Daisy and Boss: 12 - Baphomet Calls
#12 of Daisy and Boss
Thank you for reading the latest chapter. I know some of these are really short, but I post as I write, so you dont have to wait as long as if I held out for a big chunk to be ready. Makes it better, right? lol Drop me a comment and become my favorite person! Or tell me what I need to fix, whatever, I just love comments.
-Lilly
Daisy and Boss: 12 - Baphomet Calls
Sarah was unstoppable. The entire way back to the house was a third degree interrogation about everything that had happened the day before. And it only got worse when the badger found out that Boss had spent the night.
"Not like that! He stayed in my room because it had a queen sized bed, I slept down the hall... pretty much..." Daisy exclaimed nervously, embarrassed for the umpteenth time as they walked into the back rec room thru the sliding door, shaking the water off as best they could on the porch before heading to Daisy's room. Sarah grinned and jogged ahead of Daisy to her room pausing at the door with much sniffing.
"Yeah, whatever... And what do you mean by 'pretty much' huh?" She chuckled, sniffing. Her nose was at least a hundred times better than the goats. Badgers were built for digging, seeking, uprooting small things. Their eyesight was bad, and so the nose had to make up for it. Sometimes, Daisy felt like her friend should have been born a bloodhound. "Oh, ho ho...." Sarah cackled as she entered the room. "You haven't changed the sheets yet." Daisy gave the snoopy digger a strange look, wrinkling her nose and trying to smell what Sarah could smell. Sarah went and nipped up a pillow in her claws lightning quick and snuffled it.
"Okay... now I'm sorry I let you in." Daisy retorted dryly, yanking the pillow away from the badger. Sarah laughed and shrugged, rubbing the end of her nose to clear it of the information it had just gleaned.
"I got a little excited." She admitted. Her look turned sly as she eyed the goat girl who hugged the pillow, smelling it as discreetly as she could. "I'm just really happy for you! You don't have to worry, by the way..." Sarah poked a claw at the doe to get her attention. "He definitely likes you." Sarah said it with such conviction Daisy had to ask.
"How do you know?" She mumbled into the pillow, sitting down on the bed. Sarah refrained from sitting, just tapped the side of her muzzle meaningfully.
"The nose knows."
"I'm just having a hard time even believing it..." Daisy stared, shaking her head as Sarah rubbed her claws over her muzzle in a contemplative manner.
"What do you mean?"
"Him! Boss, a big white dog with a big deep voice and big strong paws... and muscles... and.. and teeth! Setting aside the fact that I should be terrified of him and I'm not... what could he possibly see in me? I'm a spaz, I can't even go out in public most of the time..." Daisy grumbled miserably. Sarah sighed and walked over, putting a paw on her shoulder comfortingly.
"Daisy, you're awesome. You're pretty and talented and smart and nice. Anyone with half a brain can see that." Sarah wiggled her paw, shaking Daisy gently. "Why can't you see that." Daisy met Sarah's eyes reluctantly and smiled.
"Thanks Sarah... but it's a little different view from the inside..." Sarah barely let her finish before she snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Pshaw... Come one lets go see what's for lunch. I smell your Mom cooking and I'm starving!" She clutched her stomach theatrically and mimed falling over. Daisy had to laugh, the melancholy mood effectively dissolved, the two of them made their way to the kitchen to investigate the smells of baking.
That night, after an afternoon of hanging out with Sarah, gossiping about Boss, and digging in the storage area of the attic and finding the guitar, helping her sisters with their homework and her mother with dinner Daisy fell into an exhausted sleep. She dreamed, but it was not the usual dreaming full of blood and pain. She was in a house that she remembered only vaguely, and at a time she only just recalled. It was her Grandmother's house.
Daisy looked around from where she sat propped up in the corner of an old overstuffed couch, her hooves barely reaching the edge of the seat cushion as she kicked contentedly and stared. Old things filled her Grandmother's home; fascinating relics of another time adorned nearly every surface. Everything was built from a dark cherry wood and smelled sweetly of cardamom and other spices that tickled Daisy's tiny nose. She was little more than an infant. She could see her sister, not too far away, slumbering and being held tenderly in the arms of her mother, who looked so young, Daisy could hardly believe it. Dahlia was like a small porcelain doll so perfect and so white with her silver lashes dusting her snowy cheeks in repose. Her mother looked down at Daisy and beamed the smile of all mothers. It was a mysterious and beautiful smile, and Daisy could feel herself smiling toothlessly back with a small bleat of laughter like a tiny bell. She had no words yet.
_"My perfect girls..."Flossy cooed as she rocked Dahlia and gazed at Daisy, who raised her arms, asking to be picked up. A shadow loomed near from over the back of the couch and Dalia blinked in surprise as the blackness sprouted arms and reached for her. She was about to fuss until she heard the voice, laden with years, and suddenly the great shadow became familiar. It was her grandmother, Baphomet. _
"Let me see you, little one... come come, let me see your face..." The old black goat murmured. She was raised up and turned face to face with a profile much like her fathers. Here was the origin of Kale's shaggy coat and spiral horns, even his green eyes were there, clouded over by age. Baphomet was as black as a ravens wing and her horns were long and curving with a gentle spiral that was as beautiful as it was unusual. Daisy reached out and patted the muzzle as it nuzzled close and drew in her scent. Amber eyes met clouded sea green ones thoughtfully. Baphomet cradled her close and ran gentle fingers over her brow.
"Ah..." She exclaimed softly. Flossy was instantly near and looked to see what the old wise one had discovered, her gaze going back and forth between the matriarch and the infant. Baphomet was a reader of things. She did not boast her abilities, but sometimes, certain things could be drawn from what she 'saw' when she touched a fur or an object.
"She will be crowned." Baphomet smiled to her daughter in law. "As I am."
"And Dahlia?" Flossy moved the sleeping kid closer to also be touched. Baphomet's fingers hesitated an inch from the pristine brow of little sleeping Dahlia, and in the end she simply leaned forward and carefully pressed a kiss to her tiny muzzle instead, almost sadly.
"Indeed. Two very special little flowers... They are destined for a unique existence, daughter." But the words seemed heavier than that, and Flossy felt a niggling of something sinister. Her youthful features crinkled in worry as the old goat rocked Daisy against her breast.
"What did you see?" She asked. Baphomet shook her head.
"It will be, or it won't, my dear..." She sighed. "I learned long ago... knowing changes nothing. Don't worry. They're perfectly healthy doelings. You did very well." Baphomet said this with a look that brooked no argument, and a gentle smile to soften it.
Daisy's Mother smiled back, and Daisy yawned as wide as her little mouth could yawn, rubbing her tiny fists over eyes itchy with sleepiness.
"Time to put you down for a nap..." Flossy whispered as Daisy cuddled into her grandmother's pelt. They were carried into a bedroom and laid together in a crib, and as Daisy was drifting to sleep in her dream, the shadow of Baphomet returned once more just as she was closing her eyes, and a soft whisper floated down to her thru the layers of sleep.
"Be strong, Daisy... Be strong, believe in yourself, and never give up... I will be with you, always."
Daisy woke with a start, sitting up in her bed and looking around the room in confusion with the whisper still echoing in her mind. The dream had been so vivid, for a second there as she had woken up, she thought she had seen the dark figure of her Grandmother standing at her bedside, leaning over her as she slept.
"Grandmother Baphomet?" She asked the air, looking into all of the shadows in the room. Only silence answered her. Instantly she felt silly, even though a strange sense told her that her voice had been heard by something. She looked at her clock and groaned, flopping backwards onto her pillows. It was five in the morning! She hated waking up early. She though blearily about her dream for several long minutes which only made her more awake, and eventually she resigned herself to the fact that Friday had begun. There was no going back to sleep. So she rolled over and reached under the bed for the shoebox of photos she knew was there, drawing it up onto the bed. Sitting up and dragging the box into her lap, she opened it almost reluctantly. Glossy five by seven reminders of her life before anything bad had happened stared up at her when she removed the lid. And in among those, there was some really old photo's she remembered. She dug until she found the one she was looking for. It was a picture of her grandmother sitting in a high backed wooden chair out on her porch at sunset. She looked just like in her dream, only a bit younger since the picture had been taken a few years before Daisy and Dahlia were born. Baphomet's ebony fur gleamed in the red light of the setting sun that seemed to be going down behind her right between her horns, which cast long shadows on the porch. She was holding a glass of iced tea with on hand in her lap and resting her elbow on the arm rest. Her other hand was out as if gesturing to something, her green eyes glowed wise and thoughtful.
"I'll be with you always..." The echo of her dream came back to her as she studied the picture. She only barely remembered meeting her Grandmother. But her father had told her stories of her growing up, that had made her feel as if she had known her Grandmother better than she actually had. Getting out of bed with the photo she walked over to the mirror that hung over her dresser and tucked it into the frame at eye level. Something sparked in her as she secured the portrait, and her tail flicked with increased vigor. It was Friday. Daisy glanced out her window at the sun starting to glow with pale light.
"I think I'm going to go visit Sarah and help her with that guitar today. She said she had the rest of the week off from classes." She spoke to the photo of her grandmother and even though it felt strange to speak out loud to it, there was certain rightness to it as well. She could even imagine the black goat's smile widening slightly, an incline of her head that might have been a nod of encouragement.
"Thanks, Grandmother Baphomet..." Daisy grinned, and energetically she went about getting dressed for the day.