[LN] No, those aren't for pulling

[carrierdove]

"I said to stop pulling my feathers."

The voice is flat and unamused. There is a giant mourning dove (about the size of a large dog) perched on the banister overlooking the Globe of Belief, and there's a cluster of elves huddled near him, completely disregarding personal space and putting their hands through his feathers, occasionally trying to pull one. The dove seems to be glaring at them, but it's hard to tell since it's a fucking bird.

"Go away and leave me alone." He flares his feathers and gives a flap of the wings, kicking up enough wind to make the elves slide back. Normally, the invasion of personal space would deeply upset him, but the little things feel more like animals than people. It'd be like getting angry at a dog for trying to get too close and personal.

The elves hide behind objects to escape the wind, but they're already peeking out, gauging how long it will be before they can go investigate the feathers again.

The bird sighs and turns his attention back to the globe, watching lights flicker in and out. Maybe he should fly closer to get a better look.

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[animalhats]

"Hey, go get some cookies," comes an imperious child's voice behind Nageki. "Ones that you haven't eated at all, okay? And milk!"

He's lucky, this time, as Molly showed up and saw them heading back for the feathers. She's pretty good at dealing with them, as good as anyone can be when dealing with such stupid little things.

Molly, to be honest, has to fight not to do the same thing the elves were doing, because it's a GIANT TALKING BIRD, but she restrains herself. "Um, hi! I'm Molly, I don't think I've met you yet!"

[carrierdove]

It's a good thing that she resists the urge, because he wouldn't be nearly so patient with a human as he is for the childlike elves.

He swivels his head to look at her when he hears her talking to the elves, but doesn't make any other movement to acknowledge her. He just stares at her with those black bird eyes.

And then she actually talks to him. He blinks--his eyelids are blue--and looks away immediately, feathers fluffing out in what could be any number of emotions because he's a bird and what do fluffed feathers even mean for birds.

He doesn't talk for just a second too long, prolonging an awkward silence without seeming to mean to.

"Nageki. Fujishiro Nageki," he says when he seems to remember that he's expected to respond. "I haven't been here very long."

[animalhats]

It's okay to be awkward, Nageki - Molly excells at not letting someone else's awkwardness stop her from having a conversation.

"Cool!" She pulls herself up to sit on the railing. "Are you really a giant bird or are you like under a spell or something?"

[carrierdove]

Good, because that's the only kind of person he can have a conversation with.

He stares at her as she sits on the railing next to him. How odd. She doesn't have wings to catch herself if she falls, so it's more dangerous for her to perch than him. He supposes she might have magic, though. If all else fails, he'd catch her if she fell.

"I have always been a bird." The tone is flat, but his feathers smooth and he moves his eyes away from her again. It sounds a little like he thinks this should be obvious. "Birds are the dominant species where I come from. Are you really a human or are you under a spell or something?"

Nageki, don't be rude. But it's hard to tell if he's trying to be rude or not; the question is certainly pointed.

[othersdestructive]

It was a bird. A bird the size of a dog perched on a banister. A bird that could talk.

It said something about Raph's life that this wasn't even close to the weirdest thing he'd ever seen. After, all he was giant, talking turtle that had been raised by a giant talking rat and trained in ninjutsu. His own existence was the weirdest thing most people would ever see.

Raph liked birds. He wasn't sure if he'd like him when he talked back, but he had something of a way with the pigeons back home.

"So. Hi. You're new."

[carrierdove]

The bird swiveled his head to look at Raph. It was hard to tell if he had any reaction to seeing a turtle, seeing as he was a bird, but his tail feathers momentarily fanned out before they came back together and smoothed again.

"I am."

A talking turtle was not the weirdest thing he'd ever seen, but seeing as he was used to a world were birds were the dominant species, it was still a little strange.

"And you are not."

...Yes, that was Nageki's idea of conversation. Forgive him: his experience with strangers was limited.

[othersdestructive]

"I'm new-ish. Been here, what, two weeks now? You got the rundown, right? Usually most people do before they're even brought in."

That was okay, Raph could carry the conversation well enough on his own and if the guy turned out to be super antisocial, he'd just find Mikey and sic 'im on him. Nothing like a social force of nature to get someone out of their shell, swept out of it by Mikey-powered cyclone winds.

"The whole thing's crazy but far as I can tell, they're telling the truth about it all."

[carrierdove]

"I've seen stranger. I believe what they tell me." For the most part. There was a part of Nageki that was still a little distrustful of the whole thing, especially after dealing with The King.

He looked away from Raphael, towards the globe. It felt strange to have a stranger see him, even now. "I've been told that we were brought by the belief of children because a being of darkness thinned barriers between realities and we are fictional here. Now we have to save the world from that being of darkness. Is that what you were told?"

[othersdestructive]

"Yep. Apparently me and my brother are from some kinda crazy popular cartoon and comic franchise here. That kids watch. Which is ridiculous because our lives aren't exactly what you'd call kid-friendly."

He shook his head.

"Don't know what their parents are thinking. What about you, did you find out what kinda thing they know you from?"

[carrierdove]

"No. It's probably for the best if I don't."

That would give him temptation to look at his future and his past. He shouldn't look at either. The past was unchangeable, the future was what it was.

"...But it shouldn't be watched by chicks." There were a lot of dark things in his history and in the histories of those around him. Suicide, soul consumption, infanticide, terrorism, depression, vendettas, the weakness inherent with sapient creatures... not kind things for chicks. Though perhaps that just meant chicks needed to see it the most.

(Yes, he thought of 'children' as 'chicks.' Species differences.]

[othersdestructive]

"Why can't it be watched by girls?" Color him confused. "If it had lots of violence and stuff, there are some girls that are cool with action movies and TV shows."

Like April never seemed to mind it when they were all watching things with explosions.

[carrierdove]

"Excuse me?" The bird swiveled his head to look at the turtle again. His expression was still hard to read (because bird) but his eyes looked somewhat incredulous. Then maybe there was a touch of disdain there.

"Chicks. Not girls, chicks." Beat. "Children." How does a person look at a talking bird and think 'chicks' refers to women? "Do you want me to call them hatchlings?" Because that was the appropriate vocabulary for baby turtles, he supposed.

[othersdestructive]

"We just call them kids or children. People call good-looking women 'chicks' or 'babes' or - come to think of it, that does sound weird."

'Babe' and a name for baby animals to describe women.

"Uh, it's more a general we. Sensei never really thought we'd get to know anybody outside our family but he taught me and my brothers to show ladies respect."