Rosa and Miguel's apartment, Saturday morning

[what_the_shock]

Last night, Miguel had gotten in and pretty much just collapsed. He could deal in the morning.

Now it was the morning.

He gave a whiny growl and rolled over, trying to ignore it.

"Let's never do that again," a voice that definitely wasn't Rosa said.

Miguel cracked his eyes open suspiciously and found a large black bird staring back at him.

He cursed in English and Spanish.

The bird happily took it up, cursing along with him.

He buried his head in his pillow.


[For the one (who's two today)!]

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[died8yearsago]

And he was getting smacked in the back with another pillow before Rosa resolutely went back to refusing to open her eyes and acknowledge what was going on until she got an explanation.

"Why are we swearing and not sleeping?"

She wasn't ready to address the distinct feeling that Anna Pavlova had already vacated the room to avoid having to deal with any of this, and yet there was still another presence, all the same.

Which was probably the source of the answer in a voice that was definitely not Tightpants'.

"You really don't want to know," said the porcupine over on a chair.

[what_the_shock]

"I'm with whoever that is," Miguel mumbled. "Let's sleep for a week and maybe it'll go away."

[died8yearsago]

"You know that's not going to work," said Needles, because this was the soul of a woman who named her second dog the same as her first dog but with a different number for a long time, what did you expect. "Because now you know we're here and it'll bother you until you acknowledge it."

The groan from Rosa was a good sign that the porcupine got it pretty solid on that one, at least for her.

[what_the_shock]

"I am perfectly capable of living in denial," Miguel insisted.

"No you're not," the bird croaked cheerfully. She hopped onto the pillow and started pecking at his hair, arranging it.

Miguel glared at her half-heartedly.

"Don't worry," she said, "you'll feel better after coffee."

[died8yearsago]

"Is that you offering to make that coffee?" asked Rosa.

Because her boyfriend had just gotten back from saving Stupid Brooklyn, and now there was a talking raven and porcupine in their room, so she was not above accepting bird coffee at this point if that was an option.

"No," Needles deadpanned, "but the dog might."

"Oh, so he thinks he's cute."

That was something she'd've probably said, though.

[what_the_shock]

"Pretty sure coffee takes opposable thumbs," Miguel said, sighing.

The raven snorted. "Shows what you know. Coffee coming up!" She launched herself into the air and flew out of the bedroom.

Miguel lay there debating if he wanted to let her try or if he ought to do the responsible thing and get up. He was kind of curious, but the kitchen had been pretty thoroughly messed up once already.

[died8yearsago]

And Rosa had been the one to clean it up and fix what she could and replace what she couldn't, so her own compulsion to not go through that again was ultimately what motivated her to sigh and push herself up, and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him from doing the same thing.

"You had a long day," she said. "I've got the coffee."

And a quick--very quick, there was a bird in her kitchen trying to make coffee right now--kiss later, she rolled off the bed to prevent a potential disaster, and the porcupine hopped off the chair and wobbled after her with a sway of quills.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel lay there for a moment, just happy. Then he pushed himself up to follow...not too close to those quills. "Don't get mushy on me now, Diaz," he teased, touched.

The bird was in the kitchen and had managed to open the coffeemaker basket and put the bag of coffee on the counter before Rosa made it there, and was tugging a coffee filter out of the stack with her beak. She set it in the basket and hopped to one side, ruffling her feathers. "Don't trust me?"

[died8yearsago]

She allowed to you exist in the same space as her for extended periods of time, Tightpants. She'd already gone to mush like an overripe avocado.

Which was why she was definitely ignoring that comment and then was actually mildly impressed by what she saw when she got to the kitchen.

"You're a talking bird that just suddenly showed up in my apartment this morning," she reminded her. "So...no."

She was going to let her prove herself, though, if she was so inclined.

[what_the_shock]

"I'm not a 'talking bird'," she huffed, "I'm Arana."

Miguel groaned and rolled his eyes. "Of course you are."

Arana did her birdlike best to shrug. "It's a perfectly good name. It's hardly my fault you got us all spiderized." She grabbed the bag of coffee with both feet and worked the top open, then flew up and dumped enough for a good, strong pot in the filter.

Miguel frowned from between his fingers where he'd facepalmed. "Wait, us?" He reached for the coffee pot, but she pecked at him, not quite connecting, and he backed off with his hands up. She flew the pot over to the sink, set it down, and flew at the faucet to turn it on.

Arana squawked. "I am you, mijo."

Miguel sighed. "Do I want to know?"

[died8yearsago]

Rosa wasn't smirking at the little peck and the sass, it was just a trick of the light, really. But, oh. She liked her, but, if what Arana was saying was true, that wasn't much of a surprise, was it?

She looked down at the porcupine at her feet.

"Does that mean you're going to claim to be me?"

"Wow. You could be a detective."

Well, that answered that and Rosa wondered how porcupines did when tossed out of second story windows.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel couldn't avoid a snort at that. Even if mostly he was just fascinated watching Arana make coffee.

When the pot was full, she flew it back to the machine, despite the fact it should have been far too heavy, then shifted her grip to the handle to pour it in. She set it in place, closed the top and the basket, and pecked it on. "There," she said smugly before flying up to land on Miguel's shoulder.

[died8yearsago]

"I'm pretty sure this is the kind of thing that gets weird avian flu pandemics started," Rosa noted, but once that coffee started brewing, she was pretty sure she was going to be okay with being Patient Zero on this one.

[what_the_shock]

Arana cawed derisively. "You don't have to drink any, then."

At the same time as Miguel said, "More for me."

He blinked, then shrugged. "Scrambled eggs okay for breakfast?"

When in doubt, cook.

[died8yearsago]

Heh. Eggs.

That snort came from both Rosa and the porcupine.

"Is the bird going to make those, too?"

She kind of wanted to see that next, actually.

[what_the_shock]

"No," Miguel said firmly before Arana could speak up. "I'm making breakfast. I haven't cooked all week."

And he was not about to be outdone by a bird version of himself or whatever.

Then, because sometimes he was a little shit, too, "She can set the table."

[died8yearsago]

Rosa was already on the edge of a smirk with the haven't cooked all week comment, but the set the table one gave it absolutely no chance to hide.

She looked down at Needles. "I take it you're no help there," she said.

"Yeah, sure," he replied, "let me just fly up there with my wings and I can use my opposable thumbs to actually hold the thihngs and get right on that."

"There is way too much sass for one apartment in here right now," Rosa decided, wondering now if attempting to help Arana would just lead to getting pecked, too, so, yeah, she was just going to let them handle it and chill like Needles. They seemed to have things covered, and it was pretty great to watch.

[what_the_shock]

Miguel was going to pretend like this was any other day, and go searching in the kitchen for enough to make two omelettes. He eyed the bird and porcupine as he set things on the counter. "Do you two not-hallucinations eat?"

Arana, having opened a drawer and grabbed a pair of forks, gave him a beady-eyed look. "Sure! I'll have a bug-and-berry smoothie."