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 Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 4:09 pm
Taylor couldn't help but grin at Akuti's description of Patrick's house. "Yeah. Bing! Cool. If it's high up, he should like it," she added, refering to her avian companion. Snowy Owls were supposed to be low-flying, ground-nesting birds, but this one still seemed to like heights. She suspected they gave him a good place to watch everything going on. He was inquisitive, like her, but in his own way. He liked to watch her as she typed or studied or attempted to clean her room, and she'd caught him observing the campus from high up in a tree on more then one occasion.
"You like to read? That's a big book for such a little girl. I like books, too." She was doing her best to avoid the patronizing voice people tended to use with children, but Akuti simply made one want to coo over her. "You seem very smart."
They stepped out into the cold, windy sidewalk. Taylor shivered and adjusted her had with one hand, still clutching the books to her chest with the other. "How far is it? I haven't got a car..."
The owl left her shoulder to soar into the wind, making a wide circle above the street before affectionately dive-bombing Iamel's tri-colored head. Honey is nasty, too. But I see your point.... have you ever tried lemmings? He realized the conversation was utterly pointless, but he liked talking to the little woodpecker. He made him smile (as much as an owl could smile).
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 4:19 am
"COld?" Patrick sounded amused and his fingers were to nimbly unbutton his soft shirt, shrugging his thin shoulders to slide the gentle fabric off his back. The boy was almost emancipated, so thin you could see his ribs, skin shockingly dark under the shirt. Two small hoops ran through his nipples and goosebumps rose on that skin at feeling the cold.
"Here." Fwump. She got the shirt draped over her shoulders. While it was a thin fabric and gauze-esque, the clothing was supremely warm and could hold in heat well. No wonder Patrick wasn't wearing a jacket. "C'mon, Akuti."
To keep himself warm, the dark man scooped up the small girl. She squealed and clung onto him, giggling and cuddling against him, face pressed into his neck. "Good girl." Painted nails pat her back lightly as Patrick led them the short five minute walk to his apartment, "It's not far. Small, but not far from the school or anything. Which is nifty. Where do you live?"
Iamel squealed good naturedly, unable to bat at the bird with his fingers taken up by the plastic bag in his hands. "Nope. Never tried lemmings! But I've had duck in human form anyways... Patrick didn't like it but it's not like I needed it cooked." The owl got a grin, dark red eyes peeking up at him.
Good thing the owl was distracting him. Otherwise Iamel would be throwing a fit about Akuti being lifted up and cuddled. "Grasshoppers are good too. The big ones? Yeah." Nod nod, small feet bouncing on the hard ground.
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:06 am
Taylor bristled at the sudden act of kindness. I don't need your help. I'm fine. She didn't like people trying to do things for her. She wasn't some damsel in distress, wating for people to make everything perfect for her. For a minute she felt like tossing the shirt back at him.
But what she said was, "Uh... thanks," and adjusted the fabric so it didn't slide off her thin shoulders. The soft fabric made her feel warm despite the harsh wind. "It's pretty," she said randomly, inspecting the dragon design before turning to face Patrick.
There was a shock. Behind the colorful fabric of Akuti's dress and her wiggling limbs, she could see that the boy probably hadn't had a decent meal in a long time. Why was he so thin? Had the little devils cleaned out his refrigerator?
She opened her mouth to say something, decided against it, and answered Patrick's question instead. "I live at the school. I've got a dorm room. Pets aren't allowed, but somehow nobody's managed to notice this guy because I don't have to share." She decided not to go into that story. "It's pretty small, but it's nice. Do you go to school there? I don't think I've seen you before...."
Duck sounds good. But not cooked. Raw stuff is always better. He tried to perch on Taylor's shoulder again but she shrugged him off before his talons could tear the thin fabric of Patrick's shirt. Fine. Be that way. He didn't understand why she was wearing the thing in the first place. Did she think it was cold? Honestly. It was practically tropical.
I don't know about grasshoppers. Maybe if they're really big ones... He pictured trying to catch a grasshopper as large as himself and laughed. Those would be fun to chase.
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:13 am
Iamel grinned as the bird was shrugged off of his human, tucking the large books under one small arm and holding out the other for the big white thing to perch on. He liked the bigger bird and he wasn't a weak child, although small and thin.
Being a Gaurdian had SOME advantages. "It tastes good when cooked, once you have tastebuds. I just like it raw. Chasing grasshoppers? But they jump!" A grin, nose crinkling lightly. "It'd be hard to run with talons like yours."
Poor Taylor. Patrick was just raised to be an utterly polite child, despite how he looked or acted. "No... I used to go to school there. I graduated last year." Thin shoulders rose into a shrug, hand still rubbing Akutis gently. The little girl seemed blissfully unaware to the cold, snuggled so close to a human heater and with furr on her lower legs to protect the more prone aspects from the chill.
"Thanks. An ex of mine designed it... he was feckin' weird, but I got a kick a** wardrobe out of the deal." A crooked grin, hopping back to the subject of clothing, eyebrows having quirked in interest when her expression had turned to one of indignancy at being helped in such a way.
He couldn't feel his own back right now but it showed off the black tribal tattoos etched up his spine to the people behind them. So it's all okay. "What year are you in? You don't look like a Freshman."
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:31 am
Why would I need to run when I've got wings? The owl landed on Iamel's head, digging his talons into the mess of hair before fluttering to the boy's outstretched arms. Thanks. She's wierd, he added, with a jerk of his snowy head towards Taylor. First she coos over me like I'm the 'conclusive proof of string theory,' whatever the hell that is, and then she won't let me near her. Humans are messed up. I like yours, though. He's colorful.
"Junior year. I got out of high school a bit early, so I'm a little younger then the rest... but that doesn't matter. What did you study?" She fumbled with her bag of books, pulling one out to show Patrick the title: Evolution and Animal Behavior. "I'm working on biology, zoology, that sort of thing. He-" a glance at the owl, followed by a wide grin at his antics- "was supposed to by my research project. Intelligence in North American Birds. He doesn't seem to want to cooperate."
She studied Akuti and Iamel curiously. "If he turns into a little kid, I think I'm going to have to start this paper over. Hmm." She considered the situation and started taking mental notes. Monitor temperature at time of manifestation? Get a video camera to monitor. Where do they come from? Do they just appear? The rest of the mental notebook got filled up with sketches of Iamel and his new 'friend.' Her bird was doing something odd- hopping? Was he jumping up and down on the kid's shoulder?
They jump like this? That would be fun!
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 7:42 am
"Zoology? No kidding? I was into Mycology.. y'know, mold and s**t?" He grinned a bit in rememberance, not even pausing as he felt Akutis body still and become heavy - the girl had fallen asleep. How cute.
Another pause, his eyes shooting up as the dark boy shifted his 'daughter' onto one arm, the other fishing out his keys from teh skin tight pants. "You graduated early too? Maybe we're twins. I graduated college when I was...twenty? Almost twenty. Something like that."
A dismissive shrug and Patrick pushed the door open. The apartment wasn't much to talk about - a feather or two was decorating the wrap around couch in the living room and dead grasshoppers littered the counter in the kitchen, along with an opened box of cheerios.
Despite that, the place was clean. Books were piled high in the living room, but they were arranged neatly. A dictionary was open to the Q's and there was some high lighter scribbles there on the page.
"Home sweet home. I work at a fast food place,so it's nothing fancy but the kids at least don't have to sleep in my room with me." There was tenderness in his voice, something you wouldn't expect from an anorexic pierced boy and he disappeared into one of the bedrooms to put Akuti down in her bedroom.
"They jump like that," He affirms, laughing and craning his head to see the bird, a grin on his face. "You look silly when you jump. Sillier then my Shiniee." Nod nod, dark eyes glancing to where Patrick and Taylor disappeared inside.
"That's where we live. I have a bed an' everything." Another nod, iamel skirting into the house and closing the door behind him. A sigh and he urged the owl gently onto the back of the couch so he could shrug out of his jacket.
The noise Iamel made was akin to a cats purr - deep and in his chest, a soft rumble of contentment as those small, almost childish, black and white wings spread out. They were happy to be freed.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:04 pm
"Mold? That's awesome! You could come to my place... you could have a great time studying all the junk there. Mostly growing in old ramen cups... I think it's reached the point where it's going to demand the right to vote soon." Taylor grinned, removing Patrick's shirt (a little reluctantly, though she didn't want to admit that) and draping it over a chair. Spotting a zebra-striped feather on the floor, she bent down and picked it up. It looked like a normal bird's feather, maybe a little larger then normal but nothing extrordinary. She felt a hair disapointed. Somehow she'd expected it to be made out of fairy dust or solid gold or something.
"You've got a nice place," she called to the departed Patrick. "Cleaner then mine. Looks like the kids like it."
One of the "kids" chose that moment to remove his jacket and free the source of the scattered feathers.
Taylor almost went into another fit of hyperventilating at the sight of what she'd only caught glimpses of before. Wow. She stared open-mouthed at Iamel for several seconds before realizing the boy was probably sick of her investigation, and quickly busied herself with a grasshopper she'd found.
He eats those, you know. The owl soared across the small room, disturbing the lightweight insects with powerful wingbeats. Hmmm. Delicately, he opened his beak and bit off the head of the insect clutched between Taylor's fingers.
Yuk!
As Taylor broke into fits of laughter, he returned to the couch and Iamel. Okay, I ate one. You have to eat a rabbit now, you silly woodpecker. I like your wings, by the way. He spread his own for comparison and fluttered them gently. Stripier.
Taylor watched the two of them from the corner of her eye, doing her best to watch Iamel without making the boy upset again. You'd almost think they were talking.
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:27 pm
"I've already studied ramen induced mold." He grins slightly from where he was calling out, in the bedroom, "It grows a cousin to penicillian - it doesn't cure so many things but for the people who are allergic to penicillian, it still works for them."
Patrick was rather proud of his discovery of the ramen mold. It didn't make him millions but...he was actuall still studying it. So maybe it would - some day.
"Oh, Iamel eats the crickets. Be careful, 'kay?" This was said as he meandered from teh bedroom, closing the door gently behind him. Still shirtless, but that was easily remieded by grabbing a shirt from the door handle of his own bedroom. Tugging the half mesh/ half cloth contraption on, he was greeted to teh sight of the girl gawking at Iamel.
"They're small and he can't fly yet...but we're hoping. Right Iamel?"
Iamel was giggling at the owl and his discovery of the yucky tasting bug, fingers moving to pet at the birds chest and head lightly. "Yes, you did eat one. That was nice of you."
Nodding more, his wings stretched out, fluttering a bit. This time, no feathers fell but...he was a growing boy. He molted sometimes. "Thank you. I like yours too - we kinda match! Black and white, 'cept you're more white, I think."
The bird-boy paused at Patricks voice, glancing over to him curiously. "...hm? Oh...yeah. Right." He shrugs, "I didn't fly much anyway. I nested."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:42 pm
"Ramen induced mold?" Taylor chuckled. "That's... wow. I never would have guessed. I'd like to see that paper." She dropped the decapitated grasshopper to the table, wondering what in the world her bird had been trying to accomplish. "Listen, I've got to get back to the school- I've got a paper due tomorrow and I haven't started yet. This guy's been taking up most of my time."
What? You're the one who insists at gawking at me all the time. It's your own fault. I'm having fun here, the bird huffed, but he reluctantly left the couch to fly to Taylor's arm. Bye, woodpecker.
"E-mail me, okay?" Taylor scribbled an address on the back of her bookstore receipt. "I'll let you know when he- um, manifests? "
She waved cautiously as they left the room where Taylor had, for a minute, been able to talk to someone without stammering or trying to think about the proper thing to say. Where she'd been able to talk to a friend.
~~~~
Fingers covered in thick mittens pushed a doorbell. Taylor shivered (though she was wearing a newly purchased winter coat) and scuffed her heavy boots on the hallway carpet. Next to her, Diacyn was hardly dressed for the occasion. She'd managed to get him to change into something a little more normal then a robe, though he insisted on wearing his string of beads around his neck. He wore sandals beneath a pair of loose jeans and a thin green T-shirt under a baggy plaid flannel shirt to cover his wings (though they were large and showed a little bit at the bottom) He was also wearing Taylor's black hat, which she had attempted to use to cover his scalp tattoos. There wasn't anything she could to about the one across his eye though. He certainly didn't seem to care.
"Patrick?" she said, knocking on the door again. "Are you home? I've got something I need to show you."
"What? You're showing me off like a trophy now?" Diacyn growled irritably. It was mean of her to make him dress like this and stand here when he could be outside in the snow.
"No, no," Taylor amended. "I just wanted to talk to Patrick. And you can see your friend Iamel! He'll be surprised at how much you've, ah... grown."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 1:53 pm
Indeed, Iamel would be much pleased to see the other and how he'd grown. When the doorbell rang, there were a few yells and a giggle from Akuti in the background. The door flew open, revealing a breathless, halfway laughing Iamel.
He was dressed in kid-sized sweatpants and a plain white shirt that he had scrawled Latin on with sharpie marker, hair loose around his face. Pause...blinkblink. Diacyn was bigger then he was... Granted, he was a c arnivore and they were typically bigger but still.
"You grew!" He chirruped cheerfully. Iamel was only this cheerful when he was at ease - otherwise he was a grouchy little thing. "I like your face marking - come in." A small hand darted out, tugging gently at the boys shirt and trying to drag him inside.
Taylor, however, got something that was almost a glare, "Shiniee is inside."
"Iamel? Who is it?" Patrick peeked from the kitchen, pausing when he saw Lupe. "Hey, girl. What's--" Another pause. Blinking and looking down at Diacyn. Unbidden, he grinned slowly.
"Are carnivores bigger then the little insect eaters? The hummingbird is smaller then your owl too." This is to Taylor. Patrick never spoke to kids other then his own.
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:10 pm
Diacyn snarled momentarily, tugging his shirt away from Iamel. "Yeah." One long finger traced the thick black swirl down his face. "I've got more, but she-" a quick, significant glance in Taylor's direction- "made me wear this hat. Look!" He tugged the hat off his head, revealing the rest of the markings. "There. And I've got my wings too." Though he seemed slightly put out by the other boy's infectious glee, he stepped past Patrick into the room, shrugging off the offensive plaid shirt as he did so and flapping his large wings. They were still as silent as when he was a bird.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh, yeah. He got a lot bigger," Taylor affirmed. " Maybe it's got something to do with being a carnivore, or just a larger bird. I hadn't thought of that." Truthfully, she hadn't thought of anything for a while except Oh my god, what the hell am I going to do now?
As Diacyn left them, she lowered her voice to make sure the he wouldn't overhear. "Frankly, he's an angry little b*****d. I think I made him mad somehow when he was an owl. He's nice enough to Iamel, though... says his name's Diacyn, by the way. Don't ask me how to spell it. Do they ever get normal names?"
She peered past Patrick to where the two children were talking. "Or normal anything, for that matter? He's still trying to eat rabbits, and he wears sandals. In the snow. Guess it's because he's an arctic bird, or something... this is messed up."
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2005 2:23 pm
Iamel wasn't put off in the slightest by Diacyns glowering and his snarl, despite being smaller and thinner like most prey was prone to.
"And you have a shiny too." HIs voice was quieter, less psycho and happy as it was a minute ago. While he was prone to momentary bursts of childishness, it faded once he got used to the situation. Fingers fluttered up to the others each, but not brushing his skin, or touching hte markerings and his wings.
Iamel knew how rude it was to touch a birds markings or their wings, even though Diacyns human didn't.
"You shouldn't wear it. Youlook better without it." A firm nod, eyes tossing back to the two humans as they talked. "We weren't doing anything..Shiniee gets boring at night. He sits down and he types at his computer, or makes dinner for akuti. She likes salads." He blinked and grinned, winking gently at the snarling man. "Actually, we have a defrosting rabbit. I was gonna try it tonight. Wanna eat it with me?"
"I'm glad you didn't scream like a schoolgirl, Taylor." He smiled faintly, glancing down tot he large salad he was making - both he and Akuti were vegetarians. "He doesn't seem like he was the nicest kid in the world, sweetheart."
His voice softens a little bit, head twisting to glance at Iamel and Diacyn, grinning a little bit. "No offense, Taylor, but as long as Iamel isn't glaring death at everyone , I'm happy. He's a bitchy little s**t too! Diacyn is the ONLY person other then Shanuh that he doesn't want to die!"
A sigh, head shaking, rubbing his eyelids quietly. Frowning a little. ""No. They dont get normal. Iamel eats crickets and beetles and he sleeps in a little 'nest' in the corner of the second bedroom."
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 7:57 am
"I couldn't have screamed like a schoolgirl even if I'd wanted to. My brain was pretty much shut down for repairs," Taylor grinned. "And then he started telling me off about how he was going to bite my fingers if I tried to go all scientific on him. And then he made a nest too, out of my blankets. So yeah. Definitely not the nicest kid. " She watched the two Guardians for a minute, smiling slightly. "Diacyn does seem to like Iamel. That's nice, I guess. He's just kind of snarly and grumpy with me..."
Wait. Something prodded the back of her mind with a cattle prod. Did he just call me sweetheart? She wasn't offended or anything, just a little wierded out. Oh well. Turning away from Diacyn and his friend, she looked down at Patrick's salad-in-progress. "That looks good. I like salads... Diacyn wouldn't, though."
"Your human has a computer too? Mine's got one. She types on it all damn day and night." Diacyn fanned his wings too, brushing air across Iamel's fingers without touching them. There was this silent code of conduct that they were just born knowing. "Don't know what those computers are good for... they glow, though. I'd think you would like them. They're kind of shiny." Bending, he retrieved the hat from the floor and threw it at Taylor. "Yeah, I don't like wearing that thing." A pause. "You've got a rabbit? Where?"
Diacyn, on the other hand, had become slightly more childish than usual once he relaxed. Iamel was the one person he didn't want to growl or snap at. He was fun, if a bit hyper. And he didn't bother with stupid things like computers.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:56 am
Yes. Yes he DID call her sweetheart. Patrick was as queer as the holidays were long and about as fruity as someone could get. You couldn't tell from just looking at him, of course, and he didn't speak with a lisp or wriggle his hips, nor did he wear backless pants.
He was just...gay. A dorky science geek who happened to be gay. Taylor should even feel -lucky-. Patrick doesn't usually even deem to speak with women but it seems the other Companions from the pet shops may not have been annoying as regular women he'd been subjected to previously.
The girl got a quick grin, Patrick nodding to the second bedroom. "My brat took every colorful piece of cloth he could find and made himself a little cocoon thing out of them. It's like a psuedo-womb. Round with a small hollow inside he curls up into and sleeps. Akuti is the NORMAL one. She sleeps in a bed." Another grin, white teeth flashing, "We're both vegetarian too, so that helps with food costs. Iamel eats like twenty bucks of crickets a week and any beetles he finds."
There was a pause, his eyes going to the two boys in the hallway. His eyebrows hitch up once more, never having seen Iamel quite that cheerful and in control with anyone else before. Even with Shanuh, he pouted and manipulated to get his way. "...he said your kid - Diacyn, yes? Just makin' sure - told him to eat rabbit, so I bought a frozen one. I feel kinda squicked to have meat in the house but.." A shrug, "Iamel is stubborn."
"Shiniee used it to figure out what I ate when I was a bird," He explained, lips quirking into a wider grin at the feel of the air. It was so SILENT! When the hummingbird moved, his wings kept making that irritating noise and Iamels wings were smaller then the other two so they didn't make much at all...but it was odd to hear SILENT wings! "He says he does papers and stuff on it, but I never see anythin' come out. So he could be lying."
Once more, iamel took Diacyns sleeve - he didn't consider that rude. While it was taking something of the others in hand, it wasn't touching him and it was a way for Iamel to show the other Bird without saying the needed words.
"Shiniee can't catch one on his own an' neither can I," Iamels voice was sheepish, shoulders rising in a shrug. "I can get beetles and bugs and stuff, but not big things like rabbits or anything. So he bought a frozen one and it's becoming not-ice now."
Nod nod, but his nose wrinkled, "I don't think I'll like it too much, though, and it's a big meal so that means if you're hungry you should eat it with me."
Big meal for the kid who just ate handfuls of insects and considered it a meal...
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2005 8:38 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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