Prince of Feathers

2 - adventures and snacks

One fun fact about Tango Tek, well known by his friends and acquaintances, is that he is very much a rambler. It doesn't matter the subject, subject's complexity, or energy he has for talking, if he is bored, he will ramble.

The unfortunate victim of bored, chatterbox Tango today was his brand new canary friend. However, surprisingly enough, the little yellow bird didn't seem to mind.

"You know, I really should've spent more time learning survival techniques. They would be really useful right about now. At least I don't need any survival skills to start a fire, though! Got it all right here in the fingies," Tango held up one hand, giving the canary a brief demonstration of his abilities, willing the tips of his fingers on fire. The canary tipped its head, entertained somewhat. He let the flames dance around for a moment or so before snuffing them back out.

"But but but," he tutted, "Even with my extraordinary fire starting skills, I am... still gonna get lost. Heck, I already am lost!"

Tango stopped walking for a moment and made a slow 360, hands on his hips. He really didn't have the faintest clue where he was, but the goal for now was to just keep going in the same direction, and eventually he'd reach something.

"It'll be fine. Onwards!" Tango exclaimed, taking a big step forward and continuing on. "Keep your eyes peeled for a river, little birdy. Towns are usually built near rivers, so if we find a river, we can follow it to civilization!" he made jazz hands on the last word.
The canary peeped happily, seeming to do a little dance from where it sat on his shoulder.

"Aww," Tango cooed, petting the bird genty.

The canary was a strange creature, he had begun to realize. It seemed oddly domesticated, as if it were a pet bird, but it had been living in the wilderness. Tango doubted it had seen many other people before him as well, because this wood was a specifically avoided one. To be fair, he wasn't sure he was in the same wood any more, but the dark forest where he had found the bird wasn't one people went to.

Well, also, the canary had found him, to be fair. Tango wasn't quite sure why it was following him around either. His best guess was that it had been a pet, its owner had gotten rid of it, and it had wandered all the way out here.

But the canary couldn't talk, so Tango supposed he'd never really know. If it really did want to stick around though, he supposed he could at least give it a name.

"What should I call you, little fella?" Tango turned over his hand and held his palm out, and the bird stepped on. "Well, I don't know the slightest about bird genders, so I guess it'll have to be neutral. Fluffy? ...Feathers?"

The canary squawked and shook their head as if they understood and were disagreeing with him.

"...Yellowface Squawker McLoudloud!" Tango declared, grinning. The canary was astonished, or maybe horrified, their beak opening slowly in disbelief. "Okay, just Yellow for short then."

The canary ruffled their feathers a little, but seemed to agree.

"Well now, Yellow, what do you say we take a little snack break?" Tango asked, letting Yellow hop back onto his shoulder. He knew they couldn't understand or answer the question, but a part of him wished they could. Just so that he'd have someone to really talk to.

But, a break definitely was in order. Tango wasn't sure how long he'd been walking, but the sun was fairly high in the sky, from what he could see through the thick leaves above, and his legs were rather tired. He took a glance around and spotted a large reddish rock with a fairly flat top, and he headed towards it.

Tango took a seat, and swung his bag down onto the remaining space on the rock. Yellow fluttered from his shoulder down to his knee, looking up at him with wide, shiny puppy eyes. (Since when could birds do puppy eyes???) Tango sighed and laughed a little at the canary, before unzipping his bag and rummaging around inside.