Pets vs Muggles

Hey Occulties,

This has been a relatively frequent question as of late, so, since I had about five minutes to write here, I figured I'd oblige.

Many of you have asked how is it that I "free range" my small parrot without constantly risking his death or without finding myself disrupted so frequently as to be incapable of lacking the concentration to do spellwork. Yes he has a cage, and sure, he visits it sometimes, but more or less, he has free run of the house. 

For starters, my bird is definitely one of those hilarious pains in the ass that you might suspect he would be. He bites people, eats anything he can find (whether or not said item is palatable for bird or human,) he screams at the worst possible moments (or at any moment he feels he can,) sings loud and out of tune, and insists on head scratches whenever he suspects you might give into his cocking his head to the side because he's letting you know that it's head scratch time. When he is moulting my home looks like a small feather pillow exploded, and I have to wash surfaces he likes to perch on more often because he is known to poop without a care. He chews all paper and cardboard, he chews wires, he is attracted to sparkly things, things colored orange or yellow, and anything that I'm currently holding. All of this is true. I have to cover certain offerings to prevent him nibbling on them, I must keep him away from candles and shiny things, and I do also wear earplugs when working to keep out his noises if I must.

But what you must realize is that despite all of his behaviors, my mere ability to control light is my ability to control him. If it's dark, he will become quiet and sleep. If it is light, he will be awake and active. 

It is far more distracting and detrimental to work to live with another person, not least of all because I date only muggles. This means if I ask not to be bothered, at some point, at least once a week, I'll hear "BABE!? DO WE HAVE ANY MORE TOILET PAPER?" while trying to do a reading. This means that if I need complete solitude and privacy, someone is apt to holler about when are we having dinner or to tell me what is on TV… And that's funny, as I rarely watch television…really, I just don't care much about it. I would say by and large – and this from a person who has raised reptiles, rodents, cats, dogs, fish, and birds (and multiple pets of all types,) that the most disruptive force in any household to a magician is a muggle, which is to say, another person, especially one who does not do magic. 

So this is why I've been able, for so long, to deal with a bird who flies through my home freely without finding it too overwhelming – because I'm used to having one or more person in my home who is 1000x more disruptive (without intending to be,) and can still do my work in those cases. 😉 While pets can be disruptive or can cause one to require more caution while working, they are far easier to handle than most human beings.

~Cat