Flight School: Predator

Harmony in Discord

"So," said the older one as soon as they were alone. "What's your name?"

The boy he addressed spared him a harmless glance before returning his eyes to the darkness under his table. The newly-acquainted pair had been spending the afternoon in a foreign summer house, one they'd never before seen or entered, for the matter. They had been told—mere hours ago—that this would be their new home.

"Do you ever speak?" The condor laughed, a light in his eyes. "Dad's been trying to get you to talk since lunch."

He turned his head slightly, wary eyes alternating between the ground and him. The one who would soon become his step-brother. There, swirling in his eyes, were clouds. A haze of fear and uncertainty that fogged over his vision, muting colors; brewing darkness.

From a young age, the vulture had a capacity for the abyss that would come to lie within his cage. It was only a matter of time that it did, and he, for one, could see its imminent arrival.

"How about this," Jae-min extended a hand to the boy who was seated at his desk and had 'Macbeth' opened to page fifty-six. "I'll start. I'm Hwang Jae-min, Viktor. Call me whatever you like, as long as you're comfortable with it." His smile was boyish, almost playful—characteristic of a teen that was, against all odds of his status as a scavenger, well-received by many.

It had been his first time attempting to strike a conversation with someone almost six year younger than himself and he found that it was no easy task. Nevertheless, the condor lived for a challenge. Those born of his kind were mostly the same.

All except this timid one before him, who froze at the hand he had offered.

"You...don't do handshakes?"

The boy shook his head all of a sudden, and took Jae-min's hand. It was a very brief, almost terrified point of contact.

"Why won't you tell me your name?" He felt obliged to ask again, curious yet mildly disturbed by the vulture's lack of effort. Or was it? Could it be that he was simply shy—if not, embarrassed?

Jae-min glanced over his shoulder to inspect the fledgling's Avian once more. A black vulture.

"You don't like your name?"

At this, the boy nodded vigorously, turning to look at him for a longer moment before resuming his interest in shoes and floors.

"You're really quiet aren't you," Jae-min laughed, resting his hands behind his head before leaning backwards and letting himself fall onto the bed. "Upset about anything?"

As he had expected, there came no response from the boy and the condor would not raise his head to look at him. He went on without a plan, almost free of expectations of a reply.

"Are you afraid?"

"I think you might be, although I'm not too sure what it is you're afraid of."

"Sometimes, we fear nothing. It's just there. Fear. All the time."

"And sometimes we fear nothing. Emptiness. Absence of everything else."

He stopped here, turning to look at the vulture for a reaction. The latter appeared surprised.

"What?" Jae-min laughed. "Didn't expect that from a carefree seventeen year-old shit?"