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They're all exhausted. The battle with the Mother Chomper was a grueling one, and one they would have gladly avoided if not for the bounty. She sinks slowly to the ground, admitting defeat.
(Kabbu can feel Venus' penetrating gaze through the walls. Though it makes him feel guiltier than he already does, it is wholly unnecessary.)
"There, there," he huffs, half-collapsing into a sit in front of the monster. "The fight is over, old girl. You fought well."
Leif makes a strange, choked sound as Kabbu reaches out, placing one hand on the Chomper's head.
"Wh- Kabbu!?" Vi hisses, alarmed. "What are you doing!?"
"She doesn't mean any harm, Vi," he states firmly, and then, rethinking his words, he continues, "anymore, at least? We intruded on her territory, and a battle was unavoidable. But she has exhausted herself."
The Chomper does not snap at him, though her voice rumbles through his body like thunder. Curiously, it feels familiar… Kabbu blinks and rolls together the grinding parts of his mouth, creating a harsh clicking sound. Though much sharper and higher pitched than her own, the beast appears to understand what he is attempting. She clacks her (huge, very large) teeth, and Kabbu flinchingly wonders if he's miscalculated, about to be devoured over a misplaced hunch.
Instead, the beast without eyes seems to give him a look as if saying why didn't you speak up before? and rumbles again, grinding her thick, fibrous teeth together afterwards. Kabbu gasps, allowing his faceplate to open without a second thought, awkwardly attempting to repeat the sound.
"...Leif, are you seeing this?"
"Yes. We cannot look away."
"Are they talking to each other? That's nothing like any Bugnish I've ever heard, or even that weird gobbledygook you start doing when we're near an artifact!"
The Mother Chomper, seeming enthused by this call and response, raises herself slightly, cocking her head to one side, studying him. Grrrrumble, she says. Crrrrrrick, Kabbu responds.
"I don't know if I'd call this language, but I think, somehow, Kabbu has managed to pacify her by speaking as she does."
"So… what? Are you saying chompers have been biting bugs everywhere because of… a language barrier? "
"...we weren't saying that, actually, but that does seem possible after this display. Very astute of you, Vi."
"I- uh, thanks! I guess?"
The two continue to watch in fascination as Kabbu, now standing and looking up at the Mother Chomper, continues mimicking her own vocalizations, to the apparent delight of the plant. Chompers tucked away near the walls peel their roots from the earth and walk closer, curious. Vi and Leif tense, huddling closer together.
"... what if they think Kabbu's their new dad? " Vi whispers, struggling not to break out into giggles. Leif shuts their mouth, trying not to laugh at the mental image of Kabbu in a home full to the brim with baby chompers. It doesn't help that Kabbu is spinning slowly, looking at all the chompers around him with awe in his eyes- eyes that are shining like he's ready to burst into tears.
"Guys!" Kabbu shouts over the playful clicks and growls of the small plants around him, "I- ow, hey, no biting- I think we- I think we may have reached a-a truce!" He follows the words with another one of those odd sounds, and the two get a front row seat to the way his strange mouthparts shift and grind against each other in waves with the sound, no longer hidden by angle or his faceplates.
"Kabbu," Leif laughs, delighted by the scene and wondering if, when her fight with Vi is all said and done, he could get Jaune to paint it, "You didn't tell us you could speak to chompers."
"Yeah! You're like the Blue Ranger, the one who can talk to fish!" Vi adds excitedly, and Kabbu flushes, stumbling distractedly over a chomper's roots.
"A-ah, well, I don't really think these are words we are saying," he admits, chuckling as a particularly pushy Chomper shoves its bulbous head into his hand. He pets it idly, and its little petals droop, content. "It's more like- hm. Some bugs, such as beetles like myself, have these… subvocalizations we do. It's like– it's like body language and speaking, but in between them! I realized when she laid down that she sounds remarkably similar to, well-"
He criiiiiicks again, and the Mother Chomper rumbles, bumping her huge head into Kabbu so roughly he almost falls over. Mirth dances in his eyes.
"It was so obvious as soon as I returned the call. I'm amazed nobody has tried this before!"
"Nobody even thought to, I bet," Leif points out, tentatively approaching the throng of plants and holding their hands up defensively when a few snap curious teeth at their wings. "You had to put yourself in quite the spot of danger after an already arduous fight for it to work."
"Yeah, it was crazy!" Vi calls, flying over the smallest ones and snickering when they try to nip at her legs.
Their discussion is cut short when the Mother Chomper makes a deeper, almost commanding groan, making the small chompers scatter. She seems to "stare" at them even without eyes, before dipping her head until her teeth are nearly touching the dirt. She opens them slowly, and a delicate little ball plops onto the soil.
The Mother Chomper continues to watch them, apparently expecting them to do something and, when nobody moves, lowers her head once more and nudges the little thing forward, knocking it into Kabbu's leg. The beetle jolts, glancing between the ball and her head before picking the thing delicately between two hands. He blinks, eyes widening, jerks his head up to stare in disbelief.
"This is a seed," he whispers. "Are you asking us to take this?" He rolls his clicking mouthparts underneath his spoken words, an overlay of shock and wonder. She churrs, deep and pleased, and with a care one would not expect from a beast so large, especially one that had been happily kicking their asses not that long ago, she opens her mouth and-
-she opens her mouth -
"K-Kabbu!" Vi cries out, paralyzed with horror as the chomper closes her huge mouth around their friend's upper body. Leif feels, for a moment, as if their heart freezes over, as if everything falls still.
And then the Mother Chomper releases, just as slowly and gently, and Kabbu's head is whole and unharmed. The beetle shakes, pressing a hand to his chest and only letting go of the tension in his body when he sees his hand come back unbloodied.
"S-she has no hands," Kabbu realizes with a shudder, soggier than he was a second ago. Tiny nicks dot a semi-circle around his chest and shoulders, none deep enough to be dangerous. "I… I believe she was… tasting me?" He says, voice pitching up an octave at the end of his sentence, "In. A good way?"
" Can you tell her not to do that again?" Vi wheezes, leaning on Leif as the paralyzing fear leaves her wobbly. "I thought you were a goner!"
Kabbu shakes his head, dazed, instead bowing at the Mother Chomper. "Th-thank you for your kindness," he stammers and chirrs. "We shall not let it go to waste."
When they finally exit the cave, Venus (or rather, the bud she had placed outside the mouth) laughs raucously after healing them up, and the eyeless flower expresses her sheer glee perfectly . "Someone got a little friendly in there," she teases, Kabbu flushing and stammering his denial. The danger now gone, Leif lets themself chuckle as well, and Vi works with the goddess, teaming up to harass the poor beetle good-naturedly.
(The seed hatches into a tiny princess chomper in Hawk's lab. Kabbu babbles incoherently, overwhelmed with love to the point of tears. Leif can't blame him, attached at first sight to the little sprout.
"Chompy," they say decisively. Vi rolls her eyes, muttering real original, but she doesn't contest it, hand pressed to the glass fondly.)