oliver a.k.a. mockingbird

Whitebridge University. Computer Science. 20. Freshman.

[oliverthemockingbird]

                         CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #9

THE CAGED

[oliverthemockingbird]

                         CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #7

THE UNCAGED

[oliverthemockingbird]

                          CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #6

WHAT’S THE MOST NAUGHTY THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?

“Well...” Oliver smiled at the question only to have his lips pressed together, holding back a laugh of which a small giggle managed to escape. “Hmm.. kinda.. depends what you mean by.. naughty.., “ his eyes betraying his amusement and also a tinge of something like embarrassment, maybe, “..and what you mean by.. ‘with or without someone’s watching’, I guess..” He’s unable to completely stifle his laughter and a sound comes out, a snort. “You know what? Why am I even answering these?!”

WHAT’S THE NICEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE? 

“Answering these questions” Oliver is quick to quip. “Ugh, I don’t know.. I don’t do nice things, so.. I mean.. I think answering these questions maybe it’s the right answer.” A shrug. 

[oliverthemockingbird]

                          CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #5

HOW DID THE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING GO FOR YOU THIS YEAR?

The Kempten family has a saying that goes, “the best gift is to be together.” Cheesy, and Oliver would be the first to roll his eyes and call it that, but true. Growing up, gifts at Christmas were always something that all of them could use. A new tv, a new (used) car, and maybe a tree to decorate or a trip to their favorite pastry store.

And while things have changed, they still keep this tradition up. Everyone pitches in only for the necessary, even if turns out to be enough food to feed three football teams. The only exceptions are for Andrè’s two years old daughter and Micheal’s five years old son, they always get one gift just for them.

DID YOU BRING A FRIEND OR GO ALONE? OR DIDN’T YOU NEED TO BUY PRESENTS?

While Oliver had no need to buy presents, he still accompany friends that did and ended up buying a few things.

WHO DID YOU BE-GIFT? 

Buckbeak, his pet cockatiel which he was given as a task from The Volière. Oliver couldn’t resist pick a toy and new stuff for the little bird’s cage.

DID YOU JOIN SECRET SANTA ORGANISED BY WHITEBRIDGE U.?

No. Oliver made sure to not sign up for any of it, and he was quite direct with anyone trying to make him join up.

[oliverthemockingbird]

                              CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #4

CAN YOUR MUSE PLAY ANY INSTRUMENTS? 

No, not really. While Oliver is a good singer and enjoys music and singing, he never learned to play an instrument—any instrument—or even music sheets. He has a good ear and a good memory when it comes to songs, but he has never trained for the theory aspect of music.

DO THEY WANT TO LEARN THEM?

Yes and no. There is certainly an interest in music and in possibly playing an instrument, but it's not an idea that is presently in his mind. It would be more likely something to either come out of a joke or as a way to know someone else better.

WHICH OTHER BIRD WOULD BE SUITED AS A TEACHER?

HAWK.

Hawk's perceiving nature would be best to be able to look right through Oliver's defence mechanism. Their sharp-tongue could keep up with his mocking, and their relentless and unforgiving nature would serve best to push him to actually commit to the task.

psd credit

[oliverthemockingbird]

                               CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #3

Mittens, scarves, hats.

A WINTER OUTFIT

One of his roommates, Brian O’Malley, who he nicknamed Percy Weasley because of his ginger hair, gifted him the Ron Weasley sweater for Christmas. Oliver has yet to wear anything else this holiday season. He wears it with dark jeans, red boots, and his favorite jacket: a pink parka.

[oliverthemockingbird]

                                CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #2

Which other bird/skeleton would your muse call before an exam, a job interview, or really any nerve-wrecking situation? Who would they ask to drive them, or to drink a tea with afterwards to calm down? Is there someone who has the opposite effect? Or is that the same person? Is distraction the best medicine for anxiety? To sum it up:

 WHO AFFECTS THE PACE OF YOUR MUSE’S HEART? 

DOVE.

There is nothing like letting Dove’s naivety to distracting him from the stress of a heavy day. It’s almost like fighting fire with fire. It’s easy to push whatever is troubling him in the back of his mind when all his energy are spent over not rolling his eyes too hard or trying catch Dove’s hand to show them what they can do with that peace sign of theirs. The truth is, Dove seems like the kind of person to care enough about others to pick up the phone and offer you a ride, but they are also easy to rouse up and get them to talk about whatever hot topic it’s on their mind instead of having them asking questions about you, and that’s exactly how Oliver likes this strange partnership. Or so he believes.

[oliverthemockingbird]

                               CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE #1

HOW DEEP INTO CHRISTMAS ARE YOU?

“Bold of you to assume I’m into Christmas at all. I’m not. Not into the religious stuff. And before you say that’s not what you meant, I get not everyone subscribes to that. Consumerism as turned it into an economic holiday just to push people into spending money and all that crap, while Sentimentalism tries to salvage it with saying it’s about giving yourself some time for friends and family and all that other crap. I’m sure you’ve heard the classic anti-Christmas speech before,” Oliver replied with a lopsided smirk. “And, look, I’m not gonna complain about the food.. but, yeah, I’m not into the lights, the cheesy decorations, the gifts.... And, hey, if you are asking me this to get me into the Westbridge Secret Santa program that’s a hard no, thanks.”

ARE YOU EXCITED?

Oliver huffed. “No. What’s there to be excited about?” But it was not completely the truth, it had been months since he had last seen all his family and he couldn’t help missing them and looking forward to seeing them all again. Excited, but also scared. “Aside for you to go bother someone else.”

WILL YOU CARE?

“Do you care? And, anyway, about what? Christmas? ...In that case, no,” Oliver shrugged, in that way of his when the answer in truth was ‘I don’t know’. “I mean.. I care about my family and spending time with them. It just so happen that it’d be around Christmas.”

[emmy4keri]

[hvnc]

burning roads

[oliverthemockingbird]

hanacagedswallow‌:

the smile that twitched at the corner of her lips was probably hidden in the dark but…the butterfly still existed. “little flutters is surviving.” she muses, glancing over at oliver. “does he have a name? she? they?” at least it had managed to avoid the washing. “i’ll make you a better one, one day, but then i’d feel like the first would lose his sentiment.” hana looked ahead to their starting line, reaching for a little tiny electronic box under her side of the dash to turn on the radio scanner, static and then the sound of police dispatchers. she didn’t need voices just that small light that was green right now. it would turn yellow and red upon a cop car being in the area. she was signaled ahead and as always she took to her usual left lane. right-side would be an easy out in avoiding being shoved into any oncoming cars, should there be any. but she’d take the oncoming traffic. hana trusted herself more than she trusted strangers, obviously, with innocent oncoming passersby. “official navigator. me at your bed-side….maybe not bad so long as being fussed over doesn’t bother you.” 

she smiled, looking again at the wicked pink glow in her mirror. “really need to use that color more.” such a good choice. rolling up slowly into her spot she glanced to the blue of the shelby mustang at her right, and the nismo was right behind the shelby, a…honda civic on steroids behind her. her engine purred now, humming idly in waiting. “basically…it’s just shitty. they tried to ban the guy for bumping someone off into the water canal. you know the dry ones that slope down, but it’s such a ‘at your own risk’ and ‘don’t nark’ type hobby that the ban on him didn’t stick.” unfortunately and fortunately because part of her wanted to do some damage, part of her was too human for that, and knew she’d done enough damage in her life to be where she was within a golden cage. “avoiding it is better if it can be helped.” 

obi-wan. hana’s eyes darted over to him as the horn was blown for the line in front of them and a smile twitched at her lips. oliver was in charge of the song and hana rolled forward, one beside her, four behind them. her hand covered the gear stick, and her pulse slowed, calmed. “and make sure you’re relaxed back.” leaning forward would only throw him back into his seat. the horn sounded and hana’s hand threw the car in first as her boot pressed the gas, two seconds and she was throwing it into second and as quickly…into third. 

“They do,” Oliver confirmed, and he took his wallet to show it to Hana before she’d need to keep her attention solely on the road. “Luna. Corny, but she’s all shiny silver and couldn’t resist.” Plus, it reminded him of one of his favorite characters from Harry Potter. “I know what you mean,” he nodded, securing Luna in the pocket of his shirt. For good luck, even if he wasn’t a superstitious person. “But I think Luna will always be special in their own way.” And he believed that.  His gaze went to her, following her movements as she turned the police dispatch on. It gave the moment an added layer of realism. This was happening, and that familiar itching that came with his curiosity was back. He wanted this experience.  A smile and a chuckle followed her words. “Oh, well, damn.. I tend to say I don’t like being fussed over, but I’ve been told I’m only slightly grumpy about it and I mellow out in the end.” His lips turning into a little pout. 

A pout that disappear as soon as Hana commented on the pink glow again, turning into a grin instead. “It’s wicked, isn’t it?” but then he was biased, he loved the color pink. “Yeah, well, I imagine it’s not really much they can do to keep him away. Guy shows up, they certainly can’t cause that big of a scene to get him to leave.” It was the trick with things like these, he supposed. “Alternative would be what? Refuse to race if he shows up? That wouldn’t last long and only piss people off.” So, he nodded in agreement with her. The best option did seem to stay clear of the Nismo during the race. Though, it’d be grand to also give it a little of its same medicine, too, if only he’d worth ruining the car’s paint.

The horn was blown, and he hit the play button. The song started: drums that would go into a crescendo, pumping your heart to work faster and steadier. His shoulders responded to her words before his own could, they relaxed back against the seat, “Aye, Captain.”

[oliverthemockingbird]

Text @ open

Pearl: can you please pick up some bird seed if you go by the store??

Pearl: the kind with the tiny seeds if you can!! bert hates sunflower seeds :(

Oliver: if you have some of that one with the sunflower seeds left & u don't want it to go to waste buckbeak loves them

Oliver: i'm going now. is any brand okay as long as it has tiny seeds?

Oliver: btw do u need some cage liner too?

[bisithehummingbird-blog]

how do you feel about...

[oliverthemockingbird]

bisithehummingbird‌:

Oliver didn’t react to what he’d said, but for many reasons, Bisi thought it was the most elegant way to let this conversation run out. There was nothing to say to all this, not really. It wasn’t something you said for an argument, or for an exploration of the topic. It was something you said because you knew it would settle into the other person’s mind, into their skin. It would resurface when time would come, Bisi knew that, just like he knew that Oliver was well aware enough of it too.

“They do,” he chuckled. “And it can be quite useful. You never know when you run out of net or bat or something.” It surely wasn’t a scenario Bisi was a stranger to. But it was just like Oliver said. In the worst case, they’d get lost in Maryland. Or … whatever state Oliver was driving them to. In silence but not in indifference, Bisi watched. The chai was soon finished, so was the sandwich and cupcake, and their wrappers and the infamous paper cup were tossed to the back seats to the rest of the wrapper-and-cup cemetery there. He didn’t stop Oliver from continuing. If he was honest, he was glad Oliver was aiming for somewhere farther away than the ‘’suburbs’’ of Whitebridge, and something more unusual than DC. Actually, he was also almost relieved. It meant they’d be on the road for longer, didn’t it? His smile was soft and very private. 

And then the topic resurfaced. “Define dream?” he asked, before answering anyway with: “My excuse,” and a nod. He nodded because yes, some called it a dream, even it didn’t quite fit his own definition of a dream. But he knew what Oliver meant, and he didn’t want to be complicated. He appreciated the gentle curiosity too much. Especially after all this silence.

Oliver shook his head. Not that he had never found himself with a dead battery, or with no data, but he had never strayed away from familiar roads and the idea of getting lost was never a scary one. “True,” he said, though, because it simply was. “You know that your car is a mess, right?” he said, when more was added to the wrappers-and-cups in the back. “Do you ever clean it?” Right there, he almost sounded like Letisha.

“I suppose ‘dream’ doesn’t quite make it,” not for what he had in mind. Mostly, he wasn’t sure what a dream was, and more than not dreams to him were unobtainable things. “Goal. Mission. Purpose, I think might fight better. Excuse, though?” he thought over the word, and it sparked a question that he wasn’t sure he wanted to voice. But his skin itched, curiosity poking at him. “Excuse for what?”

[oliverthemockingbird]

trick or (re)treat

[oliverthemockingbird]

parrotingmack‌:

“if it is all seven of them, we’ll just have to make sure that we meet one on one.” she says, chuckling softly. “and of course there is an ulterior motive here. i got to know all my friend’s dirty secrets.” she says with a smirk upon her face. “do you all get together often?” she asks as they got to the door, her eyes looking to oliver. a blush appeared on her own face, before she was chuckling nervously. “we’re dating.” she tells him honestly. he was the first person she told and it had her heart hammering in her chest because. she didn’t speak about it often of them, but it was nice really. “she is pretty cool and awesome too. pretty laid back.” which she loved about hana. how laid back she was, how things just roll off her shoulders and she continued on with what she was doing.

“not today, satan. i’m very senseless today.” she tells him, before they were both pulling the door open. what she saw inside was not what she was expecting. she was quite a little disappointed in what they saw really. “are they rehearsing for that 70′s show?” she murmurs to oliver eyes still looking around. they hadn’t even noticed them standing at the door looking in. “i’m highly disappointed in what i’m seeing right now.” she murmurs to oliver a deep breath leaving her lips as she moved away from the door, her heels still in her hand. “now what?”

“Eight, actually,” Oliver corrected himself. It’s not that there was one sibling he forgot about, but by the time the youngest had been born, the oldest was already living on his own. “André, Michael, Latisha, Joshua, Jonelle, Lisa, Daniel and Ruth,” he listed, counting on his fingers. Eight. “Oh, well, as much as we can. Usually it’s around holidays, big occasions when we can all cut some time out of work or school.” Dating. He smiled at the news. “That’s great,” he said, sincerely glad to hear about this. He found both of them cool people in their own merit, and they would make a nice couple. “And I can tell the dating is going good. I’m happy for you two.”

He stifled a laugh at her response. Not today, Satan. Taking in the sight in front of them, he was more surprised than disappointed. Mostly because he didn’t understand why they were passing the damn cowboy hat around since they just put it on their heads. “I mean.. probably? Though, where is Mila Kunis? This is not a correct rehearse of that show” even if he had never properly watched it. He glanced at Mack. “What if... we take the hat?”

[ashercanary-blog]

Wayward Souls

[oliverthemockingbird]

ashercanary‌:

He couldn’t help laughing a little. “Oh, thank you. I could teach you how if you want.” That would be fun. Go to a thrift store, buy things to spruce up a jacket…

He gasped. “Your jacket! I still have it, you know, from the party…” And that was a good warm jacket too, Oliver would probably want it back. Unfortunately. He blushed. “I would love to dance, though.”

“Really? Because that would be great,” Oliver replied, genuinely interested. He could already see how to use that learned skill for his future Halloween’s costumes or to help out his siblings.

“My jacket?” For a moment, he had thought Asher meant the one he was wearing and so had looked down to check that nothing was catching fire. “Oh! The one with the Champagne fountain and the fancy waiters. Right. Don’t worry about it tonight.” He offered his gloved hand to Asher, “then let’s go,” he said.

[oliverthemockingbird]

Pizza Offerings

[oliverthemockingbird]

bisithehummingbird‌:

Bisi laughed, heartily but not mockingly, at the confusion. “Bumblebees. Dumbledore’s the Old English word for bumblebee.” The decaf suggestion wasn’t stupid, and it wasn’t like Bisi had never thought about it, but somehow he just thought it a hassle to buy decaf coffee. Because this was a stupid reason, though, he just shrugged and nodded, taking another buy of the pizza. “Betrayal-free.”

A grin passed Bisi’s face, broad and genuine, at the reference. Did this happen to everyone? Feeling proud of one’s family? Was this normal? Bisi surely didn’t mind. “You do?” he asked instead of commenting. “So will you finally wish for something real?” 

“Are you pulling my leg, now? Because that would explain so much.” Oliver almost had the temptation to check on his phone, even just to give the moment a bit of dramatic flavor. “It’s the new thing. After gluten-free. Wait a couple of moments and every brand will advertise it,” he joked.

He shrugged, which was Oliver’s way to answer with a ‘maybe’ and a ‘we’ll see’, or anything else, really. “Believing in gifts made without the desire or expectation of receiving anything back is one thing,” he pointed out. “Plus, that’s kinda.. ruining a gift. A gift should be one’s thought for another. If I wanted something, I’d just.. get it.” 

[oliverthemockingbird]

It’s Raining Math

[oliverthemockingbird]

shhrike‌:

“No problem,” replied Gia as Oliver managed to catch himself before wiping out on the floor - thankfully. “I’ve been working up there all afternoon,” she indicated towards the tables on the overhanging balcony above them, “And I can heavily verify. That you are not the only person to have wiped out today. At least they’ve been spread out incidents, and not like bowling pins or dominoes. It’s the little miracles.” 

“Did it work? The rice?” She closed the wet book and stacked it along with the other she’d picked up off the ground. “There are occasional advantages to doing it old school,” she conceded, handing him the tiny pile of damp hardbacks. “No, no harm done.” Gia would have told him off if he’d really hurt her, but all was well. She nodded towards his many bags. “Need help carrying all that back to your room? I’m done studying anyway.”  

“Are you saying my disaster is not even original?” Oliver asked, faking a shocked, almost alarmed, expression. Hand over his heart, mouth shaped into a giant O. Then he chuckled, “oh, though, you have to admit that would’ve been worth filming. The bowling pins effect.”

He nodded, “oh, it worked beautifully. The phone still worked after that.” The bird’ food was secured back into the bag, and he accepted the stack of damp hardbacks from Gia. “Thanks. And.. if you don’t mind? I can offer you this cake one of my roommates baked yesterday. It’s so good we had to hide it from the entire floor.”

[kr-0nos]

₮₳₴₭ Ø₦Ɇ;; ₥Ø₵₭ł₦₲฿łⱤĐ

[oliverthemockingbird]

cagedhawk‌:

The fact that Oliver wasn’t doing anything physical to him almost brought a vocalized sigh from behind the mask. He was too tired, too much in pain and became far too aware that there was at least 5 others after him. Oliver seemed volatile verbally, but it didn’t seem to resonate with him in situations such as this– where someone was vulnerable and glory was soaked in the wine of revenge. But he chose the phone. He chose the phone and didn’t even pry for information. He simply called to serve a statement to the general Cage, as if his simple question was worth the taunting, tasks, and general invasion of privacy. Maybe it meant Oliver didn’t need information– he was perfectly fine with going with the current, trying his best to adjust to what they needed without being as bitter as Charlotte, as desperate as Emily or as pragmatic as James. 

Once the timer stopped, Jamie finally stood up. He made two strides towards Oliver, stopped in front of it, and eyed the Freshman across the table. One hand reached out, lowered, then gently tapped the bell. 

Oliver was free to go.

Now that he had rang the bell, Oliver knew it was his turn to be vulnerable to whatever Hawk decided to do now. Despite his relaxed posture, there was still this little tension in his shoulders. Any moment, this whole Process could end before he made it in. At least, he had no regrets and could tell himself there was nothing he would’ve done differently.

His eyes stayed on Hawk as they stood, walked towards him and then.. the bell was tapped with nothing else happening. There was no rush in his movements and no hesitation, either. A nod to Hawk, and then Oliver walked his way back and out of there.