II

[notzubats]

Who: Sora Niniji
Broadcast: Text, Fleetwide!
Action: guess
When: Today

Hpyothe-

Hypothetickca-

Hyptoomedical

Question!

if ur in a tree & theres a bear at the bottom. a mad bear.

what do u do?

[a beat before the next part is added]

just curious.

Comments

[notzubats]

[Whoa. Sora's heard of healing skills before. But they were supposed to be pretty rare gifts. To see it first hand- to watch the scratches close up and fade away...well, he can't help but stare in awe a little]

Whoa...

[When it's done, he looks up and around, as if he's trying to look at Dezel. He doesn't of course, he still can't see a single thing]

Thanks! That's really cool!

[sylphystia]

[He can tell Sora's trying to see him. He figures he might as well help. He reaches up and concentrates on his hat... which is now visible as a result.]

There's no mirrors around, but maybe this'll help.

[notzubats]

[!!]

[Well hey, that sure is a floating hat! He grins, even if it's hard to see through his gas-mask.]

Hey! That helps!

Nice hat!

[sylphystia]

[Sora can't see it, but that gets a fangish grin out of Dezel. Normally people start screaming. He can deal.]

Thanks.

[See, he's really not that bad. Just likes his privacy.]

Ready to go back to the ship? I'm not sure I trust you around the local wildlife.

[notzubats]

[Yeah well when you already know about the invisible crewmate and the invisible crewmate just flew you off trees- the hat is kinda not at all freaky.]

For the record, I'm not usually this bad with animals. [But yeah he's moving to stand] Though yeah, I think I'm ready to go back now.

[sylphystia]

[True. Sascha was just an idiot.]

Sure you still want a pet?

[notzubats]

Well....


Maybe not a bear. [Ha ha]

[sylphystia]

Try to keep it shorter than your knee.

[He shoves his hands into his pockets as they go. It looks like Sora being escorted by a floating top hat. No big deal.]

[notzubats]

[The knee? But come on with how short he is, that's nothing more than a house cat]

What about the waist?

[sylphystia]

We're talking about a pet, not a mount. How do you expect to control something as big as you are?

[o u c h. Dezel is six feet so he can say that but it's still mean!]

[notzubats]

[Ruuuude but honestly he's pretty used to short remarks, so he don't even react]

You don't control them, you befriend them! It's not difficult when you can talk to them.

[a beat] Recent bear incident aside.

[sylphystia]

[Hold on a second.]

You can talk to animals?

[That's rare and very interesting.]

[notzubats]

Sure can.

The ship's rats really like you.

[sylphystia]

[Dezel halts for a moment. NO ONE ELSE WAS SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT HE WAS FEEDING THEM AND NAMING THEM AND PETTING THEM? WHAT THE FUCK.

After a moment he gathers himself.]

Rats are social animals, and they need companionship to be content. Their eyesight is poor so they use their whiskers to navigate and they never forget a path.

... My augment is tactical. We both know the ins and outs of the ship.

[notzubats]

[TOO BAD DEZEL. Marked for tsundere.]

Really? I guess you have a lot in common then!

[...wait.]

Uh, I mean that in a good way!

[sylphystia]

[Luckily, Dezel doesn't really take offense to that.]

Yeah. We do.

[He clears his throat.] Rats have their own societies right beneath human civilization. People can learn a lot from the animals they live with.

[notzubats]

Well sounds like you've sure learned a lot from them. [Since man you're like a walking nature guide]

I'm still learning stuff. The whole talking thing only started about a year ago, along with some other powers.

[sylphystia]

I like animals.

[He says this coolly and unironically. Just try to make fun of him. JUST TRY.]

You weren't born with the ability? What changed?

[notzubats]

[Lucky for Dezel, it doesn't even occur to Sora to make fun of him. Animals are cool!!]

No, I wasn't. They came after...[He hesitates, biting his lower lip] Well, it's a bit of a long story, really.

[sylphystia]

[10 points to Gryffindor.]

I don't have to know. [He doesn't say he doesn't want to, because part of him is curious. But he knows how humans are about their secrets.

He could just not say anything, and he's okay with that, but he thinks of Sorey and Rose and... he owes it to them to try a little.]

... I couldn't always read the wind.

[notzubats]

[He's relieved by Dezel's response. It's not that he wants to keep it a secret. If anything, he felt like this was a place where people would believe his past. It was more...it wasn't an easy night to talk about.]

[Fortunately, Dezel gives him a topic change before he can dwell on it too much]

Really? So did you have to learn or did it just come to you one day?

[sylphystia]

[Dezel is good at dodging conversation. He just stops talking.]

I've always been able to feel it and use it, but I never had to depend on it. My abilities weren't anything to write home about.

[He glances down in Sora's general direction, not that it's easy to tell.]

And then... one day, something took my sight.

[notzubats]

Really?

[He gives a sad look in the direction of Dezel (thanks floating hat). He knows Dezel has mentioned not being able to see before...but Sora had kind of figured it went along with the whole spirit thing. Like they didn't see in the same way that humans did. But this sounds more like it was something done to him. And even if he did strengthen his ability to read the wind from it....it's still sad to know Dezel went through that kind of pain.]

[Which is he curious what took Dezel's sight? Of course he is. But Dezel respected him about his own story, so he's not about to ask Dezel to share his story if he doesn't want to talk about it.]

I guess...a lot of powers come from bad things that happen, huh.

[sylphystia]

[Maybe later. That whole story isn't something his best friends know. Someday he'll tell them instead of some asshole purple-haired goth girl wearing no clothes.]

Yeah. [That's a good way of putting it.] But I'm thankful for what happened. It made my connection with the wind that much better-- and it spurred me on. [Even if, to a degree, it was for a false reason.] It gave me something to move toward rather than wandering alone in my misery. That wouldn't have helped anyone.

[He still regrets a lot of things. It was his fault, absolutely, but he would lose his sight all over again to keep Rose.]

[notzubats]

[Wow...]

You're pretty incredible, Dezel. [And like everything Sora says when he's not being a little shit anyway, it's sincere.] I wonder if I'll ever think that way someday.

[He doesn't now, that's for sure. He didn't hate his powers, bu...if he was given he choice between his home and his powers? He'd choose to get rid of his powers in a heartbeat.]