nonscriptum | hadriel { ic inbox }

[ He didn't mean for that shit to happen. It just does, he knows, and there's no control when the gods force you into it, but it didn't feel strange or unusual. At the time, it had felt perfectly reasonable to want to tear people open and that feeling, that need dissipated just as quickly, though its influence lingers. Like a patina rubbed off but remaining in the cracks, it's still there. How right is felt is still there. The prospect of being forgiven is tempting and Nate knows plenty of people here would be more than happy to agree it was a bad hand they all drew,

He doesn't reply to Taako's text.

Elena gave him his space to wander a little and it's in the forest that Taako finds him, about a fifteen minute walk from the edges of the city. As far as he can tell there's nothing around them but rainforest for miles, but at least the planet seems alive with all the green, lush and verdant and thick.

He's halfway up a tree, back braced against a mossy trunk, drawing the coils of the vines. ]

[It's as much for Nate as it is for him. Taako has to know that- has to know it was an unlucky pull, a swing of the sword or a roll of the dice to find him mangled there. He knows the feeling because he's been the one to fight before; thunderwaving Barry into a wall when he happened to be the one to find him in a state of emotional paranoia, screaming until his throat was raw at Magnus in a particularly heated encounter he couldn't come down from. It happens. But processing that is hard and he's going to figure out this line, even if it's the hardest thing he's ever done. Look at this goddamn effort he's going through, Nate, christ.

He spots the other man off the ground-- of course he is, the absolute monkey of a dude-- and flies down with a little swoop to land on a branch off to his right, looking down on where Nate sits. It's not a bird local to here- it's large, like a condor or a vulture, but with stripes like a zebra in dark greens and blues to disguise as it flies through treetops. Taako had taken to it in that cycle for fast travel, not to be caught by the local fauna. It's helping out again now.

It lands with a bit of weight, shaking the tree slightly as he repositions his feet, wings out for balance as he steadies. And then this animal makes a very un-bird-like motion, and tilts itself down the branch so it slides, talons on the moss, down to the trunk so it's leaning against it.

And then it speaks.]

So what was that shit you gave me a few months ago? About not answering texts?

[It's a little screechy, a little warbly, but the tone is unmistakeable.]

[ When a large bird lands on the branch next to him, about half a dozen feet away, Nate acknowledges its presence. It's one he hasn't seen here yet, but in fairness, he's seen more variety than he can count and rainforests are known for biodiversity, so it's probable he's in somebody's territory and it wouldn't be the first time an enormous bird has harassed him out of a tree.

He regards it warily, pencil stopping, making a weird sort of eye contact that he hopes doesn't come across as a challenge so this animal doesn't go for his jugular. But then it slides down the branch like a skateboarder executing a sick grind, leans against the tree only a foot away, and talks.

Nate would have more time to process the voice and its familiar qualities if he didn't immediately slip and fall off his branch. ]

Oh, sh-

[ He catches himself, barely. Braced against another thick bit of tree and sort of half-draped, half-caught, Nate hastily shoves his sketchbook back into his bag and stares. ]

...Taako?

[Birds can't really snort in a traditional sense, without the kind of human noses one would need to create a snort, but instead he just opens his beak and lets out a weird caw caw cough to create one. He even moves his wing like he's holding a hand to his chest and throws his head back.]

Oh, now you see me.

[In the span of the next few seconds, the bird simply morphs, moving in a way like play-doh until Taako is crouched on the branch instead, legs spread in a squat as he looks down at Nate.]

Thought you'd be up somewhere high. You like that bird? Tell me if you see another one like it here, like, I don't think I'm gonna but it'd be great.

[He doesn't bother asking if Nate needs a hand, because he probably doesn't. Not that he couldn't reach up and grab Taako's leg or something.]

[ Having never actually seen a bird turn into a human - or vice versa - save for the one time Taako fucking dive-bombed him on the beach, Nate thinks that maybe he should have known better. Taako loves messing with him, water is wet, et cetera.

He lifts himself back up onto his original branch, tense but relaxing by the second. He considers tanking Taako off the tree, but it seems a little cruel. ]

...yeah, up high was a good guess. It's nicer in the canopy than down there.

[ Yards and yards away, the rainforest floor swelters, but the humidity is denser. At least in this level they can catch the occasional breeze.

He also assumes that if he sticks with this subject he can distract Taako from his reason for being here. ]

Did you see that bird on one of your planet surveys?

[Excuse you Nate, he's the fucking king of conflict avoidance, the fact he's here means a significant amount of somethings he will refuse to acknowledge. It's caring, sure, but it's also a non-insignificant amount of spite- the liches won't force him to lose someone he actually likes being around. That's dumb shit and he won't have it. So here he is, doing... something. God, he hates this.

He shifts to lean against the trunk, letting one leg dangle off the side of the branch and the other bent with his foot flat on top.]

Yeah. 'Ss cool, right? Looks camouflaged in the trees but ugly as shit on the ground. Planet it was on was all jungles like this, trees so tall we barely saw the floor ever. Like, fall and you're dead before you hit the ground distance.

[He doesn't remember exactly what number; it was something after the big beach cycle and before they knew things about the Hunger, he thinks. When Merle started dying. When the trip started becoming something and not just running.]

But uh, somehow, I don't think you give a shit about the bird. You out here hiding from me, Natey Drake, toss-your-phone-in-a-lake? Man, that was bad even for me.

I'm not hiding.

[ Nate says, with the distinct tone of defensiveness that suggests he was doing something extremely similar to the accusation in question. He can't even unpack the shitty rhyme Taako quipped at him, already feeling attacked and wishing he had a better excuse than "I really just wanted to hang out by myself for a little while," but even that isn't going to be respected by someone as tenacious as Taako fucking Taaco.

Legs stretched and crossed out in front of him, braced on the thick branch he's decided is his new seat, Nate takes his indignation and lets it wander with his gaze to another tree. A lizard with three eyes skitters over the bark and disappears in a dense tangle of vines.

Sucking his lower lip between his teeth Nate gnaws pensively for a moment, chewing on the scenery. ]

I was giving you space.

[yeah ok sure uh huh you fucking walnut. Don't make Taako spell out that this is some emotional endeavor. He'd rather jump off this branch and die before he hits the ground. But the desire to get rid of the tension has won out, a need to just escape from feeling shitty about this.

Besides, after the talk they had in the bunker, this feels necessary. Somehow. Don't fuckin' come at him like this.]

Pretty sure I made it clear it was fine with the whole text message, my man.

[He isn't perfectly looking at him, mostly in a weak attempt to stop this from being A Confrontation, In Formality. Mostly he's just fiddling with the end of his hair.]

'Ss not the first time I died and you weren't the first person to maul me, so.

hadriel { ic inbox }

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