Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Fifty Three - Kaitai [解体]

Heavy was the cooler autumn air, befitting the remaining days before winter was due to start showing its presence. And in spite of the chill in the air, Amaya was at her most content with the weather, enough so that she had tossed aside the long-sleeved shirts in preference for her short-sleeved relief. The actual cold never bothered her too much, really, only when she was run ragged with stress and emotional discord did it ever bother her.

Her morning was spent on her usual morning necessities with Koko let out of his cage to join her for the few hours like she often did. The bird was far more well behaved than she had expected at first, and oftentimes just wanted to sit atop her head preening the haywire strands of her hair. He didn't leave the happy nest he had atop her head, even during the exceedingly short few minutes she had to dash outside to retrieve some tea towels from the clothes line.

In fact, when Amaya had realized she had stepped outside with a flight-able bird atop her head, she was honestly surprised he didn't immediately take to the skies.

She was confused at first, even more so when she had decided to take a gamble and try and encourage Koko to fly into the branches of the pine tree. But instead of seeking freedom as birds often did, the conure instead closed his toes even tighter around the locks of Amaya's hair to remain firmly in place, and even sought to rub his beak against her scalp as if he were trying to hug her.

Alas, she found herself realizing that indeed, this argumentative and seemingly brain-rattled bird indeed want nothing more than to stay well within her personal bubble, unlike others of its bird-like nature.

Unless there was obvious food around; Amaya found she could coax the messy fluffball off of her if she had food for him.

As she finished preparing obentou for her siblings and set them out on the kitchen island, Amaya glanced over at the large cage that the beaked fluffball lived within. He had minimal toys, really, and she was well aware of the fact that birds were known to get exceedingly bored. She half considered giving in and finding him a friend, but she had at least read a few books recently that warned her away from that. At least with conures, in any case.

She guessed the few hours in the morning and few in the evening was an alright amount of time, but she guessed she should buy some more toys for him.

A breath escaped Amaya as she cast a cautious glance towards the motley ball of multi-coloured feathers happily chewing a dried apricot slice to mush on the makeshift perch she had built for him out of some sturdy, yet thin cardboard tubing and two cardboard boxes set down on the kitchen island. He appeared content to demolish the apricot to oblivion, so she decided she could chance it. She discretely pulled a pair of earbuds and her phone out from her pocket and hooked them in.

It was still rather dark outside, still rather cool and damp, and yet she was content. Her siblings were still asleep, and wherever it was Karma had disappeared to was unknown to her, but as always, she expected he would show up sometime soon.

She had gotten used to the fact that he just didn't seem to go home very often anymore, after all.

Needless to say, by the time Amaya had to leave, it was difficult coaxing the bird back into his cage, and she honestly felt horrible having to do so just to ensure he didn't get hurt or chewed anything he wasn't supposed to while she was away. Like usual, Karma had turned up and was watching her struggle, much to her frustration, and within the hour, they were walking into the classroom filled with anxious classmates eager to learn their placements after the end of term exams just yesterday.

She had forgiven the evil incarnate for his tactless comments just yesterday, but for some reason he hadn't uttered so much as a word about the exam results they were going to receive soon, even when Nagisa had called out and asked. He only offered a shrug in response and left it at that.