thecapitol | Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word [Closed]

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Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word [Closed]

Who| Loki, Clementine, Dave and a bird
What| A food run turns into Dave getting a surprise pet
Where| Out in the Capitol then back in D9
When| Now-ish
Warnings/Notes| Probably not

She's met Loki in passing before but this actually the first time Clementine's properly been in his company. She'd joined the two boys in Dave's suite earlier, listening to their banter and laughing at the jokes she did get, looking puzzled at the ones she didn't.

Then time had crept on and all three of them (being young and growing) had felt the undeniable pangs of hunger and a quick consensus has passed that none of them could be bothered or trusted to cook and they were all fed up of the food available in the Tribute Centre restaurant. The only solution was to set out into the Capitol and hunt down something more exotic and interesting to tantalise their long-suffering tastebuds and Loki had said he knew a place.

... quite how that had led to her and Loki being the ones to go out while Dave stayed behind to laze about on the couch and watch bad Capitol tv in D9 she was kind of confused on but Clementine guessed she didn't mind too much, the weather was still nice out and--

"Is that a pet store?" Clementine has a tendency to (try) to act older than she actually is for a lot of reasons, but when she's out in the Capitol and around her friends she shows her actual age more often than not. Like now when she diverts from walking ahead to go and press her face to the glass of the store, staring delightedly at a pen full of multi-coloured rabbits hopping about in the window and squinting at the other animals further within.

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Loki had known her face and name, but this was the first time they had spent alone together. It was an awkward sight, really. Of course, Loki looked tall in comparison to most people, but especially a child - and Clementine was small. He walked next to her as he made his way towards this place he had visited a few times after the first arena. They had a lot of great breakfast foods - and things he had never seen before getting here.

When she stopped walking with him and pressed her face against the glass of the pet store, he knew that they would inevitably end up inside. He walked up next to her, looking inside. "It looks like it. You want to go in?" he asked.

A lot of Loki's life was putting on a good face while in the Capitol, and while he was hungry, it seemed like the delay would be inevitable.

"Do you mind?" she asks, looking up (and up) at Loki but the answer behind that is yes. She really, really wants to. "We don't have to stay long."

Clementine knows he's hungry, so is she and if they linger too long Dave might start to wonder where they went. All she wants is to just quickly indulge her curiosity and then they can get back on the trail.

Famous last words.

The moment Loki confirms, or looks like he's about to confirm, she pushes her way inside and is in a wonderland of animals ranging from bizarre to adorable and in a variety of colours. "Whoa. Hey, they have birds!" she exclaims at a range of occupied perches and cages.

"Not long, then," he says, following her into the store. He didn't want to waste too much time, either. Dave getting curious as to where they vanished off to would result in him coming out to find them, he was sure. That could force a further delay in eating, which was something none of them wanted.

"Birds," he said, tilting his head towards her curiously. He looked around at the cages. There were ones he had seen before - and ones, that while he may recognize the shape, the color was unique. And then there were different ones all together. Some were mimics, as he heard them calling out to them. It had to be Capitol breeding or engineering. "Really different ones," he says, looking back to Clementine.

"Dave keeps going on and on about how he wants a bird, for some reason." she explained to Loki, looking at a pink and blue macaw that she's pretty sure is not a natural plumage colour for that species. When she reaches up to stroke its chest gently the bird actually thanks her in an exaggerated Capitol accent, causing her to laugh.

"Hi." Clementine said to the bird before looking up at Loki again, "Look how big that one's chest is, how do you think it eats?"

Loki was able to see where this was going. He was not going to be leaving this place without a bird of some sort. Yes, he would be buying a bird for his fake-boyfriend who was considered a Capitol enemy with the money he had been paid by the Capitol for committing murder in the arena. Seemed legit.

"Does he? He hasn't said it to me." It just never came up. "And it probably eats very awkwardly and uncomfortable." He spots another bird and moves towards it, bending his finger and gently petting it. He had never been much of a bird person, so he didn't really know too much about them.

Clementine really isn't saying it with an ulterior motive, just simple childish enthusiasm. She'd never had a pet as a child, her dad had been allergic but she'd always wished she could have a dog or a cat, though maybe not so much a dog anymore... her left forearm twinges a little at the thought. Anything more than a goldfish would have been out the window for them back then and animals had become a rarity in her own world given Walkers hunger for living flesh of any kind.

"I think he just wants to teach one to say a lot of bad words to people." she rolls because how childish is that, really? Clem follows along in Loki's wake with a snort of laughter. "Did you ever have any pets?"

"I kept snakes," he said. "Horses, though probably not quite what you'd imagine. Large monsters, really. Oh, and a Hel-Wolf, a puppy, and Magpie." He doubted either of those last three would really have liked being called his pet. "It sounds like the start of a bad joke, but I promise - there's no punchline."

Still, he did take care of them so it counted. "Birds will repeat what they most hear, so no doubt in certain company they will learn a lot of foul language."

"Snakes are cool." Clementine decides easily. She's that kid who doesn't mind bugs and gross things to be honest. "Was it dangerous keeping monsters?" she grins, "I've kind of stopped doubting people when they say stuff like that now. How's a Hel-Wolf different from a normal wolf?"

Yep, that definitely sounded like a recipe for a foul-mouthed bird if ever she heard one. Her eyes sweep the pet store still and land on one that's a little less showy than the rest though still bright red and easily noticable. "He looks like he's wearing sunglasses." she points out the little bird to Loki.

"Everything is dangerous in Asgard," Loki answers. And that, for what it was worth, was mostly true. There were few animals there that Loki would consider naturally friendly to humans. In fact, everything that he had mentioned was rather unfriendly.

"It's huge," Loki said. "Like the size of a house, at least." He might even be underestimating the size of his Hel-wolf. It was a difficult creature to keep.

Loki leans in to look at the bird Clementine had pointed out and took note of the colors and the way the dark shaped its eyes. "It's like Dave," he says. He sounds just a little fond of the thought.

"So you're just used to it?"

Wow... well with wolves the size of houses she guesses he would be. "That's scary sounding, like something the Capitol might make." she hopes that doesn't give them ideas, though Clem isn't sure they'd put microphones in a pet store.

When Loki makes the comparison Clementine laughs, "I see it too!" she hops over to get a better look. "It's Dave as a bird for sure."

"Oh yeah," he said. Nothing the Capitol made seemed to bother him. And he ws under the assumption that they already understood a lot of things about his life, so they knew about the wolves without him saying a thing. He's pretty sure the y're always watching. Better than mistakenly being off guard. " He leans in closer to the bird and starts to talk to it.

"Huh, well," he said, "if Dave is talking about having a bird, this would be the one to have." He waves down the man at the counter.

Clementine watches Loki speak to the bird and looks delighted when it talks back, happily chirping a 'Hello' and a 'Nice to meet you'. By this point she's almost forgotten her hunger in her distraction.

"You're going to buy it?" she says, surprised. But then Loki and Dave were boyfriends, you were supposed to do nice things in a relationship like that.

Loki gently brushes a single finger over the bird's feathers. He had spent time around Magpie before. This bird was far friendlier (although it seemed to pick up language quickly - so it may not be friendly for long). "I think I'm going to buy it for Dave. It'd be a huge miss if I didn't, right?"

He looks to Clementine. He thinks a bird would be a lot of fun to have, too.

Clementine looks up at Loki for a moment and she can't really restrain the smile from breaking out over her face. "I think so. He's going to be over the moon about it, you know."

If she was older and a little more versed in these matters she might tease Loki about how Dave might express his gratitude, as it is she's eleven and most innocent on the aspects of their relationship.

"Yeah, I think he'll love it, too," Loki said. He still had a lot to learn about Dave, though. She seemed to know him well, so her judgment on this would be worth trusting.

He stepped away from the bird and sought out one of the storekeepers for this. When he finally spotted one (the man was interestingly dressed, feathers in his hair, on his face - everywhere).

He was having a hard time believing he was doing something that wasn't just for himself in this case. Maybe, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that he actually did like Dave, and didn't just find him useful.

He returned to Clementine after a few moments. "The bird is ours." Well, Dave's.

It gets a wide smile from Clementine at the least. Her approval of Loki as suitable Dave material has certainly just climbed up a few notches. She's completely certain that Dave is going to love his bird.

When Loki returns she gives a little clap at the pronouncement, her expression gleeful. "We should take a photo of his face when you show him the bird, it'll be great."

"I'll take a lot. Then post them all over his room just to remind him of the face he made," Loki said. That was a totally normal way to respond to one's fake-boyfriend enjoying something, right? Yeah, it was perfect.

The man came back out, bird in a cage, as it repeated 'Hello'.

Clementine laughs, "Good plan, I'll help!"

She smiles at the bird when the store owner reappears with it and together she and Loki take it in its cage outside. "I bet he's starting to wonder where we are, we better hurry up and get the food."

The place they're going isn't much further luckily and Clementine will be happy to stand outside and talk to the bird in its cage while Loki goes inside to get their lunch.

Loki returns, lunch in hand - spread out among three paper bags - decently sized. "We'll hurry back, then," he said. He was sure Dave was wondering where they were. After all, they had made an unexpected stop, spent some time there, and then ended up with a bird. They were definitely returning with more than expected of them.

"Before anyone gets hangry." A word he had heard in his time on Midgard. Midgardians did have a great way of putting words on things.

"And I'm glad to have your help. Pranking can get complicated at times."

"Hangry?" Loki might have heard it on Midgard but Clementine certainly hadn't. Hungry, yes, hangry no. It sounds like some made up word, like the sort Dave comes out with a lot. Well, Dave and Loki are sort of boyfriends to Clem's understanding, so maybe that makes sense.

At the mention of pranks her smile turns mischevious, "I like playing pranks. I haven't gotten to do it properly in a long time." not since putting bugs on Duck's pillow and that was two years ago. "You know all kinds of pranks I'd never have thought of."

"Hungry and angry," he answers, surprised that she hasn't heard it before considering she is from Midgard. But then, Loki doesn't really know CLementine's situation at home. For the better, really. It would make it harder not to get attached.

"I am the god of mischief. Pranking is basically my expertise, Clementine." Not to brag or anything, but he was totally bragging about it. "There are so man y things I can show you."

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