Log - OTA

[byeeeeeeeee]

Who: Hunter + Flapjack, and you
When: January
Where: All around
Summary: Flapjack wants to be creepy. (Flapjack is not creepy.)
Warnings: Blanket CW for child abuse, animal abuse/injury; talk of gun violence


[Don't look now, but there's a bird standing on your windowsill staring in - a small, scarred, bright red cardinal.

Or maybe you hear something scratching or pecking on the glass and...oh. He's supposed to fly away before he's seen. Crap. Perhaps the panicked flurry of feathers is unnerving?

Or are you being followed by a persistent chirp that is trying so very hard to be menacing?

Or maybe you are lucky enough to witness a white sheet struggling and flopping between trees before dropping to the ground. A sad little lump is trying to find its way out.

No matter what or where, Hunter is nearby - hiding just under the window, tucked up in the bushes, crouched behind a tree - ready to swoop in and grab the cardinal should anything go wrong.

He'll cradle his bird in his hands and Flapjack will chirp at him, and he'll sigh.]

I'm sorry, but you aren't very intimidating.

Comments

[byeeeeeeeee]

Oh. Maybe...

[His steps slow some.]

I...hadn't thought of it that way.

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey shrugs. ]

I don't think it's something people think about until they end up dealing with it.

[byeeeeeeeee]

[From his last conversations with her, Hunter would really like to believe Eda wasn't just worried about and nice to him because they're from the same place. But now that thought is going to take up space in his head.]

I suppose that's true. Is anyone from your...place...time...here?

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey shakes his head. ]

Most people here are from my world but a few hundred or so years into my future. It's...odd.

[ He'll admit that much! Because hoo boy it is very odd. ]

[byeeeeeeeee]

[Coming from a different time must be as disorienting as coming from another world. He can only imagine.]

I guess a lot would have changed over three hundred years.

[friendsfordinner]

You're telling me, [ he laughs, shaking his head. ] First month I was here was basically spent getting used to the things everybody else knew about already.

[byeeeeeeeee]

[He nods, fervently agreeing.]

I spent several months in another part of the Human Realm prior to arriving here, and I'm still finding new things to be confused over.

[friendsfordinner]

[ There's a pause before Hickey asks, ] What's the thing that confused you the most? Me? The fucking internet.

[byeeeeeeeee]

We have something like that on the Boiling Isles. [Though the Human Realm seems to have a much more robust system, and he still isn't sure how it works.]

Cars. Humans have built an entire infrastructure just to accommodate metal boxes on wheels!

[friendsfordinner]

[ Now that? Hickey gets. ]

Bloody hate cars. Why not make the city so you can just walk to everything? That's how it's done back home, why not here?

[byeeeeeeeee]

[Hunter nods emphatically. Cars were...okay. But they took up a lot of space, and a lot of space was needed to accommodate them.]

It's too bad humans can't fly. I bet they wouldn't need to drive or take transport worms all the time if they could.

[friendsfordinner]

[ Wait a moment. ]

People can fly where you're from?

[byeeeeeeeee]

With their palismen, yes.

[He rubs a finger over Flapjack's little head. They won't be doing any of that here.]

Well...Unless they have wings. [Like Eda.]

[friendsfordinner]

What the hell? How come I didn't know that! Why aren't you flying here?

[byeeeeeeeee]

We need magic for that. Can't get magic without feeding one of those things.

[Which is why Flapjack was trying to be scary at the window.]

[friendsfordinner]

That's not a problem!

[ Just keep feeding them! No biggie! ]

[byeeeeeeeee]

Uh.

[This is the opposite of what everyone has been telling him.]

Isn't feeding the Entities bad? And dangerous?

[friendsfordinner]

That's what people say, [ he shrugs. ] But as far as I can see? There's no method otherwise to get what you need—for people like us to get what we need. After all, doubt you want that cute little bird of yours to weaken and die.

[byeeeeeeeee]

[With a little squeak, he clasps his hands more firmly over Flapjack and presses the bird close to his chest.]

People like us?

[friendsfordinner]

People who are more than just your average human. Magic, powers, whatever you wanna call it. If you want to keep that more, you've gotta feed them at least a little bit.

[byeeeeeeeee]

Oh. I don't actually have magic.

[He's not certain Golden Guard him would have disclosed that particular weakness.

But Flapjack does have magic, and his biggest concern in all of this is keeping his palisman safe, and alive.]

Do you feed them?

[friendsfordinner]

Obviously, [ he shrugs. ] One of them took a shine to me. I want to keep it that way.

[byeeeeeeeee]

[Obviously, he says. Hunter looks him over, as if he would know what to even look for.]

And...nothing bad has happened?

[friendsfordinner]

Not to me, at least.

[ says the man who is absolutely gonna get murdered by something before endgame hits. ]

[byeeeeeeeee]

But others? What about avatars?

[He hasn't actually seen an avatar - not to his knowledge - but the impression he got from others was that it was Bad Thing.]