Jaxon

Dry

Hace – Hello?

Iriie – Hey! I saw the video you posted! He's so cute!!!

Hace – Thanks. You have one of the thirty too?

Iriie – Yeah. My little guy saw the video with me and started to freak out! He kept yipping and pointing. I think they might know each other.

Hace – What's this group you invited me to?

Iriie – I'm thinking that the little guys might want to have a playdate sometime with ones they already know. They're social creatures after all.

Hace – I'll join the group, but I want to give my guy a little longer before I let him visit another pet. He's injured and I just got him chipped, so no collar yet.

Iriie – I understand. Thanks for being the first to join the group. He's a picture of mine!

*A new post comes up in the group*

     It was the first post and pinned to the top. The Inchoate had a dirty colored blond mane and pale blue eyes. It was holding a teddy bear almost the same color as his mane and had a huge smile on his face. Hace smiled and posted the picture he had just taken of Ardent covered in kooloo fruit.

Iriie – He's adorable! Those eyes are amazing!

Hace – Yours is cute too. What's his name?

Iriie – Sand, the mane color was just so unique. And yours?

Hace – Ardent.

     Jaxon woke up feeling well rested. He was actually almost enjoying these mid-day naps... almost. He just wished he could be farther along with learning the language. He was also starting to learn a little about the culture... at least when it came to the food and proper eating.

     'Ok.' He thought to himself. 'I should do more things to make myself feel better about this 'shift' in the mission.' He laid there for a while looking at the ceiling while he tried to think of anything. 'Exercise! I can't do much... but upper body is just as important.'

     He rolled onto his stomach and started doing planks the best he could. He got a good three sets of twenty in before he felt himself being lifted out of the pen.

     Mint smiled at him and gave him a hug. Jaxon tried to push away, but it was no use. He just gave an aggravated sigh and went limp. The knot in his stomach seemed to lessen when he stopped fighting. Almost like his body was telling him that it was alright. He didn't want to listen to his stomach. He was never going to enjoy all this attention.

     Mint carried him to the couch and set him in the pillow. He left him there for a bit before he came back with a sippy cup and a blanket. Jaxon happily accepted the drink and smiled at the new flavor of water. He still wanted to know what Mint was adding to it to make it taste so good.

     As he drank, Mint tucked the blanket around Jaxon then sat down next to him. He turned back on the large black screen with a small object in his hand. He seemed to be using the object to search through the different security cameras. There was a lot of them!

     'How does he have such a high level of access?' Jaxon wondered.

     Mint stopped on some very strange footage. It looked as though it had been drawn by someone. There was lots of colors and sounds. The creatures on the screen looked nothing like any of the aliens Jaxon had seen on the planet so far. Were they getting broadcasts of security on other worlds?

     'I'm so stupid!' Jaxon suddenly realized. He hit himself in the forehead and laughed. This made Mint quickly look down at him.

     "This isn't real... is it?" He kinda asked Mint at the same time himself. "This is like... oh... what were they called." He'd read about this in a halo-book. He'd never thought he'd see it though.

     "TELEVISION!" He shouted excitedly. "This is television! None of this is real. It's all just stories! None of the stuff I saw yesterday was real either I bet. Then why did he cover my eyes when that..."

     Jaxon turned a bright red and felt his face warm up. "Oh... OH... oooooooh..."

     Hace turned on a cartoon to try and keep Ardent calm. He didn't want a repeat of yesterday. He'd started to drift asleep when he heard a loud smack and laughing. Hace looked down at Ardent and couldn't help but smile. His hand was on his forehead, and he was laughing. This was the first time Hace had heard him laugh like that. It was so cute! Then Ardent started yiping and pointing at the screen. He just kept yiping and yapping. He was saying something to Hace, but he had no idea what he was saying.

     Suddenly, Ardent stopped making noise and turned red, his eyes opened wide, and he put his head down covering his face like he was embarrassed.

     "Doing ok there little guy?" Hace reached over and pet the top of his head. Ardent didn't take his hands off his face. "What's so embarrassing?" Hace's fingers found their way to the spot on Ardent's chin and scratched for a bit. Ardent dropped his hands and turned towards Hace. A smile came across Ardent's face and he gave out a sigh.

     Hace noticed that Ardent's lips looked a bit pale and chapped. He stopped scratching his chin and ran his finger across them. Ardent let out a shocked yip and his eyes shot open. He started to shake a bit like he was afraid of how close Hace's hand was to his face. Hace could feel that he was dry. Too dry. That cup he gave Ardent must not have been enough. He got up and got a bottle of water.

     Jaxon put his hands up to his face and rubbed his lips. 'Why did he do that? What was that all about?! That was such a weird feeling!'

     Mint came back and sat back down by him. He opened what looked like a bottle of water and brought it up to Jaxon's mouth. Jaxon looked at him and tilted his head for a moment before shaking his head no.

     "I'm not thirsty right now. I already drank." He tried to push the water away. Mint didn't seem to like that. He took a hold of Jaxon's chin and lifted his head slightly before slowly starting to pour water into his mouth. Jaxon trembled but didn't fight it.

     Mint made him drink about a third of the bottle before he pulled it away. Jaxon gasped, trying to catch his breath.

     "I don't know why you gave me so much water! You're just going to have to deal with it later." Jaxon huffed and crossed his arms. Again, Mint put his finger across Jaxon's lips. Jaxon was tempted to bite Mint. He pushed Mint away instead and yelled at him.

     "Will you stop that already!" Mint just smiled and pet the top of his head.