All the tension drained out of Bridget in a sigh of relief.
Honestly! She was being so silly. She shook her head at her own ridiculousness. Tiff had remembered to ask, and of course the King had done it. The King always did it! What was she thinking, honestly? She was letting her weird wolf hormones get in the way of her good sense. Which happened! Less now than it used to, and never in this particular direction but. Well, she was getting older. Maybe she was getting protective over small, delicate things. The fact she'd felt no concern about the children around Avi was waved off. That was probably it. Normal, parental-ish wolf instincts.
And look at Tiff! She was still a little stiff, and her rapid-fire speech felt a little nervous, but she was doing way better! It would go fine. Bridget had helped. Tiff would get her job, Avi would get his halfling, and she'd get the children out of their way. Everyone would be perfectly happy, including her, because she was always happy when other people were. As soon as she saw it all work out, the knot in her chest would untie. She was sure of it.
Her fears put to rest, Bridget led the children a bit further away from Tiff and the King, into the garden and out of sight. If this was all caused by wolf hormones, it wouldn't be good to transform right by the King. And she wouldn't want to spook Tiff, either, who had so much else on her mind and didn't need any distractions. Instead, she waited until she was firmly out of sight.
She glanced up through the trees, gauging how strong she felt. She was pretty sure she could manage the transformation back. She might need some recovery time in-between, but well, that would just give Avi more time to win Tiff over. And Tiff time to win Avi over, she supposed, although that was probably long accomplished.
"Miss Bridget, was that your girlfriend?" Gina asked, all cheerful, childlike curiosity. Despite the innocence of the question, Bridget flushed slightly.
"No, she's a new hire of the King's," Bridget replied, speaking as though it was a foregone conclusion because she considered it one. "I was just helping her navigate the castle."
"Why were you rolling around in the grass?" Julian chirped in.
"We tripped."
"Together?"
"I fell when I caught her," she said with a sigh. "Would you like answers to your questions, or would you like a ride?"
"Answers," Julian replied at the same time as everyone else said "a ride!" Bridget laughed.
"A good thing we're going to the library, then. As many answers as you want, in there."
With Tara still riding her shoulders, Bridget took a few steps away, and then gave herself a full body shake. It wasn't necessary but it helped the shift, which rippled down her body in a quick second. Tara let out a little shriek as she did, but was still sitting safely on Bridget's shoulders when she had four paws on the ground. The children cheered and clapped as if they'd never seen a giant blonde wolf before. It probably helped that they were normally in bed by the time she looked like this.
Several of the children immediately ran up to bury their hands in her thick fur. Even on all fours, she was taller than they were, a good five feet at her shoulder. She gave Julian a proper lick on the face, then butted her head against Adam, gently, but with enough force that he wobbled slightly.
She lowered herself onto the ground so they could clamber up behind Tara, wincing slightly at the number of uncautious childrens' hands pulling on her fur. She wondered if the King would be in the mood to brush the tangles out of her fur tonight, or if she was going to have to go around brush in mouth to find someone. Plenty of people loved dogs; it wasn't hard to find someone to spend the night with.
It was a lot of children to carry, but her back was long and she was very strong. As long as they held on tight, it would be fine. And there were worse things than falling off a wolf, anyway. Childhood was full of such happily won injuries.
She started at a stately walk, then a trot, letting the children find their balance and good places to grip. Once it seemed like they were all on pretty firmly, she sped up. It wasn't safe to run in the castle, let alone full-tilt with a lot of children on your back, but she gave them a good, easy lope around the garden before heading in towards the library. The castle was loud during the day, busy as a beehive with workers of all stripes and too many children. A lot of them would be redirected towards the new home being built, but that wouldn't be done for months.
Actually, she should probably direct Tiff towards that whole project, Bridget realized. It wasn't too late to have an experienced architect on board for that planning. Clouds above, that little rat girl could definitely use the help.
It made her happy to think of a future with Tiff in it, just one more busy bee around the castle.
Ah! There it was, the happiness. She'd been sure it would show up eventually. Things never stayed complicated for long. Satisfied that the universe had been put all in the right order, she carried the children off to the library.
Honestly! She was being so silly. She shook her head at her own ridiculousness. Tiff had remembered to ask, and of course the King had done it. The King always did it! What was she thinking, honestly? She was letting her weird wolf hormones get in the way of her good sense. Which happened! Less now than it used to, and never in this particular direction but. Well, she was getting older. Maybe she was getting protective over small, delicate things. The fact she'd felt no concern about the children around Avi was waved off. That was probably it. Normal, parental-ish wolf instincts.
And look at Tiff! She was still a little stiff, and her rapid-fire speech felt a little nervous, but she was doing way better! It would go fine. Bridget had helped. Tiff would get her job, Avi would get his halfling, and she'd get the children out of their way. Everyone would be perfectly happy, including her, because she was always happy when other people were. As soon as she saw it all work out, the knot in her chest would untie. She was sure of it.
Her fears put to rest, Bridget led the children a bit further away from Tiff and the King, into the garden and out of sight. If this was all caused by wolf hormones, it wouldn't be good to transform right by the King. And she wouldn't want to spook Tiff, either, who had so much else on her mind and didn't need any distractions. Instead, she waited until she was firmly out of sight.
She glanced up through the trees, gauging how strong she felt. She was pretty sure she could manage the transformation back. She might need some recovery time in-between, but well, that would just give Avi more time to win Tiff over. And Tiff time to win Avi over, she supposed, although that was probably long accomplished.
"Miss Bridget, was that your girlfriend?" Gina asked, all cheerful, childlike curiosity. Despite the innocence of the question, Bridget flushed slightly.
"No, she's a new hire of the King's," Bridget replied, speaking as though it was a foregone conclusion because she considered it one. "I was just helping her navigate the castle."
"Why were you rolling around in the grass?" Julian chirped in.
"We tripped."
"Together?"
"I fell when I caught her," she said with a sigh. "Would you like answers to your questions, or would you like a ride?"
"Answers," Julian replied at the same time as everyone else said "a ride!" Bridget laughed.
"A good thing we're going to the library, then. As many answers as you want, in there."
With Tara still riding her shoulders, Bridget took a few steps away, and then gave herself a full body shake. It wasn't necessary but it helped the shift, which rippled down her body in a quick second. Tara let out a little shriek as she did, but was still sitting safely on Bridget's shoulders when she had four paws on the ground. The children cheered and clapped as if they'd never seen a giant blonde wolf before. It probably helped that they were normally in bed by the time she looked like this.
Several of the children immediately ran up to bury their hands in her thick fur. Even on all fours, she was taller than they were, a good five feet at her shoulder. She gave Julian a proper lick on the face, then butted her head against Adam, gently, but with enough force that he wobbled slightly.
She lowered herself onto the ground so they could clamber up behind Tara, wincing slightly at the number of uncautious childrens' hands pulling on her fur. She wondered if the King would be in the mood to brush the tangles out of her fur tonight, or if she was going to have to go around brush in mouth to find someone. Plenty of people loved dogs; it wasn't hard to find someone to spend the night with.
It was a lot of children to carry, but her back was long and she was very strong. As long as they held on tight, it would be fine. And there were worse things than falling off a wolf, anyway. Childhood was full of such happily won injuries.
She started at a stately walk, then a trot, letting the children find their balance and good places to grip. Once it seemed like they were all on pretty firmly, she sped up. It wasn't safe to run in the castle, let alone full-tilt with a lot of children on your back, but she gave them a good, easy lope around the garden before heading in towards the library. The castle was loud during the day, busy as a beehive with workers of all stripes and too many children. A lot of them would be redirected towards the new home being built, but that wouldn't be done for months.
Actually, she should probably direct Tiff towards that whole project, Bridget realized. It wasn't too late to have an experienced architect on board for that planning. Clouds above, that little rat girl could definitely use the help.
It made her happy to think of a future with Tiff in it, just one more busy bee around the castle.
Ah! There it was, the happiness. She'd been sure it would show up eventually. Things never stayed complicated for long. Satisfied that the universe had been put all in the right order, she carried the children off to the library.
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Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-08-2019, 10:26 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-08-2019, 11:12 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-08-2019, 12:06 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-08-2019, 12:24 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-08-2019, 03:25 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-08-2019, 03:41 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-08-2019, 05:04 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-08-2019, 06:19 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-08-2019, 11:00 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-09-2019, 09:09 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-09-2019, 02:33 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-09-2019, 04:48 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-09-2019, 10:53 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-10-2019, 07:27 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-10-2019, 08:44 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-10-2019, 03:15 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-10-2019, 03:44 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-10-2019, 05:24 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-10-2019, 09:01 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-11-2019, 04:02 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-13-2019, 11:21 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-15-2019, 02:04 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-15-2019, 06:59 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-15-2019, 11:39 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-16-2019, 04:36 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-16-2019, 04:50 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-17-2019, 06:26 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-17-2019, 10:32 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-17-2019, 10:54 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-18-2019, 11:51 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-18-2019, 08:23 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-18-2019, 08:50 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-18-2019, 11:40 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-19-2019, 12:04 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-19-2019, 12:10 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 11-19-2019, 04:33 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-20-2019, 06:18 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-20-2019, 06:56 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 11-21-2019, 10:38 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 11-21-2019, 11:01 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-02-2019, 08:35 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-02-2019, 08:58 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-10-2019, 05:34 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-10-2019, 05:50 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-16-2019, 12:40 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-16-2019, 12:53 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-17-2019, 03:01 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-17-2019, 10:39 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-17-2019, 06:20 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-17-2019, 08:07 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-19-2019, 06:23 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-19-2019, 07:04 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-19-2019, 08:15 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-19-2019, 08:49 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 12-20-2019, 05:12 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 12-30-2019, 07:24 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 12-30-2019, 09:47 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 01-01-2020, 07:12 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 01-01-2020, 05:45 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 01-01-2020, 05:59 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 01-02-2020, 06:41 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 01-18-2020, 12:39 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 01-18-2020, 02:20 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Tindome - 01-31-2020, 06:45 AM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by Viala - 02-03-2020, 04:56 PM
RE: Building Bridges [Closed] - by SolitareLee - 02-03-2020, 05:55 PM