When the Sun of compassion arises...

[amberdrake]

...darkness evaporates and the singing birds come from nowhere.
― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power

Characters: Amberdrake and OPEN!
Date: Mid April
Location: The Courtyard of Public Opinion, Central
Situation: Drake finds BIRBS!
Warnings/Rating: IDK, cute balls of feathery floof who can swear really loud.

Drake had found this place before. The stone benches reminded him a little of home, even if it was much too horizontal to be part of White Gryphon.

Still, it was a decent place to come to, and so he did, sitting down on a bench and shutting his eyes for a moment. The Hotel was a peaceful enough place, but so many people piled into one spot... he had to leave, once in a while. Even if only to clear his head.

Not that there weren't disadvantages to being out here, of course. He kept an Empathic 'ear' out for any trouble coming his way, and otherwise just sat there for a moment with his head tipped back. A bit of wind played with his hair, catching on feathers and chiming the bells. It was peaceful. He smiled.

"Fuck!"

Drake jerked in place, eyes flying open. Where had that--

There was a squabbling before him on the grass; a small flock of birds had found a bit of fruit, and were fighting over it. Wings fluttered and little squawks and squeaks came from the small tornado of feathery madness. And a laugh.

A gryphonic, trilling laugh.

Amberdrake blinked, and leaned forward to examine the birds closer. They were a chaotic blend of colors, just as bright as his own clothing. Were they...?

One of the birds came tumbling out of the mess, feathers all poofed out. He was a dark red and bright green little fellow, with speckles of gold. "Fuck!" the tiny and adorable bird repeated.

...Oh. "M...essenger birds?" Drake continued to stare, dumbfounded.

Something about his voice; his accent, perhaps, had half of the birds popping their heads up to look at him. The other half continued to squabble for a few moments before also pausing to look. Kaled'a'in? Kaled'a'in meant sunseeds. And more fruit!

The first one hopped toward him, head cocked to one side. Amberdrake leaned down and extended his hand, and soon had the entire small flock inspecting it. A few hopped up the length of his arm to immediately start preening his hair. His lovely, lovely Kaled'a'in hair. They'd found a Kaled'a'in; they were totally going to get all the sunseeds they could eat!

Comments

[badly_behaved_priest]

Sanzo hadn't expected that and his surprise turned out to be his downfall, quite literally. Much to his horror, Sanzo lost his balance and fell over Amberdrake, faceplanting rather spectacularly. The blooming headache and nosebleed were insignificant injuries compared to what this rather, well, compromising position did to his pride.

Dazed from the smack to the head, he didn't move or respond at once, no need to add puking to his list of indignities, but Amberdrake would be very aware of how he felt about this. Mortified did not even touch on his current feelings. Fury, on the other hand, was perfect for what accompanied this terrible wound to his ego.

[amberdrake]

The birds fluttered out of the way as Sanzo came tumbling down!

Amberdrake gave Sanzo's up-in-the-air butt a single smack. He couldn't resist. "That's for the kick!" he was still laughing, just a little bit, if only at the utter ridiculousness of this situation. And it was ridiculous. "This is nuts; truce before we get thrown in someone's time-out corner?"

The birds, ever-so helpful, came down to land on them both, chittering and chuffling. "Fuck!" the red one yelled again.

[badly_behaved_priest]

The sound Sanzo made in response was nothing short of a shriek of rage and his retribution was swift, smacking the handle of his fan into the back of Amberdrake's head. The following noises he made were barely intelligible; Drake could be sure it was a lot of insults and curses, not all of them translated. All the while he was squirming his way free so he could scoot away from Drake and turn to glare at him.

He was not the most impressive sight, seated on the ground with his robes dusty and disheveled, a stain of blood around his nose and mouth, an impressive bruise on his forehead, chakra dead center in the spread of purple, and his hair in complete disarray. A few of the birds fluttered around him to perch again, testing some of the new words they had just learned!

Sanzo would've pulled his gun had he really meant business but that he only had his fan out still didn't meant he wasn't enraged. Again, not very impressive, as he was holding himself up with his left arm, the whole arm quivering from the force he'd put it through during this spat. He was very bad for his own health.

[amberdrake]

"Sheka--ow! Li'sa'eer!" Drake let go of whatever parts of Sanzo's legs he may have still had a hold on in favor of guarding the back of his head. Thus, the monk could make a clean escape! Well, as clean as it got, in the circumstance.

When Amberdrake glanced up, he froze, and any remaining mirth vanished in favor of total dismay.

[badly_behaved_priest]

Oh no no no! Sanzo was determined to still be furious! Very determined. Very. Goddammit.

He huffed and jerked his head to the side to glare off into the distance instead of directly at that kicked puppy face. The fast motion got some complaints from the birds but he ignored them. He was not going to feel bad about this, no! Fucking soft hearted bastard, why did he have to switch from being an asshole to looking so distressed?!

[amberdrake]

Amberdrake radiated concern, and climbed up onto his hands and knees, crawling a little closer. The birds moved out of the way. "Did your nose break?" he asked, "Concussion?"

Of course he was in Healer mode. Did it ever turn off, really? Drake was what he was, always.

[badly_behaved_priest]

Sanzo was still determined not to look at Drake. He was going to hold onto being angry! Even if he was already starting to feel like shit. That shaking arm wasn't helping but he wasn't about to ask for help up or give up and lay down to give it a break. Ow.

"I'm fine," he answered in a cold, only slightly stuffed up, voice. "Stop the damned fusing."

[amberdrake]

"Oh, you'll live, but I'm still--" going to fuss! Drake got close enough to reach out toward Sanzo's face with one hand, though he hesitated well before contact. "At least let me fix it?"

[badly_behaved_priest]

Ugh. Fine. Sanzo turned his head back to face Drake. The damned Healer was just going to worry himself sick if he didn't let him take care of these minor injuries.

"Just hurry up, I want to get the hell out of here." And by here he meant in a public area where he'd just had a very childish spat with Amberdrake. Hopefully Anton wouldn't care about the birds. The ones happily perched on his shoulder and head were unlikely to leave anytime soon.

[amberdrake]

Drake set to work without further comment, eyes unfocusing as he set his fingertips against Sanzo's face. The bleeding in Sanzo's nose stopped, and the bruise on his forehead faded away before it could really get going.

"Alright," Amberdrake withdrew, and smiled a little faintly, "sorry about that. I knew the birds would like you, is all." That's all he'd meant by it, at the start!

The birds themselves remained on the both of them, preening each other and themselves, and sometimes the hair of their human perches. One on Drake's shoulder had decided it really liked shaking one of his braids and making the attached bell jingle!

[badly_behaved_priest]

It was easier now to push himself up enough that his left arm could rest, still shaking but relieved of its burden. Having less of a splitting headache made things like thinking, movement, and, unfortunately, having a conscience, much easier. He chose to look away away again. Sure Drake could feel whatever and Sanzo had no way to block that, but he didn't have to give him more to work with.

"Why the hell are your birds here?" A valid question in his opinion. Was Jeep going to appear next? Granted, Jeep belonged to Hakkai...

[amberdrake]

"No idea," Amberdrake sat back on his shins and shrugged, "they're not mine in specific, anyway. The Clans breed and raise them... they like me because they know I'm Kaled'a'in. How they're here, is beyond me."

One of the birds on Drake's shoulder poofed out its feathers and settled in for a nap. It was the vulgar one, of course. "We should name this one after you," Drake decided to tease a little, giving the dark red bird a scritch. It grumbled at having its nap preempted, but didn't hesitate to lean into the scritch at the same time. "If only that wouldn't get confusing."

Why yes, it seemed they'd be keeping the birds.

[badly_behaved_priest]

Of course they would be keeping the birds! Of course. Because that's just what else he needed added to his life right now! Not that he couldn't use more to ground him but that wasn't a thought he was going to acknowledge.

"I'm sure a bunch of screaming eyesores will be welcome no matter where we go," he replied in a brittle tone, trying to ignore the teasing and failing. "How are we supposed to even deal with them?" he added in a low grumble.

It worried him how fast even little things, like the care of these birds, was not just Amberdrakes's problem now but his as well. By his own admittance at that! Ugh.

[amberdrake]

"They're generally quieter indoors, for one," Amberdrake climbed to his feet, birds and all, and offered a hand down to Sanzo. "They're smarter than you'd think. I can put a tray under a perch and tell them that's where they poop, and they will. Most birds just go everywhere, on everything and everyone. Thousands of years of breeding and magical tinkering went into these little monsters."

"Fuck," muttered the red one, half-asleep.

[badly_behaved_priest]

Sanzo shot a glance at the red bird, eyebrow raised. "Right."

Other than a tightening around his jaw, Sanzo was about to hide the pain when he took Amberdrake's hand and got to his feet. The arm wasn't any obvious swelling, it was nowhere near the pain of when he'd broken it to start with, but damn it was throbbing like hell.

That didn't stop him from dusting off his robes. Somewhat. As for the fan, it had vanished back up his sleeve sometime during this.

"Were they made to be annoying?" He was still going to be crabby, second nature.

[amberdrake]

"They're messengers," Drake managed a small smile, "so I suppose they were. They don't really understand what they say, this one," he scritched Red, on his shoulder, "just figured out at some point that that sound gets him attention. He probably spent too much time around the army Healers."

Like Drake, but Drake didn't swear much! Perhaps he was an anomaly there.

[badly_behaved_priest]

"I can see why being around Healers can mess with you." While he was being bratty, there was no malice behind his words. "You almost fell apart over a nosebleed!"

Now was not the time to be picking at such petty things, but he could feel the fear of any kind of attachment creeping up on him. Drake set it off bad enough, now they had a flock of tiny, delicate birds! They like it was permanent. Sanzo was feeling very frustrated with himself.

[amberdrake]

"Yes," Amberdrake chuckled, and started in the direction of the nearest Hotel entrance, "we're nothing but trouble."