xp_logs | Angelo, Nathan and Bella

Tuesday, right after classes, out by the pool. Angelo gets to meet Bella.

After classes, Angelo wandered out to the pool area to make the most of the last of the day's sunshine. When he arrived, he was amused to find that someone else had got there first: apparently, some birds could swim.

"If you drown, I'm going to be very upset with you," Nathan called to Bella, who squealed and jumped off the ladder into the water anyway. He laughed, but watched her carefully, just in case she got into any trouble. She was more used to bathtubs than swimming pools, but when he'd taken her out for some fresh air, she'd insisted.

Angelo grinned at the sight as he headed over to one of the sun loungers. "Looks like she's havin' fun", he called out lightly.

Nathan blinked, then smiled in return, a bit hesitantly. "I'll have to fish her out," he said with a chuckle. "You just watch." Bella cut through the water with surprising speed and then surfaced, grabbing onto the side of the pool with her claws and chortling at him.

Angelo laughed out loud. "I think that was her provin' you wrong", he said, amused.

Bella looked over at him with interest, then clambered out onto the concrete, shaking herself all over. "Hah!" she proclaimed, scuttling over to him. "Haha! Hello!"

"Hello", Angelo answered, peering down at her over the side of the sun lounger. "You knew what we were talkin' about, didn't you?"

"Hahhah! Hello?" The dripping wet bird cocked her head and gave Nathan an inquisitive look.

"Say hello to Angelo," Nathan supplied, still smiling.

"Anggglo? Hello!"

Angelo grinned and held his hand out for her to jump onto if she wanted to. "Smart bird. An-ge-lo", he said slowly and carefully, wanting to see if she'd get any closer to the pronunciation, though she'd come pretty close the first time, for not having human vocal cords.

Bella regarded his hand almost dismissively, and Nathan laughed as she clambered up onto the lounge chair instead and planted her wet self right on Angelo's lap. "Angg-elo! Hahah!"

Angelo oofed as her unexpected weight landed on his lap, then realised she was dripping on him. "Hah. Very funny, Bella. But you got my name right, very good. Clever girl."

Bella cooed and nibbled gently on his fingers. Nathan shook his head and wandering over, sitting down in one of the other chairs. "I should have brought her down to the kitchen to watch our fortune-cookie experiment," he said in amusement. "She could have perched on the fridge and laughed at us all."

"There was cookie mix everywhere", Angelo reminded him, scratching Bella's head. "Either she'd've eaten half of it, 'cause you know people would've fed it to her for the askin', or it would've got in her feathers. But I guess she'd've been safe from that on top of the fridge. Maybe next time."

"Mm, you're probably right." Nathan leaned back in the chair, grinning a little as he mentally reviewed the 'class'. "I think everyone had fun. Though some of those fortunes were definitely not things you'd want to crack open a cookie and find."

"Yeah, it was good. An' agreed on the second count. Not sure it was even always what people meant to say - a couple've the translations went a bit off track, I think."

"At least no one was overly self-conscious about making mistakes," Nathan said, quite contentedly. That had been the idea behind the idea, of course.

Angelo nodded, with a quick grin. "Helps t'get out of the classroom sometimes." He shot a look at Bella when she objected to his attention wandering from her and nipped his fingers, then began scratching at the spot she was quite clearly indicating.

"I think she likes you," Nathan said lightly.

Angelo's grin widened. "Hard not to like her. You're a lovely bird, aren't you, Bella?"

"Pretty!" Bella corrected him. "Bella!"

"Not so pretty when you wake me up at five in the morning," Nathan said dryly.

Angelo raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, pretty Bella". He glanced at Nathan with some amusement. "What does she do?"

"Sings opera. It's really very funny. When you're not being woken up with it."

Angelo chuckled. "Well, she's obviously decided five in the mornin' is when you should be up. An' I could think of worse alarm calls. The one the Doc gave Amanda that time, for one."

Nathan gave Bella a mock-baleful look. "I think I'd almost prefer the bagpipes."

"At five in the mornin'?" Angelo asked lightly, laughing at Bella's expression - on a human, it would have been a pout.

"Lesser of two evils. At least the bagpipes don't swear when you tell them to knock it off."