Lately, Skye felt like the only time she got an peace was when she turned into a bird and flew out of the Ruelle, away from her parents and from Arnet and from whatever so-called friends had told on her for that comment she’d made about the games. Away from the nightmares of the monsters in the forest and the faces of the humans who came into the club where she performed and then didn’t leave. Skye wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up, luring in humans and going along with Arnet and pretending like everything was fine. Everything was not fine, not with her and not with anything the Veela were doing. But things felt a little bit more okay when she flew away, an anonymous songbird whose singing wouldn’t put anyone in danger.
Except maybe herself, because she’d been so focused on the song she was singing she forgot to pay attention to where she was flying. She’d just been trying to flitter from the awning of one building to another. But she hadn’t seen the pigeon flying in her path until it was too late and she ran right into it, falling right into a busy street. Skye let out a fearful cheep and fluttered her wings, but there were too many feet around her to get the space to fly up and away. She was in a wizard street, at least, so she could probably get away with turning back into herself. But she’d also always been told to be careful with who knew about her magic, because wizards had some special list of which wizards could turn into animals. Which seemed sort of hard to keep track of, if you asked Skye. She’d probably be fine. Definitely more fine than getting trampled, which she was getting worried about as she dodged another set of feet. Only before she could make the decision to turn back into herself, one pair of feet stopped in front of her and then crouched down. Skye tilted her head up and saw herself looking up at a human man with a kind smile and kinder eyes, holding out his hands to her. Humans really were lovely. Skye let out a thankful chirp as she hopped closer to him and then into his hands, turning to look at him closer as he lifted her up. Her tiny bird heart did a little flutter as he smiled at her and said something sweet about how she was safe now. My hero, she wanted to tell him. Instead she fluttered her wings happily and flew up, circling around him for a few moments before settling on another awning.
Skye should have just left things there and gone home before she got into more trouble. But Skye wasn’t all that great at making smart choices. And there was something about this bloke that was drawing her in. She wanted to meet him. To thank him, at least. So she followed behind him, fluttering from one perch to the next with her eyes on him until he reached a bar and went in through a back entrance. Skye did know better than to follow him through that door. She just hoped she’d find him in the front part of the bar. She stayed in the alley for a moment, turning back into herself. Then she took a second to smooth out her hair, not that her hair ever really needed it. But it was something she saw humans do a lot and she’d found it charming enough she adopted the habit for herself. What she did always have to do after turning back from a bird was adjust her outfit, smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her socks.
Once that was done, she glanced around to make sure there was no one around who might recognize her—not that there ever was in wizard London—and then stepped into the bar, looking around for the bloke who’d rescued her. And there he was, working behind the bar where there wasn’t even too much of a crowd yet. Skye walked over to the bar and took an empty seat off to the far side, where maybe she’d get some privacy to talk to him. Then she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and watched him with a shy smile on her face while she waited for him to come over.
obagman:
Not only was this bird pretty, and nice, but she had a really great laugh too. And she was a bird, bird. That was so groovy. “So groovy!” A little less groovy was the fact that he couldn’t tell anyone. Especially after he’d already told people. Otto was relieved when she seemed cool with it. “You’re welcome,” he replied feeling a bit off kilter because of her smile. Otto felt a little bashful when the bird, Skye, said he was nice. The meaning behind her telling him not to tell anyone was cleared up by the next thing she said. “Oh!” Skye was still talking so he didn’t say anything else yet. He felt a little flustered when she called him cute and sweet.
Ludo always said that a bird saying you were cute or sweet was the kiss of death. But it wasn’t like Otto had any thoughts about this bird liking him like that so it didn’t matter that she was saying she didn’t. It still made him feel flustered. “Thanks. You don’t have to say thank you but you’re welcome. I’m glad I was in the right place at the right time. Plus it already seemed like you were thankful back when you were a bird.” Otto learned in and whispered the last two words since her being the bird was supposed to be a secret. “My mate and I thought about becoming animal what’s its for a laugh. But Davey got bored and I accidentally swallowed the leaf. It’s cool that you stuck with it.” Otto felt like they’d made the right choice not going through with it. It was a long process and he and Davey ended up having way more fun in that time then they probably would have doing all that crazy shit. Plus Davey had pointed out that they didn’t get to choose what they became and how it’d suck doing all that just to turn into some lame animal. “Must be groovy to fly though.”
Skye smiled brightly when he said it was groovy she could turn into a bird. She knew telling him had been a good choice! Especially since he’d told her he already told people, even when he’d thought that had been what she’d asked him not to do. The honesty was nice. It made her feel like she’d been right to feel like she could trust him. Nevermind that she’d been very wrong about that same notion in the very recent past. Maybe that was why she’d felt so compelled to follow this bloke and meet him. Skye needed someone she could trust right now, and it wasn’t going to be a Veela. Maybe it could be Otto. It certainly felt like maybe it could be when he told her she didn’t need to thank him, that he’d just been in the right place at the right time. He certainly had been in the right place at the right time. Her smile widening when he leaned in to whisper the bird part. Already taking care with her secret. “I’m glad you could tell.” She told him, pleased he’d been able to pick up on her bird body language. And even more pleased she’d decided to come thank him in person. She giggled when he said he’d tried to become a wizard-animal-thing—Skye could never remember what they were called, even though she was currently pretending to be one—and swallowed a leaf by mistake. The wizard process for turning into animals really was a strange one. “I don’t blame you for stopping, it really does seem like a lot of work. My whole family can do it so it kind of came natural for me.” That was probably more than she should have said, but Skye couldn’t help feeling like this bloke was trustworthy. Or at least wouldn’t make any problems for her. He was just a sweet, human bloke who’d helped a bird in trouble when he hadn’t even known she was an actual bird of the sort that human blokes tended to fall over themselves for. It was nice. He was nice. “Flying really is the best,” she agreed enthusiastically. “There’s nothing like it! I’d do it all day if I could.” Not only because it would mean being free of the club at the Ruelle and everything that came with it. “That and singing. I sing as a person too, but it’s…” Her brows pulled together as she shook off the thoughts of how she’d been spending her days recently. “It’s just nicer as a bird. I can sing whatever I want, for whoever I want.” And no one got hurt because of it. “What sorts of things do you like to do, Otto?” She asked, rather than linger on that. It was much nicer to think about this sweet bloke who’d saved her.
Otto smiled when Skye said she was glad he could tell. Too bad he couldn’t tell his co-workers about her being the bird seeing as how they seemed skeptical when he’d said the bird seemed grateful. He’d been right. It was a surprise when she told him her whole family were animal what’s its. “Oh wow, bet you had lots of help then,” he stated, impressed a whole family had done that. Maybe her family was like McGonagall and really into that sort of magic. Otto’s parents were just ordinary people. His dad worked a normal job at the Ministry and his mum was a housewife. Not the type to be doing all the weird stuff you had to do to turn. Not even Ludo, the only impressive one in the family, was that type. His smile widened when she talked about flying. It was odd the way she looked when talking about singing though. Otto guessed from that and what else she said about singing that she must not be good at it as herself. He didn’t know how all that stuff worked so that seemed reasonable. It was another surprise when she asked what he liked to do. “I’m pretty decent on a broomstick but I bet having wings is a whole lot different than riding a broom.” Once again Otto leaned in and whispered a few words. He liked flying. “Don’t get to do it too much anymore. Not really any space.” Sometimes Ludo took him to the pitch to fly around but Otto didn’t want to sound like he was bragging. “Mostly I just hang out with mates, watch quidditch, work.” Otto didn’t mind working, he liked being around people. Something he missed from school. He also missed how easy it was to have fun at school. You just did it. Usually Davey would come up with something but there was plenty to do that didn’t require coming up with anything. Nowadays things had to be planned. It really did suck.
