theattic | THE SANDBOX

Roman watched him with growing anxiety. The wind blew harder and ruffled the feathers of the decaying birds around them.

"Have you dealt with ghosts before? They're assholes! Even bigger assholes than me!"

"Can't say I have, but a dead asshole can't be much worse than a live one, now can they?" Of course, he didn't exactly have room to talk. Who knows what kind of horrible spirits Roman has dealt with in his time.

Roman chewed on the inside of his jaw thoughtfully. He really wanted to have fun showing off his fire tricks and he couldn't do that if Adrian thought he was a weenie. So, he puffed himself up and strutted after him, going so far as to flip one of the dead pigeons out of the way with the tip of a hoof.

"Guess you're right!" Roman hopped onto one of the AC units. "C-can you do symbols?" He traced a hand through the air a few times until he formed a dim, flickering triangle fo fire. "It really freaks people out!"

He nodded slightly, tipping his head as he lifted one of his arms to copy what Roman had done. It wasn't quite as stable- more of a lopsided oval than a triangle at all- but that's namely because Adrian never had much of a reason to get too fancy with his tricks.

"That's pretty cool. You'll hafta teach me how to do that."

"Haha, thanks! Okay, watch me. It might help if you start small, like, uh...like blowing a soap bubble with your hands!"

He held his hands up, his thumbs and forefingers touching, creating a diamond shape between them.

"Make the fire in here and slowly pull your hands apart. "

Adrian lifted his hands to do as he was bid, waiting until fire ignited between his fingers before starting to slowly move his hands.

"Like this?"

Roman nodded, watching eagerly and hoping Adrian's fire worked similarly enough to his own for it to work. Everybody ought to be able to draw flaming dicks in mid air when somebody across the street gives you a dirty look.

It seems to be having the desired effect. It's nowhere near as fancy looking, but he'd probably be able to get the hang of it with a little practice. And hey, it actually looks like a triangle this time.

"Pretty cool. Got any more tricks up your sleeve?"

The demon beamed and actually clapped for Adrian's improved attempt.

"You're gonna be awesome! And weeeell," he balanced on his tail once more and started patting down his pockets as if looking for more tricks. Then he said in a perfect mimicry of Adrian's voice, "I seem t-to have lost my voice, so I think I'll borrow yours."

...okay, that one actually caused him to jump, snapping his head back to stare at Roman from where he'd been looking at the dead birds again.

"Holy shit! How are you doing that?"

Roman utterly beamed at Adrian's reaction. "Doing what?" he asked in the moth boy's voice.

"You know what! That's...freaky," he replied, shaking his head a little. It was like he was in an echo chamber, only his echo had an attitude.

"You're like a mimic."

"I think it's a manifestation of my repressed distress over never being allowed a parrot as a k-kid." He folded his arms and frowned thoughtfully. "Or any pet."

"You could get up to some real trouble with that trick, I bet," Adrian replied with a grin.

"Oh, man, I have." Roman returned to his normal, slightly nasal voice. I c-can't tell you how many kids have paid me to pretend to be their mom calling in and saying that they were staying home from school. It's a good business."

"Sounds like it. You got any other tricks up your sleeve? Cause you're startin' to make me look like an average joe over here," Adrian snickered.

"PSsssh, no way! Not with those cool wings of yours!" He waved away Adrian's concerns but still wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to show off. "Let's see...well. There's this."

He disappeared completely.

...Well.

"...Roman?" Adrian called out, standing up a bit straighter as he looked around quickly, his eyes scanning their surroundings. But from what he could tell, he was nowhere in sight. "Where...?"

"I'm right here," said absolutely nobody. Roman didn't like dropping form completely because it made him feel sort of weird and naked, but Adrian's face alone was worth it. He flickered back into view, not an inch from where he'd been, his ears and tail still hazy at the edges. "I do a mean ghost impression!"

"Seriously..." Just when he thought that Roman couldn't get more interesting, he pulls that. Well, at least he got lucky enough to end up on a speed date with someone who could entertain. "Okay, I'm convinced. You're pretty cool."

"I guess I am pretty c-cool...show me those wings of yours!"

He'd been to distracted by all the dead birds to really appreciate the way Adrian had scaled the building.

"How high can you go?"

"Pretty high. Not, like, as high as an eagle or anything, but yaknow. Pretty close. Give me someplace to go and I'll see if I can clear it," he answered with a sneer, folding his arms over his chest.

"Okay!"

He spun on the spot, stretching up on his tip toes to see as far as he could before pointing at a nearby, rusty watertower. "That! Fly over that!"

Adrian snickered, and before the words had fully finished leaving Roman's mouth he was running, claws tamping along the rooftop- dodging dead birds as he went- before he leaped off the edge, his wings fanning to catch his weight before he could fall too far. Being an insect, they flap a lot harder and faster than the wings of a bird or something similar, but he manages to make it up to the height of the watertower without much problem.

He lands on the outer railing with a loud clang, perched on the edge of it as he peers over the edge. "Hows this?"

Roman gave chase and skidded to a stop at the building's edge, watching in an open-mouthed grin as Adrian flew. He flew! Just like a--well. A moth, he guessed. He dances on the spot wanting so badly to follow.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Roman cupped his hands around his mouth. "CAN YOU DO A FLIP?"

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