[OPEN] Use Your Heart Like a Weapon

[amos_moses]

Who: Amos and YOU
What: Amos is bumming around Hadriel, feeding the fish and being a nuisance. Careful, he’ll see you and start talking to you!
Where: The river, the orchard, Delight’s bar
When: June 22nd onward
Warnings: Alcohol and probably swearing?

Hurts Like Heaven, by Coldplay

Pisces: Amos sits beside the river, near the bridge that crosses close to Rage’s temple. He’s throwing out handfuls of bread to the fish in the water, and occasionally making nonsensical commentary out loud. Half the conversation is mental, as he listens to the piscis thoughts and small details of daily lives, which is generally rather boring to anyone not interested in algae, rocks, mating, or territorial squabbles. Amos, being Amos, is somewhat interested. Mostly he comes to see if there’ve been any changes to the river: monitoring the fish is a good way to keep track of that.

“Well, it’s nice of you to offer, an’ I do appreciate it, but I think you’d better keep that patch of riverbed to yourself. You’ll find a nice lady fish you can spawn with, I bet.”

Orchard: With a basket under his arm, Amos is wandering the strange orchard and picking likely-looking fruits. As he walks under the cave-trees, two of the jabberjays swoop back and forth, pecking at fruits and Amos’s head as they pass. Amos tends to duck right as they dive at him, but he doesn’t always: it’s a game. Occasionally he throws a twig at them, not to hurt but in play.

While Amos’s walk is nearly silent, the birds are cheerfully screaming at and scolding him in various voices.

Delight’s Bar: Amos comes here often enough: he enjoys the bar and the company more than the alcohol, truth be told, but he’s not above a nice drink or two every few nights. He’s quite pleased to find Delight herself is behind the bar this evening, and he promptly bops over to pay his respects to the goddess.

“Hey there, sugar. How’re you this fine evening?”

He’ll scan the rest of the room in a minute, see who else of his friends is here and make the rounds, but first things first.

Comments

[notjustinthemirror]

"The fuck are you doing?" Aside from feeding the fish which, while stupid, is pretty obvious. Waste of good food considering they could run out at any moment if the gods suddenly forgot that people ate. Not that he cared, he didn't eat, but seemed relevant to the rest of these squishy mortals.

[amos_moses]

Amos looks up at the Alcohol Demon and grins brightly, pleased. "Hey chief! How're you?" he asks, delightedly. "Ain't seen you inna bit. I'm feedin' the fishies. Wanna help?"

He offers up a handful of breadcrumbs, so the Alcohol Demon can have some of his own to throw to the hungry, eager fish.

[notjustinthemirror]

"I went wandering in the caves hoping they'd be less boring than here." He ignores the offered bread, looking down in the water at the fish, trying to figure out what's so fascinating about them.

"In case you were wondering, they're not." They are however; full of monsters and the Demon spent most of the time getting lost and then having the shit kicked out of him.

"Any particular reason why you're feeding them?"

[amos_moses]

" 'Cause they like it?"

And thus Amos likes it. What other reason is there? He peers at the Alcohol Demon, then looks down at the fish. " 'Cause it's a thing people do, sometimes. Kids, mostly. An' the fish enjoy a treat now'n'en, like everybody else."

[notjustinthemirror]

"Seems like a waste of food."

And a waste of time. Though it's not like there's much to do here, but staving off boredom by watching fish eat seems like it's really scraping the bottom of the barrel.

"Would you be able to tell if they didn't like it?"

[amos_moses]

"Yeah." Amos glances at the Alcohol Demon with a 'duh' look, then clarifies. "I can talk to animals."

He casts another handful. "We've got plenty to eat, an' kindness never hurts, even if it's to the littlest of critters."

[notjustinthemirror]

"You know, I want to say something snarky, but one day the gods will flood the place and you'll be saved by the fish and I'll have to eat my words." He leans on the railing of the bridge to watch the fish swimming below.

"Do the fish have anything interesting to say?"

Orchard

[knifecollecting]

Jo is still getting familiar with the intricacies of Hadriel. The cave was interesting and confusing all at once.

She was exploring the orchard on her own when she hears the screaming. Her first instinct is to find the source, so she quickly follows the sound to...two birds and a human who doesn't seem too bothered by them.

"Are you okay?"

[amos_moses]

"Huh? Oh! Hi there." Amos turns to face her, then breaks out in a friendly grin. "I'm good. We're just havin' fun." She's a new face, he notes. He hasn't seen her before, though a quick mental query tells him the birds have.

"Can't say I've met you afore, sugar."

Though his features tell of Asian descent, he speaks with the quicker rhythm of a New Orleans accent.

[knifecollecting]

"Okay." As long as he says it's okay, she won't question it. He must be used to the birds... Jo is still adjusting. She's been to the orchard before, but they still unnerve her.

"I just got here." She's never met someone specifically from New Orleans, but she does place his accent as Southern.

"I'm Jo."

[amos_moses]

"Nice to meet you, Miss Jo." Rather than offer a hand to shake, Amos delivers a shallow bow: he's lived many years in Japan by now and it's his first instinct these days. "Name's Amos. These are the jabberjays." He frees a hand from his basket of fruit to point to the pair of birds, who have landed on a nearby branch.

"They're loud but they're pretty harmless, an' kinda useful." He grins brightly. Not everyone shares his opinion, but he's always looking for new converts.

[knifecollecting]

Jo nods back his greeting, not sure what else to do. So, the birds have a name. She's never seen them before so they might be restricted to the cave. The name helps though. Now she has something to think of them by.

"How are they useful?" She's very curious about that.

[amos_moses]

"They like to make a fuss when anything new or strange is around. So they're like a primitive alarm system," Amos answers, breezily. "I mean, they like mischief too, so sometimes it's hard to tell what they're screaming about...."

As previously evidenced by them loudly screaming at him! But he suspects he's probably the only person in Hadriel who can tell exactly what they're kicking up a fuss about at any given time, because of his ability to speak with animals. "But it's rare they holler 'bout nothing."

One of the birds cocks his head, eyes Jo, and declares a very rude phrase in Sam Winchester's voice. Amos snorts a laugh. "I really doubt Sam taught you that 'un."

Orchard

[crowboy]

Corbin found the Jabberjays absolutely fascinating. He could almost understand them, like someone speaking a really strange dialect really quickly. The understood him just fine, better than a lot of the corvids and jays he was used to, and they fucked with each other a lot.

Which is why the jabberjays are joined by a sleek, solid black crow, no different from the literal thousands that could be found almost anywhere in America, unique in this one instance, as there were none others in the caves. He dove down, snapping one of the twigs Amos had teasingly tossed and dropping it on his head. He lands on a branch overhead, ruffling his feathers and cawing harshly before launching himself just in time to dodge a swoop from one of the larger jays.

[amos_moses]

To any other person, it's just a crow: but to Amos, there's a void instead of mundane corvid thoughts. He sees the bird but doesn't sense it. Which is why instead of playing back, he sobers and calls the jabberjays off.

"Hey, don't go botherin' them, c'mere. Leave off!"

They, convinced of the crow's harmlessness, only reluctantly break off: but they've come to trust him and though they disbelieve him, they're more than willing to be lured by the handful of breadcrumbs he pulls out of his pocket.

"Sorry," he tells the crow, carefully polite. "They will pick on ya, I can't get 'em to quit, but I can try to tell 'em to bother you less, if ya like."

He speaks with a New Orleans accent, just a little snappier and faster than your typical Southern drawl. He had no idea if the crow is male or female, or if they're a shapeshifter or demon or were: he only knows that it's not a normal crow. He can't hear any animal thoughts from it, as he can the jays and the fish in the nearby river.

[crowboy]

Amos' reaction just confuses the hell out of Corbin. He'd wanted to play too, he and the Jabberjays got along just fine. So he settles on the branch again when he sees the jays aren't playing, and notices that Amos seems a lot more worried than he really should for a crow that was exhibiting reasonably normal crow behavior.

And then he talks to Corbin, like he's a person, like Corbin can understand him and he has to fight the urge to immediately fly away, certain that he knows. And Corbin has had far too many just normal humans knowing what he was for him to be comfortable with someone else figuring it out. His feathers ruffle as he tries to settle himself down, so far everyone seems to be fine with who, with what he was.

So he stands there for a moment before he shakes his head. No, he didn't want Amos to talk to them, and he cawed and clacked his beak in what would mean, not strictly "friend" but perhaps closer to someone you didn't hate, or got along with just fine, if you spoke crow. Not that Corbin thought he did, but without a humans lips, tongue, and vocal chords, he had a difficult time forming human words. He's not sure what Amos thinks he is, and he's not sure he wants to tell him just yet. At least if things got hairy, the boy wasn't armed, and Corbin should be able to get away if he decided that he was done talking to him.

[amos_moses]

Amos doesn't speak crow, exactly, but the headshake says volumes, as does the attitude of the jays. They're rather pleased to see the larger bird, and when Amos relaxes a little, one takes wing and flies over to perch above Corbin, gleefully calling out to him. Amos nods to the other one, and looks back to the crow.

"Alright. They're my friends, so I'd 'preciate it if you was nice to 'em, even when they're annoying, please?"

[crowboy]

Corbin looks up at the jay and returns the call, taking the small hop up to the branch to nudge at the other bird in a friendly way. See, Amos? He's not bothering anyone. He's nice. The jay's not sure what all the fuss is about and nudges Corbin back.

Then Corbin looks down at Amos and nods quite definitely. He can be nice, though that doesn't preclude pranks and feather tugging, as that was just part of being a crow. He hops down to a branch right above Amos' head, watching him with one inky black eye. He's curious about this boy that is friends with the mockingjays and knows that he's not really a crow.

[amos_moses]

Amos smiles at the agreement. "Thank you very much."

He hesitates, then adds, not really wanting to be rude, "I was gonna get some fruit an' see if any of it's good for eating. You can come along with us if you like." Because obviously the jays are following Amos, bringer of treats and teacher of interesting songs. While only three are very good friends with him, all the jays in the cave know Amos is an easy source of ready food.

Bar

[secondreturned]

She's usually used to a few customers throughout the day, and Amos is a familiar enough face that Delight smiles at the sight of him. She leans forward, elbows on the bar as Amos practically skips closer- normally, Delight would move to get him a usual drink, but this evening she's more concerned with the company.

"I'm doing alright!"

It's cheerful, accompanied by a little shrug. It's difficult to complain when you're arguably the most popular god in the city, and finally Delight pulls back in order to ready any drink that might come down the line.

"How about yourself?"

[amos_moses]

"Can't complain, my dear, can't complain." Amos hops up to sit at the bar, swinging and kicking his feet like a child: he's short and they don't touch the floor. He doesn't mind.

The other gods don't tend to hang out in the flesh near as much as Delight does; Amos supposes it's because Delight is relatively inoffensive as far as the meddling gods go. Either that, or she has more faith in everyone behaving themselves. It's hard to say.

"I think I'll have me a little bit of the rice wine tonight, if you please?"

[secondreturned]

"Sure thing."

Delight turns around to grab the bottle that she's created before sliding right back up against her edge of the bar and plucking a glass free to pour out a few fingers of the rice wine.

"Anything on your mind?"

[amos_moses]

"Not much." Amos sips the rice wine and mouths it for a moment. Excellent: how she manages to have the best damn brews he's ever tasted, he hs no idea. Must be a goddess thing. Speaking of...

"...actually, there is something I been meanin' to ask one of ya'll."

He leans back and fishes in a pocket, before producing a carton of cigarettes. He taps one out and sets both items on the bar. "I guess ya'll've already seen a few of us with these, huh?"

[secondreturned]

"Huh?"

Delight leans over the bar to look at the cigarette, picking the spare one up from the surface of the bar. She looks over it curiously, listening to the question before nodding.

"I have. I think Fear's been making them for people."

[amos_moses]

"Fear? Fuck." Amos grimaces. That was really not who wanted to hear was making them. He shakes his head and adds, "Sorry for cussing, but... I'm just not fond of him." But he supposes it makes sense that Fear might be drawn to such a negative addiction. Or perhaps he'd just been the first one asked about it.

"Well, the leaves inside, it's a drug, an' people who smoke get addicted to it. Makes you feel better, an' quittin' makes you cranky and feel bad for a bit. People who come here don't have an easy way of getting 'em, and I was just wondering if an arrangement could be made so people could have 'em easier."