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[x-icarus.livejournal.com]

After some personal time flying around Tuesday afternoon, Jay encounters Kitty, who has a request to make: teach Lockheed to fly. After some reluctance, he agrees.



There were many things that Jay was stubborn about. Probably a Guthrie trait. His resentment towards his mutation was one of those things. Because as much as he said that he wished he didn't have wings and didn't have a healing factor (the choral voice was something else entirely), his time at Xavier's had taught him that maybe they weren't such bad things. His excuse to others for flying on his free time, though, was that it was homework for flight class, even though there wasn't any such thing.

She'd seen Jay in the halls that afternoon and the brief conversation with Jamie had suddenly come back to her. At the time there wasn't a chance to flag him down and ask, so after classes she'd collected Lockheed from his favorite napping spot on her pillow and gone looking. She probably should have thought to look up sooner, but it was a while before she made it up to the Flyer's Platform.

With the sun setting and the cold evening air setting in, Jay decided that it was as good a time as any to stop and go inside for a hot shower. As he touched down on the Flyer's Platform, he spotted an unfamiliar figure approaching him. It was carrying a lump of something that seemed to be shivering. "Wha . . . Oh, heya, Kitty," he greeted. "What's - is that the dragon?" He took a step back instinctively. He'd heard about this creature's eating habits, and the last thing he needed was to be confused for dinner.

Kitty nodded, shifting Lockheed in her arms to help keep both of them warm. "Yep, this is Lockheed. Had you not seen him before?"

Lockheed poked his snout out to eye the new arrival and cocked his head when he saw the wings. That was new. Might be food, most things with wings could sort of count as food, but if Kitty was talking to it, it probably fell under rule #1 or rule #2. With a little shuffle of his own wings - which were much nicer - he burrowed back into the girl's arms. It was cold!

"A-Ah don't think Ah have, no," Jay said hesitantly. He was a farmboy, so he had no problem with animals. Except for this thing because it was a freaking dragon. Cue rational disbelief. "He doesn't, uh, eat people, does he?"

Lockheed snorted rather indignantly and Kitty smiled. "No, he doesn't. Nor does he eat pets. He's even been trained to the point where he won't eat food off of other people's plates, although he's not above begging, the little wretch."

"Uh huh." Jay involuntarily folded his wings close to his body, trying to keep them hidden and unappetizing-looking. "So, uh, can Ah help ya with somethin', Kitty? Ah was just on mah way back inside. S'gettin' pretty cold out here."

"You're right about that," Kitty said, moving towards the door as she spoke. They could talk inside just as easily as outside. "I was wondering if you'd do me a favor, Jay. In theory, Lockheed can fly, and he certainly seems to be able to move his wings about on his own and all, so I don't see why he can't, but he can't. I kind of think it's a, well, a mother bird type thing, where he doesn't have anyone to show him how it's done and then kick him out of the nest. Not," she added as she heard the dragon's rumble, "that he's a bird. But while I can kick him out of the nest, or at least off the building, I can't show him how wings work. I was wondering if you could?"

Jay was listening until she actually asked the favor. "What? Ya want me to play mother bird to this thing?" he asked incredulously. "Ah ain't no bird, Kitty, no matter what Kyle or Forge say."

"Well of course you're not," Kitty said, waving a hand airly which caused Lockheed to merfle at the loss of warmth and the motion. "Didn't mean it like that, at all, and my apologies. No, it's just that you and Warren are the only flyers with actual wings. I mean, if all I thought he needed was the idea that it's ok to be off the ground I could just walk off the building with him, but he can't phase and... well, actually, most still working on that..." Maybe it was the cold which was dragging her off track. "I need some way to show him how his wings work and it's not something Mr. Beaubier could teach, cause he hasn't got them. I know Warren's awfully busy these days and we... well, we don't have the best track record of all time anyway. So, um... could you? Do you think...?" She slowly trailed off, biting her lip.

Of all the things Jay had been expecting when he came to this school, teaching a dragon to fly was definitely not one of them. But Kitty was a nice enough person, one whom Jay could get along with (which said a lot), and despite the inherent freakiness of the situation, the dragon was kind of cute . . . "Ah guess Ah could try . . ." Jay said slowly. "Ah don't really know much 'bout the mechanics of flyin' mahself, so Ah dunno how much Ah could help besides showin' him how ta beat his wings."

Getting them all inside cut the wind chill to zero and helped immensely. "Jay, I think he's smart and all," Kitty said with a smile, "but hardly aerodynamics smart. Beating his wings is the bit that seems to be escaping him."

Oh, things weren't as cold. That was good. Lockheed stuck his nose up, and yep, definitely not as cold. Oh, and that feathered boy was still around, talking to Kitty. Definitely not food, then. Propping his paws on her arm he leaned out to get a good sniff of the boy. Well, he smelled like food, but he wasn't. Ok.

Jay stuffed his hands in his pockets as he and Kitty walked down the stairs. He lagged behind her a few steps, because the look on the pink dragon's face was not very encouraging. Especially when it appeared to be smelling him. "Ah meant that Ah dunno how much I could teach 'im beyond gettin' himself off the ground. Pickin' up speed, gettin' real high, bein' all fanciful in the air, that's stuff Ah still dunno mahself."

"But I think that would be enough," Kitty said, smiling back at him. "Besides, you looked fine tonight. What do you say, Lockheed. Want to learn to fly?"

The dragon turned away from Jay to cock his head at Kitty for a second, then looked back at Jay and 'coo'ed softly.

Jay tentatively took a couple of steps closer to Kitty and held out his hand. He'd let Lockheed get a whiff of him, and if he decided that Jay was worth it, then Jay would agree to help.

Well, the winged boy had good manners, and his wings were nice enough, even if they weren't as nice as Lockheed's. The little dragon snuffled his snout into Jay's palm, letting out little experimental "murfle"s before settling back into Kitty's arms with a satisfied sort of "Mer."

"I'm pretty sure that one means 'ok'," Kitty said, grinning.

"Might wanna go ask Doug iffn that's true," Jay remarked, putting his hand back in his pocket. "Well, Ah guess we can start next time we got the free time ta devote to this. Ah ain't got much on mah plate, so when's good for you?"

Kitty glanced back towards the door and shivered slightly. "Any time the sun is out," she said. "And Doug says he can't understand Lockheed, or at least he did the last time I asked."

"'Kay. How about this weekend, then? Get mah work done then we can see iffn Lockheed can fly." Jay didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about this, but he didn't sound reluctant either. Truth was, he didn't know what to expect or what he'd get out of this experience, but it couldn't hurt. At the very least, it'd give him another excuse to fly.

"Sounds good to me. Sunday after lunch? Actually, better make that before lunch, then he won't be weighed down by half a ton of meat or whatever. And thanks, Jay. I owe you one." Kitty smiled brightly at the boy.

"And it'll get us all good an' hungry, too." Jay returned the smile, not as merrily, but genuine nonetheless. "Ah'll see ya 'round, then?"

"It's a deal. See you later."