xp_logs | Nathan, Bella, Shinobi and Jamie - Various Introductions, late Sunday afternoon (Reply)

Nathan takes Bella down to the kitchen to find her some fruit, and the two of them encounter Shinobi. Bella shows off her linguistic and mimicry skills, and Shinobi has banana thrown at him.

Planted firmly on his shoulder, Bella was cooing happily and nibbling lovingly at his hair. As he headed for the kitchen, Nathan found that he was still unable to banish the goofy grin he'd been wearing on and off for the last twenty-four hours. Many of the students he passed in the hall seemed to think it was a frightening grin, which he didn't understand at all.

"Nate!" Bella squealed, shifting a little on his shoulder.

"I know, I know." He reached up and patted her. "Almost there. I'll find you some fruit." Reaching the kitchen door, he grinned to see Shinobi there rummaging through the refrigerator. "Afternoon," he said cheerfully, and Bella whistled loudly.

The whistle was loud enough that Shinobi came very close to hitting his head on one of the refrigerator shelves - and he would have, had he not phased through it during his rush to straighten up. With a roll of eyes at his jumpiness, he looked over his shoulder, blinking once at the size of the bird on Nate's shoulder. Big. "Afternoon. This must be Bella?"

"This is Bella," Nathan said happily, and the bird started to bob her head up and down energetically. "Bella, say hello to Shinobi."

"Hello!" Bella immediately started nibbling at his hair again. "Fruuuuit?" she asked almost imploringly.

"Hello," Shinobi echoed, a faintly amused grin coming to his face. Nate was giddy as a school girl, and few things were more amusing than *that*. Helpfully, he pointed towards the bowl of fruit sat out on the counter, with a sage observation of "Fruit," for the bird's benefit.

"Fruit! Fruitfruitfruit!" Bella shrieked joyously, flapping her wings and managing to smack Nathan in the head.

"Patience," Nathan told her, still grinning, and stretched out an arm as he went over to the counter. "Step down," he told her, and Bella hopped from his shoulder to his arm, then to the counter. "Banana?"

"Banana! Bananabanana!" Bella quite literally bounced over to the fruit bowl and yanked the bunch of bananas out.

Don't laugh at the mercenary and his bird, Shinobi, it's not polite. To hide his extremely amused grin, though, he went back to his rummaging in the refrigerator.. and even managed to keep most of his restrained laughter out of his voice. "I'm going to wager a guess, and say you're having a good day?"

Nathan went over and took the bunch of bananas from Bella, pulling one off and putting the rest back. "You could say that," he said, fully aware of the fact that Shinobi was trying very hard not to laugh at him, but not minding it all. "She woke Moira and I up this morning singing 'My Way', which is something I think her previous owners must have taught her as a surprise for me. Then she stole my towel as I was getting out of the shower and played peekaboo with it."

"I'm sure Moira appreciated the round of peekaboo most of all," Shinobi mused, straightening up with a jug of milk and bottle of chocolate sauce in hand. Victory. "I'd say it sounds like she's giving you practice for when you have kids, but I think the school's been doing that, in its own highly dysfunctional way."

Nathan felt his lips quirk in an odd smile as he peeled the banana for Bella, who kept bobbing her head up and down, watching him avidly. "Don't... really need the practice, Shinobi. Though I take your point." He got the peel off the banana and then broke off a small piece. "Here, greedy bird," he said affectionately, and Bella took it from him delicately. "She's a very mannerly eater," he told Shinobi.

"Not planning on having any rugrats with the doc?" Shinobi asked curiously, setting the milk and chocolate on the counter so he could find himself a glass. Glancing over, he grinned, at Nathan and Bella both. "Oh, she is. I'd ask if she could give Oscar lessons, but Dom said something about keeping the pup away from the bird 'til he's a bit bigger, so we'll just have to teach him to keep it in the bowl and his mouth some other way."

Nathan's eyes flickered sideways to Shinobi, a bit incredulously, before he reminded himself that he was in far too good a mood to go around smiting anyone today. "Uhh," he said, offering another piece of banana to Bella. She took it with one claw and regarded it almost speculatively before beginning to nibble. "Not... quite thinking that far ahead. We both lost children in fairly horrible ways, Shinobi. Made us both a little tender on the subject." Bella dropped the banana and squealed at him, as if catching the tone of his voice, and he reached out and rubbed her head for a moment. "Don't make a mess," he chided her, and then smiled a bit quizzically at Shinobi. "I really don't think she'd do anything to the puppy."

"Fair enough," Shinobi agreed, inclining his head as he began crafting the time-honored snack of chocolate milk. He cast a quick look towards Bella at the squeal, grinning a touch as he blindly retrieved a straw to stir his drink with. "I hope not.. but it wouldn't take long to wait for him to get a little bigger, just the same. He's a boxer, not going to be this little for very long at all."

"I bet he's cute," Nathan said with a slightly more natural smile, shaking his head as Bella seemed to lose all interest in the banana. "Finicky bird," he scolded, offering her his arm again. She hopped up, then back to his shoulder. Taking the banana with him, he went over and sat down at the table, then tried to tempt her with another piece.

"Faccia di stronzo!" Bella responded, almost yowling at him.

Nathan blinked. "I beg your pardon?" he said, laughing aloud.

Tucking the milk and chocolate back into the refridgerator, Shinobi looked over his shoulder with a wry grin, one eyebrow quirking inquisitively. "Do I *want* to ask for a translation, or should I just remain oblivious?" he asked slowly, reaching back for his glass.

"Apparently I'm a shithead," Nathan said amiably, setting the banana aside. "Wrong type of fruit, maybe..." He looked back at the fruit bowl, levitating it over. "All right, smartass," he told the bird. "You show me what you want."

Bella peered down at the fruit bowl. "Banana!" she proclaimed.

Nathan rolled his eyes. "But you didn't like the banana."

"Banana!" She bobbed her head, then squealed loudly at Shinobi. "Noobi!" she said, and Nathan looked up at her, startled.

Shinobi was nice enough not to laugh *too* much at the provided translation, but he couldn't really help a little bit of a chuckle, could he? "I begin to see why Dom likes her so," he mused, lowering his head for a drink.

Of course, when Bella squealed at him, it was a bit startling, and had the amusing side effect of making him blow some bubbles in his milk before quickly lifting his head. "...well, the pronunciation is off, but I think I can live with 'Noobi'," he replied finally, shaking himself and slowly wandering his way towards the table. "What's all this, then?"

"She's demonstrating why she's a very scary bird," Nathan said with what was almost a proud grin. "Hyacinths generally aren't good mimics. But Bella's not just a good mimic. She's in a class all her own." He looked up at the bird, who tilted her head at a bizarre angle so that they were eye to eye. "Shinobi," he said, slowly and clearly. "Shinobi Shaw."

"Shnoobi! Shaa!"

Sliding into an empty seat at the table, Shinobi grinned cheerfully, leaning forward to prop his chin up in a hand. "Getting closer," he said approvingly, beaming at the bird.

"Shnoobi!" Bella said, leaning so far forward on Nathan's shoulder that he reached up to steady her, just in case. "Shnoobi Shaa! Hello!" She clacked her beak noisily. "Friend? Banana? Bad?"

"Well, not bad, I hope," Shinobi chuckled, glancing briefly to Nathan before he reached for a banana. "Is Nate not feeding you properly, you poor, poor bird? Need someone with your level of class to dine with?"

Nathan nodded at him, then snorted as Bella leaned back and nipped his ear affectionately. "Mind the beak, missy," he said, and she cooed at him. "You start biting me and I'll put you back in your cage."

"Cage! Bad! Poshol nahuj!"

Nathan laughed in delight. "Oh, how I've missed you and that foul mouth of yours..." Bella made a noise that sounded almost like a giggle and then turned her attention back to Shinobi. "Try a piece at a time," Nathan suggested.

With a snicker at the interaction going on across the table, Shinobi took the opportunity to peel the banana while they were otherwise occupied. "You should let her teach a languages class," he suggested innocently, breaking off a smallish hunk of banana, which he carefully holds out towards Bella. "Methinks she'd be a hit with the students."

Bella reached out with one leg and took the piece of banana from Shinobi, then looked at Nathan as if getting permission. "Shnoobi? Banana?"

Nathan couldn't help an evil little smile. "Go right ahead," he said, and nearly died laughing as Bella hurled the banana back at Shinobi, pegging him right in the forehead.

"I feel as though I have been adopted," Shinobi said slowly, eyes lifting to peer up towards his poor, banana'd forehead. After a moment's consideration, he shrugged, grinning and giving Bella a very serious look. "You have very good aim. I think Sarah would like you."

"Bouse tizi!" Bella shrieked at him cheerfully.

"I should have warned you," Nathan snickered, wiping his eyes. "She likes very much to play with her food. It's a species trait. And I have to confess that I knew she was going to do that."

Shinobi nodded, giving Nathan an amused look. "I got that impression. I'll just let you feed her, then, shall I?"

Bella hooted at him, and Nathan grinned. "Probably. Really, she's not usually quite this bitchy, but she didn't like the flight. And she really didn't like being in her cage last night instead of in the bed." He shook his head at Bella, mock-sighing. "You blew that for yourself, gorgeous. If you hadn't called Moira a harlot she might have been a little more willing to compromise."

"Bagascia!"

Shinobi tutted, slowly shaking his head and leaning back in his chair. "Not good to call Moira names, no," he agreed, looking to Bella again. He shrugged helplessly, and lifted the mostly-whole banana he still had to take a bite. His food now.

Bella tilted her head, then shook it in what was distinctly 'No'. "Banana! Shnoobi!"

"Hey, you gave it back," Shinobi countered logically, pointing at the lobbed chunk of banana on the table in front of him.

Bella hopped down to the table and waddled over, ruffling her wings, until she was almost eye-to-eye with Shinobi. "Banana! Mine! Bite me!"

Shinobi sniffed disdainfully, and silently made sure he was as solid and durable as he could make himself before reaching down to pluck the discarded chunk of banana off of the tabletop. "Say please."

Nathan was trying very, very hard not to dissolve totally into laughter. "Oh, I wish I had a camera..." he choked out.

Bella cackled at Shinobi, bouncing from foot to foot and flapping her wings. "Dance! Banana! Shnoobi! Vaffanculo!"

"That's impressive, poppet, but not 'please'," Shinobi observed with a chuckle, casting a brief look towards Nathan. Oh, it was *so* tempting to throw the banana at him.. but that would be childish. Must behave. Stay good.

Breathe, Nathan told himself, wheezing with laughter. But the sight of Shinobi trying to outstubborn a bird tickled him entirely too much. "Bella," he managed, his voice quivering. "Be good."

Bella stopped dancing and stood on one foot, craning her neck around to look back at him. "Pout!" she squealed. "Poutpoutpout!"

"Nate has bananas," Shinobi assured the back of Bella's head, giving up and giving the poor, abused piece of banana a well-aimed toss towards the former mercenary's forehead. "He'll feed you."

Nathan stopped it in mid-air, still snickering. "Come on, you, off the table," he said, extending his arm. Bella hopped back over and up, and he picked up the banana he'd been feeding her. "I think I'll remove her from temptation," he said, sparing some concentration to telekinetically snag the dishcloth and run it over both the counter and the table where Bella had been. "Better places for her to make a mess if she's in a messy mood," he said, rising and grinning at Shinobi. "You and she can call this one a draw."

"Pout," Shinobi replied, grinning brightly after Nathan. "Poutpoutpout." With a waggle of his eyebrows, he absentmindedly lifted his glass just in case the dishcloth needs to make a pass where it had been sitting. "Probably not a bad idea. We might be here all day, left to our own devices."

"Hey, whenever you want a rematch," Nathan said with a smile and wave as he left the kitchen, Bella sitting backwards on his shoulder and shrieking cheerful Italian obscenities at Shinobi until they were well down the hall.

Nathan then takes Bella outside, where they find Jamie juggling under a tree. Bella demonstrates the chicken-dance, and does markedly less cursing.

Jamie'd stopped even thinking about asking whether Sarah wanted to practice with him months ago, and he had no idea whether any of the other people who'd gotten involved with Kurt's abortive attempt at a mini-circus still kept their hands in, but juggling was fun and--always a bonus--it was a great time-killer whenever he had a spare dupe, which was almost all the time. He scootched down another half-inch, reclining against a tree-trunk, and added a fifth bag to the shower that arced nearly to the lowest branches.

Nathan had decided that some fresh air would definitely be a good idea. Once he hadn't had Bella's amusing little battle with Shinobi to distract him, his mind had boomeranged right back to the question Shinobi had asked him so casually. Not planning on having any rugrats with the doc? His mouth twisted a little as he tried to push the thought away, into a nice dark corner where it belonged. Bella, perched again on his shoulder, cooed softly in his ear.

He spotted Jamie beneath the tree, juggling with an obvious degree of competence, and smiled despite himself, changing direction to go over and join him. "You're good at that," he complimented Jamie.

"Kurt taught me how, last summer, and it's not like I don't have the time to practice." Jamie grinned. "This must be Bella?"

"Yeah," Nathan said, relaxing a little further. Jamie was one of those people it was genuinely nice to be around on the telepathic level. "Bella, say hello to Jamie," he told the bird, chuckling softly. "And no name-calling this time, all right? You were a very bad girl back in the kitchen."

"Hello!" Bella chirped, tilting her head at Jamie. "Jamee?"

Jamie's eyebrows shot up, and he picked all five bags out of the air one by one, dropping them in his lap. "Quick study. Or were you teaching her everybody's names last night?" He grinned at the bird. "Hello, Bella. Nice to meet you."

"Nice! Jamee!"

Nathan grinned. "I think that was approval," he said, "and no, she's just a really quick study." He rubbed her head. "Want to get down and wander around?" he asked her. She bobbed her head, and he held out his arm. "Jump down, then," he said, and she jumped from his shoulder, to his arm, to the ground.

"She's beautiful. Never seen a bird like that outside a zoo." Jamie snickered suddenly. "So when are you getting your fake leg?"

Nathan snorted. "Right after I get my eyepatch. They're both in the mail." He watched Bella wander over the grass, stopping to peck occasionally as something caught her attention. "Sure hope she and Moira learn to like each other, though," he said dryly.

"They just need to get used to each other. I mean, they both like you, right?" Jamie eyed Bella speculatively. "I dunno how much birds are like dogs, that way, but if she's got any favorite foods you might try having the Doc bribe her."

"Worth a try." Nathan smiled down at the bird. "Bella, do the chicken-dance for Jamie," he said on impulse, his smile widening as she looked around and immediately started to caper, squealing happily.

Jamie cracked up. "That's just perfect. Makes much more sense in person than in that pic--oh, God, look at her _wings!_" He slid down the tree trunk, snickering helplessly. "You said this was Dom's idea? How'd she get Bella to do it, demonstrate?"

"Mm-hm," Nathan said wickedly. "Dom's not big on the whole being self-conscious thing, so she had no trouble hopping around and flapping her arms for as long as it took Bella to learn how to imitate her." Bella screeched and picked up the tempo, bouncing around and around in a circle, and Nathan couldn't help a laugh. "She'll get dizzy and fall over in a minute or two."

"See, now, _that_ would have been something to get videotape of. No blackmail, maybe, but just for the laugh value . . ." Jamie snickered again as, true to advertisement, Bella squawked and flopped over. "Is she twitchy about people petting her?"

Nathan regarded the prone bird for a moment, still smiling. "No," he said, kneeling down beside her. "And she likes her head rubbed. Don't you, silly thing?" Bella cooed at him, righting herself, and bobbed her head at Jamie as he crouched down on her other side.

"I think I can manage that." Jamie reached out to stroke Bella's head gently. "You're a pretty bird, aren't you?"

"Pretty bird!" Bella agreed enthusiastically, bending her head back and forth so that Jamie would hit her favorite spots. "Jamee!"

Nathan became aware that he was getting the goofy grin back. Ah, well. "At least she's not cursing at you," he said. "She was letting Shinobi have it in Italian, Russian, and Arabic in the kitchen a few minutes ago."

"Smart bird, too, hmm?" Jamie found a particularly good spot and skritched enthusiastically. "He allergic, or something?"

"Nah, I think she was just trying to establish dominance," Nathan said after a moment, thoughtfully. "Bella's prickly that way." He reached out and ran a gentle hand down one outstretched wing, smoothing the feathers. Bella promptly made an ecstatic noise. "Hell of a surprise," he said with a chuckle. "Dom just about sprained something patting herself on the back."

"I just bet. The good surprises like that are the best. World needs more of 'em."

"Tell me about it," Nathan said, then looked up at Jamie, grinning. "How busy are you keeping these days? And yes, I have a reason for asking."

"I always have free time." Jamie frowned slightly. "Got a little more than usual this summer, though, I gotta say."

Nathan nodded, not at all surprised by the reaction. "Ever done any rock-climbing?" he asked almost slyly.

"On the many cliffs and mountainsides of lovely Kansas, sure, all the time," Jamie replied wryly. "Sounds fun, though--you putting together a field trip?"

"Touche," Nathan said, laughing. "But yeah, I'd mentioned the idea to the rest of the staff. Anyone who's interested would probably have to do a session or two in the nearest climbing gym to learn which end of a cam is up, but I don't think it would be too involved, really."

"Well hey, I'm in. Haven't picked up a new hobby since the Askani group, which has to be some kind of record."

"Excellent," Nathan said, turning his attention back to Bella. "Why precisely are you rolling around in the grass?" he asked patiently. "Is this your way of telling me you want a bath?"

"Bath!" Bella squealed. "Bath now!"

"Guess I'd better go jury-rig a shower perch," Nathan said with a helpless grin, extending his arm. "Her Highness having spoken and all. Maybe Cain'll have something I can use."

"Probably. Or something you can use to build something you can use. He's good at finding stuff like that." Jamie grinned and gave Bella one last head-rub. "Now, if Nathan ever lets you out on your own, pretty bird, you come find me for some snacks, all right?"

"Jamee!" Bella bobbed her head and then jumped onto Nathan's arm. "Bath now!" she instructed.

Nathan snickered. "Yes, ma'am," he said, rising. "I'll catch you later, Jamie."

"Yep. Let me know when you get the thumbs-up for that rock-climbing trip, it sounds great." Jamie leaned back against the tree again, picking up three of his juggling bags to get back into the rhythm.