Bang!
The sound of a human head hitting a hollow metal trash can rang out from a dirty alley. This was followed by a few curses and a dizzy lad no older than fourteen walking out onto the main road with rotten fruit skins stuck in his hair. His bright violet eyes were angrily looking down as he frantically peeled the trash of his clothes.
"Hey smelly boi! Got any guavas?" a parrot perched on a tree asked as it cocked its head sideways.
"..."
"Professor?" the boy asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Does that matter more than whether or not you have guavas?" the parrot annoyedly replied.
"Yep, it's definitely you ain't it prof! Er… no I don't have any guavas," The boy responded beamingly.
"Don't give me that starry eyed look. Acting cute only works on humans, we parrots have different standards. Now go buy me a house!" the parrot demanded.
The boy was confused by this request. "Erm… professor I don't have any money..."
"WHAAAAT!" The parrot bought one of its wings in front of itself to mimic a human covering their mouth in shock. "But your birthday was yesterday, didn't you get any pocket money from those old timers?"
Look who's talking! You're easily twice as old as the next old timer back home and I don't remember you giving me any pocket money… EVER! The boy thought but kept silent.
"Well what did you get then? Please don't say you only got disgusting alcohol!"
"Yep"
"You're underage!"
"I know, they said wine tastes better aged so I should get some now to consume when I'm old enough."
"..."
A moment of awkward silence followed their conversation.
"So why do you need me to buy you a house?" the boy asked.
The parrot sighed in exasperation as he began to recount his story.
He, the renown Professor Parrot, for being a parrot, was denied property rights in this human city! Elves were allowed to buy homes, demons, orcs, and literally every humanoid species was okay with those idiots in the city council but they never passed a provision for parrot property ownership! So he could not legally apply for house ownership because the first question on the form was "Which of the following species do you identify with?"
And it was multiple choice with no option to put anything other than: human, elf, demon, orc, beastman, pixie, dragon, energy being, elemental, vampire, etc.... There was even an option called "Other Humanoid Existence" but no option of just "other" or even "bird"! How outrageous that the capital city of the most liberal nation of the North Polar Region was so un-inclusive.
"This is stupendous!" Professor Parrot complained.
Meanwhile the boy was having trouble holding back his laughter while nodding along seriously, because one should always respect their professors. Never laugh at them.
As Professor Parrot continued to incessantly complain about his unfair treatment in the capital of the Clear Seas Kingdom, the boy tried to recall all of the information his grandmother had taught him about the world outside of his home.
"Meteor Shower, that is your name," his grandmother had said.
"Wait, then why does everyone call me young lad?" he had asked.
"Because you are a young lad. However, you will meet many other young lads as well as some young lasses in the world outside of Parrotise," his grandmother explained to the five year old Meteor Shower.
"Are you a lass grandma?"
"Technically yes, but I'm also several hundred years old and so I'm too old to be called that."
After this digression, his grandmother had explained that the region they lived in was called the North Polar Region, even though it was not at the north pole but near the north magnetic pole which was actually quite a bit south from the actual north pole. Their region consisted of 5 countries known as the Clear Seas Kingdom located in the west, Chanze in the south, The Black Dragon Republic in the south east, Phoenix Empire in the north east, and the Northern Empire in the north. From the northwestern side of the North Polar Region all the way to the southeast ran a mountain range with many dangerous beasts and uncharted dangers. Right in the middle of the mountain range at the center of the North Polar Region was their home. The valley of Parrotise, where Meteor Shower had been born and raised. A valley full of, you guessed it, parrots. He lived in a treehouse right on the edge of the only human village and the surrounding forest of guava trees so he interacted a lot with the parrots and the people.
He had also picked up so many other skills from the oldies in town as well as from the parrots. He was a graduate of the PAFF academy where he was taught linguistics, mathematics, how to make productivity plans, developing a growth mindset, and principles of computational magic. The academy was privately funded by Headmaster Parrot, a generous guava donor who is not to be confused with Professor Private, a mean and unscrupulous guava miser.
Digging through his clothes he found his new academy name plate. He was sent to the Clear Seas Kingdom via a DIY teleporter his grandmother made in order to attend an institution of higher education. It was a standardized 6 year long education typically for children 16 and older but there was nothing left to teach him back home so they sent him here to study with some special enrollment quota. Unlike the parrot younglings who would frequently fly here and attend classes by perching on a branch outside a window, he had to accumulate this strange thing called student debt by paying something called a tuition.
"That's yer new school up ahead! You will not be living in the dorms though because it costs too much, so let's go crash at Sylvs house," Professor Parrot pointed at a congregation of slanted buildings to the side as he led Meteor Shower through the streets.
"Wait, but grandma told me to live in the dorms so I can learn about people my age better?"
"Yeah well they sell special fruits in the markets here."
"...So you're using my housing money to buy guavas?" Meteor Shower was speechless, yet at the same time, he had expected no less from professor parrot.
"What? No, I'm talking about very special produce from the southern hemisphere!" Professor Parrot defended himself.
"The only thing I ever see you interested in are guavas prof. So they must be guavas"
"Nuh-uh, they are pink inside, not white!"
"Grandma said guavas can be pink inside. Its just that only the white kind grow in parrotise"
"Damn that old thing!" Professor Parrot cursed inwardly Why would you go teach a young kid like Meteor Shower something like that! Now I can't cheat him out of his housing fees anymore!
"I'll be taking them all," Meteor Shower decided. "Since you bought them with my housing fees they are mine after all right professor?"
"Well, ya see… I had to take the time to acquire them for you so I think I should get 70% or so for labor fees," Professor Parrot couldn't sweat because he had no such physiological function but he would have if he could.
Meteor Shower fished out 10 copper coins from his pocket. "Delivery for Parrotise Prime members is free of charge but I'll give you a tip of 10 copper pieces for my exotic fruits from the southern hemisphere."
"Ruthless"
"Of course, aren't I your best student!"
"Get lost!"
"Sure, but first my fruits"
:(