Who and What Is She?

She was perched on the branch projecting from our home tree, immersing herself in the brisk breeze sweeping throughout the jungle. I was watching her from the calm safety of the hollow, just inside the rim and sheltered from the energetic winds.

Her eyes were closed, her head was held high, and her posture was straight. Her plumage rippled and shifted as if it was alive, a sparkling azure mat of feathers that had chosen her as its permanent host.

She truly was an angel, a divinely attractive macaw residing on Earth who earned the envy of every other female in the jungle. And as destiny would have it, I had gained her favor and ensured that she would be mine forever.

It took both of us nearly plunging into the ocean and drowning in each other's wings to realize that we were in love, sure, but some higher power saw to it that we were given a second chance.

The sublime kiss she gave me as we plummeted to our mutual doom came to pass just over two years ago, but even to this day, I had not forgotten it. I could still savor the tropical taste she left in my beak and the influx of passionate energy radiating from her body, those two magical sensations bringing the rhythm of my heart to life.

Every day that I awoke and found myself staring into her crystalline eyes was another day when my unconditional love was reaffirmed. She reciprocated that very same faith in me without hesitation, because her enamored soul refused to allow her to miss out.

There were many a male macaw who would claim that we should not be together, that someone of my personality and design was too low in quality for a near-perfect specimen such as her.

But to all those bearing grudges against me, spewing dissent rather than praise from their beaks, I have this to say: It was not solely my choice that the diamond of the rain-forest saw me was the one she was most content with offering herself to.

In theory, she could have pitted every male macaw in this leafy domain against one another for the right to love her and be her mate, but she did not. In actuality, she could have cast me aside as simply another hormone-driven, overconfident suitor and directed her attention to a male with a superior DNA makeup.

But the cold, hard truth is that she picked me to spend the rest of her days with, and no avian Leonardo DiCaprio or Johnny Depp would ever convince her otherwise.

I was a male she could count on to make her happy and fulfill her dreams, no matter how shy and clumsy my behavior was. Just the same, she was someone with the courage to stand by me through all of life's upsets and troubles and help me accomplish my own set of aspirations.

It was an unorthodox case of role-reversal, me being the timid one and her being the brave one, but it didn't matter. We were stuck to each other as if we had been coated with super glue, and no worldly threat had the fortitude to wrench us apart.

She was my lover, my confidante, and my personal sapphire, but she was so much more than that.

To analyze her completely would be a lengthy and tedious task, but my mind had the capacity to do just that should I ever want to. Since she and I were both contained in our own tiny worlds of self-enjoyment and tranquility, free to waste the entire day however we wanted to, deciphering the splendid creature known as Jewel was exactly what I ended up doing.

There were a large number of ways I could mentally break her down and describe her, but a select few stood out as channels of thought that were easier to grasp. But I didn't want to jump the gun and risk taking a bullet in the back.

The very first step I had to do was surprisingly straightforward: ask a short, defining question that I would base my examination of my mate on. After mulling for a few moments and inhaling a rich breath of oxygen, the question came to me.

To kick off the process, I asked myself inside my head: Who and what is she?

To be as fundamental as possible, she was created when a Z chromosome from one of her father's lucky sperm cells fused with one of her mother's eggs that held a W chromosome. Therefore, from a biological standpoint, she is simply an impeccably-ordered collection of an astronomical number of cells that all hold the WZ chromosome pair in their nuclei.

The genetic code they wielded led to her embryo developing as a female, modeling her internal physical structure and external appearance in accordance with her gender. Her gorgeous teal eyes, plump body shape, fabulous tail, and fluffy head feathers were what categorized her as female, features that were preordained when she was just a zygote inside her mother's belly.

Her scientific origins dealt with, I moved on so that I could detail her in an equally important light.

She may be a mass of cells working together to perpetuate the concept known as life, but her invisible soul and one-of-a-kind consciousness set her apart from every other animal on this planet.

She highly values her freedom – in a general sense, considering the fact that she sacrificed some of that to be with me – which I argue symbolizes the wild streak in her soul.

She was once distrustful and violent in regards to all humans – though that is still the case with those she is unfamiliar with – since she will do anything to protect herself, often at the expense of others if they meddle with her.

She can be quite the stubborn girl, her spirit motivating her to support the things she loves and reject the things she does not. She definitely played hard-to-get during our past adventures in Rio, as she wanted to make absolutely sure that I was worth embarking on the journey of life with.

Lastly, I can clearly see that she has a split personality, rather damning evidence that every one of us has a dark side.

She can be uncaring and even callous in some situations, but underneath her rude outer shell is a soft core of love and warmth from which all her sweetness and benevolence radiates.

And I will always believe that that is Jewel's true nature, that she is a female who embraces those close to her – me being the one she cherishes with all her heart – and merely wants to make everyone around her feel as blissful as she herself is.

All of these reasons and explanations are why Jewel is the light of my life, the most wonderful female I would ever have the pleasure of knowing and the one I would one day slip into the afterlife with.

If she disappeared one day, never to be my blazing sun and mercurial moon again, my identity would cease to exist. Without her, there could never be me again, and I would rather end my life than continue to breathe and feel and think for one minute in her absence.

I don't know if this generalization holds true across the globe, but to me, Jewel was the greatest gift ever bestowed upon me, in all her femininity and elegance and duality.

I regretted nothing so long as I was around her, free to adore her and sleep with her and satisfy my innate biological drive by having se-

"Blu! You're staring off into space again. Can… you… hear… me?"

"Ahhh!" I squawked, scrambling backwards in response to her startling voice and landing hard on my back.

I promptly shot my right wing down to cover up my nether regions, throwing my mate a mean glare of exasperation.

"Cheese and sprinkles, Jewel! I hate it when you do that!"

"Hey, I'm sorry! But really, I had to get your attention somehow! And why are you doing that with your wing? There's no reason why you need to hide your-"

"Stop. Just stop right there. I'm not the kind of bird who flashes his intimate area to everyone like it's nothing."

She rolled her eyes and hopped closer to me, helping me back to my feet.

"But I'm not everyone, Blu. I'm your mate. There is no part of your body I haven't seen and or touched before."

I dusted my chest off brusquely with my wings and shot her an unconvinced expression.

"I… I don't care. Now can we drop the subject please, honey bun? You're making me uncomfortable."

She exhaled in defeat and groaned, "Fine, Blu, fine. Subject dropped."

"Thank you, Jewel. I appreciate your consideration."

She slapped me harmlessly on the shoulder – making a point nonetheless – and then pecked me briefly on the cheek.

"You're such a pain sometimes, but I still love you."

She put on a wide smile and batted her eyelashes at me, all former traces of her irritation gone, but I wasn't fooled.

"I bet you do," I said sarcastically.

"Oh come on, Blu, lighten up. Or I will be forced to make you lighten up."

I crossed my wings defiantly.

"Oh really? And how would you go about doing that, dear Jewel?"

"Like this!"

She grasped my midsection with her wings and began tickling away, sending torrents of nerve impulses to my brain that caused me to burst into motion and laughter.

"Je-Jewel… no st-stop! Those a-are my… se-sensitive spots! Ha ha ha! Help! I'm… I'm under a-attack!"

I tried backing away to escape her torture, but she matched my retreat step for step and chased me all the way to the wall. Any further movement barred, I went limp and fought to push her away, rapidly running out of oxygen.

"Okay… okay… p-lease… I can't breathe! You've had… y-your fun! No m-more… Jewel!"

She instantly removed her wings and waited while I recovered, clearly amused by my loud panting and heaving chest. When I had at last brought myself back from the brink of unconsciousness, she enfolded me with her wings and pulled me to my feet.

She then spun me halfway around and purposely lost her balance, sending us both to the floor. She was physically on top of me, pinning me down with her weight. She hugged me tightly and then peppered my face and neck with playful kisses.

"Mwah mwah mwah mwah! Now do you believe me when I say I love you?"

"Yes, I do, and I say that because I know you won't take no for an answer."

She lifted her head up and nodded vigorously.

"Uh huh, you got that right. You're catching on, Blu. I'm proud of you."

"That makes me feel good, I guess. And to be fair, I have to admit that I love you too."

"Aw… you're such a sweetheart."

She kissed me directly on the beak, silencing my unrest and making me quiver with pleasure. She then rolled off of me and bounced to her feet, pulling me gently to mine.

"Blu, I think we need to get away from the hollow and go somewhere. You know, take a vacation and go exploring. How does that sound, handsome?"

I cleared my throat and replied, "Um… I'm kind of in the mood to be lazy and sit on my tail all day. On any other day I would love to go with you, but…"

"But Blu, it's gonna break my heart if I have to go alone…"

She pouted like a baby and hit me with puppy-dog eyes.

I moaned and replied, "Jewel, please don't play that card."

"So you're not gonna come with me then?" she said in a medium-pitched, shaky voice.

"Jewel... I kind of don't want to. Don't get mad at me. I just wanna relax and-"

She snapped back to her old self and spun with a flourish, marching to the rim of the hollow and spreading her wings.

She looked at me with a flat gaze and said indifferently, "Suit yourself, Blu. I wanted to do some naughty things with you tonight, but eh, not so much anymore. I guess I'll be off then. Bye bye!"

I internally squawked in frustration, my hormones spiking as my mind shifted to think about the range of "naughty things" she was suggesting. That was an offer my body wouldn't let my consciousness refuse, no matter how hard I wanted to.

Ugh… curse Jewel and her persuasive… female-ness.

"Okay, Jewel, you win. I'll go with you…"

She tucked her wings against her body and whirled around to face me.

"Ahhh, that's more like it. C'mon, Blu, I promise to make it as enjoyable as possible. I'll even let you pick the first place we should visit."

I cracked a small smile and joined her at the edge, kissing her cheek.

"In spite of your manipulation skills, I still love you, honey bun. And I always will. Now, follow me, if you don't mind."

I threw open my flying appendages and burst into the air, the rushing noise from behind me meaning that my mate had done the same. She sped up to sail along beside me, pursing her beak and blowing me a kiss mid-flight, adding a smooching sound for added effect.

Sacrificing my wishes to spend the day with the one I loved was oh-so worth it. After all, love was all about putting your soul mate's needs above your own and letting him or her take control for a while. And to tell you the truth, I was eager to experience what intimate tricks Jewel had in store for me and feel the endless pleasure of her shameless touch.

Was I a sex-crazed bird who only thought of mating all the time? Certainly not.

But when Jewel, the smoking-hot macaw that she was, said things like that to me, my encoded desire to copulate was reactivated. It's not something I can inhibit, so don't go blaming me.

After all, I personally feel that I am the luckiest male in the world to get the opportunity to mate with an angel like Jewel. It's always the pretty ones who blow your mind in bed, or should I say, in the nest.

So I take back what I squawked earlier.

Bless my alluring Jewel and her all-powerful female-ness.

Has this changed your perceptions of Jewel at all? She is more complex than you thought, isn't she?

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