Rachel drops in. Literally.
It was a good day for flying. The warm thermals rising from below meant no flapping to maintain altitude. The sun was only just starting to set, leaving the sky a beautiful rose color on one half, while the other was still bright blue, with wisps of clouds. A herd of deer, complete with a few speckled fawns, were grazing serenely in a meadow below. You could practically hear the man in the background talking about "happy little trees."
Rachel wasn't really seeing any of that. She wasn't even really aware of Tobias flying nearby. She'd asked him to come with her... help her get her mind off things. Off of seeing herself... being herself. She couldn't have been that creature... that horrible spitting, raging thing. The thing that killed for the rush. Or that terrified lump of useless flesh.
Except she was. She was both. She would rather have been neither. Today, for Rachel, was not a good day, for flying or anything else.
Rachel let herself sink into the mind of the eagle. Eagles, at least, don't have freakish alter egos. Looking down at the ground, as a bird of prey, is completely different than as a human. The world through the eyes of an eagle is like watching something that was a thousand feet away through the zoom lens of a camera. Stuff that was a thousand feet away was so clearly only 30 feet away.
Twenty.
Fifteen.
Rachel flapped to regain altitude. With her arms. Her normal, human, definitely-not-feathered, arms. Oh... this was not good.
A bird in the sky is graceful. A human in the sky... not so much. Rachel felt like the coyote in those cartoons, trying to run in mid-air. She broke through the tree tops, branches whipping her face. She tried to grab onto a branch, and missed, but caught a second one. Or well... it caught her. She scrabbled desperately, and trying to stay up for as long as possible. Which turned out to be about... a minute and a half.
Whumpf.
Rachel groaned a little, thinking perhaps moving after falling from a few hundred feet up was probably a bad idea. Which of course meant she did it anyway. Propping herself up on her elbows, Rachel was pleased to note that she still had feeling in her legs, and everywhere else. She was less pleased to find that all of it pretty much hurt. This meant rethinking her intial plan with regards to getting up. Standing was looking like it was out of the question... or, at the very least, it was a question she wanted a little time to consider.
Rachel sighed heavily as she slumped back onto the ground, letting out a little grunt of dismay as she noted that these were definitely not the trees you could find just a few miles from Cassie's barn. Those trees typically didn't have vines. Or huge brightly colored birds in them. Rachel rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, ignoring the dirt that was smearing her cheeks as a result.
"And I thought today couldn't possibly get worse," Rachel thought aloud, allowing herself a bitter sort of giggle. "Wonderful."
[OOC: I always did have a weakness for puns, so pardon the subject line. :-D I'm new; hello everyone! Open to everyone, of course.)
Summary thus far: Rachel, after dropping in on the island, is less than pleased with her landing. In this state she meets: a.) Jay Adams, who is unceremoniously polite and lets her borrow his shoes. She ends up opening up to him more than she plans. (thread is ongoing.) b.) King, who manages to win her affection rather quickly with talk of motorcycles and piggyback rides. (thread is ongoing.) c.) Pam Beesley, who starts off on Rachel's ruder side, but ends up back in neutral territory. (thread is ongoing.) d.) Chuck Noblet, who doesn't exactly ingratitate himself upon meeting Rachel. After a few sarcastic barbs are thrown, Chuck inspires Rachel's nicer side with a few jokes, walking her back to the compound and letting her borrow his jacket. They leave on friendly terms.]
Rachel wasn't really seeing any of that. She wasn't even really aware of Tobias flying nearby. She'd asked him to come with her... help her get her mind off things. Off of seeing herself... being herself. She couldn't have been that creature... that horrible spitting, raging thing. The thing that killed for the rush. Or that terrified lump of useless flesh.
Except she was. She was both. She would rather have been neither. Today, for Rachel, was not a good day, for flying or anything else.
Rachel let herself sink into the mind of the eagle. Eagles, at least, don't have freakish alter egos. Looking down at the ground, as a bird of prey, is completely different than as a human. The world through the eyes of an eagle is like watching something that was a thousand feet away through the zoom lens of a camera. Stuff that was a thousand feet away was so clearly only 30 feet away.
Twenty.
Fifteen.
Rachel flapped to regain altitude. With her arms. Her normal, human, definitely-not-feathered, arms. Oh... this was not good.
A bird in the sky is graceful. A human in the sky... not so much. Rachel felt like the coyote in those cartoons, trying to run in mid-air. She broke through the tree tops, branches whipping her face. She tried to grab onto a branch, and missed, but caught a second one. Or well... it caught her. She scrabbled desperately, and trying to stay up for as long as possible. Which turned out to be about... a minute and a half.
Whumpf.
Rachel groaned a little, thinking perhaps moving after falling from a few hundred feet up was probably a bad idea. Which of course meant she did it anyway. Propping herself up on her elbows, Rachel was pleased to note that she still had feeling in her legs, and everywhere else. She was less pleased to find that all of it pretty much hurt. This meant rethinking her intial plan with regards to getting up. Standing was looking like it was out of the question... or, at the very least, it was a question she wanted a little time to consider.
Rachel sighed heavily as she slumped back onto the ground, letting out a little grunt of dismay as she noted that these were definitely not the trees you could find just a few miles from Cassie's barn. Those trees typically didn't have vines. Or huge brightly colored birds in them. Rachel rubbed her eyes with the heels of her palms, ignoring the dirt that was smearing her cheeks as a result.
"And I thought today couldn't possibly get worse," Rachel thought aloud, allowing herself a bitter sort of giggle. "Wonderful."
[OOC: I always did have a weakness for puns, so pardon the subject line. :-D I'm new; hello everyone! Open to everyone, of course.)
Summary thus far: Rachel, after dropping in on the island, is less than pleased with her landing. In this state she meets: a.) Jay Adams, who is unceremoniously polite and lets her borrow his shoes. She ends up opening up to him more than she plans. (thread is ongoing.) b.) King, who manages to win her affection rather quickly with talk of motorcycles and piggyback rides. (thread is ongoing.) c.) Pam Beesley, who starts off on Rachel's ruder side, but ends up back in neutral territory. (thread is ongoing.) d.) Chuck Noblet, who doesn't exactly ingratitate himself upon meeting Rachel. After a few sarcastic barbs are thrown, Chuck inspires Rachel's nicer side with a few jokes, walking her back to the compound and letting her borrow his jacket. They leave on friendly terms.]