(no subject)

[awakenerd]

Who: anyone
When: day 57, afternoon
Where: anywhere it's a mingle

[This is a mingle but there is a comment in a Chain Chat to the whole train!]

Rean: A while ago some of us were discussing a festival where every team puts on a production, game, booth, whatever, maybe based around team bonds or interests.

What do people think? Maybe it's a good time to to talk about it again?

[Feel free to discuss with each other! Or just mingle as usual.]

Comments

In the Lounge, a memory

[featherbeaned]

[ ✫ She's in a cell … or maybe a tank would be the more accurate description, with one thick glass wall looking out into a much larger room. There's not much to it: a cold metal floor with no nest to speak of, and two metal tubes, both attached to what look oddly like futuristic over-sized hamster bottles — one contains water, the other a viscous green slop. That's it. That's all she's got. It's nowhere near big enough for a creature her size, 6'6" at the shoulders and with a wingspan of over 25".

✫ The room on the other side is much more spacious. It's a lab of some kind, not that she knows what a lab is. Very high tech and futuristic. Sometimes she's alone. Sometimes Mysterious People wearing masks stand there and stare at her, tapping on handheld touchscreen devices or talking to one another.

✫ Or, she thinks they might be talking to each other? She can't hear anything at all outside of her tank. Can't understand where she is, or why, or what's happening. She's confused and scared and she's angry. And … tired.

✫ She spends some time clawing at the glass, which does nothing. She spends some time slamming her tail against it, spikes-first, which does nothing. She headbutts it, grinds her horns against it, slams her whole body against it. Nothing leaves so much as a scratch. Exhausted, she slumps into a corner and tugs uselessly at the thick collar banding (too tight) around her neck. ]



[ And Meri just ... stares at the screen, her ears back, her usually expressive face indecipherable ]

Re: In the Lounge, a memory

[schrodingerscockroach]

....

[Well, shit, that explains her enclosed space thing.]

Meridian? Meri?

[featherbeaned]

[ Draws in a sharp, inhumanly hissing breath, her head tilting towards him - though she doesn't actually look at him. ]

I'm. Outside. I'm going.

[ Right now. Between one breath and the next, she's back in her true form, as large as she can be given the train's limited space, and she all but runs for the door. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

Okay.

[Will follow, but giving her some distance.]

[featherbeaned]

[ She reaches her full size the second she bursts through the door, and launches into the air without missing a single stride. Up, up, up, higher, faster, powerful wings working furiously.

A loud, echoing cry escapes her, raw with frustration. ]

[schrodingerscockroach]

[....well then.]

[He will slow down as he sees her take off and he will just....watch. Since he can't exactly fly after her. Let her get it all out, and just make sure she doesn't go TOO far into danger territory alone.]

[featherbeaned]

[ She doesn't go far at all — her circles are tight, looping around the train — except when she's going up. She swoops, dives, flings herself headlong into aerial tricks that sure look like they could end in disaster. ]

[ None of them do. ]

[ When she finally lands, some twenty minutes later — she's just coming out of a spinning dive, levelling out at the last millisecond and coming to a running stop a short distance away from him — she's panting hard. ]

Re: In the Lounge, a memory

[malignstar]

... Guess you used to be a lot bigger.

[featherbeaned]

[ She doesn't look at him, her ears pinned flat and her hands clenched into white-knuckled fists. She takes a breath - and it's more than half a hiss. ]

Outside. I'm going. I'm going outside. [ Without waiting to see if he follows, she turns and just goes. ]

[malignstar]

[ Well, he is going to follow since he's concerned and all. ]

[featherbeaned]

[ Sorry she's not much in a talking mood just yet, she's got energy and fear and anger to burn first. She's in her dragon form before she reaches the door, and by the time she's launched herself out of it and straight into the air, she's bigger, the same size as she was in that memory. ]

[ a few furious beats of her wings sees her high above the train, roaring her frustration into the sky. ]

[malignstar]

[ You know, despite the whole having wings thing, he's going to give her her space to do that.... ]

[featherbeaned]

[ thank u felix, you're a bro ]

[ She's at it for a while, swooping and diving, spinning a truly impressive aerial display. It'd probably be really cool if it wasn't coming from a place of fear and aggression. ]

[ But eventually, she cools down. Works it out of her system. Her final trick is to plummet like a stone, down down down, dangerously close to crashing, until at the last second she swoops level and runs to a stop. ]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Well, that's some kind of nightmare fuel alright. ]

...Damn, that's pretty terrible.

[featherbeaned]

[ IT'S SURE SOMETHING. ]

[ She startles at the less familiar voice, both ears jumping up. Even her hair seems to bristle, and ]

[ she actually hisses at him ]

[ sorry crow ]

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow raises his hands so she can see them. ]

Whoa! You're safe now, I'm not gonna hurt you.

[featherbeaned]

[ hhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiisssss — ]






[ but she does actually look at him, and after a couple of seconds she settles. kinda. ish. for a very loose definition of settles ]

... Train. Right. [ there's a rough edge to her voice, like a hint of a growl. ]

[bad_crowmance]

Yeah, train. I know, it's a terrible time to get to know someone.

[ Right after a bad memory, he means. ]

[featherbeaned]

[ yyyyeaahhh ]

I need to ... go outside. Fly. Now. You can come?

[ If he wants to. Or not. She doesn't mind either way. ]

Re: In the Lounge, a memory

[beeknighted]

[Mao has never been angrier.


Restraining that for now though, walking up and standing close to her.]

Meri? Hey.

[featherbeaned]

[ One ear twitches, swivelling towards him. ]

… Mao. [ There's a roughness to her voice. An edge. ] I. I'm — outside. [ She needs out, she needs space. ]

[ She takes a step … pauses. Holds a hand out towards him without looking. ]

[beeknighted]

[He stops forward with her, taking her hand and squeezing tight. Outside is dangerous, but Meridian knows that and he's not going to deny her.]

I'm with you. Let's go.

[featherbeaned]

[ She doesn't smile or say anything in response. She doesn't even look at him. ]

[ But she holds his hand tight and doesn't rush, doesn't run, not yet, no matter how much her instincts scream at her to go go go. Mao's with her. That's good. That helps. ]

[ She lets go once they're finally outside, seamlessly shifting from human-shaped to her true, significantly more massive, self. All of her feathers are bristled. All of them. ]

Will you wait for me? On top of the train? Safe there.

[beeknighted]

[Walking with her at her pace, he's worried but she'll deal with it as she needs to. Mao is keeping an eye on her, and nods when she asks him to wait.]

I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere, whatever you need.

[featherbeaned]

[ Leans down her head to nudge it gently, affectionately, against his. Thank you. ]

[ And without another word, she's gone, taking one running leap and launching into the sky. This is what she needs — wind in her feathers, freedom, the thrill of adrenaline as pulls trick after trick after (possibly death-defying) trick. It clears her head, lets her breathe again. Up here, like this, she's the one in control. ]

[ Nothing else. Nobody else. ]

[ By the time she comes down to land nearby, some twenty minutes later, she's panting hard. ]