Rowan on the Wing (rowanonthwing) wrote in downfallrpg, @ 2010-05-23 08:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2015-09-06, rowan, taylor |
Feelings of Freedom
Who: Taylor and Rowan
Where: The roof
When: Mid-afternoon
Taylor was more than a little winded by the time she made it up the stairs to the roof. She didn't know what she was thinking, coming all the way up here. All she knew was that between being sick and just generally being afraid of what was out there, she had to get out and get some fresh air. She hadn't been up here since her picnic with Mini a few days ago and was starting to get cabin fever.
The little meeting they'd had earlier didn't exactly make her feel any better. Four of their little group, including Tayne, were still missing from the other night, and 2 more people weren't doing too well at all. She didn't feel like she had much right to complain about her spider bite after she'd heard what had happened to them. There was talk of a rescue party, and while she wanted to help out, she wasn't entirely sure she was healthy enough to really be of much use, especially after getting worn out by climbing the stairs.
All that melted away, though once she opened the door. The air didn't feel like it used to, and while the smells of death were fading, they were still there. But feeling the light breeze on her skin and the sun on her face made her feel better than she had in days. She stepped out more fully into the sunlight and smiled, feeling alive.
Rowan was already out there, nearer to the edge, leaning on the wall that kept people from being able to jump off. He stood with his wings half-spread, mostly because folding them over his back hurt after tearing the scabs open again the day before, and his gaze out towards the mall where Verity was. Where he hoped Verity was. Part of him wanted to dwell on Liah and how awesome that was, but the rest of him felt a little guilty for feeling anything positive at all while Verity was missing.
The sound of someone coming out onto the roof behind him-- he knew the sound of that door well, since he used it so often himself-- made him half-turn, but it wasn't Liah or the kids or even Terry.
... shit, what was that girl's name? He wasn't sure he remembered.
Taylor opened her eyes... and was immediately surprised by the sight of someone with wings in front of her. Rowan, she thought she remembered his name was. Even though she was aware of someone with wings in their little group, it was still kind of impressive to see up close. He looked like he was... waiting on someone? Maybe he'd made plans to meet someone up here. "I'm sorry," she said, a little embarrassed. "I didn't mean to bother anyone. I can go, if you're waiting for someone." The last thing she wanted was to be in the way.
"Hell, all I'm waiting for is being able to fly again," Rowan snorted. "Come up here if this's where you wanna be. I won't stop you. And hey, company might be nice so I don't wind up deciding I should fly anyway, even though I shouldn't." One wing opened fully and made a clumsy sort of beckoning motion. "Though you gotta remind me what your name is. I, uh, kinda forgot...." All he remembered was the french accent, the general face, and her size. Nothing else about her.
Taylor smiled and stepped a little closer. "T'anks. It's Taylor, by da way. I just been feeling a little cooped up lately, what with being sick and all. Stupid spiders," she said, absently scratching at the last remnants of the rash on her chest. She looked at his wings. "Why shouldn't you fly? Did you 'urt your wings or somet'ing?" They seemed all right, at least.
Sick? Rowan hadn't heard much about the sick, mostly just what Terry had said about the-- oh, the spiders. That had gotten Landon and what's her name, C-something. Right, right. "Uh, my back, actually. Got clawed up by some monster a few... days ago. Several days ago, actually." And then he broke it open again the day before. Just peachy. As antsy as he was to get back Verity, and rain retribution down on whoever locked him up, it was probably a good thing Terry had made them wait a day to prepare. Maybe by tomorrow, with some application of that aloe shit he'd been using on Liah, he'd be a little more flight-worthy again.
Taylor inhaled sharply. Having seen some of the monsters that were out there, she could only imagine actually being clawed by one. "Dat sucks. If I 'ad wings like dose, I know I'd 'ave a 'ard time keeping my feet on da ground, even if I'd been 'urt." She looked at the wings, trying hard not to seem like she was staring. "Did dose 'urt? When dey started growing in?" She imagined they would have to have.
Finding he kind of wanted to talk about it-- it'd been long enough, and it was neat to have someone interested-- Rowan answered, "They kinda came in all at once, but I ached like hell for a day or two after. I think they came from everything scraped inside my bones. I'm hollow now, I think, or at least a lot lighter than I was." Otherwise he had a feeling he'd never get off the ground, or his wings would need to be a hell of a lot bigger.
Taylor was very intrigued by how the wings had come in, and she definitely would've taken a power or whatever that made her lighter. "Wow, dat's kinda neat, dough." It was interesting how few people had actually physically changed with all of this. "I don't t'ink anyt'ing changed with my body, at least. My reflexes did, dough. As long as I see someone do somet'ing, I can do it. Which makes me kinda wish I'd paid more attention to all dose Bruce Lee movies, eh?" she added with a laugh.
"Reflexes're part of your body, aren't they?" Rowan pointed out with a little grin. "So, what, if you saw me fly, you'd be able to? That's no fair, I spent way too long learning to let someone else get it the easy way." Of course she wouldn't be able to, and he knew it, since she didn't have the necessary extra limbs to do it. He was joking with her, since hey, joking was easier than most everything else.
Taylor laughed at the thought. "I don't know if I'd go dat far, unless I could flap my arms or somet'ing." Although admittedly that would be very cool if she could do that. "But if you knew kung fu or whatever, I could do it after I saw you." After watching the important parts of The Matrix on her computer the other night, she had to admit, she kind of felt like Keanu Reeves. "Watch dis." She ran towards the walled side of the passage that led to the stairwell, ran up it a couple of steps, then did a perfect backflip off of it, landing on her feet. Thankfully, unlike the movie, she didn't get kicked in the chest as soon as she landed.
Glad he'd gotten a laugh, even if the joke was probably pretty stupid, Rowan turned around, spreading his wings more fully to lean back on the wall instead, so he could watch. The feathers, shifted just a little, protected the bandage under his shirt from too much pressure. He was getting better at situating the big things, he thought....
The sight of the big girl doing a backflip made Rowan stare. "The hell'd you do that?" he demanded. Even at his own personal best, he didn't think he could do that, and he had muscle!
Taylor smiled proudly. "I don't know 'ow I did it, but I saw it done in a movie once. I just picture dat in my mind and some'ow my body just knows... what to do." It still amazed her that she was able to do all these things that there was no way she should be able to do. Luckily, she'd always been a big fan of action movies, so she had quite a few things in her "moveset". "Dere's a lot of other t'ings I want to try doing, but 'aven't really 'ad the opportunity to yet. Usually cause dey involve other people." That was another reason she was sort of eager to go on any search parties that might be put together. She kind of wanted the opportunity to stretch her limits, see what she could really do.
"Well, don't use me, I'm injured!" Rowan protested, holding up his hands laughingly. "I bet my wings would totally throw you off, anyway. Can't find anyone who'll let you practice with 'em?" He supposed without, like, lots of padding and stuff, nobody'd want to be thrown around or hit. What she needed was some kind of martial arts guru to play with, who could defend himself, he figured, not some random person who couldn't even fall down without hurting themselves.
"Oh, don't worry. I wouldn't want to take on someone 'oo wasn't at full strength." She chuckled. "At least, not in practice. In a real fight, anyt'ing goes, eh?" That was how it had worked in wrestling tournaments at least. "And da wings would definitely make it different from fighting someone wit'out dem. But if you want to give me a shot when you're back to full 'ealth, let me know."
She leaned against the edge of the roof, looking out over the city. Every now and then one could still hear or see a monster, and there was still smoke rising from a few places in the city, but overall it looked almost... peaceful. "You know, from up 'ere it doesn't look so bad, really."
Rowan snickered at the idea of Taylor even attempting to beat him up. Part of him warned that over-confidence when you had hollow bones was pretty stupid, but there was teenage pride to consider, too. So maybe he'd even take her up on it-- when he was healed up enough. He turned again, himself, to follow her gaze. "You looked out at night, at all? Pitch black 'cept for the stars. It's so weird." Rowan had never had the benefit of much camping, so it was an entirely new experience for him, being so without the bustling city lights brightening up the sky.
"I know, right?" Taylor said, still looking out over the city, the wind blowing her hair a little. "I guess dat's kind of what it looked like years ago, back before we came in and messed it all up." Other than the occasional glow of a fire or something, the nights were almost eerily dark. "Only one other time I remember it looking like dat. My moms and I went on a cruise a few years ago. It got really cloudy one night, and you couldn't even see stars. It seem like we were da only people on da planet den. Us and da people on da boat." It had been creepy back then, but somehow, now that she was older, it wasn't quite so bad.
It was hard not to be jealous that this girl, this pampered French girl or wherever she'd been from, had been on a cruise. Rowan had never even been on a boat. He had to remind himself, just then, that nobody was going to be going on any cruises for a very long time, if ever, and in the case that someone did, Rowan would have as much chance as the next person. Hell, they could probably fit the entire remaining population of the US on a cruise ship, now....
"So we messed it all up, huh?" he asked, mostly rhetorically. "With all our lights and our cars and our technology?"
"Well, maybe messed up was a poor choice of word," Taylor said with a shrug. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love all dat. 'Ell, I still love my computer, and keep 'oping sometime I'll be able to charge 'er up again." Along with her iPod, her phone... Taylor had to admit that in some ways she was a slave to technology. "But I don't know if you ever been camping or anyt'ing like dat, but dere's definitely somet'ing simpler and more refreshing about it when all da distractions are gone, eh?" She looked at Rowan and his wings and smiled. "Sometimes, I used to imagine dat's what flying is like."
"Well, flying is definitely awesome," Rowan agreed with a little grin, "but I can't really compare it to camping. Never been." Combination of lack of interest, in his family, and lack of funds. Renting a tent and getting sleeping bags for a family as big as theirs would've been insane, and way beyond anything they could afford. He shrugged it off. "Always been a city kid, I guess, so having the city be all... off has been somethin' to get used to, that's for sure." Along with, you know, the monsters. The lack of electricity was a pain, sure, but it would've been a hell of a lot easier to adapt if there were still regular animals, not crazy predator monsters.
"Me too. Well, if you can call Flint a city, anyways." She wasn't entirely sure about that last part. "I just got lucky and we were able to get out now and den." She stepped back from the ledge and absently kicked at some of the loose gravel on the roof. "Speaking of, I wonder if we'll be able to get out of 'ere eventually? Not dat I mind, you know, being alive and all," she added quickly. "But I don't exactly like da idea of stayin' in a 'otel da rest of my life."
"I get out every day, yo," Rowan said with a cocky sort of grin. "You know, when I can fly." He flicked a wing, looking up at the sky wistfully. "But yeah. I figure... you know. Once everyone's used to whatever, once we've got things figured out, and everyone's all, like, trained up in how to defend themselves and find what we need to get by-- sure, people can leave whenever. People can leave whenever now, if they feel they can get by out there." That was how Rowan saw it, anyway. Of course, he wasn't doing a whole lot at this point to really try and learn... but he had a little girl to worry about. He'd keep his home base for a while longer, at least.
"Suppose you're right about dat," Taylor said with a sigh. "I mean, I guess it's not too bad 'ere, all t'ings considered. But yeah." She picked up a rock and tossed it over the side, hearing it clang off something metal down below. Probably a car or something. "How far do you t'ink you could fly, anyways? Before you 'ad to land?"
"Dunno," Rowan said, scratching his head thoughtfully. "I've gone for a good couple hours before, but that was a lot of circling around an' shit. Never tried goin' straight out, and back, and just... timin' it. Didn't wanna be caught outside somewhere, an' make my kid sister and friends worry 'bout me, so never really tried stretching it. Haven't left the city yet, at all-- just been to the suburbs, is all." It was an idea to try out, once he was all healed up, they had Verity back, and maybe Liah could bike it with him, or something. Just one full-day trip, maybe, before the cold really set in. They could get a shit-ton of stuff, going out further from the cleaned-out town, he bet.
It made sense that he hadn't fully tested himself yet. Here it hadn't been more than a couple of weeks, really. Considering how long it took baby birds to learn to fly, it was amazing he'd done as much as he could. "I think I remember your sister. She's the one with the extra arms, right?" Taylor vaguely recalled thinking that with her arms and tail she was kind of like a little monkey. "How's she holding up?" She could only imagine how something like this was for a young kid.
Expression going serious again at the thought of Juniper, he shrugged a little. "Not sure... she doesn't talk about it. When it happened, or anything, or much about the rest of the family, from before." But then, neither did he, and when he did it was still in the present tense. "She has nightmares that she doesn't remember in the morning. But otherwise, she's kind of the same as she always was.... Frustrated with the arms, though. Heh. She's not all that coordinated yet."
Taylor had to smile a little. "Dat's okay. I only got two arms and I'm not too coordinated myself!" She knew there were a couple of kids in the hotel, as well as a couple of babies. Thankfully, they wouldn't remember what had happened, although it would definitely be different for them growing up. "Well, if you ever need someone to keep an eye on 'er while you're out flying or just want some time away, I'd be more den 'appy to do it. I use to babysit all da time back 'ome." Taylor had always enjoyed kids. They usually seemed much less judgemental about things like weight or accents.
"Well, sure," Rowan said, with a surprised little blink. "If I ever wind up with nobody to look after 'em, that'd be fine... Liah comes with me outside, some. Though when we find Verity and bring him back, there's always him, too...." He trailed off with a frown, looking away again in the direction of the mall. "Wish we were going today," he muttered, his wings giving a sharp twitch.
Taylor nodded. She was worried about them, particularly about Tayne. She knew him the best and they'd become pretty good friends over the past couple of weeks, ever since he'd kind of rescued her when she arrived in town. "I know. If I wasn't still feeling a bit sick, I'd be 'alf tempted to go out anyways." She sighed. "I really 'ope they're okay, dat it's not'ing too serious keeping dem away." She knew the reality of the situation, though. If there was any way for any of them to get back, they would have by now.
Privately, Rowan thought that anything keeping Verity from his brother for two days had to be pretty serious, but he wanted to be hopeful, too. He wouldn't think of anything like his friend being dead. It wasn't possible. He just shook his head and focused back on the rooftop, leaving aside staring uselessly in the direction they'd gone. "We'll get them back tomorrow. We've gotta. Jasper'll be... I don't even wanna think how Jasper'll be, without Verity."
"I know you will. And if you need a little back up," she shrugged and kind of trailed her toe in the gravel, "let me know. I know I'm a little young, but I know 'ow to use a gun if I need to." She'd talked about it briefly with the big guy, the preacher, but he hadn't seemed interested in taking her along. She wasn't sure if it was because of her age or her gender, but she chose to believe it was her age.
"Pretty much up to Terry who goes," Rowan shrugged. "Though hey, anyone who can backflip and knock somebody out like in the movies would probably be useful." He was of the opinion that the more of them went, the better, but he also understood-- sort of-- that Terry didn't want to risk a ton of people. A ton of people made a bigger target, and then half the hotel'd be empty again. He almost didn't care, though. He wanted Verity home. "We'll see what he says."
"Well, we'll see what 'appens," Taylor said. There was a part of her that was still apprehensive about actually being on the "front lines" of a rescue mission. She still wasn't too sure about her skills with a gun. "'oo knows? Maybe it's not'ing, dey just got lost or somet'ing." She gave Rowan a hopeful smile. "Maybe you won't 'ave to do much at all beside just fly dem out of someplace."
"If that's the case, we're in trouble," Rowan said wryly, grinning some. "I can lift myself. Somebody else? Not so much. I might be able to carry Juniper, maybe, if I weren't all cut up. Somebody as big as Ver' or that tiger-guy? So way, no how. I'd just have to lower ropes and tie them to something." Though he could do that.
"Well, good luck, either way," Taylor said, returning his grin. "I t'ink I'm gonna go down and find some food. I'm feeling a bit more like eating now, and what I 'ad earlier seems to be staying down." She started heading towards the door. "If I don't end up coming along, good luck, and stay safe, okay?"
"Thanks," Rowan said, shifting so he could face outwards again once he saw her off. "And you, good luck, uh, keeping the food down." Even if it probably wouldn't hurt her to shed a few pounds... probably by the end of winter she'd be skinnier, he guessed. Hell, really... they probably all would.