Walk Down Memory Lane

The air was starting to warm up in a way that wasn’t strictly sexual. The season was finally shifting out of the cold winter weather. Spring was clearly in the air as the flowers and vegetation in the Burrowgatory was starting to bloom fully.

With spring’s arrival came one of Cassidy’s annual tasks. Spring cleaning. It was a chore that always popped up on Cassidy’s radar around this time of year. Normally he would just put it off for as long as he could before finally just forcing himself to get his shit in order. However, this year was different. He wasn’t living alone anymore. Now Cassidy had a partner in his life, someone he could be serious with and share his life and home with, and with sharing his home came making sure it wasn’t a sty.

Cassidy blew smoke out of his nose as he rolled his sleeves up. The large bun had given Tei his credit card to go out on a shopping spree with Cinnamon. A nice day out with their best friend, Cassidy didn’t want Tei to see all the old crap he was gonna be hauling out of their shared home. Cass had kept plenty of old furniture, decaying paintings, and just dust collecting decorations that he was never going to actually put out. While he was fairly certain that Tei would be home with enough stuff to probably make the work Cassidy had put into cleaning null and void, Cass rather have their home filled with things Tei liked. So, without further ado, the large bun started to make his way through the collection of unwanted items.

Bags, upon bags, upon bags, of old clothing that Cassidy knew would never fit him again were the first items to be thrown out. The only ones he kept in an uncertain pile were ones he thought Tei might want for either upcycling purposes or maybe even to just wear. Next were the dusty, old decor pieces that Cass knew he was never going to use in his life. He was more than fine to toss out the rusted and even sometimes just straight up broken pieces of decoration that he never fully utilised. 

Cassidy was just working up a sweat as he wiped his brow a little. He was pretty satisfied with how much progress he had made. Most of the trash had been moved out and onto the truck he had rented for this event. The last thing he had to move was a large, dusty and cracked desk. The large bun blew smoke out of his mouth as he got ready to lift. A low grunt escaped him as he struggled to get the heavy furniture to move. It was just when he was nearly out with the desk that it got caught in the door. Cassidy was puffing and panting as he glared at the piece of crap. Moving to try and turn it in such a way that it would fit. Just as Cassidy nearly got it through the door, he could hear the thump and sliding of the drawers and small cupboard on the bottom of the desk. There was no time for him to react as the drawer fell out completely and the cupboard door opened and dropped everything in it on top of the drawer.

“God damn it!” The large man yelled as he dropped the desk down on the ground. “Piece of fucking shit!” Cassidy kicked the side of the desk hard, finally forcing it out of the doorway at the very least. However, that was hardly a concern for Cassidy right now as he moved to go pick up the crap that had fallen out.

Most of the stuff that had fallen out were old used up notebooks, some old books Cassidy had long since finished reading and must not have liked, and just as the older man was finishing cleaning up the trash, he noticed an old photo album. Cassidy blinked a little as he put all the trash he had gathered onto the old broken desk. He couldn’t help but pick up the album and wipe off the thick layer of dust that was covering the front of it. It was an old, old photo album that Cassidy had genuinely forgotten about. “Well I’ll be damned…” The large bun muttered to himself as he traced his fingers down the front of the old leather cover. This was a book that was made when Cassidy was a child, one that his demon caregiver had put together.

Cassidy’s brow furrowed a little as he looked at the book. Internally debating with himself as to whether or not he should open the book and look through it or if he should keep it closed and toss it into the bin. Ultimately, Cassidy’s curiosity won out. It had been at least decades since he had even thought about his childhood, even longer since he had ever even thought about his caretaker. Taking in a deep breath, Cass opened the leather bound book. The cover page was yellowed, spots of mould were growing on the corners of the page, and the title had an etched snake bordering it. “Cassidy and Lamia.” Lamia, that was her name. His caregiver.

Lamia was a demoness. The upper portion of her body resembled that of a doll woman, and her lower body however looked like a sceil. Cassidy could remember her as clear as day now as he started to just flip the pages of the photo album. The large man stopped on one photo though. Lingering on the page of a photo that made him the man that he was now.

The yellowed and aged picture showed a small, grey and white bun behind a bar counter. They were standing on a stool to be able to reach above the counter itself. Their horns had not come in yet as they held a shifter in the small paws. A ring of black smoke surrounded them. Cassidy looked down at the caption on the polaroid. “Cassidy’s First Mixed Drink. I hope you got better at making these. -Lamia”

Lamia, she didn’t take in a lot of buns to raise. The church always gave her babies that had particular traits that made them… Unappetizing to her. The few she was given, she taught them the benefits to hard work. The main benefit being that you got to eat for the day. Cassidy looked over the picture as he flipped the pages again. He was the closest to being what some would consider Lamia’s favourite. She enjoyed how Cassidy just stayed out of her way and wasn’t as needy as other buns in her care. Hell, Cassidy was fairly certain he was the only one who received this sort of baby book album.

The man closed the book before he got to the last page. Cassidy stood in the doorway of his home for a moment as he debated on whether he should keep this or just throw it out. Looking down at the book Cassidy blew smoke out of his mouth as he came to a decision.

The resonating thud of the album hitting the bin gave little comfort.