Live, little spotlight

They entered the forest and both decided to suddenly go in opposite directions — Osprey towards a raspberry bush and Atreyu heading over to a nearby tree. He kept his right ear trained upon the girl, however, as she casually spoke about this astronaut profession. He nodded even if she didn't see him, and then rubbed his shoulder against the rough bark to scratch an itch. Of course he knew what they did. He just needed...a refresher.

But at the mention of ducks, Atreyu quickly spun around to face her as she sneezed, her little joke going completely unnoticed by the boy. Ducks? "Wha—?" he began, trying to hide his horrified expression. If there were any birds worse than seagulls, it had to be ducks. Or finches. No, definitely ducks. Squawking dumb lake-dwelling birds that didn't even taste that great. He bared his front teeth in disgust, looking to his mischievous company. "Yeah but, you know, they do other things, too," he stammered out.