The Crow Of Death (DSMP AU)

Chapter 6

Phil yawned and forced his eyes open. The sun was already past it's highest point and heading towards the horizon. How long did he sleep? With another yawn he slowly got out of his way too comfortable nest and peeked out of his doorframe. Techno's door was open and the smell of fresh dinner came from downstairs. His stomach rumbled. 'Food... I haven't eaten anything since yesterday.'

He was about to step out into the hallway when he was reminded of his now much larger body. 'Right... gotta use the balcony.' Getting the doors open wasn't a problem, but closing them would be. Oh well, he had to constantly use it throughout the day anyways, so might as well leave them open.

Once outside, he stretched his wings, trying to get the last bits of soreness out of them. At least moving didn't hurt anymore. He hopped off the balcony and used his wings to slow the fall. It's not that much of a drop anyways. He had done it countless times before when he was still a human.

The snow crunched loudly under his feet as he made his way over to the front door. Before he even put a foot on the first step the door opened and Techno walked out into the cold evening air. "Hey Phil!" The bird chirped happily and allowed his friend to pet his head. "Did you sleep well? Was the nest comfortable?" Seeing Techno worry about him like that warmed his heart. He knew that the hybrid never showed this kind of care towards anyone else. To think that he was the only person to ever earn his trust to this level... it made their friendship feel so much more meaningful.

"Phil? Are you with me?" The bird blinked, not realizing he had spaced out. His friend was now standing right in front of him, looking almost worried. Phil nodded and nudged him, his stomach rumbling again. "I know... you're probably starving. We have to go hunt you something to eat. We don't have enough meat in our ice box for you."

'Didn't we just fill up the box like two days ago?' Then again... with how big Phil was now it would probably be a better idea to hunt some just for him. Otherwise Techno would have to constantly refill the box. So the crow nodded it's head and watched as he retrieved his crossbow and a few arrows. "Let's hope this won't be as difficult as I think."

Yes... only having one arm to hunt proved to be very difficult. The pink haired man had his crossbow preloaded, but if it came down to quickly reload if a shot missed, he would be done for and the prey would be far gone by the time he did manage to somehow get another arrow into the crossbow. It happened twice before Techno groaned and flopped down on a large tree trunk. "I hate this. I hate this so much."

Phil cooed at him and stretched out a wing to wrap around his shoulder. "There has to be a way for you to help. I don't think I'll be able to hit anything without somehow only hitting the legs." The bird tilted his head in thought before getting an idea. Of ccourse! He should have thought about it sooner! He called a few crows over and quickly told them the plan. They seemed pretty excited when hearing that they can help hunt.

It took a while to track down a new prey, this time a deer. Techno knelt down in the snow, his crossbow ready to shoot in case Phil's plan doesn't fully work. Using his new body was still somewhat difficult, so there was no gurantee that he gets this first try.

The large crow carefully moved into position, the smaller ones scattering around the trees. After everyone was ready, Phil nodded at a crow positioned close to him. All at once, the crows came down from their spots in the trees, cawing and screeching. The deer immediatelly bolted away from the mass of black feathers and loud noises, right towards Phil. Once it was close enough, he jumped out of his hiding spot and attacked, pinning the animal down with sharp talons, breaking it's neck almost instantly.

The neck part was on accident, but hey! He successfully catched food! Techno came out from his spot now too, watching as the smaller crows crowd around their leader, cawing and chirping.

'That was great! You did it Dadza! First kill! Can we have some too? Good job!'

"Finally... this took much longer than it should have. Why didn't you do it this way from the start? It would have saved us so much time..." Phil chirped and nudged him, trying to tell him he's sorry. Honestly, he didn't think they would be successful the first time too.

"It's fine. At least we have it now. Let's bring it home so I can warm up while you guys eat... my hands and feet are freezing..." It almost sounded like Phil was laughing when he carefully picked the deer up the best he could. It wasn't as heavy as he thought, but it was still difficult for him to get a good grip on it with his beak.

Now it was Techno's turn to laugh at how his friend was struggling to pick up his food. "Need help?" The bird shook his head no and kept trying. He has to get used to his new body anyways, so might as well start now.

He did manage to get a good grip on it eventually and gave a muffled chirp. Some of his crows started to praise him again, telling him how good he was adjusting to his new body and how they were all very proud of him. It felt like the roles were reversed now, with Phil being the child and his crows the parents. It was honestly funny to see his murder protect and teach him things like they do now.

The walk back home took longer than before, since Phil had to readjust his grip every few minutes. That thing is heavy! "Are you sure you don't want any help?" He nodded, determined to get his food home by himself. And he did manage to do that, even if his beak was sore afterwards.

"Alright. You better eat out here... I don't want to clean the house from all the blood." With a last pat on the head, Techno climbed up the stairs and entered their warm home. Phil let the deer fall to the ground and huffed, walking over to a nearby pond to drink some water first. A part of him really disliked the idea if eating raw meat, but he knew that he probably couldn't eat anything else.

That didn't stop him from staring at the deer for a good 10 minutes before he finally forced himself to lean down and rip a piece of flesh off the body. It was definitely weird and he almost spit it right back out, but it was his only source of food right now. So, against his own will, he kept eating until he finally felt full enough to stop.

As soon as he stopped and gave the okay to the crows, they swarmed around the deer and ate the rest. At least someone seems to enjoy the meal...

While they ate, Phil sat back down into the snow and tried to preen his feathers a bit.