♙ Video ♙

[inutile]

Where am I? This isn't the Heartful House.

[standing over the camera is a tiny mourning dove. it might look like a joke, but the words are coming directly of the bird's little beak, and its cold, disdainful birdie eyes are boring down practically into the soul of the viewer.]

Abduction is a felony punishable by law, you know. [the bird pauses, his childlike voice getting a little higher with poorly concealed nervousness.]

Someone will be coming for me soon if you don't release me. It's really in your best interests to let me go before he finds me himself.

If this is your impression of adoption, I'm not interested.

Comments

[action] I hope roomie action is okay!

[innocentwisdom]

[ Okay, Caesar was pretty sure he was alone in this place until someone started talking from somewhere! And they sound like they're a child, too, so maybe they aren't dangerous? He's only just woke up in a strange room himself and had been looking around the rest of the unit with great suspicion up until that point.

Now he's sneaking up to the room he hears the voice from, to open the door and poke his head in. ]

Hello...?

YEAH

[inutile]

[Nageki looks up from his video recorder thing, his little birdie head tilting in surprise and his wings ruffling around his body as he stands up straighter.

There's a human in here? They don't look very threatening, they look young, like him (but with all things considered, Nageki isn't sure when he's never seen a human up close before. Either way, they could still be his birdnapper, so he stays where he is and gives Caesar a very critical look down the length of his beak.]

Who are you?

[innocentwisdom]

[ Nageki's going to be disappointed in Caesar's answer, since he doesn't answer the question at all! He lets the door swing the rest of the way open and stares openly at the pigeon. ]

You can talk? But you're a bird!

not here

[moirailcompass]

[oh you look rather tasty]

not here either

[inutile]

[COO COO!!!]

i apologize for nepeta

[moirailcompass]

[But. But you can talk and thus are sentient so. She shouldn't eat you. Hopefully she never crosses paths with you because you are a very pretty bird. Like one of those fancy gourmet meals.]

[whatsupcroc]

< It's a talking bird! >

( Only due to proximity can Collette's mental exclamation be heard by Nageki -- along with anyone else in either her room, theirs, or the neighboring apartments.

Either way, Collette had caught sight of the pigeon post, then decided she had to respond in kind.

Why?

Because she can. After getting the tablet working with her, she puffs up her feathers, and sticks her head down close to the screen. )

[inutile]

[Completely shy of puffing up his feathers, Nageki practically jumps right out of them at the sudden exclamation in the otherwise total silence of his room. Instead of focusing on the video of the lady peering at him inside the communicator, he hops around in terror, turning his head to and fro to try and find the origin of the voice.]

Who -- who's there?

[whatsupcroc]

< Oh, whoops, you're close enough to hear? >

( Anyone in the apartment complex was. Collette focuses on just talking at this bird. )

< Hey, look back at the screen! I'm not there with you. I'm on the other side of the video feed! >

voice

[deadbythename]

A talking pigeon.

Seriously.

[Why.]

[inutile]

Is there a problem?

[watch out boy, you aren't the only sassy fellow round these parts.]

[inthejunk]

...Can pigeons talk in the future?

Huh. I knew I should have been playing more video games.

[inutile]

If you rely on video games for clairvoyance, then that may be where your assumptions went wrong in the first place.

video;

[chubbybun]

[Balder can already talk to birds, but it's rare for him to see one that speaks man's language. He peers into the screen with interest.]

I am afraid they shall not respond, my friend. We have all been made unrightful captives of this place and its whims.

Have they offered you proper welcome? This sunless land is unforgiving and 'twould be difficult for thou to use the shops.

[inutile]

[Nageki ruffles his feathers a little uncomfortably at being treated with such a friendly attitude by someone he doesn't know, but it could just be his nervousness with social interaction coming into play. It's better to find someone nice than someone who won't even look twice in trying to help him, especially if they're an adult... human or not, Nageki cares a lot more about finding his way home than associating with a familiar.

This person talks with a pretty impressive vocabulary. For once, Nageki is lucky to have read so much Shakespeare... their way of speaking definitely reminds him of it.]

...No, I haven't taken a look around yet. But I don't intend to shop for anything, I just intend to go home as soon as possible.

[incorrupt]

Now a goddamned talking pigeon. [ STARES. He's not drunk enough for this, goddamnit. ]

Buggerin' hell.

[inutile]

Please watch your mouth.

[Those aren't the kinds of words you say around a nine year old, you degenerate!!]

[video]

[asskickersunite]

[See this? This is Eddie's baffled face.]

Ok, I think I've been drinking too much.

[inutile]

[This is Nageki's thoroughly unimpressed face.]

Perhaps you should go lie down, if you'd had too much to drink. Bloating yourself is harmful to your health.

[have_hat_will_travel]

... Mom told me not to talk to talking birds!

You're some sorta demon or something probably!

*Oh the irony...*

[inutile]

I'm not a demon.

...Aren't you talking to me right now, though?

[Audio]

[strategic_guile]

Is stealing a pigeon really a felony?

[inutile]

Excuse me? It's just as illegal as it would be to steal anyone else, including you.

[He even sounds a little offended at the idea that kidnapping him wouldn't be considered a crime.]

video

[birdsmustdie]

[ Oh no I hope you're in the mood for angry golems and death threats. If you've ever marked a statue while passing overhead you're about to hear all about it. And even if you haven't let this be a warning!

But the statue-like creature staring back through the video feed makes no attempts to hide her shock and disgust at what she's seeing. There's a few moments of stunned silence, before she acknowledges her shock hesitantly: ]

It... speaks?

[ Blinks, and quickly her initial shock melts away to what is unmistakably anger. You might not have done anything offensive yet, but she's not going to wait around and give you the opportunity. >8( ]

And now this place has talking pigeons! Wonderful. A wonder it wasn't just crushed and done away with the moment it arrived!

If it so much as aims it's backside at me, I will do away with it myself. Or perhaps I will simply try to beat it to the punch before it has the chance.

[shortcaptain]

[ Well. This was more intelligent conversation than she usually expected from bids. ]

Does that happen often? People trying to adopt you?