12.25.08 - I Wanted To Be Like You (Jakk's Capture - Part V)

(Previous)

Location: Redwall Great Hall, then Dirt Road

Characters Involved: Sidney, Jove

Sidney hurries down the steps, pulling his uniform jacket on. He looks.. tense. On edge, definitely. His gaze scans the hall, searching out other Patrollers. Where /are/ they.

Jove is recognizable simply by shape if not by color - that Long Patrol green. She's at the big table, humming industriously as she pieces together the edges of a tear in her spare jacket, eyes narrowed in concentration.

"Jove!" Sidney heads toward her. "Jove, I need you. I .. come on. Just come with me." He goes to catch her by the arm and try to haul her from her chair. "Come /on/.."

"Bit forward t'nigh', aren' yeh?" Jove answers absently and twitches her nose at her mending, but when her arm is grabbed she looks up and looses her hold on the coat. Saucy grin gone. "Eh. Sid?" She's not easily hauled, but she rises.

"Will you just .. come on." The buck glances around but. He doesn't look for anyone else. Darklett said take three or four - well Jove weighs as much as two, so there. Impatiently he pulls at her. His expression is uncharacteristic. Detached, but completely focused, all his attention somewhere /else/. "We need to go. Tracking. I'll tell you on the way."

"Jus' us?" Jove asks, twitching her nose at the stiffness of her healing back. The sheer /purpose/ of Sidney's actions catches her off-guard, though - so much for a quiet night in - and she falls into a quick stride. "Majah's ordahs? Taye's?"

"Major," Sid gruffs in response. "Darklett, he just woke up, he.." The recruit shakes his head, aiming hurriedly for the door and pulling it open, going outside as he fastens up the front of his jacket. Oh god it's cold. ".. I'll tell you. I'll explain as we go. Will you /hurry/ up?" He's so frantic that he just about runs to the gate, muttering something to the guard there. It opens, and he goes through.

"Did 'e?" But Jove doesn't let the question linger; her pace increases to keep up with the recruit, and then she breaks into a brisk jog. Official clearance. That makes all the difference. "Righ', I'm hurryi- Sid. Will y'jus' hold /on./" She glances up briefly to the sky as they pass through the gates, and makes a grab for the buck's arm. "Y'r not exactleh prop'ly dressed."

"Dammit Jove I don't /care/," he mutters. The grab meets with his arm and is shoved off. "I have a jacket. I'm fine. I just.. can we /just/... go faster." He stops at the gatehouse, claims his sword, and clips the scabbard onto his belt. As they get out onto the road he turns in the direction that will lead them toward the 67th - and the remnants of the fight that happened halfway in between. The recruit starts off at a brisk walk.

"Buggah th'jacket, m'talkin'- aha." Jove nods approval at the detour; her saber is waiting there in its sheath, and after a moment's hesitation she brings her bow and quiver along for good measure. She's alert, now, and keeps up at a steady trot. "Don' go runnin' off on m' b'for y've given th'briefin."

Sidney's breath forms thick white plumes on the exhale. It is absolutely /frigid/. "Darklett woke up. He .. he told us, me and Taye. Told us Jakk had been with him. But Jakk wasn't there when I found Darklett. I should've.. should've thought to follow the tracks then. But I didn't /know/ anyone else was with the Major, I was just. ... I had to get /him/ inside. Make sure he was okay." He draws a breath and glances sidelong at her. "Meanwhile it's been two damn days and no one's followed that trail. And Jakk. Is /gone/."

"Jakk?" Jove lifts her brows at that. The doe's ears quiver and she takes quick glances left and right, keeping an eye on the sides of the road. "Sid, y'did what y'could with what y'knew. Wha's th'Majah remembah? Anythin'?" Focus on those facts, rather than the rather worrying pair of 'we are out here alone' and 'this is not a promising situation.'

"Uhm. He said fourteen or fifteen vermin. .. there were maybe ten on the road, corpses, so that leaves a handful that survived." He's happy to focus on the facts, instead of the .. cold. And the fear. Both which are gnawing, one from outside and the other from within. "Him and Jakk, on their way to the 67th. I .. I don't know. I don't know what else. Just, he asked me ... if anyone followed the tracks. And I said no and he." He reaches up both hands, rubs at his muzzle, and exhales. ".. well he /threw/ me, Jove. The Major. He shouted and he picked me up and just. Threw me."

"Crazy-mad," the buck mutters.

Jove's brows were just starting to rela- up they go again. "He, ah. Blimey. Doesn' like casualties, I heard?" Her nose quivers for a moment, then stills. "Sid. Y'can' track a thing if yeh mind's flittin' all ovah th'place," the doe points out. "Two days 's two days 'n th'trail won' get much coldah in ten minutes. Get ah grip, a'righ'?

"... Jove. Jakk's his /son/," Sidney says, and nearly stops walking - just looking at her, ears laid back stiffly.

Jove looks at him fully and blinks those big amber eyes. "I know tha'," she replies matter of factly. "'N whatevah's happened t'him'll stay happened. But /you/ are panickin', Siddy-boy, 'n tha'll get y'killed if those survivahs stuck 'round."

"And if Jakk is /dead/ already then it's /my/ fault," he snaps at her. The buck turns around forward again, shaking his head, moving faster. "I'm fine. I'm /fine/. But it's .. it's Jakk. It's not just some.. patroller I don't know, it's /him/. I have to find him."

Jove's ears angle back a fraction, then return to their upright position. "Sid." She increases her pace to catch up with him. "Pers'nal's not th'same as important." She huffs, feeling the sting of cold air in her lungs as her breath comes in clouds.

Sidney just gives her a look and says nothing back. He looks forward, shuts his eyes for a moment, and starts into a jog.

"Don' make m'smack yeh," Jove mutters to herself. Her eyes dart to the roadsides as she follows after him.