It is quite natural for birds to want to fly south for the winter. Though not many did so by plane. It was pretty common at this point for Animalians to want migrate during the winter months, particularly cold-blooded Animalians. Even with the pandemic going on, they were still moving out to the colonies to get away from the cold. Though with mandatory screening processes and vaccines starting to roll out, it would seem that the pandemic was finally waning. As such, while the Christmas festivities may be more restrained this year, there was hope that the Chinese New Year festival would remain on track, even if there would be more mask-wearing than last year.
Now while flying Animalians could travel very long distances on their wings, most would prefer to take vehicular transport for long trips. But there were two notable exceptions. Leslie and Ollie, a pair of frigatebird Animalians were planning on flapping their way down to Vilcabamba. It was a pretty significant distance. They will have to pass over several countries, avoiding more populated areas. Not that they were worried about how people would react, but they didn't want to catch the coronavirus.
This was a rather ambitious venture. Some may compare it to 'Around the World in 80 Days', but that was a little presumptuous. Although, there have been plans similar to that. During the summer, while the Olympic Games were being held in Japan, a pair of Animalians were to circle the globe. It would have been an albatross and a Quetzalcoatlus, the longest wings of both the modern and prehistoric world. There would have been various stopovers, though the pair would have flown mostly on their power. Of course, the pandemic put that adventure on hold. But next summer, that may still happen.
But for now, the focus was on the flight of the frigatebirds from North to South America. It was going to be a long one, perhaps not even reaching Vilcabamba by Christmas. But the two have them have been training ever since Ollie was converted.
==========
Leslie and Ollie have an interesting relationship of painter and model. And over time, they've gotten closer. It was a bigger adjustment for Leslie than for Ollie, considering how he was gay before his conversion. But now Ollie was ready to take the next step of their relationship. Most women would prefer a songbird, but for Leslie, Ollie was going to become a frigatebird. Though there were a few surprises in store for her.
"This isn't quite like I expected," said Ollie as she examined her new plumage.
"You still look lovely," said Leslie assuredly.
"Thank you, but I was expecting a darker color," said Ollie as she looked at herself. Like Leslie, her feathers were black, but not all of them. Most prominent were the white feathers across her chest and lower neck. She also had a band of brown feathers on her wings. "Didn't think I'd have such a pale chest," she said.
"Well, you know how birds often have different plumage between genders," said Leslie, "It's also why I have a throat pouch and you don't."
"I guess that's true, but all this white is going to really stand out in my self-portraits," said Ollie. She hefted up her larger breasts, showing more white plumage. "How am I suppose to do oil paintings of myself with all this whiteness?" she asked.
"Um...that's a...a real...uh..." Leslie trailed off as he looked at Ollie's impressive cleavage. As a human, such a display wouldn't have interested him in the least. He was pretty certain he was gay through-and-through. But bird instincts were strong in him, compelling him to feel attraction for the opposite sex. What was unimpressive for Leslie the human was very arousing for Leslie the frigatebird. Involuntarily, his throat pouch inflated like a balloon, its red coloring making it impossible to ignore.
Ollie raised an eyebrow before asking, "So, is that your throat pouch expanding or are you just happy to see me?"
That particularly corny line helped Leslie refocus. "How long have you been waiting to use that line?" he asked.
"Ever since I met you," admitted Ollie, "I'm sure you've got a mating dance to go with that."
"Uh, I haven't the slightest idea of how it would go," said Leslie as he tried to get his pouch to shrink back down.
"Well, I'm sure you can learn how real frigatebirds do it," said Ollie, "But right now, I've got white oil paint to buy, long-distance flying to practice, and passports to prepare."
"Oh, we are flying south for the winter?" asked Leslie, "I wasn't sure if you were serious or not. Hopefully the planes won't be too crowded."
"Who says we're flying by plane?" asked Ollie.
"Oh, you really to fly all the way to Brazil?" asked Leslie, "That will be a pretty long trip."
"And you'll be able to keep in such great shape during it," said Ollie, "I bet you won't be able to even build up fat during the trip."
"I think that kind of flight requires a lot of planning first," said Leslie, "Not to mention we won't be able to bring much with us if we have to carry it."
"True," said Ollie, "Which means we better start practicing our long-ranged flying as soon as we can. You can show me your mating dance later."
Leslie's pouch was almost deflated when it started inflating again. Leslie pushed it gently back down. "That's going to get annoying later," he muttered.