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Post by icon on Oct 31, 2013 20:47:48 GMT -5
You're not entirely certain why you're tempted to visit this house. The downstairs lights are all off, the gate is creaking slowly, and there's a slightly disconcerting number of crows circling the roof. It looks just ominous enough to make you second-guess yourself.
However, you can't help but notice the enormous mass of scrap metal and wires in the front yard. Let's be honest, you'd be hard pressed to miss anything this massive. Low static buzzing and warm strings of orange light permeate the air, setting the mood for the the behemoth of twisted supports and satellite dishes. As you can't help but draw nearer, you see that the structure is, in fact, hollow, and the interior of the contains... a spiral ramp? Oh well, only way to go is up...
You eventually reach the top of the softly curving ramp and enter the attic of the house. More strings of light drape the walls, and you notice small fires warming a kettle of tea and a pot of cider on the stove. There are several maps and papers littering the floor, diagrams which seem to contain engineering abstractions and designs. However, these details are lost to the sight of several dozen birds sitting around the room in various locations-- perched on wires, on the coat rack, up in the eaves. In the center of the room is a scraggly-looking kid with a pair of oversized goggles on, tending to the birds and a few bowls of snacks.
You can't help but feel like you've seen this somewhere before.
The kid turns and nods at you, gives a grin that looks slightly too wide, then offers you a mug and gestures towards the bowls. This place might be a bit odd, but hey, snacks are snacks. The kid makes it clear that you're welcome to take some food and leave or, if you so wish, stick around and watch the birds; after all, on a night like this, anything could happen...
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Post by Ginz ❤ on Oct 31, 2013 21:22:26 GMT -5
Luvdisc takes the mug that's being offered and takes a sip. The hot beverage is comforting. She also helps herself to some snacks.
She's intrigued by the birds. They look like Pidgeys or maybe Pidoves. She tries communicating with them "Luvdisc! Disc! Luv!" No luck. They don't seem to understand her. Perhaps they're not what she thought.
She decides to finish her drink instead.
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Post by Gelquie on Oct 31, 2013 21:26:28 GMT -5
A ghostly GLQ ascends the stairs and looks around the room, bewildered by the display, but not in an unpleasant manner. That was indeed a lot of birds. She also absentmindedly wondered what the diagrams were for.
She accepts the mug of cider happily and thanks the kid before wandering over to watch some of the birds. Looks like some were up to some interesting things. Or maybe they weren't, but hey, birds are fun.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Oct 31, 2013 21:46:41 GMT -5
Azzie entered the structure curiously. She was pleased to see all the birds there, and also quite glad for some snacks; this place was a little out of the way. She nodded to the grinning kid politely. "Nice to meet you!" And she sat down beside the Luvdisc, smiling, and munched on some candy from her bag.
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Post by icon on Oct 31, 2013 22:11:15 GMT -5
The kid grins at the newcomers, setting up a few last-minute bowls containing popcorn balls and candy bars. He also pours out a mug of tea for himself and sets it on the table, ready to sit down and converse with his guests, when-
Crash!
"Not again!"
The voice doesn't come from the kid, who is now springing up, but instead from a rather scraggly corvid, which has now flapped its way over to the shelftop, where it berates another one of the birds. One of the smaller birds-- a magpie, possibly?-- seems to have knocked over a jar and sent some birdseed skittering. The jar remains intact, but several birds flap toward the birdseed on the ground and start pecking. The kid blushes furiously with embarrassment, then tries to break up the scene.
The corvid- a raven, you can now see- hops onto the table and starts rasping out an explanation. "I told them, they need to be careful about those jars! Thankfully this kid invested in something shatterproof, but you put some seed in front of them and they don't stop! Not again!" She shrugs, a pretty impressive feat for a creature with wings, and then turns back to the guests. "Sorry about all this. Have another popcorn ball in consolation?"
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Post by Lizica on Oct 31, 2013 22:37:15 GMT -5
Having contentedly settled in to watch a family of wrens, Lizica nearly spills her cider at the commotion. In fascination, she listens to the raven's speech and watches wide-eyed as the birds mob the seed and the corvid explains.
There's not really much one can say to a talking raven after this scene.
"Thou art sure no craven?" she murmurs experimentally, more to herself than to anyone else, then feels immediately embarrassed and shields her head in case of volleyed bricks.
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Post by ♥ Azzie on Oct 31, 2013 22:45:54 GMT -5
"Thank you!" Azzie says, and takes a popcorn ball. "Nice to meet you, by the way. Um," she pauses, remembering, "You...aren't going to kill us, are you?"
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Post by icon on Oct 31, 2013 22:50:03 GMT -5
Amid the flurry of feathers, the kid nods and cracks a grin at Lizica's comment. The light blinks for a moment; you can't see under his goggles, but you're certain that if you could he'd be winking.
The raven, on the other hand, doesn't find the claim quite so amusing, instead choosing to ruffle her feathers again and grumble. "Not again! Oh, you know how many times I try to hold a decent conversation with someone and they try to make little witticisms? 'Oo-hoo, a talking raven, how droll, la-de-da', it's a shame, it is. Makes you feel a bit disappointed, almost." She turns to Lizica. "Nothing personal on you, dearie, but it is a bit tiring, you know? Have some more cider."
She then turns back to Azzie. "Kill you?" She gives a quizzical look before clacking her beak. "Heavens, no! That'd be Hitchcock again, wouldn't it? Genius filmmaker, but grossly inaccurate. Birds don't kill people, miss."
The kid leans over and gestures to the raven. She frowns. "Okay, don't normally kill people. That was a one-off, I thought he looked like an actual scarecrow. 'Twasn't my fault."
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Post by Gelquie on Oct 31, 2013 23:18:25 GMT -5
GLQ jumped when she heard the crash, and immediately looked over to the kid when she heard the voice, only to find that he wasn't moving his mouth. She watches the birds mass around the seeds, but is dragged out of her thoughts by the voice appearing again. This time, she was able to identify the source... And she staggered back.
When the raven finished their speech, GLQ stared, open-mouthed. "You... You can talk?"
She paused. "...That was rude of me, wasn't it? I just... Yeah, alright, sure."
She complies and grabs a popcorn ball, bewildered. And then horrified when she heard the raven talk about the incident with the 'scarecrow'.
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Post by icon on Nov 1, 2013 0:13:33 GMT -5
The raven unfurls her wings when she sees GLQ's shock. "Well, technically it wasn't killing him! It was an accident! He didn't even die fully, to be honest, it was more scared half to death. Yeah. Only... apparently he'd already been scared half to death several times."
The kid shoots her a glance.
"...Some of which might also have been our fault. But not all! But he never really died... I'm not helping our case, am I. Ooh, not again..."
The kid hastily rushes over to offer more cider and tea around, and the raven tries to shuffle awkwardly away. Maybe it'd be good to let her simmer down a while.
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Post by Coaster on Nov 1, 2013 0:31:08 GMT -5
Coaster all of a sudden creates a new hypothesis as to where most of last year's machine parts and scrap metal went off to when his own house was ransacked.
Nonetheless, he enters and sits quietly next to the birds. After all, in a world with mortal studies, floating hearts, and interdimensional randomized teleportation, talking birds is downright normal and actually somewhat refreshing.
Grabbing a popcorn ball or two, Coaster inquires: "So, what'd I miss? Sounds like a trial going on here."
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Post by Birdy on Nov 1, 2013 2:56:52 GMT -5
Birdy stares in shock upon entering and seeing all the birds. She stands there for moment, fascinated by them all. Then she seems to realize she is blocking the entrance/exit, and so scoots to the side and sits down, still watching the birds. The talking raven seems to have grabbed her attention the most, though.
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Post by Lizica on Nov 1, 2013 22:03:36 GMT -5
She's quite a bit perturbed by this scarecrow talk, but Lizica takes the opportunity to nervously apologize to the raven. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure you're much nicer than that raven," she says. Then after a pause and another sip of cider, she adds brightly, "You're much cooler than the other talking birds I've met. They just ramble on and on with echoed phrases about islands."
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Post by icon on Nov 2, 2013 1:03:55 GMT -5
The raven grins, or at least attempts to grin by way of tilting her head so that her beak points downwards. It's not exactly the most effective way of clearing the point, but it's alright given her lack of communicable body language.
"Look, look, just... forget about it, okay? I'm sorry, that wasn't a particularly polite way of getting my point across." She shuffles away, hopping on to the cider pot's handle and preening herself.
The kid is now looking over the lights, adjusting them to make sure everything is visible. It's starting to get darker out, now.
A few more birds fly in through the ramp and settle in the eaves. They almost seem to be organized, though it's a casual sense of order; birds seem to be flying from place to place without regard, but if you look hard enough there might just be enough of a method to it. It's a bit hard to tell. Might be better to stick with the snacks for now.
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