"What's up, Dylan?" Janine walked into the living room and found the brooding Dylan. He was crouched over and had a serious expression on his face.
Dylan lifted his head and lightly smiled at Janine, dispersing that depressing air around him. "You're ready?"
"Mhm. We just have to wait for Lotte now." Janine nodded and replied. She was dressed in a colourful spring dress that complimented her tall and slim figure and a red bag hanging from her shoulder. Janine fixed her hair and slouched onto the couch. "She might take quite a while. She did just wake up after all."
"You look beautiful in that dress." Dylan complimented.
Janine smugly smiled back at him. "Of course, I do. Charlotte designed it for me. It's the only one in the world."
"She's must makes a wide range of clothes then."
"Yep, she likes beautiful clothes but she used to be quite frugal so she often made her clothes herself. Over half her wardrobe are handmade. Even most of my clothes are made her." Janine answered. "Sooner or later, you will also fall victim to her. Haha. Especially since you'll be working with us."
"Well, I'm looking forward to it." Dylan smiled and said.
At that moment, a bright light shone from Dylan shoulder, though Janine couldn't see it through the dark clothing. However, she could hear the energetic chirping that she had gotten used to hearing the last few days.
"I'm back!" Fir flew out of Dylan's contractor space and announced in English.
Dylan and Janine's eyes widened. Janine because she was expecting to see Fir and not a parrot and Dylan because Fir wasn't speaking telepathically.
"How are you speaking, Fir?" Dylan asked, still surprised.
"I learnt! Are you surprised?" Fir laughed and flew around in circles after the successful prank.
"Fir? That's Fir?" Janine exclaimed whilst pointing at the oddly excited parrot flying around the room.
"Ah, yes. I asked Sherry to change his appearance because he stood out too much, though it seems like he made quite a few demands." Dylan answered, smiling rather wryly.
Fir laughed as if he was proud of his deeds. He perched himself on Dylan's arm and puffed his chest out. "I'm beautiful so one colour isn't enough to showcase my beauty. Lots and lots of colour is needed. And parrots can talk so I'm allowed to talk now."
It was true that the tropical colours of a parrot suited Fir a lot but in Dylan's mind, any colour suited Fir. It was just that the end product will give different impressions. For example, Fir's original green, blue and white colour scheme gave off a noble beauty, while the new colours were livelier and more vibrant. Though, the new colour didn't diminish Fir's natural elegance and just added a more energetic look to him. It did suit Fir's personality more as well. That narcissistic bird was a bit dumb sometimes but he was outgoing and the life of the party.
"You went to Sherry to change his colour?" Janine repeated.
Dylan and Fir nodded. "Yes, how else was she supposed to cast the spell?"
"She's in Queensland! That's like, really far away. It takes more than half a day to drive there."
"You can just teleport though?" Fir titled his head and stated as if it were obvious.
Dylan nodded. "Mm, I teleported him over to Sherry. Fir came back using our contract though."
Janine sighed and held her forehead. "You two, how long have you been on Earth now?"
"One week, I think?" Fir answered without bothering to count.
"About three months now I believe." Dylan replied.
"Fir I can understand, but you Dylan, how have you survived up until now?" Janine ran her fingers through her short black hair in frustration. "Hasn't Sherry told you that you can't use magic here?"
"She has." Dylan nodded.
"Then why are you so casually talking about magic as if it were common sense?"
"I am?"
"Yes, yes you are. The first time you used magic, it was fine because it was just with Sherry and I. But the second time, you used it to clean the house. What would you have done if Charlotte saw?"
"I believe that was an emergency and that I had no choice but to do so." Dylan confidently replied, no shame whatsoever.
"Emergency?" Fir inquired.
"Yes. The house was filled with filth and clothes and books and rubbish were thrown about the place. I don't even know how they managed to live like that. Even goblins aren't that bad."
Janine had never seen goblins in her life, but from stories she knew that they were little green humanoids that were as dumb as a three-year-old and were monsters that lived in caves. To compare her house to a goblin's den and even say that it was dirtier than it really got on her nerves. "It wasn't that dirty!"
Dylan looked straight into Janine's eyes with a deadpan face. "Look around you."
Janine did as she was told.
"Now, close your eyes and think back to how it was last week."
Janine closed her eyes.
"A table filled with dirty cups and plates and even torn magazines. TV remote nowhere to be found. The ground filled with dirty socks and couches covered in various jackets. There is hardly anywhere you can walk."
Janine furrowed her brows. In her mind, she was now thinking about how the house used to be. Janine opened her eyes again only to see the spotlessly clean house. It was a stark contrast as compared to the rubbish dump of a place it used to be.
"…Anyways, you two are too casual about magic." Janine coughed and changed the subject. "Birds don't suddenly change colour and come out of people. Fir, you need to refrain from holding conversations with people. Parrots aren't that smart. And you, Dylan, are not allowed to use magic at all."
"Ehh, what was the point in me learning how to speak then?" Fir complained.
"I only use magic in secret though?"
"Don't lie, Dylan. I've seen you use it on multiple occasions when you thought no one was watching. When you were cooking, you made ingredients fly towards you and even defrosted things with magic. Sometimes you took things out of a black hole and cleaned the house using magic as well." Janine crossed her arms and huffed. "How exactly is that secretly?"
Dylan coughed with embarrassment. He couldn't help it. He had been using magic since he was a child, it was a way of life, how could he change it so easily? Besides, when he was living with Sherry, she also used magic casually. They were both so used to it that they didn't even notice.
"My point is, you should stop using magic unless you really have to. Like, you need to drop the habit."
"U-Understood."
"And you, Fir?" Janine narrowed her eyes at Fir.
"Ye-yesh ma'am!!!" Fir saluted.
"Do I cancel the spell on Fir?" Dylan asked.
"But I thought I had to transform to blend in with the birds here. If I stop using magic on myself, I'll be too big!" Fir panicked after he remembered that he was using magic to shrink himself down.
Janine: ???
Dylan saw the confusion in her eyes and helpfully clarified. "Fir is actually taller than I am. His original size is bigger than a horse."
Janine looked at Fir. She pictured him growing bigger and slowly surpassing Dylan's height and eventually crushing Dylan's arm because of the increased weight. "…You can keep that spell, but the parrot goes. Charlotte's already seen Fir before so unless you pretend to be someone else, it's useless."
"But what if someone tries to steal me?" Fir asked. "I'm so beautiful and enchanting, they'll want to kidnap me."
Janine face palmed. "That won't happen!" She retorted. "No one would steal a bird, don't worry. Plus, you're magic, they won't be able to touch a hair, uh, feather on you head."
"Ah, really? Lyn, change me back! Janine says I don't need a disguise anymore." Fir excitedly told Dylan as if he hadn't heard her say it.
Dylan was hesitant but complied anyways. He chanted the magic spell and a white light was emitted from his fingers. When they touched Fir's cold feathers, the green parrot colours were erased, revealing his cool colours beneath.
Janine sighed. "And I just told them not to use magic so casually as well."