15 Another Day (1/2)

Lunch went mostly uneventfully, with Jered and Jasmine trading jabs at each other whilst an amused Jane would chime in and chastise them when she felt their bickering was going too far, although the smile that tugged the corner of her lips just made her reproaches meaningless, yet she didn't care, her family was getting back up from the emotional blow they had received and that she hadn't done anything to alleviate. The sun peeked through the curtains, framing her children's shadows in a perfect image of peacefulness, as if concurring with her current thoughts.

”Mom? Do you find it amusing?” her daughter's voice stripped her from her musings, ”Jered is bullying me and here you are, smiling to yourself.” she ended with an indignant huff.

Jered rolled his eyes, ”Oh please, it's your fault for picking fights you know you can't win.”

”You recourse to your force, you brute!” Jasmine didn't give up, ”Don't you have any shame for posing your hands upon a woman in such a vulgar manner?” she wrinkled her nose, ”The same hands you use to beat your meat!”

Jered almost choked on his own saliva, ”It's you who resort to bodily harms, you d.a.m.n vile woman!” he shot back, ”I'm just defending myself, and don't speak as if you're that innocent, we all know what you do as well, apparently you don't know how to keep your f.u.c.king voice down.”

”That's not true!”

”Oh for the love of G.o.d...”

”Take back what you said!”

”Nope.”

”Moooom....”

Jane raised an eyebrow as she regarded her daughter, ”Jammie, he's not wrong, I did hear you.” she chuckled.

”...” Jasmine fought back the blush that was slowly dusting her cheeks, ”T-that was not me...”

”Why are you still denying it? It's not a crime or anything, but it would really be appropriate if you learn how to pick the suitable times to do that.”

”Can we just change topics, please?” Jasmine pleaded, her shoulders slumping in defeat as she tried to salvage what was left of her pride, ”It's f.u.c.king weird talking about this.”

”You brought it up, sis.”

”I know! Just... let's drop it, 'kay?”

Jered shrugged, ”Sure thing, sis.” he drummed his fingers on the table before standing up and declaring, ”Welp, I'm full, I shall retire myself to my chamber.” he bowed and then headed upstairs.

”Hmph.” Jasmine shook her head at her brother's antics before getting up as well, ”I'm going to take a shower,”

”Sure,” her mother took on a thinking pose before adding, ”If you're going to that there, tone down your timbre, will ya?”

”I hate you all...”

━━━━━━▲━━━━━━

With a click, the door closed. Jered made his way to the window and opened it up, looking skywards in hopes of glimpsing at his feathery friend. Squinting his eyes, he could vaguely make out a small dot diving towards him.

He cackled, ”Here she is...”

The crow flapped her wings before halting atop the window's ledge, peering at him curiously, ”Hey there...” he nudged his forefinger forward, letting himself be preened by her peck. He smiled before his expression morphed into bafflement as he caught sight of a flock of crows moving acrobatically in the air, dipping down at him.

”Well s.h.i.+t...” just as he was about to retreat, the wave of black dots that were about to flood him over stopped mid-air before each of them settled somewhere, looking at him with an intensity he wasn't aware crows were capable of. Something that he found to be queerly incredible was the emotions he felt behind those black beady eyes, which was ridiculous for he couldn't comprehend how it was possible, yet it was like there was a strand of thoughts interlinking them all to him, allowing him to feel what they were feeling.

Jered gently brought his hand up and beckoned to one of the foreign crows to scoot closer, which it did without hesitation as it landed on his shoulder after a relatively short flight. He s.h.i.+fted his finger upon it, caressing the bird's feathery body from its head down to its tail as it cawed in delight.

”As much as I'd like to study this weird phenomenon, which I link it to my so-called affinity to crows, it'd draw too much attention having such a large flock of you buzzing around here...” he mumbled to himself, uttering the last words loud enough for them to hear, ”Hmm... could you please go settle down somewhere else?” he asked whilst concentrating on the intention behind his request, knowing it was the trick to successfully communicate with them, ”Oh, you can stay there.” he stopped the emerald-eyed female crow.

The crow on his shoulder tilted its head sideways, its eyes blinking at him before it took off and departed from his house into the sky, the rest of the flock following its example as they each relocated themselves elsewhere, with only his apparent Spiritual Animal remaining there.

”Well then... I should give you a name considering you'll be staying with me for a long time.” he smiled, hustling closer to the ledge as he wholly examined her, ”I'm not good with names but...” he stared at her eyes, ”... I believe Esmeralda would be fitting for you, wouldn't you agree?” he chuckled when he saw her waving her wings in supposed agreement, not that the connection between them was telling him otherwise.

”Esmeralda it is then...”

[ You have named your Spiritual Animal 'Esmeralda', confirm your choice? ]

[ Accept