#polyghouls

“We haven’t been out in too long,” he says to no one in particular. “Should be good for all of us to get some sun and time to ourselves.”

“Oh, shut it,” Aurora teases, leaning forward against her seatbelt to hook her chin over his shoulder rest. “You’re just excited to see Dewey all dressed up again.”

Cirrus snorts, and Swiss’s eyes flash in the rearview mirror. “And what about it?” He asks. “You cannot tell me, Rory, that you don’t like seeing Dew all dolled up as Cee’s wife.”

She pouts, leaning back before cursing up a storm as the seatbelt locks. “Fucking- Swiss-” she sputters, unclicking it and rebuckling herself in more comfortably. “That’s not what I’m saying. You’re telling me you’re more excited to work on your car than to have numerous raunchy ‘affairs’ and play the game?”

“Eh, equally excited,” Swiss shrugs, settling back into the driver’s seat. “And it’s less for my sake. Like seeing all of you relaxed. Having fun. Cee too. Lucifer knows you all deserve it.”

Cirrus squeezes his hand, her other arm resting on the open window. “We all do,” she agrees, watching the trees fly by on the side of the road in a blur. “It’s always a good time when we come out here. Copia picked a nice place.”

“He really did. The showers in that house? Ugh, I could kiss him for the showers alone,” Aurora groans.

“You’ll get your chance,” Cirrus laughs. “Though you really don’t need that excuse to kiss him. He’s awfully fond of you, would let you get away with anything.”

Aurora snorts, running a hand through her hair. “You’re one to talk, Cir, he gave you a Prince-damned keytar because you fluttered your eyes at him once like seven years ago!”

“Maybe so,” she trills, birdlike. “My pride and joy.” Cirrus just preens, and Swiss laughs, melodic like bells.

“Oh, an’ you’re one to laugh!” Aurora turns to Swiss, meeting his eyes in the rearview mirror for an instant before he goes back to watching the road. “Copia’s first summon, he spoils you absolutely rotten. Who got the paperwork in order for this car because you don't legally exist in the human world, Swiss?”

“What? Can’t a guy enjoy a little gluttony every once in a while?” he says, still laughing. “And really, Rory? He spoils all of us. We’re literally driving to his vacation house, with his credit card, and getting things ready so all eleven of us can have a vacation where we all hang out for two or three weeks and pretend to have affairs with each other. If that’s not him spoiling us, I don’t know what is.”

There’s a silence only filled by the song on the radio fading out and a new, brighter pop song taking its place.

“Very fair, Swiss,” Rory hums, lifting her chin. “Very fair.”

“See, Cir? She can see reason,” Swiss teases.

“Hey!”

Everything had gone wrong. You were just living your life in your level of hell only to be ripped from your home in the most painful way. Now you laid there in the middle of the summoning circle clutching the stump that was your hand. You were dazed and frantically searching for a source of the summoning. 

Several people surrounded you but you could hear two of them whispering frantically to each other in what you thought was Italian. One was a middle aged man with a damaged eye wearing a black cassock and the other was an older woman with blonde hair dressed in a nice green suit. The woman kept rubbing her temples, clearly irritated at the situation though not at the man. 

Separate from the pair was something more familiar. You could smell the characteristic scent of three other ghouls. One smelled of a rich forest, another smelled of a fresh summer breeze, and the other smelled of magic coursing with electricity. The tell tale signs of ghouls were on full display. Mouths full of pointy teeth, tails in various states of motion, and horns poking through their hair. You let out a small whimper which caught the attention of the ghouls. 

The one who smelled of magic slowly approached you, hands held out in a non-threatening manner. He kept his distance from you and slowly crouched down so he could be eye level with you. “Hey there little one.” 

You look up at him, your tail frantically swishing back and forth, very wary of the situation. Although the comfort of a fellow quintessence ghoul did help a little. 

“I promise you're safe,” He reassured you. 

“W-Why am I here?” You asked softly. 

The man from the pair turned at your words. “Ah yes about that. I um… we have summoned you to be an additional bassist in our band. You shall help the Clergy on our tours.” He answered in a very heavy accent. 

You scoffed and gestured with your stump. “Hard to play the guitar when you only have one hand.” You tried to joke it off but tears started to fall down your cheek. 

“I’m sorry caro, I promise Sister and I are looking into what happened.” He promised with the most sincere smile. “Now ghouls please look after our newest member while we discuss with Omega about what happened” He gave his head a little bow and followed the woman out of the room. 

There was a moment of silence as you once again took in your surroundings. You searched the room for the other two ghouls. Your eyes landed on the pair standing off to the side. The taller of the two had short straight brown hair. That must have been the earth ghoul. Which then meant the smaller ghoul, no wait ghoulette, was an air element.

“I’m Aether,” the quintessence ghoul introduced himself gently. He gestured to the other ghouls. “That one is Mountain,” He pointed to the taller ghoul who just nodded, “and the other one is Cumulus.” The ghoulette gave a small wave. You didn’t respond, but your wary tail stopped its nervous swaying. Now that you had realized you weren’t in immediate danger, you became aware of how chilly you were, and your body started to shiver. 

“Here let's get you to your room,” Aether cooed softly and you let yourself be helped up by him. You kept your hurt hand to your chest and the other one wrapped around your stomach. 

Aether led the group down the hallway with Mountain and Cumulus on either side of you creating a safety bubble around you. You didn’t realize but your tail instinctively reached out and wrapped around Cumulus’ tail searching for comfort you didn’t know you needed. Cumulus looked down at you. She smiled at your touch and chirped soothingly. You looked up at her slightly, but quickly looked away, still feeling a bit weary. 

They led you down the corridors of the ministry, passing different members of the Siblings of Sin. The Siblings must have been used to seeing ghouls on a daily basis since most didn’t take notice, but a few glanced your way taking in your form. You drew your arm in closer trying to hide it more from view. 

After what seemed like miles of walking, you finally entered an area of the Ministry with dark black marble and more engravings fit for the ghoul types. Down the hallway lined several doors on each side. Each door had an engraving of a different ghoul type. Those must be the types of ghouls who live here, you thought to yourself. The further you walked down the hallway, that familiar scent of ghouls filled your nose and you relaxed even more. 

Finally the group approached a large dark wood door, and Aether stopped in front of it. “This will be your room during your time in the Ministry. We all have our own spaces, but we always tend to gather as a pack in the common room. Now you aren’t required to become part of our pack, but if you ever want to join us we will be happy to accommodate you.”

“T-Thank you,” You said softly. You turned towards the door and you saw your own quintessence symbol carved into the dark wood. The little touches of this place was making you less weary.

Aether smiled softly and opened the door for you. “Dinner is in a few hours. Mountain is making a delicious stew, but if you aren’t ready for social time then we’ll set aside a bowl for you in the fridge. We usually eat in the dining room just a few rooms down from here.” 

You blushed at their kindness. “That’s very kind of you,” You smiled softly and turned back to your room. “Oh wow.” Your room was stunning. A nice big bed was in the center of the dark room. It was covered with soft materials perfect for any ghouls' nest. There was a dark wood dresser on the opposite wall of the wall. The walls were mostly bare with a few small paintings as an accent. Additionally there was a bathroom attached to the bedroom offering you the comfort of privacy when showering. You chirp in contentment and turn back to the group. 

They all gave you soft smiles. “Seems like you approve?” Aether smiled at your increased ease around them. 

“It’s really nice actually,” You replied gently sitting down on the bed. It was soft and suddenly you felt so tired. 

“We’ll let you settle in, and hope to see you later,” Aether said before reaching for the door knob. He pulled the door shut and you saw Cumulus giving you a small wave. 

You sighed and laid down on your back. You lifted your right arm and examined the lack of a hand. “How the hell is this going to work?” You asked yourself before setting it back against the covers. The weight of the day started to way on you, and before you knew it you fell into a deep sleep. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was hours before you woke up from your much needed rest. It took you a few moments to realize you weren’t in Hell anymore. You gently rubbed the sleep from your eyes and sat up. A rumble came from your stomach and you sighed. Seems like you were hungry after all, though seeing the other ghouls made you weary. Maybe a shower would help you calm down. You stood up and walked over to the closet full of dark clothing. Inside was a variety of clothes in different styles and sizes. After searching through the hangers you decided on a soft black hoodie with matching shorts. Carefully you draped the clothes over your right arm. 

You took them to the joined bathroom and set them on the counter. The bathroom was fully stocked with everything a ghoul would need to care for themselves. Horn polish, skin care products and so on. You would definitely be using those later. After today you deserved some self-care. After some effort with your flimsy Hellish clothes, you strip your worn clothes off and toss them into the trash can. You wouldn’t need them anymore considering the plethora of new clothes you had now. You turned your attention to the big shower and twisted the knob. Several jets flowed warm water out of them and you sighed when the water hit your skin. You let the water flow over you, taking the grim and dirt from the summoning off of you. You looked down at your lost hand. Whatever cause this made sure that the wound was sealed by the time you had serviced which you were grateful at least. 

You sighed and tried to shower as quickly as you could though it didn’t quite go as planned. You struggled quite a bit with just the simple tasks like opening the shampoo bottle, but eventually you figured out how to balance the bottles to get what you wanted. The water took the tiredness with it as it washed down the drain. 

After letting the water flow over you for a few more minutes, you finally turned off the water and stepped out of the shower. Luckily there was a big fluffy towel waiting for you on the racks. You purred as you felt the soft texture against your skin. Quickly you dried yourself and changed. You still weren’t used to the lack of a hand, but you were slowly getting better.

Finally you were ready to grab your dinner. You opened the door and headed in the direction Aether told you earlier. Sure enough when you opened the door was the kitchen and dining room. The scent of dinner was still in the air and it made your stomach growl. You quickly grabbed the food from the fridge and heated it up. (tk if i want to add inner thoughts) 

You were carrying the bowl back to your room when you heard the Aether’s voice. The large door at the end of the hallway was cracked a bit and you could see light streaming from it. You approached the door unsure and peaked inside. You saw Aether with a smaller ghoul on his lap in the middle of a large couch. That ghoul was arguing with a much bigger ghoul on the floor with dark brown curls. Whatever the argument was didn’t seem too serious because after the next remark he playfully pushed the other ghouls leg. Leaning one side of Aether was another smaller ghoul. You could tell that it was another quintessence ghoul.  On the other side of Aether was another ghoul cuddling with Mountain. This one seemed shyer than the other pair of ghouls since he seemed to stay cuddle to the larger ghoul. Off on another couch Cumulus cuddled with another two ghoulettes. The trio seemed to be deep in their own conversation. 

The pack looked so comfortable and your own inner ghoul was crying for the attention of other ghouls, but you weren’t like them. You couldn’t fulfill the only job you were meant to do, and you just knew that they would see you as different. 

You let out a subconscious whine and the conversation paused. “What was that?” said a male voice. 

“Sounded like another ghoul?” A ghoulette noted. 

“But we’re all here?” Another ghoul added. 

“Here I got it,” A different ghoulette said. There was a rustle and a few muffled curses before the door opened. Cumulus stepped through the crack and smiled when she saw you. You instinctively stepped back from the door. 

“Hey,” She smiled and her tail began to swish happily back and forth. 

You chirped softly feeling safe but you shook your head. “I’m sorry I just wanted some food. I didn’t mean to bother your pack time.” You apologized.

She giggled “Understandable, Mountain makes the best food.”

“I’ll make sure to savor it.” You smiled softly. 

Cumulus nodded and after a moment turned to look back at the pack. “You know,” she started and turned back to you. “They really want to meet you.” She added softly. 

You looked down, not meeting her eyes. Tears pulled in your eyes. “I-I don’t…” You paused to take a deep breath getting your emotions under control. “I’m not like you guys.” 

The ghoulette tilted her head in confusion. “What do you mean? You have horns and tails like the rest of us. And I know you smell just like Aether and Phantom.” 

You sighed. “Yes but you all play in the band and well I can’t now.” 

“We’ll figure out a way for you to play, but that doesn’t stop the fact that you are now a part of the group.” Cumulus said offering a soft smile

You looked between the door and the ghoulette. The pull of your instincts was becoming greater than your need to self isolate. Your eyes landed back on the ghoulette. “T-They won’t hate this?” You asked, gesturing to your right arm. 

“I promise they will love you.” She reassured you gently. 

You paused and nodded “Okay then.” 

Cumulus smiled softly and turned back to the door. She pushed it open further and the ghouls turned to see what the commotion was about. “Everyone, this is the new ghoul at the Ministry.” She stands to the side as you nervously walk past her. You felt anxious under everyone's gaze, but when you looked to Cumulus for support, she gave you an encouraging head nod. 

“H-Hi there” You introduce softly. 

“Damn Aether you didn’t say they were hot,” The ghoul on the floor stated, earning a smack on the head from the smaller ghoul he was arguing with earlier. 

“Satan Swiss learn to be subtle,” The smaller ghoul scoffed. 

You watched their interaction with both amusement and uncertainty. Cumulus leaned over as the pair started arguing again. “Don’t worry. This is how they flirt.” 

You chuckled and whispered back. “Sounds like a pair I knew in Hell” 

The other quintessence joined the pair and grabbed your right arm. You panicked when the ghoul didn’t feel a hand, but he smiled and slowly dragged you over to the group. “It’s rare we have so many quintessence ghouls in one place. It was just me and Aether until you were summoned. I’m Phantom by the way. Now no one can call me the baby of the group.” 

Aether chuckled as Phantom pulled you over to the other ghoulettes. “Phantom, you will never stop being baby.”

“There's nothing wrong with being baby,” You add as you settle beside Phantom. Cumulus settled back with the other ghoulettes who created a comfortable place for both you and Phantom. 

“Oh goodness I forgot to introduce everyone else,” Cumulus sat up. She started to point out all the other ghouls and you followed her hand. “You already know Aether. Swiss is sitting on the floor. Dewdrop is in Aether’s lap. Then it's Rain, you know Mountain and Phantom. And the other ghoulettes are Cirrus and Aurora.” 

“You have quite the pack here,”  You said after Cumulus finished. 

Aether chuckled. “We really do, and we would love to have you as a part of it whenever you are ready.” 

You smiled and blushed, “I think I would very much like that.”