Tisis

Doing the right thing (S)

After the all too awkward night after Nym's request has passed, we finish packing the stuff we need for the journey, fill up our water bottles at the nearby river, plot the route we should take and are off.

Very few unnecessary words are spoken and the silence hangs heavy between the two of us, only disturbed by the sounds of the wildlife around us.

How strange perception is...I know this is the same forest we've lived in for weeks now...yet, all of a sudden, it all feels...wrong somehow.
It is, as if the world around us suddenly lost a good deal of color.

I shake my head and mutter, "Get a grip, Sirus..."

But the silence remains.
Nym just walks behind me, her weapon at the ready, carefully scanning the surroundings.

She avoids looking at me...

I slow my pace, pulling slightly on the leash to notify Ray that we'll be going slower and place myself next to Nym.

"...Nym, I..." I start while still trying to figure out, just what in the world I'm even supposed to say in this kind of situation.

I've seen my share of awkward, sure, but back on the ship we just avoided each other after a fight until the wounds were healed.

...here, we cannot avoid each other.
We need to work together, because otherwise we won't survive.
So I need to fix this.
I have no frigging idea how, but I need to fix this.

I stop walking and Ray gives me an annoyed yelp, as the leash strangles him lightly.

"...come here, boy," I tell him and wait for Ray to trudge over.
I kneel down, undo the leash and tell him, "Go ahead. Play a little."

Ray gives me a surprised look.
And I really can't blame him, seeing how this is the first time, I've removed the leash while we were just walking.

After Ray has disappeared into the underbrush, Nym lets out a long sigh and asks, "What are you doing, Sirus?! We've still got a long way ahead of us until our next stop and you're wasting time."

"We're on our way to set him free anyway. Maybe...maybe he won't even come back this time. Then we can just turn around."
"Yeah right. We spent a lot of time to condition him into coming back. He'll probably even bring some prey back, cause that's how we trained him. How you trained him. Still, it'll be at least an hour until he's back. So try again."

I sigh and motion to a set of nearby rocks, where we sit down.

"...look, I know I haven't been very...nice to you last night."
"...Sirus, how old do you think I am?"

I blink a few times, scratch my head and then reply, "I...don't know? But your mother died in the fire, so you can't be younger than me...at least not much."
"I'm almost 18 of your years by now, Sirus...assuming that the rotation speed of Tisis is similar to that of Earth, I mean. According to what I remember of your file, you were born a year after me."

I raise an eyebrow.

18 years? Really?
She sure doesn't look the part...more like a 10 year old child...oh crap, I know where this is going.

"I see you connecting the dots there, Mr..." she starts, apparently struggling to remember my surname.
I ponder if I should help her out, but decide against it.

"Locus! No, no, wait...hocus...pocus..."
"No, and not Alakazam either. Loctor. But really, just Sirus is fine. You don't expect me to remember your surname either, after all. Heck, I can't even remember your full first name! Either way, we need to talk about this...situation we're having. We can't keep going like this."