wing_attack | |6| [Video]

Entry tags:

|6| [Video]

[He can do this. Who cares if people think he's weird for this? He has people who don't think that, too. He turns on the video and smiles a tiny bit, before speaking.]

So I'm just wondering... a couple of things, really. First of all, how many people are here who are under the age of twenty? It feels like that's a lot of people here - more than you'd usually see in any kind of population. Has anyone tracked that kind of stuff?

And second...

[Here we go.]

How many people had what people might call... powers or abilities or magic at home? Like, stuff that most people can't do but you can do? I'm not counting if you come from some kind of world where magic is common, but where it's rare and people would stare at you for doing it, that's what I mean.

[... He's kind of run out of steam.]

Th... that's what I was wondering. Let me know. I'm not trying to like... track people down or something. I'm just curious.

[He flicks the video off and goes to get a drink of water. That was kind of scary.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yup, the non-human part.

It's not a question loads of people ask, so I never bother bringing it up. [But Tobias is asking. And Tobias seems to be around his age so... ]

...You weren't completely human when you came here either.

[It's not a question, but a slow realization. The words feel heavy in his mouth as he says it. But still... this was exciting! Maybe, all this time, there had been loads of people who were just not saying anything being inhuman!]

Yeah I... well I mean I was born human.

[Mostly.]

... But I was a bird when I came here.

So... You were a human who became a bird?

[That's. Wow, that's -] You used to fly and everything! That's so cool! What was it like, being a bird? [Wow, what would it be like to have wings and bird parts and flying?! DUDE. That was beyond cool! Better than cool!]

Well, since you told me and all. ... Would be pretty lame to not tell you. [Still. It's not without hesitation. He might not mind telling people (much) but the reactions...]

... Wasn't born human. I'm half demon.

[He can't help but grin a little bit at the enthusiasm.]

It was pretty cool. Flying everywhere was a lot of fun. It was a lot of hard work, too. You don't realize just how much a bird has to flap until you do it yourself.

[He listens carefully to Rin, and his eyebrows furrow as he thinks.]

I'm pretty sure there's no demons where I'm from... but that's still pretty cool. Do you get powers and stuff like that?

So why fly then? Why not glide or something? Kites don't have to flap at all!

[Rin. Rin, he's a bird, not a kite... He warms up to Tobias' own response, but... Yeesh. "Pretty cool" isn't what he would describe it as...]

Do you know what a demon is? [HIGHLY DOUBT that Tobias would say it was "pretty cool" if he had a better understanding of them. He doesn't want to scare him either! He just met the guy! And they were fellow nonhumans!]

... I mean, I - yes? Yeah, I got powers. I'm still figuring most of them out.

I do glide, but you have to get up to the columns of warm air. Sometimes there's not enough to help you get up.

... I mean. Kind of? Horns and teeth and red skin and stuff like that?

[Okay. Well. Okay, yeah. That description was, what, an old timey cartoon image of a demon, right? Not that Rin believed in any of his world's mythos until he found himself in the very center of it. It would be hard for anyone else to believe, especially if he's never seen one before.]

Dude. Red skin? Seriously? [Seriously?! Who is he, Hell Boy? Wait. No. Don't answer that.] No way! It's more like loads of stuff from horror movies and shit. [He is SOOOOOOO not good at describing his own kind. Rin has to laugh at his own terrible explanation. He studied this stuff, he could come up with a much better explanation than that! Aw, whatever, the point got across.] I mean, some of 'em aren't that scary! You don't have to worry 'bout me, for starters.

But if you keep in mind the other two things you said, and add in tail, then you got me. ...And blue fire. That too.

... Huh. That's still pretty neat. I never really watched that many horror movies, though. I was more of a fantasy and science fiction kind of person.

I uh... man, I don't know what to call my whole background. I mean I said I was human, but I'm technically kind of not? It involves time travel and it's really weird.

Hey, you're not missin' much! Just some jump scares and bloody ghosts, floating limbs and freaky sounds~. I like ones with loads of drama in it. And action! Sci-fi's good too.

...You're weird, Tobias. I like that. [Rin means it in a good way! In a "quiet, weird boy who might not have many friends and is most likely a loner" sort of way.]

So you're a human who got turned into a bird who also travels through time with air currents. . . . ? You really can't get any weirder than you already are. And we're already weird enough as is.

No, no. My dad's the one who - okay look.

[This is going to be long, but whatever.]

He was an alien who fell in love with a human and turned into a human to be with my mother with the same technology that lets me turn into animals. And then this really powerful being was like "you're not where you're supposed to be" and put him back in his old body back in time, but my mother was already pregnant with me. So I don't know if my father was still technically him.

Then later he came to Earth and gave me and my friends the power to turn into animals, and then died. I didn't know he was my father then. Then I got trapped as a bird because there's a time limit to how long you can be transformed, and later that same being gave me the power to morph back, but my bird body was my 'natural' body, and let me get the ability to turn back into my human body as long as I didn't go over the time limit.

Then I came here and I'm stuck in my human body.

[He lets out a long breath. He's so sorry it's complicated.]

That's not even getting into the whole secret war thing.

[UHM

UHMMMMMMMM

THAT IS A LOT TO TAKE IN AT ONCE.

but it is sorta making sense... alien man travels through time, falls in love, knocks up human lady, Tobias is born, dad comes back?

Gives friends powers . . . ?

With technology . . . ?

. . . Morph time limit . . . -- ]

[TOBIAS WAS LIVING OUT A SCI-FI MOVIE. OR A SCI-FI FANTASY. THIS WAS BEYOND COOL. THERE ARE STARS IN RIN'S EYES. THERE IS AWE. LOTS OF AWE. HE IS OOZING AWE.

AND, YEAH, HE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND IT ALL BUT WHAT. WHAT. WHAT DOES IT EVEN MATTER, THIS IS SOUNDING SO COOL AND -- maybe later they can talk about living in a single parent home and stuff like that because wow Rin can relate.]

Don't stop there! You just got to talkin' about the secret war!

Uh... well, the reason he came down to Earth - I mean his ship got shot down, but there's this other race of aliens that crawl in peoples' ears and take over their bodies. They kind of look like slugs. And they've been trying to invade my planet, but secretly, since they don't want to kill off potential hosts in a huge war.

And my friends and I have been holding them back for two years. There's only six of us. ... One of my friends is technically my uncle, since he's an alien too and isn't human, but still.

You're, like, a soldier! Dude, that's so cool. You've been through some weird shit, too, but dude, it's like you're a character right out of a comic book!!

Still, hope you and your friends manage to get rid of the slugs and win the war for your planet. When you get back, you gotta find a way to kick their ass as a bird! ...Can birds kick ass? I mean... you can fly but... Are ya gonna peck 'em out of peoples' ears or something?

Kind of, yeah. But I've been in plenty of fights as a bird. Usually for the slugs you have to starve them out, but lots of times I can just dive bomb them with my talons.

[It works pretty well, though he's always tried to avoid the human Controllers.]

Whoa. What does a dive bomb feel like? I can't fly for shit but I can jump pretty high when I need to. I usually just stab things with my sword or burn 'em up.

It's kind of like riding a roller coaster, but without any safety bars or tracks. Not as much of a stomach drop though, since birds of prey are built for that kind of thing. Falcons are better at it, but they're also jerks.

[He can't help being birdist, okay.]

[That sounds so exciting!!!!! Not that he was going to try that anytime soon.]

I don't think I've ever seen a falcon. What kind of bird are you?

A red-tailed hawk. The western sub-species, to be specific.

[Being specific doesn't help. But! He can imagine a smallish bird with a red tail.]

A hawk, huh? They eat mice and stuff. ...Do you miss it? Being human, I mean, and eating food like a human.

Yeah. It's a lot easier to get food. I had a friend save me meat from his dinners but cold dead meat just isn't the same for a hawk. I've eaten roadkill before which is... pretty gross, but hawks don't really mind.

It's just the human instinct that's super weirded out by it.

[...If it was easier to get food as a hawk than as a human, it must have been hard for Tobias before his morph thing. But he had a friend to help him out. That was good.]

Your friend sounds like a pretty good guy to lend you a hand like that. [Well. Maybe that was too much to assume.]

So it's gotta be live and bloody? You really like your meat rare! Is it still the same now?

...I like meat. The more meat, the better. [MEDIUM, RARE, WELL DONE, SUPER PINK, BEEF, PORK, EGGS -- HE DOESN'T CARE.]

When I'm a bird, yeah. Not so much as a human, that's usually a bad idea. There's a reason bird legs are scaly, and it's not for style.

But no, I get burgers and fries and stuff now. Normal things. It's nice.

...So, why are they scaly again?

Because sometimes your prey bites back. And also because the blood would get stuck to your feathers if you had them there.

|6| [Video]

[video] ROFL IT'S ALL GOOD

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video] 1/2

[video] 2/2

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]

[video]