Assassin Crow Evolution

Jimmy wanted to keep the conversation with the ladies short, because he urged to go back to meditating.

However, Zoey, one of the lady crows, managed to rustle his feathers quite easily.

She said, "Oh, big man aren’t you? Savior of the crows, and now you think that we can’t get food ourselves? How little do you think of us crows?"

"What?" He shook his head, confused, and frustrated. "Did you hear anything I said? I don’t want good food to go to waste."

"Of course you don’t," Zoey sighed, "If you really cared about the food, you’d chirp in White Blade’s ear as you always do. You came out here to find us, and shame us."

"Zoey, quit messing with the kid," Julia interrupted them, "Just tell him that you like him. He’s obviously too normal to pick up on your insane hints."

"Shut it!" Zoey bit back.

Her exclamation was so sharp and violent that one would expect she was going to attack.

Jimmy looked at them, and didn’t exactly know how to react. He was stunned, speechless.

Zoey didn’t like his sudden silence at all. She felt as if she was being mocked by Jimmy, and by her friend too, which she considered quite heartbreaking. Her feathers had jerked upwards as if she was a rampaging Cockatrice.

Unlike the characteristics of a shy woman, she didn’t avoid eye contact, but looked Jimmy directly in the eyes, silently demanding him to say something. It was as if she was trying to intimidate him into accepting her as a partner.

At last, she broke, and shouted, "Say something you fucking idiot!"

Jimmy was not offended. On the contrary, he fought the battle of his life as he tried to keep himself from laughing.

Other than that, he finally understood why Zoey was so cruel towards him. He wasn’t a fan of her logic, and he definitely didn’t want to enable her to continue and act like this in the long run, but for now, he tried to find the best response he could muster.

At last, he spoke, and asked, "I have some food up in a tree. Care to join me?"

"Just me?" Zoey finally lowered her tone.

"Of course," He gently nodded, "Your friend can go and spread the word about the dead deer, but I’d like you to come with me."

"Okay," She said, and then went and stood by his side, awkwardly, as if she was taking a school year’s picture besides the teacher.

Julia took off. She was happy that she helped her friend get closer to the man she wanted. She knew that they needed some privacy.

The rest of the crow community shall enjoy the rest of the deer carcass.

"Follow me," He said.

The two of them flew their way back to Jimmy’s meditation spot, and got snug and comfortable within the hole in the tree.

"This is delicious!" She said, after she ripped a few mouthfuls of meat from the chunk. "What did you do to it?"

"Oh, I just cooked it a little bit." He chuckled, "Enjoy."

Zoey ate until she was full, and then she sat nearby, awkwardly, looking at him directly in the eyes, silently demanding something, as if he could read her mind.

The large bit of meat that she hadn’t been able to finish, stood between them as if it was a great wall.

Jimmy was oblivious once more. He had tried to calm himself down so he could start meditating again. He held the feather with his beak, believing that it would help him meditate.

Zoey was steaming. She wanted to yell her lungs out, and go down another spiral of self-righteousness, but she stopped herself from doing so.

’Are all young crows this stupid?’ She thought.

Afterwards, she said, "It’s not that I mind it, but are you sure you want to let your little bug friend watch us?"

"She’s not watching us, she’s asleep," He answered, as oblivious as ever.

"I didn’t know bugs slept," She sighed, frustrated, and then asked, "Well, are you going to get closer to me, or do I have to beg? Spring is far away, but you kind of have a nest here, so... I still have time to lay some eggs."

"Lay eggs?" He parroted, juggling the tip of the feather in his beak, and at this point, he lost every bit of his progress he made in meditation, "You want to have kids with me? Right away?"

"What, did I not make myself clear?" She tried not to yell.

"No, you did not." He said, "Zoey, maybe we should have this talk again come next spring? I mean, I just popped out of an egg myself. I’m young."

"You’re not that young," She argued, "A crow is a man the moment he drops out of his mother’s nest. Are you saying you’re less of a man?"

"I’m a more ambitious man," He answered, "I invited you here, because despite how insane you act, I found you adorable today. But right now, I’m focused on becoming stronger, more powerful. I’m not holding a feather with my beak for nothing, I’m trying to merge with it."

Zoey didn’t want to admit it, but she felt heartbroken. She wanted to fly away from here, and yet, she was too proud to do so.

To try and preserve her ego, she asked, "So you do like me?"

"Of course," He nodded, "I like you as much as a male crow can like a female crow."

"That’s an odd way to say it," She sighed, "But I’ll take it. Spring works for me too, actually."

"Good then," He nodded, "You can stick with me until then, if you’d like, and you can come travel with me, Virena and Vorin. We have plenty of cool shit to do until spring, and I have a feeling the open skies will do you good. The world out there is as beautiful as it is interesting."

"Fine," She said, "I guess I have to learn what gets you excited. After all, you just agreed to be the father of my first ever children."

"First?" He asked.

Before he could’ve said anything else, Zoey interrupted him. She protected her own ego, by trashing it herself.

"Yes, first," She said, "Men don’t like me. They always say I’m too much."

"Don’t think about it too much," He said, "Most of the men I’ve met here are complete cowards. They’re not exactly built to handle a woman like you."

"A woman like me?" She repeated, looking for ways to be offended.

"A brave one," He chuckled lightly, "You always speak your mind, and I doubt that the other crows are a fan of that."

"They’re not," She said, "I hope I’m not braver than you. I don’t want to have to save your ass out there."

"Virena usually saves my ass," He said, "Oh, about that, don’t try to eat her. She’ll explode you into a thousand pieces. She can manipulate fire now."

"Well, I respect her a bit more now, then." She said, "Never heard of a fire farting bug. Also, you should know that I can defend myself, so I don’t need you to save me, ever. I rarely talk about this with anyone, apart from Zoey, but I too practice magic. Like you, just better."

Jimmy was intrigued. He finally began to consider this conversation interesting, as it went beyond maintaining the emotions of a woman that fancied him. He was always interested in the Arcane.

"Better?" He parroted, "So you can shoot hotter fireballs than me? I bet you heard that I can shoot fireballs."

"I heard," She said, "I can’t shoot fireballs, but my magic is still better."

"Okay then, show me," He cracked a tiny smile.

Zoey didn’t even bother to stand up.

Jimmy watched her, and within seconds, he noticed something odd.

Zoey’s face began to melt away. This started out with tiny inconsistencies on her face, and it developed into a full-blown horrifying scene!

Her face’s shape kept switching between animals. From a rabbit face, to a human’s, to a horse’s, and so on, she unintentionally convinced him that she was the best shapeshifter to ever exist.

What she did seemed to be beyond evolution, and even beyond the power of the gods.

Jimmy eventually looked away from her, and noticed that the world beyond the tree was different as well. It seemed corrupted, hell-like.

Demonic animals were running around across a burned, crusty world.

For a moment, he was scared, but then he noticed the inconsistencies. He understood that if Zoey could actually destroy the world to this degree, she would’ve done so several times already, especially when the war between them and the ravens broke out, just to defend herself.

This fact alone brought him back to reality, even though his perception of the world around him refused to change.

Looking at Virena afterwards, he saw that she had turned into a violent snake. This further confirmed his theory, because he knew for a fact that she couldn’t turn into a snake. She would have if she could.

"So your magic circles around illusion? You can scare the shit out of everyone if you want to." He said.

In a snap, the world around him went back to normal.

"I didn’t expect that," Zoey said, "I thought you were going to shit out all that meat you ate... hmm... maybe you’re smarter than I thought."