fandomtownies | The Skies Over Town, Friday Night

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The Skies Over Town, Friday Night

His wings were still a bit on the ragged side, and it did kind of irk Warren that he'd be attending graduation with a few noticeable primaries missing, but the itching had stopped some and his feathers had filled in enough for him to fly without any trouble again.

Naturally, that meant that he was going to take advantage of some mostly decent weather and the cover of night in order to have himself one more good fly around the island. Guests were already arriving so far as he could tell, and he didn't want to startle anybody, even with a bit of residual irritation at having to hide for an entire week not long before. Of course it was difficult to conceal a sixteen-foot bright white wingspan, even in the dead of night, but he'd stick out... at least slightly less now that it was after dark, and that was more or less what mattered, here.

Warren pumped his wings hard to get some lift, climbing into the night sky until the moisture from some low-lying clouds started to cling to his face. And then he folded his wings against his back and let himself go into a headfirst plummet. He'd catch himself before long, of course, but tonight seemed like a good night for freefall.

[Open for anyone who might be up in the skies tonight! Or anyone on the ground who might notice a boy-shaped torpedo with an impressive wingspan.]

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Most of the time, Lucivar disliked Fandom island. It was too loud, it didn't make any sense, no one here followed Protocol, and it was a dangerous place. But he dealt with it, because that's where the witchling attended school and she'd throw a hissy fit if they tried to take her home before she wanted to go.

That being said, sometimes the island gave him moments of pure joy. Like it had a few weeks ago, when his father had gotten a notice in the mail of the approaching date of commencement. They hadn't been entirely sure why that was, considering Karla still had another year, but then Lucivar had remembered that Warren was a year ahead of her and he would be graduating this weekend.

He'd immediately decided to attend as the SaDiablo representative and Khary and Aaron had just as immediately decided to join him. Did they intend to tell Warren about these plans?

Of course not.

So when Lucivar had glanced out his hotel room balcony and saw a male with a sixteen foot wingspan gliding by, he decided now was an excellent time to inform Warren that he had guests.

He was sure to be so pleased.

"Pleasant night for a dive, eh?" he asked, lazily winging by as Warren hurtled past.

It would appear that black wings in the dead of night were a little harder to spot than his own, and Warren had almost completely managed to miss that Lucivar was even there until he was well past him. Still, a flare of his wings and a twist of his body, and he was pulling out of that dive and riding the momentum he had going in order to arc his way up again.

"Lucivar! Hey! Here to torment Karla on her birthday?"

No, he wasn't going to presume that anybody was here for him. Graduation was tomorrow, sure, but so was his birthday, and Karla's as well. There was a completely legitimate reason for Lucivar to be on the island that didn't involve him, so he was going to make that his first guess.

Because that was just how he rolled. Still.

"That's just an added bonus," Lucivar drawled, spiraling around as he waited for Warren to match his height. "Nope. We're here for you, boyo."

His grin flashed out in the night, teeth bright in the moonlight.

Please note the plural, Warren.

"For me? I... yeah?" He wasn't going to ask something as ridiculous as 'really,' though he got about as close as he could. It was obvious that they were really here, so taking Lucivar at his word wasn't much of a stretch from there. "For my graduation?"

A few more good flaps, and he'd pretty much caught up, making a wide circle so that he could keep an eye on the Eyrien who was keeping him company now. "Who else is with you?"

"Got an invitation and everything," Lucivar said, his grin only getting wider. "Blue ink and gilt around the edges. Fanciness."

He swooped a bit, giving Warren something to watch. "Wanna guess?"

Warren did watch that swooping, and then decided, to hell with it, he was going to try to imitate whatever he saw Lucivar doing. Lucivar definitely had the benefit of experience on his side, but just his method of flying was very different from Warren's own in practise. It was the difference between leathery Eyrien wings and feathered mutant ones, after all. So much of Warren's flight was fine-tuning, in the end.

He swooped as well.

"Almost certainly none of the Coven," he decided immediately. "Those girls can hold grudges, and none of them were very happy with me when Karla and I visited last."

And they wouldn't be allowed on the island unescorted anyway. And Lucivar did not count as an escort. Not for all of them. Not by himself.

He was the first one who would say he did not count as an escort. He wasn't stupid after all. And wanted to get some sleep.

And Saetan frowned upon him putting Ebon-gray shields around the hotel room to keep them locked in. Dammit.

"Nope. Not any of the coven. Not for all the gold in Dhemlan."

"So, do I at least get a hint about how many of the boyos followed you here?" Warren bit back a broad grin. He was still kind of riding the high of the dive, not to mention the fact that anybody had come for his graduation at all. He'd been expecting a weekend surrounded by friends, sure, but mostly just the ones from the island.

"You didn't want you own cheering squad?" Lucivar asked, flipping over and lazily gliding on his back. "I thought it might be nice, you know? With Saetan and Beale and even Helene to help you pack."

Liiiiiiies.

Yeah, that got a bit of a sideways glance, right there.

"I'm sure Saetan has better things to do than come all the way to the island just to watch me go and get a piece of paper," Warren noted, leaving out the fact that graduations in past years were never quite so straightforward. "And I can hardly take Beale and Helene out for drinks after. I'd much rather drag someone like Khary or Aaron or Chaosti out to Caritas, anyhow. That way, I can guarantee I won't be the only one acting like a total idiot on the day I both graduate from high school and turn twenty."

"Actually," Lucivar said, turning momentarily serious, "Saetan wanted to come. He knows this is an important event in a young male's life and wanted to be here to give you his support."

They only had Karla's explanation to go on, which were heavily influenced by John Hughes' movies.

"But with the boyos going, he thought perhaps you'd prefer to have a more relaxed, informal time."

Translation: Saetan hadn't been sure of his welcome and had chosen diplomacy.

That was kind of... actually... Warren couldn't help but smile a little more, at that.

"I would have been honored if he had come," Warren admitted. "He's... kind of been more of a mentor figure to me than my own dad. And Karla would have been thrilled to see him, I think."

He shot Lucivar a little grin.

"That said, I'm pretty sure I can cope with you being here instead. Even if it means I'll be taking a sound beating first thing in the morning before I even think of pulling on those silly robes."

"Awww, it's like you know me," Lucivar said, batting his eyelashes at Warren, though the effect was likely lost in the dark. "Sticks. You. Dawn."

He'd be sending a letter home to Saetan, though, just to let him know what Warren said.

Tattletale.

"Looking forward to it," Warren decided, heaving his weight just so, adjusting his feathers, and giving a barrel roll an attempt. "I think I need somebody with a better eye to tell me if I'm getting lax with any of my drills. I know what feels right, but if I'm forming any bad habits..."

He fully expected a good thumping in the morning.

"Don't worry," Lucivar assured him. Comfortingly. "If you're forming any bad habits, I'll make certain to help you correct them."

He'd have Warren running drills until twenty minutes before the ceremony if he had to. Since the bruises Lucivar would be inflicting didn't stick around long enough to prove a point.

It was a comfort, was the thing. A kind of terrifying sort of comfort that promised that there was going to be a great deal of pain in the morning, but a comfort all the same.

They were, after all, only a year away from Karla's graduation.

"I appreciate that," he replied, honestly. "I don't exactly have a wealth of time left to get myself as good as whatever Hobart can throw at us, or better."

Which was more or less his way of giving Lucivar his blessing to go right ahead and beat the crap out of him all weekend. Not his permission. The Eyrien warrior hardly had any need for that. More like an affirmation that he knew what he was in for, and he was willing to meet it head-on.

Watching Scott meet Scott had been... entertaining, as usual. But even after he left the Devil's Nest Bobby found himself with an excess of energy. So he was burning it off the best way he knew how: ice-sliding around town as Iceman.

Naturally, when he noticed Warren, he lifted himself up to meet his friend.

"Just shooting the breeze?"

[ooc: Bobby's identity as Iceman NFB plz.]

"Naturally," Warren replied, shooting Bobby a grin as he slowed down his flight just slightly. Not because he didn't figure Bobby could keep up. Just, it was generally easier to have a conversation when there wasn't a breeze howling in your ears. "Between the Howells and trying to figure out which way is up in preparation of grad, I haven't really had much of a chance to just get up here and fly around, you know? How about you? What brings you out here tonight?"

He'd kind of figured that Bobby might have a gaggle of guests with a letter X on their belts to entertain, after all.

Just the one! Who was semi-retired and thus had ditched the uniform for the time being.

"Can't sleep," he admitted. Yes, he'd faced down mutant supervillains, the near-death of his father, evil demons, murderous aliens... and he was nervous about a graduation ceremony that held a negligible if any significance for someone whose transcripts back home claimed he was currently almost finished university.

"Excited?"

Warren couldn't blame him either way, really. Back home, he wouldn't even have that. He probably could, if he wanted to. After all, even a mutant could buy a bit of convenient gene-blindness if one knew where to look. He just... wasn't in any hurry to go back there, either.

"Me too, actually. I really don't think I'll be getting much rest tonight."

Besides, this was the school that counted.

"Sounds about right," Iceman nodded. "Still sure you're not sticking around for the summer?" he asked casually, like he hadn't been asking the same thing at fairly regular intervals over the past few weeks.

"I..." Damn it, Bobby. Making it more and more difficult to go every time you asked that, there. "I'm pretty sure, yeah. I mean, I'll be back to visit as often as I can. But I did want to try to get some stuff done before heading to Sunnydale. There are receipts up to my nose to wade through in Kaeleer, a pretty damaged political system to brush up on, protocols to learn..."

"You're gonna give Thor abandonment issues."

Stop projecting on the rabbit, Bobby.

Warren would miss Thor, too!

But, you know, he hadn't been the first one to take off on the poor little guy...

"Thor is made of pretty tough stuff, you know," he noted. "I mean, he's even got a hammer. He's ready to take on the world."

With squeaks.

Shh, Warren, it was different when Bobby did it. TOTALLY DIFFERENT.

"Yeah, well. Maybe. But I dunno- maybe we all need to go out again one night. See if we can find him a friend." Or just do the drinking part without the waking up snuggling strange animals part. That would be okay too.

"Now there's an idea," Warren mused. "I know everyone's probably going to be celebrating grad tomorrow, and Karla and I were planning on just doing something quiet together for our birthday for once, but maybe later, before I leave. One last huge bit of stupidity to remember while I'm away?"

"I'm gonna hold you to that," he informed Warren seriously.

"Good," Warren replied, grinning a little. "Now the question is, do we want to leave the island something to remember us by and start our drinking night at Caritas?"

They'd probably still wake up in, like, Timbuktu or something. But the starting point of their drunken shenanigans was important!

On the ground was a man in green microfibre-something-or-other and carrying a sword, shield, and other various accoutrements.

He just happened to be looking into the sky and gave a mighty shout.

"Hello up there!"

There really weren't many shouts around here that were nearly as mighty as that. And Warren took a brief moment to smirk and roll his eyes (god, Herc, there were people trying to sleep somewhere on the island tonight!) before stooping more deeply into his dive and coming to a neat landing there on the street nearby.

"And hello to you, too," he replied, a fair bit more quietly.

"Shouldn't you be resting up for your grand ceremony tomorrow?" Hercules asked, smirking. He wasn't serious about his chastisement, he rarely ever was.

Warren had seen Herc in serious mode, and was pretty certain that he was safe to assume that this wasn't it. Call it a hunch.

"There's no way I'd be able to sleep tonight," he replied. "There's too much still up in the air for me to manage that. I mean... from here it's Kaeleer, and then school, and then... well... more Kaeleer..."

Warren had such complicated plans, here.

"...Up in the air. Ha!" Hercules said. "But it sounds as if you're already planning marriage at this point. Should I be angling for a best man's position?"

Warren laughed and shook his head a little.

"I think Bobby's got a claim on Best Man," he noted, actually a little apologetically, "but you'll definitely get an invite, in, like, a few years when we actually start thinking about that sort of thing."

See? See how it was a when?

"Right," Hercules said. "Hopefully the me in your universe hasn't muscled me out of the picture by then."

He chuckled. "So, scared then?"

"I've never met the you in my universe, and I'm not really planning on going back there. You're always going to be Top Herc, don't worry," Warren promised, reaching forward to clap a hand on Herc's shoulder.

And then kind of freezing there.

"... And I'm terrified."

"That means you're smart," Hercules said, clasping his own hand at the shoulder of his friend. "The trick is to let yourself be dumb enough to not think too hard about it all."

"I've got way too much experience with thinking too hard about it all," Warren noted. "It isn't an easy habit to break. But I'll see what I can do, I suppose."

"Alcohol can help," Hercules said, giving the worst advice ever. "Or perhaps trusting in others, too. Like certain little blonde women."

"Believe me, I have a lot of faith in certain little blonde women," Warren promised. "She has yet to really let me down."

Uh... lately. He hadn't been literally gutted in a while. So he also had faith in her ability to learn, see?

Karla was also out looking for Warren, and Herc's shout caught her attention. "Kiss kiss," she said, giving him a wave. "How goes?"

"Well if it isn't one of my favorite queens," Hercules said. "I suppose things go well. Though packing is quite the chore."

"Packing?" Karla asked. And then what he meant hit her. Hard. "You're leaving, too?"

Karla, try not to look so stricken. Or sound so damn pathetic.

"Brooklyn needs its champion again," Hercules said. "I think this island might have a surplus of them."

He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I take it you might miss me?"

"Maybe," Karla said, trying to give him a smile. "On rainy days or the like. When I have nothing else to do."

That would sound so much sassier if she hadn't sniffled in the middle of it.

"Please. There will probably be some new hunky, muscled teacher for you to secretly ogle with the new batch," Hercules joked, but then his expression took a turn for the serious.

"But you shall be missed as well. On rainy days or the like."

"Maybe so, but he won't hold a candle to the hero of Brooklyn," Karla said with a small smile. "Ogling's just not the same if you haven't dug a pair of garden shears out of someone's back."

Or if he wasn't in a skirt and sandals get up.

"You are always welcome in Kaeleer, you know," she added, trying not to sound awkward. What was the Protocol for inviting teachers, even ex-teachers, to visit home. "Warren's going to be there over the summer and once I graduate, we'll be moving there permanently."

"I see," Hercules said. "Well I shall try and visit, if circumstance allows. Though life tends to get busy when you're in the business of saving the world. But a vacation may always be welcome, too."

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The Skies Over Town, Friday Night

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