“This is the place, “ I said. “Ready to do our first real job?”
“Ready when you are,” the blue stallion next to me replied.
I gave the door in front of us three good raps and took a step back. “Coming,” came a faint voice from inside a few moments later. The sound of footsteps grew increasingly loud as someone inside approached the door. The door swung open and a frowning face peered out. The white unicorn stallion with a short lime green mane, upon opening the door, came face to face with my stomach before his spectacled eyes followed my body up to my face. He blinked once before glancing at my friend, then back to me. “Can I help you?” he asked tersely. He didn’t seem the slightest bit phased at my height, but that was to be expected given that I wasn’t the only comparatively tall creature walking the streets of this town.
“Yeah, we’re here about that quest you had posted yesterday," I explained, producing a copy of the poster the quest was written on. His frown seemed to deepen slightly.
“You don’t look like you’ve done much adventuring,” he said.
“We haven’t. This will be our first C Class job,” I said.
The stallion, named Data Point according to the quest poster, deadpanned.“I don’t think you’re cut out for this job,” he said. He backed into the house and began shutting the door, but before it could fully close a blue hoof was wedged in the door frame.
“Excuse me sir,” My companion said in a friendly manner. “I may be mistaken, but didn’t your quest have a “time sensitive” stamp on it?”
Data Point glared daggers at my friend. “It does,” he said simply.
“Then do you intend to wait on other questers that are more qualified than us for the task of retrieving your stolen goods?”
“I do. Now good da-“
“Just another moment of you time sir,” Frostbite interrupted as Data Point tried to close the door again. “Why wait for other adventurers that may not come? Your quest was posted yesterday and we seem to be the only ones interested in the job,” Frostbite explained. Data Point looked bitter at hearing that others may not come. “Sir, we may be new C Class adventurers, but we are still C Class. We need the experience, and you need your stuff back. It’s a win-win for everyone involved!” Data Point looked skeptical, but was clearly debating something in his head. “But if it makes you feel better, if we fail you don’t have to pay us a single bit. Plus, even if we die it’ll be no fur off your back, and you’d get the added benefit of never seeing our ugly mugs around here again,” Frost finished, giving the stallion a winning smile.
Data Point glanced between us, mulling something over in his head. Finally, he let out a frustrated sigh and grumbled a “fine” to himself. “Come inside and I’ll sign the contract.”
The door opened wider and we stepped inside. The room we stepped into could only be considered chaotically organized. Stacks of books lined the walls and towers were randomly erected around the room, the small space between the stacks making it hard to navigate. Of coarse, Data Point didn’t have any problems whatsoever weaving effortlessly through the book maze. I would’ve been amazed at the sheer number of books, but the ’Silver Oaks Library’ sign outside gave the hint that there would be a lot of them in this particular building. The only strange thing was that most of them were not on the shelves. There was a small table in the center of the room with a few books strewn about along with a globe and some other doodads. Data Point walked over to the table and turned back.
“Well?” he asked irritably. As he had been walking, Frostbite and I had stood in the doorway to take in our new surroundings. The question roused us and we began carefully weaving between the book towers. I was especially careful going down the single step by the door. Something gave me the impression that knocking one of the stacks over would not end well with our host, so I took it slow and steady.
We reached the table and Data Point used his horn to remove the books from the table. He floated them down to the floor next to him, creating a smaller version of the other towers around us.
I pulled the contract out of my satchel and placed it on the table. Data Point lit up his horn again and a quill and ink well popped into existence in his levitating white aura.
“Before I sign this, let me make it crystal clear what I want done here as I did not specify on the contract beyond the fact that I was stolen from,” Data Point started.
“I don’t know who stole my belongings because I was asleep at the time, so I can’t give you information on species or the like. I don’t know what way they went. That will be for you to figure out. I do know that they came and left through that window,” he said pointing his hoof at a window behind him. “I also don’t know why they decided to steal from me as most of my belongings have no real monetary value.”
He turned and looked at Frostbite with a very serious look in his eye before he continued. “However, the thief or thieves, among various other things, took the one extremely rare and expensive item I had here. I believe they were just taking things at random and happened to come across this item and took it too. The item was an egg I was researching. It is red and has a flame design on it. The reason why I emphasize it so much is because it is the only thing that you need to bring back. I don’t care about whatever else was stolen as long as you bring back that egg, got it?”
Frostbite simply nodded his understanding. Data Point looked up at me and I nodded as well.
“Good.” he said.
He dipped the quill into the ink well and quickly scratched down his signature on the contract. With that out of the way he floated the paper back to me, and I put it back in my satchel. We all headed for the door and Frostbite and I went outside. The two of us turned to leave, but Data Point spoke up again.
“One last thing.” he said. “Don’t let the egg touch direct sunlight.” Before either of us could ask why, Data Point slammed the door shut.
”Well,” I said. “He seems nice.”
Frostbite gave a humored exhale before responding. “Let’s check the window he pointed at. Might have something I can use to track down our target.”
I followed him over to the window and watched as he conducted his little search. It’s not like I didn’t want to help the guy, but tracking was something that he was infinitely better at than I was and I would most likely only get in his way if I tried. After a minute he came over to me and listed his findings.
“Looks like there were multiple beings here. Prints and markings have me thinking a griffin went inside and did the actual stealing while something with hooves stayed outside and played lookout. Number and size of hoof prints suggests pony. Not sure how many there actually are though.”
“Well, at least we have an idea of what we’re up against,” I add.
He nodded and pointed to the North, towards the forest a few blocks down. “I’m pretty sure they went that way, which doesn’t surprise me. If the burglary happened yesterday, we can still probably catch up to them fairly quickly.”
“Alright, let’s gear up and head out in an hour.” I told him.
—————
We walked up to the edge of the forest about forty minutes later. Frostbite wore a pair of saddle bags with an expansion enchantment on them that allowed for multiple days worth of supplies to be stored inside something that would normally only hold a few smaller items. I wore a light backpack with the same enchantment. I also wore a belt around my waist that held eight throwing knives and two daggers. There wasn’t anything in this forest that would call for heavier weapons, which suited me well considering I didn’t have enough money to buy any heavier weapons.
“Alright,” Frostbite said. “I’ll track, you follow and keep an eye out for anything.”
”Got it,” I replied.
He took his first steps into the forest with his head pointed at the ground, looking for signs of previous activity. It didn’t take long for him to find what he was looking for and then we were off.
—————
Nothing interesting had happened in the four hours since we had entered the forest, but I kept an eye out anyway. I’d seen enough movies to know that bad stuff happened only when someone let their guard down.
The going was slow but steady. Frost had lost the trail once or twice, but it had only taken him a minute to pick it back up. As I watched him work I couldn’t help but think a bloodhound would be jealous of his tracking ability.
“How we lookin’, boss?” I asked jokingly.
“The tracks are looking more fresh the further we go.” Frost said. “It looks like they’re not in much of a hurry. Maybe they thought they got away with it and are enjoying their stay in the forest.”
“All the better for us then.” I replied. “Though I hate to say it, we should probably stop for the night soon.”
Frostbite lifted his head and looked around for a second. “You’re probably right.” He said. “I hadn’t noticed how dark it was getting. Let’s go another twenty minutes before we set up camp.”
I nodded and we continued onward.
An hour later camp had been set up and Frostbite and I were eating around a fire. We didn’t bring a tent since the weather here was much more predictable than back on Earth. The weather schedule said it would be nice for the next week. Setting up and taking down a tent would also slow our progress. Instead, we just had a couple sleeping bags with built in pillows that we stored in my backpack.
Frostbite thought we had made good time, and at our current rate we would catch up with the thieves sometime the next day. We decided that I would take first watch while he slept.
—————
I was bored. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly wasn’t good. Nothing had happened on either watch during the night and nothing had happened all morning and afternoon. We were supposed to catch up with the thieves soon, but there was still no sign of them late into the afternoon. Frostbite assured me that we were close, but that didn’t alleviate my boredom.
It was just a few minutes before I was going to suggest we set up camp that I heard something. It sounded like uproarious laughter. I asked Frostbite if he had heard it too and he replied in the affirmative.
We waited until we heard it again and carefully made our way in the direction of the sound. We came upon a small clearing in the trees. The clearing had everything one would think of when they thought of camping. A couple of tents took up a good chunk of the available space and a few feet away a fire burned with a fresh log for a fuel source. Two griffins and three earth ponies sat around it seemingly exchanging stories from their pasts. This was clearly the source of the laughter we had heard earlier.
Frost and I had hidden in a bush at the edge of the clearing. I looked at him with my an eyebrow raised and a tilt of my head in the direction of the campsite. He gave a quick nod in response. We had found our targets.
—————
Frost and I had set up our own camp a little ways away from the thief camp. Far enough away that one of the camp’s inhabitants wouldn’t stumble upon us if they went to take a piss. Our setup wasn’t much, since it was just meant to be a place to rest until it got dark. We had used the time to come up with a basic plan of action.
A few hours after the moon rose into the night sky we packed up and headed back to the other camp. We sat in the same bush from earlier in the day to scope out the situation. The camp was the same as before, the only difference being that most of its previous inhabitants were nowhere to be seen. They were most likely sleeping in the two tents. One of the ponies from earlier still sat by the fire, playing lookout. Luckily his back was turned to us.
My lack of hooves allowed for a more stealth oriented approach, so I silently slipped out of the bush, a dagger in one hand, and carefully crouch walked to where the pony sat. My slow approach turned into a quick lunge as I threw my free hand around the pony’s neck and pulled him into the air as I held him close to my chest. I made sure to close off his windpipe so he couldn’t call for help. The pony struggled for a second before thinking better of it when I held the point of my sharp dagger to his throat.
“Struggle and you die.” I whispered into his ear. His muscles tensed in fear at my words. Before anything else happened, Frost made his way up to us and cast a knockout spell on the stallion. He relaxed in my arms and I slowly lowered him to lay on the ground. With that out of the way we made our way to the entrance of the left tent. I moved the cloth flap just enough to peak inside without letting much of the firelight in. I spotted the two griffins laying inside.
I pulled my head back and indicated how many were there to Frost. He nodded and cast the knockout spell on the already asleep inhabitants of the tent. We quickly repeated the process for the other tent. While usually used to put someone to sleep, if the spell was cast on someone who was already sleeping it just made them much harder to wake up.
Once we were sure nobody was going to wake up while we were still here, I went to search the first tent while Frostbite stayed to search the second one. I made a beeline to the bags in the back of the tent, careful not to step on a griffin. While I would normally hate to steal from someone, these guys were thieves and I didn’t mind dishing out a little karma to these assholes.
I opened up the first bag and started rummaging through it. There wasn’t much of interest, but the bag of bits hanging off the side definitely caught my eye. I took it and added the thirteen bits to my backpack. I had left my own currency back in town just in case something like this happened to us. Moving on to the only other bag in the tent, I opened it up. Sitting inside was the egg we had been sent to retrieve. I added it to my bag and continued to loot the bag for anything worth anything. The only things of note were a few low quality gemstones that I pocketed to sell later. They wouldn’t be worth much, but every bit counted.
Satisfied that I had everything worth taking I made my way outside where Frostbite was waiting. “No luck on my end.” He said. “How about you?”
“I got the egg, along with a few bits and some cheep gems.” I replied. With our prize within our grasp, we made like the bandits we left behind and disappeared into the night.
—————
We had made good time back to the town of Gotia. We had made it far enough that the thieves hadn’t caught up with us, if they had even tried to. We stepped out of the forest to be greeted with the mid morning light. Frost and I were in a great mood. We were about to finish our first C Class quest and it had gone off without a hitch. Once we turned in the contract and got paid it would be time for a celebration.
We made our way down the street and up to the front door of the Silver Oaks Library. Surely the library’s only resident was up by now. I gave it three good raps and waited for a response. It came quickly in the form of footsteps approaching the door. It opened and Data Point’s frowning face peered out. When he saw the two of us he quickly opened the door and beckoned us inside.
“Do you have the egg?” He asked.
“It’s right here in my bag.” I said. “You said to keep it out of the sunlight. That was the best I could do.”
“It should be fine. It’s not that fragile. Before we do anything else, let me close the blinds. You go wait by the table.” Data Point told me as he started weaving through the book stacks once again.
While Frost decided to see what tales the local book towers held, I waded my way over to the table just as Data Point closed the blinds on all of the windows, making the room much dimmer than it already had been. He made his way to the table and sat to my left. “Okay.” He said. “Take it out.”
I took off my backpack and set it on the table. I opened the large flap on top and reached my hand in. It came back out with the red egg we had been sent to find. It was roughly the size of both my fists together. Data Point’s eyes lit up as he saw it. I placed it on the table carefully before putting my bag back on.
“Excellent work you two!” Day Point said excitedly. The grin on his face showed nothing but the purest joy at having his egg returned. “I’ll let the guild know that the quest was finished and to have the payment sent to yo-“
He didn’t get to finish his sentence as a yelp from Frostbite cut him off. He had tripped down the single step by the door. I looked over just in time to see the first of many book towers fall. The ensuing domino effect was the stuff of legends. No one tried to stop the disaster happening right in front of us because we all knew there was nothing we could do to stop it. The last book tower in the chain tipped over, dropping books like deadly hail just as all the towers before it. The unique thing about this particular stack was that it was topped with an especially thick tome, most likely a dictionary of some sort, that caught on the blinds as gravity took hold of it. The blinds were torn from the window, letting the mid morning sun look straight into the library from the East.
“No!” Data Point shouted.
There was a small cracking sound behind us, hard to hear after the loud crashing of books meeting wooden floor. I turned to the table where the egg was now bathed in sunlight. There was a crack in the egg. Before anything else could be said, the crack grew larger until it encompassed most of the egg’s red surface. Suddenly the top half of the eggs shell burst into flame, causing me to back up a step in shock. The fire burned out quickly and in its place was a small bird with fiery red feathers. It stared directly at me and tilted its head slightly.
Everyone in the room stood completely still, too shocked at the series of events that had led to this. Data Point sat slack jawed. Frost had been the first to recover. “What was that!?” He asked.
The question must have broken Data Point out of his statuesque stupor because his face had contorted in rage. “Get out.” He said quietly. “And take the bird with you.”
I didn’t need anymore prompting. I knew the longer we stayed, the higher the risk our bodies would never be found. I carefully picked up the bird and what was left of the egg shell and high tailed it to the door. Frostbite followed close behind. As we went through the door Frost turned one last time to look into the building. “Um... sorry for breaking your egg.”
His only reply was a book sailing past his head at Mach 5. Frost shut the door and turned to me. “So... what now?”
[End Chapter One]
—————
Author's Note
Alright, here we go!
After years of being a lurker on the site I finally wrote something!
I wouldn't expect frequent updates due to college, but I'll try to get something out in a reasonable amount of time.
Criticism is welcome.
I heard later that the banging in the library had lasted for many hours. With nothing else to do, Frostbite and I made our way through the residential side of town.
“Dude, what the hell!?” I asked him.
“I know right? That little guy put on quite a show,” he said, pointing at the bird in my hand. I had it held carefully against my chest so it wouldn’t fall and hurt itself. It continued to stare at me as it had been doing since its birth not half an hour before. It tilted its head back and forth curiously. “And the look on Data Point’s face! I thought we were done for!”
“I don’t mean them! I mean what the hell is wrong with you!? We were so close to getting payed! How did you manage to fuck it up so bad? Rose is going to kill us!”
“What do you mean us? She wouldn’t be mad at you if you stabbed her in the face.”
“She’ll kill you then. The point is that someone still dies in this situation!”
He could tell exactly how pissed I was at him, and not just by my tone of voice. He suddenly found his hooves very interesting and his ears pulled themselves back. “Sorry. I couldn’t see very well and I tripped,” he said.
“What do you mean you couldn’t see, weren’t you raised in a cave?”
“Just because I have good night vision, that doesn’t mean my eyes don’t have to adjust to the dark. Those blinds were only closed for a few seconds before I tripped!” he defended.
“Fine, whatever. I guess it doesn’t matter now,” I said. We continued walking for a few seconds before Frost spoke up again.
“Did you see how those towers fell though? That was so weird. And that giant book fell just right to tear down the blinds.”
I sighed. “Yeah, but that’s basically what I’ve come to expect of this world. Lots of weird cartoony shit goes down here and usually I’m the only one who notices.”
“We may not have gotten payed, but hey, at least we got a bird, right?” Frost asked. He was clearly trying to cheer me up, and it wasn’t working. It was less that I was mad at him, and more that I was mad at our current situation and how we had found ourselves there.
“I don’t even know what kind of bird this is! I don’t even know what gender it is! It could be dangerous for all we know. I’d look it up in the library, but seeing as we’re probably banned for life now, we’re shit outta luck on that front, aren't we?” I ranted.
“Honestly, I didn’t think the egg was even real! I though it was just some fancy decorative piece that wasn’t supposed to see daylight because it would ruin the paint job or something. I certainly wasn’t expecting it to burst into flames!” Frost’s head drooped again and I looked to the bird in my hand. “You wouldn’t happen to know what you are, would you little guy?” I wasn’t expecting a reply, but the bird shook its head no. I looked at it confused for a second before dismissing the response as a trick of the mind.
“What are we going to do with it?” Frostbite asked.
“I guess I’ll keep it for now, assuming it isn’t a total pain in the ass to take care of.” The bird started nuzzling my chest. We arrived in front of our apartment a few seconds later. “Hopefully Rose won’t mind too much,” I said before knocking on the front door. A few seconds later the door opened and a tan head and red mane appeared in the doorway.
“Sir, if I may ask, why are you holding a bird?” Rosebud asked.
“Yeah, Frost. Why am I holding a bird?”
“Really, you’re just going to throw me under the wagon here?” Frost asked.
“Well, the nice mare asked a question, and I figured you’d be the best one to tell her the answer.”
“Wow, you’re really doing this aren’t you?” His only response was my evil smile. He sighed. “Fine, let’s get this over with.”
We all went inside and sat at the kitchen table and Frostbite began to recount the events of the last few days.
—————
“So that’s why you have a bird, sir?”
“That’s why I have a bird,” I confirmed.
Said bird was nuzzling as deep as possible into my chest at the moment. I had tried to set it on the table multiple times throughout story time, but the bird would immediately waddle it’s way back to me like its life depended on having physical contact with me. I had given up after the third try.
“It seems to like you,” Frost commented.
“Yeah, I noticed.”
“What kind of bird is it, sir?”
“Like I told Frostbite, I have no clue, and I can’t exactly go to the library to find out.”
“Well, sir, I believe there is a veterinary clinic in town. Maybe they will know what it is. Or I could visit the library when I have time. The librarian doesn’t know my face.”
“I like the vet idea. You already do plenty Rose, and I don’t want you to use up what free time you have on this,” I told her. Of the three of us, she was the main source of income. She was a bartender and tended to do odd jobs in her spare time. Even then, she was still eager to try and please me whenever I was around. “Frost and I will try and find the vet. Rose, you should probably get a nap in before your shift at the bar.”
“Of course, sir. If you need anything from me just wake me up.”
Rose stood and went to her room to sleep, closing the door behind her. I had managed to get her to stop bowing to me a few months ago, but I just couldn’t get her to stop calling me ‘sir’ all the time.
“She must have been really tired, she didn’t even yell at me,” Frost said.
“Yeah, I know. We should do something nice for her, but for now let’s go to the vet’s.”
—————
It had taken an hour to find the place. We had to stop and ask for directions more than once. The building was small, but spacious on the inside. With bird in hand I walked up to the receptionist desk.
“Hi, how can I help you?” the pony behind the desk asked.
“Hi. I came into possession of this bird through... strange circumstances, to say the least,” I said, holding the avian so she could see it. “I know absolutely nothing about it and I was wondering if you guys could give it a checkup and tell me anything about it.”
The receptionist glanced at the bird. “I don’t recognize the species, but I’m sure one of the doctors could help answer some questions,” she said. She slid a paper across the desk. “If you would fill this out, a doctor should be out in a few minutes.”
I gave her my thanks and took the sheet. Filling the thing out was a hassle and a half, what with the bird in the way near constantly, trying to garner my attention. The form went back to the receptionist and I sat back down on a bench along with a few other waiting customers and what I assumed to be their pets. I didn’t wait long, as a door off to the side opened up and a smiling griffin stood in the doorway, ushering out a pony and her dog to check out with the receptionist.
“Marcus Reed?” he called. I stood and made my way over, Frost trailing behind me. “I’m Doctor Razorbeak. So, I hear we have a mystery bird on our talons.” He said, closing the door behind us. The room was simple, consisting of a metal table for checkups and a counter with a sink and drawers.
“Yup,” I said.
“May I see it?” I moved over to the table and put the bird down. Unsurprisingly, it immediately started waddling back to me. I pushed it back to the center of the table before it could fall off. “Wow, it has beautiful coloration. How old is it?”
“It was born this morning,” said Frostbite.
“That’s strange,” the doctor said, looking perplexed.
Another push.
“Why’s that?”
“Birds aren’t normally born with their feathers. Some species are born with fluff, like we griffins, but I don’t know of any species that are born with full on feathers.”
Another push. An indignant squawk.
“I think someone wants some attention,” Razerbeak chuckled.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well it’s had plenty of attention over the past few hours. I’ve been holding it pretty much its entire life. I don’t think wanting to have my hands free for five minutes is asking to much.”
“Can you give us a gender doc?” Frostbite asked.
Razerbeak hummed thoughtfully. “I can’t be certain without being invasive, but based on the plumage, I believe it is male.”
Another push. That seemed to be the last straw for the little bird. It squawked again, but this time a small flame erupted from its mouth.
“Woah!” I shouted, yanking my hand back to avoid being burned.
“Well,” the doc said. “I think I know what our mystery bird is now. I don’t think many vets have had the privilege of working with a phoenix before.”
“Phoenix?” I asked. I guess that made sense. The various shades of red feathers and the spontaneous combustion of the egg it came from should have given it away. If I had known they existed in this world, that probably would have been my first guess.
Oh, who am I kidding? This world has unicorns, griffins, and seemingly every other creature from human mythology, so it wasn’t much of a stretch to think phoenixes would exist here too.
“Since we know what it is now, what else can you tell us about it doc?” I asked.
“Not much really. They’re red, breath fire, and don’t like staying dead. Not much is known about them because they’re so rare. It also doesn’t help that there’s only one case in recorded history of a domesticated pheonix. Well, I guess it’s two now. The only other being to have a pet phoenix is Princess Celestia herself.” Razerbeak replied.
“Holy shit!” Frostbite said in awe. “Marcus, do you know what this means? Screw getting payed for the job! We could sell the bird, get rich and retire early!”
“First of all, when did you start using my curses? And second, we aren’t selling the bird.” That seemed to deflate the blue stallion slightly. The animal in question chirped in agreement. How I could tell it was agreement, I had no clue. It even nodded its little head before it began to waddle at me again. This time I picked it up, holding it as I had coming in. It nestled into my chest and chirped happily.
“That aside,” I pushed on. “Do you know why it’s so smart doc? It seems to understand what we’re saying and responds to questions.”
“Magical creatures aren’t my forte Mr. Reed. I may know a few tidbits about plenty of strange animals, due to the nature of the pets some in this town choose to keep, but like I said earlier, phoenixes are a complete mystery. The only thing I can say is I don’t know.”
“Alright, that’s understandable. Can you at least tell me why he’s so damn clingy?”
“Some animals tend to imprint on the first thing they see, so that would be my best guess. It could also be that he just likes you. It’s still a baby, so it will be dependent on you for a time. Once again, I can’t say how long that will be. If you have anymore questions, it would probably be wise to get in touch with the only other being with a phoenix.”
“So you’re telling me to wing it. Great.” As if the ruler of a nation would want to talk to me about my new pet. How the hell would I even get in contact with her? “Can you give him a checkup so we can head out? I’d like to get some rest before we pick out a new job.”
————
We left the clinic not long after. The doc gave the bird his first checkup, though it was to get a baseline rather than determine if he was healthy, and asked me to bring him back in periodically.
By the time we got back to the apartment the sun was beginning to set. Rose was up and she had dinner ready for our return. We sat down and I explained what happed at the vet’s to Rose while we ate.
“What are you going to do with it sir?” She asked
“Sell it!” Frostbite said.
“I’m not selling him.” I stated flatly. “The way you’ve been acting, I’d expect you to be part of Greed’s bunch.”
“Stop being an embarrassment in front of the lord!” Rose snapped aggressively at Frost.
“First of all, I’m no lord, and second, calm down Rose. It was just a joke, wasn’t it Frost?” I said, giving him an easy out.
“Yup, just a joke.” Smart boy.
“Of course sir.” Rose said. Her earlier demeanor had done a complete one-eighty.
I looked down at the phoenix on the table. We didn’t have anything to feed him so I just gave it some of my food. “If we’re going to keep you, you need a name.”
“How about Payday?” Frost suggested.
“Rose, you have 10 seconds to do with him as you please,” I said dully, starting a mental countdown. The wicked grin that split her face was the stuff of nightmares. She didn’t waste any time, launching herself over the table at Frost. Frostbite yelped in surprise and fell backwards off his cushion. Rose flew over him, hitting the air he used to occupy. When she landed she turned with a snarl to where Frost lay on the floor. He quickly rolled onto his hooves and ran around to my side of the table, Rose giving chase, but not quite fast enough to catch him before he could hide behind me. Every time she made a move Frost would move to put his new meat shield between them. This went on for a few more seconds before I called it. “Time’s up.”
Rose immediately calmed down and smiled at me sweetly. “Thank you for the opportunity sir,” She said before returning to her seat and acting like nothing had happened. Frost seemed content hiding behind me, just in case she attacked again. The bird had tilted its head back and forth in curiosity as the scene played out in front of it. Once again, how I could tell it was curiosity was anyone’s guess. I reached out and scratched its feathered head with a finger. It showed its approval by leaning into the appendage.
“Seriously, it needs a name,” I said. “Preferably something with a fire theme because, you know, flaming bird and all.”
Everyone took a few seconds to think before Rose spoke up. “What about Cinder?”
“I like it, but that feels more like a female name.”
Back to brainstorming.
“Dawn?” I thought out loud. “No. That’s good too, but see above comment.”
“Sunny?” Frost asked.
“We’re getting closer, keep going along that line of thinking.”
“Ember, Ray, Pyre, Scorch, Ash-“
“Hold on, go back!” I interrupted his rapid fire list.
“What, Scorch?”
“No, before that.”
“Pyre?”
I looked at the little phoenix on the table. I rolled the name around in my head, trying to determine if it would fit the little guy. The bird seemed more intelligent than it should be, so I decided it should have a say in its own name. “What do you think little guy? You look like a Pyre to me.” It looked at me adorably for a second before it gave a nod of confirmation. “I guess that settles it. His name is Pyre.”
“Good for you sir.” Rose said without a single hint of sarcasm. Frost, finally determining that the danger had passed, sat back down and we all finished eating.
Rose left for her shift at the bar not long after. I decided to turn in early so I could wake up early and find a new job to make up for our last failure. I took a shower and entered the room Rose had slept in earlier, while Frost entered his own room. The apartment only had two bedrooms, and with three of us and only two of them, it had been an issue upon moving in. The three of us had to hash out a deal for who got what room.
Of course, Rose had immediately insisted that I get one of the rooms. I tried to reason that I could sleep on the couch, something I was totally fine with and was much more suited for than my companions. After Rose was done with her conniption at the mere suggestion that I sleep on the couch, we somehow came to the agreement that I would take Rose’s room when she wasn’t using it. We could both store things in it, but if we are both staying the night I would sleep on the couch. Looking back now, that was probably one of the reasons she worked the night shift. Frost hadn’t added anything to the conversation for fear of losing his own room.
I made my way over to the bed, bird in hand. Well crap, what was I going to do with him? He didn’t have anywhere to sleep, so I set him on the nightstand and sat on the mattress. The little bird immediately began his waddling routine to try and get back to me. I sighed in exasperation. “Look, little guy, I don’t have anywhere to put you right now. Can you just hang out on the nightstand for the night?”
Pyre shook his head and jumped off the nightstand and into my lap.
“What do you mean ‘no’? You can’t sleep in the bed. If I roll over, you’ll be crushed.” The bird was undeterred and snuggled up to my stomach. After a moment I sighed. “You probably wouldn’t care as long as I was touching you, huh?” A nod was the answer I received.
“Fine, you win. If I wake up to find a dead bird, after all the trouble we went through today, I’m going to be pissed.” I picked up Pyre and rolled onto my back. I pulled the covers over myself and placed Pyre on top of my chest. He immediately curled up into a tiny ball of crimson feathers. It was kinda strange because birds don’t normally do that, but I knew after the events of today the word normal shouldn’t be applied to this bird.
“We’re also going to have to do something about how clingy you are. In town it’s cute, but when I’m working it’s going to get someone killed.” When I got no response I looked down to find Pyre out cold on my chest. Thinking he had the right idea, I quickly joined him in the world of dreams.
[End Chapter Two]
Author's Note
I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out.
Feel free to give criticism and point out any errors you may find. Most of what's written so far was originally written on a phone, so there are bound to be a few mistakes. I've gone over the first two chapters on my computer, but something might have slipped under my radar.
