When the sun rose, it didn’t actually wake me up. I sleep like a brick through the mornings after those hard nights. What actually snapped me up was something pecking its beak into my back.

“Chee, cut it out!” I moaned, turning myself over and watching the pinkgeon tumble off my bed and onto the floor, unhurt. I don’t think those things could actually get hurt.

“Chirp chirp.”

“Didn’t Isa feed you this morning?” I yawned.

“Chirp chirp.”

“Come on, I’ll get you something.”

“Chirp.”

Chee jumped up and down excitedly, waiting for me to pick her up. I sighed and tucked her under my arm as I walked out of my room. I poured Chee some bird food, put it on the window ledge, and watched her eat before jumping out the window and bouncing down the side yard. The cuteness of pinkgeons always made me smile. They were just small spheres of pink adorable bird.

“I was going to wake you up,” Dad said, passing by me to go out the door. “I’m off to work. Make sure to feed Chee around noon.”

“Yeah, I know. Have a good day.”

“You too, son.”

With that, he walked out the door and teleported away. Yeah, we didn’t always talk too much in the morning, but I wasn’t a big talker. Besides, once he started talking, he usually didn’t stop until a couple hours later, so a simple good morning was relatively good for my sanity. I need a break anyway.

“Morning, bro,”Isa smirked, ruffling her fingers in my hair and getting her hand stuck.

“Morning to you too,” I yawned again. I helped her untangle her fingers and gave her a morning hug. “Sleep well?” I asked.

“Like a brick,” she laughed.

“Hey, I fed Chee for you. She was pecking me awake.”

“Oh, thanks,” she said absentmindedly. “I forgot about that.” She grabbed her purse and also headed for the door. “I’m going down to The Living for work, ok?”

“Alright, have fun.”

“You too.”

And with that, she was gone. Yeah, everyone in the house moved around pretty fast. We didn’t really sit down and just relax. Well, my dad and sister didn’t. Sitting down doing nothing was pretty much all my mom and I did. I quickly went to the kitchen, grabbed a small fruit for our breakfast, and retreated to my room before Mom could come out of her room. She didn’t really invade my space on more than just an occasion or two.

I sighed and sat up in my bed with a big notebook, a pen, a few pencils, and my pencil sharpener. After taking a bite of fruit, I got to work writing for a few hours like I normally did. Well, I didn’t normally just write the whole time actually. I usually bounced between writing, making music, and moping in my bed.

*   *   *   *   *

A little past noon I got hungry again, and put down my stuff to go get something. I had been hearing my mom talking nonstop like she usually did, but she hadn’t even tried calling me out of my room. The respect of my privacy and time was concerning. It probably meant she was too busy violating someone else’s privacy and time then.

I walked past the living room to see Mom and some other woman talking. On the couch, she was avidly chatting with one of her friends, who was some kind of bug carvation. I was really bad with identifying variants. Studying the animal kingdom in The Living wasn’t something I’d gotten around to.

I tried tiptoeing past them, hoping they’d be too busy gossipping to each other to notice me, but before I could make it to the kitchen they both turned to me. 

“Oi,” called Mom. “Lecaere'enlaer, come here!”

I slowly inched over and stood in the center of the living room for them both to see. 

“He’s a twig!” Mom exclaimed in the carvation language. “He just won’t let anything stick onto him! I don’t even know if he can do any magic.”

“Sounds like my daughter,” the other mom groaned. “She’s got a magic deficiency and I don’t know what she even specializes in.”

I took a seat and had to sit there and listen to those two women talk while just feeling incredibly uncomfortable about the whole thing. Mostly a lot of talk about this other woman’s kid, and some remarks about me.

“Wish she would get a grip on her life.”

“You know, my son has been looking for some girlfriend,” Mom said. I in fact was not looking for a girlfriend. My mom seemed to think I always was though.

“Maybe I can show him my daughter,” the other woman said. “Maybe he can convince her to stop the transitioning nonsense. She needs someone mentally stable to share her time with for once.”

They both looked at me like I was a tool, and I tried to slink away. Luckily enough, they began slandering someone else in no time, so I got out unnoticed. I just went back to my room without lunch, not wanting to be commented on for whatever I decided to get. I crawled into my bed and got my writing notebook and pencils, but I could still hear Mom.

“Maybe we should arrange them together.”

“I would love it.”

“Where did the tadpole go?”

Nope, wasn’t about to do that. I grabbed my things and quickly climbed out the window. In the side yard, I ran away from the house to nowhere in particular. 

*   *   *   *   *

I stopped when I reached a hidden away little pond. I looked around, wondering where I had ended up. I don’t think I had ever seen this place before. It was secluded, tranquil, and kind of peaceful. Like a little piece of the world all to myself. Frogs croaked hypnotically and cicadas buzzed harmonically.

I laid down in the grass in front of a large tree next to the pond and opened my notebook. I glanced over at the water’s surface, noting the oddly large lily pads that drifted around, big enough for someone to lay on. Sights in The Village couldn't be beaten by anything in The Living.

Right as I started to do some writing, something drifted towards me. A semi-crumpled up piece of paper was blowing past me in the wind and I grabbed onto it. Apparently someone had really hated it to ball it up almost beyond reading, but I could make out the words. It was an ad.

“Newspaper writer wanted for The Carvation Daily. Wanted: Reporters, Article Writers, Story Authors, etc. Ask at the desk for more job openings.”

I took the flier and put it in the back of my notebook for later. The job didn’t even require me to go anywhere. Just send stuff in the mail. Maybe I could look into it later.