"Wh-" He stops his voice and closes his mouth, pupils slamming wide. This again - why does Aaron keep - oh, he knows why, but - Julien feels the heat in his face as he flushes red. He fiddles with the buttons at his collar and reminds himself - he is not turning into a bird. He's not!

It's not like becoming something out of myth or science fiction, it isn't. It will not happen. It will not happen.

Repeating that forcefully enough, even to himself, helps. His pupils pin again. Julien pulls at his opened collar, bringing cooler air against his neck and chest. Besides, just because it's called that doesn't mean it doesn't get spread by other things, obviously, he reminds himself. He's overreacting. He has to keep talking.

"Well, s- she said it was 'rarely fatal' and some people had it and got over it, and some are carriers." There's a bit of guilt too - he shouldn't feel relieved to be talking about this, but it feels abstract to him, even though it's important. "And there was a war with humans, but most of the casualties were because of the flu. Ten percent were from battle, I don't know if she meant ten percent of the population, or what, but the end result was that humans surrendered with less than five percent of the old population, and... live on reservations."