Denis' eyes slowly open. He looked around the small room and saw that everyone had left. He sat up and stretched, fluttering his wings to wake them up.
He got up and went out into the main room. Sub was wearing his work uniform under his apron like always, making breakfast. Elijah sat at the table. It made him look smaller sitting in a chair that wasn't made for him. He soon turned to sitting on his knees which made him a little too tall. He was at the perfect height where he was too short to use the table comfortably, but too tall to sit on something.
He looked back over at Sub. "Where's Alex?" He asked as he walked over to grab a wooden cup to fill with water.
"He left to open his store. He was expecting someone today," Sub was stirring something. Denis went back over to the table and sat down next to Elijah. He would've liked to help Sub cook but he preferred to do it himself. He looked back at Elijah who was picking at the nail on his middle finger.
"I saw three fairies looking for you when I went to tell your brother that you were staying the night." Denis blurted. Elijah stopped for a second. He glanced over at Denis, then back at his fingers.
"I thought you said you were going to get rid of your racing friends." Denis continued. Elijah didn't respond and instead began lightly biting the edge of his nail. Not to break it off, but to give himself something to grab when he tried to pull the white edge off.
"Elijah."
"I've kinda been locked in my room so I don't think I've had any time to do that." He moved over to his ring finger, repeating the same process of picking, biting, and pulling.
"Well, are you going to do that today?" Elijah's eyes moved like he thought about it for a moment, but he didn't say anything. Denis sighed.
"I could go with you if you need someone there," Denis said after a moment of silence. Again, Elijah stayed quiet. He just continued onto his thumb. Picking.
"I could even help you find a new hobby. Something less...dangerous."
Biting.
"There has to be something else you like or some other friends you could hang out with."
Pulling.
Elijah hissed in pain and yanked his hand off the table. He looked at his thumb. A small bubble of blood started to come out from the spot where he'd pulled the nail off a little too far. He glared over at Denis.
Sub turned around and placed waffles on the table. Elijah stood up and pushed the plate back over.
"I should get back home." He mumbled. "I don't want Ethan to worry. Thank you for letting me stay." He quickly left. Sub looked back at Denis.
"Did you say something to him?" He harshly asked. Denis seemed startled by the question.
"I was just asking about the whole racing thing." Sub sighed and sat down at the table.
"Come on. You know how he feels about the whole thing."
"And you're just gonna let him go out there with a bunch of maniacs twice his size? He's going to die doing that!"
"I never said I approved of it. I just understand why he chose to start racing in the first place."
"How?"
"Well, unlike you and me, pixies don't get an assigned power that defines their whole life. They figure that out themselves with the very limited selection they have to choose from. We're lucky he hasn't tried to fly off to some other village and I'd like to keep it that way." Denis sighed and turned to his breakfast.
-
Elijah landed right next to his brother who was brushing a rabbit. Ethan smiled and hugged his brother.
"Thank you for actually coming home," Ethan laughed. Elijah just nodded. He let go and looked over at the rabbit. It nudged Ethan's back.
"Oh calm down. I'm going," He fluttered backup to brush the rabbit's back. Ethan paused and landed by the rabbit's face.
"Huh?" He mumbled. He stayed quiet for a moment, listening to something only he could hear. "Oh! Right. Elijah, could you go get grass for her to eat? She said she's hungry."
Elijah nodded and walked away. He went over to a little shed. The top part of a wall was open for fairies to grab the food out of. Elijah waited patiently for some of the animal fairies to finish gathering what they needed before he went over.
He didn't know exactly how much he was supposed to grab, so he just took a bunch to be safe. He held the blades of grass in his arms and walked back over because if he flew they'd all fly away.
"You could feed her if you'd like. She doesn't bite." Ethan said as he picked a clump of dirt out from the rabbit's fur.
Elijah shifted the bundle of grass to one arm and held a single blade out. The rabbit grabbed it with her mouth and ate it quickly.
He continued on feeding the animal until it wasn't hungry anymore. Elijah still had a few blades of grass in his hands, so he walked back over to the shack.
He once again waited for everyone else to finish up before walking over. He dumped the grass back in and stared around the animal fairy area for a moment.
"There he is!" A voice cheered. Elijah spun around. The three fairies Denis had mentioned from the other night walked over. "We were looking for you. You stood us up."
Elijah fidgeted with his fingers, picking at his nails again. "I had to stay at a friend's house yesterday. It was a last minute thing. Sorry." Elijah mumbled.
"That's alright." The guy leaned against the shack. "We saved the track for you. You down?" Elijah looked back at his brother, guiding the rabbit back to its stall to rest.
"Yeah."
