Solo Too Many Birds to Handle

[Elna]

22nd Day of Fall

It took a lot of begging, but Elna was on her way to her next chance at success. She was on her way to the aviaries were they kept the small song birds. It had been at least a couple of years since she last got a chance to prove her self as a bird keeper, a long delay that was likely caused by the fact that the head keeper didn't seem to like her very much. She had damaged the relationship with the once potential mentor the last time, letting a prized dove fly off and be eaten by a passing hawk. But time had passed to let such wounds to heal, and after a long bout of desperate pleading on Elna's part, she was finally given the opportunity to help out for the day. With her buy jay Iris loyally on her shoulder she walked up the the aviary, practically having a skip in her step and a smile on her face.

She knocked on entrance to where the keeper was, trying to get her attention. The women looked up pushing her mouth to the side with subtle annoyance. She stood up from her stone desk holding a single piece of paper which she looked up and down. "I have a list of simple tasks for you to preform though out the day. There is nothing complicated on it so don't make it complicated. Just do the tasks listed and nothing else. I need to run some errands and things have hectic after last nights weather. I'll be back later to check on your status so please, do try and not make a mess and let me return to the same number of birds that I left with." She said, making her distrust of Elna quite apparent.

Elna sneered a bit at the comments, her nose crinkling before she left out a disgruntled huff. "I'll be fine, I can handle a few simple chores" she responded with some force.

"I doubt it but I don't have many options. Just be careful" She responds dismissively before picking up an empty cart and dragging it of behind her to do her afore mentioned errands.

Elna shook her head side to side, trying to get the criticisms out of her mind. Letting nothing but a bunch of words get to her would only make things worse. She looked up to the top of the list. "Clean the droppings". Thats pretty much Dek work, but she figured she had little options. If it meant she had to spend a day scrubbing rocks so she wouldn't have to spend a lifetime doing it, seemed like an easy trade. She picked up her bucket and scrubber and made her way towards the birds.

[Elna]

The habitat was composed mainly of a series of stone perches and ledges, with little holes and caves for them to hide in. Iris flew up to explore the area on her own. With a bored sigh Elna got down to her knees and started scrubbing. The hard bristles progressively scrapping away at the white blotches on the floor. Looking up at the expansiveness of the area, it was discouraging to know that this process would take such long time. Her promise to do everything she could to forward her self was the only thing that was keeping her going.

The next several moments were long and tedious. Elna's knees were beginning to hurt form being down so long. She decided it would be ok to just sit back and take a short break. She brought her hands up to her knees, rubbing them until they felt better. She used her makeshift medical break to look up at the aviaries many birds. Blue jays, mourning doves, robins, chickadees, sparrows; all manner of small birds. Many would be given out to children just like when Elna was given Iris. At least she had some good luck back then she thought to herself. However as stressful as life had been, it felt easy to just listening to the sound of the birds. That relaxation had to end though, plenty more to do.

Once Elna finished cleaning it was on to the next task, "Refill the feeders". She made her way back to the storage rooms, Iris following when she saw her leaving. The storage room had only one bag of feed in it, collecting more feed was likely one of the errands the keeper had gone out to do. With a heave she lifted the sack into her arms, holding form the bottom and letting it lean against her chest. On her way back Iris kept crying out to her. "Fine, fine, you can have a taste!" Elna respond with jovial tone. Elna pulled open the draw string and grabbed a pinch of feed and let it lay on her palm as she brought it up to Iris's beak. Iris peaked the feed in Elna's hand as they made there way back into the habitat area. As soon as Elna returned, a sparrow swooped down and land right on the open bag. It all happened so suddenly that Elna dropped the feed sack, screaming and failing her arms in a panic as she fell down on her butt.

She kept her eyes closed tightly for a short while, opening them to a swarm of various birds pecking at all the feed. Startled by all the wild flapping, she backed away quickly on her hands and feet. She tried in futility to shoo them away, waving her hands in a forward motion towards the flapping pile. Any birds that she managed to move returning shortly after, She looked around the room as recomposed her self and brought herself back to her feet. As she turned around she noticed a lone blue jay flying away from the building. In all the confusion, she had left the door open! "No…nononononono, no!" She cried out in a stressful panic as she chased after it. She followed it to a shaded ledge of a near by store. It seems the little bird had landed on its nest, a pink and blue swirled glass bowl in had likely stolen in the absence of twigs. "A nest? Out here?" She thought to her self, "Maybe it isn't from the aviary." She wouldn't dare try and get close to the nest, she knew how territorial a blue jay could get when she tried to take a glass bead from Iris once. Regardless, if it had a nest this close to the aviary, she should be able to keep close tabs on it. With Iris returning to Elna's shoulder, and the other blue jay flying off in another direction, Elna decided to turn back and clean up the mess she had left behind. At least that was what she planed to do anyway.

[Elna]

As soon as she went to turn around, a hawk went swooping down past her head. Her eyes shoot towards the large predator as it lands near the nest. "You've got to be KIDDING ME!" she yelled out in frustration as Iris flew back off of her shoulder. She had to act quickly, if she didn't that Hawk was going eat the eggs. She couldn't attack it, attacking a bird is immoral, that wouldn't help her win any points with the keeper. She quickly shoved her hand in her pocket, fumbling to get to her falcon whistle, perhaps she could manage to distract it. With whistle in hand, she a load screening sound. She looked up to find Iris tackling the Hawk, pecking franticly in a mismatched fight. Elna's eyes widened in terror, that Hawk could kill Iris! She stood frozen, not knowing what to do, not knowing if there was anything she could do.

However in just a matter of seconds her fears had subsided, as a several more blue jays came to swarm the enemy. It became a flapping mess, much like the birds on the feed. It wasn't long before the hawk had fallen to the ground, recomposing it self before flying off. It was truly an incredible sight for her, like nothing she had ever seen before, several smaller creatures working together to over come the odds. She had no idea blue jays were capable of that kind of communication and teamwork. As Iris returned to her shoulder the irony hit her, she was less capable of working with others then her pet. Maybe her bad luck kept her from going anywhere in life, but it could just as likely be the fact that she kept her loner attitude. She was a tiny bird always trying to fight a problem bigger then herself.

The blue jays returned to the aviary on their own, it seems she wouldn't have to run around trying to collect them together if they know where their food and shelter was. Getting back herself, she noticed the feed which had been left alone at this point. The birds had likely already eaten their fill. She scoped the remainder and picked the bag back up to finish her job leaving the door open a bit to let any birds that may have left back in. The remainder of the day went on without any more incident, a nice change pace all thing considered.

When the keeper returned she started counting up the birds making sure all where their. Elna stood behind her, fingers crossed hoping she'll have lucked out this. A while later the keeper let her know "Alright, everything seems to be order, your free to go now." Elna shook her fists in victory in front of her, then snapped back to reality. "Wait does that mean I can come back? Get more training?" she asked quickly. The keeper thought to her self for a moment sighing and looking upward. "Maybe, I'll think about it ok." Elna was satisfied enough with that answer, she always could take solace in the little victories, at least for a little while. She left with a smile on her face.

[Invictus]

Experience Award! Elna Skill XP Earned Lore Earned Bird keeping +2 Perseverance Pays Off Organization +2 Anatomy of an Aviary Observation +1 Territorial Habits of Blue Jays Comments A very short and sweet thread filled with action and character flaw to make it an enjoyable read. I look forward to watching Elna grow as you play her, and I can't wait to see what path she takes as she ascends from Yasi. If you have any comments or concerns about the experience I've awarded you, please don't hesitate to shoot me a PM. Congratulations!