Prince of Feathers

5 - resentment and romance, or lack thereof

"Good morning, Tango!" Etho's voice was somewhat drowned out by the clinking of dishes and the hum of bumbling patrons in the tavern. The fox hybrid stifled back a chuckle as Tango approached the bar counter, eyes sweeping the blaze up and down.

"Did'ja sleep well?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Tango sighed, knowing full well what Etho's humored stare was all about. He smoothed back his bed head with both hands and pretended his clothes weren't miserably wrinkled and that he wasn't up exceptionally late at all, cracking a smile back at the bartender. "Mhmm," he hummed.

Etho turned away briefly to pass a pint of ale across the counter to a smiley customer with green dye in their hair. "Not a morning person, I see," He noted as he worked. "No, absolutely not," Tango managed to grumble, earning a laugh from Etho. From their spot atop Tango's shoulder, Yellow seemed to laugh as well, a collection of chitters and chirps.

A few moments later, Etho got a handful of birdseed for Yellow, pouring it into a small pile on the bar counter. The canary hopped to it enthusiastically. While his bird ate, Tango wandered around the tavern.

There was a small breakfast bar in the corner, set up for any guests staying at the tavern. Tango hovered by it for a little while-- he was pretty sure he counted as a guest, though he wasn't exactly a paying guest yet. He glanced over to Etho quickly, and the fox hybrid motioned for him to go ahead. At Etho's gesture, Tango started making himself a plate, careful not to take more than he should.

He took it back the bar and ate next to Yellow. Etho gave him his space, busy distributing coffees to other tavern guests, and bantering off and on with the green haired patron. When he'd finished, Etho came by to whisk away his plate and drop it in the dishwasher.

"You know, maybe you could be my dishwasher to earn your keep. This thing keeps acting up." Etho mused, kicking the dishwasher for emphasis. Sure, automatic dishwashers were a marvel of modern redstone technology, but anyone knew mixing redstone and water was bound to be a little messy.

"Or maybe he could help fix it!" Bdubs' voice piped up suddenly from behind Tango, making him jump in surprise. He swiveled around in his chair to face the druid, who was holding back a laugh. "Etho and I were talking last night, and we thought we actually could really use your help fixing up a few redstone things around the place. Not that either of us can't, we just get busy. And only if you want to of course." Bdubs explained cheerily.

Tango instantly perked up at the thought of getting to work with redstone. Void, it would be great to finally get lost in messes of wires and circuits again. "Totally!" he agreed enthusiastically. Yellow looked up from where they'd been searching for traces of birdseed to chirp their approval as well.

"I'm sure I could lend a hand fix-ificating stuff," He added with a smile. (Plus, if Etho and Bdubs were really letting him stay here at no charge, he wasn't going to let himself be dead weight to them.)

"Perfect!" Bdubs smiled.

Yellow began pecking incessantly at Tango's hand, so he turned to indulge the attention hungry bird, while Etho and Bdubs began their typical friendly banter. Tango tuned them out, even though he knew he probably shouldn't, since Bdubs was likely leaving pretty soon, and 'socialization is important' or something. But you couldn't judge him! His canary's feathers were way too fluffy to be absorbed in anything but them.

He did tune back in when Etho asked Bdubs if he was leaving. Or at least, he thought he did.

"Ah, lemme check the time," Bdubs muttered in response, opening his moss cloak to reveal his collection of pocket watches, ticking in unison. They were mostly gifts from friends; an ornate clock from Etho, resting next to a precisely painted one from Skizz, resting next to one with all the cogs showing from Tango himself, resting next to... to the many, many clocks from Impulse.