Maximum Ride |★|

[bee]

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ＬＥＯＮＨＡＲＤXXXXXX ＫＡＰＰＥＬ

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[.:Kira:.]

Ｔｅｓｌａ

Once they neared a more populated area, Lewis lightly tapped Tesla awake, hoping not to startle her. “So I have hotel reservations for tonight. You’re welcome to stay in another room if you like. My treat.”

Tesla woke up to the slightly familiar voice speaking to her. She had forgotten that she was in a car the whole time. “Um, alright. Thanks so much.” She shifted her body to a more comfortable position. She had fallen asleep with her head tilted to the side too far and gave herself a kink in her neck.

“Of course. But first, I don’t know about you, I’m starving.” He gave Tesla a soft smile and turned the car into a Taco Bell drive-through. “Is this okay?” Tesla had never even heard of a fast-food restaurant, let alone a drive-through. Tesla simply nodded her head.“Great! What would you like?”

Not knowing what it was or what to do or was to say, Tesla came up with a simple answer. “Uh… Whatever you’re having…” Lewis gave her a confused look but nodded anyway and placed the order at the speaker. Tesla was confused when Lewis started talking to no one but there was still another voice. She shrugged it off as much as she could, but kept observing for future reference. She listened as Lewis placed an order for 2 Cheesy Double Beef Burritos, 4 tacos, 2 Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes, 2 orders of Cinnamon twists, and two drinks. She has no idea what any these things were, she had only eaten whatever she was given at The School. And there was never much of a variety to choose from. Lewis paid for all the food and headed to the hotel.

While they waited for the room to be prepared for Tesla, they headed to Lewis’s room to eat their food. Tesla had almost broken in to the bag of food in the car, because she was so hungry. She had no idea what it was, but the smell appealed to her nose so well. Lewis pulled out a chair for her to sit at the little table in the room, then broke out the food, placing each item before her. “Here ya go. Dig in.” Tesla looked at the wrapped food then watched Lewis pick up a burrito, unwrap it, then chow-down. Tesla followed his lead, trying not to make it look like she was copying him.

Since Tesla had never actually had any food, besides what The School provided for her, the new flavors all but exploded in her mouth. Her eyes went wide with the first bite, then she lost all control and scarfed down the whole burrito, getting ready to eat the next item on the list.

Lewis gave a slight laugh when he saw the gleam in Tesla’s eyes. Then he held back an even bigger laugh when she ended up spilling half of her taco all over the table, then started frantically trying to scoop it all back into the shell again. She looked up at Lewis with a look that said ‘You didn’t see any of that…’ Lewis tucked his head down, trying to conceal the laugh that burst out any way. Tesla gave him a dirty look before bursting out in laughter as well. Their dinner had been so quiet that a taco spilling was all it took to bring them both together.

Their meal went on more casual after that. Lewis had started asking questions about Tesla’s background, and Tesla gave bogus answers to fill in the spaces. Tesla would ask questions about Lewis, and Lewis would fill in with stories of his life. The conversations went on until the maid stopped by to let them know that Tesla’s room was now ready for her. “Well, thanks for dinner, and a place to stay, and the car ride. ” She may have been raised in the school, but she still had some manners.

“Of course Tesla. My pleasure. Oh, and before you head off to your room, don’t worry about getting up at any particular time. We’ll leave when we are both up and ready to go. Okay?” Tesla nodded with a smile and a yawn, then headed off to her room to get some rest.

[Water~Wing]

【~ℝＥＧＩ~】

The main branch of the San Francisco Public Library is located in the Civic Center of downtown San Francisco. Regulus exited through automatic doors on the west side of the library building, and was then greeted by a view of San Francisco’s City Hall, an expansive white building whose architecture and domed roof was reminiscent of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Separating the library building and the City Hall was a large plaza adorned with emerald-green lawns, numerous trees, and flags representing all sorts of government agencies. Most noticeable, however were three large flags that lined the white stone roof of the main building – the United States flag in the middle, the California State flag to the left, and a yellow-fringed flag depicting a rising phoenix on the right – further inspection revealed this banner to represent the city of San Francisco. Also located in the courtyard was a vibrant statue that resembled a large red lotus flower. Its exact significance was unknown to the lion hybrid, and even though he was curious to learn about its history, Regi knew he would have to think about that later.

Lastly, most overwhelming was the sheer number of people that were walking around. Normal people at that, simply going about their business-as-usual, not even aware of the genetic amalgamation in their midst. There was a group of youth exiting the library behind him, ushered by an adult woman who was likely their counselor or teacher. There were a couple of people seated at a bus stop, conversing as they waited for their route to arrive. Construction workers dressed in vibrant yellow vests crossed to and fro in front of the library’s entrance. Numerous civilians and passersby walked in front of and behind Regulus, never interrupted, never making eye contact. It was certainly strange to be immersed among other humans that were neither experiments nor scientists – they were just… people. It was also extraordinary to the lion hybrid to think that he had once come from this society, before being taken to the School and experimented on. After two years, he’d finally returned, though now with several mutations and no identity other than his self-given name. Luckily, for now, with all lion features strategically concealed, Regulus had so far remained inconspicuous to the passing civilians.

It was about 4:20 in the afternoon, sun dipping toward the western horizon in a relatively clear sky. The temperature was a brisk sixty degrees or so, made cooler by San Francisco’s trademark gusty winds. Regi’s emerald-colored athletic jacket kept the temperature from becoming a problem, though the wind would probably start to burn his face if he remained out here for too long. The biggest concern, however, was the possibility of his hood being blown off his head, revealing his lion ears to the entire city of San Francisco. Ideally the lion hybrid would have preferred a hat or beanie, but this would have to do for now.

Regi held tightly onto his printed manifesto, now safely enveloped in a manila folder that he’d “borrowed” from an unattended desk at the library. Also in the folder was the map of the city’s downtown, though it would hopefully be unneeded as Regi was pretty sure he’d memorized his route. His destination was the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation’s branch office, located only a couple blocks away from his current location. From the front of the library, the lion hybrid began to head north, maintaining one hand on his hood in case of a sudden bluster, his other hand holding his documents against his chest. He kept a steady, brisk pace, an ache in his legs and tail worsening with every step. He had about forty minutes to get to the FBI office before it closed, and though that was plenty of time, Regi wasn’t about to take any risks by dawdling. Plus, he was hungry, exhausted, and determined on his mission toward finding closure.

His peridot eyes maintained a steady, serious gaze forward as he passed by a number of buildings, one housing the California State Supreme Court. Regi found it OCD-pleasing that all of these government buildings – the City Hall, the Supreme Court, and the FBI branch office – were all located nearby one another. Kudos to San Francisco’s city planners.

Most uncomfortable were the few instances that Regi had needed to wait at a crosswalk, worried that he’d get stares or otherwise from anyone. Fortunately that had never happened, and Regi’s excursion was for the most part uninterrupted, though he was startled once by an outstretched hand that belonged to a homeless man soliciting non-existent spare change. The encounter with the bum was the lion hybrid’s only direct contact with another person, however, and finally he arrived in a small concrete courtyard that marked his destination. A single red, white and blue flag stood at its center.

The FBI branch office building was at least two dozen stories tall, with almost no noteworthy aesthetic features. In fact, the building would be easily unnoticed due to its architectural similarity to many other office buildings in the city. Made of grey concrete, its outside structure was rather plain and unappealing, not quite what the lion hybrid was expecting. But what had he been expecting, anyway? Even so, there was no denying that this was the right place, especially with the clearly engraved ‘FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION’ sign on the wall nearest the entrance.

Was this the best place to go for his problem? Regi had been pondering this question all along, for sure, but as he approached the entrance he stopped, remaining about ten yards away in the slowly diminishing sunlight. The FBI had seemed like the best agency to approach with his statement against the School, that much was certain. Local law enforcement wouldn’t work, and it was very well possible that the School’s operations ran beyond the State of California’s control. But what if the people inside this building didn’t take him seriously? They could very well refuse to even listen to Regi’s explanation and dismiss him, leaving him without food, money, a place to sleep… And there was also the possibility that the School was a government-endorsed agency itself, and that revealing himself to the FBI could simply result in Regi being detained in a lab once again. Even so, Regi had come this far, and it was out of the question to simply walk away without giving this a try. What other choice did he have? Where else would he go? Sighing, his feline heart beating erratically in his chest, the lion hybrid boy entered.

[tavros.]

ʜɪʀᴏ ʀʜᴇᴀ
ᴀɢᴇ - 7
ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ - 4' 6"
#ᴛᴡ: #ᴀᴅᴀᴍ, #ʀᴇɴ, #ᴀᴛʜᴇɴᴀ
#ʜɪʀᴏ sᴏᴜɴᴅs ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀ ᴛʀᴀɪᴛᴏʀᴏᴜs
ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ʙᴀsᴛᴀʀᴅ ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇ ʜᴇ's ɴᴏᴛ
#ᴀᴅᴀᴍ ɪs ʜɪs sᴇɴᴘᴀɪ
#ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ɴᴏ ɪᴅᴇᴀ ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛᴇᴅ
ɪ ᴡᴀs ᴛᴏ ᴘᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴏʀᴅ 'sᴜɢᴏɪ' ɪɴ ʜᴇʀᴇ
#sᴏ ᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛᴇᴅ
#ᴛᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ, #ʜɪʀᴏ ᴀᴄᴛᴜᴀʟʟʏ sᴀʏs ᴡᴏʀᴅs, ᴡᴏᴡ
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Hiro kept peering over Ren's shoulder at this stranger as he seemed to analyze everyone and then start to speak. When he initially heard the snake hybrid's voice he thought it was kinda scary but also kinda cool. However, once he actually started paying attention to the words and not just the sound, he was immediately and severely perturbed. The first offhand mention of Jinx was like a kick in the face, but then he said his name and he was over it. How did he know all this stuff? Hiro was immensely wary of this seemingly omniscient stranger, but he also found him undeniably cool. How he carried himself like he didn't have a care in the world, how his voice was low and menacing but still natural, the general bad-guy aura he gave off...

He was so cool.

However, he was still talking. Something something, harpy eagle? He must be talking about Carisa. Hiro was once again struck by the sheer absurdity of his knowledge about them in such quantity, but all of this was true. Had he been in the School when it had exploded too? That wouldn't really explain how he knew so much about them, but it would give Hiro a tiny bit of satisfaction.

He said Jinx's name again so matter-of-fact that Hiro almost didn't catch it, but the latter half of his sentence was well noted. How dare he talk about her so nonchalantly?! Did he even know who she was, how many peoples' lives she'd affected? Jinx wasn't just "a cat girl who was killed", she was so much more. She was a friend, and a caretaker, she was someone who cared. She was someone who mattered. She was the closest thing to a mother he'd ever known, and probably would ever know. She was so important and yet this Adam guy didn't even pause when he said her name. Hiro had hardly even thought her name. And this guy, Adam Darko, had the balls to just slip it into his greeting. He was suddenly liking him a whole lot less.

Ren's voice shocked him out of his angered reverie and he looked at the back of his head, watching the straight black locks flow with the slight wind that was making it move. Hiro heard the blatant disbelief in his tone, but honestly the fact that Adam could be lying hadn't even occurred to him. He could see the snake boy's face clearly from here, and he was somewhat notorious for being able to tell when someone was or wasn't telling the truth within the flock. His face wasn't one of deception or dishonesty, and Hiro felt that Ren should know.

"He's not lying," Hiro said shortly. He wasn't sure if his voice would reach Ren's ears, but Athena was standing near him, so if anyone she would hear him.

[tavros.]

ᴅɪʀᴋ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴀ
ᴀɢᴇ - 16
ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ - 5' 9"
#ᴛᴡ: #ᴄᴀsᴘɪᴀɴ, #ᴅɪsᴏʀɪᴇɴᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ
#ᴅɪʀᴋ ʜᴀs ᴀ ᴅɪʀᴛʏ ᴍɪɴᴅ, #ᴏᴠᴇʀᴛʜɪɴᴋɪɴɢ
#ᴅɪʀᴋ's ᴛᴇxᴀɴ ᴀᴄᴄᴇɴᴛ
#ᴅɪʀᴋ ɪs ᴀ ʀᴜᴅᴇʙᴜᴛᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴀᴋᴇs ᴄᴀsᴘɪᴀɴ ᴜᴘ
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The first think Dirk noticed upon his awakening was a very strong sensation of warmth. The second, it was still dark out, maybe a little lighter, though his eyes were still closed. Wait, still...? He slowly, cautiously blinked his eyes open, and got an eyeful of wet dirt and leaves. He could see the rumpled hood of an unfamiliar jacket laying over his shoulder and his own body curled up underneath the rest of it. But where was he...? He closed his eyes again and tried to pinpoint where he last was or what he'd been doing, and a good three minutes passed by like this before he finally remembered. He'd been flying away from the School for a long while and he'd decided to land somewhere in Washington, but he crash-landed in a field or something. Some guy had shown up and said he'd been following him ever since his initial escape, had given his name...Caspian, right? Something like that. Then...something had happened but...he couldn't. Quite. Remember...

Oh wait, that's right! he thought. I started coughin' an' passed out like a li'l kid. Ah geez, did I really do that? This guy must think I'm useless... Speaking of, where was he? Dirk moved to prop himself up on his elbow but a sharp pain ran through his left shoulder when he moved it. Alright, so that was a no-go. He shook his damp, dirty hair out of his face—had it rained?—and made to look around, but when he looked down he saw someone's arm laid carefully over his side, the skin much darker than his own—though that wasn't really too hard. Dirk wasn't the most outdoorsy in the flock. He followed the arm up and over his side with his eyes, crooking his neck until he saw the body that the limb was attached to. His eyes flickered to the still-sleeping face resting drowsily between his shoulders and his first thought was, Wow, cute...

But then he realized what was actually happening for the first time, and his face immediately flushed a bright red that could rival his hair in vibrancy. A small shocked sound escaped him and he rolled forward, accidentally taking the jacket that had been thrown over both bodies with him and subsequently grinding it into the mud below him. He was now on his right side and had much more mobility, so he propped himself up on his elbow and stared at the boy who had been spooned up against him...oh god, even thinking those words made his flush even worse, and he maneuvered out of the little nook that Caspian had found. He threw his hands over his face and hunched over, ignoring the pain in his arm and torso for the time being. He needed to think.

And think he did. He mulled over the events of the past—day? Night? What time was it? How long had he been out? That was just another thing he'd need to find out. He kept his face buried in his hands and thought. He didn't know if he could trust this guy. Sure, if he was aiming to kill him he'd had plenty of opportunity, but he could be a spy looking to locate the flock. Sure, it was a little far-fetched, but if there was one thing Dirk had learned so far in his exceptionally screwy life, it was that anyone could be the bad guy. What was this guy's goal? Why would he stop to help an injured person if he didn't have an ulterior motive? He couldn't just be that kind for no reason. Unless he needed help too? He didn't suppose that Caspian had any money or any other way to obtain food, and he'd been running on steam for as long as Dirk had, so he guessed it would be logical to try and team up in this situation. But there was really no way of knowing for sure without asking him a few things directly. Objective in mind and blush under control, Dirk leaned forward and hesitantly placed his hand on Caspian's calf, shaking him lightly to try and wake him.

"Hey, giddup. We should talk."

[bee]

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Ｃａｓｐｉａｎ
leopard ♛ eighteen ♛ 6'0 ♛ tagged; Dirk has risen the beast
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Off in the distance, there is resistance
Bubbling up and festering
Hey Mr Motion, make me a potion
Shake it all up with your mystery

How come I've never seen your face 'round here
I know every single face 'round here
A man on a mission, changing the vision
I was never welcome here

We don't have a choice to stay
We'd rather die than do it your way

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Caspian had never been a morning person. especially when he was woken up by a stranger after having no sleep for the day or two prior. as he'd slept, the leopard hybrid had nuzzled his head between the redhead's shoulders, a catlike trait he had but wouldn't admit to it. his dark blond hair had been tussled and mussed up in the process, leopard ears still visible above the frizzy mop of a mane. Casp was slumbering peacefully, chest rising and falling slower and feline appendages still. he had probably been puffing warm breaths down the back of the dead-looking avian hybrid's neck, that might have been what had risen the apparently alive hostage of warm cuddles. he looked a lot less stressed while in his unconscious state, and fairly cuter. it was nicer to see a resting leopard than an angry thriving one.

the moving of his snuggle buddy made him stir, and as his arm was dropped to the body temperature-warmed ground, one single-spotted ear gave a wakening twitch. his rosette printed tail shifted in the leg of his jeans so it wasn't tickling his ankle, then his body settled again. that was, until a hand shook the spot where that tail was residing. Caspian gave a sleepy grunt, ears flattening against his bedhead hair. blue eyes flickered open, pupils vaguely enlarging to improve his sight in the dim light. sky-colored hues shifted up to focus on the very much alive birdy in front of him, bright red hair and the touch of blush on his cheeks confusing him for just a moment or two. oh, yes, he'd saved this son of a...woodpecker. his gaze slowly traveled over the other boy's slim frame, examining every inch of him. it was out of habit, and probably very rude and flustering for other people, but he was particularly making sure that the moving of the kid hadn't opened any of his wounds again. not like he'd crash landed as hard as before, but Caspian was unsure how sensitive the injuries and burns were. he looked better, much better. wow, he must be one hell of a doctor.

the leopard eventually met this blue-eyed birdies gaze again, a clearly unhappy expression painted on his face, complete with narrowed eyes and a twitching muscle in his jaw. the teen must have a death wish, wakening a sleep deprived beast that had the capability to tear open his throat with the flick of his claws. fortunately for him, Caspian had grown quite fond of the slumbering sir as he'd patched up his wounds, so death was not on the to do list. and even after being risen from a nap, he couldn't say he wasn't happy to hear blush boy's voice.

with a grumpy sounding huff, Cas pushed himself up into a sitting position. he closed his eyes and covered part of his mouth as he yawned, pearly white fangs peeking over his lip. a shiver passed over his body, reminding him of a waking bird that quivered it's feathers. for some reason he felt a vague breeze, and looked down to realize his shirt was gone. he quirked a brow at his bare chest before remembering he'd torn up his shirt to use as bandages, and his jacket was used as a blanket for redhead. not that he had a problem with his body, Caspian was designed by the school to be pleasing to the eye, so all hail his outlined six pack.

a few more moments for him to come to his senses, then the feline made an objective to actually form words back to Mr. Texan Accent over here. he was outlined nicely against the small light, Caspian's enhanced kitten sight allowing him to see the other nearly perfectly, there were still a few dark spots where the shadows brooded too dark on his figure. "hello, bird." he mumbled, reaching up to rub the back of his neck, leaning his head forward to work out the kink. "should...talk. alright, let's talk." the echo made him sit up straight, his back crackling like poprocks, resulting in a very pleased look from Cas. he winced as he shifted his weight and ended up crushing his tail, so the boy reached behind him and tugged his tail out of the leg of his painful skinny jeans. the fluffy appendage curled neatly around his criss-crossed legs, a hand now on his shoulder. he noted the hardly visible blush again, and thought he should probably explain the spooning whilst sleeping thing that had just happened. Cas gave a snort of amusement, enjoying seeing the kid a bit flustered about it. a smirk worked its way onto his lips, and he placed his hands in his lap. he'd explain if he asked, the leopard was enjoying this like the little devil he was.

[tavros.]

ᴅɪʀᴋ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴀ
ᴀɢᴇ - 16
ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ - 5' 9"
#ᴛᴡ: #ᴄᴀsᴘɪᴀɴ
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Dirk felt his face flush once again at the slow once-over he received upon the—cheetah? leopard?—hybrid's awakening. Did this guy have no sense of privacy? His shirt could hardly even be called that anymore; it was riddled with burnt holes and other tears and blood from his crash-landing. It didn't do its job of covering him up very well, needless to say. The same could be said for his pants, though thankfully nothing too compromising had happened to those. They'd sorta been turned into capris though, as most of the cloth below mid-calf had burned away along with half of the skin that was now showing. Thank gods for coarse leg hair, right?

He shrunk down a bit under Caspian's sleepy glare, but only for a moment as he then started to sit up. His wide-mouthed yawn was pretty adorable, even with the added detriment of kitty morning breath. Dirk had only just now noticed Caspian's lack of a shirt, and damn was he noticing it. He didn't care much where the shirt had gone, only that in its wake revealed quite a sight for sore eyes. This guy was so chiseled it wasn't even funny. Even he, with his bird metabolism and occasional workout, still had a bit of chub on his stomach, but Caspian was all lean wiry muscle; it was like he didn't have a single ounce of fat anywhere, at least not on his torso. He didn't realize he was staring until the other spoke up, and then it was with a stutter and a heavy blush that he answered.

He raised his gaze to Caspian's forehead, not exactly making eye contact but close enough. He paused to let the other boy situate himself, then started speaking awkwardly, "W-well, uhh, y-yeah. Firs' things first, I'm Dirk." He held out his hand in an offering to shake. Without even waiting for their hands to meet, he rattled off a few of the more prominent questions in his mind. "Why were ya followin' me? What possessed ya t'stop when I fell? Why would you even wanna help me, we don' know each other."

orz this is so short and bad but i lost my muse like halfway through so you get this

[bee]

(dude it looks fine you shush)

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Ｃａｓｐｉａｎ
leopard ♛ eighteen ♛ 6'0 ♛ tagged; Dirk has risen the beast
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- ☓ -
▉ ▉ ▉ ▉ ▉
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Off in the distance, there is resistance
Bubbling up and festering
Hey Mr Motion, make me a potion
Shake it all up with your mystery

How come I've never seen your face 'round here
I know every single face 'round here
A man on a mission, changing the vision
I was never welcome here

We don't have a choice to stay
We'd rather die than do it your way

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the staring nothing but interested Caspian, and he gave a quick look down at himself, wondering what the hell this boy was ogling at. just his average everyday stomach, what was so worth gazing at. the boy didn't even seem to know he was looking so awe-struck at his shirtless self until Cas spoke up. it was then that he seemed to regain himself, and with his enhanced sight he could spot the reddest blush spreading over his cheeks. this really did engross the leopard 'brid, he wanted to know what was so distracting. and embarrassing. embarrassing enough to flush and turn the color of his vibrant hair. lastly, Mr. Blush wouldn't even look him in the eye. he'd glance everywhere but his pale blue hues. his feline senses picked up a pounding heartbeat, louder stronger than usual, and the obviously flustered appearance of this mystery kid. what, were his decent muscles too distracting for even guys? the thought made another smile twitch at his lips, and he tried to force it down by glancing at the grass below him.

Cas tilted his head in an inquisitive way to the side, big camberidge colored eyes focusing on redhead's darker ones. finally, he spoke up. Dirk. that was a nice name, Caspian liked it. the outstretched hand was stared at questioningly for a moment, a brow lifting. what was he doing. oh, yeah, a handshake. a greeting used by normal people. erasers and scientists at the school rarely did that, they just addressed him by his name and carried on with their life. no physical contact. before Caspian could even reach forward and grasp the arm offered to him, Dirk was spurting out questions. why, what, another why. those black and white ears flattened again, lips pursing as he took in all those stuttering sentences. okay, explanation time.

"You were the nearest experiment when i escaped the facility. i saw you flying and figured why the hell not. plus you were smoking, that didn't look good. might as well keep alive another mutant like myself." Caspian allowed himself to take the hand and give it a gentle shake as he spoke. that spotted black rosette tail strayed from it's curl around his lap, allowing itself to sway over the grass like it had a mind of it's own. "being that you were my navigator, i guess, seeing you fall was a little shocking. i was used to following you, so seeing your north star fall right out of the sky like a rock, a first instinct is to go see what happened, right?" fingers were run through his hair to straighten it before he continued. "oh, seeing a cutie just flop out of the sky, i had to be his knight in shining armor, you know? complete with those nice cuddles, hope you enjoyed them." the devilish smirk pried on his mouth again at the teasing. "mutants stick together, i guess? how should i know. would you rather have had me leave you there to bleed out, bird? not even a thank you? how incredibly rude. he really didn't know why he'd been in such a panic to save the dude.

Dirk was, honestly, attractive. bright abnormally colored hair wouldn't normally be a thing for Cas, but hey, it looked fine on the avian. cobalt blue hues somehow mixed well, don't ask how. a pale complexion wasn't bad. nor was the fact that he didn't have what you'd call muscle, his nice face made up for it. not that he was having an anime moment where when they see a cute person eyes suddenly sparkle and water like damn glitter glue and nosebleeds suddenly spring up out of nowhere. he just silently noted that this kid wasn't bad looking. that wasn't the end, Dirk owned a pair of undeniably gorgeous dark brown wings, decorated with shades of black and white dapples. if Cas were to ever play for this team, he may be into this redhead. the sight of the burned and tattered clothes and injuries made him feel horrible, like he should have cared for them better. he was working with what he had.

"why didn't you...follow your bird friends? they took off right after the building went up. saw a group of four or five leaving."

[tavros.]

ᴅɪʀᴋ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴀ
ᴀɢᴇ - 16
ʜᴇɪɢʜᴛ - 5' 9"
#ᴛᴡ: #ᴄᴀsᴘɪᴀɴ, #2ʟᴀᴢʏ4ᴛʜɪs
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Barely a moment passed before Dirk dropped his hand back into his lap, inspecting the spots on Caspian's tail with great interest as he listened to him speak. He couldn't really tell whether or not this guy was kidding. The snark seemed to be built into his personality, the convoluted metaphor/simile combination sounded so natural coming out of his mouth that Dirk hardly even noticed there was anything strange about the sentence, and the blush-inducing flirtatiousness all made for a really confusing atmosphere. He just couldn't get a good read on this guy. Not that he was the best at reading people in the first place, but usually he could at least try. With Caspian, he didn't even know where to start. When he said something about leaving him there to bleed out he immediately felt the need to apologize and thank him properly, but he kept on talking so all Dirk got out was a stuttered, "N-no! Uh, thank-" before he was cut off.

The next question caught him off guard. Why didn't he follow his friends? Looking back, he thought he'd seen them flying off the way he was going, but... they must not have been as injured as he was. He was behind them, they didn't notice him and just kept on flying, so he fell behind. By now they could be anywhere. A group of four or five... who all was with them now? There was Ren, Jinx, Athena, and Hiro who were definitely in the sky, along with Storm and Damon probably following them from the ground. If there were five people in the air in all, who else was with them?

Dirk organized his thoughts in his mind before replying. "Well uhh, I def'nitely tried t'follow 'em, but y'know, if this is a pain in the ass now—" he gestured to the makeshift-bandages covering his burns and cuts "—you can imagine how debilitatin' it was when i'was fresh. I couldn' keep up with 'em, not with the way I was hurtin'."

[bee]

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Ｃａｓｐｉａｎ
leopard ♛ eighteen ♛ 6'0 ♛ tagged; Dirk has risen the beast
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Off in the distance, there is resistance
Bubbling up and festering
Hey Mr Motion, make me a potion
Shake it all up with your mystery

How come I've never seen your face 'round here
I know every single face 'round here
A man on a mission, changing the vision
I was never welcome here

We don't have a choice to stay
We'd rather die than do it your way

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honesty time, Caspian had no plans for helping Dirk. he hadn't been expecting anything in return, nor had he had a strict reason for saving him before he bled out. maybe it was one of those lame 'do whats right' instincts some people gained over time. that and, yes, having humans see a winged teenager that had been seemingly torn up and torched had no upside. on the news, in the papers, on the internet. more revolting scientists pecking at his body like hungry birds, collecting information from him. no, that's not what the leopard wanted. leaving someone to die was merciless, and he tried not to possess that trait.

he listened to Dirk's words, sky filled hues following his movements. it was a predator's habit, noticing every little thing about the lesser creature. the possible twitching of fingers, the words he spoke and the tone he used, if he stuttered, if he faltered. his heart rate was even more fascinating, if Caspian angled his ears just right he could hear the faintest thump-thump, thump-thump pattern. where the other's eyes had been focused, currently on his spotted tail. it was all neat, and he liked noticing simple things.

sympathy wasn't a mode Caspian enjoyed switching into, but maybe he should play around with it for a moment. his brows furrowed, and he let a moment of silence pass between the two of them. "they were scared. and one of them, the one with the black wings? he didn't want to leave, he was yelling about something and trying to dive back to the facility. the other ones had to pry him back and smack some sense into him. sounded like he'd forgotten something, was missing someone. you, i'd suppose." he let his eyes flicker down to his hands, fiddling his thumbs in his lap. "excuse me for trying to nose into your private life but...where you, ah, close to them? rumor has it you betrayed the bird experiments. that's why i've seen you roaming around freely."