[OPEN] bird bird's the word

[fingerbanged]

Who: Yusuke 'has a furby for a soul' Urameshi (fingerbanged) & YOU!
When: IC - 7/4 for the first part, anytime through 7/14 for the second | OOC - 5/8 and until the interlude, probably??
Where: A CERESbucks close to one of the apartments, and then anywhere/everywhere in Cerealia!
What: A trip to the local coffee shop grants Yusuke one (1) penguin-shaped Spirit Beast! Also a catch-all throughout the month for anyone who wants to meet/run into Yusuke and his smol creature.
Rating/Warning: YUSUKE BEING YUSUKE aka chances of bad language, punches, and generally bratty teenage boy-isms, sprinkled with cute flying pudgeballs getting into people's business

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A: Would you like to make that coffee order a combo? (7/4)

[Ah, coffee shops.

The strong smell of a good brew filtering through the air, a quiet atmosphere with unobtrusive music, lots of comfortable seats and adorable pastries... a perfect place to center yourself before a long day at work. Or maybe you're catching up with some reading and studying for school? Perhaps you're just waiting in line for some coffee, a quick pick-me-up before other errands or something to put the spark of life into the tired shell called a body.

Unfortunately, that peaceful lull is about to be broken, as a small, blue penguin-like creature flutters wildly out of one of the bathrooms, making loud 'PUUUU!!' noises of distress. It flaps haphazardly around the shop, slamming into tables, upsetting cups of coffee and plates of croissants, getting tangled up in a few unlucky customers, much like a fat, agitated pigeon. If one was spiritually keen or able to sense auras on things, the animal feels exactly the same as someone else in the store right now, who is currently dropping the iced coffee they were nursing in shock at the sudden chaos.]

P... Puu? Why're you--??

[At the sound of his name, Puu beelines for Yusuke, divebombing into his arms and letting out a happy cry. Yusuke looks down at his spirit beast for a moment, dumbfounded, before turning his eye on the aftermath.]

... oh jeez.



B: You're like a 'get people into danger' tour guide (7/4-7/14)

[Wherever you are, whatever you may be doing-- meditating, going shopping, eating a tasty sandwich, disposing corpses... er, robot pieces-- you're going to have an unexpected companion joining you! Maybe Puu will be landing in your lap, or stealing a piece of bacon from your burger, or conveniently sitting on top of that last scrap of helper-bot you need to destroy... it's all relatively innocent, even if it's a bit obtrusive. Whether or not Puu's made too much of a nuisance of himself, though, it all ends the same... Yusuke running up and scooping the tiny blue penguin-thing away, looking mildly irritated.]

Dammit, how'd Keiko even keep an eye on you in the first place? I'm gonna have to find a leash for your fat ass if you keep doing this crap!

Anyway, er... sorry about that. Stupid thing's still getting used to this place.


C: Wildcard???

[Basically this is a catch-all log for most of May in regards to Puu, so if you want to plan anything aside from this, hit me up over at Urameshi!!]

Comments

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[Yusuke wasn't really one for pets himself, for similar reasons-- he was out doing his own thing so much, that any animal under his care would wind up seriously neglected. CERES decided to be cute and throw his Spirit Beast at him again, but without Keiko or Genkai or anyone else he deeply trusted to keep an eye on his cuter half, Yusuke was now stuck with a pet he wasn't sure how to look after. Thankfully, Puu was more resilient than he looked, but without someone looking after him, he was much more clingy and in people's spaces than he would have liked.

Puu eagerly chomps at the berry, now that it was easier to reach, bits of fruit on it's chubby cheeks. Yusuke has to balance him in one hand while the other reaches up to rumple his own hair, a hammy grin sneaking across his face.]

Damn right I did! Not that the braiding stuff wasn't helpful, but... well, you gotta admit I look a lot better, right?

[His eyes quickly shift back to Puu again, and how voraciously he was going at the strawberry.]

Heeeey, now, we're not paying for those! Quit stuffing yourself with it!

[braidedwonder]

[ To Duo it seemed like Puu might get along well enough on his own, even with Yusuke being out and about. Being able to fly and con people in to feeding him wasn't the worst thing in the world, but then again, he might also get lonely out in the world on his own. That was another bonus to having a small robot as his 'pet' of sorts - Deathscythe liked him, but wasn't necessarily wounded if he went away for spans of time.

Thankfully Duo had only plucked up one rather large strawberry - or he might be worried about the bird stuffing himself or something. Control didn't really seem to be one of his finer points, just from what he's experienced so far from seeing and interacting with Puu. Thankfully he didn't know he was a reflection of Yusuke - or he might assume he was a little bit of a glutton too. ]

I mean, you did look like you belonged in an old rock band, but I didn't think it really looked bad. [ Ah, Duo, always a little bit of a proponent for glorious long hair. Not that Duo has ever really seen himself with short hair to know whether that might work for him to, if he was going to be fair about it. ] But it doesn't really look horrible short and slicked up either, so I guess you're a lucky one.

It's only one.. [ Duo laughs a little as the spirit beast finishes the berry he has, casually finding a place to drop the stem and leaves. It's all biodegradable, right? ]

Who'd you end up findin' to give you a trim?

[ Asking for a friend. ]

[fingerbanged]

[... well, Yusuke was a growing guy with a growing appetite, so it wasn't exactly a wrong assumption...

Yusuke moves Puu away once he finishes with the berry, hoping to dissuade him from going after more. Not that it seems likely-- the Spirit Beast looks rather contented and happy with the one he just had, even if he made a bit of a mess.

He makes a face at the rock band comment (everyone had to go there, didn't they?), but then he smirks, shrugging a shoulder.]

Well, it's just good genes on my part. I can make most stuff look good. [Careful, Yusuke, your ego is showing.]

Anyway, it was this chick named Yang? She offered not too long after you showed me the braiding stuff. She, uh... kinda been holed up in her place since then, though, so I don't think she's looking to give any repeat jobs in case this sorta thing happens again.

[And because she's down an arm too, but this is before Yusuke found out that little fun fact.]</small.

[braidedwonder]

[ He's happy so long as Puu is content.. paying for one strawberry isn't gonna kill him if anyone caught him feeding the little bird.. thing. Duo did tend to have a soft spot for animals, even if he personally wouldn't choose to have a pet himself. Trowa took it a little too far having lions and all of that crazy shit, but who was he to say anything about that when he didn't really care about jumping from roof to roof or walking in shifty looking alleyways when he probably really shouldn't? They all kind of ended up with their own quirks, didn't they?

Duo gives a crooked little smirk as Yusuke makes the face, apparently pretty amused by the expression. Somehow he isn't surprised that he might've heard that comment, as even Duo had from time to time when people had taken exceptional notice of how long his hair was. Which, lately, hadn't been too much. ]

Did yer mom tell you that? [ Ouch, Duo. ]

Huh.. that's interesting. Hopefully your hair doesn't grow that fast. I know mine doesn't...

[ Not that Duo's had a hair cut in a long, long time. ]

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[It didn't seem like the vendor of the stand took any notice of the missing fruit, and if they did, they probably didn't mind. Probably better to keep Puu away from them anyway, since while one strawberry was easy to brush off, a whole basket wasn't.

But DAMN DUO, SAVAGE AS FUCK. Not that Yusuke isn't adept at volleying these things back, though.]

Nah, it was yours.

[Though, now that they were on the topic of hair (and Yusuke didn't have to struggle with a ridiculous amount of it), it did bring his curiosity about Duo's to the forefront of his mind.]

Well, it depends on the situation, but--

What's up with yours, anyway? If we're talking about anyone with rock band hair, it'd definitely be you.

[braidedwonder]

[ Duo snorts at the jab about his mother - after all, he'd never even met her, so it didn't really wound him any to joke about it. Now, had Yusuke made a joke about nuns or something? He might get a little more huffy than one might expect a kid that looked like him and acted like him.

That crooked smirk is back, brows pushing upward in a sarcastic motion. ]

Damn, she did? Tell 'er I'd like to meet 'er some day.

[ If Duo wasn't used to answering that kind of question, by then, he probably would've just shaved his head and had it over with. In the end, Yusuke wasn't going to get the real story - no one had, when it came to his hair, not even his fellow pilots who'd gone to battle and almost died with him, so, hell, what did the other teen expect?

The braided boy runs a hand down the length of his hair and shrugs. ]

Just always had it long.. Ever since I was a street kid I always liked havin' long hair and if Solo couldn' make me cut it, no one will.

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[Oh. This was suddenly awkward. Mom jokes didn't really work well when you didn't have a mother to insult. (Maybe he was lucky that she was missing instead of dead, though.) How did one follow up to that?]

Psssh, please, do I look like the messenger boy type? You find her and tell her yourself.

[... ignoring the fact that Yusuke never met her mom and they're both currently stuck someplace far from home, but-- details.

Speaking of details, however, it was hard to ignore the larger picture Duo was painting here. Just what the hell was his life like back where he was from?]

Isn't it... I dunno, a handicap or something? That stuff can get caught in all sorts of things when you're fighting, or trying to get away, or... all kinds of things, really. I know haircuts aren't really an option when you're homeless and all, but... you never considered it? Not once?

[braidedwonder]

[ Technically she could be dead.. Duo had never bothered to look up who or what he'd been test-tubed for after all. There was no giving birth naturally in space, and Duo hadn't really wanted to know why he'd been grown to be turned out, so it was only natural to just... not look it up at all. Still, he isn't insulted. There's still a jovial smirk on his face as he shrugs. ]

I'll letcha know if I ever bother to start lookin', how's that?

[ I assure you, Yusuke, you don't really wanna know about Duo's life before. I might remind you of Hiei's mellow story of woe. Just with a cooler man character so far as he's concerned. ]

Nah. Once in an orphanage they tried to cut it but I cussed the nun until she braided it. And instead I just kept it that way. [ A shrug. He was a stubborn little bastard, always. ] It's not gotten me caught in any hairy situations, though, and I've been in a lot of 'em. Not to say no one's ever been dumb enough to grab my hair to try and keep me in place, 'cause they have but.

It didn't end well for 'em.

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[There was a snort at the nun story, gaining a smirk of his own.]

Well, lookit you, mister rebellious! Must be super important to you that you blistered that poor lady's ear off because of it. I was thinking more along the lines of 'doors' and 'feet' and 'various zippers', but hey, if you can manage it, more power to you, then.

[Yusuke, just what exactly happened while you had the mazoku hair...

Before he can continue, however, something grabs his attention-- or rather, a lack of something. Glimpsing under his arm, his suspicions are confirmed: Puu has made his great get-away yet AGAIN.]

Geh! Dammit, Puu, what the hell?! This isn't funny anymore!

Hey, you don't see him around here anywhere, do you?

[braidedwonder]

Eh I didn't blister her any - she's probably heard a lot worse than what I was saying living on that colony.. [ After all, there weren't a whole lot of upstanding citizens on L2... think of it as Earth's Australia by most people's estimation of the space colony. They just hadn't evolved to the level of awesome and... didn't have as many killer animals on the colony. Which was probably, actually, a win. ] Eh.. it gets caught in my doors every once in a while but it isn't so bad. Most times I just keep it like this over my shoulder and that avoids a lot of the getting caught in shit problems.

[ Or, if he was on a mission, tucked in to his trusty baseball cap.

Duo blinks for a moment as Yusuke notes that Puu is gone, surprised himself that he hadn't noticed something as obvious as a blue.. bird thing getting loose and flying off somewhere. But hey - he had to give it to him, he was pretty damn good as being an escapist. ]

Shit - I didn't even notice him slip out - [ He's getting dull in his time off. Duo carefully scans the crowd around, eyes flicking left and right in search of any kind of blue animal or blue.. anything. It was the easiest color to pick out, anyways. ] - Is that him, down the street over there?

Might be headed for a restaurant or somethin' knowing him.

[fingerbanged]

[Puu WAS technically part of Yusuke, and Yusuke was pretty good at the sneaky get-away himself, so in that aspect, maybe it wasn't that surprising.

But holy crap was it ever annoying.

If it helps, though, Yusuke didn't notice it either, and his senses were probably sharper than Duo's (and, y'know... he was also holding him too). He turns to where Duo was indicating, squinting to see if he could pick up the tiny, pudgy bastard.]

--yeah, there he is! He's heading further down the market!

[And Yusuke bolts in that direction, hoping to track down the wily little blue creature once more.]

C'mon!

[braidedwonder]

[ Duo has half a thought to grumble about how it wasn't his job to track down Yusuke's pet.. penguin thing but.. when was the last time he'd had a little chase and adventure? So he makes sure his backpack is on securely (he sure as hell isn't going to lose his damn food) and then bolts right after. Dodging people with quick " 'scuse me!" and "sorry!" every so often thrown out he keeps on Yusuke's heels pretty easily, though.. depending on how determined Yusuke was he might start to fall behind. Duo was small, and fast, but he wasn't part demon. ]

How the hell'd he get away without you noticing anyways?!

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[Meanwhile, Yusuke's weaving through the crowd, a little less apologetic to whomever he knocks into, unlike Duo. He's faintly aware that Duo's right behind, so he doesn't move quite as quickly as he normally does. He still moves at a fairly determined pace, however, intent on finding this little blue turd before he got too far away.]

I dunno! He's a slippery little bastard! He probably wiggled out when I wasn't paying attention!

[braidedwonder]

But he was right in your arm, dude! [ Sorry, Yusuke, but Duo wasn't going to let you off that easily for not baby sitting your blue bird thing close enough. Especially not now that he's had to run after it like this. ]

I know my conversation ain't that interesting!

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[Arrrrghh, why are you reminding him of this??]

Search me! If I knew, I'd probably have less of a headache keeping an eye on him, alright?

[And, once Puu gets close enough in sight, Yusuke makes a sprint for it, leaping to grab the squirming blue ball of pudge.]

GOTCHA!