6th Protocol--[Action]

[idkmybfforin]

[Oh hey what's that on your roof?

Depending on the time of day and how much snow is on it, it could be a.) absolutely nothing, b.) a raven of slightly unusual size skidding down it like a penguin or c.) a six-foot woman with gigantic raven wings on her back rolling down the roof and making remarkably ravenlike cawing sounds.

Utsuho has discovered snow! Again. She probably should be doing something else but she's...pathetically easy to distract sometimes.

Whenever she's knocked down one rooftop's supply of snow, the hell raven lazily flaps off to the next to start the process all over again. It might be your roof next! Or your neighbor's. She's pretty flexible.]

Comments

[bantorain]

Eating... -Virginia paid a quick glance to the girl. And then it clicked.-

She's a bird, Balin. A scavenger. Probably one of those 'youkai' I heard about, which explains the human appearance. So try not to be so mean to her, huh? She probably doesn't know any better.

-She calls up to Okuu.-

You hungry, honey?

[idkmybfforin]

[Oh oh food FOOD

...that easily distracted thing, yeah.

Her form blurs and shimmers and shrinks as she launches forward off the roof--as a much smaller raven. A perfectly ordinary one except for a slight increase in size and the rather obvious red eyes.

She flutters down--and while Balin is distracted, lands on his head. Or at least tries to.]

Unyu!

[FOOD]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[Glancing back over to Virginia. Looking a little surprised that Virginia knew all of that.]

It ain't just'at. I mean if it was just her goin' after'a cannibals? That wouldn't bother me.

[Judging by his tone of voice, he doesn't really want to talk about it in front of Utsuho, though. Especially since he doesn't know how long the hell raven's been here and just what she's regained. If she were back up to full power while he still didn't even have his combat gear, pissing the youkai off would be a bad idea ...]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[... In fact, he was looking over to Virginia the whole time Utsuho was busy shapeshifting and flying down to land on his head. Too busy talking to do more than wonder why he was hearing wing flapping right before getting raven talons to the head.]

WHOA! What'a—

[He flinches, but doesn't reach up to swat at Utsuho, but he is trying to look up, with the dawning realization that the hell raven's shifted back into her original form and ... is now chilling out on his head. SO glad he's wearing scratch-resistant shooting glasses right now.]

[bantorain]

-Virginia whistled, lifting up her arm as a perch for Okuu-

Calm down, Balin.

[idkmybfforin]

[Okuu wobbles a bit on her perch as it has the audacity to move, caws at it--and then pokes her head over in Balin's face.]

Unyu.

[Message delivered...whatever that message was, the raven lifts off his head with a bounce and flaps over to the woman's arm, a much less fidgety perch.</>]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin looks unamused, running a hand through his hair after Utsuho switches perches.]

Yeah, well, I got my reasons.

[Now that Utsuho is off his head though, he's looking at Utsuho more intently, trying to see if there might be anything that would distinguish her from other black birds while she's in her original form—though come to think of it, he doesn't recall seeing or hearing any crows or ravens in Mayfield.]

[bantorain]

What's your favorite kind of food, honey? I'll see what I can mix up.

[idkmybfforin]

[Okuu is keeping her feathery back solidly facing Balin right now, so there isn't that much to see just yet--only that she was a bit big for a typical raven and her eyes being the same color (and with the same almost-glow) from the incident just prior.]

Egg, egg!

[OH OH NOW SHE'S EXCITED and completely forgot anything she was doing earlier.]

[walking_nuke]

[Juuuust kinda staring.]

She likes eggs, huh?

[He glances over to Virginia.]

Filgaia have a lot of'a same animals as Earth, I take it?

[He certainly hasn't forgotten about the horse.]

[bantorain]

We don't have birds like her, but we have buzzards. They aren't too different in the long run.

Do you like your eggs cooked or raw, honey?

...oh fuckdammit did I really forget ALL OF THESE TAGS D8

[idkmybfforin]

[Blink. Bliiiink. She's trying to figure out how to say this without transforming and getting off her perch.]

Hard egg!

[...that was close, right?]

Yeah, I've had a hard time keeping up without IM Notify. T_T

[walking_nuke]

Oh.

[That's all Balin really says in response to Virginia. He glances over to Utsuho when she response, though.]

Hard egg? She mean hard boiled egg?

[Balin is going to ruin your snack, Okuu!]

[bantorain]

One hard boiled egg, comin' right up! -And Ginny happily makes her way back into the house, bird in tow.-

[idkmybfforin]

[HOW CAN YOU MESS BOILED EGGS UP BALIN

Utsuho perks up on her perch, fluffing her feathers a bit and cawing--it even sounds happy!]

[walking_nuke]

[Well, when you live off of MRE's for seven years ...]

[Balin follows Virginia into the house, a little uneasy—but he's making note of this. Who knows, maybe distracting Utsuho with eggs will save somebody's life someday.]

[bantorain]

-Meanwhile, Virginia just likes helping people and you're both idiots. Going into the kitchen, she pulls out a chair, motioning for Okuu to perch there instead.-

Let's see. Hard-boiled eggs take awhile. Could you get her some bread in the meantime, Balin?

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho hops down to the back of the chair without further prompting, as used to this maneuver as someone's pet would be. Then the raven finally turns to look at Balin properly and expectantly.

She looks fairly harmless from here. That extraneous leg's even been drawn up into her feathers as if it was cold, so the only unnatural sign that remained were her eyes--an unfortunately attention-grabbing color.

Totally harmless.]

[walking_nuke]

[Gee, thanks, Virginia!]

Yeah, jus'a sec.

[Balin glances a mildly suspicious glance at Utsuho as he follows Virginia into the kitchen to get some bread. At least the bird's behaving herself.]

[While in the kitchen, Balin looks over to Virginia as he retrieves a slice or two of bread.]

Yo, later I gotta tell you something, ahright? Not now, though.

[He tries to keep his voice low, if only so Utsuho doesn't overhear.]

[bantorain]

Fine fine -Virginia shrugs, putting on a kettle to get the water hot.-

[idkmybfforin]

[Oblivious lump of feathers is oblivious. And now preening her wing.]

[walking_nuke]

[And here comes Balin with the slices of bread! Despite how weird this all is to him.]

Yo—[Said to get Utsuho's attention after noticing the wing preening she's doing. He's also tearing the slice of bread into chunks, keeping most of it in one hand while offering a piece with the other.]—here.

[Balin's trying to get over this weirdness by pretending he's feeding a duck ... A duck that can strip the flesh from a man in seconds in her human form and once wanted to melt the surface of the Earth, but still. Duck. Yes.]

[bantorain]

So, missy... What exactly were you doing on our roof?

[idkmybfforin]

[Utsuho's head stretches out when the bread is spotted and grabs the piece with her beak. It's a bit too big to handle all at once, so she transfers it to that third foot to hold it up, a bit like a parrot.]

Snow there!

[walking_nuke]

[Whoa. Utsuho really did keep that third leg well-hidden, enough that when Balin sees her handling the piece of bread with it, he jerks his head back in surprise for a moment.]

Damn, lookit'at ...

[Now he's left wondering why Utsuho has a third leg like that, when she didn't seem to be tripedal in her human form. No one's ever told him exactly what the Yatagarasu is—or, er, was.]

All that floppin' about I heard—what, were ya makin' snow angels or somethin'?

[Which is incredibly easy for a winged humanoid to do! Once the raven's done with that piece of bread Balin'll give her another chunk. ... He has to admit, given Utsuho's attitude back on Thanksgiving, he wouldn't have expected her to act this behaved in the company of humans.]