#were out of cheese strings but i wanted something more filling than like fruit snacks

[deelovesbooks]

#toddlercore midnight snack ✌🏻

[wordsinthenight]

The Seventh Bride - Chapter 8

Summary: Reylo.  Through a strange twist of fate, Rey suddenly finds herself married to the Marquess of the Reach, a mysterious man who she has never seen and whose name she has never learned. All she knows is this: the Marquess has been married six times before, and each time, the dragon Kylo Ren has devoured his wife within a year of their marriage.

Medieval AU based off of “Psyche and Eros” and “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” with a healthy dose of “Beauty and the Beast” thrown in for good measure.

First Chapter Previous Chapter AO3

Something was wrong when Rey left her room that morning.  Something was missing when she stepped outside, something huge and obvious.  She frowned as she stepped out into the crisp morning air, unable to put her finger on the strange feeling.

It didn’t take her long to put it together - Kylo Ren was not on the island.  She scowled as soon as she realized - she had told him not to fly until his injury was healed, but he had clearly left the island not more than a day after she had told him not to.  It would serve him right if he ripped the muscle further and lost the wing.

But the thought of him stranded in some far, hostile land brought Rey no pleasure.

He likes you - did you know that?  Her husband had said to her last night.  Rey still wasn’t sure if she believed him.  He’s all but ignored everyone else in Takodana, but he enjoys it when you approach him.

She’d feel really bad if he ended up stuck out there.

Stupid lizard.

Rey huffed in frustration and turned on her heel, stomping back into the castle.  If he was going to fly out against her orders, then she was going to give him a piece of her mind when he got back.  She returned only a few minutes later, book in hand and a shawl around her shoulders, to flop down on the cobblestones and wait for the dragon.

It was a long wait.  The sun rose high in the sky and then began to fall, as Rey sat fuming on the cobblestones.  At some point, Maz came out with some bread, cheese, and a bowl of fruit.  Rey didn’t tell her what she was doing, sitting outside in one of the courtyards and pretending to read, and Maz didn’t ask.  She only shot the young woman an amused look and left to go about her business.

As the sun kissed the horizon, Rey’s anger began to turn to worry.  Kylo Ren rarely left the island, and it was never for so long.  What had happened to him out there?

Maz returned one more time to watch the sunset with her, bearing a tray with a steaming teapot.  She filled both of the mugs and handed one to Rey, leaning against the wall to look out over the water.  “Took him long enough,” she commented.

Rey’s eyes darted upwards, searching the orange sky for a dark shape on the horizon.  However, she did not see Kylo Ren until Maz grabbed her chin and pointed her gaze downwards.

Kylo Ren hadn’t departed by sky, but by water.  Only the top of his head poked out of the deep water of the lake, the air puffing out of his nostrils to fog the cool evening air.  It was only as he approached the shore that he could touch the lakebed and began to rise out of the water.  As he reached the docks and hauled himself onto the land, rivlets streamed off of his black scales, staining the shoreline with water.

Rey scowled fiercely and made to stand to confront him, her muscles cramping from sitting on the hard ground all day.  Maz grabbed her arm and shook her head.  “Not today,” she murmured.

Her voice caught the dragon’s attention, and his head swung to take the two of them in.  He regarded them both for a moment, but rather than approach the pair, he ignored them in favor of beginning his nightly climb towards the cave high above the castle.

She wouldn’t let him get away that easily, though.

The next morning, after she heard the door click shut behind her husband, Rey was out of bed, knocking on the locked door leading towards her side of the castle.  It took several minutes for Maz to answer - usually, she was the first one awake to make breakfast and let Rey out of her rooms, but when she finally opened the door, Maz was still in her dressing gown, looking grouchy and bleary-eyed.

“You’re not injured and you’re not dying,” Maz grumbled.  “Why else are you knocking to get out so early in the morning?”

“I have to relieve myself,” Rey lied as she slipped past the palace’s caretaker.

Instead of heading directly for a chamber pot, Rey left the castle.  Part of her noted that her husband woke early - the sun hadn’t even risen yet, though the stars were beginning to fade out of the sky.  A larger part of her was more concerned with her husband’s pet than the man himself.

Rey had been sitting at the dock for almost an hour when she finally spotted him.  The sun had just risen above the horizon, bathing the lake in a golden light.  It also fell upon the dark shadow slinking down the terraces of the island towards the water.

Rey stood from her spot as he approached the shoreline.  “Where do you think you’re going?”

Kylo Ren only stopped his approach when he stood beside her.  Even with her on the dock and the dragon with his paws in the water, his head towered above her.  He had the grace to lower it so she could look him in the eye, though she didn’t like the amused glint in it.

“Little Marquesa,” he purred, “Are you trying to mother me?”

Rey had the grace to flush.  “Don’t be silly.  Did you even have a mother?”

This time is was his turn to look chagrined - at least, as chagrined as a dragon could look.  “I had a mother,” he said, his head turning away from her.  “I have a mother.”

“Clearly she didn’t do a very good job if you’re doing this to yourself.”  Rey had never even known her mother, but even she knew not to aggravate new wounds - let alone burn villages and terrorize countrysides.

That was the wrong thing to say.  Kylo’s head swung back towards her as he snarled.  His jaws snapped shut inches from her midsection, and Rey scrambled backwards, her back colliding with one of the posts on the dock.  A deadly glow emanated from within his neck as fire gathered in his throat, and smoke curled out from between his teeth, long and sharp as swords.

“Do not,” he growled, low and dangerous, “insult my mother again.”

Rey’s eyes darted from his eyes down to the teeth near her torso.  She had gotten too comfortable in the past couple of days.  Though her husband guaranteed her safety and claimed that the beast liked her, Kylo Ren was still a dragon - one who didn’t have a great track record of not eating young brides.

After staring her down for a few more moments, Kylo Ren turned once more towards the lake, wading out towards the center.

Rey found her voice once more.  “Where are you going?” she tried again.  “I just don’t want you to hurt yourself again.”

Kylo Ren paused and heaved a great sigh.  “I am going to hunt.  Everything needs to eat - and dragons need to eat more than most.  I have not eaten in quite some time.”

That didn’t ease Rey’s mind at all - if he was hungry, there was no guarantee he might decide that she was a tastier snack than whatever was beyond the lake - not to mention easier to catch.

Still, she couldn’t manage to keep her mouth closed.  “You went out yesterday - was it to hunt, as well?  And when you attacked those villagers’ cattle?”

“Unfortunately,” he said through gritted teeth, “I was not successful.”

“Why not?” she prompted.  “You’re a dragon.  It should be easy to catch food.”

“I know that!” he snapped back.  “But dragons attack their prey from above.  We are not particularly inconspicuous when hunting from the ground, but unfortunately, I have no other option.”  Kylo attempted to stretch his injured wing, but flinched before it extended to full length and tucked it back against his side.

Suddenly, it all clicked into place for Rey.  She had experienced days like this in Jakku - days where she was so hungry, she had no patience for people, no tolerance for anyone’s nonsense, and was unable to think of anything beyond the rumbling of her stomach.  A jolt of sympathy ran through her, and her stomach nearly rumbled in solidarity.

Rey stepped towards the dragon once more, though not without some trepidation.  She faced the far shoreline with him.  “...Is there much prey out there?”

“Yes.  The deer have been in hiding all winter, and are hungry enough now that they are unwary.”  Rey could hear his claws sink into the lakebed below, though, and understood.  The deer might be easy to find, but that didn’t mean that he would be able to catch them.

Right.  That made things simple, then.  Rey didn’t want to get eaten, and she didn’t want to deal with a temperamental dragon.  There was only one path left to her.

“Wait here,” she told him as she left the dock.  “I’ll be back in a moment.”  She didn’t stick around long enough to hear his questions.

When she returned a few minutes later, she was almost surprised that he had conceded to wait for her.  “Whatever Maz has in her cellar,” Kylo Ren said, “will probably not be enough to sate me for - oh.”

That was when he caught sight of what she had actually brought with her.  It had been a long time since Rey had needed to hunt, but the quiver full of arrows strung over her back felt as natural as ever.  The bows in the armory had a stronger draw that she was used to - probably meant more for piercing plate armor than animal flesh - but Rey was still able to fully pull the string back.  It would have to do.

“I’m ready to go.”

“Go where?”  Somehow, with all the scales and fangs, Kylo Ren still managed to look perplexed.

“Hunting,” she replied.  “You can’t hunt for yourself, so I’ll have to do it for you.  It probably won’t be as satisfying as if you had caught it yourself, but at least you won’t go hungry until your wing is healed.”

“Do you even know how to hunt?”

“Back in Jakku, if I couldn’t find enough scrap to trade for a meal, I used to hunt lizards.”

“To trade for a - wait, lizards?” Kylo Ren couldn’t seem to decide which part of her statement was more shocking.

Rey decided to save him from his confusion.  “Deer are large, right?  This should be easy.  Now, is there a boat somewhere on the island?  I can’t very well hunt them from here.”

“We have no need of a boat,” he said, stepping further out into the water.  “Get in.”

Rey looked down at the water below the dock.  “I don’t know how to swim.  I came from a desert fief, remember?”

“Even if you knew how to swim, you wouldn’t make it across.  This water is mostly made of snowmelt - you’d freeze before you reached the opposite side.  Get in anyways.”

This was a phenomenally bad idea, but Rey had never been one to listen to sense.  She sat on the edge of the dock and dipped into her toe into the water, but hissed and withdrew almost immediately.  The water was freezing.

But Kylo Ren was watching her expectantly, so Rey took a deep breath and slid off the dock.  

The water was shockingly cold when it first hit her body, but she barely even felt the chill when the water rose above her head.  Rey kicked out with her feet, searching for the bottom, and her hands clawed above her, searching for the surface of the water.

Almost immediately, something was beneath her feet - something dark and scaly.  Kylo Ren’s paw lifted to let her stand on it, still half-submerged in water, and he led her back toward him even as he moved further out into the lake.  Once he was out far enough, he guided her along his shoulder and up his neck.  Rey swung her legs over his neck, sitting in the space just behind his head.

“Hold on tight,” he said, then turned towards the opposite shore.  Rey grabbed onto his horns and tucked herself close to his body as he set off across the lake.

He was right - the water was freezing.  When she stuck her hand out away from the dragon, it didn’t take long for her fingertips to go numb until she brought them back to his horns.  But Kylo Ren himself was warm - his body even heated up the water around him, keeping the water near his body at an acceptable temperature for Rey as long as she kept close to him.  When she had treated him for his injury a few days prior, the skin under his scales had been even more heated - she had no doubt that he could keep himself warm in even the coldest of climates.

Rey couldn’t help but peek out over his horns as Kylo swam.  The lake was deep enough that even he had to swim and not just walk across the bottom.  Only his head stuck out of the water, leaving Rey submerged up to her waist from her perch just behind his horns.  The water was clear, but was deep enough that she couldn’t see the bottom.  Beneath her, Kylo Ren looked like a great, dark shadow - only his paws came into view as they churned the water below them.

“I wish I knew how to swim,” Rey mumbled to herself.

Kylo’s ears flicked backwards at her words.  “The sun heats up the water later on in the year,” he said.  “If you would like, I will teach you when summer comes.”

Rey settled back into her seat, pressing herself closer to his body to keep warm.  “I’d like that.”  She had her doubts about how effectively a dragon could teach a human to swim, but she appreciated the sentiment.

It didn’t take them long to reach the opposite shore.  Rey scrambled off of Kylo Ren as soon as she heard his claws scrape the lakebed, but huddled close to him as they both emerged from the water.

“I can smell them,” Kylo rumbled.  “They’re not far in that direction.”  He swung his head towards the woods.

“Okay,” Rey replied, taking her quiver off her back and tilting it to pour out the water.  After rebuckling it, she gave her bow a few experimental draws to loosen it up.  “Stay here.  I’ll be back soon.”

Hunting in the forest was different from hunting in the desert.  In the desert, there were no tracks - the wind blew the sand back over them too quickly - so she was limited to what she could see.  Here in the forest, the thick pine trees obscured her vision, but it didn’t take long for her to find a trail of parted grass, as well as the slight impressions of hooves in the soil.  It also didn’t take long for her foot to find a stick, and when it snapped under her weight, she heard something in the bushes to her right skitter away.  Rey swore silently but continued along the trail, watching her footsteps this time around.

She nearly stumbled upon the deer, though thankfully did so silently this time.  The soft brown of their coats blended in nicely with the bark of the trees, and Rey was so focused on where she put her feet that she didn’t see them until they were only a couple dozen feet away.

Rey crouched down in the grass just behind a tree, observing the small herd.  They were smaller than she had expected them to be - she didn’t know why she had expected deer to be the size of horses, but they looked petite.  Delicate.  Would one be enough to feed a dragon?

One would have to be enough for now - if Kylo Ren wanted more, he could bring her across the lake again tomorrow.  Rey’s eyes caught sight of the buck of the herd, peacefully grazing not twenty feet away.  As quietly as possible, she nocked the arrow on the string.  The slight twang caused his head to jerk upwards, and his eyes darted around the clearing.

Rey exhaled and let the arrow fly from the string.

The deer was heavy enough that Rey struggled to drag it across the forest floor.  When she got close enough, she called out to Kylo.  The dragon practically wiggled like an overexcited dog when he saw the buck, which prompted a chuckle from Rey.  To her surprise, he didn’t eat it immediately.  He picked the deer up in his jaws and waded back into the water, inviting Rey back up to her perch behind his head.

When they reached the opposite shore, Kylo lay the buck at her feet and shook the water off his scales.  Rey screeched and threw her arms in front of her pace to protect herself from the droplets flying from his hide, but he looked more amused at her scowl than repentant.

“Do you know how to carve a deer?” he asked.

“Not really,” she replied, then shot him a confused glance.  “Do you only eat your venison pre-carved?  I thought you...you know.”  She gestured vaguely to his claws and teeth.  Why did he need to carve up a piece of meat when he was big enough that he could probably swallow it whole, anyways?

Kylo gave a rumbly laugh.  “It’s not for me.  It’s for you.”

“I didn’t hunt this deer for me, though.”

“I know.  Traditionally, when there is a hunt, everyone who attends the feast gets to eat a part of the beast - but the person who brought down the animal gets to select their cut first.”

“Oh,” she said, looking down at the animal in front of her.  Kylo had carried it surprisingly delicately, and there were no wounds on its body from where he had carried it in his teeth.  The only puncture on the animal was the one in its eye, where Rey had hit it with an arrow.  “I’d like one of the back legs.”

“The leg?”  Kylo sounded shocked.

“Yes, the leg.”

“You don’t want the leg.”

Rey placed her hands on her hips and glared at him.  “I do.  There’s a lot of meat on that haunch, and it’ll preserve well.”

“It’s tough.  It’s common.”

“Oh, the lizard is going to lecture me about what’s common.  Look, there’s four legs - you’re going to get three of them.  Why do you care if I take one?”

“You can keep the damned thing’s leg,” Kylo snapped back, “but you’re getting something quality, too, whether you like it or not.  Go have Maz fetch us a carving knife and some firewood.”

With more patience than Rey thought a hungry dragon would be capable of, he directed her in carving up the deer.  He showed her how to release the leg from the joint, and then directed her to a strip of meat directly under the animal’s spine.

“The tenderloin,” he told her as she worked on carving it out, “is the king of meat cuts.  It’s tender and flavorful - if you know how to cook it.”

“Are you sure you don’t want it?” she asked, waving the strip of meat in the air in front of him.  It was only about the size of her forearm - why would anyone choose this over a larger piece?

“You are going to eat it for dinner and you are going to like it.”

It didn’t take long to get dinner started - with the tiniest breath of flames, Kylo set the firewood alight.  Rey listened to him munching on the deer carcass as she set the leg turning on a spit above the fire.  The tenderloin had been wrapped in paper and was sitting near the base of the fire to bake.

Rey wrapped her arms around herself and scooted closer to the fire.  Though the tenderloin would bake quickly, the haunch would take some time - she would likely be cooking it until after the sun went down.  Even now, the sun was inching towards the horizon, and the temperature was beginning to drop.  The fact that her clothes were still wet wasn’t helping to keep her warm, either, so she huddled closer to the fire, hoping she’d be dry and warm soon.

From somewhere behind her, she heard Kylo Ren stand up, his deer apparently finished.  Rey jumped when she felt something touch her back, and she glanced back to see a wall of dark scales.  With utmost delicacy, Kylo pressed his shoulder against her back and curled around her and the fire.  Pressed up against him like this, Rey could feel the heat radiating from his scales, and the chill quickly left her.

“Thank you,” he said, surprisingly gently for a monster of his size.  “For hunting for me, that is.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied, just as quiet.  She let herself lean back against his scales, turning slightly so she could look to where his head was resting to one side of her.  “...I’m sorry if I insulted you earlier - when I was talking about your mother, I mean.  I didn’t think dragons even had mothers.”

“Everything has a mother.”

Not me, she wanted to say.  “I’m sure she’s a very special…”  Woman?  Person?  Dragon?  “...I’m sure she’s very special,” she corrected.

“She is,” he replied softly.  “There are few that are as kind and forgiving as her.”

Rey wanted to ask more about his mother, but Kylo changed the subject before she could question him further.  “Did you say that you ate lizards?”

It was too painful a question to answer directly, so she quirked an eyebrow up and gave a smile.  “You better watch out, or you’ll be next.”

But Kylo was still regarding her with a serious expression on his face, so Rey sighed, turning her eyes towards her laced fingers in front of her.  “There wasn’t much else to eat in the Jakku desert.  Food is scarce.”

“You told me you were a blacksmith’s apprentice,” he prodded.  “Did your master not feed you?”

“It wasn’t an apprenticeship like most,” she replied.  “We learned how to work metal, yes, but it was more from watching him and each other than from him actually teaching us.  We mostly scavenged for old armor in the desert - the blacksmith would pay us in flour and salted meat in exchange for whatever we brought him.  I...didn’t always bring enough back to satisfy him.  Thus - lizards.”

Kylo’s side began to vibrate as he growled.  “Any chance that this blacksmith is available to eat once my wing is healed?”

“Stop that.  Eating people is wrong,” she told him matter-of-factly.  “Besides, I was promised by one of the queen’s own knights before I left Jakku that he would spend a very, very long time rotting in a cell for his crimes.  And besides, you need to be grateful to him, too.  Without him, I never would have learned how to hunt, and then you would still be hungry.”

“I still think I should eat him,” Kylo grumbled.

Rey’s eyes turned back towards the water.  It was beginning to get late, and the sun was setting over the water.  It was then that it occurred to her - she had been on the other side of the lake.  Kylo had let her walk free on the other side of the lake to track a deer, and she hadn’t once thought of escaping.  It would have been the perfect opportunity, but it hadn’t even occurred to her.

There was another side to this, as well - though it hadn’t been explicitly forbidden, Rey wasn’t supposed to leave the island.  She probably shouldn’t have even had the small hint of freedom that she had experienced today.

She leaned forward from her spot leaning against Kylo, crossing her arms over her knees.  “Do you think the Marquess will be displeased that I left the island?”

Kylo Ren was silent for a long time, but she heard him shift to lift his head.  “I don’t think,” he said softly, “that the Marquess could be displeased with anything you do.”

When Rey turned her head, he was much closer to her than she had realized, his head barely a foot from her.  She raised her gaze to him, shocked once more by how human his eyes were.  All of the stories told of the dragon’s eyes, red as blood or bright as gold, but Kylo’s eyes were a soft, deep brown; more gentle than a monster’s gaze could ever be.

His eyes flickered upwards towards the setting sun before returning to her.  “I need to go,” he murmured, but instead of leaving, he leaned forward, his nose nuzzling gently against her cheek.  It was a strange way for a dragon to say thank you, but the scales over his snout were softer than she thought they would be, and Rey couldn’t resist reaching up to run a hand over his nose before he withdrew.

“Your meat should be ready by now,” he said as he stood and stretched.  “You should eat it while it’s still warm - it’s best that way.”

He hopped up onto the terrace just above her, but hesitated before leaving.  “...Don’t stay out here too late,” he said finally, still in that soft, sweet voice.  “Your husband misses you when you’re not by his side.  Don’t make him wait for you too long.”

With that cryptic phrase, Kylo Ren departed for his cave, leaving Rey alone to contemplate her meal and the swiftly darkening sky.

Next Chapter

[the-everlasting-dream]

Interrogation

Summary: Behati decides to get to know her mother’s neighbour better.

A/N: This has been in my head for the longest time and its finally coming to life. I would really appreciate if you left me a little comment of what you thought coz I’ve never written for MOTY before..

MC Faceclaim: Zoe Saldana

Kiddo FC: Yara Shahidi

Levi FC: Enrico Ravenna

Word Count: 1777

Warnings: None

‘Hey Rocket,’ Levi Schuler called out to his neighbour's daughter as he turned over two different bracelets in his hand. ‘Which do you think makes me look cooler?’ 

Ashanti was working late that night at the dress shop and she’d asked him to watch over her adorable daughter Behati and he was happy to oblige. Levi had always considered himself a big kid anyway so getting along with the nine year old was a breeze. She was so smart and witty, it caught him off guard sometimes. She was just like her mum. The thought of Ashanti momentarily brought a smile to his face before it morphed into a frown. Something wasn’t right. 

 ‘Rocket?’ He called out, suspicious of the silence enveloping the apartment. A worm of worry grew in his chest and he pocketed the bracelets before heading to the little girl's room. He knocked on the door but there was no answer. 

‘Behati?’

Levi tried to keep his voice even, as his mind ran through a list of the worst possibilities. If anything happened to the kiddo, he would never forgive himself. After a long terrifying moment, he heard her sweet clear voice call out. 

 ‘Come in.’ 

‘Oh Rocket you almost gave me a heart attack! If anything happened to you- Wait why are you dressed like that?’ Levi cut his relieved rambling short, confused. He took in the sight of the nine year old, perched on her bed, wearing her school lab coat and massive costume glasses with a clipboard and pen in her hands. 

 ‘Have a seat Mr Schuler,’ she instructed, nodding to a chair she’d strategically placed before her. 

 Levi obeyed, barely able to suppress a grin at how adorable Behati looked but sensing that she wanted this to be a serious affair, he decide to play along. ‘Am I in trouble ma’am?’ 

The girl shook her head solemnly. ‘I’m going to ask you some questions and get to know you better. We’ll start off easy. What's your favourite colour?’ 

He chuckled, graciously going along with her game. ‘Blue. What’s yours? Lemme guess..’ He gave a quick glance around the room then at her colourful t-shirt. ‘Purple..?’ 

‘Yes!’ Behati smiled widely before turning back to her clipboard. 'If you could be any animal the world what would you be?’ 

Levi puffed out his chest proudly. ‘Probably something cool. Like a falcon or a jaguar. Something thats awesome and badass like me.’ HIs eyes widened in shock, not sure what Ashanti’s policy on swearing was but not wanting to risk it either. 

Behati patted his knee sympathetically. ‘It will be our little secret.’ She even had the gall to wink at him. 

'What’s your third favourite ice cream flavour?' ‘I- Oh wow I don’t think I’ve thought about it before,’ he rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. ‘First would be chocolate for sure, then caramel…. then maybe…hmm. Gotta go with Ben & Jerry’s cookie dough. Love that stuff.’ 

'Speaking of food, do you like pineapple on pizza or not?’

‘Hell no!’ He exclaimed. ‘Why would you interrupt the rich awesome flavours of meat and cheese with something sickeningly sweet. Pineapple is the worst fruit. And fruit does not belong on pizza.’ He crossed his arms to make a point. 

 ‘Are you sure?’ ‘One hundred percent positive.’ Behati’s eyes sparkled. ‘What about tomato? Thats a fruit and that definitely goes on pizza.’ 

After a beat, Levi shook his head. ‘Huh… guess ya got me there. You’re one smart cookie Rocket.' 

 She returned his fist bump before going back to her list. 'Which is your favourite Barbie movie?’ 

‘Uhh I… I haven’t seen any of the Barbie movies actually.’ 

The nine year old gasped as if he’d said he’d never heard of Beyonce or something. ‘Oh my gosh you have to watch them. My favourite is Barbie the Princess and the Pauper. It was one of the first ones and its got all mu favourite songs I also like the one where…' 

Levi let her ramble on for a few minutes, taking in how adorable she looked when she got excited talked about her favourite things. She literally lit up like the sun itself. God she’s going to go far. And I hope I’m there to see it. 

 ‘…but that one really sucks. Thats what Mum thinks.’ Behati gasped as if she’d gotten an idea. 'We should do a Barbie movie marathon! we’ll have snacks and drinks and treats. Maybe next time you babysit me we can ask Mum if we can do that.' 

Levi ruffled her hair affectionately, grinning. ‘Sure thing Rocket. You tell me when and where and I’ll be there.’ 

They chatted on for a little bit, making their grand plans to talk Ashanti into letting them watch over 10 movies back to back before Behati went back to her list. 

 'If you had to be in a band would you chose One Direction or BTS? 

‘Eww...Are those the only choices?’ he protested, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘I was thinking more along the lines of Bon Jovi or Led Zeppelin.’ 

Behati’s nose scrunched up. ‘Led what?’ 

Levi raised his eyes to heaven. ‘Hasn’t your mother taught you anything? They’re only the greatest bands of all time! Woooaaah livin on a prayer!’ Singing a few bars, he mimed a guitar solo and head banging for a few seconds only to see Behati covering her mouth to conceal her laughter. 

 ‘Whatever,’ he mumbled, in mock annoyance. ‘You kids these days have no taste.’ 

Behati tapped her pen against her clipboard before continuing on. 'Are there more leaves in the world or blades of grass?'

'Er, blades of grass… I think..?''What about trees? Are there more trees than buildings?' 

‘Um trees.’The nine year old cocked her head to the side.. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Uh pretty sure.’She was fixing him with an analytical gaze that made Levi suddenly second guess himself. Where there more trees than buildings…  

‘Hmm.’ Behati took a moment to think. ‘I need to look into it.’

‘You do that. Any more questions?'

‘Did you make those yourself?’

Surprised, Levi glanced down at the two homemade bracelets he’d been clutching the whole time, sheepishly hiding them behind his back. ‘If you ever tell your mum, I’ll deny everything.’ 

 Behati let out a giggle, breaking her act and Levi joined in, glad to see her so happy amidst the tough custody case her parents were in. If only that sonofabitch Guy would let go of his goddamn ego… This lil girl deserves the whole damn world. The whole damn universe while we’re at it. 

 ‘Sorry to break up the party kiddo but if I don’t get you into bed soon, our chances of having that Barbie marathon are Poof!’ He mimed an explosion with his hands. 

 ‘Last one,’ Behati pleaded, her mood growing much more sober as she fixed him with her big brown eyes. ‘Are you in love with my mum?’ 

What? That caught Levi off guard. How was he gonna answer that? 

 ‘What makes you say that?’ He asked, nervously rubbing the bag of his neck, hoping for some stalling time. 

 Behati shrugged. 'Its obvious. You’re always hanging out here and you and Mum get really smiley around each other. I even heard Mum talk to Alma about it one night when I was supposed to be sleeping.’ 

‘Oh yeah? What did she say?’ Levi queried, filled with curiosity. Ashanti was talking about him..? 

 ‘Nothing much,’ Behati replied between yawns. ‘She just think you’re cute and really really nice. So are you gonna marry her? Are you gonna be my new dad?’ 

He held his arms out in a defensive gesture. 'Woah woah, slow down Rocket, come back to earth for a bit huh? I don’t think we’re at that stage yet. Particularly with stuff with your actual dad.’ 

Levi looked at her open, innocent face, hanging on to his every word. He couldn’t get her hopes up but he couldn’t lie to her either. He debated internally with himself for a long moment before answering. 

 ‘Look Rocket, you and your mum are amazing people and I’m so lucky to have you in my life. I’m not saying anything too crazy with this but… I’d really like to be apart of your lives for as long as you’ll have me. Whether that will be just as your neighbour… or something… else. I don’t know yet. I don’t know what the future holds but anything is possible. You and I will just have to wait and see.’ 

He watched Behati nod, taking it all in sagely. 

He gave her a couple more seconds before clapping his hands twice. ‘Alright bedtime. Even rockets need their rest!' 

Soon after, Levi was tucking Behati under her space themed quilt before she piped up again. 

 'One more question.' 

'All theses questions and questions but alright, I’ll take one more.’ he replied, crouching down next to her bed, tucking her under the covers. ‘Whatcha got for me?’ 

‘Can you play for me? Mum usually sings me a song to go to sleep.’ 

Levi felt his heart soften a little. ‘Of course Rocket.' 

And that was how Ashanti found them when she came back that night; Behati fast asleep and Levi steaming idly on the strings as his face formed a gentle smile. 

 'Hey maestro. How’d it go?' 

'It was great.’ 

She raised her eyebrows, watching him rise from the chair and make his way over to her. ‘What? No snappy response.’ 

Levi smiled softly at her. ’Nah not tonight.' She returned the smile albeit a bit confused at his sudden affection. ‘Everything okay there Guitar boy?' T

hat was what he loved about Ashanti. No matter how tired and run down she was, she always made time for others, to ask them how they were, if they needed anything or simply just to give them a little pep talk. Her pep talks were sometimes the highlight of his day, he’d miss having people hat would be in his corner to talk him up and hold him accountable. He loved how she… He loved.. 

He was falling in love with her. 

 He glanced at the sleeping child in bed and again at her mother in the door way, feeling strangely at home right here. I could get used to this. Ashanti stared up at him, puzzled and Levi could have kissed her in that moment right there but taking in her tired eyes and probably aching feet after a long shift, he decided against it. There would be other times. He opted for a kiss on the head.  

‘Everything is perfect.’ 

-

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[theoddcatlady]

Do The Right Thing

We had a plan. Break in while the Parker couple were at their daughter’s violin recital, take whatever we can throw in the backseat, get the fuck out before they get back. But shit hit the fan, and I was now sitting in the corner of the living room wondering what the hell to do next.

“Oh my god, can someone shut the brat up!?” Justin snapped as he paced around the room, running his hand through his bleach destroyed hair. His ski mask was clutched tightly in his other hand as he gritted his teeth.

Brian didn’t get up from where he was sitting, his eyes were still closed. He was probably trying to seem calm but you could see the rigidness in his shoulders from a mile away. “Justin, yelling isn’t going to help. Sit down, you’re pissing me off.”

“Do you think he’s dead?”

My head jerked over to where Tyler was sitting, his leg bouncing up and down, an anxious habit of his. I sighed and planted my face in my hands. “Tyler. You shot him in the head.”

“Y-yeah, but the TV said he was being rushed to the hospital! Maybe he’s just fine! I don’t wanna go down for murder!” Tyler seemed to grow even paler as he realized he might’ve killed a man.

Justin almost lunged for Tyler, only to have Brian grab him by the back of the shirt and yank him back down to the couch. “Tyler, it’s not looking good, but if you stay calm, I can fix this screw up.” Brian glanced over to the chair, where a six year old girl was handcuffed to the arm. “Besides. We still have leverage.”

“Leverage that is seriously going to make me want to kill myself if she doesn’t stop fucking crying!” Justin glared violently at the kid and I felt my stomach twist. The girl hiccuped before she went back to bawling.

Knowing that if she didn’t shut up she could get us in more trouble, I got up and walked over to the chair, sitting beside the little girl. She whimpered and shied away as I got close, I just gently rested a hand on hers.

“Hey, I’m Miles, what’s your name?” I said quietly.

The little girl sniffled, wiping off her round cheeks with her sleeve. “A… Abigail,” She said quietly.

“Abigail. That’s a nice name. I have a sister about your age named Kaitlyn.” I managed to force a smile to try to look friendly. “Hey, we’ll give you back to your dads, as soon as this is all over. I promise.”

Justin snorted and I nearly got up to punch him in the head, but Abigail gripped my hand so tightly I thought one of my fingers might pop off. Her dark eyes looked up hopefully at me. “I’m really hungry, Mr. Miles,” She whined.

Right. Kids got hungry. I looked around the room. “I’ll check the fridge, do you like pizza?” Judging by how Abigail’s eyes lit up, she was onboard for pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever met a kid who wasn’t onboard for pizza though.

I headed into the kitchen and looked through our almost bare fridge. I swore quietly as I realized the only frozen pizza we had was badly freezer burned. Ick. No way I was giving that to the kid. There wasn’t much else in there either, nothing a kid would like at least, and the fridge only had what was probably molded over refried beans and two beers left out of a six pack. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

I shut the fridge and turned around to see Brian. I nearly jumped out of my skin, the guy could be quieter than death. “Jesus, man! Whatcha want?” I asked.

“Can we put the kid in your room?”

Brian had a very calm way of talking, not much could make him raise his voice. I shrugged. “Don’t really care, why?”

“Justin’s getting pissed off and it’s scaring her. If we shove her in your room, she’ll probably calm down so I don’t get the neighbors asking why they hear a crying kid in the living room. And you seem to have a soft spot for her, so I figured might as well ask you.”

Ah, right. “Hey man, I just don’t see the point of being a dick to kids. Can I make a food run, we got nothin’ and she just complained about being hungry, so…”

“Make it back in an hour.” Brian shoved a twenty dollar bill in my hand. “And get Abigail set up in your room first.”

I mockingly saluted before walking back to the living room, jamming the cash in my pocket. Abigail looked up from her spot, she seemed so tiny. “Hey, Abigail,” I said, attempting to sound cheerful as I pulled out the key and undid the cuffs. “Let’s go chill in my room for a bit, all right? You’re probably tired.”

“Not really, but okay.” She hopped down from the chair and obediently followed me into my bedroom, where I hastily kicked some boxers and a porno magazine under my bed before she could see. I sat her on my bed and patted her back.

“I gotta go get some food real quick, okay? You just stay in here-”

“Don’t go!”

Abigail gripped onto my arm so tight it nearly cut off circulation. I did my best not to yelp as I untangled her from me best I could. She shook her head frantically, looking back to the living room. “That one man in there, he’s super mad! What if he hurts me?”

My blood boiled. Justin was acting pissier by the minute, it wouldn’t surprise me if he lashed out. “If he tries anything, I give you full permission to beat the ever living shit out of him.”

Abigail gasped. “You said a bad word!” She said in the most shocked tone.

Okay, that was cute. I laughed and ruffled her hair. “Sorry, sorry. I give you permission to fight back with all you got, all right? I’ll be back as fast as I can with dinner.”

Something about that sweet smile tugged at my heart strings. What a sweet kid. No wonder her dads were willing to let us have anything we wanted as long as we didn’t hurt her… then Tyler had to be a panicky dumb ass and fire his gun. I’d only seen someone get shot in the movies, but seeing the man’s body hit the floor while a puddle of blood surrounded his form while his husband stood there in shock, unable to even scream… it’d probably haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life.

The convenience store wasn’t a long walk away from our place, and I headed straight to the frozen section in the back. Shit. I didn’t ask if Abigail wanted anything on her pizza. I decided a cheese one would have to do, some kids are picky about their toppings. I grabbed a bottle of fruit punch too, as well as some snacks for me and the guys. I walked up to the front and made small talk with the cashier as she scanned my items.

“So, the Parkers got robbed last night,” She said.

I tried to seem casual as I passed her the bag of Cool Ranch Doritos. “Yeah, think I heard something about that on the local news. They all right?” I asked.

The cashier, her name tag said Gillian, clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Landon Parker got shot in the head, got rushed to the hospital. Somehow he’s still alive, I didn’t think it was possible to survive that.” She lifted her fingers to her head and mocked shooting herself, I somehow didn’t flinch. “Pow! Your brain matter gets blown out and that’s all she wrote.”

“Eh, miracles happen. I’ve heard of it.” I shrugged as I took the plastic bag she handed me.

“That’ll be eighteen dollars and forty eight cents, please.”

I walked back home with a little change in my pocket and frozen pizza in tow. I nearly broke out into nervous sweats when I saw a cop car pass by, but they didn’t even slow down. Paranoia was already getting to me.

I walked in one minute to the hour limit to find hell had broken loose.

Tyler was screaming and sobbing while holding his neck which was currently dripping blood down the front of his shirt. I swore and dropped the food, the fruit punch bottle bursting when it slammed against the floor.

“Shit! What the fuck happened!?” I ran to his side, carefully peeling back his hand to take a look. It looked way worse than it probably was, but I still took off my jacket to press against his neck. I looked up at Brian, who was just… standing there. He wasn’t moving. He just had this expression I’d never seen on him before.

I think it was fear.

Tyler was too hysterical to talk, but Brian just looked in the direction of my bedroom. I saw that the door was cracked open… and I saw blood on the wall.

Oh god no.

I bolted to the room, I think I heard Brian mumble something but I don’t know what. I slammed open my door the rest of the way and nearly slipped on the blood.

It was everywhere. The floors, the walls, even the fucking ceiling was soaked in blood. I gagged as I caught my balance before I looked in the center of the room.

It didn’t even look like a body anymore. I saw the ripped open torso, the ribs spread open as the organs slid out onto my floor. Legs that had been bent in so many jarring ways it was hard to even see them as legs.

And Justin’s head was cradled in Abigail’s hands as she licked at his neck, her entire body soaked in blood.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Abigail sucked on one of the arteries hanging from his neck and a bubble of blood exploded on her face. She immediately began to giggle before she bit into Justin’s cheek and tore away, chewing happily on the skin and flesh before she caught sight of me.

She looked ashamed as she dropped the head and backed away, guilt filling her blood stained face. “I’m sorry, Mr. Miles… I… I got too hungry… oh, I’m sorry!” She hid her face behind her hands, acting more like a child who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar than one who was caught eating a fucking person.

I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t make my mouth work. I just looked around the room again, expecting for Justin to pop out like ‘you’ve been pranked, boy!’He always did like his pranks.

“I… Abigail, what happened?” My voice cracked. I was shaking. I couldn’t make myself step inside the room any further than I already had.

Abigail lowered her hands to suck on one of her fingers, sighing as she stared at the corpse on the floor. “Justin got mad and came in saying I was being a bad word and that he wasn’t putting up with me anymore. He… he hit me...” She sniffled before picking up his head, cradling it in her arms. “And I just couldn’t stop myself, I was soooo hungry!”

Oh dear god. She really was eating Justin. I opened my mouth only to bolt from the room and run into the bathroom to puke. Last night’s dinner splattered across the grungy floor tile and the toilet seat as I fell to my knees.

I could still smell the blood.

I got up and stumbled to the living room. Tyler was now laying on the couch, pale but he’d calmed down. Brian was still standing in the living room. I could now see blood on his hands. “… Tyler… tried to help him, I swear, but that kid… she nearly ripped out Tyler’s throat. She had fangs probably big as my finger. I had to pick between him and Justin and Justin looked already too far gone to save.” He shivered and wrapped his arms around himself. “… What the fuck are we going to do?”

I looked back to the bedroom.

“What we should’ve done at the beginning of this bull shit.”’

I opened the door, somehow expecting to see my room miraculously back to the way it was, not soaked in blood. Abigail was now sitting on my bed, looking like she was about to fall into a food coma. I carefully watched my step as I approached her.

“Hey, Abigail?” I kept my voice carefully level, god knew if she was pissed at me.

Abigail looked up at me, her eyes tired. She was ready for a nap. “Yeah?” She asked quietly.

“… How about we go for a drive, after you take a shower. I think it might make you feel better.”

Back when I still lived with my family, I’d used to take my little sister out on car drives to help her fall asleep. I’d redressed Abigail in an old t-shirt of mine, it was practically a dress on her. She’d konked out before we were on the road for more than ten minutes.

I knew where to go.

It was late, but I saw a few families playing on the swingset, enjoying the peaceful sunset. I looked out at them almost longingly before turning around. Abigail was fast asleep, curled up in a little ball in the backseat.

Quietly, so not to disturb her, I crawled back there and picked her up. She murmured quietly but didn’t stir, so I carried her out to a park bench and laid her there. I sighed and smoothed the hair from her face.

Time to go.

I hurried to the car and after honking twice, I sped out of there, fast as I could. I got back to the house and slept on the couch that night, Brian was in my room scrubbing the place up and down. By the time I woke up it was like none of it had ever happened, except now everything reeked of lemon cleaner. We told our landlord that Justin had moved out back to his parent’s place, and we tossed mostly everything he owned.

A few weeks later our local news station covered the miraculous return of Abigail Parker, who was found left on a park bench asleep after her abduction. Her dad had made a miraculous recovery, he was comatose for a week before waking up and asking for his daughter.

The three all posed for the pictures and Abigail was smiling ever so brightly.

I hope what I did what the right thing.

[panergy]

7 Brilliant Car Camping Hacks Every Camper Should Know-Panergy

1) Bring Reusable Stasher Bags

Stasher bags are such a useful thing to bring camping.

I always pack a few empty ones for storing leftovers in the cooler. For example, if you open a block of cheese and need to store the unused portion, a Stasher bag is perfect for that!

Stasher bags are made from pure platinum silicone. They’re 100% plastic free and BPA-free.

They come in tons of different colors and sizes, and they’re endlessly reusable. They’re safe to use in the freezer, microwave, boiling water, and oven up to 400°F.

BUY STASHER BAGS ON AMAZON

I’ve been using Stasher bags for years now, and the oldest ones that I have don’t look any different than the day I bought them.

Not only do I pack them camping, but they also get a ton of use when I’m at home.

When camping, I use the Stasher bags for:

leftover camp food

a block of cheese, butter, or veggies I haven’t eaten all of yet

snacks

my camping toiletries

extra batteries for headlamps

phone charging cords

While I use Stasher bags mostly for storing food in the cooler, they can be used for so much more than food, and I think they’re always good to have on hand for camping!

Ready To Master Stress-Free Camp Cooking?

In this Camp Cooking Starter Kit, I share my top recipes, checklists, and meal planning tips!

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2) Reuse Empty Gelato Containers

Another great camping hack is to reuse empty gelato containers for storage.

I’ve happily eaten a good amount of gelato over the years. 😊

I noticed that the plastic gelato containers were actually pretty durable and they had a nice leakproof lid, so I started to save them.

Turns out, they’re great for camping!

Sometimes when it’s just me and Nick camping, I don’t need to take an entire box of something like pancake mix, so I portion out a couple servings into a gelato container and pack that!

It saves space in my camping food bin, and then I don’t have to worry about a box of pancake mix opening up in my food bin while I’m driving.

Much like the Stasher bags above, these gelato containers can also be used for storing extra headlamp batteries, charing cords, and extra first aid kit supplies.

The uses are endless, and most importantly, you have an excuse to go eat gelato! You’re welcome.

3) Bring DIY Fire Starters

Make a fire quickly and easily at camp with DIY fire starters!

Of course you can also buy fire starters, but making them at home is really easy.

I like to make my own fire starters using dryer lint, wax, empty egg cartons, and string.

You can find my step-by-step DIY fire starter tutorial here.

These homemade fire starters are quick to make and they work really well! Each one will burn for about 10 minutes, giving you plenty of time to get some wood burning around it.

4) USe Ice Blocks Instead Of Small Ice Cubes

This is something that Nick taught me.

Instead of buying a big bag of ice every time we wanted to go camping, and then having to constantly drain the cooler as it melted, we now use large ice blocks.

We have two old gallon-sized Gatorade containers filled with water that we leave in the freezer at home. When we want to go camping, we put those big ice blocks into the cooler and pack our food around them.

These ice blocks stay colder a lot longer than smaller ice cubes, and all the water stays contained, that way it’s drinkable if you run out of water for some reason.

I get comments on my YouTube channel about how I keep the cooler cold, because when I show it in videos, there’s no ice. This is how I do it!

When you get home from a camping trip, all you have to do is put the ice blocks right back in the freezer and then they’re ready for your next trip.

5) Pre-Wash And Dry Veggies At Home

When I’m planning and packing meals for camping, I always like to wash and dry my veggies and fruits at home before I pack them.

Then when you get to camp, you can just start cooking. Sometimes water is limited when you go camping, so this simple tip will help you save water and start cooking at camp right away!

To take this a step further, for short 2-3 day trips, I like to cut the veggies at home to save another step at camp. Pre-cut veggies can easily be stored in a Stasher bag in the cooler.

6) Bring Cash

A lot of campgrounds require a fee. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten to a campsite and didn’t have the exact change needed to pay for the site.

Make sure to either check the camping fee online before your trip, or just pack some cash, specifically smaller denomination bills like ones and fives.

That way you can give the exact free amount, and don’t have to go ask surrounding campers for some change.

7) Use Bins To Stay Organized

I think this is the most useful tip on the list, and surprisingly, it’s another thing that my boyfriend Nick taught me.

Organizing your gear into bins is the key to stress-free camping!

For example, we have 2 main camping bins.

The first bin is for our car camping kitchen essentials. This includes our cast iron skillet, a spatula, plates, forks, a cutting board, and other gear that we use for cooking. We don’t put any food in this bin.

Our second bin is larger and it’s our “pantry” bin. It contains our snacks, coffee, spices, and other foods that don’t need refrigeration. Our food bin clamps closed, so it’s also great for keeping small critters out of our food at night.

[subindex]

First Graze Box & Pumpkin Spice Flapjacks

I am a starving artist.

Literally, my belly is constricting in pain from the vapid emptiness that has been the past 10 foodless hours of my wakeful life. My roommate knocks on the door and passes me a slightly battered green box. “Oh my god, is that my Grave box?” A light of awareness beams into my eyes. The hunger I hadn’t noticed since getting out of bed was finally going to be sated. I turn the box over and it says GRAZE. “Your original misreading somewhat concerns me.” The roommate accompanies his statement with a squinted stare.

Sadly, I decided to save the box for another day and continued to starve myself for awhile in favor of getting some commissions done.

Finally, a couple days later, the time has come. I am starving once again, and have no patience to make food. A plastic ribbon wrapping the box is in my way. No wait. There’s two. I have no patience to find scissors, so I fiddle with the ribbons for about twice the time it would take me to walk ten steps over to the kitchen drawer, pull out the scissors, then take the ten steps back. First obstacle traversed.

I appreciate the 2x2 grid with which my snacks are presented to me. It pleases my eyes. It would be more pleasing if I knew what they were so I could pick one. Sounds like a job for the pair of glasses sitting across from me. I opt instead to pick up the box and move it closer to my face where it gets in the way of writing notes exactly like this sentence.

Top Left: Pumpkin Spice Flapjack--rustic rolled oat flapjack with pumpkin spice Top Right: Snickerdoodle Dip--with cinnamon pretzel sticks Bottom Left: Fantastic Forest Fruits--blueberries, lingonberries, soft apple pieces & cherry raisins Bottom Right: Thai Style Sweet Chili--honey chili peanuts, lemon & black pepper fava beans, garlic sesame sticks & edamame beans

There’s a second 2x2 grid of snacks that the first one flips open to. The first time I try to open it up, the prequel to a snackslide happens. I press the cover down against the top grid before I try again, and this time successfully gain access to the bottom grid without spilling anything.

Top Left: New York Everything Bagel--cheese cashews, poppyseed onion sesame sticks & roasted pumpkin seeds Top Right: Cherry, Pear + Walnut Anytime Energizer--Get a kick-start with this good source of copper & manganese for energy Bottom Left: Sweet & Spicy Beet Crunch--beet chips, jalapeno chickpeas & sunflower seeds Bottom Right: Jelly Doughnut--raspberry strings, vanilla cookie drops, raspberry cranberries & almonds

I’ve been pretty tired the past couple of days, which makes me wonder if my period is coming on. I might try the “Anytime Energizer” then. But for now, reading and writing all these snack names and their respective ingredients has made me so hungry that I now have no patience to eat anything less than a meal. Time to go ask the roommate what he wants for lunch.

Fast forward to a few days later. I begin my journey as a Grazer with the “Pumpkin Spice Flapjack” and some leftover Dunkin Donuts blueberry iced coffee. (Extra extra cream, no sugar, please.)

Graze snacks come in these shiny transparent plastic containers, ideal for a single serving. Intimate for a shared nibble with friends or significant others. Peeling the wrapper off the top is a firm but smooth engagement of crisp plastic pulling away from tight clinging seal, all with dignified silence. Classy, and satisfying, like closure when the protagonist of a rom-com walks up to her 2/3-of-the-movie-obsession and says “I liked you because the idea of you fulfilled something in my life, but I don’t need you anymore.” That wrapper is now gone, continuing its own journey through life, apart from me, in a Dunkin Donuts paper bag being saved for trash.

Unsealing the snack slowly allows the senses to be hit with the fragrance of freshly baked pumpkin pie seeping out into the yard through a crack in the window. It lifts my lungs into a long inhale through the nose and holds the breath there hoping to absorb its essence entirely before releasing it back into the world. What a precious, fleeting moment as the scent quickly loses its impact the longer the snack is exposed.

The flapjack is a sharp rectangular block roughly the size of a bar of soap. A quick inspection reveals incisions made halfway deep into the bar which permit the snack to spread apart into even bite-sized thirds. Even if bite-sized bits aren’t the desired size with which one would like to consume the delectable, taking it apart with your bare fingers incurs a quiet, spongy texture of the separation, felt viscerally through the fingertips and transferred further into the bones of your grip so that your hands become jailors, and the newly severed pieces lose any hope of ever seeing freedom.

The first bite is always skeptical--delicate with caution, but brimming with curiosity. As the miniaturized bar comes close, the tip of the tongue comes to meet with it first, ensuring that neither the taste nor texture will cause great harm to the senses. With safety determined, the bar is immediately cleared to land on the lower lip which not only provides support, but serves as an automated crumb pan. The teeth come to grips with their strange new passenger, easy to sever from itself like densely sponged cake, but chewy from the excess in grains. 

There is confidence in the thick mash of oats that slim down between the molars, like butter conforming to the pressured space between two slats. It is a full and wholesome body that knows how to twist in front of the camera and say, “And I’m lean, too”. But a figure of celebrity is never complete without a personal sense of fashion, and this particular flapjack likes its satin luster, defined by the slip of dried dates within the layers of chewing. Chomp the oats, slide the dates, chomp the oats, slide the dates. Their consistency takes on a creamier version of a jelly bean’s innards, sometimes ending in a lightly familiar crunch of sugars.

Despite the all too familiar mouthful of a soft granola bar, I keep thinking back to the pie. Every second of consumption lends me to craft a more vivid recipe of a liberally spiced pumpkin pie, with classy, moderated measurements of sugar and vanilla extract, an oat-filled crust, and dried dates chopped in half then laid out in circles as topping decoration. I take a slice for myself and a slice for my boyfriend. A slice for myself and a slice for my roommate. A slice for myself, and a slice for myself. And then a slice for myself. And then I scrape the pan. And then I lick the pan.

The tray is empty and Graze beckons me to grade the snacks I’ve tested. I’m not a fan of oats, so I think I’ll mark it a dislike and avoid it in the future.

[lalka-laski]

1. Do you ever go back and look through all the surveys you’ve taken? Are there any answers that make you cringe, or that you’d answer differently next time around? I do that occasionally. There are certainly answers that make me cringe which is why all my former Facebook surveys are now PRIVATE. But it is fun to read through old ones. They’re little snapshots of my life at any given time, like journal entries.  2. What is something most everyday people don’t know or wouldn’t be able to guess about you? I love reading the profiles on WriteAPrisoner.Com and then researching the inmates’ crimes. I’ve never actually sent a letter to an inmate but I *might* consider it someday.  3. If you could have someone make you breakfast every morning, what kinds of things would you want them to make? As lovely as that sounds, I’m not much of a breakfast eater. I love breakfast food, but I’m rarely hungry in the mornings. Buuuut if someone wanted to serve me a mimosa every morning well, I wouldn’t mind ;)  4. Where is the scariest place you’ve ever been? What made it so terrifying? See, when you have crippling anxiety like me, ANYWHERE can be scary! 5. Did you celebrate Easter? Are there any holidays you are more inclined to celebrate than others? If so, which? My family celebrates Easter in the commercial sense in that we fill baskets with candy and have brunch etc. It’s actually one of my favorite holidays. I was so bummed this year when all the fun holidays like St. Patrick’s Day and Easter were smack-dab in the middle of quarantine! 

6. If you’re on the internet, what are you most likely to be doing? Scrolling Facebook or Twitter, or Googling the bizarre questions that pop into my head throughout the day 7. When was the last time you experienced a pleasant surprise? I don’t know, for some reason the pizza we ordered last night was like OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was our regular Domino’s order but it was tastier than anything we’ve ever had.  8. What were your favorite parts of the previous week? Do you have any plans for this week? Last week was go-go-go but it ended up but it was mostly fun stuff! Tommy visited for the weekend so we tried to pack as many activities into the weekend as we could. We hit up a lot of restaurants, shops and bars, plus a cemetery and a cidery! It’s hard to narrow it down to one ultimate favorite because the whole weekend was a blast. Although I am looking forward to a quieter weekend/week ahead to re-coop!  9. What was the last thing you deleted? The previous person’s answer to this 10. What colors make up the majority of your wardrobe? Is there any color you like, but don’t wear often? Despite my affinity for light colors and pastels, I own mostly black clothes. I guess just because they’re slimming and flattering? As for colors I don’t often wear: I try to steer clear of anything that’ll make me look even paler than I already am, so grays, beiges and yellows.  11. When was the last time you were in any amount of pain? I had slight cramps today. Although I wouldn't describe them as necessarily *painful.* Then again, women are tough as nails and we normalize this shit.  12. Do you have any unusual habits or preferences when it comes to food? I’m not a picky eater at all but I might have some unusual preferences. I prefer hot foods to be served at room temperature, particularly pizza. I like it when the cheese has solidified just a bit. If a pizza is delivered to me still piping hot, I’ll pop it in the fridge for a few so that the cheese can harden. 13. Tell a fact about the last person you spoke to. She’s a savior in my workplace (and my personal life, TBH). I really look up to her and I don’t tell her enough.  14. What is something you tend to carry with you everywhere? My phone, of course. But don’t we all?  15. What was the last thing you completed? The previous survey. LOL, what a productive work day I’m having!  16. Do you take pictures often? What are the main subjects of your photography? Definitely. My camera roll is comprised mostly of food and babies.  17. Post a picture of one of your favorite memories and tell the story behind it? 18. If you’re reading a book, how close are you to finishing it? Do you have any idea what you’ll read next? I was in the middle of a really gripping book a few weeks ago but life got too hectic for me to sit down and read. I really want to finish it but one of its main themes is death and I’m not sure if that’s a little too raw for me right now. So we’ll see. 

19. Is there anything you’ve been more optimistic about lately? My job prospects. I don’t want to go into further detail though because I’m afraid of jinxing it.  20. What does the sky look like right now? I couldn’t tell ya because I’m in a dungeon (aka the lower level of my office, which happens to be windowless).  21. What was the last thing you snacked on? I had soup for lunch but that wasn’t really “snacking.”  22. Do you prefer fruits or vegetables? I definitely buy/eat more veggies but I do love fruit!  23. When was the last time you had to ask for help? What about the last time someone asked you? I needed help stringing lights on my Halloween tree the other day. It’s funny because I told Glenn that I’d put up the tree entirely on my own. He knew that really meant “I’ll need lots of help” aaaand he was right. He was a great sport about it though!

As for the last time someone asked me for help uh... I’m blanking. Ha! What does that say about me? 24. Where was the last place you went? How long will it be until you leave the house again? I’m at work currently so I guess this is the last place I’ve gone. I’m heading home in an hour and I don’t plan to leave again ‘till tomorrow morning.  25. What’s the longest you’ve ever stayed inside? How about outside? I’ve stayed inside for several consecutive days before but I’m not sure what my record is. As for outdoors, uhhh only a matter of hours. A full day but no more than like 12 hours I’d say.  26. Who was the last person to hug you? Do you hug this person often? Glenny bear and yes of course, multiple times a day.  27. What are you most likely to argue or debate about? Silly, unimportant things.  28. What was the last show you watched? Have you seen it before, or is it something you’re watching for the first time? Catfish last night. Even though it’s been on for years I only started watching it a few nights ago. And I enjoy it as my bedtime show now. It’s perfect for that because it’s not too loud or action-packed, and it doesn’t require a ton of focus. It’s good to fall asleep to.

29. How would you describe your taste in clothing? What would a dream outfit look like to you? If money and time weren’t factors, my dream wardrobe is classic and feminine. I’d wear skirts and dresses everyday. But I’m lazy, tired and broke so I usually settle for jeggings or leggings most days. It’s kind of sad, tbh. I DO have good taste and a sharp eye for style but I feel I never get the opportunity to showcase that. 30. How has your day been so far? Pretty damn good actually! And I’m going home in less than an hour so it’ll only go up from here :)

[viralhottopics]

30 Easy And Healthy Toddler Lunch Ideas For Daycare

One of the most dreaded things about bringing your child to daycare (other than the fact that you will miss them like crazy!) is having to prepare their lunches and snacks. Yeah, you can just throw something together for yourself unworthy of any taste, health factors, or style, but when it comes to your toddler lunch ideas, you must get Michelin five-star-restaurant creative!

When I was growing up, bologna sandwiches were the norm. However, in todays age of bento boxes and Yumbox, toddler lunch box ideas are more than just a popular choice. If you arent the avid homemaker or just get intimidated when you see those Pinterest-worthy masterpiece toddler lunches, never fear, we are right there with you!

Here at LittleThings, we have put together a good-sized roundup of healthy lunch ideas for toddlers and preschoolers that can be served cold without the hassle of having to be reheated during school. We have also taken the guesswork out for you with these amazing healthy toddler lunch recipes.

You can now stop stressing out over toddler lunches for picky eaters and focus more on being the Zen mom youve always wanted to be.

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Toddler Lunch Equipment Needed

1. Bento Box Basically, “bento” is the Japanese word for a lunch box. Bentos are traditionally single-portion, prepared meals secured in boxed containers. The idea has moved to the West thanksto their compact and portable features. They can be stacked and come in various shapes and sizes, customizable to your appetite and what you plan to pack. I recently bought one from Ikea, but you can find bento boxes just about anywhere.

2. Yumbox Leak-proof and durable, Yumbox lunch boxes have taken the market by storm due to their ability to keep wet foods like hummus and fruit purees at bay with tight seals that keep the contents in place. Each Yumbox comes with multiple compartments to keep your meats, vegetables, fruits, and grains separate until lunchtime. Check out their website for various styles and sizes.

3. Food Picks And Forks To add a fun element to your toddler lunch box, consider fun little food picks and forks that you can use to quickly decorate any healthy toddler lunches. They come in so many designs, colors, and sizes that your choices are endless. You can find these anywhere online, such as Bento USA.

4. Sandwich Stamps At online retailers like Little Bento World, you can find a huge selection of cute sandwich stamps that will help you decorate your toddler lunches for picky eaters. Healthy toddler lunches can be distracted by interesting shapes and designs, so that your picky eater will dive into their food with ease.

5. Cookie Cutter If you dont want to invest a fortune in sandwich stamps, you can use cookie cutters that you already have at home. Again, the designs are endless, making toddler lunch boxes a blast to open every day. You can also get creative and use cookie cutters on pitas, cheeses, fruits, and even puff pastries!

6. Silicone Baking Cups Additionally, baking cups are something to consider to pack with a toddler who can break them, lose them, or downright misuse them. With silicone baking cups, you can quickly turn any lunch boxes into a Yumbox and create your own compartments. They are easy to wash, durable enoughto hold any little snacks, waterproofed to keep crackers from getting soaked by your fruits, and most importantly for kids, they come in many cute colors to choose from.

7. Good Paring Knife If you are a seasoned food decorator, a good and sharp paring knife goes a long way in creating those masterpiece bento boxes you see on Pinterest. From carving out grapes to slicing your sausages, paring knives will require occasional sharpening for upkeep and a safe place for storage.

Toddler Lunch Techniques

Yumbox and Bento boxes are typically very compact and small, which means that when it comes to toddler lunch ideas, you must get creative in how you pack your foods. Here are some basic techniques to keep in mind when choosing food and how you’ll package it.

1. Rolling Up Foods Just like packing a suitcase, rolling up items will give you maximum space for your toddler lunch ideas without squishing the contents. Think of flat food items that you can roll up together to make little pinwheels, which you can package into your Yumbox or bento box.

2. Making Everything Neat And Tidy You get a lot more room for packing your food when you line everything up neatly and orderly. If apple slices and carrot sticks are strewn across your toddler’s lunch box, this will give you minimal room for other items.

3. Cutting Them Into Shapes It is always more fun when food is in different shapes for your toddler’s lunches. Their curiosity for the cute shapes and different sizes may entice them to pick up the food items and try them.

4. Make Them Tiny Compacting your items is key, as you want to be able to fit as many varieties of foods as you can into your healthy toddler lunches. The small sizes also make it simple for your toddler to self-feed with finger foods and other easy toddler lunch ideas.

Toddler Lunch Ideas

1. Healthy Toddler Lunch With Lots Of Color

Instagram / feedingc

This lunch is made up of a tuna salad byRaising Generation Nourished, some veggie rotini byBuild Your Bite, peas, grapes, and a clementine.

2. Gluten-Free Lunch Idea With Hidden Tomatoes

Instagram / twonods4lunch

Two toddler lunch ideas: Have a small tomato slice cut in half, an egg for protein, some crackers, strawberries, and sultanas, along with some Orgran GF teddies as a treat. The other Yumbox toddler lunch box idea is for a low-gluten diet with carrots, strawberries, raisins, apple slices, and gluten-free crackers and pretzels.

3. Toddler Lunch For A Picky Eater

Instagram / c2andcompany

This lunch box contains rice balls with thinly crushed seaweed, sesame seeds, soy sauce and sesame oil, hot dog slices, green beans, goldfish crackers and fruit.

4. OG Japanese Bento Box

Instagram / msmikko_0602

This is a traditional Japanese bento that holds strawberries, inari sushi by Just One Cookbook, and dashimaki tamago with green onions by RecipeTin Japan.

5. Bento Box Idea That Adults Will Like, Too

Instagram / ayaboo4072

This is a ketchup omurice bento box by No Recipes with carrot slaw, broccoli, sausage slices, and tomatoes.

6. Quorn Burger And Chips

Instagram / bigheadandfluffy

Here’s a combination of sweet potato fries by Simply Recipes;a Quorn burger by Neils Healthy Mealson a heart-shaped, whole-grain bread bun; and star-shaped cucumber.

7. Easy Toddler Lunch They’ll Love

Instagram / _krys_

A classic! PB&J sandwich in the shape of a bear, flower cheese strings, and grapes cut out like flowers.

8. Pizza-Loving-Toddler Lunch Idea

Instagram / thebabyledlife

Any toddler would love pizza pieces by Todays Parents, tomato cubes, cheese cubes, and crackers.

9. Unique Toddler Lunch Idea For Daycare

Instagram / kaylacbailey

Consider turkey-sandwich skewers by The Almond Eater with lettuce, turkey slices, cheese and tomatoes, pretzel sticks, and watermelon wedges.

10. Super-Simple And Healthy Toddler Lunch Idea

Instagram / toddlerlunches

So easy to assemble: Monterey Jack cheese, oranges, cucumber slices, strawberries, and organic crackers.

11. Turkey Meatball Cold Lunch Idea

Instagram / myhungrytot

You’ll need homemade, no-reheat turkey meatballs by Hilah Cooking, zucchini muffinsby Super Healthy Kids, and a selection of cheese, fruits, and vegetables.

12. Southern Ham And Swiss Waffles

Instagram / wendolonia

So tasty! These are ham-and-cheese waffle sandwiches by Southern Bite, accompanied by strawberries and sliced cucumbers.

13. Toddler Lunch Work Of Art

Instagram / lunchwithlondon

A lunch composed of homemade organic spinach tortillas with herbed turkey, Muenster cheese, and mayo as the leaves; pretzel sticks for the trunk; and basil for the grass. Caprese pesto salad with feta, star fruit, and chocolate coins round out the meal.

14. Homemade Uncrustables Yumbox

Instagram / mamabelly

Carrots and snap peas, popcorn, homemade Uncrustables by Mrs. Happy Homemaker, strawberries and half a cereal bar now that’s the making of a great lunch!

15. “A Bit Of Everything” Toddler Lunch Box Idea

Instagram / leeyoung_au

Love the way she shows us what tools she used to make this toddler lunch box idea: Pretzels, popcorn, apple slices, heart-shaped sandwiches, tomatoes, cheese strings, and fruit squeeze.

16. Fun Bread Puzzle Lunch Box Idea For Toddlers

Instagram / jjlunches

Here’s a gluten-free bread puzzle sandwich made with a puzzle-bread cutter from Amazon, plum, tomatoes, blueberries, and grapes.

17. Sushi Bento Box Idea

Instagram / paleo_ish_dragonfly

The spotlight falls on tuna and avocado sushi by She Knows(with soy sauce), seaweed rice crackers with cheese, organic dried peach, blueberries, chocolate peanut butter zucchini muffin by Kudos Kitchen by Renee, and cucumber and red capsicum sticks.

18. Peanut-Free Yumbox

Instagram / scrumdiddlysara

Avoid allergens with banana and sunbutter sushi by Peanutallergy.com. It has grape jelly for dipping, apple slices, and plums.

19. Healthy School Lunch Idea

Instagram / howmuchikaleyou

Whip this up with a hard-boiled egg, raspberries filled with chocolate drops, a fruit bar, cashews, corn-off-the-cob, picks with black olives, leberkse (a German sausage), and tortilla rollups with butter, Parmesan and hemp seeds. Add a squeeze drink made from a coconut milk and banana smoothie.

20. Beef-And-Carrot Sushi

Instagram / sohyunpak1224

A lunch made with sushi (egg, three colorful carrots, marinated beef), strawberries, green and red apples, blueberries.

21. On Top Of Spaghetti, All Covered With Cheese

Instagram / littlekidmeals

This one’s a crowd pleaser: Pasta with tomato sauce, sausage, and broccoli; avocado with balsamic vinaigrette; coconut yogurt; and blueberries and pomegranate.

22. Homemade Lunchables For Toddlers

Instagram / whatsfordinnerbaby

Who wouldn’t love this? Whole-wheat crackers topped with Black Forest ham and sharp cheddar cheese, snap pea crisps, and a GoGo squeeZ peach, apple, and sweet potato sprinkled with organic black chia seeds.

23. Easy Hot Dog Roll Toddler Lunch

Instagram / annietay1312

Everything about this sounds great: a hot dog rolled with cheese in bread by My Expat Mommy, a hard-boiled egg, an apple slice, and seedless grapes.

24. Plentiful Yumbox

Instagram / buckthesystem

Here’s the list: Greek yogurt with berries; a banana; spinach; a Philadelphia cream cheese pinwheel by Get in My Belly; red pesto, sweet potato, and cheese pinwheel by Jens Food;sausages; and mixed veggies.

25. Disguised Dessert Toddler Lunch

Instagram / thehungrymumma

Homemade cheese and Vegemite scroll by Stay At Home Mum, diced apple, rice cakes with peanut butter, blackberries and mini green cupcakes by Family Food on the Table. We could get behind this, no problem!

26. Puff Pastry Toddler Lunch Ideas

Instagram / bentoganics

Go for a homemade puff pastry filled with organic potatoes, carrots, peas and corn; some pan-grilled tofu hearts; steamed golden-yellow beets; and green-delicious apple slices.

27. Teriyaki Meatball Yumbox

Instagram/ theannoyedthyroid

This includes teriyaki meatballs by Buzzle, cheese and pickles, apple, carrots, pumpkin hummus, and homemade crepe and ham roll.

28. Egg-Free, Soy-Free, Gluten-Free Yumbox

Instagram / soyhyunpak1224

Try some no-flour veggie frittatas by Plant Based on a Budget with broccoli, colorful bell peppers and carrots, potatoes, onions, olives, purple cauliflower with sun-dried tomatoes, eggs, and some cheese, strawberries, and apple slices.

29. Easy-Peasy Toddler Yumbox

Instagram / whatsinmegsyumbox

It really can’t get easier than this: half a banana, a mozzarella quesadilla, blueberries and raspberries, sliced cucumbers, and tomatoes.

30. Chicken Salad Grain Bowl Lunch Idea

Instagram / sherimiya

We love how appetizing this sounds! It’s vinegar-and-soy sauce-marinated chicken, rice, a tossed salad of shredded cabbage, grated carrot, and grapefruit segments, pan-roasted brussels sprouts, and halved grape tomatoes.

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