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 Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 7:28 pm
 Elizabeth hadn't thought too much of the smooth brown egg she'd brought home from Venus' temple. For the past few days it had sat on her vanity, nestled in a thick blanket. She vaguely suspected that it wasn't just for decoration, as it had always been somewhat warm, but so far it had laid dormant.
It's an ungodly hour of the morning, just after sunrise, when Elizabeth is awoken by a cracking thud. Sitting bolt upright, she surveys the room, searching for an intruder. Finding no immediate danger, she groans and rubs her hands over her face. "Whaaaat was that noise?" she grumbles aloud. Rubbing her eyes, she gets out of bed to look for whatever it was that had fallen. Large, golden eyes peer up at Elizabeth from the floor amid fragments of eggshell. The newly-hatched chick squawks indignantly and shakes her head to rid it of bits of shell. She stands up on two wobbly talons and hops her way over to Elizabeth, then squawks again, impatiently.
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 7:48 pm
Well. Suspicions confirmed. Elizabeth rubs her hands over her face and groans again. "It's too early for this," she grumbles. She squats down to get face-to-face with the little creature, trying to understand what had just hatched in her home. Knowing those bloody deities, it could be anything.
The chick squawks again, hopping closer to Elizabeth. She cocks her head sideways. This must be her Mother. Who else could it be? She hops up on Elizabeth's knee and chirps, shifting her weight back and forth a little bit, watching her expectantly.
Elizabeth winces as the hatchling's sharp talons poke at her skin. But...it didn't seem like it was going to attack her. In fact...she knew that look. Kieran had that look all the time. "Bet you're hungry," she says, picking the chick up and nestling her in her arms. She grabs a small blanket from the end of her bed and wraps the chick up in it, both to keep it warm and to keep the razor-like talons from scraping at her. "C'mon, you," she says, still somewhat bleary-eyed. She heads for the kitchen.
The chick makes a little cooing noise. Mother was warm and soft. She had a nice Mother.
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:00 pm
Once in the kitchen, Elizabeth sets the chick down on the table, still swaddled in the blanket, and looks around. "Alright...what do you eat?" She scratches the back of her neck, and glances down at the expectant little thing. "Well, you look like a...giant baby bird, so..." She looks around again. "Damn I am rusty on this parenting thing...I have some leftover rice, d'you want that?" She reaches into the icebox and pulls out the bowlful of rice they hadn't finished the night before. She gets a spoon from the drawer and takes a little spoonful, and offers it to the chick.
Her eyes glint eagerly, and she leans forward and takes the whole spoonful of rice into her mouth, in one predatory bite.
Elizabeth stares, wide-eyed, at this gesture. "Okay, so....giant, predatory baby bird. Bet you want something that bled at one point, huh?" She opens the icebox again and gets out a cut of lamb that was supposed to be dinner tomorrow...er, tonight. She cuts off a small bite and tosses it to the chick, not wanting to lose a finger.
She lunges at it, catching it out of the air and gulping it down. She chirps happily and shifts back and forth between her talons, watching Mother expectantly for more.
Elizabeth chuckles and cuts off a few more bites, tossing them to the chick, in different directions.
She catches all of them and coos happily. After the last one, she yawns, and settles down in her blanket nest, falling asleep almost immediately. Mother keeps her safe and gives her food to eat. She has a good Mother.
Elizabeth smiles and scoops the chick up in the blanket and walks back to her room. This is the second time she'd been given charge of a strange little child. She thinks of Kieran and smiles as she sets the chick on her bed and climbs in on the other side. Perhaps the Guardians were trying to teach her something.
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