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[mourning_ghost]

Who: Nageki and You
Where: Hotsprings inn entrance
When: May 1 - May 3
Rating: PG (Hatoful virus discussion; probably should have done this earlier)
Summary: There is a large mourning dove staring at passerby.
The Story:

At some point, it seemed that the mansion had turned into a hotsprings inn. His friends certainly would have enjoyed time here. No doubt Nageki would as well, if only he knew what he was supposed to do. If he had ever seen such a place before, he certainly didn't remember it and he didn't know who he could ask. In the end, he chose to settle in a corner for a little bit and watch others as they went about their business. Just until he thought of what he wanted to do.

Comments

[lifeskills]

Victor had a similar feeling--but from the opposite end of the spectrum. Humans had earned their superiority by way of natural development. Avian species had earned no such distinction, not by way Victor had ever seen.

Even the very mechanism that allowed Nageki's speech seemed likely to be grounded in a more unnatural explanation than a natural one.

"How does that come to be?"

Magic again? How easily that term was thrown around.

[mourning_ghost]

"A deadly strain of avian influenza threatened to kill the entire human species. Humans engineered a virus to kill birds in an attempt to halt the pandemic but, instead of killing the birds, the virus made them evolve." And that evolution granted birds sentience. This was basic bird history, taught in every school across the world.

Nageki didn't know all the details. He'd never learned the science behind it all or, if he had, he couldn't remember. But that was what had happened.

[lifeskills]

Influenza, often attributed to catarrhal attacks. Yes, he had studied it and similar areas, though disease had never been his niche.

"No event like that has ever happened in my history," Victor replied with some disbelief, "but if I denied what you're saying has the remotest possibility of happening, then I suppose I'd have to deny what my senses are telling me now. Not a position I relish being in."

He couldn't decide if he actually preferred an explanation doused with magic as opposed to this. He was curious, yes, but proof would be hard to obtain as things stood now.

Nageki was a dangling carrot, and Victor found himself annoyed he couldn't bite. Not entirely.

"I notice you didn't finish. What became of your human beings?"

[mourning_ghost]

He'd never been one to deny facts either, even when, as often happened, those facts only created more questions. But Victor was lucky that he would have a hard time obtaining proof. Had Nageki still been alive, he would have had to isolate himself in order to keep from killing the humans of Wonderland.

"Most of them died from the disease." Nageki answered simply. Humanity's last, desperate plan had failed, after all. There had been nothing to prevent the disease from spreading and wiping the vast majority of their population. The following bird-human wars hadn't helped matters. "The ones that remain mostly live apart from bird society."

[lifeskills]

The prospect of death hadn't struck fear into his soul in a very long time. Victor's features fail to reflect a great amount of shock or horror at imagining influenza ravaging the human population. Nageki had practically already said as much, just not confirmed it, and he was no stranger to how easily disease could cut through a community.

If anything, bird species evolving to take the place of humans was amusing, not the horrifying idea it should be.

However, given that the dove seemed intelligent enough to read those feelings in his face (an amazing enough feat, he wouldn't deny that), Victor kept his thoughts from showing for courtesy's sake. "You've formed a society? If you have a society, you must have a name."

And possibly more than that.

"You can reason. What else has evolved along with you? Do you dream? Do you feel?"

[mourning_ghost]

"Nageki Fujishiro," Nageki introduced himself, before Victor continued with his questions. He did his best to answer. "We feel and we dream. There's no difference in intelligence between the average pigeon and the average human."

They went to school, grew up, and lived their lives just as humans once had.

[lifeskills]

"That sounds... Eastern?" Not unlike the inn in which he had found himself. "Japanese?"

Only in Wonderland where illogic had usurped its opposite could humans be said to have lost their position to lesser creatures, and that said lesser creatures could take on culture and ethnicity.

"For such an astoundingly short-sighted error in curing an infectious disease to overcome the size of your brain is truly... impressive."

"Impossible" being another word for it.

[mourning_ghost]

Nageki nods. Mourning doves weren't as common in Japan as they were in North America, so he supposed this human had assumed he came from there. As far as Nageki remembered however, he had spent his entire life in Japan.

He doesn't have much more to say about the virus, though. That's history, even if the consequences can still be felt. From what he knows of biology and evolution, however, it is quite impressive that what was intended to be a deadly virus spurred on evolution instead.

"I doubt the events will repeat themselves." Not for a long time to come, at least.

[lifeskills]

Victor was still thinking, mind skipping far ahead of the conversation that was currently enfolding, but he had the time to make a small sound of amusement, vaguely sardonic in its tone.

"I would agree with that if the predominant species has been replaced by the avian races," he returned with a faint smirk.

Brain complexity aside, in the case of Beatrice, a bluebird barely had the manual dexterity to pull books from a library shelf, let alone practice microbiology and jump start evolutionary development.

"So... does the diet of hawks still include smaller birds?"

Would a hawk consuming a dove be considered cannibalism? For argument's sake, of course.

Guessing a little about the hawk thing.

[mourning_ghost]

Birds on Nageki's version of Earth could easily pull books of the shelf. Nageki did it all the time. And they had no trouble practicing microbiology as their wings worked remarkably like human hands.

"It can. There are still bird species that haven't been uplifted which are sold in stores. But they can also buy other things if they prefer not to."

Some birds did not like the thought of eating non-sentient birds, even if society didn't frown upon it. But if a hawk ate a sentient bird, that would be murder.

lmao, no worries, i do it all the time

[lifeskills]

"My, my, what an interesting idea of society you have," he mused to himself, the smirk still remaining. "I must admit, I find myself... curious. I haven't encountered a thing quite like you, holding a discourse like a reasoning being. Not even here where science is bent in new shapes every other day."

The closest thing to a compliment Victor was capable of making was that something was interesting. That meant it had value outside the ordinary. No matter what he remained, that much would remain true.

[mourning_ghost]

That kind of statement, said in that manner, would have been far more worrisome had Nageki never gotten amnesia. As it is, he has to wrestle the feeling of distressing familiarity that suddenly appears into a corner of his mind and remind himself that there is no reason to be alarmed over words that aren't even threatening.

Even so, Nageki only addresses the first sentence. "I don't think that is very different from human society. Aren't there humans that eat monkeys?"

[lifeskills]

It wouldn't be the first time he had raised feelings of discomfort in another person. It would be the first time he had done so in a dove. Apparently today was set to be a day of many firsts, though given Nageki's physique, it was difficult to read what, precisely, Nageki was thinking or feeling at any given time--but still, the dove was quite capable of making a fair rejoinder.

Despite a face made for expression, Victor remained difficult to read, himself. One corner of his mouth kicking up higher than the other was the only sign the dove's answer had added to his amusement.

"It is true. But human beings are their own species, refined by the benefit of time and evolution like a stone in a river. You are something else entirely."

[mourning_ghost]

"Even so, the cultures are similar." Nageki said. Birds had probably just adopted the pre-existing cultures around them. He doubted any rational being would start from scratch when someone else had already built a framework. Birds hadn't had much time to change it either, having only been sentient for a century and spending most of that time fighting a war.