12653/One Perfectly Normal Evening

One Perfectly Normal Evening
Date of Scene:	02 September 2022
Location:	Kían's estate, Kyshán
Synopsis:	Mike freaks out Kiár.  Maddie brings chocolate.  Kían falls off the balcony.  Just a normal day in birdworld.
Cast of Characters:	Kian, Michael Hannigan, Madison Evans

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Kian has posed:
    It is unquestionably quite a view.  If you didn't know an advanced and technological species lived here, you might think one didn't.  The signs of civilization are there, though, if you know where to look at them: just visible past a treeline are rows of crops, tended by robots.  To the north one might be able to pick out the corner of a landing pad for small craft, but even that is slightly camouflaged: the concrete, or whatever it is, has been colored green so that it doesn't stick out quite so aggressively against the surrounding foliage.  Kían's people prefer to insinuate themselves into nature, rather than impose themselves upon it.
    Speaking of Kían and at least one of his people, he and his old friend Kiár have sprawled out on adjoining chaises on a balcony with no railing to speak of—yes, that is quite a drop—and are watching the sunset and chatting amiably in their native language.  And sharing a bottle of… something.  Probably Kían's dad's brandy.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    What makes for an even better view than sitting upon a balcony is flying in it.  Which is what Mike ended up doing once getting back from a side trip with America.  He spent a bit longer out than he had initially planned but it took a bit longer to get his mind back into 'vacation mode'.  But he did get there.  And it's time to head back to the home.
    Now… just which tree is it?
    The bird pauses mid-flight, looking about curiously as he tries to figure out which home is which.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison has been all over the place—sometimes to the point of being utterly clueless of any cultural insult she might be causing.  She explores pieces of technology, opens cupboards, and samples food with almost reckless abandon—often having to be reminded by one of the other Titans that her behavior might be considered rude or intrusive.
    …it's been calming down, though, as her curiosity is slowly begining to be sated.  She's just excitable, all right?
    She emerges out onto the balcony with an eager bounce to her step—beaming at Kian and his friend.  She waits for the barest lull in the conversation before declaring brightly, "I made these brownies with my mom!  Who wants one?  Um—we found a vegan recipe," she reassures Kian.
    Apparently someone clued her in about the egg thing before the trip.

Kian has posed:
    Kían sits up a little, smiles, and waves Madison over.  Also, he passes one of the translators to Kiár—he was actually ready in case any of his Earth friends joined them.  "Ooh, those will be good, thank you!" he says, sitting all the way up.
    Kiár sits up a little more slowly, fitting the circlet to his head.  «Brown things?»
    "Brownies.  It's another way to take chocolate," Kían explains.
    «Oooooooh…!»  Kiár sits up quickly, spreading and re-folding his wings.  He's maybe a centimeter taller than Kian, with darker hair, and wings marked more like a sparrow's.
    Kían laughs, and evidently summoned by a telepathic command, a small and squat robot rolls out to set up a third chaise, for the Earth girl.  "You're goin' to be very popular around here, makin' those."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    The bird grumbles.  Okay.  Fields.  Landing pad.  So in re—wait.  He was on the OTHER side of those when he started.  SILLY Mike!
    Wings flapping, the raven reorients himself, coming close enough to where he can spot the railing-less balcony.
    The bird's legs latch upon the edge.  "Oh boy.  You can really get lost if you're not paying attention around here," the bird comments to the Kian.  His head turns, looking over to Kiar.  A wing lifts in greeting.  "Good evening."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "You don't take chocolate.  You eat chocolate!"  Madison laughs—holding out the plate she'd brought.  "If you've never had brownies, you should definitely try one.  I mean, I like them best when they're warm—with milk, or ice cream but—I mean, in general, you just never go wrong.  And we put in pecans because pecans are like walnuts only better—you know?"  She beams cheerfully at the pair, before turning towards the robot with the chair.
    "Oh!  Thank you very much."
    Look.  You never known when the 'help' is sentient.
    She turns next to look towards Mike, beaming broadly as she offers, "I've got brownies!"
    Hanging at the girl's waist is the now ever-present shape of her lightsaber.  Her real, honest to goodness lightsaber.
    After all—a Jedi should never be without their weapon.  Their weapon is their life.

Kian has posed:
    «THAT BIRD TALKED!»  Kiár wasn't ready for that, but he hasn't had Kían's experience with weird things happening all the time.
    Kían wasn't really ready either, but he'd heard something about Mike turning into a crow or raven—actually, he first thought he heard that Mike turned into Raven, and that idea made him dizzy for a while.  Still, this is the first time he's seen it for himself, and his handling of it isn't without a hiccup.  "Kya!  Nnh, I mean, this iss Mikal, you met him when everyone arrived.  He turns into a bird."
    Kiár takes a break from staring at the raven to stare at his fellow Akiár.  «You could have warned me!»
    "I didn't know he'd gone for a flight!  Gods, was I like this when I first came to Earth?"  He glances between Madison and Mike, neither of him knew him until after he had gotten settled into the world, and… Akiár are incapable of lying.  "I suppose I probably was.  Here, Maddi, you should cut some of those into smaller pieces.  You know how chocolate hits me."  He glances at Kiár.  "Us."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    Getting a verbal shout from Kian, the bird's head bobs to the side curiously.  But then the explanation is given to who he is.  "Among other things," he adds in to the 'turns into a bird' comment.  He definitely can't answer Kian's question about himself.  "Sorry I didn't tell you.  I had gotten up early and—well it looked like a nice day and I could use a flight."
    The bird looks over to Madison as she brings up the brownies.  "Sounds great Mads!  I'll grab a piece later."  The bird struts away from the edge of the ledge before he starts to shift back to his wingless self.  Mike glances back to the scenery.  "It is a very beautiful view."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Umm.  The only cutting tool I have is my lightsaber, and that's just a bad idea," Madison points out—looking amused.  "I mean, you could break a piece in half and share it…?" she suggests.  "Or can the little robot friend bring us a knife?"  She looks to see where the little robot went—while taking a seat on her offered chair, and picking up a whole brownie to eat.
    "I like my powers," Madison remarks.  "…but turning into a bird would be pretty awesome," she has to admit.

Kian has posed:
    There's the advantage of having a telepathically controlled house: the robot zips away and is back in very short order with a knife.  "I don't know about turnin' into a bird," Kian muses, flexing his wings, "but wings are great to have.  I can't imagine not havin' them."
    Wings and mind-controlled robots are perfectly normal in Kiár's view.  Birds that speak and turn into tall wingless bipeds are not, and he stares at Mike.
    Kían reaches over to gently close Kiár's mouth for him.  "You might not believe this, but you really do get used to that happenin'.  Well, you remember Gar.  An' he turns into lots more than just birds."
    «So everyone on Eart' has a Gods'-gift?»
    Kían shakes his head, once.  "No, but they're a lot more common there than here.  Everyone who came with me to visit does."  He thinks about that for a moment.  "Except Agata Téri'chal… an' I'm not completely sure she doesn't."
    As for the view… well.  The local star is similar to the Sun, but a little brighter, so it's more of an orange than a red as it settles in over the lake to the west.  A few of the brighter stars are already visible, though probably not any asterisms anyone will recognize.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    Mike blinks to the mention.  "God's gift?" he repeats.  He frowns for a moment before determining it not to be what he's thinking of.  "Oh.  Yeah.  Some are born with it and others just stumble into it later on."
    The musician looks over to Madison.  "Have you ever tried focusing your force on a very tiny area?  See if you can cut the brownie that way?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison blinks at Michael in surprise at this suggestion, a curious look on her features.  "I, uhh—no.  I haven't," she admits.  "I mean—I—well, I practiced fine-tuned uses of telekinesis when I was making the focusing crystal for the lightsaber, so there's no real reason why I couldn't—"  She looks down at the brownie in her hand, thoughfully.
    "But that was like… I mean, holding it, and moving it, and not …cutting. But I could maybe… huh."

Kian has posed:
    Kían sneaks two small pieces, one for himself and one for his friend, before any powers are used on poor, innocent bits of chocolate.  "The low technology option is probably safer, you can always practice on something that isn't my favorite drug later."
    Pause.
    "Second favorite," he amends without explanation.
    Kiár for his part pops half his piece in his mouth, and chews on it slower and slower and slower, with widening eyes.
    Kían wasn't kidding about 'drug'.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    Hearing Madison consider it, Mike smiles.  "Hmm.  Could make for an interesting practice, and the medium is probably one of the safest options should there be mishaps."
    Mike looks to the plate and then to the pieces being taken away by Kian.  "But he has a point too."  He looks back to Madison.  "Maybe just do it on one serving's worth of brownies until you know for certain you can do it.  Consistently."  No point losing the dish too.

Madison Evans has posed:
    I mean.  Who doesn't like experimenting with strange powers beyond the ken of most people?  Madison sets down her plate of brownies—still holding her half-eaten brownie in her hand.  She considers it—and decides that trying to cut something she's physically holding?  Probably not a good idea.
    Scooting back as far as she can in the chair she was offered, she sets her piece of brownie on it, and takes a deep breath in, letting it out slowly.  She does this one more time—only on the second time, she focuses on the idea of slicing the brownie, reaching out with her will—and cutting the brownie in half.  It's smooshed a little, and she nicks the chair a bit but—"Hey!  It worked!  Oh, that is so cool."

Kian has posed:
    «Ooooo… I bet you're really handy in the kitchen!» Kiár says, the chocolate clearly having landed already.
    "You are spendin' the night here," Kían says under his breath to his fellow birdman, then to Madison, "I can see that bein' a handy trick to haf."  And then, of all things, Kían looks a little guilty—because truth be told, he really hasn't been working with finding out what else he can do with his powers.
    He pops the brownie into his mouth.  This is a vacation.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
    Mike watches the enthusiasm appear upon the young Titan's face.  "Yay physics," he comments, stooping down to the untouched plate to grab a piece for himself.  "First brownies… then rope.  Then wood.  And soon—"  He pauses to take a bite, covering his mouth.  "Ul be the beeesss perso peol want to go campin with them."
    Mike chews a bit more.  Gesturing down to the plate, "Dis is gud."  He swallows.  "I'm… going to move away from temptation before I go grabbing another piece."
    With that, Mike retreats away from the brownies.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Lightsabers cut rope and wood pretty good," Madison says dryly, patting the weapon at her side.  "If I wanted to cut down a tree—BAM!  That tree would be down!"  There's a momentary pause before she looks towards Kian and Kiar.  "I, uhh… really quite like trees, though.  I wouldn't go chopping them down willy nilly.  I mean, they're busy storing carbon and making oxygen and all that."
    She picks up her two brownie halves, popping one into her mouth before she adds, "Me 'n mum foun uh brow'ies wi' uh bes' re'iews."  That's why they're so good!

Kian has posed:
    "And they hold up my home, too," Kían reminds Maddie.  Which is true, his home is completely insinuated into the treeline, and as the sun sinks lower on the horizon, the distorted shadows of leaves paint the far wall in an abstract of orange and dark gray, which seems to have captured chocolate-addled Kiár's attention completely.
    Kían, who's more used to the effects, gets up smoothly enough and stands on the edge of the balcony, looking up into the sky.  "I'm sorry that you can't see Earth's star from here," he says.  "We're on the wrong side of the planet, it's in the north.  Like you can't see our star from the Tower.  We're in Earth's south.  But," he continues, looking straight up, "we do have two of the three moons up tonight.  None are as large as yours, but maybe we get quantity where you get quality."
    He leans a little too far and tips over the edge of the balcony—but has righted himself before he disappears from view and re-lands on the balcony edge.  "An' no more chocolate for me tonight."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Nah, that's all right.  You've seen one star, you've seen 'em all, right?" Madison says blithely, flashing Kian a broad smile.
    "Besides.  We'll be home before too long.  I mean, I took some extra time off school—and we do have the Labor Day holiday but—I can't miss too many classes.  If I fall behind on my homework, I will soooooo hear it from my mom!" she exclaims.
    "…I'm just glad she let me go.  We really should have planned this for the summer, though.  Next time, yeah?"
    She giggles as Kian nearly falls off the edge—and rolls her eyes at the bird-man.  "Careful there.  My mom'll be upset if she hears our brownies got anyone hurt!"

Kian has posed:
    «I'm not hurt, I'm flying while sitting here,» Kiár trills from a somewhat less upright position on his chaise, getting a knowing smiles and a giggle from Kían.
    For Kían's part… well, he sits back down again.  "I would like to have planned this better," he says, "but you know what it's like at the Tower.  We're lucky to be able to plan five minutes ahead.  Never mind five days or five weeks.  I'm just glad to be able to share my world with my friends.  Everythin' is always go go go go go on Eart'.  You can relax here."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "You have to make time for the important things," Madison says—in the sort of tone that implies she's quoting someone else.
    It's probably her mother.
    "But yeah.  It's hard to do that if the world is ending, and Wonderland is threatening to implode, and all that.  So I'm glad we found the time at all it's just—you knows.  School's one of the important things I make time for.  You know?"  She shrugs her shoulders.  "Can't have uneducated superheroes running around!"
    Never one to sit still for long, Madison jumps to her feet, and starts back into the home.  "I'mma find more people to share the brownies with!  Don't fall off the balcony!"