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masterqwertster · 9 months

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24. "Unless you ask me not to in the next five seconds, I'm going to hug you." from the vague dialogue prompts for Chetney and Ashton please? in the secret library AU.

-@inconmess

Prompt Gotta admit, I'm really pleased to see people asking for prompts with the different AUs this go around instead of me picking at random. I love getting engagement with them. The fun thing about the Secret Library AU is that it's (as @thecassafrasstree pointed out in the concept post notes) very well suited to extra little tv show style episodic adventures. And one of those little "episode" ideas that's been chewing at me is Ashton getting their genasi curse removed in a mishandled artifact incident/accident. And they're excited to be human again, but also just kinda bad at it. He's been made of stone since he was 15-ish and just doesn't know how to be physically soft and squishy anymore, leading to some (kind of funny) accidents around the library. Ashton takes the curse back, in the end though, because being human hasn't really been him in a long time and the strength he has as a genasi lets him better protect his people. ...And there's probably some desperate situation where he needs his old stone strength/body back to save everyone, as these things usually go. This little tidbit would be in the fallout of Ashton taking back their curse. 24 "Unless you ask me not to in the next five seconds, I'm going to hug you."

Chetney knows what it's like to go between human and what most would call monster.

That's kind of the whole deal with lycanthropy. Sometimes you're pretty normal, sometimes you're a fucking sexy beast ...with some feral instinct issues.

Anyways, point is: Chetney's got some idea of what's going on in that opal brain of Ashton's, and it's about time the punk rock stopped moping.

It's not very difficult to track Ashton down. When they're in a mood that isn't punchy, they can be found in the lounge, binging documentaries, snacks, and/or alcohol.

By the looks of it, they're not full on wallowing today, as there's only one empty beer bottle on the coffee table and the second in their hand is still half full by the swish of its contents while the mess of emptied snack bags speak to Ashton having parked their ass on the couch hours ago.

"So. How long do you plan on moping?" Chetney lightly asks, sitting down on the sinfully comfy couch and swiping a packet of jerky to gnaw on. Mmm, teriyaki.

"Shut the fuck up, Chetney," Ashton grumps, eyes fixed on the screen. Looks like a Western Wynandir castle documentary. Chetney's actually been to a few of those places.

"Right. No plans. Cool, cool," Chetney rolls with the attempted shutdown. "If you want my opinion on the whole thing-"

"I don't," Ashton growls.

"-as someone who's been a boring ass normal human for 70 years," Chetney continues undeterred. "I've never felt more alive than after I became a werewolf. I can do cool shit, and what I do here at the Library fucking matters. Can you really say you wanted to give that up?"

Ashton actually pauses the documentary, turns to face Chetney.

"Orym's a regular fucking human, and he does this shit. Being human doesn't mean giving up all of this," Ashton argues. But Chetney can see that it's more confusion, being lost, than anger behind the intense tone. The kid doesn't know where he stands anymore, and that's what's got him down in the dumps and tangled up in knots.

"True," Chetney softly agrees. "But Orym wouldn't be able to handle the problems here half as well as he does if not for all us not-so-normal types backing him up."

Ashton's eyes drop to their lap, their hands fisted in the fabric of their sweatpants.

"I just- I'm not like you and Fearne and Imogen and Laudna. I can't pass for human when pressed. I'm too hard, too heavy, too different. But I was human once and I don't- I can't be anything but this. Can't even pretend I'm not when I know how different it feels."

And Chetney's heart breaks for them a little bit.

"Fuck. Unless you ask me not to in the next five seconds, I'm going to hug you," Chetney declares. The kid obviously needs it.

"You're kidding," Ashton says, staring at Chetney in disbelief.

But Chetney's not, and he wraps the punk in a good ol' fashioned hug. Even gets fuzzy for it to make it even more comforting. Maybe. Look, he only caught a few minutes of that service animal documentary, but he remembers it saying that hugging animals is good for people.

Ashton stiffens for a second or two, and right as Chetney's thinking he should let go and back off, they lean into it. And fuck, the kid is heavy. But the wolf is strong, so he keeps them both upright for the hug.

After a little while, they pull apart and resettle on the couch.

"If you fucking tell anyone..." Ashton threatens a few minutes later.

"I won't," Chetney curtly agrees.

Neither of them are good at showing their bellies. It's the curse of a tough exterior and a gooey core. But every curse can be lifted, if only for a little while.

#MQ&A #MQfic #MQ AU machine #critical role #ashton greymoore #chetney pock'o'pea #bells hells secret library au #vague angst quote prompt

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