Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch, who watches over you

[pythianjudgment]

Who| Clint and Terezi
What| Terezi has taken it upon herself to birdsit for Sam in his own room. Clint comes to claim the bird and finds her.
Where| Sam's room, D5 floor
When| After Clint's arena death
Warnings/Notes| None?


It's been a few weeks since Terezi got back from the arena. Most of that time has been spent assuming her typical Capitol schedule of school, peacekeeper duties, public events, and whatever else her Escort can wrangle her into. But her free time is still hers to do with what she wants, and one of the first things she does is to check if Sam is back. There's something important on her mind, and she desperately needs to talk to him.

Unfortunately, his room is empty--or almost empty. Instead of Sam, she finds Kate. Terezi considers leaving the bird where it is, but the thought occurs to her that she's probably been as cooped up and lonely as any of the other tributes. It wouldn't be too bad to keep each other company.

So Terezi continues to crash in Sam's room as the weeks roll on. On this particular day, she happens to be lying on her stomach at the foot of the bed. There's a few sheets of paper laid out in front of her and a box of crayons that she up-ended onto the comforter beside her. Kate is perched on top of her head, nestled between her bright horns in a nest of black hair. There's a bag of unsalted sunflower seeds lying open on the bed as well, and every so often, Terezi will lift a seed up to Kate as an offering.

Comments

[cognitived]

Clint's been feeling like he was on death's doorstep for nearly two weeks, now. The loss of his arm, the way it left him down and out, in a sort of limbo. He hates being useless, being left behind, and the loss of something so intrinsic to him -- well, Clint didn't take it well.

So his death? Kind of a relief, in some measure of the word. He's feeling pretty damn guilty about dying on Sam like that though. But he's got more than that one reason to head to Sam's room. Kate was there, and he's been missing her for what feels like ages, and hopefully she's been well taken care of in the time they've been gone. Still, he's not expecting to open the door and find Terezi camping out on Sam's bed with Kate nestled in her hair. Clint blinks, surprised, and steps through as he shuts the door behind him.

"Hey," he greets Terezi as crosses the space easily, eager, "You keeping our girl company?"

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi's head lifts from the paper as soon as the door opens, and for a moment she seems both tense and hopeful. She expects either someone coming in to shoo her out, or Sam returning from the arena... but what she gets is nether.

"More like your bird is filching my snacks while I break in Sam's bed for him." The snacks that she is readily giving the bird. There's a bit of seed debris on the comforter around her, but she doubts that it'll still be there by the time that Sam gets back. Someone--an Avox probably--will undoubtedly come change the sheets as soon as she decides to leave.

She gives the human a curious look as she sits up to greet him properly. It takes some doing, since Kate is still perched on her head, but Terezi puts up a hand to help the bird stay balanced where she is.

"I assume that you are the other bird caretaker. Are you the birdmom or the birddad?"

[cognitived]

She wouldn't be the only one disappointed that it wasn't Sam, but eh, Clint can live with it. He laughs, soft and short, at Terezi's explanation, and at Kate's imperious clicking of her beak for more snacks.

"...we can't both be birddads?"

He pauses, head tilted in a birdlike gesture all his own. Clint wants to reach out and take Kate back, but he won't just reach out when she's nestled in someone else's hair. Still, Kate chirrups at them both, and his mouth curls with a dopey grin. He missed his bird-daughter, and she's grown much in the weeks he was gone.

[pythianjudgment]

"Can birds have two birddads?" Terezi shrugs, and the motion jostles Kate a little bit. She reaches up again to pet the bird's feathers in a soothing manner. "You tell me; it's your weird Earth biology."

She doesn't plan to keep holding onto the bird, though. It's not hers, obviously, so she should probably give her back now that someone is here to claim her. The hand that was petting Kate's feathers moves instead so that her arm can rest under the bird's chest. A gently push urges Kate to step up to her arm, where she's then held out to Clint for him to take her.

[cognitived]

He snorts with laughter, briefly, and shrugs a shoulder even if she can't see it. Weird Earth biology, yeah, okay maybe it is.

"Guess she can, since we adopted her."

Clint waits carefully as Terezi lifts her arm for Kate step up, and then offers his own for Kate to transfer over. He gives her a chance to reacquaint herself with the height, head cocking in a mirror of Kate's little movement, grinning when he reaches up to stroke the crown of purple feathers upon her head and she nips gently at his sleeve.

"Hey girl," he says softly, making a faint chirruping sound she used to make when she was a fledgling, before turning his attention back to Terezi. "How long've you been staying here?"

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi observes the doting attention that Clint gives the bird, and she's hard pressed not to grin and tease. There's a smile on her lips when he addresses her again, thinly pressed together to keep it from showing more.

"About two weeks. Off and on. I was waiting for Sam, since I got knocked out of the running first. I had something I wanted to tell him." But that something isn't for Capitol ears, so she moves on quickly.

"I found Kate in here when I first came in. I didn't know if anyone was taking care of her. I think someone must have been. She didn't seem hungry or neglected, just lonely."

[cognitived]

He's maybe going a bit overboard, but who could blame him? He had a rough Arena, and he's missed his girl. His missing the others right now, Sam and Bucky and Bruce and Steve, still fighting for their lives. But he can focus on a troll girl and his bird.

His gaze sharpens, brows lifting, but yeah he gets what she isn't saying. Doesn't know what she might have to say, particularly, but that isn't so important to him just yet. Chance is, if it's relevant then Sam will tell him. For now, he nods, stroking the soft feathers at Kate's breast. Lets it go, following Terezi's guide easily.

"Glad she had somebody to keep her company, then." Kate makes a chattering sound, hoping from arm to shoulder, preening his hair. "Hope she didn't give you much trouble."

[pythianjudgment]

"She was absolutely terrible," Terezi complains, sarcasm heavy in her voice. "Eating my snacks and chattering at everything. Doing bird things. Do you know how many bird things a bird actually does? I will give you a hint. It's a lot." She gestures at the bird, as if to say 'Look, she's doing more bird things right now. Do you see that?'

"Don't tell Sam, but we messed up his bed a lot, too. There's seed casings everywhere, and I tried to make a fort. But I don't think she liked that very much, so I tore it down again." Not that he's ever going to notice the change. Terezi is convinced that the room will be spotless by the time he gets back. "She also told me to tell Sam that he's a huge loser and he needs to keep more stuff in his room. Her words, not mine."

[cognitived]

Unfortunately for Terezi, Clint is also basically a bird in human form. Bird things are normal for birds, don't you know?

"Your secret's safe with me," he says instead, very carefully solemn, though the smirk curling at the corners of his mouth undermines his efforts. Like Terezi, Clint's pretty sure the room will be clean from top to bottom by the time Sam gets back, even if he might sneak back in and put seeds under Sam's sheets and then blame Kate. A+ parenting Clint, you're doing it right.

Here, now, he huffs with laughter, "Oh really? Kate," a failed look at the bird currently preening his hair, "don't be mean to your dad, even if it's true."

[pythianjudgment]

"It is one hundred percent true. Kate is an honest bird and doesn't tell any lies. The only really interesting thing that he has in here are those coins in his drawer." Not that she went and sorted through his stuff or anything... That would be an invasion of privacy. Or so people tell her, anyway.

She has to admit that they are pretty interesting, though. She's never found coins like that before. "What kind of currency are they supposed to be, anyway? They don't smell like anything I've encountered before."

[cognitived]

Oh man, Clint's so very glad he has plenty of practice in keeping a straight face. He's also learning a whole lot about not only his bird daughter but Terezi all in one fell swoop. Who would have guessed? There's a pause though, because guess who hasn't gone through Sam's stuff? This guy.

"Coins?" He frowns, curious. "Which ones?"

He's going to completely ignore the smell thing, because he's still not entirely sure how that comes into play here.

[pythianjudgment]

Terezi flops back on the covers and does a barrel roll over to the edge of the bed, reaching for the side table mentioned so that she can pull out the sparse contents of the drawer. She scoops up the coins in her hand and turns back to show them to Clint.

In the palm of her hand are three coins: one gold on the front and black on the back; another is red and blue on one side and silver, white and black on the other; and the third is silver and blue on one side with 'EXO-7' inscribed on the other side.

"These coins."