Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 36: Watch the Birdies
"There you are, you sweet feathered creatures you." Muriel said as she tossed some seeds to the ground.
"Breakfast time." I said with a chuckle as I also threw some seeds down and watched the birds come to eat.
"I never thought simply feeding some birds could be so nice and relaxing." Ruby said as she thew out way too much bird seed at once.
"It's the little things that can be most enjoyable my little Rose." Summer said as she refilled Ruby's bag with more bird seed.
'OOOH, I still don't like birds.' Courage whined as he stayed back on the porch. Still scared as ever of birds. But after the ones we seen and faced, I can say his fear is warranted.
"You going to have to get over your fear one day Courage." Summer said giggling.
It was an especially beautiful and cool day today. It was also a bit early than normal as well as the sun was still rising over the edge. But that just gave us even more incentive to get outside and enjoy the day. Though, Muriel did suggest we feed the birdies as they usually come at this time. Ruby and her mother Summer Rose were also here with us. After she reunited with the rest of the family, she wanted to explore the place where she woke up from. And Ruby decided to give her a grand tour of Nowhere. But quickly became lost so she called me to help out. Now, they were staying with us for a few days to be able to fully enjoy Nowhere. Though, we did get startled a bit when we learned Summer could perfectly understand Courage. But we just chalked it up to the Magic Tree giving her the ability to understand Courage as well.
'Yeah, sure.' Courage said as he nervously watched the birds feed a bit too close to him. We all just laughed at him when he said that. But we quickly went silent when we heard Eustace complain again.
"WHERE'S MY BREAKFAST WOMAN?! I'M STARVING TO DEATH!" Eustace yelled out from inside the kitchen sitting down at the table.
"Calm yourself Eustace. We're just feeding the birdies." Muriel calmly told him as she threw some more seeds down.
"I'd like to feed the birdies... To the cats! Ha, ha, ha." Eustace laughed evilly.
"I so wish I could give him a beating, or at the very least, introduce him to Taiyang or Raven. Maybe even both." Summer growled at the laughing Eustace. When she first met him, it took less than ten minutes for her to despise Eustace. And then she began to loathe him when she found out he tried to chop down the tree that brought her back to life and allowed her to reunite with her family.
"As much as I would love to let them teach him a lesson, he will most likely stay the same." I told her with a sigh. Even after being released from the fog ghost of the Cariana amulet, he was still his greedy old self.
'OH!' Courage suddenly yelled out. Turning to him, we saw that a bird had spit a seed at Courage. Hitting him on the nose. The bird laughed manically a bit before hopping away.
"Courage, there is nothing to be afraid of. A bird would never do us any harm." Muriel said as she allowed a bird to rest on her finger.
"She is right Courage. Most birds are friend-LLLLYYYY" Summer began but screamed along with Muriel when out of nowhere, a giant bird swooped both of them up and flew away with them.
'AAHHHH!' Courage screamed in terror at what we just saw. He then ran inside the house. Probably to tell Eustace what happened,
"MOM!" Ruby shouted out seeing her mom get taken away.
"Come on. We can't lose them." I told her as we began to chase down the bird. After a good solid five minutes of running as fast as we could, we eventually made it to the tree where we saw the bird land in.
"AAHHH!" We heard both Muriel and Summer scream from the nest at the top.
"WE'RE COMING!" Ruby shouted as we began to climb the ridiculously tall tree. But once we got to the top, we were relieved and slightly confused when we saw Summer and Muriel safe and playing with some baby birds.
'Whew.' Courage sighed in relief. Ruby and Courage were about to climb onto the nest but I stopped them when I saw the mother bird nearby.
"Now remember... I'm only going to be gone for a few hours. Imagine, a woman of my quality, having to raise three kids all alone." The bird said as she did her eye lashes.
"It is difficult to raise any child as a single parent let alone three. I can't even imagine how Taiyang managed to take care of my two hyperactive and mischievous kids. Especially went they get their hands on sugar." Summer said as she scratched the chin of one of the baby birds.
"Good thing I'm such a devoted mother. And that's why I'm off to Florida on a singles weekend to look for a husband." The mother bird said before walking over to Muriel and Summer and picking up the baby birds. "Now, you two take good care of my precious little babies. They mean the world to me."
"Of course, we will." Muriel said as she took the baby birds and hugged two while Summer hugged the third.
"If I come back here and just find one feather out of their place on their on their little heads... I'M GOING TO EAT YOU BOTH WITH THIS CEREAL SPOON!" The mother bird threatened while holding up a green cereal spoon. "So long."
"Don't you worry now. I'm sure they'll be perfect little angels." Muriel shouted out as the mother bird flew away.
"Have a nice trip." Summer shouted out as well as the mother bird flew out of sight. But as soon as she said this, the baby birds started to cry. Seeing that it was 'safe' for the moment, we made ourselves known and moved over to Muriel and Summer.
"MOM!" Ruby shouted as she raced over to Summer who enveloped her in a hug.
"Are you both okay?" I asked the, loudly so as to be heard over the wailing babies. 'Man, I do not miss dealing with Adrian crying when I babysat him. Though he does know how to cry on command and did so to annoy me.'
"We're fine. Just got charged to take care of some baby birds." Summer answered as she let go of Ruby and patted her and a bird on the head.
"And now, it seems we have some hungry wee birdies to feed." Muriel added as two of the three birds used their wings and pointed to their mouth to show that they were hungry.
"Would you three mind getting some food while we watch over them to make sure they are all alright?" Summer asked as one bird tried to get her attention.
"Alright." Me and Ruby agreed while Courage whined as he did not want to babysit birds.
Going to the edge, we climbed over the nest and began to climb down the tree. But as we were climbing down, we placed our feet on some branches to keep our balance, but unfortunately, those branches broke which caused us to fall from the tree. I managed to grab Ruby in time and grab onto another branch just before we hit the floor. Cannot say the same for Courage as he instinctively used his nails to try and stay on but ended up sliding down to the ground all the same.
"You okay Courage?" I asked as Ruby and I finished the climb down. Instead of answering, he showed us his paws were just smoking stubs now.
"Well, what should we get the birds to eat?" Ruby asked.
'I know something that might work.' Courage said before dashing back to the house.
Curious, we followed him back to the house and went around to enter through the kitchen. Getting inside, we saw him dig around the cabinets for some pots and pan and placed them onto the stive and turned it on. He then started chopping up carrot and started preparing what I can only assume is a fancy dish of some kind.
"Oh, can I help?" Ruby asked Courage.
He nodded and placed a chef's hat on Ruby. She smiled excitedly before they got to work. All the while, I only shook my head as they seemed to have forgotten that baby birds don't eat human food. But I couldn't bring myself to stop them as Ruby clearly enjoyed helping Courage cook. Seeing that they were fully distracted, I grabbed a small bucket from the counter that they were not using and stepped outside. Looking around, I spotted a few worms nearby where the seeds we threw to the birds earlier were. Going over, I grabbed as many worms as I could get before they could get away. Satisfied with the amount that I got, I went back inside and saw Courage and Ruby had finished cooking and were placing it on the table where Eustace was still sitting and waiting for his food.
"Muriel, it's about time. I'm dying of starvation here." Eustace complained as he continued to read his paper. Unaware that it was Ruby and Courage cooking and setting the food they made on the table.
"What are you doing with those worms Jaune?" Ruby asked cutely as she had some food on her face and chef's hat.
"You'll see. Anyway, ready to feed the birds?" I asked them.
'Now we are. Let's go.' Courage answered as he put a vase with a flower in it on the tray, they were going to use to transport the food.
"Oh." Eustace said when he saw the food Ruby and Courage prepared together.
He then tried to grabbed some but Courage took it away before he could. As we left the house, we heard Eustace cry a bit at not being fed yet. Heading outside, we made our way back to the giant tree. Courage stuck out his tongue with Ruby place the tray on it while I placed my arm through the handle. We then began to climb up the tree which took about ten minutes to get the top.
"That is a good work out." I said as I panted as just the climb up left us tired.
"Oh, your back." Summer said when she spotted us.
They were sitting on the edge of the nest with the baby birds sitting next to them. Walking over to them, Ruby and Courage presented them the food they made earlier. The baby birds examined the food for a bit before crying out again.
"No, no, no you two. Baby birds don't eat escargot with basil and pancetta in an herb crust." Muriel said pointing to the food.
"They eat worms." Summer told them. At this, Ruby smacked her forehead in realization.
"How did we forget they were birds?" Ruby asked surprised before turning to me. "So that's why you brought the worms Jaune."
"Yup. Here you go." I answered while handing the bucket to Muriel. She and Summer grabbed some of the worms and held above the birds for them to grab. But the birds just crossed their feathers and looked away.
"Wait, they are baby bids. They can't chew their foods yet. We have to either chew or mash it up and then we can feed it to them." Summer said before gaining a mischievous smile and turned to us. "Now, which one of you will do so to feed these wee birdies?"
"NOT ME!" Me and Ruby quickly said at the same time while stepping to the side and back.
"Courage, thank you so much for volunteering. Come and chew them please." Summer said smiling while clasping her hands together.
'I'll get you both for this.' Courage said angrily as he stepped forward to the bucket of warms.
Gulping down his pride and the vomit in his throat, he grabbed a handful of warms and started to chew on them while resisting the urge to throw up immediately. All the while, me and Ruby struggled not to laugh while Summer kept her innocent smile and Muriel just watched on with joy. After a few minutes of chewing and more handfuls of worms, Courage then stuck out his tongue with the chewed-up worms on it. The bay birds then went up to him happily and started pecking his tongue to get the food. A few seconds later they were done and left Courage's tongue pecked to all hell.
"Isn't that lovely?" Muriel asked smiling when the birds finished eating.
"Thank you so much Courage for helping us feed these beautiful baby birds." Summer said with her smile still present while bringing her clasped hands to the side of her face. Instead of saying anything, Courage gave us a quick glare before groaning in pain and fainting. We could not hold it back anymore and let out our laughter.
"Well, now that the birds are fed, how about we eat the food you two made." Muriel suggested. We looked at each other before nodding and started eating the food.
Half an hour later
"Babies are so sweet. Aren't they? I just love to hear them at play." Muriel asked as we listened to the baby birds play. We were on the edge of the nest admiring the beautiful view while the babies played behind us.
"They sure are." Summer agreed smiling. We all turned back to admire the view. But our attention was taken when Courage screamed in shock. I was about to ask him what was wrong when he turned me around to see the baby birds playing with a live hornets' nest.
"NO!" I shouted as we ran to the birds and tried to get the nest away from them. But it proved a little difficult as they kept bouncing it to each other above our heads. After a couple of tries, we did finally manage to get it.
"I got it." Ruby shouted when she managed to jump up and catch the hive before the other bird could pass it back. But that's when we remembered that it was a live hive with angry wasps right now. "Uh, oh."
"Ruby!" I shouted for her to pass it to me. She quickly ran up to me and gave the hive to me. I then took to Courage where he proceeded to nail the hive back to the branch. Unfortunately, this caused to hive to get really angry and come out and we could feel their anger directed at us.
'He, he, he.' Courage and I laughed nervously. We tried to back up to the nest but misstepped and fell of the branch.
"JAUNE!" Ruby shouted as me and Courage fell to the bottom of the tree. And we did just hit the floor but went through it a bit. But that was not the end of our pain as the hornets followed us and started attacking us.
"OW! OW! OW!" We both screamed as the hornets attacked us.
Ten minutes later
'If this is what it's like to have kids, I'm not sure I want to have any.' I thought as Courage and I climbed up the tree covered in hornets' stings. I could even feel the stingers of some of the hornets still in my skin. After a painful ten minutes of climbing up the tree, we were finally back at the nest. Only to be greeted by the sounds of the baby birds wailing again.
"Jaune, Courage. Are you both okay?" Ruby asked when she saw us covered in bites. But before we could answer, Summer spoke up.
"Oh, they'll be fine. Jaune's aura should heal those up. And I know a little family recipe to cure those bites on anyone so Courage could use it to treat his bites. But that would be later as we have a much more pressing issue." Summer told us.
"The poor dears are hungry again." Muriel said referring to the baby birds crying. "Eustace has a bucket of fishing bait in the cellar. I'm sure the wee birdies would enjoy a meal of that."
"Alright," I said moving to the edge of the nest as Courage whined in protest. "Coming Ruby?"
"Sure." She answered and moved to the side of the nest.
Sighing, we began our way down again. Only to fall to the ground after a branch gave way when we panicked when the hornets greeted us again. Luckily, my remaining aura protected me from the fall and Ruby did not get hurt that badly as she landed on top of me. Courage, however, fell through the ground yet again. Now there were two Courage shaped imprint at the base of this tree.
"Sorry Jaune." Ruby said as she helped me up.
"It's fine. Let's just get the bait for the birds." I told her as I picked Courage up and out from the hole.
'Thanks.' He said as he shook the dirt off him.
Nodding, we made our way back to the farmhouse. Getting there, we headed to the outside entrance to the cellar. Opening it, we went into the cellar and looked around for the bait. Luckily, it was on the nearby desk Eustace uses to store some of his tools. Picking up the bait, we were about to head back but stopped when we heard the kitchen door open and Eustace stomp out.
"Muriel, Where's my breakfast?" He demanded.
"Is he still waiting for Muriel to serve him? Doesn't he know its way past breakfast. That it's getting close to sunset." Ruby asked astounded yet again at Eustace.
"Doesn't care what time it is. As long as he gets his food." I told her shaking my head. "Anyway, let's head back and give this to the birds."
Heading up the stairs, we ran back to the tree. But as we left the house, Eustace saw us with his bait and started chasing us while calling us thieves. We just ignored him though and continued on our way back to the tree. But as we were getting to the base of the tree, I tripped on a protruding rock which caused me to spill the bait. Getting up, I saw that all the worms were trying to escape. Luckily, Ruby used her semblance to gather most of them up before they could get away. Unfortunately, some went into holes in the ground that were nearby. Digging into them, we managed to get them back. Picking the bucket back up, we continued back to the tree. Putting my arm through the handle, we made our way back up again. But was we began to climb up the tree, we heard Eustace shout at us again telling us that he was closing in.
"Oh, there you three are." Muriel said as we pulled ourselves onto the nest again.
"We were just reading this story book to the birds." Summer said raising the book in her hands. But at the mention of the birds, they turned to us and cried while pointing to their mouths.
'Not again.' Courage said when he realized that he needed to chew on the worms again. Sighing, he grabbed some worms and began to chew on them. But when he reached in to grab another handful of worms, we heard hissing coming from the bucket. Turning to it, we saw that there was a rattle snake in there.
"SHIT." I shouted as I quickly grabbed Ruby and moved back away from the snake. Confused, Courage looked to the bucket and spit out all the worms he was chewing when he saw the snake.
"Yuck! How utterly disgusting." The snake hissed as he shook the food off him. But his attention was quickly grabbed when he heard the babies crying. "Mmm, babies. I love babies. Let me help you name them. How about breakfast, lunch and dinner? Oh, how very witty."
"No, stay away from our babies. You horrid creature, you." Muriel said as she went to the birds and hugged them protectively.
"Come here babies. Don't be afraid. Come and play with papa's rattle." The snake said as he shook his tail. Moving to stand in front of Muriel, we prepared to defend them from the snake. Seeing, the snake hissed again before lunging at us. But before he could reach us, Summer quickly and easily grabbed his tail and flung him back to the other side of the nest.
"Don't you dare harm any of them." Summer threatened the snake.
"How utterly annoying." The snake said as he shacked his head from the impact.
"Jaune." Ruby said getting my attention.
"What?" I asked leaning down to her,
"How about we use the hornets to get rid of the snake?" She suggested while pointing to the branch that contained the hornets' nest.
"Good idea." I said as me and Courage quietly went to branch that was holding the nest. Grabbing it, I pulled it up and threw it to the snake. But it dodged it the last second.
"Missed young one." The snake taunted with a hiss. He then tried and go around and get the babies but Summer was quicker and threw him back across the nest. "Enough of this tomfoolery."
At this, the snake opened its mouth and this time lunged at Summer but Courage dove for the snake and landed in its mouth and tried to keep him from biting down. The snake then tried to use its tail to get rid of Courage but stopped when we heard the sound of Eustace screaming. Turning to where it was coming from, we saw that during the confrontation, Eustace had climbed up the tree. And no was covered in honey from the hornets' nest and had feathers all over him. And now was running around and flapping his arms around as the hornets stung him on the ass.
"Huh? Good heavens. It's the mother of all chickens." The snake said as it flung Courage away using its tail. It then proceeded to head over to Eustace who just stopped running in circles.
"Huh? A snake! AAHHH!" Eustace screamed when he saw the snake and jumped out of the nest thinking he could fly before falling to the ground with the snake following him.
"What kind of birdie was that? He was so strange... yet so familiar." Muriel wondered as we watch the snake continue to chase Eustace.
"Should we tell her?" Summer asked giggling as we continued to watch Eustace run from the snake until he was out of sight. We thought about it for a moment before shaking our heads. Best she did not know. Nor she would believe us.
Seven P.M.
We were sitting on the edge of the nest watching the baby bird's sleep. After the snake incident and Courage feeding the birds, everything was actually quite calm. The baby birds actually listened to us once they were fed and we did not need to worry about them being in danger now that the hive was also gone. And after a few hours of playing with them, they all fell asleep in a pile together. Now we were just waiting for the mother bird to arrive. Speaking of which.
"Darling, Mama's back." The mother bird said as she landed in the nest. The baby birds began cheering happily at seeing their mother back again.
"How was the trip?" Summer asked.
"The trip was fine but the singles mixer was a bust." The mother bird answered.
"Oh, that's too bad." Muriel said sadly.
"But not all is lost. On my way home, I found the man of my dreams. Kids, say hello to your new daddy." The mother birds said as she moved her wing to reveal a still covered in feathers and honey Eustace. The baby birds chirped happily while Eustace grumbled.
"Where's my dinner?" Eustace demanded angrily. In response, Courage stuck out his tongue which had chew up worms on it and laughed.
"Isn't he just fabulous?" The mother bird asked dreamily while the rest of us, minus Muriel, just laughed at Eustace.
Note:
A bit harder to write this without making Summer or Ruby seem just along for the ride.
(1) Bad Hair Day with Yang. (2) Hot head with Yang. (3) Record Deal with Weiss. (4) Serpent of the Evil River with Weiss and Blake. (5) Sand whale strikes back with Team Rwby's mother. (6) The Mask with Blake and Velvet. (7) Muted Muriel with Ruby and Weiss. (8) Car Broke, Phone yes with Pyrrha. (9) The last of the star makers with Winter and Iris. (10) Night of the Scarecrow with Qrow, Ruby and Yang. (11) Thousand years of Courage with Sun and Neptune. (12) Wrath of the librarian with Blake. (13) Squatting Tiger, Hidden Dog with Nora and Ren. (14) Cabaret Courage with Wiess. (15) Family Business with Winter.