Baby Birb

I Found A Child

Phil goes out to tend to the crops, it's early morning and his sons have woken up before him in what seems to be the first time ever, so they are taking care of their morning routine. Wilbur, his younger son, is in the shower for at least half an hour while Techno, his slightly older son, reads a book waiting for the younger son to finish.

While walking along the dirt path to the farm, Phil sees something in the bush. It was only a glimpse, but he could see something golden glimmering from between the thick woods of tall oak trees and bushes. Something that if it was another time of day he probably would just overlook. But because the sun is still relatively low in the sky, the hair of a young child hiding reflects and shimmers against the light, showing him the curled-up figure in the middle of a bush with branches covering his body and poking through his hair and dishevelled clothes. Laying there seeming peaceful.

Though on the sides of his head and covering his back there is something red, a colour very closely resembling that of blood, but upon closer inspection, it's feathers. As well as a messy pair of wings which haven't been preened in ages. But wings. And feathers so closely resembling that of the nearly extinct race of Avians, which have all but one died hundreds of years ago. All dead except for Philza. Well, apparently not.

Phil's mind races for a moment remembering the years of searching for his kin, or for any sort of blood relative. Nothing, for centuries. Until now, This young messy, muddy, greasy, injured, and malnourished child, just showing up before him. Nearly makes him laugh at the audacity and pure ridiculousness of the situation. His boys would definitely be surprised to see him with a child, which to their knowledge should be extinct. This will be fun to explain.

He bends over and kneels down on the cold grass and extends his arms into the bush, reaching for the child and slightly hoping to himself that the kid is a strong sleeper, as he would hate to wake him up and possibly scare him away. Gently manoeuvring his arms under the child's shoulder blades, avoiding where the wings extrude from his back and placing his other arm under the legs. Slowly lifting him up and trying to hit as little branches as possible in the process.

Once the child is out of the bush Philza holds him gently and closely to his chest, observing the lungs of the younger slowly and peacefully rise and fall with each shallow breath. He is much lighter than what Phil expected, even though the boy only looks to be around the age of six, maybe five, biasing it off his weight.

The endless lock of golden hair dirtied, covered in grime and leaves are pressing into him, the tattered clothes which look to be some sort of extremely overworn nightgown, and his knees as well as any showing piece of skin has some sort of cut or bruise exposed, to any infection that would come if not cleaned properly, and soon. How long had this boy been in the forest? and who would dare to leave such a young child alone. Though he isn't truly surprised. Not really. He'd seen how cruelly the world likes to treat the innocent sometimes. It isn't an enjoyable sight.

Philza moves towards the home that he lives in with his sons, The house that he had built on his own and taken care of the kids who lived there and made it into his home. The wood of the house blends with the forest but you can see the small patio with stone stairs leading to the back door. He moves slowly and carefully trying his best to keep the boy in his arms asleep, which causes him to struggle slightly with the doorknob, though he figures it out eventually and uses the back of his wings to push the door open.

When he enters the home, he is greeted with the sight of Techno reading a book in the living room with his reading glasses on and his long pink hair in a loose bun attached to his head with a hairclip. Apparently Will is still in the shower which is understandable considering Phil was outside for only a couple of minutes. As Phil approaches the couch which Techno is sitting on, his head snaps towards his father, probably shocked to see his dad back already. Then his eyes drift to the sleeping child in his arms, eyes widened in surprise probably not noticing the red feathers and they are mostly hidden by Phil's green cloak.