My Favorite Animal Is Technically On Fire

Daily writing prompt

What are your favorite animals?

On a desk there sits a coffee mug. Next to the mug sits a feather thats glowing orange almost like it used to be on fire. The feather is resting on the edge of the book

I used to like normal animals—otters, dolphins, capybaras. Basically anything cute enough that I could safely hug without needing a rabies shot afterward. That was my entire criteria. “Will this creature ruin my day?” If the answer was no, congrats, you’re my favorite.

Then I married a wizard and the whole animal kingdom expanded like someone unlocked the DLC. Suddenly there were creatures around our house that no nature documentary ever warned me about. At that point, can you really blame me for switching teams?

For a while, I was absolutely a unicorn girl. Classic, right? Until I learned the truth: unicorns are… not nice. Centuries of being hunted for their horn dust does something to your temperament. They don’t maul people, exactly, but the judgment in their eyes could probably peel paint. And since I have zero magical defenses unless you count sharp mom instincts and a well-aimed diaper bag, I prefer admiring them from far away. Like “across a protected preserve” far away.

These days, my heart belongs to the phoenix. That bird is basically immortal, cozy as a space heater, and genuinely friendly. Sure, their resting state is “accidentally on fire,” but who isn’t a little chaotic? They give warm hugs—literally. And I can’t help but respect a creature that dies dramatically and then clocks back into life like it’s no big deal. If only I could do that after nights when the baby wakes up every 47 minutes.

I tried suggesting Adam take one as a familiar, but he insists a firebird is not “appropriate around children,” which feels like an overreaction. So instead we have the cat. Our cat is magical, technically—just the extremely domestic kind. He can open cabinets, levitate laundry, and once enchanted the toddler’s applesauce so it stopped staining. Incredible contributions to the household. And yet he uses all his emotional energy to glare at us like our very existence inconveniences him. His familiar specialty is basic household spellwork and Olympic-level sarcasm.

Which makes him my occasional second favorite animal.