Delicacies

Mike woke up on the same nest from the day before, except the daylight was different. The small holes in the ceiling shone blue instead of orange, indicating that it's early in the morning. The light was much dimmer so he could not see as well, but after a few minutes his eyes started to adjust.

Surrounding him in the nest were two large birds, his parents, wrapping him in their wings cuddling up to each other. Just by shaking around a little, Mike was able to shift their wings over as he fell forward with a thump, beak first. Shuffling back up, he started realizing what was on his body. Along the top of his arms and down his chest was what looked like fur. On the underside of his arms were small nubs, lining from his armpit to the tip.

As he was observing his strange new body once again, he could hear rustling from behind him. Looking back, he saw his parents rising up and looking around. They saw Mike stumbling around outside so they spread their wings to stretch and fly over to him. The two started chirping to each other, albeit quietly because there were other birds in the room. Although he couldn't understand what they were saying, he had a weird understanding of what they were trying to express from their chirps alone. The frequency of the chirps gave off different feelings, and Mike was able to slightly guess what they were trying to say. It was like trying to read someone's lips, or beaks. Right now, the two parents were quite happy, probably because they saw Mike already outside the nest.

Walking with his parents, he waddled out of the room to meet a couple other birds that were also already awake. The two parents left to go squawk with the other adults, leaving me behind with some of the other chicks.

The sky seen outside the cave entrance was a soft blue with a couple gray clouds along the horizon, and the sun was already poking up over the mountains in the distance. Sitting down in the same spot he sat last night, Mike started admiring the view again. He didn't notice before but there was actually a very large forest in the distance to the left of the mountain range. Those trees were obviously on a larger scale than the other plant growth, and was around 6 miles away give or take.

Even if his eyes were already accustomed to the lighting, he was still surprised by how far he could see, after all he was still a new-born.

Other than that strange forest, the mountain range in the distance seemed to wrap around the right side, so the area they were in was some kind of valley. He couldn't see where the mountains connect though because the cave wall was blocking him from seeing too far to the right or left. The roof of the cave entrance over-hanged the floor, making it look like one of those airplane hangars.

As he was studying the strange shape of the cave entrance, he heard chirps and rustling behind. When he turned around, he saw the same group of birds from yesterday lining up horizontally.

"It looks like a bunch of planes ready to take off..."

Mike thought.

While he was staring at the line-up of red, blue, and white birds, his parents came over and picked him up by the neck with their beaks.

They then waddled back over to the birds in the back who were also watching the group leave. Some of the little chick's eyes were shining with awe. Some of them who were a little larger and had a fluffier chest coat were staring at the head-hawk in the front; the same guy who picked Mike up yesterday.

"If I remember correctly, these chicks are probably female, it might be different here though."

He mutte- chirped quietly. Well isn't that guy popular, even some of the female adults were looking at him with their mates holding down-cast faces.

Once the sun peeked it's head above the horizon the flight spread their wings majestically, and with the lead of Chad they waddled forward while waving their wings into a circular motion, bringing them up off the ground. Mike waddled back to the entrance of the cave and saw the flight going towards the large forest.

'If it was like yesterday, they'll come back at night to bring food...'

Mike thought while salivating about the gourmet he had yesterday. When he looked back towards the group, they were walking back towards the inner nest, probably to wake up the rest of the birds. He also saw his parents with them so he soon got up-struggling-and made his way over as well. But that was in vain since by the time he got there the rest of the birds were up and out. Depressed, he slowly went back next to his parents.

Then the day just went on, it was... really boring because the little chicks didn't have much to do yet, and when they did it was way to straining to do it for long, like practicing walking and running. The adults didn't have much to do either because the ones that were still in the nest and didn't go out were either too weak to hunt or were disabled in some way. For example, it turns out Mike's dad was injured. It wasn't very noticeable but his wing was bent and a little cracked, so he can hover for a few seconds but even just that can wear him out not to mention long time flights.

Speaking of that, instead of coming back at night like he thought, the flight that left early in the morning came back when the sun was mid-daylight. Mike could see them flying back pretty quick since he just sat near the entrance most of the time. When the others noticed them too they started to get ready to welcome them and got all the babies out of the runway. Mike also stood up and waddled over to his parents, next to his mom. And it seems he was right, the birds that were a little taller and had a huge feather fluff on their chest were females while the males looked more agile with their smaller build and aerodynamic-shaped head. Their head's feathers were sleeked backwards towards their back into a sharp look.

And seeing the super sleek Chad leading the flight and landing, all the birds cheered, especially when they saw the huge harvest they got this time. After greeting the flight, they all went into the "dining room". Mike went near the same spot he was last time to the left of the room's entrance, and waiting there was the same bird from yesterday who ate with him. Once the adults calmed down some of them came over to give out the worms. Mike and the Chick soon got their portion, which was more than yesterday because of the huge harvest. Chick started digging in instantly once the worms were in front of her, while Mike were observing the worms carefully. There were some worms that were different from yesterday but also some that were the same, like the cabbage worm. It's probably a common one since there was a lot of it.

After looking at the noodl-worms a little more, he started eating the ones he hasn't seen yesterday. there were some new tastes like a bright green worm that-surprisingly-tastes like cheese. There were a couple worms like that, but they had different shades of green and tasted like different cheese. Intrigued, he started making more combos and ended up with a couple, with the best one being a bagel combination of a cheese worm, a silk worm that tasted like milk, and a smooth brown worm that acted as bread.

Chick, seeing Mike being so picky with the food but then looked extremely happy after finding a good combination, got curious and sat next to him looking at him with bright eyes, enhancing it's already golden light. Mike who at first was wondering what Chick wanted, soon understood and started building another bagel worm as the gentleman he is. Once he finished, he passed the organized clump of worms to Chick, which she just swallowed whole with no hesitation, to which her eyes started glowing even brighter. Looking happy, she she turned to Mike again while chirping, giving a happy vibe.

Meanwhile Mike who was about to finish making another Bagel worm but adding a lettuce worm too, got interrupted by Chick's chirping. Looking over he saw her staring at his new bagel, so he sighed and passed it to her, making her chirp loudly. As she was savoring it slower this time, Mike looked kind of happy as he saw her enjoying his food. As he was being prideful of his creation, Chick was already waiting for the next delicacy as she sat patiently.

"Damn she's a thirsty chick."

He sighed and started making more gourmet such as pizza worm, taco worm, more bagels, and even sushi rol-worms.

"Wait, there's no more! I barely ate..."

Soon enough, the pile was emptied and Mike was so busy making food for Chick he didn't eat any himself. Sighing, he looked over to Chick... who was already asleep! Now that he thought about it, he was also feeling a little tired as well, just like yesterday. But since he didn't feel like falling over on the floor with the rest like a wasted drunk after a party, he went back outside to sit next to the entrance once again. Tonight, the moons weren't there like yesterday, instead, there were two bright stars, one with a bright gold hue and one with a blue shine.