The Birds (1178 Words)

“That… was a terrible movie.” Kaila groaned, stretching her arms and legs after what felt like an eternity of a movie. Jasper nodded, unable to disagree with her kukuri sister’s verdict.

“I’m sorry, I remembered it being really scary… when I was a pup.” Raziel murmured apologetically. His tail-tip flicked anxiously as he saw the dissatisfaction of the dove and the doe. The birds had seemed like it was going to be a good idea, but of course it would have seemed more frightening to him when he was little. However, when they watched it today it was very clearly showing its age: the puppets used were proof enough of that.

“It isn’t the end of the world, we watch a different movie every movie night anyway so it isn’t like we’ll have to deal with that one again. I think next time Kaila gets to pick too.” Pointed out the ruby-coated soluno. She thought the movie was quite boring, nothing compared to some of the other horror movies they had seen anyway.

“Yeah, I get to pick next time. Though since we still have some time left to hang out, how about we go and see some actual scary birds?” Grinned the inked prairie. This piqued the interest of the soluno, though the other kukuri looked a little nervous.

“A-Actual scary birds?”

Kaila led the group to a familiar sight, a local pond where ducks, geese and swans resided. For a moment Raziel assumed that she must have just been joking: the animals here were always so peaceful and they loved when visitors came around with unhealthy snacks for them. It was only after he saw what Jasper was about to do that he realised how much trouble they were about to be in, and the gentle-natured rook began to feel apprehensive once more. Along the lakeside there was a goose, and poking out from under the goose was an assortment of colourful eggs.

“The darn thing has been stealing eggs from the Fool’s Fest celebration and hoarding them like they belong to it. It has been chasing away children who have been trying to participate in the egg hunt, so I think we should take things into our own paws and reclaim them.” Jasper declared.

“You’re sure that I can’t just eat the goose? We have to do this song and dance?” Whined her prairie sister, strings of drool beginning to ooze from the maw of the constantly hungry dove as she even thought of the idea of making the creature into a snack. Both Raziel and Jasper seemed very opposed to her idea.

“Do not eat the goose, this is a public park and you’ll get in trouble. Plus, it’s just not a very moral thing to do.” Raziel insisted, and with Jasper backing him up they were finally able to talk Kaila out of it.

“Yeah, please don’t eat the goose. I think that would be just as upsetting for the little ones to see that the goose is missing as it would be for them to have been unable to do the egg hunt.”

Still, the prairie dove was unsure how she’d react when the literal goose chase began and there were suddenly moving targets to catch.

Together the trio came up with a plan that wouldn’t hurt the goose which was the most important aspect of things. They could see the white bird eyeing them from across the park, its eyes surprisingly calculative despite the seemingly unintelligent nature of the creature. The plan was that Jasper was to try to sneak in and steal some eggs while Kaila and Raziel distracted the goose, and if that didn’t work Jasper would pinch one of the eggs and run for it in the hopes that the goose would abandon its station and chase after her, leaving the nest exposed.

“Is everyone ready?” Raziel asked somewhat anxiously, and the dove and doe both nodded their heads. In that moment they began their cunning plan, Jasper crouching low to the ground and sneaking around behind the goose while the other two walked towards it head on. The bird was already suspicious of them and it hissed as the prairie and common approached, feathers fluffing up as it tried to show them that it meant business. To them it would be nothing to be afraid of though… right? Comparatively the goose was so small, yet it somehow seemed to intimidate the kukus. Still, they continued to attract its attention and Jasper crept closer and closer to her target until at last she was within grabbing distance of one of the eggs. It was then that the goose turned its attention to her, and they initiated plan b. Jasper quickly yoinked one of the eggs between her teeth as the angry bird pecked at her and flared its wings. She was able to get away with the colourful painted egg, though she realised something was off. The goose didn’t follow her off of its nest: if anything it seemed to sink lower on the nest than ever. Neither the soluno nor the kukus could tell if this was an evil creature exhibiting calculating intelligence or if it had simply decided that just one egg wasn’t a worthwhile reason to leave the rest. The ruby soluno hid the egg she had recovered in a spot that she hoped the bird wouldn’t find it and returned back to the nest site where Raziel and Kaila were still trying to distract the bird. However, they had failed to notice that riling up this goose had alerted many of the other waterfowl to their antics, and no goose or swan would be willing to let someone steal the eggs of one of their own.

“Hey, guys? I think umm… I think the birds are closing in.” Jasper murmured, and in response Raziel and Kaila had a good look around them. The ducks weren’t really bothered by what was occurring, but the swans and geese most certainly were. Kaila didn’t seem too nervous, but Raziel didn’t have the luxury of a ruffle to protect his neck and certainly felt vulnerable. The prairie made a brave yet foolish choice in that moment, picking up the writhing, hissing goose from its nest to expose the eggs.

“Grab as many as you can and run!” She yelled, and Jasper and Raziel had only moments to react and follow this new plan c before all of the geese and swans in the park charged at them in angry, seething waves of white feathers. After Jasper had grabbed as many eggs as she could carry Kaila dropped the goose she was holding and opted to pick up her smaller sister who would be lost to the birds if she was left at ground level. She gestured for Raziel to follow her and they fled, the birds chasing them for an impressively long time before they at last lost them.

“See, I told you these ones were scary!” Jasper exclaimed, and Raziel couldn’t help but agree.

“Movie accurate even-”