Closed Birds, Squirrels, and Tentacles PV Silva Melinora

Silva had been following the squirrel. It's name was Gizmo. She'd come down earlier today and done some homework nearby as Gizmo did its work for winter. The only reason she hadn't been attacked by the crazy squirrel was because she'd come with a peace offering of nuts. The first time she'd met the squirrel it had attacked her for picking up a single nut from its pile and she didn't care to repeat the experience.

She looked up from her work, which didn't have much completed, to see that Gizmo was gone. She got up and stuffed her work into her bag. Where had that crazy thing gone. She looked around and saw it. On a different branch. Fighting with a bird. She laughed. It always seemed to pick fights that it couldn't really win. She was probably 30 times bigger than it and that bird was way older and more experienced than it. And yet still, by sheer force of will it might actually win.

She looked around the grounds and saw someone else watching the strange little verbal fight between Gizmo and the bird. Another Ravenclaw she was pretty sure. She slowly walked up to them and muttered "Hi..... I'm Silva....." she hesitated and then added "the squirrel's name is Gizmo....." She turned back and watched the continued fight. It really was quite ridiculous. A squirrel and a bird fighting over a single branch? Just plain weird.

The fight seemed to be dying down with Gizmo running off fuming. With how that squirrel acted though it was more likely this was just an attempt to come back and jump on the birds head.

And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven...

The boy doubted the fight would get physical - the bird was too old to be gung-ho to do so, the squirrel was too young and small to rush into a fight it was uncertain about, and both of them were prey creatures. They could be territorial, aye, but not like larger mammals or avians. Kojo was quite content to watch and take mental notes on how they went about the confrontation, and seemed to have fairly locked in to that...

So when the small voice next to him suddenly spoke up, he jumped slightly, startled. "Ayaahhh..." The soft sound was part of a slow, long sigh that helped to calm his heart, which had almost leaped out of his chest. Kojo often became too enamored in his activities to pay attention to things around him. "You scared me... Heh. I'm Kojo." He offered his fist for a bump and waited a few seconds. Whether she returned his fist-bump or not, his hands would go down to his hips and his eyes returned back to the bird and the squirrel.

"Is he your squirrel? He's kinda crazy," he chuckled softly as he watched Gizmo retreat and the sparrow continued to chirp. "I don't think that would've been a good fight for him. Look, she's been 'round the forest a few times for sure, you can see it in her beak, feathers, and toes." At this, he would remove the binoculars (they had hung from a leather strap around his neck) and offer them to Silva.

"Do you know much about birds?"

@Silva Melinora | WC: 260

Silva smiled as he jumped, surprised. She never surprised people. It always seemed like everyone knew where she was. Which was kind of strange, as she did move rather softly.

"Hi Kojo......" She saw him raise his hand and after a moment of staring at his hand she realized he wanted to fist bump. She quickly put hers up and returned it but it took two tries to actually hit his hand.

She considered his question. That squirrel was definitely not hers, or anyone's for that matter, but she had been the one to name it. "Eh.... I don't think anyone can say he's mine....... is he a he? I haven't been able to tell....." When she paid closer attention to the sparrow she found that she could see the experience of the sparrow. She'd already realized it was older but she hadn't really thought about that.

She awkwardly took the binoculars and raised them up, backwards. She looked through them, but it seemed very far away. "Ummm..... how are these supposed to help......" She listened to his last question and hoped she hadn't embarrassed herself. "Umm.......... a little"

In reality she knew practically nothing about them, which was quite embarrassing for an animal lover like her. She took pride in her love of animals and yet she knew nothing about one of the most common types of animals in the world. Embarrassing

And God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven...

"Nope, I don't know much about squirrels. It just feels weird to call animals 'it'. They all have personalities... Like that one, that's a crazy squirrel, heh," Kojo shrugged as he watched the squirrel a bit as it ran. Squirrels were quick, agile, and (for the relatively slower human species), quite erratic. Some people liked to say they acted like they were all a little nuts (heh, get it?), they were such a twitchy species of creature.

He watched as Silva struggled slightly with the binoculars. Not very many people in their world used binoculars for more than Quidditch, so he was not surprised she had a bit of trouble - he'd bet that most students at Hogwarts their age might be new to binoculars, especially non-magical ones. "Ah, flip 'em around, the lenses'll magnify whatever you're looking at. Easier to see...

As he waited for her to flip them around, he kept an eye on the old bird with one hand in his pocket. Kojo rather liked birds - they were very closely related to dinosaurs, with a myriad of different species, each with what could be described as a 'culture'. Even the smallest birds had something interesting them, like the fact that "Sparrows only live about three to five years in the wild. They're small, but probably one of the more aggressive types of birds. Usually, it's kinda tough to tell how old they are, birds generally don't display their age like we do, but..."

He pointed at the older bird that hopped around the tree. She had to be near five years old, an elder through and through. Extremely few sparrows made it to such an advanced age, as most died to interactions from predators - their aggression, while it helped them thrive and survive, was also the cause for many of their premature deaths. "When they're really old, you can tell. Like this one up here, you can see the scratches and wear on the beak, the color isn't as similar to the others this time of year, and the feathers... Usually, they do a great job of self-care. But even good self-care can't completely replace old, worn feathers."

He hummed a soft tune, out of nowhere. Kojo did that occasionally, he could be a noisy kid at seemingly random moments - but they were less random than most people thought. The tunes and musical sounds he made usually denoted he was in the midst of some thought process. "Missing a toe, too. Probably from a fight... I don't think she'll be with us much longer. What kind of animals do you like?"

While Silva seemed to be more a quiet, gentle soul, Kojo was a bit of a yapper. He consciously had yet to gather the self-awareness that he might talk too much for this new, potential friend, but he always hoped that wasn't too much for people.

@Silva Melinora | WC: 479

Silva listened intently to Kojo talk about Gizmo. "I guess you're right.... and I did give him a boy name I think....." She tried to nod knowingly but instead just made the binoculars fall out of her hands. Luckily she caught them quickly enough to not lose what little self-esteem she had.

She still didn't know what to do with the binoculars so she was quite relieved when he told her. "Thanks...." She quickly flipped them and looked towards the sparrows. She then quickly turned towards Gizmo. He had stopped running and taken refuge on a branch a little bit away. He looked like he was pouting. She laughed and pointed at him. "Look... he's glaring at her..."

His movements seemed less purposeful and clean and more angry and clumsy. He kept looking over at the bird angrily.

She realized that Kojo had continued talking. She pulled the binoculars down and looked at him. "That's.... not a long time..." She also laughed at him saying they were more aggressive "yeah.... we just saw an example of that... in a fight with a squirrel!"

She nodded about his comment about the feathers "Like how humans can't fully get rid of our wrinkles as we get over" She paused and looked deep in thought "Wait.... with magic... can we get rid of our wrinkles? Nevermind...." She sighed. There was so much stuff to learn and it was really overwhelming. Having grown up believing magic wasn't real it was so much to re-teach herself having discovered that, in fact, it was quite real.

Her face was visibly saddened when he said she wouldn't be with them much longer and was quite glad when he changed the subject. "I umm.... love dogs and... horses.... and... I hate anything that...." She shuddered as she said this "slithers...."