Take Me Far Away From Here

Oleander Elric

It was his first time back at the Barracks since his near fatal injury of the trials they'd faced as new recruits. He'd failed that one. Not only had he failed, he had the mark to prove it. Upon his haunches, on his right side, scars would begin to form where a predatory cat had sunk its teeth and claws into him.

Had his comrades not been there, it might've dragged him away as a quick meal. Oleander was still quite shaken by the experience, but he was learning to internalize his fears that had once shown outwardly. It was obvious in the hollow look of his eyes that he had a lot more going on inside his head than he was presenting.

Grateful to be done with training for today, he moved slowly towards the front exit of the Imperial camp. He did his best to control his limp as he walked, the flesh of his backside still tender from the wounds. Once he was out of the threshold, he turned himself in the direction of home in Redwood. His nose twitched and he stopped short, recognizing the scent on the air as familiar, bringing back a fond memory of his early days in the Mainlands.

Those sorts of memories were few and far between, but he knew he could not forget the girl who glowed like sunlight and showed him kindness even when he had been reluctant to play with her. Sheik. He remembered her name as he turned himself around expecting to see a coat of golden fur. Ole's brows furrowed in mild confusion when he determined that she was nowhere in sight.

@Haskell

enie

There was a timidness to his small gait as he made his way to the front of a building so many of his kin had or are working at, a place he never felt he belonged and why he never humored the idea since his first memories. He wasn’t a fighter and as he heard the uproar of wolves yelling and sparing within the confines of the border, his fur bristled like a porcupine. Drawing in a breath, he tried his best to soothe the trepidation that pricked at his nerves meticulously. Fighting had only brought death and no reward. It had lost him a better sense of balance as well where his tail was stolen from him from that strange half faced man. All of it was still so much to process. He wasn’t sure he ever could fully do so. He’d choose to focus on why he came here rather than why he didn’t belong in a place like this as he talked to one of the guards that would keep him from entering due to being a civilian. It was expected, he supposed but it just made him feel all the more awkward to speak in desire to see one of his cousins. Based on where the sun was, surely she had to be out soon but swiftly he was shut down by disappointing news she would have to work later. His ears buckled swiftly, showing the sorrow that echoed within his pale chest. “Oh… o-okay. Sorry for wastin your time, mister. And um… I. It’s not important enough to bother her, so no, I don’t need to relay any messages to the Colonel.” He quickly dismissed himself with a dip of his head, trying to show the respect he was taught while also hiding his upset, unknowing he was likely only making it all the more obvious. Maybe he could go back home and bug his sister instead, ask a different day for some help hunting something for his mom as a gift. He was too afraid to try to hunt game himself after what happened to Ahkoris, feeling the burning of tears along his lids. It was a stupid idea to probably try to hunt anything bigger than himself in the first place, the last thing his family needed was another death. "Come on Stomps," he instructed his pine marten to follow as he went to head home toward the Castle. With his head down he entirely missed the fact that the soldier that had walked past him while he was talking to the guard had stopped moving. As his brow brushed into something, he jumped and took a hop backward, wide eyed at what he had just touched. If he wasn't embarrassing himself before, he sure felt the heat in his cheeks of embarrassment now as he gazed upon a boy not much bigger than himself. “Pardon! I didn’t hurt cha, did I?” he asked softly, nearly certain no damage could have been done from that but just sneezing angered that one man. What’s to say this wouldn’t be any different?

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Oleander Elric

Oleander frowned, preparing to start moving again when something brushed against him from behind. He jumped forward with a start and stumbled to the side with a grimace as he'd put stress on the healing injuries. When he stood back up again, he was surprised to come face to face with a male who was actually...smaller than him? Golden eyes fluttered behind rapidly blinking eyelids as he took in the sight of the other.

“I-I...uhm..." He'd opened his mouth to answer when they familiar scent hit him and he realized it was coming from the boy in front of him. Ole tilted his head and studied the features of the lad once more before he spoke up. "Eh, yeah...I...I th-think so. But, wait...are you...? Or, well, d-do you kn-know Sheik?" He asked, his expression full of curiosity more than anything else.

@Haskell

enie

His ears tilted a little as he took some steps back to look at the other he had run into, taking in every little shift in color in his fur and realizing they weren’t so horribly different in shades. It was those vibrant golden eyes that drew his attention more, taking in how much lack of anger was there and admittedly how pretty those eyes were. They reminded him of a few different wolves, some more loved by him than others but all were family in the end. This boy, though, wasn’t likely any relation to him and he was ready to pad away before he could find a way to anger the other without meaning to. He was starting to feel the ghost of a tickle on his nose and it brought with it a fear he might sneeze all over the other, causing him to hold his breath in thinking that would stop it. Maybe he should beeline right out of here before this maybe-sneeze had the power to ruin everything. Though it would be rather rude to run off abruptly like a tornado with no manners. While his face felt like it was starting to go blue, he would silently listen to what the other had to say and as soon as his sister’s name met his ears, he popped his lips to take a sharp breath in and regain oxygen before he might find himself passing out on the ground. “Oh yes, she’s my dear sister!” he grinned ear to ear in greeting while panting a little trying to catch the breath he purposely lost. His ears twitched a few time. “She never told me she had a friend, though she isn’t usually away from me much at all. I’m Haskell! Who are you if you'd be so kind to tell me? he asked, matching the other’s curiosity with a small wiggle of his bum.

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Oleander Elric

Ole's lashes fluttered, blinking rapidly with mild confusion as he noticed the boy take a breath in and hold it. Why is he...? Do I...stink? His ears then lay back, feeling incredibly self-conscious while he attempted to discreetly turn his snout downward to his chest to breath in his own scent. He huffed a breath out and sniffed that too for good measure before lifting his chin once more. He certainly didn't think he smelled terrible, but...perhaps this boy did?

The pop of the other brutes lips made him jump reflexively, but then he relaxed as he realized it was simply to bring oxygen back into his lungs before speaking. Ashen brows rose as the connection was made and the smallest quirk of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. It was the first time he'd even felt his mouth do anything aside from frown in weeks. “O-oh! Your s-sister! That would explain your sh-shared s-scent then."

“She never told me she had a friend."

Oleander's growing smile began to fade and he nodded in understanding. “Ah...of c-course." There truly was no need for disappointment when they had only met once when they were much smaller pups and he spent most of the time in her presence hiding behind The Colonel's paws or elsewhere. Why would he expect her to ever mention him, much less remember him at all? "We're...n-not really f-friends...I'd c-consider us acq-quaintances at best."

The stuttering lad figured that required further explanation and continued his eyes softening as he recalled the memory, “We played b-briefly as p-pups...I never forgot her k-kindness that d-day..." The recruit then straightened up and cleared his throat, returning to a stance one might require of him within the confines of the Imperial Barracks. He did his best to still the nervous muscles of his mouth, to try to reel back his stutter as best he could as he introduced himself. “My name is Oleander. What might I c-call you?"

@Haskell

enie

The boy didn’t notice the other taking a hearty sniff of his own scent, hardly paying attention to anything at all besides what expression might be poised at any given second as he kept his sneeze at bay. With the topic at paw, he was quickly forgetting he was even fighting a sneeze, a big grin on his face the whole time the other spoke with that bit of confirmation. “Hehe, yeah, we share a room. Well, when she isn’t at the college being a cool nerd like papa, though I might ask for my own soon. Can’t huddle together forever, no matter how scary the world is,” he giggled, proud of her for finding something to do after his mother had shot her down for wanting to join the army. That too he was happy about, not wanting to have to worry about another family member being sent to the slaughter. Ever since his aunt died, the army lost any glamor it had for him as a little kid. That thought alone made him a little sad as he looked at the other lad. Would he be fodder to a machine that was broken? His tail wagged at the agreement the other is friends with his sister, but it would slow down at the shift to denying it. A tilt of his head would expose his confusion of his shift of pace, not really understanding how he could say yes so fast then deny it all. “Are there rules for when someone is considered a friend? Cause, I think we are friends already and I think you two are too! You seem like a nice kid,” he mused, flicking his ears as his tail returned to its gentle wagging, content with his own declaration. The other’s stuttering was putting him at ease, recalling his older sister Aurora’s stutter that never seemed to go away even when not nervous at all. It was always curious how only she had one but no one else in their family did, at least not to the full extent. Papa stuttered sometimes when nervous but that wasn’t quite the same as doing it all the time. “Ole-an-dar,” he would repeat on a whisper, pondering it for a few seconds. “I like it! Really different from my family names. Oh like I said, Haskell but you can call me other things. My cousin calls me Skelly,” he answered eagerly though he paused for a moment, going back to his thought from a moment ago. “Are you a soldier, Ole?” he asked.

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Oleander Elric

“Can’t huddle together forever, no matter how scary the world is."

There was something about that statement that made Oleander feel uncomfortable. It was like someone was rubbing the hair on his spine in the wrong direction and it gave him a weird taste in his mouth. His mind attempted to reach out in several directions all at once, trying to grasp at the horrors that lived within his skull, but he'd been hard at work sealing all of those things away for weeks. It was far more difficult to drag up the older memories of violence when they'd so recently been replaced by new ones. And so he simply gave a nod of understanding, the only inkling of discomfort in the finest quivering of his whiskers.

Ole tried to focused on the good things, though. Sheik had enrolled in the college of Melrose. His brows did tilt upward at this, finding his heart yearning to have found some way to have been wandering the ruins and reading the, no doubt, tens of thousands of books they had there. “G-glad to hear she's well, then." He commented briskly, his psyche finally making its way back to the present and noting how delighted the other boy seemed to be in his presence. He blinked in surprise when he was asked if there were rules for friendship.

He opened his mouth, so very sure he could recount one from his training, but as he thought about it, his lips met again in an unsure frown. “I...I thought there were rules f-for everything...but, I g-guess not?" The inflection of his statement into more of a question truly punctuated his puzzlement and when he made the contact with the lad again, he noticed his tail wagging and hindquarters wriggling. His own began to mirror what he saw, a happiness that almost seemed to come from his toes and work his way up instead of the other way around, like when he was embarrassed, or something of that nature. In the back of his mind, Oleander knew that he needed to correct it, but he was glad to find out that he had friends and it was nice to be called, well...nice.

“If you and your s-sister think we are f-friends, then...yes, I'd...I'd like that v-very much, actually." He admitted rather sheepishly, a smile having warmed his maw as it settled there. He even surprised himself by releasing a small laugh at the family nickname the Tiamat boy shared. “I like S-skelly, but, eh...Hask, might b-be easier with my s-stutter." Oleander's confidence faltered and only began to wane from his stature when he was asked about being a solder. “I...uh, well..." He glanced back over his shoulder at the barracks looming behind him. He turned back to face Haskell, though it was more difficult to meet his gaze now as he responded, “I'm a recruit s-still...I th-think..."

@Haskell

enie

He grinned widely at the little nod, finding the twitch of whiskers kind of cute and it caused the young boy to giggle to himself. Every bit of him was giddy about this interaction, finding delight in someone that seemed to understand him and likely had as much life experience as him. It was probably different experiences but experiences nonetheless! It had his stub of a tail whipping back and forth as he tried to keep himself still and not floating away into the land of sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes it was just hard to ground himself as a whole, trying to see the light in everything even when the source was darker than the night’s sky when the stars were hiding. “There has been lots of joy lately, I can’t see why she wouldn’t be happy. We have little brothers now and they are so adorable!” he said with even more energy, hoping that Sheik was just as happy as him to have a family that grew, especially after they had just lost some. That bit of happiness would dwindle a little at the thought of those that died, of those he wished were still very much here. He wouldn’t cry here; he would stiffen his lip from the tremble that wanted to show the sorrow that dwelled within, but he just broadened his grin more instead. At least the topic was on friends now and that made it easier to keep that facade of pure glee and his head tilted dramatically to the side for a moment, contemplating the same question. Were there rules to being friends? It sounded funny thinking about such a thing but the mention of rules being on everything made his ears twitch to the side in contemplation. “If it was up to my mother, there definitely would be, she’s so strict sometimes but hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Well, I think there should be only two rules to friendship and that is being supportive and making each other happy. Not a good friend if they are only mean to you, ya know?” he pondered, allowing his head to return upright as he stretched out a paw toward the other boy’s heart though stopping before contact could be made to put it on his own chest instead. “Soooooooooooooo…compassion?” It was delightful to hear he wanted to be friends in return as his butt seemed to only shake faster till he willed it to stop by hopping up in the air to allow the energy out. “Don’t worry about your stutter. My big sister does it too and so does my cousin Mios! It doesn’t bother me; I promise and okay! Hask is fine then,” he mused, hopping around the other lad with a little too much energy. Today was turning out to be a great day afterall. “You think? You don't know?” he echoed, confused on how he wouldn’t know his own title. It always seemed so important in his family.

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Oleander Elric

There was a look of awe that softened the tension in Oleander's face at the mention of Hask and Sheik's family welcoming new additions. His mind wandered to a memory of his own family. The sisters he grew up next to, a mother and father that seemed so in love. Would he have had little brothers or sisters if life had never changed? Instead of dwelling on the sorrow that reality bore into him, he tried to imagine the newest siblings of his friends, what they might look like. “They s-sound wonderful." Ole commented, sharing a smile with Hask when he noticed how proud he seemed to be of his brothers already.

Listening to these proposed rules of friendship, Oleander found himself nodding thoughtfully. “Those rules are f-fair. I c-couldn't ever be mean t-to anyone." He admitted shyly and then watched as the other boy extend a paw. He blinked and lifted his own in an awkward fashion, uncertain if he was supposed to meet Hask's in the middle. He ended up copying the gesture that was modeled by his friend, lifting his paw to his chest where this heart was beating beneath his pads. “Compassion." He echoed with another curt nod as if this sealed the deal of the terms and conditions of this newly found friendship.

Oleander let out a surprised laugh and took a couple of steps back to allow Haskell the room to quite literally jump for joy. He simply danced on his paws with an anxious excitement as his friend continually put his worries at ease. His stutter had always been the object of ridicule and he hadn't someone taken a liking to it like this since Reike, but...she was gone and wouldn't ever be coming back. Having someone who was happy to be around him was a turn of events compared to what he'd been experiencing recently.

And he was instantly reminded of his gloom when his status as a soldier was questioned. Oleander retreated back into his shell as quickly as a tortoise, his tail tucking lightly, shrinking as the weight of reality set back in. “Um, I...I was...I was s-supposed to be a s-soldier, but..." His ears lay back and he lowered his head when he realized that he had celebrated friendship far too soon. When they found out what he had done, they wouldn't want to be his friend anymore. Even then...he simply couldn't lie to Haskell. He had been so kind and deserved to know the truth no matter what. “There was an accident d-during our recruitment t-trials..a boy...uhm, a boy n-named Otto...he...he d-died...because of me..."

@Haskell

enie

It brightened his day for the others to seem a little more at ease with their own smile, making his stub wag all the more if that were possible as he tilted his head quizzically. “They are, they are! Do you have any siblings, Ole?” he couldn’t help but ask, hoping he did so they could share in the joy of family and not just this newfound friendship. He had such a wide plethora of siblings; he didn’t even know how he was going to share equal time with them all, but he would find a way. It had to be easier once they were all grown up and could all walk around. Though he kind of liked the bean stage where they couldn’t do much of anything but be cute and cry for mama. They sure could wiggle to trouble though when they felt like exploring. He might have got lost in thought if it wasn’t for more conversation being created, keeping his attention pointed at the other male, delighted by the agreement that was decided upon. In some ways as quickly as they became friends, he had a looming feeling this could be the only time they even see each other unless he came to wait for Oleander every day here, eagerly anticipating him getting off but that would probably be weird. He didn’t even do that with his cousins or mother, not that his mother was working this second. Now his father, he did sometimes wait for him or snuck into one of his classes when he was bored and everyone else was at work. Maybe he could think of something else on how they could see each other more often. Maybe he could borrow his mama’s raven and have it send the other boy letters though then that would mean he’d have to ask where he lived. Would that be creepy? The more he thought about it, the more he realized he didn’t have much in the way of friends of his own. Dahlia only ever showed up when fate decided. There wasn’t really anyone else outside of the family and it caused him to plop down and ponder as he gazed at his paw. “Do you like kisses? My other friend and I give each other cheek kisses all the time! And talk about a lot of sad things… hmmm is that weird for two boys?” he said his thoughts out loud, ears twitching. “Probably. I’m not really sure.” Any further thoughts on the matter would be kicked quickly to the side as Oleander answered his question with something sad indeed and horrifying. “What!” He jumped up, puffed up like a cat as he stared with bewilderment at the other, finding it hard to even gather. “I thought you just said you couldn’t hurt anyone!? Someone dying because of you sounds like the complete opposite….I must have heard you wrong. Yeah, that’s it. You didn’t hurt anyone, right? Right?!” a small growl turned into a nervous laugh, trying to wave off such a notion. Abruptly he sat up on his hind leg, putting his paws onto either side of Oleander’s shoulders and started to shake him. “Tell me you aren’t a murderer, Ollie!!!”

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