[People's Market] Sometimes you feel like a nut (Irriari)

[Yonega]

Timestamp: Summer 35, 513

It was a bright and absolutely beautiful day. The sun was shining, people were shopping, and the birds were chirping. It was a perfect day to go to market. And that included a particular raven perched on the canvas over one stall, her thick beak clicking from time to time as she eyed the stalls below. There was so much going on in the market that day, Yonega could scarcely know where to begin. The only problem, however, was the crowds. They were too thick in places to try grabbing fruit from the hanging racks, too interwoven to make it safe waddle-hopping between shoppers to grab dropped bits off the ground.

But that did not stop her from watching it all with the keen eye of a natural picker from the safety of her perch. It also didn't stop her from considering a particularly tasty looking nut that had been knocked from a basket in a stall two strides down. The nut was a large one, resembling a few of the makeshift toys she'd received from time to time when the Institute had been testing her intelligence. She hadn't had room to try dropping the roundish, marble-skinned treat from up high. They had only given her a broad platform with a hardened underside on one side that might have been a hammer or something similar. The platform had a small wedge-thing beneath it, centered, and the unweighted end was raised off the ground.

It'd taken her about five chimes to figure out that she had to put the nut under the weight and then stand the other end to get it to crack. The only problem was, she didn't have the force or weight to make the hard walnut break under the weight with her slight form, and shifting wasn't an option in the medium-sized cage. Her frustration at not being able to break the shell withe the pseudo-lever had resulted in the poor nut being thrown about the cage, and eventually abandoned on the plank so she could sulk in a corner. That'd been almost two years ago, just after the last of her feathers had fully grown in. She didn't know then that the noise in the background had been the instructions. A simple two-word command they were trying to get her to say. She didn't understand what it meant, then, though, this saplees. It was alien to her more bird-like brain. She didn't know that the wedge-thing with the plank on it was really no more than a ruse to try and confuse her.

But in the present, Yone knew that the nut was not a ruse. It had quite simply fallen from the basket and onto the ground, passersby moving around it as they did their shopping. The large bird (nearly as big as a red-tail, say true) gave a single loud 'rawk' before spreading her wings and pushing off the perch. She'd spied an opportunity to grab the nut. The crowds had converged on a particular stall which had just put out fresh produce after the current bins had been emptied and all were trying to vie for the pick of the crop. It left the nut completely unattended and unsurrounded.

Her wings carried her easily over the heads of the market-goers and a few hardy adjustments from the wedge that was her tail allowed the raven to land with a few light hops near the nut, to which she proceeded to waddle-hop closer. Low growly noises immenated from her throat, the beard of feathers fluffed out comically as she approached the nut and plucked it from the ground. As this was done, the bird twisting it carefully in her beak via tongue manipulations and head-tossing, Yone turned where she stood and readied herself to take flight again before the throng converged on the clear spot once more.

As she did so, however, wings cocked and ready, something caught her eye and those beady brown-black orbs turned towards it. It was a child holding something small and shiny in their hand. Their clothes were rude and tattered; an orphan perhaps though Yonega did not know that word. Its hand reared back and threw the shiny object (a smooth stone from the lake) at her. Yone craa'd around the nut back at the child and kicked off, not wishing to test her luck any further. Spring had been troubling enough with having to live in the forest. That had been very unusual, having never experienced life in the wilds before, let alone in sleeping under open sky instead of a roofed one. What was more, these people could be really angry when they wanted to be, nothing like the handlers who were more irritated with her birdy antics than outright angry. Some of these two-legs liked to throw things at her when she came to investigate something on docks or try to take something shiny she'd seen that was better left where it was found. They were very not-nice.

Much like the child which thought it prudent to throw something at her.

Broad wings carried her heavy form up over the heads of the crowd again, a few turning to look upon that whose plumes had brushed their heads in passing, and Yone landed again upon the previous perch, the nut still quite cozily gripped in her bill. Today was a lovely day to be a raven.

[Irriari]

Irriari had came to the market in search of herbs and plants that could be used for her poisoncrafting. While Alena hadn’t suggested it, Irriari had decided to try somewhere other than the Black Tar and Ino Vations. Her miza pouch was woefully empty and a visit to either of her usual haunts would be more annoying than helpful. The zith had passed the market on her way to other destinations within the city, and she was always intrigued by the number of people that milled about the stalls and stands.

Today, she had decided to suffer the pain of the sun in order to explore the market when most of the humans did their shopping. She snarled at a few as they brushed her wings in their eagerness to get from one stall to the next. No amount of snarling helped, as the market was filled to bursting with shoppers. After thirty agonizing bells, Irriari realized that the market had nothing that would be useful, unless she planned to add fruit to flavor her poisons. She laughed at the thought and made her way to a deserted fish stand. The burly merchant beckoned her over, trying to entice to her to his wares. The man’s face and tone reeked of desperation and need. Clearly, the fish vendors on the other side of the market were selling far more than he was. Ignoring him, the zith looked up at to the sky. A bird had brushed the top of her head before it ascended upward to its perch. She snarled at the bird before snapping her wings open in agitation.

“They may not be able to catch you, but I could.”

She blinked in the sun and gazed at the ravens black feathers before musing to herself,

I wonder how bird foot would go in a poison?

She dismissed the thought quickly. Irriari didn’t like harming birds, with the exception of glassbeaks. Oftentimes birds had been her only companions as she travelled from the place to place. While they were generally fearful of her, it was better than traversing the skies alone.

Irriari shook her head gently. There was no sense talking in to birds. If history had taught her anything, she knew that they wouldn’t communicate back.

[Yonega]

Something had snarled at her when she'd passed overhead, the raven turning her eyes upon the crowd once she was settled on the perch some twelve feet up. The pale face and lighter hair of something very unusual looking was staring back at her. Working the nut around in her beak, she bent and gave it a rap on the wood of the stalls top, testing the density of the shell while keeping the winged-thing in her sights.

The creature was scrawny compared to some around her, and small too. No bigger than some of the teens she'd seen. Probably smaller, no less! And the thing-had wings; but they weren't like her own pretty feathered ones; those were...leathery...flimsy looking. No way could they hold that creature aloft, or so said her impression of it. Shifting so that her back was to the woman looking up from below, the bird set the walnut down on the ledge and tried to steady it with one foot. When she raised her head and aimed her beak down at it, however, the nut slipped and fell from her grip to roll off the canvas of a stall beneath her.

A combination of frustration and regret filled the shifter as she watched it roll down, bounce off the head of a woman with messy chopped hair looking at other nuts from the stall (said woman ouching and rubbing the top of her head, looking for the culprit), and land on the ground, rolling within reach of the Zith that was watching her. The regret manifested itself in a series of loud cluck-cluck sounds from the bird as she turned back and leaned forward, wings arched and body bouncing upon her legs.

Dangit! What do I do now? They're all standing there around it; what if they step on it? Nooo no no! It's my nut! I have to get it back! The growly sound warbled through her throat and the beard of feathers flared. A few of the patrons shifted, leaving enough space for her to fly down and land again. It was hard to work in such tight quarters, the nearly two pound raven (large for bird standards for a non-predator) bulky in feathers enough to again brush against folks as she landed a few feet from the winged-thing. She did not look nearly so inviting when it came to places to perch as Garron, the blue-perch, had. And what was worse...her nut was within striking range of the woman. What if she kicked her??

Yon kuerk-kuerk'd quietly and side-stepped closer, her wings half-cocked again should the need to hop out of range arise. Just grab the nut and go! She tried to tell herself, stretching her head out and stepping closer...

[Irriari]

Irriari found herself interested by the bird, and watched it as it attempted to the break the outer layer of the nut to get at the meat within. Irriari had never bothered to wrestle with any nuts, though Sevrai had often spoke of how she missed roasted nuts garnished with cinnamon. The raven didn’t seem to care about any sort of seasoning, and the small bird busied itself with an attempt to pin the nut to its previous perch. Irriari found herself smiling at the ingenuity the bird showed. A chime or two passed, and Irriari noticed that the ravens impatience and harsh handling of its prize had caused it to fall to the ground near her feet. A nearby woman cursed loudly in Common as the nut rolled to Irriari’s feet. After looking at the zith fearfully, the woman moved to another stall that had a covered roof.

Irriari shook her head and bent down to pick up the nut. Humans were incredibly stupid. The woman more than likely thought that Irriari would fly into a rage over her cursing. While she did try her best to ignore the pathetic creatures, she was far from blind. Irriari glared over her shoulder at the woman. Attacking such a disgusting creature would be a fruitless endeavor. The shapeless dress showed Irriari that the woman had no muscle mass. She would be a terrible slave.

Irriari turned back to the raven and chucked the nut a few feet in the air before catching it.

“If you want it, you can have it, but you’ll have to grab it from me. I’d like to see a brave bird for once.”

A few bystanders turned around at the absurdity of her sentence but quickly returned to their shopping after she glared at them.

“I know you can’t understand me, but I won’t hurt you if you’re brave.”

The zith paused for a moment and clenched her hand around the nut before continuing.

“Well, I might not. I don’t know yet. It’s your choice, though.”

Irriari knelt on one knee and offered the nut to the raven with an open palm, curious to see if the raven would be bold enough to approach her.

[Yonega]

Aww man...Why'd she have to go and do that?

The bird ruffled her feathers up in dismay and shifted to even pluck a few from her breast in disapproval of the creature taking her nut and even taunting her with it. The avian could easily understand the thing with the wings, but her uncertainty of trusting her now was clear. She could take a chance, but what if the other grabbed her? Yon was a hardy thing, but these bones were still fragile!

Kerrucking back at Irriari, the raven side-stepped a little nearer, her beak open and that black tongue rubbing around the rim with unrefined caution. Be brave she tells her...creepy thing with creepy wings and her nut, taunting. It wasn't fair. Yon jumped a little closer when someone passed too close, her head turning in that direction, looking for grabbing hands that weren't there. When she turned back, Irri had lowered herself towards the ground and had the nut held out to her.

The glossy brown neck of the corvid dulled a moment when she flared the half-crest at the back of her head, the plumes smoothing easily afterwards. She really wanted that nut, even if she couldn't get it open from here...But Yon truly did not want to get in reach of the creature...she looked wholly unfriendly, every vibe given off not one that kelvic wished to chance.

Tilting her head so one eye was briefly on the sky, the raven studied the heavens in thought and then levelled that dark eye back to the unbenknownst Zith. That beak opened once more and two sharp words were cawed out. Real words, this time, not just some noisy mimicry. It sounded funny in the birdy throat, but it was a genuine, bonafide word. And the words that were said?

"Give it!"