Wow, thanks for the positive reviews. However, keep in mind that I am by no means a writer. I think you guys might be judging to early. Language arts is my second least favorite class, but when it comes to grammar/spelling, I'm great. (That previous statement is either coming out of modesty or lack of confidence.) "Now you should also work on describing, and also move at a pace a little slower that the one you're moving at now."—Darksabre102 I'll work on that, thanks for the tip. I thought that would be a problem early on, but I published the story anyway to see if anybody would say anything. I have a concern for my story though, and that's keeping Blu and Jewel in character. I've read some other stories, most notably "Chained Together Birds" (by The Scarlet Macaw) and Corration's duo of trilogies, and they both have different, yet interesting, ideas for Blu and Jewel's attitude toward one another. In "Chained Together Birds," Jewel acts like someone who doesn't want anything to do with others and Blu tries to act smooth with her. In Corration's series, Blu and Jewel frequently have sex, and Blu is sometimes the one who asks. No criticism is meant toward these two authors; I love their stories. The fact that this is based off of a G-rated movie also makes it even more difficult to make believable. I'll keep doing my best, but you're probably sick of reading this long author's note, so here's chapter 2.
Jewel woke up in the middle of the night, feeling a need to do her business. She got out from under Blu's wing, which just fell to the floor. She went outside for only about fifteen seconds before coming back in. As she walked closer to Blu, she could hear him mumbling in his sleep. Her curiosity took over, and she just stood in front of Blu, smiling as she listened carefully.
"Kids..." was the first thing she heard him say. Was he really already thinking of that? "Jewel... not ready... protect... jungle... instincts... domesticated... useless..." Jewel gasped silently at the last word. Did he really think that about himself? Was his self esteem that low?
She lowered her head and tried to wake him. "Blu... Blu, wake up." Blu, instead, continued to mutter nonsense to himself. She took a moment to think more about what he had said. Is there anything that I can do to help him? Knowing him, he wouldn't talk to me about it directly, so I guess I can't force him to. She picked up his wing and threw it over her as she laid back down next him, snuggling for his warmth. She put her own wing back around him to keep him warm as well. She then planted a gentle kiss on top of his beak before falling back asleep.
...
Blu woke, irritated, to the morning sun hitting his eye through the opening of the hollow. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes, though, was Jewel's face right in front of him, her beak touching his. His nervous fear of Jewel made him forcefully jump away from her, waking her as well.
"Blu, what's wrong!"
"Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw a... a spider."
Jewel quickly scanned the hollow from where she was, still lying down, before saying, "Well, there's nothing now." She slowly got up and stretched her wings and legs. She then turned to Blu and walked toward him. Blu, already against the wall, just looked at her nervously. She put a gentle wing on his shoulder and pulled him in to a hug. If she could comfort him, maybe he would forget his worries about the jungle, or his instincts, or being able to protect her.
"Thanks for keeping me warm last night," she said before letting him go.
"Thanks to you, too," Blu said with a red face. "How about we go get some breakfast?" he suggested.
"Um..."
"What's the matter?"
Jewel made her request. "Could I stay here? I'm still not comfortable around humans."
"Oh, is that it? Come on, it'll be fine. Besides, I'll be there."
That was enough of an argument for Jewel. She looked at her rather handsome mate-to-be and gave in. "Fine, lead the way."
Blu led her out of the hollow and across the bridge. He got on to the ladder first, so that, in the event that Jewel missed a step, he could catch her and let her replace her foot; he had a feeling she wasn't to use to ladders, judging by the clumsy way she was climbing. Once they'd both gotten down, they started making their way to the room's bird door.
Along the way, Blu, couldn't help but wonder something. "I just thought of something, Jewel. Why haven't you ever tried escaping through here?"
"I have tried. But it was locked, and even if it wasn't locked, I'm sure that there would be at least one person there who would try to stop me."
"Oh, um... Okay." Blu blushed in embarrassment at the logical answer.
When they finally reached the door, Blu started knocking with his wing. "I sure hope someone can hear this," he said to Jewel and himself.
A moment later, one of the assistants opened the door and let them through. They immediately spotted Túlio working on another bird and walked over to him.
Focusing on the other bird, Túlio took no notice of them, so Blu squawked happily to get his attention. Túlio immediately spun around in his seat, surprised that they were already up and out of the breeding room. "Hey, you two," he said delightedly. "Could you hold on for a second, I have to finish treating this little guy." It only took a minute for him to turn back to them. "Okay Jewel, I need you to wait right here." He got up and went to the medicine cabinet. He pulled out a bottle and came back to open the drawer of his work station. Out of the drawer he drew a syringe.
"Um, Blu. What is he gonna do with that?" she asked suspiciously. "It looks kind of sharp." The way she was staring at it matched her tone of voice.
"I guess he's just going to poke it into your wing and inject some kind of pain killer into it," Blu answered nonchalantly as Jewel's expression turned to panic. Blu quickly turned to her, realizing what he had just told her. He tried to get the next part of the explanation out as quickly as he could. "But-But-But, i-it doesn't hurt at all. It's just a little pinch," he rushed out, gesturing with his wingtips to show the size of the pain if it were a tangible object.
She slowly turned back to Túlio, who looked ready to administer the shot. She held out her injured wing and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, Túlio had already done his work and gone to sterilize the needle.
"See, was that so bad?" Blu asked.
"No, I guess not." Blu smiled at the answer. He thought it was kind of funny to see Jewel scared of something so little.
As soon as Túlio came back, he swiftly pulled a filled spoon from behind his back and shoved it into Blu's gaping mouth. Not wanting to dirty his feathers, Blu reluctantly swallowed the familiarly horrifying liquid.
"Linda informed me to give you your vitamins every morning." He left again to wash the spoon.
Blu heard a giggle from Jewel. "What's so funny?" he asked, sounding serious.
Jewel's giggling soon turned into full on laughter. In between bursts, she'd say, "And to... think that I... was afraid of that shot a minute ago."
Blu's expression soon lightened. He liked seeing Jewel laugh like this. As a matter of fact, it was the first time he'd ever seen Jewel laugh so hard. "Ha ha, very funny," he said sarcastically.
Túlio came back and asked, "So, Blu, are you excited about the eggs?"
Both Blu and Jewel looked at each other's invisibly red face. Blu was the first to speak. "E-eggs? But-but we haven't..." Blu trailed off, on the verge of fainting from the last word he'd dare not speak.
"I know, what's he talking about?" Rather than panicked, her voice was more confused.
They both looked up at Túlio, equally perplexed by the question. "What's with that look you're giving me? I know what you two did when you first met." Their expressions didn't change. "Come with me, I'll show you." He scooped them onto his arms and took them to the control room, which overlooked the breeding room. He started using the buttons surrounding the monitor to skip through footage of the room. He finally reached the footage of Blu and Jewel, who were both on a tree. Jewel smiled as she watched the footage of Blu leaning in for a kiss. Then Jewel yelling. Then the disco ball. "Here it is!" Túlio said excitedly. In the video, Blu was holding Jewel romantically, and then Jewel pulled Blu's head down forcefully. In the video, it looked like she was trying to force him into a make out session. Blu and Jewel thought the same thing and blushed, trying to keep their eyes away from each other.
"There you have it. You can't deny that you've mated," Túlio said to them matter-of-factly with a smirk. From the corner of his own eye, Blu saw the footage of Jewel attacking him. He made a spinning motion with his wing to tell Túlio to turn back to the screen. It was obvious that he was surprised by what he saw. "I-I-I don't understand. It looked like you two were uh... 'having fun.'" Blu smacked himself and made a writing gesture with his foot. "What's that, Blu, you need a pencil?" Blu nodded. Túlio left the two alone to go get one. Blu turned back to Jewel. Although his face was covered by blue feathers his blush was quite visible.
" I see what he means. It does look like what he thinks it is."
"You should see your face," Jewel teased as she rewinded the footage. She stopped at the part where he tried to kiss her. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you try to kiss me before?"
With his face cooled off and slower heart rate, he answered. "I was following Nico and Pedro's advice. They told me to act confident and make the first move. Turns out it didn't work. I'll get 'em back for it," he joked. Jewel just chuckled. Blu thought it was kind of cute.
Túlio returned with a pencil and paper and handed them to Blu. Blu took the pencil, but paused for a moment. "Um, what did I wanna tell him?" he asked, looking back at Jewel.
"I think you wanted to explain this," she answered, pointing at the screen, which was paused at the moment of Blu's romantic hold.
"Oh, right." He began writing a short message. When he finished, he slid the paper to Túlio. It read, "That was a COMPLETE accident. She attacked me and she just happened to fall into my wings."
"Oh, well... okay. Just don't take too long." The sentence felt very awkward for Túlio to say. Blu could tell by his tone of voice that he was disappointed by the fact that he and Jewel hadn't mated yet. However, copulation was the last thing on Blu's mind. His number one priority was to help Jewel while her wing heals. After all, they were just friends, right?
"Now that we've gotten that cleared up, how about we head back for some food? I bet you two are starving." Come to think of it, he was right. Blu and Jewel had barely eaten anything yesterday. Both of their stomachs growled audibly at the suggestion.
Back upstairs, Túlio took them to a rather small room with a table-for-four in the center. He set them down on said table and opened a fridge behind himself. Inside the fridge was an assortment of fruits, which were obviously snacks for any people who had to stay late or birds who had been treated at the center. Jewel immediately spotted the mango in the fridge, squawked happily, and jumped over to it. Both Blu and Túlio were surprised by her excitement at the fruit. Túlio pulled out the mango and went to the counter to start cutting it.
When Túlio put Jewel down nest to Blu, Blu said, "Wow, I didn't know you liked mangos so much."
"Yeah, I love 'em. My parents used to feed them to me as a chick and they've been my favorite fruit since." Jewel tripped over the word "parents." Blu was curious, but thought it best not to ask about them. Túlio came back with a slice of the mango after wrapping the remainder of it in plastic wrap and putting it back in the refrigerator. Jewel walked over to the mango and started to slowly eat it, savoring the taste. Blu just stood next to her, watching her eat. He smiled and thought, She's so cute when she eats.
Jewel opened an eye at him and asked, "You want some?"
Blu came out of his daze and answered. "Yeah, sure." He'd never tried mangoes before, as they were a rare sight back in Minnesota. He scooped up a piece of mango with his beak and chewed. His face glowed at the flavor. "Wow, this is delicious!" he exclaimed before he ferociously dug in for more. Though the mango was good, it was hunger that made him eat so fast.
By the time he had finished, he had eaten a little more than half of the mango slice. Jewel saw this, so she picked up her pace so that they could move on. Blu just watched on, blushing as she gently scooped up pieces with her beak. If he wasn't so timid, he wished he could feel that same gentle beak again.
Jewel finally finished eating and turned to him. "So what do you wanna do now? I kind of want to get out here. I could use some fresh air."
Blu came out of his daze and thought about what she said. Was it okay if she got out a bit? I guess there's no harm in doing so. I kind of want to see Linda again, anyway.
"Just wait here," he said to her before flying out of the room. He quickly came back with the pencil and paper he had written on earlier. He scribbled, "Is it alright if Jewel and I go out?" He read over the short question. He panicked when he finished and erased the question mark.
"What's wrong, Blu?" Jewel asked, noticing his panicking state.
"Nothing! It's nothing!" he said defensively. He then added "side for a bit? I want to see Linda." He dragged the paper to Túlio, who had fallen asleep, obviously still tired from the past three days. He pecked Túlio hard and managed to wake him. Túlio lazily picked up his head from the table and looked at Blu.
"Blu? What... did you do that for?" He saw the note and picked it up. After reading it, he smiled. "Sure," was all he said. He wanted to see Linda, too.
Well I had fun writing this. In an earlier stage of this chapter, I had Jewel kiss Blu to "give him a taste of the mango." (Yes there was tongue) In the end, though, I went against the idea as I thought it made Jewel seem as if she was coming on to strong (I also didn't know where to go or what to make Blu say anyway). That reminds me; when I first wrote chapter one, I had Jewel try to get Blu to mate with her. I don't know why I didn't mention that before. Again, I thought Jewel was going a bit fast, and took out the scene.