#unexplainedfanfics

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“S-Shit..” you muttered, wheezing out a puff of hot air from your lungs, watching as the cloud of fog blew past your face. Your exposed skin being nipped by the cold, you felt every hair on your body begin to rise. Gripping your arms, you looked around the area.

Snow. That’s all you could see. Snow littered the ground, fluffing up the earth like a cotton ball plain. The clouds were light grey, shaking their frosted ends onto the ground below. There were hardly any trees around the area, though you could make out a pine tree horizon in the distance as you spin. The sun wasn’t visible, though the light kept the area bright.

“Guys?” You whipped around, suddenly extremely aware you were completely alone in this sudden tundra. “Gideon? Are you out there? I-It’s cold..” you hugged yourself tightly, begging for some warmth from the fire genasi himself. Even he would be cold out here, you knew. “Torbek..” you called faintly, wishing his wad of matted and deranged fur would be warm enough for this environment.

But no one was there.

Another heavy breath escaped your lips, your body shaking desperately to keep the blood circulating.

You pondered how you even got here, it was impossible, it had to be! You had been exploring this oddly twisted manor that reminded you of the mirror maze you’d find in a carnival. So many stupid twists and turns, doors that led to walls, stairs that led to nothing, doors that led to doors behind them, walls that turned into doors.. it was a nightmare.

You were originally traveling with the group, no one wanting to be separated due to the confusion. However, it seemed you took a wrong turn when you lingered a little too long behind. You walked through a door with a mirrored frame glinting with green.

Green.. that was Frost’s robe.

You had entered the door, thinking the door was the right direction to reunite with your friends.

Now you were here.

“Frost!” You called out, twisting this way and that in desperation. There’s no way you could be here, it just wasn’t possible! You had to still be in the manor, all you did was blink as you walked through the door and you were here.

You were getting significantly colder by the minute, desperately looking around for the door you came through, hoping this was just some Narnia adaptation. There was no door, why would there be in a place like this? You had to of been teleported.

What were you even supposed to do? The treeline was at least a mile, maybe more, away. There was a mountain to your left that stood tall, snow piled upon layers. A large river flowed alongside the mountain bed, ice along the shoreline towards the center, forever encased.

In a haze, you were determined to get out of here. Make it to the tree line. You thought. You can make it to the treeline, then make a fire.

Stuffing an ice chilled breath into your lungs, you tretched towards the line of trees in the distance. The snow crunching under your feet, you narrowed your eyes.

Make it to the treeline.

You tretched forward, heaving ice chested breaths as the snow crunched under you. The snow above fell solumly, slow and dance-like. All you had in your mind right now was survival. Once you had a fire you’d sit and figure out the rest.

Fire..

Thinking about the fun you and your friends have by the fire, the meals Kremy cooks and the shenanigans Gricko always uprooted. You missed it already, and you saw them only fifteen minutes ago.

About 100 feet away from your original spot, you noticed how the snow began to pick up. It was getting harder and harder to see in the thickness of it. The treeline looked like distant shadows now.

You stopped to survey your surroundings again. It wasn’t as far as you hoped, a little upset that the snow was high enough to slow you down so much. And.. what was that?

You strained your eyes, teeth clattering as you tried to make sense of the shadowy shape that had been behind you. You blinked a few times, then realized you saw something tall, something green.

“Frost!!” You yelled, stumbling over the snow in surprise. “Frost over here!! I’m over here!!” The new found adrenaline found your cold wet feet, running back to where you had last been just 30 minutes prior.

You saw the tabaxi turn around to look at you, then start jogging towards you. You felt so much relief, so much joy to see your friend that you just saw 30 minutes ago. Morning Frost, you’d take it.

“{y/n}?” The tabaxi inquired as he jogged up to your trembling frame. “How long have you been here? Are you feeling numb or perhaps feeling hot anywhere?” He dropped his heavy pack, immediately undressing his robe and wrapping it around your frame.

“30 minutes maybe,” you breathed out, just relieved to not be alone anymore. Breathing in, the musky forest smell of the tabaxi filled your nostrils as the robe was tied by the middle of your frame. It was surprisingly warm for such a thin appearing robe, and it was very large on you. “No I’m not feeling numb or hot yet, why?”

“You could catch hyperthermia very easily here, especially from not wearing winter clothes,” the prodigy explained, digging into his backpack and uncovering a thick quilted blanket with many shapes and colors and patterns thrown about. “Wear my robe, and wrap this quilt around you. It isn’t much, but it will be enough for now.”

“Thank you so much..” you grabbed the heavy quilt, wrapping it over your shoulders and relaxing at the warmth it gave you. You blinked, suddenly realizing Frost was in a thin short sleeved shirt with nothing giving him warmth. “Frost, the snow-“

Frost stopped digging in his pack, then looked down at himself. He then shrugged and continued digging. “I have fur, and I am very well equipt to handle this environment. The snow doesn’t bother me.”

You blinked, watching as the sourcerer lifted the pack and threw it onto his back.

“We should get to the trees,” he said quickly, looking around like you had before. “With the snow beginning to get worse we need to make a shelter and a fire before anything else. We mustn’t waste any time.”

Pulling the quilt closer around your frame, you nodded in agreement.

As the two of you marched toward through the terrain, it was mostly silence. With the both of you focusing on the trees, you figured it was better to talk once the fear of hyperthermia wasn’t on your plates. However, as you looked up at the humanoid beside you, you noticed his brows were knotted together tightly. He was very deep in thought.

“Frost,” you called for him, his ears twitching in acknowledgement. “Do you know why we’re here?”

Frost’s tail flicked, and his eyes wandered to the snow below him for a moment before returning to the trees. After a moment, he turned to you. “I have a theory, but I can honestly say I’m not quite sure yet.”

“Maybe we can brainstorm?” You offered, kind of hoping he’d agree so the silence wouldn’t be as loud as it was.

Frost nodded, looking back towards the tree line.

“I theorize that the mirrored frame around the door was some sort of magical item,” he began to explain. “I had noticed an encryption written into the door before I walked through,” an encryption? How did you not see it? “It was in a language I couldn’t completely understand, though I did recognize a few words. ‘Portal’ and ‘glassed eyes” were all I could understand. Mayhaps the mirror was the ‘glassed eye’ while the door was the portal.”

His ears twitched towards your direction, a puff of fog blowing past his face through his nose. You thought it made sense, though it was still very confusing. You didn’t quite understand it, but Frost didn’t either.

“Before I went through the door I saw your robe,” you explained. “That’s why I went through it, I thought you did.”

He hummed at that, his brows knitting once more. “Did you see yourself in the reflection?”

“Not that I noticed, no.”

“Interesting,” he muttered, looking up towards the sky as the snow fell. “Maybe the ‘glass eye’ didn’t see you at all.”

You didn’t know what exactly to say to that. You would admit that you weren’t exactly the smartest cookie of the pack, but you admired Frost for how smart he was. You looked down at your feet, feeling the soaked wetness in your shoes. Gross.

“The trees are up ahead,” Frost said, making you look up. The talking really helped pass the time, and the trees were maybe another hundred feet ahead easy. “When we get there, I will immediately try to get a fire going once we find a good place to camp.”

You nodded, starting to feel the iced air in the back of your throat. You hoped your throat wouldn’t get sore.

Entering the treeline, pine trees stood tall above you both. Pine trees, of all trees? Wouldn’t they be spruce? You thought it was a little peculiar, but at least they were full and created a small canopy above a good 50 feet.

Frost immediately scooped up some dead pine needles from their piles along the forest floor, snow still littered about around you both. He then pranced to the park and tore some off, feeling it between his paw pads before stuffing it under his bare arm.

“Let’s camp here,” he said, scraping stray pine needles and snow out until he found the bare ground. Cresting a large vacant circle, he tossed the driest dead pine needles in the center with the bark surrounding the top. “We have all of the lumber we need here, the canopy can act as our shelter for now unless the storm begins to get worse.”

He tore some more bark from the tree, casually glancing around the forest floor or up in the trees. You figured he was looking for branches, though the pine trees were too high and nothing laid on the snow but the fallen pine needles.

You copied his movement, using your foot to make a spot for you to sit without snow in your way. You were shivering much more now, the cold wetness at your feet and shins, along with the ends of the robe and quilt that dragged along the snow nipping at your legs.

Frost easily started the fire, the warmth springing to life gleefully. Frost gathered a lot of bark from the trees, making sure there would be enough to maintain the warmth of the fire.

“It will be dark soon,” Frost spoke, setting his bag beside you. “It will also be much colder. Take off your shoes and socks.”

“What?” You were surprised by the bluntness he had, blinking as he gave you his deadpanned expression.

“They’re wet,” he said monotonously. “You’ll get frostbite if they freeze on your feet.”

Oh, right.

You did as you were told, freeing your feet to introduce them to the chilled wind around you. You sat them close to the fire, not too close to where you or your footwear would catch flame. It felt nice, as stressful as this whole situation was.

Frost dug into his pack once more, his tail swaying this way and that. His ears were turned back, the eyes of his tiger eyes facing you. Was he.. irritated? You weren’t quite sure.

Eventually, after some clattering and then some, Frost brought out a small rolled up sack. His tail swished, he inspected it and then hummed. “I only have one tent,” he explained. “I thought I had more, but they’re.. missing.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if we stayed in the same one anyway?” You inquired, meeting the eyes of the golden-eyed tabaxi. You realized how embarrassing it was to say that without context. “C-Cause of the cold? More heat in the tent with two people instead of one right? You said it would get colder.”

The tabaxi nodded in agreement, setting the bag down and reaching into the bag again. “You’re right, I should have thought about that,” he said, head inside the bag. Why was his bag so deep? “The only other concern is I only have one sleeping bag.” He pulled the roll off of the top of his bag that you assumed was the sleeping bag, another smaller blanket in tow with his hand that had been buried in the bag.

“Oh,” you croaked out, blinking. Huh. I guess that makes sense, the group doesn’t usually sleep in tents or sleeping bags for him to have more than one of each. “Do you need help setting up?”

“No,” he gestured to the fire before turning around to the tent bag. “You need to dry your feet and footwear first and foremost. We can’t risk frostbite.”

He began to unfold the tent and set it up from memory, no instruction in sight. You stared at the fire.

You missed your other friends. How long have you two been gone? Did they go through the same door? Or were they in the same manor?

“Frost?”

“Hm?”

“Why did you go through the door?”

Frost glanced over from his half built tent, the fire crackling in the paused silence. “While we were talking, we had all realized after a few minutes that you weren’t there anymore. I went back to retrace our steps to hopefully find you, Kremy and Gideon went with me while the others stuck together where we left them.” He balanced the top, then his tail flicked in satisfaction as the tent was finished.

“Where are Kremy and Gideon?” You asked, looking out towards the direction you both had come from.

“They went through the door.” he said, grabbing the sleeping bag.

“The same door we went through?” You blinked and looked at him confused, watching as he rolled out the sleeping back on top of the small blanket.

“Yes,” he said, flattening the bag. “But in the frame I saw Kremy’s purple suit, and I didn’t see Gideon’s flame at all. When the door closed it didn’t have a hue anymore, until I stepped in front of it and it was green. That’s when I noticed the door engraving, and that’s when I walked through.” He walked over and sat beside you, an arm length away.

“The mirror had a green hue when I walked through,” you said. “I saw your robe in it.”

He nodded, looking at the fire. “Hm.”

The sound of the crackling fire filled the silence that came in tow, and the warmth in your feet helped you feel satisfied. You felt your shoes and socks and they were still soggy, which made you frown.

Frost fed the fire, encouraging it to grow larger.

“Have you noticed that there isn’t any wild life around?” He asked suddenly, never looking away from the fire.

“What?”

“There’s no birds,” he said. “And there’s no sign of any animals walking in the snow other than us.”

Looking around, you realized he was right. You were a little confused as to what that meant to him, to you it meant less worry about a pack of dire wolves or a wild owlbear.

“That’s good, right?”

“That means we won’t be able to find much food,” he explained, glancing over to you. “Unless there are some wild berries in the area somewhere.”

“Oh..” you looked down, holding the quilt tighter. You hadn’t thought about food. You didn’t feel hungry, at least not right now.

What you did feel, however, was the heaviness in your eyes. Soon after you realized the heaviness, you felt the cold much more than before. You then realized how dark it was now, and that the fire and the night sky above was all you had for light.

“We should get some rest,” Frost spoke in a cooled tone.. “We have a long day tomorrow, surveying our area and trying to find some food. I have some rations in my bag, but only for three days. We also need to find a way to go.”

You tiredly nodded, looking at your shoes. You grabbed some bark from the pile Frost had made beside you and tossed it into the fire, watching the embers fly.

Climbing into the tent, Frost in tow, you were ready to lay on the ground until Frost held your shoulder. “Take the sleeping bag,” he said. “It’s a lot warmer. I’ll sleep on the ground.”

“Won’t you actually get cold then?” You asked, frowning when he started to close the tent opening.

“No,” he said, sitting on the empty side of the tent with his legs crossed. “I’m used to the environment.”

~~~

God, it was so fucking cold. How hasn’t Frost started shivering yet?

The both of you had been hiking the forest for hours now. You were searching for anything at all, food or signs of life. All you guys could find was snow, trees, a river, and mountains.

Nothing.

“Frost,” you called out. “What’s the plan?”

The tabaxi ahead of you stopped and turned to you, no look of concern much at all. “I think we should try the river, there might be fish in it.”

“Do we have something to kill them with?” You looked out past the array of trees to the flat field of snow, the river at the base of the mountain in the distance. “Like a spear?”

Frost turned to keep walking, and you stumbled in tow. “I have my mage hand,” he said calmly. “I can pick it up and crush its mind.”

Duh. You thought to yourself, completely forgetting about that. Who needs weapons to hunt when you have Morning Frost? With his.. weird mind crushing ability..

You felt your head.

Walking from the tree line, the vast of snow looked the same in every direction. The mountain was to the right of you, and the river down below.

With the warmth of Frost’s robe and the quilt, it was a lot easier for you to manage the cold. You’d have to let your shoes dry by the fire again tonight, but at least your body was mostly warm.

“Do you think everyone else is okay?” You asked, looking up at the feline.

You were worried about Gideon and Kremy, wondering where they went, and how Gricko and Torbek and Hootsie and Twig were doing in the manor.. if they were even there at all. You gulped, thinking about how Kremy wouldn’t last the night due to hyperthermia no matter how much fire Gideon gave.

“Everyone will be fine,” he said with a hint of output confidence. “Gideon and Kremy have adventured through snowy terrain before, and Gricko and Torbek and Twig promised to stay put until we all came back.”

You didn’t feel very confident about that last bit. You were sure someone of that group would have wondered off by now out of boredom, or just plain defiance, and got lost.

“I guess,” you frowned, trying to spot a landmark for where you were. “But I’m still worried about everyone.”

Frost nodded, glancing over to you. His tail flicked towards you, an ear swiveling your way. “I understand your fear, but I have confidence in our friends.”

You nodded, huffing a breath in response. You couldn’t argue with Frost, and you knew he was trying to stay optimistic, as pessimistic as he usually is. You wanted to believe in them too.

Inching closer to the river, the mountain grew taller. The ice looked plastic, a blue hue throughout its sheet. The river roared, steam rolling upward as the temperature difference between the two battled. It was really pretty.

Frost sat his bag down, rummaging in his bag again. Humming, he pulled out a retractable staff. You blinked, not knowing what its original, or current, purpose was.

“Please, stand back,” he warned, tapping the ice with the end of the staff. “We don’t know if the ice is secure for our body weights, I’d much rather you stay on land.”

“I can help you know,” you whined a little, feeling pretty useless. “What can I do?”

Frost kept tapping the ice, resting his foot on the first step. The ice settled on his weight, than he completely stood on it. It was rock solid and safe.

“I will see if there are any fish,” he said, looking back. “If there is, I will slide them across the ice in your direction. Shove as many of them as you can into the bag, don’t worry about getting anything wet, it won’t be.” Gee, how helpful were you.. but it was something at least.

As you nodded, he adventured out deeper onto the ice. You were nervous with every sound from the ice you heard, worried he’d fall in. He took his time, tapping the ice in spots to make sure he stayed on solid ice. He was very skilled at it, and you weren’t very surprised.

You admired Frost, he was very charming. You also found him.. very nice looking. As you watched him walk on the ice, you realized just how nicely toned his frame was. He was fit, yet not too muscular. He was tall, shorter than Gideon but taller than Kremy, and his tail was always moving. When you looked at Frost you could picture his nicely defined face with his fluffed cheeks and tiger beard with soft golden eyes.

You didn’t really think about how handsome he really was until now. Such an odd realization at a very odd time, you thought.

As he found himself at the edge of the ice, you stood on your tippy-toes in anticipation. He looked into the river, looking left, right and forward.

“Do you see any?” You called out, hoping to any god in this forsaken land that there were.

You watched Frost’s ears twitch at your call, even from so far away. You knew he heard you by how his tail flicked to the right, but he never looked back. He looked at the water, then bent down closer while still atop the ice. You grew more nervous, worried he’d fall in.

Then his ears drew back and flattened, and his tail fell and snaked around. He looked left and right again.

“Frost?” You called out, a little scared now.

“I see the swamp,” you heard Frost in your mind. “In the river, the reflection isn’t the mountain or the snow. It’s just the swamp.”

~~~

The both of you were looking over the edge of this ice into this swamp for a while now. The farther down or up the river you guys went there were no fish, but there was a swamp.

“Frost I’m confused..” you murmured, clutching the quilt. “There’s no animals.. there’s no berries.. and the river has a swamp in it.”

Frost has been staring at the river for ages now. He looked stone faced, though with hints of anger and confusion. His tail was snaking around the area by his feet still, but his ears were back in place.

“I am rather confused as well,” he admitted. “Is the river magical as well?” He hummed, then suddenly began to his knees and lean into the river. You reached out to him, but just as you thought he’d dip his head in he brought his paw up and pushed it into the river.

You both watched as he sat it there for a minute, then pulled it out. He inspected his hand, then looked back into the river. Now he just had a wet paw, and the river was the same reflection of a swamp.

You got down on your knees beside him, watching as he spiraled into deep thought. You took the quilt and began to hold his paw in it, rubbing it and breathing hot air against it to warm it up.

Frost looked at you quizzically, not stopping the process. “You’ll get frostbite,” you said softly, meeting his eyes with a softened gaze. “You need to stay dry.”

Frost nodded in agreement, letting you continue to dry his paw. He sat down completely, using his free hand to rub his chin in thought. Staring out into the depths of the swamp river, there was silence between the both of you.

What could you say to cheer the tabaxi up? He seemed much more concerned than usual, and when he showed concern it only meant something bad. You wanted to help him relax. Sure this was really weird, but what could you do? You didn’t have any leads right now, you couldn’t get too wrapped up in these things.

“Let’s go and set up camp,” you offered softly, holding his paw between your hands in the quilt. “We can think about it when we’re warm and we eat.”

Frost looked at your trembling frame, then his paw. He sighed softly and nodded, laying his forehead in your hands for just a moment before standing up. He offered you a hand, which you obliged in taking, and he helped you up.

Frost grabbed his bag, lifting it over his shoulders and tossed it to his back. He looked to the left and then the right. “We came from the left,” he said. “It looks like there is another tree line to the right, let’s go there.”

You nodded, sticking close to his side to try to get some some warmth from him. With the damp quilt it was a little harder to stay warm now. Frost seemed to notice this, his tail brushing your leg before he offered his now dried paw.

You looked up at him, watching as he very barely smiled at you. You felt some heat rise to your cheeks and quickly looked towards the trees. Taking his paw, he kept your hand warm the entire way on this very long silent walk to the tree line.

You felt like you were getting closer to the tabaxi, like something was stirring in that mind of his. And maybe a little in yours too.

Nearing the tree line, you looked around and then back to from where you came. It looked really familiar. You looked at Frost, who you realized noticed it too.

“Did we go the right way?” You asked, gripping his paw a little tighter.

“I’m sure of it,” he said, squeezing your hand in reassurance. “My sense of direction isn’t off. I’m sure it just looks familiar because we are tired.”

You knew that was a load of shit. Frost’s tail flicks and twitching ears gave him away. You didn’t say anything. He was trying to give some hope.

You hugged his arm, holding his hand. It was getting colder and colder. The sun was setting, as hard as it was for you to really tell. You swore the temperature drops every hour. The fog from your breaths got thicker and bigger.

Your feet were hurting so badly now. They throbbed and started to almost burn. It was progressive, and you had ignored it for a pretty long time. Now they were starting to swell in your shoes.

“F-Frost,” you breathed out, causing the tabaxi to concerningly look down. “My feet burn..”

Instantly the tabaxi picked you up, causing you to yelp in surprise. “I apologize,” he said, adjusting his grip on you. “We need to get your feet dry immediately so I’m going to have to run.”

“What?” Before you could get an answer the tabaxi was already jogging towards the tree line, the bag bouncing on his back and his grip on you firm. You curled up, the cold wind hitting you. You hid in his warm chest, shivering as he tried to shield you the best he could.

Frost was very fit to be carrying you and his 70 pound bag behind him in a jog. You were very impressed, but more so in pain.

When you made it to the treeline he immediately used his feet to sweep the forest floor of snow. He laid you down and laid the bag next to you. You whined, your hands where the water had been in the quilt were starting to burn too.

“Please hold tight,” Frost said, hopping around you and gathering the bark off of the pine tree close by and then dead pine needles. Skillfully, he lit a small fire, more concerned about your frostbite than warmth.

He walked over and helped you take off your shoes and socks, setting them by the fire and then picking you up and setting you by the fire next. He went back over the to tree to your right, took more bark, and began to feed the fire of fuel.

Your feet were extremely red, much like a tomato. They still throbbed and ached severely, but they were much better out of your shoes. You put your hands up to the fire to help your hands as well.

You let out a sigh of relief. Thank god! Warmth!

Frost stood beside you and held his paw out. “I think we should let the quilt sit by the fire too.”

You nodded and he took it from your shoulders. He folded it neatly and placed it by the fire side, and your shoulders were greeted by the cold breeze.

“I think it’s getting colder,” you said gazing into the fire. “And faster..”

Frost didn’t say anything. He went to his pack and opened it, digging inside and bringing out some rations he had. He gave you one and then sat beside you, holding his in his paws.

You were so thankful for Frost. If it wasn’t for him you probably would have died on the first day to hyperthermia. You know he says he’s used to the terrain, but you were curious about how. He never exactly talked about his past.

You looked up at him to see that his eyes were closed. You looked at his arms and noticed that they were twitching just slightly where the stray snow stayed. You reached up and gently brushed him off, his tail flicking in acknowledgement, until he was clear.

“Thank you,” he murmured quietly, eyes still closed. He looked so peaceful like that, calm. You looked at his hands in his lap and realized he was meditating. You looking back up at his arms and couldn’t help but think how soft they looked, and how warm they probably were.

You leaned into him, holding his robe around you desperately for warmth. You laid your face against his nicely toned bicep, feeling the soft fur against your cheek. You heard a chuff-like sound come from Frost.

He was warm.

The two of you stayed like that in silence for a little while. You were thinking about the rest of the group, how you wondered if they were okay and alive. Then you wondered about the swamp reflection in the river, it was so odd.

Then you thought about the door. The colors of the mirror fram. Then you thought about the snow.

“Frost, you said you are familiar with the snowy terrain right?” You asked, sitting up and looking up to him quizzically. “Why?”

Frost opened his eyes and looked down to you, curious. “I grew up in the snowy mountains after being taken from my parents. I became a sourcerer in the terrain. Why?”

You got to your knees, held his arm and leaning more towards him. “Kremy talks about growing up in the swamp all the time,” you bounced. “Kremy became a warlock there too probably!”

Frost looked at you curiously, then his brows raised. “The door took us to the terrain that is centered around us, what made us what we are,” Frost’s ears perked and his tail danced. “The door’s hue was it seeing where we’d end up, and the door saw me first before you went in-“

“And the door saw Kremy first before Gideon went in! Frost! Maybe the river is actually like a glass wall and we can see into each others realms?” You bounced up to your feet, even though they still ached. “What if Kremy and Gideon are there? Do you think we could communicate with them somehow through the water?”

Frost smiled, then he plucked you up by your hips—earning a rise of extreme heat to your cheeks and neck—and sat you back down. “I think you’re right,” he nodded. “But it’s late now. We should wait until tomorrow.”

You whined a little, which made Frost chuckle. You hugged his arm and nuzzled into it as a sort of victory cheer, and he accepted it.

“Let me make the tent,” he said, placing a paw on your head gently. “Then we can rest and get up early in the morning.”

You nodded and watched as the tabaxi got up with a lighter bounce in his step. You were happy that he was seeing a little more hope than before. As the sun fell, the stars started to shine overhead. You looked up to watch them, the fire dancing in the night.

You noticed the patch of missing bark from a pine tree a few rows away. You looked at Frost quietly, his back turned to you.

He had taken the bark off of the tree next to you to make this fire.

~~~

You woke up shivering. You breathed out a desperate attempt to get warm, then sat up. The tent flap was partially open and the fire was out. Frost was outside, shivering as the snow fell harder onto him, the canopy no longer sheltering the area. He was trying to relight the fire, trying to get some warmth.

“F-F-Frost,” you breathed, shaking viciously. He looked over to you, seemingly disappointed that you woke up. “P-Please-e.. insi-ide..”

“I need to g-get the fire,” Frost frowned. “Give m-me a few minutes.”

You curled up in the tent tightly, trying to focus on staying warm. You listened outside, hearing the wind grow stronger. After a while you heard something being thrown against one of the trees, and a few moments soon after the tent opening and closing.

You opened your eyes to see the silhouette of Frost. He sat the no longer damp quilt on top of you and sat your shoes and socks to the side. With the lack of cold air rushing in, you didn’t feel as freezing.

“F-Frost,” you reached for him as he was about to walk away. He paused where he was then turned towards you. “Please st-tay..”

He watched how you shivered. His irritated tail flicks mellowed, and his flattened ears straightened. He took a deep breath then nodded, walking back over to you and kneeling.

“Is there anything I can do for you?” He asked softly, watching you carefully in the dimmed light.

Overcome with coldness, you really just wanted one thing from him.

“P-please hold me..” you requested. “I’m so c-cold..” reaching out to him he took your hand in his paws and nodded, looking at the sleeping bag and then laying beside you.

You curled up and buried yourself into his chest. If you weren’t so cold, you’d be embarrassed and hot in the face. Now it’s all you wanted for some warmth. It was soft, warm, and tender.

Frost wrapped his arms around you, his head resting on top of yours and his tail wrapping around your waist over the sleeping bag. You felt him shiver here and there for a while, but after a while he stopped.

Both of you finally began to feel some warmth, and eventually the sleeping bag was a little too hot for you. You wiggled out of your sleeping bag, only then realizing Frost was half asleep when you did. “Sorry,” you whispered, sliding out of the bag and throwing the quilt over the both of you, earning a tired half-assed grunt from the sleepy tiger.

You curled up in his arms, in return he curled around you for warmth. You felt his breathing slow, and you felt his tail relax completely. As you were dozing off, Frost very softly snored with a very light rumble in his chest.

You smiled and nuzzled his chest.

And he said tigers couldn’t purr.

When you woke up next you saw sunlight through the tent sheets. You yawned and sleepily hummed. The tabaxi still hadn’t moved from his spot, and the rise and fall from his chest was the same slow pattern. The tabaxi’s soft snores still surrounded you.

You knew Frost usually liked to get up early to meditate, but you figured he was too comfortable. You definitely were.

You were very warm wrapped up in the sorcerer's arms, a little toasty even. You weren’t complaining, it was so much better than the weather outside. However, you were ready to get up and try to talk to Kremy through the river.

You gently pushed against Frost’s chest, earning an ear and tail flick. The next little plush earned a tighter embrace and a small huff of defiance. The third you earned a huff and experienced the pleasure of seeing his eyes flutter open. He blinked a few times and then hummed groggily.

“Morning,” you smiled up at him. “How’d you sleep big guy?”

He hummed again sleepily, then let out a big yawn. Your eyes widened as you were shown his large sharp teeth and his huge tongue. You were glad he didn’t fight with his mouth at all.

Frost sleepily hummed away, the feeling of his claws flexing just slightly into your back prickled you in a very good way. He nuzzled his face into your hair and closed his eyes again. Humming once more, he responded. “Very well.”

His voice was easily an octave deeper and heavily groggy in a sleepy tone. You had to blink a few times to register that it was still the same Frost you fell asleep by. Before you could register how attractive his sleepy voice was, he opened his mouth again. “Mm,” his hum deep in his chest. “May I groom your head?” You blinked, surprised by the inquiry, but nodded. With another deep chested hum, you were met with the tabaxi’s sandpaper tongue on your head.

You were surprised to feel the tired tabaxi grooming your messy hair back. His eyes were half lidded and the rumble on his chest was prominent. His tail curled around the both of you and he hummed, grooming away.

Was he aware of what he was doing? Probably not. But god was this such a rare moment and god were you not gonna fuck it up. You smiled as you let this happen, your heart beating out of your chest with glee.

God he’s so hot right now.

~~~

“Do you see them?” You called out, glancing up from the river reflection towards 20 feet down the iced shoreline to the tiger tabaxi. His tail flicked as he never looked up.

“No,” he responded in your mind, his voice a patient monotone. “Yourself?” He peered over towards your direction, his partially lidded golden eyes waiting for a response. You could only offer a meek shake of your head.

The both of you had been searching high and low in the river reflection for 2 hours now. It was colder than the last few days, and even Frost was having troubles with the climate. If the both of you didn’t die of starvation first, there was definitely hyperthermia creeping closer.

Frost made his way towards you, his strides long to reach you faster as you stood, slightly slipping on the ice below. Your teeth were clattering together, your breath heavy and your body almost spasming to try to keep the blood flowing.

Frost rubbed your arms through the quilt and robe, trying to stimulate some warmth to you, as cold as his paw pads were. He carefully pulled you to his furred chest, rubbing your back as he hummed in thought.

As much as you loved his warmth, it was beginning to not be enough. Even he was starting to slowly freeze, and you could tell. You guys didn’t have much time, you both knew it.

“Mayhaps it would be better to create some signs for them to read when they come across the reflection,” Frost suggested. “I believe I have the materials, we can spread them along the river shoreline and the edge of the ice.”

“T-The shoreline?” You muttered into the fur of his chest, the fur reacting to the warmth of your breath by twitching. The ice was thick on the shoreline, there was no way you could see through it to the actual river.

“Mayhaps they can’t see where we are, or we can’t see them, because we are near the middle of the water while in the swamp they wouldn’t have ice at all,” Frost explained. “I may be able to break some patches in the ice, enough for the sign to be seen. We can’t be too careful.”

All you could do was hum, melting into the soft fur that twitched with every breath of yours. You were freezing, your feet began to burn again. You were getting so tired, your eyelids bobbing.

“May I lift you?” He asked softly, keeping his paws in place. You tiredly nodded, wanting the relief for your aching feet.

You felt the tabaxi’s paws wonder, finding them on the backs of your thighs before he easily lifts you up off the ground, resting your thighs around his hips and supporting your back as they wrapped. You let it happen, too cold to make a comment or noise of protest. You trusted him.

“I believe it’s best you stay at the campsite,” he said, head resting on yours. “I’ll handle the river and continue to search.”

You let out a sound that sounded like a mix between a hum of acknowledgement and a sickened groan. You felt Frost’s grip tighten onto your back as he started to jog along the thickened ice. You heard a crunch or two, though wasn’t sure if it was ice chunks from the snow piles forming on top or the ice that seperated the both of you from the chilled waters before. You were too tired to care.

The last three days have been life altering for your relationship with the sorcerer. Before the manor, your relationship with him was a well rounded friend; companions. The most you did was hug, talk about some heavy things occasionally, and only sometimes join the night sleeping pile when it was time for the group to turn in with no danger in sight. You were often bundled up next to Hootsie more than anyone, but you felt like that’s changed now.

While the both of you freeze like popsicles, you can’t help but feel your heart skip a few beats when Frost’s eyes linger a bit too long, or when his hooked claw clips the robe he gave to you to borrow, or when the brush of his fur ghosts fast your skin.

You were noticing all of the admirable things he did for you, around you, for others. Maybe.. you had these feelings for a while and you’re only just realizing that they’re only getting stronger.

“{y/n},” you hummed and adjusted your arms between the both of you, trying to find the best place for them to bake in warmth. “Don’t fall asleep, did you hear me?” His voice was firm and a little worn from the ice in the wind.

“I hear you now,” you moved your head up to hide into his neck, his head adjusting so you had room. “But I’m so tired..”

“You could die from hyperthermia if you fall asleep,” he sterned. “Your body temperature will drop, and feeling tired is one of the most dangerous symptoms of the development of hyperthermia. Do not fall asleep.” His voice thickened, and the smell of granola and cashew from the last of the rations were breathed in as he adjusted his grip onto you.

“Mmm..” was all you could muster. You were hungry, and you were tired. All you wanted was to curl up with Frost and sleep.

It’s all you wanted.

As you completely relaxed into the tabaxi, you felt your consciousness slip to sleep. Until, at least, you were met with a claw dug into your lower back.

“Ow!” You whined, jumping slight and reacting by reaching behind yourself, finding the tabaxi’s paw right where the sharp pain resided. “Ow ow! Frost cut it out!”

“Please forgive me,” he said, frowning prominent in his tone. “You were dozing. You can’t sleep.” He rubbed the sore spot he pricked you with, an unidentifiable huff rushing out of his nose.

As the canopy above shadowed over the both of you, Frost sat you down. He rushed to make a large fire, which caused some difficulty with the larger chilled winds. Taking longer than normal, you could tell the tabaxi was stressed. Right as you shuffled to try and help somehow, the pine needles caught and the flame grew.

“Please keep it strong,” Frost said gently, jogging to his bag that had resided in your temporary stationed tent. Hearing him rummage through his belongings, you took your shoes and socks off in routine. “I will be back in 2 hours to check on you. Do not fall asleep and stay by the fire. If anything happens I want you to blow this whistle.”

He walked over to you, his large paws softly thumping across the forest floor with littered snow. He held out a bright hunters orange whistle with a small rope at the end. It was too small for the tabaxi to wear around his neck, and too big for his wrist, but you figured it was big enough for you to wear around your neck and take off when needed without struggle.

Placing it around your neck, you glanced over towards his bag again. “Frost, what don’t you have in that bag?”

Frost’s feline ‘lips’ moved slightly towards a smile, his tail snaking around in a positive attribution. “A body,” he replied, his attempt of humor only really understood because of knowing him the way you do. It makes you laugh a little. “I carry around many essentials or things I think may be handy along our travels.”

He walks to his bag and lifts it, wrapping it around to his back and adjusting. “I’ll be back in two hours,” he spoke, his tone back to complete neutral. “Please stay safe.”

“You too,” you said, offering him a small smile. “Don’t fall in.” The tabaxi nodded, tail flicking towards the fire as a silent reminder to keep your eye on it.

Then he walked away, the snow falling behind him, enveloping him into the white shadows.

You were alone.

~~~

Frost’s paws crunched under the growing snow. The snow was falling heavier, his vision becoming impaired due to the density it was growing to be. He felt the snow trickle to his fur and melt, the skin underneath feeling the wetness.

He didn’t like being wet.

Without you by his side he noticed his body was a lot more tense. Mayhaps from worry, mayhaps from the lack of warmth you gave standing so close.

Making the signs and placing them deep in the ice and snow, Frost thought hard. All he could think about was how he could get the both of you out of this. You must still be in the manor, in the same room. That part was obvious to him.

The terrain was repeated, it was the same mountain and river and tree line. Depending on the direction you went, the river and mountain were either in the left or right side. There was always trees no matter how forward you walked. The sides never seemed to change. No matter how far left you walked, the mountain never got smaller.

An illusions room? Frost thought it was possible. The growing storm, however, made Frost doubt himself. Wouldn’t an illusion need help to keep the illusion there? Magic only did so much, there had to be something else. Mayhaps someone who lived in this manor had ice magicks, someone who was pouring ice into the room slowly.

That was possible, though then wouldn’t you or Frost have found the footprints in the snow? Wouldn’t you have found some sort of evidence of someone else being there already from the past 3 days you were there? Maybe the mountain? But the snow was too dense now to see to the mountain, nonetheless from the mountain to where Frost was now.

A sharp coldness stung Frost’s feet pads through his shoes, a surprised jump erupting from the tabaxi. He lifted his foot and hopped to the side, looking down.

There was water on top of the ice.

Frost narrowed his eyes a little, observing as the puddle slowly, yet noticeably, started to get larger.

The ice was.. melting? But the temperature was dropping.

He looked up at the sky. The sun wasn’t even showing because of the growing snow.

Then he saw red.

His eyes widened as the spot below him, the ice, turned to a red, then an orange, a yellow. He teleported to the shoreline, narrowly missing the plume of flame erupting from the ice—the water?—where the smoke of green lingered from when he teleported.

“Frost!”

His ears perked, the burst of fire warming his body even from the distance away that he was. The voice was faint, it was grained. It was Kremy.

“Frost…water!!! It’s…pane…like a…fuck…look...!!” Frost couldn’t quite understand behind the mix of the boiling water and ice around the fire, the roar of the fire itself, and the iced wind picking up.

He tried to reach out with his mind to reach Kremy. “Kremy, I can’t understand you, respond to me in your mind.” Frost prayed it worked. He didn’t understand much that was going on, but if the four of them had to work together between rooms and communicate through each other for them to get out..

It was like an escape room.

“The water is a barrier,” Frost heard Kremy say. “It’s like a glass pane! It’s like a divider between our rooms, and for fucks sakes look above you!!”

Frost was confused, until he looked up in the sky where the fire started to die.

Just behind the haze of the snow was a glistening glass eye staring right at Frost.

~~~

The lack of Frost’s warmth and calming nature really made your thoughts spiral. You hoped he was okay, you hoped he found Kremy and Gideon in the river reflection. And god, you hoped someone found a way out.

You watched the fire, tossing a chunk of torn pine bark onto the flame.

You had admired Frost before all of this, but as the days went by your admiration grew. Before when he’d hold you due to the cold, comfort, or greeting, it wouldn’t last longer than a second and your heart never skipped a beat like it does now. He always smelled nice, but now that you’ve been much closer to him you grew accustomed to the forest musk in his fur. His eyes looked much more gold up close, more defined.

The more you thought about the way he moved during combat, the more you thought about the way his tail sways and his eyes narrow in observation, the way he jokes with the group in his forever monotone voice, the way he smiles only slightly.. you felt butterflies.

Surely the tabaxi wouldn’t feel the same. You were merely friends, you always have been. He never looked at you with anything more than concern and respect towards you throughout your time together. He would mind his hands, ask for permission before anything at all, never lingering his hands outside of his jurisdiction. He only held you when you asked, he only ever treated you with platonics.

You started to find yourself thinking about how his sandpaper tongue would feel along your shoulders and neck, how his deep chested purr would feel against your head as you lay on his chest. You wanted to feel his cheeks graze against yours, the whiskers tickling your nose. You wanted to kiss him, the whiskers tickling your face like little kisses sparking from the lipped center.

You wondered what else you could learn from the tabaxi, as his lover.

The chilled air blew, the fire shrinking slightly from the attack. You tried to move in a direction that would block the wind, then the wind changed. You decided to just throw more pine needles and bark, hoping it would uphold to the horrendous conditions.

It’s been about 2 hours, you were sure Frost would be back any minute now. The cold was getting worse, even by the fire you were struggling. Frost would surely be trembling when he gets back.

Hearing the crunch of snow you relaxed. Speak of the devil.

You tossed some more bark into the fire, shivering at the sudden burst of icy wind. Hearing the crunches of snow come to a stop, you turned around towards Frost.

Instead, you were met with an unfamiliar pair of legs hovering right behind you. Your eyes widened, following the legs to the torso, to the head.

This.. wasn’t Frost.

“W-What-“ you stumbled backwards, the pile of bark toppling over and some igniting in the fire. The figure stepped forward, you stumbled back again, trying to fight to stand.

Glancing down as you hurried up, you noticed the figure’s footsteps were quickly covered by snow. It was like they never existed. No trace.

You swallowed and looked up at the figure’s face, trying to identify the person before you. They wore snow white clothes, boots and a large winter coat with a furred rim of the hood. They had on reflective goggles, a large designed eye right in the middle. Everything of this person was covered in white, specks of dusted snow falling off the gear they had.

“Frost!!” You fruitlessly screamed, watching at the figure reaching for something on their belt. You didn’t waste time, turning and running as fast as your aching legs could take you. You abandoned the blanket, running in bare feet with the robe of the tabaxi flying behind as you ran.

You dodged the trees, running through them without looking back. You had to find Frost, you didn’t know what to do. You never even suspected someone else could have been there with the both of you, why would you? There wasn’t even a sign.

The sound of metal chains filled your ears behind the wind, forcing your eyes to trail behind you. The figure was calmly walking, holding onto some sort of chain that came from their belt. At the end of the chain they held up seemed to be something weighted. The figure swung it to their side, tilting their head side to side as you’d dodge trees.

Then they threw it unexpectedly, almost as if it was teleported. You yelped, ducking behind a tree just in time due to the minimal heads up of the sound of chains. A loud shink filled your ear. You looked at the side of the tree where your head had just been, ice growing onto the tree where the blade resided.

It was a scythe. They had a kusarigama, a really really long one. You barely remember about it, but Frost talked about it once. You wished you listened better.

You took off faster into the woods, zig-zagging the terrain to hopefully deter the aim of the figure. You didn’t know what they wanted, but assuming they tried to kill you it was most likely to do just that.

“Frost!!!” You screamed out into the woods, trying your best to echo through the winds so he’d hear you. “Frost where are you!?”

A blade grazed your calf, ice quickly growing where the wound opened, causing you to yelp and faulter slightly. You stumbled back up, the adrenaline carrying you. The end of the other side roped around the thin trunk of pine just as you dove into the next line, the blade snaking into your thigh. The ice that grew was stained red awfully fast.

You screamed, reaching down to grab the handle and yank it out in a dizzy faze. You felt tears well in your eyes, watching as the blood dripped and painted the pristine white below. The pain pounding through you, you let the adrenaline carry you once more.

Run. It was all you could think. Run.

“Frost please!!!” You cried, running for the terrain of open snow, hoping he’d be on his way there. Maybe he’d see you as you run. He might hear you better if you run for the river, he might still be there.

You glanced behind you as you stumbled into the open field. All there was was the dark pine forest, the rows high and strong. The figure was no where to be seen.

With no sign of danger, you felt the adrenaline give way. The fear and dazed confusion forced tears to flow down your cheeks. What the hell was happening? The pain in your legs, your feet, were pulsing as your heart raced.

“Frost!!!” You screamed in desperation, the shock of someone trying to kill you overwhelming your senses. You were crying, shaking from fear and cold, and in so much pain.

Were you going to die here?

You looked towards the river, the silhouette of it slowly disappearing as the snow fell harder. Looking one more time behind you, you started to run as fast as you could to the river. Your legs begged you to stop, to lay down and bleed. Your feet cried for warmth, cried for compassion.

You couldn’t.

Seeing the river grow closer, you pushed yourself farther. Your legs started buckling, refusing. You pushed.

“Frost!!!” You screamed.

You heard a crunch behind you. Whipping around, you let out a choked sob. Your trail of blood painted the white canvas, painted your indenting demise. The figure was there already, was already so close.

They were a shadow in the storm, though they quickly became more defined. As the both of you connected in sight, you watched them start to spin the scythe of the end of the chain. You let out a meek whimper, turning back around to meekly struggle and desperately attempt for the river.

“Frost!!!” You screamed again, desperation in your voice.

Your legs gave up on you. They were cold, in pain. They couldn’t handle the conditions. Your adrenaline faded away as hopelessness took its place.

Falling into the snow, you choking crawled towards the river. The ice was below you now. It was cold, sticky. Your blood painted its crystallized glaze.

“Frost please..” you weakly begged. The tears in your eyes blurred your vision, no matter how many fell down your hot cheeks.

What an anticlimactic way to die.

You heard a crunch of ice. Slowly you turned to your back, looking up as the figure stood over you. Their head tilted to the side, observing your hopeless state. They caught the swinging scythe and placed it on their belt.

“What do you want..” you meekly demanded. “Why are you here!? Who the hell are you!?” They tilted their head to the opposite side. “FUCKING ANSWER ME!” You screamed, tears streaming faster.

They stared at you. Slowly, they bent down at your feet, one knee on the ice and the other at 90 degrees. You tried to crawl away, though they grabbed your iced calf and pulled you back.

“Where is Frost..” you sobbed to the figure. “Where is my friend? What did you do to my friend..”

They tilted their head to the side again, opposite to its current position. They inched closer to your face, almost as if they were observing you. The eye in the middle of their protective goggles bore into you, your breath hitching.

“Encased future visions portal the embedded facade,” a murky, deep graveled voice crept from behind the mask of the figure. The fog of cold flew into the wind. “Glassed eyes watch the facade break in your past.”

“What the hell are you saying.. I don’t understand!” You cried, trying again to crawl away from your pursuer.

“Encased future visions portal the embedded facade,” they grabbed your face and pulled you up. You kicked though failed to get to the danger. “Glassed eyes watch the facade break in your past.”

“I don’t speak riddles!!!” You cried. “Please!! Let me out of here!! I want Morning Frost!! I want him here and I want us out!!!” You begged, pleading the mercenary.

They pushed your face back, your support failing as you fall to the ice. You coughed and looked up at the figure stood over you, reaching for the scythe on their belt.

“No!!” You cried, lifting your arms in papered defense. “Please I just want my friends!! Please!”

They lifted their scythe up, head tilting one last time. You tried to crawl away, listening to the chains chime the bells of death. You closed your eyes.

“Ugk-“

You opened your eyes and looked where the figure was, watching as they flung themselves backwards and into the snow. Another figure was behind them, falling with them on top.

“Frost!” You breathed, watching as the tabaxi’s paws extended and claws came out. His claws grabbed the figure’s protected face, scratching the goggles and the eye that bore into the snow sky.

The offender grabbed their scythe butt and rammed it into Frost’s rib side underneath them, making Frost grunt and let out a whined groan. You watched as Frost wrapped his arms around the assailant and rolled the both of them, pinning them down as he took a desperate gasp of air.

Frost wasn’t the best with hand-on-hand combat, but assuming the assailant was due to the weapon of their choice, you figured Frost should know already. Frost has to have a plan, or else he wouldn’t have done this.

You looked around the terrain desperately as the two tussled and rolled in snow. A few yards away you saw Frost’s backpack. It was wide open, the snow falling into the guts of the bag.

Looking back to the two, you watched as Frost’s mage hand reached to disarm them, spinning and rolling this way and that to keep the assailant’s arms busy to not let them prevent the action. Turning back to the bag, you started to crawl with what strength you had left.

The chilled wind bore into your butchered thigh, your bruising feet no longer capable of individual movement. You were desperate to get to that bag. He had to have that rope, you remember the rope. You could use it to tie them up and question them for a way out. Maybe something to patch your wounds, stop the bleeding. Anything.

“Umf!”

You glanced back to see the figure’s face exposed and Frost being kicked in the chest across the ice. The figure was another tabaxi, a sort of snow leopard? Their eyes were ice white, blue lips and a dead gaze.

Your eyes widened when they looked over to you. Their other eye was a frosted glassed one.

As they took a step towards you, Frost tackled them to the ground effortlessly. “Get down!” Frost yelled at you, his eyes never leaving the leopard as his hands grew with a misted green hue.

You covered your face and laid against the ice. You felt a wave of some sort that shook the ground below you. You then heard more tussling, Frost hissing out words of attempted bargaining. You crawled again and reached into the bag, a rough texture hitting your hands.

“Frost!” You coughed out. “Catch it!” You pulled the bundle of rope out of the bag, sliding it with the reminding strength along the ice towards him.

Frost glanced over as you called, a breath being knocked out of him as it was slid. His tail wrapped around the rope, swinging it over. You laid on the ice, focusing on your breathing as you watched Frost struggle with the mercenary, trying to restrain them.

God. You thought. I’m so tired.

~~~

The crackling of fire filled your ears. The warmth enveloped you like a summer day. The smell of forest musk and the texture of a soft fur hugged your senses. A sandpaper tongue groomed your head.

You breathed out a pained whine, your ribs aching, your legs throbbing, your feet burning. The quiet hush of comfort held your ears, a soft paw massaging your aching side.

“Don’t move too quickly,” you heard Frost murmur into your ear. “I managed to patch you up with what materials I had, I don’t want your stitches to open.” His tail coiled around your leg loosely, his hands polite with your frame.

“What happened,” you croaked, trying to move to secure your surroundings. “We were on the ice..”

“That was a few hours ago,” he explained calmly. “You passed out from blood loss and hyperthermia while I was restraining our.. uninvited assailant.” He firmly held your stomach with one paw, the other on your shoulder holding you up to his chest.

You blinked, shivering at the cold. You were back at your campsite, the leopard tied to a thick pine trunk. They were awake, looking out at the falling snow. You tensed and Frost quietly shushed your worries, holding your head onto his chest when he felt your concern.

“It is alright,” he reassured. “They won’t escape. They won’t hurt us.”

“Frost I want out of here..” your eyes welled with tears. “I want out..”

He nodded, closing the robe around you tighter as he wrapped around you, acting as your blanket. “I know, it’s alright, we will get out.” He cooed, holding you close as you softly cried into his chest.

You hated it here. You were starving, you were tired, you were cold, you were in pain, and you were so fucking scared. You were over all of this. You were done. You wanted out.

“I have good news,” he said as your sobs died down. “Would it help you feel better if I told you about them now?”

After a moment, you sniffed up your cries and took a deep breath. You took the paw from your stomach, intertwining your fingers together. He gently squeezed your hand, his other paw rubbing gentle circles into the base of your neck. His touch was so soft, so gentle and loving.

You wanted to feel this love for the rest of your life, even if it was platonic.

You nodded, glancing over to the leopard. “I think we’re almost out,” Frost said. “We have the full riddle now, the one from the door. I believe once we figure it out with Kremy and Gideon we can finally break it.”

“But, what do they know?” You asked, gesturing to the attempted killer by the tree. “Maybe they know more?”

Frost shook his head, looking towards the leopard. “I tried to question them, all they would say was the same thing repeatedly. I’m absolutely positive it is the phrase from the door,” his tail flicked as the leopard shifted their feet. “I know they can say more than that, but they won’t. When I look into their mind there is nothing, like it’s a shell of what it originally was.”

You frowned, looking towards the fire. “I can’t even remember what they said.. I was so scared and in shock I wasn’t really listening.”

A hum purred from his chest, the vibration calming your heart.

“Would you like to brainstorm together?” He inquired, his head resting atop yours. You could feel the small smile on his lips by how he spoke, swelling your chest with butterflies. He was quoting you from your first day in this horrid place.

You smiled and nodded, carefully turning so your face could lay on his chest. You used your thumb to feel the fur of his paws, the pads you held being icy yet soft. You loved the roughness the edges of the paw pads gave, yet the softness you touched from the tops of them.

“They said, and I quote, ‘encased future visions portal the embedded facade, glassed eyes watch the facade break in your past.’ That is what was on the door, I’m positive,” Frost recalled. “The riddle and this person are without a doubt connected, they have a glassed eye. When I was at the river there was a large glassed eye in the sky watching me, I’m sure that it’s connected. This person could see us through their own glassed eye, watching us from a distance.”

You hummed, taking in all of this information. “Maybe they have to watch something happen? They’re watching us, and it’s a glassed eye literally, so that makes sense right?”

“It also said that the glassed eyes would watch the facade break in your past, and this is my past terrain. The setting is set, we have that figured out, but what is the facade?” Frost hummed in thought, his tail flicking in your lap now.

“Encased future visions..” you looked at the leopard, who was watching the both of you in a dead gaze. “Like.. a goal? Or like a dream for your life in the future? If it talks about the past at the end, maybe in the beginning it’s talking about your hopes for the future?”

Frost nodded, his head turning down to watch as you held his paw. “That is a very likely theory, I think you’re right.”

“Portal the embedded facade..” you sigh, watching the leopard more closely. Their tail flicked calmly, their ears trained on you both. It freaked you out. “Maybe it’s something to do with.. maybe your future dream is.. something you’re scared of? Something frozen in time? Because it’s encased.. sealed away? Something you want but have sealed it away?”

The leopard’s eyes wander to the tabaxi behind you. Their head tilts, an inaudible pant exiting with a fog. You looked down at your intertwined fingers, using your other hand to hold the back of Frost’s, using your thumb to feel the fur there.

Frost’s tail stilled for a moment, laying on your lap, before calmly swaying again.

“And this assailant is here to keep it encased,” Frost mostly spoke to himself. “That’s the only reason I can think of for why they would try to kill you, to keep the..” he trails off, his tail stilling again.

You looked up to the tiger tabaxi, curious and worried about why he stopped. His eyes were slit narrow, his breath a little shallow. You realized that he was putting pieces together, that he was starting to understand what the riddle was saying.

“Frost?” You gently squeeze his paw, watching as he was brought back to reality. “Are you okay?”

He looked into your eyes and nodded, rubbing your back softly. He lowered his head and buried his face into your neck, earning a heated blush pouring onto your cheeks. You squeezed his paw in surprise and he held you closer. His tail buckled you into his lap, which made you gasp with a little uncertainty.

You looked over to the leopard who was staring just as intently as before. They tilted their head.

“Frost,” you breathed. “What has gotten into you?” He pulled you closer in a comfortable embrace, as much as he physically could. He didn’t say a word.

You blinked. You then melted into his arms. You trusted him. Whatever this was, you trusted him.

You loved him.

You started to think about the riddle. If the first part was talking about a future he was sealing away for whatever reason, and the ending was about his past, the only thing that needed cracking was the facade. Was the facade a secret he was hiding? Or is it the facade of the future or his past? Or the facade that prevents the future he wants? Or the facade..

You closed your eyes, your breath hitching slightly. It was the facade he kept up, the one that prevented the future he wants so badly. He’s scared of something.

“It’s okay to be scared,” you whispered to him. “Everyone is scared of something.”

He offered a soft hum, his paw on your back moving to your side. He moved his face in your neck just slightly, his tail flicking.

“Frost,” you tried. “What is it?”

The crackling of the fire filled the silence.

“Frost,” you frowned. “I’m worried about you.. what are you so scared of? Why are you hiding from what you want in your future? We want to find a way out of here, and you need to fill me in..”

He lifted his head, looking at your eyes. You watched as he observed your expression, taking you in. He took his free paw and placed a single claw under your chin, making you look at him. His whiskers twitched as his eyes sorrowfully softened.

“{y/n},” he whispered. “I want to spend my life with you.”

“What?” You felt your heart leap from your chest. Were you hearing him correctly?

“I have.. I have admired you for many months while we are together on our travels. I have been.. enveloped in the way you smile, you laugh, how your eyes light up with my jokes, with how you observe the way I tinker with gadgets,” his eyes wondered to the side. “I.. I’ve grown to find romantic feelings for you, {y/n}. I want to be in a relationship with you.”

You felt a lump in your throat, a catch in your lungs as you took in the information Frost fed you. Your stomach was in knots, your head fuzzy and light. “You.. you like me?”

“I recognize you do not feel the same,” he closed his eyes and let you go, his paws holding themselves against his body. “I have hidden away my true feelings for you in fear that it would ruin our friendship, that you would no longer enjoy bonding with me and would leave the group. I never made any advancements out of.. anxiety that you’d feel uncomfortable in my presence thereafter. I care for you far too much to scare you away.”

You frowned, looking at his paws. You grabbed his paws, holding them in your much smaller hands. He opened his eyes to look at you, a glossy coating grasping them.

“Frost,” you smiled softly. “Frost I like you too.”

His eyes widened, whiskers twitching. A small smile, no, a big smile forming on the tips of his mouth.

“You.. romantically have an interest in me?” He asked, hope in his once saddened eyes.

“Frost you big ass cat,” you laughed, feeling so free and light. “I want to kiss you!”

“May I?” He watched you carefully. You laughed and held his cheeks and kissed him first, surprise in his face before he relaxed.

The both held each other there, a soft kiss on your lips. When you broke away you laughed aloud as the tabaxi’s tail wagged in excitement. You kissed him again, his embrace gladly accepting.

The cold was nonexistent to you. You were the warmest you have ever felt since your time here with the tabaxi. You felt so alive, so cared for and loved.

The sound of a movement by the tree paused your moment. You both looked over to the leopard who let out a large fogged breath. They held their head high and a purr sounded from them.

“Encased future visions portal the embedded facade, glassed eyes watch the facade break in your past.” they repeated, their dead gaze softening.

You blinked, having forgotten all about the riddle. “Is that it?” You asked the leopard. “We- We solved the riddle? This is all we had to do?”

The snow stopped falling, the icy air halting. You looked at Frost as he held onto you and stood up. He carefully held onto you while simultaneously throwing his backpack on, never dropping you.

You looked at the leopard who stared out into the flat snow terrain. You followed their sight, seeing a rectangular silhouette in the distance. You gasped, patting onto Frost’s shoulder and pointed.

“Frost!! Frost the door!! The door is back!!” The excitement was prominent in your voice, boiled over laughter from relief pouring out.

“Let’s see if we can tell Kremy and Gideon before we leave if they haven’t yet,” he said, adjusting his grip on you as he began to lightly jog through the snow. “Then we’ll all be out of here.”

God was this anticlimactic.

~~~

The feeling of a sandpaper tongue gently grazing along your head woke you. The low purr in his chest behind you calmed your heart, his tongue massaging your scalp. His paw rested firmly on your stomach, the other gently massaging your back.

You hummed in acknowledgement of your partner, who stopped his morning groom and buried his face into the back of your neck. His tail snaked over your hip, the end flicking in content.

“Good morning,” he murmured softly, using his thumb to gently massage your hip. “How did you sleep, my love?”

A smile crept to your face as you melted into his arms. The crackling of the fire in the dark filling your ears.

“I slept good,” you murmured back. “What time is it?”

His tail flicked in thought. “Mm,” he hummed. “About 5, you asked me to wake you up this morning so we could meditate together. Would you like to go back to sleep?”

You tiredly looked up at the sky, watching as the stars twinkled between the forest leaves. The moon shone below, the scattered tree species around the camp painted the terrain. The figures of your friends sleeping around the fire gave you a sense of calmness, a sense of relief.

It had been a month since the manor. Frost and yourself were officially together, no longer the only couple of the group. Kremy and Gideon had gotten out of the manor too, having already been married and showed their love for one another. You all had reunited with your friends, who said you all had only been gone for no longer than an hour.

Four days in that room was an hour for the rest. It was mind boggling to you.

You would never feel the same ever again in snow. You don’t think Frost would either. While the both of you got closer together there, it was.. traumatizing. Frost helped ease your nerves whenever snow fell anywhere, if at all.

He showed you he loved you every day. And you showed him you loved him the same.

“No, I want to get up with you,” you yawned, holding his paw on your stomach. “What do you usually do?”

A loving chuff filled your ears, the best of it brushing against your neck.

“Let me show you.”

-~-~-~-~-

A—ctivites: What would they prefer doing with you? What do they like doing?

• Torbek would very much enjoy anything with you, especially if it means any sort of parallel play or hands-on things. As much as Torbek doesn’t mind observing from afar, he wants to feel included too. If you are working on something, he wants to do something too in your vicinity. He may even want to mimic you and what you’re doing depending on what it is. Other times, he’ll loiter around and ask questions on what you’re doing and watch curiously, even if he doesn’t fully understand what’s going on. He may even ask questions about it and ask if he can be taught, or just be included in general.

• Torbek loves anything that includes physically being with you. He wouldn’t be too vocal on if it wasn’t, but it’s what makes him feel the most welcomed and included. Are you playing a board game? He wants to hold something from it for you to feel helpful. Are you crocheting or knitting? He’s a great yarn ball holder! Are you reading? He’d love to be read to, but he’d be happy just with his head in your lap pretending to read those big words with you. He just wants something physical with you, even if there’s no physical touch involved.

B—enevolence: How would they show kindness towards you? What would they do for you?

• Torbek would do subtle things, as well as very noticeable and vocal things! He’d open doors for you, carry you over things, lift you to high places or reach those tall shelves for you. He loves performing physical kindness to you, especially if it makes you feel happy or proud of him. He would 100% take note of little things that you like too, especially if he notices you aren’t yourself completely.

• Torbek will be very vocal about confirmation with you. He wants to tell you that he cares for you and that he’d do anything for you. He’d apologize if he thought he did anything wrong to upset or anger you, but wouldn’t just let it slide either. He’d make up for anything he thinks he did wrong, even if he really didn’t do anything, with physical gestures as labeled above.

C—omfort: How would they go about comforting you? How would they grasp being comforted? How do they handle comfort in general?

• If you are crying, Torbek is there in a heartbeat. He’ll be asking if you’re okay, careful not to hurt you and scoop you up so you can cry into Torbek’s clothes and hide you if you feel embarrassed in any way. If you don’t want to be touched, he’ll sit next to you and talk to you the best he knows how, trying his best to help even if he doesn’t understand the situation. Torbek isn’t the best at saying the right things, and he knows that, but he damn well will try his best for you! And if he can’t think of anything to say, he’ll find the prettiest leaves he can and just start piling them beside you, or in your lap. Pretty leaves make Torbek happy, why wouldn’t they make you feel the same?

• If you were mad, Torbek would have to take a minute to collect himself first. Anger upsets Torbek, it scares him, but he knows how it feels to be alone and angry, and they don’t mix well together (which is pretty ironic for him, isn’t it?). He’d offer things like pillows or branches to throw, or even let you just scream into him if you need it. He’s there to help your through it, he just doesn’t know how to handle anger as a whole. If you are extremely angry, he may have your support from the side-lines, gathering acorns or other environmental things to pile near you for you to find so you know he’s there for you.

• If you are the numb type when upset, Torbek understands. He’s scared with you in those moments, he knows numbness. He’ll try to keep you with him, make sure you’re at least in his sight. Torbek knows numbness can sometimes make people do scary things in order to feel, Torbek’s done it too. Torbek cares for you, and will do anything he can to bring you out of the numbness. Even if he has to lay on you and keep you with him until you relax and calm down on your own.

D—ates: How would they go about dates with you? What are their preferred dates? What would they not like as dates?

• Torbek will try his best to be “clean” for the first date. As in clean, he’d probably spray a whole bottle of spray on himself, comb back his matted and oily hair on his head, and wear not so torn up clothes. He 100% asked Gricko or Gideon to help him frantically to not scare you away.

• Torbek really likes carnival dates! He loves carnivals, and he’d probably take you to the Krew’s if he could! Or if there were others around, those too! He’ll love to just walk around aimlessly places with you and talk and look at shops and other things. Anything in nature and inexpensive is perfect for the bugbear. You want to have a picnic? Awesome, Torbek calls dibs on the pie! You want to go stargazing? Torbek loves the stars! You want to just watch motion pictures? Hell yea, he’s in!

• Torbek wouldn’t like eating in a restaurant as a date, as much as he loves food. It would make him too nervous, on a date with a pretty and cool person in an enclosed food place with a lot of people staring at him? No thank you! He’d tolerate an outside restaurant, but even then he’d still be very anxious. On a date he’d like to only focus on one anxiety, thank you. And that anxiety is to impress you enough for you to like him and hang out with him more!

E—ffort: How much effort would they put into your relationship? How would they show their efforts?

• The real question is what effort DOESN’T he try for the relationship? He really really likes you! He doesn’t want to scare you or upset you with anything, he’d be so upset with himself if he did! He wants to smell better to not scare you off so fast, and he wants to fix being “scary” to people, but he doesn’t know how! He kind of focuses on the wrong things to fix, mainly due to his very low self-esteem and self-confidence. He’d basically try his damndest to change himself as a person if he really wanted to, but of course fail because he literally can’t. Please tell him he can be himself with you, please don’t change!!

• He’d be very vocal about it, without even really meaning to? Just little things like “Torbek wants to be like Mister Gideon for you so you don’t get bored of Torbek. :[ “ without even realizing that’s a bad thing for him to do. I just feel like if Torbek really liked you he’d absentmindedly grow like 10x more self-conscious about himself and would make him put more effort into the wrong things, but he’s trying!

F—ight: How would they go about fights with you? How would they handle them? How would they resolve them if at all?

• If the fights are calm, low leveled arguments just filled with frustration and irritation, Torbek will calmly converse for a solution to the issue. Depending on the topic, Torbek would stand with his side while also vocalize that he isn’t against you or trying to make you feel worse, but he’s healthily standing true to what he believes. On the other hand, Torbek could also very easily just break and agree with you, either to not upset you more or because he genuinely agrees with you later into the argument for some reason. Either way, he’d offer a little gift to show an apology for arguing with you. It will probably be a really pretty leaf or flower.

• If the arguments are yelling or extremely defensive/offensive toned, Torbek doesn’t want to continue. You raise your voice, he’s done, he wants it to stop. He’ll crumble, just go along with the situation to defuse it as quickly as he can. He’ll try to deescalate then scramble away to destress himself. In his eyes, he upset you greatly and he upsets everyone, he messed up again and this time it was with you, how could he forgive himself? He’d probably, unfortunately, avoid you for a while after these kinds of arguments. Not because he’s scared of you, he’s more worried and in the mindset that you still correlate him with the thing you were arguing about and are still mad at him. Eventually he’d leave a leaf or another few gifts for you to find. Otherwise, he’d just avoid eye contact and keep his respective distance until he’s sure you’re not upset with him, whether that be if you go to talk to him about it first or if he suspects it’s been a long enough time frame.

G—entle: How gentle are they with you mentally, physically and emotionally? How do they show these things?

• Oh boy, you’ve never met anyone more gentle than this bugbear. When he wants physical affection he’ll be very careful with where his claws touch. If he picks you up he’s careful to not hurt you, and would definitely try not to touch you oddly in any way (more so out of embarrassment, but also respect). He is already pretty gentle mentally and emotionally, he needs the gentleness himself so he’s going to reflect those things onto you. He’s your cheerleader, as big and hairy as he is, he wants to be nothing but gentle with you.

• If you guys were in combat, he’d try to shield you from attacks that come your way if he’s able to. If you’re injured, he wants to help bandage you up if Gricko would let him, but he’s happy with holding you and carrying you around too. Just in general he’s already super sweet to almost everyone he meets, but when it comes to you he tries to be even more gentle.

H—onesty: How honest are they with you? Do they hide things from you? What do they hide?

• Torbek is awful at keeping secrets anyways, and he feels too guilty hiding things from people. He wouldn’t really have anything important to hide anyways, other than his trauma, and he’d be very vocal about not wanting to talk about it. He’d tell you everything that he remembers if he could, unless someone in the Krew told him not to say it then he’d start out saying it then slip and go something like “oops- Torbek almost said something he wasn’t supposed to.. sorry..” and while he doesn’t like keeping secrets, and is just awful at it, he tries his best because he cares about all of you very much.

• If you ask Torbek a question, he’d try to think if he’d know anything. If he can’t, he’d go ask Kremy or Frost for you (even if you already did) because they’re the smartest guys he knows! You have nothing to fear with this guy, if you think he’s cheating he’s probably just rolling in the mud tbh.

I—Love You: How would the first “I Love You” come from them? Would they say it first? How would they react when you tell them that you love them?

• Torbek would wait a pretty decent amount of time, maybe a few months, at most 4 months but as soon at 2. He really cares about you, and he’s scared that if he says “I love you” first you’ll be scared off. It would be a slip up too, he wouldn’t be thinking about it at all after being so anxiously carefully not to say it. You guys would just be hanging out and then you guys would have to part ways and Torbek would just “Torbek loves you! Bye! …wait…” He’d be a little scared at your response after that and would try to take it back and then realize taking back an “i love you” is probably a bad thing and just kind of spiral a little worried you’d leave, so please reassure the big guy.💀

• If you ended up telling him you loved him first, he’d cautiously say he’d love you back afterwards, still worried you’d leave. But for the very first time you told him you love him, the guy takes a second and then his face will light up and his ears will perk up a bit more. Ask you “really??” and get all excited and happy. You love Torbek!!! No one has ever said that to him!!! It’s really important to him, it’s a very sacred thing in general for him. “I love you” is the most promising indirect promise to him in his life time, to him it means that you trust and care for him enough to stay with him for a very long time. It immediately just makes him fall for you more.

J—ealousy: How would they express their jealousy? How would they handle their jealousy? How would they approach you with it?

• Torbek only really gets jealous when it comes to you for 3 things. All of which he’d respond to relatively similarly, though depending on the situation differently. He’s a very subtle jealous type for the most part, more so just worried that you’re going to leave. He in general will be very cautious of situations, and when jealousy is in the mix he’s a little more heavy on his feet.

• If someone flirts with you while Torbek is nearby or if Torbek hears, he’ll at first kind of just observe. But he’d very clearly be watching how you react to the situation the entire time and try to read your facial expressions about the situation. He’d mainly be playing by ear, ready to hop in if you wanted him to. However, in the back of his mind, he’s worried you’re going to go with this person instead of Torbek and—oh my gosh! Say the L word with them!! But he also trusts you and hopes you’d stay with Torbek. It was also depends on how the person is flirting with you and if Torbek is drunk/tipsy or not.

• If the person is being respectful with flirting, he’ll let you handle it unless you give him the look to help, which he’d happily oblige and just lay his head on you and nuzzle into you. If the person is persistent with you when you’re obviously uncomfortable, Torbek will place a hand on the person’s shoulder and be like “erm.. that’s Torbek’s partner.. so.. no thank you” and then do the same thing as the last one with you. If the person was very overbearing he’d step in immediately and go some like “Torbek thinks that isn’t very nice, (prn) doesn’t like that.. Torbek and {y/n} are together.. so Torbek would appreciate if you didn’t do that.” Now, if he’s drunk/tipsy, he’s going to be a lot more physical and a little more territorial. If he was under the influence with the first two options, he’d just walk over when he sees it happening and smoosh his face into your neck and wrap his large slender arms around you and watch the person with a little glare you can’t see and let out little snarls and huffs of acknowledgement of the situation. If it was the last option while drunk/tipsy, he’d literally just pick the person up from behind and carry them off and toss them somewhere then come back and snuggle with you.

• The second thing is if you seem to be hanging out more with other people than him. He’ll be a little jealous with the fact that you are more engulfed by them than him. He’d try to squeeze into the conversation anxiously to try to be involved. If you told him to go, he’d reluctantly do so. If you’d let him, he’d also want to lean on you during these times as a subtle way to show the others that Torbek’s attention is being deprived in some way, but he wouldn’t even realize he’s doing it. Afterwards, if you bring it up, he’d talk to you about it and how it made him feel.

• The last thing that would make Torbek jealous is if someone gives you a better gift than he did, or just a better service towards you in general. He wants to be the best at it for you!! They can’t just do that, he’s the boyfriend! It’s his job to be the best for you! >:[ So he’d try to one-up them in some way on the service.

K—iss: How would they like to kiss? What is their “style?” How do they react to kisses? How do they treat kisses?

• God, he loves kisses. “Torbek can do it.. for a kiss.. (insert the autism looking up image, but in his case, looking down). “Can Torbek get a kiss as a treat?” “Torbek feels deprived of kisses.” “Torbek wants kisses..” He loves being kissed by his partner! Anytime and anywhere! He wants those kisses on his cheek, his forehead, his hands, his tubes, his injuries, his lips!! He would die happy if you kiss attacked him. It’s what he lives for. If you kiss his lips he’s smitten, you’ve 100% casted Charm on him.

• When he kisses back, at first you have to teach him.. because at first he licks you. He uses licking as a way to do it for the first part of the relationship, but after he gets the hang of lips-only.. it’s still as slobbery for a while. You’d have to wipe your lips immediately after and he’d be so horrified because he didn’t realize he was still so slobbery after he wiped his lips beforehand. He’d get better as time goes on, and it would be only 40% slobber and 60% gentle lips, which is the best you’re going to get from him. But he wants those long lasting kisses the most, pretty please with cherries on top. Those are his favorite with you.

• Kisses are also very important for Torbek. They’re very sacred to him, and kisses mean you’ve made a commitment to him that no one else has. He’s attached to you like sticky slime in a fuzzy carpet, you don’t have a choice.

L—ove Language: What is their preferred love language with you? What love languages would work best with them?

• Physical touch and gift giving 110%. He wants to give you everything he has that makes him think of you. He wants you to have all of those pretty leaves and flowers and trinkets. He wants you to have all of the pretty jewelry even if he knows you don’t wear any. If he likes it and thinks it’s pretty it’s automatically pocketed for you. Physical touch is also a huge thing for him, and you’re full of it! He wants to cuddle at the end of the night, he wants to sit next to you any chance he can, he wants to sniff you too. If you lay down for the night and let him just curl around you in a ball and hide you away, he’s alive! And sometimes he wants to be the one who hides away.. as big as he is.. and wants to be the little spoon. He’ll curl up as small as he can just for that to happen.

• He’d prefer someone who had physical touch as a love language too. He knows he can be clingy and starved of affection, so having someone who loves those things is perfect for him! He’d also love gifts, but he’d be somewhat nervous about it too, wanting to give you gifts in return for the gift. He probably wouldn’t really actively notice acts of service, but he’d 100% go like “awww, Torbek appreciates your help, but Torbek doesn’t mind doing it himself! :D “ and then just do it himself unless you force him to sit like a puppy in training.

M—emories: What memories would they cherish with you the most? How well would they remember things about you?

• If he could, he’d remember every single detail about you and every single event with you. Alas, he can’t no matter how hard he tries to. However, the moments that mean the most to him emotionally are the top of his list to think about and replay in his head, milestones. First kiss, first time you let Torbek ‘groom’ you (aka lick attack you), first time you go on a date, those things. While he might not be able to remember every single detail about those events, what he remembers the most is how you made him feel in those moments. He wants to stop that moment in time and replay them over and over with you.

• He may remember some major minor things as well, like your favorite color, food, texture, scent, and more when it comes to gift giving. He wants to remember those things to keep something with him that reminds him of you, and he want to give you gifts that he knows you will enjoy in some aspect.

N—icknames: What type of nicknames would they call you? How would they treat the nicknames you give them? How important are nicknames to them?

• Torbek in all honesty would be the guy you think would give the really cringy petnames, but to be honest he has no idea how to properly give one. He’d ask Gideon for help with it, not wanting to come off as weird with his names. He’d be on the more mellow side of nicknames, going for the safe options like “honey” or “baby” for the most part. But he’d also experiment with some options, going into the “danger zone” as he’d think. He’d try something like “flower” or maybe “dove” (Gricko would suggest that).

• Torbek would be relatively cautious about how often he uses them, he doesn’t want them to be an everyday thing to water it down, but he doesn’t want to go too long without it. He’ll kind of just say it when he feels like it’s a romantic enough of a moment? He just doesn’t want to make you run off with him indirectly being annoying with it or making you uncomfortable.

• Now if you give Torbek a nickname? He’s smitten (again) and wants to melt for you. You care about him enough to give him his own nickname? He’s ESTATIC!! He’ll treasure it forever and designate it as yours only, he would from then on feel uncomfortable if anyone tried to call him by that name. He is happy with anything you give him, unless it’s just insulting.

O—bviousness: How obvious was it for you to notice they liked you? How obvious is it now for other people know if you’re together or not?

• Torbek didn’t necessarily hide it, and it’s not like he’s trying either. He’d make comments like “well Torbek thinks {y/n} is attractive” or “Torbek thinks you’re very pretty/handsome” and then make little hushed comments about wishing to be hugged by you or wanting to cuddle. He’s never really thought that he had to hide his admiration for people, and you’re no exception. The only other person he compliments about physical appearance is Gideon, but it’s platonic. He really thinks all of his friends are attractive in their own ways, but only platonically and as a friend. For you, it’s different he could feel that growing from the beginning. He wants romance from you, and he just.. doesn’t hide that he does.

• Literally everyone knew he liked you, and they knew the compliments and comments towards you weren’t like the ones he gave them. They noticed he was a lot more nervous giving compliments to you in comparison to themselves. They’d tease him about it out of earshot of you. But they’d really just be encouraging him to make a move if you hadn’t already.

P—ersistance: How persistent are they with the relationship? Are they proactive in the relationship to keep it fueling?

• He’s always absentmindedly trying to keep the relationship going, more so from fear of abandonment, but nonetheless he’s trying. He’ll do anything you ask, take some initiative some times (even if you kind of wished he didn’t depending on the task), and keeping your guys’ love strong.

• He’s very empathetic, even if he can’t catch the cues. If he thinks the relationship is slipping, he’s going to do something! Even if he has to ask others for advice, he’s too worried to let you slip too far away.

Q—uest: If you were being challenged in the relationship, how would they take it? How would they work through it with you?

• If you guys were clashing heads a lot, Torbek would try to ask for advice on what can be done. He doesn’t want to spend so much time with the person he cares so much about just arguing all of the time. He’s going to try to talk about it in some way, offering a gift first to get the conversation going. He doesn’t like rocky roads in relationships, mainly because he believes they are all his fault or because he just doesn’t like tension in general.

R—espect: How much respect do they show you through the relationship? How do you show it? What does respect mean to them from you?

• So much respect!! He’s always willing to open pickle jars for you, open doors, carry stuff for you or even carry you! He refuses to touch you other than the middle, shoulders and hands unless you say he can or if it’s a complete accident. He respects your boundaries when you vocalize them, and he’ll do his best to abide by each and every one.

• Respect is pretty important for him to abide by, but he hasn’t really come to terms with the fact that he deserves respect too. He will vocalize if someone is mean or rude to him but that’s it, he doesn’t even really respect himself to be fair.

S—afe: What would they do to ensure your safety with them? What would they do to make sure you feel safe with them as a person?

• Torbek would make sure you’re safe in and out of combat, making sure you’re not too close to the edge of a cliff and make sure no enemies target you easily. He might not be able to get you every time, but he’ll damn sure try! He’ll make sure he can do what he can for you, just give him the word.

• If the Witchlight starts to overtake him, his first instinct is to get as far away from you as possible while he still can. He doesn’t want to accidentally hurt you because of it, and he’ll isolate himself to prevent it.

• When sleeping out on your travels, he’ll keep an ear open and keen to the environment around you all. If something sounds odd or concerning, he’s up in an instant in order to hopefully catch what it was. He just doesn’t want to risk it.

T—rust: Do they trust you in the relationship? Do they feel nervous or completely relaxed in the relationship?

• God, what doesn’t he trust you with? You say you love Torbek!! Torbek trusts you wholeheartedly and more!! He never has in the back of his mind you might cheat, he never doubts your responses and explanations to anything! You could tell him dolphins weren’t real and he’d be like “Torbek didn’t know that.. okay!!” And go on his merry way without a second thought? This is a dangerous power you have over him, and while he trusts you, there is a limit. He’s not an imbecile.

• If you over step this dangerous vulnerability of trust with him, he’s going to become rougher around the edges. Slowly, he’ll become more aware and doubt your claims about things as a whole, even if you’re telling the truth. It might take like 6 fuck ups in your part, but he’ll get there. And the main things that could get him like that are if you abruptly leave him without warning and come back, if you break-up with him and then come back a while later for him, and if you try to seclude him from his friends. Otherwise, he trusts you with his heart and soul as long as you don’t play with them.

U—topia: What is their perfect dream/future like and where do you play a part in it?

• Torbek’s dream is to travel with the crew for the rest of his life, and he wants you there with him. All of his favorite people together? That’s his dream come true. He wants to marry you, or just romantically be with you until the end even if you don’t necessarily marry. I don’t think he’d really desire kids in anyway, so it would be out of the question. He just wants you to be happy with him.

V—alue: How much do they value the relationship? How important is it to them?

• It’s the most important thing to him as a whole, he absolutely desires your relationship after being with you officially. He would do what he can to help the situation between you both. He can’t imagine being without you in the relationship after so much time with you.

W—ish: What is something they wish could happen when it comes to your relationship? Why?

• He wants to travel with his friends, and you, whether it be adventuring or having another carnival, for the rest of his life. He kind of likes having the unexpected hit him when it’s not scary, and he wants to share those experiences with you if all people.

• He would like to be with you until the end, married or not. While marriage is what would be expected, he honestly wouldn’t mind you guys decided not to marry and just date for the rest of your lives. I don’t think he’d like to have kids though, as cute as he’d think they were, he’d also be kind of scared of raising a tiny little thing like that.

X—tra: Freebie!

• I know everything in this list makes Torbek sounds like an overly anxious self-hating bugbear, but that’s not the case most of the time. Yes, he is anxious and doesn’t have a high sense of self esteem, he’s functioning. He can make his little perverted jokes here and there, flirt to the best of his abilities, and be your average boy loser./pos But possibly his favorite thing to do with you is annoy you a good healthy amount to keep you on your toes, to tell you he’s not going to 100% depend on you emotionally or mentally. He can handle himself. How does he express it? Pure purposeful stupidness.

• He’ll joke about just about anything with you! Poke you gently, elbow you while chuckling to himself, point at something random and go “look it’s you! :D” just for the fuck of it. He might be a dumbass, but a healthy amount of dumbass. He likes using that to advantage because he knows you like it to a degree.

• He feels comfortable “letting his stupid loose” as Kremy would say half jokingly. Torbek is a more than enough functioning boy failure and he kind of likes being that way for you sometimes.

Y—earning: How do they react to you being gone? How do they cope with being away from you? How would they treat you when you come back?

• The most he can handle away from you is a single day, even though he’d start complaining and whining just hours in. He’s worried you’re leaving, that you’re in danger, or you’re lost. He’s sure you can handle yourself.. but you can never be too sure. He’s like a sad puppy.

• When you’re back, he’s all over you. He’s yipping and picking you up happily. He wants to know every detail of what happened, curious but also worried. He wants to make sure you’re okay, mentally, emotionally, and physically. He just wants to be by your side almost every hour he can.

Z—eal: What would they do to the extent of your relationship? Is there anything they would sacrifice the relationship for?

• He would do anything he can to keep the relationship alive. He fight for you, shield you with himself, lay with you, anything at all. The only thing he wouldn’t do for you is hurt or disrespect his friends. He loved them very much, they’re his family in his eyes! And while you are the love of his life, and also family to him due to that, if he had to choose between you and the crew, it’s a hard pick for him.

-~-~-~-

A—ctivites: What would they prefer doing with you? What do they like doing?

• Frost would love to read with you reading alongside him, or even just parallel playing alongside him, or just in the same room. He would love for you to lay your head in his lap as he has a book in one hand, the other gently caressing your head in a silent way of saying ‘I enjoy your presence, thank you for being here with me.’

• He isn’t just closeted indoors, he’d love to explore areas with you as well. He’d prefer if it had something to do with initiating his skills to keep his mind working, but he’s fine if not. He’d take you around the carnival, show you the games and events. He’d also love to just walk around town with you, window shop, read some fliers, anything of the sort. He prefers to stay with you and to keep his mind busy, he doesn’t quite enjoy activities where you’re not doing anything at all. He feels trapped that way, whether he’d admit it or not. It reminds him of the Order.

B—enevolence: How would they show kindness towards you? What would they do for you?

• He’s always including you in things, adding your thoughts into consideration whether in the group setting or just you both alone. He will show you initiative, expressing to you that he cares about your expressions and concerns. He’s also there for you to vent to no matter what, he’s a wonderful listener and can give great advice when you want it.

• Expect a lot of check-ins. If he notices you’re acting slightly out of place he’s already clocked it, immediately and privately asking what is wrong and if you are okay. If you seem upset, he trailing behind the group and gently asking in a low voice so the others don’t hear. He would never put you in the spotlight like that, but he does want to address the issue immediately to resolve your emotions.

C—omfort: How would they go about comforting you? How would they grasp being comforted? How do they handle comfort in general?

• He is the word of wisdom, even in the word of comfort. He will listen to your expressions if you choose to speak to him, and would ask you if you’d like advice. If you do, he’d give you the best advice he can for the situation. He will always preface if he understands personally or does not, always expressing that you should never feel inclined to listen, but he is always going to give you his thoughts and his logic of what to do or what should be done. There is a good chance he may just say “I will admit, I do not understand how you feel in this certain situation, though I do want to properly understand through your eyes so I can better support you in some way.” He is always going to be 100% upfront with you with these sorts of things.

• If you don’t want to talk to him, he will never force you. He will instead ask if you’d like a distraction from things, or if you’d like time for yourself or just a moment of silence with him. If all you need is to cry, he’s holding you into his chest and gently massaging circles into your back and holding your head. If you need to scream he’s got a pillow or folded blankets. He’s there to support in other ways.

• As for comforting Frost, I honestly don’t think you’d really ever tell that he’d need it. If he’s upset, you’ll only be able to tell if he’s being outright passive aggressive, crying, or swearing. By then, he’s extremely at the limit of his emotions. He’d prefer being alone at that point, he doesn’t want people to see him that way. He feels uncomfortable, unnatural? He feels worse when someone coddles him in those moments, so if you do want to comfort him in those moments it’s most likely going to be if he asks. Otherwise, helping at a distance would be the best course of action. In some cases, gentle scratches behind his ears may work to relax and ease him as well, but only if you guys are already laying down.

D—ates: How would they go about dates with you? What are their preferred dates? What would they not like as dates?

• He honestly isn’t a really big date person, believe it or not. He never really thinks much about them, but when he does he prefers something related to your common activities. He wants very personal, non-public dates with you. You guys can do one of those dates where you both start an art piece and swap with each other every 5 minutes for 30 minutes to add to each other's works, or sculpt the same thing from clay together. Playing games together, swapping things with each other, things like that are his jam.

• He’d also love to have a picnic under the stars with you. The both of you could make the food together, or Frost could ask Kremy to prepare the food for the both of you instead. While under the stars, he’d love to info dump about it to you if you’d like to listen. He just wants really intimate moments with you, and when there’s other people around he doesn’t feel like either of you are truly yourselves.

• I don’t think there are any dates he’d inherently refuse to go on or would hate, but he’d be uncomfortable going on a date that is fancy or uptight. He would feel like there is too much pressure for the both of you, you both wouldn’t be yourselves, and he doesn’t like that.

E—ffort: How much effort would they put into your relationship? How would they show their efforts?

• He’s putting everything he can into this effort. There’s something you both need to work together on? He’s on it for solutions. You need more support from him? More work load from him? He’s on it, he’ll balance it and make it all work. You need him to relax, back off for a bit? Aye, he’s on it. He is going to make sure this relationship is balanced, that there will be absolutely no foul play of the sort in any instance. He’s putting in his all.

• Even if it’s nonverbal from you, he’s going to pick up most of the cues. If he doesn’t pick a cue up, he’ll observe the situation more thoroughly next time. He’s going to reseal those cracks that form with a proper foundation, or at least try his best to.

• Keep in mind the poor tabaxi would unconsciously keep a work load on his back with this. He’ll get so wrapped up in the cracks he might forget about other things of the relationship, at least at first. He has hidden anxieties, and they like to roam in those secret cracks that form. Remind him he’s doing great, that he can relax and not be so tense with the situation. It’s a two way street, you both have to meet and work it all out. Remind him he’s not alone, because he will forget.

F—ight: How would they go about fights with you? How would they handle them? How would they resolve them if at all?

• Frost is a very calm and reasonable person, I really don’t think you would actually argue with him other than a minor disagreement that gets resolved rather quickly. Frost always wants to get to the solution and find the paths of resolution. I don’t see him really starting anything either, it would most likely be something that starts over very minor things from either misinformation or confusion. However, it also depends on how you do about arguments as well.

• If his partner is even headed like himself, it would easily be talked through and communicated. The argument would be over sitting the hour, the both of you talking about solutions to the issue or even discussing how to resolve it in the future.

• If Frost’s partner is rather argumentative, it could go two ways. Frost would stay level headed, trying to explain in a way that would diffuse the situation while also adding his side of it all. If the partner is also stubborn with arguments, he’s going to get irritated. He will never get mad by any means, but getting irritated he might get a bit more short with you and a lot more direct to get it over with.

• After an argument, no matter how heated it was, he’ll always apologize for acting out of line, even if he wasn’t at all. It’s ingrained into him that he is the person who should be blamed and at fault due to the Order. It is a habit he can not break no matter what, he was conditioned to be the peace while also staying strong and stern with his beliefs.

G—entle: How gentle are they with you mentally, physically and emotionally? How do they show these things?

• He’s so careful and gentle with you, though not that you’ll shatter like glass and you’re in a fragile type of way, more like a one of a kind sentimental piece he wants to last forever. If his partner is on the more fragile side, he’ll calculate his words and expressions when it comes to comfort or even expressing negative news of any kind. He doesn’t look down on you in anyway, and he wants to express that he doesn’t and doesn’t want to make you feel like he would. He won’t baby you and infantilize you, he won’t treat you like you’re this steel wall unneeding of attention.

• Frost is very particular with making sure comfort and safety is first for you. Being in the order for so long, he was conditioned from the beginning that he must be a steel wall at all times, and it honestly ruined him. He doesn’t wish that on you, or anyone, ever in his life. He is scared he will make you feel this way, make you feel like a shape of clay to be mended some sort of way.

• When he holds you, it’s always going to be full of tender respect. He will only ever touch you in reasonable places, never once lingering where he shouldn’t. His touch is like he’s holding a pillow he cherishes, it’s very soft and makes you want to melt in his paws. He wants to give you everything he didn’t have as a child.

H—onesty: How honest are they with you? Do they hide things from you? What do they hide?

•He’s the most honest person you’ll ever meet. If you ask him something, he’ll tell you right away. If something happened that he thinks you should know right away, he’s already on it. If he doesn’t want to tell you for whatever reason, he will express that he doesn’t want to for a reason he’d vaguely explain and then ask if you’d really like the truth or if you’d like him to keep it. He isn’t going to lie that he doesn’t want to tell you, why would he? He may have secrets, but the only secrets he’d only really avoid are ones he views as traumatic.

• Secrets about his past and what he went through to become a sorcerer are things he’d prefer not to say, as well as ones about the event of Episode 46. He’ll tell you anything you want to know, and if he honestly doesn’t know he’ll say that. He has no reason to hide anything from you.

I—Love You: How would the first “I Love You” come from them? Would they say it first? How would they react when you tell them that you love them?

• There are three ways this could happen. As a set personal rule of his, he will refuse to say ‘I love you’ first. He finds the phrase really intimate, and he holds it to the highest importance and is very seldom using this phrase. He thinks it’s disrespectful to use it like throwing candy out during a parade, if you’re saying it all of the time it starts to lose its meaning. ‘I love you’ is something he saves for when he knows you are his person 100%, that he wants to spend the rest of his life with you. He doesn’t even say it to his friends, and he doesn’t even say it after you guys cuddles or kiss. And ‘I Iove you’ can take years to get out of him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t love you, he just wants to save it for the perfect time to express he loves you properly for the first time. And if he does say it first, it’s definitely a minimum of a year, a maximum of 2. This is only if both of you are waiting to say it.

• If you say it first, he’ll be slightly weary depending on how early in you use it. If you start to use it immediately he’ll express how he feels about the phrase and request you to wait a little longer before saying it. He really wouldn’t want the phrase to lose its meaning. However, if it takes you a few months (a minimum of 4 depending on the circumstances) and you tell him you love him, he will most likely say it back after.

• Now, lastly, if he was in a forced confession ordeal he’s going to hesitate and be very fearful, not wanting to scare you away or even disrespect you. He isn’t immune to peer pressure, and if he’s pushed into saying ‘I love you’ earlier than on his own terms, he’s going to make sure he makes the moment as sentimental as he can. He wants to expressed that he does genuinely love you by explaining his reasoning right after he tells you. Imagine Gricko teasing him and (in a friendly ‘help my anxious friend’ manner) ushering him to tell you, that sort of thing.

J—ealousy: How would they express their jealousy? How would they handle their jealousy? How would they approach you with it?

• Frost would be very quiet and at a distance. It takes a lot for Frost to become jealous, but when he is jealous of someone flirting with his partner or gifting you gifts that aren’t from him, etc, he’ll never direct that jealousy to you negatively, it will always be towards the other person. His eyes will be fixated in a hunters look towards said person, tail swaying in aggressive and agitated flicks, body stiff and unmoving. He won’t let you see it, though. The only thing you’d see would be the flicks of his tail side to side.

• Frost can shake off jealousy fairly quickly when you are in his arms again. He’ll shake off the stress with the fluff of his tail and groom your head a few times as a stress relief. He will never outright say he is jealous, or that he is jealous of someone around you, and even if he does attempt to keep it hidden, he won’t hide it very well. You’ll see the subtle hunter’s look in his eyes as he looks at you, much softer when they look at you though still there. You’ll see the fluff of his cheeks, neck and tail from the stress. You’ll see the slight stiffness of his shoulders, more relaxed than when he looked at the cause of jealousy. You calm him.

• He gets this way mostly because of his time in the Order. He isn’t insecure, it’s just the matter of being challenged by someone else in an attempt. Frost is jealous of the fact that they can express verbal affection, they have something he doesn’t, and it may win your favor. As much as he trusts you, he is always jealous of the fact they are better at something than he is, especially towards his lover.

K—iss: How would they like to kiss? What is their “style?” How do they react to kisses? How do they treat kisses?

• He’s very savory and sweet with his kisses. He’s not very big on PDA, it’s just something he doesn’t do very often. A kiss in public would be a peck on the head or cheek, very soft and gentle. Kisses are also very intimate for him, while he doesn’t mind them being littered about, he still thinks they are very intimate and sentimental. He doesn’t mind very quick pecks in public, but that’s all there is to kisses in that area.

• In private, on the other hand, it is very different. He’s drunk on lovingly lipped kisses, melting into your lips whenever he has them. Kiss him on the lips and he’s looking up at you like a love sick kitten. It’s one of the only times you’ll see how big his pupils grow like a cat with yarn. It’s a physical way of ‘I love you’ to him. He’ll go nuts if you hold each other and kiss a long lip filled kiss, but only the lips. Any other types of kisses on the mouth aren’t very common with him, he believes there are certain kisses for certain moments. If you’re laying down for the night (in private, so like an inn for just the two of you) and you kiss him once, expect about 30 minutes of sleepy off and on kisses together.

• Now, since he’s a tabaxi, we have to include grooming, cmon. Grooming his partner is more or less an indirect kiss to him. He’ll wake up in the morning with a tired sandpaper tongue in your hair to stimulate his understimulated mind, or calm himself for the night to get ready for bed. He loves grooming your hair, or even your shoulders as you both cudde. It’s another intimate, yet very multiple meaning, type of ‘I love you.’ Expect to be groomed in the mornings and nights at the very least, even if it’s very small kitten kisses.

L—ove Language: What is their preferred love language with you? What love languages would work best with them?

• He is a large acts of service type of guy, as well as a big listener. He’s observant all of the time, he’s always listening to little things you spew out no matter the situation. Sometimes you don’t even need to say anything, he’s noticed something and has made a mental note of it already. He will perform tasks to cheer you up, make some things easier, along those lines. He wouldn’t mind cuddles, though he isn’t very big on it either.

• He’ll make you breakfast in the mornings after he meditates when he has the supplies, making sure to have a balanced nutritional serving to start the day. If you have issues with eating, especially with portions and limitations of food, he’s clocked it. He’ll very cautiously make sure you eat enough calories for the morning, even if he has to hide what he makes inside of it all.

• If he notices you’re low on something, you’ll find the tabaxi gifting it to you within the next few days. If he notices there’s something on your mind bothering you, he’s getting something to express your issues or just getting/doing something to cheer you up. He notices, even if he won’t straight up say it. He’s going to do anything at all to show you he cares for you.

M—emories: What memories would they cherish with you the most? How well would they remember things about you?

• He likes to think a lot about the more sentimental memories between him and his friends, but especially with his lover. He will cherish your dates, your talks, your learning experiences, but when it comes to sentimental values he’s all over it. If you made him a gift for him to keep on him always, he’ll remember the delivery and the meaning behind it and keep it on him. He’ll remember little subtle things that you yourself might not even notice about yourself. He’ll see how your eyes light up in certain situations, he’ll see how your shoulders slouch when you’re disappointed. He’s already filing it away in his head.

• When the confession happens, it is his favorite memory for quite a while. He’ll think about it, your reaction to it and the actions that come afterward. If an engagement is involved, that’s immediately his next favorite. There will of course be your firsts for everything, and he loves those milestones. He’ll cherish the milestones internally for the rest of his life with you. First kiss, first cuddle, first date, things like that. He’s a very analytical person, I wouldn’t see why he wouldn’t cherish these moments.

N—icknames: What type of nicknames would they call you? How would they treat the nicknames you give them? How important are nicknames to them?

• His nicknames will be mostly more formal, as in ‘my love’, ‘my dear’ and anything else along those lines. It’s more intimate sounding, more polite. It slips off of his tongue to address you daily, it’s officially your title to everyone around you. He will have some other nicknames for when the both of you are alone, more personal ones. He has little names for you that reflect your personality, your favorite things, your little mannerisms. It’s something much more relaxed than the formal names he often gives you, something more personable. Only the two of you will know if these names, he will only sulumly use it and will avoid wearing down its importance (which in his eyes is using it constantly).

• Nicknames are titles to him, and they are important to him in the aspect that it gives you a sort of personal trust with one another. You are his love, he is yours. He loves being given nicknames by you (as long as it isn’t outright an insult) and even if it sounds a little silly, he was given that name by you. He may request not to use MF, but he secretly kind of likes it as stupid as it is. Just use it behind a closed door, he might allow it../hj

O—bviousness: How obvious was it for you to notice they liked you? How obvious is it now for other people know if you’re together or not?

• You never knew. You never would have suspected it. He hides it so well, no matter how close you both end up being as friends, you will never actually tell he ends up falling for you. No one in the group except for Gricko would know, maybe even Kremy. They’d only notice through how his eyes soften for you just slightly when your back is turned, how his tail sways in full content out of your sight, how his voice very slightly raises in tone. Very, very small things that can easily be missed if you aren’t looking. Even if you do notice how he does more things for you, it would never come off as a romantic crush on you.

• He would observe you, watch and try to see if he can figure out if you like him back. He’s very cautious, he’s anxious and aware that he might misinterpret any signals and confess when you weren’t interested at all, he'd ruin your friendship. He’s very, very cautious of you and how you view him. If he doesn’t want you to know, you’re not knowing. The only way either of you would end up together is if you confess first, or if Gricko helps Frost out to confess to you.

• In other words, he could be crushing on you any time between months to years and you may never know.

P—ersistance: How persistent are they with the relationship? Are they proactive in the relationship to keep it fueling?

• He’s going to be very persistent to make sure the relationship is working and healthy. He’ll be consistent with his affection with you, having one-on-one moments with you, making sure you feel cared for and loved by him, etc. If there is something that needs recalibrated in the relationship he’s on it, if he needs to seesaw the responsibilities of the relationship for a bit when you don’t feel as motivated some days, or vice versa, he is always going to be persistent on making sure it is never one-sided.

• I feel like Frost would always make sure to have some plans already pre-meditated to try to fix solutions quicker. He wants to prepare for these things, basically. If he isn’t prepared, he’ll make sure to compensate and handle it accordingly.

Q—uest: If you were being challenged in the relationship, how would they take it? How would they work through it with you?

• Frost is always challenged by a lot of life situations, so this would be nothing short of just another day. However, despite his outward appearance to not be bothered, internally he’s going to feel so much more pressure and worry over these challenges. He cares for you, he loves you, he doesn’t want these challenges to scare you away or make you feel unwell in any sort of way. He wants to fix and solve these challenges as quickly and efficiently as possible, but the worry is still going to be there.

• If the challenge is external, his first priority is you. He’ll want to talk to you about it, come to an agreement on how to work forward together. He wants to tell you his reasonings and hear your own, he wants to make sure that before anything is set in stone when moving forward that you are content, or at least comfortable with the option chosen. He will never combat something like that without you, unless he absolutely has to.

• If the challenge is within the relationship, he wants to work it out with you. He wants to fix anything he can, work with you and work on himself if need be. He doesn’t want to lose the relationship with you no matter what it is. Talking first, and if that doesn’t work, he’ll probably work behind the scenes to fix whatever the issue is. Tinker about and experiment with it, in a way.

R—espect: How much respect do they show you through the relationship? How do you show it? What does respect mean to them from you?

• God, he has so much respect for you. He respects you in everything you say and do, if you’re dating him there’s no doubt about it. He’s respectful of every boundary you have, of every decision you make. He’s supporting you and respecting you as a person. He will never utter a negative connotation of you, and he will never let anyone talk about you that way either to your face or behind your back.

• He holds you to the highest regard, almost just barely higher than himself in some instances. He is thankful for you. Respect is given, however you have earned more respect as time goes on. Respect is very much conditioned into him from the Order, and he doesn’t let it go very often. He believes everyone should have respect, but you deserve so much more in his eyes.

S—afe: What would they do to ensure your safety with them? What would they do to make sure you feel safe with them as a person?

• Frost is, of course, a very observant person. When in new, potentially dangerous, areas he is always watching. His ears are swiveling, he makes sure you’re beside him and/or in sight of him. If you want to stay in his arms he will keep an arm around you, maybe even his tail. If you want to ‘hide’ so to speak, he’ll let you have his robe to be enveloped in. If you voice that you feel unsafe, he’ll fix it immediately. Don't want to go into that forest? He’ll find a way around. Don’t feel comfortable in this inn? No problem, you guys can find another one or camp outside the town outskirts. Don’t like the person scurrying around? He’ll fix that.

• When it comes to combat, he will constantly be monitoring where you are and your status. He will tell you in your mind where you should move to so that you are out of range, and if he finds a weak point in a particularly strong opponent. If you get injured he’ll find his way to you, guard you with his body and get you to safety if possible. He trusts your ability to decipher the danger of a situation, but just in case, he’ll always be right by your side. Pull you back with his paw or tail, teleport you away, anything at all. He would do anything to protect you, blow up as many minds as he can.

T—rust: Do they trust you in the relationship? Do they feel nervous or completely relaxed in the relationship?

• He knows you very well if he’s going to date you, and he is very comfortable with himself and his insecurities. He trusts you and it never crosses his mind at all if you might be cheating. You’re out at a bar and talking to a guy other than Frost? He watches the situation to make sure you’re comfortable and safe, but doesn’t eavesdrop or look over. He knows you’ll make the right choice, he doesn’t have any doubts about it.

• If you both are talking about a topic and someone tries to say you may be lying, he never would consider the fact that you might. He trusts your words and that you would tell him, if not anyone else, the truth of any situation or knowledge. He isn’t blind sighted by any means, but he puts his trust into you for practically everything once the both of you are a couple. He trusts you with his robe, his personally impactful belongings, all of it. He doesn’t do that with just anyone by any means.

• If this trust is broken once, however, it will never be repaired again.

U—topia: What is their perfect dream/future like and where do you play a part in it?

• Frost’s main dream is to, at the bare minimum, have you and at least Gricko and Hootsie by his side no matter where he does. He doesn’t have a solid end goal in his life, he doesn’t think about having a house of his own or a secure job. If he has to, he will, but he’s a very ‘go where the wind takes me’ type of person in the sense that he has never really had the habit of security no matter where he was, not that he remembers anyways. He’d love to have all of his friends, though he is prepared if there is a split in the group. He just wants you and Gricko and Hootsie. I feel like he really wouldn’t care where you all end up, he won’t complain either way, though he’d be much happier still traveling and digesting knowledge from around Avantris. But there is 100% a defined want he has thought about and looks forward to in his future, and it’s kittens/kids. He would like 2 children preferably, with him remembering to be an only child he felt rather lonely because of it, he wouldn’t want that for his kids. However, if he can’t have kids in his lifetime he’s already accepted it.

• If you decide to settle down, he’ll happily work with you to find a place to live. He’ll do some quests on the side, find a main secure job at a library or educational placement. Or, if available, he’d love to stay in the circus setting. Kids would be easier in this setting.

• If you decide to continue with your travels, Frost would be just as compliant. He’s used to this traveling, there’s nothing he’d change about it. It’s been your life for so long already, why change anything about it? Kids wouldn’t be impossible in this route, though Frost wouldn’t want to bring kids around if the living or situations were unsafe or unhappy.

• Basically, either choice has sacrifice to him, there isn’t a single desired future/utopia in his mind that fits his every want. As long as he has you, in the simplest terms, he’ll be fine.

V—alue: How much do they value the relationship? How important is it to them?

• He believed this relationship is one of, if not the most, important relationship he’s ever had. Despite his relationships with his friends, ex-flings, or even his parents or master, your relationship is the most impactful and important. He is giving you his all, his vulnerable person and his iron will.

• He believes that this relationship has so much to give, in not only a cooperative sense, but also a life-learning experience. He adores you, he loves you, even as indirectly affectionate as he is. If something happened to this relationship, he will 100% be a different person if it was broken in anyway.

W—ish: What is something they wish could happen when it comes to your relationship? Why?

• I believe the one thing he would wish for in the relationship is to be more affectionate. He sees these couples show each other affection and care and love, he wants to do that with you. He wants you to feel loved and cared for, he wants you to never doubt his love for you. He feels as though because he isn’t as affectionate in an open setting, you will feel as if he’s hiding you or doesn’t love you. That’s not the truth, he just doesn’t know how it is properly supposed to be done, at least in his mind. He is indirectly worried about the whole situation, that something will happen in some way if he is open with his relationship to you around strangers.

• Other than that, he’s very content. He never asks for much for anything, so I can’t imagine him wishing for much in a relationship that he works and cooperates with his partner with all of the time. Any wishes of relationship improvement is talked and worked through.

X—tra: Freebie!

• Despite not being very affectionate outside of closed doors.. behind closed doors he’s such a kitten when he wants to be. He’s holding you when you’re both laying down for the night, he’s nuzzling his cheeks into you and holding your middle as you work on something. He twists his tail around your leg or waist when he can. He is happily expressing his care and attention to you once you two are completely alone behind closed doors.

• Are you cold? He’s your new heat source. Have a headache? He’ll hide your face into his chest and purr, run his paw over your hair and groom it down. Have a bad day? He’ll help you relax and wrap all around you.

• When he’s in a particularly more playful mood, expect him to roll over on you or against you. Have you ever seen a tiger do those plop rub things? Yeah that’s him. He lets his cat instincts unfurl with you when that security is kept. Be prepared for Frost to look up at you with those big tiger eyes as a silent plea to let his cat instincts loose to show his love for you. And if he has a ball of yarn? Oh boy, be prepared for a lot of Frost pounces.

• But of course, imagine all of this with that neutral monotone look. It makes it 10x funnier, but he just can’t emote facially except for an occasional smile, so imagine Frost playing and pouncing on yarn with the most “-_-“ face known to man. This is partially a coping mechanism for him, partially him fucking around because he usually can’t.

Y—earning: How do they react to you being gone? How do they cope with being away from you? How would they treat you when you come back?

• With all honesty, I believe Frost would be relatively fine being without you for a few weeks. He’d feel how his arms are empty every night you’re away and not sleep as well as he would with you there, though he wouldn’t start to miss you and want you back until maybe 5 days in. After that, he’d start to progress with how much he misses you, wanting nothing but to groom you in the mornings and nights and hold you close. He understands you’re away for a reason, and he won’t outright complain or make a fuss about it. The others will definitely notice, though.

• Frost doesn’t realize just how drunk on your love he is until you’re gone for a week or more. It’s his ritual to hold you at night and groom your hair or give you little kisses, it’s his ritual to wrap his tail end around your leg as you stand beside him while the both of you tag behind the group, it’s his ritual to hold your pinkie as you walk together. He catches himself expecting you in his arms every morning after a few days, and ends up disappointed without you.

• He definitely acts fine and his life is unbothered relatively, though after maybe a week and a half he wants you back already. 2 weeks feels like a month to him without you there, just come back!! The others definitely noticed him being slightly more irritable than usual without you there, whether the tabaxi noticed or not. They 100% noticed how his tail stutters at the mention of your name when you’ve been gone, and they noticed how the tabaxi’s golden eyes have sunken in from improper sleep.

• “I’m fine, {y/n} will return in no time.. Gricko don’t touch that, it’s {y/n}’s. Don’t touch {y/n}’s stuff. It’s yours? It smells like {y/n}, leave it be for now.” Usually he wouldn’t care, but when you’re gone he just wants to smell your things, have your scent so it’s like you’re still beside him.

• Expect a ton of nuzzles, happy tiger chuffs, cuddles, grooms, and kisses as soon as you get back. He’s rather impatient, wanting to scoop you up and carry you off to have a moment with you. He wants to make up what was lost while you were away.

• The Order conditioned him not to be dependent on a person, never be weak in the absence of the person you admire or desire. He insists it didn’t affect him, though it really did. He’ll want to tear up walls for you, waiting for you to come back all while he tells himself that he doesn’t care that you’re gone. He’s very contradicting about this very simple thing, but it’s just one of those minor things the tabaxi can’t shake despite his intelligence and self awareness.

Z—eal: What would they do to the extent of your relationship? Is there anything they would sacrifice the relationship for?

-~-~-~-

The sounds of empty glasses clinking together, echoed laughter, and chatting about kept your ears stimulated. It wasn’t loud by any means, but it kept your senses busy. The whiff of whiskey and other booze wafted your way, filling your nose. You could almost taste it. It was a comfortable and relaxing setting.

You leaned into the soft corner of the bar couch, a glass of booze loosely in your hand. You watched as Frost sipped his drink at the bar counter, his goblin companion shotgunning some random alcohol someone gave him. Torbek and Twig were messing with the game machines in the corner, trying to figure out how to play without the coins required. Kremy was nowhere to be seen, the designated sober one of the group off doing god knows what for the time being.

Gideon sat beside you on the other end of the couch, laughing with the glass of whiskey and coke perked against his lips as a girl told him a joke. The little ember sparks erupted from his hair and beard from the tipsy joy, his ears wiggling at the ends. He took up a third of the couch just on his own, though the flirting girl sitting on the arm of it definitely made him look a bit bigger.

You listened to their conversation loosely, used to the shenanigans that often came with being with the group when alcohol was involved. You had only been traveling with them for a few months, four at most, and in that time you all had only had drinks together a handful of times. The tipsiness lightened the mood, coaxed muscles to relax and brains to muddle. It was nice when the group didn’t overdo it.

You felt a nudge and blinked, glancing towards Gideon who was empty of a girl glued to his side. His whiskey glass was gone, though the smell of it wasn’t gone. “Hm?”

“I was askin’ what you were starin’ so hard at,” Gideon lightheartedly inquired, nudging you once more in a joking tone. “Alcohol isn’t fryin’ ya is it?”

You smiled, shaking your head as you sat your beverage on the side table. “Of course not, I was just listening to everything going on.”

Gideon nodded, leaning back in his spot and looking out to the group like you had. At this point, Gricko was starting to get pretty drunk and Frost was pushing the goblin back to his seat with the other hand holding up the tabaxi’s salt rimmed margarita, gulping it whole. You thought it was amusing, smiling as you adjusted your position on the couch. You brought your legs up to your chest, feet dangling off barely, as you relaxed into the cushioning.

Gideon looked at you again, a small tipsy grin on his lips. “Hey, I’ve been wonderin’ what your favorite drink is,” he spoke randomly. You gave him a quizzical look and he shrugged, gesturing towards the bar with his head. “I was gonna get another one and thought I’d be nice and getcha one too.”

You playfully scoffed, rolling your eyes as you lifted your half-full beverage and rattled it around for him to see. “If you want to offer me a drink I have to be done with the one I have.”

He rolled his eyes playfully, a “psh” sound erupting from his lips when you held your drink up. “What, I can’t be generous for once in my life? C’mon, what’s your favorite drink? Even if it’s for future reference.”

“You first,” you toyed, smiling as you took a swig of your beverage. “I wanna know if you like that whiskey as much as you drink it.”

Gideon chuckled a bit, shrugging once more. “Whiskey’s a’right, but I prefer some fireball whiskey.”

“That’s literally just whiskey,” you chuckled out, watching as the genasi smirked at your response. “So your favorite is whiskey? I thought you’d surprise me and say strawberry daiquiris or something.”

“Fireball whiskey is better ‘cuz it’s cinnamon whiskey, it makes it better!” He insisted, crossing his arms in a playful defense. “Now you gotta tell me your favorite.”

You rolled your eyes, finishing your current drink with a refreshed sigh. Telling him your favorite, he hopped up and strode his way towards the bar. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you watched the genasi walk farther and farther away.

Over the months, you came to the conclusion that he was just a magnet for the ladies specifically. When in town he always had one around him, it was his thing. He seemed to enjoy it, it boosted his ego. While they were after his body more than anything, you found yourself always magnetizing to his personality. You wanted to know more about him more than anything. You grew more and more curious as the weeks went on, why? You never knew.

You’d noticed his observant eyes wonder group settings when he thought no one was watching. You’d notice his body flinching with sudden loud noises like metal on metal or glass on glass. You’d notice how the corners of his lips climbed his cheeks in your peripheral vision when you’d go back to your own tasks. You noticed how he’d always attempt to cheer the group up his own ways when Gricko wouldn’t. You wanted to know more about Gideon Coal. He was so interesting to you, yet to everyone else he was just an average brawn.

You found yourself watching Torbek and Twig play an equivalent to a pinball game, the sounds of bells chiming and bright lights flashing about. With Torbek in control (with a high amount of concerned and anxious groans and whines), Twig cheered him on.

“Here,” your attention was drawn back to see the genasi with your drink. You hummed with a smile and sipped it happily, sighing in refreshment. You thanked the genasi, who waved it off and sat in his spot with his new glass of what appeared to be rum. “Taste good?”

You nodded, sipping your drink again before setting it down. “Tastes like the best one I’ve had in a while,” you relaxed once more into the couch, watching the genasi swig a drunk of his rum without reaction. He sat his drink down on his own side table, draping his arm over the middle of the couch back. “Are you having fun?”

Gideon shrugged a little, nonchalant. “Eh, it’s nice and relaxin’ after a long ass day that's for sure. I guess it’s fun,” you laid your head against the back of the couch section, watching him. The heat of the alcohol grew on your cheeks and currently began growing to your head, making you a bit tired. “There sure ain’t many people though, that’s for sure. Not much of a party.”

You hummed in agreement, glancing around. The inn you all were staying in had a bar event going on tonight, free 2 drinks and the rest half off for the night only. There weren’t very many people staying in the inn anyways due to the storms outside and the inn being deep in the woods. Besides the group, there were only a handful of strangers that kept to their groups. You caught sight of the girl who had been all over Gideon talking to a human guy at the bar. It was nice nonetheless.

“Do you like parties?” You asked out of curiosity. You watched him, trying to imagine him dancing with a crowded room of people with loud music and people chanting for him to shotgun a cheap beer. You could see it, how he’d chug a beer and crush the can on his head frat boy style. You could imagine him being challenged to drink a lot of alcohol, but not so much the dancing after the loss of his groove.

Gideon shrugged, looking over to you. “The closest party I think I’ve been to I think was a full bar with a bard playing some type ‘ah music I didn’t pay attention to,” his eyes observed your face. “I went with Kremy years ago, we stayed enough to play a few rounds of Black Jack and Poker for some money then dipped out.”

You nodded, your head still against the cushion. You reached around for your drink and brought it to your lips, drinking. “Well, it’s better than the closest party you went to being some lame one.”

“Yea, I guess you’re right,” he looked towards the bar again, his face relaxing to a comfortable smile. After a moment of silence, you felt your eyes start to droop a bit. You hummed in content, trying to keep your eyes open as you listened to the environment around you. “Tired?”

Your eyes shot open, meeting the golden eyes of the fire genasi beside you. You nodded a little. “I think I’ve drank enough,” you admitted with a small laugh, rubbing your eyes from the strain they had. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Gideon laughed, shaking his head as he gently took your drink from your hands and sat it securely on the table. “Shit, I don’t care that you’re dozin’,” he nudged your arm gently. “We’ve got some walkin’ to do tomorrow an’ I don’t think you’d want a hangover for that.”

You groaned, realizing you forgot about that fact. You perked yourself up, rubbing your head and sighed. “I think I should get some water then, or some food.”

Gideon stood up, stretching his arms up into the air, his back and arms popping in release. “No problem, be right back.” and he walked off without another word.

You smiled, watching the genasi walk back to the bar. You never understood the kindness the genasi expressed to you. He seemed to accept you into the group pretty fast, though Gricko was by far the fastest. Gideon was a good second. You noticed his gestures towards you since the beginning, and you began to cherish them.

You began to admire him, and you weren’t complaining.

Gideon returned with water, giving you the cup (which was lidded and strawed) and made sure you held it with both hands. As you sipped it, your head started to pound in a dull manner. You laid your head back in the cushion of the couch back, watching Gideon adjust in his seat, then pat his lap.

You looked at him confused, furrowing an eyebrow before he patted his lap again. “Lay down,” he said, catching you off guard. “If you want to, I won’t force ya.”

“You want me to lay down on your lap?” You asked, letting the genasi carefully take your tipsy proof cup. Was he drunk? The imagery of his pillow-like thighs were comforting to you, and warm too, and you liked that. The fighter nodded, patting his lap for a third time. “Why?”

“Until you sober up a bit so I can help ya to your room,” he said. “That way you ain’t trippin over yourself and everything.”

Too tired to think of any other ideas, the idea of soft padded warmth sounded amazing. You happily rolled to your face, which Gideon laughed aloud. You laid on your side, your head laying on the fighter’s lap. He laid an arm over your shoulders, holding your shoulder that touched his outer thigh and rubbed it in a circle with his thumb. You hummed happily, closing your heavy lidded eyes.

“If you fall asleep do ya jus’ want me to carry you up?” Gideon asked, his voice calmer than before. All you could do was hum in acknowledgement, too sleepy and comfortable to give a proper response. You heard the genasi chuckle as he patted your shoulder and then returned to his circled motions. “A’right, don’t get too comfortable down there.” He joked with you innocently, making you smile tiredly.

The warmth of his body, and the alcohol, soothed your body completely into relaxation. Everything was drowned out as the sound of Gideon against your ear filled your ears, the smell of campfire charcoal with a dash of whiskey and rum filled your nose, and the feeling of warmth enveloped you.

You could get used to this.

-~-~-~-

Laughter erupted from your mouth as you attempted to escape the playful ambush of the fire genasi. He easily stopped the attempt, hands cupping your middle and lifting you up. He sat you on his shoulders, buckling you in place by holding your shins before spinning around.

You clutched his head, laughing hysterically as he sped up. “Gideon! You’re gonna make me throw up!” You cried with laughter, tucking yourself in as the genasi stopped spinning.

Gideon patted your shins, looking up the best he could against the cushion of your abdomen. You felt the shrugs of his shoulders, which made you giggle as you catch your breath.

“I don’t think you have that weak of a stomach, you’ve watched us do worse things to people,” he playfully retorted, starting his adventure forward with you hitched on his shoulders. “‘Sides, I bet you have a damn good view from up there.”

You rolled your eyes, adjusting against him and holding a grip on the genasi’s head. “I think this is what Torbek sees everyday, and I think the top of your head is balding.”

“What?” He let one leg go to reach up and feel his head immediately, which immediately started your episode of laughter again. Once Gideon caught on, he let out a huff and returned his grasp to your leg. “Ha ha, very funny.” He playfully retorted.

You smiled, letting your fingers run through his soft thick hair. The frizzed ends were crisp with warm ember glow, heating your hands. They lit up slightly, sparks popping through his head as you ran your fingers through. You brushed his hair back down, still giggling as Gideon continued his new found taxi service to the inn. You hummed happily, enjoying the texture of his hair.

“You don’t worry about split ends, do you?” You asked randomly, sure that they were burnt off constantly from the ignited ends. The ends of his hair were crisp from the burnings, but the heat kept it bendable and flexible with the rest of his hair as well. It was such an odd discovery, but made for a perfect hand heater.

“Not really,” he responded, readjusting his grip on you. He neared the inn door and reached up to hold you just above your hips. “A’right fun’s over, hold tight.”

You did as told, holding his arms as he lifted you up and sat you down in front of him. You spun around and reached up to fix the genasi’s hair after your ride. He kept his head tilted down slightly to let you, which made you smile happily.

“All fixed, big guy,” you patted his arm and he stood up straight again. “Now let’s get some dinner, I’m starving!”

Gideon cracked his knuckles and playfully pushed you aside, marching up to the door and opening it wide. “Ya don’t have to tell me twice!”

You giggled to yourself, following after the genasi. He left the door open for you as he waited inside, which you thanked him for. Gideon made his way towards the inn kitchen, leading the way with his mental mission commanding him. When you found the stairs, you turned towards them and started to hop up.

“Hey, where are you going?” Gideon asked, spinning around as soon as he heard the creak of the stairs. “I thought we were gonna eat dinner?”

You leaned over the stair railing, smiling as the fighter walked over and looked up at you. You reached over and playfully patted his head to tease him. “I will, I’ve gotta put things away first. Don’t wait up for me, but save me a plate at least.”

Gideon slumped, his arms falling and his shoulders arched. He was so cute, it made your chest flutter. He always grew so animated when he’d pout. “A’right, but don’t expect any dessert saved.”

You waved him off, laughing a little and hopping up the stairs again. “Fine by me!”

Reaching the top of the stairs, you turned the corner and saw a familiar lizardfolk leaning against the wall, cigarette in mouth as the lighter lit the end. He took a long drag, staring at the wall in front of him as he put his lighter away, exhaling smoke through his nostrils before taking the cigarette out of his mouth and loosely holding it between his pointer and middle fingers. You stopped, watching as the lizardfolk lazily blinked before turning to you and looking you up and down.

“Have fun in town?” He asked calmly, arm crossed over his chest while the one that held the cigarette was propped on the wrist. Legs crossed as his torso leaned against the wall, his body relaxed. He wasn’t wearing his tailcoat, just the undershirt and an untied bow tie with his dress pants.

Kremy was, and is, the very last person to accept you into the group. You notice how he always watches you closely whether you pretend to notice or not. He doesn’t let you stay too close to him, and he seems weary of you. He is by far much better than at the beginning, and you’ve gained his trust significantly over the year of travelling with the lizardfolk. He cooks your meals, you’ve slept in the group pile many times, you both have had your own moments together on your own time. If there’s one thing he hasn’t changed, however, is his protective manner towards his bodyguard. It was kind of funny, the one who had the bodyguard was guarding the bodyguard. It was much less funny when it was directed towards you, though.

You inspected him, a little nervous you might have done something wrong. You shifted your feet, playing with your fingers. “Um, yea, Gideon and I explored the town and went around some shops. We got some things while there. I got you something, hold on,” you turned to the satchel that hung over your torso. Kremy’s eyebrow quirked in curiosity as you dug in the bag, taking a drag of the cigarette and blowing smoke as you brought the item out. “It’s not much, but I wanted to give you something as a thank you for.. well.. letting me stay.”

Kremy’s golden eyes lit up a bit, placing the cigarette between his maws. He held his hands out as you sat a small amethyst carved unicorn into his claws. It was glossy, almost sparkling. You noticed the end of Kremy’s tail swish in joy, something you knew he couldn’t control. He began to inspect the unicorn, feeling the crevices and the smooth curves.

He held it in one hand, using the other to drag the cigarette again and blow smoke. He placed the carving into his pant pocket carefully, returning to his previous position before nodding.

“Thank you,” he said, a little softer. He didn’t say anything for a moment, staring at the wall ahead of him as his cigarette burned away. You weren’t sure if you could leave, feeling as though Kremy wanted to talk to you. You took a moment before you nodded and started to walk by him. You started to walk towards the room at the end of the corridor, the room the entire group was sharing for the night, before your stopped to the sound of Kremy’s voice again. “You two are talkin’ and stayin’ around each other an awful lot lately. More than with anyone else.”

You slowly turned back around, watching as Kremy’s eyes slowly turned from the wall to you. His eyes were half lidded, as if the things on his mind weighed them down. His eyes were baggy, looking tired. He stared into your eyes, the rusted gold digging into your skin.

“I guess we have,” you admitted, looking down in guilt. Over the course of the last month or two, Gideon and you both went everywhere more and more. Exploring the towns, Gideon claimed you needed a ‘professional’ bodyguard by your side. Whenever you’d enter a room, Gideon would find his way by your side to playfully mess with you. You sat beside each other for meals, and Gideon would offer an extra bread roll for you whenever they were made. And every night, without fail, the both of you ended up falling asleep in one or the other’s lap or stomach. You felt your breath hitch, realizing that it probably upset the warlock that you might indirectly be straying his best friend away from him. “I am sorry if it upsets you, I can talk to Gideon about it so that-“

“You don’t need to say a thing,” he stopped you, taking another drag of his cigarette before he crushed the end against the stair rail post to kill the burn. He stuffed the butt into the pocket opposite of the unicorn. He adjusted his rolled up shirt sleeves, walking towards you in precise strides. You gulped, intimidated by the warlock with his seriousness. Kremy stopped in front of you, crossing his arms. “I just want to make sure you ain’t fuckin’ around with Gideon just to break his heart.”

“Wha-?” You were so confused. You blinked a few times, Kremy’s muzzle inching closer as an attempt to intimidate you.

“Gideon has been my friend for a very long time, I’ve seen many people try to slip in and leave time and time again. I know when Gideon gets himself attached to people,” Kremy narrow his eyes on you, looking you up and down again before surrounding you. “He means.. a lot to me. I’d do a lot of crazy things for that man. Maybe even give up my life.”

He stopped in front of you, reaching into his pocket again for his cigarette holder and his lighter. You fumbled with your satchel as the warlock lit another cigarette, dragging it in, and exhaling through his nose. He held it between his fingers before continuing.

“But I ain’t his sitter, he’s a grown man,” his hard eyes soften, the snarl that built on his muzzle disappearing before he turns his head away. “I trust him with everything I have, he’s a great man. I see how the two of you look at each other, I know y’all ain’t messin’ around. It ain’t my business, but when it comes to Gideon it kinda is my business.” There was a small edge to his voice you couldn’t quite identify.

“I’m sorry, I’m confused,” you shifted, blinking at the ringleader as he turned to meet your eyes again. “I know you and Gideon are close, I don’t want to take that away from either of you at all. Did I do something wrong?”

Kremy lifted his head, another drag of a cigarette, another exhale. “No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” his voice was soft again. “Gideon cares a lot about ‘cha, I see it in his eyes every day. I trust his judgement of people. I trust that you won’t use him. You make him happy, and I can see he makes you happy too. I jus’ don’t want the person closest to me to get hurt. Do we understand each other?”

You blinked again, slowly nodding at his quiet request. Kremy cared for Gideon more than anything, that was clear for everyone to see. He was worried that Gideon would get hurt through your mutual shenanigans, physical or emotional, and you understood all Kremy wanted was for Gideon to have someone other than Kremy to feel that security with. Kremy didn’t dislike you, he was only weary of the situation.

Kremy, who was already half way through the new cigarette, nodded and closed his eyes to let the situation sink in. You felt the fabric of your satchel, thinking about how to approach this from here on.

“I care about you too,” you said softly. The lizardfolk turned his eyes towards you again. “Maybe not in the way that I care for Gideon, but I do. I trust you to have my back, and I trust you to lead me. I trust you with my food,” you both chuckled a little at that. “No matter what, Kremy, I respect you.”

Kremy observed your eyes, searching for any signs of insincerity, though found none. He took another long drag, taking the cigarette away as he swallowed the smoke down to his lungs, then exhaled again slowly. “I think I can say the same.”

Dinner went smoothly, as usual. While there wasn’t any dessert (as expected), you were saved a plate and a half of food for dinner. Gideon saved you some bread rolls, plopping one on your plate when you thought he gave you the last one. Kremy sat on the other side of Gideon, at the end of the table. He would catch your eye a few times, a soft smile on his mouth.

With the start and fall of dinner, the day in the town caught up to you easily with the full stomach. Everyone had decided it was time for sleep, talking about the room arrangement. Nibbling on your last bread roll, you listened to the group.

“Well I think Hootsie should at least have the bed tonight with me! We don’t mind someone else in the bed, but she’s a growin’ girl! She needs some cushion sometimes,” Gricko insisted, petting his daughter behind the ear who cooed.

“I think that whoever didn’t have the bed last time should have it this time,” Frost nodded in partial agreement. “That way it is fair for all of us. So, who all had the bed last time?”

“Torbek believes it was Mister Kremy, Gideon, {y/n} and Twig,” Torbek pointed out, looking at the ones he mentioned. “So Torbek thinks that Torbek and Frost, Gricko and Hootsie should have the bed this time! Just like Frost suggested.”

Everyone seemed to agree with one another, chattering about how the bed arrangement would work. You didn’t mind either way, the couch that was in the room as well made up for the situation. It was rather comfortable from when you sat on it previously, as well.

You stayed in your seat as the group of four marched upstairs, all tired and ready for bed. Twig stayed behind, cleaning up from the dinner since she was the one who cooked it tonight. You didn’t say anything, listening to Gideon and Kremy chat for a bit together.

The conversation with Kremy lingered in your mind. You seemed to have been given his approval. At least, that’s how you interpreted it. You were sure that was what Kremy meant by the conversation. You respected the warlock, however, and felt like it would be better to wait for a good time.

Gideon was important to you. He lit up the room, figuratively and literally, whenever you were gloomy. He always cheered you up, gave you butterflies with his simple gestures towards you. You felt pure joy and happiness every night as the genasi let you huddle up to his side for warmth, Kremy on the other.

“Ya ready?”

You blinked from your state, looking up to the now standing Gideon Coal. You nodded and stood, finishing your roll before yawning. Gideon led the way towards the stairs, hands on his head for his full stomach. Kremy joined your side, gently nudging you to go up and join the genasi.

You smiled at the lizardfolk, who returned it back.

You skipped a step to meet Gideon’s side, who greeted you with a pat on the back.

It didn’t take any time at all before everyone was ready for bed. The four were all cuddled in bed, Torbek on the very edge and half hanging off, Hootsie laying on the foot of the bed in Gricko’s area, and Frost and Gricko comfortably nestled. They all fell asleep rather quickly, soft snores filling the room.

The couch was a pull out, which Twig securely made for the four of you to lay on. Gideon laid in the middle, taking the most space. His arms were spread to the sides, Kremy on his right side on the edge of the bed while you were tucked into the middle with Twig on your other side. It was comfortable, but mostly because of Gideon being your pillow.

You were having a hard time sleeping, however. You were overcome with loud snores throughout the room, and the mattress below you was very uneven. You kept tossing and turning, unable to fully relax like you wanted. Once you did find a position, your back was towards the genasi and you were sprawled out in an odd position.

You hummed in tiredness, sleepy from all of the events of the day. You let your eyes droop, relaxing your body to finally fall asleep, as hard as it was.

Right before you did, you jerked up at the touch of a small rattle of your shoulder. You tiredly opened your eyes and blinked, sleepily yawning before turning to look over your shoulder. Kremy’s head laid on Gideon’s chest, looking at you while Gideon’s half lidded eyes looked at you too.

Gideon smiled at you and gently patted his stomach, murmuring to you just loud enough to be heard over the snores. “C’mere,” he pet his belly in a tired daze, clearly previously asleep at some point. You slowly sat up, blinking in slight confusion before the genasi patted his belly once more. “Pillow time.”

You giggled a little at his sleepy talk, slowly shifting over as he yawned. You climbed over his leg, adjusting on the genasi as he sleepily held your shoulder to balance you. Once you found a comfortable position, you laid on his warm stomach happily. Kremy readjusted on Gideon’s chest, shifting more into his side. Now you were all warm and cozy.

Twig took this chance while she slept, sprawling herself out like a starfish and snoring louder as if it was a sigh of relief, then returning to her soft snores before. You giggled at it, yawning as you relaxed into the body of Gideon Coal.

You felt the familiar hand of Gideon run to your upper back, gently rubbing it in a sleepy massage. He muttered something before falling right back asleep, his gentle grip holding you with him. You felt an unfamiliar hand wrap around your middle back, which made your lazy eyes peel open just slightly to see Kremy holding you as well.

“G’night, {y/n}.” The lizardfolk whispered, sleep overtaking him.

You hummed in acknowledgement, eyes closing completely. “G’night.”

-~-~-~-

The cool breeze blew around you all. The damp ground squashed beneath every step. You huddled next to Gideon, rubbing your arms as an attempt to keep yourself warm from the winds. It was silent as everyone traveled, only the sounds of wet leaves and mud and the whistle of the wind. The trees above swayed, dancing along with one another in unison.

You looked up, looking past the leaves to study the greyed skies. You frowned, realizing that this was most likely more than a dull day. You knew a storm was coming, though not knowing if it was snow or rain, you looked forward to look at Kremy.

Kremy had been leading the way, Gideon just slightly behind the lizardfolk as always, guarding him from the mystery of the woods. You looked slightly back from the genasi, thinking about the day so far.

Behind you, Torbek slumped in slow yet large strides. His arms hung low, his claws tracing the wet ground now and again. If it wasn’t for the almost constant state of sadness on his face, he’d easily make for a terrifying body guard to anyone. Twig sat on his shoulder, happily knitting away on a new project she was determined to finish. Frost, Gricko and Hootsie were in the back, Gricko riding on Hootsie’s back as the tabaxi and goblin quietly conversed amongst themselves.

You felt a gentle tug on your shirt, which made you look behind your shoulder to meet the bugbear who consistently looked over you. He bent down, much more than usual, trying to meet your height more comfortably without accidentally throwing Twig off. He tucked his arms in, crossing them loosely.

“What is it Torbek?” You asked quietly, slowing your pace a bit to leave the vicinity of Gideon and Kremy. Torbek tapped his fingers together in a nervous motion. You noticed Gideon glancing back at the loss of your presence, though paid no mind once he noticed you and Torbek conversing.

Torbek’s ears flattened against his head slightly, as if slightly ashamed. “Um, well Torbek was wondering if Mx. {y/n} knew how long it would be until the next town?”

You smiled softly at the bugbear, attempting to ease his worry. “Oh, well Kremy said that about an hour ago that we should be there before sundown.”

Torbek nodded, glancing up towards where Kremy was. “Okay,” Torbek’s eyes wavered to the surrounding woods, which you followed absentmindedly. “Torbek doesn’t want to be stormed on is all.”

You nodded in agreement, gently patting his hand. “I don’t think Kremy would let us, I trust he’ll make the call on that.”

Torbek nodded again, smiling slightly before standing back up to his usual slouch. You skipped back up to Gideon’s side, careful not to step on Kremy’s evenly swaying tail. Gideon looked down at you, quirking an eyebrow in quiet inquiry.

“Torbek was just wondering when we’d be at the next town,” you told him with a shrug, laying your head onto his bicep as you walked. Gideon reached an arm around and patted your shoulder in acknowledgement. He gave a small squeeze of a side hug, which gave you a boost of warmth.

Suddenly, Kremy stopped in his tracks. You and Gideon almost ran into his back, stopping just in time before you did. Torbek, however, fumbled and bumped into both you and Gideon before catching himself. You consequently bumped into Kremy, who turned around and crossed his arms. You gave a small guilty smile, comedically wiggling your fingers as hello.

Kremy paid no mind, looking up to the sky and taking his pocket watch from his tailcoat pocket and opened it to look at the time. Without looking up, he hummed. “We’re gonna have to camp here tonight,” Kremy said as he clicked his pocket watch closed. “We’re about two hours from town, but the storm is about to hit. We will set back out in the morning when the storm is gone.”

Torbek whined a little, which he stopped as Gricko immediately cheered him up with positivity. You nodded, escaping Gideon’s side hug to properly stand beside him. “Should we set up the big tent? Or prepare a shelter?”

Kremy put his pocket watch away, tapping his claws along the skull of his cane. “This storm might be a doozy, I think we should have a quick roof built between these trees here to keep the area we’ll be sleeping on drier.”

Gricko and Hootsie bounced about, Gricko jumping onto Torbek’s arm and pulling the poor bugbear towards the trees. “C’mon Torbek! Let’s make that platform! Hootsie and I will teach you how to do it!”

With a groan of slight defiance, Torbek followed his goblin companion and his daughter into the woods. Twig flew off of Torbek’s shoulder and joined Frost. Frost dropped his bag, rummaging through his items and setting the usual camp supplies down. Everyone always had their designated chores when it came to camping, which was never necessarily assigned, but willingly done due to the skills the groups had.

Torbek was tall and could reach the thick, large branches or small yet tall and thick trees that he could tear out of the ground. He could also carry a lot of things in his arms, even if they were quite hefty. Along with this, Gricko was the carpenter of the group. While it wasn’t like his wood widdling, he still grew to learn the right woods that worked best in shelter and learned to make efficient mini shelters with just the environment around them. Hootsie loved helping her father, doing anything she can to help out when she wanted.

Frost was the ‘architect’ when it came to the shelters, calculating the best and proficient ways to structure the shelters for the night. He made the guidelines and Gricko and his group did the rest. Frost would then set up other shelter things after that, such as the cooking ware. Once the cooking ware came in, either Kremy or Twig got to work. They’d start the food while the others all worked, having the food ready by the time the shelter was finished.

Kremy looked at you and the genasi, beginning to take his tailcoat off. “Gid, can you go and get some firewood please? If ya find some berries along the way please pick some. Oh, and {y/n} better go with you, the more firewood the better.”

Kremy smiled at you softly, folding up his tailcoat neatly and setting it on an elevated rock. Gideon nodded and nudged you, grunting out an “on it” to the lizardfolk before walking into the woods. You followed in tow, looking back towards Kremy who was rolling up his sleeves then turning to talk with Twig.

You caught up to the genasi, looking around for good wood that didn’t appear as damp as the ground. Gideon did the same, reaching up to yank on an already dead branch.

“Is it just me or is Kremy in a weird mood?” You asked suddenly, mostly out of curiosity than anything. You saw the genasi shrug, inspecting the branch he just tore off before tucking it under his arm.

“I’d say he kinda is, but he’s probably just tired more than anythin’. I think some things are weighing on his mind, but I don’t blame him at all after the whole Remy Garou shit.” Gideon grabbed some branches he saw, inspecting them and then tucking them under his arm again as he spoke.

“I guess that’s fair,” you nodded, grabbing some sticks and dried leaves that you figured would be good fire starters. “I hope he’s alright.”

Gideon snapped a long stick to break it down. “He’ll be a’right, if it gets to be too much I’ll help him out,” he turned to smile a bit at you. “How about you, eh? You’ve been actin’ strange too after the last town we were in. Somethin’ happen?”

You blinked in surprise, adjusting your grip on your bundle of small branches and sticks. “Well, not anything bad no,” you admitted, handing Gideon a broken branch for him to hold in his occupied hand and heat up. Gideon quirked an eyebrow, quietly asking what you meant by that. You gave a nervous smile. “Kremy and I talked a bit, it wasn’t anything bad, it was just a little confusing I guess?”

Gideon shrugged, taking your answer. The branch stud in his hand had burned to charcoal, which he stuffed in the small bag around his belt. “Well, as long as ya both don’t hate each other.”

You laughed a little, shaking your head and waving your hands. “No no, of course not!”

There seemed to be relief in his expression, the worry of the possibility no longer weighing heavy on him. Was he really worried that you and Kremy hated each other? Was there something that the both of you did to instill that worry into him?

“Good, I don’t want my two favorite people hatin’ each other. That would be pretty rough, haha!” He had a tinge of a hidden worry in his tone, though he sighed and released it. He grabbed some more items, not so much looking at them as in depth as he did before.

You paused your collecting, looking at the genasi as he continued forward. His back was turned towards you, bending down every now and then. You gripped your bundle just barely, watching his back for a moment.

“Hey, Gideon?” You asked cautiously, watching as the genasi carefully straightened up and partially turned to you. He watched you carefully, head slightly tilted in wonder. “What do you mean by that? Favorite people being me and Kremy, I mean.”

Gideon fully turned to you, only just realizing what he said. He took a minute to think before he stumbled over his words, trying to figure out what to say. He then sighed, his shoulder slouching a bit in semi-defeat.

He stepped towards you, keeping his grip nice and still on his own bundle. You opened your mouth to speak again, either in question or to take back your previous question, though Gideon started before you did.

“Kremy an’ I have been traveling together for years, about ten. We’ve gone through a lot of situations, thick and thin. We learned a lot about each other, and we learned that we can’t be without each other after it all. I wouldn’t want it any other way, I owe Kremy that,” Gideon’s smile softly appeared, his eyes half lidded as if something on his mind weighed them down once again. “An’ I’ll be honest, despite traveling with you for only a year, I’ve felt similar with you.”

You blinked in surprise, not expecting those words at all to come out of him. You knew that Kremy and Gideon were close, practically inseparable. You didn’t know just how important they meant to each other until now. You finally realized just how much they downplayed their relationship with one another to everyone. You shifted in your spot, glancing down at the realization. Everything made sense now.

Gideon sat his bundle down, noticing your face. He placed the side of his finger below your chin, making you look up at him. There was a sheepish look on his face, the other hand scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “A’right, look, don’t get all sad on me now,” he tried. “I ain’t good with words, I’m sorry if that came out wrong. Look, uh,” he cleared his throat and awkwardly placed the hand that tilted your head up on your shoulder, patting it. “I care about you a lot, like I care about Kremy. Don’t get sad, c’mon, this ain’t some love triangle or nothin’ I promise.”

You blinked, trying to understand what he was trying to say despite the confusion of it all. “You like me though, don’t you?”

Gideon nodded, taking your pile from your arm and setting it with his own. He took your hands in his, slight embarrassment still on his face. “I like you, hell I think I love you,” he confessed, rubbing the tops of your hands with his thumbs in a soft massage. “I wanna be that warm pillow for ya every night, basically.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, snorting at the cute yet slightly awkward confession. You smiled up at him, squeezing his hands in content. “Mr. Coal, you’re the best pillow I’ve ever had,” you half joked, which made him snicker. “I really like you, I haven’t really been trying to hide it at all, so I’m surprised you’re just now confessing.”

“Me? Confess? You’ve got the wrong guy,” he joked, which you laughed softly to. You felt the softness in his tone, in his hands as he held you. “I usually wait for the one givin’ me the doe eyes to come up first.”

“Well that’s where this all got screwed up then,” you joked, laying your forehead on his chest. The genasi wrapped his arms around your back, holding you close. “But you can make it up to me if you give me extra dessert next time.”

Gideon laughed, his chest falling up and down in glee from your arrangement. He rubbed your upper back, patting it before leaning into you happily. “A’right, fine, extra dessert.”

You hummed in joy, relaxing completely into his warmth.

He’s so stupid. It’s all you could think of towards the genasi with a smitten smile on your face.

You heard the hiss of singed ember fill your ears. Then another. You felt Gideon sigh and pat your back again, the texture of his beard rough against your forehead as he pulled away to kiss your forehead. Your face heated up, listening to the singed hisses as rain drops began to fall from the sky, evaporating once they hit the embers on his head.

“Let’s get back to camp, we need some fire started before all of this firewood gets wet,” he said, quickly and easily scooping up the conjoined firewood you both had gathered. “We don’t wanna be late for dinner.”

You smiled up at him, taking some of the pile for yourself to carry.

-~-~-~-

The soothing massage on your abdomen lulled you awake, groaning in response. The hand that held you rubbed circles into your stomach now, the genasi’s face buried into your hair.

“Mornin sunshine,” he chuckled softly, which you hummed in response to. He kissed the back of your head before he sat up. He stretched, yawning. “Kremy made some breakfast in the inn kitchen.”

You turned to your back, watching the genasi get out of bed. You sleepily admired his bed head, chuckling at how disheveled he looked as he woke up. You were sure you were the same, but it was much funnier on Gideon.

“Didn’t he say he was making waffles?” You asked, sitting up and yawning just as your boyfriend had. He put on his clean shirt, looking around for his comb.

“Think so,” he replied, finding his comb and beginning to fix his hair. He sat back on the bed by your feet, itching his beard. “I want some chocolate chip ones if he did end up making them.”

You chuckled, crawling out of bed to get ready for the day. For once, the group was able to have seperate rooms for pairs. You and Gideon shared a room, while Torbek and Twig shared another, Gricko and Hootsie in a third, and Frost and Kremy in the last. Everyone enjoyed each other's company, and it was very comfortable overall.

As you found your clothes to change into for the day, you felt muscular arms wrap around your middle from behind. You straightened up, leaning yourself into the chest of the fighter. He buried his face into your neck, humming as he swayed the both of you side to side. “We don’t have to rush, it’s pretty early still.” He murmured into your neck.

You hummed in agreement, swaying with the genasi. In an instant, you were lifted and playfully tossed onto the bed. You giggled, rolling onto your back as the genasi held you down by your shoulders gently. He then proceeded to try to tickle you, which made you erupt into squeals.

You struggled against his grip, his assault on your sides and neck too much to bare. Once you had an opening, you went to jab at his ribs, knowing he was ticklish there. He was caught by surprise, tucking himself in in defense at the attack. You continued to poke and prod, tickling him. You weren’t expecting his next attack on you, holding your wrists and pinning them to your sides.

You struggled against him, still laughing. “Hey! That’s no fair!” You whined, a fake frown on your lips. Gideon smiled wide at that, inching closer to your face.

“I think it is,” he pecked your nose, his grin widening. “I think I win.” He pecked your lips, which you huffed when he pulled away. He chuckled then kissed you, which you happily returned.

~-~-~

Your heavy eyelids consumed your features. The sound of whistling wind echoed in your ears, rippling against the canopy above. You felt the cold ground spring up, making you silently curse to yourself for improperly fastening the padding. You sighed, closing your eyes for what felt like the thousandth time.

Sleep didn’t come.

It was late, or rather early. No matter how much you traveled from dusk till dawn, no matter the extra filling of warm helpings of dinner, your body wasn’t allowing you rest. It’s not like it was the only time, it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

With a defeated gruff, you sat up and spooned your hands into your lap, dipping your head in lazy defeat. What else could you do other than finally give up? If you fell asleep now, you were sure to oversleep. There was a lot of traveling left to do until the next town, there was no point.

“Another night?”

You lifted your head over towards the tabaxi that sat on the far side of the campfire, his ribboned journal in hand with a pencil in the other. His golden eyes lazed over you, not exactly bored, but not entertained in the slightest. His hood was down, a rare sight for the tabaxi, and his tail loosely curled around his feet. His ears lazily responded to any sounds of the forest all around you, though his body remained still.

You looked towards the dying fire, frowning. Sitting in a much more comfortable position for yourself, you nodded soundlessly in response. The tabaxi softly closed his journal, ribbon marking the page he left off on, before he stashed it away into his bag which sat beside him.

“Is there a reason?”

You didn’t look away from the fire, your mentality smoothie-fied due to the lack of rest for the past 24 hours, maybe more. Sometimes there was a reason, sometimes there just wasn’t. What was it this time? Nothing came to mind, of course.

“No,” you meekly replied, throat hoarse from the lack of talking for however many hours everyone had been laying down for. You turned your head over to Frost, who’s arms were now loosely crossed across his chest with his eyes closed. “Did you know I was awake?”

“I did, yes,” he opened his eyes again, golden eyes on you. The glint of the dying fire lit them up more. “Though, I have never known you to want to be disturbed when you are actively trying to rest, even if you can’t.”

You hummed in response, looking over the others who also laid under the canopy. They were all in their little piles, the sounds of Gideon’s and Gricko’s snores echoing around the area with the background of fire cracklings. Once you knew they were all contently asleep, you brought yourself to your feet.

Sensing your quiet request, Frost gave a silent nod and gestured to the placement beside him with the flick of his tail. You walked over, careful to mind your step over Torbek’s long arm and Kremy’s tail, before you sat beside the sorcerer.

It was a comfortable silence, the snoring of your friends with the crackling of a dying fire, the nocturnal forest life around you, and the soft little thumps here and there from Hootsie’s ‘sleep stompies.’ The silence with Frost was always comfortable, you couldn’t deny that. No matter what, if you had to deal with not talking to anyone for one hundred years, you’d choose to do it with Frost.

The wind blew, icing your exposed skin. You held yourself, letting out a chilled huff.

“Would you like a blanket?”

“No thanks, I’m okay,” you responded a little too quickly, earning a curious slight turn of the tabaxi’s head, his eyebrow quirked. You swallowed a bit, realizing you were suddenly a little thirsty. “I’ll be alright for now, just a little wind.”

The tabaxi was silent for a moment, thoughts undoubtedly stirring in his head. “I don’t mean to intrude,” he started cautiously, as if choosing his words wisely. “However I have noticed lately how restless you’ve been. Not just in a sleepless sense, but even when you’re awake you seem.. disturbed, mayhaps a little distracted. If I may, I want to ask what is really on your mind.”

You licked your lips a little, avoiding the tabaxi’s eyes. It was true, you guess you had been pretty.. out of sorts lately. With the recent stressors of the carnival being ran to shambles, and only a week—maybe a week and a half to be generous—of constant, agonizing stress and mental gymnastics and physical wear and tear. It was getting to you, was it not for everyone else? Was everyone else not being hammered with constant anxiety being here? Other than Torbek of course, he was anxious even before this hellfire. You knew Kremy was worried about his debts being paid to Garou, wasn’t everyone? But that seemed to be the only thing really weighing him down, though you were sure it wasn’t due to how well he hid everything else. Neat, precise, just how he wants it.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Brought to reality from your thoughts, you looked at Frost. His hands laid neatly in his lap, legs crossed and his tail curled around him. His half lidded eyes hooded his full expression, his body undoubtedly also tired from his night watch shift. It was a sincere question, his mind was grinding, you could see it in the ways his fingers twitched here and there, tail tip in tow.

“Any great ideas?” You humored, wanting to know what he’d come up with. Part of you already knew there wasn’t much hope, you tried pretty much everything yourself. Exercise, background noise, winding down with a book or scribbling, herbs, teas, it never worked. Maybe there was something you never tried, something he’d offer and it would help. The other part of you hoped Frost would come to your exhausted rescue.

Frost was silent for a moment, his eyes drifting to the side for just a moment. “Have you ever, perhaps.. talked your exhaustion out? As in talking until your body gives in? Or, perhaps if you wouldn’t like that, maybe have someone massage your shoulders?” He looked back at you. “I have heard it works for some individuals. I know talking often works best for Kremy, and massaging works best for Gideon when he has his difficult nights. Everyone is different, I’m sure if those don’t work something else will.”

You gave him a confused look, never having heard about those options before. You supposed they made sense, though you weren’t sure if they’d work. You yawned, used to the lack of oxygen to your brain at this time of night/morning. You shrugged at his suggestions, neither denying nor accepting either option to try.

Frost turned his attention to the fire, humming softly. The both of you sat there for a moment, comfortable silence surrounding you.

You looking up at the tabaxi, titling your head just slightly in your tired curiosity. “Would you like to do that?”

“Me?” He looked at you again, surprise in his golden eyes.

You nodded, shifting slightly closer and tenderly laying your head on his shoulder. “I can take watch,” you offered. “I can help you sleep.”

“I am not as tired as you think I am,” Frost spoke softly, the snaking of his tail wrapping around your waist tickling you. He laid his head against yours, a sigh escaping his nose. “Besides, I offered to help you, it would be rude to turn it towards myself.”

You laughed a little, shaking your shoulders as you did so. You looked down at the tabaxi’s lap, gently placing a hand over his paw. You felt the sorcerer relax when you did, his tail curling around you tighter. “Then let’s help each other?” It came out as a question more than a statement, a request.

Frost loved requests.

“I like that arrangement,” he thrilled out, a quiet excitement. He turned his upward, meeting your hand roll into his palm. He held your hand, rubbing the back of it in a gentle massaging motion. You closed your eyes, relaxing into the feeling of Frost beside you. “Would you like it if we wake Kremy for his watch shift?”

You hummed, trying to form a proper thought in your mind. A tired ‘nah’ rolled off of your tongue, turning your head to bury your face into his arm. Frost chuckled softly, carefully adjusting his body so his chest would face you. You happily obliged, lazily crawling half into his lap, legs sprawled out behind you and everything else on the tabaxi. He chuckled again, wrapping his arms around you and holding you to his chest. He laid down, stretching out his own legs from their previously crossed position. He gently began to run claws through your hair, careful not to nic you on any knots or bumps.

“If cuddling someone is all you need, you could have always asked,” Frost quietly played, earning a very tired chuckle from you. You nuzzled into his chest more, arms wrapping around his torso. “I’m sure anyone would be happy to oblige.”

You hummed in acknowledgement, eyes closing on their own. Frost continued to brush your hair tenderly with his claws, his other paw rubbing gentle circles into your middle back. Soon, you heard a rumbling, felt a rumbling. You were confused for a moment, only to realize it was coming from Frost’s chest. He was purring, soft yet deep in his chest. God, was it music to your ears.

“I think I like yours the best,” you sleepily slurred. This earned a gentle rub to your spine in acknowledgment, which you happily took. “Gideon is full muscle, not a pillow.. Kremy is Kremy.. Gricko snores the loudest.. Hootsie is fine, she just moves around a lot.. Torbek acts like if he moves an inch he’ll break me somehow.. and Twig moves more then Hootsie does-“

Frost chuckled, bouncing you as his chest did. “I’ve gotten so used to it all I barely notice,” Frost confessed, his hand rubbing up and down your spine in gentle and precise motions. “Sometimes I wake up with Gricko’s feet in my face and I can’t remember the last time I really cared that I did.”

You fake gagged at the thought, which Frost found amusing. You couldn’t imagine that, you’d probably gag as soon as you woke up.

Frost shifted, lifting you up slightly which made you squeak. You were brought up to his neck, which you found much cozier. You buried your face into his neck, letting the fuzziness of his fur embrace you happily. You used an arm to reach up and play with the fur between his ears, feeling the softness of it all.

“When was the last time you’ve really cuddled with someone?” You absentmindedly asked, curiosity on your sleepy mind. You have seen Frost lay with the group on the sleep piles, and you’ve seen Hootsie and Frost snuggled beside each other countless times, but when was the last time the tabaxi has really held someone like this?

Frost hummed, leaning into your land for a moment. “I’m not quite sure, it’s been a very long time.”

“Why cuddle with me right now?” His tail beat against the ground softly with a soft ‘thud.’ You noticed his stuttering of movements on your back, though they didn’t stop. He seemed to have not been expecting that question.

You leaned away, supporting yourself on an arm to look the tabaxi in the face. He held your side up for some support, meeting your eyes, observing your eyes. His fur was slightly fluffed, something only someone he was close to would notice, it was so small.

He didn’t speak, only watched. You could see how his eyes moved that he was thinking, though what of? You didn’t quite understand, though you new the tabaxi never reacted this way unless there was a reason.

“Frost?” You called him to reality. He blinked. “Is there something wrong?”

“No, of course not,” he answered honestly. “I just am.. debating how to properly put my words together.”

You smiled, playfully booping his nose. “Aw, don’t tell me you have a crush on me, Morning,” You were only teasing, playing around, though there was a flicker in Frost’s eyes. What was that? Fear? Anxiety? Morning Frost, anxious? You sat up, hands on his chest as you cradled him. “Wait, Frost, do you?”

Frost stayed laid down for a while, seemingly not sure what to say for a moment. He then sat up to join you, looking you in the eyes. “Yes,” he confessed softly. “I’m very sorry if that upsets you, I understand if this changes your image of me.”

You furrowed your brows, huffing and using a hand to take one of Frost’s arms and feel to take a hold of his hand. You held his hand to your stomach, offering him a soft smile. Frost looked at you, an unknown emotion in his eyes.

“Frost, that doesn’t change shit,” you smiled at him, laughing a little. He smiled a little in return. “Would I be snuggling up with you right now if I didn’t like you? Nonetheless cradling you? Frost, c’mon.” You both laughed a little. He sat up straighter, adjusting you to sit properly in his lap. He supported your back, watching your facial expressions carefully, tail neatly secured around your waist.

“I suppose not,” his smile faded slightly, his eyes shying away from yours. You caught it, just barely, but there was hesitation in his expression. You used a hand to gently hold his cheek, running your fingers through the beard-like fur there. He leaned into it, humming in satisfaction. He cupped that hand, gently grazing the top of it with his thumb. He turned his head, hesitating, before planting a very gentle and prominent kiss against the ball of your palm. It caused heat to flush your face, but you didn’t pull away. He noticed your reaction, pulling your hand from his cheek. “Was that too forward?”

You stammered to find words, flustered and surprised. Frost frowned, shifting immediately to try and set you off of his lap. You grabbed his arms, making him pause. You stopped for just a moment, admiring him as the rising sun and began to frame his perfect features. There wasn’t much room to think between the slight panic and the gummed sleep deprivation you suffered from.

You kissed him.

He paused, surprised by your gesture before he melted into the kiss. You let his arms go, freeing him and allowing him to properly hold you, one arm was wrapped around your middle, the other loosely just below the back of your neck. His tail was wrapped around your waist, the tip rhythmetically tapping against your thigh in contentment.

And boy, could that man purr.

He carefully pulled away from the kiss, a prominent upward smile on his lips. His ears were fluffed, forward facing you. His pupils were large, the gold accenting the black core in the middle. If he wasn’t a six foot predator you would have thought he was a kitten with how excited he looked.

You smiled sheepishly. “Stay a while?”

Frost glanced towards the now stirring pile, knowing it was almost time for Kremy to get up on schedule. He gently took your hand and kissed your knuckles, then very gently your forehead. Your face flushed at each kiss.

“Gladly. Now, should we wake Kremy up so you can at least take a nap? I’ll carry you if you’d like me to when we travel.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, the sun orange and pristine. “Only if you agree to be my boyfriend.”

The tabaxi’s tail flicked, whiskers twitching.

Legends of Avantris; Once Upon a Witchlight

Torbek;

A-Z Fluff Headcanons

Morning Frost;

Frostbitten Stars

Sick Day

A-Z Fluff Headcanons

Stay A While?

Frost Flirting W/ You ;; Drabble/Infodump

Gideon Coal;