Jack wandered near the Rendezvous site, the place he always found himself returning to when he traveled. He could not do much yet, for he was still only a boy, but what he wished for was to explore, to see all the different places he had not been. Yet, he knew he would not be able to lope across the territory by himself, in which, he would need a partner. He contemplated bugging Perry, though he felt he took up too much of the man's time to ask him again. He also considered asking Eljay, but he was still to iffy about the other boy despite his miraculous treasures. In no time, with nothing to do, he found himself bored, secluded to his lonesome as the rest of the pack carried out their day.

He could not wait to be a man, like Perry. He wanted to be big, and independent, more so than he already was. But for now, he lay on the green grass that covered the site, laying his head down as he watched bugs crawl across the earth to wherever they were going. It was times like these that he missed his brother, and his mother. He missed them so much that eventually he felt a cold trail of water slip down the side of his face and onto the dry ground below. Despite having come into a new pack and a new family, he could not truly deny that he missed his old one.

His moment had gone undisturbed until a voice spoke to him from above. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't be seen doing something as wimpy as crying. His body still trembled with contained and compressed sobs, and the water continued to pool around his eyes lids though he dared not show his face. Instead, he buried his face into his paws, so deep that he could feel the ground against his snout and deeper. Pressed against the dirt, there was a moment of silence in which he did not move, to overwhelmed to speak.

But at last, when he realized the stranger would not simply go away, he spoke from within his paws. "Mno,", it must have sounded as his voice was muffled. But his defiant tone was signal enough. He did not want to speak. He wanted to see his mother. He would look back at this event and scowl at his pettiness, but in that moment, he could not care less. His tail wrapped around his form, his legs sucked in as much as they could against his body. Jack was not often like this, it was a rare occurrence. But it did happen, and he felt nobody else would understand.

While he recognized the woman's tone as being comforting, he refused to give her the time of day. He had been dealing with this for what seemed his entire existence. The last thing he wanted was some nosy lady who didn't even know him to ask about his life. He had not even shared anything about what happened with Peregrine, never mind a complete stranger. The woman took a place beside him, and he shrink away from her proximity, turning his head to face the other direction. That was then the wind hit his face, cooling the tears that streaked down his cheeks for him to realize how much he had actually been crying. 

Perhaps the female was right about one thing, it wasn't good to keep it in. But he would try. His mother had dealt with his father's death, and he would deal with hers, as well as his twin's. He could do it. He wasn't a loser. He couldn't be. But her inquisition only made him mad, for he had heard the same thing before countless times by the wolves at the mountain, the same ones who had devoured his mother in front of him.

"Like you know anything," He spat, lifting his head only to glare at the female. She was new. "Your whole family isn't dead," He had snapped, and at the same time, revealing much more than he had intended. Only moments after did he realize his mistake, and he cowered back into himself, his eyes slammed shut as he aimed to block out the female and her questions. He just wanted to be alone.

He felt the smallest amount of triumph when the other admitted she knew nothing, he almost wanted to snicker. Yet, he didn't. Maybe it was because she was completely right, though he would not admit it. Yet, he felt like he could be alone, if that's what he truly wanted. He always had himself, despite everything, and maybe it was meant for him to always be alone. While he had come to a place where he felt apart of something, he knew that he was not truly one of them. In the end, perhaps he would always be Stoic Silvertip, without a family. And even, perhaps deep down he knew that maybe he was just a replacement for that Peter guy, the one everyone seemed to know. 

All this build up inside him, but he had grown to shove it all down, regardless of what he felt the need to express. Yet, as he sat there curled up so tight, he could not contain it much longer without letting pass the words off his tongue that he had held in so tightly before. "I miss my mom," It came out in a whimper, much more futile than he had expected. Yet, as he relished in the seconds that passed after he finally talked, feeling his internal walls come down as he no longer cared what anyone else thought. 

He missed his fricken mom, and he didn't care who else knew it.