Ashley stood on the sidewalk next to a small bakery she'd intended to step into to waste a little money on a pastry to distract herself from some worse than average anxiety. But in this moment, she was stationary, standing hunched forward to a bit wider than a right angle.
This was because a very large
something had landed on her back, its claws digging through the fabric of her shirt and into her skin. Ash was largely frozen to the spot, red-irised eyes bulging, staring mostly to the pavement. She wriggled only slightly as the bird took a clumsy step further up her back.
"Okay," she breathed, blinking rapidly.
"Okay!"The bird seemed to mostly agree, though to the sight of someone approaching, it shifted to face them, spread its wings, and screeched defensively.