[OUTDATED] ☆The Caged Bird☆ Steven Universe x Siren reader

part 25: one little thing

By the time he got upstairs, you had just finished slipping on a fresh new shirt, and flapped your wings to adjust them to the wing slits in the back.

"(Name)."

There was a subtle twinge in his lips as he watched you jolt in startlement and swivel around on your feet to look at him. "Milord Steven!" You yelped, flaring your wings out unintentionally. "Milord, are you alright??" Steven studied you for a moment. "Get up on the bed. I want to go over a few things."

He watched as you instantly scurried over to the bed, and climbed onto it and looked at the teen with a quizzical expression. He stood there again, carefully observing your every move. "Now..." he spoke calmly, as he approached the bed at a somewhat slow pace. "Could you explain to me... what you did?"

You stared at him as you gathered your thoughts. You couldn't help but wonder why he was so cross... perhaps he'd calm down after you explained? "Okay... Um..." You calmed yourself down. He'll understand. He always does.

Thinking back, you started to remember the earlier events. "So, uhm... after I was done with my morning song, I wanted to search for crabs and clams for tonight's supper..."

Crabs and clams? What kind of meal is that? Don't they like pizza or hot dogs better?

...and why were they thinking about 'supper' already? They had breakfast 30 minutes ago...

"But as I had my back turned, one of those wretched rats with wings came along and began to eat my chaaaps." You bore your teeth at the mention of this creature, lashing your tail in agitation. "I tried to shoo it away, but it instead decided to act insolent and squawk back at me!"

Steven's brow lifted, as he saw your pupils constricted to slits as a dark glower settled into your visage.

"So, I tried to do the right thing and grabbed it and tried to take it somewhere away from me..." you emphasized the grabbing motion with your hands, and Steven felt his brow twitch at the sight of your sharp claws at your finger tips. We'll need to file those down...

"But then it got aggressive at me and tried to peck my face! So, in retaliation of it not only eating my snacks, but also invading my personal space, I snapped back at it." Steven felt his stomach churn as he remembered the amount of blood it saw. "And... that's what happened."

Steven studied your face. For the longest time. He searched for remorse. He searched for any form of shame.

Instead you only had the look of wonderment.

Such a blissfully ignorant look of wonderment.

Steven took a deep breath. "Okay." His voice was slightly flat as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, so... you see absolutely nothing wrong with what you just said." His tone suddenly took on a sharp edge, that made your wings prick and you found yourself shuffling uncomfortably at his tensed aura. "You don't think that tearing apart that innocent seagull was bad at all??"

You blinked. Innocent? "Ah-? Milord, with all do respect, there's nothing innocent about those savages!" You stated with an indignant edge in your voice.

"Besides, I tried to placidly make it go away and it persisted in being aggressive!" His brows knitted slightly at your tone. "And remember when one tried to take me when I was a cub?? If you ask me, this is karma at its finest." You finished with a cross of your arms. Steven fell silent again, staring at you. Studying you pensively once again.

Wondering why you suddenly had that look of irritation.

If anyone should be irritated, it should be him!

"That doesn't give you the right to-" He trailed off, stopping himself. "Ne-Nevermind..." This wasn't about the gull. He'd get to that part later. "Just... why did you decide to eat it??"

You twitched the tip of your tail. "Well, I couldn't just waste a perfectly good piece of freshkill. After all, It'd be disrespectful to the prey itself. Besides, not many sirens get the privilege to indulge on land-prey. My mother once said that they have just as much protein as fish and my sire said that they're just as tricky to catch!"

Steven stared at you, for the longest period of time with his brow furrowed in indignant confusion. Seems like everything you just said flew over his head.

You simply stared back at him, trying to keep your own brow from furrowing. Maybe it'll come to him eventually...

Instead, he started to chuckle to himself. "Okay..." He spoke in an ominously low tone, rubbing his forehead. "Okay... alright... So, here's the thing..." an unsettling sneer of a smile curled his mouth as he walked over to the side of his bed. "One: I'm pretty sure seagulls aren't a good source of protein. They don't even count as poultry." You lifting your brow. "But my kind--"

"And two: You're not wild anymore. So you gotta drop the act." He interrupted your query. You finally furrowed your brows, now mirroring the teen's irritation. "What?"

"There's no more hunting, no more prey, none of that stuff anymore." Steven spoke in a cold, matter-of-fact manner. "You have plenty of food up here that doesn't require hunting. You need to forget that stuff. You're living amongst humans now."

"Now, milord... I'm grateful for all of those things you offer me..." you spoke in a steady voice, trying to keep your tail from lashing. "But that doesn't exactly seem ethical to-"

"It's not asking for much, (name)." there was a subtle raise in volume in his voice, and you flinched at the faint trace of anger in his tone. "It's really simple. Forget about the feral stuff. You have everything you need here."

It was your turn to stare at him now. Was he being serious??

"It's just one little thing for me." He spoke with a much softer tone, as his face faltered to a look of solemnity. "I just want others to see you for what you are; good." Your glare softened slightly at this. "Please?"

...Guess it wouldn't hurt to attempt...

"...sure." You nodded your head in a civil manner, rising from your spot. "I'll try to tone down for you milord." You gave him a polite smile and bowed to him. "Please excuse me." With that you jumped off the bed, and made your way down the stairs, with steven watching as you did. Something tells me this won't be an easy task. He takes a deep breath. "It's okay." He muttered to himself, pulling out his phone. "I think I know how to help with that..." he sneered to himself as he brought up the internet search.

Operant Conditioning