Chapter #14; The Violet Wonder
1463 Words
She smoothed the wrinkles from the pristine, off-white dress shirt.
“New clothes feel quite fine, don’t they?”
Leila looked up at her co-worker, whose glittery golden scarf failed to dull her sparky smile.
“It does, but I still have to pay for it. Have to live up to employee expectations.”
She commented in a sarcastic, jovial tone.
The smile widened, marginally.
“Didn’t I owe you for my leave?”
“It almost seems unfair that you were paid for my work.”
Leila rolled her eyes back and imitated a deep, exhaustive voice. She smirked at her with a bold attitude while she gestured her acceptance.
“I’ll leave it at the register if الأقعى pleases.”
“لكن الثعبان قادر على ذلك.”
“Nice to see you still haven’t lost your tongue.”
She let out a slight chuckle as the friendly argument went on.
She grasped the ebony framing of the glass door, ready to leave.
“!شكرًا لك”
She turned back to spruce up the shop, before remembering a question she had been meaning to ask.
“Oh yeah, what happened to Adawna? Is she alright?”
The cold steel scraped harshly against the tiles, leaving Simraa to wonder what happened as Leila rushed through the busy streets wiping her tears off the sleeve of her new shirt.
She slammed the door behind, failing to close it due to the failed locks. Leila crumpled against the door, sobbing bitterly, only to be abruptly interrupted by a ruckus from a creaky cabinet. She found an adolescent violet-backed starling. The ivory white feathers brightened the effect of the brilliant metallic indigo which shone brightly against the sliver of light from the hinge as it sat there timidly shaking in fear. Her face lit up instantly, reaching out for the little feather-ball.
“Hello! What are yo—”
She let out a quiet distress call, violently shaking her hand, when the starling pecked at her at lightning speed, making it impossible for her to react accordingly. Leila dropped the ecstasy and took on a more empathetic approach, her sweet voice dripping with honey.
“Hey there buddy. What’s up?”
She noticed a few feathers tangled in a strong string on its head.
“Let me help you with that.”
Her soft accentuation and low volume had a soothing effect on the bird, whose feathers she worked hard to untangle, delicately pulling away each end of the strand as she sat with her legs crossed on the floor.
She brushed the tip of her finger on its head, the fuzzy feathers looking a bit like a head of wild, wavy hair. The hazel eyes were full of gratefulness for her care. It started chirping excitedly, hopping around on her head and shoulders, sounding a bit like a squeeze toy being gripped tight.
It stopped for a moment as it stared intently at her shirt pocket, before making itself comfortable while squeezing into it.
“It’s a little snug.”
The bird couldn’t care less. Only its head peeked out, and maybe a few tail feathers, as it lay in the makeshift nest in pure bliss. She stayed on the floor, searching a few things on her cracked phone, as the starling remained soundly asleep. Midway through she looked down in her pocket and started stroking its head.
“What’re you doing in the city pal?”
Getting ready for the day ahead, Leila was careful not to disturb it. The starling however, had other plans.
As she set her bag of makeup on the dresser, the bird decided it was time for a little stunt. As she reached out for it, the bird zoomed past her hand and struggled to lift the bag, but managed to carry it to the window.
“Hey! Don’t...”
Too late.
The pouch went flying out the fourth story window as a very aggressive squeaking sound went on for a while.
She left the bird in the room, who joined her from the window on her way to school.
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Adawna hung upside down from the jute rope ladder.
“What’re you doing?”
“The sipheron’s squishy.”
“Squishy? It’s a gem. It can be ‘squishy’.”
She mumbled something that sounded like a dulled ‘I don’t know’.
Odin inspected the sipheron, which had turned from a beautiful blue to a bright purple and gave way as he held it between his fingers.
“Dark matter might have messed with it.”
“Dark matter?”
“Dark matter.”
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“Look’s like you finally updated your uniform.”
She sheepishly smiled as Dolores rummaged through the sea of outdated equipment. The dust collecting gave her attire a dusky look, like stardust scattered across the night sky. A grape glimmer caught the corner of her eye.
“What’s that in your pocket?”
Enthusiastic squeaking answered her question.
“Ah.”
She gave a brief pause before posing her inquiry.
“What happened with the synthetic squirt?”
“The synthetic squirt?”
“Yeah, he was looking for you.”
...
“You didn’t read the message before replying, did you?”
Leila bit her lip and let her head fall back.
Dolores gave her an obstinate smile.
“I can help you get to him though.”
This perked her ears up.
“Really? How?”
“His sister. She can hold a knife well. And she knows it.”
“I’m assuming you’ve been helping her with that.”
She let out a slight chuckle, leaving it at that.
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Leila tried to find her with the attained contact.
“Red velvet house? Cream bakery? Wha—”
She searched around aimlessly for the rusty maroon house, a cheep from her pocket diverting her attention to it.
“Thank you!”
It was a very genuine, absolutely sweet, expression of gratitude.
Approaching the house, she was interrupted by a struggling young boy’s sound effects.
She peeped her head round the corner, the starling making itself comfortable on her head and peeping with her.
It was Aibek, creating a scene.
Perfect.
She dramatically rolled her eyes as she set the bird in a hole in the wall, clearly made from a missing brick.
“I have to deal with this.”
She whined, perfectly conveying how sick of this drama she was.
Leila inspected the scene.
Ryeon was backed against a wall, the trash beside him glowing in a crimson, raging fury. Little wrappers along the ground joined the main attraction.
A mist filled the air as the fire went out with a sharp hissing sound.
Leila stood behind the ruckus, the mist surrounding her as she stood against the sunlight with her peacock hair strands gently swaying by her cheeks.
“Oi, Cobren!”
Her voice boomed with the fake confidence.
Hearing her, the starling rushed to the scene, wanting to be a part of the action, hovering mid-air.
Ryeon breathed a heavy sigh of relief, while Aibek sighed in dramatic effect.
“It’s Chewsday, shouldn’t you be at school?”
Leila’s lip whimpered as she struggled to maintain a straight face. She eventually gave in, bursting into a loud laughter and holding her stomach tight, with the bird giving her a demeaning askance.
“It’s Chewsday, innit?”
He instantly transformed into a rotten tomato, making his escape from embarrassment as she herself had a grand time chortling.
She calmed herself down a notch, preparing to address the initial issue.
“So why was he onto you?”
His cheek caved in, Leila receiving the indication of bad news.
“I don’t know why he was after me this time...”
He stated warily before giving a long, dramatic pause.
“... but he sent a delegate who kinda stole the dagger.”
“Oh.”
Every ounce of excitement left her, leaving her standing cold-faced while Ryeon repetitively apologised. Taking in a deep, deep breath, she comforted him.
“It’s not your fault. You were probably defenseless and his idiocy has sudden bursts of unusual success.”
He solemnly turned away in guilt, covering up his face with his hands.
Leila felt bad for him. He’s just a frail, oversensitive tween who just got roped into this overnight.
“I... I can help you with the powers...”
She knew the gravity of the task. She knew how hard explaining something she never fully understood herself would be.
She still had to try, though.
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20th April 2021, Tuesday.
Leila;
Cute lil birb. I don’t know where it came from though, only that it just randomly appeared.
- Writer
