A Taste For Chicken

The Science of Greed - Part One

After only a week into Halcyon's return to Nest, tensions had reached a boiling point between her and Hawks. As patient as he tried to be, it was like she insisted on being a pain in his ass. He and Halcyon were constantly at each other's throats on and off duty, and today was no different. Heron stood by the wall awkwardly, just outside of Hawks' office, trying to stay out of the line of fire as Halcyon riled Hawks up yet again.

"Seriously, Birdy, do you ever stop talking?" Halcyon sneered, leaning against his desk with her arms crossed. Her foot tapped impatiently on the floor and her eyes couldn't stay on him for long.

Hawks' wings flared out in exasperation, his head tipping back with his loud groan. He looked at her again and growled, "Oh, I don't know, Hal. Maybe if you actually listened, you'd hear something useful!"

Halcyon rolled her eyes and turned her head away from him, "Useful? From you? That's a joke. All you do is flap those wings and strut around like you own the place."

Hawks stepped closer to her, his wings twitching angrily, "At least I'm tryin' to keep things running smoothly in this agency! All you do is complain and pick fights with everyone! I'm just asking you to be a little nicer to people! It doesn't even have to be me too if you hate me so much, but it would be nice if you could at least pretend."

Halcyon smirked, stepping up to him this time, "Well maybe if you weren't so insufferably fucking cheerful all the time, I'd be able to pretend you weren't so goddamn fake!"

Hawks' feathers ruffled as he glared at her, a cruel smirk appearing on his face, "Fake, huh? Yeah? That's rich coming from you, Chickadee. Why don't you just be Phoenix all day. At least that fake personality is nice. Maybe you'd even get a few fans that way!"

"Oh, please," Halcyon shot back. "You think just because you have some fans now, you can act like you're better than everyone else? You think that changes things? Think it makes you better than me?"

Hawks' wings snapped shut, and he pointed a finger at her and gritted his teeth. "You know what your fuckin' problem is? You can't handle anyone being genuinely nice to you. It's like you're allergic to it!"

Halcyon's eyes narrowed. "And you know what your problem is? You're too afraid to admit that not everyone wants to be your friend."

Their argument escalated, voices rising as they hurled insults and taunts at each other. Hawks' wings flapped furiously, mirroring his frustration, while Halcyon's eyes flashed with anger and her fist slammed on his desk and knocked a cup of pens over.

Finally, Hawks threw his hands up, wings fanning out dramatically. "Fine! Be miserable and alone if that's what you want. But don't drag everyone else down with you!" He shouted.

Halcyon took a deep breath, glaring at him. "Fine! Maybe I will!" She shouted right back.

With that, she stormed off, leaving Hawks standing there, his wings slowly drooping as the adrenaline wore off. Slowly his fists relaxed at his sides and he shook his head. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he finally got himself back under control. "What a mess," he muttered to himself.

Heron meanwhile, took a step back as Halcyon stomped out the door. She whipped her head to glare at him and he only held his hands up sheepishly in surrender. Mercifully, he was excluded from her current war path and she turned away again to head down the hall.

"Oof, that was a rough one," Heron muttered as he walked into Hawks' office once the coast was clear, "You good?"

"Yeah," Hawks grumbled, plopping back into his chair and letting his arms dangle down by the arm rests, "Yeah, I'm good. What's up, Heron?"