Ink Beast Meetcute

Three women walk arm in arm in arm down a snowy Merchant Street, remarkable only in the way that they’re taking up more of the path than is probably polite for their shenanigans. 

Velvet doesn’t mind over much--she’s used to turning heads wherever she goes, and after a successful Frostfall gift exchange she can only be bothered to think of having fun with her girlfriends. Marie is on her left arm, and Velvet’s eyes cannot help but be drawn to the delicate crescent moon necklace hanging around her throat. Neither she nor Ruena have taken their gifts off since they received them, which has filled Velvet with a lot of warm and fuzzy feelings. She hadn’t expected to catch quite so many feelings when she first agreed to this arrangement, but that’ll show her, she supposes.

On Marie’s other arm, Ruena is setting a leisurely pace, much to the chagrin of anyone behind them. Rue likes to race, Velvet knows - she’s been to some of those illicit drag races, when she has the time - but they’ve also been walking for quite some time. She can be trusted to know her limits when it comes to how much energy she’s willing to exert, and Marie and Velvet tend to follow her lead when it comes to joint dates like this.

A very slow and meandering walk means they’ll get a bit more time, even if people start skirting around them on the path. 

Velvet untucks her free arm from her Runefrost Cloak and shivers at the sudden chill of open air, but withdraws from her pocket a Fate’s Focus. “Hey,” she says leadingly in her girlfriends’ direction, and when both of them peer over at her, she snaps a quick photo. 

“Is that my camera?” Marie asks, amused. “Did you steal that from me, Vee?”

“It’s not stealing if I intend to return it with a fresh new set of memories,” Velvet smiles mysteriously. When she looks down at the small screen and sees Ruena and Marie’s faces delightfully caught off guard, her smile grows until her metal teeth are gleaming in the light. 

“Only borrowing?” Ruena finishes, dubious, but not without her own amusement. 

“The circles I run in have a very loose concept of ownership, you know. You should be so lucky I don’t hide these pictures away.” She can think of several artists she knows who would do just that, or else turn them into strange and surreal collage pieces. Velvet isn’t that sort, but it’s funny to pretend. She brings the camera up and snaps another picture, to Marie’s boundless entertainment.

“At least put them on Spacebook!” Marie says, tugging on her arm. “So everyone will see and be jealous of how much fun we’re having. That’s what Spacebook’s for, right?”

“I thought it was for buying spare furniture,” Ruena replies. “That’s where we got our table.”

Marie wrinkles her nose. “I remember! I nearly put my back out moving that thing, even with magic.”

“You got your table off of Spacebook?” Velvet asks, raising an eyebrow. 

“Lots of ads for stuff people are trying to get rid of,” Ruena agrees, shrugging. 

“Does that mean that’s what Spacebook is for, though, I mean--”

“What is that?” Velvet interrupts, and quite rudely, she has to admit. Still, when she points Marie’s camera at a storefront, her girlfriends follow her gaze with little complaint. The storefront’s wide display window has a plethora of magical supplies, from cauldron to herb to ink to oil. All sorts of reagents decorate the window, but that’s not what Velvet is paying attention to. 

No, she sees the way the glass shivers as though with the force of a minor earthquake. Something very large shifts behind the display, deepening the shadows until they reflect nothing less than the dark of the abyss. The glass wobbles again.

“Cover your faces,” Velvet snaps out, just in time for the window to shatter outward in an explosion of tinkling glass shards. 

Herbs and glass rain down on the streetside crowd, most of whom manage to shield themselves thanks to Velvet’s warning and a bit of magic here or there. To their left, an archound of pastel yellows and violets bursts into motion with a series of angry barks, snapping up her caretakers and possessively ushering them to safety. Her mane is absolutely full to the brim of tiny, adorable aircorns that Vee is glad to see being moved to safety.

One slick, ichorous paw in front of the other, an ink beast crawls out of the storefront. It’s massive, with dark slavering teeth, lit from within by an eerie blue light. Electricity crackles through the impression of liquid fur, all standing up on end. It snarls from deep in its chest like the rev of an engine, swinging its head around in the aftermath of a shattered window.

Velvet can’t say she’s ever seen anything like it in person, and she’s about ready to grab her girls and book it, except that Marie has already yanked her arms free and thrown up an arcane barrier that’s caught half the debris coming their way, as well as the attention of the beast. It sniffs the air with its dripping nose and turns directly toward them as if sensing the magic.

Ruena curses just once, very softly, and then the pounding of feet sounds behind them.

“Comin’ through!”

In a very different, comparatively gentle gust of wind, an absolutely massive woman jumps over the three of them to land between them and the ink beast. She’s taller than Marie, even, and Marie’s got some height to her. Her arms are thick with muscle and what little fur Velvet can see under her winter coat is powder blue and striped with pale white. Her crest burns bright in pink with shards of blue, glowing more brightly with her display of power. She’s absolutely gorgeous, and she’s picking a fight for them.

The ink beast shifts focus at her sudden arrival, launching itself at her in a slurry of tooth and claw that stains the snow beneath it. The new browbird meets this assault evenly, throwing herself into the fray with a wild abandon that has Marie’s tail lashing back and forth behind all of them. She punches the ink beast in the snout and, though her fist sinks into its mass, there’s a definite solid thunk underneath that.

“Oh, yuck,” says the browbird as she pulls her fist free and finds it covered in goopy ink, but the beast again presses the attack, and she throws herself back into the fight with a wordless shout of exhilaration.

“Should I… do something to help?” Marie asks, to the background thud of fists and snarls. Her arcane barrier hasn’t flickered once, on account of her excellent tutorship in the fundamentals, but she looks on at the fight with a sort of wild longing, like she might just want to go apeshit. 

The new browbird skids to a halt in front of them, half-sunk into the ink beast as she puts it in a headlock. It snaps at her, but can’t quite reach, even as it stretches unnaturally long in her grip. Instead, she wrestles it to the ground in an impressive display of athletic prowess that has Velvet’s eyebrows raising in appreciation.

“I don’t think she needs it,” she says, mild as anything, casting a sidelong look at her girlfriends. An ‘are you seeing this?’ kind of look. The two of them return it with varying levels of sly intrigue. 

The ink beast gnashes its teeth in the air and glows more brightly from within, its paws scrambling on the ground as it struggles to escape from the browbird pinning it. Said browbird is grunting things like, “Good puppy, down boy,” and not letting up even for a second. 

Crisis management arrives shortly after that, which means this browbird really is just some concerned citizen who jumped in to save them. A Palatine knight steps in to put the ink beast in a sort of magic bubble, to their savior’s starry-eyed relief. She thanks the knight profusely and shakes off ink as she goes, though her jacket seems thoroughly stained now. 

Marie finally lets her barrier drop. Glass hits the ground with an almost musical chime as the shards clink together, and she magically swipes them to the side as people begin to walk through the scene again. A detective is talking to one very distraught shopkeep, and a clean-up crew begins the process of making sure the street is safe to walk again. The knight seems keen on taking away the inky beast, but their true protector, the one who jumped in to save them first, is making her way over to them.

Velvet smiles with glimmering metal teeth as she approaches. 

“Heya,” says the stranger, grinning broadly in response.  “You three alright?”

“Why, yes,” Velvet replies. “We are. Largely thanks to you, I imagine. That was a very impressive show, wasn’t it, girls?”

“Oh, absolutely?” Marie smiles like she always does, that cat-like smile on her face promising mischief to whoever sees it. “The way you just smacked it right in the nose? Pow! So cool!”

The woman rubs the back of her neck sheepishly, still grinning, and then winces when she accidentally drags a long streak of black sludge through her hair. Marie politely covers her mouth so she doesn’t laugh directly into her face, but Velvet gives a low, amused chuckle.

“Thanks,” the woman says, clearly mortified. Her face is glowing with pink. “Um, well! I guess I better go ‘n get cleaned up!”

“Do you live nearby?” Velvet asks, unwilling to let such a magnificent specimen go so easily. “My apartment is a few blocks from here. You could use my shower. It’s the least I could do for our daring savior.”

Ruena shoots her a look that says ‘what in the world are you planning, devious girl,’ but Marie smiles more brightly. “Yeah! You could get showered up and then we can take you out somewhere! My treat! Or, well, Rue’s treat, to be honest. She’s got that mechanic’s salary.”

“Excuse you,” Ruena says, but she’s smiling. “If it’s my treat we’re going to that bubble tea place.”

“Oh, I love bubble tea!” the stranger blurts, and promptly looks infinitely more embarrassed.

“Excellent,” Velvet purrs, pleased. Everything’s turning up aces, it seems. “I’m Velvet, by the way.”

“Oh! I’m Pigeon, but y’can call me Pidge if you want,” says Pidge, holding out one hand as if to shake. 

Velvet looks down at the ink stained mitt offered to her and raises one eyebrow. “Oh, that’s not how we say hello in this little group,” she says, before Pigeon can get too embarrassed and withdraw entirely. “Lean down and I’ll show you.”

“Huh? Well, alright!” Pidge tilts her head, but stoops down so that Velvet could almost whisper in her ear. She’s so tall. It’s impressive. Velvet leans forward and presses a quick kiss to one of Pigeon’s cheeks, and then the other. An artist’s greeting, to be sure, and Pigeon is bright red when Velvet pulls away. “Oh. Oh!”

“Oh oh oh!” Marie echoes, crowding in. “Me next? I’m Marie, it’s nice to meet you!” 

She hesitates long enough to give Pidge time to back out, but when the bigger woman only stammers a little bit and then leans forward, Marie grins bright and pecks her on either cheek. 

“Nice t’meetcha,” Pigeon repeats, flustered to bits. Her crest is flaming brightly, though, and she turns toward Ruena and leans down a little like she’s expecting the same treatment.

Ruena laughs and clasps her hand instead, shaking it firmly up and down. She’s never cared about a mess, and she isn’t half as flirty as Velvet or Marie. Vee’s not surprised that she goes with the handshake.

“Ruena,” she introduces herself, and then wipes her hand off on her own jacket. Velvet clucks her tongue to see it--that’s going to stain something unimaginable. “Thanks for the save. Marie might have been able to handle it, but that was still impressive.”

Pidge perks up a little bit, blinking as if to clear the stars from her eyes. “Do you do fightin’ and things?” she asks Marie.

Marie grins and shakes her head. “Not so much! I know how from my aunt? But honestly I’ve just got a really good grip on my magic! I might’ve been able to bubble to the big guy up given a chance, but you were so cool I didn’t want to get in your way.”

Pigeon preens, though she doesn’t make the mistake of rubbing at the back of her neck again. “Thanks! That magicky thing you did was real neat too!”

“Aw, thank you? Just something I learned growing up.” Marie wiggles in place like an excited kettlecat and glances to Velvet, and then to Ruena. “Should we get going? Let the clean-up crew do their thing? Get some delicious, delicious tea?”

“Oh, for sure!” Pidge gives a thumbs up, so the three of them lead her to the apartment to get her ready for a bubble tea date.

Velvet has a most auspicious feeling about all of this.