Flight School: Hunter

A Careful Mistake

"Hi, um. I'm Umbra," said the boy who bore a striking resemblance to Iolani Tori, waving with a closed-eye smile that seemed carelessly chirpy. "Nice to meet you all."

He was about to elaborate—perhaps say a few words about his Avian or his class and hopefully provide an explanation for Jeremiah's abrupt decision—when Lucienne cut in with yet another way of identifying the prey.

"Aren't you the one Kirill picked on? For the news of a predator's death? Right here, just last week. Over dinner," the harpy eagle stared, eyes searching the boy's. She revealed no emotion save the hint of confusion on the tip of her tongue.

Dmitri on the other hand, was letting his run free. The bars of his cage broken and bent, the creature within was free to roam, far too distracted by Jeremiah's knighted choice (not just a prey but someone he'd met so recently! And only once!) to notice what Lucienne had observed. Now that she had brought it up, the rest of the table had narrowed in like predators on a hunt, close in their watch of the pigeon that they began to find oddly familiar.

"Yeah. I am," he admitted, turning to Lucienne with a sheepish smile, hand on his head. "You remember me? I thought no one would have, given how plain my... well, my everything is. Professor Kirill was very upset with me that day. I almost got myself expelled."

Io could relate. Though, strictly speaking, the paths they each took towards expulsion differed vastly, there was a certain similarity in the end which the sparrow found himself familiar with.

"You were that pigeon?" At Lucienne's discovery however, people were starting to let up. Shri was one of the few who took this all very lightly, turning to Jeremiah and punching his upper arm in a playful manner. "Look who's leading the charge against Kirill. The dude's gonna be pissed."

"Well, no one said anything about having prey as knighted partners, so." Jeremiah shrugged with a laugh, turning to Dmitri who, for once, was not all warm and welcoming; hugs and smiles.

"Yeah, but why him?" You guys just... barely met! The falcon reasoned through an established Link, allowing the rest of the table to hear his thoughts save the daytime sparrow and pigeon. So unless you're telling me you somehow knew this guy before the whole fiasco the other day, then this is, no offence, it's—bullshit. I'm not buying this.

The majority of the table seemed taken aback by Dmitri's outburst of emotions. Among those who remained unsurprised were Vaughn Alekseyev and Iolani Tori, even after Luka had quietly translated the falcon's flurry of incoherent thoughts into the sparrow's ear.

"It's true that we only met last night but," Jeremiah left mouths agape by draping his arm over Umbra's shoulder, leaning his weight in the most inappropriately intimate manner. "It felt like we've known each other for the longest time."

"Fuck you," snorted Abigail, shaking her head. "Some sugar-coated shit right there honey, coming right out of your mouth. I didn't know you were capable of cheesy things like that, Jeremiah."

The kite took this all in his stride, sitting Umbra down and ruffling the former's hair as he did. "He makes me do things."

"Right," was all Meryl had to say upon defrosting, face stiff with an odd smile plastered over her lips. It didn't look very natural.

Gazes were exchanged and words were swallowed, leaving the air empty except for the clinking of utensils and the buzz of faraway talk; hollow. The moment made for a brief meeting of their gazes—Io and Umbra's—and seemed to grip and seize that which lived within, past the windows and into the inside. The sound of a bench scraping across the floor as Dmitri rose broke the odd, momentary contact between the two, directing their eyes towards the falcon.