[Are you on your way to see the child?] Jamal asked.
[Yes], Ellerslie answered. After a moment of silence, Ellerslie added, [After, let's force Daimone to see the value of visiting Darrow Farlan during light hours instead of night.]
Jamal grinned. [I was thinking the same, little brother.] He imagined them both overpowering the eldest. How satisfying it would be to see Daimone's shocked expression turn into utter outrage!
His naked chest rumbled as he chuckled to himself, and the bundle sleeping against him shifted. Then he turned somber as he remembered his resolution from the previous night. Gently detaching himself from the woman beside him, he slid out of bed and entered the bathroom.
[Ellerslie], he began, rinsing his face. [Before you go, I—] he stopped, wondering whether he should tell Ellerslie about what he observed while conversing with the child. What stopped him from doing that was the fact that the three of them hadn't had a chance to meet since Daimone had avoided him and the main connection all day.
Learning from the past, Jamal gave Daimone the time he needed until he was ready to connect once again.
Still, Jamal didn't know the exact reason Daimone was avoiding him (although he had some guesses why). He would make sure to have a private chat with Daimone just to make sure things were alright between them.
[What is it?] Ellerslie inquired.
[Ah, never mind. I'll talk to you and Daimone when the morn arrives], he decided quickly. [Just be sure to…WATCH the child closely.] To make sure Ellerslie understood what he meant, he sent him an image of the hidden access door he had seen.
For a second, his younger brother's side of the connection grew sharp and painful, the side effect of radiating anger across the connection. Jamal winced and stepped a safe distance away from the connection. [Ellerslie…]
It disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving only a ghostly pulse of dull pain.
[I'll see how it goes with Darrow], Ellerslie said curtly before closing his side of the connection.
Jamal was left all alone in the main connection, and he wondered if it was loneliness he was feeling. Then that feeling changed into something else when he felt slender hands sliding around his waist, massaging their way down his hips.
"Are you going somewhere?" the woman asked, voice husky from drowsiness.
"I might, sweet," he muttered, wondering if Daimone was done avoiding and was sleeping at his home. He and his brother needed to chat. Now.
"Can I convince you not to go?" she asked, drowsiness disappearing from her voice as the tip of her fingers pressed into the base of his shaft.
He whirled around, breaking her hold, and she looked up at him, surprised. Then she arched her back prettily, raising her heavy breasts for attention, as she recognized the hungry look he was giving her.
"You can't convince me, sweet," he rumbled, eyes fixated on her hard, pink-brown nipples. "I'll be leaving soon. But we have time for a quick wash," he said, sweeping her off her feet and carrying her over to the bath, making her yelp in surprise.
He would only take a while. Daimone could wait.
====================
Darrow stared up at Ellerslie, not knowing what to think about the man who was pretty both outside and inside.
He stared down at her for a while, and she stared back. Then he smiled kindly at her. Unlike the times when she dreamed of Mister Mad and Mister Laugh, she found it easy to give a toothy smile in return.
"Do you remember what I am called?" he asked.
"Ellie!" she said immediately, smiling wider. It was such a pretty name.
He laughed out loud, and the same winged ox that Mister Mad had made appeared, her entire room bursting with all sorts of colors. It saw her and flew to her, chirping happily. She didn't want to touch it or look at it, but it started flying around her and she couldn't help but stare at it.
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Ellie staring at the bottom of her bed, down at the floor. She stopped looking at the ox and followed his stare. What was he looking at? The ox suddenly flew at her, and she shrieked, pulling it off her face. She glared down at it. It quivered in her hands.
"Did Mister Mad tell you I liked this thing?" she asked. Because I don't, she thought as it wiggled free and started flying over her head again. Her arms twitched as she stared at it, wanting to grab it out of the air.
"No," Ellie answered. "It told me itself that you chose it out of all the animals Daimone showed you."
Daimone was Mister Mad, she thought faintly as the ox flew closer to her head. Close enough to grab.
No! She turned away in a huff, crossing her arms stubbornly. She wasn't interested.
Ellie suddenly turned around mid-waist and waved his hand. Immediately, a bright center of color appeared behind him, high above the ground. Hooves sprouted out, kicking wildly. Next, a head appeared, and she felt excitement tremble in her bones when its horns cut the air. It moved violently, trying to pull free from the center of colors, and before she knew it, she was pulling away from the covers and jumping out of bed.
A wave of hot, orange air blew past her as wings broke through the center, and she covered her face from the heat as she heard it clop down onto the floor. When she could open her eyes again, soft colors were just beginning to disappear from where the center of colors had been. But she wasn't paying attention to that. Past Ellie stood the biggest ox with the biggest wings she had ever seen. It seemed as tall as the ceiling and as wide as half her room.
She gulped as it grew bigger and bigger. No, it wasn't growing bigger, it was just that she was walking closer to it. Hot, orange air blew down at her as the ox snorted breath at her. She squeezed her eyes shut. After a moment of nothing happening, she opened her eyes and reached up with a hand, wanting to touch the ox.
It suddenly turned its head fast towards her, a scary look in its eyes. Her body was suddenly flying backwards and, a second later, she was back in her bed, heart thumping loudly.
[Careful], she heard Ellie's voice say somewhere in her head. [The real ones aren't as nice as the toy versions.]
She watched Ellie as he turned back to the real ox. She couldn't see his face and she didn't hear him say anything either, outside or inside of her head. The ox suddenly flinched, and she jolted as she saw fear shoot through the ox's body. Chills of fear shot through her own body, and she shrank back as Ellie turned back to her.
He gave her a kind smile. She stilled, not knowing how to react. Before she could think about it, he walked towards the real winged-ox and it folded its wings, lowering its upper body so that he could climb up and settle down in a place right at the base of its neck. Anticipation made her body tense, and she stared up intensely at Ellie, forgetting about her fear.
Me too, me too! Her mind shouted.
He smiled down at her, and the stuffed ox that had settled beside her in the bed sprang up, wings fluttering. It let out a little chirp and started trembling. Its wings and legs and face snapped and grew in a pop of colors until it was roughly the same size as a pony. It chirped quickly at her and suddenly, she was climbing up its back with its help.
The ceiling to her room exploded in red and brown colors, and the night sky with a million stars sparkled above her. She tried to catch her breath, hearing the blood in her ears roar. A cold breeze rustled the top of her head, but she was ok because the toy ox beneath her felt warm. Was this really a dream?
[Darrow], Ellie called. Her eyes snapped to his, and his eyes sparkled as shiny as the night sky. The wings to his ox flapped open and, with a deep chortle, the ox began to rise. She watched them both with shiny eyes, not knowing what to do with the awe coursing through her body. Her amazement felt too big for her to handle. She wanted to share it. She looked down, down past the body of the toy she was on. Down to her room's floor, down to the first floor where a person was sleeping. She wanted to share it with—
The skin beneath her rippled, and all thoughts raced out of her head as her own ox flapped its wings. "Pretty ox," she whispered to it as it began to rise even higher, closer to the twinkles above.
[Darrow], Ellie's voice whispered in her head as their ox took flight. [Only for today, only look up.]
[Ok], she thought back.