When Gramma died, it was to the shock of no one, yet it was a tragedy to many. Especially Mamma- I think she took it the worst. She was full on ugly crying at the funeral and was barely holding back tears the rest of the day. All I could do was try my best to comfort her- but I never really was any good at all this “empathy” stuff. I just let her hold me as long as she needed.

I didn’t cry at the funeral. I’ve never cried for a single death but my own, and I wasn’t about to start now.

Truth be told, I wish I could say that was the worst thing to happen to Mamma and I.

Not a week later I was just chilling out on a park bench, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper where I realized that things were gonna get interesting.

The main picture headline: Celestia’s Sister Returns From 1000 Year Banishment! But I didn’t give a shit about that.

What concerns me is the second article: Diamond Dog Clans Begin To Strike!

The gist of it is that they believe that the griffons have been demanding higher and higher coal quotas- which we have- and are beginning to strike because they feel like they’re getting fucked- which they are. I won’t deny that much and quite frankly, I couldn’t give less of a shit about the mutts or their woes.

But there’s definitely the threat of an economic recession, or worse, depression on the table all because some uppity mutts aren’t appreciative of the fact that we let them mine in our land. And eat the gems found on our land.

If you’re not sure why this is a major problem, let me spell it out; coal powers most of the economy. Factories rely on it for their machinery, people depend on it for electricity, heating, and cooking, and griffons have come to rely on trains so much that many of the unpopular roads have begun to overgrow or have been overrun by brigands.

So basically; no coal? No economy. Unless we were to attempt to open griffon run mines, which I doubt would work; the average griffon would rather start a full blown war with the dogs than go down in a mine. It’s just against our nature. But fighting definitely isn’t, typically.

But from what I can tell, most of the other clans are still being reasonable. But the problem is the domino effect this will all create- what’s stopping the rest from striking?

I let out a sigh. This was all bound to happen eventually- I figured that years ago. At this moment, I really wished I had a cigarette. But alas- I finished my coffee, tossed the cup and flew straight home, black cloak flittering in the wind.

“Ma! Where you at? Stuff’s boutta go down!” I yelled as I passed the door, heading towards the kitchen.

The scene I walked into was… concerning. Mom was sitting at the table, head in both hands slumped over some mail. She glanced up and gestured for me to take a seat. I did as asked and sat across from her, sliding the newspaper over.

“Second article. Trade ya papers.” she did as I asked, and I took a glance at exactly what has her so fucked up.

A bank statement…
…
…
…
“WHAT IN THE FUCK?!... ah, excuse my language.”

“Sweetie… I’ll let it slide. I said the same exact thing.” she didn’t even look up from the paper, but she still had that hollow look in her eyes.

We were down to a measly 400 bits. 400! For context, rent was 100 bits a month- not including utilities, food, insurance, and God knows what else. I was concerned before, but I was legitimately scared now.

“But… But Gramma said she had money!” I was in utter disbelief; I was led to believe that Gramma had an ample enough retirement fund so that when she died, Mamma would have to pick up a side job, but we would still be able to live comfortably.

Evidently, Mom fell for the same prank. She was still staring intently at the newspaper, I hopped off my chair to get something important out of the cabinet.

Rotgut Whiskey- 138 Proof.

I yanked the cork and filled two shot glasses. One for Mamma and one for I. We were gonna need it.

“Drink up.” I slammed back the shot and cringed heavily, wondering how the Hell Gramma could guzzle this stuff like water. Mother just looked at me with those same tired eyes.

“That’s not good for you, you know.” She attempted to put on a stern face, but ultimately failed.

“I know. Drink.” She sighed and slammed back the shot- and immediately regretted it, coughing and sputtering from the burn and rushing to the fridge for a chaser. After quaffing half a bottle of apple juice she looked at me with concern.

“How did you…” I just laughed heartily. Shit, I was feeling half lit already. Slowly, her frown broke into a smile and she started cracking up with me.

After we calmed down we sat back in our seats.

“Alright. We’re gonna need a plan.” Mamma nodded in agreement.

“So, our two main problems right now are lack of money to reasonably continue living in this house.” I began, and Mom nodded in agreement. “We gotta downsize, obviously. But we also need to make a good bit of loot, fast. And one of us is gonna need a job or two.” I looked towards Mother and she gave a dejected sigh.

“I’m gonna have to drop out… aren’t I?” I nodded.

“For now, at least. But I ain’t gonna be a deadbeat, neither.” she cocked an eyebrow and I began to elaborate.

“During the day I can pull some small-time stuff- pickpocketing, begging rackets, cigarette reselling… no, scratch that. Can’t buy cigarettes.” Mothers jaw dropped and she began to sputter.

“Wha… No! No, you can’t do that!” I cocked an eyebrow, reaching into my cloak and tossing a bag of bits across the table.

“25 bits. Nicked off some guy this morning.” I gave a smirk, “What did you think I was up to all the time? Playing at the park?” After a few seconds, Mom let out a heavy sigh and buried her head in her hands.

“I… am such a terrible mother…” she mumbled to herself.

“Bullshit.” I slammed a fist into the table- “A terrible mother would be blind drunk, beating her kid with no intention of sobering up by this point. Way I see it, I’m already in too deep to stop regardless, and it’s a game of us vs them.” mom spoke up-

“But… but what about them! They’ve got lives too! They might have kids to feed, too!”

“And I got myself to feed. As do you.”

She opened her mouth to retort, then clamped it shut.

“Tell me I’m wrong.” she sighed heavily, head drooping low.

“You’re not wrong. But you’re not right, either. Not by a mile… but you’re not wrong… Just… promise me you’ll stay safe? I don’t want you getting arrested, or worse…”

“I promise, Mamma. ‘Sides- cops won’t arrest an eight year old. Most likely they’ll take me to you and ask if you knew I was up to no good. And in that situation, act shocked and make it seem like there’ll be Hell to pay for me.” Mamma sat there in silence before glancing off to the side.

“You know, sometimes I forget you’re only eight. Fine. Just please be careful?” I just gave a chuckle.

“Ma, I’ve been doing this for years. I’m a professional.”

“Somehow that’s not very comforting… So what is cigarette reselling?” she hesitantly asked and I began to explain.

“So, cigarette reselling is a classic case of supply and demand. For the teenage smoker population, the supply is nonexistent- so demand is always high. And for the broke and destitute smokers who can’t afford a whole pack, you can sell them individual smokes a bit cheaper. Of course, you can do the same with booze, but there’s somewhat less demand for that overall.”

Mom nodded slowly.

“So what you’d do is buy me a carton of smokes, and I’ll redistribute them at a small profit. Of course, we’d need to buy the smokes first and that can be a costly investment, especially if you have things like competition to consider.”

Mom rubbed the bridge of her beak.

“Ok… ok, I don’t wanna hear any of this anymore.”

“It’s friggin greasy, isn’t it? Well, way I see it, life gets greasy sometimes. But either way, you just leave the greasework to me.”

“Fine… fine. I suppose I couldn’t stop you either way.”

“Nope. Now, we gotta figure something quick and easy to make some loot.” I tapped my chin a few times. “How good is the insurance policy on this house?”

“If the next sentence out of your beak has to do with either insurance fraud or arson, you will not leave your room for a week.” I clamped my mouth shut, able to recognize that I was on thin fucking ice right now.

“Point taken…” I snapped my fingers and pointed at her. “Grammas liquor stash. Please tell me you didn’t get rid of it.” There was a brief pause.

“Gramma had a liquor stash?”

“In the cellar. You didn’t know?” she just shook her head.

“Either way, I’ll sell that stuff off for a quick buck. I don’t know how profitable I can make it, but we’re just recouping our losses at that point. Heck, even if it’s for a cheap price, there’s a lot of the stuff." Mom started to rub her temples.

“Things… are gonna get interesting.” she poured herself another shot and knocked it back, taking it a bit easier now that she knew what to expect from it.

“None for me?” she stopped and opened her mouth… then closed it, pouring two more shots.

“First, let’s go over the plan.” she said, sliding the shot my way.

“I’m gonna drop out of college for now and try to find a job. Sooner the better, before the economy starts really tanking.” I nodded.

“Meanwhile, I’ll sell off the liquor and pull small-time stuff. Also, I’ll keep my ears open for prices on apartments around here. Worst case scenario, we can settle in the rookeries.” I lifted my glass.

“To narrowly avoiding poverty.” Mother nodded and we both knocked our drinks back.

Things… just might work out after all. Long as we play our cards right, we should stay above the red.

Hopefully.

---

Ever since Mamma moved into Grammas old room… I’ll be honest. I had difficulties falling asleep. Something about her not being there with me deeply disturbed me- and I’m not entirely sure why.

I woke up in a place wholly unfamiliar to me. Before me was an ancient stone edifice like none I’d ever seen before- A wall of gold stood high before me with a backdrop of bright skies with dark stars, with a sun and moon next to each other. Behind me was a vast lake of black water which reeked to high heavens and the wind carried the smell of rot and decay. Upon closer inspection- the lake wasn’t full of water.

It was full of corpses, bloated and bursting like they’d been drowned.

I’d seen death plenty of times before, but… something about that made me want to get far away. I flew over the high wall- and sucked in a gasp of air as I reached the crest. It was a massive city- bigger than any I’d ever seen before in my life- past or current. The place was filled with golden towers with black roofs, and the air itself seemed to hold a yellow haze.

“HELP!” Oh shit, Mamma!

I ran towards the screaming and I literally gasped at what I saw-

“Help, Leona!” she yelled, two giant winged demons playing tug of war with her body.

“Shitshitshit, I’m coming!” I bolted towards her without a plan- I’ll think of one on the fly. I’m good at that.

Just as I was almost there, I saw Mom’s eyes widen- and a wet crunch.

“NO!” I yelled, lying in bed drenched in sweat. I was clutching an old ragdoll- a gift I got from Gramma a long time ago- for comfort. I jumped out of bed, silently creeping towards Mamma’s room.

The door opened slowly with a creak.

“Mamma?” she stirred in bed and got up, looking at me with half lidded eyes.

“I had a bad dream… Can I sleep in here tonight?” She chuckled, scooting over and patting the spot next to her.

“Of course, sweetie.” It was just like the old days when she would come home from school and we’d both take a nap together- she even still draped her wing over me, and I did the same to my dolly.

Laying my chin on the pillow, my mind burned with… guilt?

“Mamma?” she replied with a simple hmm?

“Are you mad at me? About earlier? About what I do when you’re not around?” After a few moments of dread, she sighed.

“Honey, I’m not mad, just… disappointed. I just thought I raised you better than that.”

You know, I’ve been shot, stabbed, burned, bludgeoned, teeth pulled, had bones broken… even had my femur broken once. Sheer, blinding pain that not even hard liquor could fix.

None of it even compares to how much hearing those words hurt. I just began to sob into the pillow and Mamma pulled me in tight as a result.

“I j-just… just want to do what’s best for us…” I managed to squeak out.

“Ohhh, honey… It’s alright. Just…” she was at a loss for words. So she sighed.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.

She sang me that sweet, nostalgic lullaby, and soon my tears slowed.

“I just don’t want anything to happen to us…” I sniffled, and Mamma spoke up.

“I don’t agree with what you do. Not one bit. Yet… sigh, just please stay safe? Promise?” I sniffed and nodded weakly.

In a way, I think we both felt powerless; I, from my own nature and Mother, and her inability to inhibit my nature.

But no matter what, I’ll always be there for her.

"I love you, Mamma."

"I love you too, baby."

Isn't it funny how ones morals quickly erode during times of hardship? But I'm sure Amelia wouldn't stoop so low as to become a criminal- After all, Leona said she was fine with doing the greasework herself. Right?
Right?

As always, thank you for reading! Likes and comments are encouraged and appreciated greatly :3