The second day of the con is, thankfully or not, fairly uneventful all things considered.

Garuda encounters more fans, a few who came to the con specifically to see her. Some ask for an autograph. One asks for a feather, gets creepy about it, and is escorted out by Event Staff. 

Sammy ends up with a small mountain of merch between the two of them.

Ah creepy dudes. The most female of experiences. It’s one thing to be a anonymous creep on twitter, but in person? Don’t people have shame?

Andrea has to give up on so much cool merch due to relative poverty. He makes for quality with quantity of cheap junk. Sooooo many stickers.

Once the con ends Andrea pulls Sammy aside in the parking lot to give him his number. “You’re super nice and I know you aren’t a serial killer now so It’d be a shame to go back to just twitter dm friends.”

"Friends I can definitely do. Maybe you can join my board game group. They'd get a kick out of it for sure..."

Sammy will recite his number as well. And enter it into Andrea's phone for her if she has it in a pocket.

Awwww he is SO NICE. It really is such a pity Garuda can’t take him back to a nest to keep. “Ehe I could play a werewolf.”

Andrea gives Sammy one last hug, grabs the merch bag with their talons, and heads home.

Andrea basically only human forms for classes now. Now that he can be wolf girl form and have hands around the apartment. He debuts the wolf form on twitter. Soaks in the validation from strangers. And requests name ideas now that he multiple forms.

Even when he does human form he usually doesn’t bother changing out of the girl clothes he’s in when he’s in wolf form. It’s only for class that he goes back to his old wardrobe.

Skirts are comfy okay! He always had texture issues with most pants.

Back at the con Sammy suggested selling rides as a thing he could do, and that is actually a great idea. Definitely not just being considered because he wants more money to buy cute clothes online.

So he buys a safety harness just because it makes sense to have one if you are selling flying rides. It’ll take a few days to arrive so Andrea goes back to twitter to post rather more spicy picture angles as wolf girl now he can actually aim his phone.

A couple of people at uni comment that he seems happier.

The internet continues to internet. Sammy produces a sketch of her wolf form sprinting down a running track on all fours, fangs bared.

Now that she's revealed a second form, she's actually much more popular! People think she's a growth-type super! That would be a huge deal! She gets compared to Everyman instead too, but people insist that Everyman is a really great hero. He stopped this crazy French guy from stealing the Statue of Liberty's torch, you know!

Time passes. News stories: Fears of superpowered damage continue to mount in wake of Zurich Incident. President Barack Obama calls for super-powered individuals to be peaceful citizens. Pfizer announces a new kind of flu vaccine developed in cooperation with Stella Sky, the Space Heroine.

Sure all that is important world news. But why is nobody paying attention to the spicier pics he posted. Underboob! Thighs! Abs! Andrea put a lot of effort into those.

Andrea plans out more of their selling rides thing. They post that they will be in the same park that first had that Garuda sighting selling flights around the park for $20 a pop. He will be able to buy so many cute outfits if this works!

Oh, the spicier pics are DEFINITELY getting a lot of attention. She has attracted plenty of spam and creeps in her DMs in addition to more wholesome messages by now.

Uh, is that SAFE?

[The shut up and take my money meme]

Who cares how often do you get the chance to fly with a superhero

inb4 city sends cops to make you stop

I wonder if drone operator laws apply to bird-girls

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

Running there now!

I’ve given @Sammy_Sketches_543 rides at the con! My grip is very secure. And I bought some climbing harnesses to clip together for extra safety. It’ll be safer than a zipline! I’ll stay low and at low speed just in case. You probably wouldn’t enjoy my max speeds much unless you get up way higher than where the bugs live. And then I’d worry about air traffic laws. So low and slow around the park for $20.

Is it weird that Andrea finds some of the creepy messages kinda flattering? Like yeah, still gross, still assholes. But being found hot is… nice. Andrea will just ignore how unhealthy that thought seems and shove it wayyyyy down. 

(To be fair there are also plenty of more wholesome compliments! Some people really like her hair, for example.)

Internet wonders when, exactly, she's going to be there. And when she'll decide to stop. Because the hype is real and there might be a LOT of people showing up.

Uhhhhh Saturday at 2pm? Probably until it gets dark? Flying when it’s dark seems unsafe. Don’t worry if it goes well I’ll be out other weekends. This probably isn’t a one time thing.

Surely not that many people will be able to come to a park in some relatively small tourist town in potato country. It’s not the actual middle of nowhere, and spokane washington is an actual city and isn’t that far away. But like, odds that a random person following Garuda online is living nearby should be low.

On the one hand, supers are not actually THAT rare. There's at least a few hundred in all of America. More than one in a million. Also, supers willing to interact with their fans for cash aren't super rare! There's supers who'll do power shows at birthday parties and stuff!

On the other hand, one in a hundred thousand is still rare. And Garuda (internet suggested Menagerie as a new name, but it didn't really stick) is a cute girl super with an internet presence.

Maybe forty thousand people see her plans in total. Of those people, only about two percent live within an hour or two's drive. (And it's only that high because local heroes are more popular and a bunch of people started following her after seeing her at the con.) So about eight hundred. Of those people, nine out of ten are busy or not sufficiently interested.

Maybe eighty people show up. Some of them have Garuda signs.

Yikes…. Well… flying 80 people in an afternoon should be… possible? Andrea is lucky this is bubbly Garuda that he is being right now. As a normal human this many people giving him attention might give him a panic attack.

Swoooosh. Garuda lands in front of the people. “Hi everyone! Make a queue and have your $20 ready to put in my fanny pack. I can’t break bigger bills because I’d need fingers for that. I have a Climbing harness in my backpack for you to strap on for safety that will clip to my harness. You get a lap around the park at pretty low altitude because I don't want to get in trouble with the aviation authorities.” Ohhh his voice is very good at carrying as Garuda, very clear, that’s nice to know.

“Uh sure! Thanks!” Having someone with hands help with harnesses would be a huge help. 5% is like a bad tip worth of money, definitely this would help speed things up and be worth it.

No Andrea, don’t have impure thoughts about muscular tattooed woman, that is not appropriate.

People who complain about wanting more time don’t get to go back in line. And get blacklisted from any possible future events. They get to FLY for $20! Andrea kept the prices way lower than he knows he could have charged because he wanted it to be affordable.

Hopefully if someone tries to film it while being carried they don't drop their phone.

"Cool! Name's Victoria."

It goes a LOT smoother with Victoria's help. Way more than 5% worth smoother. She can swoop down and be back in the air in ten seconds.

Everyone gets a ride! Multiple rides if they get back in line! With the increase in profits, Andrea is definitely tipping another 5%. At 20 bucks a pop and around 150 rides. Thats a lot of money for an afternoons work doing harnesses, and a LOT of money for flying! Eeeee so many cute outfits are possible now.

Andrea is only getting a bit tired by the time the sun starts setting. Mostly from the takeoffs and landings than the flying itself. His legs accchhheee. His wings are mostly fine though.

When the last ride is over Andrea lands and outright flops on the grass next to Victoria. “I didn’t know I even had the muscles that are sore in my legs right now. This is so different from running, I’m used to that pain.”

The crowd and the event attracts some locals too. A news van and some cops come to take a look at one point, but they just take photos and wave rather than try to break it up. The news crew tries to interview her, with mostly softball feelgood questions like 'what is flying like' and 'what do you think of our city', but also 'will you be offering rides again some time?'

"Running would be a right pain in those legs." Victoria drawls in an Australian accent once sunset approaches and the crowd finally disperses for real. "It'd be cool as fuck to have claws, I think. But the grass is always greener on the other side."

“Flying is fun! I don’t really have words to explain the difference between being flown or being on a zipline and flying by yourself though.” “The city is cool. Nice park. Public bathrooms for changing in is appreciated. I like the lake and the little coffee huts everywhere.” Gosh those coffee huts are great when walking to school in the snow. “Maybe next week? Check my twitter for updates.” Andrea is NEVER calling it X. Finally Interviews over!

When Victoria talks more than a few words and without a crowds worth of noise covering it up making the accent noticeable. Andrea is surprised. “A fellow Australian!” His own accent is very weak because of a lot of schooling spent in the states. But it’s still nice to meet someone from home. Oh shit, thats a clue to secret identity. “Uhhhh don’t tell anyone.”

"I figure you're not a bird when you're at home probably, so the accent's a fakeout too, yeah?" Wink.

“The American accent is just sticky! If you live here long enough it’ll get you too!” Andrea already says tomato the wrong way, the American way. His parents mock him relentlessly for it every time he says it. “And yeah when I talked about running I meant with normal legs. I can barely walk well on the talons, the bird waddle is so embarrassing. Garuda is definitely designed to fly everywhere. Picking people up and landing so often has revealed thigh muscle pain I didn't even know could exist.”

Andrea either wants to transform back and rub his legs, or take a scalding bath to relax the muscles. It’s not the hardest job he’s done but he definitely feels like he earned that money.

"Would it have been easier if you could hover while we change out the harnesses? Build you a little platform like we have for ski lifts?"

“Nah probably not. It’s not even that bad I’m just being a baby about it. Plus whatever muscles they are will develop with use.” Andrea is imagining Garuda having EVEN MORE impressive thighs after more lifting flights. Gosh, will he eventually be able to do the watermelon crushing thing he’s seen in gifs?

"Oh good, even super have to deal with that. That salves my pride in these babies."

She flexes her arms.

"I'd be plenty open to doin' this some more. Good money, and it's neat to see powers in action."