Chapter Text
Thomas bounced outside into the spring air to play without a care in the world. Remi chattered happily about all the things they could do today. “we could dig up some worms, or play explorer, or -“
"What’s that?!?” Self preservation shoved in front of Remi to voice his concern. Remi never minded. Virge’s input was never fun like Remi’s but they all knew to listen to his concerns immediately.
Remi noticed what Virgil had seen. It was a small red thing laying about a foot away from the house below the window. Remi was the embodiment of curiosity, especially for nature, and the pull of the mystery was strong.
Remi’s voice also took on a louder, pushy quality “look at that! What does it look like? What does it feel like? We have to touch it! Go grab it!”
“NO” Virgil shouted even louder. Thomas already knew that Self-Preservation would win this shouting match, but that pull was strong.
Self Love looked at Remi and Virgil and found a middle ground. “It isn’t moving. Why don’t we get a closer look, but Remi, we don’t want to touch unknown objects. “
Thomas inched closer to it but stayed far enough away that even if he tripped and fell he still wouldn’t be close enough to touch it accidentally.
“It’s a bird! It’s so still. It’s dead isn’t it? That’s sad. What killed it? Did it die of old age? Or was it’s life tragically cut short? What does an old bird look like? Did a cat get it? Did a bigger bird get it? Did it die of sickness? “ Remi chattered away.
“GERMS?” Virgil was in full protective swing.
“yeah we aren’t touching it if it has germs,” Janus assured Virgil and Thomas.
“We don’t know it was sick,” Remi pouted
“We don’t know it’s wasn’t,” Virgil countered.
“We could gather evidence! Its a mystery! An autopsy would be very helpful! What if lots of birds start dying? We should prepare!” Remi said.
‘You just want to see what is inside of it” Virgil replied, still anxious.
Self Love heard them both and settled the debate as usual.
“Father will know what to do. If there is a problem we should tell him, and he will know if it is dangerous.”
Remi broke into a huge grin, “Lets go!!”
Virgil relaxed at the suggestion and the agreement. Father knew what was safe, he would handle it.
Thomas ran back into the house. He shouted,
“Father! Father! There’s a bird outside! Is it dangerous? Is it sick? I think it’s dead. If it’s not dead can we help it? Can I touch it? What’s the inside look like? “
Thomas didn’t notice the slight flash of exasperation and surprise that popped up on his father’s face every time he mentioned something was dead. If father had asked about it, he would have seen Thomas's mother's influence in the reasoning. He would have said, “their spirit is in heaven now and their body will return to dirt which the plants will eat and then the energy goes to new life!”
Through Remi and his mother, he was very comfortable with death and decay. It was a beautiful cycle.
Meanwhile his father rose to examine the bird for himself. The adult could easily identify the broken neck and said “It’s dead and probably not sick, but don’t touch it just in case.”
“awww man” Thomas expressed his disappointment. His father signed and said, “your mother left some latex gloves and a scalpel. Be very careful not to cut yourself but if you do come find me immediately. Also don’t take it inside. “
Thomas lit up, “really?”
“yes really, retrieve me when you have sated your curiosity.”
Gloved and ready, Thomas examined the scene of the crime. There was a smudge on the window above the bird and nothing else out of the ordinary around. He slowly approached and picked up the bird. Even through the gloves, it was so soft! There was no blood he could see. He examined the outside. The head was very floppy which made Virgil shudder uncomfortably, although he couldn’t say why. The wings were stiff, but beautiful, colored a vibrant red. When Thomas was ready to open the bird up, Remi said,
“Is the blood going to splatter? Spurt? Squish out? Do birds have blood?“
“Hold it away from you. We don’t want to get blood on us.” Janus instructed.
Thomas put it down just in his reach and tried to cut it open and only succeeded in getting a bunch of feathers on the scalpel. He wiped it on a paper towel and pushed a little harder. The skin split but there was only a tiny bit of blood on the scalpel. Remi would have lots of guesses as to why but currently he was too excited to see the inside. Janus was satisfied they would not get blood on them, so they got closer and started the dissection in earnest.
Thomas and Remi had so much fun! There were so many muscles. Thomas identified the little intestines and the stomach that must have been the sack connected above it. There was a liquidy mass in between the two that Thomas would have to ask about, but the best part was the heart. It was tiny and red and amazing. He had no idea that birds had a heart that looked like a miniature human heart. They knew they wouldn’t be able to keep it but Remi used his power in the mindspace to whip up a replica and put it in a jar.
They called their father back out and he pulled the gloves off inside out and wiped off Thomas's hands with alcohol wipes after checking for cuts. While this was happening, Thomas asked his father about the liquidy part.
Father replied, “I would assume it is the liver; bird anatomy is similar to human anatomy. “
“oh. OH! how do you think it died?"
His father gave a long suffering sigh and pointed to the smudge on the window, “It flew into the window and hit its head.”
Thomas was silent, thinking. His father sent Thomas inside to wash his hands while he got rid of the bird. The sides were uncomfortable at the pronouncement, but Remi was truly stuck on it.
“It hit the window? Why did it do that?” Remi questioned the other sides.
Janus tried his best to explain, “it didn’t know the window was there. To it, it was just flying along and hit an invisible barrier.”
“Can we tell the birds about the window?” Remi asked.
“When you learn to speak bird,” Janus answered calmly.
“Can we cover the window so they know they can’t fly through it?” Remi continued.
“Father wouldn’t be able to see out the window. We might get in trouble.” Virgil warned.
“We could cover it in something see-through? Something that showed the birds they couldn’t fly through it but Father could still see through.” Remi pondered, then gasped, “If we covered the window with some kind of netting design, they would avoid it! Oooooo, a spider web for Virgil! That would look so cool!” Remi bounced up and down, while Virgil blushed. They both looked to Janus.
“If Father was okay with it, then I can’t think of any problems. Virgil? “ Janus said.
“I don’t see any danger in it.” Virgil replied.
And they did. Father provided some black paint and Thomas painted a spider web with the center in the top corner. It came out a bit lop-sided but it worked perfectly and no more birds hit the window at all.