OPEN POST ♞ THE BIRD IN THE BASKET

[optimistical]

WHO: Makoto Naegi and anyone else!
WHERE: Literally everywhere in Recolle
WHEN: 03/06
WHAT: There's a crane. There's a crane in the mailbox. There's a crane on university grounds. Help. This is the accompanying network post.
WARNINGS:

ONE

After getting that murder weapon from Retrospec, Naegi thought he wouldn't get anything as bad as that. He means, that's the worst of the worst, right? Nothing can really top that. But this? This... this is definitely bad. Not murder weapon bad but still pretty awful.

It's a giant red-crown crane. It's a giant red-crown crane and it's stuck in the mailbox. It's stuck in the mailbox and Naegi, being the good kid that he is, is left with the terrible duty of getting a wild animal out of it. He honestly doesn't even know where to start and when he tries to move closer to try and help, he just gets pecked twice on the forehead instead.

Pecked really hard.

He stumbles back and just holds his forehead in his hands while the bird still trashes in the mailbox.

He's... he's already done.

TWO

Well, after a minute of dealing with the searing pain of an angry bird pecking you despite you wanting to help, Naegi still tries to figure out a way to get this poor crane out of the mailbox. He takes a deep breath and gets right in there, willing to withstand the Pecks of the North Star to try and shimmy the bird out. However, it would be a lot easier if the bird didn't act like he was trying to take it out so he could eat it or something and trash around like a headless chicken.

"H-Hey, i-it's all right! I'm just trying to help you!"

He says as if the crane can understand and can suddenly realize that this human is, in fact, helping and not trying to kill it. It's going to be a long and difficult fight, resulting in someone losing an eye if this keeps up.

Please help.

THREE

Probably an hour after Naegi gets the bird free, he now doesn't really know what to do with it. There's no way he can take it home because he's pretty sure you can't keep cranes as pets (and he doesn't really want to) but the thing is...

It won't stop following him now.

For a bird that put up such a fight when it was in the mailbox, it now seems to have no problems with Naegi. The thought process is probably like this: "yes, this is a good human. This human saved its life. Gotta follow this human to be safe. Maybe it will be fed. Good human." Something like that. Anyway, Naegi is exasperated by this turn of events and he keeps looking back at it as he walks.

"I'm telling you... You really can't follow me home..."

He sounds so defeated though and that's probably because he knows that he's not going to win this fight. The crane is determined and that's that.

FOUR

Wanna know how determined this crane is to following him, though?

Well, Naegi is at Recolle University, trying to attend class, pick up some supplies from the mentoring office, actually be in the mentoring office to help his mentees, and do some studying at school and this goddamn crane is following him. Throughout the entire school... Naegi is just pretty much trying to ignore it and going through his day like it's completely normal.

Feel free to meet him anywhere on campus grounds because this crane isn't going to leave him alone...

WILDCARD

Anything is game! PM me or toss me a private plurk at northpaws if you want to do something outside the above options or to discuss anything! Will be replying with action tags rather than prose!

Comments

[sketchythief]

[ Well, to be fair... coupons are extremely important in their lives. Daisuke looks back at the crane, only turning away when Naegi answers his question. He tries to process the information, but... ]

... You pulled it out of a mailbox?

[ Daisuke looks surprised. Sure, he may have also gotten Wiz out of the mailbox too, but a legitimate crane... inside a mailbox...?

... ]

How did it even fit? I don't think cranes are like octopi that can fit anywhere--

[ Then, he realizes. ]

Why do you have so many marks on your face?

[optimistical]

[ at the mention of the marks on his face, naegi just places a hand up to his cheek where one of the said marks are. does it look that bad? he hasn't had the time to look in a mirror since all of this happened this morning... ]

Oh, um, this is from trying to take it out of the mailbox. It was really panicking while it was in there. I don't blame it since it could barely fit...

[sketchythief]

Maybe you should have called for animal control to help you deal with it... They're probably know more about handling animals. [ What's done is done. ] I have some ointment if you want to use it...

[optimistical]

I tried but they didn't believe me since this type of crane isn't native to North America...

[ naegi literally only knows what kind of crane this is because of his memories. if not, he would have been ?????? on it ]

Yeah, if you have some right now, that'd be nice... I have a water bottle in my bag so I can clean my face. I'd do it at home but I don't want it to follow me back.

[ it = the bird from hell ]

[sketchythief]

I think if it followed you until now, it would probably follow you back home.

[ Daisuke reaches into his bag and pulls out a small tube of ointment. Use this to heal your face, onii-chan. He hands it over to Naegi. ]

I wonder if we can teach it tricks... I mean, if it won't go away, we might as well do something with it, right?

[ hopefully not more ["animal abuse" with daisuke 101] ]

[optimistical]

That's what I'm thinking as well... but thanks.

[ he takes the ointment. he'll start getting the water bottle in his bag so he can wash his hands and his face before he starts putting it on ]

Tricks? You mean like... balancing a ball on its beck?

[ what other tricks do you teach birds lbr ]

[sketchythief]

Maybe we can teach it how to get stuff. I heard some adults taught their pets to fetch their beer in the fridge.

[ ... ]

Not that... we'll be drinking beer, but you get the idea.

[optimistical]

I don't know if it can pick up more than maybe a bag of bread, though. I don't think its beak would be good at bringing over things like apples or things like that.

[ which is........ probably what their fridge has......... there's not a lot in there ]

[sketchythief]

It can be trained!

[ Looking at the crane expectantly... sort of. Here is Daisuke, placing expectations on Naegi's crane. ]

... Besides, I think that would be better for the crane to have some sort of discipline. I don't want it knocking over our paint cans when they're out either.

[optimistical]

[ daisuke has some high expectations for this bird... ]

That's true... we can look into it when we go back? Though I don't know if we'll keep it for too long. I'm going to call the zoo and some animal sanctuaries to see if they can take care of it instead.

[sketchythief]

[ more like he wants to avoid a potential crisis ]

Alright, that's fine... I bet they have a complicated process too.

[ Though... wait. ]

You said that was from the mailbox? I wonder if it'll actually be possible to get the crane away from you then. I heard stories that things kept popping up near them when they tried to throw something away.

[optimistical]

[ this is daisuke and naegi. they're always going to have a potential crisis no matter what they do ]

Wait, are you serious?

[ holy shit so is naegi really stuck with this crane forever?? ]

[sketchythief]

Yeah...

[ He looks kinda unsure. He would test with Wiz, but he actually wants to keep him, so. ]

... We can try it out when you have the time?

[optimistical]

Sure.

I'm a little afraid of leaving it alone though so maybe I should ask someone to keep an eye on it from afar so it doesn't get into any actual trouble while I'm staying away.

[ he doesn't want it to actually get hit by a car or to wreck havoc on someone's life ]

[sketchythief]

I wish there was a body leash for cranes, but that doesn't sound so practical...

[ As in, who would own a crane that needs a body leash in the first place?! ]

We can't leave it in the bathroom since that would be too cramped...

[optimistical]

I think the only place we can keep it in the apartment is out in the living room. I can try to keep it in my room but I don't think there's enough space.

And if we keep it on the balcony, I feel like it'll just jump off or fly away.

[sketchythief]

[ This gets Daisuke thinking. Hmm.

Hmmmmmm...

Hmmmm--Oh. ]

I have an idea! If the crane really works like other mailbox items that come back no matter what, the balcony would be a great idea! Even if it runs off, it'll always come back somehow. Or if it's the type that won't leave you alone [ makes a small hand gesture of current situation ], it won't leave the balcony anyway.

[optimistical]

Oh, you're right! I don't think that he's the type to really leave him alone since he's been following me ever since I got him so I guess we could trust him on the balcony.

[ they probably don't even have anything out there for the bird to destory ]

Before I go home, I can grab a bunch of free newspapers to make it some sort of nest? And go through my closet for some old clothes. It gets kind of cold at night.

[sketchythief]

A crane nest...

[ That sounds pretty neat! Daisuke looks satisfied with Naegi's ideas. ]

That's a good idea! Though I wonder if it won't be rampant 24/7 so... maybe it'll sleep just like us at night? Why not let the crane come inside just for the night?

[optimistical]

To be honest... I'm kind of afraid of it pecking me while I sleep.

[ and then right on cue, the bird does exactly that... it pecks him on the head and naegi goes "ow" before he starts rubbing where he was ATTACKED ]

[sketchythief]

I don't think a crane knows how to open doors though... so if you just keep it closed, I don't think you'll have a problem.

[ UM... Daisuke tries to get the crane to stop pecking Naegi by making swatting motions near it but not actually hitting it. ]

[optimistical]

[ naegi was about to say something about how he was told that some animals from retrospec are really smart, like some dude got a chicken and it watches the house, but before he can even say anything, the crane turns its head and starts to attack daisuke instead. it does not appreciate swatting motions and will now properly try to take out daisuke's eye as punishment ]

[sketchythief]

[ When the crane makes its move to peck out Daisuke's eye, his reflexes kick in and he practically back jumps a great distance while pulling his head back. Dodgememes. They're great, but not when it takes you to full adrenaline rush from 0 to 100 real quick.

Daisuke's balance is terrible though, so he just plops on his butt several feet away from where he stood. ]

... I think I was really close to getting whiplash.

[optimistical]

[ the crane seems satisfied with knocking daisuke over because that means no more swatting. it stands there like a smug asshole (maybe this is why he can get along with byakuya) while naegi rushes over to daisuke ]

D-Daisuke! Are you all right?

[ he will help him stand back up ]

Sorry about it... It can be kind of aggressive sometimes.

[sketchythief]

It's fine. I probably shouldn't have done that anyway...

[ Phew. Daisuke gets up with Naegi's help and looks over at the crane a bit warily. ]

A muzzle would be nice... but also inhumane.