|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2025 5:48 pm
Quote: Counting Sheep (12) : All around the city, odd, lumpy mounds of snow have begun appearing--harmless at first glance, until one of them suddenly shifts, shakes itself off, and lets out a loud bleat. A large flock of incredibly fluffy, snow-covered sheep has wandered into town from who-knows-where. Their dense white wool blends perfectly into the winter landscape, and snow clings easily to them. They seem perfectly content in the cold and go about their business without a care, but it’s still startling to watch what looks like a miniature snowdrift suddenly get up and trot away. They're typically not hostile, but they will attempt to flee and avoid capture. They seem good natured--adorable, warm, and only occasionally a little chaotic. “Out Daddy, out!” A child’s surprisingly loud voice echoed across the snow covered field. The murmured response couldn’t be made out at any significant distance but the emphatic ‘no, out!’ was quite clear. Quickly followed by a squeal and a childish giggle. Nate had taken the nearly three year old little girl out to work off some of her energy. He would jokingly say that she had enough to power a small city and in some ways it was true, she definitely ran circles around him. So going out was quite a requirement, especially after the excitement of the last few days. They had also spent a good few hours looking at the lights and decorations strewn about the city. Running around to various places and seeing everything that struck their fancy. He was ladened with bags of various things they had picked up, though the stroller helped, so when his little Houdini demanded release from the stroller she did not take ‘not right now’ as an acceptable answer, he wasn’t quite as fast as he should have been. The toddler fumbled a bit but was able to get the strap holding her in loose and quickly removed herself from the stroller, letting the conveyance tumble over backwards. Nate had let go of the handles to move around front to keep his child from freeing herself only to be just a bit too late, wincing as he heard something crunch as it landed hard on the park sidewalk. It was likely the delicate glass unicorn the little girl had insisted was ‘what mommy wanted’ but was likely what the toddler wanted. “Sarah, get back here,” He pleaded with the bright pink back of the child who had raced off into the snow. He could have given chase, he could have scooped her up and carried her back home. He probably should have. But watching the toddling little girl running around in the snow covered park, her pink coat vivid against the white, was quite adorable and Nate was a pushover when it came to his little princess. So instead he sighed and watched. The child was kicking up snow and throwing it. Making a right mess of the pristine field. While she played, Nate righted the stroller and set about rebalancing the load so it wouldn’t topple over again. He was still keeping a general eye on the child but wasn’t quite as attentive as he should have been… at least not until a bleating cry followed closely by a squeal of delight had his head whip up. Sarah was chasing a sheep! Where in the bloody hell had a sheep come from?! “Sarah! Come here!” He shouted, his daughter pointedly ignoring his order, even as he scrambled to reach her. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was saving her or the sheep but either way he needed to get to her first. The young man tripped over the stroller, sending it crashing to the ground once again, but he didn’t care. He needed to get to his daughter.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 28, 2025 8:32 pm
An unaccompanied father often finds that he has many allies among the general public. Granted, they tended to come in the form of fellow fathers, of old women, and of slightly-concerned young mothers, but the public would supply what the public had available, and in this case it was a unassuming little man who would have been instantly forgettable for anyone without the interested eye to realize how sharply-dressed he was - easy to miss, for the unconcerned - and without that broom on his upper lip.
There was no good in being a grown-a** man (however little comfort he had in applying the label to himself) and scooping up a child unless that child was flinging herself into the face of terrible danger. While he knew from experience that the sheep could be a little - well, chaotic would have been the best word in any other city - he also knew that it was not the kind of instamurder scenario that would justify him swooping him in like an avenging angel to do so.
He had, however, been monitoring the situation with a great deal of uncertainty for the last several seconds, and was therefore prepared to spring into action of some other, less definite kind. Unencumbered by stroller and a great deal used to moving quickly on his feet, what he could do was nimbly intercede, since he was closer.
"He-e-e-y," he called out, singing out the word in a cheerful, friendly sort of way. How did one interface with a - toddler? baby? child? - exactly. A mystery. Unfathomable. It was enough to get himself between a small human hellbent on Petting the Thing and the Thing itself, immediately stooping down to conveniently impede her progress and putting out a hand (tidy, well-kept; one unremarkable ring not on the married finger; a couple of chrome-painted nails) towards her, the other lifted in a desperate sort of thumbs-up at her father to indicate that he was trying to help. "Wait, wait. Let's try not to scare it off," he added, in an exaggerated voice of conspiratorial caution, modeled improvisationally after what he could recollect of Steve from Blue's Clues. "Maybe your dad will let you give it a treat?" This, raising his eyes to the only functioning adult in the area - no, wait, dammit, the only other functioning adult - as if willing him to arrive in time to grab a hold of her. Or maybe the kid would be old enough to know that she ought to run hell for leather away from a stranger and into her father's arms.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 4:41 pm
The little girl paused, gave the strange man a look, looked over at the sheep, and instantly put a finger up to her lips and said ‘shhhhhhh’ like she understood. Before promptly giggling and doing her best to dodge around the stranger to get to the sheep that had meandered farther away only to let out a shriek of toddler rage when she was scooped up and held against her father’s chest. “Sarah, what did Mommy and Daddy say about strange animals?” Nate asked her, holding her close even as she fussed about wanting the fluffy. After a bit she muttered something that sounded like a response mixed in with pleading about the ‘down’ and ‘fluffy’ but at least she was only pouting and not screaming. That was a step up from when she had a melt down from needing a nap but refusing to take a nap… or when her socks didn’t fit because they were mittens. Having a toddler was a roller coaster. With a sigh Nate settled the toddler on his hip and offered his free hand to help the man up who had distracted his kid long enough for him to book it across the field to scoop his wayward wanderer up. “Thanks, I appreciate it. She hasn’t quite grasped the concept of mean animals yet.” He really needed to work on that with her, especially when it came to youma…. And guardian cats. He did not want his daughter to have anything to do with this bloody ‘war’ if he could help it. “Daddy, fluffy!” Sarah proclaimed excitedly, bouncing on his hip. “I know baby, I know.” He held her more securely since he didn’t want her chasing after that stray sheep. “Must have gotten free from one of those live Nativities or something,” Nate shrugged talking to the other male. It wasn’t until there was a chorus of bleating and his little girl was squealing in excitement, that Nate realized it wasn’t just one sheep loose, it was a whole bloody herd! “Oh hell.” He instantly regretted that when the nearly three year-old started to shout ‘hell’ as loud as her little lungs allowed her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 29, 2025 10:36 pm
Moving, again, with nimble briskness over the snow, Kay began to take himself a safe distance from the incoming wall of fluff. This was convenient, as it allowed him to prevent himself from laughing out loud at a small child swearing up a storm. "I'd be careful," he said cheerfully, and it did not seem even slightly like he was calibrating his voice to be heard by a little girl with a fondness for imitating the adults around her although of course it was. "They get persistent as hell when they're pissed off."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 10:25 am
The sheep swirled around him, the toddler screeched and yelled and wiggled while reaching for the sheep. Honestly all Nate could make out from his daughter was ‘fluffy’, ‘down’, and ‘hell’. He gripped the wriggling child tighter and prayed for peace only to glare at the man who apparently had escaped the wooly whirlpool. “The kid, the sheep, or my wife when she finds out?” He asked before grimacing because of the feet in his side as Sarah did her best to pull out of his grasp. He pleaded with the toddler to settle down only to have the little girl proudly pronounce a new word, “PISSED!” Oh dear god, Dessie was going to kill him, especially as Sarah started to add it to her babbling making Nate wish to just melt into the snow covered ground. “Thanks, thanks a lot mate. Really appreciate it.” The sarcasm was practically dripping off of his words. Unsure on how to extradite himself from the sheep he took a hesitant step forward only to be shocked that the hairy creatures just shifted. Not enough to fully from their circling form but they definitely moved out of his way, apparently they didn’t want to touch him… just trap him. With this in mind he continued out of the swirl of sheep, moving slowly and carefully, until he was finally back on the sidewalk near the abandoned stroller. “I don’t suppose they are yours are they?” He asked the man from before, the one who taught his daughter her new favorite word. At least it was better than ‘hell’, kind of. With a bit more fumbling then reasonable he got the stroller up right but didn’t dare strap the toddler in just yet. Nate knew his daughter well, she would just unbuckle herself and go running after the sheep again. There had to be a good half dozen of the furry little gremlins just milling about. It had felt like so many more when he was surrounded by them. “Where did they come from anyway?”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 31, 2025 5:13 pm
He had managed to make his way back to them by a slightly more circuitous route, and he now knelt down close to the stroller, rooting around in his pockets and keeping half an eye on the sheep, just in case they got rambunctious.
"Same place everything in this f- in this city comes from," he said cheerfully, correcting himself away from a much more potent swear word at the last second, although he did not seem to otherwise be reacting to Nate's radiating disapproval. "Mouth of h- the hot place, I guess."
He had found, in an inner pocket of his overcoat, a roll of HELLO, MY NAME IS labels and a Sharpie, and was busily drawing on one of them as he spoke, with the occasional glance to make sure that the child was too distracted by the milling crowd of snowy fluff to notice what he was doing and attempt seizing his marker.
"I know the schools and stuff are good or whatever," he continued, "but I always felt like raising a kid around here must be choosing hard mode, what with all the crazy sh- stuff going on all the time. Maybe they should start outfitting the strollers with padlocks or something."
He finished what he was doing with a flourish, stuffing the pen back into his pocket and holding the label - now a sort of sticker - out towards her, although his attention was primarily on her father. He had, in the space of those few seconds, rendered a very recognizable if somewhat jagged cartoon of an alarmed-looking sheep, with the "baaa" it was bleating cut in angular letters such as one might find scrawled on the back of a stop sign.
"Could have been worse," he said, in a consoling voice. "If I'm mad enough I normally go straight for the C-word. It's the Scots in me."
There was, as far as he knew, no Scots in him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jan 01, 2026 5:34 pm
“Nah, that be Liverpool,” Nate muttered but he couldn’t exactly ‘argue’ about the city being a damn magical hell hole. But sheep? Really? Could sheep even be magical? He eyed the wooly nuisances in the field as they milled about. There didn’t seem anything wrong with them other than being maybe a bit ‘too’ white. Bleached almost. They practically blended into the snow. He hadn’t seen such storybook white sheep since the last time they showed up in a cartoon. His child had settled down some and was mostly playing with his jacket even as she continued to intersperse ‘pissed’ with ‘hell’, he just hoped she would forget about both words by the time they got home. Nate was pretty appreciative that the other male was curbing his language because he really didn’t need to add yet another curse into her repertoire. “Can’t say much about the school system just yet, still a bit too young.” He gently jiggled the little girl, eliciting a giggle and some happy chatter. “But I have a feeling she would still figure her way out of a lock given enough time. Keeping her still is definitely a full time job.” Nate smiled even as he bent over so Sarah could take the offered sticker. The toddler looked the drawing over before proclaiming ‘fluffy’ all over again. “Appreciate it, the wife would definitely not have appreciated that particular word from our daughter.” There were just some curse words that were apparently not acceptable over here in the states. He honestly didn’t have too much of an issue with most curses but he did understand why his toddler shouldn’t be saying them. He also appreciated the sticker. Sarah seemed to really like it and it was completely distracted. “Guess we should call someone for them shouldn’t we?” He asked absently, watching the sheep and contemplating who exactly they should call to deal with them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 12:54 am
"I mean," he said, after a moment of silently contemplating them milling around, "who? Animal control? One of-" He almost said "us" before catching himself. Damn, damn, damn. He was going to have to get more careful about things like that. Maybe he needed to start thinking of Maus as a separate person, as Elaine did with Joy. "- the local news stations?" he finished smoothly, without so much as a hitch to betray his near-miss. "They've been milling around here and there for a while. I think if anyone was looking for them, they'd have had plenty of chance to find them by now. They're not exactly hard to locate." As he said this, an apparent drift of snow stood up, shook out its fleece, and ambled towards its brethren. "Well, mostly," he corrected himself. "Anyway, better to let things run their course. Don't you think?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 4:57 pm
“Maybe an animal shelter?” He suggested, eyeing the sheep. “Yeah but they can’t just be left alone could they?” Green eyes narrowed when spotting a new sheep pop out of yet another snow drift. Ah, that's what's going on, he silently speculated, now glad more than ever that the other male had stopped Sarah from touching the creatures. Especially if they weren’t exactly normal. There was no telling what might have happened to the toddler. It was bad enough for him, it was unthinkable for her. He still didn’t want to leave them alone without at least calling somebody. It was just too dangerous either way, especially without knowing what they were up to. But he also couldn’t stay to monitor the damn things, not with Sarah with him. He was between a rock and a hard place. With a sigh, and knowing he couldn’t ignore them in good conscience, Nate pulled out his phone and made a quick call. “Ok so she will be here shortly, next Animal Control.” He had called Dessie and had rapidly explained what was going on, asking her to come get Sarah while he waited to keep an eye on things. With that at least figured out he looked over at the other man. “I just can’t let them run wild. The wife is on the way to get the little one and then I’ll wait until the authorities show up. No point in us both wasting the rest of the day, but I wouldn’t turn down the company if you chose to stay. Nate by the way.” It was a little late but better than nothing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 03, 2026 9:45 pm
He put out a hand for a friendly handshake, his smile one of open friendliness. He had a good smile: easy, unaffected, honest. Completely deceptive, nine times out of ten. "Kay," he said, but immediately followed up with: "Unless you need someone to stick around and run interference, you'll forgive me for leaving you to it. I've had my fair share of playing shepherd already this winter and it'd be uncouth to smoke in front of an impressionable toddler. Maybe look into those stroller padlocks anyway, just in case. Or else you might piss your wife the hell off," he finished, with another broad, easy smile.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2026 3:40 pm
“No worries and much appreciated,” Nate was about to say something else, even if it was a ‘nice to meet you’, when Kay reminded his daughter about her two new favorite words. As the toddler started to happily yell ‘Hell’ and ‘Piss’ all Nate could do was sigh. “Thanks Kay,” the sarcasm was clear even as the other man headed into the distance.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
