dark doo wop.

felt pressured. could a tortoise feel pressured? voldetort probably could. she laughed as the other girl reached down to pat the shell of the tortoise, knowing fully well they all loved him too much. “that’s probably because tortoises aren’t supposed to go on walks outside. or are they? voldetort can be an exception. either way, i feel like a proud mother he made it across the street.” scarlet raised her brow at the other girl, an amuse smile on her face. “oh really? what were you talking about?” she asked before pondering the girls next words as she pursed her lips in thought. “probably just a medium chocolate cone. what are you guys getting? i don’t think they sell something his size.” 

“i mean, it can’t be bad for voldy to get a nice change of scenery, right? and the weather’s more cooling than usual today, so heat’s not an issue!” cricket beams, adding, “and i feel the same! it’s like when your baby takes their first few steps.” this time, she lifts voldetort off the ground, carrying him in her palm. she leans in close to scarlet with the tortoise, cooing, “we were talking about parties! i was wondering if he ever felt lonely when we went out of the house, but now i’m pretty sure he likes the chance for quiet every now and then. but he also loves it when we get back! don’t you, voldetort?” at the mention of scarlet’s order, cricket perks up. “oh, that sounds great. and… now that you mention it, i think they give aloe vera bits with some of the yoghurt flavours? maybe we can just ask for a little bit of that to give him! he likes aloe vera, right?” she smiles down at the pet in her palm.

He smiles slightly when she uses the nickname he’s grown used to. Their anonymity’s always been something he appreciated in her, his confidant. He knows she lives in the building across him, and it’d be so easy to learn more about her from there — but he’s not curious enough to figure it out, and he prefers it like this, anyway. “Voldy?” Fitz repeats, questioning the name. And then, with amused surprise tinting his voice, “You tried to take a fish for a walk? Didn’t you mention you have an actual dog? Why not that?”

though cricket has an inbred curiosity that can rival any alice in wonderland metaphor, she’s always preferred this sense of anonymity, with blue. she knows they have a few friends in the same circles, but the both of them have always just been what they are: strangers in name, friends and confidants in near everything else. “voldetort,” she explains, “well, i’m usually out the whole day, and either scar or art tends to take the dog for his walk while i’m gone, so i have to make do with the others? purrsephone - our cat - is really lazy, and sometimes refuses to move unless i carry her, so she’s no good. hence, this little guy!” cricket beams, blowing a kiss to the tortoise. 

She had just been out to get her favourite ice cream when she saw Cricket close by with her turtle, she walked up to them, “Hey! I see the little one is out for a walk today!” she bent down to get a closer look at the tortoise, while almost dropping her ice cream. “Out for ice cream too?” she said while looking up at Cricket.

cricket waves at cassie as she approaches, grinning wide when the girl bends down to look at voldetort. “he is! he got so far today and i’m so proud,” she giggles - they’d taken so long to get across the street, but cricket shows no sign of discontent. “yup! the weather’s not that hot, but it’s always a good time for ice cream, wouldn’t you say?” she laughs, bending down as well, both of them crouching over the little tortoise. it disregards them, fascinated instead by a weed growing out between the cracks in the pavement. 

inez’s forehead was creased, yet a tight smile pulled on her lips, creating an expression that only showed sympathy for cricket and the insanity (inez suspected) she faced. it wasn’t even that, she was just different in so many ways that it was the only conclusion inez felt she could come to. she was too used to normality, knowing nothing about anything else. "i’m pretty sure voldy doesn’t have a clue about what’s going on right now,” she replied, still entirely confused by the current situation. a pet tortoise. and before this moment inez had thought she’d seen everything. “i’m sorry, where did you get a tortoise?” i stole him from a zoo, she expected. but was that even possible? 

in the face of inez’s apparent sympathy, cricket simply grins. she’s been told time and time again how ‘weird’ she is; and over time, she’s reached the point where any disdain for her eccentricities are easily disregarded. “well, he might not understand exactly what we’re saying, but... i’m pretty sure if you’re being rude or nasty to him he can sense it. i mean, dogs can, so why couldn’t tortoises?” cricket reasons, pursing her lips in thought, though she beams when inez asks where she got voldetort, “from a pet store, obviously! the kind that specialises in aquatic animals, you know the sort. i think that’s where we got all our fishes, too? i don’t really remember, to be honest.” cricket pauses, humming, right before she perks up again with a wide grin, “hey, do you want any ice cream? i’m getting some, so if you wanted, i could treat you?”

“for fucks sake,” inez muttered as she nearly stumbled over a creature before her, having to hold her arms outwards as if she were walking a tightrope in order to balance once again. maybe that was her own fault for texting while walking, but a tortoise on the pavement wasn’t what the girl had expected. eyes wide she glanced from the animal to its owner, cricket (an eccentric name in itself), unsure what to make of the situation. there was a leash wrapped around it and all. the only thing inez could think to ask, in that moment, was, “shouldn’t that thing be in a zoo?”

“voldy!” cricket squeaks in horror as someone almost steps on her tortoise, and she immediately bends down to scoop the poor thing off the floor. it’s about the size of her palm, and she holds it to her cheek gently, cooing reassurances into its shell. she turns to give the offender a glare - but there’s no real anger behind it, and it softens further still when cricket finds she recognises the face. “oh, hi inez!” she greets, patting the protruding head of the tortoise with her index finger. “what? no! don’t say that; you’ll hurt his feelings,” she covers voldetort with her other hand, as if shielding him from inez’s words. “he’s a great pet. very obedient. sweet, too, and i bet if he could he’d apologise for almost tripping you.”

He sees her a ways outside his store and he can’t help but drift out to meet her. Quickly, he flips his door sign to closed and slips in line beside her at the ice cream stall. “Peaches,” he says in way of greeting, hands tucked into the pockets of his slacks. “Are you walkin’ a turtle? I always knew you were eccentric, but this is pretty weird, even for you.”

cricket startles at the sound of the familiar, but unexpected voice, turning to grin at the male before her. “baby blue!” she responds, giving him a wave with her free hand. “voldy’s not a turtle, silly, he’s a tortoise. and it’s not that weird - what’s weird was the one time i dumped one of our fish into a giant glass bowl and wheeled it around in a wagon. i may have been pretty desperate to take an animal for a walk, that time.” and she still is now, if the tortoise is any indication. oh, the woes of having a lazy cat and an already-walked dog.

She rolled her eyes at the other’s response, but kept the smile on her face. “Yeah, I am. It’s my day off, so I figured I might as well make the most of it instead of lazing around.” Her eyes then looked back at their little buddies and got on her knees to snuggle with the pup. Sparky was one of the few living things Marceline was ever affectionate to. Physically anyway. “At least Sparky gets to make friends with a tortoise?” she said, attempting to make it sound in a better way for once. Getting back on her feet while standing up straight, her head glanced over at the frozen treats before scrunching her nose. “That wasn’t my original idea when coming here, but fine. You know I can’t turn down free food.”

“ooh, day off! cool!” cricket grins, nodding. she herself doesn’t have much concept of working days and/or days off - she performs when she wants to, and unless she’s been hired for a kid’s birthday party or something of the sort, she never really has to keep to a schedule. “if sparky and voldy get along, maybe that’ll be incentive for the lil’ guy to come out on walks with me more often.” she gently tugs at the leash (a colourful string tied to a makeshift harness), watching the tortoise amble around. the person in front of her in the queue gives her an odd look, but carefully avoids stepping on the tiny animal. “excellent! what’ll you have? i’m thinking i’ll just get a chocolate with some chopped almonds, though the vanilla’s great too, and you can even ask for some fruit syrup with it, so - ” cricket pauses, waving her hand at the menu. “pick whatever!”

Having Sparky out for a walk, it wasn’t exactly walking at this point. Rather than having her dog walk on all fours, she kept him in her arms because he seemed to have exhausted himself after spending a morning at the beach. Passing by places, she somehow ran into Cricket and pursed her lips before showing a small smile. “Hey, you,” she said casually. Some days, she tended to get annoyed by the girl, but today was one of those days were she actually felt okay. Putting Sparky down onto the ground, she watched her pup wander off beside Voldetort before glancing up at Cricket.

cricket turns at the sound of the familiar voice, grinning when she comes face-to-face with marceline. “hey you back,” she answers, bouncing a little on her toes. cricket watches as sparky sniffs at voldetort on the ground, keeping her eye on them just in case, as she says, “out for a walk? because, well, me too! i think art already took the dog out for his walks today, so i had to improvise.” with a tortoise. she beams, widely, turning to the ice cream stall, asking, “you hoping to get anything? i could treat you!”

scarlet had been watching cricket on and off again as she walk their tortoise across the street for two hours. two hours. scar squealed when they finally reached the stall and ran down the steps of the shop and out the front door to meet them across the street. “do you know how long i have been waiting for you guys to finally get in line, cricket? too long.” she got on her tiptoes to read the signs, wanting to see what flavors they had before choosing one. “how did you even have this much patience? new respect, crick, new respect.” 

cricket hasn’t taken a spot in the queue for more than a second when scar comes rushing toward her and the little tortoise by her shoes. she bursts out laughing at scar’s words, “you were watching that? oh my god. maybe that’s why he took so long getting here, he probably felt pressured!” she jokes, mock-appalled, crouching down to give voldetort’s shell a reassuring pat. “i’m so proud of him, though. he refused to leave the shop’s steps, the last time. and i didn’t need any patience, we were having a great conversation!” one-sided, but that’s never something cricket’s ever minded with humans, so it’s no issue with animals, either. as she stands up and turns to the menu, she asks, “are you getting anything?”

Evangeline let out a sarcastic laugh as the person in front of her continued with the pick up lines. To be honest, she had been trying to get rid of them for what seemed like hours, but apparently they couldn’t take a hint. “Look, for the last time, I’m not interested. I already have a boyfriend.”

“what?” cricket calls, confused. “i’m not - oh jesus - i’m not trying to actually pick you up, no! i mean, don’t you think at least some of those were really funny?” with a delicate arch of her brow, she gives the other girl a playful pout, joking, “i mean, how do you not snort loudly when someone just walks up to you and goes, ‘hey sweetheart, feel like making a huge mistake?’”

shrugging off his pack, noah let it rest against a trunk of a tree before he pulled one of his nearly empty canisters from within his bag. his attention focusing on his fingers as he twisted off the cap until his eyes could study the built in filter. though he was now grateful for the space between them, he was desperate to keep his eyes off of the girl that had made her way over towards the ‘waterfall.’ a small breath leaving him as he shifted his weight forwards, stepping closer towards the small pond. carefully picking his way over the rocky footing as he did so. “wasn’t exactly planning on disturbing the animals today, was looking for more smaller and easier to carry food for the walk. but i mean if anything comes along—” he didn’t finish his sentence, thinking it was self explanatory what he was going to say. if anything comes along we’ll get it. “water though. we need that.” it wasn’t until she brought up her proving him wrong about not being completely useless that he finally let his eyes focus on her. “maybe not completely useless—no.” an admittance that made him cringe inside. he didn’t want to admit she was helpful to him, and not just in the way of supplies.

but as the tiny cool droplets of water landed on hot skin, noah allowed his jaw to set. his head angled somewhat away from the flicked, sprinkled water in hopes of not allowing the brunt of the tiny amount of flicked water to fully effect him. a subconscious, immediate reaction drilled into him when it came to any unexpected action. though as much as he hated to admit it, her action had caught him off guard, his reaction time slower than what it should have been. but as he allowed his eyes to focus back upon the grinning girl standing ankle deep in water, his features softened once more. the previous anger and annoyance towards her fading within. even for him, no matter how much he wanted to keep the anger and annoyance around, it was impossible to keep anger for someone that was so bright and almost childish in someways. not to mention whatever he tried, no matter what he said to her, she took in her stride. overlooking the harshness that he was. though he did try to force the smile from break through, desperately fighting to keep the serious stoic expression upon his features. “are you kidding me?” he finally spoke, breaking the silence he’d let fall between them. the sound of water hitting water and the odd sound from within the trees around them only filling the air. “you should count yourself lucky you’re over there and i’m over here because boy, would you be regretting that decision right now. i don’t care how useful you ended up being, lets just say—” he started, trying to keep his tone serious. though as his false threatening words went on, the amused he was trying to force away broke through. turning the words into a far more light-hearted manner. “you wouldn’t just end up with a few drops of water on you.”

she watches noah with a grin, quirking her head a little as he speaks. she mentally fills in the blank of the sentence he doesn’t finish, nodding. “anything that comes here today had better watch out, then! we’ll take it on.” she answers, half-giggling, her attention focused idly on him as he makes his way to the water, his empty canister in hand. she’s looking at him when he finally turns his gaze toward her, and she immediately meets his eye with a beam. “hey, that’s a start! first it’s ‘not completely useless’, and then it’s ‘not that useless’! although i think i’m gonna try and aim for ‘not useless’, which i’m assuming is the highest score i can get, with you. because for some reason, i don’t think ‘useful’ is in the cards.” she chuckles, breathing deep. there’s always a special sort of scent, around fresh water - clean and crisp and chilled, washing away the layer of dust over her skin, washing away the dark soot on her palms; the humming black within her chest. it seizes her by the roots, pulling away the deepest tangle within her, and leaves her feeling refreshed.

when she sprinkles him gently with water, his first reaction is to flinch away from it; she keeps her grin in tact, feigning a distracted look when he finally turns to glance over at her. she shuffles from her toes to her feels, pretending to whistle innocently, gaze turned to the sky. there’s a soft silence between them, for a moment, shattering only when noah speaks. she shifts her eyes over from the trees to look at him, humming once in a noncommittal reply, before he continues. it sounds like a threat, and his tone is solemn enough - for a moment, she’s afraid he really will send her back, this time. yet, there doesn’t seem to be all that much weight behind it; and, thankfully, she soon finds out there isn’t. as the amusement finally dawning on his features, cricket’s act of guiltlessness also fades, replaced by her eager attention. her reaction is immediate: though she wears a performed expression, the light bounce and buzz of her body gives away her delight. “noah!” she exclaims, fake-appalled, jaw dropped wide. her damp palm comes to rest against her heart, “are you suggesting that you’d drench a poor, helpless girl in cold water?” she purses her lips to stifle the wide grin that threatens to ruin her act, eyes wide with simulated horror. she gives him a pout, playfully daunted, before dipping her foot a little deeper into the pond - and then promptly flicks at the surface to spray more water in his direction. (this time, she can’t tell if she’s still praying for a positive reaction or if she really does have a death wish.) with a snicker, she continues, voice cheeky with a hint of mischief in her eye, “...because if you are, i’m willing to bet you’ll end up that way, first. you may be stronger and tougher, mongoose, but that’s not all it takes to win a fight!” the nickname he’d shot down earlier falls on her tongue naturally, perhaps accidentally, and she leans against the wall of the waterfall as she grins at him, tip of her tongue poking out between her teeth.

Addie listened to Cricket, her brows furrowing as she tried to understand the process. She didn’t fully grasp it, but she nodded regardless, “It’s cool,” She nodded her head. Then, hearing the offer, she nodded her head again and smiled just a small bit, “That would be really great, if you could,” She leaned back against the wall, “I don’t think I’ve ever worn any “jewelry”,” She put the words in air quotes, “So this will be a first for me,” She crossed her arms over her chest a bit. Settling into her spot, her eyes focused on the flowers Cricket was holding, “Where’d you find them?” 

cricket grins, her cheeks growing sore from the wideness of it. cool. someone thinks it’s cool. “i’d love to!” with a happy little skip, she goes to sit down near addie; she keeps a fair distance between them, unrolling the spare nylon line she’d looped around her index finger. “you’ve never worn jewellery? i mean, well, i haven’t either - not the fancy kinds, anyway. but you’ve never worn garlands? or laurels? flower crowns?” she pokes the end of the thread into the flower’s centre; she holds the petals with one hand, her other pushing the line through, her pursed lips grabbing it from the other end and pulling it out. “i found it a ways behind the motel! from some tree. wasn’t very tall, and kinda thin compared to the ones we’re used to seeing, but it had these pretty little guys on it.” she smiles. “amazing what we can find around here, huh? i noticed you’ve got a haul, too.”

The peppy aura coming from Cricket was a nice feeling, even though she han’t expected to see her, “It’s fine,” She brushed off Cricket not knowing the proper spelling, “It’s not important,” Addie said as she referred to both the spelling and what she waes doing. She gestured towards the flowers around Circket’s neck, “Those are pretty. How’d you link them together like that? It looks really cool,” She gave a smile.

“not important?” cricket repeats, humming. “now you’ve made me curious!” still, she decides not to push, skipping over a little closer to addie. she hovers near the girl, grinning bright as her flowers are brought up. “thank you! i’m really proud of it. see that tiny hole in the centre of all the petals? i had some old nylon line in my pack, so i just threaded it through a bunch of them!” she fumbles around with the few loose flowers still in her hands, adding, “i don’t have enough left with me right now to make another necklace, but i could make you a bracelet, if you wanted?” she’s enthused at the idea of being able to make something for someone; and it also gives her an excuse to stick around - maybe sate her curiosity and find out what addie’s up to, in here.

the huffed breath that left crickets lips couldn’t help but force a breathy laugh to leave from between his own. what she had exactly expected from him was beyond him, it wasn’t like he had been at all open to talking about anything personal before. she really set herself up for disappointment, though he couldn’t ignore the fact that he’d helped a little in her disappointment by answering, even if it was vague, in the first place. the stated question made his eyes flicker across her features, his head nodding slowly and softly in a sort of answer. his features growing to mirror the one that appeared on her usual upbeat and positive features. he couldn’t quite figure it out, but the missing smile upon her lips caused a small pang of hurt, his brows furrowing at her in his own confusion. though that was quickly wiped from view as it appeared once more.

with every word she spoke, he tried to hang on to the regret within him. forcing himself to dislike every word that came from her. no matter how hard it was. space. he needed space from the small closeness that he’d felt starting to form towards the girl. the look of disappointment, unlike before that had brought a feeling of hurt to him, only pushed him forwards. she should be disappointed, it was better than her feeling like they were on the way to becoming friends. “usually all the time.” he corrected, his eyebrows rising in a manner that almost hinted at being slightly threatening. “mongoose.” he repeated, a small hint of confusion breaking through the harshness. “you’re definitley never going to get to pick out a nickname if you’re going to go with mongoose.” he sighed, his eyes rolling before turning away from her. though as he glanced back at her, half expecting her to be there she’d vanished and his eyes quickly darted forwards to catch on her figure as she she rushed ahead to their destination ahead. a part of him wanted to walk away. to turn around and leave her here without a second thought. he knew he could do it easily, he’d done it when he’d first left the camp, and it would be easier now more than ever as she’d taken off in front of him. leaving him to trail along behind with his much slower steps. noah reckoned that he’d be able to get a fair distance from her, if he himself ran, before she realised he’d gone. but it was only her called words that broke him out of his thoughts, pulling him to attention. the thoughts of abandoning her here fading, both because the plan would no longer work and even though it was a quiet whisper in the back of his mind, he couldn’t leave her. he needed to figure out what in the world it was about her that made it so easy for him to slip up. to let the stoic mask fade and expose the person hidden underneath because if he didn’t—well, he couldn’t think about that. he couldn’t think about the fact that she could be someone he actually could grow to like, maybe even care about. she after all, had gotten this far. a place no one had gotten before without him deliberately letting them think they got their on their own when he’d wrapped them around his finger for his own gain before dropping them when they weren’t useful any longer. a breath left him as his fingers came to run frustratedly through his hair as he twisted where he’d come to a short stop. he gave one glance in the direction they come before finally, he broke into a jog. his feet easily covering the ground she’d put between them. only stopping as the waterfall came into view. when she’d said waterfall, he had imagined something a little different, but water was water. he hadn’t come for the view. “you know.” he started, as his eyes surveyed the area. both to make sure the coast was clear, and to take in the whole place. “when you said waterfall and the way you practically sprinted for it, i thought it would be a bit more impressive. you may as well call it a trickle instead.”

when he comments on the nickname she’s chosen, she shrugs, “what’s wrong with it? it sounds funny, and i kinda like it.” as she runs toward their destination, she doesn’t consider the idea that noah would leave. she doesn’t know why; she doesn’t trust him, that’s not in question - and her excitement could easily be to blame, but that isn’t quite it, either. perhaps, after mentioning that she easily gets lost, earlier, she thinks he has enough heart to not leave her to that fate: an assumption without much basis, and one that could cost her should she be wrong. still, when she turns and sees him jogging toward her, she’s delighted. she shakes her head at his words, giggling, “it doesn’t have to look impressive. i assure you, this place really saved my butt a long time ago, so don’t go knocking it!” her knowledge of this ‘waterfall’, in fact, comes with a story. back when her father abandons her, this waterfall is the first source of water she finds. it teaches her, in a way, how she has to get by on her own. in her exaggerated words, it’s her saviour: when she first emerges into the forest from the cave her father leaves her in, she carries the howling leaves of the feral woodland in her hair for days. she spends the evenings brushing loneliness from her skin, her flesh swollen with the force of rage, cruel and fierce with longing. she tears at herself as she trembles and quivers in the forest’s arms, dark hair tangled with the white knuckle of her fingers. be no fool, catherine, the winds whisper. this forest is not your forest. these trees are not your trees. the wastes will gnaw on your bones and make a meal from the dust of you. the world will take you apart, bone for bone, tooth for tooth, and feed you to its beasts. do you hear how the forest cries for you? how the trees move in their ancient trunks for you? how the beasts howl your name to the sky? catherine, catherine, we will devour you. but when she finds a waterfall after days on her own, young as she is, she knows she can survive out here. when she throws her head back with laughter, she rattles the forest free of mercy. the trees fall to their knees. the crows caw with fear.

          ( i will not be devoured.                                               can’t you see? i have teeth, too. )

since then, she’s returned to this waterfall on occasion, knowing of the resources it offers; it’s not one of her ‘favourite’ spots (she reserves those for beautiful views and immense heights), but it is one of many locations in the wastelands that play a role in what she’s become today - she beams at the tiny trickle of a thing with pride. “so, yeah! we can stock up around here. there aren’t any fish to eat or anything, obviously, but i think that’s just because it’s so small. i’m pretty sure it’s the cleanest source of water around for a while - which, granted, means it sometimes attracts, uh, animals, but if you find a safe spot some distance away, or some distance up, you can pretty much hunt really easily here, too.” she skims over the fact that not all the animals are docile. she smiles at noah, then, a soft little curl of her lips, going over to step near the edge of the pond, by the waterfall. she cups her hand underneath the flow, letting the cool trickle rinse over her palm. she lingers there, standing ankle-deep in the water. “see? you can finally admit that i’m not completely useless, now,” cricket grins, wide and toothy, flicking her wet hand in his direction to sprinkle him with tiny drops of water. she doesn’t do it to annoy him - in fact, she’s praying against it. but for someone so cheery, cricket’s never been too good at setting out to make someone else smile. she’s used to disregarding others in favour of herself, and she isn’t sure why it’s different, now; only that she’s accepted that it is.