Chapter Text
Skizz awoke to the sun shining into his room and the faint smell of fresh bread downstairs. Looked like Impulse was already up and preparing to open the bakery for the day, which means he should get up and assist him with opening.
As he sat up in bed he could've sworn he saw movement in the window from the corner of his eye, but when he looked towards the window all that was there was a hawk feather. Strange but at end of the day it didn't matter, Skizz had things to do! He quickly got dressed into his black tunic and pants and slipped on some boots before heading downstairs.
"Hey Dipple Dop! The bread smells great today," Skizz says as he walks up to the counter, slowly reaching towards a bread roll fresh out of the oven. Impulse gave a lighthearted annoyed expression as he slapped Skizz on the wrist before he could reach the roll.
"Your breakfast is already on the table, with bread that isn't burning hot from the oven" Impulse sighed as he pointed towards the dining room table with a plate with eggs, bacon, and a few buttered rolls on the side. Skizz pouted towards impulse for a second.
"But Impy this bread looks much better!" Skizz said as Impulse rolled his eye with a smile.
"You won't be saying that for long when you burn finger tips from trying to eat it, besides the bread needs to rest properly before it's ready for eating," Impulse as he moved the tray of bread to the cooling rack.
Skizz finally went towards the table to quickly eat his breakfast. After that Skizz got started on assisting Impulse with opening up the bakery, from sweeping the floors, cleaning the counters, arranging the baked goods in the display case, stealing a baked good or two while arranging the display.
The whole time Skizz worked he couldn't fight the feeling that he was being watched. It unsettled him to say the least since the only other person in the bakery was Impulse who was diligently working around the bakery.
That is when he saw it. Two birds sitting on a fence post across from the bakery. A crow and.. A hawk.. One with feathers similar to the one he found outside his window.
It sounds crazy to claim he was being watched by birds, sure, but he couldn't deny that it was weird that a crow and a hawk were just chillaxin right next to each. That wasn't a normal thing crows nor hawks did.
Skizz tried to move out of the birds' line of sight while still looking in their direction, only to see them reposition themselves in a way they were able to watch Skizz. They were definitely watching him.
"What are you doing?" Impulse said with a laugh as he entered the room.
"Those birds are watching me,"
"Birds.. are watching you..?" Impulse gave Skizz look disbelief. "You sure you're not imagining things dude?"
"Impy I'm serious. They keep moving themselves into view of me." Skizz said as repositioned himself some more. "What's more I found a hawk feather outside our window this morning and one of the birds watching me is a hawk there's no way that's a coincidence,"
"I don't know hawks are pretty common"
"Is it common for them to hanging out with a crow" Skizz said point towards the bird duo leading Impulse to look in their direction
"Huh, that is strange,"
"Think I should try to chase them away?"
"That sounds like a bad idea waiting to happen" Impulse said "Hawks have talons so trying to scare them might backfire. Plus for all we know these could be trained birds"
"Trained? For what?" Skizz said flatly looking towards Impulse.
"Hmm mugging people?" Impulse offered, "I heard some people claim the birds are spies for the government"
"Now that's just ridiculous Impy."
"Uh huh, that's ridiculous not the idea that you're being stalked by some birds," Impulse said light heartedly rolling his eyes.
Skizz grabbed the broom from behind the counter and went towards the bakery's front door.
"I'm going to scare them off with the broom. If get killed by some birds, say that I died doing something cool," Skizz said, receiving a laugh from Impulse.
Skizz ran out the door waving the broom all around the birds leading them the fly off the fence. The hawk flew a decent distance away where Skizz was able to see it. Meanwhile the crow stayed near Skizz jumping around behind him.
Skizz tried to shoo the crow away some more with the broom but it kept coming back. Eventually after a while the crow grabbed a stick and started hitting the back of Skizz's foot with it.
"How's chasing away the birds going? Did you die yet?" Impulse said as he stood in the bakery's doorway.
"Haha very funny,"
"Hey you're the one brought up possibility of death not me"
"I think they want me to go somewhere," Skizz said looking at the crow hitting his foot.
"What makes you say that?" Impulse said trying not laugh at the sight
"Well it's either that or this crow is attempting to mug me," Skizz said with a laugh "but seriously I'm just getting this feeling they want me to follow them somewhere,"
Skizz crouched down and held his hand out towards the crow. The crow hopped onto his hand.
"You want me to follow you little homie buddeh?" Skizz said looking the crow over. The crow cawed back him moving it's head towards him and the hawk.
"Are you really going to follow some birds to who knows where" Impulse asked.
"I mean what's the worse that could happen? The birds mug me in the alley," Skizz joked.
"I guess you're right," Impulse sighed. "If you really do want to follow the birds, I should be okay watching the bakery on my own. But please be careful something feels off about these birds,"
"Impulse of course there's something off with these birds, they've been watching me all morning,"
"Skizz, I'm serious please be careful," Impulse said as he put a hand on Skizz's shoulder. Skizz put his free hand on top of Impulse's hand.
"Okay okay I promise,"
That seemed to put Impulse at ease enough that he headed back into the bakery. Skizz adjusted his enough to give the crow a proper perch to stand on.
"So where to little homie buddeh?" Skizz asked the crow which responded with a cane in the direction it's hawk buddy was waiting in. The closer Skizz got to the hawk the more it would move further back in the direction they were wanting him to go in.
Skizz walked the sprawling dirt path for a while throughout town until he got to the edge of the forest.
The forest gave off, an odd feeling that was hard to place. The best way the Skizz could describe it was that it felt... Alive. Even that didn't feel like the right word to describe it.
As Skizz hesitated outside the forest's the crow flew towards its hawk buddy, looking back towards Skizz. He proceeded to follow the birds into the forest.
As Skizz followed he was amazed from all the greenery around him, that was elevated by the time of day.
He wasn't sure how long he was following the birds until after a while they finally stopped.
That's when he realized that they had lead him to the lake. It was absolutely breathtaking in the late afternoon sun. The surface was like a glimmering gem, freshly polished.
Skizz could've looked at it for hours if it wasn't for the birds trying to steal his attention. When he finally looked back down towards the birds he saw they were and the lake's shore and sitting freshly washed up was shining silver circlet with a blue tear drop gem sitting in the middle of it.
Skizz reached towards the ciclet picking it up. As he held it he could sense something was special about, and after a while part of him wanted to try putting it on. When he finally put it on his head he felt a sensation go through out his body. He didn't even realize his bird buddies were gone until,
"Well hello there!"