in a tendency of grace - flight lessons

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

//for the cdc prompt 'afraid'


It had come to Feza's attention that some people didn't know how to fly. There were those like her who had wings even though their species weren't supposed to have such a thing. Feza, in truth, didn't question that sort of logic. Sometimes things happened. Growing wings was one of those strange events. She remembered when she had grown her own wings. Alone, pained, feeling as if she was going to die. It had caused for her to pass out: lucky that a predator had not come to take her away. Then had come the daunting task of learning how to use her wings. For many moons she had been alone, her only company herself and her kazoo. How that dastardly instrument didn't spell doom for her was equally as luck filled. Her noisy behaviors spelled doom for her if she was alone. Feza had barely even noted such a thing. It didn't matter to her as it wasn't bringing happiness to others. That was all she cared about. It was her one single purpose.

Today, though, she had something a little different planned. The snow leopard was dragging her ever favored cardboard boxes from her home. Stacking them in almost a strange tower. It was surprising how many of the cardboard boxes she had collected. Their height surpassed her roof, surprisingly enough. It was an askew and strange tower, her clambering up and down a few times. She had stuffed them full of packing peas in order to keep them from crumbling under her weight. The weight of someone else, though? It hadn't crossed her mind. It was the norm for Feza to be far too engrossed in her task to truly care about the logistics of it all. Didn't truly matter. It was all in the name of happiness. And this was almost like her kazoo class! She would be teaching, but it wasn't in the early morning. Somewhat. The sun had been in the sky for at least a good couple hours, and so the vibrant female decided that she was set on doing this right now.

"I'm, I'm hosting a flight class here! For everyone that's new to having wings and stuff! I'm gonna- you're not gonna be afraid of going 'splat' anymore after this!" Feza shouted. She was sitting on the very top of her entirely unstable cardboard box tower. It teetered in the wind, but thankfully Feza had enough sense to use something to keep them all together: to no one's surprise it would be glitter glue. Although there was another stick substance in the midst. Duck tape. Vibrant duck tape. It probably glowed in the dark, judging from how those that were in the shade of others did seem to do such a thing. Feza took a deep breath, keeping her smile on her face. This was going to be such a helpful festivity! She was going to help her fellow Tanglers learn how to fly. She was going to get them to banish their terror - which they clearly had - and replace it with utter joy and delight. It was so well thought through, Feza thought from atop the unstable cardboard box tower with no padding but dirt and grass around. The grin refused to leave her face, and her wings neatly tucked by her sides.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY

[wormwood.]

One of the several members of the group that had wings that definitely should not have had wings was Wormwood, Feza's fellow guardsman and a male that had not that long ago had to suffer through the growing of his wings. It had been quite a while now – long enough for him to get used to having the wings upon his back and even learn how to fly and glide a bit – but he had still had them for a shorter period of time than Feza had them. In fact, his wings were one of the first things that most people asked about when he came to the border to welcome them in. Perhaps it was just because of how often he was the first one to arrived at the border to question people, but for some dammed reason it seemed as though he was often being poked and prodded in the extra limbs, with people frequently asking him why he had feathered appendages when he was a lion. At first it had been sort of charming and amusing, and he had chuckled whenever someone had asked, giving them various responses that were only half truths, since honestly he wasn't exactly sure why they had developed himself. At first he had thought that they were a mutation as a result of the radiation that permeated the Tanglewood territory, but now he wasn't so sure, given the strange heavenly dreams that he had been having lately. However, as time went on, and more people ended up asking him about the wings, he felt more and more irritated with every little prod and soft question. He tried not to snap at anybody over it, since it wasn't as if you saw a lion with wings every day, especially when you were just wandering the wilds before eventually reaching Tanglewood. Most of the time he tried to just gloss over the question by waving off the answer, especially since now he had no idea exactly why the wings had grown upon his spine anymore.

Nevertheless, when Feza called out that she was hosting a flight class, Wormwood preemptively felt a very worried frown come to his face, immediately concerned that Feza was about to get several people extremely injured. The male shifted from his small plant monster form into his winged lion form, moving over to where Feza was sitting atop her tower of boxes that was cluttered clumsily together with no safety padding around at all. The frown on his muzzle only grew as he sat down where he was on the ground, calling up to Feza and trying not to sound too judgemental or pissy, "Feza! Are you sure that this little... flight class that you've set up is safe? I don't see anything that soft around here to land on, and you've made a tower that looks like it's going to topple in on itself any moment now..." He grimaced slightly as he pressed a paw up against the base of the tower, watching the way that it shifted and swayed, barely held together by duct tape and glitter glue. It was hardly a good starting platform for everyone, and Wormwood was terrified that it was going to collapse beneath the weight of anyone besides Feza. He then said, his shoulders shrugging a bit as he pulled back from the tower, not wanting it to fall on his head, "Needless to say, I'm not gonna be participating in this class, since I already know how to fly... I can help out if you need anything though. Try my best to make a contribution, although I'm not a great teacher..." He lifted one of his golden and red wings and rolled his shoulders as he glanced around for anybody else showing up, desperately hoping Moth didn't decide to try learning about flying from Feza, since her large jaguar form had wings.

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[arcy]

[align=center]

[glow=#000,1,400]all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

[div style="width: 480px; height: auto; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13px;"]Crowley couldn't fly.
This was not through any fault of his own -- he'd had them for over six millennium, after all, so if he could, he'd have learned a long time ago. It was just -- well. Most demons, when they Fell, lost their wings. But even those that didn't still couldn't - they'd plummet to the ground.
Crowley didn't like to think about it. One thing would lead to another, and then Crowley would be launching himself off of some tall structure, before landing hard on the ground. And, well, Crowley didn't think was a ... terribly productive way to spend his time*.
*which is to say, it hurts, a lot. Not just physically.
"I dunno Wormwood, a little pain might urge them to learn faster," Crowley jokes, trying to fake a lake of discomfort. He doesn't actually care about the unsafe conditions, mind. He just doesn't really like to think about flying. Grin tight around the edges and wings drawn close to his body, he doesn't particularly succeed. "I'll be staying out of it, too," He adds hastily a long few moments later, shrugging. Nobody needed to know the reasons, anyways.

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

From atop her mighty cardboard box tower, Feza could see Wormwood coming from a little distance away. She bit back a sigh of annoyance. Why. Why was it always the one person in this group that tormented her the most was the one that always came to her festivities the first? Was it because they were the same rank? Because he hated her just that much, so that every single activity had to be centered around that hateful relationship. Her ears lowered: and there it was, the criticism. Neverending. It always pricked at her spine to hear of her oversights, to hear into how she'd forgotten one tiny little thing. The big picture was what mattered! This flight class was absolutely perfect, and absolutely nothing was wrong with her. When her weight shifted, the tower rocked beneath her. "Wormwood, it's not nice to doubt the strength of the cardboard boxes. They allow everyone to keep on living. The least you could do is show them some respect. They let me make this tower out of them: I doubt they'll go back on their, on their word and collapse." Her blue eyes looked at the brown material that rested beneath her paws.

Then she heard his comment of offering aid. Her teeth clenched together. It struck a chord with her nightmares, of how her previous position of power had been swiped from right beneath her. Yet again, this was the first time that they'd ever be working together for something, wouldn't it. "Really? You. Want to help me. With something. Great! This is perfect!" A grin spread across her face, and her wings spread from her sides. "What could we use for padding, since you're worried about it? I've got confetti and lots of balloons inside. Haven't tested how well a balloon breaks someone's fall. If you're gonna help, you could go get something that does that, yea? And snacks! I forgot snacks!" The snow leopard's rambling swiftly began to grown spontaneous. She moved to a stand, the tower teetering a little from the swift movement. "I can get snacks later, I suppose, or not at all. But flying does make people pretty hungry. But this lesson isn't about food, it's about flying!" Her thoughts seemed quite a bit more sporadic: they were the common ways that they raced down when she was planning these sorts of things, after all. It explained how she missed the most crucial of details, and only furthered how the snow leopard could babble on and on.

Feza's gaze then looked over at Crowley. Swiftly her mind clamped down on asking into why the other wasn't going to be participating. He seemed to have wings, and they looked fine from all the way up here. The snow leopard had to shrug to herself. "No, no one's gonna get hurt. Wormwood's gonna go get padding and help me teach. That way no one ever gets hurt doing this!" The giddy grin refused to leave the feline's face, and her tail excitedly wagged behind her. Even Feza had enough sense to slow the motion down when the tower began teetering. It didn't deter her - rather, she seemed too deeply enthralled in her thrill to fully grasp the danger of the tower of cardboard boxes she remained perched on.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY

[wormwood.]

It actually seemed as though Feza was listening to him this time, at least in some capacity. She had obviously seemed irritated with his presence when he first approached, obviously annoyed by his criticisms, but he steadfastly ignored the bitter look on her face, simply sighing when she began to speak about how the cardboard boxes "allowed everyone to live". It was absolute insanity, the fact that she thought that the cardboard boxes were gods. He had heard of plenty of strange religions, but none of them were quite as ridiculous as worshipping damn cardboard boxes. In the middle of his heavy sighing, the lion immediately tensed up as Feza shifted upon the top of her tower, the boxes creaking and shifting underneath her and filling him with anxiety. Contrary to what Feza might have thought of him or how he treated her, the chaser did not actually hate Feza or want her to die, which was why the site of her moving around so brazenly without a care in the world on top of the very unstable leaning tower that she had constructed herself. He was sure that he was about to see his fellow guardsman go plummeting down to the earth, breaking her wings and every other bone in her body, and he would have to go running off to go and grab Selby.

When Feza acknowledged him trying to help, he blinked and sighed as she suggested confetti or balloons. Shaming his head from side to side, the large lion rumbled as he eyed the area around the tower, "No... balloons have essentially no ability to catch people when they're falling. That's a very... very bad idea for staying safe. Confetti won't work either. We need, like, mattresses or something else big and soft for people to fall on if they end up plummeting. Do you have mattresses or anything like that with enough support to actually catch any of the people here with wings if they fall? Surely you have to have something in that big store you live in..." He still wasn't sure how safe it would be even if the area was blanketed in mattresses to help people if they screwed up whatever insane instructions Feza ended up giving them. They would be good and cushy support, but Feza was very high up... would they actually be able to stop people from breaking bones? Another soft grumble left him before he glanced over at Crowley, the other winged male also opting not to participate. Worm was pretty sure that there were deeper reasons to why Crowley didn't want to participate, but he wouldn't press it, just saying as he looked up at Feza with tired eyes, "Feza... if he doesn't want to participate, then you shouldn't try to pressure him into it. Hell, he might even be like me and already know how to fly."

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]

[arcy]

[align=center]

[glow=#000,1,400]all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to — ｡+ﾟ.[/glow]

[div style="width: 480px; height: auto; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 13px;"]In a genuinely ridiculous way, the way Feza spoke reminded Crowley of how he'd talk about things he'd miracled sometimes, back in the day. At least part of it -- the other parts of ridiculous. And the tower isn't even miracled -- it's wobbling.
"It's not related to that," Crowley informs Feza, rolling his eyes behind his glasses, because it's not. He can appreciate Wormwood's defense of him, though -- even if it's just so Crowley  doesn't have to launch himself off an unstable cardboard box tower. It's not the worst thing that Crowley's ever launched himself off of, without protection. "Uh, yeah," It's not ... a lie. Crowley knows how to fly -- in theory. He used to be able to.
In any case ... as much as Crowley enjoys some minor chaos, he's got mixed feelings on this one. With the way Wormwood was going on, he doubts anybody is going to get hurt*, so it's probably more about Crowley, personally. What a joy -- he couldn't even bring himself to enjoy this.
*and it Definitely wouldn't matter if anyone DID

[fulzanin]

WE'LL MAKE A WAY WHERE YOU CAN FIND YOUR PLACE
- - - - - - - - - - - - -

"They don't?" The sound of genuine surprise flickered through Feza's words. The mere thought that balloons wouldn't break someone's fall was absolutely absurd to her. Yet it would explain some things, some very splattery things. Her mind swiftly put it to the side, her ears raised to listen further. In truth, she was listening for once. This was something that they, finally, could work on together. They shared the same position in the group. They should be working together. She shouldn't be deadly terrified of Wormwood, and it was so absurd that she was. Silly nightmares constantly tormented her and made her more jumpy than she should be. She neatly tucked that away, too, just like the brief thought of some very failed test flight sessions she had hosted within her home. Her tail swung behind her, rocking the tower a little bit once more. "I do have some bigger balloons. Inflatables, they're labeled. They work, they're built just for bouncing!" An excited grin grew on the vibrant feline's face, kneading her paws against the box she stood upon. She cared not for how it swayed beneath her weight. It didn't matter, because she was way too thrilled.

Of course, it swiftly fell again when Wormwood continued speaking. "Wormwood. Friend." She slowly said, taking in a deep breath. That term sounded absolutely foul for her to use. She emphasized it nonetheless."Did I ask him to partake? No. I was just talking about his suggestion of pain and that I'm not gonna be doing that. I'm not doing bridge science here. Not asking him to partake either. If people don't want to have fun or have other reasons then it's totally cool. Awesome flying lessons are sometimes better observed." The snow leopard's words were slowed down. Her tone was more concise, tighter, more potent. Her wings unfurled from her sides, and she leaped down from the massive tower of cardboard boxes.  The lack of weight seemed to make the unstable tower somewhat less dangerous, but it was still wobbling about in the air. "I'll go get the inflatables. Dunno how we can inflate them though. I'll look for a mattress while I'm in there, too." The vibrant feline's wings flapped rapidly before she reached the ground. She gave her fur a rough shake, then turning and bolting inside.

Feza returned with a couple boxes with fun and vibrant inflatables shown on the side, some massive rolls of bubble wrap, sparkly pillows, and something that looked like a mattress of a sort. She spread them out, likely just to show what materials were present to work with. "So I've got inflatables here, we can probably wrap them in that bubble wrap. I also found some pillows, which we could maybe wrap around everyone's bellies to cushion the fall without having to worry about them landing on the target. And there's a mattress right there. This is the most safety gathered in one place, I tell you," Feza beamed. Sure, the instability of the cardboard box tower was one thing, but her absolute dedication was another. Her parties were without fault, without any harm to be found. There was no flicker of ill intent present on her face, for this to be some sort of elaborate trap to harm her fellow Tanglers. Feza pulled the box open and pulled out the small, compact inflatable. It needed air still, but the snow leopard felt as if it being inflated wouldn't be important. She went ahead and spread the inflatable out, standing proud as she looked at her work. "There we go!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - -
THE EMPTY CHAIRS WILL BE RESERVED FOR OUR PITY

[wormwood.]

At the very least, it seemed as though Feza was actively making an effort to make things more safe for her fellow tanglers, something that made Wormwood's heart warm slightly, since it seemed as though Feza was trying. The older lion definitely noticed as the leopard addressed him with a rather harsh friend in regards to Crowley and his predicament, but the guardsman shrugged it off, finding it very hard to take any sort of hostility from Feza seriously. After all, he had seen how she fought, and he knew that it would be incredibly easier to kill her if he had to – not that he would, contrary to what her dreams had told her, but if she ever got violent, he wasn't exceedingly worried. So, instead of focusing on Feza or what was really going on – Worm smuggly wanted to note that nobody actually seemed to want to participate in her class, but he held himself back from doing so – Worm decided to focus on how he could help make it safer. Everything that Feza had brought out more than likely would be helpful and make good support, but not in its current state, which is why the lion found himself moving over to the pile of supplies and prodding them apart to look over everything, before he heard Feza say there we go. Looking over at the uninflated bouncy mat, Worm shook his head and rumbled as he moved over, looking for any signs of holes or anything like that, "It's a good start, and it's certainly safer than it was before, but it still needs to be blown up for it to provide any actual support... do you have a bicycle wheel air tank or something like that in your building? You've gotta have something like that..."

[glow=black,2,300]THE FREEDOM OF FALLING[/glow]