#trains?

The train woke him up again. 

The train behind the forest line was running, and usually it has never been an issue. Since losing Daseos, stress has filled the blue-blood’s head, and it’s been making him a light sleeper nowadays. Nema woke up every time, but quickly fell back asleep once Dakota reassured him things were okay, and to go back to sleep. 

He gently pulled the blankets off of himself, and felt the hands of his partner wrap around his waist. He peeled her hands off, and pet her hair until she fell back asleep. Dakota swiveled himself so that he sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned down, picking up a pair of sweatpants and pulled them on. As he got up from the mattress, he looked over at the clock on his nightstand. 1:32 am. He sighed, and went downstairs into the kitchen, headed for the fridge. 

The moon’s light was shining through his blinds, and it fell upon the drawing he had stuck up on his fridge with a little zebra magnet he found at a gift store. The drawing that Daseos had drawn for him and proudly showed off, pointing at it anytime she was in Dakota’s house, loudly proclaiming that she was an artist and that it had been her finest work. 

It was of his cow, Babydoll. Daseos loved and cared for Babydoll just as much as he did, and she had always wanted to help out. Over time, Dakota let her, and placed his trust in her. Once he started letting her help, he could see how much it helped her more than it helped the animals. Dakota never had to worry that his trust was misguided, the animals loved her. 

Dakota shook his head, snapping him back to reality. Opening his fridge, the light shone on his face and he squinted his eyes against the light. He reached in and grabbed the milk jug, pouring himself a cup. He then made himself some hot cocoa, and took it outside with him.

The farmer sat on the couch out on his porch, warm cup in hand. He stared at the sky, the stars twinkling at him as if to mock him. He felt partially to blame, anyways. Dakota should’ve been keeping an eye out for Daseos, right? Maybe he should’ve had her doing chores?

He shook his head. Regardless of what he could’ve and should’ve done, Daseos was gone. When morning came, he was going to make posters. He was going to go out of town to put them up, too. He slowly drank his hot chocolate, staring out at the end of his driveway, the farm behind him. This was all becoming a little much. 

Dakota stood up and went back inside, rinsing his cup out in the sink. He made his way upstairs to his bedroom, glancing at the clock before getting back in bed. 3:49 am. He sighed, again, and climbed into bed, pulling Nema close to him and nuzzling his face into the crook of his partner’s neck. He shut his eyes, and slowly drifted back to sleep. 

It wouldn’t be long for the train to wake him before his alarm did.

Ladies, Naybes and Gentlemen, I went on a new (to me) piece of track today - and finally understood a logistical hiccup in the network my pea sized brain couldn’t process solely through openrailwaymaps.com

Twas also a great joy to do a bit of trainspotting on, as this particular train has to go pretty slowly on this section past various depots - and going from the West Coast Mainline to riding over the Great Western Mainline (plus getting the best view i’ve had so far of the OOC development) is a massive bonus