A Day (2) In the Life

[ebony_wings]

 Viola is... not a sun person. When the notice dings on her communicator, it stirs her out of her sleep, and she unfortunately rolls right into view of a sun beam. With a groan, she knows getting any more sleep before the rest of the day is lost. She thought she'd have to call up one of her maids, but she then remembered--she's not home. No one to wait on her. That's fair, she should be doing things on her own, after all. She would have liked being able to sleep in more, she might need to get some thicker curtains.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Viola decides to head out towards the commons for breakfast. Not too many people around, so she opted to simply eat and leave, unless interrupted. She wanted to get a feel for the island and start exploring it. Her goals for today is to get into some more comfortable seasonal clothing (or make her own), then tour as much of the island as possible in between lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, her first stop is the general store. Judging by her regular, gothic outfit, Viola's still looking for dark clothes... just lighter fabrics. The clothes here are very different though, and she has a critical eye on each of them. Many of them look very nice... just not on her. Alabaster skin and pitch-black hair tended to be tricky to match with pastel colors, in her opinion.

Once she manages to find something suitable, she decided to go tour the library. She'd like to go hiking, but she also realized that it was pretty hot outside, and she'd roast! So she decided to explore the library for a little while. The books are very interesting, telling tales of worlds so far off she can scarcely imagine them. She seemed the most drawn to fantasy, thrillers and horror, as they're a little more familiar to her world. If not perturbed, she'll probably fall asleep during the early afternoon, rousing from slumber a little before dinner.

It's sunset before she ventures outside. And it's fairly late too, so Viola felt that perhaps it was safe to shed her wings and go flying, looking for points of interest, like the ones outlined on her map. In the darkness of night, Viola felt a little more free, and perhaps a bit more bold, in exploring the island, though she would take care not to heedlessly run into anything resembling a water lily. Well, she'd recognize anything dangerous on sight, right? Well, nothing like a learning experience!

[[Catch-all post for Viola's second day. Feel free to poke her at any point. Know that she's a raven-harpy, and she's only showing evidence of this at night.]]

Comments

Night

[forever_jack]

Jack is not an indoor person (or at least he prefers not to be, when he's not running a secret organisation based in an underground hideout) and he's making the most of the glorious weather here to get out in the fresh air and explore the island.

That includes a late evening stroll down to the harbour and up onto the cliffs the other side, gazing out at the odd twinkle of lights across the sea, idly wondering if they're from passing ships or perhaps other islands.

He's just thinking about heading back when out of the corner of his eye he catches sight of something large flying overhead. There's a faint sound, too, like... flapping wings? He turns, peering into the darkness, instinctively reaching for the revolver at his belt, just in case, before he remembers he doesn't have it here.

[ebony_wings]

While she enjoyed the rush of evening summer air, no longer too hot to fly, she can't help but wonder if she'd run into one of the natives. Everything she's seen so far is unusual, but not particularly spooky.

She wound up spotting someone just out of the corner of her eye though. Not certain if they were friend or foe, she dived down onto a tree, before descending down cautiously onto a branch. Her eyes scan to see a man apparently on the hiking trail. Oh crap, she forgot about the other visitors! She's still on the fence about how much of her harpy nature she should show off, so rather than showing up, she calls out, "Hello?"

[forever_jack]

He thinks he catches a glimpse from the corner of his eye of movement over towards the trees and he stares into the darkness, trying to make it out. Out here, there's no artificial light to interfere with his night sight, but he can still only see so far, and all he gets is an impression of movement, and a faint rustling.

And then a human-sounding voice calling out "Hello". He stiffens, trying to work out if the thing he thought he saw flying and the voice calling out to him are one and the same, or whether there's something dangerous out there and the owner of the voice might be in danger.

"Hi, there!" he calls back. "Are you all right?"

[ebony_wings]

Oh! He hasn't seen anything yet. Still a little suspicious of what he'd think of her, she remained somewhat hidden, but answered him nonetheless.

"Yeah! I'm alright! I didn't expect to see anyone out here." Okay, that might give it away, but that also means she can just get any disappointment over with! If he's not scared of bird people then that means she no longer needed to hide.

[forever_jack]

He's already started moving cautiously towards the tree, propelled by a instinctive mixture of curiosity and protectiveness. When she speaks again, the scales tip towards curiosity because a) that sounds like she is what he saw flying and b) she doesn't sound like she's threatening anyone else.

"Not used to having so many people around on the island?" he asks easily, assuming she must be a native of Norrhamn since he didn't notice any winged people on the boat, and he feels he probably would have done. Shapeshifter hasn't quite crossed his mind yet.

[ebony_wings]

Viola gave his answer a little thought. "I'd say that, but that would imply I'm a native of this island." It was time. She was ready to show herself to the man... it would work out.

Cautiously, she descended with a gentle flap of the wings. Jack would finally see why he saw flying: a woman with pitch black hair and wings for arms would land somewhere to his side. Her legs were dark gray and scaly, but the majority of her body remained humanoid. Amber eyes seemed to shine even in the darkness. "Hello proper. And you are...?"

[forever_jack]

Ah. His eyebrows went up, because that meant she must have been on the boat the day before, and then they went up some more, his eyes widening, as she finally came into view.

"Wow! Hello, gorgeous!" he grinned, taking it all in in one long, appraising, appreciative gaze.

Then he remembered there'd been a question there. "Captain Jack Harkness," he said warmly. "And who are you?"

And what was she, but he'd start with who!

[ebony_wings]

Wait, was he flirting?

Now, Viola had no illusions about looking good, but much of that had been when humans only saw her as human. While she had people who didn't mind or even embraced her harpy form, no regular human ever flirted with her knowing she was a harpy out of the gate. Thus she stood there holding her arms to her mouth for a moment, utterly taken in surprise.

She almost forgot her manners. "Oh! I'm Viola Avelide. It's one of the few hours it's dark enough that I can fly freely. Black seems to be a heat magnet from the sun, I'm afraid."

[forever_jack]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, and anyway for Jack it was sometimes less about looking classically beautiful and more about being something unusual, something excitingly different.

Yes, he was flirting.

He grinned, warmly amused by how taken aback she looked. "Nice to meet you, Viola Avelide! That sounds frustrating! So, I take it this is your true form and during the day you hide out looking like a human?"

Which would explain not having noticed her before.

[ebony_wings]

Feeling a weight lift off of her shoulders, Viola let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

“More or less,” Viola answered. “Though truth be told, it isn’t all about the disguise. I’ve worn human outfits for so long that I’m rather fond of them.” If she could switch freely, she’d probably take this form on cooler days where she’d be allowed to fly. “I’m so dark though that I’ll just soak up the sun and overheat, so that’s also why I take the time to fly at night.”

[forever_jack]

"Well, that kinda sucks, doesn't it?" he reflected, thinking of all the vampires he'd known (and in particular Spike, with whom he was still in an on-again, off-again threeway relationship) and their similar problems with sunlight. "At least you can go out in the sun, I guess? Even if you can't fly in it?"

He took another step closer, taking another, better look at her. "So what are you? I've never seen anything quite like you!"

[ebony_wings]

"Well of course, I'm not a vampire, or afflicted with vampirism," Viola answered. "The sun isn't as warm back home for most of the year like it is here."

"I'm what's considered a changeling species," she pressed a feather-clad arm to her chest. "More specifically, a raven harpy. The changelings were the name given to all the humanoid but non-human species that populate my world, since almost all of them were the result of fae meddling, and even curses. There's a lot of humans who don't like us because of that, believing us to be cursed, or agents for the fae. As a result, I have to be cautious even where humans are fond of changelings."

[forever_jack]

"Humanoid but non-human..." he murmurs, somewhat intrigued by this rather succinct way of putting it. It almost applies to his own condition. He's human, or at least he was to begin with, before he became imbued with the force of the time vortex and cursed to live for the rest of eternity (or possibly end up as a giant head in a jar).

"By fae, you mean... fairies?" he asks, rather warily since he's had his own dealings with fairies and he's well aware they're not necessarily the pretty, benevolent creatures most humans believe them to be.

Library

[burntviolet]

Hanako's trip to the library is mostly for exploring today, because it's already late and she wants to return to her cabin before dinner. It's not a large place, but it's easy to navigate through and the books are settled neatly in genre order, allowing her to skip over her favourite ones first.

After a while spent walking around the various paths and shelves, she comes across a sleeping figure that she doesn't recognize among the few people she spoke with yesterday. The sun is still high, but libraries always close around this hour so maybe she should approach and wake the stranger up.

Her stomach turns with anxiety, however. It's not her place to interrupt someone's slumber, is it? What if she gets scolded and scoffed at? But... she finds herself unable to ignore the issue, although it's none of her business and she could just walk past that and leave. It would be the best course available, but for some reason her mind is not about making rational decisions today.

She squeezes the pair of books nestled in her arms, and with a hand she reaches out, just very lightly touching the person's shoulder and nudging weakly, hoping that would be enough to wake her up.

"Excuse me... I-I think the library is about to c-close soon."

[ebony_wings]

Viola had barely realized that she had even fallen asleep, the words had started to blur together, and the couch she had been sitting on had been so cozy...

She eventually felt something shaking her. She might have been on edge if she were a more wary and traumatized soul, but the best that she could do was her eyes slowly opening at the sight of a very nervous looking girl with one eye. But more importantly...

"Closing soon?" She yawned, stretching her arms. Hanako might see a black feather drift out of her clothes. She looked at the sun. "It's not nearly close to sunset... that seems awful early!" But she doubted this girl would lie to her, at least intentionally. "But thank you for waking me up anyway. Didn'tn mean to doze off..."

[burntviolet]

Hanako withdraws her hand rapidly, biting the inside of her cheek. Now that her task has been a success with no scolding and yelling, she has no idea what to tell the other girl. Her eyes catch sight of the feather, but she doesn't know what to make of it. A crow must have dropped it.

Shifting her gaze to the sky, she collects every meager piece of bravery she has.

"Days are apparently longer than usual here, s-so I thought..." She trails off, then shakes her head lightly. "I was concerned. Are you a-alright, miss?"

[ebony_wings]

"Oh, I forgot about that!" Viola was a little more awake now, taking a moment to rub the sleep out of her eyes. She looked out and sighed. "I'm gonna have to find a wide-brimmed hat or something, or this sun will do as much damage to me as it would a fire-phobic vampire..."

She turned to the shy girl. "I'm alright. Just getting used to life here now." She turned to Hanako. "What about you?"

[burntviolet]

The strange wording is an effective distraction to her, fixated as she is with paying attention to everything she's told. There are people who can get their skin damaged by the sun. Even she herself had to put some ointment on her scars when they were still fresh, to avoid even worse burning. Vampires are mythical creatures that only exist in books, so the other girl couldn't have spoken about herself, right?

...

Hanako snaps out of her thoughts, feeling bad for getting distracted, and quickly answers in the most apologetic tone she can manage.

"Me... a-ah... I'm managing, too. To be honest, there's a b-bit of culture shock, but it's nothing s-serious."

[ebony_wings]

For the first time, Viola actually looked at Hanako. Those burns, alongside her timid personality so far, told Viola that she'd been through hell. There was certainly enough burn marks to make her wonder if hell had been more literal. What kind of monster would cast an innocent person into the Hades Plane?!

No, she's reaching. Chances are no one's from her neck of the woods, this girl might have a different story. And it's not a story that this girl seemed willing to divulge.

Instead, Viola decided to walk back on her earlier words. "It's a nice place, isn't it? Don't worry about me and the sun, I'm just a magnet for heat because I like dark clothes. I'll be fine! Oh, my name is Viola Avelide. What's yours?"

[burntviolet]

Hanako can feel the eyes pointed towards the scars, and by fear and instinct she goes for the usual defensive mechanism - covering the side of her face with one hand because she doesn't trust her own bangs. She clutches the books tighter with her other arm.

"I'm... Hanako I-... Ikezawa." She takes a small step back, needing room to breathe, and her mouth wriggles briefly for a lack of furthermore things to say. "I d-don't... like the sun a lot, either."

[ebony_wings]

Viola stiffened. Oh no, did that look to her face scare her? Crap. She messed things up, didn't she? She worried that saying too much might push her away further. If she just relaxed and maybe not draw attention to it, she might speak normally...

"That's too bad for both of us then," Viola said. "Since they're kicking us out of the library, maybe we should find some alternate shade?" It was a good thing to offer, wasn't it?

[burntviolet]

Her visible eye widens a little towards the offer. The urge to flee is strong and she's struggling to keep it down, squash it, because if she can't start learning do open up then there was no point coming to Norrhamn.

"... We c-could do that," she replies with a bit of worse stuttering. "I... don't mind g-going elsewhere."

[ebony_wings]

Relieved that Hanako hadn’t been so frightened as to run away, Viola gave her most reassuring smile. “Alright then! I’m still getting used to this island so we might just have to go back to the cabins, but I’m open to any ideas if you have any!”

Viola finally stood up, drawing to her full height. She decided to put the books back for now, she could read more tomorrow. Gently, she offered Hanako a hand. “Shall we?”

[burntviolet]

Hanako looks at the books she's holding, pauses for a brief inner debate and then gives an affirmative nod. "I'm borrowing these," she tells Viola. She didn't sleep well last night, affected by the adrenaline post-arrival. Perhaps reading a book would aid her back into a healthy sleep habit.

"I don't know where another shelter c-could be situated, so... I'm f-fine with returning to the cabins."

[ebony_wings]

"Sure thing," Viola gave a smile, and they walked out the library.

But as she was reminded, the library was but one large room of a bigger community center. Viola's heart panged slightly at how small the library section was... but it was brief. After all, the lack of non-fiction made sense for a vacation home, and if these people reside on a different world, then the history of her world had no meaning here.

"Now that I'm thinking about it," Viola said as they traveled back down to the first floor. "Should we grab dinner here? I didn't realize how late it was. So much sunlight has thrown me off..."