not-a-corvid

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie's head snapped up and her eyes locked with Bugsy's for the briefest moment before she grinned and stuck her tongue out, hands going to tap out a rhythm mimicking a strumming pattern. Followed by her belting out the lyrics to Wonderwall with maybe a touch more enthusiasm than was warranted.

There's that bird again, this time she's perched atop a plastic container on a street corner, crooning out country melodies with the percussive accompaniment of her hands hitting the front and sides of the box.

Country was not exactly Bugsy's cup of tea, but when he saw who was singing, he grinned, topfull of mischief. When she was done, he hollered "OI!" from across the street, "PLAY WONDERWALL!"

[not-a-corvid]

There's nothing untoward about the letter after all, and inside along with a letter written in the same scratchy hand as the envelope bore, is a braided leather bracelet with charms of an eye and a cat with little bat wings

I’m sorry, the letter reads,

I pushed too hard when you were hurting and I shouldn’t have. I hope your arm’s okay now, and all the shit with your family turned out alright. And that your, uh... Sabbatical? went well.

Anyway, I get it if you don’t wanna talk to me again or whatever, you’ve got your own shit to deal with, and all that. But I thought I’d give you this, don’t feel like you have to keep it or anything, I just didn’t wanna throw it out myself and I can’t keep looking at it everyday y’know?

You were a real great friend you know, I think the best I’ve had in awhile, so I hope you’re doing good and I wish you all the best in the future and all that.

Maggie

A letter for Hester was delivered to Book’s, there’s no address or postmark on the plain white envelope, and it sits unassumingly on the counter, waiting for her. A bit beaten up, the cheap thin paper of the envelope is clearly not coping well with whatever it is that was jammed in alongside the letter, with small rips dotting the edges of the misshapen lump. On the front, a messy scrawl simply reads: "Hessie"

Hester opened the letter with extreme caution, fully expecting for it to be full of anthrax or a magical explosive of some kind- the 20 or so minutes between when she found it and when she opened it did a number on her heart rate. But she did open it, carefully extracting the letter inside to read.

[not-a-corvid]

"Hey I hadn't thought of that, busking's prob'ly a good start really, it's basically just what I already do, 'cept sometimes you get some cash" she grins, "I think I might try that sometime, y'know"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"Yeah that's, yeah." Maggie collapses into a seat at the nearest table, and begins picking apart her bread again, "I mean I guess I kinda took everything in stride and just, it is what it is, and I didn't really think about it, but like. There must be something up with the singing thing because number one thing I've blown up at people for is to do with my voice. But I can't really do anything with it either, because I can't go inside and that's a whole thing, and I've never like, sung with accompaniment before either, so maybe it's just not really worth it, I dunno"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie waves a hand dismissively, "Nah. Well, maybe, but like probably not. Sitting down's good though"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie was planning to play it cool, but when handed chunks of bread what's a bird to do but tear it into tiny little pieces? After a few picks at one of the pieces, she tucks them under her arm and collects two sizable glasses of punch, handing one off even as she takes a gulp of her own

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"You have a good point there, but using unknown people as free therapy seems a bit rude, y'know?" She shrugs, and pulls her cloak tightly around herself, "Ooh, I know! What if we both get absolutely shitfaced on the punch, and then neither of us will have to remember it when I make a complete fool of myself and wind up crying over- y'know, stuff"

Although she stumbled over the last few words, most of it was said with a smile and a hint of a laugh. It was a joke, mostly anyway.

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"Yeah, yeah I guess you're right" Maggie says with a huff of a laugh, picking herself off the ground and trudging after Brango, "But also like, tell me to shut up whenever, I tend to just sorta run my mouth and I don't really listen to what I'm saying so I guess it can get a bit much"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

She looks at her arm as if she hadn't even noticed what she was doing and her grip slackens just a bit,

"Right, yeah, I- uh..." She goes to fidget with her hands instead, which requires pulling the hand with the bracelet she'd hidden out from under her leg. This is evidently going to be a whole thing, as her face goes through a journey that lands on defeat as she looks at the bracelet, "Sorry. I'm a mess and you shouldn't have to deal with all this. It's supposed to be a fun night, right? Not a pity party for the bird with all the issues"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"I really don't know, I mean, I thought I didn't, but maybe I do? But what if that's not really me, y'know? What if that's because of- of them? I sit in my tree all day and I sing and that's fine, because that's just for me, and other people hear it sure, but that's like, it's different. But maybe I do want to perform for people, like properly y'know, make use of this thing that I have, but what if that's just how they wanted me to think? I don't even remember what I wanted to be when I was a kid anymore"

She's spiralling, she's definitely spiralling. The words tumble out of her at a quicker and quicker pace the more of them there are, and somewhere along the line she started digging her nails into the flesh of her upper arm.

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"Huh?" Maggie's attention snaps back to Brango with a sharp jerk of her head, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just, I dunno, a bit wired I guess. I uh- well I used to be a singer, or am one now is more accurate I guess. And just, watching the band play it just hit me y'know, like, what am I doing with myself?"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

"Y'know I dunno, from what I've seen so far I think it'd just sound like a cover, but if you gave me like, 5 minutes to look up the video, I reckon I could do a pretty convincing Rick Astley impression. Just to really sell it" She grins brightly, but it fades a touch as she looks back and the band and worries at her lip with a strange sort look in her eyes

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie bursts into a cackling laughter despite herself, "God I hope they do it, it'd be fucking chaos. There's a bunch of people here who'd have no goddamn clue what was going on, while everyone else goes nuts for one reason or another"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie huffs out a laugh and ducks her head,

"Yeah, yeah I guess. I mean I did that when I got here, gotta take advantage of a free meal when you can an' all that"

She cocks her head and narrows her eyes a little in thought as she belatedly puts together where Brango had approached from,

"What- what were you talking to the band about?"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Maggie looks up, startled, her orange eyes staring unblinkingly at Brango through her beaked mask. She hadn't really noticed their approach, despite their proximity to one of the things she'd been observing. She bites her lip, and hastily hides the bracelet she'd been holding in her fist and jams it under her leg. Subtle, she is not.

"Something like that, yeah. I dunno what else to do with all this-" she waves the hand she's not sitting on around vaguely, "this"

Just on the outskirts of the goings-on of the masquerade, a young woman dressed all in black and white sits cross-legged. She's both watching the band with a reserved sort of intensity, and contemplating a bracelet in her hand in equal measure. A forlorn picture against the backdrop of merriment around her.

She can see someone wearing a bright blue suit-jacket talking to the band. They finish their conversation, and look around. They notice that they were being watched and head over towards Maggie. Due to the magic of the night their furry face is unrecognizable, even though normally their bandit mask with plastic gems glued to it would do very little to hide their identity.

“Hey,” they say with a friendly wave. “Doing some people-watching?”

[not-a-corvid]

Corvids are just the best

[not-a-corvid]

"Since I got a job I've been saving up a bit, got a real nice sleeping bag from an op-shop, 'though it took some convincing to get other people to go in and scope out quality and pay for it for me. 'N' I've moved outta the park for now, got a winter nest set up in the woods just outside town, 's a little bit warmer there, thicker canopies and all that"

Maggie shrugged, and took another swig of her drink,

"I'll get by. Probably."

It's that bird Bugsy nearly ran over again. She's standing around looking incredibly frustrated outside a bar, she leans up to a section of the counter that can be accessed without going inside and says something to the person tending it. Who shakes their head in response. And so she stalks off and climbs up a nearby tree to sulk.

Bugsy was about to join her at the bar, when she appeared to be turned away from the bar for some reason. He snuffed out his cigarette, and meandered over to the tree she'd run up.

"Yaknow, I haven't tried, but I don't think you're gonna find much booze up trees."