the thrill of the chase

Excitable shaking quickly turned into inquisitive sniffing. Though Brick might run headlong into most things, even the canine had times that called for prior thought. Something Beau was immensely relieved about in the current situation. Last thing anyone needed was a zealous dog hellbent on making friends with annoying and everything that moved. 

Even then, Beau situated himself between his pets and the strangers. “Timber, huh? Well hey lil’ fella, hope we didn’t give y’too much of a fright.” Though it was clear that they had. “Ah, yeah, most of it’s ‘cause of Brick here. The other two have the manners of royalty.” 

There was a low rumbling of a warning sound coming from somewhere around Remington’s left calf and he reached down to run his fingers through the tiger’s thick fur.  “Easy, boy.  It’s okay.”

His own blue eyes swiveling, Adam got a look on his face that was a mixture of disbelief and horror. “You think so?” he replied to the other. For all his denial of something else controlling this and wanting to claim his own destiny, Remington had brought up a good point. “So let’s pretend for a moment your soulmate, matching whatever birthmark you have,” he said, motioning abstractly towards the other man. “…turns out to be a total basketcase, a mafia hitman or hitwoman, or something like that. What’s your reaction?” 

The other man’s response made Remington want to puff out his chest a little bit, though he had no idea why he was being so defensive.  Forcing himself to keep a level head on this island was going to be key.  “Well, let’s take a minute to think about it.  If my hypothetical soulmate were to be a mafia hitman or hitwoman, that’s not really so different from me and what I do.  Besides, I’m sure they have their reasons for doing what they do.”  It wasn’t the answer the other was probably looking for, and he knew it.  “So, why’re you so tense about this whole thing?  Apart from the obvious?”

One might think that it’d take a nation to corral so many animals at once. Not to Beau, though. Not when he had each animal on their respective leash - dogs and cat alike. That being said, some of the critters were more well mannered than others. Namely how Brick had the demeanor of a child hyped up on sugar at all times. 

Beau nearly had his arm yanked out of it’s socket when the pitbull gave a sudden lurch. “Bri-” The rest of the name got lodged in his throat when the leash was torn from his grip. Off the dog went into the horizon - down the sandy beach and right into the waves headfirst. Alarmed, he immediately gave chase with Holden and Apricot in tow. 

By the time he reached the vagabond canine, Brick had waddled out of the water and stopped short to shake the water off. Beau rushed in to crouch as he slung a towel over his dog, worry creased every detail of his features. Now, if he had been the only person within the vicinity then it would’ve been fine. Except he wans’t. Whether or not the other person got wet didn’t matter - an apology tumbled out at lightening speed before he even lifted his gaze up to them. “I’m so sorry- ain’t got a clue what got into him.” 

Remington had been walking on the beach, trying to keep a reasonable distance from anyone who could have gotten scared by Timber.  Not that the tiger was doing anything wrong, mostly he’d been splashing around in the shallow waves that were lapping at the sand and discovering that the salt water was very much not drinkable.  When the commotion of the man chasing the dog came down the beach, the young tiger cowered down behind the man.  “Oh, don’t worry about it.  Timber’s scared of his own shadow, and a little water never hurt nobody,” he waved his hand dismissively.  “Looks like you’ve got your hands full.”

“Everyone is pretty hung up on this ‘birthmark’ thing, right?” Adam asked, putting down the napkin he had, stepping over to the bar and picking up the refill of his drink. “I’ve already decided, I’m not letting any star sign or voodoo mumble jumble or Miss Cleo tell me who I’m going to be with,” declared the man, sliding onto the sofa in the lounge. “I’ll do this old school, talk to someone, decide if I like them, then go from there.”