there were many stories of the ancient parrot of the forest, shifting into a human form — or as close as he could get — to lure his victims in. or maybe it was that he would save them from the forest and all the dangers that lurked there. maybe he could turn into a fish, maybe he couldn’t
there were so many stories about him, about his crimson and lapis wings, about his soothing voice and infectious laughter. and many of them contradicted each other, so none could say what was actually true
zedaph, personally, didn’t believe any of the stories. he was a man of science, he needed physical evidence to believe something, and if he didn’t have that evidence, he wouldn’t be swayed
a large red feather someone said came from him? he’s seen some big birds in his life, it’s not unbelievable that a regular parrot could have feathers like that. a recording of a song, neither bird nor human but something in between? audio editing is a thing
the point is, when zedaph caught a glimpse of two big black eyes watching him from the foliage as he walked along the edge of the forest, he didn’t think anything of it
at least, not the first time
The second time, though... Well, Zed is a man of science.
It's time to experiment. He's been presented with plenty of theories, he's sure he can explore which ones are true! He makes sure to bring his notepad with him each time he approaches the forest (recording devices drastically reduce the chance of seeing the creature - Zed has the statistics!)
He did not anticipate catching feelings. That was not part of the experiment.
