Phobos found himself in a casing. Stone. He pecked desperately, peeping with very tap. The stone yielded, as the small bird broke free, peeping to himself. He softly opened his wings, and flapped them a few times.

The young hybrid paced, muttering furiously as he tried to resolve his current predicament. How was he to prove his loyalty to mother and the family? How was he to be one of them again? Or maybe not again. Perhaps he was not meant to be...NO. He was meant to be! With them! That was his purpose!

Or maybe it wasn't. He wasn't as angry and battle hungry as them. Wait, no, yes he was! Kill, destroy, tear to pieces! Shock and lightning, stop their heart! Wait, no, no! Make friends! Happy, peaceful!

He was being torn in two, and he let out an ear splitting screech of anger and frusteration. Just as it died away, he heard a crack. He whipped around, internal battle forgotten and widened his eyes. Was that a baby? A child? Perhaps a friend. Or an enemy. Or a snack.

He trotted forward curiously until he was in front of the baby bird. "Oh, a bird," he said to no one in particular. "Is it a friendly bird or a mean bird? I would prefer it if it were friendly but mama would like it mean. Maybe I should like it mean, too. What do you think?" It was almost like he was speaking directly to the bird, but his words seemed to be talking to no one until his last question. He stared at it completely calmly, oblivious to his strange words.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Phobos
notes: here

Phobos peeped, uncertain of this new stranger. His mind formed what seemed to be words. Phobo's first words. "Who?" The tiny bird stared at the big stranger before him. "Who?" He hopped over and tapped at Huckleberry's hooves. "Who? Who? Who are you?"
@Huckleberry

What a tiny bird! It hopped around his legs and he pranced around it happily, not really caring where he stepped. It was a miracle that he didn't squash the little thing. "Who," he agreed merrily and oblivious, "Who who who! I'm Huckleberry, your new friend! Who who who!" What a strange word, so fun to say, so odd to say it.

But then he stilled and his eyes blazed. The bird didn't answer. Why not? Had it not heard him? Or perhaps it was ignoring him. He leaned forward, closer to the ground. "What did you answer me," he hissed. "Are you mean? Are you friendly? WHAT?!" It was as if he had forgotten they were friends for just a second before he suddenly launched himself in the sky, wings flapping furiously.

When he looked back down, his eyes were sparkling with playfullness, all of his anger forgotten. "You have wings too! Come on, come fly with me!" He had no idea that not all birds could fly right at hatching. He assumed that all wings meant flight, since that what they were for, right?

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Phobos
notes: here

"What's mean? What's friendly? I'm..." The bird paused for a while "Phobos!" He chirped happily and flapped his wings. "That's flying." Phobos flapped his wings for a bit. But there was no flight!! "I do not know fly.." The wistful tone was followed by some more peeping, and hopping around. "But I can fly eventually! Maybe!"

@Huckleberry

Huckleberry stopped flying around for a moment and just hung in the air above them, steadily beating his wings. "Phobos? Is that like mean or friendly but different? Or is that like Huckleberry? No, that's a name! I'm Huckleberry and you're Phobos!" He nodded, importantly, as if this resolved some great trouble in the world. He landed in front of them again.

"Friendly is like this. Hi, I'm Huckleberry, and I want to be you're new friend! And mean is like this. I'm gonna hurt you!" With a quick swish of his head, a spark of electricity jumped from his gem and towards the bird, straight towards their chest. Having no idea that he had potentially hurt the little thing, despite deliberately attacking them, he continued on as if nothing had happened.

"Hm, how do you fly? You just flap your wings like this." He demonstrated before leaning down and giving them a small sniff. "Or I could just throw you in the air and we can see what happens." There was nothing wrong with that, right? Nothing could go wrong, certainly.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Phobos
notes: here

As soon as the electricity touched Phobos, he chirped, in a sad tone "Owie... Mean isn't very fun! I will try and fly again! flying looks fun!" Phobos Flapped his wings again, just barely getting himself off the ground. "I fly!! I almost fly!!!" He hops around more, peeping and talking about how he almost flew. He looks very pleased with himself, and full of pride. His feathers fluff up, mirroring this.
@Huckleberry

Mean wasn't very fun? Well, Huckleberry didn't really think so. Mean could be fun! Sometimes when they were out with Mama, they were mean to others. Sometimes it felt good to be mean,. Like that time he fought that bird!

No, wait, that didn't feel good. Besides, he had liked that bird! But mama insisted that they lived for fighting and being above everyone else. Perhaps that was why Huckleberry didn't fit in. But wait! He did! He liked the taste of blood, just like Mama! He liked to rain fury and pain down with his lightning magic! He liked to watch them scream and cry with pain!

But...he didn't feel like doing that with this bird. They were friends, right?

The thoughts evaporated like mist under the sun when the bird attempted to fly. He watched them but didn't share in their exuberance. They weren't flying high enough. They weren't doing it right. Obviously, they needed help.

But he wasn't really sure what kind of help they needed. Suddenly bashful, he ducked his head. Should he grab and throw them into the air? No, they might not like that. Perhaps pick them up, fly them to the ceiling and then drop them? No, they wouldn't like that either. They could just fly how they liked.

He gave a small nod. "Y-yeah, you're doing it."

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Phobos
notes: here

"i am?? I am?" Something like a smile was what Phobos looked like, as he tried again to properly fly. He fluttered up, up, and... not. "Not yet..." Phobos looked a bit sad. He repeated this phrase to himself "not yet. not yet. friend can fly! Huckleberry friend has wings!! big wings!! Huckleberry is very big!" and it was true, that to Phobos, Huckleberry looked very, VERY big. "Can only big fly?" Phobos said, looking for an answer @Huckleberry

Huckleberry tilted his head. They were trying to fly again. But they couldn't fly as good as him! Well, wasn't that because he was older? And yes, he had bigger wings. Mama said he got them from her so they were the best wings! He spread them out proudly and looked at their colors. Pretty. And big.

"No, no, no, not just big. My mama is smaller then me and my mama can fly. But you are smaller then mama so maybe you can't. But you are doing okay. Do you want me to throw you?" He almost did, for a moment, reach out and grab the bird to toss them into the air. Perhaps that would give them the proper motivation to fly. But he stopped himself in time. That would be stupid. They wouldn't like that.

"Speech looks like this."
"Thoughts looks like this."

tags: @Phobos
notes: here