This Little Light of Mine

[Tim Tawfeek]

"This is insane. You," Tim pointed at the bat fluttering in front of him, "you are insane. There is no way that there is a giant glowing moth. Period. Even in our crazy, messed up world, there is no such thing as a giant flying bug that keeps flittering around the school at night."

Yet there Tim was, dressed all in black and feeling exceptionally stupid. The bats, his pet in particular, had been bothering him about this for a while now. According to them, a large glowing bug had moved into their territory lately. Being bats, they wanted to eat it. It sounded like a feast to them. However, being bats, they also figured that they were far too small to actually take it down.

Hence why they summoned Tim. Which was why Tim was out past nightfall, risking who knows what. probably not much, as he was wearing the school uniform and he wasn't exactly looking for trouble. no, instead he was looking for a giant...

like that thing. Tim stopped and stared for a while, before watching as a small cloud o bats all swarmed toward it at once. They all started screeching and what have you. Tim understood it as some kind of strange warcry, something about consuming the giant bug and feasting upon it for weeks or something. To most people? It would sound like a lot of twittering and squeaking.

And Tim needed to hurry to catch up, preferably before the bats ended up hurting either themselves or the human in question.

[Evangeline Bjorn]

Now she wasn't the type to stay out horribly late because she didn't like it all that dark. But she hadn't gotten out to practice until well past her usual time because she had a test to study for the next day. Now that studying was overwith she needed to get her mind off things, and work off some pent up energy.

It was getting rather bothersome to practice flying at night. Usually it went well because not that many people were out and she could run into things without having an audience. Plus it was so very peaceful and she liked flying under the stars and the moon.But lately a group of bats kept, well not to put negative conotations on it, but they were attacking her! Eve had never hurt a bat in her life so she didn't understand why they were suddenly bent on taking her down. Maybe they heard her tell someone she thought they were nothing but flying rats? But they were!

Tonight started okay with her peacefully gliding about the sky her skin automatically starting to glow in the moonlight. Then the bats came at her, again. A rather high pitched girlish scream filled the air followed by another as fast as she could draw breath. They were everywhere. Leathery wings beat at her more delicate moth ones, the musk of their fur filling her nostrils, and the sounds of what felt like hundreds of squeaking flying rodents overwhelmed her. What did they want? Why were they doing this?

Batting at them she flailed in the air her glowing amplifying with her ever growing fear. "Stop! Please? I don't want to hurt you! I find you most adorable! Or well, almost all of you! Please, stop!" Tears streamed down her face glowing like drops of starlight.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim watched the bats gather and winced at the sight. He really, really hoped that---that there wouldn't be screaming in a decidedly high pitched, decidedly feminine voice. He flailed as he heard that, running forward, figuring that closing the gap would now be a very good idea.

"Hey, that's a person in there, not a giant snack!" he yelled. Of course, Tim yelled in bat, and since he happened to be human and decidedly bigger, it sounded like something ripped right out of the soundtrack of a horror film. The loud cry wrenched out of him and blared over the bats. A few of them clearly startled from it, flailing. two actually ran into one another and spiraled down for several feet before just managing to catch themselves.

Tim did seem to realize, if belatedly, that his yelling might have actually had the opposite effect of what he'd intended. He winced and tried to figure out how to switch back. He usually could just, well, talk to the right people because they were there in front of him. Didn't require a whole lot of thought. So he tried aiming at the glowing thing in the center: "The bats thing you a giant moth or something!" he yelled, and it sounded mostly human. English, at any rate, though Tim's voice sounded slightly off, as if it wanted to switch back to bat at any moment. "Just don't get them really pissed off though! I'm not sure what they'd do..." Tim kept moving forward, hoping that if he got close he could possibly do something to really get them off her...

[Evangeline Bjorn]

It seemed like the more she flailed the worse things got. She felt little nicks and pricks on her arms and legs from the tiny sharp teeth and claws. Why had she gone for shorts? Well, because she hadn't planned on getting attacked by a swarm of deranged bats. Did people really plan for such things? Maybe people who planned for everything did, but she didn't like to think of such nast happenings.

Schreeking she backhanded a hand which felt so very yucky that she did the heebee jeebee dance in mid air. Then a sound from her nightmares overpowered everything else and she froze for a second in horror. It sounded much like a giant version of the tiny versions flying around her head. Panicking she let out another earl curdling scream curling up her arms and legs. The glowing amplified three fold turning her into a blue-green luna moth ball of light.

She was going to die by getting eaten by bats, and possibly a giant monster bat. But wait, was that a human voice? Uncurling slightly she gazed down through the swarm of wings and teeth. Was that a boy? Evee whimpered not knowing what to do or to make it all stop. "I'm not trying to pis- to make them angry! I just don't want them to bite me anymore!" She had a last resort but she really didn't want to hurt the bats. Also she didn't want the boy to see her go super nova.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Yeah, the bats were definitely not being cool right now, though Tim had to admit that it had to be at least partially because they were starting to get scared. Their squeaks and stuff had taken on a slight hint of terror because the giant flashing thing had proved to be tougher then they'd imagined. Plus, one or two was wondering why Tim wasn't pitching in, since that's why they'd dragged him there and all.

Tim tried waving his arms and such, but the bats weren't exactly great at splitting their attention. Tim tried crying up to them too, but that wasn't helping as much as he'd hoped. He had one last thing to try before outright going up there and attempting to be all action hero and drag her out, hopefully in once place. Tim focused, looking at the bats and reminding himself that he could mimic them. Soon he felt his claws lengthening, his body adjusting.

Then Tim moved and jumped onto the tree, which hurt. He began scrabbling up and, with his genetics somewhere more batlike than ever, he called up: "Enough! She's one of the people types and you can't eat her!" which actually called off a good deal of the bats. Several still fluttered around her and one particularly stupid one appeared to have actually gotten stuck in her hair. But there was decidedly less attacking going on and a lot of looking at the shiny thing and at the giant human mimicking bats that made its way up.

Which was probably a reassuring sight for Evee and all too, what with her having been attacked by bats and heard the sound of nightmares and all.

[Evangeline Bjorn]

Watching the boy from behind her arms trying to protect her face she saw him climb up a tree. That wasn't all that surprising since she'd seen people climb trees before, but it was the way he did it. Almost like some sort of squirrel? Again that horrific sound cut through the beating of wings and squeaks. This time she was watching the boy however, and was pretty sure the noise was coming out of his mouth.

As a fair amount of the bats flittered off she uncurled more but winced as she noticed something. Something very unpleasant. She'd been distracted by everything around her to notice a bat in her hair. Tensing Evee felt more tears well up and she went nuts. Kicking, screaming, arms wailing, hands beating at her hair like a crazed maniac. If there hadn't been a bat in her hair she would've calmed down considerably, and simply floated down to land happily on the ground.

Instead she was thrashing about like dementia patient in the middle of a psychotic break.

There was no way she could concentrate on flying like this and was steadily losing height. Zigging and zagging about she finally landed with a very ungraceful plop still flailing about screaming. By now she was as bright as a lighthouse search light and her skin was getting quite hot. "No. Nono. Out of my hair. Not my hair. It's not a nest. Please get out. Pleasepleasepleeeease!"

[Tim Tawfeek]

Whelp, so much for that working. Tim watched as the girl did what most sane people did whenever they found a bat in their hair: she panicked. She also ended up falling, or flying down or crashing or Tim couldn't really be sure what it was, really. He just knew that now he had climbed up a tree for nothing and that the person was flailing.

"Hey, stop flailing and---" said Tim, except he said it in bat, and the dumb bat in question had a few choice words about being tangled and how he hated that humans had all this fur and all kinds of things that weren't generally repeatable in wider company. Grumbling, Tim let go of the tree and sort of jumped/fell to the ground, rolling a bit. He waved his arms again, wishing that he looked a little less like Manbat and a little more like Batman right now.

"Hey!" he tried again, focusing on the what he hoped was a girl that was still having several bats flutter around her, " stop flailing and panicking! It's just one bat, and he's pretty much an idiot!" Tim hurried over to her, pausing only to make sure that his glasses didn't fall of his face. He held out his hands, willing to help her, but definitely not wanting to end up making matters worse.

[Evangeline Bjorn]

She was frantic and honestly couldn't decide what to do, nor focus on any one thing. Well, other than the bat that was currently in her hair. That she could most definitely focus on. Even though she had a feeling the boy she'd seen could talk to the bats she still didn't like having a bat in her hair. Plus, she didn't know if the bat had rabies. She really didn't want to get a bunch of shots for rabies. She'd heard they hurt, a lot.

Again that horrifying sound but now that she knew it came from the boy it was less horrifying. It was just a part of his power even if it sent chills down her spine. If only she had some sort of power that was defensive. Something that she could protect herself with. But no she glowed like some sort of neon sign, and flew like a pixie.

Human, he was speaking human again. Whimpering and cowering she turned her eyes toward the boy who scared her almost as much as the bats. Sure he seemed to be trying to help her, but fear was the overpowering emotion at the moment. Trying to do as he told her to do she froze curling back into a ball instead. "P-Please get it out. Please. I d-didn't mean to ss-ss-scare him." Evee was trying to calm down taking a lot of deep breaths the glowing starting to dim.

Seeing him close she concentrated for a moment and curled in her wings to get them out of the way. It hurt because the bats had damaged them. It would probably take a few days for them to heal before she could fly again. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. Just make it stop. Please." She wasn't quite sure what she was apologizing for but maybe it would make it stop. Anything to make it stop.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Was that a girl? Yep, definitely a girl. The hair thing should've been a giveaway, really. Tim winced as he moved a little close. The girl kept stuttering and, strangely, seemed about as concerned about the bat as she was about herself. She also seemed to be fighting the whole glowing thing, if the strange dimming wasn't enough.

"it's cool," repeated Tim, nodding, "he's just an idiot," he looked at the bat, focusing, wishing that he didn't feel totally off: "stop moving, you moron," he said before moving forward. He reached his hands up, wincing as he saw the claws. He really couldn't switch back and forth too easily, and he'd need to be more batly for what was coming up. He reached and started working hair out, noting that the moron had started moving. Sighing, Tim reached and gave him a slight flick.

The idiot squeaked indignantly. Tim sighed and bopped him lightly before looking at the girl. "Idiot," he repeated, though of course it came out in bat. Tim raised a hand up to cough and try again: "He's really just--" but when he heard squeaks he just sighed and went to work getting the bat free of the hair.

[Evangeline Bjorn]

She'd never really thought of bat as intelligent creatures, but then again she supposed every mammal had levels of intelligence. The more she calmed down the more the bat seemed to calm down. But then the hiccups started which startled the bat into squirming. Evee tried not to move but found it hard not to reach up and tug at her hair.

Looking up she swore she saw claws and almost started screaming again. If he hadn't been acting like he wanted to help she would have lost it all over again. Eve hiccuped and cried and tried to be still all at the same time. Making her look like a jerking wet glowing mess. "It's not his fault he's not as intelligent as the others." She spoke softly not wanting the bat to get upset again.

All her muscles tensed as the boy started pulling her hair to untangle it from the bat. "Is he hurt?" Peering up through her knotted hair the glowing increased then dimmed each time she hiccuped. A wet, tangle, scratched, firefly blinking in the night.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"He probably licked paint or something,' replied Tim, chuckling a little. Great, it sounded like he ended up with some kind of lovey dovey, respect all living things person. Well, he supposed he couldn't really hold that against her. After all, Lux was pretty much the same way, and, well, Tim felt all kinds of things for her.

"He's going to be if he doesn't stop the wiggling," grumbled Tim. He reached over and bopped the bat again, hoping to stun him slightly. "I don't think he's really done himself any damage yet, but too much squirming and he'll break or rip something. And because he's a moron, he's doing that even though he knows better. Hence," Tim bopped the bat again then smiled at the girl.

Tim nodded and then went back to work. He managed to get one wing free, which was actually more unfortunate then fortunate, as it made the bat decided that moving around and flapping like, well, like a moron was a good plan. Tim let out a yelp as the idiot started wobbling and flapping and whatnot. Soon Tim was trying to direct the flapping so at least it didn't damage the girl any more than it already had.

[Evangeline Bjorn]

She made a face at the idea and almost ran her tongue through her teeth imagining what that might taste like. "I think that would make him rather sick. Not stupid." Course he probably knew a lot more about bats than she did considering that he could actually talk to them. Then again some people didn't bother to learn much about their powers and just wished they'd go away. Not knowing him well enough to make a judgement she figured it was polite not to assume anything just yet.

Flinching as he bopped the bat again she made a mental note not to fly at night ever again unless she absolutely had too. If she was going to get attacked by nocturnal animals it just wasn't a worth the hassel. At least nothing had attacked her during the day, and she dearly hoped nothing ever would.

Again wincing she continued to peer up at the boy really wanting to be free of the frantic bat. "He's scared. Lots of people don't think clearly when they're scared." Evee reached up a hand to attempt to help and maybe soothe the poor animal. It was her fault for flying at night, and looking like a giant bug. Though she had no idea why such tiny creatures would attack something so much larger than they were. Course a group of them did make more sense like a pride of lions!

When the wing got free she couldn't help but let out a little squeak of her own as the bat flopped about like a trapped fish. "Maybe we should just cut him out? I don't mind! It's just hair it'll grow back!" She was more than willing to suffer a horrible hair cut if it meant the bat was out of her hair.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"You're probably right," agreed Tim, chuckling. "I haven't exactly experimented on them with it," he paused to adjust his glasses before focusing in on the whole getting the bat out. He actually didn't like tormenting bats, just as a general rule. He'd never really been one for tormenting in the past, since he'd spent a fair amount of time ending up in lockers and what have you. But since he got his power, it actually got a little worse. He could understand them, after all, and he knew they'd be his constant allies so long as he kept up a good relationship.

Which was a large part of why he was patiently weaving a retarded bat through a random girl's hair. Tim gently tugged loose some strands, glad to see that the bat was mostly free. "It's just making him more stupid, really," mumbled Tim, almost not focused on the conversation at all. instead he pulled a little more, pushing the now slightly dazed bat under and through. Years of untangling computer cords helped here.

"What?" he said as she spoke, turning to look at her. Tim stared for a few moments. "Nah, we don't need to. I've nearly got him and--oh crap!" for the bat had flapped and managed to get free all by himself. He also flew right at Tim, knocking him over. There was a struggle and some cursing from both sides, though only Tim could understand all of it. At least Tim didn't have hair to get tangled...

[Evangeline Bjorn]

Every time a wing flapped against her head she winced involuntarily her shoulders tensing. Each time her shoulders flinched she felt her wings twitch painfully and she knew that it would be bare backed shirts for a few days. The glowing hadn't stopped either though at least it was a dim glow rather than search light bright. "Animal experimentation is wrong.." Eve couldn't help but mutter to herself since she was pretty sure he didn't care, or wasn't being serious. But she had to say something.

"Stupid is a mean word." That wasn't the most grown up thing to say especially since it came out in a small, pouty, girlie voice. Course she was a small girl so it wasn't that out of place. It felt like the wings were getting free and that she would soon be free of the furry, little, flying creature. She tried not to make matters worse and keep still, but it was hard. At least her wings were no longer in the way.

Evangeline let out a sigh of relief when the young man who spoke to chiropterans said that they could save her hair. Then only moments later the bat was attached to her but the boy went backwards. Yelping she turned to try and help but didn't feel as though she would be able to do much. "Oh, dear. Oh, oh...Um..." She couldn't help but be glad that she was free of the flying rodent even if it meant the boy now had the problem. But he had the advantage of being able to talk to them.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Y'know, I actually agree with you there," murmured Tim. "Though some of these guys probably deserve it." That was one of the unintended and not oft-mentioned side effects of being an animal communicator: you started to empathize with them more. Harder to hate something when you could sit down and have a pleasant conversation with it, after all, even if that something happened to be dumb as a sit-com jock.

At least the bat got out, out and began attacking Tim, but hey, it was out. He flailed for a bit, eventually squeaking at the animal. After a few more seconds of struggling, it took off, flying... right into another bat. Both went down and Tim could hear what amounted to bat curse words.

Breathing hard, Tim leaned back. He reached up to adjust his glasses, taking a deep breath as he did so. Oh, yeah, the girl. Tim rolled his eyes to look at her. "So, uh, you okay?" he managed. He figured introductions were in order too, but they needed to make sure she wasn't bleeding or anything that would require a trip to the infirmary or anything.