[Jaena]

The winner is luisa! Pegasusdragon, I loved your artwork, but luisa's story was really touching ;o; I'll be sending a PM about this momentarily!

Main Thread

This Mus aves can be adopted by whoever wins this mini contest! To enter, just write a little something about this Mus aves, or draw a picture of it. Can't write or draw? Other art forms will be accepted! These "rules" are pretty loose, but I just want to see what people come up with ^^

I'll judge entries after one month and pick a winner.

If you don't know what to write about, you can just fill out this form:

About this Mus aves

Name:
Gender:
Personality:
Favorite food(s):
Sleeps ____ hours every day!

Good luck have fun!

[somnus.]

Name: Cocoa
Gender: Female
Personality: Cocoa likes to sleep. When Cocoa sleeps, she starts dreaming very quickly. Cocoa really likes cuddling with blankets, towels, clothes, anything soft!
Favorite food(s): Cocoa's favorite foods are donuts, pie, and cake.
Sleeps about 17 hours every day!

[luisa]

Bean


Female


Playful, Creative, Energetic


Dried Cranberries, Nuts, Peas


About 8 hours every day


Art





The wind rustled quietly in the dark green leaves of the towering trees, the sunlight was filtering through to the forest floor, and everything was peaceful and calm. A sparkling, gurgling brook ran down the gently rolling hill, creating an almost magical atmosphere. A squirrel chattered quickly, and rushed up a tree, followed by two others. But the chattering quickly subsided, and everything was still again.

Far away, you could hear the irregular flapping of some bird, getting closer by the second. Suddenly, a small brown parrot with the body of a mouse burst through the foliage and frantically fluttered straight into the trunk of a huge oak. With a small thump, she landed on the leaf strewn ground and didn't move. The forest continued on with its silence.

The morning was cold. The leaves were covered in thin coats of frost, and the ground was icy and cold. A small feathery lump lay near the roots of a large tree. You couldn't tell if it was still alive until it stirred slightly, then stiffly spread its wings. A small head lifted from the ground and anxiously looked around. The eyes were bright and alert, yet still had a somewhat dazed appearance. The creature slowly got up, stretching, and stumbled a couple of steps before falling over. She had apparently not recovered from the fall yet. However, she didn't give up. When a second try also resulted in another crash, she tried again and again until she managed to walk the few steps to the outcropping of a small boulder that lay in a ditch off to the side. She scratched at the hard ground for a few moments, creating a little burrow under the outcropping, and the nestled up inside it. Content, the bright eyes closed once again.

She was apparently very exhausted, because it took until noon before her eyes opened once again. By then it was warmer, and the forest was a bit more alive. Once in a while you could hear the chirp of a bird or the chattering of a squirrel, and the sparkling brook continuing on its way over the hills. She ruffled her feathers and stood up steadily, her tail twitching back and forth. Something crunched in the bushes behind her, and though she knew it was only a falling brach, she took the opportunity to dive forward and suddenly leap into the air. Her strong wings snapped out, flapping, and carried her upwards, through the crowns of the tall trees and up towards the clouds. Letting loose a cry of joy and freedom, happiness and delight, she twisted in the air and winged her way across the sky, continuing on her journey.

When the sun was already hidden behind the horizon, she slowly made her way to the ground. Landing on the thick branch of a huge pine, she looked around at her surroundings. She was looking over a mossy clearing covered in leaves and dead branches. There was a bird nest on the tree next to her, and she could hear the slightly frantic cheeping of the young birds. A doe carefully made her way around the edge of the clearing, her fearful eyes always on the lookout for any hint of a predator. As the last rays of the sun slipped over the horizon, the deer spotted a flash of something metal up in a tree. Taking a flying leap, she crashed through the bushes and disappeared into the woods. She wouldn't have needed to run away, for it was only the light reflecting off a metal band fixed around the hind foot of a small creature, half bird, half rat, sitting quietly up in a tree. A metal band that had defined the whole life of this little animal. F-36-719...

She had been born on a towel in a gray metal cage. She never knew her mother, and was kept separate from all of the other genetic experiments. The metal cage grew to be the most hated thing in her life. She hated it more than the white-coated scientists that poked needles at her, more than the haughtily laughing men that dragged in crates of illegal animals, more than those very animals with which she was pushed into a cage and "observed". The only joy that she had there was the short, smiling man that cleaned her cage and nicknamed her "Bean". He would put her on his shoulder while he bustled around and dusted the metal shelves and scrubbed the cages, and then reluctantly put her back in her prison.

One day, a day that she would never forget, he quietly put her back in the cage, closed the door, but left the latch up. When he stepped away from the cage he winked, and whispered,"Good luck, my little Bean. May the wind be at your back and you wings be strong." Then he left, and that night she made her silent escape. Later she learned that she herself was never meant to be in this lab, her DNA had been secretly stolen and she had been transported to the lab to be born there. But she didn't care anymore, so she flew all that night and the next day until she happened to crash into a large oak tree.

And now she was sitting in a large pine tree, listening to the crashes growing quieter and quieter as the deer ran away, ever fearful of a predator lurking in the brush. As the forest quieted, her eyes slowly drooped, and then closed.

The sun rose with a splendid display of colors, ranging from deep reds to light pinks and mild yellows. Bean opened her wings and flapped them up and down, then leapt from the branch and dove towards the ground. Right before she crashed, her wings went out and caught her, and she soared up into the sky. Another long day of traveling lay before her, and she was content and free.

The days went quickly. The deep green of the trees turned to red and yellow and brown, and the frost in the morning took longer and longer to melt away. Bean flew on, sometimes passing over sprawling cities that smelled of smoke and garbage. She considered staying there, but cities reminded her too much of her cage with their silver buildings and metal cars and tight spaces. She much preferred the forests surrounding them, but she knew she wouldn't be able to find food in the winter. So when the first snow fell, she knew she had to find herself a city where she could stay the winter. The next city she found wasn't even that bad. It had many trees, parks and was still big enough to find food.

The first couple of days were hard. She had to avoid being seen, so she rarely came outside during the daytime, and only hunted for food at night. She had trouble finding a place to sleep because every corner and cranny was either full of pigeons or not safe from the humans. Finally, she built a sort of burrow on an island of a little pond. She dug herself a little hole under the roots of a small tree, and filed the hole with dead leaves and dry grass. It was enough to keep her hidden and warm during the day, so she stayed there. Almost every day she would watch a girl walk through the park. She seemed sort of lonely, and sometimes sang to herself a little, sitting by the pond. One day, the girl caught a glimpse of Bean. She quickly scurried away, but it was too late, the girl had seen her. In her panic she jumped into her burrow instead of flying away, as she should have. Peeking out between the roots, she saw the girl pull a piece of bread out of her pocket and call out to Bean. But Bean didn't come out of her burrow, so she ripped the bread into pieces and threw them out onto the ice of the pond. Bean was hungry...extremely hungry... without thinking, she sprang out of the hole and quickly ate all of the pieces up.

But suddenly she froze, regretting her horrible mistake. The girl must have seen by now that she wasn't a normal animal, and she would get the people from the lab to take her back, and... Bean was panicking, She had no idea what to do, and just stayed there, frozen, as if she were a statue. "It's fine, little guy, everything's all right..." the girl quietly said when she saw Bean freeze. "I'm not gonna do anything, I'll leave if you want." She slowly got up and backed away, and then she was gone.

Bean still stood on the ice, still. And then, in a flurry of motion, she spread her wings and jumped into the sky, quickly flapping higher, higher, trying to get away. The city shrunk under her as she went higher, higher. Her little lungs burned as the air got colder, her wings strained to carry her farther away from the horrible place. She flew on, even though she didn't want to. She didn't go very far, and then dove down and let herself drop down in some other park. Exhausted, she huddled under a leafless bush and waited. She waited for the white-coated men and the metal cages, and she waited for a long time, and then she slept. When the sun appeared over the horizon, she realized that they weren't coming, and her tense posture relaxed, and she flew. She eased her anxiousness with the flying, and she soared over the clouds and dove through the bare trees and glided around the buildings. Her heart slowed, and then she made her way back to the park where she had seen the girl.

She was sitting on a bench, wearing a blue jacket and uninterestedly jabbing a stick into the snow repeatedly. Bean quietly landed in front of her, and she looked up from the snow at the gentle sound of flapping wings. A small smile spread across her face, and she pulled a piece of bread out of her pocket and ripped it into pieces. When she threw the first piece, Bean jumped up and caught it in her beak. The girl laughed, and threw another piece. Bean caught it again, and the girl threw again. When the bread was gone, the girl said something about a nest, and then glanced over to Bean's little burrow. She frowned and shook her head, and then got up and ran out of the park. Bean curiously flew up to a branch and waited.

Soon the girl returned carrying a large birdhouse. She set the birdhouse down and looked around. Noticing the large tree on the island in the lake, she picked the birdhouse up again and cautiously made her way over the ice. She proved to be an expert tree climber, as she scaled the slippery trunk of the tree easily, dragging the house behind her. Using some thin rope, she tied the birdhouse to a thick branch so that it wouldn't swing around in the wind. Satisfied, she looked over to Bean, who flew over and checked it out. It seemed quite small from the outside, but was actually pretty spacious inside. Poking her head out of the entrance hole, she let loose a joyful squawk.

The girl smiled, and it was a beginning of a long and wonderful friendship. Every day, rain or shine, she would go to the park with a piece of bread or cake and feed it to Bean. Bean would bring pieces of string or colorful leaves or other treasures she had found, and then they would sit together, the girl stroking Bean, or she would throw something high into the air, and Bean would catch it. There was never a day where Bean was lonely, and she soon fog stated to gather around the metal cages and white-coated scientists.

Yesterday the girl found a little metal band on the road. It said F-36-719, but she didn't see that, and threw it into trash can. Perhaps it is best that way...