trans_9 | Opinions on Pinions

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Komali was under a table. The bottom was fairly clean, but that was only because the ship didn't provide much in the way of bubblegum. His sleeves were pressed up around his elbows, and for good reason— the white feathers coming in at his elbows were long enough to make long sleeves cumbersome and frustrating. He'd finally noticed the length when Komali went to scratch at his wrist and found what would soon be flight-worthy feathers peeking out of his sleeve.

And that was when the screaming started.

And so, for now, he was huddled in a ball under a table, waiting for Samus to rescue him from the horrors of Rito puberty. After all, how could he be growing feathers without the magic of Valoo's scales? What right did he have to that honor? He was just a coward.

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Vivio was a bit lost in her thoughts as she wandered into the mess hall. Her match with Negi and the subsequent loss hit her pretty well. And she knew her Nanoha-mama was watching, so there was that extra worry there...

Aimlessly wandering into the mess hall, she figured something - even if its the slop - would help her get her mind off of it.

That plan was slightly derailed at seeing a terrified bird boy huddled under the table. "H-huh?" Vivio looked under the table, seeing Komali there. Took her awhile to recognize him, but when she did...

"...what are you doing under the table?"

"I'm hiding," Komali snuffled, looking at Vivio over the curve of his knees, "Weird stuff is happening and I don't want them to see me"

Vivio's eyes were strange. Komali had never seen anyone with eyes like that— one red like a Ritos and the other... He decided he liked it.

Vivio tilted her head a bit as she knelt down to face Komali. What was he so scared of?

"Weird stuff? Like what?" Vivio asked.

Komali gave her a long, doubtful look then gestured for Vivio to come closer.

"You have to promise not to tell anybody," He demanded solemnly

Vivio moved closer to Komali when he beckoned her to do so. When she heard him tell her to promise him, she nodded.

"I promise." she said. "What's wrong?"

Komali held out his arms. they were fluffy with new-grown feathers from wrist to elbow, like some mutant combination of overactive shrubbery and the world's ugliest bracers.

"I didn't do anything and they started growing anyways!" He complained and made a futile effort towards smoothing them down, "I'm a...I don't understand!"

Vivio blinked as she saw Komali's new additions. She tilted her head a bit before she spoke.

"...maybe it's part of growing up." Vivio said.

"But! But we're not supposed to grow wings unless we..." Komali trailed off, embarrassed, "I wasn't brave enough to climb the mountain. We're not supposed to get wings unless we visit Lord Valoo and get his favor."

"Komali?"

Samus had immediately started her search for him. It didn't take long for her to get to the mess hall. He wasn't in plain sight, though, which worried her. She frowned.

Komali looked up at the sound of his name and saw Samus' legs not four feet away, standing at the end of the table.

"Here I am," he said, miserably.

Samus followed the noise and poked her head under the table, "What're you doing down here?"

"Hiding," He whispered and unfolded enough to wipe at his eyes, revealing the spray of new pale feathers that had grown from wrist to elbow like the bastard child of an overactive shrubbery and a particularly ugly set of bracers.

She squatted down on her knees, to be a bit more level with him. Her lip pulled downward and she offered him a sympathetic look. She understood he was scared, and she didn't know enough about Rito anatomy to comfort him enough and assure him it was normal. "Do you want me to take you to the medbay?"

Komali shook his head. He hated medbay— it smelled of antiseptic and people were always pushing him to lie flat and poking him with sharp things. He simply scooted forward, threw his arms around Samus, and hung on.

"I didn't do anything but they grew anyways..."

She reached her arms around him and pulled him back, resting him on her knee.

"Do Rito generally grow feathers like those?"

Komali nodded, face puffing slightly with his embarrassment.

"'Cept, if you don't climb the mountain, they're not supposed to grow," he informed her, petulant to the point of whining, "I d-didn't and now the mountain is gone and they're growing anyway."

She shifted slightly, thinking.

"Well," she finally said, "Is this around the time you would've climbed the mountain anyway?"

He nodded, "You have to get the dragonscale from Lord Valoo."

And here was the rub. The hesitation that slicked Komali's feathers back down and made him clutch his hands together until the joints creaked.

"...I was scared, because Lord Valoo was angry, before I came here. Like in the nightmare. I don't deserve to grow wings."

The looming claw of Ridley, even if it was only a bad dream, was not an image easily forgotten.

Why don't you pull on her heartstrings a little more now, little bird.

She hugged Komali. She wasn't sure why; it just seemed natural to comfort him. "No," she told him, "You acted as bravely as you could during those nightmares and even after when you were injured." Okay that was stretching the truth a little, but honestly he was still young. He had time to be scared. "You deserve your wings or else they wouldn't grow."

He frowned, clung, after a long squeezing silence sniffed and leaned back again.

"Really?" It was a voice so soft you could cut it with a kiss. Komali examined the puffy half-grown pinions dubiously.

She nodded again and assured him, "Really."

Komali frowned, but his feathers stopped trying to do an impression of paint, and he had stopped crying, which was something. He looked back up at her and tried on a smalle, shaky sort of smile, "...Okay."

She offered a small smile back, "So ready come out from under here?"

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Opinions on Pinions

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argh this is so lat eI'm sorry T_T

It's okay! I forgive you o/

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