I Want To Lay the Very Best!

300 – Wing to Wing

Harper dipped her wings and dove straight through a forming raincloud. It was ripped out into a long line behind her, cutting a swathe through the night sky's stars as her Hydration ability sucked up all the moisture in the air. There was a big moon in the sky tonight, combined with Hulbury's night lights; anyone looking up would see the graceful silvery corkscrew she'd turned the cloud into.

It wasn't why she was here, but making her mark felt good. Harper wasn't just any feathered Pokémon. She was a Swanna. She was so beautiful everyone would forgive her for scratching the sky. 

Harper laughed as she flicked cut off her link to the cloud and settled into a glide over the glittering lights of Hulbury. The Flock wasn't linked up through Cassidy's bond anymore, not after everything with Morgan. They'd decided to try to endure being individuals again, and now long-buried urges were bubbling up stronger than ever. To seek beauty in the world and sink her claws into it, cradle it to her pure white feathers, and leave them with the thought of Harper seared into their memories. 

It's why Harper had come all the way down here, and she'd even been close to getting everything her heart ached for. She'd been in Calcine's lap, slowly sinking her claws into that delightful bit of coal and thinking how good she'd look bent over a table. Her claws had been having an absolute joy of a time exploring Calcine's back muscles. She'd evolved from a Rolycoly into a Carkol since Harper last saw her. While they'd traded pictures over Brandy's Dex, pictures were no substitute for seeing Calcine up close. Feeling her firm muscle under Harper's fingertips, getting a lungful of that warm, cinnamon-like smell that left the lungs tingling. Looking into burning white eyes that glowed with promise. Harper wanted to fuck that Carkol so very badly, and if she'd stayed in the club, one of them would be putting the other through a table in the very best way before the night was done. 

She had that perfect moment in her grasp, and then she saw Morgan's red eyes across the room, and a spike of guilt had been driven right through her heart. She knew that look. How could she not? She'd ignored it for months. That aching pain of a woman who wanted to be something she simply wasn't. 

Harper had failed Morgan as part of the Flock, and she would not fail her again. She wouldn't let the Murkrow brood in a nest of her misery, not without at least one shoulder to lean on. So when Morgan had left, Harper had followed. She'd lost the Murkrow immediately, but she was willing to spend all night searching Hulbury's skies for her if that's what it took. 

It turned out to be a good thing Harper had spiralized a cloud because it meant some of Hulbury's finest found her first. 

***

Harper's mistake had been thinking Morgan had wanted to get far away from everything. It was embarrassing to learn she was right back where Harper had started, lying atop the bunny strip club's roof with her wings behind her head. She'd been watching Harper flit about in the skies, trying to find her the whole time, and eventually sent out her minions to get her.  They'd all demanded payment first, which had made this entire act of charity surprisingly expensive. 

The club music couldn't drown out the wild cheers coming from below. The roof tiles vibrated as Harper walked over them, and she stopped just short of the reclining Murkrow. Harper had a packet of chunky fries, that Galarians insisted on calling chips, cradled in one arm and took a bite of one as Morgan pretended not to see her. They were actually pretty good. Not good enough that it explained why the Wingull were so dedicatedly crazy for them, but with some Unovan Barbecue Sauce, she could fuck with these. 

Morgan was bobbing her head as she looked up at the stars, an impish little smile on her face that Harper didn't care for one bit. She'd been here the whole time! Morgan hadn't lifted a feather and still somehow pulled off a mean trick.

"Pleased with yourself?" Harper said, grabbing a seat on the roof tiles beside Morgan. 

"It actually did make me feel a little better," Morgan smirked. "Shouldn't you be choking on Calcine's cock right now?" 

"I'm going to top her," Harper said, diplomatically ignoring the snort that got from Morgan. "And I didn't fly all this way just to put a notch in the Carkol."

"Liar," Morgan snorted again, pulling down the brim of her witch hat to shade her eyes from Harper's sight. "Tansy's already given me the pep talk, and it was a good one. Love myself and find new challenges. If you want to waste your time up here with me, you're making poor use of a good night."

It was very satisfying to flick a chunky fry under the brim of that hat and make Morgan squawk with indignity as the hot bit of potato bounced off her cheek. She popped back out from under her hat with fiery eyes and faced the one thing she couldn't beat with indignation. 

Honest concern. Harper set aside the fry abominations and reached out with a wing. She locked it into Morgan's, white and black feathers linking in a grip only the feathered could have. It was not quite a hug but more than a held hand; an intimate gesture that got a rare blush out of the Murkrow. 

"You are not a waste of anyone's time, Morgan. Least of all mine."

"Hush with that," Morgan huffed, pulling in Harper's wing and using it like a blanket. "We both know it didn't work out between us."

"I fucked up with you. I'll never deny that," Harper said, leaning her weight over so Morgan could wrap herself up in white feathers. "I thought you'd like being in the Flock like I did. I always thought I knew what's best."

"You usually know what's best for me," Morgan said. "Us failing wasn't because of your bad ideas. It was because-"

Harper silenced those words with her free wing. She didn't want to hear excuses for her own behavior. Not from Morgan. Never from Morgan.

Morgan let herself be silenced, which Harper took as a good sign. Morgan had been about to blame herself, and they both knew that wasn't the truth of it. 

The moment lingered on, cozy at first but increasingly awkward, as it became clear neither of them knew how to start talking again. Harper owed it to Morgan to take the hit and try anyway, no matter how much of a fool it might make her sound. 

"I miss you." Sweet, simple, and true. "I don't think I ever got to know the real you, but the little glimpses I got? It's enough to pass up Carkol dick for."

"Knew you'd be the one getting topped."

Dammit! She'd walked right into that one. 

"I don't mind the thought," Harper said, though for all she was trying to sound cool, she knew she sounded nothing but pathetic right now. "Fine. I'll admit it; I have it bad for Calcine."

"Shocker."

Morgan got a squeeze for that one. It didn't make her squawk; she actually leaned into it, needy for the contact. It broke something in Morgan. A wall she'd erected finally cracked, and it all poured out. 

"I'm such a fuckup."

"Morgan," Harper chided. "You're anything but."

"No, I am. I told Brandy I loved her." Morgan groaned. 

"You do. It's obvious even to me that you adore that woman." 

"I know that, but saying it is different!" Morgan spat, clinging to Harper's wing. "When it wasn't spoken, when it was a knife edge we were both dancing on, it was perfect. Every moment with her was exhilarating, every second a rush. But now, it's like we've run out of air. We've both said the magic words, and now what? The spells have been cast; that's the best part of the show. The wonder of what could be before reality sets in. I could have spun it out so long, but I blew it, and now what's left?"

Harper could understand the sentiment, if not the theatrical specifics. She knew the thrill of the hunt and the chase. Of pursuing someone beautiful and wanting to make them yours, how explosive the moment was when you finally got them. That heady high of a first time, never to be repeated. 

"You're afraid it won't be just as good the next time," Harper said. 

"Or the time after that, or the time after that," Morgan sighed. "I'll never love her as much as I do now."

"It's possible, but what's the alternative?" Harper asked, letting her wing brush the back of Morgan's neck.

"Don't," Morgan growled. "I'm not going back to the Flock."

"Wasn't even going to suggest it. I'm being serious. What's the alternative?" 

"You know what it is."

"Leave? Find another woman and start it all again." Harper shook her head. "You left to find out who you are, Morgan, and I'm proud of you for trying. But this isn't that, is it? This is just running away."

"Maybe I don't want to find myself," Morgan grumbled, trying and failing to hide how much the words had stung herself.  "I'm jealous, snippy, and overly competitive. I finally found love, and I'm being such an asshole about it. I've let the worst of me take over, and I hate it."

"Oh, honey." Harper pulled Morgan close, folding her wings around her like a cocoon. "You're right. You really do suck."

Morgan's glared at her in the hug. Her black-feathered cheeks puffed up in anger. Harper just laughed at her. 

"You scare a lot of people, but not me, Morgan. What was I meant to say? That you're perfect? Not even I'm perfect."

"Swanna," Morgan hissed, but there wasn't any venom in it. Just sulkiness. 

"It's just the truth. It wasn't easy for me to see that I could be wrong. Would have saved us all a lot of heartache if I had." Harper stroked her wings gently against Morgan's, soft as a breeze and just as soothing. "I could lie on this roof with you and feel bad about it, torturing myself with the sounds of a party I want to be in."

Morgan let out a small breath. She wasn't going to deny she was doing that. It was obvious. 

"But what's that get us? Does that get me fucked by a hunky Carkol? No. Does that make you feel better about who you are? No."

"What's your point?" Morgan grumbled, though there was the beginnings of a smile on her face. "You're starting to sound like Tansy. Just be good, enjoy yourself, and it'll all work out."

"Well, Tansy is right, isn't she? That is the answer." 

"It's stupid. Simplistic. A cop-out." 

"You think it's going to be easy?" Harper shook her head. "Tansy's a naturally good girl. It's easy for her. You and I aren't so lucky. You think you'll get bored of Brandy now the tension is gone? Maybe you will, but you're going to have to face that. Come to terms with it. Beat it."

Morgan rolled her head into Harper's wing, the brim of her witch's hat knocking back. "Impossible."

"Can't rise to the challenge?" 

"Harper," Morgan whined, but there was a sparkle in her eyes.

"You can't beat impossible, can you?"

"That's cheating," Morgan said with a grin she couldn't hide. 

"Oh, you're against cheating now, are you?" Harper smirked, "Look at that, you've already changed."

Morgan couldn't hold back the giggle. Harper let the Murkrow go, and they both laid out and looked up at the stars together. Watching the Wingull's play with the spiral cloud Harper had made. 

Eventually, Morgan pushed herself up to a seat, and Harper thanked Arceus that she was still smiling. "You can go in and get your ass destroyed by Calcine now. I'm good."

"Not unless you come too. You've got to face Brandy. You don't have to talk, but you got to at least face her." 

"I guess I must," Morgan said, her red eyes glittering. "Thanks for looking out for me."

"You're welcome."

They touched fingertips, and Harper cleared her throat loudly.

"So, can we be quick? I really want to get laid tonight." 

Morgan teased her about it the whole way back in.