A/N at the end
As you know, I don't own any of these characters, the locations, events, ideas, occurrences, or anything else that may appear in both the movie RIO and my story; that is all the property of Blue Sky. Enjoy!
9. Contrast
"Bl, Blu would you please… Just, no move the other way, stop, no." Jewel growled at me in frustration as she tried to maneuver her way across the branch.
"I, I can't let you do this. You shouldn't be doing anything while the infection is healing. Besides, you promised." I stammered, trying to reason with the love of my life.
A sharp crack of lightning punctuated my comments and Jewel let out a snort, rolling her eyes at me. "You're being ridiculous Blu, climbing down this tree is not going to hinder my healing. I promised I wouldn't over exert myself, but I hardly think this counts towards that."
Before I could react, the blue macaw shoved her way past, sending me off the edge of the branch. Instinctually I grabbed at the branch with my beak, digging it into the wood. With a grunt I pulled myself back onto the branch. The stubborn macaw was already making good time down the peg stairs of the tree.
"Jewel! At least let me help you, what are you trying to do anyway?" I could hear an exasperated sigh escape her beak as she continued to climb down the tree. "Jewel?"
"I'm just going to get some fruit, take a bath, and stretch my wing." She glared at me from the ground waiting for a response.
"Well, couldn't I j-"
"No," she cut me off "Blu, I'm doing this. I'm sick of just sitting around every day. I need to do something." She paused, regarding me for a moment. "If you must, you can bring some fruit over to the water."
With that she turned and began to walk towards the artificial river, leaving me to find some real food among the canopy of fake plants. Silence fell in the room, save for the storm outside. I made my way down the pegs on the tree listening to the plinking of the rain on the roof. Once on the ground, I set about my task. Several minutes later I had a nice mix of fruit and nuts gathered at the edge of the water.
"How was your walk?" I asked casually, as Jewel emerged from behind some fake shrubs.
"Fine." She said curtly, grabbing a nut and biting into it fiercely, hoping to draw attention away from her shortness of breath.
I began to speak, but stopped myself before I could frustrate her further. I quietly observed her tear into her food angrily as though it were that cockatoo. Still watching her, I grabbed a nut and began to eat as well; I hated seeing her like this.
She finished eating her fill and stood up without a word. The blue macaw silently made her way to the waters edge, and began to work at her bandage. She worked for several minutes, getting more and more frustrated as the bandage refused to let go of her wing.
"Well?" she growled at me "You going to come help or not?" The glare she gave me could freeze the sun. Immediately I dropped my fruit and made my way to her side.
"Sorry, I just thou-"
"Just shut up and help me with this will you?" I clamped my beak shut and pushed the confusion from my mind as I began to work on freeing her wing.
The bandage began to unwrap with the both of us working at it. Soon, half of it was lying on the ground. Silently I made my way around her, following the piece that held her wing up against her body. As I walked around her I failed to notice the loose bandage caught on my talon.
With an unconscious tug I took a step, earning cry of pain from Jewel. Turning quickly at the noise, I saw my love holding her wing in pain, glaring at me, and falling into the stream all at the same time.
I hurried over to the edge of the water as Jewel struggled to get out. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Are you ok?" I asked, awkwardly holding my wing out to help her. She grabbed it tightly and I pulled her up as she muttered under her breath. The bandages were now ruined and her wing was hanging low. I could see it was still a bit swollen and obviously painful. "Here! Let me hel-"
"NO!" she yelled, before catching herself and continuing. "No, Blu, I don't want your help right now."
"But, I can help."
"Blu, I'm sorry, but you're not helping… Can you just, just leave me alone?"
"Oh, uh, sure." I responded quietly, the words stinging sharply.
The rain outside continued to fall steadily throughout the morning. I took note of the precipitation as I made my way back into the clinic side of the aviary on Tulio's arm. The Brazilian man set me on the open window sill across from his desk. The pattering of rain on the deck beyond the window invaded my senses. A soft mist blew in and caressed my feathers; the smell of fresh air relieved my senses. It was a welcome distraction despite its brevity.
As soon as it had arrived, the distraction was gone, leaving me wet and cold. Still I sat in the window refusing to move, letting the mist drench my feathers. Jewel's words still rang in my head, reverberating deeply in my mind bringing about painful memories and foolish actions.
I couldn't shake it, the feeling stirred within me. I felt useless and foolish. I resisted at first, reminding myself of the events that had still only recently unfolded, surely I had proven myself useful. The mist grew cold and a few stray droplets of water hit my head like admonishing slaps. The emotional attack did not waiver, instead it coldly pushed more thoughts into my mind.
The evening sun cast a gentle orange hue that warmed my feathers as the trolley labored up the hill clicking quietly along the rails. A gentle breeze caressed me and I let out a light sigh, grateful that my heart-rate had finally begun to drop after the brawl we had escaped from. My thoughts wandered back to the comment Raphael had made about Jewel liking me. A smile formed at the very idea of the concept and I absently turned to look at her.
She sat smiling with her eyes closed. Her radiance stunned me once again. The grace with which she did everything was absolutely beautiful. Even her sitting peaceably doing nothing, my brain had gone numb and I was speechless.
I turned my gaze down to a tiny puddle of oil on metal between us and let out another quiet sigh. Raphael's words seemed more like a dream, an impossible conception; even if they were true, I had no idea how to approach the situation. This was new ground for me.
"Psst" The noise was faint, but it stood out from the relative silence and caught my attention anyway. I craned my neck around and looked quizzically at the trio of birds behind me.
The toucan grinned at me but stayed quiet, opting to motion his thoughts. He brought is wings together and gave a knowing nod, implying that I get closer to Jewel.
"Don't worry," I quietly mouthed back. "I got this." Giving him a confident smirk I turned away from him before he could motion anything else. As soon as I knew he couldn't see, my smirk dropped into a nervous frown. I most certainly did not "have this" and I had no idea at how I was to proceed. I knew I had to at least try. I frantically wracked my brain for any useful knowledge on relationships, only to come up blank.
With no literature to rely on, I decided to take Raphael's advice literally. With a nervous gulp, I put my wings down to quietly inch closer to the serene blue macaw next to me. My heart-rate shot higher than it had in the brawl earlier as I continued to inch towards her. Fear wrenched my gut and I focused on anything that wasn't Jewel.
In a manner that was anything but causal, I began to bring my wing around her back. When I was sure it was hovering just over her shoulder, I glanced quickly to see her response. To my horror, she was watching her shoulder, and the wing that now hovered right over it.
My mind screamed at me to abort and think of some excuse. I had just blown my chance with her. I snapped my wing back and rubbed my head with it, hoping that I had not actually been seen. As she turned to look at me, I frantically grasped for some excuse or something that would draw her attention from me.
"Is it hot? I think I'm actually sweating! I didn't even think it was biologically possible! But…" I rambled thoughtlessly before lifting the wing that had only just been around her. "Look!" To my horror, the underside of my wing was actually wet.
"Oh… Wow?" was all she said, but the strange look she gave me said much more. I looked back down at the tracks in front of the trolley, wishing to be anywhere but here. I mentally kicked myself. That had been almost as bad as the cheese comment I had made when I first met Jewel.
Giving up on such a failed endeavor, I decided to just stay quiet and watch the scenery. The trio behind us was talking amongst themselves, probably about what had just happened. I tuned them out, focusing only on the sights before me.
Just as I was admiring the architecture, I began to notice a soft tune. The musically inclined canary had begun to sing, his voice lifted and moved behind Jewel and I, accompanied by the light plucking of guitar strings. Rather than question his motives, I just leaned back and enjoyed the evening, momentarily forgetting what a dork I had just been. Petals from the Ipe-Rosa tree began falling gently down in front of us.
Nico's voice shifted and grew as he flew past, pausing briefly in front of us. That's when it hit me, they were setting a mood; they were trying to salvage what I had messed up. I smiled at the canary, happy to have another chance.
Not a second later my eyes were wide in fear as I realized Jewel had been talking. I had replied in agreement, but what I had agreed to was a complete mystery to me. I froze, not knowing what to do or how to proceed.
"Psst, Blu." The toucan whispered from my side. "Down here. Just tell her, you have beautiful eyes."
It was brilliant! A compliment! "yeah! That's good. Great Idea!" I responded before taking a deep breath.
I had to be confident, a "love hawk" as Pedro would say. I turned confidently to Jewel, looking into her eyes with a strong smile and spoke. "I have beautiful eyes." I said it proudly, and watched expectantly for her response.
Jewel pulled back from me with a slight look of concern on her face. "Uhh yeah, ok, sure, they're nice" she answered before breaking eye contact nervously.
"No, her eyes, her eyes" Raphael strained through his whisper.
What I had said finally sank in. Before I could feel the shame and embarrassment, I corrected myself, "Your eyes, your eyes are great, not mine, I mean, mine are okay, but yours, yours" I was rambling again, I could see it in her face, I needed to get to the point. "I, I bet you can see right through them"
I'd done it again, I had screwed up and now we were left with an awkward silence and Jewel wouldn't even look at me. I gave up, happy to save the meager scraps of my dignity.
Raphael, however, was ever hopeful "Blu, just tell her how you feel."
I figured I probably didn't even have my dignity left. This time I earnestly looked at Jewel, trying to form the words.
"… I've been wanting to tell you," I could do this, the words were coming.
"That I,"
Come on…
"That I"
Almost…
I took one last breath, ready to spill my heart to the girl I liked when a sharp pain tore at my throat. Suddenly my body felt starved of oxygen and began to grab at my throat hoping to clear whatever was assailing it.
Jewel was behind me, wings around me, saving me, forcing me to exhale whatever it was in my throat. My world began to blur.
The mechanics shop was dark save for one light illuminating the table. The whirring noise of the saw blade drowned out any and all of my complaints I attempted to make. The fear sitting in my gut had begun to boil into an all out panic. Instinctually I began to back away from the lethal piece of equipment. The bulldog behind me hindered my progress and I still found myself being pushed towards the blade.
A quick glance at Jewel reinforced in me just how crazy this plan was. She was just as scared as I was at this point. Still despite both of our efforts, Luiz was still pushing us closer towards the saw.
Then it happened. I had been trying so hard to back away, that one of his pushes sent me off balance and I was suddenly falling face first towards the saw.
Several gusts of wind and some cold rain awoke me from my thoughts. The rain had lightened to a mild drizzle, but the source of the wind gusts had landed beside me. The Toucan wrapped me up in a big hug
"My friend! It's good to see you!" He released me before continuing. "I want to apologize, when the plane door opened, I left you, we all did." He paused, a frown appearing on his beak. "I know I could give you excuses about my family, but they weren't the ones in trouble, you were. So, I'm sorry. I let you down."
"It's nothing, you had a family to look after." I responded politely.
His smile returned and he took me by the shoulders. "But then, I hear that not only are you safe, but you flew! I'm so proud of you Blu!"
Despite his praise, I remained silent my thoughts and the days events sticking in my mind.
"Is everything ok?" The toucan moved closer, finally noticing my silence.
"It's nothing, just a discussion Jewel and I had earlier."
Raphael gave a knowing look. "Eva and I have had many 'discussions', its all ab-"
"I try so hard," I cut him off, finally venting some frustration. "I give so much-"
This time Raphael cut me off. "Blu, you can't always expect her to give back. Love doesn't work that way."
I looked at my friend, "It's not that, I give so much, and everything I do, it all seems to fail. Raphael, when we were looking for Jewel in the parade, I, I found Linda." I paused to let it sink in. "The thing is even after I found Linda I chose to leave her and find Jewel."
"A tough decision I take it."
"But it wasn't. When it came down to it, I knew I needed to be with Jewel."
"That's good! You're learning to think with your heart."
"That's not my point." I watched the last drops of the rainstorm flow on the deck in front of me. "Everything I do for her, it all fails, or blows up in my face, or puts her in danger. I just don't see how she can truly love me, especially now that she has gotten to know me. I mean sure we're friends, but loving a klutz like me?"
"Aye Carumba, Blu, its not about being smooth or coordinated, it's about showing your love. You may not be graceful or smooth, but you have already shown how much you love her by your actions. If she really loves you, then she'll see that."
I turned from him. I wanted to accept this advice, but part of me couldn't believe it to be true. We remained silent for some time.
"Blu, Is she worth it?"
"What?" I was dumbfounded. Had he really asked me that? "Of course she is!" I replied indignantly.
The toucan pulled me be the shoulders and looked seriously into my eyes. "Then keep trying. Love isn't an easy road, nor is it always a two ways. If she is worth it, you must keep trying, no matter what. You may have to back off a bit, but you stay with her, and you remain ready to help when she needs it."
Before I could process the words, the toucan thrust himself into the air and off into the forest, leaving me alone with his words in the fading gloom of the passing storm.
A/N: Ok, I lied, If you've been paying attention to these author's notes, you would have realized that I said I'd be writing a chapter for another story. Obviously, that did not happen… I decided I'd like to focus on finishing one story and putting more effort into it rather than juggling two stories. So, as a result, this one will probably be finished before you see much of my next one.
Ok like I've stated before, I don't like to ask for reviews, and I won't for most chapters. So here is my one reminder for awhile. I enjoy reviews, it helps me get better and encourages me to continue at a decent pace; so if you feel so inclined please do not hesitate leave one. Thanks!