Rio one and a half
Hi, everyone. VPVPVP here. I have decided to do a reboot of my fanfiction series. As you remember in the previous versions of my stories, I started with four Spix macaws named Cytosine, Guanine, Adenine and Thymine together with a green-winged macaw named Ruby, a hyacinth macaw named Sapphire, a great green macaw named Emerald and a blue-and-gold macaw named Jasper. Looking back at the stories I deleted, I have decided that my beginning group of OCs will each be a different species of macaw rather than four of them being the same. With the macaw tribes and clans later in the story series, (in the sequel, the Amazon Adventure), I have decided that a glaucous macaw tribe and a Lear's macaw tribe will already living as neighbours to the Spix macaw, red macaw, green macaw and the blue-and-gold macaw tribes and the two hyacinth macaw clans as well as a blue throated macaw clan living in the Amazon and the blue-and-gold macaw tribe to be just consisting of blue-and-gold macaws only rather than blue-and-gold and blue-throated instead. However, we will not meet the macaw tribes and clans until after the rewrite of Rio One and a Half is completed.
The storyline of Rio One and a Half will be just like the previous version but with a change of some of the characters. This time the protagonists are all going to be named after seven of the planets and two of the dwarf planets of our Solar System, each a different species. My original OCs from the previous, deleted versions like Veggie, Dash, and the violent, antagonistic cat Brutus will still be in this story. Anyway, let's go!
Chapter 1- three new arrivals
The sun rose into the sky from behind the horizon, painting the clouds closest to it with a beautiful mixture of reds, oranges, pinks and golds while the water of the ocean in front of the rising sun reflected the star's golden disc and creating a distorted but beautiful copy of it. In front of the rising sun and the ocean was a Brazilian city called Rio de Janeiro or simply Rio. Rio looked like a mottled mass of grey, brown and white dots with greyish strips cross-crossing the dotted patches. The dots were buildings while the strips were roads. Standing high above the city on a hill was a grey figure, the Christ the Redeemer statue. The figure of Jesus stood overlooking the city with arms open wide. On one side of the mass of buildings were green and brown patches and a large hill, Sugarloaf Mountain, while in front of the city was more pieces of land on which more buildings stood. A strip of beige ran in front of the main city and bordering it was the azure blue carpet of water from the ocean. The strip of beige was Copacabana Beach and it was Rio's main beach. Rio truly was a magnificent cityscape to gaze at, especially from a bird's eye view. Close to the city was a large jungle and it was about to come to life. As the sun continued rising into the sky to greet the day, a bright blue little bird, a honeycreeper in one of the trees began chirping. It then jumped off the branch and descended through some more trees, twittering away and performing a variety of acrobats like a corkscrew. The honeycreeper continued chirping and flying past more trees and logs. As it flew past these natural homes, some more birds popped their heads out of the holes. Then a drum-like beat filled the air as more birds walked out of their hollows to begin the morning dance. Then a few seconds later, the jungle's air erupted into song.
Jungle residents: Yaaa, ya-ya-yaaa! Ya-ya-yaaa, ya-ya-yaaa!
Within moments, birds of various species started dancing and singing as well as filling the air with an elaborate display of colour. There were macaws, honeycreepers, finches, toucans and many more exotic birds.
Jungle residents: All the birds of the feather... do what they love most of all...
In the air, a group of green-winged macaws were flapping and performing beautiful patterns with their blue and green wings.
Jungle residents: we are the best at rhythm and laughter, that's why we love Carnival...
A flock of toucans whirled about in the air and flew past more birds that also danced.
Jungle residents: Call so clear we can sing to... sun and nature's big moon... dance to the music, passion and love, show us the best you can do!
A flock of green parakeets and some other birds also danced on the branches. Black frigatebirds used their throat sacs like drums while rosette spoonbills in the pond at the floor of the jugnle also danced.
Jungle residents: Everyone here is on fire... get up and join in the fun... dance with a stranger, romance and danger, magic could happen for reee-al... in Ri-i-i-io... all by itself (itself)...you c-a-an't see... it co-o-oming, you can't find it anywhere else (anywhere else).
At this moment, a macaw with blue feathers flew into the scene (this is NOT Jewel). This macaw was a female and she was joined by another macaw, a darker blue male (this is NOT Blu) as they sang the next part of the song and whirled through the air.
The two blue macaws: It's reee-al... in Ri-i-io... and know something else (some jungle residents: something else)... you ca-a-an't feel... it happening... you can feel all by itself!
Then after the jungle residents, including the two blue macaws, had finished this line, everything settled down as the jungle birds then began their morning business. The two blue macaws began to make their way back to the nest. As the two blue macaws flew on, a male green-winged macaw flew up to them and smiled.
"You did very well, Clarinda and Erico," said the green-winged macaw, "You both really are getting better at dancing to the morning song."
"Thanks, Alvin," replied the male blue macaw, "Anyway, if you don't mind, we need to get back to our nest. Our eggs are getting cold."
"Oh yeah, you don't want the chicks in them suffering from the cold do you?" said Alvin the green-winged macaw with an amused smile, "Anyway, I'll see you two later. I look forward to seeing your chicks. Are the eggs due to hatch soon?"
"They are, yes," said the female blue macaw named Clarinda with a proud smile on her face, "It won't be long now until we're parents."
Just then Alvin heard his name get called by another green-winged macaw. At this, he looked up and saw a female calling for him.
"Oh aye, my mate Marina wants me," said Alvin, "I'll see you both later. Let us know when your eggs have hatched, okay?"
"Okay, we will," said the male macaw named Erico. And with that, Alvin broke away from the blue macaw couple and made a beeline for his mate, leaving Erico and Clarinda to continue their flight home and their nest. Erico and Clarinda were members of an extremely rare species of macaw called the Spix macaw. Their species was so rare in fact that the couple had never seen others, not even one, of their kind at all except for their families before moving into independence and having chicks of their own. However, some members of the community Erico and Clarinda lived in believed that there were other macaws like Erico and Clarinda deep in the rainforest. But that had never been confirmed as none of the birds had not ventured out into the Brazilian rainforest for fear of what dangers might lurk out there. Ever since Erico and Clarinda had met and become mates, they had moved to this part of the jungle and had had a clutch of three eggs a few weeks ago. Now the eggs were due to hatch. Erico and Clarinda did wonder whether or not there were other Spix macaws out there based on what some of their neighbours had told them and had hoped to venture out into the Amazon rainforest when their offspring were old enough but that dream was to wait for they had parental duties to take care of first, especially in the chicks' first few months of their life.
Erico was a handsome blue macaw. His feathers were a lush blue and he had a blue-white patch around each eye connected by a band over the top of his beak, giving him the appearance of wearing spectacles. His eyes were a shade of blue and he had a stocky build. His crest was a small ruffle on the back of his head. Clarinda, his mate, was shorter. She had brilliant maya blue feathers and a slender build. Like Erico she had separate eye patches but no band over the top of her beak connecting the two. Clarinda's eyes were a shade of amber and she had a rather unusual crest. While most macaws had one set of feathers on their head, Clarinda had two separate clusters of feathers on either side of her head. These feathers were quite long and when let down they flopped about all over the place. However, Clarinda had tied each of these feather clusters up with a vine to prevent this for she felt silly with her two sets of head feathers flopping about all over the place. Her crest feathers resembled pigtails when tied up and it was possible that some of Clarinda's ancestors had had this type of crest and it was possible that at least one of the chicks might inherit it, especially if the chick is a daughter. The two macaws continued flying back to their tree. Around them several species of bird including various species of macaws were flying around. Some were foraging, some were chatting and a few were teaching their chicks to fly. Erico smiled as he watched a couple of parakeets cheer for their chicks as they flew into the air for the first time in their lives, chirping happily and looked forward to seeing the thrilled faces on his and Clarinda's own chicks when they were ready to take their first flight. As the two blue macaws flew through the trees, their home tree finally emerged into view. The hollow in which Erico and Clarinda lived in was not too high and not too low, but it was high enough to provide a brilliant view of the jungle and its inhabitants. Erico and Clarinda had struggled to find a suitable hollow to make their nest in. they didn't want the hollow to be too low or too high, especially for the chicks but after a series of countless choices, they finally found the right one and settled in to it. Erico and Clarinda then approached the hollow and entered into it. As soon as they had done this, Clarinda made a beeline for the nest, which was constructed out of moss, twigs and downy feathers and contained three white orbs, and settled into it to keep the eggs warm. Erico then checked another compartment of the hollow for any fruit and realised that the compartment, which he and Clarinda used to store food, was empty.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to go out and forage for some fruit, Clarinda," said Erico after he looked into the room, "We're out of fruit."
He then walked over to his mate who had just settled into the nest and asked, "What would you like, meu amore?"
"Oh, I would like a mango, a passion fruit and some berries please," said Clarinda. Erico smiled and prepared to fly out to look for Clarinda's requests. Before leaving, he looked down at the three eggs under Clarinda's feathers. He then slung a wing around her back and she leaned against his chest.
"You know something," crooned Erico lovingly, "It won't be long until we're parents now. Our eggs could hatch any moment."
"Yep," said Clarinda in agreement. Erico then removed his wing from Clarinda's back, gave his mate a briefly kiss and walked over to the hollow entrance.
"I'll be as quick as I can," said Erico as he spread his wings, "And we'll consider restocking that fruit storage room as well."
"Okay, I'll see you soon," said Clarinda as Erico disappeared from the hollow. A minute later, Erico was browsing a mango tree. As he did that, one of the community members, a green toucanet, greeted him.
"Hi, Alfred," said Erico as he found and picked a ripe mango, "How are you and your family doing?"
"Oh, fine thanks," said the toucanet named Alfred, "Hey, you know you and Clarinda are part of a rare species of macaw, right?"
"Yes," asked Erico slightly confused.
"Well, there is a family of another extremely rare species of macaw living somewhere around here," said Alfred, "They're Lear's macaws and they are called Thomas and Lola. Their clutch of four eggs had just hatched into three sons and a daughter. I think you and Clarinda ought to meet that family of Lear's macaws sometime..."
"Maybe later but not now," said Erico, "Now if you don't mind, my mate will be expecting my return with the food and our three eggs could hatch any time."
"Okay, I'll let you get on with your foraging," said Alfred and with that he turned and flew away.
"I'll see you again later," called Alfred as he left. Erico sighed and continued his foraging task. A while later, he had picked a few berries, two passion fruit and a papaya and as soon as he had collected enough, he flew off back to his hollow where Clarinda and his unborn chicks were waiting. However, he was in for a surprise. As the hollow emerged into view through the trees, he heard Clarinda's excited voice cry out to him.
"Erico, Erico," cried Clarinda excitedly, "You'd better come in here now!"
At this, Erico, who had his beak and talons full of fruit, accelerated toward the hollow and entered it. As he dropped the fruit onto the floor, Clarinda said, "Our eggs are about to hatch! I saw one of them rock slightly."
Erico quickly walked over to the nest and stood by it. Clarinda joined him. However, as Erico looked at the three eggs, all he saw were three stationary orbs.
"Are you sure you saw one of them move?" he asked.
"I'm sure I did," said Clarinda. Then suddenly, one of the white spheres jerked slightly and a few faint chirps began to sound. An excited smile crept onto Erico's beak while Clarinda jumped up and down and whimpered ecstatically. Erico then put a wing around his mate's back and watched as the first egg began to make more movements and sounds. Seconds later, a crack appeared in the shell. This crack branched and the branches grew longer and longer until a piece of shell fell from where the cracks converged and met. A hole was then formed at that spot and a tip of a tiny beak was visible through the tiny hole. Erico and Clarinda smiled as the hole then grew, resulting in more shards of shell falling. Then a few seconds later, the entire egg split open and out popped a baby chick, naked and helpless. Clarinda, with her eyes slitted with excitement, reached into the nest and scooped up the newly hatched chick. She then cradled it in her wings.
"It's a girl," crooned Clarinda to Erico.
"Can I hold her?" asked Erico. Clarinda then handed the female chick to him and Erico cradled his new daughter in his wings. Just then the second egg began to rock and crack. A hole formed in the top of the shell and widened and eventually, the entire egg split open, revealing another naked and helpless chick. Clarinda picked up this one and cradled it too. It was another girl. Then finally, the third egg hatched, revealing the third chick of the brood, also a girl. Clarinda also scooped up the third chick and cradled her too. As the blue macaw couple cradled their three new daughters, Erico said, "We now have to name them."
"Of course, I haven't forgotten that," tittered Clarinda with a smile on her face. She and Erico then placed the three chicks back into the soft moss and feathers of the nest and began to think of what to name them.
"I know," said Erico, "Why don't I name one and you name the other two?"
"That sounds like a plan," said Clarinda. She then looked at the oldest daughter and said, "I'm going to name the firstborn Izzy after my mother Isobelle, and the second born chick Flo after my cousin Florence."
"Those are such sweet names, Clarinda," said Erico with a smile. He then turned to the youngest chick and smiled.
"What are you going to name the youngest chick, Erico?" asked Clarinda. Erico gazed into the youngest chick's eyes as the baby bird looked up at him. She had amber eyes like Clarinda while the other two had their eyes still closed.
"I think I'll name our youngest girl Venus," crooned Erico, "After the second planet in the solar system. When my father took me, my older brother and my cousin out stargazing when we were adolescents, we saw a vividly bright star-like object in the sky after the sun had gone down and we heard from a group of humans who were also out stargazing that the bright object was called Venus, a planet and I thought 'what a nice name'."
"You must have been an avid stargazer when you were younger," said Clarinda with a smile.
"I was," said Erico, "I've always loved stargazing. Maybe when our girls become old enough we could take them out stargazing too."
"I would love that," said Clarinda with a smile, "I remember when you took me out stargazing when we were getting together."
Erico smiled at the memories of taking Clarinda on nights out to look at the stars with her. Then the macaw couple gazed down at their three daughters now named Izzy, Flo and Venus as they continued fidgeting in the nest.