Solo A Wobble a Warble

[Moritz Craven]

72 Spring 522

Laying in bed for another morning, the sun not quite up properly, Moritz was in the state of being half asleep and half awake when a voice began to rang out over the air. Petch, shyke, and some other words that seemed like cursing but possibly in another language. As it crept up in intensity Moritz jerked his body up groggily, half rolling and half falling out of bed to land on all fours. Waking up as he moved the Kelvic darted towards the door, charging out to look around as he did.

Nearly falling down the front steps he came to a halt, the last bit of grogginess clearing from his mind as he angrily found the source of the loud cursing he had been hearing for so long. He was a bit surprised when he realized... It was a bird. A not huge nor small, black bird... Cocking his head it took Moritz to recall something he had been told before... Something had happened with something... And birds could talk in Syka. And apparently this Crow was one such bird. Canting its head at Moritz the crow seemed to almost shrug before simply saying, "Morning Moritz." With that it turned its head and began cursing again as a small bird flew by.

Eying it critically, from the voice it seemed to be a male bird... But it was not just randomly cursing as he had first thought. Instead, it seemed to be cursing at other birds. Which, to say the least, was odd.

"Uh, good night. What morrow does this pig want perched upon my boat?"

A bit confused the bird trotted about a bit. clearly pretending to ignore the Kelvic. It was only after a few more moments that it finished moving and then went on to preening. This kept on for another half chime before it finally deigned to answer. "I'm a crow. I live here. They don't. So I yelled till they lift. Gotta protect turf. Right?"

Finding a bit of irony in the bird, crow, illustrating the need to protect ones land and property, while he himself was doing just that to Moritz. After all Moritz was renting the place, and he was certain that besides keeping other birds off his roof this bird did not seem to be doing any trade or payment for Moritz as rent.... If he had a roommate wouldn't that mean sharing the rent?

"Right, because that's how that works.... I seem to have forgotten when I offered you a room, or asked you to do that. Must have slipped my mind. Good Trevor the dog, won't you keep up your duties at this task."

The crow, eyeing Moritz once more, looked away and kept up again the act of ignoring, however soon after he began to make an odd motion. "Trevor... Trevor... I like Trevor... A name, a name, I got a name... Ah... Pay... He wants pay... Uh... How to pay..."

Turning to meet Moritz eyes once more the crow suddenly flew off into the trees, vanishing and leaving without another word. Moritz for his part unsure what to do stood there for a bit in silence, before the urge to relieve himself send him off.

WC: 539

[Moritz Craven]

After finishing his ablutions inside Moritz wondered for a bit if the crow would return, before deciding he should just continue with his day either way. If it came back it did, but he had no reason to halt his day for it when he did not even know if it'd be coming back.

A few chimes later though as he was getting dressed and cleaning up a bit he heard a familiar cursing sound of a bird flying overhead, and saw the black mass of feathers swoop around the side of his house to land on his porches rail.

Going to investigate Moritz saw the bird was not alone, or at least not empty handed. Now it was carrying clutched in one clawed grip a small sack of some sort. At first he thought it was empty, but as the bird looked up and met his eyes he realized it was offering something. "Hey! I brought! Treasure. Mine. Find, lost place. Mine now. I give, pay yes? Good give, I stay, yes!"

With a shrug Moritz looked a bit closer at the bag, but could not tell what was inside. If it did have anything. Was it empty? Looking in close he took one end of the bag, before seeing it had a draw at the other. Pulling on this like so the end would open... As he puzzled over this and lifted up the sack the crow released from its grip he could tell from its movement that something was inside... Or some small things...

Pouring out the contents onto his hand Moritz inspected what he had, realizing it was a trio of charms. Small metal charms, like the ones on his bracelet, but a bit different. However each of these was different, and depicted in a simplistic metal outline a different animal. A... lizard? no... Realizing the scale and the ones he had seen before, this was an Ixam... And this some kind of dog. And lastly a bird not to dissimilar to Trevor the Crow here.

When he set the empty bag aside the crow gleefully swooped down and took it back, flying off to land on the edge of his house. "You take! You take! So pay done! Pay done! So now roommate, now roommate! Happy petching morning roommate!"

With a shrug, not really minding the crow overly much but knowing he'd need to have a talking to him about his language and volume when he was sleeping, he slowly attached each of the charms in turn.

As he did he got a general sense of what it did, comparing it to other items he had gained before... If each was a different animal.... Then each one would help him befriend that type of animal... Yeah, that made sense. And perhaps even connect with an animal in another way... But friendship, that was enough for now, and quite a find. Wait, was that why the bird gave him this, to make them friends by a magic item that made him friends with birds? And if he was friends with Moritz, and other birds were friends with Moritz... Was it just change, or did the bird know more than he seemed to? Moritz was unsure how much it knew, or if it really was just an odd chance...

WC: 552

[Moritz Craven]

75 Spring 522

While it had been a few days since he first spoke to the crow living on his house, he had seen the bird a few times since then. However he had not really spoken to it much since then, only seeing it moving about or hearing it scream as other birds tried to impinge on its perceived territory. Now that it had paid him it seemed to think even more it was his place to roost. Though, Moritz supposed, being a bird it was a bit simple in its conversation ability and so he could not really have a detailed conversation to explain how things were or where they stood.

Rolling out of bed again Moritz stretched and looking about quickly, checking as he normally did to see if there were any clear openings or damage to is abode.

Not seeing anything he made his morning ablutions and headed out the front door, only to notice a small pile on his front porch. Several pebbles and small rocks, with some metal bits among them. Puzzling them over Moritz assumed this was some kind of offering, but the thing that really got his interest was the charms. The crow had said before he found them and they were not anyone's... And honestly he had found a fair few just roaming around, which lent some credence to this story. But this bird really did seem to have a knack for finding these.

Digging through the pile he carefully set the rocks aside to make the walkway clear, and picked through to pick up any charms within he could add to his bracelet. One thing seemed shiny and charm like... Only for it to suddenly begin to move, and tossing it away he realized it was a live bug of some sort. Shaking his hand and wiping it off on his bottoms he checked the pile further, finding there actually were a few of the charms within... Four in all, quite a number?

The first one looked like a bee, which he could tell was bug related. Stinging related? Simple enough, and a godsend should he end up in an area with stinging insects. He still recalled those biting ants not too long ago... Avoiding a similar case with stingers was a good thing.

Below that was... A leaf? No, it was a charm as well. It clearly attached to his bracelet just like the bee one. This one seemed to imply falling, like a leaf wafting down as it fell from a tree, slowly making its way to the ground... Falling related maybe? He would only be able to test it by climbing a tree or something and falling, so perhaps a backup item rather than something he would test.

Beyond this was a pair of charms which almost seemed to go together. A fang, probably a snake one, and an actual snake shaped charm. As he applied the snake charm its intent was clear, as he was suddenly aware of a snake off in the jungle near the edge of the clearing. Though not a poisonous one he could tell, but a smaller non poisonous one. Not only that but he new exactly where the snake was as it moved, at least until it began to snake away and got beyond his ability to perceive it. Limited in range then... But still very useful. And it meant he could avoid snakes he might accidentally cross by keeping tabs on them.

The snake fang on the other hand was a bit trickier to test. He got a sense of it as he put it on, but had to puzzle a bit longer... Also he heard faintly almost with a snaky hiss the words... Envenom... And... Purify...

Grabbing up one of the rocks, Moritz uttered the first word... Envenom. As he did he could see it suddenly becoming poisonous, a nasty thing to say the least. Though, in the right situation, quite useful. However also dangerous, and not something he wanted to leave around to be touched by someone by accident... And so he touched it again and focused said the words purify... Seeing the poison leave the stone.

With a shiver he knew these items were odd. Magical, yes. Natural, no... Which made him wonder all the more where they came from, and how he had ended up with them. Stretching he headed out from his house, hoping to go for a jog to clear his head and work his muscles. Though he knew in the end he would be thinking about this for awhile.

WC: 763