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“RRrrowck!”
Parker looked over at the other ledge, and made a face. “Hey, it’s not only your building Ms. Crow.”
“Wrock!”
“Look, I’ll go back inside soon, okay?”
Seeing that the bird is apparently placated, Parker muttered, “Pushy bird.”
~IiI~
“WROCK!”
“RRRROCK!” Parker repeated back. “Jeez, it’s only like four in the morning. It’s not that early. Besides, this is my ledge, you have your ledge, we’re all happy.”
“Wrock.”
“Mine,” said slowly, Parker pointing at the ledge she was perched upon. Switching grips, she pointed at the neighboring ledge. “Yours.”
“RRrock, wrock, rock,” is the reply, but the bird lowers her wings and her feathers smooth out, so Parker figures that there aren’t going to be any further problems.
“Glad we sorted that out.”
~IiI~
“Hey, Ms. Crow, you got a boyfriend?”
“Roooock, Wrooock.”
“Okay, good for you. How did you get him to like you back?”
“Wroock, wrock, wrooock, wrock, wrock.”
“That’s good for you. Ugh. It was so much easier with Hardison. You should come and visit us, I can introduce you to Hardison and you can give us advice on how to get an Eliot to like us back.”
“Wrock, wrock, wrock.”
“Yes, that’s not a – okay, we need him, he needs us, we love him, and now we need him to love us back, even if Sophie says you can’t force people to love you, which is stupid because I’m pretty sure that’s how we all stayed together as more than just a bunch of coworkers or something, but she’s the Grifter. And a Sophie. She’d know.”
“Wrooooock.”
“Well, thanks anyways. Come visit, or I guess I’ll see you next time I swing by.”
~IiI~
“ELIOT!”
“Parker? What’s the matter?” Eliot looked up from where he was dicing meat for lunch, ready to reverse his grip on the knife if needed. Sure they’d been good about keeping people away from the Brewpub, and he’d made sure to take different routes back to his apartment at random, but you could never be too careful. McRory’s and Boston had been an excellent reminder of that.
“Ms. Crow has a hurt wing!” She shouted as she swung in through the living room window, the sound of a very unhappy bird carrying through the apartment.
Relaxing, Eliot huffed, “Parker, that’s not a crow, and I’m not a veterinarian.”
“She is too a crow! She’d big and black! And you’ve helped other animals.”
“It was a dog, and it was once. Once does not make me a vet! And that’s a raven, not a crow.”
“Eliot, she’s hurt!”
“Parker, I’m making – get the bird off my counters!”
“Not until you help her!”
Eliot’s scowl deepened. “She’s a wild animal, is what she is! And yelling isn’t going to help her any!”
“Then help her!”
“Fine! Get her off my counter!”
“Yes! See, Ms. Crow, Eliot’ll get you all fixed up and we can hang on the same building again, just you wait!”
“She’s not staying here!” Eliot shouted from the kitchen, which from the banging, meant that he was repackaging the meat so it wouldn’t go bad and he could wash up to help Ms. Crow.
“Shhh, he’s actually a softy, don’t listen to him,” Parker whispered.
“I heard that!”
Parker made a face at Ms. Crow, who had settled down, once she’d been placed on a flat surface, and wasn’t bobbling around strapped to Parker’s back.
“Of course she wouldn’t stay here! She’ll stay at the Brewpub with me and Hardison, and you’ll stay over so she gets amazing care, and gets better sooner so we can go hang on the ledges again.”
“Parker, I ain’t a vet,” Eliot called from the hall, grabbing the first aid kit he had stashed there.
“I don’t trust her with any of the vets here, and you’re a good doctor, and you’ll fix her right up. It’s not that serious.”
Eliot sighed, but continued towards the bird, who was set upon the coffee table in the living room. “I already agreed, but if it’s too bad, she has to go to a vet.”
“Okay,” Parker agreed with a nod. “But she stays at the Brewpub, and you stay while she heals.”
“Fine, whatever, Parker, let me see the bird.”
“Okay, Ms. Crow, be good for Eliot so he can make you better!”
The bird stared at Eliot.
Eliot stared at the bird.
With a small “wrock,” the wing in question was presented to Eliot.
~IiI~
And that’s how Leverage Inc. got a raven named Ms. Crow.
(“No, seriously, Parker, that’s a raven, not a crow.”
“Okay, man, tell us why.”
“It’s a very distinctive call.”
“And why do you know this?”
“Bird calls. There are tons of crows and ravens around. No one notices the noises they make unless it’s late, and even then they just yell at the birds to shut up through a closed window, usually with the curtains still drawn.”
“So the movies got that right?”
“Man, really?”)
Parker taught her how to say “Gryffindor” one year for Halloween, because they don’t have an Eleonore.
(It’s also how Eliot never quite managed to move back out from the loft above the Brewpub. Ms. Crow’s wing healed up just fine, but somehow his stuff just migrated over to the loft and never fully left again.
Parker gave Ms. Crow a few of her pieces of jewelry in thanks for the help.)
And that's a wrap for today. Someone tell me if I'm horribly misrepresenting ravens here, because I did super basic research for this. Although I'm pretty sure any animal Parker made friends with would be taught to thieve, be a thief, and/or like shinies because shinies.
As always, kudos, comments, and concrit welcome.
~Fins