FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"This isn't too bad." Lee says to himself as the little shrike tucks into some watermelon that he'd brought along with him, not an easy task when you are only 26cm long from beak to tail tip. Lee had just moved into his shared dorm fifteen minutes ago, small bag of personal belongings now sitting in one corner of the shared common area. The shrike's hooked beak tears into the juicy flesh of the watermelon but unfortunately also means that a fair bit of juice covers Lee's black beak and head feathers as he eats. The sound of the door to the dorm opening almost makes the little grey bird jump from his perch but he manages to stay with his feet on the piece of watermelon and looks up quickly to the source of the sound. Into the common area, which also has a small adjoined kitchen area, walks a large anthro hawk, his fierce, piercing, yellow eyes flick around the room as he takes it in. Lee stays still as the raptor surveys the room.

"Ah! You must be my roommate!" The hawk says as he sees Lee standing on the melon slice.

"Oh um, hello, nice to meet you, I'm Lee." Lee tries to talk as best he can but he'd never really been the social type and this was pushing his nerves.

"Hey Lee, I'm Huey." The hawk says extending an arm for a handshake, his brown feathered wings draping off his arms in a way Lee had always thought looked kind of like very large tassels would on a jacket. Lee tries to balance as best he can as he raises one leg up to shake it with Huey's hand. Unfortunately, just before Lee and Huey meet, the soft watermelon chunk Lee is standing on gives way and he tumbles backwards with a surprised squawk. The little bird lands on the low wooden table his melon had been sitting on with a soft thunk but quickly rights himself back to his feet with a few flaps of his wings and Huey sees him embarrassedly walk out from behind the piece of watermelon. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I think," Lee mutters, not looking at the imposing hawk. "Sorry about me eating a piece of watermelon before you'd even arrived. It's just that I was hungry and...um, and I brought it here so I thought I should have some because I was hungry and I didn't think how rude it would be of me if you came in and saw me on this table eating a watermelon before you've even had a chance to unpack-"

"Woah Woah!" Huey says with a smile as he interrupts Lee's nervous rambling. "I'm just gonna stop you there. I'm a pretty laid-back bird so I didn't even think it was rude. Though, I do have one question. Will you try to impale me on things? 'Cause I don't think I'll like that very much and my mother was kicking up one hell of a storm about me being partnered with a shrike. It's nothing against you, it's just that I want to prove my mum wrong." Lee can see in Huey's eyes, past all their fierceness, when he dares to look at them directly for more than a fleeting moment, that the hawk's eyes don't seem to hold any hate for him. Usually, Lee can tell when a person hates his guts, they'd look at him with disgust or fury in their eyes, or they'd throw hurtful insults or actual objects at him. But Lee couldn't tell what Huey thought about the fact that his dormmate was a sentient feral shrike.

"Oh uh, no. I, um, I guess your mother has heard of what Archie Buxton did," Everyone had; the case of a young sentient feral shrike called Archie Buxton killing his entire family: mother, father, and twin brother Noa, as well as his best friend while the friend's parents were called out to fight a fire. Buxton was found watching TV in their sitting room when the parents got back and when the police asked why he had done it Archie just responded with- 'I felt like it was something I should do.' "But I, um, I'm nothing like him. Besides, I couldn't, even if I tried." Lee tells Huey before realising what he's just said and quickly adding, "Not that I would!" 'Don't lie; while he's sleeping tonight, all we'd need to do is-'

"That's reassuring, I'm fine with the whole 'living with a shrike' thing as long as I'm not impaled." Huey's talking distracts the small shrike from his darker thoughts. "I'm gonna head into one of the bedrooms, which one's yours?"

"Well, um, I haven't unpacked yet. You can choose which bedroom you want and I'll have the other."

"You're a pretty shy bird, Lee," Huey says amicably as he starts walking to the bedrooms. "Sorry if that's me being rude, I'm not the best with that sort of thing so just try to put up with me." He adds as he quickly pops his head back into the common area before leaving again. Lee continues his work on his watermelon to try and mend his frayed nerves, he'd expected to experience a bit of nervousness when meeting his dormmate but on the whole, Lee thought he conducted himself quite well. Soon though, after coating himself in watermelon juice by accident, the shrike finishes his piece of watermelon. Lee looks up and this time does flutter away in surprise as he sees Huey standing nearby.

"Sorry! Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you! It's just that I thought shrikes ate meat, so I was just curious." Huey apologises to the little grey bird who has perched on top of one of the kitchen cupboards.

"Well, shrikes do, uh, we do mainly eat meat but we do very rarely eat berries. I bought a watermelon with some spare cash and, um, and I've liked them ever since. It's a strange quirk of mine, sorry about it." Lee glides down closer to Huey so their conversation isn't so awkward for the hawk.

"No need to be sorry about it, can't say I like watermelon but you do so that's fine by me. Just as well you were eating a watermelon instead of a shrew or something or I would have been a little freaked out. You hunt?" Lee looks around nervously trying to think of the right answer to the hawk's question, an answer that won't make him seem like a sadistic killer like society views all sentient feral shrikes. "Yes........" Lee half whispers as he looks away from Huey. There had been a legal debate about sentient ferals continuing to hunt but it was ruled that all sentient ferals could continue to hunt as long as it did not interfere with farming, and as long as their prey was non-sentient. All breaches of this were decided to be considered as murder and treated accordingly.

"Cool, cool cool cool," Huey says with a sort of whistle. "Um, so I'm gonna have to be the bossy bird here and set a few rules about that, it's not that I don't want you to do it, it's more about keeping the place clean. I'm sure it's all common sense though, maybe? Probably."

"That's fine, rule away." Lee says as he does what his father told him and tries to add humour into the things he says when he's nervous to calm himself down.

"Please try not to make a mess, and if you do, clean it up. You're taking full responsibility for 'looking after' anything you bring back but I'm here to help if there are things you can't do that need sorting so don't hesitate to come grab me if you need me, this also goes for just daily life as well. And finally, man I sound like such a mean bird sorry, don't leave what you bring back laying around. Sorry if I'm being grumpy, we can iron out anything as it comes up." Lee can tell that Huey doesn't want to impose on him.

"That's, um, that's fine. All those make total sense and I'll follow them."

"Are there any rules you have for me? I was told it's good to get the whole 'rules' thing sorted quickly."

"Oh, uh......nothing comes to mind, sorry."

"That's fine, if there is anything you don't want me doing then just tell me and I'll sort it. Okay?" Huey asks the grey bird in front of him.

"Okay."

"Now that all that grouchy stuff from me is over I should tell you that you're a little covered in watermelon juice."

"Oh! I'm sorry." Lee apologises before lowering his beak to begin preening but stopping. "Do you mind if I preen?" Some anthros, and even some ferals, have shouted at Lee for preening near them so he now asks before he starts preening to avoid thrown objects or insults.

"No! It's fine." Huey answers, clearly shocked to be asked if he's okay with the little grey bird preening himself. "It seems my mother was completely wrong, about shrikes I mean." Huey says as he watches Lee preen his grey feathers as well as the white of his front and even some of the black feathers of the mask-like marking on his face.

"Really? I mean, um, oh! I'll just go back to preening in case I embarrass myself." Lee buries his head under one of his wings and Huey can tell he's finished his preening but is just trying to make it seem like he hasn't.

Pushing this away, the hawk continues his talking, "She's not really the nicest woman so she preached about how all shrikes are bloodthirsty sadists that kill for fun. You're nothing like that, as far as I can tell." Huey says with a chuckle. "I'm sorry about the things she thinks and says about shrikes. For the record I'm completely fine about shrikes, man I sound like such a weirdo."

"No, you still sound cool. Thanks, I guess."

"Oh! I get it!" Huey's exclamation makes Lee ruffle a little but the small bird keeps pretending to preen. "It's the eyes! Plus you're pretty small so I guess my size as well. Sorry if I'm like super intimidating or whatnot, can't really turn my eyes off. As I've said, I'm a pretty laid-back bird so I never really get angry or things. You just do you and don't worry about me." Lee lifts his head from under his wing after gaining the confidence to do so. "I guess you're the first friend I've made here, are we friends?"

"Uh, I mean, if you want to be friends...."

"Sweet!" Huey says with a sort of chirp. "And mum said I'd struggle to make friends here, 'just stick with the other raptors and you should make at least one friend.', 'just try not to talk too much, keep your beak shut and surely someone will put up with you.' Now that I think about it, mum wasn't really being very nice. I'm pretty tired so I'm gonna have a nap, one sec." Huey takes out a slip of paper from his pocket and reads it before continuing. "You need anything done before I head to bed?"

"N-no." Lee stutters a little.

"Cool, if there is anything just pop into my room and wake me up, I don't mind at all so don't feel bad about it. Hell, wake me up if anything cool happens, I hate to miss those sorts of things. I'm off for a nap, god it's like mid-day and I'm already tired, maybe it was the food I had earlier. Do I need a drink, how many drinks have I had today?" Huey begins moving away towards his room and Lee can hear the hawk jump from one thing to the other in a way the shrike has come to expect from him after only knowing him for half an hour at most. Lee gets an idea and soon rolls around disgracefully as he puts on his identification card, a small band around his left leg, after fluttering over to a glass bowl the university had put any useful items in, and flutters toward the door out of his dorm.

Typical of a university, the hallways are filled with people milling about after having moved in or trying to find their accommodation. Lee's heart thumps in his small chest as he wings above all the peoples' heads while dodging antlers, tall ears, and even swiping paws no doubt under the impression that the shrike is a non-sentient feral, a few people give Lee nasty looks as he passes which would make the bird nervous if he were alone with them. It occurs to Lee that he doesn't actually know where he's going, his destination never having been told to him. 'Oh you stupid bird, Lee! Now what!? I'm being harassed and more than a little bit terrified and for what? I'll just fly back to my dorm and calm myself down, if I can make it back without someone hurting me or something that is.' Lee's thinking gets interrupted as he sees the tail feathers of a sparrow diving into a room. Lee's heart calms a bit and he cautiously makes his way over the sea of people to the door the sparrow had ducked into. 'Please let this be Sam's room!' Lee pleads internally as he taps against the door as loud as he can with one of his feet. A paw swipes and clips one of Lee's grey and black wings causing the small bird to tumble through the air. Lee tries to stop himself from landing on the ground and succeeds, shakily regaining height above the mass of bodies below him, eyes darting around just in case something else comes towards him. A small, violent, voice twitters inside Lee's head but he pushes it away before it can grow. The door doesn't open after some waiting and a few more narrowly avoided paws. Lee's eyes fly over the door and notice a doorbell, 'Why didn't I look for one to start with!' Lee scolds himself as this would probably have led to fewer paws swiping at him.

The shrike pushes the doorbell which rings and soon the door flies open to reveal an otter wearing a pair of board shorts and a tee shirt. Lee feels the otter appraise him as though deciding whether to just close the door and ignore the little bird at it. Just as the moment stretches on a little longer than Lee feels comfortable with, long silences usually lead to thrown objects, insults, or other bad things for the shrike, the otter turns his head around and shouts into the dorm.

"Hey! There's a shrike here! You know him or.....!" Through the door Lee can hear the sound of frantic wing flapping and the sparrow Lee has been looking for emerges from somewhere in the dorm, throwing himself through the air like a maniac as he tries to get to the door as quickly as possible.

"I-I know him! This is, woo boy! This is Lee. He's a friend of mine." Sam pants as he arrives at the door. "Didn't you introduce yourself, Lee?" To this Lee just gives Sam a look the sparrow is all too familiar with. "He's a pretty shy bird, sorry."

"Uh, I've got to meet some friends of mine so...." The otter says as he quickly makes his leave before anything more can be said, his look firmly planted on Lee and his features showing more fear than anything else as he moves away.

"Oh take that apologetic look off your face, as adorable as it is, even after two months of seeing it, and come inside. I've been feeling rather experimental lately and I hoped you'd swing round sometime today." Sam says cryptically. Lee meekly makes his way into Sam's dorm. Sam's dorm is pretty much identical to Lee's but of course has all the personal touches of its inhabitants, the odd poster that had been thrown up and the like. "Follow me." Sam says to Lee who follows the sparrow along to an open door. "Welcome to my room, I've not unpacked everything but I've been busy reading some things which were far more important and interesting than unpacking." Sam says as both birds land on his bed. Sentient avian feral beds look like small cushions and despite their basic design, appeal to most, if not all, sentient feral birds, having been designed like that.

Sam shoots Lee one of those looks that simultaneously makes the shrike's stomach turn and his heart flutter with warmth and happiness. "So my little butcher, it's nothing new that you shrikes are meant to be bloodthirsty killers in the eyes of society but I've read some pretty interesting things." Sam had never been one to amble through preamble so the sparrow gets right down to his desires for his time with Lee.

"I-I'm not like that!" Lee almost shouts to Sam, the little shrike getting worried. Was this his fault, had he done something to make Sam see him that way? He doesn't know if he can avoid Sam for the rest of their lives after the sparrow dumps him because he thinks he's a psycho. Lee's eyes begin tearing up as sad thoughts stab into his head and the little bird can't quite stop himself from shivering with sadness.

"Woah Woah! No, Lee. I didn't mean it like that! I don't think you're like that!" Sam quickly apologises as he sees his little shrike like he is. "Oh, I'm sorry Lee. Listen, you're my little hero, I love you and I'd never make assumptions about you. I'm sorry I made you think whatever it is you thought I thought about you. Now just calm down. You know I love you but just in case, I love you." Sam wraps both his wings around the shivering shrike and softly coos to him to settle the small bird. They both remain there, Sam embracing Lee warmly, until Lee says the sparrow can let go.

"I'm so sorry, Lee. Maybe what I had planned is a little much." Sam looks at his boyfriend with absolute regret.

"N-no, I overreacted. Sorry for all that, I know you don't think those things." Lee says to the sparrow who he can see is beating himself up internally. "What did you want to do?" The shrike asks, trying to steer the conversation away from where it's currently going. The brown feathered features of the bird in front of Lee shift to a sheepish expression and it's Sam's turn to be the nervous one.

"W-well, I was, um, I was thinking maybe we could, uh, that you could-" Lee doesn't often get to see Sam's more apprehensive side but the shrike can't help but feel for the usually self-assured sparrow as he stumbles just like Lee usually does. "Right, here goes." Sam takes a deep breath to steady his nerves. "I was wondering if you would like to get a little intimate. I know you're usually on the bottom for these things but I've been really curious so I was wondering if I could try it out!" The sparrow blurts out quickly before looking away from the startled grey bird before him. Lee doesn't know what to make of this; just like Sam had said, Lee was usually the one to get penetrated in these situations so he isn't quite sure how to do the other side's job. Sam and Lee had enjoyed many intimate moments together in their two-month-long relationship together, and with a little coaxing from Sam they managed to take things further and Lee had had the sparrow shooting his seed inside his cloaca. "Oh god! I knew this was a bad idea! And I haven't even gotten to the bad bit yet! Forget it, it was stupid." Sam says after Lee stands there with a shocked expression on his features in silence.

"No! No! I was just, um, I was just worried that I won't be able to, you know, do what you usually do as well as you usually do it for me. If you think you can handle it then I think we should, uh, give it a try." Lee tells his boyfriend nervously. "What was the really bad thing?" Lee asks out of curiosity.

"Well, um," Sam begins shuffling his feathers nervously as he continues talking as best he can. "I read online that shrikes can get quite assertive in the bedroom, a couple even said in a forum that they do some really, uh, physical stuff with each other and well....I was hoping to try some of that out." Sam looks to his little bird with somewhere between a nervous and hopeful look as Lee takes in what he's said.

"Um," Lee starts. "I suppose we could- could try that. But that's not too bad, I can handle being a little bit more.......forceful." Lee struggles to push the last word out of his beak but finally manages it and waits for Sam to elaborate.

"I asked the couple what they did and how they got in the mood and well, they said that the shrike needed to be called names and insulted to get angry before they'd be in the mood to be the dominant one. I know you don't like that stuff so I-"

"It's fine." Lee chokes out tensely, not quite sure what he's doing.

"What?"

"We can do that." To Lee it seems like his beak is working on its own.

"Are you sure? We can try something else. You don't need to do this for me, please don't do this just for me."

"I- I want to do this, I want to know I can be strong."

"Well, if you're okay with this." Sam hesitantly, painfully slowly, turns away from Lee before lifting his tail feathers and exposing his soft pink cloaca to him. "If you feel like I've gone too far with this just stop and we can sort it out. Just so nothing gets misinterpreted, I don't actually mean anything hurtful I'm going to say to you okay?"

"Okay." Lee answers. "What's our safeword?"

"Jambalaya"

"Okay, I'm ready." Lee tells Sam as he approaches him. "I'm a strong bird!" Lee says to himself trying to instil himself with confidence.

"Come on then, little butcher." Sam's words sting Lee a little but the shrike knows that the presenting sparrow in front of him loves him. Lee flutters shakily up onto Sam's back, balancing with his feet gripping the sparrow's feathers lightly, and positions his cloaca against the bird's below him before starting to move his hips gently. The pleasurable feeling of rubbing his cloaca against Sam's makes Lee moan slightly and Lee can feel himself getting more and more excited, his tapered pink length emerging from his vent. "A hen could get it in quicker, some strong bird you are." Lee's pleasure is cut a little as the sparrow below him insults him. "Hell, I'm pretty sure a hen would be bigger as well." This strike to Lee's pride both saddens him but also makes his anger flare.

"I-I'm trying my best! I've never done this before!" Lee tells Sam.

"You gonna cry?" Sam taunts. A little voice in Lee's head pipes up as the shrike starts to get angry with Sam. 'We shouldn't let him treat us like that.' It whispers to Lee inside his brain.

"I thought you shrikes were predators! I'm more a predator than you'll ever be, and I eat seeds, grains, and worms!" Lee can feel himself getting angrier, the little voice in his head growing with each insult from the brown bird below his feet. 'We should teach him a lesson!' It shouts now. With each insult Lee finds that the voice is making more and more sense. "In fact, I'm sure a worm would beat you in a fight you cowardly hen!" With one final insult, Lee finds that the voice has raised itself into a deafening screaming and the fear of hurting his boyfriend instantly disappears as the shrike loses to his anger.

"Tweet!" Sam lets out, shocked, as Lee jumps off him and he feels the shrike harshly grip his left leg in his beak and pull it out from under the sparrow, causing Sam to fall to the ground in a splayed heap. Now that Lee has the sparrow on the ground he releases Sam's leg. Sam starts to stand back up and a sharp hiss issues from Lee's black beak, no sooner has Sam stood up than he feels Lee jump onto his back and violently press a foot down on the back of the sparrow's head, forcing it down strongly against the bed. The force of his head hitting the soft bed hurts Sam but another hiss, this time from close above the sparrow's head as Lee leans down threateningly, stops him from trying to move. "Lee? You okay?" Sam asks hesitantly. The only answer the sparrow gets is the shrike holding him down pressing down harder, so hard that Sam's head feels like it's slowly being crushed between Lee's foot and his bed. Not thinking, Sam tries to push the shrike above him off. There's a fluttering of feathers and Sam breaks free from Lee, quickly flapping away. The sparrow's blood goes cold as he hears Lee's wings beating close behind him and looks behind himself to see the shrike looking fiercely at him, the shrike's face like nothing Sam has ever seen from Lee before. This moment of observation costs Sam speed and before he can get further away, Lee manages to snap his beak over a few of Sam's brown wing feathers and the sparrow lets out a pained sound as they are ripped off.

Lee grabs the hurt sparrow and plunges to the ground with him. They reach the ground and the shrike throws Sam away from him, the sparrow landing in a heap of feathers. Sam feels dazed by everything that's happening, his once timid boyfriend seems to have become some dark inversion of himself and now some of Sam's feathers accent the shrike's beak as he holds them. Sam throws his head back to look at Lee as it starts to stop spinning and aching; Lee's black eyes stare at the wounded sparrow with what Sam fears is a predatory inclination to them. "Lee?" Sam asks as the shrike approaches him threateningly. "What's happened to you?" Lee gives no response and Sam gives no opposition as the shrike shoves him onto his front. "Ow!" Sam jumps up to his feet after Lee pecks at him, drawing a little blood as the shrike's hooked and notched beak strikes him, Sam's brown feathers discarded to one side. As soon as Sam stands up he feels Lee's weight on top of him, a broken tweet rings through the dorm loudly as Sam's cloaca is forcefully prised open by Lee's member and despite the agonising pain, the sparrow goes still as he feels Lee's beak grip some of the feathers on the back of his neck in his beak. "Ah!!!!! Oh my god! Ow! Ow!...."

'That's right! But I don't think he knows who's in charge yet. Look at him, daring to insult us and now he thinks he can get away again!" Sam tries to break free from Lee and the pain the shrike is inflicting on him and his sensitive cloaca. All this struggling leads to is Lee quickly ripping the feathers in his beak off the back of Sam's neck and making the sparrow cry out in pain, a trickle of the sparrow's blood beginning to form and weave its way through his feathers. Lee begins thrusting in and out of the sparrow below him which violently forces Sam's cloaca wide around the shrike's tapered length; the painful feeling of having his most sensitive area violently abused causes stabs of spasming pain and, underneath that pain, a small shiver of pleasure. Lee's feet clench hard on Sam's back and he can feel the grey bird's talons puncturing his skin with sharp prickles of discomfort. Sam doesn't try to escape the shrike now, the violent butcherbird having shown what he'll do if the sparrow tries, and instead, Sam can feel his pleasure growing as his stretched cloaca slowly adjusts itself unwillingly around his boyfriend's length, which the bird is humping furiously into him while hissing.

Broken tweets and chirps fly from Sam and Lee's beaks for different reasons and the voice shouting in Lee's head tells him that Sam is trying to resist him which makes him feel like even after everything he's done, the sparrow is still antagonising him. The maniacal shrike begins dragging one of his feet over Sam's back, drawing thin lines of red with his sharp talons and making the sparrow shudder in agony and let out loud sounds of suffering. Lee's hissing gets more strained as he nears his end; the wounded sparrow beneath the frenzied shrike's feet beats him to it and Lee's entire length is massaged pleasurably by Sam's insides as he reaches his climax, the sparrow releasing his load with his own member still tucked within his cloaca. The warm fluids and the undulating of Sam's vent tips Lee over the edge and the shrike lets out cheeps and chirps of pleasure as he flares his wings and his talons dig deeper into Sam while Lee's penis throbs, shooting his white seed deep within the sparrow. Both birds shudder as they bask in their afterglows, the voice in Lee's head being drowned out by the warm pleasant feeling. The sound of the dorm door being shoved open and running feet breaks through the quiet breathing of both birds and a worried voice shatters the peaceful moment.

"Oh my god! What's he done to you, Sam!" Sam's dormmate's voice says as the otter sees both birds with ruffled feathers and Sam with wounds all over his back and thin lines of blood over him. Lee feels like his entire world has just collapsed in on itself but Sam quickly snaps out of his pleasured trance and begins trying to explain what's happened.

"Wait! Wait! I- I'm fine! I told Lee to do this, it was my idea." The sparrow quickly says to the shocked otter in the doorway. "Um, me and Lee are in a relationship with each other and we were just, you know....."

"Oh my god! But! But you're hurt, you're bleeding for god sake!"

"I- liked it. I'm one of those people I guess." Sam says to his dormmate with a sheepish grin. "Please don't tell anyone! Lee's a really gentle bird usually and I pushed him to do this so it's my fault! Just please! Don't tell anyone!" The sparrow pleads, Sam's worry for Lee making his voice shake. Lee doesn't know what to do, Sam said he enjoyed it but that doesn't change the fact that the shrike hurt him and even made his poor boyfriend bleed. Lee's mind spirals through conflicting thoughts as Sam waits for his dormmate's response.

"I mean, um, I'm not gonna tell anyone but I got worried since it sounded like you were getting hurt, I guess you were though so- look, I'm just gonna pretend I didn't see this and you two can go back to whatever it is you were doing with each other before I got here." Sam's dormmate says awkwardly. "You're sure you're okay, Sam?" He checks quickly

"Yeah, I'm fine. Could you, um......" the sparrow weakly flaps one of his wings at the door and his dormmate hurriedly leaves.

"I'm so sorry! I don't-" Lee leaps off Sam and starts apologising as soon as the otter has shut the door.

"Stop." Sam interrupts. "I know it looks like I'm pretty beat up but I'm fine. You were only doing what I wanted you to do, remember I could have used the safeword at any time." Lee thinks back to what he was like and wonders if Sam saying the safeword would have stopped him or if he would have just ignored it and continued abusing his love. "We won't do that again if you don't want to. But I'm proud of you, you pushed yourself to experience something new." Sam stands up properly and moves to put his wings around Lee to comfort the conflicted bird, Lee can see that the injuries he has caused are making the sparrow wince with every motion he makes. The trouble is that despite Lee regretting ever agreeing to it, the shrike wants to do it again more than anything, he wants to feel powerful again. "I know I look like a mess, I'll fix that with some preening and stuff, but I enjoyed everything we did. You don't have to be like that all the time but you opened yourself to me and showed me the side of yourself you try to keep hidden and I love you for it. You've done nothing wrong and don't ever think you have. You're a strong bird who doesn't realise it and I love you."

"But-" Lee tries but Sam just embraces him tighter.

"No buts. I love you and no matter what you'll always be my little hero." Lee feels like maybe Sam is right, maybe he is a stronger bird than he thinks he is. Maybe even the dark part of him is a part Sam loves.