(no subject)

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias doesn't like Metropolis all that much, but it's not as bad as it could be. After all, it's not really a... metropolis. Not a bustling one. Sure there are tons of refugees, but that's just a drop in the bucket of what the city is designed to handle.

He's spent the past few days watching Rachel work out. She runs hard, practices gymnastics, and generally pushes herself. He's not surprised by the pushing, but it's new to see her working out her human body. Not that he disagrees with her reasoning, of course.

And it's been nice just to be near her again. He feels like the three years without her were a bad dream.

He's been out hunting, and now he's gliding back to their most recent crash space.

Comments

[theresnodoor]

Normally if she's going to work out her human body at all, it's something extremely active - running, gymnastics. But with the possibility of a teacher on the horizon and a few tips from him or how to get greater control of movement, Rachel's actually taking advice from someone for once.

She'd laid out her sleeping bag again and is lying on her back atop it, doing sit-ups. Tobias' shadow alerts her to him first and she stops long enough to find him in the sky and smile, lifting a hand to wave.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias sees her wave and lets his right wing dip slightly, then his left, which sets him into a slight wobble of a wave back.

<Sit ups?> His mental tone conveys the sense of a raised eyebrow.

[theresnodoor]

Rachel wrinkled her nose at him, hands back to brace herself to sit up. "Don't start," she warns, more than a little teasing in her tone. "Admit it, you're just jealous because under those feathers, you're missing abs of steel."

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

His mental snort hasn't changed over the years, even if it hasn't been used much during them. <I wouldn't even know what to do with them.>

[theresnodoor]

"I don't think you do anything with them," Rachel points out with a laugh. "It's just muscle."

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

<I've never really understood people,> the pause is almost too short to notice, <who are obsessed with that stuff just because.>

[theresnodoor]

Almost too short. Which means Rachel's smile drops a little and she shrugs. "It's not like I'm going to the gym on my lunch break before a power meeting."

Like, say, her mother.

"It'll help anyway. I'm not looking to get ripped, just toned enough to make movement easier."

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

<That makes sense,> Tobias agrees. <You I understand.>

Mostly, anyway.

[theresnodoor]

That made her grin, glancing up at him and winking. "Much as anybody does."

[tobeclosetohim]

Metropolis is a big place.

A place everyone, even not bird-people, has to get out now and again.

Which is why there's a petite, blonde, dressed in tight jeans, a thin long sleeve shirt, walking through the ruins outside of it, wandering further and further from the ruckus of civilization.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

He recognizes her. Sort of. He swoops down for a closer look, sweeping by twenty or thirty feet overhead.

[tobeclosetohim]

The shadow catches her eyes where it cross the second time and she looked up, shading her eyes with one hand, to watch the bird in flight.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

He whirls and flares, flapping hard to hover in place for a moment to make sure she can see him.

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's not a naturist, but she's gotten slightly used to how Rachel can take a form and make it for a moment more and less than what an animal would be like.

It's not Rachel but there's something there that makes her pause.

Then raise her hand and wave once, a sideways movement.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias slowly lets himself drift downward and comes to a landing nearby.

[tobeclosetohim]

"Hey."

It's polite even if she doesn't expect anything in return.

He is though getting a glance over since he's sitting. For a bird, she supposed he wasn't too bad. Even if she probably couldn't pick him out of a group.

(Yet.)

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

He blinks at her in silence.

[diseasedvermin.livejournal.com]

So, there are times you need to check out a building for a future burglary without looking like you're doing it, and your face happens to be well-known among the neighbourhood.

Sure, Tom could disguise himself. Or he could be lazy and spend time snuggling with his boyfriend, because ratskins do have a built-in disguise.

In Metropolis, there's a rat in an alleyway, perched on a trashcan, loitering innocently.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Rats are pretty tasty. Tobias isn't especially hungry, but he's the hawk in him knows that catching some easy prey is rarely a bad idea.

He stoops, dropping through the air toward the rat in question.

[diseasedvermin.livejournal.com]

Tom is a distracted wererat, busy watching some berk with far too much bling get out of his apartment. He's become comfortable in Metropolis and lost some caution about predators that aren't wrapped in human skins....

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias strikes perfectly, closed talons to the back of the head to stun, and an immediate wing-over to come in for the kill.

[diseasedvermin.livejournal.com]

Shadow! Tom's mind finally blares.

Shit is the last thing Tom thinks.

-- Until his body begins to heal, blood migrating back to its proper channels and crushed bones and pulped organs knitting together.

He begins to grow larger, but is far too disoriented to do anything else.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

Tobias pulls back suddenly, wings flaring and flight path turning into more of a tumble.

Because most rats don't do that, and he has a panicked moment thinking he's hit Rachel.

Except she'd be yelling at him already.

[diseasedvermin.livejournal.com]

Tom battles the instinct to run as he grows larger, his legs and arms becoming close to human.

Still crouched on all fours, he lets out a loud threat-squeak at the hawk and snaps his jaws together.

[whoiwasmeant2be.livejournal.com]

The hawk is not intimidated. Instead he simply perches nearby and watches, wondering if this is one of the others. Rachel hadn't mentioned knowing of anyone else being here though.