dumb of ass.

noah was determined, they were gonna do this. whatever shit was behind those bushes they were gonna fight it, no matter what. they weren’t the type to chicken out just because of the faint sound of broken branches and stupid, terrifying grunts. but athena seemed to have a very different idea, and as it had been stated before, noah had always had a terribly hard time saying no to whatever pretty people wanted.   “ okay, okay! ”  they whispered through greeted teeth, allowing themself to be dragged away from the place. when they were at —what noah thought— was a safe distance, they swiftly grabbed athena’s hand to start running in the opposite direction.

"Alright little scout, no need for the sass, I hear you. This shit equals bad shit. Message received." Atlas performed a sort of salute like gesture, rocking back on their heels and looking around. So if this shit wasn't safe, they could only imagine what else was lurking on this island that could serve to harm or otherwise murder them all. Awesome.

"But yeah - if you're down to teach me, I'm happy to listen. Seems like a handy thing to know...and it ain't like we don't got time."

apparently, noah had been having the poor luck of only crossing paths with oblivious people this last month, and even when it didn’t bother them, it exasperated them. to no end. they worried all the time about the safety of the camp, about the weird noises all of them had been hearing and all the creatures appearing that seemed brought to them directly from a movie. tiny dinosaurs, for example, not in the wildest of their dreams, being a dinosaur kid, they would have imagined the existence of such creatures in current times. noah let out a sigh and then hummed in doubt at their words, their expression breaking into a small smile at their salute.    “  okay, fine, apparently you’re a fast learner, that’s gonna be good. for both of us.  ”    or at least they expected them to be, they were not very good at explaining after all, and doing it more than once always made them nervous.

“  okay, so, follow me,  ”    they invited, turning around to go back to the location they’d been exploring before encountering atlas. it had some strange fruits and leaves they had never seen before.    “  the first thing you wanna know is how to identify them by look only  ”    they started, checking over their shoulder to make sure they were right behind them.    “  usually bright common colored fruits are okay, and the ones that smell sweet. the ones you had to avoid are those growing in bushes with spines or spurs, although not all of them are bad, but it’s better if you don’t even touch them. and in the case of leaves never trust three-leaved ones, those are most certainly venomous. like all the poisons: poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac. poison sumac isn’t three-leaved, though, but it was a three-leaved start.  ”    they shared non-stop, they loved this damn topic. then, after a pause: “ any questions so far? ”

logan followed noah along with no qualms whatsoever. she was on this mission for them, to help. honestly, grateful to be tagging along at all. this island had felt incredibly lonely thus far. logan, normally introverted but feeling desperate for human contact here, tried to make connections, but everyone was... hard to reach. like a bad phone signal. shrugging happily, logan listened to noah's direction and turned when they said which way to go. and then her heart promptly dropped into her asshole. "holy... shit..." she whispered to herself, possibly quiet enough noah couldn't even hear her.

a shriek, literally a loud, high-pitched cry made its way through noah’s lip at logan’s actions. their eyes open like saucers and hands raised in front of them, mid-motion because it was too late to keep the girlfrom snatching one of the glowing, weird-as-fuck mushrooms in front of them.    “  logan  ”    they whined, arms dropping defeated at their sides.    “  why did you do that, fucking cripes, they could be venomous?  ”    yet it was hard they were, logan seemed absolutely fine … for now. then, at her words, noah let out a snort — this island was in fact a goddamned freaky thing.    “  yeah, wicked, but also unknown and potentially dangerous. are you feeling okay? any tickles or stings in your hands? any nausea or dizziness?  ”    they interrogated with concern, and next:    “  we should make a taste, see if they're edible or something, although i’ve never trusted natural glowing things.  ”    much less those with the ability to glow in the light of day, especially because they have never seen such thing.

"oh." she hadn't meant to make noah upset, hadn't considered that noah might think she meant reality, not the imagined world in ariel's own head. guilt and panic flood ariel when she saw the grief in noah's eyes. she was such an idiot; why was she always doing this? her hands fluttered in the air, useless, for a moment, before she reached out and wrapped her hand around noah's wrist.

"i'm so sorry," ariel whispered. "i'm sure he's fine. we'll be home, soon, and you can see for yourself. do you have... is there anyone there? to take care of him?" ariel couldn't think of her own parents, home alone. she couldn't think about yeye, alone on saturday mornings. she couldn't think about what popo would think, if she and wai gong would still be in china-- she couldn't think about it, or she'd never think about anything else ever again.

a soft smile touched their gesture at ariel’s words, if they were fully honest, they liked to be liked and ariel’s dad seemed like a cool guy to be around. he reminded noah of their own dad with the handyman thing, just … a lot gentler. 

the unexpected touch made them jump a little, but their body relaxed immediately the next second — they hadn’t been touched tenderly in a while and they had forgotten how nice it could feel.    “  yeah, don’t worry,  ”    they answered, trying to take the weight away from the topic, and didn’t say anything about how they believed they wouldn’t be home anytime soon, because neither of them needed to land on that conversation, things were hard enough already to get them worse.    “  i have a younger brother, his name is theo. he’s good, probably holding it together better than my dad.  ”    a laugh came out of their lips as a snort, slightly derisive thinking about theo’s current situation — they really hoped he was okay.

“  what about you? any siblings or got the fortune to be an only child?  ”    noah joked again, feeling themself falling back into their comfort zone, into their comfort self. they didn’t really think being an only child was a fortunate thing, though, but they always jested about it with theo, messing with him about how much of a burden he was to them.

noah looked up, brows furrowed in confusion.    “  uh, yes? yeah, i’m— i’m fine,  ”    they answered, a little bit of uncertainty in their voice, but mostly because of the opposing question that of their own reply.    “  what about you? are you okay? can i help you with anything?  ”    maybe they needed something, but didn’t know how to ask for it, so they gave them a little window.

noah calmly observed chuck, watching them go quiet for a moment. silence had never bothered them, so they went back to their work with the ropes, securing knots and creating a whole braid to make the supply even firmer. at chuck’s answer, they raised their attention and smiled, mild but genuine.    “ yeah, exactly, there’s nothing we can do but a good ol’ swing to stop thinking about how miserable we are ”    they answered, their tone very similar to the one they used every time their brother was feeling down — something empathetic, but not overwhelming, not overly interested or too woeful.   

The firefighter. They'd seen the stranger around the camp, oddly helpful to those who needed it. "Uh," it took them a second to fully register what they had said. "Anything really, supplies, clues to who built this place. If we've crashed here but no one's found us, that could be because they can't find the damn island itself - clearly, though, someone found this place before." And I intend to find out just who they were.

noah simply shrugged at their apology, giving them one of their  ‘ it’s okay ’  smiles. they were a lot more interested in whatever vala had going on here because if they could help, they’ll definitely do it. that had been the way to keep their mind occupied all this time, to not get it to collapse because of their thoughts and they weren’t gonna let go of that … what could happen if they did terrified them to death.    “  okay, that sounds like a very smart idea,  ”    they conceded, although they couldn’t now, they have never been the smart type, frankly.    “  can i help you? i already got my shower and collected water and fruit and helped with the fire, i’m getting … bored. and this sounds like a challenge, at least to me that i’m kind of an idiot.  ”    the clear joke came accompanied by a lopsided smile, something between childish and charming.    “ just tell me what i have to look for, more or less, and you’ll have me on it.  ”

“  hm, yeah, work  ”    they answered mockingly, and gave him a fond eye-roll when he mentioned eating half his collected fruits. noah couldn’t judge him even if they wanted to, really, if they hadn’t their mind so tiringly set on helping, they’d be collecting berries and eating them on their way back too.    “  half the amount you gather will still be more than what i’d collect on my own, so serve yourself  ”    they shrugged and started walking, the way to their destiny clear enough to look like a trail already — they’d been traveling through it back and forth so many times they forged some sort of a path among the bushes.    “  ah, by the way! please be careful with those  ”    they pointed to a plant with yellow-ish lobed leaflets while making their way through the woods with the help of a large stick.    “  it’s gonna give you a rash if you aren’t.  ”