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The work of humans was very foreign to Ari, of whom had been fascinated by the sheer size of ships and their ability to float on water, let alone dwellings. In the past, his den had been a cavern or very crude huts from thatched swamp grasses and mud. Nothing that would last through the elements as the buildings such as these in the new Insieme lands. Seeing as though there were only a handful of inhabitants, Ari had taken the liberty of taking one of the remaining houses, a smaller one, for himself and for his brother. The latter wasn't present most of the time, so it was mostly him, gathering in the sights and sounds of his new home.
Today he decided to head down to the shoreline, only a few minutes' walk from his makeshift home. He sat on the beach, wondering what to do for a few minutes, before haphazardly heading out into the water. He hadn't truly bathed in God knew when, so he took the liberty of washing his unruly mane of hair until the mats were washed away and he actually looked civilized. He meandered back to shore — noticing the current had swept him down a bit — and headed over to a rock pool to see how different he looked. What he saw surprised him. His hair was clean enough to where he could clearly see the streaks of blond — perhaps a gift from the father he had never known — slicing through it. He also looked a good deal older, and wiser. Far different from the backwards youth he had come to Jaded Shadows as. He sighed, rolling back on his heels and sitting down by the rock pool. He was tired of thinking of himself, and then busied himself studying the sea life in the rock pool. Urchins, starfish, minnows... Different from the wildlife he had been used to before. He was continuously learning.
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It felt nice to be living pressed up against the sea once more. The water's rhythm seemed to have started to dictate the pumping of Beppe's heart, and even though the change in territory had upset him, the new place felt so natural that the boy felt more at home on the beach. It was what he was used to, he supposed, just from spending his youth on a boat. In Italy they hadn't lived all that close to the sea, but in his memories he could always hear it off in the distance. Despite the vividness of these memories, or perhaps because of it, he was never really sure if they were real, or if he had fabricated them to help enforce his fading Italian identity.
The boy had left the house he was staying in fairly early, while the sky still glowed purple and pink. He had crept quietly out of his room, past those of his parents and the young girl they had taken in, down the stairs and out through the sticky door. The air was crisp and cool, and the boy settled down on the edge of the deck, letting his legs dangle. The sun seemed to rise so quickly, and whether it was just his own perception of time or not, the boy wasn't quite sure. He felt alert, but his mind lingered between the real world and the one that seemed to live inside of him. It took him a moment to notice and recognize the form that was moving down the beach, and by the time he did, the other wolf had already passed Beppe and was moving out into the ocean.
The situation still didn't really register, and Beppe merely watched, almost absentee, as his friend washed himself. Ari had come out of the ocean and settled down a good distance away before the Italian boy made direct contact with reality and hopped off the porch to make his own way down. He hadn't spoken with Ari since the day of the fire -- or the day after, he couldn't quite remember -- despite the proximity they shared in the new territory. Seeing him again brought a gentle smile to his face as he walked down the beach, unhurried, and for a few moments, fancy-free.
"Ciao, Ari," he said as he approached him, and when he was close enough to see that his friend was interested in something, he added, "What do you see?" Beppe followed the line of the other wolf's gaze, lowering himself onto his knees as he too peered into the calm pool. There were little fish, and when the ebony boy looked closer, he noticed other creatures in there as well. They seemed to be rather sedentary, and stuck to the bottom as if they were plants. Squinting a little, he took a closer look. His mouth was open as if to ask his friend what these things were, but he remained silent nonetheless.[html] [/html]
I'm kicking the timeline forward a bit, because I thought it'd be fun. And because I'm lazy.
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He knew that someone was approaching, but the overwhelming scent of the salty sea air and the playful breeze snatched away the scent. Therefore Ari couldn't tell who it was until he was right next to him. Then it was apparent — it was his friend, Beppe. The darker child knelt down, asking what Ari was looking at. Ari searched for the words, as he didn't remember them totally. Some of the sailors who passed through the swamp had things like these. They kept them as trinkets. Ari looked across them, pointing at the odd sea creature that was in the shape of a star. That's a starfish. That one's a sea urchin, I think, he continued, pointing at a few brightly-colored spiny things.
He trailed a finger in the water, dispersing the minnows in an instant. They grouped together on the fringes of the rock pool, avoiding the tremors of the massive creature that was knocking on their doorstep. Ari smiled, and looked at his friend. My brother said that my birthday was a few days ago, he said, rather unexpectedly. He smiled contentedly, though. He was happy to know had someone to tell. He was used to only sharing such things with himself.
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[html] [/html]Before the fire — the first time that Beppe had met Ari, even — the blonde boy had told the Italian of his old home. The way that the scenery had formed in his mind that day had stuck, the path of water and the great ships moving through the gloomy swamp the same even as he imagined it today. Some things were static, he supposed, and this resistance to change was contagious even to things that had changed before his eyes. Clouded Tears, though he had seen it burnt to the ground, was still a lush, foggy wonderland.
Beppe imagined old, wrinkled sea captains clutching these things in their hands, or wearing them around their neck. Were they supposed to bring good luck? As his friend's finger lingered, pointing out another one, the darker boy stared closely, watching the way their scaly shapes and their attractive colors moved as tiny waves moved across the surface of the water. The names of these strange sedentary things suggested that they were alive, and as Beppe concentrated on their forms even harder, he saw the tube feet of the star-shaped one reaching out, grasping to the soil even if it had no intention to move.
The continuum of life was inevitably broken down into stages. From epoch to epoch, generation to generation, and, in Beppe's lifetime, his own movement Italy to Clouded Tears to Insieme, child to adult. Even now, the conversation about fish was merely a transition between not talking to Ari and really talking to Ari. There was something deeper about what the other boy said next; Beppe could feel it but in no way define why, exactly, it meant more. Perhaps, the transition between impersonal to something a little more personal.
The boy's own birthday had been a month or so ago. It had passed with little excitement; everything had been caught up in the fire and the return of his father, the formation of Insieme. He didn't really want a fuss about it anyway. As he heard of Ari's birthday, though, a small but genuine smile crinkled his eyes. Making gentle eye contact, he said softly, "Happy birthday, my friend. Any wishes for this new year?" [html] [/html]
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