[Queen Vivane]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Queen Vivane
Buttermilk: Magpie

[Cactologist]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Cactologist
Buttermilk: Bedelia

“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: Cactologist
Buttermilk: Bedelia
Word Count: 334
Prompt: On the final day, Bedelia looks at Elizabeth with tears in her eyes. You see, Bedelia's not good at goodbyes, as she sees everyone as a friend. This case was no different. She had only known Elizabeth for a week, but it felt like she'd known her forever, especially since they'd shared so many personal stories with each other.
"Promise me I'll see you next year!" Bedelia says, wrapping Elizabeth in a hug.
"I promise!" Elizabeth says, hugging her back. "And you'll write me?"
"Of course! I'll write you as soon as I get home! And I'll send you a picture of my house and family, so you can finally put pictures with words!" Bedelia says, releasing her.
"That's great! I will, too!"
The two cows talk for a while longer before Bedelia decides it's time to go. The actual goodbye is brief, as Bedelia would cry if it got stretched out. Right before she rounds the corner out of sight, she turns back and waves, her heart much fuller than when she had arrived at the little field of crops.
-
This goodbye, like all others, was made much harder by her memories of her hardest goodbye. Of course, goodbyes have always been hard for her, but after her grandmother's death, every goodbye brings the uncertainty of whether it will be forever. That goodbye was Bedelia's first permanent one, and it had hit her hard. She hadn't known real emotional pain before that day, and apart of her died along with her grandmother, however cliche that sounds. Even though this is hard for her to admit, it has also made her a better cow, too, though. She takes every relationship with everyone she meets more seriously, and tries not to take anything for granted. She listens and values every word of those wiser than her, and is more thankful for every day. Overall, it taught her that even the worst circumstances can make you stronger, and that love has no end and no goodbyes.

[Elliad.]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Elliad.
Buttermilk: Melody

“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: Elliad.
Buttermilk: Melody
Word Count: 218 Words
Prompt:
Dear Liz,
Thank you so much for letting me help you with the picking of the fruit. I had a lot of fun here the past week and I am sad that it will be over soon.

Thank you so much for letting me tell you stories of my past. I hope we can continue to be friends – afterall, I shared a great deal about me to you and have yet to find out all that much in return. I would love to get to know you as well as you know me.

Your new friend,
Melody.

Ooc: While the world hasn’t been great in general recently, quite a few good things have happened to me recently and I am very excited for what is to come. One major thing is that once the lockdown is lifted, I am going to get a kitten to add to the family. We’ve been in talk with several folk who have kittens they are looking for homes too and will be available come May.
I also found out that my friend is going to move in with my friends and I due to another dropping out during Fall. So, we will get to spend a lot more time together and it is going to be very much a good time.

[BadgerBuddies]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: BadgerBuddies
Buttermilk: Breezy

“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: BadgerBuddies
Buttermilk: Breezy
Word Count: 515
Prompt:
Breezy was realizing that the Farmer’s Market was winding down, and soon, it would be gone. Today was the last day of the market, and the grey and white heifer was going to try her best to make the most of it. She made sure to stop by Liz’s booth one last time before she left.

“It’s been so much fun getting to know you and getting to help you out” the paint heifer said as she concluded her last day out in the fields, helping Liz. “This has really inspired me, I do love nature and healthy eating quite a bit. I don’t know why I didn’t ever think before to plant my own fruits and veggies. We already have a large garden with some food bearing plants at home, but now I want to be more involved, expand upon that even. So thank you for being such an inspiration!” With that final remark, Breezy smiled and waved before heading home.

///

I’m going to do this prompt because life sure has thrown a curveball at all of us, and somedays I’m not always able to deal with it as well, yet I will always try my hardest to be grateful for what I do have. I am happy to report that the people that I know well that have had the virus are all on the mend! My aunt is a nurse and was just recently cleared to return to work, and another family friend has been released from the hospital.

My immediate family and I are all hanging in there, and we’re all ok for now, which is very important. We’ve been doing our best to stay hunkered down and have family game nights and movie nights, which we started to do less as I grew older, so I’m happy there’s an excuse to force everyone to play games with me now:)

It’s been a struggle to sort out my class schedule for summer and fall, but I was able to get into two of the three classes I really wanted to, and I’m now waiting to see if I can squeeze into that third one. Additionally, I’m trying to swap into a better class for the fall semester that wasn’t originally supposed to be offered, so I’m really hopeful for that and I can return to taking classes that make me enjoy my education rather than dread it!

Best of all, I got to see a wild seal that had hauled out onto the beach to take a rest (of course maintaining a safe and respectful distance of 150 feet away from the animal!!!!!!!!!) Y’all know how much I love pinnipeds, and even though I’ve worked with seals and gotten to hold their flippies, pet their tum tums, and feed them, seeing a seal on the beach in my home state was something I’ve always wanted to experience. Definitely rivals the times I’ve seen dolphins jumping out of the water at the local beach, and reminds me of better days and hopefully the better days that will come soon down the road!

(515 - i am so sorry i ranted about happy things i hope they make you happy too)

[Rescue2001]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: rescue2001
Buttermilk: tangle

[Areater]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Areater
Buttermilk: Pandora

“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: Areater
Buttermilk: Pandora
Word Count: 117 words
Prompt: "oh, wow, i guess it is the last day," pandora said, her ears going back a little as she processed that information. she realized she'd spent nearly the whole time harvesting crops - but she was happy with how she'd spent her time. "i have a confession to make," she said with an awkward chuckle. "i usually can't open up to other buttermilks, even my own herd. you were a real friend to me this week, liz." she gave her an affectionate ear lick. "i hope i see you around! and if not, have a good life," she said with a slightly sad smile before she headed out to go meet up with the rest of her herd.

[zaz]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Zaz
Buttermilk: Pudding

[bluex]

Day 7
“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: bluex
Buttermilk: Lyre

“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: bluex
Buttermilk: Lyre
Word Count: 780
Prompt: This’ll be all about the happy things in my life right now, since I want to ramble about all of them somewhere and this is the perfect opportunity!
I’ll probably go in order of importance to me, from least to most, purely so anyone who bothers reading this can get bored by the end and not have to suffer through a mini essay about how in love I am with ptarmigan. Thank me later 💖

I’ll kick things off by talking about my heart. It’s kind of caused some super huge stress over the past few months, as it was discovered that I flatline on a pretty regular basis - always cool. Besides from nicknames like “zombie gf” and “corpse bride” that everyone under the sun used for what felt like ages (I loved it), and being constantly asked what you see when you’re gone and having to come up with some creative and silly response everytime, I’m pretty okay with my situation. It’s been happening since I was a toddler, and the relief of having a diagnosis after 15 years of struggling to find an answer and solution was overwhelming. Besides hospital visits and the occasional episode I’m doing much better with all these new management strategies put in place.

Second I’ll talk about my wonderful friends - my ring of friends always finds a way to make us feel so close when we’re all stuck in our homes. Recently a friend hit a pretty big milestone birthday, and we threw him a surprise party on Minecraft. It sounds childish, I know, but it was a lot of fun and a lot of laughs were had. The occasional cheeky little Stardew Valley sessions, Animal Crossing visits and roasting each other on our groupchats really hit different when you won’t be seeing them for a while, or don’t see them at all (cheers online friends). On another note, this cowmunity has given me so many smiles throughout these harsh times, and I’m so grateful for the overwhelming kindness of each and every person in the Buttermilks Discord. I don’t know any of you that well, but I’m so appreciative of all that you lot do and I’m so happy that I get to be an artist for such a wonderful species.

Finally, we’ve made it to the dreaded mini-essay all about my love, ptarmigan. If you’re so determined to show me up, I’ll just have to one-up you over and over again (or at least attempt, you know I’m not good with words).
Ever since we met, I’ve known ptar to have a beautiful personality. From the beginning, she’s remained a beacon of positive energy. A clumsy mess, but a massive sweetheart nonetheless. It took me months to realise just how lucky I am to have a person like her in my life, and as we started to talk more and more, I started to fall in love. My heart started to skip a beat at every laugh, every sound of adoration, anything that I could hear her smile behind. I knew from that point that I’d do anything to make her happy. Being able to call her mine is my favourite thing in the whole wide world, she makes me the happiest I’ve ever been and makes me feel things that I’ve never felt before. I’m so excited for our future together, and I’ve never been more sure of something than this - than us. I already know you’ll look perfect no matter what the ring that I’ll put around your finger looks like. I am so incredibly fortunate to have found the perfect girl for me, and I hope I can make you as happy as you make me. You’re incredible, ptar. I know I’m writing this at 7 in the morning after staying up all night with you, so most of it will probably not make any sense, but I don’t care. All you really need to take from this, is that I’m so deeply in love with you, and that I’m always going to be. No matter what we go through I’ll be right here for you, because you deserve it. You’re my partner in crime, my other half, my everything, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. Thank you for being you, my love.


Okay and that’s enough of that, cheers for reading if you bothered. For those who didn’t but are for some reason reading this, here’s a tl;dr.
I got a diagnosis for my heart after struggling with episodes for almost 15 years of my life, my friends are sick lads, and I’ve already found the love of my life. 💕

[BiscuitTheDog]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: BiscuitTheDog
Buttermilk: Carmie

[Northstar.]

“I’d like to help harvest!”
Username: Northstar.
Buttermilk: Eponine


“I’d like to help harvest some more!”
Username: Northstar.
Buttermilk: Eponine
Word Count: 521
Prompt:

When is a time your buttermilk had to say goodbye to someone / something, and how did it go? Or a time they had to let something go. Was it for the best? Were they being petty?

Day six of the apocalypse: with the loss of technological infrastructure society crumbled. When the dead walked the earth mass panic ensued.

Eponine remembers the sixth day in vivid detail - panicked murmurs, crowds being evacuated to the countryside, crying. Everyone was crying.

"Eponine, keep your chin up." Her mother nudges her gently.

But not Momma. Momma didn't cry. She walked with purpose through lost crowds, leading her daughter onward with an outward confidence that did not bely her inner turmoil.

They had scrambled to pack what they could when governments officials came by - on bicycles no less. When Eponine struggled under the weight of her supplies, Momma lightened her load.

It was overcast on the sixth day as crowds were funneled through an evacuation route. It bottlenecked at the entrance, and that's where Eponine and her mother were trapped like sardines.

The clouds were the dreariest gray.

A group of four kids were before them in the crowd. Eponine vaguely recognized them from school - though they were a little older. They joked amongst themselves even with panic in their eyes and occasionally included her. She remembers how blue the tallest boy's eyes were' with gray clouds framed behind him.

And then she remembers the first scream. Nothing happened for one long, agonizing minute. Then, chaos.

The crowd surged, jostled, and stampeded. Something was wrong. Eponine's ears rang as her mother yanked her forward.

A dozen screams followed. Multiplied. Eponine couldn't hear Momma talking but she could see her lips moving.

Run. Where?

The kids in front of them pushed forward in the line as panic crested. And Momma pushed Eponine to follow. She kept her hand clasped to her daughter's backpack, kept her upright and steady. Eponine is jostled left and right. She stumbles, but stays on her feet.

The boy with the blue eyes grabs Eponine's wrist and pulls her along. He leads them through the crowd, shoulders his way through fear frozen forms.

They're almost through the bottleneck - almost free of the stampeding crowd.

Something jerks Eponine back. There's a guttural sound she will never forget, and a sharp cry from Momma.

The blue-eyed boy looks back, horror on his face.

"Take her, take her please, take her," Momma is begging. Why? What's wrong Momma? He doesn't let her turn around.

Momma presses a kiss to her temple, squeezes her shoulder once, and is gone. Eponine tries to reach back, to grab for her Mother, but she's pulled forward instead. She doesn't have time to feel. She'll never have time for mourning ever again.

Eponine is pulled free from the bottleneck and they run and run and run. She doesn't feel anything. Nothing is real. It's a bad dream. It's just a bad dream

They don't look back.

They run until their feet are sore and aching, they run until they can't anymore, spurned on by the monsters left behind.

It's only later, when they're holed up in an old barn that the boy and his friends tell her of the trapped crowd's fate. The dead walk the earth, and they are hungry.

(also I really enjoyed all these prompts! Thanks for helping me develop my buttermilk!
It was super fun and got me out of writers block! so thank youuu!)