[Open] One day you think we'll wake up

[espigeonage]

Who: Julien and OPEN
What: Morose giant bird lets himself be approached.
Where: Various non-crowded places in Locke, Vegas, and Neuschwainstein; in the air, in parks, in large yards. Your character may have gotten in contact with him and arranged to meet, or just encountered him.
When: Vague points in the last few days of January.


Two weeks in the mountains and Julien was coordinated and more or less used to how his body worked now. He still felt fragile and hated the way he looked, the way people looked at him, the new list of limitations. Part of him wanted to go back to the alm and the isolation that came with it. It had been grueling up there and, in its way, peaceful. It had also been hard to bear. He couldn't stay there, he'd known it even before he'd been found. He thrived on people.

...but he couldn't bear to jump back into turmoil and chatter, either. So, compromise. He hovered at the edges of the world he had known and talked to people sometimes, and wondered if he'd ever feel like himself again.

At least the flying was good.

Comments

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

"I'm a writer, Blue. It's my job to notice the details," she said.

"But, hey. No sweat. I mean... You'd have done it for me, right?"

[espigeonage]

"I would have," he replied quietly. Julien had to wonder what she'd look like as a bird. He didn't wish this on her, though.

He spread the wing that wasn't holding a drink. "So, well... if you want to get staring, and questions and whatever out of the way... this is my body now. I'm not happy about it, but I can deal."

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

"Well, not gonna lie, Blue. It's not every day my friends change species on me. It's weird." A long drink. "But, Red and Blue. It's a thing. Doesn't go away that easily."

[espigeonage]

With a kind of grim good humor he said, "This is weirder than last time. But I'm glad."

He sampled his own cup and came out with a bead of liquid hanging from the tip of his beak. "Well. I- look, I know what I look like. I know it's an uncomfortable thought. It's not-" he didn't want to say it, bestiality-"I'm not an animal. I just look like one. If that's too much - it's okay. I understand."

He couldn't change the look on his face, but his feathers drew closer to his body, making him smaller and smoother, and his inner eyelids showed.

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

She let out a long sigh.

"Well. There's a lot I'm willing to try. This one... OK, maybe outside the usual comfort zone but..."

Another sigh.
"Damn it, Blue, you know I'm bad at this."

She ran her fingers through her hair.
"I can't believe I'm saying this. But. I guess, what I mean is... It doesn't just have to be sex, OK. You're still Blue in there, right? We're still friends. Shit, Blue, I still care. Feathers aren't gonna change that. But birdsex might take me a little while to get used to that thought."

[espigeonage]

Mirroring the gesture he used his beak to rearrange some feathers on his shoulder. They'd been talking about different things, he realized. He'd been talking about their casual relationship. Friends with benefits, and how now that he couldn't really be attractive to her, well. She was talking about more than that, and it was hard to say.

Julien clicked his beak quietly and hoped he knew the right way to respond. Not saying something that would alarm her, not trivializing the effort, either. "Absolutely, whatever happens I want us to be friends. I like you, Red." Said casually like that he hoped like didn't sound too much like love. "You're really chill, and that helps with how crazy things get. I... love the sex, I've always loved the sex, but you're good to be around even without that. I'm glad I know you."

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

"Yeah well, it wouldn't be much fun without you either," she said, her shoulders bobbing in a small shrug.

"So. You got places to be, or will you be crashing here tonight?"

[espigeonage]

Julien dipped his head. He didn't know if he'd conveyed the right thing, what she had taken from it, but Isabela didn't seem upset. Maybe it was all right. "I do try and be fun! Even if I don't think I'll ever top your ice bucket challenge."

"You want me here? I'd a full day of flying around doing nothing much, but I can reschedule it."

[mistakesmakeuswhoweare]

"That was a pretty tough act to follow," she agreed with a chuckle.

"If you don't have anywhere to go, you can stay with me, Blue. I don't want you freezing out there."

[espigeonage]

"I'm crashing at Gabriel's these days. You should come over sometime!" He wanted to joke about not stopping at makeouts, but between not knowing just how the mechanics work now and not wanting to press the subject, he left it hanging. "But I'd love to hang out around here tonight. What're you working on now?"