Chapter 7 'Centro de Conservaçāo Ambiental'
Hi, its another chapter and this one will probably be the one of the shortest chapters in this story and is the shortest one so far. I'm writing this on 3 hours sleep, at night and with a headache. So, that's lovely.
Anyways, lets get on with it! Enjoy or suffer.
19/10/2020
Martin, Luana and Bluey had entered the main building which was an Italianate style building with white, smooth concrete walls and orange terracotta roof tiles, with Luana guiding them to ''The heart and soul of the aviary: The treatment room!'', Luana introduced enthusiastically.
A few birds started flying to her, and she "communicated" with them by imitating their squawks as best she could. Bluey of course knew she was speaking gibberish.
''Wow, they really like you.'', Martin commented as some more birds began to fly and land on Luana. More birds started flying and perching on her, ''They REALLY like you.'', Martin added with a chuckle.
''Yeah, I'm their big mama bird.'', Luana said with a sheepish smile. She shooed them away, and they continued on, walking down a corridor of sorts formed by counters on both sides. On their right side as they headed up, was a bird who was covered in a cast from the neck down with plenty of writing on it. The bird was trying to satisfy an itch, and the worker who was tending to it, noticed this and satisfied the bird's itch for it with his pen.
''Many of the birds here were rescued from smugglers.'', Luana told Martin as they continued walking down the counter corridor, ''Unfortunately, many of the birds are hurt or even killed in the process.'', Luana said glumly, ''However, with enough time and care we can nurse them back to health to be released into the wild.'', she finished positively. Martin nodded, and Bluey felt a slight amount of worry.
''So, where's the bird Bluey's supposed to be with?'', Martin asked Luana, as they continued walking past birds in the treatment room, as well as the workers who worked there.
''Oh, we have a special place for her.'', Luana answered, ''She's a very… Spirited bird…'', she said, placing emphasis on spirited.
''Just a tad…'', a blonde male worker sarcastically remarked, turning to face them while sitting in his office chair. His face was all scratched up, he had a black eye and it seemed that the bird Bluey's about to see was capable of inflicting serious harm. Bluey nervously laughed and swallowed a lump in his throat.
''Oh, she did that? That's… That's… Just wonderful, very charming.'', Bluey nervously chuckled, and dropped his smile, ''Okay, I wanna go home now!'', Bluey started to fearfully, but quietly squawk. Luana realised this and she bent down to Bluey's level in an attempt to comfort him.
''Hey, don't worry, I'm sure she won't hurt you.'', Luana spoke softly, with an expression that was actually somewhat comforting. Bluey looked at her with a nervous and unsure expression, ''Besides, I'll make you look irresistible!'', Bluey was very unsure of what this woman's version of "irresistible" is, considering how she's rather eccentric. But maybe all ornithologists are like that. Blu figured that you'd have to be just a little nutty to pursue the study of birds as a life-long and full-time career.
And so, Martin carried Bluey's cage and Luana took him to a bathroom to give him a special makeover. His cage was opened, and Luana took to freshening him up.
She watered her hands and combed Bluey's feathers, gave them a good clean, polished his beak and talons, and a few other touches. While she was grooming him, Bluey became lost in his thoughts as he stared at himself in the bathroom mirror.
What would she be like? Would she like him? Bluey thought about things. Judging from the current progress of Luana's grooming, he looked fairly handsome. But Bluey had heard the classic joke of a haircut looking best halfway through, and just when you think it'll look good, the barber does a few things and ruins it. Of course, Bluey doesn't know this from experience as he has feathers that don't need to be cut like hair does.
But would it be enough to win her over? Maybe she had high standards and liked very handsome and muscular men. While Bluey could become pretty handsome with the grooming done by Luana, who was currently whistling and humming to some tune, he certainly wasn't muscular. Flexible, sure, but not muscular. Hell, he can't even fly.
Bluey let loose a small sigh. Would she accept the fact he's a companion parrot? All the wild birds he's met so far are on the fence at absolute best, and most mocked him for it. Would she do the same? She's quite spirited, so Bluey's domestic demeaners may not appeal to her, and may even repulse her.
As Luana's grooming drew to a close, Bluey let loose a sigh and hoped that everything would pan out well for him. Luana tapped him and stood upright proudly, with her hands on her sides. She stared at Bluey and smiled proudly,
''You like it?'', Luana asked him, and Bluey looked at her and back at his reflexion, starting to nod and smile. He squawked a yes and admired himself. He actually looked really handsome!
''Wow.'', Bluey muttered in awe. He turned and got different angles of his makeover, and he smiled proudly, ''I never knew I could look this good.'', Bluey smiled and let out a happy squawk.
''I knew you'd like it, you're a very handsome bird.'', Luana complimented, and Bluey sheepishly smiled, and blushed lightly. Luana signalled for him to go back in his cage, and Bluey obliged. The door shut, and Bluey had newfound confidence in himself. Bluey had always thought of himself as looking dorky, and that really affected his self-esteem.
But with this makeover proving how handsome he could look, he felt confident and proud of his looks for the first time in his life. (apart from the time he freshened himself up in his cage, and whenever he wagged his tail feathers. He knew they were his greatest asset apart from his brain)
Luana brought him out and she walked up to Martin.
''I present to you: The new Bluey!'', she exclaimed, showing Martin the makeover she had done with Bluey. Martin smiled,
''Wow, you did a great job.'', Martin complimented, and Luana warmly smiled with a small blush, ''Thank you.''.
They walked up to the entrance to the special place they had for the bird Bluey's meant to mate with, and Luana placed Bluey's cage on the ground at the entrance. It was a hatch big enough for a bird like him to easily fit through with plenty of room to spare. It resembled an air vent in size.
Bluey lightly smiled, while he had some nerves, he was actually quite confident in himself for once. He really felt like he could do it and took a deep breath.
''Oh, and one more thing.'', Luana gasped, and she took Bluey out of his cage, and in one foul swoop, messed his makeover up. She puffed his feathers into a ridiculous afro, and Bluey squawked at her in frustration.
''Damn you!'', Bluey growled. Luana shook her head,
''Trust me, she'll love it.'', she said, and pushed Bluey into the special place. The hatch shut behind him and gone were any bit of confidence he had before. He began to breathe rapidly and turned back and started banging on the hatch.
''HELP, HELP! Let me out of here, now!'', he shouted, but his words were in vain. He quickly brushed his poorly done afro down and was deeply disappointed to find his older look come back. At least it was slightly better than him ungroomed, and he had a nice, polished beak and well cleaned feathers.
''MARTIN!'', Bluey cried out at the top of his lungs.
''Why did you do that?'', Martin asked Luana with a confused and slightly annoyed tone, ''He looked really good, and then you made him look like an idiot who got kicked out of the 70's!'', his voice was full of frustration and confusion.
''I puffed his feathers up as macaws do that with their mates to make them look irresistible for them not to preen.'', Luana told him, defending her actions. Martin sighed in defeat.
''Martin, HELP ME!'', Bluey screamed, to no avail. He gave up with a frustrated growly sigh, ''Oh, this is going to be great…'', Bluey nervously laughed as he looked around the room just as some of the ceiling lights were turned on. The walls were painted to look like the backdrop of a jungle, and the foliage was a mix of fake and real plants. It seemed the humans made this place to make the bird he's meant to mate with feel more at home. Of course, it wasn't convincing in the slightest.
''God help me...'', Bluey mumbled with a nervous smile.
Well that wraps up this chapter that turned out longer than I expected, I hope you enjoyed it!
Yes, this is filler and tomorrow I will hopefully write chapter 8, which will be better and longer.
Until next time, goodbye.
