terminal velocity

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<center><span class = title>TERMINAL VELOCITY</span></center><<cont>><<goto "text 1">><</cont>>

<center><b>bird</b>: a warm-blooded, egg laying vertebrate distinguished by the possession of feathers, wings, and a beak and (typically) by being able to fly.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 2]]>><</button>>

<center><span class = convo>"are [[you|you]] [[afraid|afraid]]?"</span></center>

<center><b>you</b>: an adult human clad in someone else's clothes and with hands bloody from god-only-knows-what, talking to a bird as if it might save you.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 3]]>><</button>>

<center>You will fall.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 3]]>><</button>>

<center>And you whose wings are fledgling, folded tight against your body, you who crouches at the edge and avoids with all your might the abyss before you, you whose hair and clothes are whipped by the bitter-cold wind, ask in return:</center> <center><span class = convo>"[[why|why]]? should I be?"</span></center>

<center>You will fall. You will not die. It will <i>hurt</i>.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 4]]>><</button>>

<center>To which the high-circling bird laughs, a cackling sound, harsh mockery of the nervous laughter upon [[Icarus'|icarus]] lips.</center>

<center><b>Icarus</b>: an ancient Greek myth cautioning against ambition - Icarus' wax-bound wings melt as he nears the sun; human ambition cannot conquer the forces of nature nor the will of the gods. We all fall. We all meet the sea.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 5]]>><</button>>

<center><span class = convo>"you know the [[myths|myths]], foolish [[icarus|icarus_2]]. you cannot [[fly|fly]] as i do."</span></center>

<center><b>myth</b>: hope, foolish hope. Your arms wrapped around her waist. A smile upon your lips. The opposite of and same thing as standing here, talking to a bird.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 6]]>><</button>>

<center><b>fly</b>: (of a bird, bat, or insect) move through the air using wings.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 6]]>><</button>>

<center><span class = convo>"i never believed in [[myths|myths_2]], [[bird|bird_2]]. i am [[not afraid|not afraid]]."</span></center> <center>Says you, who still dares not look over the edge you now stand over, lean over, heart in throat and and wings unfurled, feathers fluttering in the breeze.</center>

<center><b>myth</b>: hope, foolish hope. Your arms wrapped around her waist. A smile upon your lips. The opposite of and same thing as standing here, talking to yourself.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 7]]>><</button>>

<center>Are you really? What's that feeling in your stomach? What're those tears in your eyes?</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 7]]>><</button>>

<center><b>gravity</b>: the force that attracts a body towards the center of the earth, or any other physical body having mass. Inevitable.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center><b>bird</b>: a warm-blooded, egg laying vertebrate distinguished by the possession of feathers, wings, and a beak and (typically) by being able to fly. Your fellow interlocutor.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center><i>Why</i> are you here? Are you really so naïve to think you will fly?</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center>Why are <i>you</i> here? To die? To find some inane reason to live?</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center>Why <i>are</i> you here?</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center>You will fall. You will not die. It will <i>hurt</i>.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 8]]>><</button>>

<center><span class = convo>"perhaps. perhaps first, i will [[fly|fly_2]]."</span></center>

<center>The wax on your wings has melted, feathers waterlogged. Fall, Icarus. Do not be afraid.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|text 9]]>><</button>>

<center>The bird laughs again and again, stretches its wings wide. Imitating you, who looks at last, peering over the precipice before turning your face skywards, closed eyes and outstretched arms. Outstretched wings, open palms offered in prayer. The last words on your lips a repetition of foolish conviction, <i>perhaps first I will fly</i>. Outstretched arms, outstretched wings, leaning forwards, stepping forwards, falling forwards.</center> <center>Falling forwards and hoping to fly. <center>Gravity, no myth, pulls hard and the ground approaches. Too fast; the wings do not catch air and falling again is Icarus. Never to be borne aloft by ambition. Falling again as the bird closes its wings and mimics Icarus one final time.</center> <<button [[> INEVITABLE.|EMPTY]]>><</button>>