One Shot

Living Art

PROMPT

"Shoulder or pocket, your choice."

Living Art

Instruments lined the walls, strings and percussion alike. The metronome next to the window stood silent watch next to the sleek black grand piano. There were a couple of chairs nearby but, otherwise, the only other piece of furniture in the room was a mahogany desk.

The desk was usually covered with dozens of blank sheet music scores, scraps of paper, and fountain pens accompanied by their bottles of ink. That's not what was on the desk now.

Instead, there was a lone figure.

Neomaya paced back and forth across the surface of the desk. She wrung her hands one way, and then the other way. She didn't remember the last time she was this nervous.

Well...

That wasn't true...

She did remember one specific time – the day she was taken to her new home.

She stood on the same desk where she first met... him – Nathaniel Eragon.

Nathaniel Eragon was a tall, lanky man with thick, dark and curly auburn hair that was about shoulder length. His features were almost over exaggeratedly thin. He had narrow lips that formed a thin line on his face when he was wrestling with something but didn't want to say.

The musician carried a whimsical, quick-witted energy that lurked beneath his reserved exterior. He often wore button down shirts with rolled up sleeves, revealing a few subtle tattoos he often kept private.

His most notable feature, however, was his honey-colored eye.

This is what threw Neomaya off the most when she first met him.

The one eye.

Evidently, when he was young, he had an accident which took his right eye. Now, he wore an eyepatch to cover up what would undoubtedly make other uncomfortable.

Neomaya hated that people would see him and be uncomfortable with him, especially after she got to know him. He was very sweet and generous, soft spoken and very encouraging when given the correct circumstances.

She didn't know that when she was presented to him.

She stopped pacing and closed her eyes to remember that day.

~~~^*^*^~~~

The box she was in rattled and shook around her. They came directly from the Facility and were going to her supposed forever home. Neomaya was a pet, a biologically engineered entity derived directly from the human race. Fully sentient with no autonomy, but that's how things were.

She was small of stature, barely above four and a half inches, and had mousey brown hair the frizzed out at the ends. Slate black eyes and pale, cream-colored skin, Neomaya's appearance wasn't the only thing that set her apart from other pets.

She also received special conditioning, which was why she came directly from the Facility. Neomaya was registered as a therapy pet, meaning she was especially obedient, highly empathetic, and intuitive.

Neomaya wasn't sure why she was purchased, but she did know that the family seemed especially concerned about who she was being given to. She was tossed from side to side in the box, quietly listening to the chatter on the outside.

"Mom, I know this is a good idea. Trust me! He's been so down and out lately. Having a pet will give him something to do," said the woman who purchased Neomaya.

"I understand what you're trying to do for your brother. It's just..." said an older woman.

"It's just nothing. He's going to accept his new pet, love it, and thank me later for it."