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Tybalt was often places that weren't home for reasons various and sundry--blowing off chores, practicing his ever-growing skills as a small-time thief, escaping the noise and confines of the house--but sometimes he simply felt the urge to wander, to literally spread his wings and fly away. Today was one of those days, and he had spent much of it flying over some of the nearby cities. Flight, Tybalt had found, was cathartic in ways he'd never be able to properly explain to those without the mixed blessing of wings.

Enjoyable as it was, it also tended to wear him out; though the muscles of his back had steadily strengthened through use, he was still but a child, with a child's limited stamina. It was with a wide yawn that Tybalt began descending, lazily spiralling downwards over Barton's town square. The hot summer's day had transformed slowly into a nice, comfortable night, encouraging people to venture outside to enjoy it.

However, there were not so many people wandering Barton's square that they distracted attention away from a white head, a bright beacon in a field of warm yellow streetlamps. Tybalt grinned hesitantly at the sight, descending further, before smiling outright as he caught sight of dove-white headwings. He abandoned his slow descent in favor of a headlong dive, hurtling towards the pavement below before swooping out of it yards from the ground, circling around Vidya's bench before settling in a crouch atop it with a flap of wings and a rustle of feathers. "Oi, Vid, what brings ye out here so late at night? Don't think yer mum'd be too happy knowin' yer out by yerself, what with all th' fiends and rogues what wander th' streets once th' sun goes down, aye?" His smile was teasing, a clear indication that he was joking--mostly, probably.

Tybalt snorted a chuckle, pressing his hands to his chest in a show of feigned woundedness. "Flattery'll get ye nowhere, m'dear," he replied, smiling cheekily. The gesture lasted only as long as it took for Vidya to wrap her arms around him, throwing off his already-tenuous balance enough that he had no choice to hug her back. Really, that's all it was.

"Aye, too long," he agreed. "What've ye been up to since last we met?" He listened with tilted head and attentive ear at the reasons behind her late-night stroll--or sit, as it were--smiling with shocked pride as Vidya nonchalantly planned lying to her mother. Well, this was certainly a nice change from the straight-laced little girl he'd met so long ago; perhaps he'd make a pirate of her yet! "Me? Oh, not much: terrorizin' the innocent, stealin' candy from babies, pilferin' an' plunderin', all that rot," said with a wink and in a tone that could easily have been used for discussing the weather.

What was this? Dissention in the ranks? Tybalt quirked an eyebrow curiously, finding himself torn between amusement at the fact that it seemed his usually agreeable first mate and best friend seemed to be gaining a voice of her own and wariness for much the same reason. Paranoia urged him to analyze this further, but she DID look tired...no, Vidya didn't have the guile required to do anything more than lie to her mother, though he was surprised she'd even do that. "Course I haven't changed, why muck up perfection, eh?" A winning smile and all was forgotten, pushed to the back of his mind for later perusal.

Or perhaps not. "Who's this Levi, hmm?" he asked, eyes narrowed, "And why're y'so tired? Are ye ill?" The second and third questions were valid--he did care about Vidya's health, of course--but it was the answer to the first he was most curious about.

Spine-growing, visitor-getting, and now magic-learning? Too long he had been away from his friend, it seemed, that he was only now privy to all this new information. "Magic?" he asked, wings raising instinctively, defensively. Tybalt, in spite of his own less than mundane creation and form, had never gotten comfortable with things like magic; they just didn't fit in his neat, orderly, somewhat-explainable world. He WANTED to snap out a negative response, really...but Vidya looked so eager to show him, and really, what harm could she do him anyway?

"Aye, I suppose." He was getting soft, and he didn't even have the excuse of old age to fall back on.

Tybalt's eyes had gotten progressively narrower as Vidya explained the origin of her friendship with this "Levi" person. "Did 'e now?" he said as she concluded, voice dripping with disdain, hostility, and no small amount of suspicion. "Ye'll say no, right?" More a forcefully-coaxing order than an actual question. "After all, can't be too careful..." Feathers rustled, smoothing from the ruffled state they had taken on, and Tybalt's wings splayed for balance as he leaned forward to watch Vidya's trick.

The sight of Vidya shaping the water both soothed and agitated Tybalt. It was only fitting, he supposed, that her power was related to water--it was no less unnerving in spite of the suitability. He watched, reluctantly fascinated, as the water became almost literally putty in her hands. As the waterball exploded, he shifted almost uneasily, looking from the spot the water had just occupied to Vidya. "Interestin'," he admitted, reaching out to take one of her hands in his own, squinting at it and turning it over, inspecting. "How'd y'do it?"

Oh. Well of COURSE she had! He was just being more paranoid than usual--even for him--and really, hadn't he been off for awhile? Jumping at every little thing (ready to cut it to bits, of course), snapping more for no apparent reason (like he'd ever needed one in the past), and generally just so much more irritated than usual and hadn't that been the reason he wanted out in the first place? Really, he was just being silly; Vidya wasn't plotting against him or anything, and some small, temporarily rational part of his mind told him that it was even alright for her to have other friends. Other male friends. Other male pirate friends. That temporarily rational part was quickly eaten alive by the larger, more possessive part. "'Atta girl," he said, mostly meaning it.

He released his hand rubbed his chin thoughtfully at her explanation. Magic though it might be, it was at least a useful trick. "Aye, might come in handy one day...always easy sailin' with you about an' all, eh?"

"Course it would!" he responded, confident that she'd get the utter wrongness of wanting to sail under different colors. Tybalt was confident--now, maybe, perhaps, a little--that Vidya would understand the underlying message: loyalty was important. Maybe, maybe even as important as shinies.

"Do?" he asked. "Innit past your bedtime?"

Tybalt gifted Vidya with a rare smile then--a real one, not the rogueish grin or cocky smirk he usually wore. "Aye, I 'spose," he said casually, no note of tenderness in the faint praise. In spite of his own often-vicious paranoia, he had to admit that he had chosen at least this friend well. If nothing else, she was simple to read, simpler still to please, to say nothing of her apparent loyalty.

One long, talon-tipped toe slowly extended as Vidya touched his foot, offering her a closer examination. "Hard?" he asked, rubbing a knuckle against his chin in idle thought. "Not really. Some stuff, o'course, like walkin' through sand or snow. Makes other things easier, though, like climbin'...hah, 'member that time in th' basement? An' they'd make fine weapons too, in a pinch, I'd bet."