Its a duck

[birdwingsandthings]

[Sometime around midnight, a drawing appears.]

Comments

[birdwingsandthings]

Are they pigeons?

[whiteofcrime]

No, they're called Soot Divers.
I'm not really sure what they are. They don't exist back home.

[birdwingsandthings]

I want to see them. Are they different in any other way?

[whiteofcrime]

They're more like falcons. Eat meat like them too.
If you come by dorm 26 then I can show you.

[birdwingsandthings]

When should I come by?

[whiteofcrime]

Maybe half an hour? I'm outside right now.

[birdwingsandthings]

I will meet up with you then. I am excited to meet your birds.

[whiteofcrime]

See you there then. I bet they'll love to meet you too! ^o^

[ As promised, Kaito can be found sitting on his bed with the two pairs of birds in dorm 26 in about half an hour's time. Two of them are undoubtedly doves, even with the blue markings around their necks and on their wings. The other two sooty grey ones seem to be breathing smoke whenever they exhale. It certainly smells that way up close.

The doves are on his shoulders; the Divers are in a puddle of clothing in his lap. ]

[birdwingsandthings]

[Soon enough Luce is there, the child waves at Kaito and then pads over to the group of bird and man. Luce smiled at the birds then signed to Kaito a greeting.]

[whiteofcrime]

[ Kaito waves back with a grin. The birds' heads all turn towards the newcomer, the Divers' gazes lingering longer than that of the doves'. ]

Hello! [ Kaito chirps. The signed greeting gets a curious look. He points at his ear and tilts his head in question. "Are you deaf?" is what he's aiming for. ]

[birdwingsandthings]

[Luce nodded before pulling out his note book that he used to talk to people with. The first page introduced him and stated he was in fact deaf.

Luce then points at the birds and quietly pads over to one, and gives it a wave.]

[whiteofcrime]

Ohh, right. So that was you!

[ Wait, deaf. Oops. Kaito smacked his forehead and gestured for the notebook. He already had a pencil.

Whether Luce handed over his book or Kaito had to get his own out, he'd write this: ]

My name is Kaito but you had better call me 'Trick' or something else around the castle and the guards.

[birdwingsandthings]

He blinked before writing 'I AM NOT A FAN OF TALKING. ORAL SPEECH FEELS WEIRD.'

It did to him, he learned his sign when he was younger so it only felt natural to be silent and write or sign.

[whiteofcrime]

Kaito rolled his eyes. Scribbled, pointed.

I meant you can sign whatever name you like for me as long as it's not 'Kaito'.
How do I sign your name?"

[birdwingsandthings]

With that, Luce pondered for a moment and then did a sign combining the sign for 'trick' and 'K' before pointing at Kaito.

Then he pointed to himself and did a sign combining 'L' and 'Pale'.

Finally, he pointed at the birds, and signed the word for 'bird'

[whiteofcrime]

He watched closely, committing the gesture to memory so he would recognise it later. He did his best to copy Luce's sign - it was a little clumsy but his fingers were nimble - as well as the sign for 'bird'. Once he thought he had them, he picked up his pencil again.

Maybe you can teach me sign language so it won't take so long to talk. This was accompanied by a short laugh as it was shown before he quickly scribbled on.

Dove on my right shoulder is Aoshi. Dove on the left is Ringo. The two grey ones are Ash and Enjou.

[birdwingsandthings]

Luce smiled and wrote: "THAT WOULD BE FUN I COULD LET YOU BORROW MY DICTONARY" he then reached into his backpack and pulled out what was obvious a child's dictionary on it, it read 'The Monoya Children's Dictionary of Sancian Sign Language' It was of course supposed to be more for him to translate sign into oral but perhaps it would work the other way around.

Luce placed the book down and then actually decided to speak "Hello there." he said this right to the birds, he seemed really happy at meeting the birds more than anything else.

so sorry about the delay, busy week + con ;;

[whiteofcrime]

Kaito took up the book with a look of pleasant surprise. 'Sancian Sign Language', he read, before he flipped open to the first few pages. Did that mean it wouldn't resemble any Earth language?

While he leafed through, Aoshi crawled down his shoulder to be closer to Luce. The dove's head twisted and bobbed, taking in the new boy. He was startled back into the air when one of the Divers screeched.

"Don't scare him," Kaito scolded the grey bird. Aoshi alighted on Luce's head, pacing and fluffing himself up restlessly.

Its okay ouo

[birdwingsandthings]

Kaito would notice some cultural things mentioned throughout the book along with the fact they called where they lived 'Krana'. And things like it was rude to do what on earth would be a thumbs up sign for example.

Luce didn't flinch with the screech as Luce smiled and gently offered his hand to the bird so it could sniff him or do whatever it was that birds needed to do to get to know a person.

"Good bird." Luce said easily.

[whiteofcrime]

The cultural notes were devoured with keen interest. They were something he would have to remember if he didn't want to accidentally offend Luce.

Without looking up, he said absently, "Aoshi's a boy. Likes to nibble fingers and thinks he's really handsome. Keeps trying to impress Ringo." True to his word, the dove was nipping at Luce's fingers.

It took a while, but Kaito remembered that he'd spoken aloud without thinking again. He hastily grabbed his book to scribble down a repeat of what he'd said.

[birdwingsandthings]

Luce smiled at the idea of Aoshi trying to impress Ringo. He carefully wiggled his fingers more, he knew doves had a soft bite.

"He is handsome." he spoke, "And how?" he couldn't write, nor could he sign so he was going to have to speak and read. He wanted to know more about the birds.

[whiteofcrime]

Things like puffing up his chest, fluffing up his feathers, strutting about like he's important. Kaito snickers at the memory. I'm not sure they'll mate but it's funny to watch.

[birdwingsandthings]

"Will you be a good Baba and Husband?" Luce questioned to the bird. "That would probably work better then just being handsome."
He then turned to look at Kaito, at times like this he wish he could do the letter thing like Spinel could.

"Where did you get them?"

[whiteofcrime]

Aoshi ignored the question - of course he would, he was a bird - and began to preen the underside of his wing. It didn't seem to occur to him to move off Luce's head. It fell to Kaito to answer, who juggled shifting Soot Divers to write his next words.

There was a seller in town a little while ago. Had lots of different animals. I bought these four from him.

Here, Kaito frowned. Scribbled quickly: He stuffed them into bags. I'm glad I got them away from him.

[birdwingsandthings]

Luce looked shocked at that, why would you stuff birds into bags? He seen the petshop put them into small cardboard boxes. But a bag?

That would just be scary.

"Maybe he should be told its bad for the bird?" Luce was hoping it was just someone being dumb instead of purposely mean.