Chapter Text
Rufioh Nitram, former second in cullmmand of the one-thousandth, nine-hundredth, and tenth Cavelreeper unit, now Terrorleader was… conflicted. He and his unit had just lost their Terrorleader Troll Will Smith’s Ancestor (he had a strange name) and now the Nitrem was running from his own promotion party to fly with his Lusus Heifer-Pan in a rather spacious cave on the coast. It was the only real place he could stretch his wings. He was nearly thirteen sweeps now, four since his trials to earn his life, the hardest days in his life. He was a mutant, winged and dammed to death the day he was found out... But they were a part of him, he felt in his soul that he was meant to fly, so when everything was to much he set his wings free and took flight.
He followed his mother’s guidance, swooping around ceiling spikes, and attempting loops in the air. Rufioh was better at this when he was young and unimportant to anything, his life in his hive spent in a cave like this where he could fly freely and hide if a Drone or Troll came unexpectedly.
Now he had a job, and more importantly he had friends, compatriots who would pay just as viciously as he would if that pair of wings were found. He had to hide his wings near twenty four seven, tight and painfully restrained, even as he slept in sopor… It was painful, but the extra effort it forced him to exert had earned him greater physical capabilities than others of his station, and usually made up for the distraction of his new importance.
Usually...
Then a tremor echoed through the earth, and in the Cavelreeper's blind spot, a spire from the ceiling plunged into the ground and clipping Heifer-Pan’s thigh as it did.
AT: mOM!!!
Rufioh swooped in to grab his Lusus as the shock sent her spiraling, only for a smaller spike to run right through his side. It forced him to the ground, but the pain was not the focus of the Bronze Blood’s mind as he watched his mother slip from his grip and hit the ground hard. She was nowhere near as hearty as him, and as he pulled the spire of rock from his side, he was forced to crawl to her. As his body refused to move as he wished, as the man pulled his caretaker into his arms, he took flight. It hurt too much to use his legs or his brain, so he flapped his wings and didn’t think about what would happen if he left the cave. He just did.
Rufioh couldn’t focus on anything other than his mother as he flew, using his ability to commune with beasts to see her mind and call out to any beast that could aid him... but his mind was so scattered he found no minds he could call on. Heifer-Pan's mind was slipping. The whole world was fading, the wound in his side severe and un-closed, but the only thing he could think as he collapsed was that his mother needed him. Before him was a small building he had never seen before, not that he regulated the beech, a cerulean blue boat turned building of some kind.
When he awoke, it was to a woman humming.
????: ~Across the seas she spun a we8 of tales 8inding sailor in dread, calling out to Comrades ho, Mind Fang Has Come To Feed~
~All Gold, All Jules, All 8ooks, All Fools, she gathered up all things she could “All of it 8elongs to me” All of every kind~
~Marquis Spinneret, a title spun, her own~
~Mind Fang, sylph of the sea, a story forever told~
AT: wHO,,, wHO ARE YOU,,,? wHERE’S MY lUSUS,,,?
The woman spun on her heal, a rather nerdy looking Cerulean with a robotic arm in her middle years of life, making her at least double Rufioh’s age.
MSMF: OH!, you're finally awake. I am the Li8rarian of this esta8lishment, 8ut you can call me Aranea Serket. What do I call you?
AT: uM,,, rUF1OH,,, mY mOM? mY lUUSUS,,, 1's SHE OK?
MSMF: Ah, yes, your little fairy 8ull mother, she’s recovering well in the other room-
Rufioh was sliding out of bed in a moment.
MSMF: Wait! Y-you’re still healing.
AT: sO,,,? 1 nEED TO,,, cHECK ON HER.
For a moment he felt her mind clutch as his, suddenly reminding him she was a Cerulean, but she let go before he could even feel more than the tinge of her touch. It was odd, odd because no Cerulean would Hesitate to contort a shit-blood to their will if they wanted.
AT: uM,,, yOU WANT ME TO,,, s1t DOWN AND HEAL,,, bUT YOU WON’T FORCE ME?
MSMF: It…….. It wouldn’t 8e right.
The Cavelreeper's jaw dropped at the concept and he just decided to do as she asked.
AT: oK,,,
Rufioh got up, ignoring the orders, and stepped into the next room, finding a massive reliquary of books and his mother breathing on a soft cot with her wounds patched. The Bronze blood raced to her, runing his hand over her head and thought over her mind. Alive... Not fading, and breathing.
AT: yOU,,, yOU SAVED HER,,, t-tHANK YOU BUT,,, wHY?
The smile he received was almost, predatory, it reminded Rufioh of the look he more often received from the Cerulean's he often had to report to, for a moment his pusher stopped as the idea she was going to pounce bubbled in his mind. Then the smile dropped, she held a metal hand to her face, and shook her head until her hand pulled away and revealed the sweet expression she had been wearing just moments before.
MSMF: N-Nothing, I want nothing from you........ Other than, perhaps, some friendly conversation.
AT,,, wHAT DO YOU WANT TO TALK ABOUT?
MSMF: Well, I would like to know what it feels like to fly.
Rufioh’s gabderbulbs went as wide as they could before he finally realized she had seen and understood what he was doing. She knew he was mutant, she Knew and… he wasn't scard. Despite it all, something about her was familiar on a level he couldn't name.
She wasn't dangerous,
AT: wWELL 1t’S VARY EXSAUST1nG,,, bUT L1kE A WORKOUT,,, aS 1n 1t FEELS GOOD,,, aND 1t’S EXH1lARAT1nG,,, l1kE WHEN THE W1nD 1s 1n YOUR HA1r BUT TEN T1mES THAT,,, 1t MAKES YOU FEEL L1kE,,, YOU’RE EXPER1eNC1nG THE K1nD OF TH1nG THAT’S ONLY 1n DREAMS!,, l1kE WHEN YOU’RE A K1d AND 1n YOUR COON AND FEEL WA1gHTLESS,,,
Aranea just smiled at him.
MSMF: That sounds 8eutifle my dear, now, rest........ I will go get us something to eat, all of us.
She left him in that room with his mother to wait and wonder why she wouldn’t answer. He was at her mercy, yet she was treating him so well, it was confusing.
It was all so confusing, so it brought him to one conclusion, he was in love.