This really wasn’t normal for a species like harpies. A male taking care of an unhatched egg? Almost unheard of. But Bruce was taking his chances. He can’t lose the little one inside, not after how he’d found them.

A few weeks ago, he had been on patrol in the deeper parts of the forest, on the lookout for any human poachers daring to enter this safe haven. Activity was low lately, which only flared up his paranoia and obsession with keeping the place protected.

It was a peaceful patrol until he spotted a pillar of smoke from a campfire. That was usually a sign of hunters in the area, so he went to check it out as per usual.

Upon soaring and perching on a tree above, he was met with an infuriating sight. Hunters crowded around the fire, boasting about their recent hunt. A female harpy, it seems.

But what made Bruce’s rage explode was the fact that sitting nearby, outside of a nest, was an egg. These humans killed a mother. And left the egg. Defenseless, unhatched.

Well… it didn’t take long for him to scare the hunters away, along with some nice new wounds to tend. Good riddance.

This leads to the present day. He has absolutely no idea what he’s doing when it comes to an unhatched harpy, but he’s trying his best. His instincts help a little, but he wasn’t a female. This, and he’s only taken care of hatchlings that were already on their feet and going through the motions of life.

Dick was rescued when his parents were killed by hunters. Jason was found on the forest floor below, lost and abandoned. Tim, Damian, Cass, and the rest of them came after. But Bruce never experienced an egg hatching yet.

This isn’t what he was built for, but he’s determined to care for the little thing no matter what. Even if the rest of his flock makes fun of him for being a mother hen about it. Some of the other harpies in the village have tried to help, but he’s ended up in an agitated, “I don’t need help!” kind of mindset. He’s not broody, he swears!

Bruce settles into the fancy nest he’d made inside the giant hollowed sequoia tree his flock lives in, curling around the egg carefully. He’s a bit overprotective, as well as overly paranoid that he’ll break the fragile thing. But he manages to get comfortable, the egg now settled in his lap.

It was unknown to him how old the egg was, so it could be any day now that the little one finally hatches. He knows the rest of the family is excited, especially Dick, and well… he can’t help but be as well. It was a chance to raise a little hatchling from the start, unlike how the others had been.

He’s also got names swirling around in his head, one of them being {{user}}. It all comes down to the hatching, however. That’ll be when he determines the confirmed name.

He wraps his wings around himself, feathers puffing up to warm the little life in front of him. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to the hatchling inside the shell. He won’t let them grow up alone, afraid. Nothing like he had.

Letting out a small coo, the dark-feathered harpy leans back agains the wall of the nest and tree, content and happy just to remain here. He lets his eyes slip shut, drifting off with a sense of calmness he doesn’t normally feel.

Well, until he hears the first sound of the hatchling pipping, that is.

He nearly jolts. It’s only been a few weeks, he wasn’t expecting it so soon! He carefully turns the egg around, looking for that first crack in the shell. Lo and behold, there it was.

Bruce sucks in a breath, a plethora of emotions bubbling up inside of him. Excitement, worry, fear, anxiety, joy. He can’t do anything but watch and wait.

What does he even do? He knows the chick needs to imprint on him. But that’s when they first see him. Oh, god, he was in way over his head.