Born To Be

Ok but what if ghouls didn't just automatically know English when they are first summoned and then usually their summoner and fellow ghouls teach them language.

Now imagine that because Phantom was summoned at such a complicated time for the pack (with Aether and Sunshine's eminent departure looming over them) that he never really gets taught how to speak.

Aurora pretty quickly bonds with the ghoulettes but because the ghouls (either accidentally or purposely) outcast Phantom he just only learns little bits that he catches in passing during band practice.

And they only notice when tour time comes around and they realise they've completely neglected this new ghoul and he can't understand a single thing anyone says to him.

Zoo.

Phantom: What are they in for?

Rain: What? No, this isn’t a prison Phan.

Phantom: So they can leave?

Rain: Well, no-…

Phantom: *points to a penguin* I bet that would one killed someone.

Mountain the type of mf to split you in half, make you come so hard you black out, then politely thank you for a nice evening

their combined powers were too great. he never stood a chance. rip king.

𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒂𝒚 14: 𝒔𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌

pairing(s): mountain/cumulus words: 829

special shoutout to @belle--ofthebrawl for the original inspo for this prompt. cause we all want snackies from a big schweepy guy <3

✿

“Luluuu . . .” Mountain’s congested voice carries weakly down the hallway. The bed creaks as he no doubt flops over to the other side of the mattress where she once was, his whine of disappointment sounding soon after. The air ghoulette shakes her head, pushing the door open. 

“What’s wrong, sunflower?” she coos, placing the steaming mug of honey green tea onto the nightstand. 

Mountain’s face scrunches up into a frown, eyes squeezing shut. His cheeks bare imprints of his pillow, and when he lifts his head up she can see his upper lip is shiny with mucus, and the corner of his mouth coated in drool. His ear flicks at the disheveled hair falling over it.

“You lef’ me,” he mumbles. “Woke up and you weren’ cuddlin’ me.” Clearly, he’s still highly feverish, if his combination mumbling/whining is anything to go by.

Cumulus just smiles. She thinks it’s cute, Mountain complaining like a human man with a cold. He’d never be so whiny otherwise.

“I went to get you more tea, baby,” she soothes, whipping up a cool breeze to waft over his forehead. He hums and plops his chin down onto the pillows. Cumulus huffs a laugh and sits down beside him. “You were snoring up a storm, didn’t think you’d wake up before I got back.” 

“Hmpf.” Mountain tosses the blanket over his head and turns around dramatically, pretending to shut her off. 

“I bring you tea, and this is the thanks I get?” she says, mock offended. 

There’s a pause. The earth ghoul peeks his head around his shoulder, side-eyeing her and the mug. “ . . . wha’ kind?”

Cumulus smiles softly. Leans in a little like she’s telling a secret. “Green tea with honey. A lemon slice. Don’t tell anyone, but I also put a dash of honeysuckle syrup in it, because I know my baby loves it.”

Mountain trills, ears perking up. “Gimme,” he demands, shuffling to sit up against the approximately five different pillows he’d stashed for optimal sleeping. He holds his hands out and scrunches them in the air. Cumulus hands the mug to him carefully to make sure he doesn’t drop it.

“Aethe warmed the water for me, so if it’s too hot, I’m innocent,” she chirps.

Mountain’s mouth turns down and his eyebrows turn up in the middle. “Aww,” he says appreciatively. He smiles down at the steaming liquid. “Aef . . .” 

“You know he always has to help.” 

Mountain hums in agreement. He takes an experimental sip, groaning when the hot tea slides easily down his throat. He takes a big gulp and closes his eyes after, sighing heavily and smiling at the ceiling. “Yummy,” he compliments. “‘S nice. Warm.” 

“I’m glad, baby,” she lilts, running her nails through his hair. It earns her a happy rumble, Mountain’s tail pitching up the blankets where it’s buried under the many layers. They share a pleasant, quiet moment: Mountain sipping on his tea and Cumulus scritching in all his favorite places. 

The peace of it is nearly broken, however, when Mountain’s eyes start to droop, and he nearly tips the mug over into his lap when his grip starts to go as lax as his jaw. 

“Oh!—hun, you’re gonna—” the air ghoulette saves the mug just before it slips from his fingers, hardly spilling a drop. 

Mountain snorts and jolts his head upright. “Huh?” 

“Didn’t want you to spill,” she says, setting the mug back onto the nightstand. “Sleepy boy.”

He blinks slowly, eyes lingering shut for just long enough that Cumulus is momentarily convinced he’s fallen right back asleep sitting up. “You made me seepy,” he accuses. Leaving out the ‘l’ like a kit unable to pronounce it any other way. 

Cumulus cuddles up, tucking him back into the blankets and pulling him to her chest. “Maybe seepy pup needs his rest then,” she says softly, scritching around his horns this time. He grumbles, but goes down easily. “There you go, baby,” she smiles. The grumble turns into a purr soon enough anyway, so it’s safe to say it was all token protest. 

Mountain mumbles something, twisting his body so he faces her instead. He looks up at her expectantly, despite the fact he aimed all of his words directly into her belly. 

“Yeees?” 

There’s that pout again, fever-addled brain continuing to render him as hopelessly cute. “Kissy, Lus,” he says, as if she heard him perfectly clear the first time. He wriggles his face closer to hers. 

“You’re sick. Nooo kissy on the lips.” She boops him on the nose with her finger. “You may have an air kiss, and I’ll make it feel just like the real thing.”

Mountain grumbles again, squinting at her.

“Sicky equals no kissy. I promise you as many kisses as you want when you’re better, okay, baby?”

The earth ghoul flops onto his back with a sigh. The end of it catches in his throat, though, and he’s sent into a coughing fit, squashing any further complaints. 

𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 ✿

Mushy May Day 17: Funny T-shirts

Sunny likes to poke fun at Swiss with custom t-shirts, much to his chagrin.

Thank you to @forlorn-crows for putting Mushy May together, and @ghuleh-recs for making the dividers! <3

The note for this in my outline was "a la mercer and riegel" if that makes sense to anyone lol.

Swiss looks up from his breakfast, a bowl of granola and berries and yogurt, as Sunny bounds into the kitchen, her copper curls bouncing as she enters with a suspicious spring in her step. "Hiya, spark!" She greets him, settling into one of the chairs across from him. Rain and Aurora look up as well, wishing the other multi-ghoulette a good morning.

His eyes settle on the collar of her oversized button up, clearly one of Aether's. "Morning, ember," he says, trying to copy her enthusiasm and not quite making it. "You go clothes raiding again?" He takes another bite of his breakfast, watching her expectantly. Something's not quite right here, button ups not usually Sunny's style.

She shrugs, still grinning, snatching the carafe of orange juice and pouring herself a glass. As Sunny leans to reach, the collar of the button up droops, revealing the hem of a bright orange t-shirt. Nothing more than that, but it's enough for Swiss's spoon to clink against his bowl as he buries his face in his hands.

"Another one, Sunny?" he groans. "How many shirts. Please."

Rain and Aurora turn, eyes brightening in intrigued laughter as Sunny takes a drink, smugly settling back in her chair.

"Now, Swissy, I have no idea what you could be talking about," she says, batting her eyelashes at him.

It's her favorite way to poke fun at him. Awful candid photos of him, blown up and custom printed somewhere online, hidden under zip up hoodies and button ups that she takes off to reveal like the world's most embarrassing strip tease. There have been ones taken while he's sleeping, mouth open, snoring and drooling, and ones that were the unfortunate results of a mistimed blink while taking pictures with the pack. Fortunately, or unfortunately for Sunny, there are no kit pictures, no way to bring them after being summoned Up Top.

He hates the way it makes his face burn, but it makes the pack laugh, and makes Sunny's cheeks dimple with her grin in a way that makes Swiss feels crazy. So he endures it. (He'll never admit that he thinks it's funny too.)

"Noooooo," he groans, peeking through his fingers as Sunny stands, unbuttoning her top button.

"How many of those do you have, sunbeam?" Rain asks, staring smugly at Swiss's over the top distress. "Ten? Twenty?"

"This one makes fourteen," Sunny says, undoing another two buttons.

Swiss rubs his temples, pretending a headache's coming on. "Emberrrrrrrr," he drags out in a groan. "Come on, get it over with."

"As you wish." Sunny copies his signature grin, all of her teeth on display, hands moving down farther and farther, each button slipping through the button hole. Finally, Aether's shirt falls open, revealing a Ritual picture of him.

It's the lowest quality picture of him Swiss has ever seen, only thing distinct about his features are the bug like lenses and the bright white of his teeth against the black helmet. He had been grinning menacingly at that Ritual, but the grainy picture makes him look dorky. There's words across the top and bottom, all caps in Impact font, declares "Swiss Shirt Bottom Text"

"I made a shirt for you, sparky!" Sunny beams, watching Swiss groan. "You like it?"

Swiss growls, silverware clattering as he shoots to his feet, Rain and Aurora's laughter echoing around the kitchen. Sunny squeaks, eyes wide as she darts off, Swiss in close pursuit.

Mushy May Day 5 - Animals (Aether/Dew)

Day 5! Honestly shocked I made it this far. As always, thanks to @forlorn-crows for organizing this and to @ghuleh-recs for the dividers!

Day 5 - Animals (Aether/Dew), no warnings, 1093 words

Aether is wrapping up his shift in the infirmary when he gets the text, mood lifting the moment he sees Dew’s name pop up in the notification. It had only been a few days since the band went back out on tour, and Aether was already missing his little fire ghoul something fierce.

When he opens the message, he’s greeted with a photo of Dew dressed in full costume, holding up a tiny orange kitten in his hands. Dew has sent a handful of other photos, all of the same kitten. Eating treats out of his hand, playing with a little catnip mouse, curled up and asleep in his lap. In the background he can see the rest of the pack sprawled out on the carpet of the green room with a tiny army of kittens and puppies.

Papa must have arranged for an animal rescue to visit the venue that day. Those were always some of their favorite days on tour, Aether thinks nostalgically. It was a great way for them all to de-stress after weeks on the road cooped up in the tour bus or boring hotel rooms. Getting to spend the day with playful little puppies and curious kittens did wonders for everyone’s morale. Dew especially. He was always the last ghoul to give up whatever animal he’d been cuddling with for the duration of the visit. 

Aether’s phone dings, and with it another handful of kitten pictures, along with a message from Dew.

His name is Chicken Nugget!!!

Aether smiles to himself. Three whole exclamation points? Dew must be having a good time with the animal rescue’s visit. He can’t wait to hear about it during their nightly call.

Aether texts back and tells him so.

Dew answers with another picture of himself holding Chicken Nugget up to his face, the tiny little kitten mid cheek-rub against the edge of one of Dew’s bug-eyed helmet goggles. 

Aether sets the photo as his phone wallpaper immediately.

That night when they talk, Dew can’t stop gushing about the kitten.

“Aether, I’m in love,” Dew says dramatically.

Aether gasps in mock outrage. “Wow, should I be jealous?” he answers.

Dew snorts. “Yes actually. I wanted to take him home so bad, but Papa said absolutely no way, no pets on the tour bus. I guess he has a point though,” Dew concedes, sounding more than a little bit sad about it.

“We bonded though, Aeth!” Dew exclaims, excited again. “He picked me over everyone else and he looked so sad when I had to give him back. I felt like I was abandoning him...” Aether can just hear the sad little frown on Dew’s face through the tone of his voice.

He listens to Dew talk about Chicken Nugget for the rest of their call. The fire ghoul has always been a little animal lover, but this is the first time Aether has seen him get so attached. It’s completely adorable, Aether thinks, though he’s sure that Dew will have moved on from it in a day or so once they get back out on the road. 

He’s completely wrong. Dew brings up the kitten every night during their calls for weeks. Worrying about what will happen if he doesn’t get adopted. Worrying about what will happen if he does get adopted, that he couldn’t trust just anyone with his little Chicken Nugget. 

Another month passes and Aether can hear the exhaustion in Dew’s voice building each day. It’s the first time since they’d been summoned that they’d been apart for so long.

“Lonely out here sometimes,” Dew says one night as he dozes off in his bunk on the phone with Aether. “Miss you…” he trails off. 

Aether’s heart aches. There’s still months of touring left. It’ll be nearly winter before he and Dew are reunited. That night, Aether makes a decision.

In the morning, he’s convinced himself he knows what to do. First things first, he has to make a few phone calls. He takes out his cell phone and dials.

Papa? Dew’s not around you right now, is he? Good. Can we talk?

An agonizing two months later and Aether finds himself standing anxiously outside the abbey, waiting for the tour bus to finally come rumbling down the road. To deliver his precious pack and beloved mate back into his waiting arms.

Dew is the first one off the bus, and he flies into Aether, nearly knocking him down in the process. He takes Dew’s bags in one hand and Dew’s hand in the other and leads him into the abbey, listening to him talk about the long flight and the even longer bus ride back home.

Once they’re inside, Dew makes a beeline toward the kitchen. But before he can escape, Aether tugs him back gently by the hand.

“Come here, I want to show you something first,” Aether says softly.

“Aeth, can’t it wait, I’m freaking starving,” Dew answers, rubbing his stomach to emphasize his point.

“Nope, can’t wait.” Aether takes Dew by the shoulders and steers him down the hall towards their shared bedroom. “Come with me.” 

Dew looks back at him suspiciously, but lets Aether guide him toward their closed bedroom door. When they get there, Dew turns the knob and opens the door slowly, unsure of what he’s going to find there waiting for him.

And then he sees it. A tiny little orange ball of fluff curled up in the middle of their nest. Dew gasps, immediately covering his mouth with his hand when the sound wakes the kitten from his nap. Chicken Nugget takes one look at Dew, stretches out his tiny paws, and lets out an excited little mewl.

Dew rushes over to the bed, scoops up the kitten, and cradles him to his chest before turning to back Aether with wide, glassy eyes. “How did you?” Dew’s voice cracks just a little bit.

Oh Satan, if Dew cries, he is definitely going to cry too, Aether thinks to himself in a panic.

“Don’t ask, it was a giant pain in the ass though,” he laughs, wiping a stray tear threatening to spill from his eyes. He pulls Dew in, careful not to squish the little purring kitten between them, and kisses his forehead. “He’s here now though. He was waiting for you. Both of us were waiting for you.”

Dew lets out a sob, and that’s it, Aether is crying too. Chicken Nugget, on the other hand, couldn’t be happier, purring away and kneading Dew's sweatshirt with tiny little claws.

The band Ghost is so fucking funny to me. Their frontman currently looks like this:

Or some version of a horny goth clown, but the guy underneath it has got the wettest saddest eyes I've ever seen. Just look at him:

This man admits to being very sensitive and cries at the drop of a hat.

He has a wife and kids.

He wears the costume because he doesn't like the way he looks on stage as a rockstar.

He treats the audience like his children. They're officially called the children of Ghost for that and also because of the play on "children of god."

The band literally fucks around on stage while riffing this badass music. They go through physical comedy skits every concert like the three stooges. For example:

Two demons throw guitar picks at each other when they get angy.

One guy grinds and licks the stage like a cat in heat.

One of them shakes their tits at goth clown man and scares him shitless.

One of them twirls goth clown man like a ballerina as he dances by them.

Several of them slap goth clown's ass when he waddles by.

He created the band to make people happy, to celebrate being a fucking weirdo because he always felt left out, and to make fun of Christianity because it makes people feel bad. He lost his older brother, and it tore him up so bad that the music he made as a result launched him into a worldwide music career.

This man ends every concert "ritual" with three things:

1. Be nice to each other

2. Help each other

3. Go fuck yourself

(Literally and figuratively)

Their music is 70% "fuck me I'm so horny", 10% "I love you so much" and 20% "ethereal badass metal".

Look at how much fun he's having, dude.

It's literally just a rock band filled with the nicest people on earth wearing costumes like a Shakespearean play. And all they do is make up funny little lore stories and serve cunt.

Tale from the Green Room

Ever wonder what Copia has to say during the pre-Ritual Ghoul meeting? Yeah? Me too!

I feel it goes a little something like this…

The Green Room was noisy and smoky as Papa walked through the door. The Ghouls stopped their conversations as the leader of the Satanic Church cleared his throat to gain their attention.

“All right, my children, we will go on stage soon and here is what I want for tonight. Rain and Dew, I need you two to choke each other at some point. I don’t care when or who goes first, I just want to see hands around your throats at some point.”  

“Sure thing, boss!”, both Ghouls answered.

“Phantom, sweet Phantom. I’m going to need you on your best cat-like behavior. Seems the fangirls go crazy for cats. Oh, and do the bendy thing with Rain.”

Phantom raised his fingers in a mock salute as he continued his preparations for the upcoming Ritual.

“Cumulus, Cirrus, and Princess Aurora, my lovelies. Please just be your awesome self. You ladies know what you need to do.”

The Ghoulettes did not bother to answer as they knew they were awesome.

“Mountain, you are perfect in every way. I just need you to be ready to lead us into the night with your rhythms.”

The gentle giant flushed at his Papa’s praise and continued to fidget with the drumsticks in his hands.

“And last but not least, Swiss, my multi-Ghoul, during Watcher in the Sky, I need you to…”