Yet more awesamdrunz owls. Part 1, Part 2.
For my Owl<3 @blueinkphantom
If I want to be indulgent, Schlatt owl flirts with Dream owl and Sam puffs up like a balloon. As if Dream would ever choose anyone but his Sammy and Punz, Dream reassures him. Punz never doubted anything for a second and thinks Sam mounting Dream possessively is funny.
Quackity owl flirts with Sam and Dream tries not to have meltdown but ends up hissing loudly enough to wake the dead. Sam presses Dream against the walls of their Nest and promises never to leave him. Punz is a little more unsure (drunz is a bit more emotionally damaged than your average mate, what does Sam even see in them?) And distant. But Sam is so abnormal about them both that all it takes is Sam attempting to mount Punz for Punz to be reassured (if exasperated.)
Sapnap flirts with Punz and Punz freezes because they never thought thise would happen to them. Sam chases Sapnap off (Sapnap is laughing) and Punz is required to cuddle their Sammy. Dream is content with kisses and no worries. Punz would never leave. They promised.
"Do you think she'll capture my good side?"
"You're nothing but good sides," Dream snorted and kissed them affectionately. Punz raised themself up a bit smugly, leaning in for more. Dream kissed them again, and again, melting when Punz began to preen him.
"Don't they get enough pictures of us already?" Sam grumbled. Punz halted, turning towards him with a curious head tilt.
"This is the first time I've heard you complain."
Sam flapped his wings. "It's just…! I don't like the human spying. We already have enough at the park."
The human in question- a wildlife painter- was inspecting them from below the treeline. Her whole purpose was to watch without interfering, which meant Dream was free to lower his guard; there would be no attempts at grabbing him from this individual.
"What's one more?" Punz nudged Sam. "Especially when it's only temporary. The more we pose out here, the quicker she'll get going."
Dream spotted a mouse on the ground and locked in. Less than a minute later, freshly killed prey was in his talons. Hopefully the paintings would be able to showcase his skills- and if not, it was still a nice snack. He flew back up, setting the mouse down in the entrance to their Nest. He made a cheerful noise at his mates on the branches a few feet away. When they didn't turn to look at him, he hopped back over.
"-we should go back inside the nest." Sam's wings flapped more aggressively at the painter. Punz looked concerned.
"She doesn't need to." Sam stressed. "They have pictures of us already. We should go inside where she can't see us."
"Can't she see us through the cameras inside anyways?" Dream asked, bewildered. When Sam made an absolutely miserable noise, he quickly moved to press in close. "Sam?"
"I think some food would be good, actually," Punz suddenly agreed. "Let's go inside and eat what Dream caught for us. It was so nice of him."
Punz shot a look at Dream. He felt like he was missing something, but dutifully hopped into their home and moved the mouse into the main area. It wasn't really a meal, but when Punz gently pushed Sam inside, their mate looked grateful.
"Thank you." He hooted. Dream leaned over to nuzzle him, only to be startled when Sam pushed him against the human-made wall, right in front of where the camera was hidden. His mate tucked himself in as close as possible, even shoving his face into Dreams feathers. Punz came up behind him, tucking stray feathers into place.
"Is this better, Sam?" Punz murmured. Sam didn't answer, but Dream could feel the tension drain from his body. Punz made a loving noise.
"You will not lay an Egg from this," Dream sighed. Yes, mounting Sam wasn't that much work. Yes, it made Sam happy.
This was also incredibly, obviously, not going to perform its intended effect.
Punz was also laughing at him.
"Babies tend to look a little ugly, don't you think?" Punz noted absently. Sam gasped in outrage, huddling over his precious new eggs.
"I didn't say there was anything wrong with that," Punz amended hastily. "It's okay to be ugly. Dream? Back me up."
"I'm staying out of this." He would not be involved with their weird mate bickering. At least not today. Right now he was hunting The Enemy.
The Enemy was close enough that they could be seen as a speck in the distance. This was unacceptable. Anyone intruding upon the one place Dream thought of as safe would get a rude awakening.
"You would have never called Purpled ugly," Sam argued reasonably.
"I would absolutely have called Purpled ugly," Punz snorted, equally reasonably. "I'd call Purpled ugly to his face- right now even! I can prove it."
Dream raised his wings in a threatening position. It fully covered the entrance to his nest and his mates. The Enemy did not notice, but oh, would they soon.
"You're not allowed to call any of our owlets ugly," Sam hissed. Dream could hear the way Punz wilted.
"I won't, I won't, I promise. They're all wonderful. You've done a good job."
"You've done good too," Sam insisted. He still sounded aggressive, despite some softening at the praise. "You're a perfect mate."
Punz's bewilderment was obvious. "Um. Okay?"
The Enemy flew from its nest, and Dream took off. The first jackdaw was a lazy thing who took more joy in polluting the skies with its existence rather than contributing healthy interpersonal relationships with the other birds nearby. Frankly, the least Dream could do was teach him a lesson.
Two owls stood very still on a branch, side by side. Neither of then seemed bothered by the hustle and bustle of the humans below. The snowy one briefly opened an eye, but closed it again when they located their partners, content.
"Are they having fun?" Dream asked, landing next to Sam. His mate rotated his head in their direction.
"I… think so?" He said, clearly befuddled. "They haven't moved for a few hours now."
Dream peered at them. Punz was relaxed, a far cry from the way they were back when Purpled first was placed in their nest. The young owlet hadn't shown any sign of interest in Sam's fussing or Dream's attempt to feed him, but as soon as Punz had flown in, bloodied and dragging behind a large corpse, Purpled lit up. Asked about how Punz had been able to kill something twice his size, asked about flying, asked about anything he could to get Punz's attention. His poor mate had never looked so overwhelmed in their entire life.
They took to warming a chick very well, though, for someone who claimed they'd be bad at it. Purpled had tried to follow after Punz when they had left the nest, so there hadn't been much choice, but still. Purpled grew up to be as healthy and happy as any owlet under their care.
And he still followed Punz around like a little fledgling.
"Should we hunt for them?" Dream asked. "They might get hungry if all they're going to do is sit."
Sam made a faintly distraught noise. "You haven't seen the nest, then."
"They hunted for us, Dream."
"… I'm not going to be able to fit inside the Nest, am I?" Dream sighed. Ranbob would probably have to come over for dinner.
Purpled is like the one owlet that refused to be raised by anyone but Punz. Purpled is Punz's special little guy. It freaked Punz out a bit because yes, Dream and Sam are of course perfect parents, why wouldn't they be? But Punz kind of expects themselves to be barely lovable as anything more than the parent who brings back food.
So a small, irate owlet who looks up to Punz specifically is very weird to them.
Listen, you can choose to prefer the parent that keeps you warm every day, but what if you like Very Large And Zoomie Parent, or Very Small And Loner Parent. There's so many parents to choose from, you know.
Personally, Purpled thinks Punz is the coolest out of all of them because Punz came back home covered in blood. He was very disappointed when Sam and Dream said No Blood In The Nest.
Ranbob personally thinks Dream is the best because his feathers are very pretty. They Are Not The Same. (The reasons are a bit more complicated than that, but its all Ranbob can come up with on the spot)
Nook, one of Sam's earliest chicks, thinks that all these later bickering owl children are silly. Why have a preference when you can just be fed and have a family the size of a small country?
