#childhood thread

[clockworkapothecary]

@vahermagei ((continued from x))

“The scary monsters? Well, they certainly don’t come here.” Lyth chuckled, carefully hugging the young girl with a low, fierce growl. “They’ll find something much worse than their stinky teeth and overgrown toenails waiting for them.” The dragoness then briefly kissed the top of Ava’s head. “In all seriousness, the scary monsters eventually fade into the shade from where they once came from. They will not harm you, dear.”

“...You sure?” Ava looked up at her uncertainly, eyes wide and worried.  Bad dreams had kept her awake again, and this was not the first time she had found it difficult to be alone at night. She was snuggled up safe against Lyth’s chest, candlelight dancing on the walls and chasing shadows out of the dark corners of the room.

“...’Cause... ‘cause you’re scarier than they are, right?”  The question was a very serious one to Ava, and very important. “..an’ ‘s long as you’re here they won’ get in, right?”  It was beginning to show just how sleepy she was, words slurring a little, eyelids drooping.

[clockworkapothecary]

@vagabondtxles (continued from x)

Morwen offered her hand, pointed ears twitching with the shift on the breeze. She wasn’t going to let this child go without escort, and certainly not out of her sight.

{“Won’t take long.”}

The child hesitated, staring up at the woman suspiciously.  She didn’t know whether or not she could trust this stranger, but given the circumstances, what choice did she have?  It would be better, she decided, not to be alone.

Trinidad took the offered hand slowly and gingerly, letting her lead the way.  They hadn’t even made it out of the market square when a shout in a familiar language rose above the crowd -

“<There she is!>”

A man came into view, gaze moving slowly from Trinidad to Morwen, dark eyes unreadable.  The child’s eyes widened at the sight of him and her grim on Morwen’s hand tightened, but she said nothing.

“Thank gods you found her.” The man addressed Morwen in the local dialect, though not without a faint accent. “We were so worried... forgive us for any inconvenience.” He lowered his head respectfully. “My brother’s daughter makes a habit of running away from home, and she does like to come up with such wild stories.”

Trinidad couldn’t tell what the man was saying, but the look he gave her made her pull back behind the woman’s legs, trying her best to hide even though she knew it was useless.  She had never seen him before, but there was no doubt that he had come from her homeland. Though she had no idea why anyone from outside the temple would have been looking for her. Just behind him, two guardsmen came into view, swords sheathed at their sides but still a prominent statement of power as they waited, watching.

“We are truly in your debt.” The man gave Morwen a smile that didn’t quite seem to reach his eyes.  “If there is any way I can repay you for your kindness, do not hesitate to ask.  <Trinidad, my dear,>” he added in that same unfamiliar language - the child’s native tongue, a language more ancient than that spoken by any human or elf. “<You will come with us, now.  It’s time to go home.>”

Her grip on Morwen’s hand tightened and she looked up at the woman, shaking her head with a desperate, pleading look, too frightened to speak.

[clockworkapothecary]

♟ [ Child Ava bc dragon mom. ]

((♟: Patching up a wound @bloodstainedbread ))

“Tha’ hurts!”

The girl gave a little whimper of discomfort, trying her best to wriggle away against the back of the chair she sat in.  The cut on her knee - the result of a hard fall while playing in a place she probably shouldn’t have been - was a bright beacon of pain as Lyth tried to attend to it.  Ava wasn’t sure exactly what the dragoness was doing, but it stung.

She scowled up at the woman, distrusting and defensive.  It showed a great deal of trust that she had let Lyth look at the wound at all - her usual instinct was to flee from everyone when hurt, out of self-preservation more than anything else.  Trust did not come easily for the little girl, but when it did it ran deep.

[clockworkapothecary]

∞ my muse reading to your muse

He’d been having nightmares again, the kind that left him sobbing and shaking.  Curled up against Leo’s chest was the safest place he knew, snuggled into an armchair together while his guardian read quietly from an old book.  Alexander knew the story of the Ancients well - it was one his father used to tell - but he had never heard the Light Court’s version of the tale.  Everyone told it differently, and this rendition was beautiful, words painted with the guiding light and righteousness of the stars.  Outside the world was dark and still, but a safe and restful kind of darkness, the song of crickets carried inside by a soft summer breeze through the window.  It was far too late at night for a child his age to be awake, but his refusal to go back to sleep was steadfast.  Nothing in the real world could compare to the monsters he faced inside his head.

Still, the boy had a hard time keeping his eyes open as he leaned his head against Leo’s chest, the tears from earlier almost forgotten.  Leo’s voice was soft, soothing, never faltering despite how tired Alexander knew the man must have been.

From the corridor came the softest creak of a floorboard, barely noticeable from inside the room.  Another boy sat outside in the darkness of the hallway, leaning against the wall right next to the little angle of light and warmth that spilled out from the partially open door.  The story reached him even from such a distance, comforting and reassuring.

Vaughn hadn’t told their new guardian that he was having trouble sleeping too, though he was fairly sure that Leo knew.  The transition hadn’t been easy for either of the boys, and neither had losing their father.  But he would never admit to having bad dreams - he was the older one, after all.  He was supposed to be strong.  He wasn’t supposed to be afraid of the dark or need to be held or read to or comforted.  But it was lonely, in the darkness of his bedroom.  And at least here a little bit of that comfort could still reach him.  A reminder that he wasn’t alone.

(( @apocalypseguard ))

[clockworkapothecary]

"What happened?"

((Send me “What happened?!” to find out what state your muse found mine in.  Randomly generated number - 14: with a stray or injured animal

Young!Melissa (age six) and Sebastian))

Melissa had been playing under one of the many trees in Sebastian’s garden when she found the bird.  She knelt next to it curiously, then carefully scooped it up.  Even in her small hands, the bird seemed remarkably tiny and frail, a little huddled mass of grey feathers.  She could feel its heartbeat against her palm, weak and rapid.  One wing was crooked and the feathers were bloody and bedraggled.  The poor creature wouldn’t live long without help, Melissa knew.

She ran to where Sebastian was working as quickly as she could without jostling the bird too much and came up behind him, reaching up to tug on his sleeve.  Her wide eyes were brimming with tears as she looked up at him, holding the little bird out for him to see.

“Its hurt.  Can you make it better?”