wc352
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He'd long considered what had been spoken at their last meeting, Laruku and he. Jefferson was not the naturally curious type; no, not at all. The brute's tendency for apathy and indifference normally got the best of him, but when it came for that "former life" he couldn't remember anymore, well, it was expected of him to find some interest in it. He didn't know who Maluki was; he never met the fellow. He didn't know where his father was. The hybrid's mother was alive, somewhere, but staying clear of her youngest child. Jefferson wasn't in any rush to meet her, no, but it would have been appropriate. She must have been getting old.
How coincidental, that his thoughts had been musing over such subjects, when a smartass chuckle broke his train of distracted concentration, and his eye blinked itself back into actual consciousness and followed the sound. His gaze followed Laruku a second as he retreated. This creature, who had once supposedly been his adopted brother, who had supposedly grown up alongside Maluki, who had supposedly been all he had for a while. His supposed cousin, after it all. It seemed as if Jefferson had been left behind in time; the world had gone on without him, and still refused to turn and look back. Laruku hadn't wanted to turn back to those memories; Iskata the same. Haku had laughed. They weren't waiting for him anymore. Even when he was back, they weren't waiting. They'd moved on... and so had he.
"I talked to Iskata," he called to the wind, though his gaze had wandered again to the field. He pushed himself up, taking the time to feel the cool breeze stir at his mane and nip at his pre-nipped and torn ears. It would be a cold winter that year. He wasn't sure why, but a sudden inspiration struck him, and words rose from his throat that even he hadn't expected: "You're not alone anymore." The brute closed his jaw immediately, trying to reconsider the inspiration behind such a statement. There was no explanation. His eye simply thinned and stared away.
