The Crow Of Death (DSMP AU)

Chapter 8

Phil tried his best to follow the instructions of his crow on how to properly preen his feathers. It was harder than it looked... and definitely felt a lot different too. At least the crows weren't laughing at him for struggling, or at least most of them aren't.

"You're doing great."

"Almost done with one wing."

"Try tilting your head more."

"Good job Dadza."

"Ourna Ourna Ourna"

Phil immediately swatted at the last crow with his freshly preened wing for that. "How many times have I told you to not do that." The crow cawed at him and pecked his head before perching on a nearby tree branch.

But the damage had been done, a few of the younger crows had immediately joined their favorite uncle and started to caw and shriek the annoying phrase. "And I'm done..." The large crow got up and decided to go back into the house. It's getting dark now, so he should just lay down in his nest and get some shut eye. Techno didn't come back outside or called out the window, so he's probably asleep too.

He was about to make the jump to his balcony when he picked up voices from somewhere around the house. 'Is that Ranboo? Sounds like him...' Instead of jumping on the balcony, he uses his wings to boost himself onto the roof and peek over the edge. Yep, it's Ranboo, happily chatting with Techno. Maybe he brought the book Phil had asked for!

The crow watched the two interact until Ranboo turned to leave. Techno seemed to have a bag in his hand. 'He did bring my book! I have to thank him once I'm back to normal.' A unwanted happy chirp left his throat and immediately got the attention of the Enderman hybrid. 'Ups...'

"Um... Techno?" 'Oh no... he's gonna murder me for this.' "Is... Do you... I mean..." "Full sentences Ranboo." The hybrid's eyes flicked back up to Phil. "Is that crow yours or...?" Techno looked up at his friend and groaned.

"Yes... that's... you could say that." Since his cover was blown anyways, Phil jumped down from the roof and landed in front of Ranboo. The hybrid jumped back, his tail wrapping around his own leg. "Um... Hi?" "Don't worry. He won't hurt you." Techno wandered over to the two and patted Phil's neck, the bird trilling happily.

"How did you even get him? Did one of Phil's crows just..." "Ranboo. This is Phil." The hybrid stared at them with big eyes, switching between Techno and Phil. "I... he... how?!" Techno sighed and turned to walk back to the house. "Let's talk about this inside... it's cold."

Ranboo hesitated a bit before following the other hybrid, keeping a small distance to Phil as he walked by. As much as he wants to believe this is the usual friendly father figure of everyone, the sight of the gigantic crow still scares him a lot. It did hurt a bit to see the young Enderman this scared of him, but the bird can understand why he is so nervous.

While the two hybrids get into the house through the front door, Phil enters through the balcony. Luckily Techno was thoughtful enough to lead Ranboo up to Phil's room so the bird can take part in the conversation, or at least listen to it.

Ranboo immediately grew nervous again when he saw the gigantic crow, but sat down close to the nest anyways. Phil got comfortable in the mess of blankets and pillows, while Techno sat down on the edge of the nest.

"So... first things first. Yes, this is Phil. Fully conscious and able to understand us just fine, just in a different body. It happened to me too about a week ago... I just changed into a giant hoglin. Wasn't a nice feeling, really. Ended up almost dying while saving Phil's ass in the Nether. That's how I ended up with a broken arm. Eventually I changed back... that was like four days ago I think. But now Phil changed into this yesterday."

Ranboo took some time to process the story, staring at Techno like he was a ghost. The Piglin couldn't care less and started to stroke through the feathers on Phil's neck, receiving pleased chirps and trills from the bird. His friend had told him that preening his wings or just stroking through feathers in general feels similar to brushing your hair and that for him, it's a really nice feeling. He just guesses that it feels the same now.

"So... you just... randomly changed?" "Yup." "Without any reason or trigger?" "Yes." "But-" "Ranboo. Please don't ask the same question multiple times." "Right... right..." Phil leaned his head down and placed it on a pillow, watching the whole thing play out.

"You don't know when he will change back?" "No. We only know that it lasted a few days with me." "Did it happen to anyone else?" "If it did we haven't heard about it. You're the first person we've seen since my transformation." "Oh... okay." The hybrid looked at Phil, his ear flicking. Century old eyes stare back at him, waiting for him to move. He doesn't want to make a wrong move and scare the poor boy. He seems nervous enough already.

Carefully, a ink black hand stretched out towards him and placed itself on his head. The bird chirped and leaned into the touch. "I have to admit... he looks... cute, almost. If you ignore the skull mask thing on his head... That looks terrifying." "Yeah, I agree with that one."

Phil huffed and pecked at Techno's head. The hybrid laughed and tried to duck out the way. "Hey! I'm just stating a fact!" 'Says the guy wearing a skull mask every day!' Of course the comment only comes out as a bunch of caws and trills, but Techno did get the point of Phil saying something about how he looks. "I think I look good with what I wear, thank you very much." Phil just pecked him in the head again.

Meanwhile, Ranboo was trying his best to not burst out laughing, giggling at the playful fight between the two ancient friends. This will be a long night... but at least everyone in the room is comfortable and relaxed now, while darkness fell over the outside world and allowed the creatures of the night to roam the lands.