Chapter 43: Ch. 42 – The Cracked Egg

After descending from the rooftop, Momo and Radu found themselves conveniently in front of The Third Street Inn. Momo recognized the name from Alexi’s ramblings about mating season. It was a large, sprawling inn, with a sizable dining area. Well-dressed bird people wandered about the place; some were tuxedo-wearing guests, others were stressed staff carrying nests and twigs.

“Preparations for mating season,” Radu said, explaining away the obvious confusion on Momo’s face. The place was littered with makeshift nests, each adorned with faux, gold-painted eggs. “The golden eggs are supposed to bring about good fertility.”

Momo grimaced. “Gross.”

“Don’t let them hear that." He shushed her. "The birds are a family oriented people. They take these fertility rituals very seriously.”

“I can see that,” she nodded, still frowning. “I just can’t think of something I’m less interested in than good fertility.”

Radu grinned, and stealthily plucked one of the eggs from the nest. He wagged it in front of Momo’s face, and she jumped, stumbling backwards.

“Get that thing away from me!” she shrieked.

He snorted, and placed the egg back down on the counter.

“I promise the egg won’t get you pregnant.”

“One can never be sure,” she said in complete seriousness, narrowing her eyes at it. “I don’t want to be Alois’ next Virgin Mary.”

“Who?”

“Right, different universe,” Momo muttered. “I don’t want to pop out immaculately concepted raven babies, alright?”

“Sounds like a fun time to me."

They meandered through the twigs and into the attached tavern, The Cracked Egg. As it was late in the day, the place was packed with guests. Momo felt an immediate sense of claustrophobia, feathery tails slapping her from every angle. It was like being stuffed inside a vodka-smelling feather pillow.

“This is not the cozy fantasy I was imagining,” she mumbled.

“Oh come on,” he laughed, tugging her through the crowd and towards the bar. “If you can tune out the squawking, it’s the best saloon in the whole city.”

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She sputtered and sneezed, bird dandruff attacking her every sense. By the time they reached the bartender, her eyes were red and inflamed.

“What can I – oh,” the flamboyant, purple-tailed bartender looked at her in horror. “You look very unwell.”

“I feel very unwell,” Momo mumbled. She turned to Radu, eyes too inflamed to glare. “I think I might need genuine medical attention.”

“Nonsense,” he said, waving his hand. “Nothing an anti-cock cocktail can’t fix. Bartender, please give us two Rooster Repellents.”

The bartender gave a worried nod, and fetched two glasses, filling them up with a glittery red liquid from the tap. He shook a canister, and decorated the top of the glasses with yellow whipped cream, giving it the appearance of a liquified rooster.

He slapped two googly eyes on top for good measure, and slid the glasses over the countertop. Momo gaped at the drink.

“This is a work of art,” she whispered, genuinely impressed.

“I told you,” Radu teased, gratefully accepting the drinks. “Momo, give the good man a tip.”

“Me?” she said, blinking her marshmallow eyes. “You’re the one who dragged me here.”

“And you’re the one who promised me 200 gold to get you in the city.”

Momo frowned. That was… correct. She had made that promise, under much duress.

“Fine,” she sighed, and fished her hands into her tattered pockets. To her surprise, she found that her fingers slid right through them, the bottoms ripped to pieces. Luckily, a few stray strings held most of the coins in place, but many of them had fled for their lives during the flight there.

“My precious gold,” she said miserably, “how much do I even have left? Gold check.”

Parchment materialized, almost pityingly, into her hands.

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