Skullcap - Tumblr Posts

Day 1 and 2: Acorns and Handheld

Thank you so much to @aaytaro-gt for giving the prompts for g/t inktober! Not sure how committed I’m gonna be this month, but I’ll sure as hell try my best lol

Another thank you to my beta Soldier Blade, you are a freaking lifesaver when it comes to editing <3.

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Acorns

“Whatcha doing?” Ostreatus turned to the human lounging on the couch, a book cast off the side of the cushion.  She watched him intently as he carved, curiosity burning in her expression. He raised a brow, setting down the acorn and blade.

    “Carving” He said, looking down at his current project. Sylvia sat up and her eyes flicking to the small basket of acorns that he’d been working on. After a few months of watching him come and go, it still surprised her when the borrower would bring something strange back to work on. This week, it was acorn carving. Specifically, hollowing out the inside of an acorn. 

    “How come though? Do you use it as some sort of tiny basket or something?” Ostreatus stared at her, before snorting out a laugh. It was a rare occurrence, but it brought a smile to her face nonetheless. He walked to the edge of the table, the in-progress acorn in hand. Sylvia turned to face him fully, curiosity shining in her eyes.

    “Unfortunately, the bottom is too curved to really work as a container, though I do like where your heads at,” He began, tapping the hollowed seed in thought before shaking his head. “No, these are for the colony. From what I recall about you humans, you have a celebration known as “Halloweens” or something, but we celebrate our own version of that!” He said, his body language becoming more and more animated as he spoke. “It's called “Helios Falls”, and descends from when our ancestors would celebrate the nightfall tonight.” He said, a smile creeping onto his face. 

    Sylvia hummed in thought, listening to the rambles of him as he spoke. Normally, he would be reserved, only coming to shelter when he would be injured or lonely. At least, she thought so. This sudden excitement was strange, but she found herself enjoying it more and more as he continued. “The acorns are for carving faces, similar to the pumpkins you use, for masks or decorations. The kids love it and it's one of my favorite parts of the celebration” He said, and Sylvia's smile only widened in response.

Ostreatus noticed this, and quickly quieted down, a blush darkening his copper skin. Slowly, he sat back down, continuing to carve the acorn. Though she was disappointed that he was no longer openly rambling, she understood his discomfort from being watched. Slowly, she turned back to the book she was reading prior, letting him finish his work in peace. The hours flew by as she became lost in the narrative.

It was only as the sunset streamed through the windows that she noticed him in his traveling gear, strapping the large skullcap mushroom to his messy black curls. The basket of acorns sat beside him, each seed hollowed out fully. Ostreatus turned to her, a small grin on his face.

“Leaving so soon?” Sylvia joked, a teasing smile on her face. He huffed, though the smile on his face showed his lack of anger. He grabbed one of the acorns from the basket, cradling it as if it were a porcelain figure. Slowly, he stepped forward, his cheeks slowly turning a deeper shade of pink. Sylvia became puzzled at the display, but walked over to the table nonetheless. Gingerly, Ostreatus presented the carved acorn, and she quietly gasped.

“Please be careful with it, I-I worked hard on it” He said quietly, his gaze fixated on the ground below. She could only nod in response, her voice escaping her as she studied the seed. It was the acorn from earlier. Her initials were front and center, yet she noticed a variety of flowers and bugs carved near them, all made with care. She slowly took the acorn from his grasp, noticing the little hole at the top so she could wear it. Never in her life had someone gone this far out of their way to make something this special. Carefully, she maneuvered the acorn from her hands onto the table before facing him again.

“You… you made this for me?” She whispered, her voice filled with awe and warmth. Ostreatus nodded, looking up through the mushroom hat he wore. She was touched and without thinking she scooped him into her hands and hugged him, yet the embrace was loving and warm, like a friend hugging you for the first time in years.

He froze, his heart spiking at the surprise onslaught of warmth permeating from her hands and chest. It was slightly overwhelming, yet he found himself relaxing into the touch that he rarely received. Unfortunately Sylvia noticed her mistake and tried to pull him away, but was met with the sight of him curled around her thumb, hugging it close. She smiled softly at him, with his strange mushroom hat covering his head and the leafy-green cloak that obscured most of his body, all messy from the odd position, but it warmed her heart at the open display of comfort.

Slowly, he uncurled, and just sat on her palm, a sheepish yet happy smile on his face. Sylvia set him down on the table, and he scurried off her hand onto the flat surface. Ostreatus righted himself, straightening his hat and cloak in an attempt of looking somewhat put-together, and she could only chuckle at the display. 

“Well, I best be off at the colony before nightfall, I’ll see you again soon,” He said, walking to the open windowsill, stopping right at the edge of it before turning back to her. “Thank you, by the way, for listening… and the hug. It.. it means a lot.” He finished, a blush creeping onto his face as he turned back to the window. Sylvia didn’t get the chance to say anything else as he quickly attached his hook to the edge and leaping off like some kind of bird.

As the sun set in the distance, she once again noticed the small acorn sitting on her desk, and the smile grew on her face once more. If Sylvia started wearing a new acorn pendant shortly after, who could blame her?

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That’s all for now, have a great day/night ya’ll :]

Prompt: Ghosts

Honestly this was supposed to be for G/t October but my beta was busy at the time, so here’s the story anyways.

Quick thank you to my bestie Ms Mouse for helping me edit in place of Soldier Blade, plus she put up with my bullshit lol.

(This is an au where Sylvia is dead btw)

Tw: Some description of a dead body, ghosts, & swearing. If there’s more please let me know

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Ghosts

In most situations, Ostreatus wouldn’t panic. While he did get shocked or scared sometimes, panicking was usually frowned upon in his book. Panicking led to overthinking, which led to bad decisions, & so on. The best option was to not panic & keep a sound head. Though, he couldn’t lie that he felt terror. He was trained well, as any scout or scavenger was but usually they didn’t prepare for the situation he was currently in. Johnny, his sparrow companion, was attacked by the local hawks who decided that they were a meal. They were stranded, far from any known scouting camps, & injured.

    “Fuck..” Ostreatus mumbled, breathing in shakily. He wrapped the last of his gauze around Johnny's wing. The gashes had only stopped bleeding due to the messily applied bandages & stitches. He wasn’t the greatest at medical care, & it didn’t help that his head was pounding from the fall. With a huff, he sat down, pressing his palms against his eyes to try & silence the inevitable pounding migraine that was about to occur.

    Johnny chirped tiredly, head turned to the borrower. Ostreatus hummed in response, leaning his head against the bird. They sat there for a moment, taking a second just to rest before the grueling journey they would have to face. The sounds of the forest were comforting, & the borrower could pick out the various bird calls. However, their moment of respite could only last so long. 

The sound of something stomping through the woods, & Ostreatus instantly shot up, terror flooding his veins. Footsteps. Ones too large to be considered anything other than the nightmarish being borrowers grew up learning to fear. Humans. Scrambling from his seat against Johnny, who was also trembling with fear, Ostreatus looked in the direction the noises were coming from

Frantically, he searched for something to take cover with. His eyes darted to the large maple leaf, one that would hopefully cover both he & Johnny. He snatched it up from its place on the forest floor, & sprinted back to the bird. He covered the bird, & the sparrow chirped in response. Ostreatus hid partially behind, the skullcap mushroom on his head remaining visible. The footsteps reigned closer & closer, until they stopped near the leaf they were hiding behind. He peaked out, & had to bite his tongue so as to not scream at the sight of them.

High above, the titan-like figure stood still, their empty eyes looking dead ahead. Around them, the temperature dropped, & the borrower had to fight the urge to shiver; from both the cold & their unearthly appearance. Curly black hair fell past their shoulders & onto the long, pale robes they wore. However,  a strange, red stain tainted the otherwise spotless gown, & it seeped from a large gash, not unlike the ones he’d receive when scouting. The bloody stain dripped sluggishly, yet disappeared once it hit the muddy ground. Ostreatus watched it fall with bated breath, eyes flicking from Johnny to the figure back & forth.  For once, he was thankful for the large brown mushroom disguising him.

They scanned the landscape, their deep brown skin looking translucent in the sunlight. Nothing seemed to catch the titans interest, so they continued on their way, not making a sound. Both Ostreatus & Johnny both stood stock still, not wanting to move until the temperature returned to the warmth they were accustomed to. As soon as the temperature rose, the borrower released a sigh of relief, though the feeling of fear from the ordeal left him feeling on edge.    

Hours later, when he managed to make his way back to the colony, he relayed his findings, only to find out that what he’d seen didn’t match up with what humans truly looked like. As he laid in his bed, staring at the moon, he could only wonder; what the hell had he seen?

================================ One Final thank you to @aaytaro-gt for the prompts! Also the words are yellow because tumblr doesn’t like it when I copy things from my docs-