Lockheed was angry and lonely. Kitty had been neglecting him for this new animal that smelled like food and acted like food. He decided to go have a "talk" with the bird. He tapped across the countertops over to the sink, where Rogue was washing dishes, the bird on her shoulder.
Beau saw something moving toward him. It was a scary thing. He hissed and flapped his wings to get Rogue to fly away from the scary thing.
"Beau, settle your feathery butt down. It's okay. It's just Lockheed." She soothed the cockatiel with her words, then turned her gaze on the dragon. "And what do you want?"
Lockheed looked up at the bird-food. He licked his nose with his tongue and stared at Rogue.
"No, you don't. He isn't food. He's a bird and we like him alive." Rogue turned away and grabbed the dish cloth, passing it across the surface of a blue plate before rinsing it under the water.
Lockheed leaped forward and put his head under Rogue's hand. "Eep," he said firmly. If she was going to pay attention to that food, she was going to pay attention to him, too.
Beau saw that Rogue's stick-things were touching another thing, petting it. He felt like getting a preening too, so he nipped at her ear to get her attention, then extended his head for a preen.
"Beau!" Rogue yelped as the animal bit her ear and then extended his head, crest lowered. "I only have two hands!"
Lockheed pressed his head into the hand petting him. He was NOT going to be ignored for this food thing.
The human didn't give him a preening. Stupid human. He repeated his request.
"OW!" Rogue screamed in pain as Beau took a harder chomp of her ear. "You little monster!"
The human made a loud, scary sound at him, so he had to get away fast. He flew to the top of the curtain rod above the window, his feet tangling in the lace of the curtain hanging there, and started flapping his wings frantically in fear.
Lockheed nipped at Rogue as she removed her hand from his head and rinsed her wet hand under the water. He wanted more attention.
"Not now, Lockheed. Birdbrain there got himself into trouble again. Kind of like his namesake," she muttered, flying a few feet into the air to reach the frightened bird.
Scary. Get away. Scary. Must get away. Feet trapped. Nibble them. Scared. Get away.
Beau hissed and furiously nipped the lace curtain. He had snagged his nails in the material and was flapping so hard she could not see to free him. She captured him from the back, clamping her fingers down over his wings and using her index finger and thumb to immobilize his head. With her left hand, she pulled the material that was trapping him from Beau's feet.
Even more scary. Trapped. Can't move head. Bad, bad stick-things! Bite them!
Beau was squealing and screaming under her hand, wriggling to get free. Rogue sighed. "Damn it, bird, people are gonna think I'm beatin' you up, not helping you out. Stop." She got the final bit of material and released Beau.
Bad, bad, BAD stick-things! He would teach them a lesson!
Beau immediately and viciously attacked her right hand. Lockheed knew what that meant. Beau was bad, trying to hurt his friend. He flew to the attack.
"Lockheed, NO!" Rogue tried to stop the dragon, but he flew too fast. He barreled into the male cockatiel, which shrieked and hissed, flapping his wings.
Scary. Bad things. Hurt him. He would hurt them! He screamed defiance at the big thing, then cowered in fear as it hit him. It hurt! He tried to run away.
Lockheed tried to attack Beau as he ran in fear under the refrigerator, but Rogue caught him this time and glared into his face. "If you ever hurt him again, I will track you down and do the same to you. Got it? Leave Beau alone. Never touch him."
Rogue was dominant to Lockheed. Lockheed had to do what Rogue said. He bowed his head in submission to Rogue, though he didn't want to.
Hurting some. Very scared. Hide. Darkness was good. Good place to hide. Beau stayed in the darkness.
"Good. Now, get out of here. I'm tellin' Kitty what you did, too." Rogue watched as Lockheed mopily left the room, then knelt down in front of the refrigerator. "Come on out, Beau. It's okay."
Human made noises at him. He was scared. He stayed in the dark. Dark was good and safe. No bad things could catch him here.
Rogue tried to get him out for a few minutes, but then gave up and got out her communicator instead. "Bobby?"
"Hey, there, beautiful. Care to dump the creepy Cajun and go for someone who's really cool?" Bobby's teasing voice came through clearly and she rolled her eyes.
"Right. No. Can you come to the kitchen? Beau's scared and I can't get him out from under the fridge to see if he's hurt or not."
"Beau might be hurt? Rogue, how'd that happen?"
She sighed. "Lockheed tried to protect me from him. He got startled and bit me a little. I'm fine, but he got hit by Lockheed, so I need to check him out."
Bobby slid in, closing his communicator and stopping his ice slide several feet before the kitchen table. His entire focus was on the refrigerator. "Heya Beau, old pal, old buddy." Rogue got out of the way as Bobby ducked his head down and made eye contact with Beau, who was hissing and striking at the floor under the appliance.
Talky wake-up human was here. Beau liked the talky wake-up human. He whistled the flock greeting at him, then hissed, to warn the human of the scary thing.
A cheery, elaborate wolf-whistle greeted him, followed by an angry hiss. Bobby let out a low whistle himself. "Mixed messages. Just like most women I've dated." He wolf-whistled back to Beau, then held out his hand. "Come on, sweet thing. Let's get you out of there so we can see if Lockheed messed you up or if you can take him."
Beau relaxed a little, but remained somewhat alert. The last time he had been out there, scary things happened. He wasn't quite sure what, but it had been scary.
The cockatiel stopped hissing and biting at things, but he didn't come out, either. Bobby sighed. "Also just like the women I've dated. You need something more than just my pretty face to get you out of there, hm?" He thought for a minute, then got up and opened the freezer door. He pulled out a small round container of Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream, grabbed a spoon from the dish drainer, and dropped back onto the floor. "Mm." He made a big production of opening up the ice cream, flourishing his hand, pulling hard at the lid, and putting the lid aside on the floor. The bird watched every move. "Yummy food." He dipped the spoon into the container, bringing out a very small amount of ice cream. "I'm gonna enjoy eating this all by myself."
Oo. There was Food. Sweet Food. Beau unconsciously began running his tongue in and out, touching his beak. He loved this Food. He had to have some!
The bird came running out from under the door, eagerly snatching ice cream from the spoon. Bobby let him, then got the bird on his hand and put him back in his cage. He then bowed to Rogue. "The master has done thy bidding, lady."
She clapped her hands and laughed. "Good. Now let's check him out." She tried to grab Beau again.
Bad stick-things!
Beau furiously attacked her hand when she tried to grab him again. Bobby, a superior look on his face, handed her one of Beau's towels. "Try using this. It hurts less."
"Thanks, popsicle." She wrapped the bird in the towel, ignoring his scream as she picked him up again. Bobby stepped forward.
"Here. I'll restrain his head and body as you check him out." He took a good grip on Beau's head, while Rogue started looking Beau over.
Scary. Can't fly. Can't see. Very, very scary. He got very quiet. So scary. Need to fly. Need to see. Must get away. Scary. Bite. Scary.
She touched his feet. They were gray and scaly, as always. She then checked out his wings. They looked okay, and he didn't protest very much when she touched them. His head was fine, as was his neck. Last of all, she touched his breast bone, and Beau screamed.
Pain! Pain! No more pain, please no more pain!
Bobby started talking to the 'tiel once he was released. "Hey, there, brave Beau. You're going to get to go to the vet! Won't that be great?"
Rogue called the doctor as Bobby anxiously talked to the 'tiel, who was fluffed up and sitting in the highest point of his cage.
Rest. With flock. Will be okay. With.