- having to set up a pulley system to get him in and out of his aviary because otherwise he would just savage us
- similarly, all of the ways he then outsmarted us: squeezing behind his cage and the aviary mesh to get the treats instead of going inside, going inside for a second and then hopping out before we could catch him
- out and backs and round the blocks, and how out of control they would be. he’d land so out of breath, screech, and go again
- sitting in the tree when he escaped, being almost the perfect height to fly to us but he just couldn’t get over himself and do it
- driving him home from the kanyana carer, who’d carried him around in her hoodie hood, in an ice cream tub while he screamed the whole time
- trying desperately to get a good reference photo for art and him just. not having a bar of it and flying away
- going to the vet with a bird that should, by all accounts, be dead, but seeing him in his backpack, holding his chain and hanging upside down and being the chirpiest motherfucker
- picking up bubble tea with him in his backpack and the girl getting the order seeing him and being so surprised, and the little girl who told her dad, ‘that’s a BIRD’
- climbing mount cooke with twig and confusing the people we walked past when my bag suddenly asks for a kiss or says hello
- he always seemed to enjoy car rides, and started singing and chattering. except for the one time on the way to twig’s picnic
- he mostly always said hello very brightly whenever someone would open the door, even if they couldn’t hear him
- getting so aggressive when he baths that he had to desperately run around looking for something to sink his beak into
- just how inefficient his baths were
- when he used to only bath in the white jug when the water was lukewarm, and he was pretty much swimming
- all the times he tried to scrabble up to eloise’s shoulder
- bathing eloise and him at the same time, when he got so soggy that he forgot he hated people and tried desperately to burrow in under her arm for warmth
- the christmas where we went in the pool and he sat on my back while i floated on the beanbag
- training him with the ladders and the perches
- teaching him to hold hands
- when he threw himself around, but then held on to eloise’s finger. he’d try to keep thrashing but his legs wouldn’t move with him so he just kept spinning, and his little leg was out so straight
- all the days spent out in the aviary with my dad, feeding him fruits and crackers and smoothies after a kitchen sink bath
- sitting in the sun with eloise while i washed his cage
- the time he crawled up my shorts after i’d bathed him so i was stuck with a wet, sharp bird exactly where i didn’t want him
- all the times that he kept eloise company with tori time while i was at work and uni
- seeing the bond between him and eloise grow as they realised they had quite a lot in common with their pain and problems
- eloise singing nursery rhymes (some real, some. maybe not. there was a fish) to him when he couldn’t calm down at night
- the little pitter patters of his feet on the towels or paper during the night when he decided it was an appropriate time to be a bird
- chasing him around the floor, trying to catch him in whatever container we could think of
- how much he enjoyed the foraging ball eloise made with the biscoff and paper shreds
- the hatred of tin foil
- he got so happy when ryley, charlie and harley were over because everything was so noisy
- all the times he piped up while eloise and i were having serious conversations that did not at all need a little ‘hello’ or ‘beep’
- the time that he and kida met
- the time that he was in his backpack and eloise started playing run around with him. she thought he was maybe just scared at first but he seemed to actually be having fun
- how nice he used to be when he was a chick and he would lay in my hands and i could give him head scratches
- his hatred of cameras and the way he would stop doing anything you wanted to get on video as soon as you pulled one out
- getting to use him as a distraction when eloise came out to her mum (he was a very willing participant)
- when we accidentally got him addicted to instagram reels and he realised he could make a big red button appear when he liked them, so he would like and unlike. he also learned how to scroll back up to a video he liked
- trying to train him to spin but he never quite cared enough to remember it
- the one time he walked up to eloise’s foot, lifted his little claw and asked to be picked up
- at one of his first vet visits with ingrid, after he came off of anaesthesia, she let him stand on the floor. poor little bird just stood there, swaying, until he could lift his head and then tried to walk towards us. when he got to me, he threw up all over me
- when he had his second hormone implant, and the vet said that he wouldn’t be able to get it out. we sat in the waiting room, only to be told that he had in fact gotten it out, and they were going to put a new one in. he came out, screaming, in a fabric collar, and refused to move or eat for three days unless he was syringe fed. we genuinely thought that something was wrong, and we couldn’t wait the full three days. so we cut the collar off, and the second it’s gone, tori gets up, perches, and started chirping happily and saying hello
- when eloise would scroll or play on her phone and tori would just sit on her thumb, maybe choosing to lick the screen and ruin the game
- having to peg his food containers in as securely as possible, otherwise he would fling them off with a delighted squeal
- having to chase him around on the lawn when we showered him with the hose, and he’d just bounce around until he found a suitable place to lay (sometimes just on the lawn, other times under the tomato plants, or in the weeds. always in sand, getting dirtier than before he’d showered)
- the time he threw himself down between the asbestos fence and the retaining wall, chirping so happily while my dad and i desperately tried to figure out a way to lever him out without hurting him. we then got him out, and he just ran straight back over and jumped in. he remembered this months later, when he tried to do it again
- the night that eloise was upstairs eating dinner with him, offering him each of the veggies and he was just completely unfussed by them, until he was given apple juice
- when we would eat with him out, and if eloise had apple juice, then he would chase it around and look for it, and try to dive or crawl in. there was a single time that we hid it behind his cage, and after that, he had to check every time to make sure it wasn’t there
- the times that he would lean over while on eloise’s arm, clearly wanting to get somewhere, and she’d have to play ‘hot and cold’ to figure out where he wanted to be
- eloise would take him for little walks and runs, and explore the room
- if we ever needed to catch him and he didn’t want to be caught, he would head straight under the bed with delight, and we had to use increasingly dramatic ways of shooing him out, with the walking sticks being the most effective
- the day that eloise misted him in the bath tub while i was out because he really needed a wash
- the time that eloise had to take him into the shower in his backpack because he refused to be alone
- he used to really like investigating dish soap bubbles in the kitchen sink, until one day he decided to put his little foot into it, and upon being satisfied that it was solid, committed to the step. there was a very loud squawk as he just went. straight down. we scrambled to get him out, and there was a very sorry, soggy looking bird
- when we got back late at night without leaving a light on, so tori thought that it was ‘safe’ to be a bird again and walk around and perch. we would poke our heads through the door and turn a light on, and watch the realisation in his little birdy eyes that he’d been caught. he’d stay still for a few moments, before running around and scrabbling madly to throw himself into his corner as if that would convince us he’d been there the whole time
- if we were ever still/quiet for too long, he would just. get up and start walking. presumably because he thought he was alone? until one of us looked at him and there was that same ‘oh shit’ moment
jan 3 2025 ∞
jan 11 2025 +