Elnuks Stew

"You can't milk those." ~ Alistar the Minotaur

Oh I forgot to mention it in the first chapter. Chapters come out every other day. So yeah.

P.S. All characters in League are at their peak state in game. In this story they might be older than expected, do not be surprised if... I don't know, Xin Zhao is a man with a greying head of hair.

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"Daddy wake up! Daddy dinner time!"

Annie sat on her father's lap, her fists thumping against his chest.

TAP TAP TAP

Gregori woke up groggily.

"Firefly? ….What is it?"

"Night daddy! Dinner! I am hungry, Tibbers is too. He woke me up."

He had nodded off to the sound of his daughter breathing. Second mistake. Gregori couldn't believe he had almost left his daughter hungry.

Muttering a silent apology to Amoline, he got up and carried his daughter and the supplies he had brought to the kitchen and started preparing food.

Today was Elnuks stew. He had to part with a pretty penny to get this much meat, haggling brought the total amount down however, a trick he had learnt from his wife. Noxians never expected hagglers, most people were too afraid of getting killed, he however didn't have that fear, not after witnessing his wife haggle 3 different merchants at the same time and come out victorious.

As he prepared the meat, skillfully cutting into the sides and removing the excess fat, he looked toward his daughter who was looking up at him, " Annie?"

That got her attention. Stopping her play with Tibbers, she looked at her father. "Daddy?" Her eyes focused onto him with innocence he hoped would last a long time.

"What do you want to do as I cook?"

Annie raised a finger to her mouth and showed herself deep in thought. And then eureka. As if a bulb had gone off in her head, she looked up at her dad, Tibbers hanging by her side. "Lets count to five!"1

Gregori smiled back at her," Okay! You start first."

"One!"

"Two!" He followed.

"Three!"

"Five?" He got it wrong on purpose.

"No!." Annie's face puffed up in displeasure. "Not five. Four!"

In mock surprise, Gregori brought his palm to his forehead, "Ahh it was four. My firefly is a genius, isn't she Tibbers?"

Annie's expression of displeasure turned into a large smile.

"Tibbers says I am a genius as well. I am a genius, right Daddy?"

Looking away from the cooking apparatus, he picked up his daughter and twirled her around. "Yes you are! My little genius!"

Putting her back down, he asked while tapping his chin animatedly, "Now, what comes after five I wonder?"

"Umm.... Uhhh..." Annie was deep in thought. "Af....ter five? Is it.... eeny?"

Well, he expected that. He had just gotten to learn the alphabets recently and it wouldn't be expected for a child to be able to remember ALL ten numbers on their second day of learning. Her interest in at least remembering and saying the first five in order was good enough for now.

"No its not Annie." He said in a soft voice, as he put the ingredients in a pot and placed it over a fire. "Its six! And where do you use eeny, little genius?

Annie opened her mouth a little, "Ah!" Then she held up Tibbers in front of her, trying to cover her face as she looked away from her father. "Its for eeny.... meeny... miny....moe!"2

Then as she dropped Tibbers, a crestfallen expression appeared on her small face. "Sorry daddy.... I forgot six."

Gregori lifted her up and plopped her down on the kitchen counter, moving the knives away. "Its fine firefly. Even daddy makes mistakes. I said five instead of four. Everyone makes mistakes okay? Don't be sad. Ask Tibbers."

He had gotten used to including Tibbers into conversations, even if it was an inanimate object. Just like his daughter, somehow, he had also started viewing the doll as a part of Amoline. Not only that, adding Tibbers into conversations made his daughter more responsive. With or without intending to, Gregori had made Tibbers an actual important member of the family. A sewn doll.

Annie pulled at his shirt, "But Tibbers said he doesn't make any mistakes at all."

He wanted to laugh. 

Of course a doll wouldn't be able to make mistakes. It wasn't alive. But he did not have the heart to tell that to his daughter.

"Tibbers is a special case. You and me? We make mistakes firefly. It is completely fine." Consoling his daughter, he continued to stir the pot, adding more ingredients as the others cooked. He had made sure to cut the meat into bite size portions, leaving the bones on. Bones made the stew taste better.

Annie looked over her father's shoulders, peeping into the pot. She had seen her father cook many times, but it always seemed so good. Raw meat did not smell good but after her father cooked, it smelt really good.

Annie loved her father a lot. And she liked Tibbers just as much.

"Firefly?"

She turned her head to look at Gregori.

"Do you remember Daisy?"

She nodded, a little confused.

"Un."

"Do you remember her mother?"

A nod. Slower this time.

"Do you like them?"

Annie liked Daisy. They played a lot and got along well. However, she didn't look up to Leanna as much as she did her own father. She had felt Leanna stern and unkind.

But her answer still was, "Yes! I like them a lot!"

She did like seeing her dad smile after all.

"Would you like it if we all became one big family?" Gregori then asked her, spreading his hands wide open exaggerating to keep his daughter engaged.

Annie fell into thought.

Surprisingly, Annie didn't throw a fit the moment he put the idea. That meant that there was a chance, this could all work out.

"BIIIIG family?" She repeated after him, hands imitating his actions.

"Yes. BIIIIIG family! You will have a sister now! How is that?" As Gregori confirmed, Annie's face grew a smile just as big as her spread out arms.

That did the trick.

He had kept calling Leanna her mother off for now. She had to be eased into that. Though Annie had never actually met her mother properly, he didn't know if toddlers could remember such things, she had developed a great deal of affection for her. It wouldn't be right for him to thrust Leanna into that position.

It all fell on Leanna to become her mother and be accepted. The same way Gregori had to make Daisy accept him as her father.

Once the initial hurdle had passed, then it would be easier. Both for the kids and the parents. The kids were almost 5. They would slowly forget such things and just accept things for what it was.

Gregori felt lighter now. The weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Now, it was just on Leanna to convince Daisy. Though, he thought that would not be necessary. Leanna wanted to do this with or without Daisy's approval.

He couldn't find fault with that. She didn't do it out of love after all, she did it for her daughter. He respected that. But he hoped she would be less strict with the kids from now. They needed unconditional love and support. His own childhood lacked that. His parents weren't... the greatest people. They were strict, firm and outright scary. Some of the reasons that led to him running away. That was why he doted so heavily on his daughter.

She shouldn't grow up like him. She shouldn't have to struggle. She deserved to be happy, all children did.

And he had promised Amoline.

"Woahhhh!" 

His daughter's exclamation brought him out of his thoughts.

He saw his little firefly eagerly sniff the air. And he couldn't lie. Gregori made a mean Elnuks stew. Pushing the ladle inside, he lifted a piece of meat and gingerly bit into it. A burst of flavor erupted from the little bite. It was juicy and incredibly soft. The tough nature of the meat completely gone after the cooking process.

It was cooked.

Elnuks meat was quite nice. Looking at their thick coats and tusks, no sane person would think that their meat would taste good. But someone had been crazy enough to try it and Gregori thanked them for it everyday. This recipe came from the only cookbook in the house, Amoline never liked cooking so he had taken it up and was a natural at it.

"Fuuuu..... Fuuuuu.... Fuuuuuu."

He blew at the rest of the meat on the ladle, removed the bones and then picked it up with his fingers. "Say aaaah."

As Annie opened her mouth, he expertly slid the piece of meat into it.

"Ho hawt hawt hoo hoo hoo." 

He watched with a smile as his daughter blew out her mouth, keeping it half open. Sort of like a tea pot.

And once she completely swallowed it. He let out an evil laugh, one Annie didn't take to kindly.

"Bad daddy. Tibbers bite him." She thrust Tibbers into his side.

Like always, he feigned an expression of pain and clutched his side. Apologizing to both, Annie and Tibbers. 

He stayed like that until Annie reacted.

"Hmmf." She said, crossing her arms. "That's what you get for being bad."

Apologizing one last time, he put Annie on the ground and told her to wait by the fire as he brought the food.

Spooning ladles of broth, meat and vegetables into two bowls, he presented them to the red haired child.

He kept his stew aside. And slowly fed Annie as they watched looked outside the large windows, sitting in front of the fireplace.

He blew into each spoonful and fed her. 

"TASHTY!"

And that made everything worth it. Hours of travel and a little haggling. All for this one word. At this point in time, Gregori was content. He was happy.

He feared that he might have failed as a father, he didn't have many to compare himself to. His own father failing at the task. And raising her alone, that scared him. He was afraid of making mistakes. The irony of that. Just a little while back, he had been reassuring his child that it was fine to make mistakes. He didn't mind being hypocritical. 

Any mistake he made would have way bigger consequences than anything she might make.

"Full." Annie said rubbing her little tummy.

Gregori knew he daughter well. He looked down at the bowl, only half of it had been emptied. He knew she wouldn't be able to finish it but he filled it to the brim either way. She would have thrown a fit if he didn't. And he didn't want to deal with her crying. He didn't like her crying at all.

Silently watching her play with Tibbers, he finished both bowls and washed everything in the stream outside. Throwing any bones and such into a hole he had dug out in the morning. He then covered the pot with the rest of the stew and cast cooling magic on it. That way the food would last till the day after tomorrow.

He made his way back to the fireplace only to see Annie drawing in a piece of paper, propping Tibbers up against the wall.

He just hoped Amoline liked the way he raised her. He owed it to her. He owed to Annie. Though it was Amoline who dragged him everywhere proactively, he felt responsible for her. Amoline, despite growing up in Noxus somehow, miraculously, kept her innocence or at least a part of it. That showed in her curiosity and fearlessness.

Annie had the same qualities. He thanked a singular god for this.

Everything was going well. And by this time tomorrow, he would have two children running around the house and a wife to help raise them both.

He looked over Annie, catching a glimpse of what she had drawn.

It was a picture of the them inside their house with the brightest smile possible.