That Magnificent Man and his Flying Machine

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "Heh, don't trouble yourself over it. Like I said, it's all good and fine. I never really thought of them as real before, so nothing changes much now." That's right, as long as he kept telling himself that, it would be fine. He didn't need to be such a downer. He was a big boy. Cayde took a deep breath and let it out, his smile returning. Just smile and it'll be alright. You knew already that things would be hard for you without magic. You were born without the same liberties as everyone else, so all you have to do is try harder, fly higher, and everything will work out just fine. "There's many other places to explore in this world, and I have all the time I need in this life to find them. No need to concern myself with stuff like that. It'd be like a goldfish dreaming it could fly." 
   
    "Just gotta stick to my strengths is all." There was a bittersweet tinge to Cayde's words, but he knew that if he could muscle through it, he'd be fine. Being born without any magic in a world dominated by it, of course the pilot was shackled in some ways. But that just meant he had to work harder. Instead of thinking that he was unlucky, he saw the peopled with magic as getting a handicap. Sure it would be nice to be on the same playing field as them, but at least he could look back with a heart full of pride at the accomplishments he fought hard for. 

    Could the young pilot have flown earlier if he had magic? Sure, but the fact that the boy made his own machine to sore high in the sky was a creation of love and determination. It was a far greater achievement than if he'd just cast a spell. 

    So, sure. Cayde was sad that because of his lack of magic he couldn't live up to some dreams, but that didn't get him down for much longer. All he had to do was think of the great things he'd accomplished, and his face was back to normal. 

    "Heh, who knows, maybe one day I'll build a flying machine capable of taking me there. But nah, I think for now it's best to set realistic goals, follow achievable dreams, and take pride in myself when I reach them." Cayde stared into his tea and let out a soft sigh, carefully downing the rest. When he set the cup down, he would have the cheerful gleam back in his gaze. "Life hasn't given me any handouts thus far, I'm not gonna start expecting any now. just gotta keep working is all." 

    That's right. Keep that brave face on. Dreams come and go, as long as I keep my real goals in mind, I can keep the wind beneath my wings. Ava made another trilling noise, and the pilot happily scratched the falcon's head.
    
    I might not have a lot of friends, and I might not have any magic, but that's never stopped me before. And it certainly won't stop me now. The young blond just had to take a deep breath. He was probably making Gale feel weird, so he had to make sure to brighten up. She was a nice woman, worrying about him. 
    
    Cayde lifted the painting up, looking over the grand islands on it's landscape, and without another word, he gently passed it over to Gale. "Here, I want you to have this. As thanks for, well, being so kind to me and being so nice as to have tea with me. No one really comes out here, so... it means a lot to me." 

[[God] - Gale Windess]

Gale was not the kind of person who accepted such thoughts like this. The boy had dreams and he was talking himself down. Why? He didn't have a show of magic on his own this whole time so perhaps that was it? And from the looks of it, his feathery friend also didn't seem to approve of it.

Ava was puffing up, annoyed the boy wasn't his chipper self. She even let out some noise and fluttered her wings like she was threatening to make a huge mess because Cayde's happy machine was the borken. Didn't look like she was blaming the goddess much if at all. Smart bird. Gale set the painting down and got up, stepping right over to Cayde with her 'slightly annoyed mom because child is being difficult' look. Gale and Ava both were having none of it, though they seemed to express this in different ways. [smear:#75f567]"Cayde. The place is real. Those who have made it there were mages and mortal alike, but few in numbers. I am not saying this to inspire you, but I am telling you this as a mere fact. And if you don't have the confidence in yourself to try, the chance you'll make it is zero."[/smear:#FFFA5E:0] Ava made a sound to be in agreement before quickly straightening a flight feather and more or less gesturing at herself.

Gale seemed to take notice of the bird's rather specific notions. [smear:#75F567]"And what might your story be?"[/smear:#FFFA5E:0], Gale asked, picking up the bird and looking its body over the surface. Of course, she couldn't pick out old injury like Maisha probably could, but that didn't stop Gale from noticing that Ava did have a point she wanted to make with Cayde.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    Cayde laughed at the two of them. He gently patted the air, trying to get them both to calm down. "Don't you both go tag teaming me with some sort of crazy idea now. Yes, Ms. Windess, I understand that it's real. You told me that earlier! I'm just trying to be more realistic with my current life goals now. Otherwise I'm gonna wind up gettin' myself killed and have to accept my sister writing "I told you so" on my tombstone." 

    The young pilot took a sip of his tea. It was starting to get cold, but, at least the flavor still got through. "I understand what you're saying, and the thought is nice, so don't think I'm not just throwin' it away. Buuuut you're also kinda bad at giving advice." Cayde let out a hearty laugh, as though amused by some untold joke. "Like I said, maybe one day I'll reach it. But as I am now, it's just not going to happen. Not without some miracle, especially when I'm still strugglin' to stay in the air. I'm just going to set it on the backburner for now." 

    It was kind of weird. Having Gale tell him that he'd wouldn't make it without magic, and then trying to encourage him to try. It was a genuinely nice thought, but wholly unnecessary. I guess my dream of seeing them hasn't changed much... he quietly mused ... though, it's not as much of a primary thought as before. More like... a secondary or... tertiary goal? I should probably knock out getting my flying machines workable before I start thinking about building anything that can take me to those places. I wonder what she meant by uninhabitable though? Wish she would have said, I could have planned around that hazard in new blueprints. 

    Aaah, no no no no no, come on Cayde, keep focused you're doing it again, you're letting your mind wander. Maybe in the future you can get that info, but if you start up a new project now you're only going to wind up focused on that! Cayde finished off his tea, shaking away the thoughts and watching the interaction between Ava and Gale. It was certainly interesting. "You know, I've always wondered what it would be like if I could actually talk to her and understand her. That would be pretty neat. Seeing as you're a god and all, can you understand all that trilling or is that a different god than you?" 
    
    "Eh, ignore me, just rambling. Anyways!" Cayde set his empty cup down and clapped his hands together. "I don't know much about the specific details of what happened with her, but according to my father he thinks she might have gotten blown out of her nest during a storm. She wasn't too badly hurt from the fall, but she was certainly cold, hungry, and shaken up beyond belief. If she had an injury, it probably healed while I was nursing her back. When it came time to set her free, she just wound up coming right back so that's pretty much been life with her ever since."

    "We wake up, I let her out, she does her business, hunts, does whatever other stuff she wants, then comes back and either settles in inside or hangs out with me in the workshop." The young blond started laughing again. "So, Ava and my sister had something of a rivalry growing up, right? And every so often, Ava would sneak into my sisters room and either steal one of her stuffed animals, or "do her bussiness"-" air-quotes "on her pillow. One time, she even chased my sister out of the shower, butt naked and screaming cus Ava flew in with the head of a rabbit. Hahaaa that was so funny." 

    Cayde paused. "Poor bunny though..."

[[God] - Gale Windess]

Gale and Ava exchanged glances. Cayde seemed to be on a 'yes, but actually no' stance about his dreams now. Ava didn't blame the goddess for advising caution but Gale still felt bad about nearly crushing the boy's dreams. Though as Cayde's mind wandered for a minute or so, he brought up a new change of subject out of the blue. Gale gave him a little smile. [smear:#75F567]"It's a little difficult to explain. Maisha's better at understanding all fauna because she's more or less started the progenitors for them. But over the years, you get to learn the base language they have."[/smear:#FFFA5E:0] Even then, direct communication was a hit or miss with them. Sometimes it was glaringly obvious what they wanted to say, but other times it remained elusive.

[smear:#75F567]"Oh? Falling out of a tree from a storm. If that's the case, then I should apologise for that. Winds get rowdy in storms."[/smear:#FFFA5E:0], she said, giving the bird a little scratch on her crest. [smear:#75F567]"I suppose you can say she imprinted on you. But that's not so bad right? You got a little entertainment in your house, it seems."[/smear:#FFFA5E:0] Of course, Ava's only response was a cheeky little screech as if she was proud of the moments Cayde was recalling.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "Well I certainly know when she's getting sassy!" Cayde said with a laugh. "I don't really think I've picked up much of a "language" from her though. Just kinda little things like "Hungry," "angry," "Don't you dare bother me Cayde I just preened my feathers and they look fantastic, and I know you'll mess them up you big klutz," You know, the simple things."

    The young man was back to smiling and laughing like nothing had ever happened. As Gale continued to talk, the pilot collected the cups, humming a tune as he did so. It seemed like the two of them were both good and done with their tea, so it seemed like a good idea to clear the table right about now. 

    "Oh, you don't have to apologize any. These things tend to happen, you know? At least she didn't die like a lot of others may have. And in the end, it brought us all together too!" Cayde gave Ava's head a gentle scritch, and took a tray full of the dishes into the kitchen. The boy would wait until later to wash them, but it didn't hurt any to just set them down. Get things ready, you know. Like a proper adult. Which he totally was. He was totally a functioning member of society, not some weird random hermit who crashed dangerous inventions, no sir. He did chores! He paid taxes! Like an adult!

    Ok but really everyone knew who the adult in this house was.

    It was the damn bird. 

    Anyways, debate on who wears the metaphorical pants in the household aside (Ava), Cayde cheerfully returned to the table. "Sorry about that, just wanted to make sure it was all cleared out and taken care of. Have to be a courteous host, of course! Speaking of, though, It's getting fairly late now. I should probably start getting to work on dinner. You're very much welcome to stay if you'd like, Ms. Windess. If you need to get going, though, I really, really do hope you swing by again. It was very nice having you over!"

    "I promise next time we meet it won't be as I crash land into a field and have to be whisked away by magicky windy powers." The young man let out another laugh. "Next time I'll make sure to have the Mako up in working order! Maybe with a different name. Who knows! I'm still working it all out, so we'll see next time!" 

    Whether Gale stayed or left, the both just genuinely felt happy to have been able to spend a day just talking to someone like this. Telling stories, showing off the home, his invention, his dreams that immediately and violently got crushed within moments without any sort of mercy or foreplay before just rawdogging them with the long, hard dick of reality. You know, all those things that he always hoped he'd have a chance of doing some day. And now he had a friend! A genuine article friend!

    Well, friend number two. If Cayde said that Ava wasn't a genuine friend, the bird could and probably would tear his pretty fly-boy face to shreds. The falcon could be scary at times when she wanted to. Which was always. She just flat out made a habit out of being scary it seemed. 

    Terrifying birb. 

    The sky outside was slowly beginning to change colors. there was still a good bit of blue out, but now the sun was sinking lower, and the horizon was beginning to paint itself with all the different hues of the sunset. In time, the whole sky would soon look like a gentle painting. But not yet, for now, the blue sky still took a small presence. Cayde couldn't help but stare at it through the window with a smile. Soon. Soon I'll be up there. No emergencies. No malfunctions. Just me and the sky. 

[[God] - Gale Windess]

[smear:#75F567]"Oh my, is that really the time?"[/smear:#FFFA5E:0], Gale asked, looking out the window to see the sky dimming with only a red-orange set of runes in the sky. Days pass just as fast as years for her, being immortal and all. [smear:#75F567]"Well, I'd love to stay a bit longer, but I should be going to check on things back at home. Thank you for your time and having me here though! It was good fun!"[/smear:#FFFA5E:0], she said, getting up. [smear:#75F567]"I'd love to visit again sometime, see where you're at with your flying contraption." [/smear:#FFFA5E:0]

Ava seemed to be doing her own thing at this point, preening her feathers and acting as if nothing was going on. Which... I mean it's kind of true. Things were winding down. But she did have a plan to go out on her own somewhere tomorrow and surprise Cayde. And no, it wasn't with another dead animal to try to get him to eat.

[Sparky]

[Refs]

    "Yeah!!! I think I've finally got it all figured out now! All that's left is to finally put it into action. I think this time around though I'll just circle my house, hehe. That way if anything goes wrong I can just do an emergency landing. Maybe do a few touch-n-goes to make sure the landing gear isn't all funked up from the... er... rough landing earlier?" The young pilot laughed and rubbed the back of his head. No doubt Ava was gonna be a bit irritated, but it was all part of the process. 

    Mostly. 

    The boy led the goddess to the door and held it open for her. Already the air outside had gotten much cooler, a lazy breeze making waves in the grass. Cayde wondered if that was directly Gale's doing, or if it was just the natural order of things, either due in part because of her existence or simply in spite of it. Not like he would ever know unless she was gone. But that would be sad. And an experiment like that was not worth it. 

    Would that even be an experiment or would it just be like... an apocalypse? Experimental apocalypse. Experimentalypse. Apocamental... Doom Science. Gods this kid had weird thoughts and tangents. Made one wonder if he was dropped on his head too many times. Or if those crashes scrambled his brain a lot more than you'd think. Er... anyways...
    
    Cayde waved happily and excitedly as the Goddess went off back into the world. And then... everything was normal again. The young pilot returned back to the typical routine, preparing dinner for himself and his companion. Or, well, apparently his familiar... thing. His birb friend. Whatever you wanted to call it. Listen, a friend is a friend, ok, so none of these fancy weird title thingies. You were just gonna wind up confusing the heck out of the poor pilot. Scramble his brain more than it was already scrambled. 
    
    The highlight of dinner was a letter from his mother, read while the young man munched on crispy fish sticks. An update on his sister. Apparently the girl was a few ranks higher in her honor ranking at the Academy thing she was at. Which was nice. Cayde didn't exactly understand what the big deal was with it, or why there was rankings. Maybe it was to encourage friendly competition, or to spur students to aim higher?

    Fancy schools were weird. Little excessive it seemed as well. 

    Oh well, as long as she's getting along well with her classmates, I guess it's alright. Cayde knew that girl always had trouble making friends. Of course, she was his sister though, so the boy knew she was still a good girl deep down inside. A Larris was a pure soul at heart, always and truly! Probably. Cayde sighed and set the letter down, stretching and taking care of the dishes. 
    
    The night sky was filled with stars. Shining. Sparkling. Like beacons of hope. 

    Maybe when I have my flying machine built and working, I can venture out? Make new friends? New adventures? Cayde set the final plate into the drying rack and set his chin into the palm of his hands. The young man didn't exactly care that they were still wet. "I wonder what the world is like from the air?"
    

[[God] - Gale Windess]

Gale gave the boy a little bow and a polite smile, accompanied with a thank you for the hospitality. She stepped outside and stretched, the wind noticeably picking up in recognition and rustling the upper branches of the trees around them. When Gale was done with her stretches, she'd be lifted up slightly. The air around her distorted slightly and glowed a faint green light that revealed wind forming into wings and then her form visibly shimmering and turning invisible like a ghost. The only sign left of her was a sudden rush of wind, though it seemed to hit in specific points on a trailed path that looped around Cayde's home and off into the sky.

Ava on the other hand gave a little peep in response to Cayde's wonder of a question. I mean, if it was an answer, he still wouldn't get it. But I mean you can guess an answer and there's a chance you found the right word. Maybe she was just telling him to get ready for bed. It's dark and that means night time which means go the fuck to bed.