[Wake]

Snidely shrugs, “I got the impression they didn’t like him last time.” A large chicken in sunglasses and all black responded, he seemed to recognize Leo and looked to the others, “You’re Phoenix, right?” he moves aside, allowing them to walk in, “Leader’s ready for you.” Snidely nods coolly and walks into the warehouse. Leo grins, flashing a peace sign at the guard, “Hell yeah, man!” He slurs, leaning his weight onto Snidely who sighs and pulls him up over his shoulder.

[Jazzy]

“Here,” Fern follows Snidely. She stops him, putting a wing on Leo. “I’ll hold him while you go talk to the leader.” she smiles encouragingly.

[Wake]

Snidely nods, giving her a slight smile, “Thanks.” he shifts Leo’s weight onto Fern and flaps his wings once to stretch them out. Leo puts his wing around Fern, only partially to keep himself standing. He glances up at her, smiling cutely and laughs, “…You’re my handler now?” Snidely walks into the office of the head of Morphine, closing the door behind him.

[Jazzy]

Fern rolls her eyes, turning her head away from Leo. “Yeah…I guess so…” she says quietly. Her eyes flutter over to Snidely, where she sees him walk into the office. She passes a sigh, putting her wing over Leo to keep him more balanced.

[Wake]

Leo frowns, “…you don’t like me much, do you?” He looks up to Fern dejectedly, then stares at the closed office door, drunken brain taking a few minuets to process things and looks back at Fern with an even more upset face, “Oh… So you like him then…” He lets his head fall forward and look at the ground.

[Jazzy]

Fern’s face instantly drops. “No, no, no!” she quickly says, moving away and propping Leo up with a chair. She cups his face. “It’s not like that, I both like you equally. I’m so sorry if you thought that! I didn’t mean for it to. I’m just worried that he might get hurt. I’d be the same if you went in there! Please don’t think that I like him more than I like you.”  desperation and reinsurance lace her worried tone.

[Wake]

Under his feathers, Leo blushed, more or less zoning out everything Fern said. Staring into her eyes, he murmurs, “You’re cute…” From the inside of the office, the sound of a loud crash could be heard.

[Jazzy]

Fern fakes a smile, tilting her head a little bit. “Yeah, okay. Thank you for saying that, but..” Fern turns her head to look at the office door. “I think something happened in there and I’m kinda freaking out right now. Oh God. I’ll be right back, okay?” her head turns back to Leo. She nods to herself and walks towards the door, knocking on it. “Um…err…Hello?!”

[Wake]

A gruff and deep voice could be heard from the other side of the door, “Babe, you probably shouldn’t open that door.” The voice sounded close, right next to the door. After a moment of pause, another slam could be heard, one that shook the wall slightly. “Fern…” Snidely said from the other side of the door, his voice sounded a little choked up and painful, “You shouldn’t…”

[Jazzy]

Fern’s eyes shut. She turns the doorknob, wincing before she could even see inside. “Well, I’m coming in anyway…okay?” she stops opening the door, it’s only opened a crack. She keeps her eyes shut, breathing in and out heavily.

[Wake]

Inside, Snidely was pinned against the wall by the leader of Morphine, some of his black feathers slicked back and glistening with blood. The larger chicken held a gun up to Snidely’s head, and snidely held his switchblade to the others chest. The two were locked in a tense eye-contact, but Snidely noticed Fern from his periphery. Without looking away, he moved his beak upwards in a slight smile, perhaps trying to reassure her.

[Jazzy]

Fern opens the door a bit more, poking her head in so she can see fully. She lets out a breath of air, looking at the leader of Morphine and then Snidely. “Really?” she sees the smile Snidely gives her. Fern’s eyes roll. “Ahem…” she clears her throat. “Excuse me…?”

[Wake]

Snidely shook his head slightly, as if to warn Fern. The leader of Morphine quickly turns the gun from Snidely’s head, replacing it with a knife at his throat, and pointed it at Fern, “Babe, I’ve already warned you, don’t interrupt negotiations.” He punctiated his sentence by cocking the gun. Snidely sighed slightly and gave her a glare that seemed to read ‘don’t fuck this up further.’

[Jazzy]

Fern jerks back a bit, her eyes widen. She looks over to Snidely and frowns. She mouths, ‘What do I do?’ She then looks back at the leader or Morphine. Her grip on the door handle tightens.

[Wake]

Snidely rolls his eyes and shrugs slightly, he seemed oddly nonchalant for the situation he was in. He makes an audible sigh, causing the leader of Morphine to tilt the knife into his neck, almost enough to draw blood. Snidely did the same, angling the tip of his blade close to the others heart. “…A worthless chick like her shouldn’t interrupt our negotiations.” He gives one of his cool, confident, borderline cocky smiles. The other chicken turns his attention back Snidely, “Fine.” He begins, pulling the knife ever so slightly away. Snidely doesn’t return the gesture. “You’ve heard what I want. Lay your terms.” Snidely smirks slightly again, “All I want is an alliance with you, and manpower in case a war breaks out with Feather and Hawke.” His expression darkens slightly, “…But, in light of that your terms are… unfair…” The leader of Morphine scowled and sent a swift punch square into his face.