Wing AU (Closed RP)
For hundreds of years, Tadashi’s people had been forced into hiding. Once admired for the uniqueness of the large feathered wings that sprung from their backs, the strength and speed which they were blessed with, ultimately, as with all people who were considered “different”, the regular humans eventually turned on them. Some hunted them for sport or money or simply to “cleanse the Earth of them”. Others were captured and taken into slavery as “pets” for the wealthy or put on display in zoos. That is why, all those hundreds of years ago, the winged people had finally had to flee into the woods, building their homes in the tallest treetops in only deepest and remote forests where they could never be found and hurt again.
Tadashi, having been born long after those times, grew up hearing the stories. He’d scarcely ever seen a human without wings–those he had seen had been only at a distance, shown to him and his fellow fledglings to show them the dangers that they were to be wary of, especially for those of them who would eventually leave the flock to follow their soulmate bond to find mates in other flocks. They were taught that they would have to be wise, fast, and above all cautious in their travels–for even to this day humans were only inventing more and more devices that could harm them and lead to capture or, even worse, death.
Tadashi had learned these lessons well. He’d know from the time he was old enough to understand what a soulmate bond was that he would have to travel to find his mate when he was eighteen and old enough to go on his journey. Where his journey would take him–where he’d find his soulmate, and what would happen afterwards–was uncertain, but he was going to be as prepared as possible so that someday he’d be ready to find his mate.
Only someday was no longer a someday–today was his eighteenth birthday, and the day he was finally allowed to leave the flock and go to find his mate. He woke up early to bathe and make sure that everything was fully packed for his journey. His aunt greeted him when he returned to the nest with provisions–seedcakes and other long-lasting foods that would hopefully hold him over until he reaches his mate’s flock. His goodbyes with her and his younger brother, Hiro, were long and a bit painful, but he knew what he had to do–his heart wouldn’t let him stay here a moment longer when he knew that his mate was waiting out there somewhere for him–maybe already looking for him as well.
Leaving the redwood forest of his flock for the first time in his life, Tadashi had no maps, no instructions to follow–all that he had was the compass of his heart, leading him ever northwards, correcting him whenever he started to get off course. It was a several day flight, and where he finally found himself was the last place he’d expected. A human city? And not just any human city–a very large, very populous one. Was it possible–could he have misinterpreted the signs? But no, he could feel it that this was the right place. Maybe, just maybe, his soulmate was looking for him too, and they’d both ended up here, looking for each other.
Not knowing what else to do as traveling by daylight was far too dangerous, Tadashi finds the closest thing that he could to a forest and makes roost in the tallest and best protected tree there, wrapping his wings around himself for cover and falling asleep just as the sun started to come up over the horizon.
Tadashi didn’t know how much later it was when suddenly he felt a stab of urgency, telling him that he needed to wake up–that his soulmate was nearby, that he needed to hurry if he wanted to find them! Tadashi instantly unfurls his wings, following the feeling from treetop to treetop until, finally, his internal compass told him to stop and wait. Heart pounding with anticipation, Tadashi tries to breathe as calmly as possible. This was it–this was the moment when he would finally meet his soulmate!
(( @rpfredzilla So I thought we could start off with Tadashi seeing Fred for the first time, give us a chance to have Fred getting the feeling that he’s being followed for a day or so and Tadashi trying to figure out why his mate doesn’t have wings? ^^))
((Sounds good!!!)) It was late when Fred finally got off of work and started the long walk back to his place. He’d never really had a home, when he was a baby he was dumped at an orphanage and then moved from foster home to foster home, no family wanting to take him in because something seemed ‘off’ about him. No other explanation, just that he seemed weird and they didn’t want him around. It hurt at first, but quickly Fred realized that no one wanted him and that he would be better off alone.
Still as he walked home, Fred couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was following him.
Tadashi felt his heart practically exploding with joy when, finally, he saw a man walking past his tree–within a moment he knew that he was his soulmate. Even in the dim evening light, he marveled at just how perfect and handsome he was, and he knew that he’d love him for the rest of his life. The rush of feeling was enough to make him almost miss one very important thing. Almost.
Wings–wait, where were his wings? Tadashi, so ready only moments earlier to jump out of the tree and introduce himself, feels himself halting as he realizes that his mate–the man he thought was his mate–didn’t have wings. That couldn’t be right, could it? No, it was impossible, his mate couldn’t be a regular human! And why wasn’t his mate responding to his presence? Couldn’t he feel him near? Could he somehow be wrong–was this not his real mate? But he was so sure…
Fred felt something, he wasn’t sure what it was or why, but he felt a nearly irresistible urge to look for something. He didn’t know what or why, but he needed to go out and find whatever it was.
Tadashi freezes–wait, was it possible? Could his mate sense him? Half of him was screaming to go be introduced to his mate, but the other half was telling him to be careful–that humans were dangerous, and maybe this was some sort of trick.
Fred froze, unsure what to do. Did he just walk away and go home or follow this strange instinct he was suddenly having?
Tadashi breathes shallowly, unsure of what to do. Should he make the first move? Maybe it was possible that his mate could be a human. But if so, how could he ever bring a human home to the flock? And could he even trust a human in the first place?
“Is….is someone their?” Fred found himself uncertainly calling out.
Tadashi pauses–he needed to be cautious, but at the same time hearing his mate calling out for him was too much for him to be able to ignore.
“H-Hello?” he finally answers, still staying up in his tree and out of sight for the time being, just to be safe.
Fred froze, not expecting someone to answer. “Who are you?”
“… My name is Tadashi,” Tadashi finally answers, not quite ready to reveal that he was his soulmate until he knew for sure that he was. “Who are you?”
“Fred,” he found himself saying, not sure why he was so comfortable talking to a voice he couldn’t even see. “Where are you?”
Fred. So that was his soulmate’s name–Tadashi felt something warm glow to life in his chest at that, telling him that this was right, that this was the man he was meant to spend the rest of his life with. So, taking a deep breath for courage, he drops down to the ground from the tree, using his wings to keep his balance as he lands. “I’m right here. I-I’ve waited a very, very long time to meet you.”
“Wow!” Fred gasped, jumping back when a man, Tadashi apparently, landed on the ground in front of him. Even more shocking was the fact that he had wings, WINGS, just like in all of the stories- but waited for him? “F-for me?”
“Yes,” Tadashi answers with a soft smile, glad that Fred didn’t seem to be scared or put off by his wings. “You’re even more handsome than I ever imagined you… Although I had thought you would have wings, most of our soul mates are other winged people, I’m not sure if I’ve every heard of a couple where that wasn’t the case… D-Did something happen to your wings, or were you born without them?”
“W-wings?” Fred gasped, eyes wide. “No, no way I’ve never- I mean I was found as a baby outside an orphanage so I never met my parents but I’m pretty sure they didn’t- that they- uh….” Fred wasn’t sure how to voice that he was sure they didn’t have wings since he didn’t without offending this Tadashi.
“Are you sure?” Tadashi couldn’t help but notice the shape of Fred’s shoulder blades now that he could see him up close. They stuck out much more than a normal human’s would. Especially with what Fred had said about being found as an orphan…
“It looks like you could have wing nubs,” Tadashi says softy, tentatively reaching out to touch one. “If you were found as a baby… Sometimes chicks are stolen from the nest, and human hunters will cut their wings off to try to make then pass as human… It’s possible that maybe… Maybe that happened to you. Which would explain why I was drawn here to you!”
“N-no way I mean I’d notice something like that right?” Fred exclaimed, struggling to process everything he was being told.
“Not necessarily.” Tadashi shakes his head. “The scars would be on your back, you wouldn’t be able to see them. But–I could check? I’d know what to look for.”
“Uhh….” Fred honestly had no way to respond to that.
“Don’t you want to know if it’s possible? To maybe find the clues to your past?” Tadashi asks. “All you have to do is let me see under the back of your shirt, simple as that.”
“This is just….a lot of information…..”
“Oh, of course.” Tadashi feels himself flushing in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, I got overexcited, I didn’t mean to push you. I’ve just been waiting eighteen years to finally meet you, my soulmate–I got ahead of myself, and I apologize for that.”
“You’ve waited eighteen years for me? W-why?”
“Because that’s just how it is–I’ve known my whole life that I was destined to find you and love you. I just had to wait until I was eighteen to be allowed to leave the flock to look for you.”
“How did you know and shouldn’t I know?”
“I just–know. I’ve always felt a connection to someone, somewhere out there, and when I was finally allowed to search for that someone, I was brought here to you. I knew the moment I laid eyes on you that you were the one.” Tadashi bites his lip in concern. “D-Do you not feel anything when you look at me?”
“I-….” Fred began pausing as he really focused on what he felt.
“Please, Fred–I know you’ve been away from the flock for most of your life, but somewhere, deep down, I think you know this is something that’s meant to be,” Tadashi whispers, tentatively reaching out to brush the back of Fred’s hand with his fingers. “Please.”
Their was….sometimhung between them. Fred felt like he could trust a complete and total stranger which was odd. He didn’t feel at all nervous around him either which is equally strange. But e didn’t know how to voice this to Tadashi.
“You feel something, don’t you?” Tadashi says softly, seeing the look in his eyes. “You don’t have to have a name for it or understand it–but you feel something. I can see it. All I’m asking is that you give me a chance. A chance to see if you’re a part of my world–and if you’re truly one of us, to maybe even see if we can find your family, or at least welcome you into a new one.”
“I don’t know if what I’m feeling is anything close to what you’re thinking.” Fred admitted.
“But it’s worth trying to see, isn’t it?” Tadashi answers. “What have you got to lose?”
A lot Fred thought to himself. He could be a serial killer for all Fred knew. Or he could be what he said he was, but Fred had no way of really knowing.
“Look, I’m not asking you to come with me right now, or to even go with me anywhere or do anything,” Tadashi says, noticing Fred’s hesitation. “Just–please. Let me check your back. That’s the fastest way that we’ll be able to know how to move forwards with all of this.”
“I don’t know about with you guys but uh for humans asking someone to turn their back to them is kind of an odd question with how vulnerable you are….”
“Oh, of course.” Tadashi slowly nods. “I-I’m sorry, I should have realized… I-Is there anything I could do to make you feel safer with this? …You could bind my wings while I do it, if you want. Without my wings, I have no balance, and I won’t be able to move very far. It would give you the chance to run away if you for any reason felt unsafe.”
“Binding your wings makes you unbalanced?”
“It does. It’s like losing a set of limbs, or a sense. It leaves me at my most vulnerable.” Tadashi reaches into his travel pack and pulls out a length of rope, his hands trembling slightly as he offers it to Fred. “I wouldn’t let anyone I didn’t completely trust do it. And I’m willing to trust you. Because I know you’re my soulmate, and I know you would never hurt me or take advantage of me.”
Fred stares at Tadashi in shock, barely able to process what he was hearing and unsure how to respond.
“Go on. Take it,” Tadashi urges. The truth was he was terrified of letting anyone bind his wings, and if Fred was going to do it he wanted to get it over with it as soon as possible. But he was willing to do whatever it took to convince Fred and bring him back home with him where he belonged. He could feel it deep down in his heart that Fred was one of them–he just needed to be able to prove it.
“Are you….sure?” He uncertainly said.
“For you to feel safe? Yes.”
“….” Fred slowly said with a frown on his face.
“W-What are you waiting for?”
“-I….It doesn’t feel right doing this.”
“But then how else will you trust me?”
“But if I do this…wouldn’t I be the monster?”
“N-Not if I’m telling you to do it! How else are we going to find out the truth?”
“I just want to be sure this is really okay.”
“As long as it makes you more comfortable, then I can handle it.”
“….okay….” Fred reluctantly said, doing as Tadashi said.
Tadashi felt his wings twitching as he feels Fred starting to wrap the rope around them, but he forces himself to hold still, trying to keep his breathing calm. He could do this. He could handle it. He’d do whatever it took to be with his soulmate. Hopefully this wouldn’t take long, and then Fred could untie him and he’d fine. …Provided Fred actually did untie him and wasn’t going to leave him abandoned or, worse, take him captive–
No! He couldn’t think like that! Fred was his soulmate, he would never do that to him! He had to believe in him–he had to believe in their love, even if Fred wasn’t exactly feeling it yet.
Once Fred finished he slowly walked back in front of Tadashi, slowly turning his back to him, heart pounding in his chest.
Tadashi lets out a small sigh of relief, grateful that Fred was keeping his end of the bargain and didn’t seem to be planning to harm him. Carefully, as gently as he could, he pushes up the back of Fred’s shirt, all the way up to his shoulders. Within moments, he knew there was no doubt. There was no mistaking the shape of his bones, and the faded but still visible burn marks on his shoulderblades told him everything that he needed to know.
“I knew it,” he whispers. “Fred, y-you used to have wings…”
“Y-you’re sure?” Fred whispered, mind reeling with this new information.
“Yes…” Tadashi gently rubs his thumb over one of the burn marks, anger filling his chest. “W-Why would someone do this to you? You could have a family out there somewhere! What purpose do the humans have with trying to destroy us?”
“What if my parents did this?” Fred asked. “I mean why would a stranger take me then dump me it doesn’t make sense.”
“Hunters will usually take chicks to sell them, but some of them just want to make us ‘normal’ but they don’t give a fuck about what happens to us after they’ve done what they wanted with us,” Tadashi answers fiercely. “No parent would willingly give up their child, there are far too few of us, every life is precious!”
“How can we ever know for sure what happened?”
“You can come back with me–my flock is the only one near here, there’s a good chance we could do some asking around and find out what happened–the elders would know if there were any chicks taken around the time you were found, and if you have living family members they could probably identify you!”
“Y-you want me to just drop everything and go with you?” Fred cried. “We just met!”
“But we’re soulmates, we’re meant to be together!” Tadashi answers, his heart breaking slightly. In all his years of waiting for his soulmate, he’d never thought that his soulmate wouldn’t want to be with him! “D-Don’t you want to find our about your past, and see where you future is supposed to go?”
“Why do you expect me to just abandon my life here?” Fred asked.
“…All right, admittedly that’s a lot to ask, since you weren’t raised the way I was.” Tadashi shakes his head. “Fine then. In that case, I’m staying here, and you can’t stop me from doing that.”
“Y-you’d just drop everything? For someone you just met? No questions asked?
“Yes. I’ve spent my whole life waiting to meet you, I’m not going to let you go now.”
((So I’m thinking that it would be kinda counter-productive to the story to have Tadashi purposefully bring back Fred’s wings without his permission: do you think maybe there’s magic in just being in close proximity a soulmate that makes the wings start to grow back? Which explains why hunters would drop the chicks off in human cities instead of just abandoning them in the woods, to keep them from having their wings grow back if their soulmate is in their flock and to keep them from ever finding them!))
“W-Wow…..”
((Also Maybe Tadashi doesn’t know he could grow the wings back and kind of on instinct kisses the scars? Also I’m finished here so I’ll be heading home!!!!))
“So, is that okay with you?”
((I was kinda lowkey thinking that in the back of my mind, let’s go for it!!!!!!! Awesome, see you soon!!!!!!!! :D))
“I can’t exactly make you leave,” Fred awkwardly said.
((Awesome!!!))
“Okay then.” Tadashi smiles and then, on some unknown instinct, leans forward to press a soft kiss to each of the scars on Fred’s back. He’d expected it to just be a sweet, simple show of his devotion to his newly found mate. What he didn’t expect when he places the kisses was a rushing sensation, almost like magic leave his body, leaving his lips tingling as he pulls away.
“What the hell?” he gasps, having no idea what had just happened.
“W-What did you do?” Fred cried, jerking away at the strange sensation.
“I-I don’t know!” Tadashi shakes his head. “I’ve never had something like that happen before!”
“You don’t know?”
“No!” Tadashi cries, slightly terrified–what had he just done to his mate? What if Fred freaked out and left him because of this?
“Why did you do that then?”
“I-I don’t know! It was like–instinct! I wasn’t really controlling it!”
“W-What could happen to me?”
“I-I’ve never heard of anything like this happening before, so I don’t know,” Tadashi answers, before admitting a suspicion that he had, “But it may… May have something to do with your wings…”
“I thought you said they where gone!”
“They are! …Currently. But you’ve still got the basic bone structure to support them, and I don’t know, I could be totally wrong, but just based on where I had that feeling…. I-It’s possible that maybe magic could make them grow back? But I have no clue, I could be totally wrong! M-Maybe this was just a weird fluke and it has nothing at all to do with your wings!”
“Wait you’re saying wings could grow out of me! Wings?”
“I don’t know, maybe! I’m just trying to go with most drastic case scenario!” As much as Tadashi loved the idea of his mate having wings, with the way Fred’s tone was he was terrified that Fred was going to fully reject him and possibly himself if he truly did grow wings.
“W-What will I do if I do get wings?”
“…I-It’s up to you. Y-You could always try to get them removed early on if you don’t want them, the signs of them growing should show up fairly quickly…. Or you could come with me, where you’ll be safe and accepted for who you are?”
“You want me to just….disappear….leave my friends wondering what happened to me?”
“Do you think your friends will accept who you are? …I’m not trying to make you doubt them, I’m truly asking, do you think they would? If so, there’s no reason you can’t tell them, unless you’re ashamed of this…?”
“I-If I get seen with actual wings I may get dragged off and tested on or something!”
“Well we don’t even know for sure if you’re going to get wings! Maybe we should try to hold off on panicking until we know for sure! I-If they do start growing and you want to get them removed, I might be able to find resources to help…”
Tadashi felt like his heart was breaking. Fred clearly didn’t want wings, and it didn’t seem like he even particularly wanted to be a part of his life. This was nothing like what meeting his soulmate was supposed to be like. But he’d made this mess, he had to clean it up. He’d stay with Fred long enough to make sure that he was okay. And then he’d head home and start the rest of his mate-less life. Would he be something of an outcast or at least an object of pity for having his mate reject him? Yes. But there wasn’t much he could do about that so there was no use crying over something he couldn’t control, at least not right now.
“I-I’m scared.” Fred whispered, body trembling. “I mean I should want to know about my past but….I’m also terrified….”
“I’m sorry… I-If I’d known I was only going to cause you this much trouble, I never would have come,” Tadashi says softly, tears starting to leak out and glad that Fred wasn’t looking at him right now so he couldn’t see him crying.
“I think I’m causing you trouble here.” Fred mumbled. “I’m a pretty pathetic excuse for a soul mate….you really sure it’s supposed to me…me? Not someone more worthy?”
“What?” Tadashi cries. “Y-You’re an amazing soulmate! I– Look, things are crazy, and complicated, and I know we have a lot of things to figure out. But… Maybe we just need to step back from all of this stuff about wings and spend a few minutes to at least get to know each other a bit?”
“You mean like talking about ourselves?”
“Exactly,” Tadashi agrees. “If you’d be okay with that, that is? …And also if you’d maybe be okay with untying my wings…”
“Yes and r-right Yea Course Sorry.”
“Thank you.” Tadashi lets out a relieved sigh as he feels the rope around his wings loosening and the fully coming off. His wings stretch out gratefully, enjoying their freedom. But then, to his great surprise and embarrassment, they suddenly wrap around Fred, pulling him closer and forming a protective bubble around the two of them.
“S-Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean to–!” Tadashi apologizes, his cheeks burning. “I-I’m clearly not as in control as I should be right now…”
“How can you not be in control of something that is apart of you?” Fred slowly asked.
“Wings tend to have a mind of their own–they move and react in ways you don’t always expect, and they can sometimes be really embarrassing,” Tadashi sighs, shaking his head. “Usually they’ll do what I want but times like this–not so much. Sometimes they give away emotions you’re trying to keep hidden, like getting all fluffed up when you’re embarrassed or angry, or fluttering when you’re excited or anxious. …Or like now, I guess they knew that I wanted some privacy with you and they decided that they’d come up with their own solution.”
“Okay….” Fred slowly said, weirded out.
((The wings doing that seems a little weird to me))
“It’s not always that way for everyone, but I guess since I tend to be a really emotional person my body just tends to react strongly to that–maybe I’ve got more control that I realize, but it feels like it’s out of my control, if that makes sense?”
((IDK, I’m just going based off of what I know about birds? Birds are pretty expressive with their wings, and for birds I know a lot of it is instinct, it just naturally happens with them?))
“Unfortunately Not really.” Fred admitted. “I guess it’s hard to enderstand when you have nothing like that.”
((That’s fair.))
“That makes sense,” Tadashi agrees, finally getting his wings to relax and safely tucking them behind his back, hoping that they wouldn’t act up again. “So, um, getting back on track–maybe tell me about you? What things you like, hobbies–if you have a job, or if you go to school?”
((But I do like that you pointed it out and it made me think that maybe Tadashi tends to have more emotional reactions and so his wings might move around more than other’s wings would so it’s kind of a more unique thing to him than something that’s totally normal, if that makes any sense?))
“Well I work at a comic book store and I Well I love reading and when I can afford to I like playing video games….what about you?”
“I love reading!” Tadashi cries–finally, a point of common interest! “And you said you work in a comic shop? Wow, lucky you! I love reading comics when I get the chance–we have a free trusted suppliers who get is items from the human world, I pay them to bring comics whenever they can…”
“That’s awesome! What comics do you like?”
“Pretty much anything I can get my hands on, but Spiderman is probably one of my favorites! Of course X-Men kinda strikes close to home too…”
“Yea I can definitely see why it would.” Fred admitted.
“Yeah.” Tadashi gives him a small smile before continuing, “I-I also like inventing. A lot of people think it’s weird that I’m so interested in human technology, but I love taking old things apart, figuring out how they work, and then improving them or making new things.”
“That’s so cool!” Fred exclaimed. “It’s like you’re finding and messing with Lost Things like a tinker!”
((Yea sorry couldn’t resist))
“Like what?” Tadashi asks curiously.
((Love it!!!))
“Someone who likes to play around with things either taking them apart to see how they work or building things.”
((Sweet.))
“Oh!” Tadashi smiles at that. “Yeah, I guess that is like me, then!”
“It’s kind of cool actually!”
“You really think so?” Tadashi asks, feeling a bit shy.
“Yea I do!”
“Thank you.” Tadashi beams at him. “My main job in the flock is helping out with repairs around the village–if anyone needs something fixed, whether with their nest or anything else, they’ll usually call me or one of the others I work with. I also sometimes help with constructing nests or new buildings. It’s not a competition to see who can do the most work, we’re all provided for equally–we make sure that everyone in the flock is taken care of, no matter what–we just do as much work as we can as quickly as we’re able to without pushing ourselves too hard. Everyone has their role in the flock, and that’s how we make sure that all the work gets done and everyone is provided for.”
“Wow that’s amazing! Kind of sounds like the Disney Fairy stories.”
“The what stories?”
“Stories of the fairies or pixie hollow!”
“Pixie… Hollow? Fred, you do realize we’re not fae, right?”
Fred felt his face flush as he said, “I know that I’m not stupid I just said it was similar!”
“Oh, understood! Sorry, I was the one misunderstanding,” Tadashi apologizes, feeling embarrassed. “I definitely wasn’t trying to say you were stupid! A lot of people just assume because of the wings that we’re fae, not realizing there’s a difference…”
“I only have the stories really to go off of as to what you are.” Fred said, unable to look at Tadashi.
“…Did the stories say that we’re monsters?” Tadashi asks quietly, knowing that that’s how most humans seemed to view them.
“Some but the stories I liked the most where about how you guys where humans like us but with wings and could fly so high they could touch the sun if they pleased.” Fred said, eyes lighting up.
“Well I’m not sure about touching the sun,” Tadashi chuckles, glad that there were some good stories being told, “but we can fly pretty high. …W-Would you like to try it? I could carry you and fly you over the forest–not too high, but just enough that you can see what it’s like?”
“I-isn’t That a little dangerous?” Fred nervously asked. Even if he didn’t intend to it would be so easy for him to lose his grip on Fred and if he fell-
“A bit,” Tadashi admits. “So we don’t have to do it if you don’t want to! I just thought I’d offer.”
“I uh- I don’t think I’m quiet ready for that.”
“That’s okay, you don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with,” Tadashi reassures him before looking up at the sky and noticing how dark it was getting. “It’s getting late…. D-Did you need to go home soon?”
“I don’t really have anyone waiting for me if that’s what your asking,” Fred said with a shrug.
“I meant more for safety reasons and because I didn’t know if you needed to eat,” Tadashi explains, trying not to show how happy he was that Fred didn’t have a significant other to go home to.
“Oh,” Fred said, that made sense. “Do you need to eat?”
“Well, I’ve still got some rations in my bag,” Tadashi answers. “I was more worried about you since I accidently caught you unawares and I didn’t know if you’d eaten yet–I wouldn’t be a very good soulmate if I let you go hungry!”
“I uh- I could definitely use something to eat.” Fred admitted.
“Okay then, let’s get some food for you! I, um… I’m not quite sure how regular humans usually get food, for us we usually all eat together communally but I know that things are different for you guys, although I’m not sure how…”
“When you say communally do you mean the entire uh village I guess eats together?”
“Right! My aunt is one of the cooks who prepares food for everyone.”
“Yea we don’t do anything like that, families will eat together but that’s about it.”
“Well that still sounds nice! And probably a lot more practical, considering the flock it much smaller than most regular human cities.”
“Very true.”
“So… Do you have anyone you usually eat with?”
“Sometimes I’ll meet up with my friends.” Fred said.
“Well that sounds nice! Do you go to each other’s homes?”
“We meet up at restaurants,” Fred explained.
“…Restaurants?” Tadashi repeats. He thought he’d heard that word before but he couldn’t remember what it meant.
“It’s a place where people go and buy meals that have already been cooked for them.”
“Oh, I see! Huh, that sounds nice–and super useful.”
“It definitely is!”
“I’d be interested to see what one was like! Only…” Tadashi gestures helplessly to his wings. “I don’t know if I can really safely leave the forest. This is about as far as I can go into your wold…”
“That’s….a shame really.” Fred honestly said.
“It is, but I don’t know if there’s much I can do about it, unless you can think of a way to get everyone to suddenly accept winged people, or find a way to hide my wings,” Tadashi sighs. ((So I know a lot of people do really cool cosplays with realistic wings, especially recently with Good Omens–think Fred might come up with the idea of telling everyone that Tadashi’s just cosplaying since most people probably don’t believe that there are actually people with wings? Especially if there might be a convention going on somewhere nearby. In the dark and if Tadashi keeps his wings still most people would probably buy it–that way Tadashi gets to see a bit of Fred’s world, if nothing else just enough to get to Fred’s apartment? …For extra fun maybe we can have Fred having forgotten that he was inviting friends over (maybe Honey Lemon and Gogo are Fred’s regular human friends, and Wasabi is part of Tadashi’s flock?) so that Tadashi gets to meet his friends and also Fred might be able to let Honey Lemon and Gogo know what’s going on?))
“Have you ever heard of cosplay?”
((Hmmm I think w can make that work!!))
“…Heard of what?”
((Awesome!!! :D))
“Cosplay is where you dress up as a character from a book or tv show you like!”
“Oh! I think I’ve heard of that--is that like Halloween?”
