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 had not been following Amberdrake, not at first. He had intended to do something today but crushing boredom sank whatever thoughts came to mind about what to do. After being on the move so long, being stationary was starting to get to him. As much as he didn't want to look like he was relying on Drake, he didn't have much else to do. What few places he knew about in this city, he could find no real reason to be there. Especially not alone.

So he sighed and followed down the street he had seen Amberdrake walking down. He had a vague idea of what was up ahead but had not approached the courtyard yet. Lingering in one place for long was something he made a habit to avoid. It was surely just the place that passive Healer would love. Okay maybe he shouldn't call the guy that punched a hole in him with a blunt, ballpoint pen "passive" but- fuck it, he could do what he wanted.

As he approached he could hear voices and laughter that did not sound that human. There were plenty of non-humans here and he had no particular problem with non-humans over humans. He really had a problem with everyone, regardless of species! But he had not heard voices like that before and approached with tense shoulders. Until he saw Drake- of course he was here- and he was even more colorful than before?!

It took Sanzo a moment to register the rainbow cacophony of small birds covering Drake and even longer for him to accept they were the chatty, bright voices he had heard. He kept his distance, not out of avoidance, but to give himself a moment to process this all. He had a terrible feeling that their room at the hotel was about to get a lot more annoying.

[amberdrake]

Drake spotted Sanzo and murmured something to the birds in Kaled'a'in.

A second later, and the entire small flock of them were launching off of the kestra'chern and flying straight for Sanzo! Just one loud, chittery, colorful swarm!

[badly_behaved_priest]

Sanzo's pride wouldn't let him openly run from the birds, not with someone watching. Especially not the guy he had to share a room with. Even worse, he couldn't risk swatting at the birds, they were clearly harmless. A little too hard of a whack and he'd kill one of them. Fuck.

Sanzo covered his head with one arm and tried to back away, to no avail. He was now one grumpy perch for ten chatty little birds. Oh they really liked his hair! It shone so nicely in the sunlight! He had at least one settled on top of his head, very pleased with itself.

"Get the fuck off me!" he yelled at the tiny rainbow swarm, making no attempt to actually remove his new mobile ornamentation.

The look Sanzo gave Drake was downright murderous. This was his fault. Somehow.

[amberdrake]

"--Fuck off me!" One of the birds mimicked, and the whole lot chittered with obvious glee.

Amberdrake couldn't help it, he laughed. He laughed hard enough that he had to bend forward on the bench, still seated. The Healer was no help, just now. He was totally incapacitated by his own amusement.

One of the birds was indeed in Sanzo's hair, and it took up a beakful of it to preen. So helpful!

[badly_behaved_priest]

Now Sanzo was properly pissed off. His pride stung like he'd been branded and he didn't have the heart to try to remove the birds still. He could hurt them too easily. Instead he lowered his arm, allowing for more of the happy birds to perch on his golden hair, and stormed over to where Amberdrake was laughing.

He didn't care if this ended up hurting like all hell, nope, he was well beyond peeved!

Whack!

He'd not gotten quite mad enough at the Healer yet to draw his fan on him but he sure was now! Damn did it hurt his arm to bring it down with that much force but it would still only sting Amberdrake at most and, fuck, he was mad.

The birds on his shoulders were having a fun time imitating the whish and thwack of the fan.

[amberdrake]

"Hey!" Drake was still laughing, even in the face of Sanzo's fury. He put up his arms to stave off any more blows! "I can't help it if you're shiny!"

Another bird made it onto Sanzo's shiny shiny hair, and a tussle broke out. Squawks and flaps ensued in force. MY perch! No, MY perch!

[badly_behaved_priest]

Amberdrake's raised arms didn't do much to stop Sanzo's enraged assault with the fan but the blows were pretty insignificant now he couldn't smack him on the back of the head!

"Get! Them! Off! Me!" The birds repeating random strings of his own words was not improving his temper.

[amberdrake]

"Isi ili daba!" Amberdrake laughed even harder, arms still up. "How am I supposed to do that with you swatting me?" Honestly, Sanzo. Honestly.

[badly_behaved_priest]

It was a good thing that fan was so durable, one would have expected the handle to break with how hard Sanzo was clenching it. He glared down at Amberdrake, looking utterly ridiculous, covered in the arguing puffs of colors.

"Fuck!" At least that one wasn't from Sanzo.

"Get them off me!" he shrieked in fury, only adding to the hilarity of the situation. Sanzo didn't have a shred of his dignity intact at the moment and he knew exactly whose fault it was!

To top it all off, his left arm really hurt. He hadn't damaged the splints but that was a bit much while everything was still healing!

[amberdrake]

One glance up at Sanzo, and Drake lost his shit even worse, laughing so hard he actually fell off the bench!

"Varek'ai," he said, in between gasps for air, "dester'edre!"

The birds took off from Sanzo one by one and landed back on the downed kestra'chern, who clutched at his stomach and closed his eyes against the tears of mirth streaming from them. Dear Gods, even his face hurt from laughing!

"Sssorry Sanzo," he wheezed out, "that was just too much--!"

[badly_behaved_priest]

Even with the birds gone, Sanzo was downright bristling. How dare he-! Fuck this obnoxious bastard! He ground his teeth and aimed a sharp kick at one of Amberdrake's shin's. Fucker.

[amberdrake]

"Ow!" Hey, no kicking the Healer! Amberdrake wasn't one of Sanzo's youkai companions, who could shrug that off like the brush of a feather. Deciding to cut off any further kicks as well as he could, the kestra'chern rolled toward Sanzo, and attempted to wrap himself around the monk's ankles.

The birds flapped and flailed and squawked while this happened, annoyed that their perch was moving around so much.

[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."

[pompous_today]

Simon was sure he was hearing things at first when he heard small curses coming from a flock of birds in the courtyard. However, he soon forgot whatever task he'd been on his way to take care of when he heard a repeated swear- and then the birds seemed to swam around a nearby person. Finally, his curiosity got the best of him, and he had to move closer.

"I'm sorry- are those birds speaking?"

One would think he'd be used to strange things by now, and yet...

[whitelotustile]

"Well!" Iroh was also out for a walk. "It seems you've made some friends there." Birds that can mimic speech don't seem too unusual from Iroh's point of view -- birds are very good with sound. But... "Do you need some help with them? Perhaps some pastry crumbs?"

[amberdrake]

"Speaking is--" one of the birds flapped into Drake's face, climbing up into his hair. "...Speaking is one way of putting it."

The birds continued to chatter in different voices and dialects, but a few paused to watch Simon, now, heads tilted with curiosity.

"Speaking?" one repeated, eerily close to Simon's voice. Not quite a perfect match, but awfully near it.

[amberdrake]

"Pastry crumbs!" The vulgar, red bird repeated with enthusiasm, and the rest agreed, chiming in with the same. Amberdrake, their human perch, smiled at the stranger and spread his hands.

"They're gluttons," he cautioned, sounding a little apologetic.

[whitelotustile]

Iroh did have the remains of his breakfast, which he could break up into bird-sized pieces. "That is perfectly all right. I don't mind sharing. They're from your home, then?"

Birds were sometimes kept on Keelai, but these were new to Iroh's eyes.

[amberdrake]

One by one, the birds launched off Drake and flittered over to Iroh, attempting to land on him. Amberdrake watched with some faint amusement. The birds were each very tiny, only zebra finch sized, so it wouldn't take much to give them all a share.

"Thank you, then. Since I suppose they're my charges, now," the Healer chuckled, and nodded, the little bells in his hair chiming. "I have no idea how they came to be here, but yes. They're Kaled'a'in messenger birds."

[whitelotustile]

"This world attracts far more than people. My nephew found a dragon's egg from our world, once. These Kaled'a'in messenger birds wouldn't be the first creatures to be drawn here."

Iroh seems quite comfortable with the birds. "They seem very small to be carrying messages though."

[amberdrake]

"They do it with their voices," Amberdrake folded his hands together, "and their minds. A dragon egg, really?"

Though he'd been named as one, Drake had never seen a dragon! They were mere stories, on his world full of otherwise fantastical races of people.

[whitelotustile]

"Really. Quite surprising, as dragons were believed to be extinct on my world." It's not a lie; they were. Iroh just happened to be one of the few outsiders who knew that was a lie. But if his nephew had adopted a dragon.

[amberdrake]

A few of the birds perched on Iroh started a scuffle, as birds were prone to do. Squawking and flapping, and then a single "Fuck!" because of course, Red was involved.

Amberdrake couldn't help a little laugh at their antics, though he inclined his head, "I see. I'm named for one -- Amberdrake," he gestured to himself. The literal translation was, after all, gold dragon. "But so far as I know, they're not real on my world."

[whitelotustile]

"it seems curious that so many worlds have legends of dragons. Only some of which are based on fact." Iroh had recognized dragons from other worlds. And beings that called themselves dragons, but did not look like the ones from his world. But he'd learned that for others, they existed only in legends. It was strange that dragons should, but not lion-turtles, or badgermoles or sky bison.