“This is humiliating, you know that right.” Amber said as she pulled against the cloth that was connecting her to the shopping cart. “Also you do realize that my claws are sharp enough to cut through a basic cloth right.”
This much taller and stronger looking woman looked down at her. “I am aware of that but I have a feeling that you won’t do that.” Amber simply shrugged her shoulders as she kept up this gentle pace with Destiny Myers. She had come out here to talk to her before giving Lola back, but it seemed like shopping with her might be a better option right now. “Also I am doing this since I don’t want Lola to wander off again.”
“I will apologize on her behalf for that.” Amber remarked as she chose to climb up and hang off the cart while Destiny pushed it. No need to waste any more energy than she needed to. “She should not have listened to that foolish serpent, Sammy, and she should have just minded you.” Amber then let out a small growl as she asked. “How do you plan on punishing my Lola for this? Because if you lay a hand on her.”
“I don’t plan too,” Destiny said firmly. “I made a promise to myself and to her that I will never lay or raise a hand to her for punishment. To be quite honest, I am probably not going to do anything to her for this. I understand why she did it, and for the last week she had been perfect. Children get into mischief and that is all this was.”
Amber relaxed a bit as she looked up at all the items around her. Hundreds of items on the shelves, they smelled wonderful in some aisles, a few of them being a bit too hard on her very strong sense of smell. “You should do something as a small punishment,” Amber replied, causing Destiny to look at her in surprise. “I am not asking because I want my Lola to be in trouble, but if you don’t then that stupid serpent will start whispering in her ear. Saying, look how she didn’t punish you for that, why would she punish you for this?”
Destiny Myers stopped the cart before stepping over and taking two large boxes and placing them in the cart. Amber tilted her head as she looked at the box, fruit loops? If they were anything like the raspberries she had eaten then they probably tasted good. However as she went to open this box to try them, she winced more from surprise than actually pain, as Destiny slapped her on the hand. “I thought you promised to never lay a hand on her.” Amber declared as she rubbed her slightly stinging palm.
“I promised to never lay a hand on her, but I think I can make an expectation for you, cause we both know that it doesn’t hurt that much.” Amber rolled her eyes as she hopped off the cart and began to walk beside Destiny her arms behind her head. “After all you are her strength, from what I have read, your healing is off the charts.”
“Just because I can heal, doesn’t mean I don’t feel the pain.” Amber answered with a roll of her eyes. “A common misconception that people often forget.” Amber was tempted to cut this cloth off her wrist but decided against it. She had about five feet of length that she could move from this cart.
“What other misconceptions should I be aware of about you?” Destiny asked.
Amber thought about that for a second, she had no issues with talking about things with this woman. After all she could feel how much Lola has enjoyed being with this woman, she had heard tales from Kate about how kind this woman was and how fun she could be. However, as much as she hated Mystic, she was right to an extent, what happens if this is all fake? “Sorry, can’t tell you all of that just yet.”
Destiny sounded a bit saddened by that knowledge but nodded her head. “Because you can’t trust me yet.”
“Correct.”
“What can I do to earn your trust?”
Amber began to rub her pointed chin with two fingers. “There is one thing I want you to do with me, well actually two things.”
“And what is that?”
Amber turned her attention towards where that delicious smell of chicken was coming from. “First I want you to get me one of those so I can actually try freshly made chicken.”
“I am sure I can arrange that, and what is the other thing.”
Amber leapt up and grabbed the list from Destiny’s hand. “We can talk about that once we get back to your house. For now, let me help with this shopping.” She had a good portion of this list already crossed out. She heard Destiny chuckle a bit Amber didn’t know why but it was the soft chuckle that made her tail wag just a tiny bit faster.
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When they had finished shopping and had everything loaded in the trunk. Destiny had taken them to a nearby park where Amber absolutely demolished that chicken that Destiny had gotten her. Even the bones were no match for her very sharp teeth as she ate like she had never eaten before. It was the best meal she had ever tasted in her life, she had oftened come out and eaten the slop that they had given Lola when she refused to eat it herself. Not because she had been a picky eater but that slop was worse than vomit.
“Slow down,” Destiny answered as she patted the girl on the back when she started to couch.
“I am fine,” Amber said, but she did appreciate the gesture. She tore off one of the small wings before digging into that one. “Because this is the first true meal I have tasted in so long.”
“Can you taste what Lola eats?”
Amber shook her head. “It’s complicated, I cannot taste what I did not truly eat. I cannot feel her pain nor can she feel mine.”
“How does that work?”
“I have no idea,” Amber answered honestly. “All I know is that one day I woke up in a void, and I gave life to it and then I had a need to be strong and protect one little girl that I love with all of my mind and heart.” Amber paused from tearing this chicken apart and then lifted a napkin to her lips to wipe her face. “Who and what we are is complicated and I don’t really have the answer. I just know that there are seven of us in total, well technically eight if you count Lola herself.”
“Wait,” Destiny looked down at the girl in confusion. “I thought Lola was one of the seven?”
“No there are seven of us including Lola.” Amber lifted up her hands and with each number she lifted she extended one sharp thick claw. “There is Mystic, myself, Ember, Kate, Misery, Sammy and than…” Amber trailed off for a moment. “That is weird…” she thought as she closed her eyes. “I know there are seven of us but I can’t remember who is the last one of us.” Amber crossed her arms over her chest and began to tilt her head from side to side, trying to knock that last name out of her subconscious. “I can’t remember the last one of us but her name starts with a Z I think.”
“Interesting,” Amber looked over at the taller woman who was writing something down in a notebook. Amber made a wild attempt to grab that notebook, as she didn’t like when people kept notes on them but Destiny was quicker. She then closed it and handed it to the girl. “You all need to get used to just asking instead of snatching things or snooping around.”
“Well when you are forced to do the bidding of a mad woman and are tortured by people taking notes and keeping secrets. You are weary about those things.” Amber said as she flipped through the pages of this notebook. It was nothing special but it still surprised Amber in many ways. It was a list of six names, hers and the others. All of them had pros and cons written beside them except for Sammy’s which was still empty. Under the pros and cons, they also listed off what she could do to help them. For Kate it was clearly listed with going to parks and walks, for Ember she had listed a few ideas like watching movies or perhaps taking her somewhere where she could truly let out her anger when she came forth. For Misery it had a lot of things crossed out but the main one circled with question marks. “Show love???” For her it looked recently written. “You want to try playing more physically games with me?” She questioned looking towards the woman.
Destiny’s cheeks flushed a bit darker as she nodded her head. “I want to treat you seven as your own person. Instead of just extensions of whatever Lola did to make you all or whatever animal spirit truly is that caused this.”
Amber looked down at Mystic’s and began to laugh a bit, her voice cracking just at what she read. It was a list of intelligent games like checkers and chess, but in all caps were the words. “LET HER WIN!” Amber laughed so hard that felt tears starting to form in her eyes. “That is the funniest thing I had heard in a long time. Of course that self righteous brat needs to win at everything to feel smarter than the rest of us.”
Once she recovered from her laughter she tossed that notebook back onto Destiny’s lap. “You are an interesting woman, Destiny.”
“And you are quite an interesting girl, Amber.” There was something about those words that made Amber’s smile fade away, as she turned her amber eyes towards the ground. “What is wrong, little one?”
“It’s nothing important,” Amber lied. “It’s just, that is what she said when she first meet me.”
“You mean Jessica?”
Amber nodded her head. “She thought we were so interesting and she wanted to make us into something better. She wanted us each to turn our backs on Lola and that would let us stay out much longer. That horrid woman was never interested in Lola, she was more interested in what we are and our abilities. If she had it her way she would had destroyed Lola.`` Amber let out a huff as she dug her nails into the park bench. “Destiny Myers, you are an interesting person. I have no idea what your past is and I don’t care to know, it is your business none of ours. All I want is for Lola to be safe, for her to be raised in a kind home, to be loved by someone that is stronger than all of us, that is stronger than even me. There is only so much I can do for my favorite person, I have limits and quite frankly I am tired.” Amber reached around and hugged a good chunk of her hair to herself like a blanket. She looked up at the woman, who was staring down at her with saddened and compassionate filled golden eyes.
“So promise me that you and I will never come to blows over something you might do to Lola. Promise me that I can rest, that I can drop this strength for just a few months,so I can rest so I can maybe, just maybe. I can stop being a lioness and be a cub.” Amber stood up on the park bench and looked down at the woman, her dark amber jepei aura starting to spill around her like a roaring fire. Her hair grew longer, her nails sharper, her teeth more vicious as she showed this woman just a piece of her true form. “Promise me that you will never see the rest of this form!”
The woman didn’t flinch inside; she reached up and placed a hand on Amber’s cheek and patted it twice. Not caring as this powerful jepei aura seemed to be lightly burning her hand. “I know I need to earn the right to say this, and my words might not mean anything. However, you have my word, that if I ever turn out to be your enemy, you can ripe me piece by piece, limb from limb. I will not fight back.”
Amber stared down at the woman and for the first time in her life, she found no hint of lying, no signs of distrust. When she did this with Jessica so long ago, she had felt that woman’s evil intent, and knew she had a dagger behind her back to strike. However, this woman had no weapon, she was not a threat. So Amber let this side of her fade away as she sat back down, allowing her head to rest against this woman for just a moment. “Do not make me regret this.”
“I will do my best.”
There was a few minutes of silence as she let this woman pet her head, her touch softer than the wind that blew around them. She even let a deep purr escape her lips and she nuzzled against the woman a bit more. “I want to.” She began. “If Lola is okay with it, I want to come out and I want to be on a sports team. I don’t care what it is, I like those kinds of things.”
“I am sure I can figure something out.”
“Thank you,” Amber said before she faded back into Lola’s mind, however she did not wake the child just yet, she wanted her Lola to sleep more. “And more thing, do not trust Mystic.”
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Lola couldn’t bring herself to look up at her guardian. She had no idea how they ended up back in her living room, but what she did know by just looking at her guardian once. Was that she knew what Lola had done at the store. “Tell her the truth,” Lola gazed past Ms. Destiny and was surprised to see Amber standing in the doorway. Her arms crossed and she was back to her strong looking self. “She is not mad, but do not make an excuse or lie to her, own up to it.” That was all she said before she faded away, not before dragging away the girl that had caused this mischief in the first place, Sammy with her.
“Lola,” she tensed as Ms. Destiny placed a finger on her head and helped her look up at her. “Can you tell me where you went in the store today?”
Lola nodded her head before saying in a soft voice. “I was gonna go and sneak two items into the cart…” She admitted and she felt relieved by just saying that.
“And what did I tell you to do?”
“Don't go and do that…”
She was surprised when Ms. Destiny shook her head. “I asked you first and foremost to stay by my side all day, cause I didn’t want you to get lost.” A soft whine escaped her lips as she felt a new found guilt started to fill her mind. “So technically you disobeyed me twice.”
“I’m sorry,” Lola tensed up a bit more as she expected a slap or maybe even a punch. Maybe the woman would leave and go get a belt or a whip or something. Lola couldn’t help herself as she looked towards her guardian’s golder tiger spirit. Suddenly her sharp teeth looked way sharper than they had before.
However, almost as if her guardian could read her mind. Her touch grew even more soft and gentle, that golden aura that spit off her shoulder calmed down and flowed over her like a gentle breeze. “Lola, believe me when I say this. I am not mad at you, nor am I gonna do something physically to you.” Lola let out a sigh of relief that got her guardian to smile a little bit. “However, as your new guardian I do have to give you a small punishment for disobeying me not just once but twice. So starting tonight, you are no longer gonna be able to go to sleep whenever you want. You will now have a 9:00 o'clock bedtime. Am I understood?”
Lola looked up at Ms. Destiny with a mix of shock and surprise starting to fill her small eyes. “T-That’s it?” She questioned. “You’re not gonna give me away or hit me or anything like that?!”
“I told you I would never do that, and I promise you I never will.” Lola felt her eyes start to fill her eyes causing her guardian to cup her head in her hands and wipe away her tears with her large thumbs. “Even when you are a little bit naughty, I will never in my life strike you. I don’t care how many times I had to say it or remind you that. I give you my word, and I will keep doing it until you believe me.”
So that night Lola was tucked into bed at nine o'clock on the dot. She didn’t feel that bad about it, if this was supposed to be a punishment then she was fine with it. Cause it wouldn’t hurt her, it wouldn’t cause her physical or mental pain. It helped her trust her guardian in brand new ways, and she had far more trust over Ms. Destiny than she had before. It was trust that made her promise to never disobey this woman again. A promise that her guardian had told her. “Many kids promise that but not so many kids keep it.”
So Lola also promised that she would be in that rare list of kids that kept that promise.
It was the least she could to repay her guardian’s kindness.
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