Abandoned labs and meet-cutes

"Hey, come on, slowpoke!"

Soulsand hesitated, unsure. The lab gave her an odd feeling, but they did need the food and anything else they might find.. "Just stop smashing stuff, alright? Let's get what we can find and move on." Her friends giggled, continuing to goof around. Soulsand sighed, grumbling as she walked past them and further into the lab.

A giant tube caught her attention as she entered the next room, fogged-up glass stretching from floor to ceiling and covering a good portion of the wall. Momentarily forgetting about what she came here for, Soulsand approached the tube, curiosity bringing her closer. She didn't realize how close she'd gotten until she felt her hand brush against the glass, the cold droplets of condensation on her skin snapping her back to the present. She stared at the glass for a moment, but after a few moments of nothing happening, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye when she was about to turn away. Her gaze locked on where she'd seen the movement beneath the fog, body feeling frozen.

There was more shifting beneath the fog; whatever it was seemed to be huge. Soulsand stepped back, not sure what she just woke and not sure if she wanted to know. The glass of the tube started to crack before breaking entirely, a massive head bursting out, nostrils flaring as the creature emerged. Their gazes met. Soulsand was about to run, but the eldritch just grinned happily, tongue snaking out to lick her. "Mate!"

Soulsand's fear was engulfed in confusion. "..What?"

The monster grinned wider, her tongue retreating back into her mouth. "You're my mate! I can smell it~"

Soulsand was now purely confused. Mate? Well, at least it seemed the eldritch was friendly. She could only hope she'd be nice to her friends too. "Um.. okay?"

With Soulsand's hesitant acceptance, the eldritch moved forward and mostly out of the remains of the tube. "A pretty mate like you has got to have a name~ Mine's Dox, and I'll be the best mate you could ever have." Dox's tail swished as she boasted, catching on the glass and sending a few shards flying. She kicked away some of them, then left the tube completely, coming closer to Soulsand.

"Uhh, I'm Soulsand.." she muttered, still trying to grasp this whole mate thing.

"Soulsand, what a beautiful name, fitting~" Dox winked, then came close enough to wrap her arms around the smaller. Soulsand squeaked, squirming at first. She just accepted it after a minute though, the big eldritch not budging, too content to hold her.

A moment later, Soulsand's friends came charging into the room. "Hey Soulsand did you find anythi-..ng..." They trailed off when they saw Dox standing there with their leader enveloped in her arms. Dox looked up at them, but before she could say or do anything, Soulsand spoke up.

"It's fine. Dox, those are my friends. This is Dox, my uh.. mate, I guess." Soulsand just accepted it now. Dox finally set her down, sniffing at the others, who gave each other confused glances before shrugging. "If neither of you found anything, we should get going and find someplace to spend the night-"

"I can take care of that!" Dox exclaimed. In the blink of an eye, they were all outside again in the abandoned parking lot outside the facility, only a couple dirty vehicles around. "You need somewhere to stay?" She headed toward a van, then squished inside, poking her head out a few seconds after. "Well, you coming or not?"

Soulsand and her friends exchanged glances before following Dox, who seemed satisfied enough to retreat back into the van. Soulsand climbed in first, eyes widening as soon as she saw inside. It was absolutely massive inside, much bigger than it looked from outside. "Wow, this is insane- how'd you do this?"

"I told you I'd be the best mate!" Dox grinned, seeming very satisfied with herself. "I have my ways~ I can add more later if you want, too. And we can move to somewhere prettier!" For now, she sprawled across the floor, a giant paw wrapping around Soulsand and pulling her close.

Soulsand still didn't care for the touchiness, but maybe this would be good. The spacious van was pretty cool, she had to admit. It was kinda charming, even. She smiled a bit. "Sounds like a plan."