Childhood Friend

Delia, short for Odelia, has been a childhood friend of mine for as long as i can remember. She played a big part in my recovery from the incident 7 years ago and has acted as a pillar support in my life for a long time. We were always there for one another when the other was down in the dumps. Although we often argued and fought alot, it was mostly enjoyable and i couldn't have asked for a better childhood friend. I still remember how overjoyed we were when we found out how we were going to attend the same high school, even more so when we found out we were in the same class. She was also present on that trip that unfortunate day which lead to this turn of events. I cherish my friendship with her and i owe her alot. Which is why i'm determined to do whatever it takes to help her get out of this predicament. There was only one problem.

"How the heck am i supposed to get them to not eat you!? Its like their thing!"

"I DON'T KNOW!? FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF! YOUR PRECIOUS CHILDHOOD FRIEND IS IN DANGER OF BECOMING BIRD FOOD!"

"I'm so excited! A new kind of meat!"

"Yes, i cannot wait. We should probably put it out of its' misery first though."

"Oh right, i don't wanna eat something that's still alive."

!!!

That's not good. Uhhh, whatever! Time to put my improvisation skills from acting class to good use!

"Wassup! Good morning! Nice weather we're having huh!?"

Cha cha real smooth.

"Oh? Nice to see that you're awake. Just in time too, we just got back and look what we brought! Doesn't it look scrumptious?"

"Haha, yeah, can't wait to...taste it."

"HARU Y-YOU TRAITOR!"

"Wait for a bit lil bro, we were just about to end its' life. Can't go about eating live food right? It's just wrong."

Errrr,

ummmm,

ehhhh.

"W-W-WHAT ARE THEY DOING HARU!? HARU!?"

"SHUT UP BITCH I'M TRYNA THINK!"

"(˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥)"

My brain goes into overdrive as i think up a valid excuse to save Delia. C'monnn...oh! That might work!

"Hey guys wait!"

"Hmm? What's this about?"

I managed to get Skye's attention before he started but unfortunately, Avia seems to have not heard me and begins to peck away.

"OW! OWWW! HARU WHAT THE FUCK!? DO SOMETHING!"

Delia suffers from the onslaught of pecks beneath the weight of 2 giant birds. If i compared the sizes between us and the humans of 'elves' from before, we're about 1/5 their size. The trees of the forest are so big and thick that they allow birds ten times my size to nestle up on their branches.

"Hey Avia stop!"

I push Avia off Delia before she could do more harm.

"Ouch, what the heck lil bro?"

"Did you not hear me!?"

"...No?"

"LISTEN HERE!"

"Y-yes."

I began explaining my brilliant plan. In a nutshell, i told them about the concept of domesticated animals and said i want to apply it to Delia. By the way Delia heard it all through our mental link or whatever and started complaining with comments like 'YOU WANT TO DOMESTICATE ME?' and 'WHAT AM I? SOME KIND OF PET!?' but she ultimately understood that there wasn't any other way she could be spared so she gave up.

"Hmm i get the concept and all but i honestly don't see how this could benefit us."

"Yup same! So can we eat it now?"

"NO!"

">_<"

"Look, she could help us hunt as well."

"But she's just a beast infant no older than us."

"Um she will be more useful once she grows up."

"Doesn't that means we'll have to share our food with her?"

"It's an investment! Um or we could use her to lure prey so we can more efficiently hunt. Oh! And if we encounter a beast that's too strong for us to handle, we can use her as a distraction so that we can safely get away!"

"OI HARU! HEY, DON'T LOOK AWAY FROM ME!"

"Hmm perhaps you might be onto something. But this all depends on if she will even obey us. Say, if she grows up, she might become a danger to us and attack us. Or even now as she is, if we use her as a lure she might end up running away and somehow escape us."

"I see your point but i think i can work it out."

"...Fine but if it doesn't work then we'll just kill her ok?"

"Naturally."

"Aww really Skye?"

"Just let him try it out Avia."

And so, Skye gets off Delia as well, allowing her to get up properly.

"You got all that right Delia?"

"...I don't understand bird."

"Oh right, so basically i need you to do whatever i say so that my siblings will think that you will obey us and not stab us in the back or run away. So like you know those circus performers having their animals do tricks? Thats what i want you to do."

"... I want to cry."

Through the use of the mental link, i had Delia do all sorts of stunts. From simple actions such as jumping to more complicated ones like balancing herself on her head. We did this until my siblings were satisfied. We then ate our fill of other prey that my siblings brought back and Delia collapsed due to exhaustion afterwards, sleeping by my side peacefully.

"Zz..h..a..ru..zzz."

"Glad to see you too."