Page 64 of Did It Have To Be Gnomes?!
“That… that’s not a chicken.” Lyric’s voice was awed and horrified. “What the hell is that thing?”
“She’s a girl, not a thing.” Chaos crossed his arms over his chest. “And she’s my familiar.”
That got my attention. His familiar? This kid had a familiar? Which meant he knew how to complete the familiar bond.
Maybe… maybe I could ask him about it so I could complete my bond with Sola.
“Ooookaaaayyyy.” Lyric crossed their arms over their chest, looking like they were facing off with this young teenager. It was ridiculous, but this entire day had been filled with ridiculousness, so why not add in some more? “But what is it?”
I could tell Chaos was getting annoyed with us, so I answered for him. “It’s a cockatrice—a mix between a chicken and a dragon.”
Lyric opened their mouth, shut it, then grunted. “That’s the weirdest combination I’ve ever heard of.”
“Watch it or she’ll burn you to a crisp.” Chaos smiled, but it didn’t look nice at all.Shit. Now he was getting defensive about his familiar.
Trying to get a handle on the situation, I said, “Uh, yeah, they can breathe fire, so maybe don’t be mean to the nice chick—er, cockatrice.”
Lyric dropped their arms. “I wasn’t, I didn’t. Shit. Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude. It—she’s actually really cute.”
I mean, if you liked chickens, then yeah, it was cute.
Its—sorry, her—coloring was in the brown and red shades, although I knew cockatrices could come in literally any color since they got colorings from both their chicken half and their dragon half. Her head was that of a typical chicken, including the comb and the wattles, and the top part of her neck was still all chicken. But about halfway down, it seemed to turn into a dragon, or perhaps a wyvern was more accurate since she only had two legs and two wings—unlike dragons, which had four legs and two wings.
Her belly was covered in scales, her top half was covered in brown and red feathers, but her wings were dragon wings and bat-like. Her legs were chicken legs, but I couldn’t tell if her large talons were chicken or dragon. And her tail was very long, ended in the shape of a spade, and was mostly covered in scales, although around her bum had feathers.
I’d never seen a cockatrice up close, and I had to say they were one of the most interesting-looking creatures I’d ever seen. I kinda wanted to pet her and get a closer look.
And okay, she actually was really cute.
Without thinking, I squatted down and held my gloved hand out, saying, “Hi, cutie pie. Who’s a pretty girl?” I made a few clicking sounds to see if I could coax her over.
She glanced at everyone standing around her, then slowly but surely moved over to me. Her little beak pecked at my glove for a few seconds before she rubbed her cheek along my hand like a cat. Or well, actually, just like Sola.
I smiled. “Hey, Clucky. You’re so pretty. Can I pet you?”
Chaos said, “You can pet her. Just pet in the direction of her feathers. She doesn’t like being petted the other way.”
“Thanks.” I sent him a grateful smile before I started petting her.
Clucky made a little churring noise, and I had a feeling it was the same thing as a cat purring. I laughed and kept petting her for a few seconds before I glanced up at Winter, offering a smile.
He was already looking down at me, amused. Without me asking him, he knelt down, brushing his shoulder against mine, and held a hand out to Clucky. She sniffed at him, rubbed him, and he began petting her too.
“Well, I don’t wanna be left out,” Lyric said as they squatted on the other side of Winter. Clucky did the same to them before they gave her a few pets.
“You need help with the gates, Morty?”
Chaos sighed. “Yeah.”
While Chaos and Aeson grabbed something heavy out of the trunk—I still didn’t know how that kid could’ve fit in there, especially with something so big in the back; he must’ve been a pretzel—the three of us gave Clucky lots of love. The cockatrice was adorable, and I kind of wished I had Sola here to meet her. I bet they would get along well.
When Chaos said, “Alright, I’m ready,” I gave Clucky one last pet and stood.
Lyric immediately said, “You really named your familiar Clucky? Clucky and Chaos?”
Chaos rolled his eyes. “Trust me, I tried giving her a badass name like Firebreather or Stormchaser or something, but she hated everything until Aeson suggested Clucky.”
Aeson shrugged. “She looks like a Clucky.”
