listen to me + hear my thoughts

The noodle child tilted her head at the King's words, a playful smile dancing across her cheeks. A bag of stones? What ever would a gembound do with a bunch of rocks? Maybe she threw them like Liora and her dad did with bones-- not Aza'zel, of course, Liora's other dad. Ashtoreth blinked as she thought about it, twitching slightly, but then she shrugged and rolled on to her back, tail wagging back and forth as she tried to look as adorable as possible for the nice man.

Maybe he would go get his waifu Willow? Ash would be happy to just hang out while he did so, if he wanted to. Though maybe he wanted to lead her there... The noodle wriggled back on to her paws and twitched her ears, waiting for Adeyemi to decide.

tag;; @adeyemi

King Adeyemi

AND THEN THE EARTH AND THE SKY, THEY ALL FIT TOGETHER
AND CARRY ME AWAY AS LIGHT AS A FEATHER

Adeyemi watched, waiting to decipher another gesture. Instead, the noodle flipped over onto its back, which was pretty much the cutest thing he'd ever seen - barring his wife as an owlet, of course, when she'd consisted of 90% monotone and 10% fluff. Now it was more like... 100% monotone. Feathers puffing up in contentment at the obvious display of trust, the turaco chirruped, tilting his head contemplatively. "Perhaps... hm. Yes. I do believe I can add two more feathers to your collection," the king offered, raising slowly, stretching his tiny wings and realigning their layers.

Balancing on one foot, Adeyemi held up his gemstone claw to his beak, grinning as much as any bird could. "One moment! Back in a jiffy." Turning on a tiny dime, the vibrant-feathered orb of bird swiftly jogged away - only to return a few minutes later with two feathers clutched in his yellow beak, dropping them before Ashtoreth with a flourish. "Success! My wife is out, doing great things no doubt, but I have plenty of her shed feathers," he explained, tapping at the brown-white offering with his talon.

It twitched to the other, an almost neon green piece, and Adeyemi's tone took on an air of bemusement. "I'd forgotten... hm. I met another royal, long ago, when I was but a child. He had similar plumage to myself, but unfortunately, not nearly the bedside manner," the turaco joked, chuckling. "Prince Gertrude, I believe. I know it's small, probably a pinfeather, but I thought you would... take care of it for me."

listen to me + hear my thoughts

Ashtoreth waited patiently, just like silently promised. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the new feathers-- a brown and white feather, one that belonged to Willow-- much bigger than Adeyemi's feathers.

.. And another, more familiar, the vibrant green shade of a downy fluff. She blinked, once, before a coy smile grew on her cheeks. She knew the so-called Prince Gertrude, oh, she was quite familiar with it. She took them with a deep bow and a gentle batting of her eyelids in thanks, getting to work on tying them safely in her own neck feathers.

The bright green bird brain had attacked her father, her groupmate, and ever since she had wanted some sort of revenge. Having one of his feathers seemed something she held pride in having, raising her chin proudly though she didn't put forth the effort to tell Adeyemi, in case she would worry him.

Instead, the tiny noodle stepped forward and booped her nose against the gentle, round King's beak in appreciation.

tag;; @adeyemi