8:15 am Month X Day ◇⌒
Piko must have been good at running, or, at least, hiding, as the white haired teen was nowhere in sight. "Piko-kun? Piiiiiiikoooo-kuuun?" Oliver wove through the forest, ignoring the sounds of Len's protests of 'come back' and 'we should leave him a lone for a bit!'. If Oliver wanted to find the elusive Piko, Len needed to be quiet to hear any sounds...
Despite the older boy's athleticism, Oliver's body was smaller and naturally nimble. While he wasn't familiar with the forest, he was better than most when it came to running through underbrush and over logs. James did a good job of both scouting and distracting Len, too. "Sorry, Len-kun, but Piko-kun is really upset...! James, distract Len-kun, please!"
With the sound of rapidly fluttering wings and garbled cries of 'get off!', Oliver picked up his pace, dashing over tree roots like he was being chased by rabid animals. However, since he was moving so quickly, he failed to notice a long object stretched taut between two trees... With a small 'oof,' the blonde boy tripped and was quickly picked back up by the offending teen.
"Sorry," was all Piko said, wincing slightly at the sharp pain in his tail. Not putting Oliver down, he carried him up a stack of fallen logs onto a tree. The logs were leaning against a standing tree, much taller and thicker than the rest. The blonde boy took the hint and scrambled up a tree, not stopping until he found a sturdy branch. The white haired teen soon joined him, so they sat together, fifteen feet off the ground. "Let me explain myself..."
"Explain what?" Oliver was curious to know, hearing James's twittering in the distance. He felt bad for ditching Len like that, but he didn't need to get angry at Piko! Or, maybe he did... Only listening to Piko could tell.
Piko hesitated, looking to the ground. His tail dangled, swaying slightly in the morning breeze. "About my creation, my failed interactions with people, and my self-inflicted isolation."
Without waiting for Oliver's response, Piko smiled grimly and began. "I was created. I sang. People liked me as they would like any other Vocaloid, but I was happy to get some recognition. However, there were some people in particular that were very... Businesslike, hungry, yet smooth and charismatic. But they aren't very straightforward. They'll imply something but won't say it outright.
"I never understood them. Their roundabout ways confused me. I looked like a fool. Suddenly, I was being taken advantage of. Anything I said was ridiculed. It was a horrible feeling, Oliver."
Oliver waited for a moment before replying. "I'm sorry to hear that, Piko-kun." He murmured, his hand reaching toward his. "But you aren't helping yourself, either. The purpose of this trip was to open up and meet friends. You aren't really doing that."
APiko remained silent, neither accepting nor refusing Oliver's hand. It dragged on for a few minutes. "Two boys, both younger than me, have more maturity than I do." He said half-aloud, wry.
He remembered the time, which was only a few days ago, though it seemed like many years have passed, he picked Oliver up while he was asleep and took him inside. The swirling and tugging feeling in his stomach was unlike anything he felt before; parental instinct. Yet, Oliver was being more logical than he was.
Piko's tail whipped out, but didn't hit the blonde. Instead, it wrapped gently coiled on his torso, as an arm wrapped around his waist. Oliver was pulled into a one-armed hug by the least likely person on the planet. He closed the space by leaning his head on the older boy's shoulder, trying to get a glance at the other's expression. It seemed neutral as always, but much lighter than it was before. His staticky headphones hummed in content.
"Sorry for the sob story. But wounded people...have damaged pasts." Piko apologized. "Here. Let's get you down."
But before Oliver could jump and land on the logs they climbed on, Piko whipped his tail and wrapped it around the branch they were sitting on. Oliver was then hoisted by Piko from beneath his arms, and Piko eased himself off the branch. His USB tail was somehow able to support both of their weights, however slight they were.
With careful coordination, Piko transferred Oliver from his hands to his legs, shortening the distance even further. With just Piko's tail alone, it took off five feet. With his legs was another two or three feet off. But that still left around half the distance to jump, and that didn't seem too appealing...
And then he was being lowered even more. Piko's tail was now almost twice his body length at around ten feet. "Wha-How-?"
"My tail is retractable," his satisfaction, while minimal, was still evident on Piko's face. "It extends to ten feet. I usually keep only a few feet out at a time, so I don't snag it on anything. A Vocaloid is a strange thing."
Oliver didn't know what to think. How did Piko, well, hide it? It was freaky, yes, but really cool at the same time. He basically had ten feet of rope with him at all times, which he could control as perfectly as a monkey's prehensile tail. "B-Blimey..."
"Yeah..." Piko was suddenly very embarrassed. "I don't know where it goes either, so, um, let's go find Len...Len-kun."
"Okay!" Oliver whistled, and soon James descended onto the extended finger with fluttering yellow wings, his long toes latching onto the appendage. "Find Len-kun." James recognized the command and obeyed, bobbing his little head in a direction, and followed. The blonde reached into his pocket and produced a few cracked sunflower seeds, as well as a few Piko couldn't immediately identify.
Piko walked a bit slower than the younger boy, listening to Oliver affectionately coo and praise James in English. James twittered in response, contently eating the offered seeds.
It wasn't long until they found a disheveled, slightly angry Len. After cursing the bird (akuma no tori!) they returned to their cabin. Strangely, though, Len was silent, which worried Oliver and made Piko anxious, like he was caught stealing cookies but wasn't punished.
*crawls out of pit* I'M ALIVEEEEEEE *flops* somewhat. Excuse my absence, and the fact that this temporary non-hiatus is, well, temporary. I'll be back to hiatus-ing after this until Thanksgiving, then I'll be available again for Christmas + New Year's, and for major holidays + summer vacation (possibly). A thousand excuses and apologies!
But back to the story at hand...
I'm sorry that Piko's son story is really... I don't know how to describe it. Cliché? Mary Sue-ish? Desperate for pity/pity inspiring/pity seeking? But that's a way someone gets damaged, and how I thought Piko would be scarred by. It sort of contrasts how his real voice provider Piko was encouraged by his mother to pursue singing, but with Utatane (Vocaloid) Piko was created, he was falsely lead on/'encouraged.'
I realized how convenint it was that James could understand English... Let me write down a list of them, just for fun.
(The fact that he even has a list of words...where in the real world, birds follow no command. They have no master XD)
(I guess this is like a little head canon. Maybe James is like an android-bird? #Birdloid confirmed)
Headcanon: Teaching James isn't too tough. Clearly repeating the word desired along with offerings of seeds usually does the trick, in making James associate the word with its respective object. With names, James learns them faster if he likes the name bearer. He also only responds to Oliver, unless Oliver is around.
Commands will be described in their section.
Distract! (Accompanied by name): Peck and fly at the target. If the name of the target isn't known by James, Oliver would point.
Oliver puts a shelled sunflower seed on a string and swings it around, so James would have to 1.) Get to the seed and 2.) Peck the shell to get the insides
*whistle*: Return to Oliver. Oliver whistles while holding a seed, and releases James from his cage until Oliver can whistle without the use of a seed.
Find _: Find an object/person. Oliver hides seeds with trial objects and sends James to find them until he associates can without the use of seeds.
Away with you!Oliver thinks it's too mean to say 'go away'): Leave. Oliver throws a seed far away from himself.
Stay: Stay at a place. Oliver sets a pile of seeds in front of James and leaves the room.
Oliver: The second thing James learned
James: The first thing James learned.
Len: Taught to James during car ride
Piko: Same as above
Good night: Go to sleep (James wakes up earlier than Oliver does, so there's no need for Oliver to tell him to wake up)
Unusual in the fact that Oliver would cover James's cage with a cloth to simulate darkness (nightfall) instead of using seeds.
Sing: Oliver gives a seed each time James makes a chirp when he says the command.
Behave: Be quiet/Don't fly around. Oliver's rare stern expression alone makes him like an alpha wolf: intimidating and in charge. James learned that when his cheerful owner is serious, it's time to stop fooling around. (Related command: Stop)
Various praises: Oliver's friendly expression and words, along with yummy sunflower seeds, are always enough to make James feel loved and appreciated.
Various facial expressions: James figured out himself that he doesn't get as much praise or as many smiles when Oliver is angry or sad.
(Name) accompanied with sad/angry face: Oliver didn't teach him this command, nor does he know about it, but James leaves little 'presents' (sunflower seed shells, twigs, molted feathers, and droppings) for the name provided.
Various other learned words: Seed/food, bandage, hat, Vocaloid, bird, Master, (holidays), hot/cold, nest, nice/mean, various Japanese honorifics (but no other words)
Demon bird!
