Jamie took off on his first extended flight from the nest, dropping from the cliff face to gather speed, then catching the thermal that took his body above the ridge.
This was it then, finaly time to leave the nest, the time he had looked forward to ever since cracking the shell on that first disappointing day of life.
He remembered the other life. He wasn't supposed to, but so many were being processed through that he had managed to skip the cup of Lethe water that would make him forget his former life as a teenage football star, a life of disappointment in love, a life fulfilled only when Quinn Morgandorffer, the beautiful lovely Quinn would deign to pay him the least bit of attention.
That was his downfall, Quinn. On that rainy night he and Jeffy and Joey were following Sandi's car to the school dance where they would get to be with Quinn the magnificent, the goddess of their dreams.
Jamie banked and sailed over the suburbs, finding a set of railroad tracks and following them.
He remembered how Sandi had sped through the crossing as the lights flashed and the gate lowered. They couldn't lose Quinn like that, so they encouraged Joey to ignore the signal and drive around the gates. They almost made it.
He put himself into a shallow dive to pick up speed.
He remembered the fear,the blinding lights, the deep roar, the heartstopping wail of the horn just before the locomotive sheered off the back of the car where he'd been sitting. Thankfully there had been no pain. He wondered if the two surviving J's missed him or felt guilty.
He certainly hoped so, the lucky bastards.
He remembers the angelic case worker he was assigned to before his reincarnation, how sweet and sympathetic she'd been.
"Quinn's not scheduled here for a very long time, so I can't place you immediately in a life that intersects with hers, but I can try to find you one you could enjoy until such time as you can meet again."
He remembers his nest mates, how they tried to scramble and peck for their parent's attention, how they tried to push him out of the nest. He remembered the taste of regurgitated raw rodent his parents fed him, the constant, rancid smell of baby hawk poop. This life wasn't anything like he had expected.
He put himself into a deep dive. The train was travelling at a high speed. He remembered that it hadn't hurt the last time. It didn't this time, either.
The angelic being was startled when he showed up again.
"So soon?" she asked.
"What the Hell was that?"
"Sir, please watch your language. What was what?"
"I was a bird! I didn't ask to be a bird!"
She glanced at the screen and typed in his name. "Yes sir, actually you did ask to be a bird."
"No I didn't! I specificly asked to be a rap star!"
"Oh! Oh, my! I'm so sorry sir, I thought you'd said 'raptor!'"
Note: This fic in no way endorses not intends to glamorize suicide as a solution to being reincarnated as something you don't like.
This fic was inspired by an Iron Chef challenge on the Paperpusher's Message Board by Wouter Jaegers.
Daria and other characters from the show are of course, property of MTV and Viacom. Any original characters and settings are my own. This is a work of fanfic, and is therefore a work of love and not meant for profit. And all hail Glenn Eichler and Suzy Lewis!