osuah reached up to steady his hand, drawing it away from his face as he moodily told him don’t. Another hiccup of a laugh escaped Brendon as he was given a full view of his familiar’s face, and his lips partially now stained with red lipstick. Briefly, he wondered if that was what he looked like, but he still didn’t understand why Josuah had gotten so embarrassed about it. He could still feel a whirlwind of emotions coming from him, and with so much going on it was difficult to decipher everything. It also didn’t help that he was so tired. He could barely focus on anything, to be honest. His mind felt like it was floating away on him.

“We’ll… get in trouble if we both get too messy,” Josuah chastised him, and Brendon immediately pouted in retaliation. “I should take my bath now.”

“You only ate two blackberries!” Brendon instantly complained, and quite loudly at that, chastising him quite powerfully in return as his cheeks swelled with the heat of annoyance!

osuah reached out to take some blackberries from the tray and Brendon decided to be a bit more greedier in his own selection. He picked up a cracker and packed it with deli meat, cheese, and a tomato slice before stuffing it into his mouth. Only after he had eaten a few more did he turn to the raspberries on the platter, picking up a handful to stuff into his mouth as well. When he drew his hand away and finally sat back, fed and satiated, the juice of the berries had permanently stained his entire mouth area red.

When Josuah tentatively picked out a second blackberry to eat, Brendon finally took notice of his apparent lack of appetite, or manners, and gave him a face. “You have to eat more than two berries,” He openly complained.

_{cut-off post:}

I’ve never met a fourteen year old who acts as weak and as childish as you,” the raven-haired boy taunted, dark eyes narrow, with his lips drawn in thin line. It was Sunday morning, after mass, and the two of them had gotten into yet another disagreement. Damarian Matthews had decided to speak his mind as soon as he, Brendon, and Skyler had been left to their own devices at the playground. “If you’re even capable of receiving a familiar, I’ll sure feel sorry for them. But then again, I won’t even have to, because they’ll already be feeling sorry enough for themselves.”

Face red with anger, Brendon silently seethed over Damarian's words, his hands balled into two tight fists at his sides. Long ago, when they had been much smaller, he had once considered the boy to be his friend. But over the last few years it had become increasingly more apparent that they weren’t and may have never been.

Overhead the overcast skies rumbled briefly before a bolt of lightning cracked in a downward arch and instantly struck Damarian where he stood. The simultaneous crash of thunder and startled yell from his cousin caused Brendon to physically jerk, his amber gaze widening, as he realized what he had unconsciously done.

“You little sh**!” The boy seethed, storming forward, as he flung both hands out to summon his own power of weather manipulation in one, and heal himself in the other.

Brendon turned and ran; bolted from the playground, jumping out of the way of a lightning strike Damarian summoned down, and dashed straight into the thick coverage of the Calico forest. With his heart pounding in his chest, he darted passed trees, bushes, and high overgrowths. Every time he looked back, Damarian’s form grew more distant until eventually he couldn’t see him at all.

Brendon all but collapsed against a nearby tree as he sucked in one harsh breath after another. He hadn’t meant to strike him with lightning — he had no control over his weather powers! But, either way, he was certainly glad it had happened. Damarian could really piss him off sometimes, always acting as though he were so much better than him. So much stronger, and more mature, and worthy within the Matthews family household. He didn’t care that Damarian was the 2nd family and he was the 3rd. He didn’t care that he had two Nephilim parents who were more closely related to their great grandfather Fergus, or that they lived in a larger and more wealthier portion of the manor.

“Maybe you’ll leave when you get your familiar,” He huffed out hoarsely, his breathing still harsh as he pushed from the tree and began to make his way deeper into the forest. “Then I won’t have to see your really ugly face anymore,” He snickered and picked up a nearby fallen branch, swinging it at the bushes and the trunks of trees as he ventured.

Eventually he came to his destination; a tiny and abandoned shack, with sections of its exterior destroyed and left open to the elements. Brendon stepped in through a large gap in one of the walls, forgetting about the pinecones he had hung from the ceiling, suspended by strings. Knocking into a few caused them to plummet to the splintered floorboards and vegetation overgrowth that was the floor.

“Oops,” He muttered and bent to pick them up, then ventured over to a table that harbored a dozen or so he hadn’t yet hung. He placed them down beside them and a gas lantern he generally used to light the interior. But, this morning the sun shone perfectly through all of the cracks and crevices, leaving it well lit on its own.

rendon could feel Josuah’s reluctance to talk about it. He could feel the heavy and looming emotions that were most likely weighing down against him now, as he stared off at nothing in particular for a moment, silence stretching out within the bedroom. As Brendon watched him, still tired, and his gaze hooded, he began to feel a different sensation; a feeling of loneliness. Of desolation.

“Someone wanted me to be their familiar,” Josuah revealed to him, but as he did so, Brendon leaned forward and placed his hand atop his own. “I refused… and then they cursed me.”

It was difficult, and probably really stupid to do, since he had so little energy, but he used what little he had to ‘bless’ good feelings into him. To hopefully make him feel warm, and protected, and with him now, instead of lonely, cold, and desolate. Not so surprisingly, as he bestowed it upon Josuah, he could feel the strain on himself, and the way a sudden bout of dizziness suddenly swept across his body and made him feel very disoriented for a minute.

he sight of the food that had been brought to them reminded Brendon of how hungry he was. He immediately felt like there was a giant hole where his stomach used to be, and as though he hadn’t eaten all day. Glancing outside of his bedroom window, he could tell from the blackness of the night just how late it was. His mother had also made a comment about the time and had already told them that she expected them to be in bed, and going to sleep, in an hour from now. Brendon wasn’t opposed to the disciplinary bedtime, because it was already in the middle of the night, with everyone else asleep, and he was exhausted to begin with. His main concern, mostly, was the fact that he wanted Josuah to be able to take a bath, and he also wanted to… heal him.

‘...Which is your favorite?’ Josuah’s voice swelled within his mind, taking over all of his thoughts and attention, and he abruptly felt that same embarrassed sort of invasion of his person, which immediately caused him to pout in a grumpy and flustered manner.

“Y-You should turn back into your human form, now that we… we have a whole hour to ourselves,” He retorted a little indignantly, stuffing his nose into the air with a soft humph parting from his throat.

Stop upsetting him!” Josuah’s voice suddenly filled the cavity of his bedroom and caused Brendon to struggle within his mother’s hold until he was able to draw back enough to look toward him. A few feet away from the foot of his bed, he could see him seated on the ground, looking both angry and upset, in his tattered clothing and his wounds. “I’m his familiar! I’m his protector!”

His mother must have seen the same things as him, because her expression strained. The distraught and fear that had been apart of her lessened considerably as she took in his withered and youthful form, and heard his childlike voice, and the way he fell into a coughing fit afterward.

“He’s my familiar, mom,” Brendon suddenly spoke up, his own voice hoarse as tears began to well within his eyes and he looked on the verge of tears. Surprisingly, her arms loosened around him, and allowed him to draw away. But, as he tried to stand from the bed, and his weakness became apparent, she quickly thought better of her judgement, immediately standing up to grab him and sit him down once more.

“It’s all right. I understand,” She tried to coax instead, her hand resting atop his head as she drew away and looked to her friend, Judith, with an expression struck with her internal conflict. “Akari, Judith, he’s just a child,” She whispered with clear distraught, and the two of them exchanged a hushed moment of words.