ORIGIN - birds of a feather

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Their messages ran in tandem for a bit, it was a little overwhelming. Jampa could tell that her father was a little bit annoyed with the way he stared obliquely at James. When it came down to it they were both right: she needed to be more careful, to weight the risks (even if she did not know what to look for, yet). There was a grave quality to Pride's explanation that drew her attention. He was being careful with his words but at the same time, emphasized the warning inherent to the magic that she carried within herself.

"And our magic is wonderful!" He added with an upbeat shift, touching her shoulder briefly before drawing away. Jampa gave James a brief glimpse to show that she had been listening to him as well, although she wasn't apologetic for letting her father steamroll on with his lesson. It made sense that Pride would teach her everything; he was her father after all, and he held the same breed of magic in his stone.

Changing things sounded.. Interesting. Jampa did not know if she should be afraid of such a power or not. It did not link up with her ability to bounce so high; what kind of change was that? Did she change herself to be rubbery, or the air to propel her? Maybe she had changed the slab of stone so that it would resist her touch. It had felt that way when she'd come in to contact with it... What else could they do?

"I can teach you to float, if you like." Pride included, cued up with Jampa's thoughts. It took until that exact moment for Jampa to realize the ground was no longer beneath her feet. She kicked out her limbs as if she were trying to swim, feeling nothing but empty air. Her wings opened in a flare as the surprise - the awe - filled her up.

"I can teach you everything I know, in time."

"What about --" she started to ask a question, but by then the spell was wearing off and she was briefly distracted by the approaching floor. As her feet touched down she relaxed considerably, her wings folding up upon her like a cloak again; the feathering down her neck and back was a little ruffled from the excitement of it all. Jampa then cleared her throat and said (in vague mimicry of Pride's own seriousness, not on purpose -) "What about Father Tenzin? Can he teach me things too..?"

It would make her feel bad to wake him up again, though. He seemed kind, but so sleepy. Maybe it was best to leave the Master to his slumber in the water.

@James

James reeled back mentally and took one physical step back at the look. One he hadn't really expected to be directed at him.

"James is mostly right, but that isn't the lesson I'd offer you."
His chest grew tight and he looked away, not really noticing that they were in the air until they'd touched down again, startling him a bit, only enough to ruffle his feathers, though. He looked back at Pride and Jampa, pulling his wings in tightly.

This is what family looks like, he thought, and his chest tightened.

Without you in it, came a nasty thought, unbidden and out of nowhere, something he shoved down immediately, mostly out of fear.

James didn't really know what to say as he watched the two, only that he was thankful neither could read his thoughts (though technically Pride could if he truly wanted, though he suspected that the whirlwind inside of his mind might deter him).

"Ah... perhaps you two should continue," he said, plastering a friendly smile to his face, "I don't have the magic you two do, so..."

He shrugged, eyes flicking down again before he forced them back up, "I can stay if you want..."

He needed to talk to Pride, though... he needed advice and maybe some comfort, some truth. Was Pride only a mentor? How could he ever parent a child that wasn't Comet? That might not be as independent as she was? How could he do right? Could he ever do right, even by Jampa? By Pride himself? For James' own self?

But he continued to smile, hoping it reached his eyes.

@Pride

As his fear for Jampa slowly bled away in the face of his own control, ticking away with the passage of brief time, Pride registered James' upset. It was faint, but his immediate offer to leave reminded him. He glanced to James and shook his head gently. "Please, do stay. And thank you for looking after her--she seems to have taken a liking to you," he added. He hadn't meant to be mean--James was insecure at times, sensitive, and Pride tried to remind himself to be patient with that. Criticism levelled at those like James had to be very carefully doled out indeed, and he hadn't meant to criticize, really, to begin with.

He was just... frightened for his daughter.

Pride looked back to Jampa, stepping back, tone still kind. "Of course Father Tenzin can teach you, too," he answered, tone soothing, at once adopting this new name for the ice phoenix. "His magic is one of healing, I think. He helps those in need who come to him, which is a very noble goal. Being powerful will never be the most important thing in the world, Jampa: being kind is. Helping others, where they need it. Everyone has fears, and hopes, and dreams. Tenzin--Father Tenzin--is wonderful, because he is kind, and gentle, and will listen and help anyone who comes to him." Much good it did him with Dhracia, he thought, and brief, hot hatred bloomed within his chest. Fear, too--yes, there was fear--but hatred, of a type that Pride only rarely felt. Only felt for those who wantonly killed. Who tormented, and tricked.

He wondered, for a moment, who it was who had harmed James--but then he pushed the thought away. Pride considered his own greatest weakness to be his violence. When others turned to reason and dialogue, forgiveness for the sinners, he tended to turn to white-hot fire and rage. Some instinct to destroy a threat rose in him. And others thought him mad for it, at times.

The bones lacing the back of the Throne spoke to this dichotomy: the guardian and the killer. He still hadn't worked it all out, himself, and now wasn't really the time; so he shoved these thoughts away and smiled. "Would you like to hear a story of magic, and heroes?" he asked, head tilting. "I can teach you, at the same time--is there anything you'd like to learn first?"

He left the conversation open for James to join whenever, and however, he wished. Pride wasn't trying to dominate the situation, and he hoped it would become... fluid, relaxed, once again. Though he couldn't be sure that his brief, harsh glance hadn't already done some damage, here.

@Jampa

Jampa had a lot to think about now. There was time enough to learn everything if she was patient, she did not need to know everything all at once, but it was hard for her to pinpoint exactly what to start with.

Pride made magic sound like dangerous fun and she wasn't sure if that was a good thing; danger, if it was anything like the out-of-control feeling she'd had while boucing off the stone slab, was something to be wary of. Fun, which James had introduced to her - that was something she wanted more of. Could magic be purely for entertainment? The way they had levitated a moment ago, Jampa wanted to believe it was possible. She did not know how to employ her magic in such a way yet, and if it were anything like her bounce, she didn't feel comfortable trying.

In the end, she shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, undecided. Quailing at the thought of using her powers and causing harm - to herself or her new friend James - made the otherwise precocious girl withdraw with concern.

"I wanna fly." She states sharply, veering away from magic for the time being. Her attention shifted to James now, fixing upon him with a doe-eyed glance brimming with determination. "I can use magic to go up, but I don't know what to do after that. Can you teach me?" Maybe if she had Pride and @James working together she could learn to fly and connect with her magic.

James nodded and turned his head away, half-listening as his own thoughts whirled around like a whirlpool, draining into a darker place with each passing second. He exhaled and looked up as Jampa looked at him, his brows furrowing.

He immediately looked to Pride, ears down, wings tucked in, and nodded slowly.

"If your father's okay with it," he said slowly, "It won't happen immediately, though. You have to work your muscles and build them up before you're even ready for flight. My wings were weak when they grew in my chrysalis, and it took a while before I was ever able to fly, and they were fully grown. Yours aren't, so while we wait for them to grow enough, we can practice instead, and use that bouncing spell you used earlier to perhaps get you used to such a thing."

His thoughts were drawn away, distracted, his sunset feathers shivering with excitement at the prospect of teaching Jampa something that even Pride couldn't. He wasn't smug, per say, but it was a bit nice to have something to teach that was unique. Pride could teach magic- had taught magic, but he couldn't fly and hadn't studied birds as intensely as James had.

"I'll be there to catch you," he promised, "But I encourage you to try on your own, too. I will say that you will fall, and your wings will fail you at some point, and it will be up to you to fix your mistake."

James hummed softly and pointed off to a cliff, "I fell from there. When I didn't have wings. When I grew them, I made a promise to myself that it would never happen again. And it didn't. Once, the wind caught me off guard and I went tumbling into the ground, bruised and beaten. But I was okay, you see. At the last second my wings caught the air and instead of turning into a pancake, I got a few bumps instead. That kind of faith is what you have to have in your wings. That they'll carry you through any storm, across any distance. Your wings are a freedom that few have, but... you must remember that your feet, your hooves, are meant for the ground. Keep your mind down here and your body up there, and you'll be okay."

Jampa wouldn't understand the feeling of freedom, of never coming down, of the high of flying away and never returning, of migrating and flying to the ceiling until her wings hurt, not until she took flight herself. It was a warning he'd told himself before flying, that he'd keep his mind grounded and allow his heart to fly. There were people down here he loved, after all.

@Pride

Pride was deep in thought as James interjected before he could respond--he was thinking about potential safeguards against Jampa falling. The bouncing thing was magic, as was translocation--the latter was dangerous enough on its own but both could wind up with Jampa dead, or in her chrysalis, if the magic failed.

"One lesson," Pride began slowly, as James finished (and he seemed content with all that James had said, not having interrupted or the like), "right off the bat is never to wholly trust in your magic. It can always fail--it happens to everyone, and is nothing to worry about, or be ashamed of. But for safety's sake, perhaps we can go somewhere with water to teach you how to fly, yes-? James will certainly need to teach you the details of it," (seeing as Pride had no wings) "as he says. And I can try to catch you if you fall, but it would be best to have water or something else soft beneath in case my magic fails. We can do that back in Pisces, when you're ready--I'm sure Tenzin would like to be there for it, and certainly he can help to teach you to fly." It was a good thing to include the child's other parent in, after all. "For now perhaps we can do as James suggests, and practice that... bouncing? But maybe not so high, this time," he added, with humor in his tone.

"There is also something else that you can learn--a sort of magical hover. It isn't very far off the ground, but it may help you learn balance, and serve as a safeguard for practicing flight." A pause, as he realized he was perhaps being too wordy for a child. "If you can fly a little with magic, it might make flying with wings easier," he tried to clarify.

A glimmer of focus and he was lifting off again, but only him: a slight hover, a foot or so off the ground. It seemed a tad unsteady, his body just sort of floating there, and he inclined his head amusedly at Jampa. "Like this," he explained.

@Jampa

From the sounds of things both magic and flying had similar constraints. They were both dangerous (for different reasons), they would both take time to master, and she had to choose which to learn first. Seeing as her bouncing spell had been successful, and as a result her flying appeared to come naturally, it would be difficult for Jampa to make up her mind.

She did want to fly; that's what she'd said, and that's what she'd stick to for the time being. James tried to elucidate on the topic of the dangers but all that Jampa could hear - all that she cherry-picked from his explanation - was how wonderful and freeing it would feel to be up in the air; she was more than enthusiastic by the time he fell quiet.

Pride continued insisting that it was dangerous. He sounded open to the idea of lessons, only not here in Orion and not exactly now. Travelling back to Pisces would be a chore and Jampa could not help the frown that fluttered briefly across her face. The feathers along her shoulders prickled slightly when she connected the dots, understanding that her father wasn't exactly forbidding flight so much as delaying it. He had his reasons; they were ample and well stated by this point, however, Jampa was left discouraged.

"But - I don't want to learn to hover," she complained. Barely a glance was spared to Pride as he demonstrated the ability. Jampa was frustrated. There was a lot of information for her new brain to sort out and it was a little dizzying, plus it sounded like she wasn't going to get what she wanted after all. Her body was pretty tired from the game of tag - and now that she had been standing there for a little bit, she noticed a different kind of tired feeling, something deeper, likely from the spells she had cast earlier.

"We were just visiting Father Tenzin! He could have taught me then, couldn't he? Now you want to go all the way back there. That's not fair. I want to learn it now!" One of her hind feet raised and stomped, the sound echoing between the empty ruins surrounding the trio. A scowl drew itself across her face then, and she looked away from both James and Pride, flustered by a new wave of emotions; petulant and demanding, as children often are.

@James

James saw a problem in hovering almost immediately, "That could work, but if you're hovering you can't gain the muscles in your wings. And with me and Jampa, I don't water would work, both because we need space to take off and who knows if she'd be able to steer herself towards water right off the bat. I'd say Eridanus would be better but the trees barely give any room at all. I think that learning to take off first would be good."

He looked over at Jampa, a bit surprised by her whining, but it was to be expected. She was a child, and children tended to have a one-track mind.

Suddenly James had an idea. he nudged Pride and puffed out his chest, stepping forward.

"Well!", he said, "If you wish to fly, then you'll need to listen to us. If you don't listen, you can't learn to fly or to use magic, so it's important you try to be patient."

James turned to Pride, feathers floofing up, making him look like a marshmallow on stilts, "I've got an idea!! If we take this in lessons, or in sections, then we can teach her in manageable levels! Like... flying lessons and smaller spells, then advanced flying lessons like maneuvers and medium spells, then we move onto proper magic lessons!!"

He grinned and pulled Jampa over with a wing, his tail up and swishing, more than a little excited to have a flying buddy. Flying was amazing but to have a ~~sister~~ to share it with? Even better!!

A little sliver of thought touched the edge of Pride's mind, asking politely for entry, and judging by James' weird wink, it was him. If Pride allowed, James would speak to him.

"My apologies, teacher. I wished to say this without Jampa hearing. I am sad to say that I'm moving to Pegasus for the comfort of my own family. Once they are grown and independent, I will return, of course, but perhaps we ought to focus on flying first? I can of course visit, I believe once or twice a month I will return, and in that time I can come back to teach Jampa. But... another thing. I wish to talk to you later, if at all possible. I have... I have something incredibly important to tell you."

@Pride

Jampa's tantrum was somewhat unexpected, and Pride was a tad taken aback--but he recognized at once a small child and a tired one. When she spoke he listened, and he was about to respond when James spoke up, as well.

Pride swivelled his head toward him, thinking. "There must be something to break her fall, and she can work on the muscles--I was imagining a running start toward the water, but we will see," he agreed, tone amiable.

Then James was speaking further, and Pride blinked. His expression remained unchanged but there was absolutely no indication of what he was thinking as he replied. "James, could you perhaps leave us for a few moments?" he said, his tone nothing but polite. Thankfully, James' message was not a two-way street--the lesser magic did not allow whatever the stag was thinking to bleed back the other way. "Come back in an hour or so and we'll talk about it all," he said simply, a nod, an acknowledgement of the message.

Then he turned back to Jampa, and approached with quiet, kindly tone, speaking once James had hopefully moved off. "What James said is not quite true," he told her, his expression wise. "You can learn on your own--don't ever let anyone tell you differently, Jampa. But if you push ahead too quickly, you may get hurt. Now, I can't stop you from doing that--and if you want to jump up and try to fly right now, I'm behind you all the way. I will try to keep you safe, but I can't promise it, not here." He paused for a long moment, hoping she understood, mulling over whether his language might be too complex for her.

Ahh, well.

The second part, then: the offer he'd intended to make. "Can I suggest something else-? Come with me, I'll get you something sweet to eat. And then I'll tell you a story, with lights and magic, and we can rest awhile--and then go to somewhere else to learn to fly, once you've rested up. Would that be all right?" he asked, tone gentle.

It wasn't clear why he'd dismissed James, but he seemed to be aiming for a father-daughter moment now, at least.

@Jampa

Nobody was listening to her! They just kept on talking about the dangers of this, the best way to do that, the power of patience and how difficult it was to manage magic. James presented a structured little plan for staggering lessons and Jampa had just about had it - she didn't want to stand around listening to adults talk about her like she wasn't there, organizing what to do with her and how best to teach her; she wanted to go and do the thing! But the way they talked about it, she shouldn't even try.

Father Pride said something to James then, but Jampa wasn't listening. She'd blocked out their conversation since it didn't seem to involve her in any direct way. They talked around her instead and the words were hard to focus on. Pride essentially dismissed the horse (in his kindly manner) and then it was just Jampa and her father together.

Jampa was a little bit more attentive after that, at least until more warnings and cautions fell from Pride's lips. Her spade-nose scrunched as she scowled and looked away from him, frustarted, tired, feeling more put-off by all of it. There was no avoiding the small lecture that came, either. Pride tried to balance caution with freedom, telling Jampa it would be alright for her to learn on her own if that's the paths he wanted to take.

All this talk of learning, and all she'd learned so far was that adults liked to hear themselves talk - a lot.

"Can I suggest something else -?" Her father said, herding her a few steps along the avenue between the ruins. "I'll get you something sweet to eat--" Pride began to offer, and that's when Jampa shouted, "No!" Her voice bounced and rebounded, echoing between the cracks.

"James brought me sweets. I'm not hungry." With a frown on her face she huffed and looked down at the dust by her feet, flexing her digits, feeling her talons drag softly in the dirt. She didn't want to listen to more talking. "I'm sorry," she mumbled after a moment. "All you do is talk, talk, talk. Magic is dangerous, flying is scary, talk talk talk. I only just got here, and... I dunno."

Jampa sighed then, sounding exasperated, all the frustration that had bubbled up in her now melting away as she released it. It was silly of her to be so grouchy and she didn't even know why this bothered her so much. Her head was starting to pound a little around her eyes and - oh! A yawn pulled its way up her throat. It popped out just then, almost like a chirp. "No more talking, please." The girl requested as she blinked away a glaze over her eyes.

@James

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