#tortoise reader

(This is more of a “hybrids as regular folk” kinda universe!)

There’s a certain stigma again tortoise hybrids. Well, a few. Especially when it comes to having them as partners.

First and foremost: the shell. Though not as heavy and restricting as that of a full tortoise, it’s still a big thing to work around.

Second: age. People don’t typically want to enter relationships where their partner will almost certainly outlive them.

Third: the herbivorous nature. This goes for most leaf-eating hybrids— a lot of time has to be spent eating. And leafy greens take up a lot of space in the fridge. It’s a whole thing.

Fourth: the speed. Like, we have places to be. Can’t you step it up a little?

Price, a proud lion hybrid, is still rather desirable in his old age. Efficient, driven, minimal. A strong, able carnivore— he could have his pick of partners.

Of course no one says it out loud, but they’re always surprised to see you introduced as being his partner. The illustrious captain John Price, saddled with someone whose presence amounts to little more than a boulder to most? It seems far fetched.

But Price doesn’t mind it. He doesn’t mind spending his hours with you, sitting out at the patio table on the porch while you much away at lettuce, melon, and cactus. He piles up your romaine and adds a date so there’s a little sweet surprise— dusted with some calcium, of course.

Delights in scrubbing you down and waxing your shell. Always has his hands on it— he loves the feel of your scutes, and he feels responsible checking the parts you can’t reach for any dry or brittle areas.

You’re younger than him, but he always gets you the best of everything. Things built to last. It includes the house he tends, it has old bones but it’ll stay sturdy long after he’s gone. Tons of notes and word files hidden around the house and in your computer so there will be traces of him for you to find.

Your ambling pace as he takes you around the lake near the house is just perfect for him. Lets him take in the world, in earnest, for the first time. He never knew how to slow down before you— there was always the next task to move up from the back burner. Fires to be put out. Never time to admire his work— to appreciate the moments he fights for.