𝐄𝐏𝐇𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐖𝐈𝐒𝐇 | 儚き願い

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[𝐕𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝟐] - 𝐇𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐈𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞

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❝𝑨 𝑭𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚.❞

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"𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑺𝑶𝑴𝑬 𝑴𝑬𝑨𝑺𝑳𝒀 𝑹𝑨𝑻, 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑯𝑨𝑽𝑬 𝑸𝑼𝑰𝑻𝑬 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑬𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑩𝑳𝑰𝑺𝑯𝑴𝑬𝑵𝑻," the Eagle comments, examining his small cave. She searched around each crevice, staring at the different types of food he had stored away at the back of his house. Although slightly cold, there was something about it that struck her as comfortable.

"It's the best house for me but I can't help but feel worried about the cold winter," he said, scampering around his home to pick up one of the berries he had kept in the back. "Sometimes there are other animals that come inside to steal some food. I can't really stop them from coming in when I'm not around though."

The Eagle stared at the Rat, seeing his shoulders deflate in tiredness. While it was obvious that he should simply downgrade his home, it looks as if he had a certain attachment to this place. She didn't quite understand the purpose of having such sentimental value towards objects. Most of them would have been destroyed by other animals or by the natural weather. It was futile to give such objects a value.

"You can stay here until your wings heal," the Rat suggested, brushing through his grey coat as the Eagle turned to him, "It looks like it's just enough to fit you in it, so you should be fine."

"Is that so?" She replied, turning her head around to get another look at his home. There were a few drawings on the wall, acting like paintings in his home. Despite his comments about the thievery of other animals, he still made the effort to make his home look nice. All of the berries that he collected were neatly stacked against each other. The pile of leaves that he slept on was constantly straightened out to avoid breaking. Many of the objects around his home looked as if they held all sorts of sentimental value to him.

As he bit into the berry, he sat down and quietly ate through it. He sat on a smaller pile of leaves, too focused on eating his own food to notice that the Eagle had continued staring at him.

Was he just being greedy or idiotic? She asked herself. Even though it was hopeless to keep such a big house to himself, one that oftentimes felt too cold for him to stay in, he still wanted to stick by it. She didn't understand his logic. Any normal animal would simply choose a smaller house that they could use for the time being. It wasn't worth getting sentimental over something that could be so easily broken.

She didn't quite understand him.

The Eagle sighed, moving past the Rat and resting herself in the back of the cave. She ruffled out her feathers, stretching her wings just enough to fit inside his home. The Rat's eyes widened as she maneuvered herself, giving enough room for him to stay.

"This home is important to you, isn't it?" She asked, peering down at him as he set down the berry he was eating.

He stuttered a bit, "Y-Yeah, it has a lot of memories in it. . ."

"What kind of memories?" He heard her as she ruffled her feathers a second time, her eyes still focused on him.

The Rat hummed a bit, looking down at his food before glancing up at her, "Sometimes my friend would come over here. We would play around a bit and sometimes he would come in here to sleep too."

". . . I see," she replied, her eyes slowly fluttering shut.

"Come here," The Rat's ears perked up at the sound of her voice.

"Why?" He asked.

"Come here."

He nervously placed down his food, scampering over to her side. He tilted his head up to her intimidating eyes, the cold wind brushing up against his back as he shivered. She reached out to him with her wing, pushing him closer into her feather-coated chest. The Rat placed his hand on her feathers, feeling his hand sink deep into them.

They felt so warm, he thought, leaning his body against it as the alluring warmth of her body wooed him into a trance. He closed his eyes, sinking into her feathered chest as she scooted herself to be slightly closer to him.

"This home is important," she said, lowering her neck slightly to brush against the Rat, "I'll protect it just for you."

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❝𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒊𝒆𝒔.❞

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