(open.) take these broken wings and learn to fly

[steler]

CHARACTERS: Kaz Brekker & Open
DATE: during january but before leaving oska.
WARNINGS: None, probably, but I'll warn as needed
SUMMARY: Kaz tries to figure out how to use his new crow powers and mostly fails. It's definitely a training montage.



a. - early january, training center

[kaz receives a scroll that details a new power he's been given. it's still strange to think of all the different kinds of magic that exist, above and beyond what the grisha were capable of and weirder still to think he's been granted a magic no one would ever be able to use at home. but he's not complaining - far from it.

kaz wants to know everything about how to use it. what use was a new skill he was just going to ignore? he reads over the scroll again and again until he's got the entirety of the instruction memorized. he figures someone might know how to do this already, but he doesn't seek out help. he can learn on his own, and that's fine.

once he's satisfied with the concept, he pockets the scroll and heads off towards the training center. it takes him a little bit of trial and error to figure out how to make it actually work, but eventually it creates a nice, chill landscape. a few hills, no enemies. just space to try and make this magic happen.

kaz takes a deep breath and concentrates. concentrates on the idea and shape of a crow. what it might feel like. he concentrates so hard that he barely notices when he manages to make the shift -- only to shift back to human a few seconds later.

time to try again.]

b. - mid january, courtyard.

[a few seconds had gradually become a few minutes and a few minutes had become, well, ten minutes. ten minutes was pretty much his peak right now, but it was a fairly consistent ten minutes each time. it's enough time, that, if he were good at flying it would be all he needs for most normal sorts of break ins. Not the best for eavesdropping, maybe, but there's still time to keep learning.

he's moved his practicing from the controlled environment of the training room to the courtyard. yes, it's a more open venue and he's therefore more likely to be harassed by random agents, but he needs to not feel safe. real abilities had to be good when it counted, regardless of pressure, regardless of audience.

so far, he's mostly been concentrating simply on taking the form, on keeping it. trying to get ever longer intervals. but now, it's time to learn how to really fly. there is, however, one slight issue with that: the crow that kaz turns into has one poorly healed wing. as he gets off the ground, his balance is hard to gain. it's hard to get higher. it tires him out and for all that ten minutes might have been consistent while he was standing still, flying is a whole other concept together. two minutes, three minutes, a little into the air and then he shifts back, falling to his knees in the grass.

kaz doesn't seem to be hindered by this, although he could do with a nicer landing and without the shock to his leg each time but he pushes past it and tries again. one more time, one more time.]

c. - late january - around

[with almost a month under his belt of relentless attempts to get a handle on this thing, kaz is at least finally consistent enough that he doesn't think he'll die trying to get anywhere in crow form, although he does often get flashes of his botched bank job and falling off a roof. he doesn't want to be cautious, but he doesn't really want to get hurt either. practice makes perfect - he shifts into crow form, takes off and flies six feet off the ground, ten feet, fifteen feet before flying back down to make a perfect landing before changing back. The landing is important. Truly, his practicing is much improved now that he isn't coming down hard on his leg.

maybe it'll become useful - but it's still going to take a lot more time before he can hold it consistently for any long period of time. it's unlikely to be the key to any heist, but, hey, dude can turn into a literal crow now. that's kind of cool. kaz thinks so, though he might not ever say as much.]

Comments

B. I was practicing that song just a few minutes ago... :)

[fintastic]

[ The first thing Feferi sees, making her way through the courtyard, is a bird struggling to fly, and it stops her in her tracks. Her coddling senses kick into overdrive as she watches it, waiting to see where it will go and trying to follow along if and when it lands.

When it does land, she finds in its place not a bird, but a human... or something close enough to it. Not that she can really tell the difference most of the time. That doesn't stop her from being concerned, though, and she bustles over, making no effort to keep a respectful distance. She's just right up there kneeling alongside him. ]

Hey! Are you okay?

[steler]

[it takes kaz a moment -- he gasps as the impact runs through him, shooting pain up through his leg but he tries not to show any more than that. showing pain is weakness. weakness gets you killed. it's all very straightforward. but it's a long enough moment that he doesn't realize feferi moves in so close to him and as a result he's shocked to see her close, and moves to try and jump back but mostly ends up falling back on his ass.

none of it is very graceful, but at least he's put something of a small distance between them.]

I'm fine.

[his voice is rough, definitely not fine but it's honestly more about the proximity than the botched landing.]

[fintastic]

Are you sure? That was quite the fall!

[ At the very least, she just stays where she is. She's still staring intently, but at least he's conscious. That's enough to stop her advance, but not much more. ]

If you're hurt, I can heal you.

[steler]

It wasn't as bad as it looked.

[he has a pretty decent idea of what it must've looked like, but he's had worse.]

Thank you for the offer, all the same.

[fintastic]

Uh-huh.

[ She doesn't sound like she believes that at all, but she won't push it... for now. Instead, she straightens up, and holds out her hand, but doesn't move closer, more like a person approaching a skittish animal than a person. ]

At least humor me and let me help you up? I came all the way over here, after all, it is the least you can do!

c

[digiorno]

[There's a bird around with a hurt wing, and it's causing Giorno a fair amount of lasting distress.]

[Here is the thing: animals are, without question, superior in every way to people. Animals are simple and not malevolent except occasionally when addressing their need to survive. For the most part, Giorno prefers the company of animals to people.]

[It makes him sad, therefore, in a childlike way, when he sees a crow in the courtyard over a period of a couple weeks, struggling with an injured wing. He keeps missing it, though; every time he goes out to see if he can spot it up close, it's nowhere around.]

[Eventually, after seeing it moving around the courtyard for longer than usual, Giorno resolves to try a more methodical tack. A few minutes and he's out in the grassy area, setting a plate down on the ground. The plate contains sections of each of the following: grasshoppers, walnuts, berries, and raw shredded chicken.]

[Giorno sits himself down about ten yards away and begins a complicated flower chain consisting mainly of marigolds which spring to life from his fingertips. He's content to wait. For a long while.]

[steler]

[Kaz flies off behind giorno somewhere, at least well out of his range of sight. watches, as he works his flower chain and makes sure his attention is on that or at least on his plate of goods and then he switches back. kaz isn't as quiet and stealthy as inej, as his wraith, but he can be quiet when he needs to be. so using a good measure of stealth, he walks up behind giorno hoping that in his concentration he'll startle him a little.

it's not very fair. it is, in fact, childish. but then again, kaz is hardly an adult.]

That's an interesting assortment you've left out.

[digiorno]

[It doesn't entirely surprise him, sadly, because Giorno is both paranoid and a cheater. He keeps feelers out at all times with Gold Experience, so he knows where living things are in his periphery. However, he thinks the person coming up behind him is just passing by--so his shoulders do stiffen up when Kaz speaks, his breath catching in a moment of shock.]

[Since it's Kaz, there's always some risk. But what he's saying sounds, to Giorno's inexpert ears, like a joke. So when he turns to look at Kaz, it's with a soft, warm, fond smile, bright as the sun.]

Ah. Buon giorno, Dirtyhands. I didn't realize it was you.

There's a bird out here. Corvus corone. It's been hanging around a while, and it's hurt, I think, so I was hoping it would come closer if I put food out. Just so I could make sure it was all right.

[steler]

[kaz sits down in the grass next to him. the spell still takes plenty out of him even for all that he's learned how to do it, and flying on that wing seems to just translate into the equivalent on his bad leg. nothing he couldn't work through for a job, but he doesn't want to worry, right now. he can sit and give his body a rest for a few minutes after the ordeal of a days work of shape-shifting.

it's funny, he thinks, how much giorno cares. he used to feed the crows outside his window, too. and inej had tried the same but he'd warned her against it. against befriending them. it was solid advice. probably more so for giorno than for inej but he doesn't give it now.

instead, curiosity:]

What will you do if you catch it?

a

[endeudado]

[ Jesper would probably show off his new upgraded control over his powers if he had actually given a conscious thought into his fabrikating and realized he had them. But he did get a sweet ton of bullets from Giorno, along with a box labeled "replenishing bullets" which sound pretty damn sweet. He's itching to try em and itching to shoot, well, anything.

Not crows, don't worry, but Jesper notices the place is already set up for something, so he figures the training center is in use somehow. Weird, he doesn't see anyone. Yet. ]

Sweet saints! [ He jumps back. Did that crow just turn into Kaz Brekker? ] Kaz!?

[steler]

[oh...hi jesper...

yeah he was totally going to tell you he had magic. probably. probably at some point before it came into play in a plan.

actually no, no he wasn't. kaz never tells anything until its absolutely necessary. but jesper's been around long enough he probably isn't surprised by that part of this.]

Hello Jesper.

[endeudado]

[ More like never, let's be real here, Kaz. Jesper knows that, it's not like he's bothered by it or anything, he's just... really surprised? Kaz definitely couldn't do that before (or could he??) Nah, he would've used it at the Ice Court if he could.... ]

How'd you do that?

[steler]

Magic.

[it's not sarcasm, it's statement of fact.]

I woke up with a scroll that said I could do it. Which turns out to be true. [#justfuturothings] Not very well, yet. It's a work in progress.

b

[assent]

[ The courtyard is a pretty decent place to go to when her room feels too small. Sonia has been here a few times with others as well, but it's good for solitude. She actually has the magimon app open on her magitek as a means of keeping herself busy, using up candies on the different magimons to level them up. She's actually in her own world at first, concentrating too hard on this brainless activity after researching things for Graham's condition, for the differences that Taxara might present, on trying to research other languages that do not seem to be translated in the library.

Anything to keep her occupied.

It's when she hears him thud down on time that her head snaps up, looking towards the noise. She closes the app instantly, standing up and walking over rather cautiously. She only makes it half way before he's changing again though, taking on the crow form and-- ]

Ah! That is amazing! [ Well it's a good job he isn't truly trying to be sneaky right now because everyone in their vicinity probably heard her. He doesn't have a chance to take flight before she's leaning down to look at him. ] Did you learn how to do this recently?

[steler]

[cover officially blown. remind him never to team up with sonia on a stealth mission.

it's definitely strange, having her tower over him like that. the relativity to people is a thing he's going to have to get used to, but he nods his cool crow head. totally new totally cool.

he doesn't try to talk because crows??? can't talk?? but maybe he can it's a mystery.]

[assent]

[ Well to be fair, in a stealth mission she wouldn't act the same. This is the courtyard in the middle of the base.

She smiles as he nods back at her, responding to her question. It's with that said and done that she lowers herself, carefully twisting herself a little as she wraps one arm around her knees to keep her balance, the other moving to rub the top of his head. ]

It even feels like a bird... truly marvelous!

[ Hopefully he won't peck her fingers off... ah. ]

[steler]

[luckily for sonia, kaz doesn't pick her fingers off. mostly because he's so surprised by the attempt she makes to touch him that he completely loses his concentration and thus the spell and he changes back, falling back and away from her.

which is preferable, in his book. preferable to the touch she'd managed to steal, preferable to her attempts to be near him even if he's in his bird form.

it's stupid, in hindsight. he pets dogs with no problem, surely he, as a bird, could manage to be touched. it wouldn't be the same as flesh touching flesh. but he's so petrified of the idea of being touched that it doesn't matter what form he's in - the idea is too much all the same.

but oh shit now he has to save face some how]

You shouldn't just go touching animals.

c

[winces]

[ there aren't too many animals here, something olivia always found a little disconcerting. then again, given the state of the place, perhaps it would be crueler to wish more animals around. oska isn't exactly the lushest of environments, nor does it really come off as incredibly friendly or nurturing. the few animals she has been able to encounter were either already in the stables, familiars of other recruits, or the errant wild game her lion cub, saffron, has been able to track down and feed on.

it's why happening upon the crow had been so exciting. an animal familiar to her from home, one of a fellow shepherd's more treasured animals (if only for all the pun opportunities it provided him). without much else to do, she finds herself tracking the bird in its flight, which in itself only seems to happen in short, curious bursts. she's managed to follow it all the way to the gardens now, and there around a corner she lingers, peeking out every now and then to keep an eye on it, curious where it might fly to next.

saffron, luckily, has opted to stay in that day. ]

[steler]

[olivia watches long enough that she'll see kaz land and change forms as he does, a perfect landing safe on his feet. which he's really proud of, all things considered. but he's also well aware she's been watching, so he turns towards her.]

You don't have anything better to do?

[it's not biting when it could have been, which is maybe saying something for kaz brekker. instead, it's an actual question born of surprise. surprise that she'd taken the time to track a crow in flight. surprised that she'd watched and followed him all the way to the gardens.]

[winces]

[ hang on, kaz, first let her have a moment to digest the fact a bird she'd been following has totally just transformed into a man. ]

—ohmyGOSH!!

[ she actually jumps back, falling flat on her butt on the grass, eyes looking like they'll fall right out of their sockets from her shock. it takes her a moment longer to even recognize him as the young man who had helped her out briefly on perdition's rest. ]

K-Kaz...!?

[steler]

Hello Olivia.

[he grins because what a wonderful reaction, honestly. but he offers her a gloved hand to help her up out of the grass anyway.]

A

[catphishing]

Did you just--

[It may only be a few seconds, but Oliver still looks stunned by what he's just seen.]

How did you do that?

[steler]

Magic, presumably.

[okay, but even kaz can't hide the excitement on being able to turn into a crow. it comes off as mild, sure, but it's there all the same.

oliver finally got to find kaz with emotion a miracle has happened]

[catphishing]

Could you always do that?

[If only Oliver appreciated what a miracle this show of emotion is.]

[steler]

No, this is a recent development.

[an exciting....development...]