It was Friday night and most of the school was probably at D. For a change Nova sat quietly in his room doing his homework. His comm was white noise but he had it on anyways, listening as he turned pages in his textbook, wrote down the notes. The stool he sat on let his wings trail on the ground. Would she be out tonight? In truth, he hoped she was doing this too, catching up, studying, getting herself back on track. Several times he picked up his comm, switching to her private channel, thinking he'd ask but each time he found himself going back to his books.
It was late before he finally pressed the button.
"Stasis?"
"Yeah? Oh, heyla Nova."
He saw it more than felt it, the brighter glow simply from hearing her voice. What to say? "Where are you?" That was a safe question he was sure.
"In my room, pretending to do stuff but mostly I'm doing nothing. What's up?"
"Nothing. Just checking."
There was silence on the line for a second and then her voice whispered back down to him, slightly flattened by distance. "I hate that answer."
He found himself smiling. "Yeah, I know. I'm doing some studying myself, catching up. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?"
"More nothing. It's Sunday f'sure. Nobody does anything on Sundays except for the penguins."
"How about we change that nothing for something?" He kept going before he could talk himself out of it, the idea forming like a rising sun in his brain. "What do you think about getting out, leaving Paragon for a day?"
"Heyla?"
"No really, it'll be great. Dress warm. I'll meet you down in the quad at seven."
"Dayball! I am not getting up at some dumb time in the morning because you don't like doing nothing."
"Sta-sis...don't you want to hang out with me?"
The sigh was long and heartfelt. "There's only so many times you can play that card you know." He could hear the smile in her voice though and he found himself picturing it on her face. He didn't have to look to know that the walls were a little brighter, reflecting himself back at himself. "Okay, just this once. Not like I've got anything else going on."
___________
It made it harder to sleep, thinking about tomorrow, but it came soon enough. The first rays of the sun peaking over the horizon had him sitting up in his bed, a wing rubbing the back of his head even as a hand ran across his eyes to bring the world into focus. Not more than ten minutes later he was striding into the central area of the school to find her already waiting. A part of him eased and he realised he hadn't actually been sure she'd show.
"Morning, Stasis." He kept his voice a bit softer than normal, guessing she wasn't quite awake yet and the last thing she would want to hear was him yelling.
"Says you, dayball." She eyed the large pack strapped between his wings but didn't actually mention it so he didn't feel obligated to tell her what was in it. She was wearing soft blue jeans and a faded red shirt that was nearly peach with so many washings. It had long sleeves and he supposed that was a good enough concession to 'dress warm' to count.
The morning air was cold, it tasted sharp to breathe it in, but warm beams of sunlight started to wake the world around them. It was a short walk to the bus station, keeping pace with one another. He looked down to her hand there, remembering the night he held it. He wanted to again but for some reason it didn't seem like a good idea. "Don't worry," he spoke finally, breaking a bit of silence between them. "If you are really tired you can sleep on the way up, okay?"
She craned her neck up, her eyes saying she missed the warm covers of her bed. "Trust me, that's first on the agenda and probably second too. Hang on, how far is this 'out of Paragon' anyways? You're being awfully cagey about this."
He laughed. "You'll find out." Then, half apologetic: "Look we had to leave this early. It still gets dark pretty quick."
The little snow they'd had had melted earlier this week and some of the green grass around the campus had started to show through. Spring would be here soon, in truth he couldn't wait. The made their way up to the station, staying quiet for the most part. He folded his wings back with unconscious ease, letting the heavy looking pack slide down, carrying it in front of them as they boarded. He winced a bit at seeing the seats. They looked comfortable, but not exactly made for people with large wings coming out of their back.
She must have had the same thought. From over his shoulder he heard "Let me guess, you've never taken public transportation, have you? Just how well did you think this through, dayball?"
"Okay, okay! So minor oversight on my part." He grinned as he made his way to their seat, a few of the other passengers taking time to stare at the two of them. He didn't notice, smiling wide, looking forward to getting out. An escape from the raid sirens, from the gangs in the streets, from being on edge about who might be coming after them. Tucking the large bag above the seat he took a good long look at the situation that was before him, then back to her. She wasn't much help, just a sleepy grin on her face as she watched him slide into the seat, at first just leaning forward to fold his wings tight to his back. It didn't look terribly comfortable, but he looked over and smiled. "See? No problem."
She sunk in beside him, seeming to quickly welcome the cloth seats. "Wake me when we get there." She has said she was't a morning person but this was the first time he'd experienced it and he watched with something close to disbelief as she wiggled herself down against the seat and for all intents and purposes, instantly fell back asleep. It wasn't long before they started to move, a slight jerk at the start but she never opened her eyes.
They didn't make it far before he started to realise just how uncomfortable leaning forward on the edge of the seat actually was. He tried to distract himself from the growing ache in his shoulders and wing joints by watching the city disappear but things were already starting to become more rural and there was only so often he could convince himself he was fascinated by trees. She slowly started to lean further and further over towards him, though he wasn't quite there to lean against.
"Stasis," he whispered. The sound of her name seemed to do something, and she stirred a little. "I don't know if I can sit like this the whole way. Can you lean up for a second?"
Her eyes never opened, she never showed any signs of being truly awake but she moved forward a little. With a sigh he was able to spread one wing flat behind her, stretching it out. She only gave him a few moments before she fell back herself, turning her cheek into the feathers. It was much easier to relax now, his head slowly nodding off joining her. The low hum of rolling wheels of the bus mixed with the now warming air made it easy to sleep.
He took in that first deep breath you get as you wake up. Looking over he saw her still sleeping against a bed of white. He watched for a moment before turning out to the window to see where they were. Close, signs for the park were starting to show up, the scenery having changed drastically as well in the last couple of hours. They were surrounded by a forest on all sides, the paved rode cut out through it all winding up to their destination. He didn't want to do it, but reluctantly he whispered her name. It was enough this time to get her to take that first deep breath as well, her body tensing for a moment before slipping back into that relaxed state again. Her eyes opened.
She looked over at him, expression oddly defenseless. Then she turned a little more and stared at his wing. She leaned away so so he pulled his wing back in, saying nothing. She didn't comment but instead looked out the window as well seeing the change of scenery. "Holy, Nova. We gotta be lost."
He smiled. "Yep, but in the good way."
The bus turned off the road and jolted down a small lane, finally coming to a stop near a park sign. As they exited, the few people around who came in cars stared against as he flexed his wings to their full extension, trying to work out the kinks. He tucked them back again, struggling to get the heavy bag back into position. She watched without offering to help. "Nova? What do you got in there anyways?"
"Everything thing we need, of course!" He smirked and headed off towards the small check-in booth. They both signed in on the register, Stasis carefully spelling out her name. He took a brochure from the wall.
"Alright Stasis, this is where we are heading." He unfolded the map at the back, the hiking paths going through the expanse of wilderness clearly marked in red ink.
Peering between his neck and a wing she leaned over his shoulder, curiosity piqued. "You're going to get us lost, aren't you featherhead? Trust me, I can do that anywhere."
Turning around, he gave her a bright smile that he actually felt. "Only a little! Just enough to have fun. Worst case scenario, I fly us out."
She rolled her eyes and snapped back "In your dreams, dayball. I'll take lost first."
Her automatic response stung but he decided not to let it show. "No for real though, its not that bad. There are lots of signs and stuff, people do this all the time."
After a bit more coaxing they headed out. The trail started out wide, leading into wilderness, and after a brief time, the canopy of bare trees closed in on them. They climbed small hills, walked through thicker parts of underbrush, silent for a time, then finally talking about nothing in particular. A comment about math, the freak show, what happened in Overbrook last week, what was coming this week, how he liked this, this scenery around them.
A few miles might have passed, it was hard to tell. They walked along a stream now, it was clear and fast, large rounded stones covering the bottom with small foot high waterfalls occurring every so often. His eyes fixed on the burbling water for a while, when something startled him. "Whoa! There is something in there!"
"Nova, of course there is. It's a stream, stuff lives out here. Wherever here actually is, anyways." He was already kicking off shoes though and pulling off socks to roll up the legs of his pants . He turned back the sleeves of his jacket with enthusiasm."Dayball, what do you think your doing?" Her tone was half annoyed but familiarity let him hear the warmth behind it.
"I'm gonna catch it!" he said as he stepped slowly into the icy water, a chill hitting him for a moment. He stood there with the water rushing just above his ankles. Bending over he peered down, looking for movement again. He stood there for a moment, bent at the knees and waist, wings arced back, eyes watching for something, anything.
"No-va..." her voice called, though she was standing there with her arms crossed, smiling, watching him.
"Wait a minute!" His hands slipped down into the water, fishing around a minute. He bit his lower lip.
"Aha!" A wide grin came to his face as he jerked his hands up from the water. He stood there triumphantly with a small crayfish between his fingers, small little legs and claws reaching out for something to grab onto. "Got it!"
"Holy, Nova! Put that down! Its gonna sting you and I am not going to suck out the poison!"
He started to splash his way to the bank, almost tipping over for a second before getting his balance back. "I don't think this is the stinging type. Look, it'll just pinch you." He held it out, not close enough for it to actually get to her, but she still squeaked a bit, jumping back as the crayfish waved its legs. He laughed at the reaction but took a step back, bending over to set it back into the stream.
He waded out and pulled his socks and shoes back on, wiggling his toes. "Hey, you hungry?" he called picking up his back pack.
"I am not eating anything that's still moving. But yeah, kind of." She eyed the backpack speculatively. "You got cereal in there?"
"Nope! Give me a second though and I got something almost as good." In no time there was a thin blanket laid out over a fallen tree and he handed her a thick sandwich. She sat next to him and took a heavy bite, hunger making them taste better than they probably were. They ate and sat for a short time before, he stood, almost as if it were a pose looking out on the wilderness around them. With a smile he looked down to her "Lets go"
Sunday Escape
Moderator: Student Council