Grouse Thicket sup.

setting this to yesterday before his baby sister is born! :)

"So... Uh... Hi, I guess."

Fig swallowed thickly, feeling incredibly foolish as he watched the blue jay twitch its little head at him. He had no idea if it understood him at all, though he did think it highly probably that the answer was no. Not for the first time did he regret not asking Towhee how she'd managed to get X to partner up with her before embarking on this endeavor, but there was no real point in that line of thinking. Towhee was miles away at the Copse just then. Fig was on his own here.

He took in a deep breath, then let it go with a roll of his eyes. "Man, this is stupid..." he murmured at his paws before looking up at the bird again, "Can you like.. I dunno, flap your wings or something if you understand me? Give me something here to make me feel less like an idiot for trying to have a conversation with a bird?"

The blue jay twitched its head again and kept its wings still. Fig sighed, wishing Fenn could've made a less demoralizing request of him.

River had been nearby when Figment had struck up his conversation; she was intrigued, to say the least. After letting @Trench know that she'd be back soon, River wandered in the direction of where Figment was. She arrived at the tail-end of the exchange, concealing herself in a nearby bush. 

River snorted suddenly, as her thoughts got the best of her. "Do you talk to all of your meals before you eat them?" she mused out loud, lingering where she had settled.

The last thing Fig had wanted was for someone to come across him while he was making such a fool of himself. At least, that's what he'd thought until he discovered a pretty girl had come upon him while making such a fool of himself. This was exponentially worse.

It took him a moment to realize she was there. At first, thought the bird had actually responded. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he stared at it, but his brain reminded him within a few seconds that its beak hadn't moved. He frowned for a moment before twisting around until his eyes landed upon her. His ears fell as mortification swept through him. Crap... what now?

"It helps," Fig replied, surprising himself a little, "Y'know, make them think you wanna be friends so they come close and then you grab 'em." He laughed, then glanced anxiously at the blue jay. "I'm kidding!" he reassured it, then paused and glanced anxiously at the girl, "I mean...."

We're gonna go back to: crap... what now?

River was amused; Figment's explanation had not only confused her, but it had also kept her interest. Her gaze bounced between him and the bird, connecting two-and-two, before offering her next question: "He's not really your prey, is he?" she asked, stepping away from the underbrush that had hidden her and closer to the stranger. 

"Is he... your friend?" River guessed. There was no malice in her voice, only curiosity; she had never seen a friendship exist between a predator and it's prey.

Fig was very seriously considering just walking away as the girl smirked at him. It didn't seem to him that there was a way to rescue the situation, so how much worse could he really make it by up and bailing? Before he'd decided, though, she was speaking in a tone that he found surprising in its lack of judgment. He glanced up at the bird as though it might be able to help him out. It continued to just sit there, periodically fluffing its feathers and chirping a few random notes.

"Uh.. No," Fig answered finally, shaking his head, "To either. I was trying to see if I might be able to make it my friend, but it doesn't seem to understand me at all." He shrugged as he looked back over at the girl. She was super pretty.

"Ohhhhh...." River drawled, comprehending was Figment said; he was full of surprises! Although she couldn't see any personal gain in befriending a buejay—except for having a guaranteed meal down the road—River was curious to know of his intentions. 

"What would you do if you were able to make it your friend?" she wondered.

While trying to nonchalantly gaze at her, Figment considered the fact that his explanation was likely to leave her with quite a few questions. The most obvious of these was the one she voiced. He couldn't blame her for it either.

"It's kinda a long story..." Fig started, hesitating to give her a moment to say nevermind before getting into it, "I was trying to get him for my sister actually. She's blind and we thought that maybe if she had a bird or some animal to help her get around, she could... y'know, get around better."

He paused, feeling self-conscious. "I dunno, she's probably just screwing with me and trying to make me look like a moron, talking to birds and mice and stuff," he shrugged, smiling in an embarrassed way. It actually wouldn't be too off-base for Fenn to have come up with this quest just to mess with him, knowing he would of course do his best regardless of his suspicion. But, he of course was doing it, regardless of his suspicion.

"Mhmmm," River hummed in reflection, as Figment explained the situation. The more he talked, the more she found herself invested in helping him out—even if his sister was messing with him. "I didn't think that that was a long story," River teased once Figment quieted. "But, I totally wanna help you out—theres gotta be a way we can convince 'ol birdbrain over there to be your friend." 

"You seem like good friend material," she added with a smile, only now noticing how cute her companion was—but this wasn't the time or place to address that thought, "So this shouldn't be too hard." River's attention then turned to the bluejay; this wouldn't be too hard, right? 

"Hey!" she barked with a laugh, deciding to initiated the exchange for them, "Comere' and be his friend!"

Oddly enough, the girl's teasing settled Fig's nerves. Fennec was probably to blame for that one, but he could only feel gratitude for that. Her words made him smile. There was more to the explanation, about Towhee being deaf and about X and the hawk his mother had found for Fen that had been killed by that guy. But he decided to let it go for now. She wanted to help him and he wanted to take a moment to be inwardly giddy over that.

The Redhawk smiled as she turned her attention to the bird and tried to address it. The bird did its usual. Fig stepped a little closer to the girl, thinking hard about what else they could do. "My name is Figment," he said, introducing himself to the bird since that seemed to be the polite thing to do and maybe that was what was missing in this exchange--manners, "You can call me Fig. My last name is Redhawk, so... Y'know, we kind of have something in common. Cause you're a bird and I'm a hawk, kinda." 

He paused, his smile fading as he leaned over to the girl, "Wait, do hawks eat birds? Should I not have mentioned that?"

Figment Redhawk River mulled over his surname for a moment, wondering if he came from a family of red hawks—she giggled, entertained by the absurdity of the idea. "Yeah!" River agreed. "His name is Figment, and he's a Redhawk! He'd make a much better friend than me—I'm just a River!" She lacked the kinship that Figment and the bird shared. "I mean, you can still be my friend, though—I won't bite!" 

Figment's sudden nearness caused her face to flush, and she looked to him shyly. "Oh man," she breathed, realizing the mistake he had just made, "You're totally right, I think that normal birds are scared of hawks." Shit, now what?" 

River watched the bluejay, anticipating it's next move; hopefully, it wouldn't be frightened.

River. Fig stole a sidelong glance at his companion as she introduced herself, smiling. The blue jay still didn't seem to care much for them either way, even with the hawk talk. The boy was feeling pretty okay with this, though he knew he really shouldn't. Fennec needed him to find her a companion to help her get around on her own. But... 

"I'm gonna guess it didn't understand me..." he whispered back to her, eyeing the jay, "Which is both fortunate and unfortunate. I mean, the whole point is to try to communicate... Hm..." A thought struck him then--an absurd one. He didn't even hesitate to voice it though, now so intrigued by the thought.

"Hey, d'you think it might be deaf?" he asked, not pausing to hear River's thoughts on the subject before he moved to a position where he felt more certain it could see him. Growing up with Towhee, he typically would always position himself in front of those he spoke with. It was simply a force of habit since communication with his mother required he do so. He hadn't thought to do it with a bird, though really, unless he was literally sitting on the limb with it, there wasn't actually too much he could do.

-"My name is Fig,"- he repeated, using the physical gestures he'd learned as a pup to see if they helped him garner any recognition. He figured it would be a long shot that this bird knew ptero, but he didn't particularly have any other options here.

At the end of the day, he didn't manage to find a friend for Fennec, but he'd at least claimed one for himself. In spite of his failure, he headed home with a smile on his face and a little spring in his step.