Open Quiet, Warm, and Beautiful

[Sabrina Wagner]

Sabrina had gotten used to being at school, yet, she never really got used to being surrounded by so many students at once. And here she was, hanging out by the lakefront all on her own just because she needed some peace, needed her alone time and well, it was quite hard to get when there were so many people in school. And this was a place that Sab seemed to enjoy the most, it was quiet, pretty and she had a tree to lean on while doing some of her reading. This time she was reading some quite old adventure book that she had lent from her mom when she saw her during the Brightstone weekend. She had wrapped herself up in a cozy, warm, knitted jumper and had some hot chocolate next to her that she sipped from moment to moment.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan often felt bad that he couldn't keep Cosmo in his dorm. It wasn't fair that other pets could but now owls. As far as he was concerned they counted as pets just as much as cats or rats or frogs did. But he wasn't sure he could convince all of his roommates to agree to keeping a pet in secret, especially Emery. So taking his owl out to the lake would have to be good enough for now. The owl was currently sitting on his shoulder as they walked across the grounds. His talons only dug into Ethan's shoulder a few times thankfully. For a flying creature he sure was lazy and when the finally made it to the lake he had to encourage the owl to take flight and stretch his wings for once. He sighed and watched Cosmo for a moment before realizing he wasn't alone. "Oh, hi." he said clumsily when he saw Sabrina. "I didn't see you there."

 

[Sabrina Wagner]

Sabrina was peacefully enjoying her own company until she noticed that someone came down there. It was Ethan and he seemed not to notice her. She wanted to say hi, but she didn't want to scare him, so she just hoped that he will notice her own her own or won't. "Hey," she quietly answered when he greeted her. "I-it's a-alright," Sab had noticed that he didn't see her at first. "Th-that's a pret-tty owl."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan hoped he hadn't intrude on her day. She didn't seem excited to see him but she didn't seem that upset either. He could never really tell with her. But he smiled when she paid Cosmo a compliment. "Thanks." he said and squinted to see where the owl had gone off to. Thankfully he wasn't too far and was gliding above the water. Probably looking for snacks. "Do you have any pets?" he asked, not sure what else to say but he wanted to keep talking.

 

[Sabrina Wagner]

Sab just gave a smile to Ethan as she followed his gaze and then just watched the bird. It was beautiful and graceful, Sabrina had always loved birds. They were exceptionally amazing. At his question, she finally returned her look at him and nodded. "A cat. Rag-gdoll. Shakespeare," she was slowly getting a little bit more confident in how everything was going. Of course, she was still overly overwhelmed but so far Ethan seemed to be the person that didn't judge her or do anything that she should feel bad about. "I-is the owl your o-only pet?" who knew, maybe he had some other animal at home as well?

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan glanced around a few times and tried to look casual as he figured out the best place to sit down. He didn't want to sit too close and invade her space, or too far away in case she thought he was trying to ignore her. Eventually he sat down on the ground a few feet from Sabrina and took a deep breath. He nodded along as she told him about her cat. Ethan didn't really know a lot about cats but he was pretty sure he knew what those kinds of cats looked like, or at least he pretended he did for now. "Shakespeare?" he asked curiously. "Like the writer?" It wasn't the weirdest name he had heard for a pet, and he had heard a lot of them hanging around the owl shop. Whether it was people bringing in their personal birds or the ones that came in from rescues, he had heard almost everything. He looked up at Cosmo as Sabrina asked about him. Ethan nodded again. "Yeah he's my only pet." he said. "Never had a pet until him. My mom never let me."

 

[Sabrina Wagner]

Sabrina just smiled a little as Ethan sat down next to her but with a little bit of a space. It felt nice, she liked that. "Y-yeah, my d-dad used to read h-his works as fairytales," she shared a little. She honestly missed her dad a little, they had always been close and she just missed him. "Why?" she had never really understood why some parents didn't allow their kids to have pets, of course if it wasn't for any allergies. But all together, pets taught kids how to be more responsible.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan picked at the grass the grew along the shore line and the tore each blade of grass into smaller pieces until it was all good. He listened as Sabrina talked about her dad and he tried to ignore the tight feeling in his chest. He didn't know who his dad was and most of the time he was ok with that. But sometimes when people talked about their parent's his lack of them stung a little. "That's nice." he said in a quiet voice, unsure of what else to say. He could hardly imagine the incomprehensible books he had picked up read as fairytales but he was glad she enjoyed it. Ethan shrugged when she asked about his lack of pets growing up. "My mom and I moved around a lot. And not everywhere we moved allowed pets so it was just easier without them." he explained, parroting what his mom had explained to him countless times growing up. Luckily some of his neighbors would have dogs or cats or rodents or reptiles, so it made his longing for a pet a little easier to deal with. But then they'd move again and it would all repeat. At least now he had Cosmo and he whistled with his fingers to signal for him to come back.

 

[Sabrina Wagner]

Sabrina just nodded and quietly twirled her shirt around her finger, then letting it go, and start it once more. She liked the peace, she usually quite liked his company, it was always simple and it didn't make so overwhelmed. As he started to tell her the reason why he didn't have pets, she just watched her hands, not wanting to put overly much attention on him and also, it just made her concentrate better. "Makes sense," she gave a little nod and watched as he summoned his owl. "Where h-have you lived?" she was honestly curious and this time she just actually looked at him.