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[othellovonryan]

"Yello yello, you're conversing with Donatello, inventor extraordinaire. Leave a message after the beep and I'll be with you soon enough."

Username: Bootyyyshaker9000

Comments

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: exactly

[ she's texting as she walks, one-handed, the responses coming slower ]

Nemurune: if you ever reached for sandpaper i WOULD have to sit on you

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: I don't have sandpaper, we're fine. Also window is already open.

[Listen]

[Doors are still SO WEIRD when you grew up without them]

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: i would ask if you have a door allergy i should know about but climbing through windows is genuinely so much more fun

[ ... if she can even make it up when she's still recovering from her accidental multi-day coma ]

[ god. she hopes she can. ]

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: Literally the only doors we had were dad's room and my lab until a few months before snekland. But also the window is a more direct route.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: not even bedrooms had them?

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: We had curtains. We did live in a sewer.

[bluediligence]

Nemurune: oooh ok yea that makes sense

[ ... and she technically did see that in his heart, right? she just. wasn't sure how 1-to-1 it was with real life ]

[ ok, she's here now, and ]

[ ... ]

[ looks at the wall ]

[ looks at the parcel she's carrying ]

[ at her barely-feathered wings ]

[ ... ]

Dee-kun? Can you help me up?

[othellovonryan]

Bootyyyshaker9000: The subway is an upgrade just for the doors.

[Spidershell appears at the window and will crawl down to pick her up and help her up the wall.]

[bluediligence]

[ Bless you, spidershell, thank you, spidershell ]

[ flops ungracefully through the window, carefully clutching a fairly large silk-wrapped bundle of something. This time it's black with purple ribbons. ]

Thanks. Moulting is the worst.

[othellovonryan]

Spring time based puberty is terrible.

[He is already rubbing at himself with a rough towel. The shedding is really getting bad now.]

[bluediligence]

[ Sets the bundle down carefully where there's some free space ]

The birdtile-life short straw ...

[ Her poor, peeling darling ]

Okay, gimme a brush.

[othellovonryan]

[Hands one over]

[Gonna lay over her legs, plastron up.]

It is the worst.

How are your wings?

[bluediligence]

[ yeeeeees it is time for DOTING ]

[ just what the doctor ordered ]

[ she gets to brushing as soon as he's settled ]

Let's just say that you are the only reason I'm happy to be conscious right now. [ she makes a face ] They're ugly and itchy and ridiculously sensitive, and preening all of the icky keratin off the pin feathers is a nightmare.

[othellovonryan]

[There is some rumbling trills at the attention and he tilts his head back, hands above his head.] Extend a wing and I can preen them.

[bluediligence]

[ She actually has to debate that for a hot minute, unsure whether or not she'd be able to stand it. ]

[ Carefully unfurls one of her wings, extending it for him. It is SUCH a mess, with way more pin feathers (some ready for preening, some not) than new plumage; she looks half-plucked. ]

Go for the ones where you can see a bit of feather poking out of the sheath. I accidentally got one too early, and - [ turns out that pin feathers are also known as blood feathers for a reason! ] Anyway. Only do one at a time, please.

[othellovonryan]

All right.

[He has a technician's hands so even with his thick fingers, he is very good at that precise, careful work. It only takes pulling a few test ones before he gets into a rhythm of finding and plucking.]

[Pattern recognition is soothing.]

[bluediligence]

[ It's simple, rhythmic work — find the feather, gently massage away the sheath to let the new feather unfurl. Korone visibly tenses through the first few, but … gradually, she relaxes into it, enough that her other wing droops down. It's not so bad. Just. Weird, and too sensitive to really be called pleasant, even if it is a relief ]

[ All without pausing in her extra thorough brushie brushie brushing ]

So, hey. Place a bet. Do you think my new tail feathers will be the same length, or longer?

[ 'CUZ THOSE SURE ARE MOULTING TOO ]

And let me know if you've got any other spots you want me to reach. [ wiggles her free hand ]

[othellovonryan]

Longer. [Massaging and plucking feathers.]

You were surprised by the noises, so it seems you're developing more into these traits. A longer tail would help your flying.

Under my thighs and knees get pretty bad. [Can't reach with foot so well, basically have to be curled somewhere to get at them.

[bluediligence]

You are, unfortunately, probably right. At least pigeons don't have long tails ...

[ Hum. ]

Speaking of growing, though. What about you? Do you have much left?

[ She shifts slightly, without dislodging him or pausing her brushing at all, to see if she can scratch under one of his knees for him ]

[othellovonryan]

You'll probably need to let it out more. Or wear only skirts. Bird tails just don't tuck well.

[He'll curl up his legs so it's easier to reach.]

According to Casey Junior? Roughly around a foot. Other than Mikey, the rest of us still have a few growth spurts.

Though Mikey may have been hindered by excessive mystic power usage.

[bluediligence]

I can tuck 'em after I pluck 'em. [ SHE'S JOKING. ]

[ dual-wielding peel relief!! scritchy-brushie. she's got good enough co-ordination that it's easy to get a rhythm going with it. ]

[ around a foot, though ]

[ please hold ... picturing ... ]






Oooh. Oh.

I might be in danger.

[othellovonryan]

Choco-chan, no. You'll break your feathers that way. [Gonna scratch the base of her wing.]

[There is also a shake to his words, just the rumbly churr undertone.]

Like them tall then?

[bluediligence]

That's the p- [ SQUEAKS, both get wing and body jolting at the scritch. She makes a face at him. ] ... Point.

[ The scritches under his knee shift up to hit the other spots he mentioned. ]

Tall just sounds. Fun.

[othellovonryan]

A point? You want to break your feathers?

[A deeper churr, toes curling in the blankets.]

Fun, huh?

[bluediligence]

My tail's a pain in the butt, Dee. But I'm joking, don't worry. No breaking.

[ Oh. That's a churr, and after all those other times she's heard it before, it's hard not to react to it. She blushes lightly, and determinedly does not squirm or anything. ]

All kinds of fun. I demand to be carried. And picked up. Possibly dangled by an ankle. Maybe yeeted.