Totoka River tie your tubes, idiot

@Arcturus

The ocean had been pretty magical for about three days. After that time had passed, it had become a cold and dismal place to be. She wasn’t sure just why anyone would want to settle out there. Really, who was compelled to spend an extended period of time next to loud ass water and squawking birds? Those birds, by the way… they had some great aim with their shit. Not shocking seeing as they really had nothing better to do all day than shit on people who spent time on the coast.
 
She was weary and she wanted to return home, but Piper wasn’t even sure where her home was. She recalled her conversation with Stigmata. The more she mulled it over, the angrier she became at the idea that her family had moved without notifying her or waiting for her. The more she thought about it, she imagined that they had given up on her just like they had on Lucas. But she did miss them, and she wondered how her mother was doing with only Wyatt. He was a weenie anyway, and absolutely no fun at all.  
 
Piper stopped near the edge of a river that ran into the sea. She bent to drink from it and filled her stomach with sloshing liquid. The long journey was getting close to ending, she could feel. The only issue that plagued her was where she would return to when she had completed it. Would she seek out her family in the hollow, or venture back to the mountain range in search of Stigmata? She needed a sign. She needed something concrete that would help her sort her life out.

their expedition carried them further up the coast. arcturus was beginning to become accustomed to the ocean flanking him -- the noise was tiresome, but the sights and scenery was not. where piper grew fatigued of the beach, arcturus seemed only to revel in it more. he had recently discovered, too, that these weird white ravens (seagulls) were very similar to their inland counterparts and tended to swarm any sort of food source. they were smaller, louder, and less pugnacious than their dark-feathered kin, but on more than one occasion they had shown him where sea-carrion was.

after eating the saltiest, most questionable fish he had ever eaten, arcturus was thirsty. he had learned the ocean was not a suitable water source, and so followed his nose to a bright ribbon of a river that cut through the dunes. he took deep draughts of water from the rushing river, and when he looked up, he caught the familiar, unwelcome sight of piper.

he froze, feeling a chill climb his back as he regarded her coolly, water dribbling down from his jaws.

Fate, destiny, whatever she was called those days... she was a fickle bitch, wasn't she? She sure had a sense of humor on her! It was like, just when the wildfire found a way to regain some of her home and motivation, she was met with the most appalling form of company that she could ever ask for. It almost felt like Arcturus was her fairy godmother, but he was stupid and mute... and weird. Who the hell just stared at another person without saying anything? What kind of parent raised their kid that way?

Well, just when she least wanted to see him, there he was. She could hear the vapid dribbling of his brain as it leaked out his ears before she even scented him. A heavy sigh exited her mouth as she realized she would be forced to interact with him for the third time. The Redleaf girl began to wonder what she could have possibly done to deserve such outright cruelty from the universe.

“Are you following me? What's wrong? You got a crush or something? It seems like everywhere I go, you're somehow right behind me,” she snapped before whirling around and fixing her sights on his dark features with a burning expression.

arcturus licked his lips, the uncertainty his mind felt emanating through his body. the red she-devil -- for that was what she was -- had whirled around to face him, and as she set her accosting gaze upon him it was as if he was withstanding a fireshow.

the boy drew back, startled by both her harshness and the vehemence in her full-bore glare. he was not accustomed to such cruelty, and his tail drooped as he deciphered the savagery of her words.

wishing to withstand no further torment, the boy slithered back up the bank, feeling a coward's burning shame press his belly as he scrambled along the rocks.

Piper wasn't cruel! She was just honest... sometimes, painfully so. The Redleaf girl did not feel the need to conceal most of what she thought or felt. She hadn't learned the social graces of one who was capable of keeping a calm exterior while confronting someone else. Even still, it wasn't like she was mad at him. It was kind of flattering that he would traipse after her with his doleful expression and lack of words. Well, it was either flattering, or it was super creepy. Either way, Piper was more okay with it than she let on.

The wildfire of a girl watched as he moved up the bank. Taking a few brisk steps toward him, she drew herself up and squinted her gaze at his dark frame. The boy was definitely bigger than her, but that didn't matter to the girl with the indomitable nature. “Hey hey! Wait a second,” she barked at him abruptly. “C'mon... come over here for a second,” Piper then beckoned with a swinging motion of her head.

arcturus wanted no part of any further torment, and was just about to fully crest the bank and be rid of piper when she easily followed after him, alighting on the stones behind him with enviable grace. for a boy that had spent his entire life traversing moonspear, he suddenly found his mountain-sense had left him, likely in part by the distracting flares of piper's overwhelming personality.

he skulked away from her in the manner a spider might shy from light, his gaze flinty with distrust. "what do you want?" he blurted out, his tone surly and full of misgiving. either way, he knew any time she paid attention to him his feelings got hurt, and he did not want to experience another round of merciless tongue-lashing.

Holy shit! Holy words from the mouth of an invalid, batman! In all of her life, Piper had never been silenced so quickly as in that moment that the dark boy turned to her and opened his mouth. His voice had never existed to the Redleaf girl before. She had believed that he was simply incapable of producing words and therefore did not have a speaking tone. That was normal, right? Wrong. More of her shock had arrived because she realized that he spoke just like anyone else would be expected to.

“You can talk???” she inquired somewhat daftly. Now you look like the retard, Piper, she chastised herself mentally for the dumb query. Shaking her head, the wildfire of a young girl moved toward him in a few quick steps. Her eyes were glued to his features in an attempt to see if it was some sort of trick that he was playing, but his tone had said enough to clear away any doubts she might have had. “How come you didn't say something sooner? You too good to talk to someone like me?” the girl demanded sharply, narrowing her brows.

of course he could talk. he wasn't retarded.

oh, wait.

arcturus fixed the firebrand with the most unbecoming scowl he could muster - just because she was now being semi-civil to him didn't mean he was going to forget about how mcnasty she had been before -- besides, he was not the type to forgive easily, especially when it came to attacks of his character.

as it stood, he had little to gain from discourse with her - but judging by the way she had easily thwarted his attempts to slip off, and also judging by how god damn persistent she was, arcturus didn't think he could escape without some form of engagement. drawing a deep, long-suffering breath, the boy was ready to fashion some cutting answer, only she gave it for him by accusing him of being too good to talk to her.

now, arcturus was not a simpleton, but in conversation he was not often known for his wit -- unknowingly, piper had given him the exact opportunity he would not have had the resources to think of. you too good to talk to someone like me? the boy's expression changed from ungly (yeah, u n g l y, you read right) frowl to simpering smirk. "yes."

yeah, that boy was definitely touched.
 
there was literally no one who was too good to talk to piper. she was probably too good to talk to a lot of them, but that was a different train wreck entirely. the young wildfire wasn’t even shocked that he had responded the way that he did. instead, piper peered at him with squinted eyes and a grin that was so slippery and conniving that she might have turned into a snake.
 
“but you’re talking to me now, so i guess that means you were wrong,” she remarked in a tone that suggested she was mocking him with sympathy. her tail wagged as she lifted it upward, drawing her crown up too. the pale coloration of her golden gaze was latched tightly to his dark features. she wondered what he would have to say about all that! probably nothing but she would take his silence as a clear sign of success.

damn, she had a point -- by talking to her, arcturus was admitting his own self-worth was little. his gaze flashed, but he smoothly stifled the indignant huff that threatened to break his composure.

 the boy fixed her a look that could be deciphered as pitying -- you know, the kind of look you give someone who is so damn stupid they can't be helped (read: gumball steve trying to navigate the treacherous and difficult task of filing alphabetically), or the look you might give a homeless man as he blathers nonsense about the train in the desert springing from a suspended pool of water -- that kind of look, reserved for very special occasions, and quite evocative.

and then, slick as a blackened weasel, he shrugged his strong shoulders and turned his back to her, clambering up the bank as if she was never there.

Listen, that boy could try to spin that tale any which way he wanted, but he wasn’t going to come out of it looking very good. It mattered very little to the Redleaf girl. After all, he needed to sleep at night, right? Whatever helped that was fine, even if he was living in some wild world where he was in the right and she was in the wrong. Sometimes kids just didn’t know when to grow up, she would have guessed.
 
When he shrugged his shoulders, she winked at him and flashed a toothy grin. The quick way that she had done it made it seem as though it had been lingering on the corners of her features the entire time; it was only waiting for its chance to shine through. He turned his back to her and climbed up the other side of the bank. This time, the girl didn’t want to stop him. She’d gotten all she could have asked for in their short interaction.
 
“Have fun! Make good choices! Think longingly of me!” Piper jeered after him in a laughing tone. Once she had finished her restless tirade on the man, she turned away and began to trot along the coast. Her pace was far too eager for the sobering task that she was hoping to fulfill. The wildfire would have blamed the dark boy for her inappropriate pleasure.