One Girl Some Fics

You had great plans for the weekend. You were only going to go out once, to get supplies,  and then spend the rest of the weekend lazing around in your small apartment until you absolutely could not do so anymore. That is to say, you were going to become a hermit until your alarm rang on Monday and forced you to get out of bed and get ready for the day.

Needless to say, your weekend plans did not, at any point, account for the possibility of you somehow ending up a panting, sweaty mess as you climbed your way into a private dumpster of a fancy apartment.After you had already scrambled up the fence protecting these precious dumpsters from the general population. 

In the midst of your panic, you manage to spare a resentful thought to the fact that, of course, this had to happen on a Friday night, right after so many weeks of constant work. Not on a Monday morning or a Sunday night. You weren’t that picky, just as long as it was after you’d already had some time to relax and before you’d have to go back to work. In your rush to hide, you don’t even notice, nor did you truly care in the moment, which dumpster you climb into. All you care about is that it is somewhere to hide from the thing chasing you. 

You’ll later be thankful you made your way into the paper recycling bin and not the organic waste or the glass one. 

It was only seconds after you closed the lid on top of you and engulfed yourself in darkness that you heard it. It was much larger than you, and its footsteps were considerably louder than yours had been when you had been running for your literal life. Your heart drops to your stomach when you reach into your pocket to use your phone as a flashlight and you only find the receipt for the snacks you purchased and were forced to drop and leave behind. 

The footsteps rushed closer and then halted. You don’t know how long the silence lasted before it was broken. 

“Hey,” you heard a soft voice call out, “you can come out now. He’s gone; it’s safe.”

You would believe that gentle feminine voice if you didn’t also pick up on the low, growly cadence that things like the one hunting you down always had just below their false voice. A tone you’d always been able to pick up on, even when those things took on human faces, even when no one else ever seemed to hear it. It helped you avoid them.

You swallowed down a comeback that would definitely get you in trouble, as your loose mouth always tended to do, by covering your mouth with your hand and breathing through your nose. Hopefully, that would also cover up the sound of your panting, which had never sounded louder in your own ears. A low rumbling growl confirmed what you already knew. That thing was still out there. 

“Hey!” Although that voice was different, you could still pick up a slight growliness under it.

“I know you’re not the smartest, but coming right to our door is something else.” Someone else spoke in a stern tone. This time you could not detect any undertone in the voice.

“I’m not here for you, hunters.” Now it sounded exactly the same as it had when it had been chasing you. Deep, growly, and very much pissed off.  

“Yeah, well. We’re here for you. And you interrupted our couch time, so we’ll make this quick so we can go back ASAP.” Another voice with no growl. You were beginning to wonder why two seemingly normal women would team up with one of those creatures to fight another one of those creatures.

The one that had been chasing you growled once more and sprinted away from where you were towards where you assumed your three saviors, or potential new predators, were. 

The fight doesn’t last very long. 

At first, you don’t know who won, and you don’t know who you hoped did win. If it was the creature that had chased you, then maybe it would be full after eating the three so-called hunters and would give up on you. After all, all the other ones you’ve seen eat people tended to stop at one or two. If the hunters did win, then they were unknown, and you’ve never seen those creatures eat each other, so what if the one with them was hungry? There was also the fact that, if you were honest with yourself, you found it a little embarrassing that something you’d been so furiously fleeing from was so easily defeated.  

“Okay, I know he said that before, but this time you can actually come out. He’s gone.” The voice with the growly undertone speaks, not reassuring you at all.

“Yeah, come on. That dumpster cannot be comfortable.” This time the stern voice wasn’t nearly as stern. 

So, clearly they know where you are, and you don’t want to think about the fact that they probably saw your pathetic scramble into the dumpster, if not your even more pathetic climb over the fence. You notice the sound of whispering, low enough that you can’t make out the words, and then a slight thud extremely close to the dumpster you are fully prepared to call home. 

“I’m going to open it now; please don’t freak out. We just want to make sure you're okay.”  You let out a slight whimper when the lid above you starts to move. 

“Oh God, my favorite show just released a new season; please don’t kill me, I haven’t even watched it yet.” You’re crouched in the dumpster, arms raised above your head to provide even just a little protection to your face, and your eyes are clenched shut. 

The answering silence stretches for a minute before one of them chuckles, and apparently that is enough for all of them to laugh at you.

 At this point, you are actually offended. Here you are cowering in a dumpster, afraid for your life, and they just laugh at you? You finally decide that you wish the other creature had won the fight. He would have just killed you.

“Hey!” you say as you lower your arms and finally look up to glare at the girl who opened the bin. “You’re already going to kill me; is there really a need to be rude too?” 

You can’t see the other two girls, or the other girl and the creature, but the trio's laughter cuts off abruptly, and you see a slight falter on the face of the girl peering into the dumpster. Her eyebrows lift a fraction, and her mouth hangs open for a second before snapping shut. Her cheeks redden a bit as she speaks.

“No, come on. I didn’t.. We didn’t… I swear we weren’t trying to be rude. I’m sorry.” You just keep glaring at her. 

“Yeah, we’re not going to hurt you; we just want to help.” The other two get closer to your spot that’s not really hiding you anymore. 

“Well, you’ve helped. The thing is gone. Can you go now?”  You say. 

“Are you sure? We saw how you climbed over the fence; we can help you get back out.” Now your face reddens. 

“I’ll be fine; I did it once, I can do it again.” You say to the creature, lying through your teeth. The only reason you’d been able to climb over the tall fence was because you were running on pure adrenaline that was mostly gone now. You were, however, willing to wait it out until morning when you could catch the attention of a passerby to get some help. Sure, you would get into a little bit of trouble, but you would at least not be getting possible fake assistance from one of those creatures. It was safer and worth the further humiliation.

“You’re bleeding; just let us help. If we were going to kill you, we would just do it; we wouldn't need to waste our time convincing you to let us help.” Your glare turns towards her before you fully process her words. You glance down at yourself, and sure enough, your previously white shirt has a decently sized tear and an even larger dark red stain on the left side of your stomach. Now that you notice it, you first start to feel the stickiness and coolness of the wet fabric clinging to your skin, and then the pain hits you. 

In the middle of your escape, before you dropped your shopping bags, the thing had almost managed to grab you. You’d felt the graze of his claws on your clothes, but since you didn’t feel any pain, you’d just assumed he hadn’t managed to get a good swipe at you. You were obviously wrong, and now you hate them a little bit more for making you aware of the burning pain in your stomach. 

You paled considerably at the sight and felt your stomach start to turn. 

“Oh no,” you muttered to yourself as you felt your head get lighter. “Guess I’m not going to have a choice anyways.” 

The last thing you hear before your body gives in to the darkness is the voice with the slight growly undertone say. 

A break was just what they needed. With the new honmoon safe and stable Mira, Zoey and Rumi could finally take a break that lasted more than half a day, and they were doing just that.

“Rumi, hurry up or we’ll start without you!” Zoey’s voice carries through the penthouse into Rumi’s open room. A door that used to be almost always closed and now rarely was. 

“It’s fine, just don’t eat everything,I’m going to take a shower real quick!” Came her muffled reply as she pulled the overshirt she’d worn all day over her head.

In the kitchen Zoey and Mira start dividing the take out containers, placing Rumi’s portion aside for when she will eventually joins them and head to the living room with their own portion, turning on the tv and leaving it where it is whilst they wait for Rumi to actually start the movie they are supposed to watch. “…and fans worldwide are demanding answers after the sudden disappearance of Serenity Hart. Investigators believe-”

Meanwhile Rumi has made her way to the bathroom, she’s about to turn the shower on before the now familiar glow that announced Derpy’s presence came from behind her. She turned around to chastise the tiger for popping up in the bathroom, something she’d already told him not to do and he hadn’t done since, when she heard it. A tiny, sharp, high-pitched hiss that most certainly did not come from Derpy.  

It doesn't take her long to identify the source of the noise. There dangling from Derpy’s mouth is a squirming, wriggling orange-and-tan, drowned-rat-looking kitten that is swiping at Derpy with all the fury her tiny body can muster… Which by how unphased the blue tiger appears, is not all that much fury. 

“Derpy, what is that?” Rumi asks moving to grab the fighting kitten. “Where did you get - hey!” Maybe there is a little bit of fury there, Rumi thinks when the orange kitten manages to bite her finger before she can get a good grasp on it. The kitten starts to direct its short hisses and paws at her instead of at Derpy. 

“Okay, I’m going to need you to calm down, or I can’t help you.” As expected, that does nothing to actually soothe the kitten. Derpy tilts his head as he looks at Rumi and the kitten lets out a small chirp and goes limp. Sussie pecks at Derpy’s head. 

Rumi can see it shivering and its entire body moves as its breathing deepens. “Oh no, you poor thing” She says as she notices the red that stains the kitten's fur.

She goes to take the kitten once more, this time using her towel as a barrier between her hands and the kitten but the little thing doesn’t react again, it barely reacts at all, only letting out a tiny broken mewl. Derpy gives a soft worried chuff that sends a puff of warm air over the kitten.

The thing already looked pretty small being carried by Derpy in the same way a kitten would be carried by its mother, but in Rumi’s hands it feels so much smaller. 

Rumi sets the kitten down on the counter and, still using the towel, gently blots its fur, carefully searching for any wound that might explain the red tint in its back leg – the one with the little tan mitten that only seems to cover the toes.  

The kitten, who had been fighting so fiercely, just lies still, breathing deeply and slowly blinking at the wall. 

The towel pats gently along the length of its back leg but the kitten only reacts once Rumi reaches the inner thigh. The kitten’s breath catches for a short moment but the small thing barely flinches. She lifts the towel and parts the fur there. There a small wound that seems to have recently stopped bleeding, 

“Oh… sweetheart." She whispers.

Derpy, who had been pawing at the ground, freezes when Sussie gives a sharp peck to the top of his head. With all six of her eyes narrowed, she leans forwards as Derpy inches closer. 

Derpy slowly and carefully lifts his head onto the counter. His tail gives a single, uncertain wag. 

With one hand still on the kitten's tiny shivering body, Rumi runs the other the thick fur between Derpy’s ears, mindful to not disturb the magpie’s perch on the tiger's head. 

“It’s okay,” She whispers to them both, maybe a bit to herself as well. “Now that we found it we can make it better.”

Derpy lets out a quiet huff, warm breath washing over the kitten again. He doesn’t blink or look away, as if keeping his eyes on the small creature on the counter might somehow help.

The kitten finally looks at them and only blinks once before trying to tuck its head deeper in the towel that is still wrapped around it.

Rumi’s chest tightens at the kitten’s attempt to hide from them. She exhales slowly, steading her hands. She’s not used to taking care of things, especially not things this small and fragile 

“Okay, first things first, let’s get you clean and warm.” She whispers. 

She turns on the sink tap and lets the water run until it feels warm to the touch and rechecks it again to make sure it's not running too hot. 

Derpy shifts beside her, his claws click against the tile as he leans in, his orange eyes now on the moving water. Sussie keeps her focus on the kitten. 

Rumi cups her hand under the stream one last time, triple checking that the temperature won’t harm the small thing and then plugs the drain, letting the water fill just a few inches of the sink before shutting the water off. 

“Come on now.” She softly says to the kitten and she reaches for it and eases the towel aside. She hesitates for a bit, almost expecting another bite, but the thing doesn’t even tense, it’s body remains mostly limp. Its still deep and steady breaths bring some comfort to Rumi, a strong sign that the small thing is still fighting. 

She slowly and carefully lowers the kitten into the sink. 

The kitten’s breath catches and there is a weak flinch away from the water.

“There you go, isn’t it warm?” Rumi says, gently running her hand along the kitten’s soaked fur hoping to help the thing warm up faster.

The kitten keeps shivering and without a towel covering it the small kitten looks even more fragile. Its fur is stuck to its jutting ribs. Rumi shifts her grip and cups one hand around its chest to use her other hand to guide some of the warm water onto the kitten’s back. 

“Shh, I got you.” She murmurs when the kitten mewls and weakly tries to squirm away from her hands. 

The water turns murky with dirt that comes out of its fur. It doesn't fight when Rumi removes it from the water and places it back in the towel before emptying out the sink and refilling it. When she places it back into the water it doesn’t try to avoid it like the first time, instead it allows its head to drop and rests its chin on Rumi’s thumb. Its eyes close and don’t open again as it surrenders to the exhaustion it had been fighting for so long.

Derpy eases closer. The glow of his orange eyes reflect on the water and he lets out a soft chuff. Sussie pecks him on the head and he stills resting his chin on the counter once more. 

Rumi moves slowly, using her own shampoo to wash the kitten's sides, its paws, its tummy and does her best to wash the sleeping kitten's head without getting water in its ears. She is extra careful with the injured hind leg. 

“There we go, almost done.”  She says to the sleeping kitten as she starts the first rinse. 

The kitten lets out a “mrrp.” but doesn’t fully wake, as she removes it from the sink and lets the water run warm again to rinse it a few more times to ensure there is no shampoo left of its fur. 

Rumi keeps her hands steady as she removes it from the sink one last time, looking in the cabinet for a new towel to dry it off. 

“Okay, now we just need to get you dry.”

Derpy’s head follows her movements and Sussie grabs the dirty towel from the counter and drops it on top of the clothing basket before Rumi has the chance to do so. She sets the new towel on the counter and places the kitten on it. 

“Thank you, Susie.”  Rumi says as she folds the towel over the kitten's back and begins to gently pat it dry. 

The kitten doesn’t stir, its eyes remaining closed and its breath still deep and steady.

As Rumi pats the kitten dry she takes more notice of its patterns. Its body is mainly orange, and it only has two mittens. One on the front paw and one on the opposite back paw, the injured leg, that only covers the toes. Its tail, which she assumes will become fluffy with the amount of fur it has, has a tan tip and so does one of its ears. Its chest has tan fur that goes all the way down the stomach and the last tan spot is on its forehead. An almost Y shaped mark that goes all the way down to the nose and then widens again until it reaches the upper lip. 

“Thre you go, almost dry.” 

Sussie hops closer to the kitten and Derpy’s tail twitches once. 

Rumi wraps the towel around the kitten, trying to make a warm little cocoon for the little body. It lets out another “mrrp” and tucked itself deeper into the fabric.  

“Cute.” She chuckles, picking up the bundled kitten and moving to exit the bathroom. 

Derpy follows behind her and Sussie flies onto his head, feather ruffling as she settles.  

Once outside the bathroom she hears the muffled sound of the tv that gets louder as she approaches the living room. 

“Let’s see what we can do for that leg.”