shellphones | [ text ]

[ A too-big shadow caught his attention and he hopped aside a bit as if to get out of the way on its approach, but the next thing he knew, there was a familiar face nearby.

He'd cocked his head back at first, caught off guard at the turnaround time, but seemed to sink into the moment easily judging by the way he leaned to let his elbow perch on the ship's railing, and set his chin in the palm of his hand.

There was a little toothy grin as he lazed where he stood. ]

So how fast can you go?

[ He laughs at Reno hopping to the side, but no matter, he's not offended. Hawks lands on the railing, perching as he crouches on the balls of his feet, wings tucking in behind him.

He did say he was fast, after all. ]

I can go over a thousand kilometers and hour. [ Hawks says that like it's nothing. ]

I get called all over the country for work and zip back and forth.

[ He raised his brows with an impressed, but soft little whistle. ]

We've got helicopters back home, but I can't say I've popped the sound barrier yet.

[ A thoughtful hum as he tapped the toe of his shoe to the ship's deck in thought. ]

You too, huh? So. What d'you do?

Mm, I haven't really had to go top speed outside of training but... [ He taps his ear protection. Just in case. ] So it's been a few years.

[ Hawks grins. ]

I'm Japan's number two ranked hero. I'll do just about anything to help people out, but I get more attention for taking down villains, and the tiresome modelling career my handlers put me through.

[ A brief glance to the headphones, then a small hum. He tilted his head a bit as if to try and look over Hawks' shoulder at the bright red plumage. ]

Do you moonlight as a model, or a hero? Cause those wings don't look easy to hide.

[ This guy had a glamorous way of explaining how much of his life was dictated to him. Granted, it was still an impressive life, but he'd wager this guy had about as much freedom as any of the First Class SOLDIERs back home could've ever had. ]

It's a nice vacation at first, but after a month or two..you're gonna get bored as hell if you don't find something to do with your time.

[ Hawks laughs at the question. ] Uhhhh, probably a model I guess, but really it's all part of the same thing. I have to look approachable and friendly so people will trust me.

[ It's harder for him to pull that off than some, at least, the Commission thinks so. ]

I don't hide them, although I can to some extent. Can't detach the wing bones, but the feathers almost all come off, if I really had to get them under a sweater or something.

[ His level of freedom is about zero. ]

I don't think that will be too bad, I can still patrol for as many hours as I can, and everyone needs help sometimes. I don't care how small the job is.

[ He chewed that one over as well. Needing to look approachable was, also, another part of life as he knew about it for SOLDIERs. In the end, most people were still afraid of or hated them, despite all the aggressive PR campaigns run by ShinRa. They weren't disliked for no reason, though it wasn't exactly a direct fault of the SOLDIERs, either.

It was a shame how that machine chewed up and spat out genuinely good people.

Still, he raised his brows and glanced back over to the wings at the mention of feather-dropping, tilting his head as he did so as not to hide the curious gesture. ]

No way. That's gotta take ages to grow back.

[ Welcome to the club. Though, Turks did have bargaining tools to advocate for some level of independence. Not everyone was so lucky. ]

Well. You'll fit in here with everyone else just trying to lend a hand, but if you wanna keep moonlighting as a model, I'm not gonna stop you. You are kinda crowding in on my vibe, but I think I'll let it go.

You wear it pretty well. Mostly cause of the goatee though.

[ Hawks laughs a little bit at that. He's not unapproachable for any reason - heroes are trusted - but heteromorphs were not. ]

Not at all. [ A couple of feathers zip around, but then they reattach to his wing. ]

As long as I don't damage them. If I actually lose all my feathers, I can be flight ready in three days. Takes about a week for them all to come back in. Bones though, that's another matter entirely. That takes forever to grow back. Months.

[ He lets out an ugly snort. ]

By all means, you can be the model. I hate it. Stylists yanking feathers out like they're not attached to me because they're in a hurry. [ He shudders. ]

I grew that because everyone thought I was a kid.

[ He followed one of them with his eyes, tilting his head as needed to keep an eye on it with a small whistle. ]

Well shit--

[ Sir you are absolutely dangerous. Still, the redhead was thoroughly impressed. Dazzled? No. But certainly impressed. His gaze came back down to Hawks though, followed by a knowing nod and shrug of his shoulders. ]

Oh hell no, you can keep it. I finally got rid of all my vultures, I don't want more.

That shit happened a lot to some guys back home, too. We had to run security detail sometimes just to keep the fanclubs off of 'em. Trying to cut off some of their hair or clothes was pretty mild, and don't get me started on the bathwater incident.

[ He raised his brows for a second and blew out a small breath through his lips. All of that was almost ten years ago, but still wild as hell even to think about. ]

I'd hate to think of how many times someone tried stealing feathers.

[ His brows knitted with a curious, confused sort of grin. Reno wasn't much taller than this guy. He held up his free hand to cover Hawks' chin from his line of sight. ]

What? No way. You look..what? College age? I could see you holding onto a coffee shot for dear life.

Edited 2024-12-29 05:06 (UTC)

[ Positively dangerous indeed. If only people knew everything he could with these feathers. This? This is just a party trick. ]

Oh that's just the assistants who do makeup. My fans are...something else too. They do tug on the wings to make sure they're real. Some do try and keep feathers, hard to do when I can call them back though, and I've been groped more than once.

[ Hawks just has to put up with that, it's little wonder he spends much of his time in the air. ]

Thank god! [ Hawks cheers, throwing up his arms. ] Maybe the other pros will stop calling me a kid! [ He grins. ] I'm twenty-three, so uh, I guess college, that's what normal people do.

[ Something of that caliber is up to the ingenuity of the user. Even basic grunts could be dangerous with something like that, but in better hands? Not something he'd want to deal with. ]

Ah, riiiiight, right. Cause playing tag with the sound barrier isn't proof enough, I guess. Gotta try and snatch a few. Yeah--definitely don't envy that. Sucks you gotta put up with it, though.

[ Sympathy was all that could be offered on the matter, and perhaps the small comfort of understanding, even if not from a first-person perspective. The outburst made him cock his head, then snort with a laugh. ]

Nah, you're still gonna be stuck with it! That's just how it works, yo. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, though. Someone's gotta be around to keep people from getting stuck up their own asses.

[ He shifted, going from leaning over the rail to instead turning his back to it, letting his elbows hang off of it. ]

[ Fortunately at the moment they aren't adversaries and aside from perhaps one day tickling Reno lightly with a feather, he has no plans on turning his quirk on the other man. ]

I gave one to someone already. I detached my connection though, they're a scientist, last thing I need is to feel them stripping the barbs off the shaft. No thank you. [ He hums, there's a few reasons he'd give people feathers. Them being fans are not one of them. ]

Yeah, stuck watching my image. Don't need my handler having a fit because I lost my temper. I'm better than that.

[ Hawks looks potentially awkward, the way he's perched on the balls of his feet at Reno's side, but he's actually very comfortable like that. Bird traits are weird.

He chuckles. ]

I crashed into the charts at eighteen, set a bunch of records and they never let me forget it.

[ text ]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

really wanted to put 'raw doggin it out here with chicken wings' but alas. not in character.

If it makes you feel better, he probably would've squawked.

hgjjhhcy good

no subject

no subject

no subject