8022/How Shall A Sparrow Fly

How Shall A Sparrow Fly
Date of Scene:	28 September 2021
Location:	Sequoia National Park/Kian's World (later)
Synopsis:	There is a certain danger in thinking that there is no place like home, when you're sleeping next to a living portal gun.
Cast of Characters:	Terry O'Neil, Gar Logan, Kian

---

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Although the Dayton estate was in East Hampton, New York, it was also well-known that the billionaire's 'summer residence' was located on the West Coast.  Specifically, somewhere north of San Francisco.  Thus, when it came time for Terry and Kian to pick Gar up, they decided to Rabbit Hole in early in the morning (earlier than Gar usually wakes up, at that) in order to have a bit of a sight-seeing tour…
    …and avoid the awkward experience of having Gar introduce Terry and Kian to his adoptive father.  Fortunately, that wasn't a consideration since Dayton was busy with a very important shareholder meeting (or something of the like), and the three had been free to go and explore the town.
    There had been food, there had been touring, trolleys and far too much shopping, but around lunchtime it was clear that they needed to start driving home.  Their road trip had officially begun.
    The red convertible (because one was needed, to give Kian the option to rest his wings instead of following along, at will) was parked, and evening is beginning to fall on their first day.  The campfire is glowing red and gold, and the s'mores are almost ready.  The Cheshire cat leans back on his foldable chair, having been tasked with preparing the sumptuous gooey goodies while Gar and Kian set up the very, very spacious tent.  To his great disappointment, it had been an effective set-up affair instead of a Laurel and Hardy camping skit, but nevertheless, it has been a rather wonderful first day for their road trip.  In the shadow of the enormous sequoia trees, Terry feels like they were off to an auspicious start.
    "The s'mores are ready, boys.  Come and get it!"

Gar Logan has posed:
    The last couple weeks have been busy for Gar.  Most of the main stuff he had to do on the Dayton side was split over the span of a few different days, which gave him extra time to spend in Southern California, namely Hollywood where the game show was being filmed, where a few readings and auditions were held for acting roles he was interested in.
    Funny how a few places finally started calling back after he became more known again through the Titans.
    When the idea of a roadtrip back was floated by him, including Terry and Kian, he didn't need much time to agree to it and start setting up some plans.  Forests in California, with or without Yosemite.  The salt flats in Utah.  Yellowstone.  Natural rock arches elsewhere.  To be honest, he didn't get too far with the planning, distracted by one thing or another, figuring they'd just wing it along the way.
    Shut up, Kian.
    San Francisco was interesting, for the city itself was probably one of the more… accepting of different lifestyles and appearances than a lot of others.  There's Portland.  There's Austin.  Two cities that like to 'keep it weird,' but San Francisco is no slouch either when it comes to a green dude, a cat dude, and a bird dude.  Lots of eating, lots of sightseeing, lots of photos, both taken by them and of them, but it came time to get out of there and on to their first stop.
    As they work on setting up camp, he voices, "Are we sure Kian's gonna be okay in this thing?  I know it's a big tent, but still."  His head pokes out of it at the summoning for sugary treats.  "Awww yeah.  I was gonna suggest we get $240 worth of pudding, but that would make a mess I don't want to clean up.  And I couldn't figure out which of us would be Barry, which would be LeVon, and who'd be stuck as neither."  Someone's a fan of The State.

Kian has posed:
    Kían liked the city well enough, and tolerated the convertible—mostly spending his time hunkered down in the back seat so that the wind didn't beat up his wings.
    The giant redwoods, however… Kían is still staring, even in the dark.  "I suppose they would not let me haf a home here," he muses, mostly looking up towards the treetops.  "My people could do it wit'out harmin' the trees, of course."
    He sighs, and makes his way over to the campfire, spreading his wings to catch the warmth.  "If you keep me distracted, I will not notice the tent," he remarks with a little grin, and reaches for one of the treats.  One eyebrow goes up.  "Or Terry can jus' get me out of my head on chocolate an' I might not even notice," he adds, and takes a bite.
    From the look on his face, it meets with his full approval.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry chuckles, hoisting the s'mores out of the prongs that he was holding over the fire, and on the little plates they had bought earlier.  "Behave.  We should probably head to bed soon anyways, I am beat from driving, so you can't expect anything from me tonight except snores."  He stifles a yawn.  "And we want to get up early so you have time to flit around the trees in the daylight.  At least a little bit before we have to drive off."
    He grins at Kian and offers him a plate with two s'mores.  "I don't think they'd let you have a home here, unfortunately.  This is a national park.  That means nobody can live here unless they're a ranger or something like that."  Gar's MTV reference gets him a smirk from Terry and a wink.  "Remind me exactly why is it that we came to get you?"

Gar Logan has posed:
    "No, I don't think they'll let you become a ranger, so don't ask," Gar remarks, giving Kian a little verbal teasing.
    He chows down on the treats and adds, "Since I'm supposed to be doing some driving tomorrow, I'd probably better turn in soon as well.  And you came to get me because it's been like two and a half weeks since you've seen me in person and I know what that's gonna mean in there."  He jerks a thumb toward the tent, taking Kian in with his focus as well.  "I think we're all gonna have to behave the first night, and see how good our self control is."

Kian has posed:
    "An' besides, if I were livin' out here, who would keep watch on you two to keep you out of trouble?"  Kían grins broadly, and polishes off another s'more.  "Somebody has to be the sensible one.  Ooh.  An' these are very good."
    He's not anywhere near as far gone as when Terry found him trying to make sense of Harvey Birdman, but the chocolate buzz has definitely begun to settle in.
    "Well, I will not be drivin' tomorrow, but I do want to spend some time in the canopy before we go."  He glances upward again, and sighs.  "What a home I could haf up there, though."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    "Yeah, I am going to be on my best behavior, even if we haven't seen you for all of that time.  I can wait one more night."  He grins.  "I am not so impulsive that I can't pace myself."  He winks and takes a few bites of his own s'more, and tries to stifle another yawn.
    "This is going to be nice, though.  Just the road, interesting places to visit, and my two favorite guys.  A nice, relaxing vacation is just what the doctor ordered."
    He glances at the camp and smirks.  "We can sleep with the tent flap open if you want.  I honestly don't think we need to worry about bears or other critters, with the present company."  He dabs at his mouth with a napkin and then stands up, removing his T-shirt in one fluid motion.  "I'm going to put stuff away in the car and then I think I'll be ready to get to bed.  Gar, put the fire out when you're done with the s'mores."  He grabs the cooler and other storage for foodstuffs in order to put them in the trunk.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan quips, "We'll see about that when it's like 1 AM and you can't stop yowling," then he chuckles in Kian's direction.  "Trouble?  Who, us?  Never!"  He catches the yawn going around, adding, "I'll come fly with you in the morning, though.  That'll be fun."
    He gets back up to walk around and remarks, "If you need me to play guard dog at some point," as he turns into a chihuahua, "Nobody gonna mess with this!"
    As for that fire, he trots over to start kicking dirt on it, then he gives the equivalent of a shrug before growing to the size of an elephant so he can simply stamp it out a few times.  He'll use actual water to make sure.
    "I'll be in as soon as I double-check the campsite," he promises.

Kian has posed:
    Kían helps put things away, moving just a little more gingerly than usual, because chocolate.  Also, he knows to limit his intake carefully for maximum enjoyment.  "Now, we would just set a robot or two to make sure no animals got too close, if we were goin' to sleep in the wild," he remarks.  "I was never much on that.  Jus' because I respec' nature does not mean I want to live too close to it."
    He looks up at the stars, so much brighter now that a green elephant has stamped out their campfire.  "But this," he adds reverentially, "this iss very nice."
    He slips into the tent, and takes a moment to just reassure himself.  "Now, our tents," he explains, holding the screen flap up, "the walls are all made of this mesh.  There are clear plastic walls that can be roll down in case of rain, of course.  I think I will be okay if you jus' close the mesh."
    Camping with neurotic birdmen—there's something you don't do every day.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    It is a testament to how tired Terry is that, when he comes back from the car, he doesn't comment on Kian's neurosis.  Stripping to his undergarments, he quickly lays down to sleep.  "That's fine.  I just always have a nightmare about going to sleep and waking up to find someone staring at me out of my window.  With the mesh, it's like the entire forest can stare at me!" he chuckles, yawns, and stretches.  He is, indeed, too tired to get distracted by anything, contrary to Gar's insinuations.
    "…oh yeah… I get to choose the driving playlist tomorrow…." he says, slowly beginning to drift.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan returns as himself, in time to listen to Kian talking about the way their homes are in comparison, and a couple other things of note.  "Ahh, we're separate enough from everyone else that it should be pretty quiet around here.  I'm even turning my phone off, so there are even less things to bother us."
    He says to Kian, "Once your eyes are closed, you probably won't even know that this is anything different from the place you're used to."  He draws a zipper down for the opening, but the sides are left rolled up enough to give them a little more visual space, just in case sleep doesn't come immediately.
    Before settling in, he reaches out to nudge Vorpal.  "Dude, the driver controls the sounds.  That's like the first, most important rule of the road.  And you drove today.  If you forgot about that, tough."

Kian has posed:
    "An' jus' havin' the two of you here also helps," Kían says warmly, getting comfortable.
    Even though he doesn't physically require sleep, Kían may choose to, usually with a wing spread affectionately, even protectively over his tenár'yw, he drifts off quickly.  By now Gar and Terry must be accustomed to Kían sharing his dreams.  Fortunately, they are placid things, mostly taken up with flying over his home, or places on Kyshán that he's visited.  Maybe he chooses those dreams deliberately: active dreaming is a thing, and he can definitely communicate cogently while in a dream state.
    So, maybe it's the giant trees, and the idea of the sort of home he could have up in their highest reaches.
    Maybe it's because he hasn't got to curl up with both in a while.
    Maybe it's because in dreaming, he can imagine himself in his old life that he understood.
    And maybe it's the chocolate.  Whatever the reason, Kían's dream is unusually vivid, almost like being there.  It's not his home—both his partners can probably recognize Kían's home from above by now, even though they've never physically been there, just because it surfaces so often in his nocturnal mental rambles.
    The home of his Akiár partner, Raká, was in an older and taller growth, and the sunrise from there was utterly without parallel: he had a view of distant mountains to the east that Kían didn't.
    It's a lazy spiral downward toward the landing platform.  The foliage of Raká's trees are a darker green than Kían's, and fragrant.  Earthy and subtly spicy, the memory of the scent triggers other memories, and the dream vision sharpens almost to the point of reality, this fantasy of a visit to an old and dear friend.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Everything is so vivid in that dream.  It is hard to say what exactly was it that caused the burst of chaos magic that, against all odds, shaped itself into a spell.  As the sensations inform the intention, a portal opens up under the three sleepers, letting sunlight and wind through.  An entirely different world and time irrupt into the camping site for a second before darkness reasserts itself, everything remaining as before—except for the absence of three Titans.
    Terry is jolted awake by the drop.  It isn't far at all, just a foot or so, but it's enough to wake him up.
    "Uh-OW!"

Kian has posed:
    It is, unaccountably, daytime—a clear bright early afternoon.  It wasn't just a second ago, neither the dark of a forest night, nor a dreamed morning over distant mountains.  The air is fresh and smells of earthy and subtly spicy greenery, the wind is light and rustles the surrounding dark green leaves, and everyone appears to be on a platform.
    In fact, the very platform that Kían had been sharing in his dream.
    Kían scrambles to his feet, looking gobsmacked—like someone punched him in the face.  "Wha—?"
    What happens next happens very, very quickly.  There is a scream, and the word that is screamed is "KÍAN!!"  Kían himself is swept off the platform and into the sky by a red-winged blur, having no time to react beyond a *whoulf*!! as the breath is knocked out of him by the flying tackle.
    More wings flutter—two birdfolk, one sparrow-winged male and one bluejay-winged female, alight on the platform.
    She stares after Kían and his 'abductor' as they rise high into the sky.  "Kían?!  Ekh-tái?"
    He stares at Gar and Terry.  Doesn't say anything, just stares.
    They're both clearly Akiár'yw.
    This is not where the car was parked or the tent was pitched.  And it certainly wasn't forty or fifty meters up on a landing platform in a thick copse of trees.
    In the early afternoon.
    Surrounded by Kían-type birdpeople.
    "Cha khe'tekí'p-tái?" the male finally asks, still staring at Terry, wings twitching nervously.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Somewhere along the way, that dream was all too vivid and real.  Kian was back home, and the others were along for the ride so to speak.  It's not the first time Gar's been shown that world, especially given what he can turn into, making that connection even stronger, but this was perhaps the sharpest of them all.  They were away from civilization, in need of a good, deep sleep, and that chocolate must have really opened up the alien's mind.
    So it's with a bit of a *WHUMP* that Gar, just like Vorpal, is jolted awake by the sense of falling.  That's got him out of a slumber before, but the falling was only in the dreamscape.  This time it feels too real to be anything else, and he sits up to rub his backside and look around.  "What…?  Why is it already midday?  Did we over—"
    "Uh."
    Kian's suddenly mobbed by someone with red wings, someone Gar is pretty certain Kian's shown him visions of before.  Then, two others with wings of differing colors.  And Vorpal beside him.  And…
    "Dude."
    The trees are all around them, and not at ground level.  They're also different.  The scents, some are similar, but some are not.
    He stands up and offers an awkward wave.  "…Kie…?" he offers by way of a very Akiar greeting, after which a subtle change finishes becoming more of one.  Now there's a fifth Akiar in the area, only this one is completely green on down to the feathers of his wings.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry was the most tired of the three of them, having taken on the duties of the driver for that day.  It is safe to say that he is the slowest one on the uptake… but there's something else, too, and it is the fact that he feels like he has been sucked dry for some reason.  His mind isn't as agile as it usually is.
    "Oh god…" he says, the situation slowly beginning to dawn on him, "I don't think we're in Toto anymore, Kansas," he utters.  Gar is wise to adopt an Akiar seeming, and Terry decides he might try it as well, to assuage their nervousness—
    For half a second, it almost looks like Terry has wings.  But then it is nothing more than a very pretty constellation of glittering sparks in the shape of wings, and then they drop to the floor and disappear.  The Cheshire cat's eyes widen at that.  "Uh… oh."
    He can identify the feeling now: he is completely drained of magic.  It has never happened to him before, which is why he didn't know what it was.  Even the mutant who could drain energy didn't suck him dry like this.
    So he doesn't stand up, he stays there, cross-legged, with a very subtle panic creeping onto his voice as he says softly, to Gar: "…love of my life, am I tripping balls or… we are…"
    He gives the bird-people staring at him a meek wave and no smile, because he has no idea what bird-people will do when faced with a toothy grin, but he does point at the Kian tackler and says very clearly: "Raka?" in the odd chance that showing some familiarity imight keep them from thinking he is a monster who has come to devour them all.

Kian has posed:
    Gar's transformation didn't do anything to stop the staring, and with an Akiár mind, he can easily sense the whirl of confusion.  And the words "rhy'thar" and "rhyták".
    Kían and the other birdman land—blond hair and red wings, both Terry and Gar have seen him in Kían's memories, this is almost certainly Raká, and he is not letting Kían get out of arm's reach.
    Kían is starting to get an idea of what happened, and glances nervously at Terry, as if to confirm that he's okay.  Meanwhile, the conversation between Kían and the other birdfolk is too rapid and staccato for any but the most common words to be picked up, and sparse enough that probably there must be a further telepathic layer filling in more details, and even that is so fast and clipped it's hard to keep up with.
    Finally, Kían looks over to Gar.  "I was hopin' to do it before you change, but I haf explained your rhy'thar, an' I think you will need to stay Akiár for a while," he says, switching back to English.  "So you can hear the translations in your min', an' keep Terry filled in.  Unless you are not sure you can maintain contac' with him, then I will do it, but my family iss on their way an' it will be difficul' to keep one hand on him once they are here."
    He bites his lower lip.  "An', uh, welcome to my worl', Kyshán.  You know Raká from my min', an' this iss Kiár, an' Áre.  I think I haf mention them before, two of my oldes' frien's."
    «Kíi tenár'h… what happened?» Raká asks, still clinging to Kían's arm.  «Where did you go, where did you come from, and who are….»  He takes another look at Gar.  «He's very green.»
    And Kían laughs—because he said exactly the same thing the first time he met Gar.  «This is Gar s'Márek'Mári t'Lógan,» he says, giving the Akiár form of the name, «and Téri Oníl, and explaining what happened is going to be complicated.  And I think Téri needs to lie down, can we go inside?  Uh, I better move Téri myself,» he warns as both Kiár and Áre move to get him.

Gar Logan has posed:
    A side effect, in this case, of Gar taking the Akiar form is not in the ability to understand them better, and communicate with them.  That's a primary result.  No, the other part of it is his attire more or less changes to a facsimile of what Kian himself normally wears.  Gar's wings flex, then tuck back in place, and aside from the coloration being his own, the style is an exact duplicate of Kian's.  After all, his form is what Gar's version of being an Akiar is based on.
    He asides to Vorpal, who he's suddenly watching with closer intent, "I don't know how you did it this time, but unless this is the craziest lucid dream we've ever had, we're on Kian's planet."  He stops himself to shake his head.  "That sounds even wilder when I say it aloud."
    Clearing his throat, he raises a hand to wave again, looking from one Akiar to the next with high interest after he tilts his head toward Kian and Raka, nodding slowly.  "That… shouldn't be a problem, if it helps," he adds before he changes to the mindspeak.  {All green, all the time, that's me.  We're, um, from Earth, part of the Solar System in the Milky Way galaxy.  And… we probably shouldn't even be here, except… well.}  He gestures around them as he keeps Vorpal nearby. {Kian can tell you how he came to our world.}

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    Terry lets others help him up, as he is too busy being shocked and drained to move much by himself.  There he stands, in his feline glory wearing nothing but the red briefs with Contents Under Pressure embroidered along the rear.  Yes, they were a gift from Gar, they were funny, and once again they prove to be the absolutely wrong thing to wear to bed this time around.  Not that the Akiar wear that much to begin with, but still.
    "…god, I moved us to an alien planet god-knows-how-far-away.  And I… have nothing."  He holds a hand out, trying to summon a Rabbit Hole.  The only thing that happens is that he magically produces a spray of glitter, that falls to the ground and scintillates like the starry sky.  "What are we going to do?" he asks, too tired to go into a panic.  It is very clear that he needs to lie down, but he does look at the people around him, trying to match them up with memories Kian has shared, but otherwise looking fairly clueless at the bird-speak anytime that Kian isn't translating for him.

Kian has posed:
    The home itself is not too different from the visions of Kían's own that he's shared with his friends, although Raká's decorations tend towards the reds, oranges and yellows rather than Kían's blues and greens.  And the main gathering area is not unlike Kían's table and cushions in his room in the Tower, except much larger.  Kían deposits Terry thereon, and sprawls out on his side nearby.  Kiár and Áre do the same; Raká is collecting a bottle and glasses from a wall niche.
    «So,» Kian begins, «I, uh, don't know what everyone saw on this end, but when Flight 442 activated the tachyon drive, I dropped through a hole in space and ended up on a world called "Eart'", where I've been for the last… uh… what day is it anyway?»
    «Seventy two of the second of the thirty-first,» Áre offers.
    Kían shakes his head.  «A year and a half.  Gods.  I… if I had any way to let you know I was okay, I would have, but I don't know where Eart' is from here, or where Kyshán is from Earth.  I think we got here by Terry's rhy'thar—they're a lot more common there than here.»
    Raká serves glasses of liquor; Kían picks his up and genuinely shivers, complete with feathers fluffing out, when he catches the scent.  «Spice brandy!»
    Raká smiles smugly.  «Some of your dad's.»
    Kían's eyes widen; he takes a sip and closes his eyes blissfully.
    «They should be here any time now,» Raká adds.
    Kían can only wonder if his c'chal'yw will respond to Terry and Gar with the same equanimity as Agatha O'Neil handled himself and Gar….

Terry O'Neil has posed:
    There is… a lot of excitement.  A lot of new things.  But also strangely familiar ones, from Kian's memories.
    But he can't actually communicate with anyone directly , at least not for the time being, with his eyes slightly out of focus and his movements sluggish and somewhat clumsy.  He wants to be conscious.  However.
    "This isss… so smr…."
    Whatever he was going to say, only Morpheus knows, because the Cheshire cat is soon out like a light.  If he were a phone, he would be flashing an empty battery warning and then shut down to recharge.
And yes.  He snores.  Lightly, but he snores.

Gar Logan has posed:
    Gar Logan offers Raka, Kiar, and Are a friendly enough smile, but it's clear he's out of his element here.  Of the Earthers, chances are he understands the Akiar the best because of the fact he can become one, but that doesn't make him any better prepared to suddenly be on Kian's homeworld.
    No doubt, he's in for a lot of curiosity, especially as someone who can look different yet be one of them.
    He helps get Vorpal settled in, paying mind to the way explanations are made about a flight, how long Kian was missing, and all that.  {He was found on our planet, and we took him in like the lost little bird he was,} he lightly teases, adding with a more somber sort of mindspeak, {He never thought he'd be able to get back here.}
    When Raka comes up with the… spice brandy apparently made by Kian's father, Gar sniffs in the direction of it after noting the way Kian fluffs up just at the aroma, and he considers.
    {I don't usually drink, but when on, uh, Kyshan…}  Bottoms up!
    Especially if they're about to meet the parents.