Do You Know Why The Caged Bird Sings?

Hydronine

The Murrstress
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Scifi, Fantasy, Modern, Magical, Horror, Noir, apocalyptic, Grimdark, yaoi, yuri, anything really.
Documentation: The Beginning

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She had been reading as of late.

Zaria, or, as most people referred to her as, "Teesa", was making sure that she was up-to-date on all information on history. Not many humans managed to try as hard as her to keep track of history, to keep it unbiased.
'History is written by the champions of war....'

She wasn't the best historian; she had come to know that in time, once she had been humbled by a human in the same profession. He had credentials, certificates, resumes- he was a real historian, she had realized. She was just a little girl who tried to do what she could to keep the facts straight.

Teesa had learned what she could from her father, who still tended to the records. She she had hatched from her pale egg, he had already aged, he was an old man now, and in a few decades, his time would be up. She wanted to make sure that she understood all of her duties before that point. Lost in thought, she was spooked when a stack of papers had been thrown in front of her.

"What are you doing when you write these, girl? Your hand writing is appalling, you jump around the subjects instead of putting them in chronological order, and you treat this like a story you can bend to your will! You have to use more restraint. Tell only one side of the story, or tell it all- but don't go back and forth like you're doing now." He hissed at her, hitting her leg with a well-worn book.

She had a lot to learn...

"Also, stop treating this like some kind of book. You're telling other people's stories. It's not up to you to be creative, just tell it like it is. Not this.... what did you put on this page?.... Ah. Page forty-seven: "We rose from the ashes, like phoenixes, in the age of..." That is no way to put things. Be objective. Narrate, and don't include yourself, "They", not "We", got it?" He cracked again and she nodded quietly.

As he walked away, the gentle sound of the movement of his wings rustling put her back into a good mood. She stretched out her own wings and looked around for some sign or idea of a schedule today- and found a small note scrawled out among the mass of papers.

5'o clock
behind the bakery

The humans would not be pleased if they found out about these meetings. The groups that met together to come up with ideas to approach the government about their rights. They were sentient beings, smart, able-bodied, with their own faults and strengths, just like the humans- she had been going to these meetings for a year now, and her father's reaction to it was nothing but anger and disdain, saying that if she wanted to get lynched, that she should do it on her own time, and not when she was supposed to be dealing with her studies and her work.

She gathered her things, packing up a small messenger bag, tied it around her waist, so it rested on the small of her back, and then walked out of the small stuffy building. She spread her wings, letting the tips glide forward and then pushed off with the balls of her feet and her toes, she flapped her wings once, twice, then took off as quickly as she could to the bakery. No one took the lead there, it wasn't a very organized group, but it was progress. It was a place to make ideas.

Within moments, she was there, but it appeared that she was early- so she waited to see who would come. Her bright white eyes scanned for people, scanned for anyone who was coming, hoping she was at the right place.
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Joshua sat at his desk tiredly. It had had been a terrible day at the hospital and all he wanted to do was relax. But no he had to do his paperwork and sign death certificates that seem endless. He was surprised anyone left the hospital alive and well whether it be Avian or human. He stretched tiredly looking around the staff room. A lot of people were laying around sleeping or reading waiting, on edge. Anything could happen in a hospital. One person could infect everyone inside the building and then they're'd suddenly quarantined for the next five month because of possible cross contamination between the two species.

The Asian shook his head. He knew he could have went into research instead but he felt the over powering need to help and heal the sick and injured. Honestly today was a day he felt like nothing was accomplished. Almost all of his patients died of various reasons. Groaning and slamming his head against the table thinking about it. He was a complete and utter failure in his eyes. Those that were sleeping startled awake and glared at the man for disrupting their sleep while those with books looked at him sympathetically. One of them placed a hand on his shoulder telling him to go home a sleep considering he was on call for the next few days.

Looking at his watch Joshua sighed it was only four and his shift ended two hours ago, what was he still doing here? He gave a small tired smile nodding and gathering up all of his work and placing it in a folder sorting finished work from unfinished. He went through his head thinking about what else needed to be done as he changed into normal clothes dumping the scrubs in a laundry basket. He walked out with a backpack slung over his shoulders and began walking home (which wasn't far). Joshua made a quick detour into a bakery remembering he needed bread for the next couple of days for sandwiches. He saw an avian standing around looking concerned and rose an eyebrow. Perhaps she was meeting some one.

She was pretty that much he knew as he white eyes looked around. He have her a warm smile before ordering his bread from the avian behind the counter leaving a tip as well. Shrugging he approached her saying in his quiet accented voice "Hello miss how are you this evening?" Joshua hoped he didn't look like a creep with his slumped shoulders and baggy eyes as he studied her wings and body shape as well as her face.
 
Stench of ale, perfume, sweat and men filled the bar. It was packed with men and woman all having a good time or sitting on their own drinking until they drown in their own misery. Isaac however, known as the ‘Shoshal Drinker’ to the resident in the pub had found a group of mates that too went there often. “A round of drinks for everyone, on me!” the bar cheered as he put a fair amount of money behind the bar.

The owner of the pub was a stout man with a dark beard and a broad smile. He was a genuine guy who knew almost everything about everyone in the pub and a good friend of Tyler’s. Much to Tyler’s joy the man even gave him free drinks every now and then as well as pointing him in the direction of a woman who needed well... a masculine hand to hold. Tyler wasn’t the type to go through Nitti gritty relationship. He usually woke up in the morning and left saying he had to go to work, which was usually true but most women would slap him either way. Amazingly though he stayed friends with all these women, the man knew how to effectively regain poise with people. The old bar man gave Tyler a wink as he was cleaning a dirtied glass “Tyler! How are things around your way?” with a grin Tyler looked at the man. “Ah the usual, working, drinking beer and-“ the two men then speaking at the same time, the barman with a nod of understand “picking up birds.”

With a laugh Tyler turned around to check out what goods they had this evening. Ah, an Oreo, Ginger nut, custard cream…his eyes then settled on the Caucasian. “Hello.” With a large grin on his face he turned back around to the barman “Hey, the hot chick in the corner. Get one of the waiters to send her a drink she likes; tell her it’s from me.” With a laugh the bar tender looked at his friend “Mate she’s married.” At this Tyler just shrugged as he drunk his beer, he didn’t care. “So?”</SPAN>
 
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Teesa was not much for talking, still searching for other avians, her wings shot open and rustled in surprise as a man spoke to her. She hadn't noticed him approaching, too busy scouting for wings. Now her eyes focused on him, unsure of what he wanted.

"Hi..." She offered, unsure of what else to say. What was there to say? "I'm good... pretty nice out, isn't it?" She offered, looking around again. Where the hell was everyone? Had she gotten the wrong address? Had it changed shortly after she had gotten notice? She shifted her wings, closing them slowly, calming down from the surprise. Teesa checked her watch, finding that it was 5:10. Ten minutes into this meeting, and she couldn't spot anyone. What if the humans found out? What if they were in jail? What if she was next? She absentmindedly chewed on a thumbnail, her brows furrowed. Where were they? Should she wait, or should she leave?

Gods, her father would get a kick out of this- or he'd give her another of his speeches, explaining why these meetings were unimportant and only caused stress and trouble. No daughter of his should be getting involved with that, no sir. Too bad, she was. She felt like she need to do something, join something that could give them a foothold. Something that could propel them into an actual standing with the humans. Respect and equality were all that she wanted.

This man seemed to be an exception, he seemed nice enough, unlike some of the other people of his species, he didn't seem like a bad person.

Though, mostly, the humans she ran across were chauvanistic pigs. A few times, she had watched some humans come into her father's building while she worked- nothing good to say, and sometimes they caused trouble. She tried to keep her head down, not to anger them, it never seemed to work- they were always so irritated, so angry. Pages would get ripped, ink would be spilled, messes would be made, and she'd have pages to rewrite, history to record that she already had done, weeks ago.

She finally stopped chewing on her nail when she realized that she was doing it, and lowered her hand. Teesa looked up at the man, noticing how tired he looked. She wondered what he had been doing to make him so tired, and yet, she didn't want to know.

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The building was run down with the glass in nearly every window were smashed, the paint had mostly vanished leaving the building looking ragged and patched together, some tattered curtains still blew through a few windows. It was not an inviting place anymore and few ever came near, a few teens wanting privacy or proving their courage they rarely went to the highest floors though as the stairs were in quite bad shape that's why Sol had made the top floor her home, she didn't get rich from her small muggings and despite the low quality of her living quarters Sol liked it, she lived alone where not many would think to look for her, to her it was better than a place run by humans.

Sol stood in the small room she had furniced to her liking, it was simple, a matress, a used but comfortable couch, a table with two chairs and a simple heating element she had managed to buy with stolen money, it was run by a generator she'd found abandoned that still worked. When she could Sol fixed her home up with decorations and flowers, the large window in her room had still glass in it and the sun filtering threw the thin curtains fell on the new, fresh flowers she'd picked just this afternoon, placing them in a slightly cracked vase Sol stretched slightly, her large wings brushing against the walls almost. If a normal life meant no wings than humans could keep their priviliges like freedom, her wings gave her freedom that only avians had, it came under a heavy price though. The meeting she'd heard about had he promise of changing that, to make the avians equal to humans, if that were even possible.

She exited her room and headed up the stairs to the roof, stretched out her wings and jumped off the building. The feeling as she fell through the air was something she'd never give up, the tingling on her skin, the wind rushing over her and through her feathers and the addictive rush in the pit of her stomach. That was an addiction that beat all else in Sol's eyes. Spreading out her wings she broke her free fall and evened out before she landed several blocks away, not wanting to draw attention to her home. She'd heard the meeting should be behind the bakery at 5, that was now she realized as she cast a black gaze into a store window.

Quickly walking down the street Sol normally wouldn't care about being late but with meetings like these she supposed time was of the essence to avoid attracting attention, the long blue feathers on her wings fluttering from her steps as she closed in on the bakery, heading around the building, the smell of fresh bread made it outside even. Only two people were there, an avian and a human, her eyes narrowed slightly at the sight, from what she had understood the meeting had not been meant to include humans, she came to a stop near the two, not really knowing what to say as there was a human there she didn't want to say anything aloud about the meeting.
 
The short haired avian fluttered her wings as she worked at her roof top garden, taking care of all the plants that she had growing. After all, it was the only way she was able to get the vegetables that she needed but cold not afford to buy from the grocery store. It wasn't that big of a surprise though, most places over charged for fresh food anyway and others didn't sell it at all because it was to expensive to ship and store. Instead, boxed and pre-made food dominated the shelves and people like her needed to take matters into her own hands. Then again, it was a little iron it as well since she was more into eating meat than vegetables...She was part kite after all, it just came with the species. She glanced at the wrist watch on her arm and blinked a bit, it was 6 PM...She would have work in an hour.

Quickly Una finished her work in her garden and made her way down to her apartment. She changed into a simple but flattering outfit before dashing out into the street and taking off. The last thing she needed to do was be late to work, especially since she was working the late shift at the bar that night. It was the best time to get tips after all. She arrived in front of the bar and entered quickly, soon being consumed by the crowd since she was so short. She made her way over to the bar and hopped onto a stool, having no way to be seen by her boss otherwise.

"Evening sir...Where do you want me tonight?" She asked him just loud enough for him to hear her over the crowd.
 
Joshua looked at her thoughtfully before asking "Are you looking for someone?" He was curious as to why the avian girl was just standing in the middle of a bakery near closing time. He wanted to ask her many questions but it would be too awkward having just met. He gave her a friendly smile before gasping and saying "Oh where are my manners. My name is Dr. Joshua Han"

The avian was a mystery to him as all avians were. He had a human body he couldn't understand how humans could grow wings with only a few genetic splices. He began to get into a debate in his head zoning out a bit just before another girl came in. He turned to her and saw that she two was an avian and made the connection. "Oh, you guys are meeting up," he said with a little knowing smile "I guess it's best to leave you two alone," He gave the two of them little winks before readjusting his bag and walking towards the door.
 
“Girl, my water is much too cold!” A bark of anger, directed towards a fairly young avian whom had only just reached the age of adulthood not too long ago. The girl, whose black eyes had already been directed towards the ground, bowed her head even lower in a sign of apology.

“Sir, I shall redraw the bath for you, to have it to your standards.” She said softly. A hard whack sent her head whipping towards the side, her Master having slapped her with as much force as his large body could. She could feel her face throbbing, but returned her head to its bowed position, knowing a black and purple bruise would settle there soon.

“Good. Don’t make me have to punish you. Because I will if its not just right,” He hissed in anger, stalking away. Her head rose, although her eyes were still pointed downwards as she reached into the large bath and pulled the plug. Not a word escaped her lips. Not regarding the fact that it had been the Master who had let the steaming bath cool as he waited half an hour before entering. Not speaking word how she could not possibly keep a bath steaming hot that long. Not even whimpering in fear, as she knows she shall be beaten and broken once more if he does not find his bath suitable. She was too used to the large punishments on things that were not truly her fault. She had dealt with it the past fourteen years, ever since she had turned six.

Waiting as the bath emptied itself, she began making sure everything else in the lavish bathroom was perfect, not wanting to give her Master an excuse to break her wing once again. The owl avian redrew the bath, and went to fetch her Master, repeating the routine she had every day, her bruised and battered body moving it’s quickest to get her jobs done.
 
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[DASH=black] Teesa smiled at the man as he politely introduced himself. It was a rare thing to meet someone who didn't think of her as something less than equal due to what she looked like, and he seemed like a nice enough man. Plus he was a doctor, which she usually saw as rather obnoxious.

"My name's Zaria... it is very nice to meet you..." She replied quietly, and at that moment, she saw an avian approaching, saw the look on her face.

In the few seconds following, the doctor excused himself and left with a wink.

Could he know? Was it ok that he knew her name? Was he going to tell anyone? Distrust quickly settled back into her mind as she waved to him, trying to at least be polite. Hopefully luck was on their side... With the doctor gone, she quickly walked over to the other avian, but still not seeing anyone other than her approaching- where could they all be? What was going on.... where was everyone? A high-pitched beep from her bag shook her from her thoughts, and she quickly went to answer it, it was more or less a glorified walkie-talkie. What she was met with was a flurry of noise. She could hear multitudes of voices, and yet she couldn't tell what any of them were saying- it was too much noise through a static-filled speaker.

Then she recognized the sounds slowly. The ripping of paper, the sounds of hard-cover books hitting the floor. Boots, heavy boots that avians wouldn't wear due to the weight. Something was wrong, and she stood there, frozen in place while she continued to try and make sense of what she was hearing, and then, her mind clicked into place. She understood the voices, she understood the meaning.

Her father's building was being raided.

Teesa couldn't move, her eyes wide in fright, while on the televisions across the area, a news crew covered the story. The building where she had her father had worked all their lives, was being stormed into because they said that revolutionaries were being housed inside of its walls- that her father was a avian terrorist- trying to spread his beliefs through the writings of their species' history. The clips that the news showed were of books littering the floors of their building, and of police restraining Liam Teesa and pushing him into a car. There was little to no mention of her, save for the fact that the terrorist had a daughter who was unable to be reached at that moment- who could possibly also be an accessory to his crimes. The voices continued, listing other avians that were guilty of treason and terrorism.

How could recording history be connected to terrorism?

Teesa dropped the device, unable to hear it hit the floor.

She couldn't think- she just knew that she had to move, and that she needed to hide. She ran towards the other avian and tried to keep her voice low, even and calm. She had seen this one at a few of the previous meetings, and hoped that would help. "Excuse me... I know you saw me with that human, he stumbled onto me while I was waiting around.... I swear I'm not with him. No one's here yet... they're late.... really late... and something just happened at my father's place... something's not right. I can't go home, and.... I hate to ask this of you, I know we haven't talked before... but I need a place to stay.... I understand if you say "no"..." She spoke quietly. "Either way, we should leave this place... go somewhere more discreet." She added quietly.
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As Joshua was leaving he stopped to watch the news. Pictures of a raided building assaulted his tired eyes and he sighed. Another avian household ransacked even and they may have actually been innocent. How in the world could a historian be a terrorist. He could have swore they were meant to say the facts straight with no bias. Apparently those people thought different. Humans disgusted Joshua sometimes.

He grumbled the rest of the way home that was a few blocks away. He looked up to see his high-rise loft apartment above him and entered the grey building. Inside he pushed the elevator too tired to take the stairs. Joshua looked around the building's lobby and remembered that no avian's lived here. They used too until the raid became more and more frequent. It was a miracle that society hasn't collapsed into itself with all of this distrust and tension building.

The elevator dinged and opened as he walked inside pressing the button marked "5". About a minute later the door reopened and he shuffled out. Joshua slid the metal loft door open with a clang and he was greeted by the avian he "owned". Slamming the door shut he gave the avian a smile asking for it to make supper as he went to shower. The avian nodded and took his bags as he tiredly walked to the bathroom.

He turned the faucet on creating steam in the largish bathroom. Joshua stripped mechanically and walked into the shower feeling the tension drip off of him. The chinese man scrubbed at his skin for a few minutes, trying to get the smell of disinfectant that clung to him wherever he went off of himself. Feeling refreshed he turned off the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He went out and walked to his room, changed and walked to the kitchen where the food was ready.
 
Sol silently watched the human leave, her black eyes made sure that he nor anyone else were close to her and the other avian. She had seen her at previous meetings but had never spoken to her but why was no one else here yet, it had been over fifteen minutes since the meeting should have started, could they have forgotten, or been delayed. The beeping from the avian's bag snapped her out of it, those sounds of destruction, could humans leave nothing alone? Sol noticed the distress on the woman's face and together with the TV news of the raid sown across the street she guessed that this avian was the missing daughter or at least someone linked to that place.

"I believe you," she said to the avian, her voice lowered as well. Sol didn't trust easily but during her life only other avians had ever treated her well and so they were regarded with much less suspicion. "Follow me, I know a place everyone thinks is abandoned." Before she turned to show the way she smiled slightly, "I'm Sol by the way," Not sure how to give any comfort to the girl she walked off hoping she would follow.


She guided the other avian through the streets, taking some shortcuts through alleys until they reached the part of town where the buildings started to look downtrodden and ready to crumble, leading the way to the other side of the buildings to obscure the view of them flying up there from people living in the apartments in the city. "Here," Sol said to the woman pointing at a building like all others. "We have to fly to get in." Spreading her large blue wings Sol pressed off with her legs and beat her wings to catch some air, beating strongly Sol made it to the roof and waited to see if the avian followed her. Shaking her wigns before folding them Sol then she lead the way down the stairs and to her room on the top floor hoping she hadn't put her trust wrongly, but she didn't think so.

"It's not much, but no one can get here unless from the outside, besides the buildings here are mostly forgotten by the humans in this city."
 
With a grin spread across his face, Tyler still watched the Caucasian woman in the corner with curiosity. Married? the woman almost immediately realized Tyler looking at her and returned his glance with a suggestive look - Unhappily married it seems? he couldn't help but want to take the chance. But the barman looked at him with a stern face "Tyler...the guy's a friend. Don't" he told Tyler sternly. Ah fine, whatever. Only to disappoint her, he then turned back to his drink. Much to his surprise a woman came and sat up on the stool next to him. Hello? Inspecting the girl from head to toe - Tyler grinned. Not too bad. The girl herself wasn't the tallest of creatures with short brown hair and brown eyes with large beautiful grey-blue wings. An avian no less who came out with the strangest of things. At the girl question Tyler grinned at her and shrugged "How about your house eleven o'clock?" he winked at the girl, then going to take a gulp of his drink with a side glace toward her. He wouldn't be surprised if the girl slapped him for that - they usually did. Also knowing the girl's question was not directed at him - he answered it anyway.
 
Una blinked before turning to look at the man sitting down at the bar, her brown eyes studying his features for the slightest moment before she finally spoke.

"I wasn't talking to you." She said simply, though her tone seemed to show that she disapproved of his rather forward flirting. Una then looked back to the bartender, her boss, and looked at him. "I hope I'm not too early, I was told my shift started now."

As she waited for her bosses reply she glanced back over to the man nearby. He was a giant compared to her, easily towering over her by two feet. He also seemed to be rather handsome, though she wasn't really interested. After all, she needed to make her next rent if she wanted to stay in her apartment this month, she had been coming in with late rent for the past three months because of how pay checks came in, making it rather hard for her to convince the land lord that she could afford to stay. She looked back to the bartender once more, waiting patiently for him to speak. She hoped that he didn't forget that he hired her a week ago, that would be dreadful.

"Aw yeah, I suppose you are on tonight...Well, I do need to take my own break. Why don't you hope back here and take care of the bar for awhile while I take a break and do some work." He said as he set down the towel that was on his shoulder and looked over to Tyler. "I'll chat with you later and remember...Don't touch." He warned again before heading back to the employees only area.

Una was quick to flutter over the bar and take his place, thankfully the floor of the bar was raised higher, allowing her to actually see over it. Along with that she took advantage of a nearby stool used to grab the higher liquor and pulled it to the front to make sure she was visible.
 
The pair ate in silence. They never really had anything to talk about considering one was only "bought" to stay around and care for the house. The avian slave was more of a maid than anything. Once Joshua finished off his food he wiped his mouth clean and thanked the male for his dinner and told him he was going out quickly although he should have been sleeping.

Joshua padded to the front door and slipped his shoes on waving as he exited. He was going to a nice bar nearby and hoped that it wasn't too rowdy tonight. He stepped out of the building refreshed and began to walk down the street. It too fifteen minutes to get there. He opened the door immediately seeing and a female avian at the bar. Shrugging her approached and sat beside a man about his age and waited to be noticed by the bartender.
 
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It was lucky that Teesa had stumbled upon Sol at that time- who'd have known what would happen if the police found her....

She tried not to think about the fact that her father was in custody, trying to keep it in the shadows of her mind, where she could hopefully forget about it for a while. She followed Sol, hoping to find herself somewhere she could hide away from the world and lay low for a moment or two. Her wish was granted when she was told that the place they were going to was only reachable by flight. She spread her wings and followed the other avian to her home, fluttering for a few moments before landing, her wings rustling and then folding tightly to her back. The place was a godsend in this situation.

"Thank you." She spoke softly, exhaling slowly, the tension in her body slowly leaving her as she calmed down a little, the excitement and adrenaline wearing off.

"Yeah," She commented to Sol as she explained that the area was forgotten. "That happens a lot... soon enough, though, they'll come back and try and tear it down to make room for buildings that aren't falling apart at the seams... They'll remember it soon enough..." She muttered quietly, a soft bitter tone to her voice. Her brows furrowed, lost in thought.

"My father... he's not the one who they should have taken away.... it was me.... I'm the one who was hiding the notes in the history... I was the one who was....being a so-called "terrorist". He told me not to... He would never do anything like this... he's lived his life in fear of the humans... hell, he could have made a ruckus about what happened after I was born... when my mother was.... she.... she had complications... and the doctors wouldn't listen to him... he tried to explain that it was an avian problem, and that they were going about it the wrong way... I watched my mother die due to complications that could have been easily avoided... if only.... if only they had just listened. But my father, he just took it." Teesa explained.

"He told me that they had done their best... but no one apologized, no one cared... She was just an avian after all." She spat the last words out angrily. Her wings ruffled up and fluttered a bit, a couple long brown feathers drifted around the room.

"How could I possibly bow my head to a race that..." Tessa trailed off, closing her eyes for a moment, trying to calm down. "All I want is to be equal... to free our kind from bondage, to get our rights.... We deserve them just as much as they do." She continued, her wings slowly folding back up to.

"I never meant for this..."

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"It's nothing, ," Sol said as she closed the door behind them. "We avian's must keep together and be strong when the majority is against us. What's your name by the way?" Suddenly remembering the raid had interupted their meeting before it had begun.

Sol cast a glance around her humble room, it wasn't much but it was safe. "I hope it takes them awhile to remember this place, I know it's only some things that humans have thrown away but this place is home, too bad that I probably will have to find a new place." The frustrating thing was that when the humans wanted to tear down her home it wasn't much she could do, a single human couldn't stop it so how could she, an avian, do it. Sol rustled her wings in irritation and glared at the innocent flower vase on the table.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "I can't imagine being in your position." She was geniunely sorry, it was unfair and pure rasist in how the avians were treated. They could barely do anything on their own, they was legally held as slaves and even their medical treatment seemed to be haphazard. Sol often wondered why the humans had bothered to create the avians and make such effort at the start only to then degrade them and use them as slaves, and then the rumour Sol had heard that the humans had spread that virus among the avians to lower their numbers. Of course nothing could be proved, not that many cared to even try it anyway.

"But I have my mother still in slavery, when I escaped she was very sick and I'm not sure if she's still alive." Sol clenched her fists, black eyes narrowing, she missed her mother and she would rather know her mother was dead than live with this uncertainty, it ate ate at her from the inside. But it was too risky to go back the her previous master to check, and even her temper couldn't erase the cautious side of her that warned her of risking her dearly bought freedom.

"That dream is quite similar to my own, freedom for our race," she said, leaning against the table. "These meetings that have started were my hope to continue what Yuri started back then, but it doesn't seem like they are too populated as of late."
 
Ooo, ouch, she gave him the stern treatment eh? Tyler’s grin widened at the girl’s reaction, he liked it when girls where playing hard to get. The bar tender giving him a warning as he went off to take a break. Yeah right, as if; the guy should know better. Arising from his seating position, he noticed the girl was having a difficult time reaching anything. Unlocking the latch then quickly lifting up the wooden panel to then put it down again, Tyler grinned at the woman. “Welcome to Bartyl’s pub, I look forward to seeing you work for me sweetheart.” He winked at the girl. Although Barrett was the bar tender here, Tyler owned half of the place on joint contract. It meant he could get free beer and since he usually hung around he thought he might as well buy half of it out and let Barrett have the other half. However, Tyler never actually ran the pub. He usually ended up being the customer while Barrett did the work, such was his lazy nature. With a wink toward the small brown haired girl he grinned “You can take that however you like.” Yeah he was a jackass – he knew it. But it amused him.
 
Una watched with curious eyes as the man that had tried to flirt with her got up and slipped behind the counter. At first she was going to tell him to take his seat again until he spoke about working for him. She blinked a bit, his statement surprising her a bit but not getting much of a reaction out of her other than that. So he must have been the other owner that the bartender had mentioned in the interview. They seemed to be rather friendly when she had entered so it made sense. Even so, she wasn't so keen on his flirting attitude and was promptly going to ignore it as much as possible.

"I'll do my best." She said simply before she looked back over the crowded bar, turning towards another man who had entered only a few moment ago. "Is there anything I can get you sir?" She asked politely with a sweet smile, obviously putting on her seller face for the job she would be doing for the next nine hours.
 
"Ah... Can I have a White Russian please?" He asked with a kind smile. She was cute, and obviously new to the establishment. Joshua has never seen her before that was sure. He was curious as to why she would become a bartender especially since the ingredients were a bit high for her. He wore an inquisitive face while she turned away but placed the smile back on when she came back.

"May I ask you to limit me to three more drinks?" Joshua asked leaning a bit over "I have a twenty six hour shift tomorrow and I can't be hungover," he knew his alcohol limits well, and intended to stay in them. Being a doctor he had to be on top of his game unless he wanted a repeat of today. Sighing he pushed the thoughts away.
 
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Teesa nodded quietly to Sol's commentary.

"My name is Zaria Teesa.... I prefer to be called by my surname.... but... I don't know if that's safe anymore...." She answered, suddenly realizing the severity of her own name. "Everyone knows by now that my father's surname is Teesa... maybe... I should just go by my first name for a while." She spoke quietly, more to herself than to Sol. Her white eyes lowered to the ground for a moment, thinking while Sol spoke. Her feelings for this place were easily understood- it was how she felt for that building- that wonderful building filled with tomes of history.

"I understand what you're saying, to some extent. This place seems lovely- honestly, perfect for someone of our kind... Perhaps that's something we should fight for, eh? Species-specific housing.... humans get their regular homes, apartments and whatnot, but we should get something that should appeal to our nature... something created to be open to the air, but still sheltered- high off the ground, unreachable by humans..." Teesa spoke softly at first, but gained momentum, caught up in her ideas, only to trail off at the end when she realized that it would be one of those idealistic dreams... something unattainable- at least for now... Humans would never allow them to get housing that would make it difficult to get to them- they have a hard enough time just trying to get avians due to their powerful wings.

Her smile faded, and she ran her hands through her hair, her wings spread slightly, only to overlap her shoulders and arms, the warm feathers covering her skin- it was more of a gesture of sadness and feeling isolated and hurt, more than anything. She felt alone and scared without her father, and she felt so guilty that he was being pegged for her crimes. And yet, she was too afraid to think of some heroic way to burst into the situation and save the day...

She was just a historian... not some mindless barbarian.... she couldn't go swinging a weapon around and holding hostages and demanding her father back.

She was brought back to reality by Sol's explanation of her own pas and Teesa listened quietly, unsure what to say, slowly, the words poured out, "I'm sorry to hear about your past... I... I don't know what I would have done if I had been in your situation....I have no idea at all..." She admitted.

"All I want is to be free..." She added to Sol's words. "I want everyone to be free... but I know it's going to be a long and hard fight..." She murmured.
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