Blacktail Deer Plateau pearls and swine bereft of me

I'm kind of unclear…were you wanting to go ahead and wrap up this thread? 'Cause Atticus would never leave a misunderstanding like that unsettled, lol.

Surprised, Atticus realized that it looked like they were getting somewhere. When they could both set their anger aside -- as they were doing now -- progress was possible. They'd both been wrong, Peregrine in how he'd handled his promotion, and Atticus in how he'd reacted to it. As Peregrine apologized and commented that things weren't totally FUBAR, Atticus felt the faint twitch of a smile stirring at the corners of his lips. He felt hope lift his heart. Atticus wasn't the type to shut up and back down simply for the sake of restoring peace, but he didn't like being at odds with his brother, either.

But then something went horribly wrong. Somewhere along the way, Peregrine had gravely misunderstood Atticus. A steely hardness came back into Peregrine's ocean eyes and a resolute chill crept into his voice as he made it clear that he thought Atticus was leaving. Atticus cursed himself and his shitty inability to explain things well. Perry spoke a prickly goodbye before turning to leave, but Atticus would not part ways with such a misunderstanding between them. Though the thought of leaving had lingered on his mind for a long time now -- especially in recent weeks -- he certainly hadn't actually intended to do it as long as there was a chance things could be salvaged between them. Leaving was only Plan B.

"Perry!" he protested to his brother's retreating back. "I'm not leaving!" He leaped toward Peregrine and came around in front of him, attempting to stop him. "You misunderstood me, you assclown! I'm not going anywhere!"