Tauraus

Trinity had been running errands, checking things off her to-do list that she had been neglecting. Only one activity required her to go into a little coffee shop where she was going to buy a thank you of sorts to give to the man who let her borrow his truck. No dogs allowed. She tied Moose up outside, and just to be safe turned to a man sitting on a nearby bench, “Mind watching my dog for me? I’ll only be a minute.” When he agreed she nodded, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Moose was staying still and being good before entering the shop. She had been trying to decide between a box of coffee and cinnamon buns when she happened to look out the window, where she saw the man who was now up and looking distressed, and no Moose. “God damn it.”

She dropped the coffee back on the shelf, “Where’s my dog?” The I looked down and he was gone excuse wasn’t going to do it for her, “How do you lose a great dane!?” She didn’t wait for a response, you can’t ask people to do anything, “Moose!”

She had kicked off her shoes so that she could run faster, looking into alleyways and near garbage cans until she ran straight into someone, 

“Sorry. I’m sorry.” out of breath she pulled out her phone, “Have you seen this dog?”

To say Sean was tired was an understatement, and he was ready to rip his hair out between his sisters kids, work, and the goddamn neighbors that had to ask him about everything that he did. At first, the suburbs seemed alright, but now the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ life was starting to drive him mad. Rounding a corner he considered a short cut to his car from his office, he hadn’t noticed the dark haired woman come bounding around the corner at a full sprint. Stumbling, Sean shoved his arms out to steady the woman and him self. Blinking, he stared at the picture, and shook his head slowly.

“I don’t think so, no. Beautiful dog, though.. I could help you look for it, if you’d like?” He offered. The kids didn’t get out of school for another hour and a half, and Abigail was at pre-school till 5:00

Baylen debated showing the man his tissue full of blood, but, decided not to be rude to the stranger when it was his fault he’d stopped in the first place. “I’ll be fine, mate. I’m not sure why it’s bleeding.” he shrugged. He knew these frequent nosebleeds needed checked out, but, he just didn’t have the time recently.  

As the toddler approached Buttons, her crest raised and she hissed at the child. Baylen quickly tapped her on the tip of the beak to discourage the behaviour. “She’s never been near young children before, she’s just nervous.” He felt a little embarrassed, but, he stood up and put the bloody tissue into the bin, then turned and re-engaged the small child and the rest of her family. “If you all want to pet the bird, you can.” 

He took the bird off of his shoulder and down onto his fingers, got her to bow her head and then brought her over to the family. “Just scratch the back of her neck gently. He looked over to the other adult, wanting to assure him that the bird wouldn’t bite. “You’re free to pet her too. As long as the crest on her head is down, she’s happy.”

Sean had never understood nose bleeds. He had a co-worker when he was a teenager that got them frequently from time to time and it was sudden and unpredictable. He felt bad because he couldn’t offer any reasoning behind the flow of blood from the mans nose. 

Sean eyed the bird and grabbed his niece when the birds feathers ruffled and it’s chest raised.”She’s just curious.. I promise.” He tried to explain his nieces actions as she continued to move and grab for the bird. “She has a toy at home that’s very similar. She thinks your bird is a toy, I’m afraid.” He sighed, shaking his head at Abigail. As the other man disposed of his tissues, Sean bent down low to his niece and offered her a bribe for later; a scoop of ice cream for later if she went with her brother and sister to the park to play.  

Just as he was about to offer two scoops of ice cream, the other male came back with the bird perched on his finger and it’s head bowed. His eyebrows raised slightly and he removed his arm from around his nieces waist and offered her to go over and pet the bird. “I appreciate it.” He smiled at the man. “You’ve saved me from having ice cream for dinner.” He grinned slightly, shooting a look to Abigail to be careful with the bird.

“Uh, yea. I would rather not think about my daughter being that age.” she laughed. Just thinking about Sadie being a teenager worries her. “They get into everything, but it’s the tiny feet that you hear on wood floors, and the tiny laughter.” she responded. “Anjaliah, but you can call me Jaliah if you want.” 

“You don’t want them to grow up too fast.” He admitted with a slight sigh. Too bad it would be him seeing his sisters children growing up and not her. He laughed and nodded his head. “I agree, but not at five in the morning on a Saturday, but I guess you can’t have anything, right?” He joked, turning his gaze back to the woman. “Nice to meet you, Jaliah.”

Baylen’s cheeks burned with embarrassment. There was nothing he could do to soothe the bird except get rid of the blood, which, right now, he couldn’t do. “Yeah, she’s fine. She’s trying to alert people that I need help because she’s seen the blood. I’m fine though.” he put his finger to Button’s beak, silencing her for a small moment as she licked his finger. However, as soon as she realised what it was, she went back to screaming again, her flapping wings tangling with Baylen’s hair as the draft moved it. 

“I’m sorry if she’s ruining your walk. She’s trying to help. She’ll stop when my nose stops bleeding.” he felt incredibly watched and judged but there was nothing he could do. The bird was insisting on them being the centre of attention. “Sometimes I regret buying one of the loudest birds you can have as a pet.” Buttons wasn’t the loudest breed of cockatoo, not by a long shot, but, she could definitely pierce ears when she wanted to.

He had certainly seen service dogs. Dogs of all kind, but never a service bird? He supposed any animal could be a service animal if they were trained right and properly. Abigail had easily discarded the stuffed animal that she had brought with her and was now interested in the bird that continued to yell for someones attention. Her tiny three year old hands  trying to grasp for the birds feathers. Sucking in a deep breath, Sean grabbed for his niece. “It’s alright. When you live with kids, nothing is too noisy for you.” He assured the man, batting the three year old’s hands away and picking her up into his arms. “Are you alright, though?” He asked, brows furrowing slightly in concern when the other male mentioned blood.

Baylen had finally been able to bring his parrot, Buttons, to work. Having recently had her signed off by the local council, she was now able to be with him at all times as long as she wore a harness that stated she was there to provide a service. As much as this was a blessing for him, it also provided a great deal of anxiety. This being Button’s first time within a high school building, he was nervous that she may get upset by the amount of noise created by rowdy teenagers or that they may try to pet her which could result in a nasty bite. 

The day had however gone well and the only thing Baylen had left to worry about was the fact his anxiety had summoned forth a nosebleed. His last class had ended and he was now sitting on a bench at the nearby public park with his last tissue trying to plug his nostril from the endless pool of blood it seemed to be creating. He’d noticed an increase in nosebleeds recently. He made a mental note to bring it up the next time he went to the doctors. 

Buttons, however, took the blood as a sign for concern. However, having not been trained to say anything for such an occasion, all she had done was puff out all her feathers, flap her wings and cry out at an ear piercing pitch. Baylen had tried to soothe her but it was seemingly impossible. After a few moments of her senseless screeching, he noticed that they were receiving an odd look from a passer by who had stopped in their tracks. “I’m sorry,” Baylen apologised loudly, hoping the other would hear him over the cockatoo. “She’s trying to be helpful, I promise. She’s just a bit stupid.”

Head buried in his phone Sean stopped briefly at the side of a bench and tapped out a reply to his secretary back in the city. He had been brought onto a rather large case and it was now starting to take up a lot of his time. His niece danced around his legs with her bear that she insisted she bring with them on this trip to the park, and her older siblings trailed a few feet behind with a foul look on their faces. Neither were impressed to be at the park on a Monday night when they insisted they had better things to do. Though, Sean didn’t care. They all needed to get out of the house, and so here they were. 

Just as his thumb was about to click the send button, a loud screech and squawk had him fumbling his phone so as not to drop it on the pavement. Saving it just in time, Sean shoved the cellular device back into the pocket of his jeans and glanced at an obviously distraught bird. “Is it alright?” He asks, brows furrowing as he watched the feathers of the bird ruffle.

“Lovely age.” Anjaliah said smiling down at the child. Laughing she nodded, “Yes. Definitely know how that is. Sadie, she is six and acts like she sixteen. I’m going to have my hands full later.” She smiled. 

“Of course. I think I’d rather deal with multiple three year old’s than sixteen and seventeen year old’s.” Sean grins slightly. “I think anyone with toddlers are going to have their hands full. I’m Sean, by the way.”

“I noticed.” She responded with a large white smile. Seeing him take the little ones toy she gave a slight frown. “How old it is?” she said looking at the little girl and smiling. 

Offering Abigail a granola bar, he sighed happily as she sat down and slowly munched on the snack. “She’s three.” He hummed, shifting his blue gaze to the woman. “Three years old going on 13, though, Thinks she knows everything..” He smiled.

Slouched back into a chair, brown eyes darted over the glowing screen of an iPhone. For a moment, the man seemed to pause his reading and just stare blankly before swiping whatever was on the screen away. His hair fell forward over his eyes slightly, causing him to lift his head in an attempt to sort of toss it back to where it belonged, when he noticed a figure standing in front of him. “I’m sorry, am I in your spot?” 

J looked around the small cafe for a moment, the sound of tiny droplets of rain echoing throughout the shop. It was pretty empty, but it was also a weird time of the day. His eyes moved to the clock that hung near the counter and he noticed that it read nearly 7 PM. Even though he’d been lost on his phone and his desperate attempts to avoid whoever it may be that was texting him from an unknown number, he didn’t notice the time at all. “I should be leaving anyway.”

He was supposed to be meeting a client. They had been willing to meet him way out here rather than him traveling into the city, which Sean had been thankful for. It saved him from having to find someone to look after the kids on such late notice on a school night. Dressed properly, he stopped in front of a chair to check his watch and phone to see if he had received a message from his client, who was now half an hour late at this point.  Blinking slightly when someone spoke in the quiet of the coffee shop, Sean glanced at the other male whom he had stopped in front of. “Please, don’t get up on my account. ” He protested, shoving his phone back into his pocket. “You were here first, and there’s other tables to sit at.”

So um, I can’t believe how beautiful this place is. Sadie and I, we stopped by this little fresh food market and picked up somethings for dinner and now just trying to get settle is next to impossible when you are exhausted. 

Trace let out a laugh. “Yeah, that’s fair. It’s annoying that it’s not a grid system.” he shrugged with a soft smile before he looked around. ”I mean I know stranger danger and everything but like…I could go with you if you want? If not I mean you could use google maps.” he shrugged.

The park was fairly empty and quiet, the only distinctive noises being a few birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. It was Elliot’s day off, and usually on these types of days he would venture outside and enjoy nature with his camera. He was definitely not a professional photographer, not in the slightest. However, he did buy himself a somewhat professional camera about a year ago and he liked to toy around with taking shots of nature. He quirked his head to the side when he noticed another person in the park, fairly close to where he was taking pictures. “Hey,” Elliot said to the other. “So, like… I’m a very mediocre photographer and I’m working more with portraits. I hope this doesn’t sound weird at all, but would you like to model for me?” He asked. He didn’t typically do this. However, he was feeling a little bit more adventurous today. 

It was early in the afternoon still. Abigail’s older siblings were still in school, but would be let out soon. So, here Sean was entertaining his three year old niece on the park. Standing with his head buried in his phone as he read an email from his assistant had sent him while occasionally glancing up to keep an eye on Abigail as she played in the sand.Gaze shifting over the sentences written on the screen, he glanced up when someone spoke to him. “Pardon?” He asked, not sure if he’d heard right. “I’m afraid I’m not professional or anything.” He confessed, pocketing his phone just before shifting his gaze to his niece again.

He wouldn’t disagree there, and for a moment, Ayden wondered why the hell he hadn’t thought about using matches in the first place. “That’s actually a brilliant idea. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before.” He shook his head with furrowed brows and a breathy chuckle. Maybe this time he’ll just buy a pack of matches instead of wasting it on a useless lighter. “Wicked,” Ayden said, taking another drag of his cigarette. “But a shame, that is…you being a lawyer. I think we need more teachers than lawyers if you ask me. No offence, mate.” He then leaned back on the wall and shoved a hand into his pocket. “So, have you had any high-profile cases? Or is it just the usual kid who nicked something.”

Sean was glad that he had offered the other male another alternative to his lighter crisis. “You might go through them a little faster; depending on how much you smoke, but I find them more reliable.” He shrugged, leaning his back against the brick wall of the building. “Just try not to get them wet, otherwise you’re really shit out of luck.” He added after, shifting his blue gaze towards the man as he smoked his cigarette. “I agree. But unfortunately, we live in times where lawyers are paid more than teachers.” He explained. Sean thought for a moment. “Here? It’s just normally kids breaking and entering. All the petty stuff. When I was in the city it was a lot more high profile.”

it was surprising, though she wasn’t sure why, that he mentioned another two children, but she nodded gently, “that’s a shame,” she hummed gently, truly thinking that things would have been harder if she did know her mother before she’d passed away. kyle wasn’t about to delve into the fact that her mother had died literally as kyle had been born, that was definitely a little too intense for a first time chat. so instead of continuing to tell him about the loss of her mother, she gently smiled and thanked him for the comment. kyle watched as the smile grew on sean’s lips and she grabbed her notepad to write down the order, but when he asked for her number instead, she felt her cheeks flush a bright red, “well…” she chuckled gently, clearly surprised by the request, “uh… okay… that’s a pretty easy order to fill.” she glanced down and jotted down her number on the order sheet before tearing it off and slipping it across the bench to him. 

He knew it was hard; losing a parent was rough. He had lived it, but at least he still had another parent to fall back on. As shitty as a mother had been, she was just that; a mother. Someone Sean could turn to if goings did get tough. But he couldn’t imagine what it was like to live without both parents. Shaking his head slightly, Sean stared at Kyle curiously as she blushed and wrote down her number. He hadn’t meant to embarrass her, but Sean was never one to dance around the subject. Being blunt was what he was praised for in the court room. “Remember, drinks or coffee.” He told her, taking the paper off the table and placing it in his pocket. “Your choice. Though, I should get back to her before she wanders off.” He hummed, glancing over to his niece who was still sat at the table licking the sprinkles off her fingers.