Almond Milk, Half n Half [Boglin! 8D]

[Lion]

   “So…which should I get 2% or non fat? What’s the difference? Hmm, both? Both. Both is good right, lil baby?” Indigo Rook grinned down at the little half-human, half-Kulshedra baby squirming on the baby leash and looking up at him with doey baby eyes and blowing raspberries at him. She said something incoherent and coo’d lightly, blowing more wet raspberries. “Okay okay, the two percenter would be better.”

Almond screamed and tugged again on the child leash from around her waist. She coo’d again and looked up at him with pleading eyes. “Okay okay, the whole chocolate milk again. Don’t you ever get tired of chocolate milk?” he mumbled, shaking his head, reaching into the door and putting the small carton of 2% away and getting out the chocolate milk that had her gasping and making grabby hands for it. He set it into the basket instead and pushed it along the freezer aisle even though she reluctantly was tugged along.

Okay so maybe shopping wasn’t the funnest thing for a toddler to do. Almond chewed on her hand a little bit, using her teeth and growling softly. Didn’t say much of anything although she knew words like “Dada” and “Campferr” for the little stuff campfire that gramma and grampa made for her when they found out he had a little one.  Deego couldn’t be prouder; the little scamp liked to be on her feet, she was energetic and adventurous.

He just had her baby harness strapped to him just in case. And a bjorn across his chest…just in case. Because what if she got lonely and wanted to be carried. At least the bjorn would leave him hands free and he could still have her close to him. Was that so wrong?  She was his baby and she needed her daddy, and he was going to take care of her until she didn’t need him anymore. That’s what good daddies did, and he was determined that be the best goddamn daddy in Aedolis and the whole goddamn galaxy…aaaaand.

Ok, Deego, he told himself. That’s a little too much effort. How about the best daddy in the supermarket. Yup. Yeah. That’d be good.

“Almond. So what kind of cheerios you want? The honey kind right?” he mumbled, wandering through the cereal aisle and examining a box with one hand while the cart held the other and the little leash on his wrist going loose.  Huh.  He glanced down to his leg and blinked. 

The leash wasn’t attached to anything it seemed and had been chewed through…  “Almond?  OH Shit!” His face visibly blanched and all the color faded from his scales as he looked around for a tiny golden scaled fleshy baby and saw nothing. His heart immediately sank and he left his cart behind as he dashed out of the aisle and out toward the main supermarket runway.  And saw nothing more than a scattering crowd of people getting their late night shopping on.

“OH…fuckfuckfuckfuck!  FUCK!  Almond!” Deego’s heart raced and he called her name again and again and carefully inspected each aisle looking for a tiny drunk person. And no dice!

[GoblinFae]

A single tap of her com and her itinerary instantly flashed across the screen, complete with detailed notes. A half hour allotted to grocery shopping for the evening along with the optimal path through the store to prevent wasting time over forgotten items and running back and forth. Micah was nothing if not efficient. Every little detail of her life was planned just the way she wanted it to be. She was the master of her fate and time. No one could stop her if she put her mind to it.

A package of pasta. A jar of red garlic sauce. Two zucchinis, medium-sized and firm for freshness. Each item was added to her basket with care as she wound her way up and down aisles. Junk-food and impulse buys were easily ignored and bypassed thanks to her detailed plan. The entirety of her focus was on getting in and out of the store as quickly as possible so she could get home and back to reading up on her cases for tomorrow. The night was very young and she still had many hours worth of work to wade through before her night run, shower, and bed.

The retrieval of a package of mushrooms was interrupted though as a sudden tug on her charcoal slacks diverted her attention. Her head swiveled quickly so that amber eyes alighted on the personal space intruder. That stern gaze quickly softened to find a lone child looking up at her with such wide and trusting eyes. The scaled child immediately reached up with grabbing hands in a universal demand to be picked up as she babbled nonsensically.

The werewolf quickly visually scanned the area for a potential parent that would be missing their little one and came up empty. She quickly tapped the face of her digital watch twice, signaling her timetable to initiate one of the built-in time buffers. The program automatically shifted her schedule around to accommodate the disruption, leaving her more than able to scoop up the beaming child into her strong arms.

"Hello there sweetheart," she cooed softly as the toddler was settled onto her hip. "Let's see if we can find your family. Looks like you've gone on adventure without them." The child simply dug her tiny fingers into the tightly coiled curls that had escaped Micah's bun and tugged playfully on them, giggling at the face the older woman made in response. "Careful there, Peanut," Micah laughed while gently patting the baby's fingers. "Gentle okay?"

The toddler laughed back, baring her little teeth as she made little growls. The Pilot's attention was divided in two. Micah was no stranger to dealing with children and so she growled back softly, her eyes bright and smile wide at having such a precious distraction in her day. The other half of her though was focused on striding back towards the front of the store where she could hopefully locate a store employee and have the little adventurer's parents called to collect her.

The panicked calls of a frantic parent soon caught her attention though. "Sounds like that might be for you, eh Peanut?" she commented as she detoured towards the voice. Micah had just rounded a corner towards one of the aisles when she caught sight of the tall man calling out and peeking into the aisle from the other side. The poor man looked about ready to lose all his scales with the way he was carrying on.

"I believe this belongs to you!" Micah called back as she moved down the aisle to him. Her suspicions were confirmed as the toddler squealed and wriggled to be put down. Among her gibberish the werewolf was almost positive she heard a few "Dada's" mixed in as well between the giggles. It was hard to say for certain though as Almond tugged her hair harder in excitement again. "You've got yourself quite a lively little angel. She give you the slip in the five seconds you took to blink? My neice used to always do that too," the Pilot continued good-naturedly.

[Lion]

The lady that promptly hoisted up the demon child certainly smelled funny. Not like Daddy at all. Not scaley either. Her skin was so smooth and nice and Almond absolutely resisted no desire to reach forward and mush those cheeks between her hands, blabbering something with terrible phrasing that Daddy tried to correct her on with little victory. Maybe this lady had some fire on her that she could play with. That was fun.  And always made Daddy make funny faces.

Yeah she smelled funny all right, but it wasn't awful and in fact the musk was oddly comforting.  She leaned forward played with those mushable cheeks before she heard Deego's voice and wriggled around until she was finally set down on her little devil feet and lunged for Dada, promptly wrapping arms around his legs, tugging at them and pointing up at the lady.  She blurted out something in gibberish for Deego to smell her.

She smelled good. Like a dog but with too much hairspray in her hair.

"HOLY FUCKING SHIT, ALMOND YOU GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" Deego hissed and reached down to hoist Almond up into his arms, hugging her tight. 

No. NO nononono! That wasn't what almost wanted at all, pointing back at the lady and reaching up to pull at Deego's big nose.  SMELL HER GODDAMMIT!

Deego hugged his fussy demon child before adjusting her onto his hips and looking at the other woman dead in the eyes, grinning ear to ear, flicking them, and unleashing a deep breath.  "Thank you for finding her and not being a weirdo," he sighed.  "She's a right fucking terror and she'll run away like a fart in the wind if I don't keep her leashed to me.  I'd otherwise be ok if we're at home. But shopping is kinda hard with her wanderlust.  I'm Deego.  Thanks."

He reached out a grubby hand for her to shake, still hugging Almond tightly to him until she settled down and laid her head against his shoulder.

[GoblinFae]

It was a precious moment to see a father reunited with his child, one that made Micah's heart twinge a bit knowingly within her breast. She really did love children and it was always times like this where she got that small nagging sense that she should perhaps have one of her own already. Her mother certainly made a point to bring it up often enough (try every time they spoke). But, Micah always struggled with the timing of it. When was she supposed to stop and have a baby? Or raise one? Or settled down? It was hard enough to keep up with Chloe over the years and she was her niece. What was she to do when it was her own son or daughter who required every second of her every day?

Those were not thoughts for now. As she blinked them away, her brows rose almost up to her hairline at being cleared of the "weirdo" label. His colorful metaphor only served to aid their flight from her face. She chuckled softly, dipping her head slightly to regain composure before slipping her warm hand into his.

"Micah, and it was no problem," she told him genuinely with a bright smile. "My niece was a bolter too. You'd close your eyes for half a heartbeat and she'd have climbed up to the top shelf before you even what had happened. I'm glad to have been able to find your little peanut-er Almond."

The werewolf chuckled softly, her eyes darting to glance at her wrist display and noticing she still had some time left before she would need to apply a second schedule buffer. "Will you be alright with finishing up your shopping? You seem to have your hands quite full and well maybe you would like some help?"

[Lion]

Having his hands full was definitely one way of putting it. And the little unholy terror that had nearly given him a heart attacked seemed fond enough of this lady that she even reached back to try to grab at her hair again. To which Deego swatted her hand back and clung it against him. "Dadadadadadadadadad adadadada," she mumbled irreverently and tried picking his nose once more.  "Dadadadadadadadadad a."

"I know, little baby, but picking my nose in public isn't polite in front of strangers," he nodded to her, and soothed her hair down with a few pets. He shook his head and grinned over at this Micah woman. Micah. Did he know that name? It sounded somewhat familiar, but only insofar as it was with names and potential PR clients.

He didn't do the main gigs anymore, and working conveniently from home meant he could spend more time with Almond, right terror that she was.  "Actually," he sighed and blew raspberries against his baby's cheek and set her into a giggle fit. "I could use a bit of help figuring out what set of crayons are good for two year olds. You have some knowledge of kids from the sound of it. I'd appreciate the help."

Usually the fatter the object, the more inane it was and targeted toward small children, but Almond seemed dead set on taking anything remotely meltable an setting fire to it. Maybe crayons weren't for her.  Dragonsballs, he wasn't getting her any markers she could potentially huff on. She was much too young for that.

Deego glanced back down the aisle to where he'd left his shopping cart and gave a mildly petulant sigh. Nothing in there was fireproof.

[GoblinFae]

"Certainly," she offered with a warm smile. Micah's golden eyes only seemed to glow more at seeing the loving display between father and daughter. There was just something sweet about a doting father slightly out of his depths but nonetheless trying that tugged at her motherly heartstrings. The Banks matriarch would have been so proud if she could have seen her daughter now.

Her eyes crinkled as she passed the pair and lightly stuck her tongue out at Almond just to try and hear the child giggle before becoming more serious and businesslike. Her eyes snapped to the shelves where she scanned them thoroughly for several moments. A few items were pulled off the shelving and inspected closer before being returned with a disapproving shake her head. The escaped curls of her bun bounced and danced along the nape of her neck and cheeks as she did so.

"Well," Micah began, turning to face Deego, her hands clasped behind her back just like she was back in work, "if you're looking for crayons specifically then I would get the crayon rocks." The paralegal pulled the small bucket down to show the harried father. "They're easier to hold for small hands, help with fine motor skills, are easy to use, and no paper mess all over your house. However, if your daughter is a chewer like my niece was," Micah shook her head while rolling her eyes slightly, "I would suggest chalk instead. It washes off surfaces easily, doesn't stain, and doesn't taste very good. There's even a special wall paint you can buy to turn an area in your home into a chalkboard for her if she really likes it.

"Whatever you do though, just skip those stupid plastic holders for crayons and pencils. They don't work and break far too easily into pieces that are a choking hazard for little ones. I don't understand why people still continue to buy them. They're really quite useless if you ask me. When she's a bit older you could consider getting her colored pencils. I would avoid markers though just for peace of mind. The box says washable 100%, but my bathroom door still says otherwise."

A soft beep from her wristwatch reminded her that not only was this not a courtroom but that she was likely talking the poor man's rather large ears off. Micah cleared her throat, double tapped her watch again, and smiled sheepishly. "Forgive me, I got a bit carried away. I hope that helps you both though."

[Lion]

The longer this woman spoke, the more Deego was confident his daughter picked the right stranger to harangue. She was fearless, as most children were. They didn't bother worrying over who may or may not be annoyed, angry, or downright dangerous for them, and Deego was sure this woman was none of the three. She displayed a wonderful aptitude with children that he didn't know existed. It was a shame that he was a father, but then again, if he knew anything about kids he probably wouldn't have had any.

"You're really good. Really good." He examined Almond for a time as she mushed at his face, his voice changing with how she pressed his cheeks together. She most likely didn't care what kind of coloring things she got. She was largely a happy baby, and wanted nothing more than to drive him insane. The more things she had to occupy herself with the more he might be able to get some work done in the meantime, without risk of her playing with things she wasn't meant to.

He hoped anyway. It was a foolish hope, but a hope all the same.

"You know what, I'll just take both of them. She can mash the rocks when she doesn't wanna play with chalk and scribble with chalk when she doesn't wanna mash rocks. You've been a great help and besides my apartment has been needing some redecorating. I mean, turning one of my walls into a blackboard for her to draw on."

He took Almond's small right arm and waved it around much to the wee bab's delight. She squealed and grinned at her.

"You'd be down to help me paint, won't you. I'm sure Almond would be happy to see the lady that helped her pick out the best art supplies in the store again." And looked over to Micah expectantly. "You wouldn't want to disappoint her."

As if on cue, Almond gave her gigantic doey eyes.

[GoblinFae]

"Sounds excellent," Micah murmured politely with a bob of her head. She was just preparing to disengage from the conversation and take a step back when he continued to prattle on at her. Patience was a virtue but this werewolf had a very important schedule to keep to and she had already delayed her timer twice, completely eating into any built in buffer for unusually long checkout queue times.

And then this man had the audacity to volunteer her to help him. "Uh...," her voice trailed off in complete disbelief. "Surely that isn't the best of ideas. With all due respect, I don't even know your name, and for all you know," she shook her head with a humorless smile, dark curls bouncing with the effort, "well I could be the big bad wolf."

Micah started to back out of the aisle with a small fingerwave to Almond. "I'm glad to have been able to help reunite you with your munchkin and pick out some enrichment toys for her. Buh-bye now."

[Lion]

Micah was quick to make her escape and Almond understood that she just wasn’t cute enough to entice every person her father liked. She teared up a little bit and sobbed into Deego’s shoulder in a last ditch effort as Micah departed, but also she was hungry, tired, and desperately wanted a nap.

The toys they’d gotten were sufficient entertainment for a time. But like all of Almond’s toys, inevitably, they started to wear out within a week. Work and piled up and Deego was having a hard time concentrating with Almond screaming in the background of his meeting calls and overall being a little terror.

He soon had enough, and scooped her up, packed a bag and they were off to a park. At least she could scream outside and get some filtered air. Maybe he could get some exercise too, but decided against it. It would disturb the pizza he’d eaten for breakfast after all. He held her hand as they walked out to the local park past several amazing delicatessens and a gaming lounge he’d wanted to visit since it opened but had been unable to with caring for Almond.

Once they reached the safety of the park, he unleashed the terror on the other children and Almond ripped across the sand screaming in delight. He smiled and sat down on a bench, calling out to her. “If you need your juice box, I got it right here, baby!” And she waved back at him, quickly finding another child to play tag with.