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The New World is fraught with danger and filled with monsters both thinking and feral. It is a land where humans struggle to survive and coexist with forces far greater than themselves. Hence why the massive monsters that call this place home have taken it upon themselves to guard and guide them. To teach and train them and see to it these frail and imperfect beings have all that they need to survive if not one day thrive in these inhospitable lands.
Though... perhaps there is something these humans can teach them in turn.
Yeah yeah yeah was in a cutesy mood and decided to write more in this silly Monster Hugger setting! Even more cuddles, marginally less combat, and shenanigans in this world I'm foolish enough to keep revisiting.
Hopefully you enjoy!
Thumbnail comes courtesy of Jazzumi!
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Monster Hugger Tri
By: RaddaRaem
“You said no, right?” Chin tucked against her chest, uncertain growls reverberated within the Nargacuga's throat. “...Right?”
The knee high human before her wordlessly flipped down his helmet's visor in response.
“Jet!” Pointed ears flattened against her head, a bitter sigh tumbled out from the Flying Wyvern's maw. With a roll of her eyes she dropped to a crouch and pinched at the nape of the Hunter's neck.
Swallowing hard, Jet let his limbs go limp as he was lifted up into the air by the metal gorget wrapped around his throat. He could hear, he could feel, it compacting to putty between his behemoth beloved's clawed fingertips.
“Well?” Pronounced folds formed along the bands of crimson fur wrapped around the Nargacuga's eyes as her piercing gaze burrowed into her precious prey.
Dangling in front Nell's beak, Jet bunched his shoulders together while he shrank in on himself. “...I told her I'd think about it.” A sharp scoff immediately sent the humbled human violently swaying back and forth.
“When you said there was something you wanted to talk about this wasn't what I had in mind!” Cheeks puffed out, the Nargacuga irritably chirped.
“I... I know.”
Eyes clenched shut, Nell couldn't help but grumble. When her human had broached the topic of something he needed to discuss with her in private, after inviting her out for a seaside stroll, her imagination had leapt to, admittedly, much more romantic overtures.
“It's. You. Hmph.” Head tossed back, Nell squawked and stammered in fits and spurts before reluctantly setting Jet down upon the shifting sands.
Clutching at his wrist, Jet forfeited his case before he could so much as plead it. “I'll call it off then. That'll be that.”
“...That's not.” She hadn't come across that curt, that inflexible, had she? Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets the Nargacuga grumpily flopped back against a sand dune. The grasses and reeds growing atop it compacted into cushioning, scratchy at that, beneath her.
“Nell?”
Growls steadily rose and fell within her throat as she failed to find the words she so desperately sought.
Shrugging his shoulders, the Hunter opted to recline alongside the massive monster. In silence they drank in the rustle of palm fronds, the gentle crash of the receding waves, and the faint cheeps of Downy Crakes.
WHAP
Armor jostling, Jet curiously turned his head to the side.
FWAP
Nell's spiked tail impotently slapped at and kicked up clouds of sand every time she grudgingly inched closer towards her insignificant other.
FWUMP
Eyes half lidded, Jet acted none the wiser until, with a harrumph, she let her beak come to rest against him. As pitiful, yet longing, growls that rattled him to his bones came to fill the air the human couldn’t resist reciprocating with a gentle boop of his fluted helmet.
Time passed. As the Nargacuga steadily soaked up copious amounts of sunshine and snuggles her heavy growls slowly transitioned into purrs. Interspersed among them were many sighs, swallows, and snorts.
Furred cheek resting atop him, pinning him in place, Jet had no choice but to patiently wait until Nell untied her tongue.
With a dejected whine the batcat finally deigned to speak. “...What can she teach you that I can't?”
"Nothing! Nell... I'll... I'll be training Alma not the other way around. Trying to, anyway."
"You say that now..." Nell pouted.
"I do say that, and mean that, now," Jet reassured her.
"Training is our thing though!" harrumphed the Nargacuga.
"And it still will be! Nell, if it bothers you that much I won't go through with it. I promise."
The Wyvern flared her nostrils and huffed. "It's just. I just." Eyes dipping low, her face positively radiated heat as a searing blush came to crease her black furred cheeks. "...This is stupid. I'm stupid."
Subdued chirps wafted out from Nell's beak when Jet clasped his hands against the sides of it. "Stop that! You're not! You're not.”
Pangs of shame wracked the Nargacuga as she reluctantly nuzzled into her half-buried human. Even now, after all this time, Juneau’s words bounced rent free around her skull. “Jus' sayin! It's his life to lead not yours,” echoed the Jagras’ husky voice. Hrfff. Nell stewed at the fact that the worst Trainer she knew had a point. “T-this is your life we're talking about here...” she mumbled aloud, “and I'm not the one who should be deciding it for you.”
“It's my life, sure, but it's you... you know." Jet fanned himself as condensation collected along his visor and his heart caught in his throat. "One I want to share with you. S-so I care about what you think I should and shouldn't do with it."
POFF
No sooner did the Hunter confess as such than did a hulking pair of scaled hands cup against his back. With a muffled hiss and whumpf Jet found himself skidding along and scooped out of the sand before being buried into Nell's bosom.
"That said..." Jet trailed off into the mounds of furred flesh that rivaled him in size. "Even if you were on board with it I... I doubt it would work out."
Biting at the inside of her cheek Nell hesitantly dared to press the matter further. “Why though? You made it sound like you wanted this.”
A deep and heavy exhale, one drawn out from the pit of Jet's stomach, wafted out from between his lips. “I do and… I don't.”
Arms tucked tightly against her chest, Nell thumbed lovingly at her bitty boyfriend's back while she waited for him to elaborate.
“On the one hand it's... it's incredible! A monster, a Slayer no less, wanting to learn the tools of the trade from me! Me of all people!” Nell struggled to hold back flustered chirps and giggles as the human excitedly wiggled around while he spoke. “...Me.” Jet's tone and enthusiasm sank with his posture. “The wannabe playing pretend at being a Master Hunter. Tch, it's only because of that feral thing that I finally understood what it truly takes to be one. That and how big of a gap there is between where I am and where I want to be.”
Nell's ears flicked attentively as she chewed on his words. “You're worried that you're not up to the task.”
Jet silently nodded. “Going into this I thought, I hoped, that maybe teaching Alma would be exactly what I needed. A way to hone my knowledge and help her, help me, become a better Hunter in turn. The more I started thinking about it though I... the more I… I started to doubt myself.” Noisy clanks sounded out as he impotently gestured at the air. “How can I teach someone how to fight like a Hunter if I’m still figuring it out for myself?”
The Nargacuga growled, mostly at herself, while she reluctantly tiptoed out of her comfort zone. She could be, she would be, supportive. “Well... what would you do if you were training me?”
Sighing heavily, Jet wiggled out from between the furred hills that lined his gargantuan girlfriend's chest. “Try not to embarrass myself for starters,” he grimaced.
“I'm serious,” Nell rumbled.
Resting against the Nargacuga's sternum, her words felt more than they were heard, the human scrunched his lips. “I mean.” Impatient growls violently shook any and all traces of self-deprecation out of him. “I... I guess first and foremost I'd try to find out what weapon complements your fighting style.”
Brows furrowed, the Wyvern let slip bassy chirps as she tossed her head back and invited Jet to scritch at her exposed neck. “Complement how?”
Blushing furiously, his outstretched arm pinched beneath and guided along by a single scaly finger, Jet struggled to gather his thoughts. Torrents of steam poured out from the slits in the Hunter's visor as he tried, and failed, to string together even the simplest vowels and consonants. “Y-y-y-you said it yourself! There's no point fixing what ain't broken. So it... so it would have to be something that complements, that flows, with your tools of the trade.”
Nell trembled at Jet's very touch. Eyes fluttering, she rolled her head to the side and not so subtly encouraged him to keep at it. Scaled digits pressed against the human's back, his heavily layered plate mail dimpling beneath them, the massive monster kneaded him into her thick fluffy neck. “Like what?”
Sliding his hands through her fur, the tufts of fluff erupting from between his fingers so thick Jet lost sight of his own limbs, the trepidatious teacher continued to think. How would he describe her fighting style?
Jet's mind, and muscles, wandered while he clenched his teeth and recalled his endless losing streak. It took little effort to imagine the Nargacuga lunging towards him with claws at the ready and a mindless bloodlust, always feigned, contorting her visage. In his mind's eye he slid beneath her, moss and mud caking against his back, before hopping up to his feet with Hammer at the ready. Whirling about on his heels he rushed towards her, so as to capitalize on his counter, only to be...
Shoulders sagging, Jet obediently scritched and scratched as he shrugged off an unconscious wince. With great reluctance he peeled back the curtain of his mind's eye once more only to be met with the sight, and deafening sound, of her mace of a tail clanging against the side of his helmet. Guh. How many carts had he earned that way? Even should her initial lunge and slashing swings fail to meet their marks Nell could be counted on to counter his counter in any number of ways. She could anchor her hands into the earth and, with a quick hop, slam her weaponized limb directly down upon the Hunter. Or, alternatively, she could sway and sashay those toned hips of hers and send him ragdolling with a sweep of her tail. Her strikes, swift and free flowing, blended into one another with ease. Which meant the Nargacuga's weapon of choice had to be able to match that breakneck pace...
“Hrmmm.” Sliding down off of Nell's neck, Jet took to stroking at his own chin in thoughtful contemplation.
“Hmm?” Propping herself up against the sand dune, rending the flattened reeds upon it into pulp, Nell curiously regarded the pacing Hunter.
Jet continued to mumble to himself while his train of thought accelerated. “Something fast. Something light. Something that can be both drawn and sheathed at a moment's notice...”
Crimson bands of fur bunched against the undersides of the Nargacuga's eyes when she saw her human clank to a halt. Frozen in place, waves lapping at his greaves while the soft sand swallowed him up to his ankles, Nell’s pointed ears steadily started to droop. “...Jet?” Ambling forward she dropped to a crouch and warily reached a hand out towards him.
Gasping, Jet jostled in place while he clapped his hands against the side of his helmeted head. “I'VE GOT IT!” he triumphantly screamed.
Squawking, the webbed wings that lined the startled Nargacuga's forearms unfurled when she stumbled back into the seashell pocked shoreline. As Nell rubbed at her bruising backside Jet raced up between her kicked out legs.
“Dual Blades!” he excitedly shouted.
FWAP
The human’s armor noisily crumpled when the Nargacuga playfully clapped her thunderous thighs together. As folds of furred flesh enveloped him up to his neck he impotently wiggled and gasped for air.
“Dual what now?” Nell asked with brows half-cocked while Jet feverishly tapped out.
—
“Whereas Alma…” Nell shuddered when she so much as uttered the Slayer’s name. She resented the thought of sharing her human, her Jet, with the Anjanath. Yet… the Flying Wyvern couldn’t help but shrink in on herself every time her jealousy flared. Had she always been this possessive of him?
“Right! Whereas Alma would be a better fit for a Sword and Shield,” Jet excitedly elaborated. “Given your approaches to defense are so wildly different your weapons of choice should reflect that!” Cupping a balled fist into his palm the Hunter beamed with newfound purpose and resolve. “You, on the one hand, pour on the pressure. Your attacks come so fast, so furious, that monsters and men alike barely have the time to think much less react! If Alma is all about trading blows, and coming out on top in each exchange, you’re more about never letting them come to pass in the first place!”
The Nargacuga forced a smile and nodded along as she and Jet slunk along the shoreline. Would her chest tighten and teeth clench if Taras pulled him aside for further training? Or Brook for that matter?
“Wait. What am I saying? I shouldn’t be the one telling you how you fight! You already damn well know all that!” Jet nervously laughed. Thrumming his fingers against his chin his bravado began to falter as he sharply inhaled through his teeth. “Really hope I’m not projecting here…”
Nell, ad nauseum, continued to nod. If, when, Jet attained his Master Rank would she protest against him seeking additional training elsewhere? Would she rankle and recoil at him consulting other Trainers? Other Hunters? Slamming her tail down into the sand, dragging clumps of seaweed and driftwood behind her, the Nargacuga stifled an embarrassed growl as she slouched forward and followed after her Hunter.
“By the Sapphire Star maybe I am…” Jet mumbled as he underwent a crisis of confidence. Coughing into his fist, he couldn’t help but note that Dual Blades, and in turn the humble Sword and Shield, were admittedly some of the smallest and simplest weapons within a Hunter’s arsenal. Meaning that they were, shamelessly, among the easiest options for him to try and scale up to more monstrous sizes. Oh Gods. Had he only latched onto those two because of that?
The Nargacuga papped at the sides of her beak. O-of course he could see other Trainers! Other Hunters! It… it was just… training had been what brought them together. What kept them together. What would they even be without it? As Nell trudged along the shore, sand giving way to rocky crags and slick stone, her shoulders sank.
Shaking his head, Jet reeled back his spiral into madness with a much needed reality check. Hold on now. If he well and truly wanted to full-ass this he could just chop down a tree and call it an Insect Glaive. Right? So that meant his guiding, his Sapphire Star, clearly wasn’t the path of least resistance!
Arms crossed about her chest, Nell’s mind wandered. What would they be without it? Well they… they would still be friends. They would still sneak out to the Canteen every night. The fur lining the massive monster’s cheeks puffed out as increasingly flushed thoughts flooded to the forefront of her mind. They would still go for walks together in the Ancient Forest. They would still rendezvous just outside the human settlement every morning to swap hopelessly size-mismatched smooches and snuggles. They would… they would still love each other.
Fists clenched, Jet knocked his knuckles together as he carefully hopped between the sharply angled and barnacle lined rocks jutting out from the base of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. No more second guessing! Even if he had come to wrong conclusions, for what weapon best suited what enormous monster woman, at least it was for the right reasons! Now… now all that remained was actually bringing these ideas, however misguided they may be, to life.
The Nargacuga chirped proudly as she held tight to that simple truth. Rain or shine, training or no, her love for Jet would endure. They would find, hells they already had found, new ways to express as such! Shaking her head, Nell banished those fraught and poisonous feelings of jealousy from the forefront of her thoughts and gave her all to the task at hand. Which uhh… umm. Hum. Brows furrowed, Nell awkwardly stumbled from one crag to the next as boulders, crusted with salt crystals, pinched at her paws. …What again were they doing out here?
“Jet?” Nell dared to ask. Webbed wings unfurled and arms tossed out spread eagle, the Wyvern let the wind catch beneath her as she uneasily tried to balance herself. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see!” Jet excitedly called back. With a hup he splashed down into a tidal pool and beckoned for the Nargacuga to follow. Paying little heed to the Escuregots panickedly wriggling about his ankles he raced around a rocky bend. In all of the New World there was but one place, one well kept secret among the humans, where such wild and outlandish dreams could be made real.
Nostrils flared, Nell harrumphed as she watched him disappear into a spray of white foam. Arms swinging at her sides, the Nargacuga gracelessly hurled herself forward. With a startled squawk, her leathery paws slipping and failing to gain any traction against the seaweed slicked stones beneath her, Nell fell back onto her broad behind.
Cape fluttering majestically behind him, Jet cleared his throat as he solemnly gestured towards priceless relics of a land long forgotten. “Feast your eyes, Nell! On the Old World’s Epita-”
“AHHHHH!” Screeched Nell as she helplessly flapped her arms. Sliding past Jet, drenching him with a spray of salt water in the process, the Nargacuga crashed into the surf with explosive force.
Arms hanging limply at his sides, Jet meekly regarded the cresting waves kicked up by her careless cannonball.
SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
“Ungh…” Arms draped over the sides of the stony shoreline Nell pulled herself out of the shallows. With a grunt she plucked Jet free from a bubbling pile of seafoam and driftwood.
“W-w-wel-” Jet started before letting slip a series of wheezing coughs.
With a playful roll of her eyes the Nargacuga flicked up the Hunter’s visor and smirked at the steady stream of water and stray Whetfish that came pouring out from within his armor. “Well?”
Ptooing out seashells and seaweed alike Jet heaved as he gathered his breath. Weakly gesturing to his side, the human motioned for Nell to follow his gaze. “Welcome to uh….”
Beak hanging open, the Nargacuga’s words failed her. Tucked away into a cove, sunkissed and long-forgotten, lay what could only be described as floating fortresses. Their hulls, run aground and split open, allowed their wooden entrails to spill out onto the shifting sands.
“To the Old World’s Epitaph!” Jet managed in between blehs and coughs. “…Pretty cool, right?”
Nell’s eyes danced over the unfamiliar structures. These were of human make, no doubt, but… how? How did these even get here? How could something, someone, so small craft something so imposing? Ears perked to attention, water flicked off of her fuzzy features every time Nell attentively swiveled them towards the creaking constructs.
“...Nell?”
Hands cupped against her cheeks, Jet acking as he was allowed to flop to the stones below, the Nargacuga greedily drank in the sights and sounds of a world that was not her own.
—
“So the Elder’s tall tales are true? There really is another world beyond the horizon?” Nell excitedly chirped as she paced about a derelict deck. Her heart soared, and her stomach sank, at how the boards buckled and groaned beneath her paws. At how this floating nest rose and fell with the push and pull of the tide. At how the sun-bleached and tattered cloth hanging high overhead fluttered and flapped in the breeze.
Lips pulled flat, Jet tossed his head back as the target dummies and salvage he had dragged up from the lower decks went unloved and unnoticed. “Uhhh… sure? Look, Nell, this isn’t what I brought you here for.”
Stamping about in place, the warped wood molding to the contours of her toes, Nell’s barbed tail wildly swung side to side as her mind raced. The railings along the sides of the ship, already cracking apart, exploded into clouds of splinters as the Nargacuga’s spiked limb casually cleaved through them. “What’s it like? What’s it called?”
Jet responded with an emphatic shrug. “Iunno! How am I supposed to know what the Old World’s like? I was born and raised here just like everybody else.” A frustrated grunt tumbled out from the Hunter’s helmet when Nell responded with a pout and a clap of her hands against her hips. “Stop that!”
Nell impatiently tapped her broad paws and squawked. “You stop!” she snipped back. “I mean… just look at the size of this nest!” the Nargacuga boomed as she flailed wildly about. “You’re telling me there’s a whole world out there where humans live like this? How come you don’t live in one of these?! This is the perfect size for us!”
“It’s a ship…” Jet exasperatedly elaborated.
Nell’s eyes sparkled at the clarification. “Humans have different names for different kinds of nests?”
“We. N-no, Nell, we don’t live on-” The human paused when he grudgingly realized she was, in fact, technically correct. “…If you’re sailing on the open ocean then yes, you kinda have to, but that’s not-”
“See!” triumphantly squawked the Wyvern. To think! Stationary nests were called houses. Floating ones were called ships. Her mind reeled at the thought of just how many different kinds of human nests she still had yet to learn about! Squawking and growling giddily to herself she ambled towards a propped open hatch. Rusted away to nearly nothing, the flaking metal having become a brilliant kaleidoscope of greens and browns, it freely offered entry to those seeking entry into the bowels of the ship. Nell eagerly accepted its invitation and daintily stepped forth.
CRKKKK
A cacophonous crash instantly sounded out the moment the Nargacuga allowed her soles to smoosh and spread wide across the wooden staircase leading down into the depths. At the faintest application of pressure the rotted steps simply fell away.
“...It’s fine,” Jet groaned. With a wave he motioned for the tensed Nargacuga to carry on.
Tail swishing nervously behind her, Nell hopped down into the lower decks. The whole of the ship shuddered, sliding perceptibly into the shallows, as the handrails to the stairs popped out of place and simply crashed down alongside her.
Wait. The Hunter’s cheeks flushed beet red at the delayed realization. “Us?”
Dropping to a crouch, her neck and back bumping against the rafters, the Nargacuga’s piercing yellow eyes cut through the darkness. The batcat’s powerful form, scarcely illuminated by the beads of sunlight poking past the rusted cannons pointed out the porthole windows, skulked about. Crates. Tables. Hammocks. Much and more of these distinctly human crafts she recognized littered about the place. Even after being abandoned for Sapphire Star knows how long it still felt so lived in.
Jet fitfully shook his head side to side as she shooed away flustered thoughts of cohabitation. “A-a-anyway!” he called out. “The reason I brought you here was so we could salvage. Target dummies, practice weapons, raw supplies. If I’m going to craft you some Dual Blades, something even close to scale, we’ll need all the help we can get!”
To the Hunter’s relief… the Old World’s Epitaph was more than capable of providing such. His predecessors, the grandparents he had never met, had left the Old World for reasons known only to them. They and their compatriots charted a voyage, with his infant parents in tow, uncertain if they would find succor or suffering beyond the endless ocean. Yet all the same they left with no intention of ever returning. Well before they could even be certain that this land or its peoples would accept them they purposefully beached the vessels that saw them to safety. Hell or high water they committed themselves wholly to what would become Astera.
“Just what it was about the Old World that could have compelled them to make such a reckless and desperate gamble?” Jet thought to himself. Those questions, among others, would retreat to the recesses of his mind as they had countless times before. Leaning over what little railing remained, the Hunter contented himself with drinking in the haunting yet soothing symphony that whistled through the wooden and waterlogged corpses that filled this graveyard. These ships, now skeletons, had been entrusted to the generations to come with the hope that they would be freely picked and plundered. To be the fertile ground from which dreams of another age could take root and flourish.
TATUNK
…That he may or may not have been presently desecrating. Hopefully his ancestors, long laid to rest, didn’t think too poorly of his gigantic girlfriend using their last will and testament as a play place.
“Hmm? You say something, Jet?” Nell curiously rumbled.
“N-nothing important!” Jet nervously coughed to himself.
With a shrug Nell dropped to her stomach. Letting her chin come to rest upon her forearms she slowly crawled forward through the increasingly cramped corridors. Shoulders bunched, she casually elbowed aside furniture, and entire walls, all while happily chirping to herself.
“Just that when it comes to help we can’t exactly look elsewhere for it,” said the Hunter with a sigh. “We’ll only have ourselves to rely on. I can’t very well go and put in an order at the Smithy for something in your size…”
Struggling to keep her eyes open, the monster quietly soaked up the gentle sway of the ship and the muted crash of the waves against its hull as she passively nodded along.
“Given that would raise a whole lot of questions that I’d rather not answer,” Jet sharply inhaled through clenched teeth. Astera, as it was, remained standing only by the good graces of its monstrous neighbors. Its vaunted gates, while menacing, were decorative more than anything. The fact that Taras, and Nell, snuck past them to frequent the Canteen on a daily basis all but proved as such. Even though relations had begun to thaw, if not grow warm, between humans and monsters as of late… Jet sincerely doubted his proposal to arm the already all powerful locals would be enthusiastically received.
“Mrph. We'll figure something out,” Nell purred. Nuzzling into the back of her scaled hands her breathing grew slow and heavy. It was a little cramped, sure, but this nest had a certain charm to it. It was serene, secure, silent…
“We will but It’ll definitely take some doing,” Jet trailed off. “Now think,” he mumbled aloud as he let a pair of wrought iron Dual Blades hang from his hips. Jostling side to side he hummed when the curved metal nicked at his armored knees and all but obscured the sides of his legs. Hum.
Jet tap tap tapped at the side of his helmet. Roughly speaking, these guesstimates of his bore out that the ideal Dual Blades should match the wielder’s leg in width and halve it in terms of length. Considering the fact he only came up to Nell’s knees, and her thighs alone eclipsed if not shamed him in size, that would mean that he himself was the perfect unit of measurement!
“A blade the size of a man…” The human froze in place when he uttered as such aloud. An epiphany, blinding and brilliant, nearly struck Jet down then and there on the spot. How had he not realized this sooner?! Great Swords, in her hands, would be but daggers! “Hey, Nell! Nell! I know exactly what-”
Snores, loud and pronounced, silenced the Hunter’s celebrations. The musty air, suffocating warmth, and rhythmic creaks had simply proved too much for her to resist.
“Of course,” Jet smirked. Eh. It wasn’t like he was in any hurry. Rubbing at the back of his neck the Hunter lazily sauntered towards the rusted open hatch and quietly dropped down to the decks below.
TUNK
With a chirp, Nell blearily creaked open an eye when her bitty beloved vaulted over a bicep and tucked himself close against her cheek. Hmph. Yawning, she lovingly nuzzled into him and blissfully purred as he took to scritching at her beak. If this was how an emptied human nest made the Nargacuga feel… she couldn’t help but bashfully wonder how safe and inviting Jet’s own would feel in comparison. Someday, and soon, she hoped to find out.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Though... perhaps there is something these humans can teach them in turn.
Yeah yeah yeah was in a cutesy mood and decided to write more in this silly Monster Hugger setting! Even more cuddles, marginally less combat, and shenanigans in this world I'm foolish enough to keep revisiting.
Hopefully you enjoy!
Thumbnail comes courtesy of Jazzumi!
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Monster Hugger Tri
By: RaddaRaem
“You said no, right?” Chin tucked against her chest, uncertain growls reverberated within the Nargacuga's throat. “...Right?”
The knee high human before her wordlessly flipped down his helmet's visor in response.
“Jet!” Pointed ears flattened against her head, a bitter sigh tumbled out from the Flying Wyvern's maw. With a roll of her eyes she dropped to a crouch and pinched at the nape of the Hunter's neck.
Swallowing hard, Jet let his limbs go limp as he was lifted up into the air by the metal gorget wrapped around his throat. He could hear, he could feel, it compacting to putty between his behemoth beloved's clawed fingertips.
“Well?” Pronounced folds formed along the bands of crimson fur wrapped around the Nargacuga's eyes as her piercing gaze burrowed into her precious prey.
Dangling in front Nell's beak, Jet bunched his shoulders together while he shrank in on himself. “...I told her I'd think about it.” A sharp scoff immediately sent the humbled human violently swaying back and forth.
“When you said there was something you wanted to talk about this wasn't what I had in mind!” Cheeks puffed out, the Nargacuga irritably chirped.
“I... I know.”
Eyes clenched shut, Nell couldn't help but grumble. When her human had broached the topic of something he needed to discuss with her in private, after inviting her out for a seaside stroll, her imagination had leapt to, admittedly, much more romantic overtures.
“It's. You. Hmph.” Head tossed back, Nell squawked and stammered in fits and spurts before reluctantly setting Jet down upon the shifting sands.
Clutching at his wrist, Jet forfeited his case before he could so much as plead it. “I'll call it off then. That'll be that.”
“...That's not.” She hadn't come across that curt, that inflexible, had she? Eyes pressed against the sides of their sockets the Nargacuga grumpily flopped back against a sand dune. The grasses and reeds growing atop it compacted into cushioning, scratchy at that, beneath her.
“Nell?”
Growls steadily rose and fell within her throat as she failed to find the words she so desperately sought.
Shrugging his shoulders, the Hunter opted to recline alongside the massive monster. In silence they drank in the rustle of palm fronds, the gentle crash of the receding waves, and the faint cheeps of Downy Crakes.
WHAP
Armor jostling, Jet curiously turned his head to the side.
FWAP
Nell's spiked tail impotently slapped at and kicked up clouds of sand every time she grudgingly inched closer towards her insignificant other.
FWUMP
Eyes half lidded, Jet acted none the wiser until, with a harrumph, she let her beak come to rest against him. As pitiful, yet longing, growls that rattled him to his bones came to fill the air the human couldn’t resist reciprocating with a gentle boop of his fluted helmet.
Time passed. As the Nargacuga steadily soaked up copious amounts of sunshine and snuggles her heavy growls slowly transitioned into purrs. Interspersed among them were many sighs, swallows, and snorts.
Furred cheek resting atop him, pinning him in place, Jet had no choice but to patiently wait until Nell untied her tongue.
With a dejected whine the batcat finally deigned to speak. “...What can she teach you that I can't?”
"Nothing! Nell... I'll... I'll be training Alma not the other way around. Trying to, anyway."
"You say that now..." Nell pouted.
"I do say that, and mean that, now," Jet reassured her.
"Training is our thing though!" harrumphed the Nargacuga.
"And it still will be! Nell, if it bothers you that much I won't go through with it. I promise."
The Wyvern flared her nostrils and huffed. "It's just. I just." Eyes dipping low, her face positively radiated heat as a searing blush came to crease her black furred cheeks. "...This is stupid. I'm stupid."
Subdued chirps wafted out from Nell's beak when Jet clasped his hands against the sides of it. "Stop that! You're not! You're not.”
Pangs of shame wracked the Nargacuga as she reluctantly nuzzled into her half-buried human. Even now, after all this time, Juneau’s words bounced rent free around her skull. “Jus' sayin! It's his life to lead not yours,” echoed the Jagras’ husky voice. Hrfff. Nell stewed at the fact that the worst Trainer she knew had a point. “T-this is your life we're talking about here...” she mumbled aloud, “and I'm not the one who should be deciding it for you.”
“It's my life, sure, but it's you... you know." Jet fanned himself as condensation collected along his visor and his heart caught in his throat. "One I want to share with you. S-so I care about what you think I should and shouldn't do with it."
POFF
No sooner did the Hunter confess as such than did a hulking pair of scaled hands cup against his back. With a muffled hiss and whumpf Jet found himself skidding along and scooped out of the sand before being buried into Nell's bosom.
"That said..." Jet trailed off into the mounds of furred flesh that rivaled him in size. "Even if you were on board with it I... I doubt it would work out."
Biting at the inside of her cheek Nell hesitantly dared to press the matter further. “Why though? You made it sound like you wanted this.”
A deep and heavy exhale, one drawn out from the pit of Jet's stomach, wafted out from between his lips. “I do and… I don't.”
Arms tucked tightly against her chest, Nell thumbed lovingly at her bitty boyfriend's back while she waited for him to elaborate.
“On the one hand it's... it's incredible! A monster, a Slayer no less, wanting to learn the tools of the trade from me! Me of all people!” Nell struggled to hold back flustered chirps and giggles as the human excitedly wiggled around while he spoke. “...Me.” Jet's tone and enthusiasm sank with his posture. “The wannabe playing pretend at being a Master Hunter. Tch, it's only because of that feral thing that I finally understood what it truly takes to be one. That and how big of a gap there is between where I am and where I want to be.”
Nell's ears flicked attentively as she chewed on his words. “You're worried that you're not up to the task.”
Jet silently nodded. “Going into this I thought, I hoped, that maybe teaching Alma would be exactly what I needed. A way to hone my knowledge and help her, help me, become a better Hunter in turn. The more I started thinking about it though I... the more I… I started to doubt myself.” Noisy clanks sounded out as he impotently gestured at the air. “How can I teach someone how to fight like a Hunter if I’m still figuring it out for myself?”
The Nargacuga growled, mostly at herself, while she reluctantly tiptoed out of her comfort zone. She could be, she would be, supportive. “Well... what would you do if you were training me?”
Sighing heavily, Jet wiggled out from between the furred hills that lined his gargantuan girlfriend's chest. “Try not to embarrass myself for starters,” he grimaced.
“I'm serious,” Nell rumbled.
Resting against the Nargacuga's sternum, her words felt more than they were heard, the human scrunched his lips. “I mean.” Impatient growls violently shook any and all traces of self-deprecation out of him. “I... I guess first and foremost I'd try to find out what weapon complements your fighting style.”
Brows furrowed, the Wyvern let slip bassy chirps as she tossed her head back and invited Jet to scritch at her exposed neck. “Complement how?”
Blushing furiously, his outstretched arm pinched beneath and guided along by a single scaly finger, Jet struggled to gather his thoughts. Torrents of steam poured out from the slits in the Hunter's visor as he tried, and failed, to string together even the simplest vowels and consonants. “Y-y-y-you said it yourself! There's no point fixing what ain't broken. So it... so it would have to be something that complements, that flows, with your tools of the trade.”
Nell trembled at Jet's very touch. Eyes fluttering, she rolled her head to the side and not so subtly encouraged him to keep at it. Scaled digits pressed against the human's back, his heavily layered plate mail dimpling beneath them, the massive monster kneaded him into her thick fluffy neck. “Like what?”
Sliding his hands through her fur, the tufts of fluff erupting from between his fingers so thick Jet lost sight of his own limbs, the trepidatious teacher continued to think. How would he describe her fighting style?
Jet's mind, and muscles, wandered while he clenched his teeth and recalled his endless losing streak. It took little effort to imagine the Nargacuga lunging towards him with claws at the ready and a mindless bloodlust, always feigned, contorting her visage. In his mind's eye he slid beneath her, moss and mud caking against his back, before hopping up to his feet with Hammer at the ready. Whirling about on his heels he rushed towards her, so as to capitalize on his counter, only to be...
Shoulders sagging, Jet obediently scritched and scratched as he shrugged off an unconscious wince. With great reluctance he peeled back the curtain of his mind's eye once more only to be met with the sight, and deafening sound, of her mace of a tail clanging against the side of his helmet. Guh. How many carts had he earned that way? Even should her initial lunge and slashing swings fail to meet their marks Nell could be counted on to counter his counter in any number of ways. She could anchor her hands into the earth and, with a quick hop, slam her weaponized limb directly down upon the Hunter. Or, alternatively, she could sway and sashay those toned hips of hers and send him ragdolling with a sweep of her tail. Her strikes, swift and free flowing, blended into one another with ease. Which meant the Nargacuga's weapon of choice had to be able to match that breakneck pace...
“Hrmmm.” Sliding down off of Nell's neck, Jet took to stroking at his own chin in thoughtful contemplation.
“Hmm?” Propping herself up against the sand dune, rending the flattened reeds upon it into pulp, Nell curiously regarded the pacing Hunter.
Jet continued to mumble to himself while his train of thought accelerated. “Something fast. Something light. Something that can be both drawn and sheathed at a moment's notice...”
Crimson bands of fur bunched against the undersides of the Nargacuga's eyes when she saw her human clank to a halt. Frozen in place, waves lapping at his greaves while the soft sand swallowed him up to his ankles, Nell’s pointed ears steadily started to droop. “...Jet?” Ambling forward she dropped to a crouch and warily reached a hand out towards him.
Gasping, Jet jostled in place while he clapped his hands against the side of his helmeted head. “I'VE GOT IT!” he triumphantly screamed.
Squawking, the webbed wings that lined the startled Nargacuga's forearms unfurled when she stumbled back into the seashell pocked shoreline. As Nell rubbed at her bruising backside Jet raced up between her kicked out legs.
“Dual Blades!” he excitedly shouted.
FWAP
The human’s armor noisily crumpled when the Nargacuga playfully clapped her thunderous thighs together. As folds of furred flesh enveloped him up to his neck he impotently wiggled and gasped for air.
“Dual what now?” Nell asked with brows half-cocked while Jet feverishly tapped out.
—
“Whereas Alma…” Nell shuddered when she so much as uttered the Slayer’s name. She resented the thought of sharing her human, her Jet, with the Anjanath. Yet… the Flying Wyvern couldn’t help but shrink in on herself every time her jealousy flared. Had she always been this possessive of him?
“Right! Whereas Alma would be a better fit for a Sword and Shield,” Jet excitedly elaborated. “Given your approaches to defense are so wildly different your weapons of choice should reflect that!” Cupping a balled fist into his palm the Hunter beamed with newfound purpose and resolve. “You, on the one hand, pour on the pressure. Your attacks come so fast, so furious, that monsters and men alike barely have the time to think much less react! If Alma is all about trading blows, and coming out on top in each exchange, you’re more about never letting them come to pass in the first place!”
The Nargacuga forced a smile and nodded along as she and Jet slunk along the shoreline. Would her chest tighten and teeth clench if Taras pulled him aside for further training? Or Brook for that matter?
“Wait. What am I saying? I shouldn’t be the one telling you how you fight! You already damn well know all that!” Jet nervously laughed. Thrumming his fingers against his chin his bravado began to falter as he sharply inhaled through his teeth. “Really hope I’m not projecting here…”
Nell, ad nauseum, continued to nod. If, when, Jet attained his Master Rank would she protest against him seeking additional training elsewhere? Would she rankle and recoil at him consulting other Trainers? Other Hunters? Slamming her tail down into the sand, dragging clumps of seaweed and driftwood behind her, the Nargacuga stifled an embarrassed growl as she slouched forward and followed after her Hunter.
“By the Sapphire Star maybe I am…” Jet mumbled as he underwent a crisis of confidence. Coughing into his fist, he couldn’t help but note that Dual Blades, and in turn the humble Sword and Shield, were admittedly some of the smallest and simplest weapons within a Hunter’s arsenal. Meaning that they were, shamelessly, among the easiest options for him to try and scale up to more monstrous sizes. Oh Gods. Had he only latched onto those two because of that?
The Nargacuga papped at the sides of her beak. O-of course he could see other Trainers! Other Hunters! It… it was just… training had been what brought them together. What kept them together. What would they even be without it? As Nell trudged along the shore, sand giving way to rocky crags and slick stone, her shoulders sank.
Shaking his head, Jet reeled back his spiral into madness with a much needed reality check. Hold on now. If he well and truly wanted to full-ass this he could just chop down a tree and call it an Insect Glaive. Right? So that meant his guiding, his Sapphire Star, clearly wasn’t the path of least resistance!
Arms crossed about her chest, Nell’s mind wandered. What would they be without it? Well they… they would still be friends. They would still sneak out to the Canteen every night. The fur lining the massive monster’s cheeks puffed out as increasingly flushed thoughts flooded to the forefront of her mind. They would still go for walks together in the Ancient Forest. They would still rendezvous just outside the human settlement every morning to swap hopelessly size-mismatched smooches and snuggles. They would… they would still love each other.
Fists clenched, Jet knocked his knuckles together as he carefully hopped between the sharply angled and barnacle lined rocks jutting out from the base of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. No more second guessing! Even if he had come to wrong conclusions, for what weapon best suited what enormous monster woman, at least it was for the right reasons! Now… now all that remained was actually bringing these ideas, however misguided they may be, to life.
The Nargacuga chirped proudly as she held tight to that simple truth. Rain or shine, training or no, her love for Jet would endure. They would find, hells they already had found, new ways to express as such! Shaking her head, Nell banished those fraught and poisonous feelings of jealousy from the forefront of her thoughts and gave her all to the task at hand. Which uhh… umm. Hum. Brows furrowed, Nell awkwardly stumbled from one crag to the next as boulders, crusted with salt crystals, pinched at her paws. …What again were they doing out here?
“Jet?” Nell dared to ask. Webbed wings unfurled and arms tossed out spread eagle, the Wyvern let the wind catch beneath her as she uneasily tried to balance herself. “Where are you taking me?”
“You’ll see!” Jet excitedly called back. With a hup he splashed down into a tidal pool and beckoned for the Nargacuga to follow. Paying little heed to the Escuregots panickedly wriggling about his ankles he raced around a rocky bend. In all of the New World there was but one place, one well kept secret among the humans, where such wild and outlandish dreams could be made real.
Nostrils flared, Nell harrumphed as she watched him disappear into a spray of white foam. Arms swinging at her sides, the Nargacuga gracelessly hurled herself forward. With a startled squawk, her leathery paws slipping and failing to gain any traction against the seaweed slicked stones beneath her, Nell fell back onto her broad behind.
Cape fluttering majestically behind him, Jet cleared his throat as he solemnly gestured towards priceless relics of a land long forgotten. “Feast your eyes, Nell! On the Old World’s Epita-”
“AHHHHH!” Screeched Nell as she helplessly flapped her arms. Sliding past Jet, drenching him with a spray of salt water in the process, the Nargacuga crashed into the surf with explosive force.
Arms hanging limply at his sides, Jet meekly regarded the cresting waves kicked up by her careless cannonball.
SPLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
“Ungh…” Arms draped over the sides of the stony shoreline Nell pulled herself out of the shallows. With a grunt she plucked Jet free from a bubbling pile of seafoam and driftwood.
“W-w-wel-” Jet started before letting slip a series of wheezing coughs.
With a playful roll of her eyes the Nargacuga flicked up the Hunter’s visor and smirked at the steady stream of water and stray Whetfish that came pouring out from within his armor. “Well?”
Ptooing out seashells and seaweed alike Jet heaved as he gathered his breath. Weakly gesturing to his side, the human motioned for Nell to follow his gaze. “Welcome to uh….”
Beak hanging open, the Nargacuga’s words failed her. Tucked away into a cove, sunkissed and long-forgotten, lay what could only be described as floating fortresses. Their hulls, run aground and split open, allowed their wooden entrails to spill out onto the shifting sands.
“To the Old World’s Epitaph!” Jet managed in between blehs and coughs. “…Pretty cool, right?”
Nell’s eyes danced over the unfamiliar structures. These were of human make, no doubt, but… how? How did these even get here? How could something, someone, so small craft something so imposing? Ears perked to attention, water flicked off of her fuzzy features every time Nell attentively swiveled them towards the creaking constructs.
“...Nell?”
Hands cupped against her cheeks, Jet acking as he was allowed to flop to the stones below, the Nargacuga greedily drank in the sights and sounds of a world that was not her own.
—
“So the Elder’s tall tales are true? There really is another world beyond the horizon?” Nell excitedly chirped as she paced about a derelict deck. Her heart soared, and her stomach sank, at how the boards buckled and groaned beneath her paws. At how this floating nest rose and fell with the push and pull of the tide. At how the sun-bleached and tattered cloth hanging high overhead fluttered and flapped in the breeze.
Lips pulled flat, Jet tossed his head back as the target dummies and salvage he had dragged up from the lower decks went unloved and unnoticed. “Uhhh… sure? Look, Nell, this isn’t what I brought you here for.”
Stamping about in place, the warped wood molding to the contours of her toes, Nell’s barbed tail wildly swung side to side as her mind raced. The railings along the sides of the ship, already cracking apart, exploded into clouds of splinters as the Nargacuga’s spiked limb casually cleaved through them. “What’s it like? What’s it called?”
Jet responded with an emphatic shrug. “Iunno! How am I supposed to know what the Old World’s like? I was born and raised here just like everybody else.” A frustrated grunt tumbled out from the Hunter’s helmet when Nell responded with a pout and a clap of her hands against her hips. “Stop that!”
Nell impatiently tapped her broad paws and squawked. “You stop!” she snipped back. “I mean… just look at the size of this nest!” the Nargacuga boomed as she flailed wildly about. “You’re telling me there’s a whole world out there where humans live like this? How come you don’t live in one of these?! This is the perfect size for us!”
“It’s a ship…” Jet exasperatedly elaborated.
Nell’s eyes sparkled at the clarification. “Humans have different names for different kinds of nests?”
“We. N-no, Nell, we don’t live on-” The human paused when he grudgingly realized she was, in fact, technically correct. “…If you’re sailing on the open ocean then yes, you kinda have to, but that’s not-”
“See!” triumphantly squawked the Wyvern. To think! Stationary nests were called houses. Floating ones were called ships. Her mind reeled at the thought of just how many different kinds of human nests she still had yet to learn about! Squawking and growling giddily to herself she ambled towards a propped open hatch. Rusted away to nearly nothing, the flaking metal having become a brilliant kaleidoscope of greens and browns, it freely offered entry to those seeking entry into the bowels of the ship. Nell eagerly accepted its invitation and daintily stepped forth.
CRKKKK
A cacophonous crash instantly sounded out the moment the Nargacuga allowed her soles to smoosh and spread wide across the wooden staircase leading down into the depths. At the faintest application of pressure the rotted steps simply fell away.
“...It’s fine,” Jet groaned. With a wave he motioned for the tensed Nargacuga to carry on.
Tail swishing nervously behind her, Nell hopped down into the lower decks. The whole of the ship shuddered, sliding perceptibly into the shallows, as the handrails to the stairs popped out of place and simply crashed down alongside her.
Wait. The Hunter’s cheeks flushed beet red at the delayed realization. “Us?”
Dropping to a crouch, her neck and back bumping against the rafters, the Nargacuga’s piercing yellow eyes cut through the darkness. The batcat’s powerful form, scarcely illuminated by the beads of sunlight poking past the rusted cannons pointed out the porthole windows, skulked about. Crates. Tables. Hammocks. Much and more of these distinctly human crafts she recognized littered about the place. Even after being abandoned for Sapphire Star knows how long it still felt so lived in.
Jet fitfully shook his head side to side as she shooed away flustered thoughts of cohabitation. “A-a-anyway!” he called out. “The reason I brought you here was so we could salvage. Target dummies, practice weapons, raw supplies. If I’m going to craft you some Dual Blades, something even close to scale, we’ll need all the help we can get!”
To the Hunter’s relief… the Old World’s Epitaph was more than capable of providing such. His predecessors, the grandparents he had never met, had left the Old World for reasons known only to them. They and their compatriots charted a voyage, with his infant parents in tow, uncertain if they would find succor or suffering beyond the endless ocean. Yet all the same they left with no intention of ever returning. Well before they could even be certain that this land or its peoples would accept them they purposefully beached the vessels that saw them to safety. Hell or high water they committed themselves wholly to what would become Astera.
“Just what it was about the Old World that could have compelled them to make such a reckless and desperate gamble?” Jet thought to himself. Those questions, among others, would retreat to the recesses of his mind as they had countless times before. Leaning over what little railing remained, the Hunter contented himself with drinking in the haunting yet soothing symphony that whistled through the wooden and waterlogged corpses that filled this graveyard. These ships, now skeletons, had been entrusted to the generations to come with the hope that they would be freely picked and plundered. To be the fertile ground from which dreams of another age could take root and flourish.
TATUNK
…That he may or may not have been presently desecrating. Hopefully his ancestors, long laid to rest, didn’t think too poorly of his gigantic girlfriend using their last will and testament as a play place.
“Hmm? You say something, Jet?” Nell curiously rumbled.
“N-nothing important!” Jet nervously coughed to himself.
With a shrug Nell dropped to her stomach. Letting her chin come to rest upon her forearms she slowly crawled forward through the increasingly cramped corridors. Shoulders bunched, she casually elbowed aside furniture, and entire walls, all while happily chirping to herself.
“Just that when it comes to help we can’t exactly look elsewhere for it,” said the Hunter with a sigh. “We’ll only have ourselves to rely on. I can’t very well go and put in an order at the Smithy for something in your size…”
Struggling to keep her eyes open, the monster quietly soaked up the gentle sway of the ship and the muted crash of the waves against its hull as she passively nodded along.
“Given that would raise a whole lot of questions that I’d rather not answer,” Jet sharply inhaled through clenched teeth. Astera, as it was, remained standing only by the good graces of its monstrous neighbors. Its vaunted gates, while menacing, were decorative more than anything. The fact that Taras, and Nell, snuck past them to frequent the Canteen on a daily basis all but proved as such. Even though relations had begun to thaw, if not grow warm, between humans and monsters as of late… Jet sincerely doubted his proposal to arm the already all powerful locals would be enthusiastically received.
“Mrph. We'll figure something out,” Nell purred. Nuzzling into the back of her scaled hands her breathing grew slow and heavy. It was a little cramped, sure, but this nest had a certain charm to it. It was serene, secure, silent…
“We will but It’ll definitely take some doing,” Jet trailed off. “Now think,” he mumbled aloud as he let a pair of wrought iron Dual Blades hang from his hips. Jostling side to side he hummed when the curved metal nicked at his armored knees and all but obscured the sides of his legs. Hum.
Jet tap tap tapped at the side of his helmet. Roughly speaking, these guesstimates of his bore out that the ideal Dual Blades should match the wielder’s leg in width and halve it in terms of length. Considering the fact he only came up to Nell’s knees, and her thighs alone eclipsed if not shamed him in size, that would mean that he himself was the perfect unit of measurement!
“A blade the size of a man…” The human froze in place when he uttered as such aloud. An epiphany, blinding and brilliant, nearly struck Jet down then and there on the spot. How had he not realized this sooner?! Great Swords, in her hands, would be but daggers! “Hey, Nell! Nell! I know exactly what-”
Snores, loud and pronounced, silenced the Hunter’s celebrations. The musty air, suffocating warmth, and rhythmic creaks had simply proved too much for her to resist.
“Of course,” Jet smirked. Eh. It wasn’t like he was in any hurry. Rubbing at the back of his neck the Hunter lazily sauntered towards the rusted open hatch and quietly dropped down to the decks below.
TUNK
With a chirp, Nell blearily creaked open an eye when her bitty beloved vaulted over a bicep and tucked himself close against her cheek. Hmph. Yawning, she lovingly nuzzled into him and blissfully purred as he took to scritching at her beak. If this was how an emptied human nest made the Nargacuga feel… she couldn’t help but bashfully wonder how safe and inviting Jet’s own would feel in comparison. Someday, and soon, she hoped to find out.
FIRST, PREVIOUS, NEXT
Category Story / Macro / Micro
Species Unspecified / Any
Gender Any
Size 120 x 77px
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