#and then they suggested a dead bird because the teacher is a geography teacher

[natashxromanovf]

picking a gift for your teacher with your childish classmates is the hardest thing ever

[feynites]

*slides this under @selenelavellan’s door*

Dirthamen has a crush.

Or, he thinks he has a crush, anyway. He looked up his symptoms on Web MD, and it told him he was probably having a panic attack, but he does not seem to be experiencing the usual ‘flight or fight’ reflexes associated with that condition, or many of the additional and unpleasant symptoms. When he consulted with some of the forum goers, most seemed fairly sure that his new tendency towards flushing and heart palpitations as associated with the presence of a girl at his school indicated a crush, rather than a panic attack.

It is a very interesting scenario.

Dirthamen is not certain of what to do with it, however. Advice on the matter seemed to range from inarticulate cooing to urgings that he approach Selene, but he is not gifted at socializing outside of particular circumstances.

Still, he does find the prospect of spending more time with Selene… pleasant. They do not have many classes together. Dirthamen has only seen her around school, and the one incident when his bag spilled in the hall and she helped him gather up his things. They had both been late to class, and so there had not been much time for socializing, however. Dirthamen investigates the possibilities of afterschool activities, though, and that is how he learns from one of his classmates who has Geography with Selene’s brother that Selene has signed up for Thenvunin’s ornithology club.

Thenvunin is in Dirthamen’s home economics and mathematics classes.

Dirthamen approaches him about the club, and is given a very colourful flier, and informed that the first meeting will be on Thursday, in the Drama Club’s practice room. Apparently, the Drama Club owes Thenvunin a lot of favours because his mother donated a lot of costumes to them. Dirthamen makes a mental note to see if he can get his father to make more donations to the school as well. It seems to garner a certain degree of esteem and clout.

Dirthamen tells himself he will talk to Selene during the club meeting. He knows some things about birds. He likes them, and so does Falon’Din – although in very different ways, because Falon’Din just likes to kill them, mostly.

Fortunately, Falon’Din also dislikes sharing, so Dirthamen has never woken up with a dead bird on his pillow. His father says his cat is the living incarnation of evil and that they should probably get rid of it, but Dirthamen is determined to be a good pet owner, and good pet owners do not abandon their pets simply because they are vicious and disagreeable.

He knows. He looked it up specifically.

But when he gets to the club meeting, Selene is sitting with her brother, and Thenvunin spends most of the meeting talking. And he brings along an actual bird, which seems to hate the club meeting room, and the club members, and pretty much everyone except Thenvunin, who gets upset that his bird is upset and then makes them all head outside instead, and explains ‘proper bird care’ and talks a lot about preservation societies and bird watching, but can’t even seem to manage to tell Selene what kind of bird his pet actually is, either. And Dirthamen ends up, somehow, not actually saying anything to her, and just helping Thenvunin feet his pet some cold chicken livers because Thenvunin doesn’t actually like touching them.

Dirthamen makes a mental note to never let Falon’Din anywhere near Thenvunin’s house, because Thenvunin’s ‘pet bird’ looks like it could very easily murder an unruly cat or twelve.

He holds out hope that the next meeting will go better. But then Selene does not come to that one, and instead Dirthamen spends an hour watching slides on molting and learning about burrowing owls. Which is interesting, but… also disappointing, somehow. Club attendance drops off a little bit, and Thenvunin complains that no one has enough appreciation for birds, and Dirthamen feels badly enough about it that the next week, he brings his own accumulated information and stories about the ravens near his house.

It seems to go over positively.

Selene is not there again, though.

By the fourth week, the club consists of himself, and Thenvunin, and Aelynthi, which means they are two people short of official school club status and will not be able to renew that unless they expand membership before Wintersend. Dirthamen suggests that Thenvunin should approach students who require extra credits in science and ecology, and see if the teachers would be willing to consider membership sufficient for some rewards, but Thenvunin dislikes the idea.

“There’s no point if people aren’t actually here for the birds,” he asserts.

“Oh,” Dirthamen says. “I joined the club because of a crush. I did not realize that was inappropriate.”

Thenvunin blinks at him, and then his cheeks colour.

“Well… that... you, you – just – that is inappropriate! This club is for bird enthusiasts, it’s not some erotic meet-and-greet club where you can just come and ogle me!” he huffs, fastening up some additional ties on his collar, and giving Dirthamen a long once-over before flushing even more brilliantly, and stalking away.

Dirthamen blinks.

…Odd.

He supposes it was not a very good plan anyway. He manages to hear Selene’s voice in the halls, before he heads home. She is talking about homework. He likes the sound of her voice, it has a very pleasant rhythm, and it conveys a depth of friendliness and care which makes him feel very comfortable around it. But he only overhears a little, before Selene and her brother head home, and Dirthamen must do the same.

He gets back to the house to find that Falon’Din has shredded another one of his books, thrown up in the middle of his bed, and presumably gone to hide from his crimes.

He spares a stray hope that Falon’Din does not head in the direction of Thenvunin’s house to antagonize his murderous mystery bird, and then goes to get some cleaning supplies.