Not the best time for interruptions (MiatheRabbit)

[Anonymous]

Demya was standing on the roof, at the very edge of the building. Her body was tilted forward, wings closed and an expression of intense concentration on her face. As she ruffled her wings she lost balance slightly and had to readjust herself before turning back to her work.

She was well aware just how vulnerable she was in this position. She was using so much energy on her task that she only had a slight amount left to detect anyone's presence. A well shielded mind would easily sneak under her psychic radar and surprise her, and she wouldn't have enough wits about her to defend herself. That was the type of concentration she was forcing on herself; it wasn't easy either. Having the attention span of a willy-wagtail and the patience of a hassled magpie in laying season did not make this easy. The only reason she was able to last this long was because she was using her magic to do something good for the Earth.

If anyone had been watching her, they would have found something quite interesting about Demya's appearance (other than the fact she was focussing on something): she was wearing the top half of her uniform and there were no vines about her body, not even a tiny tendril of energy could be wasted on her adornments. The reason was somewhere off in the distance, in the direction of her focused gaze.

Beyond the human produced mass of smog and pollution that surrounded Haviah was a large speck of grey-green. It was small enough that it would not be noticed unless you knew it was there but large enough that it was obvious what it was. Demya was doing the only thing she could: the reason she had let herself be caught by the Pilots, the reason she was trying to be good to the point of wearing clothes and asking the Director of Candidate Affairs for help. The jerk hadn't even replied. It seemed that nobody replied to anything around here.

Demya was straining herself now. She was at the limit of what she could do, which she hadn't forced herself to do in centuries. One thing was certain: when she let herself feel it, she was going to the worst migraine since she'd fought with her sister. That had been one bloody battle and it was something she didn't want to repeat. Major ouchy, not good.

She could ask someone to teach her to remove pain rather than delay it but that seemed like the coward's way out. She would block the pain, not let it get in her way for now and experience it when she had the time. She would not let anything get in the way of her task: humans, pilots and especially Victor or Mara would not get in her way.

Stupid Mara. She'd actually wanted to be his friend and now he'd proven himself to be just as bad as all the other humans she'd met. The worst part was that he'd returned the feather she'd given him. She could have eventually accepted that he didn't want to  be her friend but to return something as symbolic as a feather was cruel. It was cruel to ask for it back and it was cruel to return it; it was not something to be done lightly.

Demya had seen him in the corridors occasionally. He had looked so woeful that she had been tempted to go up to him or ask Arka about him, at least until she remembered what he'd done and got angry at him again. At least she'd remembered to set her blocks up sturdier when she thought he was around. It would have been cruelty to let him feel such wrath, not even the feather-returner deserved that.

[Anonymous]

Mara was used to candidates failing and being whisked away to TRIM and to not really having anyone to talk to for long before they were kicked out. It did seem that if Mara befriended anyone they tended to fail. He guessed it said something about him and the type of people he made friends with.

     This was actually one of the reasons he returned Demya’s feather. It was partly out of spite, partly because she had been complaining on the candidate blog about giving him one and him returning it and partly to sever the tie and at least not make her chances of becoming a pilot worse. From the attitude she showed towards the pilots so far and the fact she attacked her mentor, it didn’t really bode well.

     However Mara couldn’t help thinking about her. He felt guilty even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe he could have made more of effort to make her see he hadn’t read her mind or not simply walked away. He was surprisingly stubborn and it really got in the way sometimes. It was that stubbornness which stopped him from talking to Demya whenever he saw her in the corridors. Despite the size of the ATC; passing her in the corridors had become a painfully common occurrence but today he hadn’t seen her at all. Not that he was complaining.

     Sighing, he shifted his ever-present guitar on his back and began climbing the stairs up to the roof. There was a nice view of Haviah from it and it was where he went to write songs usually. Today it was just to sit away from the noise of the rest of the facility.

     When he opened the door onto the roof however he was met with an unwelcome sight; Demya perched on the edge of the building looking unusually focused. Even stranger was that she was actually wearing her uniform and no plant life.

     It was a shame to break her from such rare intense concentration but Mara wasn’t going to read her mind to find out what she was doing, she probably wouldn’t notice but that was what had started the problem in the first place. And Demya being up on the roof, not flying and actually dressed in her uniform was a little suspicious. So he simply asked.

     “What are you doing?”

[Anonymous]

The magic Demya was using fizzled inside her mind and died. Demya's hand went up to her head and she rubbed her temples and she groaned. She'd expected her magic to last a little bit longer but she must have been too out of practice. It had been a long time since she'd needed to use this much energy. She had hoped to stem the pain until she got to her room too, though that was a different type of energy from where she got her magic. At least the pain wasn't intense. She could probably block it off but she would not have anything at all to defend herself. She frowned at thought about it when a familiar voice made her startle and flap her wings. After using so much energy, her head spun a bit and she had to use her wings for balance.

“What are you doing?”

All the things she had been thinking about Mara flooded into her mind before she could block herself. She hadn't expected anyone to come up here, there never was. Oh great, not now. Why did he have to choose now to show some spine? She straightened herself up and tried to look like nothing was wrong. No, she didn't look suspicious at all.

She tried covering herself in some sort of vine, just so she looked like her normal self, but she didn't have the energy for it. Ouchy, ouchy, ouchy. Not good. She hopped off the ledge, flapping her wings and crouched into a "sitting" position before replying to him.

'I'm bird watching! What do you think I'm doing? I'm perching on a ledge trying to think. What are you doing here?' she snapped. She finally managed to block the pain and strengthen the shield around her mind. It wouldn't do much good though, if he had already done a slight scan since her magic had fizzled, he'd know what she'd been thinking about. Not only would it be cruel for him to know what she thought, but it would also be embarrassing for him to know just how much she thought about him.

'Is there any reason you came or are you checking up on me, Pilot?' she paused because she'd forgotten his last name, she'd always just considered him as "Mara, a friend" or "Mara the human" rather than "Mara the Pilot". 'I'm not breaking any rules so you can't do anything.'

Curse this, I have to be good if I'm going to pass. If I can handle the uniform, I can handle talking to this jerk. She managed to salute him but that was all her pride could let her do right now. No matter how sad he was she still couldn't forgive him for returning her feather. To her that meant total disownment, even her sister hadn't done anything like that after they'd fought. I don't have to like him, just be nice. I can do this.

Without her realising it, her talons scraped across the re-enforced concrete. At least it meant she wouldn't have to worry too much about filing them later. If he stayed there long enough they'd probably be scraped down to the quip; it would take several hours however, her talons weren't that weak.

[Anonymous]

It seemed Demya hadn’t heard or even sensed him approach so was visibly startled when he spoke. Well if she would sit on a ledge like that, if she didn’t have wings she would have wished she had.

     Also whatever mental blocks she had been using before suddenly broke. And if he hadn’t been a gentleman and actually put up his own mental block so he couldn’t hear them her thoughts would probably have been very audible. She seemed unusually tired and lacking energy today. What had she been doing? Surely not just thinking?

     “I come up here everyday,” Mara replied to the harpy’s question, “And I didn’t know you were up here.”

     He didn’t bother to remind her that he wasn’t allowed to discipline another Pilot’s candidate, she might be tempted to push him off the roof and it was a long drop to the ground. Not that something like that would kill him and it would earn Demya a one-way ticket to TRIM. Aedolis did not look kindly on those who killed pilots, or attempted to, which was why her outlook was rather bleak already.

     “I know you’re not breaking any rules. In fact you’re being strangely obedient what with actually wearing your uniform.”

     When he said that he didn’t want to sound harsh or accusing, he just said it as if it were a statement, just an observation.

     He was a little surprised that Demya saluted, which in his view made him think she did hate him or worse nothing him, maybe to her he was just another pilot now. Her talons were also creating quite impressive gashes in the concrete roof; it was probably the harpy equipment of clenching fists.

[Anonymous]

Demya flicked her fingers through her red and gold hair and bit back the urge to tell him that he shouldn't be a Pilot if he couldn't see where he was going ahead of where he was. She didn't need to start a fight with a Pilot and she would not even have the slightest chance of being able to defend herself if she did.

'Very well. I'm not finished thinking so unless you order me to go away. I will remain,' she said tersely. In truth she was finished and would probably not last long before she needed rest but she did not want to seem to back down from him or that she felt uncomfortable in his presence, which was also true. Seeing him made her both angry at him and worried for him. The clash of emotions just made her surly and unpredictable.

Demya covered her body with her wings, so that only her head poked out. 'I've been wearing my uniform for several weeks now, if you don't mind. I told you earlier that I'm going to pass and if it means being controlled, then I will do it,' she said in an icy tone. It sounded worse when she said it aloud, "being controlled". She was being controlled. Wouldn't it be lovely if her sister could see her now: asking help from humans so they could control her so she could help them. She was as bad as they were, well not quite that bed. She never destroyed the planet.

Now that they seemed to have finished their conversation, she wanted to get back to what she had been doing. Even if she couldn't use any magic at all, she would still be able to watch her vines and sense them. Sensing them used no magic, only focus. If she could still focus it was possible.

Perhaps she could even show that she didn't care if he was there or not by doing a few flying drills. She still had the energy for that, right? She got herself up and went over to the ledge, ready to dive off. She swayed a little at the edge and stretched out her wings, perhaps only a quick flight.

[Anonymous]

It seemed Demya was trying to be obedient now, her attitude towards humans was still very negative though, he hadn’t failed to miss the tone of voice she used when saying the word ‘controlled’.

      “Stay then,” Mara replied stoically as he sat on the edge of the building, he’d just try and ignore her and if she did try to kill him then she’d pay the price.

     Demya then climbed up to the edge as well, obviously prepared for a flight. She swayed very precariously though and didn’t look like she even had the strength to fly for too long. In fact she would probably drop right out of the sky.

     Just as she was about to dive Mara stretched out his hair to pull her back.

     “Are you stupid or do you have a death wish? If you go flying now you’ll probably just end up falling and going splat on the pavement!”

     If he had to do what Tenebrous did to stop her being so recklessly stubborn then he would.

[Anonymous]

At the first touch of Mara the feather-returner's hair, Demya tried to use her vines to pull them off. All that happened was that her temples started hurting again and she had to strengthen the hold over her pain. She didn't have any magic left so she was stuck with struggling. She hopped back of the ledge and hissed. 'I would appreciate it, Pilot, if you didn't touch me,' she squaked.

'I am not stupid or want death. I am a harpy, flying is what I do. That is with your permission,' she said in a icy tone. 'Thank you for your concern but I am neither your candidate nor your friend so you have no need to care about me. You have already made that obvious.'

Demya crouched to the ground, to proud to admit that it was because she was tired. If she was tired it meant that Mara was right, and she was too angry with him to think that. Still crouching she stared at the far off haze of green. Let him think that she was thinking and he could go back to whatever he wanted to do. It wouldn't bother her, she would not let herself get upset at his presence. I mean nothing to him, I won't let him mean anything to me.

[Anonymous]

Mara guessed, by the fact she was struggling against his hair rather than using her vines to free herself, that Demya was tired. Which again made him wonder what she had been doing, he doubted it was treasonous though. She just seemed to be staring at something in distance, but since he couldn’t see anything significant he assumed it was something small that only harpy eyes could see.  

     He removed his hair on her request but he had no intention of leaving until she did. She might try flying again and with no-one there she probably would fall to her death.

     The next thing she said hurt, he hadn’t caused their argument; she had with her stubbornness and paranoia.

    “Is this still about ‘reading your mind’?” Mara asked angrily, “First of all I didn’t and if you had the energy to use your psychic abilities I would let you search my mind and see. Secondly you’re a pilot candidate and whilst I would never read your mind without permission the others pilots would but I doubt you would hate them as much for it? So what really is your problem?”

[Anonymous]

Grrr! She couldn't outright ignore him if he talked to her. What really shocked her though was the amount of anger in his voice. Yet again she was tempted to ask Arka about him.

'Reading my mind? I didn't say anything about that! I wasn't even thinking it,' she huffed, refusing to look up at him. If he had a problem with that, he could say something. Her feathers moved uncomfortably, as though they couldn't sit still. If he had tried to get into her mind he could have broken the other blocks, the ones holding back her vine-overuse hangover. Now that he had mentioned it, she checked her mind-blocks. She still didn't entirely trust him.

'I don't like anyone reading my mind without my permission but other pilots didn't pretend to be my friend. Other pilots didn't claim I hate my sister. Other pilots didn't return a feather!' In her anger she tried to summon vines around her legs, nice big spiny ones that poked away from her. It was a silly thing to do but her vines were so engrained in who she was, she didn't always think before using them.

Instead of the vines, she got a nasty pain to the head that made her shudder and blink. She brushed her hair with her fingers in an attempt to hide the fact that she was rubbing at her temples.

[Anonymous]

[OC Tired when I wrote this, hope it doesn't suck too much]

“Excuse me if I’m not familiar with harpy etiquette,” Mara said standing up, “And you said you hoped your sister was dead. To me that doesn’t seem like something someone would say about their sister, no matter what species you are.”

     He hopped down off the ledge, “And I wasn’t pretending to be your friend. I actually like you as a person despite how stubborn you are.”

     Mara wondered if all harpies were like that, but then again their range of personalities was probably as diverse as humans except for a few cultural differences. Even so, he didn’t have any family but he didn’t think one sister would wish death on another unless they hated each other. But then again, who was he to judge, he didn’t have any family.

     From what he had heard, it sounded as if Demya was perfectly friendly towards many of the outcast candidates, such as her room mate a rather shy girl named ‘Vyo’. It was strange that someone like that could want her sister dead and say such nasty things when she was being pig-headed. Still if she did have friends among the candidates, maybe it wouldn’t matter if he just ignored her, even though he didn’t want to do that. As he had said, he liked her, when he met her she had brightened his day and he rarely ever had anyone to talk to. The other pilots tended to ignore him which was fine, most of them were a lot younger from him and their personalities differed a lot.

     Maybe he would be lucky and Demya’s stubbornness would wear off, and maybe she didn’t mean what she was saying. He could hope anyway.

[Anonymous]

(OOC: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO I just lost it. /End melodramatic moment)

No matter how she tried to view it, Mara was right. Maybe he didn't know what he'd done. 'I'm... sorry. You've probably never met another harpy before,' she said, 'but you're wrong about my sister. It wouldn't seem strange if you'd seen her give up. Why don't you understand? Look around! This planet is nothing but a dumping ground for humans.'

Their homeland had been destroyed then later, it had been turned into a rotting wasteland. There were only a few pockets of life left and even they were stunted and poisonous. Anyone to witness it would sympathise with her and her sister. The world was a wreck and watching it had broken her sister. She had given up hope on the planet and had gone into hiding from the world, accusing Demya of sympathising with humans and attempted to kill her. She was either holled up somewhere having nothing to look at but the home she'd given up on or had been captured and taken to TRIM. Either that or she had found a way to die, which really was the kinder option. The only reason Demya could stand to live in this toxic, polluted planet was that she still believed the planet could be healed.

'What are you trying to do?' she asked in reply to what he said. If he had been trying to confuse her emotions and opinion of him any further, he had succeeded. She had no idea whether to trust him or hate him. He'd been so until he'd walked away from her.

Demya lifted her head and looked at him, trying to guess whether he was telling the truth or not. It was all so hard to think about when she was so drained. She didn't think he was so bad as to deliberately come up here to upset her. She wanted to fly, feel the air beneath her wings and forget she'd ever met him. He was lucky, he'd forget her eventually but he'd be stuck there in the back of her mind forever.

Demya crouched there, watching him and trying to make sense of everything. Her shoulders were squared off in an attempt to stop her wings from slouching any more than they already were. She did not want him to think he was getting to her. She wanted to be stronger than that.

Finally she offered him a weak smile, 'you're most confusing friend I've ever had.'

[Anonymous]

For all Mara knew he might have met another harpy in the past but couldn’t remember. He knew he had lived longer than the time his memory spanned but he doubted telling Demya this would make the situation any better. She was immortal so would probably hate the idea that in a couple of hundred years he wouldn’t be able to remember him. Hell he hated knowing that everyone he currently knew he’d forget about eventually. But half the fun of life was meeting new people.

     Mara found Demya’s comment about the planet being a ‘dumping ground for humans’ strange. To some extent that was probably true but there being several humans wasn’t really the reason the planet was dying, it was the way all of Aedolis’ inhabitants treated it, not just the humans.

     “I don’t know about it being a ‘dumping ground for humans’. From what I hear there are more non-humans living here than there used to be. And a lot of them treat the planet just as badly. It isn’t really about humans and nature anymore. It’s about all intelligent life forms. Nature against those who don’t care. Still your sister was wrong to give up,” Mara smiled, “You remember what I told you when I met you, why I chose to join Aedolis?”

     Because they weren’t cowards, but maybe Demya’s sister had had enough not because she was a coward but because she was world weary. Something he didn’t think he would ever experience because of his terrible memory, a blessing and a curse.

     When Demya said he was confusing, he had to resist his automatic reaction to thank her. He liked confusing people generally but he wasn’t trying to confuse Demya. He wanted to be her friend, even if she did hate him or end up failing. If she passed she’d be around all the time and he couldn’t really forget her if he saw her frequently. And if she didn’t…well he’d forget about it eventually…

[Anonymous]

'You're wrong. This isn't the first time the planet's been destroyed. The first time it was humans alone, this time they had help. That's the only difference,' she said. She didn't want to believe that every species had ruined the planet. It made her attempts look too small scale. Her against humans she could handle, her against every thinking being was a little hard to swallow.

'Because Aedolis stayed and fought. If you think that why didn't you go to Teinar?' It had been a decision that Demya had had to make too. Her reasoning had been that Aedolis held more sway over the planet. What Aedolis did, others followed. There was also the dragons and their Pilots, they had the power to change their environment rather than cower below the ground and hope that it all went away. It would be Aedolis that could help her: Aedolis that could save the planet.

She brushed a strand of red and gold hair from her face and asked him again, 'what are you trying to do and why are you smiling at me?'

He hadn't answered her question earlier and she immediately thought he was trying to avoid it. Bah! She was sick of this conversation. She'd proved her point that he wasn't upsetting her so now she could go. If he didn't want to answer her questions properly she could just leave. She hadn't been ordered to stay and she hadn't been ordered not to fly. If it didn't work she'd just soar until she found somewhere to perch.

Demya stepped closer to the ledge and opened her wings. She smoothed her fingers over the inside of her wings, apparently paying no attention to Mara. She flicked her head up to look wistfully at the green dot. Like a mother dove soothing her chicks, a soft cooing noise escaped her lips. For the next five years she would only be able to watch it from a distance and sense it in the back of her mind.

'If I jump, you're just going to do the hair-thing again, aren't you?' she asked.