Shoulder Chickens! (Nephe

[Catalina]

Iriel pets her cat and tosses her phone on to her charger then gets up, so those two baby "shoulder chickens" are finally gonna get someone to take care of them. Well their father would if he wast the grump he was. Iriel looks at the shoulder chicken on her upper arm just admiring its metalic purples, blues and greens feathers along her body.

"Welp look like your tiny brothers are going to get someone to look after them other then mom." Iriel tells her friend who shrugs and goes about preening and cleaning her clawed wing. Man Iriel loved that shoulder chicken.

Iriel moves to get up and her cat jumps off her lap with a little chirp sounding meow, she goes to grab her keys and puts on her cozy jacket and grabs one of her purses then heads outside leaving her cat to use her cat to user her cat tower, locking her door. This was definetly going to be interesting.

She walks over to a wall and leans against it while petting her feathered friend's head looking quier happy and chilled.

[nephero]

True to form, Chance gave absolutely zero consideration to the most obvious questions, the first and foremost being:

What the hell was a shoulder chicken?

That should have been the very first thing Chance had asked, but no. No, the first thing out of his mouth had been more along the lines of "how do I get me one of these?" Not what it was or what it ate or what else would have to go into raising a newborn bird-creature. Just how to get one. And getting him one of them was, in fact, what Chance was doing right that very second.

He grabbed his keys and jacket on his way out his front door, and began the circuitous way to Pilot Echo Luminas' place, or...

...Right. Where was that again?

The details seemed to have gotten lost under a great red banner proclaiming CHICKEN ME!

Oh, well, that was what the Network was for-- though right now Iriel didn't seem to be answering any messages. Shit, did she leave? Was she waiting right now? Crap. He really didn't want to have to ask around, especially seen as the other person he could think to help him here was his twin. And he genuinely did not want to have to get into an argument over the exact nature of a "shoulder chicken" and why he so desperately needed one.

His phone gave a ding, almost on cue, and Chance rolled his eyes as he looked down at the screen. Izzy. Of course, she already knew he was up to something stupid. She always knew when he was up to something stupid.

Thankfully, Izzy's message was short and to the point: quick summarized directions that pretty much added up to two rights and a left, dickwad. Chance put his phone away, looked around himself, and slowly pieced together all the wrong turns he had made up to that point. Welp, guess he was jogging the rest of the way.

It was... a kind of embarrassing amount of time later that Chance, to his great relief, finally spotted Iriel herself. He walked up, grinning apologetically.

"Sorry I'm late. Traffic was just-- brr, cars piled up everywhere, packed into elevators like tiny clowns. It was mind-boggling." he gestured at his own head in mimicry of scrambling his own brains, before shoving his hands into his pockets with a chuckle. "So, they're at your folk's place?"

[Catalina]

Iriel watched as another pilot walked up, so this must be Chance.

He looked a bit embarrassed and apologized, "It's okay Chance. We weren't out here for long" She smiles and stretches and nods, "My folks house isnt that far for me to run but with you it might seem like thirty minutes. It just a little ways down the street and we're there."

She points at her shiulder chicken who looks at Chance, "Feathers hear name is Aquira. She's sort of the older sibling of the two babies. If yiu have any question about what the hell your getting yourself into you can ask along the way if you want. I'll try to answer as many as I can. To be honest if I can handle both her and my cat you should be fine."

Iriel starts to walk down the hallway letting Aquira fly a timy bit here and there. "Though they are a bit like people and dog mixed into a bird body. They do have thier bad days."

[nephero]

A half an hour wasn't bad. It wasn't as if he had anything pressing on the docket for the evening; he was pretty sure if he had been too "available" he would have been requisitioned for culinary experimentation.

Izzy's cooking was great and all, but there was only so much that the human body could take, and Chance was genuinely worried that one of these days he would develop a new type of diabetes as a result of it.

That, and Chance never minded being out and about with others. So it was genuinely a kind of win-win-win. Because, as he reminded himself, he was getting a new pet out of this as well. He looked at the creature that was perched on Iriel's shoulder, and his dark brows immediately shot upwards.

"Oh, shit, lookit that." He understood, suddenly, where the term "shoulder chicken" came from, but there was genuinely no preparing oneself for what he saw. The bird on Iriel's shoulder shimmered, strange and lovely even as it twisted its head back and forth to regard him. "She's lovely."

He fell into step beside Iriel, hands in his jacket pockets as he watched the small bird flitter about here and there.

"So, like... what do they eat?"

[Catalina]

"Thanks, though she is one of the more common color but still beautiful." Iriel thinks for a second regarding Chances question, "Depends on the bird I guess. They love fruits though. Haven't meet one that wont think twice about fruit. But they do eat meats and nuts. You name it, I even seen a few eat carrion if it came to it."

She looks at Aquira, "They just cant eat thinks like avocado or peanut butter, it clogs them up pretty badly, like theyd probably die within a week. And that basically about it, you just need to expose the baby and they would do the choosing of what they like and don't obviously."

Aquira lands on Chances head and Iriel shrugs, "She likes you, you can pet her if you want, behind her crest is her favorite spot along with at the back of her neck."

[nephero]

Fruits, meats, nuts. No peanut butter or avocado. Yeah, Chance could handle that. It wasn't like he'd suddenly spend every other week scouring the globe for a rare and elusive form of birdseed or whatever, which considering his schedule, that was definitely a plus.

He reached out, a little tentatively, trying to keep his motions nice and calm and as nonthreatening as a walking psychic weapon could possibly be. Chance's face split into a triumphant grin when the bird didn't immediately flutter away, and he stroked at those beautiful metallic feathers before finally pulling back again.

"Sweet. I can't wait. Is there anything else that I'll need like-- they're kind of free range, right? Do they need a special... bed... nest thing? Special bird bath? How do you bathe them, or will that like... accidentally kill them?"

He was trying to cover all his bases before they showed up at Iriel's mother's place, the looming potential of a not-so-great meeting hanging over his head the further along they walked. Iriel had mentioned they weren't on the best of terms, which was... already a bit awkward and unfortunate, without the added bonus of showing up unannounced for baby shoulder chickens.

So maybe it wouldn't be so bad? If Iriel thought it was okay, he supposed it was fine. Not for the first time, Chance kind of wished he had at least something in the way of precog, then maybe he wouldn't have to fly by the seat of his pants and considerable charm.

Pshh. Like that was ever an issue.

[Catalina]

Chance was bright wasn't he. Iriel sighs thinking then laughs at the sight of Chances expression, "Sorry Chance but that was just your expression was priceless." She giggles for a few more seconds before answering his questions.

"They do roost with anything they can get their little claws on, papers, straw, blankets, pillows. Hell I have seen my moms pair use some of our uuhh.... certain products to make a nest. Sonjust becarefuly what they use. Though some just sleep anywhere on lampshades, or even with a cat."

"They love baths, just use plan old water though, soap would damage their feathers. They get sick of course and if a mother chicken gives birth to more then three young she'd be pretty damn injured. All the the things people and animals can get they can get."

"They do like to play like cats and dogs but smarter. Its hard to explain in a way." Iriel look around, "They do let off smoke to show how they feels it'll be your job to read it. But over all Id say they are just like a between the needs of a cat and a dog."

(Is it ok if I do a time skip after your reply to this? Im gonna be working on a sheet for them lol)

[nephero]

“Well, shit, of course it's priceless,” Chance said with an easy grin, brushing off imaginary lint from his shoulder in an expert display of swagitude, “so’s the face it's on, I mean really, have you ever seen something so glorious?”


He dissolved into snickering after, not able to keep on with faux braggart-ness for very long.


He listened attentively, for the most part, to everything Iriel was telling him, though for the most part it seemed like these… shoulder chickens were pretty much the lowest maintenance critters to grace Haviah.


Which was good; Chance liked to think he was great at rolling with the punches, but even he had his doubts about handling something that needed near constant upkeep.

(Yeah that's fine, you do you!)

[Catalina]

"They aren't to bad. It's just hard to read them." Iriels hair fluffs up as Aquira flies off again. "They are like puzzles a lot of the time."

(A few minutes latah! )

Iriel sighs as they arrive at the house, "Hope dad's home. So you ready to see fluff cute-?" Before Iriel could finish her sentence the door opens and a tan colored dragoid walks through the door and hugs Iriel real fast and looks at Chance, "I hope he is not a boyfriend." The large person says with a laugh as Iriel punches him, "He is here about the chicks!"

Iriel turns to Chance looking apologetic, "Sorry Chance. Being the only daughter has its downsides. This is my father. Dad thos is Chance he is another Pilot." Iriels father smiles, "Nice to meet you Chance." He offers Chance his hand.

[nephero]

Welp!

This was not the first time that Chance had been immediately accused of having amorous intent for a coworker. It sure as shit wouldn't be the last, either, because a good 85% of the time that was precisely what was going on. Still, it never quite failed to surprise him when the accusation was wrong.

He could hear his twin tut-tutting from here. Something about irony and 'bringing this upon himself'.

Still, it didn't seem like Iriel's father was a bad guy or anything; the whole notion seemed as much a joke to him as anybody else, and so Chance grinned right back at the older dragoid and gripped their hands tight together with a little shake.

"Nice to meet you, too, sir," he said, before withdrawing his hands back into his pockets to fidget with the seams there.

[Catalina]

Iriels father leads them into the house. Inside there was a few exotic plants with some fruits growing on them but otherwise it looked like a normal house, save for a few tree looking areas growing in and out of the wall.

He leads them into a seperate room, "You mother is out luckly but she won't be long. But Chance if you feel a sudden shift in the wind try to ignore it. Its just two woman about to but heads the moment they get into the same house." He opens the door as Iriel scowls a bit corssing her arms.

He walks in and comes out with two fluffy baby shoulder chickens curled up and huddling together looking at the trio. "Wow dad. They are tiny little babies!" She picks one up and show Aquira who just looks at it and stares at the two babies. Iriels father nods, "Huiqr isnt doing to well though, he misses Juiar." Iriel nods and hands the baby other to Chance and take the other cradling it.