[AN: Why not both?]

Time can make the world strange. Taako could have sworn that when he hugged Angus goodnight, he had been able to rest his chin on top of his curly head. This morning, With Angus limping about the kitchen, their cheeks touched when he gathered his miserable boy up in his arms.

“Should I call Merle?” he asked.

Angus made the ‘I dunno’ noise. Sitting and rubbing his legs with a grimace. “It’s just growing pains, sir. Not a lot to be done about it.”

“Y’know. Apart from stopping with all the growing,” sniped Taako. He cooked up a nutritious meal that could cure anything from a bad mood to a near death experience.

“Don’t think that’s possible, sir,” He audibly winced before snorking down his hot meal like he hadn’t eaten in three days or longer.

“Slow down before you choke, Agnes…”

“Sorry, sir. I’m kind’a hungry. Actually, I’m real hungry.”

Taako rolled his eyes. Humans and their growth spurts. He got his Stone of Farspeech out and called his sister.

“Painful embrace of death,” she answered. “How can I inflict your call?”

“Yo, sis. Got us a growing lad with longer, empty legs to fill. You up for an epic cook-off?” And then winced and pulled away as Lup shrieked down the connection.

“HELLFUCK YEAH! THIS BEATS THE FUCK OUTTA PAPERWORK BRO!” She lowered her voice. “Gimmie ten, I gotta sneak away from Bird Mom.”

“Yeah, you just fucked your stealth check, sis. I’ll give you twenty.”

And while he was waiting, he could fry up something with lots of protein and calcium. Eggs, salmon, some spinach for iron, a spare dash of cheese. Hopefully it would hold his boy over until Lup dropped by and things went really crazy.

–Some Decades Later–

The Raven Queen had hundreds of children. What she never expected was grandchildren. Or great-grandchildren. All of that came from adopting The Twins.

She had made the mistake of calling Lup daughter. Where one twin went, the other was bound to follow. She was mother to two living creatures. And when one adopted Angus McDonald, he counted as her grandson.

And now, there was another generation.

It had been the shock of her… existence… to discover that she had a great-grandchild. This was a first. But then… there were lots of firsts with the Seven Birds in the mix.

She was currently manifesting as a black-robed elderly woman. Naught but a raven tattoo on one cheek to identify her as anything other than mortal.

“Her name is Agnes,” whispered Taako, looking down at the very small human asleep in the crib. “My son named her on purpose. He’s such a little shit.”

Coming from anyone else, those words would be disparaging. Taako, on the other hand, sounded prouder than punch.

The sleeping infant flexed her tongue in her sleep, but otherwise remained unaware that Death was so close. This child was hers by laws written by the hearts of two aliens from a different realm of reality.

A welcome change from the children that ill-advised necromancers sacrificed to her. This child would have a genuine life in the Prime Material Plane. And she was one of her guardians.

“She will have a long life,” said the Raven Queen.

“Good to know,” whispered Taako. “Not gonna stop anyone checking on her while she’s this little though.”

“Of course not,” she cooed. “No decent parent would do less.” And the Goddess reached down to gently stroke Agnes’ head.

Agnes wouldn’t know it for years, but she was the first Human infant to know the touch of Death and be able to tell the tale.

Challenge #01297-C202: On the Shoreline

Boundaries and borderlines are strange realms

Doodle a day double feature!

Forgot to post yesterdays and only realised when I was doing today’s.

Story time for the first one: One of the local magpies decided to invade the house and not firkin leave. It repeatedly refused to exit by one of the many doors and windows we tried to shoosh it towards and just randomly hung out wherever it lit.

It took us all about half an hour of swearing and random waving motions to finally get that bird the hell out of the house.

Nothing of value was pooped on. Yay.

The second one is a study of a real thing that happened to be in my field of view.

Challenge #01176-C081: Free Spirits

@callmegallifreya - different customers, different welcomes.