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[Nothing like a rude awakening at 2:30 in the morning, right? Well, you're in for a treat fellow refugees. It seems like one just flew over the cuckoos nest. Not that you can tell initially. At first this just looks like some inconsiderate kid with rings under his eyes and messy hair, breathing down the camera lens a little too up close and personal.]

Yo. If we haven't met yet, hello. I'm Yosuke. But...but if you're new, you should count to three and then stop listening. Okay? One, two...three. Alright, go away. It's for your own good.

[For emphasis, he clicks the lamp beside him off, and the video goes dark. Nothing to see here, apparently.]

Listen. Guys. I'm curious what people do here for fun. Because uh-look. I've tried sleeping, and training, and then I tried going outside. And talking to the people in the market, and you know. Looking for animals. And I found some, but they were really creepy and mutated. You know? So it's impossible to forget this place is so...

[The light comes back on with a soft click. The phone-roll-up is on the bed table now. Yosuke smiles down at it tightly, and shrugs. Then something thumps in the other room and he jumps at least a foot, gesturing wildly and knocking the device off the table. Someone get the kid some decaf.

He hangs over the side of the bed and gazes at the mobile, his image now fractured like a kaleidoscope, and gives a rather put-upon sigh for a guy who was just trying so hard to be personable.]

Damn it. I'm cracked...

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"What?"

He's really not in the right mental place to try and solve the puzzle she just delivered. Instead, he groans quietly from where he's slumped between his own knees -surprisingly flexible for a guy- and counts a half full beat between every inhale and exhale.

Slowly, the fog begins to clear. And he notices the acrid smell in the air. Yosuke groans, loudly this time.

"Oh man. The first time a girl invites me into her bedroom and I threw up on her floor."

< Don't worry about it! Okay, clean it up first, but other than that, don't worry about it. I'm sure next time you'll be fine! >

He couldn't possibly vomit every time, could he? She took two steps forward, talons clicking on the floor. < I can tell you where the extra towels are? >

"Uh...yeah. Good idea. Both of them. Just...warn a guy next time you're going to-urk. Do that. Alright?"

Slowly, he sits up and tugs his dirty socks off, gagging quietly at the way they squish. Okay, socks may be a luxury here but these ones are still going in the trash. "Oh my god."

She snorts, beak opening as some of her laughter echoes across to his mind. < I did warn you. It's not my fault you didn't listen! What were you nodding along to, if you weren't listening to what I was saying, huh? >

She finds it silly to agree to things without a thought and then to blame the situations that arise on the person thoughtful enough to do the asking in the first place. Sure, not understanding what it really meant was one thing, but she felt like she'd been pretty clear!

Well he's definitely not going to explain that, though his cheeks go a bit pink again at the memory. There was a second that was really nice in there. And then...

Yosuke closes his eyes and swallows, shuddering. "No way. You never said anything about-" he winces, remembering that hideous bone sound, and the dismorphic horror that-ugh. No, ugh. Time to think about something else. This is going to haunt his nightmares for days anyway, he can already tell.

"It just...looked like it hurt. Are you okay?"

< Yosuke, > she said in surprise. < Were you checking me out? >

Collette dropped her head down lower, turning it to almost be upside down as she continued to regard Yosuke. Her mental tone was infused with amusement.

"...That's so creepy." He murmurs, pointedly ignoring her question. His ears go a telltale pink at the top in spite of his best efforts, however, and he quickly changes the subject. "Hey, can I touch your feathers?"

Collette snorted, but the sound was kept mental and constrained to the confines of her own mind. < You want to ruffle my feathers, fly-boy? You're so weird! But sure, if you really want to, then I guess so. >

But that being said, she shuffles to the side and slowly extends a wing toward Yosuke.

Yosuke grins and shrugs. Hey, how often does a guy get to pet an eagle? It's important to strike while the iron is hot, right?

He reaches out and runs a palm over the extended wing, gentle and curious. The feathers aren't all the same texture, he realizes. Some are quite soft, but the ones at the tips are firm and precise. Aerodynamics at work. Cool.

"If I knew this was a choice, I would've definitely picked it instead."

There's a dreamy expression on his face, wistful. Oh, to be able to fly away.

She's thankful he's not pulling or tugging, half expecting he might be too heavy handed. people didn't realize how light and fragile bird's builds were, not until they came into close contact.

Talk about close encounters of the educational kind.

< A choice after what? >

She leaves her wing outstretched, head coming back up to regard him more naturally. < Flying's amazing. I mean, really, there is nothing better than flying in the whole world! The feel of the wind under your wings, riding thermals up into the skies, even dealing with all the scary stuff when you're moving around up there... it's the best. >

"After getting here." He answers lightly, too interested in the proffered wing to be annoyed at the prompt. And when she starts talking about flying? Well. He goes a little starry eyed in spite of himself. "What was your best flight like?"

< You ask like there can be only one! > Collette laughs at the thought, relaxing as no damage befell her open wing. < Besides, you know what's even better than telling? Showing, for sure! If not the flight itself, then I dunno, maybe in the VR stuff. You can program with the AI if you want. But if you want to hear what it feels like... >

She trails off, curious and happy with the thought and her memories of the truest freedom she knows -- along with one of the most dangerous.

"What? I mean yeah, I want to hear. But what?"

< You don't know about the VR rooms? They're great! >

She extended ehr other wing, clacking her beak like she'd clapped her hands.

< Forget telling you about flying, there, I can literally show you! >

"The what?"

Okay, yeah, he's confused again. And suddenly aware that there's a puddle of...eugh. Stuff. Right in front of him. Yosuke closes his eyes and swallows. Yeah, that has to go. No need to find out if anything is left.

"Actually, roll and talk okay? Or fly, whatever. I should really...find that towel. And maybe some incense."

Collette pulled her wings in tight, toddling over toward the open door and down the hall. He did need to clean up, and she'd prefer her room not stink of vomit, thank him very much!

< Incense? I don't have any of that! I might have a candle... but it smells like cinnamon, I think. >

It'd been left over from Thanksgiving. Collette never did figure out who was responsible for bringing it over. Her head ducks down as she considers how many of those folks are now gone and missing. Though it was great having them all over. I guess that's the most important part of Thanksgiving! Being grateful for people while they're still there.

< Towels are in here! > She raps her beak on the linen closet door, scuttlilng back off to the side to be out of Yosuke's way again.

That definitely gets a weird look. Yeah...he's probably losing his mind after all. This bird has a linen cupboard. That just can't be real life.

But he gets the towel out anyway, thinks about it, and grabs another. The second one he wets down at the kitchen sink before he follows the birdie back in, trying not to seem freaked out. Though frankly, he still sort of is.

He drops both towels by the mess -UGH- while trying not to look at it, and glances around for the candle.

"Cinnamon is fine."

Better than partially digested bread and stomach acid, anyway. Oh please, be distracting, Collette.

"S. The...V-R? Thing? Tell me about that."

There was a crash from out in the living room, Collette calling out a mental, < I'm fine! > before clicks of talons and a rolling semi-hallow glass cylinder were making their way progressively closer to Yosuke. Collette used her beak to push along the candle she had in mind, holding a stick of matches awkwardly in one foot as she walked.

Clack-thump-roll-swish, clack-thump-roll-swish, clack-thump-roll-swish. She rounded the corner to her room.

< The VR rooms? They're amazing! You can set them up to look like or be like anything you can imagine, or anything you can remember, or imagine that you remember! The AI kind of works with you on it, but it doesn't stay around from what I understand. Basically the limit is about dying. You're not allowed to die in VR, so it stops before you can get killed. >

A philosophy she can appreciate, all things told, but as she knocked the candle rolling toward Yosuke's foot, she shakes her head.

< Light us up?> she asked, shifting weight onto the empty foot so she could shake the box of matches at Yosuke.

"You know, you could always ask the guy with opposable thumbs when you need a hand."

He gives her a half amused, half exasperated look. But he's happy to take the candle and light it. Hopefully it'll get the bitter scent of bile out of the air.

That accomplished, Yosuke grimaces and starts wiping the floor with the dry towel. He gaga quietly as he does so, and tries to turn his face away from it. The conversation helps a little, at least.

"You're kidding. There's a big video game here and no one ever told me? That's so lame!"

< They've mentioned it before! Though you'd have to be glued to the network to really notice. > Collette opens her wings slightly, shrugging them in an almost recognizable way.

< I can show you sometime, if you want to check it out! Gamora used it to kick major butt in a simulation. I went skateboarding! We could probably rig it up for flight, you know? I can give the AI all it needs to be able to give you a feel for the real thing. >

Not as good as what Caesar had been able to try, but closer than would have otherwise been possible. She side-hops further away from him as he cleans the floor of his former stomach contents.

"Skateboarding, huh?" He grins at that welcome and distracting thought, wishing he could step further away too.

But eventually the better part of the mess is wiped up, and he switches to the wet towel to make sure there isn't any digestive film left in between the tiles. Hurk.

"Is it any good, though? If I tried virtual flight, would it be worth it?"

He was decent at cleaning up messes. Collette mostly notes it to wonder how many times he's done this before.

< Is it worth it? I can make it worth it. Leave it to me, if you want to try! I can show you what the real thing is like, or close to it. >

Collette didn't know for sure how it'd work, but she had faith it would. If whole environments could be created from the mind, if memories could be whole places in and of themselves, then she knew this would work.

Sidling away toward the hall, she knew it'd work out, as long as they wanted it badly enough.

"Show me." Yosuke agrees, cheerful even though its through his teeth. He's not quite confident enough to open his mouth yet. But he finishes cleaning the floor and picks up the dirty towels, blanching a little. "Trash or laundry?"

Collette laughs on their mental connection. To her, there's no other possibility outside of Yosuke joking. < Do I look like I'm made of towels? Throw it in the washer and run a load for me. Come on! >

Toddling into the hall, she made her way down toward where the washer and dryer were kept in a nook of their own.

Crap. Seriously?

He...doesn't exactly know how laundry works, frankly. But he dutifully follows the bird, trying to appear like someone who washes linens all the time.

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Autocorrect sure does love Gaga.

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