Bronze Beloved Badge - A Bad Day

As soon as he woke up, Crunch knew it was going to be a bad day. The way that his joints ached and rubbed against each other, even while he was still curled up around Trout let him know that it was a dreary and damp day outside.

Slowly Crunch unwound himself from his sleepy and warm husband, standing up carefully from the bed, there were still some very loud cracks and snaps from his wrists, knees, and spine. He gave a little kiss to Trout, who grumbled in his sleep. Poor thing, he was going to be miserable when he woke up, especially his missing limb, that was going to bug him all day. It was definitely a day to not put the prosthetic on at all.

Crunch slowly slinked out of the room and into the lower level’s kitchenette. He took a deep breath to prepare to go out into the cave garden to collect some food for Trout, but stopped when he was met by their two kids.

Charmie and Zheyna were sitting at the table, smiling gently at him. Charmie had two mugs of hot tea and two breakfasts sitting on the table while Zheyna had a small glass bottle of painkilling potion from Sunspot and a few satchets of nice smelling salts and herbs in front of her.

“Hey poppa,” Charmie started “I Knew you two were going to have a bad day today, so we came over early to get stuff ready for you.”

Crunch felt his eyes getting a bit misty at how sweet his two kids were, Charmie using his visions to know to help Crunch and Trout out, and Zheyna braving an early morning Sunspot to get stuff for her fathers. He sniffled a little bit, looking down and wiping at his eyes.

“Poppa?” Charmie and Zheyna got up, both of them plastering themselves to Crunch to hug him tight.

“Thank you you two, I love you both so much.” Crunch reached up to hold both of his children tight.

The three of them stayed in a nice warm hug for a few more minutes before Charmie drew back, both because he couldn’t handle hugs for very long, but also because he knew that Crunch also didn’t like overly long hugs either. Zheyna followed his lead.

“Oh poppa,” She started, “I’ll take the salts and herbs to the hot springs, theres not much to be done today anyway, so you and dad can take a nice long soak!”

“I’ll make sure there’s towels there as well. Don’t forget your breakfast!” Charmie called as he walked away, probably to grab some towels.

Crunch nodded after the two of them before lifting both trays of food and the bottle of painkiller with his penumbir and taking them back into the bedroom.

Just as he expected, Trout was awake, and clearly miserable. Tossing and turning and mumbling under his breath like he had a fever, but in this case just couldn’t get comfortable.

“Hey darling,” Crunch put both trays down near the side of their nest, and uncorking the potion to take a draught himself then offering it to the ursuki. “Our kids are the best.”

“Yeah they are.” Trout sat up enough to take his own mouthful of the potion. “Tha’ss all me. Maybe… 20% you.” He gave Crunch a grin, but it quickly became a grimace.

“Mmmm, I’m sure.” Crunch lifted up both trays, one for himself and the other on Trout’s lap. Carefully, he floated some minerals up and into his mouth, the complex elements in them being the most healthy option for him to keep his energy up. He looked up to see Trout looking down at his lap morosely, his one paw balancing the tray instead of reaching for any of the plants.

Gently, Crunch wrapped some penumbir around a perfectly prepared artichoke, one of Trout’s favorite foods. He floated it up to Trout, who usually wasn’t a fan of sappy things like feeding each other, and also hated to be treated like an invalid, but today seemed perfectly happy to let Crunch effort out of eating.

“Charmie and Zheyna have a pool at the Hot Springs all set up and ready to go for us to have a good soak today. If you want.” Crunch offered after a few minutes.

Trout, far enough into his breakfast to at least have had a good meal, even if he doesn’t finish, paused to sink back into the plush nest.

“That, that sounds great Crunch. I’m not sure I can make it there though.” He glanced down, too much in pain to be entirely embarrassed, but still not wanting to disappoint Crunch.

“We don’t have to, but if you want, I’m sure that Zheyna can take you.” Crunch nuzzled Trout’s side softly.

“Alright.” Trout smiled softly at Crunch. “We really do have sweet kids.”

“That was all you buddy.” Crunch said with a kiss.