6/7/2026, 6:05 PM
Thread takes place 5/21/2026-5/22/2026
![[Image: 3cffdc614f8365755a476c0de39c8db0.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/1200x/3c/ff/dc/3cffdc614f8365755a476c0de39c8db0.jpg)
Speak your mind, even if your voice shakes.
3-3-3 OC
3-3-3 OC
SpeechEmotional Actions Thoughts
5/21/2026
The Endless Plains did not change for Bao.
They never did.
But she had.
Every step forward toward Tianlong felt heavier than the last—not only from the slow, unavoidable changes of her body, but from everything she refused to put into words. The pregnancy was not something she welcomed. It wasn’t something she had chosen in any way that mattered. It was simply something that existed now, inside her, undeniable and growing regardless of her thoughts about it.
Seven weeks was far enough along that her body no longer treated it as a question.
It was a fact.
Her gait had already shifted into that careful, awkward waddle, each step adjusted around her own center of gravity. The plains were forgiving in terrain, but not in distance. There was nothing to lean against, nothing to hide behind—only grass and wind and the long road back toward somewhere that might, if she was lucky, feel like safety again.
Home was eight days away.
Eight days of this.
A faint movement rippled through her midsection, and she stopped without meaning to.
Bao lowered her head slowly, breathing through the tightness in her chest that had nothing to do with exertion. Her paw hovered over her belly, then settled there with restrained caution. The life inside her responded with a small, unmistakable flutter.
Her expression did not soften.
It didn’t change at all.
Not excitement. Not joy. Just awareness.
A reminder she could not set down.
After a moment, she moved again.
Because standing still didn’t make anything different.
5/22/2026
The second day pressed harder.
Wind cut across the Endless Plains in long, dry gusts, flattening the grass in waves that made the world feel like it was breathing without her permission. Bao kept her head low as she traveled, conserving strength where she could, ignoring what her body rejected, pushing through the parts of hunger that came and went unpredictably.
Her thoughts kept circling back to Tianlong.
Not as comfort—but as direction.
A fixed point. Something that existed whether she felt ready for it or not.
The journey was simple in concept. Eight days of walking. A straight line through empty land toward the mountains.
But nothing about her felt simple anymore.
Another shift came from within her—faint, then stronger—and she paused again. This time her stance was more deliberate, bracing slightly as she steadied herself. Her paw touched her belly, not tenderly, not gently, but with acknowledgment, as if confirming something she already knew.
Still there.
Still growing.
Still hers to carry, even if not hers to want.
A long silence followed, broken only by wind and grass.
Bao eventually lowered herself onto a slight rise in the plains, not to rest comfortably, but to reduce the strain on her legs. Her breathing evened out slowly. Her gaze stayed fixed on the distance where the land blurred into pale sky.
There was no denial in her anymore.
Only continuation.
When she stood again, it was with the same quiet resolve she had started with.
Tianlong was still far.
But she was still moving. Hua Bao does not stop, Hua Bao does not fucking quit.
