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[foolishwren]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, ROADKILL ROOSTER. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 007.14.007.17 *** ROADKILL ROOSTER has joined 007.14.007.17 <ASSMUNCH45> wat up gurl!!!!!!!!!!! <BANNED USER> SCREENED MESSAGE. UNSCREEN? Y/N -- B& MOTHAFUCKA <CREATURECOMFORTS> Are YOU interested in not having to worry about basic needs? Have we got the job for YOU. Click to read more... <SHOVEL_GUY> hey heather are you getting weird ads for going to live with rich people too??

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[foolishwren]

_{[They're getting close to the park, so Heather's eyes are on the path, but her ears are on Bert.]}

A castle.

Man. People really come from all over.

_{[It doesn't surprise her much at this point, but it's still a little weird when you really think about it.]}

[ka_mai]

Aye. In Gilead, the barony seat of New Canaan. My da was the Dinh - the king's - right hand. Roland was the king's son, he and I were raised together as brothers and all Gunslingers and whatnot and their families lived in the castle. Gunslingers...we're round table knights with guns, to put it simple.

[Or as simply as possible. He's learned quickly that nothing quite like Gunslingers in other worlds. But plenty of them knew King Arthur and the Round Table of one stripe or another.]

[foolishwren]

_{[:I WELL THEN.]}

Huh.

I guess that's not any weirder than all those weird ladies who claimed to be robots from another planet.

[ka_mai]

Cry pardon? Oh, come now, extra-terrestrial robot ladies is much weirder than an order of knights who use guns! I don't even use'em anymore, got my slingshot.

[How many robot ladies were there, he can't help but wonder.]

Ye ken King Arthur, though, yeah?

[foolishwren]

_{[She snorts.]}

Of course I know about King Arthur.

_{[And then, shooting him a sassy look over her shoulder for no reason other than to be a pain in the ass--]}

I know King Arthur used swords.

_{[GUNS WEREN'T EVEN INVENTED.]}

[ka_mai]

Not just 'swords' in general, he wielded Excalibur! Given to him from the lake! ....or found in an interdenominational pyramid. Or tripped over in the garden and plucked from the earth, there's a dozen stories as to how Arthur got Excalibur.

[Bert can't tell which one is true, but the lake one is a very popular one.]

Anyhow, legend goes - and I am inclined to believe it, having seen what I've seen - that Arthur was visited or had a vision or sommat, but Gan - popular god in my where - gave him the design for the first pistols, and bade him take his sword to the only place that could melt Excalibur's metal and forge the first guns my world ever saw. His knights were told to do the same, and all swords were melted and forged into guns. And those were the first Gunslingers, who founded and protected Gilead and laid down the ways we followed till Gilead fell.

[He is absolutely undeterred by Mason's obvious teasing.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Fortunately, at this point, Heather's more or less fully accepted the existence of god knows how many crazy universes. She's met aliens and superheroes and a kid whose dad was Satan.]

[So while Bert's rambling gets some eye-rolls for show, she doesn't actually disbelieve anything he's saying. Knights with guns isn't even PARTICULARLY out-there.]</sub>

You know, as someone who's used both, sometimes a sword can do what a gun can't.

Anyway, we're here.

<sub>[The park lies before them-- largely dark except for the lamplit paths.]

[Not many humans come here after dark-- that's a great way to get jumped and EATEN.]</sub>

[ka_mai]

Course it can, they're two different weapons. And a knife or spear can do things neither of'em can. But guns are Gilead's sacred weapon. My brother's got the first ones, the ones made from Excalibur.

[Bert just shrugs, eyeing the park. Looks empty enough. And he can scramble up into trees to give himself some lift. Taking off from the ground is far, far beyond him at this point.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Weapon debates can come some other time-- for now, she said she'd show him how to practice flying, and she's gonna!]

[So she struts forward into the trees, spreading a wing to gesture.]</sub>

Well, c'mon.

We should find a place where it won't hurt too much to eat dirt.

Because you're definitely gonna.

[ka_mai]

Ye say that as though I haven't already.

[Granted it's been more hay and street than dirt, but the point stands.]

I wot half of it's just...I was very in tune with my body, a'fore it started changing. Very aware of it, how I move, all that. Have been since I was wee. But now...everything moves in different ways now, it's different lengths...my proprioception's all mucked up.

[foolishwren]

<sub>[DIRT IS BETTER THAN ASPHALT.]

[She starts to hop into the park, looking for a good tree candidate.]</sub>

Yeah.

Growing a bunch of extra limbs-- or LOSING them-- will do that to you.

You'll get used to it... it just takes awhile.

[ka_mai]

That's what everyone tells me. I know I'm luckier than a lot, I'm more or less still human-shaped. Nothing entirely extra, just..altered a bit.

[His wings weren't wings in the way he's always thought them, after all. His arms didn't change beyond lengthening and thinning, but they membrane had grown out of them. His legs had turned backwards, but to his feet, they were more or less normal legs otherwise.]

But it's enough to make moving about damned difficult! Another reason I'd like to get the hang of flying. Far more elegant than waddling about on hands and feet together!

[foolishwren]

Well, better get started, then!

_{[She stops in front of a small, slightly springy tree and gestures to it with one wing.]}

Climb.

[ka_mai]

[Climbing, Bert has mastered. He'd always been adept at scrambling up trees, but his batty body is even more suited for it. His claws, both hands and feet, dig easily into tree bark and he shimmies up the trunk with little problem.]

I'm going to break my something, aren't I?

[foolishwren]

Not if you do it right.

_{[Once he's near the top and clear of any particularly dense foliage above him, she spreads her wings, giving them a little test flap.]}

Okay, so what you need to do is hold on with your feet. Hands too at first if you think you're gonna fall, but only at first.

I'm gonna whip up an updraft.

And you are gonna try and catch the wind with your wings.

Ready?

[ka_mai]

Not particularly, but I wot it doesn't matter...

[This sounds like a terrible plan that's going to end with him in a heap on the other side of the park. But he's got to get the hang of this flying thing, so he grips the tree with both feet and hands and tightens his jaw.]

[It's just like anything else that needs skill and concentration. A change comes over Bert, his light grin fading into a grim look of determination. He tenses, eyes narrowing, waiting for the optimal moment...]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[WELLP, that's why she told him to hang on!]

[She starts to beat her wings-- going slow and gentle at first, then picking up speed.]

[Before long, there's a breeze-- and then a gust. The tree starts to sway.]

[If he angles his wings right, though... he'll feel the wind filling them and lifting him up.]</sub>