Chapter 18
-Farley-
I gently pulled Pax into the living room; he was shaking. I had to admit that I was incredibly nervous too. I didn't know what Caspian was going to say, nor did I know if Pax would be able to stay. We had, very literally, dragged him away from the only home= he knew.
Caspian stood with his arms crossed, staring me down. That was until his eyes travelled to Pax. His expression softened and he dropped his arms. "You must be Pax," he said and held out a hand for him to shake. "I'm Caspian, the alpha of the pack."
Once again, I didn't have to tell Pax that there was a hand waiting for him. He shook Caspian's hand timidly, as though afraid to break him. "Nice to meet you," he replied in a smaller voice than I had ever heard from him. "I'm sorry for coming unannounced."
Caspian gave a dry chuckle. "Don't worry about it, the twins coming to tell me five minutes before is more warning then I'm usually given."
I rolled my eyes at his comment. Thumping started to come from upstairs. "Is that a new voice I hear?" Clementine shouted down the stairs. The thumping grew louder and louder, until she stood in the doorway. "It is, hello!" She rushed forward and gave Pax a big hug. "You look so sweet. You must be Pax, I'm Clementine."
I looked at her startled, I wasn't surprised that she would hug Pax, it was her nature. I was curious and frightened about how Pax would react to the sudden hug. "Nice to meet you," Pax replied. He sounded a little out of breath, pink started to come to his cheeks. It could've been due to the lack of oxygen from Clementine's hug, or he could be getting overwhelmed. Both were very possible.
"It's wonderful to meet you, how'd you get here?" Clementine turned her attention to Caspian, who shrugged and gestured to me.
"Iris and Rowan followed me into the woods, I ran into Pax, and then his alpha kinda ran into us. So, we then ran away. Now we're here," I said quickly.
I wasn't quick enough. Caspian groaned and turned away, rubbing his eyes. "When I say things, does it just go through one ear and out the other?" he muttered. "We specifically can't have drama with other packs."
"I'm sorry," Pax said. "I didn't mean to cause trouble; I could just go back and pretend I've been in the woods the entire time."
"You are not," Iris stated. "You were trapped in your house for a month. You were very willing to run away. You're not going back to that house."
"I gotta agree here dude," Rowan added with a nod. "He didn't sound at all pleasant."
"Even I'm aware of the fact your alpha is..." Caspian trailed off, not being able to find the word he was looking for. He shook his head and sighed. "I don't mind, the act itself is harmless. I just hope that your alpha agrees."
"He won't." Pax's shoulders slumped. "He thinks that everything is an attack these days. Especially after what happened four years ago."
Caspian flinched and Clementine moved to put an arm around him. "Yes, that was quite the event." Caspian ran a hand through his hair. "Some packs have recovered better than others. It doesn't surprise me that specific event caused a change in your alpha's behaviour."
"It caused a lot of packs to split," Iris added on softly. Rowan and Iris' parents were from one of the packs which split. The two struggled to search for a pack of their own, prioritising their children getting into a small and sturdy pack. "Some still haven't recovered."
"Is that what happened to your pack?" Rowan asked Pax.
The boy beside me nodded. He started to rock on his heels. "Kian lost a lot of followers after the war; his techniques were never the most popular."
Caspian gasped as he heard the name, then quickly covered his mouth. I shot a curious glance in his direction. He shook his head at me and sighed.
"Farley, why don't you give Pax a small tour?" Clementine asked and put a hand on my arm. Her grip was firm, telling me that I had no room to argue.
"Alright," I said slowly. "Come on Pax, let's let the adults talk about their adult things."
Pax snorted at my words. "Alright, let's see how good your description skills are." I could tell from his tone that he knew the others were going to start talking as soon as we left the room.
I was faced with a new challenge, navigating the house with someone who can't see, or rather, explaining a house to someone who can't see. I hadn't actually tried doing this before. Even explaining the forest would be difficult, and there wasn't nearly as much to talk about.
The kitchen was fairly easy, introducing Pax to the various houseplants that we have on the windowsill. There wasn't much to talk about. I pointed to each cupboard, knocking on it to show some sense of direction, and described what was in each.
I didn't bother showing him the back garden, which was too small to even bother with. So, we went upstairs. I showed him Caspian's room, to which I received a lot of shock. "There's not an office?" Pax had asked me, "Where do you guys have your serious meetings and stuff?" He was very surprised when I showed him the desk, where we had all our meetings. "It's in his bedroom? You're actually allowed inside his bedroom?"
His reaction to a lot of things caused me to burst out in fits of laughter. He was surprised that Clementine and Caspian didn't share a room, and if the two were listening in, I'm sure that they would've had quite the shock. Showing him the bathroom was quick, but he seemed much more relaxed afterward. He had pointed out that he could still smell the floral fragrances of the various products which were kept there. I couldn't quite smell it, perhaps I had gotten used to it over the years.
There wasn't a lot to show him in the girl's room, just describing the colour of the wallpaper and the cleanliness of the room. Pax liked the texture of the carpet, bending down to touch it with his hand. The smile which crawled onto his face was absolutely adorable. I found it strange how he could react like that to something as simple as a carpet.
Then we got to Rowan and I's room. I hesitated with my hand around the door handle. There wasn't anything I had to hide in here, but what if Rowan hadn't cleaned up after himself? What if I'd left something out of place? I sighed and opened the door as soon as I found the tiniest bit of courage.
"This is Rowan and I's room," I announced. I awkwardly shuffled into the room. He kept his arms behind his back, I didn't know why, but he had kept his arms in that position for the majority of the tour. "The bed and things on the right are mine. The walls are a pale blue, I don't really know what else to say."
Pax took careful steps around the room. His legs would brush against the beds and the chest of drawers. He was quiet until his foot knocked the football which I had kept on the floor.
I jumped in front of him and picked it up. "Sorry about that, it's just a ball." I threw it up in the air and caught it once, the sound of the ball rang in my ears and filled me with nostalgia of using it as a basketball, which I wouldn't recommend.
He shook his head and then held his hands out. I passed him the ball and watched him pass it back and forth in his hands. "Been a while since I've even tried to kick a ball," he mused. "I mean, I've played with Alder a few times, back when he had a ball. Think it burst...mysteriously." He chuckled at the end.
"I'm surprised this one's intact, to be perfectly honest." I moved to sit on my bed. I didn't want to tell him that he could join me, that could make it awkward. Him standing in the middle of the room, also made me feel awkward. I patted the spot next to me. "You can sit here, you know?" My voice wasn't even, and it was quiet.
"Oh," he said and sat down. "I thought werewolves were meant to be very territorial?" I could imagine him eyeing me suspiciously if he could see me clearly.
"We are territorial over different things." I clasped my hands together and started to twiddle my thumbs. "I'm not personally territorial over my bedroom or bed, we kind of make that agreement when we join the pack. I would say I'm territorial of my childhood bedroom, a bit selective of who comes into the house. Though, I'm sure that humans don't just let strangers into their houses."
Pax shrugged. "I wouldn't know much about that." He lifted a hand and rubbed his forehead, making his hair stick up in odd places. "I'm not sure I've surpassed the stranger category."
It was my turn to shrug. "Well, to me, you have." I felt self-conscious. I had taken a picture of this man without his consent. He still considered me a stranger, which was creepy. "What would make us go past the stranger category?"
He inhaled deeply, which turned into a small yawn. "Um, we could just talk. I know I've not really been the most talkative."
"Why is that?" I asked him, saying the first thing which came to my mind. He gave me a stern look. I raised my hands in surrender. "You said that we should talk more."
"So, if you were on a bus or something and you saw a stranger, you'd walk up to them and ask why they're quiet?" Pax crossed his arms over the football in his lap.
"No, not when you put it like that." I pouted. "What would you say to someone if you were on the bus?"
He puffed out a laugh. "I don't know, what did I say to you about an hour ago?"
I gasped and dramatically put a hand on my chest. "Well played," I praised. "I'm usually quite talkative to people on the bus, though I do have a friend who gets on at a specific stop. I don't really have a lot of time to talk to strangers anymore."
"Most of my vocalisations are snappy and snarky, so I don't think talking to strangers is such a good idea." Pax shuffled backwards and leant against my wall, narrowly missing the corkboard.
"I don't believe that." I crossed my legs and faced him. "You've been talking just fine with us all here."
A grin made its way to his face. "My plan is working then," he cheered. "I'm surprised about that too. I need to be more Pax-like."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "What on earth is Pax-like?"
"Who knows? Never met him. I'm the only Pax that I know." He was attempting to 't
joke. It wasn't the best attempt, but at least there was some effort there.
I spluttered out a laugh. "I'm sure Rowan will love teaching you all his bad jokes, and his terrible ones. He might skip the awful ones."
"Don't count on it!" Rowan exclaimed as he ran into the room and jumped on his bed.
Pax screeched slightly and jumped. He couldn't go anymore backwards on the wall, so he was crouching awkwardly. "A little warning, please?"
Rowan and I were trying to stifle our laughter. "I'll keep it in mind, but again, no promises."
I didn't understand why I felt this irritated about being interrupted by Rowan, but I was getting to know Pax; I didn't want that to stop. The gap between myself and Pax wasn't too big, so I shuffled backwards a little bit. Rowan wasn't really paying any attention to us; he was just staring at the ceiling.
"What about you?" Pax asked me. His arms were hugging himself, making him look smaller than he is. "What is Farley-like?"
I hummed and put a finger to my chin in thought. "I'm sure many would argue with me. But Farley-like is talkative and friendly. It's a very active person, who is also really stubborn."
Pax snorted and lifted his arms to cover his face, which blushed a light pink. "Sorry, but I can tell that definition is correct." I didn't know if I should feel good about that or not. It meant that he thought I was stubborn, which I had shown every sign of in the past two months. At least he thinks I'm friendly.
"You never answered what Pax-like was," I pointed out. "Spill."
He opened his mouth and hesitated. "I guess Pax-like is also a bit stubborn. It's very independent and doesn't like to ask for help. It's not being very social or talkative."
"I would certainly disagree," I said. "You seem to be very talkative right now."
He shook his head. "Nah, that's probably because I'm getting answers. Or it's distracting me from my worries. Both of which are possible." He lifted his legs up onto the bed and wrapped his arms around them.
"I don't mind whatever the reason is, I like talking full stop." I reached over and picked up my phone from my desk, checking for messages. I only had a text from my mam, talking about the movie that she and my dad went to see earlier today. "Have you seen a movie before Pax?"
His eyebrows furrowed and a cute frown came to his lips. His head tilted a little bit to the left and he huffed a little bit. "I know what those are, they're like things you watch on the telly. We don't have one of those at the packhouse, but I might've seen one before I went there. I can't really remember."
"We'll have to take you," Rowan said with his face stuffed into his pillow. "I haven't been in ages."
I rolled my eyes. "That's because you leave all your chores to the last minute, after saying for hours you'd do them. If you'd do them just to begin with, you'd have time."
Rowan threw his pillow at me. "You're starting to sound like my sister, or my aunt."
I barely caught the pillow before it hit me. "Don't let Clementine hear you say that."
"Say what?" Clementine's head poked around the corner. She had a teasing grin on her face. "I heard all of that, by the way. I'd consider myself much funner than that."
Pax's shoulders had tensed. I bit my lip in thought over the reason for that. My own shoulders ended up sagging, I didn't see how I could make him any more comfortable.
"Is there something you needed, Tine?" Rowan asked. Tine was one of Clementine's few nicknames. It was annoying, given that her name was so long. She really didn't like any variation of her name. She tolerates 'Em' sometimes, but that's rare.
"Yeah, Caspian wants to talk to these two." She nodded over to me and Pax. "I've not seen him this excited in months. You must be something special, kid." She turned around and stopped, spinning back to look at Rowan. "And you and I are going to work on making tea, with Iris' supervision."
Rowan groaned and slipped dramatically onto the floor. "Why?" he wailed. He scurried to his feet and then out the door. "Best not keep her waiting."
I blinked at the spectacle which was Rowans' behaviour. "I guess we better go see Caspian."
Pax's arms were wrapped around his legs again, the fabric of his trousers held tight in his fists. "Yeah," he mumbled. "This is one strange day."
OH WOW I'M RUNNING OUT OF QUESTIONS!
Have you guys ever played sims? -and if so, which version?
Sims 4 has recently became free! So, of course, I downloaded it on my computer. I've got it on my xbox but it's a pain trying to see all of the notifications and interactions. But on PC it's a totally different experience! I can actually play it and it's so much fun!
I also wanted to say thank you for reading<--I know it's up there, but writing it means more thanks! and I hope that you have a wonderful festive season!