1,005 words. WotD: Evince.
####There were things she could have done rather than come to him, but they would have been destructive and would not have solved her problems at all. Princess had only had one experience with drinking, and while the outcome had not been terrible (it was how she had met Haven, after all, and it was certainly worth all of the drama that had followed), it was not a way to make herself feel better. It was not that she had really seen how destructive alcohol could be, though her brother had made it known what his opinion was on the day that he had found the leftover alcohol underneath her bed. It was simply that it did not even occur to her to use it to drown her sorrows, which was likely the reason that she had not even thought to turn to the bottle beneath her bed. It was good that she would not think in such a way, as she did not want to find herself heading down a road of self-destruction over someone else’s cowardice. Her brother leaving wasn’t the end of the world, and her mother’s pregnancy was unfortunate, but it would not kill her. It could be bad for the puppies, if Tokyo repeated her past actions, but did would not hurt her in the long run, once she felt better about her problems in the immediate timeframe.
####Even if he did not think he deserved gratitude for listening to her problems and comforting her, Princess disagreed, even if she thought it would be difficult to evince him of such a thing. It was true that he deserved thanks, for she doubted that everyone would be receptive to someone showing up on their doorstep unannounced with tears in their eyes and the expectation that they could find comfort there. It was true that they were more than friends and that she would have been even more upset if he had turned her away, and she had absolutely not expected it, but he did deserve thanks and to know how important he was to her. Haven was one of the kindest people she had met, despite the unorthodox way their relationship had started. “No, really. . . Just thank you for everything,” she added softly, hoping he would understand that she wanted to thank him and that it was not because she felt that she needed to. He had done so much for her already, and he deserved to know that she really did appreciate everything he had done for her. It was more than anyone else had ever done for her, seemingly, and it made her feel important to know that he was willing to be a part of her life and hear her concerns.
####Her eyes widened at the revelation that Haven’s mother had a new partner, as she had not known of this. She hardly knew the woman, but she felt like she should have known something like this. The old Princess—how long ago had she been around?—would have known this right away. Pack gossip was something she used to be interested in, because it made her feel important to know something that not everyone knew. Now, it felt different. She tried to imagine what it would feel like to be in the same position, but she simply could not. Never had she had a family that cared for each other, so she had never seen Tokyo with her deadbeat father, and there had never been any real love in the small Chance family. To know that Tokyo had been with Haku intimately did not affect her in the same way that it would have if her parents had ever been happy together. “Is she happy now, though?” she asked, no judgment in her tone. She did not want Haven to think she was inconsiderate or anything like that, but she did want to know that his mother was going to be happy. From what she could garner of what had happened with his birth mother, Anu certainly deserved to be happy. Haven was not selfish, and she knew that he just needed time to adjust to this change, just as she would need time to heal from her emotional wounds.
####The second bit of news about his life was something she could obviously relate to, and she thought it seemed like he felt betrayed in the same way she did. Her own mother had murdered her children, both literally and figuratively, and while Haven’s birth mother had not (as far as she knew), it still seemed terrible that she might not even want to tell her children that they were going to have another litter of siblings. “Are you going to try to be close to them?” She only knew of Mati’s existence as his sister, and he knew that they were close, but if they had any other siblings, she was not aware of their relationship with them. As it was, she did not know if she was going to try to know her mother’s next litter at all. It was entirely possible that the choice would not be hers to make and that her mother would tell the puppies terrible stories about how terrible she was, but she did not know if she would even prefer that. Maybe it would be easier if she did not have the option, rather than if she needed to make the choice herself. There were too many problems with the idea of knowing them, but she almost wanted to. Maybe she could save them from their mother. “Does Mati know about them, and your mother?” she asked, continuing as thoughts rolled around in her head. She could only imagine that his mother would not be happy about the news, and she hoped that it would be broken to her gently if it had not been yet. Even if she had moved on and found another partner, she still had the chance to be upset by the news.