daybreakacademy | they meant well

Entry tags:

they meant well

Who: Tobias, confused vets, anyone!
What: Rescue a birb before he's shipped back to the States
Where: ???
When: End of July
Warnings: Will be added as necessary

This summer feels different than the last to one bird-boy, though not in a bad way. His second summer at school. Why, exactly, is not easy to pin down. Maybe it's because he has friends. He belongs. He doesn't feel so out of place these days--he never really was, but the mind is tricky like that. There may not be a next year, that's impossible to entirely forget. He's trying, though. Taking each day as it comes.

Long, lazy afternoons drifting in the wind, on days he's not needed. No classes. Sketching or painting whenever he wants. Goofing around with video games, especially that one where it's all blocks and landscaping and exploring. Reading at night when he can't sleep. A kitty to look after and keep him company. So wonderfully ordinary, for the first time in his life. The best summer he's ever had.

There are finally people to notice when he goes missing, unlike in his own life. (No one from home bothered to search for him. He checked.) It may take a little longer without classes for him to be absent from... but notice they will, when there is no distinctive red-tailed hawk in the sky towards the end of July.

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[No one's in the room with Tobias at the moment. He may be extremely out of place, but he's healthy as far as they can tell, and sleeping calmly enough. He doesn't need watched constantly.

Someone does enter the waiting room where Kokoro is, though, surprised to see anyone. Too late not to be seen! She says hello, asking if she can help Kokoro with anything... in French.]

[No one's here. Good.]

Toby! [If the telepathy doesn't work, she pecks on the glass to wake him up. Just something, to let him know they were here and going to bust him out.]

[One doesn't spend one's life attending Daybreak without knowing a decent amount of French. Kokoro stammers out a greeting and stands up. Okay, since someone's around, she should probably try to be the distraction.

So, she continues in French, she's looking around for a school project. What does the lady know about... okay, what would have information stored as far away from Tobias as possible so she can get the staff away from there... Tigers! Wasn't there a story a few years back about a tiger that they picked up wandering near a theme park after it had escaped? What can they tell her about how they manage to catch things like that?

All the while, she digs out her phone and texts without looking at it, if Puella has something in hammerspace.]

Distracting staff

[Tobias continues to sleep, not stirring. A drugged sleep is hard to fight off--tapping alone is not enough to wake him and telepathy isn't the same as sound. Zzzz...

The staff member is happy to talk, it seems, good French or bad French. Tranquilizer guns, bait, nets, they have plenty of methods, with an emphasis on not harming the animals. Even tigers. They are a wildlife rescue! And the animals usually end up sent off to a zoo. (But not the hawk, who isn't even mentioned. Few zoos are really interested in a red tail. They're not endangered in any way.)]

[Well that didn't work either. She squawks softly and decides to look for something else.]

[Unfortunately, Puella doesn't really have access to her phone like this, so she was without Kokoro's message. Luckily it wouldn't have changed her next plan too much as she was flying around looking for another window. One that was open and easy to just fly in. She knew what room Tobias was in now.]

[Fascinating, Kokoro says, typing notes into her phone, even if they're more along the lines of the facility's weaknesses than what the staff member is actually telling her. Would she be able to have a look around or something like that?]

[No open windows. Windows that can open from the outside, which is better than nothing, but one would still need hands.

Maybe some other time, she says apologetically, everyone is very busy today and there's no time for tours. What she doesn't say is that the last time they let someone wander the building, they stuffed a (perfectly ordinary) hamster in their purse and walked out with it. Apparently there are people who would steal from a wildlife rescue, but not after money.]

[Welp, that won't do either.]

[In that case Puella went back to the window that Toby was at and looked around some more. Glancing up, and noticing that the window wasn't even that hard to open. ...Oh.]

[She got off the windowsill and down to the ground. There was nobody that saw her so it was easy enough to transform back. Then carefully check around again before unlatching the window.]

[After making sure again no one was around she stops time long enough to get into the room and grab Tobias' cage, since opening it seemed like too much of a hassle, and then leave out through the window and traveling far enough not to get caught. Admittedly, this was way less as stylish than just flying into the office and demanding sweet bird justice and liberation, but this probably turned out to be way more effective.]

[It is only just now she noticed the text from Kokoro.] i got him!!

[Distracting was not necessary anymore.]

Very well! Understandable, of course, surely you're very busy. What you've had to say was truly helpful; you have my thanks --

[The text notification goes off and Kokoro quickly checks it, then shoves her phone back into her bag.]

Ah, my apologies, I need to be getting back. It was nice seeing you!

[She heads out of the facility and down to where they'd split off in the woods, out of sight of any cameras at the front. A bird stealing a bird, or a child stealing a bird as the case may be, would probably be noticed pretty fast if they came up to the door, after all, so the forest it was.]

[Or is a distraction necessary after all? Puella escapes with the bird in the cage, who is starting to stir finally, just as one of the staff members walks around the corner for a smoke break and double takes. What the??

Bewildered French, asking what she's doing with that bird, as he walks closer, intent on taking the cage back. Now who's the birdnapper, eh? Kokoro is going to have a much easier getaway...]

[And thus Puella was immediately startled too and instinctively held on to the cage more, protecting this bird boy with her life if needed be.]

[...She knew some French, just barely enough to get by and understand basic things. However there was not a whole lot Puella could say. Say that he belonged to somebody and they need him back? But that was the same excuse Kokoro already said likely wouldn't work.]

[She couldn't use magic due to the veil rules either. Otherwise she could run away instantly. Although that was still a possibility, just on foot, and much slower.]

[...Or if there was a way to get him to look at something else for a moment, and then bolt out of here.]

[Puella's taking a while. Maybe she should check... Kokoro moves out of the trees and starts to search around the side of the building and -- well. There sure is an open window and the hint of some rando encroaching on a child wearing a hat.

She hurls a bottle of water through the window. Not holy water, just a regular old water bottle from the vending machine. Maybe that'll distract him.]

[Tobias, fighting his way to the waking world and realizing he's still in the cage, begins to shriek. That distinctive red-tailed hawk's call. He knows he shouldn't, that he's not helping the situation, but he can't help himself. The present is blurring with the past. All cages are the same. The hawk and the boy are both terrified, knowing indescribable pain must be coming--

And the man turns at the sound of bottle hitting the floor, but the distraction only lasts for a moment thanks to one bird's screeching. Poor guy, he only wanted five minutes of sunshine and a cigarette! More French: what are you kids doing, please put the bird down, it needs our help, as he steps closer to Puella, reaching for the cage with more desperation this time...]

[The guy was looking away! This was the perfect time to--or not.] --Toby no!

[She tries to hold the cage steady and calm Tobias down, although it is not easy while the guy was reaching for it. Puella had to step away, just enough so the employee couldn't take it.]

You can't send him away, he's our friend! [It was...a pure reactionary response, but, it technically didn't break anything, she thought?]

[Oh, boy. What's she going to do, she has to do something. She begins to scale the building and calls out to try and get the guy's attention away.]

Our apologies!

[Why is this happening to him, he just works here.]

Your 'friend' doesn't belong here. It's illegal to keep him in this country, and even worse to have released--

[Meanwhile, Kokoro is climbing up the side of the building, at the same time other vets hear the bird screaming and come running to check on it. Only to see the window is open and the cage is gone. And when they look out the window... there she is!]

Young lady! Stop! Get down from there!

[Translation: oh god why is this happening, they just work here!]

[What would have been another perfect chance to disappear, failed due to there being people in the window now. Great.]

[Although Puella was given a bit of an option for Plan B. Under all of the commotion Kokoro was making, she can run for it. The trees or bushes would keep her out of view from the people in the window, and hopefully she can loose the guy long enough in there too.]

[Sorry Kokoro, you're on your own for awhile.]

[That's fine, she doesn't have Tobias anyway, so they won't get what they want from her. She looks up at the gathering crowd around the window, pauses, and takes one hand off the wall to awkwardly wave.]

...hello!

[She grabs back onto the wall before she can fall off, gauges her distance, and before anyone can grab at her, springs off into a gym-class-worthy backflip... into the recycle dumpster. At least it wasn't the garbage one right next to it.]

[Cigarette Man gapes behind him at Kokoro backflipping off the roof, then at the bird thief darting away into the woods. Nothing he can do but chase, though he doesn't think he'll catch up. Someone has to think about the poor thing's best interests!

'The poor thing' who is being jostled around in the cage now, still half drugged. And the other half of him is panicking, confused, too groggy to work out what the hell is going on. Tseeeer!

(It could be worse. He could be screaming as a voice inside their heads.)

No one else chases Puella, not after seeing the other girl throw herself off the roof. There aren't that many people in the building, anyway, and the three that are left are racing around to check if Kokoro's okay.]

[It was difficult to outrun, hold on the cage, and keep it steady so Tobias wouldn't freak out as much all at the same time. She might not be seen but there was plenty of noise, especially with a hawk screaming. It'll have to do.]

--Just a little further Toby, hang in there!

[And this probably as far as Puella was going to have in terms of distance. Rather than ducking and hiding she finally just goes for it, using the dense foliage as a cover. Hopefully whatever flash her magic makes it won't be seen, or get confused for something mundane.]

[Suddenly, she was completely gone.]

Worry not, worry not! [She slips on cardboard, grumbles, and drags herself out of the disposal bin without much damage.] I simply wished to see what was causing the commotion. I'll leave you all be, you seem very busy right now!

[She waves nervously, looks around, and runs off. Well, at least she doesn't look injured from that stunt. She starts down the road until she's pretty sure no one's following her, then goes into the trees and begins to look around for the other two.]

[It's daytime and sunny, too, making any weird flashes of light less obvious. Everything is so incredibly confusing for the poor veterinarian, anyway. He was falling behind, not in best of shape, when the hawk's screaming cuts out. And when he does catch up to where she was, there's... nothing. He leans over to catch his breath, wondering if he's completely gone insane. Did she wring the poor thing's neck?? What??

The other three are looking at each other, bewildered, wondering if they should follow... and somewhere else, Tobias is still shrieking madly, flapping bruised wings as if his life depends on it.]

[This was probably far enough. At any rate, she couldn't put up with the screeching for much longer, so she set the cage down.]

You gotta stay still..! [She can open the cage now, but only if he stops flailing around like that. She needed a second to figure out how the lock actually works.]

[But finally, the door swings open. He's free to go. But a thought occurred if he even was able to fly right now... They were all about to find out soon.]

[Kokoro keeps on moving, though trying to balance "be quiet so the vet staff won't follow you" with "make noise to find Puella and Tobias and also so bears go away" is... a bit of a struggle. Are there even bears around here? She grumbles and starts climbing up the side of a tree, keeping a look out as she does.]

[He can't fly very well at all under the influence. A lot of 'influence', enough to blur the lines between the boy and the hawk mind, and he hasn't morphed any of it away. On the other hand, it may have been the only reason he didn't think out loud and make the whole situation worse.

He flutters out of the cage weakly, disorientated and not able to make it off the ground. He stops a few feet away from the cage, huddling down. The screaming has stopped, at least.

Kokoro won't be able to spot Puella. Nothing out there but one confused man, shouting for the kid to come back.]

they meant well

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