Lake Rodney put on a pretty little number, i'm wearing you still

all welcome!  trouble especially, idk

Her last visit to Lake Rodney seemed a distant, foggy memory at this point.  Ivy's light green eyes narrowed as she stood on the Eastern shore, her toes just covered by cool water.  Several weeks had passed at this point - or did those count as months now? - and the girl could barely rememeber when her family stumbled through here.  They stopped to drink non-polluted water and gather strength and as such their stay had been severely limited.  Hell, she hadn't even noticed that weird thing in the middle of the lake last time!

Her head tilted to the side a bit.  It was there, wasn't it?  She wasn't having some kind of weirdo hallucination.. right?  The small female huffed sharply and blinked several times in rapid succession before re-focusing.  No, something was definitely in the middle of the lake.  An island of some kind, she'd wager.  Ivy took a step forward, her dark gray ears twitching when the water sloshed about.  To make that swim by herself didn't seem like the brighest idea in the world.  She frowned.  Her parents didn't know she'd left Redhawk Caldera.  By herself.  Again.  Did they even figure out she'd been gone the first time?  Her ears moved once more, this time slicking back against her skull.. back toward home.  It was the only indication the mountainous place was even on her mind.

Well, what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.  Ivy sighed wistfully as she studied the mysterious island in the middle of the lake.

today's exploring was done, once again, without the company of alya, lyra, or hydra. which was fine, terance didn't need anyone. he could keep himself entertained and that was all he needed. but, he was sort of bored. his only solution to his bored meandering was merely to wander further, and so his scouting eventually took him to that lake outside of the caldera. he remembered stopping there for a drink before being crudely shut-down by some garbage wolf. whatever. but then, his experience with the lake changed completely.

from a small ways off terance spotted the ashy-coated female. he paused altogether at first, murmuring a soft "sarah..." before beginning to pad faster towards her. his paws picked up pace, faster and faster until he couldn't help but exclaim as loud as he could, "SARAH!!" he couldn't believe his eyes, she was roughly the same size, had all those pretty grays that sarah had. it was her! he'd found her! she was alive and safe and made it to the teekon wilds. he could take her to moonspear and-- he skidded to a halt. this wasn't sarah.

he bit his lip, slinking down in clear embarrassment and a sudden urge to maybe cry a little bit, when no one was watching. this wasn't sarah, sarah wasn't here. she wasn't safe, and she wasn't going to come back to moonspear with him. his heart sank. he only prayed this wolf would just shrug it off and leave.

The voice that boomed her way startled Ivy right out of her thoughts.  Her tail curled between her tensed legs and she whipped her head to the left and right, eyes wildly darting about to see where the emergency was.  There had to be some kind of emergency with all that yelling!  But nothing materalized out of thin air.  No explosions, fires, or monstrosities not of this Earth to be seen.  Right.

A sharp, extra-forced exhale left her body along with the tension in her muscles.  Ivy took a couple of deep breaths before she turned to see who had made all that sudden racket.  She wanted to give them a piece of her mind, damnit!  Didn't they know how utterly rude it was to interrupt a perfectly peaceful moment?!  Her brow furrowed as she stomped several steps through the shallow water toward the wolf who had barged in on the scene.  Droplets flew everywhere and probably made her gray legs look blotchy or something, but that was hadly on the forefront of her mind.

She snapped her head up, light green eyes blazing indignantly with a shriek at the ready on the tip of her tonge.  But Ivy faltered when she got a good look at him.  It was a dark-furred male, larger than she - wasn't everyone?  Oh, she said dumbly, her voice sounding weird and breathy.  Ivy's scowl relaxed and she cleared her throat.  I.. um..  Yikes.  This wasn't going well at all.  He just looked so.. so downtrodden!  Did you lose someone? she asked.

though the urge to let out a loud sob stung at the back of his throat, terance stood upright and gave the female a dirty scowl. she reacted appropriately to his own reaction. but terance didn't want her sympathy, he didn't need her sympathy. he was fine, and she wasn't allowed to think that he was so weak little wimp who missed their sister. lame. "no," he responded with a huff. tail twitching irritably behind him, even more embarrassed. his brows furrowed, and he sucked in a breath.

similarly to how he'd reacted to lyra, terance began backpedalling all of the angsty-teen vibes he was giving off. he echoed her "i-- uhm," before shaking his head and clearing his throat, trying to string together a coherent sentence. "did i interrupt somethin?" he asked, taking a long breath of air in to calm his nerves. better, he decided, no longer wanting to wimp out and cry.

Well, that scowl on his face brought Ivy right back to reality.  His short reply prompted a scowl of her own along with a side of sass clearly reflected in a violent lash of her tail.  Her mind buzzed with so many retorts that she had a hard time grasping at one.  What a jerk!  She just wanted to see if she could help him out in some way, damnit!

But before she could open her mouth something strange happened.  His attitude retreated and he calmed down.  Just like that.  Ivy gave him a highly skeptical look, her own agitation still elevated enough for a bitchy remark or two, but she didn't say anything.  That ended up being a good thing, she decided, when he posed a question.  A polite one, at that.  The small girl drew herself up to her tallest height (still pathetic when she hung around with giant moody guys, apparently) and give him an obvious once-over.  She wasn't impressed, clealry, but she reserved any further judgement for the time being.  I was just.. looking at the island, she explained cautiously, as though she thought the wrong word would send him into a tizzy.

unaware of how abrupt his mood change was, only knowing he felt guilty for being so obnoxious and sad that this girl wasn't sarah, terance made a silent note of that little look down she gave him. he didn't know what it was about, but his best guess was that she was sizing him up, considering her own shift in posture. he decided to let it slide, only because he had just made a scene.

he followed her gaze to the little island, eyeing the tree that lived in it's center. he stared for a few moments longer before replying, trying to shift through some of the sass that was trying to corrupt his polite response. it was just a tree. growing on land. in the middle of a lake. terance, originally, didn't think twice about that. "yeah," he said, as though whatever she said he agreed with, "have you been to it?" he decided that that was a reasonable question to ask.

Had she ever been there?  Ivy blinked and re-focused on her unintentional companion.  Of course not, she wanted to say, as though the mere suggestion was the dumbest thing she'd ever heard, I'm still too young.  But the words died before they'd even formed.  She'd previously caught her reflection in the lake about an hour before losing herself in thought - even the smallest of Sebastian and Pearl's brood was now nearly indistinguishable from any regular adult.  Her small stature didn't speak to her youth anymore becuase she'd more or less be this size until the day she died.  At that, she smiled.

No, she began, suddenly coy.  Wasn't sure I could make it there and back by myself.  Ivy drew several steps closer to the strapping young male and looked up at him through her lashes.  I don't suppose you'd like to accompany me?  Her question was quiet, her face hopeful.  Maybe she'd get a good story to tell her brother and sister when she went home to Redhawk Caldera later.

had terance been eating, he might've choked. whatever look this girl was giving him was not a look he'd ever been given before-- even from lyra, who had made it a habit of staring at him with those big, sapphire eyes while sitting oh-so close to him. it wasn't like he'd suddenly fallen in love with her, nothing about her personality had proved to be enjoyable just yet, but whatever look those august green eyes had given him sent terance's brain into hysterics. he couldn't connect this feeling to sarah or wraen or osprey or any of the cerberus-- it held a weird meaning all of it's own. terance suddenly felt small-- and this agitated him.

after a few moments had passed for his entire being to completely reboot, terance cleared his throat. "i don't have to teach you to swim, do i?" he asked with astounding recovery, raising an eyebrow. he wouldn't mind a quick swim, he could probably use the exercise, but teaching her would take some extra time and devotion that he wasn't sure he had.

It was hard to decipher what his silence meant, exactly.  Her only major exposure to males thus far in life happened to be her father and brothers - all much larger than she, some of them usually looking out for her.  Ivy's attitude managed to cultivate just fine anyhow.  A certain doe-eyed look and a touch of sweetness worked wonders on her father and it seemed that a similar approach worked on those males she wasn't related to.  Except she certainly did not view her tall, dark companion in a fatherly way.

His eventual remark, sarcastic and likely intended to catch her off guard, was instead met with a smirk.  I'm not entirely helpless, she replied lowly.  Ivy lifted her head a bit so she could look him right in the eye and one smoky brow rose to mimic the look on his face.  Oh, how cool and collected they both were for wolves so young.  Thoguh you do look like you can handle me, she commented, giving him another quick once-over for good measure.  The petite girl shrugged and turned back to face the island in the middle of Lake Rodney, the thrill of it all causing her smirk to grow into a full-fledged smile.

terance got all his wit from his parents. dante was cool and collected all the time, and osprey was just really great with words. he picked up on it pretty quickly, and he had to if he wanted to keep up with sarah, who was a whole new breed of witty. he couldn't speak for this girl, but similarly to hydra, she was able to combat each of his little quips with her own. terance couldn't decided if this irritated him or impressed him-- much like how he felt about hydra.

"you're a good handling size," terance replied, still unsure how to handle this look down. what did that mean? when she turned to look at the lake, the stone gave himself a glance, double-checking to make sure he didn't have shit in his fur or something-- but nope, all clean.

oh wait, duh. "'m terance," he said, almost diving straight in (literally) without giving a proper introduction.

Thankful for the camouflage afforded by her thick fur, Ivy felt her cheeks heat up at his comment.  Good handling size?  Well, that was a new one.  The small girl cleared her throat and tossed another raised-brow glance his way.  With age she'd slowly learned that a well-timed look - situation dependent, of course - said a great deal more than words.  But this time it was mostly because she didn't know what to say and coming back with nothing seemed a better choice than a thoughtless, half-assed attempt at a quip.  Couldn't have that!

Names, though.. names she could do.  Ivy, she replied promptly.  The grayscale girl took several tiny steps away from the shore unti Lake Rodney's cool water was lapping just past her delicate ankles.  Are we gonna go or not?  Though her tone was impatient, her light green eyes were still full of mirth and mischeif.  I don't want to have to drag you in, she teased.

it hadn't occurred to him that they were-- potentially-- flirting. terance was just trying to handle all the sass, like he did with hydra and sarah. by 'good handling size' terance meant he could probably pick her up and carry her all around town without being too bothered. she was tiny! he didn't mean anything else by it, and was therefore confused (once agian) by her look. he furrowed his own eyebrows at that eyebrow raise, head tilting slightly.

but she moved on. before terance had a chance to comment on her name, she pushed the swimming trip onto him. he snorted. "you couldn't drag me if you tried," he teased, amused that the little tiny girl (whom he'd just made fun of for being small) thought an appropriate way to get him to comply was to threaten to drag him in-- as if.

the stone sniffed and then began to pad forwards, eyeing ivy curiously as he went-- just in case her petite self was already starting to drown. eventually, the ground dropped out beneath him, and his muscular limbs were forced to tread water. the lake, however, was still, uninterrupted by anything except the wind and the occasional fish beneath. it made the swim a little less sketchy.

Still staring straight ahead at the island in the middle of the lake, Ivy rolled her eyes.  First at his snort and then again at his comment.  Please!  As she launched herself gracefully into deeper waters, the girl managed a loud scoff in his direction.  You don't know what I'm capable of, she stated matter-of-factly.  Had she not been focused on her swim the innocent statement could have come out all wrong.  Ah, but that didn't matter.

The small Redhawk chanced another glance back at her swimming parter - this time without a healthy dose of sass - and noticed that he'd been eyeing her, sort of like he thought she'd suddenly forget how to swim and sink like a boulder right to the bottom of the lake in some horrible, unavoidable accident.  What was this, amatuer hour?!  Her pale green eyes widened a bit before she let out a laugh, the sound light and airy.  I'm not going to break, you know!  Or drown.  But who the hell knew what kind of thoughts were going through Terance's head?

fine, call the police, terance was concerned for this stranger. he got bit in the ass for it too. when she looked back, she apparently was offended by his gaze on her-- though she didn't seem too bothered, her laugh seemed pretty good natured. but it was a force of habit, maybe, he was always afraid that wraen would break, her frame and personality were both so fragile. he saw too much of his sisters in this girl for his own good.

"who said you would?" terance said, though his watchful stare had very much implied it. he treaded faster, moving to catch up with her. not having any interesting conversation starters lined up and ready to go, terance used actions to keep their interactions natural-- not awkward. terance sucked some water into his mouth and spit it at her aiming right between the ears! he counted his aim pretty good, but for all he knew, ivy could be the world's faster ducker.

She hadn't waited for a retort before turning her attention forward once more.  Of course, she certainly heard one, and scoffed loudly in response.  One dark gray ear flicked back when Terance began to swim a little faster.  Ivy fully expected him to speed up and pass her - his longer legs and larger frame would certainly make that an easy feat.  With no hope of besting him in a race, she racked her brain to come up with a few sarcastic jabs instead.

Her thought process was interrupted, however, when she felt a splash land directly between her ears.  The girl let out a shriek at the unexpected attack and floundered for a second before she caught her bearings.  What the hell was that? she demanded, looking around frantically for whatever the cause was.  In her hysteria she hadn't even considered that her swimming companion might be the culprit.

too easy!! terance was overwhelmed with an arrogant feeling of satisfactions. hah! he wanted to yell, you got GOT! but terance knew better than to gloat... and, it seemed that she didn't know that he was the one to get her wet. he paddled along, her floundering causing him to gain a little distance on her, maintaining his straightest face-- though his smirk gave away much of his innocent facade.

"oh, shit," he muttered over his shoulder, watching as water dripped down her brow, "must've been a lake fairy." even when faced with a pretty girl and ample opportunities to be a charismatic gentleman, terance chose to take his mother's path over his father's... looks like it was story time. "i hear they like to play games like that-- never seen one in person..." he trailed off, thoughtfully. slowing his paddling to stay nearer to ivy (definitely enjoying all of her reactions, regardless if they were sassy or genuine), terance added, "you're lucky, they must like you."

Lake fairy?  Ivy's pale green eyes widened.  Lake fairy.  Those wide eyes narrowed to mere slits a split second later and her features rearranged into a scowl.  He kept on talking, weaving his short tale carefully while he made sure to swim close by.  And that smirk on his face!  That stupid smirk on his stupid face!

The small Redhawk sped up and growled.  Ugh! she exclaimed in her brattiest tone.  You are such a jerk!  Ivy's scowl remained firmly in place, her nose raised as haughtily as could be, and she paddled forward with a a vengeance.  They were almost to that stupid island, anyway.  Stupid island, stupid Terance, stupid lake fairy!

you're such a jerk! 

pleased with her easily aroused reaction, terance's smirk shifted into a pearly white grin. he kept on paddling, keeping up even as she began to swim-stalk away from him-- nose up and all. "that's probably why they don't like me," he replied-- had these fairies been the real deal it would've been a sound argument. using his own nose, he splash-splashed a little more water her way, though he didn't blame that one on the fairies.

it was all in good-natured fun-- she was so easy to mess with! they were almost to the island, then he'd back off a little. all this paddlin' was making him tired-- and the island seemed like a good nap place... maybe ivy would go her separate way and leave him with some peace and quiet. "we're almost there," he pointed out, smirking again, "the fairies can't get you there."

"That's probably why they don't like me."  Was it possible to roll one's eyes too many times?  Ivy wondered if being around Terance might cause permanent brain damage.  Or maybe permanent blindness from her eyes rolling into the back of her head and getting stuck forever.  Well, then she'd panic and drown and the scene might cause him to be right for being so watchful over her.  Couldn't have that!

The smoky girl gnashed her teeth together and kept up her speedy pace.  She wasn't used to exerting so much energy at once, but she'd be damned if that male saw any semblance of exhaustion from her.  Lovely, she called out in response.  Her voice sounded a little strained, but she couldn't decide if it was due to exasperation or something else.  After another few moments at top speed, Ivy finally felt her front paws hit bottom and she sighed in relief.  Shallow water at last!  She cast a brief glance over at Terance - mostly just to make sure he was still alive or whatever - and then made a brisk exit from the cool waters of Lake Rodney.

her reaction was noted and delightfully amusing, but terance kept his mouth shut (and the water in the lake) for the remainder of the swim. he'd run out of material-- there was probably something better on the island. despite his first, uncharacteristically embarrassing outburst, terance had already annoyed a stranger enough to have completely forgotten about his earlier disappointment-- though he didn't forget how similar ivy was to sarah. did he share that? no, probably not. aside from that, by now, terance had gotten over the original shock of her flirtatious behavior and was able to combat it with his own banter... though he was still plenty confused by every suggestive statement she made.

they arrived to shore! he didn't say anything, rendering it unnecessary, but gave ivy a friendly nudge to the shoulder and let out a light huff. he was still, staring at the large tree and the surrounding land for a few moments, before deciding that he was just too wet. with another, deeper huff, terance shook out his thick fur all over and around them-- surely sending a good spray at ivy. it wasn't like she wasn't already wet, what did she care?

The nudge he gave, while friendly, illicited a confused look from Ivy.  Terance huffed once and then took a moment or so to survey the island.  Deciding that his silence was a good thing, she took a cue from him and did the same.  The tree's giant, convoluted roots blurred the lines between water and land a bit, which made it look all the more mysterious to her.  The girl's irritation started to seep away while a small smile formed on her lips.

Right as she was about thank Terance for putting up with her, he let out a second huff and decided to shake his pelt.  Naturally, droplets of water flew everywhere, including on her own still-dripping coat.  One of Ivy's pale green eyes twitched when she actually heard several quiet splattering sounds as said droplets landed against her fur.  Yes, she was already wet.  Yes, she was due for a good, long shake.  But couldn't he just be a.. a gentleman and shake somehwere else?!

Caught halfway between a curse and a shriek, a high-pitched, strangled noise erupted from Ivy when her mouth opened.  The very next second she tucked her nose down and pulled her head back a bit before throwing a head butt at Terance's sholder.  Surely with her lack of might it'd have little impact, but she currently lacked the emotional wherewithal to think her actions through.

when the water settled and terance himself stood still to eye his masterpiece-- which turned out to be a very agitated ivy-- he found his tail waving behind him. amusement and a smug-ass smirk was painted across his dark features, but he still didn't vocalize anything just yet. the girl flung herself towards him in a sloppy headbutt, one that terance didn't bother trying to avoid. she took him too by surprise, and he truthfully wasn't really worried about her taking him down. the thought was actually pretty amusing.

the yearling took the hit to his shoulder, stepping only once back to absorb the shock of the 'attack'. she seemed more agitated than earlier, however, which put a major damper on his mood. terance's smile faltered, a little guilty, and he lowered his head. "sorry, sorry, that was rude," he said in attempt to patch that up. he couldn't think of anything else that would maybe help this, so he just tried to give her another genuine, apologetic smile, white teeth grinning at her the best they could.