Cute. (Savvy)

[River Tseung]

Now that the weather was starting to cool down as autumn began to arrive, River was doing all he could to take advantage of whatever sunshine he could get. And so when the forecast called for clear skies and sun, he leaped outside and went exploring to see what critters he could practice his abilities on.

The pond was always a promising place, so he headed in that direction, hands in his pockets with a bright smile on his face as he nodded and greeted to anyone that passed by. He was happy, so happy, for no particular reason other than that he was alive and could experience such a nice, relaxing day.

He settled down by the water and looked into the trees, thinking for a moment before a good song came to mind to attract some little critters.

"Well, you dawned on me and you bet I felt it,
I tried to be chill but you're so hot that I melted.
I fell right through the cracks,
Now I'm trying to get back.

Before the cool dawn run out
I'll be giving it my bestest,
And nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention.
I reckon, it's again my turn,
To win some or learn some.

But I won't hesitate,
No more, no more.
It cannot wait,
I'm yours~!"

Soon enough, several squirrels were twitching their noses at him from the trees, and a couple chipmunks had gathered near his feet. River continued to sing, his smile unwavering as he enjoyed the company of his little friends.

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy had been quite happy just strolling around the Hammel campus after her classes, enjoying the nice day, with Eri perched on her shoulder for a while (usually he'd be sleeping in her pocket or backpack, but he'd woken up and decided it was nice enough). She was taken by surprise when Eri stiffened, as though responding to something, and she hurriedly asked, What?

But he didn't answer, instead scurrying down her arm (which made her twitch a bit with the tickling), and leaping away lightly, running as fast as he could. She was puzzled.

"Eriiiii," Savvy called after him, almost whining, as she tried to follow.

She got a curt reply of 'Music-' but that was all. So she went after him, and followed him until she found him, and several other adorable woodland creatures, gathered around one solitary human. It was incredibly cute, but Savvy was distracted by her jealousy. He'd stolen her Eri! And her people! He'd taken them from her! All she could hear from them was a sort of happy blankness, instead of their usual pointless chatterings.

Once she was close enough, she spoke to Eri telepathically again. Why are you over here? You never run away from me. She was obviously upset, and she managed to get through to the half-tailed chipmunk, who flicked his head in her direction.

'The man is singing, it's nice. It brings us to him.'

What did that even mean? Savvy pouted a little, still jealous, but shook her head to push the feeling away and approached the boy warily. "Hi. Um... what are you doing to them?" She asked, a little stilted.

[River Tseung]

River was distracted enough singing to his little friends that he didn't notice the girl approaching until she was too close for him not to see. He stopped singing and blinked up at her, a bright smile on his face. As soon as he stopped, all of the animals seemed to shake themselves out of a daze and slowly wandered back off to whatever they were doing.

"Hi!" he replied cheerfully back, not noticing her being upset. "Oh, I uh, it's my ability. Melodic animal manipulation." He disliked the word 'manipulation', because he hated to think he was being manipulative. He just liked to see the little creatures gather around! "As long as I can keep a rhythm going, I can keep these adorable little guys around." He continued to smile up at her until he noticed one little chipmunk wasn't leaving.

"Oh, well, you're a friendly guy, aren't you?" he chirped, reaching down his hand towards the creature. "I'm River, by the way!" he spoke brightly up at Savvy again. "I don't think we've met before." His grin was unwavering.

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy crinkled her nose as the boy mentioned the word 'manipulation.' She didn't like that idea. Even if she sometimes manipulated them, too, she did it with words, not meta voodoo. She wasn't fond of this guy - or, she wasn't, really, except that he seemed so upbeat and well-meaning that her train of thought faltered. Maybe he wasn't really 'manipulating' the way she thought of it.

Her eyes were narrowed, a little suspicious, but she was willing to form a tentative friendship. Besides, he'd said it was melodic manipulation, and the other critters and left once he'd stopped singing, but Eri was perfectly happy to be pet (something he was a little finicky about, since it wasn't a natural occurrence). That was probably some sort of sign. Still. Eri was her pet. She felt a little jealous that someone else had his attention.

But she pushed it aside and pushed her hands into her pockets, fidgeting a bit. "I'm Savvy. Bishop." She added, since the name was kinda known. "And that's Eri," she nodded to the half-tailed chipmunk, who was totally willing to climb into River's hand, despite Savvy's slight pout.

[River Tseung]

Oh, if only River could hear Savvy's thoughts! He did not mean to manipulate at all, and he would have cleared that up more if he had known how she felt about it. He really needed to think of a better way to phrase his ability. Because he was already hoping he would make a new friend out of this encounter!

But the little critter had half of his attention, and he smiled down at Eri as he stroked the adorable animal. It was weird for an animal to stick around after he was done singing, and he didn't realize why this one was different until Savvy introduced herself.

"Oh! A Bishop," he beamed, his attention back on her. "I've tried to learn all of you guys, but even I have a hard time keeping track." He liked to get to know people as well as he could, but thirteen or however many of them there were was a lot! "Oh! He's yours?" he asked, looking back down. "He's so cute! What happened to his tail?" He giggled at the critter crawled onto his hand, making sure not to lift it too high off the ground in case the chipmunk decided to jump off and hurt himself from falling.

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy was nothing if not fickle. And Eri had learned over the years that when she looked awkward he should do something cute. So he scurried up River's arm and up the back of his neck into his hair, his head peeking out. And yes. It definitely worked. Because now Savvy let out a little giggle, relaxing a bit.

"He was attacked by a hawk. I got him from an animal sanctuary that rescued him." She explained, fingers itching to pluck her pet back, but knowing Eri liked this guy so she probably should let him make friends. Still, she wanted something to pet. Glancing back to where the other critters had disappeared to, she scanned the trees for a squirrel, listening in for chatter.

There was one, he didn't seem too busy. "Hey," she called, catching his attention. "Can I just hold you for a little bit? Not long," she promised, earnestly. Yes, okay, she sounded kinda silly talking out loud, but she didn't really know this one - which was emphasized even more when she realized it was a girl. But she was patient, and didn't mind vaulting into Savvy's arms to let Savvy pet her a bit.

[River Tseung]

"Ahaha!" River giggled as the critter scampered up his arm and into the back of his hair, wiggling at the tickling sensation. This was so unusual! He usually had to be singing for something like this to happen, but it was far from unwelcome. And Savvy was laughing too, which made him look back up at her with a crinkle of happiness in his eyes.

"Oh, poor baby!" he gushed, feeling sympathy for the tiny creature. "I'm so glad he was alright. He's quite the character." Yes, it was strange for two people to be talking about animals as though they were humans, but River only found this as a sort of connection for the two of them, wondering if Savvy's ability was related to her behavior with them.

Oh, apparently so - River watched curiously as she seemed to speak up to the trees, and a few moments later one of the squirrels he had been singing to launched itself into the girl's arms. He let out a happy gasp. "You can talk to animals?" he asked excitedly. "That's so sweet!" River couldn't really communicate with them - only get them to do things - so her ability seemed amazing.

[Savvy Bishop]

The laughter was putting Savvy at ease, and she actually was starting to like the guy. Eri's positive thoughts were hard to ignore, and it was making her happy to hear him happy.

"He's quite the character."

Savvy giggled again, "Ahaha - yes he is!" She loved Eri, with a fondness probably a little above your average pet owner, since she could speak with him, more like an owner who'd had a pet all her life, even though she'd only have Eri for a few years. Their bond was special. Eri was surprisingly patient with her, and Savvy was completely over affectionate with him. But it worked for them.

She was petting the squirrel gently - taking care to follow the chattering that was telling her where a scritch was needed - as River looked to her in pleasant surprise. She blushed a little as he called it sweet. It was an interesting choice of words, and it gave Savvy that feeling like she was a girl and he was a boy, and... wait, no, she was just thinking that because he was being nice. She was so bad at these things.

"Thanks," she glanced away, cheeks pink, "It's not like I can talk to all animals, just some kinds." The word 'rodent' didn't usually go over too well, as she'd discovered thanks to girls who were terrified of mice thinking she was a bit of a freak. She tried to not mention that bit. "Like chipmunks and squirrels and hamsters and stuff. Some pets, too."

[River Tseung]

It was obvious the girl cared deeply for her little pet, and River could see why - already he was immensely enjoying the creature's company, almost as much as he did Oreo and Basil's, his dwarf hamsters. "I have a couple hamsters who'd probably love to meet him," he hummed happily, wondering if the two species would get along. Why not? They were both rodents, right?

He smiled as the squirrel in Savvy's hands reacted fondly to her scratching, tilting his shoulder down to allow Eri to settle back onto one of his hands so he could set him down. River was paying too much attention to the cute thing to notice the girl's blush, but he likely wouldn't have thought anything of it anyway.

"Oh really?" he asked curiously, blinking up at her explanation. "It's still super cool, sweetheart!" He tilted his head as she listed the various kinds of creatures, finding the similarities between them. "I bet they're fascinating to talk to," he grinned. "I wish I could know what the animals I work with are thinking!"

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy perked up at the mention of hamsters. She liked hamsters! They were part of her people! "He gets along with a lot of animals," she agreed. Eri was better at reading when animals didn't like him than Savvy was at reading people. But Eri still was a very friendly creature. He did best with pets, especially pet rodents, so hamsters were perfect.

Hearing some chatter from another squirrel a few yards away, Savvy recognized that her currently armful wanted to return to what she'd been doing, so she leaned down to let the squirrel bound away. She would've liked if the squirrel had stayed, but she didn't want to keep her away from her squirrel duties.

"It's still super cool, sweetheart!"

She blushed again, and mentally kicked herself for it.

"I bet they're fascinating to talk to. I wish I could know what the animals I work with are thinking!"

"I can't read their minds - well, not most of them." She tried to explain. "Actually, 'reading minds' isn't really the right word for it. It's more like I can understand their noises, and they can understand me. Except with Eri, and with some of our family pets, I can sometimes talk to them without speaking." That was probably confusing, but it was the best she had.

[River Tseung]

"Basil and Oreo are super friendly!" River chirped, beaming. "They'd all probably get along and be best friends." At least, so he liked to think. He always looked a things as optimistically as possible. "It'd be cool if you could like... 'Talk' to them, or however it is you communicate," he added a bit shyly. How cool would it be to get to know his little friends even better?!

He watched the squirrel run off, waving for the sake of being friendly to everything as it disappeared into the brush. Fortunately (or not, because he wouldn't have thought anything of it anyway), he didn't notice the effect his choice of wording was having on his new friend.

River listened curiously as she explained her ability, rubbing his cheek in thought. "That makes sense," he replied, tapping his lip. "Everyone communicates better with people they're more familiar with, so it makes sense it would be the same with animals too." Right? Yeah! Logic, he had it.

He stood with a small stretch, giving Savvy a dimpled smile for no real reason. "Well, I better go work on some homework I've been putting off for a while... But you should come over sometime and meet my hamsters!" he suggested, totally genuine in his invitation. "Room 211, come by anytime!"

[Savvy Bishop]

Savvy nodded at his suggestion. She liked the idea of Eri having more friends that she could talk to. He was a social creature, but living at home didn't let him meet many other animals that weren't just inhabitants of the forest around the Bishop house. "I'd like that!" She agreed, with a nervous smile.

And then she was nodding again as he reasoned out her power (she saw it that way too, so she didn't feel the need to correct him on anything), and again as he excused himself - she was nodding a lot. She felt silly, and it made her blush and get a little frustrated with herself: she wasn't a bobblehead.

But he'd given her his room number! She definitely blushed at that, though luckily it wasn't especially dark, despite how hot her face felt. "Y-yeah, okay." She managed to speak clearly, even with her embarrassment at her own silliness. And she stopped herself from nodding again.

[River Tseung]

"I would too!" River beamed, glad that his pets might have a new playmate. They needed more, in his opinion. But then again, he didn't think anyone ever had enough friends. He was a very social creature; he lived off of other people's happiness.

This time he did notice the little blush, but he didn't really think too much about it. "Awesome," he grinned, clapping his hands together. "See you around, then!" With that, and a happy wave, he skipped off towards the dorms, smiling from ear to ear at having made yet another new friend.