Two Homeless Walk Into a Diner...(Tayva)

It always took Tayva a little getting used to having the new appendages free against her back, rather than crammed inside under her skin. She never really figured out how the wings could exist under her skin without some visible sign of their existence. The Celestial always thought there would have been some kind of bulge, as if they were hidden under her skin. But instead her skin was always smooth, as if she never possessed the appendages at all. That was only one of many things she could never really fathom, like how a full grown person could fly.

"All right Girly. I have no idea why you have wing issues, with the whole... thing... and the tearing.. whatever. But, here's the deal. Your going to have to get tough. Tough now. Move your wings. Back and forth. Put them back in your skin. And do it all again. You need to be able to handle the pain. That whole.. crouching on the floor business, will get your ass killed if you need it."

Tayva was about to question why recoiling in pain would ever get her killed, but she wasn't the expert here. Out of all the people here, Evyn was the only one that was capable of flying here, so the Celestial wasn't the one to question it. Doing as the girl requested, she soon stood upright, moving the still tender appendages around a bit, mimicking a flapping motion that she had seen a few rare birds too. All it seemed to do was cause a little draft. Confident in the movement, she focused on allowing the wings to slide into the still-fresh wounds on her back, causing Tayva to shudder a bit. Of course it wasn't as painful as the initial tearing of the flesh, but moving the appendages out caused her discomfort once more. She managed to stay upright the second time when freeing her appendages, flapping them once more in comfort. They remained blood-stained, their pure white colour not helping to conceal a single speck of crimson.

"It doesn't seem so bad after the first time. It's when the skin heals that it causes more pain." Tayva noted, ruffling her wings a little before folding them up neatly behind her back. "So what's next?"

The girl was in a hurry.

That much was obvious. But, Evyn wasn't in a hurry. You didn't learn things the right way when you were in a hurry. She was a fledling. Evyn was thrown off a 10M diving board when she was five. Every month until she could glide to safety and not fall and break something. She had been in casts on and off until she figured that out. Flying came later. With weights attatched to her wings. Evyn had the kind of teachers that didn't have time to waste with coddling some little redheaded girl that just wanted her Mommy. There WAS no Mommy. She had sold the girl for money.

Moving forward.

Again.

Evyn waited.

Again.

Evyn waited.

Again.

Evyn waited.

This went on for a while, until Tayva could thrust her wings out without even wincing. Evyn wasn't enjoying this. It was just how it needed to be. If something hurt. You had to get through it. You couldn't let it take you down. If this girl nearly collapsed every time she had to push her wings out the first time she would never make it. Not here, not if she was in real danger.

Once Evyn decided she was bored of watching the girl. She motioned for her to stop. If the girl wasn't covered in sweat, she wasn't doing it right. Evyn looked over at the girl.

Tired yet? Cuz we haven't even worked hard yet? Ready for more?

She waited for an answer. She was going to put this girl through the paces today, and probably through some of the night. She was going to work off that burger and then some. But, that was if she wanted to fly bad enough. That was what it took. Desire to fly had to be above everything else. And she was going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow.

The exercise of forcing her wings in and out from her back was a tiring task, one that Tayva couldn't help but simply want to get passed. All she wanted was to get on with the flight lessons that she had been promised. The girl could understand why they had to take things slowly, considering that she had never used the appendages for anything other than keeping herself warm on particularly cold nights. At least as far as she could recall.

As she stretched her wings out once more after what felt like fifty or so extensions, Evyn had her stop the exercise, asking if she was ready for the next step. Standing up straight, the Celestial rubbed some of the sweat from her brow, giving the girl a nod. Her back hurt terribly right now, the backside of her clothing stained crimson from all of the blood that had seeped from her wound. Laying down was going to be a pain tonight, but she would manage, somehow.

"Yeah, I'm ready. What's the next task?" she questioned, using the small break in between to catch her breath a little. Meanwhile the small form of Cayleb nosed his way out of her bag, stretching out on the soft green grass before rolling about, scratching his small figure in the grass. Tayva had never seen him use the appendages that the two shared, but that was because there had never been a proper opportunity to do so, what with the need to keep hidden. Noticing him rolling about in the grass, she couldn't help but wonder if he knew how to fly too, whether by practice or by instinct.

At least she was sweaty.

It wouldn't be work if she didn't get sweaty and dirty. And this was only the beginning. It wasn't easy to fly. You had to let those two small appendages in your back hold your entire weight up in the air while you flapped them to gather air underneath them. It wasn't as easy as it sounded and it took a strong mind, body, coordination, and wings. It wasn't simply flap and fly. It was a lot of work. E vyn wasn't sure that Tayva was ready for actual flight but she doubted the girl was patient enough to wait.

It would be her loss when her wings couldn't hold her up long enough to land safely.

Okay, the next task is running. Pull your wings out like this. she said as she pulled her wings out. Into gliding position. Lowered slightly. The front higher than the back. Fully arched out, fully extended.

Now, holding your wings in that EXACT position. You're going to start doing drills. Which means, running from one end of the field to the other. It's going to hurt. I promise it will. But, you have to get used to wind resistance. You have to get used to holding position in it. And, you need to strengthen your body to be solid while flying. So, this solves most of all three. If you think I'm being hard on you, I'm not. In the end, you'll thank me. If you want me to. I'll run the drills with you. It was part of my training for a while.

She folded her arms across her chest. She didn't have the calories to waste but if Tayva needed a co-trainer to help her get motivated she would do it. But, mostly only to prove that it was easy for her because she had been doing this since she was five. But, Tayva was new to this. So it was going to be highly uncomfortable and she was going to want to put her wings down more than once, but that would just make it worse. Because when you put them back up it would be so much more painful to hold them there.

Letting her arms hang down at her sides, Tayva tried to mimic the wing position that Evyn held before her, uncertain of the exact purpose the position of her appendages were to have on running back and forth in the field. Of course the idea of wind resistance didn't cross her mind once as she started to move, keeping her wing's locked in their raised position. As soon as she started to speed up into a run however, she learned exactly why her trainer was having her run with her wings open.

The appendages soon became strained and uncomfortable, even painful as Tayva pushed herself to run back and forth on the field. There was more than one time when she fell, but rather than admit defeat, she would push herself back up onto her feet, still doing all she could to keep her wings up off the ground and continue to run once again.

All the while the Celestial kept reminding herself of why she was doing these rather demanding tasks. She wanted to fly, to leave the ground on her own accord and go wherever she wished. And if she ever wanted to do so, then she would need to be take on the challenges presented in this training to be able to do so, no matter how much she wanted to stop and rest.

Evyn was slightly impressed.

At least, while the girl ran. She ran and she fell and she strained herself as well. She could tell. But, that didn't matter. If the girl wanted to fly, then she was going to have to work and she would pay for it tomorrow. But, in the end, she would be much happier with the strength in her wings and her ability to fly.

Break time.

She called out to the girl and pointed to the grass. Letting the sweat covered girl take a break. She could understand how much a break would mean to the girl but she knew that if it was too long then she would hurt worse after than before. Something that neither of them would want because there was no need to cause her more pain than she was all ready going to be in.

How are you feeling? I know that you just ate, but I also know that you don't have much stamina because of your weight and your malnutrition. So I need to know if you can go further. I need you to be honest. If you lie, you'll only hurt yourself.

She looked over at the girl with her strange blue and silver eyes. Watching her as the breeze fluffed her own feathers and caused them to unfurl slightly just because it felt so good. She didn't get to stretch them very much and they seemed to really enjoy such a thing.

Tayva's running began to slow as Evyn called over to the Celestial, that she could take a short break from her drill. She didn't come to a complete stop, rather she slowed to a light jog, making her way over to the other girl, before simply flopping down onto the grass, allowing her wings to rest in a more comfortable folded position. She was still panting, trying to regain her breath from the strenuous activity that she had been engaging in, when Evyn asked her the question:

How are you feeling? I know that you just ate, but I also know that you don't have much stamina because of your weight and your malnutrition. So I need to know if you can go further. I need you to be honest. If you lie, you'll only hurt yourself.

Tayva considered her condition. Of course she was rather tired, and would have preferred to call it quits, but she wanted to keep going, until she knew she had improved to some degree. On the other hand she didn't want to hurt herself, to leave her unable to train or practice again at a later date. Despite the lack of proper vitamins and nutrients over the past few days, she figured she could go on for just a little longer, though perhaps with a small boost of energy.

"I think...I can keep...going for... a little more..." Tayva replied, swallowing in the middle of her sentence to moisten her dry mouth. She rolled over from her laying position, despite her limbs crying out in pain, and placed the palms of her hands against the ground. A light green soon emanated from her hands, as she began the process of 'borrowing' energy from the earth, the grass around her dying off as she took its life force into herself.

Stop.

Evyn had seen what she was doing. The grass around her hands was all ready dead from the few moments that she pulled energy from the ground. When the girl looked up at her in confusion, Evyn could only continue. The thing was, it wasn't okay with Evyn to hurt the environment. It was selfish. Not because she took the nutrients from the ground, that was what you got from food and drink that Terra provided. But because she was using it, for no reason, in a non-emergency. Only to push her body further when they both knew that it had reached it's limit.

Don't do that. Not unless it's an emergency. Terra has suffered enough abuse at the hands of those around her. On her, using her. The way I see it, the gift that she gives you through your hands.. absorbing her mana.. is a gift that should only be used in the utmost emergency situations.

Evyn leaned against one of the trees. She bit her lower lip and shoved her hands in her pockets looking at the girl for a moment.

The way I see it is.. you .. don't want to depend, in training, on your ability to take mana from the world around you and use it. You need that to be your trump card. If you rely on it to push yourself further you will never have a surprise attack, your body will always crave that extra rush. You need to know when your body says you're done. Listen to it. Go home. Rest. Relax. Recoop. Reconvene tomorrow or whatever. Constantly, absorbing mana to push further, will only hurt you, hurt Terra, and your chances in a real fight. Fight like you can't absorb the mana. That is how you will get ahead.

Evyn pushed herself off the tree with her shoulders and rifled through her bag finding herself a bottle of water that she had gotten a couple days ago and took one swig before handing the lion share to the girl that was deprived of the mana of the world around her.

I think we're done for today. Maybe we'll meet again some time. You'll probably need a couple days off as much as your wings are going to hurt you tomorrow.

Tayva's concentration was broken as Evyn told her to cease in her actions, causing the girl to glance up as she then continued on to explain the difference between using and abusing her ability to absorb life from the earth. Rarely did she ever find need to borrow energy from Terra, and at times she had been tempted to do so just to see if she still could. The last thing she wanted was to find out when it was too late that she suddenly could not do so, whether because of memory or losing the ability to do so.

With a small nod, she removed her hands from the earth, green glittering trickles of energy seeming to fall from her hands at the sudden disconnect. The energy she had borrowed began to leak back into the earth, the dying grass that she had been underneath beginning to turn green once more, with new life seemingly breathed into it. Tayva swayed a little as she returned to her once more tired state, though caught herself before she could grow any more weary.

"I... think I understand. What about using my own mana though? I seem to give more than take, which I don't mind as I have never found a reason to take to begin with." As she spoke, she looked to the ground, raising her hand over it as the ground began to shift not far from her feet. A single vine arose like a snake, curling around her and catching the bottle that had been caught. Tayva rarely had found the strength to even practice her abilities, normally either too tired or weak to muster them unless something triggered it. It felt strangely good to not be slumped in some alleyway, clinging to life.

As quickly as the vine had appeared, it soon slipped into the ground once more, and after taking a swig of the water that Evyn had tossed to her, she moved her hand over the ground where the vine had sprouted, new plant life flourishing over the cracked earth, and mending its surface.

"Someone once said that I was once called 'the Gardener of the Divine'. I wonder if what had been said was true..."

Evyn shrugged.

I think that.. when you have energy to give, you should give it to Terra. Perhaps, payment for the future of using the mana later. You cannot only take, because Terra will retaliate. No one can afford that again.

The girl mentioned something about at one point because called the 'Gardener of the Divine' but she didn't know what it meant or if it was true. Evyn's blue eyes shifted up to the sky. Allowing the silver that the StarDust had left in her system shimmer softly in the skylight. There was something beautiful about the changes done to her body, though most people didn't even know about the Aurora Project merely because, they were very secretive and hush hush.

I think then, if you seek to truly be one with that name, you should make sure you walk a fragile balance. Giving and taking. Be more of a nuturer to the Earth than a taker. Grow Terra. Create Terra. Perhaps you are her legs. Perhaps you are what she needs to help regrow. Perhaps you have a greater cause. Evyn shrugged. She wasn't huge on believing anything about greater causes. Or perhaps you're just an Earth Mage that likes pretty flowers. Who knows. That is all up to you.

Evyn pulled herself up off the tree and grabbed her sweatshirt that had been sitting on the ground since she took it off to show Tayva how to work her wings the proper way. She pushed her wings back into their more hybernative position and pulled on her sweatshirt that covered the wings easily and the fact that her body was so tiny.

Get rest Tayva. You'll fly another day."

She waved at the girl and headed off back through the park. There were some things she needed to get done. Things so that she could take care of herself. That was what she wanted to do, make waves in t his world, and it was only beginning.

[/exit Evyn]