Welcome to my collection of short-ish stories. A place where anything that doesn't fit into my main stories lays to rest. That isn't to say they aren't good, just that they either didn't find a place in my main stories, or, that they were thought of without the intentions of going in there in the first place.

Enjoy!

Evening in Rio is a calm time of day.

After many hours of hustle and bustle in the city, full of traffic jams and people, the evening is a time when everything slows down. When everyone has been and done what they set out to do for the day.

Our three favourite humans would agree with this statement wholeheartedly, as they had gone out at 3pm to get their week's shopping, after a slow day of treating injured birds, and despite only intending to purchase a few things to last the week, such as bread and milk and sandwich meats, their task took two hours, due to the city's high rate of congestion.

Blu and Jewel, being birds, were un-tethered by human things, like traffic, and congestion, and the price of milk at their local store. They were too busy doing whatever they desired.

However, birdly activities, such as flying around the city, wasn't possible on this particular day, as, to add to the misery of the humans sitting in traffic, it was raining.

A never-ending, grey, dreary type of rain.

Blu and Jewel were confined to the inside of Linda and Tulio's house. They could do nothing but cuddle up together and listen to the rain patter against the condensation frosted panes.

Despite the overall gloominess of the day, there was someone who appreciated mother nature's life giving rains, but her partner? Not so much.

"I hate being trapped inside..." said Blu, a clear sense of boredom in his voice.

His partner, Jewel, who was snuggled up right beside him in a specially made nest, smiled and asked him, "Why is that, Blu? I thought you were an indoor bird?"

Blu looked at her, thoughtfully, and remarked, "Well, I was. But since you opened my eyes, and helped me to fly? I want nothing more, than to be out there, and with you."

Upon hearing his loving statement, the female's facial expression softened into a more loving one, and she nuzzled her cheek in closer to his neck. She felt a sensation on top of her head, created by a tender kiss planted there by her mate. She closed her eyes and relaxed fully into his loving form.

Her eyes still closed, she said, softly, "I'm glad I was able to teach you, because soaring through the sky with someone you love is the best feeling I have ever felt, period."

"I concur, beautiful. I don't think I have ever actually lived, until I met you. It's like I was a human, but I have been reborn as who I am now," replied Blu, in a sweet whisper.

Jewel just smiled, and relaxed. She began to feel drowsy as their body heat mingled, and created a soft, warm patch of cosiness.

"You have to," she began, before letting out a large yawn mid sentence. Blu picked up on this, and tightened his grip on her, elevating her comfort levels to an extreme point.

"You have to appreciate the rains sometimes. They give us moments like this, and they nourish the land, giving us food, and our habitat, life." said Jewel, her voice dipping to tired croak, losing its smoothness.

"They do, sweetie. They do," whispered Blu, as he actively began to lull his partner to sleep. He brushed his wing up and down her back, and a guttural chirpy purr escaped from the depths of her throat. Before long, her vocal appreciation to Blu's comforting actions ceased, and, so did her movement. She had fallen asleep in his embrace.

Blu smiled as he looked at her sleek form, fully relaxed against him. He felt lucky to have such a spectacularly beautiful mate in his life. He listened to her quiet heartbeat, and breathing, and almost drifted off to sleep himself, if it wasn't for the fact that he was in need of sustenance. His gut let out a noise like an angry rhino, and his brain registered his hunger.

Blu was faced with a predicament. He was hungry, but his mate was asleep against him. He didn't want to stay hungry, or wake his sleeping wife.

He decided in the end, that he would slip out into the kitchen and find some blueberries, but the question of waking Jewel was out of the window.

The whole ordeal of extracting himself from the homemade nest took around ten minutes, but Blu soon snaked his way out while Jewel slept on. There were a few points during the manoeuvre where he thought she was going to arise from her slumber, but, mercifully, she continued with her state of unconsciousness.

Free from his job of being a pillow, Blu was then able to fly into the kitchen and find something to satisfy his hunger. The fridge door was heavy, but, he had learnt how to open it with military precision. Inside the cold unit were various things you would expect to find. Yogurts and fruit and orange juice. He got himself out a small plastic pot of fruit that Linda kept in there especially for him.

The plastic lid was peeled off by his fine talons, and the contents of the pot were all his. He thought about bringing the pot back to share with Jewel, but that idea soon became rather ridiculous, as waking her would be mandatory in order for it to be carried out.

Instead, he took his prize to the windowsill of the kitchen, and began to stuff his insides with the tasty fruits. They were delicious, the sweet juices spreading over the fleshy snake that resided within his beak, pleasing his taste-buds to no end. He shuddered in delight, as the mutilated fruity mush slid down his throat.

After deeming himself thoroughly satisfied, he cleaned up after himself. Picking up the pot, and with a precise flick of his elegant taloned foot, he sunk the plastic pot into the bin where it belonged. Feeling pleased with himself, he did a skid along the tabletop on his knees, chanting, "Goal!"

He laughed to himself, before getting up, and deciding to do what he did every day; visit the injured birds in the aviary. He would always be there to comfort those in great pain, and Jewel was especially appealing to the injured males.

Before he went into the treatment room, Blu decided to check on Jewel. He entered the living room, where she slept, and touched down on the coffee table. The nest resided on top of a bookshelf, very near the ceiling, meaning that they could be at peace, fully undisturbed.

(Let me know, in review, if you would like to see Blu's Interesting Encounters with Injured Birds.)

He looked up at the location of their nest, and saw Jewel in near-enough the same position he had left her, her beautiful form still sleeping soundly, and without any interruption. Blu smiled, and took off for the aviary.

With Blu gone, the living room was plunged into silence yet again.

The only sound was the constant tap of the rain against the windows, and the peaceful, slow breathing of the sleeping female. Warmth was in the air; a far cry from the chilling, howling winds outside. The scene was serene, and cosy.

Only to be shattered in one fluid movement. The front door opened, and two wet, soggy figures; one male, and one female, tumbled in through the opening, with several bags under each arm.

They were panting, as if they had each ran a marathon. The male shouted, "Quick! Close the door!" his Portuguese accent was nerdy in tone, and would be recognised by anyone familiar with him, as the voice of a man named Tulio.

The howling wind blew inside the building, shattering the peace, and blowing light, un-tethered objects around the room like confetti.

"I'm doing it!" answered a feminine voice, belonging to a thin, pale skinned woman named Linda; she was Blu's owner, and had taken on the role of his mother for the past seventeen years and counting.

She put her back against the open door, and put all her weight on it, in order to apply the force needed to close it, battling the winds. The winds weren't hurricane level, but they were strong nonetheless, and closing the door wasn't an easy task. When the latch on the front door clicked into place, she slumped down onto the soggy doormat, exhausted. The various Unidentified Flying Objects, no longer having any lift, were left suspended in midair, absolutely static for a second, until gravity took its course, and sent them swooping to the ground, like strange rectangular birds. While all of this wind-noise went on, Jewel still slept on. She had slept through dangerous storms, and so, a little bit of wind and shouting wouldn't have fazed her.

"Whew! That was... Uh... Wet!" exclaimed a sodden Linda, getting up with whatever pride she could muster.

"Well, when it rains here in Rio, you definitely know about it!" replied Tulio.

"At least you don't have to worry about being smothered by sheets of ice, here. That's the worst," she said, before adding, "Snow would get on the roof, and one wrong move, would send it all crashing down!" laughed Linda.

"Yikes. I don't like imagining having to clean that up..." confessed Tulio.

"Clean it up? You just take a leaf blower to it! That'll melt it!" replied Linda, still in a state of laughter.

"I see. If only it were that easy to clean up this mess," said Tulio, looking over into the messy living room. Papers lay scattered everywhere, like large, oblong snowflakes. As Linda started gathering all of their spoils, Tulio paced over to the eyesores, covering their nice carpet, and picked them up, before arranging them like a deck of large, thin playing cars, and tapping the bottoms on the table, to even up the stack, before placing them back in their respective homes. Other various things, such as stuffed animals, and a book had taken the plunge off of their shelves.

Linda instinctually looked up at Blu and Jewel's basket. She was greeted by a light blue shape, snoozing peacefully within. She thought to herself, "Cheese and Sprinkles! That bird could sleep through a hurricane!" She then smiled, shook her head, and turned around.

Once Tulio had re-homed the grounded objects, he turned around to his partner, who had began to put away the shopping. He saw her struggling to reach an upper cupboard, and promptly stopping her, and then marching towards her to take over. Linda was not stubborn at all, and appreciated the help. But, instead, Tulio insisted on him putting away the shopping, and told his wife to sit down.

Sit down, she did, and fatally, for Jewel's rest, she did the worst thing imaginable. She turned on the TV.

The previous night, the two humans had cuddled up together to watch a film, and, they had forgotten to turn down the volume to the region of 30. Instead, since it was an older movie, with worse sound, the volume was on 80. The shows had long since moved from the film, and was now onto a much more interesting programme.

Football.

Unfortunately, the loud shouts of fans, the announcer yelling loud enough to rival a gunshot on the loudness scale, and the combined high level of volume, created a sound that was horrendous to the ears. It was like nothing Jewel was used to, and thus, woke her up in a similar way you would be woken up, if someone ran their nails down a chalkboard right next to your ear at tremendous volume.

It was like an electric shock had rocked down to the tips of each fibre that was contained within the female's body, setting off a reflex action that extended all of her muscles at once, and triggered a primal instinct, to defend herself. In short, she awoke instantly, with a loud squawk of confusion, terror and aggression mixed into one, on her feet in around a half second, and her wings raised, in order to make herself look as big as possible. Her eyes were wide, darting around the room for threats, and she took in sights she was now familiar to; Linda, Tulio, the room she was in, and the basket in which she stood.

By this time, Linda had turned down the volume of the television to an acceptable level, and Jewel saw no reason to defend herself anymore. She lowered her wings, and contemplated what to do next. She noticed that a couple of her silken feathers had dislodged during her rude awakening, and were now rested on the floor of the basket. She inspected her right wing, where she presumed the feathers had came from, and saw that her near perfect profile was ruffled up, and untidy. Frustrated, she hopped out of the basket onto the edge of the shelf, and dropped down onto the table below.

Linda was surprised to see her, but, not annoyed about her presence by any means. However, Jewel had been woken up rather rudely, and she was not in a good mood.

Seeing her in such an aggravated state, Linda immediately recognised what had happened.

Jewel let out a long irritated squawk, which roughly translated to, "What on god's green earth do you think you are doing? Making such irritating, horrid noises while I'm trying to sleep! What gives you the right to just wake me up like that?!"

Linda was obviously unable to understand what she was squawking, but understood how she might have felt, being woken up so abruptly.

"Ahh. Sorry Jewel. I didn't know it was gonna be so loud," explained Linda, "I'll make it up to you. You'll see," she added.

Tulio looked over, and gave the irritated Jewel a smile and a wave. It did a little to alleviate her mood, as she and Tulio had something that could be considered a good relationship. Jewel only chewed on his fingers if she felt like it. Her and Linda, however, were good friends, which is why she was so irritated at her, as she should know better than to wake her as she did.

Jewel took his smile, but did not give anything in return, as all she had to return would be a snide look, and Tulio had done nothing to deserve that, so she just looked at him for a second, before rekindling her gaze on Linda, who was giving her a proper smile. Jewel held her ground of being grouchy for mere seconds, before giving in, and squawking, "It's okay," with a sigh. Linda understood what she said to a degree.

Seeing no more reason to stand around on the table, Jewel raised her wings, and flew up to the basket where she previously slept. When she landed on the surface of the cupboard, and stepped over into the basket, she found that all the heat she had amassed while sleeping, had almost completely dissipated. Her frustration returned, and she sat down in a huff. She then realised that she wasn't getting back to sleep any time soon without her mate beside her, or, any warmth.

She looked over the side of the basket to see if there was anything at hand that would be of use to retain some heat. Or at least, this what what she intended to look for. What she actually saw, was Linda on the couch with a blanket over her. Jewel was torn between being grouchy, or comfortable.

The female sighed, and chose comfortable. She hopped down onto the table yet again, and then over to the arm of the couch. Linda looked towards her, as, not looking at her was impossible. Her movements were so fluid, and elegant that one could not possibly stand by and ignore her. Then, she gave a quiet squawk to Linda, and she knew exactly what she wanted.

"I knew you'd come back around," she chuckled, offering her forearm for Jewel to perch on. She accepted, and stepped on, before Linda placed her down on her lap.

Tulio heard her speak, and looked over at the pair. He spied a ruffled spot on Jewel's shoulder, and said, "Actually, I have something for you." He walked over and presented a feather brush.

Jewel cocked her head to one side, confused. She didn't know what she was looking at. She trusted Tulio enough that she knew he wasn't going to harm her, but still didn't know what would, and wouldn't hurt her. Dubious, she took a step back.

Tulio just smiled and mimed the purpose of the object by brushing it over his own arm. It didn't look like an instrument of pain.

Curious, Jewel retraced that step, and took another, intrigued by what they were plotting.

Tulio handed the brush to Linda, and she brought it down to the ruffled patch of feathers along Jewel's shoulder, its owner looking at Linda with wide eyes. Linda gently dragged the brush along her shoulder, raking the fibres of each feather back into its natural line. The feeling sent a chill down Jewel's spine. It felt nice, and relaxing.

After completing the manoeuvre, Linda brought the brush back to the initial position, and repeated the sequence. After bringing it back for the second time, the tenseness in her muscles began to seep from her body.

She began to enjoy the feeling of being brushed. As Linda dragged the brush along her shoulder, she closed her eyes and let out a sigh. It was like being given a massage.

Before long, Linda exclaimed, "There! All done." Jewel opened her eyes and inspected where the mess was. It was all gone. In its place, was her usual, neat and tidy profile.

"Wow. That's impressive," she said, admiring her style, before looking up at Linda, and following up with, "Thank you!"

Linda understood the tone in which she squawked, and took it as praise.

Jewel was still standing, and saw no purpose in doing so any longer, and lowered herself onto her stomach; a sitting position, to her. She faced towards the television, though she had no intention of watching. After a few seconds went by, she craned her head around to look at the human, an obvious look on her face. It said, "Don't stop, now. I didn't tell you to stop."

Linda chuckled to herself, and commenced her brushing actions. A purr meandered out of her throat, and her eyes closed yet again.

There you have it. I'm going to do a little series on this... Sort of... Home life things. What our favourite feathered friends (and not to forget the humans) get up to in the mean time.

It's easier to write than parts of whole stories! Partly because whatever I think of can just go in here with no context. I thought this one up the other day. And I thought up Blu seeing patients, and ideas for experiences with them as I wrote this.

You may well see them, soon!