Private Finished an unannounced reunion

Fifth day and still optimistic. Not too long ago she left her home island in search of a special person who she never even met, and quite likely never even met her. But armed with a photograph and sight beyond compare, she was determined to find this person.

She had no lodgings, and all her food had nearly run out, but still that did not faze her in the slightest. She had seen plenty of people just throwing food away for smaller birds, so she was sure she could get some if she asked nicely.

High in the sky, with wings stretched out, the harpy glided as her eyes checked every face down below. Most of the people she saw she had already seen in the past five days, but there are some who were still new to her, which kept her hope alive of finding this elusive man she had been missing from her entire life. Perhaps it was time to take her hunt closer to the ground.

The harpy folded her wings and descended at an increasingly quick rate before once again catching the wind under her wings to sail just above the traffic of metallic beasts on the streets. Quite a few people were startled by her presence as she got a little too close to colliding with trucks that were just a little bit higher than most of the cars.

Through different streets, she circled around as many times as she needed to look into every window until all her work finally paid off. She found him! She could hardly believe it! She circled back to get a better run-up to the person in her picture and went full speed like a hawk attempting to snatch a rodent off of the ground.

The large window was her chosen point of entry, and those that were walking past it would dive out of the way once they saw what was coming. CRASH! The glass shattered as the winged woman broke through the flimsy barricade, shielding herself with her wings just as the impact occurred and tackled her long lost father, which would send both of them sliding along the floor.

"I FINALLY FOUND YOU!!" she'd shout out with glee while her ever tightening, snake-like grip constricted the poor man she had trapped within her arms. Her eyes were closed to hold back tears of pure joy, but the strong emotion escaped through her mouth in the form of uncontrolled giggles while the rest of that energy powered the grip that threatened to squeeze the life out of her father.

@hyperhurricane

She had heard him, but decided to ignore his pleas, keeping her grip tight despite being slowly pried off inch by inch. "I've been looking for you for five days! I'm not letting go just yet!" she'd say with just as much enthusiasm as before while strengthening her grip to fight being pushed away even though she couldn't hope to keep up this level of strength for long. But so long as she could, she was having none of it, no way!

She had never felt so happy before, and if it were possible to die just from pure happiness, then she would have already dropped dead the moment she heard his voice.

"I never thought I could be so happy to meet someone for the first time." The tears were starting to escape her eyes but they were quickly wiped away on his shirt. She hoped he didn't really mind that, but it was the most convenient way of keeping her face clear.

When she felt that she gave all the hugs she could give, she sat up, to take a good look at the man, and there was no mistaking it. "It really IS you..." she said with a lowered voice, almost a whisper. She wanted to cry so much, but she had to remain composed. Err, somewhat.

Val was really anxious. How was he going to react to her? Would he recognize her in any way? Did he remember her mother? She had so many questions to ask him, and it seems like eternity would be too short to ask them all. So before all that, she was going to let him ask her anything first, if only to hear his voice again.

@hyperhurricane

Her eyes followed the man as he went to talk to a white cat that seemed to be fluent with magic, seeing that the glass she just broke looked good as new. Truthfully, it didn't occur to her that the windows here might not be automated like they were at home, but that made her question why. It was then when the hype had died down just a little did she feel a little aching in her body from the impact. Some pieces of her feathers had been snipped from the shards, but luckily it didn't seem like her skin was cut by them.

When he turned back to her, she quickly jumped up, ignoring the minor aches. He raised the possibility of mistaking him for someone else, and in response to that, she gingerly shook her head as a large grin built up on her face. She took out the picture, unfolded it and presented it to him, both arms extended, which knocked a couple more books off the shelves thanks to her wings and her own over-excitement. It was a picture of a man in the forest, smiling at the camera. There was no doubt that this was the man she was talking to, albeit younger-looking, but that's definitely expected considering the photo was about 25 years old.

"There's no mistaking it! This is definitely you!" Practically bouncing in place as she showed the picture, she couldn't help but let herself get infected with the giggles once again. Then without warning, she rushed up to him and gave him one more hug, burying her face on his chest as she did so.

Finally realizing that all this hugging might cause her father's ribs to cave in, she let go and took a step back, but the expression of glee never left her features. "S-sorry, it's just I'm so excited to finally meet you, Dad! We've got a lot of catching up to do!"

@hyperhurricane

The shocked expression on her father's face told her everything. He couldn't believe he'd get to see her daughter either after all these years! Or even that he had a daughter, but none of that mattered now since there she was! The excitement just never left the harpy, and despite how grown up she looked, she still acted like a very excitable child, even more so when her father lead her outside.

"Where are we going?" she asked excitedly, but her father didn't need to answer as they soon turned into an alley. She remained close of course, not wanting to lose him so soon after their reunion.

The question that followed made her think a little. "What do you mean?" It caught her off guard, but it eventually clicked in her mind what her father meant. "Oh! Well, mom told me! I found pictures of the two of you in a box in the attic, and I showed them to her. She was mad at first and wouldn't talk about who you were, but she eventually told me everything."

Val fiddled with her fingers for a moment, but kept looking at her father with a smile. "I've never seen mom smile the way she did when she was talking about you, you know, so I thought that I just had to meet you in person. So here I am!" It was an oversimplification of everything, but she had to do a lot to get as much information out of her mother as she did. She also purposely left out the part about not taking him back with her. She had no idea why, but it might be because her mother was working on something really important and didn't want to be distracted. Meaning, Val shouldn't go and tell her yet either, meaning she was going to need to be with her father for the time being, and that didn't sound bad in the slightest.

They'll have a lot of time to catch up, and Val was determined to make use of every day bonding with him.

@hyperhurricane