hugtopia_logs | don't stop coming and they don't stop coming [closed]

It is a nice day out, and once they close in on that big big hill, the weather seems to feel even nicer, somehow - just downright pleasant for the little hike the hill can provide! Sorry that the packed up lunches probably give away the goal here, definitely nothing more is waiting for them than a picnic somewhere up there. Not a bad way to spend the day, especially after making Kai wait for sooo long to wander and explore this exciting and unfamiliar territory.

"This should be fun," he comments, as if he hasn't already had to make the climb once to scout out a good location. Location for what? Who knows. Nobody, that's who. He gently bumps his shoulder against Kai, though, giving him a small smile as he does. "Ready?"

The bump almost went unnoticed, because the boy was practically vibrating.

They'd told him about the hill! And then he was banished from the hill. The hill was verboten. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't known about it, but he quickly found it would have been hard to miss. He kept seeing that hill. It was! Right there! It looked very exciting! He was way too whipped to think that maybe he should just go anyway!! It was close enough to Lasdia that he could at least piece together why, but hey. C'mon. Let him to the hill. As a treat?

No. Not yet. First was suffering through the days. Then suffering through the morning. Then suffering as they cheerfully prepared dishes in the kitchen he was banished from, left only to sprawl out on the floor (in suffering).

BUT THEN THEY LEFT. THEN THEY WERE HERE. HERE THEY WERE!!! Arms laden with goodies as Kai vibrated with the effort of not dropping them to go run up that grass slope and drive straight into those trees.

"I am very ready."

Kyoko beamed sidelong at the boys as she set off into a trot, the tiny pigtails she'd pulled her hair into for the day's adventures bouncing. Kaito had been so good! So good!! Admittedly she hadn't thought waiting would be as much of a trial for him as it had turned out to be, but she was very proud of him for persevering.

"Well then!" she chirped, "Which way should we head first?" Eventually she and Shinji would probably need to do some steering to make sure they got to a certain spot, but it wasn't such a big hill that a little sidetracking would be a problem. And surely the birthday boy deserved some indulgence after all his patience and good behavior.

No reason to not let Kai take the reigns for now, and, hey, he might stumble on something even more surprising on his own. Not that there isn't a lot to be looking at as it is, surely there's more than enough to keep Kai distracted at least. There will definitely be plenty of time spent simply letting this anxious dog off his leash, so when Kyoko asks that question, there's no hesitation from Shinji to defer it straight to Kai.

"Whichever way seems best to you."

Lead the way, birthday boy! Use your best judgement to lead them on an adventure, please.

The menace had been released.

At the very least he did not go dropping his parcels and bolting off into the distance as soon as his leash had been unclipped. There were a few quick glances between the trees and the two of them before he unsurprisingly turned towards the trees. "This way," he said as he took off towards them.

They hadn't even crossed the threshold of the sun-dappled leaves and it already smelled different. It was fresh dirt and new leaves warmed by the sun, familiar enough even with how different they were in this other world. As quickly as Kai had marched them in this direction, he slowed down when they actually entered the grove, eyes going round as he looked around.

"Ohh..."

Kyoko sent another grin Shinji's way--look at him go! their happy boy! what an excellent idea this had been!--before hopping along after Kaito. To the trees!

Slowing down with Kaito as they stepped into the shade, Kyoko breathed in deep and let out a happy hum. "It really is just lovely, isn't it?" Looking up at the branches overhead, she closed her eyes for a moment. "Thanks for waiting for us."

There he goes, one happy boy! That joy sure makes it feel like it was worth the wait, doesn't it? Shinji brings up the rear as they head in to that grove, slowing a bit as well once they pass the threshold of the trees.

Ah... there's a lot of familiarity here, a place that's very alive and different from Havenwell, or even the green belt around the city. It's nice to be able to appreciate it without some kind of mission in mind. "Mm, thank you. You were really patient for us."

It was Kai's turn to take in a deep breath, letting that fresh feeling fill him up to the brim. This was a lot. He wanted to go in every direction but he also just wanted to sprawl out and look up through the leaves. It was a strange kind of quiet without the music of the cicadas, but loud all the same as they were replaced with the warm voices of people that wanted to spend that moment with him.

He whirled around on his heel, walking backwards as he beamed at them. "That was torturous," he chirped, his laments thoroughly ruined by the good mood he was in. "I was dying every day."

Opening her eyes again, Kyoko brought her gaze back down to rest on Kaito again. Yes, this was good. It had been worth it to make sure she could be here with him the first time, even if she and Shinji had so sneakily betrayed him. She did feel a little guilty now, after seeing how hard the wait had been for him, but... this was just very good.

"Sorry," she grinned, following after him on his hazardous backwards journey. "We were greedy."

Look at how happy he is, gosh. Even when he's accusing them of such grave atrocities, and even when he knows that they did in fact betray him, that grin is enough to pull a smile out of Shinji.

"Right, we wanted to be able to enjoy it with you." Get to see that overjoyed look on his face. But, you know, "Keep at eye ahead of you, I don't want you running in to something while we're out here." Or tripping! This is unknown territory!

"Geez," he muttered quietly. Even if he had been any real degree of upset (he hadn't been), it wouldn't have been able to last when they were looking at him like that. "Guess I do encourage you guys to get greedy," he remarked as he kept up that encouraging grin. Good. Keep being greedy! It was good for them.

What was he going to run in to though? A tree? Kai playfully rolled his eyes, confident that he'd left himself a good amount of space until the next one. He still turned back around though, just in time for an old, familiar buzz to dart past his ear. The sound startled him into a stop as he made a frantic glance in the direction it had went. Huh?

Huh???

Off he went! After that mystery buzz! Bye!

There he went.

Not having caught sight of whatever had caught his attention, Kyoko was left to glance back at Shinji, puzzled. "I... don't think we can lose him for real here, right?" It wasn't like this was a mountain.

Goodbye, Kai.

"Probably not..." but letting him just run off out of sight felt. Hm. Not the best? Let's not lose sight of him so fast. "Come on, let's see what he's after," he adds, already taking off in a jog to follow after Kai. Wait up, buddy!

A lesson in not unleashing your dog.

At least Kyoko was right, it was probably going to be hard to lose him entirely. It was a big hill, but he wasn't going quite so fast that they were going to lose his trail. A quick jog would be all they needed to find him again, pacing around in a shallow circle with his eyes intently searching the trees.

It did look like he was about to scoot off again though. Or maybe not? His gaze fell on them, and he made a soft, "Shh."

Kyoko hadn't meant to propose that they not follow him, just that they probably didn't need to worry about losing their boyfriend right away. A quick jog it was then, though as loaded down as they were it was enough to leave Kyoko panting when they finally caught up to him. Shh, he said. Kyoko nodded dimly as she slowed to a stop. What is it, boy? She could be shh.

Easy there, Kyoko. Everyone is shh now, quiet as they can be even while crunching through the grass and leaves on the ground. Kai's looking around the trees, and while Shinji's not sure what he's looking for exactly, he can't help but let his focus move to the trees as well, as if something might become obvious. What are we looking for?

Shh shh shh. They were all very quiet with their jogs and their picnic supplies and everything else. Very good. Thank you.

After a few more moments of circling and silent staring at trees for... some reason... Kai finally let out a large, noisy sigh. The quiet was broken now, everyone could resume where they left off. Kai peered up at the trunks another time.

"Thought I heard a beetle fly by," he offered as an explanation for this sudden erratic behavior.

"Ohh!" That was actually exciting! Even if Kyoko herself was uh, not exactly a bug fan! She wanted bugs for Kaito. "There really could be beetles around here though, right? Or the Havenwell version of them, anyway?" Don't get your hopes too high for a specific beetle friend.

"Let's get to a good spot to put all this down, and then we can go looking!" She looked encouragingly between Kaito and Shinji. How about it??

That! Is exciting! Shinji doesn't think he saw any bugs in particular before, but he also wasn't looking for them, so, perhaps! That would be kind of cool, actually.

"We can look with you," bugs for Kaito's sake is really the long and short of it, but it's not like Shinji would be opposed to seeing how a bug hunt would go anyways. Unloading first will make that infinitely easier, "Wherever we set things down, they shouldn't be too tough to find again."

Kind of like how Kai would be tough to lose on this hill.

Somehow this was not the outcome he could have anticipated. Not that he thought either of them were going to discourage him from running around looking for bugs at all. He just didn't expect that they'd so immediately volunteer to go traipsing around with him.

Ah. They were both very sweet to him.

Kai lit up a bit more, even if he was trying to keep his potential excitement at a reasonable level. "Probably." Everywhere seemed like a fairly decent spot, so he just moved over to where they were at to choose a spot over there. "It might not have been anything though, so we might just end up running around through trees for a while."

Shinji no that was supposed to be a cue to steer him up to the camp... It was fine though. Indeed, it wasn't like it would be hard to retrieve things later. And surely they didn't need to worry about silly things like getting caught in the rain, out here on this very pleasant hill.

After setting her load of treats down next to where Kaito had deposited his, Kyoko stood up straight and clapped her hands together. "That's fine! It's a good chance for you to explain the basics of bug hunting."

Sorry, he just got so caught up in Kai's excitement! Truly, their bounty will be fine for at least the time it takes to wander around a little, and perhaps the uphill area will be somewhere Kai feels inclined to explore naturally.

With his own load carefully settled down with the rest, he straightens up and echoes some of Kyoko's enthusiasm with his own. "I've never gone bug hunting, so you'll have your hands full teaching both of us."

Hope you're up to the challenge!

He laughed as he stretched his arms out behind his head, loosening back up now that they were no longer laden with goodies. Don't worry goodies. There weren't any secret time limits to enjoying you, surely. They'd be back soon.

"Don't you worry, it's real easy." He had every confidence in both of them. If a bunch of kids could go out and successfully catch themselves some beetles, these two could certainly do it. "...Course they're probably not stag beetles, so they might be different. Bet the concept is the same though."

So! Let's go wander those trees! "First we gotta look for sappy trees."

Not to worry, Kyoko was already fully invested in this adventure. It was hard not to be when Kaito was so happy and easy-going, ready to educate them.

She listened intently, nodding along. "Sappy... Should the sap be coming out already, or do we need to make a hole in the trees?" Gotta get these things straight for the novices!

Ohh, that's a good question. Shinji thinks he could make a guess, but he'll defer the answer to Kai - surely he knows best here. He nods along with the explanation and Kyoko's question, turning an expectant look to Kai for the answer. Teach us! We are your captive audience!

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