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[asmywitness]

[[Tyler screens his calls - anyone who tries to actually call him, he'll text back in reply.]]

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[asmywitness]

The little bird stares at Steven, then turns her sharp eyes to the ground. There's the impression that, if she could, she'd be frowning in concentration.

After about thirty seconds of that, and an increasingly confused Tyler, he texts Steven. She just sent me a picture of a fat Wailmer.

[fingersandteeth]

"Good girl," he tells Isis.

Was he bouncy? Steven asks. I'm trying to see if she can. Well. Translate things that people say for you. Since just getting the sounds in your head seemed to bug you.

[asmywitness]

He's a little bit upset that Steven noticed that so readily, but he can't be surprised he wasn't subtle about it. It's not every day he hears voices in his head, and they've never been good before.

It was just a stationary Wailmer. I would like to stress it was extremely fat, even for a Wailer. Maybe she misinterpreted.

[fingersandteeth]

I mean, I suppose doing it this way does mean she's putting a sort of... bird filter on the information she's giving you. But it could work?

"Try this," he tells Isis. "'The ball is red and white.'"

[asmywitness]

Isis blinks.

Tyler texts Steven: A red and white ball?

[fingersandteeth]

"Good girl," Steven says. "He got that one too."

Yep. That's what I was going for.

"Hmmm. Something more complex. 'I steal pokemon?'"

[asmywitness]

The borb preens a little at the compliment, but goes back to staring at Steven shortly after.

It takes a full minute for Tyler to reply, She's not sent me anything.

[fingersandteeth]

Damn. Well, *some* things bird filter will work for, at least. The concrete stuff. Abstract might be more of a problem.

Do you think if you practiced more with listening to the sounds they would get easier for you to deal with? Exposure therapy?

[asmywitness]

He tries not to make a face, but the idea is immediately unappealing, and he rubs his face with one hand to mask his expression a little. I suppose so. It'll just be hard. I don't like hearing voices, apparently.

[fingersandteeth]

Yeah. I noticed. But aside from texting as much as possible and captioning our voice and video posts, I'm not sure what else to do.

Sorry I've been so useless about this.

[asmywitness]

I mean, that's still more than I'm used to getting back home outside of my friends. So I do appreciate it.

Isis chirps, and the movement of her flapping her wings catches Tyler's attention. He walks past Steven and picks her up to put on his shoulder again, and she nuzzles his cheek enthusiastically. I'll give it a go, but you know. I don't know how well it might work.

[fingersandteeth]

After the other day, I owed it to you. But really, this is what I should have done from the start.

He smiles a little as he sees Isis cuddling up to Tyler. He's glad they're getting along.

[asmywitness]

He's lifting a hand to gently rub her feathers too; the way his fingers gently dig in, and how her eyes unfocus and her crest shimmies, suggest he's gotten very good at finding her sweet spot. He keeps doing it as he texts as well.

You're putting in the effort now, that's not unappreciated.

Do you mind if I keep the deck? It'll be good practice.

[fingersandteeth]

Not at all, Steven replies immediately. If I need to get another for Acatl, I know where to find them. Oh, right, Acatl's the Natu I mugged from that asshole the other day. I got him and a magic key ring thing.

[asmywitness]

Thanks.

Looks like we can make baby birds if the two of them get along.

[fingersandteeth]

He laughs. Yeah, probably. We'll have to see. But that might not be a bad thing. I think people sometimes sell eggs. Or trade them for other eggs.

They can teleport, can't they? I was reading about them. Which. Actually gave me an idea of something I want to try, but I'd need a couple other people to do the job with me.

[asmywitness]

Yeah, I looked into them a bit, since I'm stuck with her. Apparently it's something they can do from pretty early on. But we should definitely start training them up in it.

He picks up Isis again and props her on his shoulder; the bird's eyes snap back into focus as soon as he stops patting her, and she goes back to staring at Steven with a slightly sharper attentiveness.

What kind of job?

[fingersandteeth]

Steven smiles broadly.

How do you feel about stealing a baseball mascot?