Hi, guys! I realize it's been a long time since I actually posted anything. I hope to get back into the swing of things. And here is what I've been working on: one-shots for Xenoblade Chronicles! It's an amazing story, and the soundtrack is one of the best out there.

Anyway, I've started a list of one word prompts I got from the Internet. And for every prompt, I used a randomizing generator to give me random characters to work with. I felt like that would make the interactions funner and a lot more interesting. The general rule I've set for myself is that the characters from the generator have to appear in the fic, but I can bring in side characters to help move things along. Some one word prompts are repeated on the list, but that's partly my fault for not paying attention. Oh well. Who cares? These one-shots will mainly consist of discovering and building my head canons.

As for shipping: There will some slash, femslash, or boyxgirl. Whatever floats my boat at the time.

Now onto the first one! Hope you enjoy.

327. Ink

Characters:Shulk, Alvis, Kallian, and Egil

The metal doors slid open with a gentle thrum. Egil entered Meyneth's library, manuscript under arm, and looked around for his companion. "Shulk?" he called. No response. Sighing in exasperation, Egil made his way to the center where study tables were, praying the blonde had remembered to limit himself to five books at a time.

No such luck. The center of the library looked like mountains had sprouted; towers of books piled the tables and littered the floor. His left eyelid twitched. He craned his neck around, but it was impossible to see through the walls of text. Text of which laid scattered and disorganized.

The twitch got worse, nostrils flared, and crimson eyes narrowed to slits, darkening with murderous intent.

He would ring the blonde fiend's neck.

"Shulk!" his bellow echoed through the room, rattling the precarious book piles, and causing a few files at the top to slip and splash their contents everywhere. Egil could feel a migraine forming behind his eyes.

"In here," a faint voice came from within the fortress.

"Clearly," Egil bit out. When it became clear Shulk wasn't going to present nor prostrate himself before the enraged Machina, Egil snarled, and maneuvered carefully between stacks. Spitting a choice swear as an encyclopedia nearly took off his head, Egil resolved to eviscerate the next living thing that crossed his path. Preferably Shulk.

Speaking of whom, Egil spotted a tuft of blonde hair moving behind a moderate stack of books. His resulting grin was a terrifying mixture of bared teeth and a building snarl. "Oh, Shulk," he sing-songed, rounding the corner, "If you do not give me a good explanation as to why all these books are out of place, I'll tear you limb from- what are you doing?"

Not sparing a glance at the baffled Machina, Shulk spat the pen cap out of his mouth, "Ran out of paper," was the explanation as the blonde continued to scribble on his bare arm. His long-sleeved black shirt and red vest were thrown over the back of a chair. Black, blue, and purple ink covered his entire torso and stomach, looking like a very outspoken bruise.

Shulk was glancing at the various notebooks and ancient, preserved sketches every now and then as he wrote or drew, switching out the colors when needed. Egil felt his anger drain, but the headache still clawed forth.

He pulled out another chair and sat with manuscript in lap, watching idly as he rubbed his temples. "You know, you could've just gotten more," he commented.

"Can't," was the absent reply, "Onto something."

Egil sighed. "Well, be sure to share with the class once you're done," he bit out though there no venom to it. Shulk acknowledged him with a head tilt, or that head tilt only meant he was calculating in his head. For his sanity, Egil would pretend it was the former.

He settled down to review their shared notes…

…And was promptly startled back to reality when a black pen was thrust into the spine of the manuscript. Red eyes met blue. "Do you have a steady hand?" the blonde questioned.

The Machina drew himself up, "What kind of question is that?" he retorted. All Machina had steady hands; they needed to since they constantly worked with machinery. Egil engineered the finer details of creating faced Mechon, for crying out loud!

"A stupid one, of course," Shulk backtracked immediately, "But I need you to copy this diagram and these notes on my back." The pale back was presented to him; the only unblemished part of the blonde's body.

Egil skimmed the papers Shulk had slid towards him. The diagram was of an old Machina prototype Junk that had been discarded due to there being little to no resources found for it on Mechonis. And the hurried notes of Shulk's made his vision blur.

"This might be the perfect time to fetch more paper," Egil declared. Yet he made no move to get up.

"But you won't," the blonde responded with an air of finality.

"What makes you so sure of that?" he challenged, fingering the pen. Insolent creature. He should shove the pen into its pale neck, and watch the blood spurt forth. But no, then the spray would get on Meyneth's books.

Egil reluctantly discarded the idea with a mental sigh.

"Because if you leave," Shulk said, blue eyes staring straight ahead with a hint of a smirk, "There are other parts of the library I have yet to explore."

His eyelid twitched. Cheeky brat!

"Very well," his tone was silky and promised revenge later. He braced a hand on the Hom's shoulder, digging his nails in slightly. The blonde flinched slightly and gasped.

Feeling rather than seeing the raised eyebrow, Shulk hurriedly explained, "Sorry, your hands are cold."

He didn't dignify that with a response.

As the Machina traced the lines, Shulk closed his eyes, gradually relaxing with a long exhale through his nose. This reminded him of the time he, Fiora, and Reyn would sometimes form a sitting line to trace messages or pictures on each other's backs when they were little. He especially liked it when Fiora would lightly draw a Nopon in a field of flowers. She would use her nail to scratch in some sort of imaginary detail, and Shulk would purposely not understand what it was so that she would have to retrace the entire picture.

Combined with his fascination of pens…if Homs had the ability to purr, Shulk would be the equivalent of a modern Junk engine- low and thrumming.

"What do you require this for?" Egil's question drew him from his reverie. Shulk yawned and slowly hunched his back to warn Egil that he was going to rest his head and crossed arms on the table. He hadn't realized how tired he felt, taken in utterly by a new project.

"Kallian wanted to compare High Entian and Machina airships. I was drafted because we're," Shulk gestured vaguely with his hand, "on speaking terms." Another yawn escaped him.

"When was the last time you slept?"

"I can run a little while longer."

"That wasn't an answer."

"It was supposed to be reassurance," a blue eye peeked upwards before a small sigh was let out, "Believe me, Egil, I'm fine. Power naps are normal for me."

The pen lifted, but the hand on his shoulder remained, "I will only finish if you promise me to get some rest when you leave."

"I told you-,"

The hand on his shoulder tightened its grip, "Please friend."

Shulk stilled. "Alright. I will."

"More than three hours?"

"You don't trust me?" he asked, feigning indignation.

"Not in the least," the Machina returned dryly.

"I promise friend." Egil's hand tightened once more on his shoulder before the pen resumed its black trail.

Minutes passed in relative silence, broken only when Egil needed help deciphering his handwriting, and the clacking of pens when Egil opted for his green correction ink.

"There!" Egil finished with a flourish.

"Great!" Shulk, halfway into dreamland, jolted back to reality, and moved to get up. He was stopped once more by the hand on his shoulder holding him down. He craned his neck around to see Egil was studying his handiwork thoughtfully.

"Just a moment, Shulk, I wish to leave a... message for His Highness. I remember when Lady Meyneth taught this to me."

"Alright," Shulk consented half-warily. Egil had that manic gleam in his eyes once more, but if it helped the people of Bionis and Mechonis become closer, who was he to complain?

Egil worked quickly, and then released his grip, stepping away to make room.

Shulk grabbed and threw on his shirt and vest. He then gathered his notebooks.

"Remember, rest," Egil reminded him as they squeezed through the mountains of books.

"Yeah," Shulk agreed, walking out the door.

Egil escorted him back to his ship. When it was clear for takeoff, and Shulk was leaning over the side of the safety rail, an afterthought struck him, and he started chuckling. The Havres rose into the twilight sky when Shulk yelled over the side, "Have fun cleaning up!"

It was amusing and a tad alarming to see Egil's face morph from softly happy to murderous rage. Those red eyes burned into his, calling for blood.

Shulk laughed and waved, mentally noting not to appear anywhere in Egil's vicinity for the next few weeks.

"INSOLENT WORM!"

Scratch that; make it the next few months.

Nighttime blanketed Alcamoth. The stars and the thin slice of the moon were the only natural light sources. High up in the room where he and his friends had once been held prisoner, Shulk worked by the light of an ether lamp.

He had just finished copying the notes on his stomach into a fresh notebook, and was angling a handheld mirror to see his back when the doors slid open, and in walked His Highness with Alvis a half pace behind, and a pair of night guards. Despite the fact that he was only shirtless, Shulk felt naked, and the ink on his skin felt like heavy scarring.

Heat rose to his cheeks, magnified by the yellow light emitting from the lamp. Shoulders tensing, he reached for his shirt reflexively, the handheld mirror in his hand clattering onto the table.

Kallian raised a grey brow, "May I inquire as to why you are covered in-,"

"I ran out of paper," Shulk didn't quite snap, but his tone came dangerously close. He crossed his arms out of subconscious habit.

Alvis, sensing his discomfort, deftly turned and quietly ordered the guards to remain outside. Once they were alone, Kallian moved forward. He too had sensed the skittishness in the normally calm blonde and approached carefully, "I apologize. I meant no offense," he offered, teal eyes noticing the death grip Shulk had on his shirt.

The Hom studied his own white-knuckled fingers as well before tossing the shirt back onto the table with a sigh. He waved away the apology "No, I'm just being stupid is all. Ignore me."

The blonde gathered a pile of papers together, and pushed them to the side, "It isn't complete yet, but here's what I've gathered so far." He talked to the table, acutely aware of eyes traveling over his body like a pair of hot pokers. He gestured to his back, "I just have to get these down, and I'll be done."

"Very well," the regent nodded though Shulk never looked up, "I trust you'll get the rest down by tomorrow."

"Yes, your Highness," the blonde acknowledged.

"I will see to it that it is completed, your Highness," Alvis interrupted.

"See to it," Kallian nodded once more for lack of anything better to say, "Pleasant dreams, Shulk." Dipping his head to Alvis, which was returned with a short bow, his footsteps faded away as the door hissed close behind him.

Shulk let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, and reached for the mirror.

Angling it once more, he saw Alvis's reflection staring curiously at him. No, not at him, but his back. Before Shulk could ask why, the other Hom walked over and squatted down to trace his fingers along the blonde's lower back. Goosebumps erupted on his arms.

"Shulk, what is this?" the Seer asked. The amusement in the normally aloof tone made Shulk crane his neck to look over his shoulder. Alvis was gazing at the lower left portion of his back.

The place where Egil had left a message for the regent. Shulk had completely forgotten about it in the wake of making sure a bloodthirsty Egil didn't follow the Havres in his faced mechon.

"Uh," was his eloquent reply.

Silver eyes glanced up, raising an equally silvery brow.

"I-it was something Egil did. He said it was a message for Kallian. Something that…that Meyneth taught him…?"

Shulk trailed off as Alvis did the unexpected.

He laughed. Not a low chuckle that was typical of him, but a short belly laugh. Hand over mouth to stifle it, Alvis dwindled into snickers.

Shulk was dumbfounded. And it showed in the way that he stared at the other with wide eyes and an unhinged jaw.

Suddenly, he wanted to know what exactly Egil had inked onto his skin.

Twisting his head further, Shulk only succeeded in giving his neck a crick. He tried using the mirror, but every angle was awkward and off.

Finally, Alvis placed a hand over his to get him to stop. The silver-haired man had mostly stopped though a stray chuckle escaped every now and then.

"Do not concern yourself with it, Shulk," he said warmly, smiling up at the blonde.

Shulk blinked. And once again felt the heat rise to his cheeks as he held the silver eyes with his blue. He broke the stare first, clearing his throat. "What is it?"

"A certain…courtesy from my homeland." At the blonde's confused look, Alvis stood fluidly and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Like I said," the hand squeezed before letting go, "Do not concern yourself overly much. But do not copy it into the report like Egil no doubt had intended."

Ignoring the other's questions and protests, Alvis seated himself beside Shulk, and took the mirror from his hand, "I will hold it as you write," his tone brooked no argument.

Shulk sighed, and gave up for the moment, hunching over his notebook to write, and occasionally glancing into the mirror that Alvis so helpfully angled.

It also gave Alvis an unobstructed full viewing of Egil's "message".

There were three chibi figures, one of which was Shulk, another which was Egil himself, and the third, His Highness.

Shulk, the shortest and sleepiest looking, was hiding behind Egil whom was facing off with Kallian. His Highness had a distinct evil aura drawn about him; he had horns coming out of his head along with the wings; a pointy tail and fangs while holding a three-pronged spear.

Egil's chibi had his arm raised between him and the evil Kallian, holding up what was an impressively detailed middle finger.