Chapter 49: The Day Before (2)

The night wasn’t really that cold. Or rather, at least not to those beings who could freely manipulate their internal magic. To such individuals, Jak and Mako being two such examples, it was considered simple child’s play to control their own body temperature. For the fiery redhead, this was especially true given his base elemental nature of fire, granting him a strong resistance to low temp environments.

So, even if everyone else found the world of ’Ard Araml to be a borderline icy wonderland after the twins stars had set, all Jak could feel was a cool refreshing breeze as it blew past.

"Hey. Bonehead. Catch."

Jak shifted his gaze away from the ever changing dunes of sand just in time to see a girthy bottle of purple liquid flying towards him, hurled at mach speed. He didn’t even need to glance over the bottles label to know what was inside of it, having consumed its contents with Mako and the others some twenty minutes prior. Casually lifting his hand, the young rookie snatched the tossed drink from the air.

"Take a swig of that and cool yourself off. You aren’t you when you’re thirsty."

"Was I not cool already?" Jak eyed his blue haired friend as he approached, twisting off the cork sealing the grape juice bottle shut.

"Generally speaking, snapping at others isn’t really something one would consider cool." - Mako

"Snapping is a stretch. I called him an idiot. Calmly." - Jak

"So you snapped....calmly." - Mako

"Whatever." - Jak

"It’s alright. I get your frustration. You’re just a lot more....vocal on such things than normal people. You certainly don’t beat around the bush. Thats for certain. "

Jak frowned, getting a slight flash of irritation after recalling the young Fennelis. "It’s just that he doesn’t see where he went wrong. Its annoying."

"I understand. I do. It’s honestly a scary thing. Thinking everyone has expectations for you and then trying to live up to those expectations. But it’s even scarier when you learn YOU’RE the only one who had those lofty expectations and acted accordingly." Mako popped open his own bottle of grape juice, stuffing the removed cork into his pocket. "You did the right thing though, walking away when you did. He needs to realize it on his own. It’s probably why everyone distanced themselves from him, to allow him to recognize his flaws and hopefully put it all behind him."

"Someone needs to slap him upside the head." Jak glowered, his face almost a full on pout.

Mako laughed. "Let his father be the one to do that if it comes to it. We’re merely visitors in this Village. In this world. It’s hardly our place to fix the issues of everyone we come across."

Jak side eyed the blue haired Rookie. "Since when did you become a therapist?"

"Since I have to put up with your edgelord personality."

".....Fair enough."

"Also, you definitely have some nerve calling others annoying." Mako raised an eyebrow, bringing up a point that was almost overlooked in the ensuing conversation. "You certainly haven’t been easy to talk to these last few days. This shtick where you seem to hate the world isn’t gonna make you any more likeable to others. You just seem like an ass."

"Do I need others to like me?" Jak seemed genuinely intrigued, lowering the bottle for a second.

"Well. No. It certainly helps though."

The corners of Jaks mouth tipped upwards. "Yeah. I bet it does."

The wind picked up from there, sending a thin shower of sand in all directions, forcing the two individuals to keep quiet to prevent any beige particles from entering their mouths. After the howling currents halted in their tracks, the youths didn’t resume their discussion, instead choosing to drink in complete silence. It was only when Jak had run his drink down to about half the bottle that he initiated the conversation once again.

"How do you think the Water Wolves and the other Subjugation members are doing?"

Mako plopped down on the sand, stretching his legs out as he did so. "I’m sure they’re all fine. Psyche probably teleported everyone out with the Arc Soul Sucker thingy. The Rift Hunters themselves should also be fine. Odds are, they had backup plans for such an eventuality."

"I suppose you’re right."

"I usually am." Mako smirked slightly.

"You sure about that?" - Jak

"Pretty sure." - Mako

"The Cresca Flowers?" - Jak

Mako shrugged little, looking largely unbothered. "It would be boring if I solved everything for you wouldn’t it? I have to give you SOME ways to be useful."

"Yeah. Okay." Jak rolled his eyes.

"What do you think Meru?" The blue haired rookie glanced behind him, eyeing the figure that had been standing there since the near beginning. "I’m obviously more useful than this bonehead, right?"

The young Water Spirit didn’t offer up any sort of response, eyes fixed towards the tips of her feet. From where she stood, coated in light of the full moon, she looked especially frail, even more so with the added additions of the dark bruises lining her visible skin. Jak wouldn’t have been particularly surprised if a rather strong gust of wind caused her to shatter apart, or perhaps even a light breeze. She didn’t stand nearly as far as she had at the start, but she was still just as invisible.

"Meru. What do you think of NorthClaw?" Mako turned around fully, spinning on his rear. "Do you like it?"

"....It’s nice." Meru looked up as Knox nudged her from behind, having emerged from the girl’s shadow. "Their food could use some work though."

Mako laughed. "Good to know that I’m not the only one who thought that Shiìn Delente was way too spicy."

"It wasn’t spicy. It just wasn’t good."

"The reason you were red in the face then....." Jak tilted his head slightly, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Was because....I didn’t want to throw up. Its not good to waste food." Meru ran her fingers through the Vox Lions neck. "I liked the juice though. I never had anything like it before."

Jak frowned immediately. "You dont know what grape juice is?"

"I.....know of it." Meru seemed to react to the weight of the redheads question, shrinking back ever so slightly. "We were never taught much of anything aside from how to speak and write. Enjoyments offered by the World’s were also a rarity. As a result...."

"No need to say anymore." Mako grinned. "You’re one of us now. Think of me as the sibling you always wished you could have, the cool older brother if you will. You can think of Jak as that grouchy uncle who-"

WHACK!!

"Ow!"

"Stop making it weird." Jak retracted his hand away from Mako as the youth rubbed the back of his head. "Your face is already frightening enough as it is. No need to add more fuel to the fire. Idiot. Last thing anyone needs to think about is the horror show of having you as a brother."

"See Meru? Grouchy."

WHACK!!

"Ow!!"

Meru stifled a giggle, a short set of melodic bells that seemed to echo through the open night air. Perhaps the second positive emotion the former Slave had shown that day, the two adventurers immediately stopped harassing each other and looked in her direction. The young Water Spirit immediately covered her mouth in embarrassment, but it was already far too late. Despite having been at each other’s necks a few seconds prior, the two of them seemed more than pleased by the new outcome.

Mako was grinning from ear to ear and Jak had something akin to a proud look, even if it was heavily dulled.

"At least we know you got a sense of humor." -Mako

"I agree. Nothing wrong with enjoying some amusement." - Jak

"Pardon the intrusion children."

All heads turned as Ontoki made his way onto the scene, a serious look on his face, of which might have just been his normal look. Immediately, all good vibes were squashed, replaced with an all business atmosphere. Meru was more than thrown off by the abrupt change, but she didn’t say anything, once again falling just as silent as she usually was.

"Tomorrow. We’ll begin the search for the source tomorrow morning." Ontoki glanced between all three of them, barely giving Knox a second glance. "Red Adventurer child, I would like you to join the search team on the outskirts and see what you can dig up there. Perhaps you’ll be able to sense something that my men cannot."

Jak nodded, saying very little.

"Blue child." The Oxuon shifted his attention onto Mako. "A party has been formed with Hunopil. The goal is to scour the edges of the Lake for the source. I would like you to participate on that front."

"Yeah. I can do that." Mako shrugged slightly. "Shouldn’t be an issue."

"And Meru, was it?" Ontoki looked in the young girls direction, almost cautiously, as if scared of frightening her off. "I would like you to accompany my son in the Parthenon. You and Kruger can work together to find any useful information that could be of help to us."

Wordlessly, Meru looked over at Jak. The redhead gave her a small nod in return.

"Yes....Lord Ontoki. I would be happy to assist."