Things were good again with my own time away from home.
Working in the sunflower field was my own blessing in the disguise of burning skin and blistered feet.
The old woman, Able, was a hardworking woman who didn't let the lure of a soft retirement stop her from shuffling in the scorching sun to slash sunflowers.
Machinary was too expensive and ran the risk of damaging more than we could harvest. Large wicker baskets were attached to our backs that we could flip the flowers we reaped into it.
Able made them herself too. It would be an insult to her knotted hands not to use what she had dedicated all her time towards. It was a cumbersome thing, but it made her smile when we shouldered the baskets at the shed beside her house each weekend and picked the weathered sickles off the wall above them to head to the field.
And every afternoon when we had reaped all we could, Able would hand us our cash as we lined up back at the shed. She often included a takeaway container of teacake or buttery scones she had baked the night before.
She was such a good woman to all of us. She treated us like family rather than her employees. She had no other family to dote on anymore. The old photo of her husband was hung in the shed that overlooked us when we arrived and left, and they had no children between them.
The sunflowers she poured her heart into was all she had left to leave in this world.
Able was already waiting for us at the front when we arrived at her farm. She had her basket already loaded that she held the straps of proudly.
"Here, Granny" River shook his head at her and pulled her basket off to hoist it over his shoulders "you'll break your back one day."
"And I'll break yours if you keep calling me 'Granny'" she smirked back with a light tap on his arm.
River rolled his eyes at her with a wide smile as we walked up towards the shed.
"How is young Darcy today?" Able spoke as we passed the female demon in the fields keeping her head low as she slashed "no more bruises?"
"You know how it is" River commented "I don't get more handsome if he doesn't grin and bear it."
The harsh reality of it all was clearly displayed in River each time we met up. I always picked him up as he started the long walk from his home since Darcy's parents refused to give him independence.
To them, he was only an inconvenience that lurked around thier child that they hated for his choice of love.
River had grown even taller still. His sharp teeth were long and forced his mouth down further into a hanging gape. His horn had split and branched off like a tree of thorns. His broken one even had a sliver poking upwards from it now to make it look like a deadly shiv.
The gold patterns on his face formed a skull patterning that also swiped up each of his bent fingers to resemble bones. The rest of his body had been spared for now.
The fan-like tail he once had was now curved like the scythes we used here. More spikes pulled up from along its length that ran under his clothing and up his back.
And his arms. They almost brushed the dirt now from thier length. His hunched posture didn't help either; his long legs the only thing keeping them from dragging beside him.
Despite it all, he still looked somewhat handsome. He knew it too and carried himself boldly when he walked.
I didn't have the threats he did in his life. My mutations eventually subsided after three months of working the fields alongside him.
Braidon was too afraid to be caught alone anywhere near Lavender, and I didn't have to worry about her running off to him anymore.
When the slits along my mouth were gone, I knew that everything was going to be OK between us.
We still hadn't progressed back to the way we were, but it was looking hopeful with each little milestone we achieved together.
We still had parties too with her old friends. The memory of her sixteenth wasn't what she wanted everyone to remember when they came to our home. It was a place for joy and fun memories now in what we had created.
"Granny, I only need three hundred dollers today" River held up his fingers as he pulled out the sunflowers and laid them on the benches running through the middle of the shed "then I'm out for today."
"You'll be here for a while to get that amount" Able commented "and what on earth for?"
"Nothing special" he replied with a wide smile "as long as I have it done before three o'clock then I'm all good."
His secrecy had me intregued now when he hoisted on his own basket and pulled down the sickle to inspect.
I did the same and joined him on his venture out in the hope he would spill it to me while Able sorted the benches.
"Don't be so nosy" he pointed the blade at me when I pestered him on the way to our location "it's a secret."
"It's a very specific secret" I chuckled back and grabbed the nearest stalk to cut and slide over my shoulder "and you want to cut down six hundred flowers for it?"
"Well, yeah" he shrugged "I've already got, like, five."
I had to admire his persistence. He was absolutely determined on getting that money today and worked through the forest before him quickly. Even when his basket was full, he was risking stuffing more in to avoid losing precious time in the trip back to the shed.
"You're going to damage the stalks" a voice called out beside him and I looked over to see the disgruntled female. She stood there, watching River as he tried to get the one he held to wedge into any gap he could find.
I smiled at her as River sighed and decided to slash down more to carry in his arms as he made the trip back.
"I think the mutations got to his head" she tapped it with a smile at the sunflower she cut down while I laughed at her comment.
Azalea liked to pick on River especially out of the two of us. I think she was drawn to his strong appearance that he was either too ignorant or oblivious to notice.
They looked like complete opposites together. Her skin was pure white from head to toe and had blood red markings that looked like an abstract flower around each exposed shoulder. Her forehead had a predominant swipe down from it to the bridge of her nose that made it look like she had a bleeding bullet wound. Her eyes were the same colour but looked so soft and innocent.
She had been one of the ones that was celebrated on arrival of her birth. The town she landed in cherished her like a God and came together to name her out of a list of popular suggested names. They even adorned her antler-like horns with flowers once they grew in and held ceremonies of colour and music for her. But once she outgrew the cute child stage at the tender age of twelve, she fell out of the limelight they had shone on her and ceased the gifts that had been her main form of survival.
Despite struggling to get where she was now and without anyone Bonded to her, she had not a single mutation on her body. It was always exposed to the sun that quickly turned her white skin a shade of red the longer she braved the burn. A large sun hat covered her head today and her braided white hair hanging down over her shoulder where her blue singlet was slipping. Denim blue shorts with frayed edges accompanied her favourite blue boots she always wore.
With the colours, it gave her an oriental look. Nothing she wore ever looked bad on her.
"Should we cut down all the flowers before River gets his margin?" Azalea teased from beside me as we slashed onwards.
I turned to see him running back from the shed and wiped the sweat from my brow. I humored her joke and slashed onwards with a smile back to her.
It would take us at least a month to even do that. It seems like we had barely made any progress in the sea of green towering around us.
"Out of the way, slackers!" River called out as he came speeding up beside us and slashed in a frenzy "these flowers won't cut themselves!"
"You'll cut yourself the way you are going!" Azalea spoke firmly "be a little more gentle with them! Damaged ones are no good!"
"Like this damaged one?" he gripped the sunflower he had cut to show it to her. It was unmarked and perfect to be added to his basket.
Instead, he bit down on the head and spat the petals towards us, eating it so viciously that it looked like he had been starving.
He was chewing loudly and happily when Azalea lowered her scythe.
"You know, there's a little supermarket near here that sells some good canned soups and pastas that don't need cooking. The cameras can't see the back right corner..."
"Azalea!" I breathed back in disbelief.
"What!" she scowled at me and pointed to River crunching on the seeds "it's obvious he's not being fed anymore!"
I turned to River now who looked ashamed of the revelation.
"It's true?"
"Look, I don't need to eat as much as Darcy does" he said defensively "skipping a meal or two is nothing for me."
"It's not skipping" Azalea commented "they purposely aren't feeding you so you can go somewhere else. We all know what your humans are like, River. Stop trying to defend shitty people."
River snapped on the sunflower and narrowed his eyes at Azalea who huffed back.
I had no idea. I thought things at his home were how they always had been. Now they were going above beatings to progress to starvation. It sounded like Darcy had been spared that and was still being fed by his family.
"Come to mine if you get hungry" I reached out to touch River's arm "anytime. It'd be good to have you around."
He looked down at my hand and slowly nodded.
"I honestly don't mind sunflowers..." he tried to play off his pain.
Azalea groaned loudly at this and advanced on River so she could point her sickle up at his throat.
"If I have to bring canned food here for you to eat, then I will! I will not let you let yourself be trampled on like that for some damn human!"
River smiled at her fierce face and pushed the sickle down gently. His tail was curled up too; he was enjoying Azalea's passion for his wellbeing.
"Am I upsetting you, Bullet?" he teased, poking her forehead.
She pouted back at him before swatting his hand away.
"You are an idiot!" she pointed at him while she went back to her position "a complete moron!"
"You love it" he teased back to make her grumble back "little Bullet Brain."
I could feel the playful banter was harboring something else between them as thier words got more vulgar. If anything, it seemed like there was sexual tension between the two.
It was awkward to be caught in the middle of it.
I made the excuse to take my load back up to the shed where Able was. She had a plastic jug of watermelon and mint punch already for me that I drank thankfully.
"Those two at it again?" Able smiled at the load I heaved onto the bench for her before peering out whee they were in the distance.
I nodded and rolled my eyes.
This wasn't a new occurance. River and Azalea had been like this since the start. It started with a joke from her and only grew from there. Three months was a long time to be caught in thier continuous banter.
"I thought you and River were a couple" Able pointed out when I started to sort with her instead of returning to the field "he tells me all the time."
"It's not official or anything" I mumbled back "but he does spent a lot of time with us. Lavender likes having him around too."
"That's nice" Able nodded with a smile.
"Do you..." I began but paused to check the open shed enter ace "do you think it's weird? Like, to have me and him and her?"
Able looked up from her pile to me.
"What do you feel about it all?"
"Well, I like having him around" I admitted "and he's always nice to me. We even kissed once too which was strange but kind of good. He's nice but I'm worried I'm just something in his way to Lavender. Look at the way he's flirting with Azalea; if he loved Lavender then he wouldn't do that."
"I think you want to take a dive but are too scared of what could happen" Able said "I think you are letting the 'what if's' hold you back and create excuses instead of focusing on the positives. If you want to go kiss that boy or reel him in and be jealous of his affection for someone else, then do it! He won't know you feel that way unless you show it, dear boy."
She looked very pleased with herself when I felt myself fill with courage from her words. I quickly finished turning the stalks around then shouldered my basket to march back out.
I had to show him. I was going to show him.
River was mine. Yes, he was mine. I wasn't going to lose him to Azalea. I was going to keep him close to me and step out of my comfort zone.
I needed to do this. That little push was what I needed to take the risk. I had to show him that I wasn't going to let him dissappear anytime soon.
River and Azalea were snorting and giggling when I wedged myself back between them and glanced at River. They kept up the steady pace that I matched so they couldn't get too far out of my sight. His tail was still curled in excitement as he slashed away and stole glances at Azalea.
I had to show River, but how?
"You need to keep your eyes on the flowers" Azalea reminded him "or you'll cut a finger off."
Perhaps it would simmer out by itself and I could tell him when we didn't have company?
"And I'll start calling you Able if you keep mothering me like her" he replied.
"Ooh, someone has a mummy kink" Azalea jabbed back with a sly smile.
No, this was only going to get worse. She was making her move now while I was still here. She was bold and didn't care.
I wasn't going to let someone steal what was mine again.
"You wouldn't know half the shit I'm into."
"Show me then."
I let a growl that silenced them both. I glared at River before turning it on Azalea who was suddenly aware of how forward she had been and focused on the flowers.
"He's taken, Azalea. I didn't come here for you to come along and try and steal him from me while I'm right here" I snapped to her and slashed down the flower before me "he's mine."
"I am?" River piped up now.
"You are" I glared to him again.
I saw his tail tighten the curl and his surprised look turn to one of admiration.
"Don't get yourself so worked up" River soothed and placed a claw under my chin to tilt it up towards his face "I've only got eyes for you, Teddy Bear. No offense, Azalea."
"None taken" she snorted and kept cutting while we stood there.
"You are beautiful" River ran his claw along the top of my horns then grabbed both my hands in his as he leant in close to my ear "even with your new mutation."
What?
He cradled my chin in his hand and ran a nail softly over my lips.
"I love that you get so defensive over me" River purred now to make my breath catch "I know how much I mean to you by the way you changed just now. You only do that for the ones you really want to keep close."
He pulled me against him roughly and I felt myself melt inside at having his focus solely on me now.
Nothing else mattered. It felt like we were the only two amongst the flowers now. I was having feelings sparked in me that I thought no longer existed.
It felt right. It was right.
"I want to keep you safe" River murmered and wrapped his huge hands around me "and I want to keep Lavender safe too. I'm not going to do anything to hurt either of you. I want to be yours but I can't give up on Darcy. I'll keep you and Lavender safe if you can keep him safe for me as well. That's all I ask; nothing more. He only loves me and I want to keep it that way."
"Sounds like you are a bit greedy" I chuckled up at him.
"I have to keep something for myself" he replied as his grip around me tightened.
"Guys" Azalea interrupted from ahead "you're falling behind."
"Still need to reach six hundred" I grinned at River and ducked under his arms so I could race ahead.
He grabbed my tail so he could pull me back towards him while Azalea laughed at my attempts to escape and join her path.
"You are working with me" he spoke with a slight growl in his voice before twining his tail around mine.
I smiled at him and twisted my tail around his in response as we worked side by side.
River just scraped in with his six hundred sunflowers before three o'clock. He was running with renewed purpose when he collected his money and bolted out the front gates with a wave.
Azalea and I wished him well and kept working. I had contributed to River's load and had sacrificed my own payment for those stalks in the process.
I was back where I had began, but I was happy.
Only a few more hours passed when Able called for us to come inside. We would have worked the whole day if her budget would have allowed it.
We sat at the kitchen table in her home she air-conditioned as she counts out our pay. Usually the hot garage would have been our meeting place so I was grateful for the cold air and comfortable seat.
"You all did extremely well today" Able praised while we gulped down glasses of her punch "I really don't know what I'd do without your help."
"You should put an ad out" I suggested "get the word out there. You could have hundreds of demons out there!"
"She can't" Azalea replied instead "having a whole bunch of us in one place is only going to bring bad news to Able. Plus the fact that hiring demons is a red flag already for cheap labour. It won't look good either way you put it."
"The open field days are my best option for hiring. Demons come to me and I get to see firsthand how suitable they are. I don't want to be mixing demons and humans just in case it creates conflict and mutations. Demons are much harder workers anyway and are better company."
Azalea beamed at the praise and took her money to tuck it into her pocket.
I waited for mine patiently.
"You know, you should put on a word about that thing on your face" Able scowled at it "you don't get to eat any of the cakes I make you. I do hope Lavender is enjoying them."
"I don't think eating teacakes is a good excuse to take it off" I laughed back at her "as tempting as it is."
"Well, they obviously haven't tried my famous maple cake then" she chuckled now and pulled out three containers from the fridge "make sure River eats his."
So Able had noticed too. Had I been the only one who hadn't? I was his neighbour and now his partner, I should have said something about his odd behavior earlier.
"Don't spend it all at once" Able winked to me when she finished counting my notes "you should get home and take a break from that muzzle."
"I will" I smiled back and leant over to hug Able like I always did. Azalea did the same and joined me on the long walk back to where Dad was waiting with the car.
River was walking along the side of the road when I found him on my way home. Even though it was going to take him hours to get there, he was determined on making some sort of attempt to her there. A full plastic bag swung from one arm that looked like it was causing him troubles from how heavy it was.
He was holding a rounded plastic container and looking into it happily when I found him wandering.
He was wary of who was pulling over for him before seeing it was the family car.
"I got it!" he exclaimed excitedly when he hopped into the back passenger seat.
"That tiny thing?" I glanced at the container in disbelief as I pulled the car back onto the road.
"Isn't it georgous?" he babbled excitedly "Darcy's going to love it! He likes insects so I thought I'd get him the orchid mantis he's always wanted after the old one died."
"Old age?" Dad turned now.
"A brick" River replied simply "but that's not going to happen to this one! No it's not!"
I chuckled at his baby voice that cooed at the creature in the container. He was overjoyed and couldn't sit still in the back seat.
"Are you coming to ours for dinner tonight?" I smiled into the rear view mirror at him.
River nodded enthusiastically and finally put down the container.
"We need to share the good news!" he grinned to make me blush.
Dad looked to me in confusion.
"We are kind of a thing now" I explained to him "me and River."
He was surprised. He looked at River then back to me.
"But Sprig? And Darcy?"
"Oh, she's ours too" River butted in now "but I'm keeping Darcy."
"And I have no problems with that" I nodded back.
"Well..." Dad raised his eyebrows and blew out a breath "...wow."
"It's a lot to take in at once, Mr Griffin, but I promise nothing bad is going to happen to your daughter while I'm around" River vowed.
"And I'll make sure nothing happens to Darcy if he needs me" I nodded back.
Dad looked like he was still trying to process the whole thing. He probably hadn't heard of a relationship involving more than two people before.
To be honest, it still scared me too.
We pulled up to the house and River quickly gathered his things to head to the water.
His tail wrapped around mine when he held me close as we gazed at each other before parting.
I could tell he wanted to kiss me again but was afraid that the rejection of the first time would happen again. He was bubbling with excitement that I had agreed to finally be his.
"Did you have a tough day at work?" Mum fretted when I slouched into the couch. She came over to grab both sides of my muzzle to turn my face left and right "you've mutated again!"
"I sort of had an argument with Azalea" I admitted to her when Dad stepped into view to watch us "but it was nothing bad! I just had to remind her that she wasn't there to...steal River."
"Steal River?" Mum say down beside me now "you changed over him?"
"He's with me now" I explained "and I didn't like the way she was talking to him. I had to show her."
"Are you going to tell Sprig?" Mum frowned now "she does need to know about something like this. You stopped her from moving on and now, well..."
"It's not like that" I chuckled "it's like..."
I held both my hands up to form a triangle with my thumbs and fingers. Mum saw it and it clicked together.
"I will go talk to her before dinner though" I got up "in private."
Anything to get away from Mum and Dad's barrage of questions they were waiting to sling at me. Maybe I could brave them when River returned tonight.
Lavender was doing homework on her bed when I knocked and entered her room.
She looked up with a small smile before peering back down at her paper.
I sat down beside her and faked interest in the gibberish she was reading.
"I have something to tell you" I began uncomfortably to gain her attention again.
"What is it, Teddy?"
She was so oblivious. Maybe it could wait...?
No, this was something she had to process away from spectators. I didn't want to embarrass her on show.
"I'm... with River. "
"So you're gay now?"
I shook my head and saw her push her papers aside.
"So, does that mean I can date Joshua then?"
Instantly I felt myself tense up as I looked at her.
"Who is Joshua?" I growled back without meaning to.
"See, that's what I don't get" she pointed her pen at me "Joshua doesn't exist by the way. But how come you can go out with River and I can't go out with someone else? It seems very biased to me. We aren't even a thing anymore."
"We aren't" I agreed "but I thought we were working on that?"
"You're dating him now" she gestured to the back door "there is no point. I'm not someone you can pass around between you two when you get bored, Teddy."
"It's not like that" I mumbled back but she wasn't having it. She dragged her sheets back over to scowl at them.
"I want you to still be with me."
"That ship has sailed" she threw her hand up now "I'm not going to be dating both of you, OK? I'm going to find my own boyfriend and enjoy him."
I felt the pain in me rise again. I was tense and defensive on the topic that had broken us.
I was going to be greedy. I had to show her.
"No, you are not."
She turned to me now with a raised brow.
"Excuse me?"
"You are not having anyone else near you" I spoke firmly now "not while I'm around to stop it."
"Oh, really?"
She chuckled coldly at me. I could hear the anger in her voice when she did.
"You don't get to control my life, Teddy Griffin" she snapped now "I'm not anything to you, so why do you care?"
"Because I still love you!" I snapped back "somewhere deep down under all the shit, I still love you, you idiot! Noone can replace you, OK? I'm not moving past what we used to be. Eventually I want to be like that again. I want us to be like we were."
Lavender's glare was still trained on me until I rushed forward to cup her face in my hands and kiss her.
Her lips were hard and resisting at first and her grip on me was painful. Eventually she softened and stopped resisting.
Deep down, she was desperate for this kind of affection. So was I. I just wanted her to see how badly I wanted, and needed, this.
"Teddy" she spoke and pulled from me to catch her breath "what exactly are we?"
"We can be partners again, if you want" I breathed back. The heat of the moment was not making me think properly. I just wanted more of Lavender and to feel like this with her forever. I wanted her.
"River is only here to keep you safe" I continued when she didn't answer "if you eventually fall for him too, then I am fine with that. I don't want to lose you to someone I don't trust. I want us to be together again."
She nodded with tears in her eyes.
"I would like that" she smiled at me "and I'm not going to hurt you like I did again. I've...had a lot of time to think and accept the facts. It's going to be very hard but I don't think it's entirely impossible."
I placed my hand on the side of her cheek that she leant into.
"I'll make sure it's not, Sprig" I smiled back at her and savoured the taste of her salty tears on her lips that crushed back against mine.
Finally, I could be whole again.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
