caughtinanetwork | [Video/Text] 06 Feathers

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[Video/Text] 06 Feathers

[The video isn't his fault. His SFC falls onto the floor and starts recording. There's only a flash of an orange wing and some orange ghost tail before...nothing. Just blue sky up on the island.

There's a long pause, as if the person is in a state of disbelief.]

Shit.

[He says this almost conversationally before an orange hand with deadly-looking nails reaches down, and turns off the feed.

A few hours later, the following messages are made:]

well
looks like were in some deep shit
dont think ive seen that woman in blue before
who the hell is she

[Private: Bro Strider and Dirk Strider]

back
not coming home for a while

[He's uncharacteristically curt about this.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'll be alright.
I moved around a lot for pretty much my whole life so I take change pretty well.

good trait to have in all honesty
especially in times like this when were sort of forced to adapt

It's slightly better than the time I had to live in the woods for two months.
At least I'm sharing the experience with someone besides an idiot and a pre-teen.

oh wow
that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen
how on earth did you survive those two months

A looooot of patience.
Also we kept falling into terrible luck so there were a lot of things to keep us busy.
Like bears.

why a forest btw
that saying im not being too nosy but jesus christ

I'm only 16, and the idiot is 17.
We had to travel to a different part of the country and a tent was cheaper than hotel rooms.

pretty impressive though
then again that sounds weird coming from me
cant argue about tents being cheaper
do you want to tell me the story behind it

[...Davesprite's actually pretty surprised at himself for wanting to know more about Nanaki.]

[At first Nanaki types out a long-winded way of saying no, but her thumb hovers over the 'send' button for a moment as she considers it. Davesprite is half-man half-bird and clearly involved in shit way crazier than anything Nanaki ever had to experience. Maybe she could actually tell him about this without facing ridicule and hate.

She deletes her message and types in something else instead.]

Promise not to make fun of me?
And don't tell anyone else about this, I get enough crap back home for what I'm about to tell you.

[In this case, 'getting crap for her powers' means 'being chased out of several town and ostracized by everyone ever.']

[He's taken off-guard by the request and frowns minutely as he types out his answer, making it private.]

promise
im pretty good at keeping secrets

I'm counting on you to keep your word about that.

[There is a delay in responses, as Nanaki tries to think of the best way to explain just what had happened. Should she start from the very beginning, thousands of years ago? Or start with when she herself was introduced to the curse of Cassandra?]

Do you know the story of Cassandra, from Greek mythology?

nope
i know maybe a handful of stories from greek myth but not that one

Well you're about to learn another one.
Cassandra was a woman born to the king and queen of Troy. She was very beautiful, so much so that she caught the attention of Apollo.
One night, when Cassandra visited the temple of Apollo, Apollo blessed her with the ability to see the future.
Then he tried to have his way with her and she refused him, so he cursed her: Nobody would ever believe her visions of the future.
One of the things she foresaw was Helen of Troy and how her beauty would lead to the destruction of Troy, but of course nobody believed her.
She lived a long and bitter life, and she died cursing everyone who refused to believe her.

[There is a short pause, since she is considering just ending it there and not finishing her story. The only people who ever believed her were people who suffered from the same curse as her, so she has no reason to think that Davesprite will.

But he's been so kind, and he's never given her a reason not to trust him, so she finally goes ahead and finishes.]

In my world, there's people just like Cassandra: they're blessed with the gift of future-sight, but cursed in that nobody will ever believe them.
I'm one of those people.

[Davesprite waits for her to finish with patience. Even if she doesn't say, he can probably guess.

Jesus, though, what a life to live.]

damn
first off apollo is a douche
second i believe you but i wish you didnt have to live a life like that
seriously
i know 2 seers and i used to time travel
how can i not believe that there are other seers in other worlds
not to mention i dont see you lying about something important like that
you got dealt a pretty shitty hand though nanaki

[Nanaki isn't surprised to hear that there are other people out there with future-sight. She knows others like herself back in her world, so it's not exactly unexpected.

What she didn't expect was Davesprite's reaction. All the times she has told somebody about her powers, either out of necessity or in a desperate attempt to save someone's life, nobody has said they feel bad for her about it.

It actually feels nice, to read those words.]

I've had my whole life to get used to it, so it's not so bad.
The hard part was always when people didn't listen to me, and they died despite my warnings.
See, I don't see every future, just when someone is about to die.
That's why I got such crap for it: people didn't understand, and they called me 'angel of death' and stuff like that. It's also why I had to move so much.

makes sense now
still if they didnt heed your warning then its their own stupid fault
or its apollos fault in which case screw that guy for getting pissy at not having his way with cassandra
though i have to admit that im impressed that you can still smile and all after going through the ridicule
if thats not a sign of strength then ill eat bros hat

Thanks.
Hearing that from you, it means a lot to me.

[It means a lot because Davesprite isn't obligated to be nice to her, but he's still being nice. Someone who's being kind because they choose to be is a rarity for her.]

Truthfully I wasn't that nice not too long ago.
It took a kick in the behind from a guy with powers like mine for me to realize that I could make a difference if I just tried.
So yeah, I'm trying now.
By the way, you better listen if I ever give you a warning, got it?

[He doesn't know what to say to that, so he just let's it go. Davesprite might be blushing a little. He doesn't get compliments like that very often, really.]

really its pretty hard to not be bitter after that happening all the time
the fact that you were willing to make a change says a lot too

[And if he's being honest with himself, it makes him respect her all the more.]

nanaki please
ill listen when you say itll happen and believe you when you say i might die
whether i take the advice or not is dependant on the situation

I'll have you know that I'm a prediction-breaker.
If I can't save your life, then I'm not doing my job right.

[She's talking jokingly now, but it actually is something she takes seriously. Now that she knows she can change the future, she refuses to let anyone else die needlessly.]

dang
with luck we wont need to test which of us is more stubborn

ok granted we could test our stubbornness in other ways but you know

[Sadly, Davesprite is perfectly willing to die protecting his friends and family.]

If we collaborate our stubbornness we will become an impenetrable wall of stubborn.
Nobody would stand a chance.

we are absolutely on the same wavelength
nobody can out stubborn the 2 of us
its pretty much impossible

Definitely.

[But she remembers something Davesprite said, during the talk of seers.]

So, you said something about time travel?

[There's some hesitation on Davesprite's end. However, he feels that Nanaki's earned the right to know more about him, considering what she's shared with him. It helps that he trusts her.]

yeah
used to be the knight of time which basically means it was my job to go back in time to fix mistakes that might lead to the deaths of my friends and or me
when i became a sprite i lost that power because sprite powers trump player powers i guess

[This is the second time Davesprite has mentioned 'players'. This game sounds like a dangerous game to her.]

How did you handle the transition to different powers?
You got something cool in the trade-off right?

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