The Road Home

(Leaning and stooped over a too-small desk, a familiar drake wrapped themselves in a shell of light, hand slow and struggling as it opened up a small book there, a pencil drawn and promptly broken. A pause, then it's remains swept aside, a pen lifted instead as the words are inked upon the page.)
 
Hello There.
 
It feels... strange to be writing again. Habits you know. These other entries in this book, they feel so distant and so far away. Memories and chronicles of a time past, but so... near? God that sounds campy. What can I say though? Home sweet home? No place like it? It's all a trope for a reason. It resonates and it feels... real that way. Like how you say something out loud so it stops being in your head. So it's made more real.
 
I'm home.
 
(Her large clawed hand fell back upon the desk, the remains of her thumb brushing along the grain, following familiar wear lines. Shadows of books, the dust of a lamp so rarely used, a journal full of sporadic enteries. Her gaze rose, looking out the window, one curtain drawn, the other revealing the city below her, the same sparkling lights of civilization she had fallen asleep to a thousand times before greeting her gaze. And another sparkle. Small, thin flakes left on her desk, following her touch.)
 
It's not all the same though. I can't deny that anymore. I can't close my eyes hard enough, or duck my head under the covers, or just pretend nothing's happened anymore.
 
Life moves on. Life moved on.
 
They... The New Champions, their AI specifically told me as much. Six and a half months is a long time to just vanish, and the world right now doesn't care if someone going nowhere fast is gone. Not really. Reports say my mom made a stink about it, and Laurence tried to find me. Damned NexHuman. My life? Fine. Ruin it, take it, change it. But keep your evil to me. My brother has a future ahead of him. Had a future ahead of him.
 
Now he's gone too. Or, instead of me.
 
Rover... well, I suppose he didn't change all that much. Still a larcenous weirdo, still off most of the time, and still living here. Heck, if it weren't for that, I'd probably be knocking on the door to someone else's home right now. All he asked was for me to pay back my half of the rent and "Mi Casa et tu Casa." He's a jerk sometimes sure, but without him right now? Dunno where else I would go. Can't go home after all... That'd be a risk to mom and dad.
 
Still wish he hadn't tried to pawn off my stuff though.
 
Cash will be a bit tight for a while. Can't touch my accounts in case they are looking for me there. Can't use my old tech in case they are tracking for activation. We're starting from square one again. Heh, that is familiar at least. That, I've done before. Besides, ain't nothing out there that compares.
 
I'll succeed.
 
(Her eyes drifted to those flaked scales, a low rumble in her chest as she thought. Wandering thoughts and idle hands rarely play well together though, and the pen was shortly snapped in two. Ink spilled and pooled, scooped up and tossed in the trash, a new messy blot on page and desk. A claw raised, tracing across the page beneath, scrawling out a single word in ink before she paused, and a pencil was lifted, continuing the message.)
 
Mistake. Should be fine. I'll just have to let the page dry. Still a lot to adapt to.
 
Speaking of... I'm heading back tomorrow. They'll pick me up at a drop off point, still not quite trusted with the location of everything. Which, to be fair, makes sense. I didn't trust them to take me here either, and I've got a lot less to hide. Unless they want my chocolate chip banana bread recipe or like... thirty bucks in change, not much of value here.
 
Over there though? They've got some space I can work in. Room enough to fly, walk, move and just... figure out how this damn body works. Hell, maybe that AI up in there can give me some pointers. And if I'm going to get anything close to a normal job again, I need to figure out how to manuver in a kitchen again. Might not need oven mitts sure, but hands as big as them ain't much better.
 
Not to mention Mr Magic. Magus, the weird floaty man we met at the tower? I swear, he had something like... a dozen names. Who even needs that many? You only need like, two. Three maybe. But, he mentioned seeing dragons before, and seemed to have an idea of what the light I can manipulate might mean. That... and he stayed in the back of the plane with me on the ride back. That's... kind of him. And I need to ask him what it was that he said to me. Just hearing that made my sca-skin crawl and my mind feel.. strange. Like I'm trying to remember something I forgot. Maybe it was a spell...
 
If so, I'ma thump him first.
 
That and the other fellas from before. Faust and... Blue Wave. Both were in the same place, got captured just like me. Faust though made it out. I dunno how long he was in there. What it was like for him. How he recovered after leaving. Besides, if worst comes to worst, we can at least grasp that same sort of... situation. Misery loves company and all that, yeah?
 
The rest... I don't know yet. I'll see. For now, good night. I'll see you in the morning.
 
(The Journal left open for now, the ink still drying amidst it's massive sploch. The drake dominating the room though, just eyed the small twin bed pushed up against the corner. A sigh, and she shook herself, heading out into the main room. A kitchenette, a fold out dining table, a couch against one wall, a tvstand on the other... She wound her way past the furniture, looking out into the city beyond, only the faint crinkle of some of her roommate's detritus sounding out in the little space. Her own unweary eyes took in the view, a few floors up and little more than traffic and other apartments greeting her gaze below, the world of tomorrow above.
 
Peace though was short, the soft hiss of something drawing her ire, whirling about and glaring at... the soda being opened. Rover, the short stocky fella of her roommate apparently having failed in being sneaky for a midnight snack run. Caught though, he simply shrugged, snagging a bag of chips too. )
 
"Jeeze, you sure are jumpy."
 
"Sorry. It's been a-"
 
"-A while, yeah. You've said that a few times." slurp slurp slurp "You sure you don't want to talk about any of it? Cause, I'm cool with it, I'll just presume it was something like an international trip gone wrong. But... for someone who doesn't want to talk about it, you sure seem like you want to talk about it."
 
"Yeah, It's just... How to put it... You know when something so big happens you can't help but think about it, but because it's the only thing you can think about it becomes the last thing you want to think about?"
 
The little fella seemed to think on that for a moment before wandering over, plopping himself down on the couch, chips in hand. "Sure. Elephant in the room sorta thing, except personal. Like when you lie to someone and you are doing good enough they don't know you're lying. You get all self conscious and junk. That's got you all up?"
 
"Mhmm. Something like that."
 
Flicking on the TV, Rover would start to flick through the channels, old shows from half a decade ago airing on reruns in the late hours.[ /i] "So what's eating at you then?"
 
"... I was... given... something. I didn't, don't want it. But I can't get rid of it."
 
"You sure? I'm pretty sure doc's all around the town can take care of damn near anything you got going wrong down there nowadays."
 
The drake gave a warm raspy bark of laughter, the light about her distorting for the briefest moment, before her humanoid shell of a shape matched that cry. A hand raised, and a shake of her head given, eyes turning back from the window. "Oh you Jerk!"
 
"See? Told ya I'd make you laugh. "
 
"Ah, no, no Rover. It's nothing quite like that. And, I don't think they'd be able to fix this. And even if they could, don't know if I'd trust them to it."
 
"Ooooooh. You're burden to bear sorta deal?" Another channel changed, some sitcom running in the background. "Hmm. You want my advice? Run with that gift as far as you can. See all you can do, and get a good feeling for it without the attachment of it as a gift."
 
"Oh? And what do you mean by that?"
 
"Hmm... Ah." A sharp silence cut in, the TV muted as Rover looked over. "I got my first lockpick set from my uncle. Not my mom's side, but my dad's side. I hated that man with every vein in my body. I thought a lockpick set was the stupidest gift, and he was just trying to make me become a locksmith like him. If I saw how weak all the physical security around was, I wouldn't feel safe, and would want to fix that."
 
"Considering you are a pickpocket and a minor league thief, I'd say that failed."
 
"Big time. See, I hated him so much that I forced myself to learn how to use them. Just so I could show that his gift and the intent meant nothing to me. Then, I had to unlock my house one day after school, and suddenly, I could. I had a new way to look at the world. Locks couldn't stop me, so my ability to see and explore was expanded. I didn't get spooked because of lack of security. My gift let me explore and find new and fantastic things. I got to shape how I look at the world with things that are hidden for your safety, things hidden because they are expensive, and things that are locked away because they are private. I redefined the gift."
 
Looking back down at herself for a moment, Daisy looked at the glistening scales on her chest, that ran down her forelegs, the crook of her back and the span of those wings. Words slowly formed as she worked them out, "And what if you redefine it wrong? If you become... different for it."
 
"That's a given. You've been given something that gave you a choice. You can't take that back. Not responding is a response." Shrugging, the lad flicked back on the sound, a short burst of canned laughter sounding. "The fact you ask means you've already changed from the experience. At worst, you become worse with good intentions. Besides, what happened that's got you all worked up anyway? You don't normally like getting all philosophical with me."
 
"Heh, that's because half of your worldview is set up to justify theft you dork."
 
"Hey, what can I say? I like what I like, and I can prove how it helps."
 
Slowly shaking herself, Daisy wound her way back off of herself, creeping out from the main room, headed towards her own as she shot back, "Just because you can doesn't mean you should you know."
 
"Bah. Sometimes you should precisely because others can't defend themselves. You don't secure your stance you think is secure. How else will they learn?"
 
Standing still for a few moments, the drake furrowed her brow, looking back to her roommate as those words mulled about in her head. That the thief seemed all too happy to ignore her plights and enjoy his shows was evident and... frustrating in a unique way. As was his grin of success. ".... Goodnight Rover."
 
"Night Daisy~"