.~ .~ .~ .~.
Jake turned around as he heard the bell over the door jingle, distracting him momentarily from polishing his newest sword. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Kyle walk in, a proud grin on his face.
That was… faster than expected. Jake thought with surprise, sitting back from the table.
“Found it.” Kyle said, his voice slightly arrogant. He held out his hand, and in it was a pendant dangling from his fingers that he recognized as indeed belonging to Cecilia.
Hmph. Well, whaddya know. He’s not completely useless. Jake nodded, returning to what he was doing.
“…Aren’t you going to take it?” Kyle asked, quirking an eyebrow, hand with the pendant still outstretched.
“Yer the one that found it. Give it back to her and come back here.” Jake said gruffly, returning to his work.
“B-But!” Kyle gaped, “If I‘m the one to give it back to her, she’ll know that I went into the dungeons.”
“You did.” Jake snorted, smirking. This’ll be fun. Kyle frowned at him, displeased.
“Alright, fine.” He responded, turning around and stalking out the door. Jake’s smirk only widened. This human was fun, at least. He actually did what he told him to do.
.~ .~ .~ .~.
Kyle walked down the road, hands in his pockets. The light was dimming – it was after four in the afternoon, so the sun was beginning to set, washing everything in bright orange and red. Sunsets in Alvarna were always beautiful, Kyle had soon realized; in fact his first evening here he had sat out at the pier, watching in awe. He had never seen something so stunning, and despite not having any memory of anything prior to his arrival just a few days ago, deep down he knew that was true.
He truly was lucky to end up in such a place, with such kind people.
Of course, it would do no good if he did nothing but anger said nice people… which he knew he was about to do by returning Cecilia’s pendant. Jake was at work, so he could not have gotten it himself and asked Kyle to return it – and she would know that. He didn’t know if anyone else liked to go into the dungeons and he could use as a scapegoat, and what if Cecilia found them later and thanked them? He’d be in even more trouble for lying.
The only thing he could do was grit his teeth and get ready for her to be upset with him… which he really didn’t want, but Jake refused to return it for him, so there was really no choice.
Kyle knocked on the door to the manor for the second time that day, and again Cecilia was the one to open it.
“Oh, Kyle! Did you need something?” She asked politely. “I was just about to leave.”
“I just wanted to return this for you.” Kyle said quickly, pulling out the pendant from his pocket. She looked at it in surprise for a moment, taking it from him, before narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion. Kyle shifted on his feet nervously. He was going to get yelled at, he could tell…
“You found it? Kyle, did you go out in the forest to get this for me?”
“Uh, well, y-yeah…” he admitted, and when she frowned at him, he added, “Jake wanted me to find it for you, and I wanted to pay him back for helping me, so…
“I avoided the monsters, though! The pendant wasn’t that far inside… just in the clearing.”
Cecilia’s eyes widened almost imperceptivity for a moment, and she set her lips in a thin line. “Jake sent you out in the dungeons to go get this for me?”
“Yeah, technically…” Kyle said quietly, tugging on his headband nervously.
“All right. Thank you, Kyle. But please, be careful, I would hate for you to get hurt again.” Cecilia said politely but sternly, walking past him out the door, closing it behind herself. “I’ll see you later!”
And she walked off back toward the Inn, leaving Kyle a little flabbergasted. He… didn’t get in trouble?
“I have a feeling I managed to get Jake in trouble instead of myself…” Kyle chuckled quietly to himself, stepping out onto the street. What good luck.
.~ .~ .~ .~.
“I can’t believe you! You knew he was hurt, and you sent him out to the dungeons! What’s wrong with you?!” Cecilia screeched, and Jake grimaced, flinching back slightly. Cecilia was at the stove, preparing dinner and scolding him at the same time.
How the hell did he end up being the one in trouble? Kyle was the one who accepted the job, regardless of his own condition.
He voiced this thought, but Cecilia only screeched at him louder. “He wanted to repay you for helping him! Of course he went out and got it!”
“He didn’t have to do it right then!” Jake retorted, slumping back in his seat, scowling. “I didn’t tell ‘im to do it right the fuck then. It was his decision to go out there the way he did.”
“Kyle wanted to prove to you he wasn’t a bad fighter! You antagonized him!” she snapped, turning around and pointing the knife she was using at him accusingly. He wouldn’t have been surprised if she threw it, honestly, she was so mad. Jake grimaced at the idea.
“So? He deserved it! He got his ass beat by a Goblin, of all things, and then I had to save his dumb ass!” Jake growled, standing up with such force that his chair clattered around.
“I don’t care if you think he deserved it, it was wrong! He could have gotten himself hurt again, not to mention that he’s not one hundred percent recovered yet and not at his best!”
“He just went into the Forest! You go in there without a weapon and come out just fine, it’s not like he could have really gotten himself hurt unless he really was an idiot!” Jake’s hands were clenched in anger so strong that his knuckles were turning white, his nails digging into his palms.
He hated fighting with Cecilia. It was at the top of his list of things - to - avoid - at - all - costs, probably just beaten out by eating (whatever he doesn’t like). It made him feel bad to anger her so.
“I don’t care! It’s the thought that counts! You sent an injured man, who has done nothing to you to deserve it, out to what could have potentially been his death! I just can’t… ARGH I just can’t believe you would do that!” she shrieked, slamming the knife down on the counter, so angry her face was red all the way to the ends of her pointy elven ears. Jake shied away instinctively – Cecilia, although docile and kind most of the time, was probably the scariest thing he had ever seen when she was mad. Add that to the fact that it made him feel terrible when he angered her to such extents and he was practically shaking in his boots.
She was silent for a moment, breathing heavily as she tried to calm herself down. She turned around, facing away from him and staring at the backsplash. “Out.” She ordered, pointing to the door.
“What?” Jake sputtered, staring at her back incredulously.
“OUT! I don’t want to see your face anymore! Get out!” she shouted, voice rising a few octaves.
“Fucking hell…” he grumbled. He was getting kicked out of his own house!
“NOW!” Cecilia shrieked, and Jake thought it a good idea to just do what she said, if he valued his limbs, and he left.
Oh, he had a bone to pick with Kyle. How the hell had he managed to not only avoid getting yelled at by Cecilia, but turned it back onto HIM as well?
.~ .~ .~ .~.
Jake stalked onto the farm, seething with anger. He looked around, spotting Kyle stiffly tending to a few plants by the farm house. He was on his knees, bent over the plant with a thoughtful look on his face.
He didn’t know how, but Kyle was going to pay for getting Cecilia so mad with him. And pay dearly. So what if he was intending to get him in trouble in the first place? That didn’t matter. It blew up in his face, so he was going to make Kyle regret it.
“Hey, human!” Jake shouted, planting a foot not – so – nicely into Kyle’s thigh. He didn’t kick him, really, more like poke him really hard with the toe of his boot to get his attention.
“Ouch! Hey, what was that for?!” Kyle complained, looking up and clutching his thigh where Jake had “kicked” him. He raised a curious eyebrow at Jake’s absolutely livid expression, and Jake almost growled.
“Get up.” He hissed, and Kyle, not seeing how he had any choice, pushed himself off the ground rather stiffly; with great difficulty.
“What’s with you?” Kyle asked with irritation, eyeing him as he brushed his knees off.
“What the hell did you say to Cecilia when you gave her back the pendant?” Jake growled, taking Kyle by the collar, who let out a small sound of surprise.
“W-What? What are you talking about?” Kyle grasped Jake’s wrist, trying to pull out of his grasp, but Jake didn’t budge.
“Don’t act stupid. Somehow, Cecilia is mad at me, and I want to know what the hell you did,” he barked, pulling Kyle up to his tiptoes by his collar.
“I didn’t do anything! All I did was give her the pendant and tell her the truth. I was surprised she didn’t yell at me too!” Kyle protested, wiggling in his grasp. “Honest, that’s all that happened. Put me down!”
Jake stared menacingly at him for a few moments before obliging, letting him go with a dissatisfied sound. If he was telling the truth, there wasn’t much he could do… hell, there wasn’t much he could do in the first place if he didn’t want to incur more than just Cecilia’s wrath.
How exactly did Kyle manage to get so popular with the townspeople so fast?! How annoying!
Kyle straightened out his clothes for a moment before narrowing his eyes at him. “What is wrong with you? Did you just come out here to pick a fight?”
Author’s Note: Aaaaand I don’t know where I’m going with this scene anymore so I guess Jake is just going to be all “leave me alone, human, if you’re just going to get me in trouble with Cecilia then I’m just going to have to beat the crap out of you if you bother me blahblblabbhabh” I don’t even care anymore. XD I guess they kind of just make up and stuff and WE ARE MOVING ON HERE PEOPLE. I hate this scene. XD IT IS TIME FOR FLUFF AND GOOD THINGS OKAY. *checks outline* Next would be the Flower Festival~ Unless I wanted to add in something random… I don’t know what, though. XD
.~ .~ .~ .~.
So yeah I started hating this and stopped for a while (wrote more for a future scene which I will not post until we get to that point, if ever, haha), so this is where I ended up so far. We're just going to move on here, nothing to see here folks...
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