Windows Let You See Sunshine (draft)

Kim picked the lock.  Afterwards, they said, “We’ll teach you how to do that soon.  For now, don’t go outside ‘less one of us is home.  Heat’s just as bad for you as cold.”

Ben was at the table in all his foxy, fuzzy Frozen pajama’d glory.  Kim saw his eyes immediately go to the kid, and then to Kim for guidance.

“Surprise!” Kim grinned.

“Kim, I know we talked about this,” said Ben.

“‘Bout what?”

“Bringing home children before talking to the others first.”

“We talked to you about this.  This is my first time doing it.”

Ben closed his eyes.  Kim loved that man.

“Do I have to go back?” the kid asked, lips all wobbly, not looking at anybody.

“No!” said Kim. “No one’s gonna make you step foot in that hell ever again.”

The gravity of the situation finally hit Ben.  As if Kim would just bring some random kid home from the park.  That was Ben’s thing!

“My name’s Ben,” he said when the kid joined him a the table.

Kim washed their paws and got to cooking.  Pancakes and bacon.  Wasn’t much for sitting around, talking.  God!  Put some coffee and hot chocolate on, too.

“Kim said you’d give me a name I like,” the kid said.

“Of course,” Ben smiled, all charming and shit[, as if this kid had been theirs all along]. “What kind of names do you like?”

The kid grumble-hummed, sounding uncertain.

“How about what you like then?” Ben said.

[god his name is ben. i’ll remember their names one of these days XD ]

“Windows,” the kid said.

Kim focused on flipping pancakes.  Just flipping pancakes.  Flipping pancakes took a lot of focus.  Lots of focus.  Didn’t wanna be thinking about why the kid―their kid!―liked windows of all things so much!  Just flip those pancakes, Kim.

[god it’s so hard to easy words for this narrator when there are more complicated that are more precise that i wanna be using instead >:I ]

“We can get a name out of that.  Winnie, Winston, Wendy…”

The kid made a negative noise.  Kim agreed.  What poor sap was named Winston these days???

[shout out to all the poor saps, i mean Winstons]

[um… fuck. okay whatever just write]

“What do you like about windows?” Ben asked.

God fucking dammit.

“Windows let you see sunshine,” the kid said.

Kim wanted to rebuild that hellhole so they could burn it again.

Ben would probably help, if the silence was anything to go by.

Course he played it all clever, making it seem like he’d just been thinking of sun-related names.  He gave him some suggestions right after that.

The kid didn’t like those either.

“What about… Solnishko?” Ben said.

Kim had to put the pan down or else they’d throw it.  Kim turned around and looked at him.  To their horror, the kid damn near immediately said, “That’s me!”

Ben had the audacity to smirk at them.  Kim flipped him off.  Went back to flipping pancakes.  Breakfast never betrayed them like this!  Fuckin’ traitor trait who traits!

“Good slippery morning!” Lalitha said as she appeared from around the corner, stretching out the “good” like always. “Who’s this?” She looked at Ben. “Mom, did you bring home a kid again?”

“It wasn’t me this time!” Ben said, taking a well-deserved gulp of hot chocolate.

“I’m Solnishko!” the kid said, sounding happy to meet her.

“Hi, Solnishko, it’s nice to meet you,” Lalitha said. “You can call me Lalitha or Litha.  I’m your oldest sibling.  Are those the only clothes you have?”

“…Yeah.”

“We’ll go shopping,” she said.

“Right now?” Ben asked.

“Yes, Mom, I’m gonna drag a kid all over [city name] at fuck o’clock in the morning. No, not right now!”

[Lalitha is a wolf with black fur and gold eyes, currently wearing a little black pajama dress and a shiny gold robe. figure out how a dad would say that]

“Anybody want any eggs?” Kim asked as they brought the pancakes and bacon over to the table.

[“Heart-shaped? In toast?? Please???” Lalitha said.

“Heart-shaped in toast? Thought you were gonna ask me for something hard (save all this for Rose)]

[does anyone actually bat their eyelashes in real life? it’s just blinking a lot. how the hell is that charming or sexy??? allos are weird]

“Poached!” Lalitha said right away.

“Poached? Poached??? I can do fucking poached,” Ben said.

[did i actually introduce the fucking kid??? i did not lmao]

“Got a pan with your name on it, ‘long with all the stuff you’ve burned in it,” Kim said, dragging it out of the cupboard and placing it on the stovetop.

“That just gives it extra flavor,” Ben said.

“What extra flavor does burnt water add?” Kim asked.

“Burnt water flavor, obviously,” Ben said.

“Papa, please don’t let him burn my eggs,” Lalitha said, expectations so low, they were were at the center of the Earth.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Kim said.

Solnishko was giggling and snapping his wrists the whole way through.

[do i want the twins in the family now or later? fuck decisions! i do kinda like that it’s just the four of them right now]

[but i wanna intro rose. i had such good eggs planned for her!]

“Lalitha!” Rosy said, skipping right on in.

[i do not have an outfit planned for Rose. Shorts? and a tank i guess??? whatever. something with a chibi on it. chibi chicks!! Rose is a eurasian lynx]

“Rosy!” Lalitha gathered up Rosy’s paws.  Litha led her into a spin. “Good slippery morning!”

[what is the dance partner twirly thing? oh they’re just called spins. that’s not very exciting 😐 ]

“Roses are red. / Violets are blue,” Rosy sang. “Carrots are orange. / And I love you!”

Once she was finished, Rosy slipped out from Litha’s grasp and went up to the counter.

“Mom! Papa!” Rosy said.

“Hey, Rosy,” Ben kissed her forehead.  Rosy did that noodly thing with her arms. Then Rosy sang for him and Kim.  Ben sang along.

[wait why are they still at the counter? what else are they fucking cooking?]

[OH LOL THE EGGS]

[i know what i’m doing sometimes XD ]

[i may not know what i’m doing going into a story, but i figure it out eventually #PantserLife]

Kim slid Litha’s eggs onto her plate, then asked Rosy how she’d like hers.

Rosy gave it a lot of thought.  She grabbed a sticky note, then moved to stick it on Kim’s head.  Kim swerved to the side, then the other.  Just a little game that they both liked to play.  Kim let the third time be the charm.

[i might just ditch the whole everyone is the size of their species in real life. cuz i just realized how huge like whales would be in this world. and ya know, maybe we’ll go to atlantis in this ‘verse some day. or that could be really cool. they’re not just underwater people. they’re giant underwater people!]

Rosy drew a very good drawing.  Kim knew what it was right away.  She even drew a little smile in the yolk.

“Heart-shaped eggs in toast, coming right up!” Kim got out the heart-shaped cookie cutter.

[i saw heart-shaped eggs in toast when i was looking up egg cooking terminology, and i want some.]

[well we are officially burning the midnight oil now]

[i don’t think i can concentrate enough to write right now, and i would like to sleep, so i’m gonna find someone to raid]

[oh let’s keep the writing train going 😀

we’re raiding coffeequills!!

thank you for coming everybody ❤