You’ll always mean something to me. I just wish you weren’t so annoying sometimes.

Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Current Date: July 8, 2023

Character: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 31
Current residence: Xiang Po, Terraphim
 

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Do I always get along with my twin? I wish, but I think that this would lead to things possibly feeling a little boring—just a feeling, little more. I could be wrong, mind you. Always getting along with Jaela could lead to things around not changing very much; they could be the same as they always had been, but I don’t know that this is really how things would work out, not really.

For one thing in particular, our elemental gifts are on two very opposite ends of things and while both can damage things irreparably if allowed, I can douse hers out but unless under very specific conditions, hers will never really be able to overtake mine. Not that I’ve ever said anything about that; it’s a silent understanding we have that our powers both have strengths and weaknesses, but I’d never use them against her and vice versa. Families who end up taking that route confuse me to no end.

Are there days when she frustrates me, and, in turn, are there days when I frustrate her to the point that we’ll both need to spend time apart, not being near one another for a short while until we settle again? Well, yeah. Now, considering that we all live within the same home, there are times when being apart is a little more difficult but not fully so. There are means if you’re willing to find them.

We rarely feel cross with one another for more than a few hours, as is. Spending time outside and apart from one another will do that just fine. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t times when I like to remind her that yes, she’ll always mean something to me—the world, really—but that there are days I just wish that she wasn’t quite as annoying sometimes.

It’s never really a jab at something she might or might not have done; the times I’ve reminded her, with either exasperation or the hint of a joke, that she annoys me to no end, are those when I’m usually too tired to deal with her outgoing nature. That’s the one thing that makes us who we are even more.

There is Jaela, always willing to put on a smile even when she’s not feeling it. The playful, extrovert, outgoing one. She’s a little too stubborn for my taste but it has gotten us out of trouble when we were younger.

And then there’s me, the older one of us two, the introverted one who’d much rather just mind my own business unless someone comes to me asking for help. I never turn someone away who needs it. I’m the one who’ll be able to talk us out of sticky situations and I have more patience than she might ever do.

We’re our own separate person even though our souls are attached firmly together. The why of that is for another time altogether, there’s no real need to get into that at this point. We look nearly identical, though as of quite a few years now, we’ve found means of adding streaks to our hair since we’re both fond of wearing it in very similar looks. Even without, I’d like to think that the boys would be able to tell us apart, I’d be a little miffed if not, really.

As it stands, I know she has days when she finds me as frustrating as I do and that’s all there is to it. The perfect family doesn’t exist, don’t get me started on that. No amount of trying to make me believe that there is a family or a household out there that lives every single day in perfect harmony without a single drop of frustration, no matter how minimal, will make it true. I know better. No one is perfect in this world, no amount of wanting to be perfect will make you perfect.

So yeah, there are days when I’ll feel a little worse for wear than I want to be, but I’ll also do my best to not take that out on anyone. It’s no fault of theirs if I’m feeling a little cruddy. That one part, I feel, is something everyone should get a 101 course on. Even if you’re feeling under the weather, no one has to deal with you being a grump about it. Just don’t go out and about unless it’s an absolute necessity and there you have it. A recipe for not being a pain to anyone’s buttocks.

Then again, that’s just my take on things and I know that not everyone lives by the same rules I do. I’m not here to police anyone, after all.

Final Word Count: 781

I’ll show you my wings if you turn into a cat again.

Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Current Date: November 7, 2057

Character: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 94, physically about 25
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
 

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I’m sure that some people would possibly like to claim that I might be a little bit of a bird brain. I’d like to disagree. It isn’t because I foster birds when they need it that I am a bird brain. What does it even mean to have a bird brain anyway? I know that for a lot of people, it means that they’re thought of as being idiots and shallow, but birds aren’t stupid. Some of them might be shallow but I’ve seen enough birds in my life—including my beloved Copernicus—to know that plenty of them are very far from being shallow.

I’d like to think that, if the thought behind bird brain is that you’re shallow and stupid, no one thinks of me that way. I don’t know what I would have done to deserve to be called this way. I’d like to think of myself as someone who isn’t shallow and while I might have my stupid moments, no one is going to convince me otherwise that everyone out there does too.

Now, I’ve spent enough time with birds that, sure, there are times when I have dreams about birds. Years upon years ago, when I first had to let Copernicus go after having had so many years with him, nearly all of my bird-related dreams were about him but, as time went on and I started fostering birds in need of a quiet spot to heal up, my dreams began to shift a little. Now, I don’t have bird-related dreams all that often, but they do happen.

This last dream I had was strange enough that I’m still trying to wrap my mind around it. I can’t tell that it was just a dream because it reminded me of a moment I had with one of the first birds I ever fostered. It was a long time ago, but it still remains somewhat in my memory. I am not crazy, by the way. I know that birds aren’t telepathic animals though some possibly could be if they are more than birds.

As far as that memory is concerned, it was the day or so after I’d settled the merlin into the sanctuary area of the yard. I was checking in on it and its wing as this was the reason for its presence with me. It was calm in my presence but whenever I tried to gently reach for its wing to check out how it was doing, it would balk. It wouldn’t so much try to hurt me in any way, but it would move that side of its body back just so, as though put it out of my reach, and then tip its head back a little, again, as though daring me to approach and touch it.

It took a lot of cajoling but on the fourth day I was finally able to check in on that wing and it was healing well.

Now, in the dream, things turned out a little differently. For one thing, the bird I had settled into the sanctuary was a peregrine falcon, the size is fairly different from a merlin. From memory, though that may be biased, it was the other wing to the one in the dream but that is a minimal difference. Its behaviour was very similar, however.

On the first day, as far as the dream happened, I couldn’t even approach it at all to check on it. On the second day, things changed. It gave me an almost haughty look and I swear, in my mind, as it looked at me as though I was little more than an annoyance, I heard it speak to me. It told me that it would show its wing to me if I turned into a cat again.

With that alone, I’m sure that it can be understood that this dream was a little baffling. There are a few things wrong with this whole thing and the first one of them is that I have no knowledge, nor abilities, to turn into a cat of any sort. It isn’t in my blood at all, and it still makes me shake my head in mild amusement now that I can sort of look back at the dream and try to figure it out. I don’t know if I’m the odd one out that I can remember most of my dreams rather clearly for a while after I wake up and even a day or two later.

I can’t understand why my dream would take that turn. Cats, even smaller ones as I see it, are too big for peregrines to eat, let alone carry anywhere. While it might have possibly happened, I don’t know that I’ve ever read of that even happening anywhere. So, I don’t know what it would have gotten out of me turning into a cat if I’d been able to.

As I couldn’t manage the request, all through the dream—which only lasted a few days more—I had to go without being able to check on its wing and, well, by the last day of the dream, my feathered companion was gone from the sanctuary without any signs of having ever been there. I know I woke up not long after that, so who knows what the whole thing was supposed to mean.

Final Word Count: 892

This goes beyond a simple problem. This is… worse. And entirely your fault.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 94, physically about 25
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
Final Word Count: 792 words
 

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Recently, we’ve fostered a pair of ravens that was more than a little handful. I can’t say that they were difficult to handle compared to some of the others that I’ve had to pleasure of taking care of over the years, but they were very much so a mischievous pair that didn’t seem to understand the meaning of rest. Now, I don’t claim to be able to understand bird chatter or their talk. I can’t claim that they understand what I’m telling them either, but at times, there’s a sort of connection.

Most of the time, the birds will just sort of rest and heal up and mind their own business in the area that’s set up for them to enjoy and that will be the end of that. There’s not much else to it. That’s the point, too. They’re not being sent to us—to me—so that I’ll just constantly be there with them to watch over their every little move. Sure, I check in on them every so often, I bring food out to them but that’s more or less that.

These two ravens, though, they were something else entirely. Faith said they were possibly from the same family. One was definitely smaller than the other, but they were close, the littler one was constantly making sure to keep closer to the bigger of the two, even though it was clear that this wasn’t always pain-free. That wasn’t hard to tell. In a way, the two were with me because of the little one, but the other one clearly was protective of its friend and that was fine.

When I showed them the rather large enclosure—most of the yard, honestly—they didn’t seem to balk. They settled on one of the nearest posts areas and that’s where I would find them almost every time I checked in on them and brought them a few extra for food. At times, they moved spots but not by much, as though the bigger one really did know that moving too much was detrimental to its smaller pair.

I swear, though, when I first got them and I got my first look at the bigger of the two, I felt as though its gaze passed on a message my way. It was brief. The glance was broken fast but then, the look it seemed to throw to the smaller of the two spoke volumes. You might not think birds are expressive but, let me tell you, they’re expressive when you are able to read them the way I am.

I’m pretty sure that the big guy—could have been a girl, but you know—had just given me an exasperated look that tried to scream that this current situation was more than just a simple problem. Its gaze, as it turned to its pair, conveyed that this was worse than a simple problem and it was all the little one’s fault.

Maybe, in a way, I’m reading way more into this than there is really any need to, but it still is how I feel about it. I could tell that neither one of them truly wanted to be right where they were, but they sort of had accepted their fate. The way Faith presented the issue to me is that the one who had called her in had stated that the pair had seemed to honestly have been asking for help. The little one had both of its wings tangled in something that no one could understand the origins of. Thin wire like what had been used isn’t something any of us use, not really. Possibly our few hunters but I’m sure they’d have used them more responsibly.

Really, though, they’ve been with us for a few weeks, just while we make sure that the little one gains back all safe and strong motions in their wings. They’ve gotten better but now that they can move around better, it’s clear that they’re playful, though not in a bad way. It’s in a handful sort of way. Whenever I step in, I almost immediately end up with the little one on my shoulder, hopping just a little and looking through my hair, as though trying to find something. Once or twice, it was the other way around and I found things in my hair that really shouldn’t have been present but, you know, it’s just one of those things.

I’m just glad that it was getting better as fast as it was, that was the important part, in the long run. They’ve been released about a couple of weeks back but I’m pretty sure they haven’t gone very far, I’ve found a few things on my window sills every other morning.

This isn’t a problem I imagined I’d ever have, but I guess supernatural stuff works differently.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – New York City
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human
Age: 31
Current residence: New York City Ruins, New York
Final Word Count: 855 words
 

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“Ugh, the ghost in our apartment is so annoying right now, I’ve barely been getting any sleep.” The words come from a woman that I would pin as being maybe just a little older than I am, but it’s been weirdly hard to pin an age on people anymore. Some look like they’ve aged a decade or three thanks to the snow, others, not so much.

We’re settled at one of the few new lakes that have more or less been designated as washing spots. Whether the spot is used for washing clothes, or even people washing themselves, though, for the most part, I don’t get why they would do the latter as we have running water in the apartments, this place is a designated spot and we see all types of people here.

Washers and dryers aren’t high on the list of things that need to be fixed. While we have running water and running electricity, it is solar for the most part and washers and dryers would be a strain on the system, as I understand it. I don’t really mind, I like doing my laundry this way.

Usually, I try not to listen to the discussions happening around me. I mind my own business. This is something I’ve done for most of my life, and it hasn’t changed in recent years. Last year, we had a new couple that moved into our building. They lasted maybe all of four months before they were gone again. I doubled down on ignoring them every second I could, her behaviour drove me crazy, and I can only imagine it’s why they moved elsewhere.

The woman just a few paces away from me, though, she heaves this huge sigh, as though the whole world is against her. It’s hard to ignore her when there are so few of us around the lake and she’s talking pretty loudly. The part that’s not helpful to the situation is that there isn’t anyone there for her to talk to. She’s talking to herself. I’m not pinning any crazy-hat on her at this point, but this is what it sounds like to me.

Though, on that same note, I’m aware that some people will complain out loud while in a small group setting while hoping that someone will take the bait and start talking to them. Jaela has explained that one to me a few times and I just don’t get it. If I want to talk to someone, I’ll go to them directly and start talking to them instead of airing out whatever seems to be bothering me for the whole world to hear.

Undeterred by the lack of anyone answering her, she heaves another sigh, as though she’s clearly completely exasperated. A quick glance around the lake shows that we’re all just quietly scrubbing, rinsing and squeezing the water out of our clothing items. No one seems to be paying her any mind.

“You know, this isn’t a problem I ever thought I would have.” Her words have taken on a slightly haughty tone, as though now complaining in some way because none of us are paying attention. That or her imaginary friend is snubbing her. Don’t mind me, I’ve had weird sleep lately too and most people annoy me with very little effort but I’m still here, doing my part, aren’t I?

“I guess supernatural stuff works differently now.” She sniffs and I find myself closing my eyes a moment so as to not roll them. People are so over-dramatic. It’s not because you haven’t been getting great sleep—I use myself as a fine example here—that you have to blame something that might or might not even exist, and then claim that it is at the source of it all because it does whatever it wants.

I know I haven’t been getting great sleep because there’s just a lot of my mind and I’m restless. I know that this will work itself out, it’s just one of those things. I’m not going to start thinking that there’s a ghost in our apartment and it is nagging me, keeping me awake, most likely because it might be bored, or something. I like living my life firmly anchored in the here and now.

“You can’t just leave like that, you’re breaking the circle!” Her sudden screeching makes me do a small double-take, I look at her for just a moment as one of the men that had been around the lake walks away, his small basket of clothing on his hip. I look back to the small pile next to me, finish scrubbing the item, rinse it out, carefully squeeze the water out of it and half fold it back into my own basket.

As I expected, the moment I ease to my feet, she screeches a second time and starts flailing with a shirt she’d been washing. She doesn’t, thankfully, get up to try and follow me. I would have had to put her back in her place if she’d done that and I don’t think either one of us would have enjoyed it. Some people are just strange.

I learn something new every time I let you in my house. I’m starting to regret it, too.

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Terraphim – Royal Bloodline
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Dragon – Reborn, shifter
Age: 34
Current residence: Xiang Po, Terraphim
Final Word Count: 779 words
 

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I have no memories of whatever happened between the time when I passed, and the following moment—I’m not even sure how much time passed, either—when I was reborn. I’m not even sure what higher power decided that I was worthy of being reborn, either. All I really do know is that I died, and, eventually, life found me once again and I was reborn.

Except, I still was reborn as an adult, and I was reborn as a dragon.

Don’t ask me how that works out. I haven’t asked, I haven’t had a need to find out and I’ve just been grateful that I was somehow actually able to save him. I had been more than willing to give up my last little bit of, well, everything for him and yet, somehow, it worked out for the better.

It took time, of course, before I found some comfort in a form that was different from that of the dragon’s own. I might have settled in that garden, but it wasn’t my home. It became my home a little later on when it was clear that his health had finally returned to him and that he was well enough.

Things, over the years, have changed. Memories of the past have somewhat faded over time, but they still remain, and I know that I can seek them out from wherever it is they’ve settled in, in my mind.

There is one memory that comes and goes. Its origins are faded, though, clearly, we were quite young. Not as young as we could have been, as there still were only the two of us in that memory when I know that we were three, at the very beginning. That is one memory that I cannot fully bring back to the surface. Kaela’s presence in my mind and heart has faded to near nothing and I can barely recall when it last was, that she passed.

The strange memory that has been with me recently is from a time of in-between. A time without Kaela, but still a time when I feel as though we were too young to be spending as much time alone as we were.

It’s difficult to make heads or tails of it, really. The memory seems to revolve around an unwanted visitor that seemed to come by fairly often. A visitor with which came knowledge but… not always knowledge either one really cared to know. This one instance of the memory is closer to a moment after one of that visitor’s latest drop-in to the house.

The more I focus on it, the less I’m able to grasp anything that truly has to do with it but there was always something about his visits, the learning of something new about him or the general happenings of the village. Something fairly unsavoury and the sense I do get from the memory is that we both were starting to regret our decisions to have let him in, that very first time. Any visits following that first time, I do just barely recall that he used to let himself into the little place we called our own, even if he hadn’t been invited.

What I can’t make heads or tails of, is whether or not it was the knowledge he brought with him that frustrated us, or the simple fact of his presence and, honestly, I would have thought that it was possibly a little bit of both. It’s really hard to know and I’m not even sure why I think about it as much as I do. It’s just been so long since any of that has mattered but the memory is a little nag at the back of my mind.

As though, somehow, my brain is telling me that I have to figure this out as there is something relating to that memory, that has to do with my current, day-to-day life. If I can find, perhaps, the link between the two, the memory will release its hold and I’ll finally be able to let it rest in peace, as it should have remained.

I haven’t brought it up to Jaela yet, her hands are full with the boys, though they are growing beautifully. I never expected either one of us to have little ones. The presence of Vivian remains with me, even now. The little one that never made it out of her womb alive. The little one I took into my spectral arms when I was part of the in-between and held to myself to soothe their tears before they settled into a proper rest. All four of her children were, and still are, beautiful.

Maybe I was a little quick to judge you, but can you blame me? The first time we met, you were wrapped in a blanket and inching down the hall like a caterpillar.

Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 29
Current residence: Xiang-Po, Terraphim
Final Word Count: 724 words
 

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She still didn’t know what to make of the little girl. The girl and her mother, not-quite newcomers into their area, had come to the door of their offered haven, asking if they could be housed for a few days while they figured out their situation. This wasn’t unusual, though it wasn’t all that common that anyone came to them.

It was a relief most of the time to know that the women in the area felt safe in the presence of their partners or husband, though, just the same, Naela knew that some were too afraid of the men in their lives to even seek shelter away from them and there was nothing they could actually about that particular part, tempting as it was to find all of the women themselves. The fact that there was a haven at all was not spoken of out loud, it was on a need-to-know basis, from women, to women, and it was quiet knowledge.

The woman and her little girl had been led to a quiet room off to the side—something Jaela had done as she had been the one around when the pair had come about. Naela had been notified of their new guests and it had been while she’d brought them a bit of food and water that she had her first proper encounter with the girl.

Five or six at most, their youngest guest had been wrapped in a blanket and inching her way down the hall, a bit like a caterpillar. It had made her pause and watch the girl for a little while before she’d moved on to the proper bedroom and had introduced herself to their new guest. There was no explanation given about the girl’s behaviour other than ‘this was normal’. Naela let it be.

They had stayed for a few days before going on their way and every time the pair joined one of them for a meal, the little girl had always been wrapped in that blanket and it had baffled both of them. It had been in the middle of the summer and the heat had felt oppressive. At least, to Naela it had felt oppressive and yet she had all of the necessary means in keeping herself and those around her cool; not that she often made use of it unless it was in private.

One evening, the mother had come to her, telling her that she had managed to reach out to her cousin and that they would be leaving come morning. It was made aptly clear that no, the mother, and her child were not going back to the man they had escaped from but even then, lies are usually just so easy to offer in situations like these.

The following morning, the pair had gone without even so much as a goodbye, something Naela felt slightly unsettled by. All others that had come to them before had at least let them know they were leaving and had been walked back to the door leading into the open world once more but not the pair.

Asking her sister about the pair offered no extra answers; neither one of them had been there to see the mother-daughter duo leave and it was impossible to know where they had gone off to. Not that it was essentially their problem by that point. The moment the women left, they left. While they were within the safety of the walls, they were under their care but outside was something else altogether and this was always made clear to their uncommon but new visitor and even more so rarer return visitors.

On that same afternoon, Naela had quietly spoken to her sister, mentioning the daughter’s behaviour with a small shake of her head and she had been surprised to hear that yes, while the daughter had come about wrapped in that blanket, little more than her eyes showing, Jaela had never seen the crawling around act.

In the end, it didn’t matter, not really. She doubted the pair would come back their way and knew that she couldn’t be expected to understand every single one of their guests as they came their way. Some would be unwilling to share their trauma and strange behaviour was possibly a given. In the end, it was all right.

I’ve decided I’m going to woo you. Flowers? Check. Expensive candies? Check. A hand ready to hold yours? Also check.

 
Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 28
Final Word Count: 685 words
 

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Teenagers. I refuse to claim any understanding of their behaviours; I think it wouldn’t do me much good. One minute, they’re acting like the world is meant to bow down to them but the next, oh the next someone they like comes into their line of sight and their whole behaviour changes.

The best example of this is Kuanyin. The boy hasn’t changed at all in the last year and a half. He still seems to believe he’s better than everyone else and somehow, his father is unable to see that the boy has made no progress while in the group settings. If it was one-on-one learning, maybe things would be different but it simply is not the case.

The boy has, however, recently discovered girls. Much to his father’s dismay, I’m certain. He might be focused on being high and mighty one moment but the next, oh, a young girl near his age might be wandering on by, for any reason, and he’ll go gaga.

I’ve witnessed one such event just a few days ago and I must say, I was impressed by the complete change in him. Sadly, that change has an edge of creepiness to it for how much he seems to want to prove his love and devotion for the girl in question who so happens to have crossed his path. He’s not kept it to a single girl. Had that been the case, I suppose it would have been almost all right but it’s just not.

I’ve heard him tell the poor girl that he had decided he was going to woo her. He used the term woo. He told her that he would get her flowers, expensive gifts, and whatever else she would want. Then, as she looked completely baffled by his sudden interest in her, he went on to tell her that his hand was plenty ready to hold hers.

I’m almost relieved to say that she stared at him for a few seconds before turning to leave. He didn’t follow her, he did look like a kicked puppy but I saw him repeating the same sappy thing to another girl only a few hours later. Why I’ve had to be around the places he’s been at, is beyond me, I wish I hadn’t.

On that same note, I suppose it might be a good thing that someone is aware of his behaviour. Plenty of the girls—and women—in the area know to come to my sister or me if there are any issues. We take shit from nobody and we have started something of a safe haven. It’s not much, it’s certainly no great housing for anyone looking to relax and have a good time but it is a safe spot for women who no longer feel safe around their husbands or partners.

I understand that certain women will raise their hands to their partners much the same way some men will, but the latter seems much more common, it’s why we’ve opened this little housing to the women who might need it.

Looking at the boy and this new behaviour of his, I feel like we might have more visitors on our hands before too long. I’ll keep my sister and our partners aware of the information. I wouldn’t want him to disturb others in the class if he begins to act that way at any and all times, it certainly wouldn’t be the way to go.

As is, I currently have better things to do than keep an eye on the idiotic boy. I can’t imagine that his father approves of this new behaviour so maybe I’m worrying for no reason at all. Still, I’d rather be alert to these things than have them go right on by under my nose without my ever seeing them. Women—and men, I know—deserve to be treated with respect at all times. Not a single soul out here is any better than anyone else and I refuse to see people be faced with violence without them having any chances at an escape route.

I can sense your envy from here. Don’t worry, I won’t rub it in.

 
Timeline/World: Until Tomorrow – New York City
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human
Age: 30
Final Word Count: 705 words
 

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Some people are idiots. No one is going to be able to change my mind on this. I might not have majored in psychology or psychiatry like some other people that seemed to like to read people and understand their every motive, but I can tell when someone is an idiot and the new couple that moved into our building are idiots. More aptly, the girl is an idiot and I don’t know how the guy she’s dating is dealing with it because he keeps on giving me these exasperated, ‘I’m so sorry she’s behaving this way’ looks whenever she’s around.

If he thinks that this might endear me to him, he’s got it pretty wrong and I’m not even interested in getting to know either one of them better, not as long as she’ll act the way she does.

I mean, I can get it, you might love someone—or think you do, anyway—but that someone still has these moments that make you wonder just what it is you saw in them. I think that this is possibly what’s been going on here. I bet that around other guys or maybe around people she might really know, she won’t behave this way, but right now, she’s behaving in a way that makes me want to lock her in a closet and just wait until the light goes on in her brain somehow that her behaviour is completely idiotic.

I’m just there, minding my own business. I’m at the back of the building, taking care of the little garden we have growing there because that seems to be the norm anymore, everyone has a small garden. I can’t say it’s been a bad experience, I’ve actually sort of really appreciated having this garden to tend to, it’s been a weirdly soothing balm for me.

But yeah, I’m just there, I’m pulling weeds that still refuse to stop cropping up and there she comes out of the building, her boyfriend in tow. I don’t even look up, why would I? I don’t need to know who comes and goes from the building, not really. I pull weeds but she randomly just tells me—has to be me, there was no one else but her, her boyfriend and little old me—that she can sense my envy from where she stood but that I didn’t have to worry about it, she wouldn’t rub it in.

That did make me lift my head, I just looked up to her quietly, maybe waiting for her to elaborate and, behind her, as has become the norm, her boyfriend is just giving me this ‘I don’t know what she’s talking about’ look. The thing is, though, is that he doesn’t try to pull her away, he doesn’t move from his spot, he just waits until she starts moving and he moves to follow her.

Jaela would probably try to tell me that he’s acting like he’s either emotionally dependent on her and needs her, thus lets her walk all over him, or he’s just a real submissive kind of guy and that one doesn’t sit so well with me. I get that there are people like that but it’s so weird to think that he possibly doesn’t even do much thinking for himself.

Though, on that same note, he must. I don’t think that he’d be giving me these apologetic looks over her shoulder if he didn’t have his own mind and thoughts on the subject. So I just don’t know what to think but I think that she honestly must believe that I somehow envy her the man she’s dating though I don’t see why I would. I have my own very fine and very wonderful man at my side. I don’t need someone else’s and especially not if he’s going to let her talk this way to people who are technically strangers.

If she talks that way to every woman she crosses, it must take them ages to get to their destination and then back. I just don’t get people like that. I haven’t brought it up to Jaela, she’d try to analyze the whole thing from end to end and to, well, what end? No thank you.

You can’t keep fighting me on this. Not when you know this is the right thing to do.

 
Timeline/World: Newfound Worlds – Terraphim – Royal Bloodline
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Dragon – Reborn, shifter
Age: 33
Final Word Count: 669 words
 

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How much do I regret my first death? I regret it in a way that cannot be put into words. I regret it in ways that will never be fixed but, at the same time, it gave me a second chance at life, a better chance. I just wish that this better chance had not cost me my life. I still remember the sight of Jaela perched above me as I was bleeding out. Wounded and with life escaping as water seeps through cloth.

I just barely remember that we argued without really arguing. I remember the aching coldness of death as it climbed its way into my bones but I remember the duality of the situation because I could feel her heat trying to overtake the both of us. She just was trying so hard to keep me alive but we both knew it was pointless.

My last few words to her were about how she couldn’t just keep on fighting me on this situation. There was no saving me, no matter that I didn’t want to die. Letting me go was the right thing to do; it would give her a fighting chance out there to not have to lug me around as I likely weakened with passing hours and maybe even days.

If only I’d known what kind of life she would end up having to deal with once we separated, I would have struggled some more to stay alive. I would have done more to prevent her life from going down the pathway it did but there’s no point in dwelling on that now. In a way, I think that the path that both of our lives took is what brought us to where we are now.

Had I not passed on, it’s very likely that I wouldn’t be here now. Had she not left me where I told her to, we might still have been together and we perhaps would never have been reunited with both Stephen and Tony. Jaela wouldn’t be the happy mother she is now. I know that the ink that is forever on her back is a mark that will never fade, not really. I could likely do something about it but I don’t know that it would help much. Those who judge her based on her past and not on the actions that brought her into the light are those who should not be paid any mind. She had no choice to become whom she did but, much like my death, that’s in the past.

Would I turn back time? I don’t know. Would turning back time really change anything? It likely would but it wouldn’t lead me to the way things are now and while there was too much pain and loss to be dealt with, it’s all in the past. Life is certainly not perfect now but it is much better than what it had been at one point. Two orphans, women at that, without any real education and with gifts that still frighten quite a few of the regular folks? I think we’d have spent the rest of our lives on the streets and I’d rather die again and watch my sister suffer for a few years so that we could find our way back here, right where we belong.

I wish I could forget that memory but, at the same time, I’m sure that my death is one of those things that have shaped us both. It changed us enough to lead us to where we are. It certainly changed me in a physical way and my rebirth is still a partial mystery to me, but it mostly changed Jaela. Had our roles been reversed, I’m sure that my life without her at my side would have been no easier than hers. I’m incomplete without her.

We might not always see eye to eye but we’re still twins—triplets at one point and we’ve adapted but it was hard—and we’re two halves of a whole.

Sometimes it’s fun; sometimes they’re a pain in my neck.

 
Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Naela Shiroshinrei
Race: Human – Meta – Water
Age: 92, physically about 25
Final Word Count: 645 words
 

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I don’t think I’ll ever stop picking up strays. It’s just who I am. I’m also on the foster list for any bird that needs some rehabilitation time because that’s also who I am and it reminds me of raising Copernicus now and again. It’s been so long since he’s gone but on some days, I still feel like he’s still with me but I know he’s not.

Is it sunshine and rainbows every single day when we have fosters to deal with and handle? I wish. There are days when it’s fun and there are days when it’s a pain in the neck. There are days when it seems as though everything is fine and perfect but on other days, it’s like everything goes wrong and no amount of cajoling does any good.

I’m not even sure why I ever really got started with birds. It’s a lifetime ago that I got Copernicus but I honestly can’t even really remember where I found him or why I was drawn to him. I’m pretty sure he was just this tiny thing and I helped raise him since his parents had abandoned him but that’s about as much as I remember from the first few years of his life. I’m getting old, it can’t be helped.

Well, not really. I know I’m getting old but it has nothing to do with not remembering. There’s a lot that happened before the dark years that I don’t really remember or that I can’t remember easily and I think that’s to be expected, in a way. I’m sure that most of us suffer from mild and not so mild post-traumatic stress disorder following those few years.

I can’t complain about them, myself. They weren’t terrible. They certainly weren’t great but they weren’t terrible. Not that I remember much from them but I suppose that this is better that way. I probably don’t even really want to remember those years for what little I’ve heard of others as to what went on.

In a way, I think that all the fostering and bird keeping and handling, it’s what I started with to help keep myself focused on the present. Not that I really need it anymore but it still is something to do and I don’t think I could ever stop it. This love I have for all things bird is just part of who I am and there’s something soothing to knowing you’re helping a feathery friend in need.

While the kids were young, there wasn’t as much fostering happening though I still had a few birds that were in and out of the house, mostly songbirds or seed eaters. I’ve only ever had birds of prey once the kids were out of the house and, even then, it hasn’t been all that common. Copernicus was a handful on his own and I don’t know that I would have really had the patience to deal with that more than just the one time. It’s easier with the littler ones, they require as much love but they’re not as picky on their food.

It can’t be that strange a hobby, this thing. There are others who also tend to do things similar to this and I’m quite certain they’re not seen as strange. We all have our own things we do that keep ourselves entertained or focused; I think it’s our way of just keeping ourselves going.

I might be taking a break once this little family goes, though. A couple more weeks and they should be fine for their final flight. It’s been a hard few months and there have been a lot of birds and I think the house needs to be quiet for a little while. I’m sure I’m not the only one longing for a peaceful night so we’ll take that particular route soon.