1. Sleeping In

It wasn't often that Zoe was able to sleep in, and then even if they could, they often woke up early on principal. They couldn't afford the life of luxury that those who lived indoors could.  Zoe had been summoned to Silverlight, found themselves a cozy tree to prop themselves up against and had never looked back when it came to trying to find a home. Sure, there had been wooden cabins nearby, but Zoe hadn't known they were meant for kitsu like Zoe - who didn't have a home yet. Zoe hadn't the faintest idea that they could just walk in and claim one, easy as that. So, they'd found the tree and they'd built themselves a fyrefowl coop nearby and that arrangement had become their home after a time. 

Now, they had a set routine - wake up, feed and water the fowl, clean up the coop and take a break for a morning snack. Zoe's needs always came AFTER their livestock. Then, once the birds were settled in and comfortable again, Zoe packed up some items and made their way into town, specifically towards one shop in particular. Farm Song had been there secondary home, in a manner of speaking. Zoe had spent a lot of their beginning days helping the kitsu who ran it (one: Lady Elizabeth Stradivarius), which is how Zoe became so familiar with livestock care. Now, despite having fyrefowl of their own to attend and care for, Zoe made it a daily point to stop by to offer their assistance to Elizabeth whenever she could, portioning out a few hours of their day in hopes of finding an excuse to be with Elizabeth, or to make her life easier. 

What started as friendship had grown to something closer to adoration... a crush perhaps? One-sided, as far as Zoe could know, for they weren't yet ready to risk disrupting their friendship or the routine that kept them together. If Elizabeth rejected Zoe's feelings, would things become awkward between them? Would Zoe no longer be able to extend their help to Elizabeth, to be near her, because of tension between them? No, Zoe was sure that any disruption in their day to day experiences may trigger some unhappy response. Routine was calming, routine was powerful. 

But that morning, their routine had been broken. Usually, Zoe was up at the first crack of  the dawn's light. However, when they opened their eyes thsi time, it was to the sound of their fyrefowl's cries. Not cries of alarm, Zoe realized with a jolt, but from impatience. Looking at the sky, the sun was high above - it must be somewhere close to midday! Zoe had gone to sleep the former night feeling tired through their bones, they'd done some heavy lifting for Farm Song and while they were always happy to show off, they often forgot to stretch before trying to flex about how much weight they could bear. As a result, it seemed, Zoe had a long, heavy sleep and her fyrehens were not best pleased about it. 

"Sorry, sorry!" They apologized to the irate birds as they got up with a stumble. "I just I slept in. Won't happen again, don't worry." Zoe yawned, stretching sore muscles and moving towards the coop. Another day, another chore and another day to see Lady Elizabeth at Farm Song. Zoe pushed away inner thoughts of concern. Wonderings about how long their body could hold up, working as hard as they did, with little emotional relaxation would only hold them back. They shifted their weight from paw to paw. They could get their work done, they could have a happy life... Their life was already happy enough! Wasn't it? (WC: 617)

Submitted By belloblossom
Submitted: 11 months ago ・ Last Updated: 11 months ago