The Chained Watcher

Editing Videos

~~~

Lying down on the oversized mattress with his wings sprawled at various angles, Grian wore a slight smile while editing his latest episode. They still stay on the far side of the room, but he appreciates the effort they're putting in towards getting used to being around him while he's untransformed.

Well, apart from Scar.

Another grape bounces off the back of his head, and he resists the urge to sigh or grumble at his fearless friend. Scar, unlike most of the people in the room, isn't editing a video right now. Instead, he's lying on top of one of his wings, entertaining himself by flicking grapes at his head.

He keeps having to erase the grapes that fall onto his mattress to keep them from making a mess and squishing when he lies down. The smell of rotting grapes just isn't pleasant no matter how often you smell it.

Boink. Another grape. Erase it, and ignore Scar while focusing on his editing. Boink. Yet another grape. He really doesn't appreciate the distraction while he's busy.

He manages to ignore the distraction for a few more minutes before finally reaching a level of irritation where he can't ignore it. Huffing in annoyance, he casts a sour look at Scar and says, "Scar, quit it." He'll never let himself actually hurt any of his friends, but he's not above making a nuisance of himself when he's annoyed.

Scar stops, just looking at him. Finally. Turning back to his editing, he dragged his finger across the trackpad, moving-

Boink.

Alright, that's it.

With no warning, the wing Scar was laying on snapped up, tossing him up into the air. Before gravity could reassert itself to bring the abruptly airborne Hermit back down to earth, he flicked the wing he had been laying on out over him, pulling it down to lay flush with the wing below and tucking it snugly against his back.

This sudden surge of movement startles the others, since he usually tries not to make any sudden movements when like this to avoid scaring them, and they stare at his wings, as if they could see beneath the feathers.

After realizing that the feathers around him, despite being soft, aren't giving him enough wiggle room to get out, Scar says, "Uh, hey Grian? I'm a little stuck."

He snorts, amused. "Yes, that's the point."

Hesitantly, Tango asks, "Uh, is he okay?"

Grian glances over and rolls his eyes. "He's fine, just pinned. I'm not gonna hurt him, if that's what you're worried about."

"I didn't-"

"Hey, don't worry about it." He smiled slightly to show that he wasn't bothered by it. "I get that it's weird thinking of a Watcher as nonhostile, and visually I'm more than a little intimidating. Caution is to be expected."

"...Sorry."

"For what? Like I said, don't worry about it."

Turning back to his oversized laptop, he continued editing his video after interlocking the feathers at the edges of the wings trapping Scar. This way, he doesn't have to focus to keep him trapped. Temporarily, of course.

A few more minutes pass, with the others in the room occasionally glancing at his wings with mild worry, before Scar, in a quiet and remorseful voice, asks, "...Grian?"

Distracted, he said, "Hmm?"

"Can I come out now?" Well, it's been a couple minutes... Should he?

Allowing himself to briefly sense Scar's leaked emotions, he immediately changed his mind about letting him out. There is not a single ounce of remorse in those emotions. "Are you just going to flick more grapes at me? Because you don't feel even the slightest bit regretful."