Crumbs [Ruiza]

The park wasn't Chisato's favorite place to be, but sitting by the fountain was a good way to spend an afternoon. He took a deep breath, staring at the water as it flowed from a marble cherub's jar. He never understood why cherubs were always carved as fat little babies. He'd never met a fat little baby cherub. In the midst of his pondering, Chisato threw out some crumbs to the nearby birds.

"HEY!"

He ignored the gruff voice, tossing out a few more crumbs. "HEY!" Chisato groaned as he looked up to see Despair trying to nudge his way through a crowd of pidgeons. "Stupid shits. Now I'm going to starve. Are you enjoying this? Huh? Do you want me to starve?" Long black hair was caught in the breeze as he stood to shoo the pidgeons away.

"You can't die anymore than I can. What did I ever do to get stuck with you for eternity? You're worse now than you were in that jar."

The crow glared at him with a mouthful of crumbs. "These are stale. Are you trying to kill me with stale bread? I get it. I'm not good enough for fresh bread." Despair tilted it's bird head to glare at him harder.

It wasn't easy dealing with such a negative attitude all the time. Chisato knew that he should have been able to brush off the bird's comments, but he still couldn't. "No...I'm not trying to kill you. Either eat the bread or let the pidgeons have it. You can't have it all." A pidgeon landed back down, trying to decide whether to fight a talking crow for a bit of bread. It would be interesting to see who would win...

A few dark feathers had fallen from the crow's wings when he waved them at the advancing pidgeon. "Oh great. Now my feathers are falling out. That's my luck. I might as well give up. My feathers are all I had..." The bread crumbs had been forgotten for the moment as the crow lamented about his feathers. The pattern was always the same. Feathers would fall out until none were left.

Chisato lifted his head, looking up at the sky. It was a clear blue without even a wispy cloud. The sky had been just as clear the day that he'd been released from that prison. He couldn't help feeling his own nature swell within his chest, hope brought on by that sky. He sat back down on the edge of the fountain. A beautiful day was worth listening to Despair whine.

Ruiza had run some more errands between heaven and his home. He still hated the fact that he needed to pop back for check ups and meetings about the war. The fox had little interest in the war, other than the fact it could make money for his halfway house. So using this opportunity the man had stocked up on some more artifacts that he did not need, with the hope's they'd be worth some value to sell to hell. The large bag with these items in, lay over his shoulder, slightly heavy but he was coping.

Today he decided on a nice shortcut through the park, it was a lovely day after all and he wanted to see some of the blossoms he so rarely saw in the slums. Just at a comfortable pace as he looked around the beautiful scenery. Heading towards the fountain now deciding just to stop and soak up the sun, he soon saw the large collection of pigeons and the man there quite clearly talking to a crow. "Hey....that crow is scaring all the pigeons...." He smiled a little as he could see them wanting the breadcrumbs but not quite being brave enough to approach. He wished he had his own to offer the birds. "Oh wait....is he hurt?" Soon noting the crows feathers were pooling around him a little, hoping he wasn't now as that wouldn't be too good, especially if it could have passed on to other birds, he thought. "I might have something in my bag...." He found a bench to set it down on, rummaging between the heavenly jewels and relics for one with some sort of healing properties.

The sound of friendly voice made Chisato look around. “Ahh, I’m sorry.” He returned that little smile, bowing his head as he motioned toward the crow. The other man didn’t have a chance to say much before the crow spoke up. “Listen to that. People talk about me like I’m not even here.” The bird made a low cawing sound before he turned his attention toward the new arrival. “Concerned for my health, but no…I’m not good enough to be spoken to.”

Chisato looked apologetic as he waved a hand. “There really isn’t anything you can do for him…” It was difficult to explain what was happening. Despair was already making his way over to the young man. “Jealous? He wants to help me and not you. Not that it’ll matter…I’ll just die anyway.” The crow moved closer, hopping up on the bench to peer into Ruiza’s bag. “What’s in there?”

It was hard for Chisato to stand there and watch, but he was hesitant to step closer to the other man. “If he’s bothering you, push him away.” Despair was already trying to stick his beak right down into that bag to see what he could pull out for himself. “I can’t control him.” The pidgeons, on the other hand, was completely enjoying having the crow distracted.