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:
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.
Skye just nodded at his comment about her getting lots of help learning to turn into a bird. It hadn’t been something that required much help, per se, but her parents had helped her learn to be a Veela so nodding felt honest enough. It was nicer to talk about flying, though she should have left it there. Fortunately asking about him seemed to distract him well enough, plus Skye wanted to know more about this bloke. She smiled when he talked about flying and whispered again when he talked about how having wings was probably different. She liked that he whispered when he talked about that, and she also liked how he had to lean in closer to do it. It was a shame he didn’t get to fly much anymore, but Skye smiled when he said he just worked and spent time with his mates. That felt very normal, in a way that wasn’t very common among the veela. Certainly wouldn’t be any veela who would say they just liked to hang out with their friends and watch quidditch. Even though that sounded a lot nicer than what Skye knew the veela did for fun. “That sounds nice,” she said a touch wistfully. “It’s a shame you can’t fly as much. Flying really is wonderful, even on a broomstick. It’s very different, of course, than the way I do it,” she added with a coy smile. “But they’re quite fun. I’ll bet your girlfriend likes when you take her up on your broomstick,” Skye added, oblivious to any sort of innuendo one might pick up from that phrasing because she was thinking more about what she was going to say next. “Of course you didn’t mention a girlfriend, but I’m assuming a sweet handsome bloke like you must have one.”