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 Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:04 pm
Jove felt good. Free. Having passed his exam and thoroughly washed away any trace of worry or FEARcrabs, he had a bounce to his step as he wandered through the monster dorms and towards his brother's room. The pup had no particular idea in mind, and wasn't sure if he wanted to ask Ren how he did, share his own success, or see if his brother had anything fun to do, he just wanted to be with the gryphon for a bit.
They hadn't seen each other much over the past couple days, each had been studying for classes, putting a lot of time into their books and readings. Time to just hang out was infrequent. Even the nights when Jove would stay in Ren's room had come less often, the ghost preferring to study in his own room where the light wouldn't bother Ren. The gryphon needed what sleep he could get.
Jove wouldn't admit out loud that he was missing his brother, but right that instant there was nobody he would rather go be with.
When he arrived at Ren's room, he wasn't surprised to see the room was dim. After all, the gryphon could be out, or napping, and wouldn't have bothered to turn on any lights. Some students might have turned around and left. But Jove had a keen nose, and had developed a keen eye for that spotted tail. Which stuck out from the pile of pillows and blankets on the bed like a tantalizing lure.
The pup's bare feet were quiet on the floor as he trotted over, and leaped onto his sleeping brother with the sort of playful abandon he could never bring himself to show out in the open.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:31 pm
After both finishing - and passing - his strenuous, exhausting, and frustrating exam, Ren had come straight back to his dorm room and all but collapsed onto his bed (after he had changed out of his soaked clothing, of course). Professor Savage had, of course, been outrageously unconventional with her teaching methods (as was every other teacher at this school) so Ren had come home dripping wet, streaked with beach sand, without his shoes, and totally and completely elated. He had passed his exam. He could move onto his second year of schooling.
And to celebrate - a nap.
Ren had been having a particularly delightful dream too; a pleasant relief from the black nightmares he was so used to having. His ghoulfriend and he had gone out for dinner, and then they had sat out under the stars, eating some of Alessa's homemade cookies and just talking. It was pleasant and warm and comfortable.
Except for that whole puppy jumping on him thing.
"GACK!"
Ren got a mouthful of fur and a wagging tail. At first he was a little disoriented, still half dragged into the throes of sleep, but once he figured out what - or rather, who - had just jumped on him, he woke up fully.
"Jove!" he said happily, and threw his arms around his little brother in a big, squishy bear hug. "I've missed you!"
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 5:55 pm
Jove made a happy murmuring noise in response when he was hugged, and butted his head playfully into Ren's body as he wiggled and his tail wagged. It was rare for him to be so enthusiastic about his greetings, most of the time he wasn't even willing to acknowledge his brother with a hug, let alone a childish play game.
He wiggled out of Ren's arms for the sole purpose of leaping on him again, hugging him around the neck briefly before hopping off the bed and diving into the pile of pillows. For a minute Jove let himself indulge in his more puppy-ish behaviour, rubbing his face against the pillows as he burrowed through them, upsetting little foxfires left and right until he was completely covered. The pillow pile shifted slightly, until it resembles what could have been a play-bow.
Someone must have given him an energy drink. Or a bath.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:04 pm
Ren squeezed Jove tightly, burying his face into the fluffy teal hair before his little brother wriggled free, headbutting his stomach and then his shoulder. The gesture surprised him, but what was even more surprising was that after Jove pulled away, he reared back and flung himself into another hug. It was rare for the puppy to be so...openly affectionate, and kinda strange (Ren wondered if he'd had too much sugar or something), but it wasn't unwelcome in the slightest. He happily accepted the hug, but Jove wiggled out after a minute, bounding across the room and shoveling himself beneath the massive pile of pillows stacked haphazardly in front of Ren's closet. Around his little brother the rest of the foxfires leaped quickly out of the way, a few looking put out, the rest just looking startled.
"Hey, wait a second," Ren said, slipping off the bed. The sweats he was wearing was a pair of Gabrian's, and therefore both the pants and sweatshirt were too big, but they were warm and comfortable and easy to move in, which meant burrowing under the pillows to tackle Jove was quite simple.
"What's gotten you all riled up, eh?" Ren teased, poking his little brother playfully in the side. "You seem to be all happy and silly for once."
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 8:32 pm
Jove yipped when he was found and poked, batting Ren's hand away and then bouncing out from inside the pile. In a fit of pure puppy energy he jumped onto the bed, and leaped off to land back inside the pile of pillows.
For a second he seemed to settle down, burrowing back in and putting his teeth on Ren's ear in much the same way the gryphon always seemed to when he was being affectionate. Except the end result was something Ren might have seen from his foxfires, when they found a good toy and gave a fierce head shake to make sure it stayed dead. The gryphon's ear would certainly stay dead after the shake Jove gave it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2011 11:34 pm
It was...relaxing, being like this with Jove. Both of them were acting silly and childish, like they were two puppies batting and jabbing at each other. It reminded Ren of how he and his sister had used to be, back before Medieval had become...well...different. Back when they had been kids together.
Jove was bounding around like he had taken an intake of sugar, bouncing first from the pillow pile to the bed, then back to the pillow pile again. His tail flicked up into his lap, and Ren laughed, amused by the puppy's enthusiasm. Jove burrowed closer, and then he felt teeth latch onto his ear, which flicked in surprise. He was used to Jove being playful - just not this playful; it was like a dog with a chew toy.
"OW LITTLE BROTHER CAREFUL - "
Ren's fingers found Jove's sides, and he attempted to both tickle him and pry him away from his poor ear, but he was still laughing. "Man, what has gotten into you, silly puppy?"
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 7:54 am
Jove gave Ren's ear one last little shake before barking a single laugh and attempting to shove his brother away. Which only resulted in pushing himself backwards right out of the pile to land on his back on the floor. The pup wiggled for a second, kicking at the pillows before bounding back up, tail wagging.
He picked up a pillow and threw it at his brother, and threw himself back into the pile afterwards. He wiggled towards Ren, rubbing is face against the pillows as he went, and then flopped down next to the gryphon.
The little ghost seemed ready to lay there for the time being, a pleased expression on his face. Ren might have gotten his answer from the scents of soap that still clung to the pup. For the sake of Ren's room it was a good thing Jove had at least dried off before coming to visit. When he was in the middle of his post-bath zooms, he didn't give much thought into where he put his wet tail.
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Posted: Fri Jun 24, 2011 9:16 am
Ren was almost too busy trying to get his ear free from the trap that was his little brother's teeth to notice that Jove had laughed. Almost. But after a second of rubbing his now slightly sore ear, Ren realized just what exactly the sound had been and he blinked, distracted, so that when Jove pushed him he fell right over.
"Oof."
He got a mouthful of feathers this time, wings flapping beneath him as he struggled to right himself. Ren pushed himself up onto his elbows, staring at Jove as the puppy bounded happily around the room, then back to the pillow pile, squishing himself down in them and scooching over to where Ren was. There was a happy look on his face; maybe not a smile, but his eyes were light and he seemed content. Ren flopped back down, slinging an arm around him and taking a suspicious whiff of his hair. Yep.
"Ahhhhh, I see now," he said, poking one of Jove's cheeks playfully. "You just had a bath, didn't you? No wonder you're so excited."
Sitting up for a moment, Ren reached over to his bedside table, pulled out a small yellow object, then settled back down into the pillows, tossing it to Jove.
"A souvenir," he said with a wide grin. "I passed my second year exam."
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 8:59 am
Jove wiggled, as though even just an arm over him was too much holding him down, but he didn't push it away or go back to bouncing around the room. And when he was poked, he turned to put his teeth on Ren's finger. Thankfully he treated it more gently than his brother's poor ear!
He let go and watched as Ren grabbed something from his night stand, and caught it with wide eyes when it was thrown. It was... a rubber duck? A chew toy?
The pup's tail wagged even more when Ren broke the news, the duck confusion momentarily forgotten. He leaped up to give his brother a congratulatory hug, and then sat back on his heels with the duck in his hands, and watched Ren as if to say "So, what happened?"
Who knew if the pup would stay still for the whole story, but for now he was captivated.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:17 am
Ren managed to get his finger away from the playful jaws of Jove before the puppy held on too long this time, standing to retrieve the rubber ducky...which Jove looked at with a totally confused expression.
"It was at my exam," Ren said, by way of explanation, then let out a happy yelp as his little brother hugged him again. It really was nice to be able to hang out with the puppy, especially after the stress of everything. Not only that, but seeing Jove right after he had had a bath was the best time, since he was all excitable and...well, puppyish. It was really very endearing.
His eyes flickered over to Jove. "Well," he said, tilting his head as he tapped a finger thoughtfully to his face, tail flicking up and down methodically. "Professor Savage gave me my exam. We had to swim - yes, swim, and it was horrible - across to a boat - more horrible - and then we were dragged underwater by some tentacle thing, then thrown onto the boat, then led into the dark by some spirit thing which turned the boat into a monster and we were thrown back on shore and had to shoot at it with rubber duckies in slingshots."
A pause. Ren added, somewhat belatedly "We killed it, so we passed. And I got Professor Savage's emblem, so I'm good."
He turned to look at Jove, quirking a brow. "What about you, mister?" he asked, playfully prodding at his little brother. "Have you taken your exam yet?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:25 am
Thankfully the story of Ren's exam was fantastical enough, and brief enough, to hold Jove's attention the whole way through. He watched with ears perked, and wagged his tail at the conclusion. It sounded like a REALLY hard exam for Ren, he knew the gryphon was not fond of water in the slightest. But... They killed it with these rubber ducks?
He glanced down at the thing in his hand with a new expression, amazement.
One ear swivelled as Ren asked about his own exam, and then the glowing blush started creeping across his cheeks. Without knowing it, he had taken his exam. He nodded, not quite able to meet his brother's eyes.
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 9:57 am
Listening to his own story about his exam made Ren feel slightly ridiculous, mostly because it seemed so outlandish. Or rather, it might have, in any other place. But Amityville was known for being extravagant and not-so-normal in their studies, so really it shouldn't have been all that surprising.
Lost in his own inner musings, Ren hadn't even noticed that Jove was staring at the rubber ducky with wide eyes until he looked up. The boil's face was cris-crossed now with a vibrant, glowing blush that made his entire face paler, and he was looking at the ground. Ren stared. Had he failed? Had he not taken it? What is THAT look for?
"Yo," Ren said, and clapped both of his hands against his little brother's cheeks, turning his head gently so that he could see into Jove's eyes. When he spoke again, his voice was gentle. "What's up, huh? It's just me, Jove, no one else. Tell me what happened?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2011 10:27 am
Jove tried to look away, but it was impossible with Ren holding him. It was embarrassing, he had been certain it was just a class, a new lesson to take so he could learn FEARhealing and maybe even how to fix his brother's hand. But he had been unaware of the testing until the very end. He could have failed it just as quickly as he had passed it.
The pup still flinched inwardly thinking about it. He clearly wasn't ready for year 2, he shouldn't have signed up for exams being so oblivious. And now he was going to be taking second year courses with second year students, all of whom were much scarier and much more intimidating than he was. Any pride he felt for passing the exam was overshadowed by these larger worries.
His lower lip trembled slightly as he met his brother's eyes. "... Passed."
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:31 pm
Sometimes Ren forgot about the bandage that covered his right hand. He changed it every few days, but even then it had rapidly become a routine that he didn't even think about. His hand still throbbed on a daily basis, but even the pain had become something "normal" to Ren; a constant reminder of things he didn't want to think about.
Jove winced, and Ren blinked, his playful attitude turning into one of concern. "What's wrong?" he asked, wondering if his little brother had maybe failed or something. He was older than Jove by several years, and he could move onto second year without him, of course, but it would be much harder and less fun if they were separated that way.
When Jove looked up at him finally his wide, glowing eyes were filled with frustration, though the word that escaped his lips was not exactly correlating. "You passed?" Ren repeated, slightly confused. "Jove, that's amazing! I'm so proud of you."
His exclamations trailed off a bit when he started to fully realize the contradicting evidence here. Ren dropped his hands to his lap, tilting his head to peer at his little brother.
"...what's wrong..?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:52 pm
The brightness of Jove's blush rivalled the glow of his eyes, and his brows furrowed as he frowned. Now was not the time for praise. The pup was no longer in a content, receptive mood that would allow for good feelings, his uncertainty over the following year hung over him like a black cloud.
His brother would certainly be fine in the following year. Ren was tall, and had a giant natural form and would never be called puny, or adorable. Jove just had... fluff. And he was small, and weak, and had no idea how to use his FEAR. And he hadn't even gotten over his running tendency. Not even with the gryphon's help.
No, he should have stayed longer in year one courses, accumulated more knowledge, and practised more techniques.
"Not ready!" Jove said, his accent easier to hear when he spoke above a whisper. He was not loud in the slightest, but coming from him, it was loud enough to express his distress. And if that didn't do it, the way he flopped on the pillows facing away from his brother would. It was almost a defeated gesture.
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