i heard the thunder [open]

[goodweather]

Who: Phil and you!
What: May/June open
When: Late April and through May, probably June too
Where: Around town, the skies over the island, the Library, the hot springs
Warning(s): nudity in the hot springs prompt


but i find i got the question wrong [exploring]

A whole town. A whole island. Imagine that.

It's almost overwhelming, honestly, but Phil figures he may as well start big and wide before getting into the real nitty-gritty of it. So once things are slightly settled, once he has the time, he takes off. It won't be so unusual for people to see his silhouette soaring in the sky. If something fascinating catches his attention on the ground, perhaps he'll come down to check it out; his eyes are fit to see detail miles away, so distance is hardly a problem. Perhaps he'll land near you, or you can find him freshly landed someplace else. This is a lot more flying than he's done in years.

i was trying to run away [around town]

And of course, there's the glory of having more than a couple dozen other people to talk to. Phil makes himself a real neighbor's neighbor; he introduces himself to as many people as he can, he chats up anyone who seems free enough, he wanders place to place in the town, invites people to lunch or a drink or what have you. Sometimes he'll just be sitting around, pleased to be people-watching.

but a voice told me to stay [library]

Ah, weather. His old friend.

He's got to brush up. Get back into the swing of it, you know? And he's got to figure out what sort of currents and forces are acting on the meteorology of the island. Phil schleps down to the Library then, and spends long days tracking down research material for the case: he cross-references reports in the newspaper archives, digs up a scientific textbook on the global climate and its impact on the island, and even fishes up a few academic papers of... uh, dubious helpfulness, but it's fine.

Exhaustion catches him more easily these days than it used to. He's not terribly proud of it, but more than once he dozes off him his chair. Then shakes himself awake, then... dozes off again. At least he's not drooling on the books.

put the feeling in a song [hot springs] (cw: nudity, artistic nudity painting the link)

One of the things he'd spotted from above was, of course, the hot springs. There's even some signage nearby, so this is definitely both a public space and safe to take a dip in. Not saltwater, not chlorinated... jeez, it feels like it's been ages since he's been able to take a proper soak without having to take on some shape that got rid of his feathers. It's a relief. A good place to keep in mind if he has a particularly awful flare, too. (Although getting here would be tricky if he's gotten that bad.)

One day or another, Phil stops up there by himself. Undresses. Sighs a long sigh as he rests in the water. Lounging below the water or up on the grass, anyone is free to encounter him (and his shockingly sculpted figure), although he'll certainly hear you coming.

(And of course, do mind the wedding band he's wearing as a necklace.)

wildcard

[ hit me! ]

Comments

rises from my grave

[goodweather]

“Not at all. Come on, the water’s fine.”

He scooches, leaving some more room for Ava.

“God, this is nice. You know I barely ever swam on the cruise ship? I didn’t want to deal with getting salt or chlorine in any of my feathers. Man, I was both dry and sticky for basically the entire time during the flood.”

yeeee <3

[decohere]

She takes a seat at the edge of the pool of water, motion a bit slower and careful than typical to avoid slipping. She eases one foot into the water, followed by the other, followed by a delighted sigh as some stress leaves her body, dissipating with the steam.

"Oh yuck," Ava agrees sympathetically. "The entire... ordeal had my skin crawling. Still trying to feel clean myself." She wiggles her toes beneath the surface.

Re: yeeee <3

[goodweather]

“Ugh, yeah, I hear that. I mean, literally, I could probably hear every single insect on that boat. All scuttling in the walls.” He shakes his head. “I’m still paranoid that cockroaches are going to fall out of my ceiling when I hear too many weird noises at night.”

[decohere]

Ava gives a repulsed shudder. "Ugh, Phil. I never want to hear the word 'scuttling' again," she complains dramatically.

"But, have you found a place to call your own yet? Or are you at that overly crowded place they shove newcomers into?"

[goodweather]

“Oh, yeah. You know that big apartment building downtown? I’m in there, on the second floor. Fever’s only a few doors down, too. I got a job working with Cecil’s radio station. I need to work on getting a bunch of infrastructure set up first, but hopefully once I do I can start forecasting again. I missed weather. I never thought I’d have to miss weather.”

[decohere]

"Oh that's right," Ava grins, remembering Phil's vocation from so long ago. And how stagnant and unchanging the weather on the Serena had always been. "I'll have to get a radio so I can enjoy hearing your reports on how much it might rain."

[goodweather]

Something in those words settles Phil to his soul. He smiles wide, but warmly. It's probably the most content she's seen him in some time.

"... Hey, that's a nice thought. I like that a lot. Y'know, I didn't get into the business of weather to help people, but that's what it turned into. I like the idea of helping everybody out every day. I like the thought of getting to tell you guys what the day's gonna look like each morning."

[decohere]

"The forecast never impacted me much before. Or maybe that was just living out in California," Ava laughs. "But now I guess I have a lot to plan around it. It'd be helpful knowing which days will be good for planting or how much watering I should be doing..."

[goodweather]

He's about to say something when he stops, pausing thoughtfully.

...

"When it rains, do you just turn intangible so you don't get wet?"

[decohere]

"Feels a little strange having all the droplets fall through me. But I could, yes," she confirms with a giggle. "Especially if I just did my hair and don't want to bother with it all curling up again." Her hair is visibly more curly here than it had been most days on the ship, for lack of tools to do much else with it.

[goodweather]

Phil's hair, for his part, usually looks more or less the same aside from being slightly mussed from being in the hot springs. He's too vain of a man to have not gotten that business sorted out almost immediately.

"Man, isn't that convenient? If it was raining and you had to get to, I don't know, the tool shed, you could just go intangible and walk straight through the wall into the rain. No putting on boots or anything. And Peter's waterproof, the damn duck."

He sticks his tongue out in mock jealousy. "At least I can fly, I've still got that. Makes commuting easy in this era of horses."

[decohere]

"It's convenient," Ava agrees as she absently fiddles with a curl. She's been doing her best to distance herself from outdated beauty standards from two worlds behind her.

"Can walk through fire too. The only thing that really messes me up is... certain energy. Depends on the frequency, you know? Kind of like sound waves from the radio, actually. Get them wrong and it causes disruptive interference. Sounds unpleasant, but feels even less so."

A nod in agreement with the flying. She looks so tempted to slip fully into the water, but continues to refrain. "The horses are neat, but... well, doesn't seem like a good time to learn."

rises from vacation time

[goodweather]

"Oh, really? Huh. That makes sense." Phil thinks distantly about tuning forks and tornado sirens. "Hey, if you're ever having issues with the radio or our show, just give me or Cecil a holler."

Phil pauses for a moment, looking at Ava. It's a little strange. She looks like she really wants to slip into the spring, but she isn't, and there isn't a clear reason to him why--no bandages to keep dry, no temperature sensitivities that he's aware of. And the thing about horses...

"Not a good time?" he echoes. "Why not?"

[decohere]

"Oh, no. Radio waves aren't nearly the right frequency to mess with me." She mostly meant their interference with each other as an example. "And this place is rather scarce on electronics, so I'm not too worried."

She slowly kicks her legs back and forth through the water, barely even a disruption rippling the surface.

"Oh..." yeah it's hard to talk around her pregnancy, but she knows Peter wants to wait so they can tell people together once she's far enough along that they're more certain. "Just been so busy with everything else on the farm."