#emrys003

@rhyslikespopcorn

Oh no! That would be great! I love that idea!

[Rhys exclaimed excitedly. He could already imagine the kids going about the business of painting their own animal in there.

Although he was worried about the jungle theme.

They didn’t own a whole lot of books, the few picture books that they did have - and were gifted to them by the library people - weren’t very varied.

And he figured he needed to tell Annie that, but the words simply didn’t come out, because she was so excited about her idea.

He would feel very bad if he were to kill it now instantly after having been the one to suggest her painting.]

Or we could do farm animals?

We’re doing a project right now on important animals that give us food, like chickens and cows, and maybe I could tie it in with that.

Or maybe that would be a bit too boring.

We could also do fake animals, that they can create their own animal? Paint like… four different habitats on each side of the tree hut…?

[He offered the plans to Annie, she was the creative one after all.]

[Annie has a talent for finding the quickest path to anxiety in any situation. And most of the time she knows how irrational it is. Like right now, she thinks about all the times she got bullied for being a teacher’s pet, even though the only reason she ate lunch in classrooms and spent a while talking to teachers after school every day was because she was trying to avoid the other kids and their bullying and it just became a vicious cycle.

And she thinks about how she’d definitely get beaten up for planning extracurricular art projects with a teacher. Even though none of those bullies are here now, it’s still a nightmare, and she still expects the worst.

She tries to soothe away the clenching in her stomach, because Rhys is safe and kind and there’s nobody else here. Glancing over her shoulder, Annie wondered if that was a flickering nightmare creature behind her or if she’s so tired she’s only starting to see things.] 

I don’t think farm animals would be boring, it’d be educational, right? Because hopefully we’ll be able to start farming again some day so it’s important for kids to learn about that stuff. Four different habitats would be really fun, that way they can do whatever they like, and they can pick whatever four different themes they’d like. Although, how much paint do we even have? Four walls is a lot, and kids can be... messy.