2020-08-23: Bird is the Word

Bird is the Word
A bird hits a window at a gaming shop.
IC Date	August 23rd, 2020
IC Time	Evening
Players	Ed, Rustin, Susie, Vivian Starr, and a very Odd Raven.
Location	Guardian Games

Guardian Games - Shop

The shop is a spacious rectangle that's been broken into thirds along its length. The front third for the quick grab of supplies; dice, dice bags, journals, books and the like. There are posters and banners for upcoming releases and a large community cork board filled with printouts of people setting up gaming groups and announcements for events to be held in the next few months. The middle third of the shop is where you'd find the gaming books. Two rows of double-sided shelves create three paths where one can peruse their way along the titles. The back third of the store is void of shelving and display. The floor space is taken up by four large tables, with plenty of breathing room, though at times more tables can appear and arranged to a tighter fit.

The setting suggests a mixture of 'come and hang out' as well as 'get your supplies here'. The shelves and fixtures are jam packed like a nerd paradise. A good half the shelf space of the store is given over to tabletop gaming. Everything from rows of hardcover books, to spinning racks of pewter miniatures, to a display full of dice of every type and color anyone could want with bags hanging up right next to it waiting to be filled.

================================ Current Scene =================================

It's evening at the Guardian and the light outside the gaming store has already turned into the darkness that's only dimly lit by street lights and the soft glow of their large, neon-green sign above the door. The place is active with customers browsing the shelves of gaming books, sorting through the boxes of used materials or sitting at some of the tables in the back enjoying a drink while discussing some weighty and complex question of game mechanics or theme. Seated behind the counter, a red-headed guy in his early twenties is minding the shop while occasionally flipping through a collection of books spread out around him.

================================================================================

Susie steps in from the street. She bypasses the counter, looking for someone specific. As Ed speaks, she approaches her. "Hey," she says. She nods to Rustin as well. "You here for tech stuff, or are you a gamer?" she asks Ed.

---

From outside the shop a large black bird that might be either a raven or a crow collides with the front shop window hard then drops to the pavement outside. The bird seems to be stunned.

---

Rustin looks to Ed as she starts to work on rebuilding the security cameras, "Someone likes to see me try and dance in my underwear at night? I dunno..." The ginger-haired clerk's head snaps to the front of the store as he hears the *thud* of the bird's impact. "What the?" he asks instinctually and moves around the counter to investigate. In his absence, the counter still has three large map books open and a closed journal set between them like he was working on something before additional customers came in.

---

"Hey Susie," Ed says with a grin. "I used to play Magic. A card game. Was thinking of picking it up again. I could teach you, if you're interested?" At the sound of a large bird hitting the window, she blinks and looks over in the direction of the sound. "Oooookay." As Rustin leaves the counter, she takes the opportunity to take a quick look at what he was working on. "You ever get into gaming stuff?" She asks of Susie.

---

Susie looks at the window and back at Ed. "Hey, do you think you could talk to your family about me coming over at some point?" she asks.

---

Vivian is about to enter the shop when there is a dull thud and the confused-looking bird hits the window and flops to the ground. Well. That's weird. The short-haired blonde blinks and peers down at the animal before opening the door, leaning in and calling out, "Uh, hey? There, uh... there's a bird that hit your window out here. Is it someone's a pet? Should I call the ASPCA or something?"

---

From outside the shop window, the bird lies still on the pavement. A slight breeze catches up a few of the feathers in the ruff of her neck and plays with them. Her chest still rises and falls but she appears to still be stunned. When she does raise her head, the bird acts like it has been doped with something. That or it just nearly knocked itself senseless against the shop glass. She is a bit clumsy getting back onto her feet, flapping her wings around and actually falls over in the process.

---

Ed huhs and looks over at Susie, eyebrows going up for a moment. "If you'd like. I can't promise anything, but I can certainly see what I can do." Her expression shifts into a scowl, as she glances over at the fuss by the door. "Weird bird. Wonder why it was flying around after dark?"

---

Susie looks over at the window again. "Dunno. Most birds see darkness and go to sleep, but I know street lights can mess with their biologicall clocks."

---

Rustin calls out for someone to get one of the box lids from behind the counter so he can try and scoop up the apparently wounded or dazed bird. "Anyone know a vet?" he asks to the room in general.

---

"I know some basic medicine," Susie says. "I can look at it, but no promises."

---

"I think it might be hurt," Vivian states rather obviously as she peers down at the woozy bird, "Is there, like, an animal shelter or something around here that accepts wounded wild animals?" She digs in her pocket for a moment and pulls out a smartphone, beginning to tap away at it in search of just that. She glances up at Rustin as he calls for a box to scoop the poor thing into. "Careful now," she warns, "It might be acting so weird because it's diseased. Don't get pecked." Vivian's attention turns towards Susie, "You're a vet? Or human medicine?" She shrugs, "Well, any port in a storm, I guess."

---

Susie approaches the bird slowly and gets close to it. "Hello, little guy," she says, quietly. "Don't be afraid." She gently tries to lift its wings, move its beak, and shift its feathers to see its feet. "Okay, this thing is tiny," she says, "and fluffy with all the feathers. I can't even tell if it has any broken bones in obvious spots. I'm too scared to hurt it."

---

Rustin steps back from the bird and lets Susie deal with it while he tries to weave his way back through the crowd to find his proper spot behind the counter.

---

The odd raven waddles around on the sidewalk just in front of the store like a drunk trying to walk a straight line for Mr. Police officer and not doing such a great job of it. The bird shakes her head, raising her ruff. She cocks her head towards the window and seems to look right up at the people on the other side of the glass. Despite the good konk to the head, someone who looked close enough might notice what seems like a certain level of intelligence perhaps beyond the norm for her species, something that might suggest that there was something different about her than just her odd clumsiness.

---

The raven looks up at Susie with those same eyes and allows her to examine it. The bird seems almost curious as it seems to think Susie is trying to play with it. It does not bite or scratch Susie.

---

Susie tries to pick up the raven, planting its feet on her wrist before standing. "I am going too just guess it's got concussion at worst," she says. "Most bird impacts like this break the neck, and the bird doesn't look that bad off at all." She looks to the bird and runs a finger along its beak. "Hello, precious," she says softly. "Aren't you beautiful."

---

With a grunt, Vivian nods to Susie, "Fair enough, ma'am. Thanks for trying just the same." She returns her gaze to her cellphone, once more trying to track down an appropriate animal shelter or rescue. Her eyes do flicker over to the drunken waddle of the bird, a faint frown tugging at her lips and her brows furrowing just slightly. But it only lasts a moment before her attention is returned to the smartphone. At Susie's second examination, the blonde pauses and looks up, "So you don't think it needs a vet?"

---

Ed watches as Susie approaches the bird outside, then walks away from the counter and out of the shop. Propping the door open with her foot. Glancing around Susie at the raven, she wriggles her fingers at the animal and makes a soft clicking noise at it.

---

From outside the shop, the raven climbs onto Susie's wrist though being unaccustomed to gripping human arms, her claws do bite a little deep. The raven moves her head about as though uncertain about how it feels about someone running their finger along her beak though she does not bite the finger. She does flap her wings a little in order to try to maintain her balance. The raven looks over at Ed for a moment.

---

"I don't know what a vet would do for it," Susie says. "Ravens aren't usually found in North America. This one has to be someone's pet. It probably was trying to come inside to be with people. I could take care of it until we can find the owner, but I'm really not sure what else to do." She turns too the girl at the door. "Ed, will you help me figure out what ravens eat? I don't want to accidentally poison it."

---

The raven cocks her head at Ed and again those eyes seem to betray a level of intelligence that is perhaps beyond the average for this species. However, there is also something to note in that this bird seems to be a little confused by what Ed is doing for some reason.

---

Three gamers, almost simultaneously, call out from their respective gaming tables, "Try pizza!" Rustin can't help but just groan and tells the guys to like go back to their game and food should show up soon. Trying to follow his recently discovered tech expert, Ed has gotten herself tied up with the bird too.

---

"You're sure its not a crow?" Vivian asks of Susie, "Honestly, I couldn't tell the two apart." She returns to her smartphone, "One moment..." Tap. Tap. Tappity-tap-tap. "Mmn. Okay, it says here that ravens are omnivorous. Occasionally carrion eaters. They'll eat nuts and grains, berries and things like like beetles and maggots. They will also eat amphibians, birds, small mammals, small invertebrates and reptiles." She looks up, "So it looks like you could feed it granola bars? Just stay away from processed foods, I guess. Does that help, ma'am?"

---

"Too big to be a crow," Susie says. She considers. "Yes, thank you," she says. "At least the grip isn't as strong as a bird of prey. That beak is kind of terrifying, though," she says with a smirk. "Ravens mimic sounds, so please, no swearing around the bird. If it's living with me for any length of time, I don't want it cursing at my customers."

---

Ed frowns, posture growing a bit more stiff as she continues to eye the bird.

---

Rustin adds, loud enough to be heard over the people, "Keep it outside..." and starts to put the books away that were displayed across his counter.

---

From in front of the shop, The raven starts to stare back at Ed like she was engaging in a staring game with a cat, bobbing her head up and down and side to side until she almost falls off Susie's arm. She has to flap her wings in order to get her balance again and adjust her footing on Susie's arm for which the young woman might not thank her for in the morning.

---

Vivian can't help but grin a bit at Susie. "Well, looks like you got a friend, ma'am. Though I gotta admit, it'd be pretty funny to see this dizzy little thing curse out someone." She raises her smartphone so that the camera is pointing towards the bird and Susie, "I can take a photo. Maybe it would help tracking down the owner. Plus the look of a bird sitting on your arm is pretty photogenic. Like something out of a Disney poster." Her grin widens, "Should we break into an impromptu musical number?"

---

Susie does her best to help the raven regain and maintain its balance. "Yeah," she says to Vivian. "Sure." Susie turns so she's mostly facing the camera, smiling and gesturing toward the bird like Vannah White. "No musical stuff, though. I was never into musicals."

---

Ed watches the smart phone being raised out of the corner of her eye and stops watching the bird, taking a step back and trying to get out of the shot. She turns a bit as she does so, so her back is facing the camera.

---

In front of the store, the raven tries to raise as upright as possible on Susie's arm and stick its beak in the air. If someone were to come along who was the sort to attribute human qualities to animals they might claim the bird looked indignant. The raven turned her head away from Ed with a sharp turn and then looked at Susie. The bird tries to launch off Susie's arm but only goes a short way before landing in a rather sloppy fashion a short distance away on the sidewalk.

---

A rumbling chuckle tumbles out of Vivian as she nods, "Fair enough. No musical numbers. I suck at singing anyway." With a little electronic whirr and click the picture is taken. Vivian taps a few more times on the screen of the smartphone before looking over at Susie, "Do you have an email address you'd like me to send the picture, ma'am? Or if you have your phone on you I could send it direct?" She blinks several times as the bird tries to fly away, only to fall straight back down to the ground. "Woah there, little guy!"

---

Susie rushes to it and says, "Hey, little guy. You okay?" She begins checking the bird's wings. "You break a wing or did you sneak some alcohol when nobody was watching their drinks outside?" She picks him back up, moving to sit on the window edge, putting the bird in her lap, cuddling it against her chest as she held her arms around it. "Ed, please give this nice lady my work email so she can send the picture properly," she says.

---

Ed glances over at Rustin, who as returns to watch all the fuss and smile a bit as he mumbles something to her. "Yea. Don't think I'm going to have the time to set up those cameras after all. All the stuff is in that bag I brought. I'll have to swing by another time. Huh? Oh, right," she adds, attention pulled away when Susie speaks to her. "I can do that, sure."

---

Rustin nods to Ed. "That's fine. Not like we're going anywhere. Stop by anytime ya want. We have the cameras in a box in the back room right now. I was able to check them online and they were -not- cheap. Kind of nice that someone sort of contributed to the shop, ya know?"

---

Out front of the shop, at first the raven starts to run around the sidewalk like a small black chicken until Susie picks her up and starts cuddling her. The raven looks up at Susie and parts her beak at the young woman letting out a shrill alarm cry.

---

"It might've snuck some booze," Vivian says thoughtfully, "But I think your original hypothesis that it might have a concussion is probably more likely." She shrugs helplessly -- animals are not really her thing. When Ed comes over, the short-haired blonde offers up a smile and raises her phone again, ready to enter the email details. "Thanks, ma'am." But then the bird cries out and Vivian whips her head in its direction, frowning. "Jesus...! maybe its wing -is- broken?"

---

"Thank you," Susie says to Ed in almost a sing-song way. She pets the raven as she cuddles it, both trying to get it to not try to leave, but not holding it tightly in case its wing was broken. "Go back to finding a vet," Susie says. "Poor thing. I'm here, little guy."

---

Ed nods to Rustin, heads over to Vivian, then makes something of a face as the raven screeches "I don't think it likes being restrained, Susie," Ed tells the other woman, tone gentle. "Might want to set it down. Don't want to get pecked."

---

Susie huffs a bit. "It's going to hurt itself further," she says. She looks at Ed. "It's frustrating," she says more quietly. "I could fix this under different circumstances. I know it."

---

Out front of the store, the raven lets out another alarm cry and begins to thrash its clawed feet the limited amount that it could move them. It blinks and looks up at Susie, the chest of the bird visibly rising and falling faster than it was previously.

---

Vivian grunts again, returning to her phone and once more searching for a vet as per Susie's suggestion. She pauses at Ed's statement, however and frowns thoughtfully. "Well, that might be it. If it's not a pet, it probably would feel a bit.... constrained." But then continues with her search. Her eyes do flicker up to Susie briefly, "Other circumstances? Like what? I think you're doing the best you can, ma'am." She winces at as the bird lets out another cry. "Okay, I'm beginning to think maybe the other lady here has the right idea. Maybe let it down on the ground so it doesn't feel so enclosed."

---

Susie's thighs and breasts are right in the firing range of the flailing bird, and Susie isn't /that/ committed to keeping it from hurting itself under any circumstances. She just leans back and lets the bird do what it wants. "It's so weird. Mama birds tuck babies under their wings all the time. I've held broken birds before, and they seemed very content once they're sure you're not going too eat them, even constrained by being wrapped in a towel." She looks up at Ed. "This is a very odd raven."

---

Ed sighs, watching the other woman sympathetically. "Adult bird. Not a baby. And yea, it is a very odd animal," Ed agrees, sliding her hands into her pockets and looking a bit uncomfortable.

---

The raven flaps her way to the ground and takes a moment to sort herself out, even to seem a little uncertain about how to adjust her own feathers with her own beak. She does move about as though a little disoriented, waddling along the sidewalk. Then the raven seems to do a rather curious thing, she appears to be trying to look up at street signs from the sidewalk.

---

Susie stands and starts following the raven. "Ed, either you can stay here and get back to doing cameras or follow me. Either way, I'll see you back at the theater later tonight." She doesn't take her eyes off the bird, following it as it walks.

---

Vivian purses her lips a bit as she peers at the bird seemingly examining street signs. "Well," she says hesitantly, "I think I remember reading that ravens are among the smartest of bird species. Like, they can learn to use traffic signals and cars to open nuts. They'll line up the nuts in a lane during a red light, wait until the light changes and the cars run over the nuts, opening them, then go and retrieve them once the lights change again." She shrugs absently, "Maybe this one has had some bad experience with being held or something?" She looks over at Susie as the other woman heads off, nodding, "I'll send you that picture, ma'am. Good luck with your fine feathered friend."

---

Ed opens her mouth, closes it, then starts to trail after Susie. "Seeya," she offers as a hurried farewell to Rustin and Vivian.

---

Rustin just shakes his head at all the fuss over the bird and then turns to one of the people who seem to be remaining once Susie and Ed head out to care for it. "So...what can I get for ya tonight?"