I got so excited I actually wrote something for the first time in over a month I couldn't wait for tease tidbit tuesday or wip wednesday or whatever so here's a daemon snippet!! I wasn't tagged, I'm just going for it :] I'm sure I got tagged in something and forgot about it, so consider this a response to any tag games I've been tagged in I guess
this is a prequel to the actual fic I'm working on, and will all be from maddie's pov! she's eight, here, and her daemon, traxin, is still unsettled. this got kind of long, so the rest of this is under a cut
“Are you ready to meet your new brother?”
Dad gets her settled in the chair before he moves to Mom’s side, his back to the rest of them. Her parents start to whisper, but Maddie puts her full attention on the babies being passed into her arms—her brother and his daemon—as the nurse helps to support his head. Traxin is fluttering with excitement as he perches on Maddie’s knee, eyes wide. Maddie feels the same.
“What’s his name?” she asks the nurse.
“Evan. Your parents’ daemons are still deciding on his daemon’s name.” She steps away to give them privacy, busying herself with nurse things Maddie isn’t interested in. Maddie only has eyes for Evan.
“Hi Evan,” she croons. He’s quiet in her hold, sound asleep. Maddie wants to keep holding him forever.
“Can I?” Traxin asks, hopping a few times before flitting to her shoulder, head tilting back and forth as he takes in the babies in her arms. He shifts again, unable to keep his form in his excitement. His puppy stage is nearing not-a-puppy-anymore, and he nearly knocks her from the chair as he settles at her side, nose inching towards the daemon on Evan’s chest. “Can I, Maddie?”
Traxin has never talked much, but Maddie doesn’t mind. It’s always interesting hearing what he has to say. This time makes her laugh.
“She doesn’t even have a name yet,” Maddie reminds him, pressing him back with her elbow. She drops her voice to a whisper. “But soon, I think. We get to be the first.”
“Oldest sibling rights,” Traxin says, smug. Maddie grins. That grin drops abruptly as snippets of conversation flit across the room.
“You’ve seen me, the baby is as healthy as we hoped he’d be, now go stay with our son. He’s all alone—”
“—only for a little while, he’s fine—”
“What if something happens while you’re gone? We’re supposed to be helping him, Evan is supposed to—”
“Margaret,” Phillip hisses.
“Just go,” she snaps, “or I’ll go myself.”
Maddie’s arms tighten around Evan. It was supposed to be her. She’d offered to stay with Daniel.
“Mom…I—”
“Just keep holding him, Maddie,” she says, eyes closing with exhaustion. Traxin pulls back, tucking himself half-behind Maddie with a breathy whine. Mom sighs. “Be a good girl and look after your brother.”
Dad flashes Maddie a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes as he passes, Jarah trotting at his heels. It’s not very reassuring. Maddie’s eyes drift to Molin, desperate for some sort of comfort or something, anything to cut the tension in the room that feels thicker than the humidity. Molin stares back, eyes dark and unreadable.
“Her name is Balaine,” he says, quiet. He stares at Maddie a moment more before tucking his beak under his wing.
Then they’re alone. Maddie and Traxin and Evan and…and Balaine.
