The rain was pouring in the city of Manehatten, it had been for hours at that point. Cars flew by on the street, spraying water across the sidewalk. The streets were mostly void of people, wanting to stay out of the rain, to stay in doors with their families, all except for one individual. Elegant Strokes was running down the street, no rain coat or anything to shield herself from the freezing rain. In her arms, tightly bundled in a few blankets, her nearly two year old daughter, Strawberry Blossom, was crying.
"Why? Why would he just up and leave like that?!" Elegant thought to herself as she ran down the street. Her husband, Bitter Amber, who had been abusive to her during their marriage, just up and left no more then an hour prior. The blackness around her left eye was more then enough proof to show what he last did. There was only thing she could think of to do as she had bundled up Strawberry and bolted out of the house. "I need to get to Honeydew and Heat"
"Moooooooooommmmmmyyyyyy!" Strawberry kept crying out to her mother as she was held close to her chest. She didn't understand what was going on. Why had her daddy punched her mommy, why did he just leave them, where were they going?
"It's ok sweetheart, it's ok. We're here" Elegant comforted her daughter as best she could, nearly slipping on the stairs up to the front door. She banged her fist hard on the door, still holding Strawberry close to her chest.
Not a few seconds had passed when the door opened. Inside was a tan-green skinned women that resembled her name shake melon. "Elegant? what are you... what happened?!" Honeydew, Elegant's close friend, gasped as she saw the black eye "Dear heavens, come inside!"
Elegant quickly walked inside, noticeably shivering due to the freezing rain. "He left. He just up and left" she cradled Strawberry close to her as she kept crying
"Bitter did what?!" Honeydew quickly closed the door behind them, turning to look at Elegant "Come on dear, let's get you out of those soaking clothes. Heat! It's Elegant!"
Heat Wave, a light red skinned man with fiery hair that blended together well, came down the stairs carrying their own daughter, Tangy Melon "Dear god, Elegant what happened to you?!" Heat was just about to put Tangy to bed when Honeydew called up to him.
"I'll explain everything in the kitchen. I want to get out of these clothes and Strawberry dried off" Elegant was still shivering, water dripping off her and onto the hard wood floor.
"Of course dear. You can borrow some of my clothes" Honeydew quickly led Elegant up the stairs and towards their bedroom, while Heat remained on the main floor holding Tangy.
"Daddy, whats going on?" Tangy yawned as she snuggled up to her father. She was about a year and a half older then Strawberry was, light orange skin that resembled the inside of a cantaloupe. Her hair had patches of red that she definitely got from her father. She was all ready for bed, dressed in her blue pajamas.
"It's ok Tangy. One of mommy and daddy's friends needs a little help right now. You remember Ms. Strokes, right? She has a daughter a little younger then you named Strawberry"
"Mmhm." Tangy nodded, still not old enough to fully understand what was happening. But, she did trust her father. She leaned into his embrace while they waited for Honeydew and Elegant to come back downstairs.
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A short time later, Elegant followed Honeydew back down the stairs, dressed in one of her spare t-shirts and pajama bottoms. She still carried Strawberry close to her, minus the blankets due to them being water logged, who was dressed in her usual purple onesie. "Thank you for the clothes Honey. Think we could put the girls down to play while we talk?"
"Of course Elly, we can put them down in the living room." Honeydew nodded as the three walked into the living room, where Tangy still had most of her toys scattered out around the room.
"Now, you two play while we talk. We'll be right in the next room, ok?" Heat gently sat Tangy down on the floor while Elegant put Strawberry down near her.
"Ok daddy" Tangy nodded, sitting herself up as she reached for a few of her pony dolls, one of the ones from the 80's with blonde brushable hair.
Strawberry was a little resilient at first, holding her arms up towards her loving mother and whimpering slightly. "It's ok Strawberry. I won't be far. You go ahead and play with Tangy for a bit while I have a chat with her parents, ok?" She gently kissed her daughter on the forehead before following Heat and Honeydew out to the kitchen. Thanks to the open floor plan of the house, the kitchen over looked the living room so they could still keep an eye on the girls.
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"So, what happened?" Honeydew turned to look at Elegant. She winced a little at the sight of the black eye in the kitchen light. Bitter must've hit her pretty hard for it to be as bruised as it was. She went and grabbed an ice pack from the refrigerator and handed it to Elegant, who gently placed it over her eye.
Elegant sniffled a little, not really wanting to relive what she just through, but Honeydew and Heat were her closest friends, and the whole reason she came to them in the first place. "Well... you know how Amber can get. He came home from the bar, plastered beyond thinking again. I was just about to start reading Strawberry her favorite bedtime story, you know the one about a royal wedding almost getting sabotaged by an evil queen but was foiled by the bride and groom." She looked out to the living room, seeing Tangy showing some of her toys to Strawberry. She smiled at seeing how happy Strawberry was playing with her. "Anyways... I heard him come in, yelling. I told Strawberry to stay in her room while I took care of him. I... don't know what set him off. One minute we were yelling at each other, next thing I know he... punches me in the eye and storms out of the house."
The whole time Elegant was talking, both Heat and Honeydew were paying close attention. The worried look on Honeydew's face never disappeared while Heat was growing more and more angry. "That fucking son of a bitch! I always knew he was no good for you" Heat was beyond furious at that point, but still kept his voice down to avoid the girls hearing him cuss like he did.
"I... didn't know what else to do when I came too. I quickly wrapped up Strawberry and ran as fast as I could here." Elegant looked to be on the verge of tears before Honeydew wrapped the poor girl in a hug. Elegant wrapped her arms back around her and buried her face into her shoulder.
"It's ok Elly, it's ok. You did the right thing coming to us." She held her close to her, gently rubbing her hand along her back while Heat picked up the phone and dialed the authorities.
"Hello, 911, I want to report a domestic violence occurrence." Heat then gave the operator a description of what Bitter looked like before hanging up the phone "I hope they catch that bastard."
"You and Strawberry can use the spare bedroom tonight. I'm not letting you both go back out in that rain" Honeydew let Elegant go and smiled at her. "The bed's already made up, just in case the in-laws make a surprise visit"
"Thank you Honey, thank you Heat, for everything."
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While the parents went into the other, Tangy smiled over at Strawberry. "Hi! Remember me? I'm Tangy. You’re Strawberry, right?" She was trying her best to help the girl calm down a bit more. She could tell Strawberry was still scared about everything that had just happened.
Strawberry, for her part, slowly nodded in answer. She really wanted to be back in her mother's arms, to be held close. She didn't understand why her mother was hurt and where her father had gone.
Tangy looked around at the scattered toys she had in the living room, picking up her favorite pony toy and holding it out to Strawberry. "This is Toe Tapper. She's my favorite pony to play with" She bounced her around a little, making the hair bounce around as she made little horse noises.
Strawberry began to giggle as she watched Tangy bounce the pony doll around, clapping her hands together. She didn't really know Tangy all that well, only from a few times when their parents, mostly Elegant, would stop by every now and then over the summer. But, seeing how she was interacting with her made her feel happy.
Tangy smiled as she saw Strawberry laugh and giggled, handing the toddler her pony doll to play with as well as she picked up her hair brush "This is her hair brush, see, you can brush her mane and style it and stuff! She's an awesome toy, isn't she?"
"Uh huh!" Strawberry nodded as she hugged the doll close, feeling as safe playing with Tangy as she did being in her mothers arms.
Little did the two girls know, they had just built the foundation for what would become a life long friendship.
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A short time later, both the girls had fallen asleep on the carpet as they had been playing with the pony dolls. Honeydew and Elegant gently picked up their daughters and made their way for the stairs. "I... can't thank you both enough for letting us stay here tonight" Elegant smiled at the couple as they reached the top of the stairs.
"No need to thank us Elly. It's the least we could do" Honeydew smiled in return as she carried Tangy into her bedroom "Now you get some sleep, we'll see you in the morning"
Elegant nodded as she turned and headed into the guest room, closing the door softly behind her. She sighed to herself before making her way over to the bed, pulled the sheets back and gently laid herself down. She cuddled Strawberry as close to herself as she could.
The slight movement was enough to stir the little girl awake. "Mommy, where's daddy?" she looked up at Elegant, sleep trying to pull her back.
"I'm sorry sweetheart. Your daddy... can't be with us anymore. He's done some very bad things tonight. I'll... explain more when you’re older. But, get some sleep Strawberry" She gently ran her hand through Strawberry's light purple hair, running a finger through the magenta streak as she held her close.
"Will you be ok mommy?" Strawberry nuzzled into her mother's embrace. She didn't always get to sleep with her mother, but loved every time she could. Her mother's embrace was always so warm and loving.
"I'll be fine sweetheart." She gently kissed her forehead as she began telling her the story she was doing earlier. She had told it to Strawberry so many times before that she knew it by heart. Soon enough, Strawberry had drifted off to sleep "Sleep tight, my little Strawberry" and Elegant soon fell asleep afterwards.
