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Niki grumbled slightly, rolling over in her bed as the sunlight shone through her window. It faced East, and as such, she always was forced to awake early, much to her displeasure. However, this was not to say she didn’t need to awake early; running a bakery was difficult work when you advertised fresh bread and breakfast pastries every day.
Giving herself mentally until the count of ten, Niki grumbled and made all her complaints, eyes still firmly shut as she protested nature. When she reached ten, she aggressively ripped the blankets off herself and sat up, shivering in the cold air of an unheated bakery.
Her genetics hated her, she had realized years ago. She was much taller than comfortable, constantly having to duck or risk walking her head against doorways or low hanging objects. She had never been able to hide well as a child, which… had posed some issues given that circumstances she grew up. However, she had learned to embrace that, and utilized her height to shield her younger siblings from their parents rages and providing a comforting figure when they forgot about most of them.
However, due to the numerous species mixed to create her, she had many issues. Her foot had come out twisted at birth, and with a lack of medical knowledge in The End City, they had it amputated and replaced with a prosthetic. Her skin was thin in all places except her joints, where it cracked and refused to bend easily (except in almost Nether-like temperatures, thanks Shulk Gramps,) causing extreme pain to her in daily life. She had small nubs, sad excuses of horns, that did not show past her hairline much but would also be irritated and send twinges of pain every time she brushed her hair. She was prone to headaches as her eyes were meant for lower lighting environments, and was often dehydrated due to the pain in drinking water from her Enderian side. She was also frequently cold, as the Albino Enderman side of her required more warmth due to the adaptation made for that species to live inside the Nether.
All this to say; Niki Nihachu Beloved’s anatomy and genetics despised her and would do everything to take her down.
And as Beloveds do (she doesn’t actually know if this is a frequent trend in beloveds beyond her and Ranboo, the only Beloved she can remain in contact with after The Exodus) she pushed forward and threw a metaphorical finger to the universe.
She headed to the center of her small cottage-bakery hybrid home and preheated the furnaces, moving over to feed the sourdough starter (Shelby Jr, as her… well, she and Shelby didn’t label their relationship so she didn’t know what to call it, but Shelby had named it) and make preparations for baking brownies and cheese danish.
Not long after she had thrown the bread into the furnaces had Ranboo emerged from their room, it rubbing their eyes groggily.
“..’Sup, Niki” they spoke, voice low with sleep. Niki smiled, brushing a spot of flour off her long sleeve, before answering with a neutral hum.
“One of those days, yeah?” They said, wincing.
She nodded, brushing loose flour on the counter into the jar. Tommy would be arriving soon, the rascal, and she smiled at the thought.
Her family had shrunk exponentially since she left The End with Ranboo at the age of 12, but it had also grown in other ways. While she hated what Ranboo had gone through with XD, and what she had gone through with Wilbur later, it allowed her experience and understanding, as well as a deeper connection with her sibling.
The bell rang loudly, as stomps could be heard echoing through the room.
“WHAT’S UP LOSERS AND NIKI BELOVED, ONLY WOM- oh it’s just Ranboo and Niki.” His façade fell quickly when he realized it was just the two of them, muscles becoming more relaxed as his wings were held looser around them.
She smiled, waving at Tommy before making a frown and tapping at her mouth. He nodded, understanding marring his young face and for a second she saw the 8 year old soldier of L’Manberg, not her adopted brother she ran off with after seeing how he refused to lose eye sight of Wilbur when in a room with him, all wide-eyed and ever too familiar.
And after a second, a smile warmer than the furnace she stood against (her joints became easier to bend, thank Prime, and by extension her pain was weaning to the usual amounts—not to say a lack of pain, but her average existence pain that she must tolerate or be bed bound daily)
She smiled as Tommy and Ranboo began clearing up the supplies, chatting aimlessly and giving her moments to input her thoughts in grunts and hums, because did Tommy really think parrots were better than bats when bats were so adorable? Niki shook her head fondly, and reminisced on her life.
Not many years ago she had been fearing for her life daily, hearing the hissing of a creeper and freezing one too many times (she rubbed the burn scars on her right arm, mirroring the one on her left from the first explosion of L’Manberg at the thought of the incidents.) Now, she made pastries for a small town that thankfully didn’t care for their obvious hybrid traits (not common to see especially in smaller towns) and was always quick to chat about the recent happenings with her and her siblings.
Some times passed—she hadn’t watched the clock—before Shelby arrived. She was the first one to greet them when they moved in, bring over fresh brownies and watermelon slices to share. They were friends, but they gained a deeper understanding of each other after they realized they both had the same ex-boyfriend who acted equally horrible to the both of them.
“Heya Niks! Oh, and Ranboo and Tommy! How’s it going?”
Niki made a non-commital shrug as the younger ones chimed in their responses.
Shelby moved to Niki, wrapping her in a hug before massaging her elbows and wincing.
“Bad day?” Shelby asked. Niki nodded, grimacing. Shelby moved to her pocket, pulling out a medicinal blend.
Dr. Tray and Dan’s medicinal lotion sat in her hand, and she guided Niki to their couch, massing it into her knuckles, wrist, elbow, and knees—the joints closer to her core had ,ore body heat produced and didn’t need the lotion, just the painkillers that seeped into her bloodstream through the application in other areas.
“There, that should make it better.”
Niki, who had shut her eyes at some point, nodded slowly before leaning further against Shelby.
“Let me guess- Shubble’s Cuddles will fix the rest of it?” She asked Niki. In reality, her joints didn’t change from the cuddling. But it did help her find comfort in her life despite the pain, made it slightly more worth living—a debate she always had with herself due to her pain as she held a bread knife—and so she smiled and nodded again, a rumble of a purr escaping from her throat. Shelby chuckled before rearranging them so they could lay down together.
Niki was always drowsy when her family came around. And her family allowed her a safe environment to rest comfortably in.