Through the trees, I will find you [Todd]

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Did you ever wake up in the morning and realize right away just how perfect it looked outside, as if the sunlight making the leaves on the trees seem like such vibrant shades (after all, it was the beginnings of fall, green was becoming a thing of the past) that you rushed outside like a moth rushed to a candle (poor things, as far as Nancy was concerned, but even she couldn't shapeshift quickly enough to save any moth), and lo and behold, you found the perfect blue sky to top it all off. These were the sorts of days that made her wish she had her little brother's artistic talent. She just wanted to preserve this gorgeous day forever, because she knew that her memory was going to fade, even for gorgeous moments like this. However, that wasn't to be, and she knew that no photograph she took would ever do it justice.

So the best she could do? Fly.

Her heart pounding in her ears while she made her running start just made her feel even more alive, plus it actually seemed to help her make a decision as to what she was going to turn into, and as she started her jump into the air, a skylark took her place and off she was, soaring just above the trees of the forest, right up into that sky that just made her want to spread these newly acquired wings. If you had asked her why she turned into something that many would probably call plain, she would have stared at you like you had lost your mind. What did it matter, seeing as this was still a beautiful creature who could fly. Her sheer and adamant appreciation for every living thing was probably part of what made all of those kids in elementary school think she was a little strange.

Yet as she found herself near the park not too far from the school after quite a bit of flying (she was thinking of landing anyway, even someone high off of life could get tired, after all!), she recognized someone, someone who probably understood just how joyous she was feeling on this gorgeous Saturday morning while most of their classmates weren't going to be up for another two hours. If it weren't for her beak, she would have smiled, but it was better to save the shifting for before...

Except she came to realize her wing was turning into a hand a tad prematurely. She still had about twenty feet...er, now fifteen, maybe getting to ten feet, between herself and the ground, after all! Needless to say, good feeling was very much gone, and thankfully, she managed to get that wing back enough time to slow her fall, but once it came to the split second it would take to change back into a human, she wound up rolling down a hill pretty painfully, since she was trying hard to not, you know, die, and wasn't able to prepare her landing like she normally did. Eventually she stopped, panting as her body caught up with the idea that no, she wasn't going to die, and she could practically feel the bruises forming on her body.

Good gods, how on earth did this even happen?

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Todd, like his mother, always seemed to be up at the crack of dawn and this morning was really nice as far as mornings went. It was the kind of glorious Autumn day that just felt perfect to write poetry about. In fact, maybe he would write poetry about this morning. It just looked great! It was a perfect Autumn morning, you know? The perfect kind of day to step on really crunchy leaves and then find someplace to sit a while and write. The sun was shining and the air cool and crisp. It was a great day.

Todd was so in love with the day that he wanted to bring Jake outside. He wasn’t all that fond of dead leaves, but Todd didn’t want to enjoy the morning completely by his lonesome. And unlike his mother he only had one animal friend. He didn’t collect them, though he had to admit having a pet goat right now would probably be really fun to bring with him because he could let the goat wander around for a bit. Granted, he probably have to keep an eye on Sam (yes the hypothetical goat’s name is Sam) because goats ate everything. And you know, they really do mean everything.

Well, there was no goat named Sam so Jake would have to do. And Jake was pretty cool too, you know? He did happen to be Todd’s best friend, mostly because people friends were a lot harder to come by and usually thought he was weird. But yeah, not Jake. And turtles make awesome friends anyway, because they’re awesome and turtle-y.

So Todd had taken Jake out on his special turtle leash (his mother had made it for him) and was sitting in the park, writing poetry about the way the early morning light was shimmering golden hues through the red and orange trees of the park and the way the dew caught the light and sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight.

And then there was a bird. Except it wasn’t a real bird, you know, because Todd knew his birds (he knew way too much about birds) and that bird was turning into a person and kind of crashing down out of the air. He winced and quickly threw down his notebook and pen. “Jake, don’t go anywhere,” he called to his faithful turtle then he jumped up and ran towards the girl. “Jeez, that looked like it hurt. Are you okay? Do you need me to get someone, because I could but I’d have to run and leave you here alone. Although you could stay with Jake, so you wouldn’t be completely alone, you know?” He was rambling but it was only out of concern for Nancy because she was really nice and didn’t think he was weird for having a pet turtle named Jake that he brought to the library with him. And that kind of looked like it hurt a lot.

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As her breathing slowed to a more natural pace, that was when she caught sight of, wouldn't you know it, Todd himself. If she were a less good natured individual, there was a chance that she would have thought to blame Todd for, somehow, distracting her from keeping her form as a bird. Thankfully, she wasn't that sort of person at all, and was still pretty happy to see her friend, even if it was under less than favorable circumstances. In fact, she had to laugh just a little as she managed (albeit with a little difficulty, since her shoulders just had to move, didn't they?) to pull herself into a seated position.

"Oh, no, you don't have to get anyone, I'm pretty sure I'm okay..." Pondering, she decided to start standing up just to make sure she hadn't wound up breaking any bones. Not that it was likely, because she was pretty sure she would have realized it by now. She could only imagine her kind would be particularly in tune to that sort of thing...although she had never actually broken a bone before. Gods, no, her parents were too overprotective for much more than a scraped knee to happen, which she supposed was a good thing. Sure, Nancy wanted to experience the world at large, but chances were she could do without broken bones.

She grinned when she managed to get up without even stumbling. Made her glad that she landed the way she did; it looked like she was just a bit bruised, was all. "See? Nothing major, I'll be fine, and Jake doesn't have to babysit me," she said, sounding pretty cheery considering the fact that that fall was going to leave some marks. It just went to show just how happy she was to see Todd. He was really one of the few people that she didn't feel like her typical shy self around. At first it was just the fact that he was clearly a fellow animal and book lover, back at the library, but now she supposed it was just...well. You weren't supposed to feel shy around friends, right? And she considered him a friend.

...a friend who had just witnessed her shapeshifting and she had yet to mention that little detail to him. Well...he didn't seem too freaked out, right? She hoped he wasn't. She had dealt with some pretty bad reactions to the fact that she could turn into any creature she wanted in the past, it was part of why she didn't have very many friends before coming here...and still didn't, really. Uh oh...

Distract, distract, distract!!! was now her main priority, so she flashed her best smile and said, "So. Nice day, right?"

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Todd was pretty concerned. He just wanted people to be happy and no one was happy when they were hurt, which was why he had offered to run and get help for Nancy. If she was hurt then she wasn’t going to be happy and then Todd wouldn’t be happy. He just really liked everyone to happy.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, kind of just hovering over Nancy. “Maybe you shouldn’t move, just in case, you know? Maybe you broke a bone or something. That might hurt a lot and if you move you might be in a lot of pain and that wouldn’t be good. I could carry you to like the doctor’s or something like that.”

But then Nancy stood up and said that she was okay. Todd was still a little worried though. Sometimes people only said they were okay even when they weren’t. I mean, Todd did that all the time so it wasn’t a stretch that other people did too. “Oh, I wasn’t saying that Jake should babysit you, just keep you company so you wouldn’t be alone. But yeah, I guess you’re okay if you say so.” He was still a little worried because it wasn’t everyday that your friends turned into humans after they had been birds.

….Yeah actually that was a little weird. Todd didn’t know anyone who could turn into other animals. His eyes went wide and he really tried not to freak out because Nancy probably wouldn’t like that very much. But oh my gosh she could turn into animals and then back into herself. What if her human form wasn’t even her true form? Oh my gosh, he was friends with an animal!

“Uh, yeah, really nice day,” he replied a bit distractedly. He was really trying not to freak out. “So, um, do you always fly places?”