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Celeste Academy - Birdwatching with Adelaide

Added 2020-05-20 19:33:51 +0000 UTC

The Nouveau Birdwatchers' Club is one of those buildings that… It's hard to describe.

Carida's seen the building more than a few times on visits to Sifonia, and she's sometimes wondered what was inside it, but the entire time she'd thought she'd never have a definitive answer to that question beyond the glimpses she got through its windows as she passed by.

Well, she'd thought wrong, because the Birdwatchers' Club is exactly where Adelaide wants to meet. As it turns out, the inside of the Birdwatchers' Club building is… Very heavily bird-themed. She has a general idea of what to expect, but Carida's still taken aback by the sheer amount of bird paraphernalia on display as she steps into the lobby. There's even an oversized robin flying around the lobby, though it's a bit low… Isn't that risky?

"...Hey!" The robin shouts, sliding to a halt in front of her, and Carida immediately realizes that it's actually Adelaide. That hairstyle does make her look more than a little like a robin at first glance... "Did I keep ya waiting?"

This throws Carida off slightly; shouldn't she be the one asking that question? After all, Adelaide was running around the lobby, and even now she's bouncing in place. "N-No...? Not really, I just got here… Did I keep you waiting long, though?"

"Huh? Oh! Oh, no," Adelaide stops bouncing, and flashes a wide grin. "I've just arrived myself! I just don't like sitting still is all. Anyway, how's the clubhouse so far?"

"It's..." She can't quite find an adjective that properly encapsulates how she feels about this place, so she settles for the closest option. "...certainly new. " Adelaide gives her a curious look when she hears this, so she feels compelled to elaborate. "I don't think I've seen many places as dedicated to their owners' passion as this one. It's actually pretty cute!"

This gets another grin out of the robin girl. "I'm glad you like it! If you think this bit is dedicated, though, you ain't seen nothing yet—let's go down to the café and I can show you what a real birdwatcher's space looks like!"

When Adelaide leads her into the café, Carida forgets for a moment that she's not in a Western. It's got the décor for it, and there's even a giant bounty board right next to the door—except instead of dangerous criminals the board is full of pictures and descriptions of birds, and instead of being on their heads the prices posted are on good, recent photos of the birds in question. Also, the prices are in Flight Feathers, whatever those are.

"Ooh, ooh!" Adelaide rushes to the bounty board, her attention drawn by something. Her curiosity piqued, Carida follows, and finds it to be a picture of a bright orange bird. It's a fairly grainy picture, though, and the bounty posting it's attached to indicates that it's three years old and the club needs a replacement. The reward for a picture of the bird is 250 Flight Feathers… Is that high, or low? Glancing around, Carida finds it's the former; the closest reward to this is 175 Feathers.

Adelaide snaps a picture of the posting with her phone, then turns to Carida. "Oh, you're curious about this, huh? It's an orange bishop! It can wait, though; let's grab drinks first. I'll pay; I've got a ton of Feathers lying around, and I am technically your host." With that, she takes Carida by the hand and leads her toward the nearest table.

It turns out the club's passion for birds extends to the café menu as well; they're all named things like 'Christmas Frigatebird' and 'Baya Weaver Blast', and it takes Carida a moment to figure out what each of the items actually are. Sifting through the menu for a bit, she finally settles on something that seems promising: A caramel milkshake called the 'Sunbittern'. Adelaide hails a waitress, relays their orders to her, and then...

...silence. The energy Adelaide's had so far seems to have vanished. Carida attempts to ask a few questions, but the replies she gets are brief, and Adelaide never says something of her own accord. It's clear, however, that it's not for lack of trying; sometimes she opens her mouth to say something, but quickly quiets down again. She's also visibly growing more distressed with each attempt she makes at starting conversation.

After a while, she decides to ask. "...what's wrong, Adelaide?"

The birdwatcher sighs, staring into her nearly-finished drink. "Sorry, I'm just… not really good at conversation. Or at least, not conversation for conversation's sake, y'know? Like, I can do fine normally—You saw it back in the lobby—but when talking is the main thing…" She shrugs. "...you can probably tell."

Oh. If that's the case, then Carida thinks she's got a pretty good idea. "Well… Why don't we go looking for an orange bishop, then?"

"...huh?" Adelaide raises her head, blinking at the offer.

"You're clearly uncomfortable here, so why don't we take the date somewhere you're more comfortable?"

Adelaide's smile and energy return so fast it almost gives Carida whiplash. "...alright! Though the area that picture was taken in is a bit… into the forest, I guess? And looking for a specific bird species is really time-consuming, so I'm not gonna trouble you too much with that." She rises from her seat, gently pushing her empty glass aside. "Tell you what, though: let's head to the club garden. There's a ton of interesting species there, I think you'll love it!"

She says it with such confidence and energy that Carida can't help but feel some of it spill over into her, even if she's a little disappointed they're not gonna go hunting for orange bishops. It really is a pretty bird... "Alright, then, let's get going."

The Birdwatchers' Club garden is, in a word, pleasant. It's more akin to a small park attached to the back of the clubhouse, with its only visible boundary being the forest to… Carida guesses it's to the south. It's very airy, and absolutely chock-full of flowers. The air is full of birdsong, too, which manages to be pleasant in spite of the very wide variety of singers pitching in. In fact, she notes, it's a very good place for a picnic. If only she'd brought the picnic things… Oh well.

They take a seat at one of the benches around the garden, and Adelaide immediately starts talking. At first she just points out some of the birds that fly by, or that land near—or, in some cases, on—them, but soon she's telling Carida about herself. About how she's actually pursuing a degree in photography, about how she's got two younger sisters she's matching her hairstyle with, and about how she finds chatting via text less awkward than face-to-face conversation.

It's almost relaxing, listening to her talk—right up until she abruptly stops and starts staring at one of the nearby bushes. Carida follows her gaze, and finds that there's a small, turquoise bird on the bush. At this distance it's indistinguishable from any of the other blue birds that have shown up so far, but there's clearly something special about it from the way Adelaide's gazing at it.

"...Carida," the birdwatcher starts, quiet as a mouse. "You wanna see something really cool?"

"U-Um..." Carida can't deny that the sudden shift in mood has kind of scared her a little. Ultimately, though, she decides to go with it. "...sure...?"

"Then follow me. Quietly, please; we don't wanna scare that bird off." Once that's said, Adelaide begins to approach the bush, slow as can be. It's rather unusual, considering how fearless the rest of the garden's birds have been, but Carida doesn't question it as they draw closer to the mysterious blue bird. Suddenly, Adelaide comes to a halt.

"...okay, this should be close enough…" She holds up her hand. "Carida, can you see the markings on this bird?"

Now that she can actually see the bird, instead of just looking at it, it becomes clear to Carida that the bird has black markings around its eyes and on its throat and wings. "Yeah, I can. What's so special about this bird?"

"Well, that is a blue dacnis." There's a brief pause, and then Adelaide begins to explain, likely realizing that Carida's got no idea what's so special about the bird in front of them right now. "They're… Not exactly unheard of, but they are kind of rare, and they only show up in the heart of the woods. For one to show up all the way out here… Now that is unheard of. We should probably take a picture."

"...oh, I see..." Honestly, Carida was thinking of taking a picture even if Adelaide hadn't suggested it; it's certainly a very pretty bird, and she'd like to keep some reminder of it around. She's about to take out her phone when Adelaide presses something into her hand: It's a small, very heavily enchanted camera.

"Here, why don't you do the honors? I can tell by the look on your face that you really want a picture. I'll send it to you afterward."

"Alright..." She raises the camera to her face, pointing it at the blue dacnis. There's clearly some sort of stabilization enchantment on it, because the picture remains clear even when she's moving, but it's unnecessary; years of cooking have given her remarkably stable hands. Once she's satisfied with the bird's presence in the viewfinder, she presses the shutter, and the camera takes the shot with a satisfying click. Unfortunately, though, the bird hears the camera's click. It turns to the girls, belts out a string of tsips at them, then takes off...

...only to land on Carida's head, letting out another series of tsips as it does. It's a very strange feeling; she can feel its weight on her head, and she's seen the little passerine's claws clear as day in the camera's viewfinder, but it's nowhere near as painful as she imagines it's supposed to be. In fact, it's completely painless.

Before she can contemplate the peculiarities of the bird's position, though, Adelaide gently takes the camera out of her hands. She's trying her hardest not to burst out laughing, and her hands shake like an oak tree in a hurricane as she takes the shot. Once the shot's done, she hands the camera back so Carida can see it. "...so, how is it?"

"..." It's a really cute shot, actually. Sure, a bit on the silly side—her own bemused expression gets a chuckle out of her—but still pretty cute! "I like it! Could you toss me a copy of this afterwards as well?"

"Sure thing! Actually, tell ya what: Why don't we go take more photos? Who knows, that little hat you got there might even expand!" She caps the statement off with a little laugh. "Also—I've noticed that I've done way too little listening today, so I'd love it if you could share some of your own stories and stuff as we go!"

Well… Carida finds herself hard-pressed to refuse the offer, so she lets Adelaide lead her around the garden, recounting some of her adventures (and misadventures!) in cooking: The mana frisbees she used to make in lieu of bowls when she was just getting the hang of summoning, that time she managed to make a bouncing pie that almost wrecked half the kitchen before she and her roommate had managed to get it under control.

She tells her about the more mundane things, too: The work she does as a pastry chef, the table d’hôte parties she volunteers at. It's all great fun, and she loses track of time as they zip from place to place to take more photos.

True to Adelaide's assumption, the blue dacnis on Carida's head has gathered quite the company by the time they decide to wrap it up. She doesn't know the exact number, but she thinks there's around twenty birds in total hanging out on her head and shoulders, chirruping away. They stick with her as they pass through the clubhouse, and only leave once she and Adelaide are out in front of the building. She's kind of sad to see them go.

"Right," Adelaide begins, placing her hands behind her head. "That was a blast, wasn't it? Sorry again about the whole café thing, by the by."

"Don't worry, it's fine! This was pretty fun, so don't apologize!"

The birdwatcher breathes a sigh of relief. "Alright, if you say so. Say, I know we both go to Celeste, but… We're in different dorms, right?"

Carida isn't totally sure where this is going, but she's got a hunch. "I think so, yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was wondering: If any particularly interesting birds show up at your windowsill or wherever, could you pass me pictures of them?"

Yup, that hunch was spot-on. "Yeah, not a problem. They're, uh, not gonna be as good as the ones that camera of yours takes, though."

"Fine by me! I don't really care about the quality, so long as I can print it and stick it on my wall… Anyway, it's looking like this is the bit where we part ways, so..."

"Oh," Carida's brow rises. "You're not heading home?"

"Nah, not just yet. I've still got work to do keeping the Club's records and stuff up to date. I'd invite you to join me, but I'm sure you're tired and it's the most menial work you'll ever see so, like, forgive me for not dragging you through that."

"Oh, okay. Sounds like I should let you get to that, then. I'll see you around?"

"I sure hope so! It'd be nice if you stopped by here every once in a while, too; different birds start showing up as the year goes along. In fact, I think we're getting some migratory birds stopping here next week, so..."

"I'll see what I can do. See you!" With that, Carida turns around and starts to head for home—but not before looking over her shoulder to see Adelaide waving her off, her arm moving so fast it's almost a blur.

Head Witch Note

What do you think? Once again, we're so happy to have Stella join our writing team... And Adelaide was just so cute. You'll be able to see more of Stella's writing soon as she joins Summer At The End of the Universe as a co-writer! She'll be helping out with Quinn and Hanna's route especially. Look forward to it!