Ok, this one is long in coming and in response to the persistent, never-
ending e-mails from Lilli Ixy Kay. Yes, over the past few months, she has
poked, prodded, and threatened until I have been forced to update. I
admire your determination, I really do. And although it's lame, I do have
a few excuses. Like exams! Having to practice for and go away to a
provincial competition. Let's see...Five day, free-for-all (not really
free), wonderful art excursion to New York City...I now plan to move there
when I get the money. So, all of these tings have collaborated to suck my
time away from working on this fic...not to mention Earthbound...wow, I love
that game... Anywho, this chapter is more about the Winglies and their
customs and such. It's dedicated to Lilli Ixy Kay, for being relentless.
Hope you enjoy!
It was just after last period, and the four boys were sprawled throughout the band room. Wufei, the boy who played the drums for Trowa and Quatre, was popping in and out of the band room, band room office, and storage room, as he was apt to do. Duo was constantly reminded of the ass-kicking Wufei gave to the jerk a few weeks ago, in the graceful but confident way he walked.
Duo had asked the two others about him once. Quatre had said, "Wufei...just comes and goes. He's nice to us, and he's more than happy to accompany us on the drums, but he's not the type of person who...has friends, I guess. He knows he's welcome to hang out with us." Trowa had added, "Just as many people hate him as hate us - because he's Asian, I guess – but no one makes a big deal out of it. They just don't talk to him." When Duo had asked why, Quatre and Trowa looked at each other in a certain way that Duo had come to recognize as a form of non-verbal communication. Quatre had nodded, and turned to Duo with a slightly apologetic smile. "They just don't." Duo had left it at that.
So, there the four of them were: Wufei moving back and forth, getting some sort of project together; Quatre leaning up against the back of the band room wall, up on the third tier; Trowa, sprawled on his back, with his head resting on Quatre's lap; and Duo, standing on the ground level, flapping his wing to get the last of the molting feathers out. He was finally done with the molt, and he had noticed his feathers were coming in different colour than the white they were before; they had become a slightly grayish- blue colour. Quatre pointed this out from the back of the room, and Duo explained. "When male Winglies age, like into adulthood, our feathers change colour. What colour feathers you get depend on what clan you're from. My clan, the "Shin" clan, has pitch black feathers. However, that was just my father's side. My mother was from the "Solo" clan, and they have bright purple feathers. So I don't know what colour mine will be, eventually. It takes at least seven years for the full colour to come out." Duo laughed. "It's supposed to be a big thing when a boy starts showing his colour; girls are born with their colour. Guys have more vibrant colours, though." Duo bent over and picked up a stray feather from the floor and held it against the newer feathers on his wings. Yup, there was a definite difference. "The deeper the colours, the better looking the guy. Also, the more vibrant the colours are, the better the guy smells. And that's what gets you a mate. I remember learning in my Human studies class, that western society is based on visuals and sounds. That's one of the main differences between humans and Winglies, besides the obvious, of course - "Duo smiled and gave his wings a flap, "Wingly society is based on sight and smell. We communicate more through different pheromones, different positions of wings and such, than through the spoken word." Duo gave a powerful flap of his wings, and jumped. He landed with a thud on the top tier, a foot or two away from Quatre. "Although, I've always been an exception...I love to talk!"
Duo was about to continue, when a voice from across the room spoke up. "What did you learn about Eastern Culture in your...'Human Studies' class?"
Duo turned to see Wufei approaching the three of them, slowly; timidly, Duo would have said, except for the confident and graceful way of walking that made Wufei seem like he gracing the ground with his feet, doing it a great honour by stepping on it. Wufei reached the top tier. "I'm rather curious."
Duo grinned. "My professor said that the Eastern cultures were among the oldest in the world, and that everything was about family. They worshiped their ancestors; everything they did was to add to the honour and prestige of their family." Wufei nodded, approving this short overview. Duo continued.
"It was always my favourite, because it was so close to Wingly folklore. Ancestor worship, the importance of family... There is one major difference; eastern cultures – almost all human cultures, in fact – are patriarchal. Winglies are primarily matriarchal. You see, all girls are born with their wings already coloured. Coloured wings are a sign of maturity. So, it's been supposed since the beginning that girls are more mature, wiser...not necessarily smarter, but less prone to doing something stupid. Also, women run the home, and the home is everything to us. If you have a less than good home, then you try to make it better, more respectable, by making yourself more respectable. There is really only one thing you have to remember: You reflect your Home, and your Home reflects you." Duo finished, grabbing a chair and sitting in it 'backwards,' his wings not fitting when he sat the right way.
Trowa shifted on the floor, his hand reaching up to play with Quatre's hair. "What is your Home like?"
Duo crossed his arms on the back of the chair, and rested his head on them. He shrugged. "My parents are dead. My mom died delivering my baby sister, who died a few days later. My dad, well...after my mom died, he just gave up. I was only ten when my mom died, and a few months later, my dad just wasn't there any more. It doesn't bother me, I can hardly remember my dad - not that I'd want to – and my mom, I can't recall her at all."
Quatre was shocked. "You were ten, and you can't remember? That's awfully old to have a memory gap like that!"
"Winglies age a lot slower than humans. Age ten is just about the same, mentally, as a five or six-year-old human. Like, I'm 35, but appear, physically and mental, around fifteen to seventeen, give or take a year." Duo grinned, but with a hint of sadness. "That's why, when you're all dead and buried, I'll just be easing into old age. Where humans have the advantage, however, is that you age slowly, over years. Winglies hit a plateau of middle age, then deteriorate within three years until we cannot fly. When you see someone who can't fly...you just know they've lost the will to live. It's sad. Really sad. And scary. I'd can't even imagine what it's like not to fly.
"From the time we're born, really, we can fly. We just can; it's instinct. Often before a child can talk, they can fly." A small smile crept onto Duo's face. "I worked for a time in a nursery; after my dad left, the community took turns housing me, feeding me, giving me work. I was staying with the lady who ran the nursery and day care...the children were so cute. They had half formed wings, and tiny little bodies, so it was basically head to toe feathers with the occasional arm, leg or head." Duo laughed, remembering. "They were always getting their wings tangled, and all the girls were always comparing colours...most of them had black wings, due to our clan, but some of them had mixed, too. And one of them had pure, dark blue. She was always showing them off, and picking up the little fuzz feathers that often fall out when a child is growing up and giving them to her friends, who would stick them in their own feathers just to see the contrast and laugh. She was my favourite; so full of life and tenacity. So opinionated! The girl had an answer for everything!"
He sighed, his joy at remembering the girl clouded by the next turn of events. "It was after that, I went to live with the leader of the clan. It was during the time when Winglies and Humans were first interacting, and things weren't going well. I really couldn't have cared less at the time; I was happy, relatively. I was making a name for myself as a hard worker – 'A very polite young one,' as the leader had told me – and people still remembered my family; they were apparently good members of the community, and their name was still connected to me. But one day, the leader got a letter, and it said something about a transfer, a way to get the next community over involved in this one. We weren't on very good terms with certain other communities, but many of the leaders of the Wingly villages thought it important that we all band together, just incase something happened. So she sent me as some sort of ambassador, to show the other community that we were ready to make amends for what ever past crimes we had done, or something like that. I really didn't pay much attention as to the reasons. All I knew was that I was leaving my community for somewhere new. I was so excited; don't get me wrong, I loved my community; but the chance to see something new...Oh, I was pumped! When I got there, however, it was not good. The community shunned me. No one would take me in; I was reduced to begging for food, and I eventually just outright stole it. I couldn't go back; my village was counting on me to establish friendship. It was about six months later that a letter arrived for the clan leader. It was a call for a volunteer to go to this school. She wouldn't have asked anyone from the clan; I can see her reason for it: Why pick a perfectly good member of the community when you can send the town scourge? Hell, I didn't care about the reasons; any excuse for getting out of there, any excuse for more travel. If I had known what it was going to be like here, I would have faced the shame of returning to my home community. There, they would have at least given me a job, a small house. Later, I could leave for another community, make a name for myself. Start a family. Have kids of my own; maybe a little girl with dark blue wings, ya know?"
Duo shook his head, and looked around the band room, lost in his own thoughts. The others looked away, not wanting to disturb him from his private musings. However, Duo's musings were much different than the boys would have expected.
'Those eyes...there's the same colour as the girl's wings...I've never seen such eyes...'
"Hey!" Duo sat straight up in the chair, breaking the silence, and Wufei and Quatre jumped. Trowa merely re-arranged his long legs, and settled into Quatre's lap.
"Have any of you met the new student, this guy, he has brown hair, dark blue eyes...uh, his name is Heero. Heero Yuy."
Trowa sat up and leaned against the wall, beside Quatre. "He's in my Math class. He doesn't talk much. I like him; very serious."
Quatre looked at him, and raised him an eyebrow. Trowa raised him one right back, and saw him a poke, to which Quatre betted on a ticklish rib, and soon they were both engaged in a fierce tickling war. Duo and Wufei both rolled their eyes, and watched in amusement as Quatre won by somehow shutting Trowa in an empty tuba case.
THERE!!!! IT'S UPDATED!!!! Take that, exams! Take that, emotional friends! Take that, screwed up computer! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Through all your attempts at trying to kill the fic, I have prevailed! You have no power over me! HAHAHAHA!!!!
Ok, I'm done now. And I promise not to go that long without updating again. I hope that meets standards, and I have no clue where to take this next, so...Ideas, comments, suggestion, all welcome!
It was just after last period, and the four boys were sprawled throughout the band room. Wufei, the boy who played the drums for Trowa and Quatre, was popping in and out of the band room, band room office, and storage room, as he was apt to do. Duo was constantly reminded of the ass-kicking Wufei gave to the jerk a few weeks ago, in the graceful but confident way he walked.
Duo had asked the two others about him once. Quatre had said, "Wufei...just comes and goes. He's nice to us, and he's more than happy to accompany us on the drums, but he's not the type of person who...has friends, I guess. He knows he's welcome to hang out with us." Trowa had added, "Just as many people hate him as hate us - because he's Asian, I guess – but no one makes a big deal out of it. They just don't talk to him." When Duo had asked why, Quatre and Trowa looked at each other in a certain way that Duo had come to recognize as a form of non-verbal communication. Quatre had nodded, and turned to Duo with a slightly apologetic smile. "They just don't." Duo had left it at that.
So, there the four of them were: Wufei moving back and forth, getting some sort of project together; Quatre leaning up against the back of the band room wall, up on the third tier; Trowa, sprawled on his back, with his head resting on Quatre's lap; and Duo, standing on the ground level, flapping his wing to get the last of the molting feathers out. He was finally done with the molt, and he had noticed his feathers were coming in different colour than the white they were before; they had become a slightly grayish- blue colour. Quatre pointed this out from the back of the room, and Duo explained. "When male Winglies age, like into adulthood, our feathers change colour. What colour feathers you get depend on what clan you're from. My clan, the "Shin" clan, has pitch black feathers. However, that was just my father's side. My mother was from the "Solo" clan, and they have bright purple feathers. So I don't know what colour mine will be, eventually. It takes at least seven years for the full colour to come out." Duo laughed. "It's supposed to be a big thing when a boy starts showing his colour; girls are born with their colour. Guys have more vibrant colours, though." Duo bent over and picked up a stray feather from the floor and held it against the newer feathers on his wings. Yup, there was a definite difference. "The deeper the colours, the better looking the guy. Also, the more vibrant the colours are, the better the guy smells. And that's what gets you a mate. I remember learning in my Human studies class, that western society is based on visuals and sounds. That's one of the main differences between humans and Winglies, besides the obvious, of course - "Duo smiled and gave his wings a flap, "Wingly society is based on sight and smell. We communicate more through different pheromones, different positions of wings and such, than through the spoken word." Duo gave a powerful flap of his wings, and jumped. He landed with a thud on the top tier, a foot or two away from Quatre. "Although, I've always been an exception...I love to talk!"
Duo was about to continue, when a voice from across the room spoke up. "What did you learn about Eastern Culture in your...'Human Studies' class?"
Duo turned to see Wufei approaching the three of them, slowly; timidly, Duo would have said, except for the confident and graceful way of walking that made Wufei seem like he gracing the ground with his feet, doing it a great honour by stepping on it. Wufei reached the top tier. "I'm rather curious."
Duo grinned. "My professor said that the Eastern cultures were among the oldest in the world, and that everything was about family. They worshiped their ancestors; everything they did was to add to the honour and prestige of their family." Wufei nodded, approving this short overview. Duo continued.
"It was always my favourite, because it was so close to Wingly folklore. Ancestor worship, the importance of family... There is one major difference; eastern cultures – almost all human cultures, in fact – are patriarchal. Winglies are primarily matriarchal. You see, all girls are born with their wings already coloured. Coloured wings are a sign of maturity. So, it's been supposed since the beginning that girls are more mature, wiser...not necessarily smarter, but less prone to doing something stupid. Also, women run the home, and the home is everything to us. If you have a less than good home, then you try to make it better, more respectable, by making yourself more respectable. There is really only one thing you have to remember: You reflect your Home, and your Home reflects you." Duo finished, grabbing a chair and sitting in it 'backwards,' his wings not fitting when he sat the right way.
Trowa shifted on the floor, his hand reaching up to play with Quatre's hair. "What is your Home like?"
Duo crossed his arms on the back of the chair, and rested his head on them. He shrugged. "My parents are dead. My mom died delivering my baby sister, who died a few days later. My dad, well...after my mom died, he just gave up. I was only ten when my mom died, and a few months later, my dad just wasn't there any more. It doesn't bother me, I can hardly remember my dad - not that I'd want to – and my mom, I can't recall her at all."
Quatre was shocked. "You were ten, and you can't remember? That's awfully old to have a memory gap like that!"
"Winglies age a lot slower than humans. Age ten is just about the same, mentally, as a five or six-year-old human. Like, I'm 35, but appear, physically and mental, around fifteen to seventeen, give or take a year." Duo grinned, but with a hint of sadness. "That's why, when you're all dead and buried, I'll just be easing into old age. Where humans have the advantage, however, is that you age slowly, over years. Winglies hit a plateau of middle age, then deteriorate within three years until we cannot fly. When you see someone who can't fly...you just know they've lost the will to live. It's sad. Really sad. And scary. I'd can't even imagine what it's like not to fly.
"From the time we're born, really, we can fly. We just can; it's instinct. Often before a child can talk, they can fly." A small smile crept onto Duo's face. "I worked for a time in a nursery; after my dad left, the community took turns housing me, feeding me, giving me work. I was staying with the lady who ran the nursery and day care...the children were so cute. They had half formed wings, and tiny little bodies, so it was basically head to toe feathers with the occasional arm, leg or head." Duo laughed, remembering. "They were always getting their wings tangled, and all the girls were always comparing colours...most of them had black wings, due to our clan, but some of them had mixed, too. And one of them had pure, dark blue. She was always showing them off, and picking up the little fuzz feathers that often fall out when a child is growing up and giving them to her friends, who would stick them in their own feathers just to see the contrast and laugh. She was my favourite; so full of life and tenacity. So opinionated! The girl had an answer for everything!"
He sighed, his joy at remembering the girl clouded by the next turn of events. "It was after that, I went to live with the leader of the clan. It was during the time when Winglies and Humans were first interacting, and things weren't going well. I really couldn't have cared less at the time; I was happy, relatively. I was making a name for myself as a hard worker – 'A very polite young one,' as the leader had told me – and people still remembered my family; they were apparently good members of the community, and their name was still connected to me. But one day, the leader got a letter, and it said something about a transfer, a way to get the next community over involved in this one. We weren't on very good terms with certain other communities, but many of the leaders of the Wingly villages thought it important that we all band together, just incase something happened. So she sent me as some sort of ambassador, to show the other community that we were ready to make amends for what ever past crimes we had done, or something like that. I really didn't pay much attention as to the reasons. All I knew was that I was leaving my community for somewhere new. I was so excited; don't get me wrong, I loved my community; but the chance to see something new...Oh, I was pumped! When I got there, however, it was not good. The community shunned me. No one would take me in; I was reduced to begging for food, and I eventually just outright stole it. I couldn't go back; my village was counting on me to establish friendship. It was about six months later that a letter arrived for the clan leader. It was a call for a volunteer to go to this school. She wouldn't have asked anyone from the clan; I can see her reason for it: Why pick a perfectly good member of the community when you can send the town scourge? Hell, I didn't care about the reasons; any excuse for getting out of there, any excuse for more travel. If I had known what it was going to be like here, I would have faced the shame of returning to my home community. There, they would have at least given me a job, a small house. Later, I could leave for another community, make a name for myself. Start a family. Have kids of my own; maybe a little girl with dark blue wings, ya know?"
Duo shook his head, and looked around the band room, lost in his own thoughts. The others looked away, not wanting to disturb him from his private musings. However, Duo's musings were much different than the boys would have expected.
'Those eyes...there's the same colour as the girl's wings...I've never seen such eyes...'
"Hey!" Duo sat straight up in the chair, breaking the silence, and Wufei and Quatre jumped. Trowa merely re-arranged his long legs, and settled into Quatre's lap.
"Have any of you met the new student, this guy, he has brown hair, dark blue eyes...uh, his name is Heero. Heero Yuy."
Trowa sat up and leaned against the wall, beside Quatre. "He's in my Math class. He doesn't talk much. I like him; very serious."
Quatre looked at him, and raised him an eyebrow. Trowa raised him one right back, and saw him a poke, to which Quatre betted on a ticklish rib, and soon they were both engaged in a fierce tickling war. Duo and Wufei both rolled their eyes, and watched in amusement as Quatre won by somehow shutting Trowa in an empty tuba case.
THERE!!!! IT'S UPDATED!!!! Take that, exams! Take that, emotional friends! Take that, screwed up computer! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Through all your attempts at trying to kill the fic, I have prevailed! You have no power over me! HAHAHAHA!!!!
Ok, I'm done now. And I promise not to go that long without updating again. I hope that meets standards, and I have no clue where to take this next, so...Ideas, comments, suggestion, all welcome!