[Haize]

The boy runs, and somebody he’s never met is the only one that bothers to follow. It wasn’t that others didn’t care. They gave him his space. They didn’t see. They found themselves absorbed in a life that didn’t revolve solely around one sad and lonely soul. That was fine. That was life. She didn’t begrudge the watchers and she didn’t despise the ones who missed the flight entirely. She barely cared about them at all. What she cared about was the dark of the forest. What she cared about was the trail an unexperienced boy left in his wake. What she cared about was the broken plants and tufts of fur. Most of all what she cared about was this—he was still just a kid.

Kids run. Kids hide. She knows that. She knows that better than a lot of people. So she follows with eyes aglow with the hunt. He wasn’t difficult quarry, and she didn’t begrudge him that, either. The little shit had probably never been beyond his own pack before. She made mistakes when she was young, too. Stars know she did. But she wasn’t young anymore. And she knows these woods better than he does.

She doesn’t stop him in the first mile. She doesn’t stop him in the second. She lets him run and she follows slowly but doggedly like a mutt worrying a bone. She has the thread of something rotten between her teeth and it worries her as much as she worries it—she wouldn’t admit that for the world, but it was true. She could nearly forget the heavy weight in the coils of her innards as she immersed herself in the chase, but at the end of the day, it was always there.

There was an end to all hunts. All blind flights through the wood. Night does not last forever. She finds where he’s bedded down. She looks upon the face of trouble and something loosens in the beating of her heart when she realizes just how young he really is. In the day, he must think he was grown, tall, a head above all others—she had too, once. But as he slept, none of the shadows we tether to ourselves were there. For fucks sake, he was only a baby.

She gives him his space. She thought she might wake him, because weary people did not guard their tongues. But this really was just a boy. He must be exhausted. She settles on a stump overlooking where he laid his head, and as night wears on her eyelids become heavy but do not close. When morning comes, glimmering crescents welcome the first early rays.

“Hey,” she calls down as the dawn birds begin to sing, “Kid.”

[Haize]

GOOD BOY HYPERION

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In his haste, he hadn't noticed the woman with the red mask trailing behind him. She would have little trouble following the clumsy youth, but he had no incentives to cover his tracks. Maybe he wanted to leave a trail, thinking that one day someone would follow him. But this was wistful thinking.

He thought he was alone, the ever oblivious son! You're never alone out here. Someone will always be ahead of you, behind you, next to you, someone was always there. Always. But presently, that someone was not an enemy.

He didn't sleep much. He tried, even as he buried himself in the deepest corners of a new den each night, but to no avail. Each sound jerked him wide awake. A leaf crunching outside meant a potential conflict. Someone would be out there, waiting for the boy to slither on his belly from the den, and attack him. Was that how the wilderness worked? He hoped not. Come to think of it... he hadn't really been in any troubling situations thus far. The people he met were relatively harmless. Those who came to Gemini looking for a home were once wanderers, and likely came from these ancient woods. So maybe it wasn't all that bad?

As dawn painted itself across the sky, the boy opened his eyes. He rubbed them tiredly, then yawned. Maybe he would just lounge all day and take a break from walking, he was starting to wander quite far from home. His moved his red trimmed eyes around slowly, but a voice caught his attention. It came too close for comfort, and he stood immediately with his hackles raised.

" Do you watch little boys sleep often? " He cocked a brow at the stranger, but he wanted to smile.

" Weirdo. " This earned a smug grin, which he quickly forced away for situation's sake. He didn't know who this woman was, and she could be dangerous. She hadn't attacked him yet though, so that's... a good sign?

[Haize]

The boy woke, his eyes tired. She knew hers must reflect her weariness, mirrors strung between the trees to remind us of where we’ve been. She regards him with her head upon her paws, tail wagging once before stilling again. He was just a boy. He was just a boy, and she was not his enemy. “No, kid, just you,” she sighs from her nose, eyes shutting momentarily as she rubbed an itchy muzzle against the bony knob of her ankle. “Saw you run,” she comes clean out the gate, eyes opening to slivers to regard him from her not-so-lofty perch. She watches for signs of fear, aggression, all things cornered animals express when they think they’re in a cage, then she adds, “Don’t worry, kid. I’m not going to make you go back.”

Rest. Breathe. It’s out in the open now. She knew he was young. He had to think he was invincible. She could practically hear the like you could make me go back, anyway! That’s how they always were. That’s how they would always be. It’s what she would have said. You can’t make me do anything. He knew they had common ground now, but she was still the weird adult that tracked him down and watched him sleep. Yeah, you know what? Thinking of it that way, she could understand where he might find her a bit disturbed. Time to change that. “You’ve gotta be hungry,” she comments, unable to bite back a yawn. “Passed through this part of the woods a few months ago, there’s a couple of game trails.”

“I could show you,” she offers, regarding him for a moment before she continues, “I’m gonna jump down now, kid. This old thing wants to poke me full of splinters.” She slowly rose, still keeping an eye on him. At the first sign of fight or flight she’d stop, but if he remained amiable she leapt lightly from the stump. “I’m Haize,” she introduced herself either way. “If it’s alright with you, maybe we could hang out for a couple of hours.” She knew how quickly kids startled and shut down. She had a lot of things she wanted to know. The why, the how, whether or not this baby was going to return to his nest. She’s learned from past mistakes to not come on too hard or fast, but every kid was different. Maybe this approach would work. Maybe it wouldn’t. She’d have to wait and see.