Pogo seated himself back at the table, resting his chin in his palm thoughtfully.
"Well… maybe we could go and do that together. Or we could take a walk, explore the woods. Or I could meet your neighbors."
He shrugged. "You have any ideas? You know this place better than I do."
“Hmm… I think you’d like Mothman, he’s a cool guy. And he could probably fly us out of the woods, if there’s something you want to do in the city…” Ender started getting ready to head out, grabbing his satchel.
"The city.. you'd go there?"
Hah! Eye boy wouldn't last five minutes, Kapnos snickered.
"Well, it's up to you," Pogo insisted, getting up and taking his satchel from where it rested on the couch before following Ender. "There'd certainly be a lot to do, but it might be too much. You changing into your true form would probably, uh… cause issues."
“….I wanna see what it’s like….and…..if I think I might change, i could hide somewhere…..Mothman told me there are a lot of places to hide in the city…..” He crawled out of the bunker and started walking.
“Hey dad? I’ve got someone for you to meet!” He shouted into the trees.
A few seconds later, there was a loud fluttering of wings, and Mothman appeared on the ground in front of them. He was about 10 feet tall, with a massive wingspan. He was fuzzy, and his antennae looked similar to feathers. His large red eyes reflected the sunlight. He let out a few clicking noises, and tilted his head to the side in curiosity.
Ender hugged Mothman gently. “How’re you doing, Dad?” Ender smiled a little.
“Eh, pretty good. How ‘bout you? And who’s this kid?” Mothman’s voice was raspy, and had a faint West Virginian accent.
“I’m doing good! This is Pogo, my……….my……” Ender tried to figure out what exactly they were.
Pogo stared at the towering, winged cryptid standing before him, suddenly feeling a little dry in the mouth.
Oh, shit, eye boy wasn't kidding when he said he knew Mothman, Kapnos cackled. Yeah, that's the real deal, right before you! Hope you don't mess things up.
"U-Uhm… well," Pogo began uneasily, not sure what would be the right word to use himself. "I-I guess we're, uh… boyfriends? Dating. I-In a relationship, I guess."
Mothman nodded. ”Cool.” He reached an arm over to Pogo, ruffling his hair. ”Ya don’t gotta be so nervous, kid, I’m not gonna hurt you. I’m just glad En met someone.” He leaned in and whispered. ”Be careful with him, alright? He’s….fragile.”
Ender had picked up a squished Coke can, and was observing it closely.
Pogo flinched at the touch, but managed to relax when he realized Mothman had no intention to be threatening.
"Y-Yeah, I'll do my best," he replied, his voice cracking a bit.
Fragile? Understatement of the century, Kapnos snickered.
Oh, shut it.
"It's— uhm… nice to finally meet you, Sir."
Sir? That's what you're gonna call him?
Mothman laughed a little. ”You can just call me Mothman, no need for formalities.” Mothman took a good look at Pogo. ”I see you’ve got another voice in that noggin, hm?” He chuckled. ”I can see heat. You’ve got a person hangin’ around in ya. Looks kinda like a double outline.”
Ender was far more interested in the can than the conversation that was happening.
Pogo sighed, nodding slowly. "It's… a long story. They like to give me a hard time."
Oh, so that's how you're gonna introduce me to the Big Man? Sheesh.
"Ender's told me a lot about you. You really know your way around this place?"
Mothman nodded. ”Inside and out. I’ve lived here my whole life. And I can fly, so that comes in handy.” He laughed a little. ”Ender! Careful with that! Cans can be real sharp if they’re beat up like that!”
Ender dropped the can.
Pogo blinked.
"Ender told me he's been with you his whole life, too. Does it, uh.. bother you, to be seen by a human? The voice in my head — can't use their name — told me cryptids typically don't engage with people."
Mothman shrugged. “Eh, doesn’t really bother me. I try to stay out of the way, but if someone wanders in, I don’t mind.”
Pogo breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, I won't try to hold you up too much. Are you ready to go, Ender?"
Ender nodded.
”So, where to?” Mothman shook his wings, getting them ready for flight.
"I, uh, live in the city that's almost just outside these woods," Pogo replied. "I dunno if you've seen it. It's got a pretty big clock tower."
Mothman nodded, immediately remembering the way. “Yeah, I can take you there. No problem. Hop on.” He lowered his wings so that Pogo and Ender could climb on. Ender got on, and held onto the top of his wing.
Pogo climbed on, clinging to Mothman with a newfound anxiety now that it seemed to dawn on him what exactly was going to happen.
"Y-You, uh…. you don't fly too high off the ground, do you…?"
Mothman shrugged. ”I kinda have to, to be able to see the way out of here…”
Ender put his hand over Pogo’s, gripping it gently. “It’ll be over quickly.”
Pogo didn't respond, too busy clutching to Mothman like his life depended on it. He hated being afraid, but he was absolutely petrified by heights and that hadn't changed since he was a boy.
"J-Just… get it over with…"
Mothman took off, and they started making their way out of the woods. Ender grinned the whole time, loving the feeling of the wind on his face. After about 2 minutes, he landed just outside of the woods and lowered his wings for them to climb off. Ender’s hair was blown back by the wind, and settled to the side. It looked nice, but was very different to how it usually looked.
Pogo slowly climbed off of Mothman, only now realizing just how badly he was shaking.
Holy Hell, kid, are you okay..?
He clung to Ender, almost instinctively. He'd be okay, he just… needed a minute.
Ender held him, stroking his hair gently, trying to calm him down. “Hey….it’s gonna be okay….we’re on the ground now….”
Pogo eventually managed to pull himself together. He pulled away from Ender, managing a smile.
"P-Probably should'a told you about it earlier," he laughed weakly. "Sorry, just… not so good with heights."
He took Ender's hand, turning to face away from the woods and towards the city that bordered it.
"Thanks for—… for getting us out," he told Mothman, before glancing up at Ender.
"Where, uh, did you want to go?"
Mothman gave him a small headpat. ”No problem, kiddo. See ya around.” He took off again, flying back into the woods.
Ender’s eyes lit up. “E v e r y w h e r e”
He had always wanted to see all the average and mundane places and things humans did. They were new to him, and he wanted to learn all about it.
Pogo grinned.
"Well, I… could take you to my place," he suggested. "As a starting point. We'd have quite a few options from there, and I'd just like to water my plants before we really start exploring."
Ender nodded excitedly. He was absolutely ecstatic to see all of the human things.
"This place is close to where I entered the woods from, which means, hopefully, my place is nearby…"
He pulled Ender along, his gaze focused upwards at the street signs and traffic directions. He stuck to the sidewalk, for the most part, only crossing the road when cars were mostly absent.
"Runner's Avenue.. Poplar Road… aha! Lancing Way, that's the street!" he breathed a sigh of relief. "We were closer than we thought."
The two eventually arrived at a small apartment complex. Pogo let go of Ender's hand, searching through his satchel until he found his keys. He made his way over to a door with the number "107" printed on the front, fumbled with his keys for a moment, then pushed the door open.
Inside was a small apartment house, the doorway immediately opening up to a living room and branching out into only two other rooms – the kitchen and the bedroom. Most notable about the apartment was the numerous kinds of plants that decorated the place. Succulents and cacti sat on the windowsill, a bonsai tree sat on a coffee table in the living room, and many plants hung from planters on the ceiling — and that was the tip of the iceberg.
"Make yourself at home; we won't stay here too long."
Ender admired all of the city scenery, curious about anything and everything the city had to offer. When he got inside, he was immediately captivated by the plants. He had never seen these plants before; he had only ever seen weird, radioactive variations. He looked at them closely, grinning.
“How do they name the streets? Do they just….. pick something? What if there’s already a street named that?” He tilted his head.
(I would just like to take a moment to say that I am very grateful for your good spelling and grammar lmao)
Pogo dug through his closet, pulling out a watering can and a pair of gloves. He snickered at Ender's question.
"I dunno. It really does feel like they just slap on a name, doesn't it? You'll definitely find duplicates, but less so in the city itself. If we were to go to another state, we could probably find a street name that's the same here."
He got to work, putting on the gloves and filling the watering can up at the sink, dousing each plant in the kitchen carefully with a bit of water.
"From my apartment we've got…"
He paused both his sentence and his watering to try and recall just exactly what there was to do. He wasn't someone to get out much.
"Well… I dunno. We could wander, figure out some places together. I uh, hah, don't really remember."