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Matters of the Heart; Tag: Guido
Topic Started: Nov 29 2011, 06:50 PM (325 Views)
Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
Timestamp: September 28th, @ 12 pm

Rahne Sinclair had come back to New York to attend Scott Summers's press conference a few hours before. As one of her oldest friends, she considered it necessary to offer her moral support as he addressed the public. And as an X-Man, she felt it necessary to be there as he went public with who and what they were as an organization. This affected her life, after all.

Upon learning of Guido's condition, though, she knew there was another reason she was back in New York. The Lord works in mysterious ways, after all, and as a friend it was her duty to make sure he was well-cared for.

"I'm here to see Guido Carosella," Rahne said to the receptionist as she set foot into Mt. Sinai hospital. She still wore her sunglasses, her now longer hair covering her slightly pointed ears. In her right hand, a plastic bag dangled. In her left, a bouquet of flowers.

"You another X-Factor person?" the receptionist asked, looking up at Rahne from her seat.

"No, no, just a friend. That's not a problem, is it?" she asked, frowning slightly.

"No, no, I guess not. You need a vase for those?" the woman asked with a sigh, as if it were a bit of a hassle to do her job. Rahne couldn't blame her. Hospital work was probably very stressful.

"Oh, aye, that'd be lovely, ma'am," Rahne grinned widely. "That'd be lovely indeed."

"Think I've got a few left down here," she said, reaching underneath her desk and producing a fairly plain, basic glass vase and handing it to Rahne.

"Thank ye ever so much," Rahne nodded her head as she slipped the flowers into the vase.

"He's in 303 B," the receptionist said with a thin smile. "And you're welcome."

Rahne didn't really need the instructions on where to find Guido, it was easy enough for her even in human form to track down his scent and find him that way. But that wasn't exactly the best thing to say to a human receptionist who probably had to deal with plenty of mutant issues these past few days.

The young Scotswoman made her way down the halls. She had grown up in a hospital-like setting, on Muir Island, and had grown accustomed to the various scents of illness and medicine, the sounds of equipment beeping, hard shoes clacking on linoleum floors...

"Hullo, Guido," she said with a soft smile as she stepped through the doorway into his room. She wanted to say something witty, something clever, something that would relate humor instead of the worry mixed with relief she felt. But that wasn't really working at the moment.

"Brought ye these," she lifted the vase up, "an' these," the bag, which she set on the little bedside table before setting the flowers there as well.

"An' lemme tell ye, t'was nae so easy for me to purchase the latter," she pulled a seat up to his bedside and sat down. Should he peek inside the bag, he'd find a variety of this month's men's magazines, from Men's Fitness to Sports Illustrated to Esquire to Maxim. She had a feeling he'd appreciate the latter most.

"How're ye feelin'?" she asked, slipping off her sunglasses to reveal the now shiny gold of her irises.
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


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Strong Guy
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“Crap. Crap. Crap.”

Guido sat propped up in his oversized hospital bed with the remote control to the television in his hand. His thumb kept hitting the button as the same old garbage kept flashing on the screen for his viewing pleasure.

His life was pretty well over. At one point he’d had the inevitable visit from his doc, and he’d let Jet stay in there for that one. She knew he had been keeping the whole have a heart problem thing a secret, and didn’t seem too happy about it. Now she knew that the doc said his days of saving the world were through. Now she knew that one really hard punch in the kidney could be the end of him.

His heart couldn’t take any more abuse.

“Crap. Crap…”

Jon should have let him go. It would have been easier on everyone.

Jet had pretty much been there by his side since day one. He loved the company, but it was hard to look at her. She didn’t need to waste her time around him. Right now she was fetching some hospital food out of the crapeteria. When she came back up Guido would tell her she didn’t have to stay.

Again.

Movement in the doorway caught his eye and he looked over to see another familiar face. “Rahne,” he said, showing some interest in the gifts and goodies she produced. “Good ta see ya.” He did his best to muster a smile, though it came out pretty half-assed. “Maxim,” he commented. “I read it strictly for tha articles.”

He flipped through the magazines, purposely avoiding eye contact. How did he feel? He shrugged. “I’m here,” he said without enthusiasm. “That’s tha important thing.” It came off sounding more than a little sarcastic.
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Wolfsbane
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"Of course, of course," Rahne nodded her head and smiled. "Just the articles."

She didn't know what to make of this particular brand of Guido. He seemed so... deflated. Not at all in the physical sense, because... well, let's face it - Guido wasn't getting any smaller.

It was this spiritual flatness that she wasn't ready for. He was always in high spirits, always on the upbeat, on the positive. For him to be like this? That was difficult to believe, even if it was right there in front of her.

"Aye, that is important," she said, reaching out and placing her hand on his arm, it seeming utterly puny in comparison, like a tiny delicate thing gently laid atop the bulge of muscle unlike anyone else's perhaps save the Hulk's.

"'Tis very important," she reiterated, and looked up to try and establish eye contact. "'Tis important to me at least. 'Tis important to a lot of people."

But what to say? What to say to help pull him out of this funk? It couldn't be nice to know that no matter how strong he was, he was still susceptible just like anyone else. A heart attack. It was frightening, but if anyone could make it out, it was Guido.

"I take it then ye're nae feelin' so well," she said with a slight frown. "Maybe... maybe once ye've gotten the discharge, ye can come for a brief stay at Utopia. The tropical air might do ye well, an'... well, I dunno... I'd like to have ye around."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


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Strong Guy
Unregistered

Guido glanced down at the hand on his arm, and then looked over at Rahne. There was nothing but earnest sincerity in her amber eyes. It startled him a little, and gave him an unexpected pause that sort of choked him up and rattled his cage. Something in the back of his mind told him that he was acting like a damn baby. He ignored it, but couldn’t help but offer up a strangled “Thanks.”

Rahne wouldn’t understand. It wasn’t something he could explain to anyone. And he damn sure wasn’t going to try.

“Utopia,” he said with a nod. “Not sure how much use I’ll be, but I’d come to see ya.” He patted her hand. He did not want to talk about him right now, and knowing selfless Rahne that’s exactly what they were going to do. He needed to change the subject.

“How’s that whole thing workin’ out for ya? Lots of land for yer wolf pups to run around in,” he said with an attempt at humor that he couldn’t even remotely feel. It came off sounding a lot less jovial than he intended, but that couldn’t be helped right now. “You still seein’ Jack?”

Guido turned off the television and put the remote on the gimpy little tray beside him. It had always been easy talking with Rahne. It’d been a little rough talking with Jet these past hours, but his heart was a whole lot more invested there, and it was a whole lot more tormenting because of that.

He should have told her when he had the chance.

“I still have ta meet tha guy.”
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Wolfsbane
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"Well, I mean it," she offered up a small smile, keeping her hand right where it was. He was hurting, she could tell that much, and it wasn't just the usual hurt. And it wasn't a physical hurt either. It was something much deeper than that, something that rattled him to the core like nothing she'd seen of him before. Guido Carosella, the man who'd always seemed so worry-free, so liberated, suddenly had a great weight on his shoulders.

"These past few years, I'd like to say I've come to know ye quite well. And I see a man who is loved, well-loved, an' nae for his muscles, nae for his brute strength, none o' that."

She glanced down, to his chest, to where his oh-so-recently afflicted heart lay, and then back up to him.

"Ye're well loved because ye're a good friend, the best kind of friend. Because ye're a good soul who can light up a room jus' by bein' in it. Because ye're a generous sort, nae just of the material sort, but generous of the heart, of the soul. I know ye're nae gonna let this beat you, an' I know that while things may seem dim now, ye've got a legion of friends what love ye and will stick by ye through thick an' thin. Muhself included. So... ye know, dinnae ye worry about how much use ye'll be. It'd be lovely just to have yuir presence."

She glanced downward and her smile broadened as he brought up her personal life in Utopia.
"'Tis lovely and treacherous all at once. The raw, untamed beauty of it all sings to the beast in muh soul, an' the inherent danger keeps me on muh toes, keeps me sharp and practiced."

A light blush came to her face, and she continued.
"Now... ye know full well that if I had wee ones on the way, ye'd already have attended the wedding... but that hasn't happened, so... that's nae yet in the cards, as it were. Someday, I hope. But by then, I'd like to be back in Westchester."

Rahne's smile lit up as Guido made it clear that he had yet to meet the love of her life. She'd been bad with that, with making sure that Jack knew all the people who were important to her.

"Oh, aye, ye do! And ye will, I'll make certain of it."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


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Strong Guy
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Rahne was like a ray of sunshine knifing through impenetrable clouds. He tried to resist it in the beginning, not wanting to feel good about anything…definitely not feeling worthy of any satisfaction or happiness at this particular moment. But she opened up her heart, pouring words of life on him and making it impossible for anything except to marvel at her irrepressible optimism and bask in her words of praise.

Sorrow mixed with anger and pity and brought a wave of eye-stinging emotion to the surface that he couldn’t seem to suppress. A tear worked free, falling down unnoticed and pooling inside of the red tinted goggles. He sat there and he listened to words that he couldn’t begin to believe in his own heart, and fought a losing battle in just trying to keep it together.

Out of sheer desperation he changed the subject.

Inwardly he wept while he listened to Rahne explain what life in the jungle was like. She seemed very happy and he found that if for no other reason than to just get away from familiar faces (that he’d found a way to let down again) he wanted to go there.

Maybe stay there.

He’d have some time to think it over. Wasn’t like he had anything going on right now. Putting it in the back of his mind, Guido let her finish. Seeing her so happy made him miserable and glad at the same time.

Pursing his lips together as the tears started to come, Guido nodded. “I’m real glad for ya, Rahne. Real glad.”
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Wolfsbane
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"Well, things are still a good bit rough, I'll admit, an'... ye know, all our recent losses still hurt, still sting..." Rahne nodded her head slowly, frowning slightly. "But I'm gettin' past it. I'm movin' on, 'cause they would nae want us to dwell on what happened. Ye know."

"My mum, Dr. McTaggert, she taught me a long time ago that the worst we can do for ourselves and others is to mull on the negatives, to dwell on the bad things what happen to us, and to those around us. We have to live positively, or else we let the negativity defeat us," she squeezed his arm slightly, as much of it as she could anyway. "I'll nae let this defeat you, Guido Carosella. I refuse to allow that to happen."

She could smell the saline building up in his eyes. And of course, he'd deny them for as long as he could. She raised an eyebrow, leaned back in her chair, and pushed the door shut behind her.

"Let it all out, Guido. D' ye need me to lower the lights a touch? Nobody here but me an' I'll nae tell a soul, you can trust me on that."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Strong Guy
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It didn't seem to matter whether he wanted this to happen or not, his heart was in many ways broken right now. The tears were coming and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. At Rahne's prompting he hung his head, hearing the soft click of the door as it shut just behind her. The sound broke down the last bit of his resolve and the rain started to fall.

Guido had shed precious few tears in his life, and fewer still for himself. "I died," he said under his breath, not willing to look at her. "Flat out. N'fact if Jon hadn't come along when he did and given me a jump start...we wouldn't be havin' this conversation right now." He did sneak a peek at that, then looked over at the machinery that was still monitoring his vitals.

"Didja ever wonder what it might be like to lose just about everything that was important to ya?"

He heaved a tremendous sigh again and looked down at the bed. What did he have now? "I got friends...tha best ever. But now I'm..." He wasn't sure what the future of X-Factor was, just that he didn't honestly see himself as part of it. A fresh wave of sorrow came, washing out of his eyes and making him remove his new goggles and dry them with a Kleenex. Rahne wasn't the only person he felt comfortable enough to show this much of his heart to. Unfortunately things with Jet were a little more complicated.

"...I'm a liability." He put the goggles back on so he could see her. "I don't fit in anymore."

And once he voiced the words he found that they hit the nail right on the head.
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Wolfsbane
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Rahne listened quietly, as he broke, as he let it out. This truth was not easy to hear. He had died, he was resuscitated. And now he had to deal with some hard truths that he wasn't particularly ready to deal with.

"Of course I have. All muh life, even," she nodded her head, reaching out and putting her hand ontop of his. "When I was first adopted, I lived under the constant fear that God was just goin' to... take it all away. 'Cause I'd never had anythin' good in muh life before then. Never. Then when the Muir Centre was finally shut down due to lack of funding... I was worried I'd have no place to belong. And here, now... with what these bastards have done to us..."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath in through her nostrils and let it out through pursed lips.
"Maybe it's because I spent most of the first decade o' muh life without anybody, with no friends, no family what loved me, nothin'... but 'tis the people in muh life what mean the most to me. Not what I can do."

She narrowed her eyes at his last statement, a slight scowl coming to her features.
"Rubbish," she said, dismissively. "Ye think that just beause ye may nae be able to duke it out with giant killer robots again that ye're a liability? I've never been able to fight giant robots, I know I'm no liability. I'm tellin' ye, Guido, an' I dinnae know how much I have to say it 'fore it sinks into yuir head - yuir value is not in yuir powers. It's not in yuir muscles, in yuir ability to bloody well punch things. 'Tis in who you are, an' I'm nae gonna let ye give in to despair, compromise that."

Her fingers curled inward, squeezing his hand as much as the size difference between the two allowed.
"Ye think Jamie cares a whit about yuir combat prowess? I know a thing or two about havin' a... a 'hetero lifemate' I guess. A soulmate. If I or Dani lost our abilities, I know we'd still stick with each other, we'd still value each other, 'cause that's what we do. That's what friendship is. It's got nothin' to do with 'liability', so I'll have none of that."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


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Strong Guy
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Guido hushed up when Rahne started talking about her past. He’d heard some bits of it before, but didn’t have the big picture. He always figured she’d tell him what she wanted to when the time was right. Evidently the time was right now, and Guido listened to her paint a picture about a life without and a life now where everything she had was in jeopardy.

“Guess ya do know,” he agreed. “My bad.”

Still, he wasn’t sure she knew exactly where he was coming from. As the severity of the emotions faded just a little, Guido decided it was all right. He knew what she was saying, and he did treasure the people in his life. In fact, that was part of what made this so difficult.

“Okay, okay,” he grumbled. “But don’t call Jamie my hetero lifemate. Cripes, that’s tha last thing I need!” She was just irrepressible. Guido grumbled a little more, but he did let her words sink in a little bit.

It did mean a lot that she was here. And it meant even more that she was willing to stand up to him and call him out. Not very many people in his life did that. Only the closest seemed willing.

Still, he shook his head. “I dunno, Rahne. Somethin’ about keelin’ over. Really makes a guy think.” And he knew he’d be thinking things over for a long time. “I just don’t know.”

Guido looked at Rahne for a long sober moment. "Thanks, Rahne. You know I love ya."
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Wolfsbane
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"I do, Guido, believe me, I do," Rahne nodded her head as she spoke, smile fading a tad bit. "I may be in a fairly stable place emotionally, a place where I can feel confident in muhself and in muh relationships, but I had to fight like hell to get there. I had to claw an' kick an' bite as hard as I bloody well could to get past my own insecurities, but I did it. An' whatever it is that really truly has ye down, I know ye can do it too."

Rahne couldn't help but grin as he fought against the terminology she'd used.
"Alright, alright. But I know how it is between you two. I know that the way ye connect with Jamie is different from anyone else. An' I know he feels that way about you, so... ye know. Ahhhhhh I'm nae really even sure I know full well what I meant by that, but... well, ye know. I guess there are things a man c'n say with another man that he cannae say to a woman, ways he can open up an' be honest, and... ye know, I see ye being able to do that with Jamie. An' I think ye should. It could do good by ye. The things I can talk about with Dani... I'd nae feel comfortable speaking about 'em with anyone else, no matter how personal."

She frowned slightly as he spoke a little about the perspective brought about by dying.
"Think about what?" she asked, deliberately prompting him to speak more on the subject. "An' I know ye do. Just like ye know I think the world of ye."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Strong Guy
Unregistered

Though it didn’t appear so, Rahne’s words were not lost on Guido. He had a hard time looking at her, and struggled under the dominion of some pretty powerful and indefinable emotions that warred in his heart…but he heard her, and he appreciated her more than he could ever let her know. Little did he know that this exact conversation was going to play on an endless loop for the next several months.

Guido sighed again as Rahne spoke about Jamie. Of course she was right, there were very few people that he’d ever had that sort of rapport with. Though the two of them sometimes bantered and bickered like siblings…well, that’s pretty much how he looked at him. “Let’s just say he’s my brother from another mother and leave it at that.” Sounded a whole lot less fruity at the end of the day.

He definitely didn’t want to come off as gruff to Rahne, though he knew she knew how he was sometimes.

And the next thing he knew, Rahne was digging into his offhand comments about ‘thinking’. She was such a good friend. It irritated him right now, because he thought he wanted to be left alone…but even in his irritation he recognized it wasn’t any fault of hers.

Guido shrugged, his massive shoulders jostling the thin plastic tubes and wires that were hooked to him. “I don’t know,” he grumbled. “For tha first time in a long time, I got some thinkin’ to do.” He didn’t specify right away, but was pretty sure that unlike Snickers, that answer would not really satisfy. “I’m not so sure where I belong anymore. Don’t read into that… and don’t tell anyone I said it. I just…” He shook his head. “I’m gonna be thinkin’ long and hard about this one, that’s all.”
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Wolfsbane
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"Sounds good enough to me," Rahne nodded her head softly, offering up a slight smile. Because somebody had to. And it certainly wasn't him, which was just a wholly bizarre sensation. Guido was always the one with a smile and a joke and now he had neither.

Clearly, this was a situation that needed fixing. He was broken in some way, some way much deeper than "I had a heart attack and now I'm worried for the first time". But what had truly caused this fracture, she couldn't tell. Had he seen something? Something on the other side? Something that shook him to his very core and filled him with doubts that were never there before?

Well, now Rahne Sinclair was on the case, and by God, if she wasn't the one to figure this out, then perhaps it was just plain unsolvable, because she wasn't going to give up until he was restored. She had that canine determination to her, even in human form, even in her day-to-day life. If she set her mind on something, she either accomplished it or it was impossible. Usually it was the former.

"Well, my offer still stands," she nodded her head. "Not a single thing wrong with a bit of soul searching, after all, an' I tell ye, there's somethin' truly... spiritual about the Savage Lands. They're just so primitive, so alive... plus I guarantee the wee ones would absolutely adore you."
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Strong Guy
Unregistered

The whole conversation was taking a massive toll on Guido’s already weakened state. The heightened state of emotions brought out by Rahne’s kindness left him feeling feeble and exhausted. Through heavy-lidded eyes he looked over at his friend, sitting there with a wolfish smile on her adorable little face.

Despite everything…despite the pain in his heart and the inexplicable anger that he felt right now, Guido saw her as a little angel. He wasn’t exactly sure what he thought about God or higher powers in general, but if someone pressed him for an answer he’d have to admit that he believed in something along the Protestant point of view.

Considering her offer as his lids started to droop a little more, he nodded. “Thank ya,” he said and then yawned. He couldn’t seem to help it. Sleep had come to claim him, and there was nothing he could do about it apparently.

He opened his eyes, trying to keep them peeled back so he could talk to his friend a little longer, but found that it was just too hard. “Gotta….” He drifted off and then gave it one last useless struggle to stay awake.

It was no use.

The last thing he said before he drifted off was, “…pray.”
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Wolfsbane
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It was hard, Rahne found, to watch Guido Carosella suffer so. It was just so odd for him in particular, since he was always the one to alleviate the misery of others, with a joke to crack or a well-timed grin. It wasn't fair that someone like him would have to go through this. Someone who prided himself on his physical strength to be weakened so like this.

And now that weakness was showing itself as he began to nod off. She slowly and carefully stoof up, glancing down at him as his eyes closed despite his struggling to stay awake.

"Ye're welcome," she answered, her hand atop his squeezing lightly. He continued to try to speak, and she let loose a soft, whispered "shh". He needed his rest. Clearly.

"Dinnae ye worry a whit, Guido," she spoke softly as he struggled to speak before finally passing out. "I've got ye covered on that front. You keep yuir focus on healing, on gettin' better, I'll keep a good word in f'r ye with God."

She bent down to place a kiss on his forehead, sweeping his wisp of hair out of the way with her left hand as she did so, before she quietly left the room. He wasn't out of the woods yet, but he was getting there. And by God, she wasn't going to let him do otherwise.

[Exit]
Posted Image

[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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