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Lightning's ears flicked back at her initial refusal, kicking himself for saying the wrong thing--again. He curled up and tried to make himself as small as possible, seeing that his temporary companion was avoiding contact with him. To her explanation, he gave a muttered, "Whatever," as a reply. He rested his head on his paws and closed his eyes, thunder booming before letting the soft pitter-patter of rain take its place. This seemed familiar. 'Ah, that's it,' he thought, his body slowly relaxing. 'This is the part where I...' Even his thought didn't finish; despite the storm--or perhaps because of it--the Gladier nodded off. He jerked awake a few minutes later, however, when he bumped into the girl. Or had she bumped into him? He wasn't really sure in his groggy, half-awake state. "Hrn?" He shook his head and lifted it to inspect the storm with sleepy blue eyes before turning his attention to the other Gladier.

And there she went again. Her gaze was fixed on the storm before fixing her gaze outside the shelter--and pointedly away from him. 'What's the point of this...?' He didn't need shelter and this Gladier clearly didn't like him. Why was he still there? 'Because she made this for you, idiot,' his mind replied flatly. 'And you're too nice to leave.' Lightning got to his feet, his gaze fixing on that small white flower that the other Gladier was looking at. It was simple, pure, beautiful. It was the complete opposite of him. He was dirty, complicated, misunderstood. The storm above them was a better comparison. Maybe that was why he liked them so much.

Either way, he wasn't sticking around to get this female even more irritated at him. He carefully climbed out of the shelter; he could've just jumped, but that would've sprayed his temporary companion with mud. He wasn't that much of a jerk. It made him more muddy, but he didn't mind much. It wasn't like he had anyone to impress with his looks or anything. Not wanting to wait around and see the female Gladier's reaction, he shot off towards the tree and scurried up it like a squirrel. After a few trial-and-errors, he settled himself on a thick branch that could both hold his weight and give him a good view of the storm. Lightning let out a relieved sigh as the wind ruffled his fur; this was a better situation. No one would judge him up here--well, at least he wouldn't be around to know about it.

Lightning was sat up on his branch when he'd finished sulking about other Gladiers that didn't like him, smiling as the rain washed the mud from his fur. He closed his eyes and pointed his muzzle towards the sky, inhaling the scents of the tree and the storm around him. He laughed as the wind tugged at his fur and tried to knock him off balance, as if it were a playful kit. He opened his eyes to view the storm, the lightning blue orbs sparkling as he grinned from ear to ear. Lightning loved this kind of weather--in the way the Gladier in the shelter loved taking naps in the sun and other Gladiers enjoyed swimming and sparring out in the grass, he assumed. "Woohoo!" he shouted as the wind picked up and thunder clapped nearby, as if trying to prove he could be just as loud. He laughed again, oblivious to the female below.

Lightning was taking a deep breath to shout into the raging storm again when a voice from below stopped him. His eyes went to the ground below, his happy expression draining off of his face. What did she want? She didn't like storms and she didn't like him. Well, there weren't many ways to find out. "WHAT?" he shouted back over the howling wind, trying not to scowl at the Gladier below. He had debated on snapping at her for calling him stupid, but he couldn't really blame her; she didn't know his name, and to her, he was extremely stupid.

Of course it was dangerous. Dangerous to normal Gladiers. But to Lightning this was normal behavior--another reason others thought him strange. Sighing, he made his way to the lower branches. "It's only dangerous if you aren't paying attention," he said when he was close enough to speak in a slightly louder-than-average voice. "I can handle it. I've been doing this since I was a kit." He glanced away. He wasn't good at talking with people, especially female Gladiers.

Especially female Gladiers that hated his guts.

"And my name's Lightning Pawn, Miss," he informed her while fixing his gaze on the storm again. "Not Stupid."

'At least my substitute name was polite, he thought sourly. Her comment made him frown. "So I've heard," he said dryly. "Quite a number of times actually, so I guess it just must be absolutely true." He took a deep breath and sighed, forcing his irritation to the side as he fixed his lightning blue gaze on Ithil's purple one. "I may be an idiot to you, Miss Ithil-Alu," he informed her, "but I'm smart enough to know when someone doesn't like me." And she didn't. He'd gotten used to seeing those expressions in people's faces; there was a wide range of them, but they all spelled out the same message to Lightning: they didn't want him around. He glanced away again. "Look, can we just skip to the part where we end this? Because you have your life to preserve and I have mine to recklessly endanger."

"Did you even bother trying to get to know me?" He pulled his head back a bit at the second half of her first comment, frowning and looking away. "Someone to 'hold me steady,' huh?" Lightning let out a bitter bark of a laugh. "That would require friends, wouldn't it? Or, you know, someone who's willing to come within ten feet of me. And I am perfectly capable of taking care of..." He set his back paws against the trunk, his front paws bent as they kept him balanced on the branch. "...myself!" He rocketed out of the tree, soaring through the open air before descending toward the ground. He turned so that he hit the ground with his shoulder, rolling across the muddy terrain and using that same motion to get back to his feet. His lightning blue eyes instantly shifted to locate Ithil-Alu. "Happy now?" he called. "I'm perfectly fine!" Not that she really cared. He pointedly turned away from the tree, turning his muzzle skyward and watching the storm again--and awaiting the next batch of obnoxious comments from this infuriating female about how he was a complete idiot.