Chuckle

 

It was a sunny summer day free of England's notoriously wet weather and many people were taking the opportunity to enjoy it.

Among these many people were a trio of college girls who had elected to save money instead of going on vacation to a beach somewhere. The sunny weather was too perfect to stay inside and they had decided to have an impromptu picnic in Hyde Park.

Their day took a bit of an odd turn when a pure black raven landed in their midst and looked at them with beady black eyes surrounded by strangely bright green sclera.

"Is that a raven?" The blonde of the trio asked, sounding a bit awed at having the large black bird just drop in on them like this.

"It is." The brunnete confirmed.

"I wonder where it came from?" The redhead wondered. She was no bird expert, but she did know that most birds would not simply land this close to humans.

"Hello." The raven croaked.

"It spoke!" Blonde exclaimed in shock.

"Ravens can mimic sounds like parrots." Brunette explained.

"Wouldn't that mean that it was someone's pet though?" Redhead asked, looking around as if she expected someone to come collect the bird at any moment.

"Hello." The raven repeated.

"This is so cool." Blonde said with a grin. "What's that line about a raven in a poem again?"

"From Edgar Allan Poe?" Brunette asked.

"Yeah, him." Blonde agreed.

"Something about a raven quoting 'nevermore'" Redhead said.

"Nevermore." The raven croaked.

All three girls stared at it in surprise and then giggled.

"I guess we're not the first ones to think of that." Blonde said, still grinning.

The other two did not respond, because at that moment the feathery visitor waddled over to Blonde and stared intently at her sizable chest. Or more accurately, at the topmost of her white blouse.

"Shiny." The raven proclaimed.

"I guess it wants your buttons." Brunette said, very amused as she watched the black bird try to pry off the button.

"Or maybe it's a pervert." Redhead added, equally amused.

The raven ignored them with lordly disdain as it continued trying to claim the button.

"I'd give you the button, but I kind of need it." Blonde said, also amused. The blouse showed enough cleavage as it was.

The raven continued to struggle against the button for a minute longer before apparently deciding that it wasn't worth the trouble. Defeated but undaunted, it moved over to Brunette and started tugging on the shiny metallic zipper of her jeans.

"That settles it, that bird is definitely a pervert." Redhead stated, vastly amused as she watched the raven attempting to de-pants her embarrassed friend.

"Hey, stop that." Brunette scolded, not wanting to actually attempt physically remove the raven for fear of hurting it.

Much to her surprise, the raven did actually stop and made a croaking noise that sounded suspiciously like laughter.

"You're a cheeky little bugger, aren't you?" She asked.

"Nevermore." The raven croaked and began pushing its head at her palm.

"I think he wants be petted" Blonde suggested.

Bemused, Brunette did exactly that. Much to her surprise, the raven visibly preened at the attention. In a matter of moments all three young women were gently petting it.

"Hey, look out. There's a dog coming over here." Redhead warned a minute later, warily watching the approach of an intimidatingly large black dog.

"I think you'd better go." Brunette told the raven as if it could actually understand them, not wanting it to get hurt.

Quoth the raven. "Nevermore."

All three women gave it queer looks and stood up, not wanting to be so close to the ground with that dog approaching.

The raven stayed fearlessly on the ground.

Apparently with good reason, as the dog simply stopped once it reached them and gave a gentle woof.

The raven made a short flight and planted itself on the dog's back so that it was looking forward.

"Away." The raven commanded and the dog obeyed. Both avian rider and canine mount quickly vanished in the nearby woods.

"Did that seriously just happen?" Blonde asked, sounding more than a bit stunned.

The other two merely nodded mutely, still staring at the spot where the two had vanished.