Tailyn’s Parrot Preserve
Spring 10, 518
Late Morning
Tailyn glanced dubiously at the tiny, ugly little monster that was her baby parrot. Lucky was a mishmash of feathers, skin and beak had an unpredictability streak a mile wild. Tai had been bitten by the tiny monster more times than she could count. She wouldn’t know it’s gender until it was an adult, but she found herself calling the creature him more often than her. She was positive that even the falcons she’d tended in her childhood hadn’t been as fierce as this monster was. Blue certainly hadn’t been.
The tiny creature balanced himself on the piece of driftwood that made up his perch. Every so often he would flutter his half-formed wings to keep balance. Sisi and Nobody, tethered nearby, watched the interaction with interest. Tai was convinced the birds delighted in her pain. Well, that or maybe it was just something fun to watch. Tai was positive she wasn’t imagining the wicked look in Lucky’s eye.
“Maybe I should just train battle parrots,” Tai mumbled to herself.
“What was that?”
Tai glanced away from the baby parrot and towards a nearby group of trees that hung a pair of hammocks. When Abanath wasn’t helping Tai with the parrots that was usually where Tai found him. A cluster of mechanical objects that Tai couldn’t identify lay in one hammock while Tai’s verusk guest lay in the other.
“Nothing,” Tai replied.
Abanath shrugged his thin shoulders and returned to whatever he had been carving. Tai wondered how he was capable of working laying down. It must take skill.
With a sigh, Tai turned back to her fearsome charge. Lucky stared at her with beady eyes. Eyes that showed no compassion or mercy.
“Can we please do this without biting this time?” Tai pleaded. The bird’s pupils contracted. Tai shivered. “Alright great,” she muttered, and reached for the baby’s food.
In the wild, parent parrots would regurgitate food for their young. Tai didn’t trust her mouth anywhere near Lucky, so she had devised a different solution. Every morning she created a mixture of various fruits that were chewed up and spat together on a leaf. She would then curl the leaf into a tube and feed the young parrot through it. It should have been a foolproof method. Somehow Lucky always found a way to bite her anyways.
“Alright, down the chute,” Tai told the bird, offering him the leaf tube. By now he knew what it meant and he opened his mouth expectantly. Tai inserted the tube into his mouth and watched carefully as the baby’s throat worked as he swallowed the pulp mixture.
Tai sighed as the last of the pulp slid down Lucky’s throat. However, before Tai could draw her hand back the tiny terror attacked. His beak clipped cleanly onto Tai’s knuckle, drawing a thin slash that drew a small gush of blood. Tai yelped and leaped backwards, a string of Nari profanity flying from her lips. Furiously, Tai threw the empty leaf to the ground and stormed off towards the beach, cradling her injured hand.
(Words 518, Total 518)
Spring 10, 518
Late Morning
Tailyn glanced dubiously at the tiny, ugly little monster that was her baby parrot. Lucky was a mishmash of feathers, skin and beak had an unpredictability streak a mile wild. Tai had been bitten by the tiny monster more times than she could count. She wouldn’t know it’s gender until it was an adult, but she found herself calling the creature him more often than her. She was positive that even the falcons she’d tended in her childhood hadn’t been as fierce as this monster was. Blue certainly hadn’t been.
The tiny creature balanced himself on the piece of driftwood that made up his perch. Every so often he would flutter his half-formed wings to keep balance. Sisi and Nobody, tethered nearby, watched the interaction with interest. Tai was convinced the birds delighted in her pain. Well, that or maybe it was just something fun to watch. Tai was positive she wasn’t imagining the wicked look in Lucky’s eye.
“Maybe I should just train battle parrots,” Tai mumbled to herself.
“What was that?”
Tai glanced away from the baby parrot and towards a nearby group of trees that hung a pair of hammocks. When Abanath wasn’t helping Tai with the parrots that was usually where Tai found him. A cluster of mechanical objects that Tai couldn’t identify lay in one hammock while Tai’s verusk guest lay in the other.
“Nothing,” Tai replied.
Abanath shrugged his thin shoulders and returned to whatever he had been carving. Tai wondered how he was capable of working laying down. It must take skill.
With a sigh, Tai turned back to her fearsome charge. Lucky stared at her with beady eyes. Eyes that showed no compassion or mercy.
“Can we please do this without biting this time?” Tai pleaded. The bird’s pupils contracted. Tai shivered. “Alright great,” she muttered, and reached for the baby’s food.
In the wild, parent parrots would regurgitate food for their young. Tai didn’t trust her mouth anywhere near Lucky, so she had devised a different solution. Every morning she created a mixture of various fruits that were chewed up and spat together on a leaf. She would then curl the leaf into a tube and feed the young parrot through it. It should have been a foolproof method. Somehow Lucky always found a way to bite her anyways.
“Alright, down the chute,” Tai told the bird, offering him the leaf tube. By now he knew what it meant and he opened his mouth expectantly. Tai inserted the tube into his mouth and watched carefully as the baby’s throat worked as he swallowed the pulp mixture.
Tai sighed as the last of the pulp slid down Lucky’s throat. However, before Tai could draw her hand back the tiny terror attacked. His beak clipped cleanly onto Tai’s knuckle, drawing a thin slash that drew a small gush of blood. Tai yelped and leaped backwards, a string of Nari profanity flying from her lips. Furiously, Tai threw the empty leaf to the ground and stormed off towards the beach, cradling her injured hand.
(Words 518, Total 518)