hadriel | One | Video | Birds and Fish

[The video opens up to Amos sitting on a rooftop, the trees of the park off in the distance behind him. He's got a jabberjay perched on either shoulder, and he gives the camera a sunny grin.]

Hi! So. Ya'll've probably noticed the birds. I know they can be annoying an' rude, but I'm gonna ask that you please not kill 'em. They're actually really useful.

They like trouble an' excitement an' people, an' when I asked a few of 'em agreed to watch around the arena an' the streets for me. So them making a fuss is a pretty useful alarm system. I've been leavin' out bread an' fruit for 'em, 'cause they told me they like that best. It'd be pretty helpful, though, if ya'll could do the same.

Oh, an' they recognize faces an' voices, so if you've bothered them before, uh, they'll remember that an' they won't like you. Bribing them with food works pretty well, though, as you can see with my buddies here.

[Amos nods to the birds on his shoulders. One of them is eyeing Amos's shiny multiple earrings in a very concentrated 'I want to steal that' way: the other is cheerfully unraveling a thread from Amos's shirt-collar. Truthfully, only three of the jabberjays are absolutely willing to aid Amos; the rest are passingly indifferent to his requests but Amos can still 'hear' them when they start a fuss, if they're within a half mile of him. But no need to let everyone in on those details.]

Oh, and for some reason, they're all male, in case anyone was curious.

So thanks, please be nice to the birds! An' the fish in the river like handouts too, just passin' it on.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ugh, gross.]

.............. I'm not gonna fucking be nice to those things.

Why not?

[Amos genuinely wants to know. He winces as the bird on his shoulder pecks at his earrings: there are three for it to choose from in that ear, but he's just glad the bird isn't trying to get after his Monroe piercing. That one's a bit more tender.]

Ow, hey, careful!

[does cliff even have to answer that because he feels like the birds just answered for him right now.

he doesn't have any earrings, but when he opens his mouth to answer amos regardless (because at this point he's already doubting amos' ability to understand the obvious) he might just catch a glimpse of metal in cliff's mouth from a tongue ring.]

Because they're assholes.

[Amos recognizes the gleam of metal for what it is: he has his own tongue-piercing. He still doesn't lose his grin, because he's used to grumpy glares and scathing retorts from his friend back home. Affection disguised as disdain has made Amos practically immune to the kind of look Cliff is giving him.]

They can be pretty obnoxious, yeah, but they're mostly just curious an' loud.

Could be worse, they could be racoons.

[Who are more obnoxious because they have hands and get into everything, as far as Amos is concerned. He reaches up and offers a berry to the bird on his shoulder, distracting it from his earrings.]

Raccoons don't scream like humans.

[and they were much easier for cliff to chase as a wolf. seriously, having wings was cheating.]

No, but they scream like the dickens when they're mad.

[And cuss and fuss and are generally unpleasant. Amos tries not to annoy the trickily clever creatures...even when they're filching international security secrets.]

They're just doing what they do. You can't blame an animal for its nature.

[cliff narrows his eyes in a very clear message that, yes, he very well can and will blame them for that. he knows a little thing about animal nature (sort of).]

Aaaw, c'mon.

[Amos wheedles, then adds a teasing comment that will probably get this conversation ended in a huff. In fact, he's surprised it hasn't already.]

I mean, you're a teenager, and I'm not blaming you for bein' all teenager at me.

[Have the biggest shit-eating grin ever, Cliff]

One | Video | Birds and Fish

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