“Alex!” A voice breaks through the merry chorus of chirps from within the Swablu enclosure, just the slightest bit too loud for sensitive, freshly hatched ears. Tiny clouds flutter and squeak in surprise at the newcomer, sending fluffy feathers scattering in a blizzard of white. Making it even more difficult for the sanctuary owner to be seen through the blur of swirling cotton. “You in here?”[break][break]

Completely aware that he’s speaking at a higher decibel than usual, Angelo calls out to Alexei again; his sense of volume skewed from the ringing that vibrates irritatingly in his ears, hearing muffled after his time spent in the Wingull aviary. [break][break]

It wasn’t often that Angelo came to help out at the Fortree Sanctuary. Usually his days were generously filled, kept busy with jobs and juggling social commitments. But on those rare days when he found himself with a clear schedule, it’s not uncommon for Angelo to find his way here, pulled in by the promise of good company and a growing intrigue for the bird pokemon that called the grounds home.
[break][break]

Today turned out to be a hell of a day to get pulled into lending a hand, however…
[break][break]

Feathers sticking into his clothes and hair, he closes the compound gate behind him as he steps fully into the Swablu hatchery. Some of the clumps of white-blue feathers on his person wiggles, revealing their identity to be tiny fluffy Wingull chicks that have stubbornly nestled into whatever nook they could perch themselves on the courier.
[break][break]

The one that’s made a nest out of his hood is the quietest, he notes, if only because it’s sleeping. While the one that’s found a home on his shoulder is by far the loudest, singing him a song in high-pitched cheeps in between little pecks of its beak against his earlobe. The little...
[break][break]

Partly blind and almost deaf, Angelo walks forward, only to stumble over something hard on the ground. “Ah- fuck!” He barks out a curse as he trips, barely managing to stop himself frpom falling as the chicks screech and flutter.
[break][break]

Looking down, ignoring the way a Swablu chick lands on his head, blue eyes squint at the shape he’d nearly fallen over as the birds shift over it. Revealing a familiar shape.
[break][break]

“Alex…? What the hell are you doing down there?”


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Blue eyes blink owlishly, watching as a face briefly appears only to become covered again by a wiggling swarm of fluff, before a grin splits across his features at Alex's 'plight'. “Just hold on buddy, I’ll save you.” Angelo proclaims in amusement, a bark of laughter – one that the Wingull chick on his shoulder attempts to replicate with an enthusiastic squark – spilling a tad too loud from his throat. His hearing still muffled from the previous enclosure, sensation not unlike if he’d shoved Swablu cotton buds into his ears. [break][break]

Angelo reaches out towards the buried Gym Leader as fingers emerge from the depths of fluff like a zombie hand breaking through the grave, withholding another round of laughter as he firmly snatches Alex’s palm, pulling before his friend's dragged under again.[break][break]

“That was a close one,” he adds, playfully sarcastic as he helps haul Alex to his feet from his fluffy prison with a grunt, not picking up on the tired cheep from the bundle in his hood as the jostling made it stir. “So, what the hell happened? I didn’t catch what you said…” To emphasise his point, a palm is pressed against his ear, as if attempting to knock the noise pollution out. [break][break]

“’cus it looked like you were napping on the job to me.” His lips curl, insolent.



[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“What d'you say?” He asks, voice rising to puncture through the squawking on his shoulder. His Wingull chick protesting loudly at the Swablu that attempts to pry it off its claimed perch, pecking in retaliation all the while pressing its fluffy body further against Angelo’s neck. Closer to his eardrum, too. “I can’t hear you! Think I’m permanently deaf!”[break][break]

With a hand, Angelo coaxes the Swablu away, encouraging it to fly back in Alexei’s direction so as to calm the bird on his shoulder down. It decides to roundabout mid-air, settling on his head, instead. At least the Wingull quietens.[break][break]

“Anyway…” Sighing, although less out of exhaustion and more out of relief for his ringing ears, Angelo nods a head back in the direction of where his previous enclosure lay. “I was looking for you to let you know I’m done – shh, we can all hear you, alright – in these guy’s enclosure. Everyone’s hatched and healthy, judging by their vocal cords.” A finger rises to scratch the bottom of a Wingull beak, shushing it when a squark threatens to interrupt.
[break][break]

“Thought I'd see if you needed a hand... Looks like I came by at the right time.”

[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Looks like the chicks love you, buddy.” [break][break]

His lips curl into something entirely too self-satisfied as he reaches out to take hold of one of the Swablu swarming Alex, fingers cradling its tiny fluffy body gently. [break][break]

Ignoring the squark of protest on his shoulder and the peck of a beak on the back of his neck, unable to resist a slight shift of his shoulders from the latter, Angelo carried the baby cloud away from Alex. “Stay here. You’ll be way comfier with your family.” He tells it, depositing it down in a nest with a small snoozing cluster of fellow Swablu. [break][break]

Angelo repeats the process a few more times, plucking chicks off Alex and putting them elsewhere. Only each time, another one sweeps in to take its place, continuing to flock around the Sanctuary owner. [break][break]

“This isn’t going anywhere,” he sighs, raising a brow as another round of cheeps begin to rise in volume. Set off by a breeze that sends the fragile, fluffy clouds tumbling. Angelo keeps hold of an armful of them. “Think you’re going to have to move in with them. Momma Alex.”


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

His hearing is still ringing a bit – or maybe he’s just getting used to being subjected to razor sharp pitch – but Angelo needn’t pick up all of what Alex is saying. The expressions as his friend wails over the circumstance of a million affectionate fluffy clouds, splits Angelo's mouth into a wild grin. He devolves into laughter at Alex’s predicament.[break][break]

“They fly the nest so fast,” comes a whimsical response to their fledglings being released so soon after hatching. It’s played off as primarily a joke, even if Angelo felt a small disappointment that the pests he’d personally witnessed hatch would be gone so soon. “They'll be fine. You, though? Good luck being their favourite perch for the week.”[break][break]

He wondered if he’d be able to fit in one more visit before then…. [break][break]

“Call me mad or deaf if it’s just me but…” Angelo muses, partly joking as he submits to the Wingull on his shoulder, no longer attempting to shush or discourage it from nuzzling into his shattered eardrum. “Are the Wingull starting to sound... In tune? Good? Can’t say I hate it.”
[break][break]
It was definitely just him.


[break][break]

+ Alexei Ivanov [break][break]

[attr="class","pokeclass"]