There are bluebirds over- Wait, those don't go here! [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 11.11.2018
Characters: Open!
Note: This is intended to be a very relaxed mingle to give people a bit of a breather. It is plot-related, but a lot less dramatic than prior mingles.

---

On the 11th, something about Mossgate Council has changed yet again - but this time, it isn't nearly as disturbing and dangerous as back on Halloween.

Instead of cobwebs and skeletons, there are poppies. Red poppies and white poppies have flowered over night. They cover fields and lawns, the Greens and the forest ground, troop exercise areas over at the airfields, the gardens of the manor house, and even parts of the beach.

And up over the white cliffs of Mossgate, bluebirds flap their wings, flying around and sitting on the castle ruins, and if one stands still for a while and offers breadcrumbs, they'll come over and sit on that person's hand to have a snack, too.

They seem a bit confused, but not nearly as confused as the ornithology department at Mossgate University that can't save itself from interviews - no, they have no idea how that American species suddenly showed up in such numbers and why they're sticking to the cliffs specifically. Jane Astbury finally suggests with some exasperation that maybe they're just doing a music-themed tour of Europe, and could they please let her staff and students teach and study in peace?

Comments

[catted]

"You would, and me and your Mummy probably wouldn't mind, either. But I feel like old man Scotchcake wouldn't want to have a single cat more in our garden than there already is." Take mercy on their poor old grumpy grandpa cat, nel.

[fairfeste]

Feste laughs. "Summoning Jello? Hm... I think someone might be getting hungry..." That would be a surprisingly useful power, though they would probably get very tired of Jello eventually. "I think I'm going to vote for copying myself. That would make it a lot easier to handle certain people." And then without warning they're going to mess up her hair completely.

[vernal_miss]

The danger of overfeeding is low with so many about at least.

Smiling freely with the reassurance there has been no call for a return of flowers with a giggle, she nods her head. It does help.

“Do you know where the birds are supposed to be living?” she inquires. Maybe Walter knows how far they are from home.

[vernal_miss]

In an instant, her plans are washed as the wellbeing of the old cat is brought into focus. Her expression sours briefly as she realizes how much he would not appreciate having even more youngsters to swat away from his favorite sleeping spots. Rather than fully relinquish the idea however, she seeks a reasonable course, “No, he wouldn’t… But I bet even he’d like a small pot of catnip in the house that I could keep full through the winter.”

Whether that pot would be further tended would be entirely up to her Mum.

[vernal_miss]

“Jello is an anytime food,” Nel insists as a defense for why the idea came to mind. Smiling as the final suggestion is the one that Feste chooses amongst her proposed powers, Nel doesn’t have a chance to respond verbally before she is buried in her own hair. Rather than comment to the possibilities of such a power, she yelps indignantly.

Thus the hair monster returns. With her hand latched onto Feste as a guide, she blindly clambers on their back and starts growling and hissing in imitation of an angry cat.

[iamnotgod]

"Well, they're American, in the general sense," Walter answers, halting in the tossing of seeds for now to watch the birds dart about.

"Most birds follow the direction of warmer weather, if they don't already live at the equator. So heading this direction instead of 'South for the winter' is, well, rather contrary of them."

The wording provokes a smile out of him.

[fairfeste]

"That doesn't mean you wouldn't eventually make yourself sick on it."

But the hair monsters is a much more pressing issue, and as the hissing start they throw back their hands dramatically, a very fake look of terror on their face. "Oh nooo, help! I'm being attacked!!"

[vernal_miss]

Chin finding their shoulder, she snickers, "Well not all the time, Feste. I like other foods too much." Nothing could ever sway her away from all those foods she frequently alternates as dubbing her favorite thing.

Resuming her attack, Nel latches on that shoulder and swings herself over to the other side, hoping to try to roll Feste over onto their back, or even just roll with her. She is only so big however so her success will depend on Feste.

[fairfeste]

Feste goes along with it, rolling onto their back and bringing a hand dramatically up to their forehead. "I have been defeated! Oh, woe is me...!"

[vernal_miss]

That gets a giggle from Nel, and with one last flop on top of their chest, she’ll settle down and sweep her hair back out of her face so she can actually look at her eldest sibling, “Then as victor I would ask for help with my hair.” It’s only fair she gets a little assistance when Feste added to the tangles.

[fairfeste]

"Yeah, yeah, already." Feste will sit up, holding a hand out to her- they're going to have to go in and find a brush...

[vernal_miss]

Her pencil stops at the answer of America, and with a very odd expression looks up and over to Walter. The child is somewhere between confused and concerned for the birds, but also caught by a wild curiosity of how they might have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and the country to end up down in Mossgate.

“Do you think they got lost? Will they go South before they get caught by the snow?”

/insert metaphor over what the Numbered are becoming here.

[iamnotgod]

His first thought response is 'It's up in the air,' but the pun-pportunity is so terrible he throws it away immediately.

"I don't think that's how birds get lost. If their sense of direction was distorted by a storm, perhaps, but even then it couldn't have blocked their sense of the whole Atlantic..."

Well, presumably.

Walter keeps one hand stretched out towards the birds, waiting.

"They should be able to survive on their own if they still head South, though I can't say they'll have an easy time going back home."

[vernal_miss]

In sitting up, Nel is dumped off their chest with a laugh as she tumbles over and off their lap. Still giggling as she rights herself, she spots their hand through the curtain of hair once again covering part of her face and moves to stand up to go inside with them. “Thank you.”

[catted]

"That would most definitely be possible. I'm sure neither him nor any of the other cats would mind that."

It wouldn't bring more cats than they already have into the house, hopefully.

[vernal_miss]

Her brow pinches together as she thinks to the matter further. At the very least, Walter thinks they will manage to get by despite being in a place foreign to them and adapt to the new environment of Europe. Nodding as her expression smoothes, she speaks, "No...I guess they won't. But how did they get here then? Can't imagine they came on a plane." A beat, then voice quieted, she wonders, "Could it be the same thing that brought all the spiders and made the poppies grow? The magic I mean."

Movement draws her gaze away from Walter to his hand as one of the birds comes closer, chirping uncertainly.

[vernal_miss]

Given approval for the supply of fresh catnip for the felines that hang around with the family, Nel smiles happily at the prospect. All she needs is to find an empty pot that has a suitable set of dimensions; preferably something shallow so as not to encourage the cats to knock it over and a decent amount of surface area for the catnip to grow. That matter, however, will have to wait. After she lets out a small giggle, a yawn follows and leaves her blinking a little slower, "It'll be a nice surprise..."

It is very comfortable here laying against her mother.

[iamnotgod]

"It's certainly a possibility," Walter admits - and while he'd otherwise still try to be skeptic, he manages to sound mostly just resigned.

A part of him thinks to chirp back at the bird, but he mentally waves that off, keeping his hand steady.

"... A strong one," he adds. If it'd been a plane it would certainly have made the news for that reason.

People would panic if bees were released on a plane by accident, and they were smaller than these birds.

[catted]

"A nice surprise that'll have to wait until after you took a little nap, it seems." She worries about her daughter's sleepiness, but she's trying not to show her concern, instead treating this like the most normal occurrence in the world.

She stands, picking up Nel as she does so, and then continues to carry her inside. Nel will soon be too tall and old for her to do so, but right now, it is still possible. Not over long distances, but as sleepy as Nel is, the couch will probably be sufficient for a nap. No carrying her upstairs.

[vernal_miss]

“A nap sounds nice,” she concedes without reluctance. Aside from the rapid onset, her fatigue feels like any other time she has worn herself out expending her energy running and playing, so that her mother is calm about it makes it easy to accept. Mentally trying to encourage herself to rouse and stand, her efforts cut short as her mother packs her along instead. Being small for her age certainly has some advantages, and Nel readily reaches to hold onto her mother with her arms to make the task easier.

“Thanks, Mum,” she says as she rests her head to her mother’s shoulder lightly on the way inside. “I think I’ll get better at it if I keep practicing. It’s already loads easier.”

[vernal_miss]

Suspicion given credibility, she looks out at all the birds and wistfully wishes for their well being, “I hope someone keeps an eye on them... They didn’t ask to come visit.” Well. Probably not anyways. In the meantime, she hopes they have enough food to eat, and will definitely be pouring out the seeds she has remaining in her bag before she leaves with her family.

Her attention comes back closer as the little shy bird edges closer only for another to dart in, snatch a beakful, and dart away into the crowd. The cautious bird squawks indignantly after the other, and using that, finally braves hopping up on Walter’s hand and stays put to eat more than a single seed.

[iamnotgod]

"It's not as if anyone here's a bird whisperer," Walter agrees - and then pauses, wondering if in fact there is an Echo that could allow someone to communicate with animals.

Still, he doesn't have such a thing.

The lone brave bird gets its reward of seeds, and from the expression on Walter's face, the pecking tickles!

[vernal_miss]

Snickering softly at the tickled expression, she comments, “Maybe, but you get on well with them.” The birds will be easier to care for if they stay so friendly.

Happy to watch the bird eating its fill from what remains in Walter’s hand, Nel will start to sketch while able to see such clear details of this bird. Not that the seeds last too long, and once gone, the bird rests for a brief pause before returning off to the flock.

[iamnotgod]

Walter finds himself waving goodbye to the bird - grinning ruefully, he pulls his own sketchbook back around.

"I think we've been dismissed."

[catted]

"Just make sure to not tease before school," she teases, "or before you have other plans." And then she'll carry Nel inside and tuck her in on the couch. Sleep, sweet child of hers.

...And then she'll slowly wander back out and stare down at the plant they made for many, many minutes. And just stare. What the fuck.