abraxaslogs | january catch-all

[ He's not so much surprised to find Jack gone in the morning as he is to actually find Jack on the beach. It shows on his face, a flicker of confusion cut between death glares at the squawking bird caught in the net. ]

Do you have more bait?

[ To maybe distract it from trying to peck his hand off. ]

Um- no, I think they're running... kind of low in our section.

( Said with a quick glance backward toward the containers of bait, and a sort of pointed, accusatory look at one particularly weird young man who seems to be flat-out just eating it himself. It's fucking disgusting, but also none of his business. No way he's going to intervene on that one. When you see a crazy guy eating bird food, you let him do his thing and give a wide berth. )

I think I saw on the Discovery channel one time if you sort of... turn them upside down and hold them by the legs, it fucks with their center of gravity and it's harder for them to peck you.

[ Kahlil shoots a glance toward the young man at the same time and makes a weird face. Seafood is hard for him at the best of times... is he eating them raw?

His gaze flicks to Jack again and he holds out the struggling bird, its wings flapping beneath the bewitched net. Well, this'll require teamwork then: ]

Can you grab the feet for me then? Just watch for the... sharp parts.

[ As he's saying this he realizes this is not a good idea. He frowns and shakes his head: ]

Or here, you hold this end. [ The part he's got. ]

( It's a good thing Kyle realizes it's a terrible idea — Jack holds up his hands, all nine fingers, with a little emphasis on the missing digit at his left. )

I can't really afford to lose any more of these.

( It's hard to hold up books with fewer fingers, is all.

But sure, he'll go for the flappy net part. He reaches out as long as his arms will manage, shoulders angling back and away as though he's deliberately distancing his face from this whole... thing. )

Just- gimme the- I got it-

[ As soon as Jack has a relatively good grip on the flappy end, Kahlil twists the other end with one hand, trying to tighten the net around the bird's body just enough so that he can -

- dart his other hand out and snatch its legs.

Which he does, in one swift movement, finally. It squawks as if they're murdering it, which draws the sudden ire of the crab eater, who begins muttering to himself and giving them dark looks. ]

Maybe they're cousins. [ with a nod to the young man, then the bird. It's still flapping angrily at him, but while upside down the weight of the net is making it harder for it to try to peck Kahlil's hand off. ]

I mean, considering where we are, weirder things have- ow- weirder things have happened I guess?

( The bird doesn't peck him, but it does wrench hard to one side, tangling one of Jack's fingers in the net and giving it a sharp yank. He hurriedly repositions, fumbling, almost dropping the net before Kyle manages to recover the whole thing.

A beat later from behind them comes a sharp hem hem as Crab Guy clears his throat.

Jack blinks at him expectantly, and when Crab Guy doesn't say anything, he finally asks: )

Can I help you?

( Crab Guy jabs his finger into Jack's chest first, and then points accusingly at Kyle.

"I just want you both to know I'm watching you. I know all about you two. Especially you!" He glares at Kyle.

Jack glances between Kyle and the Raw Crab Eating Weirdo. )

...Dude, do you know this guy?

[ There's a brief moment where Kahlil has to stop himself from reaching out and breaking the stranger's finger, a brief flicker of something menacing across his features, but then it's replaced with confusion when he fixates on Kahlil. ]

No. [ He mutters quickly to Jack, ignoring the man and continuing on past the table to the cages. ] Too much raw fish must give you worms. They probably made it to his brain.

[ Of all places in Thorne, Borrel isn't where he needs to be making trouble. ]

Do you think you can conjure some more crab meat? [ Changing the subject as he opens one of the cages with his foot, preparing to put his agitated captive into bird jail. ]

( Crab Guy does not seem all that stoked about being dismissed, and flashes both Kyle and Jack a positively affronted look.

Jack's perfectly okay with completely ignoring him. )

I could give it a shot. I've never tried before, so no promises-

( "NO!" Squawks the crab guy in a rather gull-like fashion. "I know what you did! I know what you're going to do! I'm watching you!"

Jack's patience has never historically been very high, so he snaps his attention back to Crab Man with some pretty blatant pique. )

Dude, what? What do you want? What are you even talking about?!

( Crab guy points at Kyle again and loudly declares, "I know you killed a bird's entire family!" )

I - what?

[ There are, of course, other people milling about helping with the work. Because why wouldn't there be? Kahlil grimaces, then gives a gentle shake to the bird in the net. ]

This is the first bird I've caught today. [ To which he turns and shoves it into the cage, snapping the lock behind it. It shrieks at him and starts biting the bars. ]

You're mad. And you're wasting all of the bait!

[ It's his turn to give an accusing look.

Most people are trying to ignore this exchange, though a few who only wanted to collect some more crabs look on a bit helplessly, blocked from the table by the Crab Eater. ]

( Kyle shakes the bird in the net, and Crab Guy flaps his arms unhappily like he's the one being shaken. This may be the deepest case of fowl empathy Jack has ever seen in his entire life.

"I- it's- I'm not wasting it! It's for everybody!" Crab Bird Weirdo protests, more scandalized than a French aristocrat that just saw an ankle. )

It's for everybody to use on the birds. ( Jack corrects, reaching around him to snatch up a crab. ) And you have it backwards. Birds murdered his entire family, not the other way around. Can you, like, fuck off?

( "I most certainly can not! Somebody needs to protect these majestic creatures from bird killers like him!" )

Oh, Jesus Christ, seriously? Did you even hear me?

[ Jack's actions seem to encourage the others who've been waiting for the Crab Man to stop so that they could secure bait. An older man with a long beard makes the same move to reach toward the table, which leads to a middle-aged woman doing the same. Safety in numbers seems to prevail, and soon all the others that were waiting are now shoving past the strange young man to get their needed bait.

The older man nods and mutters to another: "S'true, I heard a rumor about a man who's whole family'd been massacred. Damn murderous birds."

The tide has turned.

With bait secured, Kahlil pulls at Jack's coat. ]

C'mon. [ He's not really waiting to see what happens next, he's just going to gently pull his friend away from the table and back toward the outcropping of rocks from earlier. ]

( He goes where he's pulled, casting one last irritated glance at crazy crab guy — who seems deeply conflicted, torn between hoarding the crabs against the mob and assaulting the product of the dyslexic version of the rumor he'd heard.

As they go, an older woman reaches out to curl a hand around Kyle's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry about your family, dearie. Birds... they can be a mighty bitch. Dead eyes, those ones. No empathy. Not like horses, or dogs." She gives him a motherly squeeze, and then carries on to bodily elbow Crab Guy out of the way so she can shove her hands into the bait.

Jack shakes his head as he clutches his hard-earned crab. )

Is it just me, or are people in Borrel super weird?

[ Kahlil, for what it's worth, has not thought about the bird story in months. This is by far one of the stranger things to happen to him recently, and that's including the holes he dug.

All he can do is nod and try to look solemn as the woman expresses her sympathies before continuing to lead Jack away. When they're far enough away that they can no longer hear the arguments and protesting coming from the Crab Man, he finally slows down a bit and grins at Jack. ]

No, not usually. [ He cocks his head to one side, a sly look of amusement across his features. ] But look at you. Hero to the people. Savior of the bird bait.

( Well. He's not expecting this turn-around, the abrupt shift in attitude or that smile to be levelled his direction. It brings him a (pleasantly) surprised pause, and he makes to scratch at the back of his neck — only to remember at the last minute he's holding crab, so he lowers his hand back down again before it gets to chest-height. )

What can I say? You know me, I'm just... really passionate about bird bait equality. That's, like, my whole... thing.

( He really wishes he didn't have a fistful of raw seafood in his hands right now. What does he even do with this. )

[ He lets out a huff and shakes his head, still grinning. ]

Oh? I thought turtles were your thing, now.

[ They've reached the spot, so he stops and draws a little circle in the sand for Jack to place the stinking crab. A few birds are watching with wary interest, circling and landing some meters away. A particularly large one squawks and snaps at its nearest neighbor when it ventures too close. The ringleader. ]

( He starts shredding the bait absently, tossing in tiny clumps one bit at a time to keep the birds from grabbing an entire mass of it in one go and taking off. )

Hey, the turtle thing's no joke. ( Despite the words themselves, his tone and body language are mild. ) I'm having a real turtle crisis lately. Did you know that one out there actually knew the turtle from the boat? I'm not kidding. I picked up a memory from it, they were friends. It was heckin' adorable.

( Believe it or not, he's actually... pretty passionate about getting that big boy back into the water. He can't reunite Admiral Chuck with his family, but he can save this fella. )

[ He watches Jack scatter the bits of crab, slowly circling around him as he goes. ]

Were they?

[ That is actually adorable. ]

What did it feel like to be a... giant turtle?

[ He still sounds amused, like he's not really taking this very seriously. They were just watching cartoons the other day, memories of teenage mutated ninja turtles. Very obviously a sign of something, surely. ]

( He has not connected the Teenage Mutant Ninja Dots about why he might have felt particularly compelled to watch that cartoon, but if it were pointed out to him... yeah, that would probably make sense. )

It was... peaceful.

( He decides eventually, eyes flickering briefly up toward the sky while he reflects. )

Ate some seagrass. Swam through a coral reef. Watched the smaller turtle climb on board that boat and sail away, which was kind of sad.

[ It does sound nice. He hums to himself, stepping into his own circled tracks for one more round before motioning to Jack to duck behind the rocks. ]

Maybe. But if they live a long, long time, they will probably see each other again one day.

[ He would like to think.

Kahlil crouches down in the sand with the net clutched at his side, watching the bait as the birds decide whether or not it's worth it to investigate. He's not using his abilities to do any of this, just his reflexes. Less efficient, but safer. ]

january catch-all

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raw... crabs...

SASHIMI

I GUESS

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