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Pearl was fully under her covers tonight, she woke up due to a nightmare she can barely remember, let alone put to words. The unease she felt when she woke up told her that she may not be able to go back to bed soon. So she decided to find comfort being covered in her blanket and hope to go back to sleep despite feeling uneasy.
She managed to start feeling sleepy again so she decided to close her eyes. But in closing her eyes she saw purple eyes surrounding her. She jolted back up her ears perked at attention and her tail wrapping around her in search of comfort. The purple eyes scare her, she doesn't know why they do, but they just do!
So pulling down her covers, she looks around her room that she shares with her twin, Jimmy. And her eyes land on her dog stuffie named Tilly, she got the plushie recently for her and Jimmy's birthday, mommy Ms. Katie gifted it to her. So she grabs onto it in hopes that she'll feel better, enough to hopefully sleep. She looks over to Jimmy and notices how he looks tense in his sleep, his face is all scrunched up in discomfort. And his wings are pulled at his back that looks a bit uncomfortable.
She hopes it doesn't have to do with his wings as lately his wings have felt achy and uncomfortable for her twin, not to mention how his back has been aching as well. She wishes that she could understand what's wrong so she can help relieve some of her twin's discomfort. But no matter how much she asks her mother to teach her how to help, she always ends up brushing her off. Her mother says she's too busy to help teach her and that it shouldn't concern her since she's not even an avian.
She knows that but she still wants to know so she can help Jimmy. She doesn't like seeing him upset or uncomfortable if she can help it. And she knows she can do something about it, I mean look at Joel, Martyn, and Grian, her older brothers. Martyn and Joel both learned so they can preen Grian’s wings because he can't reach all of them and she's seen how much better it makes him feel after a preening. But her mother didn't teach Joel, Martyn, nor Grian, their mommy nanny Ms. Katie learned and taught her older brothers so that they can do it!
Her older brother Grian has been learning more about his wings since they are starting to develop his necessary feathers, she thinks it was flight feathers! So he can start to glide, she remembers how her brother was achy and his back felt sore for a bit before he first started to fully develop his colorful wings. She thinks that her brother has parrot wings if she remembers correctly, at least Ms. Katie said so!
So she's wondering if her twin is finally starting to develop his wings important feathers, she wonders what type of bird he'll be! She should ask Ms. Katie or her older brothers to teach her and Jimmy so they can preen his wings together! Maybe it'll help him feel better if she preens them alongside him when they learn…
As she continues to observe her brother she notices that he may be starting to wake up, she knows it because his nose tends to wrinkle up before he wakes up.
Then all of a sudden her twin jolts up (spooking her in the process), his wings puffing up like they do when she spokes him. He starts to look around the room quickly until his eyes land on her and he seems to relax as his wings come back down to rest from the scare he had. His ear wings still puffed up due to his scare.
She wonders if he had a nightmare like her.
“What woke you up Jimmy?” She says as she starts to move to her twin, holding Tilly as she does so.
“I don' know, I can't remember I think it was a nightmare maybe” As he speaks he makes room for Pearl to join him on his bed. Curling into her side when she settles in hugging him to comfort him.
“Wha’ about you, you usually don’ wake up for no reason” Leaning into her more attempting to wrap his wing around her shoulder. He winces and just lets his wing hang at her side. She wishes that she could help him feel more comfortable.
“I think it was a nightmare too, saw purple eyes… it was weird, but are your wings bothering you?” She ask her twin after telling him her nightmare, her tail going to hug him. Enjoying her cuddle with her twin and relaxing a bit more at the contact.
“Yea, they've been feeling all achy and uncomfortable, they hurt a bit especially my back” As he speaks she notices how his wings are a bit twitchy.
“But do you wan’ to come with me to Joel's room, he always makes me feel better after a nightmare” She looks at him and nods at his suggestion, her older brother Joel always makes them feel better when they don't feel good!
“Yep, let's go to his room, let's try not to wake him up but if we do we should ask him if he can preen your wings, maybe they'll feel better!” She started to climb out of her twin's bed with Tilly in her hold and started for the door.
“Well there isn’ much to preen but it's worth a try maybe I'll feel better…” She waited for Jimmy to get his sheriff doll that he got for their birthday given to him by Ms. Annie since he told her that he likes cowboys. She remembers his excitement when he received the gift running into Ms. Annie's hold as he said thank you over and over for the gift.
As Jimmy came next to her they heard a door opening outside of their room, they looked at each other, Pearl grabbing her twins hand as she went to open the door with her other hand to see who it was, maybe it was their older twin brothers?
When she opens the door her eyes lock onto her older brother, Martyn. And behind him is her other older brother Grian, she also senses Jimmy peaking up behind her at the same time. Both sets of twins look at each other for a second before Martyn speaks.
“What are you two doing up right now? Was it a nightmare?” Martyn asked them, Pearl took in his appearance and noted how his shark-like ears are pinned back and how his shark tail seems to be tense, swishing back and forward in quick succession. She also looks at Grian and notices his tense wings and his puffed up ear wings and his analytical expression looking at her and Jimmy. They most likely also had a nightmare like her and Jimmy.
“Yea, I woke up first and then Jimmy also woke up, we both had nightmares and we were just about to go to Joel's room for the night” She also noticed how her brothers also had their stuffies, Martyn with his shark plushie, apparently the same species he is, she thinks it was a shortfin mako shark, she mostly remembers because of the longish name. But Ms. Katie gifted it to Martyn for his and Grian’s birthday, She also sees that Grian has his parrot stuffie as well, a red macaw just like him! His plushie being gifted to him by Ms. Annie!
“Funny, me and Martyn were also heading to Joel's room for the night” So that's why they left their room as well! Maybe this can become a sleepover in their older brother's room!
“Well since we're all here we may as well go to his room together” Jimmy suggested as he started to signal at her with their connected hands to get going to Joel's room. With that she started to bring them out of the hallway and went straight for their brother's room.
“Yeah let's get going so the sooner we can hopefully go to sleep” She heard Martyn reply and started to hear another two pairs of footsteps follow after them.
The walk to Joel's room was quick as it's not far from their rooms. Pearl approached his door and saw it was slightly open so she pushed it open a bit more and took a peak inside.
She saw how her brother was tucked into bed but looking a bit tense, so with that she decided to fully approach since he's still sleeping but who knows for how much longer. Coming into the room the smell of lavender and honey is stronger here, meaning their mommy nanny was here tonight. She starts to approach her brother's bed with Jimmy in tow and as soon as she is about to get up onto his bed she sees Joel's eyes flutter open and they lock eyes with each other, she registers her other older brothers have made their way into the room.
“Pearl what are you doing up?” He moves to sit up on his bed and she sees his eyes widen in surprise.
“Actually what are you all doing in my room? Its- two in the morning guys” Her brother looks at all of them in concern, most likely trying to piece together why they're all in his room.
“We all had nightmares, so we decided to come to you so that we can go back to sleep. Because for me you always make me feel better when I had a nightmare so it made sense to come to you” Martyn replied for all of them, answering their older brother's question. So her suspicions were correct, they all had nightmares tonight.
“Since you're up can you teach me and Jimmy how to preen his wings? They've been bothering him for the past two days” Since she felt she wouldn't be able to sleep right away she at least wanted to learn how to preen Jimmy's wings. Maybe if she did it for him he'll be able to go to sleep easier!
“Pearl, don't you think it's a bit early in the morning to do that?” As her brother spoke he moved towards the middle of his bed, she then saw her older twin brothers crawl on to their older brother's bed at the freed up space. Seeing this she turned to Jimmy and gestured for him to get on the bed so he could settle in letting go of his hand in the process.
“I know it's a bit early but I want to make Jimmy feel better since he can't sleep as comfortably since his wings are bothering him” She responds to her brother as she starts to climb onto his bed after seeing that Jimmy settled in sitting to his right.
Her brother sighs as he gets up from his bed and goes to one of his drawers and pulls out a bottle, she takes a closer look when he comes back and reads that the label says ‘Preening Oil’. Her brother got back on his bed after her older brothers made space for him back in the middle of his bed, Martyn and Grian taking up the upper corners of his bed instead while her and Jimmy occupied the left lower corner of the bed.
“Alright I'll do it but you better not fall asleep on me while I teach you ok? Jimmy, come sit in front of me so that I can preen your wings lad” Joel petting the spot in front of him to signal to Jimmy where he wants him to sit. Jimmy shuffled over so that he sat in front of their brother, holding his sheriff doll to his chest as he got comfortable. This will be the first time he got a full preening, since he has had some areas preened overtime when their older brother's learned.
“Pearl come over here so you can see his wings from the back ok?” She moved to his left side to get a better view of her twins wings, their colors still haven't shown up yet, still being more gray puffy small feathers.
“So when you go to preen someone's wings first you apply this thing called preening oil, just makes it easier to glide over their feathers” He starts to explain as he applies some of the preening oil in his hands coating his palm and fingers.
“You have to be gentle, slow, and steady because if you're not you may pull at a feather that isn't ready to come off and that will hurt the person a lot if you do” her brother started to explain as he gently started to run his fingers through Jimmy's right wing tilting his body to the side so that she can get a better look.
“Hmm… it seems that you are getting your first pin feathers coming in. I guess we'll see what avian species you take after soon enough. Let's see if these pin feathers are ready to open up yet” As Joel talked about the pin feathers he pointed his free hand at a small thin cylinder shape coming from Jimmy's wings to show Pearl what he's talking about.
“Ohh, is that why my back has been achy and why my wings have felt uncomfy?” Pearl notices how he starts to sag into their older brother's touch as he starts to look for all the pin feathers he may have.
“Yep, it seems so lad well don't worry I'll get it sorted for you while I teach Pearl how to preen them, I'll teach you in the morning ok?” Joel replies as he continues to look through his feather for any signs of other pin feathers.
“Ok…” She notices how Jimmy is starting to sound tired, maybe after they're done preening his wings he'll be well on his way to dream land!
“Pin feathers usually show up when new feathers are coming in. It seems like Jimmy may start to be able to learn to glide this year.” As her older brother starts to focus on a pin feather she starts to get a bit worried about that because Grian has gotten all his new feathers in and he's been jumping off the furniture of high ledges. She worries that he may hurt himself if she doesn't keep a close eye on him, she knows it's normal for avians to do that but she can't help but worry nonetheless.
“Now you see Pearl, the whole point of preening is to get all the gunk off and to align feathers to their correct spots if they're out of place. But in the case for Jim preening is mostly done for chick's like him to help with their development, since now we have the first signs of his wings developing, our job is to see which pin feathers are ready to come off” He starts to explain to her as he starts to roll a pin feather side to side and she sees how that one seems to crumble apart quickly.
“With this one we know it was ready because when I did this side to side movement on the pin feather casing you should see it crumble apart, that means that it's ready, now if it doesn't do that it means that pin feather isn't done developing.” As he explains his process he continues to do that same process to another pin feather. Pearl then starts to notice how when the casing is falling apart the feathers come out a nice warm shade of yellow.
“Pearl, how about you give it a go” Her brother then hands her the preening oil bottle to her. She first sets down Tilly at her left side, she then applies the oil like how she saw Joel do it.
“Now remember to be gentle, slow, and steady ok” Her brother said as he took back the bottle. He brought her in closer and moved Jimmy's left wing closer to her for her to go ahead and try.
So she concentrates on the process, she first locates one of the pin feathers and she gently starts the side to side movement and sees how it crumbles apart, revealing more of the rich shade of yellow. She then goes for another one, the one she went for didn't crumble apart so she left it alone and tried another, this one crumbling apart when she started the movement.
“You're doing great Pearl, you continue on this wing while I continue to work on this one. The sooner we're done, the sooner you can get to bed.” Afterwards they settle into a silent rhythm, Pearl removing the pin feathers that are ready and when she spots a piece of dirt or debris she gently catches onto the piece and slowly removes it. Her tail swishes mindlessly as she focuses on her task. She and Joel repeat this process until they have a pile of the pin feather casings, dirt, and debris.
Joel got back up and presided to grab the pile into his hands making sure not to spill it all and went to throw it away. He then went back to the drawer where he keeps the preening oil and pulled out a rag, wiping his hands. He then pulls out another one and goes to hand it to her, she then cleans her hands of the preening oil. Joel grabs the bottle and goes to put it back in the drawer, closing it in the process. He then grabs both of their wrags and puts it in his hamper tail mindlessly swishing as he cleans up.
Pearl then looks back towards Jimmy and studies her and Joel's work. His wings have started to show this nice yellow color mostly at the top of his wings, the feathers where his primaries are located are still their gray small puffy feathers. His wings are starting to look more similar in structure to Grians!
Jimmy also has started to look back at his wings and she sees how his eyes show how surprised he is at the state of his wings. Joel came back to bed and reclaimed his spot in the middle, her older twin brothers already asleep curled around her oldest brother.
“Well look at how they're coming along, I'll see in the morning what type of avian matches up with the feathers you have so far ok Tim?” She is curious to learn what avian Jimmy will end up being, well she'll find out tomorrow!
“Ok then, thank you by the way, you and Pearl didn't have to do it right now” Jimmy responded as he started to move to settle into Joel's right side still holding onto his sheriff doll snuggling in as close as he can.
“I know we didn't have to do it right now, but I saw how much they were bothering you these past two days, so I hoped that doing this would help you sleep a bit easier” She herself then settled against Joel's left side after she grabbed Tilly and brought her plushie towards herself. Now she feels tired enough to sleep, her nightmare long forgotten.
“Don't worry about it that much Jimmy, we'll continue talking about what to expect now that we know your flight feathers may come in soon, but that'll wait until morning. Let's try and get some sleep you two” With that Joel lowers himself down on the mattress in order to lay his head without disturbing Martyn or Grian. He then brought the both of them down with him so they're snuggled up underneath his arms.
Pearl feels more at peace in this moment, feeling nice and relaxed and most of all feeling protected in the hold of her older brother. So with that she decided to close her eyes and let sleep claim her.
Surely life will only get easier and better as time goes on…
Hopefully with less nightmares and more moments like these, with her siblings by her side and just enjoying each other's company.
After Joel watches as Pearl and then Jimmy go to sleep he gets more comfortable and relaxes fully now that all his younger siblings are settled in. He also finds it strange that they all got nightmares, mostly because before they came in he also had one.
That nightmare was something that scared him to his core, being in a void with his siblings and then watching as purple blurs pulled them away from him, leaving him alone. He's sure it's nothing but, knowing it certainly didn't help him feel better about it. So he was surprised when he opened his eyes again after failing to fall back asleep and seeing Pearl and then all his younger siblings.
Not that he'll ever complain when he saw their weariness in their eyes. He's just glad that they're all settled in now sleeping away in the safety of his room.
He won't admit it, but he feels better enough to sleep knowing they're all here with him. So he should sleep so he isn't cranky in the morning.