How did I not notice that you two were going out? It seems so obvious now.

Timeline/World: Birds of a Feather – Familial Matters
Characters: Jacomus Rochemont
Race: Human
Age: 29
Final Word Count: 559 words

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He’s my brother. I admit we were never really close because of the age gap between us and the fact that he never really was home while I was growing up but I still think I should have seen it. Jordan was always off somewhere on his modelling, even while he should have been in school and Olivia was in boarding school lost in the middle of nowhere. At times, I felt like our parents were trying to keep us out of the house and out of their way as much as possible. I’m the only one who never did go to boarding school but I think I have my precious Nickadee to thank for that. If not for him and his parents, I might have been shipped off too. Though there always was Eric to watch over me too, at least until Olivia was old enough for the whole boyfriend deal and he changed jobs so they could be together.

Jordan though, I should have noticed they were going out. There were the little signs every time they visited, how close they always stood together, the brush of fingers to the back of the hand, the little smiles shared in what I guess they thought were secrecy. I must have been blind to it back then but I can see it now when I look back through my memories. Though just maybe, my memories are embellishing the whole thing, maybe I think I saw more than there really was.

Jordan said they’d been dating in semi-secret for almost a decade before they came out to the public. I suppose that the whole thing being hidden had to do with the fact that they were model and manager. Some could have seen that as a bad thing, maybe. A bit like doctors dating their patients? I don’t know, I suppose it doesn’t really matter. I still wish I could have seen it, even if I wouldn’t have been able to really say anything about it but that’s beside the point, isn’t it? I could have been extra happy for them, I could have wished them all the best in the world, I could have—well there are so many things. Now that Kamal is gone, I somewhat feel like my brother has lost a part of his soul. They’d been together for so long, so close for so long. I don’t know what would happen if I were to lose Nicholas, I think it would kill me.

All I can really do at this point is to hold my brother when he lets me, support him in any way I might manage and just keep on hoping that I can be there for him whenever he might need it. I’m afraid of what he might do but he’s taken to staying in the guest house on the property instead of travelling all over the world like he’d mentioned wanting to do so I suppose that in a way, this is a small measure of comfort to be had. It isn’t much, it really isn’t and I’m terrified of how things will turn out. I just need Olivia to get back home, husband and children in tow, so we can all spend time with Jordan and let him know that he has us to rely on as he might need.

They’re getting a little better, don’t you think?

Timeline/World: New York City – Iathea
Characters: Fionn Del Ray
Race: Human
Age: 26
Final Word Count: 576 words

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I think we’ll be discovering new things about this planet until we die if we die. Miss Florence has been keeping us healthy and younger for what feels like forever and even our parents don’t look much older than we do. It was strange when we were younger but I think we’re sort of getting used to it, at least I know I’m getting used to it. It must be harder for the older generation to get used to it, the thought of being close to sixty but still being physically closer to thirty must be something out of a lot of science fiction books but it gives us more time with those we love.

We’ve been here on Iathea for almost three and a half years now, it doesn’t feel that long. Every day we find something new and wonderful to discover and it just awes me to no end. Just a few weeks ago, during the high tide when the water came to be almost level with our floor, a small little school of these very colourful fish came to sort of settle around where our stairs heading down normally were. We’d never really seen anything of the sort and we just spent a couple of hours watching them swim around.

Of the group, two or three seemed to lag behind the others a little, they weren’t as brightly coloured and it made us, though maybe mostly me, wonder. I didn’t want to bring them out of the water and away from the rest of their group though so we didn’t do anything beyond just watching them. When the tide started to recede and the majority of the school went with, I watched, I kept track, I wondered. Those three fishes that I’d noticed were staying behind and being someone who’s very close to my brother, it did bother me that somehow these little guys weren’t following the rest back into open waters.

So I did what I thought made sense, found a large container managed to get these little fishes and plenty of water into it and I started sort of half-nursing them to health in whatever way I could. I got them food I thought they’d eat—and they did—and I just made sure they had plenty of that and after a while, I was sure they were starting to get a little brighter in their colours, it was a comforting sensation that I was actually doing something right as far as these little guys were concerned.

I think that if I were to tell mom, she’d just shake her head at me and give me that amused smile of hers because I used to do this even before we left earth. I’d find the odd, small injured animal, I’d bring it back home and nurse it to health in any way I could. At first, I didn’t manage very well, I guess I just didn’t really know how but now that’s different. Now I know better than thinking that nothing but warmth and cuddles are going to help something wounded or sick get back to being healthy. I was a clueless kid, what can I say?

I’ll release these little guys in a few more days, I think. I just hope their buddies haven’t wandered off too far or that they’ll be able to get back together, else I feel like I’ll have done all of this for not much of a reason.