Avian Beginnings... (Solo)
Feb 6, 2024 4:03:40 GMT
Post by Jacob Faulkner & Pteromon on Feb 6, 2024 4:03:40 GMT
Jacob Faulkner looked out the window from inside the airport, watching the various planes land and take off as he and his parents walked down the runway, which were as loud as ever. Jacob was a nineteen year old boy with a constant bedhead hair style. He wearing his usual outfit which consisted of a green jacket with a white T-Shirt underneath, along with grey skinny jeans and black-and-white hi-top shoes.
Today was a cold, cloudy day in late March, a week or so before the new term of school starts. Jacob really didn't want to be here right now, in this airport terminal walking past all the restaurants and cafes with his hands in his jacket pockets, pushing past many other people getting to their destinations. He wished so desperately that he was shooting hoops back home, or even going to a normal college right in his home city of St. Paul.
So why was Jacob at the airport, then? Well, some time ago he had been accepted into Shibuya Academy's college division as a foreign exchange student. Jacob had been studying Japanese for over a year now, and the Faulkner family had gone to Japan as a family last month for a tour of Tokyo, specifically the Shibuya ward, along with Jacob's sisters Jenny and Janice. And now, today was the day that Jacob was going to move into the dorms of the school full-time. Although judging by Jacob's current facial expression, he looked as if he were about to be sent to prison instead. In Jacob's mind, moving to Japan and going to prison were one and the same, and it all has to do with the ones who decided to enroll him in a Japanese school to begin with.
Accompanying him today were Jacob's parents, James and Julia Faulkner, both with excited expressions plastered on their faces. While both were middle aged adults, James was wearing a grey button-down dress shirt tucked into his blue jeans and was starting to bald on the head, while Julia's straight hair went down to her neck, and she was wearing a black office dress with a light grey jacket over it. Both looked the part of helicopter parents, and it was painfully obvious that they were more enthused about Jacob attending college overseas more than Jacob himself was.
"Flight 27 to Shibuya, Japan, now boarding," said the voice coming from the intercom. James and Julia could barely contain their excitement.
"Well, this is it," Julia said to Jacob, "the rest of your life starts now, honey." She put both of her hands on Jacob's shoulders, smiling as she looked him in the eyes. "I just can't believe it... you're all grown up now." She pulled him in for a hug. "You're no longer our baby boy."
Explain why I still feel like your baby boy, then? Jacob bitterly thought, while still returning the hug. He broke away a few moments later to grab pick up his bags, turning back towards his parents to give them a fake smile. "Yeah, this sure is it, I guess. Goodbye, mom and dad. I'll... miss you both so much."
Yeah, right.
"Be sure to call us as soon as you get settled in," James said. "Don't worry about time differences, we'll be up until you call us."
"And look out for Hoshizaki at the airport, she'll lead you to where you'll be staying! We love you, sweetie! Good luck!"
"Do us proud, my boy!"
It took a commendable amount of willpower for Jacob to keep his cool and not scream at his parents about how he felt about all of this. Instead, he took a deep breath, giving his parents a halfhearted wave goodbye before turning to leave them. All his life, Jacob had to put up with parents that loved the idea of him more than actually loving him. Having them choosing his activities and expecting perfection from him at every turn, and being given artificial "love" in return. If there was any silver lining to him heading for Japan, it was that he would finally be away from those self-centered hypocrites he called his parents. And at this point, he'd take any kind of freedom he's being offered. Anywhere way from them.
Jacob briefly glanced at a nearby monitor as he headed towards his flight, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that the flights weren't listed there like they normally were. Instead, in its place was a black screen with a single question written on it in green text:
<Jacob Faulkner, do you yearn to be free in this world?>
What the hell?
Jacob blinked and rubbed his eyes, believing that he was seeing things due to a combination of anger and stress. When he opened them back up, the upcoming flight list was back on the screen, and no one nearby acknowledged that the screen had changed to begin with. He scanned the area from where he was standing, looking to see if anything else that odd had happened, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he really did just imagine it?
Yeah, might be a good idea to get some sleep on the flight.
On the bright side, Jacob wasn't the only exchange student from abroad like he had feared. However, of the ones he had met so far (which admittedly weren't many) he just didn't get along very well with them. Either they had completely different interests from him, or Jacob considered them to be pompous assholes. He dealt with the "prep" archetype more than he ever wanted to back home, and he had no intention of doing so here.
Sadly, this meant that Jacob felt more alone than ever. He didn't have a roommate in his dorm, much to his surprise. Hoshizaki had done a fine job showing Jacob the sights of Shibuya and plotting out a way to get to not only his dorm, but his classes as well, and he was surprised to see his dorm room only had one bed. Jacob figured he'd be bunking with someone like in the movies where a character goes to a boarding school. Odd, but Jacob wasn't complaining at the time. Now, he kind of is.
Whenever Jacob passes by things like the baseball diamond or the basketball courts on campus, he'd see other people hanging out, playing sports and having a good time, and he'd wish it was easier for him to ask to join in. But Jacob's Japanese was less than perfect, meaning that getting the right words out was a challenge for him, and understanding what was said back to him was even harder. And to think Jacob had once prided himself on learning things more quickly than others normally would. At least some natives spoke English, but not very many. He was lucky he had a translator for him during his classes, otherwise he'd be very far behind in terms of his grades.
And class was where Jacob was currently, sitting in his last lecture of the day. School itself was never super challenging for him; he paid attention thoroughly in class and took down notes on things he thought he would forget come class's end. It was likely due to his parents' insistence that he get perfect grades like Jenny did that Jacob thought to try a little harder in school. And thanks to his translator-slash-tutor, Jun Maki, he felt like he was able to be on par with his fellow classmates despite being a foreigner. It still felt weird to Jacob that the school year started in April, being an American where they started the year off in September, but overall he was feeling positive about his college career after week two had ended.
And then Jacob was ripped from his own head when a tennis ball hit him square in the face, knocking him onto his butt. When he got his bearings back in order, he looked up to see a boy and a girl standing over him, both holding tennis rackets.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" the girl asked, holding a hand out to help Jacob up. It was spoken in Japanese, but thankfully it was a common phrase that Jacob could understand. He smiled and accepted the girl's offer to help him back up on his feet.
"I'm fine," Jacob said in Japanese, rubbing the bridge of his nose where he got hit. It still stung like a bitch, but he knew the pain would pass.
"Oh, you're one of the foreigner students," the boy said, now speaking in English. "Are you liking Japan so far?"
"It's just fantastic, thank you for asking," Jacob said, his tone sounding rather annoyed. "Especially when you're here against your will, you know?"
The boy and girl looked back at each other, now looking unsure about this confrontation, before the girl spoke up next. "I'm sorry my ball hit you, so let me make it up to you. Let me buy you a drink."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Jacob interrupted. "You don't have to buy anything for me to say sorry. I'm a sports player as well, things like that happen."
"Oh, you play sports?" the boy asked. "Do you know how to play tennis? We could play a quick set!"
"Maybe some other time. I've got plenty of homework to get through, plus I'm not really in the best of moods right now. See you around." Jacob then walked past a red vending machine, but stopped when the screen suddenly went dark. More green text appeared on the screen, like before at the airport.
<Jacob Faulkner>
"Did... you guys just see that?" Jacob asked the two tennis players, who had begun to head back towards the courts.
"See what?" the girl asked.
"The vending machine..."
"What about it?" the boy asked. "Are they different in America?"
"Well, yes, but-" Jacob began, turning back towards the vending machine... which looked the way it usually did now, displaying the various bottled drinks on offer. "What the...?"
It's just like what happened before...
Jacob felt his stomach drop, his legs becoming noticeably weaker. He decided to book it back to his dorm room. Whatever was going down, he refused to believe that it was anything supernatural, or even related to him specifically. He's just letting his bad thoughts take over too much, that's all, right? This wasn't actually happening, was it?
Once he arrived in his room, Jacob locked the door and sat down in his office chair, tossing his school bag haphazardly onto his bed. From there, he stared at his blank computer screen, waiting for something weird to happen. Time seemed to get slower as a whole lot of nothing happened while Jacob stared. And yet, nothing happened.
"Oh, so now is when you decide to cut it with the creepy pasta shit?" Jacob asked to no one in particular. "Whatever... ghost, spirit, whatever, is doing this, I don't like being played around with like this, so cut to the point already!"
A moment passes... then, as if by chance, the computer screen flickered to life.
<Jacob Faulkner>
"Yes, I'm here now. What is it that you want?"
<Do you yearn for freedom? To drive your own destiny?>
"I'd like to not be stuck in this country against my will, yeah. Be free to make my own choices... be able to go to college with my friends like we wanted to... not be a golden child like my parents want me to be, like my sisters."
<You may feel resentful now, but perhaps Japan is precisely what you need. You are destined for great things, Jacob... if that is what you so desire.>
The screen went blank once again. As quickly as it did, however, a new light began to shine on the computer. A bright, white light that shined so brightly that it engulfed everything in the room. Jacob closed his eyes and screamed as the light engulfed him, and once that light faded, Jacob was no longer anywhere to be seen within his room...
Today was a cold, cloudy day in late March, a week or so before the new term of school starts. Jacob really didn't want to be here right now, in this airport terminal walking past all the restaurants and cafes with his hands in his jacket pockets, pushing past many other people getting to their destinations. He wished so desperately that he was shooting hoops back home, or even going to a normal college right in his home city of St. Paul.
So why was Jacob at the airport, then? Well, some time ago he had been accepted into Shibuya Academy's college division as a foreign exchange student. Jacob had been studying Japanese for over a year now, and the Faulkner family had gone to Japan as a family last month for a tour of Tokyo, specifically the Shibuya ward, along with Jacob's sisters Jenny and Janice. And now, today was the day that Jacob was going to move into the dorms of the school full-time. Although judging by Jacob's current facial expression, he looked as if he were about to be sent to prison instead. In Jacob's mind, moving to Japan and going to prison were one and the same, and it all has to do with the ones who decided to enroll him in a Japanese school to begin with.
Accompanying him today were Jacob's parents, James and Julia Faulkner, both with excited expressions plastered on their faces. While both were middle aged adults, James was wearing a grey button-down dress shirt tucked into his blue jeans and was starting to bald on the head, while Julia's straight hair went down to her neck, and she was wearing a black office dress with a light grey jacket over it. Both looked the part of helicopter parents, and it was painfully obvious that they were more enthused about Jacob attending college overseas more than Jacob himself was.
"Flight 27 to Shibuya, Japan, now boarding," said the voice coming from the intercom. James and Julia could barely contain their excitement.
"Well, this is it," Julia said to Jacob, "the rest of your life starts now, honey." She put both of her hands on Jacob's shoulders, smiling as she looked him in the eyes. "I just can't believe it... you're all grown up now." She pulled him in for a hug. "You're no longer our baby boy."
Explain why I still feel like your baby boy, then? Jacob bitterly thought, while still returning the hug. He broke away a few moments later to grab pick up his bags, turning back towards his parents to give them a fake smile. "Yeah, this sure is it, I guess. Goodbye, mom and dad. I'll... miss you both so much."
Yeah, right.
"Be sure to call us as soon as you get settled in," James said. "Don't worry about time differences, we'll be up until you call us."
"And look out for Hoshizaki at the airport, she'll lead you to where you'll be staying! We love you, sweetie! Good luck!"
"Do us proud, my boy!"
It took a commendable amount of willpower for Jacob to keep his cool and not scream at his parents about how he felt about all of this. Instead, he took a deep breath, giving his parents a halfhearted wave goodbye before turning to leave them. All his life, Jacob had to put up with parents that loved the idea of him more than actually loving him. Having them choosing his activities and expecting perfection from him at every turn, and being given artificial "love" in return. If there was any silver lining to him heading for Japan, it was that he would finally be away from those self-centered hypocrites he called his parents. And at this point, he'd take any kind of freedom he's being offered. Anywhere way from them.
Jacob briefly glanced at a nearby monitor as he headed towards his flight, and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that the flights weren't listed there like they normally were. Instead, in its place was a black screen with a single question written on it in green text:
<Jacob Faulkner, do you yearn to be free in this world?>
What the hell?
Jacob blinked and rubbed his eyes, believing that he was seeing things due to a combination of anger and stress. When he opened them back up, the upcoming flight list was back on the screen, and no one nearby acknowledged that the screen had changed to begin with. He scanned the area from where he was standing, looking to see if anything else that odd had happened, but he didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he really did just imagine it?
Yeah, might be a good idea to get some sleep on the flight.
On the bright side, Jacob wasn't the only exchange student from abroad like he had feared. However, of the ones he had met so far (which admittedly weren't many) he just didn't get along very well with them. Either they had completely different interests from him, or Jacob considered them to be pompous assholes. He dealt with the "prep" archetype more than he ever wanted to back home, and he had no intention of doing so here.
Sadly, this meant that Jacob felt more alone than ever. He didn't have a roommate in his dorm, much to his surprise. Hoshizaki had done a fine job showing Jacob the sights of Shibuya and plotting out a way to get to not only his dorm, but his classes as well, and he was surprised to see his dorm room only had one bed. Jacob figured he'd be bunking with someone like in the movies where a character goes to a boarding school. Odd, but Jacob wasn't complaining at the time. Now, he kind of is.
Whenever Jacob passes by things like the baseball diamond or the basketball courts on campus, he'd see other people hanging out, playing sports and having a good time, and he'd wish it was easier for him to ask to join in. But Jacob's Japanese was less than perfect, meaning that getting the right words out was a challenge for him, and understanding what was said back to him was even harder. And to think Jacob had once prided himself on learning things more quickly than others normally would. At least some natives spoke English, but not very many. He was lucky he had a translator for him during his classes, otherwise he'd be very far behind in terms of his grades.
And class was where Jacob was currently, sitting in his last lecture of the day. School itself was never super challenging for him; he paid attention thoroughly in class and took down notes on things he thought he would forget come class's end. It was likely due to his parents' insistence that he get perfect grades like Jenny did that Jacob thought to try a little harder in school. And thanks to his translator-slash-tutor, Jun Maki, he felt like he was able to be on par with his fellow classmates despite being a foreigner. It still felt weird to Jacob that the school year started in April, being an American where they started the year off in September, but overall he was feeling positive about his college career after week two had ended.
After what felt like an eternity of listening to the professor ramble on in Japanese, the lecture had finally ended, and the sound of all the students getting up and grabbing their things filled Jacob's ears. He was in the middle of grabbing his books and school bag when he was stopped by none other than his translator and personal tutor, Ms. Jun Maki, a young woman in her mid twenties with medium-length brown hair that reached just past her neck, and a shorter body than other women her age.
"Faulkner-san, I was wondering if you were holding up well," Ms. Maki said to Jacob in English. "I've been noticing that you don't appear to be very happy during class ever since the term began, and I want to be able to help you. You can talk to me if you need to, you know."
"It was that noticeable, huh? Don't worry about me, Ms. Maki, I'm fine. It's just that-"
"That you're in a new country with people and customs you are unfamiliar with?" Ms. Maki asked. "I know what that feels like. I was born here in Tokyo myself, but my family moved to America when I was still a baby. We then moved back here when I was twelve, and I felt like an outcast. Despite my heritage, I was a foreigner, and everyone around me knew it. I wanted nothing more than to move back to where I felt like I was home."
"So, you really do know how I'm feeling... or most of how I'm feeling, at least."
Ms. Maki nodded. "Yes, I do. I won't push you into talking it out if you are not ready, but I urge you to not give up on the country yet. There are many amazing people here who I know would love to get to know you. You're a bright young man with potential, Jacob. Don't forget that."
Jacob smiled. "Thanks, Ms. Maki. I... needed that, I think. I'll see you on Monday." And with that, he was finally done with classes and lectures for the next couple of days, and once he got his homework done, he'd have the entire weekend to himself. Yep, that's right. All to himself...
Alone.
It was a very lonely walk back to his dorm room. Before Ms. Maki, the last person Jacob could recall having any kind of meaningful conversation with was Hoshizaki, the one who helped him transition into a Japanese college life, but even then that was all business and not out of a desire to actually befriend each other. Jacob fully expected to never see her again, anyways.
As he walked, Jacob thought back to the plans he made with his friends back home. They were all going to go to a community college in St. Paul together, and they'd all have a normal college life there in the big city. Then Jacob's parents just had to barge into his room, shoving all his plans off the table to make room for their plans for Jacob. Angry, bitter thoughts ate away at Jacob's mind during the walk. It was all their fault that he was stuck here in this god-forsaken country that he couldn't even understand and didn't even want to be in to begin with. And the more his mind dwelled on these thoughts, the angrier and more resentful Jacob got. But then thoughts of what Ms. Maki entered his head, and it was as if the two different methods of thinking were at odds with each other in Jacob's brain.
And then Jacob was ripped from his own head when a tennis ball hit him square in the face, knocking him onto his butt. When he got his bearings back in order, he looked up to see a boy and a girl standing over him, both holding tennis rackets.
"I'm so sorry, are you okay?" the girl asked, holding a hand out to help Jacob up. It was spoken in Japanese, but thankfully it was a common phrase that Jacob could understand. He smiled and accepted the girl's offer to help him back up on his feet.
"I'm fine," Jacob said in Japanese, rubbing the bridge of his nose where he got hit. It still stung like a bitch, but he knew the pain would pass.
"Oh, you're one of the foreigner students," the boy said, now speaking in English. "Are you liking Japan so far?"
"It's just fantastic, thank you for asking," Jacob said, his tone sounding rather annoyed. "Especially when you're here against your will, you know?"
The boy and girl looked back at each other, now looking unsure about this confrontation, before the girl spoke up next. "I'm sorry my ball hit you, so let me make it up to you. Let me buy you a drink."
"Thanks, but no thanks," Jacob interrupted. "You don't have to buy anything for me to say sorry. I'm a sports player as well, things like that happen."
"Oh, you play sports?" the boy asked. "Do you know how to play tennis? We could play a quick set!"
"Maybe some other time. I've got plenty of homework to get through, plus I'm not really in the best of moods right now. See you around." Jacob then walked past a red vending machine, but stopped when the screen suddenly went dark. More green text appeared on the screen, like before at the airport.
<Jacob Faulkner>
"Did... you guys just see that?" Jacob asked the two tennis players, who had begun to head back towards the courts.
"See what?" the girl asked.
"The vending machine..."
"What about it?" the boy asked. "Are they different in America?"
"Well, yes, but-" Jacob began, turning back towards the vending machine... which looked the way it usually did now, displaying the various bottled drinks on offer. "What the...?"
It's just like what happened before...
Jacob felt his stomach drop, his legs becoming noticeably weaker. He decided to book it back to his dorm room. Whatever was going down, he refused to believe that it was anything supernatural, or even related to him specifically. He's just letting his bad thoughts take over too much, that's all, right? This wasn't actually happening, was it?
Once he arrived in his room, Jacob locked the door and sat down in his office chair, tossing his school bag haphazardly onto his bed. From there, he stared at his blank computer screen, waiting for something weird to happen. Time seemed to get slower as a whole lot of nothing happened while Jacob stared. And yet, nothing happened.
"Oh, so now is when you decide to cut it with the creepy pasta shit?" Jacob asked to no one in particular. "Whatever... ghost, spirit, whatever, is doing this, I don't like being played around with like this, so cut to the point already!"
A moment passes... then, as if by chance, the computer screen flickered to life.
<Jacob Faulkner>
"Yes, I'm here now. What is it that you want?"
<Do you yearn for freedom? To drive your own destiny?>
"I'd like to not be stuck in this country against my will, yeah. Be free to make my own choices... be able to go to college with my friends like we wanted to... not be a golden child like my parents want me to be, like my sisters."
<You may feel resentful now, but perhaps Japan is precisely what you need. You are destined for great things, Jacob... if that is what you so desire.>
The screen went blank once again. As quickly as it did, however, a new light began to shine on the computer. A bright, white light that shined so brightly that it engulfed everything in the room. Jacob closed his eyes and screamed as the light engulfed him, and once that light faded, Jacob was no longer anywhere to be seen within his room...
