:035:

[paintitgray]

(radio memory)

[The memory begins softly - the unfamiliar voice of a young girl, plaintive and frightened.]

Are we...not human?

[The voice that answers is, unmistakably, Kurayami's - but calm, gentle, detached, perhaps a little melancholy at most. The tone of an authority figure.]

Nobody knows what we are. For now, we call ourselves the [

Comments

Affirmative! [quicklog]

[seeya_next_life]

[Axel doesn't like to use the corridors to show up in crowded places, because they tend to make people uneasy. Plus Kurayami is about the last person he wants to use them in front of, so he portals to the edge of the bridge to Wellspring and hoofs it the rest of the way. Jogging up to the clinic, he glances around but doesn't see her, so he'll just fold his arms and lean against the building and wait for you, Wings.

Don't be too long; he'll never admit he's actually kind of worried right now.]

QL

[paintitgray]

[It takes her longer than it ought to, to get out of the house. There are a few other people clamoring at the radio, and then she finds herself sort of...standing there, holding her jacket, and realizes she's not sure how long she's been doing that.]

[With a growl, she shoves her wings through the flap and her arms into the sleeves and bangs out the door, stopping only to lock it behind her. The walk to Wellspring passes in long jumbled moments of wind against her face and the hollow rhythmic sound of her feet on the rope bridges. Finally, the clinic looms up in front of her, and...there he is, red hair blazing.]

Axel. [She slows to a stop, looking up at him. Her hands are holding shut her jacket - she hasn't realized yet that it isn't buttoned. There's something lost about her eyes.] Sorry I'm late. I...

QL

[seeya_next_life]

[He shakes his head.]

Nah, I was just early. [He can tell there's something off, but despite being incorrigibly candid a lot of the time, he knows that there is a time and place for bluntness, and this probably isn't it.] So what's up? It's been a while...

QL

[paintitgray]

[A faint laugh slips out of her at that.] How can you be early for... [She stops, checks herself, presses her lips together. He's trying to save face, that's all. Let him.] Nevermind. There's...not much up.

[Awkward pauses. She swallows.] So, did the ice cream melt while I was taking my sweet time?

QL

[seeya_next_life]

Nahh, I didn't get it yet. [He waves a hand.] I mean, I wasn't sure what flavor you wanted.

So, how've you been? [WTF forced smalltalk? Come on, Axel, get to the point.] I mean, you've been pretty quiet recently.

QL

[paintitgray]

[She shrugs one shoulder.] I've had a lot on my mind. [A few things in particular, in fact, and one of them is throbbing in her brain like a pin at the moment, pushed in harder by the echo of that girl's voice...]

[She takes a deep breath, then turns and nods at one of the paths leading into the woods.] Walk with me?

QL [pretend i don't fail at life.]

[seeya_next_life]

[He doesn't respond verbally, just falls into step, half a stride behind her. It's obvious enough she's got a lot on her mind, and that memory was certainly good enough reason to be preoccupied, but Axel of all people understands that sometimes people need to be silent more than they need to talk, and sometimes just proximity is enough to untangle the snares in one's head.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he just moves silently alongside her, waiting for her to serve the ball.]

QL [haha, ♥♥♥]

[paintitgray]

[When they're a distance from the main path, and when she's been watching the sky between the trees for some time, she clears her throat.]

The radio...

[She hesitates, not sure where to go from here. Licks her lips.] I knew that girl. I...think I know what happened to her.

QL

[seeya_next_life]

Oh? [He looks at her then, brows lifted curiously.] What do you think it was, then? [His voice is prodding without being demanding--he's genuinely curious. Kurayami is always sort of half-shrouded in questions he wants to ask her but never quite finds the words.]

Re: QL

[paintitgray]

[If her arms have tightened around herself or her wings have drawn in close to her body like an uneasy bird's, she hasn't noticed. She's still staring up at the branches overhead, and her feet keep the steady walking pace without faltering, but her voice is hollow.]

She was getting her wings.

QL

[seeya_next_life]

[He rubs his chin, thoughtful for a moment, then chooses his words carefully.]

So you think everyone from your world has wings? [He really can't imagine what process of evolution would grant otherwise perfectly human folk with vestigial wings, but...]

QL - I am still trying! XDD; Midterms happened...

[paintitgray]

I don't know. [She chews her lip for a moment, considering that.] Maybe. I remember how it happens, when...if you get them. Part of it, anyway...

[She shudders involuntarily, and resettles her wings against her back- the memory is making the roots of her feathers itch.]