Little House, Little Kids

It had been a long time since she had learned to not judge a book by it's cover. Ricin was big, his red eyes could have seemed scary to some others, but Duchess saw well past that. She knew Ricin was a sweet as he could be, no matter what he looked like. And he proved it even more in the way he reached out to her.

She didn't move as he grasped around her in a hug, her frame leaning into him as he offered his physical comfort. But she didn't cry. Something in her still held it back, like she needed to be strong for him. She still didn't know him too deeply, but she was acting much like a mother to her child not wanting to show that breakdown. He knew just a little of her inner turmoils, and the other half of it he didn't need to know.

Her eyes closed and she swayed gently as Ricin hummed to her, her silent breathing became steady and relaxed without her know that it wasn't. He wanted her happiness and while she may have wanted that too, she believed it was never meant to be. She spoke quietly to not disrupt his song, "And I want you to live beautiful, happy life Ricin." Without knowing his own past traumas, he was young and had a long way to go in life. She hoped he would never experience what she and Indigo had, and even if his life had been hard she wanted it to only be great from this point on. And sometimes that took his own choices along the way, as hers had completely devastated everything around her.

"Duchess"