Day 9: Sunflower
Rating: G
Words: 405
Setting: Colorado, 1880
There were sunflowers outside of their parlor window: three bright flowers neatly arranged on a fresh patch of dirt edged with river stones. Sunflowers that, crucially, hadn’t been there in the morning when Mel left to go to work.
Not that Mel wondered for long about how or why they were there. Becca threw open the door almost as soon as Mel had arrived – clearly she had been waiting.
“Mel! You’re home!” Said her sister, bright with excitement, and rushing out of the house. “Finally! Do you like them?”
“Yes, they’re lovely.” Mel couldn’t help but smile. Sunflowers were her favorites. “Becca, you planted them?”
Becca shook her head.
“No, but I supervised. You see—oh!”
Memory lit up her sister’s face. Becca let go of Mel’s arm and fished something out of her pocket.
“I have a note! Here.” She said, putting the small envelope right on Mel’s hand. “Read it. Then come inside and tell me what it says.”
Becca was gone as fast as she had appeared leaving Mel alone again in their small garden. She looked at the sunflowers once more, then at the note she held. The envelope was plain, sealed with a bit of wax.
Mel bit her lip, but didn’t stall. Cracking the seal, she unfolded the envelope to find a short note written on the inside:
Sunflowers, as promised.
I’ll see you in a week.
-F. L.
Mel read the note three times before she managed to make herself refold it and put it away. It was a good thing supper wasn’t for another few hours; she was sure her splotchy cheeks and the smile she didn’t seem capable of controlling would not go by unnoticed.
But before going inside to report to her sister, Mel touched the petals of her sunflowers. She was so careful it was almost no touch at all. When Frank had promised her sunflowers, months ago now, she hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t really expected anything at all.
She tried to imagine Frank stopping by in the morning to plant them, what he must have looked like with the sun on his back and dirt on his hands. She imagined him fiddling with the stones before placing them on the ground. Mel wondered how long all of it took, and where he’d found the flowers to begin with.
And then she wondered if Frank was now sitting somewhere in Denver thinking of her.
Donations | Send Thoughts Here | My Alpha Series| Chapter 5
(Author Note: Thank you guys for being so patient!! I am transitioning into a new job I got a little carried away with this chapter Lol but I hope y'all love it just as a much! ;) lots happening here! Please leave me a comment on this chapter if you enjoyed it or if you have any feedback at all!! Love you all!!)
That dinner you’d had with Declan was wonderful, you fell asleep with him on the phone that night and the next morning when you got ready for work you couldn't explain how you felt, but it was incredible. You didn’t want to ever be without him again. Coming downstairs you smelled breakfast and coffee, and huffed out a sigh. Things weren’t great with your father; not like that was a secret or anything. But there were things that you were not up for sharing with anyone else. You had a small, secret hope buried deep down inside of you, that maybe Declan was the one.
The one to take you away from this man, the awful things he had subjected you to in the past, hell, even the things he subjects you to now. You slowly walked into the kitchen in your work uniform, taking a seat at the island your father turned and smiled at you before pouring you a cup of coffee. “How was your night last night? You were fast asleep when I got back from the trip.” he said.
You looked at your coffee before looking up at him, “it was good. We went to that little place on the corner of Elm, and I had a really wonderful time.” you said softly as he plated your breakfast and placed it on the cloth placemat in front of you. “Good. I guess that Declan isn’t so bad, I’ll need to have a chat with him if he thinks he’s going to date you without my knowledge though.” Arthur said as he turned back around to continue cooking. “Dad, we’ve only gone to dinner once…while I had a good time, who knows if he did.” you said quietly as you pushed your food around on your plate.
Arthur watched you closely as he sat down beside you with his own plate. “Something wrong hon?” he asked as you shrugged. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I just want to go to work dad.” you said quietly as he turned more toward you. “Y/N, tell me whats wrong right now.” he held an agitated tone in his voice and you finally looked at him. “Honestly? I do not want to go with you tonight after work. I hate it. I hate it so much!” you raised your voice as you got off the stool. “It's wrong and you know it is!” you flinched as he gripped you by the arms and slammed you back against the counter.
“You know damn good and well how bad your life can be if you keep up this new attitude girlie. I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again, if we didn’t do this, then someone else would! You know I wouldn’t be able to protect you if someone else was in control. Our family has been doing this for centuries! It’s part of our pack! It's part of our ways!” he yelled as you coward down, shaking in fear. Arthur let go of you, moving away to grab his keys. “You can clean up breakfast and get your ass to work.”
You worked a better part of the day with your mind focusing on the tasks at hand. Cleaning tables, filling waters, taking orders, and chatting up customers like nothing was wrong. You looked up seeing Declan walk in with some of the other construction crew members and smiled as his eyes met yours. He grinned and nodded over to a booth for the guys to sit in while he walked over to the counter where you’d just rounded to place the coffee pot back on its burner.
You were not sure what you and Declan were, but your heart would jump from your throat, down to your stomach everytime your eyes caught his. You looked at him before glancing at the booth. “You gonna sit here and have your lunch or over there with your friends?” you smiled as he leaned his crossed arms on the counter leaning over on them to be closer to you. “Well, I figured I would come say hello, before we ordered lunch all together.” he smiled as you smiled bashfully. “well…hello there…I’m sorry I fell asleep on the phone last night, and also if I forgot to tell you, I am sorry I fell asleep last night on the phone,” you admitted as you grabbed your pen and pad and walked around the counter.
Declan smiled as his jaw tensed, not having a barrier between the two of you anymore. “Well that’s alright, I didn’t mind,” he smiled as you let out a soft giggle. “well I’m glad, I did have a wonderful time last night,” you admitted looking up at him as he glanced down at you, standing at his full height. “I did too. Why don’t we do it again tonight?” he asked as you both walked over to the booth. Before you could answer, the guys began teasing Declan and talking loudly. You laughed some before you got them all to pay attention and took down their orders.
The lunch rush kept you busy, so busy in fact you didn’t get to spend any time at all talking to Declan apart from your brief chat when he’d first arrived. You rushed around, serving tables, refilling the crew members drinks, bringing out extra sides and desserts when asked. You’d laugh at their jokes, hearing them tease one another. You’d collected a couple of the checks and started ringing everyone out as the lunch rush died down when Declan came up to the counter.
“So what do you say? You wanna go out with me tonight?” Declan smiled at you as you wiped down the counter in front of you. “I’m sorry I can't tonight, I have to work.” you said, giving him a sad smile, “But maybe tomorrow night after the pack meeting?” you asked looking up at him. Declan raised an eyebrow, “You sure your father won't march you home?” he asked with a chuckle. “No, I'm going to tell him I'm busy with you.” you said with a smile as you leaned over the counter and pressed a kiss to his cheek softly.
You grinned up at him as he stood and threw some bills down on the counter. “You know you don’t have to pay for lunch when you come visit me, I take care of it.” you said softly as he raised an eyebrow. “Missy, you better not be paying for my food outta your checks,” he said, raising an eyebrow at you. You smiled up at him, looking up under your lashes. “I like taking care of you,” you whispered softly. Declan chuckled and grabbed your hand softly, “I’m sure you do, but I can handle my own.” He smiled down at you.
“Y/N! Get back to work!” your boss snapped at you as he stuck his head out of his office. You jumped and let go of Declan turning around. “Sorry boss!” you yelped before turning back around. “I gotta go, I’ll call you later okay?” Declan looked over at your boss’s door before he looked down at you and nodded. “Of course, I’ll talk to you later,” he gave you a quick wink and left without another word.
After your shift at the diner ended, you changed into your jeans, a t-shirt and a heavy coat before heading out to the old barn your father owned. Once you got there, your father stood inside and looked at you as you entered. “Y/N, perfect timing. I need to speak with you about Declan.” he grabbed your arm and pulled you off to the side. “What's going on between the two of you?” he asked as you shrugged, “Nothing, we’re friends dad, he does want to take me out again tomorrow night after the pack meeting and I accepted.” you said as he pushed his lips out. “I want you to stay away from him. He’s an alpha and an outsider. He doesn't know what’s good for you or this pack.” he growled before turning toward the stalls. “Get them ready, tonight's color is blue. NO ONE enters without that color on their wrist. Do you understand me?” he growled as he got in your face. You nodded. “Yes Dad-” “What?” he snapped. “Yes Alpha.” you whimpered and walked over to the stall. You absolutely hated this. But an order was an order and you couldn’t say no to the pack master until you were claimed.
You pulled open the door, the girls inside were crying already, and you knew that tonight would be a rough one. You took each girl, hosed her down, and then chained her up. You put a different girl in each stall, and waited for your father to come back to approve each one.
Your father walked through each stall, nodding to each girl. He rearranged some, but kept them mostly the way they were. You walked outside as he followed you. “Been hearing rumors you were locking lips with that Declan at the diner today. That true?” Your father asked as you shook your head, “no, he just comes in for lunch and we talk is all, he's real nice. I’d like to go out to dinner with him again tomorrow night after the pack meeting…” You said softly as you sat down on the stool. Your father walked up to you and trapped you between him and the wall, placing his arms on either side of you. “You listen to me Omega, the only reason you ain’t chained up in there is because you’re my daughter! You know damn good and well I can make anything happen to anyone. You wanna be locked up and used like those whores in there?!” He asked, gripping your throat. “Are you a whore, omega?” He growled as you struggled to breathe, clawing at his hand, shaking your head, you whimpered. “Please,” you gasped as he watched you with dead, cold eyes. “Say. It.” He growled.
You felt the tears running down your cheeks, the pressure of no air entering your body starting to become too much. “Alpha please.” You felt yourself start to lose consciousness.
As soon as he released his hand, you gasped for air, falling from your spot, you landed on the cold hard ground coughing violently. A tall figure hid in the trees, watching with dark and narrowed eyes.
As the damp, cold night air sat in more, you kept your place out by the barn, betas and alphas coming up, giving you cash and the magic word, and bam, they were in. You opened the door to let them through, hearing the screams and cries, the moans, the smells. You swallowed thickly, biting back tears as you returned to your seat. Then, Marcus Phillips walked through the treeline, and his two beta buddies, grinning at you from ear to ear. You looked up at him. “Fee’s $100 bucks tonight, and I need the passcode.” you said as he chuckled. “I wanna know how much for you.” he smirked, leaning closer as you leaned back against the barn. “I'm not part of it, I just man the door.” you tried to get as much distance between the two of you, but Marcus wasn’t having it.
“Oh yeah? Bet ole’ Pack Master would let me have a special taste.” he gripped your jaw scenting you. You pushed at him trying to get away but he moved his grip to your throat, “Easy Omega, or I might end it now.” he snarled.
A loud growl ripped through the treeline sending a cold chill down everyone's spine, as Marcus fell to the ground, you were grabbed and swung behind a strong, tall figure. “Back off.” a deep, gravely voice growled out. You stared up at the man in shock. “Who the fuck are you?” Marcus smirked as he looked up.
You shook behind the familiar alpha, your hands clutching to his warm jacket as he growled. “You’re messin with a member of my pack, back off.” His voice had deepened and his body was shaking slightly with anger. “Look caveman, that there is Pack Masters daughter, he decides who has a go at her. NOT you. So why dont you fuck off and let me get my moneys worth.” he stepped forward until Declan grabbed him by the throat, “Do you need a reminder of how two alphas fighting over one omega usually ends?” he growled, narrowing his eyes.
Marcus’s eyes widened as he struggled against his hand, Declan threw him down on the ground and stood over him. “I’d say, you lose this one. Go on, before I bring out the old laws.” you stayed close to Declan as the three boys took off through the trees. You hadn’t realized you’d been crying until Declan looked down at you, his features softening as he wrapped you up against his chest inside his jacket. “Come on, you’re coming home with me.” you whimpered and shook your head. “I can’t leave, my father won’t let me…the night isn’t done.” you whispered. Declan looked down at your confusion covering his features before he looked at the barn, the smell and sounds finally hitting him. “Jesus Christ. What the fuck is going on?” You whimpered quietly as he looked from the barn to you, then back to the barn, it took less than a second for him to piece it together. “You’re not staying here. You’re in danger here.” he held you closer to him, the anger radiating from his body as he snarled in the direction of the barn, before he pulled you back through the trees.
You knew your father would be angry, “I won’t be able to return home,” you whispered quietly as you looked up at him, tears in your eyes. Declan stopped and looked down at you, his features softening as he pulled you into his arms once more. “Shhh, you don’t have to worry about that anymore, you can stay with me, and everything will be fine. I promise, I’m going to fix all of this, no omega should be put through this type of torture.” he kissed your head smoothing your hair as you sobbed into his chest.
Okay but imagine in the frontier AU that Kate had looked just mildly disappointed that Anthony didn’t have a Dog on his ranch and Anthony’s brown had furrowed.
“Dogs are just something else that needs feeding.”
Kate had nodded, and it was one of the only times she’d sounded anything close to wistful “I just think they’re sweet.”
And one day he’s in town and he sees it. Someone dumps a tiny runt of a puppy outside the post office, it’s short little legs trying desperately to catch up with the man on the horse who’s just abandoned it, and Anthony knows what he’s going to do before the puppy’s even stopped.
He sprints off himself, scooping it up and tucking it under his shirt the whole way home. Loitering nervously at the door to the house he built himself.
“I got you something in town today.”
Kate’s eyebrows lift as she looks up from whatever she’d been cooking on the stove, “For me?”
Anthony’s heart’s hammering in his chest as he pulls out the puppy, handing it to her. “He was abandoned but he seemed… sweet.”
And when her arms wrap around him just for a second he thinks he’s made a mistake. Because now he knows what this is like he’ll never want anything else.
This is a teaser for a series of au drawings I've been sitting on for a little while. Dustin finds a new life out on the frontier and falls for a working girl who's unlike any girl he's ever met.
A Girl Walks Into A Bar Frontier Modern AU. Declan is a bar owner and local urban legend with a reputation he’d like to leave in the past. Bella is a rough around the edges, low key sweetheart that isn’t from his part of the woods. After meeting with the help of some bad luck and perhaps a touch of fate, how far will their undeniable chemistry take them until their histories catch up with them? Chapters containing explicit sexual content are in bold.
A Witch, a Wolf and the Woods. An AU where Declan Harp is a werewolf.
He comes across Evelyn Morgana, a dark witch who lives in a daunting mansion on the edge of the woods. He is drawn to her and her power, and finds his way into her home, her bed and her life. A dark, violent and highly sexual relationship follows as we watch their twisted romance grow and change while they face the challenges of navigating a magical world that tries to be hidden in the midst of the 1700's new world. Chapters containing explicit sexual content are in bold.
Pt. 1
Filia Diaboli Declan Harp Werewolf Modern AU. In a world where supernatural beings are real and have to try to exist among hostile humans, Morgana and Declan find themselves fatefully brought together. A Princess in a hierarchy lead by her father, she has earned the title through hard work, violence, and charisma. Declan is a self-hating wolf, a descendent from an original line, and among the most powerful, the burden of denying his inner wolf is heavy. A soul connection will bring these two together and force them to feel things they never have before. Their souls combined might be what the Supernatural world needs to stand against the religious terrorists that try to destroy their kind. Chapters containing explicit sexual content are in bold.
Ch. 1
Peach and Poppy Declan Harp AU. Set in the 1970′s, Declan is a misbehaving psychiatric patient and Dr. Dixon or Dixie as he likes to call her, is a tenacious and underestimated new hospital director. Will this new job get the best of her delicate sensibilities like people are warning her? Will the charm of one of her patient’s awaken something in her she can’t come back from? Chapters containing explicit sexual content are in bold.
CH.1
Rosie & The Road Less Traveled Declan Harp 1970s Hippy/Roadtrip AU Rosie has made a bold decision and decided to leave her monotonous life. She sets out to create her own with a group of misfits traveling across America, post-Vietnam during the 1970s. She breaks out of her shy and insecure, sheltered shelf to have an adventure where she learns the realities of life outside her former cookie-cutter existence. She experiences, a year of sex, drugs, and rock and roll as the group of ex-soldiers and free spirits change her worldview and show her another way. She meets the charming but damaged Declan who takes her under his wing. Will a budding romance for this blossoming Rose prove to be her gift from the universe for making the hard decision to be her own woman? Chapters containing explicit sexual content are in bold.
How do you think Digimon Frontier might have gone if the Spirits of Steel, Wood, and Earth had been bequeathed to Ophanimon, the Spirits of Darkness and Water had been bequeathed to Seraphimon, the Spirits of Flame, Light, Ice, Wind, and Thunder had been bequeathed to Cherubimon, and the protagonists had been Katsuharu, Teppei, Chiaki, Teruo, and Koichi (with Kouji joining later)?
Sorry it took so long to answer this because I wanted to finish my rewatch of Frontier first but also because as fascinated as I am by their presence and the implications they were meant to play a bigger role in the story, ultimately, Katsuhara, Teppei, Chiaki, and Teruo don't really get much development.
Frankly, part of me cynically wants to say that the story would be almost identical because the character writing in Frontier was...... Not it's strong suit. But I feel like the question deserves a better answer than that. Also it got pretty long so putting the detailed answer under a cut.
Okay so in terms of basics, I think the spirits would be divied up like this:
Katsuharu - Earth
Teppei - Wood
Chiaki - Water
Teruo - Metal
I group them this way because I think it mirrors the dynamics the 4 of them had to the og 4 and to the digimon wielding the spirits. Katsuharu and Teppei mirror JP and Tommy with the bigger and more dominant one getting the Spirit that posed the bigger threat to the group, which was Earth as he was the first they faced.
Teruo gets metal because despite Katsuharu getting most of the screentime of the group, Teruo seemed to act as the group's face, making him mirror Takuya in that regard meaning he should wield Metal, who was essentially the leader.
Chiaki of course gets left with water because they're the girls. 🙃🙃🙃
Koichi being of sound mind the entire time is interesting though because while Kouji didn't know about Koichi, Koichi DID. So unlike literally anyone else, he enters the digital world with a purpose right off the bat which is to meet Kouji. I assume even in this version of the story he'd have seen Kouji take the elevator down to the digital world and seeing the Trailmon leaving, would have taken one himself in hopes of catching up to him, not realizing that Kouji was somehow left behind in the human world with his spirit getting trapped inside a digimon.
Another thing that fascinates me is the fact that the og 4 did not want to stay in the digital world at all, despite Ophanimon apparently manipulating events to prevent them from leaving which contrasts with Katsu & Gang apparently being too stubborn to leave even when she tried to shoo them out. This leads me to one of two possibilities: 1) Ophanimon kicked them out because they weren't chosen to wield spirits and they actually listened because they actually wanted to avoid danger 2) SOMETHING inspires the kids to stick around and be babysat by Angemon, learning about friendship in the process and trying to fight for the digital world despite their relative inability to actually contribute.
The only reason I even entertain the second as a possibility is because Katsuhara and Teppei make a remark about having grown past being bullies which implies that, despite what little detail we received about their time in the digital world, their time there HAS changed them and made them grow as people. And since the canon group went from wanting to leave to wanting to stay and defend the digital world, it's not a stretch to imagine whatever group Angemon was with experiences similar life changing events.
As for Kouji, presumably something would happen to him between meeting Takuya in the elevator and boarding a Railmon which would cause Cherubimon to take advantage of him and trap him in a corrupted version of Lobomon. Given that Koichi knew of his existence and was desperate to know him and was STILL difficult to purify, it would probably be even harder to purify Kouji. However, given that Koichi was searching for him from the start, I imagine Cherubimon would actually try and use this against him.
Since Koichi is slightly more sociable than Kouji, I imagine he might join up with Katsu and pals from the start as opposed to keeping his distance. However since they are a more stubborn group than the og digidestined, they would probably be wary of Cherubimon's claims of Kouji being the true identity of Corrupted!Lobomon. I imagine this would probably lead to some friction as they would try to take him down without remorse while Koichi would want to protect his brother even while corrupted.
In fact, in contrast to Koichi's purification, which required Kouji to beat him down enough to regain consciousness, I imagine Kouji's purification might require the opposite: defending him even while trying to consistently kill him and even at the behest of his own companions, causing Kouji to snap out of Cherubimon's control and realize that Koichi's being honest about their relation.
I think that's all the ideas I have about it, at least for now. I've definitely thought about things like this before but I think to write more would require me taking some creative liberties with canon and at that point I would basically be writing an entire fic. Not that I'm opposed to it, just that I don't want to right now lol. I hope whoever asked this sees my response, sorry again that it took so long, lol.
"Mornin' sir." Rachel greets the tailor outside the post office astride her midnight black steed. She'd seen him around at the saloon she typically frequented. He seemed pretty close with the bartender, there. She'd been meaning to take a stop by his shop if the local reviews were anything to go by. "Looks like you've got quite a heavy shipment right there. Need a helpin' hand?"
Neck craning to properly look the deputy in the eye, he tilted his hat in greeting "Good morning Deputy, you've got a good eye. This months shipment is rather heavy. I was just pondering the ways I could try and transport it over to my shop" tapping the top of the box he continued "It would certainly be rude of me to refuse such a generous offer"
