( VIDEO. )

[descry]

[ river is wrapped up in a blanket, and all you can see is her face. but it's obvious she has wings today, same as everyone else - you can see the shape of them, an outline, under the blanket. they look... sharp. very unpleasant. river doesn't look too good herself. she's sickly and fidgeting and her eyes are flitting downwards constantly. ]

It's an invasion. She didn't authorise this change, it just went right down to the bones and it - it took. Won't go away. It's not my place to change it. Just - an alteration. Altercation, on our insides. [ she pauses and frowns. ] It's rude.

None of us are angels. [ falter. ] Oh - there are. There's exceptions, but not to us. We weren't made for these. Icarus should have known sooner.

Don't be scared, it says. It's only a magnification. A change of state, gases and solids; liquid nitrogen as it hits the air and you can see it now, but I was looking all along because I can't stop. Can I - [ her gaze drops again. ] I like to see them. Your outlines. Can I?

Comments

[video]

[croibhristeoir]

Outlines?

[He looked curious, paying more attention to her than to the charred and slightly bloodstained gray wings coming from his shoulderblades.]

[descry]

There. [ she leans forward, holds the blanket tighter around herself with one hand, and with her other hand she traces her index finger around the shape of where his wings are on her screen. ] It has relevance.

[croibhristeoir]

Hm, do they? [Diarmuid turned slightly, enough to get a better look at them over his shoulder.] I can't claim that I gave their appearance much thought past 'it's just another virus'.

[video]

[hasbottombunk]

[Rory just has a pair of simple, white, feathered wings. However there are spots where several feathers are missing.

Aside from that, have his usual look of concern.]

River, are you alright?

[descry]

[ she runs her finger over the image of his wings, and lingers on the places where there are absent feathers. ]

I'm exposed. It came as a surprise.

[hasbottombunk]

You've got wings too, right? Does anyone with you know about it? Your brother?

[video]

[greeneyed_demon]

[Hakkai has wings as well, but his are small and withered, and long broken past healing.]

Are you alright?

[descry]

She's causing such a fuss. [ she walks her fingers up the side of the screen and brushes her thumb over the image of his wings. ] I'm less right. I don't like the implications. The imprints.

[greeneyed_demon]

Is there really a 'less right'? We are what we are, after all.

[ video ]

[stillneedawish]

... eh? [ she's not sure she understood most of that, or even if she feels completely at ease at the message. but it didn't seem like it was doing harm. right? so she turns slightly so her back can be seen, and the pair of bright wings stretching out from them, shining a soft pink. ] You mean these?

[descry]

[ a sharp intake of breath, and she... sways unsteadily, struck dumb. she looks as if she's going to lean forward and reach out for the screen, but she ends up shrinking back, into the safety of her dark blanket. ]

Those. She outshines the sun.

[stillneedawish]

[ she looks a little worried at that - she hadn't expected that kind of reaction, let alone for someone to shrink away. and so she reacts as she would any time, turning back so it's her face being displayed, her wings behind her now, fluttering anxiously. ]

E-eh? I'm not - I'm sorry, were they too bright for you? I can't really see them myself so I can't tell properly, but um. I'm really sorry if that's what happened!

[ video ]

[loyalbound]

... I suppose you'd see these better in the daylight.

[ and daylight it is, since he seems to have opted for getting lost inside the junkyard surrounding Bobby's house today. though really, he's more concerned with her appearance. her wings. why she's hiding them. he thinks he can guess. ]

It's... not a good day, is it.

[descry]

[ she immediately recoils further from the screen, and her grip on the blanket covering her goes white-knuckled. she tries to keep her voice level, though. ]

I can still see. [ she pulls a face, and her tone is self-deprecating. ] Days is too large a unit of time measurement. My grip isn't enough. But this is worse.

[loyalbound]

[ he catches the action, and even as it gives him pause he reminds himself: if she doesn't want them seen, he won't ask. but why the reaction to him in particular? ]

I imagine the community's only exacerbating matters. [ pause. ] Can I do anything?

[text -> video]

[docfoul]

Since you asked so nicely.

[And, well, since he's interested in what she knows, and all - but it's not like he's going to mention that.

Scratch turns the video feed on. His wings look soft - in fact, they're as plushy and white as most of his body - and they bear some resemblance to those of an angel. As much as plush wings can look like that, anyway.

Invisible to the naked eye, another pair lies dormant deep within them, demonic and most definitely fleshy.]

[descry]

[ she jerks back violently from the screen, wide-eyed - partly an instinctive reaction to him, and partly because of his wings. she can't see what she would were it in person, no, but she can feel it with her eyes, knows there's something there that's not right, there always is with him. all she knows is bad. ]

Lying is a sin.

[docfoul]

I never lie.

[Video]

[thekidsare0kay]

Huh? You want to thee our wingth?

[He's got bee wings, barely visible in the screen]

Are you okay?

[descry]

[ she brushes a finger over the small part of wing that she can see on her screen. ]

Insectoid. Apoidea. [ her eyes dart around, searching, and she frowns. ] It's drawn from somewhere else. There's fortune here, too.

[ she retreats after that, runs a hand through a side of her hair and closes her eyes. ] She's not all there. Missing bits today. There are leaks.

[thekidsare0kay]

[He shifts and turns a bit, so she can see the wing better]

I don't really mind it. I like beeth...

Ith it becauthe of your wingth?

video;

[artfulironicist]

Icarus was an overconfident dumbass who couldn't listen to some simple directions. Daedalus did just fine with his wings because he didn't overheat them and melt the fucking wax.

[He shrugs and turns slightly, spreading his wings so she can see them. They're plush orange fleece and felt, stuffed structured wings that function like they're alive, even though they're made from cloth. He's wearing one of his black tanktops that he's hemmed the back of so that it won't fuck with his wings.

You can see his tattoo. It's a creepy tattoo.]

I think any analysis of these would be pretty straightforward, but what do I know.

[descry]

The story was for Icarus. It has a limited perspective. He could have fallen. Worse. He could have flown and had delusions of grandeur. Lost his mind. Too hard to hold onto.

[ she tilts her head. ]

They're of personal significance. You're not damaged.

[video]

[lockon2urheart]

[it's not hard to get that she doesn't like her wings, although he doesn't have any notion of why that might be specifically. but if it makes her happy to see other people's, he's doesn't mind obliging. not that his are something he's particularly proud of, but hey, it might make her feel better to see that not everyone's wings are angelically beautiful, right?]

As far as viruses go, this seemed like one of the least invasive to me. A little embarrassing, maybe, since wing grooming isn't something I really know how to do, but it could be worse, right?

[a little somewhat-sheepish grin, and he's twisting a little and arching his wings to give her a better view. They poke out of the old T-shirt that he cut holes in for them, mostly a pretty nice, earthy green. But the arch of the wing bone and the flight feathers look...stained, really, by what might be recognisable as black ash. You might also be able to see that quite a bit of of the underlying featherdown is streaked through and blotched with blood-red. But hey. They're mostly a nice green, right?]

[descry]

It pulls. Some of them can't see, but it sneaks into your head and takes more than you understand, too much. I saw it. Watched it thieve and it spreads them out as offerings. [ her own wings clink feebly under the blanket, but she's watching him, running a finger along where she can see imperfections on his. ] The bomb wasn't the end of it. There's been more than that. Not all yours. They believe in equivalence so they pay blood for blood, but it never ends, not that way.

[ a pause. ]

Irish?