Fandom Winged

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu shoved his hands into the pockets off his pants as they pushed through the door, and into the outdoors. Although his body was still hot, it seemed that it was either cooling down or his body was getting used to it. He couldn't tell.


He nodded in agreement. "Yeah, or take him on a fly. Then you're completely alone and there's less of an excuse for him not to talk. Risky though, were already on a thin line," He mumbled, frowning at the thought of their freedom being completely revoked. Obviously they were masters of breaking the rules and getting away with it though, since no one knew about their own little adventure last night. "Either way I'm sure you'll get him to spill." If anything, Blaire was convincing. Or maybe she just had a certain way of manipulating Keanu especially.


Eventually, they came to a stop in front of the building where Keanu's class was being held. The bell had rung a while ago, but he had no intentions of walking himself back to the main building and getting some kind of excused tardy slip. Some comprises just couldn't be met.


He scowled at Blaire. "Still not fair. You cheated!" He yelled, but it was too late. Blaire had run off and with a heavy groan, he pushed the doors open.

 

[MagicPocket]

Class dragged along far too slowly. It was torturous. Blaire found herself staring out the window a lot. That or doodling on the notebook paper that was suppose to be for notes. It seemed to last forever, fortunately it didn't and soon it was time for her to head out to the barn. Blaire stopped by the dinning hall first and grabbed an apple for a quick snack.


The barn didn't have desks or lab tables, instead there were mats on the floor and in one corner there was a bunch of gymnasium equipment and other stuff that looked like it could have belonged on a playground. There was sparing equipment and such scattered around. Blaire sat with the assembled Flock. Field Combat was considered an advanced course so only the oldest kids at the academy were allowed to take it. That being said, Brinely, Dallas, and Lillie were in this class, leagues ahead of their peers and even some who were as old as Blaire and the others. The faculty was foolish to deny them at first.


They sat on the mats today in their regular school uniform, usually they'd all change into tee shirts and shorts, etc, but that wasn't always the case. Just last week the class had a scenerio that lasted from Friday night to Sunday morning, they were dropped in secluded, guarded, wooded area where they had to spend those two nights surviving on their own with only the clothes on their backs and a knife. One of the many reasons why there was an age restriction in the first place. Blaire had failed this assignment, however, for flying out of the arena and grabbing a triple decker sandwich from the dinning hall. She argued that she already knew how to survive on her own and had provided for a group of calorie-ravenous kid in the not so recent past. Blaire didn't mind sleeping in the woods, the novelty of an empty belly was lost on her long ago, she would have her sandwich.


When the instructor was ready he taught them about the significance of camouflage and the different meanings of war paint in many cultures. They'd be tested on dressing up and painting their faces so that they dulled the highlights of the face and blended into the environment. The next test would be a simulation in the woods. Two teams, they'd get to use what they'd learned, set traps, detect the enemy, and hide in the shadows. Blaire was ready as usual. The face paints were passed out, Blaire grabbed the brightest colors while some of the other students grabbed muted dull colors that would match the forest.


"A reminder, it's winter out there. There's snow forecast today." The instructor said, a male dressed in black cargo pants and a heavy jacket from the other classes trips outdoors. Another reason for the age limit, they went outside all the time, even in the winter, if they weren't inside practicing. It was called Field Combat not living room combat.


"Oh!" Blaire exclaimed, "Idea, we should paint the markings and stuff like at the end of the Avatar movie!" They already had advantage of experience over the other students, they might as well make it more interesting and level the playing field. She started to rub bright blue into the apples of her cheeks, the bridge of her nose, forehead and the rest of her face, she'd add red, white and yellow strips after.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Callie herself was slightly confused about the war paint. Although it was fun and a nice treat for the Flock, since they were all about getting dirty, it was unpractical for them. Mostly, when they were going to 'war', it was because a group of trackers had sneaked up on them. Rarely did they actually plan out an attack. So really, when would they ever get the time to paint their faces for battle? In the middle of snapping a tracker arm? Eh, anything was possible.


Cans upon can of paint were passed out, and it took all of thirteen seconds before Dally managed to knock a can of neon green down. "Sorry!" He shouted, only half apologetic, but the instructor was too busy explaining to some girl how to blend her markings who looked like she was ready to have a panic attack. Dally dipped his fingers into the paint and immediately started smearing the green on.


"That movie was sick," Keanu commented, painting the skin about his brow a dark purple. The Flock had managed to catch that movie at one of their many rest stops. "We should move to Pandora. Cause everyone else is weird like us, so we'd fit right in," Dally chimed, and Brinley rolled her eyes. "Pandora isn't real, smarty."

 

[MagicPocket]

"Brin, that movie was a documentary. Well, they exaggerated a bit. But it was based off of true events," Blaire told the younger girl seriously as she smeared on white across her cheekbone with her thumbs. She was joking of course but it was fun teasing, she wanted to see if she could convince the younger girl. Their lack of knowledge in most technical things would only help her sell it.


Blaire wrapped and earmuff band around her head. The warpaint was mostly ceremonial, done in certain cultures as like a blessing or something. She wasn't paying too close attention. However, camouflage was a critical tactics, maybe not idea in the midst of combat. It was more for sieged operations or hiding, paint could be substituted for mud or anything that was handy. One would have to be more practical to utilize camou in battle but for today's excersise they were focusing on stealth, so the other students were giving suits with foliage handing off them liberally to disguise the organic shape of the human body. Some were given fatigue and jackets. There was a mix. The flock was given a gray-black mixture. Of heavy clothing. Warm but not too thick to hinder movement. Lastly they were given rubber knives which they would be using in the simulation as their only tool.


"This is so gonna be fun." Blaire said, pulling on a pair of gloves. They'd move out to the woods shortly where they would spread out and begin the operation that would last two hours. The sun was already beginning to set, it would be dark by the time it was over, luckily there was suppose to be a full moon tonight so it would be lighted enough.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Brinley's eyes widened slightly and Dally smiled. "See, we can live there!" He shouted excitedly. Brinley quickly shook her head, dipping her fingers in red paint. "No, cause there's never been anything about it on the news or anything!"


"Well you don't see anything on the news about us, either," Keanu pointed out. He knew Blaire was lying, but he liked messing with the little kids just as much as the next person. This was enough to make Brinley go quiet.


By the time everyone was done painting their faces, it looked like a paint factory had exploded on them. In a neat, strategic way of course. While some of the other students had only a little amount of dark paints smeared across their faces, the Flock looked like a rainbow. But stealthiness wasn't a concern of anyone's.


The group started pulling on their heavy outfits. It was cold out, so no one was complaining. Although Keanu was already starting to get uncomfortable of course. Keanu grabbed his rubber knife and inspected it. "Lame," he mumbled, flipping it over. Knives were perfectly acceptable weapons, but it wasn't his forte. Although he had come to learn that he was rather good at throwing them.


Callie moved in closer to the group so she could talk to them without everyone else hearing. "Who do you think will give up first?" This was a tradition. The other kids weren't used to such vigorous physical and mental activities. "My money's on blonde," Keanu commented, nodding his head in the direction of a short blonde girl in the corner. He didn't know her power, but he had other classes with her and, well...she didn't seem to be the toughest person around.

 

[MagicPocket]

They began to move out of the barn and towards the woods. Blaire shook her head. "I wouldn't be so sure. Sure she seems unintimidating but I'm pretty sure she can shoot spikes from her fingertips."


"What? No way." Dimitri said, popping up out of nowhere.


"Dude, where have you been?" Ethan asked, snatching the words from Blaire'a mouth.


"Eh, here and there," he replied with a shrug. "I bet you my dinner that the chick with the braid will bail first."


Blaire opened her mouth to accuse him of changing the subject when Ethan interrupted. "Totally. She has a twin brother too, they fainted when we did a dissection in Bio the other day."


They heard the instructor's voice say they needed to scatter and that the simulation would begin. "Later," Dimitri called and jogged away with a wave, he had a small can of red face paint, and smeared lines and arrows on his face, rubber knife tucked into his waistband.


Blaire clenched her teeth. It was feeling more and more like her was avoiding her and the flock.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu raised an eyebrow. "Really? That's bad ass." He said, trying to imagine that. It was a cool power, but he was still sure she wouldn't make it through the challenge. She was tiny, fragile looking. He vaguely listened to Callie tell him not to judge a book by it's cover, seeing as how the Flock looked normal themselves, but he just shrugged.


"Long time no see," Callie said to Demitri. It was hard keeping track of all of them at the Academy, but they still almost always met up at least once a day. Demitri rarely showed up in the past few days.


Moments later, the instructor called to split up, and of course, Demitri was the first to bail. Keanu was second. He started walking backwards away from the group. "May the odds be ever in your favor," He called in a high pitched voice, mocking another one of the Flocks favorite movies.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire gave Keanu a three fingered salute then hiked off to find her niche in the woods before the games began. She had gotten to know these woods very well, so she knew the most traveled places, the unofficial paths where the less experienced members might travel. So she began setting traps. He knife was pretty much useless except to attack people, which was what it was meant for. This simulation was to hone tracking and sensory skills more than it was for guerrilla tactics. The flock had pretty much perfected all three, except for Callie. She bossed this kind of stuff as the tracker in their pack of misfits. Her detecting skills were far superior.


Blaire was able to sneak up on a few people and tag them with her knife to the back of their neck. Another time she climbed up a tree and dropped down silently and took them down.


At one point she did hear a startled scream, followed by a shout from another person. Blaire wondered what that was about. She had climbed another tree again when she saw a flash of red. The only red belonged to the Flock. Maybe she could get the drop on them.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Callie started taking down people minutes after the horn went, signaling the beginning of the scenario. This was supposed to last two hours? She'd have to make sure her attacks were more spread out if she wanted at least somewhat of a challenge. While some people stayed relatively hidden and waited for someone to cross them, Callie went full out. She was out in the open almost the whole time.


Keanu was taking a bit of time just trying to get used to the woods. As far as he was concerned, he was at a disadvantage. Everyone else had time to explore the forest. He had been stuck in a hospital bed the entire time.


Still, he managed. Not necessarily good, but he was still in the game. He had quickly learned that some of his spots weren't practical, as a few other students chased after him but he was able to shake them.


While in the high branches of a big oak tree, a flash of blonde caught his eye. He leaned forward just barely to try and get a better look. The girl stopped a few feet from the base of his tree and looked up at the sky. It was the same girl Keanu had bet would be out first. She was still in? Well, not for long. Slowly, Keanu silently shimmied down his tree as the girl began walking again.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Decided to do some updated looks


Callie

Keanu

Brinley

Dally

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire followed the fellow flock member and after a few moments easily identified him as Dimitri from his gait. He was pushing his way through the brush. Honestly, the instructor shouldn't have even let him participate, it was highly unfair with his nature monk voodoo whatever powers. She dropped down silently. He leisurely turned to face her. Dimitri would have known she was there in the first place so if he was avoiding her he wouldn't have allowed her to even see him.


"Yo," he said.


Blaire lifted her chin. "Whasup."


"How many people have you taken out?"


She shrugged. "Eight or nine, I like to watch the rest run. It's nice to be the predator every once and a while. You?"


Dimitri shrugged and tossed his knife in the air, catching it by the hilt. "No one."


Blaire'a eyes narrowed, "What is up with you. You've been acting so weird ever since we got here. The Flock thinks you have cancer or something, like you think you're about to die. Care to elaborate?"


"I don't have cancer." He said rolling his eyes. He looked so strange, the lines of paint giving the contours of his face the illusion of gauntness. His eyes looked dark and it was hard to meet them.


"What then?" She demanded. "We grew up in cages together, you're all the family I've ever known. Is it so terrible to talk to me?"


"Did you ever think that there is nothing to talk about, nothing to discuss, nothing wrong with me. I'm living my life Blaire, you and and flock just can't understand that there's something out there other than us worth waiting for."


Blaire blinked rapidly, her fists clenching. What?


"I'm not avoiding you, I'm ignoring you. Yah, you guys are family and we will always be. But do you think we'll always be together as the Flock. For eternity. Look at Alex, look at how many times we've been kidnaped and nearly killed. One day it'll happen for real. Sure you can survive in a forest for a couple of days, but learn to survive by yourself. The Flock won't be the Flock forever. Give it a rest."


Blaire stood, her mouth gaping open a bit. She turned her head away as he opened his wings, through the slits they'd cut in the back of the jackets, and disappeared through the trees. She sat down hard and leaned against a tree. Blaire rested her elbows on her knees and tore her headband off to run her finger through her hair. She needed to think about what he said.


On the other end of the arena the blonde girl heard a branch snap behind her. She whirled around, a curtain of hair whirling about her face. She saw Keanu and the intimidating purple markings. "S-stay back!" The short girl backed up. "I'm warning you!" She shuffled back another few steps, her boots looking like they were a size or two too big. The girl suddenly tripped on a root. She was wound so tight she screamed in fright, throwing her hands out. Little spikes like needles formed from her nails and shot at him rapidly. "Get away from me!"

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu dropped down to the ground silently and followed behind the blond girl, staying a few feet back. For a few minutes, everything was going good until a fallen branch came under Keanu's boot. He held his breath as the girl swung around.


Keanu raised his hands and took a step back. "Woah, calm down," He tried reasoning with the girl. He didn't plan on hurting her, he was just doing what he was supposed to do. "I'm not going to hurt you." He said calmly, and tried walking towards her again, but she just kept backing up. Eventually, the girl let out a scream as she fell.


In seconds, little spikes were being shot out of the girls fingers. Keanu's eyes widened as his reflexes immediately made him dodge and jump out of the way of most of them. He hissed as one of the spikes grazed his leg, ripping the fabric right off. Eventually, the girl seemed to relax, but Keanu kept his distance. The girl remained on the floor. "Are you okay?" He asked hesitantly.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire sat against her tree, not caring that she was completely out in the open. It was pretty obvious that Dimitri's outburst wasn't just an outburst, that he'd been giving that topic a lot of thought. Jeez, was he a philosopher now? Shit. That was the last thing they needed. But it would explain his moodiness and reclusiveness...


But maybe she should do as he said and give him his own space. Going about and worrying of him to anyone who'd listen, maybe she was smothering him. The Flock had all found other kids they could relate to here, formed friendships and bonds. Dimitri could make as many or as few friends as he like, as far as she was concerned, as long as he knew that the Flock would always have his back, that was the important thing.


As for right now, at that moment, with other players shuffling around in the bushes trying to decide if they should launch an attack or not on the isolated bird-kid, sitting out in the open. All Blaire wanted was for this thing to be over with so she could go sulk in someplace other than the cold, dark woods.


(i meant to send this in on friday lol)

 

[MagicPocket]

Bump

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

"You know, this thing isn't over yet. You could very well be tagged just sitting out here in the open," After helping the anxious blonde girl to her feet and back off into the game, Keanu had started making his rounds again, just looking for an easy target.


Now he was a feet feet behind Blaire, leaning his back against a large tree trunk. He could hear shuffling in the woods from other students but Keanu would be up and out before any of them had a chance to tag him. What he was really worried about was why Blaire was just sitting in the open. As far as he could tell, she wasn't wounded. Was she just taking a break? Well if she was, acting like a sitting duck wasn't smart.


"Are you okay?" He finally asked, and pushed himself off of his tree. He heard more shuffling, like people were ready for an attack on the two easy targets.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire sat with her forehead resting in her hands, tracking the opponent, rustling quietly within the undergrowth, with her ears. She hadn't noticed Keanu at all until he moved and spoke to her. Blaire jumped slightly. Frowning she said, "I hate when you do that." He had an uncanny ability to sneak up you. Even with the bright war paint he melted into the shadows. "And I'm fine." Her eyes scanned the bushes that seemed to catch the gentle breeze more than the others, her gaze cut to the side. On a hunch Blaire added. "My 'left' side is killing me though. You were 'right' about eating too many waffles." Of course they didn't have waffled earlier, she was trying to key him in.


As she predicted, a tongue of black shot from the bushes to Keanu's right, and boy from her left, where Blaire's feigned weak point was. She didn't anticipate whatever power one of the two kids had. "Woah! Switch me!"


In a single swift moment she jumped and grabbed an overhead branch. Keanu could take the weird shadow kid still hiding in the bushes. She swung and landed a solid kick in the middle of the boys chest. He flung back and she forward. Her hand landed on his throat, the other twirled the rubber blade between her fingers and positioned the blade between his ribs.


The kid laughed, a bit shocked. "Nice one. Should have known we couldn't catch you guys."

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

The corners of Keanu's mouth went upwards as he saw Blaire jump at his voice. Although not an actual power of his, Keanu could almost effortlessly sneak up on just about anyone. He could recall numerous times when he would be breathing right down one of the Flock members neck before they even knew he was in the room. It came in handy, most of the time. "That's exactly why I do it." He smirked.


Seconds after Blaire's hinting, a boy shot out from the bushes. He seemed to go straight for Blaire, and moments later another boy came running at him. Already expecting him, Keanu leaned to the side as the boy threw a punch at him, Keanu dodging it without a hitch. Keanu dropped to the ground in a crouch, and immediately swung his leg out, hitting the boy right in the side of his knee.


The boy dropped down himself, and Keanu wasted no time in pulling the boy into a loose choke hold. He pulled himself and the boy up into a stand.


"It was a nice try though." Keanu shrugged at the guy Blaire had on the ground.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire climbed off with a bit of a shove. She wasn't exactly in a great mood and these guys had only irritated her. "Come back when you can put up a decent fight. Now scamper off." The two boys scattered, a startled look in their eyes.


Blaire stared after them then joined Keanu, she elbowed him. "You wanna go someplace else? I'm kinda sick of this stupid game."


It was starting to sprinkle snow again. Her wings shuffled beneath the jacket and unfolded from the slits in her back.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu let go of the boy and him and his friend disappeared back into the woods. The kids were probably around Brinley's age. Maybe they would actually be more of a fight for her. Probably not.


Keanu was staring off into the bushes were the boys disappeared when he felt a jab in his side. He turned to see Blaire. "Yeah, I'm over this whole thing."


He stretched out his own wings and then took a step back, holding out his arm. "Lead the way."

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire nodded and with a swift pull of her wings, she was rushing through the treetops. She stayed close to the tree line, after all their excursions the Headmistress had given them an altitude limit. They could just about fly as much as they wanted, of course the Academy couldn't stop them from something so standard to their nature. She glided to the top of the mountain. She landed at the top of a tall fir.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu stayed a reasonable distance behind Blaire as they flew along the tree line. He let her lead them, and soon she stopped at the top of a fir. He landed easily on a branch close to hers and grabbed another to balance himself.


"So how'd you do today?" He asked after a moment. He hadn't seen a lot of her during the exercise.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire shrugged, her back sliding down the trunk and straddled the branch with her legs. "I dunno, took down a couple of people, tied Brody to a tree, and Dimitri said he wants to go solo for a while."


She looked up to see him giving her a look. Misinterpreting she explained, "He thought he could get the jump on me with a little smoke bomb. So I left him tied upside down to a tree." She said this matter-of-factly.


From Keanu's expression that was probably not the information he was looking for. "Dimitri?" Blaire waved her hand then slumped down to rest her forehead in her hands. "He's going through some emo crap."

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu half-listened to Blaire, his attention easily distracted and focusing on a small rabbit below them. He nodded absentmindedly until there was a mention of Demitri. Immediately he rose an eyebrow awaiting some clarification. To his dismay, Blaire started off on why she tied Brody to a tree and his face fell, giving her a 'seriously?' type of look.


"Well it explains why he's been so weird lately." he mumbled, grabbing a leaf off of his branch and started picking at it. "What do you mean by 'going solo?'" he asked, confusion sketched on his face.


Going solo? Keanu himself had never even really considered that. He had always pictured all of them together, even when they were so old they couldn't even fly anymore. Then again he also doubted they would live that long in their situation, but it was a comforting thought. To go solo would also be dangerous. They were much more vulnerable alone. If Alex wasn't a perfect example of why leaving was a bad idea, he didn't know what was.

 

[MagicPocket]

Blaire shrugged yet again. She looked up at his comment. "Who? Brody? I'd hardly categorize what happened an hour ago "lately"." She looked at him for a second. "Oh! You meant Dimitri again. He said he wants to take a break from the flock, that he needs to learn to survive on his own volition or something. He totally must have cancer.


"I mean, what a terrible excuse. We are the flock because we belong together. That's the way it should be. We watch each other's backs, the people we can put our trust and out faith and our hope into," her voice was steadily rising from a nonchalance to visible irritation. "And after all this time together and everything the Flocks been through together in our lives, he's going to ditch me for a couple of strangers!!" Blaire hadn't realized she'd used a singular pronoun instead of the plural.

 

[iDanceInTheRain]

Keanu listened to Blaire closely. He finally understood what this was all about. Blaire wasn't upset that Demitri wanted to go solo because they all belonged together, she was upset because she felt like Demitri was abandoning her. It was clear that Blaire was closest to Demitri out of everyone, and him leaving would be like a punch to the face.


"Well I personally agree that I think it's a stupid decision," Keanu put bluntly. He turned his body, leaning against the tree. "But you know that Demitri wanting to leave has nothing to do with you. I can't jump into Demitri's mind and figure out why he would want to do this. He has everything he needs with us. Family, love, protection. Sure most of the time we're running for our lives and on the verge of death, but what makes him think things will be any better alone?" he wondered out loud.