Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hermann returns to his dorm to find Vigsai sitting on the floor outside his room, reading a book.

"Hey, Hermann," she greets absently.

"Good afternoon, Vigsai. How's your book?"

She gets to her feet and brushes off her skirt. "Fun." She leans against the doorframe as Hermann pulls out his keyring. "Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment. S'about kids spliced with bird DNA."

His key misses the lock. "That’s an interesting premise. How did you come to choose such a book?"

"Friend lent it to me. Introduced myself, said the fam calls me 'Iggy’, and she bursts out laughing. Turns out one of the characters' named Iggy. Go figure, yea?"

Hermann finally manages the door. "Quite the coincidence."

"Kid's a blind white boy so the similarities end there with a screeching halt. Have you seen the Gingersnap?"

"I haven't, no, sorry."

"That's cool. Mind if I chill here 'til he shows? He's bound to turn up. He promised to help with my essay for English comp."

Hermann shakes the gathered snowflakes off his coat as Vigsai folds herself to the floor. "Why isn't Rhys helping you? English compositions are his expertise."

"I love him, but he sucks at teaching. Lots of eye rolls and complaints about how bad English schools are."

Hermann snorts.

"Don't you start, too."

Hermann gestures surrender. "Why, ah, are the characters in your book made with bird DNA?"

"I dunno," says Vigsai. "Something about saving the world."

"Do they go about with their wings visible, then?" He scratches the lower edge of his binding.

"Uh, no? Evil scientists?"

Hermann blanches.

"Did I tell you that part? No? Well, the Flock—that's what they call themselves—mostly stays away from people because these evil scientists are trying to capture them." She glances up. "You think someone'll ever pull it off? Splice animals and humans?"

A wing twitches. "I wouldn't know. Biology isn’t my field."

"It's not likely, I guess. No idea the weird interactions'd happen, yea? Might get the change you want, but maybe something fatal, too."

"It's the stuff of science fiction, then."

"Yea. Would be cool to meet someone with wings, though."

Hermann reaches for his laptop. "Perhaps. Or perhaps they would be unremarkable, extra limbs aside."

"Hadn't thought of that. Maybe it's a thought experiment to run by those clots in Philosophy. I mean, these kids weigh basically nothing and have super strength, but the bad guys can't always recognize them on sight and they wear pretty baggy clothes. Kinda like you, actually." She peers around him, trying to get a look at his back. "Eh. No slits."

"Excuse me?"

"They cut holes in their shirts and jackets for easy wing-spreading action. Seems to me it would be mighty cold at ten thousand feet, but they run a little hotter and, besides, what would us normal folk know, yea?" She turns back to the book. "So, yea, I dunno. The brain's tied to the body and the mind's tied to the brain, so if you go mucking about with one, you inevitably get something going sideways. Maybe the trade-off's body of a Renaissance angel, personality of a demon. Sociopath or something.” She closes the paperback. "Think I could get a paper out of this?"

"Vigsai, if your folder of drafts is any indication, you can get a paper out of almost anything as long as it doesn't need to be polished."

"You're saying talk to Gingersnap about it."

"Exactly."