Jade Fern Grove That guy Tex is really a robot, and you're his boyfriend.

@Jaime

He came back to the grove and was going to try again. Maybe he just needed to take a different approach. The birds were still out and about chirping and flitting about, but this time he slunk along as more of a hunter than before. The awkward looking boy still hadn't found what he wanted -- would he ever? -- but he wasn't giving up right away.

The forest was alive, just maybe not as loud as it might be a few weeks on down the road, but an amateur hunter following unusual (for him) prey, he didn't have much of a chance. More likely was that he'd get lucky and find one already dead... Then he could take what he wanted and not have to go out here again, where people he didn't know lived. Coming out this far still felt like he was somehow breaking rules even though he knew he wasn't. Maybe that was another reason he was kind of trying to be sneaky, even if his tall, lanky figure didn't have much hope of being hidden in the new growth of the year.