Who are you and what have your planet's people done with the real Shen?

[nomen_est_numen]

[action]

[Anyone who's known Shen for more than, oh, say, thirty seconds, would never expect to see him doing what he's doing, now.

He's in a perfume store. That isn't the strange bit. The strange bit is that he's assembling shelves. He's been sweeping and assembling shelves and re-stocking merchandise all day. Y'see, someone spotted that that giant bird EVO was him--kind of hard not to, with that colour scheme--and called him out on it. And he agreed to fix whatever he could fix.

One might wonder if he's feeling well or got another blow to the head or if someone's holding his feather-conditioning powder hostage.

One could ask...]

Comments

[Text]

[trustycrowbar]

shen, what the hell are you doing over there?

did you lose a bet or something?

[If Shen looks around, he'll find the sender of that text across the street at a half-rebuilt cafe. Gordon smirks and waves, and a few seconds later.]

you know, it's about lunchtime.

if you can tear yourself away from your indentured servitude for an hour, i'll pay.

[nomen_est_numen]

[He doesn't so much look around as the movement catches his eye. It's still a pretty sparsely-frequented area, after all, with road cones and tape blocking traffic and signs detouring cars and pedestrians.]

[He takes a moment to reply, leaning the pole that he was busy screwing pegs into against one shoulder. Huh. Looks like his feathers really do carry enough electrostatic charge to operate a touchscreen.]

I'll be over as soon as I finish this thing.

[It takes another fifteen minutes, but once he's finished assembling the thing he pauses briefly to speak with the woman who is clearly the owner of the place, gesturing toward Gordon's cafe. After that, he picks and flaps his way across the wrecked street to the cafe.]

[trustycrowbar]

[Gordon is sprawled back on a not-quite-pristine metal cafe chair.]

Hey. Last thing I expected, was to see you over there helping to rebuild... Have a seat, I haven't even ordered yet.

[nomen_est_numen]

[He does so, finding another chair to turn round backwards and sit on. His feathers and robes are a bit dirty and he looks visibly tired, but he manages a wry half-smile anyway.]

True, it isn't my usual choice for spending time. Still, I was spotted as being the giant bird-monster that helped to level this part of town and when I was requested to help with repairs, I... found myself saying yes... just because I wanted something that... mundane to do, after all of this.

[trustycrowbar]

I know what you mean. It's good to not have the fate of the city hanging over our heads for once.

[Their orders are taken, Gordon's with coffee, of course, which he gratefully drinks of.]

I think you guys had a curse: "May you live in interesting times." Hmn, I think we both know exactly what they mean by that, now.

[nomen_est_numen]

[The server returns with Shen's tea, which he drinks by the somewhat odd expedient of sticking one end of a straw in the drink and the other end in his beak.]

We're a bit roundabout with our curses, it's true. [sipp] And this is a bit beyond even those rather vague parameters.

[trustycrowbar]

So spending a day rebuilding... [He squints across the street to see the name of the shop.] "La Fleur Truand," really? is a blessing by definition. Means nothing's going to hell in a handbasket.

[nomen_est_numen]

[Shen has absolutely zero fluency in French and has no idea what the sign means so he lets that bit fly by. He does, however, make a rueful sound before drinking more tea.] I suppose it is, by definition, but it doesn't feel like much of a blessing. Or smell like one.

[Every once in a while the wind shifts and one can tell he accidentally dropped an entire shelf of merchandise....]

[trustycrowbar]

[He's thankful he's upwind, actually. While perfume is not the worst thing one can smell like, he's starting to wonder why Shen isn't dizzy from it by now. He shrugs.]

It washes off. Though with that many feathers it may take you a week to stop smelling like waterlily and sandalwood or whatever that is.

[nomen_est_numen]

[Shen had been dizzy from the smell earlier but he's gotten used to it by now.]

Hm. Or perhaps I could sell some of these feathers. [He scratches his head with one foot--thankfully not wearing any metal--and a feather comes loose. He sighs and sticks it into the Perrier-bottle-flower-vase.]

[trustycrowbar]

You're not molting, are you?

[Politeness of asking aside, he looks a little concerned now.]

Is that even a thing that happens to you? I mean, it IS summer now.

[nomen_est_numen]

I... don't think it's typical this early in the year, but my recollection on that point is still a little foggy. More likely it's the stress and the heat.

[Why he's drinking hot tea is a question for the ages. Maybe iced tea isn't a thing where he comes from...]

[trustycrowbar]

[The same reason people drink hot coffee to cool off in summer. Gordon takes another sip.]

Well, the stress is off for now... we've got some time to decompress and think about stuff. [Like their clumsy squabbles over a particular blonde fox girl. God. In a way he STILL doesn't want to think about that.]

[nomen_est_numen]

[Yeeaahh, birds are like that. Squabbly, that is.]

Rather a lot of things to think about, yes. [He stirs the tea with the straw.]

[Action]

[stinglikeabat]

Shen? You have a job?

[And one involving menial labor at that! He'd always thought he'd be more of a desk jockey sort of person. Sort of peacock.]

Re: [Action]

[nomen_est_numen]

[Shen only noticed Joachim by the enormous shadow he casts. Yanno. Before he spoke. He looks up from sticking tiny price labels to a shelf]

Hm? Oh, hullo, Joachim. Yes, I suppose it is a job of sorts, but I'm not being paid for it. Rather, this is one of the places that got levelled when I was a giant monster fighting other giant monsters. They asked be to help rebuild. It's... relaxingly mundane after all this.

[stinglikeabat]

[You wouldn't think a guy with nothing but big feathers and talons to work with would be able to manage that. Shen is truly a fowl of many talents.]

You don't say! That's certainly big of you! I'd been wondering what that scent around the apartments was.

[nomen_est_numen]

It is? [He blinks. He hadn't considered that. He smiles slightly.]

Oh. Yes. Sorry about that, the smell should clear out soon. I hope.

[stinglikeabat]

There's no need to apologize! I rather like it! Actually, that's why I'm here right now!

Do you know if it's one of these in particular, or is it more of a blend? [He gestures to the shelves around. Carefully. There's a time and place for breaking things, and this is not it.]

[nomen_est_numen]

Er, it was ah...

[He looks at the shelf holding more of the same kind of scent oils he'd dropped earlier--twelve different kinds of scents ranging from candy apple to fresh ocean to opium and musk.]

All of these, really. I'd... dropped a box of them. [His gaze flickered about the room.]

[stinglikeabat]

[Joachim starts going through the shelf.] Well. Maybe I'll just get one or two!

[Anything is an improvement over the smell of wet feathers and sweaty bat that's been wafting all over the apartment. Anything.]

Any thoughts? You're the expert here, after all!

[nomen_est_numen]

[Actually, he's not and he blinks cluelessly at the bottles for a moment. Then shrugs. He might as well go for something he likes... the smell of wet feathers and sweaty bat really has been getting overpowering.]

Here we are. [He plucks a couple bottles out of the display, which turn out to be the aforementioned 'fresh ocean' and ... 'lilac.' What. Lilac is totally not a girly scent....]

[stinglikeabat]

[This is a man who runs around dressed as a butterfly for a living, he's not judging one single bit re: the lilac. Although speaking of judgement!]

Those look good, whatever they are!

By the way, I heard you've been fighting with Gordon lately. What's all that about?

[Shen will never escape the soap opera gossip circle his life has become. Never.]

[nomen_est_numen]

[He really should be used to it--any royal court is just a live-action soap opera. Maybe he just doesn't remember it that well, yet....]

[He actually winces briefly.]

That... well, I wasn't in my right mind at the time. I was fevered and worked up and we ended up in a ridiculous brawl.

[He's probably heard tell of how Shen became a wild, flapping, incoherent ball of feathery rage....]

It's... more or less behind us, now.

[stinglikeabat]

Glad to hear it!

...I'm a little sorry I missed it, though. I've always wondered how you can fight with all those feathers in the way!