shall we say, proactive when it comes to confronting our crisis.” Silas gently squeezed at Jet to prod him to attention. “Why it has come to my attention as of late that our very own Slayer has come into possession of Hunter weapons! Crafted to her scale no less!”
Disbelieving murmurs and whispers rolled across the crowd in waves.
“With mine own eyes have I seen her wield them to devastating, if not surgical, effects! Slaying Ferals where they stand with little damage done to the surrounding forests to show for it! Perhaps our... esteemed guest ought to be allowed to speak more to such?”
“Silas!” hissed the Paolumu.
“Well. I mean,” Jet dumbly uhhed as the Silk Seer continued to prod him along. How did he even know about that? N-n-nevermind! “Helping Alma means we help ourselves. Right? I just, we just, thought that helping her do her job better would keep us all safer.”
Thoughtful hums bubbled along the crowd.
Nyx grimaced as she lost control of the narrative. Lunging towards the Nerscylla she squeaked as he lurched himself about the stage via his strings. The silken threads tugged him and Jet about like an unmanned wire crew.
“And I see you've extended such selfsame help to some Trainers in the crowd. No?” Silas elaborated as he gestured to the Tobi-Kadachi and Nargacuga with his many free limbs.
Jet grit his teeth. Could he really wriggle his way out of this mess by making an even bigger one? ...Time to find out. “Well. Uhh. T-t-that was more of a trade! In exchange for Nell and Taras I-I-I mean. Erm. In exchange for those esteemed Trainers aid, helping us better till and tend and cultivate the food you love, we've been treating them to Astera's fineries! Clothed them. Fed them-”
Juneau the Great Jagras, a towering mountain of a woman, perked to attention. “Fed them?” she asked.
“Yeah!” Taras excitedly clarified as he stumbled to his feet and followed Jet's lead. “It'sss great! The Felynesss there sssing and do little dancesss for you when they ssserve you! Or s-s-ssso I've heard,” he blepped.
“WHAT?!” Nyx howled. “Omar told me that-”
Gnarled hands held out before her the Great Jagras shook her head full of scaly locks. “Wait wait wait wait wait. You mean the Canteen? They treated you to THE Canteen?”
“Uh. Yes?” Jet worriedly clarified. “I... I cook for them sometimes even-”
Eyes twinkling, Taras couldn't help but run his mouth. “Ssscallop chipsss for daysss! Gassstronome Tunasss! Streams of sssaucesss the likesss of which you've never imagined!”
The Tobi-Kadachi, along with the rest of the audience, started drooling as he listed out the meals that awaited them.
“Trainers! Please!” Nyx implored of them in between lunging at Jet and the Silk Seer both.
“How come my Hunter doesn't treat me like that?” whined a Yian-Garuga. “I want in on some of that!”
“Can't say I'd be opposed to dressin' up like 'em,” the Ebony Odogaron sheepishly mused as she scritched at a scaly cheek and jealously regarded the slinky Tobi-Kadachi. Slinging an arm around her runt sized cousin Orissa, a much more diminutive Odogaron, she took to noogying them as they vibrated apart at the seams. Salivating with excitement as she gnashed her teeth, Orissa nearly passed out at the thought of scampering about Astera. “Whatever it is yer wearing, Rookie, looks comfy.”
“That'sss becaussse it issssss!” beamed Taras.
“I WANT ONE!” howled and arooroorooed the fun-sized Odogaron trying to wiggle free from her colossal cousin's vice grip.
“What about the Felynes?” eeheeheed a bodacious Bazelgeuse as she cupped her hands to her face with a giggle. “Tell us more about them! They're so cute!”
“They take a pet like no problem!” hissed Taras. “They're ssso sssoft! Ssso fuzzzy!”
“A-a-alright that's enough,” Nyx pleaded. “This wasn't meant to be an open for-”
“And jussst wait until you sssee all the different kindsss of human nessstsss! We rode on one that floated!”
“Get outtttttt!” jeered Baldesion the Brachydios as he nevertheless leaned forward to listen all the more intently.
“It'sss true!” Taras implored. “We even fissshed from it! They cooked them for usss afterwardsss even!”
Stepping back from the crowd, and slinking into the shadows, the Silk Seer gently clasped Jet against his chest as his pointed limbs pinched against him. “...He really knows how to work a crowd,” the Nerscylla tacitly acknowledged.
“It helps that he's speaking from experience,” Jet marveled. Arms dangling over the Nerscylla's own he worriedly looked out to Nell still coated in poison and grunting painfully in her sleep. “...Speaking of help. Why did you help me? Nyx was about to end things right then and there until you stepped in.”
The Nerscylla's expression softened as he lowered Jet to the ground and severed the silken tether tied to him like a leash. “...It's an educated guess but you were with the Slayer because you were the one who armed her. Weren't you?”
“...Yeah. But that's not the only reason!”
“It's reason enough,” Silas smirked. “I can... understand why she would want to associate with you. Escort you.” Rubbing the back of his hooded head, the flayed skin comprising it ruffling in place, the Nerscylla scraped his limbs together. “Mine apologies, good Hunter. It is self-evident to me now that the Slayer was merely trying to return one kindness with another. I should not have threatened you so. Even though I still have my misgivings about her choosing to carry you so close to the borders of our lands.”
“It's... it's fine,” Jet shrugged. “You were just doing your job.” With the apology in tow, and the opportunity he had afforded him saving not just his own hide but Nell and Taras' too, he supposed they were close enough to even.
“Oh please! As if I'd ever let you come to harm,” sassed the spider. “Even if it were at the Trainer of Trainers hands. Especially so, even! ...Given the Slayer would tear me limb from limb otherwise if I failed to do so,” he grimly noted.
Teeth clenched, Jet uneasily tossed his head side to side. Even he was surprised at how protective Alma had become.
“That said!” tutted the Silk Seer. “While I am willing to overlook your well-meaning trespass in light of your aid and assistance to the Slayer,” Silas' sextet of eyes pulled flat as did his tone. “That was NOT what was in the script. None of this was!”
“Aww c'mon! They loved the improv!” Jet nervously laughed as he looked stage left and right for an exit.
“No matter how well received it was...” mumbled the Silk Seer with a blue blush. “That doesn't change the fact of the matter. Seeing as how I'm in a magnanimous mood though...” he chuckled as he dipped low and peered at the Hunter. “I would be willing to overlook this transgression in exchange for another favor. A trade if you will.”
Peering past the Silk Seer at Nell's prone form, Jet sighed as he mulled over the terms of a deal. “...What kind?” Jet worriedly mumbled as those mandibles parted to reveal a jagged smile.
“Mroaw mow!”
“Seriously? None of you have?” Brook asked.
The Felynes manning the Canteen all shook their head. No one had seen hide or hair of Jet all afternoon.
Biting down on her lower lip, the Huntress wearily groaned. “It's not like him to skip his shifts...” she worried aloud. Today was his final day of training with Alma, twas true, but he should have made it home hours ago.
“Mrow meow,” the Meowster Chef commanded of her. Swatting at her apron, the burly Felyne all but ripped it free from her waist.
“I... no. You're right.” She couldn't deny it. The Huntress would've spent all shift worrying about her partner in crime otherwise. “I purromise I'll be right back, Boss,” Brook sighed in relief. “With Jet in tow!”
“Mreow mjau!” the Felynes cheered.
Relieving herself of her uniform, tossing the balled apron onto the stone counter, Brook grabbed her Charge Blade and vaulted out of the open air kitchens. Jogging down Astera's steep and sandy slopes, the setting sun all but blinding her, she raced towards the front gates.
CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK
Only to stop dead in her tracks. Of their own volition did the massive slabs of strung together pikes swing outwards. As they creaked open a familiar face greeted her.
“Jet!” Brook exclaimed in relief.
“Hey Brook,” the Hunter tiredly greeted her.
“Hi Brook!” a familiar voice happily hissed from on high.
“Taras too!” the Huntress giggled as the doors parted just enough to reveal the towering Tobi. Rushing forth she stepped atop her boyfriend's cloven feet and buried her face into his shins.
“Hello, good Huntress!” whistled the Silk Seer's silky smooth voice. Waving down at her excitedly it was such a pleasant surprise to see one of the rarefied few Master Rank Hunters to have earned her exit and his blessing. “I do so hope you've been well!”
“Hwuh. Silas?” Brook sputtered back.
Flanking Jet alongside Taras, Nell slung over his back and her legs straddling both sides of his spike lined abdomen, the Temnoceran quietly beamed at her.
“Brook,” Nyx flatly grunted from the rear.
“...Jet? Taras?” the Huntress stammered when she bothered to look beyond her boyfriend at the graying bat glaring down at her.
“It's. Well. You see,” Jet grimaced as he tried to explain himself.
“Greeeeeeeetings!” boomed Silas as he twirled about on his heels and the enormous spider introduced himself with a theatrical flair. “Cultural Ambassador Silk Seer...” Mandibles hanging limply from the sides of his head the Nerscylla blehed. “Eugh. That really is a mouthful, isn't it?”
“I told you,” Jet shot back with a roll of his eyes.
With a exaggerated clear of his throat the spider introduced himself once more with a wave of his free arms. “Cultural Ambassdaor Silas reporting for duty!”
Light Bowgun drawn, the Commander regarded the commotion with a scowl. “Jetttttttt,” deadpanned the wizened Hunter. Anything but enthused with the new face standing before Astera's dilapidated gates the old man thought he had been clear that the concept of Cultural Ambassador was not something to offered at their leisure.
“Omar,” the Nightshade Paolumu sternly stated as she forced her way to front of the pack.
Retaining his stone faced expression, the Commander wordlessly clasped at the gate doors cracked ajar at his sides as sweat began to bead along his brow.
“Guided tours were they, Omar?” asked the balloon bat. Eyes twitching with barely concealed rage her lips oh so slowly peeled back into a snarl.
The Commander but wordlessly stepped back behind the cracking great gates and-
WHAM
Gates slammed shut in front of her, the Nightshade Paolumu quietly seethed as a high pitched squeak emanated from her inflating neck sac.
“OMAR!” screamed the Paolumu. Blasting aside the gate into splinters with a sonic screech she lumbered into Astera. Stomping in place, she malded and how at the sight of the old Hunter already booking it down the shoreline. “WHERE ARE MY CUTE CLOTHES, OMAR? WHERE'S MY DINNER DATE?!”
“WOMAN! IT'S MY VILLAGE! I HAVE MY OWN AGENCY AND MY OWN SAY ON THE MATTER!”
“WELL AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU'RE STILL MY HUNTER! MYYYYY HUMAN!”
“IT'S BEEN HOW MANY YEARS NOW SINCE YOU LAST TRAINED ME?!”
Hair frazzled, and swatting away the clouds of sawdust blowing past her, Brook could but blink at the party gathered before her.
“I'll. I'll explain,” Jet coughed as he moseyed through the blown apart gates and slapped at Brook's shoulders. “First things first though...” Forcing a strained smile he gestured towards his battered and bruised girlfriend. “Could you help me out with something?”
“I...” Eyes gone wide, Brook's confused expression turned dour at the massive open wounds and poisons that matted Nell's fuzzy frame. “Sure thing, Jet.”
“C'mon, Silas. You too. After you drop off Nell, Taras'll... Taras will show you around,” he grumbled as he waved for the Nerscylla to follow.
“...”
“...?”
“...!”
The roar of far away waves, intermixed with indecipherable whispers, stirred the Nargacuga from her slumber.
“Unghhhhh...”
Hand cupped to the side of her head, Puck's poison having seeped into and stained her fur purple, Nell nauseously groaned as the din of conversation sent her stomach spinning.
Ears drooped, and shoulders sagging, the Nargacuga dragged a forearm across her beak and shook away the sick that came to mat it. An unfamiliar hovel greeted her as sloping planks of wood filled Nell's vision.
“Both of you. Stop it!” Jet's disgusted voice wafted from nearby.
“Jet?” she painfully rumbled as she could feel her throat cracking.
“It's quite clearly a comb!” The Silk Seer's soft and soothing voice whistled through the planks comprising the boxy enclosure Nell found herself in.
“Noooooooooooooo,” Taras sassed back. Arms crossed about his chest, and tamping his cloven and scaly foot, the Tobi-Kadachi wildly gesticulated towards Jet's home. “It'sss a nessst!”
With a roll of his many eyes, Silas' soft and chitin clad greaves gently thumped against the board walk as he bumbled right up alongside Jet's abode. Arms held out to his sides he exaggeratedly gestured to the four walls and two slabs of wood serving as the sides and roof of the Hunter's home. “Look! Six sides!” Silas sternly stated as he tapped at the construct soaking up the light of the waxing moon. “It's. A. Comb! That said...” The Nerscylla clacked his mandibles together in thoughtful contemplation. “It is the ugliest damn comb I've ever seen.”
“HEY!”
“Oh don't be like that,” Silas playfully pshed. “Ugly it may be it's endearing all the same!” Arms resting against the sides of his pointed abdomen he arched his brows at Jet and nudged his armored shin against him. “It's cute!”
“It is not cute,” Jet mumble grumbled. “And it's not a comb!”
Hand held up before him, and forked tongue blepped, Taras hrmed. “No. No no no he hasss a point,” the Tobi-Kadachi hummed.
“TARAS.”
Blinking her bloodshot eyes out of sync, crusted flakes of sleep agitating against her tear ducts, Nell tiredly thumbed them away. Rolling her head to the side she curiously chirped at the matted and kneaded down bundle of cloth and feathers brushing against her cheeks and the back of her neck. “...Where?” the Nargacuga tiredly grunted.
Nell coughed as her tongue, caked and coated with an unfamiliar and noxious film, peeled free from the roof of her beaked mouth. Forcing her eyes open, the Nargacuga's eyes dilating in the low light, the Wyvern's fur bristled to attention as she properly took in her surroundings and reclaimed her cognizance. Blinking nervously, she curiously gawked at the bruises and aches that plagued her still. Slathered goop, green and crusty and intermingled with her freshly formed scabs, pocked her forearms and shoulders. Slurping her bone dry beak she winced when the bitter but welcome taste of flakes of dried Antidote prickled at her taste buds.
“Come now, Hunter,” the Nerscylla teased. “I think I'd recognize a hive when I see one.” Silas haughtily clarified before he motioned towards bunched together homes strung along the board walks, angling up alongside the shoreline, and carved into Astera's mountainous slopes. “Just look! Your combs interlock even!”
“That's not... You're not...” Hand cupped against the side of his helmet, Jet's head spun as he felt himself being gaslit in real time.
“Hive? The human hive? Why would...” Nell tiredly thought to herself as she pinched at her forehead with her scaly fingers. Wait. Taking in the environment around her she spied blood soaked rags, caked black with dried blood, sprawled out beside her. Barrels of Potion, and Antidote, with their tops cracked open let their contents waft through the cramped if not comforting hovel. Delightfully diminutive pieces of clothing, suspiciously human sized, hung from the walls of wood that enclosed her.
Ears perking to attention, and face burning beet red, Nell's heart pounded in her ears. This was a nest. A human nest.
Strange rectangular constructs, some squat and some tall, lined with metal knobs and knockers, lined the walls. Propping herself up on an elbow, something crunching flat beneath her forearm in the process, Nell tossed a look back over her shoulder at a suspiciously human sized bundle of bedding that had served as her pillow. Then there was-
Oh. Oh my.
Steam wafted out of her ears when she spied a Hammer, its stone head scraped with familiar scars and its handle lined with cracking paint, propped up against a wall.
This was. She was.
“I'm the one who lives here!” Jet exasperatedly shouted. “And you promised to behave yourselves!”
“I'll have you know I've been nothing but a gracious guest,” Silas huffed back with feigned indignance.
“You already strung up how many Felynes?!” snipped back the Hunter.
“Well how else am I supposed to pet them?!” the Nerscylla whined back. “They keep running!”
“Nuoh my-” Hands cupped to his face, a muffled scream filtered through Jet's fingers.
Shifting in place, her biceps and elbows bowing out the walls and crunching apart what flimsy furniture lined them, Nell continued to shift in place. Scaled feet pressed against one wall, and her back grinding into the opposite, she struggled to pull herself up into a sit in her confined quarters. “His nest. Our nest,” she giddily whispered to herself with a raging blush. Arms wrapped around her legs the Nargacuga hunched forward and let her chin come to rest atop her knees.
“How did he...? When did he...?” Nell reverently whispered to herself as her cutting yellow eyes darted side to side in her sockets while she sheepishly curled her toes. The muted rustle of palm fronds, and the gentle roar of the waves, was all that filtered in from beyond the walls as she drank in every inch of his home. It was so contained. So constrained. So comforting. So calming.
Eyes drooping shut, and ears flopping flat, the batcat flared her nostrils as she steadied her breathing. It was just like... it was just like the Old World's Epitaph. Totally enclosed. Totally secure.
Head tossed back, hands running through his unkempt hair draping past his shoulders, Jet dejectedly turned to the towering Tobi-Kadachi. “Tarasssss! Why didn't you stop him?!”
The Trainer let his forked tongue hang limply from between his lips as he scratched at a scaly cheek. “I meaaaan. How wasss I sssupposssed to sssay no?” he pitifully hissed. “They're ssstill warming up to me!” Arms crossed about his chest he pouted as Silas eeheeheed at his side and clapped his spindly arms together. “Itsss not fair they let you and Brook hog all the hugsss...”
“You can't just go petting people unprompted!” Jet lambasted them.
DONK
Teeth grit, Jet frantically slapped and swatted away at Silas as the Nerscylla tauntingly tap tap tapped at the top of the Hunter's head. “...Clearly we can,” the spider whistled with a smirk.
“STOP! THAT!”
“Growlf?” Tilting her head up, the bridge of her snout catching against some rafters, Nell curiously chirped as the whole of the roof creaked in place. Nudging her nose higher and higher she watched on curiously as the top half of the structure lifted up. The blanket of night, along with a salt stained burst of fresh air, promptly poured into Jet's nest.
As Jet felt himself on the verge of tearing out his hair the ominous creaks emanating from his home, punctuated by curious chirps, grounded him. Whirling about in place his eyes lit up at the sight of his loomy lover. “Nell!”
“Good Trainer!” Silas followed up with a wave. Brows half cocked, the Nerscylla chuckled to himself while he watched the Hunter clamber back inside his comb to greet her. “You made quite the scene at my presentation I'll have you know.”
“I...” The Nargacuga's fur puffed out as, within her mind's eye, she recalled throttling Puck's tongue in one hand and then clobbering her very punchable face with the other. “Did. Didn't I?” she mumbled with a volatile mixture of shame and pride. Chin tucked against her chest she cupped a hand against Jet's back as he, with great difficulty, scraped past her thighs and emphatically hugged at her side.
“I already mentioned as such to your Hunter-” Silas elaborated with a wave of his chitin clad wrists.
Nell's ears, and face, burned hot. Her Hunter. Hers and hers alone.
“And while I would, under any other circumstances, recoil with rage at being so unduly interrupted and upstaged... I dare say thanks to you and your incredible acts of violence things turned out better than I ever dared dream!”
Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets Nell uhhhhed at length. “You're... welcome? Just... just say the word and I'll kick Puck's ass all over again!”
With a pbbt the towering Temnoceran dismissively swatted at her. “Worry not, good Trainer! That won't be necessary.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jet mumbled into her tummy as he and Nell both melted away into mush while she stroked a finger along his back.
“Your antics and your Hunter provided an unintentional, if not inspired, segue into how to bring Trainers and Hunters closer together!” Silas proudly clarified.
Her Hunter. Oh never would she ever tire of hearing that. As a bassy purr reverberated in the bat cats chest she clasped a hand over her human and kneaded him into her heft.
“Awh...” Taras bashfully hissed as he cupped his hands to his cheeks.
Resisting the urge to squeal alongside Taras, the Silk Seer cleared his throat. “It is your example that your fellow Trainers are now clamoring to follow in the footsteps of! ...Myself included,” Silas bashfully ahemed. “Given we all, in our own ways, work to safeguard humankind can we really be blamed for wanting to learn more about the adorable little things we're entrusted to stand sentinel over?”
“Silas,” Jet grumbled.
“You are and you know it,” the spider laughed. “And while it might be sacrosanct to say as such... to the Everstream with Lady Nyx and her policies!” stated the Nerscylla. “I know she means well but humans are to be our partners! You should feel no guilt, good Trainer, for doing what is right and treating your Hunter as such!” With a happy hum he bumped at the human expert, Taras, he had come to relish arguing with. “I doubt good Jet would have gone to such lengths to save you, much less your fellow Trainer here, if he did not think otherwise.”
“Save?” Nell asked with a blush.
“At your defense did your Hunter stand resolute against the Trainer of Trainers!” Silas recounted with a flair. “Against what ought to have been his better judgment, he elaborated at length on your unsanctioned endeavors.”
“You... misssed a lot,” Taras nervously laughed. “Lady Nyx knowsss uhh... everything.”
The color drained from the Nargacuga's dark furred face in response.
“As does everyone else!” the Nerscylla elaborated. “Ah but where are my manners!” Quietly thumping up to Jet's creaked open abode, his cloven and carapace clad feet barely bowing in the boardwalks, Silas lifted up the roof all the further as his sapphire eyes eagerly imbibed the interior of a human home. “Tis a pleasure to meet you, Trainer Nell. I do so look forward to working alongside you as a Cultural Ambassador!”
“L-l-like...wise?” the bat cat mumbled uncertainly. “...Taras?” she raspily whispered.
“You misssed a lot a lot,” the Tobi-Kadachi uneasily hissed. “A lot hasss changed! Will change.”
“And you're at the forefront of it!” the Silk Seer stated. “You both are,” he said before reaching down to nudge at Jet and curiously poke at his wares.
Acking, Jet angrily swatted at the spider interrupting his intimacy. “SILAS.”
“Ahhhh it's even cuter than I imagined!” the spider said with a stamp of his feet. “To think! You customize your own comb!”
Jet groaned at length. He honestly would rather the spider threaten than fawn over him. “Don't you have a village to tour?”
“So I do! ...With you as my guide,” he haughtily harrumphed. “Though the night grows long and I understand you wish to tend to your Trainer. Worry not! I can provide my own accommodations for the eve,” he said as he swiveled his pointed limbs about and threads of silk came to straddle the gap between them. Lowering the roof back down onto Nell's head, who chirped in confusion, Silas turned to Taras as his now muffled voice carried through the walls. "They confine themselves in combs. Surely, surely, if not Neopterons then they're at least close cousins.”
“No no no no no,” Taras emphatically hissed. “Nell and I have already been over thisss!”
Silas tap tapped at his chin as he idly contented himself with crafting the beginnings of a hammock while he looked over the star filled ocean. “They do like to habitate the seaside... Carapaceons perhaps!”
“Nooooooooo. Well. Maybe? They do craft and clad themssselvesss in armor and thossse are jussst ssshellsss by another name...”
“See!”
Brows arched, Jet sighed and sank into his girlfriend as the conversation from afar faded. “...You feeling okay?” Clasping a hand a piece against the sides of a massive scaled finger he squeezed Nell's digit tight.
Her thoughts still in a haze, and her neck aching, Nell tiredly blinked. Forcing a toothy smile, and cupping a palm against Jet's back, she brought him to bear against her breasts. “Never been better,” she said before flopping back with a thoom. The Hunter's home rattled in place as the Nargacuga nuzzled the back of her head into a pillow sized mattress.
Thumbing along her Hunter's back, the bands of crimson fur wrapped around her face like a mask slowly glowed as moonlight crept through the windows. “Soooo.”
“So?” Jet hummed as he nuzzled into Nell's thumb.
“This is it, huh? Your nest?”
“I know, I know. Nothing to write home about,” Jet smirked.
Eyes drooping shut, Nell flared her nostrils and drank in the scent of her little lover's home. How the sea breeze wafted in through the planks stacked high. How the wood itself, smelling of the sun, wrapped around her like a shroud. How the faintest whiff of metal trailing from the nails keeping them notched in place flicked at the back of her throat. Then most of all... most of all...
How it smelled like Jet. It smelled like home.
“Nothing?” Nell sleepily rumbled. “Jet. It's... it's everything,” her voice cracked. Legs tucked close, her feet bunched against the far wall and bowing out the wood as it conformed to the contours of her toes and soles, the Nargacuga rolled onto her side. Eyes drooped shut she bashfully purred at her human while her fingers wandered over him.
Piece by piece Jet started to pop free the clasps and buckles of his armor. “My Trainer. My partner. My guardian. My lover,” he whispered.
Forcing down a nervous swallow, Nell purred madly as Jet started undressing for her. Off came his greaves. Then his gorget. With every heavy clunk of metal cracking against the wooden floor the Nargacuga's heart pounded in her chest. “W-w-what? Guardian? You mean... you mean Puck? I-i-it's nothing. She's nothing,” she nervously laughed.
“It wasn't to me,” he said with a blush. Reaching behind his back, fumbling with one leather strap and buckle at a time, faint snaps and clicks sounded out before his chest plate fell to the floor. His toned torso, tinged with scars and pocked with bruises, lay bare for Nell.
Eyes dilating, and biting down on her lower lip, Nell's fur puffed out at the display of vulnerability. Steam wafted off of the mask of crimson fur glowering bright around her head when she spied him thumbing at his waist and sliding off his heavy leather leggings.
“What?” Jet nervously shrugged as he rubbed at the back of his neck. His arms, lean with muscle, awkwardly shrugged as Nell's tail whapped behind her. “I see you naked all the time!”
“That's different! This is different!” Nell huffed. Oh Sapphire Star this was moving so fast. She had wanted this, she thought she had wanted this, for so long that she had no idea what to do now that it was finally here.
Clad in little more than his boxer briefs, which hung loosely from his waist, Jet nevertheless traced his fingers along the wrinkles in her palms. “How is it different?”
“It just is!” the Nargacuga squawked. “It's. It's scary! Seeing you so vulnerable. So exposed!”
“...I'm scary?” Jet deadpanned.
“No! You're-” Face burning beet red as Jet laughed and giggled away the Nargacuga impotently fwapped her tail.
“I'm what?” teased the Hunter.
Beak clamped shut, and tongue pressing against the back of her teeth, Nell chirped as she reached out towards him with trembling hands. “You're...” Palms cupped against his back she rumbled at the sensation of his soft and supple flesh against her scales. “You're...” she stammered.
Jet blushed and hummed as he leaned back into Nell's grasp. Slinging an arm around a finger he tugged it close as he got his bat cat's tongue.
A giddy growl revved in Nell's throat as she stifled an excited giggle. “You're brave. You're... beautiful.”
Jet tried and failed to lift a fingertip up towards his cheek as he melted at the compliments. “And I'm yours.”
Following his lead Nell clasped him as tenderly as she was able. Cupping him close to her neck she dipped her head low and let her beak come to rest against him. Just feeling him. Just holding him. The sensation of his flesh against her fur filled her with a euphoria she had never known she could experience. “And you're mine,” she blissfully sighed.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
And in light of the danger confronting the New World, from within and without, the monsters and men inhabiting it must decide if they wish to grow closer together or drift further apart in response.
Thumbnail comes courtesy of
Jazzumi!FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
“YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY!” the Nargacuga howled before tearing into Puck with a bloodthirsty snarl.
“Woahohoho now! Turf Warrrrrr!” the Ebony Odogaron excitedly bellowed as the Nargacuga and Pukei-Pukei tumbled through the stands. Blood and fur and feathers sprayed up around them in clouds of violence as the enormous Wyverns mauled one another.
Fat and happy on food, and the unexpected entertainment, the remaining Trainers cheered and goaded on the two women. Shamelessly, though just as likely out of habit, the sunlight spotlight followed the both of them.
Arms held out to her sides Nyx tried to placate the crowd and wrangle her unruly underlings. “Trainers-”
BLEGH
Howling in anger, Nell stumbled back from Puck's bruised and bloodied form after the Pukei-Pukei spat a purple glob of poison directly into her face. Seeping into her fur, and burning her eyes, the Nargacuga squawked helplessly when the infuriated Pukei-Pukei latched her prehensile tongue around her neck. Furiously flapping her wings, and lifting into the air, Puck proceeded to try and drag the batcat around the arena.
“I'LL TALK ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE LITTLE FUCKUP HOWEVER I PLEASE!” Puck screamed back as she strangled the Nargacuga.
“Trainers, please, I understand that-” Nyx squeaked.
Blinded, and wheezing for air, Nell impotently kicked her legs as her scaled heels scraped along the forest floor. Teeth grit, and barbed tail lashing angrily behind her, she throttled the Pukei-Pukei's thick and slimy tongue within her grasp. Biceps bulging explosively, she pulled down on Puck with everything she had.
“Trainers-”
Tears streaming out the sides of her spherical peepers Puck wildly flailed about as she tried to relax her tongue's grip too late. Eyes bulging out, the feathered chameleon cratered towards the trampled earth.
FWACK
Where she crashed down into a billowing plume of dirt. Shouts and guffaws echoed around the clearing when Puck slammed into the ground and released her stranglehold.
Frantically trying to clean her face, and gulping down air, Nell blindly stumbled about while Puck blearily staggered back to her feet. Both women were desperate to regain their bearings to reclaim the advantage. As they ambled into one another-
“ENOUGH THE BOTH OF YOU,” Nyx roared as she rose into the air with a twirl. Inflating her lungs to near bursting, her form becoming practically circular in shape, a heavy and heady violet mist trickled past the bat's teeth. With a screech she emptied her lungs and forced out a mist coated bullet of air. Not only were Nell and Puck blasted aside by the displaced air, ragdolling across the forest floor in the process, both of them fell unconscious on the spot. Neither of them stirred so much as an inch as the Nightshade Paolumu's sedative screech ended the fight in an instant.
Sheepishly did the Silk Seer clear his throat and bring the spotlight back to focus on Nyx as she stared daggers at him. Tch. Of course her most problematic underlings would be all but inseparable from Omar's favorite troublemaker. “...As you were, Silk Seer,” the Nightshade sighed as, with a swish of her hand, she motioned for the spotlight to return to him.
“B-b-but of course, Trainer of Trainers!” Jet still held firmly in hand, the shellshocked Hunter unsure how to respond to his girlfriend lying prone before him after bludgeoning his bully black and blue, the Nerscylla gently and then not so gently tried to shake him free from his stupor. “I. Ehrm. Well. I must confess it's hard to follow up on uhh... that...” whistled the Silk Seer. Swinging the sunlight back to Nyx he set Jet down beside him and winced when he caught the Nightshade Paolumu glaring at the Hunter.
Blepping and hissing in a panick, too scared to reveal himself were he to rush to Nell's aid, Taras whined as he cupped his hands around his snakey snout. Fur standing on end he nevertheless crept closer and closer to the side of the stage where Jet lay.
Arms crossed about her chest, Nyx furrowed her brows and looked out to her Trainers as narcotic mists trailed out from between her clenched teeth. “As I was saying earlier. Now more than ever we must take our responsibilities seriously. Never has it been as dangerous as it is now for Hunters venturing beyond the safety of our sanctum.” The Nightshade Paolumu's eyes drifted towards Nell's unconscious form and her curious attire.
“And I know full well how recklessly and irresponsibly many of you carry yourselves,” the bat tersely stated as her eyes wandered over the audience. “That cannot stand. Not anymore.”
Hanging low to the ground, and slithering up alongside Jet, Taras lisped at him as softly as he could manage. “Jet. Jetttt!”
The Hunter's spirits soared at the sight of snake squirrel. “Taras?!” Never had he ever been so relieved to see the nerdy noodle.
Taras hissed in relief. “Jet! What are you even doing here?” the squirrel snake nervously wiggled. “Are you okay?”
Looking back and forth to the Silk Seer, and Nell, Jet defeatedly shrugged his shoulders. “It's. It's a lot to explain.” Head held low he could just about kiss his Rookie Trainer's dopey snout. “And no.”
Reaching forward, his thick blue scaled fingers tenderly sliding under Jet's arms and protectively coiling around him, Taras tucked his best friend close to his bosom. “...Let'sss change that then,” Taras decisively stated. “We can't... we can't do much for Nell right now. But we can for you!”
“Taras wait! No! No no no no no!” Jet pleaded with him. Shifting in place he motioned to the stray strands of silk matted to his chest plate. Subtly did they vibrate with his every movement before-
Slinking away with Hunter in tow Taras, and likewise the Silk Seer, startled when they snapped towards each other. The silken leash tethered to Jet, holding tight, tugged the wide-eyed Tobi-Kadachi and the just as surprised spider into one another.
“...Hoo boy,” Jet gulped. Lips pulled flat, hands slapping nervously against the side of Taras' fingers, the Hunter defeatedly sighed as he turned to the spider. “I. Ungh. Yeah I got nothing.” He weakly gestured to the Tobi-Kadachi. “Taras, Silk Seer.” Sharply inhaling through his clenched teeth he then motioned to the Nerscylla. “Silk Seer, Taras.”
Forearms pinched tight around Jet, Taras tried to tug him free as the flustered spider scraped forward along the forest floor. Digging his carapace covered heels into the stone and silt he stood his ground and tried to reel Jet back in. Taras and the Hunter both meeped when they found themselves tugged towards him. Tail sparking, and abdomen angrily vibrating, the Wyvern and Temnoceran soon found themselves in a tug-of-war as Nyx continued to rumble and ramble.
“Furthermore...” Nyx contined to elaborate. “Some select few of you are becoming far too comfortable around Astera. Treating their borders and boundaries as temptations to be trespassed. Flaunting their rules and, more importantly, MY OWN.”
Sharp inhales sounded out from a fair few Trainers as they nervously tugged at the undersized and ill fitting clothing and rags that pulled taut across their massive frames.
“Monsters are not to enter Astera and humans are not to leave the Ancient Forest,” the Paolumu said with an irritable twitch of her rounded ears. Eyes resting heavily upon Nell her gaze curiously swiveled about looking for Taras.
KRSHHHHHHHH
Who promptly rolled onto the stage behind her.
KRASHHHHH
With the Silk Seer tumbling in beside them. Propping himself up with a grunt, and scowling at the Tobi-Kadachi as a hiss slipped past his mandibles, Silas curiously grunted while he took in Taras's sparking form. Wait. That clothing. Those weapons. That was just like...
The Slayer! Silas' brows furrowed as he looked to the haggard Hunter draped over his limbs. The Slayer. This Taras. That... that Nargacuga too even! This Hunter... was he the connective tissue between all of them?
Stomping forward, a purple scaled foot slamming down before Jet with seismic force, Nyx turned back to the audience and addressed them. “Whilst we have our own concerns with our own supplies we cannot solve it by unduly taxing humans of what meager amounts they possess in turn. Silk Seer, Jet the Hunter, I do believe that will be all for now-” she menacingly boomed as she not so subtly reached for the human.
She may have promised Omar she would not punish her own impudent subordinates. But he never said she couldn't take his own to task...
"HURK." To Jet's surprise... the Nerscylla's lanky and lithe form scrambled to a stand as the spider protectively stood sentry.
“H-h-hold, Trainer of Trainers!” pleaded the Silk Seer. His sapphire eyes went wide as the spider managed to put two and two together. “While your Trainers ought to know better, tis true, it has come to my attention that the Hunters have been, shall we say, proactive when it comes to confronting our crisis.” Silas gently squeezed at Jet to prod him to attention. “Why it has come to my attention as of late that our very own Slayer has come into possession of Hunter weapons! Crafted to her scale no less!”
Disbelieving murmurs and whispers rolled across the crowd in waves.
“With mine own eyes have I seen her wield them to devastating, if not surgical, effects! Slaying Ferals where they stand with little damage done to the surrounding forests to show for it! Perhaps our... esteemed guest ought to be allowed to speak more to such?”
“Silas!” hissed the Paolumu.
“Well. I mean,” Jet dumbly uhhed as the Silk Seer continued to prod him along. How did he even know about that? N-n-nevermind! “Helping Alma means we help ourselves. Right? I just, we just, thought that helping her do her job better would keep us all safer.”
Thoughtful hums bubbled along the crowd.
Nyx grimaced as she lost control of the narrative. Lunging towards the Nerscylla she squeaked as he lurched himself about the stage via his strings. The silken threads tugged him and Jet about like an unmanned wire crew.
“And I see you've extended such selfsame help to some Trainers in the crowd. No?” Silas elaborated as he gestured to the Tobi-Kadachi and Nargacuga with his many free limbs.
Jet grit his teeth. Could he really wriggle his way out of this mess by making an even bigger one? ...Time to find out. “Well. Uhh. T-t-that was more of a trade! In exchange for Nell and Taras I-I-I mean. Erm. In exchange for those esteemed Trainers aid, helping us better till and tend and cultivate the food you love, we've been treating them to Astera's fineries! Clothed them. Fed them-”
Juneau the Great Jagras, a towering mountain of a woman, perked to attention. “Fed them?” she asked.
“Yeah!” Taras excitedly clarified as he stumbled to his feet and followed Jet's lead. “It'sss great! The Felynesss there sssing and do little dancesss for you when they ssserve you! Or s-s-ssso I've heard,” he blepped.
“WHAT?!” Nyx howled. “Omar told me that-”
Gnarled hands held out before her the Great Jagras shook her head full of scaly locks. “Wait wait wait wait wait. You mean the Canteen? They treated you to THE Canteen?”
“Uh. Yes?” Jet worriedly clarified. “I... I cook for them sometimes even-”
Eyes twinkling, Taras couldn't help but run his mouth. “Ssscallop chipsss for daysss! Gassstronome Tunasss! Streams of sssaucesss the likesss of which you've never imagined!”
The Tobi-Kadachi, along with the rest of the audience, started drooling as he listed out the meals that awaited them.
“Trainers! Please!” Nyx implored of them in between lunging at Jet and the Silk Seer both.
“How come my Hunter doesn't treat me like that?” whined a Yian-Garuga. “I want in on some of that!”
“Can't say I'd be opposed to dressin' up like 'em,” the Ebony Odogaron sheepishly mused as she scritched at a scaly cheek and jealously regarded the slinky Tobi-Kadachi. Slinging an arm around her runt sized cousin Orissa, a much more diminutive Odogaron, she took to noogying them as they vibrated apart at the seams. Salivating with excitement as she gnashed her teeth, Orissa nearly passed out at the thought of scampering about Astera. “Whatever it is yer wearing, Rookie, looks comfy.”
“That'sss becaussse it issssss!” beamed Taras.
“I WANT ONE!” howled and arooroorooed the fun-sized Odogaron trying to wiggle free from her colossal cousin's vice grip.
“What about the Felynes?” eeheeheed a bodacious Bazelgeuse as she cupped her hands to her face with a giggle. “Tell us more about them! They're so cute!”
“They take a pet like no problem!” hissed Taras. “They're ssso sssoft! Ssso fuzzzy!”
“A-a-alright that's enough,” Nyx pleaded. “This wasn't meant to be an open for-”
“And jussst wait until you sssee all the different kindsss of human nessstsss! We rode on one that floated!”
“Get outtttttt!” jeered Baldesion the Brachydios as he nevertheless leaned forward to listen all the more intently.
“It'sss true!” Taras implored. “We even fissshed from it! They cooked them for usss afterwardsss even!”
Stepping back from the crowd, and slinking into the shadows, the Silk Seer gently clasped Jet against his chest as his pointed limbs pinched against him. “...He really knows how to work a crowd,” the Nerscylla tacitly acknowledged.
“It helps that he's speaking from experience,” Jet marveled. Arms dangling over the Nerscylla's own he worriedly looked out to Nell still coated in poison and grunting painfully in her sleep. “...Speaking of help. Why did you help me? Nyx was about to end things right then and there until you stepped in.”
The Nerscylla's expression softened as he lowered Jet to the ground and severed the silken tether tied to him like a leash. “...It's an educated guess but you were with the Slayer because you were the one who armed her. Weren't you?”
“...Yeah. But that's not the only reason!”
“It's reason enough,” Silas smirked. “I can... understand why she would want to associate with you. Escort you.” Rubbing the back of his hooded head, the flayed skin comprising it ruffling in place, the Nerscylla scraped his limbs together. “Mine apologies, good Hunter. It is self-evident to me now that the Slayer was merely trying to return one kindness with another. I should not have threatened you so. Even though I still have my misgivings about her choosing to carry you so close to the borders of our lands.”
“It's... it's fine,” Jet shrugged. “You were just doing your job.” With the apology in tow, and the opportunity he had afforded him saving not just his own hide but Nell and Taras' too, he supposed they were close enough to even.
“Oh please! As if I'd ever let you come to harm,” sassed the spider. “Even if it were at the Trainer of Trainers hands. Especially so, even! ...Given the Slayer would tear me limb from limb otherwise if I failed to do so,” he grimly noted.
Teeth clenched, Jet uneasily tossed his head side to side. Even he was surprised at how protective Alma had become.
“That said!” tutted the Silk Seer. “While I am willing to overlook your well-meaning trespass in light of your aid and assistance to the Slayer,” Silas' sextet of eyes pulled flat as did his tone. “That was NOT what was in the script. None of this was!”
“Aww c'mon! They loved the improv!” Jet nervously laughed as he looked stage left and right for an exit.
“No matter how well received it was...” mumbled the Silk Seer with a blue blush. “That doesn't change the fact of the matter. Seeing as how I'm in a magnanimous mood though...” he chuckled as he dipped low and peered at the Hunter. “I would be willing to overlook this transgression in exchange for another favor. A trade if you will.”
Peering past the Silk Seer at Nell's prone form, Jet sighed as he mulled over the terms of a deal. “...What kind?” Jet worriedly mumbled as those mandibles parted to reveal a jagged smile.
“Mroaw mow!”
“Seriously? None of you have?” Brook asked.
The Felynes manning the Canteen all shook their head. No one had seen hide or hair of Jet all afternoon.
Biting down on her lower lip, the Huntress wearily groaned. “It's not like him to skip his shifts...” she worried aloud. Today was his final day of training with Alma, twas true, but he should have made it home hours ago.
“Mrow meow,” the Meowster Chef commanded of her. Swatting at her apron, the burly Felyne all but ripped it free from her waist.
“I... no. You're right.” She couldn't deny it. The Huntress would've spent all shift worrying about her partner in crime otherwise. “I purromise I'll be right back, Boss,” Brook sighed in relief. “With Jet in tow!”
“Mreow mjau!” the Felynes cheered.
Relieving herself of her uniform, tossing the balled apron onto the stone counter, Brook grabbed her Charge Blade and vaulted out of the open air kitchens. Jogging down Astera's steep and sandy slopes, the setting sun all but blinding her, she raced towards the front gates.
CREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK
Only to stop dead in her tracks. Of their own volition did the massive slabs of strung together pikes swing outwards. As they creaked open a familiar face greeted her.
“Jet!” Brook exclaimed in relief.
“Hey Brook,” the Hunter tiredly greeted her.
“Hi Brook!” a familiar voice happily hissed from on high.
“Taras too!” the Huntress giggled as the doors parted just enough to reveal the towering Tobi. Rushing forth she stepped atop her boyfriend's cloven feet and buried her face into his shins.
“Hello, good Huntress!” whistled the Silk Seer's silky smooth voice. Waving down at her excitedly it was such a pleasant surprise to see one of the rarefied few Master Rank Hunters to have earned her exit and his blessing. “I do so hope you've been well!”
“Hwuh. Silas?” Brook sputtered back.
Flanking Jet alongside Taras, Nell slung over his back and her legs straddling both sides of his spike lined abdomen, the Temnoceran quietly beamed at her.
“Brook,” Nyx flatly grunted from the rear.
“...Jet? Taras?” the Huntress stammered when she bothered to look beyond her boyfriend at the graying bat glaring down at her.
“It's. Well. You see,” Jet grimaced as he tried to explain himself.
“Greeeeeeeetings!” boomed Silas as he twirled about on his heels and the enormous spider introduced himself with a theatrical flair. “Cultural Ambassador Silk Seer...” Mandibles hanging limply from the sides of his head the Nerscylla blehed. “Eugh. That really is a mouthful, isn't it?”
“I told you,” Jet shot back with a roll of his eyes.
With a exaggerated clear of his throat the spider introduced himself once more with a wave of his free arms. “Cultural Ambassdaor Silas reporting for duty!”
Light Bowgun drawn, the Commander regarded the commotion with a scowl. “Jetttttttt,” deadpanned the wizened Hunter. Anything but enthused with the new face standing before Astera's dilapidated gates the old man thought he had been clear that the concept of Cultural Ambassador was not something to offered at their leisure.
“Omar,” the Nightshade Paolumu sternly stated as she forced her way to front of the pack.
Retaining his stone faced expression, the Commander wordlessly clasped at the gate doors cracked ajar at his sides as sweat began to bead along his brow.
“Guided tours were they, Omar?” asked the balloon bat. Eyes twitching with barely concealed rage her lips oh so slowly peeled back into a snarl.
The Commander but wordlessly stepped back behind the cracking great gates and-
WHAM
Gates slammed shut in front of her, the Nightshade Paolumu quietly seethed as a high pitched squeak emanated from her inflating neck sac.
“OMAR!” screamed the Paolumu. Blasting aside the gate into splinters with a sonic screech she lumbered into Astera. Stomping in place, she malded and how at the sight of the old Hunter already booking it down the shoreline. “WHERE ARE MY CUTE CLOTHES, OMAR? WHERE'S MY DINNER DATE?!”
“WOMAN! IT'S MY VILLAGE! I HAVE MY OWN AGENCY AND MY OWN SAY ON THE MATTER!”
“WELL AT THE END OF THE DAY YOU'RE STILL MY HUNTER! MYYYYY HUMAN!”
“IT'S BEEN HOW MANY YEARS NOW SINCE YOU LAST TRAINED ME?!”
Hair frazzled, and swatting away the clouds of sawdust blowing past her, Brook could but blink at the party gathered before her.
“I'll. I'll explain,” Jet coughed as he moseyed through the blown apart gates and slapped at Brook's shoulders. “First things first though...” Forcing a strained smile he gestured towards his battered and bruised girlfriend. “Could you help me out with something?”
“I...” Eyes gone wide, Brook's confused expression turned dour at the massive open wounds and poisons that matted Nell's fuzzy frame. “Sure thing, Jet.”
“C'mon, Silas. You too. After you drop off Nell, Taras'll... Taras will show you around,” he grumbled as he waved for the Nerscylla to follow.
“...”
“...?”
“...!”
The roar of far away waves, intermixed with indecipherable whispers, stirred the Nargacuga from her slumber.
“Unghhhhh...”
Hand cupped to the side of her head, Puck's poison having seeped into and stained her fur purple, Nell nauseously groaned as the din of conversation sent her stomach spinning.
Ears drooped, and shoulders sagging, the Nargacuga dragged a forearm across her beak and shook away the sick that came to mat it. An unfamiliar hovel greeted her as sloping planks of wood filled Nell's vision.
“Both of you. Stop it!” Jet's disgusted voice wafted from nearby.
“Jet?” she painfully rumbled as she could feel her throat cracking.
“It's quite clearly a comb!” The Silk Seer's soft and soothing voice whistled through the planks comprising the boxy enclosure Nell found herself in.
“Noooooooooooooo,” Taras sassed back. Arms crossed about his chest, and tamping his cloven and scaly foot, the Tobi-Kadachi wildly gesticulated towards Jet's home. “It'sss a nessst!”
With a roll of his many eyes, Silas' soft and chitin clad greaves gently thumped against the board walk as he bumbled right up alongside Jet's abode. Arms held out to his sides he exaggeratedly gestured to the four walls and two slabs of wood serving as the sides and roof of the Hunter's home. “Look! Six sides!” Silas sternly stated as he tapped at the construct soaking up the light of the waxing moon. “It's. A. Comb! That said...” The Nerscylla clacked his mandibles together in thoughtful contemplation. “It is the ugliest damn comb I've ever seen.”
“HEY!”
“Oh don't be like that,” Silas playfully pshed. “Ugly it may be it's endearing all the same!” Arms resting against the sides of his pointed abdomen he arched his brows at Jet and nudged his armored shin against him. “It's cute!”
“It is not cute,” Jet mumble grumbled. “And it's not a comb!”
Hand held up before him, and forked tongue blepped, Taras hrmed. “No. No no no he hasss a point,” the Tobi-Kadachi hummed.
“TARAS.”
Blinking her bloodshot eyes out of sync, crusted flakes of sleep agitating against her tear ducts, Nell tiredly thumbed them away. Rolling her head to the side she curiously chirped at the matted and kneaded down bundle of cloth and feathers brushing against her cheeks and the back of her neck. “...Where?” the Nargacuga tiredly grunted.
Nell coughed as her tongue, caked and coated with an unfamiliar and noxious film, peeled free from the roof of her beaked mouth. Forcing her eyes open, the Nargacuga's eyes dilating in the low light, the Wyvern's fur bristled to attention as she properly took in her surroundings and reclaimed her cognizance. Blinking nervously, she curiously gawked at the bruises and aches that plagued her still. Slathered goop, green and crusty and intermingled with her freshly formed scabs, pocked her forearms and shoulders. Slurping her bone dry beak she winced when the bitter but welcome taste of flakes of dried Antidote prickled at her taste buds.
“Come now, Hunter,” the Nerscylla teased. “I think I'd recognize a hive when I see one.” Silas haughtily clarified before he motioned towards bunched together homes strung along the board walks, angling up alongside the shoreline, and carved into Astera's mountainous slopes. “Just look! Your combs interlock even!”
“That's not... You're not...” Hand cupped against the side of his helmet, Jet's head spun as he felt himself being gaslit in real time.
“Hive? The human hive? Why would...” Nell tiredly thought to herself as she pinched at her forehead with her scaly fingers. Wait. Taking in the environment around her she spied blood soaked rags, caked black with dried blood, sprawled out beside her. Barrels of Potion, and Antidote, with their tops cracked open let their contents waft through the cramped if not comforting hovel. Delightfully diminutive pieces of clothing, suspiciously human sized, hung from the walls of wood that enclosed her.
Ears perking to attention, and face burning beet red, Nell's heart pounded in her ears. This was a nest. A human nest.
Strange rectangular constructs, some squat and some tall, lined with metal knobs and knockers, lined the walls. Propping herself up on an elbow, something crunching flat beneath her forearm in the process, Nell tossed a look back over her shoulder at a suspiciously human sized bundle of bedding that had served as her pillow. Then there was-
Oh. Oh my.
Steam wafted out of her ears when she spied a Hammer, its stone head scraped with familiar scars and its handle lined with cracking paint, propped up against a wall.
This was. She was.
“I'm the one who lives here!” Jet exasperatedly shouted. “And you promised to behave yourselves!”
“I'll have you know I've been nothing but a gracious guest,” Silas huffed back with feigned indignance.
“You already strung up how many Felynes?!” snipped back the Hunter.
“Well how else am I supposed to pet them?!” the Nerscylla whined back. “They keep running!”
“Nuoh my-” Hands cupped to his face, a muffled scream filtered through Jet's fingers.
Shifting in place, her biceps and elbows bowing out the walls and crunching apart what flimsy furniture lined them, Nell continued to shift in place. Scaled feet pressed against one wall, and her back grinding into the opposite, she struggled to pull herself up into a sit in her confined quarters. “His nest. Our nest,” she giddily whispered to herself with a raging blush. Arms wrapped around her legs the Nargacuga hunched forward and let her chin come to rest atop her knees.
“How did he...? When did he...?” Nell reverently whispered to herself as her cutting yellow eyes darted side to side in her sockets while she sheepishly curled her toes. The muted rustle of palm fronds, and the gentle roar of the waves, was all that filtered in from beyond the walls as she drank in every inch of his home. It was so contained. So constrained. So comforting. So calming.
Eyes drooping shut, and ears flopping flat, the batcat flared her nostrils as she steadied her breathing. It was just like... it was just like the Old World's Epitaph. Totally enclosed. Totally secure.
Head tossed back, hands running through his unkempt hair draping past his shoulders, Jet dejectedly turned to the towering Tobi-Kadachi. “Tarasssss! Why didn't you stop him?!”
The Trainer let his forked tongue hang limply from between his lips as he scratched at a scaly cheek. “I meaaaan. How wasss I sssupposssed to sssay no?” he pitifully hissed. “They're ssstill warming up to me!” Arms crossed about his chest he pouted as Silas eeheeheed at his side and clapped his spindly arms together. “Itsss not fair they let you and Brook hog all the hugsss...”
“You can't just go petting people unprompted!” Jet lambasted them.
DONK
Teeth grit, Jet frantically slapped and swatted away at Silas as the Nerscylla tauntingly tap tap tapped at the top of the Hunter's head. “...Clearly we can,” the spider whistled with a smirk.
“STOP! THAT!”
“Growlf?” Tilting her head up, the bridge of her snout catching against some rafters, Nell curiously chirped as the whole of the roof creaked in place. Nudging her nose higher and higher she watched on curiously as the top half of the structure lifted up. The blanket of night, along with a salt stained burst of fresh air, promptly poured into Jet's nest.
As Jet felt himself on the verge of tearing out his hair the ominous creaks emanating from his home, punctuated by curious chirps, grounded him. Whirling about in place his eyes lit up at the sight of his loomy lover. “Nell!”
“Good Trainer!” Silas followed up with a wave. Brows half cocked, the Nerscylla chuckled to himself while he watched the Hunter clamber back inside his comb to greet her. “You made quite the scene at my presentation I'll have you know.”
“I...” The Nargacuga's fur puffed out as, within her mind's eye, she recalled throttling Puck's tongue in one hand and then clobbering her very punchable face with the other. “Did. Didn't I?” she mumbled with a volatile mixture of shame and pride. Chin tucked against her chest she cupped a hand against Jet's back as he, with great difficulty, scraped past her thighs and emphatically hugged at her side.
“I already mentioned as such to your Hunter-” Silas elaborated with a wave of his chitin clad wrists.
Nell's ears, and face, burned hot. Her Hunter. Hers and hers alone.
“And while I would, under any other circumstances, recoil with rage at being so unduly interrupted and upstaged... I dare say thanks to you and your incredible acts of violence things turned out better than I ever dared dream!”
Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets Nell uhhhhed at length. “You're... welcome? Just... just say the word and I'll kick Puck's ass all over again!”
With a pbbt the towering Temnoceran dismissively swatted at her. “Worry not, good Trainer! That won't be necessary.”
“Speak for yourself,” Jet mumbled into her tummy as he and Nell both melted away into mush while she stroked a finger along his back.
“Your antics and your Hunter provided an unintentional, if not inspired, segue into how to bring Trainers and Hunters closer together!” Silas proudly clarified.
Her Hunter. Oh never would she ever tire of hearing that. As a bassy purr reverberated in the bat cats chest she clasped a hand over her human and kneaded him into her heft.
“Awh...” Taras bashfully hissed as he cupped his hands to his cheeks.
Resisting the urge to squeal alongside Taras, the Silk Seer cleared his throat. “It is your example that your fellow Trainers are now clamoring to follow in the footsteps of! ...Myself included,” Silas bashfully ahemed. “Given we all, in our own ways, work to safeguard humankind can we really be blamed for wanting to learn more about the adorable little things we're entrusted to stand sentinel over?”
“Silas,” Jet grumbled.
“You are and you know it,” the spider laughed. “And while it might be sacrosanct to say as such... to the Everstream with Lady Nyx and her policies!” stated the Nerscylla. “I know she means well but humans are to be our partners! You should feel no guilt, good Trainer, for doing what is right and treating your Hunter as such!” With a happy hum he bumped at the human expert, Taras, he had come to relish arguing with. “I doubt good Jet would have gone to such lengths to save you, much less your fellow Trainer here, if he did not think otherwise.”
“Save?” Nell asked with a blush.
“At your defense did your Hunter stand resolute against the Trainer of Trainers!” Silas recounted with a flair. “Against what ought to have been his better judgment, he elaborated at length on your unsanctioned endeavors.”
“You... misssed a lot,” Taras nervously laughed. “Lady Nyx knowsss uhh... everything.”
The color drained from the Nargacuga's dark furred face in response.
“As does everyone else!” the Nerscylla elaborated. “Ah but where are my manners!” Quietly thumping up to Jet's creaked open abode, his cloven and carapace clad feet barely bowing in the boardwalks, Silas lifted up the roof all the further as his sapphire eyes eagerly imbibed the interior of a human home. “Tis a pleasure to meet you, Trainer Nell. I do so look forward to working alongside you as a Cultural Ambassador!”
“L-l-like...wise?” the bat cat mumbled uncertainly. “...Taras?” she raspily whispered.
“You misssed a lot a lot,” the Tobi-Kadachi uneasily hissed. “A lot hasss changed! Will change.”
“And you're at the forefront of it!” the Silk Seer stated. “You both are,” he said before reaching down to nudge at Jet and curiously poke at his wares.
Acking, Jet angrily swatted at the spider interrupting his intimacy. “SILAS.”
“Ahhhh it's even cuter than I imagined!” the spider said with a stamp of his feet. “To think! You customize your own comb!”
Jet groaned at length. He honestly would rather the spider threaten than fawn over him. “Don't you have a village to tour?”
“So I do! ...With you as my guide,” he haughtily harrumphed. “Though the night grows long and I understand you wish to tend to your Trainer. Worry not! I can provide my own accommodations for the eve,” he said as he swiveled his pointed limbs about and threads of silk came to straddle the gap between them. Lowering the roof back down onto Nell's head, who chirped in confusion, Silas turned to Taras as his now muffled voice carried through the walls. "They confine themselves in combs. Surely, surely, if not Neopterons then they're at least close cousins.”
“No no no no no,” Taras emphatically hissed. “Nell and I have already been over thisss!”
Silas tap tapped at his chin as he idly contented himself with crafting the beginnings of a hammock while he looked over the star filled ocean. “They do like to habitate the seaside... Carapaceons perhaps!”
“Nooooooooo. Well. Maybe? They do craft and clad themssselvesss in armor and thossse are jussst ssshellsss by another name...”
“See!”
Brows arched, Jet sighed and sank into his girlfriend as the conversation from afar faded. “...You feeling okay?” Clasping a hand a piece against the sides of a massive scaled finger he squeezed Nell's digit tight.
Her thoughts still in a haze, and her neck aching, Nell tiredly blinked. Forcing a toothy smile, and cupping a palm against Jet's back, she brought him to bear against her breasts. “Never been better,” she said before flopping back with a thoom. The Hunter's home rattled in place as the Nargacuga nuzzled the back of her head into a pillow sized mattress.
Thumbing along her Hunter's back, the bands of crimson fur wrapped around her face like a mask slowly glowed as moonlight crept through the windows. “Soooo.”
“So?” Jet hummed as he nuzzled into Nell's thumb.
“This is it, huh? Your nest?”
“I know, I know. Nothing to write home about,” Jet smirked.
Eyes drooping shut, Nell flared her nostrils and drank in the scent of her little lover's home. How the sea breeze wafted in through the planks stacked high. How the wood itself, smelling of the sun, wrapped around her like a shroud. How the faintest whiff of metal trailing from the nails keeping them notched in place flicked at the back of her throat. Then most of all... most of all...
How it smelled like Jet. It smelled like home.
“Nothing?” Nell sleepily rumbled. “Jet. It's... it's everything,” her voice cracked. Legs tucked close, her feet bunched against the far wall and bowing out the wood as it conformed to the contours of her toes and soles, the Nargacuga rolled onto her side. Eyes drooped shut she bashfully purred at her human while her fingers wandered over him.
Piece by piece Jet started to pop free the clasps and buckles of his armor. “My Trainer. My partner. My guardian. My lover,” he whispered.
Forcing down a nervous swallow, Nell purred madly as Jet started undressing for her. Off came his greaves. Then his gorget. With every heavy clunk of metal cracking against the wooden floor the Nargacuga's heart pounded in her chest. “W-w-what? Guardian? You mean... you mean Puck? I-i-it's nothing. She's nothing,” she nervously laughed.
“It wasn't to me,” he said with a blush. Reaching behind his back, fumbling with one leather strap and buckle at a time, faint snaps and clicks sounded out before his chest plate fell to the floor. His toned torso, tinged with scars and pocked with bruises, lay bare for Nell.
Eyes dilating, and biting down on her lower lip, Nell's fur puffed out at the display of vulnerability. Steam wafted off of the mask of crimson fur glowering bright around her head when she spied him thumbing at his waist and sliding off his heavy leather leggings.
“What?” Jet nervously shrugged as he rubbed at the back of his neck. His arms, lean with muscle, awkwardly shrugged as Nell's tail whapped behind her. “I see you naked all the time!”
“That's different! This is different!” Nell huffed. Oh Sapphire Star this was moving so fast. She had wanted this, she thought she had wanted this, for so long that she had no idea what to do now that it was finally here.
Clad in little more than his boxer briefs, which hung loosely from his waist, Jet nevertheless traced his fingers along the wrinkles in her palms. “How is it different?”
“It just is!” the Nargacuga squawked. “It's. It's scary! Seeing you so vulnerable. So exposed!”
“...I'm scary?” Jet deadpanned.
“No! You're-” Face burning beet red as Jet laughed and giggled away the Nargacuga impotently fwapped her tail.
“I'm what?” teased the Hunter.
Beak clamped shut, and tongue pressing against the back of her teeth, Nell chirped as she reached out towards him with trembling hands. “You're...” Palms cupped against his back she rumbled at the sensation of his soft and supple flesh against her scales. “You're...” she stammered.
Jet blushed and hummed as he leaned back into Nell's grasp. Slinging an arm around a finger he tugged it close as he got his bat cat's tongue.
A giddy growl revved in Nell's throat as she stifled an excited giggle. “You're brave. You're... beautiful.”
Jet tried and failed to lift a fingertip up towards his cheek as he melted at the compliments. “And I'm yours.”
Following his lead Nell clasped him as tenderly as she was able. Cupping him close to her neck she dipped her head low and let her beak come to rest against him. Just feeling him. Just holding him. The sensation of his flesh against her fur filled her with a euphoria she had never known she could experience. “And you're mine,” she blissfully sighed.
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Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
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