trans_9 | Learning to fly

Entry tags:

Learning to fly | Open

Flying in the city was probably the best part about being on Stacy. And that wasn't saying much. Of course, even doing it in the city took some practice, getting used to a new, more humid environment, a lack of real updrafts. Add to that having to learn strange new landmarks and you had a very displeased Tobias. He wandered over the strange new landscape, swooping and diving as he scoped out the various large buildings and strange places that seemed to populate the place at random. He stooped into a sharp dive, flaring his wings as he slowed himself, finally alighting on a lamp post.

He paused there to preen himself, watching anyone who went by with that intent, predator's stare.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Moving at a slow, unhurried pace, came a walking skeleton. Skeletons and plantsuits weren't a good combination, clinging in strange places, outlining the shape of the bones beneath.

He was also muttering to himself, in a voice that sounded less than human, and with echos of the tomb.

IT WAS A WALL. AN WALL. BARELY AN INCONVENIENCE. OW

Tobias tilted his head to examine the. . .walking skeleton. That was talking to itself. Not quite normal, but this whole ship was strange.

< A wall? > He finally asks, curiosity getting the better of him.

Cassie had taken to the sky in an attempt to clear her mind. She was finally starting to adapt to life aboard Stacy, even if she still lacked any clear direction, which often left her feeling confused and worried. It was still more often then not very hard...

But this wasn't. There was nothing like flying and, even though there was a definite difference between flying here and flying on Earth, she still found the sensation to be both welcome and familiar.

She spotted the perched red-tailed hawk suddenly and adjusted her flight path to take her closer. Cassie definitely knew that hawk.

< Tobias! > she called, circling above him. She was glad for this chance to talk to him privately.

Edited 2011-07-19 04:30 (UTC)

Tobias flicked his head around at the familiar feeling of Cassie's thoughtspeech. He looked about for a moment before settling his eyes on the approaching osprey.

< Hey, Cassie. > He replied, shifting a bit to face her.

< What's up? >

Aldrea had been moving through the city, picking a way through to the river and eventually to a park where she'd heard rumors of the one awake Hork-Bajir spending most his time. She'd stopped when she caught sight of one of the few things moving in the sky other than the generated clouds.

Tobias was a trackable motion, when nearby buildings didn't block him from view. She was surprised when he came to a landing after an impressive dive closer to where she'd been walking through. Coming closer, she could recognize him from the Observation Deck, soon after leaving stasis.

< Good day, > seemed appropriate enough a greeting. For one, Esplin figured he might have seen them already. For another, working "with" the crew meant not alienating them actively, even if he was so very tempted to play up that Andalite arrogance. No one really knew Aldrea, after all. < Have you been enjoying your flight? >

She might not be terrible invested in this conversation, but she was passably curious. Knowing more about the flow of air through the cavernous portion of the ship that held the "City" was worthwhile in pursuit of Jara Hamee.

Death would have agreed that the whole ship was strange. As it was, he looked at the post that Tobias was resting on, although he didn't appear to notice the bird.

A WALL. he reiterates, politely. I COULD NOT WALK THROUGH IT.

He ponders for a moment, before looking around, and then up at Tobias. WAS THAT YOU?

< Hello, Aldrea. And yes, it was fun. Not quite like flying at home, though, > Tobias replied, shifting so he could look down at the Andalite. He fluttered his wings, tilting his head.

< How are you settling in? Doing alright, I hope? > Never hurt to be polite to the people ostensibly supporting your war effort, right? Besides, she seemed like a nice enough sort. Not quite like Ax, but certainly pleasant and friendly.

Tobias smiled mentally and bobbed his head.

< Yes, that was me. > He shuffled around on his perch.

< Do you normally walk through walls? >

< Nothing really. > Cassie responded as she found herself a place to perch near Tobias. < I just had the urge to fly a bit. You know, to relax and clear my head. And, of course, because I enjoy it too. > If she'd had human lips at that moment, she'd have smiled, but her current morph didn't allow for that action.

Cassie inspected Tobias with the osprey's sharp eyes. < What about you? I haven't seen that much of you since we arrived here. Are how you faring? >

Tailmon blinked, looking up into the sky as she noticed a bird flying around. It didn't seem like any of the alien birds that would be there in hydroponics. It was just a normal, earth bird.

Hikari seemed to notice that Tailmon was looking at something, as the human turned to look over at her partner. "Tailmon, what's wrong?"

Tailmon looked up and pointed over at that bird. "That bird there. Something's weird about it."

Hikari blinked, looking over at the animal. "It looks normal to me."

"That's the point. It doesn't look like it would've been in hydroponics."

Hikari blinked. "I see. But what exactly can we do about it? You're really going to think that a too normal bird is the weirdest thing here?"

He wasn't exactly sure how to answer that. His recent. . .experiences, coupled with being tossed into a whole new war, even bigger than the one they'd been in before was not doing his psyche any favors. He ruffled his wings in an approximation of a shrug.

< I'm surviving. >

Tobias had better ears as a hawk as well as better eyes. His gaze shifted to the pair. He fluttered his wings and readjusted himself on his perch, considering a response.

< Right. The talking purple and white cat with gloves thinks I'm weird. > His mental voice was more amused than annoyed, though he was staring at the pair pretty intently. That might just be because he's a bird of prey, though.

Cassie tilted her head, still watching Tobias, but his hawk form revealed nothing that could help. The response left her feeling a bit worried. Certainly, it had to be a rough adjustment, but...

< Just surviving? >

< It's the best word for it. I'm still not exactly sure this is real, > Tobias replied. And he wasn't For the last couple days since the mission he had been afraid all of it was just in his head, that he was just some quivering ball of feathers going nuts in the corner of a Yeerk prison cell.

Cassie fluttered her wings for a second, a bit nervously. She'd actually had some similar thoughts when she first arrived, but had since accepted that, as odd as this place was, it was for real. She could understand why Tobias might still be feeling that way, but it still seemed kind of strange that he'd describe the situation as "surviving".

< It is pretty wacky here, > she agreed. < But, it definitely seems to be real, although whether that's for good or for bad remains to be seen, I guess. It'll probably start to feel more real as we start getting more involved with things on the ship. Is there something that I could do to help? Move you up from just "surviving" to something better? >

Hikari and Tailmon both blinked as they looked up at the hawk. "... Okay, it's a telepathic hawk. See Tailmon, perfectly normal for this place."

Tailmon just shook her head. "I knew there had to be something about you. A plain, normal bird from Earth probably wouldn't have been out here after all. So, I take it you haven't been out of the pods that long, have you?"

< Well, yeah. A lot of thinks seem to be real, don't they? > Surviving wasn't really the word Tobias might have chosen a month ago. Even a week ago. But. . .it was the word the hawk part of his brain would chose. If it could chose words.

< It's all just too neat. Well not really neat, but we're all here, all these people are here and. . .I dunno. > He couldn't quite express what he was feeling.

< A few days. I think. > He wasn't sure. Time passed strangely in this place. He was about to correct them, say he was technically a human in the body of a hawk, but then he paused. They couldn't really be sure of anybody on board, could they? Better to let it slide.

Rachel really, really hated mazes at this point. And the next person to offer her cake was getting punched, most likely.

Fortunately she wasn't let out that far from the city, this time, and thus not that far from 'home', so it didn't take her long to get there. But honestly, after being stuck running mazes for so long? She wasn't sure she wanted to walk that much, or go straight back to talk to Marco or Ax. Though she was feeling pretty irritable after all, so maybe she could vent that way.

Still, she paused in the city after walking a short distance. Actually, she felt like she was up for a fly more than anything else. So she closed her eyes a brief second, and began to think of the eagle.

((ooc: Tags that are not very good... hooray?))

YOU WOULDN'T HAPPEN TO BE PSYCHICALLY INCLINED, WOULD YOU? and Death almost sounds wistful. He drums his bony fingers against the post, and glares as they make contact.

WALLS, DOORS, EVERYTHING. BUT NOW, I CAN'T and he taps his fingers again for good measure.

< Not really. I can speak telepathically, but that's it. Sorry. > Tobias eyed the skeleton. This place really was too weird.

< Sounds frustrating. I know the feeling of having something, then having it taken away. It's not fun. >

He had been sitting quietly, watching the sparse foot traffic and speaking to an occasional passer-by. And then he saw her. Her. Rachel. Marco had said she was on board but he hadn't really been sure if he could believe it until she was there, in front of him. He launched himself off the street-lamp with an awkward flap of his wings.

< Rachel! > He was already morphing by the time he hit the ground, human flesh and bones replacing the hawk. Of all the things hawk bodies were good at, hugging wasn't one of them.

_{[[OOC: we can have not very good tags together. &hearts]]}

Rachel's concentration was broken pretty quickly by a voice in her head, stopping the morph before it had even begun. His voice. He was here. She opened her eyes, moving them quickly to try and spot him against the city-- which was easy enough when he was coming for her.

"Tobias?" she echoed his own call, quickly breaking into a jog to close the distance between them. "When the hell did you get here?"

If nothing else, though, it was a pretty nice surprise.

((ooc: ♥))

He stumbled, ungainly on unfamiliar human legs for a moment (thank God he could still morph a semblance of clothing), before he almost careened into her, hugging Rachel as tight as he could.

"You're here. You're really here." He squeezed her again, finally replying.

"I--a few days, a week? I came out of the pods. . ." He wasn't sure what else he could say about that.

"You--you're really here, right? This is real?"

Hikari nodded. "Yeah. Time's a bit hard to tell here. Have you been adjusting to the ship alright?"

Tailmon moved forward, stretching a bit. Though she didn't say anything else just yet. She could wait until the hawk answered Hikari's question.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 3

Learning to fly | Open

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject