Was gonna post the metal band AU last night but I had a family emergency so, instead, have a thing that I wrote to keep my mind off of it.
Arnokk slipped between she and Gorith, snarling and barring his teeth. With a spat out, "nasty half-breed," the Galra boy tried to land another kick. He quickly found his ankle locked in the jaws of Arnokka. "Let go!" The boy shouted. Arnokka thrashed. "Let go!" The boy demanded a little louder. He only clamped harder.
He had a job to do and based upon the boy's cries, he was doing it well. He turned his head towards his owner. Acxa was still huddled on the ground shaking and whimpering. The boy had an opening and he used it to dash over to the other child, hoist her up and shake her. "Control your meteor mutt!"
Another, older, child emerged. "They're both mongrels! They're perfect for each other!"
The first boy gave her another kick and Arnokk lunged. He twisted unil the boy dropped Acxa-who resumed her fetal position-and backed away. That wasn't enough for Arnokk, he growled until the boy ran. The older boy shouted at him, something something about how he would have him put down. His threats didn't matter. What mattered was that he had scuttled off just as the first boy.
Arnokk padded over to Acxa and laid down next to her, resting his head on the hand she had cupping her head. Her small fingers gripped so tightly at her hair. He didn't understand, and never would, how the children could torment her like that. How they could do it so often.
He licked the nape of her neck until she started to laugh a little and mumbled a soft, "stop it."
.oOo.
She bunched her fingers in blue-black fur and nuzzled her face in it. She wasn't quite ready to stop crying yet. Today had been worse than usual. They harassed her more knowing that it was her birthday. Apparently the birth of a half-breed wasn't cause for celebration, rather the opposite. She had grown to dread her birthday just as she was growing to dread having been born at all.
They laughed at her because she her horns hadn't grown in yet, told her that she was probably too much of a freak to have them at all. They mocked her for the hue of her skin and because her eyes weren't a solid yellow.
More so they ridiculed her because she wasn't strong like them. She hadn't a build as tall and bulky as the lot of them. She was too small and too fragile. She was optimal prey. She clung to Arnokk. That was the reason her parents had bought him for her. She needed someone who could fight when she wasn't able.
She sat up and rubbed her eyes. This wasn't the first time he had scared a vicious group of boys or girls off. It wouldn't be the last. She hugged him close, nuzzling her cheek against his fur. He was so warm. So big.
Even he stood higher than she.
He licked her face and the scrapes on her cheeks and elbows. And he nudged at her belly; his way of telling her that it was getting late and that they should head home. She got to her shaky feet and rested her hand on top of his collar. She didn't much like the walk home, but she supposed that Arnokk wouldn't let anything else happen to her. She could see by the way his head dipped and his tail was tucked, that he thought he'd failed her by letting them rough her up as much as they did.
He'd only left her alone for a moment.
She followed him down the path, wiping her bloodied nose. Maybe one day she would be able to defend herself. Until then…
She stroked Arnokk's fur.
Until then, he would keep her safe.