Work Text:
Lanolin grumbled, her eye twitching as she idly fiddled with her pencil. She glared down at the parchment occupying most of her vision, letting out an exasperated sigh. She's been here for what feels like ages.
She glanced around the small tent, glancing over at Maggie, the magenta wisp currently just idly staring at her with that half-lidded expression. The creature bobbed up and down a bit... was she trying to be supportive? Lanolin was just going to hope that's what it meant.
It should be simple. Should be, being the key word. She just needs to allot the space correctly. It's only the planning for an entire city. One wrong line placed too closely to another, and it'll be a headache for everyone! No big deal at all! She presses the pencil harder between her fingers without thinking. She just needs to...
SNAP!!
...Her pencil snapped right in half. One of the pieces flying across the parchment and causing a jagged charcoal line to slide through the neat ones, creating the worst placed wall a zoning contractor has ever seen. Great. Perfect, even.
The sheep growled in frustration, trying her hardest not to let out a barrage of curses or tear the map to shreds. She reached up to tug on her wool, gritting her teeth. Just as she felt like she was about to give into her anger and tear this tent to shreds, a soft, gloved hand was on her shoulder.
"...Hey Lanolin. You doing okay?" It was the soft, polite tone of Jewel the Beetle. Lanolin glanced backwards at the insect, her eyes wide and pupils shrunk. She took a moment to catch her breath. She can't explode on Jewel, not after everything she's done for her. The sheep turns around fully, staring at the beetle, framed by the light encroaching on the tent's interior from the half built town outside. She takes a moment to try to center herself.
"Thank you Jewel. I'm... okay. Just fine! I just need a new pencil... that's all!" She lied, forcing an awkward smile onto her face that Jewel could probably see through in an instant... she swears she can feel Maggie staring into her soul itself from behind. The beetle simply stared at her with a look of concern, tilting her head.
"...are you... are you sure?" Jewel started to ask, before her antenna twitched as a voice called to them both from outside. Lanolin's nose immediately caught a powerful scent of something... sweet. Freshly made. Containing a lethal dose of motherly love. She didn't need to be a detective to know who this was.
"Hello!! How are the brave volunteers of Emeraldville doing today?" A lighthearted, gentle voice rang through the air. Vanilla the Rabbit. Mother of Cream the Rabbit and mother figure to quite a few more. She gently stepped over a bit of equipment lying on the ground of the path outside, carrying with her a rather large basket of what could only be homemade treats. Lanolin sighed, and began to get up, stretching to work out her sore back... Just how long had she been sitting like that?
Lanolin rolled her shoulders as she exited the tent, seeing that kind, patient rabbit's face staring down at her. She gave her as polite of a smile as she could as she accepted the basket and moved to set it down on a nearby workbench as a temporary table, Maggie already rushing from inside the tent to inspect the newly arrived goodies.
"Thank you, Vanilla. You're truly a saint." The sheep said with a small smile... maybe too small, given Vanilla stopped to stare at her. It was like the woman was a shark smelling blood in the water. Lanolin tried to ignore this feeling, simply waving at her, " I'm going to get back to work! No city was built in a day, so I should really get back to it."
As Lanolin turned to move back into the tent and resume her monotonous task, she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder, gripping it firmly. When did Vanilla get so close...? She slowly glanced back at the rabbit, seeing those concerned brown eyes staring right into her.
"Lanolin sweetie... are you quite alright? You seem a tad bit... high strung today." She asked in that soft tone, causing Lanolin's heart to almost stop as she realizes a second person has seen right through her. She gulped, giving a nod, trying to reassure Vanilla... which was not working. Vanilla took a deep breath, and smiled softly, before glancing over at Jewel.
"Jewel, dear. Would you be so kind as to prepare a pot of tea for us? Lanolin and I are going to have a chat." Lanolin's heart began to pound in her chest, anxiety growing... she can't drop what she's working on for this! She tried to come up with an excuse, while Jewel just sighed and went to go get the teapot ready on a nearby outdoors burner.
"Please, Miss Vanilla, I'm sure you've got better things to do than sit around a construction site and- EEP!!" The sheep barely had time to finish her excuse before those hands on her shoulders reached down and suddenly grabbed her from under the arms, lifting her up with seemingly no effort at all!
"Ohhh don't give me that, Lanolin. I'm taking command of this conversation now, and you're going to tell me exactly what's on your mind." Vanilla said with a slightly playful hint to her voice, the rabbit clearly not letting Lanolin run away from this. Lanolin let out a startled bleat as she was tucked under Vanilla's arm, the rabbit's grip like a vice as she looked around for a suitable location. Vanilla then pointed to a small building nearby; it was one of the homes that had been finished, but not moved into yet. "Jewel. When the tea is done brewing, we'll be in the blue house with the white roof over there."
Lanolin squirmed a bit as the rabbit began to carry her off, her cheeks lightly dusted with pink... this was embarrassing. She glanced to Jewel for help, but the beetle just gave her an awkward chuckle and shrugged as she set about searching their supplies for tea cups. Her eyes frantically darted to Maggie, surely, surely she could... no, the small alien was currently halfway in the basket, clearly trying to sneakily heist a muffin for herself. The sheep's tail lashed about as the futility of her situation set in; she truly is surrounded by traitors this day.
Lanolin grumbled as she was deposited gently onto a couch inside the house. Vanilla sat down next to her, a knowing smile on her face. She takes a moment to think of what she needs to say, and to give Lanolin a second to get her bearings.
"... You can tell me what's on your mind, dear. I won't judge, and it's just us right now. I'm listening." The rabbit politely offered, gently resting her hand on Lanolin's shoulder. The motion made Lanolin flinch for a second, the sheep freezing up. She took a deep breath, lost a bit in her own head.
"Are you even allowed to be vulnerable?" The sheep thought as she wrapped her arms around herself. "If they see I'm failing... they'll throw me away. No one wants a struggling sheep. I need to... I need to get out. I need to run. I need to..." as she sat there, trembling slightly, she glanced up at Vanilla, looking into her eyes. She was searching for any sign of... of judgment. She was searching those brown eyes for the look her own mother had given her in the past.
But that's not what she saw.
No, she saw... understanding. An unyielding patience. The kind of kindness that made the sheep's trembling slow, eventually stopping. Lanolin took a deep breath, trying to get herself back in control.
"You... really mean it, don't you Vanilla?" Her voice was quiet. "... Whenever Ma told me she would listen... it was just to disarm me long enough for me to say something that would get me in trouble. But you... you actually want to listen..." the sheep was practically deflating, Lanolin looked as though she might sink into the sofa never to be seen again.
"... Of course I do." There was a new firmness to Vanilla's voice. A glare in her eyes, not directed at the sheep in front of her, but instead at the thoughts of the mother who forced her to think this way. She leaned in, and wrapped her arms around Lanolin, pulling her in tight and burying her chin in that fluffy white wool. "... I'm not her. I'm listening."
The sheep felt like she might just shatter, unable to stop herself from letting a hiccuping sob against Vanilla's chest. She clenched her fists, curling up tighter. Part of her wanted to get out. To push Vanilla away. To run into the woods and turn to dust in a pile of leaves. But Vanilla's arms tightened around her; the Rabbit wasn't giving her that choice.
"...I just feel... f-feel like such a... failure." The sheep's voice was so tiny, if a single thing happened outside, a chirp of a flicky might drown her out. "... I'm supposed to be... to be perfect. I'm supposed to... d-do everything right. I only made everything worse. And I can't even... can't even do the one thing I set out to do. I can't even draw a line on a stupid map right. I'm a joke. A joke that can't even deliver its stupid punchline directly and-"
"Stop." Vanilla's voice was firm, and Lanolin froze up. Vanilla squeezed her tighter. "...Stop calling yourself a failure. You're not." The rabbit pulled back just enough to free Lanolin's face. Lanolin tried to look away. She doesn't know when tears started to well up in her eyes, but the thought of letting them be seen terrified her.
The sheep hiccuped as Vanilla gently placed a finger below her chin, slowly bringing the sheep's gaze up to meet hers. Vanilla took a moment to really stare into those eyes, to really let the emotion in the sink in.
"... You haven't failed. You've been having a rough time, but... that's not failure, dear. You've only failed when you've given up on everything. But you haven't. You keep on trying. Even when things got hard... you kept going. I don't know everything that's happened. But you're still out here. You're still helping. Emeraldville is getting farther along in development. And it's because of you." Vanilla's eyes were locked onto Lanolin's. She wasn't letting the sheep run away from this.
"...b-but...", Lanolin began to stammer," Jewel... she's the one who..." she tried weakly to refute, only to be interrupted.
"She does a lot of hard work. But from what I heard the last time I had tea with her... that dear isn't the one who set out with her heart in it too restore the town. You're the one leading the charge. Don't sell yourself short." Vanilla re-positioned herself and the sniffling sheep a bit. She moved Lanolin to sit in her lap, the motherly rabbit wrapping her arms around her tightly. "... You're doing good. I promise you. And that good is being seen. Not just my me. But by Jewel. By your friends. By the people you've helped rebuild the homes and lives of."
"....b...but sometimes... it's hard. Even though I know what to do... and how to do it." The limp sheep croaked out as she lay in Vanilla's arms. "...I can see what needs to be done... but... I'm struggling to get it done."
"... When was the last time you rested, dear? And I don't mean sleep. When did you last take a minute to relax. To do anything other than work?" The rabbit asked, gentling her grip ever so slightly as she felt that woolly tail weakly lash against her. The sheep stayed dead silent, but the answer was very clear to Vanilla. "... Listen, Lanolin. You can't pour from an empty teapot. Working hard is important. But you shouldn't punish yourself for your body needing rest. The work will still be there tomorrow. And if you let yourself rest and recover... you'll be better. There will still be struggles of course. But don't fault yourself for that. Instead, take care of yourself. Listen to your body's needs. Don't push them down in favor of the work you could be doing."
"... But what if it's too much for me?" Lanolin asked, the sheep glancing up through her teary eyes to look into the rabbit's again. ".. What if even then, I'm not enough?"
"That's what friends are for. Whether it's a beetle who knows the finer points of business, a lemur who would be happy to help with heavy lifting of you asked her politely, or even a silly old lady who can bore with you with stories and listen with her big ears." Vanilla flashed Lanolin a genuine, playful smile, which the sheep returned shakily. The sheep sniffled, she sat up a little straighter in the rabbit's lap.
"... You're right... aren't you?" She asked, a weak chuckle leaving her lips as she wiped at her eyes. She sniffled, curling up a bit, letting herself be smaller in the rabbit's hold. She took a moment to just... close her eyes and be. The world outside this room vanished for a few moments. Vanilla helped to reposition the sheep, gently holding her close and rocking her a little.
Lanolin's ear pressed against Vanilla's chest as she let herself just collapse. The sound of the rabbit's heart and feeling of being held seeped into her very being, the girl's breathing evening out. "I'm... I'm not being thrown away." The girl thought to herself, her inner voice exhausted, but calm. "I opened up... and she just held on tighter. Rather than berating me or... or leaving me behind... she... she's staying." The corner of the sheep's mouth curled upwards, unable to stop herself as she let out a small, content bleat.
The silence was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door, immediately snapping Lanolin back to the present. The sheep frantically tried to rub at her eyes and recompose herself, with Vanilla slowly removing her arms to let the girl get up. The sheep looks over at the door, letting out a shaky breath.
"You can... come in, Jewel." Her voice wasn't strong at the moment, but that was okay. The door slowly opened, the beetle stepping inside.
"I finished making the tea! And... stopped a little someone from eating all the muffins." Jewel walked in with a tray of steaming tea cups. She blinked, looking between the slightly disheveled sheep and the gently smiling rabbit. Maggie floated in behind her, the wisp looking unbothered as crumbs were around the spot just below her half-lidded eye, which looked to the side at Jewel's accusation. Jewel continued, " Are you... what happened in here...?"
Lanolin moved over to sit next to Vanilla, sniffling. She smiled over at the beetle with a sigh, taking one of the cups of tea and taking a sip, letting the warmth flow through her. Maggie was already moving to nest in her wool.
"...We just... talked. I think I'll be okay. Maybe... maybe a break wouldn't be a bad idea before we get back to it?" The words leaving her throat felt alien to her, but in this moment, they also felt… appropriate. She glanced to the side to see Vanilla's warm smile, the rabbit clearly approving of the idea. She then looked back at Jewel, who was staring at her dumbfounded for a moment. The beetle then smiled wider.
"... Lanolin the Sheep, wanting to take a break? Well... we have been working hard. And I don't remember the last time you... well, did anything other than stare at your work." She handed out one of the remaining teacups to Vanilla, before taking the final one for herself. "... Maybe... tonight we see about getting the group back together. No missions. No chaos. Just... watching a movie or something. I can call up Tangle and see if she and Whisper would want to join." Lanolin's eyes lit up, and the sheep's tail gave a small, cautious wag at that. The sheep nodded, and then looked up at Vanilla.
"... You'd be invited too, of course. If you'd want to come." The sheep offered to the older rabbit, who responded with a polite chuckle. She shook her head, but the smile never left her face."I'd love to, but I'm rather busy tonight. I have a child to look after, after all. However..." She gently ruffled the sheep's wool. "If you ever need a moment to chat... my home is always open to you, dear."
"... Thank you. Thank you so much..." Lanolin leaned in, wrapping her own arms around Vanilla's torso and hugging her tight. For tonight... she could rest. A big smile crept across her face, as she closed her eyes.
"... I'm not a failure after all." The sheep thought to herself, sighing. She’ll have to take Vanilla up on that offer later for sure. But for now… she’s going to be okay.