#willsion

ITS DONE!!!!!!! The kingdom of Celestia and their alliance with the Five Noble Guys :)

Ashen, FlameFrags’ beloved wolf, was prancing around the small grassy field Lomedy had left unfarmed specifically for the pup and his owner who liked to use the area as a napping spot.

In the eyes of Lomedy and Flame, Ashen was a puppy that couldn’t do any wrong. To the rest of the server, Ashen was a beast that had more kills than an average player. The wolf knew the taste of player blood and thrived on it just like his owner.

At the current moment, Flame was laying on the ground dazed and entranced by the sky. The tiger hybrid had his blindfold off and his glasses on. His glasses were similarly colored to his outfit around the colors of red, yellow, orange, and black. He was also in a skin-tight turtleneck with a sweater blouse that Lomedy had made him. Serene is how Lomedy would describe Flame’s expression, his eyes hyper focused on a cloud passing by. Ashen was still happily prancing a few feet away from the tiger.

Lomedy walked over from where he was farming to where Flame was laying. Sitting down next to the tiger, running his hands through the tiger’s dreads gently.

“Feeling better?”

A humming sound came from Flame giving Lomedy the okay that Flame was doing better than before. The deer moved his hand from Flame’s hair to hold the tiger’s ever fidgety fingers. They both knew Flame was incapable of fully relaxing unless sedated or on the verge of exhaustion. Every little moment Flame did to keep himself occupied that wasn’t fighting made the deer proud as it meant the cub was learning.

Leaning down, Lomedy kissed the tiger’s forehead.

“You’re doing so well. Thank you for trying. Also what do you want for lunch?”

Happy sounds, Flame did like praise, but was also so picky on which type of praise was okay to him. The tiger liked the compliments Lomedy gave him and often showed that he liked it by being playful and touchy. Lomedy knew words weren’t Flame’s strong suit and accepted that the tiger found other ways to show his affection besides service too. Service, gifting, and physical touch are all ways Flame shows affection to Lomedy. The only issue the deer has with Flame about his affection is that Flame sometimes pushes himself to do things that make himself uncomfortable for Lomedy’s sake. Once Lomedy found Flame attempting to converse with a few of Lomedy’s other friends, who were around the farm sometimes, to figure out what Lomedy needed so he could go get them from Merchant City. Socializing and interacting with unfamiliar people makes the tiger uncomfortable especially if he doesn’t know the people he’s talking to personally.

The deer poked the tiger’s cheek to get his attention.

“You never told me what you wanted for lunch, silly.”

Before Flame could respond a voice coming from the entrance of the farm interrupted the moment. It was painful for both hybrids to listen to especially Flame since he was just recovering from all the Law battle injuries which included his hearing which had been injured from Wemmbu fucking nukes. Lomedy rubbed his lover’s head, comforting the poor tiger who just needed and wanted a break.

Turning his head to see who was making all the noise, Lomedy sighed in both relief and annoyance that it was Spongs and Willsion. They weren’t threats to their well beings. The deer felt the tiger nuzzling his head into his shoulder, Lomedy held the tiger feeling the tension. Poor baby just wanted to be thoughtless for a moment.

Spongs and Willsion moved to where the duo were sitting in the grass. The sponge and human weren’t aware of the wolf playing around near the duo.

“Awe~ look at you two being adorable.”

Flame’s ears twitched in pain at Spongs’ comment. Everything Spongs said typically wouldn’t cause Flame to be in pain and normally make him annoyed, but everything was louder than normal right now. Even Ashen figured out that Flame’s hearing was hurting so was using physical touches and notions to get what he wanted. Lomedy rubbed Flame’s head a bit harder to ground the tiger.

Willsion noticed how Flame and Lomedy weren’t talking as much and tried something.

“What are you both doing?”

The human’s voice was quiet and not as harsh as Spongs’ voice. Flame’s ears didn’t twitch or flatten in response. Realizing what was clearly happening in the current moment, Willsion smacked Spongs’ head then dragged him a bit away from the duo, but came back moments later. Spongs mumbled an apology for yelling and hurting Flame inadvertently. Lomedy chuckled softly as leave it to Willsion to make Spongs fall into line. Willsion cared for the tiger for one reason and it was that Flame cared enough to not kill them for annoying him which meant he had to repay him somehow.

“We accept the apology. Flame isn’t going to speak much. You both are welcome to join us in sitting here though.”

The sponge was curious on why Flame was acting and looking so different. Almost as if hearing his thoughts before they were said, Willsion flicked Spongs’ head as if saying ‘Don’t say anything insulting’. Ashen, who noticed there were new people, came over to Flame’s side, nuzzling into the tiger’s side. Flame pulled back from Lomedy’s embrace to give Ashen affection. Leave it to the tiger to constantly undermine his own worth to put his child before himself. The deer let the tiger pull back knowing giving Ashen affection was also very soothing for the tiger.

Willsion looked petrified the moment he saw Ashen. Spongs seemed ready to cause mischief with the wolf. Flame had his back toward the duo, so he didn’t see their faces. Ashen rubbed his head against Flame’s cheek wanting to comfort his parent.

The relationship between Flame and Ashen is quite strange since Flame’s a tiger hybrid, a solitary hybrid, while Ashen is a literal wolf pup. Flame found Ashen a few years back, left behind by his pack for being the runt of the pack. The wolf quickly imprinted onto Flame like a child would to a parent and the tiger had a learned instinct to care for something as he was raised by a lion hybrid, ManePear, who was his older brother.

Lomedy reached out and scratched behind Ashen’s ear, a spot Ashen loved to be scratched. The tiger never did scratches scared he might hurt the pup. Ashen moved to sit more guarding in front of Flame since Flame had no combat equipment on him meaning both him and Lomedy were sitting ducks in this situation. Also Flame’s blindfold was off which meant to Ashen it was his turn to be on guard. Noticing that the pup was on guard, Flame gave him the command ‘semis’ which was the command to be relaxed and guarded. Right away Ashen obeyed and went back to nuzzling into the tiger keeping Flame grounded with the weight.

Willsion still scared by Ashen as the pup is monstrously large for a dog, but smaller than a wolf.

“What is it?”

“Firstly, he is not an it. Secondly, he is a wolf.”

Oh Willsion didn’t like the semi-harsh tone the tiger used when he referred to the wolf as it. He quickly took notice to not insult the wolf in any form to avoid being hurt by the tiger hybrid. Lomedy spoke up to properly establish the boundaries.

“This is Ashen, Flame’s child/pet wolf. You can feed him raw meat if you have any. Don’t make any threatening notions toward Flame or you will be jumped by Ashen—”

“Oh what harm could a small wolf like that do?”

Spongs did not know the horrors Ashen could bestow upon a poor victim. Lomedy has seen the horrors first hand as when some bandits attempted to rob the farm when Flame was out at Merchant City. Ashen had ripped through the flesh of the first bandit that tried to attack Lomedy.

Shrugging the memories off, Lomedy pulled his hand back and got up.

“Ashen can do a lot of damage Spongs and Willsion you're here to teach me how to trap right?”

“Yesgoing I am here for that, just keep the wolf away from me.”

The deer and human walked to another part of the farm to go practice trapping leaving the tiger, wolf, and sponge alone. Flame was occupied with giving Ashen affection that he didn’t notice the sponge hybrid moving to sit next to him. Ashen nudged Flame’s hand with his nose to make the tiger notice Spongs. The two looked at each other for a moment before either of them decided to speak up and the first to speak up was none other than the sponge hybrid.

“So what tricks can he do?”

Flame ignored him, or at least that’s what Spongs thought as Flame was just spaced out and focused on Ashen for the moment. Spongs took that silence as an insult and was about to holler at the tiger, but when he saw Ashen bare his teeth at him for looking wrong at Flame. He got second thoughts and realised even if Flame wasn’t going to do anything, Ashen might and since Flame clearly would give Ashen the benefit of the doubt for killing him. The tiger hybrid reached out and gave the wolf a physical command to calm down which Ashen responded to instantly turning the protective demeanor into a sleepy one as the wolf laid down into the tiger’s lap for a nap.

It was both a relief and terrifying realization that the wolf would back down easily to Flame’s commands. Spongs backed off on the teases just enough, but made playful less threatening quips every now and then to annoy Flame who seemed distracted by Ashen for the moment. It was strange for Flame to be vulnerable and open like this right now, but he was open and was allowing himself to be exposed. Maybe Spongs didn’t give the combat master a chance to prove he was just like him and the others. As the sponge hybrid liked annoying the tiger to remind he’s just as mortal as them despite being deemed “The Immortal Demon”.

The tiger moved to have his back against the sun, still very much sensitive to the direct sunlight. Spongs did take notice that Flame was trying to avoid exposing his eyes to the direct sun. He was curious as to why Flame was doing this.

“Why did you just move to face away from the sun?”

“Light sensitive. Worn the blindfold for many years, my eyes hurt in excessively lightened areas.”

That explained why so much of Lomedy’s house had those moderately expensive warm yellow lights instead of the cheap fluorescent lights every other player on Unstable had. He had for Flame’s comfort which made sense given that the farm basically acts as a home for the tiger. The combat master took off his glasses to wipe the lenses, Spongs knew what Flame’s eyes looked like as he and Willsion had spent the night with the duo once before with Flame had his blindfold off and glasses on. His eyes were like a canvas an artist painted, there was so much color and expression in the irises. The right eye was a red color that reminded Spongs of blood and the horrors the tiger had seen on the battlefield while the left eye was a warm orange that welcomed all who came near him.

Putting his glasses back on, he leaned down to kiss Ashen’s head. Flame truly did see Ashen as his child and was immensely protective over the pup. Spongs was starting to see the appeal of Ashen as the wolf was well behaved and generally well mannered.

“Can I pet him?”

Flame nods and straightens his back to allow Spongs to pet Ashen. The sponge hybrid reached out and petted the wolf, the fur was soft and clearly well kept by Flame’s love for Ashen.

When Willsion and Lomedy returned from their trapping session, they came back to an interesting scene. Flame was leaning against Spongs, the tiger was asleep while the sponge was petting Ashen. Maybe the four of them could get along together. Both Flame and Lomedy enjoyed Willsion’s presence and he was useful too. The issue had been with Spongs since Flame didn’t get along with the sponge, but it was clear now they just needed an opportunity to talk it out and have a common interest which turned out to be pets.

The deer walked to them and knelt down to speak.

“You able to move out? He gets clingy when he’s fully asleep.”

Spongs got up and Lomedy took his spot which Flame recognized who was supporting him while asleep. Once Flame knew it was Lomedy, the tiger leaned into the embrace and was calmer. Willsion walked over to Spongs and gave him a side hug to not leave him out of the moment. The moment was nice, all parties would agree. There had been time where both duos were against each other and at each other’s throats, but this was quite the opposite.

Change is something all of them knew was bound to happen. Positive change is not the change they all expected, but it wasn’t an unwelcome change.

Four different people, one wolf. Two sets of two shared bonding moments with the opposite party over an interest which was pets and trapping.

This might have been the change Lomedy and so many others wanted from Flame. The Immortal Demon being mortal and making memories without violence.

Team Celestia + Five Noble Guys alliance royal portrait WIP :)