Back at Sunset's house, Air Guitar sat in the closet, hastily texting someone on his phone. The scratches from Mr. Feathers were now starting to get sore, but he couldn't tend to them in such a tight space. As he texted, he thought back to the destruction downstairs. He knew Sunset would be mad at him for it, and he would most likely have to pay for the damages. Maybe he could convince her to go easy on him, since he was being attacked by a bird.
Just now he realized how silly it sounded. He set an image for himself as a brave, confident, and handsome young man. But here he was now, scratches all over his face and back, cowardly hiding from a bird that looked like some kid colored him with every color in the crayon box. He winced as he felt his pride being ripped from his heart. He looked to his phone, regretting sending a text for help.
Why couldn't he have just gotten a funnel and poured the feed in?
His phone light blinked as he received a text from the person that he had just asked for help.
'Really? Attacked by a bird?' The text said. 'ROFL'
'Don't laugh at me!' Air Guitar texted back. 'I know you're not busy today, so just come and put the damn bird back in the cage!'
'Alright, alright. I'll come and do YOUR job.'
After that, Air Guitar didn't receive any more texts. He slid the phone back into his pocket and began to wait. What if his rescue had as much trouble as he did? Could they both fit in the closet? Thinking of the size of his rescue, he knew that they could not.
So he came up with a plan to bolt into another room while Mr. Feathers was distracted, and wait by the door in case he came running. He moved the jacket that was on top of his head and pressed his ear to the door, listening for any sounds. At first, all he could hear was Mr. Feathers' wings flapping. But after a few moments, he heard the front door open, accompanied by the voice of his rescuer: Star Gazer.
"Here, birdy birdy birdy!" Star Gazer shouted, soon accompanied by sound of the front door closing.
"Dumbass." Air Guitar said under his breath.
Mr. Feathers' wing flapping became more erratic as he flew down the stairs, giving Air Guitar the chance he needed. He threw the closet door open, throwing the jackets off of himself. He then ran into the closest bedroom to himself, which was Sunset's. He shut the door behind himself and pressed his ear to the door. As he expected, he heard the sound of wood cracking, glass breaking, screaming, and cooking pots hitting the floor.
Soon, he heard running up the stairs. He opened the door just enough to see Star Gazer running toward him. Air Guitar threw the door open, giving his friend a place to run to. But wanting to stay safe, Air Guitar grabbed the same blanket from before.
"Star Gazer, duck!" Air Guitar warned.
Star Gazer heard Air Guitar loud and clear, and obeyed the warning. As he ducked, Air Guitar threw the blanket, once again hitting the bird, and sending him crashing down to the ground. While Mr. Feathers was down, Star Gazer ran into the bedroom with Air Guitar, and shut the door tight. But this wasn't good enough for him apparently, because they moved a dresser in front of the door. When the deed was done, they both leaned against the wall, and slid down until they were sitting on the floor.
"I shouldn't of underestimated that bird." Star Gazer said as he breathed heavily.
"It’s okay." Air Guitar nodded. "I did the same thing."
"And you know what I just realized?" Star Gazer asked, looking to Air Guitar.
"What’s that?"
"We could of grabbed him while he was under the blanket."
Air Guitar's eyes grew wide with realization. There were two things that ran through his head at that point. First, he wasn't as smart as he thought he was, and the second, he decided to express out loud.
"Fuck."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Star Gazer and Air Guitar sat there for a short while, contemplating their mistake, and trying to think of something that they could do. It was now two against one, but they had already learned to not underestimate Mr. Feathers. They could try to capture him with another blanket, but Air Guitar didn’t want to test his souring luck a third time. This left them with two options.
Either hurt the bird to catch it, or call in more help. But with Mr. Feathers being Sunset's girlfriend's bird, hurting it was out of the question. So, Air Guitar once again pulled out his phone and called A.R. After a few rings, A.R. answered.
"Hello?" A.R.'s voice said.
"A.R., Star Gazer and I need your help." Air Guitar said into the phone.
"What can I do to help?" A.R. asked.
"Star Gazer and I are trapped in Sunset's house with Mr. Feathers on the lose. We need you to come over and catch him for us, without hurting him."
"Mr. Feathers? Isn't that Adagio's bird?"
"Yes, it is, and he is being very unfriendly." Air Guitar said with a sigh.
"What do you mean, unfriendly?"
"He attacked me." Air Guitar answered. "He scratched up my face and back, and trapped me in a closet. I texted Star Gazer, who came over to try and help, but was also attacked. We are now trapped in Sunset's bedroom with Mr. Feathers still on the loose."
"... You were defeated... by a bird?"
"Don't underestimate him!" Star Gazer practically shouted into the phone. "He may be small and colorful, but he is very dangerous!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around it." A.R. said. "I mean if it was a hawk or an eagle, then it would be more understandable. But Mr. Feathers is a Red Macaw. A parrot."
"Just get over here and help us!" Air Guitar shouted.
"Alright, alright! Geez. I think I have a net laying around that I can use."
"See you when you get here." Air Guitar said, ending the call.
"He's doomed." Star Gazer said as Air Guitar stuffed the phone in his pocket.
"Don't say that." Air Guitar said, shaking his head. "A.R. is our last hope. Or at least until Sunset gets home."
"What makes you think he won't attack her?" Star Gazer asked, crossing his arms.
"Sunset has more experience with Mr. Feathers." Air Guitar pointed out. "Maybe he just thinks we're intruders and is trying to protect Sunset's things. Some animals are territorial like that."
"You have a point there." Star Gazer nodded.
There was then a moment of silence as the two tried to listen for A.R. At first, they heard nothing more than eerie silence. But then, they heard the soft sound of the front door opening slowly. While Star Gazer tried to call out the bird, it appeared that A.R. was trying to be stealthy. After the front door closed, they heard nothing else.
After a few, horrifying moments, they could hear glass breaking, along with the sounds of muffled wing flaps. Hope began to rise in their chests, as they silently prayed that A.R. successfully caught Mr. Feathers. But when they heard footsteps rushing up the stairs, their hope vanished. Instinctively, they moved the dresser and opened the door, and A.R. rushed in, wearing a broken net around his neck. The three of them then quickly closed the door, causing Mr. Feathers to crash into it.
"Don't. Say. A word." A.R. warned as Star Gazer and Air Guitar stared at him.
"How did that happen?" Air Guitar asked, raising an eyebrow.
"He caught the net in his talons and threw it back at me! Then he started flogging me!" A.R. said, throwing his hands in the air.
Air Guitar looked at Star Gazer for a moment, then they started laughing.
"We need to come up with a plan." A.R. said, ignoring the laughter as he took the net off. "First, let's look at what we've got in here."
After the laughter subsided, the trio began looking around the room and put what they thought was useful onto the bed. When they were sure they couldn't find anything else, they gathered by the bed and A.R. began searching through their findings.
"Let's see, we've got metal coat hangers, a metal rod, some jackets, a bunch of pillows, extra boot strings, a shoe box, duct tape, pepper spray, and... a red bra?" A.R. looked up at Air Guitar with a puzzled expression.
"Don't look at me." Air Guitar said.
"Star Gazer?" A.R. asked, shifting his gaze.
"It could be used as a double barrel slingshot!" Star Gazer said with a smile, as if he had just won the Nobel Peace Prize.
"One, you need help." A.R. said with a serious expression. "Two, its not very elastic, and even if it was, the accuracy would be terrible." A.R. then picked up the bra and handed it to Star Gazer. "Go put it back where you found it."
"That's the closest you'll ever get to touching real hooters." Air Guitar said with a grin.
"Bite me." Star Gazer grumbled as he went to go put the bra back.
"Alright, I think I've got a plan." A.R. said as he piled the pillows on the floor. "We're going to duck tape these pillows to my body, acting like soft armor. I'm going to bend one of these metal coat hangers into an 'o' shape, tape it to the opening of one of these pillow cases, and tape that onto the metal rod, turning it into a makeshift net. I'm then going to cut open one of these pillows, make eye-holes in it, and wear it like a mask to protect my face."
"What about your eyes?" Air Guitar asked.
Without saying a word, A.R. pulled out a pair of sunglasses, and put them on with a smile.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About fifteen minutes later, it was all complete. A.R. was covered head to toe in pillows, the sunglasses protecting his eyes, and wielded the make-shift net in his right hand. Under the pillow on his head, he wore a smile of confidence. Turning his head to look at Air Guitar, he found that the pillow had been duct taped to his shoulders, limiting his head movement. He knew this would be a weakness, but he could understand why it had been taped down.
"Alright, open the door." A.R. said with confidence.
Star Gazer hesitantly moved to the door, and opened it. Mr. Feathers didn't fly in, so that was a good sign. When A.R. had left the room, the door was immediately closed behind him. He shifted his torso in order to look around. Some picture frames had fallen from the wall, and the door was covered in scratches.
He could see the blanket laying on the floor, so he lightly kicked it, seeing if Mr. Feathers was hiding under it. But he found that it was clear, so he moved on. He checked every room upstairs, but it was void of the Red Macaw, and some rooms were still untouched. So, he moved on to the downstairs, where most of the damage had been done. There were holes in the walls, chairs had been broken from where they had been fallen on, broken cups laid on the floor, pots had been turned upside down, and all in all, it looked like a war zone.
When he entered the living room, a piece of cloth fell on his head, blinding him. He then felt thuds hitting his facial area, but the pillow had protected him. He swung the make-shift net at his face, pinning Mr. Feathers to himself. That is when the bird began to scream.
"Let me go, you fucker!" Mr. Feathers shouted.
"Sounds like somebody needs a timeout." A.R. said mockingly.
"I'll give you a time out you son of a bitch!" Mr. Feathers shouted back.
A.R. then attempted to grab Mr. Feathers in his free hand, but found the pillows limiting his arm movement. Instead, he leaned forward and let the piece of cloth fall onto the net, trapping Mr. Feathers in it. He then quickly grabbed, trapping Mr. Feathers inside. Just as he thought he had won, Mr. Feathers used his talons to cut a hole in the make-shift net, and flew back out. A.R. lifted the net up to observe the hole, seeing it was a clean cut.
He looked up, and saw Mr. Feathers flying overhead. He once again attempted to lift his arms up, but it was made impossible with the pillow armor. No, he would need some help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"That was one heck of a day." Aria groaned as she, Adagio, Sonata, and Sunset walked down the side-walk to their home.
"At least nothing major happened." Sunset said, trying to liven up the mood.
"Your idea of 'major' is really messed up." Aria said, glaring to Sunset.
"Well, yeah, this morning didn't really start that great." Sunset sighed with a nod. "But it did seem to ease up as the day moved on."
"Let's just get home and forget about the whole ordeal." Adagio said looking back to the girls.
"At least it's better than the bridge." Sonata said, trying to be optimistic.
"Anything would be better than the bridge." Aria agreed, but still wasn't happy.
The girls soon approached their house, but when they got onto the porch, loud thudding sounds could be heard. Curious, Sunset opened the front door and a multicolored blur shot past her. She then looked back, seeing Mr. Feathers now nesting in Adagio's hair. Sunset then looked back into the house, seeing what looked like three large marshmallow men standing in the living room, staring back at her. Instinctively, Sunset grabbed a wooden baseball bat that she kept next the front door and got ready to swing it.
"Wait, wait wait!" One of the marshmallow men said, holding up his hands.
"Air Guitar?" Sunset asked, lowering the bat. "Whats going on?"
"Could you help me get this pillow of my head?" Air Guitar said with a sigh, lowering his head.
Curious to what he had to say, Sunset stepped in, now seeing the mess her house was in.
"Wait, what happened here?" Sunset asked as her jaw dropped.
"We tried to catch Mr. Feathers." Star Gazer said, trying to lift his hands. "It didn't turn out so well."
"Wait, if he's Air Guitar, and your Star Gazer, then who is he?" Sunset asked, pointing to the third man.
"A.R." Air Guitar answered, "Now how about helping me out of this?"
Reluctantly, Sunset helped Air Guitar out of the pillow armor, and he proceeded to help the other two out. When they were pillow-less, the three of them sat on the couch as the girls sat down in the seats that were not broken.
"Okay, start from the beginning." Sunset said, crossing her arms.
"It started when I was in the upstairs closet, texting you." Air Guitar said with a sigh.
"Always knew you were in the closet." Aria said with a chuckle.
"Aria, we're lesbians." Adagio said, turning to her friend.
"Which is why it's okay for me to make these jokes."
"Anyways." Air Guitar said, raising his voice. "When Sunset couldn't help me, I texted Star Gazer. He wrestled with the bird-"
"Mr. Feathers." Adagio corrected.
"He wrestled with Mr. Feathers, more than I did, which broke a lot of things. I rushed into Sunset's bedroom, and let Star Gazer in. When we were in there, we decided to call A.R. for help. He was a bit reluctant, but came anyway. He tried to catch Mr. Feathers in a net, but got it broken over his head."
"It would've worked if he hadn't thrown it back at me!" A.R. said, glaring at Mr. Feathers, who kept a close eye on the three of them.
"Anyways, we came up with a plan to catch Mr. Feathers, which involved tapping pillows over A.R.'s body, and making a makeshift net."
"By the way, you need a new pillow case." A.R. said, pointing to the broken make-shift net on the ground.
"I'm going to need a lot of new things." Sunset groaned as she looked around. "Go on."
"Well, that plan didn't work, so we all put on pillow armor to try and catch him." Air Guitar continued. "We were hoping to get him back in the cage and clean this up before you got home, but..."
"It didn't work." Sunset nodded. "Is that everything?"
"Yeah, pretty much." Air Guitar nodded. "So, how fucked are we?"
"Oh, very fucked." Sunset glared at them. "Especially you, Air Guitar. I gave you a simple job, and you somehow managed to mess it up. Why didn't you just use a funnel to pour the feed in?"
"I didn't think about that until all this already happened." Air Guitar admitted.
"Well, you're going to pay for all the damages, and replace everything that is broken."
"Which leaves you." Adagio said, pulling Mr. Feathers out of her hair. "Why did you attack them?"
"Intruders!" Mr. Feathers defended.
"Maybe he just doesn't like guys." Sonata suggested with a shrug.
Adagio raised an eyebrow at Sonata before looking back to Mr. Feathers.
"Is that true?" Adagio asked.
Instead of saying anything, Mr. Feathers looked back to the three men on the couch. It was obvious that he was still angry.
"I'm going to get him a treat." Aria said, standing up.
"Why?" Sunset asked, looking up at her.
"For attacking these three shit-heads. He's proven his worth in my book."
"I'm out of here." Star Gazer said, getting up and heading for the door.
"What about the mess?!" Air Guitar asked.
"I got attacked by a bird, got my pride shattered, and now she's going to feed him a treat for attacking me?! I'm outta here."