Lost Lake i came this far

He felt good. Better than good, actually. More like, absolutely amazing. Things were going well. So much better than he could’ve ever anticipated, and though that sense of paranoia - fear of the curse of bad luck following him had yet to vanish completely, it was easier than ever to tune out, now.

Jethro had decided to walk along the shore of the lake as the sun began to set, his paws eventually carrying him beyond pack territory. He’d been doing his best to contribute more; patrolling and adding to the pack caches when he could, so he believed perhaps he’d earned a night off, now.

As he walked, he thought back to his past. Pictured some of the faces that’d been the cause of his torment, but unlike the many times before - anger was not his immediate response. He hated them, oh yes. With a passion, and that would never change. But now, he had satisfaction. A hint of pride. A friend. And maybe, a real home. With his survival, Jet had done what they’d never thought he could. Found what he’d never thought he’d have, and he was free. Free of all of it! Free of their curse, their torment, and hate. His life could be whatever he wanted, now.

A smile creased his face at the thought of it, and he paused, turning to look out over the water, and toward the blazing pink and red fireball of a sun that seemed to hover just over the horizon for the moment. Jet didn’t usually believe himself the type, but the stunning sight was almost symbolic of his transition over the last months, and he couldn’t help but to stop to marvel at it.

@Nori ^^

Things were going pretty well, all things considered. Really, Nori had been kind of afraid that she would never see Jet again, so having him show up out of the blue like he did had been confusing to say the least. Certainly not a bad thing, but she had worried that maybe she'd hurt or offended him and his new friend at the border. Normally, she wasn't so reactive, emotionally, but she'd thought he might have been dead, so him just showing back up had been a lot to handle.

It was a really nice afternoon. Nori padded along the lake's edge, appreciating the view of the sun lowering beyond the horizon. She hadn't really thought that life could be this good. Hadn't thought that she could be as happy as she was, now. Of course, it wasn't perfect - she still hadn't talked to Jet like she needed to, and she was honestly a little scared to.

So running into him like this was unexpected.

She paused at the sight of him, his fur backlit by the setting sun, and was struck momentarily by how beautiful the sight was. Jet was always handsome, but the sunset on his fur reflected particularly nicely - not that she'd ever tell him that. Nori hesitated in her steps, but took a deep breath and relaxed. They needed to talk, after all, and she did want his company. So it was time to be brave.

"You look happy," she remarked, preparing herself to apologize for jumping on him the other day.

He was quick to note that the reflection of the sun and it’s light, glinting off the surface of the lake. A portion of the lake seemed almost to glow pink and red, a stark contrast to the typical murky blue color of the water. A sight that was almost as impressive and beautiful as the sky itself. In all of his dreams as a pup, the dark one didn’t think he’d even have been able to dream of a place like this. He’d always been so sure he’d die before he could get too far. At most, maybe he’d end up occupying some dark corner or cave in a forest somewhere, scavenging and scraping by for a while on his own. But it always ended the same way.

Never had he thought he’d reside, atop a mountain that had all sorts of scenic vantage points, with a pack full of wolves he felt reasonably comfortable associating with and counting on. The best part was, the place didn’t seem to draw that much attention. Jethro didn’t think he’d encountered even one misplaced scent or trail in the area to this point, making the lake a pretty isolated area.

Perhaps that was why he felt comfortable enough to let his guard down. Something he’d never have done elsewhere, and also why he’d apparently gone completely unaware of the presence of someone else, until she spoke. He’d been wondering when this would happen. What he’d say - and there was a lot Jethro could think of. But at that moment, an idea came to mind. A devious one that took root quickly.

This was going to be fun.

Snapping his head around as though he’d been startled, Jet rested narrowed eyes on the other, an irritated scowl crossing his features. At that, he shuffled a few paces closer to the water, to keep distance between himself and the approaching Nori. ”Yeah, cause I’ll be gettin’ outta here, soon. The hell d’you want?” He huffed out bitterly, finding it still fairly easy to revert back to the terse, growly creature he’d been months ago. An act with a purpose, this time, but one he believed he could pull convincingly. Provided Nori hadn’t heard about his conversation with Chan a few days ago, that was.

WARNING: slight mention of suicidal ideation. Not from Nori.

Nori's pawsteps faltered again at the response that she got from the boy. Her eyes widened a little, her expression - normally restrained and fixed into something confident and near impassive, - morphed into hurt confusion before she could fix it back into its more controlled state. His tone wasn't unfamiliar, but she hadn't heard him talk to her like this in a while, and to be honest, she hadn't expected to hear it again.

Her first reaction was to apologize, but some level of pride or something wouldn't allow that to happen. She understood that she probably should do that, at some point, because maybe she'd hurt him or embarrassed him back at the borders, but she had already said she was sorry, and wouldn't it be redundant to say it again? He probably didn't even want that from her.

And she was nothing if not stubborn, and Nori cleared her throat, padding over to the water's edge, but making no move to approach him any further. The tone hadn't been enough to scare her away when they first met, and it wasn't enough to scare her away now.

"Oh," was the only thing she could bring herself to say for the first few moments, brown eyes cast down toward the water instead of the boy. She probably shouldn't have expected him to stay, really. "I don't really want anything. Just thought maybe I'd check up on you, since... you know. Our last conversation before you left was a little scary." He'd mentioned something about falling on cliffs on purpose, after all. "Seems you're doing better now."

A faint look of surprise, and confusion perhaps, crossed the features of the other as she approached. Not the greeting she’d anticipated, probably, but she was quick to regain control of her appearance. Stubbornly, as she had the very first time they’d met, she continued to saunter a little closer, positioning herself at the water’s edge and, seemingly unwittingly, following the devious scheme he’d developed so far.

Jethro again forced himself to bite back a smirk, instead opting to continue to glower. Nori did sound saddened, deflated when she spoke again. Her gaze, notably, did not meet his as she spoke - proclaiming she’d just wanted to check up on him since something about their last conversation had been a little scary. He wasn’t entirely sure what about it might’ve scared her, but shrugged impassively, figuring it didn’t matter all that much for what he had planned now.

”Really? You were more worried about that, than how I might feel after you went and embarrassed me, in front of everybody?” The dark one huffed out, feigning a grunt of irritation. At that, he took a couple of steps closer, but angled himself so that he’d be moving up onto the shore a little bit. ”My own family didn’t want me, can ya blame me for bein’ skeptical about this place, too? But I decide to maybe come back, give it a chance.. and then ya do that.”

He turned away with a small shrug at that but had tempered the words and his tone to an extent, trying to sound more saddened than truly angry. He didn’t want to say anything too harsh, even if there was some truth to the words. It didn’t actually matter all that much. "Thanks for helpin' me decide what to do, at least." He tacked on, but didn't look back toward the other as he spoke.

Nori had known her reaction to him coming back had been a little extreme, maybe, but she didn't think he'd take it the way he had. In truth, if she hadn't wanted him there, then she wouldn't have done anything like what she had done. If anything, it should prove more about how much she cared, right? It wasn't like she would do something like that for just anyone.

Heat prickled along her skin, shamed and confused and a little afraid, all at the same time. Her eyes didn't move from a rippling spot on the surface of the water, colored orange in the sunset. It would probably be a bad idea to try and make eye contact with him now, after all of that.

Maybe she really wasn't meant to make friends. She didn't seem to be very good at it. Was it really so easy to chase them away - messing up just once? Or maybe it wasn't just once. Maybe it was an accumulation of irritations she'd placed on the poor boy. After all, she'd stuck around even after he'd tried to get her to leave, repeatedly.

God, she was so annoying.

Her eyes burned, but she stubbornly did not let herself cry. That would be so stupid, when she was the one who caused the problem. For once in a long, long time, Nori really didn't know what to say.

"I wasn't trying to-" was the first thing that came out, but that sounded like an excuse, and it made her cringe a little, so she changed it up immediately. "It's not that I-" And there was another beginning of an excuse. Scratch that. She took a deep breath and shook her head, still not lifting her gaze from the spot on the water she'd been focusing on. It was probably better to be sincere - if this was the last time she was going to get to talk to him, because she'd gotten the message loud and clear, she wanted to at least give him a genuine apology.

"I'm really sorry. I hope you find somewhere better." And she did. She wanted him to find somewhere - someone - who would value him in the way he deserved to be. But still, she couldn't quite bring herself to move and face him - that would be the thing she regretted about this particular goodbye, she thought.

There was a long moment of silence, between the two of them. Jet couldn’t bring himself to look at the other, but he could sense that something was drastically off, about her. Usually, Nori was quick-witted and sharp with her words, but that was not the case, here. She just stood still, not even trying to move. And when she did attempt speech, she couldn’t get very far. And it almost sounded like.. she was going to cry?

Jet bit back a frown, at that, wondering if maybe he’d pushed things a little too far. More so when Nori actually gave him an apology, stating she hoped he’d find somewhere better. Probably best not to let this drag on for too long, then.

At that, he turned about to face the other, and witnessing her saddened stance, gaze averted, he knew it was time to bring this to a close. ”Nori, there isn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.” The dark one murmured, letting the act fall, for the most part. ”There is one more thing, though.” He spoke, not trying to suppress the wry grin this time. He hoped to draw the gaze of the other toward him, that way she wouldn’t be completely unprepared for what he was going to attempt next.

Jethro launched himself forth at that, quickly closing the distance between the two of them and lunging forth for a tackle, in much the same way she’d done to him that day. With any luck, though, they’d both end up dunked in the lake, hopefully meaning the worst they'd end up with was soaked fur. He really would feel bad if Nori ended up with a cut or some other kind of physical injury.

(This post was last modified: Oct 02, 2021, 01:57 AM by Jethro.)