Work Text:
“Oh you Pesky Birds,” Grian laughs as he gets rid of the last few parrots around his base. He doesn’t have a great reason for getting rid of the birds but the chirping at all hours is starting to drive him up the walls.
It’s the same reason he doesn’t like the sound a clock makes.
So the birds must die.
Sure he could have tamed and moved the birds but that’s a lot of work and sometimes tamed animals will just come back.
A parrot squawks and flutters down, “Scar.” It calls.
Grian blinks at it then laughs. Parrots are good at copying sounds and voices, this one must have overheard them talking at some point.
Welp time to get rid of it.
His blade neatly slices down and severs the bird's head. Shivering Grian rubs his arms. Breath puffing out he backpedals out of the area. That was a weird glitch. Deciding to head back to his starter base he sets off through the Jungle.
He really needs to get an elytra, does anyone have a shop for one yet.
________
Scar paces around in Cubs small pyramid, “They aren’t here yet… did they forget us, or do they not want us…”
Cub frowns, “They’ll be here… I felt them for a moment, but it disappeared.”
Sighing, Scar collapses down onto the couch, “Yeah, Ok, We’ll be ok.”
“If you need some help, I’ll be there for you.”
“Thanks,” Scar jitters.
________
Snagging a cookie from a chest, Grian wanders over to steal some of Scar’s wheat crops. The cookie tastes weird.
Not bad, but a little weird.
A moment later Grian stumbles into the bushes as his stomach lurches and he throws up.
Scar finds him at the edge of the river washing his mouth out, “Grian you ok?”
“Ugh, I think something was wrong with something I ate…”
“Oh, uh, what was it?” Scar asks.
“Cookie,” Grian sighs, “The weird part was it was a code cookie. So there was nothing that should have made me sick.”
Scar frowns, “Are you allergic to chocolate?”
“No,” Grian shudders.
A few days later they figure out that Grian has in fact developed an allergy to chocolate. No one thinks too much of it until one day when Mumbo tries to pick him up. He’s way lighter than he’s supposed to be.
“Uh, Grian?”
“Hm?”
“Are you alright? You’re way lighter than normal,” Mumbo slowly explains as he sets Grian down.
“Oh… that’s probably not good…” Grian mumbles, “I'm going home… bye.”
Walking into his starter base Grian paces around nervously. First the whole thing with the chocolate, and now this. Being significantly lighter, with no outward change to appearance.
It’s starting to scare him.
A tingling starts to spread up his arm. Looking in absolute horror he watches as small quill-looking things start to push through his skin. Scattered across his arms they start to itch as small bits of fluff start to sprout from the quills.
“Are these Feathers?” He whispers as he slowly pokes at them.
Abruptly standing he walks out the door of his base and marches over to Scar’s snail base. Thankfully he is home. Patting Larry’s shell as he enters, Grian takes the door, “Scar.”
“Why hello there Grian,” Scar grins, “What can I do for you?”
“Look.” Grian shows his arms to Scar, “I think whatever caused that chocolate allergy. I think it’s getting worse, I'm way too light, I've lost a lot of weight but I look the same as the start of the season, and now I've got feathers growing from my Arms. I heard that in season five you did a lot of this transformation magic stuff and I was wondering if you could help me…”
Scar frowns, “I don't have any magic, the vex. They, well they haven't shown up yet…”
“Oh.”
“I can still help figure out what’s happening,” Scar lays his hand on Grian’s arm, “I still know how magic works.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you try milk?”
“Did I try milk, Scar of c- I haven't…”
Laughing slightly, Scar gets up and after a few minutes of rummaging in his food chest, hands Grian a bucket of milk.
Grian drinks it and watches the feathers on his arms, they start to spread, “I don't think that worked.”
“Yeah,” Scar sighs, “That made it worse, sorry… It’s vex magic… uh, that shouldn’t be possible…” He trails off lost in thought.
“Well, is there anything else we can do?”
“I’ll have to get back to you on that one,” Scar shrugs as he starts ushering grian out of the snail, “uh send me a message if things get worse. Oh and go tell Xisuma about all this.”
Grain nods and climbs into one of the boats around the cove.
Once Grian’s out of sight Scar lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Grian’s been cursed by the vex. The Vex aren't here. A sinking feeling fills Scar, what had Grian done to anger the vex to the point of cursing him.
Captain Jack…
The vex’s parrot.
Ohh no, what had Grian done.
Cub said he felt some magic.
“This is bad…” Scar mutters to himself as he starts heading over to Cub’s base. He needs a second opinion on this, who knows how far the Vex will go with this.
_______
As Grian arrives back in his base he grumbles slightly, it’s late and he hasn't had a chance to eat since lunch, Xisuma wanted to do all the tests he could think of to figure out why grian has feathers and stop more from growing. Any attempts to remove or change the ‘curse’ had failed and only caused the feathers to spread further and further.
Humming to himself Grian rummages in his food chest, pulling out a few fish he eats them, then he pauses. He wants something else… Bread? No… but something like that… finding a few pumpkin seeds he grins and puts them in a furnace.
Once they're done Grian waits for them to cool down then he eats them. They are way better than he remembers.
The next morning Grian stumbles into his storage area and pulls out a stack of seeds. A few hours later he flops back into bed. He’s absolutely exhausted. Everything is itching and he’s just flat-out miserable.
Stretching his arms above his head Grian feels his shoulders pop. Bile rises in his throat as he loses feeling in his arms. Daring to look at what’s happening he freezes.
His hands aren't really hands any more, they’re wings. His arms have stretched out and formed wings. Feathers are swiftly overtaking them. He can't tell if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Scrambling for his communicator he bites it and flips it up into a usable position. Thank goodness for the emergency alert system.
After calling for help he spreads his arm- wings out across his bed. They aren't that hard to move. Which makes sense, they are his arms. Just different…
Sleep over takes him, long before the hermits arrive.
He’s awoken by a scream.
Sitting up he wobbles as the blood drains from his head, “WHAT.”
“Uh, you might want to look at your legs…” Mumbo mutter.
“ANd your arms…” Iskall shudders.
“oh.” Grian gasps as he gingerly shifts so he can see his legs. Bird legs. He has bird legs. Groaning he flops back and hisses when it twinges his wings.
He bends his knee and flinches when he sees that it’s moved up his leg a few inches. He flexes his toes, shuddering when they bend in ways they shouldn't, “this is really weird.”
Grian takes a few minutes to start getting used to the awkward feeling of his legs. Nervously he attempts to stand. He almost loses his balance but Mumbo grabs his waist keeping him upright. A few moments later Grian realizes that he really shouldn’t try to extend his leg fully. Wincing he takes a step forward.
He falls.
“How about you just stay in bed for now,” Iskall mutters, “you don't want to get hurt.”
“Yeah,” He gasps, “That would be smart.”
Mumbo scoops him up into his arms and carries him back to the bed.
“I'm going to go get Xisuma,” Iskall murmurs.
“And scar,” Grian chirps, “Get Scar.”
Iskall nods and walks out the door.
Flapping his wings Grian sighs, “How far do you think this will go?”
“Not sure…”
Turning away from Mumbo, Grian huddles under his blanket and falls asleep.
As he opens his eyes he realizes he’s been moved and things have changed once again.
“Oh good, you're awake,” Scar grins, his face falls, “Uh you shrunk and we think you’ll probably turn into a full parrot.”
“You can turn me back right?” Grian asks looking up at Scar… “Right?”
“I'm sorry,” Scar swallows, “When you were killing parrots, did any of them talk?”
“One of them did.”
“That was Captain Jack, he’s a parrot possessed by a vex. You killed him and the Vex decided to get revenge.”
“By turning me into a parrot?”
“They'll need a replacement,” Scar shrugs.
“But that’s not fair… how was I supposed to know.”
Scar hums, “I think you’ll be a full parrot by tonight.”
“Greaaat.” Grian shudders and shrinks back into the pillow he was set on. Feathers are swiftly overtaking his body and there's an odd tingling near the base of his spine…
Over the course of the next few hours his ears shrink back into his head, a hard beak forms over his mouth and nose. The tail feathers grow in and he’s covered head to toe in bright scarlet feathers. His wings and tail have bright yellow and blue feathers scattered throughout.
Then in a heart stopping moment, everything twists and rearranges. With no outward trace of humanity left, Grian chirps and waddles as best he can; which is to say very poorly, over to where Scar is watching.
“How much of your brain is human?” Scar asks slowly, looking down at Grian.
“Most t,” Grian maneges to spit out. While parrots can talk and mimic sounds, he’s only just become one and figuring out how everything works isn't the easiest.
“That’s good.”
Grian shrugs as best he can.
“... would you prefer being a parrot mentaly?”
“i don o.” he attempts to latch onto Scars hand.
Frowning Scar pets down Grian’s back as he thinks, “How about we take a few days to let you learn how to be a parrot, then see how you feel.”
Grian bobs his head slightly.
About a week later Grian has almost completely learned how to be a parrot. He’s just missing one little part of being a bird.
Flying.
It’s not like it’s the most vital part of being a bird… he’s just a bit too scared to leave the relative safety of someone’s shoulder or base. Xisuma can’t find a fix, but Scar and Cub have a plan. So hopefully he’ll get back to being human at some point… Hopefully.
Iskall had brought him a bag full of whole pecans and walnuts to try and open with his beak. He’s managed to get them open a few times but he often ends up bringing it to a hermit so they can open it for him.
Life is pretty simple as a bird.
It’s not as bad as he would have thought. He can still talk and get around the town hall pretty easily. But he misses being able to fully interact with his family.
“Grian!” Scar grins as he bolts towards the parrots perch on the railing. His fingers cracking with icy blue magic.
Cocking his head to the side, Grian looks at Scar, “what’s up?”
Panting Scar grins, “Jack came back. The vex came with him…”
“That’s good.” Grian clicks slowly.
“we can turn you back. Uh not fully. That might happen with time… but we can get you mostly back.”
“How.”
“Ok just give me a moment,” Scar takes a breath in and concentrates. Feeling the magic holding the bird. A few moments later and Grian is splayed out on the ground.
“Owww,” He groans, twisting his head around to look at the huge parrot wings attached to his back. Bringing his hand up he inspects his face and body, “I’m back…” he whispers, “Not completely but I’m back,” He wraps an exhausted looking Scar in a hug, using his wings as well, “Thank you so much.”