#sweet pea rabbit family

[calico--critter]

Sweet Pea Rabbit Family Calico Critters Set

[ldysmfrst]

American Mate - (3)

Following Instincts

Paring: Hybrid!BTS Ot7 x Plus-sized Human FemReader

Status: Ongoing series

Chapter number: 3 of unknown

Word count for Chapter: 3970

Work count for Story: 12111

Genre: Hybrid Playmate Au inspired by works created by @yoongiofmine

Warnings: (I am not good at this, but I will try. Let me know if I missed anything!!) NOT BETA READ!! This story will have a bit of angst, fluff, smut, f/m, m/m, and m/f/m. This chapter does have Injury, Anxiety, Panic attacks, comfort, and Cultural differences.

BTS HYBRID ANIMAL TYPES: Seokjin - Roan Ferret, Yoongi - Black Jaguar, Hoseok - Marten, Namjoon - Alaskan Timber Wolf, Jimin - Red Panda, Taehyung - White Southwest African Tiger, Jungkook - Flemish Giant Rabbit

AMERICAN MATE MASTER LIST / LDYSMFRST MASTER LIST

Outside the break room, Yoongi is in Alpha space, catching your scent of sweet peas as it changes into a moldy pea soup smell after the comment from the redheaded playmate. Turning with a low and threatening growl, Yoongi’s eyes have gone to his hybrid's bright golden-yellow cat eyes as he blocks you from their sight. Zeroing in on the playmates, tail raised and puffed out, tip twitching back and forth with a snap of irritation, making them all step back and quiet down. Hearing you murmur something in his native tongue and then the frantic footsteps, Yoongi snaps his head to watch your fleeing form disappear into a room down the hall. Taking a quick look back at the playmates, office staff, and then his pack, Yoongi huffs and quickly follows you, unable to fight his Alpha instincts.

The rest of the BTS packmates follow their bonded one closely behind as they feel his need to protect you from the others in the office. Namjoon catches Yoongi by the shoulder, stopping him from attempting to enter the room where you sought refuge. The rest of the pack forms a barricade around their Prime Alpha and packmate, who has entered Alpha space. They all are standing on guard, facing the rest of the people in the office, watching closely for any danger, and keeping the rude humans away. 

“Yoongi, you need to give her space. Remember, she is human and might get scared of your Alpha. What is happening? I need you to get enough control to explain what is happening?” Namjoon calmly speaks to his older packmate. Pushing out calming scents, trying to bring him out of his Alpha space with soothing strokes along his shoulder and back. “Can you come back and explain why you are protecting Miss Y/n?”

Barreling into the front of the group of observers with his tail bushed out and scent-smelling concerned, Derek comes up to the defensive line of BTS, “You have to let me get to her. You have to let me help calm down Y/n. Can’t you scent her distress? She is not doing okay by herself. You can even smell her over the scent-blockers!  I am the closest thing she has to a family. Please let me in to make sure she is okay. Please.”

 One of Yoongi’s black jaguar ears twitch back, hearing the urgency in Derek’s voice. He looks at Namjoon, takes a deep breath, and closes his eyes. After a few seconds, he turns to Derek with normal dark eyes, taking in his shifty behaviors and now partly distressed scent. 

Shaking his head slowly to Namjoon, Yoongi steps between his packmates and face-to-face Derek. “You are the closest thing to her family?”

“Yes, She and I were hired together when they decided to start this branch. We work together and spend time together at my den or her apartment. I do my best to protect her from situations like this because of her past. I normally try to keep her away from the playmates in general so things like this do not happen."

"She is only here today because we could not convince her otherwise since in the meeting yesterday with your Manager and what was said on the phone. She was bullied a lot before, and while it is not something that is okay, unfortunately, it still happens to this day. I really tried but I couldn’t do anything to keep her away. She had to be here even with little to no sleep and nightmares."

Bowing slightly but keeping an eye on the pack, Derek demandingly pleads, "Now, please, Mr. Min, please let me pass. Everyone can smell that something has happened. I think she is hurt in more ways than one.”  

The last comment got the attention of the whole pack on him, and everyone looked concerned. Several eyes flashed as their hybrid halves showed their displeasure with the news. Yoongi continued to fight his Alpha instincts with a deep growl and even breaths.

“How can you tell?” Namjoon asks from next to the door. He can smell something, but it tells him nothing since he has never smelt Y/n.

“That moldy smell. Like veggies gone bad?” The hybrids start sniffing, searching for the smell, and scrunching their noses once it hits. “That is why I know something is not right. Y/n, her scent turns like that when she is hurt. I am not sure if it is just emotional but it could be physical too. I can’t tell how bad it is because the scent-blocking measures she took for your arrival are still dulling it down.  Now again. Let me in to help my friend. I may be a Beta but she is like a pack member to me and I protect her like it.”

“Fine, but I am going in with you. I was the one who knocked into her and failed to keep her from falling. My Alpha instincts have gone haywire and I have the need to protect her,” his eyes glaring back at the playmates, “ from certain people here while ensuring she is okay and make amends for my mistake.” Yoongi states without room for argument, moving to the side, nodding to his packmates to make room for them. Once the two are through, the pack retakes their defensive stance, keeping everyone else out. 

Knocking on the door, Derek calls out softly as he opens it, entering and looking around the room to spot your shaking frame in the farthest and darkest corner. Namjoon shuts the door for privacy and protection while he stands guard just outside, with one ear listening to what is happening inside the room and one ear on the rest of the office. His mind racing from the powerful wave of rotten scent that has built up in the room.

The scent is much more robust in this room. The scent-blocking measures no longer mask your distress and pain. This causes Derek and Yoongi to whine at the smell and quickly move to your side. Derek pulled you into a tight embrace, pushing his scent out and over you and scenting the top of your head while murmuring soft, reassuring words. Yoongi comforts you with his own calming scents, pushing down the desire to pry you out of Derek’s hold to take you into his own. Much to their relief, your tears slow, and your breathing calms after what feels like hours.

“Derek, my nightmares, they came true. I ruined everything. I should have stayed away. I should have been looking where I was going. Reina was right. The one with the black tail, did I hurt him? He... He tried catching me. Me! I weigh a ton.” 

At that last comment, a deep growl resounds from behind you. It takes half a second to realize it is not from the hybrid holding you. Catching your breath and snapping your mouth shut, you cautiously peek through your hair to look behind you to see none other than Mr. Min Yoongi, who turns out to be the owner of said black tail, now snapping to and fro with irritation. 

“Shit,” you mumble under your breath, your mind racing to figure out a way to get out of this situation without causing any further damage and how best to word your resignation letter.

“Miss Y/n, let us address a few things. Firstly, you do NOT weigh a ton, nor will you ever refer to yourself in that manner again. Secondly, I am not injured, nor could you injure me, as I AM an Alpha in my own right and am stronger than I look, even if I am not the Prime Alpha of the Bangtan Pack.” Yoongi’s eyes flashed a different color.

You shrink down to try to make yourself smaller. Seeing your reaction and realizing that his Alphal is trying to be in control again, he takes another deep breath to calm himself, looking between you and Derek.

 “Lastly, would you be so kind as to allow my Alpha to inspect you for injuries? I came out of the observation room door unannounced and ran into you. I tried to prevent you from falling, but we are close in height, and I could not do much other than take what I hoped was the brunt of the fall.”

Turning more towards him but still staying in the safety of Derek’s hold, you look at him with confusion. “Your Alpha? Like your hybrid-side is not yourself?” Looking over your shoulder at Derek, you see him with a smirk and a chuckle on his lips.

“Missy here,” Derek looks at Yoongi, “has never met an Alpha male before. I am a beta, and her best friend is an omega.” Turning his attention back to you, “Unlike Evie and I, an Alpha has an inner animal that they can change into fully at will and it allows them to go into Alpha space to assist in protecting, hunting, and mating.”

You look at Yoongi with wide eyes, “You turn into a black cat?” 

“I am not a black cat,” he huffs in annoyance, eyes flashing a different color briefly. “I am a Black Jaguar hybrid, and I am trying my best to keep him at bay because he can sense that your emotions have calmed down, but you are still in pain.” 

His eyes roam over your figure, stopping when he notices you are cradling your right wrist. Standing up and motioning to a nearby chair, he asks,  “Please, can I inspect you for injuries? I can see you are being careful with your right hand.”

With a gentle push from behind you, you move to the chair Yoongi gestured to. Derek also stands up but keeps his distance, watching how the two of you interact. Yoongi kneels before you, “I have to let my Alpha see for himself. I promise he will not harm you. Mr. Gulley can attest to that at this point, my Alpha would have much rather hurt himself than you.” 

Glancing at Derek, he nods with a knowing smile while taking a seat a few tables over. Taking a moment to collect yourself, running your good hand through your hair and fixing your shirt, you look down at the hybrid. With a slight smirk, he looks at you with kind eyes,  “Miss Y/n, please allow me to check for injuries. You have no reason to be nervous. You look perfect as you are.” 

Blushing slightly at his words, you nod and tuck your hair behind your ear. You watch him closely as his dark brown eyes slowly change into a stunning golden-yellow color, with the pupil elongating into a pointed oval. His ears and tail moved this way and that, never quite settling in one position for very long. Your scent turns slightly back to sweet peas as the sight makes you smile softly. 

Cautiously, Yoongi kneels closer to you to become within reaching distance. Taking your left ankle gently in his hand, he rotates it, bends your leg at the knee, and sniffs at each joint. He repeats the process with the other side as well. Finding that nothing in your legs seems to be hurting, he looks at your face again with a short, pleased chirping sound. 

Scooting a little closer, he reaches out to your left hand, bends your elbow, feels along your fingers one by one, then rotates your wrist and again seems to sniff along the joints. 

You fidget in your seat, knowing what comes next will hurt, but you don't know how the hybrid in front of you will react. Noticing your movements and the slight change in your scent, Yoongi wraps his tail around your ankle to offer support. A slight sense of pride fills him when your scent calms down at his gesture of comfort, even if you do not realize it. 

Taking your right hand, he follows the same steps, pausing slightly before he rotates your wrist. You let out a yelp of pain and bite your bottom lip as you try to pull your hand out of his grip, which only causes him to hold it just a little bit tighter with one hand while the other quickly reaches to the nape of your neck to bring you into an awkward hug. Your head is now resting on his shoulder with your nose breathing against his neck, your good hand going to his side and gripping his shirt. 

Once the pain has dulled, you realize you smell the rain, not like fresh rain but like petrichor or the earth after a good downpour. It is comforting and relaxes you even more until you hear a soft chuffing noise and remember who you are smelling. 

Pulling away, you shyly look back at Yoongi, still observing you with golden-yellow eyes and holding your wrist firm but gently. “Umm... I think I just landed on it wrong. Just some ice and pain meds should be okay. I will be good as new tomorrow,” you say with a false smile, trying to play it off as no big deal.

However, Yoongi’s ears flatten, and his feline eyes narrow at you while nodding down to your wrist. Following his line of sight, you now see that your wrist is slightly swollen and is covered with a lovely purple color. “Okay, maybe I won’t be as good as new tomorrow.”

Derek stands up and approaches the two of you to see the damage done. Taking a sharp breath, he looked at Yoongi and froze, noting that the Alpha was sternly watching his every move. 

“Mr. Min, please remember I am like family, a pack, as you could say, with Y/n. I am also not a mate, nor am I looking to make her one. Will you allow me to get your Prime Alpha and Manager so we can decide how to move forward?”

Outside the breakroom, Mr. Johnson, the director of PMS USA, was informed there was an incident and is now standing with Manager Sejin outside the BTS barrier. He had ordered Reina and the other playmates to be escorted back into the conference room by some other staff. 

Mr. Johnson had hand-picked you to be the friendly first face of PMS because you light up any room you walk into and are always willing to put in the extra time to help make things perfect on or off the clock. 

“Hello, I am the director, I really should go in there and make sure my employee is okay, Manager Sejin,” Mr. Johnson states, glancing at the members of BTS as they continue to block the door and growl at anyone who walks near them. 

“Why are they not letting anyone near the door? I am sorry. I know about hybrids from the symposiums and conferences but rarely interact with many. I typically leave that up to my staff.” Glancing over at the hamster hybrid.

“Namjoon-ssi, do you want me to answer that, or would you like to?” Manager Sejin asks while watching Mr. Johnson. Namjoon redirects his attention from the breakroom to the seemingly incompetent human before him.

Taking a few slow steps forward, Hoseok takes over guarding the break room door. Namjoon comes to stand with his pack, but nearer to Mr. Johnson and Manager Sejin, he says, “Mr. Johnson, we are a pack. More so, we are a pack of Alpha hybrids. Ranging from prey to predator types. We are a bonded pack on top of that, which means it’s all or none. We all are protective of something or someone if one of us feels the need. When one of us is hurt, we are all hurting with them.”

Looking at each of his packmates, Namjoon is filled with a sense of pride. Though they don’t know the extent of what has happened, they still support their mate to the best of their ability in a foreign country without question.

“Yoongi is feeling protective of Miss Y/n because of a few things. Y/n is injured because of an accident caused by Yoongi. She is not in a good emotional state because of your Playmates’ behavior due to the same accident.” He looks back at the Director, trying to maintain a more neutral expression to hide his disdain for the women now in some office somewhere.

“As an Alpha, our animals require us to hold ourselves to a higher standard than others. We like to try and ensure those around us are happy. With a very select few, we want to make sure they are also healthy and protected, among other things. In Yoongi’s Alpha space, he has failed to meet these standards when it comes to Y/n. It is now beyond his control, so to speak, to do anything other than fix his mistakes and ensure Y/n’s safety, recovery, and happiness. This means the Bangtan Pack is now responsible for the same.”

“Oh well. Um. I see. I can reassure you that Playmate Services has a good doctor who can tend to her if she needs one, and of course, she can have the rest of today and even tomorrow off. No need to make a fuss.”

A deep growl rips from behind Namjoon, causing everyone to look and see that Taehyung's eyes have gone crystal blue. His scent of burning ebony wood crashed over the pack. “You seem to be in over your head, Mr. Johnson. You have more than one hybrid working for you, yet you know nothing. Your company's incompetence is allowing bullying. From what one of your staff says, it has been happening for quite some time and yet you do nothing about it. Did you not hear our Prime Alpha tell you that she is ours now. We will take her to get treated by our medical professionals. We will take care of her to ensure she heals properly and regains a better state of mind. Not you.”

“Hyung, it’s okay. Calm down, please. We don’t need two of you in Alpha space right now. It will not help Miss Y/n or Yoongi-hyung.” Jungkook steps up next to Taehyung, scenting his neck gently as his snickerdoodle scent pushes out, causing the blue to flicker back to his natural dark brown. 

With a last glare and a mumbled, “Pathetic, oblivious human.” He moves closer to Hoseok and, in turn, you. Jungkook quickly follows in an attempt to keep the high-tempered White Southwest African Tiger calm and get closer to you as well. 

“You may have misunderstood me, gentlemen. I have tried to deal with the playmates and their disrespectful actions towards Y/n and some of the other staff. Sadly, Reina is a top pick and brings in a lot of money. Since we are the newest and smallest branch, the corporate office wants to refrain from taking any disciplinary actions for fear that she will quit. They think that any of the office staff are replaceable, whereas reliable Playmates are harder to find.”

“Mr. Johnson, while that may be the case prior to today, their bullying has gone too far. Manager Sejin,” Namjoon says, “I believe it would be wise if the director took care of the bullying by the playmates and joined them for the time being. We need a few moments without interruptions to assess what is happening and how the Pack will move forward with this office, if at all.” 

Dismissing the director to be dealt with by Manager Sejin, Namjoon walks back to the door, which is now being guarded by Hoseok, Taehyung, and Jungkook. The scent of snickerdoodle, ebony wood, and lilac mix together with the pack scent of vanilla underneath.

“... can’t tell?”

“Can’t tell what?” Namjoon asks the small group.

“Hobi can’t tell,” replies Jungkook while Taehyung nods in agreement. 

“The boys say that their Alphas are reacting to Y/n but I can’t tell if mine does or not. You spoke to her, stood right in front of her. Namjoon, can you tell?”

“Oh? Hmm, I guess I haven’t really paid attention. After what happened with… you know who… I guess I have been pushing my Alpha to the back as much as I could. I have been focusing on taking care of you guys, my mates, first and I couldn’t do that with him pacing in my head so much. She really tore Yoongi, Join, and Hobi apart inside with what she said. ” 

Namjoon started thinking back to hearing your voice, full of determination and strength, over the phone yesterday. Your care, intention, and respect for the pack that you have shown today. It would be simple to say that his Alpha was comfortable around you, and from how the pack’s scents have been, he wasn’t the only one who was.

“My Alpha is comfortable with y/n, but I wouldn’t say that he is reacting in any particular way.”

A soft whine leaves Jungkook. “Why do the older mates always walk with blinders on? Huh! You need to really let your Alpha look at her. My Alpha hasn’t wanted to look away from her since we walked into the office.”

“Joon, I am with Kookie on this one. While I wasn’t drawn in right away, I trust Yoongi's Alpha not to react this way with just anyone. So when he ran after her, I was the closest one to the door and before the pack’s scent took over, I could smell vanilla with something rotten. At first, I thought it was a candle or something, but I looked around. There are no candles.”

Taehyung’s comment on smelling vanilla caught the attention of Jimin and Seokjin. Turning to join the conversation while still trying to maintain the barrier, Jimin speaks up.

“So it wasn’t just me. When Yoongi and that man went in, I smelled vanilla with almost a compost-like smell. After that, my Alpha wanted nothing but to keep everyone, human or hybrid, away from this door. He is really fighting to be at the front.”

“I figured that our muscle bunny was just leaning into his instincts of being a bunny when he was speaking about Y/n in the conference room. Yet it didn’t explain to me why my Alpha felt awkward at her bowing to me when I spoke to her before going into the room.” Seokjin commented with a stern but thoughtful look. 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Hoseok moves away from the door slightly, his expression confused and frustrated. “Are you telling me that you have all had some kind of reaction from your Alphas for the human lady behind the door? Some of you smelled vanilla, too?”

They all look at Hoseok and then at Namjoon, waiting for them to come to the same conclusion. After a few tense moments had passed, it was like a lightbulb went off over Hoseok's head as his lilac scent burst with a bit more hints of rose and vanilla. Everyone now focuses on Namjoon.

Namjoon’s head is racing over every moment that has happened since walking in the door. As Prime Alpha, his responsibilities for the pack are more significant than others, and with what the boys are hinting at, the next few moments will change so much. 

“Her reactions were top-notch with our pack, and her showing an exceeding amount of respect to the packmates could be just her professionalism.” More whines and a few soft growls are heard. Looking up, Namjoon makes eye contact with each of his mates standing before him. 

“However, only the vanilla scent can mean one thing which won’t be easy for the human woman.” Taking a deep breath, the pack turned their attention to the door.

“We have an American Mate.”

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Taglist - CLOSED

@braveangel777 @bethanysnow @smileykiddie08 @kayways @danielle143 @nenefix-on @im-gemmy @fluffy-canada-pancakes @juju-227592 @levislifeline @carolinexkpop

[jungle-angel]

The Neverending Summer (Calvin Evans x Reader)

Summary: You and Calvin decide to make the best of your summer despite the heat

Warnings: Parenthood, pet parenthood etc.

Tagging: @floydsmuse @ateliefloresdaprimavera @attapullman

The typewriter in Calvin's little home office space ticked away as he typed up the grant proposals for the coming school year, the jazz records playing quietly on the record player in the corner. The little bell went off on the typewriter as he finished that section, moving the roller as needed before he ticked away at the keys again. If it was one thing Calvin could hardly stand, it was the damn grant proposals for the college. Besides, lesson planning for the year was much more fun.

The scritch of nails on the wood floors and the jangling of the metal dog tags signaled Six-Thirty's arrival. He put his paws right up on the desk, panting as his tail wagged happily back and forth.

"Hey you," Calvin chuckled, scratching the back of his ears. "Where've you been all day? If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were hiding from the Missus and the kids."

Rosie, the little squished nose cocker spaniel, came trotting gracefully into the room with both hers and Six-Thirty's leashes. "Oh I see how it is huh?"

Calvin looked up to see you and your six month old daughter, Ellen, in the doorway, the baby happily babbling in your arms and the both of you in matching salmon pink.

"Don't you look gorgeous sweet pea," Calvin remarked, happily taking you into his arms and kissing both you and Ellen.

"I thought you'd like your girls to match," you giggled. "Now why don't you get out of that stuffy office and come with us?"

Calvin couldn't have agreed more. He very quickly switched out of his dark button down and into the one that matched your dress, drawing a laugh from you. He hooked the leashes onto Rosie and Six-Thirty, the pups still asleep in the big, cushiony dog bed between the living room window and the fireplace. Luckily Calvin's parents would be there in a few minutes to look after the house while you were out.

You loaded Ellen and the two dogs up into the car along with the picnic basket and the red checkered blanket. Already it was looking like a beautiful day, the sun shining and the July air warm and pleasant now that it had rained for a few days.

You finally reached it after just a few minutes, the very spot that you and Calvin had frequented since day one. It was a beautiful little spot down by the river where the water ran gently and all sorts of chicory, white bedstraw and black eyed susans grew in profusion. The air smelled so sweet and heavenly even as the cicadas screamed and a hot breeze blew your way.

You set up the blanket and the picnic basket under a shady tree, the very one where Calvin had proposed to you five years previously. You let Six-Thirty and Rosie off their leashes so they could run and fetch as many sticks as they pleased, the two of them bounding into the water for a quick swim.

Ellen giggled happily as she played on the picnic blanket while you and Calvin dug into the sandwiches you had made with the leftover steak from the night before, all of it piled onto baguettes with plenty of thinly sliced cucumber and greens fresh from your garden. You and Calvin took turns reading to Ellen from two of the books you had brought with you, her favorite being "Buttermilk", the tale of a little bunny rabbit whose father had taught her not to fear the woods. No sooner had you finished than you and Calvin had spotted a family of cottontails bounding through the grass, a mother, father and their fifteen little babies.

When Calvin had read her one of the little Peter Rabbit books, you had both lost track of the time, the sun already having begun to set. Ellen, Rosie and Six-Thirty slept the whole way home and when you had tucked her into bed that night, you and Calvin had agreed that it was a summer day well spent.

[bimrsadler]

Hello, I saw requests were open. I wanted to see if you could write Arthur finding out he has a child/teen that he didn't know about, but now needs to help care for them. How he has to bond with them whether it be through interests like drawing or teaching them to hunt/self-defense.

A Pretty Dream

Characters: Arthur Morgan, Arthur’s daughter

Warnings/tags: dad!Arthur, fluff

Word count: 1,000

Notes: went with giving Arthur a daughter named Sarah (maybe around preteen age) who he bonds with through drawing

Arthur hadn’t expected to feel so nervous, he knew she would like the gift but he couldn’t shake the feeling of disappointing her.

He didn’t even believe Sarah was his when the telegram came through and she stepped off the train. His heart skipped a beat when he realized there was no mistaking it — those were his eyes.

It terrified him. Seeing a child with his eyes look up at him for guidance when he himself was lost. But he couldn’t abandon her, not when she needed him the most.

It took time to warm up to each other and Sarah was fiercely independent, never wanting to be told what to do or how to do it.

But with time she took interest in Arthur’s adventures, asking to come with on the outings that weren’t too dangerous. She loved watching him sketch his surroundings most of all, in awe of the drawings that he thought were simple scribbles.

So Arthur’s hand sat in his satchel, fingers gripping the journal and pencils he picked out for her, waiting for the right moment.

He watched lovingly as she flipped over rocks to look for critters and undiscovered treasures. A sense of adventure had been instilled in her during her time with Arthur and the others.

She loved dresses and flowers and all those other things that young girls were expected to, but she loved learning and exploring more. If she had to work for something or get dirty in the process? Even better. And God help anyone who told her she wasn’t allowed.

The natural world was her playground, the animals and trees and everything around them; her happiness. One day Arthur hoped to introduce her to Albert Mason so long as gators weren’t involved in that day’s photography.

“Hey sweet pea! C’mere for a bit.” Arthur patted the ground underneath the tree, motioning for her to sit beside him.

Timidly revealing the leather bound journal from his satchel, he slowly handed it to her. “I uh, wanted to give this to ya. I know ya been wantin’ to try drawin’ more so…”

Arthur watched her small hands grab the journal exuberantly as her face lit up, “are ya serious?!” She shot up to wrap her arms around his neck in a tight hug, “thank you!”

“Ain’t nothin’ honey.”

“Well you’re gonna teach me how to draw better right?”

“Do my best but uh, I never fancied myself as an artist.”

Arthur felt an elbow in his side as his daughter scoffed, “oh hush, y’are too. Now! What should I draw?”

“Well,” Arthur gestured broadly to the area in front of them, “see anything ya like?”

Holding the pencil up to her lips in thought, she pointed animatedly. “That rabbit under the tree over there! See it?!”

“Sure do,” Arthur drawled with a grin.

He watched as she nervously began sketching what she saw, “now relax — it don’t need to be perfect… jus’ try yer best.”

Arthur felt his affirmations were clumsy but he truly meant them, and it seemed as though the awkward anxieties of a parent and child who met later in life were finally fading.

He didn’t have all the answers and never would, but they felt like family now and he would do anything to protect her.

As the warm afternoon breeze cooled to evening, Arthur advised on which parts to shade, which lines to draw first, how to make things more realistic; anything he could think to teach.

She listened intently and applied everything he taught, and it felt good to be a teacher. Not a killer or a robber, just a man helping his kid.

The drawing was finished as the sun began to set, an indication that it was time to head back to camp.

Arthur helped Sarah up on the back of the horse, and wondered if it was time to find her her own.

Her expectant inquiry interrupted his thoughts however, “soooo is there anything we’re doin’ tomorrow?”

“Well I’m goin’ huntin’. Ain’t the nicest thing and it can be real boring but if yer inter—”

“Sure!” She exclaimed more enthusiastically than anticipated. “Then after maybe you and Aunt Sadie can teach me to shoot?!”

Arthur let out a soft chuckle, she did love spending time with Sadie and he would most certainly be fighting a losing battle (with both of them) to say no. “In good time kiddo. I do want ya to be able to take care of yerself but I don’t want ya to grow up too fast neither.”

“I’ll just practice with cans and bottles. I mean, you do want me to be able to defend myself right?”

Arthur sighed, he knew Sadie would say the same and maybe they were right. “Of course,” he stated with a tone, “but I can protect ya til then too ya know…”

Arthur could hear Sarah roll her eyes, “I know that, but it doesn’t hurt to know how to do these things. Even if some people think it ain’t ladylike.”

Arthur laughed to himself as he hurried the horse along, “yer right sweet pea, we’ll get to it. I promise.”

After arriving in camp, Arthur watched her run excitedly to Charles and the girls; showing off the drawing that she was rightfully proud of.

Arthur never thought he would get a second chance at fatherhood. He wasn’t sure at first if he even wanted it and most certainly felt he didn’t deserve it.

But there she was — reading to Jack at the campfire which he politely asked for after being shown the drawing.

Abigail flashed a kind smile from the seat beside them, no doubt thrilled that Jack had her to befriend.

It wasn’t lost on him that this life was dangerous and unfit for them, as much as he would always love the gang; he needed to love his daughter more.

And maybe one day Abigail’s little dream of turning John into a rancher would have room for Arthur and his girl to join them. It was a pretty dream.

[slcwshow]

the gentle warmth of the rising sun. love in the form of a home-cooked meal. meeting people where they are. motes of dust in a beam of light. the comforting presence of an animal companion. deep-set laughter lines. taking your time. the smell of fresh hay. the velvet hide of a newborn calf. offering someone a taste of whatever you’re cooking. keeping the door open and leaving the light on. coming when you’re called. the unshakeable belief that people will always deserve another chance.

statistics.

full name:  joshua alain bennett nickname(s)/alias(es):  josh, jay name meaning:  god is deliverance age:  thirty-six date of birth:  october 16th star sign:  libra place of birth:  pelican town, stardew valley current location:  pelican town, stardew valley gender:  cis-male pronouns:  he/him sexual orientation:  bisexual occupation:  rancher family:  thomas bennett (father), dominique bennett (mother, née alain), lisette alain (maternal grandmother), katherine ‘katie’ bennett (wife, deceased) education level:  high school graduate living arrangements:  lives by himself at sweet pea ranch loved gifts:  hashbrowns, apples, honey hated gifts:  rabbit foot, parsnips, ginger

biography. (death of a spouse tw)

Joshua was born in Stardew Valley, and had no intention of ever leaving it.

He’s a farm boy through and through - Sweet Pea Ranch is his family home, and he’s worked there since he was old enough to toddle around on his own. One of his earliest memories is of a calf being born.

Even as his childhood friends grew up and moved away, Joshua was content to keep treading water, going through the motions of small town life as naturally as breathing.

Things changed when he met Katie. She blew into town for the Stardew Valley Fair, and he was smitten with her right away.

Katie was only supposed to stay in town for a week, but a week quickly became a month, and months became a year, until it was as if she’d always been there.

After three years of dating, Joshua finally asked Katie to marry him. The ceremony was held in the Pelican Town Square, and you couldn’t’ve asked for a happier couple.

A year after Joshua and Katie got married, the couple relocated to the suburbs of Zuzu City, to be closer to Katie’s parents.

For five years, everything seemed certain. Life wasn’t easy, but it didn’t matter because they were happy - they were together. And then, with one telephone call, everything fell apart. Katie had been hit by a car as she cycled into the office she worked at, and died of her injuries en route to the hospital. Joshua didn’t get to say goodbye to her.

After Katie died, Joshua went home to his family in the Valley. He didn’t recognise himself, couldn’t make sense of his life in the city without his wife, and he couldn’t think of anything to do except go back to what he knew.

It took a long time to get back to himself, but Joshua threw himself into his work at the ranch, and as the hurt grew less, made increasing efforts to engage with the community that had always taken such good care of him.

Four years ago, Joshua’s parents left the Valley and moved south to care for his grandmother, Lisette, in her old age. He runs Sweet Pea Ranch by himself now, and he is happy… but sometimes the old farm house feels a little big for just him and his dog.

other things.

Joshua only stopped wearing his wedding ring in the last year.

He’s a big gridball guy, and proudly supports the Zuzu City Tunnellers. He was there with his dad when they won the league a few years back.

Never let this man think you’re going hungry - he will turn up on your doorstep with a bag of groceries and half a dozen foil-covered dishes, no questions asked.

All of Joshua’s cows have southern belle names (Adelaide, Beatrice, Clementine, Delia…), and his bull is called Bruce.

Work permitting, Joshua tries to speak on the phone with his family at least once a week. He also writes them frequently, and mails photos of how things are going at the ranch.

He rescued his dog, Cricket, three years ago. She’s the ranch’s only other full time employee.

[thetavolution]

SHIRLEY

Full name:  Shirley Whiteclaw Evenwood Name meaning:  Shirley: bright clearing; Whiteclaw: self-explanatory  Pronouns: She/Her  Race: Half-Orc Age: 38  Orientation: Bisexual Romance: Undecided  Class: Fighter Subclass: Champion Origin: Soldier  Theme Song: Sweetest Devotion - Adele / I Lived - OneRepublic / You Said You’d Grow Old With Me - Michael Schulte 

Personality Shirley is a single mom with two kids at home and she always puts them first. Her main focus is taking care of her family and working as a sword for hire puts food on the table. She’s a sweet gal, even if her day job involves a lot of killing. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but she’s cheery, friendly, and outgoing. She’s not book smart, but she has emotional intelligence. She’s also a very even-tempered person.

She’s talkative and the kind of person who’ll strike up a conversation with a total stranger like they’re old friends. Being a little dimwitted, she can be taken advantage of. She’s far too trusting for her own good. She is self-aware she’s not the smartest person in the room. 

People often look at her and think, “There’s nothing going on behind those eyes.” She’s basically a Labrador Retriever as a half-orc. 

Background Shirley is the product of an arranged marriage that was created to form an alliance between an orc tribe and the human village of Northwick. Her father relocated to the human village as part of the alliance since Shirley’s mother didn’t want to leave her hometown.

Fortunately, her parents did get along even if it was a loveless marriage. They were able to come together as friends to give their daughter a good life. It gave Shirley an unusual advantage compared to many other half-orcs. Her parents may not have been in love, but they did love her. She was raised in her mother’s village among humans. While she struggled to find acceptance, her good nature helped her worm her way into the hearts of the townspeople. She slowly got people to tolerate her and even won over some genuine friends. 

Her father trained her to be a fighter and she became set on protecting Northwick. She worked as a guard and this helped earn her respect among some of the higher ranking villagers. She even met and married a human paladin, Kayne Evenwood. They would have three children together, Galvyn and Bilga. Sadly, not long after Bilga’s birth, Kayne drowned when he was caught in a current while trying to save a small child who slipped into the river. He was able to save the boy, but lost his life in the process.

Alone, she took jobs as a sword for hire to take care of her children. When a tadpole got lodged in her brain, she had to set out to save herself and her children. While away, the kids stay with their grandparents.

Likes: Her children, her late husband, giving her kids a better life, children (in general), animals especially dogs, giving to charity, volunteering, social events, talking with people, early mornings, and romance novels

Dislikes: Anything that could harm her family, being away from home, criminals, bullies, people judging her based on being a half-orc, loneliness, bugs, hurting people who don’t deserve it, math, 

Fears: She’s afraid of anything happening to her children. Outside of her children, she’s terrified that she won’t be able to protect her village or that peace between the humans and nearby orcs will be compromised. She hates to admit she fears dying alone, too. She doesn’t feel like she should want love again, but she does. On a lighter note, she’s really scared of talking to a room full of people. She hates it.

Quirks: She talks pretty loudly, even when trying to whisper. There’s a running joke amongst her friends that she just CANNOT whisper even in a life or death situation. 

Mental Health: She’s still grieving her husband while trying to focus on her children.

Favorite Food: Minted Pea Soup, Rabbit Stew, Wayfarers’ Cake, and Toasted Cockatrice Gizzards on Rye

Favorite Drink: Moon Mountain Ale, Mint Tea, and Apricot Cider

Favorite Flower: Summer Lillies and Peonies (Peonies was the first flower Kayne ever gave her)

Height: 6’2”

Skin: Sage Tone 5

Hair:  Red Black with Gray

Eyes:  Brown 1

Color Scheme:  She wears a lot of browns, silvers, and blues. She doesn’t really pick her armor based on color, but durability and strength. She never thinks to get things dyed or colored. When not in armor, she leans toward shades of green and blue.

Fashion Sense: She’s a simple woman with a simple wardrobe. It’s all about durability for her. As a woman with two kids, she doesn’t dress up fancy. (Bilga is just going to spit up on it.) She does like to wear nice things from time to time though. In those cases, she keeps it simple and elegant.

Family: 

Nybarg Whiteclaw — He’s Shirley’s orc father. He was offered to the humans for the marriage contract simply because he didn’t really fit in with the other orcs. While he’s not cuddly and sweet, he is agreeable. He doesn’t actually like to turn to violence in most cases and prefers to just let people live and let live. He loves his daughter and grandchildren with every part of his being.

Enid Whiteclaw — She’s Shirley’s human mother. She’s a strong-willed and kind woman. She quickly earned her husband’s respect shortly after meeting each other, mostly because she’s an assertive person. She’s a bit pig-headed and she was definitely the head of the household. She loves her daughter and grandchildren more than anything. Enid and Nybarg are not in love, but grew to love one another as friends.

Kayne Whiteclaw Evenwood — He’s Shirley’s late husband. He was a human and a paladin who swore to the Oath of the Ancients. He fell in love with Shirley’s big heart. He was honorable, brave, and kind.

Galvyn Whiteclaw Evenwood — They’re Shirley’s 5-year-old kid. 

Bilga Whiteclaw Evenwood — She’s Shirley’s 1-year-old daughter.

I slightly ignored how DnD does half-orc aging. I’m treating her more like she just ages the same as a human instead. If you don’t like it, you can fight me. But don’t actually because I can’t fight.

[dulcewrites]

Ok, I felt like writing some more of Myrah’s dynamic with her parents since I’ve written stuff with her and and greens. Also show that though their relationship is healthier than whatever the greens got going on, it’s not perfect by any means. I’m using the fools rush in au with that. I do want to write something in the og modern au that involves both the greens (and blacks) and everlanes. I probably will this weekend 🫶🏽

Baby Mine

It took six positive pregnancy test, throwing up her breakfast, a panicked voicemail to Maris, and a google search for Myrah to finally come to terms with being with child.

The six pregnancy test because ‘maybe the first five were wrong’. The voicemail, which she never sends to anyone, because her best friend is apparently immune to picking up the phone before 10:30 in the morning. And the google search…

It started with searching a firm, which led her down a rabbit hole. She saw the last name Targaryen, a bunch of businesses, and a family net with a bunch of zeros.

She threw up again.

Not sure is that time was the about the revelation or the baby. Baby.

Maris eventually comes over, still in her pajamas. When Myrah showed her the google history, Maris could not help but laugh.

“Only you would manage to get yourself accidentally knocked up by millionaire.”

“He didn’t say he was one,” Myrah mumbled into her pillow.

“Considering you only spent a night with him and the outcome, I’m assuming you two were not talking much,” Maris shrugs.

“He has a Great Dane named after a god.”

“Oh, really,” Maris fakes a sarcastic gasp. “He’s totally dad material.”

Myrah throws a pillow at her for that.

“Look babe, you didn’t know this guy’s last name till you searched his job. He doesn’t even have social media. What person doesn’t have social media these days? He could be a killer for all we know,” she rubs Myrah’s back. “I’ll make an appointment at the clinic. You know, the one that Wylla went to freshman year after her… little joyride during spring break. Everything will be taken care of.”

When Myrah doesn’t answer right away, Maris’ positive resolve falters. She sighs. “But I can’t make an appointment because you are thinking about keeping it.”

Myrah rolls over on her back, turning her head to her side dresser. On sit a framed photo of her family at her university graduation. Her grad cap on Esme, her parents kissing her on each cheek. They were so proud of her.

“I think I need to tell my parents.”

She turns back to Maris who gives her a painful look.

“Amal is gonna…”

Myrah holds back a shudder at the thought of how her parents will react.

She wears a sundress, flowy and breezy. Myrah had begun to become paranoid about showing. She looks in the mirror and sees the same body she’s had almost her whole life but she feels as if her mother will be able to sniff it on her.

“Is Essie here,” she wrings her hands together nervously.

“No, Esme at a friend’s house for a school project,” her mom walks her into the living room.

Good. Only two people to disappoint.

She can’t keep eye contact with either of them for a moment. Her mom tries to give her tea which she stares at for a moment.

I don’t even know what pregnant women can drink. Is caffeine bad? God I really fucking want alcohol, not caffine.

“Umm well, I want to talk you guys about something important,” she swallows. “I think - well, I am umm…”

Myrah looks at her parents staring at her anticipation. Her sweet parents, who have done nothing but try and do right by her and her sister. She knows she could not be a quarter of how good they are, not this way. Maybe Maris was right. Thinking about keeping the baby was a bad idea.

She mumbles something softly. Gerald frowns. “What sweet pea?”

“I’m… pregnant.”

Amal is the first react, a small chuckle but with no humor behind it. Gerald just looks confused. His thick dark brows furrowing as newly formed wrinkles settle into his olive skin.

“Pregnant,” Amal repeats with a blank face. “You’ve never even mentioned seeing anyone.”

The tremble of Myrah’s lip gives it all away. Amal throws her hands up before going to leave.

“Mommy, please let me-“

Amal gives her a look, the look, and Myrah clasps her mouth shut. Amal stalks off upstairs with Myrah and Gerald watching in silence. Both flitch when they hear a door slam. Her eyes instantly go down to her hands in her lap, tears blurring her vision. Hot tears splash on her face as she feels the spot in the couch dip next to her.

It was how things always went. If one of the girls fucked up, Gerald would be there with big sad disappointed eyes. A shoulder to cry on. Amal was the problem solver. But there has never been a problem like this.

“I - I don’t know what to say,” Gerald sighs, running a hand over his face. “But you need to talk with your mother.”

Her gaze lifts up to the hallway that leads to the stairs. She feels like a being taken up to her execution. She nods curtly before getting up. Myrah’s feet a little numb as she climbs up the stairs. She thought her mom would be in her parent’s room, but she noticed their double doors being open.

But the door to her childhood room is closed.

She knocks but gets no response. Taking a deep breath, she brings herself to turn the knob in and peak her head in.

Amal is sitting on her bed, hugging a teddy bear pillow.

“Mom, can I come in?”

She looks at Myrah and shrugs her in. Myrah closes the door behind her. She gingerly climbs on the bed next to her mom. There is a painful amount of silence in the room.

“Mom I am so-“

“Do you remember your first art show appearance,” Amal interrupts her silently.

Myrah blinks surprised, but nods slowly. It was a 13 and under competition. The winner recieved a year’s supply of paint from the store that hosted it. She had painted a mural of her parents and sister. Esme had gotten into the red paint one day, said she wanted to paint her face like mom does.

“My sweet girl,” Amal sighs. Myrah’s shoulders slump.

“I’m still your sweet girl mom. I’m just…”

Myrah doesn’t know what she is right now. Her eyes drift to the various paintings and drawings around her room. The cheerleading trophies, and academic achievements. She understands why it feels like a loss of something to her mom. Maybe a quiet innocence that’s been stripped away from all of them now.

She’s either going to become a mom or make one of the hardest decisions someone can. Either way, she knows she can’t do it alone. Even if curling into a ball and hiding away is all she wants to do at this moment.

“I know you are upset, and you have every right to be but I need you and dad right now,” her voice cracks a bit as she feels tears in her eyes. “Because I really don’t know what to do.”

“Oh, my love.”

Amal moves the teddy bear away and pull Myrah into her arms. She cries in her mother’s arms; she’s never felt more like a baby herself.

Her mom just rubs her back silently.

“Are you going to tell… the father? Does he know,” it sounds painful coming out her mouth.

Myrah just frowns and sniffles. “I really don’t know.”

They back to more silence till Amal speaks again.

“Is he hot at least?”

“Mom!”

“What,” Amal exclaims back. “If you’re possibly going to make me a grandmother this young, I would at least like to know that half the dna is coming from someone attractive.”

Myrah thinks about a sweet half smile, and shy blue eyes.

“Yeah, mom. I think he’s pretty handsome.”

Amal sighs, and kisses the top of her head l.

“Well, at least that’s nice.”

Myrah wonders if she should tell her about the other thing. The worth a small fortune thing. She worries that would be implying that she would, or possible child, would be getting any of it. In the warmth of her moms, she decides to keep that part to herself.

For now….

[ainsley30]

*not my picture*

Genre: fluffy 🥰

Adopting kid Loki

Everyone was really hesitant at first when I brought up the idea of bringing kid Loki back with us. But there was something about the sweet little boy that I couldn’t just leave. He was a lot younger than everyone remember or even saw. Kid Loki was really baby Loki as he was only 2 or 3 years old as this variant. The other kid Loki who was more commonly known was off in some adventure. This poor baby really didn’t understand what he was doing or what was happening to him. So I took it upon myself to watch over him while I wait for my Loki’s return. His only friend was Croki, who I learned every quickly didn’t like new people getting close to his friend. When my Loki came into the picture he was beyond shocked to begin with, then I spring the adoption idea in him and he goes even crazier.

“Sweetheart we can’t take him with us.” Loki tried to reason

“But Loki look at him! He’s just a baby! We have to take him or else who’s going to take care of him. Croki can only do so much.” I argued

Croki at that moment looked up from is napping spot with baby Loki and grunted.

“See even he agrees with me!” I continued to push.

“Love we might not even be able to get out of here in one piece and you want to bring a baby with us?” Loki tried to reason with me.

“Well of course Croki would come with us.” I say very seriously.

“Loki listen please” I start to say as I sit him down near the two sleeping “I can’t leave him here, I just can’t. It hurts to much to see that he’s already been here for so long. Please let me take care of him and love him like he deserves. Like you deserve. They both are apart of you and I want to love all of you.” I sob out

Loki wipes away my tears know full well I won’t leave here until I have those two with me.

“My sweet darling love your heart is too big for a foolish god like me! How did I ever get so lucky in earning your love.” Loki states with so much love in his eyes

“Alright let’s get them out of here so we can be a happy family” Loki laughs

“Really! You really mean that!” I jump up with excitement

“Pet, I know that no matter what I say you are taking those two whether I like it or not. So why not just agree and be the father I never got to them” Loki says

“I love you more than anything” I run to him and hug him so tightly

“I love you too darling! Now come one we got to get out of here”

After Loki says that I bend down to where baby Loki and Croki are and softly shake them awake. Baby Loki looks up at me with the biggest baby eyes I have ever seen. I grab him and my Loki and I start our escape (something we are both really good at).

After making it out of that horrible place I take back baby Loki and Croki to our shared apartment to eat some food and get ready for bed. Dinner was squished peas for the little guy and raw rabbit for Croki. Loki and I had chicken nuggets and tater totes. I got baby Loki ready for bed, with in 5 minutes he was fast asleep and Croki wasn’t far behind. I stood in the door watching them peacefully sleep and felt arms come around my waist and a head sit on top of mine.

“Thank you for convincing me to adopt them” Loki mumbles while leaning into you

“Thank you for letting me convince you” I say with a soft smile on my face.

[mrsvalbaker]

A Week in New York

Act I Scene II

Disclaimer: not proofread.

Themes: queer romance, Timothée x Male!OC, public kissing, sexualizing smoking (sorry)

♡♥︎♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥︎♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♥︎

My cousin lives in a beautiful Edwardian townhouse on Maple Avenue. Gianni Lukashenko is twenty one years old, seven years younger than myself, and the primo male ballerina of the New York City Ballet. With his gorgeously mixed features of having a Sicilian mother and a father of Black and Russian descent, he's 5'8, svelte with sinewy lean muscles. His hair is jet Black and naturally looks like wet curls, cut in a pretty shag that kisses the end of the nape of his neck. He has almond shaped green eyes with long, thick lashes, high cheekbones, full pink lips and olive skin.

I'm harmlessly jealous of my stunning cousin, I must admit. "I thought you just went to grab coffee, why are you grinning like Meg Ryan in every movie?" He asked me as he leaned against the doorframe of his Natuzzi decorated living room.

The director of the ballet takes good care of him, playing sugar daddy to my beautiful cousin. He bought him this townhouse and gives him access to a bottomless account, and gives him pretty baubles and gifts and trinkets, like the Mapplethorpe hanging on the wall. Recently he acquired a new Amazon credit card.

"I did, look!" I held up my to go cup from Caffé Aronne, it's my go to coffee shop when I visit family in New York. I find it funny that they call taro a purple potato here. I ordered a purple potato latte with almond milk and an almond croissant for myself, and a blue butterfly pea latte with oatmilk for Gianni.

I don't know how I managed to order anything after flirting with fucking Timothée Chalamet! I'm still shaking, tapping my chipped sage green nails against the paper cup. I still can smell the spearmint gum on his breath, cigarettes clinging to his leather jacket, and the citrus and lavender notes of Chanel on his skin. Those olive Hazel eyes touched my skin and caressed the sight of me, I was allured but also self conscious becoming fully aware of my flaws. I'm not large but a little soft, I could have a flatter stomach and a smaller butt. Having an ass is wonderful but too much of one…I struggled with my body image sometimes.

So it was a little shocking, that little exchange we had. I was surprised he was even attracted to me, I'm a guy, penis and all.

"Something happened." Gianni accused with a secret smile and serpentine eyes.

I froze, feeling like a caught rabbit.

My cousin's smile turned into a Cheshire grin. "What's his name?"

I hid behind my hair as I sipped my sweet latte. "It doesn't matter, I'll never see him again."

So I thought.

The next day I joined Gianni at his rehearsal down at the theatre. He's playing Orpheus in Orfeo ed Euridice, naturally who else would play the lead male role? I tease him about sleeping his way to the top, but Gianni seriously is such a talented dancer. His moves are fluid and beautiful, like a gazelle, and his expressions are well…expressive.

It was like seeing the canvas before Mona Lisa, watching the dancers practice in their danskin, and honestly they're a lot more laid back and jovial than I thought.

I sat as an engaged spectator, it wasn't early at all. Training always starts at 10 in the morning, but Gianni took me out to the clubs after dinner at Bar Masa, and we were joined by the other dancers. It was clear that Daisuke Ogura, another principal male dancer, was a jealous rival. And the prima, Bella Garrett who is good friends with Gianni, and is to play Eurydice, confirmed it.

Apparently Daisuke is the hardest working dancer in the company, and he feels as though Gianni has everything handed to him.

The rivalry in ballet can be an ugly thing, I wish Daisuke saw how well revered he is and focused on that.

I was a little afraid to hang out with a bunch of ballet dancers, I'm not gracefully lithe and swanlike, I'm short and soft, definitely no abs or muscle. But everyone has been so kind to me so far, including me in conversations, laughing together, and Raquel Johnson, a principal dancer, was my main dance partner at two out of four of the clubs we danced at.

So 10 in the morning might as well be five in the morning to me right now. My Starbucks London fog latte wasn't helping me much either. I could barely even get dressed this morning, thank God Gianni's lavish marble shower has a seat, or I would have collapsed. Black biker shorts, an old oversized Smiths t-shirt, and black uggs were all I could manage this morning. My bleached wavy curls were tossed up in a messy top knot, just a nose stud and my staple ear studs were my only jewelry, and as for makeup, only Vaseline's rosy lips painted my lips.

I was starving, Gianni packed his breakfast. It was just a banana, an apple, trail mix, and a protein bar.

After taking some pictures to send to my little sister Larissa, who's fifteen and attends the Marat Daukayev Ballet School back home. I told Gianni I was going to go grab something to eat, he didn't mind, training lasted from ten in the morning to six at night.

I tossed on my Daria canvas jacket, my black square sunglasses, grabbed my black vegan leather and chains mini backpack, and headed out.

I went to a bagel shop nearby on 2nd avenue, called NY Jumbo Bagels. It's a perfect New York bagel nosh, the kind you'd see in a movie in the 80s or 90s, I felt like Kim Basinger almost.

I salivated at the smell and sight, deciding on the LEO bagel (Lox, eggs, and onion on bagel), and the two eggs, fries, and coffee special. It was a lot of food, but I was absolutely famished. But, before I could pull out my card to pay, a beautiful voice caught between deep and light with a laziness to it cut through, with the swipe of a black card. "I'll take care of that Hannah."

I whipped my head back so fast I got whiplash. Standing there towering over me looking devilishly handsome in a Chorus Line hat and expensive sweats, was none other than Timothée Chalamet.

How was this happening? Of course the hottest man on the planet caught me pigging out in my bumming-it-couture.

I didn't even have makeup on, my hair looked crazy, curly, didn't make the call backs for Pam Anderson style, oh I could throw myself into the Hudson.

But he was just staring at me, with those gorgeous sleepy eyes. That smile that yanked on my heart chords, and he smells so good oh God I wanted to lick him, I wanted to get down on my knees and yanked down those sweats and take his cock down my throat.

"Yury, right?"

Fuck me, he remembered.

"Uh yeah."

He chuckled and I bit back a groan. "It's funny how we Uh, keep running into each other."

"Yeah, meant to be or something like that."

Ugh, don't tease me. "Something Like that." I said with a nervous laugh. "I look like such a mess."

"Oh come on, you look like you wandered out of an urban outfitters catalog, I look like I just rolled out of bed."

"Okay it's a little too early for recreational drugs, you're crazy if you think you look like a mess. " I laughed.

He laughed too and it was authentic, carefree, and dorky which was so sexy. "It's never too early for recreational drug use!" He winked. "But I'm serious, you look…" His eyes took their time combing over me, lingering a little bit on the black lace strap of the bralette I wore under my t-shirt. I felt my cheeks heat. "Warm, soft, and pretty."

He finds me pretty? I couldn't stop the smile forming on my lips.

He ended up ordering the same as me, and we sat together at his table outside. He looked perfect, sitting there blasé, fry in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

Our knees touched and I felt the springs boing in my spinal cord and heart.

"So, how are you enjoying the big apple? Have you seen all the cliches yet?" He smiled and sipped his coffee before taking a drag from his cigarette, my eyes focused on his lip as some escaped from his pursed lips. "Oh I'm so sorry, does smoking bother you?"

"No! Not at all, I mean all my exes smoked–" I babbled.

His eyebrows attractively shot up as he smiled with his teeth. "So what I'm hearing is that you like guys that smoke?"

I swallowed and licked my lips, feeling his eyes on my throat and mouth. I felt a little bold. "Maybe it has something to do with poetry and rock n roll or something, I find it ignorantly romantic."

"Good, so I can get away with this."

I furrowed my brows in confusion. "Get away with what?"

"This." He breathed, and he leaned in smelling like Marlboro, Chanel, and fries. His mouth, his lips are surprisingly soft and he tastes like cherry chapstick, coffee, cigarettes, and remnants of ibuprofen. An arm curled around my waist pulling me in close and I found my hands cupping his diamond sharp jaw with silky skin. He tilted his head kissing me in slow devouring, brushing against mine before sucking on it.

We kissed until we were reminded that we were human beings who needed to breathe to live. I pulled my lips back, panting, feeling dizzy and I even let slip a giggle.

He smiled with a breathy laugh, his two front teeth are so cute like a bunny, I forgot myself and licked them. This emitted a low groan from, he clutched my waist and pulled me into his lap. I was nervous I'd crush him and tried to move off but his grip was strong and he didn't let me move as he kissed up my neck. I bit down hard on my lip to prevent a squeal, and kissed up to my ear and spoke into it. "You're spending the day with me, boy."

@meetmyothersouls

[backyardbunnynews]

Can Rabbits Enjoy a Healthy Vegetable Diet? Can Fruits Be a Healthy Treat for Rabbits? Can Leafy Greens Make Rabbits Healthier? Can Avocados be Safely Fed to Rabbits? Can Celery Sweeten a Rabbit's Diet Without Causing Soft Stools? Can Pea Pods Help Rabbits Thrive? Some vegetables are safe for rabbits to eat, but many other types are not. Some are good treats, and others can cause problems. Some vegetables, like avocados, have high sugar content. Celery, on the other hand, is sweet without making your rabbit's stools mushy. But you should avoid giving your rabbit anything from the onion family. https://backyardbunnynews.com/can-rabbits-enjoy-a-healthy-vegetable-diet/?feed_id=1985&_unique_id=652984fb111cf

[meowk9]

Best Food for GSD with Allergies: A Complete Guide

German Shepherds are known for their loyalty, intelligence, and versatility. They are a popular breed for families, service dogs, and law enforcement agencies. However, like any other dog breed, they can suffer from allergies. Allergies in GSDs can be caused by food, environmental factors, and genetics. If your GSD is suffering from allergies, it's important to choose the right food to help alleviate their symptoms. In this article, we will discuss the best food for GSDs with allergies.

Introduction

A food allergy is an immune response to a particular protein in food. When a GSD is allergic to a certain ingredient, their immune system overreacts, causing inflammation and other symptoms. Common symptoms of food allergies in GSDs include itchy skin, hot spots, chronic ear infections, digestive problems, and respiratory issues. Choosing the right food for your GSD with allergies can make a big difference in their quality of life.

Understanding Dog Allergies

Allergies are an immune response to a foreign substance that the body sees as a threat. The immune system produces antibodies to fight off the allergen, which causes inflammation and other symptoms. In dogs, allergies can be caused by a variety of factors, including food, pollen, dust, and mold. Common Dog Allergies Food Allergies Food allergies in dogs are caused by a reaction to a specific protein in their diet. Common food allergens for dogs include beef, chicken, dairy, egg, soy, and wheat. Dogs can develop allergies at any age, and it can take several years of exposure to a particular ingredient before the immune system reacts. Environmental Allergies Environmental allergies in dogs are caused by exposure to things like pollen, dust, and mold. These allergies are more common in certain breeds, including GSDs. Environmental allergies can cause symptoms like itching, redness, and skin infections.

Identifying Food Allergies in GSDs

If you suspect that your GSD has a food allergy, the first step is to visit your veterinarian. They can perform allergy testing to determine the cause of your dog's symptoms. If a food allergy is suspected, your vet may recommend an elimination diet. This involves feeding your dog a novel protein and carbohydrate source for several weeks to see if their symptoms improve.

Best Food for GSDs with Allergies

Limited Ingredient Diets Limited ingredient diets (LID) are designed for dogs with food sensitivities. They contain a single protein and carbohydrate source, which helps to reduce the risk of an allergic reaction. LID foods are available in both dry and wet varieties. Some popular brands of LID dog food include Natural Balance, Blue Buffalo Basics, and Canidae. Hypoallergenic Dog Food Hypoallergenic dog food is designed to be highly digestible and free from common allergens. These foods are typically made with novel proteins like duck, rabbit, or salmon, and carbohydrates like sweet potato or pea. Some popular brands of hypoallergenic dog food include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, and Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets. These foods can be expensive, but they can provide relief for dogs with severe allergies. Homemade Dog Food Homemade dog food is another option for GSDs with allergies. By preparing your dog's food yourself, you have complete control over the ingredients. However, it's important to work with a veterinary nutritionist to ensure that your dog is getting all the nutrients they need. Some ingredients that are often used in homemade dog food for allergies include lean proteins like chicken, turkey, or fish, and non-starchy vegetables like carrots and green beans.

Ingredients to Avoid in Dog Food for Allergies

When choosing food for your GSD with allergies, it's important to avoid ingredients that are common allergens. These include: - Beef - Chicken - Dairy - Egg - Soy - Wheat - Corn - Artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors

Additional Tips for Managing GSD Allergies

In addition to choosing the right food, there are several other steps you can take to manage your GSD's allergies: - Keep your home clean and dust-free - Bathe your dog regularly with a gentle, hypoallergenic shampoo - Use a high-quality air purifier - Avoid using scented candles, air fresheners, and other fragranced products - Consider using supplements like omega-3 fatty acids or probiotics to support your dog's immune system

Conclusion

Allergies can be a frustrating and uncomfortable problem for GSDs and their owners. However, by choosing the right food and taking other steps to manage allergies, you can help your dog feel more comfortable and enjoy a better quality of life.

FAQs

Can dogs develop allergies later in life? Yes, dogs can develop allergies at any age. What are some common symptoms of food allergies in GSDs? Common symptoms include itchy skin, hot spots, chronic ear infections, digestive problems, and respiratory issues. Are hypoallergenic dog foods more expensive? Yes, hypoallergenic dog foods can be more expensive than regular dog food. What ingredients should I avoid in dog food for allergies? Common allergens to avoid include beef, chicken, dairy, egg, soy, wheat, and corn. Can supplements help manage GSD allergies? Yes, supplements like omega-3 fatty acids and probiotics can help support your dog's immune system and manage allergies. Read the full article

[hongchicken]

The Secret Life of Pets

Let's Uncover the Secret Life of Pets

In 2016, Illumination Entertainment released the computer-animated comedy film The Secret Life of Pets. The movie is classified as a family film, and has grossed over $875 million worldwide, making it one of the highest-grossing animated movies of all time.

In this movie, we follow the lives of a group of pets living in an apartment building in New York City. We get to experience their adventures and misadventures, their relationships with each other, and their hidden secrets. We also get to see the relationships between them and their humans, and how they interact with the world around them.

The movie stars a variety of animals, including Max, a terrier; Snowball, a rabbit; Chloe, a tabby cat; Gidget, a Pomeranian; and Duke, a large mutt. Other animal characters include Buddy, a white-tailed deer; Mel, a parakeet; Sweet Pea, a turtle; and Leonard, a hawk.

What Makes The Secret Life of Pets Unique?

The Secret Life of Pets is a unique and imaginative movie that shows us the secret lives of our furry friends. It allows us to experience the world from their perspective and understand the special bond between pets and their humans.

The movie is also a great way to learn about the importance of taking care of animals and the responsibilities of being a pet owner. We get to see how pets can become like family members, and how they rely on us for love and companionship.

The movie also has a lot of humor and charm. We get to see the funny and quirky ways our pets behave when we're not around. We get to laugh at the silly antics, and enjoy the joy and laughter that pets bring to our lives.

The Science Behind The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets is based on scientific research about animal behavior. For example, the movie shows us the importance of proper socialization and training for pets, including how to be patient and understanding when dealing with them.

The movie also highlights the importance of providing pets with adequate exercise and nutrition. We get to see how pets can get bored and frustrated if they don't get enough physical and mental stimulation.

The movie also tackles the issue of pet overpopulation, and encourages us to spay and neuter our pets to prevent unwanted litters.

Memes and Humor in The Secret Life of Pets

The Secret Life of Pets has a lot of fun and memorable moments that have been immortalized in memes. From the "chicken dance" scene to the epic snowball fight between Max and Snowball, there are plenty of funny moments that have been turned into hilarious memes.

The movie also has a lot of witty jokes, and the characters often make sarcastic comments and funny observations about the world around them. We get to enjoy the humor and light-heartedness of the movie, and the jokes add another layer of fun to the movie.

Final Thoughts

The Secret Life of Pets is a delightful movie that brings joy and laughter to our lives. It highlights the importance of taking care of our pets, and encourages us to appreciate their unique personalities and quirks. The movie also has a lot of science and humor, which makes it enjoyable for people of all ages.

[techsbanana]

The secret life of pets 2 2019 cat lessons

The secret life of pets 2 2019 cat lessons free#

Kevin Hart as Snowball, a white rabbit and a would-be superhero.Patton Oswalt as Max, a Jack Russell Terrier.Harrison Ford joins the cast as the voice of Rooster. Voice cast File:Harrison Ford by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg Life resumes normally, with Max and Duke's family sending Liam off to preschool and Hu finding a new home with the cat lady. But before they are shot by Sergei, Gidget and the rest of the pets knock him out with the cat lady's car and offers the animals a ride back home. The rest of the animals go and kick him out of the train. Max, using his newfound bravery Rooster gave him, successfully infiltrates the train locomotive Sergei is in. Max and Snowball defeat the wolves and Sergei's pet monkey, while freeing Hu and Daisy respectively. Gidget and the cats take their owner off in her car, in pursuit of the train. Sergei escapes in a train moving for the circus in which Snowball, Max, and Norman pursue while contacting Gidget for assistance in the chase. Sergei and his wolves track Daisy down and capture both Hu and Daisy. Around the same time, the family returns from the trip to the farm. However, during the escape, Daisy loses her flower clip, which the wolves use to track her down later.ĭaisy and Snowball take Hu to Pops' apartment first Pops reluctantly lets Hu live there, but due to his destruction of the apartment afterwards, Hu is kicked out and relocated to Max and Duke's apartment.

The secret life of pets 2 2019 cat lessons free#

In spite of Sergei's pack of black wolves, they free Hu. Daisy and Snowball sneak in to the circus and find Hu. Hu is being held captive by an abusive circus owner known as Sergei. Meanwhile, Snowball, who dreams of being a superhero, meets Shih Tzu Daisy, who explains that she needs him to assist her in rescuing Hu, a White tiger cub she met on a flight back home. Then, with Norman's help, she successfully retrieves Busy Bee and unintentionally gets hailed as the "queen of cats". She receives cat lessons from Chloe, Mel, Buddy, and Sweet Pea in order to sneak into the apartment more easily. Unfortunately, Gidget loses Busy Bee in a cat-infested apartment owned by a cat lady. Rooster's teachings and encouragement to Max about acting unafraid prompts Max to successfully retrieve the sheep, earning Rooster's respect.īefore Max left, he had entrusted his favorite toy, Busy Bee, to Gidget. After an incident with the farm's sheep, Rooster takes Max out to find one of the missing sheep that ran away. When Max and Duke's family reaches a farm owned by Chuck's uncle, Max is unaccustomed to the farm's ways, including local Welsh Sheepdog Rooster. Max's luck changes when Duke reveals that the family is going on a road trip outside of the city. Later, Max's overprotective feelings for Liam develop into an itch which prompts Katie to get him a dog cone from the veterinarian in an effort to lower his symptoms. Sometime after the events of the first film, Max and Duke's owner, Katie, meets and marries a man named Chuck and they have a son, named Liam, of whom Max disapproves at first due to his rough play but eventually softens up to him.

[ink-asunder]

A rare black cat shows her new friends a magic trick.

[theteasetwrites]

The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning

Chapter 62: Suffer Little Children

❧ Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Reader ❧ Era: Season 9 ❧ Pronouns: she/her ❧ Warnings: violence, mild swearing, scary situation ❧ Word Count: 7.6k

❧ In This Chapter: Trouble strikes in Alexandria when a former friend of Michonne's takes refuge. When your baby is taken from you, you're forced to come face to face with yet another evil in the world.

❧ A/N: Bad things seem to happen when Daryl leaves, huh? I think he should just be a stay-at-home daddy lol. Anyway, here we have an event that is actually told in a flashback in Season 9, but I decided to just put it in chronological order for the sake of continuity. Next chapter will take place after the dreaded time jump (though with noticeable changes from the series, since Daryl is not going to be going out to live in the woods. He's got a family!).

You sat in the armchair by the fireplace, cradling Robin in your arms as you breastfed her early in the morning, just before the sun was coming up.

She was three weeks old now, but she was already turning out to be quite the easy baby. Aside from the occasional outbursts of tears when she was hungry, which always seemed to be at the most inopportune times, she didn’t drive you crazy like the other mothers warned you.

In fact, you had no problems with her at all. She began breastfeeding quite easily, and was very active in cooing and flailing her limbs around. She also had great reflexes, according to Siddiq, which meant she had a healthy neurological system. That all sounded good to you.

Everything about Robin Elizabeth Dixon was healthy, including her appetite.

“She’s really going to town,” you said with an amused grin, watching her cheeks hollow in and out as she sucked, with her little hand resting on the slope of your breast, and her tiny feet tucked away in her onesie kicking vigorously in excitement.

Daryl stopped what he was doing in the kitchen to come and see, and looked over your shoulder to watch her. “Someone’s hungry,” he said with a laugh.

You looked up at him. “She gets her appetite from you.”

He rustled up your hair and scoffed. “Shut up.”

He made his way over to the fire to poke it a bit, and you wrapped Robin up tighter in her blanket. It was mid June but the mornings still could be so cold in Virginia, especially before the sun came up. “Do you have to go?” you asked.

Daryl sighed, resting the poker by the fireplace. “You know I have to.”

“Maybe somebody else could go? Like Syd or maybe even Aaron. He’s getting pretty good at hunting, even with the metal arm.”

“Yeah, rabbits,” he said, heading over to the front door to grab his crossbow and bring it over to the couch where he sat himself down. “Need somethin’ big, like a deer.” Daryl positioned his bolts one by one.

“I’m pretty sure they’re going extinct at this point,” you said. “There isn’t a deer for miles that hasn’t been some walker’s lunch.”

“Nah,” he said. “Gonna get somethin’ big, bring it back and have a nice dinner. You’ll see.”

“How long are you going to be gone?” you asked, watching him meticulously perform maintenance on that clunky crossbow.

He shrugged. “Just two days. Be back tomorrow. Promise.” He looked up at you to see the frown on your face as you pulled Robin from your breast and buttoned up your nightgown. “You gonna be okay on your own?”

He felt horrible leaving you with a three week old baby, but then again, he had a responsibility to the community—to keep them fed. True, there were established gardens and grains in Alexandria now, but many people still relied on hunting and gathering, and Daryl was the best hunter, without a doubt.

You gave him a small half-smile. “We’ll be fine,” you said, then looked back down at Robin, who was already dozing off in your warm arms, her eyes blinking sleepily. “Isn’t that right, sweet pea?” You bounced her up and down a little until she cooed. “I’m just going to miss you.”

Daryl hadn’t left Alexandria, or your house, essentially, since before Robin’s birth, and you’d gotten so used to having him all to yourself, and the feeling of him holding you at night. It was your favorite way to sleep.

“I’ll miss ya, too,” he said, and stood up to kiss your forehead, and then Robin’s, to which she squirmed a little. “Don’t wanna leave. Not one bit.”

You pulled his shirt collar down until his face was an inch apart from yours. “Then don’t,” you said before pulling his collar close enough for his lips to touch yours, and kissed him sweetly.

He smiled against your lips. “I’ll be back ‘fore ya know it, woman. Just wanna know you’ll be all right.”

You nodded. “I will,” you said. “As long as you come back to me.”

After putting the sleepy baby back in her crib, you sent Daryl off with a kiss and a packed lunch, just as the sun was starting to rise. You watched him walk off towards the gates as you stood on the porch, and already wished he was back home, where he belonged.

At least you had plenty of things to do to keep your mind off how worried you were, including taking care of the baby.

Once she had her bath and a clean diaper, you settled down in the rocking chair in the nursery with her to begin reading her The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, of course, but you were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Hoisting her up off of your lap, you stood up and walked downstairs with Robin in tow, and laid her down on her knitted baby blanket, spread out on the plush rug in the living room, before answering the door.

“Morning,” said Bev, standing on your porch with a basket of muffins. “These are for you.”

Your eyes widened as she handed you the bountiful basket. “Wow, thank you, Bevvy! Come on in.”

She immediately gravitated towards Robin, who was looking up in fascination at the ceiling fan, and making adorable little gasps and coos.

“How’s my little birdie doing?” you heard Bev ask in her baby voice as you set the muffins on the kitchen counter, followed by the sound of a raspberry being blown on the infant’s tummy. “Oh, you’re just the cutest little thing! I want a baby, (Y/N)!” she yelled to you from the living room.

You came back in from the kitchen with a muffin in your hand and sat yourself down on the floor next to Robin and Bev. “Well, does Eugene want a baby?” you asked.

Bev scoffed. “He’s too focused on that stupid power grid. He’s making it more ‘sustainable in the long-term’ or something like that, I don’t know. He never has time for me. I don’t think he even really loves me.”

You frowned as you played with Robin’s fingers, who grasped them and looked at them curiously. “I’m sorry… I'm sure he loves you, he’s just… distracted. You know how he gets.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I swear, I wish I had a guy more like Daryl. At least he pays attention to you.”

You scoffed. That was an understatement. Daryl paid far too much attention to you, though you couldn’t say you didn’t love it. “There aren’t many men like Daryl,” you said. “I think Eugene is perfect for you, and he’s proven himself to be a good guy, despite everything.”

Bev raised an eyebrow as she looked at you. “Aaron’s a good guy, too,” she said. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you know if he’s… bisexual?”

Your eyes widened and you let out a loud snort, which startled Robin and made her cry a little. You quickly picked her up in your arms and started bobbing her up and down. “Tell me you’re not interested in my brother now.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not, I was just wondering. Does he like women, too?”

“No,” you said. “He’s just into men, and between you and me, I think there’s something going on between him and Jesus.”

Bev gasped. “What? Aaron and Jesus?”

“Mhm,” you said, rubbing Robin’s back as you held her upright against your chest. “They’ve been spending a lot of time together recently, but I don’t think Aaron wants anyone to know for whatever reason, so keep it a secret.”

For all her gossiping, Bev was surprisingly good at keeping a secret, as long as she was asked to do so.

“Well, forget I asked, then.”

“So you’re interested in Aaron?”

She rolled her eyes and laughed. “No, no. I think he’s cute, but Eugene still has my heart, unfortunately. I mean, and he’s your brother… Speaking of men, where’s your hubby?”

You scoffed at the insufferable term, but much like how Daryl had to deal with you calling him absurd pet names all the time, you had to deal with Bev’s.

“He’s out hunting, left this morning. Said something about wanting to get a ‘big thing’ for everyone. Don’t remind me, I’m already worried sick. The world seems to be getting scarier and scarier.”

“Tell me about it,” replied Bev. “Oh, that reminds me, have you heard about the lady and the kids who showed up at the gate a few hours ago?”

“No, a lady and some kids?”

“Yeah, Michonne’s friend. I didn’t get the whole story but she knows her, and she came in with a bunch of these kids. Kind of interesting.”

It was very interesting. There hadn’t been newcomers in a long time, and it wasn’t everyday someone came out of the wilderness with children, since the world outside Alexandria was so hostile for them.

Later that day, you were visited by Michonne and that woman, as Michonne seemed intent on introducing her to everyone, and since she loved children so much, it seemed only appropriate to show her Robin.

You answered the door with the baby bouncing in your arms, and flashed a wide smile for Michonne and the unfamiliar woman. It’d been some time since you had seen anyone you didn’t recognize. You were so used to seeing the same faces now.

“Hi,” you said to them.

“Hey,” replied Michonne. She seemed so happy to have her friend by her side again. “This is my friend, Jocelyn. We were old college buddies. This is (Y/N).”

You unwrapped an arm from Robin briefly to shake the woman’s hand. She seemed quite demure, but friendly enough. “And who’s this?” she asked, taking her eyes away from you and gravitating towards the one month old baby in your arms.

“Oh, this is Robin,” you said.

Jocelyn bent down a little to poke Robin’s sloped button nose, to which she blinked curiously at the woman. “Is she yours?” she asked.

You swallowed hard at the odd question. Of course she was yours. She looked much more like Daryl, but she was quite obviously yours. Then again, you supposed it was quite common for people to raise children who weren’t biologically theirs these days. Aaron was doing it with Gracie, after all.

“Yes,” you said. “She’s mine. Had her a month ago.”

“Wow,” Jocelyn said in awe. “You look great. Where’s her daddy?”

This woman is just asking all the wrong questions.

What if her father was dead? Or missing? Or what if she had two mothers?

You were glad Daryl wasn’t dead, otherwise you’d be much more offended.

“He’s outside the walls,” you said simply. “On a hunting trip.”

“Daryl’s our best hunter,” Michonne explained. “He keeps us all fed well. He’s nowhere near as good as your kids, though,” she joked.

You gave Jocelyn a confused look. “Oh, my kids all hunt. They learned when they just started to walk.”

You nodded at the strange woman. Michonne didn’t seem to notice how off she was, or that you thought she was odd, so you quickly changed the subject. “Why don’t you both come on in? I’ll make some tea.”

You led them in and let Michonne hold Robin while you heated up some water on the stove, and returned minutes later to serve their lavender and rose flavored tea in your antique teacups.

You were surprised to see Jocelyn bouncing Robin up and down on her lap. “She is just so precious, (Y/N). She has beautiful eyes.”

You smiled. “She has her daddy’s blue eyes,” you said as you sat across from her on one of the lounge chairs. “She’s a very cute baby, I must admit.”

Jocelyn cooed at the little girl, who let out little sweet chuckles as she bounced her. “Yes, you are,” said Jocelyn. “God, I haven’t seen a baby in a long time. My kids are all much older.”

“How many do you have?” you asked.

“Ten,” she said.

“And they’re all yours?”

She frowned a little at that, though she had asked you that very same question.

“No,” she said. “None of them are mine, but I care for them like they were my own. Their parents, they all died. Didn’t make it. I made sure they survived.”

You nodded, then looked over to Michonne. “Well,” you sighed, trying to change the subject a little bit, “there are lots of kids here in Alexandria. It’d be nice for them to meet some new faces. I teach at our school, and they all wonder what’s outside those walls. Maybe your kids could teach them a thing or two.”

“You teach?” she asked.

“Mhm. Well, I didn’t teach before this, but I teach now. I think… going on two years now, since we came to Alexandria.” You shared a smile with Michonne.

“What do you teach?” asked Jocelyn.

“Oh, everything. Math, science, English, history… I’m not so good at math but I’ve been getting better. I just hope I’m giving them the best possible education.”

“You are,” assured Michonne. It meant a lot coming from her, since she was the de facto leader of Alexandria after Rick. “You’re the best teacher here.”

You blushed a little. “Thanks, but that’s not true. Beverly’s the best.”

Jocelyn threw you for a loop with her next question. “Do you teach any practical things?”

You cleared your throat. “Well, yes. To an extent. We teach them about walkers at a certain age, about eight years old, and later we train them how to defend themselves. Survival techniques are ingrained throughout the curriculum. Why?”

She shook her head as she looked down at Robin, who was sucking her thumb on the carpet now, and playing with her stuffed white rabbit in the other hand. “Children should be raised to be strong,” she said. “The way the world is, they need to know how to survive, not be passive and frightened.”

You felt a little offended by her tone of voice, which to you implied that the children of Alexandria weren’t being taught how to survive. Of course they were, but it wasn’t the top priority. Yourself and the other teachers had discussed that when creating the curriculum—survival would be an important subject, but learning was put first, since that was the point of education.

“Our children know how to survive,” you said. “We just want them to have a real childhood, too. They shouldn’t be expected to grow up so fast, even in this world.”

Michonne felt the tension growing between you two, and she stepped in before Jocelyn could say anything. “Why don’t we go back to my house and make dinner for the kids, Joss? It’s starting to get dark.”

The two women left soon after that, and you were left with a strange feeling about Jocelyn, who to you seemed infatuated with children, and against the way they were being raised in Alexandria. You couldn’t entirely blame her, since she had just come from outside the walls where she was raising children based on instinct, but still, it offended you.

That evening, you spent all your time with the baby, playing with her and talking to her every chance you could get (you had read that talking to babies helps to stimulate their minds). When little Robin was fed, in a clean diaper, and dressed in her periwinkle colored onesie, decorated with tiny cows jumping over crescent moons, you put her to bed, latching the handmade crib and switching on her nightlight, which reflected beams of starlight upon the wall beside her crib.

Night closed in rather peacefully in Alexandria, despite the slight disturbance of the newcomers. Though Jocelyn seemed a little strange to you, you noticed how happy Michonne was to have her around, so you couldn’t complain. Not only that, but you could hear the children laughing and playing from outside your bedroom window that night, a sound you hadn’t heard in some time since Rick died. Most of all, it reminded you of the wonderful life you had here in Alexandria, the perfect place to raise your baby.

All you needed now, as you snuggled up beneath your blankets on your soft bed, sighing a little at the feeling of the plush fabric against your bare skin where your nightgown didn’t cover, was your husband.

You were getting better at sleeping without Daryl home, though you still worried about him. You figured at least you knew where he was, and that he wasn’t missing, presumed dead, like Rick, or being held prisoner somewhere like he had been just a few years ago. No, he was simply out hunting, and maybe looking for Rick as he did so, but he would be back tomorrow. He always came back, alive and well.

Still, you were a little ashamed that you often had to resort to wrapping yourself in one of Daryl’s shirts to lull yourself to sleep. It always helped, just being reminded of his scent, and feeling the familiar fabric. Tonight was like any other night without Daryl—you eventually fell asleep, and lately you’d been sleeping even more deeply than usual, so you fell quickly into a deep, deep sleep.

When the makeshift alarm that Daryl installed for the front door went off, you bolted up in bed and looked around your dark bedroom in a panic. Coming to your hazy senses, you reached for the flashlight and knife you kept in the drawer of your bedside table, and immediately went for Robin’s bedroom as the obnoxious sound of the modified alarm clock sounded off in the living room.

It had gone off a few times by accident, but Daryl was there on those occasions, and he was the one to check the front door, and didn’t find anyone there. Now, you knew there was someone down there, because their footsteps were gradually getting closer and closer as they approached the staircase.

As the intruder alert of the alarm clock rang mercilessly through your home, you quickly picked up the now crying Robin, attempting to soothe her a bit as you hid her in the hidden compartment in her closet (another one of Daryl’s security measures, which you never thought you’d use). It was a tiny cupboard disguised to mesh with the wall of the closet, big enough to fit a small child, with slats to act as air holes. Daryl had reasoned that upon an event such as this, Robin would be safely hidden there. After all, the world was a dangerous place, and stranger things had befallen your group before. He had a right to be paranoid.

And now, so did you.

“Shhh,” you said to the wailing baby, trying to get her to calm down as you tucked her in the little cupboard, along with her favorite blanket and her stuffed rabbit. “I’ll be right back,” you whispered. She seemed to calm down for a moment, her crying abating as she heard your soothing voice. “Everything’s going to be okay. Mommy’s here.”

Really, you didn’t know what was happening, only that someone was in your house, and it wasn’t Daryl, who would’ve surely turned off the alarm and called out to you. No, they were unfamiliar footsteps, and whoever was there simply had no right to be there.

Turning around, standing up and about to close the closet door, you were immediately knocked to the ground by a shadowy figure, donning a black ski mask and brandishing a large hunting knife.

The figure had knocked the wind out of you, delivering a severe hit to your abdomen and sending you down upon the wood floor of the nursery with an echoing thud, loud enough to start up Robin’s crying again.

Ignoring the pain, you quickly grabbed your knife and slashed the intruder’s ankle as they tried to reach into the closet, where Robin was. Though it was dark, you could see the dark glob of blood beginning to form on their ankle, and you could hear the cry of pain from the figure as they bent over and attempted to stab you back, this time aiming for the chest.

Reflexively, you kicked their shin and hoisted yourself up until you had the upper hand, and kicked the knife from their grasp to lodge your slippered foot between their chin and their chest, causing an uncomfortable strain on their breathing.

You leaned down to pull the mask from the intruder’s face, and you were shocked to see it was none other than Jocelyn, who had a much more sinister look upon her face than she had earlier.

“Why?” you breathed, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The woman seemed odd, but you didn’t peg her for a home invader.

She glared up at you, and looked to the side for a brief moment. “The baby,” she said simply.

Shocked, but not without mercy, you set down your knife and started to help Jocelyn up, with plans to take her to Michonne and have her locked up until everyone decided what was to be done with her, but the harsh blow to the top of your head sent you to the ground faster than you could turn around to see the other intruder behind you.

Several hazy, blurry moments passed with you writhing in pain on the ground, half-conscious and straining desperately to move towards the closet, where Robin’s cries were getting louder and more heartbreakingly terrified. Surely the loud bang of the frying pan hitting your head must’ve pierced her poor little ears beyond your comprehension, and all you wanted to do was get to her before Jocelyn could. So you crawled, still in too much pain to lift yourself up, while Jocelyn and the intruder looked down at you with tilted heads, looking at you like some kind of curious circus freak.

“Should we kill her?” the other figure asked. From what you could tell in your delirium, he was male, and a bit shorter than Jocelyn, with a more pubescent sounding voice. He seemed to be a teenager, maybe one of Jocelyn’s children.

“No,” she said. “She’ll wish she was dead when she wakes up. Let her suffer.” You kept your eyes on the cupboard where Robin was hidden, though she wasn’t hidden for long, as between tired blinks, you saw the male figure pull her from the closet, her tiny body wriggling and her limbs flailing all over the place as she cried.

“R-Robin!” you managed to exclaim, trying to get your brain back in its senses to stand up and take the baby away from the stranger. “My baby… Please don’t.”

The male let out a laugh. “I hit her pretty bad,” he said, trying to figure out how to hold the very upset infant.

“Not bad enough,” Jocelyn replied, then the next thing you heard, as you watched your baby crying in the arms of a hostile intruder, was the beginning of that bang, the sound of the pan hitting your head again.

This hit knocked you out completely, so much so you couldn’t even register the pain, until you awoke.

“(Y/N)!” you heard Aaron’s voice call out to you as he ascended the stairs. “(Y/N)!” he called out again. “Where are you?”

You groaned in pain as you awoke with your face pressed against the cold wood floor, the redwood grain of which was now illuminated by the early morning sunlight. You palmed your face and pushed back your messy hair to see where you were, and suddenly you remembered.

Aaron found you launching yourself up and over towards the closet, and watched you frantically searching the hiding spot for your baby, and then turning around to begin tearing apart the entire nursery, not even noticing his presence until he grabbed your shoulders and turned you around to face him.

He studied you with a worried look, rubbing his thumb over the large bruise extending from your hairline over your forehead. “What happened?” he asked. “Are you okay? Where’s Robin?”

Your eyes darted around the room as your terrified brain put together the scene from last night, in which you were sure Jocelyn had taken your child.

Michonne stumbled in a few moments later, looking at you with that same horrified look. “(Y/N)?” she asked, her voice trembling and terrified. “Did… did Jocelyn come here last night?”

You broke down sobbing, and Aaron cupped your crying face, knowing what must’ve happened. “She took some of the kids last night,” he said. “We’re going to get them back.”

You shook your head, with utter devastation and disbelief that this could ever happen, yet the strange feeling that you should have known better, that there was something you could have and should have done, even though you had done everything to try to keep your child safe, but now you had no idea if she was alive or dead, or where she was.

“Not… not my baby!” you sobbed into Aaron’s shoulder as he held you. You clung tightly to his jacket, and pulled away after a few moments of trying to compose yourself as much as you could. “Not her,” you said. “Not my baby.”

Aaron urged you not to leave, and Michonne, too. He tried to organize a search team without either of you, since Michonne was so close to term, and your head needed rest. Aside from that, you had only given birth a little less than a month ago, and your body was still recovering from it. He even insisted upon going out to find Daryl so he could help, but you pleaded with him not to do that.

Michonne had an idea of where Jocelyn might’ve taken the children. Before introducing you to her, Michonne had led a rescue team to find the rest of her missing children, who had returned to an abandoned school for the gifted where she had lived with the children before.

So, it only made sense that they might be there.

You walked together in silence for a while, through plains of yellow grass and abandoned parking structures, trying to retrace the steps towards the school. It was only you and Michonne, who had broken off from the others at Alexandria as they deliberated their next course of action. For both of you, there wasn’t any time to think things through—you both needed to find your daughters, and the rest of the children who had been taken.

After a while, Michonne broke the silence. “I should’ve known,” she said simply.

You looked at her as you continued walking alongside her. “No,” you said. “Don’t blame this on yourself. It’s her… Jocelyn, she did it, it’s her fault.” You weren’t entirely articulate, on behalf of your head injury, but you’d be damned if Michonne took the blame for what happened.

“Should’ve never let her in,” she said, then stopped to grab her belly and hiss a little in pain.

You reached over and pulled her aside until you both sat atop the hood of a car. “Sit,” you said.

She shook her head. “I thought I could trust her,” she said. “I thought… I thought she was my friend, you know? I mean, we went through so much, and now… It just seems like I never knew her.”

“People change. This world, it changes people. You’ve seen that. You weren’t wrong to trust her. She… she abused your trust.”

“And now our kids are paying the price,” she said quietly. “What do you think she wants with them?”

You sighed, trying not to tear up at the thought of whatever was happening to your baby, probably so afraid and alone. She only really knew you and Daryl, and if she wasn’t in the presence of either of you for a certain amount of time, she seemed much too scared for such an innocent child. No child should ever be scared like that, as far as you were concerned, and to think your baby was in such a situation, and maybe worse, it chilled you to the bone.

“I don’t know,” you said. “I don’t want to think about it. I just want to find them.” You looked down at the axe laid across your lap. “All I know is, I’ll kill her if I have to.”

Not twenty minutes later, you stood in front of the brick building, and split up from each other so you could come in through the back, with Michonne approaching the entrance.

With the ice axe you’d had for longer than you cared to remember, you trudged through the mud leading up to the backdoor of one of the classrooms, and held your axe high to fend off any walkers or living threats.

The feeling of a lingering presence nearby led you into the hallway, where it was dim, but light enough to see Michonne surrounded by all of Jocelyn’s children, who held their weapons, some of which were projectile, pointed directly at her, and now, you.

“Michonne,” you said, lowering your ask as you realized you couldn’t defend yourself before someone shot an arrow into you. It was an odd tableau—a handful of children, many of which were under the age of ten, holding knives and axes and bows and arrows. Of course, children did have to be much braver in these times than they did when you were a child, but the fact that they seemed so hostile towards even the living… It disturbed you greatly.

“Where are our kids?” she asked, breathing heavily.

The young man, who you quickly realized was the one who took your baby, looked between you and Michonne, and nodded his head as he spoke: “Drop ‘em.”

“No say,” you said.

Apparently Michonne had the same idea, as she didn’t drop her katana, just like you didn’t drop your axe.

“Just tell me that they’re safe,” she said, and in an instant, one of the children let loose her arrow, and it went flying into your arm, in the same place you’d been shot by another unscrupulous child a few years ago.

“Ugh!” you groaned, falling to the ground and grabbing your shoulder firmly in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

“I said drop it,” the young man said again, though you couldn’t hear much of what was happening, other than the sound of Michonne being knocked out, and you felt the grips of several smaller sized hands picking you up and dragging you down the hallway, into a boiler room where you immediately laid eyes on a metal trash can lined with the glow of a small fire, and a few metal prongs sticking out from it, with cloth wrapped around the base to be used as a handle, you could only assume.

It terrified you, the idea of what might’ve been in store. Not just that, it confused you. Why would someone feel the need to do this, to tie you and an unconscious Michonne by your hands and feet and hang you up from the ceiling pipes like pieces of meat? Perhaps they’d eat you, you’d run into that before… Or maybe use you as slaves, like the people at Grady Memorial Hospital and the Saviors essentially did. It didn’t really matter, though, because you knew they were going to brand you, and even that reality paled in comparison to the question of just where your child was.

You looked forward for a while, your mouth gagged with a dirty rag and the pain of your wound still festering. You hadn’t noticed Michonne had opened her eyes until one of the female children spoke.

“She’s awake,” she said, and without another word, a young boy came towards you with the metal brand, a glowing orange X shape on its end.

You closed your eyes tightly and took a deep breath, already feeling the tears trickling down your cheek. You felt the cold air penetrating your bare skin of your back as the teenager lifted your shirt, combined with the blistering heat of the bright orange metal inching dangerously close to your lower back.

“Go on, Linus,” Jocelyn said as she sat and watched, with a stiff, stoic posture, unmoved by the grisly act about to be committed. “Be strong,” she said.

What the hell is strong about this? you wanted to say. It all drove you mad, the fact that this was what Jocelyn meant by raising strong children. If your child, or any child you had taught in Alexandria, ever grew up to be like this, you’d never forgive yourself. It wasn’t strength, it was cruelty, for no discernible reason.

These frustrated thoughts kept you preoccupied for a few moments, until the metal of the brand, both somehow excruciatingly hot and agonizingly cold, sizzled against your skin, and you writhed and screamed and cried as the child pushed the branding iron even further, trying to make the deepest indent he possibly could.

Upon removal of the brand, your vision became blurred, and for a moment you swore you passed out from the pain, but came to as soon as you felt Jocelyn’s presence before you, staring you down with that cold gaze.

You glowered at her, wanting to tell her that it didn’t hurt, that you’d felt much worse, that it couldn’t even compare to being shot, or hit by a car, or beaten half to death, but it was worse. Much worse. The only thing you could think of that could have rivaled that brand was childbirth. At least it didn’t last nearly as long, but that pain was sharp and not completely dissimilar. Still, you wouldn’t let her have that satisfaction.

“Well done, Linus,” she said to the boy.

“The strong survive,” he replied.

“And thrive,” Jocelyn added. She gave you a long, lingering look of disappointment, and crossed over to Michonne. “I told you children are capable of anything,” she said. “I taught them, helped them become what we are.”

Monsters, you thought.

“Because they can’t be soft,” she said, and looked pointedly at you. “Not now. Not like I was.”

You bit the cloth between your teeth so hard that you could feel the fabric beginning to rip. If you got out of this, you were going to kill her.

“Where is she?!” Michonne yelled into her gag, with a noticeable quiver in her angered voice.

Jocelyn didn’t answer, but looked over to the little girl holding the other branding iron. “Control it, Winnie,” she said. “Don’t let it control you.”

There wasn’t anything to do, and that’s what infuriated, and devastated, you. The sizzling echoed through the small, almost empty room, and Michonne’s cries of pain were like something out of a nightmare, one that you’d had before, in which everyone you loved was being tortured. How strange it is, when scenes from nightmares come true.

Most of them left after that, leaving you and Michonne to hang in that room, with only another teenage boy watching over you, holding your axe across his lap.

For thirty minutes, you used your fingernail to saw through the rope, and thanked your past self for forgetting to trim them. When you released yourself from the knot, you quickly overtook the weaker boy, kicking him in the groin and yanking your axe from his grasp before knocking him out with the blunt end. You could’ve killed him, but there was some amount of pity there, and understanding that they had been brainwashed to become these merciless killing machines. It wasn’t entirely their fault, but as much as you felt for them, you needed to get your children back, so you swiftly crossed over to Michonne and cut her from her rope.

“We should split up,” she said, pulling her shirt down over her wound with a hiss.

“Right,” you huffed. “I’ll tie him up. You go out towards the front, I’ll look around here.” She nodded to you, and began to leave before you grabbed her shoulder. “Michonne,” you said, “be careful.”

When you came out of the front entrance several minutes later, after searching the whole building top to bottom, you found Michonne, standing amidst the bodies of Jocelyn and her children.

Before her was a beaten-up old trailer, where one child, Winnie, was standing in the doorframe, holding a knife.

She scurried away soon after you came out, and you rushed up behind Michonne to see what was happening.

“Judith,” she called out towards the trailer tearfully.

Just as little four-year-old Judith came forward, you heard the sounds of a baby crying from inside the trailer, and your heart sank in relief.

Judith ran out to hug Michonne, and you stepped forward to greet the other Alexandrian children, one of which was holding the newborn Robin.

You sighed, taking the crying Robin in your arms and holding her tight before hugging the other children, all of whom you taught or had known for years. “You’re safe,” you said. “We’re going home now.”

It had always been a tricky subject, ever since the beginning, when Carl was a boy. How can children be children in a world like this? How can they have a real childhood, and not have to be ruthless, like Jocelyn trained her children to be?

You recalled how grown-up Carl had to be, back at the prison, when Rick and the others had gone to Woodbury. He was so willing to put down that woman who had been bit, and seemed to have already been much too mature for his age.

It was about finding a balance, you supposed—trying to raise the children to be good, and to be innocent, but strong when necessary. All in all, they needed to be fair, merciful, and kind. That’s what you believed, and it wouldn’t change, even after seeing everything you had seen. You wouldn’t let this world win. It had had its hold over you before, made you more callous than you wanted to be, but that was never who you were.

You held the now sleeping Robin in a makeshift sling as you trudged towards the gates of Alexandria with the other children, hand in hand.

The gates opened, and a flood of parents, both biological and adopted, ran out to greet their children, along with Aaron, who solemnly moved towards you.

He eyed you closely, frustrated with worry from you leaving so spontaneously, and without any other help, but he was happy to see you and his niece in one piece.

“You all right?” he asked.

You brushed your fingers through the sparse light brown hairs atop Robin’s head as you gently rocked her in her sling. “Fine,” you said. “Just… need to lie down.”

You took Robin to the infirmary for Siddiq to check on her once he was done patching up Michonne, whose abdomen had been shallowly cut by one of Jocelyn’s children. Luckily, her baby didn’t suffer any trauma, and she would be all right.

Robin was fine, too, only a little dehydrated and hungry, and her diaper certainly needed changed, but fine. As for your brand, Siddiq cleaned it with soap and water, and said there wasn’t much to do besides bandage it and let it heal. It would scar over, of course, and that nearly brought you to tears in itself, just to have to remember the ordeal every time you felt that scar.

Daryl returned that evening, just as the sun was beginning to go down. As he promised, he brought back a large buck, and dropped it off at the pantry before coming home, greeted by Aaron as he sat on the couch playing with Robin and two-year-old Gracie.

“Hey,” said Aaron, with much more solemnity than usual. It always threw off Daryl how serious Aaron was becoming, since he’d always been so happy-go-lucky. This time, though, he immediately knew something was wrong.

“Hi, uncle Daryl,” said Gracie, playing with her nesting blocks on the carpet.

He nodded to the little girl with a smile, and came forward to pick up Robin from her bouncing baby seat, all the while studying Aaron’s face closely. “Where’s (Y/N)?” he asked, getting straight to the point. He knew Robin was all right, so the only other thing was you.

“Upstairs,” he replied. Daryl tilted his head in confusion, since it was much too early for you to be in bed, and you were always with Robin. “She’s in bed.”

“She okay?”

Aaron swallowed hard. He was dreading telling Daryl about what had happened that day. “She’s fine. There was an… incident.”

He practically bolted up the stairs, his heavy footfalls alerting you to his presence.

“(Y/N),” he said quietly as he came in through the bedroom door.

His worried face was illuminated faintly by the dim lighting of the lantern on the dresser, and his shadow danced across the wall as he crossed over to you, sitting himself beside you on the bed and wiping the wispy hairs from your face.

Upon opening your blinking eyes, you saw small tears welling up in his eyes, though he tried wiping them away with his other hand.

“Aaron told me,” he croaked. He could have asked you why you didn’t wait for him to come home, but he knew he would’ve done the same thing, leaving as soon as possible to find your baby.

Your lips began to quiver and you squeezed out a few tears between your trembling eyelids. “I’m sorry,” you cried.

He shook his head and leaned down to hold you in his arms, the strength and warmth of which so familiar and comforting to you. If you could die in those arms, you’d be happy.

You nearly clawed onto the back of his shirt as you held him against you and cried softly into his shoulder. “I tried to stop them,” you said. “I… I tried.”

“I know,” he said, and kissed your cheek. “I know you. Shoulda been here, kept ya both safe.” He eyed the bruise on your forehead, practically glaring it down as if it was the very representation of what had threatened to take away his two most precious gems.

“We can never keep her safe,” you said sadly. “There will always be bad people, or some other threat.”

“Don’… don’ say that. You know it ain’t true.”

You sniffled and rubbed your nose, then sat up to reposition yourself and hug Daryl even tighter. “I could’ve lost her, Daryl. She could’ve…”

He rubbed your back up and down. “I know,” he said. “Didn’t happen, though. She’s fine. She’s gonna be fine, sweetheart.”

He held you for a while, until Aaron called out to Daryl softly from the hallway, telling him he was going to return home now that Daryl was here.

He left your room to send Aaron and Gracie on their way, and to put Robin to bed, reading her Bambi until she fell asleep, and turning on her nightlight (despite the generator power it used—she needed her nightlight, according to Daryl).

The baby seemed fine, already forgetful of the day’s traumatic events. He was thankful for that, since she was so young she wouldn’t remember anything.

“Let me see,” he said as he came back into your bedroom. You looked at him curiously, sitting up in bed to look at him.

“See what?”

He stripped himself of his shirt and sat down on the bed to begin taking off his pants. “Aaron told me.”

Once he was done, he slipped himself under the covers and sat beside you, waiting for you to pull off your nightgown so he could look at your injury.

With a huff, you lifted the back of your slip to reveal the bandage covering the brand on your lower left back.

He gently peeled it back on one corner to see it, and flinched in his own pain when the raw pinkish-red burnt flesh was revealed. It reminded him too much of his own scars, and the very fact that your skin had been marred in such a way, and that you had felt such pain… It brought on so many emotions he couldn’t bear to look anymore.

Replacing your nightgown, he pulled you by the waist against his chest and held you from behind, nuzzling his head into your shoulder and radiating warm breath against your skin.

You bowed your head as if in shame. “It’s going to scar,” you said. “Michonne got it, too.”

“Wish I was there,” he said. “Wish it was me ‘stead of you.”

You turned to look at him, and brought your hand up to caress his cheek. “Don’t say that. It happened the way it happened, and that’s that.”

He let you rest your head on his chest as you were so accustomed to doing, and just before dozing off, you raised your head to speak.

“Hey,” you said, “I finally have a real scar, not just that little one on my arm.”

He looked at you with raised eyebrows and patted your shoulder. “Go to sleep, crazy woman. You need it.”

So you did, and it was a restless sleep, riddled with anxious dreams and disturbing nightmares, which resulted in you flinching and mumbling in Daryl’s arms all night, but it was sleep nonetheless.

Perhaps you’d never be able to keep Robin safe. Maybe the world wasn’t a safe place for children anymore, unless they were ruthless murderers like what Jocelyn had raised.

Still, you believed in the hope that someday things would change—that Robin’s generation would carry the torch in creating a new civilization, one based on the principles of humanity and love that you tried to impart onto them.

So yes, by Jocelyn’s standards, the children were weak, vulnerable, whatever you wanted to call it, but to you, it was a strength, to be able to discern between friend and foe, and to show mercy in a world where such a thing was in short supply.

As long as you had your child, you promised from then on to raise her with that strength.

~

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[tastesoftamriel]

Recently found out about thermopolia, places in ancient rome where you could buy quick and easy take-out food or the roman version of fastfood. And I can't help but wonder what each of the Scrolls races would sell at their own thermopolia.

I'm of the opinion that Tamriel would grind to a halt without quick foods to keep us going. Every Province of course has its own specialties, but these are some of the most popular snacks you have to try!

Altmer

Eating on the go is difficult to manage in Summerset. After all, eating with your hands is uncouth, so what is one to do? Ricepaper-wrapped salads are a staple for healthy eating when pressed for time, and can contain any number of ingredients one likes. Common fillings for these ricepaper rolls include lettuce, shredded carrots and cucumber, sweet shrimp, cold roast chicken, and tahini.

Argonians

While Argonians prefer to sit down for a meal with friends and family, sometimes it's necessary to grab a bite before heading into the swamp. Saltrice steamed in banana leaf packages with tasty ingredients on the side makes the ideal portable meal. Each package is water-tight and contains just enough for a single meal, while the banana leaf imparts a great aroma on the saltrice. For something similar, why not try my Blackwood Stuffed Banana Leaves?

Bosmer

Out of all the races, the Wood Elves have truly mastered the art of quick and easy foods to eat on the road. While it's less appetising than other snacks, pemmican, a type of dried meat and tallow patty, is great for filling your belly when you don't have the time for a meal. It can be eaten as is, or is sometimes pre-fried to make a crunchy, meaty snack. More interesting than jerky, and quite nutritious too!

Bretons

High Rock is renowned for its excellent inns, and many of them cater to travellers needing a quick bite to eat. Hot pies and pasties are a Provincial favourite, and they are usually filled with meat and vegetables, though plenty of other variants exist. When I'm in High Rock, I spend a lot of time eating my favourite steak, cheese and onion pasties, or a good steak pie with mushy peas on the side.

Dunmer

Dunmeri traders and travellers for centuries swear by wickwheat rolls, which are soft rolls that are a bit like a cross between puff pastry and rye bread. These rolls are baked with fillings and are easy to bring around with you, and taste great regardless of their temperature. One of the most common variants is a chunky mix of scuttle, hackle-lo leaf, and nix-hound meat paste, which is seasoned with a good amount of herbs and spices. It's meaty and creamy, and sure to keep you sated for some time.

Imperials

There are so many types of snack foods in Cyrodiil that it would take a day and a half to list all of them, but out of all of them, fried bread sandwiches are probably the most common and popular due to their versatility. These aren't sandwiches per se, but are pockets of bread that are flash fried in olive oil after being stuffed with ingredients like cured meats, cheese, tomatoes, and peppers. They are usually served with a topping of fresh salad and shaved pecorino.

Khajiit

Rice rolls, rice rolls, we love rice rolls! These wonderful snacks are easily portable, making them the ideal meal on the go, and they taste great hot or cold too. Fresh fish, vegetables, pickled spicy cabbage, and grilled meat are among the fillings you'll find tightly wrapped in a sizeable tube of seasoned brown rice, which is wrapped again in nori to hold the tube together. Filling and delicious!

Nords

There's nothing better than a fresh hot waffle on a cold day...except for a freshly grilled horker sausage or rabbit meatballs wrapped in a waffle, with a good spoonful of crispy fried onions, juniper berry relish, and strong wholegrain mustard. Eating these gracefully is an impossible task, so remember to pack napkins!

Orcs

Most Orcs prefer sitting down to a meal than a quick lunch on the go, but if you're heading out the door, it doesn't hurt to pack a potato croquette or two. Mashed potato is patted around meat and diced radishes, rolled in panko breadcrumbs, and deep fried until crispy. These greasy treats stay warm for ages when packed in metal lunchboxes, so they're ideal for travellers.

Redguards

The Redguards use folded cactus skins to make takeaway boxes, and their watertight properties mean that it's possible to pack soups quickly and easily for eating on the go. A goat meatball stew drizzled with yoghurt and honey is a nomad's favourite dish as it contains all the nutrition you need to stay alive in the inhospitable Alik'r for extended periods of time. The lid also acts as a way to eat your soup without sand getting in- just slurp it through a straw! You can also try my Pack Guar Pide for a Hammerfell-style street food favourite!