:| For Argument's Sake |: {Ani}

Gray Jay

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Does | Thinks | Says | Hears

I lie in bed next to Blue, the gentle rise and fall of his chest comforting as I try to go back to sleep. Images of the last twenty four hours play through my mind and I feel pain in my heart as I remember Jabber Jay. Even though he isn't my actual son, I still treated him like one and I loved him as if he truly were my son. He died yesterday and I'm still mourning. Thank ripred I have Blue by my side, I don't think either of us would be able to cope on our own. I turn onto my side, trying to find a comfortable position and finally manage to fall back asleep.

I awaken to the sound of my children getting up. Time to get up I think sleepily, pushing my legs over the edge of the bed. I slide my feet into my slippers, the one luxury I have in this tiny house and look down at my sleeping husband. He doesn't have to worry about the kids the way I do. I wonder if Stellar is awake My genius child with the gift of seeing numbers. I know that, if he really tries, he can leave district nine, get himself a life in the Capitol as a business man and make good money. I see a much better future for him than I do for my other children and I expect a lot from him. I don't think it's too much to ask.

I pad down the stairs only to be greeted by little Violet, my youngest daughter. She smiles and hugs me. "Good morning mom" she says. I smile. "Good morning Violet" I say, smiling down at her. She's done better than I would have thought she would the last few days. I let her go and continue my trec to the kitchen. On my way, I find Stellar lounging around lazily on the couch and I fold my arms over my chest. "Ha, Hey Ma" he says, scratching the back of his head and giving me a half smile. I give him a pointed look. "What are you doing, lazing about, you have studying to be doing" I say, giving him an unimpressed look. I can't believe he's wasting his talents by being lazy. Come on Stel, I know you can do better. We look at each other for a few moments in silence before I give him the evil eye.

ooc: lol, the evil eye^^

Gray Jay

[insert lyrics here]

Does | Thinks | Says | Hears

I look at my second eldest son, feeling my gaze soften. “Listen, Ma, I think that maybe we should take a rest from studying, you know, with Jabber gone and all that. It’s a pretty emotional time for all of us.” He was upset about Jabber. I should have known. It hurt a lot to have Jabber leave us and to watch him die, I'd cried myself to sleep the night he'd died, although I would never admit that to my children. I know, Stel, it's hard on all of us I said. “Ma, I really don’t want to focus on the numbers right now, okay? They’re terrible and I just want a break from them.” I could understand this. One day wouldn't make a difference in his future so I supposed he could have today off. As much as I wanted him to study, I also understood that he needed to grieve. Perhaps, I'd been a little too harsh on him.

“I’ll get the work done, just not right now.” I knew he would, even if I had to harp at him and watch him like a hawk he would get the work done. Alright, because the family is grieving, I'll let you off the hook for today, tomorrow though, it's right back to studying. I want you to go outside today, get some air and do something to get your mind off of Jabber. I see you moping about and I'll give you more work. Do I make myself clear? I said, looking at him pointedly with my gray-blue eyes. I knew he was probably just going to laze about the house if I didn't force him to go outside so this was one of the few ways to get him out of the house for the day. Tomorrow, he'd be back to work, studying and doing research for the project I'd given him to do. It was a project on tracing our family tree, tracing it back as far as he could go, this included making the family tree, finding all the cousins, asking Blue for the names of his many, many siblings, putting them all into a neat presentation, then finding the total number of family members. I knew he'd been working on it a bit but I wasn't satisfied with his progress. What if I put a deadline on it, maybe that will motivate him I thought before shaking my head, pushing the thought away. This wasn't school, this was home and he was doing something for me that I'd been meaning to do for a long time now. I just hadn't gotten around to doing it yet.

I left the living room to start making breakfast and searched the fridge. We would need some more milk and eggs. Stellar, since you're not doing work today, do you think you could run to the store and get some things for me for breakfast? I called, feeling satisfied at having found an excuse for him to get out of the house.

OOC: I was hoping the thread could span into the next day, when Mama starts harping him again about doing his work