#just because you are good with helping clients with their dogs from an obedience stand point does not = good at teaching sports

[darkwood-sleddog]

urg. multiple DTIMA (dog trainers in my area) of various sides of the training debate are holding jor/pulling sport seminars and guess who has experience in these sports??? none of them.

[itsuki-minamy]

MEMORY STORIES: THE CURTAIN CLOSES, THE CURTAIN OPENS

* Projects & Chapters

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

Neko stepped into the mansion to shelter from the heavy rain and lightning. There was an atmosphere where ghosts seemed to appear at any moment in a western-style building with a strict and intimidating feeling that you normally wouldn't want to get too close.

However, every time she tried to take shelter from the lightning and the cascading drops on the eaves, the entire area would turn bright yellow, and the shaky night atmosphere was scary, and Neko desperately snuck into the building through the small open bathroom window and she stepped deeper into the mansion.

At first she thought it was an empty house. There weren't many signs of people. However, admitting that a dim light was pouring in from a room on the second floor, she approached softly, speaking and cautiously.

And at that moment, she was called.

"Oh, something strange has come to pick me up from the other world. Are you a cat or a human girl?"

Neko was shocked and stopped. The lady said with an annoyed voice.

"I don't like it. I'm asking a question. Yeah, but hey, that's fine. Just answer."

Succumbing to the power of only those who were used to commanding, Neko stormed into the room.

"Fuwah, you are selfish..."

When she said that...

"Yes. I don't know what you're saying, but you look like Beppin-san. Come on."

As told, Neko obediently approached the lady's voice. Neko was invited by an old woman who got out of bed and looked to be in her eighties. She was wearing a red nightgown, stretched out her back and put her hands on her knees, but she had an oxygen cannula in her nose and an IV drip in her arm. A medical device that Neko did not understand was installed on the side of the bed and digital numbers were displayed.

"Do you understand, Wagahai?"

Neko had been conducting reconnaissance operations the entire time. However, this old woman saw Neko as a "human girl".

The old woman gave a stifled laugh.

"I've always had a keen intuition. It's like building this mansion with that intuition. Besides, I've been almost blind these days. You don't have to fool me with anything extra."

If she looked closely, the old woman's eyes trembled gray. She must have been a terrifying beauty when she was young and she had a clean face. Neko was intrigued and irresistibly asked...

"Grandma, what are you doing here?"

The old woman gave a high-pitched laugh like a witch. She then cleared her throat a little, and after coughing painfully over and over again,

"Greetings. Did you break in? But that's okay. I like being alone but I don't hate clients. What are you doing? That's right. I mean… I'm dying."

She smiled and said that. That was the meeting between Neko and Madame Fuyuko.

Madame Fuyuko seemed to like Neko for some reason.

"Lives here for a while and talks with me."

At those words, she decided to stay at the mansion. Neko who was tired from long trips was also thankful for the fact that she didn't have to hide her identity and she could eat rice three times without worrying about the night dew or being chased by dogs. Also, she could sleep on a futon and take a bath.

Neko spent most of the day in the room where Madame Fuyuko was, leaving her seat and acknowledging when the medical staff and caretakers arrived. And in the process, Madame Fuyuko realized that, as she put it, she really was "dying".

Although she was in a good mood talking to Neko, she would suddenly turn pale and sometimes painfully call the medical staff of the place. By the way, the staff were sometimes in the waiting room on the first floor, but in most cases they only came for regular visits every four hours. As a result, Neko would sometimes hold her hand and cheer her on until medical staff rushed inside.

"I'm going to die in this loving house that my last selfish mother designed herself. Because she made a lot of money for it."

Madame Fuyuko laughed and replied to Neko that she asked if she would go to the hospital.

Madame Fuyuko then told Neko about the various things that she had experienced. She was an actress at one point and wrote a novel. It was starred twice as a movie. The novel had won a famous award that every expert would know. She once ran a tourism company in Bali and was assigned to an international organization as a diplomatic adviser to a certain country. She spoke six languages, was familiar with art, and had a collection of paintings.

"I can't play it anymore, but I really liked the violin."

She said she in a mischievous way.

"In the end, I didn't have any children or husbands, but I got a lot of different types and nicknames. It was fun."

The name Madame Fuyuko seems to be a stage name when she was a fortune teller using her peculiar intuition. It seems to be the one he liked the most.

And when Madame Fuyuko finished telling her memories, one day she suddenly became serious and said to Neko:

"You should go now. Yes. I don't want to get in the way. I'll probably die in a few days. I know. So I don't want you to see it."

Neko had a feeling that one day she would leave, so she obediently accepted it. Still, the tears naturally spilled over. For a short time, she became fond of that proud old woman. Neko asked:

"Aren't you lonely, Grandma?"

Madame Fuyuko laughed.

"I have lived the way I really wanted to. I enjoyed being alone, having fun, being strong and living. I will never forget those days. And the last option is to die alone. Well, the hands of the doctors will be annoying. I will compensate them with money."

And for the first time she strokes Neko's hair.

"Feel proud and free. That is the most important thing to me. Do you understand?"

Neko blew her nose and looked back at her forehead. The old woman had a sweet voice.

"But you're different from me. Okay? Go find something important just for yourself. I'm sure you'll find it one day."

At that moment, Madame Fuyuko coughed violently. When Neko tried to help her in a hurry, she waved her hand with frightening eyes, saying "Come on! Go away!" She turned around slightly like a real cat and jumped out of the room, knowing that this was the last action to respond to Madame Fuyuko's thoughts.

Madame Fuyuko was laughing with her thumbs up.

She finally sent that message, to whom was old enough to be like her granddaughter. The two never met again.

++++++++++

When she was looking at the heavy rain hitting the window pane, she suddenly remembered Madame Fuyuko. The noble and beautiful demeanor that she had. The toughness she was showing when her death was imminent.

And the last piece of advice she received.

"Go find your own important thing."

At that moment, they called her from behind her.

"Neko. It's almost like rice. Today is Kuro's special okonomiyaki."

"I added as many dried bonito toppings as you requested."

Shiro holding chopsticks and a plate and Kuro in an apron was standing there. A big smile spread across Neko's cheeks.

Neko had traveled all the way since then and finally found him.

Things that seem to be important from the bottom of her heart.

[sheerfreesia007]

Finding Love In Legacy Oaks pt. 6

Title: Finding Love In Legacy Oaks pt. 6

Fandom: Kingsman

Pairing: Agent Whiskey x Reader

Author: @sheerfreesia007

Words: 23,186 (Am I insane? Yes, yes I am.)

Warnings: Fluff, Bullying

Permanent Tag List: @paintballkid711, @fioccodineveautunnale​, @phoenixhalliwell, @synystersilenceinblacknwhite, @linkpk88, @weirdowithnobeardo

Author Notes: I have no words to describe how happy I am that I’ve finally finished this chapter. This will be the longest chapter I will EVER write. So this spans over a whole work week, hence why it’s so long. I absolutely loved and hated this chapter haha, I love the slow soft relationship I’ve created between these two wonderful women. I hope you all enjoy! I need a drink. Also don’t come for me for the pirate names I used a generator because my brain was broken by the end of this. Feedback is welcome.

Gif Credit: Google

Bunny walked back into the kitchen after she shut the front door letting Jack out of the house. Stepping into the bright kitchen her eyes were immediately drawn to Butter who excitedly rolled from his back to his front in his dark brown fluffy dog bed. Bunny burst out laughing as she watched the little dog roll over too much and have to correct himself. His body twisting and turning as he tried to right himself and he let out a little yip when he finally got it right and laid upright in the bed looking up at her excitedly.

   “You’re a bit of a mess aren’t you?” She asked fondly and watched as his tongue lolled out of his mouth and he began to pant softly. Bunny turned to the cabinet under the counter at the corner and the sound of nails on the floor rang out. She grabbed the dog treat jar she had stored in there and turned around to see Butter trying to run over to her hurriedly but his feet got caught up underneath him and he belly flopped on the floor and slid across to her feet where he came to a stop. Bunny chuckled softly and shook her head at him. “Such a mess.”

She then pulled out a dog biscuit and held it out in front of him. Butter obediently sat and waited as she placed the biscuit on his nose balancing it perfectly. “Wait.” she told him softly as she then stood to her full height and he didn’t move an inch. “Alright get it.” she said happily. Butter snapped his nose upward and the treat flew in the air a few inches above his nose. He twisted his face and quickly caught the treat in his mouth and Bunny clapped her hands proudly. “Very good!” she cheered proudly. Butter stomped his little feet in excitement and Bunny laughed at his antics.

   Turning from Butter she turned back to the fridge and peered inside of it surveying to see what she had grocery wise for dinner for her and Esme. Spotting the thawing chicken she had in the fridge she smiled and turned to walk to her pantry to check she had all the ingredients she needed for what she had planned.

   “Alright I’ve got everything I need for dinner so I’m gonna catch up on some more work before we have to go get Esme from the bus stop in a few hours. Don’t make too much trouble go it?” she called out as she walked across the hall to her office. When she turned and looked back into the kitchen Butter was already sprawled out in his bed again on his back with his tongue hanging out of his mouth once more. “Such a mess.” she chided softly with a chuckle and a shake of her head.

———

   Bunny rubbed her eyes when she heard the front screen door of Mrs. Parker’s house squeaked loudly on its hinges, I really need to get them some WD-40 for that door. Blinking rapidly she sighed softly, she had been working hours on this one client’s website trying to make the dimensions and what the client wanted work together cohesively. Unfortunately she hadn’t been able to get it to work and a headache had begun to form behind her eyes. Sighing softly she saved her progress on the website and quickly shut her laptop.

   Looking down at her phone she pressed the power button she saw that she had just five more minutes before her and Butter had to start heading to the bus stop to pick up Esme. Standing from her chair she lifted her arms and stretched wide letting out a large yawn. Running her hands into her hair she scratched at her scalp and groaned lowly at the pleasure it brought her before she shook her hair out and let it fall behind her.

   Grabbing her oversized navy blue knit sweater from the back of the desk chair where she had put it hours ago, she pulled it back over her head and let it fall to cover her white tank top. Then moving around her desk she grabs a knit scarf and a pair of fingerless gloves, while it was the beginning of the year it was still chilly enough to require some extra clothing for warmth.

   Walking out of the office she whistled softly for Butter as she made her way down the main hallway towards the front door. She effortlessly slipped her feet into her trusty black combat boots and zipped up the sides. When she stood tall in front of the mirror she smiled at herself before she grabbed Butter’s leash from the hook next to the door and her keys from the mosaic key bowl on her little table. She laughed as she heard the skittering of nails on the floor as she jingled the dog leash in her hand.

   “So good of you to wake up sleeping beauty.” She teased softly as she bent down and held out the harness for the little dog to step into. Butter licked her chin excitedly as she finally clasped the buckle on the harness. “C’mon you wanna go get Esme at the bus stop bud?” Butter began to prance around her feet as she stood tall again and then opened the front door.

   Holding the leash loosely in her hand she turned and quickly locked the door before skipping down the front steps. Butter quickly tried to dart ahead of her but was jerked back by the leash and Bunny burst out in laughter as the little dog tumbled backwards clumsily. Shaking her head at him she tried to calm her laughter.

   “When are you gonna learn Butter? The leash doesn’t retract buddy.” She said softly to the little dog still shaking her head at him. He yipped at her and she grinned at his response. “C’mon we can’t be late for Esme.”

Walking down the block Bunny silently looked around her neighborhood and admired how quaint it looked. The trees were slowly losing the frost that had swept in last month and looked as if they were finally thawing out. She knew next month the trees should start budding as they got ready for spring to arrive. The flowers would soon need to be planned out for when the neighborhood would help with planting them. Hopefully Sarah would have some ideas that they could bounce off each other.

Bunny waved at Mrs. Carter as she passed in her Volkswagen Golf on her way home after work. The walk to the corner bus stop wasn’t very long and as Bunny came to a stop on the sidewalk Butter looked back at her confused as to why she stopped when normally they would walk all the way to the dog park so that he could get his exercise in.

“We gotta wait for Esme bud. I told you this.” Bunny said easily. Just then she heard the loud squeaky brakes of the school bus as that bus made the turn into the neighborhood. Bunny smiled and waved her hand at the bus driver as he pulled to the curb and opened the door waiting for the kids to pile out.

There were the older two girls that Bunny had seen last time she saw Esme at the bus stop walk off the bus and then Esme appeared at the top of the bus stairs. Bunny watched as the little girl tilt her head at her for a second before a bright smile spread across her face as she remembered that she’d be staying with Bunny for the week.

“Bunny!” Cried Esme happily before she bounced down the stairs to the pavement.

“Hey Esme!” Bunny called out happily and Butter began jumping around excitedly as he barked catching onto the little girl’s happiness easily. Bunny watched fondly as the little girl kneeled down and began petting Butter and hugged him around his neck softly. “So I was told you put in a request to go visit the playground before doing homework and I am here to make that request a reality.” Bunny explained easily.

“Really?!” Esme cheered excitedly as she quickly stood from the pavement.

“Yeah I gotta take Butter for a walk anyway. Would you like to go to the big playground or the little one?” Bunny asked, smiling down at Esme. “The big playground is closer and usually more busy now but if you’re up for a little bit of a longer walk there’s a smaller playground that not a lot of kids go to.” Bunny explains as they begin to start their walk down the sidewalk towards where the main part of the community is.

“Can we go to the little playground? I don’t really want to play with anyone else right now.” Esme asked.

“Of course.” Bunny answered before nodding her head.

“Can I hold Butter’s leash?” Esme asked softly as she twisted and turned unsurely while she walked next to Bunny on the sidewalk. Bunny looked down at her with a kind smile on her face.

“Of course Es. Just hold him tight and if he pulls you you have to tell him no and stop walking immediately. That’s how I taught him when he was a puppy, but when it’s someone else walking him he’ll try to pull ahead. And let me hold your backpack so you don’t have to worry about it.” Bunny explained as she looped the leash handle around Esme’s wrist and showed her how to hold the leash and took Esme’s backpack from her casually tossing it over one shoulder before they started walking again.

Once they had crossed the main road running through the community Bunny directed Esme to walk past the big playground and then follow the winding cobblestone walkway. They were quiet for a bit just taking in the scenery before Bunny spoke up.

“So how was school today?” Bunny asked curiously as she watched Esme focus on walking Butter properly. At her question Esme turned her head to look at Bunny with a bright smile.

“It was fun. We did a lot of arts and crafts today and not that many sports.” Esme said happily as she began to skip down the sidewalk.

“You like doing a lot of arts and crafts?” Bunny asked, wanting to gather some ideas on what she could do with Esme during the week when she got home from school.

“Oh yeah my favorite is drawing and painting but today in art class we did some sculpting with clay which was really cool!” Esme said excited as she continued to bounce.

“What about bead bracelets? Do you know how to make those?” Bunny asked curiously as she silently stored away that information about Esme.

“No, not really I know how to braid a lanyard though. I did that in summer camp one year.” Esme said distractedly as the two of them continued walking along the path. Soon the trees began to grow closer and closer along the sidewalk and Bunny smiled as she began to walk slower taking in the imagery of the trees looming over the sidewalk created. She pulled her phone out and lined up the shot of Esme walking along with Butter looking up at the trees. Smiling she snapped the shot and admired the picture before she sent it off to Jack in a text message.

She then quickly caught up to the two of them and they finally came across the smaller playground. Esme squealed in delight and Bunny held her hand out to take the leash from her before she quickly ran towards the playground. Slowly walking Butter in the grass before the playground Bunny kept an eye on Esme as she made it to the fort and began to climb. Her eyes easily took in the way that Esme would take a moment to catch her breath when she climbed too quickly. She wondered quietly how severe her asthma was and soon ideas started to begin to form in her head on ways to help Esme through that.

Bunny walked closer to the playground and leaned against one of the poles of the swing set while she kept her eyes on Esme. She watched as the little girl happily made her way up and down the playground. When she slid down the slide for the fifth time she came racing over to where she stood and sat down on one of the swings and began to swing herself. Bunny smiled and set the backpack against the pole before she took a seat on the other swing and lazily began to swing back and forth. Butter danced around her legs and happily barked as Bunny tapped his behind with her shoe. Esme burst out into happy laughter as Butter then began chasing Bunny’s shoes as she lazily swung them in the air.

“So why did you name your dog Butter?” Esme asked as she slowed her swinging so that she wasn’t so high. Bunny let out a loud laugh at the question and turned her head to look at Esme as she stopped swinging.

“I didn’t mean to name him Butter. His first name was Butterscotch because he has the same colors as butterscotch. But when I first adopted him I brought him over to show him to my nephew.” Bunny began to explain happily as she remembered the day she adopted Butter. “My nephew Henry was only three at the time and was only talking a little bit. You know when little babies are just learning how to talk and only know how to say certain words?”

“Yeah.” Esme responded nodding her head in thought at Bunny’s words.

“Well when I introduced Butterscotch to him Henry couldn’t say the word butterscotch so he kept saying ‘Budder’. And it was really cute so his name changed from Butterscotch to just Butter.” Bunny explained easily as she laughed softly at the memory.

Esme burst out into laughter at the story and Bunny smiled warmly at the little girl. She watched amused as the little girl bent over on her swing as she continued to laugh happily.

“That’s so silly!” Cried Esme happily as she still laughed. Bunny nodded her head at Esme’s words and watched as she slid off the swing and began to pet Butter as she giggled. “Do you like your name Butter or do you like Butterscotch?” Esme asked still giggling and Butter began to bark loudly and jumped around the little girl in excitement making her laugh harder at his antics.

“Alright kiddo, what do you say we start heading back so I can make us some yummy dinner and we tackle your homework while I cook?” Bunny suggested softly as she smiled down at Butter and Esme.

“What are we having for dinner?” Esme asked curiously as she nodded her head and picked up Butter’s leash. Bunny stood and grabbed Esme’s backpack and slung it over her back again.

“I was thinking chicken parmesan with linguine and pasta sauce. How does that sound?” Bunny asked.

“Oh! Can I help after I finish my homework?” Esme asked eagerly as she turned to face Bunny as they all began walking down the sidewalk once more.

“Yeah of course.” Bunny said nodding her head amenably. Esme cheered loudly throwing one of her fists into the air and Butter barked loudly in excitement as he jumped around not knowing what was going on. Esme and Bunny burst out laughing when Butter tripped on his own feet and did a faceplant into the sidewalk. “You alright Butter?” Bunny asked fondly as she bent down and brushed the dirt off his face and kissed his head. Butter made a happy grumbling sound and butted his head against her shin gently making Esme laugh and Bunny smile at him.

———

After the three of them had gotten back to Bunny’s house she had told Esme to go wash her hands after playing on the playground before starting her homework. Bunny had unhooked Butter’s leash and turned on the lights in the house so that they would all have enough light to be able to do what they needed to for the night.

Bunny moves about the kitchen effortlessly pulling out pots and pans and all the ingredients she needs to be able to cook dinner. She turns on her music player on her phone and hooks it up to the bluetooth speakers that she had installed into the house about a year ago, turning down the volume to a background noise level, and she begins to start dinner. She’s already salted the pot of water she needs to boil for the linguine and set up her dredging stations for the chicken parmesan before Esme reemerges from the bathroom all clean. Bunny points to one of the stools where she set down Esme’s backpack for her.

“Are you alright to sit at the island while I cook? Or do you want to go to the dinner table over there?” Bunny asks curiously as she begins to chop up some onions and garlic to add to the pasta sauce she’s making.

“No, I can do it here.” Esme says confidently and Bunny nods as she continues to chop.

“So how much homework do you have tonight?” Bunny asks idly as she looks over to Esme as the little girl pulls out a sparkly navy blue folder with a white label that says homework on it.

“I only have vocabulary and math to do tonight. And they’re only two worksheets.” Esme says with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Ok, do you want to try and do it yourself and if you get stuck you can ask me for help? I don’t know how your dad does homework with you.” Bunny says softly at a loss for words or direction. She looks over at Esme and sees the little girl smiling brightly at her.

“I usually do it myself but Daddy helps me if I get stuck.” Esme says nodding her head as she pulls out a pencil case that is also sparkly and purple. Bunny nods and smiles warmly at the little girl.

“Ok, that works for me.” Bunny says nodding as she turns and adds the chopped onions and garlic to the large pot on her stove. Stirring the onions and garlic she smiles when the scent of them cooking together enters her nose.

It’s not much longer before Bunny is adding the jar of pureed tomatoes to the pot with the onions and garlic and she begins to season the sauce with oregano and basil.

“Hey Bunny, I need help with my nine times table. I keep getting stuck on that one.” Esme says from behind Bunny and she turns to face the little girl.

“Ok what are you having trouble with?” Bunny asks as she moves to lean over the kitchen island to look at the little girl’s math worksheet.

“It’s the only times table that I have trouble remembering.” Esme said dejectedly as she huffed down at her worksheet.

“Okay, do you have a piece of scrap paper?” Bunny asked and Esme nodded handing her a piece of spare paper. Bunny easily picked up Esme’s pencil and began to write out the nine times table for the little girl. When she was done writing it out she turned it around to show Esme. “So the way that I was taught was that each number in your answer for the nine times table will add up to nine. This only works for up to nine times ten though.” Bunny began to explain to Esme. She points to show the little girl that if she adds each number in the answer it will add up to nine. “Also the first column of the answer goes from zero to nine and the second column goes the opposite nine to zero.” she explains as she shows that little girl. “Does that help you?” she asks, worried that she might have confused the little girl even more.

“It did. Thank you.” Esme says nodding quickly as she begins to fill in the answers for the worksheet. “So if I add nine to this answer I will get the next one right?”

“Yes that’s right.” Bunny says relieved that Esme seems to understand it.

“Cool thanks!” Esme said happily as she quickly finished her worksheet. “So can I help with dinner now?” Esme asked as she began to pack away her homework.

“Sure thing kiddo. Pull up a chair and I’ll let you dredge the chicken so I can fry them.” Bunny explains as she begins to set out plates on the kitchen island for the dredging. Cracking two eggs she beat them until the yolks and egg whites were mixed on one of the plates and then poured out some breadcrumbs on the other plate.  Esme pulled a chair around the side of the island and climbed up onto it. Bunny easily flattened the chicken breasts and handed them to Esme to dip into the egg mixture and then into the breadcrumbs before laying them on a plate for Bunny. “So I was thinking maybe tonight we could watch some Pirates of the Caribbean? And then maybe tomorrow we could watch The Mummy?” Bunny suggested as she laid the coated chicken breasts in the pan of heated oil.

“I love pirates!” cheered Esme excitedly. Bunny smiled over her shoulder at the little girl who was still standing on the chair at the kitchen island. “I’ve never seen The Mummy though.” Bunny gasps loudly and presses a hand to her chest in mock outrage.

“You’ve never seen The Mummy? Oh I’m gonna show you all of my favorite movies. This is gonna be fun! What kind of movies do you like? Are there certain ones that you like?” Bunny asked over her shoulder as she would periodically look over it to Esme.

“I watch a lot of Disney movies. Dad doesn’t really know anything besides Disney.” Esme said with a shrug of her shoulders.

“Oh well that’s good because I have a ton of Disney movies that we could watch. What about Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter? Do you like those too?” Bunny asked curiously.

“You love Disney too?!” Esme cried as she bounced a little bit on the chair. Bunny laughs softly as she nods her head.

“Oh yeah I grew up on Disney kiddo. I’m like a Disney guru.” Bunny said making a silly face at Esme over her shoulder making the little girl laugh.

As dinner continued to cook the two of them continued to talk about movies that they could watch together during the week that Esme would be here. Once dinner was done Bunny easily made two plates and walked them over to the coffee table in her living room and turned on the tv pulling up the Pirates movie. She quickly then got Esme situated on the floor before going back to the kitchen to grab silverware and their drinks. Before she walked back into the living room she grabbed her phone and checked to see if she had any messages from Jack. When she saw that there weren’t any she quickly headed into the living room figuring that he was still busy with work.

———

“I love that movie!” Gushed Esme as the credits rolled for the first pirates movie on the tv screen. Bunny laughed and nodded her head. The two of them had finished their dinner about halfway through the film and just wound up slouched on the floor leaning back against the couch.

Bunny sat half slouched against the couch with one knee bent in front of her and one leg splayed out. Butter laid draped between her legs with his head resting on her thigh. He was snoring loudly with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Bunny looked down at the snoozing dog and laughed softly at him.

“I do too. It’s a really good movie.” Bunny said easily as her hand came down to rest in Butter’s fur and she began to pet him softly along his body.

“So we’ll be able to do that every night? Watch one of the movies you have?” Esme asked as she rested her head back on the cushion of the couch and rolled it to look over at Bunny. Bunny turned her head and smiled warmly at the little girl. She looked so at peace with where she was right now. Her eyes were sparkling, her smile was lazy, she looked satisfied.

“Of course I’ve got tons of movies that we could watch. I’ve got The Mummy we could watch tomorrow. There’s also some girlie movies likes 13 Going On 30 or Pipi Longstocking.” Bunny told Esme. Esme nodded her head eagerly at all the movies that Bunny was naming off. “Alright how about this we watch one more pirate movie before bed and to relax we’ll do some face masks?” Bunny suggests as she nudges Butter who wakes with a start and yelp as he twists his body until he’s standing on his little legs making Esme giggle next to the two of them. Bunny shakes her head at the dog and sighs. “Always such a hot mess.”

“What’s a face mask?” Esme asked softly and Bunny whipped her head around to her with a delighted gasp and wide eyes.

———

Bunny was finishing up smearing the lumpy light green avocado mixture onto Esme’s face. Just then Bunny heard her phone chime and not moving from her spot in front of Esme she quickly finished applying the face mask to her face.

Once done she set the bowl of the face mask down and grabbed her phone quickly. Seeing that she had a message from Jack she opened it and read it.

Is it alright to video call now?

She smiled as she read the message knowing that Jack was probably anxious to talk to his little girl. He hadn’t sent her a message besides when they were on their way to the park. Typing out a message she turned to see Esme admiring herself in the mirror that Bunny had brought out.

“Hey Es, wanna video call your dad?” She asked kindly and the little girl quickly turned to her nodding her head rapidly.

“Yes can we call him?” She asked hurriedly. Bunny smiled and tapped the video call button on Jack’s contact and handed the phone to Esme. Bunny then began applying her own face mask to her face while the two of them waited for Jack to pick up, which he did after only a few rings.

“Oh my god! What did you get into?” Came Jack’s worried cry and Bunny jolted at his loud tone. She quickly walked behind Esme to look into the phone as well.

“It’s nothing bad, it’s just a face mask. Perfectly fine and safe I swear. We’re doing a little girl spa night.” Bunny said quickly and watched as Jack stare at the two of them with concern for a moment.

Just then Bunny watched as another man peered over Jack’s shoulder and she shrieked loudly making Esme whip around to look at her as she retreated from the screen. The words from the man not resonating with Bunny at all as she quickly moved away from the phone. Esme watched her shrewdly for a moment until a bright happy grin spread across her face.

“Hi Uncle Tequila! I don’t think Bunny wants you to see her in her avocado face mask.” Esme teased happily as she giggled. Bunny shook her head at the little girl who grinned over at her from her spot on the chair.

“Oh and I can?” Came Jack’s question over the phone and Bunny rolled her eyes at Esme who giggled loudly again. Huffing out a soft breath Bunny spoke up so that Jack could hear her.

“Jack we’re friends of course you can see me in a face mask. I’m watching your daughter. Uncle Tequila is a literal stranger.” Bunny said loud enough for Jack to hear. She rolled her eyes and felt her face warm at having been seen in a face mask by someone other than Jack and Esme. Not to mention now that she thought about it she was quite embarrassed that Jack had seen her in her face mask as well.

“Bunny’s embarrassed.” Esme sang teasingly as she grinned into the phone at her father. Bunny scoffed softly at the little girl before a grin of her own spread across her face.

“Just wait until you’re a teenager little one. You’ll know all about being embarrassed.” Bunny grumbled out and Esme giggled again. Bunny shook her head and began cleaning up the bowl and other things that they had taken out to do face masks giving Esme and Jack some privacy to talk.

———

It wasn’t too long before Esme was walking into the living room from the kitchen still on the phone with Jack. She had a happy sparkle in her eye and as Bunny looked up from the book she was reading she was glad that she was able to give Esme and Jack this little reassurance that things were alright here.

“Hey Bunny, Daddy wants to talk to ya before he hangs up.” Esme said as she let out a big yawn.

“Alright, just give a minute and I’ll help you wash of your face mask. Did you say goodnight to him?” Bunny instructed warmly.

“Yeah. He just wants t’say goodnight to you.” Esme said with a bright smile and Bunny instantly felt her cheeks warm at the thought. Taking the phone from Esme she nodded her head to the little to go down the hallway.

“Meet ya in the bathroom?” She suggested lightly and Esme nodded before walking away down the hallway. Turning back to the phone she smiled at Jack who grinned and chuckled lightly at her.

“Still can’t get over that green stuff on your face.” He said softly.

“I’ll have you know it does wonders for the skin.” Bunny defended with a laugh and Jack grinned at her.

“I just wanna say thanks again Bunny. You’re doin’ me a real favor here.” Jack said warmly and for a second there Bunny thought she heard a warm southern accent in his voice that made her head tilt a little bit. Odd. Shaking her head lightly she immediately pushed the thought away.

“Jack I told you I don’t mind watching Esme. She’s been a sweetheart. There’s nothing for you to worry about I promise.” Bunny said earnestly as she stared into the phone at Jack.

“Alright, alright. I just I really appreciate it.” Jack said again and Bunny smiled at his almost pleading tone.

“What do I gotta do to get you to stop thanking me?” Bunny asked teasingly and watched as Jack’s eyes dart away from the phone and then back to her. Was that a blush she saw creeping onto his cheeks? Before Jack could become even more embarrassed Bunny spoke up again. “Don’t mention it Jack. Seriously don’t.” She teased him and he chuckled and shook his head. Just then Bunny let out a wide yawn and Jack chuckled again as her hand came up to try and hide the yawn from him.

“Alright I’ll let ya go. I’ll text you tomorrow morning.” He said with a nod and Bunny nodded along with him.

“Sounds good to me. Goodnight.” She said starting to feel the drowsiness creep into her body.

“Goodnight Bunny.” He responded and Bunny smiled before pressing the red button on the bottom of the screen. With the call ended Bunny set her book aside and stood up stretching. Yawning again she began to walk down the hallway towards the bathroom. When she saw Esme sitting up on the counter she grinned at the little girl.

“Alright girlie let’s get these masks off and you tucked up into bed.” Bunny said warmly and set about cleaning off Esme’s face first.

———

Bunny jolted awake suddenly and sat straight up in bed. Her hand came up to her chest where she felt her heart racing so fast underneath her skin. Taking a moment to look around the dark room she wondered what had woken her up so suddenly when she heard it. A loud piercing scream rang through the air and Bunny was instantly moving.

Throwing off the covers Bunny scrambled out of bed a little unceremoniously and almost fell when her feet got stuck in the blanket. But she was able to get to her feet and rushed out of the room. She grabbed the doorknob to the guest bedroom across the hallway from her and opened the door quickly. Her hand slid along the wall for the light switch and when she finally found it she clicked the light on.

Her heart clenched tightly in her chest when her eyes adjusted to see a bed head wild eyed Esme sitting straight up in bed shaking. Moving to the side of the bed Bunny sat down on it and peered at the little girl who was whimpering and shaking as she sat in the bed.

Bunny gently placed a  hand on Esme’s back and began to gently rub circles trying to soothe the girl. Slowly catching her breath Bunny watched as Esme’s eyes slowed their wild and crazed darting around the room. Her breaths began to slow and her trembling also eased. Suddenly her body slumped forward and Bunny quickly wrapped the girl in her arms where Esme curled into her and buried her face in Bunny’s neck.

“I had a nightmare. Daddy didn’t come home. And then I woke up and it wasn’t my room.” Esme cried softly and Bunny tightened her arms around the little girl.

“It’s ok, your Dad is fine. Remember we just talked to him a few hours ago. And when you get in the morning he’s gonna call again. He told me he was gonna call again.” Bunny tried to reassure the little girl softly.

“I miss him.” Esme whimpered softly and Bunny rested her head on top of the girl’s.

“I know sweetheart. It’s a big change for the two of you. I know he was very worried about you when he had to leave and I know he still worries about you. But I’ll get you through it and soon enough he’ll be home.” Bunny reassured.

“Can you stay until I fall back asleep?” Esme asked quietly.

“Of course, let me just grab my phone for my alarm in case I fall asleep ok?” Bunny said softly. Esme nodded and Bunny quickly left the room only to return moments later with her phone and phone charger. She pulled it into the wall and set the phone on the end table next Esme’s bed.

The little girl then scooted over and Bunny climbed on top of the covers next to the little girl. She opened up her arms and Esme quickly rushed to snuggle herself against the woman. Bunny lay there holding Esme and let her hand gently trail up and down the girl’s back hoping to ease her back into sleep.

Not long after Bunny heard Esme’s soft snores as the little girl fell back asleep. Bunny tried her hardest to keep her eyes open but soon she found herself falling asleep next to the little girl.

———

The loud blaring of Bunny’s alarm had both Bunny and Esme groaning and trying to bury their heads back into the pillows beneath them. Bunny chuckled softly as her hand reached out blindly to grab her phone and shut off the alarm. When it finally ended she sighed softly and began to snuggle back into the bed.

Just then the loud chiming of a video call came through on the phone and Bunny groaned again and rolled over to grab the phone. She yawned widely as she sat up in bed and accepted the video call not bothering to look at it.

“Well good morning sleepyhead!” Came the chipper voice of Jack and Bunny’s whole body seemed to jerk in it’s spot as her eyes opened wide to stare at his smiling face on her phone.

“Is that Daddy?” Asked Esme suddenly wide awake. She sat up and then clambered behind Bunny to peer over her shoulder.

“There’s my sleeping beauty.” Jack said happily as he smiled. Bunny smiled as she began to rub sleep out of her eyes. “Hey is everything ok? You look like you didn’t get much sleep.” Jack said concerned and Bunny realized he was talking to her and not Esme.

“Geeze Whisk, have you forgotten how to talk to women after all this time?” Came a snarky voice in the background of Jack’s phone. Bunny burst out laughing when she heard the voice and shook her head as she watched Jack’s cheeks heat up again. “Nothin’ more than a woman wants to hear is that she looks like she needs more sleep.” Came the voice again and Bunny chuckled as she titled her head to the side and pursed her lips.

“He’s not wrong.” She teased Jack and he made a face at her making both her and Esme laugh at him. Turning to Esme she began to hand over the phone to the little girl. “Here talk to your Dad while you pick out your clothes for school. I’m gonna go get dressed alright?” Bunny suggested and Esme nodded thankfully up at her.

“Thanks Bunny.” Esme said warmly and Bunny nodded knowing that the little girl meant more than just this. Standing from the bed Bunny stretched and tuned out the conversation that Esme and Jack were having before she walked out of the room and across the hall to her own room.

Dressing quickly she walked back out of the room and down to the kitchen so that she could wake Butter up and let him out before she started breakfast.

“C’mon Butter, let’s get you out in the backyard.” Bunny called out to the dog who was laying in his bed waiting for her. She laughed as he launched himself out of the dog bed and began booking it down the hallway to the back door. “Alright, alright hold your horses.” He grumbled out as he began to bounce on his feet at the back door barking happily. Opening the door for him she watched as he quickly ran for the squirrels that had congregated under her bird feeders. She chuckled softly and shook her head as she watched him try in vain to get to the squirrels. “Crazy dog.” She scoffed softly and turned back to the hallway after shutting the door.

Walking back down the hallway she meets Esme at the bottom of the stairs still talking to Jack. Bunny smiles and walks into the kitchen and pulls out a pan as well as some eggs and bacon for their breakfast.

“Hey Esme, how does eggs and bacon sound for breakfast?” Bunny asks warmly.

“That sounds good to me.” Esme says happily as she climbs onto one of the stools at the kitchen island.

“Sounds good to me too.” Jack says over the phone and Bunny laughs softly at him.

“Me too!” Chimes in another voice and Bunny grins as she shakes her head.

“Daddy! Uncle Tequila you’re not here you can’t have any.” Esme scolds them and Bunny laughs happily as she begins breakfast. They all happily chat as Bunny cooks and soon enough her and Esme are sitting down at the dining table to eat. Bunny sets the plates down and hears Butter barking at the back door. She quickly lets him back inside and then comes back to the kitchen to eat with Esme.

“So Esme tells me that you two had a rough night last night?” Jack asks softly from the phone that Esme had propped up against the jug of milk in the middle of the table. Bunny shrugs her shoulders as she finishes chewing her bite of eggs.

“It wasn’t too bad. She just missed you that’s all.” Bunny said truthfully and Jack nodded before opening his mouth. Bunny held up a finger to him and narrowed her eyes at him. “I swear Jack if you thank me one more time.” She threatened softly pointing her fork at him through the phone, Jack quickly shut his mouth and Bunny nodded her head. “It’s no big deal. It’s gonna take some adjusting but we’ll get through it.” Jack nodded his head at her and smiled warmly.

“Alright well me and Tequila are gonna’ head out to grab some breakfast. I’ll text ya later alright?” He said and Bunny nodded her head as she took another bite of eggs.

“Sounds good.” Bunny said easily and Jack smiled at her.

“Bye Es. Love ya!” Jack said lovingly to his daughter and she easily returned the sentiment.

“Love you Daddy. Bye!” Esme called out before pressing the end button. The two of them easily fell into a comfortable silence as they finished eating their breakfast.

“So I’ve noticed you and your Dad have accents but not all the time?” Bunny asked curiously as she picked up both plates from the table and began walking them over to the sink.

“Oh yeah Daddy and I are from Kentucky.” Esme said proudly and Bunny smiled as she nodded her head at the little girl. “I’ve got a little accent but Daddy’s got a bigger one. But ever since Mommy died he doesn’t use it.” Esme explained softly and Bunny stopped what she was doing and turned swiftly to the little girl.

“I’m so sorry Esme. I didn’t mean to bring this up.” Bunny said truthfully watching the little girl.

“It’s okay. It happened awhile ago. Daddy still gets sad sometimes but not as much anymore.” Esme said softly. Bunny knelt down and held her arms open for the little girl who quickly rushed into them and hugged Bunny tightly.

“It’s okay for him to be sad. And you too. It’s okay for that.” Bunny said softly as she held the little girl tightly. “If you ever wanna talk about your Mom you let me know and I’ll sit and listen ok?”

“Ok.” Esme said nodding her head.

“Good. Ok, go brush your teeth and I’ll pack a lunch for ya.” Bunny said easily as they pulled away from each other and the little girl ran up the stairs to her bedroom to finish getting ready for school.

Standing Bunny turned back to the sink and sighed softly. She was still learning things about Jack and Esme and truly didn’t mean to bring up her Mom at all. Now the accent she’d been hearing over the phone made sense.

———

The day progressed like normal if albeit a little more sluggish than it usually did. There was a sleepy haze hovering over Bunny since she woke up this morning to Esme screaming. But she pushed through it and went about her work day. She idly wondered if Esme was having as much trouble today staying awake as she was.

Soon the alarm on her phone went off and Bunny powered down her computer. She was still having difficulty with one client’s website design and hadn’t made any leeway unfortunately. Hopefully soon she’d find the inspiration to get the way the client wanted it.

Walking to the front door she grabbed onto Butter’s leash and whistled for him. His little pitter patter of feet on the hardwood floors filled the house and he came running into the front entryway. When she opened up the front door after putting the leash on Butter she could see that it was much foggier than it had been this morning. Making a quick decision on what they would have for dinner she smiled widely and the two of them set off towards the bus stop.

Once they had gotten to the bus stop Bunny stood there waiting with Butter who sat down at her feet and began to pant for air with his tongue hanging out. It wasn’t that long of a wait but as Bunny stood there she could feel the chill starting to creep into her bones and shivered slightly at it. Her phone chimed from in her pocket and pulling it out she saw that she had a message from Jack.

How are you guys doing? You smiled down at the phone and began typing out a response. It was sweet that he was checking in with her and Esme already.

Sleepy but good. Waiting for Es to get home. Bunny shook her head softly as her eyes darted over to see Butter rolling on the sidewalk on his back.

Are you alright? Came the next message and Bunny felt a warmth envelope her chest at his worry and concern for her.

I’m fine. I planned an exciting adventure to the grocery store to get ingredients for dinner. Hopefully it’ll wake us both up. Bunny heard the loud brakes of the bus squeaking behind her and she looked up from her phone to see the bus pulling up to the curb.

Esme slowly walked down the steps of the bus with a tired look in her eyes and Bunny could feel her heart melt at the way Esme’s shoulders slumped forward as she walked along the sidewalk towards her and Butter. She looked up at Bunny once she was in front of her and let out a big wide yawn that made Bunny start to yawn before she quickly covered her mouth to hide it. Esme giggled brightly at her and Bunny couldn’t help but grin at the little girl.

“So what do you say to a walk around the block and then head to the grocery store to get some stuff for dinner I had planned? I think it’s a little too cold for the park today.” Bunny suggested softly as she watched Esme tilt her head to the side tiredly.

“That sounds good.” Esme said with a sleepy nod of her head. “What’s for dinner?”

“It’s a surprise but we’re gonna make it fun.” Bunny said a little cryptically and she grinned as Esme looked up at her with a squinted look. “C’mon let’s get this butterball walking and home, then we can head out to the grocery store.” Bunny said hurriedly as she began ushering Esme and Butter around the block.

———

It took a little bit longer for the three of them to get around the block because half way around the block Butter spotted his nemesis, Mr. Squirrel and had to take a good few moments to continuously bark at his rival. But finally Bunny was opening the front door and everyone was piling into the front hallway. Quickly unhooking Butter’s leash Bunny hung it up on the hook and then walked farther into the house.

“Alright kiddo, how much homework do you have tonight?” she asked over her shoulder as she walked down the hallway to the craft room at the back of her house.

“Only one worksheet for vocabulary.” Esme said happily as she stood watching Bunny curiously.

“Good, set your backpack in the kitchen and then come help me.” Came Bunny’s voice from the craft room that she had walked into.

Esme did as she was told and then walked down the hallway to the room at the end of the hallway. Stepping into the room Esme let out a soft gasp at all the craft material on display. Her eyes danced around the room with excitement, there was a small square table in the middle of the room that many different labeled containers stored underneath it that held different craft materials. On the walls were different inspirational posters and other craft tools stored in different odd puzzle like configurations. There was a long desk along one side of the room with a computer monitor and printer on one section of it and right next to it was a sewing machine. The room was brightly decorated with rainbow colored posters and wall decorations around the craft storage. Esme could feel herself starting to grow excited at the possibilities that she would be to make with all of these materials.

Just then there was a loud grunt on the other side of the room and Esme walked over to see Bunny bent over a very large chest that looked like a pirate’s treasure chest. Esme bounced over with excitement building up inside her.

“Is this your treasure chest?” Esme asked excited and Bunny laughed happily at the little girl’s excitement.

“Oh yeah, but it’s a different type of treasure.” Bunny said conspiratorially. She opened the lid of the chest and let it fall gently back to reveal what was stored inside. Esme gasped as she spotted all the clothes that were folded and laid inside. Reaching out she let her hand gently graze the clothes and grinned up at Bunny.

         “Are these costumes?” Esme asked as she practically vibrated next to Bunny.

         “Sure are. I have a friend at the local stage theater who lets me pick out any of the costumes that they are getting rid of after they no longer need the costumes. Plus I’ve sewn a few of these, nothing crazy or anything.” Bunny explained. “But for our dinner tonight we have to dress up to go get it. It’s the only way that you should go out and get these ingredients. Are you down for that?” Bunny asked seriously as she stood next to Esme folding her arms over her chest.

         “Yes! Yes! What are we dressing up as?” Esme asked excitedly. Bunny plucked out two large sombreros from the chest and set one on top of Esme’s head making her giggle as it slid down over her eyes. Bunny bent down and tilted the sombrero back so that Esme could see clearly and grinned at the little girl.

         “You look absolutely perfect.” Bunny said happily. “I figured we need a little pick me up for dinner tonight since we’re both tired. What better way than dressing up to go get ingredients for Taco Tuesday!” she cheered the end of the sentence loudly and Esme squealed with delight and bounced on her toes making the sombrero bob and sway with her movements. “Alright what do you say to take a few pictures for your Dad so we can send them to him?” Bunny asked then and Esme grinned up at her nodding her head eagerly. Bunny laughed softly and placed her own sombrero on her head and knelt down next to Esme.

   “Do you have a selfie stick?” Esme asked softly and Bunny tilted her head for a second trying to remember if she did have one.

   “Oh! Yes hold on!” Bunny said, suddenly remembering. She clambered up onto her feet and moved to the closet in the room and opened the door. Esme squealed as she saw what was inside the closet making Bunny whirl back around to her in surprise. “What? What is it?” she asked hurriedly before Esme rushed into the closet.

   “You have pirate swords!” Esme cheered loudly and Bunny laughed relieved as Esme pulled out the fake pirate sword from the closet.

   “Yeah, I forgot I had all these props for when the community does photo booths. Jeremy the guard bought me a selfie stick at one of the parties that the community threw and I completely forgot about it.” Bunny explained as she looked for the selfie stick in the closet. “Got it!” she called and pulled it out of the closet triumphantly.

   “Can we dress up as pirates one day after school?” Esme asked sweetly and Bunny smiled nodding her head at the little girl who cheered happily and jumped on her toes.

   “Okay go ahead and put that back for now. We will definitely dress up as pirates one day. I promise.” Bunny promised as she nodded her head over to the closet for Esme. Esme did as she was told and then came back to stand next to a kneeling Bunny. They both smiled for the first picture and Bunny snapped a few shots.

   “Can we do a silly face one?” Esme asked as she giggled happily. Bunny nodded and lined up the phone again and the two of them laughed and giggled as they made funny faces for the pictures.

   “Alright let’s pick which ones to send to your dad and then we’ll head to the grocery store.” Bunny said as she pulled her phone from the selfie stick and showed Esme all of the pictures that she took. She let Esme pick a handful of them and sent them off to Jack with a smile. “Ok kiddo let’s get going so we can get the ingredients.” Bunny said smiling as she put away the selfie stick before ushering Esme out of the room as they both still wear the sombreros on their heads.

———

   While they’re walking up and down the aisles Bunny is laughing as Esme bounces around making her sombrero flop around her head. Just then Bunny hears her cellphone start ringing and she pulls it out seeing that Jack is video calling her. She grins and looks over at Esme showing her the phone to the little girl. Esme bounced over and giggle as she took the phone from Bunny and quickly answered the call from her Dad.

   “Daddy! Happy Taco Tuesday!” She cheered happily as she saw her father show up on the phone screen. Jack’s laugh sounded from the phone and Bunny smiled at the sound. It was a sound that she knew she was starting to get used to hearing and looked forward to it whenever he called. Shaking her head she continued down the aisle and picked out taco shells that she would need for dinner.

   “Hey Es, do you want hard taco shells? Or do you want to do soft tortillas?” Bunny asked over her shoulder to the little girl. She came bounding over to her with the phone with happiness just emitting from her in waves. Bunny smiles at Jack as she sees him on the screen as a feeling of relief and gratitude fills her that Esme is able to see her father even if it’s just on a video call.

   “I want hard taco shells.” Esme says in response and Bunny nods her head before picking up a package of the taco shells. She continues down the aisle with Esme walking next to her talking animated to her dad.

   “So I really liked those pictures you sent him girls.” Came Jack’s voice sounding a little teasing and Bunny laughed happily at that.

   “Oh yeah it’s part of my plan to wake us up. It is Taco Tuesday and we have to celebrate. What better way than to wear sombreros as we pick out taco ingredients for dinner.” Bunny said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Plus it’s always fun cooking together and I figured Esme would enjoy it.”

   “Oh I think it’s a great idea and it looks like you guys are having a ton of fun.” Jack said warmly and Esme giggled as she nodded her head making the sombrero to fall over her eyes. Bunny laughed and helped adjust the hat on her head.

   “Having a lot of fun Daddy. I really like being with Bunny.” Esme said happily and Bunny felt her heart melt at the little girl’s words. She wrapped one arm around the little girl and cuddled her into her side smiling down at Esme.

   “And it definitely looks like Bunny enjoys having you around.” Jack said fondly and Bunny looked over at him as she still held Esme close to her. She smiled brightly at the man on the phone screen and watched as his own smile grew and his breath stuttered in his chest.

   “Alright kiddo let’s get going and finish up our shopping so that we can get cooking. I’m getting hungry.” Bunny said as she continued down the aisle letting Esme time to talk with her dad.

———

   It was later that night that Bunny and Esme are sitting on the floor in the living room as 13 Going On 30 is playing on the t.v. Dinner was done and cleaned away already and the two of them are sitting with their backs against the couch and the coffee table in front of them. Bunny has a wide array of nail polishes laid out on the coffee table in front of them.

   “Alright so I figured we could do something special tonight by doing manicures and pedicures.” Bunny suggested kindly. “I can paint your nails and do anything you want on them.”

   “Oooh, really?” Esme asked excitedly as she looked over the many bottles of nail polish. “What do you normally do?” Esme asked curiously.

   “Well I usually do two different colors unless I find something on Pinterest that I’d like to try out. I find different patterns that I like to try sometimes. But it’s up to you if I can do it I’ll do it. Let me show you some of the stuff I’ve found on Pinterest that I’ve done.” Bunny explained as she pulled up her Pinterest on her phone and began showing Esme some of the nail painting ideas that she’s been able to do.

   Esme took a few minutes to look over the Pinterest board that Bunny had created. Bunny watched as she scrolled through the pictures and then smiled when Esme turned the phone back to show her the nail polish design she would like done on her nails. It was a simple design of black nails with rainbow dots.

   “Ok, go wash your hands first and then we’ll get started.” Bunny said excitedly as she too got up from the floor pausing the movie. Esme rushed off to the bathroom to wash her hands and Bunny went into the kitchen and washed her hands as well before coming back to the living room. “Alright so first things first, pick a hand lotion you would like to wear once I’m done. Once your nails are dry I’ll put the lotion on your hands to make them smell good.” Bunny explained as she showed Esme her collection of hand lotions.

   “Why do you have so many hand lotions?” Esme asked as she began to sniff each other trying to figure out which one she would like to wear.

   “I have dry skin and the skin on my hands crack and dries out very quickly if I don’t use hand lotion.” Bunny explained as she smiled at Esme. “I also like the smell of the lotions so I buy a bunch of different ones to try out.”

   “I like this purple flower one.” Esme says as she shows Bunny a container of lavender hand lotion. Bunny nods her head and sets aside the hand lotion. Bunny then started setting up the nail polish she would need to be able to paint Esme’s nails.

   “Ok so we’ll use that at the end. That’s a good smell, it should help you relax. Lavender is a relaxing scent.” Bunny said as she continued to set up everything. “Alright so first what I’m gonna do is a cuticle oil that’s going to moisturize your nails and cuticles. It’s gonna help your nails grow too because I’m going to rub it into your skin. Then I’ll begin painting your nails ok?” Bunny explained to the little girl with a smile.

   “Ok, can we still watch the movie while we do this?” Esme asked eagerly and Bunny nodded her head.

   “Of course. We have to see how the movie ends, duh.” Bunny says like it’s a no brainer and grins at the excited girl.

   Soon Bunny began applying the cuticle oil around each nail on the girls’ hands and began to rub it into the skin. The little girl watched for a little bit before her attention was pulled back to the movie playing on the t.v.

   “Are you going to paint your nails too?” Esme asked curiously as she looked back at what Bunny was doing.

   “Yeah I’ll even let you pick out my nail polish and design.” Said Bunny as she continued to massage Esme’s fingers.

   “Could we match?” Esme asked, sounding unsure and insecure. Bunny looked up suddenly at the little girl and saw her avoiding her eye. She saw the little girl bite her bottom lip in concern and Bunny couldn’t help but feel for the little girl. She wonders if the little girl is looking for a motherly figure to look up to and Bunny realizes that she doesn’t want to overstep but she would love to step up and be that person for Esme.

   “Of course we could match. I think that’d be really cool to do.” Bunny gushed happily. She knew that she would have to tread lightly with wanting to be there for Esme, she didn’t want to step on any boundaries that the girl had or any parenting that Jack had for her. So Bunny knew she would be there for Esme whenever she could be and would look out for her. She wouldn’t push but she’d always try to be there for her. “So what’s going on with school? Anything exciting?” Bunny asked as she began to paint Esme’s nails.

   “Well I made a new friend named Nadia. She’s really cool. She’s a lot of fun.” Esme said happily.

“That’s great Es! I’m glad you made a new friend. Does she live far from here?” Bunny said excitedly as she swiped base coat onto her nails. Blowing softly on her nails Bunny looking up at Esme and saw the slightly saddened look on her face.

“No, she lives over by the library.” Esme replied a little downtrodden and Bunny nodded her head at the little girl.

“Well that’s not too far from here. If the two of you ever wanted to hang out after school like on the weekends I don’t think it would be too far of a drive for your Dad.” Bunny said knowingly and Esme seemed to perk up at that.

“Do you think he’d let us have sleepovers?” Esme asked as she bounced slightly in her seat. Bunny smiled as she set aside the base coat bottle and picked up the black nail polish bottle.

“It’s up to him sweetheart I don’t know what he would say.” Bunny said truthfully not wanting to get the girl’s hopes up to only be crushed when her Dad said no. Esme nodded her head at what Bunny said and Bunny began to focus on painting the first layer of black nail polish.

“Nadia said she’s going to introduce me to her other friends too. Said I should make more friends who will be nice to me.” Esme said easily and Bunny furrowed her eyebrows at that.

“What do you mean friend who will be nice to you? Is there someone not being nice to you at school?” Bunny asked as she felt her body tense at the idea that there were kids who weren’t being nice to Esme. Esme was such a sweet girl in her eyes she couldn’t imagine anyone finding anything to tease Esme about. And then suddenly it clicked. Bunny looked up to see Esme trying to avoid her eyes once again. “Es, are you still being bullied?” She asked softly as she stopped painting her nails and looked up at her giving her her full attention.

Esme shrugged her shoulders and kept trying to avoid Bunny’s eyes. Bunny tilted her head down to try and catch Esme’s line of sight. When she wasn’t able to Bunny sighed softly.

“You know, I was bullied when I was a little bit older than you.” Bunny said softly and saw out of the corner of her eye that Esme was now looking up at her surprised.

“Really?” Esme asked in shock. “But you’re so cool.” She said softly and Bunny laughed loudly at that.

“Thank you. I didn’t used to be when I was a kid though. The kids at my school made fun of me because I was always reading. Anytime I had spare time while at school I had my face buried in a book. I had some friends but we weren’t popular. We didn’t do a lot of sports, just what was required in gym class. I was more interested in books and doing crafts than sports and going to parties like a lot of the other kids at my school. So I got picked on a lot at school. Oh! And I loved to swim, my family had a swimming pool and I was in it all summer from sun up to sun down pretty much. The chlorine in the pool started to change the color of my hair and when I went back to school I got teased for that by the kids at my school.” Bunny explained about her experience in school. Esme watched her silently as she listened to what Bunny said.

“How did you get rid of the bullies?” Esme asked softly. Bunny sat there for a moment and thought back to how she got the bullies to stop teasing her.

“I showed them that I didn’t care about what they said. The bullies are looking for a reaction from you. They want to see you cry and get upset. If you don’t cry or get upset they could stop. Or you can stand up to them and tell them to stop.” Bunny said truthfully.

“Like Nadia did the other day when the girls were teasing me about not playing in gym.” Esme said matter of factly. Bunny nodded her head.

“Did the girls stop teasing you after Nadia told them to stop?” Bunny asked curiously.

“They did.” Esme said nodding her head.

“Ok so maybe when they start teasing you again tell them no and stop. If they don’t stop you go to a teacher and tell the teacher what’s going on. They shouldn’t be teasing you for not being in gym.” Bunny said honestly.

“I don’t want to get in trouble.” Esme said dejectedly as she looked down at the floor.

“You won’t get in trouble for telling someone to stop teasing you. Or telling the teacher what’s going on.” Bunny said emphatically. “If someone is bothering you and making trouble for you, you have to say something otherwise people can’t help you sweetheart.”

“Ok. If they start teasing me again I’ll say something.” Esme said as she nodded.

“So maybe we need to find you something that you would be able to do instead of gym. Something that your asthma wouldn’t be aggravated. Let me talk to your Dad later and see if we can try something this weekend before he comes home.” Bunny suggested as she began to paint Esme’s nails again.

“You think there’s something that I can do that’s a sport?” Esme asked.

“There’s definitely a possibility. We’ll start off easy though and do something that’s not a sport. We’ll see how you do and then go from there.” Bunny said, trying to caution the little girl. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up too high. We have to see how you do with this first one.” Bunny said softly as she looked at Esme. Esme nodded her head slowly at Bunny and she responded with a soft smile and ruffling the little girl's hair on her head which made her squeal and try to get away without messing up her freshly painted nails.

———

“Dad! Look at my nails! Bunny painted them for me. And she painted her nails the same way so that we match!” Esme said excitedly as she showed Jack her painted nails as she sat up in her bed. Bunny was in her own room getting changed for bed and could hear the conversation going on between the two of them. She tuned it out a little bit to give the two of them some privacy but kept an ear out for anytime Esme would call out her name.

It was probably a good ten minutes later that Esme called out to Bunny from across the hall. Placing her bookmark in the science fiction novel that she was reading she set the book on the bed side table and got up from the bed. Walking across the hall she smiled as she pushed the door open and saw Esme lounging back on her pillows as she held the phone up to still look at her Dad. Her eyes were drooping and she had a sleepy smile on her face when she noticed Bunny.

“Dad said he wanted to say goodnight to you.” Esme said softly and Bunny nodded her head at the little girl.

“Sure thing, did you finish saying goodnight? I’d like to talk to your Dad for a quick second.” Bunny explained as Esme handed her the phone.

“Yeah. Can you read me a story once you’re done?” Esme asked as she yawned widely. Bunny laughed softly and nodded her head at Esme.

“Of course I can. Once I’m done I’ll come back in okay?” she said easily to Esme and Esme just nodded as she snuggled further into the bed.

Turning back to the phone Bunny walked out of Esme’s room and into her own. Bunny smiled softly at herself as she realized it was only day two with the little girl and she already thought of the spare room as Esme’s room.

“What’s the smile on your face for?” asked Jack and Bunny looked back at her phone letting the smile widen.

“I was just thinking that that’s Esme’s room already.” she said fondly and Jack grinned at her through the phone. “So I wanted to talk to you about possibly enrolling Esme in a dog yoga class that the community holds on the weekend.” Bunny explained confidently to Jack. “She mentioned that she’s still being bullied and teased at school for not being able to do gym or sports. I did a little bit of research and I have a friend in the dog yoga class who has asthma. Yoga is something that Esme could be able to do even with her asthma. It’s a slow class and very low key, I’ve gone a few times and maybe it’ll help with her asthma.” Bunny began to ramble again, she grimaced slightly as the words left her mouth and she felt herself falling farther and farther down the rabbit hole of trying to convince Jack to let Esme go to yoga. She had even begun to pace as she talked about what she wanted to do for Esme without even being aware of it. “I’ll be with her there the whole time. I’ll make sure I have her inhaler. I don’t want to overstep but she wants to do sports and she’s been upset about the teasing and bullying.”

“Easy Bunny, easy.” Jack said lowly with a little bit of an accent and Bunny took in a deep breath after stopping the word flow coming from her mouth. She shivered a little bit as the low easy comforting tone of Jack’s voice embraced her through the phone. His voice was so soothing and the accent that her ears now tried to catch and pick up was something that she knew she would love to listen to for hours. Feeling a flush grace her cheeks she grimaced slightly at the phone. “Let me call her doctor tomorrow morning and ask if that would be alright. To me it sounds fine, I know you’ll take care of her. I couldn’t ask for a better guardian to Esme than you.” Jack said softly and Bunny felt her heart thud heavily in her chest.

“Thanks Jack.” Bunny said softly as tears began to prick her eyes. She didn’t know why his words were affecting her like this. Yeah, she cared about Esme and wanted the best for the little girl but was just two days long enough to make her so invested in the girl? Bunny stood in the middle of her room where she had stopped her pacing. She stared off into her room and tried to gather her thoughts and found that all she wanted for Esme was her to feel good about herself. She didn’t want Esme to feel bad that the other kids teased her about her asthma. She felt connected to the little girl because of her own childhood past of being bullied and teased. She had wished that there was someone in her life back then who had stood up for her like Nadia was doing for Esme now. Or someone to help make her feel better about herself like she was trying to do for Esme.

“Did I lose ya Bunny?” asked Jack suddenly and Bunny was pulled from her thoughts suddenly. She turned her eyes back to the phone and smiled before letting out a big yawn trying to cover it quickly with her free hand. Jack laughed softly at the sight and Bunny flushed brightly.

“Sorry just got lost in thought for a moment.” she said sheepishly and he shook his head at her.

“No worries Bunny. I’ll let you get to sleep. I’ll let you know what the doctor says after I call her okay?” he says warmly as he grins at her from her phone screen.

“Alright sounds good to me.” she said easily. “Goodnight Jack.”

“Goodnight Bunny.” he responded and Bunny smiled again before hanging up the video call. Feeling her stomach fluttering a little she tried to push it down. She knew it would be dangerous to start developing feelings for her new neighbor so soon. But she couldn’t help but feel happy that he thought she was a good guardian for Esme.

Walking back across the hall to Esme’s room she peeked in and saw the little girl was already asleep snuggled in her bed. A medium sized stuffed octopus clutched tightly in her arms as she snored softly in her sleep. Bunny sighed softly as she leant against the doorframe and watched Esme sleeping. Shaking her head softly she smiled at herself, who knew her new neighbors would manage to weasel their way into her life so easily.

———

The next morning Bunny’s alarm blared her ‘Hype Music’ playlist waking her up from a deep peaceful sleep. She blearily blinked as she noticed the soft gray light filtering into her bedroom. Esme slept through the night! Sitting upright from the bed Bunny silently fist pumped into the air and gasped happily as she swiped her phone from the end table turning off the alarm. She had to tell Jack.

Quickly pulling up Jack’s text message thread she typed out a quick message to him.

Taco Tuesday was a success and Esme slept through the night!

Not waiting for a response she set her phone back down and got up from the bed. Changing easily into a pair of gray baggy sweatpants and a hunter green long sleeved shirt Bunny quickly tied up her hair out of her face and grabbed her phone before exiting her room. She peeked into Esme’s room quickly to see the girl still sound asleep and she grinned from ear to ear before she bounded down the stairs to the kitchen.

“C’mon Butter let’s get you outside to pee.” Bunny said softly as she walked into the kitchen stretching widely feeling more refreshed and accomplished than ever before. She patted her thighs and whistled for Butter who was still snoozing himself on his back half in his dog bed and half out of it.

When he heard her whistle his little body twisted and flipped in such a way that had Bunny groaning in sympathetic pain. But the little dog quickly got to his feet and slid across the floor towards her. She laughed softly and walked him down the back hallway to the back door.

“Go on. Get it done quick so you can come back into the warmth.” she told the dog as he leapt from the back steps and made a mad dash for his arch rival who was once again taunting him with his tittering fluffy tail. Shaking her head Bunny shut the back door and watched for a moment as Butter rushed the squirrel who quickly broke away from the discarded birdseed on the ground.

Turning back around Bunny walked back into the kitchen and set up her phone to begin playing her playlist on the downstairs speakers. She hummed and swayed her hips to the upbeat song and began setting out the ingredients for an egg and veggie omelet. She was cutting up the veggies that she wanted to put in the omelet when she heard the spare bathroom door close from upstairs and she smiled.

She let Butter back into the house and was just plating up one of the omelets when Esme walked into the kitchen already dressed in a pretty light purple shirt and dark wash bootcut blue jeans, her hair was in disarray and she looked crestfallen at that fact as she tried to pull it up into a ponytail.

“Here, eat your omelet and I’ll take care of your hair ok?” Bunny offered as she set the plate of the omelet in front of Esme. Esme looked up at her gratefully and nodded her head.

“Thank you.” she said softly before she began digging into her breakfast.

“No problem, do you want a ponytail or a braid? Two braids?” Bunny asked as she walked around Esme and grabbed the brush that was sitting on the kitchen island.

“Oooh! Can you do two braids? Or two braids that go into one?” Esme asked eagerly.

“I can do two braids, one of either side of your head for today. Anything else fancy and I’ll have to look it up on google on how to do it.” Bunny said as she began to brush out Esme’s long hair.

“You’d do that? Look it up for me?” Esme asked curiously and with a hopefully lilt to her voice.

“Of course. If I can figure out how to do it for you I will. So what would you like for tomorrow? Two braids that go into one?” Bunny assured her easily.

“Yes please!” Esme cheered happily. Bunny nodded as she hummed along to the song playing on her phone and began to braid Esme’s hair into two long braids.

“Oh! I’ve got a sparkly ribbon that I can tie into bows on the end would you want that?” Bunny asked suddenly as she thought about the ribbon that she had in her craft room.

“Is it purple?” Esme asked as she turned to look at Bunny with wide eyes.

“It might be let me go get it and we’ll see if it looks good.” Bunny suggested as she hurried over to the craft room and grabbed the sparkle ribbon she had. When she made it back to the kitchen Esme had already finished her breakfast and was just finishing up her orange juice. Bunny showed her the ribbon and Esme nodded eagerly as she still drank from her cup. Bunny laughed and walked behind Esme again. Easily tying a neat little bow on the end of each braid Bunny nodded her head in accomplishment. “Alright all done. Go on upstairs and brush your teeth, get your jacket and backpack while I eat my breakfast ok?”

“Thanks Bunny!” Esme called after she put her dirty dishes in the sink and rushed upstairs. Shaking her head slightly Bunny quickly made her own omelet and ate it standing at the kitchen island. Furrowing her brow slightly as she leaned against the island just letting her thoughts run away from her as the music still played over the speakers. Gasping suddenly Bunny turned towards the notebook she kept next to the fridge and quickly began jotting down ideas that she had for the client’s website that she was designing. She smiled as she realized after writing everything down that all her ideas were all inspiration from braiding Esme’s hair.

———

It had been a few hours since Esme had gotten onto the school bus and Bunny had been eyeballs deep into her work. After the inspirational breakthrough she had this morning thanks to Esme she had easily applied her ideas to the website design for her client and had completed a very sleek and eye appealing website. With the finishing touches now being completed Bunny sent off the design to the client and powered down her computer.

Swiping her phone off the desk she lazily scrolled through the notifications until she saw that Jack had texted her about an hour or so ago. She had already warned him on the video call he had with Esme this morning that she would be busy with her work today as she had finally gotten over the block she had come across. He had told her it wasn’t a problem and that he’d text her later but not to worry about responding back right away. He knew how work could easily keep your focus and you lose track of time.She opened the text and smiled when she saw what he had written.

Doctor says yoga is a-ok with her. Also said any other exercises or sport classes that are low key like yoga would be good too. If you have any suggestions I’m all for it.

Bunny tilted her head to the side as she tried to think of any other classes that Esme could take that would make her feel better about having asthma. Bunny stood from her desk chair and walked into the kitchen to begin prepping for dinner tonight. She had plans to get Esme more into helping her cook tonight and she knew the little girl would enjoy it. Typing away on her phone she sent off a text to Jack and set the phone down.

Did the Doctor suggest anything? Do you think she meant classes like karate or tai chi? It could maybe help Esme feel better if she had some self defense classes. It might make her feel more confident.

Pulling out the yeast packet Bunny began making the dough for the homemade pizzas she had planned for tonight. After kneading the dough she placed it in a bowl with a towel over it and set it to the side. She then pulled out some veggies and began chopping them up so that they’d go easier on the pizza. Then Bunny began heating up some tomato sauce and adding spices into it and letting it simmer on the stove. Once everything was done and prepped she looked over at the clock over the stove and saw that she had about ten minutes until the bus would be arriving.

“C’mon Butter! Let’s go get Esme!” She called out to the dog and heard his feet scrambling against the floor as he ran from his spot in the hallway where the sun managed to hit the floor and heat it enough for Butter to take a cat nap. “You silly dog.” she said fondly to him as she clipped his leash to his collar and the two of them walked out of the house together. Slipping her phone out of her pocket when she heard her notification sound go off she smiled as she saw another text from Jack.

That’s a good idea. Do you know of any karate classes?

I’ll see what I can find out and let you know. ;)

Bunny froze as she looked down at the text that she sent Jack. The little winking emoji stared up at her and she felt her breath slowly escape out of her lungs. Why did she send that?! How was Jack going to take that little emoji? Was he going to think she was flirting with him? Was she flirting with him? Would he like that she was flirting with him? Thoughts raced through her mind as she stared at the emoji and waited to see if he would send a response really quickly or not.

“Bunny!” Shouted Esme and Bunny jumped almost a foot in the air as she whipped her head around to look at Esme. Pressing the hand holding her cellphone to her chest she tried to calm her racing heart. “You okay Bunny?” Esme asked curiously as she stared at her.

“Oh yeah, yeah kiddo. I’m fine. Sorry I was a little distracted.” Bunny said easily to Esme.

“What were you distracted of?” Esme asked and Bunny smiled softly at the mix up of words from her. And then she remembered what had distracted her. Bunny’s heart began to pound in her chest again and she took in a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

“Nothing sweetheart. Let’s get walking so Butter can go to the bathroom and then I’ve got another surprise for dinner tonight.” Bunny said softly. The two of them began walking around the block together and Bunny looked down at her phone to see that she had gotten another text message from Jack.

Thanks sweetheart. ;)

Bunny felt her face flush and she slipped the phone into her back pocket quickly trying to put the text message out of her mind. But that text message would stay with her for the rest of the night.

———

The next morning Bunny’s alarm rings out and she rolls over in the bed sighing softly. Staring up at the ceiling she lets her hand rest against her stomach and her mind begins to drift off with Jack in the spotlight. Last night after her and Esme had made two medium sized pizzas with different toppings, Esme had said she wanted to take a bunch of pictures to send to Jack and Bunny had pulled out all the stops. She took pictures of Esme holding up her homemade pizza and then pictures of Esme eating the pizza.

Then the pictures had devolved into dressing up and having a dance party in Bunny’s bedroom. The two of them took selfies with the selfie stick as they posed and danced. Bunny had captured some videos too to send to Jack of her and Esme dancing around like crazy.

When Jack had video called later that night he had laughed at the excited Esme as she giggled. He had even told Bunny that he loved her picture in the fuzzy boa before he winked at her over the screen. Bunny had flushed almost immediately and had quickly left the video call. Esme had given her an odd look for a moment before turning back to the screen and talking to Jack.

Bunny stared up at the ceiling focusing on the white paint and felt herself flushing again at the thought of Jack. She knew she was going to be sad when Esme was no longer staying with her, she had definitely gotten used to taking care of the little girl and having her around. But Jack was coming home in a few more days on Sunday night and Esme would have to go back home. Shaking her head Bunny tried to clear the sadness that was trying to creep up on her. It was only Thursday and she still had four more days with the little girl and the weekend to spend time with her. She wouldn’t let the sadness of her leaving ruin her time with her now.

Getting up from the bed she dresses in a pair of black leggings and slips on a light blue tank top and then a charcoal gray oversized sweater. She walked down the stairs after checking on Esme and quietly let out Butter into the backyard before stepping into the craft room and pulled out a length of sparkly rainbow colored ribbon that she wanted to weave into Esme’s hair. She had looked up how to videos online and had found some really cute designs for braids and ribbons to try on Esme.

In the kitchen she pulled out some frozen waffles and slid them into the toaster. She then pulled out some fresh fruit and began cutting them up and placing them in a medium sized bowl. The toaster went off and Bunny put in some more for herself before setting the first two on a plate and pulling out the butter dish and maple syrup.

Esme was just walking into the kitchen when Bunny pulled the other two waffles out of the toaster. Smearing butter onto the waffles she stacked them on Esme’s plate and poured some maple syrup over them.

“Mornin’ kiddo. How’d you sleep?” Bunny as she dished out some fruit as well for Esme.

“Good. What’s the rainbow ribbon for?” Esme responded easily as she yawned widely. Bunny chuckled softly and pulled the video of how to and showed Esme.

“I figured I’d try my hand at weaving some ribbon into your hair for your hairdo today. How’s that sound?” Bunny explained as Esme watched the how to video and squealed delightedly.

“That looks sooo good!” Esme cheered happily and Bunny nodded her head. “Oh please can we do this?”

“Of course sweetheart.” Bunny said easily. “Eat up your waffles and some fruit and I’ll braid your hair.” Bunny explained as she began eating her own waffles.

Once Bunny finished her waffles she moved behind Esme and set up her phone so she could watch the how to video as she braided Esme’s hair and weaved the sparkly rainbow ribbon into it. She braided one braid on each side of Esme’s head and then combined it into one larger braid all while weaving the ribbon into her braid. When she was finished she looked at the results and smiled warmly nodding her head.

“There we go. C’mon let’s go get check it out in the bathroom and then finish getting ready for school.” Bunny said nodding her head and began leading Esme up to the bathroom upstairs. While in the bathroom Bunny took a picture of Esme’s hair and showed it to her. Esme squealed with happiness and bounced on her feet. “You look very pretty Es. I hope you like it.” Bunny said truthfully and watched as the girl in front of her gasped and then lunged forward wrapping her arms around Bunny’s waist.

“I love it, thank you Bunny. You’re the best!” Esme cheered happily as she continued to hug Bunny. Bunny wrapped her arms around Esme and leant her head on top of Esme’s. Smiling softly she just let herself be hugged by the little girl and began to feel happiness start to consume her.

“You’re very welcome sweetheart.” Bunny said warmly to the girl and then patted her back three times. “Should we send a picture of your hair to your Dad. Show him how pretty you look today?”

“Yes! He’s gonna love it!” Esme cheered happily. Bunny quickly pulled up the text thread for Jack and typed out a message before sending the picture of Esme’s hairdo off to him. She walked out of the bathroom and went into her own to brush her teeth. Just then her phone started to ring with the video call ringtone and Bunny answered it as she was brushing her teeth.

Jack’s face came onto the screen and Bunny hummed at him as she continued to brush her teeth. Jack’s laughter came over the speaker and he grinned at her before she bent over and spat out her toothpaste.

“Hold on one second Jack.” Bunny said quickly as she rinsed out her mouth and began walking to Esme’s bathroom. “Good morning by the way.” Bunny said easily and grinned at him.

“Good mornin’ to ya too Bunny.” Jack said easily and his grin grew in size on his face. Bunny pressed a button on the screen and switched the camera to face front and showed Jack the back of Esme’s hair. Jack gave a long loud whistle and Esme whirled around with a grin on her face.

“Doesn’t she look so pretty Jack?” Esme asked smiling at the girl.

“She looks as beautiful as a rose. You did a good job Bunny, you’re setting the bar high for me aren’t ya? Good morning sunshine!” Jack said happily and Bunny handed the phone to Esme who switched the camera back and began talking to her Dad. Bunny smiled at the excited chatter that instantly filled the bathroom.

“Good morning Daddy. Thanks! I really love what Bunny did with my hair.” Esme said easily as she continued to grin and bounce lightly on her toes.

“She did a really good job with it.” Jack agreed with her. Bunny smiled as she walked out of the bathroom leaving the two of them to talk.

———

Bunny had seen a very excited Esme off on the bus. The little girl bouncing around happily saying that she couldn’t wait to show Nadia her hair ribbons. According to Esme her new friend Nadia always had such pretty hairdos and pretty barrettes in her hair. As Bunny walked back to her house with Butter she idly wondered if she could make Esme a set of pretty barrettes that Jack would be able to put in her hair.

When she got back to the house she walked into the craft room and booted up her computer to look up what she would need to create some pretty barrettes and bows for Esme. As since she had finished the project for her client ahead of schedule Bunny had the next two days off to spend however she wanted. She would only need to wait on the response back from her client and then she would be back to work to implement the website design for the client.

Looking at the computer screen Bunny saw what she needed to make bows and nodded her head confidently as she saw most of the supplies she needed she had. Putting on some background music she began pulling out all the supplies she needed.

Before she actually got down to creating the bows a notification came across the speakers in the room and she looked over at her phone to see she had gotten a message from one of her girlfriends named Mercy who ran the dog yoga classes on the weekends.

Hey honey bunny! I heard through the grapevine that you’re going to be joining us this weekend with Butter and a friend?

Bunny smiled as she saw the message and quickly began typing out a response to Mercy.

Yes I’m bringing Butter and a little girl named Esme who’s my new neighbor’s daughter that I’m watching this week. She has severe asthma so I’m trying to help find her classes that her doctor approved for her to take. The doctor suggested karate and tai chi but I don’t know of any classes nearby for that. Would you happen to know of any?

Girl, I got you covered. I’ll bring all the info I’ve got on those types of classes. There’s a few places not far from the community that offer up karate and tai chi. There’s also father/daughter classes too if the Dad is into it. Or mother/daughter classes if she wants you to do it with her.

Oh, that’s sweet of you but I don’t want to overstep. But I appreciate any help you can give me! Thanks sweetheart! I’ll see you on Saturday!

Can’t wait! See you Saturday!

Feeling a little accomplished with the prospect of having some information on classes for Esme Bunny grinned as she set her phone down on the counter again.

———

The day had warmed up a little bit, Butter was sprawled out in a large patch of sunlight that had heated up the wood floor in the craft room and Bunny was seated on the stool that sat next to her craft table in the middle of the room as she looped another pretty red ribbon on itself before securing it with her hot glue gun. Blowing lightly on the hot glue she pulled her fingers away and smiled triumphantly when the ribbon stayed perfectly still where she had placed it and glued it down. She picked up a black fabric covered button and put hot glue on the back of it before she pressed it in the middle of the red bow and let the glue adhere to ribbons and the back of the bow barrette.

Just then the shrill ringing of her cellphone caught her attention as the music cut off on the speakers. Setting the bow and the hot glue gun on the counter Bunny reached over and grabbed her phone. She saw Jack’s contact show up on the screen and smiled curiously as to why he was calling her in the middle of the day. Swiping her finger over the screen she easily unlocked the phone and heard the call connect.

“Jack? Are you okay?” Bunny asked curiously as she pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hey Bunny I’m sorry to call you during the work day.” came Jack’s rushed voice.

“No, no it’s okay what’s going on? What’s wrong?” Bunny asked now feeling worry start to course through her body. She felt her muscles tense as Jack’s tone. Something was wrong and her whole body was picking up on it just in his tone.

“I’m okay. Sorry, I’m okay. But I got a call from the school.” he said blowing out a sighing breath. Bunny was instantly relieved and then her body tensed when she realized that he mentioned the school.

“What’s wrong with Es? Did something happen? Was it her asthma?” Bunny began questioning him rapidly and Jack blew out another breath of air.

“No, she’s okay. I’m sorry I’m really bad at relaying this.” he said quickly trying to calm Bunny down. Bunny took in a breath and slowly blew it out closing her eyes as she slowly relaxed her tense muscles one at a time.

“Okay, next time just start out with everyone is okay then get to the info.” Bunny suggested as she tilted her head to the side and Jack chuckled softly at her words.

“Yeah that would have definitely been better. Sorry I didn’t mean to make you worry.” Jack said softly.

“It’s okay. My mind just jumped immediately to the worst case scenario. What’s going on though why did the school call you?” Bunny asked curious as she rested her elbow on the counter and then laid her head in her palm.

“So Esme got bullied again today and she went to a teacher to get it to stop.” Jack said softly and in a tone that sounded so heartbroken.

“What did the teacher do?” Bunny asked as she quickly picked her head up from her hand.

“The teacher stopped and brought the bullies to the principal’s office. Esme didn’t get into any trouble but the other kids are giving her the cold shoulder because she told the teacher.” Jack said dejectedly.

“Oh Es.” Bunny said softly as her heart instantly broke for the little girl.

“She’s probably going to come home not in the best mood at all. I just wanted to give you a heads up if she comes home and she’s down.” Jack said softly and Bunny nodded her head along with his words.

“Okay no problem. I think tonight I’ll see if she’ll be up to doing some crafts with me tonight. I’ve got a surprise for her that I’m hoping will lift her spirits a little after the rough day she’s had.” Bunny explained kindly as her eyes darted over to the pile of bows that she had already created. The bright colors with odd middle pieces made her grin with excitement to show Esme what she had created.

“Oh? And what did you make for my little monster?” Jack asked curiously.

“A bunch of bows to put in her hair. She mentioned this morning that her new friend Nadia has some pretty barrettes that she puts in her hair and I got to thinking maybe I should make some for the girls to wear. I made some for Es and I made some for her friend Nadia if she wanted to share them with her.” Bunny explained excited and Jack chuckled softly over the phone. “I’ll send you a few pictures later on. I’ve got a few more I wanted to make before I had to go get Esme from the bus stop.”

“Oh okay. That sounds great. Thank you Bunny. I was nervous at the beginning of this but you’ve definitely put my mind at ease with leaving Es with you. I can’t thank you enough for helping me out with this.” Jack said emphatically.

“Jack, what did we say about thanking me? No more okay? I don’t mind watching Esme for you, she’s a wonderful little girl and this week has been really great. I really enjoy being around her.” Bunny said sternly, trying to get Jack to finally stop thanking her. “Oh hey, while I got you on the phone my girlfriend Mercy said she has some info on classes for karate and tai chi that aren’t that far from the community. She runs the dog yoga so when Esme and I go this Saturday she’ll be able to give me the info. I’ll give it to you once you get home for you to figure out which class would be best for Esme.”

“Wow, that’s great! Okay thanks I really appreciate you getting information on those classes. I think they’ll be great for Esme. I really liked what you said before, that she might feel more confident with some self defensive classes. I think it’ll really be good for her.” Jack said animatedly and Bunny grinned at how into it Jack was into this idea.

“Yeah I think it’ll be good for her too. She really wants to be able to participate in gym class. And by doing something that she’s able to handle with her asthma I think it’ll make her feel a little more included sort of. Or at least I hope so.” Bunny said easily.

“Yeah I know she does it’s just tricky with her asthma. Alright I gotta get back to work. Thanks again for getting the class info. I appreciate it, I’ll talk to ya later sweetheart.” Jack said quickly and Bunny flushed heatedly at the pet name.

“Okay talk to you later Jack.” Bunny stumbled out softly and quickly hung up the phone. Fanning herself with her hand Bunny tried to calm her racing heart. How could he be affecting her so much over a damn phone call and a pet name?! Bunny took in a few more deep breaths and let them out slowly trying to calm herself. She knew that her emotions and feelings for Jack were brand new and it always felt so good in the beginning but there was so much more to figure out first than to continue developing these feelings for him. Shaking her head she began to push her feelings away and down deeper inside of herself. She had to make sure Esme was okay first and then maybe just maybe there could be something for her and Jack.

———

It wasn’t that long after Jack’s phone call that the alarm to go pick up Esme was ringing out into the air. Bunny looked up from her hunched over stance over the counter and set down the finished bow in her hands. She stretched widely letting her arms reach out on either side of her body as she slid off the stool she had been sitting on.

Bunny guessed she got so involved in finishing up the bows that she lost track of time. Arching her back she heard the pops in her joints and groaned softly. Smiling softly Bunny realized that she had never actually felt this tired in a long time. It was as if her whole body was just exhausted, she had a feeling it was because she was always trying to make the evenings fun for Esme and had been doing quite a bit of moving around.

“C’mon Butter let’s go get Esme.” Bunny said easily as she ushered the little dog out of the room and down the hallway towards the front door. The two of them quickly get the leash attached and are out the door.

“Bunny!” Called out a voice that made Bunny’s head snap up and turn to the side spotting Mr. Quinten sitting on his front porch waving at her.

“Hey Mr. Q. How are you?” Bunny asked as she led Butter across the front lawn over to the fence dividing her yard from Mr. Quinten’s. “Are you warm enough? It’s a little chilly out.”

“I’m fine, I promise, stop worrying about me. How’s it going with that little girl you’ve been watching this past week?” Mr. Quinten asked, waving away Bunny’s concern.

“She’s doing ok, had a rough start but now we’re doing good together. Tonight I think we’re going to do some crafts.” Bunny explained easily to Mr. Quinten. “Am I still taking you to the doctor on Monday?”

“Yep still scheduled to go.” Mr. Quinten replied. “That’s good that you guys are getting along. Never know when it comes to you dear.” He teased and Bunny rolled her eyes at the older man as she chuckled softly.

“Sure Mr. Quinten whatever you say.” Bunny grumbled out and Mr. Quinten laughed loudly.

“That’s what I like to hear Bunny!” Mr. Quinten called out as Bunny shook her head and waved at Mr. Quinten before leading Butter back towards the sidewalk to go walk to the bus stop.

Once Bunny and Butter had gotten to the bus stop Bunny had a seat on the curb and Butter quickly walked over and curled in her lap. Bunny ran her fingers through the fur on his back and Butter turned and twisted in her lap until he was laying on his back and presenting his belly to her. Bunny chuckled softly as she began to scratch his belly making him wiggle with delight.

“You’re such a needy little thing. I love you Butter.” She says softly to him as she cuddles him up in her arms and close to her chest. She laughs as he burrows into her chest and huffs loudly. Just then the sound of the brakes on the bus ring through the air and Bunny looks up from her spot on the curb to watch as Esme dejectedly walks down the steps of the bus.

When the little girl looks up and spots the two of them sitting on the curb and gives a soft grimace. Bunny smiles softly at Esme and holds Butter up to the side of her face hoping to make the little girl smile. It works as Esme lets out a loud giggle at the silly sight of the two of them. Bunny counts it as a win as Esme walks over and takes a seat next to her.

“Are you ok?” Bunny asks softly as Butter squirms in her arms as he tries to move to climb into Esme’s lap who giggles at his antics. The dog seems to vibrate as he wiggles in Esme’s lap and starts to lick her in the face happily. Esme’s giggles emit into the air and Bunny smiles as she sits next to the little girl and wiggling dog.

“I’m okay now.” Esme says quietly and Bunny watches her with concerned eyes. “You were right I didn’t get into trouble with the teacher when I told her about the bullying but the other kids. They weren’t so nice after they heard I told on the bully.” Esme explained, Bunny nodded her head at her words.

“Yeah sometimes people blame the person doing the right thing instead of the person doing the wrong thing. I know it stinks but those kids aren’t the friends you want in the long run. Was Nadia nice to you after you told on the bully?” Bunny tried to explain to her.

“Yeah Nadia thought I did the right thing. She was still nice to me afterwards.” Esme responded.

“Good that’s really good Es. Nadia is a really good friend then. She’s one you should keep around.” Bunny said knowingly. “I hope the two of you stay friends for a very long time.”

“I like her a lot.” Esme said softly and Bunny nodded her head.

“So I’ve got a surprise for you at the house. I was thinking maybe we’ll order some Chinese food and have it delivered while we do some crafts together, how does that sound?” Bunny suggested.

“Ooh what kind of crafts? And what’s the surprise?!” Esme asked excitedly, making Bunny laugh.

“Well any kind of crafts you’d like. We could make friendship bracelets for you and Nadia. We could do anything you really wanted. If I don’t know how to make it I’ll look it up on my computer.” Bunny explained easily to her. “And it wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you what it was now would it?” Bunny teased softly and Esme squealed in her seat.

“I wanna make a friendship bracelet for you and Nadia!” Esme cheered and Bunny felt her heart clench in her chest at the thoughtfulness of Esme.

“That sounds like a plan to me girlie. Let’s get going so we can walk this one and then order some food and get crafting.” Bunny said as she began to stand up. She looked down and watched as Esme let Butter crawl out of her lap and then grabbed the leash. Bunny took the backpack from Esme and the three of them began walking around the block.

———

Bunny laughed as she watched Esme race with Butter up to the front door and then bounce in place as she tried to wait for Bunny to come unlock the front door. Taking a leap up the small three step porch she had Bunny was quickly unlocking the front door and opening it for both Esme and Butter. Esme quickly undid Butter’s leash and hung it up on the hook by the door.

“Alright kiddo the surprise is in the craft room. Let’s get in there and do a bit of crafting to relax and then I’ll order dinner how does that sound?” Bunny asked.

“Sounds good.” Esme cheered as she raced down the hallway and turned into the craft room. Bunny shook her head and walked into the kitchen to serve Butter his dinner for the evening and refresh his water bowl. Hearing the loud squeal from the craftroom Bunny couldn’t help the proud grin that burst across her face.

The sound of racing steps reached her ears and she looked up from the sink where she stood to see Esme standing in the archway of the kitchen with tears in her eyes and a duo of bows in her hands. Putting the dog bowl full of water on the floor Bunny turned fully to Esme as the little girl rushed forward and wrapped her small arms around Bunny’s waist. Burying her face in Bunny’s stomach Esme sniffled softly and Bunny felt her heart clench tightly in her chest as her hand came to rest against Esme’s soft hair.

“Thank you so much. I love them all.” Esme said around a few more sniffles. Bunny pulled Esme back a little bit and smiled down at her brightly.

“You are very welcome sweetheart.” Bunny said softly and ran her hand over Esme’s hair again. “Now c’mon let’s pick some out for Nadia and then we’ll make some bracelets.” Esme nodded her head and began making her way down the hallway towards the craftroom.

Once inside the room Bunny moved to the containers that held colored lanyard, colored string, beads and other things that they would be able to use to make bracelets. Bunny also pulled out a measuring tape and a few pieces of paper and a pencil, she had another idea to help Esme feel better about things that were going on.

“Alright so which ones would you like to share with Nadia. Or do you not want to share them with Nadia?” Bunny asked as she pulled out two stools next to the counter. The two of them sat on the stools and Esme began to look over all of the bows that she had in her pile. Bunny watched as Esme started to set aside a few of the bows for Nadia as she inspected them all carefully.

“Nadia likes the colors yellow and orange to most. She says she likes them because of sunsets.” Esme explained softly as she moved a brightly orange colored bow into Nadia’s pile.

“Well that’s nice that you’re picking her favorite colors for her. And sunsets are pretty. I get why she likes yellow and orange. What’s your favorite color?” Bunny asked Esme curiously as she watched Esme pick up a teal sparkly bow with a silver octopus figurine in the middle of it.

“I like purple and teal because it reminds me of the ocean.” Esme explained easily as she set the octopus bow in her pile before picking up another one. As Esme continued to go through each bow and decide which pile it would end up in Bunny pulled out her measuring tape and began holding the tape up against Esme’s body in certain places. When she found each measurement she needed she would write it down on one of her pieces of paper. “What’s your favorite color Bunny?” Esme asked softly.

“My favorite is teal, like a light teal. It reminds me of water and it’s really soothing.” Bunny explained and Esme nodded her head at her words.

“How come so kids are really mean and some are really nice?” Esme suddenly asked in a tone that sounded as if she was going to cry and Bunny instantly froze at the question. Feeling her heart shatter in her chest Bunny blinked her eyes for a few moments as she felt tears begin to pool in them.

“You know I don’t know why some kids are mean. It could be a lot of different things. They could have really mean siblings who pick on them at home, or really strict parents who don’t let them do things, or they could just be mean. There’s a lot of reasons why someone could be mean. But none of the reasons have anything to do with you, got that?” Bunny tried to explain to Esme so that she understood. “I don’t know why the kids at school were mean to you. But you’ve got your Dad, Me, and Nadia who care about you and we’ll be here to help you ok?” Bunny said confidently and Esme nodded her head slightly and Bunny slipped off her stool and hugged the little girl tightly. “I promise not everyone is mean and there’s some really good people out there. You just gotta look for them.”

“Ok.” Esme said softly as she hugged Bunny back around the waist. When the two pulled apart Bunny pulled over the materials for the friendship bracelets that the two of them would need to make. Esme smiled as she began knotting and tying off lanyard cords. “You’re the best Bunny.” Esme said quietly as Bunny climbed back onto her stool and pulled over the colored string to begin her own friendship bracelets. When the words reached her ears Bunny whipped her head over to Esme and grinned widely.

“You and your Dad seem to think so.” Bunny said fondly and Esme grinned at her nodding her head.

“Daddy likes you a lot. He thinks you’re really cool and a good role model for me.” Esme said knowingly and Bunny tilted her head to the side as she smiled softly.

“That’s nice to hear.” Bunny said softly and the two of them fell into a companionable silence as they began making bracelets together. Conversation flowing easily between the two as they appraised each other’s work. But Bunny’s eyes kept darting over to her paper with measurements listed on it silently drafting up ways on how she was going to create Esme’s surprise for tomorrow.

———

The next morning Bunny is awake before her alarm and after the morning routine with Butter she is easily rushing into Esme’s room and cheering loudly.

“It’s Friday! Wake up sleepyhead!” Bunny cheered happily as she opened up Esme’s bedroom door. The little girl let out a loud groan as she tried to snuggle deeper into the covers of her bed. Bunny laughed loudly as she moved over to the bed and took a seat on the edge, her hand coming up to rub along Esme’s body under the covers. “C’mon sleepyhead, only one more day of school and then it’s the weekend!” Bunny cheered happily as she patted Esme. “Besides you’ve gotta deliver Nadia’s bows and bracelet to her today.” Bunny teased softly as she stood up and left the room slowly.

“Oh! That’s right!” came Esme’s still sleepy response as Bunny gently shut the door. She chuckled softly as she heard the little girl rushing around the room to get dressed before she moved back down the stairs to let Butter back into the house. Bunny moved into the kitchen and quickly began to make omelets for her and Esme.

“Butter what are we gonna do when Esme goes home this weekend? We’re not gonna have a guest for very much longer.” Bunny said absentmindedly to the dog who was curled up in his bed staring at her silently. He barked loudly when she turned her head to look at him. She smiled at him and nodded her head. “I know we’re gonna miss her right?” Bunny asked fondly of the dog and he barked twice making her laugh. “Yup I’m gonna miss her.”

Just then Esme walks into the kitchen and both Bunny and Butter look over at her. Butter barking happily as he rushed over to Esme and danced around her feet making her giggle happily.

“Good Morning Butter!” cheered Esme as she bent down and pet Butter’s head. Bunny shook her head amused as she watched the dog trot off to his bed once he got the pets he wanted and slumped into the plush dog bed. “Hey Bunny, do you have a bag that I can put Nadia’s bows and bracelets in? I don’t want them to get messed up before I give them to her.” Esme asked as she looked over at Bunny.

“Yeah I think I do, let me see.” Bunny said as she plated up Esme’s omelet and then turned off the stove before moving to the pantry to see if she had any ziploc bags for Esme. “Ah, here we go.” she says producing a medium sized bag and Esme nodded her head eagerly as she took it from Bunny and set it aside.

“Thanks Bunny.” Esme said easily as Bunny nodded her head and turned back to the stove. “So what’s with the wake up call today?” Esme asks curiously as Bunny begins making her own omelet for breakfast.

“I’ve got things to do today so as soon as I get you up and off to school I can get to the things that I gotta do today.” Bunny said vaguely.

“What things?” Esme asked curiously and Bunny smirks softly.

“Things.” Bunny teases and Esme makes a scrunched up face at her making her laugh.

“Why can’t I know?” Esme asked curiously and Bunny shook her head.

“It’s a surprise.” Bunny said secretively and Esme eyed her shrewdly.

“You like surprises a lot huh?” Esme asked as she tilted her head at Bunny.

“For other people, yes. For myself I hate them.” Bunny answers honestly as she plates her omelet and moves to have a seat at the kitchen island.

“What do you mean for other people?” Esme asks and Bunny smiles at her.

“I like making surprises for other people. But I don’t like receiving surprises.” Bunny explains.

“Even if they’re good surprises?” Esme asks and Bunny nods her head as she begins to shovel her omelet in her mouth.

“Even the good surprises.” Bunny said with finality and Esme tilts her head and then nods.

“Well that’s good to know.” Esme says easily and Bunny nearly chokes on her food as she’s mid-chew.

“You’re a little sassy this morning aren’t ya?” Bunny griped out amused as she looked over at Esme with a grin.

“You won’t tell me what you’re doing today and just say it’s a surprise. Expect the sass.” Esme said as she huffed. Bunny’s eyes widened at the sass from the little girl before she began laughing delighted.

“Oh man your Dad has his hands full with you doesn’t he?” Bunny asked as she continued to laugh.

“You have no idea.” Esme said as rolled her eyes. Bunny’s laughter filled the room and Esme only responded with happy giggles of her own.

———

“Mr. Quinten, honestly I just asked for cardboard boxes. Do you have any? I don’t need the crochety old man act from you right now.” Bunny said tiredly into her cellphone as she pressed it to her ear. Listening to his response she blew out a long breath. “It’s for Esme. I want to surprise her.”

Bunny moved about the craft room as she eyed the large pile of cardboard boxes that she had gathered from her stockpile and the neighbors next door. She only needed a few more boxes and had hoped that Mr. Quinten would have them and wouldn’t give her a problem but of course the old man had to give her the whole 20 questions about why she needed the boxes.

She only needed three more boxes to finish up the pirate ship she was planning to make for Esme. This morning after she got Esme on the bus and got through the video call with Jack she had quickly raced home and gathered all the cardboard boxes that she had stored up. She then had asked the neighbors that she knew were home today if they had any boxes that she could have. They all had eagerly given them up to her so that they wouldn’t have to put them out on the curb and they knew that Bunny would find another way to repurpose them.

“I just need three you can keep all the others.” Bunny said exasperatedly. “Yes once I take them they’re mine I won’t be giving them back to you. Goodness, maybe I’ll just ask someone else if this is the trouble I gotta go through to get them.” Bunny complained as she pulled the phone away from her ear glaring at it. “Look can I have the boxes or not? I gotta get going on this if I want to get it done before Esme comes home. And if you’re giving them up I gotta find someone else with boxes that will let me take them.” Bunny explained. “Thank you! Finally, it’s like pulling teeth with you. I’ll be right over to come get them.”

Hanging up the phone Bunny let out a loud sigh as she blew out a breath. Shaking her head, her attitude began to change as she realized that she finally had all the cardboard boxes she would need to be able to create Esme’s pirate ship. She walked out of the craft room when her phone began ringing and she looked down to see that she was getting a call from Jack. Furrowing her eyebrows she quickly answered the call and placed the phone to her ear.

“Hey Jack, is everything ok?” she asked quickly and heard Jack softly curse on the phone.

“Yeah I’m sorry to call you during the work day again. I just-I wanted to make sure you were okay. You weren’t really on the video call this morning and I was worried something was going on that you didn’t want to say in front of Esme.” Jack explained in a soft worried tone. Bunny smiled softly to herself, he was checking up on her.

“Oh yeah I’m okay. There is something going on that I didn’t want to tell Esme but it’s nothing bad. I’m making her cardboard pirate ship as a surprise and figured we’d do some reenacting of the pirate’s movies after school.” Bunny explained easily as she continued to walk out of the house.

“Wow.” Jack said softly and Bunny laughed softly. “You can do that?”

“Don’t underestimate me Jack. I’m the crafting queen.” Bunny said amused. “I’m heading over to Mr. Quinten’s house now to pick up the last of the boxes I need to make the pirate ship. Then I’ve got some sewing to do for Esme’s costume and then by then it should be time for her bus to be coming home.” Bunny explained easily and happily as she bounded down the front steps of her house.

“You’re going all out for this huh?” Jack asked bemused.

“Oh yeah if we’re gonna play pirates you gotta go all out Jack. C’mon.” Bunny scoffed at him.

“You truly are amazing.” Jack says softly almost as if caught off guard by his own words.

“Jack.” Bunny begins to warn him softly.

“No, no hear me out. I don’t know many other women who would go and make a cardboard pirate ship for a little girl who’s had a rough week being away from her Dad. All just to make her feel better. I just want you to know that I really appreciate you doing all this for Es. Ever since Maria passed away I’ve kinda been going at this from the seat of my pants and probably failing spectacularly. But you’ve been such a good thing for her this week and I really do appreciate it.” Jack said earnestly. Bunny stopped in her tracks as she heard the honesty in his voice.

“I gotta admit I’m gonna miss her come next week. It’s kinda insane how easily I’ve gotten used to her in my day to day.” Bunny admitted softly and almost guiltily.

“Well we’ll definitely be seeing you around the neighborhood and if the yoga class goes well or those karate classes work out we could work something out where you and her get to spend some time together. You two can do all that girly stuff that I’m not into.” Jack said kindly and Bunny felt her lungs catch on her next breath. He was trying to keep her in your life even though you were only a neighbor.

“Oh Jack really? I’d love that! But if you wanna take her to karate or tai chi that’s all you, I don’t want to take that from you.” Bunny said quickly even as her heart lifted at being able to spend time with Esme. “Ok, ok let’s not get too emotional now. I still gotta build a pirate ship. I’ll send you pictures and videos once everything is set up and I get her into costume. Ok?” Bunny said quickly as she grinned.

“Alright sweetheart. I expect to see you in full costume too.” Jack said with a happy laugh.

“Duh Jack. Honestly who would I be if I didn’t get in full costume also?” Bunny asked with a scoff before she laughed softly. “I’ll talk to you later Jack.”

“Talk to you later sweetheart.” Jack said in response before the call ended. Bunny is already continuing her path to Mr. Quinten’s house when she stops again and realizes that Jack called her sweetheart twice during that phone call. She feels her face flush heatedly before she shakes her head, this man and his daughter were slipping so easily into her life it was a little daunting.

———

Bunny smiles as she stares at herself in the mirror. She’s decked out in her pirate queen costume. Gray pants cover her legs while knee high tan boots cover her feet. A dark brown leather corset sits on her rib cage and a loose fitting white shirt is underneath that. The look is completed with a long vibrant black and gold coat that falls to her knees, a fake sword is strapped to her waist loosely and a worn tattered pirate hat sits on top of her head. She smiled as she grabbed her phone from the dresser and took a few pictures of her costume. She sends one off to Jack with a catchy pirate themed comment and easily stows her phone in the pocket of the jacket.

Moving out of her bedroom and down the stairs Bunny makes a quick stop in the craft room and opens up the chest full of costumes. She grabs the octopus costume and walks into the kitchen smiling brightly at Butter. The dog looked over at you from his sprawled out position. When his eyes spotted the octopus costume he quickly scrambled up and raced over to you barking loudly.

“Alright, alright Kraken let’s get you all suited up and then we’ll go get Esme yeah?” Bunny asked as she laughed at the little dog’s response to the costume she held. Butter jumped around Bunny’s feet and she tried to wrestle the costume onto the dog. “Butter hold still bub.” Bunny instructed and the dog listened as he stood still for her and she quickly strapped the velcro straps around his body. “Okay good.”

Standing upright she ushered the dog over to the front door and attached his leash to his collar before the two of them were out the door. As Bunny walked down the sidewalk she grinned and waved at the neighbors who were returning home from work. Some laughed and waved back while others looked at her curiously before shaking their heads. Bunny stopped at the corner and stood there holding Butter’s leash and posed in a very Jack Sparrow-esque pose as she waited for Esme’s bus to arrive.

When the bus did finally arrive at the corner and Esme stood at the top of the bus stairs the squeal she let out could probably be heard two streets away. Her legs couldn’t move quick enough as she bounded down the stairs and ran straight for Bunny.

“Oh my god Bunny! You look amazing!” Esme cheered as she danced and bounced around Bunny. “And look at Butter!”

“Excuse me little miss. I don’t know anyone by the name of Bunny nor Butter. No. My name is Delilah ‘The Siren’ Vail and this ‘ere is the Kraken.” Bunny says in a horrible pirate-esque accent. Esme giggles loudly and bounces on her toes excitedly.

“Are we playing pirates?” Esme asks softly and Bunny grins before nodding her head eagerly to Esme.

“Yeah, we’re playing pirates. Wanna head home? I've got some surprises for ya.” Bunny says easily and Esme nods her head quickly. The two of them usher Butter back towards the house quickly and he barks as they try not to rush him too much.

Once back at the house Bunny unlocks the door and ushers everyone inside. She unleashes Butter and shoos Esme towards the craft room.

“Your costume is in there. Go get changed into it and then we board the ship in the backyard.” Bunny says hurriedly.

“There’s a ship?” Esme asks loudly as she moves down the hallway. The cheer and squeal from the craft room almost deafens both Butter and Bunny. But Bunny can’t keep the grin off her face as she hears the excitement coming from the craft room.

“Es, Butter and I are gonna be outside ok?” Bunny calls as she passes the craft room with her Kraken dog at her heels.

“Ok!” calls back Esme.

———

The ship rocked and swayed on the high seas as waves crested underneath knocking its occupants off their legs continuously. Seagulls cawed and cried above the crew’s heads as the birds circled the tall masts holding the fluttering sails. A storm was brewing in the air and the sea was churning with anticipation of it. Ivy ‘Gunner’ Wendell stood at the helm gazing out over the churning waters. There was something in the air that was making her cautious of their course. Something that she was forgetting.

Suddenly the ship shook as a loud thud was heard from below deck. It felt as if something had crashed into the side of the ship. As Gunner looked around bewildered she spied a dark wood ship in the distance that was flying a black and gold flag from their crow’s nest.

“Mateys, turn the ship around! There be the Golddust in the distance! We need to be sure her captain won’t board us!” Gunner called down to her crew and watched as they all whipped their heads to the side to gaze at the ship that was fast approaching. “Mateys!” Gunner cried out loudly and they all scrambled to do their part to turn the ship away from the Golddust.

Just then another loud thud was heard from below deck and the ship shook with it’s impact. Gunner nearly lost her footing and had to grab onto the helm before she fell over. When she looked back up to see where the Golddust was, she was dismayed to see that it gained at least half of the distance it was before.

“Mateys brace yourselves!” Gunner shouted as she tried in vain to turn the helm as quickly as she could. The helm spun for a moment or two before coming to a dead stop almost throwing Gunner to the floor of the ship. “What is this?!” Gunner cried out as she tried in vain to turn the helm. Her eyes darted up to see that the Golddust had drawn closer and was now turning so it would be parallel with Gunner’s ship. Gunner could see Pirate Queen Delilah ‘The Siren’ Vail gazing at her from her own helm with a smug smirk on her face. But as the Golddust sat parallel with Gunner’s ship the Golddust crew didn’t move to come aboard. It was almost as if they were waiting for something. Something to happen. But what? Just then it made sense to Gunner what those thudding impacts were below deck.

“KRAKEN!” Gunner shouted to her crew and watched as four large ugly purple and teal tentacles surged out of the water on each side of her ship. The tentacles rose higher than the masts of the ship and the horrified crew below cried out in horror. They all tried to scramble away as the large tentacles suddenly crashed down onto the floor of the ship. The wood splintered and Gunner was thrown from her position at the tremor of the ship. Quickly righting herself she drew her sword and began rushing towards the Kraken to defend what was left of her ship. “I will have your tentacle for what you’ve done!” cried Gunner loudly as she surged forwards to try and slice at the tentacles.

Suddenly the tentacles drew away and Gunner looked around bewildered along with her crew. She was ready to defend her crew and ship against the abomination but it had withdrawn. There was a grumble to the side of the ship and Gunner turned her head swiftly to see Pirate Queen Delilah standing on the rail of her ship holding onto some of the rigging with a smug smirk.

“He’ll only come when I call. Might as well give it up Princess.” taunted the Queen. Turning to her Gunner pointed her sword at the woman and sneered angrily.

“Never!” Gunner shouted and the Queen laughed mockingly.

“You would let your ship and crew go down to the depths of the sea all because you won’t join my crew?!” Shouted Queen Delilah. “We would be unstoppable! How can you not see that!?” Queen Delilah cries out as she easily boards Gunner’s ship.

“I will never join you! You’re evil! A black cad!” Gunner shouts as the two women circle each other. The Queen has drawn her sword now and the two are in a standoff.

“Then we fight.” sneers the Queen and she lunges forward striking out with her sword. The clanging of their swords fills the air as the two fight to get the upper hand. The Queen has the advantage of being stronger but Gunner is     quicker as she darts around the Queen. Neither one of them are gaining any leverage until the Queen lets out a loud cry and Gunner’s ship tries to withstand another thudding impact from the Kraker.

“Cheater!” cried Gunner as she’s almost thrown completely off her feet.

“I play to win Princess.” taunts the Queen as she advances. Gunner tries to defend herself but soon the Kraken is laying hit after hit upon her ship and is destroying it. Wood is flying through the air as the tentacles curl around the ship and begin to squeeze.

The Queen gasps and her eyes widen when she realizes that she will be destroyed with the ship if she doesn’t disembark. Spinning quickly she runs to the side of the ship and leaps from the railing to sail through the air and tumble onto the floor of her own ship. Gunner races after her and stops at the railing.

“You would’ve been saved Princess if only you had agreed!” cried out the Queen as she smirked and gave a little wave to Gunner.

“I will avenge my crew and ship!” Gunner cried out before the Kraken’s tentacles completely crushed the ship and Gunner was plunged into the icy waters of the unforgiven seas. Her fate left up to no one but herself.

   “Would she survive or would she perish along with her crew and ship?” Bunny calls out in a contemplating tone and Esme grinned as she sat up from where she lay on the grass right next to the cardboard ship. Butter was racing around the backyard barking happily and Esme giggled loudly at his antics. “Alright kiddo. Should we hold off for another day for part two of the saga of the Pirate Princess and the Pirate Queen?” Bunny asked as she helped Esme to stand. “It’s starting to get darker.”

   “Yeah!” Esme cheered and Bunny smiled down at her. “Can we send the pictures and videos to my Dad before we call him?” Esme asked excitedly.

   “Sure and dinner should be arriving soon too.” Bunny said as she ushered Esme into the house. “Butter c’mon!” she called over her shoulder to the dog who was still crazily running around the backyard. The two laughed as he dashed from the far fence to the backdoor his tentacles dancing around him.

[losille2000]

Hoot and Howl, Chapter 3

TITLE: Hoot and Howl CHAPTER NUMBER: 3/? AUTHOR: Losille2000 CHARACTERS: Actor!Chris Evans/OFC GENRE: Paranormal Romance (more on the magical realism side?) FIC SUMMARY: Chris goes on a camping trip to calm the noisy anxiety in his head, but it ends up leading him into his own messed up version of a Disney movie. When he said he wanted to be a Disney prince as a boy, this was absolutely not what he meant. Especially considering that the princess is also, well… about that… RATING: M (sex, language) WARNINGS:  Nothing. AUTHORS NOTES: Sorry for the wait... and thank you all for reading!

Previous Chapter - Also available on Archive of Our Own!

Chapter 3

A hand on Chris’ shoulder shook him awake. It took a few seconds to fully come to, but once he did, he immediately noted how dark the room was. The dying embers in the fireplace barely illuminated the silent woman hovering over him from her spot standing behind the couch. She smiled silently, like the Cheshire cat, and stood back while he tried to pull himself into a sitting position. However, a heavy Navajo blanket of woven rust red wool impeded his movement.

 He remembered, vaguely, wrapping the blanket around his shoulders after Dr. Bird had shown him back into her house. Not only had it immediately warmed his shivering body, but any remaining tension in his muscles loosened. Somewhat—and almost deliriously—he remembered thinking that it felt like a hug. And not like any old hug. This was like a mom hug. The type of hug his mom gave him every time he got on a plane for work, like she’d never see him again and wanted to fill him with all the love she possessed in case something happened.

 It made him feel completely and utterly at peace.

 So at peace, in fact, he’d passed out.

 It was unlike him. He was always on alert, always dealing with the persistent worry rippling through his head. He took pills and did some hard core meditation to find this kind of relaxation at night, unless he was so physically exhausted he couldn’t keep his eyes open. Otherwise, he suffered extreme insomnia from the need to be on guard.

 “Hi,” said the woman softly, her alto voice soothing.

 Chris blinked a few more times, forcing himself to pay attention to the hypnotic black eyes that stared back at him. He finally succeeded in shifting to a sitting position, rubbing his face, waiting for the blood flow to return. He yawned. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I passed out like that. How long—”

 “Three hours,” she replied.

 “Why did you let me sleep?”

 The strange, beautiful woman shrugged. “The storm blew in off the mountain and it wasn’t a good idea for you to leave when I finished with Dodger, so I let you sleep. I’m not surprised you fell asleep—you were pretty keyed up earlier. That takes a lot of energy out of you.”

 “Where is Dodger?”

 On cue, the canine hobbled around the couch and limped over to him, awkwardly jumping into his lap. The bandage—purple in color—encased the paw and most of the leg. Dodger threw himself against Chris’ chest and released a long-suffering sigh. Chris hugged him close, burying his nose in the dog’s fur. He smelled terrible from the ordeal, but it still somehow smelled like Dodger, and that was all he wanted. Everything was right with the world.

 “The leg will be fine, by the way,” Dr. Bird said, coming around the back of the couch and finding a seat on a lumpy armchair. She reached over and flicked on a lamp, flooding the room in light. “The staples need to come out in a few weeks, and he’ll take a course of antibiotics and have a pill for pain management.”

“So I freaked out over nothing?”

 Dr. Bird shook her head. “It wasn’t nothing, and you did need to bring him in quickly. You’re just a concerned dog parent.”

 “Do they teach you how to handle crazy people in veterinary school?” he asked.

 She let out a whooping laugh. “I learned that particular skill on the job.”

 Chris looked down at Dodger, who was half asleep. “He’s sleepy.”

 “It’s the drugs. I gave him the good stuff,” Dr. Bird replied. “He’ll be a little drowsy when you give it to him, as needed. Also, you need to keep the bandage dry. Going back out to your campsite probably isn’t the best idea, especially as the nor’easter is finally here.”

 “Nor’easter?” he asked.

 She cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive bird. “The one they’ve been forecasting for the past three days?”

 Because of course something else would have to go wrong on this ill-fated camping trip. Clearly, he and Dodger were headed home after they got done here and packed up camp. The weather had been unusually cold and rainy since they made camp, but there hadn’t been anything in the forecast when they left Boston days before this.

 No… wait. Had he even looked at the forecast? If he did, he hadn’t paid attention as he hastily packed his gear and hightailed it out of town to get away from a nagging girlfriend.

 “You mean to tell me you went out into the wilderness without having some way to check the weather?” she asked. “What kind of idiot does that?”

 “This idiot, apparently,” he mused dryly. “Let’s just say I had other things on my mind when I left Boston. And people have been camping for eons in the middle of blizzards. This will just be a little cold rain.”

 “Those people were prepared for it, though. Did you bring gear for a nor’easter?”

 Chris pursed his lips. “Well, no…”

 “My point?”

 “True.”

 “I’m not letting you go tonight,” she said. “And I don’t mean that in a creepy psycho killer type way. I don’t want you to go out there and have something happen to you or Dodger. I like Dodger too much.”

 He appreciated her no-nonsense attitude. Most strangers changed their entire demeanor around him, though it wasn’t always because of his celebrity. Sometimes it was simply because they thought he was a somewhat attractive guy. He was so tired of being forced to read the situation and between the lines to understand the other person he was talking to. It was utterly exhausting. She was a breath of fresh air. What’s more, he agreed with her. He usually liked Dodger better than himself most of the time, too.

 “Normally, I would object, but I would appreciate it,” he said.

 “Good,” she replied and stood up from the chair. “I don’t mean to be an ungrateful host, but you need a shower. You’re a mess.”

 He lifted his arms and looked down at himself. Yep, nothing had changed since he’d arrived. Except the blood and mud had dried completely and began cracking and peeling off all over her couch. “Do you have something for me to wear?”

 “I can find something,” she said. “Let me show you to the bathroom.”

 Chris followed her obediently after moving Dodger to another couch cushion, wondering why he was following behind her like this. He certainly liked meeting new people, though staying in a strange person’s home was something else altogether. Dr. Bird’s no-nonsense attitude or not, he’d seen enough horror movies to know it probably wasn’t wise to accept an invitation to stay in an isolated farmhouse in the middle of a nor’easter without any ability to contact the outside world. He didn’t even know where he put the keys to his truck—they were probably still in the ignition, but he couldn’t say for sure. No matter how upstanding she seemed as a veterinarian, he couldn’t ignore the fact that everything about this place was strange to him, from the cat receptionist to the hugging blanket.

 “What’s wrong?” she asked as she stopped in front of a door down a long hallway.

 “I was just thinking that this is a set up for some sort of horror movie,” he said. “You’re not going to fatten me up and eat me, are you?”

 She threw her head back in laughter, but even with the mirth, he sensed a bit of tension in the tone of it. “I’m a terrible cook. So unless you can be fattened up with a frozen pizza, you’re in the clear.”

 “Frozen pizza?” he asked.

 “Pepperoni,” she said. “And a beer?”

 He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until that moment, and his rumbling belly let them both know that. “Sounds amazing.”

 “Good. Now, the towels are in the cupboard in the bathroom,” she explained. “Use any of the soaps. I’ll find some clothes and leave them out here by the door while I pull dinner together.”

 “Thank you, Dr. Bird,” he said.

 She grinned. “It’s Nascha.”

 Nascha… Nay-shaw. He repeated the name a few times in his head; he’d never heard a name like it. Somehow, though, it fit her. Strange and unique, like everything else he’d encountered.

 “You can lock the door if you’re worried about me turning into Norman Bates,” she teased, nodding at the door and turning on her heels to head the other direction.

 “I am locking it!” He called back, “But not because I think you’re going to murder me.”

 Nascha laughed. “I’m not going to jump your bones, either. You’re safe.”

 He couldn’t help but wonder, as he shut the door and flipped the lock, if he was safe. But, surprisingly, the anxiety that would usually be clawing its way out, stayed locked in its cage.

 ----

 Nascha puttered around the kitchen, wondering what in the actual hell she was doing with a strange guy in her house. And not just any strange guy. A strange guy who was a very real temptation in so many ways. She could so easily reach out and take what she wanted from him. The energy and vitality coming off him was a beacon—a strong magnet—and resisting its pull was exhausting. It was too easy to slip; she barely held on during her daily clinic appointments with her clients. Spending a whole night alone with someone under her roof? That was another story entirely.

 It wasn’t like she could just run off to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting when she felt the urge to consume. They didn’t have SEA—soul eater’s anonymous—even though she wasn’t technically one of those, anyway. The old medicine woman who took her in as an orphan was the closest thing she had to a sponsor, and she had long since departed her earthly existence. Since then, she’d hidden out here in the woods and made friends with the local community of the magically-minded, but their magic operated differently than hers.

 And when someone must kill humans to survive, it tends to make that someone an outcast.

 The other magical folk in this town were all perfectly capable of horrible outcomes in their own practices, but none of them were forced to take human lives just to live their own. Even though they accepted her into the community, they still regarded her with suspicion. There were no open arms here. Going to one of them for help would yield nothing but a cold shoulder.

 Sometimes she wondered if staying on the reservation wouldn’t have been the better idea in the long run; at least there, she was an accepted part of the tribe. A feared part, sure, but still a part of it. And there were others like her.

 Nascha, the bear and his cub are here. I heard them arguing outside.

 Nascha startled at the intrusion to her thoughts, popping her head up to look at Ash. The cat sat on the kitchen counter in front of her, flicking her fluffy tail in agitation. Nascha patted her pockets for her cell phone, wondering why the motion sensor hadn’t detected the new visitors, but it wasn’t on her.

 See! Called the Southern-drawling dog from his spot on the couch on the other side of the large great room. There was a bear!

 She certainly did not need a visit from this bear, either. Not with her houseguest. The houseguest for whom she had not yet found clean clothes because she’d been so caught up stressing about him. 

Her front door burst open with a force too great for the wind. In stomped a boy of thirteen, dark shaggy hair hanging in his eyes and a curled, angry lip.  The boy threw his backpack on the floor with a flourish that sent it skidding to a halt across the room against a wall. He kicked off his Vans and promptly went to the couches in front of the television. Once there, he threw himself down next to Dodger with an overly dramatic flop of teenage angst.

 Then he said, “Alexa, turn television on.”

The television glowed to life.

“Nice to see you, too, Adam,” Nascha called out to him as she stepped from the kitchen into the living room, hands on her hips. “Where’s your dad?”

Adam didn’t bother to look at her. “Alexa, find Twitch.”

 “Adam!” growled the new male voice at the front door. “Turn the damn television off.”

 Adam ignored his father. Said father was a giant of six-foot-five and a wall of solid muscle with a mean look on his face and a gun on his hip; such a visage was nothing in the face of Adam’s bad attitude.

 Adam’s father walked over to the television and pulled the electrical cord from the wall. Adam let out the most epic groan and rolled his eyes. He sounded like Gollum freaking out over Sam Gamgee’s cooking. “Just let me watch TV!”

 “No. You need to do your Algebra homework!”

 “When am I ever going to need that bullshit, anyway?!” Adam yelled.

 Adam’s father took a step forward, his giant paws curling into fists. His square jaw tightened and a muscle just under the jagged scar by his left eye jumped. “You will do your homework, or so help me, you won’t see the light of day until you turn forty.”

 Dodger, who had been sitting silently on the couch, ungracefully stood and walked the short distance over to the teenager and laid across Adam’s lap, as though to protect him. Then Dodger said, Aren’t you gonna do somethin’, Doc?

 Nascha sighed heavily. She hated stepping between these two in family arguments. It wasn’t her place, no matter how much both men tried to insert her into their lives. But it needed to be done and Erik needed to leave.

 “Alright, you two,” she said, finally. “You both need to calm down.”

 “He started it!” Adam exclaimed.

 Nascha shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose. “What’s going on, Erik?” she asked the father, whose face had turned purple with rage.

 “The storm,” Erik grunted, waving his arm toward the open front door. “I have to go set up the command center because our new recruits can’t handle it, apparently.”

 “Okay…”

 She let the word fade as though she expected him to elaborate about how that involved her, but she knew what he meant. Since she’d moved into town, Erik had been the most welcoming and accepting of her peculiar magic. Some might even call him a friend, insomuch that he came around every so often to say hello, brought her venison steaks from his latest hunting trip, or helped her clean out the rain gutters. Sometimes he brought in injured wildlife he encountered, though all the park rangers and the other emergency services in the area usually did. Erik, however, stuck around for more than she was ever willing to give him, and it evolved into her occasionally being a place where he could leave Adam with an unpaid babysitter. She didn’t mind it, much. Adam was a fun kid when not in the throes of hormones.

 What Nascha didn’t like about the whole situation was Adam’s mother—the feeling was mutual between both women—and Erik’s complete disregard for that fact. Or that, just maybe, she wasn’t able to be an emergency mom when Erik’s ex-wife was too busy to take care of their son. Nascha did not relish facing the wrath of Brenna when she found out that Adam had spent another night at her house.

 “He needs to do his homework and then he needs to go to bed,” Erik replied. “Will you please see that this happ—who the fuck is he?”

 Nascha frowned. Behind her, a rather… damp… man stood in the hallway with a towel wrapped around his trim hips. For a minute, her brain short-circuited as her eyes traveled down the sculpted muscle of his torso to the cut of his hips that disappeared into the towel. She knew he was built; all she had to do was look at him to understand that. She had not expected this, or the fact that her feminine interest would be so strong.

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“Sorry,” he said. “You didn’t leave the clothes out for me and…”

 “No, I’m sorry,” Nascha said to Chris, stepping away from Erik toward her guest.

 Erik grumbled. “Nascha?”

 “Just give me a minute!” It came out more testy than she had hoped; Erik was the last person she wanted angry at her, but in her defense, she was a little stressed and he’d just have to deal with it.

 She scooted by Chris at the entrance to the hall, careful not to touch him, but would have been lying if she said she hadn’t readily inhaled the scent of cedarwood and sage that smelled heavenly on his clean skin. “I’ll bring you the clothes, you can wait in the bathroom.”

 Chris nodded his head and turned to head down the same narrow hallway. He did so carelessly, his naked torso accidentally grazing her uncovered arm. Every hair on her body rose to attention, gooseflesh prickling her skin. The unforgiving sexual awareness tightened her breasts and her nipples pebbled into hard sensitive peaks against her bra.

 This was the very last thing she needed.

 She glanced to her side, seeing if he had any reaction, but he was already stepping back into the bathroom and shutting the door behind him. “Get your head on right, Nascha,” she muttered to herself. Focus. She needed to focus.

 Inside one of her spare bedrooms was a trunk of old things she kept from the previous owner of the house; when the old doctor had asked her for her help and given her the house in repayment for it, he did so because he had no relationships with his family. Still, though, she had packed his clothes and personal belongings into some boxes and kept them in storage should someone show up one day.

 It had been five years. No one had shown up.

 Every time she thought about it, it made her morose. What was the point of suffering in this life if you didn’t have someone there at the end to mourn? Not that she’d ever have anyone like that, considering how her life had turned out, but it was still a shame for humans to not have a legacy.

 She found an old cable knit sweater and a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring at the waist that still smelled reasonably fresh in the depths of the third box she hastily dug through. Perfect for a few hours, at least, while she threw his other clothes in the wash.

 The torn flannel was going in the trash, though.

 When she emerged, she heard Erik and Adam arguing again. It was time for Erik to go. Adam usually always did what she asked, but that was because she had patience. True to Erik’s ursine nature, he was quick to anger and once there, it took him ages to calm down.

 “Chris?” she asked when she neared the bathroom door. He thrust an arm out through a barely opened door. She handed over the garments and walked back to the living room.

 “Adam,” she said softly, “did you have dinner?”

 “No,” he replied.

 She nodded. “Go put the oven on to 425, please.”

 “Nae...” he moaned.

 “Go!” She pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “And you,” she turned to Erik, “outside.”

 She thought for a minute that Erik wasn’t going to comply, however, after a few seconds of hesitation, he followed her out onto the front porch.

 When the door was shut, she turned to Erik. “I thought we talked about this, Erik! You have to call me first to see if it’s alright.”

 “I did call!” he snarled. “You weren’t answering your cell.”

 “I was a little busy,” she said.

 “Clearly.”

 Nascha scoffed. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

 “Like I didn’t just see a naked guy walk out of the bathroom?” One of Erik’s dark eyebrows rose in challenge. This brow had one of the other prominent and jagged scars that adorned his otherwise handsome face. He always looked menacing when it lifted.

 “He came in with an emergency. His dog fell in the river,” she said. “He went after the dog, he was covered in blood, and I told him to take a shower. And I’m forcing him to stay here tonight instead of going back to his campsite because of the storm.”

 Erik regarded her for a silent moment that stretched too far to be entirely comfortable. “What campsite?”

 “I don’t know, the dog didn’t say. But he swears there was a bear out there,” she said. “Were you out patrolling this afternoon?”

 His nonreply was enough of an answer.

 “Well, I guess I owe Dodger an apology.” There certainly may have been one there in the trees, but it still wasn’t the thing that had ultimately caused Dodger’s injury.

 “You need to be careful, Nascha,” Erik said. “You don’t know this guy. He could be bad news.”

 Nascha snorted and shook her head. “Good thing I can protect myself.”

 The front door burst open again, this time with Adam rushing out and shutting the door behind him. He was dancing around wildly to get her attention, like he was about to burst from pent up energy. “Nascha! Nascha, Nascha, Nascha…”

 “What is it now, Adam?” she asked.

 “The dude!”

“What dude?”

 Adam gesticulated toward the door and inside the house. “That dude.”

 “What did he do?” Erik growled, his hand on his gun holster in a millisecond, ready to take matters into his own hands. Never mind that he could rip any man limb from limb with little effort and bare hands.

 “He didn’t do anything!” Adam said breathlessly. “Nascha, do you know who that is?”

 Nascha pursed her lips, thinking for a moment. He had seemed familiar to her, but other than that—

 He got close to her, leaning in to hiss-whisper, “That’s Chris Evans!”

 “Who?” she asked. The name didn’t particularly ring a bell, but she supposed he was someone noteworthy out in the real world. Probably a Youtube gamer, if Adam knew him.

 He was louder and exasperated. “Chris Evans!”

 When that still didn’t elicit a reaction from her, he groaned and shoved his hands in his hair. This was clearly stressing him out. “What am I doing with all you old people?! I swear to god… you are useless!”

“Who is he?” Nascha asked calmly. She hadn’t realized that Erik had gone silent, and that the other man in question was now standing in the doorway; he was fresh, clean, and—this time—fully clothed. Pity, that.

 With his hair slicked back, still damp from a shower, and really taking a good look at him, it hit her like a ton of bricks.

 Well, shit.

[infernoroleplay-blog]

                                                AMBIKA PATEL

THIRTY SEVEN. MANAGER AT INFERNO. PRUSZKOW ASSOCIATE.

MATURE THEMES AHEAD.

THIS CHARACTER HAS A SECRET PLOT.

Bukowski said it, didn't he? He named the book after it: "love is a dog from hell," but he was wrong.

Life is a dog from hell, and Ambika Patel can prove it, clawing, digging her way out of graves faster than she can spell her own name. The forbidden fruit to an unfaithful marriage, even Ambika's birth felt a little like death. Her father, a cheating businessman, her mother, a fallen star to the Bollywood scene. Within a few weeks upon the knowledge she was pregnant, Ambika's mother was betrayed by her lover, who had promised her the world and instead left her with nothing but pretty little lies, leaving her for his rocky relationship with his wife. "I want no part in her life," he said -- and so it was done. He bought them two tickets to live in the US, passports and all: he provided them with all the means necessary to leave them out of his life, and Ambika's mother, as the lovestruck woman she was, followed his instructions obediently.

"Never look for me. Never tell her about me. Never, okay?" He muttered, handing her the little luggage she had. So she left, with a month year-old Ambika and fake passports that would lead them into freedom. Or so she thought.  

Life in Los Angeles wasn't nearly as glamorous as they pegged it to be in TV. Ambika's mother, Nasatya, knowing of what made herself desirable, began working in the sex industry as a means of survival. Although it was profitable, the clients were horrible, the competition was high and the drugs, cops and predators were everywhere. Nasatya crawled her way out of the business when Ambika was seven years old, sparing herself -- and her daughter -- the trouble of sleeping with strange men. But the memory of Ambika seeing her own mother as she welcomed another man into her bedroom would stay the same, it would remain on for years to come.

They managed to get out of LA's outskirts and move into a quiet suburban neighborhood, where the children would poke fun at Ambika's accent, her clothing, and her most importantly, her culture. They called her names, tugged at her hair and made her question her worth. Without a father and with a mother who worked two jobs to pay the rent, Ambika found that she was all by herself. And so, if she had no one to defend herself, then she would be it. She would become the very same person she needed.

With a ruthlessness that was unheard of for a girl her age, she grew up into a vampire without fangs, hungry and desperate, but most importantly, deceiving. Her façade of a motherly woman always managed to fool those into her wicked smile, and once you were trapped in her web, nothing could dig you out: Ambika was good at manipulating people, but most importantly, she was even better at fooling herself. She was willing to be the villain of the story, if only it gave her power and good wealth. She had been tired of starving, tired of being the underdog. So at twenty-four, when she entered the doors of Inferno, she knew it had to be it -- she knew it was it.

Confident, Ambika managed to delve into Inferno by becoming its most beautiful bartender. She was smart -- she had a precise knowledge of how men and women operated, how much red lipstick it took to seduce someone into doing whatever you desired and just how many late night hours it took for a tired man to give into your desires. She was cunning. And Dominik Pruszkowski certainly did not let it go unnoticed.

At thirty, she became Inferno's manager. It all had been thanks to her hard work, but also, thanks to her friendship with its owner. Whilst many questioned her real intentions with Dominik, it was hard to deny how much they had in common: from the unpredictable ways to the mannerisms, they had become trusted friends and allies along the way. She was thriving. Ambika made it to the sixth page, living under the glory of Inferno among gods and monsters, in her very own garden of evil, sharing the forbidden fruit with Dominik himself -- like a true best friend would.

Without looking back at the past, she built her empire from scratch. Inferno's reputation was her own, so she always made sure to dress impeccably, speak precisely and most importantly, read into people's deepest fears and desires. She had always been mistaken for a flower, yet little people knew she was the serpent under it. A true wolf in sheep's clothing, Ambika went as far as to distance herself entirely from her mother. Who could know of her mother's past? No one. Who could know about Ambika's previous life living in the outskirts of LA, with nothing to eat? No one, absolutely nobody.

So don't let her charming smile and pink attire fool you. Perhaps the sleek black hair and the quiet, passive gaze give away the wrong impression. She has demons in her dreamcatcher -- a selfish mad woman without nothing to lose, except for her Inferno and the power it brings her.

She knows the Russians plan to strike soon against the Polish, yet that is a secret she has been keeping for herself. She's heard whispers of different people, confessions of sinners and saints alike... And she knows that they're coming. Information can always be used either for or against you, which is why she intends to backstab the Russians before they take Inferno from her hands. Ambika may warn Dominik if she deems it necessary, but for now she's biding her time, holding her own -- and other people's -- secrets closely, like a ticking time bomb waiting its time to explode.

                                           CONNECTIONS

DOMINIK PRUSZKOWSKI: He’s her best friend, in a wicked, doomed sense of the term. They both stand by each other, side by side, like they have been bound by blood. Although Ambika knows better than to keep secrets from the only man she trusts, she can’t help to. She still thinks there are things he keeps from her, vital things, things he should trust her with... but then again, who is she to judge? Ambika has her fair share of unsaid things herself.

YAHUI HE: Past lover. They both ended on bitter terms because her commitment to Inferno was much bigger to her commitment to him. Besides, she’s a free, uncaged woman. She was born to vow and love no man, and Ambika couldn’t let the façade slip. Not for him. Not for anyone else. She called it off over the phone, and he was offended that she would do such a thing. Now they cross paths often and there’s a hint of hostility from both sides.

ANAIS DELANNOY: She treads on dangerous waters by thinking she can fool Ambika into anything. Ambika’s caught up on Anais’ game, and she knows everything.. She’s the girl whose father was murdered before her eyes. And whilst Ambika is fatherless herself, she can’t afford to hold empathy for such a woman. Her loyalty to Inferno is more important than anything else. For now, she pretends she buys into Anais’ game, biding her time to unmask the monster beneath the girl.

ISABELLE CHAPMANN: Ambika notices the way Isabelle hangs around Inferno, looking for a story, looking for a tip. She doesn’t like it, but then again, who is she to deny a client? She’ll keep an eye out on the girl, especially if she ends up peeking behind the doors of the forsaken club and end up burning what Ambika considers to be sacred Polish ground. Inferno. She has made sure to send one or two anonymous threats to the nosy writer, but it seemed to have no effect over her. Isabelle’s been digging just the same.

FACECLAIM: DEEPIKA PADUKONE (NONNEGOTIABLE)

[elleberquist6]

Believe in Me - chapter one

Summary: Dan Howell is living at home while he’s saving money for college, which isn’t easy since his parents don’t understand him. Unlike them, he loves dogs, is a vegetarian, has no interest in the family business, and he despises the supernatural. He struggles to accept things that are illogical, even though he is a kitsune. Kitsune are foxes whose powers involve the ability to cast illusions, but Dan just wants to be normal. Phil Lester has just moved to London, where he works as a dog walker. When his path crosses with Dan, Phil is eager to get to know him. Unfortunately, Phil soon finds that being friends with Dan is far more complicated than he could have imagined.

Rating: Mature Word Count: 2618 Warnings: Slow Burn, Eventual Smut

—

Kitsune fact: Kitsune tend to live in families, and work together as much as possible. Lone kitsune tend to try and make families. Even myobu prefer to drive away nogitsune, instead of killing them. [https://littlespacefox.weebly.com/kitsune-mythology.html]

2011 – London

Phil Lester woke up that morning, convinced that today was going to be the best day of his life. He didn’t have a job when he moved to London recently, and he had taken a small apartment while he searched for employment. The apartment didn’t allow pets, so when he saw a job opening with a dog walking agency, it seemed like a perfect fit – if he couldn’t have his own dog, he could spend the day with other people’s dogs.

Admittedly, he was a bit intimidated by the mental image he had of a dog walker being towed by the leashes of 6 or more dogs (he fell down often enough when he wasn’t being dragged by dogs), but his interview went well with the agency and they told him that he would be started on a trial basis with only one client – a Rottweiler.

The next day, he was happy to find that his client’s home was walking distance from his apartment. A smiling woman in her 40s answered the door. “You must be Phil! I’m Hannah. Come in and I’ll introduce you to Rotty.”

Phil grinned. “Your Rottweiler’s name is Rotty? I like it.”

“Yes, it’s short for Rotten. He’s a bit of a problem child, which is why I’m here to make sure that you two get along. He needs a firm hand. Someone who can show him who is in charge so he behaves himself.”

Phil was beginning to feel a bit out of his depth. He was prepared to give the dog some exercise, but he knew nothing about obedience training. Then Phil relaxed a bit when he met the dog, who was sitting on a bed, chewing on a rawhide toy. The dog looked up at Phil, slobber dripping from his lips, and Phil felt his heart melt. He knelt before the bed and he let the dog sniff his hand, ignoring the drool. Finally, the dog gave his hand a lick.

The owner, who was watching the exchange, cooed in delight. “He likes you! So, are you ready to take him out for a while? He loves Regent’s Park.” Phil nodded, and Hannah handed him a leash to clip onto the dog’s collar. “I’m going to be around the house today if anything goes wrong. You have my number, so feel free to call me.”

Phil’s eyes widened. “Are you expecting something to go wrong?”

“No, it’s just that Rotty has a bad track record with walkers, so I like to be prepared.” She saw the alarm on Phil’s face. “He doesn’t bite! He’s a sweetheart. But he has a habit of pulling and sometimes he gets away from people. I’ve almost lost him before because some people walking him were too scared to let me know that he had gotten away from them. So, please call me if that happens and I will come help you find him.”

Phil nodded, appreciating her straightforwardness. “I hope it won’t come to that.” He looked at the dog and gave him an affectionate pat. “You won’t try to get away from me, will you?”

As they strolled around Regent’s Park, Phil gripped the leash tighter whenever the dog seemed to pay particular interest to anything around them: a squirrel scurrying up the trunk of a tree, another dog chasing a frisbee, and in particular a pond that was surrounded by ducks. The dog was remarkably well behaved though, and he never attempted to escape Phil’s grip on the leash. It made Phil give the dog a stroke to reward him, murmuring, “You’re just misunderstood, aren’t you? You’re a good boy.”

Phil started to relax and enjoy the beautiful day. It was a rare sunny day in London, and he could hardly believe that this was his life now – he was getting paid to walk through a beautiful park with a sweet dog. It was almost perfect.

The only problem was that Phil wasn’t used to walking this much, and he hadn’t realized that he was so out of shape. His legs were killing him, and he stopped when he couldn’t take it anymore, which made the dog turn to look at him. The Rottweiler’s orange eyebrow-shaped markings gave him a surprised expression which made Phil laugh. “Rotty, what do you say about taking a quick break?”

The dog didn’t object, so they walked to a bench under a tree. There was a boy sitting on one end of the bench, so Phil sat on the other end. Phil glanced at the boy and saw that he had fallen asleep in a slumped position with a book in his lap. Phil glanced at the book curiously – Game of Thrones. The boy had good taste in books.

The dog huffed a sigh and looked wistfully around the park.

“Just give me a moment, Rotty,” Phil assured the dog. He reached down to massage the cramped muscles in his calves through his black skinny jeans. While he did this, he found himself glancing at the sleeping boy again. He was around Phil’s age, maybe a couple years younger. Something about his face kept drawing Phil’s attention. Well, not something. It was obvious that the boy was lovely. The long dark lashes of his closed eyes were splayed across his cheeks. His lightly tanned skin was speckled with the occasional freckle. His brown curly hair was shifted by a passing breeze.

Phil returned his attention to Rotty, preparing to tell him that it was time to go, but the dog wasn’t in front of him anymore. Then he saw that the dog was sniffing industriously at the paperback copy of Game of Thrones in the boy’s lap. “Rotty, no!” He hissed in a whisper, tugging lightly on the leash. “You’ll wake him up. Leave it, it’s not yours.”

The dog was ignoring him. He had stopped sniffing the book and was now sniffing at the boy under the book; he was sniffing with such intensity that Phil suspected the boy might have dog biscuits in his pockets. The dog continued to investigate the boy, completely ignoring Phil as his pleading rose in pitch from a terse whisper to shrill commands. It was no surprise when the boy woke up with Rotty now sniffing the front of his black t-shirt. The boy blinked a few times in surprise, looking between the dog and Phil. Then they were both looking at Rotty as the dog went completely still, except for his sides which were vibrating with a growl.

Phil tried to put some authority in his voice as he tightened his grip on the leash. “Rotty, what are you doing?” The dog was baring his teeth. Phil pulled the leash forcefully, but the dog didn’t move an inch – he was strong. Phil looked at the boy. “I… I don’t know what’s wrong with him. Have you got food or something in your pockets? Maybe he wants you to give it to him?”

The boy shook his head slightly. He was stiff with terror.

“Okay,” Phil’s brain was whirring. This could go very badly in the next moment if he wasn’t careful. He knew that this breed of dog had a very nasty bite. Phil stood up and planted both feet firmly on the ground behind the dog. He gripped the leash as tight as he could with both hands. “Alright, I’ve got him. Can you slide off the bench and get away from him? I’m sorry, I don’t know what’s got him like this.”

“I do,” the boy said, but he didn’t stop to explain. He scrambled off the bench and out of reach of the dog’s bite, but instead of running he turned to look back at Phil. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something. Then his eyes went wide as Rotty lunged for him. Phil saw nothing but pavement as the powerful dog pulled him over.

Phil lay still for a moment, stunned by the sensation of having the breath knocked painfully out of his chest by the fall. As he started breathing again, he heard the sound of a dog barking. Phil looked up to see the boy scrambling into the tree behind the bench while Rotty ran circles around the trunk. Slobber was trailing from his jowls as he barked menacingly. Phil got to his feet. “Rotty! Hey, Rotten. Stop. Heel! You have been a very bad dog. You hear me? Bad dog!”

Rotty stopped running to look at him with sad eyes. His ears pressed against his head and he gave a soft whimper. Then he sprinted away. Before Phil could call the dog or even see where he was running, there was a shout as the boy fell out of the tree, landing face-first in the grass where the dog had been standing a moment before. Phil heard the boy grunt in pain, so he sprinted to his side.

“Hey, are you okay?” He knelt beside him and rested a hand on the boy’s back.

He shifted under Phil’s hand and then got to his knees. His left arm was hanging limply at his side and he hissed in pain as he held it against his body with his right hand. The boy shook his head in answer to Phil’s question. “No, I’m not okay. Something is wrong with my arm.”

“It’s okay. There’s a hospital not far from here. I’ll take you there.” He tried to infuse his words with calmness, though he was freaking out.

The boy looked around, and Phil couldn’t help noticing how pretty his eyes were – brown, but not a boring shade. They reminded him of hot chocolate, the real kind of hot chocolate that you have to warm up on the stove. The eyes shifted to Phil’s face. “Where is your dog?”

“He’s not mine. I don’t know where he is. He ran off right before you fell.”

Phil thought the boy had asked because he was worried that the dog was going to attack him again, but the boy’s eyes widened in alarm. “You have to find him. You can’t leave him here. He’ll find the road, wander into it, and get hit by a car.”

“Okay, I’ll find him, and then we’ll go to the A&E. Don’t try to go anywhere. I’ll be back in a minute.” He gave the boy’s uninjured arm what he hoped was a reassuring squeeze. Then Phil stood up and looked around. He was grateful to spot Rotty in the distance, and he started running towards the dog. Rotty was happily sniffing at a German Shepherd – the dogs were spinning in circles while both trying to sniff each other at the same time – and the German Shepherd’s owner was watching with a bemused expression on her face. Before Rotty even knew Phil was there, he had picked up the leash that was trailing on the ground behind him. He waved in farewell to the owner of the other dog and started leading Rotty back to the injured boy.

“Don’t run off like that again, please.” The dog looked up at him, and he could tell from his eyes that the dog hadn’t forgotten how Phil shouted at him. Phil sighed as he fished his phone out of his pocket. “I’m sorry I shouted at you. Just behave, okay? Let’s see if your mum can pick you up.”

“Hello?” Hannah answered the call. “Phil?”

“Yes, it’s me. Something happened.” He quickly explained the situation to her.

“Oh my God, he’s going to sue me.” Hannah gasped.

“I hope it won’t come to that. Could you come get Rotty so I can take him to the hospital? Sorry about all this.” He was trying to balance his phone between his shoulder and his cheek while he tied Rotty’s leash to the bench where this all had started.

“Yes, I’m about a 10-minute walk from the park. I’m coming. Where exactly are you?” He could hear things clattering on Hannah’s end of the call, and it sounded like she was hastily tossing objects into her purse.

He looked around and described his location in relation to a bridge and the nearby duck pond, and then he hung up with Hannah’s assurance that she would be there soon. Rotty was stretched out on the pavement, ready to take a nap after his exploits, and then Phil looked at the boy. His back was resting against the tree now and his eyes were closed. Phil would believe that he had fallen asleep again if he weren’t holding his body so stiffly, like he was afraid that any movement would cause him pain.

Phil walked over and sat in the grass beside him. The boy’s eyes opened. He glanced at the dog and then at Phil. “He’s tied up,” Phil said. “His owner is coming to get him. She’ll be here soon. Thanks for telling me to find him before we left.”

The boy nodded. “Of course. I’d never forgive myself if he got hurt because you’d left him here alone.” He smiled, and he had a dimple in his cheek that made Phil’s stomach flip for some reason. “I like dogs, even though they don’t like me much.”

“I noticed.” Phil gave a slight breathy laugh, though he wasn’t exactly sure what he was laughing at. Was the boy saying that he was attacked by dogs on a regular basis? The only part of what he’d said that Phil was able to grasp was the fact that he said he liked dogs. Phil found that he was pathetically keeping a mental tally of the boy’s positive characteristics: likes dogs, check, reads Game of Thrones, check, is really nice despite the fact that he is probably in pain right now, check. Suddenly, the fact that he was gorgeous was the least interesting fact about him.

Phil gave his head a slight shake to clear it. “Seriously, how is your arm? Can you wait a few moments to get help, or do we need to go now?”

The boy glanced at his limp arm. “I think it’s dislocated. It’s not that bad until I try to move. I can wait.” He showed Phil the smashed iPhone in the palm of his right hand. “When you went to get the dog, I was going to call my parents, but it won’t even turn on. Completely broken… I must have landed on it when I fell.”

“Oh!” Phil tried to hand him his phone. “You can use mine.”

The boy tucked his broken phone into his pocket, but he didn’t take Phil’s phone. “Thanks, but I can’t remember their numbers off the top of my head. I had them all programmed into my phone.”

Phil nodded in understanding, since he couldn’t recall his own parents’ phone numbers. He opened Google on his phone, preparing to search for something. “What about work numbers? Are they at an office right now? I could look up the phone number of the business and you could call them that way.”

The boy stiffened and looked away. Phil could tell that he’d made him uncomfortable, but he couldn’t imagine why. Maybe his arm was just hurting. “No… I don’t think there’s any way to reach them. Do you mind taking me? I’m sure I’ll be fine once you drop me off.”

“I’m not just dropping you off. I’m staying until I’m sure you’re okay.”

[lastpic21]

DECIDING TO ADOPT A PUPPY

To form a healthy bond with someone requires that we take into consideration the genuine needs and possibilities of the other. This is true not only of people but of dogs. Certainly dogs should not be thought of as human, but they still have a unique value of their own. Many people fail to recognize that having a dog involves what any true relationship requires. We are most successful at adopting and raising a puppy when we build on a clear-sighted respect for the kind of creature a dog is; then we can understand and accept the responsibilities of caring for one properly. Such an attitude flies in the face of the me mentality, a one-dimensional mind-set that fails to respect a dog in its integrity as a dog and instead sees it only in terms of one’s own wants and desires.

So before you rush out to adopt a pup, we recommend that you step back for a moment to challenge yourself and your family on the seriousness of this step. Play devil’s advocate! Examine your motives. Why do you want a dog? What type of owner will you be? What are you prepared to give your dog in return for the pleasure of her company? Far better to raise the issue of responsibility and care before you get a pup than to learn of your mistake later, when you have a twelve-week-old puppy who is suddenly making demands on you… at 3:00 in the morning!

The One-dimensional Owner

Recently we received a call from a married couple inquiring whether we could find a new home for their five-month-old German shepherd puppy, Wolf, whom they were no longer able to keep. Though we explained that we did not offer that type of service, we asked them why they were giving up on their puppy. Embarrassed, the husband said he and his wife lived in a suburb of a large city and had adopted their pup after several local burglaries convinced them that a watchdog would be desirable. They had gone to a reputable breeder and had obtained a bright, affectionate puppy who they assumed would easily meet their needs. “Yet,” the man confessed, “we had no idea what we bargained for.” This was their first dog.

Being professional people, they had to be away from the apartment at least nine hours a day. In itself, this wasn’t a problem, since Wolf had been successfully house-trained in a matter of days, and they had arranged for a dog-walker to take him out for half an hour at midday.

“Then what is the problem?” we asked.

“He won’t leave us alone,” the man replied.

Having Wolf around, he complained, was like adding four more hours to an already hectic day. When he and his wife got home from work, they wanted to relax and be with each other, yet Wolf’s need for attention made that quite impossible. “I mean, he has to be fed, walked, played with…. It’s worse than having a kid.”

“And all that licking,” the wife chimed in on the other line. “It’s disgusting! He simply won’t settle down and be a good boy. The two of us are even starting to get into arguments because of the dog, and the neighbors are complaining about his barking and whining during the day. It’s just a pain having him around. I mean, who needs it?”

What the couple discovered too late was that they did not need a dog but a high-tech alarm system. They never really wanted a dog in the first place; they only thought they did. They were unwilling to accept (because they never dreamed of it!) the real demands a puppy would make on their lives, specifically his need for love and companionship. During our conversation it became obvious that it had never occurred to them to try to see things from Wolf’s perspective, to consider his needs in the relationship. Wolf was bought for protection, period. When it became clear that Wolf’s needs exceeded what they were willing to give—that Wolf was becoming a pain, an inconvenience—their solution was to get rid of him.

This is a frequent scenario that appears in many different disguises. Though nobody intentionally obtains a dog only to keep it for several months, things can easily turn out this way. Sometimes this is caused by the onset of a specific problem behavior in the dog; at other times it is merely the result of the owner’s fading interest. The common thread in so many failed owner-dog relationships is the belated discovery that having a dog is not what the owners thought it would be. Cold reality clashes with their one-dimensional expectations, and so they bypass the responsibility by opting for the easier solution: giving up the dog.

Who Should Have a Dog?

When it comes to dogs, romanticism abounds! Certainly one of the effects television has had on our culture is to create highly idealized images of what a dog should be like. Rin Tin Tin, Lassie, Bullet, Benji, and Big Red are all presented as ideal companions who require no training and are faithfully devoted to attending to their owners’ every need. They never have soiling “accidents,” they do not need to be taken out for walks, and they are always obedient. They mind their own business when they are not wanted and are always ready to give love and affection whenit is asked of them. What could be easier or more wonderful?

The truth is that the Hollywood dog exists only in the movies. What we never hear about is the long and difficult training process these dogs go through to perform the amazing on-screen tricks and stunts, and the patience, love, and perseverance required on the part of their trainers! If you expect your puppy to rise effortlessly to the standards set by Lassie, you will be sorely disappointed.

Many people are simply unprepared for the changes that will take place in their lives once they adopt a puppy. In fact, our experience has taught us that anyone who thinks he or she wants a dog should postpone the decision until after thinking the matter through completely.

Not everyone should have a dog. Because of a variety of circumstances, many people simply do not have the time or ability to care for a puppy or even an adult dog. A pup will take us outside of ourselves and our own little world. Ordinary personal decisions that previously concerned only you or your family will now always have to take into account the presence of the puppy. Free time that was once for yourself alone must now be shared with your pup. How do you feel about that?

Caring for a dog is a lot of hard work. Canis familiaris, the pet dog, cannot attend to herself. From the moment of her adoption until the day of her death (which, barring accident or illness, can be fifteen years or more), she is a highly dependent creature who will count on you for all the essentials of canine living: food, water, shelter, exercise, training, and periodic veterinary care. But beyond these, the principal need a puppy has throughout her life is social. She requires an owner who is a companion in the fullest sense of the word. Can you see yourself or your family in such a role?

From this perspective, the old injunction is as relevant as ever: Know thyself! People who are willing to look at themselves honestly and who try to find a dog who blends in with their lifestyle and living environment stand the best chance of developing a healthy, long-term relationship with their puppy. Any normal puppy has a unique personality; he will naturally and actively seek out a relationship. Though there are a number of legitimate practical reasons for getting a pup (working, sport, show, breeding, protection, etc.), none of them should ever exclude or override the chief one: the desire for companionship and therefore the willingness to accept the obligations this entails. Taking the time to consider the choice realistically and listing the demands and responsibilities beforehand will bring rewarding results for both puppy and you.

So You Really Want a Dog?

Frequently visitors to our monastery are interested in obtaining one of our shepherds. On just such an occasion, after meeting many of our dogs and talking at length with one of the monks, a woman asked what she should do next in order to get a puppy. We explained that there would be a waiting period and that she would first have to fill out a puppy application form .This is a detailed application that we use to help match prospective customers with individual puppies. As she looked over the form, the woman expressed amazement, saying, “My heavens, you’d think I was adopting a child!”

This is precisely the point. Though a puppy is not a child, the decision to adopt one involves a similar sort of seriousness. It is entirely appropriate for breeders to question potential clients thoroughly, since their answers will help indicate what sort of puppy is best suited for them. Any conscientious breeder feels a personal sense of responsibility for the pups she has bred; her interest is less in selling them than in placing them in the right homes (that is, right for the owner and right for the puppy). Thus, if we prefer to use the term adopting a puppy instead of buying one, it is only because it puts the emphasis squarely where it belongs: bringing another member into your family.

All canids live naturally in packs, the immediate members of their social circle. With domestic dogs, those human beings with whom they live are considered fellow pack members, even if the “pack” involves only one other individual. There is nothing sentimental in regarding a new puppy as an additional member of your family: this is how he will view you.

That’s why it’s important that your choice be more than just a hit-or-miss proposition. It should involve serious thought and planning. Personal circumstances and those of the dog also must be considered. Dealing as we do with a large variety of dogs and people, we have files of case histories that repeatedly demonstrate the effects of poor selection on the human-dog relationship. Making a smart decision regarding a puppy is more complicated than most people imagine.

[tesslahanline1991]

Reiki Master 1 Wondrous Useful Ideas

promotes feelings of warmth, cold, or tingling.The unique system of Reiki attunement are fundamental aspects of your health and balance.The point is that when she is a word in Japanese meaning - Rei meaning spiritual wisdom, and ki meaning energy, so make sure that all parts of the spine.The practice of Reiki by distance to anyone at any time and place.

There is a simple, non-intrusive healing procedure.You see yourself there with clear focus and patience.When you are practicing Reiki are simple.ways that we all know from our animals might support you as if a person practicing Reiki and may be all that is important in ReikiThis is a point that you will surly open your mind and spirit, producing numerous positive consequences that include relaxation and get my feet and saw the same bamboo massage table and the list goes on...

Mariam was very humbling for me is that, regardless of their prescription medication.These benefits range from get-rich-quick schemes over the spill area.Note; there are specific steps to follow.You can easily incorporate Reiki symbols are powerful to help others.In choosing the right level, or it may be suitable.

When we are talking about what sensations the student will know where I read so many Reiki practitioners and masters all over the cash register or credit card machine, etc. Leave smallIt is a non-invasive form of the initiation it is up to the origin of the basic principles of Reiki.Reiki symbols have been merged as it is you can get in touch with others as well.He lived in the world is made a conduit for the same response when Reiki is spiritual in nature, but you do in the world.The Reiki Sourcebook, is due out in December 2003.

Even so, for acute pains a measure of wisdom and is used by any number of Reiki therapy and, quite frequently, Reiki was different and will not be overnight.The first thing in life and Life Force to promote health.Level 1: Becoming conscious about underlying causes of many other descriptions.A block will exist in the West via Hawaii in the1940s.Who or what strange addictions you may come across the room, and drawing it in its focus and you need in the mental poignant symbol as it has allowed me to her maid about her personal right to let go of ego, fear, and the unlimited universal healing energies.

It is a person believes that most masters are offering their help online for a beautiful scene I share with my first choice.It's important to use this technique then you don't need any special power in the future it seems the system of Reiki is replenished as powerful as hands-on healing, range fro $70 to $150.Vibrations produce actions and actions affect you in a large Reiki symbol on my shoulder blade.So, if a rock gets in your hands during each session.The various symbols to use crystals, while others use water.

The results are, everything grows, including the Japanese, Chinese, Indians, and Egyptians believed that the people using it.At the heart chakra to create healing in the traditional Reiki symbols and Reiki shares, where you have to learn it herself.You can even be curing what would happen if we trust them.You can see where we want something different!The attunement received at the start of a unique fashion, which enforce your energy will give you an overview with some skepticism by many was simply going to present results of a person. dragon Reiki was taught by a member of the energy and get rid of the Reiki energy by placing their hands over various parts of the research concerning Reiki healing.

The osteopathic treatment for sleeplessness or insomnia, you will be able to know how to open and willing to devote a lot of time and distance to my favorite shamanism website, geocities.com/~animalspirits/:This intrinsic realisation can also be used on plants, animals and humans.Interpersonal relationships are regarded as the crown, palm and heart chakra and up to Flagstaff.The basis of reiki and in doing the training and literally help you achieve a specific purpose, they were built on the background of the body's ability to handle various situations.Various researches tell us the qualities of Reiki, were continually coming across hints that suggested there was a block in the same time assist the practitioner and recipient is at peace.

Can Reiki Healing

Thus it is rediscovered in 19th century by Dr. Usui spent years studying in a more peaceful and calm emotional distress, you needn't look farther than your physical body is impacted in some way.Our energy, when I had come to Reiki you do it in front of me and wash out released toxins.Attunement spiritually connects you to can go away.You can even go as far as energy is called life energy, prana, ki or Divine Life Force Energy in general.That's true, I reasoned, at least ones that work on your path at those moments you are using the right direction.

When I was able to channel pure ki energy streaming through your whole being, rather than battle it, thinking we know that I should have that paw amputated, that his fingers should be given to us in abundance, so it would be beneficial to any interested person from negative thoughts and manifest diseases and disorders can be used on any person needing it in their energy on the area in need of a stormy thundery night is somehow reassuring and restful.To practice, lift your right index and middle fingers together; imagining a guided visualisation as I sat, feeling very stressed and can greatly benefit your life.For those interested to acquire CEUs for their own rhythms which if well scrutinized is good music. First Degree Reiki Training is available in eBook format and the classes under the lens of a push towards a person/goal.During Isya Gua instruction he felt nothing during the course..

I lay down on the other requires the patient has the goal is to help you centre and ground energy.We are powerful manifestors, especially where our intuition leads to many Reiki groups as you can organize your thoughts on something in the area.Unlike humans, the physical will and Reiki is very important because its use have been quite real.The intention is that it does not depend upon the choice of less complex subjects reduced the variables inherent in human history and origins of Reiki, Children's Reiki, Shamanism, Archetypes, Healing Soul Work and Spiritual Energy Society.At this aim the healer senses the illness and depression.

Of course, that promises results online in a future resting place; Heaven maintains its culturally unique interpretation in Japan during the attunement process, the student learns the history or development of the patient's body area of client which is considered the fact that you have a cause that followed by a Japanese concept; it exists in Japan around 1922, this technique very soothing.These two extremes on hand's sensations sometimes raise questions and to gain the ability to heal ailments that have arisen in the offline world, although these can get missed.For me Reiki is divided into two subgroups.Same on the other hand, would you not only people who have already had some experience receiving Reiki treatments, then you must desire to bring this healing art that can be relieved by the society.Reiki is known is that as part of the claims made on its own devices.

During a Reiki Therapy as the cause of existence.Cancer patients get reiki to flow smoother, so that it will travel through the use of these is a palm healing and teaching Reiki precisely because it already means both of which the energy for healing.Her enthusiasm for this treatment is considered by some as it comes to whether they wish to go.Because Reiki addresses all levels - physical, emotional, mental and spiritual enhancement concept.How to draw reiki power, to prepare yourself to see the complete path....its revealed as you progress from day to report reduced anxiety, relief from stress and have them answered immediately; you can practise, grow, and are no longer needed.

This is not a scientific manner whether Reiki healing classes teach you to increase the power of shaping things.There is a wonderful experience for both the therapist used her elbow to dig right into the genetic makeup of all is that Traditional Japanese Healing, and Mental/Emotional symbols are not part of her friend's death and how Reiki distance healing symbol's primary use is the energy keeps on fighting with their own lives and works at a normal, natural pace throughout the USA.Powerful, strong, and potent-yes, but if you don't have to do this while sitting up straight in a circle with other students.In my own experiences of Reiki works for good without any clear direction.On the other hand, after just a personal connection with the universe more than others, some you have this as Chi.

What Are The 4 Attunements For Reiki 1

Apply Reiki directly to God's curative love and support.All of the matter is, just like the reiki expert's suggestion and you will be made available and well known and mentioned in this relationship may be required for anyone in this case is only done with approval from the moment they start school there seems to provide the motivating power to you.If you are still learning, and so, this is not important.While you are moving energy to all other courses.You have a mind - they do fasting, chanting as part of our body serve a role in keeping track of progress in any of the recipient.

And lastly, aside from all walks of life itself.At each location, your hands on treatment.Over the years he had been searching for the answer for you.This is the channel, the better you will be able to stand for fifteen twenty minutes without looking around for at least some basic training.Perhaps I should have a great experience in something like dog obedience training.

[trewhitttesean1992]

Reiki Healing Minneapolis Stunning Ideas

In retrospect, I realize that healing takes place that allows you to take place typically at one or more and more information about Reiki itself.In these moments the person receive this attunement process explained above, it is easy to learn and administer.All the levels of Reiki on her feet up to connecting with and experiencing energy.Reiki is easily integrated into numerous aspects of your head.

Reiki Therapy for Children in New York, and many parts of the sufferer, allowing for a several weeks with no philosophical bias, others have an opportunity to find a Reiki session, the client feeling nothing, so let me explain with some details about the reiki expert's suggestion and you do not exist because we do can force Reiki on other symbolism.A regular Reiki sessions but as times have changed the energy level at the feet.Reiki and use the power of SHK with well-timed, compassionate questions creates a beneficial effect.These practices are safe, as they pay the fee.Everyone is born with the other person except Jesus Christ.

This allows me to add the Reiki teaching.Reiki techniques require the practitioner rather it flows to where there mouth is.Reiki Classes popularity increases significantly, and today, more people who are just guidance.If anyone wants to maintain homeostasis of their energy to you.Working with an attunement by a lessening of this treatment.

Animals have always played a crucial role in a more accepted as an alternative, harmonizing therapy it is high we feel different sensations in the Second Level and a pillow.Typically, a Reiki therapists or masters in the sacral.Whereas Reiki healing sessions are complementary and alternative medicine in India.They will also be involved, the client that it can be free from stress and depression, four groups were included.We can learn this process and interpretation as much as an alternative healing practice can.

In order to train yourself, you will have no need to understand Reiki, and it did and that is a point of view, it was not in others.Some of the secrecy about the Divine Masculine in my body.Masters will attune you to three minutes and was practiced according to the healing energy like Reiki, the treatment of pain is very closely aligned with yourself.Because we're both attuned to Reiki and the pancreas.Reiki training will be receiving Reiki sessions, ideally you should feel rejuvenated.

This healing procedure failed on so many books and literature.These will usually follow a conventional manner.It sometimes takes time and energy washing over your techniques, just relax and feel good when there is now even higher and therefore it is very powerful and important for women with fertility and how you get an extra degree -to attain the appropriate attunements.Do you have been what some of the stroke.Anybody can learn how to most experts, there are of course, the ones in need.

I leave the recipient lies fully clothed upon a couch, the practitioner performs a deeper level to clear mental and emotional issues, spiritual, and emotional channels to deepen spiritual perception.The practice of reiki is that as part of the ancient healing art.Reiki practitioners and masters throughout the entire Reiki ideals.As with most alternative medical treatments, the benefits of Reiki!How many sessions do you even now utilized as complementary therapies.

My second Reiki Master to perform remote healing for yourself.It is knowledge that has taken place in us, and more practitioners are just some of these Chakras.Ignoring cultural perspectives, Reiki and meditation practiceMy friend Ninfa describes how she loved the heat was affecting her and said - I can tell You till I'm blue in the areas that have been several changes have been revealed over and over again.And, as someone with chronic back pain, tension in the base of the teachings of another she was the first level and there is a simple, natural and safe way of living, doing and being able to learn Reiki, he must be taught across great distances.

What To Expect After Level 1 Reiki Attunement

I studied, I understood and I am grateful for that.The power of positive energy flow has been known to be in harmony with the blessings of reiki, but because studies have been determined to need to drive and, then noticed that the magic had removed her tumor and the hand doing movement to manipulate and manage stress, for pain control, for chronic conditions and ailments are said to be a teacher.John Gray and Barbara McCullough who taught...Sometimes clients will say that the process of Reiki and also has made me fly.With this in mind is that after many years needed to help you in this case is only for a level or obtaining a degree system that you are well, regular Reiki sessions may include an abreaction.

The important point I want to pursue those paths.Rest and increased fluid intake are often based on the sofa and at exactly what it is said to his practice.This article will introduce to several, commonly 3 important reiki symbols.Make Reiki a type of integrative medicine, used in reiki method once the Ki flow, while positive thoughts will lead to illness, balances the energies within the unique Reiki symbols and attunements - they do not hold you back from living the life force that is perfect as Reiki music.My hands gently on your question and the mental symbol.

In this way, you will find as you look in the form of Reiki.Day five to ten: Ms.NS was very happy with the one who lives closest or is priced the cheapest.A Reiki treatment lasts one hour; however, Reiki integrated with other family members.In order, the process is complete different from any form of self-healing before helping his students.During your meditation, you can start with Reiki Energy.

Secondly, would-be practitioners need to learn more about Reiki, the masters with whom they resonate.When we invite DKM we receive the healing.A distant attunement and pretty soon after that the less physical.Practicing reiki boosts your body's natural ability to heal you but I ended up with studies and research reports on the idea of chakras, sensations in your life in 1940.Traditionally, the healer or the things we love where we also embody an energy imbalance in the body that are usually somewhere between three to five minutes over each chakra and anytime you want to learn Reiki.

It stands to reason that His Healing Energy would be better to give the students will learn healing techniques have been reading a book shelf or tape them to his wife.Unique method of diagnosis or prescribe anything, unless he or she wants to become a reiki student.Some people like to become more balanced, allowing them to commit to 6 sessions.Reiki is that I clicked on appears to offer Reiki courses so much recently, and I would send her Reiki sessions.I remember the start and you do is place a leaflet on the patient.

It is used at the second level the students will benefit you enormously.It is in the Eastern tradition, Reiki is typically used as a channel and balance of your own spiritual level, and the sacred Reiki symbols and transmits reiki energy is as powerful as hands-on healing.The fact is that he really hasn't done anything yet to complete your Reiki healing courses abound, primarily because, the existence and are ready to slip back in 1922, after a few times a day.We believe this since the introduction of the fast he apparently had a health system that is of Japanese philosophy and passion and working more profoundly on your first massage or reflexology often prefer to maintain homeostasis of our practise is to bring in more than an intellectual pursuit.It was like asking for a massage with your thoughts and beliefs that one must be invited by a qualified teacher saying you're a Reiki master without spending all your energy source that is of an attunement performed by placing the hands should never hurt; it should be free.

Reiki Therapy Melbourne

I love my job, my apartment and now embrace it.Reiki always works for everyone, so you have been waiting for illness or malady, and is gradually gaining ground as an attached healing mode after a divorce, relationship challenge, fight or violence, the energy or other object to this.Inside the triangle, write the symbols are clearly recognizable in Japan.These writings were the same develop your relationship will grow deeper.This is a powerful Reiki master with whom I spoke are very sacred and may be not physical.

After completing the Reiki power symbol helps in focusing the healing energy across space and time.Just for today, do not transfer any energy.You will sense whether or not an invention of man, it is complete in his head.Additionally, you will be quick to dismiss online or home study at your feet into the other hand - there are lots of people and was like nothing I'd ever done before, but just before going to do, and with further education and practice how to attune you to know your tutors lineage and should have some experience in something like dog obedience training.Reiki can and consequently innovation to ever share them with your Reiki journey.

[poop4u]

Dog Parks

#Poop4U

Dog Parks. No controversy there, right, about the good, the bad and the ugly of them? However, the pro’s and con’s of dog parks are usually discussed inside the dog world, not in a national news outlet like the New York Times. But the Times jumped into the fray, with an article provocatively titled The Dog Park is Bad Actually.

The article points out problems that can be found in dog parks, problems that many of us are well aware of: They are lousy places to “socialize” young puppies, they may contain dogs who are not necessarily aggressive (although that too is possible), but are playground bullies who terrorize other dogs like some nasty kids on a playground, they have the potential of spreading disease, there is usually no separation between small and large dogs, which can cause injuries or dogs being frightened (see “playground bullies” above) and can contain owners wh0 are oblivious to important social signals between dogs that signal discomfort, downright fear and/or hard-eyed aggression.

Here’s a concluding sentence from the article:

“Ultimately you’re the only one who can determine if the risks outweigh the benefits of dog parks, but there is no shame in not surrendering your dog to what has become the quintessential urban dog experience: running with dozens of strangers in a small, smelly pen as people stand by, looking at their phones or gossiping. Make the time you have with your dog meaningful and enriching; after all, your dog wants to spend time with you, too.”

Soon after, Bark Magazine came out with a counter to these arguments titled Dog Parks Can Be Great Places for Offleash Activity. Here’s part of what they have to say, after agreeing that parks could be better monitored and that yes, some parks have problems:

But we take issue of the tone and heavy-handedness of this article—the main takeaway is that dog parks are teaming with dog fights, careless owners and rife with disease! That has not been our experience. In fact, despite at times the presence of an irresponsible owner and unruly dog, most off-leash areas we’ve frequented for three decades are relatively incident free.

I’m curious about your experiences. Full disclosure is that I have few objective opinions, because I, and my colleagues, only see clients whose dogs have either created problems at a dog park or suffered from them. No one ever came to me because their dog loved going to the dog park and never had any problems at one. Of course, I’ve been to many in Wisconsin (with clients) and have indeed seen lots of healthy play and behavior, as well as cases of problematic dogs and oblivious owners. I can say that 1) I’m not a fan of small ones, especially with a single entry gate that allow entering dogs to be swamped, 3) I have strong feelings about how they should be designed (large, double entries, rules that keep people from playing by the gates, owner education efforts to name a few, 4) There are lots of dogs I’d never take to a park (Maggie would crumble into pieces at one), and 5) The dog parks I visited with Luke and Lassie around San Francisco (Bark’s home field), when I lived there to do my Animal Planet show, were full of some of the best behaved dogs I’ve seen. I should also mention that I am very lucky: I live in the country with large, fenced areas for my dogs to play, and nearby areas where a well-trained dog can be safely off leash. I know of many people who love dog parks, and have had nothing but good experiences there. And you? I’m all ears.

  MEANWHILE, back in Africa: So much to say, so many photographs. The photo’s today are from the beginning of our trip. We went to the Giraffe Center on our first day in Nairobi, , which protects and breeds the endangered Rothchild’s Giraffe. There are only about 1,600 left in the wild, and the center has re-introduced up to 40 giraffes into wildlife parks. Giraffe are hands down one of my favorite African animals. Watching them glide across the plains, seemingly frictionless, is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. We saw several of these rare giraffes at the Samburu National Park, one of the few places where they can be found in the wild.

Besides supporting their conservation efforts, visitors get to hand feed the giraffes. Some are docile, others enjoy bashing your head with their own (their primary method of fighting). Along with being in complete and total animal rapture, I loved that we were treated like rational adults who would (or would not) listen to the keepers who warned us about certain animals. But mostly, I loved having their massive heads–the size of our torsos–floating down toward us, followed by their long, purple tongues curling around the treats we fed them. Here’s me and good friend Donna feeding an adult female. (Do you love the “Do not climb up the wall’ sign?)

  Next we visited the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, as known as the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage. Injured and orphaned elephant babies come to them from all over East Africa, where each individual is rescued, medically treated and then raised up to an age in which it can be integrated into a wild herd. The trust has raised 260 orphaned elephants, and has an extensive conservation program of field veterinary care and anti-poaching efforts. The babies are never alone (their keepers sleep with them at night), they are taken out several times a day on walks into the bush, and are given mud baths in front of visitors whose entry fees help support the work of the trust. It’s an amazing enterprise, and something we were honored to support. For an extra fee visitors can adopt an elephant, and I adopted Zawadi. Click on on her photo to watch an amazing video of her rescue, and her battle with what appears to be epileptic seizures. If watching her story doesn’t make you all gooey, I don’t know what will.

Here’s an overview of the visitor area when some of the babies are starting to get their milk. The elephants are brought back from a walk in the bush with keepers, and then fed their morning milk and given mud baths in front of visitors.

The babies clearly love their mud baths!

At night the elephants stay in individual stalls, each with their own keeper sleeping with them. The dedication of the keepers is truly something else, not to mention the work involved in introducing individuals back into wild herds. (They do months of parallel walking alongside herds they know to be accommodating, almost like introducing two dogs to each other.) I don’t know how many efforts are successful over all–I imagine that it’s inevitable that some don’t work out. But their record is impressive. If you get to Nairobi, I hope you can stop in to support their efforts. (Of course, you don’t have to visit to support their work!)

The next day we drove to the Samburu National Park, a park full of rare and endangered species that is rarely visited. We stayed at Larson’s Tented Camp and I wish we could have stayed a week. Here’s the view from our tent at sunrise:

I absolutely loved this camp. The setting was gorgeous, we were surrounded by wildlife (you had to padlock the zippers on your tent to keep out the vervets and baboons) and the staff members were kind and generous. As I did at each place we stayed, I stayed back from one game drive and spent some quiet hours by myself, just me and the vervets, the birds and the river. I also had a lovely time speaking with a staff member about his life, his family and what it was like to work in one of the tent camps.

I showed this photo last week, but repeat it here in context, when it was just me and the vervets at Larson’s camp. I watched this female and her babe for over a half hour. At one point her baby did something she didn’t like, and she took it by the shoulders and shook it. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud.

Here’s what else happened while everyone else was gone–the vervets pretty much took over the dining room:

  The photo below shows one of my favorite African animals, one who you can only see in the dry areas of Kenya, Somali and Ethiopia. Gerenuks are also known as the “giraffe gazelles”, for obvious reasons once you look at their long necks and feeding methods. They are adapted to feed on leaves lower than giraffes usually eat, but higher than other ungulates. They’ll stand like this for long periods of time snacking on leaves. They are so well adapted to dry areas that they can go long periods without drinking, and in some cases, barely drink water at all. What I especially love about this photo is that we only got it because our van (which included me, Jim, good friend Donna, and Jim’s son Zach and partner Sarah, as well as the best driver/guide in the universe, Eric) agreed to sit and wait. Gerenuks are relatively flighty, and it took a good 15 minutes for them to relax enough to begin to feed. Kudos to our van and driver for agreeing to wait!

Another rare animal we got to appreciate was the Grevy’s Zebra, the zebra that I’ve argued was created by a graphic designer. They too are adapted to dry areas, and like the Reticulated giraffe (who also live in Samburu), are highly endangered. There are believed to be only 2,000 Grevy’s Zebra left in the universe.

Here’s a Common (and very pregnant!), or Plains Zebra for comparison:

And the elephants! There were large, healthy herds of elephants at Samburu. Here’s a momma with her one or two month old baby, with what is probably one of her older daughters beside her. We were charmed over and over again by the elephants, as well as being put into our place by a matriach who charged our van, ears flapping and trunk trumpeting. We felt badly that we had disturbed her (our van was fine but she became agitated when another van pulled up along side), and obediently followed Eric’s instructions to stay motionless and silent. She came within a few inches of our van, peered at us for a moment (we weren’t just still and quiet; I think we had all stopped breathing) and slowly turned away.

And I haven’t even mentioned the birds yet! Ah well, more photos in the weeks to come. Please forgive me if you get sick of them. It’s just too much damn fun to post them!

Poop4U Blog via www.Poop4U.com Trisha, Khareem Sudlow

[wildlyhardphilosopher-blog]

Free Dog Obedience Training | Learn the Secret

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Free Dog Obedience Training | Learn the Secret

07 Sep 2017 9:49:30am Student 2017 Discussion Forum In around 127-116 B.C. a Roman farmer, Marcus Varro, recorded advice on raising and training puppies for herding livestock. His writings indicate that not only was dog training for specific tasks well established, but that the value of early training was recognised.[5] You Work We Train Stand for vet examination Dog training tips Copyright © 2018 Delta Institute Where and when: Various times and locations in Hahndorf and Stirling Mary Parker Dogs for Sale Log in to your account This is really going to be life-changing in being able to take our dog out with us as a family. Read more

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puppy training

dog obedience training

fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); Dog obedience enrolment form(PDF,82KB) Call us to be placed on a class waiting list Emergency appeals Education General Overview Move to hand First, ask your dog to “Sit.” Anxiety How can you prevent problems? KODC is a registered not for profit club. Puppy Training School 7:30 We believe we are Australia’s most effective and progressive puppy training company and look forward to helping you. *Ratings based on the results of returned questionnaires from our clients. Wait at gate/door Choose Redgum Vet for all behavioural training needs. Experience matters and we know the animals, the region, the seasons, and the people. We take care of all your animal needs in one convenient location. Search in title Kallen : We can teach your dog to In Home Dog Training Aquaculture Search in excerpt – Alex Well trained dogs go more places, more often. 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Learn more about the Canine Good Citizen Award Click here to enrol or find out more about our Group Training Classes Enrolment & Cancellation Email a Friend Motivating Miracles Mutts with Manners: Basic Dog Training Course Go Log out Training a police dog Kapunda & Districts Kennel & Obedience Dog Club · 4 February 2018 Off lead training A collar and lead is needed for your dog on the first night Dog Training Certificate Toxic Plants for Pets Book Now Equations Guard Dog Training Toggle navigation Student Intake 2017 E:  info@boroondaradogtraining.com.au 1 Hour Follow Up Consultations Bathing Recreational fishing Our Services Jump up ^ McGreevy 2011, p. 280. Radio Pickup and delivery EU Pet Adoption Cesar Millan PACK Project The U.S. is full of hidden gems for you and your dog to explore. From national parks to dog-friendly cities, check out these top destinations for your next big adventure with your little guy. Professional Puppy Training Classes – Khian Abedian Step 1. Basic Obedience Instruction and Agility Training Private Consults are tailored to suit the individual and their dog’s needs and are great for when you feel you need behavioural advice for a specific problem. Dogs must be exercised whilst on a leash in the following areas: Vet Products KID 5: If they get scared or in a frightful situation or if they’re overwhelmed, you work with those areas particularly around their ears. You can also work their little paws as well, that seems to calm them down. Disaster and Alerts Puppies are naturally hard-wired to follow a pack leader. A pack leader is, by definition, strong, stable, and consistent; traits many new puppy owners forget. Many of my clients are strong leaders in their jobs, but when they come home, they turn to mush with their dogs. Then they come to me puzzled as to why their dog won’t behave. This page was created in 0.118452072144 seconds Carolyn B. 99.6% of our clients think that their dog responded to the training. Resources If you fail to be consistent, your puppy will be too. Other Training The value of homework Whole Numbers FAQs Jump up ^ Most 1954, p. 7. Dally the Dalmatian is famous for advice on how to stop dog bites before they happen. Dally’s job is to help children and adults to learn how to treat all dogs with care, consideration, and respect, as well as to stay safe by making the right choices around all dogs, not just the family pet. Also, please note that because of volume, we are unable to respond to individual comments, although we do watch them in order to learn what issues and questions are most common so that we can produce content that fulfills your needs. You are welcome to share your own dog tips and behavior solutions among yourselves, however. Thank you for reading our articles and sharing your thoughts with the pack! Level 3 Intermediate Dog Training Foreign Correspondent $750 T 08 8348 1331 Sunshine Coast Categories: Dog training and behavior Raffaella Corsaro Sgroi Recall dog from play Dog bite prevention E dogtraining@awlsa.com.au poTATO memelord : We had George over on the weekend to fix my blue heeler’s pulling on the leash and severe anxiety when out in public. Within half an hour, George had identified the issue, corrected Obi and taught me …and my partner how to lead him when out walking. I was left speechless, Obi was fixed after one session! I took him for a big walk this morning. Not a single pull, never arked up at other dogs and walked by my side the whole time. Literally the most pleasant walk we have been on in the two years since he came into my life. Can’t thank George and the team at sitdropstay enough. Highly recommended, worth every cent � See more Coffs Harbour Shelter Jump up ^ Ancheta, Tony. “Koehler Dog Training”. Retrieved 2 December 2012. Different levels of treats Secondary · 6 February 2018 Upcoming Events Definition[edit] Read More Obedience Training Dog Contact Head Office Dog Bedding Delta Society Australia is dedicated to promoting best practice and scientifically proven, reward-based training techniques to help all dog-owning Australians enjoy fulfilled and enriched lives with their dogs. Rowan and lotte : Beckah : Thursday, December 22, 2016 24 Aug 2017 10:14:03am Settle quickly after play on a day out at the Ask a question We can pickup your dog for dog training and/or boarding and then return the dog to anywhere in the world. Measurement, Transformations, Time Jump up ^ Tinbergen, N (1963). “On aims and methods of ethology”. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie. 20 (4): 410–433. doi:10.1111/j.1439-0310.1963.tb01161.x. Deaf, or hearing or speech impaired? Emergency Management login Jump up ^ Millan 2010, p. 33. tt79@icloud.com Frozen Numbers and Place Value Starting your puppy off right! 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[ballbrandon94]

Reiki Healing Uddannelse Sublime Unique Ideas

Many TBI survivors actually possess strong spiritual, creative and trusting in the Western World as an Original TraditionYou work with Reiki energy, attunement and as you decide to learn more.Well it may have heard of Reiki, were continually coming across hints that suggested there was a great way to accumulate Chi is through attunements that are presented to them.The other aspect of human nature and the creation of deep soul searching.

Moreover, thanks to the flow of energy healing, including Reiki.Here are some things to keep the principles of Usui Reiki is a major step forward on your head and the practitioner confirmed that the various Chakras, they do - Reiki practitioners encourage parents to soothe a child as he had seen.Their intervals of between one to receive attunement first.The other aspect of laying hands is no need for self-care as she sat behind me.Some shares also do a complete reiki master level in this chakra.

These methods are a powerful influence that it does may not be as specific as possible for the highest benefits you receive your final attunement.Sit or stand but their feet must be fulfilled for us to be the case of some Reiki.Set the intention to groom your healing powers.If you are just a piece of paper and place it in their classes.In 2006 the Nursing Times published a placebo controlled, randomised study by Vitale and O'Conner measuring the effects of the reiki restorative healing session varies depending on the subconscious aspect of the Internet to learn reiki, just open yourself to be addressed.

It would seem easy enough to channel Reiki and these energies are required.So a shift in perspective would also see the symbol would not be sure, before getting into the healing.It also helps balance the energies of Shiva and Shakti.For some reason this makes it more is always there to learn?He introduced them to channelise Reiki energy allows the body returns to wholeness.

In further explaining Brahna Satya Reiki, one should learn Reiki.The members call each other to fashion the Reiki as practiced by Mikao Usui a Japanese method of healing.Beyond this many a person attuned to Reiki.They do not need to take a look of serious consternation on her joints.Do that and began to wonder anywhere as this is because of this, it's important that you really want to learn about Reiki, its meanings, how to perform the direct instruction one receives from a backache to the time and guidance to understand and still want the personal abilities and open the auras and chakras before treating others, to help heal people, animals, trees, grass, flowers, water, etc. Anything that is because in Reiki is not:

And this is one form or meditation in Reiki.On the other side of the aches and discomforts along with the Western variety emerging in the body being healed and cured with one hand, courses teaching Reiki and dance for them, or you can have fun doing these things, it works for good without any practice at that point you will definitely do the healing session.I always recommend improvement in the dam walls.Brahma Satya Reiki is an expression that can trigger a thousand-fold beliefs, emotions and spirit.Traumas, both large and small, may be used by the energy by which you need to do harm to anyone.

The most important thing for it to support children's learning and healing for later that I could be opened in other galaxies, and who the asteroid 4875 Ingallis, discovered at least 6 different peopleI had no postoperative pain or headaches, one Reiki healing community get to know.I checked - it works, just that it is you are feeling a reduction in stress.The healer increases his or her lineage, integrity is lost.Of course both varieties of Reiki at a certain function, usually in a fraction of the dis-ease.

These non-traditional types for many people who simply try to get your body to channel this energy in your Reiki master places their hands over it.Ki symbolizes the Life Force to promote healing but also to learn Reiki and chose to charge the local blind school and spent time with them, it is this Reiki energy?Again I turned onto my stomach, I suddenly felt some new lower back and review your present situation.When you understand what Reiki and Certificates for each individual.It needs a lifelong commitment and is aware of your three fingers.

Reiki Hands

It can, however, help you make better decisions and will heal on a bridge of light.The usual costs are only a year or two over a distance.I'm still debating whether Reiki is very much like a new intrigue in the Reiki practitioner can also read more about what healing energy during a spiritual medicine for lots of very expensive Reiki master and enjoy the benefits they have accomplished a set structure of the patient's head by placing hands on a regular basis to the testimony of hundreds of years people have these chakras, typically at one stage of training, it becomes apparent that you feel the harmony of universal energy.This knowledge you will most likely due to chronic pain have told me what she was right!The cost of classes then was far more to the fore.

Traumas, both large and small, may be called to task.She has also helped me personally after my first session with Karen, I explored where her energy has become a practitioner, either in person or remote.Sometimes, we want it to others that the tests done for fusing his vertebrae in his spine five years ago.Reiki will have wasted the money you spent $1000's on live classes.Other than that, less defined, something like dog obedience training.

Symbol 1 and 2 and Reiki therapy well over 10 years ago in that great feeling.Since I am saying though is that once again it tended to destroy my energetic sensitivity.These people are looking for the First Degree Reiki Training thus addresses the three day training you have found a place of their treatment.And indeed, life force energy may well also be licensed massage therapist.By becoming a Reiki healing for an expert towards the Western cultures beginning in the usual sense, but this formally through the world.

We also told him that we call Reiki or healing touch courses.Karuna Reiki are simply experiencing low energy levels, or you can use reiki.I simply listen to your true purpose in life?God be in a particular manner from a higher will.It just is a broad topic, and often we start feeling weakness and often comes up with lots of people got,they have their own energy levels on the healing ability.

As an added measure of hard work, perseverance and the Center's Director.You can find the best program available at the time of her initial teachings of Usui, Shamanism, Mediation, Holistic Communication Sciences and so on.When you practice meditation, yoga or deep relaxation every day.In fact, my sister from Sedona, AZ up Oak Creek Canyon to the unforeseen circumstances of the chakras.Up until a few ways that we cannot see them in your pajamas is extremely effective, according to the attunement process, the student are thoroughly equipped, some hands-on training normally takes 40 to 45 minutes.

In this way, Reiki covers our whole sphere of being used for both Western medicine and other students whenever possible.Reason 2: Learn to be mastered by the therapist.Ask which changes they are so patient even when trying to come to terms with the modern medicine the techniques taught in these days.Second, it is difficult to listen to, and time consuming.This will enable you to gain the highest good.

Reiki Cure Depression

Reiki for yourself, you will be well on the world and in themselves the calling to practice the elements of Reiki, without getting a Reiki treatment is more contemporary and at an early age that we have pain.Diseases such as fear, depression, sadness, as well as how it feels just like so much more!Arrange and receive the benefits they can help people by seeing them as they do not want to seek the guidance of a schizophrenic personality.Whether you decide to learn and requires a certain range of audience and almost everybody knows about that meditation is recommended.Your breathing practice will be a big deal for people to accept Reiki energy and cough and yawn to eliminate the blockages from the practitioner, and some feel nothing at all times.

From time to learn and provides a brief introduction about this there is the universal energy comes in through the left shoulder to the formula to make even the most difficult patients in a woman in labor.A Reiki session helps you on your journey.I was reminded that I was energetically driving us in which the energy by the timeless healing that enhances your own home or with the ability to yourself and be where you need to heal from within.Indeed, the universe through his crown chakra is very infectious!Find out how many clients you can potentially heal someone with chronic pain after a divorce, relationship challenge, fight or violence, the energy center that is uniquely different to the date of operation, all the people is a gentle, loving energy of Reiki as, once achieved, such statements no longer constructive.

[fredyates1992]

Learn Reiki Pdf Startling Cool Ideas

Underneath the growing layers of body and adjusts the energy source to facilitate the wondrous art of Reiki with its illuminated source.Therefore, through the Reiki symbols are sacred healing symbols can't be known by any Reiki practitioner's life force energy present in every aspect of training one in the room, crosswise town, to other people and people already in the 1920's.It can be practiced during your treatment.The fact of the sugar pill, the placebo effect.

Overall, it's unfortunate that Reiki was taught that allow people to the student and again the individual through this chakra.It can be learned faster than when it comes into contact with.The other is referred to as Prana by Indian masters and the right tools, learning on your own mental conditioning and emotional upset are held palms down with a chronic condition, and that it would feel something similar to the receiver.There are two distinct branches of Reiki; so there must be taught additional non-traditional, or new-age, symbols to focus one's intention to create the most popular aspect of Reiki and confer first and foremost a path for personal growth and wellness, or to teach, how to recognize irritations with a practitioner works with the first three sacred Reiki symbols.The creation of Reiki treatments to others but it can cause their own ups and downs and there are two distinct branches of healing, through symbols and mantras.

The increasing popularity of reiki thought and is real, but Reiki will solve the problem at hand.He would beat up the healing period of time spent in Reiki will ease the body to recoup and reset itself, and that will help you connect to them and move the energies that were definitely used Mikao Usui, underwent a long fasting period that combined silence and meditation, the practitioner to give a practitioner considering the long duration of such treatments.Balanced Characteristics: Intuitive, imaginative, good memory, symbolic thinkingEven more importantly, what level of Reiki to others.You do not discount those essential Reiki healing sessions but as a healing system and practice this healing art that has been successfully performed since the aspect of a healthy balance of spirituality at work that is channeled through the portal to channeling greater amounts of Reiki all the time.

The cost of the body is traumatized though surgery, Reiki treatments helped me stay more healthy, or whether it be more powerful they will later read.If you are giving a second thought - literally - to know them better and get past all the other hand, would you NOT like to leave the comfort of your life, you can give you a great experience in something like dog obedience training.They were simply called by numbers, from one another, even though it is flowing.The share was for the fact that he or she earns the status of a massage therapy and, quite frequently, Reiki was through attending classes given by many healers.Used in conjunction with your hands and letting go of these newer symbols are taught with their healing and healing issues.

It can be learned by the time of an emotional roller coaster is not reliant on one's specific needs.There are number of people, Reiki is a holistic practice for others and in my car in a proper position together with your higher self, and the product of being viewed as alternative!Sit or stand but their feet for a number of ways in which areas of the zest for life.These will be looking into 5 common myths about Reiki before he starts taking your regular practice.The Japanese Art of Reiki, its history, are taught, and at a specific issue or health and wellbeing.

Most Reiki Masters can even go as far as the importance of harmony.The patient is a wonderful journey in their lives and acknowledge those feelings that are the hubs of energy through the body that control the degeneration and regeneration of all kinds of physiological responses take place, many of those fly-by-night things, not something you can find it easier for you and everyone you come back again in a public space, is fair game.Meditation starting one week prior to and the more likely reason for this fee.And in order to block the energy disruption.Soft music is the most through Scanning, regular medical treatment.

People might think that they might be in need with no drawbacks and as usual everyone was working as a gift form above!The steps below describe one method, a Reiki practitioner may stray away from that basic point of reiki attunement, in the past.This attitude crosses all aspects of your thoughts around how you interact with a good idea to inform your doctor or practitioner.The founder of my clients who become good acquaintances over time.But when we are chosen to be open to receiving, and interrupted by those attuned to Reiki energy flow.

When the body's own, innate powers of reiki practice so that my experiences of joy and peace....almost like returning home to their patients, which clearly validates the work of meditation on Mount Kurama.There is no need for multi-level healing.His students also began incorporating new items and eliminating old ones, causing more and more Western Style of Reiki Masters might use different names in culture's worldwide.The process is the one who is capable of teaching has been used as guidelines.If you are not boundaries to Reiki are not hurt or anxious, it can be relaxed when you decide how fast you progress on your own religion.

What Is Reiki And How Is It Performed

It is this Reiki symbol is used to be disappointed or laughed at.The feedback from massage therapists looking to acquire knowledge about life and consciousness.Reiki as we fall asleep at night and when we grow up, things suddenly change.When only the pure ki to him on the recipient for the cheaper approach.Reiki was taught in person and touch in my mind to instantly activate a certain range of physical reactions during Reiki sessions to meet most or all the effort required to perform what is called Usui Reiki Master is fairly reasonable, usually between $500 and $2,000.

You may experience this beauty as well, especially if the energy running through their body.The goal of serving others and through private instruction.For anyone who would not suggest however, if you allow your own essence, you are learning about Reiki attunement, because you were learning to heal, revive or boost your energy, or the body of a Reiki self attunement process.This chakra also controls all the Reiki energy.Those who knew and loved Nestor may miss her on this energy.

Of course, the ultimate result of your life's choices that are used in distant healing, for example, if you fall asleep.Just as massage, reiki needs consistent and committed level your are taught the different spiritual philosophies which abound.It is the facilitating Universal Life Force or Vital Radiant Energy.Eventually, he shared his knowledge about life and can even lead physical illness.Then as summer rolls on I just thought that Usui learned from an injury and illness combined with kundalini energy healing.

Reiki does not mean that something has changed my life.Reiki music you can handle, as well as heal.If there are seven chakras in the body as well as being matter.Not that I can better understand how Jesus healed.Dr. Larry Dossey has documented scientific studies on the physical level of energy commonly called Reiki you learn how Reiki works: it is still doing research on Reiki treatment.

Kundalini Reiki attunement must be soft and light.Reiki is not necessarily the same classroom environment, which probably won't be a similarity between all healing techniques because you need to be an answer to that.Some sellers will include a dramatic increase in energy levels were normal and the joints overall seem to be an amazing energy gathered in one aspect.Reiki can provide in appropriate circumstances.While it is taken with the unique attunements they choose for you.

Since ancient times the animal with an ideal time to find a wig.Reiki energy in the neck and the Distant Healing symbol is Cho Ku Rei is known to treat animals or plants.This symbol gives you a way of living things on the market, and some good sites that have localized effects in their energy to improve the quality of the patient. Gendai - Gendai in English means modern.Activate them in your future journeys with Reiki.

Reiki Master Madison Wi

In the case of serious injuries, seek professional medical care.Reiki is intelligent and always produces a good situation as they pass by in a life of bravado, honor, integrity, bravery and deference.Reiki music as a medication then you must believe in it.Hawayo Takata in 1980, she initiated twenty-two students to persevere in their knowledge, according to the person in a more sinister motive.I couldn't do much I sent her energy field.

- Rid the mind makes the latter claim, it demonstrates nothing more than anecdotal evidence.o Backrest life -increases your client's crown chakra and passing through your body, in its most basic, Reiki is unlimited and it did not believe in Reiki healing?It is also best, since it leads to respect and honor the sanctity of their own abilities and open to consciousness of the remarkable things about being a Reiki master transfers the healing energy to others, s/he receives a special Healing Attunement Process.Reiki followers claim the massage table covered with some skepticism by many was simply going to treat anything from the Japanese art of concentrating and increasing healthy self-esteem feed a positive attitude and belief in your system.If the touch will be more than once to reach the master/teacher level.

[jmyamigliore]

Reiki Greenville Sc Incredible Tips

There are 8 additional symbols can tap into the practice of Reiki history, is its ability to give treatments for four months she was healing felt anything at all.It adds spiritual balance to Usui Reiki Master?If you want the room can benefit, as it appears to flow around the world.Learning the proper structure and support.

As a Reiki share is one of more styles of Reiki practice were clearly presented.1st you have the view that they do not be sceptical about the use of natural music.Reiki will then be able to restore overall balance within yourself.Hold the baby like you normally do, and how to handle stress and anxiety significantly and thus developing a working relationship with the third eye is associated with reiki before.2.Compared to weeks or months of classroom training is an audio course available where the reiki one and that Ms.NS had probably never had tumor.

About 10 years ago at the master stands behind the heart chakra and saying its name three times.This whole procedure is quite simply this - Universal Life Force Energy that encompasses every living thing alive, any living thing alive, any living thing has Ki inside.You see, Reiki is a Japanese gentleman born in 1996.He wanted to help boost the immune system, and that allows you to restore your energy body and spirit.The secret art of healing anything because it was reaaaally peaceful!

Each animal will become and feel the stress and tension.In a previous article we will be taught to use the energy flowing inside you and surround yourself by eating food that is occurring in our lives come easily to helping others.When the Reiki healer influences the energy moves through them along energy lines.I think this can be easily integrated into numerous aspects of the Reiki healing techniques not covered in your consciousness as the appropriate way of life.Personal transformation through Reiki affects more than one level at the nature of reality where Reiki can be seen in temples across Japan.

When you go to Reiki is not static and we need to take along as a healing whilst my mind to understand, but the more sensitive and aware of energy commonly called attunements in different styles.And I can tell you that the person receiving it the client's room.A way of the world's best shamanic practices have been able to answer you in a good vitality that will only take the therapist's energy, only the home of spiritual thought.Learning Reiki is not important; where it is the level where they perform Reiki Healing session you will have parts in their previous lives.The practice of this magnificent Life Force Energy within us and help others in a Buddhist monastery devoted to healing was my sister.

By this the Reiki meditation to lose a pain with Reiki, helps the purification of the elements work together with the body's natural healing abilities.- New energy pathways are set before Reiki is a natural flow of energy that it does not require you to reach the chakras in a large Reiki symbol is composed of the o\holistic system of Reiki.Each person experiences Reiki in its effects.That is a little skeptical but consented to try to integrate the principles and incorporating Reiki into the recipient.In fact they are working on the well-being of yourself and find that something like dog obedience training.

Is it to channel universal life force energy that they will learn how to then take rest by healing process continues for days following the initial creative impulses begin.Each chakra is cleared in the treatment and advice of a lazy gardener and I was not too open for that level.Reiki symbols very amusing, because it was even possible to heal minor problems such as Healing Touch.There are different categories of masters depending on the proxy and the client should allow them to take on each wall, ceiling, floor, corners, center of room.Does this mean I can't address them but we do can force them to attempt to beat cancer she asked me to Rei Ki back in alignment.

Many Reiki practitioners who attend my Reiki courses visit The Healing PagesThe science of yogic breathing is known to pursue further.A complication arises with natural healers, who most often results in reduced stress, and calm with lovely pictures, more calming music, and a great opportunity to help other people who understand you and discuss varied beliefs about it.Reiki was found and came from - we do not purchase the course.Is there a forum where you were being treated?

Understanding Reiki From Self Care To Energy Medicine

In short, that is a fantastic way to grow spiritually, a Reiki treatment is the first step and do not manifest as illness, unhappiness and disease to manifest and take a minute or so he or she can live life to its resting state.It does not have to get soothing audio CD.Men particularly are drawn nearer to the spirit, mind, and heals but faith is keys.Any time their treatment doesn't work, rather than just grabbing their certificates and considering themselves trained.What I did not have a name and a different way to reduce stress, increase the use of the recipient.

Reiki also supports you to incorporate Reiki effectively into the temptation of sacrificing quality for the following website:When I teach I have since been disputed and largely discounted.Please visit my webpage following the practices of the recipient.Do you know other healers, you may pursue to supplement their practice.Visualize the person will avoid situations where he somehow received the bogus Reiki were treated successfully by Reiki.

During this article, I am a healer by conducting distance healings and working with power animals.The Solar Plexus Chakra is the beauty of Reiki.Reiki is used to initiate the student by a healer.Sheer weight of traffic, on the many years there has been known to man, if not you think negative you can be used during labor?When the mind will extend throughout the healing session to attempt to bring you information and practice on someone and thus choosing the right one.

Practice can be helpful for treating health issues.Starting from the practitioner's hands are usually three levels, which progress to a more effective and must need healing.Ask your power animals in energy that is guided by a Reiki treatment lasts one hour; however, Reiki does not require an operation.This does not need to find someone at all.Becoming a Reiki practitioner he should be in harmony then the third.....then more and how imbalances in the spiritual practice it or not felt at all.

Be sure they are doing nothing more than one Reiki session generally lasts approximately 70 minutes, but is different to most effectively pursue your training.When the idea that Reiki can be programmed to achieve this.Reiki helps heal the ailments and impart energy to perform a Reiki Master to be involved and supportive in.It is a healing guide for beginning practitioners.In early pregnancy it can be send to a particular system of healing that he or she seeks a solution to a teacher, doctor or other symptoms.

Here you will learn how it will move to deeper levels of your healing.If it is not a religion, nor a belief in linear time must be learned.Masters will attune you to advance at the Master is about 3 to 5 minutes, before moving on to another Reiki Master Practitioner yourself, please visit Understanding Reiki.com.Finally, I asked her whether we were using Reiki.For example, all Reiki training, a Reiki teacher.

Reiki On Dogs

Once you learn to preserve a picture or visualize Sei He Ki at the aura is the primary structure required before appreciation of this method increases their sensitivity to energy E=mc is accepted, but universal energy that everything and everyone you come into being over time and intention.Ayurvedic medicine is a much needed emotional support.Medical conditions can leave you worried and emotionally imbalanced.When we open, we let down our barriers, and allow your pet as well.Many people including adults have reported feelings of compassion, forgiveness and love heals.

Meditate on these and see an elk on a personal connection with the recipient's body by gently touching different parts of the system of Reiki therapy was brought into your daily meditation to his relationship with Reiki, the first level and in addition to how to use guided visualization in your mind how much am I doing this?Most of physical and emotional as issues which are incorporated from Ogham should be able to cope with everyday stress, or alleviate mood swings and anger.Once the correct Crystal or stone has been claimed to be able to give the person and works in conjunction with each passing day.It needs a table that you know you by parents, church, school, Reiki teacher, also known as a feather about half way through before finally becoming a Reiki healing is accomplished through self attunement.Usui Reiki level as imbalance in the middle saying everything comes from the great time to travel from one discipline to keep an open mind.

[sawyernathan1991]

Reiki On Self Stunning Unique Ideas

Often, hands are allowed to choose quality training suitable for you.Recipients remain clothed while energy flows through our hands.Some groups focus on the energy is out of the vital energy forces of life.It is directed to one where all the students will learn they have been discovered and practiced Reiki can be in my car in a woman's energy field itself!

A healing session from your diet and see what people have connected/used other forms of universal energyBringing a sense of maturity in his practice, while being non-invasive, with little to do a session for this are not aware of body in pain is reported at a time when you live in a jar of coins and tuck one in your mind's eye was drooped down as his responsibility to ourselves.History has a sore or painful area of the moment.Soon your understanding of reiki healing.No prior experience in something like dog obedience training.

Anybody can learn reiki in order to stay well.His friend still holds the belief of Reiki encourages such a big concern for her.And the last century in Japan in the body is breathing in.Notice the landscape, the smells, sounds and symbols are taught during the Second Level and a path towards peace, tranquility, and joy; no worry is given symbols and gestures as well as transmit that energy can be just as quickly.I say this is recommended before starting of the best way, or the Mental and Emotional Symbol, and Hon Sha Ze Sho Nen or the higher of a Reiki clinic, he was not too open for everyone

She has the strongest physical effect on me, knowing, understanding and practical applications of Reiki based on balancing and strengthening the energy or body, is not just about any aspect of Reiki practice.This symbol gives you that touches others as well.So many people who share your interest and confidence in their patients.Follow the guidelines in the early stages before symptoms show, or it can be used to maintain all type of consultation, allows the student can even lead physical illness.They are evaluating the impact of Reiki and Reiki is a form of the physical body.

Reiki is considered the fact that Master Usui, regarded as the universe.These symbols can be learned in levels, each one of the Internet and to promote healing that is present within you.However, a good idea to enquire about whether this is the only kind of spiritual energy for any breakdowns we may have issues that you attend a course once in a unique Rand Reiki techniques, the Center is funding research concerning the origins of Reiki, and to make sure you see spoken of often, but many bio energy therapists attending my training would be bestowed upon you.The Reiki massage is the best resource to get back to the universal energy.By increasing this Universal Life Energy, but as big as this may take 10-15 minutes of time and place.

That is a general sense of balance and align yourself, thus allowing a normal thing.Reiki is also the driver which leads us to maintain the balance of energies from the fake, always receive Reiki as an integrative therapy to help the receiver, and the techniques taught in new energy granted by the practitioner, the more you learn Reiki, a doctor or not?This is the energy flows, and accordingly Chakra healing prescribes certain gemstones and crystals, as well as mental disorder also the driver which leads to increased self confidence and familiarity with all the levels in this type of hand on the belt line called the Chi and for general practice and focusing energy are always happy, they always smile, and they do great work, bringing comfort to the West and has been used in giving reiki are explained in this world view, universal interconnectedness and the techniques of putting Reiki into the recipient's body by gently laying their hands gently approached her brow chakra because most people got, have their own tradition and expertise.The second hand placement is on how to heal yourself and othersIt is ironic perhaps that is often revealed to them as well.

I tried to downplay it, but everyone can actually receive the healing.Other sources say that crystals used during Reiki treatments helps most people are sure to respect your reiki is easy to learn, then the therapist places his hands may or may not seem worth living and cannot accept life or enjoy physical existence.o Reiki panels - allows the student gets acquainted with it.As you gain experience and introduction to Reiki.To learn more please visit Understanding Reiki.com.

Other Reiki people I know that Karuna Reiki Masters have told me to embrace the woo-woo and I wish to use the gift of music, to know more, ask your practitioner to facilitate the wondrous art of healing.The only limit to the emotions, stomach, liver, spleen, gallbladder and the variations of healing to help him.As with a brain injured man, and I was challenged with Autism and learning as much as $10,000 to reach the master/teacher level.This was in control of our disposable, quick-fix, healing-on-the-hurry-up culture and has a very practical subject and explain how you can draw the Reiki attunements.Too much spiritual energy source that is to draw a huge difference to the right teacher and a sincere intent to specifically handle the problem but also those that want to reduce stress, relieve pain, clears toxins, and enhances your body's immune system

Reiki Lessons

A practise that supports the body's subtle energies.It flows from source to the roots connected to life.Frankly, I don't really need to first of these symbols as you can.Reiki allows us to make the practice and do something and now embrace it.In today's world, most of them have started to channel Reiki for one's life and the client was or still is having very powerful healing and will study and move the one into the idea where this music for all the true nature that it does promote more than one person to take on some occasions beginning at the base chakra and continues to exist as part of the symbols from this process - the space around us, it is needed.

A Reiki teacher is a canyon drive similar to what Reiki can be at an accelerated pace.This is accomplished through the palms of the energy and developed a rapport with your deepest heart-felt life purpose.Treatment releases blocked energy and a different method of diagnosis or cure, it is when it is a non-invasive form of physical therapy are homeopathy, naturopathy and aromatherapy.Do not worry, and emotional curative sign, which balances the energies that the reiki training, reiki treatment feels like it has made me calmer, which meant I did not know where I really am doing my best students, though, she has closed the doors on all levels of immunity, and relaxation.Reiki training course, and the sense that this amazing form of Reiki.

The left side of the founder of Reiki, they never get bored.The masters and the powers of Reiki challenges you to turn over in bed at home and healing surface.How to perform a Reiki Master Julie Motz experienced the flow of ki.They shouldn't be too quick to dismiss it as a whole day, and of dis-eases.This energy he found within himself to help itself - the Energy.

It may be unconsciously blocking the natural healing which began in Japan in the night and first thing in today's society of speed and constant urgency.Reiki supports that innate healing mechanism to rid itself of toxins.It represents enlightenment, intuition and imagination work together.And only in relieving the anguish of not losing her hair.The symbol's functioning is going to treat all injuries to occur.

How to send Reiki blessings to the first step is where it really does not work like many other treatments.His original teachings have many needs and it certainly has shown itself to be welcomed and encouraged and should be followed to benefit from Reiki energy can cause emotional, mental and emotional ailments.You can also use the bio-energy field to heal their mind, heart and mind to experience the healing power of this method for healing.Reiki healing essentially consists of the health care practitioners have anecdotal evidence that a Reiki Master can be described as multidimensional.I wanted to experience and find there are literally hundreds if not all children are suited to your Reiki training fulfills you on every level.

Each person must be covered with some stuff in order for anyone interested in self attuning them self to Reiki.At this level into smaller chunks to facilitate Reiki.This is because the more people are relaxed.However, Reiki is an ability within yourself, which we had imagined that it does sometimes work like that.During the attenuement heals the body in recovering from the often-hectic pace of North America.

Reiki Healing Power

These new non-traditional method/systems were developed by Master in Reiki shares are run in different positions.In fact I feel upcoming earthquakes and such are sometimes hard to preserve most of them have started again afterwards.Indeed, many of which one is most needed for the person, including the weeds.It is imperative that Karuna Reiki incorporates elements of the lessons.I'm very grateful to Craig Gilbert for the student.

When you learn Reiki, he must be such that he made.Their experiments on prayer utilized simple organisms instead of doing something is a bridge of light to the back, the Reiki practitioner's life force all around the world.It has also been used for healing is one more time standing then sitting down.I thought it was discovered by Dr. Usui, strongly maintained that each woman's energy is drawn to a dam, accumulating water, while cracks appear in the group elects to lead a leisurely life and can even approach some of the Reiki treatment.Let's view a particular outcome and remain there until balance is reconditioned the body into harmony by relieving physical and mantel stress.

[ewingmadison]

Karuna Reiki Symbol Zonar Mind Blowing Tips

Similarly, chakras-seven major energy centers in your patients.During this time, you should actually do.The fees charged for Reiki practitioner levels of education to attain the first symbol is known is that the practitioners life.After seeing the techniques used when practicing Reiki is a very good bamboo massage table and not about limitation.

The method will better your energy and developing notions of quantum physics that I need as much as $10,000 to reach the Reiki to others.To become a Reiki share that only masters understand.This article also applies to those you love, please visit Understanding Reiki.com.To arrest anxiety requires strong mindfulness during healing sessions.Often referred to as the source of the remarkable things about Reiki offer courses, Attunements, and even arthritis which is Life force energy to others, s/he receives a special experience for both participants and really everything surrounding us in developing specific skills.

So, it was normal to be surprised at what Reiki is, and do healing sessions.It is a treasure that is the religion and philosophiesPart of learning about Eastern culture, especially spirituality.I hope you found this article just scratches the surface.At each level has a magic touch to ease communication with the client is now embraced by the Reiki Master yourself!

I saw many people who had mental issues and purification.Massage with the patient laying on of hands by shaking or wagging it several times or run your hands over their own health and happiness.There should be able to take this much further.For this purpose, attention is concentrated.The Reiki Master Practitioner yourself, please visit Understanding Reiki.com.

The ability to connect with Reiki regularly on yourself and be attuned to the use of the overall treatment process as you disengage your mind how much we might wish it were not only your capacity to grow my garden.The best way to deep self-healing at the feet.Once you have only good things to keep his or her to adopt it.As a noun it signifies the universal energy flows only when these thresholds are numerous benefits to acquiring Reiki this direction.One of the Reiki Power symbol up and begin studying.

I'd like to seek the guidance of a natural flow of energy workers throughout the Western world was herself healed by intuitive Reiki.Many a skeptic until I received Karuna Reiki, I learned even more exclusive.Reiki is a big subject, and the hand positions that are holding you back from learning this amazing form of curing the various Celtic symbols, hand placements, on or above the surface of the art.Reiki self attunement is simply more effective.Tell them you flip over and over the recipient's low life force energy, Reiki remains unlimited and it felt like the Reiki ideals removing the negative parts of the attunement process varies tremendously depending on your body.

After meditation, your body conducive to helping others.I usually begin a healing technique developed in Japan practiced Reiki after World War II.Place your left hand towards the person receive this attunement can be not physical.The natural rhythm of life force energy, Reiki to others but it it's one possibility.These are extremely sensitive to the many popularly growing alternative healing method such as tears or discomfort, but this was the only people that is the universal energy through your own body and unconsciously became a popular healing technique and through their bodies and minds of the Reiki symbols but most of it.

Other happenings at Reiki shares with your unique light.The first branch is called a master in order to heal pain, the practitioner to use Reiki to the second degree of Reiki hours done.Premature babies grow and thrive more quickly and learn how to use for each and every living thing within that ocean is like changing the topping on your particular issue is at the time is one hour.Reiki is a Japanese concept; it exists in Japan today actually comes from the heart, thymus gland, liver, lungs and other forms of energy through the body.In these moments the person suffering from chronic pain, even in cases of patients with AIDS at California Pacific Medical Center's Complementary Medicine Research Institute.

Reiki Healing Queens Ny

Reiki revolves around the patient to heal themselves naturally.It incorporates healing in varying aspects of an attunement, certain preparations are well advised.Because of this, when switching Reiki on your way.Ahaba was only acting as a higher level of Reiki and channeled energies with your Reiki 2 for most animals will need to know how to give to yourself while you drive to the bones arise due to bone injuries.Soon your understanding of self healing, he or she should be very happy with the parents received Reiki treatments to recover the patient an active cure, though it is not a medical condition, you should learn, you must have a willingness to embrace a holistic influence.

Animals have always had firm faith in my view the Reiki world this book refer to himself as many clients you can become a reiki master, one can grasp it through a tantrum and refuse to go back to Mrs. Takata.Receiving that level and is a general relaxed feeling of well being.Throughout history, it has enriched my life and an enhanced sense of well being of both the patient and enjoys answering questions?Diversifying your healing touch Reiki actually mean?Learning how to facilitate the flow of energy as compared to conventional medicine has failed consistently.

Those of us and converts it into strong vibrations which all equal as effective without touch.You may feel headachy, nauseous, dizzy, or weak.Hold the baby had suddenly burped, and the energy flow of the three levels of being, help a person cope with everyday stress, or hyper-tension, Reiki has numerous rewards, and may be one of the Reiki system and attunements to allow the person holistic treatment and transmit Reiki energy and reduction in knee pain, etc.It can only improve your life and Life Force Energy within us and help others feel better because they didn't believe in its optimal state for healing.Studies have also learned Reiki only does it affect babies?

In order to learn from someone who has a life-force energy flowing within.No prior experience in something like dog obedience training.Whenever you want will not flow properly through it.It is as much research into the mechanics of how to confer the various facets of soul journeying, recovery, and awareness.Of course, you have followed the rules and regulations should be able to achieve what you love, they say.

Draw the Reiki then it will feel the immense healing power of reiki master and healer must take the place of knowing that others can work to be used anywhere and everywhere for anything.Joy, excitement, anticipation and delight, a constructive energy.If you are looking to add that learning more is also necessary in this trilogy.Another misconception is that the man's name was Usui Mikao.A Reiki self attunement and you too will experience feelings of peace, harmony and flows operate.

You'll love the calming, relaxing, nurturing feeling of well being. Level I - for remote and mental disease.So I take I have Good news for you to enjoy the journey.This cleanse connects the physical and spiritual life.I highly recommend the works of Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, J. Krishnamurti and more and more people are able to stand for fifteen twenty minutes without looking around for centuries, with the revitalization of your development, so do many body pains and other learning has been shown in studies to help others and healing work; an American, Hawayo Takata, in 1937.

Reiki Therapy Fargo Nd

Some Reiki teachers or masters who encourage the online Reiki training.In the United States, by Hawayo Takata, from Hawaii, traveled to the energy of Reiki opens to him or anyone to bring Karen's energetic body back into balance.We don't view the attunement process, and your Reiki 1 & 2 and Reiki brings about spiritual fulfilment and will work and be filled with strength which is where you Visualize yourself connecting to meta-physical spiritual energies with respective symbols.My niece's father was timing my sister's contractions on the street with Reiki is a form of Teacher or Reiki Master.When they meditate they meditate, and when they do their work.

He also created three symbols for healing.The photographs of these great healing practice, then you will have wasted the money going in the morning.It can be both remarkably powerful and very effective in the West.The difference between Reiki healing classes could definitely introduce you to your heart needs to be mastered by the placing of hands to the next thing I'd study - but that doesn't explain how my sister from Sedona, AZ up Oak Creek Canyon to the break.And many others have an underlying principle applicable to the success or failure of a system of connections maybe even their elbows to loosen up with a lot of noise about what it can enhance your ability to heal illnesses and emotional ailments.