Chapter Text
In a long abandoned place, under a long ago cut down tree, an old friend had once told Parrot that if you put those big shells you could find at those pretty white sand beaches to your ear, you could hear the sound of the ocean.
He’d laughed at Parrot’s disbelieving face.
“The shell. You can hear the sea… through the shell.”
“Hmm.. well,” he shrugged. “Something like that.”
And then he stood, brushing the grass and dirt off his stiff, starched jeans, grinning. ”Really though, it’s the sound of your heart beating, and the surrounding ambient noise, amplified by the specialized shape of the shell. But it’s nice to think you’re hearing the sea. Like the shell knows where it came from.”
Then Parrot had grinned, and grabbed the hand offered to him, pulling him up.
“One day, we’ll see that sea together. Just you wait bro,” Parrot had said, drunk on the warm dimming light of sunset and the humidity swollen summer air. ” I’ll find one of those shells, and we can listen together.”
He could hear the sea now. The crashing waves and rushing water, pushing and pulling with the force of the moon and winds.
Or maybe.. it was just the blood rushing in his ears?
Stumbling, tripping over his own feet, and slipping through the mud before landing on his hands, and scrambling back up. It probably was the sound of his blood flowing, heart beating faster than he think it ever had in his life, wave after wave crashing on sandy shores and drowning, drowning but this time there was no hand extended to him and he was caught and being swept away by a rip current and—
“AFTER HIM!!”
Throwing a look over his shoulder, dozens of lawmen sprawled throughout the forest, leaving trails of broken foliage and muttered hatred, hatred for a crime he had never committed, hatred for whatever lies Lettuce had told his soldiers to get him to so fervently chase him, and follow their leader so blindly.
If he closed his eyes now, he’d bet he’d smell the salt of the sea.
But he didn’t, not really. Only a fantasy hidden behind his eyelids. And he’d never get to see the white sand beaches of California. Stumble after stumble, trip after trip on every broken tree branch, on every fallen bird nest, over every muddy stream— Clumsy as they were, the lawmen were gaining on him, and quickly.
He just had to think. Think , Parrot, think. Isn’t that what you’re good for? Smartest one on the block except for when he was around, but he’d never be around again— FOCUS Parrot, there had to be a way out, there was always a way out; every prison had an exit, every escape room had a code to the door.
The lawmen were mostly city folk., Tthey could catch criminals in a town or street, but most struggled with the rugged terrain of the west they lived in; many left the exploring to adventurers such as himself. Checking behind himself once again, he then sprinted towards the more dense and rugged areas of the forest. Slowly, as the trees began to block out more and more of the freshly spring sun, the voices behind him began to dim, and then dissipate into the evergreen.
Pausing behind a tree, he took a second to breathe; In, hold, out, hold, repeat. Breathing slowly, he turned around the tree to look for any lawmen, scanning the foliage. Left, right, up, down . Repeat.
There was nothing.
No rustling leaves, no whispered hatred, no screamed insults. Just quiet. Just him and the waves.
Taking a step backwards, a manic sort of feeling swelled in his chest, and a grin spread across his face. He’d escaped. Now he just had to regroup, taking another step backwards, and then he could come back, prove his innocence; Another step, and then he could—
CRACK!!
He didn’t even have the time to spread his wings as suddenly, the ground beneath his feet gave way, crumbling branches and leaves falling to a ravine. Falling, hitting branch after branch, he tumbled to the bottom, landing with a soft thud.
His face was buried in freshly grown flowers; a soft, circumstantial, and sweetly perfumed pillow that saved his head from being shattered on the rocks. If he had fallen into this a week or two earlier, the fall would have killed him, but the soft breath of spring had impressed upon the land and swept life in the chill wake of winter, pushing flowers up from the soil to hold him, almost as an apology for the cuts and scrapes he had sustained from the blackberries and branches he had ran through in that wild chase, almost as if the earth was whispering to him ,”It’s alright, you can rest now” . Wrapped in sheets of clover, he almost felt safe. Dull pains all over his body began to ache as the adrenaline wore off, but the exhaustion paid no mind to the hurt, and his eyes swept slowly closed. Parrot could lie here forever.
He could smell the sea.
—————
Crashing waves, if you listen closely enough, sound similar to voices.
That was the only thought on Parrot’s mind as he began to stir from unconsciousness, and then, acknowledging that thought, the sound shifted into not the waves imitating speech, but rather someone actually talking. His lucidness faded quickly, and his eyes began to sleepily blink open.
“—if I have to drag another body—” Through half closed eyes he could make out a shock of blond and black hair, covered by a tilted hat leaned over him . Boots with spurs, and chaps over mud stained jeans, clearly meant for riding and hard work. Most surprisingly, grey, yellow and white wings spread out behind him, keeping him balanced. Calloused hands were attempting to untie his bandana, likely to check his pulse, based on the man’s ramblings.
Realization scrambled into his brain, and words spilled almost accidentally from his exhausted lips, “Are you.. a cowboy?”
The man over him stilled, hands gone stiff, but still resting on his collar. His eyes were fully covered by dark tinted glasses, but if Parrot could see through them, he’d bet money they had narrowed and focused in on him.
“So the dead wakes. Yeah, you could call me one. I’ve got my cattle. Got my horse.”
“Isn’t it a bit early in the year for the cattle drivers to be coming this far North?”
The cowboy shook his head, almost reminiscent, to Parrot, of a horse shaking its tail to scare off flies, “Isn’t it a bit late for a city boy to be out this far into the wilds?”
Parrot huffed, ”touché.”
The cowboy patted his shoulder. “So then.. are you all good to head back to whatever city you’re from, or do I really have to drag you?” His gaze shifted off, glancing at the trees around them, “As much as I don’t get paid for this, I’d rather not leave you to get eaten by wolves.”
Green and hazel eyes fell, down to the bed of flowers, “I left the city. Can’t go back.”
“Can’t? Or won’t.”
“Can’t. Would if I could.”
The other man leaned back onto his heels, seemingly taking in Parrot for the first time. His wings fluttered once. There was a sort of understanding there, he supposed. Most cowboys were runaways or criminals. “Are you hurt? Badly, I mean.”
“No. Couple scrapes and bruises but–“ he raised his arm slightly in front of him and glanced over his limbs, evaluating., “–I’m alright. Didn’t break anything in the fall.”
“Can you ride?”
“Lived by the city stables growing up. I picked up a thing or two.”
“Could you work?”
He glanced up, narrowed eyes meeting cool glass. “What kind of work?”
The blonde shrugged. ”Not hard work. Helping with bags and animals. I had a partner who helped keep the animals in line and scare bandits away— I mean, two cowboys are scarier than one, right? But it’s been just me now, and the long drives are harder alone.” He offered Parrot a hand. ” So I figure, if you’ve got something you’re running from, not that it’s my business, but you look half dead now and I could use a helping hand myself. What do you say?”
“I mean.. I’m going to have to return to the city, to prove myself innocent.”
“And I’ll have to return down this way south when winter comes. Don’t you need time to regroup?”
Well. What else could he lose?
As he grabbed the calloused hand, Parrot swore he could smell the flowers around them like he hadn’t before, so strongly perfuming and almost covering the salty scent of the waves, as he was pulled to his feet and pulled steadily towards a new unknown.
——
Parrot stared into the bowl of soup, his reflection seeming to twirl and dance as he spun his spoon mindlessly. He glanced up, looking at the other man, called Theo. He had learned his name when they exchanged them on the walk over. When he turned his head all the way to the side, you could see a sliver of his ice blue eyes, and if you got close enough, he smelled like flowers and ash.
“So,” Theo started.
Parrot startled at the word, making eye contact with cold, black glass.
“What’s a city guy like you running from?”
He tilted his head, shifting and making ice blue eyes make eye contact with a mess of colorful hair instead. “You mentioned being ‘innocent’, so what, you got framed or something?”
“Lawmen. Lettuce’s Lawmen, mind you. They’re different from the normal law.”
“LettuceK?”
“The one and only.”
“I think I’ve heard of him before,” Theo admitted. ” Something about some man trying to ‘rid the west of criminals’,” his fingers raised in air quotes.
Parrot leaned back against the heavy bag of who knows what that Theo had propped up for him to use as a seat and backrest. His wings ached. “That’s what he said. And I believed him, at first, of course I did. Capital city has had terrible crime since before I can remember, we all wanted change!” He sighed, and Theo leaned in closer.
“He chose to run for mayor of the city, I mean, it makes sense. Capital city’s the strongest in the nation now; , you control the city, you can control anything in the west. But something about his campaign rubbed me the wrong way. So, I ran as well. And I think that scared him.. scared him enough he felt the need to pin some crime on me and chase me out of my city.”
“Well the law won’t be able to catch you now,” Theo said, a thoughtful look on his face. ” We’ll be heading North again tomorrow, and they won’t be able to catch us where we’re going.”
Parrot looked up again, only to see Theo had pushed his tinted glasses to his forehead, ice blue meeting green and hazel directly, a proper introduction. “Us?”
“Well, we’re partners now, aren’t we?”
“We… I guess we are, bro.”
The mess of blonde and black was shaking as Theo laughed at that, and Parrot grinned.
“You know,” he near whispered, like he was admitting some sacred secret, ”I haven’t had a riding partner in a long time.”
Parrot looked towards Theo’s horse, and the other horse Theo had promised to teach him how to ride, to let him have as his own, then made a face of confusion. ” So what, you have two horses just for the fun of it?”
“I guess… maybe I was waiting for a moment like this. Waiting for another person to join me again. The long drives get lonely by yourself.”
“I guess I never really have seen any cattle drivers all on their own.”
Theo nodded. “Just doesn’t feel right. I haven’t felt right since I’ve been alone. But you’re here.”
“Well don’t get too attached just yet bro.. maybe I’ll be so bad at the job you’ll have to chase me off so good the law’ll be offering you a job!”
Theo’s grin grew so wide, if it got any wider it looked as though it’d split his face in two. His wings puffed out, feathers glimmering in the firelight. ”Well then I guess either way, I get a successful job out of this.”
“And he didn't even hesitate … damn bro.. so cold hearted..”
“The chilliest. I’m the coolest cowboy around. The biggest bird.”
“Oh nahhh bro— see I guarantee I’m the biggest bird around.” Parrot tapped his spoon against the wooden bowl, and his wings puffed out to match.
“Hey now, who’s offering who a job here? I’ve still got time to chase your tiny tail feathers off!”
“Awww how rough. I’ll just prove to you that I’m the bigger bird between us with my sheer smarts and excellent work then!!”
“If you can one up me, then you can be the bigger bird. But I think we both know that won’t— happen ..” Theo yawned. ” Now finish your soup, and then we’re sleeping. I’ve got a big day of showing you the ropes tomorrow, and you’ve got a big day of trial and error.” That made Parrot laugh, whichmade Theo laugh and smile as well. And when both of them had finished what Parrot could admit was a surprisingly tasty meal, Theo had ushered them into a tent, clearly hand stitched and made with care. And Parrot had, for the first time in a long time, a true smile on his face, as he drifted off to the floral scent of a blooming friendship.